November 23, 2009
September 30, 2009
Want...
Arctic Circle 9/29/09
September 29, 2009
Civil discourse
According to The Onion last week, Friday, 9/25, was supposed to mark the nadir of western civilization. A few sources identified in the article agreed with me that there's probably lower yet to go.... I don't say this because I'm hopeful for humanity, but rather because I believe we have farther to fall into complete and utter disgrace. I think today's "Cornered" nails this sentiment:
I could have used this...
I remember being so terrified in the beginning of junior high because we only had FIFTEEN! minutes to get between classes. How was I ever going to find all my rooms and get to class on time with just FIFTEEN! minutes? I needed a bloodhound....
September 25, 2009
More fox
September 22, 2009
Love
Love this pic:
September 21, 2009
Attention seeking
September 14, 2009
Baby elephant!
Remy's alter-ego
This is Remy. Whenever food is at stake, she transforms into her alter-ego "Flash Golden."
September 13, 2009
The end of summer
Today's Deflocked pretty much says it all:
September 4, 2009
Political Rant
It's probably because most of the media I pay attention to has some kind of left-lean to it, but I'm going absolutely crazy reading or hearing about all of the nut-jobs in this country. Oh. My. Dog!!!
Of course almost everyone has heard about Obama's plan to address the nation's school kids. And the right wing has once again lost their minds! "Oh, no!" they cry. "He's going to turn them into little socialists."
Can we please just sit down, shut up, and realize the world hasn't ended since Obama took office in January or was elected last November? Can we? Please? For my sanity?
I was listening to an older "Wait, Wait" episode over lunch. Peter described some of the antics at town halls regarding health care. While these crazies are entertaining, I couldn't laugh because they scare me so much. WHO really believes that Obama will turn the U.S. into just-post-WWII Russia? (It's in the "Who's Carl this time" section at the very beginning of the August 15 episode.)
I'm just so sickened, disgusted, and downright scared of these people that it can get hard to even leave the house. I liked Motherreader's response today, but again, preaching to the choir. I'll show you "Death Panels," dear crazies of America, oh, just wait until I get those death panels in place. Trust me...you'll be the first to know.
UPDATE: Just read David Sirota's "editor's pick" Open Salon blog post from yesterday. I think he puts my concern into even better words. These are scary times, and while the crazies are amusing for their very craziness, those of us who still have some sanity left may become an ever-dwindling minority....
Test
We recently (as in many months ago...okay, so I've been neglecting the poor blog this summer) upgraded the blog platform that the UM blogs pages use. I'm still trying to get used to it, so I'm just testing uploading images here. I have no idea what the cartoon I'm uploading will be...all I know is that it is one I saved for some reason...
Itchy-face syndrome
Red and Rover by Brian Basset, 9/4/09
I love Rover's face in the last panel. Anyone who has dogs has seen the funny-cute faces they make when they have itchies....
September 2, 2009
Grapes
As Dog is my witness, I will never work with Concord Grapes again! (ok, a slight revision of Scarlett O'Hara's famous "never be hungry" line...how many of you caught that reference?)
We picked our grapes this weekend. That means wrestling with leaves the size of platters to get to the clusters, then keep all of the grapes together while tearing them from the vines. Without smooshing them. Or losing them. Or losing it at the sight of few-days-old out-of-skin grapes that the birds kindly left you to think of some kind of slime monster.
Then comes the question of what to do with grapes, especially when you're not really set up for canning. What to do with four LARGE bowls of grapes. That you have to seed. Google "seeding grapes" and come up with this pie recipe. Think to yourself, "ok, we can do this in time to take it to friends for a BSG evening" (we're trying to finish the second half of the last season....that's all we have left, and we just can't seem to get together to make it happen).
Um, yeah. Skinning the grapes is actually fun. You pull the grape of the stem, point the hole where the stem was into a bowl, and lightly squeeze, pushing the grape out. I can definitely see where the "peeled grapes for eyeballs" works for haunted houses and the like.
Seeding the grapes is not so much fun. No problems with boiling them to loosen the seeds. But pressing them through either a colandar or a sieve just wasn't working. Maybe I didn't boil them enough. Maybe I wasn't pressing them correctly. But the amount of time and niggling details for getting grapes without seeds....I could have watched quite a few episodes of Weeds or Pushing Daisies or even BSG for that amount of time. My right shoulder is killing me.
And my 4 1/2 cups of grapes? Actually enough for 3 pies, when I was really expecting one. And I didn't even get through peeling and seeding all of the grapes we picked. And we had to finish cooking the pie at the friends' because we were already way late as it was.
So, we had two pies, with the fixings for a third. And another two pies (maybe 3) waiting for their turn to be skinned, seeded, pureed, and baked. I finished the third pie last night, only turned it into a crumble instead. I may have over-cooked this one, and I may have forgotten to put extra sugar into the grape pulp itself, so it may be inedible. But no worries! I have the fixings for more!
So. Very. Tired. Of. Dealing. With. Grapes! The Husband says there are more ripe grapes on the vine. I told him he was on his own.
August 11, 2009
Some Podcast recommendations Part I
One of the ways I've found to multi-task is to listen to a podcast novel while I'm working on crosswords or sudoku at lunch. Because I have so many books (and because I'm basically cheap), I've been trying to find as many free books as possible. Podiobooks has been a great resource, though I also like to subscribe to the direct podcasts to get some of the additional conversation and flavor of the podcaster as well (podiobooks are the more edited "chatter free" versions).
The genres I tend to be the most interested in (at least recently) are urban fantasy, historical fantasy/fiction, and some sci-fi. Most of these installments are 60 minutes or less, which are perfect for a lunch hour, bike commute to/from work, and gardening.
My favorite short story podcasts are well-known to most people familiar with podcasting:
Escape Pod, PodCastle, and Pseudopod. I have several others in my feed, but haven't had a chance to get to them (with all of the other stuff out there). I have listened to a few episodes of Adventures in SciFi Publishing, which has interviews with some of my favorite authors, as well as tidbits, factoids, and other reviews. One of my favorite podiobook authors also alerted me to the Drabblecast, which also has short stories and some fun commentaries.
Most of my time, however, has been consumed with full-length narratives. Some of these have gotten me so caught up that I not only listened outside of my assigned lunch/bike/gardening times (I do have to have time to actually read, too!), and I absolutely hated to see them end.
The Prophet of Panamindorah by Abigail Hilton (also a finalist for a 2009 Parsec Award)
Corry (Correlian) showed up in our world two years ago speaking a strange language and afraid of cars and planes. He's been in an orphanage, and most recently, in a group home, trying to remember who he is. He runs into a Fauness in an orange grove, and manages to follow her back to Panamindorah. He is quickly thrown into the political and dangerous battles between various shelt nationalities: cliff fauns, wood fauns, swamp fauns, wolf shelts, giant cats, and others [from the dictionary: "shelt: a two-legged creature having a humanoid body from the waist up and resembling some kind of animal from the waist down. Shelts have pointed, tufted ears"].
At first I found the story a little difficult to follow, and Abby's reading pace seemed a bit fast. But that didn't last long. The world of Panamindorah and its history is compelling and complex enough to keep me interested, and the action is pretty well-paced throughout the book. There was one episode where I found myself riding much harder on my bike because I was so worked up about the scene that I was hearing. Despite the fact that the story is broken into three books, I still didn't want it to end.
Murder at Avedon Hill by P. G. Holyfield
Arames Kragen, a monk of the Aaronic Order, and his student, Aarin, come upon the town of Avedon Hill on their way to a monastic conference. The only way through the mountain pass is by permission of the lord of the manor, who has currently barred the way to all travelers due to the murder of his House Mistress. Arames manages to strike a bargain wherein he and Aarin may proceed through the pass if he solves the mystery surrounding Greta's murder.
I came late to Avedon hill, after having heard promos in other podcasts I was listening to. I regret that, though I did have the benefit of hearing it all at once rather than having to wait until each episode came out. There was something about the promos that made me tthink the story was more like the Betrayal at House on the Hill board game. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. This is not your father's murder mystery. This is a world of political intrigue, of a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business, and a world of vampires. Or at least a few vampires. Again, I really hated for this novel to end.
Oh yeah....Murder has some of the best music in podcasting. Holyfield chose music by Shira Kamen ("Wild Wood"), and I like it so much that I bought the disc.
Avedon Hill has a different reading than Panamindorah; this one is partially cast, with various other podcasters reading different parts and Holyfield providing general narration. I grew to really enjoy Abby's voice, and don't think Panamindorah would have been any better for me having a full-cast audio. She plans, though, to get more voices for her next work, so we'll see how that turns out. On the other hand, I also did enjoy the guest actors for Avedon and other podcasts I listen to (it's a fairly small community, at least in my familiar genres, and many of the voices in these narratives are also authors that I will introduce in Part II).
Contact Me
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