Category Archives: Seasonal

It’s Snowing!

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As I type this, it’s snowing outside.

Now, for some people, that would be a nuisance and an inconvenience. They’re the ones who bask in warm temps year-round, who never have to worry about snow-covered sidewalks and icy roadways. They don’t own winter coats or mittens, and boots are purely a fashion statement.

Part of me envies them their sunshine. I, too, used to live in the south where it’s easy to put up outside decorations at this time of year. But the bigger part of me welcomes winter.

C’mon, how many Christmas cards depict palm trees and beach scenes?? How many carols sing of balmy weather and golf courses? And you can’t roast chestnuts over an open fire when it’s blazing hot outside!

Nope, this is the time of year when it’s supposed to be cold. Trees, grass, and plants are supposed to grow dormant. Squirrels and birds are supposed to become scarce. Daylight is supposed to become shorter.

People, too, are supposed to “hibernate.”

I can remember many winters as a child when we used this time of year to learn new things — how to play chess, for example. Or pinochle or hearts, monopoly or backgammon. Sometimes, entire days would go by when we couldn’t leave the house for the weather.

Talk about cabin fever!

True, shoveling mounds of heavy snow isn’t on top of my Fun-Things-To-Do list. Nor is driving on icy streets, having to wear a heavy coat and boots everywhere, and looking outside on yet another bleak, gray day.

But there’s something to be said for curling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate while the wind howls outside!

And, while winter itself sometimes seems to drag forever, it won’t be long before the days lengthen, the warmth returns, and the earth comes alive again.

That’s why I like having four distinct seasons!

Slow Down for Turkey-Day!

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Does anybody else think we’re rushing Christmas a bit more than usual?

The day after Halloween, I noticed one of my neighbors had already hung his outside Christmas lights. Not only that, but our city has erected Christmas decorations, the shopping mall has its holiday trimmings up, “Jingle Bells” and such are playing on the radio stations, and some people even have their Christmas trees glowing from inside their windows.

Excuse me, but don’t we have another holiday to fall between Halloween and Christmas? Thanksgiving, remember?

Sure you remember. That’s the “feast” day — bring on the turkey, the trimmings, and the pumpkin pie! Loosen the belt buckles, watch football until your eyes grow weary, allow yourself the luxury of a nap.

It seems like The Food Channel is the only one talking about Thanksgiving these days!

With the nation’s economy in the pits, it’s no wonder merchants are pushing HARD for business, but some were even advertising Black Friday sales at the beginning of November.

That makes me kind of sad. I look forward to the urgency of those day-after-Thanksgiving sales, when throngs of people line up outside stores in the wee hours of the morning (stars still out and everything!) to await the opening of the doors, the mad rush inside, and the frantic grabbing of sale items!

Every year seems to have its hard-to-find, must-have item. Remember Cabbage Patch dolls? How about the Nintendo GameBoy, Razor Scooters, or Tickle Me Elmo? They practically guaranteed pandemonium when reports announced such items were in short supply.

I recall racing through a store one Black Friday to get a DVD player My Favorite Domer had to have! Funny how the “getting” of such items far surpasses the actual pleasure of “having” them.

But life’s like that, isn’t it? Too often, we relish the chase more than the prize itself.

Which brings me back to Thanksgiving.

Rather than trying to skip over this holiday in a mad rush to get the Christmas preparations underway, shouldn’t we simply enjoy this special time for what it means — faith, family, feast, and much thanks?

What Happened to our Summers?

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I used to look forward to summer.

When I was a kid, summer meant outside — no vegetating in front of the TV for us!

That long expanse of time between the end of one school year and the beginning of another found us getting together with friends, playing games and jacks, dancing to music. We’d buy frosty milkshakes from the ice cream vendor who scouted the neighborhoods, swim in our city’s pool, and play hours of tennis.

The days were long and sunny. Who cared if they were hot? Just wait around a while and a raging cold front would come through, driving temperatures back into the comfortable range, moistening the ground, pruning a few trees, and wiping away the humidity.

Nights would find us catching fireflies in jars (with holes poked in the lids so the bugs could breathe!). We’d ride our bikes to a friend’s house, play softball in a vacant lot, and enjoy the lingering daylight.

So what happened?

I’m not sure. The Weather Channel hasn’t addressed this, and I haven’t seen anything in our newspaper or on TV or the Internet to explain it.

Somewhere along the line, our weather has changed.

Our summers have become fierce, with tons of rain, violent storms, high temperatures, and unbearable humidity. When cold fronts come through nowadays, like as not they’ll kick our power out, cause the tornado sirens to wail, knock down shade trees, and finally spent, leave destruction, flooding, and more high temps and humidity in their wake.

Spring used to be our stormy season, but its days were short and we were in school. Once spring flew away, the days lengthened into summer, and we raced outside to enjoy every minute.

Hard to enjoy summer anymore.

We’ve had the rainiest June and July on record, I think. As soon as winter’s snow melted, we found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a season that seems confused whether it’s “spring” or “summer”!

Maybe we’ll just have to look to autumn as our peaceful season from now on.

It’s a Festival!

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Summer in Illinois is time for festivals.

From bagels and popcorn to wine and beer, from ribs and candy to herbs and strawberries — there’s a celebration for every body and every taste.

And we do know how to party!

Maybe it’s the freedom that comes from finally shedding our heavy winter coats. Maybe it’s the joy of being outside in the sun, with friends and family. Maybe it’s simply that carnivals bring out the kid in all of us.

Whatever.

Take a typical festival weekend, lather the kids and yourself with sunscreen, then don sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat. You’re ready to sample huge varieties of food, buy stuff you don’t need, shell out “one more dollar” trying to win a stuffed cat, and have a ball!

First, the food:

  • Lemon shakeups
  • Funnel cakes
  • Hot dogs
  • French fries
  • Popcorn
  • Etc.

Then the activities:

  • Carnival rides
  • Games of chance
  • Arts and crafts booths
  • 5K walk or run
  • Bike rides
  • Golf tournaments
  • Pet parades
  • Car shows

And the entertainment (mostly FREE, of course!):

  • Up and coming bands
  • Tribute bands
  • Rock-and-roll bands
  • Country bands
  • Solo entertainers
  • Magicians
  • Ventriloquists
  • Stand-up comedians
  • Local talent shows
  • Beauty pageants

And for people-watchers, it’s like paradise. You can observe:

  • The wheeler-dealer trying to drum up sales from his vendor’s booth
  • The enterprising youth hoping to secure a late-summer job
  • The old guys sitting on a shaded bench, talking up the “good old days”
  • The young families trying to juggle baby, stroller, diaper bag, and toys
  • And boomers reliving their teen years as a favorite song is played

Some communities have opted to allow beer tents into their festival lineup. They’ve heard from organizers in other communities that beer tents are “real money-makers.” Of course, having beer tents means having a whole new set of rules, including banning sales to kids under the legal drinking age.

Other communities don’t want to be bothered with all that. They’ve kept their festivals family-oriented and alcohol-free.

To each his own.

Whether you’d like to chomp down on all the free popcorn you can eat at Casey’s Popcorn Festival, or feast on free bagels at Mattoon’s Bagelfest, or down sweet corn at Urbana’s Sweet Corn Festival, or get your fill of cheese at Arthur’s Cheese Festival, it’s all here. And that’s just in Central Illinois — there’s plenty available outside this region!

So if you’re looking for a neat place to vacation, don’t rule out Illinois. As our state tourism office proclaims, we offer “Mile after Magnificent Mile.”

Memorial Day

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Why do people say, “Happy Memorial Day”??

Yes, we’re getting a three-day holiday, but it seems to me that we’ve totally forgotten the meaning behind this day.

Memorial Day is not a “happy” occasion. It’s a somber observance.

Once upon a time, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day. It was a day set apart to recognize those brave individuals who gave their lives in the service of our country.

I can remember my dad, who grew up in the Deep South, talking about how, as a boy, he went to the cemetery with his mother each Memorial Day. He said the ladies of the region always decorated the graves then. They put out real flowers (not those plastic things you buy today at Wally-world!), cleaned up the weeds, and so on. It was a big deal.

Today, Memorial Day is more noted for being the official start of summer. Kids get out of school; swimming pools open; golf courses are full; grills come out of storage, and grocery stores push the sales of barbecue sauce, chips, soda, and beer.

Not so long ago, Memorial Day was observed on May 30. Not May 25; not May 31. May 30th. That meant you got a holiday in the middle of the week sometimes. Cool!

But in 1971, Congress changed the official holiday observance to the last Monday in May (giving workers a three-day break). That’s nice, I guess, but some fear it’s contributed to a lackadaisical attitude about Memorial Day.

My town, like many others, doesn’t hold a parade on that holiday. Few people know Flag etiquette, and cemeteries now have caretakers (paid or volunteer) to tend the graves.

To counteract ignorance about the significance of the holiday, the government in 2000 authorized a National Moment of Remembrance. People were supposed to stop what they were doing at 3 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day and reflect for 60 seconds on the sacrifices others made so we might all be free.

Good idea, but I confess I didn’t even know about it until I was doing research for this blog! So that didn’t go over big, did it?

Some now are advocating a return to the traditional May 30 date to observe Memorial Day. I’m with them.

With all the distractions of picnics, bargain-hunting, and outdoors-enjoying, the remembrance and the mourning are tossed aside. And lest anyone forget, we are still losing young men and women to war. We are still fighting to keep our freedoms.

As one Pennsylvania man so aptly put it, it’s because of what Memorial Day represents that the rest of the days of each year are our holidays.

Spring is finally arriving!

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I love Spring!

The world seems new again. The weather moderates, trees and flowers bud and bloom, baby birds fill empty nests, people go outside and reconnect with one another after virtually hibernating for months on end.

Yes, there are thunderstorms and tornadoes — the birth pangs of creation. Yes, there’s wind and rain. But there’s also so much beauty.

Take a look!

Red tulip among yellow daffodils

Blue hyacinths smell yummy!

Magnolia blooms begin to unfold

Yellow daffodils in full splendor

Don’t Worry — Spring is Coming!!

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I moved aside a big flower pot this afternoon and guess what I found?

Spring!!

Yep, a whole crop of daffodils and tulips have poked their noses through the ground (and the snow!), in preparation for their annual display of color.

It’s been a rough winter — everywhere. Mr. Groundhog (the one everybody listens to) says we’re going to have six more weeks of it. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winter.

Tired of shoveling snow.

Tired of creeping along icy streets.

Tired of gloomy, gray days.

So let’s celebrate. Here’s the photo I took of the posies lurking beneath the warmth of a flower pot.

Spring is coming, and I can’t wait!

Daffodils and tulips in the snow

Bon Mardi Gras!

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My Favorite Domer called last night to announce the Mardi Gras King Cake his grandmother had overnighted him arrived in splendid condition and was a big hit!

Now for those unaware of the tradition, a King Cake actually started in Western Europe before Christianity took hold. Eventually, it morphed into a celebration of the Magi and was brought to Louisiana by French settlers in the 18th century.

The cake features an oval shape and tastes like coffee cake or a cinnamon roll — with lots of sugar!

Bakers take the dough, roll it out, maybe braid it, then twist the ends together. Sometimes they add blueberries, apples, or cream cheese as fillings. They then decorate the top with table sugar in Mardi Gras’s traditional colors of gold (power), purple (justice), and green (faith). Some cakes feature glazed icing on top as well.

Double sugar!

Now it wouldn’t be a true King Cake if it didn’t have a tiny plastic baby inside (Magi, Baby Jesus — get it?)

Usually, bakers place this inch-long baby near the twisted-together ends, and tradition holds that the person getting a piece of cake with the baby inside is the one “crowned” king or queen for the day and must host the next King Cake party the following week.

King Cakes are never served outside of Carnival Season, which runs from Twelfth Night (the Feast of the Epiphany, 12 days after Christmas) through Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday, the day before Christians observe Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent).

Hundreds of thousands of King Cakes are consumed during this five- or six-week period in New Orleans alone! And that doesn’t include the number of cakes shipped throughout the country for displaced sons and daughters of the Big Easy (or those just wanting to get in on the revelry!)

I can’t imagine anyone wanting to bake King Cakes themselves, not when there are so many bakeries proficient at making them, but for those seeking a new challenge, here’s one to try.

Good luck and Happy Mardi Gras!

The Tax Man Cometh

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It’s time to do my income taxes once again.

I don’t know about you, but I hate putting aside Web design or writing (or even just loafing!) to concentrate on credits and debits — even for a short period.

Must be the writer in me!

But tax preparation is a necessary nuisance — at least until somebody wises up and establishes a flat tax for everybody!

Late last year one of my friends showed me a software program that purports to help. You key in everything on a regular basis throughout the year, then when it’s time to visit your accountant (or do it yourself, if you’re into that), you print out a few pages and Voila! taxes done.

Simple, right?

Well, I bought the program, loaded it into the ‘puter, and fiddled with it a few times, but for the life of me, it just seems like going around your elbow to get to your thumb!

Now, maybe it was because I had a lot of other things on my plate at the time.

Maybe the “learning curve” was steeper than I anticipated.

Maybe it was just too cumbersome to enter a whole year’s worth of data at once.

That’s okay, I told myself. I’ll try again when the new year rolls around.

Here it is mid-February, and my data still isn’t entered.

And I want to be able to say, Voila!

So I’ll gather all my folders and notepads and receipts, separate them into a gazillion piles, add and re-add columns of numbers, and transfer everything to a single piece of paper for my accountant, just the way I always do.

It’s not pretty, but it works.

And I’m used to it.

And doggone it, I’d rather be doing something else anyway!

Shivering in the Deep Freeze

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Anybody miss me??

I took a couple of weeks off so I could visit with family and friends in the supposedly warm South over the Christmas holidays. Was I wrong or what?

The temperatures were hanging in the 20-degree area and that, coupled with the notorious dampness that descends over big bodies of water like the Gulf of Mexico, made the “feels like” temperature even chillier.

But I’ve got to hand it to them — at least, there was sunshine. Lots of sunshine. And somehow, that makes the cold more bearable.

If cold is ever bearable!

I tend to be a warm weather kind of person. Probably it hearkens to living in the South and Southwest for so many years. At any rate, I know what they say, “You can always put on clothing, but there’s only so much you can take off before it becomes indecent.”

Well, have you ever tried to work in a coat and mittens?? Have you?

Not so easy.

And even though you’re all bundled up, try shoveling snow when the thermometer reads “5 degrees” and a stiff North wind is slapping you in the face!

I take small comfort from the fact that most of the U.S. is now suffering what the Weather Channel calls an “Arctic Blast.” After all, this is winter and it’s supposed to be cold, right?

Wrong.

It’s NOT supposed to be this cold.

Florida is NOT supposed to get snow and ice, for Pete’s sake!

To top it all off, I’m having to haul My Favorite Domer back to South Bend in time for Spring Semester classes to start on Tuesday.

You’d think they’d consider postponing students’ return, in light of what can only be considered treacherous road conditions. You’d think they’d be worried about kids (and parents) traveling from across the country. You’d think they’d take a cue from local elementary and secondary school districts, who factor in “snow days” when they prepare their calendars.

Wrong, again.

I called to check if classes would resume on time. Oh, yes, they said. Absolutely.

So everybody listen up. Be careful out there! And if you see me creeping along the icy roads, steer a wide path around me.

I might be slow to get there, but I want to get there in one piece!