X

• X marks the spot!
• X In Greek, the language of the New Testament, the word Christos (Christ) begins with the letter "X," or chi.
• Thought to be the most powerful letter in the alphabet, the letter X is used in many areas of life, from astronomy and science to algebra and spirituality. 
• The skull and crossbones symbol has long been associated with danger and death, 
• is believed that the X can ward off evil spirits 
• a value that is not yet known
• included at the end of a message and means kisses.
• The twenty-fourth letter of the English alphabet: from a western form of the Greek alphabet.
• What a letter to mean so many different things!

Walk To Save A Life

Recently, we organzied a walk through the neighborhood for a dear cause--Our great grandson,

JD, Jerry Duncan, was born with CDH  (Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia)  He is doing well after his surgery and finally came home from NICU after two months and two days.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) occurs in an unborn baby when there is a hole in, or incomplete formation of, the diaphragm (the muscle under the lungs that is responsible for breathing). This hole allows the abdominal organs (eg. spleen, liver, intestines, stomach) to move into the chest, and prevents the lungs from developing normally because of the lack of space to grow. The defect can occur on the left side, right side, or both sides. The defect is usually discovered on ultrasound before the baby is born.

We had a nice turnout for this event and will likely do this every year to support all CDH babies.

Here is photo of our little CDH boy--JD!

 

Voodoo Queen

There is a great tale about the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau.

Visiting New Orleans, it is a must you go by Marie's tomb, located in Louis cemetery #1

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A little aside here--my brother visited us in NO, driving a brand new car, which he parked right outside the gates of cemetery.  As we walked through the tombstones and came to Marie's tomb.

The belief is that one must break off a piece of brick from another tomb, spin around three times, scrape three X's onto the tomb, and do some sort of knocking on the tomb. Then an offering should be left at the tomb and your wish will be granted. X's that are circled are said to mean that the wish had come true

My brother said " I don't believe in this" and he walked on; coming back to his new car--it wouldn't start!   He tried and tried--it still wouldn't start.  We said to him, "better go back to Marie's tomb, leave

 an offering, knock three times and place your X's, spin around 3 times

He did that!  Went back to the car and it started!  

!

Read about Marie, she is an interesting person.

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Unusual People

Do you read books about unusual people and unusual topics? 

Of course, there have been movies made about the following people; somehow, reading the books are more enjoyable.  If you have ever visited Denver, you can tour the home of Margaret Brown--very interesting story tour.

 Margaret Brown, posthumously known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a passenger on the RMS Titanic which sank in 1912 and she unsuccessfully urged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris field to look for survivors.  Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was a passenger on the RMS Titanic which sank in 1912 and she unsuccessfully urged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris field to look for survivors. 

Born: July 18, 1867, Hannibal, MO

Died: October 26, 1932, Barbizon Hotel, New York, NY

Children: Lawrence Brown, Catherine Ellen Brown

Spouse: James Joseph Brown (m. 1886–1909)

Siblings: Mary Ann Collins, Helen Tobin, Daniel Tobin, Catherine Bridget Tobin, William Tobin, Michael Tobin

Parents: Johanna Tobin, John Tobin

This book is so earth shaking!  It's hard to believe this fellow met so many obstacles during WWII.  There is also a movie.  Unbroken! 

Louis Silvie Zamperini was an American World War II veteran, an Olympic distance runner and a Christian Evangelist. He took up running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m race for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finishing 8th while setting a new lap record in the process. 

Born: January 26, 1917, Olean, NY

Died: July 2, 2014, Los Angeles, CA

Spouse: Cynthia Applewhite (m. 1946–2001)

Siblings: Pete Zamperini, Sylvia Zamperini, Virginia Zamperini

Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead--  There are many books about this event

Isaac Tatem Hopper was an American abolitionist who was active in Philadelphia in the anti-slavery movement and protecting fugitive slaves and free blacks from slave kidnappers. 

• Born: December 3, 1771, Deptford Township, New Jersey, United States
• Died: May 7, 1852, New York City, New York, United States
• Spouse: Sarah Tatum Hopper
• Children: Abigail Hopper Gibbons

Trivia

 Remember the game Trivial Pursuit?  Our family enjoyed teasing each other with questions from that game.  Now. It seems to be making a comeback, especially in pubs and bars.  Get a group together, give yourself a cool name,  make special matching t-shirts, be ready to dazzle the other groups.  Prizes are small things or just the knowledge you knew all this trivial stuff! 

Trivia' comes from the Latin 'trivialis,' meaning "found everywhere, commonplace." One meaning of 'trivia' is "unimportant matters." But as valuable as scholarly knowledge can be, trivia sometimes gets a bad rap.

Trivia facts can be recalled faster than important things by my mind.  The old brain will come up with theme song from some 1970’s TV show But can not remember the neighbor’s kids’ names—which you hear shouted often!  Trivia is useless facts—for example:

 Fun Facts and Trivia

• It is impossible for most people to lick their own elbow. 
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
• A shrimp's heart is in its head.
• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

Isn’t that fascinating trivia?!  When does that info come up in a conversation—like, never!  If you want to gain control of conversation, pop out one of those useless facts! 

By answering questions and learning, you're improving your cognitive skills. Retaining information about topics you're interested in is like an exercise for your mind, allowing you to expand your intelligence and improve mental capabilities.

Soooo, there is something good that comes out of knowing trivia!

Sew With Me

Sew much to sew, sew little time!  A few new sew alongs that I plan to sew.  A friend has asked me to make a quilt for her Little Sister Program.  I'm thankful to have an outlet for my twin size quilts.

Walkabout is a wonderful reminder to move about at least 30 minutes a day and sew at least, 30 minutes a day.  The clues are added each day but easy to do. Sew with me on this top.

Boutiful Charity is offering this top--What a perfect opportunity to serve  a charity with this top!

Sew Preetiquilts is sponsoring another quilt along to benefit Mercyful Quilts--gives quilts to their terminally ill patients to bring some measure of comfort to the person and their familyas they go through the process of dying.

There are always charities that will accept your quilt donations.  And it keeps me and you sewing!

Main Resu

Recipes!

 I love cookbooks and recipes--maybe not so much cooking!  There is something about opening a cookbook to see amazing food photos!  Would my dishes look that good?  Probably not!  Some of my favorite recipes come from my southern books--I have a favorite in almost every book I own.  Of course, I haven't tried All the recipes in the book--but wouldn't that be fun??!!  Maybe later on, I'll pick one book and go from beginning to end.  

Recipes come in all means—you can find a food recipe online easily.  Since, I can't carry those books with me everywhere--I resort to the internet.

Several of us are dishing up a meal for the participants of a walk.  What will we serve for lunch buffet?  There will be brisket, smoked by son—his recipe always varies—the seasonings include salt, pepper, lemon pepper, ??, else.  How long he smokes or type of wood—no idea—I just hand him the brisket and the next day we have smoked brisket!  We will serve flour tortillas instead of buns.

Daughter is preparing Southern baked beans—

always delish!  This recipe could be a meal in itself because of ground beef--she makes hers in slow cooker as it cooks alllllll day or night long.

My recipes for buffet include Mexican Street Corn Salad 

Since food will be served over a period of time and outdoors, I wanted a recipe that didn't include mayo.  You can find roasted Mexican corn frozen so I don't need to roast the ears of corn.

The other recipe I'll make is pasta salad--there are so many good ones in the cookbooks; I'm gleaming  from several.

Above recipe (quick and easy pasta)  includes peppers, tomatoes, zucchini (won't use that--nobody would eat it), black olives,  pepperoncini, mozzarella balls, sliced scallions, curly pasta and uses no mayo--you can add almost any veggie to this recipe--will be fun to create for the walkers. 

Of course, there will be sweets--brownies, cupcakes, cookies.

What’s your favorite recipe?