NEW DISPLAY IN THE SHOWCASE

Photos of my herb garden will have to wait.  A couple of days ago I posted a photo of the butter mold that the boyfriend chip-carved and was adding to our Venny display case down in the Fireside Room.  Thought I'd follow up a photo of the display called Our Nordic Heritage. The butter mold is in the center of the second to the bottom shelf.  In front of it is a typed explanation of its historical significance related to decorating even their butter.   Can't help but giggle that it's me of Czech-German heritage designing the legend that explains the display.  Yuppers, we are surrounded by everything Norwegian, but have surrendered to the point where I allow nisses and tomtes to live in our unit.  They're very much like the Czech sprites that are elf-like little mystical beings.  My old friends will attest to watching me over the years pretend to shoot nisses out of windows prior to my surrender.  There's the old saying, if you can't beat em, ya might as well join 'em.  Who knows, maybe I, too, have a drop of Norse blood in my veins.  Lots of things could've happened generations ago that makes it entirely possible.  Even at home on the farm some of our cows strayed.

Our world's diversity is what adds flavor to living a span of time.  I feast on learning about other cultures, how they dress, how they eat, where they live, their everyday ways that are different from ours.  Good people are everywhere, and all cultures have good and not-so-good, and then there are those in all cultures that are filled with hatred.  It's biblical, and we're all living beneath the same sky.  As much as we'd like that not to be the case, it simply is.  And, those of that latter group possess the ability to wrongfully modify our beautiful world.  Sadly, we see it from every direction.  All I'm saying is that there's a lot to be learned from other cultures, other ancestries, and ethnicities.  It is only by chance that we were born where we were born.  What would our lives be like if we had been born in a third-world, or less developed, country?  

Am sitting here looking out at another gorgeous rainy day.  My herb planters are situated close to the deck railing, so they are being anointed with holy water straight from Heaven's sprinkling can.  Am going to research how to take care of the herbs as they grow and I cut them down.  The chives need to be cut and used, but had some from the produce section of our grocery store that I need to use up first.  

Am a lover of salads, so I'm waiting for tomato season.  There are two schools of thought on how people choose to eat their tomatoes......salt and pepper OR sugar.  Our family was of the salt and pepper group.  Back when we were kids, we didn't have sea salt in a shaker, but only the regular Morton's salt in the blue container.  I remember it had a little girl with an umbrella in the rain.  

The Morton Salt Girl first appeared in 1911 in an advertisement for Morton Salt's free-flowing salt.  In one image, the girl is walking in the rain with an umbrella, and a package of salt under her arm.  The spout is open and salt pouring out.   The image and slogan were developed to illustrate that Morton salt would still flow freely even in damp rainy weather.  The Morton Salt Girl and slogan are considered one of the greatest branding triumphs of all time.  I'd have to agree, cuz why would I remember our salt container after all these years.

Now we buy the sea salt crystals.  Sea salt is produced by the evaporation of ocean water or saltwater lakes.  It's less processed than table salt and supposedly retains trace minerals.  I just like the crystals for some reason.  Oh, they say not to eat salt, but our bodies need salt to function properly.  There are so many hidden salts in processed foods, I agree that we Americans consume too much of it.  But, I'm sorry, there are certain things that absolutely require salt, and tomatoes and eggs are two of them, in my little world anyway.

Am thinking of next time purchasing the pink Himalayan salt that's hand-mined in the Punjab region of Pakistan near the Himalayan foothills.  Supposedly it contains all 84 essential trace elements that our bodies need.  Will put that on the grocery list.  Incorporating new things to daily life adds flavor and fun.  I'm one who likes trying new things from far away places.  Just like how last year I taught myself how to eat with chopsticks.  Now, that's all I use for most meals, except, of course, soups.  Recently, my boyfriend's cousin visited Tokyo and brought back a beautiful pair of authentic chopsticks for me.  I cherish them, along with her thoughtfulness.  For me, they kick eating up another notch.  Now when we go out to eat Chinese, I use the wooden chopsticks and think I'm quite worldly.  (giggles)

Guess I'd best be off to join the circus.  The branches of the tree below us are waving up to me.  I envy their energy.  Ta-ta.