Baseball season is in full swing. I’m not a huge sports fan, meaning I’m not watching every game or anything like that. However, I do support our team, the Cubs.
I was visiting a friend, walking the neighborhood and stopped in my tracks when I saw this tree. How clever. This art creation of a Cubs fan took effort. It’s so funny, looks like an older man. Profiling here, tall and a bit chubby, holding a beer, maybe with shirt too tight? We have to go older since the hat looks vintage.
Looking at the hat. What is that to the left of the “C?” Is it meant to be a drawing of a player with helmet on, bat in hand?
Maybe that hat is the colors of the Cubs, but it’s not an old Cubs hat. Any Cubs experts out there or OLD ENOUGH to know logo changes, LOL.
When I was at the grocery store, I saw Pierogi, so many choices. I have a friend who gets in the mood for them. It’s interesting, because they are like Italian ravioli. Then, I thought, you’ve got the Asian pot stickers. All a little different, but the same idea with a different name.
Do you have a preference for any of these? I wonder, do the Germans/Austrians have something like ravioli or pierogi? I know they make great dumplings.
Thinking of dumplings, I’m getting in the mood for Matzo Ball soup now!
This past weekend Chicago was hit with a lot of snow. It was fun to see a father with his child building a snowman. The hat is so perfect and the green scarf lovely – the perfect photograph!
It’s an artistic snowman. I like how the bottom spreads out, but somehow they made the stomach area look really round. Look at those sticks for arms/hands. This snowman makes me smile.
For me, so far, this is the Snowman of the Year! UNLESS, we get another snow storm, then let’s see what happens.
GUESS WHAT – Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day. Will Phil Punxsutawaney, the groundhog, see his shadow??? It’s a silly tradition. Has anyone ever checked to see if the yearly predictions were true?
This was an interesting Christmas display. I had a funny marketing idea. The only one missing from this photo is Goldilocks. They could put these three bears in the bedding department with each bear standing by a mattress. The baby bear could still be hiding behind the Xmas tree and find Goldilocks in HIS bed.
The marketing message would read…??
I have to say, I would probably try out the three beds!
Fall started over night. We had pleasant weather this past weekend and suddenly the temperatures dropped to the 50s. I had to pull out the long john’s, find my winter shoes, and sweaters. Oh boy, it’s COLD. I got a kick out of a lady who still wanted to wear her summer dress and added a parka to it. REALLY, I think it’s time to retire summer clothes to the back of the closet.
Of course, Fall weather has us wanting home cooked comfort meals. I was at the store, they had a special on asparagus. I really like asparagus. My ex/mother/n/law was not the greatest cook. She’s German and cooked a lot of potatoes. In fact, to this day, my ex/husband does not want potatoes. Ah, he’ll eat french fries, but NO BOILED potatoes, NEVER. She didn’t enjoy cooking, but she ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS made asparagus soup for ALL holidays. So, in honor of my ex/mother/n/law, I made asparagus soup. Sent picture to my ex/husband and daughters saying, “THINKING OF OMI.”
Next in line, boiled chicken. In cold temperatures, I really enjoy Matzo Ball soup. I’m not Jewish, not sure when I started liking this soup, but it’s a favorite. Soups are so healthy for us.
My Italian mother always made bean soup. She didn’t really venture off from this. It’s a good hearty soup, no question about that. I guess next in line would be chili. I like it OCCASIONALLY, but it would not be my “go to” comfort food.
A woman posted her meal with delicata squash. It looked good, I want to try it. I admit, I’ve never been drawn to the squash family of vegetables. I need to venture out a bit, right. A lot to choose from. Winter varieties include butternut, acorn, delicata, pumpkin, hubbard, kabocha and spaghetti squashes.
So, here’s to FALL and home cooking. Memories from childhood.
What’s YOUR favorite comfort food in cold weather?
Do you eat a lot of oatmeal? This morning, in memory of my ex/father/n/law, I ate oatmeal. He was a retired Doctor from Germany. He LOVED oatmeal! He had his ritual. He would microwave a packet of oatmeal, stir in one packet of sweetener (yellow one) and then add cream on top. FINISHED – nothing else, ie fruit/nuts, etc. Toward the end, at 99, all he would ask for was “oatmeal.”
My Italian mother, on the other hand, preferred cream of rice. Probably because it reminded her of polenta. Although, she never made polenta for us. She would cook cream of rice (for 4 kids) and stir in one raw egg. Since the cream of rice was hot, stirring in the egg cooked it. Voila – breakfast served.
My mother enjoyed something else. She would take a raw egg, some sugar and whip/whip/whip it with a fork until it was creamy like a custard and then she would eat it. Did she cook it? I don’t remember seeing her cook it, I will ask her, but I remember thinking how “odd” that was and worried she’d get SICK!
So, WHAT was IT in your house growing up — OATMEAL or CREAM of RICE?
I haven’t done a jigsaw puzzle in a while. I hadn’t even thought of doing one, just busy with “other things.” So, I smiled when I saw this puzzle on the Clearance rack.
My first thought, the children’s book, “The Princess and the Pea.” What a cute idea to have a cat on top of a bunch of beautiful pillows. I love bright colors, so was attracted to this immediately. Another attraction was the size being rectangular versus square. I found that to be a challenge.
One thing though, the measurements. At 39 inches long, it takes up quite a bit of space on a dining table in an awkward way. A little bit shorter would have been better, but I don’t think puzzle makers take that into consideration. They are creators, right. They do what is visually appealing, leave technical issues to the puzzle maker purchaser. Fall in love with a puzzle and we can make it work!
Size aside, I’m looking forward to doing this puzzle. I smile every time I look at it. It’s just so colorful!
So, the BIG QUESTION — Do I start in the middle, do the border or the CAT FIRST??
If you love sheep like I do, you’ll think this is a BEAUTY! I found this by accident. I was at the store browsing their Easter decorations. Wondering if there was anything new and interesting, gnomes are the “in thing.” But then suddenly, I saw this life size sheep. Beautiful! What craftsmanship. This was a high end sheep with plush wool, a child could sit on it. I immediately looked at the tag, no price, but it did have the manufacturer’s information.
Of course, made in Germany by Meier.Germany! It’s a family owned business, third generation now. The business was started in 1948 by Hermann Meier (father). His focus was on rocking horses, and he did very well. Then Horst Meier (son) entered the business. He expanded the rocking horse line to include life size sheep and other animals. These are expensive toys / decorating sheep starting at $250 and up.
I came across deSaive deSign / Interior Design & Accessory company. They have a wonderful design website, go check it out, with a section specific to the Meier.Germany products.
I enjoyed seeing this photo. We can decorate our living room with a sheep on the side. LOVE THAT! I wonder what would happen if someone had a cat. Yikes, their $1,000 sheep would become a scratch toy, ouch! The family comes back from vacation to discover their beautiful sheep exists no longer – all the wool pulled out.
Just thinking… There must be a Canadian company that makes sheep toys. I’ll have to investigate.
As we finish 2021 and start 2022, our life is like a sliding puzzle. Remember playing those games when we were kids? There are many unknowns as the days / months unfold. We have goals, but we’re not clear in which order they will be fulfilled.
We might think the answer to WHAT (in our lives) comes FIRST; however, maybe WHO comes FIRST and then we slide WHAT to the bottom to make room for WHERE.
Our puzzle will continue throughout the year with WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW sliding around until all questions in our life are finally answered and goals fulfilled.
May your puzzle of LIFE unfold the way you would like it to!
Wishing YOU a healthy, loving, adventurous and prosperous New Year!
Brilliant Viewpoint 