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Echoes from the

Loafers’ Club Meeting

I want to travel to Iceland. But I’m not sure which way to go.

Whatever means necessary.

No, it doesn’t.

Driving by Bruce’s drive

I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Whenever I pass his drive, thoughts occur to me. It’s easy to see the road signs of spring. Various red or orange markings indicating roadwork will occur.

I love seeing the big leaves of the pieplant. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about being newly married and making dinner for a threshing crew, where she referred to pieplant, and that she needed to bake a pie from it. She didn’t add any sugar to it, so the rhubarb pie wasn’t a resounding success. Marco Polo brought rhubarb from China to Europe. Benjamin Franklin is credited with introducing rhubarb seed to North America in 1770, but John Bartram had been growing the edible rhubarb in Philadelphia 40 years before that. In the 17th century, the English became the first to eat rhubarb, but ingested the leaves because they resembled chard. The leaves contain an oxalic acid that causes cramps, nausea and worse. By the 18th century, Europeans had discovered that the tart stalks were the part to eat and were perfect for tarts. A neighbor boy, who enjoyed rhubarb sauce and crisp, called rhubarb the “good celery.”

I’ve learned

In 1948, Music Digest estimated that Bing Crosby’s recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music in America.

As a boy, I never asked if the chicken house needed cleaning. It always needed cleaning.

If they’re not otherwise identified, celebrities who appear in TV commercials should wear name tags.

I’m grateful those lilac bushes were allowed to grow and blossom after the house’s demolition. Their intoxicating smell brings a rush of memories. It was a part of the dreams of those who had planted them. Lilac comes from the Persian “nilak,” which means bluish. Lilacs were used to test fidelity. Five common lilac petals were eaten in succession; if that was done without a petal getting stuck in the throat, then one’s lover was true. People planted lilacs in memory of the deceased or to mark graves. Their pleasant smell caused lilacs to be planted near outhouses. They persist as living markers, reminding us of the past. A farm may be gone, but the lilacs remember.

Bad jokes department

“I’m sorry” and “I apologize” usually mean the same thing, but not at a funeral.

Scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Tuba is an acronym for terrible underwater breathing apparatus.

Why was it called the Dark Ages? It was because of all the knights.

Why do the numbers 1 through 12 work the hardest? It’s because they’re always on the clock.

They put jokes on the back of bacon packages. My favorite one is: Serving size: 2 slices.

Nature notes

“How can I tell if a ladybug is a multicolored lady beetle?” This beetle is originally from Asia and was first released for biological control of other insects in this country in 1916. It’s not known for certain whether the establishment of lady beetles in the US resulted from accidental entries, planned releases or both. The beetle’s color ranges from yellow to orange to red, with zero to 19 black spots. The wings could even be black with red spots. That’s why its name includes “multicolored.” A consistent pattern is the black “M” on a white plate behind its head, just above the wings. It could be an “M” or a “W,” depending upon whether the beetle is viewed from the front or rear.

Starling, starling. First starling I see today. I wish I might, I wish I may, have this wish I wish today. That’s right, I wished upon a starling. May never leaves me dismayed. Everyone should go outdoors if for no other reason than it’s safer than going out windows. It was a gee-whiz morning for me. The suet feeders had a rush of business made up of rose-breasted grosbeaks, brown thrashers, woodpeckers (downy, hairy & red-bellied), starlings, nuthatches, chickadees and blue jays. It was the time of the whistling sparrows, and I loved the company of white-throated, Harris’s and white-crowned. It was a time when I remembered how much I enjoy wren and thrasher music. It was like hearing a nearly forgotten Etta James song again.

Life is made of little moments. I was thrilled to see meadowlarks flapping with short, stiff, grouse-like wingbeats and gliding as I listened to the snoring sounds of leopard frogs. A western meadowlark sings, “Have-you-planted your wheat yet?” and an eastern meadowlark sings “Spring of the year!”

Meeting adjourned

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” — Clare Pooley.