International scarf exchange

who wants to participate? Helen??

http://ise9.blogspot.com/

insurance

covers the cost of replacing the lost food. Yea! One small step down the path toward positive news and happenings.

Here is a poem, written by a woman whose two children had just left for college (from Poem A Day, Steerforth Press, 1994):

Fall

So it's today, and in the chokecherry this year:
the first leaves turn ochre, there, by the open gate.

I grab the sweater you left on a chair, wrap it
around my shoulders, and—as I did for days last year

until I couldn't keep up with the season—I pick
every single rusting leaf, each fading flower

and hide them in my apron pocket: their crush
clandestine against my belly. It's a simple gift

for you—for us—such an easy thing to do
for a few more days of summer.

–Laure-Anne Bosselaar

baaaack

Yes, I'm going to be back blogging, now that L is ensconced in her dorm at a small college somewhere within the lower 48.


(Notice the fetching comforter [duvet] cover . . .)



This is the way her bed looked, before we saw the guy across the hall's room (yes, guy; this is 2010, a very progressive place, and god help us). His bed was not lofted, and the desk was moved out from under (well, obviously), and it all looked so much more apartment-ish, so L's roommate pleaded with him and his dad to come over and help move the beds down. Poor D and I helped as best we could.

It looks much better. Sorry I didn't take before and after pictures, but the days there were so fraught with emotion, I'm surprised I got this much recorded.

view out dorm window . . .

While we were there, we received a voice mail, sent by my neighbor on Tuesday morning, only we got notification that it was sent late on Wednesday (bye, AT&T) telling me that the power was off. She didn't know to call the power company, so did nothing until we finally returned her call (thanks, AT&T; we'll be contacting another carrier). Suffice to say, we lost all foodstuffs in fridge & freezer. I think, given all the horrific happenings of this summer (hot water heater quitting on July 4, plumber arriving July 9 or so; car; etc etc) I feel we are just about out of options for catastrophe at this point. Been down so long, it looks like up to me, as Richard Farñia wrote.

printmaker

a lovely little film of printmaker Angie Lewin I came across in my virtual travels:

what to read next . . .

Discovered in More Book Lust; and I vaguely remember the movie, whose script was written by Harold Pinter, I believe.

Under construction, or something . . . plus two photos of summer activities

L was driving home from work early one evening a few weeks ago, somewhat distracted, and rear-ended a car about to make a left-hand turn. The van's airbags deployed and mayhem ensued as the car horn blared and the police arrived. According to D, there were three police cars directing traffic around the car, which was awaiting towing from the middle of the road. It happened in front of the local No Tell Motel, so lots of ladies left their posts to come out to survey the commotion.

No one was hurt, and the other car was driven away. Not so the van; it was declared totaled by the insurance company, mainly because the airbags are so expensive to replace.

Let us now draw a veil over that portion of the summer.

* * *
Two photos, one of a melon grown out back, which was very tasty indeed. Unfortunately, it was the only one to survive. The other is a comforter cover I'm making for L to take to college. It's almost done; a child of 10 could have sewn this (after realizing the book's directions were faulty, but that's another story).

A very nice person indeed

Poor D just tried to call his old friend, only to discover he had died

Brent R. Jackson

| Visit Guest Book

JACKSON, Brent R. Of Dorchester, died unexpectedly on December 20, 2009 at the age of 67, of pancreatic cancer. The son of the late Harry & Helen Jackson of Framingham, he is survived by his sister Sue Jackson of Woodbury, MN; aunts Meg Fillmore and Vi Ross of Hudson, Betty Greeley of Peabody, and Evelyn Greeley of Chapel Hill, NC; and uncle Tom Coolidge of Dunnellon, FL. Brent worked at the Boston Museum of Science for 37 years until 2004. He proposed and then built their Courses & Travel programs, which grew to hundreds of courses and science-based travel tours. Brent got his Bachelor's degree in Biology from Tufts in 1964 and a Master's degree in Zoology from UNH in 1968. Before joining the Museum he taught biology at the Newton North High School. He continued to lecture on teaching science to all ages of students at Suffolk and Boston Universities, and was named Science Educator of the Year in 1985 by the Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers. He worked with the Massachusetts State Science Fair as an organizer, fundraiser, and chairman. Until his death, he was a board member of the New England Museum Association and an active supporter of the Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA camp in Becket, Massachusetts. A veteran world traveller, Brent explored 205 cities in 28 countries across 6 continents, and 42 American states. In recent years, he was a guide for New England tour companies and a school evaluator for the Commonwealth. Information about a spring-time celebration of his life will be posted on his Facebook page. Donations can be made in his memory to the Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA, 748 Hamilton Road, Becket, MA 01223.

dog, cat, and herbs

remus


frank and bear


herbs



frank's flank

Recipe

Many years ago, I came across a copy of The Best from Libby Hillman's Kitchen: Treasured Recipes from 50 Years of Cooking and Teaching (Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 1993). I had never heard of her, but at the time we were living not very far from the Vermont town in which she lived. I learned that she had been quite a teacher and cookbook writer in Great Neck, NY, before moving up to southern Vermont to live near her daughter, who ran a restaurant, and also to live near Marlboro College, with its great summer music festival (she was also a musician; a Julliard graduate, as a matter of fact).

We had been going to the West Brattleboro Farmer's Market waaaay back then, and I finally put the redoubtable lady determinedly going from booth to booth with her basket under her arm together with her author photo on the dust jacket. It was secretly thrilling to see an actual author ambulate about the proceedings.

Although I don't cook very often from her book, there is a little recipe that goes with EVERYTHING. She called it Dry Rub, but we call it Libby's Rub, and you will not want to be without it ever again. It goes with beef, pork, chicken, oven roasted potatoes—well, you decide. We double this:

1/4 cup kosher salt
1 T pepper
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t allspice
1 T each thyme and marjoram
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Mix up and store in a lidded jar.

Still looking up, Betty! I think we made it. Are you ready for another go in JUNE??

Sunday

was spent for the most part working on two ongoing projects, and shaping up a sample chapter to submit for the consideration of the publisher for a large (lucrative, I hope) project. Fingers crossed that things are looking up!

L got a fancy iPod for buying a Mac (rebate makes it free). I think if I had such a gadget I'd never get anything done. It has wireless connection to just about everything, including radio stations. Earphones, take me away . . . To think that when I was about her age, the only thing to drag me away was the Mike Douglas Show after school. And the actual telephone, anchored in the kitchen. No dragging a receiver around the house.

Remus and Soul Adjust

Quiznos, baby!

Yes, L had her first training day. She gets to wear black pants, black shoes, black official Quiznos t-shirt, black Q apron AND a hat. They practiced making sandwiches. Tomorrow, more training. I will try to take a photo, though I've been told I'm ABSOLUTELY forbidden, of her in her regalia.

There is one issue: parking. Yes, even though city is trying to promote tourism, they metered every last inch of downtown, OR created privately run parking lots. Not much sense in a service-driven society.

Wrinkles

I've had a lot this week: Internet wrinkles, job wrinkles, dog tinkles that become wrinkles. Even though we keep our beady eye on that dog, she jingles off in an instant, probably through some wrinkle in time, to deposit a wee bit of herself in the far reaches of the living room.

happy wrinkles, all!

A puppy

ate my damn Internet connection! Or maybe that's "a damn puppy ate my Internet connection!!!"

I was without it all day, until L suggested turning everything off and checking the connections. The M***S***** people were no help at all. They used to be a regional company, but sadly have gone "off shore," as they say.

new opportunity

arrived in e-mail, but I have to "audition" for it, and it is both developmental and copy editing, so D and I will work on it together, if we get it. Good to open up the pipeline to another employer, but once again, asking for more bang for less buck. Oh well.

Monday

Can things get more chaotic? I think not

Oh to be in

England. I'm deeply into my little River Cottage guides, and channeling myself somewhere next the sea. It's an interesting mental trick to picture yourself somewhere you're not quite sure of, and to mediate on it so strongly that for a moment you really are there. Wherever there is.

And then there's Big Sur . . . We shall see.

Saturday

desultory; working, hoping D gets more income coming in. Can't handle much more on my own. Editing so time consuming. Publishing has changed so much in the past 20 years, it's an almost unrecognizable pursuit.

When I think of the deep edits on paper, and the quick Find option in Word on the computer: they just don't compare. Despair? Can't let it in.

Onward and upward, I say. It's all I can say.

* * *

A girl prepared

a great graduation; the valedictorian's speech was spot on, too.





Onward and Upward, L! The Oberlin Big Book of Forms was awaiting us in the PO box, as was an alumna sticker from school! Changes in the works, for sure.

Plus, my little handbook from River Cottage, Edible Seashore, about foraging at the edge, came too. I need to get myself to England soon. Finances need shaping up, though.

graduation

is tomorrow! Class Day was today; I'm still not sure what that means.

Miss Remus was "crated" while we were out today; she was yipping when we got back. This isn't boding well for being at the ceremony tomorrow, and then going for a celebratory lunch out.

Any suggestions, dog owners?