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OUR AMAZING WORLD

Whew! I have been all over the world in the last few days and it was really fun. But I’ve finished looking for the most incredible structures made by man. Now I’m about to drink my herbal berry tea and eat my very chocolate chip cookie while telling you all about what I found on the internet.

I was putting together photos and information for the class I do with second graders after school at our local Boys and Girls Club. The class is called “Our Amazing World,” and I cover all kinds of things. My mission is to open up the world to these kids in our small city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to all the world out there that most of them have never seen.

Some of these kids have never even been fifty miles away to Albuquerque. One has been to New York City. One grew up in Alaska. One went to Disneyland in California. That’s about it. And in case you are not familiar with the architecture of Santa Fe, we do not have a single skyscraper and most all of our buildings, including homes, are in some shade of brown. In this case, the lack of bright colors makes the city beautiful.

I’m not new to traveling around on the internet because I’ve been teaching kids reading after school at the Club for sixteen years, but this is the first year I have done this geography/travel/social studies class. In looking for the material I need, I have spent hours of enlightenment and fun checking out websites and blogs.

I’ll be covering all the usual things–The Pyramids of Giza, The Eiffel Tower, The Great Wall of China, Mount Rushmore, etc. I don’t do the many ruins of antiquity because it takes too much explanation for eight and nine year old kids in the hour I have. But, I found some other things that they will really enjoy, such as the Ice Hotel near the Arctic Circle, and Burj Khalifa in Dubai as well as the Aquaventure Park and Wonderland Theme Park in Dubai.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore will excite the kids because of the park and swimming pool (the length of three Olympic pools) on the top of the building and with no roof.

Of course, there is the Space Station and, at the last minute, I found the Basket Building in Newark, Ohio, advertised as the world’s largest basket. It is really unique and quite beautiful. 

I have no idea how anyone with the internet available could possibly be bored. Since you are reading this blog, you are probably just like I am and web surfing all over the place. If you just stumbled on to this blog, I hope you will at least look up the amazing buildings in Dubai, The Ice Hotel, and The Basket Building.

SAD NEWS: A day after writing this blog, I had to cancel the program. The problem was that the parents would have to take the one day, that I do this program, to help their kids at home with the homework they have just begun to receive at school. The kids otherwise get their homework help from the staff at the Club. (I am a volunteer.) The parents say they don’t have time to help their kids even one day a week. That was sad news to me. Parent participation in school work is so very important and I think my program was, too.

COMING NEXT: I promised you something about the Ice Follies next but I wanted to tell you about what I just told you right away. So, the Ice Follies will come next. Stay tuned!

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FAMOUS GROUPS OF WOMEN

Hello, again. Remember the time that I talked about Spam and spam–one you eat and one you delete? I also mentioned that there was a famous group of women named Spam Girls. As best as I can find out, they were a group of 60 women hired by the Hormel Company to publicize the Spam luncheon meat. It seems that they were a drum and bugle corps and also danced. They toured the country around the late 1930’s.

About this same time, the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes was formed. Today,they still dance there, showcasing some 36 dancers. They are most famous for their high kicks and precision.

Then there were the Harvey Girls who worked in the Fred Harvey hotels located next to the railroad lines. They existed as a group from around 1900 up to 1960. Their history is a big part of the railroad story in this country.

In the 1920’s, a less formal group of women brought a huge change to this country. They were known as the Women’s Suffrage group, and fought to bring the right to vote to American women. Our recent Presidential election would make them happy seeing how many women were elected to Congress.

Yet another brave group of women was the Women’s Army Corps or better known as WACs. That group was formed in 1943. Those women covered many of the important jobs that needed to be done during World War II, not including actual fighting. However, much of the work they did required bravery as well as skill.

In the realm of sports, women also took over during the war since most of the young athletes were fighting overseas. Women’s softball was very popular beginning in 1930 but really picked up in the 1940’s. One team won five titles; it was the Jax Maids from New Orleans. Most of the teams at that time had names that indicated they were female, often including “girls” or some other female word in the title.

If you recall any other really famous groups of women somewhat like those above, I hope you’ll let me know in the comments section below. Meantime, I’m going enjoy a cup of peach tea and a chocolate cookie.

For more about women’s softball, go to Livestrong.com

COMING NEXT: I Saw The 1st Ice Follies Show

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IT’S SNOW MUCH FUN

My snow-covered backyard was so smooth and pristine on Christmas Day. Today I’m at my kitchen table looking out at the yard, while drinking my hot passion peach tea and eating a chocolate chip cookie, and the yard looks like a herd of elephants ran through it, many times. There’s also a pathetic snowman with a head that is now about the size of a baseball.

My California born and bred, young grandsons have been gone two days after spending five days with us over the holidays. The nine and twelve years old surfer-country kids created the waves of snow in the yard.

I watched them, from the same window that I’m peering through now, as they ran and rolled, scooped and threw snow, and attempted to build the snowman out of fluffy, not sticky, snow.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I’m trying to set up for explaining to you what unbridled joy looks like. What I saw was not a pair of happy kids having fun. What I saw was the almost uncontrollable emotion one might feel when experiencing complete freedom, while eating a chocolate chip cookie. Way
beyond happy.

Snow is not inherently enjoyable. In fact, as we all know, it can be a real nuisance and also dangerous. But humans discovered how to make snow cones out of icy water (like lemonade out of lemons). People began to slide on the slippery stuff on purpose with skis and sleds. They found they could mold it into shapes, such as snowmen. And when it is not a problem, we love its beauty.

It’s not always extremely cold when it snows, but here in New Mexico this year, we have had record low temperatures, so along with the snow, we have stunning icicles. My grandsons loved looking at those, too. Their mother grew up in snow and freezing weather and she tells the story of how she and her brother got their tongues stuck while trying to lick icicles. No doubt a very common story for young children in the northern latitudes.

My idea of a great activity on a snowy day will come as no shock to you as it involves cookies, tea or better yet, hot chocolate and a nice warm room.

However, that white stuff can be SNOW MUCH FUN.

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SPAM: EAT OR DELETE?

I’ve been following lectures on DVD’s* here at home, while I drink my tea and eat a chocolate chip cookie, and in one of the talks, the professor discussed the history of Hormel Spam. In case you are not familiar with that kind of Spam, it is a canned luncheon meat that became popular in the late 1930’s and early ’40’s.

Since you are reading this on a computer, I know you have experience with the technical spam and it’s sure not the one you eat, but rather delete.

I was very interested in the professor’s information about the food, Spam, because I am from the generation that ate a lot Spam all through World War II. We ate it with our eggs for breakfast, in sandwiches, and even as a main course sometimes for dinner. Right now, I have a can in my pantry in case of emergency.

If you weren’t around during WWII, maybe you don’t know that fresh meat was hard to come by for many communities. Of course, many other foods were in short supply as well. Sugar was rationed. We had books of stamps that were like coupons so that could get sugar. My mother used ours mostly for canning the fruit that we would go out and pick from farmers who allowed that activity.

People had Victory Gardens when they had enough dirt-space to grow fruits and vegetables. Mostly they grew vegetables. My parents only had enough room to grow strawberries in a small patch, but those berries were delicious.

We ate a lot of starch back then–potatoes, rice, spaghetti, breads. Funny enough, not as many people were obese as they are today, even at that. My family had access to live chickens from a local farm and we killed and dressed them ourselves. (Nasty job and the feathers really stink. I know because even a child could pluck feathers.)

Not so many years ago, I told my mother that I don’t like stuffed peppers. She said, “I overdid it, didn’t I?” I replied that she did. Because it was cheap, she served it quite often. Her green peppers were stuffed with meat that she ground herself (not Spam) and then mixed with breadcrumbs. Not exactly what I would call a gourmet dish.

I hope I didn’t disrupt your pleasure in eating your cookie with my explanation of the chicken, but at least I didn’t describe the entire distasteful process of preparing the bird for cooking. It was always delicious once it was ready to eat. And, it was a lot better than rabbit, which we often endured. You can thank me for not telling you how that was prepared for cooking.

* Great Courses are available from The Teaching Company
and I highly recommend you get their catalog

COMING NEXT: Famous Groups of Women, which includes information about the interesting Spam Girls as well as others.

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SPAIN IS A TRIP

Boy, looking at photos sure brings back the memories, doesn’t it? I got out old trip photos (the ones printed on paper) to look at while I drink my apple-cinnamon tea and munch on a chocolate chip cookie. What I’m viewing right now are photos from a trip that began in Spain. We had flown into Barcelona where we would begin a long cruise.

We, together with another couple, spent the night in Barcelona and when we got ready to get into the cab to go to the ship, we were forced to take separate cabs as we had too much luggage. Not being together did not make us too happy, but things got worse.

When we came to a roundabout, with a huge fountain in the center, the cab in front, that contained our friends, went barreling off to the right, and our cabbie sent us, on two wheels veering off to the left. While screaming at the two-wheel maneuver, I am also pointing and screaming, “Mi amigos, mi amigos,” which is about the extent of
my Spanish. Our driver kept right on in the direction he was headed and shortly pulled into an enormous empty lot next to a Russian freighter. Somehow we got him to understand that the ship we were looking for was one meant for tourists.

He shed rubber as he zoomed out of the lot and headed off on down the road. By this time, I am hysterical and my husband has either dozed off or died. His eyes are closed. But, shortly, we did arrive at our destination. Our friends were nowhere in sight and when they finally showed up, in the nick of time, we learned that their cabbie had taken them to the airport. They also experienced a bit of a language problem.

None the worse for wear, we cruised on. This little escapade did give us and our other table mates plenty to talk about for the rest of the trip. We had decided that our “mi amigos” event would be perfect for a Seinfeld show so we crated many scenarios. They were never officially presented, however.

I may never forget our little side trip to the Russian freighter and as long as things turn out all right, those unexpected events are really the most memorable.

By the way, we loved beautiful Barcelona. (Don’t forget to pronounce the “r” as “th.”)

I’d love to hear about some of your unscheduled trip events.

COMING NEXT: Spam : Eat or Delete?

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CRUISING IN A STORM

Because I’m drinking English Breakfast tea today with my chocolate chip cookie, I thought about the cruise we took across the English Channel back in 1994. It was the week of June 6, the 50th anniversary of the landing on Normandy beach during World War II.

Our cruise ship traveled from England, where we had been touring in London, to the coast of France. Now, the English Channel is known for its rough waters, but they were so rough on this trip that my husband and I and the couple traveling with us were probably the only people unaffected by the rocking and rolling. Lucky us!

The ship needed to dock in the closest port to ride out the storm so it headed for the beach at Normandy. Unfortunately, because the big anniversary celebration was going on, there were no slips available for our ship. Consequently, we cruised perpendicular to the land with the waves broadsiding us most of the time.

At one point, the four of us started down about six wide steps when the ship lurched and the glass cases from the gift stores directly ahead of us tore across the hallway and crashed. Talk about providing excitement. As you can imagine, we were almost the only ones in the dining room for lunch.

Today, when I was thinking about a title for this blog and landed on the one above, I had to look up the word “cruise.” (By now you know my love for the dictionary!) The first definition is–to sail or ride about from place to place, as for pleasure or in search of something.

Sometimes things in our lives can seem like a storm, tossing us this way and that, and so my wish for you today is to cruise happily through every storm.

For more information on D-Day and the landings on Normandy Beach,there are two good sources that I found: http://www.army.mil/d-day/ or an article in the International Business Times on June 5, 2012.

COMING NEXT: Spain Is A Trip

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COMMUNICATION IS MORE THAN TALKING

I just got through having a phone conversation that was a lot like a French farce. It was so frustrating that I am now having two cookies with my hot tea. ‘Round and ’round we went trying to settle a problem, with the other person in one place while I was running around, verbally, trying to find him.

We were at least on the telephone (landline, not cell) so we could have our word ping pong game. If we had been on email, as so many of us are so often, the so-called conversation would have never ended on the same day. So much gets misunderstood via email because there is often no review of the problem–no small talk or shop talk. Just the facts, mam. If you are going to have a satisfying, true dialogue there has to be some background presented and more emotion expressed.

The communication “experts” call what I just described as “straight talk.” I found a great article on this subject at the Iowa State University website.

I think that most of my adult life I have spent utilizing persuasive communication. I became an advertising copywriter right out of college. My job was to persuade people to buy some product or service. And I went from there into real estate sales where it’s all about persuading someone to buy or sell a home, land or business. My next move was to open an art gallery and try to persuade people to buy something that cost a lot, that they did not need, in the way they needed a roof over heir heads or food in their tummies. Moving on, I started an after-school reading program that had to have quite a few volunteers to make it work. I persuaded people to come and see the cute little kids and then the kids became the persuaders without even trying. I’ve always had plenty of volunteers. Who wouldn’t want to help kids learn to read?

Now I have written two books and am trying to persuade people to buy them. You can find the information at the side of this blog.

There are many means of communicating and many ways to do it. Talking, writing, laughing, crying, yelling, acting, even dancing and painting are just a few ways we can express ourselves. And to do this, we have phones (of many kinds), hand-held electronic gizmos, email (with blogs and websites and social networks), radio (if we can get on a show), and ditto for television. There’s also the stage and movies and art galleries.

The most important thing about communicating is that we each control what we want someone else to know. The ability and means to do this should be cherished. We’ve been given a lot more than a woof, meow, howl or growl. Let’s use it wisely.

COMING NEXT: Cruising In A Storm

 

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A TINY HISTORY OF VINTAGE ADVERTISING

I’m sitting here thinking about an email I got last night and drinking my hot tea with a delicious chocolate chip cookie. A friend forwarded the email so I don’t know its origin, but if you want a great laugh, try finding funny billboards in Canada. Honestly, they are not only creative but they are funny with an edge and some are a bit risque. I think they would never appear in the USA. Why I think that is a whole other story.

My husband and I were both advertising copywriters from 1953 on in Los Angeles. I left the business in 1972 but my husband continued until 1995. The period of the ’50’s and ’60’s is thought by many ad people to be the period of the greatest ads. It has been called a part of the creative revolution. By the way, my husband and I do not relate to “Mad Men” in any way.

That famous Volkswagen ad, “Think Small,” was the beginning and the company went on to produce many memorable ads about that little car. My husband worked in the Los Angeles office of the New York agency and in LA, they did not do print ads but rather did the billboards. My husband worked on the VW boards as well as on the famous ones created for American Airlines. One of the best known featured the line, “Don’t Keep A Lady Waiting” and the photo was of the Statue of Liberty. It was of course selling a trip to New York.

Before the 1950’s, advertising was mainly filled with facts and no humor or real concepts. “Buy Now,” “Free,” “Hurry In”were the major headlines followed by bullets (dots) giving each one of the simple facts about a product. The layouts looked like firework bursts and the idea was to try and shout a customer into buying.

Starting in the 1950’s, ads took on a clean look with a wonderful photo, simple type for the headline and copy, and plenty of white space. But the most important thing was that there was a twist to the message and usually it was humorous or at least very creative. Often, you had to be intelligent to “get it.”

The computer was just beginning to be a factor in television in the early ’50’s. None of the high tech creations were used then. Now, in my opinion, too much emphasis is placed on the tech look of the commercial and not much on the concept. Of course, I am from a generation that started my first job in 1949. Thank goodness!

There are quite a few web or blog sites devoted to vintage advertising if you are interested. There’s lots of information at the Advertising Age website adage.com.

Many popular writers began their career in the advertising business. It was also lots of fun to be part of the revolution. Hope you enjoyed this tiny bit of history.

COMING NEXT: Communication Is More Than Talking

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TIDBITS ABOUT BATHROOMS

I can’t complain about plumbers anymore, as I did in my “Ticked Off” book, because I’ve shopped around enough to end up with reliable workmen. So since I don’t have to keep pacing the floor wondering when the plumber is going to show, if at all, I’m happily thumbing through a decorating magazine and drinking my hot tea and munching on a chocolate chip cookie. The plumber is working on a leaking shower right now.

Many years ago, I became interested in the decor in bathrooms. I think it started when my husband and I travelled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, several times a year. The bathrooms in the restaurants and hotels are unique. Most are decorated with either Mexican tile floors or colored concrete. The wall decorations range from those inspired by American Indian art to Mexican art to hippie art. Oh, yes, with a little cowboy thrown in.

I was still living in the Los Angeles area when an article was published in the local newspaper about the best bathrooms in public places. First prize was given to one that I sure would have chosen as spectacular. It is in a fancy hotel in Beverly Hills, of course.

It was during this period of time that I was thinking about writing a bathroom book about the ones in Santa Fe. My family encouraged this crazy idea so I went forward. I ended up photographing bathrooms in hotels, restaurants, and in private homes. Everyone who knew about the project thought it was great, including an editor I was working with at the time. However, once I had the book ready for submission to publish, there was no one willing to make it happen. So it sits here gathering dust.

One fancy New York publisher wrote about the book, “No one wants to see someone else’s bathroom.” I visualized her at a walnut desk on the 60th floor of a fancy high rise, and she was dressed in an Armani suit.

One of the bathrooms had walls covered in letters from interesting, well-known people along with their pictures. Another one had rows of Milagros* placed on the wall and tub the same way you would use tiles. One had several birds’ nests, complete with eggs, sitting on the tops of small tables. Another had walls of collectible beaded American Indian handbags. (The New York publisher probably threw the book across the room.)

Our bathroom was tiled in green to compliment the trees up next to the three large windows. The centerpiece is (or was) a three-foot high folk art Kachina that has a lot of green painted on it. The two huge custom mirrors have Hopi tiles embedded in the frames and other Hopi Indian tiles are scattered among the green tiles around the sinks and tub. (Heaven only knows what the Armani-clad woman thought the Kachina and Hopi tiles were all about.)

There is a book that’s been published about outhouses. (The publisher is in Arizona, not New York.) I was going to include some of the outhouses in my book as well. So many of them are no longer standing and yet they were often cleverly decorated. Do you know that Hollyhocks grew wild next to many of them?

The bathrooms in the magazine I’m looking at right now are lovely but they don’t have the uniqueness of the ones I photographed. (Probably selected by the New York editor.)  Anyway, my suggestion is that you not be worried about making your bathroom as interesting as the rest of your house. After all, most of us spend quite a lot of time in that room. Why be bored?

*A milagro in this case refers to small silver or gold votive Mexican offerings in the shape of body parts or representing other things such as animals.

COMING NEXT: A tiny History of Vintage Advertising

 

 

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HOBBIES SHOULD BE FUN

I was looking at our collection of American Indian art today and realized that while collecting the pieces used to be a hobby it no longer fits that definition because we are selling now, not buying. I also knew that the dictionary defines “hobby” as something done for pleasure in your spare time. So I wondered if having a cup of hot tea and a chocolate chip cookie everyday can be considered a hobby.

Naturally, I had to go online and check around about hobbies. My conclusion is that we need a new word for hobbies. There was more than one site that had people writing in to discuss this topic and there was no final agreement on a definition.

At first, I thought maybe if you collect something, it would automatically mean that you had a hobby. However, how do you separate hobby from obsession? Collection can become an obsession. Well maybe you obsessively collect?

My husband and I used to know a rare coin dealer and he said that he made a study of collectors and found that some people collect for fun and others for profit. But if you are a for-fun collector, you’ll collect anything and it will be a hobby.

I’m wondering if collectors are not just born that way. When I was a kid I collected glass dogs and pieces carved in wood and beautiful rocks. I have two grandsons and one has been collecting toy cars since he was old enough to know anything about them. Our other grandson doesn’t collect anything. Maybe three examples are not enough for a decision.

What my husband and I found to be most interesting when we started collecting the Indian pieces is that there is an organization for collecting or doing just about anything that might be considered a hobby. We were in our Thirties before we discovered the world of American Indian Art, and it’s a huge world.

By the way, you should consider making a trip to New Mexico, where I live, because it is such an interesting place and a heart of American Indian art. If you’re not familiar with it, there’s lots of information on the internet. It’s a great place to bring kids on a trip. I’ve lived here for sixteen years now and really love it.

It would be fun to know what you consider your hobbies to be. It’s easy to make your comments right here on this page. Maybe playing around on the internet is considered a hobby. Works for me.

COMING NEXT:  Tidbits About Bathrooms

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