The quarantine bookshelf
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
How do you build happy?
April 13, 2020
“In Tianshui, China, a clear dome casts sunlight onto 483 polychromatic glass panels lining a kindergarten’s windows, railings, and doorways. It gives the spacious building a kaleidoscopic effect, refracting varying hues onto the white walls and minimalist wood furnishings. “Color shades can grow and shrink as colors overlap and become different colors, or move from a vertical plane to a horizontal plane and back again,” architect Keiichiro Sako wrote on Instagram. “I hope that spending childhood in this beautiful light will foster the creativity of the children.””
To me it looks like the perfect kindergarten.
A walk in the woods, part 2
April 12, 2020
Closer to home there is the Shaker Nature Center with its new, improved boardwalk that is a pleasure to walk. While compact in size, it covers a wetland marsh (with red wing blackbirds that nest in the cattails – they have just returned to the area), and a creek that connects a series of lakes developed by the Shakers, who settled in this area, for their mills.
The area is also on a migratory path for birds such as cedar waxwings, warblers, Virginia creepers, wrens, Canada geese, and mallard ducks. We have also seen buffleheads, coots, mergansers and occasionally a loon. Turkey buzzards are a pretty common sight, as are red-tailed hawks. A surprise this weekend was a bald eagle soaring overhead. I know they nest along Lake Erie, but this is the city dog-gone it! It was a thrill and he gave a good show.
enlarge this photo and you will see a bunch of little fish in the stream
If you enlarge this photo (a lot) you can make out the eagle’s white head and tail – near the daytime moon.
In this area, all of our dogs can read.
On the way back home, we saw a turkey. Again, a first for me to see here in the burbs. I am glad they are in the park!
A walk in the woods, part 1
April 11, 2020
We’ve been walking for exercise and, fortunately, as a number of wonderful locations close by that provide an opportunity to stretch our legs.
Above is Sunset Pond at North Chagrin Reservation on a relatively gloomy day, that still enabled me to get a photo of some early coltsfoot blossoms.
The Metroparks around here (The Emerald Necklace) are wonderful and, so far, are still open for walks. It is comprised of a ring of parks that encircle the city and offers picnic areas, trails, golf, bike trails, the zoo, interpretative centers, nature classes, etc., etc.
What do you see?
April 8, 2020
If you see a floating trash bin you have been in isolation too long. It is just a wet spot on the pavement.
Something to do until the cows come home
April 6, 2020“Kulning is an ancient herding call that Swedish women have practiced for hundreds of years.
The herds grazed during the daytime, wandering far from the cottages, and thus needed to be called in each night. Women developed kulning to amplify the power of their voices across the mountainous landscape, resulting in an eerie cry loud enough to lure livestock from their grazing grounds.”
This is a public service announcement
April 3, 2020
I understand (from reading the news) that people are attempting to bake their own bread and failing at it.
I have posted this recipe before, but will do it again because you cannot fail with this recipe (unless your yeast is dead.)
Focaccia Rolls
In your stand mixer ( I’ll bet you can use a hand mixer or a bowl and spoon for this) add:
4 cups of flour (bread flour, all purpose, gluten-free – does not matter)
2 tsp table salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
Mix that up a little
Then add 2 cups of water – just from the tap
Mix some more until the dry ingredients are all incorporated – a couple of minutes
I use the mixer paddle for all of this
Remove the paddle and cover the mixer bowl with plastic wrap.
Walk away from the dough.
The focaccia dough will rise in 8-12 hours or overnight.
When risen, remove the dough from the bowl turning it onto a floured board.
The dough is very sticky, so dust it with some flour before removing from the bowl and keep your hands floured as you form the rolls.
Cut the dough in half (2 pieces) and in half again (4 pieces). Cut each of the 4 pieces into 3 pieces (this is the only hard part) .
Form each roll into a ball and place on a parchment/silpat lined baking sheet. I have some big baking sheets, so I can get all 12 on at once – but I’ll bet if you crowd them a little, it will still work.
I make sure the tops are smooth and pinch the bottoms of the rolls in my hand so they are as tall as possible. This is just a cosmetic step. Then brush tops of the rolls with olive oil. Let rise 1 hour while heating the oven to 375 degrees F.
After an hour, pop the rolls in the oven – you can turn the baking sheet around half way through the baking, or not.
Bake for 35 minutes. When they are done, brush again with olive oil.
I promise you, they will be wonderful. Eat them right away or heat or toast them again later. They will be (almost) as good as fresh baked.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 