Tracking the ham balls

So, some of you more faithful followers may remember my ham ball recipe. In that post, I was musing on its midwesterness. It seems, however, that it is really Iowan. Iowa is the place for pork. But recently, in reviewing some searches that have led some people to my site, there's been a couple of people searching for "Iowa ham balls." Fascinating. I hope they got the recipes I included. I am wondering if it's some people moved away from Iowa, fall coming on, they now start to get the hankering for ham balls. Cooking in the oven in the fall is a nice change of pace, and the secondary heat is nice for the house, no need to turn on the furnance just yet.

But it also leads me to believe more strongly that the ham ball was developed in Iowa. I think I will have to do some research into this. Of course, with all the free time I've got. You know, in between two full time jobs, soccer practice, soccer games, dance lessons, evening meetings, getting a chance to go out with the girls/boys (well grownups), FaceBooking, play dates, writing a book. You know, all that free time.

Forays into the blogosphere

So, I haven't really ventured very far into the blogosphere until just a few days ago; New Year's Day to be exact. Doing one of those viral random tag posts made me move a bit beyond my comfort level and exploration zone. A couple of days later, I was exploring Irish Gumbo in a little more leisurely manner, as he was kind enough to stop by my blog, after I so randomly tagged him. I then wandered into Lost and Found in India. Somehow, I also wandered into 70 Plus and Still Kicking, but I can't figure out how I got there, I think through Lost and Found in India.

And, lo and behold, they've bothered to wander by my little piece of the internet to actually say hey. So very nice. Irish Gumbo even put me in his blogroll, a nice reciprocal gesture, since I just placed him in my blog follower list. I would have never expected that these folks would have or make the time to come by and comment. It is a very nice, warm, glowy feeling. I know I'm being sappy, but since my audience has consisted mostly of my friends, sister, and mom until now, it is kind of interesting to have some folks from farther afield to stop by and see what I am or am not saying.

Mostly, I think I've branched out so far, because of Feet off the Table. I picked that one from the roll of blogs that were continuously shown as updating on Blogger's main page (I think they've gotten rid of that now) and Feet off the Table sounded interesting (nice title!). Then, I see the author is name Aliceson, which I immediately take a liking to, because the name Alice is near and dear to my heart. It also doesn't hurt she's a mom in my part of the midwest, which is kind of fun. We've been comparing snow days notes as of late (please, no more snow for a while), as well as Christmas cookies (or I've been comparing cookies, I think she's got me beat).

So, I guess I'm just saying thanks to everyone for sharing yourselves and for the entertainment. It broadens my world and let's me think about a lot of different things.

Here's to a fascinating 2009. Let's see where it takes us.

P.S. Yes, I should update the photo for the day.