Trish Hermanson's Blog: Croutons - Seasoned Bits of Life, page 7

Why Steer Clear of Purple Cows

[image error]      Some humor as we step around the dung that’s slung during election season:

My mama taught a little rhyme when I was just a yearling.
She had a beef with purple cows: “Beware of them, my dearling.

I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow I’d rather see than be one.”

But then one day a steer appeared so luminescent bright.
And I believed that he was here to give me new insight.

I got behind this champion, so wise and strong and tough.
My heart he charmed, my...

Who's Gonna Save Us?

     l long for someone to save America from violence, the pandemic, and economic turmoil. I long for someone who is “larger than life” to rescue us, as Bonnie Tyler sang in “Holding Out for a Hero,” an anthem that has echoed through our culture for more than three decades.     
     My yearning for a political messiah seems inherent across the political spectrum, whether we’re left, middle, or right. We want someone to ride in on a white horse and save us.     
     But when I place my hop...

Anyone Else Befuddled by Today's English?

     Are you as befuddled as I am when you read the news? My head spins whenever I succumb to doom scrolling (endlessly reading online news ) during this corona coaster (roller-coaster pandemic). I’m not a Karen (an entitled, obnoxious, angry, or racist middle-aged white woman trying to get my way). If you don’t think I’m woke (aware of social and racial justice), are you going to cancel me (treat me as persona non grata)? I don’t understand QAnon (a far-right conspiracy that believes tha...

Meet the 'Late Bloomer'

     Compared to other plants, this is a late bloomer. This agave americana was a squatty thing for several decades before it suddenly shot up and burst into outrageous yellow flowers. But it doesn’t blossom until its internal resources tell it to, which is good news for those of us who feel like we’re still squatty plants while our peers have shot ahead of us.     
     Most of us don’t really “take off” until the second half of our lives because our intelligence doesn’t fully develop un...

The Strangest Recycling Program

     That’s my grandson Oak reaching toward a stash of shells we found strewn across a beach near his home in Alabama. He and I were observing the strangest recycling program - gorgeous shells washed up and ground into sand by the force of wind, waves, and feet.     
     It’s mysterious to me why God trashes part of creation when it’s at its peak in beauty. But then, I thought about how sand becomes the building block for construction, the primary raw material to create concrete and glass...

What Ruby Bridged Taught Me about Hatred

     
     I gasped at the destruction at our city center as I walked toward the Denver Art Museum. Statues defaced by protesters, buildings graffitied.
     But when I entered the museum, it wasn’t my Covid mask that left me breathless. It was this Norman Rockwell painting capturing a six-year-old desegregating a school in New Orleans in 1960. Day after day Ruby Bridges entered the school to the taunts of protesters who screamed they wanted to poison her. One morning before Ruby entered, s...

How Gertie Has Spent Her 108 Years

     Gertie Abkes of Denver turned 108 today and hoped to get 108 cards as a gift. She was born four months after the Titanic sank and has survived two pandemics. During her lifetime, the world has moved from model T’s to Mars rovers, and I asked her what she thought about all the changes.     
     “It’s just lifestyle changes,” she told me matter-of-factly over the phone.     
     “So what’s the secret of your many years?”     
     She chuckled. “I guess God knows what he wants to do wit...

Why a Different Point of View Matters

​     Meet my neighbor Joe Razes, who’s willing to get up close and personal to catch the best perspective for a photo, even when it means the risk of becoming a floor mat for a stampeding steer. Joe’s audacity pays off. He captured an award-winning portrait of longhorns that displays both their strength and their vulnerability. It turned out they were more frightened of him than he was of them. The only damage Joe incurred during several photo sessions was when a bull named Shoot ’Em Up ...

Is "Irony" the Opposite of "Wrinkly"?

     Vince Rozmiarek claims “irony” is “the opposite of wrinkly,” and with such wordplay, his humor has circled the globe - that is, for those who believe the world is round. If you don’t, Vince says: “The only thing flat Earthers have to fear is sphere itself.”     
     Vince’s punny-ness on a community center sign has brought fame to the Colorado town of Indian Hills (population 1,000). Globe trekkers make pilgrimages to the mountain town to snap selfies there.     
     Many of Vince’s ...

Straddling a Seesaw between Passion and Practicality

     As I finished feeding my granddaughter Eve a bottle, writing thoughts bounced in my head, but Eve just wanted to nap. So for a moment, Eve became my desktop, and we were both happy.     
     That’s how life is sometimes - passions in my head while practicality demands my hands. I straddle a seesaw between the wanna do’s and what’s literally in my lap to do. A hiking trail beckons, but so does the laundry.         
     In times like this, I remember a French monk who lived nearly four...