according to WordPress

Crunchy numbers

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 45,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 17 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

In 2011, there was 1 new post, growing the total archive of this blog to 1,394 posts. There were 7 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 8mb.

The busiest day of the year was April 13th with 296 views. The most popular post that day was “The pope is quite satisfied.”.

01-11-2011

Wishing all God's richest blessings as we enter 2011

a new year

Swing by my new Aimless Musings (with purpose) in 2011.  A New Beginning!

Goodbye and Hello

One of my very first ‘real’ jobs was working at Hustler Press, owned by Orval Ricketts.  I was a senior in high school in Farmington, New Mexico and Mr. Ricketts was one of the finest men I’ve ever met.

The memories . . .

The goodbyes and the hellos . . .

Mr. Ricketts’ poem, “Looking at Another Year” is in his book of poetry, My Window on the Mesa.

goodbye 2010 – hello 2011

OLD LANG SYNE

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

hoppin’ tomorrow

HOPPIN’ JOHN 

Ingredients

• 1 cup small dried black-eyed peas {I will soak the peas overnight}
• 5 to 6 cups water
• 1 dried hot pepper (optional)
• 1 smoked ham hock (I will be using the left-over Christmas ham)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup long-grain white rice {will probably omit the rice – which means it won’t really hop!}

Preparation

Wash and sort the peas. Place them in a saucepan, add the water, and discard any peas that float. Gently boil the peas with the pepper, ham hock, and onion, uncovered, until tender but not mushy — about 1 1/2 hours — or until 2 cups of liquid remain. Add the rice to the pot, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, never lifting the lid.

Remove from the heat and allow to steam, still covered, for another 10 minutes. Remove the cover, fluff with a fork, and serve immediately.

 

in the mood

According to happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, of the University of California, Riverside, life circumstances account for only 10% of happiness. Half depends on our genetic “set point,” which is kind of like the weight our body bounces back to after that crash diet. And about 40% of our happiness is influenced by what we do deliberately to make ourselves happy.