What a lovely, memorable weekend we have in store, full of all the things we cherish about winter. A heap of snow driven by piercing winds and the kind of deep cold that will survive for generations through the folk art known as Old Fart Storytelling. The luckiest ones among us will be able to bore grandchildren decades from now with exaggerated horror stories about the winter of ’10. Take notes. Add imagination. Pin their ears back. I’m going to go out to dig in a few minutes, and I hope to find a frozen bison on the front walk.
Meanwhile, in relatively milder Charlotte, North Carolina, it’s finals day in the Individual World Poetry Slam, an event that claims it will place a crown on “The Number One Poet In The World.”
If you’re going to go to the trouble of holding the event, be bold!
One of the contestants is a well-known slam poet and teacher, making a return to competition after “retiring” in 2005. Taylor Mali is known for a poem called “What Teachers Make”, which ran around the internet as a bit of what he calls “Inspirational Cyber-Spam” in several different versions, all under the name “Anonymous”.
It’s a good poem and a satisfying tale of a dinner party dressing-down, right up there with the blizzard war story you’re going to write after this weekend. But what caught my eye was a different poem, rendered this way:
Taylor Mali says this animation of his work was done without his permission, but “what would you do when the result is so good?”
How do you make something that is already good, better?
Trail Baboon 
Rise and Shine you shoveling Babooners:
That is a great animation. Lou and I watched it, mesmerized. I’ll have to comment throughout the day on the question, because right now I can’t answer it. I’m still hearing the poem rattle in my head. So often people take things, try to make them better, then ruin them.
I am finishing the angel Christmas decorations for my grandkids today. They turned out pretty well.
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can you send pictures to dale to post? your work is worth seeing.
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Like, good morning, you know?
Okay, I will try to have something positive to say following Taylor Mali’s advice. Thanks for the great video, Dale.
Good food can often be improved by adding a little hot pepper. I guess spicing up any thing could improve it. Just be careful not to add too much spice. Stories can be spiced up to make them better. Just don’t exaggerate too much. That would be, like, not cool.
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Well done Jim!
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Just trying to be cool.
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The Second Coming W. B. Yeats
TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
THE BEST LACK ALL CONVICTION, WHILE THE WORST
ARE FULL OF PASSIONATE INTENSITY.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of {Spiritus Mundi}
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
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thats wonderful clyde. yours?
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No, W B. Yeats, one of the definitive poems of the English language of the last century.
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shows you how not up on worldly literature huh. that yeats he sure writes good.
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I wonder how many titles come out of this poem, such as Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
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its hour come round at last
vexed to nightmare
slow thighs
blank and pitiless
indignant desert birds
twenty centuries of stony sleep
the falcon cannot hear the falconer
blood-dimmed tide is loosed
innocence is drownednightmare by a rocking cradle
revelation is at hand
pitiless as the sun
best lack all conviction
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i think oi may try to write a poem that has this number of memorable lines that can be singled out. it is a noteworthy wordsmith job.was he that good or was it that he focused on his craft in his own mindset? or is that a redundant question?
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Well, what do I really know except I much appreciate his poetry, but he is very highly regarded.
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Yeats on aging
The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.
The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?
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Tim, you will like his statue in Sligo
http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/2663254
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marvelous, thanks
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i don’t remember if this was there when i was about 20 years ago. it was a great trip but it has become like so many things a blur of stimuli from the most stimulated surroundings on the planet. the scenery and the people and the vibes and the pub lunches and the history and the stories all just had me going from morning til night.
the statue is whimsical and celebratory and a great presentation that is much more memorable than a standard standing figure would be isn’t it. thanks again clyde.
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the aging poem is very strong. thks clyde
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thank you dale for this poem on this fine morning
what a great way to wake up when the weather is warning
us not to go out on a blustery day
youd better stay in and you’d better not play
out in the cold weather out in the cold air
your nose may freeze off and the the ice in your hair
will surely cause trouble and problems galore
you’d best not go out ,oh i’ve said that before.
but ill say it again and i truly do mean it
the snowflakes falling down fast and you can’t get between it
you just can’t escape it if you go outside
the sledding hill waits but if you take a ride
you might just get turned into an icicle kid
it could certainly happen and what if it did
you would come home all frozen and your toes would be blue
youd put them in the bathtub and then what happens to you?
scream bloody murder because it hurts when you do that
have to cry and you’d wail but i guess you’d live through it
and the ice in your hair well i guess it would melt
and feeling in fingertips again would be felt
how do i know this you may want to know
about playing outside in the cold and the snow
about tingling fingers and tingeling toes
well when i was a kid there was nothing better
than to grab those old choppers and a hat and a sweater
and pair of black overshoes with those wonderful buckle
and a pair of blue snow pants and live through the chuckles
of kids who would razz you when you went out to play
that your mom made you wear snowpant but what would they say
when three hours later out there on the hill
they would be cold but you’d be toasty still
and when id’ come home at the end of the day
and drink moms hot cocoa made her special way
and then hang the clothes in the basement to dry
and do some homework and then with a sigh
youd hope that tomorrow would snow one more time
so you could go out and up the hill again climb
so maybe the weather that makes news today
will be in their memories 50 years form today
and they can recall theos frozen popsicle toes
the frozen cold fingers and the red frozen nose
and they can say they grew up playing outside
and sledding down hills on a winter wild ride
and recall like i do all the memories of it all
the wonders of snow hills and the way winter calls
there is nothing else like it nothing else can compare
i wouldn’t trade it for anything i wouldn’t i swear
so head em on out there, send them out to the snow
and the elements northerners are allowed to bestow
on their kids and their grandkids if they are so lucky
to rise up some youngins who are northerner plucky
don’t keep em inside till the storm blows on by
send on out let em lick up the sky
and when they ook back and remember this day
maybe they will remember it sorta this way
let them sing praise of winter and the wonder of cold
and all of the wonders winter kids can behold
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LOVE IT, TIM!
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Nice, now go watch “A Christmas Story,”
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the dogs ate the turkey again. re rish you a merry crishmish at the chinese restaurant. i love love love that movie. ( i have the leg lamp in the window of my house for all to see. it’s a genuine prize)
what do the piggies say?
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Fra-gee-lay…must be French!
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love you alanna
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very nice. Playing outside is so good for kid….and adults.
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Like, like!
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got to play on my way to the u of m this morning at 9 8 new inches by the time i got back home. the freeways were fine but the wipers were a major cjhallange. mor ethan 50 cars in the ditch on the way home and a case of the snow plow leaving a 3 foot high drift across the freeway entrance where some entrance near 35 and 94 northbound ( that entrance wher lake street gets on northbound i think) and the entire line of folks getting on had to get shovels and boots to kick move the pile to continue forward. told my son we were on an adventure (he had no idea)
ther ewas 8″ to a foot when we got back 4 hours later. good call to postpone the bbc. hey steve the toilet issue resolution deserves a notation in the upcoming blogs. (dale do you have a non functioning toilet for a postponed group meeting . would it stand up on its own?) son wants to go to the u of m in a perfect world and we will see what we can do ( got as close to a 1 on 1 as is possible this morning ) with good input and inside track as to how to get accepted. wish us luck. other son went to work as a waiter at crave restraunt in edina where he served sage rosenfelts parents (former viking now with out opponent for the week new york giants ) and they said the giants are shanghaied in k c with the weather. they thought the game would be postponed ( love ignorant parents) someone once pointed out how mankind presents his best face in instances of dire circumstance and i have since then noticed how true this is. celebrate and recognize the moment.
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fabulous!
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amazing – thanks, tim!
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Wonderful, tim! I love it!
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My take on a casual 47 year study of the history and additional development of the arts:
For the sake of the book club not meeting today, I will say that Hemingway, as is true of many authors and poets, made things better by taking things out. “Harry Potter,” while I admire her and love the first three books, badly needs editing in the last four. I suppose life is much the same. Much of my life could have used some sound editing.
Sometimes you make things better by going back to tradition, the baseline, the simple, the unadorned. Sometimes by adorning, adding a new element, by recombining or reconfiguring the old elements. Sometimes over-adorning, by taking it over the top. Sometime by throwing out everything and starting over with all new elements, visions, dynamics, purposes.
Sometimes you make arts the concealment of art, sometimes you make art the purpose of arts, sometimes you say the art is the problem.
. . . but I could be wrong
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Clyde — thank god, someone else has noted the fact the Harry Potter books badly (BADLY) needed editing!
The Yeats poem has always haunted me. I’m afraid it is more “right” for catching the sense of the times than I would like to admit.
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snow-blown remarks–
as an editor, i often feel things are made better by editing.
i’ve always loved the phrase “indignant desert birds.”
i’m sad the bookclub isn’t meeting, as i intended to attend for the first time–however, i state with conviction, i think hemingway is overrated. i’ve tried and tried to read his books over the year, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” over the past few weeks–result: boredom. Couldn’t even get through the movie!
a past boyfriend and i once wrote together a song using the Yeats poem above; i came up with an eerie melody that was fun to wail…
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can you perform it ath the next bbc get together? i can provide accompaniment with a little pre bbc collaboration.
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I can see that editing is often needed. However, here on Trail Baboon, and especially with regard to Tim’s contributions, sometimes it is good to just go forward without too much about editing and let it fly.
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thanks jim. don’t make me think. sometimes half the fun is re reading after i hit the send button and realizing there is an extra word , one so badly misspelled it is not recognizable. if there is a question you can all feel free to put in your own words to make it work better.
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i admire the philosophy of taking things out even though the blog gets first drafts that never get revisieted from me for the most part. my favorite example of taking things out was jerzy kosinski . it is said he would tweak a writing until every word that was not completely necessary was removed. the verbosity in harry potter leaves 400 -500 pages per book that could be trimmed.
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Greetings! Making good things better is a matter of balance, finesse and taste it seems. A bit of salt or sugar in a recipe can add that final umph of flavor, but too much can ruin it. In the movie “Amadeus,” the king said Mozart’s music had “too many notes” — to which Mozart impertinently replied, “which ones do I take out?” In writing, Shakespeare could say volumes in a single well-turned verse. Conversely, the bard could write mesmerizing verse for a page to describe one thing.
In dance, sports, karate, gymnastics, etc., the most beautiful performers have a pristine technique along with an ease and grace of movement without extraneous mannerisms or “showing” their technique. An artist makes the very difficult look very simple and natural. But then there are also outstanding performers who are so distinct and different, that they add a whole different dimension to the “perfection” of an art.
Making the good, better is a tricky business. Done with respect and keeping the integrity of the original is usually the best course — but it’s not a hard and fast rule, either.
Thanks, Clyde, for reprinting that great poem with the interesting emphasis.
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Wow, were we in sync Joanne.
. . . but I could be wrong
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Like — wow, man. Totally. In most things, I find you unerringly correct.
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Contrary to Mali’s delightful poem, I want to start a national “. . . . but I could be wrong” movement. I think much of public discourse would be better if everyone ended their public pronouncements with “. . . but I could be wrong.” But, then, . . . I could be wrong.
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My second book, after I do my first one, will be called “Humbug Talky-Talk Biscuits, 100 Ways to Improve on a Basic Recipe.” Today were two kinds of fried biscuits.
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Here’s a biscuit recipe that uses the starter that Ben gave us the recipe for:
Amish Friendship biscuits
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Combine all above ingredients in a large bowl. With spoon make well (dent) in center.
Combine:
2 eggs
1 cup Amish batter *
1/4 cup oil
Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture all at once. Stir and add additional flour a tablespoon at a time until dough cleans sides of bowl. Pour on floured board. Roll 1/2″ thick. Cut out biscuit using circle cutter. Place biscuits close together on greased cookie sheet. Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter. Cover, let rise in warm place for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
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“Humbug talky-talk” is a very obscure literary quote, which I love for many purposes.
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ha ha ha ha
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for years i have added as a postscript to many statements i have made : but i am wrong on a regular basis . it gets a smile and and puts expertise on a realistic basis. but i could be wrong…
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Linda, that’s very interesting… would you keep an extra starter to make biscuits with or what? Have you done this before?
Making the actual starter you can’t use metal… *weird*.
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can you bring a cup of starter to the bbc in january? i’d like to try it
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I haven’t had any starter going for a number of years, but there are a number of recipes you can use it in. You can make pancakes too. After awhile you run out of people to give your extra starters to, especially if they start giving away their extra starters to the same people you were going to give yours to….so you have to get creative.
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Well said, Joanne!
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Two thumbs up, y’know?
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i’ve absolutely no talent for poetry but i like to take that sweet, sweet milk that the Girls give us and make good things like cajeta. not just “dulce de leche” – cajeta must be made with goats’ milk. i’ve read that in Mexico folks demand that “devine ethereal tang” that goats’ milk gives this sweet, thick, caramel-ly sauce.
you who are well-read and understand poetry have my undying admiration. the only poet i really read much of was Richard Brautigan – in the 70s.
good and gracious morning to all you snowed in folks. it’s just barely flurrying here, the winds are bitter already though.
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Brautigan was one of the the new inventive minds that made art belittle art in artistic ways. . . . but I could be wrong
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You’re not wrong, Clyde.
Someone affected powerfully by Brautigan was Garrison Keillor.
I was drawn to Brautigan by the love of trout fishing but I stayed because of the poetic genius.
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i always laughed when i heard that the poems in the collection he put out under the name “trout fishing in america” sold thousands and thousands of copies on its initail release form all the sporting good s stores who were so happy to have someone come out with the definitive book on trout fishing. i think a couple of those initial orders got returned.
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oh, i can say with complete conviction that cajeta improves upon goat’s milk…SO delicious. So does Barb’s soapmaking activities! My face loves you, Barb.
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OT – thanks, Sweetie 🙂 friend Janet says it (soap, not cajeta) makes her face “as soft as a baby’s butt.” just cut a new batch called “Kona Mokalata” LUSCIOUS with a coffee/cocoa scent. good enough to eat.
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Barb – is there some way us out of town baboons can buy your soft-as-baby-butt goat milk soap (like, by mail)? Let me know at my email jmjensen(at)izoom.net Thank you!
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oops. i didn’t mean to push our soaps – sorry! Joanne – i’ll email you soon. all of the bars i’ve made are spoken for already (nice problem to have). but if i have time i’ll make more (it has to cure for at least a week or two before wrapped – best that way. busy wrapping today – and making tuna noodle casserole for comfort food against the cold. we even have potato chips to put in (and Steve’s fave – peas 🙂
btw – Steve says he enjoyed “For Whom..” – wish he were closer to join your bookclub.
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tell steve to visualize whirled peas for me
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hey good to see you again kay. glad to hear you were figuring on coming to the bbc. hope to see you in january
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Double Emergency! I’m thinking we should cancel the Blevins Book Club meeting today. The storm is one problem. The other is that my toilet broke. I was confident I could fix it, but it turns out to be radically non-standard, and so far I haven’t found parts to make it good.
We can still flush by throwing bowls of water in.
How are people feeling about going through with the meeting?
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I’m still in wait and see mode. However, the snow is flying by my window out here horizontally, soooo, I’m thinking by 2:00pm it might not be passable. But the snow plow went by!
Renee, what is it doing way out west?
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Clear, calm and very cold.
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Morning all…. I’m with Steve. I just spent 1.25 hours snowblowing/shoveling and when I came back to the backyard, it was hard to tell I had been there. As much as I love you guys and as hard as I struggled to get through “For Whom”, I’m thinking we’re a bust today. I can’t think of an author that I would endanger all our lives for!
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Yep, I had just decided I was going to give up on it, and I’m like Joanne, glad I don’t have to miss something, but nothing could crowbar me out of here today.
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Postponing notice has been posted on the Blevins site. Do not go out in this mess – as much as I enjoy seeing you call, I’d rather know that you’re all tucked in, safe and warm, and not driving around in this mess. I think Steve was able to call most everyone – and Kay H I sent you an email – but I don’t have contact info for madislandgirl…
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Signing in to let one and all know I got the word about BBC cancellation.
I admire all of you who have already been out and tried to shovel.
Not me-just opened all the blinds to watch it coming down. I will probably be sorry later–nah.
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Glad you’ve replied and are alive and well. I’m with you; watch it snow- will shovel tomorrow.
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That’s a wonderful poem, Dale! A bracing cup of coffee on a cold morning. I love it.
Here is a bit of YouTube video I stumbled on yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhyCfmk90Tk
Enjoy.
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Back to Dale’s question… I’m a “TED” addict. Lots and lots of interesting talks by different types of folks. I had seen Hans Rosling talk about his favorite subject, global health, before and he is fascinating. But a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled onto this really cool presentation of one of his talks. Definitely made a good thing better!
http://www.liquida.com/video/a48a15a5b/hans-rosling-s-200-countries-200-years-4-minutes-the-joy-of-stats-bbc-four/
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sherrilee — this is Aspen Ideas Conference, not TED, but similar. I really enjoyed this talk by David Brooks on what we know about the human mind.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/07/16/midday2/
If you are a TED fan, this might appeal.
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Yes, I know this particular presentation wasn’t on TED, but I’ve seen Hans Rosling on TED talking about global health. Sorry I wasn’t clear…….
Debating going out tonight to shovel – as I’m thinking it will be warmer than tomorrow’ predicted cold cold cold. We’ll see if I can make myself go!
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go you wimp!!!
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Well, as much as I love karate and the karate competition team I’m on — both are cancelled today. So I get to relax at home and spend the day with my favorite baboons and know I’m not missing the Blevins Book Club!
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How to make something good better…? Hmmm — in theory, postpone it once, increases the anticipation. However, more than once might lead to frustration that would cancel out the added pleasure. I’ll try and think of a time that’s already happened, get back to you later, since Lord knows I now have all day here!
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chocolate makes most things better and more chocolate makes things more better
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Like like like! (says the woman with a whole bowl of chocolate mousse in the fridge…sorry book clubbers, it’s all mine now! Sherrilee, want to mush over for some?)
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Thanks for the inspiration-I just dug the Death by Chocolate Cookbook out. I’m not certain I have the culinary fortitude to ever make anything in it, I mostly just like to look at the pictures-sort of like the opposite of Playboy, which I am told most men get for the articles ;).
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If you want to give it a try, my mousse recipe is pretty easy – and a winner if you have friends who are gluten and/or lactose intolerant (an increasing number of my pals are). The toughest part is separating 5 eggs – the rest is easy stuff like melting chocolate in a double boiler and stiffening egg whites. Well, and waiting 12 hours for it to “set” – that’s probably the hardest part. 😉
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thanks for the thought anna love the remorse
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I guess on this snowy snowy day, what comes to mind is…theater. (No logic, y’know? But, can you, like, live with that?)
Most productions involve a director adding something new to what they playwright wrote – sometimes this works swimmingly, sometimes, not so much. But every set I have painted is usually improved by adding a little bit more – and generally a little bit that the audience might not notice right away like a light color wash over the walls of a set to give the color some depth, or a bit of trim to stop your eye from moving out of the framing of the set (and, magically, like, making you move your focus back to the actors who, y’know, can’t remember their lines).
As to the earlier comments about editing – I wholeheartedly agree. And would, as has been implicated, good editing does add to the writing, even while it (often) subtracts from the actual word count. Prose that has been tightened and polished is a thing of beauty.
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I remember the few times I helped paint a set, and what looked garish and weird up close was magical from a stage distance. Painting 2-3 close different color stripes on raised panels or stair edges gave more depth from the audience point of view. Low tech special effects …
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Exactly! I remember the first time my husband came to help me on a set. I asked him to sponge on a couple of different colors over what I had painted. He kept asking, “are you sure? does this look right?” I finally told him to go stand in the house, about three rows back…then he got it. (And has trusted me implicitly on all things since – bless him.)
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It is fun to see and hear the students make that discovery. ‘This looked so messy while we were doing it….’
Was just out collecting eggs. It is officially ‘Yucky’ out there. Lost a chicken to a raccoon last night it appears… bummer.
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that’s just wrong.
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Anna — That’s interesting about painted sets looking right at a distance. I think that’s true of some people I know. If you stand too close and study each detail, you won’t be happy, but if you are back three rows their better qualities begin to show up.
How nice to have a husband who trusts you implicitly on all things!
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Steve – a set can begin to look like a giant impressionist painting. And, just like with a Monet, if you take a few steps back the whole works changes.
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my ex wanted to paint raonbows and clouds in the ids bedrooms but it looked so stark.. had an artist buddy stop in and he pissed her off big time by putting a sponge in white paint and clouding it up but the end result was perfect. i would have no idea what you are talking about but for that experience and it is 100% a no brainer one you get it ( or a no brian-er if he’s around)
cheap trick anna to get your husband to trust you!!!
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Purely unintentional to get my then-beau to trust me implicitly based on a theatrical trick…but it’s worked for the last 15 years or so, so I guess I’ll go with it. (It also means I get pretty much free reign in any design or color choices for the household – not that ours is a heavily “designed” house…)
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Anna,
My favorite way to separate eggs is to break the egg into my hand and let the white slip through my fingers into the bowl. Then I put the yolk in a separate bowl.
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Yes! The first Egg Separator. I believe the fingers, held in closed position, were also the first Spatula.
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I like to carefully break the egg and leave the unbroken yoke in 1/2 the shell, then tip it back into the other 1/2, then back, then back, etc. The white runs out as you tip back and forth finally leaving the yoke alone in 1/2. It took me a little practice, but now it’s the only way I do it. If the yoke breaks, you’re out of luck, my friend.
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I use Krista’s method and have a lot of success with it. I do have several gluten and lactose intolerant friends among the people I share pot lucks with, so am always on the lookout for more recipes like that. Thanks, Anna.
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I’d like to be a born cook, but I’m not, so I have an egg separator.
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I use the egg shell, dumping back and forth method myself – though it does mean I occasionally wind up with a little yolk in my whites. Sigh.
Here’s the recipe I use for chocolate mousse (which, as I recall, came from an old NY Times Cookbook – Craig Claiborne may have been the author)
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla or 1 tbl cognac or 2 tbl sherry (or “enough” of your favorite liqueur)
– Combine chocolate, sugar and water in a double boiler – heat until chocolate has melted (stir some as you go)
– Add yolks to the chocolate mixture, one at a time, while still over the double boiler, beating hard after each
– Remove mixture from water and allow to cool while you beat the egg whites stiff
– Fold egg whites and flavoring into the chocolate mixture and turn into a (serving) bowl
– Let stand in refrigerator for 12 hours
I like to use chocolate or coffee liqueur and dust the top with a little cinnamon. Amaretto, berry and orange liqueurs work well too (orange and cinnamon are a nice complement).
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file that one please dale.. sounds perfect
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be sure to cook the fingers separately though
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Morning everyone–
Snowing horizontally here as well… can’t really decide how much snow we’ve got; 6″? 10? Not sure. Can’t tell. Doesn’t really matter. Snuggling down in the house… will worry about snow depth tomorrow.
I was supposed to have a rehearsal for an event this morning with a performance tonight but that all got canceled yesterday… plus the last Christmas Concert at the college will, I assume, be rescheduled from tonight to Tuesday- minus the LED lighting and fake snow machines that have to back to the rental place on Monday.
Anyone involved in the Lego competitions that were canceled in the cities today? The competition comes to Rochester next weekend and what was canceled today might impact me next weekend…
Making something ‘Good’ better? That is tricky business best left to professionals… You take your chances and give it your all and hope for the best and sometimes you can be surprised… and what a rush that is! But tread carefully my friends…
TTFN–
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Ben, hardly anyone else I know signs off with TTFN (ta-ta for now), from A A Milne, no?
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Barb, I’m not sure where I heard that… I did not know it was A A Milne…
Foxburgers for lunch!
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TTFN is a “Tigger-ism” – I have friend you signs off with it a lot.
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I used to use ttfn at work, but nobody else knew what it was and it wasn’t any fun to explain it, so I quit.
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red the tao of poo? great stuff
ttfn
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read .. sheesh
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Steve – I’m starting to make your Ultimate Lentil Soup today. Note for future — fry up 2-3 times as much bacon because it will get eaten before it’s done! After carefully re-reading recipe, I believe it says to cut into 1/4 inch pieces BEFORE
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I made that recipe last week! Very good!
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Joanne — I’ve made it twice since posting it, and I just don’t think you can go wrong with it. I wish the bacon didn’t add such a nice touch, but it does. I’m trying hard to give up eating any part of a pig, and I’m mostly there. Thanks for the good words, and enjoy!
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Oh yes — that is a good soup! At first I thought wine and balsamic vinegar in a humble lentil soup just seemed so *precious chef*-like; but wow, nice flavor. I never buy bacon (much as I love it) but when I do, I get the Coborn’s own Signature thick cut bacon (cue drooling). I have a huge can of cooked, dehydrated lentils I want to use up in a tasty way (confession: I bought a large cache of freeze-dried foods for Y2K with a 10-yr shelf life; so it’s time to eat up). I also confess I didn’t follow the directions very well or have fresh thyme, parsley or bay leaf. Making soup is a set it and forget it type of deal for me. Now for that can of dehydrated peas …
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I’ve got a package of smokey flavored tempeh (another of those crazy Asian soy products) that I am going to try the soup recipe with tomorrow.
I’ve got tons of fresh thyme, but it is at least a foot under a snowdrift in the backyard, wonder if I should try to dig it out ;).
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MIG — have you found that fresh thyme is better than dried? I love fresh herbs, especially basil, but have been questioning the point of using fresh thyme. To my taste, the dried is so much the same, and fresh thyme is physically awkward to use.
You are going to tell me that fresh is WAY better, and I’ll be humbled, and then I’ll try it again. 🙂
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Steve, I agree that stripping off those silly little leaves off that delicate little stem is a pain. It is probably much easier once it is dried 🙂
I have it growing like crazy (ditto sage and oregano) on the estate, so cannot bring myself to buy it in a jar.
The advantage in growing it (besides being free, once the plant get going ) is that you can have all these nifty varieties-I do like my lemon thyme very much, but could live without it.
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tried it with fake bacon? morningstar farms is great(microwave app if ever there was one). bacos ok.
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DARN IT — bacony greasy fingers slipped. ,,, Cut bacon into pieces before frying to reduce shrinkage due to consuming before going into soup!
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Did the 1.5 block walk to our cluster mail box just now. I supposed about 6 inches here, hard to tell because it drifts so badly in our treeless-highest-point-in Mankato-very-exposed neighborhood. The real issue for now and later is the 1/2 inch or more of ice underneath it.
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I’ve been around some people who are so good at what they do that I know I’d never be able to do anything at all that would improve upon it. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s best to just stand back and be in awe. Sometimes a work of art or a poem is so fine (the Yeats example, obviously) that there is just nothing you can do but go YES!
That said, I think some things – theater and music festivals for example – are really the sum of all of their parts. If the parts are all splendid, the whole thing is splendid. The parts need to be magnificent on their own and in the correct amount and suddenly you have a unified whole perfect splendid work of art.
We had like about 1/4″ of solid ice covering like everything at about 6 a.m., which was when it started snowing. It’s like incredibly treacherous out there. I don’t have any idea how much snow we have – it’s like blowing around way too much. At times I can’t like see across the street. I’m making Florentine Lasagna for our work holiday potluck this week. Do not attempt to improve upon my recipe.
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Is this recipe of which you speak already in Kitchen Congress?? 🙂
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what recipe is that?
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The Florentine Lasagna in Krista’s last paragraph.
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No, I’ll post it someday.
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OT – just spent about 10 minutes watching a squirrel who insanely ventured out (near the bird feeders) — maybe he’s looking for all the seed on the ground there. Wandered around mostly on top of the snowdrifts, falling and/or tunneling in, failing to find a seed or nut or anything , finally gave it up and ran back up the tree to his hidey hole, wind almost blew him off! Relating to today’s question, it is more pleasureable to watch from inside knowing I don’t have to go out — till shoveling time, anyway, and that could be tomorrow.
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Pippin has been maniacally barking at squirrels who are helping themselves to my feeders for the last hour!
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We saw three ducks FLY into the wind by our dining room window. This is the bird version of driving on a closed interstate. The bird feeder appears abandoned by squirrels and birds alike.
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Random snowy thoughts, inspired by tim
The universal snow boot when I was a kid was the black rubber 4-buckle boot. I’ll bet a few elderly baboons remember those and probably remember what it was like to tear away into the snow in a hurry without bothering to buckle up, and the snapple of your right boot would hook up with the empty plate of your left boot and then you would have a brief moment of flight before the face plant.
Yesterday at the hardware store I saw a Flexible Flyer sled for sale. I was relieved that it was “only” $75, which means they haven’t priced those things so high they have become a museum item. Sledding was a wild, dangerous activity. As we did this when we were kids you would run to the crest of the hill and make a prodigious lunge forward, landing on your tummy about the time the sled hit the ground, and then you’d do your best to steer the thing (which is where the “Flexible” came in handy), although you were never really in control of the thing.
Walking up the hill again, your sled behind you, your nose running so your upper lid was slick and your nose stung a bit around the edges.
Getting a bunch of friends together to ride a toboggan down the hill, each kid getting on behind the last one, legs forward, and then a friend would push you over the edge of the hill and down you would go with NO directional control. If you had waxed your toboggan ahead of time, the speed going down was considerable. And it didn’t take much of a bump in the ground to bounce you two or three feet up; and sometimes the toboggan was under you when you came down and sometimes it wasn’t! I once piled off a toboggan headed for a tree. I don’t remember what happened to the other kids, but the tree ended up cutting the tobaggon in two, going right up the middle.
Mittens, not gloves. We wore mittens. And since kids were always losing mittens, moms would attach them to winter wool coat sleeves with little double-buckles. Or some moms would run a strap from the mitten on the right up through the coat sleeve, across the back and then out the other the other sleeve where the other mitten would wait. Mittens were warm, especially mittens with liners, but you were comically clumsy in the things and even making a snowball was tricky. A common arrangement was a set of leather choppers with a wool liner. Your head and neck would be wrapped in a long scarf, hopefully soft material so it didn’t hurt when you had to blow your nose into it, and then a hat jammed on top with big ear lappers.
You’d come in, wet and shivering and your mom would help strip you out of all your layers. The boots would be shucked off and put somewhere to let the snow melt off. Your mittens would be put on a radiator to dry, filling the house with the smell of wet wool, much like a wet dog. And your mom would make a hot cocoa for you.
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For the record – moms (or at least this one) still uses the radiator for wet mittens. But wet polar fleece doesn’t smell the same.
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It was the ultimate indignity when I was in elementary school to get wet out on the playground during recess, since you had to go to the nurses office and remove your wet things and sit there in a blanket while your clothes dried on the radiator.
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The cool thing about those boots was that you didn’t have to take off your shoes, they fit right over them. Anna’s comment reminded me that, duh, they were often called overshoes !
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Steve, we do share the same childhood and nicely memorialized. But, having grown up on the top of the Sawtooth Hills near L. Superior, I can top your sledding opportunities in central Iowa. We had four places where we would slide down deep snow on cardboard, one very steep. We had two good places on the road to our house to slide with sleds, one 1/4 mile long, very steep on the top and then a plateau before a long run. We would usually slide only to that plateau. We would build bonfires at the top of the two steep hills and stay there for hours, in our four-buckle boots and choppers, heavy thick coats, and plaid lined denim pants. Often we would do the bonfires and sliding at night.
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Shared this memory with my sister just now, which made we a nostalgic, drippy old putz . .. but I could be wrong.
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Thanks Steve, now I feel really old.
Maybe these things just persisted in really small towns longer than in bigger places. My grandparents had 17 grandchildren. Starting on Labor Day weekend, they got ready for Christmas. Every single one of us got a fresh pair of hand knit mittens and a stocking cap (the kind with the big ol’ pom pom on top).
I still see kids sliding down hills on sheets of cardboard, but at Luther, the preferred vehicle for use on the big hill between the Union and the CFL (combination chapel and concert hall) was a caf tray. To reduce food waste in the caf, they had eliminated trays, so I’m thinking they must be using cardboard now :).
I remember the 4 buckle boots, but as a girl, did not wear them, those were for boys in my day. The knitted cord that joined the mittens through your sleeves and across your back are known as “idiot cord” because of how simple they are to knit (and because really, if you were smart, would you ever loose a mitten? )
I have a harrowing story involving those boots, the mitten clips you described and my younger brother, but that is another story and shall be told at another time.
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cmon mig no time like the present. lets hear it
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Yea- come on Mig!
Our best sledding was a rail sled on the driveway back when I was a kid and before Dad had the driveway reshaped…
We used to be able to go up to the corner ‘above the barn’ (that ‘cliff corner’ I referred to the other day) and you could get a good run there, sled around that corner, coast 100 yards to the next banked corner, skid around that one and make it another couple hundred yards all the way down to the barn.
It got trickier when Dad would spread manure on the road for traction…
Clyde; you guys ever do the manure traction thing?
Good stories today!
We’ve got some good drifts out there… news says 13″ at the airport but I don’t know how they can tell…
Careful digging out everyone… don’t over do it…
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Neophyte here on “manure traction thing.” Explain, bitte.
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Recently in from our little corner of S. Mpls – back yard was knee deep in spots (deeper if you’re a kid or a basset hound). It was deep enough that I had to go out for a second pass with the shovel so we could open the back door for the pooch. Daughter and I romped for a bit – stayed pretty toasty in my snow pants and Sorrels (much warmer than my red rubber overshoes/boots from when I was a kid), but the wind was not kind to my cheeks. Think I will stay inside for the duration with my fuzzy slippers.
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Fuzzy slippers are good. 🙂
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snowpants are sissy but warm
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If you want to do snow angels, snow pants are pretty much a necessity. 🙂
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Our snow is usually very light and dry. We have a butte in the middle of town that kids like to sled down. Snow forts are very popular at the elementary schools. The corgi across the street is unhappy with deep snow. I spoke with my parents in Luverne earlier today, and Dad said the wind was 40 mph and people were driving onto the interstate even though it was closed and there have been very bad accidents. I just can’t understand why people drive around the gates that close the highways.
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You’ve heard of the Darwin Awards, right?
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A fitting comment.
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do you do anything special with the worlds largest buffalo?
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Huh?
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The house I grew up in had a very small hill on the side with perfect openings between the cedar bush line that separated our yard from neighbor’s. We did some sliding on that hill, but I perfected the standing boot run. After a snow, you get some water from the house to slick down the two tracks for your feet. Wearing those cheap pull-on boots for girls with no traction whatsoever, I would get ready by scooting up next to the house. With a 2 or 3 stride running start, I would hit the iced tracks and basically ski down the hill and pump my way all the way to the neighbor’s house on a good track, which was probably 20-30 ft. That was my claim to fame.
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Poor Katie! She asked to go out, and she must have missed all the weather forecasts because it blew her mind to find that the snow beside the house was as high as her back. She just didn’t know what to do. I finally jumped into the snow (thigh-high in places) and stomped a path toward the backyard. She struggled through it (oh . . . some of you might not know she is diabetic and blind) until she hit a spot close enough to the backyard so she could relieve herself.
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Our fair Twixie has mostly been napping through the storm, but finally decided she was just too bored and begged to go out.
I opened the back door for her, thinking she would just sniff at the snow and think better of the project. Nope, she went flying off the back steps and landed neatly on top of the snow. She got quite a ways out before breaking through. Thought we were going to have to rescue her, but she did manage to get back by herself.
My favorite part is always when she gives me the “is this weather the best you could do?” look.
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You had me going for a second there – till I remembered that Katie is a dog! 🙂
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I’ve loved reading all of your comments today. Welcome to a typical winter day in the UP 😉 I’ve stayed in myself due to the snow and wind. Having shoveled the walk several times already, I have decided to just shuffle through it until tomorrow. Kai is loving the snow! Every time we go outside, he bounds through the snow drifts. He can’t walk through it, he has to jump, hahaha, he’s so small 🙂
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OT-
How come I never noticed the goat in “It’s a Wonderful Life” until I started hanging out here?
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Is the goat in the truck with the Italian family when they are moving into their new house?
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It gets in the backseat of George and Mary’s vehicle with all the Italian kids and Mary grabs a horn
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IAWL is full of visual symbolism and cues such as this. Watch the things change in the office of the rich banker (name escapes me). Things like in the scene where George asks for a loan to pay off the lost money a bust of Napoleon and how George sits in a chair that makes his chin at barely above desktop level.
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I have always wondered if there is a connection between Bert and Ernie and the Bert and Ernie of the movie, the cop and the taxi driver.
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Clyde, I am going to have to watch the decor of Potter’s office (you may recall the Potter’s Field reference by his bill collector when they are discussing the success of Bailey Park). I see all kinds of stuff like that in Citizen Kane, but never looked for it in IAWL.
Like you, I’ve always wondered if Jim Henson got Bert and Ernie from IAWL. The characters themselves seem to reference Felix and Oscar pretty clearly to me (and I think the Odd Couple tv show was on at about the time Bert and Ernie were “born”, but I could be wrong about that.
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About the Bert and Ernie origin . . . I’d be astonished if the movie were not the inspiration.
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Hi at the end of the day. I never returned to making things even better than really good while I was busy getting caught up on things at home! I feel great.
I finished my grandkids decorations.
I took a nap
I made supper
I finished a work project that has been a mess for months.
Yippeeeee! I won’t try to improve on this. I am jealous of you bakers today.
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ooooo,”that work project that has been a mess for a month”.
I hear you on that one! That is what consumed my day as well (not a lick of Christmas preparation done here)-hope to get the house in recovery mode today and boot that bad boy out the door once and for all. (well, not entirely, supply shortage grrrrrrrr-don’t ask, but if you have a cone of Tamm Trenzi in royal blue that is just hanging around, let me know and I will mush right over to get it!)
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