Snow Day

The East Coast is being hit by another nor'easter named Pax. The snow started last night and snowed continuously until a little while ago. The storm isn't over it is just taking a breather and so are we. Neighbors ventured out to clear pathways. We started cleaning off cars and decks while we wait for the resumption of the storm. The weathermen are telling us that we've gotten 14 inches so far. And oh goodie they just reported we should be getting another 3-6 inches tonight.  I wonder what Dr Tierney has up his sleeve for tomorrow's delayed opening school closing. 

Here is what it looked like out my backdoor for part 1 of Pax. The square that is being buried by the snow is my AC unit.

What is it about Curling?

What is it about curling that fascinates me so? Is it the brooms? While I love a clean home, I dislike cleaning. So maybe it’s watching someone else sweeping. 

May be it is fond memories of Mary Poppins, not only did she make cleaning up a snap; Dick Van Dyke made cleaning chimneys look like a fun job.

Then again it may be the zen quality of  rocks. If you don't know what I mean, google zen images, it's all about rocks. Serene pictures of stacked rocks and water. 

When I watch curling, I am mesmerized by the rocks sliding down the frozen water. Sweepers diligently clear a path that the rock follows to the rings. Watching the game leaves me with the same peacefulness as when I meditate. Olympic Curling is on now on NBC Sports Network. I wish the NBC website did a better job posting when curling will be on. At least they have matches posted online, so I can catch them later.

I Love Lions

A friend posted this adorable lion cubs loving their caretaker. It reminded me of Elsa and her siblings relationship with Joy Adams in Born Free. Elsa & Joy's relationship touched a part of me and still does. I envied my neighbor who actually got to meet Joy Adamson. I remember him telling us kids that Joy's forearms were all scar tissue from the lions licking her. Lions tongues are rough like sandpaper. This from the dad telling the story, I'm still waiting an opportunity to find out myself. Feeding a lion cub is at the top of my bucket list. I've heard about T.I.G.E.R.S. Preservation Station allowing visitors to interact with tiger cubs, but tigers aren't lions. Lions are WAY cuter IMO. If you know where I can feed a lion cub, let me know.

The Eliza Metzker Hudson Story

The Hudson Family circa 1869
 L-R Elizabeth, William Alexander Hudson holding William Jr, Eliza Metzker Hudson holding Isaac

The latest snow storm in New Jersey, gave me the opportunity to play with a new to me feature in Ancestry.com, the Story. Story takes the information you have entered about a person and creates a chronological historical picture book. Now if Ancestry took all the timeline entries I made on Eliza and included them in the story view, I would have been ecstatic. It's unclear how Ancestry decides what goes in the timeline besides, census information. It looks like if there is an Ancestry.com source then it appears on the timeline. Other entries being included seems to be a crap shoot. All pictures attached to the ancestors file get uploaded, so you can create your own entries. There are severe limitations with the picture file in my opinion since it will only let you use a picture once. I add children's births to a mother's timeline so I need to use the "it's a boy/girl" multiple times. Ancestry is also erratic when pulling descriptions from the timeline view to the story view. Net result, instead of having a well rounded story on the first take, I had to re-create the majority of events before Eliza's story could be told. My final pet peeve of the story view is it can't be saved as an infographic, only as a web link. If anyone has figured out how to save the story view to an infographic, please let me know. For the moment at least if you would like to learn about my 2nd great-grandma Eliza Metzker who married William Alexander Hudson in 1866, you will have to use this story link. Update, the above story links no longer work. Now called LifeStory it can be printed or saved as a pdf. Eliza Metzker Hudson's Life Story 

Mother Nature, Your Boys are Misbehaving Again!

Last week New Jersey was in the grip of the polar vortex. Yesterday the temperature spiked to 50 for the Superbowl. Today we're back under freezing and the snow is steadily coming down. Clearly Misters Heat Miser & Cold Miser are at it again. Mrs Claus, can you get on the horn to Mother Nature and help us out?

Fág an Bealach! Morris County Resident to Discuss the Irish Brigade

Clear the way! Mine Hill resident Andrew Bermingham fought at the Battle of Antietam as a part of the Irish Brigade. Hear Civil War chronicler Steve O’Neill recount the story at the Ferro-Monte Chapter, NSDAR on Saturday February 8th at 10am.  

Ferro-Monte Chapter meetings are held at Roxbury Township Free Public Library 103 Main St, Succasunna, NJ at 10am the 2^nd Saturday of the month from October - April. Prospective members are always welcome. If you have an interest in learning about your family tree, we can help you; maybe we can even find a Patriot among your leaves. For information, email: NJDARFerroMonte@aol.com.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote patriotism, preserve American history, and support better education for our nation's children. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 165,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world's largest and most active service organizations. To learn more about the work of today's DAR, visit www.DAR.org.

Superbowl Eats

Today is the 1st time in 20 years I will be home for the Superbowl. Usually I attend a friend's Superbowl party. However, this year the party is cancelled. As much as I will miss spending time with all my bowl game friends, I am looking forward to my Superbowl menu. My niece-in-laws will be attending the game courtesy of their new bff Seattle Seahawk Derrick Coleman. Fox taped a segment with the girls for the pre-game show. The pre-game show is four hours long and of course we don't know when their piece will air. Then the game. As football fans, we actually look forward to this part. At my friend's house the guys & I are glued to the game. This year will be no different. Prior to the aforementioned letter exchange, I was leaning toward Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Now, I'm die-hard Seahawk fan. Half-time is usually the time for eats, but this year Bruno Mars has invited several New Jersey marching bands to participate in his show. Roxbury High School will be among those performing at half-time. 

Multi-Grain Nachos

Sweet Potato Chips

Given the amount of articles written, it is clear how important what is served during the Superbowl festivities is as important if not more important than the game itself. Since we are planning on watching not only the game but the pre-game show as well; I need to plan enough food to cover 9 hours of munching. The menu choices will be on the healthy side: cut veggies (celery, radishes, cauliflower & carrots), multi-grain cheese nachos, baked chicken tenders, sweet potato chips and green beans. The green bean recipe intrigues me the most. I had been planning on frying them with olive oil & garlic when I came upon this recipe to bake them. 

  

Healthy Chicken Tenders               Oven Roasted Green Beans

Now to the good stuff... desert! One of my favorite memories of my Nana was sitting on the red stool in her kitchen while she cooked.  There were no short pre-packaged short cuts for her, everything was made from scratch. She made the BEST chocolate pudding on the stove. Once it cooled it had a yummy skin on top that seems to be out of vogue today. Awhile back I found a chocolate pudding recipe from Hershey. I'm going to make it in the morning (without the covering so it will develop a skin). As the game winds down, I'll enjoy the treat and remember my Nana. 

Chocolate Pudding