2018 A - Z Challenge - M

M   Things We Appreciate

I could live on Milkshakes. In fact, I did for a while that last year of high school. Strawberry was my favorite; chocolate was good too. Shakes were just the perfect thing for hunger abatement in between classes and after-school jobs where I also enjoyed Making Money.

Keeping busy was one thing the Sinagua people had no trouble with, as evidenced by the 600-year old rugged high-rise suites their daring builders etched into limestone cliff faces high above the valley below.  Montezuma Castle, as it is called (though no relation to the Aztec Emperor, who hadn’t yet been born), is probably the most well- preserved cliff dwellings in North America, but access to the actual ruins was deemed too unstable in 1951. The National Park operates a Visitor’s Center within plain view of the castle, which affords excellent opportunities for photographs.

Near the Arizona-Utah border lies a high-plains version of our own star of the Silver Screen. Monument Valley in all its ruddy-red glory sports panoramic views of towering buttes and spires that have appeared in numerous media outlets, including films ranging from Stagecoach (John Wayne) to Back To The Future II; fundamentally shaping America’s earliest impression of the American southwest. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is located on the Navajo nation and visitors are welcome for a nominal fee.

Isn’t there just something about the scent of Maple Syrup that makes you want a pancake? Some folks drizzle it on other things as well, like bacon, ice cream, salads and roasted vegetables. What do you put syrup on?

When I’m anxiously waiting for that first clap of thunder during summer Monsoon, reading a good Mystery helps the time pass. Cranberry Mimosas at a wedding shower have the same effect ;-)

 

The only things more treasurable than the experiences we have are the Memories we keep, and as my grandson brought to mind when he insisted I add Music (of course!) to the list, Motherhood has been one of the very best!

Happy M Day!

Any thoughts? Can you add to the list of things we appreciate that begin with the letter M?

Ruminations

Well, I’m crushed. Dorothy’s ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz) sold at an auction for $660,000. Not that I’d have anywhere to wear them… but this is the kind of thing a convalescing trivia buff runs across.

A Superman appears in every episode of Seinfeld, and an orange is seen right before a death - or close call, in all of The Godfather movies. Now they tell me. Did anyone catch the little red car in the background during the epic chariot scene in the movie Ben Hur? 

You might imagine my relief when hubs announced he’d “found something” on Netflix! We watched a film called “Knowing,” starring Nicolas Cage. I thought the acting was a bit edgy, but the storyline is really quite good as he tries to discover the meaning of a page of endless numbers which seem to connect locations to unexplained events involving massive casualties. The gripping ending provides much to consider, no matter your spiritual or practical acumen.

For example, those who give the slightest credence to the time-defying travels (Phoenix to New Mexico in only a matter of days!) of an irascible Apache called Geronimo, via vast and far-reaching underground passages beneath the Salt River Valley, might easily accept the notion that these extensive tunnels were excavated by the very same legendary “little people” also credited with directing the unexplained light shows above the Superstition Mountains. Likewise, they may have an entirely different conception of what exactly happened to Cahokia, the largest prehistoric Native American (cosmopolitan) commune ever recorded (roughly where St. Louis is now) than the Army Corp. of Engineers who tirelessly worked to modify the Mississippi River from meandering so much, and thereby generated prime real estate for wildlife preservation, the production of agriculture, and the development of several other industries (jobs!) as well.

Admittedly, all those industries prompted the “Clean Water Act” (not a bad thing), but do you think those elaborate tunnels were burrowed only for Geronimo’s convenience? And, as reticent as our government seems to be about even acknowledging the possibility of extraterrestrial beings, what do you make of the need for a Federal Regulation prohibiting any contact between humans and alien beings - or vehicles?

Not that watching the movie “Knowing” will send you on a philosophical tangent, but I do recommend it (the movie, I mean). Besides, ruminating is good for me just now as I recover from a visit from an old antagonist called Epilepsy, which has pretty much demanded (much-appreciated) time to think and read and write while my mind reboots and my body recoups from the battering. 

Thank you in advance for your patience (What the heck is she thinking?) and your ever-thoughtful comments!

Dauntless Departed

With 400 miles of coastline; dotted with captivating harbor towns infused with impeccable New England charm, it’s difficult to imagine Rhode Island as the smallest state in the nation. More so, the fact that sixty percent of the state is densely burgeoning forest land. It’s important to note that in this state, no one may bite off the leg of another, and the throwing of pickle juice on a trolley is prohibited. 

  

In 1907, when whiskey magnate Edson Bradley first built his 40 thousand Sq. Ft. home in Washington, DC, he called it Aladdin’s Palace. Covering nearly a full city block and, among many other impressive attributes, sporting a chapel big enough to seat 150 people. What caught the attention of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” was when he moved it to Newport in 1923! Incorporating the massive home into an existing mega mansion called Seaview Terrace, he, along with wife Julia, lived out their lives in the idyllic “Cottage” by the sea. Mrs. Bradley, they say, loved the place so much her Esty organ can still be heard on quiet windswept nights, along with footsteps, jiggling door handles and soft voices. Though the sprawling mansion had fallen into sad disrepair by 1974, it was purchased by Milton and Millicent Carey; who began immediate restorations and renamed it Carey Mansion.

If the image brings to mind Dark Shadows, it’s because it was indeed the (exterior) setting used for the fictional Collinwood Mansion. 

Connecticut, Bridgeport

While traveling through the birthplace state of the Frisbee, and Noah Webster (Hartford) you might want to keep in mind that it’s illegal to cross a street while walking on your hands, you may not educate dogs and kissing your wife on Sunday is prohibited.

Decommissioned since 1986, the old Remington Arms Factory is far from abandoned. Aside from migrant homeless and passing fugitives, there are more than a few who haven’t left the building since they died there.  Dating back to WWI, this was the site of what the New York Times dubbed the “greatest small arms and ammunition plant in the world”, boasting well over 17,000 employees with an implicit emphasis on production rather than safety; which led to an extremely high mortality rate among workers. In 1905 three men were killed when an explosion blew one the 38 buildings to literal pieces. Lead dust from the accident filled the factory and resulted in the slow demise of many with prolonged contact. Demand for munitions was still high in 1914 when the workers staged an uprising in protest of the dire conditions, which was quickly and forcibly quelled by Remington Security in accordance with local Police forces. But it was yet another explosion and subsequent fire in a munitions building that blew bullets into adjacent buildings and nearby neighborhoods that signaled the inevitable end to one of the most dangerous industrial transgressions in history when 7 workers were killed and 80 more injured. These days; according to locals and those on security patrol, the building remains quite alive with the disgruntled spirits and disembodied screams and voices of those who are not.

Did you watch Dark Shadows? Is there a pie plate in your cupboard? Would you visit these places?

Thanks for coming along!