Monthly Archives: September 2024

Celebrating Fifty Years

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The popular tv show Little House on the Prairie premiered on this day fifty years ago. I fell down a rabbit hole several months ago and developed what some might call a mild obsession with this show. It all started because my Roku tv recommended their new Little House on the Prairie Channel which airs the show in sequence 24 hours a day. 

I didn’t even consider tuning in for the first several days. Then, one afternoon, I flipped over for a little nostalgia and literally never left. From sometime in late winter until just a few weeks ago, if my tv was on, it was probably on the Little House Channel. Sometimes it was just for noise in the house while I was doing other things. I’m not very good at just sitting down and watching tv but I noticed that I was more apt to sit for this show than for anything else available to me. 

Then I began googling the actors, read a couple of the books and started noticing Little House connections all around. I think this all was a result of decision fatigue. I never had to scroll through thousands of viewing options because Little House was on. Little House is ALWAYS on!

Life in fictional Walnut Grove was appealing because the people and the town had everything they needed without too many distractions from the outside world. The arrival of the telephone in their sleepy village was a source of trouble. There was no internet and there was a sense of scarcity that made every possession seem much more valuable to most residents. Mrs Olsen and her terrible daughter Nellie were fabulous villains (or at least very realistic prairie era mean girls) but they nearly always got what they had coming to them so that made it better.

We value very little in our disposable 21st century society. We throw away rather than fix everything from expensive gadgets to the people in our lives. Walnut Grove was a refreshing break from that. It’s also a nice break from the constant bickering over the handful of social issues designed by politicians to keep us all divided.

It’s important to note that life wasn’t so simple back in 1974 when this show debuted.  Post Vietnam America was a stark contrast from the late 19th century setting of this show. This was the year President Richard Nixon resigned following the Watergate scandal, forever altering the lens through which we view our presidents. The Cold War and energy crises raged on as Patty Hearst dominated the headlines. 

By September 11, 1974, America needed a sickeningly sweet throwback to simpler days when right and wrong were easy to distinguish and when all the world’s problems could be solved in under an hour. 

The popular NBC program was made possible by television producer and former NBC executive Ed Friendly. He acquired the film and television rights to the popular Laura Ingalls Wilder book series and hired television legend Michael Landon to direct the pilot and play Charles Ingalls. 

That pilot was a two hour tv movie that aired on March 30, 1974. The regular series premiered on September 11. 

I was very small when the show went off the air so I really only know the show from syndication. Yet it has always felt like comfort food to me. It’s the tv equivalent of a plate of steaming hot mashed potatoes, green beans from the garden and a buttery biscuit. 

At this point, I believe I have seen every episode at least once so that’s 204 regular shows and four specials. I haven’t felt the urge to even check which episode is on since before the Philadelphia trip and I’m quite pleased that I have gone cold turkey. 

Of course, I’m not watching much of anything else either. TV news is detrimental to my mental health (And yours too. Turn it off, please and read some better journalism.) and there’s very little that seems worth my time. The television landscape is cluttered with reality shows that are totally disconnected from reality, with drama and horror, with so much news that’s written to inflame and with comedy that doesn’t really make you laugh. 

Aren’t we all ready for something that warms the heart and that gives us a break from reality? I know I am. Maybe give Little House a try. They played fast and loose with some of the actual history but many of the stories still hold up today.

Who knows? The wholesomeness of it all may make you just a little bit happier. As rabbit holes go, this one is kind of rewarding!

Fun At The Benjamin Franklin Museum

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Whoever designed the Benjamin Franklin Museum has a great sense of humor and playful creativity not commonly found in history museums. It’s a fun place for all ages to visit and well worth the five bucks it costs to enter.

Franklin was a Renassiance Man through and through. He was a scientist, printer, writer, publisher, statesman, diplomat and political philosopher. He was curious about the world in ways that seem almost boundless and his contributions to society continue to be felt today. I read something describing him as an American polymath, a word I did not know. That’s Greek for someone who has learned much on different subjects.

They tell the story of his life and work through the lens of his character attributes and use an assortment of artifacts, computer animations and hands-on exhibits to do so. There’s a little squirrel named Skuggs who helps to tell the stories. You see, Franklin was fond of small creatures like squirrels, or skuggs, as they were called. 

It’s a fun museum with plenty to keep the kids engaged and lots of big ideas and some quality artifacts to keep the grownups interested too. Rather than try to recreate his home, the courtyard features a ghost house where his home once stood. There are markers on the ground for his well, ice house and privy. There are pretty flowers, trees and some images too. Plus, you can go in a print shop and witness pages being set and printed.

Franklin owned slaves early in life but eventually became an abolitionist. He studied electricity and invented all kinds of things we still use today including the lightning rod, flexible catheters, and drumroll please….. bifocals – a creation I don’t enjoy needing but will be forever indebted to him for giving us!

Franklin lived his life by Thirteen Virtues which you can read about here.

He was the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Paris, peace with Britan and the U.S. Constitution. He also founded Philadelphia’s first fire brigade. At the time, there were no fire hydrants so volunteers owned buckets and would stand in a line to relay buckets of water drawn from a neighborhood well to fill the tank of the fire engine. Look how far we have come since then! 

I’m especially fond of these virtues and can’t help but think we would be better off as a nation if more people (including myself) made even the teeniest effort to embrace them.

He became a vegetarian as a young man for reasons based on health, ethics and economy. This resounds with me as I’m pescatarian, trying to mostly eat vegetarian wiith only a few fish meals a week. He was a musician and composer too, doing his part to bring beauty to the world. 

Franklin believed in doing what he could to improve the world around him. In fact, he began each day by reflecting on a single question: “What good shall I do this day?” At the end of the day, he would return to this question by asking himself: “What good have I done today?” He thought about how he spent his time, whether he had done any good deeds or found ways to leave the world in better shape than he found it. 

What a better world we would have if we all went about looking for ways to to help. 

Meanwhile, if you’re in Philadelphia, I suggest you find your way to Old City to visit this museum. Learn all about that here.

While you’re there, stop by his grave at the Christ Church Cemetery. You can go inside for a small fee during their open hours. This fee helps with the massive responsibility of maintaining and preserving the history that lies at rest here. If you’re like me and couldn’t get there during hours, you can view Franklin’s grave from the sidewalk outside. They say leaving a penny on his grave will bring you good luck.

All of this is within easy walking distance of the LIberty Bell and loads of other historic sites.

What Does Make The Journey Fun Really Mean?

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The premise of this blog space is in the title: Make The Journey Fun.

That’s not to say that every day is fun or that it’s an adventure. That’s to say that we have a choice each day – enjoy it or don’t. However, life is much better when you make an effort to enjoy it. 

I live my life by a number of keys to happiness. One is that you should always have something to look forward to and another is that you have to make the best of where you are right now. Obviously, making the best of your circumstances isn’t easy if you’re sick, unemployed or facing the death of someone important to you. However, most of us aren’t spending our average days facing these circumstances. Instead, most of us are facing first world problems that make life harder like the neighbor is a jerk or something on the news bothered you. Why let these things ruin our day? It’s all just part of the journey.

It’s about 5:40 on Sunday night. The heat broke with the rain Friday and we have had a few cooler days. The windows are open and a cricket in a nearby butterfly bush has been serenading me all day. Homemade granola cools in the pan while Scout wanders from one window to the next, breathing the fresh September air. 

This day has gone far too quickly as Sundays often do. However, it has been a good one. I slept in and did some chores. I finished a book and selected the next. I finally made it through the stack of mail that has been accumulating on the counter and sketched out a new budget that still needs some work. A late afternoon shower left me feeling clean and refreshed. Laundry is done for the week and leftovers are stacked up in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

Life is pretty good.

This time last week I was adventuring through Philadelphia with a friend, soaking in history, art and stories from another time. Life was pretty good then too. 

You see?  Adventure makes life better. A quiet day at home makes life better too. Tomorrow takes me back to work. This is less thrilling but it’s a good job that allows me to have a life that I can enjoy. After work, I look forward to coming home to my cat to do a few chores and settle in with a book. 

Life can’t always be a fun adventure but it’s up to you to decide how good or fun the normal days will be. Not sure how to adjust your attitude? Start giving yourself something small to look forward to every day. Some candidates might be your first cup of morning coffee, a walk after work with a friend, a trip to the library, a pan of homemade (from the box, of course) brownies or a package you ordered from Etsy. 

These things can cost money or be free. They can be big or teeny tiny acts of kindness toward yourself. These are the things that make life better. These are the things that make the journey more enjoyable and these are the things that can even make the journey fun. Don’t believe me? Give it a whirl and see what happens.

Visiting The Liberty Bell

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Seeing the Liberty Bell in person has long been a bucket list item so I was grateful that we had a good experience visiting last Saturday. I wanted to go because it is incredibly symbolic in US history and rightfully so. In case you don’t remember from school, the Liberty Bell was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 to mark the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s Charter of Privileges. This is the bell that rang on July 8, 1776 to summon Philadelphia citizens for the public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

The bell is easily recognizable for its iconic crack and attracts millions of people each year. Today, it is available for public viewing in a nice building across the cobblestone street from its original location – the bell tower in the former Pennsylvania State House which we now call Independence Hall.

No living person knows exactly when the crack began and none have heard it ring with its clapper. The US Park Service says the crack likely formed in the 1840s and that local metal workers attempted to repair the bell in 1846. The repair attempt actually made the situation worse and a second crack formed, silencing the bell forever. 

These are the stories we are taught here in America. 

Ironically, 1846 was the same year that a Pennsylvania representative named David Wilmot proposed legislation meant to bar the expansion of slavery into lands acquired after the Mexican American War. The legislation failed and worsened North-South tensions around the same time the symbol for national liberty was irreversibly damaged. 

What we don’t consider is how the LIberty Bell is viewed by others. The NPS does a decent job of suggesting that it has meant different things to different groups of American people. A photo of Chief LIttle Bear with the Liberty Bell at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco tells a much different story than the narrative of freedom and liberty for all. This member of the Blackfeet Tribe stares at the camera with piercing eyes that suggest he didn’t care much for the American notion that segregation or assimilation that suppressed his people’s cultural practices were the only options for coexisting.

An iron collar and chains used to literally hold slaves in bondage tells another story as well. 

Social movements including Women’s Suffrage and Civil Rights embraced the Liberty Bell for protest and celebration, giving the bell increasingly profound meaning as groups that were not given freedoms by the founding fathers labored to claim what was rightfully theirs.

I found myself feeling some mixture of shame and pride for my country’s choices across the centuries and something akin to bittersweet as I began to drill down to the changing importance of this national symbol. 

Americans and people of many other nationalities were there that morning – some looked bored, others excited. Many seemed to just want an Instagram photo while others wanted to linger. But nothing prepared me for the amount of people from other countries and the excitement they held for being so close to the Liberty Bell. 

I overheard an elderly man who spoke good English with an Indian accent ask a question of a park ranger. He told the ranger that he had dreamed of seeing the Liberty Bell and could hardly believe he was there. I overheard a dad and young daughter speaking a language I did not recognize. He was pointing excitedly and she was smiling as he told her some story. I still wish I knew what they were saying. 

It made me wish more American families showed such interest in our own nation’s history. 

Our good experience was made possible by our being early risers and curious people who believe you can always sleep when you get home from a trip. We were in line right after they opened and it took just 2-3 minutes to get through security. From there, we took our time studying everything on display and waited for a couple of other parties to take their pictures before we got ours. 

This was a stark contrast to the line we saw later in the day. It extended well down the sidewalk and the view through the window showed a line of people simply streaming past the bell. In other words, go early to avoid the crowds and have a much richer experience. 

This was a good start to the day. From here, we went on to the Ben Franklin Museum, the Betsy Ross House, Christ Church and Independence Hall with numerous stops to look at other things along the way. It was a busy day and one I won’t soon forget. 

Keep coming back. There are more stories to tell!

Saturday Morning Light

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It’s a quiet early September Saturday morning. Last night’s rain cooled things down so we decided to postpone our hike to late morning. This gives me the chance to rest a while after a busy week at work preceded by several days of travel and adventure. 

Morning light streams through the windows. I’m curled up with a book and soft fall throw. It’s plaid and beautiful, soft and warm. The cat sits in the window watching the world go by as only a cat can do. He eventually relocates to a patch of warm light where he quietly bathes. I marvel at how quietly he can do that during the day and how noisy the slurping is at night when he’s sitting next to me. 

My most prominent worry today is how to dress for the hike on this cool morning. It has been so hot and dry for so long, I think I have forgotten how to function when the temperature dips. 

It’s going to be a beautiful day. Your responsibilities can wait. Go enjoy it, friends.

Mercantile Mural

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Philadelphia is an interesting city to walk for its architecture, pocket parks and art. There are sculptures and murals everywhere you look.

This mural called Mercantile Library was created in 2019 by Kala Hagopian of Hagopian Arts. It is at the location of the former Mercantile Library which existed at this site between 1952 and 1989.

Look closely and you’ll find the featured books were all published during the library’s operation and some of them are about Philadelphians.

The colors are spectacular and the people are life sized. It’s gorgeous and a book lover’s dream come true!

This mural is located at 1021 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Walk by if you’re in town!