Footle and Grok

Happy Mother’s Day!

Every year, Mother’s Day catches me by surprise. I know that Father’s Day is the third Sunday in June, so I’ve gotten it stuck in my head that Mother’s Day is the third Sunday in May. Except that it isn’t. It’s on the second Sunday. I made my cards early but then rushed to the post office to mail them in time (hopefully.)

I wish you a Mother’s Day that is relaxed and stress-free. And if you get your present a day late, don’t worry. I love all my Moms, even if I can’t remember when Mother’s Day occurs.

Daphne is a dachshund, and she turns two today. I watch her on YouTube. She lives with Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund and their parents in Toronto, Canada.

There are a lot of famous dogs on YouTube. I follow Crusoe becuase his videos are awesome and he’s got attitude. If like dogs, humor, and fun vidoes, I’d check him out. When Daphne joined the family, I wasn’t sure I liked her. She was not the cutest puppy, but she has grown into a great dog. Her personality is very different than Crusoe’s, but she’s got a lot of spunk. Her vlogs are funny and cute.

Below is Daphne’s second vlog (if it doesn’t play, click on the post title and go to my website to see it.) Watching it made me happy, so I wanted to share it with you.

These are not just celebrity dogs. They raise a ton of money for their local shelter and the Crusoe Fund has raised over $100,000 for Cornell University. Their cutting edge vet program saved Crusoe’s life. He is an older dog and I’m glad he will be around for Daphne to sit on for years to come.

Happy birthday, Daphne!!!

Happy International Tuba Day.

When you think about musical instruments, the tuba is probably not the first one that comes to mind unless you are watching Jaws (did you know a tuba played the Jaws theme?) However, this large brass instrument is possibly one of the most fun instruments in the orchestra.

I can say that because I’m married to a man who has played the tuba since high school and because I learned to play the tuba in college. I played an upright concert tuba that was slightly smaller than a normal tuba which was great since I am slightly smaller than a normal human.

My reason for learning yet another instrument (I already played the piano, the clarinet, and the trombone) was that I wanted to be in a Tuba Christmas concert, where a bunch of tuba and baritone players come together and perform Christmas songs for the community. (Learn more at the official website.)

A common form of the tuba is the sousaphone, the large instrument that wraps around the player with the wide bell above their head. Sousaphones are often seen in parades and field shows. Even though concert tubas and sousaphones are very different in shape, they sound the same. If you are in a band and want to get your picture in the paper, play the sousaphone. Reporters love to take pictures of large instruments. My hubby has been in a ton of newspapers all around California wearing his sousaphone.

The next time you think of musical instruments, I hope you’ll think of the tuba. And next Christmas, consider going to a Tuba Christmas concert. They are tuba fun!!

I was watching a YouTube video by a woman who talks about books. She listed the top twenty books liked by people who signed up for her Goodreads page. I’d read about half of the books on the list. Number two was Pride and Prejudice, and Number one was The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I think this says more about her followers than good books, but it did make me wonder. If I had to choose one book to be my favorite book, which would I choose? I like a lot of books in many genres. War and Peace was really good, but was it better than Moby Dick or the latest Craig Johnson mystery? I don’t know. I did decide to choose from only adult books because if I include all the middle-grade books I like, I’d be here until Christmas trying to decide.

I do wonder about the people who picked A Picture of Dorian Gray. I liked the book when I read it in high school, but I haven’t read it since, so I don’t think it was the most amazing thing I’ve read. In fact, I also read The Scarlet Letter in high school and have read it many times since. Does that mean I like it more than Dorian Gray? That would be another question.

Is my favorite book one that I’ve read a gazillion times? I’ve read Purity in Death dozens of times, but it doesn’t make my list of favorite books because it’s more like a way to escape reality than an amazing book. I love War and Peace more, but I don’t plan to reread it anytime soon.

Also, do I have to own the book for it to be my favorite? I love Metamorphosis and have read it several times, but I don’t own it. I check it out from the library. Also, it’s really short—less than 20,000 words. Does length matter?

Okay, here are my rules. I’m making these rules because I want to know your favorite book. You can only choose one.

• It can be any story written for adults in any genre.
• You don’t have to own the story.
• It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve read it.
• It can be any length.

Drum roll, please. My number one favorite book is The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe. It is super short (technically a short story, but I don’t care), and I love every word. I do own it, and I read it every October. 

What is your favorite book? For this survey, you can only pick one. If you have more than one, no sweat. Just pick one. 

Sometimes as I clean out my pantry, I find odd spices and seasonings. Most of them we got for free from sportsman shows, and some were given to us by friends. I usually try them out and decide they aren’t great. But every once in a while, I find a gem. And one seasoning I found on my baking shelf is the best thing ever.

This container of seasoning came from a good friend. I think we were at his house and complimented the dinner he made. He gave us a container of the seasoning he used, but I never opened it, and it got lost among all the other food in my kitchen.

As a test, I tried it on some diced chicken breast that I make for dinner a lot. I usually add some bottled sauce to the pan just as the chicken is cooked. It’s not an amazing meal, but it’s easy and healthy. I have to tell you that the seasoning from my friend elevated this simple chicken dish from good to great.

I put this on all the meats I make. One of my favorite dishes is to put a row of green beans, a row of two chicken breasts, and a row of cubed potatoes in a small baking pan. I sprinkle this seasoning all over and cook at it at  400 degrees for forty minutes to an hour, depending on how thick the chicken is. It’s awesome.

Okay, enough suspense. What is this tasty seasoning? It is J. Lee Roy’s Cookin’ Seasonings. J Lee Roy is apparently California’s Cookin’ Cowboy, which makes sense because my friend lives in California, so he probably found it there.

I can’t tell you everything that is in this since the second ingredient is “spices,” but J. Lee Roy knows his seasonings.

Come visit me, and I’ll make you dinner using this seasoning. I think you’ll like it as much as I do.

Today is Star Wars Day, also known as “May the 4th.”

However, we now live in a post-Mandalorian world, so along with “May the 4th” and “Revenge of the 5th,” we now have “This is the May.”

“This is the way” is the phrase used by Mandalorians. So it makes sense that it would become “This is the May.” I love it.

If you have not seen The Mandalorian, find someone with Disney+ (you can come to my house) or stream it yourself and watch one of the best Star Wars stories ever. I have spoken (another brilliant catchphrase by a character in the Mandalorian.)

Boy does this thought go through my mind most Mondays. I’m motivated on Sunday evening, and then on Monday, all I want to do is postpone my plans and sleep in.

But not today.

Today, I’m going to remember why I run, why I write, and why I declutter.

I hope you’ll join me to reach your own goals.

I was listening to the most recent Grammar Girl podcast episode and learned that something I thought I knew most of my life was wrong. I love learning the facts behind everyday things, so I’m sharing it with you.

Op-Ed, that place in the paper where people can send letters, does not mean Opinion Editorial, as in “the opinion of the reader” but Opposite Editorial. And it isn’t called opposite because the letters were the opposite opinion of the editorials. No, it is called Opposite Editorial because it’s printed on the opposite page from the editorial.

What a simple yet complicated explanation. Now that newspapers are going digital, some papers are changing the name of the Op-Ed because it is no longer opposite of anything. I hope the new names they choose are clear in their meaning.

Happy May!

I figured I’d have no problem finding a lovely May poem, and I was right. There are plenty to choose from, so I picked one that was short (I like short poems.)

John Milton is known for writing Paradise Lost. I started this book (technically a poem) and loved what I read, but I felt I was losing the meaning as I got further into the poem. I’d love to read an annotated version someday to understand the language and the imagery better.

Today we get to enjoy a short poem by John Milton. It’s still written in the English of a different time, but it captures the feel of May.

Song On May Morning

by John Milton

Camp Nanowrimo has ended. How did I do?

I finished the first draft of my early reader chapter book. I love it to pieces. I’ll spend May editing it and then do the fun work of finding an agent. (There was a little sarcasm in that statement.)

I also published a ten-minute write-in video every day of April. I had a lot of fun recording them, and I now have a great playlist to add to my channel.

From now on, I’m going to download two write-ins a week, one on Tuesday and one on Friday. I’ll be shortening my writing advice to one minute and adding a writing prompt. I look forward to learning more about video making.

On Sundays, I’ll do a video without a write-in so I can experiment with different styles of videos and various writing topics.

I also plan to learn more about gaining subscribers. I have twelve right now and would like to get to one hundred. Once I have that many, I can get a name-specific YouTube URL. Then I’ll work on my next goal.

All this means that Jenn’s Writing World will be fun and helpful to writers of all levels. If you know any writers who might enjoy YouTube videos about writing, I’d appreciate you sharing my channel with them.