St. Patrick’s Day is an all-inclusive holiday that anyone can enjoy. Green beer, shamrocks, magical leprechauns, corned beef and cabbage, dancing, singing, and parades celebrate Irish culture and Irish immigration to America. What can be better than that? Finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, of course!
(A little Irish clogging for your enjoyment. It’s incredible how nimble these dancers are!)
(One of the most beautiful Irish songs ever written)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Dawn Pisturino
March 17, 2023
Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
I am pleased and humbled to announce that my poem, On Cupid’s Broken Wings, has been published today on Spillwords Press. I want to thank Dagmara K. and her staff for publishing it. If you like my poem, please remember to like it on Spillwords, too. Thanks!
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
On Cupid’s Broken Wings
by Dawn Pisturino
On Cupid’s broken wings,
He landed at my door,
An instrument with broken strings,
No music at his core.
His arm wrapped up in dirty slings,
His leg — an oozing sore,
I welcomed him, and my heart sings
With love, and so much more!
With honeyed lips, I kissed him . . .
Please visit Spillwords to read the rest of the poem. Thank you!
[Note: I haven’t been posting much lately because I’ve been working on the final project for my university class. The class is almost over!]
Dawn Pisturino
February 14, 2023
Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
Hello, again, in a new year! Can you believe that it’s 2023? That number has such a nice, odd sound to it. But seriously, here’s hoping that 2023 will be even better than 2022!
We had a wonderful holiday celebration. My daughter visited from California. We scaled back on gifts and decorations this year but dialed it up on food. I made enough roast beef and beef brisket (with all the trimmings) to keep us all fat and jolly over Christmas week. In addition to the main meals, I always set up a smorgasbord of cookies, candy, crackers, summer sausage, and cheese for everyone to snack on in-between meals, so nobody goes hungry and can help themselves. It was all very comforting since the weather decided to turn cold, grey, and nasty with several days of rain. We bundled up in blankets, drank hot chocolate, watched movies, and talked. It was nice to catch up with my daughter in person instead of on the phone.
And we drank plenty of mimosas, French champagne, and Italian prosecco to celebrate the passing of 2022 and the arrival of 2023.
Cheers!
Happy New Year!
Dawn Pisturino
January 2, 2023
Copyright 2023 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
I’m taking a Christmas hiatus and will not be posting anything until after New Year’s. May you all be blessed with happiness, prosperity, and the fulfillment of all your dreams in 2023.
[NOTE: I’ve been busy with major housecleaning, shopping, doing Christmas stuff, cooking, doing homework for an online class called “Online Obsessions,” and hanging out with my husband before he returns to work next week (he’s been off for the last three months recovering from a total knee replacement). I’m getting caught up with responding to your comments and visiting your blog sites. I apologize for the delay!]
I inherited these recipes from my mother, and I have no idea where she got them, but these are the cookie recipes I use at Christmas. They also make great cookies for Valentine’s Day. Rich, sugary, buttery, spicy, and delicious!
Old-Fashioned Butter Cookies
3 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or margarine (butter is best)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. cream or milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour with baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream the butter. Gradually add sugar to the butter, creaming well. Stir in egg, cream, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients gradually and mix well. Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator. Roll out, one third at a time, on floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. (This dough also works well in a cookie press.) Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until edges turn golden brown. Let cool. Frost with powdered sugar frosting and decorate.
Gingerbread Cookies
1/2 cup shortening (butter works best)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar well. Blend in molasses. Add egg and beat well. Stir in sifted dry ingredients. Chill the dough for three hours in the refrigerator. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/8 – 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (Do not over-bake.) Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar or frost with powdered sugar frosting and decorate.
Serve your cookies with milk, hot chocolate, tea, or coffee, and enjoy!
I love the Hot Chocolate Scene from PolarExpress:
Christmas is coming! Make it Merry!And today is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year!Or, longest night – however you want to look at it. LOL!
Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.
As the holly groweth green And never changeth hue, So I am, and ever hath been, Unto my lady true. Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.
As the holly groweth green, With ivy all alone, When flowerys cannot be seen And green-wood leaves be gone, Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.
Now unto my lady Promise to her I make: From all other only To her I me betake. Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.
Adieu, mine own lady, Adieu, my specïal, Who hath my heart truly, Be sure, and ever shall.
Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy. Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.
Greensleeves –
Attributed to King Henry VIII but actually published in 1580 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In 1865, Englishman William Chatterton Dix “borrowed” the musical composition, changed the lyrics, and turned it into the Christmas carol, What Child is This? While Greensleeves remains a popular folk song in England, the Christmas carol is uniquely popular in the United States.
~
December 7, 2022 is Pearl Harbor Day.Remember Pearl Harbor!
Dawn Pisturino
December 7, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
(Digital City – Digital artwork by Phil Perkins. Copyright 2022 Phil Perkins. All Rights Reserved.)
Phil Perkins is an outdoorsman, photographer, poet, music lover, and graphic artist. My friend, Kym Gordon Moore, spotlighted his photography talents; but I want to shine a light on his amazing digital artwork. Much of his artwork is futuristic, such as the example above, Digital City.
But many of his pieces are playful, imaginative, and just plain fun:
(Desert Scene, which employs the point of view of an extinct prehistoric dinosaur. Copyright 2022 Phil Perkins. All Rights Reserved.)
I can’t even imagine the number of hours he devotes to creating these amazing pieces.
Phil’s photography and digital artwork can be found on Pixels, Redbubble, Society 6, ArtPal, Zazzle, Cafepress, TeePublic, ArtFlakes, and Fine Art America.
(George Winston playing his beautiful and inspiring piece, “Thanksgiving.” My mother adored George Winston.)
My parents always came for Thanksgiving. Now that they are gone, I always think of them at this time of year.
PSALM 95:1-5 (NKJV)
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.
PLEASE NOTE: I WILL NOT BE POSTING ANYTHING UNTIL SOME TIME NEXT WEEK.
Have a joyful and blessed Thanksgiving!
~
Dawn Pisturino
November 23, 2022
Copyright 2022 Dawn Pisturino. All Rights Reserved.
I’ve known Kym for about a year now and regularly follow her blog on WordPress. Although we don’t always agree, I’ve always found her to be intelligent, funny, well-educated, and articulate. And, she’s fierce! Whatever causes she embraces, she puts her whole heart and soul into them.
In her latest book, Kym provides a general overview of poetry and her vision for the future of poetry as an art form, a therapeutic tool, and an educational medium. She views poetry as a living, breathing thing that can transform the poet, the community, the country, and even the world. Poetry should be as rich, colorful, and diverse as life itself.
Her book is almost a textbook on creating poetry and would be a useful tool in the classroom. She introduces the concept of ArchiPoetry, which employs architectural ideas to design and perfect poetic creations. As she writes: “By combining the use of language, imagery, metaphors, and specific patterns, the design elements in ArchiPoetry have different disciplines and poetic variations.”
While journaling has been an accepted therapeutic tool for a while in mental health, Kym developed the concept of TheraPoetry, a process through which people can find emotional relief by expressing themselves with poetry. Kym speaks from experience. After the death of her mother, it was poetry – and writing poetry – which helped her through the grieving process.
Illiteracy is an issue about which Kym is very passionate; and she wants to use poetry as a medium to teach our children how to read and improve their reading comprehension skills. We all remember rhymes that we learned as children. Those rhymes stick in our heads as rhythmical pieces of our childhood, bring back fond memories, and encourage us to pass them on to the next generation.
Poetry is creativity, mental gymnastics, lyrical composition, and inner fantasy. Poetry is emotional release, mental growth, and spiritual expression. This is why Kym championed the cause of poetry in 2014 when she persuaded mayors all across North Carolina to submit proclamations officially recognizing April asNational Poetry Month. Kym also endorses and supports the Academy of American Poets as a valuable resource for educators and poets everywhere. As she says, “Poetry is a revival and reminder of our aspirations, possibilities, and achievements for all people.”
Finally, I close with Kym’s own summation of poetry:
“Poetry paints emotion
art is imagination and passion
poetry inspires art
expressionism through creativity is art and poetry
-transformation-
poetry and art is creativity through expressionism
Christmas Haiku by Patricia Furstenberg (2018). Available on Amazon.com.
Patricia is a Romanian poet living in South Africa. Her poetry appears regularly on MasticadoresRomania, Spillwords Press, and other poetry sites and literary magazines. With Christmas right around the corner, I was drawn to read her book of Christmas haiku. Charmed by the simplicity of her verses and photos, I sincerely recommend this little chapbook as the perfect way to get into the candy-gingerbread-tinsel-lights holiday mood! Patricia has written numerous books for adults and children, which are all available on Amazon. So, grab a steaming cup of hot chocolate and enjoy!
Cosmic Health Blog
Entertaining and informative articles about health and wellness, yoga, meditation, nutrition, stress management, exercise and more, written by a licensed Registered Nurse.
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