"PLEASE LOOK AT ME"

PLEASE LOOK AT ME

I am a bald eagle.

I am the national symbol of America.

I am on a quarter and other coins but you probably didn’t notice.

I am on your paper bills but do you see me?

I am on the presidential seal of the Unites States of America—do you notice me?

I am the symbol for the navy.

I represent freedom.

I am on military medals but have you looked?

I was once endangered and almost gone.

I am in every state in America except Hawaii.

I am in Canada but did you know?

I am now being poisoned by lead in ammo and in the dead food I eat but do you care?

I am not going to be endangered again but it is looking grim. You have to help me because I cannot do it by myself.

I am not yet among bald eagles that are dying a horrible death from lead. No, I’m not sick yet but I am afraid I might be.

I am counting on YOU to help save me and the others. All you have to do is to spread the word about the lead poisoning. PLEASE act now before I AM GONE.

The Bald Eagle

Sherry Hill

Photo from my friend Terry who lives in Alaska

"ALFRED HITCHCOCK WAS TERRIFIED OF EGGS!"

Alfred Hitchcock, the late famous producer, director and writer of horror movies was absolutely terrified of eggs! Imagine a man who loved to incite fear in his audiences with his movies being scared of an inanimate object such as an egg? And yet he was. He was downright terrified of them in any form but it was when he saw his mother crack open an egg for breakfast that he developed this weird fear.

He wrote that the oozing yellow and white was just ghastly upon seeing it run into the pan on the stove. And said that he never tasted an egg in his entire life! Makes one wonder how his mother reacted to this peculiarity of her sons--was she flabbergasted or understanding? Apparently he had the run over her for as stated he never ate one in his life. Wonder how he reacted around other children come Easter? Those baskets full of hard boiled eggs must have terrified the wits out of him. Can you just picture him running and hiding to seek shelter from them? He probably had nightmares for weeks upon end.

All of us have our peculiarities but for a person to be afraid of an egg is unheard of except in Hitchcock's case. And I find that so odd for he would become a master of inciting fear into people with his stories and his movies which were all based on downright horror. Perhaps that was his payback to his fear. Who could analyze that much less him?

Two of his most famous movies are "The Birds"' and "Psycho":  In "The Birds" women are terrorized by humongous flocks of huge birds such as crows and the like while in "Psycho" a woman is the murder victim of a crazed man who thinks he is his mother. The shower scene in that movie will go down  in infamy as one of the scariest scenes ever on film. To this day, there are tons of women who refuse to take showers thanks to Hitchcock. Personally, had I known about his fear of an egg, I would have mailed him a dozen or more. Maybe women did and if so, that makes me feel better--ah retribution!

Should you not be familiar with Alfred Hitchcock, google him and his movies. You will learn a lot and read about all of the horror movies he produced but as for his deathly fear of an egg, I just happened upon that information about three months ago while online researching something--and what a find!

I'll just bet that as a child his favorite nursery rhyme was "Humpty Dumpty" where the egg sat on a wall and had a great fall. He no doubt had that rhyme memorized and written down somewhere so he could snicker at it. Yes his name is among the great film producers and directors and his movies will live on but this fact seems so ironic to me as well as others--the man was deathly afraid of an egg!

What a twist of fate there if ever is all I can surmise. And we, the movie viewers, got his payback--fear!

Sherry Hill

"LOVE ICED TEA!"

Love Iced Tea!

I don't just like iced tea, I love it! And I live on it day and night.

Maybe that's bad or maybe that's good. Suppose it depends upon your point of view. In the picture, you see lemon in the glass of tea; used to like lemon in mine but not anymore. Prefer mine straight with sugar or a sugar substitute and ice or no ice. But I have to have it--that's called a dependency and yes, I know it! And I get a caffeine buzz as well from it.

The first time I ever drank it was when I was five; it was at a neighbor's house. Sort of liked it but as a kid, had to drink milk at home and when not home, drank pop as all kids did. Iced tea was not on my mind or menu for a long time to come yet. In fact, I don't think that it wasn't until my late twenties when I started craving iced tea but wouldn't order it in a restaurant--why I don't know.

And with the craving came making the tea: I boiled water and tea bags and let the tea steep and cool. [Everyone made it that way that is until instant tea came on the scene. ] Usually I'd make a gallon of iced tea and it had tons of sugar and real slices of lemon in it. It tasted more like a tea lemonade than real tea but it was good. Everyone loved it and no doubt got a sugar buzz as well.

I'd drag this concoction with me to school where I taught in a huge thermos and had a separate one for ice. Daily that was part of my before going to work routine and imagine dragging two thermoses in along with books and a book bag but I did. Everyone knew me by those thermoses of tea and ice and if I didn't have them, trust me I was questioned as to why they weren't there. This went on forever it seemed and then I decided to take out the lemon; also decided to start using instant tea for that was a lot easier to make.

Imagine drinking all that tea while teaching [not in front of my students but like before school started, at lunch or during a break and definitely after school!] and crunching on the ice. Did I break any teeth? Yes. Broke my back molars on the top and bottom at different times. Bad for me and great for my dentist.

From my co-workers to my family, everyone knew and knows that I live on iced tea. It came in handy on lots of occasions when someone was dying of thirst or I needed to throw it on something that was on fire which actually happened when my older son's vent in his car was smoking fire! We had pulled into the very same drugstore and he saw me and screamed "Do you have your tea with you?" "Yes!" I replied and got out of my car and dashed to his where he proceeded to pour the tea into the vent. The fire was put out instantly by the iced tea.

Therefore, I could say that iced tea has many usages: It can quench thirst, break teeth if it has a lot of ice in it, wire you with the caffeine and put out fires. It's really a multipurpose beverage if ever!

And guess what? As I sit here writing this, I am drinking iced tea!

Would you expect me not to be? Of course not.

And as for me "Long live iced tea!" It rocks!

Sherry Hill


*About the age of eleven, I developed a hatred for milk. Won't go into it but never drink it ever. Do drink juices and some pop off and on. As for taking iced tea in the car with me, I gave that up about three years ago after I spilled my big cup all over the passenger seat. Now I take a can of Pepsi or Coke with me if I am going on a short trip. Long trip? Iced tea of course!

"THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE WESTERN MOVIES!"

“THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE WESTERN MOVIES!”

For several days now one channel has showed nothing but old western movies. Do I like them? Yes and some are better than others. Love “High Noon,” “The Drifters,” and so many others. I was watching one this morning and realized that it has to be something about making a western movie because there are hundreds of questions in each movie! You don’t hear hundreds of them in other types of movies ever!

Have you ever thought about that? I never did till today. And here are some that I heard:

“Got your horse tied up?”

“Who is that in the street?”

“Where is the sheriff?”

“Is he going to be all right with that gunshot wound?”

“Which way did he go?”

“Are those all the guns you have?”

“Are you leaving town?”

“What about the boy?”

“You going in there?”

Oh and the list goes on and on. The next time you watch an old western movie, check out the tons of questions that abound—there are like hundreds. And guess what? Usually no one answers them or if they do, they are too late!

Sherry Hill

"WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT CHOCOLATE?"

‘WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT CHOCOLATE?”

Okay let’s face it—I love chocolate! Love chocolate in any form but there are some things I don’t like mixed with it. There is no way I’d ever eat a chocolate covered cherry. Did once and the texture just gagged me. That was my first and last time I ever ate one in my life. But chocolate mixed with anything else [except walnuts] is great with me but perhaps not with you.

When I was a little girl, like all of my friends, I loved chocolate candy bars, candy or ice cream. Then for some reason, I switched to jelled candies—not gummies for they weren’t on the scene yet and dropped liking chocolate. Have no idea why that happened but trust me it didn’t last very long. Oh so many variations of chocolate—cake, pie, ice cream, candy, milkshakes, donuts and on and on that makes one mind in a whiz when having to choose. Chocolate had a bad reputation of being bad for you as well as causing weight gain.

Thankfully scientists discovered that chocolate is actually good for you—the dark kind that is and as for weight gain, it depends upon how much you eat it and how many times in a day. Chocolate actually causes a feel good sensation to the brain and body but I am sure that you already knew that. It’s a comfort thing to eat; would I call it a food? Not really.

Where does chocolate come from? It comes from Central and South America but about seventy percent comes from Africa. And chocolate grows on trees: It is the beans called cacao.

Here is a great website link for all you wanted to know about chocolate!

http://www.facts-about-chocolate.com/where-does-chocolate-come-from.html

After you read this, I am sure that you will be craving chocolate in any form! Enjoy and know that I am with you in the love of it!

Sherry Hill