Happy Groundhog’s Day as One Blog Leaks into Another
We haven’t really had a winter yet so at dawn, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it won’t be surprising to hear there’ll be 6 more weeks of winter. I heard that Punxsutawney schools are closed on February 2nd for Groundhog’s Day. It’s a great holiday to celebrate. No gifts. Thursday night I will serve Groundhog Chicken from the NYTimes, late 1980′s recipe which is browned chicken in orange sauce with ginger, cinnamon, Tabasco and slivered almonds served with CousCous and some garlic green beans. I own cooky cutters in the shapes of Groundhogs, a large and a small, but did not make time to roll dough and cut out cookies to bake.
If you want to watch the Groundhog News or see the Live Webcast, click HERE and if I get a chance I will update what the furry prognosticator declares. UPDATE at 7:20 AM Phil the Groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter!!
There is such a wonderful Chicago tour written by Chicago John on the Cardboardmetravels blog that I am not going to bump it off the other blog with today’s groundhog photo. You have read many of his comments on my blog and you may have clicked on his link from the Bartolini Kitchens to read his stories of childhood memory and the preparation of heirloom Italian recipes.
In 1990, three years before Groudhog Day (Bill Murray movie) hit the theaters and everyone had heard about Phil the Groundhog in Punxsutawney, my sister flew out from NYC to Pittsburgh. In the middle of a foggy night, we drove to Punxsutawney for the event. Mary wrote postcards and mailed them so they would have the February 2nd postmark from Punxsutawney. We had a fun day although it was freezing in the woods and all felt a bit strange. You’ve seen Nativity scenes and Santa in yards at Christmas? Well, the residents have GROUNDHOGS on their lawns. Big wooden cutout groundhogs. We experienced the occasion and I guess it could have been something on a bucket list if we had one. Visit Gobbler’s Knob at least once in your life!
So a single post for Groundhog’s Day and here is my Groundhog Folkmanis Puppet holding the original Flat Ruthie in the backyard after school and I will take some license and say he is looking for his shadow? Only problem is the time of day.
Not screaming like Fay Wray did with King Kong
The Top Ten Hit Upon in 2011
As I look at the yearly summary, I found that only four of the most hit upon posts out of the top ten were actually posted in 2011. I am not sure what this means except there are a lot of searches for disco balls, burnt almond torte, furry convention and city rooftops at night.
1. Wordpress sent out a report on my 2011 year in Blogging and my top post of the year was the one I posted for my son’s birthday. He’s a grown up man, married with four children of his own(see Zoo Lights post if you didn’t already) but when he was a little boy he had a wish that remained unfilled until last May. I can tell by his expression how surprised and delighted he was when he opened his gift. Sometimes parents can’t realize how important certain things are to a child and I certainly felt bad when I would hear occasionally how he ALWAYS wanted this Millennium Falcon but didn’t get it, usually when he and his brother were together and they reminisced about growing up.
If you want to read the rest of the story click here
Thanks to Phil, who owns Where The Toys Are Canonsburg PA! 
2. The second most viewed post this year is those furries that show up every year for a big furry convention in Pittsburgh. I just happened to stumble upon them when I was going to a gallery in a downtown hotel. This post was first posted in 2010 and yet it gets hits every week.
3. And the disco ball image. Go figure. Almost EVERY day someone hits on this disco ball/mirror ball reflection. I shot it at wedding (the couple now has a darling baby girl) and it looks retro but is not. Here is that image. Should I be concerned that some of my top hits are from different years than 2011? This is from 2009! Why do people search for “disco ball“?
4. And the next most popular every week is New York City Rooftops at Night.
This was posted in 2009 as well.
5. The Pug Guard Dog in a Shadyside store got linked and hit from Tina (Pug owner/lover) at Carrots ‘N’ Cake blog
6. Copy Cat Recipe for BurntAlmond Torte gets weekly hits and adds up to the 6th most hit upon for the year
7. The Bookshelf (most controversial on reddit.com) single most hit upon in one day over 18,000 hits!!!
8. And the Tenth Street Bridge lit up at night for the Tom Cruise Movie
9. The ninth most hit upon post in 2011 is a tribute to my cousin Lori Lynn Baur Meli. She touched a lot of lives as her name still comes up in searches. She fought a valiant battle with breast cancer. Her husband Fredi just became an American citizen recently.
10. The tenth most hit upon post from this year was
Open Letter to Shiny Buick Man
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