Remembering First Grade
In 1961 I entered first grade. I don’t remember how the class got divided into groups, but I do remember where I landed. I was in the “Blue Bird” group. It didn’t take us Blue Birds long to figure out that we were not the brightest bulbs in the class. The fact was, none of us could read.
Our teacher was Mrs. Ashby. She would call each group of birds to the reading circle to practice reading.
Red Birds, or those that could read quite well, were her favorites, and were always called up first.
Yellow Birds, those that could read but might struggle with a few words from Dick and Sally were called up second.
Green Birds were third.
Blue Birds were dead last. We knew who we were and she knew who we were. I still can hear her calling us to the circle – not with disdain, but with pity and sadness in her voice.
Moving On
When we arrived in Portugal, Mike took great pride in telling me what the temperature was in Celsius. He spent one morning working out the math equation to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, and back. (You may begin to understand why our kids called him a “number nerd”.) He even converted his iPhone weather app to Celsius.
Quite frankly, he started pissing me off. I would say, “What’s the temperature?” He would yell, “21!”…and giggle.
What the hell did this mean to me? I just wanted to know if I needed a sweater. (I guess I needed to ask a better question.)
I knew I was not going to carry around a calculator to just figure out temperatures, so I needed a simple fix. A Blue Bird fix. So I began a little research.
Converting Celsius to Fahrenheit is only a problem for a very small percentage of the world’s population. There are only a handful of countries, the US being the largest, that continue to exclusively use the Fahrenheit scale. Most of the world, Portugal included, uses the metric system and measure their temperatures in degrees Celsius. A few countries use both, but their citizens are probably constantly confused.
About the only things measured using the metric system in the US are big bottles of soft drinks and most bottles of wine.
Two Easy Conversions
To get an approximate temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit is really quite simple. Let’s say you’re watching CNN and they tell you it is 15ºC in Paris. Instead of shouting at the TV, “Tell me in language I will understand!”, you just need to do the following:
Multiply the degrees Celsius by 2, then add 30, like so:
(15ºC x 2) + 30 = 60ºF.
Not exact, but Easy Peasy.
The problem with this is you have to do the math to understand the temperature.
It’s like learning a new word in a new language. The Portuguese word for butterfly is borboleta. You see a butterfly and then you have to search (convert) for the right word in Portuguese. It doesn’t come naturally until you’ve used it over and over again.
So let me give you a Blue Bird’s guide to Celsius* that doesn’t require you to do all that pesky math.
- Anything under 10ºC: Move! It’s too cold.
- In the low 20’s: A great day. Anything is possible. Take a run or a walk.
- In the mid 20’s: It’s still pretty nice, but look for some shade. Drink some water.
- In the high 20’s: It’s hot! Don’t exert yourself. Drink plenty of water.
- Anything above the 20’s: It’s hot as HELL! Move to Finland.
Take That, Mike!
So there you have it. I hope you learned a new skill and discovered that I’m not just another pretty face. I’m a Blue Bird. And damned proud of it!
What complex problem have you made simple lately? Leave us a note in the comments below or send one via the Contact Form. Your feedback makes us as happy as Blue Birds!
All our best / Todos os nossos melhores,
Mary
The Cook
* A footnote: Mary saw the basics of this list in a Facebook post the other day. She has been unable to find it again to give proper credit to the author. Her recollection is probably somewhat different than the original, but is true in spirit. If you are the fellow Blue Bird who wrote the post, please let us know and we’ll update the list with proper attribution.
You rock! Apparently I’m a math blue bird?
This is my favorite! Don’t get me wrong, I also love when Mike writes and all the recipes that you’ve made. BUT I can relate to this post 100%. I follow a lot of weight lifters who lift on the European circuit. They don’t lift lbs, but kilos! I had to come up with a similar Blue Bird conversion to understand just how much weight was being thrown around.
Thanks for a laugh!
Hey Jennifer, it is so good to hear from you. We all need a bit of help when trying to learn a new skill – especially when we are over the age of 20. I hope the note finds you and your family safe and well. One day I’mgoing to do a Blue Bird’s look at the Portuguese language. It won’t be near as simple. Take care.
Mary, this was great — fun to read and I THINK I (finally) learned how to convert celsius/fahrenheit! Long live the blue birds!
So sweet Karen. I’m so glad you liked it. I hope all is going well with you and Jeff. Stay safe my friend.
You are singing my song!!!! I love this and my husband (AKA The White Haired Man) is exactly the same way!! Insert eye roll here!! Thank you for your humor.
Hey Sarah, I’m glad you enjoyed it. We blue birds have to stick together. Without us how would those Red Birds know how smart they are :-).
Great post, little Blue Bird! ? It makes me think of your darling bird-themed guest room at the farm with the lovely bird-print comforter. (Bet you didn’t know I was that observant, did you? ?) The Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion always confounds me, so I appreciate that handy tip. I love the sound of those low-20s temps…perfect!!! ??
Carol, I’m so impressed that you remember the guest room back at the farm. I did love that little room. I tried to attract blue birds to the farm, but they didn’t seem to want to come. A couple of winters ago they came in groups of two. I think we had six in total. The little fat one at the end of this post was one of our visitors.
Haha! I think I’m the bluebird of the Portuguese language.
Shay, You are not alone! We could form a local group called “pássaros azuis” as mutual support for all of us challenged by Portuguese.
Shay, we took our Boston Terrier to the local vet yesterday. She likes to challenge me on my new Portuguese language skills. I showed her a TicTok video on how the letter “S” is pronounced (don’t even try), but I really impressed her with my knowledge of my colors. She told me that the Portuguese people use dirty words scattered in there daily dialog. I really wanted to hear the cuss words, but she wouldn’t play. Keep on learning.
Mary, you ole Blue Bird. Thanks for the explaination. BTW, it looks gorgous out there today. Our Sales Administrator is in Portugal this week visiting her parents. They moved back to Portugal to retire. She was on our Team calls this morning and showed us around with her laptop. Pretty cool.
Take care you two
John, I’m glad you got to see a little bit of our new golden world. Now come and visit.
Blue Birds!!
I love it!!!!
Thanks Laurie. It was a fun write. It helps to have an excellent editor.
Hahaha!!
Best post ever! Mary, you are a treasure. Just thinking there may be a book in you, friend…A Blue Bird’s Guide to Life, or something of the sort, with all you really and truly need to know about everything.
Enjoy this good day and take care!
Nan
Thanks Nan. Ohh, the idea of a “Blue Bird’s Guide to Life” is such a fun idea. If that comes to fruition I’ll dedicate the book to you. Missing you my friend.
Thanks for the lesson. I could have used that 2 years ago when we were in Sweden. Luckily we were with Earl’s cousins for a couple of weeks that live there. They would tell us all conversions. It helped when I made an “American” dinner for them. LOL. Keep enjoying everything.
HAHAHA. Alice, there will have to be another post on how I learned to cook in a European kitchen. I’m glad you had people around you to help with the conversions.
Yay Bluebirds!! Thanks for the great tip Mary!! That does make it easy peasy!!
Knowing you Richard I bet you knew how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius when you were six.
Best post yet!!!! Not only because I was also a Blue Bird. Very funny and educational.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. It helps to have a good editor. I just learned a new fun fact about you – I would have never believed you were a Blue Bird. I always thought that we Blue Birds struggled a bit in life, but when it came to common sense we got that in spades.