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My, Oh, My, It’s MAY! 2010

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Woke up this morning and realized it was May 1st. Luckily, I have been taking pictures all week of azaleas and will post some today and during the next few days. They bloom for a short time, but their beauty is worth it!

May is National Mental Health Month, and since depression runs rampant in my family, I want to focus on this important issue. Last fall I saw a powerful play on this subject. It is called Next to Normal, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for a distinguished play by an American author. I have the CD and plan to play it so I can review the music. I will post the review later this month.

May is also NATIONAL BIKE MONTH. I lifted this information from the Internet. (The photo is mine):

The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week 2010 from May 17-21 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 21. Need some ideas? Use the League’s step by step guide on how to get started promoting your event. Help us Count Cyclists In this May, and every month!

The official site for National Bike Month is (http://www.bikeleague.org).Check the events section often to see what bike month and bike to work week events are going on in your community.

If you would like to submit your event information to be posted on this site, email it to communication@bikeleague.org. Please make sure you write, “Bike Month Event” in the subject line of the email.

Another amazing azalea bush!

I received four books to review from Square One Publishing and this month plan to review the first one I just read called Suicide by Sugar, by Dr. Nancy Appleton and G.N. Jacobs. The information is both disturbing and enlightening!

For my profile this month, I have chosen a female entrepreneur. I purchase almost all my fabric needs from Johanna and thought she would make aninteresting subject. And she did!

Johanna in her colorful shop, Cloth & Bobbin, in Narberth PA.

Almost forget that May is also Mother’s Day. I want to focus on single moms, because I think they have the hardest job of all. Julia Ward Howe is the woman responsible for this day, although her intention was to make it a day of peace. Too bad Hallmark took over! Below is a photo of the originator of this day.

I don’t want to forget the recipes I plan to make and what I just made last week, when the weather was cold. I mixed some cold weather items with asparagus, a spring food. Below is a photo of my asparagus stir fry, with the recipe on the “docket” to post this week coming. Also, Creamy Asparagus Soup without the cream!

Finally, I want to acknowledge all the wonderful comments I have been receiving. It is heartwarming to know that so many people are enjoying my website. Keep the comments coming! I lap them up!!

Happy, joyful MAY!

While azaleas are blooming everywhere, tulips are on the wane. But I still found some tulips today and thought I would post this one as a farewell to tulips until next Spring.

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April 2010: Spring Has Sprung!

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

About time, I say! Winter was very long this year, and when I saw my first crocuses and daffodils, I felt joyful. And since JOY is the theme for 2010, the fit is perfect! I wrote a poem to celebrate Spring and it is posted below.

I think the most important “event” for April will be Earth Day, and if my memory serves me correctly, which I often doubt, I attended the first Earth Day in 1970, which means this is the 40th anniversary. There was no talk of Global Warming or Climate Change or even eating lower on the food chain that day to conserve resources, but now many of those ideas are on the tips of our tongues and uppermost in our minds. My plan is to add an Earth Day “tip” to every posting, either as part of product information, book reviews, or just quotes and pieces of information I have gathered in my files. (Your suggestions are also welcome.) Actually the photo below of birds positioned like a smile, seems perfect, as though God or whoever is up there is smiling down on Earth. (A friend sent me this.)

I plan to post some easy, healthful, tasty “low impact” recipes to celebrate Spring and Earth Day. Hopefully, these will bring a smile to your face, pocketbook, and tummy! The first one will be Potatoes Primavera. I figured that if I use lots of veggies with the potatoes, they would offset the impact of white potatoes having a high glycemic index. I will post this recipe in a couple of days. This is just the photo.

As for a book review, I am thinking of books that are appropriate for Earth Day and Spring. This one, Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko, has been on my “Books to Read” list all winter and now I think this is the month to do it!

Apropos to book reviews is National Library Week, which will be observed April 11-18. “First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.” Source: www.ala.org. If you haven’t visited your local library recently, do it soon! I hope to interview a local librarian who has edited several humorous books.

One of the sadder items on the “menu” this month is Holocaust Memorial Day, Sunday, April 11th. As a Jew I am very aware of this day, but in the posting near that day I would like to discuss not only the nearly 6 million Jews who were murdered, but the non-Jews who were also caught in Hitler’s horror. It is something we don’t think about often, but when I receive emails about Darfur, I am reminded that Genocide is still with us. When I Googled this topic, one site that came up had as its theme “Legacy of Hope,” which fits in with my yearly theme, so I will look for something hopeful for this difficult day. Here is one of the logos from the Holocaust Memorial Day site: