258 Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II – My Favorite Reality TV Star

A belated happy 94th birthday to the Queen! 

For the few weeks, I have been trying to figure out what it is about this woman that fascinates me. 

I am a fan of hers but as an American of a somewhat liberal ideology, I had to do some real soul-searching to come up with why I find her appealing. Maybe you’ll agree with my reasoning or maybe you’ll think that’s not “savvy broad” thinking!

First, we “baby boomers” grew up with fairy tales. Oh, Walt Disney – you ruined the lives of so many little girls who believed that a prince would come and all she had to do was be beautiful and survive a wicked stepmother. 

Earlier fairy tales than Disney show the stories as cautionary tales rather than love fantasies. Maybe we should go back to those: don’t hang out with wolves in the forest; don’t stick your head in the oven, and don’t creep in someone’s house--eat their food and sleep in their bed! But--wait! Two commoners just married British princes in the past few years. Is that living the fantasy?

Elizabeth was crowned in June of 1953. She arrived at the Westminster Abbey in the gold state coach pulled by eight grey horses (Cinderella?) And here’s where the reality TV comes in: The Coronation of 1953 was ground-breaking in its own right--the first ever to be televised--it was watched by 27 million people in the UK alone and millions more audiences around the world. [Royal.uk/coronation] (An aside--I still have my Coronation coloring book!) 

Second, Americans love their pop culture. Royals are celebrities. We love our sports greats, our scandals (think Kardashians), our singers and actors and comedians and talk show hosts. These are the people--who in large part--form our opinions.

Third, the Royal family is removed from the daily politics of Britain compared with American politics. It’s okay to compare Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, but that’s not really relevant to do so when the mission work and goodwill tours of the Royal family are factored in. If we must address politics--Great Britain is still America’s greatest ally. (my opinion) Don’t you wish you knew what they were saying?

Fourth, we watched the Queen and Prince Phillip and their family grow up. Elizabeth has been Queen for 60 years. If my math is correct--we can have eight presidents in that period of time. Princess Diana was 20 years old when she married Prince Charles and the world has watched their two boys grow up. 

Don’t you wish you knew 

what they were saying?

Now we are watching William and Harry’s children grow up. Even Camilla has not turned out to be so bad--I think she really loves Charles. And is there enough press about Kate and Meghan? I am not sure we can escape without some knowledge of what’s going on. Sadly, we know much more about their lives than that of the women Joe Biden may consider for a running mate.

Fifth, and finally--I find Queen Elizabeth to lead by example. She works long and hard to fulfill her commitment to her position. Part of the Coronation oath is a yes answer to this question: “Will you to your power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?” (Royal.uk/coronation) She shows dignity and respect to all in her public life and she has learned to embrace change--Harry/Meghan decisions and her April Covid-19 speech are examples. 

Besides that--she has marvelous hats and she loves dogs! I would say she is a VERY SAVVY BROAD!

Stay safe--don’t give up the masks and gloves yet. 

Savvy? Broad! Glenne

259 Forgotten but not lost

Forgotten but not lost

Staying at home to stop the spread of coronavirus has spurred many of us to straighten, clean out, and take stock of what surrounds us. While purging and tossing, I came upon a folder of writing, most of which I had forgotten I had written. I don’t know how that is possible, but believe me, it is.  I am sharing one of those lost writings with you in this blog.

I promise I won’t bore you with another discovered piece -- a history of newspapers in Logan County, W.Va. where I was born and lived for two decades. I knew I had written the history (I remember spending hours and hours going through microfilm) for a college course at Marshall University, but without computer storage, I thought it was gone forever. 

The piece I am sharing was preserved on a sheet of typing paper (that is what we used to call it) that looks as if it was typed on a manual typewriter.  There is no date but my name is printed at the bottom, and it includes my married name so it had to be written after 1968.   I would estimate it was composed somewhere in the 1970s and early 1980s.  I started using computers in the 1980s.

I do reference in the piece that more than 75 years ago my family came to the U.S.  My grandfathers arrived around 1910 so that puts the origin of this piece in the mid-1980s.

After hearing this is Immigrant Heritage Month, I feel this gives it a little bit of a news peg and some relevance to the times. Plus, the recent DACA ruling by the Supreme Court also adds to the timeliness of this blog.

The poem (it appears in stanzas) or prose (it reads in complete sentences, no rhyming) does depict my family and how they regarded this country and the symbol of the Statue of Liberty.

The Lady

There she stands

in the harbor

in all her majesty

a sign, a symbol

of freedom to all

who come to her shores.

Over 75 years ago

my family arrived

ready for a new life

full of new hopes and dreams.

There she stood

with extended arms

welcoming them to America,

the promised land

of opportunity

where the streets

were paved with gold.

Fear and doubt

must have engulfed

them as they

first gazed

on this land

guarded by the lady.

But there was

no turning back

no second thoughts

as they embarked

on a new life.

From the lady,

they moved

through the lines

on Ellis Island

to New York City

to finally settle

in the hills of W.Va.

The coal fields gave

them jobs, homes,

a chance to survive

in a new land

with a new language

and with people

who looked not

like them.

They worked, struggled,

learned, and survived.

There were good times;

there were bad

in this new land

they had chosen.

The families grew,

the jobs got better,

the language became

less of a barrier,

and the new ways

were less strange.

Prized citizenship

was earned by those

who studied and

learned the history

of the new and

exciting land.

And now here I stand

a product of this chain

of naturalization

gazing into the face

of the same lady.

She still welcomes

all to America

the land

where people come

together to form

a nation like no other

in the world

with the lady there

always watching

and guarding.

                      Frances

258 Yogurt power

Yogurt Power!

I think I have been eating the same breakfast for 12 to 15 years. I usually get bored with eating the same thing (or at least cooking the same thing) so my yogurt breakfast is remarkable. 

It is easy to fix--just put in a bowl and stir. The flavor I now favor is plain yogurt, blueberries, and walnuts. I started out with flavored artificially sweetened yogurt, fruit, and Grapenuts, which is what my hubby still prefers. The plain 0% Fage yogurt I eat has the highest amount of protein and no fat. Poor hubby opened one of mine by mistake and was SHOCKED that anyone could eat anything that bad. It is an acquired taste! I view it as the judges on the food contests would: the yogurt has a creamy mouthfeel with a slightly sour taste (when mixed up). The blueberries provide both sweet and sour, and the walnuts give the needed texture!

Plus, those three ingredients are rated by nutritionists as very healthy choices. So I think I am eating a healthy dessert every morning.

I can remember thinking that yogurt was eaten only by health-food quacks and people near the Black Sea who lived a very long time.

It turns out yogurt has been around since the end of the Stone Age when nomadic people, probably in Central Asia, milked their animals and carried the milk in pouches made of sheep stomachs. The stomachs contained an enzyme that curdled and preserved the milk. 

By early A.D., Greek authors discussed yogurt, which eventually made it to Europe. 

It was made and distributed on a small scale until in 1919, Isaac Carasso, opened a small yogurt company in Spain, naming it after his son, Danon. He brought the Danone brand to France, then immigrated to the United States in the 1940s and the brand became Dannon.

You've seen it in the grocery store today. There are many flavors and brands to choose from. When a new Greek yogurt shows up, I will read the label and see how it measures with Fage. So far, Fage has the best taste, texture, and nutrition of the plain yogurts I have sampled.

But Fage is low on the list of what is purchased in the U.S. It is a little more expensive. A 2015 article stated that 6% of US people eat yogurt on a daily basis. I have to believe that number has gone up, but the yogurt shelves were never empty in the stores that I have shopped since the pandemic began. 

France has the highest consumption of yogurt. Countries other than the United States tend to eat less of the sweetened yogurts. The consumption numbers also include frozen yogurt and yogurt drinks. A market survey I saw predicted that growth is going to be in yogurt drinks.

Unsweetened yogurt is also a great substitute for sour cream.

So I plan to keep on eating my healthy breakfast--just don't make me eat broccoli!

Trish       

257 Savvy - A Retrospective

SAVVY – A Retrospective

Hello, Friends, I hope you are well and safe! It’s been another lousy week in American history, has it not: the virus, the riots, the world in turmoil, too many deaths, too many people taking chances and so much fear. And, frankly, too much time on my hands thinking random thoughts as I clean out closets or play on Google. 

I started thinking about our blogs. Have we been savvy? Have we shared some things of interest? Have we made you laugh?

Here is the dictionary definition of SAVVY to help you decide if you think we are three savvy broads: Shrewd and knowledgeable; having common sense and good judgment (Oxford English Dictionary.

From Trish, at lunch one day: “…We weren’t drinking anything alcoholic, but somehow came to the realization that we had a great deal of unshared collective wisdom. More importantly, we felt everyone could benefit from our insights after we were in retirement. We agreed, ‘Let’s do a blog’!”

We started our blog in August of 2014! Whether we have always remembered to count correctly or not, we are numbering today’s blog as #257. I’m proud of us. Without looking back at all our contributions, I came to the conclusion that we do each represent something different.

Trish is our historian. She knows or knows how to find anything about the Civil War you might ever want to know. Often, she is the scholar of the group (or at least it comes through that way – remember when she was telling us all the poetry she’d memorized?!) 

She has a wry sense of humor. I remember she posted a blog about Yogi Berra: she has become something of a “snow bird” with some exquisite wildlife photos from Florida and we all know that she’s got her hands full with her Jack Russell and her “relicman” Harry. 

Frances, our educator and editing guru, is very much our nature girl. I remember Frances hugging a tree, admonishing us to get out and walk, and sending photos of beaches, hikes, and mountains and streams. 

Frances, then and now says: “I invite all of you to get to know your community a little better by becoming a streetwalker and take in all the unique and special qualities of where you live. Don’t rush it --- take your time and enjoy it.” (Frances, a “streetwalker, hmm?”) 

So where does that leave me? I guess I am the eclectic one. I love to read; I love winter and snow. I love my dogs. 

I like nature from inside looking out, though I do have two (that’s all that are left--thank you, deer!) rose bushes and I pull random weeds. Sometimes I am very sociable, sometimes a recluse. 

I like puns, cartoons, comedy, and anyone who fixes my dinner so I don’t have to cook. I worry a lot – a whole lot – and I know it’s a waste of time. (I have a child, her husband, and only grandchild in Manhattan.) But this is what I know and why maybe I am a little bit savvy:

Stay safe, stay well, wash your hands, and wear your masks! If you should happen to be in NYC--the curfew is 8 pm! All the best to each of you, 

Glenne