Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
That’s what its called: when you do it three times in a row, that is! That’s what a hat-trick means in the game of cricket. As also in the game of life, if you will. 🙂
And that’s what I’m celebrating today. This one particular staff-writer at The Emery, Huron High School’s newspaper, who happens to share a last name with me, had her story featured on the cover of the paper– three times in a row.
For a look at the album, click right here!
So this past summer, I wrote a piece on my private blog about cakes and such. The post is duly reproduced below for your reading pleasure just as much as it is to add the image of yet another cake as an illustration that serves to support all the points previously made. And to recognize yet again this tradition of eating cake, especially when a birthday rolls around– this one being my husbands’!
Let them eat it everyday (if they can and wish!), but let them eat it for sure on their birthdays! Well, the title of this post is a phrase oft-attributed to Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France known for her lavish ways for whom brioche or cake was as ordinary as bread. But cake is not ordinary. It is extravagant in every way: butter, sugar, flour and flavorings come together to create a decadent sensation for the palate and the eyes. It is the signature food for special occasions: weddings and birthdays, in particular.
And so, last week we had cake. To celebrate Samira’s 14th birthday. Not one or two, but three altogether! And here’s why: there’s the main one– a very fancy guava-and-lime tiered cake on the day of her birthday (which happened to be a Wednesday); another small one which was a double-chocolate fudge brownie cake (which is a tradition in our house to have a smallish one on the side, just for fun!); and a standard yellow sheet-cake on the day of her party (Friday of that week) with her friends that has a lovely blue-and-yellow frosting of flowers that also look like butterflies! Needless to say, all three were delicious!
And speaking of cake, I read this article the other day on an interesting concept in designing a dinner menu for a wedding reception– a novelty idea to have each dish catered by a different source, including the cake which looks oh-so-gorgeous in all that chocolate glory and those pink flowers (orchids?) as a shocking and delightful contrast against the rich brown chocolate exterior. Mmmm… I think that cake might have even stolen the show at that reception!
Oh, and by the way, that phrase Let Them Eat Cake, well, there is controversy on whether or not the line was truly uttered by Marie Antoinette. Here’s some more info on that.
So, enjoy these pictures of birthday cakes. They were certainly good enough to eat! Now, if only we could have eaten our cake and had it too… 🙂
Gotta love these double-takes! And gotta love editorial cartoons in general! Click on the link below the pictures to go directly to NPR’s website.
Complete collection of all Time Magazine covers of the Person of the Year starting w/ Charles Lindbergh in 1927. Click through each one (small arrow on far left side of the photograph) and see if you can identify the person/image without reading the caption below. (My fave US Prez FDR made the cover at least four times– and rightfully so!)
Happy viewing this photo gallery, thanks to LIFE Magazine.
This is big news if you put it into context, that is. In the USA there are still many places–small and big counties across this land–where the sale of tobacco and liquour products are prohibited on Sundays before Noon. This was true here as well until the city council laws that were passed yesterday…
Some years back, I lived in an altogether “dry” county in another state where there was no sale of such products in any store, and one had to cross the county-line to make such purchases!
I suppose the USA has come a long way from the days of Prohibition which resulted in many vices including the infamous bootlegging enterprises, etc.
There is, however, something to be said about the moral fabric of a people that chose to adopt such laws: it displays an inherently Christian ethic of observing the sabbath on Sunday, the Lord’s day.
Well, it could be anything… anything at all from a birds-nest, to a proper tree-house, to an ornament. Or many such ornaments. 🙂
Yes, I’m fully aware of the origins of the Christmas tree to be a symbol of a pagan winter festival and all, and yet I choose to associate it with the tradition of the season. And although I might be labeled as just another victim of the rampant commercialism that this holiday reeks of, I still choose to make of my tree what I will… which is that it represents family and tradition in my house.
Each ornament on my tree has a story– of when it was bought, for whom, by whom, and from where. That’s a lot of stories on that tree.
So, it’s ten days to Christmas from today– here’s wishing you a very merry one, and best wishes in the new year!
(And in case you’re wondering why this post has been housed here, this isn’t just a conglomeration of pictures of a christmas tree; it is the embodiment of a lifetime of christmases spent here in these great United States. It is a show. And it must go on.)
