What Would Jimmy Do?

A few days ago, during a conversation, something came up and it was compared to the time right after “9-11.” It seemed like for a time after that event, the nation seemed united and people were just generally nicer to each other, and the word patriotism was used a lot.

Someone said that we even changed the name of french fries to freedom fries for a period of time. I remember that and it got me to thinking about french fries. 

First of all, french fries didn’t originate in France — they’re called french fries because of the cut, not the country of origin. That’s why the “f” in “french” is lower case — we’re not referring to the country. As I said, french fried potatoes didn’t originate in France, they came from Belgium.

There’s no point here, except when I mentioned the french fries not coming from France, the subject turned from patriotism to potatoes. Someone thought that the “chips” part of “fish and chips” popular in the U.K. were the same as our french fries. I often order fish and chips when we go out and I ‘d say that the “chips” are all pretty much “french fries” in just about all restaurants. I’ve had fish and chips in England and I remember the chips being more like what we call steak fries around here.

It seems like the term “french fries” has become a term used to describe just about any kind of fried potatoes — those that are cut really thin, or a little thicker like at most fast food places or the “crinkle” cut that we sometimes get from the grocery store. I think it’s even used to describe the waffle cut that is popular at Chick-fil-A or the curly potatoes at Arby’s.

I should mention one thing that I remember about fish and chips in the U.K. The Brits eat their fries or” chips” a bit differently than we do. We usually eat our fries plain or maybe with ketchup. But the Brits almost always douse their chips in vinegar, and often they dip them in mayonnaise.

In a lot of places we lived overseas, we ate rice and almost never potatoes. But today potatoes are pretty much a staple in our house — and probably a good part of the world. There’s an old Irish saying that “only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony.” I guess that about sums it up — potatoes are a serious subject. Personally, I’ve taken them so seriously that I’ve become a couch potato…..
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A couple of days ago, I heard someone say, “ I don’t mean to be a pest, but….” I remember when I was a kid, I was often told not to be a pest. I had forgotten that it seemed to be a common phrase at one time, but I hadn’t heard it used in a long time. 

The way that the phrase was used the other day, and the way I remember it from my childhood, the term pest referred to a bothersome person. Today when I hear the term, I usually think of a bug, or something that you’d call an exterminator for.

I looked it up and the dictionary defined pest as: a plague, pestilence, epidemic; an annoying, harmful, often destructive creature; an annoying person; one who, or that which, is troublesome, noxious, mischievous, or destructive; a nuisance. 

So “pest” usually refers to an unwanted, bothersome person, and — I suppose, it could refer to an unwanted, bothersome bug. But if you check the origin of the word, it was defined as a ”destructive or harmful insect” before it was defined as an “annoying person.”

But the latin root of the word is pestis, meaning “deadly contagious disease.” In fact, during the late Middle Ages, when the bubonic plague killed a third of all humans, it was commonly known as “the pest.”

This is just another example of how our language continues to change — today, with more than 100,000 people dying every day, we no longer call it a pest — we call it COVID-19.
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A lot of people probably dreaded to get out of bed today. Those people likely suffer from at least one, maybe two, phobias — paraskevidekatriaphobia and/or triskaidekaphobia. Just like a black cat crossing your path, breaking a mirror or walking under a ladder, a lot of people believe that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. 

Superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries. Interestingly, the number 12 is associated with “completeness”  — there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months, 12 zodiac signs, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 rides of Israel, etc. 

But the next number, 13, historically has been thought of as a sign of bad luck. Fear of the number 13 is so common, that it has been given a psychological term — triskaidekaphobia.

One story that most people that are apprehensive on Friday the 13th tell is that, according to the Bible, the Last Supper, held on Maundy Thursday, was attended by 13 people (Jesus and his 12 apostles.) The next day was Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. This has led to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table is a bad omen. 

Friday also has negative associations with luck, and many point again to the Bible — Jesus was crucified on a Friday and Friday is said to be the day Eve gave Adam the fateful apple from the Tree of Knowledge and the day Cain killed his brother, Abel. 

So if you have a fear of Friday the 13th, you not only have triskaidekaphobia, but also paraskevidekatriaphobia. But no matter, if you’re a believer, non-believer, or genuinely fear the day — today is Friday the Thirteenth, and there’ll be more — every month that begins on a Sunday has a Friday the 13th. Personally, I’m probably not as afraid of Friday the 13th as I am of the people who are afraid of Friday the 13th…..
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Today is Veterans Day — not Veteran’s Day or Veterans’ Day, just veterans — no apostrophe. It is often written inappropriately, just like Daylight Saving Time — it’s not savings, it’s just saving. In this case using the apostrophe implies that the day “belongs” to just one veteran or multiple veterans. But it’s a day for honoring all veterans — so no apostrophe.

Veterans Day honors all of those who have served the country in war or peace — dead or alive, although it’s largely intended to thank living veterans for their sacrifices. Memorial Day is a time to remember those who gave their lives for our country, particularly in battle.

The World War I armistice was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. That was in 1918. A year later, President Woodrow Wilson announced that November 11th would be called Armistice Day in the United States.

In 1938 Armistice Day became a national federal holiday — dedicated to world peace and held in honor of the veterans of World War I.

The name was changed by Congress, in 1954 to Veterans Day to honor the veterans of all wars including World War II and the Korean War.

Normally, the Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year at Arlington National Cemetery where the President gives a speech and veterans are honored — don’t know what will happen this year. But even if the year is 2020, it’s still Veterans Day and they should be honored as much as CoVID-19 permits.
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Well, here we about a third of the way into November… three of our grandkids have birthdays this month, so I thought I’d do some extensive research into the characteristics of people born in November. Here’s what I discovered.

Studies from the University of Chicago have found that babies born in autumn are more likely to become centenarians. 
Valentine’s Day causes a mini-spike in the number of November babies, according to researchers in the UK.
November babies have the lowest incidence of multiple sclerosis and are less likely to suffer from heart problems or lung cancer (Oxford University.)
The high levels of Vitamin D during a pregnancy lasting through fall is said to attribute to their predisposed strong physique. A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine cited autumn-born individuals, especially those born in October and November, as faster and more physically fit. 

Locke is a passionate Scorpio; Rory and Ellie are Sagittarius — generous souls with a sense of humor. 
Things certainly aren’t back to “normal” but maybe they’re beginning to look up and November will be the month we “round the corner.” 
It seems like our grandkids picked a good month… Happy November. 
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Well, here we are in November, the last full month of autumn with the days growing shorter and the beginning of colder temperatures. 

The month kicked off with All Saints Day, a Christian festival held on November 1 that celebrates the lives of all saints — known and unknown. All Soul’s Day, a time for families to remember and honor loved ones who have passed away was November 2, and this year, November 3 was a presidential election. On the 11th, we celebrate Veterans Day and of course Thanksgiving comes along near the end of the month. Black Friday started this year sometime in August, I think — not like traditionally the day after Thanksgiving. 

Lots of pretty significant things have happened during the month of November:
The Erie Canal was formally opened in New York (Nov. 4, 1925)
The Suez Canal opened (Nov. 17, 1869)
Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863)
The Holland Tunnel Opened to traffic (Nov. 13, 1927)
The board game Monopoly hit the market (Nov. 5, 1935)
John F. Kennedy was assassinated (Nov. 22, 1963)
Over 900 of Jim Jones’ followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (Nov.19, 1978)

This year, November may turn out to be best known for the most COVID cases per day in history. Hopefully, that won’t be the case…. but whatever it brings, hope everyone has a good November.
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Today is our favorite grandson’s birthday.
Happy Sixth Birthday Locke!!!
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We both went to the eye doctor this past week. The doctor has been predicting that I’d need cataract surgery very soon for the past several years. Once again this year he seemed a little disappointed — while I do have cataracts, they haven’t gotten bad enough yet to require surgery. 

He seemed surprised that I could read almost all the letters on the eye chart… I told him that it was easy, I had memorized them from last year. I’m not sure he believed me, but he switched to a chart with numbers and had me read those.

I got to thinking about the first time, a long time ago, that I thought I might need reading glasses. We lived in Vienna, and I had never gone to an eye doctor in that area — in fact, I hadn’t been to any eye doctor in years. Anyhow, when Kelly was a baby, she had what looked like a freckle on the white part of one of her eye, and the baby doctor sent her to an eye specialist to check it out. (The freckle turned out to be nothing.)

So when I began to have trouble reading small print, since we weren’t familiar with any other eye doctors, Claire called the doctor we had taken Kelly to, and asked if they did eye exams. They said they did, so I made an appointment. In case I didn’t mention it, this doctor specialized in rare eye diseases and complex surgeries, like transplanting eyes and things like that. 

After examining my eyes, the doctor said, “well, frankly, I don’t know what your problem is.” (Obviously when he found out I didn’t need an eye transplant, he wasn’t interested.) I said that I seemed to have problems reading small print. The doctor’s response was, “well, s**t, that happens to everyone when they get old.” I acknowledged that that was probably true and said, “I thought maybe I might need reading glasses or something.” The doctor said, “yea, that’s probably a good idea.” By this time I was getting a little frustrated and said, “do you know where I could get some?” His reply: “ Well, I can write you a prescription… but I’d just go to Ben Franklin.”  I said that I thought Ben Franklin was a five and dime store. He said that it was and I should go there and they have a big rack full of reading glasses and that I should get a number 29 — he even wrote a big “#29” on a prescription form and handed it to me. 

When I got home, Claire asked me how the appointment went — needless to say, I wasn’t happy and said something like, “I paid this guy $80 to tell me to go buy a pair of glasses at Ben Franklin.”

Well, it turns out that there weren’t very many Ben Franklin stores in the area, but we did have something called People’s Drug Stores — a few days later I was in People’s  and they had a rack of reading glasses. They had various numbers and I found a pair that had a tag with #29 on them. I put them on and took a credit card out of my wallet and the small print on the back of the card literally “jumped out” — I could read it very easily. Obviously I bought the glasses — I think they were $9.95. I went home very excited and started reading all the small print I could find. I suppose Claire was pleased, but I don’t think she shared my enthusiasm. 

Today, number 29s don’t do the trick anymore — I just give up on some small print and convince myself it probably isn’t very important anyway. 
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Today is election day — many think it may be the most important election in their lifetimes. That may or may not be, but all elections are important. I’ve lived enough places in the world to have seen elections  that are in no way fair and I’ve been places where are no elections. Believe me when I say that your right to vote is a privilege that you should never take for granted and it’s a civic duty that you should be proud to fulfill.

Everyone has a right vote no matter their skin color, gender, relationship status or age. I read a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt a couple of days ago: “This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, the heads, and the hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God.”

If you haven’t already done it — VOTE!
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Today is a special day.
It’s the wedding anniversary of my favorite twins’ and grandson’s parents.
Happy Seventh Wedding Anniversary, Dave and Chassie!!!
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