Music Therapy, Crab Cakes and Rainbows

Thirty Days of Thanks

Eighteen: Thankful for Music Therapy

You can click on any of the titles to hear the song on  YouTube.

When I was a little girl my mom would play music every morning and dance around the house. I remember having chicken pox at five, whimpering around the living room where I was quarantined and she wanted to cheer me up so took out the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive" and got me to dance with her. She professionally grooved like Oliva Newton-John and I hopped around convinced that "Stayin Alive" was a song about Chicken Pox. Dancing in our house was a common occurrence. We might have been in PJ's and sweatshirts but sure felt like glamorous movie stars.

One of my favorite dancing episodes was around 2005 when I wanted to paint my bedroom electric blue (you do weird things in college) and enlisted the aid of my big brother. He came with a crazy smile, with his boombox ready to roll and a big stack of Madonna and Journey CD's. "Don't stop believing"  and "Like a Prayer" was played ad nauseam. I know the neighbors loved us for it. Whatever you do, don't listen to Don't Stop Believing when driving down a stretch of road on a sunny day. You will automatically speed, possibly fist pump (if in Jersey) and probably get a ticket.

"Don't stop believing! Hold on to that feeling! Street lights, people!"

Music is so healing for the soul. Granny loves listening to the music from the 30's at full volume. When I lived in Italy and was homesick all I had to do was listen to some American music and the homesickness would evaporate under the beats of Rihanna and the soulful tunes of Ella Fitzgerald. A little Debussy will take me a long way anytime I need to think. Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" was played each time I needed to write a term paper.

Even the kittens love music. I first noticed when they were tiny and I would play Bossa Nova, it made them calm! They like French singer Edith Piaf, the Dixie Chics, and El Gordo loves La Boheme.  However, they also like my singing and the hilarious thing is that they purr especially strong if I sing really old honky-tonk country songs.

These kitties need boots, a mini F-350 truck, and a guitar, must be pronounced "gi-tar".  So I leave you with five Old time Country Songs which Bentley and Fatty like for me to sing.

1. Patsy Cline, "Walking after Midnight"
2. Hank Williams, "Hey Good Lookin'"
3. Tanya Tucker "Delta Dawn"
4. George Strait "All my Exes Live in Texas" (I am sure Fatty has an ex in Texas)
5. *newer* Shania Twain "Whose Bed Have your paws Boots been under"

Nineteen: Scrumptious Maryland Crab Cakes!

Regional cooking is still alive and well in Maryland! When I lived in Italy, my Italian girlfriends would ask me, "Cosa si mangia negli Stati Uniti? Gli solite 'amburgers e patatine fritte?" (What do people eat in the US? The usual hamburgers and fried potatoes?) It was such a huge question to respond! Yes, we love our burgers and fries but each region has its own specialty. 

The biggest specialty of Maryland is the Blue Crab. There is crab chowder, crab red soup, crab cakes, crab pot pies, crab dip, baked peppers stuffed with crab, ceasar salad with crab,  pasta with a white wine crab sauce! The list goes on and on. Marylanders wait patiently through the hot  roasting summer months for late July and August to arrive when the crabs crawl to the shallow waters of the bay making them easy to catch. Around 10 years ago, Fatty and Bentley, original to Maryland, loved it when I would bring home a bucket of live crabs that I caught to steam at home. I loved going crabbing with my friends, getting a tan as I waited for the crabs to swim into my net and going home with a bucketful of cranky crabs for dinner. The cats loved watching the crabs swat around awaiting their destiny in my belly. 

My favorite place to go to for a thick crab cake sandwich is a little hokey kitchen where three sisters worked for over 40 years. The Crab Cakes are still 4 bucks, the sweet tea still fifty cents, the seating for a max of four people and  the people always glad to see you. When I was in high school we used to go after class to indulge in a crab cake with a side of deviled eggs. The cooks Miss Mary, Miss Ellie and Miss Effie reminded me of the fairy godmothers of Sleeping Beauty. I'm glad little homey places like this still exist and I am especially grateful for real Maryland crab cakes!

Twenty: Rainbows

Yesterday it rained and poured then rained some more. At one point in the soggy day the sun peaked through the clouds. Everyone near the Fresh Market grocery store stopped walking, the ladies coming out of LOFT with new clothes stopped and looked, my hairstylist paused with her scissors in the air and we all paused in our day lost in amazement looking at this: