World Stationery Day! - 18 May 2022

Yes, today is World Stationery Day, please no moving celebrations today.

Today also is the anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte's appointment as Emperor of the French. I hadn't known he was Emperor of the French, rather than of France. One supposes that would imply his imperial control of French folk everywhere, much as the King of Belgium isn't really the King of Belgium - he's the King of the Belgians. Again a distinction that may imply a difference. These monarchs bear watching.

Cheers!

Born in a Log Cabin - 06 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 239

Micah 6:8
Genesis 11:4-5
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today I came across a fun fact - Frank Lloyd Wright's son, John Lloyd Wright, was the creator of Lincoln Logs. Well, apparently building and architecture really did run in that family.

I did play with Lincoln Logs as a kid - mostly at my Grandparents' house in Fort Wayne, Indiana, home of Fawn Leibowitz - but it wasn't a toy that really connected with me the way that Legos and Tinkertoys did (or even the good old Erector set with real metal parts!).
The main story that comes to mind for me regarding Lincoln Logs was when Christian was pretty young and Heidi and I had gone out for the evening. One of his favorite sitters was Ian, and when we got home (well after Christian had gone to bed), Ian told us to be careful about the big fort they had built in the living room out of Lincoln Logs because Christian wanted to show it to us in the morning.
Well, we weren't as careful as we ought to have been, as a wall came tumbling down and we spent far longer trying to figure out how it had been built - just what went where - than we really wanted to.
At any rate, we did manage to get it back together, and Christian may be finding out for the first time that we had semi-destroyed and then rebuilt his work.
Good times.

In unrelated news, today is National Saxophone Day, commemorating the creation of Belgian musician, Adolphe Sax. Coming in many sizes - soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass and several more at each end of the spectrum - the saxophone is found in many different kinds of music, from classical to pop to jazz. Here's a video celebration of the saxophone for your viewing pleasure.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

21 July 2020 - Plague Journal Day 131

Micah 6:8
1 Samuel 8:19-22
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Roger Miller was a really good songwriter. His lyrics are clever when that's what he was after, and very deep and moving when that was appropriate. I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson - this was a long time ago indeed!) where he was talking about his life in general. He told Johnny that, having started life as a poor nobody, "I always wanted to grow up to be somebody. Now I realize I should have been more specific." Well, in his honor, today is https://www.checkiday.com/cd12f64da72a80bb5d9e7c3e2a4c6cd0/national-be-someone-day. (full disclosure - it's nothing to do with Roger Miller, nor that quote)

In international news, today is Independence Day in Belgium! Leopold I was elected the first King of the Belgians, and swore allegiance to the constitution on 21 July 1831 after independence from the Netherlands had been asserted in October of 1830. Yes, Belgium is a much younger country than these United States of America, despite there being Belgians there (brewing beer and making cheese) for centuries before we were founded.
An interesting bit of information I came across the other day is that the Fir Bolg (or Firbolg or a variety of other spellings) of Irish legend may have either been, been descended from, or possibly just been named after the Belgae of Julius Caesar fame. I wonder if Asterix knew any of them.
Now you know.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
lb Si

Little-known New Orleans Flemish Mardi Gras Traditions

The following is purported to have been translated and excerpted without permission from Flemish Life in the New World, by Anke Vandermeersch  published in Ghent, 1893

Mik van de Koningen

The large Flemish community in New Orleans has a centuries-long tradition at Vette Dinsdag (or Mardi Gras) of which far too few “outsiders” are aware. This tradition, parts of which were copied by the French Acadian refugees (also called Cajuns) when they arrived here in the deep South, is that of the festive Mik van de Koningen, now called in French the Miche des Rois (sometimes altered to Galette des Rois – the King Cake).

At the end of Epiphany, each Flemish household would endeavour to rid itself of all the soon-to-be-outlawed items, such as fat and flesh. Unlike their French neighbours, the Flemish – reputedly a somewhat “thrifty” or “frugal” race – were seldom overstocked in the fat area, but rather in that of meat: hence the Mik van de Koningen, the Loaf of the Kings.

The loaf traditionally consists of a mixture of ground beef, oatmeal, crushed tomatoes, and eggs. Typical additions would include diced onions or other aromatics, salt, pepper, possibly nutmeg, and a sauce known to Latin America as salsa inglesa - the venerable Worcestershire Sauce.

No Flemish Vette Dinsdag celebration is complete without the round loaf, festively decorated in the three colours of the kings – Purple for justice, Gold for power, and Green for faith. Adding even more to the anticipation is the hope each celebrant harbours of finding the tiny, hidden representation of the Christ Child in his or her piece of the loaf. Tradition dictates that the finder of the child, if of suitable and legal age, must host the party the next year, and provide the loaf or the beer – a sometimes difficult choice to make in that zymurgic culture!

Belgians and Buffaloes

Well, after decades of painstaking research, the mystery of why Belgians are called Buffaloes may have been solved.
It seems that back around the turn of the century (from the 19th to the 20th), Buffalo Bill Cody took his Wild West Show to Belgium (among other European countries), where the people of Ghent took to him in a big way.
The football team there - K.A.A. Gent - took as its nickname the Buffaloes, and their logo is an Indian chief in profile.
It seems that many of the Belgians moving to the Detroit area came from that part of Flanders, and brought their team affiliation with them.
A mystery neatly solved.

Carnage du Jour - 09 November 2010

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

A nice taste of the Belgian Provinces tonight: trout braised in beer and herbs!

I had a couple of Trout filets (Ruby Red, as the fishmonger would call them), and it was time to cook them up, so what to try this time?
Aha! Drop them in a baking dish, cover with a bottle of beer (I used a bottle of Ichabod pumpkin ale) add a bay leaf and a few sprigs of fresh thyme from the herb garden and let them marinate until it was obvious that they fish had absorbed a bunch of the beer (and thus the herb flavours as well).
Then, into the oven to bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, as I recall.  At any rate, it was until the fish flaked nicely.  Removing them to a warmed platter, the liquid, with the herbs removed, was poured into a sauce pan to be thickened by boiling and then the addition of some creme fraiche.
An accompaniment of lima beans and a nice rice rounded out a very enjoyable repast.


(By the way, the cookbook on which this was based is A Taste of the Belgian Provinces by Enid Gordon - highly recommended as a fun and useful cookbook.)

The Cup!

Wow! I know it's been over for nearly a week, but the World Cup that just finished was a great time. It took me back to the late 70's when we had professional soccer here in Detroit (the fabled Detroit Express, coached by the legendary Ken Furphy) and we had season tickets at the soon to be no longer Pontiac Silverdome.
While it was disappointing to watch the US side exit as early as they did (thanks to the Group of Death in which we competed) and having no Belgian side for which to root, it was still a tournament of many beautiful games, many ugly games, and many cards - both red and yellow.
The saddest part was the way Zedane finished his career - it just made no sense. This is not the way he played the beautiful game - you have to go back several years to find something to stick him with - but it's apparently the way his Italian head buttee plays the game. Very sad.
Still, the game is great to watch, great to play, and it will be a big thing here in the States as soon as organized crime realizes they can take bets on the games. (That was our theory back in the 70's and 80's, and it seems still to be the case.)
Now if only Wayne Rooney hadn't been ejected!