Quote of the Day

2.29.2008

off with my hair!

I whacked it all off. I am sporting a chin-length bob which we all agree is flattering and is also 'not me'. The problem is that it is a sporty cut, and I am not at all sporty.

As best as we recall, I haven't had it this short since I was seven and my Grandmother imposed a haircut upon me much to my dismay.

Fortunately my hair grows very quickly and My Gift and I think a shoulder-length bob will be just right.

~Suzanne

Friday Poetry: Who is Sad? by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Who is Sad?

Who is sad and who is sorry?
Not the seagull flying high,
not the wren, brown as earth is,
not the bumblebee buzzing by,
not the cat upon the doorstep,
not the dog beside the gate --
they are neither sad nor sorry,
proud, ashamed, on time, nor late.
~ Elizabeth Coatsworth







Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.





:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by Kelly Fineman.

~Suzanne




2.28.2008

a history lesson I could enjoy


Though I love the stories of history -- the adventures and peoples and dramas, I have no head whatsoever for dates and am always getting eras mixed up. I've stumbled upon an interactive timeline of British history that makes sorting it all out possible.


~Suzanne


2.27.2008

works for me: corded phone

Remember when phones had cords that connected them to the wall? I've hung onto one in spite of my anti-clutter campaign because it is such a pain to rig up a cordless system when trying to diagnose faulty wiring (old house, remember?).


During the last power outage, I discovered another reason to hang onto one corded phone. They work even when the lights are out! Works for me!

~Suzanne

new money



~Suzanne




2.26.2008

hairballs & houserabbits


If you have house-rabbits, you need this item.

The bunnies love St Jon Petromalt almost as much as they love raisins. A dab a day keeps things moving along; so as long as I am faithful in offering it, they have happy tummies. Just be sure to get the malt flavor, not the fishy flavor.

St Jon Petromalt Tube For Cats 4.4oz., 4.4 oz.


Okay, I confess, this was just a thin excuse to post a bunny pic. Joy and Bliss turn eleven this spring.

~Suzanne



2.25.2008

oatmeal cookies

These are super yummy.

Super Nummy Oatmeal Cookies

Cream together:
1 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar

Add:
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract

On a sheet of wax paper, sift together, then add:
1 1/4 C white flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 C rolled *oats

Add:
1/4 C chocolate chips
1/4 C dried currants
1/4 C dried chopped apricots
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/2 C chopped pecans

350 for 8.5 minutes

*not Quaker Oats, which is owed by Pepsi, which is not acting in the best interests of our health, economy, nor environment.
~Suzanne



2.24.2008

diamond earrings

Years and years ago, My Gift from a Generous God gave me a little pair of diamond earrings: sparkley enough to please and dainty enough to wear every day without looking pretentious, which I did, in my second pierce-holes. In about the 4th year I lost one, so I just wore the remaining one in one ear.

About a year ago I took that one remaining earring out and put it in my jewelry box.

Last week we went over to mom & dad's and cleaned all the cars: their new van, their old van, and her old Honda which is my new Honda. I was vacuuming the front seat in the dusk and not looking at all at what I was doing. Just basically poking the vacuum around and sucking up debris. One little piece of debris twinkled at me. Yup, one little diamond earring was twinkling as loudly as it could, "Don't suck me up -- you want me."

"That's odd," I thought, "I am sure I tucked that into my jewelry box."

I checked when I got home. I had indeed tucked that last remaining earring into my jewelry box. The one I found in mom's old car? That one is the one that had been lost for at least five years, perhaps more.

Reunited at last.


~Suzanne

Communist Party Rally, Red Square, Kremlin, Russia



Surprised me a bit, but then again, why not? If America can go socialist, why can't Russia return to Communism?
~Suzanne



2.23.2008

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Lief Enger

I am so excited. One of my favorite authors, Lief Enger who wrote Peace Like a River, has a new novel coming out.


Peace Like a River was clever and moving and endearing. One of the characters goes to heaven at the end and Enger's presentation of what that might be like is as good as -- or perhaps better than -- C.S. Lewis' heaven-ideas presented in The Last Battle. I am so very much looking forward to So Brave, Young and Handsome due out on May 13th. Here is the Amazon blurb:

In 1915 Minnesota, novelist Monte Becket has lost his sense of purpose. His only success long behind him, Monte lives simply with his wife and son. But when he befriends outlaw Glendon Hale, a new world of opportunity and experience presents itself. Glendon has spent years in obscurity, but the guilt he harbors for abandoning his wife, Blue, over two decades ago, has lured him from hiding. As the modern age marches swiftly forward, Glendon aims to travel back to his past--heading to California to seek Blue’s forgiveness. Beguiled and inspired, Monte soon finds himself leaving behind his own family to embark for the unruly West with his fugitive guide. As they desperately flee from the relentless Charles Siringo, an ex-Pinkerton who’s been hunting Glendon for years, Monte falls ever further from his family and the law, to be tempered by a fiery adventure from which he may never get home.




~Suzanne

:: review of So Brave, Young, and Handsome.


2.22.2008

fluffy bathrobe

Happiness is being sent by one's father to buy the "best fluffy bathrobe you can find" for your mother and determining that the best robe would be a floor-length periwinkle or lavender chenille robe and walking into the first store and finding exactly one chenille robe: floor-length and periwinkle.

~Suzanne

Friday Poetry: Freezing Rain by Luci Shaw

Freezing Rain

Most of the things a poet has to say
are tentative, lists of foggy clues
and suppositions-an unattested version
of the way the wind breathes at night,
an essay at atmosphere, predictions
as unreliable as weather forecasts. I stab
at the truth with a pencil, sometimes,
moved too suddenly to words by the shadings
on a cloud, or its shape, shivering
at a hint of thunder (sure that it
means something).

But in the lines set down on paper
all suggestions become categories-
intuition or illusion edited to sound
like logic. Naked ideas turn assertive
in print, sharp, as intricate
as the edges of a woods in winter seen
against a blank sky. The most fluid
of impressions hardens like frozen
rain. A cold front is passing over.
I hazard a guess; you take it
for reality.

~ Luci Shaw in Water Lines: New and Selected Poems, p. 16.






Here is the coding if you want a button with a link to this week's round-up.





:: this post is part of the Friday Poetry roundup hosted by Big A little a.


~Suzanne



2.19.2008

Mighty Warriors of the Never-Ending Questions


We watched the movie Home Alone which may have been a lapse in judgment as the children have been discussing how they would protect and defend their castle if they were left home alone. I think they may have finally settled on a workable plan.

If they are home alone and burglars arrive, the kids will pester them until they go away. Here is a mere fraction of their arsenal:

What are you doing?
Why are you doing that?
When will you be done?
What will you do next?
When is Christmas coming?
Why do you wear black?
What are you going to do with that?
What time is it?
What is that tool?
What time is it now?
What time did you get here?
What time are you leaving?
How long until then?
Do you know that guy who took Christmas?
No, the guy with the dog who was a reindeer?
Do you work for him?
Are you the boss?
How much money do you get?
Where did you get that tool?
Did you steal that too?
How much was it?
Did you have to steal your breakfast?
Did you have to steal your underwear?
Do you steal dogs?
Are you a bad guy?
Why are you a bad guy?
Do you love God?
God can help you stop being a bad guy?
Have you been in prison?
How much did it cost?
Do you steal in prison?
Are you going to vote for Ron Paul?


Who needs dogs and home security systems when I can just sic the Mighty Warriors of the Never-Ending Questions on any stray burglar who hazards upon us?

~Suzanne



2.18.2008

Blue Ribbon Apple Rolls with a KitchenAid

I entered this recipe in the county fair and won a blue ribbon. Mind you it wasn't the meets-the-criteria everyone gets a blue ribbon sort of competition, but a 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place competition, and these little apple rolls got best of, #1, 1st place. Ta Da!


Blue Ribbon Apple Rolls with a KitchenAid

In your lovely KitchenAid stand mixer, combine:
2 1/4 t quick or breadmaker yeast
3 1/4 C white flour
1/4 C white sugar
1 t salt

In a big measuring cup, combine and add to bowl:
1/4 C hot water
3/4 C milk
1 egg

Add:
1/4 C softened butter, cut up

Run for 15-20 minutes. Rest for 2 hours. Run for 4 minutes. Rest for 1 hour. (Not you, the KitchenAid, though you are free to Run and Rest too, if you want to.) Remove from bowl and force it into a lumpy rectangle-like shape. Dough will resist you. Let it rest for a minute or two while you . . .

Melt together & let boil for 1 minute:
1/2 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar

Add:
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves

Slice thinly:
1 red apple (any sort but the Red [not]Delicious kind), skin on

Grind:
1 C pecans

Go back to the dough and roll, push, and cajole it into a large thin rectangle. Dribble the butter/sugar mixture over it. Don't worry about spreading it out, but do make sure you get the right and left sides, so that the end-rolls get some. Leave about a 2 inch at the top bare. Repeat with the apple & pecans.

From the bottom, roll the dough up. Slice into 3/4 inch to 1 inch slices and place into baking dishes (one 9/13 will work, though I usually use 2 pie pans).

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until nicely brown. Frost if you wish, I usually do not.


~Suzanne

2.17.2008

Georgy Zhukov, Kremlin, Moscow, Russia


Statue of Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974), Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
If we come to a minefield, our infantry attacks exactly as it were not there. ~ Zhukov to General Eisenhower, 1945
~Suzanne