Uncle Fester’s Hot Pepper Fruit Spread

Have you ever tried something a bit off the wall...unique...outside of your comfort zone?  Have you ever been pleasantly surprised?  World-endingly devastated?  Rocked beyond your wildest expectations?  I have been in several of these situations in my many years, under a variety of circumstances...from a food standpoint, palate-wise I was intrigued by this tasty concoction...Uncle Fester's Favorites: Hot Pepper Fruit Spread.

I tasted this stuff two years ago at the Ellwood City Arts and Crafts Show in Ewing Park.  I made the mistake of not buying any, I was not about to make the same mistake twice.  The jelly has a tinge of hotness, but is not overwhelming to your palate.

It tastes great on pretzels or corn chips as a dip.  Recently I have begun spreading this on toasted whole grain bread as an addition to my egg and cheese sandwiches.  A bit of heat in the AM rocks!

You can check out more about Uncle Fester's Favorites on Facebook by clicking here.

You can find out more about the Ellwod City Arts and Crafts Festival here.

Holiday Clean Up

This post was originally published at http://mrsal.edublogs.org/2017/12/22/holiday-clean-up/ but its message resonates here also...

Ahhhh...holiday break has started and I have so much to do, Christmas shop, well at least finish it, I started it yesterday after work.  In my defense, I have been looking for the presents I wanted to get people, but they are no where to be found..."Thank you Nintendo."  This holiday season I need to do some digital housecleaning, dumping emails, publishing or deleting blog drafts, and generally organizing some digital clutter on my desktop.  I am an early riser, so 20-30 minutes a day with my coffee before everyone else wakes up may not complete the task; but it should get me close to my goal and set me up for my New Year's Resolution.

Vinyl on HBO

HBO has a new series that focuses on the music industries of the 1970's; Vinyl. The show is graphic, loaded with great actors, visually stunning, nuanced with flashbacks and side clips that tease undercurrents and tensions between characters, interlaced with accurate historical facts from the era, and for someone with my ecclectic musical taste the soundtrack is unparalleled.

The first episode I was actually able to catch was episode two, and only a few minutes of it at that.  Those few minutes hooked me into the vivid tapestry of the show.  

I have since watched the pilot on in demand; a warning for all...do not try and watch Vinyl and try to multitask.  You risk missing integral, yet fleeting, pieces of the story.

If you enjoy music, history, and do not mind the graphic nature check out Vinyl.

Things you can do on a rainy day

My daughter Arianna was having a fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade Stand today to coincide with the neighborhood yard and garage sales.  Well...the rain cancelled the yard and garage sales, But Arianna and her friend Maddie braved the weather and held the lemonade stand.  We would line to thank everyone who donated to the stand.  I do not have the total yet, but it is okay considering the weather.

While it was storming during the stand I sent the girls inside and monitored the stand from the front porch.  I came up with a list if things I could do while this was going on:

Watch the lemonade stand.

Watch it rain.

Watch the grass grow from all of the continous rain.

Listen to music.

Drink coffee.

Watch people drive past the lemonade stand.

Daydream.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Read my neglected Facebook feed.

Watch the weather radar on my phone.

-----Become depressed because the rain stretches back through two states.

Catch up on Twitter.

Weed the flower beds in my yard when the rain slows to drizzle.

Get soaked when rain suddenly increases and I am weeding.

Decide to post to one of my blogs.

Grade summer school Moodle work until rain begins driving onto porch.

Do an ancient Pagan Sun Dance...I must have done it incorrectly, the rain came down harder.

See all of the #ISTE2015 posts on FB and Twitter.

Drink more coffee.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Read the Pittsburgh, PA conservative newspaper and try and count all of the hateful comments about the recent Supreme Court rulings.

-----I lost count.

Feel bad that we have so many hateful people around.

Learn to knit.

Drink more coffee.

Count more raindrops.

Twiddle my thumbs until they cramp.

Knit a comforter.

Learn Russian.

Recharge my phone battery.

Read War and Peace.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Listen to more music on my phone.

Translate War and Peace back into Russian.

Learn to put Einstein's Theory of Relativity to everyday use.

Count backwards from 365...in Klingon.

Make sure our life jackets are accessible.

Check my translation of War and Peace vs. an early Russian Version...I am spot on!

Think of more things to do while watching it rain.

Drink way too much coffee.

Begin to to post to my blog.

Prove that you CAN divide by zero.

Promise myself to never watch "Singing in the Rain," again.

Watch the lemonade stand.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Dose off into a nap.

Finish my blog.

Begin to build a life raft...just in case.

Summer Musings

The sun is settling behind the trees, my reading of Hunter S. Thompson's personal collection of letters has motivated me to begin writing again.  However, before I can start a bevy of black carpenter ants march across my deck.  The do not live here,, we pay an exterminator do drive them to the neighbor's.  They just use our yard as a pathway between their main home in one neighbor's tree and our other neighbor's fence.

Distracted by their presence, I fail to begin my authoring endeavors.  I smack one ant with a flip flop and the rest scatter. I disdainfully wipe the crushed bug from the bottom of my flip flop as I track the remaining interlopers.  

Two more are crushed with quick certainty and my cat-like reflexes.  They distract me long enough for one of their compatriots to get beyond my direct reach.  Unbeknownst to them, I could have qualified for the Olympics if flip flop tossing were on their list of accepted competitions.  With a casual, almost nonchalant toss of my flip flop the running charlatan is smothered by cheap imported plastic/rubber footwear.

The carnage makes the survivors scurry in chaotic circles.  I chamber my remaining piece of casual summer footwear in my right hand and begin dispatching the remaining trespassers.  As the remaining ant dives between the decking boards and  away from my capacity to strike, I grow impatient as I am in a hurry to move on to my creative endeavor of blogging.  

"You have to surface sometime!" I find myself calling aloud, almost upbraiding the surviving transgressor as Ahab once screamed at the white whale. 

As if on queue, the last of the transgressors raises to the surface of the decking, making on last gallant attempt at escape.  I pause, not sadistically mind you, but quizzically, pondering if I have some hidden skill or ability to communicate or command insects.  My mind clears of such foolish thoughts and I dispatch the last of the pack.  

I gaze about the field of battle, satisfied there are no more enemies to slay; I pick up my iPhone and begin to blog.

Pool Day

Today at the pool we signed up for our summer pool pass.  It was a great day for being in the water.  It was sunny, hot, and humid countered by a non-heated pool.  I am hoping that eventually the pool will warm up; if not it may be money wasted.  We did not get the pass last year due to the weather being cold and not pool-like.  

Arianna swam into one of her Girl Scout Troop mates and they enjoyed a couple of hours together.  Hopefully these sort of days become the norm.

Reflections on Letters

I just started reading Hunter S. Thompson's book, The Proud Highway.  I have not gotten deep into the collection of personal letters, which make up the book.  However, I admire the strength necessary to publish private letters one has written.  

A certainty is that I could never do such a thing.  I once tackled an old friend in my new front yard as he read a note he found while helping me move into a new residence.  Great first impressions for the neighbors, two adullt males wrestling over a piece of paper on a frozen tundra of grass in December, but he was reading aloud a ten year old letter that was long thought to have been destroyed. Fortunately I won the match and disposed of the letter.     

I recall that episode often in my classes when discussing Netiquette; once something is written anywhere it is no longer private.  People do not realize that in this era of connectivity.  Social media in its current form was called "Science Fiction" back then, much to my good fortune. I cannot fathom turning my teenage and early 20's correspondence into public discourse; not that they were that interesting to begin with...

I have been perusing through the book of letters, not voyeuristically, but with an interest to see how his writing evolved over time and how he strove to improve on his style.  

It has motivated me to blog more, keeping me on task with my goal.