What would a trip to the Big Apple be without some cheesecake?
When I was 17 I had some bad cheesecake and it put me off this dessert for decades. This creamy, feather-light version has restored my faith in cheesecake. All’s right with the world tonight on 45th Street in Manhattan.
Just got in from seeing The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Visiting NYC includes wonderful moments. This was one of them.
I was lucky enough to get a ticket at the last minute…. And I had a seat in a box!
A look at the house from my seat.
The view of the stage from my box before the show. That’s the famous chandelier covered in the middle.
After a long day in the Usability seminar I got to go have a little fun…
It’s St. Patrick’s Day… So the Empire State Building is lit in the colors of the Irish flag. I love NY! This is the view from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center.
And an obligatory tourist shot of Times Square, a little blurry. I was trying to get the Accuweather sign….36 degrees!
And the forecast for Monday? 60 percent chance of snow showers. We don’t get forecasts like that in S.C.!
In NYC for the Nielsen Norman Group’s Usability Week 2013 conference. Five days of seminars on web site usability. And yesterday in NY… It was snowing! And the St. Patrick’s Day parade was held… Crazy! What a town.
Snow gently falling on Central Park …. Too cold to go across street and get a good picture!
The Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Four wonderful friends joined me for a cosy supper party tonight. I got to do something I’ve always wanted to do – buy an Advent wreath and light the candles. Last week I had a friend over for lunch, and we lit the first candle. Tonight we lit the second and read Mark 1:1-8.
Then we settled in for supper. Menu: Salad with black bread croutons, sun-dried tomatoes, almonds and balsamic vinaigrette, deviled eggs, Chicken Divan, Parker House rolls and caramel cake for dessert.
It was a relaxing contrast to last week. Last Saturday I realized I’d lost my can’t miss chili recipe and had to find something else. Sunday morning I opened the cover of the crock pot to find a disgusting burnt mess. What to do? I had no other food in the house; I HAD to go to church to sing in the choir – and my friend was coming over for lunch. So after church I skipped Sunday School, raced to the Publix and bought their deli-made soup. With 15 or so minutes to spare I got that on the stove to heat up and dished it up in the bread bowls originally meant for the chili.
This is the text of a speech I gave at my Toastmasters club the Friday before Thanksgiving.
In 1988 a columnist for Newsweek disparaged the winning presidential candidate, saying he had “thank-you noted his way to the top.” It was a swipe at his many connections. It was no secret that George H. W. Bush, or Bush 41 as he later became known was an “establishmentarian.” And many observers give partial credit for his winning campaign to his habit of sending a thank you note to every host he and Barbara met on the campaign trail.
As I read that article, that phrase rankled. It stood out so much that I remember it 23 years later. I did not care for the whiff of insult to the thank you note.
Thank you notes are as writer Bob Morris said a “grace note in our age of dissonance.” Thank you notes aren’t just nice. They’re needed – in today’s coarse society, more than ever.
But thank you notes have fallen out of favor for several reasons:
Oklahoma First Lady Cathy Keating wrote thank you notes to everyone who gave after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. She didn’t have time – but she made time – because it was important. She’d write in the car in between appointments, wherever and whenever she could.
Job seekers write thank you notes. Are they sincere – or just selling themselves further?
Nakedly ambitious social climbers write thank you notes to their hosts.
Schemers who want to ensure they stay in the family patriarch’s will always write thank you notes.
A thank you note doesn’t have to be formal. One of my favorite thank you notes, which I sent to a friend, had a picture of Garfield on it with the legend Muchos Gracias! –The inside said, “That’s Spanish for if I were any more grateful, I’d give you my car!”
The Southern girl knows is taught how to write thank you notes. Always include a personal anecdote. As Southern writer Gayden Metcalfe said in her book: Being Dead is No Excuse: the Official Southern Ladies’ Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral, “A Southern girl has to stop herself from gushing more than Old Faithful. If she is writing a thank you note for a toaster, she doesn’t just say thank you, she tells you about every single thing she’s ever toasted in that toaster, or ever will toast.”
What about you – you’re not a cynical job seeker, and you’re not a gushing Southern girl. Why should you write a thank you note?
1) Do it to teach children courtesy. How will they learn, unless they see you modeling it?
2) Do it because it makes the recipient so happy.
Only 3 percent of our mail is personal. Most of the actual mail most people get these days is junk mail. Here’s a sample from my recent haul one day this past week: Several circulars for grocery store ads; ValPak coupons, Three letters from political campaigns begging for donations; A card from the local Goodwill telling me the next day the donation truck would be coming around; flyer from a new restaurant, two bills and a personal card. What do you think I opened first? What would you open first?
Why write a handwritten note – or sign an actual card? You can send an email, and I certainly appreciate a genuine email of thanks.
But seriously – Are you really going to tie a ribbon around emails? Will you save those?
3) Do it because someone needs to hear the words you say. Your thanks may be the encouragement that they need.
4) Do it because the very act of writing a thank you note it turns your thoughts to gratitude. Think of all the corny songs – count your blessings instead of sheep. “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, don’t mess with Mr. in-Between” as Johnny Mercer sang.
5) And finally – write a thank you note because we’re in the season of giving thanks. Now is the time, when we celebrate the holiday dedicated to remembering how our Founding Fathers gave thanks for surviving their first tough year in the New World. Now’s the time to reach out to someone who has made an impact on your life – and let them know. Thank them for what they’ve meant to you. Is there an old teacher, a mentor, or an old schoolmate who played a significant role in your life? Reach out to them. That “Thanksgiving letter” – a thank you note – will be cherished long after mass-produced seasonal cards are thrown away.
Remember – thank yous aren’t just nice – they’re necessary. They help keep the veneer of civilization on the rough framework of our society.
…wonderful people who volunteer when you desperately need help on a civic project! Toastmasters contests couldn’t happen without a cast of dozens behind the scenes.
I’m still not sure whether a Homeowners Association is a blessing or a curse. On the blessing side: our HOA has an all-volunteer board of neighbors who care enough about the neighborhood and keeping it nice to donate their time. On the curse side: I have to go to meetings of the HOA board. And then there are the rules which sometimes seem picayune. Tonight one of the board members was trying to tell everyone that no one should be able to plant flowers by their doors, because that didn’t promote a uniform look. Good grief! One of the board members has a virtual Garden of Eden right outside her door, so that suggestion didn’t go over too well. My next-door neighbor grows irises which shame me daily. She takes such good care of her property while I pat myself on the back for keeping the bushes trimmed down. And she’s 92, which doubles the shame.
But that HOA does manage to keep our fees low – and it made sure all the houses were re-painted five years ago. So, let’s call the HOA gift no. 23.
Today I got an unexpected birthday present … about 7 months early.
My dad gave me the Queen of Mixers … the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. In cherry red. Picture to follow. As well as many cupcakes, cakes cookies and breads.
He asked me a week or so ago what type I would like, and I thought he was planning to make this a birthday present for me later this year. When he called earlier today to tell me he and Mom were coming over with a present, I thought, oh, no, you didn’t. Then I burst into tears. Unless you cook, you just wouldn’t understand. It’s the Cadillac of mixers.
I can’t wait to make this and this and this and this.
Thank you, Dad and Mom. You’ll never regret giving me this!
….somehow that doesn’t sound as romantic as “and all the ships at sea!” That was the phrase radio announcers of yore would use in welcoming the listening audience to their program.
The past week and a half has shown me that if I don’t write down my blessings each day then my attitude takes a plunge. I’ve seen and experienced quite a few blessings over the last few days … but the time to write them down has been elusive. (One more whine, then I’m done kvetching: when I come home from work, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of another keyboard and monitor.)
But there have been many blessings. And it’s time to make lists again….because not doing so has made my last week and a half a grumpy, out-of-sorts experience.
Blessing 17: Stepping outside tonight on my way to run another errand, I stopped and truly saw the gorgeous deep blue sky, half-moon and stars. It looked like Van Gough flung his paintbrush around South Carolina.
Blessing 18: Today was a beautifully warm (79 degrees!) yet breezy day. About 3:30 I was tempted to tell my boss we all needed to shelve work and go outside to fly kites. It was that kind of day.
Blessing 19: Last week I was grateful for my 25-minute commute to work, cause it gives me a chance to sing along to the radio. When the drive is almost all Interstate at 65 mph, and practically no stop and go traffic, then commuting is a pleasure.
Blessing 20: Saturday, Feb. 25, I participated in my first 5K walk of the year. I was expecting to take 75 minutes to finish, since I’ve never been able to sustain 3.0 mph on the treadmill at the gym. But I finished in 55 minutes. Yea me!
Blessing 21: A purring kitty who loves to sit by you when you’re at home.
Notes from Aunt Gem 