Hope is not the certainty that things will turn out as we wish, but the conviction that some things are worth doing no matter how they turn out.
Vaclav Havel
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/06/12/one-liner-wednesday-how-many-hours/
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
On June 6th, we observed the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the D-Day invasion, in which Allied Forces landed in France, beginning the campaign that ended World War II in Europe.
President Biden spoke at a ceremony honoring the anniversary and the United States veterans of D-Day, now all in their upper 90s or centenarians, held at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. Earlier in the ceremony, after his address, French president Emmanuel Macron, had presented each veteran with a commendation with President Biden by his side.
I appreciated President Biden’s address, which recalled individual stories of that day while lifting up the democratic principles for which the war was fought. Biden spoke about NATO and the commitment to international alliances to protect and defend freedom and democracy. He also spoke about the bravery of Ukraine in defending their democracy against the invasion by Russia. He called on the current people of the United States to defend our democracy today.
After Biden spoke, a service member read “The Watch” symbolically relieving the honored veterans and all World War II veterans of duty.
And I started crying.
I was thinking of my father, known here as Paco, who was a World War II veteran who passed away two years ago at the age of 96. Paco served as a Navy SeaBee in the Pacific. Seeing the veterans in attendance and hearing these tributes to them made me miss him so much more.
He didn’t speak very often of his service in his younger years and, with so many veterans of his age, it wasn’t much noted as the majority had been in the service. In his retirement years, though, he often wore a SeaBees or Navy veteran cap and it was sweet to see store clerks or random passersby thank him for his service.
He would have loved today’s ceremony.
He might have cried, too.
I just finished eating some yummy apple cinnamon scones that B made.
It’s a recipe that he developed starting from a Bisquick base, so it is quick to put together. Less measuring than working totally from scratch, which he also does.
One of my favorite scratch recipes is his pumpkin scones, for which we often use frozen honey nut squash. Well, you do have to thaw the squash first. In the fall when the farm stands are about to close and are selling winter squash by the box, we often buy a bunch of honey nut squash to bake, mash, and portion out to freeze so that we can use it for recipes for months to come.
But today, the apple cinnamon scones hit the spot.
Starting from the Bisquick base, it’s easy to make lots of variations. Besides fresh fruits, like apples, peaches, or plums, we use dried fruits, such as cranberries, currants, or raisins. There are lots of variations for the recipe, depending on what you have on hand.
We also add a bit of sugar, white or brown, and spice, often cinnamon but possibly nutmeg or cardamon, depending on what we use for fruit.
I hope I’m not making you hungry….
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “recipe.” Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/05/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-1-2024/
Binghamton area folks are cordially invited to attend the Members Recital of our local chapter of the American Guild of Organists on Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 4 PM at the United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton, 42 Chenango Street.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/05/29/one-liner-wednesday-wisdom/
In the United Kingdom and parts of the United States, there is an initiative called No-Mow May, encouraging people not to mow lawns (or a portion thereof) during the month of May in order to encourage the blossoming of wildflowers which provide food for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
In the spirit of No-Mow May, we have limited our lawn mowing in our front yard and left most of the back yard to grow on its own. The front yard starts things off with dandelions, which we let blossom but then wind up having to mow for propriety’s sake. B leaves the lawnmower on the highest setting, though, so that the spent dandelion stems get cut while sparing the violets and white clover that follow. Even though white clover is not native, our bumblebees seem to enjoy it. It’s also helpful that we use a battery-powered mower so that the plants don’t have to contend with the heat and exhaust of burning gasoline.
Besides those, the backyard has waves of additional flowers, including wild strawberry, bluets, forget-me-nots, speedwell, buttercups, celandine, ground ivy, and fleabane. While these help our pollinators, they also provide food for other animals, including rabbits.
Besides the lawn, we have other spring-flowering plants, including bleeding hearts, PJM rhododendron, dwarf daffodils, lily-of-the-valley, brunnera, amsonia, and our heirloom rose bush.
Although not all the plants are native, our native pollinators frequently visit them, which is important to us, especially our bumblebees. When we had a landscape plan drawn up and planted in fall 2020, we requested native plants, but some of the plants that grow wild in our yard are non-native species that are now considered naturalized in our area, though not invasive. If we do find invasive species, such as garlic mustard, growing, we try to pull them out so that they don’t spread. It is also helpful that we have had wildflowers growing as part of our lawn for decades. We never use herbicides. The mix of plants and not mowing it too short also make our lawn drought-resistant. We never have to waste water by spraying it on our lawn.
We may stretch No-Mow May into early June in the backyard so that the daisies that have started to grow up but haven’t blossomed yet have a chance to do so. Perhaps, B will do what he has done in some past years and mow around the daisies until they have had a chance to flower.
Do people observe No-Mow May – or some variation better suited to your geography, like Low-Mow May or No-Mow April, where you live?
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Today is observed as Memorial Day in the United States, set aside to honor all those who died in the armed services.
One of our neighbors has turned their front yard into a memorial for the day with small flags in rows and a sign listing the last names of those killed in recent US military actions, starting with Iraq and Afghanistan.
Remembering them and all who have died in service of the United States today and hoping for peace and comfort for the families who grieve their loss.
Also, praying for peace so that no more deaths will be added to those already suffered over the centuries.
Today marks the first anniversary of the release of my first poetry chapbook, Hearts (Kelsay Books, 2023). It is available from either of those links or directly from me by emailing jcorey.poet@gmail.com. Bonus: I can sign or inscribe for you, if you wish.
The poems in Hearts center on my mother, mostly in her final years when she was living with heart failure. It is a chapbook, so it is only 21 poems. (Chapbooks are generally under fifty pages and are organized around a central theme or device.) One of the blessings of having the book out in the world is that so many people have told me that my experiences with my mother reminded them of taking care of their own loved one. I appreciate that my poems touch people’s hearts and minds and give them an opportunity to reflect on their own lives.
As many of you know, I returned to my childhood love of writing poetry in my fifties and my education in the craft has come largely through my poetry community, which includes the Grapevine Poets, the Boiler House Poets Collective, and the Binghamton Poetry Project, recently re-named the Binghamton Writers Project. At times, I’ve felt the learning curve has been steep, but I’ve managed to keep learning and growing as a poet.
What I didn’t fully realize before the publication of Hearts was how daunting the whole publicity enterprise is and how little I understood what it would entail. Kelsay provided a helpful packet of information and I initially sent out some queries to get reviews in journals, but no one responded, life intervened, and I dropped it. The thought of entering contests was bewildering. I made some attempts at getting my book into local bookstores but there was a persistent problem with listing at a distributor. I’ve gotten several cold calls from a scammy publicity company, even though I’ve asked to be removed from their call list. I’m grateful to have had a handful of signing and/or reading opportunities locally but I can’t wrap my head around what it would take to organize an actual book tour.
When my first annual royalty payment arrived, I realized that a good percentage of those sales through Kelsay or Amazon were from people that I knew who had ordered from them. I had sold more copies personally than had been ordered online, which was simultaneously a pat on the back and a stark reminder of my responsibility for marketing my book.
While I have (repeatedly) posted about Hearts here at Top of JC’s Mind and cross-posted on Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram, I’m pleased to report that, as of today, I am a certified Goodreads author. Many thanks to poet Samantha Terrell, whose review of Hearts on Goodreads led to my claiming an author page there!
Are you on Goodreads? If so, I’d be honored if you would follow me, Joanne Corey, there and follow Samantha Terrell, too. While it’s no longer National Poetry Month, it’s always a great time to support poets and poetry!
Sharing that my poem about my mom, “First Grandchild,” is now part of the ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER series on Silver Birch Press; my blog post about it is here.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/05/22/one-liner-wednesday-let-the-confusion-commence/ (Check the link to learn about “up commas”!)
I am honored that my poem “First Grandchild” from my chapbook Hearts (Kelsay Books, 2023) is featured today by Silver Birch Press as part of their ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER series. Many thanks to Melanie and the Silver Birch Press team for including me in this series!
The first grandchild in the title is my daughter E, shown in the photo above holding baby ABC with my mother, known here at Top of JC’s Mind as Nana, and me.
You can read a bit more about the writing of the poem in the author’s note at the link above.
Having this appear at this time is especially poignant. May 16th would have been my mother’s 92nd birthday.
Tomorrow, May 22nd, will be the fifth anniversary of her death.
It’s a good day to remember the immense love and care that she showed for all of us for so many years.
Her love lives on.
A family of woodpeckers turned our house into theirs.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2024/05/15/one-liner-wednesday-ten-years-and-two-months/
Joanne Corey 