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 |  I've maxed out. Closed this blog. |
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This is a way of making myself write something coherent and grammatically correct almost every day. I'm opinionated and need an outlet. I'm also prone to flights of fancy. Thanks for stopping by. |
| Fess Parker turned 91 today. He was an actor who always played lovable roles. As Davy Crockett, he was the wilderness senator who couldn't string together a proper English sentence, but made more sense than other statesmen. As Daniel Boone, he was slightly more polished, playing the family man in that show, but still a rugged frontiersman. In Old Yeller, he played a nurturing, caring father who struggled with the hardships of life and parenting. Again, he played the loving father in an admirable way. My generation grew up watching Fess Parker. As an adult occasionally seeing those shows, I realized he was quite an attractive man. He still has a full head of hair, but a totally different color. It's not quite white, not quite gray: it almost looks blond, so he's done something to it. It's not a Trump wig. As part of the birthday celebration, the TV shows have highlighted his life a bit, telling us that he was 6'6", too tall to be a pilot in the Air Force in WWII, but he served his country. He's been married over 50 years, which is somewhat rare for a TV or movie star. He still makes public appearances at Festivals and charity events, so he's still healthy and active. Happy birthday, Mr. Parker. You were a happy part of childhood for the TV generation. |
| I saw a horrible video today. I can't believe how I reacted to it. It was about a turtle, a very large turtle who had managed to get a plastic straw stuck up his nostril. He couldn't breathe and was bleeding. I shouldn't have watched. The paragraph underneath was about not dumping your trash or littering. I kept expecting the straw to come out. The man's hands were gently pulling it with small pliers, one hand touching the sides of his neck so that he wouldn't withdraw his head. The man kept pulling just a little at a time. The turtle kept jerking his head. Then I realized that's why the man didn't just jerk the whole thing out at once. When the turtle pulled his head up, I could see blood running down off his chin. It looked like he was crying and in pain. I burst into tears. I was sobbing out loud, but I kept watching, hoping to see it over, to see him safe and sound. I couldn't take it. I couldn't stop crying out loud. Just remembering is making me cry again. I'm not really an animal lover. I hate dog and cat hair. I don't like being licked or having muddy paws on my clothes.But I don't mind hunting for food. I can't stand to see one mistreated. I can't respect a person who mistreats an animal out of anger or meanness or carelessness. No animal needs to be tortured. Animals who die because the six pack plastic top got caught around the necks or stuck in their throats are victims of carelessness. This poor turtle was a victim of carelessness. He was suffering because someone was too lazy to properly dispose of his trash. Please, please, remember wildlife out in the woods and along roadways and recreational ares. Teach your children to dispose of their trash properly. We're not supposed to leave evidence of our intrusion into their space. |
| Yum. Tried a new recipe tonight. Zucchini casserole. It called for plum tomatoes, but I used what I had from the garden. Two cloves of garlic and two tablespoons of finely chopped onion, fresh home grown basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper were mixed with grated cheddar cheese and a little parmesan. You layer it in a casserole and bake 20 minutes. Oh, my goodness. I served it with salad and corn on the cob. Dad had some leftover meat, but I figured there was enough fat and protein in the cheese that I could go vegetarian. I didn't use salad dressing since the tomatoes and zucchini made so much liquid. What a great way to use the garden surplus and get our vegetables. Now I know I can try it on company. I don't know why I get a special thrill from using my own herbs. They are pungent when fresh. I feel connected to my agrarian ancestors using home grown fruits and vegetables and keeping things natural. But I do like the refrigerator and the electric stove, not to mention electric lights and an air-conditioned kitchen. Ok, not so connected, after all. |
| We have books coming out of our ears. We take them to Good Will occasionally. We lend them to people who never bring them back. A neighbor gave us two boxes full of mysteries. I took several to The Little Library a few blocks away from us. Someone in the subdivision started The Little Library years ago. It's on a very sturdy pole or fence post, like a bird house. It has a normal house roof, two shelves, and a glass door with good quality hinges. It snaps shut and does an amazing job of keeping the contents dry. That neighbor moved away, but someone else took over for her and moved it to her yard, which is downhill and up a block from my street. It doesn't hold that many books, and at the moment, there are no children's books in it. You can borrow, deposit, or just take what you want. It's on the corner of the property, so it doesn't bother the residents on either side. Occasionally, the newsletter will mention it, or the daily emails from one of the neighbors in the Community watch will remind us about it. I like ebooks because you can get them quickly, without driving all over town, and without paying postage. Amazon tricks you into thinking you can order a bunch of real books and get them delivered free, but the total has to be from each shipping origin, not your total order. I had one order way over the required amount, but when you broke it up into three shipping areas, none of them qualified for free shipping. No problem with ebooks. You have it within seconds of your credit card passing approval. The problem is that if you really like it, you can't lend it to your friends or relatives.It's in your "virtual" library, only for your device, and will not be available to visitors to your home. You will never donate it to a yard sale or charity. You can't get it signed when the author comes to town. I have both. Now there's ibooks. I still like the books I can hold, and thumb through. If I could, I'd add a wing to the house, which would include a library with a ladder to climb to the top shelf! |
| Everyone, take adequate warning. August 26 is National Toilet Paper Day! Don't let it slip by unnoticed. Now is the time to plan the festivities. Let's mark this national day for the importance due to it. Where would we be without magnificent toilet paper?!! First, make sure you are adequately supplied that week. It would be a terrible day for your family to fall short. Then plan a party! A good reason to celebrate. Make a menu, pick a venue, invite your friends, order the booze! Celebrate the evolution of TP. We've come a long way since corn cobs. Remember your older country relatives who still had outhouses? They put the old Sears catalogs and outdated magazines in the outhouse to avoid buying special paper. The paper itself has evolved through stages and is still available in various varieties. There was the tough scratchy kind that you hated to use. There was the very soft, but durable kind that pleased us but irked the environmentalists. Then biodegradable became so popular that it dissolved while you were using it. Now they seemed to have reached some sort of compromise, but at awesomely high prices. And let's not forget the TP companies have branched out to personal wipes, a moist towelette that's flushable and biodegradable, but completes what the TP can't do by itself. It's a huge industry. If you think I'm over playing this, read about the POW's who were inflicted with dysentery or beriberi with no paper in the camps. Or imagine having only an outhouse and some shiny magazine or a newspaper with the ink that rubs off. Any excuse for a party. So whether you go dancing or throw a barbecue or have a keg party, be sure to toast the makers of TP. |
| Yes, I agreed to try Avon. I like the idea of setting my own hours. What I like more is that they now sell online. You can place an order and get it delivered to your house directly from Avon. You send out emails or social media, and people can check it out or not without feeling forced. I still have to learn how to personalize my eStore. It has a blog which is right up my alley. I can write about skin care and fashion and be as opinionated as I like. I want to learn how to use Twitter for business purposes, too. Best of all, I can use the products, then share what works and what doesn't. I'm more into preservatives than war paint. But I still need a little of that. |
| Food trends are interesting, aren't they? I remember when a chef's salad was trendy. People thought they were being so health conscious and staying on a diet and would order one in restaurants. They came in huge bowls, piled with ham and turkey, at least half a boiled egg, and sometimes bacon bits. You could get them with chick peas in some places. They'd be smothered in dressing until people learned to ask for dressing on the side. Finally, someone realized it was like ordering a big sandwich with extra mayo. Eventually, they gave way to leaner salads. Then crepes were big. Restaurants specialized in them. Only the fillings changed. That gave way to quiche. The book, Real Men Don't Eat Quiche came out. I knew plenty of men who said that wasn't true. That gave way, too. Today, I only see quiche at women's gatherings or church functions. And men do eat them. It's just eggs in a pie shell. (The secret to a good quiche is the pie shell, and I'm lousy at pie shells.) Now almost anything with a Mexican flair can be found. Fried chicken never goes out of vogue. Pizza is constantly evolving, as they try to keep customers interested. Applewood bacon was all the rage for a while. In fact, you could put bacon in almost anything, and it could sell. I've seen bacon in cupcakes and bacon wrapped corn, bacon wrapped scallops! In general, cupcakes were all the rage for a while. Every store or bakery and women's magazine featured giant, fancy cupcakes. A true high calorie experience. But I've heard that trend is beginning to die out. Some trends never go away because people just like them or get nostalgic for them. Carrot cake comes to mind. They're still around, but not as common. Jelly rolls were big in the 40's, 50's, and 60's, but who sees them any more? Yet, you will see the concept with a different type filling. I've never made a jelly roll, but I made a pumpkin roll. It's hard work getting that spongy cake to roll like that without splitting. No wonder they went out of style. Frankly, I remember jelly rolls when I was kid. Can't say I ever met one I liked. It's hard to say what we'll see next year or a few years down the road. But we'll make the best of it! |
| Sometimes it's hard to pick a topic at all, and sometimes it's hard to pick just one. I'd like to talk about the candidates debate, but the public and the media have both had such a superficial reaction, I'd hate to step into a hornet's nest. I'd like to discuss Absalom and David, but I'd get preachy probably. Today, I was expecting company who went to the beach instead, and called us from the beach after I already had a big meal in the oven. There were only 3 of us at dinner, so we'll be having leftovers. My dad has to have corn on the cob every Sunday without fail. Sometimes, I skip it because we have so many fresh vegetables. I get sick of corn. I knew some people in Pennsylvania who ate it fresh from the farm nearby every day of the week. Not me. Dad buys too much, and shucks it all at once. So we'll have corn all week! I fixed baby straight neck squash (organic) on the stove top, steamed with my fresh basil. The main course was chicken drumsticks and potatoes. I made up the recipe after looking over some. It was delicious. I put them in a bag with some breading and spices. In a foil lined pan, sprayed with Pam, I cut up celery, carrots, and garlic. I put the breaded chicken on top. I put washed home-grown sage leaf in the pan. Before I did any of that, I peeled the potatoes from The Vegetable Lady, cut them and soaked them (it makes them crisper and takes away the gelatin like substance that's not good for weak kidneys). On the spur of the moment, I dunked the drained potato pieces into the leftover breading. Then I arranged around the chicken and stuck in the oven. After about 20 minutes, I sprayed them with Pam and turned over. A few minutes later, I sprayed again to be sure they browned okay. They were a big hit. We added fresh tomatoes and home-grown cucumbers and iced tea, of course. Here's the lesson: Don't use the cheapest available foil. Store brands are usually okay. The most expensive is the best, but I understand the desire to save a little. The foil I used I knew would be a problem the moment I opened the box. It was like silver tissue paper. I have never seen such thin foil. I know that sheet metal comes in different gauges. Apparently, aluminum foil does, too. It tears easily. It stuck to the bottom of the pan and came out in little tiny pieces. I had to really scrub the pan to get it up. I might as well have had the vegetables or chicken skin stick. |
| I never thought I would say it was fun, but I did actually enjoy freezing yellow squash today. My dad moved the sealer out to the garage and I can't find it. So I had to resort to Ziploc Freezer bags, and they just don't work as well. The squash was picked too late, so it's big and seedy. I had to cut out the mealy seed sections. They're edible, but not aesthetic. By the time the frozen squash is cooked, the seeds will be soft. They aren't good when roasted fresh or steamed. To cut them, I discovered I needed two kinds of knives--a long sharp one for cutting lengthwise, and a shorter sharp one with a smaller handle for carving out the pulp in the rounded part. (These are crook-necked squash.) The shorter one also cut the lengths into slices more cleanly. I've heard about the blanching and icing, but I've never done it before. My first batch was too large, so the 3 minutes blanching weren't enough. The next batches were smaller; three minutes were perfect. They were also easier and quicker to ice down, dry, and pack. I need to do zucchini, too. I labeled with the date--the most important part. I used the straw method to remove air, which, you can imagine,is far from the best method. I put two smaller bags inside a gallon freezer bag to try to prevent ice crystals. Next week, I might make pesto for the freezer before my basil plants play out on me. In my old age, I might become domestic yet. If anyone is interested in the history of food trends, you might look at the latest edition of Family Circle magazine. It starts with the 1800's, goes to the early 1900's, 1930, and every decade after that to the present. It's a great little sketch. |
| I'm getting my share of old movies this summer.I saw Katherine Hepburn in Alice Adams tonight. I vaguely recall seeing it a long time ago. Somehow, these old movies seem more meaningful now. Once you learn to appreciate the evolution of movie making and the careers of these actors their work just seems more significant. I looked at this 1935 movie and saw the beautiful young face of Hepburn. I don't think I ever understood how attractive she was in her youth. She played the ups and downs of this character, so that even her voice changed with her moods. I have to mention Fred MacMurray in this movie. He didn't have a strong leading role. He just had to look handsome and appear to be in love. I've seen him play a bad guy, too, but I mostly think of him in Disney movies or as the father of My Three Sons. The other night I watched The Little Foxes. I sort of fixated on Bette Davis who played the mother of a grown daughter. She was attractive, but not sexy. I watched for the famous eyes, but the role she was playing was so cold and controlled, they didn't have a lot of expression. In fact, it was hard to feel any sympathy for anyone in the movie. The story was intriguing. Lillian Hellman did the screenplay as well as the stage play, so the great lines, including scripture were there. I looked up the play, and I found it was inspired by the old system of leaving the inheritance only to the sons. Austen wrote about that, too, but in the old country, not the South. I didn't realize I watched so much TV until the summer schedule started, and I found myself with such little selection. At least I can brush up on the vintage stuff. |
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