Some of the great stuff I got for Christmas.

Watering can from recycled stuff:

A Pantone coffee mug:

A book of lists:

Salad tongs from recycled stuff:

Over the river and through the woods to Aunt Elaine's house we went. And along the way we passed these sweet emus, who probably aren't all that sweet.

And I learned, from Erin who is sweet, about ostriches and emus. And that led me to learn about the word "Gondwana." I knew about the landmass but not the name. Gondwana. It rolls nicely off the tongue.
From USAToday online:
"... ostriches and emus ... apparently share a common ancestor who lived long ago on the gigantic landmass, Gondwana. When Gondwana broke up about 75 to 85 million years ago, Africa split off, and then Australia/Antarctica sailed slowly away.... With a widening ocean between them, the ostriches and emus were forced to evolve separately thereafter. At least, this is the best current theory."

While the snow melts in our 51-degree back yard, I'm catching up with some newspaper reading.

This is a great article, I think.
"On geopolitical issues like climate change, India and China are encouraged to balance their internal duties as developing countries with their external responsibilities as emerging giants. They are told to short-circuit history, to avoid tactics for growth that the West now sees as errors, to assume obligations that rich lands took on only when they became much wealthier."

And the not-so-pretty aftermath. I predict these snow heaps, in front of a local grocery store, will not be gone until late March.

Midnight on Saturday/Sunday. It's almost over.

4 PM, Sat Dec 19.

Compared to this morning and last night.

The geese and ducks are very, very still in the pond across the street.

There's a shadow on my lens. Not sure if it's from the weather or if it's a permanent shadow. You can see it in the foreground on the top picture. Almost looks like a curved path in the snow.

1:30 PM, Sat Dec 19: The snow is so light that it didn't take me long to make this path. But was it worth it?

10:30 AM, Sat Dec 19. "They" might be right about the 12+ inches.

Snow on a Saturday. The best kind of snow. The Senate is still in session, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

11:30 PM, Fri Dec 18. The first 1/4 inch. "They" say we might get 12+ inches by Sunday AM.

To anyone who received one of my recent garter stitch scarves.... no, it's not your imagination. The scarf IS getting longer.

Sorry.

New Annoyance from SEC. She's got a point. (Kitties are not annoyed.)

New Annoyance: “teaspoon.”

What the heck is a teaspoon anyway? Something you use to stir tea? A medical measurent?

So I get my cough syrup and it says, “don’t use a regular teaspoon; use the syringe included to get the right dose.”

So why are there different teaspoons? A teaspoon should be a teaspoon should be a teaspoon.

Time to go on the metric system. But THAT’s on the annoyance list, too.

I was browsing through a very old history book and came to the passage below.

"The English forces a second time fought their way without serious resistance to Cabul, which was entered and taken on the 24th of December, 1879….The [Afghani] rebellion was completely suppressed…It was soon perceived, however, that the subjugation was only real in the neighborhood of the [English] garrison. The remainder of the people were restrained from hostility only so far as the danger of punishment was felt. The question thus arising from the occupation of Afghanistan…[was] transmitted by the Government under Disraeli to the Liberals under Gladstone; and the issues arising from the controversy have not, to the present day, been satisfactorily adjusted."

The "present day" was 1907 or earlier. I say bring home the troops but leave the CIA and their drones in Pakistan.

Oh no. Another book that will probably make me want to stop blogging.

Classes offered at a local "spa." Could they be more different? Maybe I'll take the first one. I definitely won't take the second.

Create your own Healing Mandala Workshop
January 9, 2010 & January 23, 2010

Each workshop will have guided meditation, simple teachnique instruction, and guidance in creating your own mandala for healing. You need not be an artist or have a particular spiritual/faith journey, just an open heart and mind to being guided to new possibilities in your life. All materials are provided. Cost per workshop: $35/ person


"HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD" Workshop
January 17, 2010

1:00 pm- 4:00 pm
Cost for workshop: $25/ person

Stone garden balls!

Great post over on Garden Rant about these balls. Commenters either love them or are perplexed by them. I'm in the former camp. I want a bunch.

Commenter Ali M. provides a very easy recipe:

"Go to the dollar store and buy play balls in different sizes. Cut a round hole about 3" in them and fill them with hypertufa. While you are working you can support the ball in an empty flower pot. Leave it there until the hypertufa has hardened enough for you to carefully cut off the ball. Sometimes there is a mold line from the inside of the ball that needs to be smoothed so don't leave the ball on too long or the cement will be too hard to smooth. Have fun!"

I'll make some this winter and by next summer maybe they'll be covered in moss. ("If it's on the north side of the house, it will eventually get covered with a lovely green moss.")

I'm supposed to be getting rid of stuff in my house, not making more stuff.

The best bread I've ever made. And I've made it at least 4 times a week for months. Now here we are, at least 4 pounds later. Here's my idea.

I want to lose 4 pounds by somewhere around the holidays, so let's say by Jan 1, but preferably by Dec 25. If I identify 1,000 calories that I routinely take in each day (let's say the 2 cookies with coffee after dinner + something else) and then coldly eliminate the cookies and the ?? from my daily diet for 14 days I should lose 4 pounds. If I start tomorrow I should be 4 lbs lighter by this time two weeks from now. Dec 23.

Math: 1,000 calories a day for 14 days is 14,000 calories. For every 3,500 calories I eliminate from my normal diet I should lose 1 pound. 14,000 calories divided by 3,500 is 4.
First rule: don't substitute an equal number of calories from any other calorie sources.
Second rule: if I fail and eat the two cookies, start again the next day. Or the next hour.
Third rule: if I fail completely, promptly forget about it and get some Christmas shopping done.
Here's the bread recipe. I don't intend to stop eating the bread. I've got to find the 1,000 calories some place else. Maybe the butter on the bread? Nah.

8 PM update: I did more thinking and math. I can't do 1,000 calories a day. Maybe I can do about 550 calories a day. So it will take me 26 days to lose 4 pounds. I'll try.

If there's a hell (which I kind of doubt) I'm going there for reading this book.

I never read "Eat, Pray, Love." In fact I sort of refused** to even open the book at the library or in bookstores. And I've never read anything about the book, period. Which is kind of hard because the book has been, I believe, wildly popular. But when I saw "Drink, Play, etc" at the library it just made me laugh, so of course I had to check it out. And it does make me laugh. Not exactly in a snarky way. But close. I'm trying to banish snarkiness from my life.

**I believe this refusal was caused by my friend Margo and her annual beach&book-reading trip with girlfriends a few years ago. On these trips each person brings books and they share among themselves. They agreed that no one would bring along a copy of this book--too sappy** was the criticism I believe. See what influence my friends have over me?
**Update: It just occurred to me that I should go on the record about "sappy" books. I'm not immune to sappy books at all. And I don't dislike them as a rule. So no offense meant. And I doubt if Margo and the beach crowd object to sappy books once in awhile. So.

The tomato isn't new, it was eaten and enjoyed in August, but the poem from a grateful friend IS new. What a great gift!

There it is so round and firm with just a hint of earth
A season's early entry with seductive plumpness girth
The color red in different shades surrounds its outer wall
And one cannot evade nor still a delicate siren's call
The cut to reveal the inner glory is done in tender slice
The juice and seeds within reveal flavor's design to entice
O Jersey tomato of world renown, your time no more to see
NOT POSSIBLE say the Jerseyites this simply cannot be
Jersey fame has come and gone, the pain not soon to pass
Face it, the Pamela tomato has whupped your sorry ass.

by MEHurwitz

The times we live in.

First snow of the winter.

What a difference a day can make.

These are volunteer yuccas that I potted up last week. Not sure what I'll do with them. I murdered their mother because I don't like big yucca plants. But the babies are sweet. Maybe I'll put them in nicer pots and try to make bonsai yucca out of them.

Hunkered down. Three of the four who spent all day yesterday behind my house.

It rained all day and they sat all day, from late morning until dark. All that's separating them from my entire back yard is that thin bit of cheap plastic.

I had only three deer break-ins this summer, and two of them barely count. Unbeknownst to me, twice in the early summer the newborn single fawn was nesting near the fencing. I didn't see her and was poking around near her, cleaning up leaves. She got scared and, apparently, scurried under the fencing and ended up trapped in my backyard. The other break-in was just last week --- a small deer, at least a year old. He just nudged over a weakness in the fence and made his way in. He managed to find the two small hydrangeas I had hidden back there. One of his ancestors all but killed these plants several years ago and they're clinging to life back there.

All in all it was a successful summer --- the hostas got to live their full lifespan for the first time in years, maybe decades.