Flying Shoes

The Cookie Factory

2010-12-22T12:08:00.003-06:00

Just some of what's been keeping me busy these days. We have eldery neighbors and single moms I'm going to surprise.

Little Holiday Joys

2010-12-06T22:39:00.004-06:00

Winter holidays are about the warmth of memories. These little china musician angels are among the fondest of my childhood. Carefully stored for most of their lives, they'd appear magically to herald the holiday season. I remember them often being arranged on a small gate-leg table with fancy turned legs adding to its charm. The candles were always old fashioned bayberry because according to ancient tradition ~

A bayberry candle burned to the socket, will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.

In retrospect, I think maybe Mom must have been buying imitation bayberry. Eventually a house fire took most of our family mementos. Sad yes, but thanks to eBay, but not tragic. With a little patience and good fortune, I've discovered that joy can indeed be purchased quite reasonably and the sweetness of memories is not diminished if a little gold leaped from my pocket to another.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

2010-11-24T23:55:00.011-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Family and Friends. We all seem to take stock at Thanksgiving and I've read gratitude lists with everything on them from a warm place to sleep, food to eat, an Xbox and even TiVo. And they're all good. I think its ok to be grateful for the luxury of material things you enjoy.

For me, it's not important what you may be thankful for or about, it is that you actually are in living in the moment long enough to be in a state of thankfulness.

Tonight as I reflect, I am thankful that I live in a country where blithering idiots can speak their mind and I can ignore them.

I am thankful for my bills because they remind me on trying days that I have my dream job that allows me to pay those bills.

I am thankful for the sounds of The Viking's C-Pap and the snoring. One day I may not hear them.

I'm thankful for the challenges life has presented me and that I wasn't behind the barn door when resourcefulness was being handed out.

I'm thankful for the luxury of introspection.

I'm thankful for the amazing strength of friendships discovered in unexpected places.

And, ok... I'm also grateful for TiVo, chocolate, chai latte for my Keurig, men who wink and the Internet. I'm just as shallow as everyone else.

In my email today I got a one liner that says it beautifully:

Thanksgiving is good; Thanks living is better.

Mother Natures Finery

2010-11-22T12:44:00.004-06:00

In New England, Mother Nature rails agains the encroaching winter like a fiesty, willful teenager. She dresses in her flamboyant, firey reds and dazzling oranges as though she is defiantly daring winter to rob her of her finery.

Ultimately, she knows she will be donning her gray and white robes but she won't give in silently, she wants you to remember her in brazen splendor.

Fall in New England reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara dressing up in grand style sewn from her mama's green velvet drapes, masquerading as the once elegant lady she was, preparing to ask for help from the Yankees. Tara may be a thousand miles away from New Hampshire, but for me, that's fall in New England.

Here in Texas, Mother Nature shows us a different aspect of her glory. Like a grand old Victorian lady who cherishes her memories of younger, wilder days but knows there is nothing to gain by challenging the inevitable, she presents a maturity earned by experience. No less beautiful, but tempered.

She dresses herself in deep mossy greens, coppery russets and butterscotchy golden hues as she prepares to meet the winter. Grasses turn a soft faded honey as they prepare to rest. Gracefully, she accepts her subtley colored brown cloak. She wears it lightly.

I heard it said recently that no one would ever come to Texas for the beauty of the fall foliage.

Beauty, I believe, is where you find it.

Great Grandma Flora and the Green Monster

2010-10-30T15:26:00.008-05:00

This post is a response to the Ancestors Ball Blog Party.

We're approaching the holiday season, beginning now with our modernized holiday of Halloween. It's roots are much different, being the time of rememberence of our ancestors and the loved ones we've lost. In the very olden days, this was a special, spirit filled time when the veil between our world and the spirit grew thin and we could feel each other's presences more clearly.

I've been spending almost all my free time recently working with my sister on our family trees. Ancestry has been important in our families and we're lucky because both sets of grandparents had research that we've been able to work with. Unfortunately, enough of it has been discovered to be inaccurate that now it's left to us, my sister and I, with the advantages the Internet provides researchers, to straighten things out.

No matter many names and dates I find, I still wonder what their daily lives were like. Especially the women. We think women today shoulder most of the burden of homemaking and childrearing. I shudder to imagine my great,great grandmothers' lives. I wonder a lot about the meals they prepared. I have this fantasy that one day a handwritten recipe book belonging to one of my great grandmothers or aunts will appear on Ebay and I'll win it.

This is my great grandmother, Flora. She taught school before she married. She may have been a bit unusual in her day, not because she was a teacher but because she did not marry until she was 28 years old. I met her when I was five. Photos preserved the day, but I wish I could remember it. The black and white photo is her on that day, aged 85.

A few recipes and family traditions have survived through my mother's family. One of them most of us wish would have never begun, yet in reality it is very likely the most important of them all because it ties generations together across time.

Jello has been popular since its introduction in the early 1900's. But it wasn't until 1930 and the introduction of the lime flavor that this ghastly tradition began. Although I don't really know when Flora began making this "treat", our family history, as passed to us by my mother, is that the dreaded green jello salad was made as a special treat for visiting family. What made it special....prepare yourselves.... marachino cherries ...ok, not so bad..... American cheese bits.....getting worse...and OLIVES!

Mom would make this "treat" every Thanksgiving and Christmas, lovingly bringing it to the table each holiday with the story of her grandma making it and loving it as a child. (I think they had not yet discovered real food at that time.) As you can imagine, children in the late 1960's weren't nearly as enamored of lime jello "salad" as a child in the 1940's obviously was!

I grew up thinking this was a distinctly Flora Tollman creation. Recently, I have discovered how completely wrong I was. It seems as though someone in the corporate Jello kitchens decided that through the war years, lime would be the perfect vehicle to enable homemakers to use up bits and pieces of their non-rationed foods to perk up their meals. How ingenious.

Jello concoctions became almost patriotic, in their own way, and certainly allowed Mom to give the family a little treat. I also think they musth have had lower expectations back then about what qualified as a treat.

So that explains the beginning of the very strange combination of ingredients. But it doesn't explain why Jello kept at it through the 50's and 60's!

So now I know truthfully, my great-grandmother wasn't just being frugal, she probably was considered downright fashionable to be serving a weirdly colored jiggling mass of suspended bits of artificially colored food. Cool.

What I also know now is something more profound. My mother, who is in her late 70's, continues to make this, even though she is the only one who eats it. Really, she only has a couple of bites and is done with it. But that's not why she makes it. She makes it and brings it to the table in order to suddenly become transformed into a six year old little girl, thrilled to be having dinner at her elegant grandmother's formal table. When my mother sees the glistening greenness, I believe she sees the shining eyes of her grandmother and for an instant, feels the sense of belonging, security and love that you only get when a heartstring is tied.

And I leave you now, Wendelynn, daughter of Jolene, who is the daughter of Clara, who is the daughter of Flora who is the daughter of Fredericka. In this season of remembering our ancestors, I hope you'll find something that ties your heartstrings too.

Waiting for the Witching Hour

2010-10-25T11:29:00.002-05:00

Spooky Things

2010-10-18T10:19:00.004-05:00

Spooky things are beginning to appear in my home. It's been quite a while since I did anything crafty but this idea was just not to be ignored!

Of course, not having gotten my fingers messy with glue and paint for quite a while required a trip to Michaels to buy absolutely everything I needed. It must be against some cosmic law to not have any craft supplies, but sadly, that was the case. So the moment of inspiration was put on hold and off I went to Michaels.

I hate shopping. Really, I do. But if I have to shop, Micheals is the place to go. I had not been in one for about 4 years and I have to admit, it was overwhelming at first. And then just a little dissapointing as I discovered that although there must be hundreds of thousands of items in the store, there was not as much true variety as I would have liked. I guess the days of smaller individual companies are long gone. All Hail Martha Stewart. Apparently, It's A Good Thing. Honestly, I'm not bashing Martha. I'm a fan, especially of her Halloween ideas. But I like diversity more.

Craft supplies are more expensive now than I remember. Basically all I needed was paint, glue, brushes, Mod Podge, ribbon and embellishments. I didn't expect to spend as much as I might have for dinner out. Oh, I needed blocks too.

Boy, did I need blocks. The tallest of the set are 4 inches. The shortest are 2 1/2 inches. Kudos to Lowes for not charging me a cut fee for each of the individual cuts it took to turn a 10 foot 2x4 into three sets of multisized blocks. I think the guy at the saw was happy to see me leave the store.

These little cuties are simply clay, peralized paint and microglitter. They're more goofy than spooky, but they'll do. I rather like their goofy eyes.

These Jack-O-Latern lights are from Target this year. They remind me of vintage paper lanterns. They're made of some type of silky papery polyester I think, but they look great. They weren't so great to put together. The globe shape is held open with a wire armiture that you install on your own. It's tricky at best. I broke two of them while carefully trying to insert the frame into the shade without tearing it.
Love how they look!

What I Have Learned This Year About Myself

2010-10-10T14:02:00.004-05:00

Having spent several thousand dollars this year on medical care, I have learned:
I have asthma, not blood clots.
My heart is in good shape even with a murmur and irregular heartbeat.
My lungs are great.
My highly acidic stomach can be tamed with the right meds.
My blood pressure even pre-surgery is normal. ( They want to know how I do that!)
I'm good till my next 100,000 mile checkup.
If you have anxiety and insomnia, get a new boss.

And most importantly, if you are a coffee drinker, my local hospital very nicely puts a caffeine shot in your IV.

TiVo Rules

2010-09-28T12:44:00.003-05:00

I knew it was a doomed relationship from the start. One look at the antiquated interface and it really was just a matter of time. But, I'm no quitter ; I'd promised to try it out at least a month but I never promised to keep quiet about the growing pains with this new relationship. In truth, he was as dissappointed with the Charter DVR as I was only he was willing to suffer in silence. I'm not so good at keeping my feelings to myself.

He said he'd called them to cancel our service, forcing us to welcome Chater's puny DVR with open arms. Honestly, I think his intentions were pure but the Viking was ill prepared to resist the siren songs of a well seasoned TiVo CSR who was determined to not lose an account. Free service. No shipping. Incredible discounts on upgrading our equipment.

He was strong and resisted. He really did. He even ended the call with the service cancelled.

Then he tried to find a show he wanted to watch in the upcoming week. He couldn't. He's not a technological idiot, but he couldn't do this most basic function of a DVR. I was even more useless.

Two days later, our shiny new Premier TiVo box arrived. They hadn't told us that free shipping meant 2 day service! Chalk up another win for amazing service. TiVo rocks.

They say love is better the second time around. I don't know about that but TiVo sure is!

Chowder Time

2010-09-11T22:37:00.005-05:00

This is the weekend of the biggest event of the year in my home town of Ledyard, Connecticut. The 65th annual "agricultural" fair. I haven't been in more than 35 years, but I always think about it the weekend following Labor Day. When I was a girl, it was the first place mothers felt safe letting their young teen daughters wander alone with friends. They probably shouldn't have even in the late 60's early 70's.. older guys hit on us and tried to take us for rides on the Ferris wheel.

I found this geat photo of the fair at the official Ledyard Fair website. I hope no one gets upset that I'm borrowing it. The midway was much like it is today at traveling carnivals that come into small towns for a weekend these days. The beckoning lights, the barkers, tinny music crackling out of bad speakers. And the games... where you could win your mother cheap sparkling cut crystal dishes for only pennies; if you were lucky enough to get your penny to land and stay inside the dish.

By morning's light you'd realize that you could have bought her the same little bowl in the dime store for fifty cents but under those twinkling magical lights, they were the most delicate crystal in the world. Who cared if it cost almost your whole allowance and buying one would have been cheaper. The feeling of satisfaction as you accepted your prize could never be bought in Bastian's.

Our fair food in those days was distinctly New England. A uniquely Ledyard version of clam chowder, clam fritters (3 for 25 cents), Italian sausage sandwiches and grinders. Most years, it would be chilly at night by mid September and the steam coming from your bowl of chowder warmed you and carried the fragrance straight into your soul. The chowder tent was discretely set up just far enough from the animals for polite society yet close enough to the tractor and horse pulls that the men would let their women and families linger to enjoy the soup.

I credit that chowder for my lifelong love of soup and my personal mission to recreate the wonderful chowder in my memory. I've developled into a pretty good soup maker, thanks to the fair.

It may still be 90 degrees at midnight here in Texas where I live now, but I think it's time for chowder and fritters for dinner.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

2010-09-09T10:08:00.004-05:00

TiVo, I really miss you. I mean I really,really,really miss you. The Charter DVR may be $500 a year cheaper but it will surely never win my heart as you did. No alpha search. No easy to read program synopsis. No suggestions of programs I'd never find on my own but end up loving. A display that is an immediate throwback to Pong and monotone green on black video CRT sceens. It's about as bare and utilitarian as somethign as advanced as a DVR could get.

Charter should be ashamed of itself.

Most importantly, no more cute little dancing TiVo icon.

Stargazing

2010-07-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

Why Fireworks on the Fourth of July?

2010-07-04T11:50:00.009-05:00

I've often wondered about the tradition on fireworks on the 4th of July. Our founding fathers (and mothers) would be pleased to know that we still love the flash of light and resounding noise of fireworks. John Adams had this mind as the way to commerate of this nation's independence. He wrote to his wife, Abigail on July 3,1776:

The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

So apparently even in 1776, people were setting off fireworks even before the Declaration was signed. I didn't know this until I finally decided to solve this mystery for myself. Almost everyone knows that fireworks originated in China, along with gunpowder. The Chinese took to using them primarily for the protective nature of the loud noise they made, to mark important events; births, deaths, marriages and the New Year. The loud noise would frighten away the evil spirits, protecting the celebrant.

Fireworks appreared on the European continent in the 13th century, most likely carried home by the early Crusaders. Fireworks became an element of religious festivals and of course, public entertainments. I mean, who doesn't thrill at fireworks. Even today they delight us, mesmerising us for a few seconds where we are instantly transported back into our childhoods.

The first recorded fireworks show in England was to celebrate the wedding of Henry VII in 1487. Subsequent monarchs had fireworks displays to mark their coronations, marriages ( wow...Henry VIII must have used up the nation's supplies!), military victories and birthdays. Queen Elizabeth I even had a court position, "Fire Master of England", she loved them so much.

Early English immigrants to the lands that eventually became the United States brought the fireworks tradition with them. Black powder with it's furiously boiling heavy smoke and loud retort was commonly found element of celebrations. Fireworks continued as a firmly established part of major celebrations in America. The first celebration of our independence was in 1777, six years before we had actually won that freedom.

We Americans have always been an optimistic lot.

In my family, we celebrate a birthday on this day too. The spirit, perseverance and dedication symbolized by Independence Day has been in her nature from the beginning. Coincidence? Probably not.

Happy Independence Day!

Words and More Words

2010-05-02T12:26:00.004-05:00

I must admit I love words. When the first Magnetic Poetry set came out I was in heaven. I immediately got a couple of sets, a magnetic easel and then even a magnetic calendar designed for the little word bits. It was a match made in heaven. I think I may have run across a kindred soul yesterday. The entire tuck was covered in lovely little word bits! There were a few random sentences, most of which I don't think I'd really want to repeat, but very creative.

This morning, I'm wishing I'd have hung out to meet the owner of this beauty. The truck and words were so clean, this must have been a recent wild hair because everyone else's vehicles in Texas are covered with dust and pollen.

The Viking thinks it's a good thing that my vehicle is mostly plastic. It made me smile. Click the images if you want to read the words.

Spring in Texas

2010-04-25T09:24:00.008-05:00

Spring Throws a Wild Party in Texas!

Magical Memories

2010-01-06T19:03:00.006-06:00

My middle sister has a knack for remembering and then finding the toys of our childhood. It's fun when she sends the reminders to me, I instantly remember them but would never have thought of them on my own. We use to have this Santa bank. My gruff Grandpa D sent it one Christmas. I'm sure the reason he sent it was that it was a bank and just a toy.

I remember being totally in love with it, especially the foil wrapped packages. Isn't that goofy? He rang the bell and drove my mother crazy. Looking at it now, he looks a little scary, doesn't he? Like he had one too many magic mushrooms in the 60's?

This one's up on E-bay right now, it's a nostalgic temptation. She's been sending me other blasts from the past this week, and that could be a dangerous thing.

I found a video of this toy. So for now, let's zip back to being 7 years old and believing in magical Santa toys. Just for a moment. Remember Joy.

New Years Day 2010

2010-01-01T16:40:00.002-06:00

When I was in grade school in the 1960's our vision of the future has turned to be vastly differently than what we're now living. I was a huge fan of the Jetsons and I could hardly wait for flying cars and Rosie the housemaid robot to appear in my life.

Apparently I am not the only a little annoyed at the way things have turned out. Tim Wilson, wildly opinionated and totally enjoyable comedian/songwriter expresses it quite nicely. Fair warning ,there's a little adult language in this. If you're not an adult, don't listen or don't complain to me if you do! Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Welcome 2010

2009-12-31T23:22:00.003-06:00

Has it really been since Halloween that I last posted? I've been writing regularly in my head... honest I have... but it just doesn't seem to land on this virtual page by simple thought transfer. Whats up with that? I thought in 2010 things like that were suppose to happen.

Since Halloween, the Viking and I have left Farmland and moved about 700 miles due south to Texas! All good, all carefully planned and carried out but still mentally and physically completely exhausting.

I don't know who owns all the stuff I ended up packing and unpacking but they need to seriously downsize. Or get busy on Ebay.

It's a bittersweet thing, this move. Our family is complete again and there are no words for the sweetness in that. Fortunately, my employer has let me keep my job and I'm able to work remotely. Thank you, Tim Berners-Lee (not Al Gore!) for inventing the World Wide Web. Sadly, I left friends and coworkers I truly care about and instant messaging and emailing don't take the place of a little conversation at copier.

It's traditional on New Years Eve to look back at the year with either fondness or a hearty good riddance! This has been a very difficult year for many people I know and I sincerely wish all good things to come their way in 2010. I've been lucky this year in many areas and I'll remember it for happy times and genuine affection I never anticipated.

I've never been good at resolutions. I always forget them in a day or two. So I just don't make them anymore. What about you? Happy New Year, I hope it brings you more smiles than tears!

Some Enchanted Evening

2009-10-31T16:03:00.006-05:00

This week has been like riding the weather rollercoaster, temps ranging from 30 to the current 63°,gray and rainy, flurries and heavy enough frost to have to scrape the windshield in the morning. It's an unusually sunny and mild day here in Farmland for Oct. 31. I've even got the patio door open and the yard is getting it's last mow of the year.

So the creatures who'll be wandering the streets tonight will get a bit of a break; no coats to spoil their costumes, maybe? When I was a kid, there wasn't much worse than having to put a coat OVER my costume! Of course, the costume never fit over the coat. At least where I lived, we never had snow to contend with on Halloween. The Viking lived in northern MN and does remember trick-or-treating in the snow.

Aren't these kids cute, coats and all?

My age is showing, I suppose, but it seems to me that it's not nearly as much fun for kids today as it was to trick-or-treat in the '60's. We lived in a typical for the era large suburban development filled with young families. Halloween was an exciting night, kids got to roam the streets alone (we'd have been mortified to have a parent along.) and no one was concerned about kidnappings, poisoned or otherwise tampered with candy or truly destructive behavior. Even though there'd be hundreds of kids out, no one needed a kid radar tracking alarm tucked into their pocket.

The worst things I ever knew about, even as a teen, was TP-ing trees or if someone was really awful, egging a neighbors house. There were always some rougher, older kids who'd gang up later with a six pack, but that was really about it. Other than staying in a group with your own friends, no other cautions were needed.

We were true innocents then. We accepted all kinds of goodies into our huge double handled paper shopping bag size treat sacks. Apples. Popcorn balls. Loose candy. Bring it on. Anything was good, but for me --keep the Mary Janes please.

We lived dangerously.

We actually ATE CANDY IN THE DARK.

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain to you all. I hope you find a playful spirit in your memory this enchanted evening.

Seafood Pie for the Viking

2009-09-19T19:16:00.007-05:00

Today is the Viking's birthday. He wanted a special dinner at home. Me, I always opt for a special dinner OUT that no one has to cook or clean up after. But, at least on this day, his wish is my command.

The menu: Grilled rib eye steak, Shrimp and Scallop Pie New England Style and colorful veggies that may not actually be eaten. Let's cook!

Start by pounding the heck out of a sleeve of Ritz crackers. If you're really careful, you can do it and keep them in the sleeve. I hate clean-up, so I go for careful rather than full on aggression soothing attack on the cackers. I love, love, love my Pampered Chef weapon of mass destruction. I thought it was a little pricey when I ordered it, but no longer. It's very well balanced and heavy enough to pound anything into submission. You're going for medium size crumbs here. Set them aside when you're done.

Now you need about a dozen big scallops. Don't even think about those tiny little wanna be scallops. Since I live in rural Nebraska, all my seafood has to be defrosted first. I just let the frozen nuggets of goodness just sit in a strainer in the sink. Less clean up that way. You'll also need about a dozen raw shrimp. Get the biggest one's you can afford. I have been know to do this with even salad shrimp, but it's so much better with larger ones. Thaw them ( Nebraska, remember?) and remove any shells. Here's where I betray my New England roots and toss in a Baltimore twist.

Sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning on the raw shrimp. Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Squeeze on the juice of half a lemon. Mix them all together and let the shrimp marinade in this spicy goodness for at least an hour.

I've lived in many places and my cooking has been influenced by them all. Sometimes, I get nutty and do this stage with Tabasco. Sometimes, it's just a blend of fresh herbs, but Old Bay is my go-to hands down favorite.
Set your oven to 350. Grease a couple of ramekins, or a pie plate. I have nice 8oz ramekins, but trust me, no one is going to care what you cook these beauties in! Just try to not have them layered too thickly in the vessel. Put the raw seafood in the baking dish. Add a couple healthy splashes of white wine or sherry. If you want to be really adventurous, you could add some crispy peppered bacon crumbles to the seafood. I wouldn't complain one little bit. ( Don't tell anyone north of Hartford, but I've done it and it was awesome!) Set the dishes aside for now.

Back to the crackers. You didn't think I'd forgotten them, did you? Never, ever. Humble Ritz crackers are really the key to this dish. In a large bowl, melt half a stick of butter. Butter. I repeat, Butter. I do it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Add all of the crushed crackers to the melted butter. Mix well. Use all the butter cracker crumb mix to top your seafood mixture.

Next, they go into the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Remove, let cool briefly and either serve in ramekins or family style. You won't believe how good this dish smells when it's ready to come out of the oven.

See, it's really simple. And flexible. This is my version of a traditional New England Lobster Pie. Of course, Lobster Pie is one of those dishes with many, many versions. And yes, it is a million times better with fresh Maine lobster but that's not available to me here. So I make do and I tinker with recipes. I think that's where the creativity in cooking comes in. And I cook by feel. I guess after 40 years of cooking you just do that.

Sometimes, when I want to fool around in the kitchen, I'll make a very light cream sauce, add the wine and pour it over the seafood. But, usually, I'm into quicker versions of my favorite things. Fortunately, this is one where you can have all the flavor without some of the fussier steps.

And by the way, the veggies did get eaten.

Now, don't you wish you'd been at my house for this birthday supper. Now I have to do the dishes. It's not MY birthday.

Ingredients for Scallop & Shrimp New England Style Pie:

Raw Scallops

Raw Shrimp

Old Bay Seasoning

Garlic Powder

White Wine/Sherry

1 sleeve Ritz crackers

Butter, real butter. This is not a diet day recipe.

1 Lemon - not the stupid little yellow plastic squeeze one please.

The Very Special Birthday Surprise

2009-08-30T17:02:00.004-05:00

This my friends, is an extremely special birthday gift. This is the culmination of 5+ year search for a photo of this building. It's an enhanced print of the original Bill Library in Ledyard, Ct. In 1867, $1000 dollars was given to the Town of Ledyard by Mr. Henry Bill, to establish a free lending library. You can read about it here, thanks to Google's book project.

Always a voracious reader, landing my first "adult" job at The Bill Library, earning minimum wage of $1.60 an hour in 1971, was more than I'd ever dreamed of. Quite a change in status from babysitting for only .50 an hour! I read almost every book in the library.

The library had ghosts, leading to my lifelong interest in such matters. I learned alot about life from working in the library and it didn't all come from books. I also met The Viking in a very unusual circumstance in the library, a long time ago. There are many heartstrings tied to this modest Queen Anne building that sits across from the Congregational church, in what use to be the center of a tiny New England hamlet.

Because it was such an everyday part of our lives, no one took photographs. Developing was expensive in those days and in my family, at least, mundane daily things didn't rate the expense. Eventually, the town decided to expand the library. I had not seen it for many years and then one visit home, it had morphed into this.

My sister, Chia (crafter extraodinaire) also worked there as a teen. It was a big part of our lives. Off and on, we've both tried to find an old photo of the original building with no luck. Then one day, months ago she emailed me a black & white photo! The Holy Grail ( or one of them anyway) had been found!

She has a knack that way. Some day, I'll tell you about her amazing luck in reclaiming a photo album of 1800's era relatives that had quite a journey.

Not long ago, on her blog she describes how the black and white came to be this impressionistic print that is now mine. To most other people, it's just another building that has been modified to better meet the needs of our growing society. To me, it's a treasure chest glowing in the darkest corner of an attic, full of mystery and promise.

I am touched beyond words.

Birthday Surprises

2009-08-29T18:52:00.015-05:00

The 15th anniversary of my 39th birthday was this past week, as The Viking, ever kind and gentle, pointed out to me. Because it was a midweek day, we didn't plan much, just dinner out. Mexican. Good Mexican, which is no small feat in the middle of Farmland. We're lucky to have a 3 star place here in town.

His gift for me didn't arrive on time but he is a great gifter so whenever it gets here I'm sure it's going to be just right.

He usually gives gifts first thing in the morning, so although the logical adult side of me knew it

was just a matter of time before it arrived, the birthday child inside was a little bummed out when I left for work with nothing fun having happened.

Then I got to work and the fun started.

It was an all day birthday party! Complete with a flaming birthday cake and a singing group of cake escorts. It's mildly embarrassing when they outline the cake in enough candles to torch the place and you know it's nowhere near enough.

Ok, so not really. It was fun.

At the end of the day, another surprise. The mail man had left a package pick-up slip in our tiny apartment mail box. Score! What's more fun than a totally unexpected birthday surprize?

Yeah, I couldn't think of anything either.

The Viking was kind enough to go pick it up while I luxuriated on the couch with a fresh pot of coffee Saturday morning. I think it occurred to him that we'll be celebrating the 22nd anniversary of his 39th birthday soon, and maybe doesn't want me to remind him!

Oh Look!

Bubble wrap from my sister! She is a crafter extraordinaire, so maybe in her mind this qualifies as art supplies.

Wait... what's this.... see, I told you she's one of those artsy ones. A simply sweet little birthday book. And I do mean little, it's only 2 1/2 inches wide!

Filled with flights of fancy and adorned with the most delightful fibers in my favorite colors, this alone would have been enough of a gift. It makes my soul sing. If you fall in love with this little gem too and want to make one, check out Chia's blog, she'll teach you.

Wait...there's something more in this box! And what a treasure it is. I'm not going to tell you what it is right now. It deserves a post of it's own. It's good. Really good. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Just like a birthday, anticipation is half the fun!

It was a dark and stormy night

2009-07-31T12:30:00.003-05:00

Did you ever wonder where the phrase " It was a dark and stormy night" originated. Everytime I saw or heard of it, I did and then it floated right on through my butterfly brain....oh. alright. I'll stop.

Anyway, today I discovered this little gem explaining "It was a dark and stormy night " as well as the grand prize winning entry of The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, otherwise known as the worst opening paragraph writing contest.

"Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason...."

for the rest, visit Ghostwoods.

I suggest leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for yourself.

Blueberry Skies

2009-07-30T18:42:00.003-05:00

Because of this little event on my way home, I was able to drink in the biggest, bluest skies and clouds of the summer. Windows down, 78 degrees, moderate breeze; if you have to wait on construction, this is the way to do it.
You can't tell because I tool this from the car, but this is really,really tall corn that's closing in on harvest time.
Have you noticed how much I love my drive home? Isn't this a blueberry and cream sky if there ever was one? Today I wished for really wide lens. Note to self: remember this when it's icy, gray and below zero.

The Fourth of July in Farmland

2009-07-04T14:58:00.001-05:00

Tradition exists in middle America, like this annual celebration in nearby, Fairbury,NE. Enjoy. Video by Keith Trimm, soundofffairbury.com.

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-04T13:17:00.006-05:00

It's my favorite daughter's birthday today! That's safe to say because she is the only daugher, only child for that matter. So without hesitation, my favorite daughter! This was taken a looooooong time ago, when she turned 7. It was the year of She-ra, Princess of Power!

She-ra was a big hit that year. Everything in her life suddenly changed from Rainbow Bright to She-ra. Honestly, I think some of the independent, powerful qualaties of She-ra influenced her sense of her own empowerment. There were even fewer media role models for young girls in the 80's than there are today.

Even at 7, the girl knew who she was and where her line in the sand would be. She hated being the victim of the inevitable "girl-gang" cliques that even grade school girls form, so she was always trying to make friends with the outsider kids or stand up for the weaker ones. At seven, her sense of fair play was already deeply ingrained.

She was awkward in ballet class, fearless on her bike. She wrote her first book; the awakening of her lifelong passion; books and writing. She loved that her birthday was July 4, but hated being called a "little firecracker".

She was opinionated and obstinate. Loving, kind, generous and magical. As she is today.

Life in Six Words

2009-07-01T12:27:00.004-05:00

I read about an interesting project begun by Smith magazine magazine, encouraging readers to tell their stories in only six words. It was inspired by a very short (and I do mean very short) story written by Heminway. Only six words to speak volumes; "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

The idea has evolved into several thematic books and spawned several other projects. There are more examples in this article at Wired magazine. Even AARP is getting in on the act, with a Six Word Memoirs project with varying topic assignments.

For me, to be successful at this this, the words must connect and somehow form a coherant thought. Obviously, if six free standing words do it for you, go for it. It sounds so easy, doesn't it. I've found it's really quite difficult. Try it. Share your story.

Here's mine.

Supporting player, never the star, survives.

Topsy Turvy Tomatoes

2009-06-28T18:40:00.000-05:00

The Topsy Turvy Tomato planter is all the rage this summer. It's on TV about a hundred times a night, especially if you're watching lots of wee am hours TV like the Viking does sometimes. He really wanted to try this out, but I was the wet blanket who didn't want to buy 2 and spend the $20. One, ok.

I found them by the onesies on Amazon, so for Father's Day I indulged the TV spurred craving to grow his own tomatoes. To be fair, I don't like tomatoes so I really didn't have a hard time throwing cold water on the idea. Selfish, huh?

He got it put up and planted immediately. It's surprizingly well made and I do think he'll get more than one season out of it. The planter even included the swivel hook to hank it from. Gotta admit, the plant is quite healthy and already has 3 nice tomatoes on it. Plus, it's nice to see it growing on the patio without sacrificing any floor space.

We already have precious little patio space, thanks to last years Father's Day gift... what was intended to be a modest size grill for our 2 person family with only a tiny size patio ended up being a behemoth that the Viking is truly in love with. What the heck; it was Father's Day.

Life Goes On

2009-06-27T22:40:00.000-05:00

Life isn't always as we plan it. This mama swallow and her mate worked for 2 weeks building this nest. Mouthful by mouthful, the mud drops built up reinforced with bits of dried grass. The nest was built in exactly the same place as the year before, and the year before that and probably for the last 10 years that this building has been here. We've lived here for 3 seasons now and somehow, each summer they build within an inch of where the previous years nest had been. Even though the nest had been cleared away, they knew just where to build. Safely tucked away under the roof of the porch above, they'd have their family and life would go on as before.

Until this year. When the rains came this year, they just didn't seem to stop for very long. And when they did stop, the air was heavy with dense humidity. Everything seemed ok for the swallows. Lots of rain meant more bugs to eat. We watched them feeding in the evenings, admiring their graceful, swooping and soaring flight. Each feeding in turn, assuring the nest was protected at all times. I took this shot just as Mama was setteling in for the night. She'd gotten so use to us, she didn't even care. I have read that swallows mate for life and the same pair will return to the nesting grounds. Who know what they thought of us, but we certianly enjoyed their presence.

The day after I shot this photo, the nest slid to the ground, smashing the four tiny eggs to bits. The adults kept flying in and darting out. They seemed confused by the disaster. I can relate. I think most of us can. Who hasn't had an unexpected event turn their world upside down? One minute life is going along just as you planned and in the next, you are reeling in reaction to the fact that life will never again be as it was. And what do you do from here?

Well, if you're a swallow, you pick up a mouthful of mud and you spit it at the underside of a porch and then you fly off and get another. And then another and another because to stand still is death. And life goes on. And so must we all.

Boys Toys

2009-06-25T19:05:00.001-05:00

They say the only difference between men and boy is the size of their toys. What do you think?

Bees

2009-05-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

Look what I saw yesterday while out doing errands. There is a huge stump less than 6 ft away of a newly cut tree. I'll bet the bees lost their home and now are apartment hunting. I'm glad I don't live on this corner.

M-I-A- Mafia Wars

2009-05-18T12:06:00.002-05:00

So, I've been M-I-A for a bit and if you're family or real life friend, you know why. If you're not. well, then you probably don't care. It's just that I've been busy holding up stores, knocking off rivals, running from the FBI and taking out rouge cops. And racking up a milions and millions of dollars, buying armored cars, casinos and gifting my family with things like napalm and c4 and tommy guns.

And that all takes time. And energy. It takes a lot out of a girl. Literally. I've been killed at least 4 times. Poor sports, I have learned, exist in the virtual world as well as in real life. Where is all this mayhem taking place? Mafia Wars on Facebook.

I've never been a gamer until this past week. It started with an innocent request on Mother's Day to join the my daughter's mafia in her game. "Even if you don't play, Mom, it will help me" she said. " And by the way, I need an energy pack when you do". So I did.

I was immediately recruited by my sister and brother-in-law for their mafias. Then my neice. Then a whole bunch of people I have no idea of where they came from, but now are a part of my "family". And now, just a week later I am level 38, have 75+ million in the bank, massive amounts of armaments, cars and protective body armor. And laundry to do. And vacuuming.

What is it about this game that gets people so instantly hooked? Would it be so incredibly popular if we weren't in a recession and feeling that we have no control over so many things in life? What do you think?

Giants Roaming the Road

2009-05-09T13:45:00.002-05:00

This is what kicked up the rock that broke my windshield. Considering that I drive a Saturn that seems to barely come to the top of the tires, it was hardly a fair fight. And some people think there are no giants!

Another view of my ride home, just cause I know no one believes I have such a horrible commute. Harbine, NE. Pop 66 - 5:30 pm on a weeknight.

2009-05-08T08:43:00.002-05:00

Drink Coffee

It's Friday. Cloudy and pretending to rain. I had car issues this morning. Had to turn around, go home, not be able to open the damn coolant reservoir cap,discover we don't own a wrench large enough to do so, take the Viking's car, put gas in it and remember where the wiper blade control was.

A very, very large piece of farm machinery caused a new crack in my windshield yesterday evening.

I have coffee now. It will be a good day. It will be a good day.

Project 52 - Week 16 - Wedding Favor Koozie

2009-05-03T10:08:00.008-05:00

We've all finally beat the illness that laid us low last weekend. We did miss a wedding, but the bride was thoughtful and brought favors to those who weren't able to attend.

This is the most unusual wedding favor I've ever seen. The other side has the bride and groom's name embossed in hot pink.

Of course, I've not been to many weddings in the last 20 years, and times change. I'm guessing there were no frilly little bottles of bubbles at this one!

This is a marryin' place. We've been invited to another wedding in a couple of weeks; the third in less than a year. Weddings are hopeful celebrations. We need more of those.

Project 52 Week 16 Our Own Pandemic Outbreak

2009-04-27T18:13:00.004-05:00

Everyone is sick at my house.

And I do mean everyone.

Jack and Cat Curio Makes Me Crazy

2009-04-15T12:28:00.005-05:00

Every work day at lunch, I visit my favorite blogs while I eat. I catch up with my family. Then I go and drive myself totally crazy and visit Jack and Cat Curio. Today, I was delighted to see Mr. Jack has added me to his blog roll. So now I must confess how I really feel about this....

See Mr. Jack, you drive me crazy... here I am stranded in the middle of artistic nowhere farmland, with no craft stores within hundreds of miles, no access to that group vibe that happens on "art day" with a group of friends and inspires you all to greater creativity, and worst of all..... my sister is your neighbor (so to speak) and actually gets to go to your classes!

You tweak my artistic nerves and make me restless. You stir up such a sense of longing to make something for the sheer joy of the process, that I can barely stand it. Just the thought of warm pots of beeswax ( or whatever it is you'd melt it in) almost makes me want to weep. And I keep coming back for more.

Thank you for letting me not forget that art is the journey.....no matter how your journey twists and turns, art exists as a state of mind. Art is.

Creepy or Cute: Your Call

2009-04-08T18:07:00.013-05:00

I work for an animal supply company. I spend my days writing and thinking about pets and their well being. It's not completely unheard of to be engrosed in my work and suddenly be brought back to life by something furry brushing against my leg or a slobbery face poking at my knee. It's a great way to spend the day.

That was at least, until these guys showed up.

I don't know if they are going to be window props or actually for sale or just lined up along the entry way to see who'll be the first to actually throw a ball toward them. It could happen. Actually, they're meant to be topiary forms and are densly packed sphagnum moss and wire. I can kind of envision them covered in ivy or trailing petunias. Almost. Sort of.

Truthfully, they make me think of the Shining.

And then there's the rabbit...whom one of my coworkers suspects of steroid abuse. So, I leave it to you; cute or creepy?

Digital Hybrid Scrapbook Project - Big Brother

2009-04-05T08:58:00.007-05:00

My boss welcomed a new son to her family Friday. She and her husband already have one unbelievably cute little boy, who is about to turn 5. I got the idea as I was picking up a baby card for them, that the new big brother needed something too. Surely, I thought , Hallmark has thought of new siblings.

Apparently they haven't.

So I created my own card. Searching for a theme, I came across this really cute digital scrapbook kit, Blastoff. If you like it, you'd better hurry and get it, right now until 04/07 its a blog train freebie.

The inside of the card, has the cutest little space dude and pals. It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but the banner he's holding says "Out of this World."

I really wasn't thinking space when I started this, but one look at the astronaut and I was hooked. The new big brother is also a red head. A match made in heaven, right?

Hear the Train A Comin

2009-04-01T19:37:00.004-05:00

There was a little delay in getting home this evening. Seems like the Union Pacific had their own adgenda and it didn't include my plans at all. I cross this piece of track twice a day, rarely am I stopped by the train. A couple of the cars behind me seem to be impatient, edging closer, trying to get a glimpse of the caboose. They didn't have much luck. This was one of the hundred long coal trains that are an every day occurance here. I don't mind at all. Waiting on the train reminds me to remember, to slow down and savor the stories of the past.

All the small towns in this area grew to prosperity and dwindled into shadows of themselves at the dictate of the railroad. Populations grew to provide the workers and services needed by major railroad round houses in Wymore and Fairbury. Even little Odell (above, pop 300 give or take) owes its location to the train. Years ago, Odell use to be located nearby but because of a change in the tracks demanded by the railroad, the entire town just picked up, buildings, kids, dogs, the works and moved to their current location.

When the glamour of railroads began to fade away, so too did the small towns. They didn't totally dissappear but they changed. The older folks have memories of busier days, prosperous downtowns and honky tonk nights. Somehow I doubt my own stories of past days will provide nearly the texture of these small towns. Suburbia, automobiles, fast food, television and life before the world wide web just doesn't seem to have the same texture.

Unpredictable March

2009-03-28T08:12:00.001-05:00

Here's how Southeast Nebraska is ending up the weather week. This week we have had sunny days in the upper 6o's, days that haven't gotten out of the 30's, tornadoes, foggy crips mornings and now snow. There are gorgeous,tender little green shoots coming up in the fields and farmers are turing the dark,burnt looking earth. One was actually burning off his fields this week as I was on my way home from work. And this morning, snow. For me, it's just a mental slap in the face. For others who have lived in this region longer than I, this is to be expected. One thing I have learned while living in farmland, farmers must never forget the ultimate power of Mother Nature and they have to be the most optimistic of souls to pin their lives on her whims.

Roadside Giants

2009-03-24T11:57:00.007-05:00

Here in Nebraska where I live, yesterday there were tornadoes in my part of the state and blizzards in the other side of the state. Work was nuts and my entire family must have had a bottle of crazy water. It's definitely time for a road trip.

Much of the personality of the US has been absorbed by massive chain stores, restaurants, look alike malls and developements. For some people, I suppose this is comforting and eases the anxiety that a move to a new location may bring. For me, it's not really comforting, it's distressing to know that individualism is dissappearing. Even if it is corporate individulism, it's still a loss.

Happily, there are still interesting things along the way, remarkable icons that haven't been zoned out of existance. Here are a few from my own travels.

This is the largest coffee pot in the US. It's just outside of Omaha, NE on I-80. It's 110 ft tall and use to be a water tower. I've heard that at some times, it actully "perks" and there's a flashing light in the top and steam from the spout. I drive by this one several times a year, maybe one of these days I'll see it perking along!

Next up, a glorious giant peach in Gaffney, South Carolina. It's out in the middle of nowhere and sort of looks like a big golf ball. It's always a lovely color. I think the painters in Gaffney should be complimented on how skillfully they have perfected the blush on this peach.

Proudly proclaiming itself as the peanut capitol of the world is Ashburn, GA. Heading to Florida on I-75, you can't miss it! It's probably a good thing that it doesn't emit a warm peanut aroma, cause in this part of Georgia all you're apt to find are boiled peanuts by the roadside and to someone not born in this part of the world, there's not much less appealing than boiled peanuts. Trust me on this one. I tried them. Once.

Finally, back north in Bemidji, Minnesota we have Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. How can you not love Paul...strong, dark, tall and handsome. Everything a folk hero should be. And Babe, well she's blue. She's a little crosseyed, but you can count on her.

Hit the road. See what's lurking in your world that refused to be covered in a facade of sand colored brick and stucco.

Princess Luna

2009-03-22T21:09:00.001-05:00

Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna

Project 52 Week 11 Photo Tag

2009-03-22T18:36:00.005-05:00

So my "evil" sister photo tagged me. I think most people don't care for seeing themselves in photos and I'm no exception. I don't know what deviltry happens inside the camera, but the person I always see in the photo sure doesn't resemble the person I see in the mirror!

But, I am a pretty good sport, so I'll play. Photo tag is all about on the spot photos. So although it's taken me three days to get it posted, here I am as I was "tagged". At work on a Friday afternoon.

Now, who do I tag....hmmm..... maybe my neice who's been missing from her blog for far too long. You know who you are! So whenever you read this, drop what you're doing and take a photo of yourself. Come out from behind that sewing machine and smile for the camera.

Congrats to Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

2009-03-17T12:26:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to Ree Drummond of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman blog! She won an astounding 3 awards in this years Best of the Web competition. The web's best blogs have been recognized for the last nine years with "The Bloggies". A geeky Oscar. She won for Best Photography, Best-Designed Weblog and Weblog of the Year.

I'm like thousands, soon to be millions I'm sure, who read this blog daily. I like spying on her life. 99% of her recipes inspire me to get creative. 100% of her photographs inspire me. She's my daily lunchtime companion and doesn't even know it.

Someday,I'll bet she becomes an Oprah guest. Then there will be the cover of People and Time. I hope it doesn't go to her head. Nah, she'll still be writing about dog kisses and cows.

Project 52 Week 10 Unexpected Surprizes

2009-03-15T15:09:00.007-05:00

This weekend, cabin fever was setting in again, the wonderfully rich sausage from Frank's in Wilber was gone and both the Viking and I could hear the kolaches we passed over on our last visit calling to us.

Isn't Wilber just the cutest little town?

Remember those inviting little kolaches from a couple of weeks ago? We decided to forego breakfast and have kolaches once we got to Wilber.

First surprize, they weren't really very good. The filling was delicious, but the roll part was just straight, bland white bread. I was expecting a richer roll, like a cinnamon roll. I don't know if this is a typical kolache or just the result of an uninspired baker, but it was a little dissappointing. I decided right then that a nice layer of cream cheese frosting would help redeem the poor little kolaches.

When we got home, I made the frosting and alas, it didn't help tremendously. The roll just wasn't that good. However, a loaf of homemade rye bread we picked up is fantastic. We still like Franks.

Still feeling adventurous, instead of heading straight home, we decided to head north on a road we'd never been. It took us through more of the same farmland that surrounds us, and we were happy with our adventure. Then the second surprize of the day! Driving past a rustic sign for Bluestem State Park, we saw this as we drove by.

We backed up on the road (remember this is the middle of nowhere farmland) turned into a gravel road and within seconds saw this.

A very large lake with a very large, very loud snow geese party happening. The migration is still in progress but we had no idea this lake existed.

It was a wonderful event to see, this stop over on their long flight. We got out of the car and just watched a bit. They're a chatty bunch. It really made me wish I had a better camera and a wide angle lens.

Project 52 Week 9

2009-03-08T14:07:00.005-05:00

So, I've gotten a little behind in my weekly image goal thanks to an impressively bad cold that's been trying to consume all my energies. It's managed to span a good part of almost two weeks and finally seems to be on the way out. I still don't sound it, but I am improving day by day.

I missed time from work and probably should have taken a couple more days off, but couldn't. So I did the next best thing, went to work, tried to keep my germs mostly to myself and head straight to bed when I got home. It's hard to be productive and creative when your brain and body seem to be moving through oceans of vaseline.

One unexpected perk of being so sick, gorgeous flowers from my daughter one day!

Project 52 - Wk 7

2009-02-22T19:52:00.006-06:00

We took a little field trip this week and ended up in a mini time machine. We'd heard there were still small meat markets nearby, in Wilber, Nebraska. Wilber is a charming little town that happily proclaims itself to be the Czech capital of the U.S.A. They host an annual festival that clogs the highways and swells the population of the area by thousands. Every one leaves with full tummies and lighter hearts full of music and ancestral pride.

Off "season" it's a modest little town with pretty facades and the most fabulously smoke scented air imaginable. Why? Well, Frank's Smokehouse is one reason. Close your eyes and imagine the best ever combination of wood smoke, cooking meat and spices and there you are. My apologies to vegetarians, this is carnivore country!

Although it's all about the meat here, there are some very cool pieces of kitchen equipment and that didn't come from some faux vintage kitchen kitch shop either. Check out that vintage coke machine. I'm guessing it's been in the shop for about 4o years. The old display cases remind me of the tiny general store in my grandma's little town when I was a kid. There's sausages of every description here, jerky, hocks... anything smoked you can imagine, I'll bet you'd find it.

We didn't get jerky this time, but we'll be back... this doesn't look anything like what's hanging near the check-out stand in WalMart. I don't think you'd see these guys in WalMart or Kroger either.

They also had some really good looking homemade bread and kolache. The smell of fresh bread and smoke in the air is almost criminal. I was wishing I hadn't just had breakfast when I spotted the kolaches. Kolaches? You never heard of kolaches? Fresh and still steaming up their bags. Almost made me wish I had a couple of kids at home to help eat up all the baked goods I wanted to buy. Not really, but almost! We did buy some smoked hocks (the Viking thinks it's time for some potato klub. We'll talk about that one later), some polish sausage, breakfast sausage, burgers and some Czech style potato dumpling that looks like a sausage thing to try. The butcher was cutting for fresh, gorgeous rib eye steaks for another customer, and we'll be back for some of those too!

One last thing that makes Frank's a totally unique little meat shop, is this little stash of hardware behind the register. At Franks, not only can you get meat and major sensory overload, you can also restock your ammo and buy a last minute anniversary gift for your man.

Splurging on Cats

2009-02-19T18:50:00.003-06:00

We share our lives with four cats. Our oldest is either 16 or 18, we can't quite remember exactly when we got him. His name is Secret and there's a story that goes along with that. You'll meet Secret on another day. Then there's Franny, Shadow and Luna. Luna's the baby at only 4 years old. Since we've slipped from middle class (according to recent gov't figures middle class is a lower end income of $60,000 which we haven't seen since 2003) to lord knows what we are today, aisde from furry neon mice and catnip, the poor dears don't get too many extravagant treats. That changed today when the Viking got turned loose in a Super Target, on his own, for the first time!

Isn't this a fun kitty gym? It came in a small box and goes together like tinker toys. Shadow was sitting on the sidelines watching, silently snickering as only a cat can when watching clumsy humans trying to put something like this together.

Mere seconds after we put it in place, Shadow strolled over and hopped right it. She's usually the last one to get any treats and the first one to get clobbered, so I was happy she got to scent mark it first! She's very small and easily intimidated. The large red column hovers about half an inch off the ground, but she didn't care and settled right in. Secret made is way over and she stayed her ground, making him leave.
Next up was the most timid, Luna. She started at the far edge and sniffed her way around, investigating thoroughly. She discovered Shadow still inside ( see her gray back side in the cubby?) and she also backed off. Score again for Shadow!

Shadow eventually decided to give it up for a couple minutes and Luna thought she might try out the cubby. She tested it's stability with one paw tentatively touching the floor of the cubby. It swayed slight and she took off like a shot! We further embarrased her by laughing quite loudly.

Only Franny hasn't checked it out, she's too busy holding the bed in place. She's the Queen of the family, so who knows what will happen when she decides to use one of the perches as a throne. Today, they're all living like royalty, and thanks to Target, the Viking doesn't have to work 6 more hours to pay for it!

Spring Geese Migration

2009-02-18T18:37:00.005-06:00

Spring is on the way! I saw two huge flocks of geese today, both heading north. I drive by a large rural pond on my way to work each day. This morning, the geese were in progress of just taking off as I went by. It was like being in a scene from The Birds. Amazing. Loud.

Then tonight, a second even larger flock was just passing over my home as I was approaching. There must have been thousands of them, hundreds of V formations in the sky. It's a wonderous thing to behold. This isn't my photo, but it could have been. I plan to have my camera out and ready to go on the seat beside me and maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get my own shot to share. I love a sky full of flying Vs.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:56:00.006-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! This lovely card is a 1907 Valentine postcard. The early 1900's were the height of holiday postcards with creative designs and original sentiment. I love the delicacy of this one. Although the celebration of a day set aside for love goes all the way back to medieval church celebrations (as it seems, all holidays do) the Valentine greeting card made it's first appearance in England during the 1840's.

By 1847, Valentines as we know them had jumped the pond and were becoming a successful business for Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts. She is credited for being the first commercial producer of embossed paper lace. According to a Wikipedia article on Valentines, Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received.

Victorian era lover's embraced Valentine cards with the same over enthusiasm they did any other form of art and design, if a little decoration is good, lots more is lots better! They produced some truly magnificent, frothy designs with romantic imagery of doves, cupids, roses, the works. They had breathtaking pop-up cards that are often replicated today.

When I was in grade school, in the 1960's, it was a tradition to have Valentine's parties at school. The American idea of fairness demanded that every child get a Valentine, to avoid crushing little 7 year old spirits. I really disliked giving Valentines to pesky boys, but at least it gave me something to do with the Valentine cards I really didn't care for!

We had fun parties thanks to lucky stay at home Moms who volunteered to be Room Mothers. My own Mom was always a Room Mother, and she did make sure we had fun parties at school with pretty treats. One of the best parts in my memory of Valentine's Day was getting to turn an ordinary shoe box into a magnificent, gaudy, flashy Valentine mail box. Some kids, without shoe boxes, used milk cartons. It didn't matter, they were all things of beauty. I wonder if kids still do that, or has modern life run right over that little joy and kids now have pink plastic mailboxes? Or worse yet, no Valentine's day parties at all for some politically correct reason?

The Better Angels of Our Nature

2009-02-12T09:42:00.005-06:00

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. In years past, it's been relatively easy to overlook this date, especially since Lincoln's birthday and George Washington's birthdays got jumbled together into one observation, President's day, for the convenience of workers everywhere.

When did we become too busy, too modern, too thoughtless to allow for the recognition of these transcendent men on days of their own? When did the significant, but truly individual guidance of these men cease to have value on their own?

On this historical anniversary, take a moment to consider the life of Abraham Lincoln. He endures, not just for the way he met challenges in his career that had never before been faced. He endures, I believe, because we feel he remained like us; flawed but doing our best to forge ahead into the unknown, because to stop is unthinkable.

Look at this man, how a short four years of agonizing choices is plainly written on his face. The top photo was taken in 1861, thought to be the first photo of Lincoln as president. The second, taken in 1865, is the last known portrait before his death.

Today, spend a little time at the Smithsonian's online exhibit, Abraham Lincoln, An Extraordinary Life. Read some of the articles and commentary at CNN's From Lincoln to Obama pages.

Perhaps one day we'll recognize Obama as one of those better angels, that remains to be seen. It is enough today, to know that better angels of our nature have existed and will continue to exist, for humanity could not survive without them.

A Sign of the Apocalypse

2009-02-08T20:41:00.005-06:00

I know the end of the world is actually nearing. I have an undeniable sign. See, I love chocolate desserts. Pies, cookies, cakes, mocha, brownies, if it's chocolate it's my number one pick. It's been since Christmas that I really indulged my sweet tooth in a big way, so when I saw a recipe entitled Baked Fudge on Pioneer Woman, I was revved up and ready to bake. Tonights dinner was going to end in warm, gooey chocolately goodness.
I followed the directions to the letter. I am an experienced baker and frequently go off the recipe, but I could tell this was one that I needed to stick to closely. I made the thick fudgy batter and loved the deep chocolate aroma. I had the ramekins in the waterbath, just as I should. The idea of breaking through a thin shell of a crust, to delve into warm chocolate heaven was almost unbearable.

The kitchen filled with that heady unmistakeable smell of baking chocolate. I whipped real cream into soft clouds, imagining how the cool creaminess would meld with the warm chocolate. I made some decaf, and knew the weekend would end on a high note.

I carefully eased my spoon through the crispy layer of crust, carefully loading my spoon with rich, gooey chocolate. I made sure I had a little whipped cream, to tease the tip of my tongue. It was going to be wonderful.

It wasn't. It was, well, way too much chocolate. I thought I must be wrong, took a sip of coffee and tried again. Ugh. I really didn't like the texture of the fudgy part. And it was still too sweet. This can't be. So I decided maybe I could salvage the night by just eating the super thin layer of crispy crust. Two more bites. It wasn't working.

How could this be? I've made several of PW's recipes and been happy with them all. Sinfully pleased with her chocolate sheet cake. Happily surprised with her weirdo Bacon Wrap Appetisers. Totally in love with Pastor Ryan's Spicy Orange FGarlic Shrimp . But this, this was just not fair. PW... I counted on you.

I finished off the whipped cream, drank the coffee and called it quits. It was unbelievable. The one and only chocolate dessert that I have rejected in 50 years.

I guess it's really not her fault, but that only leaves one other option. The world is coming to an end.

Project 52 #5 Yipes Stripes

2009-02-08T18:57:00.002-06:00

Zebras in Nebraska? In Beatrice,Nebraska? Yes indeed! I'm not a local, so I don't know why they're here, but they are here. Along with several bison, llama, elk and donkeys. Which just goes to show, never say anything is impossible.

Little Joys

2009-02-05T21:47:00.002-06:00

This is one of the little joys in my life. Notthing spectacular but, it makes me happy. I like rocks. They're all over my house. One of the best presents I received for Christmas this year was a bag of rocks. Pretty fancy rocks, but rocks all the same. Well, actually, crystals to be more exact. This is a large quartz formation from Arkansas. It's about 4 inches across, with lots of personality. There's some points with rainbow inclusions, some so incredibly small they barely qualify as points and then there are chunky fingers that reach out to grab you. The cluster is sitting on one of my honestly antique books that I love. Enough of worldly doom and gloom. Go find something in your home that brings you a little joy; then come back and tell me about it.

Weird Word Wednesday Rutabaga

2009-02-04T12:10:00.007-06:00

Today's word is not so much a weird word, as it is maybe an unusual word. I didn't think this was the case until yesterday when I overheard a conversation about making soup.

One cook insisted that no vegetable soup could be complete without rutabaga and the other had no clue what a rutabaga was. Certianly the use of rutabagas as food has fallen off as we are no longer reliant on only hardy root vegetables through out the winter, but to not know what this is at all?

So, if that could have been you, keep reading.

Rutabaga , (rōō'tə-bā'gə, rŏŏt'ə-, rōō'tə-bā'gə, rŏŏt'ə-) n.

In both senses also called swede, Swedish turnip.

1. A European plant (Brassica napus var. napobrassica) having a thick bulbous root used as food and as livestock feed.

2. The edible root of this plant.

So now you know what it is, you should also know that a rutabaga is one of the hardest substances known to cooks. Trying to cut this monster requires your heaviest chef's knife. And don't even think of trying to get away without peeling. It may be true that most of the nutritional goodies are in the peel, but it's not something anyone would want to ingest. Just trust me.

What do you do with it? Well, I do give in and add it in very small cubes to soup on occasion. Rarely. I hear you can mash it or serve it in a variety of tasty ways, in place of turnips. Since turnips aren't really in my daily recipe file, I'll take someone else's word for it.

I'm not advocating for rutabagas, but I do think people should at least know what they are.

Groundhog Day

2009-02-02T10:38:00.003-06:00

Today is Groundhog Day and in the little town of Punxsutawney, PA, an oddball rodent has garnered our attention just long enough to predict another 6 weeks of winter. Of course depending on where you live, it might have been Gen. Beauregard Lee, Woodstock Willie or Staten Island Chuck doing the prediction. And you know what, according to records kept since 1887, the predictions are about 40% accurate. How’s your local meteorologist compare to that?

So, how on earth did civilized people in two countries come to decided that a groundhog would be the ideal predictor of weather? Did you even know that Canada also has Groundhog Day? Well, they do.

It seems that Groundhog Day stems from a Western European, probably German, tradition that timed the emergence of hibernating bears or badgers to the end of winter. If the day was sunny, there would be six more weeks of winter. As immigrants always do, they had to make do with what they found in their new homeland. With a shortage of bears, they settled on big rodents.

That’s one theory anyway. More likely in my mind is the correlation of Groundhog Day to the ancient pagan traditions of Imbolic and Christian celebration of Candlemas on Feb 2. The ancient church adapted many pagan celebrations into their calendar, simply because they couldn’t totally get the newly converted pagans to give up their parties! Feb 2 is the day dedicated to the Irish pagan goddess Brigid and also the day ancient Christians recognized as the purification of Mary, 40 days following the birth of Jesus. The symbols of both celebrations involve purification ; candles, spring cleaning, turning over the fields to prepare for spring, fire, hearth, cleansing of the body and spirit. Conveniently, this day also comes midway between winter solstice and the spring equinox.

So, in a round- about way, Groundhog Day is the perfect day for a funny, goofy celebration in the middle of cold, dark season that almost always lasts another 6 weeks, but reliably dissolves into spring.

Project 52 - The road home

2009-01-31T21:45:00.005-06:00

I have a gypsy spirit. I don't know how I came by it, but it's as much a part of me as breathing. I always wonder what's over the hill, even when there is no hill. It's led me to have more than 13 addresses as an adult and I'm reasonably sure there's a couple more to come.

This shot was just before sunset, on my way home from work. I didn't think the camera would even focus, since I was driving and holding it with one shaky hand. I do love the traffic here.

Memories of Another Time

2009-01-26T19:41:00.008-06:00

My poor, frozen sister is home in Arizona again. She made good use of her time here.She came with the intention of visiting with our uncle and hopefully being able to scan the small number of family photos and documents he had collected through the years. Almost 1500 individual scans later, she breathed a huge sigh of relief and was done. With only one night's sleep and then off to the airport,she sure has earned her rest. I wish she could have stayed longer.

It will be a while before she manages to rename and organize her files, make an index and then bless everyone in the immediate family with this massively impressive archive of our Tollman/Anderson ancestors. For anyone who's interested, here's a tiny peek at the wonders to come.

Meet my maternal great grandfather, James Mundy Tollman,at age 17 in 1893. He's an ambitious young man, soon to become a western Nebraska homesteader in 1899. One day, he'll be father to four children. I wonder what he was thinking this day. He's certianly handsome, isn't he?

Project 52- Week 3

2009-01-25T14:03:00.002-06:00

Winter in Nebraska takes many forms; snow has it's own personality. This morning we awoke to a light, gently falling peaceful snow, just the kind of snowy memory my Arizona sister needed to take home with her. No harsh wind and a balmy 14°.This isolated scene is outside the town I live in and captures rural midwestern winter in my mind's eye perfectly.

We had plans to have brunch with relatives in a nearby town. On the way home we did a little detour to the small town where our Dad grew up. My sister hasn't had too much excitement on her visit; for most of the week either the Viking or I have been seriously flattened by a virus. Fortunately she's escaped and I recovered enough by Saturday that we did a little antique shop memory hunting and wandering around ancestoral stomping grounds.

Doorknobs

2009-01-18T18:48:00.004-06:00

It's funny how the littlest of things can elicit memories. Who would have guessed that both my sister and I would have such a fondness for old door knobs?

She's visiting this week and we were able to spend time in our grandparent's old home. It was built in the early 1900's as the Friendship Church of God, and became their home in 1951. Much of the house remains the same, all these years later, the things we remembered most as kids.

My sister and I were both elated that the elegant orignal glass door knobs we both remembered were still there. I honsetly expected to discovered that other relatives had taken them off. The home is still in the family and used as an office.

We grew up in a typical 60's era tract house. For me, at least, visiting the grandparent's on their farm became almost as much a trip to soak in more of the house as it did to see family.
This this most unusual house full of glass door knobs,
arched doorways and wooden trim was so different than my own, it was like venturing into another world. Today was a day for time travel.

Pink Glasses

2009-01-14T18:45:00.004-06:00

Aren't these the most fun glasses ever? Well, they are if you're a crazy cat lady! I think they may be the wildest glasses I've ever worn, and I've had some colorful one's since "readers" became a mandantory part of my wardrobe. These little beauties were tucked into my Christmas stocking by an equally crazy cat lady.

The way I see it, if you're going to be over 50 and have to wear readers over your contacts to use the computer or read anything, you might as well have a sense of humor about it all. Besides, the "meow,meow" and "here kitty, kitty" all over them distract everyone from noticing that the crinkles around my eyes aren't quite fulfilling the promises of renewal made by Oil of Olay, just yet anyway.

Project 52

2009-01-13T21:03:00.007-06:00

There's a lot of buzz these days about Project 365, Project 52 and others I can't even remember. They basically all boil down to the same thing, creating a photo record of your life. The photo a day Project 365 just sounds like too much to me so I'm going to go with the 52, one photo a week idea. Ideally, I'll get them digitally scrapped too.

I think it's interesting that all around me EVERYONE, whether I know them in person or just cruise their blog is getting turned on to doing more with their cameras this year. On almost the same day, my sister posted about her "my year of the camera", I enrolled in a photography class, a coworker started talking about buying a new camera, daughter and son-in-law started Flicker pools for their photo experiments. It's like a massive wave of photo-lust has swept the planet.

I pretty much take a photo every week (at least) anyway, so maybe it's cheating just a bit to do my normal thing and call it a project. Either way, its good. So, here are my catching up photos. Week one at the top of the page was on New Years Day. This is straight out of the camera, at the west end of the small city of Beatrice,NE.

Week 2, is this little organza blue angel. She's just the palest shade of blue imaginable. My sister has one almost exactly like her, only in pink. They came from my Grandma Opal. As we were told, they were package decorations on Christmas presents. Since my third sister doesn't have an angel, we had to have gotten them from 1957-1959. Mine is missing a little golden instrument of some sort, maybe a harp?

She doesn't like having her photo taken. I have taken 30 some shots of this ornament this season, ALL except this one have been awful, blurry despite even resorting to a tripod. Almost makes me wonder if someone wasn't sending me holiday wishes each and every time I focused on her, until this very last shot.

Back to School

2009-01-08T21:44:00.004-06:00

I'm back in school... in a fashion. When the community college booklet of continuing education classes came a couple of weeks back, I decided it was time to do something different this winter. An intro to digital photography seemed like just the thing. Once I decided to go, the Viking thought it might be an ok thing too.

So tonight after a quick dinner out we went to class. I expected this first class to not be very enlightening since I'm pretty savvy in digital terminology, file saving, pixels and resolution and tonight was starting from ground zero. I was right. I'm sure next week will be more interesting for me.

The class is a short one, only 6 hours, but I'm hoping to pick up some new ideas and hints.The instructor has been a professional photographer for 30 years. He's an interesting speaker and has an excellent way of explaining things like image compression in .jpg format and what lenses area actually doing. One new thing I did learn tonight, is that I prefer my photography education without religious commentary. 'nuf said.

So, wanna see my camera? It's not exactly point and shoot because it has full manual control, but it's also a great point and shoot. What I am hoping to get out of this class is an understading of it's capabilities and how to begin to use them. And some tips on better flash shots. Right now, I almost always turn the flash off because when I do use it the pictures are awful. Once I get this little guy mastered, I'll join the big leagues.

Anyway, this camera has

7.1 megapixels
6x optical zoom with optical image stabilizer
ISO 800
1 centimeter (.4-inch) Macro mode

It can handle additional lenses, and it's a rugged camera, great for me. I dropped it, lens down last summer on the pavement, and the only problem was the cute little lens bezel got dented and wouldn't stay on. I love this camera.

Weird Word Wednesday

2009-01-06T12:42:00.005-06:00

This one comes from a novel I'm reading, Lisey's Story by Stephen King. The word as he uses it, incuncabilla, isn't one I could find exactly, but it is how the main character hears the word.

I think the actual word is incunable or incunabulum, either of which is completely new to me, maybe you won't know it either.

in·cu·nab·u·lum , (nky-nby-lm, ng-) n. pl. in·cu·nab·u·la (-l)
1. Bands holding the baby in a cradle

2. A book printed before 1501; an incunable.
3. A work of art or industry of an early period.

Either way, it's certianly an unusual work, seeming to date to the 1860's in first use. Somehow, I don't quite see how it's going to come up in my daily writing, but what a killer word to know for a Scrabble game!

Computer Help

2008-12-31T19:53:00.000-06:00

When most people talk about getting computer help, they mean calling in a geek. A smarty pants kid next door, their relucant spouse, and in worst case scenarios, tech support from their computer vendors. Heaven save us from that. Over the course of the summer, my new computer and moving from XP to Vista with software and hardware issues to spare, meant literally days on the tech support "help" lines, at least 6 total reinstalls, with some problems still existing. If I pretend not to notice, they'll eventually fix themselves, right?

In my case, tech support better come equipped with a big bag of catnip.

Fruitcake

2008-12-31T12:18:00.003-06:00

Time to come clean... I like fruitcake. I especially like Grandma's Famous Fruitcake with Amaretto. I've tried baking my own fruitcake. It's expensive and more prone to being a 20 pound doorstop than a dessert. Take my advice, don't. Just buy Grandma's. I figure, if they've been doing it since 1917, their Grandma must have been a better baker.

There's a bakery outlet in my town, where it's made. It's half price right now. Guess where I'm stopping my my way home from work. Happy New Year.

Post Holiday Haze

2008-12-30T12:11:00.006-06:00

Does anyone else have a pair of mysteriously shrinking jeans? I mean, they fit just fine a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what happened. Maybe the cookie, candy, cheese, more cookies feeding frenzy of the last 2 weeks? Nah.... mystery jeans!

We made a mad dash to Texas for the holiday. Happily, with Christmas day being on Thurs, my work gave us Wed and Friday off, extending the weekend just as much as possible. It was a magical ride from sub zero daytime temps to balmy upper 70's for several days. Even more magically, we returned to the great white north to discover a freak warm spell had swallowed up all the snow! Now, that's Christmas magic!

The whole holiday was wonderful for me, starting with a fun hide & seek hunt for my Secret Santa gift at work. Not only was it fun to play games, look what a treat the gift was! I love my new camera phone! And I adore my retro new mug in a cool, funky color I never thought I'd like! Thanks Santa!

Solstice

2008-12-21T13:03:00.007-06:00

On this darkest, coldest and longest night of the year, Winter Solstice, we all need a little warmth, joy and light. Since I can not be with my family this night, I have virtual gifts to share.

Yesterday's toffee has become warm hearted gifts. These are going to friends at work tomorrow, and there is a secret message of love in this photo. I'm very pleased that my cutting skills have improved now that I have "middle aged" eyes and see better up close that I've ever seen in my life!

For my daughter, this memory...

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near.
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

And for you all, this song, Light is Returning .

Christmas Toffee

2008-12-20T20:48:00.011-06:00

I spent the day making candy, that is after I wapped presents and spent about an hour in 8° arctic,windy cold hacking away at over an inch of ice entombing my car. I broke my scraper... I guess it really wasn't meant to be used like a fireman's axe. When my ears started to burn despite a hood and hat, I decided to call it quits, done or not. A strong north wind will kill your ambition like nothing else.

So once I could feel my hands and ears again, I decided to have some fun. Making candy is fun. Now, I wish I had some secret ingredient that made this toffee recipe unique, but alas, I do not. This may be just about the easiest candy in the world to make. Which is a good thing, because once you start sharing it with your friends, you're going to be making it over and over. One year, I think I ended up making 10 batches and had requests for more.

Classic Toffee
1 cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup sugar
3 T. light corn syrup
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped (or ground) pecans or walnuts, optional

Before you get started, prepare a cookie sheet by either spaying with PAM or lining it with a parchment sheet. I like parchement, it makes life much easier when you're dealing with multiple batches. You'll also need to have a couple of hot pads or a towel under the cookie sheet, cause there's not much hotter than the molten sugar lava you're about to be dealing with!

After years of making candy in various pans, I've learned 2 things.
1. You always need a larger pan than you think you will.
2. Once you find the right pan for you, guard it with your life. Mine's a nice deep Revereware saucepot.

Lets's get started. Put the butter, sugar and corn syrup into a large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly as the sugar dissolved and melts into the butter. Now for my electric stove and my beloved pan, that means the number 4 setting.

Keep heating until the mixture begins to boil. It will be a light lemony yellow color for quite a while, and then it will start to thicken and you'll see it gradually turn light tan. Starting to understand the lava reference?

Now it's the most critical part of this whole process. If the phone rings, don't answer it! I'm not kidding, this next part goes fast. Trust me on this. DO NOT WALK AWAY.

Continue stirring this boiling molten sugar until it reaches 305°. If you're going to make candy, you need a thermometer. There's no messing around here, no eyeballing and praying. Adjust heat as necessary to avoid scorching. And keep stirring!

This will take about 20 to 25 minutes. By this time, the candy will be thick and will have turned a nice golden brown. See how the upper part of the candy has changed color, just a bit...that's the magical indicator of just right and 1 blink later, scorched beyond belief... and probably buying a new pan.

Notice how the pan is slightly off the burner? For me, it's easier to move the pan off and on the burner to help control the heat. And pay attention to how thick this candy is at this point, building up quickly on the indsides of the pan and looking like it could support life?

Remove from heat. Working quickly, pour the toffee onto the cookie sheet, spreading with a wooden spoon to desired thickness, generally about 1/4 inch thick. Don't be poky about this, you need to work fast to get it on the cookie sheet before your spoon is permanately cemented to your pan!

Immediately sprinkle the top with chocolate chips. You don't need to completely cover the top, just evenly distribute the chips. Wait a few minutes for them to melt.

Then, spread the melted chocolate across the hot toffee. I find this easiest to do with the back of a soup spoon. Be extra careful not to grab the pan, it's incredibly hot right now. If you're a nut person, now is the time to sprinkle the melted chocolate with nuts. Gently press then in place.

Cool toffee completely. Break into bite size pieces, and enjoy one of life's little pleasures.

It's really much easier to make than it is to talk about, so get in the kitchen!!!

Ok...so you want to do this NOW and you just don't have a candy thermometer. All is not lost. Do it the way your Grandma did, with the cold water test. Liquid sugar at the 305° range is referred to as "hard crack stage". That means that when a bit of molten sugar syrup is dropped into a glass of cold water, it will harden very quickly(in seconds) into a mass. Take it out of the cold water and you should have a nice snap or crunch when you test it's consistency.

Don't freak out about making candy. You are absolutely going to burn some batches. You'll have some candy that doesn't get cooked enough and stays too soft of gooey. It's o.k. It's part of the process. Actually, I think it's part of the master plan, to weed out those wanna be candymakers who only show up at Christmas time and never try it through out the year....oh, wait that's something else entirely. So, go for it. Make a mistake. Try it again. Then when you master it and you KNOW the magical moment when sugar become candy, you'll really have something to be proud of. And your family and friends will love you forever. Think of toffee as your little insurance policy!

The Santa Wars

2008-12-19T12:02:00.007-06:00

So, the Viking did not like that I think Santa lives in Finland. Even the proof did not convince him. So I went hunting to see what I could find. Santa claims Norway as his birthplace on his blog , but I'm still not convinced.

The Norwegian consulate Christmas page seems to want us to think so too, but I'm still not swayed. Where's their conviction? Oh! I forgot, they're Norwegian, so the conviction is frozen under a foot of ice. So I kept looking.

Being partial to Rein Poortvliet's illustrations of Gnomes, I hoped to find some clue there, but then I remembered that Poortvliet isn't Norwegian, so I had to fess up and admit that I really just liked looking at gnome drawings!

Back to the Santa mystery. I keep looking and here's what I've decided. Santa indeed lives in Finland, but since Norwegian kiddies leave glogg or Christmas beer instead of milk, he goes to Norway to party. Need some proof ? I warn you.. you'll never think of Santa in the same way again. Santa dancing the Norwegian Boot Dance.

Nuts for Christmas info?

Santa Lives in Finland

2008-12-19T10:54:00.003-06:00

Do you believe?

Here's proof.

Snowy Day

2008-12-16T16:48:00.005-06:00

It started in the wee hours this morning and has been snowing all day. The first snow of the season is pretty and it's easy to have wistful romantic thoughts of winter wonderlands. As I was making my way to work this morning in the balmy -2° along the highway that had not been plowed, in the dark with only my headlights illuminating the icy crystals, I actually liked the sparkle of snow falling.

Fast forward 7 hours to when I had to brush off 4 inches of snow from my car before I could head home, and the romance is over. I changed gloves midway to keep my hands dry. I changed one more time when I was done to keep my hands warm on the way home. It doesn't seem silly any more to have about 6 pair of gloves in my car.

I confirmed something today too, about living in Nebraska. It's too wicked cold when even the cows have snow building up on their backs!

What does -9 degrees look like?

2008-12-15T20:14:00.003-06:00

Ever wonder what -9° looks like? Are you crazy? I would actually be quite happy not really knowing the answer to this question, but here it is. -9° in all its glory.

Frankly, I could have gone my whole adult life without knowing how it FEELS, but it is sort of pretty. Did you know that if you combine -9 with a pretty stong wind, it actually becomes just like -22° and schools even close? And that your steaming hot coffee in the very good thermal mug will become a tepid memory of coffee in less than 10 steps from your door to your car?

Me either. But it does. A friend at work told me today that it can also freeze your pillow to the window if you sleep too close to -9. That's just not right.

Cell Phone for Soldiers

2008-12-14T16:26:00.005-06:00

The Viking gave me the spiffiest new phone for Lucia Day! It's my first camera/mp3 phone, its RED and most importantly, I can read the blasted thing without my reading glasses!

That left me pondering what to do with the old phone. Or more correctly, the 4 old phones that have been living in a drawer for the last couple of years.

I found Cell Phones for Soldiers. They take your old phones and turn them into free calltime for deployed service people. Check out their site for other service relief projects too.
So, who needs old phones? They do. They even pay postage.

Happy Lucia Day

2008-12-13T14:42:00.002-06:00

The start of holiday festivities in my home is Dec. 13, St. Lucia Day. This tradition started when our daughter was about 4 or 5 and just couldn't stand waiting until Christmas for gifts. I learned about St. Lucia's celebration from ladies in my church group at the time, with strongly Scandinavian backgrounds. Since my own Viking didn't come with any family holiday traditions, except the one about monster potato balls which we'll talk about some other day, I decided to adopt Lucia as one of our own. There's some Swedish, I think in my own ancestery, so Lucia became the bringer of the holidays for us.

In Sweden, Lucia Day is celebrated in a big way. St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name.

December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old Julian calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.

St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are evergreen and symbolise new life in winter. There are parades, feasts and other celebrations.

In families, the youngest daughter traditionally dresses as Lucia, and awakens the family bearing special saffron breakfast rolls. Our Lucia had a crown of battery operated candles; can you imagine putting real candles on top of a squirmy 5 year old! When I didn't work, I'd bake cinnamon rolls for her to wake Daddy with. And then there was a present for everyone.

Over the years Lucia Day evolved into cooking baking day. One year at a craft show I came across this Lucia doll. She makes her appearance one day a year, this year she's got a peppermint Oreo! Lol... no little Lucia's anymore. I like Lucia day because it blends so nicely our older Christian traditions with our more current worldly religious beliefs. We still give each other a gift on Lucia Day. Now it's holiday time! How does your family mark the beginning of your holiday season?

Mystic Seaport Christmas

2008-12-12T12:07:00.003-06:00

I spent most of my childhood and teen years living in a small town next to Old Mystic, Ct.
.ow that I live in a totally landlocked state, I realize just how much I miss the romance of the sea, even if it is just in the memories of wooden sailing ships.

Mystic Seaport is located in Mystic proper, always my favorite memory of living in the area. Each holiday season, the Seaport has a living history event, Lantern Light Tours, an evening walk through the historically correct, recreated village of Greenmanville. As you step back in time to a whaling village of 1876, visiting various merchants and families, you'll find yourself wishing for a simpler time and maybe, you'll even begin to find some meaning in the holiday season beyond the number of gifts under your tree.

Or maybe you'll really be thankful for the almost instant heat in your car and the warm homes we take for granted. And glad you weren't the homemaker, ropemaker, whaler or sailor in that long ago time when bone chilling cold and the smells of living weren't always as nice as gingerbread.

If you're in the New England area, try to go. It's really special. If you're far away as I am, hop on over to the web site, watch their video and rejoice in the internet.

Weird Word Wednesday

2008-12-10T18:33:00.006-06:00

Here's one every crossword puzzler needs to know!

pachynsis - pă-kĭn'sĭs)n. A pathological thickening of a bodily organ, tissue, or structure.

pa·chyn'tic adj.

Now, don't you want to know what the heck I was writing about at work to come across this one!

The elephant has nothing to do with it, execept for the root of the work, which looks like it should come from pachyderm. I just think it's so joyful I wanted to share a smile.

Perfect Winter Soup

2008-12-08T19:30:00.013-06:00

It's cold and windy where I live, definately soup weather! I love making soup and usually it's a weekend activity, because I love the whole process and like to do it all from scratch, including making stock or the broth. But, when you don't get home from work until 6 pm and you MUST have real soup, there's always a way to find shortcuts in the kitchen and still have a great warming meal. You'll have this on the table in about 40 minutes or less. Gosh, now I sound like Rachel Ray!

Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels is a traditional, hearty Amish soup that warms you body and soul. I learned to make this soup at a church soup supper in Rosedale, MD. It's got quirky little Rivels, that I just adore. They're like random bits of noodle dumplings floating in your soup, but tons easier than making old fashioned noodle. This recipe perfectly divides in half, important to know if your family is only 2 people like mine. This is one chewy soup. Let's get cooking!

Shortcut Chicken Corn Soup

Ingredients
1 store bought rotisserie chicken,meat removed or about 2 cups of cooked chicken
1 pk (20-oz) frozen corn
3 qt chicken stock ( 2 boxes of good chicken broth/stock )
8 tablespoons butter
1 sm onion; peeled, chopped
4 ribs celery,sliced thinly
1Bay Leaf
2 cans (17-oz) creamed corn

Ingredients for Rivels
2 Eggs; beaten
2 c Flour
1 pinch Salt

Soup Garnish
4 Hard boiled eggs; peeled & diced or sliced
1 tb Chopped parsley

Instructions for Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels

In a large soup pot, melt the butter. Add in the celery and onion and cook slowly until softened, but not browed. If you don't already have hard boiled eggs, get them started now. Or wait until you decide if you really want them and do them micorwave style at the end. I'll tell you how later. Add the broth and bay leaf. Simmer broth and vegetable about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Add the package of frozen corn kernels.

Time for Rivels!

Rivels are pretty straight forward and I don't think anyone can mess them up! Not even the most kitchen challenged. In fact, this is the perfect, no fail soup!

Here's the Rivel ingredients again.

2 Eggs; beaten

2 c Flour

1 pinch Salt

Stir the flour and salt into the beaten eggs. It's going to be dense and gluey, but that's ok. If it's really dry and you don't have nice clumps of dough forming like in the picture, add just a teeny bit of water. You don't want it wet, but it does need to clump. It should get too messy for your spoon and you start thinking you should have done this with your hands. That's good! In fact, that is just when the dough is perfect! Get those fingers in there and work out your frustrations.

Now the fun part..... with your broth just simmering, grab up a handful of rivel dough. Roughly pinch off little bits, no larger than an inch, and drop them into the soup. I like them best when I've somewhat flattened the little rivel before I've dropped it in, so it's like a fat noodle chunk. They kind of look like clouds in your soup.

They only take a couple minutes to cook depending on their thickness. If you like a little more chew to your soup, make rivels a bit thicker.

Adding the rivels really thickens the soup, keep your heat low so you don't scorch the bottom or have your broth cook off! Almost done. By the time you've added your last rivel, it's time to add in the cans of creamed corn and the chicken meat.

Now you've got to consider this garnish business. The soup if perfectly fine right now. In fact its significantly better than just fine. The traditional garnish is a bit of sliced or diced hard boiled egg and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. I almost never have fresh parsley, so you know that's not going to be on the top of my soup. But I do like the egg finish.

The Viking does not like hard boiled eggs, so it hardly seems like the electricity and water it takes to hard boil 1 egg is worth the effort. I do mine in the microwave. Have you ever tried it? Just crack your egg into a microwavable cup, I usually use a measuring cup, and nuke it for between 25 and 30 seconds. The egg pops right out and you can chop up all the egg garnish you want!

Taste the soup for seasoning, you may want to add a bit of salt. I always add pepper and a splash of Tabasco.Usually the stock and canned corn is salty enough for me, but I do sometimes add about a teaspoon smoked paprika, but that's just me and not at all traditional to this soup.

Of course, if you were lucky enough to find this on your kitchen counter when you came home from work with thoughts of soup on your mind, then the ideal garnish becomes apparent. Who wants to come have dinner at my house?

Peaceful

2008-12-06T23:22:00.005-06:00

For one reason or another, we haven't had a Christmas tree for several years. This year, it was time for a tree again. I am entranced with the glow of the lights. When the rest of the room lights are dimmed and I take my glasses off, I am in a gaussian blur world of warm, glowing orbs.

It's the upside to insomnia.

Weird Word Wednesday

2008-12-03T12:11:00.005-06:00

Today's word has nothing to do with weird words I come across in my work. Today's word comes from the music I'm listening to lately: Brobdingnagian Bards , Celtic music to lift your spirits. Plus, one of the bards, Marc Gunn, has the only Celtic music podcast devoted to cats that I've ever heard! How can you go wrong?

BROBDINGNAGIAN

Pronunciation: \ˌbräb-diŋ-ˈna-gē-ən, -dig-ˈna-\ marked by tremendous size
Function: adjective or noun

Etymology:
Brobdingnag, imaginary land of giants in Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift
Date: 1728

Night Sky Smiley

2008-12-02T18:58:00.003-06:00

If you lived in the Southern Hemisphere, you got a treat last night - a celestial smiley! For those of us in the cold north, it's still a pretty spectacular sight. We've had clear skies, so I've been able to planet gaze. I wish my camera could capture this.

That's Venus and Jupiter keeping company with Luna. An event that won't happen again until 2052. I'll be 97...hope I get to see it then.

Spirit Photography Video

2008-12-01T20:29:00.005-06:00

Found a really well done video on YouTube, The History of Sprit Photography. If you enjoy this video, please go to the creator's YouTube page and let him know.

Its a Cat Thing

2008-12-01T20:08:00.001-06:00

What is it about a keyboard that some cats find irresistible? I have four cats, three of whom don't care a bit about my desk. Then there's Frannie, who didn't care at all about it either until about a month ago and now she's making up for lost days. As soon as I sit down, she comes from wherever she is and leaps on the desk. She'll even wake up from a NAP (she's a champion sleeper). She's very determined and no matter how many timess I toss her off, she jumps right back up and will inisist on head butting my hand if I continue trying to decide who gets the keyboard.

If I really need my whole desktop, I have to close the door to the room.

She hates that.

We've compromised. She mostly just leans on the very edge of the keyboard now, and only tried to eat the mouse cord when she thinks I'm not looking..or when she's successfully slid something off on the floor to distract me before she pounces on the mouse's tail.

She also thinks the ideal place to sleep is under the covers with just her nose peeking out. It's a cat thing.

Insomnia

2008-11-30T04:01:00.002-06:00

It's 4 am. I've been up since 3. Not by choice. This has been happening every night for the last month, and I don't know why. On week days, it's a real problem because I have to get up at 6 and go to work. I don't have any problem going to sleep, it's staying there that seems to be impossible. At least today is Sunday, I'll be able to go back to bed and sleep eventually.

I'm tired. I know all the things you're suppose to do and not do to promote healthy sleep. My bedroom is cool. I keep to a bedtime routine. I don't eat within 3 hours of going to bed, because I do have GERD and it's bad, bad,bad to violate that rule. I don't drink anything other than a few sips of water after 6:30 pm and no caffeine past noon. No alcohol. I also have RLS, medication takes care of that but I'm still not sleeping through the night. I don't have pain issues.

It's dark in my bedroom. My husband uses a CPAP machine and still occasionally snores, so I always sleep with ear plugs. That's not the issue. I don't break any of the sleep rules and yet, somewhere between 2:30 and 3, I wake up. The hamster wheel in my brain is going overtime and all I want to do is sleep.

Thanksgiving for Pets

2008-11-28T12:37:00.003-06:00

Wondering what do to with all those leftovers. Giving pets tablescraps isn't the best idea for the pet as there's generally way too much fat and salt in leftovers.

Here's a couple of ideas, approved by our vet at work.

Turkey Supreme (for cats)
Makes 4 servings
1 turkey breast, cooked and chopped fine
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/4 cup spinach, diced
1/2 cups green beans, diced
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
No-salt chicken broth
Combine turkey, carrots, spinach and green beans. Add rice and enough chicken broth to bind ingredients. Cool until mixture is lukewarm and serve.

Lazy Turkey Loaf (for dogs)
Makes 6 servings2 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup cooked vegetables
1 teaspoon garlic powder*
1 egg
1/2 cup quick-cook barley
1 cup quick-cook oats
4 ounces canned no-fat gravy
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl combine turkey, vegetables,garlic powder, egg, barley and oats. Mix thoroughly. Spoon into a greased loaf pan
and pat down meat mixture until level. Spread gravy on top of loaf and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cool and cut into six even slices.
Store unused portions in refrigerator.
* Garlic powder in small amounts is not considered dangerous to dogs.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T11:45:00.001-06:00

It's finally happened, a store employee has been killed in the annual insanity known as Black Friday. I've never understood the mass chaos of Black Friday. It's not like we live in a country where we must act like wild beasts to get the only loaf of bread in the market. Sure, the store may have limited quantities of the "it" item, but you'll surely find an acceptable alternative. Or wait a couple weeks for more inventory to arrive. Maybe you will pay another $5 for it, but you won't go giftless.

Maybe it's my past in retail management that makes me especially scornful of this Black Friday nonsense. Stores opening at 4 am, people acting like starved lunatics, media outlets hyping the mania. We should be ashamed of ourselves, for condoning and encouraging the retailers who incite and take advantage of the herd mentality.

Taste of Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T17:21:00.004-06:00

We have a pretty normal Thanksgiving feast. This year, for the first time in about 8 years, it's just the Viking and me for dinner. I seem to not be able to cook in very small quantities, so we'll be having reruns for a while. It's all good.

I know there are people who don't care for cranberry sauce. Not me, I love the sweet tart cranberry taste. I prefer Cranberry Orange Relish, made with raw cranberries, over the cooked varities. I got my bag of berries out of the fridge this morning to make my relish to discover that Ocean Spray no longer puts that recipe on the bag. Thank goodness for the Internet. I've decided to share it here, so I'll never loose the recipe again!

So how about you - cooked or raw? C'mon, cook ( or actually don't cook ) along with me, it's super easy. You can do it.

Cranberry Orange Relish

You need 1 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries. Pick through them, removing any that are mushy, wrinked or just creepy looking. Rinse them off. You'll also need an orange, sugar and cardamom, which we'll get to a little later.

Cut the orange, rind and all, into 8 segments. You don't have to be fanatical about it, but try to get them pretty evenly sized. And yes, I really mean the rind... I promise it will not kill you. Really. Place 4 orange segments and about half of the raw cranberries into a food processor. If you don't have a super spiffy food processor, you can do with with an old fashioned food grater, but if I were you and I wanted to make this, I'd go splurge on a food processor....even the tiny little ones will do this job. You'll just have to work in smaller batches. Alternatively, you might as well sit down with the old food box grater and watch the parade while you shred your fingertips.

Ready to move on? I thought so. Pluse the blade several time until you have a medium textured gind going on. Actually, grind it as fine as you like it. I just prefer this size. And yes, you will have bits of visible orange peel that you can actually eat. Be brave. It's wonderfully fresh.

When the first half is processed, repeat with the remaining orange sections and cranberries. Move all the goodies into a bowl. As you can see, I am quite partial to this gigantic measuring cup.

Now we've got to add some sweetness to all this tarty goodness. The standard recipe calls for 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar. I really only use 2/3 cup sugar, but I like it tart. I was toying around with the idea of a little maple syrup at this point, but decided against it. Lemme know if you try it.

It's at this point that I go a little crazy and deviate from the traditional method of cranberry relish prep. Not only do I like it slightly more tart than sweet, I love a hint of spice. It really heightens the cranberry orange taste for me. So, if you're a wild woman too, now's the time to add from 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of spice. I prefer cardamom but I think cinnamon or corriander would be nice too.

Now, just mix together, cover and refrigerate for several hours. If you plan better than I do and get this made the night before, not only do you get a gold star and the turkey leg, you'll get a mush more magical flavored cranberry orange relish. I didn't plan well this year, so we get the immature vintage. I still love it.

This recipe makes about 3 cups. It survives quite nicely for several meals. It's also an outstanding accompaniment for pork and chicken dishes. Plus, it's great mixed with cream cheese and spred on toast, or mixed into pound cake batter, pancakes... you get the picture.

Yummm... don't tell anyone but I like this better than the turkey!

P.S. I've heard rumors that some people like nuts in this relish. If that sound good to you, go for it. I think pecans might be best, but it's your relish; do what you like. Happy Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Orange Relish
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries

1 orange

2/3 - 1 cup sugar

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, cinnamon or corridaner.

Rinse and remove any spoiled cranberries. Cut the orange into 8 segments with the rind attached. Place half the cranberries and 4 orange wedges into a food processor. Pluse 4 or 5 times. Remove and process the remaining cranberries and oranges.

Place ground cranberries and oranges into a bowl. Mix with sugar and add the spice if you like that idea. Mix well, cover and refrigerate 6-12 hours. Best flavor develops when made the night before. Makes about 3 cups.

2008-11-27T17:13:00.001-06:00

New Word Wednesday

2008-11-26T14:57:00.004-06:00

I love words. I love word games, crossword puzzles, hangman, Jeopardy, criss-cross puzzles, anagrams, scrabble ; you name it and I'm up for it.

In my job, there is some very specific vocabulary and I'm always learning new words. Joy! Often, when looking up a new technical word, I learn some new word that's totally not related but gets in my head anyway.

Starting today, I'm going to share my new words with you. Introducing New Word Wednesday!

Today's discovery:
Chickabiddy
Chick"a*bid`dy\, n. A chicken; a fowl; also, a trivial term of endearment for a child.syn. child, bud, chick, juvenile, kid, moppet

In short, a term of endearment for something that's just too darn cute for real words!

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road?

2008-11-25T21:14:00.005-06:00

Do you think these ladies know how exceedingly dangerous it is to be strolling the highway at this time of year? Do you think they've ever given hunter Elmer Fudd a single thought? These ladies wander the roadway on my way to work. They have a nice little thicket they seem to live in and absolutely no fear of traffic. Apparently, they've not seen what can happen when turkeys go wandering where they shouldn't!

That reminds me, I need to go grocery shopping for our feast or offer a really tempting bribe to the Viking.

Lights in the Dark

2008-11-24T18:51:00.004-06:00

Holiday lights started appearing in town last week. It's been unseasonably warm and perhaps smart homeowners are taking advantage of decorating the roofline when it's 40 degrees instead of 20 degrees. At least that's what I thought until I spoke with my daughter and sister who both live in warmer southern states; they are seeing lights go up too. Christmas lights before Thanksgiving?

I think it's a reaction to all the bad financial news lately. I think we're all just so weary of the continual dismal future outlook, plunging financial markets and uncertianty over the future, that we're eager for some twinkling little lights to brighten our spirits. I know they've started to help my own.

I've been in a bit of a funk lately as we've gotten closer to Thanksgiving. I've been reliving this time last year with my father's surgery, our last Thanksgiving and moving forward to Christmas and his unexpected death. I'd been doing fine, then the tear jerker, happy family Christmas commercials started about 2 weeks ago and I took a nose dive.

Just as I was really starting to worry about myself, the lights started appearing. Now this may sound completely childish and superficial, but the sporadic lights and holiday decor have helped.

Bright lights shining against the deep twilight sky are just as beautiful as they'll be in a few weeks with snow partially covering them. Maybe even more so.

They bring me happiness and I have learned that happiness can not always be explained and never questioned; only enjoyed in the moment.

Snoozy

2008-11-23T17:23:00.003-06:00

Ever notice how snoozing cats are almost as hypnotic as a small baby sleeping on your shoulder? This is Shadow. We rescued her from a warehouse where she'd be found. She was so timid that she spent almost all of the first 2 years we had her hiding under furniture. She didn't know what to make of other cats and the dogs we had at the time.

Moving to a different home opened her world. When everyone was unsettled, she was finally able to have a little courage and we could get to know her. One of our older cats decided to pick on her and when she almost died from a sneak attack, she became the "back of the house" cat. We had doors on our hallway and kitchen entrances, and we were able to block off the bedrooms. That wasn't the best solution, but it worked. I've since learned that in a group of cats it is not unusual for one to be the bully and one to be the pariah. Unfortunately, she's still quite timid and is physically a very small, almost kitten size cat.

The bully died before our next move. With that next move, Shadow really came into her own. Oh, there was another cat who decided to become the bully, but he wasn't as motivated as the first one. Bully 2 was a lot older. Plus, she was able to stick up for herself a bit more.

Now, she is completely at ease around the rest of the family and boy, does she have a lot to tell us. We've never had such a vocal cat as little Missy Shadow. Yak,yak,yak all day long...with the most annoyingly whining cat voice possible. She's now our constant companion, everywhere... like she's glued on! Oh, and sometimes, she's incredibly silly, sleeping with her tongue out.

Remembering

2008-11-11T22:45:00.000-06:00

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T12:21:00.005-06:00

Veteran's Day is a day of remembering and saying Thank You to the men and women who protect our freedom. It's thanks to them that we have the right, as Americans, to be wrong, stupid, make bad choices and then start all over again. It's thanks to them that when the worst hits us, we can stand and bear the burden.

I am from a military family. At times, in my youth, my military focused upbringing made me uncomfortable with the pull of my generation to an anti-military stance. When friends from school became casualties of war, it was difficult to reconcile the sorrow of loss with the dedication to duty. I understood both.

Recently a discussion on what is patriotism has really made me give thought to this issue again. I'm still not entirely sure just where my understanding of patriotism is, as a philosophical stand, but I do know that my deep regard and respect for those who serve is not lessened by the questions in my mind.

It is because of them, the young men and women who serve , that I am allowed to question. I am allowed to discuss the unpopular. To the patriots in my family, to the one's I'll never meet.. Thank you for our freedom.

Vintage Spirit Photography

2008-10-30T20:47:00.024-05:00

Spirit photography was all the rage in the late 1860's. The Spritualist movement was a new and powerful force for people who were terrified and unsettled by their times. It wasn't just in America, where the national heartache following the Civil War over the unheard of loss of life, where Spritualism took root. It became a very real presence in England, where it remains an active religion today. Here in the US, American Spritualism is also a current religion, although much smaller in force and often considered a "fringe" religion by the mainstream.

The American Museum of Photography has a wonderful collection of spirit photography of the era, Do You Believe?, The preeminent spirit photographer of the day was William Mumler.

He understood how to combine the mysteries of technology with mysteries of the sprit, and his photographs are the result. The wonderful old home entertainment stereoscope even had it's fair share of 3D spirit photos.

Today, we look at them and see the intentional double exposure, the rough manipulations and shake our heads at anyone who could have been duped by these crude photos.

We have difficulty understanding how learned men such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed they were real enough to write a book supporting the phenomena as recent as 1923. Of course, he was also taken in by the Cottingley Fairies, so maybe it's not so surprising!

I invite you to take a break from today's reality and wander through this wonderful gallery, set your 21st century logic aside and enjoy these photos for what they were. They remain a curosity of a distant time.

If you get as captured by them as I have, you'll be pleased to know there are many, many examples of old spirit photography on the web. There is a nice private collection of photos at Flickr. Also at Flickr is a Vintage Spirit Photography group with a nice collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an interesting small exhibit. Beyond the Grave, is an exhaustive exhibit on Mumler, spirit photography and an introduction to Spiritualism of the era. An excellent bibliography of Spirit Photography has been put together at this collector's site, Brightbytes.com.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-27T13:36:00.010-05:00

I loved Halloween as a child. We lived in a typical sixties new suburban development with hundreds of school age kids. My sisters and I would join forces with friends to form small bands of gypsies, pirates and clowns and we'd hit as any homes as it took to fill our huge Halloween treat bags. They were as big as the shopping bags department stores use now. And fill them we did, sometimes until the bottoms dropped out!

We'd come dragging home, bodies tired but totally jazzed on all the candy we'd eaten en route...it was still safe then to eat unknown candy in the dark! Once home, we'd spill the candy out infront us like it was gold. Then back into the bag to be fiercely guarded by the head of my bed until morning. I think my mother raided our bags in the night and certianly once we were in school the next day! My favorites were Sugar Babies and candy cigarettes.

Last year was the first year that no witches, spooky ghosts or fairies came to my door. I missed them. There was nothing to do but console my self with a bag of Junior Mints. Tell me about your Halloween memories. Hope you enjoy this little treat I made for you.

Beautiful Fall Wedding

2008-10-04T18:53:00.003-05:00

Today we went to a lovely wedding. I work with the bride and both she and her husband are warm, giving people. I was happy to be invited! Look at that gorgeous dress! My camera was acting weird and running low on power, so I didn't get any really crisp pictures to do this justice. Everything you see as white scrolls, was really heavily encrusted beading. The hem and bodice were beaded the same. They were a perfect fairy tale couple. His tie was a pretty sky blue.

This bride is one creative gal, on a very low budget she and friends transformed a church basement into a lovely fall fantasy. Dimmed lighting made photos difficult, but created such wonderful ambience.

It's been 8 years since we were at a wedding. Some things have changed. Like guests showing up in jeans. Bridesmaids in flip flop type sandals, mini brides ( a tradition in this area I think, but new to me), big red N's on the cake to show support for a football team.

But the important things, nothing changes them. A public commitment, the groom beaming at his bride, the bride seeing all things good - love, hope, joy when she looks at the groom. Warm memories of other weddings in the pews, as you watch older couples touching hands, shoulders. Nope, nothing's changed about that.

Get out your wedding pictures. Stop living in today for just a moment and really remember the day of your own fairytale.

Nostalgia Smilin Through

2008-10-03T23:26:00.004-05:00

One of the dim,sweet memories I have of childhood is of a distinctive song Mom use to sing as a lullabye. I was reminded of it tonight when I happened across an image of the sheet music on an vintage image group at Flickr. It's so sentimentally sad, I wonder now why it was her song of choice for sending us to sleep. Maybe it was the blues eyes, how she coped with missing Dad's. Maybe it's what fostered a deep melancholy that has been with me always. Maybe I'm just up too late and need to go to bed.

SMILIN' THROUGH

There's a little brown road windin' over the hill
To a little white cot by the sea
There's a little green gate
At whose trellis I wait
While two eyes o' blue
Come smilin' through at me

There's a gray lock or two in the brown of the hair
There's some silver in mine too, I see
But in all the long years
When the clouds brought their tears
Those two eyes o' blue
Kept smilin' through at me

And if ever I'm left in this world all alone
I shall wait for my call patiently
For if Heaven be kind
I shall wait there to find
Those two eyes o' blue
Come smilin' through at me

Inspired by the Broadway play "Smilin' Through" (1919)
(Arthur A. Penn)

Richard Werrenrath - 1919
Georgia Stark (feat. in the film "Smilin' Through") - 1932
Jeanette MacDonald (Film Soundtrack) - 1941
Vera Lynn (with Jay Wilbur & His Serenaders) - 1941
Richard Tauber - 1941
Webster Booth - 1942
George Morgan - 1961
John Gary - 1964
Cleo Laine & Dudley Moore - 1982

Also recorded by:
Nelson Eddy; Judy Garland; Lesley Garrett; Jo Stafford;
Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Richard Crooks; Gracie Fields;
Wayne Shorter Quartet; Benjamin Luxon; Charles Kullman;
John Charles Thomas; Kentucky Minstrels; Arthur Tracey;
Robert White; Anthony Kearns; Ginny Simms.

Historical Cookbooks

2008-09-07T14:13:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about food as the connective link between generations of families.

Today, I learned about this very cool preservation project, Feeding America. It's an archive of 76 influential American cookbooks from the late 1700s to early 1900s. It's hosted at the Michigan State University Museum and Library, where you can read and download scans of each book.

There's also a cool gallery of antique cooking utensils and kitchenware, with photos and descriptions of everything from cake boxes to ceramic pickle crock pots.