Thursday Doors…special doors

It’s Thursday again and thus time for Thursday Doors, one of the best challenges out there. We’re still in Hermosa Beach, California living the beach and grandson life for a few more days so here are a few of the more unique doors I’ve seen on my walks. Sorry I couldn’t avoid reflections in the first one but I think it stands on its own (so to speak) anyway.

Tough to beat an old-fashioned mail box.

I drive a van, but it certainly doesn’t have a door like this one. But then I don’t live where there’s any surfing, either.

Most of all, happy 38th anniversary to my a-door-able husband. Thanks for putting up with me for so many years and you’d best be prepared to put up with me for many more! ❤

Happy anniversary to me!

Yesterday WordPress sent me a notification that it was my 6 year blogging anniversary.  Six years. Wow! Who’d a thunk?  I never imagined when I made my tentative start that six years later I would still be blogging and still loving it.  Heck, I didn’t even realize I’d have to have a blog name when I reached the end of the signing up process!

I had no idea that I would meet a number of fellow bloggers in person in places like San Francisco, Kansas City, Branson (Missouri), Philadelphia, Chicago, and even France in places like China Town, homes, writer’s conferences, coffee shops, libraries, and aboard a barge on a French river in full spate, or that I’d be chatting with people from all over the world.  What fun!  One of my goals is to meet many more of you in person.

Things I’ve learned about watermelon.

Yesterday was our 33rd anniversary, which is why I was absent from the online world.  .  As my husband’s favorite food in the world might be watermelon, I thought I’d honor him by sharing a few things I’ve learned about watermelon since indulging him in this low-calorie, good-for-you treat as often as possible.  🙂

1. Seedless watermelon aren’t, so don’t be taken aback or angry when you cut open that seedless melon, only to find little translucent “seeds”, really the coatings of seeds that haven’t matured.  They can’t mature and they can’t reproduce, so don’t plan on planting any to get your next year’s melons. *
2. In China, watermelon consumers like to either eat the seeds from regular watermelon or toast them, while Americans tend to spit them out…or avoid them by buying “seedless” melons.
3. No matter what you read about how to pick the right watermelon (tap them, look for a yellow patch, etc.), there’s no guarantee!  Just take your chances and enjoy.
4. The best time to cut a watermelon is the day you’re going to put your garbage out for pick-up, unless you mulch, in which case you may feel free to cut one whenever you darn well please!  All those rinds are heavy, too!
5. Watermelon rinds are great for putting on top of your shredded, private information.  Our recycling requires shredded material to be bagged which, to me, defeats the purpose, even though no one is likely to be able to reassemble our shreddings.  But put watermelon rinds or other wet food garbage on top and if anyone wants to try to steal information from that bag, have at it and good luck.
6. I can see why someone invented watermelon rind pickles.  She probably got tired of throwing out all those rinds.
7. The water part of watermelon isn’t just there for fun.  Once cut, the melon will lose, well, red water.  To keep the pieces lasting longer, drain that off every day…if the melon lasts that long.
8. Watermelon, although about 92% water, is distressingly good for you.  (Don’t stop eating it, though!!)  It has significant levels of vitamins A, B6 and C, lots of lycopene, antioxidants and amino acids, and a bit of potassium. It’s also is fat-free, and low in sodium and calories (40 calories per cup.)
9. If turned into a math formula: my husband’s ability to eat watermelon >>>>>the space in the fridge for the cut melon.  (That’s a greater-than sign to the 5th power, BTW.)
10. Egyptians placed watermelons in the burial tombs of kings to nourish them in the afterlife.  For more fun facts about watermelon, head over to this LiveScience page.
11. There’s lively debate about whether a watermelon is a fruit or a vegetable.  According to Natural Health ezine:  Most of us automatically assume that a watermelon is a fruit, but technically it is counted as a vegetable (The Oklahoma State Senate passed a bill on 17 April 2007 declaring watermelon as the official state vegetable, with some controversy surrounding whether a watermelon is a fruit.). It is related to the cucumber, squash and pumpkin plants. The watermelon is classified as Citrullus Lanatu. Regardless of whether the watermelon is a fruit or vegetable, it is known to be very healthy.
12. The heaviest watermelon weighed 268.8 lbs./121.93 kg (I wouldn’t want to pay by the pound for that one).  My watermelon-loving spouse says that would be big enough to make a casket and that’s how he’d like to be buried.  He adds that would be a green burial in both senses of the word.  I’m not sure what I can add after that, so I guess that makes this the end of my post!  🙂

*But wait, there’s just a bit more.  For anyone interested in how you can grow seedless watermelon if the seeds really aren’t seeds, here’s an explanation from a horticultural newsletter.

The obvious question asked about growing seedless watermelons is: “How does one obtain seed of a seedless watermelon?” Obviously, you cannot save seed from a seedless watermelon. So, where do the seeds come from? Simply stated, the number of chromosomes (the threadlike bodies within cells that contain the inheritance units called genes) in a normal watermelon plant is doubled by the use of the chemical colchicine. Doubling a normal (diploid) watermelon results in a tetraploid plant (one having four sets of chromosomes). When the tetraploid plant is bred back, or pollinated, by a diploid or normal plant, the resulting seed produces a triploid plant that is basically a “mule” of the plant kingdom, and it produces seedless watermelons. Seed of seedless varieties are available from most major seed companies.

Let’s go see Legos!

Duplos and Legos are some of the best toys ever made…for children and adults.  When our girls were little, we had a friend, a lovely Turkish woman, who came over once a week.  She and I would have tea and chocolate when the girls took their naps, but when they were up, she often joined them in creating Duplo/Lego masterpieces.  (And were we sad when they finally gave up napping!!)

Morton Arboretum, a jewel in the Chicago suburbs, currently features “Nature Connects®: Art with LEGO® bricks by Sean Kenney.”

464,770 LEGO® bricks + 4,170 hours of creativity =
13 larger-than-life displays inspired by nature!
A Chicago-area exclusive: July 17 through November 1.

Recently, we wandered the section of the gardens where the various creations were presented.  Here’s a sample of what we saw.

Happy anniversary!!

Sweet!! Yesterday was my three-year anniversary, both of being on WordPress and of blogging. I’ve managed at least a post per day during that time and enjoyed every minute of it. And though I’ve yet to be Freshly Pressed, except by circumstances beyond my control, I’m thrilled at how well my blog and I have been received.

SO…Thanks to all of you who follow This, that and the other thing, (even the majority who follow and are never seen or heard from), and especially to all the lovely people I’ve met who read, comment, and engage in conversation with me on a regular basis.  You’re the reason I blog and the reward for all the time I spend on my blog.  I’ve been blessed to meet some of you in person and hope and plan to meet more of you as time goes on. 

To those of you who’ve never surfaced, please come up for air sometime and let me know you’re alive.  I want to know what you (all of you) enjoy about the blog, what stimulates your thoughts, what soothes your souls, and even if you disagree with something I wrote. 

Thanks to my husband and younger daughter who encouraged, even forced, me to start blogging.  You enriched my life beyond words by doing that and your faith that I could do it made all the difference.

Thanks to each and every one of you for adding so much joy to my life.  I’m sending you this delicious dessert to enjoy calorie-free as a token of my appreciation and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow…and the next day, and the next day, and…

Twenty nine

Without you, life’s a beach,

but with you, it’s the cat’s pajamas. Happy 29th anniversary to my favorite cat.

An anniversary and a few random thoughts

Today’s (Tuesday as I write this) is my one year blogging anniversary, so I want to take the first part of this post to say thanks to all of you who read, “like”, and comment regularly, irregularly, or even just once.  I remember wondering whether anyone other than my family would ever read one of my posts and how excited I was when I got my first non-family “like” and then my first non- family follower.  Now I enjoy hearing from many of you almost every day and I love that!

Friday Fictioneers–Forever, Love

Friday Fictioneers says good-bye to creator Madison Woods this week and hello to our new home with Rochelle  Wisoff (no “h’)-Fields,http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/.   Madison, we hope to read your stories often; Rochelle, thanks for taking up the torch.  Now sit back and enjoy the read.  As always, click on the little icon at the end to access all the stories.  Oh, yes…thanks, Ron, for the picture.

Forever, Love

Their f­­­irst trip to their daughter’s as new citizens and their 60^th anniversary.  Truly a special day!  He smiled at his wife; took her hand.  He knew she really didn’t look the same as when they met, but that’s what his heart saw.  Thinking of their grandchildren, he tightened his grasp; chuckled.

Last stop before they arrived.  Only a few people got off, including the young man who’d been sitting in front of them.  As the bus started, he noticed the forgotten backpack.  Perhaps they could stop.  He called to the driver, “Excuse…”

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Bus Explodes—Terrorism Suspected
Over 80 dead