In the garden this morning I met a little golden-eyed toad. He left too soon for me to chance a kiss, disappearing into the lemon balm and catnip.
The golden-eyed toad
August 25, 2011What am I craving?
August 24, 2011
A spectacular find from a recent trip to the coast of Maine, this little jar of goodness from The Good Table in Belfast. As you can see, all you need is a spoon. The loons are also from Maine.
Smoke and Chickens
July 22, 2011
What are you smoking? Last weekend Cousin (Cooking Guru) Brian came over and taught me how to smoke a chicken on my Weber kettle grill. A chicken…and some shrimp…and some sausage…and some more sausage…and pretty much everything else in the fridge that was smoke-able.
Shared dinner with friends – see the excellent pasta salad contributed by Breda. Grill bread and more was contributed by William the Coroner. Judy brought the beer. In the lower picture, the chicken is still wearing its cheesecloth protection device.
Thanks, friends and kudos, Brian, you are the Master.
Can’t wait to do it again.
I LIKE me, I really, really LIKE me
May 5, 2011So I found myself on the internet the other day – in a google search. I found that I am 110 years old and living in Cleveland, and that there are three of me.
I also received a nudge from Facebook today that some people wanted to get in touch with me. One of them was, of course, me. So I decided to Friend myself. If not me, then who. If not now, then whatever.
Later this afternoon, I will probably Like myself, too.
I am going to sign up for a Twitter account, so that I can follow myself.
Then I will Link to me.
Did I forget anything?
Oh, yes, better write a Wikipedia article about me.
I love the internet.
Follow me. . .
Dancing Bookshelves
February 25, 2011I really like this – creative, artsy and bookish all in one.
I used to have a bookshelf that did that.
Happy Birthday, Carl
November 9, 2010
Today is Carl Sagan’s birthday. He would have been seventy-six.
Here is a link to his last interview – with Charlie Rose – on scientific literacy and the dangers not only of pseudoscience, but scientific disinterest in our society.
Somehow I have to work “billions and billions” into this post – and there it is.
November 5, 2010
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
On November 5 we remember Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of1605. The event is remembered either for the plotters resistance to repressive laws, or by the government for a failed plot. Wherever your sympathies lie – go have a bonfire and eat a parkin.
Here is a recipe for Parkin which is a traditional dish on this day.
Ingredients:
8 oz flour
8 oz oatmeal
2 teaspoons ginger
4 oz butter
4 tablespoons sugar
8 oz molasses
1/2 pint milk.
Method:
Cut the butter into flour and oatmeal.
Add sugar and ginger, mix thoroughly.
Add molasses and milk.
Put into greased 8″ square baking dish
Baking time:
One hour at 325 degrees F.
Parkin is best if allowed to mellow for a few days before serving.
October 13, 2010
An anonymous forensics person earlier today asked me for a sheet. . . and I thought, hmmm. A sheet for what – a fitted sheet, a flannel sheet, a sheet for a toga, a sheet to cover a body. You never know.
It was a sheet to cover a long gun. I pointed out to him that even when it is covered by a sheet, a long gun looks like a gun. And carrying it around in a public place may cause someone to notice.
I gave him a BIG tote bag to put it in, and a sheet, so that it looked more like an umbrella in a tote bag.
So far, thankfully, I have not heard any repercussions from the transport of the implement. I can just imagine the scenario, “but officer, I am just taking it to class. No, no, I’m the professor.” Worse and worse.
Why do they have to tell people this?
October 11, 2010Academy Warns Against the Danger of Transforming Your Eyes This Halloween
Melodika.net, Oct. 11, 2010
Metaphysically speaking . . .
September 2, 2010Four blue angels just flew over my head.
Actually four Blue Angels just flew over my head. It is soon to be Labor Day weekend and that marks the Cleveland Air Show. Blue angels are practicing their figures in the sky and making a lot of marvelous noise!
Gunsmoke and Knitting 
