Category Archives: Mysteries

2024, books, Fantasy, Mysteries, Nature, Weather

Bowled Over

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Around Christmas I decided that I wanted to re-read the Inspector Gamache series of books by Louise Penny.  They were favorites of mine when I first re-read them and I enjoyed the tv shows although I wasn’t happy they cancelled after the first season.  Short sighted.

I’m on the third book right now, listening to it on CD in the car.  Last week there was a huge thunderstorm in the book and Louise wrote one of the characters as saying that their mother had explained thunder as “angels bowling”.  This caught my attention because this is exactly what my mother told me about thunder when I was a kid.

As an adult I know in my brain that thunder is caused by the shockwave of air that expands rapidly around a lightning bolt.  But it’s way too easy to remember bowling angels or the Zeus in Fantasia orchestrating a huge storm. 

What kinds of stories were you told as a child to explain natural phenomenon?

2024, education, Health, Medicine, Mysteries

At Least I’m Upright….

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I think I know why it takes so long to become a doctor. You have to learn a completely different language:

This accessory muscle is located posteromedially, originating from the fascia of the deep posterior compartment at a level posterior to the tibiotalar joint and talus and then extends inferiorly, deep to the flexor retinaculum, posterior and superficial to the traversing tibial nerve and posterior tibial artery within the tarsal tunnel, inserting distally upon the quadratus plantae muscle (axial series 2, Images 6-22, sagittal series 4, images 15-11 and coronal series 7, images 7-10.)

Even after Dr. Moser showed me the MRI images and “explained” it to me, I’m still not sure exactly what the issue is except that it seems to be related to my initial ankle sprain (20 years ago – a bad sprain that took several months to feel better). No pinched anything, no compressed anything, no torn anything and in what was clearly a surprise to the doctor, no arthritis. He did point out what he called some edema – that’s about it. Two co-pays and an MRI to get told my ankle hurts.

Sent home with a brace and a couple of physical therapy appointments. In the meantime, I suppose the fact that there isn’t any arthritis is the good news I’ll try to keep in mind.

Do you have a favorite tongue-twister from childhood?

2024, Food, Gatherings, Mysteries

Easy as Pie

36 Comments

“In my element.”  That’s the thought that was going through my mind as I headed out of the house yesterday morning to do some grocery shopping.  With Pi Day coming up, I’ve been busy with the prep work.  Organizing things is just about my favorite activity and Pi Day needs all the organization it can get.

Before hitting the grocery stores, I have to pick the pies.  I go through all my appropriate cookbooks and pick out recipes that sound good to me, mark them w/ post-it notes and write them down.  When I’m done with that, I cull the recipes down to 12 (always making sure I have our four regulars listed.  Then I make a list of ingredients, cross check it against what I already have on hand and then head out.  Had to hit three stores to get everything (including finding golden syrup without having to make a separate trip to World Market!) and it took four trips from the car to the house because I packed all the bags at Aldis pretty heavily.

I have two to-do lists for Pi Day… the lead up to Pi Day list and the Pi Day list.  The lead up is all the stuff I can do a day ahead (crumble topping, pre-baking shells, putting out plates/napkins).  Then the Pi Day list is sorted in the order that the pies need to be done The secondary sort is by oven temperature.  The baking times are also on this list so the minute a pie goes in the oven, I can put the cookbook away.

Add making placecards, nametags with this year’s pie clipart and setting up a station for some temporary tattoos that I found and, voila… party time! 

I’m not sure what it is in my personality that all this makes me quite happy, but it does!

How to bakers dress up?

2024, animals, Farming Update, Mysteries, Nature, Theatre

Change Is Hard

57 Comments

The weekend Farm Report is from Ben.

Hasn’t been much happening on the farm lately. The header photo shows the rye planted last fall JUST BARELY turning green and showing rows.

I’ve been busy doing theater. And ‘work’ work at the college. About all I get done are the regular chores. Doing chicken chores, the other day and Luna was trying to find that rooster to play with.

She didn’t. I think the rooster has learned.

When designing a set, I read the script and talk with the director about concepts, then it’s rough sketches. Then sometimes I design it on the computer drafting program. This time I used my foamboard model. I don’t paint it or anything, I just want basic layout.

The director and I discuss it again and then I get to the actual building.

Spring break at the college this week and I got going placing platforms that I have in stock.  

I was wearing my toolbelt, which I haven’t needed for a few months. For several years, I had the same toolbelt at home as I have at work. But the work one was wearing out and I tried something different. And it just isn’t working. At home, my regular farming tools are pliers on my left hip, and the Swiss Army knife WITH the wood saw, in sheath on my right.  But then with the tool belt, all the tools are on right. But that’s where my cell phone pouch clips on my pocket, so I have to swap that to the left pocket and then it’s all backward.

It shouldn’t be this hard.

There are so many different kinds of tool belts, pouches, and assemblies; wide belts, suspenders, multiple different designs and layouts of bags and pouches, and they can be hundreds of dollars. Hammer loop or diagonal hammer slip, I’ve tried them all. I am alternating between having the hammer at my back or to my left. It should be on my right, since I’m right-handed, in order not to have to switch hands, but that’s where the tools are. Sigh.

There are drill pouches too, but the drill belt-hook works for me, and once something works, adjusting to anything different is hard, because it has to be so much better to justify the change, right?

And then organizing the tool kit! I have pencils, three different screwdrivers, a square, knife, pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers, chalk line, scissors, a level, and a tape measure. (Don’t even get me started on the different tape measures!) It’s fascinating! How many tools do I think I have to carry with me all the time?? They have to be handy and easy to get too and not be cumbersome.

Squares: how many do I need with me?? The carpenters square, the big “L” thing I don’t carry. The combination square, that’s the 12″ ruler with the sliding part that also does 45 degrees, and I don’t carry that either. I use a 7″ rafter square. Looks like a triangle, gives me a straight edge, 45 degree, plus any angle I need. Love it. Except it’s harder to fit in the tool bag. They make a 12″ one that I have on the tool rack. I also carry a plain 90-degree square, good for marking and straight edges, but the rafter square is just as good, so maybe I’ll unpack the plain one. And I carry a screw pouch on my left side, but I’m not always using that many screws at once, I have the storage tubs of screws and I just carry that to the job. I have different bits in the pouch most of the time. A puddy knife was the latest addition to the tool kit and that one is still tenuous. Sometimes it’s needed, sometimes not.

Pencils or marking devices: Black sharpie, silver sharpie, red fine tip sharpie, and I recently traded the carpenter’s pencil for a thick mechanical pencil. Also comes in yellow and red lead. I think I like that, and it may be a keeper.

An hour later, I had my tools back in the old toolbelt.

Change is hard.

HAVE YOU FOUND SOMETHING BETTER LATELY?  

2024, animals, books, Mysteries, Words

Chewing on Words

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I’m still working at my Italian every day… some days more than others. Having done some Spanish and French in my youth, I love seeing some of the resemblances. Every now and then though, I get thrown for a loop. Yesterday Duolingo served up “in bocca al lupo” for “good luck”. In bocca al lupo means literally “in the mouth of the wolf”. I have actually heard the phrase “buona fortuna” in the past so finding a reference to a wolf sent me straight to the internet. Apparently In the mouth of the wolf is when something needs to be warded off… like when they say “break a leg” in the theatre. “Buona fortuna” is your basic good luck.

Thinking about this reminded me that a few months ago Duolingo let me know that “bookworm” is “topo di biblioteca” which translates to “mouse of the library”. Fascinating. In looking into that one (yes, I do check up on Duolingo occasionally), here are some others I found:

• English/Serbian/Russian/Thai – bookworm
• Italian/Romanian – library mouse
• Arabic – book moth
• Chinese – book fool
• Greek – book eater
• Danish – reading horse
• French – ink drinker

Of course the reading horse is the most intriguing (PJ, is this correct?) but I think it’s interesting that there are so many varieties. Just a side benefit to learning a new language!

If you were asked to come up with a better phrase for “bookwork”, what would you choose?

2024, Food, home, Mysteries

To Meat or Not to Meat

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I’ve been a vegetarian for 51 years.  At that time there was a company in California called Loma Linda who made a handful of meat analogs; here in the Midwest you could find them in the occasional health food store.  I only tried one of their products once.  Too much money and the taste didn’t appeal too much.  It looks like they are still in business but I haven’t seen their products around here for a few decades. 

Meat alternatives have never been a big draw for me.  We do some vegetarian sausages regularly and occasionally a veggie hot dog or veggie bacon, but that’s about it.  I’m not interested in fake tuna or fake corn dogs or fake chicken filets. There are TONS more vegetarian/fake meats out there these days but I don’t pay too much attention. 

Last week Trader Joe’s featured “Vegan Pepperoni” in their monthly flyer and it caught my eye so I stopped by when I was out and about and picked up a package.  Also got some herbed pizza dough while I was there (pizza dough is in the refrigerated section right beneath the pepperoni – coincidence?

I made the pizza the next day – tomato sauce, pepperonis, green olives, black olives, provolone, shaved parmesan/romano, mozzarella.  It was quite yummy.

There is a half package of the vegan pepperonis left – I will probably make another pizza in the next couple of days.  I’m pretty sure that the pepperonis won’t ben a regular purchase for us.  While they were OK, they certainly didn’t make the pizza stand out.  There are so many good things that can go on a pizza; pepperonis just aren’t necessary in my book.  I’m not sorry I got them, just not looking forward to getting them again.

Have you tried anything new recently?

2024, Family, home, Music, Mysteries

Endorphins

48 Comments

Yesterday afternoon, after doing a boatload of errands, I came home feeling… joyous.  I’m not exactly sure why – it’s not my normal go-to reaction to doing errands.  The only think I could think was that yesterday, I finally handled two issues that have been on my back-burner for months.  Neither of the issues is the biggest deal, so it’s been easy to put them off.

The main reason that I addressed both these issues is because this meme has popped up a couple of time the last two weeks:

It’s funny because it’s true of a lot of us, especially me.  But seeing it multiple times felt like an omen that needed addressing.

Anyway, when I got home in my great mood, I asked Alexa to play “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies.  I’m not putting the song up here because if you have any liking for it at all, you remember it.  And if you don’t like it, I don’t want to torture you.  But it’s a happy tune and it’s great to dance to in the kitchen while you’re putting away groceries.  Alexa then went on to play a lot more bubblegum rock – more good boogie music.  Gave the dog and cat some extra afternoon treats.  Texted YA that I love her. 

It makes me wish I had more things I’ve been putting off; wondering if I can recreate this mood at will by playing a silly song by a made-up cartoon group?

Do you ever dance in the kitchen?  Sing in the car?  Or the shower?

2024, Art, Fantasy, Games, Mysteries

Dragon Forge

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I just finished the Dragon Forge puzzle.  1000 pieces.  And I promise, this is not a blog about how I succumbed to temptation (repeatedly) to sit for hours at the table working on this thing.

I chose this puzzle from the fantasy section of the Puzzle Warehouse in St. Louis, a fascinating place I discovered on a visit to Nonny right before pandemic.  It’s a huge warehouse with puzzles sorted all kinds of ways – mostly by the company that produced the puzzle but also in theme areas including my favorite.  Fantasy. 

My first big plunge into science fiction/fantasy was Star Wars, which I saw at the Grand Theater in Northfield.  Four nights in a row.  Then came the reading of The Hobbit when I was 20.  This was followed immediately by all three volumes of Lord of the Rings.  The barn door was open – the horse was not going back in! 

I’m usually more drawn to fantasy than science fiction and it’s almost exclusively due to dragons.  Sure, wizards, witches, fairies are great but dragons are the draw.  I’ve been known to search the library website using “dragon” as the keyword.  There are amazing numbers of books out there with “dragon” in the title.  I prefer sympathetic dragons, dragons who can communicate, smart dragons, dragons with magic but I can handle the dark side as well. 

Nobody that I know is into dragons like I am.  This is where my problem is this week.  I love the artwork on this puzzle and I’d love to know that the next home that it travels to will have someone who appreciates it as much as I do.  I’ve thought about keeping it and maybe putting in in a frame but I don’t really have any wall space and I’m pretty sure that YA would object anyway if it went in any communal space. 

I know that there are occasional puzzles swaps around the Twin Cities but I’ve never gone to one.  A friend said that they are opening a permanent spot in a Hennepin County Library for jigsaw puzzles; I haven’t found any information on it yet.  Hopefully I can find a good swap or location for Dragon Forge, so that it goes to a good home where dragons are appreciated!

Where do you like to get rid of your excess stuff?

2024, Family, Health, home, Mysteries, TV

Verily’s Pity Party

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The last time I said “I think I’m the only person left in America who hasn’t had covid” I should have knocked on wood.

Went to a party on a Saturday night 10 days ago and had a great time, met up with some current and former neighbors for a 70th birthday celebration for a friend.  Good food, drink, company.  Had a wonderful time.

On Tuesday morning as I was starting to get ready to go to the art museum, one of my Saturday night friends texted a group of us saying that she had covid and was pretty sick.  Even though I felt fine I thought it would be the responsible thing to do to test before I went on a tour at the museum.  And there it was… a big pink “T” line.  I’ve taken a lot of tests since the beginning of pandemic and I’ve never gotten the “T” line before.  Shocking.  The good news is that I am still asymptomatic so all those jabs did pay off.

The bad news is that I’m feeling sorry for myself – although I’m not sure why.  Except for cancelling my museum tour with my friend at the last minute, I haven’t really done anything differently the last week.  Thank goodness for the Target pick-up, the Aldis pick-up, the post office drive through and the library drop box.  I did send YA to the library to pick up a book for me on Friday so I wouldn’t have to go in.  YA is avoiding me like… dare I say “the plague” and seems fine so far.  I’ve done stuff around the house, read a lot, worked in my studio, labored on a 1000-piece jigsaw of a dragon in a “dragon forge cave” (it’s a doozy) and binge-watched the Colombo marathon on Sunday.  I’m not sure why I’m feeling weird about this… but it does feel like the first couple of weeks of pandemic when I remember feeling trapped in the house.

As of yesterday, still positive but the “T” line was very faint so I expect in the next 48 hours I’ll be clear and free to break out and roam the neighborhood again.  I’ll have to shut the pity party down.

Ridiculous, right?

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?