“We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.” ― Bill Clinton

So remember yesterday when I asked you to think about how we are different and how we are similar? Let's have a chat! We all have our differences: birthplace, family life , level of education , color , gender , religion..... but if you think about it ; that means that we are similar in all of those differences, right? How many of those differences can we see? Not many that's for sure.... my person is from Boston ; I am from Put-In-Bay Ohio and who knows where the people reading this are from. But, nobody knows that difference unless we say something. So what about outward appearance? My person has white hair so she must be old , right? well guess what - she has had that same color hair since she was 40... and me? I have had the same blue skin and it never ages, wrinkles or looks different. In that way, I envy humans... all those great wrinkles from laughing.  Want to see a great laughing picture? This is my person's favorite picture and when she feels sad, she looks at it and laughs.

What joy in that picture!!! Or admit it; babies laughing and giggling make you laugh , right? I know they do so why not just go with it.
So how does this have anything to do with anything other than a sock monkey's rambling? Well... this is weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and things may actually be starting to settle down. My person went to the Ingles today and the shelves were almost like normal. There was toilet paper and paper towels ... no wipes yet, but it's a start. So . if people just let the panic pass, then we can let the grocery stores do their thing and the shelves like this will be a rarity rather than a commonplace thing.

How can we all feel better , all similar in our struggle with the pandemic? We all turn to comfort foods. I want to thank all the people that shared their best comfort food memories with me yesterday. If you have some, now is the time to make and eat that food. If you are looking for some ideas, let me share what was shared with me: it's a great long list so be patient: fried liver mush and eggs , pozole , biscuits and gravy ( with and without sausage ) , chocolate gravy , roasts, mashed potatoes , ice box cookies , grits with butter, salt and milk , tamales , atole , cubed steak and gravy , chicken and dumplings, pot roast , American Chop Suey , macaroni & cheese , golumpkies and pierogies ..  my person's comfort food is a really good latte .....What a great list!! Some international foods , some New England food , some Southern foods and some that everyone eats! We are a great group of people .... take your grandmother's advice and have something to eat.... try your old stand by or try someone else's.. either way comfort food is exactly that. Something to make all the worries go away just for a while. 

A latte for you to share with my person: notice the heart? I am sharing my heart with you like she shares hers with her students daily...... enjoy !  Can you feel the warmth? It is like a virtual hug from me and my person to you! Hang in there.... enjoy the beautiful days; get outside in the garden and listen to the birds , pick some flowers or do some nature journaling . ( I have some great instructions if you need them )

Just a reminder of the moon last night so you have a happy thought:

Words of Wisdom on comfort foods:  " Laughter is the brightest , where food is the best" - Irish Proverb

A Pink Super Moon , Big Foot and an afternoon of movie monsters? Sounds perfect to me!

So the day started just like any other day. My person's alarm clock annoyingly went off at 5:05 AM... yes I said morning , in the dark. What was she thinking.... she said she has to stay on the schedule or she will have hard time getting back on the schedule. Ok, I guess that makes sense. For me. I prefer a good hot soak in a tub to start my day and so that is what I did.... check it out. I am all sparkly and shiny clean now!

Off to school and my person got all the folders in the teachers home room boxes and the my person's person went and paid some bills before it is considered unessential to do that. We heard from the Allstate lady that three people got tickets the other day for paying their bills. We were met with really pretty flowers blooming and it is a shame that the kids won't see them before the flowers fade. But you can see them here!

Speaking of flowers, you know how much my person loves lavender... well her Spanish lavender is blooming and it is really pretty...... love that deep purple...

Can't wait for the rest of it to bloom... the smell is so awesome. Well we didn't stay at school much after noon and on the way out of Lincolnton, my person was completely startled to see Big Foot! I was excited to because I know how many people spend hours looking for him and there he was.... Good thing that my person is friendly because he is really really big!!!

Needless to say , we finally made it home and it was LUNCH TIME !! So I had a wee sandwich while everyone else ate Japan.  I made this by myself because they were too wrapped up in food and the telly.

Once I got my sandwich taken care of and wandered into the living room , I could see what they were so intently watching.... TCM was showing 5 movie monster movies in a row! Oh Man!!! I am all over that ... Attack of the 50Ft Woman , then THEM ! , then Forbidden Planet and then the original, in Japanese Godzilla and finally The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Whoo Hoo!!! Getting settled in for a binge watch...

I was fascinated by the work in these movies... I mean really... you look...

and then.........................

I bet that the 50Ft woman could have taken care of those giant ants...... humans had a little problem...


or how about Robby the Robot's debut performance?

Our movie adventures were brought back to Earth abruptly when bomb testing woke up Godzilla and he basically trashed Tokyo....... well until they discovered the oxygen destroyer and that was that.....

I feel pretty bad for Godzilla , but I really feel bad for the Creature. I mean , he was in the Amazon minding his own business and these explorers looking for fossils barged into his lagoon and disrupted everything. But, he is the one that they try to kill when he just wanted to be left alone. Well , he did want to kidnap the girl , but that isn't the point. Is it?

Not a bad looking movie monster ... nope not at all.

I am in the process of collecting all sorts of comments on comfort food and so we will chat about that tomorrow . So be thinking about how we are different, but yet very similar......


The moon is shielded by clouds here in Denver and so I will share a picture that a friend of my person's took in New England and Ohio  earlier this evening.... enjoy.... it is lovely.

Words of Wisdom:

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. “      – W. Clement Stone

It is day thirttwenfourfifty of the pandemic and people are crazy!

So today is Monday... the third Monday of no school and it seems like an eternity... My person started cleaning out old work from last semester and some from the ancient days of this semester , she said just for something to do.... all of the packets are done and ready to go into homeroom teacher boxes tomorrow. So tomorrow will most likely be a bit more cleaning.

My person isn't really quite that bad , but we did have to hunt for her for a while... Maybe because she is short. SSSSSHHHH ! I didn't say that, but honestly .. one of her children says she is oompah loompah size.....

You make the decision....

Now I will say that their hair is CRAZY!! Which brings me to another problem. My person is really really fussy about her hair. I don't mean with all that product stuff that people put in their hair, but With its length and shape and stuff.... well let me tell you . I went to find her this evening and do you know what she was doing? CUTTING her own hair!!! How bored do you have to be to do that? Well maybe it is because she likes it to look nice. She even made her person cut the back because she couldn't reach. Oh! The humanity... I was really worried... he was so  un-coordinated with the scissors... She really could have gotten hurt .... like blood and stuff ... ewww....

She is pretty excited because she was talking to one of her students today and they got talking about disc golf. He loves it he said. So she told him that she is trying to create a disc golf course at LHS and so now he is helping to design the course and seek out the equipment. Whoo Hoo!!! Do you guys know what disc golf is? Hang on....

Oh so wait a minute.... it is frisbee throw all jazzed up!  Check it out..

Today has been a pretty good day.. don't you think so? The weather was nice, there was a great thunderstorm in some places and the temperature was pleasant. How about some warm weather recipes you can make as a family?

What about frozen fruit pops? 

Here's an easy recipe to make anybody smile and they are fun to make together.

Fruit Ice Pops

Ingredients  : 

Blueberry Pops:    2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed

                                 1/4 cup apple juice

                                  2 tablespoons honey

                                   1/2 lemon, juiced

                                   1 pinch salt

Strawberry Pops:

                                     2 cups frozen strawberries, thawed

                                     1/4 cup apple juice

                                     2 tablespoons honey

                                     1/2 lemon, juiced

                                     1 pinch salt

Combine blueberry pop ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into 5 of the pop molds. Repeat process with strawberry pop ingredients. Place in freezer for at least 5 hours or overnight. If you do not have ice pop molds you can use 3-ounce plastic cups. Pour the pop mix into each cup, cover with foil and insert pop stick through the center of the foil into the cup. Place in freezer for at least 5 hours or overnight. To remove from the cup submerge the bottom 2/3 of the cup in hot water for about five seconds. Pull on the stick and voila.  Want to see what they look like?  I promise they look delicious!  I am a good sock monkey and the pictures are copyrighted , so you will just have to make some and try them out! 

I can share a monkey picture with you so you will smile!! 

Have a smile.... sending you sunny days and best wishes... we are one week into the stay-at-home and we can do this!!!

Words of wisdom tonight from Cosee:      "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."                   ― Mahatma Gandhi

Star Light ; Star Bright... how can I see the stars tonight?

Before I get started  on my daily adventure into sharing cool stuff with you. My person asked me to share the next few pictures with you. She has been working really hard on getting the phase three packets together for after Spring Break.... today she gave me sometime off and had her person working on the packets. That gave me time to do weather and take attendance. But since she asked me to share , here the pictures are... remember if you are reading this: Once a wolf, always a wolf and that you are missed terribly.

We really did work super hard and the payoff was lunch! Now this was just a sandwich.... or was it? It was lettuce harvested from school and homemade lavender rosemary bread. The smell when it was cooking was enough to drive you crazy . It must have been good because it barely lasted two days.

Even though April is a STAY - AT - HOME month, there are some really amazing astronomical things going on. I did not say astrological because we are talking stars and comets and meteor showers; I mean some super great stuff. Ha! I crack myself up sometimes... we will also have a Super Pink Moon. But , I get ahead of myself.  Let me share a wonderful site with you that has a different picture of something in space or on the planet , every single day. It is called Astronomy Picture of the day and you can look through years and years of pictures. It is fun to see how our technology and the quality of the pictures has changed. So, without any more hesitation..... here is the site :

 https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html      and here is an example of what you will see. It is the center of our galaxy.

What else is going on this month? Well let me tell you all the stuff you can see in the night time sky:

7 – 8 Super Pink Moon

21-22 Lyrid Meteor Shower  

AND super coolest of all : We can see the Comet Atlas at the end of April. But it will still be around in May , in fact it will be brighter in May than in April.  You are going to have to look around and between the Big and Little Dippers.

              

If that isn't enough, we are also going to have a conjunction coming up in May.
That is where some of the planets line up with each other.... want a little more information? OK, Glad you asked. Jupiter, Venus, along with the moon will be aligning soon, which will create a smiley face in the sky. This occurrence is called a conjunction. It is a rare appearance, so make sure you are on the lookout. The last time these planets aligned and created a smiley face was in December 2008. It is almost 12 years later, it is finally happening again! It is said to happen this May on the 16th.

Remember it is the Moon ( the mouth ) and Jupiter ( right eye ) and Venus ( left eye ) making the smiley face. Pretty cool isn't it? I'll be checking it out , what about you?

Are there any special star or planet pictures that you like? My person's EE students are reading the Martian ( well actually she is reading it /recording it ) and so I found some cool pictures of Mars for them and anyone, since that is a planned trip NASA has in the works. Maybe I could stowaway? What I blog I could write from space!!!!

Check out the active fault line they found on Mars , Valles Marinaris ( the big crack as long as NY to LA ) and Olympus Mons , the biggest volcano in the solar system.

My person loves the stars and loves this quote so much I want to share it with you as my words of wisdom tonight :

" I have loved the stars too fondly to ever be fearful of the night."    Sarah Williams

I love birds and butterflies .... don't you?

I think I will share some really neat ideas for making treats for birds and butterflies and other critters. My person saw some really interesting bugs when she was in the Amazon, luckily they are not here! Bet you don't believe me ,do you.... well... take a look !

I mean that is just a sample and I will tell you that the tarantula and whatever that other spider was/is was the very least of her favorites. She did however rescue a tarantula that fell from the ceiling onto the floor behind her. She said it kind of thudded when it hit. But , did you see the moth that looked like owl eyes! Pretty cool , right? But the best is the really amazing blue one. It's called a Blue Morpho and holy moly is it pretty.

Oh , here are a couple more pictures. A Giant moth and the small tarantula that fell from the ceiling. It looks sort of broken and my person said she didn't think it survived.

So you can attract butterflies to your yard and that would be a really good thing to do now and over the summer. Want to know how? It's super simple and your mum would love it if you got rid of the old nasty brown bananas!

Check this out!   Just hang an old nasty banana and the butterflies will come.

If attracting birds is what you like better , here is a cool Easter Egg recipe and then you can just hang the eggs in the trees for the birds......

Dissolve 2 packets of unflavored gelatin in 1/2 cup hot water, then stir in 2 1/2 cups birdseed. Generously spray the inside of 12 plastic eggs with cooking oil. Pack the mixture into the egg molds, snap them shut, and let them set overnight

Wait until you see how cute they look!!!

If you want to get more involved, here is a homemade suet recipe... but that is better for the winter. So, maybe wait until later for those.

Make sure no matter what you want to attract that you have plenty of water and change it often, especially when it gets hot. Yuck! Would you want to drink hot water? 

Having birds and butterflies in your yard is such a cool thing! you can get some really good pictures if you are quiet and practice.

Words for today:

“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.”

 – Doe Zantamata