Lebanese Celebration

Anyone at all familiar with the Lebanese culture knows that it's family oriented; has healthy, delicious foods; and colorful, exotic belly dancing.

Cafe Lebanon in Springfield, Massachusetts, is a perfect place to experience all of the above. The front part of the restaurant has plenty of huge glass windows looking out onto the main street but the back room is better. Its walls are covered with murals depicting scenes from the Mediterranean. Why not view camels and people from that terrain while enjoying food known to the culture?






















We started out a recent evening at Cafe Lebanon with delicious tabbouleh, a salad of finely chopped parsley, mint, bulgar (cracked wheat), and tasty spices. It came along with hummus, a smooth chick pea combination, and baskets of pita bread. Some fried cauliflower with tahini (a tasty sesame sauce used in hummus) was lip-smacking, too. A lentil dish came with crispy fried onion slivers on top and was great. Of course there was a luscious fatoush salad comprised of fresh greens, tomatoes, radishes, red onions, and crispy pita bread chunks.



By the time the main entree came, everyone was already well satisfied. The platters of chicken, steak, and a hamburger-type concoction were definitely not picked clean. There was plenty of doggy bagging. The pieces of steak were medium rare, perfectly flavored, and tender.

As if the dinner were not enough, the evening's belly dancer swirled and whirled around the table, smiling and drawing everyone's attention. Her sparkling costumes glittered in the night as she circled the table to the Lebanese music in the background.




She had two costume changes and both were quite gorgeous. Her scarves, which she whipped through the air, were splashed with color, including sizzling red. Her hips and arms moved with grace. Belly dancing is quite sensuous and feminine. It is also very tastefully done and gives one an appreciation for a different culture.











At a couple of points some of our dinner party group got up to join the dancer, much to everyone's total delight.






Following the dinner and dancing at Cafe Lebanon, out came platters of desserts that would make dieters want to run for the door. There was "baklava," thin filo dough fillled with nuts and covered in a sweet syrup; a ricotta cheese dish called "ismalia" which is topped with rose syrup; and a very delicious rice pudding in a fried shell! Of course, dark and delicious coffee was the final touch to the evening.





If you want a very special night out, check out Middle Eastern restaurants in your area and step into another culture. Be sure to ask about the belly dancing!


Have you seen a performance of belly dancing?

Through the Crystal Glass!

Remember the ice palace in the movie Dr. Zhivago?

How about the crystal formations on the frozen windows?

(Of course, Omar Sharif's eyes boring into one's soul is also memorable. omg)

The photography in that movie was so outstanding. No wonder it won so many awards. It still ranks as my Number One favorite movie of all time, along with Gone With the Wind as a close second. Whoever saw Dr. Zhivago is sure to remember the hauntingly poignant song, "Somewhere My Love." The movie is a heartbreaker but also has touches of action, sorrow, fear, hope, and, of course, love!

Well, with all that in mind, when looking out of our windows yesterday morning, the Russian ice palace days of Lara and Yurii came to mind. Incredibly delicate and dazzling ice designs covered all our bedroom windows. Of course, the first thing I did was run for the camera.

"Oh, I can share these on my blog," I said as I flew down the hall to retrieve my trusty little Kodak digital camera. Now, here are the results! Hope you enjoy looking at them.
By the way, if you click on each picture, you can see the ice formations close-up!

Check out the little spider in this shot, frozen in time!



















Isn't nature filled with magnificence? What is your favorite season?

And Then There Was White!

(Froggy had a chilly swing on the porch!)

It was a typically chilly New England afternoon. The sun came out intermittently. I buzzed around town doing errands. Went into an eyeglass place and when I came out, a frozen white hell had broken loose.

Wind whipped wildly and made it difficult to open the door of the building to exit. Millions of icy darts froze my face as I struggled to put the hood of my jacket on my head.

"What?" I gasped. "It wasn't like this 10 minutes ago."

Running to my car, struggling against the wind, my hands just about froze and I grabbed my gloves from the passenger's seat. Then came the ride home!

Traffic everywhere moved at a crawl. All cars, including mine, switched headlights on although they didn't do much for visibility. It was as if a gigantic white curtain descended from the heavens. Nothing came into focus, either from the left or the right. All I could see was a massive whiteout.





At one point, I gently applied the brakes and felt the car skid to the right. There was no way to control anything so I just prayed nothing would slam into us. Thankfully, nothing did.



A long line of headlights from cars coming toward us broke the eerie whiteness. Wind whipped the millions of snowflakes into a blinding fury.

Squinting my eyes, I finally found our street and turned right and then left into our driveway. Home at last.

The aftermath of the freak storm turned everything into ice palace loveliness. Thick layers of frosted snow lined the branches of nearby trees. More snow swirled down from the heavens and landed softly on the whitened earth.





Once inside, after stomping my feet in the front hallway, we lit a fire in the fireplace and luxuriated in its warmth. We were blessedly cozy inside, safe from the elements.





Such is a winter afternoon in New England.

What is winter like where you live? Do you like it or do you prefer another season?

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

(Here's the cover of a DVD we got from Hollywood Video. It had life-changing messages!)



As I write this post, my eyes are still swollen from crying over a movie I just watched.

It's Gifted Hands, the story of Dr. Ben Carson, a world reknowned neurosurgeon. If you like inspirational movies, this one will blow your socks off. If you want to inspire a young person or show the extreme influence of a mother on her child, this movie is the one you want. It is not to be missed.

From an impoverished background, young Ben Carson was called a "dummy" in school by his peers. The Carson family lived in Detroit, Michigan. His mother was a poor, single parent who cleaned houses and babysat to support Ben and his brother. She was ashamed that she couldn't read but she built fires of determination and belief in her sons. She let them know they could do anything they set their minds to.

She saved money in a cookie jar and bought Ben glasses so he could see better in the classroom. She restricted television for her sons and required them to spend time in the library, writing two book reports each week which they had to read outloud to her.

Ben Carson began to use his vivid imagination and decided he wanted to become a doctor. His childhood dream became reality. Through hard work and sheer determination, Ben began to excel academically and got accepted into Yale. He earned his Doctorate and eventually became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center where he also is a professor of oncology and plastic surgery.

Eventually he married. There's a scene in the movie when he and his wife lost their own twins during his wife's pregnancy. It's heartbreaking so be sure to have tissues nearby when you watch this movie.

Dr. Carson has skillfully separated several sets of Siamese twin babies, joined at their heads. The surgeries can be more than 22 hours long and require the surgeons performing them to have incredible strength and stamina.

Dr. Carson has more than 50 honorary doctor degrees and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also is a best selling author and wrote a book by the same title as the movie, Gifted Hands.

Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays Dr. Carson in the movie and does an immensely convincing and stellar job. The influential mother is played with finesse and talent by Kimberly Elise.

It's great to see a movie that touches the heart, inspires, uplifts, and makes one cry and laugh! Gifted Hands does all of these.

Native American Art from Clay

Storyteller dolls are among the most fascinating of art pieces in the southwest.

In Native American tradition, there is always one person, sometimes a grandfather, who serves as a storyteller, to pass on information to the children. Storyteller dolls, made from clay of the earth, depict such a person. They are almost always shown with their mouths open. Tiny "children" are shown sitting on the storyteller's lap, back, arms, legs, and sometimes head!


This Indian grandfather is one of the favorites in my storyteller collection.


See the tiny little kid hiding in Grandfather's headdress?





This is a different style of storyteller doll but still very unique.




























Check out the quarter to the left of this storyteller doll to get an idea of how small these are.










A Native American woman named Helen Cordero of Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico is said to be the artist who made the first contemporary storyteller doll. It was fashioned in honor of her own grandfather, who passed on stories to his own people.

When we lived in Arizona, every time I saw an affordable storyteller doll, I delighted in buying it. It's one of the most unique collections to own!

Here is one of the female storyteller dolls. See all the little children clinging to her?




This storyteller doll has so many kids climbing on him that's it's hard to count them. I'm going to show you several angles of this doll.


























If anyone would like to learn more about storyteller dolls, there is a book titled Pueblo Storyteller: Development of a Figurative Ceramic Tradition. It can be ordered at Barnes and Noble.

What is your opinion of this storyteller doll collection?

And Let There Be Light...

For some unknown reason, I love all things Victorian.

Sometimes the thought crosses my mind of what life must have been like in those times. The lifestyle of Victorians seemed more simple, if not convenient. Journaling while sitting by the fireside (sans television) would have appealed to me. Outhouses would not.

A few years ago, we went to a Cracker Barrel for lunch. Now the best thing about going to that restaurant is the attached gift shop. Lunch wouldn't even matter, as long as I could peruse the attractive household items in the jam-packed Cracker Barrel gift shop. Sometimes they have items that would have suited a Victorian decor.



On that particular day, I saw a pink silk lampshade with a tasseled edge that would have been a knockout in a Victorian parlor. It was love at first "light." The cashier rang up the purchase. Then I had to find a lamp for it.

My late mother always loved crystal and had a set of crystal lamps. The pink shade looked good on one of them. It was a perfect match. My daughter made paper hearts and put them inside the shade, where they have remained ever since.




The crystal base is quite attractive with the detailed designs including a eight-pointed star in the pinwheel pattern. This is often predominent in Polish crystal.




The lamp is one of my favorites and we use it in the living room on an old-fashioned two-tier roundtable.

Do you like things from the Victorian era? If not, what is your favorite era? Maybe even modern?

Tale of a Little Bear

The little bear wears a white dress with a lacy hem. A red satin bow hangs at her waist. She has white bloomers with an opening at the back for her round, fluffy tail.

Fur surrounds her face and covers her ears. On top of her head is a little round of lace with another red bow in the middle.

The bear's face is wooden and she has a shiny black nose. Eyebrow lines are carved above her big, round, black eyes.

She has jointed arms and legs and wooden paws.

One of the dearest friends in the world gave me this bear many years ago when we lived in the southwest. She said it was a "Reikes" bear. Apparently, the carver of an original lived in Tucson, Arizona. His name? Robert Reikes.



Today, Reikes bears are popular with collectors all over! The bears come in all sizes, styles, and prices. Some cost an arm and a leg!




My Reikes bear has a small paper booklet attached to her arm. Open it up and, in tiny print, it tells how Robert Reikes has "delighted collectors with his unique style of woodcarving...Each creation is carefully carved and beautifully fitted together for a work of art that combines stunning quality and exquisite detail."



Of course, I had no idea my Reikes bear was a coveted collectible! But sure enough, there are hundreds of Reike bears on E-Bay and all over the Internet. If you love bears, check them out.

When we moved back to the east, she was carefully packed and shipped cross-country. Today, she makes her home with us in New England. Looking at her, it's apparently that she's pretty darned cute! Best of all, looking at her makes me think of my beloved friend and that always make me happy!

Do you like bears? Do you know anyone who collects them?

Roses for Remembrance

Roses are among the world's most beautiful flowers.

Roses are also for remembrance, aren't they? It doesn't matter what color they are, their beauty is unequaled.

When my mother was terminally ill, her will to live was stronger than medical predictions. She lived a lot longer than the doctors thought she would. During that painful time, when every second of life counted so poignantly, I drove weekends after a full work week to spend with her.

Along with my overnight bag, packed with toothbrush, make-up, and so forth, I also brought roses. Week after week, I'd always stop on my way to my mother's apartment to get her roses. White roses. Those were her favorites.

She loved them and always thanked me profusely. I liked to think they brought her joy all week long when I had to leave her.







Isn't it so much better to bring someone flowers while they are still living rather than after they are gone?

Anyway, today, in the dead of winter, when it seems like spring will never get here, the best cure for the blues is to go to the supermarket and buy roses! They come in so many colors and all are exquisite. Of course, they are an indulgence but we are worth it!






Pink roses are my favorite. Next time I see some, think I'll buy them.

What is your favorite color rose? Do you buy flowers for yourself?

Blog Back!

This is a photo taken at Olde Mistick Village in Mystic, Connecticut. Yes, there are two different spellings in there!



Hello everybody!

Guess what? I couldn't post earlier today because there was a problem....a glitch...something zooey with my computer. It was so devastating because I LOVE to post on a daily basis. So I had to leave my house with no posting.

Went on a day excursion to Trader Joe's in another town, a Big Lots, and to the adorable Williamsburg General Store where I got some sparkly heart stickers.

As soon as I got home and finished supper, zam! Made a beeline for the computer. No go. Zilcho. Zap. Kaputski.

So I called a very dear friend (again) and he helped me install another program via telephone and here we are.

HURRAY!!!

So the post I had ready for today will go tomorrow morning.

Hope you all had a wonderful day! I missed you and hope so much that everything will be a-okay for tomorrow! Computers are sometime like our kids. You love them to death but they can drive you crazy. Sincerely, Susan

Rose Covered Bandbox

A talented one-stroke artist gifted me with an oval bandbox. Pink and yellow roses splash against a luscious pink background and are entwined with blue flowers and green leaves.

Roses cover the front and sides of the box as well as the top cover. Lift up the lid and inside, she painted a single, tender rose. It is exquisitely detailed!

(Here's the top)




Right now, the bandbox rests on a coffee table in the living room. When sitting on the couch, it's a pleasure to see such a gorgeous piece of art.









Because bandboxes were so decorative, they could later be put to use for storage in homes.





Today, bandboxes can often be found at arts and crafts shows and in upscale gift shops.No longer needed for traveling, they make artistic accessories for the home.

What is one of your favorite craft items?