After a huge meal of Thanks giving Turkey, I guess all the turkeys would give a sigh of relief if Christmas went back to the tradition of serving Christmas Geese instead. lol
I found the above book illustrated so beautifully with a gosling, that thinking of eating it would break ones heart.
It was Charles Darwin, who mentioned that goose for dinner in Victorian times, was a tradition.
The relevance of the goose throughout time is interesting. It represented the Egyptian God Amen and was deemed sacred. Amen was believed to be the source of all creation.
In 389 BC Rome, the goose was sacred to the gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. They saved the Roman Citadel by making such a racket when the Gauls approached to attack, they woke up the Roman soldiers.
Hunnukah is also celebrated with a roast goose.
It represents the return of Jerusalem from Syrian hands back into Jewish hands in around the year 165.
St Martin Tours, was a Catholic Saint against poverty, beggars and geese.Legend has it that he tore his cloak in half in order to give half of it to a beggar. The cloak was later miraculously restored.
Later, he hid in a barn full of geese to avoid being made a Bishop, but the noisy geese gave him away. He is said to have died around 367.
As a result, Saint Martin's day is celebrated on November 11, and goose became the traditional bird to be served that day.
Aesops' Fable, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, taught that if you let greed get out of control, you might lose everything.
Charles Dickens had Scrooge give the Cratchits a turkey instead of a Goose and may have started a new tradition but still, in spite of it, today, the Goose still means the same thing to many people around the world.
It means, to be thankful.
So whether you are rich or poor , with a big family or a small one, or even alone and looking to celebrate a special occasion like Thanks giving and/or Christmas, you can never go wrong with a goose.
It's symbolism and significance alone, gives one plenty to talk about around the table.
It's a beautiful bird as well as a delicious replacement for Turkey.
A Priest was about to finish his tour of duty, and was leaving his Mission
in the jungle where he has spent years teaching the natives when he
realizes that the one thing he never taught them was how to speak English.
So he takes the chief for a walk in the forest. He points to a tree and
says to the chief, 'This is a tree.'
The chief looks at the tree and grunts, 'Tree.'
The Priest is pleased with the response. They walk a little further and he
points to a rock and says, 'This is a rock.'
Hearing this, the chief looks and grunts, 'Rock.'
The Priest was really getting enthusiastic about the results when he hears
a rustling in the bushes. As they peek over the top, he sees a couple of
natives in the midst of heavy sexual activity.
The Priest is really flustered and quickly responds, 'Man riding a bike.'
The chief looks at the couple briefly, pulls out his blowgun and kills them.
The Priest goes ballistic and yells at the chief that he has spent years
teaching the tribe how to be civilized and be kind to each other, so how
could he kill these people in cold blood that way?
The chief replied, 'My bike.'
Why does Santa owe everything to the elves?
Because he is an elf-made man!
-----------------
What did Santa get when he crossed a woodpecker with kleenex?
A bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
Afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
Existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
Than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had
Slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet,
So they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their
Footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until,
When you opened the door, it would all start slipping
Outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big
Kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit
The fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly
Vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the
Stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold
Overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew
Had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence
The rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
Porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could
Obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When
Visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show
Off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home
The bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests
And would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high
Acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,
Causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with
Tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were
Considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt
Bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests
Got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination
Would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and
Prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen
Table for a couple of days and the family would gather
Around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake
Up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running
Out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins
And would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the
Grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins
Were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive . . . So they would
tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night
(the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone
could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
And that's the truth . . . . Now, whoever said History was boring!!!
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these
facts with a friend.
|
| Sitting by the window of her convent, Sister Barbara opened a letter from home one evening. Inside the letter was a $100 bill her parents had sent. Sister Barbara smiled at the gesture. As she read the letter by the window, she noticed a shabbily dressed stranger leaning against the lamp post below. Quickly, she wrote, "Don't despair. Sister Barbara," on a piece of paper, wrapped the $100 bill in it, got the man's attention and tossed it out the window to him.. The stranger picked it up, and with a puzzled expression and a tip of his hat, went off down the street. The next day, Sister Barbara was told that a man was at her door, insisting on seeing her. She went down, and found the stranger waiting. Without a word, he handed her a huge wad of $100 bills. "What's this?" she asked. "That's the $8,000 you have coming Sister," he replied. "Don't Despair paid 80-to-1." |
Therefore, he was annoyed to find that the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. The substitute wanted to know what to play.
"Here's a copy of the service," he said impatiently. "But, you'll have to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances.
"During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected and we need $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up"
I tried something new to see if it would work.
My parents used to collect chicken skins which my Dad would roll up and freeze and then chop up,
since its easier to chop when the skins are frozen.
Along with other leftovers, they would place everything outside on a flat board they attached to a post.
I must say, I was impressed with the collection of birds they had amassed on that board.
Such an assortment would sit and wait for their daily meal and they all got along.
As soon as they would put out a board full it would be cleaned off in a matter of minutes.
Sparrows, blue, king fisher looking types, mocking birds, and even falcons, would all share.
My parents would sit , watch and enjoy behind their sliding door.
These birds became friends.
I guess the smell attracted other animals because they would also have deer, rabbits and other critters
which would show up and make their yard home.
Well I don’t feed the birds here as the winters are mild but I do collect the chickens skins like my parents did,
always thinking maybe there will be a time I could use them to feed the birds if we ever have snow and frost.
Since that never happens and I keep collecting the skins, I decided the fridge is meant for food , not chickens skins loll
So I took some out and dried them in salt. I then scraped the underlying fat off of them and dried them again.
Now, in the fall, I collected some dry leaves and boiled them. When the liquid cooled, I put the chicken skins
into the colored water to see if they would absorb the tannin from it.
I didn’t know how long they had to be kept in this water but I kept them in there two days.
After drying again, this is what I got.
Nice flexible yellow pieces I can sew up into something and even paint on.
Another batch I didn’t dry first and just put them into the tannin right after defrosting.
They changed color to a deeper brown..
I put one in the middle to show you the color difference.
Then I dried them as well.
I like the first batch better since the color is nicer, more natural.
I don’t know how many chicken skins one would need to make a vest out of but I would imagine quite a few.
But for small things like a change purse, clothing name tags, or maybe clothes for a doll, I think they can become very useful
things to recycle.
I was also thinking that maybe if the skins were curled and dried, they would also make good chewies for dogs.
But then we are told not to eat chickens skins so why would we give them to mans’ best friend?
Birds are different, since they eat everything they find in the wild anyway.
For Thanks Giving I got a large turkey and for the first time I skinned it and rolled it out on an open pizza box to absorb the fat that drips off of it when salted.
Now this made for a real nice piece of skin one can sew or paint on.
Like they say, preparation is half the fun but you learn something. Maybe next time I will boil the tannin leaves with a few beets in it and see how the skin turns out.
It's good to be back I was off line for a while. It's amazing how the internet affects one's life and it took a while to get used to not having it. But then I had more time for other things like visiting the library and cleaning house lol
Things I used to do but have no time for anymore. It's so easy today to have this marvelous machine at your fingertips but now I have to debate if it is really that good to be so dependent on a machine.It hurts other things which may fold as a result leaving people with nothing but one thing.
I do hope libraries don't suffer as a result of internet. There is still nothing better than a good book in hand.
Have a good day everyone.
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