Category: Birds

Alphabetically Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing is still on vacation, so here’s an old one.

A – Ambition: To actually be able to retire. That’s not looking likely. And lemme tellya, if Trumpty-Dumpty and Apartheid Clyde try to do anything to Social Security and Medicare, I will join whatever class-action suit needs to be rendered against them.

B – Birthday: October 21

C – Computer: PC, always. Currently a Dell that is 5 years old. I really should buy a new one before any tariffs kick in. Maybe after Christmas but before the coronation.

D – Dream: I love the one I have of Marko Saaresto (front man of Poets of the Fall) in which we’re standing in a famous D.C. bookstore called Kramer’s and he asks me to help him pick out a book for a child relative back in Finland. I pull out my tablet and type in a line from one of his songs–“I’m secretly grateful you’re sharing this moment with me” from “No End, No Beginning”–and he says “thank you” and we pick out a book and then have lunch and people-watch. Now pardon me if I cry for a second because I was supposed to be at this concert and one in Manchester with my friend Tracy while on vacation in England for a week, but my heart attack said otherwise.

E – Exercise: Cardiokickboxing, interval training, interval treadmill, and The Firm because I’m old school like that.

F – Favorite Food: Today it’s grapes. Tomorrow it might be something else.

G – Garden: Would love to have one. Wouldn’t love to work on it.

H – Hobby: Coloring. And I still have not finished that stupid snowflake!

I – Idol: Joaquin Phoenix. His compassion for animals humbles me.

J – Job: Health writer. Oh, excuse me, I write for clinicians so they’re calling people like me medical journalists now.

K – Kids: Too gamey.

L – Location: Virginia

M – Military: Should only be deployed as a last resort.

N – Name or Nickname: T-bird

O – Optimist or Pessimist: Cynical optimist. Yes, there is such a thing. Ever hear of “plan for the worst but hope for the best?”

P – Pets: I miss mine.

Q – Quote: I hate writing. I love having written. — Dorothy Parker

R – Reads: Mystery, horror, historical.

S – School: Gee Dubya, Class of ’88.

T – Travel: Yes, please.

U – Unfulfilled ambition: One day I will get some fiction published. Or poetry. Or something other than journalism.

V – Vacation spot: I used to love ski resorts. No idea now. I haven’t had a real vacation where I go somewhere far away for at least week in years. Many years. Might have been my honeymoon in 2001. I can’t remember. See: crying, above.

W – Wardrobe: Mostly athletic wear for hiking and the gym.

X – X-tra facts about me: White people say my eyes are brown. People of color say my eyes are hazel. People of color are correct.

Y – Years online: 25

Z – Zodiac sign: Libra sun, Aquarius moon, Sagittarius rising.

Well, that was fun!

A few entries ago, I wrote of my mother’s mistaken belief that Emperor Penguins were six feet tall. Speaking of huge penguins…

I wonder if Pesto will ski, like today’s ornament, one of my new ones from this year.

A Christmas ornament featuring a skiing penguin.

Speecy Spicy

Today Holidailies has a request: Share a favorite recipe that you like to make (or persuade someone to make for you) at this time of year.

This isn’t holiday-related, but it is a favorite cold-weather meal and it’s the easiest thing to make: Grandma’s Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili, on AllRecipes. You basically gather the ingredients, dump them all into a slow-cooker, and let it cook for two hours. I don’t want to violate any copyrights, so I won’t post the ingredients here, but trust me, this is savory scrumptiousness and it will fill you up. I tinker with the amount of chili powder depending on my mood, and dice up a half or whole jalapeno and throw it in if I want a little more heat, but other than that, this recipe is perfect, and it will make your home smell warm and spicy on a cold winter’s night.

If you’d like to add a simple dessert, spicy chocolate fudge is a good pairing, although this recipe is not vegan as it has condensed milk and some milk chocolate chips. I make it without nuts. There are two camps of fudge aficionado, pro-nut and anti-nut, and I am firmly in the anti-nut camp.

This YouTuber stopped posting seven years ago, and I miss her. She had some hilarious videos. One of my buddies originally found a personal video of hers in which she wishes someone with my name a happy birthday and then at the end says “don’t be fresh.” From there it just took off and we still laugh about it to this day.

If you’re a foodie, you might appreciate these next few videos. They always make me laugh because they’re just so true.

And my favorite, which is so Gen-X in attitude, I can’t help but love it.

That’s right. You’re not special.

Diana, whatever you’re up to now, I hope life is treating you well. Thank you for keeping your wonderfully sassy channel with all of its amazing recipes.

And now for tonight’s ornament, another new one.

A Christmas ornament featuring a penguin wearing earmuffs and holding an ice cream cone.

Cute little penguin, eh? I think my mother would have appreciated it. She loved penguins—although she didn’t quite understand them until late in her life. On one of my visits we were watching a documentary on them, and in one segment some Emperor Penguins approached the camera crew.

“You’re KIDDING,” she said. “Oh, I don’t believe it.”

“What?”

“I thought they were taller than that.”

“I dunno. Those are pretty big for penguins,” I said. “What did the guy say, three and a half to four feet? How tall did you think they were?”

“Like your father.”

My father and I looked at each other and just lost it. He was 6’1″.

“What?” she said. “It’s not like you ever see them standing next to anything in a picture so you can tell.”

Gotta admit, she had a point. But we never let her live it down after that. At Christmas I gave her a calendar of penguins, and my father held it up in front of his face and waddled around. “Look at me, the six-foot penguin!”

They weren’t perfect and they didn’t always get along, but one of the best things I can say about my parents is that they were never boring. He was an artist and one of the original MadMen. No joke, he worked for McCann, the agency AMC based the series on, at that time in its history. She was a civil servant who loved to write and originally wanted to be a journalist before I came along as an iltatähti and wrecked it all for her. (I like the Finnish term for late-life baby, meaning “evening star,” much better than the American “oops baby,” “mistake,” or “accident.”) He was Greatest Generation, she was early Silent, and we grew up with Big Band, war stories, New York sarcasm, a cookie-cutter house bought on the GI Bill after WWII, dogs, cats, and of course, “rules are rules, you’re not special.”

But that’s what made it all special.

Cardinal Virtue

It’s time for another Sunday Stealing! This is another random one from in the past, being that Sunday Stealing is on vacation for the rest of the year.

1.    Have you ever written to a celebrity?  Did they respond?

I wrote to Paul Stanley once. Nope, no response. It’s weird that I wrote to him and not Ace Frehley, though. Ace was my favorite.

 2.  Do you read letters immediately, or wait until ready to reply?

I don’t get letters or personal emails. I check work email two or three times a day and respond as necessary. A lot of employers out there expect immediate responses to emails, as did a former boss, but I can’t work that way. Writing requires chunks of uninterrupted time.

 3.   My preferences when it comes to reading:

Fiction, and my favorite genres are mystery, historic, and horror.

 4.   What I’m least likely to change my mind about:

The incoming US President. He’s disgusting through and through.

 5.   The topics I would get wrong about during trivia:

Sports, architectural styles, theater, cars.

 6.   What I’m hopeful about right now:

Not a whole heck of a lot, actually. The USA is heading for dark days. I’m glad I’m not a young woman. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy in the current political environment.

 7.   Philosophies I’ve learned/embraced from others:

I’m self-seeking and prefer Buddhist philosophy. Stoicism is a close second. They overlap in a lot of places.

 8.   What makes home feel like home?

Color. I cannot STAND the whole “beige aesthetic.” It’s boring and lacks imagination. I will always have blue couches and sofas. I will always have at least one room with some purple (currently have three). I will always have another room with shades of red (currently my office). My tree will always have colored lights.

 9.    Talents and skills I like to cultivate:

My rapport with other living creatures. I like knowing that they trust me and will often pick me out of a group of people to approach. Maybe they sense that I won’t try to eat them, like I pass the vegetarian smell test.
 
10.   What makes my heart race:

Too much sugar and/or caffeine.

11.  What power means to me:

The ability to walk away from things that don’t serve me and people who make life harder than it has to be. Hence my swearing off dating and relationships. They sap my energy. The last 10 years weren’t always easy, but they were a lot more peaceful than any time in my life with a man was. If I didn’t have to deal with the Wicked Witch of the West for a supervisor for five and a half of the last six years, I’d have had things pretty rootin’ tootin’ easy.

12.  Some of my comfort hobbies:

Coloring. Ha, still haven’t finished that snowflake. Just haven’t had the time. Vegan baking. Binge-watching documentary series about archeology or space. Latch-hook.

13.  Last time I was pleasantly surprised:

My midyear review at work. Seems my current supervisor thinks more highly of my work than I do.

14.   How was October 2024?

Busy but good. Celebrated my birthday with people, which is something I don’t usually do barring a brunch with one of my friends. This one was special, though, as I made it for a full year after my heart attack.

15.   Those who inspire my growth:

The Buddha, Dōgen, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius.

My favorite backyard bird is the Northern Cardinal. The male’s bright red and the female’s red-tipped wings and tail lift my spirits, and I think their songs are the most beautiful of all songbirds. When I sent holiday cards they usually had Northern Cardinals on them, and I have a cute little holiday dish towel with a Northern Cardinal on it, part of a set that also has a red towel with Mourning Doves and a green towel with a Chickadee on it.

A dish towel featuring a Northern Cardinal bird on a pine branch with pine cones.

Yet oddly enough, I didn’t have any Christmas ornaments with a Northern Cardinal on it–until now. Presenting this year’s ornament:

A Christmas ornament featuring a Northern Cardinal bird and the year 2024.

The was the only one of its kind at Macy’s when I bought a bunch of ornaments, so I consider it fate. Most Northern Cardinal decor is red like the male, but I love the female’s coloring just as much, if not more. Look how pretty she is!

A female Northern Cardinal on a branch.
Image: Timothy Abraham.

Come to think of it, the image above might have to be my laptop wallpaper for January, even though DesktopNexus seems to have returned.

Before I go, have some Northern Cardinal song:

And now to put fresh sheets on the bed and wait for my clothes to dry. Envy the rich tapestry of my life, won’t you?