Hi everyone - hoping you are coping with the corona virus and all its INCONVENIENCES! A few posts back I gave two recipes for canned tuna(from THE WEEK MAGAZINE) which, I may have said, I would've adjusted to my own ingredients and my vegetarian lifestyle. This morning I was texting with some teacher friends who were lamenting the food rationing on chicken at their supermarket, so I thought it might be timely to add two more recipes to the list. One is from my former Mother-in-law, now deceased who was a talented and enthusiastic cook of traditional Polish dishes. One that she made in both meat and meatless form was 'stuffed peppers.' Very simple!
Stuffed Green Peppers
Ingredients:
green peppers
brown rice
onion
bread crumbs
1 egg
tomato sauce
Wash and cut the tops off as many large green peppers as you wish to serve. Probably 6 is a good number for today and tomorrow!
Cook up a pot of brown rice or wild rice. ((meat eaters can cook ground beef)
sautee' a pan of very small diced onions
Mix the sauteed onions and the brown rice together in a bowl (I seem to remember Mrs. M. adding a beaten egg but I am not certain - I did it without the egg) You can add some bread crumbs for filler if you wish, I didn't. This dish gives you protein and your vegetables all in one!
Stand the peppers in a baking dish, stuff them with the brown rice mixture, ladle a dollop of tomato sauce on top of each one and bake until tender but not falling apart. I forget exactly how long, half hour?
STUFFED POTATO SKINS (this dish I got from the Colonial Diner which has an excellent vegan menu. Several of my vegan friends and I have made it a point to go there frequently to try each dish on their menu. This one is my favorite of two favorites. Some of my neighbors are vegans and they too have enjoyed the Colonial menu.
Ingredients:
As many baking potatoes as you plan to want (6?) You can use the potatoes in so many ways, so bake as many as you wish and use a few for this recipe and save the others for slicing and sauté'
baking potatoes
1 can black beans
1 can white beans
1 can red beans
1 can diced spiced tomatoes
1 can of yellow corn
1 jar of chunky medium hot salsa (if you prefer you can skip the tomatoes and use a larger jar of salsa)
grated cheddar cheese
chili powder
sour cream
drain each can and put the beans, corn, tomatoes and salsa in a pot to heat.
Bake the potatoes (you can bake them in a microwave for smaller quantities but the oven gives a better flavor and crispier skins)
slice each potato in half and scoop out the potato
place a filling of chili in each potato skin 'boat' and top with a tablespoon of cheddar cheese (or vegan cheese if you have it)
put in the oven and bake for a short time, maybe 15 minutes
Remove and serve with sour cream or vegan sour cream if you have it.
I am a vegetarian so I do use some dairy products. Any dairy I use can be substituted by vegan products that are just as good.
The Colonial also has chili tortillas on the vegan menu and you can use the tortillas with the chili recipe.
Sorry if my recipes are not very exact. I am not a serious cook or recipe sharer but I am expecting any of my friends or acquaintances have enough experience in the kitchen to supply whatever corrections or details are needed as well as to adapt any recipe to suit their own lifestyles!
Enjoy! My Gran Mabel, the German ancestor, whose people came her in the early 1800's during the German unification civil war, was a true survivor and even more importantly, she knew how to remain cheerful and optimistic in the face of shortages, rationing, and hard times. I loved her very much and she was an excellent role model for me. Widowed in her 30's with four children to raise and no education, she survived by her sewing skills, her mother's help, and her energetic good will. I keep a picture of her on my piano to remind me of her good example. From my English heritage, I have adopted Winston Churchill's excellent advice, "Keep Calm and Carry On.!"
As long as we share and cooperate with one another, look for good solutions to difficulties and ADAPT and EVOLVE, we will all get through this.
Churchill's other good advice was "When you are going through hell, just keep going." We will get to the other side of this!
Be well, stay safe!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Appalachian saying that is good for hard times: Use it up, wear it out, make it do and do without!
From Mr. Fred Rogers, "When in despair, look for the helpers!"
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Two recipes for your disaster storaged canned goods - tuna
If you tuned in to my previous blog suggesting canned foods and other storage friendly foods to put aside for a disaster which we are now facing with the Novel Corona virus, you will perhaps notice that I missed adding canned tuna to the list! So here I fix that omission with two recipes from The Week news magazine for this week, March 27, 2020.
But first an even more important stock-up group I missed: trail mix! You may wish to make your own and I would suggest it as I don't like what happens to nuts when they have been packaged with dried cranberries which still have some moisture and make dried nuts kind of soggy. So stock up on walnuts, cranberries, dried bananas and other dried fruits, almonds, cashews and a variety of seeds such as sunflower seeds!
So two recipes for canned tuna. These recipes used oil preserved tuna and if I made them, which I might, I would use water canned tuna instead as I hate oily tuna! I am not a fan of fish flavor anyhow (as a vegetarian, I rarely to never eat fish anyhow). One ingredient mystified me - 'farro' so I looked it up and it is a form of whole grain, often wheat and it is packed with protein!
Lemon dressed farro, tuna, and chick pea salad
grated zest of one large lemon
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of farro (cooked per pkg instructions and cooled-makes 3 cups)
1 3/4 cups canned no-salt-added chick peas drained and rinsed
7 oz can oil packed light tuna, flaked
1 cup diced sweet onion
1/4 cup diced loosely packed parsley
In a small bowl whisk lemon zest, juice and oil to form an emulsified dressing, season with salt and black pepper to taste
In a large bowl combine farrow, chick peas, tuna, onion, parsley and lemon dressing. Toss to incorporate and then refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serves 6 to 8
Fettucini col sugo de tonno con aglio e panna
1 7 oz can of tuna packed in olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic chopped very fine
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp butter softened to room temperature
1/2 cu heavy cream
1/2 cu freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano
1/4 boxed dried fettuccine
Drain tuna and place in bowl
Add garlic, parsley, egg, butter, cream, salt, liberal grindings of black pepper and grated cheese: Mix well using a fork to break up and mash the tuna
Drop pasta into a pot of abundant boiling salted water and cook until done but firm
Drain and toss immediately with the tuna mixture
Bring to table at once with additional grated cheese on the side
Serves 4
Noted: best canned tuna Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Oil (sold in jars)
Ortiz Bonito del Norte Albacore White Tuna in Olive Oil
Starkist Selects Solid Yellowfin Tuna in extra virgin olive oil
Starkist Solid White Albacore in Veg Oil
Bon Apetit - Stay well my friends!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
In my next post, I will share a cous cous vegetarian recipe given to me by a friend!
But first an even more important stock-up group I missed: trail mix! You may wish to make your own and I would suggest it as I don't like what happens to nuts when they have been packaged with dried cranberries which still have some moisture and make dried nuts kind of soggy. So stock up on walnuts, cranberries, dried bananas and other dried fruits, almonds, cashews and a variety of seeds such as sunflower seeds!
So two recipes for canned tuna. These recipes used oil preserved tuna and if I made them, which I might, I would use water canned tuna instead as I hate oily tuna! I am not a fan of fish flavor anyhow (as a vegetarian, I rarely to never eat fish anyhow). One ingredient mystified me - 'farro' so I looked it up and it is a form of whole grain, often wheat and it is packed with protein!
Lemon dressed farro, tuna, and chick pea salad
grated zest of one large lemon
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of farro (cooked per pkg instructions and cooled-makes 3 cups)
1 3/4 cups canned no-salt-added chick peas drained and rinsed
7 oz can oil packed light tuna, flaked
1 cup diced sweet onion
1/4 cup diced loosely packed parsley
In a small bowl whisk lemon zest, juice and oil to form an emulsified dressing, season with salt and black pepper to taste
In a large bowl combine farrow, chick peas, tuna, onion, parsley and lemon dressing. Toss to incorporate and then refrigerate for a couple of hours. Serves 6 to 8
Fettucini col sugo de tonno con aglio e panna
1 7 oz can of tuna packed in olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic chopped very fine
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp butter softened to room temperature
1/2 cu heavy cream
1/2 cu freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano
1/4 boxed dried fettuccine
Drain tuna and place in bowl
Add garlic, parsley, egg, butter, cream, salt, liberal grindings of black pepper and grated cheese: Mix well using a fork to break up and mash the tuna
Drop pasta into a pot of abundant boiling salted water and cook until done but firm
Drain and toss immediately with the tuna mixture
Bring to table at once with additional grated cheese on the side
Serves 4
Noted: best canned tuna Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Oil (sold in jars)
Ortiz Bonito del Norte Albacore White Tuna in Olive Oil
Starkist Selects Solid Yellowfin Tuna in extra virgin olive oil
Starkist Solid White Albacore in Veg Oil
Bon Apetit - Stay well my friends!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
In my next post, I will share a cous cous vegetarian recipe given to me by a friend!
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Thoughts, worries, origins, avalanches
This afternoon, in my usual reading period which is after lunch and before feeding the pets their dinner, I was reading a fascinating essay on "avalanche mediation" when the phone range. A nervous friend called. He has been preparing himself for radiation (beginning Monday) for state 2 prostate cancer and he was worried that something involving the coronavirus would cancel his treatment appointment. I told him that when I am worrying and I can't seem to control it, I divert myself with reading.
In this time of self quarantine, many of my friends are going what they call "stir crazy" not being used to spending days alone at home. Most of my friends are extremely active and out EVERY day without exception. The most active are the ones I got to know 20 years go when I joined the Outdoor Club, and we stayed friends, but I have other friends with very active social lives and who work part time and do a lot of volunteer work. Personally, I don't do well with too much socializing or too many days out and about. I need interspersed days of solitude and quiet and I look forward to my unscheduled days withe delight and relief.
I told my friend that I read to divert my mind from pointless worrying and in fact when he called I was entirely engaged by an essay on "avalanche mediation" in a place in the US West called Alta. I was reading how their daily monitoring of snow conditions determines whether or not to bring out the explosives and bring down the snow that is in danger of bringing itself down in huge crushing slabs without warning. The author was just beginning to tell me about his trip to Switzerland to attend the Snow and Avalanche Research Institute in Davos, when the phone rang. Just as well, though, because I had put some small cheese ravioli on to boil for my afternoon meal and the very reading that diverts me from worry diverts me from duty and I smelled the burning! I got off the phone and was able to save about 75% of the ravioli.
Aside from my decade or so in the Outdoor Club, kayaking, hiking, camping and exploring, I have not been an outdoor person, but I have had a lifelong fascination with stories, books, and documentaries about the outdoors. I watch mountain climbing movies though I have, myself, only climbed 2 small peaks, one in Vancouver, Canada, one in Palm Springs, California, both of them day trips. I also read voraciously about surfers though I don't even like to go in the ocean ever and have a suspicious fear of the dark water and what lurks beneath I used to subscribe to Outside magazine and a few outdoor adventure journals like Lonely Planet and Granta.
That makes me wonder why I, a city born and bred child, who matured in the suburbs can be so instantly hooked and transported by stories about the wild outdoors. Speaking of wild outdoors, one of my favorite recent books was WILD, by Cheryl Strayed. Also the essay by Jon Krakauer about the young man who died stranded and alone in an old school bus in Alaska, which became both a book and a riveting movie.
When I try to go back to the beginning, I find myself in the company of Jack London. Again, the early days in Philadelphia when my most ready access to books, aside from the classics my good and saintly mother bought me, was the lost, dusty, forgotten bookcase in my Grandmother Lyons'' basement where I found Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan. Among the classics my mother bought me was White Fang, Dog of the North. The Luck of Roaring Camp was in the basement. These books and the trilogy of Men Against the Sea opened a portal in my imagination that helped me escape from my hometown both physically when I reached 18, and in my mind from the moment I opened the book covers.
Now than I am no longer able to kayak or hike, I can still visit the mountains via great writers and I never fueled bored at home as long as there is a good magazine like the New Yorker (Cold War, pg. 19 James Somers - the avalanche essay) or a book.
Happy Trails, both inside and outside
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
In this time of self quarantine, many of my friends are going what they call "stir crazy" not being used to spending days alone at home. Most of my friends are extremely active and out EVERY day without exception. The most active are the ones I got to know 20 years go when I joined the Outdoor Club, and we stayed friends, but I have other friends with very active social lives and who work part time and do a lot of volunteer work. Personally, I don't do well with too much socializing or too many days out and about. I need interspersed days of solitude and quiet and I look forward to my unscheduled days withe delight and relief.
I told my friend that I read to divert my mind from pointless worrying and in fact when he called I was entirely engaged by an essay on "avalanche mediation" in a place in the US West called Alta. I was reading how their daily monitoring of snow conditions determines whether or not to bring out the explosives and bring down the snow that is in danger of bringing itself down in huge crushing slabs without warning. The author was just beginning to tell me about his trip to Switzerland to attend the Snow and Avalanche Research Institute in Davos, when the phone rang. Just as well, though, because I had put some small cheese ravioli on to boil for my afternoon meal and the very reading that diverts me from worry diverts me from duty and I smelled the burning! I got off the phone and was able to save about 75% of the ravioli.
Aside from my decade or so in the Outdoor Club, kayaking, hiking, camping and exploring, I have not been an outdoor person, but I have had a lifelong fascination with stories, books, and documentaries about the outdoors. I watch mountain climbing movies though I have, myself, only climbed 2 small peaks, one in Vancouver, Canada, one in Palm Springs, California, both of them day trips. I also read voraciously about surfers though I don't even like to go in the ocean ever and have a suspicious fear of the dark water and what lurks beneath I used to subscribe to Outside magazine and a few outdoor adventure journals like Lonely Planet and Granta.
That makes me wonder why I, a city born and bred child, who matured in the suburbs can be so instantly hooked and transported by stories about the wild outdoors. Speaking of wild outdoors, one of my favorite recent books was WILD, by Cheryl Strayed. Also the essay by Jon Krakauer about the young man who died stranded and alone in an old school bus in Alaska, which became both a book and a riveting movie.
When I try to go back to the beginning, I find myself in the company of Jack London. Again, the early days in Philadelphia when my most ready access to books, aside from the classics my good and saintly mother bought me, was the lost, dusty, forgotten bookcase in my Grandmother Lyons'' basement where I found Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan. Among the classics my mother bought me was White Fang, Dog of the North. The Luck of Roaring Camp was in the basement. These books and the trilogy of Men Against the Sea opened a portal in my imagination that helped me escape from my hometown both physically when I reached 18, and in my mind from the moment I opened the book covers.
Now than I am no longer able to kayak or hike, I can still visit the mountains via great writers and I never fueled bored at home as long as there is a good magazine like the New Yorker (Cold War, pg. 19 James Somers - the avalanche essay) or a book.
Happy Trails, both inside and outside
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Read All About it! - books and Plagues
I have only read one book that directly deals with a plague and it was both informative and spread a wide net of interest in other areas. The book I read was BRING OUT YOUR DEAD: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793. This book came to my attention during a lecture on a quarantine station that once stood in Tinicum, The Lazarus, outside the city of Philadelphia, and where immigrants, in particular German immigrants were once quarantined before being allowed to enter the city. They mentioned the book and the after effects of the Yellow Fever.
Recently I ran across an excellent essay on Slave Rebellions, especially in the Caribbean, and it mentioned how the fleeing plantation colonists brought the Yellow Fever with them from Santo Domingo to Philadelphia via mosquitos that came along with baggage.
Needless to say any history buff or reader will be familiar with the scourge of Small Pox that decimate both the soldiers and the civilians of the Revolutionary period.
And of course, we ALL are familiar with the Black Plague which wiped out a good portion of Europe in the Middle Ages.
Recently I saw a very good film called PANDEMIC, and when some of my friends felt that our current procedures of quarantine and shelter in place, closings of restaurants, malls, and gathering places, were extreme, I had to demur. Once you see the potential played out, you can understand why extreme measures are necessary. Another good film is CONTAGION.
I looked up a number of title for anyone interested in learning more:
SPILLOVER; Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
OUTBREAK; 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World
SUPERBUGS, Matt McCarthy
and in fiction:
ZONE ONE
CHERRY (about the opioid epidemic)
Personally, I have been getting most of my news during this "Shelter in Pace" period, from BBC World News. Interesting quandary, whether to postpone the Olympics or go on as planned which seems to be the current plan. Personally, I think it should be postponed one year. We should sacrifice now to protect the future. However, that said, sometimes too much information is a detriment as I learned from reading WIRED and Y@K during that millennial scare. I bought a kerosene heater, oil lamps, kerosene and oil, water, and all sorts of suggested essentials, and nothing happened. I ended up selling all of it in a yard sale for a dollar and item, even the expired kermess and oil (who knew these things could expire?!)
So, once again, I have laid in 2 weeks supply of essentials but no kerosene stove (obviously) just canned goods, almond butter and almond milk, water and food for my pets. Needless to say, I have gotten low on various items as the days have gone by and a week passed on my 2 week supply, so I am looking at a toilet paper shortage, but I have paper napkins and paper towels if that becomes a problem. And it is just one person in my home, aside from pets, so we should be fine.
I heard a group of ladies my age talking about the epidemics and pandemics they could remember, including Y2K, a week or two ago, before the 'shelter in place' took effect: Spanish FLU epidemic of World War 1, the Yellow Fever, the Small Pox, the Polio epidemic of our own childhood (which infected Joni Mitchell and Neil Young - the singer/songwriters of our generation, as well as our President F.D.Roosevelt)SARS, EBOLA, and SWINE FLU, and let us not forget AIDS. And of course the Opioid epidemic which I suppose, though eclipsed by coronavirus at present, is still killing people in possibly much larger numbers.
Stay Well! Happy Trails -
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Recently I ran across an excellent essay on Slave Rebellions, especially in the Caribbean, and it mentioned how the fleeing plantation colonists brought the Yellow Fever with them from Santo Domingo to Philadelphia via mosquitos that came along with baggage.
Needless to say any history buff or reader will be familiar with the scourge of Small Pox that decimate both the soldiers and the civilians of the Revolutionary period.
And of course, we ALL are familiar with the Black Plague which wiped out a good portion of Europe in the Middle Ages.
Recently I saw a very good film called PANDEMIC, and when some of my friends felt that our current procedures of quarantine and shelter in place, closings of restaurants, malls, and gathering places, were extreme, I had to demur. Once you see the potential played out, you can understand why extreme measures are necessary. Another good film is CONTAGION.
I looked up a number of title for anyone interested in learning more:
SPILLOVER; Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
OUTBREAK; 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World
SUPERBUGS, Matt McCarthy
and in fiction:
ZONE ONE
CHERRY (about the opioid epidemic)
Personally, I have been getting most of my news during this "Shelter in Pace" period, from BBC World News. Interesting quandary, whether to postpone the Olympics or go on as planned which seems to be the current plan. Personally, I think it should be postponed one year. We should sacrifice now to protect the future. However, that said, sometimes too much information is a detriment as I learned from reading WIRED and Y@K during that millennial scare. I bought a kerosene heater, oil lamps, kerosene and oil, water, and all sorts of suggested essentials, and nothing happened. I ended up selling all of it in a yard sale for a dollar and item, even the expired kermess and oil (who knew these things could expire?!)
So, once again, I have laid in 2 weeks supply of essentials but no kerosene stove (obviously) just canned goods, almond butter and almond milk, water and food for my pets. Needless to say, I have gotten low on various items as the days have gone by and a week passed on my 2 week supply, so I am looking at a toilet paper shortage, but I have paper napkins and paper towels if that becomes a problem. And it is just one person in my home, aside from pets, so we should be fine.
I heard a group of ladies my age talking about the epidemics and pandemics they could remember, including Y2K, a week or two ago, before the 'shelter in place' took effect: Spanish FLU epidemic of World War 1, the Yellow Fever, the Small Pox, the Polio epidemic of our own childhood (which infected Joni Mitchell and Neil Young - the singer/songwriters of our generation, as well as our President F.D.Roosevelt)SARS, EBOLA, and SWINE FLU, and let us not forget AIDS. And of course the Opioid epidemic which I suppose, though eclipsed by coronavirus at present, is still killing people in possibly much larger numbers.
Stay Well! Happy Trails -
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Preparing for Pandemic
Have I ever over-prepared? YES! Having read a book on Y2K, I bought a kerosene heater, kerosene, two oil lamps and lamp oil and the usual gallons of water, etc. Of course, as we all know Y2K amounted to nothing and a few years later I sold my $200 or more worth of disaster supplies for a few dollars to make space in my storage shed. The kerosene was expired as was the lamp oil.
Nonetheless, there are ordinary precautions we can all take and I just did. I don't watch tv anymore due to vision problems, but I read voraciously and I watch amazon prime and netflix on my laptop, so when I read that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic, I decided to do the cautious, moderate thing, and prepare for 10 days with canned goods. Now, I doubt the shops will close but if we are warned to quarantine ourselves, it makes sense to be prepared. I am going to list a recipe I call 7 can disaster prep chili, and some other canned and sundry supplies it simply makes senset to have on hand. At the end of a year, in autumn when the food drives begin, whatever canned goods I have left I empty the cupboard and send to the food bank.
7 can chili
1 can each of:
black beans
white beans
red beans,
corn,
spiced/diced tomatoes
1 jar chunky salsa
That's it! If you have chili powder, a tsp is good, and I like to have it over brown rice because rice and beans are a protein complementary. Rice is also a good shaple to have in a jar in the cupboard. I keep all drygoods in the fridge or in jars out of habit from my years in the city where roaches own the walls.
Keep on hand in general for power failures or other disasters:
a 6 pack of water OR even better, a Britta water pitcher and extra Britta filters
manual can opener (in case of power failures)
tomato soup
box of crackers or two
dried fruit and nuts
jar of marinara and some pasta
And today while at the store, I also stocked up on cat food and dog food. I doubt we will see a quarantine in the US, but it doesn't hurt to have what you need on hand, BUT I don't promote severe stocking up which leaves other people without. So if you think you should get toilet paper, just buy what you might need for a couple of weeks, don't clear the shelves, the way they did in Australia!
Stay safe, stay well!
Hope to see you on the other side of this new unexpected disaster!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Nonetheless, there are ordinary precautions we can all take and I just did. I don't watch tv anymore due to vision problems, but I read voraciously and I watch amazon prime and netflix on my laptop, so when I read that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic, I decided to do the cautious, moderate thing, and prepare for 10 days with canned goods. Now, I doubt the shops will close but if we are warned to quarantine ourselves, it makes sense to be prepared. I am going to list a recipe I call 7 can disaster prep chili, and some other canned and sundry supplies it simply makes senset to have on hand. At the end of a year, in autumn when the food drives begin, whatever canned goods I have left I empty the cupboard and send to the food bank.
7 can chili
1 can each of:
black beans
white beans
red beans,
corn,
spiced/diced tomatoes
1 jar chunky salsa
That's it! If you have chili powder, a tsp is good, and I like to have it over brown rice because rice and beans are a protein complementary. Rice is also a good shaple to have in a jar in the cupboard. I keep all drygoods in the fridge or in jars out of habit from my years in the city where roaches own the walls.
Keep on hand in general for power failures or other disasters:
a 6 pack of water OR even better, a Britta water pitcher and extra Britta filters
manual can opener (in case of power failures)
tomato soup
box of crackers or two
dried fruit and nuts
jar of marinara and some pasta
And today while at the store, I also stocked up on cat food and dog food. I doubt we will see a quarantine in the US, but it doesn't hurt to have what you need on hand, BUT I don't promote severe stocking up which leaves other people without. So if you think you should get toilet paper, just buy what you might need for a couple of weeks, don't clear the shelves, the way they did in Australia!
Stay safe, stay well!
Hope to see you on the other side of this new unexpected disaster!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Walking and Talking Events Upcoming
BIG NEWS - Perhaps I mentioned that I had made an art piece to enter into the juried show BRAVE 100, being held at my favorite local gallery, Eiland Arts, Merchantville.
My piece was inspired by a cloth pages book with a cloth shoulder strap that I had made for my daughter when she was a toddler. I called it 'pocketbook' and it inspired me to do another version.
I chose 20 women who had influenced my life and made both American and international improvements in the world. I found photos I liked of them, online, and adapted from them to make small postcard sized portraits. Then I found fabric that in some way, color or print, referred to their work or lives. For example, for Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, and a renowned ocean biologist, I found seashell motif fabric. For Joni Mitchell, brilliant American singer/songwriter/musician, I found peace sign material.
I made quilt squares with the portraits in the center, and then sewed them together along the top to create a book, with a shoulder strap.
To make a long story short, I made 4 pocketbooks with 5 pages each and I won FIRST PRIZE!!!! I had no idea until I went to the opening of the show that I had won, and I had never dared to imagine such a thing. I was thrilled that I was accepted into the show!
1.So, you can go to Eiland Arts, at the old Merchantville Train Station, see the show (gallery upstairs) and you can walk on the daffodil bordered Rails to Trails path out in front!
2.Again, combining Women's History Month, 100th Anniversary of Suffrage Year 2020 - AND - Walking, here is an event in Haddonfield:
My piece was inspired by a cloth pages book with a cloth shoulder strap that I had made for my daughter when she was a toddler. I called it 'pocketbook' and it inspired me to do another version.
I chose 20 women who had influenced my life and made both American and international improvements in the world. I found photos I liked of them, online, and adapted from them to make small postcard sized portraits. Then I found fabric that in some way, color or print, referred to their work or lives. For example, for Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, and a renowned ocean biologist, I found seashell motif fabric. For Joni Mitchell, brilliant American singer/songwriter/musician, I found peace sign material.
I made quilt squares with the portraits in the center, and then sewed them together along the top to create a book, with a shoulder strap.
To make a long story short, I made 4 pocketbooks with 5 pages each and I won FIRST PRIZE!!!! I had no idea until I went to the opening of the show that I had won, and I had never dared to imagine such a thing. I was thrilled that I was accepted into the show!
1.So, you can go to Eiland Arts, at the old Merchantville Train Station, see the show (gallery upstairs) and you can walk on the daffodil bordered Rails to Trails path out in front!
2.Again, combining Women's History Month, 100th Anniversary of Suffrage Year 2020 - AND - Walking, here is an event in Haddonfield:
HADDONFIELD, NJ — On the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage movement, residents will have the chance to learn about women who made a difference in the history of Haddonfield this spring.
The Historical Society of Haddonfield offers a walking tour on May 3. The "Historic Hadddonfield" walking tour begins at Greenfield Hall at 1:30 p.m., according to the Historical Society. Greenfield Hall is located at 343 Kings Highway East.
The tour will have a special focus on the women of Haddonfield. This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the women's suffrage movement, which concluded with the ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote on Aug. 18, 1920.
Haddonfield is named after Elizabeth Haddon, who claimed land in the new world in her father's name. As the story goes, John Haddon bought a 500-acre tract of land in New Jersey in 1698.
He had to claim the land physically within six months, but since he couldn't make the trip due to his poor health, he sent his 21-year-old daughter to claim the land.
The tour is limited to 20 people, and tickets are $15 per person. All proceeds to benefit the Historical Society. Participants are also welcome to visit Greenfield Hall either before or after the walking tour. The building will be open for tours from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Tickets for the walking tour can be purchased online at www.haddonfieldhistory.org. They are also available through the Historical Society office at 856-429-7375 or info@haddonfieldhistory.org.
3.You can add two events this month: March 22 at the Camden County Historical Society display and lecture and
4.Lucretia Mott (historical re-enactor) at Gloucester County Historical Society on March 29!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Circumcision Yes or No?
Circumcision isn't a subject I have had to consider for at least 36 years, not since I was pregnant with my only child. Her father and I had vigorous arguments about whether the baby would be circumcised if it were a boy. He was for it and I was profoundly against it. My reasons were that it was proven to be medically entirely unnecessary and to put a newborn baby through a painful and unnecessary surgical procedure was barbaric - a left over relic of ancient Middle Eastern religions. His reason was that he didn't want his son to be made fun of by other boys because he was different.
Now, I haven't had a lot of experience with a wide variety of men, but of the few I have known intimately, one was uncircumsized and as he had been both in high school and in the army and had never suffered any kind of mocking or belittling whatsoever, I think that old idea is invalid. Furthermore, who is taking such a close look at another man's penis that he is discerning whether that man has been circumcized or not?
Over the years, I have read many articles about the things that can go wrong, especially in the Jewish world where the Mohel who performs the bris may not be medically trained. Recently in a Sunday New York Times article, I read that many Jewish women who are both doctors and mother's of sons, are becoming Mohels so that they can be certain that the procedure is safe. It is required of their religion so I applaud their caution.
One of my thoughts is that circumcision is a hell of a way to welcome a newborn baby into the world. Most Bris do not include anesthetic for the newborn, a helpless and sensitive little being. What a thing to do!
Fortunately, my only child was a daughter and the argument could be buried along with the relationship that spawned it. Still, I feel sorry for those new little people coming into the world who are subjected to this ritual practice which has NO medical reason to exist.
Here is something interesting I found on the internet:
Now, I haven't had a lot of experience with a wide variety of men, but of the few I have known intimately, one was uncircumsized and as he had been both in high school and in the army and had never suffered any kind of mocking or belittling whatsoever, I think that old idea is invalid. Furthermore, who is taking such a close look at another man's penis that he is discerning whether that man has been circumcized or not?
Over the years, I have read many articles about the things that can go wrong, especially in the Jewish world where the Mohel who performs the bris may not be medically trained. Recently in a Sunday New York Times article, I read that many Jewish women who are both doctors and mother's of sons, are becoming Mohels so that they can be certain that the procedure is safe. It is required of their religion so I applaud their caution.
One of my thoughts is that circumcision is a hell of a way to welcome a newborn baby into the world. Most Bris do not include anesthetic for the newborn, a helpless and sensitive little being. What a thing to do!
Fortunately, my only child was a daughter and the argument could be buried along with the relationship that spawned it. Still, I feel sorry for those new little people coming into the world who are subjected to this ritual practice which has NO medical reason to exist.
Here is something interesting I found on the internet:
"Male Circumcision – Yes or No?
Outside of religion, what is the need for male circumcision? Female circumcision is too big an issue for me to take on currently. I got the news late but here it is: Genital Integrity Awareness Week 2018 takes place March 28-April 3! Perhaps, we should celebrate.
How wide spread is male circumcision (the removal of the foreskin from the penis)? The rates vary from 1% in Japan, and 2% in Spain and Sweden, to 58% in the United States, to more than 80% in Muslim-majority countries. There appears to be very little medical reason for male circumcision, and yet it continues."
In case you are wondering, male circumcision is predominantly a Middle Eastern and African practice. Less than 2% of Swedish men, less than 1% of Japanes men, less than 10% of German men are circumcized and other European rates are similarly low. The rates ar dropping in the UK and in America which each have a rate of about 48% UK and 55% in US, less in Canada. Personally, I think people just do it because it has always been done, not because it serves any real purpose and it certainly doesn't help the baby while it may endanger the baby's welfare.
In the end, as with so many deeper/bigger moral questions, each set of parents must make up their own minds, but they should look into it before they do it and not just blindly follow custom. The decision should be an informed one.
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