All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2025, Art, holidays, Seasons

Bad Santa

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The egg table is up.  And it only took two hours to completely torpedo this year’s design.

Many years ago I started coordinating my holiday crafts to a central theme.  In addition to the Ukrainian egg ornaments, I also make the cards as well as kid ornaments and 6×6 decorated calendars.  I try to tie all these items together every year.  One year I did a snowglobe theme, one year the theme was “branches”.  Peppermint, polar bear, gingerbread men, birds have all been done.  There are a few themes that get repeated – holiday trees is one of those and also poinsettias. 

This year’s theme is Santa.  The card, the kid ornament and the calendar were seriously  easy but the egg has been difficult.  First off, there just weren’t many idea out there to start with and most that I found were painting on eggs, not traditional wax/resist.  I had one idea and then when I sketched it out the first time, I realized it would be too hard to get all Santa’s proportions correct on an egg.  Then I turned to clipart – a surprisingly good way to generate ideas for Ukrainian egg design.  I messed with the idea for a couple of weeks and thought I had a good  design.

Suffice it to say that drawing curvy lines in hot wax on an egg isn’t an easy thing to do.  Then add fiddling around with mixing different dyes to get Santa’s skin right.  Leaving space for his eyes was a pain.  But the biggest issue was just too much white and a bit of red then a black background; it was just — blah.  And I didn’t like the side border either, although that could have been remedied.  I completed two of the design and then abandoned it.

I spent about an hour going through my egg design books and a couple of online places and finally found something that I could alter.  There is no actual Santa on the egg, but it has a lot of red and white, with a black background and I was able to add “ho, ho, ho”; that’s as close as we’re going to get.  This design is more complicated than the failed Santa image, but much more satisfying.  I managed to get three done before I just couldn’t sit on my hard chair any longer – the design is solidified so now I’ll be on a roll starting this morning – after I feed the bad Santas into the garbage disposal!

Have you ever had to abandon what you had initially thought was a good idea?

2025, Food, holidays, Seasons

Hand Pie Season

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It’s the time of year that I start to think about hand pies.  When I was a kid, Nonny would occasionally make an apple pie (no other kind that I can remember, just apple).  Depending on how many scraps she had left over, she would make either cinnamon pinwheels or every now and then “mini pies” (what we called them).   I didn’t realize until I was well into my adulthood that the rest of the world calls these hand pies.  And they are my favorites!

In my early years of hand pies, I just cut out the hand pies using a knife – triangles, rectangles and even circles.  Then several years ago I purchased a set of molds that make a rectangle shape, a “pie” shape and an apple shape.  These aren’t actually any easier than just cutting the dough by hand, but they are a lot more fun. 

In August I saw an ad online for a cat shape/dog shape set of molds from Sur La Table.  They are incredibly cute but way too expensive for an addition to my kitchen equipment that can only be called whimsical.  Now that we’re getting close to apple picking (or apple picking up, depending on my knees), I’m thinking about hand pies.  So yesterday morning I looked up the cat/dog molds online to see if anyone sold them less expensively than Sur La Table.  Nope.. didn’t find them.  HOWEVER, thanks to my search, my online world has suddenly been flooded with ads for hand pie molds.  There are a lot of different companies out there selling lots of designs.

I’m currently seriously eyeing a holiday set and have looked up some more filling recipes. The three top new contenders are Lemon Cream Cheese & Raspberry Jam, Walnut Cinnamon Sugar and Nutella Hazelnut.  In an age of trying to rid myself of stuff, I’m thinking I need my head examined thinking I need more hand pie molds.  We’ll see how long I last….

Any impulse buys recently?

2025, education, History, Music

Opera Epic

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It was on this day in 1869 that the opera “Das Rheingold” by Richard Wagner premiered on the stage at the National Theatre Munich, Germany.   It is 150 minutes long and is the first of an epic four-part drama known as Der Ring des Nibelungen.   Rheingold, although it is the beginning of Wagner’s famous cycle, Rheingold was the last of the texts to be written.  Wagner didn’t want any of the Ring to be performed until all the parts were complete.  King Ludwig II of Bavaria thought otherwise and ordered the staging of Rheingold in 1869.  It wasn’t until 1876 that the entirety of Ring was performed at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in Bavaria.  These days, Bayreuth still stages the entire Ring epic each year, a total of four operas that add up to about 18 hours of stage time.  Other opera houses tend to stage the Ring over the course of a few years. 

Although I recognize some of the music instantly,

I didn’t have a clue what The Ring is all about.  The plot is EXTREMELY complex and begins with the theft of gold that is then made into a magic ring  Lots and lots of Norse gods and goddesses; truly I didn’t even know there were that many.  In the end, Brunhilde (who had been a goddess but was stripped of her immortality) returns the ring but not before Valhalla and the gods are destroyed. 

Now that I know more about The Rheingold and The Ring, it doesn’t increase my desire to ever see it.  Certainly not 18 hours of it.  I’m not a particularly big fan of opera to start with but that much plot to keep track of might make my head explode?

Do you like opera?  Have a favorite? 

2025, Automotive, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Treasure Trove

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Today’s post comes to us from Barbara in Rivertown.

Our 2008 Prius finally gave up the fight on Sunday, September 7, thankfully on the way HOME from our Unitarian Church Service. It started up from a stop light hesitantly with little power, made it a couple blocks and then I had to pull over. After I turned it off and on again, it got us home, but I didn’t trust it farther than around the block.

uckily, we had already been looking at a used Prius at Hi-Tech Auto on the edge of Rushford, MN, half an hour from here. We got through the the rest of the week through the kindness of friends – getting rides and borrowing cars – and managed to buy our “new” 2015 Prius on Friday, September 12th.

Parts of those 5 days were spent cleaning out the old car, and after 16 years of ownership, just imagine what we found! The following list is mostly from the glove compartment, and that “well” between the seats.

  • 5 partial packets of Kleenex
  • 15 plastic forks and/or spoon sets
  • 35 take-out napkins
  • 5 pairs of pierced earrings (for when I forget)
  • 2 first aid kits and one sewing kit
  • my spare pair of glasses (former prescription)
  • 4 emery boards
  • 2 tire pressure gauges
  • lotion and hand sanitizer, Chapstick
  • tiny tape measure
  • corkscrew, church key
  • packets of Off repellent
  • and of course, loose change

If you cleaned out your car, especially the glove box, what items might you find?

 

2025, Media, Movies, News, Theatre

Robert Redford – RIP

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Robert Redford did so much during his career and it’s tempting to put up lists of his appearances and his time behind the camera as well as the microphone.  But the list would go on and on and on.

He was born in 1936 and began his career at the age of 23 on Broadway, starring in Tall Story.  His biggest early hit was Barefoot in the Park and went on to make a movie of that name with Jane Fonda.  Many small roles in television in the early years as well.  He worried about his “blond male” stereotype but eventually found not just his niche, but his first massive success in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969.

I was 13 when I saw BCSK and was gutted. I’ve never been able to watch the entire movie since and I wore a poncho (in solidarity) until I wore it out.  I also cried for about an hour after seeing The Way We Were – have also never watched that one at all since.

However, I have watched Spy Game (with Brad Pitt) repeatedly and Sneakers (with Dan Akroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, River Phoenix) is one of my “watch-in-the-middle-of-the-night” movies.

In what I consider an amazing feat, his directorial debut was Ordinary People in 1980.  Four academy awards.  This is a searing film but so so so good.  Redford said in an interview once that he came across Mary Tyler Moore sitting on the beach looking out at the ocean and he just knew that she would be right for this part, even though she had never really done anything that serious before.  I’ve watched it repeatedly. 

A few years ago I tried to watch all of Redford’s movies. It was too big of a project but did result in my having seen A LOT of them.  Let’s see how many of the holes I can fill in.

It’s not a secret that he was a gifted actor, a gifted filmmaker, a gifted teacher and a gifted political activist.  Not too many of his ilk come along these days.  He will be missed.

Any favorite Robert Redford films?

2025, Food, home, Nature

I’ll Quit Writing About Tomatoes One of These Days. I Swear.

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You’d think that with all the tomato dishes we’ve had in the last few weeks that I would not be craving yet another tomato recipe.  The last couple of days I’ve been thinking about pizza – specifically Boludo’s, which we haven’t had in a while.  But the combination of my knee (had therapy yesterday morning and was quite sore) and all the tomatoes on the counter and all the pesto in the fridge overtook my desire to order in.

Pizza dough with olive oil, pesto and thinly sliced Romas (and I did NOT cut myself on the mandolin!!!) with some assorted shredded cheeses I found in the cheese drawer.  Topped with some salt and pepper and then some more shredded parmesan that I had leftover from lunch a few days ago.  Turned out rather well, if I do say so myself.

When was the last time you ordered in?

2025, animals, Art, Fantasy, History

Old Modern Art

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Eighty-five years ago last week, four teenagers accidentally changed not only the trajectories of their lives, but history as well.  While hiking near Montignac, France, the four boys stumbled upon caves with a collection of cave paintings unlike anything ever seen.  The paintings, known as the Lascaux cave paintings have been dated from 15,000 to 17,000 years back and turned the art world on its ear, proving that Stone Age peoples were artists and biographers.

The four boys ended up on different paths.  Two of the boys were Jewish and shortly after the discovery, one boy was sent to Buchenwald with his family and the second boy ended up being hidden by a Jewish Children’s aid organization.  The other two boys, who were from Montignac, guarded the cave over the first winter and eventually became tour guides of the famous caves and paintings.  In fact, it was the two of them that noticed the condensation in the caves causing algae and mold growth.  It was at this point that France closed the caves to the public to protect them from as much outside environment as possible.  The cave paintings have been meticulously copied and can be viewed in a replica of the caves – Lascaux IV – part of the Lascaux historical center.

The two Jewish boys survived WWII and Buchenwald; all four lived into old age and were re-united in 1986.  The last to pass was Simon Coencas, who died in 2020 at the age of 93. 

The paintings were obviously modern art at the time they were created, but at 15,000 years of age, I doubt they qualify any longer.  I have a few pieces of modern art but I also lean toward more classical representational art.  Impressionism is a favorite and I am fond of a lot of sculpture.  I particularly love this one that resides here in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts:

If you could go back in time and discover something, what would it be?

2025, education, Health, State Fair

Summer Learning

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Nobody said “don’t go to the fair”.  Nobody said “it will be very rough on your knee”.  Not the urgent care doctor, not the orthopedist, not the physical therapist.  To be fair, none of these people knew me.  None of them heard “will I be able to go to the fair” and translated that to “will I be able to go to the fair six times, 8-9 hours each time and go from one end to the other and back”. 

So technically you could say it’s my fault.  If I had been clear what “go to the fair” really meant, maybe they would have given me different advice.  But if they had, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how excellent the emergency service of the Minnesota State Fair truly are.

Thursday was fine – although I got blisters, probably from walking funny due to the big brace on one knee.  Saturday was ok; I wore sneakers to avoid the funny walking blisters.  I was slow but at a crowded fair, that’s not actually a handicap.  On Monday I did half a day and then went back for the grandstand show.  17,000 steps.  Sore city.  On Wednesday, I was really sore but it was Golden Retriever Day so I soldiered on.  On Friday, both knees were sore, so I wore the brace AND a compression sleeve on the other knee.  Then about noon, over near the Caribe Café, my “good knee” gave out suddenly.  No fall, no trip, no getting knocked around by the crowds; just suddenly there was absolutely no walking on that leg. 

First the police came, parked on the street near where I had managed to get to a bench.  He ran the lights so the EMTs would know where to find me.  EMTs came, took my blood pressure (yowzer…), asked me a ton of questions and then made me sign a form, telling me it was to verify that they weren’t kidnapping me (his exact words).  Then another set of guys got me into a “gator” and we headed, extremely slowly due to the crowds, to the Emergency Room.

It was kind of quiet when I was there – in addition to an intake area, they actually have a little hospital in the back.  YA mentioned that it looked like all the beds, table and chairs were donated by a bunch of different medical centers – nothing matched.  But it was clean and I was the only patient.  Oscar was my “attending” EMT.  More blood pressure (much lower), more questions.  Another form.  Then they found a very nice volunteer who drove us to the Park `n Ride so that YA could get me home. 

I’m much better now, although not exactly super mobile yet.  I believe the orthopedist is a little sorry he didn’t suggest I take it a little easier or maybe try a wheelchair a couple of the days, but he won’t admit that; he’s “glad I’m out living my life”.  And now I know all about how the emergency services at the fair works!

Have you learned anything new this summer?

2025, Food, Kids, State Fair

Fair Food Roundup – 2025

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I know that I always say that YA and I don’t go to the fair for the food but it would be a lie if we didn’t enjoy the food part of each day.  Here’s a lowdown on the 2025 fair foods for us:

  • Hot Siracha Funnel Cake Bites. This is not a new food but it is still the first thing that I get on the first day of the fair.  It doesn’t hurt that the owners of the stall know me and have the bite dough ready for me; normally they don’t make the bite dough so early because most folks want sweet in the morning.  Savory and just a bit hot with the siracha sauce.
  • Beignets.  This was a new stall this year and they knocked it out of the park.  The beignets were hot, fluffy, just the right amount of powdered sugar.  They also had a lot of tea and coffee selections, although the beverages were on the pricey side.
  • Sweet Squeakers. As always, The Blue Barn knows what we like.  This year’s new offering was cheese curds batter fried with lemon whipped cream and raspberry sauce.  A perfect way to start Day Two.  The pierogies and the French toast bites are still on the menu and we sampled them on Day Three and Four.  Still yummy.
  • Filled Churro and Chimney Cake. I’m putting these together because they were actually similar and disappointing in the same way.  Both were churro/doughnut dough caked and filled with stuff: the churro with Nutella and the chimney cake with ice cream and Nutella (although not much Nutella).  Both suffered by being stuffed which decreased the crunch factor.  Nutella and ice cream however were excellent.
  • Dessert Dog. This is the second year that the West End Creamery was disappointing.  This new food was advertised as ice cream sandwiched between pieces of coffee cake, drizzled with strawberry/rhubarb sauce and on a stick.  First off, the stick was a waste – you could NOT eat this off a stick – fork was required.  The coffee cake was more like cookie dough but not that good.  And the price was outrageous.  Probably no West End Creamery for me next year.
  • Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream. YA had this and informed me immediately that I wouldn’t like it because it tasted exactly like those green apple caramel suckers.  Which she adores and I do not.  Five stars from YA.
  • Jumbo Tater Tots. We finally had these on our final day – YA had been dragging her feet for some reason.  We got the cheese bomb version and they were exactly as expected – huge cheese filled tater tots.  We had sour cream and chives on the side and they were delicious.

All the rest of our favorites were still great:  roasted corn, Hawaiian shave ice, pickle pizza, cheese curds, potato cheddar crepe, blueberry pie and multiple applications of cookies.  Can’t forget to mention my favorite mocktails from Summer Lakes.  They have several varieties and I switch up but my favorite one is the Wedgehammer – orange juice, lemonade, lime juice, ginger and a slice of orange.

When I read through this, it sounds like all we do is eat, but remember all this is spread out over 5-6 days and for the most part we share everything.  There were several new foods we didn’t get to – if they’re still around next year maybe we’ll get to them.

Anything you’ve been craving this week (food or otherwise)?

2025, books, Fantasy, Mysteries, Nature

Best of Times, Worst of Times

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I read for a lot of reasons.  One of them is to find new ideas or to be reminded of ideas I may have had in the past.

The book I just finished (not revealing the title as there would be spoilers otherwise) had a fairly absurd premise but then managed to present several trains of thought that were tantalizing.  A huge asteroid is heading for Earth and scientists have determined that it will wipe out everyone and everything in two years, six weeks.  

One character, who works in banking, came up with a scheme that basically defrauds people but will make the bank a ton of moolah.  His theory is that by the time folks figure out they’ve been defrauded, the world will be ending.  Sadly the other members of the board agreed with him.

Another character, an aging rock and roll star, was facing terminal cancer and decided to end his life so that his music royalties would go to his first ex-wife as soon as possible.  He also made an extremely heartfelt apology to her for how he had treated her back in the day.

A third character, an anthropologist, was worried about the end of civilization before the end of the world.  Why, he postulated, would be the incentive to keep working?  Who would do the jobs that keep us all fed and clothed?

This last character’s questions have remained with me for days now.  Whenever there is some news of an asteroid that’s coming close to the planet, I do muse about the end of days.  But I have never considered what would happen if we KNEW it was end of days for sure.   How could we keep civilization going?  How would I personally get by until the end?  Would I feel the need to atone for my “sins”?  I’m not sure, but I think I would definitely make a trip to Alaska, the only state in the union I haven’t visited.

Anything on your bucket list you’d like to do if you knew the world was ending in two years and six weeks?