The Linen Bomb

New spot

2007-02-12T08:12:00.000-05:00

"Little" black dress

2007-02-11T11:07:00.000-05:00

This is it. It is done. And gentle reader; I managed to keep my head gear on for the entire event. That has never happened. I suppose I shouldn't use the term 'little' as there is roughly 5.5 yards of linen in the beast. The elbow looks very wonky in this picture but it really isn't that bad. I think I was standing funny. It was quite comfortable and I did catch a few admiring glances. Melisant pegged the hem length perfectly. I could even climb up and down the bleachers with little or no problem. It was long enough to puddle very prettily when I knealt, but I could stride confidently (surging bat like forward? why yes I think I shall!) when necessary. Plus, nobody stepped on the back that was awesome. Simone actually congratulated me on achieving the look-- which made my whole freaking day. I can only aspire to her greatness. I discovered despite my most sincere attempts to keep the fabric grain all straight, this gown pulls off the right shoulder a little. I suppose period undergarments are a must with this particular cote.

THIS BLOG IS FINISHED. THE END.

oooh I think i wet them!

2007-02-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

OH! Awesome! doood!! SWEET!!-- look at the detail! I can't wait to get these in my army! The trio can be my newest recruits. No sooner do i decide it is unseemly for a grown woman to keep an army of action figures and swear I won't buy any more then these lil beauties fall into my lap. Hermione is PERFECT. groan---I NEEED THEM! Mom pleeeeese.

YpsiKnits= NO Karaoke!

2007-02-09T08:04:00.000-05:00

OH thank the goddess! *relief* I haven't gone to bitchandcoffee in weeks, but Brookie said they were going to Karaoke afterwards--and I HAD to go and I was all like ..ummm no. But she talked me into it. I do love the social interaction. But I am a horrible knitter and generally advance my skills in other areas. (Like smutty inuendos!) But I dragged my fat ass of the couch and went out last night and had a lovely time. NOBODY made me sing... what a relief! I mean seriously I can hardly carry a tune in a bucket. It was nice to sip my chai latte and get an inch or so up on the old Ravenclaw scarf. OH! The PENIS! We meet at a coffeeshop named Bombadil's (duh I think ya'll kinda knew that). Peter the owner (not my Pete) is all about local artists and so there is a constantly changing art display. There is an oil portrait in this revolving decor (For Sale: Pets or Meat) of a rather well endowed dude. He's got NO booty; but he is hung like the proverbial horse. It was 'hung' right by our squashy couch and we couldn't help but admire it. Too bad it is bigger than the TV cabinet. I need a bigger house.

Izzy's Indy T-shirts

2007-02-08T09:04:00.000-05:00

Daughter is quite pleased with her recent wardrobe additions.
we actually had the Squirrel Squad one for a while, but just got the OTTERS tee at the Meet last night. Ms. Thang got 4th in her first real event ever. That was actually a little traumatic at the beginning. Izzy's relay partner was really late thus Iz was kinda flippin out. Real tears. It was heart wrenching. She has this massive Hufflepuff thing goin on.
Zoli needs to learn how to do flip turns or whatever they are called because he was in a rather exciting race for third place (the kid in first was SOOO far ahead of everybody else it was pretty amazing, then the boy in 2nd-- then the herd--and Z was really doing well until they all flip turned to go back and he stopped touched the wall and then pushed off. ): So they got like six inches on him. Not bad for our first official Otter's event.

Both kids had fun. I worked a shift in the concession stand and we boogied home for our LOST marathon which was quite satisfying all in all.

so cold

2007-02-07T10:48:00.000-05:00

I am so looking forward to the LOST festivities tonight. I will enjoy looking at pretty people on the beach. I am not having fun in the cold. It is, at least, sunny today. So, I put my shades on to walk Bree. Don't want wrinkles now do we? I am like a mummy. Bundled into my scarf, sunglasses, hat--basically no exposed flesh. My breath actually fogged up the shades and then froze! It was far worse than spraying the windshield with solvent and watching it freeze as you drive down the road. My ears and toes are still numb. I would make a horrible Yuki-onna.

There is this ancient Japanese myth about a Snow goddess. In some of the stories she is just a ghost who has frozen to death in the snow and cold. In other versions she is an evil entity, like C.S. Lewis' Snow Queen. Remember the bitch from Narnia?(Gods! Tilda Swinton is HOT!) Similarly, this Yuki-onna is also always beautiful and serene, but she too, is often quite deadly to stupid humans. In fact she is often a vampire and seldom has candy involved. (Damn I could get down with Ms. Swinton and some gooey sweets!) Small glitch with Lewis here, but, the easy compare/contrast parallel continues when you consider how Edmund initially hooked up with the IcyOne. You see darling reader-- Yuki-onna will also reveal herself to humans who find themselves trapped/lost in snowstorms. She's also got her icy breath that she uses to freezedry wayward travelers. Hmmm, another comparison point. Other legends say that Yuki-onna purposefully leads her victims astray so they wander around aimlessly until they die of exposure. She will often manifest herself physically as snow or wind. She then invades people's homes, blowing in the wall with an icy blast of swirling snow, to kill the whole family while they sleep. Doesn't everybody check the door before they go to bed?

Does the European story of Jack Frost ever actually kill anybody?

hmmm...I wonder if Lewis studied Japanese mythologies--ya 'spose?(insert sarcasm) I am not implying any plagiarism on Lewis' part, but I did just see a new book discussing the influences many great authors have had. The Little Book of Plagiarism by Richard A. Posner. It was in the NYT Sunday BookReview. *LOVE IT*

So. I suppose I am thinking a lot about snatching others words. oh--let's say Shakespeare and his sources (in particular in ref to my HV!) If one has internalized a text so thoroughly that you have adopted it as your own--it is plagairism or regurgiation? If you chew properly is it bad? What about the 'net? (Did anyone hear about Dame Alys and the punkin pie? I'll bet ya'll don't hang out on the cooks list so much but Dame Alys is apparently a LOT older than we all thought! *giggle*) Proper references young ones! MLA all the way!

Young Snape

2007-02-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

fanart by ambient black (found on TLC.com)

this is the character in my head---

Mysterious Marooned Marathon

2007-02-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

Here's the plan. TOMORROW!!!!!!Hopefully by six pm Petey will be home. Pete changes his clothes. 6:45 pineapple pizza arrives. 7pm we start reviewing last few epis of Season 2/3. 9pm everyone ensconced with pillows, popcorn, blankies and beverages. If you aren't interested in watching don't show up. If you are-- call me today so I can order enough pizza. Kids in theory have school in the morning so all guests should depart by 11:30. IF we *know* they don't all bets are off. This is the only invitation that will be issued. Serious Losties only need apply. Loud children will be fed to the turtle. Sea Anemone sushi, Ranch dressing and papayas welcome.

PS
If the kids don't have school on Weds (please god... it is just COLD) we will start without Pete..say about 2ish.

Sunday dinner

2007-02-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

Matt was home Sunday. We made home-made pasta for the lasagane. Matt coached and kept the pints filled with Guinness. Matty was on the coaches' stool because it was his machine and I had never used it. I always go old school and just make a pile in the middle of the counter, and roll it out by hand. But we decided to play with the power tools, so the kitchen aid did the mixing and we got very nice, very uniform results with Matt's shiny toy. Petey held down the machine and I cranked. It was a good system.

Six eggs, four cups of flour. We had a layer of spinach. A layer of ground beef sautéed with onions and garlic, of course-- salt & cracked black pepper. A layer of Ricotta and topped with mozzarella. Used about 3/4 of a quart of tomato sauce with oregano, garlic, basil and thyme. It was awesome. In fact I had a really hard time just having a "reasonably sized" portion. (About 3"x3") Pete and Matt nearly wiped out the pan within two helpings. Isabel, of course, found it too spicy. Zoli and Evan barely looked up from their games long enough to smell it!

baby it's cold outside

2007-02-05T08:34:00.000-05:00

Please allow Jarvis and Pete to demonstrate how fucking cold it is outside.

That clock thing DH is holding is pretty awesome. An elfbrand gift from his dear old Da, it claims to be "atomic"--giggle-- but it does have a remote sensor thingy that is out in the yard so we can check the actual temp w/out going outside! oooh how very hi tech. Of course we could peek at the weather channel, or WEMU is always on in the kitchen (they do the weather at the top of the hour) and in about seven seconds I can check on the 'puter. But it is a silly toy and Pete likes it. It does have the phases of the moon on it...

Still Joyce's B-day

2007-02-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

If you won't read Ulysess (shame on you if you haven't yet) at least rent the Coen brothers film. O Brother Where art Thou? It's lovely. "Gopher, Evert?"

2007-02-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives.
—James Joyce

My fave story about James Joyce; (I only have two and neither of them actually includes him.) is the one with Pete and Eric and the Guinness Fleagh. (say FLA for those of you who are Gaelic impaired) The three of us (this is back when we didn't so much as fart without one another) were attending this splendid festival of all things Irish. We had WAAAY too much Guinness and it was very hot. It was so hot (easily +90F) that the event was giving away free water. Huge galvenized steel troughs filled with bottled water and mostly melted ice. Some random guy picked me up and "threw" me in one of these bathtub sized buckets. WHY? because I asked him to!! There was NO shade anywhere, so hot-- the only thing hotter was all the live music/bands. (NOTE: This anecdote sometimes masquerades as the Van Morrison Orgasm story but that is a diff thing entirely.) This event was a rocking good time. Swing dancing drunk with pretty strangers. Ask me about the hooker on the fence sometime.

ANY WAY--James Joyce..right--
This day was very sunny, white hot bright. I think I lost my sunglasses. My alcoholic memory fades but it was hot-- and steamy-- and very drunk and the guys have toddled off (as they were wont to do) and I spy a tent. A big white canvas thing.

It was creating an oasis of deep lush shade. Dark and inviting. The grass was not trampled down by thousands of feet. The grass was heavy and soft, like a meadow. and what was it that I heard? Not the crazed and amplified jig of another folk band, not the dulcet tones of Elvis Costello, no this was calmer...a deep baritone of spine caressing manliness. This person was not singing--he was reading...FROM ULYSSES!!. I sank down on the green grass. In my blurred vision I could see a long lean black Irish dude, gorgeous, he stood on a little stage--he held THE BOOK. and he read. The sing song patter of Joyce's nonlinear ramblings connected viscerally with my disjointed and heat addled brain. So cooool-- I drifted off on this sea of happiness. The beautiful accent wrapping around my dreamy little head. I glanced around the darkened audience--singles and couples, less than 50 people total. I was in heaven. Poor silly boys if only they knew--ah...magically Eric placed my feet across his lap, Petey resting my head against his thigh. Pete handed me a full cold pint, we listened as Leopold stumbled along to his funeral--his journey a mirror of duplicitous fiction so beautiful and raw.

HP & the Deathly Hallows

2007-02-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

It seems that early this morning-- Seattle time-- the whole wide world finally learned the official publication date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; JKR announced it on her page. (see the link to the right). It is 12:01 AM on Saturday, July 21, 2007. sweet. I have pre ordered my adult UK cover, but I think I'll just pick up the American edition after breakfast that morning. Unless, the kids want to go to one of the bookstore gigs. And a mere eight days after the movie release! (Gonna need a new counter downer-er) Man--Phoenix Rising is gonna be nuts. and TLC is totally bogged down.

Meatwad gets the hunnys yeah

2007-02-01T08:50:00.000-05:00

This morning in the FREEP Petey pointed out the story about the faux bombs. in Boston. Now granted I was still pre-coffee so when he asked had I heard about the bombs in Boston I was a little startled. But it seems that the mysterious blinking boxes were only a promotional prank for a cartoon. It appears they have been on display in numerous other cities and that Boston overreacted a bit. Part of me can hear the indignation of the Bostonians, but really it is a funny cartoon and a great prank. Honestly, what can you expect from a show that presents a whole cow, injected with jalepeno cheese, dipped in beer batter and deep fried? This is not a place to go for intellectual stimulation.

I am suddenly reminded ("self" I said to myself) of Bill Gates' and Jon Stewart's recent conversation about the future interactive capabilities of TV/computers. What are some examples of this new technology Gates offered?: educational shows will have quizzes at the end, or that the viewer can participate in game shows. Neato--especially from the Mommy POV, yet Stewart raised the point that perhaps sometimes we (Fat Lazy Americans that we are) just want to sit and be entertained. (amen brother) My girl QueensexxyGretch just pointed out (and this supports Stewart's idea) that after staring at a computer screen all day at work-- the last thing she wants to do is come home and make a myspace page. Enough with the blinky screen. I can understand that. Ya'll know I adore a well bound volume. But... I do like the idea of hanging out with Shake and watching dog shows.--Fo drizzle!

odd little discs

2007-01-31T09:02:00.000-05:00

The mail came yesterday. ( I know darling reader, it does that) But I was just so happy to see those distinctive red envelopes. The last two discs of the Samurai Champloo series. My beloved anime; by director-san Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame.I had discovered the series last year when in fits of insomnia-- I would cruise the late night programming on Cartoon Network. I randomly chose Champloo over "Ghost in the Shell" and was immediately hooked. At first I was a little lost because the episodes were not presented in the order they were intended but I soon figured out where I was and gave up on Adult Swim and headed straight to netflix. I had been parsing the discs out carefully to prolong the buzz. I finally broke down, rearranged the queue and got the last two back to back. Christ am I glad I did. I was disappointed to find out A.) each disc only had like two or three epis--not like the earlier discs which held six to eight episodes. and B.) The shows themselves were getting shorter by the second. I feel unfinished. There wasn't enough. I am so engaged with these characters that I am actually kinda pissed off. Lame Ending. Parting at the crossroads..how freaking cliche! So much potential, so much beautiful art, original art. Fantastic dialogue. So tempting and lush, how could he just stop?? I think of other artists who yanked the rug out from under their audience, in a different genre (actual comics) we currently are victims of Bill Amend/Foxtrot, but also Bill Watterson, who drew Calvin & Hobbes the greatest cartoon of ALL time--yes even better than Charlie Brown (sorry Timmy) and and to a lesser extent because he was actually kinda run out of the studio on a rail--John Kricfalsui. These guys all commit the cardinal sin of engaging the reader and then just crapping out. To quote Otto from a Fish Called Wanda
"DIS a POIN ted!"

What Samurai Champloo Character Are You?

Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

Oh Danny boy--

2007-01-29T16:07:00.000-05:00

Well our little hero has grown up. The lower shot is from the current run of Equus, in which he stars--yes THAT play--wow. The little photo I have enclosed here--->

is from a very funny (if you are into a lovely salad of David Bowie, Orlando Bloom and Harry Potter tossed with Roseanne and sprinkled with a big dose of sarcasm) British sitcom called EXTRAS. It is running on HBO.
I was at first a little embarrassed to admit that I signed up for HBO just so I could see their three minute OoP trailer. (See the counter in the next column over--the big numbers with Snape? yeah that lil filmy) But now I have found ROME which I adore and EXTRAS right after. Sunday night is quite a bit more festive!

On the britcom Mr. Radcliffe was busy trying to get his 17 year old ass laid, and doing a pretty crappy job of it, but he did get to wave a condom around Dame Diana Riggs' ( start humming the Avengers theme song) stately 'do.

Poor Barbaro

2007-01-29T15:35:00.000-05:00

pretty horsie.

Just for me

2007-01-29T10:36:00.000-05:00

thorn (þ) and eth (ð)

I love saying bilabial fricatives.

The end. (part one)

2007-01-29T07:34:00.000-05:00

It is finished.

Saturday at Mistress Melisant's garb work day I finished the bomb. Honor asked me why I called this project "the bomb" and I explained that it had blown up both figuratively and very nearly literally at least three times. It seems like nearly two years ago--I flew out to the cities (That is how we Northshielders refer to MSP) and got a crash course in how to look at patterns, and my sewing machine. I heard the words that my soon to be laureled Mairgreid SAID. I even took notes.

But that did not stop me from completely ignoring her sage advice and piecing together a black linen gown in (this is the sick part..) in the most 'efficient' way. I also thought I would be clever by just not adding the bottom add on part of the skirt pattern because I am short, seamed (get it SEAMed) fruitless to purposefully add on something I was going to have to hem off in a week. hmm..not so much.

When the first incarnation of this supposed cotehardie was finished It swirled very nicely. I slipped it over my head to find that one sleeve was centered nicely between my boobs and the other was under my left arm pit. I learned about fabric grain the HARD way. I then bought more of the same linen (thank you Trisha!) and started going to Melanie's work shops at EMU. Laid out new bits and cut them out and pinned them in and sewed them up. That all sounds very easy but the fact of the matter is no sooner would I get confident that I knew what I was supposed to do and move forward w/out Melisant hovering-- then I would screw up and have to pull it out and do it again. Serging the bits made no sense to me until I had to adjust the armpits. Then the tangle of pube-like threads from un-serged pieces was frustrating enough that they about made me cry.

Finally it is a wearable garment. It has some wonky moments and a few extra puckers here and there, but these are the best sleeves I have ever done. I am quite pleased with the beaded sash. The buttons are still staring at me. BUT! Technically the reason for this blog is caput.

Remember back when I started this blog? Well, on Valday. I will have somebody take pics and that will be the end.

Freakin Horse pills

2007-01-26T08:27:00.000-05:00

God I hate taking drugs. I feel like a geezer. I should get one of those little plastic boxes with the SMTWTFS printed on the lids. I have a horrible gag reflex and despite years of ortho novum I still really hate taking pills. I can dry swallow the little peckers, but dude I am really wishing I could get the big ones--I dunno--chewable, yeah like friendly drugs. It is still like two months (oh crap-CRAP. i just looked at the calendar 2 months and two days--crap--how depressing) till I am officially 40.
As another obvious reminder of my aging-- I am supposed to take a handful of horsepills every morning but I am so bad at it.

Then when the weather doesn't co-operate and my knees get stuck. sigh.

Watched the crappy* movie "Stick It", back a bit-- but all it really did was point out quite glaringly that I am NOT a letter winning 89lb gymnast anymore. I am old and creaky and fat and I have to take these damn pills.
I don't like like it, nope not one little bit..
Somebody shoot me.

*that's my secret word for today CRAP --now everybody scream Pee Wee style)

Chateau Bain Chaud's first bottling

2007-01-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon constant readers-- remember back in October (you can check the archive) when we tested the specific gravity of the meade? You may recall that Petey & Rollo were not happy; so the big jug sat some more months and then I washed the recycled wine bottles, soaked off their tacky labels... and they sat in the middle of the kitchen floor. And then three more weeks went by and FINALLY today, Petey brought home a bag of corks and his Portuguese Corking machine. (of which he is very fond--and what we had great fun making silly names for, such as the porch o cheese monkeys machine etc) We attempted the wine thief method of transference but as we ended up with 16 bottles; I am pleased we ended up siphoning from the carboy (sp?) to fill them all. We did manage to get sticky honey wine all over our hands, drench three dish towels and the rug before we finished. Competent wine bottlers that we are. I am thinking that job would have been MUCH more fun had there not been two 11 year olds playing Sid Meier's Pirates in the next room.

This batch is very sweet and gingery. A little cloudy but we are pleased. Lovely all in all.

FINALLY!!

2007-01-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

U-M Library puts English language history online
ANN ARBOR, Mich.

Hot Damn!.—This book was 75 years in the making at the University of Michigan, has more than 15,000 pages and takes up nearly four feet of shelf space.

And now what has been called the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America and the most important single project in current English historical lexicography is off the bookshelf and freely available in an online version.

The task for editors compiling the Middle English Dictionary was to document the English language from just after the Norman Conquest up to the introduction of the printing press at the end of the 1400s. With that innovation the language became more or less standardized, but during the Middle Ages, the language evolved under the stress of events and social change, particularly as French culture was absorbed into the language. These were truly the formative years of the English language, presenting major challenges to lexicographers.

By converting the contents of the Middle English Dictionary into an enormous database, the dictionary has been made searchable in ways impossible in a printed document of its size. Medievalists, English language scholars and the curious can now access the dictionary free of charge.

The database includes information on the origins of technical writing, popular culture, notable literary works, medicine, law, science, ship-building, encyclopedias, translations of the Bible, maps, letters, wills, acts of State, recipes, philosophy, mathematics and numerous other subjects, providing a distant mirror of Medieval culture and society. In addition to the linked information, the dictionary also provides the full, searchable text of more than 100 important Medieval documents in their entirety. "We've always wanted to see an interlinked web of dictionaries that together cover the very multilingual world of medieval Britain along with antecedent and successor languages," said Paul Schaffner of U-M’s Digital Library Production Service. "The division between dictionaries has always been rather artificial in a multilingual society where words tend to slip back and forth between languages. There are many words, especially commercial and legal words that cannot be easily as signed to one language or another."

The need for free access to this resource was made apparent by inquiries from around the world. Now the English teacher in Uganda can finish a translation of a Middle English mystery play for his students, the English gentleman attempting to determine the origin of his surname on behalf of a society of those with the same name will find an easier path to success and independent scholars and emeritus faculty will have full access for their research. Students at various colleges and universities who use the Middle English Dictionary for class assignments will be able to complete their assignments from home computers.

"Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities was crucial in bringing this project to completion," said John Wilkin, who led the digitization project and is the architect of U-M's digital library effort. "Now, with support from the U-M Library, this invaluable historical and linguistic resource will open the path to our shared past to more people than ever before."

owie

2007-01-25T07:48:00.000-05:00

Ice+stoopid knee=owie

Yesterday, whilst walking through the woods with Steve (cool dad /ex neighbor from Izzy's school--NOT Xhusband) and his dog Zoe-- I thought I broke my ankle. He caught me before I actually fell on my ass. It was a rather ungainly side step into a frozen hole kinda thing. The little boney bump that sticks out the side of your leg? yeah that thing. It hurts a lot, especially when a certain doctorboy squeezes it, then like the sick monkey he is-- he follows the tendon up my calf (still squeezing mind you) and says "does this hurt?" Okay, let's think-- I am writhing in pain and trying to squirm away--saying Ow! and Fuck! loud enough to scare the Peanut, do ya suppose it hurts? hmm MAYBE. So he says to "ice it" (that's all he ever says..He never says "Oh poor baby-- we need to put you on a pillow and feed you bon bons and cafe mochas" humph
Like I would put up with that BS anyway... So I am supposed to stay off it today. I guess I better if I want to play at Andre's Burn's Night Party. feh...stoopid twisty ankle

Obsessions

2007-01-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

All HP references aside, because honestly I have no control over that...
A girl has to balance out her addictions slowly--what if I run out of samurai champloo before LOST is back??
Can you just see me sitting in a corner chewing on myself like a anxious Jack Russell terrier? I just finished my most decadent luxurious treat to myself, many friends would say this reward for writing three pages would be...chocolate, or perhaps vodka, maybe cashmere or a beautifully bound book? But no dear reader. I just devoured the penultimate disc in my most serious addiction-- and it was a bloody freaking cliff hanger!! AAARGH! My sexysarcasticsweet Jin is trapped on a bridge getting his ass kicked by some blind bimbo who tricked all three travelers! She may not even BE blind! I shouldn't have watched all four epis in the same afternoon.
And it is still basically two weeks till 2/7!
CRAP!
Sawyer!!!

Pf*@!ed by Pfizer

2007-01-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

Jen Granholm said it was getting punched in the gut. Like we need to get sucker punched. Pfizer and the 2,140 jobs it is taking with it are leaving A2!?! Sweet Jesu-- Ann Arbor just built a new high school!! The real estate market is gonna take a hit. That "sprawling Plymouth Road campus" (Freep, front page) is gonna sit there across from Pete's office like a big empty rat trap. hey maybe Ypsi can introduce the Jerks from Exemplar to the Jerks at Pfizer and they could have a Let's pfuck over the State's economy club. They could meet at The EMU President's house and compare how much building material they have wasted! OR~ maybe ~ Google will decide it needs five acres of lab buildings and move in there?? yeah...Maybe a giant monkey will fly outta my ass; swoop around the lower pennisula waving a magic wand while throwing coins to the peasants.

I wanted to chat about Obama and Hillary but I am so without hope at the minute. (I have a funny bumper sticker story...but not right now-- eh) I would very much like to strangle W. and his complete lack of foresight. I also wouldn't mind bitch slapping the BIG 3 automakers who convinced everyone that putting all the eggs in one basket was an efficient move. I am looking at farm land in Eau Claire WI again. I am gonna raise sheep. Gonna pull a Grizzly Adams--abscond from all society, mebbe grow dreadlocks and write poetry.

I wish that I was standing next to a railroad track--right next to it--so the ground would shake as a three mile long freight train roared past me-- and scream at the top of my lungs like a maniac--I AM SO SICK OF SELFISH IDIOTS!!! STOP REACTING AND START THINKING!!!!!

oh duh dear

2007-01-22T15:07:00.000-05:00

So after judging cordials at Winter Revel I was more than slightly off base when we walked into Starry Nights 20th gig. When I saw Eua (say AYE oh wa) I was happy and confused all at the same time. I had planned on glomming onto Ian and his Mom, HRM Sanjay, and just having a cozy moment---when lo and behold Eua (aka uber hottie) is leading me into the kitchen and telling me there is a surprise on the counter. I am basically trying to get my coat off and mourn her lost long locks. Upon seeing her I immediately think Tinn is in town--but oh no not my champion, not my long lost buddy--but she hands me .... THE BEANS!!! AHHHH they're back!! Oh no..Now what?? fear not beloved readers--the game is afoot! (again) Look out Tinn!

gross indecency

2007-01-22T14:25:00.000-05:00

Well that was an exciting way to kill a Monday morning. Jury Duty (again!) The trial I almost got to sit on was armed robbery and gross indecency. On the evidence table there was an Xbox and several games. I don't even want to know! I never made it to the 12 Angry Men chairs, which was prly a good thing because I would have had to raise my hand at least five times, let us consider, I have friends who are cops, I know my way around firearms, I am familiar with situations where things did not turn out the way I planned AND...I have been in situations where I became sexually jealous, and alcohol has been involved. Juror 760 have a donut and GO HOME!

mmmm... man meat

2007-01-19T13:26:00.000-05:00

Titus Pullo is a main character on the HBO series Rome which is available on DVD and is a lovely bit of fluff. Albeit gory historically accurate (ish) gladiator fluff but, lacking Book 7 to read and while waiting for LOST to come back-- melodrama reigns supreme.

SAVE MY BABY!!!

2007-01-19T08:01:00.000-05:00

'Action is eloquence'
Friends of Shakespeare's church seek help to save history
The Times Herald Record, Middleton NY

The grave of William Shakespeare near the altar inside Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Stratford upon Avon, England Thursday Jan 11, 2007. The church in which William Shakespeare is buried is in need of some 2.5 million pounds (US$ 4.7 million) worth of repairs, notably to the 14th century tower and the 18th century spire.

(AP Photo / Alastair Grant)

Adopt a gargoyle. Sponsor a spire.
It could help save the 800-year-old Holy Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare was baptized and where he lies buried with his wife, Anne Hathaway, in stratford-upon-avon, England.
Church officials hope fans of the Bard around the world will help raise $6.3 million needed to repair a cracked spire, broken windows and eroding bricks — and address damage from years of dry rot and the death watch beetle.
"It's absolutely desperate," said Josephine Walker of the Friends of Shakespeare's Church, which is in charge of fundraising. "It's raining, and as we speak, rain is pouring in through the clerestory windows."
It's a common story in the parishes of England, where hundreds of medieval churches need frequent loving care. The Church of England estimates some $680 million worth of repairs is under way or urgently needed, and few of the crumbling churches have connections to anyone as famous as Shakespeare.
The Friends of Shakespeare's Church already has an American fundraising arm — but church officials are concerned by the drop in Britain's tourist numbers following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as the July 7, 2005, suicide assault on London's transit system and more recent terrorism alerts. The number of U.S. tourists fell 13 percent from 2000-05, when 4.2 million Americans visited Britain, according to government figures.
Catherine Penn, one of the trustees of the Friends, said urgent work had been done to repair the crumbling parapet, but donations from tourists have dropped for other repairs at the church, in Stratford-upon-Avon, 120 miles northwest of London.
She urged supporters to "sponsor a gargoyle" to help the fund.

Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity April 26, 1564, and the church's burial register lists him as "Gulielimus, filius Johannes Shakspeare" (William, son of John Shakespeare).
After a career writing and staging his plays in London, Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1611, and was buried in the chancel — an area near the altar — on April 25, 1616, two days after his death.
Some 100,000 people visit Holy Trinity every year to view his resting place, with its inscription, "Will Shakspeare, Gent." The memorial was erected a few years after his death, and the plump-looking likeness on the gravestone is considered a good one.
"People say he looks like a well-fed pork butcher," said church warden Bill Hicks.
Shakespeare's prominent burial spot was not in honor of his supreme literary skill, but because in 1605 he bought privileges in the church that, among other things, obliged him to keep the chancel in good repair. But within a few years of his death, the structure was in danger of becoming one of the "bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang," mentioned in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73.
Church officials say repairs now are needed to the spire, the chancel, the north and south aisles, and the north and south transepts.
On the north transept, the orange stone buttresses are badly weathered and stained-glass windows are decaying. Stone on the south transept — which is missing a cross — is similarly weathered and shows signs of dampness.

"It's a wonderful place with a wonderful heritage," said the Rev. Martin Gorick, the church vicar. "For 800 years this has been a meeting place, and we want to keep it that way."
And just in case anyone might think of moving his remains, Shakespeare's gravestone offers a curse, written by the Bard himself.
"Good frend, for Iesus sake, forbeare
To digg the dyst encloased heare
Bleste be ye (the) man (who) spares thes stones
And curst be he (who) moves my bones."

www.shakespeareschurch.org

Neil's dad--or don't read this

2007-01-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

Between the two of us Petey and I seem to have a funeral every other week since Xmas. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Can you SEE the sarcasm dripping?

One of Pete's oldest friend's, Neal also known as "wheels" to those of us who love him-- lost his Daddy. Pete opted for the evening memorial service and I stayed home with the chilldwen. I just could not do another funeral. It's a good thing I don't live in a war torn province in another country or I would just be a weeping pile of protoplasm. Death is too weird. Why all the freaking flowers?? Where do souls go? Do they dissipate? What makes a personality? (those of you dear readers with faith--just-- don't..okay? I need science.) The empty shell of a what used to be human and is now ...dust. I am not made to mourn this much. I was telling my buddy Ian that I was contemplating draping the house in Black crepe a la the classic Victorian style. Black Victorian reminds me..did you know amongst the famous people three deaths; Lily Munster bit it too?? her, James Brown and some other person Pete and Rick and Tim all knew. It is going to seem tangental but it really is related--been watching the HBO series Rome--it is really just a gory soap opera, but it is well written and has pretty people in it. There is also a lot of death. Quick meaty death.

One of the main characters reminds me of a kid I grew up with; Frankie. He was always very butch and very strait forward and had this very pure sense of justice. Very white or black, not a lot of gray zone. The Romans are portrayed this way, right /wrong, dead/alive, either you are for Ceaser or you are for Pompeii--No real analysis or contemplation. I have to admit getting one's head lopped off would be preferable to a slow cancerous death, dying from the inside.

Amy Sedaris had a moment in her recent book where she describes rabbits trapped above their own feces-- being devoured alive by fly larvae that hatch from the manure--horrible. There are other insects that do that some kind of wasp I think.

dabook

2007-01-17T15:06:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day in lala land. I hit 300 pages. *applause*
Fixed a big bump in the chronology.
Wrote some nice sex.
Only two hundred more pages to go. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Discovered Office Max is cheaper than a ream of paper and two ink cartridges.Tho I am not going to get the RD printed till I actually hit 500 pages. WHINE ALERT: It is so hard to read on the screen tho--I'll be glad when I can take an old school pencil to it and actually edited the bits properly. I still have a lot of Froissart that is straight notes and my recent discovery/realization that four years of actual time existed and need to be condensed (like tomato soup or orange juice?) doesn't seem so bloody horrendous anymore. The wedding scene still doesn't exist because I swear if you start reading at the beginning of the MS you are still tweaking text four hours later--I haven't even started the wedding scene. I am lame.

wrong again!

2007-01-16T13:37:00.000-05:00

I have decided to take a vow of silence. well, we know that won't work. Rather than torture myself I have instead decided to stop trying to guess if a book is worth buying or if I should check it outta the liberry--that Amy Sedaris book? yeah shoulda bought that one! had it home for one hour and devoured it. Hilarious.

I don't even know where to start

2007-01-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

I have had quite possibly the most eclectic weekend I have ever had in my life. My great (and I do mean GREAT) uncle passed away. He was 90. At his viewing Friday night my cousin Jackie had a copy of the Saginaw News which ran a trite little article that no one bothered to fact check before they printed it. That three hours was very sad and the trip reminded me that--hell I don't know how to say it other than--it was fucked up. I was not able to maintain my composure; despite the amazing role modeling of my beautiful and now widowed great aunt.

I saw a lot of a family I haven't seen in years--found out things like a cousin who will always be 12 in my mind-- is actually serving in the army (stationed in Germany thank the goddess), that I have a very cool new aunt who has helped keep the bird feeder full-- and there are more people in Vassar than I thought. My gran gives good hugs. It so comforting to lean on the bosom of one's elders and be petted, be told that it will be okay. I was in a funk to say the least.

That night karma balanced out and Maihgreid learned of her imminent laureling. That was such good news. She deserves it and I am so proud of her. I can't wait to see her elevation. Thinking about going seeing my friends (read chosen family) after such a huge (guilty) dose of my real kin was cleansing.

Saturday dawned gray and miserable and cold, happily it was warm in the sheep barn and Cynnabar did much to lift my spirits, and I had a lovely afternoon finally comprehending round robin, and making gatorade. Sunday Peter FINALLY got the news (2 1/2 months later--that he is still a brilliant type A doctorman (he passed his board re-certs) He was so relieved.

It was also Rollo's birthday and the surprise was perfect. We smashed about 20 people into their tiny little kitchen and covered our faces like we were playing peek-a-boo...so when he came round the corner there we all were with our faces covered yelling surprise. Then we feasted on hot wings and party subs and chocolate cake--the gaming began and there was beer and Harry Potter chatter. Now today it is MLK. and ice. I may still be in a funk. coffee. I need lots of coffee. Then I am gonna take the camera for a walk. The trees are beautiful in their frozen fairyland glory.

Snow globe

2007-01-14T09:12:00.000-05:00

Those crazy Swedes! First creamed herring and now this beautiful Snow Globe. I have always been fond of ice sculptures, extreme snowforts etc., but this is quite possibly a wet dream. Just imagine a snowball fight between these guys and the folks who put up the Russian ice castle/vodka bar. My kinda peeps!

this morning in the freep

2007-01-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

I wonder if I should title this entry something more like--paranoid plants--or hypocritical hydroponics--

enh--what I am choosing to rant about this morning is a huge discrepancy I noticed between two stories in the Detroit Free Press. It seems unjust to me that while on the front page of the LOCAL section there is a huge story about the herbal bust of a suburban grower of--well--I don't want to look at google ads for bongs for the next week--so you just guess what this guy had under *his* grow lights. The tone of Witsil's article is barely objective--it paints a picture of a pretty normal dude trying to make a buck--not hurting anybody (well not directly) and getting socially smacked down for supplying the demand (of society).

THEN in sharp contrast located in the LIFE section of the same daily paper-- there is a prominently placed article about two more plant growers. However despite their agricultural similarities the two articles are vastly different in tone and voice. Marty Hair's piece about the suburban couple growing African violets is all happy crappy and pleasant. No quotes from the county sheriff in this piece, WHY do the grow lights in the first dude's basement rank a condescending and patronizing tone, while the grow lights in the basement of the second piece evoke granny's frilly petals and blue ribbons at 4-H?? "attracting new fans".
I'll bet the first busted guy has a pretty sad fan base right now.

If the Freep editors are going to run stories on home botany constructions I think the value judgments on the plants should be left to the reader and not insinuated by the reporter. "distinctive smell" --feh.

She didn't mean to turn me on...

2007-01-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

I have seen Halima dance. I have spoken with her and been mesmerized by her gorgeous eyes--but dude last night she made me wet...and soapy! WE LIKE FELTING!! OH YES! We like felting ALOT!! This is so much better than pottery! Now here is a thing I can do. I get it. It makes sense to me. As you can see in the corner of the group shot, the six pointed star is part of my clan's heraldic device;
the ingen Aeda cup and stars.
The workshop last night was so much fun. I was sad to miss Squirrel Squad, but this is soo cool! It is squishy! I am MUCH better tat this than I am at pottery. I also like having a new excuse to buy more wool. There is something so very satisfying about touching wool. Seeing the colors and imagining all the potential. This pouch (when complete) will be to hide my cell phone. I love the SCA.

Tiny little adventure

2007-01-09T14:22:00.000-05:00

I did something new today. I have a fridge magnet that reads "do something that scares you everyday". Well today's thing wasn't scary but it was a big jump outta my rut. I went to ...are you ready??? A NEW GROCERY STORE!!! ah! gasp! yes darlin reader--I went out to Saline to a place called "The Country Market". It was pretty boring. They seemed to have a lot of leftover "marked down" produce. That was odd. Their meat was okay. Not baad like Sheena's here in Ypsi--key-riist-- that place scares the bejesus outta me. Sometimes I swear that meat is green. OH! did I ever tell you about the first time I saw bleu cheese in Vassar? I was shopping with my Mom and we saw a saran wrapped hunk oh bleu cheese and she swore it moved. If she had a blog she could write about that. But she is too busy crawling around the internet graveyards searching for long lost relatives. Speaking of graveyards, There was thing in the Freep this morning about The Elmwood Historic Cemetery in Detroit, MI (it's alloneword.org) I love cemeteries. Lisa and I use to walk out to Highland here in Ypsilanti and have picnic lunch with the babyboys in their strollers.

Rock and Roll hoochie coo

2007-01-09T08:09:00.000-05:00

YAY REM!! They were inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame. R.E.M is so lyrical and magic. I really enjoy their stuff.

Booo stoopid Hall of Fame board for denying the Stooges for the SIXTH FREAKIN TIME!

OH! and Happy Birthday Mr. Bowie, you pretty thang!

Suck o lux

2007-01-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

HOLY TOLEDO!! We paid this amazing person with a plain white van (very mafia like if you ask me) to come suck out the heating vents in the house today. wow! wow! wow! what an amazing difference! Get your house sucked! If it's good for Roger Rabbit it'll be good for you. (and if you want to feel old...that film came out in '88!! argh!)

Busy lil weekend

2007-01-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

This weekend was just a social whirlwind of busy-ness. On Friday I was a guest at the second Ypsi Naked Lady Party. Photos can be seen on the link to your right--very festive. Drank most of a bottle of champagne and brought home less than I took. Which aided both my desire for exciting clothes and less clutter. OH! You don't know what a Naked Lady Party is?? Oh dear one, it is a very good thing. Ya clean out your closet; bring all the goods to the appointed house (with snackies and booze) and everybody picks through the laundry drifts and then whatever doesn't get a new home is donated to a local women's shelter.

At the risk of sounding like a Eric Carle children's book "On Saturday the very happy Daye ate through three strawberries... but she was still hungry" Saturday 12th night. I forgot the camera--which made me sad but I saw lots of people which made me happy. I do like people. Especially Zaynab, I haven't seen quite enough of her. For an interesting twist on the ordinary, Melisant (whom I normally see in mundane clothes snuck up behind me in beautiful French garb and it took me a full second to place her--usually I see somebody in mundanes, try to convince them that they were in one of the classes I taught or we were on a committee together somewhere, but it turns out they are in the SCA. This time my sewing mentor turned the tables. I was the student and she was in garb! We mostly visited with the Viking crew and snickered through court. Rollo shared a very funny line. "The SCA doesn't attract wierd people so much as it retains them." We admired our pretty Prince and Princess and then boogied home because sadly--for me-- feast was sold out. I really wanted to taste the Spanish extravaganza, especially the peach dessert. sigh.

Finally this morning after staring blankly ay teh NYTImes crossword-- (I got about 18 clues) we were happy to cash in our our DIA memebrship and see the 12:30 show of Annie Liebovitz before they packed up all the photos. I was truly moved to tears when I encountered the Nora Jones portrait. I have been a huge fan since we saw her open at the Ark. for Taj Mahal. She is just ethereal.

pleased

2007-01-05T07:44:00.000-05:00

"It’s an historic moment for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited for over 200 years."
NANCY PELOSI, on becoming speaker of the House.

This is such a good thing. I am so relieved. I have hope. This morning over her bowl o Crispies Isabel practiced saying PU LO SEE. It has a nice ring to it. ...amazing.

GWL

2007-01-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

Eight hours from Fargo, ND and eight hours from Ypsilanti, Mi is a place called the Wisconsin Dells. There is a Great Wolf Lodge there. We like it. We like it a LOT! This is the second time we have met our dear friends there for an extended visit and we are planning a third. It is a giant slumber party of waterpark and silliness. It is so much fun. I have uploaded a bunch of new pix at the .mac account which links from here with the "My Photo's" tab. I feel a list coming on--feather boas, ice cream drinks, impromptu yoga class, giggling in the dark like little kids, prime rib, champagne, stale crackers, beavers chewing on sticks,vibrating guns, inner tubes of various colors, tattoos, Irish whiskey, visine pain, omlette boy, chocolate fountain, WEREWOLF AOOOOO! ipods, room hopping,baby advice,hot tub, chlorine cancer, wave pool? NO-- WADE pool--NO WAVE! pool
sigh...what a great time

Excellent flick

2006-12-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

"Night at the Museum"
need a little magic as the consumerism and wrapping paper threaten to smother your soul? Go see "Night at the Museum". What a fun treat--Rooney, and Van Dyke are brilliant and of course Robin Williams--there is something so honest about his smile. Owen Wilson is great and I am sure my fondness for miniatures and action figures has NOTHING to do with my big thumbs up on this flick. It is charming and sweet and exciting and just a pleasant couple of hours--

The Virgin & the Unicorn

2006-12-25T14:37:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon the kids and I got bored so we decided to mix up the creche a bit. Then the reindeer wanted to play. Soon the unicorns joined in. The above shot was inspired if I do say so myself! For more on Reindeer Games click on the my photos link to the right Happy Hollydaze!

this morning in the freep

2006-12-23T19:03:00.000-05:00

If like me you don't have a proper fireplace. let me suggest this

"You can't roast chestnuts by it ...
But if you don't have a fireplace and want to see a traditional Yule log burning this Christmas, turn on the tube. The WGN Superstation out of Chicago will show the classic 7-minute film loop made in 1970 of a fireplace in Palo Alto, Calif., on Monday morning from 2:30-6:30 a.m. (record it if you get up later) and the INHD network will broadcast a high-def fireplace for 24 hours starting at 7 a.m. with the promise of an image so real you'll want to reach for a poker. Either way, no ashes to clean up."

Hannukah Fun

2006-12-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Carol made the best freaking cabbage rolls--red wine in the sauce and both sharp and sweet paprika. Oh man--deeeelish. Isabel got to light the menorah. gelt and dreidals and beer. I may convert. Then we finally got a chance to play Carcasonne--oohh fun!! It is a lot like Catan but not as cut throat. I suspect Rick & Tim can enhance that! Happy Hannukah. Hippy Solstice, Merry Xmas, Joyous Festivus and Salt & Pepper!

Snowbaby

2006-12-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

I remember when Matthew was about seven or eight, we lived in married student housing despite neither of us actually being married. The apartments were at the base of a hill. The hill boasted a playground and a sidewalk which ultimately led to campus but was used by the children at Westview to rollerblade and such. Bear decided he needed a skateboard. Just to sit on and coast down the hill. I managed on my miniscule budget to find him a plastic torpedo shaped (I think it was originally red--but had faded to orange) skateboard at a rummage sale. He was ecstatic. He and the Little dude next door (his name was Fun--how cool for a friend to be named Fun!) played for hours. They used two liter soda bottles as makeshift cones to weave in and out around. Gradually, Matty attempted standing up and by the time he hit junior high he was a "skater". He spent days on the driveway "getting air" and practicing his "ollie". He conned the neighbor into welding him a grind rail. The curbs around the house are all scarred with black streaks--the wax long since washed away. He and his buddies got banished from EMU's campus for defacing property. (twice) He paid $85 for a pair of Tony Hawk Jeans--which are now *my* fave pair. Easily six pair of DC shoes (which it turns out are also good for waiting tables!) Bits of wheels and trucks and broken decks still litter my basement.

And then a couple of years ago he asked for a snowboard for Christmas. My angst was elevated to whole new levels of worry. His dad likes to ski so they have something sort of in common (besides video games) it was pretty much out of my line of vision until this winter. Bear joined the MSU ski club and guess where they have been the last week??

mmm hmmm... in Colorado where the snowgods just dumped 44 inches of snow, closing the Denver airport and all major freeways--he claims all is well-- and we pick him up from his 36 hr bus ride sometime Saturday.
At least they didn't fly.

Harry Christmas

2006-12-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

Wow. What a fun thing this morning. I love hangman! Melisant got me hooked on bookworm online too--great! another distraction from daBook. How am I gonna get any writing done while Pete is home for ten days?? What? You say you haven't gone to JKRowling.com and seen that the do not disturb sign is off the door?? OH!! you suck! Click the eraser on her desk-- off you go!

The Xmas miracle

2006-12-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

Dear readers, Many of you are personally familiar with Stoopidawg and her ongoing (3+ years) rehab. Well I am knocking on wood but--I think we have reached a turning point. a little doggie break thru perhaps. There has been a significant shift in her behaviour lately. She still is quite adamant that we need to be walking by 8:15 despite the change in playground rules/schedule at Izzy's school and she is of course still hooked on chewies, but she seems...calmer? For example things* we have achieved since let's say--oh September:

1.) Once leashed She no longer lunges madly through the door. She sits down so I can hook the leash to her collar AND she sits while I lock the housedoor. I walk out the door first and she is "showdog heel" before we exit the porch.Previously these have been moments of extreme agitation, manic jumping and butt wagging spinning ecstasy--cute/funny but not very orderly. We need to thank Caesar Milan for this.

2.) It appears She can be off leash under very controlled circumstances. The last week I have been letting her off leash in what Zoli likes to call the Mouse Meadow. I have mentioned the path we walk behind the high school. The wooded area is bounded by two large grassy areas about a city block each. The grass is long and there are saplings and brush. Rodent heaven right behind the football stadium, no vehicle traffic, occasionally a jogger or another doggy team. I have always let Jarvis off leash because he has a very good recall. (that's a doggiepeople term for coming when he is called)
Bree--well not so much.

But something has finally clicked. I was inspired by watching some Canadian Agility trials on Animal Planet. There was a little Jack named Boogie who swept her class. She looked just like Bree. Earlier this week I decided to try an experiment. I put her in "sit" then I laid the leash down beside her. I said "stay". I walked away. It worked! I got about five feet away and said "OKAY". On Monday, she just looked at me-- then split for the football practice field. Well they can't go on the field so I called her off and she came right back!! Musta been something in my voice because she came right to me. I picked up the leash and we walked up a bit more.
I casually dropped the leash, said "Okay" and she tore off after Jarv. I yelled "squirrel" which really is Jarv's warcry and they both stopped--looked where I was pointing-- and they tormented the squirrelvillage for about 10 minutes. On Tuesday she remembered and when we got to the same area she sat right down without me telling her. I let Jarv off leash and then her. They played for about 15 minutes jumping and digging for frozen moles and just playing. It was so funny! They really are hilarious. They are so keen to get whatever is hiding in the hole or in the grass. So serious and busy. So today we were off leash for at least 20 minutes. I cleverly brought a cheese stick with me so whenever she chose to find me or came when I called-- "Hey" seems to work a lot better than "come" she got a treat. What a great feeling. I honestly feel like we are getting somewhere. Man what a relief, maybe this spring we can try and visit a GLJRT meeting. I would love for her to have that much fun.

_____
*It should be noted that at that exact moment she came running into the room jumped into the middle of the bed, barked twice and then ran back into the living room.

Shakepeare excites me!

2006-12-19T17:43:00.000-05:00

December 19, 2006
Louise Brown Staff Reporter--Toronto Star

With Shakespeare, it seems the wordplay's the thing that keeps us big on the bard.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found one of Shakespeare's favourite linguistic tricks - throwing odd words into otherwise normal sentences or using a noun as an unexpected verb - surprises the brain in a way that generates a sudden burst of mental activity that actually shows up on a brain scan.

This heightened brain energy, as reported today in the journal The Reader, may be one reason the bard's plays pack such a dramatic punch with audiences, the study suggests.

"The effect on the brain is a bit like a magic trick; we know what the trick means but we don't know how it happens - and instead of being confused in a negative sense, the brain is positively excited," said Professor Neil Roberts, from the University's Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre.

The authors attached electrodes to the scalps of 20 people and read selected lines from Shakespeare's plays to measure brain response.

Co-author Professor Philip Davis cites the phrase "he godded me" from Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, which is an unusual way of saying "he treated me like a god" that Davis says actually catches the brain off-guard.

"When one word changes the grammar of a whole sentence, brain readings suddenly peak. The brain is then forced to re-trace its thinking process in order to understand what it is supposed to make of this unusual word," he said.

"By throwing odd words into seemingly normal sentences, Shakespeare actually surprises the brain in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity - a sense of drama created out of the simplest things.

Davis said the research is "good for brain science" because it sheds light on how the brain works from moment to moment.

"It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together; when you know how pieces fit, you can get bored," said Davis, "but if the pieces don't appear to fit at first, the brain becomes excited."

Winter Wonderland

2006-12-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

This morning in the Freep--
Man, I feel for this kid. Isabel is quite worried that Santa won't be able to sledge properly. This morning she looked out the window and announced to noone in particular (she is just like her Daddy) "Well there is Frost. That's a start."

December 19, 2006
BY JULIE EDGAR
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
(W. Archie Freep camera man)

This small hill of snow in his front yard was all Chance Keathley, 5, of Southfield needed to go sledding Monday. Chance, a kindergartner at Bradford Academy in the city, is this year's winner of the Snow Drop contest, which entitled him to two truckloads of snow from the city's ice arena. Chance plays beginner's hockey there, and his mom, Keyona Franklin, left, helped enter him in the raffle. Family and friends enjoyed the snow, too. After this picture was taken, a cousin, aunt and others threw snowballs. Chance gathered up the snow, trying to hold on to each precious flake. As he hurtled out the front door in a T-shirt to celebrate the arrival of his snow, his mother's voice stopped him cold. Chance Keathley smiled at her over his shoulder and dutifully slipped on his coat. Then he barreled outside.
Monday was chilly, but nothing else about it would indicate that metro Detroiters are in the midst of winter.
That didn't matter, because on Chance's lawn, still studded with blades of green, a craggy mountain of snow was delivered by the City of Southfield.
Chance, 5, was this year's winner of the Snow Drop contest, which entitled him to ride in an antique fire truck with Santa during Southfield's tree-lighting ceremony earlier this month and to receive two truckloads of the ice shavings, which turned out to be 1 yard of snow, from the city's ice arena Monday.
Waiting with him were his 5-year-old cousin, Taylor Phillips of Detroit, an aunt and family friends who were drawn into a snowball fight. Chance gathered remnants of snow from neighboring driveways, not wanting to lose one drop of the precious stuff.

--Hey it's me again--the rest of the article is at Freep.com--you knew that. I have been thinking about this whole frozen mud thing. Here is my prediction. It will be green and brown all through break (YPS starts back up on 1/8/07)--so like Sunday January 7--we will have a Blizzard and no school for three more days--betcha!

Festive funny from Gretchen

2006-12-18T14:16:00.000-05:00

Christmas Carols for the Disturbed...

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are
3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and
Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....
6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna
Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy - oooh look at the
froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

What to my wondering eyes should appear...

2006-12-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

I know that I promised not to write about LOST anymore--but you had to know I was lying. I found a thing today. It is the best thing. I was innocently cruising through Toys R Us doing the elfbrand thing when lo and behold what to my surprise,glee and utter delight did I find??
LOST action figures! Oh friends!! I stood there stunned into absolute silence for several minutes. It was a moment-- I had to call Carol for moral support. She understood. She talked me down. At first I was gonna call Sylvia cuz she would *get it* too but she was at work and this was gonna cause much loud laughter--I knew it. I was right.

At first poor Carol thought there was something wrong-- kids--car-- real trauma--her only clue was maybe the heavy breathing and my inablity to articulate. Good thing I didn't call Petey. sheesh. After she deciphered my babbling and stopped her jolly chortling--she realized that they were packaged with little replica props (see Hurley's lotto slip up top) and that I really needed help choosing-- she was there for me! Three purchases were made--NOT all six! I do have some self restraint--not a lot-- but some. It was difficult to decide which three to get. These are done by McFarlane --I mean these are good. At one point I scared all the other shopping mommies right out of the aisle. I had all the figures stacked on the floor around me. I was muttering into the phone, listing all the pros and cons of each figure. I had to check the whole selection. I couldn't find my Sawyer. They had Locke (who is very creepy looking--Kate and Jack (duh) and Charlie!! and Hurley!!--they are supposed to have Shannon but I didn't see her there. No big loss. I have a whole new mission!! Off to ebay!!

intervention request
Is it healthy for a 39 year old woman to collect action figures?
I mean like the comic guys? I Love my action figures. I should post a photo of my "army". But I can't get them all in one shot. I need to do an entry for each of them. *That* could kill some time. I have Shakespeare,Snape, Kevin Smith, Poe, Yoda, Bert, Henry V (papo rocks!), Strider--well, all of the fellowship including Eowyn
I have Joan of Arc--yeah you get the picture. I can't wait for May '07 when MacFarlane will release Season 2 of the Lost figurines--they're gonna make Sawyer. And Mr. Ecko, Jin and Saayid. OH man how freaking cool!

steaming reindeer poo

2006-12-18T07:48:00.000-05:00

Zoltan asked several pertinent questions over the course of the weekend. I would like to share them. 1. Is reindeer poo as big as horse poo? Do they poo when they are flying? What if they poo on the roof?
2. Is it dangerous to dual wield knives while doing a cartwheel?
3. Will Santa bring me a grappling hook with a laser pointer on it?

ah...boys....

Much linen progress

2006-12-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

Saturday was a very pleasant day. Took Zoli and his bestest buds to see the new fantasy film Eragon. That was a wonderful thing. Ya gotta love 11 year old boys discussing the differences between a book and the film. I was so proud. THEN I abandoned DH and the houseful of chilldwen and went off to Melisant's garb workshop.

The sewing project/dress (aka the bomb) that this blog is supposedly about is about 90% finished. I can wear it. It is a garment. YAY!!! Once this project is finished and posted, well-- I really feel I need to rename the blog. Linenbomb is about ready to retire.
There was, on Saturday, a HONORABLE fellow workshopper who didn't know the whole god awful story behind this black cotehardie-- I carefully explained (without divulging too much personal info) how the first two incarnations of this dress were so horribly and ineptly manufactured that they looked like they had been bombed. I mentioned the very start of this blog-- and how I kept in touch with my support group and sewing mentor (who all happily reside on the CORRECT side of Lake Michigan) via posting pictures and whining for pats on the head and/or virtual hand holding.

Once again I ask my clever friends for help. WHAT should I rename the blog? I need something witty and clever-- a phrase that is easy to remember. Maybe I'll even enable the comments section this time. But for now--kick around some ideas and email me. Maybe it could be Dazehead --but that seems kinda vain. Oh wait this is a vanity blog isn't it? hmmm maybe something uber clever like Ypsidixit. That is the best blogname ever.Think. Think. Think.

Kristi??

2006-12-15T14:50:00.001-05:00

I am looking at her face (eyes up here boys) and I am pretty sure this is one of my finest Creative Writing Students ever. She is working for Linda at Sidetracks and she recently showed me a similar photo ( it had less of a holiday theme but similar composition) that friend of hers created.--She mentioned they were for sale at The Elbow Room. It is a rocking little space.

I haven't been in that bar since my friend David Asher had his band The Process play there like two summers ago. God I am lame.

twisted like a black candycane

2006-12-15T08:11:00.000-05:00

ICK! EWW! Nasty *shudder* If, darling reader you are sure that I am the biggest freak you know. Please stop reading. Think of me running the School Bookfair, or doing some happy community service thing--like teaching ESL Mommies on North Campus or writing grants for the city pool. If you are one of the tens of peeps who really understand...continue on---

Okay squeamy people gone?? checking under desk to be sure Maddy's not still reading-- I found a movie on netflix. We (that would be myself and darling hubby--aka soul mate...he was giggling like a little kid in a candy shop) watched it last night. It was called Three Extremes. Three different directors, three riveting stories--adequate film making-- but OH MY GAWD!! They were the most repulsive nastytaboo riddenhorriblegross--I almost vomited-- nasty things I have ever seen. I want to remind you what I think is hilarious--really funny--Aquateen Hunger Force, Don Hertzfeldt, Bill Plympton, Beavis & Butthead, Ren and Stimpy, JackAss, South Park and so forth. I weaned myself on Stephen King and Titus Andronicus--but oh constant reader...

Just the the term "crunchy dumplings" is currently enough to make me wanna hurl. I haven't ever seen anything so culturally and morally wrong. These guys took every cultural taboo we have and spun them into terrifying and mind warping little tales. The human obsession with truth, beauty and love are carried to such horrific ends...incest, adultery, vanity, vampires, cannibals, music, truth, three (or four or five) kinds of murder. "stem cell research" hot sex scenes, film within a film--WOW.

I gotta go wash out my eyeballs.

Will it snow??

2006-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

I like this map. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Plus-- all the places that have a high probability are the places I want to move to!! Detroit is just gray from the pollution.

odd couple o hours

2006-12-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

Thus far--Today is national Weird Day. What should have been a series of simple errands has become (in big stage voice) moments of extreme oddness For example. It is quite warm here in Ypsitucki (46F and raining) so it seemed a safe bet to rinse the salt and crap off daBug. But, o gentle reader before I could even change my dollars into quarters of cleanliness--a big white SUV blocks the front of the car wash stall!! ENH?! Then out hops a beautiful German (Swedish?--hey --she had a very thick accent) woman. She has a business card for Nethack or some such bullshit. The address is Ann Arbor and way the butt fuck out on Jackson Road. She says in a little girl voice that was sure to send shudder's down men's spines--"You are telling me where this address is?" I asked her had she called the place for directions? The card did have three phone numbers listed. No--she says something in her Germanic/Scandinavian language that I'm sure translated into "My cellphone only works in Amsterdam" Taking pity on her--I explain that she is on her way to Detroit--that is going AWAY from her destination. I explain how to get on i-94 and get to Jackson Road but I had no idea after that--that she may want to phone the people who were expecting her to find out which way on Jackson Rd cuz-- well it is a big road--one of the kind of streets where the addresses have eight digits. I hope she got to her appointment. very odd.

I washed my little car and went to get my blood drawn. (It's time to find out if *this* drug has kick started my painfully ponderous metabolism.)

Again pretty standard procedure--but lo and behold the tech (phlebotomist-- I believe is the correct title) is reading Janet Evanovich. In fact, the receptionist and the phone babe (I suppose she could be called the phoneblotamist) are also Big Plum heads and we stand there yapping for about 10 minutes. It isn't every day you start a book discussion at the lab. Quite odd.
Then as I was leaving one of them tucked the tag into the back of my shirt--which was a very sisterly thing to do but I wasn't aware that sharing a fondess for popfiction gave one permission to handle my garment care tag. Now, the girls at the grocery store that is another thing. They can fix my clothes but not complete strangers--like the guy at BloodBath and Beyond who tried to sell me Emerilware--he obviously doesn't understand that I am AB's girl through and through-- snort--"Emeril...bam!" (ROFL)

Yes-- the Womens of Hiller's. They are my friends. Barb, Sheila and Candy. They are the backbone of the check out staff at my fave grocery store--and dude I spend enough time with those women..I know when they have dr's appts and when their kids are getting discharged from the service. Scary--but true.

As I wandered the aisles hunting and gathering I swear to god this huge dude (old guy--like 70 ish but waaay big--his belly made a shelf over his belt. He didn't have a double chin he had like..I dunno--Walrus neck--was stalking me. If I went down the soup row--HE went down the soup row. Everywhere I turned there was ancient Walrus man--getting paper products--pretzels--there was no way I was going in the beer cooler. I became a little afraid. I wondered why he was following me. I began to conceive an exit plan-- how to ditch him-- I doubled back through the frozen bovine secretions and looped around the kosher goods. I stopped outright at the deli counter--I would be safe there. i was secretly hoping cute butcher boy was working-- but no it was Cranky old lady with the hair net. "A half pound of Tavern Ham for sandwiches please." Minute sticked by with no sign of the predator.

At last, believing I had lost my Walrus pursuer; I hurried up through the refrigerated section (yogurt. check.) to do a final lap through the bakery. And there he was. I froze in my tracks. His massive mustachioed bulk perched on a tiny cafe chair. He was stuffing a pastry (shortbread?) into his cake hole like he hadn't eaten in weeks (which dear one--he plainly had). He sputtered crumbs at his diminutive wife who sipped a coffee. I could barely see her hidden as she was between the cherry tarts and his enormous torso. I gathered my courage and calmly pushed my cart past the odd couple. I saw my friends waving me to the finish line--- if I could just clear this last 10 feet without the walrus capturing me I would be home free. I was a baby spotted seal--slipping through the ice at the last minute.

xmas kids

2006-12-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

Peanut's in da hood
brother bling
tree bong?? Musta been the inspirational Christmas music Pete was playing--His new Bootsy Collins CD!--oi!

Stinky Candles

2006-12-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

I heart candles. I love my stinky candles. I wish I could get my house to smell like Pier One (tm). My desk smells like french vanilla even though it is called "orange cream". The living room smells like "Winter Cranberry". Who names these things? What the hell is Winter cranberry??? as opposed to what a summer cranberry? Ya can't do that can ya?

It is Prly the same Martha Stewart minion who names paint and make up. The day I see a lipstick named properly I will buy it.

For example they should be given practical straight forward names like...oh...say..
Fuck Me Red, or Daddy doesn't know I am wearing make up--aka Little girl Pink. What about my fave line of Burt's Bees lip shimmers. Don't even get me started on the BB's Almond Milk hand creme---ahhhh. good stuff.I am such a gullible consumer because ya know what--they put those things at the check out and I buy them---Oooh--- I don't have Raisin! or Nutmeg!--what about Cocoa! (Nice normal names--no "Tweed Peat" here) I had to have cocoa. I have it in my coat pocket. There is also a lip shimmer in the cup holder in the bug (yeah it is frozen), one down stairs, one in the pencil jar and about seven in the upstairs powder room--okay there is a euphemism. Powder room *snort* --More like Zoli's wet towel depository.

helpful Kifli advice

2006-12-07T08:01:00.000-05:00

Please dear friends--do not dance to Shakira's "hips don't lie"-when you are sifting flour! I was having so much fun dancing (keeping the top half still while sifting and shaking the bottom half and of course singing at the top of my lungs) that I only put in half the amount of flour. Spaced out totally. Chilled the inadequate dough (still singing and dancing) rolled out the velvety (I did notice it was awfully smooooth) pastry into a circle. Then I cut out the little triangles and filled them with Raspberry. Baked them--they smelled awesome--took them out and saw that I had--well... um-- they didn't look like this.

In fact they kinda looked like a big melted carmel raspberry sneeze. After laughing at myself and in order to prevent the total waste of ingredients-- I lined the bottom of a round dish with the raspberry tiles--then made a custard to soak the whole thing into a bread pudding kinda concept.
It was pretty good. Calder's milk makes for a kick ass custard.

KIFLI!

2006-12-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well,gentle reader today is the day. The turkey leftovers are gone (praise Allah).Thus, we have entered The HOLLYDAZE-- and we are getting the tree on Saturday; which means we need to have cookies and cocoa when we get home. And what kind of cookies do we need mes chéris? That's right we need KIFLI!! mmmm, I swear the best thing to come out of Hungary EVER! The most nummy little cookies. Little crescents of buttery love, filled with nuts or jams or poppyseed--oh yummy. Pete's Grandma Olah made sure I had the right recipe and it easily took three years before I could roll them properly. But, now..I am KIFLI QUEEN!! Let the cookies begin!

Not walking the path

2006-12-04T10:04:00.001-05:00

So this morning I am walking stoopid dawg through the heavily wooded cross country trail and Lo and behold we were thwarted.
This freaking HUUUGE tree was blocking our path. It was very windy Friday and this big ole dead wood tree just gave it up.If a tree falls in the forest... What was especially odd was that the root ball was practically non-existent. It was like a morel mushroom, just a big dirty Q-tip. No straggly roots or anything. As we got closer and realized that while Bree's ancestor's were good with horses-- there was no way we were going to get enough steam to hurdle over this obstacle. No English jumper in the vicinity. We were stuck on our boring little hoof-less feet. I really did want to lean up into the stirrups and encourage SOMEBODY to jump over it. It would have been picturesque. Dejectedly, we looked for a route around the fallen giant. All of the bark had long ago been stripped from the trunk and it was actually all whitened dry rot. After sniffing and digging and generally examining this new thing, when we tried to clamber (yes..clamber) over it Bree's nails were shredding the old fiber. It was quite an unusual moment. Normally the most exciting thing on the path is a frozen dead cat or a snippy squirrel. I hope "they" don't clear it out too soon. I need more excitement in my daily routine.

Once Upon a Snarky Sunday

2006-12-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

Ick. My "home" boys are sick. Petey & Z are both all boogers and snot. (I am spraying lysol like a maniac.. Did you wash your hands??)
The disieased menfolk didn't stop Peanut from going to Tessa's Chuck E Cheese (shudder) party, in Rochester Hills! Petey had to drive or I would have ended up in Sarnia--WHY?? are freeway off ramps so confusing?...and the switching from 23 to 94 (or 96?? no that is Lansing) 1-75 to 296 to ACK!! I hate it. I'm not sure how I managed to mature this far with such a crappy internal map. Regardless-- Isabel had a blast at Tessa's gig and we hit Somerset. That my darlings is what I REALLY want to yap about, next to driving on the freeways---I LOVE shopping! Especially at a hip haute coutre giant ass place like The Somerset Collection. It is FABLUOUS (ya'll can smell the sarcasm right?) The decorations were truly beautiful. There is huge BaronMunchusen ship that was spectacular--I kinda wish I had the camera and the whole "Visit Santa" thing in the court was heavy handed Renaissance theme. pretty but of course the garb of course was ATROcious. All I could think of was poor David Sedaris. One elfboy was kinda cute in his faux white doublet and hose.

The people shpping there--oi! One girl who was just a little pudgy, really quite normal..but not a hottie; was trying to dress like a hottie. Stress on the verb there. She was wearing (are you ready? Ia..cover your eyes) cheapo flip flops!! (oh! outdoor temps were at a balmy 25F) legwarmers, no hose, no tights leggings or otherwise-- just pasty white thighs, a deconstructed (read frayed hem) denim mini that was TOOO short and a hoodie with her HS logo on it. THEN on the other end of the "What not to Wear Spectrum" was this goomar in her Fuck me shoes, black hose, black leather mini and little jacket, presidential tint wrap around sunglasses, blood red collagen lips and her hair was dyed SOO black it was like a cosmic hole of goth. It sharp contrast her bling was so blingy the glare was like a 1000 watt Robertson on the top of a lighthouse.
Honestly! Do these women own mirrors? My fave snark moment though was the two flaminggay guys descending the escalator--can you say Best in Show?... and yes dears, they had a little tea cup puppy in a Juicy bag.

We did find Z some nice black chords for his concert. God I hate the mall.

Cuppycake Lady

2006-12-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

Oh freaky darlings--
There is a new shoppe in KerryTown. Up a bit from the bookstore and Dogma/Catmandoo. She makes cuppycakes--strawbery lemonade cuppycakes,chocolate cuppycakes, carmel cuppycakes...I did about choke at the $12 for six-- but ya know what..they were completely worth it. And she has the coolest freaking purple couch I have ever seen. It is all swoopy and art deco. Posh--that's the word I need--the most posh purple sofa! I want it!

Festive Fun For Free

2006-12-01T08:36:00.000-05:00

Oh how absolutely cool! The culinary arts students at Schoolcraft College in Livonia produced a wonderful little village of happy candy houses. They were very creative, pez candies as bricks, golden grahams cereal make great shingles--I was esp. enamoured with the vertical stacks of star cut out cookies to make a fir tree--veddy nice; The whole gingerbread village was really enchanting. It was really quite impressive when you realized that even the streets were slivered almonds. I was surprised at the steady stream of people visiting. We also got to walk down the wing of classrooms where the students were busy at work, they all looked so chipper and cheerful--very unlike Anthony Bourdain's books. Isabel of course was ecstatic pointing out all the little details like flowers in the flower shop window and tiny little cupcakes in the bakery. Zoli had a blast identifying the types of candy. They both would proclaim that "This" was the house they were gonna live in if they ever became tiny little confections--until they saw the next structure. At the risk of sounding banal--It was cute. Damn cute--Go! Be festive!-- it won't hurt.

prly true

2006-11-30T08:02:00.000-05:00

I am pretty sure I am the only person in the world who wonders if Harold Bloom is any relation to Orlando Bloom?

Tom

2006-11-29T09:49:00.000-05:00

I am a huge Tom Waits-head. His voice in all its gravel-ly glory goes right to my spine. This reaction prly has nothing to do with the fact that Pete made me a mix tape (remember those? Now kids share playlists) back in the day. I am sure I would have been arrested or at least institutionalized if not for that tape and the sense of calm and emotional support it gave me. It was all Rain Dogs, Small Change, ClosingTime and a little Van Morrison to mellow it all out. I don't know how many times that tape really saved me from a mental breakdown. Then..when I saw Tom in Chicago...well yeah. I still have the glitter in a little package. he was throwing glitter and screaming through a megaphone. F-ing brilliant. The way he side stomps his leg to the back beat. I later wrote a poem. I know Eric has one hard copy I don't know if I have an electronic file or not... have to dig around a bit.

The only other more significant musical experience in my life was Van at Guinness Fleagh, also Chicago, also Eric. Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour was cool--So was Never Let Me Down--but Tom..well he is the shit.

Yeah so anyway Tom has a new album out. Guess what Pete is getting for Xmas!

Linen Bombette

2006-11-27T15:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I have finished another knitting project. I think it will be my last. I much prefer weaving or crochet. Despite following the instructions this "capelet" seems to be more of a "scarf". Okay, there were two big deviations from the instructions--I chose a different yarn than recommended (this is hemp--I liked its color)
and used needles (obviously size matters)
I already owned. A very oddly shaped scarf. I am pleased with the edge the beads were fun.
I do like beads.
But can you see how horrible this is??
My only hope is that it can be blocked
and then will hang properly
--but lordy there are some tangled
spots of doom.Can you tell I only go to knitting
for the conversation? and the coffee?

The Turkey Derrick

2006-11-26T08:57:00.000-05:00

After the Punkin Day false start—we had to veto that adventure on the grounds that: (fire+propane) x alcohol +high winds=BAD IDEA --we finally got to deep fry a turkey in our brand new deep fryer ensemble! We have accomplished fried bird on previous occasions but we always used Jim & Gwen’s fryer kit. Now we have our own! BEAMING w/Pride.

Pete also decided he needed to construct AB’s turkey derrick. Other than realizing that we need a taller ladder and having a little premature turkey ejaculation-- The bird took about 30 minutes to cook fully… not the 20 AB suggested. I had the same problem with the brisket on Punkin Day. It seems that air temperature has more of an influence on outdoor cooking than I would care to admit. At least non-actual fire cooking. Electric smoker took longer, propane burner took longer. I have never had a weather related problem with actual fire—hmmm Science…It’s what’s for dinner.

We also noticed that skipping the center top o'the ladder pulley was perhaps an error on our part. We just ran the rope through a manufactured hole in the top rung (the part where it says DO NOT STEP) which then resulted in a slightly alarming list during the lowering procedure. All in all well worth the fuss.

Izzy's "first" pie

2006-11-25T15:52:00.000-05:00

I helped Izzy make her first pie. We used the Queeze to make butter crust. She dropped the butter into the chute. We peeled apples and she gauged how much spice to use. We cooked the apples and brown sugar, I helped her fill it and I actually placed it in the oven as that makes her VERY nervous. She once burned her wrist removing some choc. chip cookies. Despite this very rational hesitation by the oven I would say she did a good 75-80% of this on her own. She was quite proud and it was delish.

RIP Mr. Altman

2006-11-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

22 November 2006
Director Robert Altman will long be mourned by the movie world. The news of the death of honored American director Robert Altman 81, has brought a series of accolades from actors and writers who have worked with him over the years. In fact Sandcastle 5 Productions in New York just said "He had lived and worked with the disease {cancer} for the last 18 months," Robert Altman's thinly veiled Vietnam War satire is indicative of when the spirit of the 1970s went mainstream, with Elliot Gould, Donald Sutherland and Tom Skerritt as rebellious, sarcastic and endearing Army doctors fighting military (read corporate) bullshit while healing wounded soldiers during the War. He hated the sitcom that it spawned calling it "that series" and I read in the Freep this morning that he only put the disclaimer that it was Korea and NOT Vietnam after pressure from the producers to make the film less aggressive. I don't know..I kinda like aggressive--at least in film directors. Pete Travers said this In Rolling Stone "Here was a director who spawned his own adjective, Altmanesque. That meant overlapping dialogue -- think of all the characters talking at the same time in M*A*S*H. That meant movies that fit no existing mold -- think of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Three Women, Images, The Long Goodbye, California Split, Thieves Like Us. That meant large ensemble casts -- like the hordes of actors in Nashville, The Player, Gosford Park, Short Cuts and what turns out to be his last film, A Prairie Home Companion, who came together under his direction to create a teeming sense of collective life that no director has been able to match since." I am sad.

false friends

2006-11-21T14:06:00.000-05:00

gentle readers--Warning English Teacher Mode--
Some of you are aware of my desire to be fluent in spoken French. I can read it well enough... but to conjugate verbs on the fly in a conversation...oh mais non mes amies. In an effort to keep these undergrad skills honed I subscribe to a really sweet web page called ABOUT.com. Laura La Nazi grammaire sends me French homework-- which depending on how bored I am (or how difficult it is) I ignore. Today's homework had to do with Thanksgiving (which is not usually celebrated in France as it is an American thang.) She had a big ole list of vocab. words that have to do with T-day and one of them was la farce Which means stuffing. Which cracked me up no end. You see there is a whole genre (ooh-- did ya see that mot francais? of words called cognates which are our friends; as they have very similar spellings and meaning for example...difficile means difficult in English--not too bad right? BUT there are FALSE FRIENDS such as our little bread crumb buddy--if you read the word in French and assumed it was similar to FARCE in English it could make for a lovely Monty Python sketch. Or even better--if you are a really horrible cook your side dish could be a huge joke--like way too many over cooked oysters, or really just a bowl of slightly soggy croutons. OH look another mot francais! Je suis tres amuse!

Local Shopping OP

2006-11-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

oh Tony!

2006-11-20T14:16:00.000-05:00

wrinkledmind.blogspot.com

One of my dear colleagues, Tony-- has a very entertaining blog; but friends this is not funny. This is terrifying--I can't count how many times that I, as a student, went to the library w/out ID--example? ok here's one--running in JUST to photocopy the last (forgotten) page of a critical essay on Spencer. ~Or~ to see if a friend was ready to eat yet, or to use the phone...but obviously times have changed. Look what students do on the phone now...I do not know the whole story behind this but please take a look.

remember kiddies--the police are our friends

Squirrel Squad goes to the Dairy

2006-11-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

Good morning freaky darlings--

Many of you are familiar with our rebellion against corporate scouting--The Squirrel Squad! A bunch of families from the neighborhood hookup and do fun kidstuff (like play dodgeball) without paperwork or fundraising. We meet on the first Tuesday for crafty/planning meeting and then the second Sunday we go on a road trip. Yesterday was our trip to Calder Dairy. Many pictures (two albums worth!) can be seen by clicking on the My photos link or pasting this addy into your browser http://homepage.mac.com/wgouine1/PhotoAlbum165.html

This pic is of the gorgeous wooden and glass front cabinets at the little store. They sell all the dairy products produced there. Many adults were wondering about purchasing the geese and pigs. As Sean pointed out they probably have some sort of meat processing off site becasue they prly aren't milking the pigs! I never did get that question asked! The wonderful thing about Calder is they DELIVER MILK to MY PORCH in GLASS BOTTLES!! Yummmm. No hormones or antibiotics--now granted if a cow gets sick she is quarantined and modern science helps her get well but her milk doesn't get sold while she is on meds. The other thing I truly love about Calder's is that they are uber local. The trip took the caravan less than a half hour to drive out to the farm. As an exBrownie leader it was sooo nice to not have to worry about one driver with six little kids in their car. We had 26 adults and 18 kids...nice adult to child ratio!

The trip was a fabulous success. We got to bottle feed the babies, we visited the transitional barn (pre teen cows) and then in the milking parlour we saw EXACTLY where our milk comes from. It was awesome. 129 cows--this one was my fave-- isn't she pretty? I couldn't help but remember when T-rex had to get up at 5am and milk the moos in Bath. He let Matty pet the cows once--but this was quite the learning experience for ALL of us. I think the thing that sticks out in my mind the most was the fact that the mechanized suction devices release when the udder is empty. Having nursed three kids and waking up in a fountain of mother's milk because the little putz ate till he/she fell asleep--and then just let the letdown continue--yeah...I was kinda envious of being completely empty. The nightmarish memories of learning how to "pump and dump" all came back. I have total sympathy for those cows. I think they should all get names. Many of Calder's Cows have names but the teenagers just get numbers till they have a baby. The babies get tagged and numbered but until they join the workforce--they are just anonymous creatures with the most beautiful eyes. Cows are cool. They can pick their noses with their tongues!

sweet tater pancakes

2006-11-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

When Gretch & I were down south I tried a new thing--Sweet potato Pancakes. They were fluffy and quite yum-- but being the little foodsnot that I am I couldn't wait to tweak the recipe (which constant reader--you should note--I did not have). The first thing that had to go was the Log Cabin syrup flavored Maple Syrup. I of course needed MICHIGAN PURE Grade A Maple syrup and I thought maybe a little pecan action might be nice. My base recipe for panic cakes and waffles is the back of the bisquick box (course now I often add a little whole wheat flour or just flip over to KRUSTEAZE (tm) whole wheat--but as usual...I digress) My instincts said to take out some moist from the recipe to cover for the sweet tater puree so I left out an egg. Now what was produced was edible, (in fact Zoli edibled three of them)--but the batter was VERY heavy and difficult to flip. Next time I am gonna start from scratch and up the gluten & b.powder quotients--see if we can get fluffier. Does anybody have a tried and true recipe to share??

I HEART YPSI!!

2006-11-17T12:12:00.000-05:00

What wonderful fun!! Fun for me! Zipped out to the library to pick up a request (if you must know--a Charlaine Harris novel--on advice of my clansister 'Venna") and realized as I turned left onto Michigan Ave to come home, that there was NOTHING stopping me from checking out Ypsi's new store! The parking gods co-operated with a lovely spot up the block and in I went. The ever enticing aroma of fresh popcorn wrapped around me. The guys were so sweet and it was just awesome! I got the tour. Candy, toys and fridge magnets. Ypsi T-shirts and this great little store is DOWNTOWN! Not Depot Town (which I love-- but we need businesses down town. I was thrilled. All sorts of kitsch for boxes to Baldwin and Fargo. PARTY SUPPLIES!! Everybody needs a screaming harpy bendy doll! I replenished our depleted stock of pirate band aids, talked about the children's bookstore I will never be brave enough to open. And just had a super time! Oh I can't wait for everybody to check it out!

bloody unitasker

2006-11-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

I know Alton says not to buy a gadget that only does one thing. BUT I love cast iron and the concept of cute little corn shaped cornbreads was just too irresistable. SO freaky darlings-- I have this thing. I have used it twice. The first time was a miserable failure. "Self" I said to myself, "Obviously we didn't season this properly." Attempt two went down last night..a little better but the corny muffins still did not just JUMP outta the pan. In an effort to follow my mentor's advice--I preheated the oiled pan in a 425F oven...just like Alton. The results were better but still not camera worthy. Does anybody have one of these things? How do they work? I want to twist it like a ice cube tray, but seems how my femininimum Wonder woman bracelets are at the cleaners--I am kinda at a loss. I need help!

Bonobo's fight back

2006-11-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

I am glad that Stopid dawg doesn't have thumbs--she would try to pull the stunt that this Horny lil monkey tried.
I am fond of Bonobo monkeys; as is my sweetie--who, at lunch today pointed out the escape Miss DrillmebecauseI'mstressed Monkey attempted. My dog asks to go out pretty much every two hours because she hopes I will get up from the keyboard and play soccer or tug of war w/her. yyyyeaah. Bonobo Monkeys are cool because rather than bug the shit out of whatever human is in charge of feeding them--they relieve their stress by getting it on. I know this scintillating information not from a book or even a Animal Planet program-- but because several years ago a certain North Dakota-ian family and my family all went to the zoo together..and we SAW the mighty Bonobo Monkeys gettin it on. At first I was appalled--crazy little monkeys gettin jiggy with it... all over! EVERYWHERE just random couplings--they were on the jungle gym, on the floor , hanging from fake vines--crazy monkey orgy--but upon reflection (and giggling like a lunatic)-I had to admit--sex does seem like a pretty good stress reducer, maybe if a few more uptight humanoids swung from the monkey bars we would have less war?

autumn rain

2006-11-16T10:39:00.000-05:00

When clouds appear wise men put on their cloaks;When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand (R3)

swish and flick

2006-11-16T07:59:00.000-05:00

Oh freaky darlings! Brooke said I could play with Sean's Wii whenever I wanted! *beaming* Of all the buzz on the playground...I could care less about the UoM/OSU game this weekend, or that James Bond is old...we knew that. But what a fine excuse to add Dr. No to the netflix queue. What I am geeked about is the new gaming platform! Sean (aka Lily's dad) is gonna try and get a Wii--the very hip and new uber slim and massively powerful game console. AAAAND..do good Pottercast Pirates KNOW what game is gonna be released for that platform??/ Hmmm?? NO? take a guess--YES! "HP and the OoP!!

YEEEEE F@$!*^# HA!!!!

2006-11-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

They won! jumping up and down they won! I fell asleep but they won! I am doing a little happy dance...oh yeah...Go Wings! It's yer birthday--Go Wings!

Wings get record-tying win, 3-2

By The Associated Press
November 14, 2006

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Johan Franzen's tiebreaking short-handed goal helped Detroit beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Tuesday night, and give the Red Wings a franchise-record matching ninth-straight win.
Franzen was killing off the final seconds of a Canucks power play when he pulled up atop the right faceoff circle and wristed a long shot between the legs of both Vancouver defenseman Patrick Coulombe and goaltender Roberto Luongo with 6:19 left in the third period.

Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Wings, who haven t lost since Oct. 21 in Edmonton.

Dominik Hasek, who blanked Edmonton and Nashville in his last two starts, extended his shut out streak to a career-best 181 minutes, 17 seconds before Henrik Sedin scored on a power play 7:49 into the second period.

Detroit was outshooting the Canucks 16-4 and leading 1-0 before being penalized for too many men on the ice. Hasek stopped Naslund's wrist shot from the top of the left circle, but couldn't glove Sedin's sharp-angle shot on the rebound.

It was the first goal given up by Hasek in 10 days. But the 41-year-old made 18 saves to keep another streak alive with his seventh straight win.

After Franzen put the Wings ahead, Hasek got a little help when Alexandre Burrows goal was waved off immediately by referee Bill McCreary, who instead called a goaltender interference penalty on Jan Bulis for bumping Hasek in the crease.

Kevin Bieksa also scored, and Luongo finished with 30 saves as the Canucks lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.

Filppula's shot from the slot ricocheted in off the shoulder of Coulombe at the side of the net 4:36 into the second. Zetterberg put Detroit ahead early in the third when he was left alone behind the Vancouver defense and outwaited Luongo before lifting a backhand over the fallen goalie.

Bieksa tied it 30 seconds later on a one-timer from the slot.

I will never pan fry pork chops again

2006-11-15T07:59:00.000-05:00

Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2006
See this recipe on air Wednesday Nov. 15 at 7:00 PM ET/PT.
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Major Pepper

2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, slightly crushed
1 pound ice
4 (1 to 1 1/2-inch thick) bone-in pork chops
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 ounces dried apple slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, julienned
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Combine the vegetable broth, 1/2 cup kosher salt, brown sugar and peppercorns in a medium saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cook just until the salt and sugar dissolve, then remove from the heat and add the ice. Place the pork chops into a 2-gallon zip-top bag along with the mixture and seal. Place in a plastic container and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the chops from the brine, rinse, and pat dry. Season on both sides with the kosher salt and set aside

Place the apples in the slow cooker.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 12-inch stainless steel saute pan over medium-high heat. Saute the pork chops on both sides until golden brown, approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side. Once browned, place the pork chops into the slow cooker atop the apples.

Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan followed by the onions and saute until they begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth to the pan to deglaze. Add the black pepper and thyme and stir to combine. Transfer this to the slow cooker, set to high, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Decrease the heat to low and continue cooking for another 4 hours and 30 minutes or until the pork is tender and falling away from the bone.

giggling madly

2006-11-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

penguins and Pottercast

2006-11-14T07:56:00.000-05:00

Pottercast.com is the subject for today. Epi 63 concerned the fact that Friday night the new kiddy flick Happy Feet opens; and thank god it isn't Scooby-poo! You see freaky darling-- Last time we were anticipating a new HP film I actually *paid* for four tickets to that pile of pabulum. Just to see the trailer for GoF. Ack.
Well I am excited this time because at least this happy dancing penguin thing looks palatable. The peeps on Pottercast were trying to decide what would or would NOT be included in the teaser. I wonder-will auror Dawlish be there??
Will McGonagall get some stylish robes? I need to see my Snapey-poo. There is much discussion concerning both Neville and the Harryhair. Apparently somebody in make up decide to comb those boys out. They did read the books?

I have to agree with one point that I believe her Anelli-ness pointed out--very soon WB is gonna have to stop promoting these films w/ the PG-13 rating. HBP was dark. I truly doubt JKR is gonna make the final volume cheerful and light--not so much. I and a few thousand Snape fans could spin it so daRk (note the capital "R") you would need a flashlight just to buy the ticket!

Turnips & Lutes or return of the bomb

2006-11-13T11:14:00.000-05:00

Sometimes things tell me directly--a moment will occur and I will understand that this is a bloggable thing. It maybe an obsessive reaction to a book, a film or a news article. Maybe a new band entered my realm of consciousness and i NEED to SHARE!! Or maybe, a brilliant friend--(a certain Queen of Milwaukee) will mention that she enjoyed a new album... and then as fate would have it another friend stretches to change the background music at her garb workshop and lo and behold I need to be downloading some music! It seems one of my favorite "stingers" has done it again. Songs from the Labyrinth Which should not be confused with David Bowie's wonderful film The Labyrinth which does have a great soundtrack but I digress--of course--isn't that why we are here? Oh freakey darling imagine my knees turning to jelly (I know not a difficult task) when Sting's ubervelvet voice slides around my spine... I do humbly beseech you... SIGH
Okay the new Sting album explains the lutes but I'll bet somebody is wondering why I mentioned turnips--consider a bleu cheese gratin. NEW RECIPE ALERT!! Creamy smooth and tangy all at the same time! I had never eaten turnips before, at least not knowingly, and I had certainly never prepared them; but in honor of clan sisters who actively seek out new veggies I tried this odd little root. It smelled like radishes. I expected it to cook like a tater--hmm not so much-- 1 hour 45 at 375F and they were still crisp. The mouth feel was kinda like jicama. The kids ate them tho Izzy did pronounce them "terrible". Pete loved it but he will eat anything that is accompanied by bleu cheese. yes..you little smutmongers..anything...

Turtleboy

2006-11-13T07:46:00.000-05:00

I hate Patrick WAAAA so much. How much do I hate him? I hate him sooo much I don't even TRY to pronounce his name correctly even tho I am desperate to be fluent en francais. I hate him sooo much I am not even gonna bother to transcribe his link into blue highlight code for you. If you want to learn about the evil one you can copy and paste into your browser.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Roy

My boys were quoted in theFreep this morning--they were saying nicey nice things about how he can stop pucks standing on his head--but dude..ya know..sometimes..the enemy is just the enemy--the Avs can suck it--stupid expansion team
Nhl Top 5 Goalie Fights - video powered by MetacafeThe little wuss is in this clip TWICE--okay--um goalies aren't supposed to fight! And they are putting THIS whiney nancyboy in the Hall of Fame??? Poor Ozzie-- ack.

no more tickets

2006-11-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

It was a fat little envelope, filled with tickets--now it is empty. tears welling up in eyes--No more RSC!!...all gone! upper lip trembling unhWAAAAAAA!!
Caesar was okay. It was warm and sleepy in the theatre and I have to point out that my belief that JC should NOT be the first Shakespeare kids encounter was confirmed. LONG speeches and last night they were performed rather monotonously--droning and zzzzzz
*head snap*
What?? No. I am good--quick glance at stage to confirm..yep Marc Antony is still talking-- and talking and talking--they did this weird thing with the assassination --the audience couldn't see it--they did this weird thing with the battles--they ran off stage--just talking and talking

There were rumors that this performance was to be especially bloody--well the blood packets didn't burst properly. Nope no Gallagher esque splatterings for us! In fact three little packs lay in the middle of the EMPTY stage- like sassy little leeches-glistening and ready to burst--but sadly whole. The other fun thing about the EMPTY set was when they pluck the "gaudy feathers" from the statue of JC--the prop was actually white streamers (feathers... streamers whatever)--like toilet paper--which then lay heaped on the stage for the whole first act, as if a naughty kitten had gotten in the pissoir; and YES--in classic slapstick form the TP was getting caught on the actor's shoes. So here are these conniving and distraught men pacing about Rome with blood stained TP stuck to the soles of their boots--it was menstrual at best... A menstrual show??

Tony & Cleo

2006-11-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Nicely done. I truly enjoyed seeing the RSC performance last night. The costumes were perfect. Suddenly I have this fondness for men in Roman Garb--better than kilts! Going in I thought perhaps the babe, Harriet Walters playing Cleopatra was gonna be too old, but then Patrick Stewart should up and they sizzled! Chris Jones of the Chicago Trib had this lovely paragraph which I shall share with my darling readers: "Harriet Walter's endlessly fascinating Cleopatra is no camp, gilded icon in the classic Elizabeth Taylor mode -- rather, she's a smart, decent, passionate woman who knows how to snare her guy, sure, but also offers her Antony a more burnished life than his sniveling Roman pals. But good intentions aside, she still turns Stewart's Antony into an unhappy man caught between two worlds and, by the second act, viable in neither. His descent is beguiling to watch."
mmmm good stuff

Novel Stimuli

2006-11-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

Such a purist....

Prospero=Patrick Stewart, good—I like it-- but in the ARCTIC?? Ariel is a dude?? A hot dude??

There was a time in my life when If I heard live music that deviated from the recording I had memorized I would have little immature hissy fits. That same sense of discomfort is awakened when movies don’t stick to the text. I still have a niggling worm of unease in the theatre when massive setting costume changes take place—for example Richard as a Nazi-- or as I anticipate Thursday—Julius Cesar in samurai garb?? THEY better not F THAT up!) But now I can see Ian McKellan as brilliantly terrifying and I am okay with the irony of the Assorted Lords scrabbling through the ice pack and discussing the lush green grass. It was funny.

I have always read Ariel in The Tempest as a little waif fairygirl with this disturbed angry old man. And the RSC has now pushed all of that imagery right out my window. We start out on Titanic shipwreck kinda thing and end up with Inuits and dead seals. “So people who think they're going to get an elderly man with a long white beard sitting on a rock, talking about his life, are in for a surprise.'' (Mckee A2 News)

The bizarre unfamiliarity of the frozen Arctic, coupled with a Peter Murphy-like Ariel and a Caliban who is drop dead gorgeous provided a magical if lusty--space for Shakespeare's last drama to unfold.

"Ultimately, it's a play about finding forgiveness in the most unlikely place,'' said Stewart. "For me, an act which resonates very powerfully ... is how much of a difference it makes to both the interior as well as the exterior life if you can, if only for a few minutes, put yourself in another's shoes, see the world through their eyes." The Tempest asks a single quiet question, one that Shakespeare has posed in many of his other plays and what Mr. Bloom just finished writing a book about-- What is a human being?

YEAH BAY-BY!

2006-11-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hot damn! that was Awesome!
a. NO parking spaces!! I freaking love it!
b. There was a line that had to "snake" at 8am
c. OUT with the incumbents (Not you Bill yer okay!) in w/ the Green party. That was a fantastic feeling. So many Greenpeeps running! We are EVERYWHERE, the senate the congress, the state board of education, UoM, MSU, WSU. My freak flag is flying high and proud. LOVE IT!
d. and a nice simple paper ballot where ya fill in the dot--right next to your write in candidate!

Now what shall I wear to the RSC tonight?? Tempest and then fly to the idiotbox for results.

GO VOTE!

2006-11-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

Get off your ass and go vote! NOW. Shut off the 'puter and go to your poll. If you live in Ypsi write in Steve Pierce for mayor. If you don't like the idea of a successful business man in charge of a struggling downtown, wait scratch that, if you don't like the idea of a historic district getting rehabbed by somebody who has already accomplished just that (saving/restoring a historic home) write in yourself, write in anybody (Jon Stewart? Tom Waits? Oprah? Pedro?) just please don't support the old school status quo--It isn't working. VOTE GREEN!!
This campaign ad was paid for by the citizen for more coffee and less bullshit.

memphis TN

2006-11-06T10:35:00.000-05:00

This city is known for it's amazing music. This theatre is famous for blues. We saw the Handy Awards (like the Grammy's for Blues) here back a couple of trips ago. But this weekend was a little more mellow. The house band at BB's was a rocking funk band they played some classics including two songs that are guaranteed to get me on the dance floor--Brickhouse and Play that Funky Music. I tried out some of my new bellydance skills-just slipping them in where they fit. Couple of guys bought me drinks--that was fun. Gretch, Smokey and I had a lot of fun snarking on white folks who can't dance-- no matter how drunk they are. Really it is kind of embarrassing--you know the white guy shuffle? Girls in heels shouldn't do that--not so much.
Found a new CD--you know me wherever I go funky little indie bands appear--This month's special selection is one of three volumes called Fried Glass Onions. Check out insidesounds.com if you are really interested--it is a bunch of blues artists doing the Beatles--right up my alley. I picked up mine at the Center for Southern Folklore where we did NOT get to see Daddy Mack play.

Schwabs

2006-11-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Well, our sorry bedraggled butts are home from Beale St.. We found a little trio of new shops down by the Arcade Diner, yes the one where Jim Jarmusch filmed Mystery Train. The new shops are called Muse, home of the blue and brown paisley suitcase, Delphinium, home of the $450 tweed & patchwork coat that only came in a small (DAMN) and uh...the one that they were still putting out the stock. They were all little indy boutiques-- kinda like my beloved Henrietta Fahrenheit (RIP).

We drank and danced. We ate. I made fast friends with the Ambassador of Bling, Mr. Charlie-and he let me help him at the
door. We also hooked up with Smokey (happy b-day baby) and Tad. Tad drives the pink caddy. He is also responsible for the Memphis Mary, which is a uber yummy drink mix.

One of the highlights for me was shopping at Tater Reds and at Schwab's. Schwab's Dry Goods Store, in the family since 1876, (you can tell from the dust. It is the only remaining original business on Beale St. They literally fill three floors with voodoo powders, handcuffs, clerical collars, saucepans and the largest collection of kitsche anyone could ever need. Some prime examples follow:

Now constant reader I ask you--if these are "open leg panties" what exactly is a "closed leg" panty? perhaps for amputees??

All the way to MEMPHIS

2006-11-02T07:56:00.000-05:00

Today Gretchen and I are escaping to Memphis. We are flying out of Flint and will be home Sunday afternoon. We are going to eat BBQ, get our nails done, listen to blues music, bitch about life, drink, giggle, shop, drink, eat at Issac Hayes (doing my best Chef impersoation--"well Hello children") and hang out on Beale Street. We are staying at The Talbot Heirs Guest House which is better than Toronto's Drake Hotel, but does not have it's own lounge--which now that I think about it would be redundant as it is about three blocks from Beale Street! Oh, did I mention that the weather is 60F and sunny? See ya'll Monday--I gotta git me some sweet tea.

My Scene

2006-11-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

I played "Barbie" with my daughter yesterday. (I didn't break out is a rash) Because she was blessed with a half day at school (or the staff just didn't want to deal with the little darlings over excited for Halloween (did I mention my kids were awake and in their costumes at 6:12 a.m?) I figured we could do something she wanted. So we went to lunch at Tim Horton's and played Barbie. I have philosophical issues with Blonde malibu Barbie from my childhood. I have drawn a very clear line at her freaky disproportionate dye job-- But peer pressure has Isabel owning six 12" fashion dolls. One is Mulan from Disney. One is a scuba diving red haired scientist from Shedd Aquarium, the rest are all brunettes from the Barbie Collection called "Myscene" which describes the temper tantrums at Toys R Us more than it does the dolls. These six girls have a large wardrobe that they share--but they seem to only have one pair of panties and I am pretty sure they stole them from Madeline.
Some things I observed yesterday.
Their chins are either "coy" or "curious dog" mode. There is no grad student reading homework pose.
Sadly, they cannot hold the bowl of chips they came packaged with.

Which is just as well really, much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex; they can't quite get their hands to their mouth. My doll eventually became so desperate to eat the chips she went in face first.
They seem to have no ankle bones.
or toes. If you hold just their feet--the gravity of their boobs pulls them over like Charlie Chaplin in a windstorm.
They do however have impossibly long eye lashes.
Their clothes won't stay on if they move.
They own a hummer that only holds them if they lay down.
Their skulls are soft and hollow.
They come w/sunglasses sewn to their heads. Now admittedly that does seem handy.

It was a pleasant enough hour. I perversely enjoyed putting my doll into situations where her fashions (ie. winter coats that a.) have no buttons or zip and b.) do not even close?? Yeah my doll got hypothermia on the ski trip) or physique (those feet PLEASE!) were so absurd we about peed our pants laughing. Tho Isabel did mention that her friends Lily and Chloe were "more fun". Eh--I think she got my point.

Je suis mort

2006-11-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

What a hoot not being Kirsten Dunst! I love Halloween. And I got to practice my French. Several neighbors of course asked if I had cake. When the little princess trick or treaters would show up I would tell them to be kind to their people or they would get (making the slit throat gesture) executed. I gave them all sorts of new vocab words like decapitated and executed. It was better than asking the Hunch Back of Notre Dame moms if they had read the book? I personally wouldn't let my daughter dress as Esmeralda. This year there was a new fad costume where the clothes are torn to reveal innards and skin bones, etc...I kept saying things like, "Oh you're an eviscerated werewolf." It is fun to mess with kid's heads.

wait five minutes

2006-10-30T11:04:00.000-05:00

I am cursed. The more important a social event is to me, the more likely it is for the weather to be absolutely crappy. For example, Matt's HS grad party? The one where all my ex-in law's were coming for BBQ and cake? Yeah, rained all day, so we are running from the tent to the house with umbrellas. This past summer we had a beerfest fete and it was sooo hot we sat w/our feet in the kiddie pool and sipped drinks--nobody hardly moved from the shady swing.
Or how about this past weekend?
Punkin Day is supposed to be cold, thus the excuse for the bonfire and the "anti-freeze", but HIGH WIND ADVISORY with gusts up to 60mph?? The wind was so strong my pyromaniac husband ix-nayed the whole fire oil and booze combo. Sadly--We had to veto deep frying the turkey, Even Sunday it was still too windy. But now that the oven was empty--we just roasted his cajun spiced rubbed ass.Today it is clear calm and a sunny 65F. Tomorrow night when the kids are trick or treating and Izzy is Glenda the pink chiffon bomb? I predict snow.