What could be more beautiful or romantic than a gorgeous sunset? If you are city bound with no sunset views, sit back and enjoy just a few of my favorite sunsets. Happy Valentines Day.
Sunsets are so Romantic!
I am participating in Across Women’s Lives with SheKnows Media and PRI!
I am so excited I just have to share this with you! I’ve been invited to participate in a new media partnership between SheKnows Media (SheKnows recently purchased BlogHer) and PRI Across Women’s Lives! Word about the new initiative: “Across Women’s Lives seeks to change the conversation in news media, because women’s lives are newsworthy. It is an in-depth series by PRI that will reveal the strong connection between the empowerment of women and girls, and economic development and improved health around the world. PRI is combining deep-focus reporting on women throughout the world with unprecedented outreach so that these stories are heard and can make a difference. It’s funded in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”
As some of you may, or may not, know, feminism is a philosophy I feel strongly about. I received a graduate degree in Sociology and my field of study was Gender. I taught Gender Issues at the University of Texas Dallas for many years. At times I have felt like I’ve been pounding my head on a brick wall, so I welcome the opportunity to join such a distinguished group of women, women bloggers, and writers. I have always strived to help make a difference in women’s lives, empowering them to travel, try new things, and get out of their comfort zones. Much of the Modern, Westernized World is far ahead of us in this respect, and many nations in other parts of the world are as well. Check out this list of current female leaders. As for percentages of congressional or legislative seats held by women in 2014? Check out this list:
Austria 33%
Australia 26%
Belgium 41%
Demark 39%
France 26%
Germany 37%
Iceland 40%
The Netherlands 39%
New Zealand 34%
Norway 40%
Spain 40%
Sweden 45%
Switzerland 31%
UK 23%
and the United States of America, the land of equality and the American dream? 18%.
Even Afghanistan has more women in congress at 28%!
The majority of the countries listed have paid parental leave, state or corporate paid daycare or allowance for it, generously paid vacation time, state paid single payer insurance for every citizen, paid disability, paid sick time…the benefits go on. Yes, they have a higher tax rate. I wonder if corporate America or the top 1% of Americans could afford to pay more taxes? Hmm. I bet they have a few extra dollars on hand. These nations have a much lower incarceration rate, higher student test scores, and much lower health care cost than the US. I could go on and on.
These are just statistical averages showing that the more women involved in making laws, the more benefits people have. Less war, too. These countries rarely go around attacking other nations. PRI headline: When a Country has Problems, Women are Often the Answer. http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-03/when-country-has-problems-women-are-often-answer
Women are underpaid and undervalued in most of the world. The only way toward change is to change our attitudes. I’m thrilled to be a part of the SheKnows and PRI Across Women’s Lives program to raise awareness about the lives of women, and to make it known that #womenslivesmatter.
Stay tuned for more about Women’s Lives. Yes, Women’s Lives Matter!
A Party Planner? Yes, Please!
Actually, she’s a wedding planner. She is planning my daughter’s wedding and I know it will be memorable in its elegance and panache. I like that word, panache. It has…panache. The wedding planner has panache, too. Check her out at Minted Artistry!
Soon, too soon, I am hosting an engagement party for the happy couple, and although I could do it myself (I’ve done several parties with minimal help), I have hired the planner to do the Engagement Party.
Confession is good for the soul, right? I am tired. Both of my adult children are getting married this year. We (which means me) am hosting large events for both occasions. My husband had a double lung transplant (yes, you read that correctly, what a saga) 18 months ago, and just spent two weeks in the hospital for a virus. I am administering IV medications to him at home while working very hard at promoting my blog, learning about social media, and taking webinars about sponsors and travel writing. (If you would like to hire me to review your hotel, your island, your vacation home, or your dive boat, I am at your command. Don’t worry about hubby, I’ll hire a nurse!). I still have two students to work with on college applications as I finish up consulting on college choices.
It is also time to consider downsizing. We have a very large home full of memories…but I am not sure it is right for us anymore. With my husband’s health and other issues it is becoming very difficult to keep up the house the way it should be. We need to paint; we need grass; and many of our doors have swollen and are not functioning very well. What do we do about that? If you have any suggestions on who to call, I’m all ears.
So, anyway, I hired a planner. This is me, taking care of me. With everything I am dealing with at the moment, I need all the help I can get. It is past time to put some effort into the care and maintenance of Tam. Cheers!
Ho Ho Ho, here we go!
I’m done with the buying, almost done with the wrapping, 2 days away from doing the baking with my daughter, and 3 days from our annual Christmas Eve get together! Whew. Yes, I’m tired….but happy and looking forward to the festivities!
Tomorrow, I’m taking Pilates and getting my hair cut. I had lost a bit of weight, but the Christmas season has made sure that I gained every ounce back. Well, there’s always the day after Christmas to get started losing again. I desperately need yoga…my usually limber hips hurt like bloody hell, and my joints are killing me. It is so hard to work out and get ready for Christmas! Which probably means I am doing too much Christmas.
I have always been in love with the Christmas season, the decorating, the wrapping, buying gifts, and the best part? Watching people open gifts! I love that. You should see my big brother, in his mid fifties, he looks like a 5 year old again when he opens. I buy him a lot of presents just to see him open!
Both of my young adult children are getting married in 2015, so I bought for 4 kids this year! I know they aren’t really kids, but hey, my 85 year old mother called me a kid until the day she died. So I guess they are adult kids. Hopefully they will like their gifts, I hounded each of them relentlessly for a Christmas gift list.
My BFF always brings her very large family over on Christmas Eve, and since she has grandchildren, we still do cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. And, oatmeal for Jule Nissan.
Oh, you don’t know Jule Nissan? He’s an elf. A grumpy elf who hated toymaking. He doesn’t like kids or people much either. About 25 years ago, Jule hopped off of Santa’s sleigh and moved into our attic. Jule is a sneaky little elf…he is always taking items and hiding them from us throughout the year! He pops in and out of different locations in the house. On Christmas Eve we leave Jule a big, nice bowl of steaming oatmeal. Why? Because he likes oatmeal. Who knows what he would do to our trees and gifts and decorations if he didn’t get his Christmas Eve oatmeal? He likes to visit with the reindeer and Santa, so they snack together. Jule likes animals which is a good thing since we have, through the years, had zillions of them. This year, only 4 dogs on Christmas.
The young ones leave on Christmas Eve somewhat early in order to get to bed so Santa will come, but the adults often stay for a bit. This year we have a poker game planned after the little ones leave. Randy and I have no grandchildren yet, and our children have finally decided that Santa only has to fill stockings this year (yes, Santa came to our house and left presents until my children were adults, so I must have been good at it!) and I’m looking forward to winning a pot of gold on Christmas Eve! Finally, I can stay up late!
My husband, who had a double lung transplant 15 months ago (looking a bit weak and pale in this 2013 Christmas photo) is doing great, working out every day and really, back to normal! We could not be more grateful for our good fortune in having him with us, so…..Have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Festival of Lights! I will check in after the big day! Good will to all, and may peace come to our world soon.
Enjoy Christmas in Sweden with St Lucy
Sweden, indeed all of Scandinavia, has fascinating traditions for celebrating Christmas. Many of their celebrations date back to pre-Christian pagan festivals. The darkness of the Scandinavian winter was the impetus for the Pagan festivals and traditions of light bringing. December 13, in the Julian calendar (this does not hold for the current Gregorian calendar), was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The Swedes feared the dark, after all, what if the light did not return? It is common in Sweden to have a home alight with candles during the holidays. The original holiday was the Yule, the bringing back of light, and it was celebrated with food, feasting, fire, and light.
When Christianity came to Sweden, the Winter Solstice Celebrations of Light were converted into the celebration of St. Lucia, or St. Lucy. Lucia means “light”. Strangely enough, St Lucia is Sicilian. She was seeking help for her mother’s long-term illness at the shrine of Saint Agnes when a Christian angel appeared. Lucy became a devout Christian and refused to marry, and was denounced to the Roman authorities by the man she would have wed. “They threatened to drag her off to a brothel if she did not renounce her Christian beliefs, but were unable to move her, even with a thousand men and fifty oxen pulling. So they stacked materials for a fire around her instead and set light to it, but she would not stop speaking, insisting that her death would lessen the fear of it for other Christians and bring grief to non-believers. One of the soldiers stuck a spear through her throat to stop these denouncements, but to no effect. St Lucia was able to die only when she was given the Christian sacrament.(Wiki). Another story is that Lucia was working to help Christians hiding in the catacombs during the terror under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and in order to bring with her as many supplies as possible, she needed to have both hands free. She solved this problem by attaching candles to a wreath on her head”. In Sweden, The National Festival of Lights and Renewal is held the night before the National holiday, to honor St Lucia. Girls and boys, and even adults, don white robes and set on their head a crown of lights. (To anyone who has seen the movie “The Ref” St Lucia is memorable!). A national Lucia is chosen, and Lucias visit hospitals and nursing homes bearing traditional ‘Pepparkakor’, ginger snap biscuits. It looks like a lovely holiday!
They have Christmas trees in Sweden, and families often make straw goats to protect the tree! Straw is used to remember that Jesus was born in a stable. Every year, since 1959, at 3p on Christmas Eve, the TV station shows Disney’s special “From all of Us to All of You”. Donald Duck! 40 to 50% of Swedes watch it!
Gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve, and the Christmas Feast is served for lunch on Christmas Eve. From www.whychristmas.com:
This is often a ‘julbord’ which is a buffet, eaten at lunchtime. Cold fish is important on the julbord. There is often herring (served in many different ways), gravlax (salmon which has been cured in sugar, salt and dill) and smoked salmon.Other dishes on the julbord might include cold meats including turkey, roast beef and ‘julskinka’ (a Christmas ham); cheeses, liver pate, salads, pickles and different types of bread and butter (or mayonnaise). There will also be warm savoury foods including meatballs, ‘prinskorv’ (sausages), ‘koldomar’ (meat stuffed cabbage rolls), jellied pigs’ feet, lutfisk (a dried cod served with a thick white sauce) and ‘revbenspjäll’ (oven-roasted pork ribs). Vegetables such as potatoes and red cabbage will also be served. Another potato dish is ‘Janssons Frestelse’ (matchstick potatoes layered with cream, onion and anchovies that is baked to a golden brown. There’s also ‘dopp i grytan’ which is bread that is dipped in the broth and juices that are left over after boiling the ham. The desert of the julbord might be a selection of sweet pastries, some more pepparkakor biscuits and some home made sweets!
Christmas in Sweden sounds original and so different from ours in the US. I’d love to go over and see the Lucia’s on St Lucia’s Day.
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Fab Photos Friday: Culinary Delights in Cozumel, Mexico
Fabulous food should be part of everyone’s vacation. Good food cannot be confused with fantastic food. In Cozumel, the restaurant to go to is La Cocay. La Cocay means “dragonfly” in the Mayan language, but it’s food is distinctly Mediterranean. Here is some good news: they have enlarged their menu!
I confess that La Cocay is my favorite restaurant on the island. I love the location (3 or 4 blocks off the oceanfront, in a non-descript area) because you would never expect to find such a gem there. When my friends walked in, they said, wow, this is beautiful. I was kind of worried about this when you drove by here! No worries, Mexico has all kinds of hidden surprises!
There is inside seating, which is lovely, but my favorite place is the garden seating. In August it can be a little warm, but the evening we were there wasn’t bad at all. I loved hearing my friends and their “ooooo’s” and “ahhhh’s”. La Cocay has wonderful artistry in their presentation of every dish.
We gobbled the tapas before I could photograph them!
Next up were the Phyllo Rolls…..they melted in your mouth!
And my favorite salad in the world, La Cocay’s Napa Salad! Loaded with fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts,
it has to be tasted to be believed!
Leslie ordered Mahi-Mahi served with potato augratin….a culinary masterpiece, truly. I’m not a foodie, I have no idea how it was prepared, I only know it was an explosion of flavor! Kamailie and Lana enjoyed a Margharita Pizza from the wood oven. I had a bite of each….muy delicioso.
But I was waiting for the coup de gras! Chocolate Torte! I haven’t had any of their other desserts, though they look delicious. I HAVE to have my torte!
I have so many photos of our family and friends enjoying wonderful evenings at La Cocay. Once all of our kids were old enough to appreciate it, we’ve spent birthdays there (instead of at Carlos and Charlies). I hope our family will continue to enjoy La Cocay for many years to come!
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