Headliner

We celebrated at home with cake and candles.

Then dinner out. Mexican. Of course.

And thanks, Dad for always being the photographer.

. . . and many, many more!

Signs of mental illness (Part 1 of ?)

This may surprise you, but not everyone is educated or beautiful or successful or slim or happy or young. It's true.

I'm always trying to keep tabs on my mental state and it is quite a challenge. Did you know that badmouthing others can be a sign of mental illness? How positively you see others reflects how happy, kind, and emotionally stable you are.

For the record, that goes for badmouthing anybody. Regardless.

I think when I was younger I probably did this from time to time. Badmouthing others. I don't remember a particular example, but I know I was envious sometimes and I probably badmouthed someone likely because I wished I was more like them.

Some people always seem to see the bright side of things. Being genuinely happy when others are successful. When it's truly genuine, how can you not admire those people?

I'm not always good at paying people compliments, but I want to. When someone you know has a new outfit or a new 'do or a new job or lost weight, you notice. If you choose not to say anything, then you might as well be saying . . .

Well, I don't know what you might be saying, but I always remember when someone pays me a compliment and I treasure it. Even Jim - despite him being very complimentary. And I admit it becomes more and more important as the years go by!

Don't you hate it when someone says something like "Oh, you did your hair different."? Is there a compliment in there somewhere? How do you respond to that? "Uuuh, yes, I did and you are very observant."

Once our neighbor said "Oh, you have new shoes!" And I mistakenly thought she was going to say how much she liked them, but no. Instead, she said I still had the sticker on the bottom.

I'm not suggesting being overly generous, but why not just say something nice?

Not everybody is educated or beautiful or successful or slim or happy or young, but . . .

"Everybody likes a compliment." Abraham Lincoln

Paashaas

Easter, aka Pasen, is a big deal here. The Easter vacation is 2 full weeks plus a Monday. Not to be confused with the recent one week Spring break.

There are plenty of yummy Easter items already in the stores and certainly no shortage of chocolate bunnies, but so far this is my favorite. A chocolate brioche. Can you tell it's shaped like a rabbit?

Here's the front of the package. As with all packaging here, there are at least 3 languages. None of them English. Lapin de Pacques is French; Paashaas is Dutch; Osterhase is German. And they all say Easter Bunny!

So it occurred to me that the Easter egg dye we always use is made by Paas. I googled it and here's the story . . .

The original PAAS Easter egg dye was invented by an American named William Townley.

Mr. Townley owned a drug store in Newark, New Jersey, where he concocted recipes for home products. In the late 1800s, he came up with a recipe for Easter egg dye tablets that tinted eggs five cheerful colors.

Neighborhood families started buying Townley’s Easter Egg Dye packets in 1880 for only five cents and mixed them with water and white vinegar to create the perfect egg dye!

Soon, Mr. Townley realized that he had a wonderful product that other families would like to use to brighten their Easter tradition. He renamed his business the PAAS Dye Company. The name PAAS comes from “Passen,” the word that his Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors used for Easter.

Today, Americans purchase more than 10 million PAAS Easter Egg Color Kits during the Easter season, and use them to decorate as many as 180 million eggs!

Now—more than 125 years later—we believe Mr. Townley would be proud of PAAS’ perfect colors. The original is still the best!

I did find Easter egg dye at our grocery store, but it isn't Paas. Despite it having a Dutch name, apparently it's strictly an American product.

Be careful what you wish for . . .

I read an article recently about our National Motto. It made me wonder what other countries have as their National Motto. Here are a few countries you will recognize.

• Argentina: En unión y libertad In Union and Liberty
• Australia: Advance Australia

• Belgium: Eendracht maakt macht: Unity gives Strength
• Brazil: Ordem e progresso Order and progress
• Canada: A mari usque ad mare From sea to sea
• Cuba: Patria o muerte Homeland or death

• England: Dieu et mon droit God and my right
• European Union: In varietate concordia United in diversity

• France: Liberté, égalité, fraternité Liberty, equality, fraternity

• Empire of Japan: 八紘一宇 All the world under one roof
• India: सत्यमेव जयते: Truth alone triumphs
• Iran: God is the Greatest
• Iraq: الله أكبر God is the Greatest

• North Korea: 강성대국 (强盛大國 Prosperous and great country
• South Korea: 홍익인간 (弘益人間 Benefit all mankind

• Luxembourg: Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn We wish to remain what we are
• Lebanon: كلنا للوطن، للعلى، للعلم All for the country, for the glory, for theflag

• Netherlands: Ik zal handhaven I will preserve

• Nicaragua: En Dios Confiamos In God We Trust

• Saudi Arabia: لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله There is no God other than Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet
• Russian Empire: С нами Бог God is with us
• Pakistan: ايمان، اتحاد، نظم Faith, Unity, Discipline

• Scotland: In My Defens God Me Defend

• South Africa: !ke e: /xarra //ke Unity in Diversity
• Spain: Plus Ultra Further beyond
• Switzerland: Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno One for all, all for one
• Turkey: Yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh Peace in the homeland, peace in the world

• Vietnam: Ðộc lập, Tự do, Hạnh phúc Independence, Liberty and Happiness
• United States: In God We Trust
• Uruguay: Libertad o Muerte Liberty or Death

• Zimbabwe: Unity, Freedom, Work

Our motto was first placed on coins by the U.S. Treasury in 1864, during the Civil War. In 1955, Congress passed a bill to have the motto placed on paper currency, and it first appeared on bills two years later.

I really love the look of U.S. currency with its classic design. All the bills are the same size.

The Euro is very colorful, but I'm getting used to not thinking of it as play money. All the bills are not the same size either. The 5 is smaller than the 10, the 10 is smaller than the 20, etc. We had to get new wallets so the money wouldn't stick out the top.

You've got to admit it feels like there should be a game board or at least some dice to go with it. There are colorful pictures on the Euros, but no extra words on front or back.

This is a picture of 1€ and 2€ coins. We wonder how we lived without them. If you ever get the chance to try this again, do it. Change is difficult and you'll have to get rid of that paper alternative, but they really are better - in my opinion.

In 1956, U.S. Congress passed a resolution declaring "In God We Trust" the national motto. In that same article I read, this excerpt from a letter written over a hundred years ago, was quoted:

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, wrote

in a Nov. 11, 1907 letter:

"My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. A beautiful and solemn sentence such as the one in question should be treated and uttered only with that fine reverence which necessarily implies a certain exaltation of spirit. Any use which tends to cheapen it, and above all, any use which tends to secure its being treated in a spirit of levity, is from every standpoint profoundly to be regretted. "

I've looked at these kinds of things from different perspectives. I hope we all have. I'll always be a proponent of separation of church and state. Whether I want to worship or not is currently up to me. What I also want is for whomever wants to worship to be free to do so.

And not at the expense of anyone else's liberty.

Some countries don't have a national motto. Something to consider.

But if there is to be one, it's hard to say which one I prefer . . .

France's "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

or

South Korea's "Benefit All Mankind"?

Maybe South Africa's "Unity in Diversity"

or

Turkey's "Peace in the homeland, peace in the world"?

Perhaps Vietnam says it best . . . "Independence, Liberty and Happiness".

That pretty much covers it.

Tulip Land

You know you're in tulip country when . . .

you can get 50 for €10.

This may be the only bargain in Europe!

stuk = piece

Weer

I know I've had plenty to say about our weather (weer) and most of the time it's warranted.

That's a map of Belgium and we live on the east side between that 4°/17°C and the -2°/15°C.

The Celsius probably doesn't mean much so here it is in Fahrenheit: 39°/63°F and 28°/59°F.

The weather has been like the weather pictured above for as long as I can remember. Okay, maybe only a week, but it is near-perfect and boy was I ready!

And changing the subject completely . . . tomorrow, March 26, is James Frazier's birthday. Happy Birthday, Pop! Have a great day!

The Manual

Pretty much everybody in Belgium is Catholic or were born Catholic or say they're Catholic.

As you may know, I grew up Catholic, born Catholic . . . and Jim grew up Baptist. When we decided to marry, it was a "given" we'd be married in the Catholic church. That required more than just reserving the church for the designated day. The Church insists couples complete a little counseling course and at the end, agree to try to raise their children Catholic. We had no problem with this. We were willing to try and it was the only way we were going to walk down that Catholic aisle so that's what we did.

In an effort to do as we agreed to do, we attended a few Masses. I don't recall much about it since all Masses are pretty much the same. We didn't even have children to raise yet, but it didn't take long to realize this wasn't going to last a lifetime.

Naturally we moved on to the Baptist church and attended a few services and even Sunday School. At our first Sunday School class I had to read aloud and I pronounced Gethsemene like Geth-se-mane' (accent on the "mane"). I'm sure that gaff screamed of Bible-illiterate-Catholic. I'll admit this was quite a leap for me and we knew it too wasn't going to last a lifetime.

You know, our parents never said a word about it. Never once did any of them say they were upset or angry or disappointed. I guess they knew we'd figure it out on our own 'cause we have awesome parents like that.

I do remember this one thing. At that time, I was still a student at La. Tech and I worked in the President's Office on the 16th floor of Wyly Tower. I'd often run into our Sunday School teacher in the elevator because he also worked on the 16th floor. He was always real friendly. After we quit attending the weekly lesson he never spoke to me again. I always thought this was an interesting approach and despite my failing memory, I've never forgotten that.

I was young and impressionable then and I wondered if he just wasn't raised right or if something along the way had drawn a line in the sand for him.

We ended up joining the Methodist Church and that worked out. When we moved away from Ruston we still attended a Methodist Church in our new cities. Funny when we moved back to Ruston and began attending that same church, I remember someone coming up to us and saying, all friendly, they hadn't seen us at church in a while. Really? I didn't have the heart/chagrin to tell them we hadn't lived there for the last 5 years.

Have you ever heard of a humanist? Me neither, really. Our Flemish teacher used this word to describe how he approaches life or at least I think that's what he meant. It's not an organization with a building and a budget. There's no weekly get-together and there's no manual.

He also grew up Catholic (born Catholic, says he's Catholic, etc) and he used the analogy that although Sunday is a required day of rest, if a friend or neighbor needs help which requires work, he puts aside the rule book and helps.

I think what he was saying is he doesn't need a manual to tell him what's right from wrong and how to treat another human being.

Perhaps he had awesome parents too.

Buy me a pony

I love horses. I've even had the good fortune to own a couple. When I was a kid, my Daddy bought me a pony. A Welsh pony named Shadow. He was black, of course. We lived in a neighborhood so Shadow wasn't in the backyard, but in a pasture just down the street. He loved that pasture. He loved it so much that even if my Daddy would bring him to our house, every time I got on him he'd make a bee-line back to that pasture. It would scare me to death! Needless to say, mine and Shadow's relationship was short-lived.

But I didn't stop there. Jim was suckered into buying my second horse from some "friends" of ours. A quarter horse named Eternal. He was a good horse and I did enjoy riding him, but again, we lived in a neighborhood and Eternal lived several miles away in a pasture. In the dead of winter, it wasn't much fun to get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the pasture to go feed that horse. Again, our relationship was short-lived.

My horse ownership ended with Eternal, but I still do love horses. It would be the only reason I'd live in the "country". I can't imagine having enough land for a horse and not having a horse on it. Even if I never rode it, I could just watch it. Kind of like some people do with fish tanks.

This past weekend there was a paardenjaarmarkt in a little town nearby. That's "annual horse market". Typical Flemish - string as many words together as you like and make one word out of it.

We presumed all these horses were for sale since it was a horse market.

Here's a picture of the one we bought. Okay, we didn't buy it, but I wanted to.

These are Belgian Draft horses. Used as work horses, they are also desirable for their meat :-\

This castle was right next to the horse market so we walked around it. Sort of looked like someone might live there.

Turned out it was the Police Station!

This is an Andalusian horse, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse. Throughout history it has been known as a war horse and prized by nobility. Today they are used mostly for show jumping and pleasure.

Making horseshoes.

A matching set of Belgian Draft Horses.

This is also a Belgian Draft Horse. Can you believe the size of this thing? The average weight of this kind of horse is slightly over one ton. By comparison, the American Quarter Horse weighs about half that. I think this one probably weighs even more than that.

In addition to the Andalusian horse event, this video shows a smaller version of the Belgian horse (I think) going through a little obstacle course. He looks like he's so proud of himself.

I hope to never be hungry enough to eat a horse and I hope to go to my grave having never eaten a horse.

Hope

When our kids were growing up we never took a vacation like snow skiing or Disney World. We did take a few road trips with no particular destination in mind. We thought they were fun and memorable.

One Easter weekend we took what we call our "perimeter tour" of Louisiana. Up to that time we'd pretty much gone east to west on I-20 and north to south on Hwy. 167. We never ventured off too much . . . until this road trip. Going to places like Houma where every house was hosting a crawfish boil and all the way to Grand Isle.

It's like a whole other world down there.

Another time we loaded up and with only a few days, we drove up through Kentucky and Tennessee. We went to Mammoth Cave then visited the Jack Daniels Distillery. We ate barbeque at the Rendevous and even went to Graceland where the shag carpet on the walls and ceiling sticks out most in my mind. We also ate at Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi. They only have 3 things on the menu - shrimp, tamales and steaks that are bigger than your head. The steaks, I mean.

I was reminiscing the other day about one of those road trips we took to the Cossatot River in Arkansas. Jim had a kayak and we loaded it on top of the Super Nova and headed north. Not far into our trip we realized we'd forgotten something and stopped at the WalMart in Hope, Arkansas.

Jim and I waited in the parking lot while the kids ran it to get whatever the essential item was. I won't say this was the highlight of our trip, but it made quite an impression on me.

It's like a whole other world up there.