coffee crisis

ok, so.....i shop in the same stores, and reach for the same products unless there is a compelling reason to choose otherwise.....minimal decision anxiety....on to the next task....until this morning, when i reached for my usual ground coffee (8'o'clock hazelnut)...a bargain with or without the shoppers card discount.....but my usual brand was not there.....its shelf tag was also gone.....seems it made way for additional varieties of starbucks or store brand.....i have been using this coffee for as long as i can remember.....at least 10 years and likely more.....and so i was forced to select a different brand of hazelnut coffee.....and i studied and i contemplated and while i was deep in thought a fellow holding a huge slab of raw ribs (shrink-wrapped, of course) asked me if i knew where he could find sauerkraut....... that i did know....and i suggested the bush's bavarian with caraway seeds......but back to the coffee.....i ended up going random with the non-starbucks flavors......just in case they were to blame for the disruption to my routine.....

still life....

ok, so my art lectures have reached northern european genre paintings, which include both landscapes and still lifes (still lives?)......i had forgotten just how much i enjoy the still life......especially those with the peeled lemon and the wine glass.....both indications that the artist is very skilled....the still life pictured is by Willem Kalf painted in 1653......possibly for a guild on commission, as the horn is a guild symbol.....

the christmas art lectures.....

ok, so i asked for a set of 24 art lectures on dvd that i saw advertised in the new yorker sometime in early december....as a christmas gift that would entertain me as i walk the treadmill.....as well as expand my limited knowledge of painting beyond the notion of 'liking only what i would hang in my own home'......we are up to the early 1600's....and thankfully we are moving slowly away from religious art and into heroic scenes and portraits and landscapes and even portriats with landscapes/still life elements.....i have a soft spot in my heart for the madonna and child paintings......not so much because of the subject matter, but because of how the subject matter is portrayed in such a range of interpretations......take for example, the scrawny baby Jesus...popular with both Italian and Northern European painters.....this baby is painted with scanty flesh on its bones and one wonders if the painter was unfamiliar with the story and had no idea the baby would survive to adulthood....and then there is the disproportionate head baby- either too small or too big for its body.....and the non-swaddled babies......didn't the painters catch the part about Jesus wrapped in clothes.....certainly nothing in the Gospels about the baby Jesus flashing his private parts on the cold winter night.....and then there are the Mary variations......Mary as a middle-aged woman, Mary as a child, Mary with a single breast positioned under her chin so the nursing infant can be shown in the center of the composition.....though Mary is usually in blue...bright blue (UK rather than North Carolina)there is nothing in the Gospels to suggest that she wore this color on the night that the baby was delivered...and why does Mary look so calm and thoughtful when she has clearly given birth to a difficult baby who neither sleeps nor smiles (or at least on canvas).....and then there is the fact that none of these mothers and babies look the least bit Middle-Eastern.....enough of this curmudgeon rant about early art.......I suppose that this has something to do with the treadmilling.....I have walked for a solid hour each of the last 11 days.....and I have yet to feel the first bit of endorphin uplift......11 hours of walking with no afterglo? what is up with that?....a new wave of artists might find this visage worthy of a portrait....endorphin-deprived middle-aged woman talking back to art lecturer during daily treadmill work-out.....

knitted hat pattern

ok, so i knitted three of these hats last week, using yarn from my late mother-in-law that i found in a drawer......

KNITTED MINNESOTA WINTER HAT by Beth
(Copyright 2001 Beth Koskie)
Materials:
Size 10.5 needles
Double strand worsted weight (or you can use bulky/chunky yarn)

Note: size given for men; ladies, teens and schoolage children give in ( ).

Start at lower edge:
Cast on 70 (66 – 62 – 58) stitches.
Row 1: Work in ribbing of k2, p2 across.
Row 2: Work in ribbing of p2, k2 across.
Repeat these two rows for pattern, for 12 (11 – 10 – 9) inches, ending on wrong side (row 2).

To shape crown:
Row 1: K2 tog, *p2, k2 tog, repeat from * across.
Row 2: P1, *k2 tog, p1, repeat from * across.
Row 3: K1, p1 across.
Row 4: P1, k1 across.
Row 5: K2tog, p2 tog across. Cut yarn, leaving approximately 15-20”; with yarn needles, draw yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight. Sew seam along side and turn right side out; fold “cuff” back.

dumbest passwords....

ok, so the twitter people have released a list of the 370 dumbest passwords.....so dumb that they will not allow new subscribers to use them.......my own twitter password made the list........which eithe rmeasn that i am not clever enough to come up with a 'stronger' password, or it means that simple is best for those of us who are getting a bit feeble.....

oh, come oh come thou mostly forgotten blog.....

ok, so......the purpose of this blog was to chronicle those details in my life that i would not want to forget....as well as interesting pictures and/or commentary on the day's events....and for the most part that is how things have turned out......but lately the details of my life are such that i would prefer to forget them.....i am still seeking the silver lining in all of this....

ok, so a friend sent his today....and rather than to pass it along to my emaillist, i am posting a copy to help me remember this sage advice.....

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm fourand a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life !You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling.. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN30, then you're PUSHING40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone...

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and make it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into ! your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3.Keep learning. ! Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio.. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And thedevil's family name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6... The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

wishing my life away.....

ok, so...i attended a publ;ic hearing on potential sewer service to a local community on monday night, helped with an h1n1 clinic at a school wednesday night, gave my last exam of the year on thursday night, and lived through another quarterly board meeting on friday.......board meetings have become problematic not because i have anything to hide, but because the headlines of late are about other groups who have gotten caught betraying public....and so i was especially pleased to drag opn into the house last evening.....ready to......start knitting a hat.....i got it into my head that i really needed to 'knit-up' the drawers of yarn i have in the upstairs guest room...mostly from my late mother-in-law.....and sadly mostly too itchy to make good hats....those skeins i will pass along to the goodwill when i have exhausted the hat-worthy materials.....i am ready to cast-off hat #1 already.....and then on to hat #2....i am using inherited needles, and i pattern i downloaded for free.....it is a minnesota tobaggan hat, for the record......i also made another batch of havarti/almond bites and pecan tarts...and and apple cobbler.....and graded the exams and posted the grades....and now i will go back to playing those wretchedly addictive facebook games until it is time to eat supper......more essential activities penciled in for sunday......all i haver to do is to make it through three days of work before i have 4 days off.....

ok, so...the final remarks from President Obama's Nobel speech

Let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. (Applause.)

Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he's outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

mamma's day out....

ok, so.....i left the house at 6:15am yesterday.... heading north......dropped child #2 at the n.ky. airport, then proceeded to the wyoming-area of cincinnati to visit my friend jan ein her assisted -living facility.....where we enjoyed mimosa's at 9:30 am.....drinking champagne is a tradition with jane and i.....and so we added the orange juice so as to not upset the staff......had lunch with my sister-in-law lisa at grand finale.....a lovely old home-restaurant conversion in glendale that specializes in crepes.....i ate there a few times in grad school so was pleased to find it still in business.....and then i turned back south....i had intended to shop my way home, but the cold rain started just after i left trader joes.....and i opted for the quickest way home rather than following my original goodwill/tuesday morning gameplan......for the record, there are at least 3 tm near to I71/75 and as many goodwill stores.....but they must wait for another day......i digress from my trader joe experience.....i have purchased vegetable sushi a lovely pastry tray for the 23rd birthday of child#2 on friday.....as well as numerous indian middle-eastern treats for his dining pleasure....and i decided too take advantage of the 10% off a case of random wines......sauvingon blanc and proseco mostly......today is our christmas brunch followed by the remainder of the day off.....i am considering using my time to take the wallpaper off of the upstairs bathroom.....not necessarily a christmas-related activity, but one that needs doing.....

havarti-almond nibbles

ok, so...i cannot find my recipe for my little baked cheese nibbles., so here is a new version:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups grated hot pepper havarti
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
dash or two of hot sauce
2 Tbsp. chopped almonds

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, combine butter and cheese. Mix together until well blended. Add flour, salt and almonds to butter mixture and mix until blended. Roll out dough on floured board; cut with half-moon cutter from Dehillerin. Bake crackers at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until very lightly browned around the edges. Remove to a wire rack and cool.

a house in town...

ok, so in my fitful dreams we bought a house 'in town'.....a flat town with large front yards in the downtown and lots of trees.......the house was in two parts......a front section with 2 rooms down and 2 up....then a vacant sort of area......then 2 rooms up and two rooms down right behind.....like a chunk had been taken out, or part of the house had caved in and the rubble removed.....and we had plans to reconnect the sections with an atrium......and i was planning to move furniture from my mother's attic into this 'townhouse'......where we would stay only occasionally.......mostly we would plant roses and fanciful boxwood knot gardens on the flat yard......what a strange thing to dream.......

mrs. weasley-style tennis outfit....

ok, so......not only did i sleep the night completely through til 7:15 am.....i managed to recall these many hours later several scenarios of incredible detail........one of being in a home in hyde park in cincinnati that i have only seen form the street but never entered.....that involved visiting my grad school room-mate and her extended family while i was in cincinnati for some errand......and my room-mates mother arrived home wearing tennis garb....and the outfit she was wearing was of the same kinda crazy-color knitted milieu that mrs weasley wears in the harry potter films...down to the bloomers under the tennis dress.....the crazy-color mother tells me that she will fix dinner as soon as she is done with her tennis match, i only i can locate the kabab skewers......as i have never before been in thsi home, i wander aimlessly through the rooms in search of skewers.....at some point my car has been stolen, but reappears in the neighbors driveway.....and an unidentified woman is taking her children to the dentist and needs help getting them in their coats.......such vibrant details to a nonsensical dream.....i AM driving to cincinnati early on tuesday on an airport run...and i DO plan on meeting a sister-in-law for lunch as well as shopping at the trader joes.......my ex-roommate DOES live in hyde park, just not in the home featured in my dream sequence.......dreams are so vary curious.......

damp pajamas

ok, so.....in my dreams i was carrying around a baby.....wearing a clean diaper but no undershirt and wearing pajamas damp from the diaper-change and cleanup.....i spent far too much dream time trying to locate undershirts and pajamas......not really pajamas but a one-piece zip-up longsleeved sleeper......no clue as to the baby's identity....could have been one of mine,,,,could have been random dream-seqence baby......at some point i stopped at a farm for coffee.....no clue how i managed to get to the farm carrying a damp baby.....or why i thought coffee would be available......bottom-line is that i am exhausted this morning and filled with the feeling that i failed the mystery baby.....

the decemberist.....

ok, so i like this time of year.....the preparations, both in terms of gift selection as well as the baking of goodies and the creation of greenery accents.....i like that i have some freebie time off coming up.....and that when i have to work most folks are in jovial moods.....and most folks in my family manage to make to most of the highlight holiday events......and i get around to making the charitable donations that i have been meaniong to make since last december, when i vowed that i would do better at supporting worthy causes.......ah, december...

too liberal.....

ok, so in my dreams i was explaining to someone why i could not support something or another...no recollection what it was...other than i turned and walked away from somebody with the dismissive...' i am far too liberal to support your position'.....hmmmm....that statement could include a multitude of positions......gay marriage, marriage of priests, wine sales less than 28 miles from home, full library access to all books in the collection, full coverage of undergarments.....i appreciated the front-page opinion in yesterday's lexheraldleader about banned books...... as well as the paper's coverage in general.....i have taught several x-rated Sunday school lessons this fall..... direct from the good book.....about lust, incest, rape, murder, covetousness...(the curious should look to the books of Kings and Chronicles)......those who desire to censor libraries must be careful not to shoot themselves in both feet, as their 'guidebook' contains themes worse than most soap operas....sadly most folks do not bother to look up or validate most of what they hear......which is why the far-right has such a gullible audience in these perilous days........

impromptu protester

ok so i laughed out loud at the audacity of this photo,........gotta love the impromptu protester....

a cold rain on cybermonday.....

ok, so.....i am bundled up in my new silky throw as i type.....the throw that i bought for this very purpose while i was out christmas shopping on saturday......i could have given it to someone else and casually taken over its use during the post christmas days and weeks......but i am cold now and i figure that honesty is the best policy when it comes to gift-giving......i have purchased items that are really for other people.....just not as many things as i found that i could not live without on my short weekend outing.....i may have to make use of this year's cybermonday to finish up my christmas purchasing, or at least research what is out there to be bought that loved ones cannot live without once they have opened the special gift on xmas morning.......or so the mamma-fantasy goes.....at least i have gone beyond the mamma-worry that i have not spent equally, or has not presented an equal number of wrapped gifts under the tree.....i would prefer to work out these parity issues all wrapped up in my cozy throw....but in order to pay for these purchases i must go to work....after 4 days off i can barely remember how to find my way back there.....and sadly my coworkers will be just as loathe to do actual work, so may be in equally foul moods......is it too early to wish it were friday?.......

the bathroom phone...

ok, so.....in one of many dream sequences i was in my cousin's bathroom in cleveland trying clean up the phone.....i say my cousin's bathroom, but i was my grandmother's house before it was my cousins, so i could be confused as to current ownership.....and i could also be confused about the phone, as there was never a phone in that room, let alone a white princess-style with a black handset.....and the white part was not the typical plastic of yester-year phones...it was more resinous and less glossy.....kinda like it could also double as a cutting board.....the phone had been used by someone likely digging in the garden, and i was spraying it with some sort of bathroom cleaner i found under the sink....in this dream i do not recall actually seeing my cousin, or my grandmother....and while i am certain there is some sort of explanation for why i would be in her(their) bathroom cleaning off the phone....i cannot imagine what it might be....

poems

ok, so...from billy collins

. Thanksgiving Morning

The crossed multiple blades of the blender
set out to dry on a counter.
The corkscrew unsheathed and ready
to enter whatever cannot resist its twisting.
The carving knife waiting alongside
the sharpener for its abrasive touch,

The blue box of matches, the white candles.
The branch of dry leaves brought in
Along with vines clustered with red and yellow berries,

All of which points to the anonymous turkey,
soon to be trussed with string
but now soaking on the cold porch
in a bucket of salted ice water,
in brine, as they like to say this time of year.

And we must not overlook the oven,
radiating in a corner of the kitchen
set at first at 500 degrees
then lowered almost mercifully to 350,
still hot enough to lift the bird
into the condition of sacrificial edibility,
yet short of what would incinerate a book,
the oven that swallowed the witch and Sylvia Plath
and now the oven of our pleasure,
our forks and glasses blindly raised.




2. The Gathering, a Thanksgiving Poem

Outside, the scene was right for the season,
heavy gray clouds and just enough wind
to blow down the last of the yellow leaves.

But the house was different that day,
so distant from the other houses,
like a planet inhabited by only a dozen people

with the same last name and the same nose
rotating slowly on its invisible axis.
Too bad you couldn't be there

but you were flying through space on your own asteroid
with your arm around an uncle.
You would have unwrapped your scarf

and thrown your coat on top of the pile
then lifted a glass of wine
as a tiny man ran across a screen with a ball.

You would have heard me
saying grace with my elbows on the tablecloth
as one of the twins threw a dinner roll across the room at the other.

happy thanksgiving...

ok, so we are spending our first t-day in years with child #2.....and our first in years with the collection of folks either from cincinnati, or who are driving there to be with this gathering of extended family.......happily, this is the sort of crowd that will re-live last saturday's football win over michigan, and maybe embellish each and every touchdown.....sometimes it is nice to be amongst those who bleed scarlet and gray rather than blue.....

creamed spinach- the recipe

ok, so this is among the dishes i am schlepping to cincinnati- from the smitten kitchen:

Creamed Spinach

Serves 6

2 pounds baby spinach or 2 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, tough stems discarded
1 3/4 cups heavy cream or whole milk, or a mix thereof
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced (optional)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Wash your spinach well but no need to spin or pat it dry. Place spinach in a large pot over high heat. Cook, covered, with just the water clinging to leaves, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 2 to 4 minutes for baby spinach and 4 to 6 minutes for regular spinach.

Press or squeeze out the excess liquid any number of ways, either by wringing it out in cheesecloth (my favorite method), putting it in a mesh strainer and pressing the moisture out with a spatula or large spoon or letting it cool long enough to grab small handfuls and squeezing them to remove as much water as possible. Coarsely chop the wrung-out spinach.

Wipe out large pot so you can use it again.

Heat milk or cream in a small saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until warm. Keep warm. Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic, if using, in butter in your wiped-out large pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about six minutes. Whisk in flour and cook roux, whisking, about three minutes. Add warm milk or cream in a slow stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, and simmer, whisking, until thickened, three to four minutes. Stir in nutmeg, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until heated through.

Do ahead: Creamed spinach can be made one day ahead and chilled, covered then reheated over moderately low heat until hot. However, it really tastes best eaten immediately.

creamed spinach

ok, so.....i have already made the cranberry sauce, have already purchased the sweet and sour red cabbage with bits of apple, and today i will prepare the creamed spinach.....using a recipe from one of the food blogs....yeah, i am making it a day ahead so i can transport the dish cold and warm it up in cincinnati........taking it hot would be problematic......i have tried numerous creamed spinach recipes over the years....most i prefer to the original mother-in-law 'recipe', which nobody seems to have.......what i can tell you is that there is an unwritten expectation for creamed spinach to be at family gatherings, and that whatever i bring will not be quite like it should be.....which is why i volunteer to bring this dish year after year......i actually like creamed spinach, and i might as well make the kind i want to eat.....

looking for my purse and keys

ok, so for some reason i was in a doctor's office last night....in my dreams.....sitting next to my mother and watching some drug rep present some sort of educational program to office staff.....and when we got up to leave i could not find my purse or keys.....and so i was wandering through the halls of this office searching for these items.....finding only mismatched shoes and clothing......curious thing to dream about.....

pyrrhic

ok, so the word Pyrrhic popped in 2 vastly different nytimes articles today......the first time i skimmed over it, assuming it was an SAT-quality word thrown in for emphasis....the second time prompted an immediate google definition search.....and now i know that Pyrrhic means a victory with devastating costs to the winner......

lost

ok, so.....i spent the bulk of my spare time this week looking for my sunday school books.....the student guide as well as teacher's version and an independent commentary by a semi-famous retired baptist minister.....i looked in places where these books should be, as well as places where they should not be.......several times over...and while i did not find the books, even after sorting through the recycled newspaper/catalog/magazine bins the garage, my car, my spouse's car.....under the bed....you get the picture.....i did find the mate to an earring......looking in obscure locations did inspire the cleaning out of the linen closet, whereupon i gave the goodwill over 8 sets of sheets that i either do not like, or that do not fit our bed very well........and i was also moved to go through all of my drawers.....and the closet.......the backseat of my car was overflowing with stuff when i headed out to the goodwill.....sadly, this altruistic act did not translate into divine intevention with those lost sunday school books.....i was able to construct a lesson.....we are studying bathsheba.....and i knew what we had already covered, and i made a reasonable choice as to where we were going next......i was relieved to discover that i was not the only person who spent the week looking for something that was not found.....we collectively lost quite a lot fo things.....some much more important or costly than what i cannot find.....and none of these things is as important as what was lost by the family who sit behind us in worship service....they lost their house to a fire on thursday.....the father barely made it out, as he was asleep in the basement after working all night, and did not hear the smoke alarms.....losing a few books pales to losing all that one owns.....

resealable frozen shrimp....

ok, so.....i woke up with a splitting headache....not surprising in that i worked all night in my dreams......i was trying to cake care of multiple disasters.....there was loss of power, freezing temperatures, water shortage.....and there were people in their pajamas in what was meant to be my kitchen....and the mother of the group held up a resealable bag of frozen shrimp and told me that this was all she had and what was i going to do about it.....and i was trying to pick up the clutter on the kitchen counters......but the pajama family was strewing things about almost as fast as i could pick them up....there was a framed group photo that included my pastor....a curious touch for a dream sequence....no explanation as to why the pajama family was in my home, or in their pajamas.....or how they were connected to me....

silver-plated lasagna server....

ok, so.....on my veteran's day off i drove my mother on our yearly rounds....the beaumont plaza goodwill, liquor barn, red lobster, tuesday morning, and camp nelson national cemetery to see my dad's grave before we return home......my mother fussed because we did not retrieve the handicap tag from her car......we have never retrieved the handicap tag from her car....as hell would have to freeze over before i park 2 perfectly able women in a handicap spot.....as it happened the handicapped spots at the red lobster were full...and my mother was forced to walk an extra 20 feet to the door.....which she managed to traverse despite her pleas of disability.....ah well.....i did find a lovely brown linen shirt at the goodwill...and a silverplated lasagna server that looks exactly like one we used at the restaurant....i paid $2.75 for it happily......it was in a box so i am certain that it is NOT from the restaurant.....the sparkling wine i selected at L.barn was much sweeter than i remember from the last time......still mighty tasty for my friend anne's visit.....i especially appreciate her words of wisdom....a mother is only as happy as her saddest child.....i am aging into the no-news-is-good-news portion of my life for this very reason....the less i know the less i can obsess about.....i also found 4 champagne flutes that match those i already own...perfect for my scheduled bookclub gathering in july..... i will surely find a dryer sparkling wine by that date....

poetry reading......

ok, so i had a hard time getting by the fact that the poet looked very much like my long-deceased neighbor, who was both a poet (haiku) and an artist and a gardener........we fell out long ago over her use of the n-word in front of my children when uk basketball was on her television....which was often.....and the knowledge that she kept loaded guns under many of her seat cushions....i treasure the pair of framed watercolors she once presented to me because they 'went' with my front room......but i did not go to the auction where her larger pieces were dispersed after her death even though i knew there to be a watercolor of a brick wall/gate with a perennial border that i would have enjoyed....ah well.....i waas amused by the poem where the mother and her daughters are at a pilgrimage site in ireland.....and the daughters are mortified that the mother was going the last bit of the journey barefoot, and they huddled at the bottom of the rock stairs as she climbed ever higher toward the ancient cliffside monastery in conspiratory debate over just how many of their mother's embarassing pilgram affectations were deliberate......and i admit that i would probably climb to heights that i feared if i knew it would adequately un-nerve my children.....

reese's (skinny) boyfriend

ok, so in my dreams i was sitting in an auditorium with green upholstered seats....and my middle child was sitting next to me, followed by reese and a person reese introduced as 'her skinny boyfriend'......and we were all holding small cats .....not kittens, just scrawny cats like our cat....and i happened to be holding our cat, though mostly the cat would wrangle herself out of my death grip and jump off somewhere until i called her back.....and there was a chorale group on the stage singing songs by the 80's group kansas....and the choir wore robes that were not quite on or off.....more like huge shawls than robes.....and the guy playing guiatr backup stood below the stage rather than on the stage......and some guy saw me brushing my hair and tried to take my brush.......and then we walked 'home'...down the hill to the place where my parents no longer live.....and the new owners had taken out the fence and built very loe stone walls....which we stepped over to get into the back yard, and peered into the backroom where the new owners were moving the kitchen.....the cabinets were not yet attached to the walls, and the fireplace was now behind the kitchen island......curious.....

repeat

ok, so......there is a sweet ballad in repeat....playing over and over while the youngest child gets ready for school.....or at least the song seemed sweet the first 10 or so times.....curious that fine line between entertaining and annoying.....

the annoying whine of motors on a lovely fall day....

ok, so....i weeded in the last of the beds this afternoon.....dug out daylilies and repositioned irises and mulched and such......which would have been an idyllic way to spend a gloriously sunny day in november, had it not been for the whine of leaf-blowers.....

books....

ok, so.....i brought my driving to-and-from work book on cd in the house on friday evening so that i could finish it up....yeah, i had 2 discs to go before it was over, but i was anxious to find out how it ended....The Messenger by Daniel Silva.....part of a series of mystery-thrillers that feature an art restorer/spy for the state of Israel Gabriel Allon......i heard about this series on npr in a 'books you ought to read' sort of piece......though the library has all of the books in this series, i prefer to listen to them on cd so that i do not miss any of the clues and nuances that often allude me when i read book in print.....with actual books is it too easy to skim through the pages to get the gist of the story line.....and while this method gets the job done by the deadline (read this as bookclub meetings).....i do lose out on much of the word pictures.....such is probably the case with the book i read yesterday after weeding out the hydrangea bed.....A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House.....i was ensconced in the red lounger on my new terrace, with a glass of wine....and i managed to get through the book from start to finish.....ideally i would reread the book to get all that i missed the first time, but i have no interest in reading about these characters a second time.....and i will go to book club having finished this assignment, and i will bite my tongue when the cozy, flowery prose is talked up to the point of worship.....my oldest child refered to this same author's previous work as precious prose.....meaning that with ky authors we are less apt to judge the work critically than we would the work of out-of-staters.....enough of precious prose....i am on to the second book suggested on npr as thrillers worthy of my time.....The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.....written by a Swede who turned in to his publisher three novels in a series and then promptly died....i had to start over in order to remember the plot as it has unfolded thus far.....the time line has jumped back and forth a few too many times for my taste.....the prose is spare..which i much prefer to the alternative......to the point.....too bad the library did not have this book on cd......i would have enjoyed listening to this plot unfold...

saturday....

ok, so....i am so very glad it is saturday.....an exhausting week on so many levels....

reply to my comment...

ok, so i commented on a sweet article in the nytimes by a woman who walked/ran the recent nymarathon....and the author took the time to comment on my comment, which was unexpected and a nice touch......

yes, we have no bananas.....

ok, so in my spare time i am attempting to configure this song to the H1N1 vaccine......i will keep you posted....

a room of one's own....

ok, so.....this tale is often told in this forum....and i bring it up again because it is timely......way back in my college days....maybe graduate school....my history of procrastination goes way back....the literature text books were in the same aisle as the nutrition texts.....and i happened upon several stacks of appealing book covers as i searched for those on my list.....and i walked away with books assigned for a class i would never take.....the yellow wallpaper, the vagabond, a room of one's own.......oh, my.....how those books changed my course more so than my nutrition of disabled children courses.....and this evening, when i have already been brought to tears by a deja vu article in the nytimes by a woman who walked/ran her first marathon at 6 hours and 58 minutes...i came across this piece about a woman who inherited $75,000 from her feminist literature professor.....i have read Woolf's essay "A Room of One's Own" almost as many times as I have read Hemingway's 'A Movable Feast'....which says that I lack the attention span required to digest a weighty novel......or that I appreciate brevity in my social commentary.......and admire those who voice the purist sentiments of feminism......the unadulterated urges to be all that one can be.....i read with sadness about the passing of the young women of middle eastern descent run down by her father because she had become too westernized....there can be no quarter for a father who would kill his own daughter because she had the audacity to think for herself.....the world would be a better place if more women thought for themsleves and acted accordingly.....and it is not just me 'sayin'......

block-a-thon

ok, so......i especially enjoyed this nytimes article about a guy who decides to walk a marathon by doing 75 laps around his own brooklyn block.....his piece reminded me of my own walked marathon......if you take the time to savor this article se sure to open his multimedia diagram of the 75 laps.....

home again....

ok, so....i took the long way home yesterday from the state park....i will admit to taking a peak at the atlas that is kept tucked behind the driver's seat....but the route was somewhere in the fold by the staples....and so i took my chances by heading 'south' figuring i would eventually run into frankfort......glorious day with leaves falling and the sun shining....and my eldest's 'sunny day' mix in the cd player......very few cars on these backroads.....life is good.....

retreat update #4

ok, so i have breakfast followed by 3 more hours of meetings before i head home....planningf to get out the atlas and drive back by way of frankfort so i can shop the tuesday morning and goodwill while i am getting mileage paid,,,,,we need a can opener, and i just know there will be a nice chrome easy-turn model at tuesday morning.....i opted out of baseball last night after the 4th inning....and slept soundly until my neighbor started in whistling....sometime around 6 am.....no desire to know which if my colleagues is so blasted cheerful in the morning hours.....

retreat update #3

ok, so....i have been meeting since breakfast at 7:30 am (a powerpoint program on adult vaccinations).....thankfully hashbrowns were on the buffet...i can manage to listen to just about anybody if potatoes are involved......lunch involved a speaker on adolescent immunizations (yet another powerpoint but as mashed potatoes and gravy were on the buffet, i was attentive......supper was powerpoint-free....the lieutenant governor spoke on his health care reform vision for ky.....the red skinned potatoes were nearly raw but the prime rib was just perfect.......yeah....and we had sessions between all of these lecture/meals.....so much for rest and relaxation....

retreat update #2

ok, so should have slept soundly, being on retreat and all....but i woke up at 4:00 am....coughing and carrying on.....and cvould not get back to sleep.....i have meetings today....all day......maybe i can sneak off to take a little nap if things get too boring....or if i feel to exhausted from lack of sleep to stay awake.....

retreat update #1

ok, so.....i am on a work retreat.....so far not relaxing as we mostly traded vaccine tales of woe over a heartburn-quality supper of ribs and baked beans....my current book on cd finished well before i arrived, and i struggled to get npr in this neck of the woods....we have a working breakfast, lunch and supper tomorrow...and while this is the only way that sponsors can pay for meals, i am not looking forward to a 7:30 am breakfast speaker....go figure.....

retreat

ok, so...i am heading out after work for a retreat at general butler state park.....with others who direct health departements.....we will mostly sit about and kvetch about the flu.....which is not my idea of retreat, by the way.....but we cannot help ourselves...the flu IS all we think, talk, and dream about.....i am looking forward to a nice vacation(with family not workmates....)once the flu has subsided and the vaccine has been delivered, injected, and forgotten.....

parental controls

ok, so.....this new-fangled computer has a fancy toolbox available to the administrator.....wow.....wish we had been able to place such limits on activity on-line before now.....

sunday afternoon hike

ok, so we gathered at the refuge for the annual members meeting....a small but intrepid group......and we gazed in awer at the trees cut down by the beaver who has taken up residence on the island in the pond...there was a bit of lively debate over whether it is better to import a mate for the beaver, or deport the beaver to somebody else's refuge.....or to simply give refuge to the beaver who found its way to the property.....for as long as it chooses to stay......we also walked down to the far corner of the property where a new trail has been proposede...one that has creek access and a lovely propect......a nice place to put a bench.......and a narrow lockable gate to keep out the 4-wheelers......the leaves were at their fall peak and the sun shown brightly....and the refuge could not have been more beautiful on this october afternoon....

the one-hour opera

ok, so my husband and i ventured out last night to the final performance of an opera by henry purcell......nicely staged and accompanied by a 5-piece ensemble that included a harpsichord and several stringed instruments.......a student performance, which we watched along with scores fo students....who seemed adequately appreciative that their peers could sing opera as opposed to choral works in general......the tallest of the females in the chorus sings with our church choir.....and it was fun to see her enjoying a secular performance.....our middle child was credited as a co-stagemanager.....so we never actually saw him while we were at the theatre, but given that bthe event went off without a hitch.....must have been the exceptional stage-management.......

working in my dreams

ok, so i have worked the last three nights...in my dreams.......the first shift was back at the hospital, in the kitchen, though i was not doing any actual cooking......just shuffling between the offices in search of somebody.....the next night i divvied up h1n1 vaccine all night...debating with physician offices over who needed it most...and last night i made cookies...for the annual meeting of the members of the refuge.....rather, i kept burning cookies because i failed to get them out of the oven on time.....this has happened before...the dreaming about work as well as the burning of cookies.....maddening that both have interrupted my sleep...i am far too old to work all day and all night....

belated bosses day

ok, so.....my staff did remember me on bosses day last friday with a card and a candle.....but the real treats come today.....as they are staging a snack day in my honor......for the uninitiated, snack day involves a day-long array of high calorie delectables that are either kept cold on ice, or kept hot in crockpots or refrigerated with large notes on the fridge door reminding folks that they are there for the taking.....i have already indulged in a bite or two of cheese ball, and a pimento cheese sandwich......i find the notion of a day-long cheese course just about perfect......

mulch mania

ok, so i am in the systematic mode.....i am moving slowly from bed to bed clearing out the overgrown plants....mostly daylilies but i find that daylilies are only one of many plants that were planted innocently in my garden only to become weeds by definition......at the same time i am terracing with the stones i once carried to create the pre-brick garden path network.....these stones allow the beds to have greater soil-depth as well as keep the mulch in place......and give the illusion of extra areas of flat space.....flat!.....one of my favorite four-letter words......i truly envy those lucky enough to garden in flat places.....and so as winter approaches i am finaly whipping my yard into shape.....better late than never.....

pasta with zucchini and mint

ok, so.....i was perusing the nytimes this morning, and there was a lovely photo of a pasta dish that can be made out of waning summer ingredients......which in my case are long-gone ingredients....the zucchini shriveled and died a while back, and i ripped out the leggy mint which was out-of-control in the bed where i have moved many roses in my latest re-terracing project.....i have no doubt that this mint is not gone forever......mint is a faustian bargain of culinary proportions.....but at this very minute i have no edible mint.....what i do have is a major case of the saturday morning lazies.....while i know deep down that i really need to get dressed and drive the truck to lowes to buy mulch to finish all of the plant rotations that i started last weekend.....that and run by the aldi store for juice and a few sundries.....i continue to surf away on-line rather than do my saturday chores.....which will not include a nice lunch of zucchini and mint...unless of course the aldi has zucchini and i can substitute lemonbalm or basil.......

more on the numbers dream

ok, so one of my workmates likes to look up dream meanings on-line...and she contends that my enclosed porch dream indicates that i am feeling trapped......i suppose this is true in that i have no trips any time soon and the h1n1 vaccination frenzy is looming.....i do have my terrace/patio project underway.....hope to make substantial progress on it this weekend.....

2553

ok, so numbers rarely play a front-and-center role in my dream life....but i am still comtemplating the meaning of last night's dream as the i ease into bedtime...i was on the porch of a brick home......the enclosed porch of a brick home...and the address 2553 was in red metal numerals that stuck out a tad from the brick rather than laying flush.....and they were framed to accentuate the address......but given that the porch had been enclosed, the framed 2553 could not actually be seen from the road.....i have no lcue if there was another 2553 on the outside of the enclosed porch....and i have no clue as to why i was at that very place at the very moment.....red 2553......hmmmm.......

ham and cheese sandwiches

ok, so H1N1 vaccine is in my dreams.....i worked all night with madcap schemes to distribute the vaccine as quickly as possible.....the most unworkable scenario involved ham and cheese sandwiches.....no recollection how that one was supposed to help the cause...unless the sandwiches were lowcost incentives to those giving or taking the injection...i recall reading somewhere about a program in africa that rewarded men who got vasectomies with radios......not sure how that relates to my dream but the notion does make me smile.....

the nearly forgotten blog....

ok, so.....this poor forgotten blog came into my mind this morning as i was playing wordtwist on facebook......and i felt a tinge of guilt......so many diversions and so little time beyond my day job and my night class.....and grocery shopping/cooking/dishes........and gardening chores.......and facebook word games......these days my spouse has the browser set to forget websites- he thinks that the cookies slows everything down....so i no longer have blogger on my dropdown frequently visited menu......out of sight-out of mind......hopefully i can do better this week......

sand animation from ukraine's got talent......

ok, so so this piece is quite moving...i cried and i do not even speak russian.....

waiting on the rain.....

ok, so....i had big plans to load up the last of the bricks from my secret source....and begin the next phase of gardening expansion.....which includes digging up a bit more of the lawn (such as it is...) transferring plants from poorly lit areas into the new sunnier spot...and then leveling out the shady spot to pasve with the bricks......sounds easy, right?.....i could go on out to start digging, a task made easier by hours of rain....but i really should get dressed and do some grocery shopping before i transform myself into a muddy mess in the name of progress.......

up for auction?

ok, so this still-life by edward burra is up for auction in the uk.....i judge a painting by the simplest of criteria....whether i would hang it over my sofa......i think the artist did a fine job on the soup terrine, and i would display it proudly.....too bad the asking price is above the $15 i paid for the cezanne print currently holding court above my sofa.....

estrogen withdrawal

ok, so in studying for yet another semester of lecturing on all issues sexual....i came across the term estrogen withdrawal as a nicer way to describe menopause......the term fits just fine for my purposes......by the way....talking about sex is far more enjoyable than talking about swine flu......who knew it would come to this?

ok, so in a perfect world this would link you to Susan Boyle covering Wild Horses......by the Rolling Stones.....her version is addicting...

too much sun....

ok, so i was on duty at 7:30 am yesterday morning at the water and snack station at the burgin run....the morning was chilly and i was delighted to find a jacket in the trunk of my car.....at some point the race organizer sent her elderly mother over to sit with me 'in the sun'......yes, the sun was shining but i still felt a bit cold even with my outerwear.....fast forward to 10 am when i dashed home to drive my youngest child to her cross country meet at the stadium......the jacket stayed in teh car because the sun really was shining a bit brighter....but at no point during the 11-1:30 timeslot did i feel the least bit overheated.....granted, i was kept occupied during in between races with earnest updates with friends i rarely see in between sports seasons.....especially now that we follow the gold and black schedule rather than the blue one.......imagine my surprise later when my spouse came home and exclaimed 'honey, did you forget to use suncreen?'.......sunscreen never occurs to me when i am cold, BTW.......i had somehow managed to miss all mirrors as i caught up on chores before supper..... red raccoon eyes where my glasses shieled part of my face....and brilliantly burnt shoulders and neck.....yikes.....it is not as if i have been living in a cave all summer....i do sit and read the paper on the back deck when ever i get the chance.....hopefully this will fade by monday......one hates to flaunt one's disregard for the self-care in a public health workplace.....

a glass half-full.....

ok, so....blogging has taken a backseat to facebook, mostly because facebook features wordgames, but i still find blogging not only pleasurable, but priceless for its reliable access to details about my past.....when i cannot recall a recipe i search for it.....voila....same for trips taken, movies seens, opinions voices, etc....as i review this short holiday week, i am grateful to recall more good things than bad...a visa that will likely come through, the (sizable) medical bill that is being covered at long last, the usual pound and pedal crowd on labor day saturday, the shakertown lunch bikeride, the sunny day cd that my eldest child gave to me to lift my spirits on non-sunny days...yeah, the week had its low points, but i simply cannot recall any of those moments just now...my glass is at least half full rather than half-empty....the glass will be completely full when 4:30 comes, by the way.....

al franken draws map of usa from memory at minnesota state fair

ok, so.....wow!,,,,,

the wedding with too many printed purses

ok, so......i dreamed that our friend the l.o. got married last night......with a slightly russian flavor....it was in a big tent out at the restored shaker village....and at one point the friends of the bride and groom were dressed as russian peasants and did russian folk dances in lieu of an orchestral entrance......kinda like the wedding dance youtube clip only cozier.....and then i reached for my purse to get out my camera, and i could not find my purse.....and even though the wedding was not yet over, i started in searching for it....and there were many styles of sizes of this maker of cloth purses.....and i must have touched every one before i eventually found my own under my own chair.....and then i opted to sit inside the stone building rather than under the tent for the reception....at a table with scholarly friends of the family....and there was a department head who was admonishing teaching staff about the number of parties held by the department versusd actual seminars......and i moved my stuff, and my husband's stuff- i was saving him a seat....and it was then that i realized that i had not told him that i had found my purse, and he came in with the cosmetic bag that matches my purse only for me to tell him to take it back where he found it because it wasn't mine......sadly, my dream scenario failed to cover essentials such as cake and reception savories...the important details....ah well......

pink and green jammies....

ok, so my dream sequences were quite vivid last evening despite a fitful tennis-like sleep...hot-cold-hot-cold......the greens were brilliant, including the grass as perfect as befitting a putting green that was in my face as i tripped and fell under a very low-growing tree.....very green, very short, straight to the point of looking fake...grass.....i was wearing pink striped pajamas with a green and pink paisley robe- both in cotton....and i had just left a movie theatre rest room- a dwarf and his normal sized children were coming in as i was leaving...and i did not actually see a movie...just stopped by to use the facilities.....at some point i was in a waiting room, with a mother-in-law like person telling me something profound about her son...and then i was back in the last bedroom i used before going off to college, except that the bed was in an impossible position for the room in question.....and i was very cold.....which must have corresponded to the time i woke up very cold and pulled up all of the covers i have previously thrown off.....ah well......i can remember asking the owner of the green grassy yard with the low growing tree about the exquisite lawn.....and he showed me his chickens, and how he liquifies the droppings to spray on his yard, and trees.....maybe this is a sign that i need to buy chickens........and pink-striped pajamas with green and pink paisley robe....

a good night's sleep....

ok, so the cool evenings added onto my evening walking schedule and well.....i wish i knew what contributed to my nearly perfect sleeping session......but i woke up only when my spouse croawled out at 5:14 am to run....and i do not remember anything else til the alarm went off at 6:30........i did allow myself a few minutes to adjust to the reality of having to actually get out of the cocoon....and then a few minutes more to listen to the piece on sheila lukins, the co-author of the silver palate cookbook series that i have worn out since the early eighties......if ever i were to cook myself through a book....i suppose that should be the one, as there are stillr recipes that i have every intention of preparing but have not yet found the time....like a 3 layer vegetable terrine......i own the correct pan......own not being the same thing as knowing where it has been stashed.....maybe the enxt meatless monday i can manage to pull it off......here's to you, sheila....

the green, green grass of home....

ok, so the summer is almost at an end...which means that the c-dub obsession with keeping the grass green and the perennial beds flowering until labor day is winding down.....we host an annual running and biking event the last saturday of summer.....and despite our efforts we have shamefully allowed out guests to stand on a moonscape of dead grass and gaze upon the sun-dried remaining of planting beds.....i thought we had this issue licked this year, what with twice a day watering and the use of actual fertilizer...but this morning as i held the hose in one hand and coffee in the other, i was shocked to see patches of dying grass......and rose bushes that dropped their browning leaves overnight......how is this possible? i freely admit that the yard still looks better than most years, but i expected a bigger bang for my better efforts....

a waking dream....

ok, so iw orked last night until 7 (H1N1, of course) and opted to go in late this morning as compensation....and i went back up to bed after letting the dog out and feeding the cat and making coffee......i could not get comfortable, given the minor back pain from overdoing yardwork on monday, when i took the entire day off to recoup from the 20 hours of driving to virginia and back......but that is another story.....and so i tossed and turned, and while i contend that i did not actually fall asleep, i did have a curious dream.....my pupils were dilated as i came out into the sunshine, and though i had on sunglasses i could not see clearly enough to walk to my car....and a woman took my arm and led me to my car....and as i was getting inside she handed me a bag and told me it was a chicken sandwich for my lunch......i sat inside the car, waiting for my sight to return, but i did not eat the sandwich, because i am leary of anyone who hands chicken sandwiches to strangers.....and so i sat in the car plotting on how i could throw away the sandwich that must surely be poisoned....i did not want to toss it in the trash for fear some homeless person would eat it and die......i do not remember if the dream progressed beyond the internal dialogue about the sandwich.....

ok, so....

ok, so.... i travel to williamsburg, virginia tomorrow after lunch...looks to be a 10 hour drive...the kind of journey one only makes for family or dear friends....i will miss the final leg of the ride for reading....which is acceptable as i was not at the beginning......and only in the middle for a few hours.....we plan on driving back on saturday...which means i will have driven/ridden 1000 miles in 36 hours.....thankfully i have my bookd on cd lined up.....

ok, so.....Julie and Julia was a throroughly enjoyable movie.....Meryl Streep was marvelous as Julia.....though her Oscars have been earned from her dramatic roles, i continue to be impressed by her comic flair......and to be treated to Meryl as Julia in Paris......at Cordon Bleu.....and in darling bistros drinking fine wines and nibbling perfectly prepared fish in beurre blanc.....oh my......yeah, i did enjoy the Julie part as well....and I did feel her pain when she slept through the timer for the beef dish.....and the lobster boiling sequence was hilarious.....i am inspired to try braised cucumbers.....but given that i do not own Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I have had to look up a recipe on-line.....thankfully, several generous bloggers were also moved to try the recipe:

Braised Cucumber

1 huge cucumber (or 2 regular sized)
1 tablespoon butter
1 dash salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch dried mint

Peel cucumber. Cut into quarters and remove seeds. Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Melt butter in a pan and add cucumber. Cover and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat.

Stir in salt, lemon, and mint. Cover and cook another 2 minutes.

I cannot wait til supper!

Three Irish musicians who were sent to the service by Bono led the group in singing Bob Dylan's "Forever Young."

ok, so.....i had heard of the passing of eunice kennedy shriver earlier in the week.....and i only clicked on the huffingtonpost writeup because the tickler photo showed of a woman (a shriver grandchild) as a pall bearer....and i did take the time to read about her funeral.....but it was not until the part about bono sending over irish musicians to play forever young that i teared up......i love that song....and i would be so honored for 3 musicians of any nationality to show up at my funeral to sing it.....

ok, so...this bit of the daily show was right on target.....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

playing for change

ok, so this from the world-wide web.....

ok, so this from the daily kos...

Best Deep Thought ever? From DougJ over at Balloon Juice:
When someone talks back to a cop in his own house, that’s disorderly conduct.

When people make death threats and start fights in public, that’s exercising their First Amendment rights

fairy garden....

ok, so our little 8-year old neighbor from around the circle stopped by to chat for a meoment while iw as grilling supper last evening....and this sweet child took one look at the mass of blooms in the 'new' bed and said..'a fairy must have snapped her fingers and made this garden'.......and she snapped her fingers to add to the charm of her words.....made my day....

red cadillac with the windows down...

ok, so in my dreams i was in my aunt and uncle's original house near cleveland...the one on carpenter road....and i set my purse and keys down on the floor just inside their front door.....and i was with a woman who is taking my class....and we walked down the hall to tell those gathered watching televison in a very small bedroom that we were leaving to go to class....and my purse was gone- but the keys were there...and we saw 2 small small children running across the lawn with the purse, and one child dove into the open window of a red cadillac driven by another child..and i was able to grab the second child by the arm..and hold on tight.....and my aunt announced that those were neighborhood kids.....and i marched over to the neighbor's house with my 'hostage' child...and demanded that the mother hand over my purse for the child......and i kept looking at my watch because i was supposed to start my class in 20 minutes.....and that is all i remember, except for worrying that i would be charged with kidnapping the accomplice to the theft of my purse....

a new question.....

ok, so....i gave blood on my way home from work yesterday...mostly because my daughter was keen on giving blood and i was not going to be the one who did not having gone to the trouble to show up at the location....i have not given blood in years- not since leaving a job where the blood mobile showed up regularly onsite and all i had to do to donate was to walk a few hundred yards.....i was therefore way out of the loop on questions now asked of donors to determine fitness to donate.....the nurse in the pre-donation interview did not break a smile when she asked me 'were you born a woman?'......i laughed out loud.....having never before been asked that question......hopefully the enxt time i can keep a straight face....

some forged documents are more fun than others....

ok, so this from a huffington post piece about how easy it is to obtain forged documents.....

ok, so i just loved this bill maher birther bit.......

william shatner reads palin as poetry

ok, so....

god mend thine every flaw.....

ok, so.....despite carryover exhaustion from a 12+ hour drive from the middle of kansas and a full day's work......i dragged myself out the door to attend the summer singers concert.....mostly because our friend sarah was singing, but also because i love the sound of a large well-directed choir.....the selections were part of a tribute to america.....given the size of the ensemble i'd have preferred the chorale portion of beethoven's 9th......a lusty interpretation of germanic joy could would have erased many of my frustrations....but instead we were treated to spirituals, folk songs, stephen foster selections, a medley of fiddler on the roof tunes, and patriotic standby's......i was struck by the lyrics to america the beautiful....having just passed by amber waves of grain on my way home.....and witnessed first-hand the many flaws that need healing.....lonely conservative men who dine in plains state kfc's who see things so very differently from me......the conversation comes back to be every couple of hours....i suppose because i dwell on things i should have said that were wittier/bolder/wiser than my actual retorts....i am hopeful that should america (the beautiful) even be under real threat we could put aside our differences long enough to steady ourselves on what we share.....it may take me awhile to recall just what those things are.......i will get back to you....

conspiracy theory(s)

ok, so i am somewhere in kansas, heading toward home as early in the morning as possible......dropped my eldest off at a lovely community park in newton that featured a walking path along a brick-lined river, a huge play area, and tennis courts......not just run-of-the-mill tennis courts....tonight must have been mennonite women's league.....i grew up in an amish/mennonite community, but the sight of so many women in long cotton dresses playing any sport gave me pause.....but i digress from the park.....the community allows cross country bikers to camp overnight and use the round brick restroom facility complete with lighted men and women signs.....while we were searching for the park we traveled on several brick side-streets....wow.....there were brick streets remaining in my original home town.....we passed by the first mennonite church......also with a lighted brick sign out front...and this made me wonder if there was a second or a third mennonite church.....i mention the mennonites not only because the community was founded years ago by mennonite immigrants from germany.....but because the man sitting beside us in the kfc( it was this or a truck-stop diner that likely lacked a nonsmoking section....) at supper just down the road opened up his conversation with us with a sally about immigrants taking over america......or maybe the immigrant thing was after he announced to anybody who would listen that the democrats were looking to replace obama....i turned from my overly dry chicken to proclaim that i was quite proud about all the obama had done to bring the country back from the brink that dubya had taken us to .....he seemed taken aback by my reply and countered that he hears it differently on focus on family or from his cousin who knows about these things.....we really did try to disengage from the confrontation,,,,,but we could not help ourselves when he started in about how we will all be paid in merrils now that the govt runs wallstreet....or was it going to be c-am-euros that would be issued when the usa joined with mexico and canada......but that wouldn't happen until the secret american union voted on it.....my eldest was quick to recognize this as a string of conspiracy theories...and said as much.....and then tis guy had the audacity to say that obama was having an affair, to which i laughed loudly and reminded this graying guy with the tractor supply hat that this was a foolish notion, but if he wanted real scandal he should look no further than republican stanford of s.c. who so publically slept with a woman not his wife, and traveled to these trysts on the taxpayer's dime...al the while spouting about just how deep was his christian faith........seems wingnut radio shows failed to cover that scandal.....because he seemed clueless to the story that captured headlines for so many weeks...next he ranted about taxes and how family farms were going under.....but then he strayed into a line of (dis)reasoning that showed just how clueless he was.....he stated that young girls wouldn't get pregnant if schools stopped giving poor children free meals at school...wtf?....i skipped the pregnancy part and dove right into the free lunch program...which was created as an outlet for commodities such as milk, cheese, wheat, corn, soy, etc.....these are produced (under price-support circumstances)) by family farms, and discontinuing these programs would......cause family farms to go under.....he just stared at me .....the good news about the encounter is that i both failed to finish a regrettable meal, and succeeded in avoiding seconds....we did manage to avoid the birther busines.....if only because i got up, tossed out my plate, and headed out to the car....hoping that i could remember enough of the banter to record it later on.......i have never met such a specimen close-up......and i suppose i should not be surprised that he fails to see the contradictions in so many of his positions....then again.....maybe is just a lonely cuss who drives in to town for all-you-can-eat fried chicken and pretend mashed potatoes, and a bit of conversation with the randon public.....bless his sunflower-pickin heart.....

on the road again

ok, so...i left home around 2:00 pm yesterday, heading toward st. louis....i had forgotten thaqt this drive is a straight shot on i-64...long but straight.....i had come upon eureka as a destination when i was trying to find trader joe's in the st louis area......there are 5 locations.....a few off of the interstate though off of my projectary....and so i figured that if i could find a motel nearby i could justify the off-route stop.....but the st louis motels were at least twice of those on down i-44......eureka's other claim to fame is a 6-flags park, which meant ample crowds and dining choices as opposed to a lonely stop along the highway.....my motel is family-run and 3 doors down from an applebee's......which was rocking last night when i was tired and starving, and somewhat cranky from getting lost trying to find the access road where the services promised by the interstate signs were located.....ah well.....i ate quickly and made it back to my motel in time to watch mystery in pbs.....a miss marple that was a tad too confusing for a weary traveler to follow.....i may have to find the original story to figure out why the siblings masquarading as other people tried to kill the lady of the house with snake venom.....yikes.....so now i am plotting my route on mapquest.....i could turnback a bit and take i-70 to the kansas city area, and then head southwest toward wichita (7 hours).....the city nearest to the cycling route i hope to locate...this option cuts several hours off of my day.......my planned route is on locally accesses roads and i could expect at least 9 hours as my cyclist expected to be beyond wichita at the end of the day's ride.....ah well.....i am enjoying the extra hour that i gained by going west.....and because i am considering this trip an adventure rather than a chore i am in no hurry....especially because there is at least 1 trader joe's between me and the interstate leading to kansas......

getting ready....

ok, so i am getting ready to drive to kansas....a trip that could take 10, or 12 or 14 hours depending where i will meet up with my eldest child along his transamerica bike route.....yeah, i would drive that far just to give him a big hug.....but there is more at stake here than maternal urges.....he has to apply for his austrian visa by the end of july, and kansas city is the nearest consulate.....and as this location is well off his route......it seemed easier to ferry him there than worry over his other options (hitch-hiking, etc)....and so i have several books on cd from the library, and a few snacks...and a borrowed gps unit in addition to mapquest driving directions....and i am good to go.....well not quite yet.....probably tomorrow after lunch....

birds, bunnies and squirrels....

ok, so my morning commute was more like driving through an obstacle course than a simple morning drive to work.....between the bunnies in the road thinking about crossing over completely, or the squirrels nosing something flattened on the pavement, or worse...the indigo bunting that flitted a bit close to my bumper from it's roadside perch......i am pleased to say that i managed to avoid all of these furry/feathered friends.....leaving raod kill in my wake would certainly put a damper on my day......

ok, so heaven help me remember to show this condom ad when my class syllabus cover such things.....

harry potter 6

ok, so our tickets said harry potter 6, rather than harry potter and the half blood prince...i suppose at this late date there is no question as to the movie i came to see......i wasn't going to confuse this movie with any other shown at a similar time slot......i must say that i consider this the best 6th movie in any genre.....or at least the best movie that anticipates 2 sequels before all threads must be thoroughly tied off.....i have picked up deathly hallows to re-read......while i am in the mood.....not sure i can wait until 2010 for harry potter 7.....or 2011 for harry potter 8......even though i know that it all ends (exceptionally) well.......

on its last legs.....

ok, so we are NOT going to pay another $75 to figure out why my desktop on the family pc will not sustain an internet browser.....i was able to download firefox onto my spouse's desktop.....and i am back in business until we replace this ancient computer.....ancient by modern standards...in that this pc is less than 10 years old......our refrigerator, and washer/dryer combo are each far older......the internet is only the tip of the iceberg in this scenario.....my mother is recording the tour de france on her new dvd-player/recorder....and the disks will not play on any equipment we currently possess....our own dvd player, our pc......nada......it is one thing to refuse the cable service that could allow us to watch the tour directly, but when we cannot watch the taped replay.....a speedy resolution is in order.......by the way, our ancient stereo system components will not play a ripped cd.....but we can play those cd's on our current dvd player....go figure......

ok so this from jezebel.....Marine One pilot Major Jennifer Grieves lands Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on her last day in her rotation as pilot of Marine One, on July 16, 2009 in Washington, DC. She is the first female Marine One pilot, and today�s Marine One crew is made up entirely of all women in honor of her achievement. She was designated the helicopter aircraft commander of Marine One in May, 2008. AFP PHOTO / Tim Sloan (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

gum shaped like raspberries....

ok, so a large open bag of gum balls shaped like red raspberries figured into my dream sequences last night.....a uniting theme if you will.....hard to imagine i had a dream sequence given that i looked at the clock several times last night when i woke up either hot or cold.....

bastille day.....

ok, so.....today is bastille day in france.....a day on which french cyclists riding in the tour try extra hard to win the stage out of national pride.....when one gets down to it, bastille day is about revolution, and while both the usa and france are where they are today because of revolution, i am of the opinion that there are far less violent ways of making change.....

agonizing in my sleep.....

ok, so i worked the night shift in my sleep......mostly over the menu for dinner guests this evening and over the option of preparing the tortilla espanol ahead of time so it could set up or just in time for dinner in hopes it would slice well and come out of the pan easily......of all the world's problems i could try to solve in my dreams.....i worry over a dinner entree......curiously, i woke up several times in either a hot sweat or a cold chill.....and went right back to the same potato casserole lamentation.....go figure.....

whiney-baby

ok, so i am back from book club selection thursday....and given that not one of the three books i put forward were selected....i am feeling small and petty....in that i have been asked to go ahead and provide dinner with next july's selection thursday......gentle readers.....i have put together a 'theme' dinner with a book selection for a decade at this point.....and for the life of me i cannot think of a suitable theme for selection thursday.....for 'to the lighthouse' i made boeuf en daube....naturally....lentils and mussels for lord of the rings.....baked onion soup for colette.......ah well.....i did not vote for any of the selected books.....same as last year's tally.....am i so off-kilter in my reading preferences that i could completely miss 8 selections out of 27?.......pouting doesn't get one anywhere....so i am moving on.....

mashed potatoes....

ok, so......my dream life got a tad curiouser last evening, when monday night's dream of mashed potatoes decided to replay into tuesday nights dream about buying silverware in a department store.....the mashed potatoes i was making were not from scratch,,,,,and there was an authority figure in the background who was directing the mixing of the dehydrated potato granules with the milk and margarine.....and this faceless person insisted that there needed to be more milk...which made the mixture too runny, at which point i would have to add more potato granules.....during last night's potato reprise, the faceless figure directed me to go into the silverware store immediately, because the ralph lauren patterns had been deeply discounted.....gentle readers, i have no idea if ralphie makes silverware, and no notion of what preppy silverware would be distinguished from the rest of the stock.......having never shopped for silverware......my mother gave me our silver(plate) as a wedding gift...and the everyday came through the savings of betty crocker boxtops.....it is serviceable as silverware goes....no clue why i would dream about selecting more....... and sadly, at no time during these mashed potato dreams did i ever get to taste-test while i cooked....

ok, so.....i was prepared to let the whole spectacle pass without comment.....until i chanced to watch a very short clip of the finale.....and i saw mj's daughter onstage...singing along with the throng of gathered friends and family to 'we are the world'.....she clearly knew the words......and i was touched with the sweet notion that mj sang to his children.....much as i sang to my own before bedtime....i do admit that this was not the song that brought tears to my eyes as i have briefly reviewed the coverage of the service.....my favorite part was (little) stevie wonder singing 'i never dreamed you'd leave in summer'.....oh, my.....that brought back memories.....

4th of july.....

ok, so.....i spend time yesterday reading a piece by a colonial historian about how nothing much actually happened on the 4th of july, 1776, depending on whose letters one reads....the writing, voting, and signing on the declaration may well have taken place over a stretch of time....but i suppose what really matters is that the deeds (writing, voting, and signing) were done by true patriots and that is how we got to this very moment in time.......

amen, amen, and amen....

ok, so the hard-drive that appeared to have been wiped clean by a virus has been restored ($75) by an expert....and i purchased and installed a portable hard-drive this evening (250 gig for $79 at office depot) and i am elated at the data that has been saved from oblivion.....like our collection of the intro music for darkwing duck and goof troop in numerous languages (priceless).....yeah...and there were all of those pictures i had neglected to upload to flickr(double priceless)......

how many of you could there be?

ok, so.....i have fielded more questions about our family name in the past few weeks than i have done in the past 28 years.....mostly over my eldest's ride for reading.....which has been covered in both the lex and d-ville papers.....and the typical conversation goes something like this...' i saw the article about your boy in the paper (name one of two), and i figured he was your son, because how many of you (plural of the family name) could there be?......for the record, there are five of us......which in epidemiological expression is beyond the definition of an outbreak but less than an epidemic.......alas, there is the distinct possibility that the name will die out for lack of interest......but that potential end is not for lack of effort on my part......

in the cool of the morning.....

ok, so....a truly refreshing stroll out to get the paper at 6:30 am.......should have taken my coffee back outside to read the paper.....ah well......maybe tomorrow

clean slate

ok, so......my section of the hard-drive may have been wiped clean by a program called RegCure that somehow installed itself and proceeded to clear out my registry......oh my.....i seem to have no documents, no pictures, and no music .....whereas there does appear to be data in the folders of remaining family members.....hmmm......to be honest, i have not been especially upset about this reality when it occurred to me that the photo sets on the hard-drive have been uploaded to Flickr, that my school documents like exams, study guides, etc are on my jump-drive as are family christmas letters, and that i do have a load of favorite tunes on my ipod shuffle/my palm pilot...and my playlists had mostly been burned to cd's.......and music is replaceable.....so what was there that is now lost?......hmmm......i had taken the time to download the first few years of this blog....happily i also copied those word documents to my palm pilot.....and if need be i could download them again......we had someone come out to look at the pc yesterday, with no success other than the identification of the culprit.....i appear to have lost nothing priceless.....or unique......though i have great plans for backing up future documents/photos/music......so as to not find myself in this position again....

let he or she who is without sin cast the first stone....

ok, so this is a cautionary tale...to all of those who might feel compelled to protest too much the sins of this man......remember back to bill clinton's troubles?........the apologetic fellow pictured here was frontline with the stones....even called/voted for clinton's resignation because of his sins to his family......must seem like a longtime ago this this poor fellow now....by the way...fox news mis-identified him as a democrat for several hours.....seems they have done the same thing for all the recent republican blunders....i suppose the first sin/stone throwing adage goes for fox news as well....

following the blog....

ok, so i am following this riding for reading blog on google reader......

return of the (semi) native

ok, so.....there was a time when i wished on a regular basis that some interesting/active/progressive family would move out from town to our little lake neighborhood so that my children would have playmates.....that family never did show up until our daughter came along....and while these children are not the exact age.....they do have enough in common to give our child someone to hang out with.......now that i have another child back at home i have been wishing for some interesting/active/progressive young people known to my child to move back to the area...or if they are already living here to come out of the woodwork......and over the weekend my prayers were answered......an interesting/active/progressive native has returned, and for this i am grateful......

conserving resources....

ok, so this from jezebel......Duct tape prom dresses have been all the rage for a while now, but Aimee Kick of Missouri decided to step it up a bit and create an entire prom dress out of coffee filters. The results: gorgeous!

facebook

ok, so.....between facebook games like lexulous and scrabble and wordtwist.....and basic facebook meanderings.....i have really slacked off on my blogging......just saying....

Bloom's Day

ok, so today is Bloom's Day....THE day to remember Leopold Bloom as he wandered through Dublin on June 16, 1904, as written by James Joyce in Ulysses.......folks congregate from all over the world on this day in London to follow the convoluted route taken by Bloom in the 24 hours of the novel......the NYTimes had a nice op-ed piece about the book today.....written by a woman who had the chance to read the book cover-to-cover while she was hospitalized for a bone infection.....she felt she knew her long-gone irish grandfather as she read about Bloom's full and very detailed day......I admit to requiring a great deal of support when i read this tome.....downloaded audio lectures, weekly discussions with Joyce scholars....to help me to understand just what i was reading.....ah well......must get on with my day....which is unlikely to be as complicated as Bloom's......

relief

ok, so......many mothers worry about many things....this mother of three worries about threefold things....including the cross country touring bike held hostage over the weekend in a fedex warehouse in portland, oregon.....thankfully....the bike has been liberated...and the rider is on track to dip his wheel in the pacific tuesday morning before heading east.....amen, amen, and amen......

a bike in limbo

ok, so....my eldest child was to begin his cross-country bike trip yesterday.....the glitch came when his riding partner showed up at the fedex location to pick up the bike he shipped out to oregon.....seems the location rejected the box because it was bigger than this location is sanctioned to accept......a detail that the fedex here at home did not know up front.....and so on this first business day of the week our boy must somehow convince the folks at the warehouse where it was sent to release it to its owner rather than ...gasp....return it to ky......gentle readers......please put positive thoughts toward the emancipation of the bike......

an anniversary freudian quotation....

ok, so today is our 28th anniversary.....and as usual we are either working, getting things ready for band festival guests...or both.....and since i got my chores done early i am enjoying a few minutes on the deck with a glass of wine and a good book.....1000 Places to See Before You Die.... by Patricia Schultz.....and atop the page that begins the Paris section is this quote from Sigmund Freud....."if one of us dies", the husband told his wife, "I shall move to Paris".......enough said.....

a day off.....

ok, so.....i took off monday and tuesday, and have taken off this day as well...to enjoy some down time with my clan while they are still at home.....no special plans other than to just be at home....i am tempted to stay in my jammies til noon at least......isn't that what days off are for?

ok, so i also made this vegan banana bread, while the oven was hot....

Banana Bread
Submitted by Isa
prep time: 15 minutes | cooking time: 1 hour | makes 12 slices
A simple, no frills banana bread. Perfect for, um, eating.

Equipment:
8 x 4 bread pan

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup margarine, at room temp
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8x4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream together the margarine and sugars. Add bananas, soy milk and vanilla.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for an hour to an hour 10 minutes.

vegan cupcakes

ok, so this is my first attempt at vegan baked goods

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup soy milk
* 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup canola oil
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Fluffy Frosting:
INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
* 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, we use Earth Balance
* 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
2. Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluff