Unofficial National Holidays

Some non-Hostess-brand snacks for
a non-cannabis book club gathering.

On “Tax Day”, that universally acknowledged and scorned US observance, I was in the car on the way to mail my deceased aunt’s final tax returns, when I heard an announcement on the radio.  The announcer said that this week through April 20th, Hostess brands is going to station a Munchie Mobile outside cannabis dispensaries.  I don’t partake of either, but I thought the world should know, because these are ripe times for both unrestricted cannabis and unrestricted snacks.  Seems like a golden opportunity for J. M. Smucker, now the hapless owner of the Hostess brand, which brought us such delicacies as the Twinkie, the Ding Dong, and Donettes.

I heard this on, of all places, the classical music radio station.  Yet another way in which our world is topsy turvy.

Forbes calls April 20th “the unofficial national holiday”. 

At the Post Office there was a lengthy line of law-abiding citizens who were there to get the official USPS date stamp on their tax return.  If only we could count on the government on the receiving end to also be law abiding.  

Our nation's flag, on Nov 4, 2016

Where will these citizens be on Apr 20th, I wonder?

While I was there, I realized I could get some of those pre-stamped postcards.  Which I intend to use to send messages to my Senators.  I bought fifty.  What messages should I send to them?

Then on the way back home, my car’s Check Engine light came on.  My anxiety skyrockets when this light comes on.  But I have learned that, unlike some current dangers, the light often just goes away after a while.  

May it be so.

Some tax-related political rally costumes of the past (first one still applies today):

End of Season

Folks, I present to you one of the few things that I made with my hot glue gun – our felt menorah (or more accurately, our hanukkiah made out of felt).  I think it was the one good idea I got from a parenting magazine.  

All lit up (in a felt craft sort of way)
 for the last night of Hanukkah.

I am guessing it is about 20 years old.   Making things with the hot glue gun usually made me say, #$&#$*!, so it’s a good thing it has lasted. I'm not making another one.

One of the best features of this hanukkiah is the self-storage aspect.  The candles and flames are stored right in the item itself.   

Now you see 'em (just below the dowel rod)

and now you don't.

This week I finally got around to taking this down and storing it in the bin with all the sweaters I don’t wear any more.  I’d like to say it’s the last decoration to be put away, but ’round about April I usually find one last Christmas or Hanukkah thing.

All rolled up and ready to store.
Einstein shown for scale.

That is all.  Gearing up for a difficult week ahead, both climatologically and eschatologically. It feels kind of like it will be the end of the world as we know it, for several reasons. It won't be, but it will feel like it.

And now this painting by my aunt is
back in its place, for whatever awaits us next.

Blog Cookie Swap: Ginger Molasses Crinkles

The oddest things bring me cheer these days.  I was so excited to see the idea of a blog cookie swap, over at Life Of a Doctor’s Wife (the 4th item).  

I opted to make Ginger Molasses Crinkles, which hardly anyone in the family but me likes.  A treat for me!  I made half a batch, because there will be other Christmas sweets in due course.  I will give you the recipe first and then my verbiage.

Ginger-Molasses Crinkles HALF-RECIPE

This makes 2 dozen.

6 Tablespoons shortening

1/2 cup white sugar, plus more for rolling

1/2 egg

2 Tbsp molasses

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar.  Add egg, then molasses and other ingredients.  Mix.  

Put the batter in a container and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.  

Preheat oven to 350 F.  

Form small balls and roll in granulated sugar.  Place on greased cookie sheet (but I don’t grease the sheet and it’s fine).  Bake at 350F for 5 to 8 minutes.  

Leave them sitting on the cookie tray until they “burst”, then move gently to a cooling rack.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This recipe was given to me by a friend.  These cookies are quite easy, and I find it magical how the crinkles occur spontaneously during/after baking.  

After we made pies at Thanksgiving,
I asked my son to clearly label the 
unflavored shortening.  
And he did.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients in the house.  About a year ago, Someone-Not-Me purchased butter-flavored shortening, but, just, no.  I thought I might have to use it this time, but I had enough in the carefully-labeled non-butter-flavored regular shortening.

“Grandma’s” molasses is a hearty substance – I’ve had this jar for several years, and it is good through next year.  And didn’t I read somewhere that “best by” dates are hokum anyway?  

By a miracle, the molasses jar was easy to open.  I must have taken great care to clean it off a year ago, before putting the lid on.  Molasses is notoriously hard to handle, and I find it amazing to think that it travelled at 35 mph during the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.  Measuring the molasses is probably the most difficult part of this cookie recipe.

Molasses is one of those ingredients
that look rather evil in the
mixing bowl.

It was a little difficult doling out half an egg.  Next time I am going to see what happens if I use the entire egg in the half recipe.

It's a tiny amount of batter!

It is a pleasant and healing task to make the little balls of dough and roll them in sugar.  I forgot to take a photo of them on the cookie sheet before baking.  The CHH said they looked like snickerdoodles, which are baked the same way.

In the oven the magic occurs, and in just a few short minutes, tiny San Andreas faults happen in the cookies.  Be sure to let them cool on the cookie sheet.  

So simple and crinkled

These cookies are soft and delightful.  Danger, Will Robinson: If you cook them for too long, they will turn into gingersnaps.  

They freeze well.  Cool completely, and wrap securely.

For a much more involved Christmas baking blog post, check out our Robert Frost gingerbread scene from a few years ago.

I used the half egg in tonight's dinner,
which was crustless quiche.

Thanksgiving Survey 2024: Game - Responses

Here are the Common Household & Extended Family responses to this year's survey. This year there were 10 participants, down significantly from last year's record high.

For those of a certain generation, please note that RPG does not stand for “rocket-propelled grenade” but “role-playing game”.  Dungeons and Dragons is an RPG, and some of us turned the school cafeteria, Parcheesi, chess, and the backyard hose into RPGs of sorts.  I am declaring The RPG the winner of this year’s survey.

2024 Thanksgiving Survey:  Game - responses

Question 1: What is a game for which you are thankful?

Responses:

A. I am thankful for Tabletop RPGs, but Pathfinder 2nd edition more specifically. TTRPGs bring me and my friends together and allow us to make great stories!

B. Dungeons and Dragons, as it became a starting example for many role playing games

C. Dungeons and Dragons - it’s helped me find friends far away from home, and given me a place to relax and be myself.

D. Guessing who wrote what Thanksgiving Survey answers.

E.  I am thankful for Writing Challenges, which sparked creativity and hilarity. No, wait, I am thankful for Pictionary Telephone, played in the way only our family plays it, which sparks creativity and hilarity.  Okay, both.

F.  Our weekly trivia nights at the local bar! 

G. Croquet.    Croquet at [location redacted] is serious business

H. Boggle

I.  Pictionary

J. The game of life. It is the most worthwhile game there is.

Question 2: Tell about a game from your childhood.

Responses:

A. I think it would be Wing Commander. I used to watch my dad at the game when I was a kid and it instilled the wonder of gaming inside me. I also remember it was a 12 Floppy Disk game! Now I can have a single hard drive with more than 1,000 games on it, I'm thankful for that as well.

B. Imaginary Scrabble, where you always play at least seven letter words, try to pronounce them, and make up a definition that sounds correct. The only rule is you can't make any real words.

Blog host’s comment:  this was a game made up by Younger Daughter and me, because neither of us could stand the rest of the family’s fierce competition in real Scrabble (™) games.  Such a happy and inventive game!

Imaginary Scrabble board at the end of the game.

C. I have very fond memories of Parcheesi - not only playing the game, but I would set the board up as a building, and narrate the four factions plotting against each other. Dad joined me once, as the elephant bankers, and the camels and the tigers competed to buy ice cream from them, if I recall correctly. 

D.  The cafeteria ladies required us to stay in the cafeteria until lunch was officially over.  In the game, the cafeteria ladies were nazi guards at a prison camp, and we were prisoners of war, whose job was to escape into the playground outside.

E.  The role-playing game of my childhood was chess.  This one-player game consisted of marching the chess pieces around the board in various formations, and may or may not have included weddings.  Another role-playing game which I played during someone else’s childhood was Dinosaurs, which involved marching toy dinosaurs and the occasional toy elephant around the living room in long lines. 

F. Hinky Pinky. I’ve recently been teaching it to my college friends and they’re all highly amused.

G. A fun game was to turn the hose on in the back yard, and then try build dams and levies with mud, bricks and boards, to contain the flood - before everyone perishes!   It’s a race - you against the hose.

H. One game from my childhood is Beyblades. It's a spinning top that you start using a launcher by pulling a cord. On the elementary school playground, we would spin several of them in a small area (often the end of one of the slides) and whoever's Beyblade lasted the longest before falling over was the winner. I have no idea how popular these are now, but I do know there was an anime series based on the toy.

I.  Sorry - we stopped by our neighbor’s house who would often have us in to play games.  No one was home, but we went in anyway and played Sorry. Somehow, we inadvertently let their dog out. We couldn't get it back in the house, so we ran home and never confessed our "crime".  We were very "Sorry" for that adventure!

J. Chess.  And bridge.  I spent many hours playing these games as a child. I played for fun. I played competitively. And then there’s tennis. Also one of my favorite games. And bowling. I really like bowling (10 pins).

My uncle was chess champion of the Maritime Provinces.

I will add that during my childhood we went on numerous loooong car rides, 8 to 10 hour drives between campsites.  That gave us ample opportunity to play Hinky Pinky.

Thanksgiving Survey 2024: Game

So. many. dice.

Looking for solace and levity wherever we can find it, in any possible amount, we turn to the Common Household’s autumn tradition, The Thanksgiving Survey.

Thanksgiving survey:  

GAME

1. What is a game for which you are thankful?

2. Tell about a game from your childhood.

If you are so inclined, please feel free to share your answers in the comments.  Or not.  It’s up to you.

Home-made Jeopardy, constructed
for a major birthday

A different sort of game.

Thanksgiving Survey 2023 - Wheel - Responses

The subtitle for this survey should probably be "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles".  This year there were a vast multitude of responses from many family members.

Survey Question 1.

What is a type of wheel, or a specific wheel, for which you are thankful?

 Family responses:

A.  steering wheel

B. Wheeling, West Virginia.  Per wikipedia, the name comes from the Lenni-Lenape phrase 'wih link', which meant "place of the head". This name refers to a white settler who was scalped, decapitated, and his severed head put on display.

C. The wheels on my suitcase

D. The Wheel of Time, which I have enjoyed talking about with my spouse because it is their favorite fantasy series. 

E. I am quite thankful for the little hamster wheels inside my computer – I don’t know of any other way my computer would possibly work!

F.  The Wheel of Time book series. It will always be one of my favorites and my partner just finished the series recently. So now we can share in it together.

G.  I am thankful for wheels of cheese because they are large and delicious.

H.I am thankful for the two wheels I had on Mariah, who was the Raleigh bike I rode through Europe in 1953.  I never had a flat tire.

I. The cam in a ballpoint pen.

J. The bicycle wheels on my Christmas present.

K.  My Cheerios.

L.   I am grateful for the roller wheels inside the DS200 machine. which pull the voter’s ballot in so it can be scanned and counted.

M.  I am most thankful for the pottery wheel

N. The wheels on the bus. (Great kids song)

O.  Color wheel

P.  I am thankful for my car tires. I am able to get to work to provide for my family as well as go to fun places where we make great memories. 

Bus at American Visionary Art Museum
in Baltimore, MD

Survey Question 2.

What is the earliest wheel that you can think of?

I purposefully left the question vague - some answered about the earliest wheel in their own life, and others attempted to answer about the earliest wheel in history, or in the universe. Some of these things are not actually wheels, in my opinion.

 Family responses:

A.  bacterial flagellum

B.  The spiral wheel of the Milky Way.  It formed not long after the universe formed,

about 13 billion years ago -- even older than Wheeling West Virginia, which formed

in 1793.  Wheeling West Virginia rotates around the Milky Way

every 212 million years.

C. The "Wheels on the Big Rig" song we would listen to as kids

D. I'm feeling like the Sumerians made giant stone wheels, but I wasn't there.

E. The earliest wheel I can think of is the First Wheel. I can easily imagine that

some wheel was the first one, and if I can think about that wheel, then it’s

automatically the answer!

F. The solar system, everything spins around the center point, our sun.

G. The wheel of time represented by the circular Mayan Calendar

H. I think I have some perception of the wheels on the baby carriage that my

sister and I rode in.  They were big wheels.  The carriage was in the attic until

we sold it to an antique store.

I. Ea-nāṣir's copper wheeling and dealing.

J. The car wheel

K.  My Cheerios.

L.  Obviously, the earliest wheels in history were the ones on Fred Flintstone’s car.

M. The earliest wheel I can think of is an animal with radial symmetry- such as

jellyfish and other cnidarians- just spinning really fast 

N.  Chariot wheels.  ( in Prince of Egypt… a must see)

O.  Toy car

P.  The earliest wheel I can think of is a wooden wheel that was used a zillion

years ago. I’m not great with history 😂

Thanksgiving Survey 2023: Wheel

This is the flat tire on my car
on Election Day 2017.
I was thankful when it was fixed.

Just what you all have been waiting for - the Common Household time-honored tradition of the Thanksgiving Survey!  Because another poll is what we all need.  This one is the twelfteenth survey (but the eleventeenth one that I have published on this blog).  Thanks to Rabbi E.M. whose Kol Nidre sermon provided inspiration for this year's theme.

Thanksgiving survey:  

WHEEL

1. What is a type of wheel, or a specific wheel, for which you are thankful?

2.  What is the earliest wheel that you can think of?

Please participate by giving your answers in the comments.  Happy Thanksgiving Preparation Week!

Ferris Wheel within miniature railroad