Baseball and Apple Pie...

Baseball and Apple Pie

As the saying goes, "What's more American than baseball and apple pie?" 

Ahhh, good old baseball...It's not really something that we give a whole lot of thought to on any given day. It's just something that...IS! A good old American sport. Well, actually it was inspired by a British game called Rounders, but we established it as an official sport called Baseball.

And, we've probably all played baseball - many of you guys played in the little leagues as you were growing up, and you girls played softball. We've also probably all watched baseball - don't we watch the World Series and root for our favorite team every year? 

So, let's test our knowledge with a little baseball trivia, shall we? Ready??? Here we go!

1-What two teams played in the very first World Series?

2-In what city is the Baseball Hall of Fame located?

3-What Major League slugger was named "Mr. October"?

4-What pitcher threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series?

5-Who was the first player to hit 60 or more home runs in a single season?

6-How many stitches does a regulation baseball have?

7-What Pittsburgh Pirates player died in a tragic plane crash in 1972. 

8-What Major League franchise has won more games than any other in history?

I know - some of those were so easy...but a few of those made you think, didn't they!

By the way...DID YOU KNOW - the first official rules were written in 1876?



Now for a little pie trivia! Mostly about apple pies but with a few extra, interesting, tidbits thrown in...

*According to a survey conducted by Crisco, the most popular dessert pie in America is apple, followed by pumpkin and pecan.

*The word "pie" is derived from the magpie bird - it is assumed that the reason is the magpie collects miscellaneous objects in its nest.

*Apple pie was selected as the official pie of Vermont in 1999.

*In the state of Kansas, it was once illegal to serve ice cream on cherry pie.

*Pie as a dessert is a relatively recent development - in the 19th century fruit pies were more commonly a breakfast food.

*The first print mention of fruit pie is from Robert Green's Arcadia (1590): "thy breath is like the steam of apple-pyes"

*Shoo-fly pie (a wet-bottom molasses pie) was used to attract flies from the kitchen.

*Wealthy English favored "surprise pies", in which live creatures would pop out when the pie was cut open.  (Perhaps 4 and 20 blackbirds?)

*Why do some people eat cheddar cheese with apple pie?  Dating back to ancient times, it was tradition to end a meal with fruit and/or cheese, to aid digestion.  The love of certain of these food combinations has persisted to this day.

*It is rumored that the Apple Marketing Board of New York used slogans such as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "as American as apple pie", and thus "was able to successfully 'rehabilitate' the apple as a popular comestible" in the early 20th century when prohibition outlawed cider production.

*Early Americans called pie fillings "timber".

*Many believe Mock Apple Pie was invented during WWII, but it actually dates back to the 1850's.

So, there you have it! Now we're all a little more wiser about baseball and apple pie - but we're still just as American! 

GO Yankees!!! Oh, and just for the record, I like to make my pies with lots of cinnamon and sugar, a tiny bit of allspice, and a drop of nutmeg. I like to use Red Delicious apples sliced very thinly. And, when I serve my pie, I like to serve it up (and eat it)warm, by itself, or with a piece of cheese - that really IS yummy! No ice cream for me...it makes my pie soggy!

How do you like YOUR apple pie!

Answers:

1-Boston & Pittsburg

2-Cooperstown, NY

3-Reggie Jackson

4-Don Larsen

5-Babe Ruth

6-108

7-Joe Dugan

8-Giants

A Trip To The Mummy Museum

The Mummy Museum

During my travels in Mexico, we had the opportunity to visit the city of Guanajuato in Central Mexico, home of the Festival Internacional Cervantino - The International Cervantes Festival, which was the original purpose of the trip. But, it was also home to El Museo de las Momias. We were going to get to visit a real mummy museum! That interested me much more...

When I first heard that our itinerary included a trip to El Museo de las Momias, a picture flashed into my mind of Boris Karloff, all wrapped in strips of rotting cloth...the mummy we've all come to know and love. But, as we arrived and entered, I found it was not exactly what I had expected or pictured. These mummies were not wrapped in rotting cloth; these mummies, for the most part, were fully clothed! One of the tiny little babies was still in it's diaper, which was totally preserved.

These people had actually lived and died there in Guanajuato. And, because of a local law which required their relatives to pay a grave tax, these people found themselves relocated and put on display! 

Between the years of 1865 and 1958, you could pay a one time tax of $170 pesos - the equivalent, more or less, of $17 US. Although seventeen dollars sounds like a minuscule amount of money, not everyone could afford to pay the tax. They were, however, offered an option - you could pay a yearly tax fee of $50 pesos (approximately $5) for three years and your loved ones would remain buried. Many of the less wealthy Mexicans were able to choose this option.

But, there was a catch - isn't there always a catch???? IF you could not pay your yearly $50 peso tax for the full three years, your loved one would be dug up from the cemetery and they would lose their right to the burial place! They were given one more opportunity to pay, and if the family was still unable to do so, the bodies or bones were stored in a building. 

Ninety percent of the bodies were disinterred because their relatives could not afford to pay the tax. Of those dug up, only 2% were naturally mummified. What eventually happened to those bodies that had not mummified, I do not know...but it's sad to think of the possibilities.

Word got out and by the 1900's, the bodies were starting to attract tourists. Mexicans, always the entrepreneurs, saw an opportunity to make a few extra pesos. The cemetery workers began charging to allow these tourists to view the mummies and this eventually became the official museum in 1894. 

Fortunately, in 1958, they changed that particular law and no new bodies were exhumed or added to the museum, but today the museum still displays the original bodies...

You would think that all of the mummies displayed would be of Mexican descent, but the very first mummy put on display was Dr. Remigio Leroy, a french doctor. He still had his brown coat on as well as his boots! 

One unusual, and gruesome, mummy was that of Ignacia Aguilar. Unfortunately, she was buried alive! Ignacia suffered from a strange sickness that would make her heart appear to stop for one day. This happened on several occasions. During one of these incidents, her relatives thought she was truly dead this time and decided to have her buried. When they disinterred her body (for non-payment), they found her facing down, biting her arm and a lot of blood in her mouth. 

The whole feel of the museum was mysterious and spooky....the music had an eerie feel to it. It was an experience that I'll never forget. I did get several pictures and they're tucked away in my file as a memory of one of my most unusual, and memorable trips I've ever taken!

What's the most unusual or memorable trip that YOU'VE ever taken????

The Day I Met King Kong

...It was a day just like any other. There I was, minding my own business, walking along 5th Avenue, when a huge shadow darkened the sidewalk. The ground shook! As I turned to see what was going on, a huge soft black hand came out of nowhere and closed its fingers around me gently and lifted me up, up, up. I was in the giant hand of King Kong!

Was I scared? YES! I almost fainted (see picture above)! And then I looked into the sweetest, most gentlest big brown eyes I'd ever seen...with his other hand, he gently touched my cheek. I wasn't scared anymore. Well, not until he started to scale the walls of the Empire State Building! I'm afraid of heights, and we were going higher and higher. I could see the airplanes and helicopters starting to circle...This could not end well for either of us!!

I somehow had to convince him to stop climbing and put me down...but what could I say that would get through to this big giant ape??? Through closed eyes, my mind racing for the answer, I realized just what I needed to say to end this...words that would make him climb down and safely place me back on the ground. Words that would save my life and his!

I said, "................."

(Time to get your creative juices flowing!!! Please feel free to fill in the blank - what would make King Kong climb down to safety? I look forward to reading you're comments!)

El Jardinero

El Jardinero

I'm not big into poetry but once in a blue moon I try my hand at it...I wrote this about 5 years ago when still I lived in Mexico. It was written as a memory to Ricardo, a little old gardener, who worked in my neighborhood.

Many Mexican workers don't own transportation of their own, so they depend on their city buses or taxis, IF they can afford it. Most of them, though, walk wherever they need to go. 

At the time of this photo, I lived at the top of the "mountain" in the neighborhood of Chula Vista. It was more like a very high hill when compared with the mountains across the lake. (The mountain range was/is the Sierra Madre Occidentals.) My house looked down upon the village of San Antonio Tlayacapan, Lake Chapala, and those mountains. Many times, as I drove down the mountain, I'd pass workers walking to or from work - gardeners, maids, brick layers, carpenters, etc., and of course, Ricardo.

Most of the workers were younger people, but Ricardo was an older gentleman and not very quick in the step. He was in his late 60's and worked halfway up the mountain as gardener for one of the neighborhood families. I knew how hard it was to traverse this cobblestone road on foot as I'd attempted it myself once or twice. I just couldn't imagine someone his age doing this twice a day, five days a week!

So one afternoon, I decided I'd ask if he'd like a ride down to the bottom - at least that would help a little I thought. Mexicans are a very proud people and traditionally very hard workers - happy workers, too, I might add, so I didn't know if he'd accept the ride but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. I stopped, and in my halting Spanish, I asked if he'd like a ride down. He told me gracias with a big smile and got into the car.The next morning I stopped and offered a ride up to his work, which he happily accepted and thus this became the daily routine for me and Ricardo. 

After a few weeks had gone by, one day my gate bell rang. As I opened my gate door, there stood Ricardo with a bunch of flowers in his hand, the bottom stems held together by a piece of foil. All he said, as he handed them to me, was "Para tu, Señora." The next day my bell rang again, and almost 
each day after that. Each time, there stood Ricardo with flowers ~ sometimes a whole white 5 gallon bucket full! 

On the days I was not home, I'd find them on the side of the gate in the window ledge. To bring them, he was leaving on his lunch hour and walking up to my house at the very top, then walking back down to his employers house to continue his afternoon work. It seemed to me that defeated the purpose of me bringing him up in the first place, but what could I do. I did tell him he didn't have to bring flowers every day, but he always smiled and continued to bring them.

During those short rides, we'd converse in Spanish about little things, mostly family. He'd ask about my children and I'd ask about his...that's how he started calling me Mamacita. He was always respectful though. That's also how I found out where the flowers were coming from. One day I decided to ask and he told me, with a mischievous smile, that they came from the garden where he worked! I asked, "Don't they mind if you bring me their flowers from their garden?" He answered, "They have many flowers and will not miss these."

So, Ricardo, this is for you...

"El Jardinero"

He brings me flowers.

From far below, he takes the long walk

To the top of the hill.

His weary bones cry out

Yet upward he walks,

The little old gardener

At the bottom of the hill.

“Each day, Mamacita, I thank you.

I’ve picked them just for you.

They come from the garden in which I work.

You can never have enough flowers.”

From far below, he takes the long walk, 

And, he brings me flowers.

(When I asked him to smile for the camera, this was his idea of a smile.)

Asleep, Perchance To Dream...

Asleep, Perchance to Dream...

In the bright shining sun he lay, asleep.

Dreaming of carrots, and delicious flowers...

...At least that's what I think he's dreaming about. But what do I know ~ I'm not a horse! It was a very sunny day as I walked along the "beach" of Lake Chapala in Ajijic (pronounced ah hee HEEK), Jalisco, Mexico. There he was, this cute little colt, following me around. He was curious and not a bit afraid - after all his mother was just over there, staked out to graze. So I guess he felt secure in that fact and continued to appease his curiosity by walking along side me, but not getting too close.

Earlier, I had walked a short piece from my house down to the lake, camera in hand, ready to capture whatever Mother Nature had to offer that day. There were plenty of birds out, even though the lake was a bit rough and the wind was strong. White caps abounded, the mountains across the lake were a beautiful site to behold, and here was this cute baby horsey wandering around while mama grazed on what little grass there was...It was so peaceful!

I wanted to just sit and soak in the beauty and peace surrounding me, but I had come to take pictures and pictures I would take! When you hold a camera in your hands there are many things to consider, including time of day and lighting, and my day would be ending soon, taking the light with it. So, I had to focus on my beautiful surroundings and find the photo ops I'd come in search of. I was not to be disappointed.

As the colt followed me around, I began shooting the birds, the mountains, the waves - I even captured the little fella himself scratching his neck with his hind hoof like a dog. Unbelievable! Who knew!

Well, I guess he grew tired of me and the warm sun was just too inviting for him. He decided a rest was in order. So, he lay near his mother and, as I watched, I thought of a little child. His little eyes would close and his little head would nod off. But just like that little child fighting his sleep, he'd jerk himself awake, eyes opening. We've all watched babies do this. I just never expected to see a horse do it. Finally, it was just too much for him and he slept.

He was so cute! I was able to capture him as he lay there sleeping and I knew just what I wanted to do with this photograph. I wanted to show that dreamy state that we was in. I wanted you to be able to feel him resting, sleeping, dreaming...   what do ya think?

I was very happy with the photos I'd taken that day. I felt like I'd got some pretty awesome shots, including these. I really miss my beloved Mexico. My husband and I lived there for five short years...not long enough for my tastes, but family comes first and we moved back to the US to relocate in the beautiful state of Arkansas, closer to our children and grandchildren. My photo opportunities are not what they were in Mexico, that's for sure. But, one day...I'll go back ~ camera in hand, ready to capture whatever Mother Nature has to offer me that day...

Dance of the Sirens...

Dance to the call of the ocean...swirling, swirling, swirling. Feel the soft wet sand between your toes. Dance and swirl, dance and swirl ~~~ send out the call! 

Do you hear them calling you? Come to the ocean and feel free for just the tiny bit of time you spend there...before you head back to that rat race of life. Dance and swirl!

Hear the waves crash at your feet, the birds calling to one another...feel that cool breeze blowing through your hair. Dance and swirl!

Life is short, my friend. Make the most of it! Listen to them call as they call you to the ocean...Go, get away for a short time and renew you inner spirit. Find the Sirens, follow their call...Dance and swirl! 

The Beautiful Path Beyond

Hello, my name is Kay, KayBird to some friends, and welcome to my Blog!

My husband calls me Kaybird or just plain Bird. I'm not sure exactly why but it could only be for two possible reasons ~ 1. I love to sing and he thought I sounded like a beautiful song bird OR 2. I talked so much I reminded him of a chatter bird! I'd like to think it's the first reason. : ) Either way, I love photography and I decided to use KayBird to sign all of my work.

When thinking of what I wanted to blog about, photography came to mind...I love taking pictures and I love changing them into digital art even more! I've traveled just a bit and I feel that I've captured some really interesting photos -- at least I think so. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. But we'll see what you think as I post a different one in each blog. Now, as I said, I love manipulating most of them into digital art so sometimes you get a photo, sometimes you get digital art....

I noticed that, as I looked over all of my work, I could see a story or poem in each one. So, I thought THAT'S what I'll do! I'll post a photo and blog about it. What it means to me - what it might mean to YOU!

I would normally start with something very upbeat and beautiful but for my first post, while I find it IS beautiful, I wanted to do something a little special to me....a dedication, in fact. This first blog is dedicated to my beautiful mom, Hazel Jeanette Labit Guidroz, who passed from this world February 25, 2013.

  The Beautiful Path Beyond

(...in special memory of Hazel J Guidroz, loving mother...)

What do you see when you look at this picture? 

It's a special picture for me, with a very personal meaning...a very special memory. My mom passed away 6 months ago after a very long illness. We were all by her side at the end. In fact, we were all by her side for most of the last 4 months of her life.

Every day my sisters and I would take turns visiting and sitting with mom and it became a way of life for me - those last 4 months. Day in and day out, you'd know where to find me. There were happy days and there were sad days...mostly sad. Even though it was a very sad time, we shared a lot of laughs with Mom in those last days. Something I'm very thankful for! You know, it's always hard to prepare for and to realize that one of your loved ones is coming to the end of their life. But in the end, it happens to us all, prepared or not. 

Toward the end, I decided I wanted to go to Avery Island (Louisiana) with my trusty camera and my best friend, Laura, just to take a break and get a bit of fresh air. Little did I know I'd capture this one picture and it would come to mean so much.

When I got back from the Island, I set the pictures aside for a day or two. Then, one day when I had a break, I looked through them and saw this one. The azaleas were at the end of their cycle but I was able to capture them with flowers still on their branches and flowers all around them on the ground. It was pretty...the majestic live oaks all around, especially this one in the background.

I love photography, but I've come to love digital art even more. I came across a program, the Redfield Fractalius Filter, that can change a regular photograph into "a work of art" if you will. Sometimes I get a water color effect; other times I get this electrifying effect - there are so many different things you can do with this filter! I work with a photo until I get the effect I want - it's as simple as that. 

That particular day I chose to work with this photo because of the flowers and the trees and I wanted a soft effect, so I worked until I got what I wanted. There you see it! I sized it for a wall hanging because I had decided to frame it at a later date. Then I put all of my photo work away.

At the end of her time, my mom passed from this world with her loving husband and all of her children by her side...and then it was time to prepare for her funeral. During the preparations, we had to choose photos to display on her video, and I remembered the photo I'd taken. I pulled it up on the computer and looked at it again. I decided I'd frame this piece and we displayed it at her funeral...only our family knowing the significance of this particular piece.

Let me tell you what I saw when I looked at this picture...I saw two beautiful azalea bushes nearing the end of their season. It appeared the smaller bush would lose her flowers first. And as I looked beyond the two azaleas, I saw a beautiful pathway leading to a place unknown. Unknown, but peaceful...calling for you to come and see what was at the end of the path.

I saw my Mom and Dad nearing the end of their life...I also saw a beautiful pathway that they would travel down once their time had come. A quiet, peaceful, path with a bit of light at the end, a happy path! Can you see it? Just a small glimmer of light beyond the trees on the pathway - something to walk toward, something to look forward to at the end of the path...

And, so, I end my first blog - not on a sad note, but a happy one as I think of the beautiful place my Mom has gone to visit...at the end of the path! Until next time....

-KayBird-