Egg Nog

Homemade Egg Nog

For the past fifty or so years I’ve made Egg Nog every Christmas. Most of my family and friends love it. Once in a while someone says, “Oh, I don’t like egg nog” and I always assume they’ve never tried the homemade kind. What one buys in the store is nothing like what you make at home. Here’s my recipe. I hope you’ll try it. It is so easy and I think you’ll love it.

EGG NOG

2 Eggs, well beaten*
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 quart whole milk
1/2 pint (1 cup) whipping cream
Nutmeg to flavor
Whip cream and set aside. Beat eggs, add Eagle Brand (sweetened condensed) milk, vanilla and salt. Beat well. Fold in whipped cream. Add milk and a sprinkle or two of nutmeg.

At time of serving spike with rum or bourbon if desired.

* To be perfectly safe I’ve updated this recipe to use egg beaters which are pasteurized rather than using raw eggs.

Photo credit – Wikipedia

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Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been special in our family. We enjoy being together, we love to joke as evidenced by the turkey in the video below singing about his “mother-in-law.” Yes, it was a gift to me from Floyd one of my sons-in-law. And, I must say we also like to eat, but Thanksgiving, the American holiday, is more about being grateful.

This year I am especially thankful that my granddaughter, Kate and her husband Tom, are here from England. We have not been together for over a year. Welcome home for Thanksgiving Tom and Kate!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

Title Graphic by Pixabay

Haiku by Dogs?

Thank you to the readers who took the Haiku challenge! You did a superb job writing your Haiku and it was fun.

Imagine if your dog could talk to you. Or even better what if he/she could write Haiku like you? One reader pointed out the book below written by Jamie Coleman. I took a look on Amazon and found it intriguing. I think it would be a good holiday gift for any dog or Haiku lover! Here’s a sample from within the pages:

You may take my balls
But I will lick what remains
And then, dear, your face

Sylvia’s Haiku

Sylvia Mattingly is my niece and friend. You know her from reading many of her poems on this blog. Syl jumped in with her Haiku which tells exactly who she is, a nature lover.

Lover of nature
I venture through the woodlands
And leave my heart there.

Dianne’s Haiku

Thank you readers! The responses continue to the Haiku Challenge https://crookedcreek.live/2019/11/14/haiku/  The latest is about my Grand-dog, Hawkeye. Hawkeye’s name is bigger than he as you can see here.  The Haiku is by my daughter.

Tiny puppy dreams
Little feet run, he squeaks, snores
His dream squirrel is tiny too.

 

Christine’s Haiku

A blogger I follow is Christine Goodnough. I recommend that you take a look at her beautiful blog “Christine’s Collection” https://christinegoodnough.com that often includes poetry. Christine was quick to respond to the Haiku Challenge https://crookedcreek.live/2019/11/14/haiku/ with a meaningful poem.

lighthouse
a steady glow in the darkness
your friendship

Christine went further and offered some advice and information that I want to share with you. Christine said:

The 5-7-5 rule is flexible. Some great haiku vary from this. There should be some sort of clear division of thought in the verse, and the last line is not to be just an explanation of the other two. For example, not:

I eat strawberry jam
on my toast every morning
I like strawberry jam

Christine has shared six more of her Haiku which are from her blog. They are listed below. Thank you Christine for sharing your expertise. It is always good to be learning something new!

More of Christine’s Haiku

beach party over
empty bottles settle
into the sand

beer cans
in the cave signs of
intelligent life

two females
two bird feeders — no question
of sharing

hummingbird
shares his syrup with a fly
noblesse oblige

wild prairie crocus
deep in its furry coat
a sunbeam

Pat’s Haiku

Pat Bush is a faithful reader and frequent commenter on this blog. She was quick to answer the Haiku Challenge https://crookedcreek.live/2019/11/14/haiku/  with excellent poems. Here are Pat’s six Haiku.

The noise and the News.
I long for quieter times.
Silence is golden.

Feeling cold. I’m old.
Body aches and pains abound.
Better sore than dead.

I love challenges.
Especially ones with words.
The mind awakens.

Sue Baugh Mattingly.
Her blog is always nifty.
From it comes wisdom.

Cornucopia
What a wonderful concept!
A Horn of Plenty.

Eight whole notes; five, half.
Create all music we hear.
Amazing talent.

Bill’s Haiku

More Reader Haiku

Bill is a friend who I didn’t even know was reading Crooked Creek, but he quickly took the Haiku Challenge https://crookedcreek.live/2019/11/14/haiku/  and here are his poems. I love them, Bill!

Bill’s Three Haiku

Star hanging as fruit
beneath the scimitar moon.
The tree boughs in praise!

Tried to write Haiku
But decided I could not.
Maybe I am wrong…

Ms. Sue Mattingly,
A wonderful friend I have.
She is a blessing!

Kate’s Haiku

The responses to the Haiku Challenge https://crookedcreek.live/2019/11/14/haiku/   were many and I am so proud of each reader who has participated. You’ve done an impressive job and there’s some good poetry here. Instead of printing all the poems together I think they will be more appreciated if they are posted a few at a time.

I’m going to begin today with one by my granddaughter, Kate Elliott. Thank you, Kate, for your very meaningful submission.

I’m American
I live across the ocean
I love England too.

I’m so happy to report that Kate is going to be crossing that ocean with her husband, Tom, in the next couple of days to visit us here in America!

My Haiku

Okay, I did it. At least I think that I did. Below is my final poem, but first I’ll share some of my initial attempts.

1. My love of nature

    has grown slowly year by year.

    Now it is so dear.

2. Haiku is silly.

    No fun in this poetry.

    Poetry should rhyme.

3. Here I sit with pen.

    I want to write a haiku.

   Oh no! What to do!

Crooked Creek was home

but not now, it looks foreign.

Gone so many years.

Your Turn

Remember, three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Send to: suebmattingly@gmail.com

Haiku

Do you know what a Haiku is? Do you know what Haiku are? Both questions are grammatically correct according to the dictionary. I checked with Grammarly which does not agree. What can we depend upon? It seems with Haiku there are as many questions as answers. Surely someone out there can help!

Poetry was not greatly appreciated where I went to high school. It seems a farming community had more important things to learn, like Home Economics and Agriculture. Reading a little Robert Frost is what I remember passing for poetry in my literature classes until college and then no one mentioned Haiku.

I didn’t hear about it/them until I was middle-aged and the local newspaper presented a Haiku contest. I read all the entries printed and mostly scratched my head. Recently I read a Haiku written by another blogger and appreciated it but still, I must admit that I didn’t “get it.” So let’s learn together. Are you game?

Definition

Haiku – a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.  (According to Merriam-Webster)

Haiku (plural haiku) is a very short form of Japanese poetry. Modern Japanese haiku are increasingly unlikely to follow the tradition of 17 on (sic) or to take nature as their subject, but the use of juxtaposition continues to be honored in both traditional and modern haiku. (Per Wikipedia)

Adding the word “juxtaposition” didn’t help me, how about you? But let’s keep learning.

More Information

How to Write a Haiku Poem by Stephanie Wong Ken  Updated: August 21, 2019

A haiku (俳句 high-koo) is a short three-line poem that uses sensory language to capture a feeling or image. Haiku poetry was originally developed by Japanese poets. They are often inspired by nature, a moment of beauty, or a poignant experience. To write a haiku, start by brainstorming ideas for the poem. Then, write the poem with strong details and detailed imagery. Make sure you polish the haiku and listen to how it sounds out loud so it is at its best.

Examples

• An ocean voyage.
  As waves break over the bow,
  the sea welcomes me.
• A winter blanket
  covers the Earth in repose
  but only a dream
• The warmth on my skin.
  Fire falls beneath the trees.
  I see the sun set.

Are You Ready?

Let’s write Haiku! I will post mine first just to be fair. I have no idea what it will be like because I’ve never said anything in a few syllables, but I’m going to give it a go! Please work on yours and send it via email so that the lines and syllables will be clear as opposed to in the regular comment section. I will post each one with your name. Here is my email address: suebmattingly@gmail.com

Let’s go!

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed on November 11, to honor persons who have served in the United States Armed Forces. This holiday marks the anniversary of the end of World War I which occurred at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. This day was originally called Armistice Day but was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. It is still called Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in some countries involved in that war. Armistice Day was first observed in the United States in 1919.

Thank you to all the women and men who have served and continue to serve the United States in the cause for peace.

Photos by Pixabay

The Internet

“Fifty years ago, two letters were transmitted online, forever altering the way that knowledge, information, and communication would be exchanged,” wrote Joshua Bote in USA TODAY October 29, 2019. Those letters were “l” and “o” and perceived as “hello” when the system crashed before the word “login” could be typed. They were sent by a professor at UCLA to another computer at Stanford Research Institute.

At that time only four universities had computers. They were room-sized and required under-floor air conditioning. In 1971, the first email was sent by an MIT researcher and was also the first time the “@” sign was used to designate a specific recipient of a message. I remember the early days when researching medical papers I had to go through a university (@edu) library which would search and produce the Internet address for the requested information.

The World Wide Web (WWW), as we know it, didn’t get invented until 1989 and it was 1991 before the first web page was published. Over the years other services that we are all so familiar with were created, Amazon (1995), Google (1998), Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006) among others.

Now the internet is as much a part of our lives as driving a car or brushing our teeth. We can access information on any topic, find the answers to burning questions, listen to music and see movies. When I see my granddaughter, a college senior, doing research and taking tests Online, I recall trips to the library and searching through a card catalog. Once the desired journal or paper was located we photocopied it for preparing our research papers. I am glad that she and all students have it easier than we did “back in the day.”

I am sure that I am not alone when I say I love the Internet, warts and all. We know that it can be corrupted, both operationally and politically but we would never go back to a time without the WWW.

Graphic Courtesy of Pixabay

Book Review

“One Hundred Years Of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This is a difficult book for me to review. As so many of my favorites I’ve read it twice and still cannot say that I fully understand it. In 417 pages Garcia Marquez has presented one hundred years in the life of a prolific family living in a mythical town. His fiction is beautifully written and mixed with supernatural events and magical happenings that catch one off guard. The characters are on the other hand, all too real.

Garcia Marquez is a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in Columbia and spent most of his life in Mexico. His writing beautifully portrays life in the tropics. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” has been called “The great novel of the Americas.”

VOTE!

Tuesday morning, I will vote.
I’ll go by land, or go by boat.
Whatever it takes, I’ll have my say.
Wouldn’t consider any other way.
I’ve studied hard, seen where they stand.
(It’s always good to have a plan).
No more questions or second-guessing.
The choice is mine. I’m not stressing.
It takes less time than running amok.
Always vote. Don’t be a schmuck.

by Pat Bush

Graphic by Pixabay

A Poem

A Poem by Mattie Stepanek

Making Real Sense of the Senses

Our eyes are for looking at things,

But they are also for crying

When we are very happy or very sad.

Our ears are for listening,

But so are our hearts.

Our noses are for smelling food,

But also the wind and the grass and

If we try very hard, butterflies.

Our hands are for feeling,

But also for hugging and touching so gently.

Our mouths and tongues are for tasting,

But also for saying words, like

“I love you” and

“Thank you, God, for all of these things.”

               April 1995