Tuesday, September 12, 2023
The work of a writer
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Peppermint Patty, My dad, and Remembering our Soldiers
Dear Dad, Happy Memorial Day, but is it happy that we remember the soldiers who died for … us? Or who died because they died, and that’s just sad.
I’m thinking of you, every breakfast I make. I made an olive bread/toast olive-cheese omelet sandwich and had bratwurst with that. But I remember your cinnamon-sugar bagels, and those are my favorite breakfasts, because they’re yummy and because they’re made by YOU! 😃
Remember how Peppermint Patty would get angry with Charlie Brown, whom she would call ‘Chuck’, but then, when they reconciled they’d shake on it. But she wouldn’t let go of his hand. 🎼”You’re holding my hand, Chuck!” she’d sing gaily and she wouldn’t let go, watching him blush in embarrassment.
I think Peppermint Patty wanted to be loved, and I think she loved her ‘Chuck’ and wanted him to love her back, but she held all that inside her, this sadness, with a sly, winsome humor, joking with him, but still wanting to be loved.
I remember you here, looking out for me when I was sick, coughing during COVID, but you still took care of me, but then, I remember how home called you back. You were a visitor here, welcomed and loved, but still a visitor, not at home.
I hope you’re happy at home. Are you going to visit a Cemetery this weekend, and remember the soldiers? Connecticut is blessed in that you can walk down the road to a Cemetery and remember the dead. That’s what I do, when I visit a cemetery: I say their names and I pray for them. I pray that they are remembered and I pray for their peace in the next life.
Peppermint Patty: so good at sports, so cool, so confident … I think she’s the saddest Peanuts character: I think Charles Schulz knew that.
asdf
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
A man's a man for a' that
I 'love' it when women occasional post that men should be more sensitive, caring, thoughtful, socially-outgoing, ...
That men should be women.
Look. Why do men never post the opposite?
Because men love and respect women as they are.
Ladies, you love your man because he's a MAN.
And, sure, it'd be great if he crafted you a crème brulée and massaged your feet and lovey-dovied you to death.
But don't wish your man to be a woman: you'd eventually hate him for his effeminacy, and you got exactly what you wanted.
The reason that he's quiet around other people, that he doesn't plan out Mothers' Day, that he has work so you have to go to that function or take care of the family is because he's a man, and he's doing his job, as a man.
Pining for him to be a woman only brings resentment.
Instead of finding fault of what he's not, maybe, instead, recognize, to him, verbally, what he is.
Instead of noticing when he doesn't do something, maybe notice when he does: he's making an effort, for you, to please you, because he loves you.
Women: you have the power.
You can build your marriage and your family, or you can wreck it with just one word or just one look or just one tiktok.
And, yes, it's all on him, too, but as a man, not as a woman.
Think on these things, then thank God your man's a MAN.
Monday, February 20, 2023
Coffee Liqueur recipe
Status report
Irish Cream recipe
- Pour Irish cream into peach schnapps bottle.
- Wait for my cara spoza to make what she thinks is a fuzzy navel.
- Run.
- Hide. 😅
- Have self-preservation kick in, and label the bottle correctly as “peppermint Irish cream.“
Why is there never scotch tape in the house? 😤 #TheRealQuestion.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Drambuie recipe
... if the honey doesn't come out of the jar, run water continuously over it until the honey starts to flow.
Now, some use mortar and pestle, which is totally fine. I use my coffee grinder (after cleaning it thoroughly), which gets the same results: fennel seeds cracked open and powdery.
This all happens pretty quickly: 5 or so minutes.
Step 7: let steep for 3 days. Then: filter. Then: drink. Can be refrigerated for up to 6 months (???).
I don't refrigerate Drambuie, and my last bottle lasted for over a year in the liquor cabinet, but you store it however you like.
Monday, October 10, 2022
Christopher Columbus and Fr. McGivney
Guy with the (PINK!) tie, wishing you a Happy and Blessed Columbus Day, 2022, says hi! 👋
Christopher Columbus
The story of Christopher Columbus is a funny one:
He failed.
He set of to round the world for a shorter route to India, and never made it there.
God said: "No. I have something better for you."
You don't get what you pray for, because God has something better for you.
The Rest of the Story
The story doesn't end there.
400 years later. FOUR HUNDRED YEARS LATER!
Fr. Michael J. McGivney, of blessed memory, said: "Men need a quest. Men need nobility." He created the Knights of Columbus.
It is the world's largest men's Catholic, and therefore, Christian, organization
The acts the Knights of Columbus have accomplished, by men, charitable, giving, caring, noble men, by the Grace of God, are staggering. They have raised BILLIONS of dollars. They have put food on tables. They have cared for and carried, even to the grave, the lost and lonely.
They are an 'insurance company,' but that's just a front: a front to help widows and orphans, a front to provide scholarships to kids so they can go to school and better their lives, and give hope to their families.
Men.
Caring men.
Men with a purpose.
Men, by the Grace of God.
Honor History; Make Mistakes
This all happened because why?
Because one guy, Christopher Columbus, finally, bravely, talked to a monarch would would listen, Queen Isabella I.
He missed the target, by half the world.
But he did it, and brought Catholicism to the New World.
1 BILLION people from 1 mistake.
I am a Maronite Catholic.
And I am a Knight of Columbus.
Don't be ashamed of your History. Be proud of it. I am.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Make mistakes: God works through them. God works through you.
From your mistakes, you learn.
From your mistakes, God creates New.