This is one of the most innovative banner ideas I've seen in a long time --
made by tracing and cutting letters out from artificial leaves!
Tie your word-leaves together with a ribbon or twine, staple or glue them on a piece of board. Or back them with a rectangle of felt or burlap.
I could see this concept being used for other holidays...perhaps with decorative napkins? Color photos? (Or even just lettered, filled in -- then arranged on point.)
September is one of my favorite months of the year. Except half of it acted more like August...
We enjoyed a short trip to Glenwood Springs, plus a few hours extra drive on for the best peaches in the world. (They're all gone now -- sigh.) I did buy some apples ($1.27/lb on sale) to sort of take their place. Other than the usual work/chores/Worship Team stuff, we went to a trad music session at an Irish pub (loud, but good) and had lunch at New Saigon, one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Denver. Then we stopped at one of the Asian markets nearby. And a liquor store. (Husband thought this was hilarious, since I am NOT a big drinker. But I needed some things.)
I love spending time with the Brick, just wandering around. Since we spent a good bit at the Asian store (stocking up), the liquor store (replacing) -- and finally Sam's Club (stocking up), he said that showing his wife a good time was expensive. I reiterated that he was going to enjoy a lot of these items, too.
He just grinned...and bought me a luxury supper: the $1.50 hot dog and drink special at Sam's Club. It was delicious.
Vietnamese leftovers for breakfast.
FRUGAL HITS
(A few days early, but hey...)
*Flowers, new slippers, mead, notecards, a pendant and a book -- all from the kids. (The sweet things. Thanks, dears.) Chocolates from friends. (Thanks, guys.) The Brick gave me two outdoor folding lounge chairs in bright Michigan yellow and blue, plus added a beautiful mother-of-pearl watch face with turquoise trim to a watch bracelet I already owned. (What a guy.)
Turning 64 will get that for you, I guess.
*Redeemed a $25 Amazon gift card -- with Swagbucks points. You can earn these, too, just for doing your normal looking-up and shopping work. Go here for more.(I spent mine on a new queen-sized sheet set -- marked down to $13.32! The rest went for corned beef hash; see below.)
*Tried some Armenian cucumbers -- they were crisp and crunchy. I collected seeds, so I can try planting them next summer. (These handle the heat better than regular cukes -- I learned about them, thanks to my blog friend, The Prudent Homemaker.)
*A few appraisals, plus a collection appraisal report. Quiet in this area -- but that's normal this time of year. I still have an update review for a client to go, plus some restoration work.
*Booked a cruise on MSC! Why is this a 'hit,' rather than a 'miss?' Let's see... a free upgrade to balcony on the already-reasonable price; $500 credit for our cabin; 10% off (we've used it before, the Brick is a veteran), and we booked 6 months ahead for another 5% discount. Rules have eased up on vaccines and COVID, thank God. And two cousins we love are also going with. (More in coming months.)
*More than a dozen bags of zukes for freezer -- and several meals of fried zucchini. In spite of (what I thought was) careful checking, still ended up with two 'baseball bats.' And the zuke plants are still producing. Plus five bags of okra for the freezer, destined for gumbo-- see below.
*Went out to lunch at Red Robin with friends. Used my free birthday burger. Had breakfast with a friend at Leja's, a new Puerto Rican restaurant in town. (The empanadas were delicious, and only $3.50 each. Snagged some bags of Puerto Rican coffee for $8.50 each, at the same time.)
*A HUGE $24 bag of jewelry, broken and otherwise. Got a number of embellishments, charms, etc. out of it, plus several necklace chains and at least six bracelets. (I wear a lot of bracelets...and wear out a lot of bracelets.) I think this is a 'hit,' but wasn't sure when I first opened the bag.
*Used up several things in the freezer, and a number of bits and pieces. Put the 'basement' pantry in order, so I can see more what I've got. Refilled several emptying containers of things like flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc.
*It stayed cool enough inside the trailer to keep the oven's pilot light on. More baking, including peach pie and crisp, biscuits, etc. An apple pie will be happening for the Brick later this week.
*Didn't go here. Didn't go there. When we did, we combined several errands with appointments. Saved on gas.
*A little bit of interest. Stock prices are not stable right now, thanks in great part to the White House's announcement that inflation is stationary...or decreasing. It is?!? (It would have been funny to point out that stocks REALLY tanked on the same day President Biden threw a big party at the White House to celebrate this... except it wasn't funny.)
*The Brick drove for Broken Tree, a church for disabled people.
*Hooked a temp job working for Douglas County Elections. Just a few days, but every bit helps.
*Got some new clothes -- from the thrift shop. Two shirts ($5 each) and exercise pants - a high-end brand ($7). Plus a dress for a daughter (99 cents!) and a shirt for the Brick ($5). A few Christmas stocking presents at a buck each. Also bought some goodies for the kids' stockings -- half-off, with a $1 coupon applied, as well. Whoo hoo!
*More 'gently used' buys: A two-quart canning jar full of thread: $8, plus two bins of wrapped embroidery floss: about $3 each. A couple more long-sleeved shirts: $4 each...and the best buy of all, several pairs of new and barely worn Sorrel and Rocky boots -- $10 -20 a pair. And thank you, 20% senior discount! (Thrift shop) A few $2 videos and $2 & $3 books from the library's used booksale room -- plus a bunch of free magazines. (Including Quiltfolk -- a $22 value.)
*Peaches from Palisade: Colorado has the best peaches in the world -- and that's coming from someone who grew up in Michigan's fruit belt! We picked up boxes for ourselves, plus friends who put in orders. I also bought Armenian cucumbers and a basket of okra. On the way, I appraised a collection for someone on the Western Slope, which paid for gas and expenses, as well as a soak in the hot springs pool at Glenwood. (Palisade is roughly 5 hours drive each way.)
*More rain! Those of you in 'runny' climates (like Michigan, for example) will never truly understand what having some regular showers means to us 'High desert plains' rats.
*Booked an April teaching/lecture 2023 gig -- hooray!
*Grocery and food specials: Oscar Mayer hotdogs - $2.49 -- but BOGO, for a total of $1.25 each! Pizza for $1.97 and 8 oz sliced Swiss cheese for 97 cents each. Also, free cucumbers, green onions and a 3 lb. bag of yellow onions, milk $1.97, 18-pack of eggs $1.97 (a truly astonishing price nowadays), peaches at 87 cents a pound. (Safeway) Safeway has this crazy trick for fruit. You can buy up to a certain amount -- in this case, it was 5 pounds. But go over that...and you get charged full price for the whole bag. Those peaches weren't that great, sadly.)
Other food bargains: Mary Kitchen corned beef hash, slightly over $2 each; Mandarin oranges in fruit juice, about $2.50 each; Armour canned beef stew, $1.71; sardines in mustard sauce, 3 oz. about 85 cents -- then an even better deal, 6 oz. for 98 cents. (Amazon Warehouse) Chicken tamales (canned), frozen Korean dumplings and tins of smoked oysters for $1.25 each. (Dollar Tree) I went back for more tamales and dumplings -- but have been skunked, so far. Plus free bread, including baguettes and bagels from the thrift shop.
I don't mention this much -- but every time we buy, on Amazon and elsewhere, we use our credit card, particularly Capital One. We get cash back -- and because we pay in full each month, we're not docked for interest, either. Sometimes the card will run a special, and offer extra cash back if you buy in a certain category, like gas or restaurants. You can be sure we take maximum advantage of that. It doesn't seem like a lot at the time, but these bits and bobs generally add up to $100-200 saved over the year. And that isn't chump change. (Go here for more, if you're interested. I'll get a bit of a bonus...and you should, too. BUT paying off the cards in full every month is the key -- otherwise, your savings are eaten up by interest.)
*Used our $45 credit at Sam's Club -- part of the benefits of renewing a $45 subscription to same. Stocked up at Walmart, on stuff I hadn't bought since we moved, e.g., soap and deodorant. I'd overstocked three years worth!?! (We still have plenty of hair conditioner.)
*The Brick is busy winterizing our fifth-wheel. My clever man can repair just about anything, including replacing seals that have cracked and degraded. This would have cost us hundreds, if not thousands of dollars at the RV center.
FRUGAL MISSES
*My gig at the Higher Ground Fair was cancelled -- not enough quilts in the competition. Ah well. I did get a cancellation fee, which helped -- since we were forced to 'eat' the hotel reservation fee.
*Wasted some of the okra -- I thought everything was still firm in the bag. It wasn't. (I did ok on the peaches, though. Not one went bad before they were eaten.)
*Our internet problem seems to have been solved. But it took extra money and equipment to do it.
*Okay, so we booked a cruise on MSC. Bad kitties.
*A $3 movie. Why is it in the 'Misses?' Because Thor: Love and Thunder was terrible.
\
Feel free to admire the poster, though.
*The 2021 income tax refund... where is it?? (We've been waiting since April.)
*No extra change found. (I looked, too.)
*Visited the hot springs -- felt wonderful, but ouch. $29 each.
*Lost money in the stock market. Just like everyone else. (sigh)
*Paid out more than $100 for postcards?!? Well, yes. 50-plus postcards I can use for articles and books -- at peanuts, compared to what it would cost to 'rent' these from institutions.
I also found an antique Denver Hanging Tree postcard. Very rare. Paid more than I wanted to, but less than they were asking.
Time to get used to this restful period. Last fall, we were headed to The Mama's in Michigan. She loved this time of year, too.
There he stayed and spent the night in this Jewish family home, where for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness.
When he went to bed, Mrs Karnofsky sang him Russian lullabies, which he sang with her.
Later he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs.
Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family.
Mr. Karnofsky gave him money to buy his first musical instrument, as was the custom in Jewish families.
Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions such as "St. James's Hospital" and "Go Down Moses."
The little boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family, who adopted him in 1907. And proudly spoke Yiddish fluently.
In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore the Star of David and said that in this family he learned "to live a real life and determination."
This little boy's name was Louis Armstrong.This little boy was called Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish. “Satchmo” is Yiddish for “big cheeks," a nickname some say was given to him by Mrs. Karnofsky!
Armstrong was born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901.His parents were Mary Albert and William Armstrong. Mary Albert was from Boutte, Louisiana, and gave birth at home when she was about sixteen. William Armstrong abandoned the family shortly after...
Louis Armstrong was raised by his grandmother until the age of five when he was returned to his mother.He spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood known as The Battlefield. At six he attended the Fisk School for Boys,a school that accepted black children in the racially segregated system of New Orleans.
At the age of 6, Armstrong lived with his mother and sister and worked for the Karnoffskys, a family of Lithuanian Jews, at their home. He would help their two sons, Morris and Alex, collect "rags and bones" and deliver coal. In 1969, while recovering from heart and kidney problems at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, Armstrong wrote "Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, LA., the year of 1907" a memoir describing his time working for the Karnofsky family.Armstrong writes about singing "Russian Lullaby" with the Karnofsky family when their baby son David was put to bed and credits the family with teaching him to sing "from the heart."[ Curiously, Armstrong quotes lyrics for it that appear to be the same as the "Russian Lullaby," copyrighted by Irving Berlin in 1927, about twenty years after Armstrong remembered singing it as a child.Gary Zucker, Armstrong's doctor at Beth Israel hospital in 1969, shared Berlin's song lyrics with him, and Armstrong quoted them in the memoir. This inaccuracy may simply be because he wrote the memoir over 60 years after the events described.
[Editor's Note: Or because Berlin 'stole' the song, just as Elvis helped himself to the melody of the traditional "Aura Lee" when he wrote "Love Me Tender."]
Regardless, the Karnoffskys treated Armstrong extremely well. Knowing he lived without a father, they fed and nurtured him.In his memoir Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907, he described his discovery that this family was also subject to discrimination by "other white folks" who felt that they were better than Jews: "I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the white folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for."[He wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination."
His first musical performance may have been at the side of the Karnoffskys' junk wagon. To distinguish them from other hawkers, he tried playing a tin horn to attract customers. Morris Karnoffsky gave Armstrong an advance toward the purchase of a cornet from a pawn shop. Armstrong wore a Star of David until the end of his life in memory of this family who had raised him.
(Thanks for getting me started on this, Rebecca of Quora. I never knew...)
Happy Rosh Hashanah! The Jewish New Year started on Sept. 26. L'shana tova tikatevu* to you, friends.
The Brick has a soupcon of German Jew in his blood. I, alas, do not -- just a touch of Basque mixed in with the rest, though.
* * * * * *
The trees are changing again -- a bit more. We spent the week picking up, finishing up and generally getting ready for cold weather. The Brick has been replacing seams that were degrading. I washed windows, on the truck, for the fifth-wheel, and on our friends' windows, as well.
The zucchini are kicking out vegs like crazy. It's like they know the end is in view. (And they're right.) We've been turning on the electric fireplace and wearing sweaters at night. Nothing exciting this week, except for a planned trip to the Goodwill outlet, then lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I'll also be headed to Daughter #1's house to thin out a garden bed crammed with daylilies and iris.
More work. More cleanup. On we go.
*"May you be inscribed for a good year in the Book of Life."
Ruby, last autumn in Michigan
An elk video for you to enjoy. (I heard an elk bugling down in the field a few weeks ago... have never heard that this close to the trailer.)
Red wolves are coming to Colorado. This rare species is thought to be an interbreed between coyotes and gray wolves -- and the only species unique to America.
"Humor gets us through dark times, in short," he stressed. "We really do need to laugh at the darkness, I think. That is the way that we kind of defy the darkness by laughing at it and I think it’s so important. It’s a great gift from God, and no matter if there are crazy things in society, a lot of things we are concerned about, we need to be able to laugh so we can criticize power and retain humor and humility about ourselves."
The bucket strategy for investing. (From RB40) This is actually quite similar to the strategy my favorite investment book, Quit Like A Millionaire, uses.
(This story was adapted from one that ran on Quora.)
One day, everyone's possessions disappeared.
No one had anything, including food...and people soon were hungry.
Three days later, God gave everyone a chicken.
The first group was overjoyed. They immediately killed and cooked the chickens -- then threw a party. Other people could not decide what to do at first. When they saw the fat and happy expressions of the people who had killed their chickens right away, they did the same thing.
Another group was also hungry. But when some realized their chicken was a hen, they gritted their teeth and endured the hunger pains until the hen laid an egg. It wasn't enough for full stomachs, but the hen laid an egg every day after that -- so they didn't starve, either.
Others had a rooster. They endured their hunger long enough to hire the rooster out to wake everyone up to feed the hens daily, as well as fertilize the eggs. In return, they got some egg to eat, plus a few chicks to raise. They also made a group deal; every once in a while, a non-necessary rooster was sacrificed, so everyone could have a taste of the meat. This kept the group healthier while the chickens continued to thrive.
So life went on.
The first group of people, as well as those who'd decided to follow their lead, were hungry. Why hadn't God given them more chickens??
The second group ate their eggs, going without just enough to mate the hens and roosters and raise chicks. (The occasional feast of chicken meat helped, too.) In time those chicks grew up, and the second group had a fine flock -- plus roast chicken every now and then, when the hens and roosters were too old to do their part.
Eventually the flock grew too big to manage. Then the second group approached the first, who by now were skinny with hunger, and hired them to help with the chickens -- in return for an egg a day.
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In time, some of the first group grew tired of this 'inequality,' and prayed, "Oh God please take away everyone's property -- so life will be fair again." God answered their prayers, took everything away...then gave each person a chicken on the third day.
I believe strongly in showing respect, for a monarch who ruled so long and with such dignity. Please consider giving her memory that respect, as well, by watching this.
(Do you know how to temporarily get out of doing a job you don't feel like doing? Work on a 'Monday Stuff' post, instead!)
The cool air and lovely skies around here are very inspiring. We only have patches of color down on the flatlands, but the mountains are working on it much harder.
We have a quiet week here -- lunch with friends, and a stop Tuesday night at a Irish pub 'trad' session. I have a collection report to finish up, and hope to put in a lot of hours on some quilt restoration. Maybe some movies too, while I'm working. The Brick is busy replacing seams on the trailer and doing some winterizing, before colder temperatures arrive. Ruby is busy 'supervising,' in her role as service/guard dog. It's amazing what you can accomplish with closed eyelids.
Lovely, lovely Fall.
Not here -- Michigan. We rarely get those shades of orange and red.
A whole lotta fuss about a banana duct-taped to a colored background (artwork by Cattelan)...from an artist (Morford) who duct-taped an orange AND a banana to a colored background, and considers that his trademark. (I am not making this up. I wish I were.) To add insult to stupidity, the banana guy (Cattelan) had this about his 'masterpiece,' Comedian:
According to court papers, three copies of Comedian sold, as well as two proofs, for a total of more than $390,000.
My question: What do you do when the produce spoils? (Yes, they're using actual fruit.) And what happens when the fruitflies arrive?
An interesting take (and use) on the cages first proposed by Obama's administration. (Yes, Gentle Readers, these first went into place during Obama's period...though Trump took the lion's share of blame for it. Ex-president Obama was very careful not to change that perception.) Maybe these could be constructed on the Obamas' estate, to save room?
Retired at age 38 -- thirty years ago?!? Not only that -- their investment total has DOUBLED. (From Millenial Revolution, the authors of my revered book, Quit Like A Millionaire)
(Here's something weird -- CNN didn't even cover this big celebration on its print site, and Nancy Pelosi had to remind people to clap for President Biden's "extraordinary leadership." And this was from handpicked celebrants, too. Hmmmm.
and William, brother Harry and their cousins took another.
The grandchildren arrive about 8:30 in the video -- but I hope you'll watch more than just their entrance, then exit some 15 minutes later. The respect and affection shown by the passing mourners is just as moving.
More in the video below. Her Majesty's funeral service is the 19th.
The middle-aged couple had finally learned how to send and receive texts on their cell phones.
She texted: "If you are sleeping, send me your dreams. If you are laughing, send me your smile. If you are eating, send me a bite. If you are drinking, send me a sip. If you are crying, send me your tears. I love you."
The husband, being a no-nonsense sort of guy, texted back: "I'm on the toilet. Please advise."
