A Lion and A Lamb

An English proverb says "March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb."  Or vice versa as it may apply.

With the weather we're experiencing here in Michigan's Thumb region the last few day, it is definitely a Lion kinda ending to the month's end.

If my memory is correct (and at my age, who knows) I vaguely recall escaping Traverse City during a 15 inch snow fall that caused power outages and road closings -- at the beginning of the month.  Hmmm.

But where did the Lion and Lamb saying come from?

The phrase has its origins with the constellations Leo, the Lion, and Aries, the ram or lamb. It has to do with the relative positions of these constellations in the sky at the beginning and end of the month. Someone adopted the saying for weather predictions and it became weatherlore.

BareNakedBill is not only fun, but educational as well!

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Graham Crackers

Why is crunching on graham crackers so comforting? There's just something about the flavor and texture of them that I love.  

I can eat them plain or with peanut butter.  Sometimes spread a thin layer of creamy butter and make a little sandwich.

Honey Maid is my brand choice. Don't ask me why, but they just have a taste I enjoy the most.

The graham cracker was developed in 1829 in Bound Brook, New Jersey, by Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham. A real graham cracker is made with graham flour, a combination of fine-ground white flour and coarse-ground wheat bran and germ.

Graham crackers are often used for making s'mores and pie.

The Graham cracker was originally marketed as "Dr. Graham's Honey Buckets," a health food as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what Rev. Graham considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham.

Reverend Graham would often lecture on "self-abuse" as it was commonly called at the time. One of his many theories was that one could curb one's sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was Dr. John Harvey Oswald, the inventor of the corn flakes cereal.

Funny reasons for inventing a food we all enjoy today.

WTH?

My new printer sitting on the front porch.
Thanks USP! Good thing I don't have thieves for neighbors.

Say NO to Hate!

The other day I was listening to talk radio and they played a clip of Cee Lo Green, a judge on NBC's The Voice, commenting to a question about what he thought fellow-judge Adam Levine new celebrity fragrance should smell like.

Watch for yourself (you can skip the ad by clicking the the graphic in the lower right 5 seconds after it starts playing):

I'm not sure if Mr. Cee Lo was trying to be funny or if he's just stupid, but his remarks were totally anti-Semitic.

Why is no one enraged?  If the tables were turned and Levine used the N-word to describe Green's fragrance, the world would stop turning with outcry of racist remarks.

Hate is hate is hate no matter how it's dished up.

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific types of individuals. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of people based on some prior assumptions. Another name for stereotyping is bias. A bias is a tendency, most of which are good -- like knowing to eat food instead of paper clips, but sometimes stereotyping can turn into discrimination if we misinterpret a bias and act upon it in a negative manner.

When we begin to believe the stereotypes, we're in trouble. Cops sit around eating doughnuts, blacks are good athletes, gay men have AIDS, obese people are slobs -- these and all other stereotypes, when believed, become an untrue-fact that can breed hate.

Hitler used the term "smelly Jews."

Cee Lo Green's comment about Adam Levine wasn't funny, but it was certainly stupid. With all the biased, stereotyped hatred this black man has certainly faced, he should have known better.

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TUESDAY TALLY: Favorite Foods

Here's the Tuesday Tally of Favorite Foods my Mom would make:

1. Cubed steak smothered in mushroom (soup) gravy.
2. Potato soup made like my grandma Esch: mashed potatoes thinned with milk and butter. My brother Chuck remembers the soup served with sizzle steaks in time for Bonanza on Sunday night.
3. Turkey with stuffing (think Thanksgiving!).
4. Fried Chicken... Totally artery clogging! Whole chicken pieces (there was no such thing as boneless chicken) rolled in flour and dropped into a pan of hot oil with butter.
5. Cheeseburgers... fried in a cast iron pan so the outsides were slightly crisp and the insides were juicy. This pan was also used to fry eggs in bacon grease.
6. Spaghetti. Don't ask for the recipe, you'll just scratch your head and say, "are you serious?"
7. Chicken Noodle Soup with chicken gizzards. I used to pick out the gizzards.

So things you would never see on this list are: beef tongue and heart. I just had to mention that for my dad and brothers.

Absolutely Fabulous!

I’ve never really understood British humour (British spelling).

During my collage days in the early 80s, Benny Hill was all the rage.  What a snoozefest!

Aside from shows on TV in the U.S. that are adaptations of sitcoms across the pond (The Office!), we American’s don’t get much exposure to what makes the Brits laugh unless we tune into PBS or BBC-America.

One exception to my BBC-viewing lack of interest is the cult-classic: Absolutely Fabulous or AbFab as it’s known by its fans.

Edina "Eddy" Monsoon and Patsy Stone are a pair of high-powered career women on the London fashion scene: Eddy runs her own PR firm, and Patsy holds a sinecure position at a top British fashion magazine. The two women use their considerable financial resources to indulge in a life revolving around alcohol, recreational drugs, and chasing the latest fads in an attempt to maintain their youth and recapture their glory days as mods in Swinging London. The partnership is largely driven by Patsy, who functions as both codependent and enabler to Eddy. Their lifestyle inevitably leads to a variety of personal crises, which are invariably taken care of by Eddy's young daughter, Saffron, whose constant abuse at the hands of Eddy and Patsy has left her a bitter, cynical teenager (and now twenty-something woman just released from prison) who nonetheless continues to care for her mother out of a sense of unconditional love.

While the dialog may not make you laugh, the subtle references and odd turn of events mesmerize me. Over the course of several seasons, Patsy’s beehive hairdo continued to get taller.

I watched a few of the most recent episodes.  And while I sat watching the idiotic adventures of Eddy and Patsy, I had no idea why I continued to watch.

Maybe I’m starting to understand what makes the Brits laugh.

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New Feature: "What The Heck?"

Today marks the beginning of a new BNB feature called "What The Heck?" where I'll share a photo or two for your enjoyment.  I won't be sharing much detail, but I encourage you to log on to the BNB blog site and added your own caption.  Come on!  It will be fun.

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Marlette, Michigan; March 20, 2012

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