Category Archives: Fantasy

2024, Fantasy, Food, holidays, Mysteries

Let Them Eat King Cake

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I saw a funny story online yesterday about a thief who stole seven King cakes from a bakery in New Orleans.  Cash and a case of vodka were also taken.  That’s a heck of a party someone is planning.

Growing up, while I had heard of Mardi Gras, I had never heard of a king cake.  Even working in bakeries for four years after I got married, I still never heard of it.  It was the travel industry that finally introduced this pastry to me – every year a king cake was delivered to the travel division from a supplier in New Orleans. 

The Bittersweet Confections king cake must be fabulous.  While the green, purple and yellow colors are bright and it’s fun to see who ends up with the plastic baby that is often baked into the cake, I’ve never thought king cake was the best use of butter, sugar and flour.  A little too sweet and sticky for my taste.  But a staple of the holiday it is and I suppose if I lived in New Orleans, or celebrated Mardi Gras, I would learn to make them.  Maybe I could make a version I like a little better??

Suppose you’re breaking into a bakery?  What would you take?

2023, Fantasy, Gatherings, History, holidays, Media, Theatre, Uncategorized

Little Christmas

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Manitoba and southwest North Dakota have quite a few Ukrainian communities. We have several Ukrainian friends on both sides of the border. Some are members of the Ukrainian Orthdox Church, some the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Both denominations have married priests. I don’t quite understand that.

Both denominations also seem to celebrate Christmas on January 6th instead of December 25th. I personally don’t know if I could stand waiting until January 6th for Christmas to be over. I read with interest the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine militantly moved Christmas celebrations to December 25th this year in a punch in the eye to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Husband was doing some idle research and found that in Scotland, Ireland, and in Amish communities in the States, January 6th is called Little Christmas, and there are traditions of the men that day doing all the women’s work. How big of them! I certainly hope in those societies that Christmas isn’t just for women to arrange and orchestrate! It certainly isn’t in our house.

I regret that our basement is all in disarray and our TV and various media players are all packed up waiting for carpenters and carpet layers. One of my favorite recordings is the 1998 production of Twelfth Night from Live From Lincoln Center with Paul Rudd and Helen Hunt in the leads. Watching that is a nice way to end Christmas.

When is Christmas over for you? Any memories or good quotes from Twelfth Night, by The Bard?

2023, Family, Fantasy, Music, Uncategorized

Would You Like To Be A Pip?

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For some odd reason, Husband was musing recently about what it was like being a backup singer in one of the various musical groups from the 1960’s and 1970’s. He thought it would be fun to be a Miracle, a Blue Note, or a Pip.

This brought up memories for me of the Ronettes, the Marvelettes, and the Vandellas, although I don’t think it would be much fun to be an Ikette. I would have to put up with Ike.

What backup group would you like to sing with? Got any good ideas for names of new backup groups?

2023, books, Family, Fantasy, home, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Sit Behind The Stove

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A favorite book when our children were growing up was “Louhi, Witch of North Farm” by Toni de Gerez with illustrations by Barbara Cooney. It is a story taken from the Kalevala about Louhi stealing the sun and the moon and hiding them. The hero, Vainamoinen, eventually gets them back with the help of Seppo the smith.

A minor character in the book is Sit Behind the Stove, a character from Russian mythology, who lives in Louhi’s cottage. Husband sketched pictures of Sit Behind the Stove, which our children loved. I imagine Louhi’s kitchen looking like this:

I hadn’t thought about this until recently when Kyrill our Cesky Terrier found a small red ball in the yard and brought it in the house. It is an official Minnesota Twins T-Ball that he loves to chase. At times the ball seems to have a mind of its own, as it is ultrasensitive to even the smallest imperfections and dips in our laminate flooring in the dining room and living room. It gains momentum for movement with every dip in the floor and then rolls. Kyrill has learned that if he tosses it under the furniture it will eventually roll back to him. He watches intently to see where it might emerge, and then pounces on it.

The other day the ball rolled under the buffet in the dining room. When that happens, we usually have to retrieve it for him. After a minute or so, though, it magically rolled back out! It was rather unsettling, I admit, and I imagined that Sit Behind the Stove or perhaps a tomten must have tossed it back out.

Who or what are your favorite mythological characters?

2023, Art, Family, Fantasy, holidays

Festive Display

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When I was growing up my family and I used to drive around at the holidays to look at homes all decorated up with festive lights.  But that was the only time of year that folks decorated outside.  At Halloween, most folks put out jack-o-lanterns but usually just on Halloween or a couple of days beforehand.  It just wasn’t a thing that people did.

Well, it’s a thing now!

YA and I spent a little time driving around on Saturday, looking at the fall colors and some of the fascinating displays in yards around South Minneapolis.  Lots of ghosts hanging from trees, lots of skeletons lounging around on porches or adirondack chairs and, of course, pumpkins galore.  We saw one house with their long windowbox filled with little bitty pumpkins and squash of all colors.  We also saw a huge blow up arch that looked like a monster with outstretched arms that you had to walk through to get to the front door.  Wondering if that will too scary for small kids on Halloween night.

There were two stand-outs of the afternoon.  First was the class of skeletons, apparently waiting to have their school photo taken. Very creative and very funny.  Also a LOT of work I bet.  I kinda wish I lived across the street from this house so I could have watched as this scenario was set up.

The second photo YA snapped was such a mish-mash of stuff that we couldn’t resist.  Little ghost lights along the sidewalk, a funny looking ghostbusters car (looks a bit like a VW Beetle), a dog with a pink hat, a minion, pumpkins, and over-sized skeleton and (my favorite) a dragon!  We did see two other yards with this blow up dragon but this one won the prize for being part of such an eclectic collection. 

I’ve never been big on decorations outside, although I will admit to a cornstalk along with my pumpkins this year, but I do enjoy looking at others’ displays.  And I did look up the inflatable dragon online – not horribly expensive, but a bit much for someone who isn’t prone to overdoing décor outside.

Any Halloween/fall decorations (outside or inside) at your place?

2023, Fantasy, Gatherings, Media, Mysteries

And Then There Were None…

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The news these days isn’t usually much of a laughing matter.  And then, every now and then…..

Two weeks ago, in Chapel St. Leonard’s, a seaside resort village on England’s east coast, a ritual mass murder was reported to police.  Bodies were seen inside the Seascape Café by passersby.  Unfortunately when the police arrived, the bodies were mysteriously gone; turns out the passersby had witnessed the end of a yoga class, when all the participants were doing a final yoga meditation.

I couldn’t find any comments from those who had reported the mass murder but the yoga instructor took it very seriously and made sure that everyone in the community was reassured on her Facebook page that the group is not a “mad cult or crazy club”. 

What kind of activity do you prefer at a seaside resort village?

animals, books, Fantasy, TV

Claws for Alarm

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My local library (Washburn) has several little tables and displays at the entrance.  There is a revolving bookcase for the Book Sale, a table with the library’s BookPage publication and other library information (and masks).  Then there is my favorite display curated by the Washburn librarians which they change out every couple of weeks.  There is always an easily discernable theme but they choose books from all genres: fiction, childrens, non-fiction, poetry.  I love seeing what the librarians come up with and I often will pick a book from the display.

The beginning of September was all about bees and honey.  I noticed The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King, which is a favorite of mine.  Last week they put up a new theme – cats.  All kinds of fun stuff and I couldn’t help but be drawn to Claws for Alarm, a cozy mystery that I assume includes a cat.  You all know that I can’t keep away from silly titles so I scooped it up.  

As soon as I got home I looked it up to see how far along in the series it sits – I usually like to start at the beginning but wasn’t sure I wanted to read a bunch of cozies to get to the cat story.  That’s when I found out that “Claws for Alarm” isn’t nearly as original/funny as I thought it was.  I found FOUR books with the same title – all of them fall into the cozy genre.  These were easy to find so I’m guessing there may be more.  I even found this:

So now that I’m not as impressed with a silly title as I was when I was standing in the library, I’m not sure if I’ll read it.  Or maybe I’ll go off the deep end and read all four to see which is best!

What’s the last “unusual” title that you’ve picked up?  Did you finish it?

2023, Fantasy, Media, Mysteries, Travel

You Gotta Be Kidding Me…

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I don’t spend much time looking at “the best things to buy” kinds of online ads, but yesterday afternoon, while lazing around watching re-runs of Columbo, I clicked on a “Unusual Items that Everybody Wants” lists.  Not sure what I was thinking.

The first item that made my jaw drop was a wristband that you use when you wash your face… to catch any water drips before they run down your arm.  Not sure why this is needed in life unless everybody washes their face differently than I do.

The next items that stopped me in my track was the “purse organizer” (above).  My very first thought was “who has 8 purses”?  Silly question since I sleep in a room next to someone who most likely have more than 8.  I’m sure she’s not alone.  Me?  One purse for everyday use and one fabric “State Fair” bag with a turtle on it that is the perfect size for what we need to take to the fair (money holder, coupon booklet, collapsible cookie holder, aspirin, address labels…).   If we weren’t State Fair aficionados, I would just have one purse.

My second thought was how in heaven’s name would you explain either of these items to someone living in the Middle Ages?  This was followed by a huge number of things that I can’t imagine trying to explain.  If you are suddenly transported to the year 1435, you probably shouldn’t mention ANYTHING about the times in which we live.  It’s a perfect way to end up on the 1435 version of the loony bin.  It never goes well in any time travel book I’ve ever read.

What would be the hardest thing to explain about our world to King Henry VI?

2023, Fantasy, Gatherings, History, Theatre, Uncategorized

Being Teddy

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Medora, ND is a tourist town about 40 miles west of us that capitalizes on its connection to Theodore Roosevelt, who lived on a ranch near there in his younger days. It is on the border of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The town has an Old West feel, with a homespun outdoor musical every night in the summer, stores that sell Western memorabilia, and trail rides. They also have people dressed as important figures from the town’s history, including Teddy Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores, a French beef packing scoundrel. Every night at the musical, a local cowboy on an actual horse reenacts Teddy’s charge up San Juan Hill. The commercialization of Medora was the brain child of a wealthy North Dakota businessman, Harald Schafer, who owned the company that manufactured Mr. Bubble bath soap. He wasn’t that well liked in town, though, for some reason. His son became governor.

I read recently that there are about 60 people in the US who are Teddy Roosevelt reenactors. This summer, three of them were in Medora. One lives there all year long. They all work simultaneously in the summer. At least one is a young Teddy. The other two portray him when he is older. They walk around town and talk to people and get their pictures taken and seem to have a great time.

If you were to be a reenactor, who would you want to portray? What is your favorite bubble bath?

Family, Fantasy, Kids, Mysteries, Travel

Apple of My Eye

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I know I’ve talked about this topic before, but it’s fascinating when I see glimpses of myself in YA.  She is in Dublin for two+ weeks for work and the morning of her flight, I found the clipboard (in the photo above) sitting on the counter downstairs.  In an interesting twist on the apple-not-falling-far-from-the-tree, I note that she has used three colors of highlighters.  I am a one-highlighter gal when it comes to my lists; it looks like the yellow highlighter is for her backpack but I’m not sure about the fuchsia or even the dots. 

My list-making has evolved in the past couple of months.  My weekly spreadsheet went by the wayside around the holidays last year; it was a gradual decline but I realized it wasn’t doing it for me any longer.  I actually went “list-less” for several months with the occasional list of errands on a post-it or groceries on my phone’s note app. 

Then a few weeks ago, after I re-retired, I wrote out a list of things for the next day.  Just on a pad of paper I had laying around and only a few items, nothing that is part of my regular routine.  It felt nice to take a highlighter to the list at the end of the day so I did another list for the next day.  Again – just written by hand and just a few items.  It’s become my new routine — for the most part.  There have been a few days with no list and I survived!

YA doesn’t do daily lists (that I ever see anyway) but it’s nice to have evidence that every now and then she’s takes a page from my playbook.

Would you rather have a pet dragon or a pet unicorn?