My current obsession

When JFK was killed I was in high school, just the right age to remember everything like it was yesterday. I remember the announcement -- I was in gym class and the PA system was scratchy and hard to hear but we got the message. Then I went to my World History class and probably heard some meaningful words from Miss Katie Keen who was an excellent teacher but I don't recall one word of that class. Then I remember the bus ride home, where so many of my friends cried for the whole trip. I didn't, but I was stunned and scared. I remember my father, especially my father, watching news non-stop that weekend. I remember on Saturday morning going to my parttime job at Lansburgh's Department Store in the women's dress department. That Saturday was cold and rainy in DC and there were very few customers. Everyone was in shock. Kennedy wasn't just our president. He was the guy who lived just down the street a few miles away, a neighbor. 

As the years and decades rolled by the assassination was in the background of my mental life, way in the background, but always there. By the 90s I was probably among the many people who just didn't know if Oswald acted alone. But we sure had plenty of reason to assume that our government wasn't going to tell us what they knew and they lied to us pretty routinely about a lot of things.

Fast forward to 2023 and here I am, with Rob Reiner, convinced that Kennedy was killed by a number of people who had different, overlapping reasons for wanting him dead. Not only am I convinced, I'm a little obsessed with the subject. Reiner has released 7 of his 10 podcasts reviewing all the details. He says that when the final episode is aired, on January 10th I think, he'll name the likely shooters and their likely locations. He doesn't claim to have any new information; he's just collected all the massive details others have uncovered over the past 60 years. The podcasts are each about 30 minutes and he tells a thrilling, but very confusing story of how it all probably happened. 

For anyone who wants to become fixated on old politics, as a relief from new (and frankly much scarier) current politics, you can find Reiner's podcasts here. 

NOTE: the picture above shows the moment when Kennedy was hit in the shoulder and neck by a bullet from behind, probably from Oswald's gun. Kennedy reaches his hands up to his neck. But two seconds later (and I will not publish the photo although I could) you can see his head struck from the front, obviously not from Oswald's gun. 

 

Hahahahahaha.

 Yes I suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. I'm of sound mind and average intelligence so of course I have TDS. This photo is so soothing. I especially like that he's denied his cans of diet Coke. Evil, wicked, dangerous man. Check out those two guys on the left in the front row laughing.

When DJT is on trial in DC I could, if I wanted, try for one of the public seats in the courtroom. I won't because it would take an early morning effort and a lot of luck but I too would like to laugh in his face. 

Maybe if my parents had forced me to go to Sunday School more often I wouldn't have such hatred in my heart but they didn't and I do. 

I'm losing my mind. So I'll start blogging again.

Onnie at Christmas.

Onnie yesterday in Brooklyn at a friend's house.

My dreams are out of control. Too vivid, too Fellini-esque, too long and too involved. So I awake each morning with my head so full of ideas and thoughts that I'm now convinced I'm losing my mind.

It doesn't help that I use earbuds all night while sleeping. I listen to C-Span radio or NPR so I hear lots of book reviews, political commentary, Senate/House hearings, interviews with various interesting people. Husband Doug logically reminds me that I shouldn't listen to this stuff at night. Maybe I'll try to stop because of course he's right. It's a very old habit and will be hard to give up.

This morning, in listening to the C-Span call-in show, Washington Journal, I realized that lots of people in this country are fascinated by and obsessed with the balloon story -- Chinese (possibly) surveillance balloons being seen and shot down over the US. Our government has been aware of this for years. 

Here's what the US Office of the Director for National Intelligence reported in June 2021 and below is how the New York Times covered that story: 

U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology in Flying Objects, but Can’t Rule It Out, Either

A new report concedes that much about the observed phenomena remains difficult to explain, including their acceleration, as well as ability to change direction and submerge.

WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have found no evidence that aerial phenomena witnessed by Navy pilots in recent years are alien spacecraft, but they still cannot explain the unusual movements that have mystified scientists and the military, according to senior administration officials briefed on the findings of a highly anticipated government report.

The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology, the officials said. That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret.

But that is about the only conclusive finding in the classified intelligence report, the officials said. And while a forthcoming unclassified version, expected to be released to Congress by June 25, will present few other firm conclusions, senior officials briefed on the intelligence conceded that the very ambiguity of the findings meant the government could not definitively rule out theories that the phenomena observed by military pilots might be alien spacecraft.

 

2005 movie Romance & Cigarettes

Feb 18, 2008

When it succeeds, it soars with great abandon, and when it fails, it fails so grandly that we still want to applaud it. This is a madhouse of a movie.

David Cornelius
DVDTalk.com

We watched this movie on a whim. I'd never heard of it before. Produced by the Coen Bros, written/directed by John Tuturro, great cast. I loved it. Not for everyone but I'll watch it again for the zany dancing, lip-syncing, and music.

One-handed adventures

It took trial and error and a few days but I finally figured out how to cut oranges and apples into quarters with one hand and two steak knives. Scissors action. I can peel clementines with my left hand but not a navel orange. (I eat 2-3 bags of oranges a week.) Apples of course are a hand fruit as George Costanza would say but I like them cut up. So there’s that to be said for learning to use my precious left arm, which I’m protecting like the valuable and irreplaceable  appendage it is. I've taken it for granted all these years. I’m so tired of asking for help from my very patient housemates.  

I was just feeding the birds and then this happened

In brighter news here’s Miss Onnie upon awakening in Brooklyn. She’s holding a crocheted snail that my sister made for her. I don’t think it has a name yet other than Snail. Snail is always in bed with Onnie and stays there during the day. 

Breaking my right arm stinks. 

I’m blogging from my phone. An experiment. 

Blogs and a shared computer

Doug has a blog and today when entering a post on his blog he accidentally posted it on both mine AND his. I'm not sure how he accomplished that but it wasn't intentional. Now I also know that it's hard to undo. No harm. He posted a nice picture of the park next door. It just wasn't me! Maybe I can edit it.

So here's my random picture. Well, not exactly random. Sweet granddaughter in Brooklyn. At 12 months. Delicious and delightful. We'll see her next weekend and then for a full week in late August at the Delaware shore. Love her wild hair.

 

Evening in the park

 

Rocks

I'm painting rocks and leaving them here and there in the neighborhood. Why? I'm not really sure. But I got the idea from BootsandBraids who lives somewhere in the Inland Empire in southern California. It's fun. Is it littering? I don't think so. It's more like guerrilla art. How did I find Boots and Braids? Who knows. Clicking around and looking at comments on blogs I guess. So, thanks Shirley! Wish I could put one somewhere in your apartment complex. 

And here's where I placed the first six rocks last evening. On the right-hand side of this street, which is parkland. My house is to the left of this shot--not the driveway you see but the house next to it. Now I do what? I take a walk each day and see how many remain. Doug saw 3 of them this morning. The other 3 might still be there, hiding, since we live in a jungle and one 24-hour period is enough to make the weeds and vines grow 2 inches.

Praying mantises hatching.

This hatching happened last July near my front walk. It's the second time I've been lucky enough to spot an egg case hatching. I've never seen the event from start to finish so I don't know how long it took for all those itty bitty mantises to crawl out of the tiny hole in the bottom of the pod, drop or crawl into that big mass, then either drop to the ground and walk or climb away. But it didn't take long. Each one of those "bananas" hanging from the bunch was about an inch or less long. A perfect little mantis ready to fend for itself. I wonder how many of them survived? 

Bad close-up. Next year I hope to get better shots.

 

Now I have two more egg cases, safely (I hope) on my front porch, and ready to hatch in the summer.

 

Would you feel safe using one of these masks?

I've been making masks off and on since March 2020, but only in the last month or so did I become kind of addicted to it. 

 

I've done a lot of reading about them and I think I've learned three things: almost certainly, three layers of fabric is best, it may help to use a non-woven synthetic material for the inner layer, and fit matters a lot. Oh, and of course that no hand-made mask can beat the professional masks. I just want mine to be as good as, say, those standard blue disposable masks.

I've been trying to perfect my technique and have made about 15 masks so far, starting with some unbelievably crude first passes with rudimentary ties, followed by some  made with rubber bands for the ears, finally settling in with my current recipe: one layer of high-quality quilting cotton, one inner layer of nonwoven fabric, and a third layer cut from a medium weight tee shirt. And I now have pre-made ear hooks or straps instead of rubber bands. I'm making them by hand because I hate using sewing machines, plus my machine only barely works anyway. And it's easy and Zen like. Typical craft fixation.

I've been using Pellon fusible interfacing because I read (somewhere) that it makes a good inner layer. I read that chiffon is good too because "Chiffon fabric, both silk and synthetic, is extremely strong as a result of the twists of the yarns and the tight weave of the fabric." So I ordered some of that and will use it in future masks. I also bought some inexpensive shopping bags made of a fabric-like material (polypropylene) for some masks. It's another non-woven synthetic material that I read (somewhere) can be effective. 

I give my masks the very unofficial Bill Nye test: can I wear a mask and still blow out a lit match held about a foot away? If not, it passes. There's the "suck in" test: when I suck in air does the mask pull up tight under my nose? If so, it passes, although I'm a bit lax on that one. Finally, can I see light through it? If not, it passes.

I gave one mask to a friend and although she was gracious in accepting it, her look was a bit skeptical (maybe?). I gave that a lot of thought. Then it occurred to me, duh, giving someone a mask isn't like giving them gloves or a scarf. It's a medical device, more or less. Should I send these off here and there to friends and family even though they might not be as good as the ones they're already wearing? My husband wears one of mine most days and I really think it's better than the blue disposable surgical masks he generally wears. They always buckle out on the sides near the ears, and they don't fit tightly over his chin. 

It then occurred to me that none of the commercial masks being sold or given away have been tested because there really isn't, as yet, standardized testing for commercial masks so who knows which are effective and which aren't? Isn't that a depressing thought? I shouldn't even post this, right? But it's sort of true, don't you think? And get this: I read (somewhere) the other day that some European countries (Germany? Belgium?) are going to start requiring that citizens wear ONLY N95s or equivalent when out and about.

So, tell me if you'd wear one of my masks and feel as safe as you currently feel. Assuming you're not wearing one of those N95s or equivalent. 

But I've buried the lede: Trump is gone! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Covid it still here and I haven't seen my baby granddaughter since early September but that bad bad man is gone. Joe and Kamala all the way. What a job they have. 

And here is my sweetheart grandbaby, enjoying life in Brooklyn while her parents try to keep up with full-time jobs from their apartment while handing her off to each other. 

And finally, look at this mask for singers. Wouldn't Lady Gaga have looked amazing wearing this while she belted out the National Anthem. I loved her on Wednesday. 

My slight obsession with food in general, delivered boxes of food in particular

 

I'm not sure exactly how it started but a few months ago I subscribed to Every Plate. You probably know about these services -- clients receive each week a box of uncooked, un-prepped food that you turn into a meal for 2 or 4 people in 45 minutes or less. I love them. They are the answer to a prayer I didn't even know I had. 

How do I justify paying someone else to shop for and plan meals? It took a while but I think I have.

Then my daughter gave me a "free" box of food from Martha and Marley, and a friend gave me one for Blue Apron. Then I tried Home Chef and Hello Fresh. So for about 2-3 months we've had these dinners.

I'm in the process of cutting back to just one weekly delivery of 3 meals, which will be Every Plate. The plans are all quite similar except for price and Every Plate is the least expensive. I'm also hooked on giving away "free" boxes of food to friends and family, which the services promote heavily. 

Several friends have used these kits in the past and quit for various reasons, including not wanting to generate so much plastic waste, or not wanting to invest 30-45 minutes chopping and stirring, or simply not willing to pay someone to do what you can do yourself. 

I've justified the expense because I'm spending way less money each month by not going out to dinner or lunch with friends, the meals are so much more interesting than what I've been slapping together and flinging on the table each night, and as a bonus my husband is learning to cook! 42 years married and suddenly he's interested in cooking.

By the way, if any of my readers--all half dozen of you--want to try one of these services, let me know in a comment. I'll get your email and send you a free box (the catch is that you have to pay for shipping, $9, with your credit card so they have your billing info and consider you a client. But you can cancel after the first free box). 

23 more days until that deadbeat is out of DC and I hope he never comes back, although he's threatening to be here on Jan 6 when Pence counts the votes and declares Joe our president. It's been torture to know that he's been sleeping and eating and tweeting just 10 miles from my home. Creepy. I propose that the White House remove everything from his bedroom, fumigate, repaint, and turn it into a storage room. No human should ever sleep in the same room he slept in.

My path

I didn't exactly create this path in my backyard but in a way I did. A stone path has been there for about 20 years, maybe a little less. But over time the stones sank, or they were overgrown, and were sometimes hidden under grass or weeds. So I dug them up, one by one, filled in soil or rocks underneath each one, added a bunch from elsewhere in my yard, and raised them up. I also changed the path's direction in places to avoid shrubs that had grown over the path. I wish I'd taken a before picture.

There are dozens and dozens of such tasks I can do in our backyard, side yard, or front yard. See all that ivy way in the upper left corner surrounding the white door? I should pull all of that down. Spending so much time at home since March I've had lots of time to survey my various overgrown yards and make decisions about what should be done. Mostly cutting back vines. I'm not at all good about follow-through. So doing this path repair was quite fulfilling. I'm now working on thinning out a large patch of forsythia, a shrub I heartily dislike but tolerate. 

Very nervous about the election today. Here's my guess/prediction as of 4:30 pm. Biden can win with either AZ or PA. Trump has to get PA to win.

It's November first twenty twenty

Well we're finally here, almost upon the election. Am I nervous? Yep. By Tuesday I expect to be on high alert, feeling very engaged, on guard, attentive to news updates. Am I over-dramatizing it all? No doubt. 

Almost 4 years ago in the days before Trump was inaugurated I entitled a post The last of my political thoughts until 2020. "Since I seem to be blogging again... I wonder if I can restrain myself from posting about politics. I'm gonna give it a try."

Well, I did give it a try. The result was that I blogged very little in the 4 years of this horrible presidency. I never stopped blogging but too often I started to write and found myself talking about him. Such a waste of everyone's time. So I managed not to talk about him (much) but only by just not blogging at all. I'd like to blog daily. Why not? Or at least regularly. I certainly don't have much to do each day.

Here's my baby granddaughter, yesterday, all 15 pounds of her. She's a 4-month-old delight!

 

 

I thought she was a kitty or a mouse for Halloween but was told that she was a character from the Japanese animated movie My Neighbor Totoro. She attended an outdoor party in the courtyard of their apartment building in Brooklyn. Nice old building with a lot of nice old residents. She was cooed over, at a social distance of course. I'm jealous.

 

I

Trying something different.

It's Wednesday night, September 23, 2020, and I'm here to record that I haven't looked at Twitter for 4 days. This is a big deal in my little life. I've been spending way too much time, either on my phone or on my PC, reading, reading, scrolling, scrolling, checking, checking. I follow strangers, not friends or even acquaintances. I follow people who write about, report on, and talk about national politics. A few politicians, a lot of ex-Trump employees, a lot of news organizations and reporters, pundits and comedians. It's gotten to be too much. And so depressing. Aren't we all just a little depressed as a species right now? Why add Twitter.

I'm hoping to keep up my little boycott. I think I feel a little better today compared to Saturday.

Here's my babe. She's the apple of so many eyes! Three months tomorrow. Unexpectedly, I saw her in person for about an hour on Monday -- long story. It was wonderful. Every minute with her is golden!

Talking things over with mom

Son in law says the conversation was basically "where are those boobs and when can I see them again?"
Note James in window. James and Robert are adjusting very well to baby's presence.

A good reminder.

"To anyone who feels like they “wasted” the time during quarantine because they didn’t write a book or learn a second language or get their bodies in shape, I have good news: Quarantine ain't over, get back inside."
Denzel Washington 7/4/20

And this looks like something I have to try:

Credit: https://leitesculinaria.com/21020/recipes-eggs-in-purgatory.html

Eggs in Purgatory

From Chef Joanne Weir, star of Plates & Places on PBS

With a can of tomatoes and a few eggs, this hearty meal is less than 30 minutes away. Some know the dish as Shakshuka but Italians call it Uova in Purgatorio, or Eggs in Purgatory, and Weir's many travels to the Boot to film her award-winning PBS series inspired her version. “We are kind of in a purgatory now,” Weir says. “This dish is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner, served along with some focaccia or other rustic bread.” The following recipe serves two.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 ounces of bacon, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 small red onion, minced
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 1/2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 4 large eggs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano cheese
• Toasted bread or focaccia

1. Preheat an oven to 400°F.

2. Warm the olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until very light golden, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the minced onion and crushed red pepper and cook until the onion pieces are soft, about 7 minutes.

4. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.

5. Add the white wine and reduce by half.

6. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

7. Transfer sauce to an ovenproof baking dish, or cast-iron pan. Make 4 indentations in the sauce. Break the eggs, one at a time into a small bowl, and with the spoon, add 1 egg into each indentation.

8. Place on the top shelf of the oven and cook until the whites of the eggs are firm but the yolks are still runny, about 7 to 10 minutes, or until desired doneness.

9. Season the eggs with salt and pepper.

10. Sprinkle the cheese atop the eggs and serve immediately.

The Evil in the White House

DJT today:

Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!

 

Tim Miller, The Bulwark dot com, today:
"There are only three ways to interpret Trump’s remarks: 1) He is purposefully instigating racial tensions because he believes it will help him politically... 2) He is a racist with no self-control... 3) He is too stupid to realize what he is doing..."

These are some of my many passionflowers. Three or 4 years ago I planted one little cutting from a passionflower vine. Now they are completely out of control. A post on this exciting topic to follow.


 

Dare me?

I'm definitely buying a dozen doughnuts; I've needed an excuse for a long time. And I will definitely make the mask. But the test is whether I'll wear it. Maybe for a walk around the pond, but what I really want to do is wear it in the grocery store.

I'll just leave this here.

How true.

All is well in Brooklyn.

I hope her parents don't object to me posting these pictures. They may have known that I blogged in the past but I'm sure they've forgotten. If it comes up and they ask me to take them down I will. But until then, here they are!

This has been a very long week. Time just stretched and stretched. I don't know understand why but I guess it has something to do with this little babe.

I'd really like to blog more -- about politics, about my garden, about covid, about small things. That's something else I don't understand: if I really want to do it, why don't I? I don't think it's laziness.

I will post this screenshot that makes me very happy.

Red = trump disapproval. Black = trump approval.

She with the beautiful name

She'll be one day old later today.
I am, as expected, in love.

She seems healthy, despite being in the NICU. I haven't had an update since about noon today, over 6 hours ago. But mom and dad have had almost no sleep for 2 days so I shouldn't expect to hear anything right away. I guess. This is all so new.
My daughter's first and probably only, or so they said at one time.
I’m not particularly superstitious but maybe if I post this I’ll get a text or a call.

Praying mantises being born

Every year praying mantises build their nests around my front yard. I've been watching this nest for 2 months and finally saw the birth. What looks like a huge bunch of bananas are hundreds of tiny babies. They crawl out of itty bitty holes in the nest and using, apparently, some web-like material hang together until each one crawls over the others and finds his or her way off to a big life of eating mosquitoes and other bugs. In a few months the big ones will be peeking in my front window taunting my cats.

Stolen from Twitter: Fake Melania, meets Diane Arbus, meets Kubrick

My lettuce!

Small things amuse me these days. Facebook finally paid off. I saw that putting the remains of a lettuce head in water will give you a new head of lettuce. This picture was taken yesterday when the new leaves were 2 1/4 inches tall at about 3 PM. Right now (11 AM) they are 2 3/4 inches tall. I also planted lettuce seeds this year. We'll see how they do if warm weather ever comes to the DC area. Right now we've swapped weather with the PNW. Generally I'm just fine with that, hating the hot, humid DC springs and summers as I do. But come on--my seeds need the heat!

My hellebores.

“Please, please, please, we’re begging you here, just put an end to it immediately."

From The Onion:
EVERYWHERE—Claiming that they just couldn’t stand this bullshit anymore, Americans across the country confirmed Friday that someone, anyone needs to please, just make it stop. “Please, please, please, we’re begging you here, just put an end to it immediately,” said sources, noting that it had all gone way, way too far and they would do almost anything for even a few glorious minutes of respite. “We’re on our hands and knees, pleading with you to make it all go away once and for all. What’s it going to take? Jesus Christ, just stop it! Stop it right now!” At press time, sources confirmed that they knew deep down it was never going to stop.

Friday

I just decided to fast today. Or at least to eat very little. So a baby-fast. I put on my "go out shopping" pants and they are too tight. Now is the time to do something. I'll report back if I succeed, or not.
Meanwhile I found this at the library. A must read! Or at least it's worth a try. Not today but soon.

Hot peppers

I grew these

So I'm going to try this recipe:

Homemade Louisiana Hot Sauce with Fresh Peppers

Ingredients

• 1 pound red chili peppers use cayenne, tabasco, red jalapeno or others
• 3 tablespoons salt
• ½-1 cup white wine vinegar to your preference

Instructions

1. Roughly chop the chili peppers and add them to a pot with the salt and vinegar.
2. Bring to a quick boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Cool, then add to a food processor. Process until smooth.
4. Strain the solids out through a strainer and discard (or keep them for dehydrating – they make great seasonings).
5. Pour into bottles and use as desired.

Recipe Notes

Makes about 2 cups of sauce or so.
For storage: Vinegar affects acidity levels. Homemade sauces should be kept at 4.0 ph or below to keep longer term. If your hot sauce is not acidic enough, add more vinegar or citrus to bring the ph down. Keep in the fridge for freshness and longer keeping. You can also bottle your sauces with proper procedures.
Heat Level: Medium, though you can up the heat factor with hotter peppers.

From: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/homemade-louisiana-hot-sauce/

Question: how do you know if the sauce has a pH of 4.0?