Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

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What am I nattering on about?

July 17, 2013

We are having a heat wave – in the 90s.  And our old house does not have air conditioning.  Most days the fans keep things comfortable, but last night the heat and humidity built up to a level that makes me cranky.

So we fled in the air conditioned car to the air conditioned mall with the air conditioned book store and this is how I spent the time . . .

I caught up on a bunch of interesting magazines:

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Saw some rather surreal 90 foot orchids – okay, maybe they were 20 foot tall orchids . . .

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Saw a fellow studiously photographing a shop window – and then I saw what he was looking at . . .

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And walked out of the mall into a beautiful sunset . . .

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We now have a window unit in the bedroom – did I mention it was going to be in the 90s all week?

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Who am I thanking?

July 16, 2013

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Thank you to 21st Century Renaissance Girl for nominating me for a WordPress Family Award.  Her site is one of my favorites – and here are a few more of my favorites that I am nominating for this award:

Southern Belly

Creative Dreamers

Map of Time

Virginia Plantation

Lights in the Dark

Hovercraft Doggy

Rodposse

Knitted Notes

Light Words

Butter Baking

HMS Defiant

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What am I Sappy Cat Blogging?

July 12, 2013

lion and cat

This photo is courtesy of a post on Simon’s Cat about unlikely animal friendships.  Simon’s Cat is the creation of British animator, Simon Tofield.

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What is tattoo Tuesday about?

July 9, 2013

We went to see the Tall Ships in the harbor this weekend.  In addition to thirteen beautiful ships, there were a number of tattoos in evidence at the event.  Here are a few of them.

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And some ship photos:

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What am I pondering?

July 8, 2013

It’s Monday.

dumplings

Does anyone besides me eat cold pizza (for breakfast?)  Cold Chinese left-overs?  Cold sushi?  . . . Oh, never mind.

Sneakers

Am I the only adult who wants to have twinkle toe sneakers or flats?  Why don’t they make them in my size? Which happens to be 7.5 B in case you have a pair to sell.

pie

Why is coconut crime pie so hard to find where I live?  Any kind of pie, really, which does not make sense to me because I live near Cleveland.  We are sort of mid-west (really we are on the Great Lakes and that is different), but still we should be all about all American pie.  Go to any nice restaurant in town and you will find creme brulee and chocolate lava cake on the menu (so last year if you ask me), but no PIE.

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I don’t understand the concept of or inspiration for fish tacos.

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I don’t understand why any restaurant would put roast turkey with dressing on the menu and then say that they have no cranberry sauce.

potato pancakes

I don’t understand why the server asks me if I would like sour cream or apple sauce with my potato pancakes, when the answer is obvious – both.

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Why can’t auto makers devise a defroster for the windshield that works like the defroster on the rear window.  Would those wires really impede visibility?  Can’t they make the defrosting wires smaller, or transparent?  Is there really no way to create auto glass that won’t let the inside of the car heat up to the temperature of the surface of the sun?

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

July 5, 2013

Sam Vimes and Murphy enjoying a tender moment.

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What is tattoo Tuesday about?

July 2, 2013

tattoo cam

We just returned to the Western Reserve from our vacation to Maine.  I would like to say (lie) that we all got frisky and got tattoos, but no, that was not the case (the tattoo part, anyway).

Here is the lovely tattoo I captured that appears on one of my vacation companions.

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What is tattoo Tuesday about?

June 18, 2013

maine tattoo

We are getting ready for vacation and will be bound for the east coast in a few days.  In that vein, today’s tattoo offering is the Maine state crest with a couple of retro cuties as supporters.  Dirigo!

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What did we celebrate yesterday?

June 17, 2013

I know, I know . . . yesterday was Fathers Day and I mentioned that, but it was also  . . .

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Here is a story that ran on NPR about the holiday.

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, making fudge was a frequent activity for my friends and me.   I remember making fudge one rainy afternoon with my best friend.  We reached the point in the recipe where we were supposed to beat the fudge by hand until it was thick and smooth.  We decided that it would be much easier to bring some external power to the process and wound up burning out the motor to her mother’s mixer.  Oops.

I have not made fudge for years, but the last time I did, I turned to this tried and true and easy recipe from Eagle Brand:

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Foolproof Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (18 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • Dash salt
  • 1/2 to 1 cups chopped nuts (optional)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  • LINE 8- or 9-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan.
  • MELT chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
  • CHILL 2 hours or until firm. Remove from pan by lifting edges of foil. Cut into squares.
  • MICROWAVE METHOD
  • COMBINE chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt in 1-quart glass measure. Cook on HIGH (100% power) 3 minutes or until chips are melted, stirring after 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Proceed as above.
  • VARIATIONS
  • CREAMY DARK CHOCOLATE FUDGE: MELT 2 cups miniature marshmallows with chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Proceed as above.
  • MILK CHOCOLATE FUDGE: OMIT 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. Add 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Proceed as above.
  • CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZED FUDGE: FOLLOW above recipe using 3/4 cup peanut butter chips instead of nuts. For glaze, melt 1/2 cup peanut butter chips with 1/2 cup heavy cream. Stir until thick and smooth. Spread over chilled fudge.
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Who do we celebrate today?

June 16, 2013

SANDWICHES

From Hovercraftdoggy this charming post about a father, a graphic designer, who has decorated his children’s sandwich bags every day since 2008.  Cool.

Happy Fathers Day