Friday, May 24, 2013

Now There's An App For That!

Before there were Apps, there was Aunt Ruth. 




If you wanted to know the conversion of 1 cup to its metric system equivalent, you could call Aunt Ruth, and she would go to her desk drawer, retrieve her Conversion Chart, and tell you, “It’s 230 milliliters.”

If you wanted to know what “earned surplus” meant, Aunt Ruth would say that it is “also known as income retained in the business.  The amount retained from year to year depends on both net income and dividend payments.” She handled her family’s bookkeeping and investments, worked during the war as an accountant for the Navy, and because she wanted fast facts at her fingertips, she kept a copy of How to Understand Financial Statements in her desk drawer. 

She had a United States map with time zones and area codes, Webster’s Thumb Indexed Dictionary, a pamphlet on treating the 15 most common household stains, and another that outlined the Kiddush service for Sabbath.

Aunt Ruth was smart and savvy.  As times changed, her pamphlets and charts did too.  She had data for everything before we knew we needed it.  She was remarkable.

She was fascinated by technology and learning and quite proud that she owned the very first generation of Kindle, and on hers was Thomas Friedman’s, Hot, Flat, Crowded :  Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it Can Renew America along with other selections ranging from current fiction to biographies. 

Aunt Ruth never stopped wanting to know, and one of her many lessons to me was to keep an insatiable Appetite for knowledge.

I wish there was an App for that!  


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Sometimes, 1,000 Words are Better

(Please click on image to enlarge)


When Aunt Ruth turned 90,  she didn’t want any gifts.   I sent a postcard asking her friends to choose 1-3 words that described her.  From those words, a cake and cupcakes were decorated with a life’s worth of words  (http://www.honeylazar.com/loving-aunt-ruth.htm), and the words were saved in a wooden box.  

This blog is all about words...words of wisdom, hope, struggle, humor, love, and yes, ingredients for great food.  I love words as much as I love images, but most of all, I loved Aunt Ruth, and so did the 165 people who came to celebrate her 90th birthday!

This Mother’s Day, let Aunt Ruth inspire you to speak words of love to your own Mother, your friend’s mother, or those who have mothered you when you needed unconditional love.

Aunt Ruth said, “Always make sure you have love in your life,” but I would add that you let those you love hear those words. 

Have a Loving Mother’s Day…Happy 94th Birthday to Aunt Ruth….


(The words  used to make the I ♥ U are from Aunt Ruth's Birthday Collection)