moon and cat halloween die cut

HALLOWEEN ART, CHEESEBURGER SOUP, TRIVIA

Hello Friends!

Wednesday greetings.  I heard someone once say – Wednesdays are like Mondays but in the middle of the week.
High five to that thought!  So true.

How’s your week going?

I learned this week that one of my cats has a talent that has gone unnoticed until now.

Lil’ Guy is one of my cats who I discovered knows how to fetch a wadded up paper ball, bring it back, drop it at my feet…
Eager to go again and again.

Hilarious!

I toss it over and over and thus the “cat fetch game” continues.
Who knew a cat could fetch?
Quite entertaining for both of us.

The fun never stops around here!  Ha!

Presenting a super fun line up today to share on this Wednesday, October 9 –

  • HAPPY PUMPKIN HALLOWEEN ART
  • LESLIE ELMAN’S TRIVIA AND FASCINATING FACTS
    Who knew which vitamin is essential for helping blood to clot?  and I certainly appreciate William Carlos Williams personal lesson of walking his walk during his lifetime.  Quite cool.
  • QUICK QUESTION
    Is a real thinker.
    I’ve not come up with my answer yet.
    How about you?
  • THE BADGE STORY
    Is a total laugh attack!
  • CHEESEBURGER SOUP RECIPE
    American fav turned into a bowl of spoon lickin’ good!
  • TRACY BECKERMAN NEVER FAILS
    Her column this week about apple snobs.
    I never really thought about it — but now I will.
    So many varieties out there to choose a favorite.
    I’m on the apple tasting exploring task.  Gonna be a delicious exploration.
  • STACY’S WORLD IS BACK THIS FRIDAY
    I’ve sworn to secrecy – all I can give a hint is — well, I can’t.
    Did the double pinky swear thing.
    I’ll just tell ya, don’t wanna miss it.
    It’s good.
    There.
    I just gave a hint!  🙂
  • THANKS EVERYONE
    For sliding by today and sharing + support + engaging.
    We are feeling your happy vibe loves.
    And we happy vibe love ya back!

Wishing you a grand rest of the week.
Catch ya Friday.
Same time.
Same Place.

Ready?
Set.
Enjoy!

POP Quiz

POP QUIZ

  1. WHAT 1930 PAINTING BY AMERICAN ARTIST GRANT WOOD SHOWS A MAN HOLDING A PITCHFORK STANDING NEXT TO A WOMAN IN FRONT OF A WHITE HOUSE?
    a) “American Beauty”
    b) “American Dream”
    c) “American Gothic”
    d) “American Heritage”
  2. DAMSON AND GREENGAGE ARE TYPES OF WHAT FRUIT?
    a) Apple
    b) Apricot
    c) Peach
    d) Plum
  3. WHICH VITAMIN IS ESSENTIAL FOR HELPING BLOOD TO CLOT?
    a) A
    b) D
    c) E
    d) K
Halloween Art Illustrations

QUICK QUESTION

WHAT IS A QUESTION
THAT HAS NO ANSWER?

Halloween Art Illustrations

POP QUIZ ANSWERS

  1. The 1930 painting “American Gothic” by Grant Wood shows a man holding pitchfork standing next to a woman in front of a white house.
  2. Damson and greengage are types of plum.
  3. Vitamin K is essential for helping blood to clot.

~ COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

THE BADGE

So the story goes —

A DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas and talks with an old rancher.

He tells the rancher, “I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs.”

The rancher says, “Okay, but don’t go over in that field over there,” as he points out the location.

The DEA officer explodes saying, “Mister, I have authority of the Federal Government with me.”

Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the rancher.

“See this badge?  This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish on any land.  No questions asked or answers given.  Have I made myself clear?  Do you understand?”

The rancher nods politely and reiterates his concern that he should not go into that field.

“See this badge?”  The officer shouts again.  “This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish on any land anywhere.  No questions asked.  Now!  Have I made myself clear?  Do you understand?”

The rancher nods again and goes about his business.

A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life chased by the rancher’s big Santa Gertrudis bull.  With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer and it seems likely he’ll get gored before he reaches safety.

The officer is clearly terrified.

The rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs – “Your badge, show him your BADGE.”

~ from my fabulous email collection “library”

ACT AS IF WHAT YOU DO
MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
IT DOES.
~ WILLIAM JAMES ~

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED:

THANK SOMEONE FOR
BELIEVING IN YOU

RIDDLE ME THIS

WHAT HAS 5 FINGERS
BUT IS NOT ALIVE?

Halloween Art Illustrations

CHEESEBURGER SOUP

An All-American favorite served in a bowl instead of on a bun!

This is comfort food delicious on a chilly autumn night.
Serve with fresh sliced apples on the side.

HERE’S HOW WE MAKE IT
INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 6 TBSP butter, divided
  • 3/4 cup yellow onion, diced
  • 3/4 cup grated carrots
  • 3/4 cup celery, diced
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 4 cups diced and peeled potatoes
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 – 16 oz package Velveeta cheese, 1″ cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 4 TBSP favorite BBQ sauce
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup sour cream

NOW

  1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook ground beef, breaking it up into crumbles as you cook it until it’s no longer pink.
  2. Drain and set aside.
  3. In same saucepan melt half the butter (3 TBSP) over medium heat.
  4. Saute onion, carrots, celery until tender – about 10 minutes.
  5. Add the basil and cook an additional minute until basil is happily mixed well with sauteed veggies.
  6. Add diced potatoes, cooked ground beef, and chicken broth.
  7. Bring to a boil.
  8. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender – about 12 – 15 minutes.
  9. Stir every now and then.

MEANWHILE
OVER MEDIUM-HIGH BURNER

  1. In a small skillet, melt remaining 3 TBSP butter.
  2. Add flour.
  3. Cook and stir constantly until bubbly – about 4-5 minutes.
  4. Add to soup mixture in saucepan.
  5. Bring gently to a boil.
  6. Cook and stir constantly for about 2 minutes.
  7. Reduce heat to low.
  8. Stir in Velveeta cubes and milk, salt and pepper.
  9. Cook until Velveeta is completely melted.
  10. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

Ladle into bowls and serve with crisp apple slices.

~ Hippie Cowboy recipe box

RIDDLE ANSWER

A GLOVE

Halloween Art Illustrations

LOST IN SUBURBIA

APPLE OF MY EYE
BY TRACY BECKERMAN

My husband is a Honeycrisp snob.

If you’re not familiar with this, Honeycrisp is a kind of apple, and according to him, it is a superior apple.  All other apples are lesser apples.  He will not eat a Fuji, Gala or Pink Lady.  Only Honeycrisp will do.  My son will also only eat Honeycrisp apples.  So, I guess in this case, the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Since I am not an apple connoisseur, I can’t really taste the difference between most of these apples.  Yes, I can distinguish between the tartness of a Granny Smith and the sweetness of a Red Delicious, but all the other ones that fall in between taste pretty much the same to me.  They taste like apples.  I’m sure if I compared them side by side, I might notice a difference, but if I brought one kind home, I couldn’t tell you what it was or how it was different than the other ones on the grocery shelves.

But my husband could.

“Did you get any Honeycrisp apples?”  he asked me as he perused the fruit drawer in the fridge.

“Those are Honeycrisp,” I said, not really knowing if they were Honeycrisp or not.

“No they’re not,” he said looking at one in his hand.  “This is a McIntosh.”

I rolled my eyes.  “How do you know?  You didn’t even taste it.”

I can tell by looking at it,” he said defiantly.

“I’m sure it’s as good as a Honeycrisp,” I said.

“No.  It’s not,” he said.  “It’s not nearly as good.”

At this point I thought my husband may have picked the wrong career.  He might have been better off working for the CIA to keep bad apples out of the country.  As I watched him sniff the Honeycrisp imposter, it seemed he clearly had missed his calling.

“Listen Johnny Appleseed,” I said to him.  “These are the only apples they had at the market, so take ’em or leave ’em.”

He harrumphed, tossed the apple back in the drawer and left the room to find greener pastures, or maybe orchards, as the case may be.

Having been married to this man for over 30 years, it was no surprise to me that he’d rather go appleless than eat a lesser apple.  There was only one kind of ice cream he liked, one brand of ketchup he’d put on his french fries, and one kind of chocolate worthy of his approval.  Not that he’s picky or anything.  After all, he chose me to be his wife.

A short time later he came back in the kitchen, reluctantly took one of the lesser apples out of the drawer and pulled out a knife to cut it up.

“I’m going to have this apple, but it’s not going to be as good as a Honeycrisp,” he assured me.

“Well, the good news is, I know you like to have peanut butter with your apples, and I saw you were out, so I got some more,” I said whisking the jar of peanut butter out of the pantry.

He took the jar of peanut butter, looked at it and sighed.

“It’s the wrong kind of peanut butter.”

~ Tracy Beckerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller, “Barking at the Moon:  A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble.”
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM

Fascinating Stuff

  • All black grouper fish are born female.  About half of them become male when they mature and reach adult size:  3 or 4 feet from the tip of the snout to the point at which the tail fin branches into a fork.  That measurement, more often used by scientists than fishermen, is known as fork length, abbreviated FL.
  • Most people recognize William Carlos Williams as one of America’s great poets, but if you’d lived in Rutherford, New Jersey, in the 1930s and ’40s you might also have known him as your physician.  Williams actively practiced both professions for most of his adult life, saying that when one of them made him tired, the other would reinvigorate him.
  • Who doesn’t love a good palindromic place name?  The people of Ada, Oklahoma, sure do (as do the residents of towns called Ada in Minnesota, Ohio, and Oregon.)  The world’s most northernmost palindromic place might be Qaanaaq, Greenland, formerly known as Thule.  What’s the most fun name to say?  Let’s call it a tie between Kinikinik, Colorado, and Anahanaahana, Madagascar.
  • If you think macaroni and cheese is a great comfort food, you’re not alone.  People have eaten tender pasta in creamy cheese sauce for more years than you might realize.  Possibly the earliest known recipe comes from a book called “Liber de coquina,” written in Latin in the 13th century.
  • If you’ve ever benefited from a blood bank, you can thank Dr. Charles Drew.  After receiving his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, he became the first African American to earn a doctorate from Columbia University, where his dissertation, “Banked Blood:  A Study in Blood Preservation,” proposed methods for collecting, storing and transporting blood and blood plasma.  He ran the Blood for Britain program during World War II and created the prototype for American Red Cross Bloodmobiles.  Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California is named for him.

~ COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Day Maker Readable Art
4 replies
  2. Marty says:

    Today’s beautiful Halloween illustrations catch me in a gazing mode. Unbelievable!

    The ranch story of the bull chasing the govt official out of the pasture reminded me of traveling through Wyoming years ago when I spotted an antique car inside a small pasture. We pulled up near the gate. It was a Kodak moment!

    My husband and friends squinted their eyes along with me trying to figure out what the old sign near the car said. We could not figure it out so I climbed over the fence with my Nikon camera and headed for the car. As I got closer I yelled, “BEWARE OF DOG!” It was a BEWARE alright. The world’s biggest bulldog began barking and chased me back to the fence! I had no problem clearing that old wooden fence! I get butterflies in my stomach to this day just thinking about it.

    We all laugh at how effortless it was clearing old wooden fence!

  3. Carol says:

    Love the art! And the Fun Facts! And the recipe for cheeseburger soup – for those days when a big fat cheeseburger Plus bun is just too much – the taste is still there. Yum!

    Haha at the cartoons!

    Can’t wait until Friday!!!

  4. J says:

    Love the artwork so great. I love cheeseburger soup and this recipe is different then mine looks delish😋

Comments are closed.