“If man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929 – 1968)
American Baptist minister & civil rights activist
Delivered in an address at the 1963 Great March on Detroit
(Photo by Gayatri Malhotra)
“We are born princes, and the civilizing process makes us frogs.”
— Dr. Eric Berne (1910-1970)
Canadian psychiatrist known for developing the theory of Transactional Analysis
This just happens to be National Bullfrogs Are Beautiful Day.
(Photo by Jill Wellington)
“Whenever we feel like giving up, we must commit ourselves to finding a better attitude, developing new skills, and working harder.”
— Cathy Burnham Martin
American author, voiceover artist & dedicated foodie
(Photo by Aziz Acharki)
“Hope is the dream of the soul awake.”
– French proverb
(Photo by Marc Olivier Jodoin)
“While motivation fires up our interest and willingness to run the race, encouragement helps get us across the finish line.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin
Encouragement: How to Be and Find theBest, 2019
The Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon, celebrates its 126th race today. The participants know that the same skills required to complete a marathon also serve us well in Life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.”
— John 3:16
Wishing you sunshine, good times, and many blessings… a life filled with happiness, love, and faith. He is risen! God bless you.
(Photo by Joshua Earle)
Ron Martin, Babe, Sir Ronald… This is the man who dared to invite me into his life as his wife and stepmother for his children. He is my lover, my partner, and my best friend. He gives me strength and challenges me to be my best. I always endeavor to treat him with kindness, respect, and love. On this National Husband Appreciation Day (always the 3rd Saturday in April), I am proud to keep reminding him of how deeply he is appreciated, too. I am an especially grateful person. Thank you!
“Whether we are happy or sad, grateful or resentful, positive or negative, we are equally precious and deserving.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin
Encouragement: How to Be and Find the Best, 2019
(Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf)
Because April is National Humor Month, this is a perfect time to pause to recall and/or share something that gave you that moment of laugh-out-loud joy or a little chuckle when you needed it.
(Our pets’ antics typically manage to have that effect on me.) If you have not seen the 90-second video from London a couple of years ago of the tiny dachshund that loves big sticks, it is sooooo worth checking out. If you love animals, it’s worth watching again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ggh6KFBIMo
Enjoy a moment of laughter!
April 13th is the birthday of Poughkeepsie, New York Architect Alfred Mosher Butts (1899-1993), inventor of the Scrabble game in 1931. Originally called “Criss Cross,” he based it on both the crossword puzzle and anagrams.
In 1948, the game was renamed “Scrabble.” Both Mattel and Hasbro hold the trademarks, depending on whether the game is in North America or Europe. It is said that one-third of homes in the USA have a Scrabble game, along with half the homes in Great Britain.
Oh, and if you want a wildly insane score, theoretically, oxyphenbutazone will deliver a cool 1,778 points if connected to certain other words. Unlikely? Impossible? Okay… you are more apt to hit the highest scoring 7-letter word: muzjiks.
Me? I’ll settle for any word where I can use a “q.”
Ahhhhh…. Crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside! (Add a rustic tomato-basil soup or onion soup on the side for dipping perfection!)
My fave way to get the exterior crispy perfection is to spread the outside of the bread with mayonnaise before placing the sandwich in the butter melted in the skillet. (Try it. You’ll be hooked.) The ingredients? Well, we all have our preferences. Choose your bread type, cheese or cheeses, mayonnaise or other dressing, and whatever optional seasoning you like. Then add or don’t add other layers.
In my college years, my favorite breakfast was a basic grilled cheese with added tomato slices and bacon. Then I started adding thin slices of sweet bell pepper, followed by a sprinkling of dry onion soup mix. Hubby Sir Ronald’s choice is adding a fried egg and catsup. He also loves it when I grill up a ham & cheese sandwich with a nice country or Dijon mustard.
Let them evolve to satisfy your day’s whims and fancy! Perhaps a pimento cheese BLT… or luscious lump crabmeat and gruyere. One of my favorites since childhood what something Mom made… open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches. Top them with thick slices of buttery muenster cheese and a sprinkle of your favorite herbs.
Ummm… I think I need to go make a grilled cheese sandwich NOW!
(Open-faced, grilled gruyere sandwiches with onion soup photo by Dana DeVok.)
“Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail.”
-Richard Samet “Kinky” Friedman (1944 – )
American singer, songwriter, and humorist
Notable Quotables, Cathy Chats, Daily Thoughts, recipes, books, audiobooks, and all my articles can be found at www.GoodLiving123.com, where I strive to share information that helps make Good Living as easy as 1-2-3.
Yikes! 57 years ago, several of my classmates and I from Mrs. Russell’s 5th grade English class hit the local news for our “budding” poetic endeavors. David Kehas, Sandra Robinson Zimmerman, (Bonnie) Barbara Mace, and Rob Lamy (misspelled in article.) So, we were 10.
Who knows what authors, journalists, playwrights, and poets are mere youngsters today!?! Let’s give them a word of encouragement!
Write on!
“We may have a firm grasp on the obvious, but the crystal clear can still appear cloudy.”
— Cathy Burnham Martin
American author, voiceover artist & dedicated foodie
(Photo by Al Quino)
Though we’d like to think we maintain some level of awareness throughout the year, April is officially Keep America Beautiful Month. If you drive in urban areas, especially, we know it’s appalling to see the huge amount of litter along the sides of the highways and city streets. Even in the country, hubby and are surprised at how much we gather every couple of months along the road where we live. So, this is the month for us to pay some extra attention to recycling and our shared responsibility to do what we can to keep clean, beautiful spaces in our little corners of the world.
“People who drop litter really stress me out. I have been known to chase after people and say, ‘Sorry, but you’ve forgotten something,’ and then hand it back to them.”
— Ainsley Harriott (1957 – )
English chef
(Photo by Jasmin Sessler)
“Calm self-confidence is as far from conceit as the desire to earn a decent living is remote from greed.”
— Channing Pollock (1926 – 2006), American Magician
Catch all Cathy Chats, Daily Thoughts, recipes, books, audiobooks, and all my articles on my LinkedIn or Facebook page or here at www.GoodLiving123.com, where I strive to share information that helps make Good Living as easy as 1-2-3.
(Photo by Aleksey Kuprikov)
We need not look very far to see people who are suffering, even in times when war and violence are not front-and-center. On any given day, millions of people experience living horrors of various sorts.
The first Wednesday of April is set aside each year as an official Day of Hope. May this be a day of inspiration and motivation for us all to recognize, respect, and even rescue children and adults who are passing through phases of abuse, sickness, and other traumatic experiences.
“Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive.”
— Rev. Jesse L. Jackson (1941 – )
American political activist and Baptist minister
(Photo by Dmitry Ratushny)
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.”
— Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
American jazz singer
Celebrate JAM! Not the fruity spread, but the Jazz Appreciation Month kind. From early Miles Davis to Louis Armstrong, the founding father of jazz, April is officially the month to honor one of America’s iconic art forms. I was blessed on one special night to share a dressing room with the First Lady of Song herself. Yes, Ella Fitzgerald. I was merely the emcee, and she was the headliner for a fundraiser put together by Robert Parrish of Boston Celtics fame. There was only one backstage space for women at this event, and she could not have been more gracious or kind to me. The honor was all mine. For National Jazz Appreciation Month, I recall the old adage – “Talent borrows; genius steals.” Ella rightfully stole every show.
(Photo by Nicole Bauer)
“Throughout the bleakest circumstances, we can find strength in our togetherness, even when just in spirit.”
— Cathy Burnham Martin
American author, voiceover artist & dedicated foodie
(Photo by Gary Butterfield)
Maya Angelou recognized that we all dance different dances, speak different languages, think different thoughts, fancy different flavors…. And this should be celebrated, rather than discouraged. On this day, if we cannot “find” a rainbow, we should try to “be” a rainbow. Hope provides an eternal dance.
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
— Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014)
American poet, author, and civil rights activist
Cathy Chats, Daily Thoughts, recipes, books, audiobooks, and all my articles can be found here at www.GoodLiving123.com, where I strive to share information that helps make Good Living as easy as 1-2-3 or on other social media sites including Facebook and Linkedin.
(Photo by Julia Gadalina)
Stress can be positive and negative, but it’s the negative that drains us without mercy. Like it or not (“not” wins), we typically have more stress in our lives than we need, and we certainly do not need the people around us to ADD to our stress levels. Nor do WE want to add to anyone else’s.
“Whether we know it or choose to admit it, we are either an Encourager or a Discourager. We each make a choice as to which type we will be… every day. Discouragers bring “stresspools.”
I call any of those places that add unnecessary stress and aggravation “stresspools.” They are just as stinky and rotten as cesspools, but “stresspools” wreak of tension, strain, anxiety, worry, hassle, pressure, and emotional trauma.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin, The Bimbo Has Brains: And Other Freaky Facts (2017)
(Photo by Nikko Makaspac)
Incredible Edibles happen to be a favorite of mine. And Edible Book Day is no April Fool’s Day joke.
The French gourmet, Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (born on April 1, 1755) wrote “The Physiology of Taste” (1825), which became the gastronome’s bible. And now, foodies from all around the world celebrate with an annual event dedicated to cleverly designed edibles that celebrate books! Thanks to Judith Holmberg, cofounder of Forbes Library in North Hampton, for bringing this crazy annual event to life in 2000.
This doesn’t mean we need to eat some, literally non-edible book, but we could take a big chomp out of that stack to “to-be-read” books. Or dig into making that recipe you’ve been salivating over for a while.
Special thanks to the New Orleans Museum of Art for the photo… “To Kill a Mockingbird” turned into the edible edition… “Tequila Mockingbird.”
“If life gets too hard to stand, kneel.”
— Gordon B. Hinkley (1910-2008)
American religious leader
Let’s go!
Covid lockdowns and subsequent fears of spreading infection encouraged most of us to learn to get more comfortable in our own skin… in our own homes… in our own space. Many positive outcomes grew…. From folks learning to cook to parents getting to be home with young children. In many cases, we still cannot go out freely and enjoy life the way it used to be, although we hope this is not “the new normal.”
However, since this is National Virtual Vacation Day, it’s a perfect time to take a few minutes of self-care and travel. Seriously. It matters little where you might be, create the perfect vacation in your mind.
There is no hate… no war… no danger. The weather is perfect… There are no travel delays… the food is fantabulous. Your companions are anyone you want… past or present or future… or go solo.
Travel to wherever makes your heart sing or feel at peace or bloom with inspiration. Perhaps palm trees sway in a gentle breeze… Maybe magnificent mountains loom just ahead… or some safari sights soar in a welcoming wildlife park.
Just go there in your mind because you can. Imagine the flavors and textures of the delectable foods you are enjoying. Savor all the sights, smells, and sounds in your chosen locale.
Plus, your virtual vacation requires no masks, no vaccinations, and no Covid passport. Best of all is the price tag: FREE! We’ll look forward to seeing your smile when you return.
Oh… for me personally, I was torn. Should I return to… ? Or perhaps….? Wait! This is virtual travel. We can choose them all! So, for this one, I opted for Italy. Specifically, Portofino… dining under the canopy at the harbor’s edge. Yummmmmm…. Melt in my mouth, paper-thin fresh pasta.
(Photo by Nick Fewings)
When I was a child, I did not understand war. As a senior citizen, I wish I did not understand war. When working as a television journalist, I recall feeling greatly humbled and honored to meet and interview our State’s eldest doughboy… from World War I. Over the years I have known many veterans of too many wars.
Whether or not we have understood the particulars of why our nations’ leaders march our young people off to war, we do understand the sacrifice made by everyone involved… and their families. In these days of political uncertainty… international unrest… and warmongering beyond our comprehension, it is timely to recognize all who have served our nation.
Today is National Vietnam War Veteran’s Day. These veterans are my peers. Our peers. Our friends and family. They served… out of a sense of duty. They sacrificed for the love of our country… for the love of freedom and family. It sounds so simple… so small, but I mean it will deepest sincerity… “Thank you.” A gazillion times over.
“Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”
— Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
American military leader
Yes, March 28th truly is Respect Your Cat Cay. So, go ahead… spend a little quality time with your favorite feline. They’ll love it! They’ll play. They’ll get bored. They’ll take a catnap.
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are God.”
– Christopher E. Hitchens (1949 – 2011)
British-American author, journalist, and columnist
“We choose to be optimists or pessimists. Pessimists may be right sometimes, but so are optimists. Optimists are happier and have more fun. Choose wisely.”
— Cathy Burnham Martin – American author, voiceover artist & dedicated foodie
(Photo by Susan Q. Yin)
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. There will always be people seeking to take away freedom, and they must always be resisted.”
— Tom Ellis, Partner at Ai Law in Liverpool, UK in 2021
(Photo by Pete Linforth)
As a dedicated fan of the delectably tender, sweet cold water lobster, how could I possibly not share a favorite lobster recipe (first published in my 2012 book) with you on National Lobster Newburg Day? Here it is… straight out of my first full-color cookbook, “Lobacious Lobster” from 2017.
This is one of the most wonderful ways to present a splashy-looking and tasting entrée without all the “fuss.”
¼ c butter
2 T flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp paprika (& a dash of cayenne pepper, optional)
2 T dry sherry (you can substitute dry white wine)
2 lg egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 and ½ c light cream
2 c (about 1 lb) cooked lobster meat, cut in ½ – 1” pieces
In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt the butter; stir in flour. Then stir in salt, paprika & sherry, followed by lobster. In a small bowl, combine yolks and cream. Stir a couple of spoonfuls of the hot butter mixture into the cream mixture; then gradually stir the entire cream mixture into the butter mixture in the top of the double boiler. Continue to cook over the lowest heat over the hot simmering water just until thickened, stirring often. Stir in the lobster and let cook 1-2 more minutes, just to heat the lobster through. Serve on its own, over crispy toast points or puff pastry patty shells, or in a crusty bread bowl. Makes 4 appetizers or 2 entrée servings.
KISS Tip: Do NOT overcook this or any other lobster dish or you will get tough lobster.
KISS Variation: For One-Bite Newburgs spoon the hot filling into pre-made miniature phyllo pastry cups and serve with a touch of freshly chopped parsley on top. Mini pastry cups can typically be found in boxes of 15 in a supermarket frozen food section.
“As for courage and will — we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.”
— Andre Alice Norton (1912 – 2005)
American science fiction and fantasy writer
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” 
– Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz (1922 – 2000)
American cartoonist; creator of comic strip “Peanuts”
Cathy Chats, Daily Thoughts, recipes, books, audiobooks, and all my articles can be found at www.GoodLiving123.com, where I strive to share information that helps make Good Living as easy as 1-2-3.
I read a cartoon once that said something like, “Job satisfaction comes from doing what you enjoy… without the boss finding out.”
Wayyyy better when we can love our work! As my hubby often says to me, “That’s not work. You like it!” (We call such statements from him “Ronnerisms.”)
Today, however, may goofing off be among your goals attained!
(Photo by Holger Langmaier)
“We all fare better when we can balance freely expressing and quietly listening.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin, Encouragement: How to Be and Find the Best
(Image by Jeremy Bishop)
Because this is Harmony Day, I also love Nature’s harmony. The little video shows our weeping cherry tree, literally swarming with all varieties of bees, as they celebrate the return of Nature’s sweet nectars. I love seeing the bees and butterflies busily doing their work, which pollinates so many other treasures!
When our precious little Maltipoo published “A Dangerous Book for Dogs: Train Your Humans with the Bandit Method” in 2016, he warned his fellow pooch pals to not let the book fall into human hands. He made one important exception, however, for this special bonus chapter. We’re pleased to keep paying it forward during National Animal Poison Prevention Week, but we’ll also keep it on the GoodLiving123.com website indefinitely. Enjoy the read… in the words of our Furrrever Friend, Bandit.
FOOD & TREAT SAFETY
We’re not talking about overspending here; this is about teaching your humans to save your life! Probably most of us have been guilty of eating the wrong things, but we also must teach our humans not to offer some items to their favorite furry beasts… EVEN WHEN WE BEG MOST ADORABLY. They think they are giving us a treat, but they are likely giving us a tummy ache, at the very least. So, go ahead and tear out these pages. This Extra Treat of vital information should be left somewhere where your humans will see it.
Damage caused by some items, such as onions, is cumulative. So, a little in last night’s table scraps might not be such a big deal, right? Wrong. Because there may be a little more evilness than they realized… in the form of onion powder, or raw scraps while onions were being chopped, etc.
Keeping us safe and healthy is one of the most important ways that our humans show they love us! We show them love ALL the time.
I’ve seen many lists, but with lots of differences from list to list. I am one who’d rather be safe than sorry. So, here is an accumulated listing, gathered from my knowledge gained from my trusted veterinary staff at the Bedford Animal Hospital, and the following websites:
www.webMD.com
www.dogs.about.com
www.ASPCA.com
and the Pet Education site from www.DrsFosterSmith.com
There are many more sites, so I thought it might be helpful to compare lists. I learned a lot. For example, I’ve always had a great deal of confusion over which herbs, spices, and flavorings would be most important to avoid as pets. I had heard that cinnamon was bad, but it turns out that in small amounts it is just fine, along with other more traditional things like sage and mint. Nutmeg, on the other hand, is considered very bad… in any amount. That makes it extra important not to give us a human-type cookie or other sweet that could very well contain some ill-advised flavoring.
Most of us know that table scraps are a BIG no-no though we want them in a BIG yes-yes way. Our humans are trying to do their best, and they do not realize that they are NOT doing us a favor, nor are they “spoiling” us with such things as the extra fat they cut off the meat they just ate or a bite of buttery biscuit that they passed coyly under the table to our gleefully awaiting mouths. Healthy pets need healthy diets. Unhealthy is the only way to describe diets with too much fat, or sugar, or salt… for humans or us critters.
One bite may be no big deal to a human, but to a dog, especially a small dog, or a cat, that one bite is the size of a meal. It probably should be called “supersized.”
WebMD reported 100,000 cases of pet poisoning in the United States of America just last year. The ASPCA details a full 25% of emergency calls they received last year alone were because a pet had just gobbled up some human medication, frequently ibuprofen and acetaminophen. No matter what the medicine may be… human or pet… our humans need to keep them safely out of our reach.
Some items we critters may consume will cause varying symptoms and degrees of risk. These depend a lot on the quantity consumed, our individual size, and our personal constitution and sensitivity. Regardless, no one who loves their animals wants us to suffer indigestion, breathing difficulties, diarrhea, weakness, or vomiting, never mind kidney or liver damage, coma, or death.
So, let’s look at a basic list to share with your humans. This certainly does not contain every single item, but it does give you a strong starting point.
Human and Pet Medications
Chemical Poisons
Plants
I’d heard about this decades ago with regard to cats and some dangerous house plants such as Philodendron, but the list of items that are bad is quite lengthy and includes some common varieties:
Human Foods
Difficult to digest (causing vomiting, diarrhea, and other digestive upsets), though not poisonous:
There are several emergency numbers you may want to keep handy as help is available 24/7:
(These numbers/rates are effective as of 2016.)
ASPCA.org Poison Control Center 888-426-4435 ($65)
Pet Poison Helpline.com 855-764-7661 ($49)
National Animal Poison Control 800-548-2423 ($30)
Animal Poison Helpline.com 800-213-6680 ($39)
Kansas State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital
1-785-532-5679 (FREE)
While most of these lines charge fees, in an emergency, these may seem like a pretty small price to pay to keep from poisoning us. Humans should also find out where the 24-hour veterinary service providers are in their local area. Get your humans to keep those numbers on the same list.
“I like to laugh at myself.
It frees me from any pesky expectations or delusions of grandeur.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin, Author
“Encouragement: How to Be and Find the Best,” 2019
(Image by Sarah Richter)
“A faithful friend is the medicine of life.”
–Apocrypha: The Book of Ecclesiasticus 6:16
They say everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. All I know is we can all at least claim to have a bit of the blarney in us. Thank you, friends. Love, peace, good health, and calmness are in my daily prayers. Enjoy the day with this Irish Toast:
“There are good ships and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they ever be.”
(Photo by Claudia Welleson)
“Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes.”
— Charles Prestwich Scott (1846-1932)
British newspaper editor
Also published in Cathy Burnham Martin’s “A Healthier You” (2005) and “Healthy Thinking Habits” (2015)
(Photo by Denis Doukhan)
“The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.”
— Hubert H. Humphrey (1911 – 1978)
American pharmacist & politician
38th vice president of the United States
“Government bailouts are like potato chips. They can’t stop with just one.”
— Thomas Sowell (1930 – )
American economist, social theorist, and political philosopher