Murphy Meets Snow

Yea! I have all the right photo hardware and software in one place.

You know Murphy doesn't go out very often and we haven't had snow 'til the last couple of weeks, so I've been waiting for this photo for a long time.

Tang wisely lounges in the indoor garden.

Clutter Party

My friend, Robin, is a professional organizer. Her idea of a fun afternoon, bless her heart, is helping me with the disaster area I call "the box room." It's one of two, maybe three (okay, four), cluttered spots in my house. It's where I put all stuff I can't decide what else to do with; or don't have time to do whatever it is I plan to do with it.

Yesterday Robin hosted a "Clutter Party." I carefully steered Belinda away from calling it the Rubbish Party. Whereupon she started referring to it as the Hazardous Waste Party. Today she's aptly calling it the Disaster Relief Party. It should be noted that Belinda has NO clutter in her life. She just wouldn't tolerate it. So, it was with some delight that she read my horoscope yesterday:

You're driven by the unobtainable. As soon as you discover exactly how to obtain this particular object of desire, it'll instantly be replaced by something even more unobtainable.

The idea of the Clutter Party is that we each bring a box of clutter to the party in hopes of finding new homes our treasures and junk. Judging each individual item on its own merits, it's really not surprising that things that have been cluttering up one person's space are just what someone else needs - or at least wants.

I can certainly see this Santa banner gracing some one's porch next holiday season.

And this copper Turkish coffee set... I think Turkish coffee may be the new espresso.

Incidentally, the black and white belt Susie's wearing in the picture, which I think really sets off the outfit, was someone else's clutter.

There were funny stories of how various things were acquired and why the owner is ready to part with them. One person's Mexican cookbook - in Spanish - a gift from her mother-in-law, who knew that she doesn't speak Spanish; another person's rings from former lovers.

Robin's pretty familiar with my clutter. So, I knew I didn't dare claim the most excellent basket I coveted. I have dozens of baskets. I only use a few of them, but I find baskets hard to resist. I did acquire a brass planter (of which I also have dozens), a Barenaked Ladies Christmas album and (wait for it) a fifth of Haig scotch.

So, everyone happily packed up their treasures and left things that didn't find a home for Robin to drop off at the Salvation Army. Many items of clothing which were just the wrong color or didn't fit the person who loved the color, will be donated to the Women's Opportunity Center.

It was a bit like Christmas, with the added advantage that everything was free and we could pick our own gifts.

Gardening Urge

The gardening urge is slowly awakening. Somehow when the weather was so mild I didn't think much about the garden. But now that it's snowy and freezing my mind has shifted to thoughts of spring.

I got my second copy of the Tomato Growers catalog. I'm not sure, but I think there may be such a thing as "too much of a good thing." The catalog pictures and describes 400 varieties of tomatoes with intriguing names like Opalka, Mule Team and Sweet Quartz. And if that's not enough, the index lists an additional 112 varieties whose descriptions are available only on the website.

So, I started out by folding down the corner of each page that included a variety I was interested in. The obvious result was that every page was turned down. I moved on to highlighting details of varieties I was interested in 'til I realized the neon yellow was dominating each page. Now I don't know how to proceed.

It's not enough that the varieties are divided into early, mid-season and late. There's also Oxhearts, Beefsteaks, paste and small fruited. And if that hasn't steered you to exactly the right variety yet, there's bi-color, yellow, green, orange, white and black. And there I'm hooked. Black? They're really more like dark purple but they'll make a nice visual touch in the mix of cherry tomatoes. And the descriptions all refer to the flavor: excellent, rich, complex, sweet, hint of saltiness.

I know we'll grow Sun Gold orange cherry tomatoes again. They've been favorites for years. And Snow White, a nearly white cherry tomato I got as a free sample last year and loved. But I still need a paste tomato, a beefsteak and a red cherry. And I still want to grow Green Zebra, recommended by the Barefoot Contessa and described by Tomato Growers as:

"A unique and delicious salad tomato. 3 oz green fruits ripen to amber-green with darker green stripes. The light green flesh is very flavorful, sweet yet zingy. This one is a real taste treat."

And there are many, many more I want to try. But I have to leave room in the garden for onions and beans and lettuce and squash and... Oh, dear.

Time Travellers

I often get a chuckle from the goofy searches that drive people to this blog. I feel a little sorry for the person who ended up here searching for "How to stop the horse from jumping the fence" - a problem I've never really solved. I don't know what a "Soviet era sewing machine" is but the person searching for that must have ended up here. People searching for "How to sharpen a bow saw" may come out there or here. Among the most common searches are China's one child policy, ice candles, woodpeckers and homemade mayonnaise. That's nice. Those are among my favorite posts.

But in the past week or two there's been an amazing rash of searches for "Time Traveller's Wife fivewells." They're not just searching for the book. They're searching for my mention of the book. And I have to tell you, it's not that good. I can only assume it's some kind of class assignment. I'm a little worried about what kind of class might be interested in this mundane little post.

So, if any of you Time Traveller searchers end up here on the front page (and now that I've mentioned Time Traveller several times, you probably will), leave a note about why you're interested in that post.

Faith and Reason

I'm reading two oddly conflicting things today. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason. I agree with Natalie Angier, New York Times reviewer, who says, "The End of Faith articulates the dangers and absurdities of organized religion so fiercely and so fearlessly that I felt relieved as I read it, vindicated, almost personally understood." Author, Sam Harris, acknowledges the importance of spiritual experiences, while strongly denouncing the irrational aspects of organized religion. I find myself saying, "Yes!" "Right!" "I'm so glad to hear someone saying this out loud." Face it. The Bible and the Koran were not written by the creator of the Universe.

"There is, of course, much that is wise and consoling and beautiful in our religious books. But words of wisdom and consolation and beauty abound in the pages of Shakespeare, Virgil and Homer as well, and no one ever murdered strangers by the thousands because of the inspiration he found there. The belief that certain books were written by God (who, for reasons difficult to fathom, made Shakespeare a far better writer than himself) leaves us powerless to address the most potent source of human conflict..."

You know me. I'm the guy who deeply believes that logic and facts will prevail. But I picked up last week's issue of Time with its cover article, "The New Map Of The Brain." Turns out our rational process aren't all we think they are.

"Another startling conclusion from the science of consciousness is that the intuitive feeling we have that there's an executive "I" that sits in a control room of our brain, scanning the screens of the senses and pushing the buttons of the muscles, is an illusion. Consciousness turns out to consist of a maelstrom of events distributed across the brain. These events compete for attention, and as one process outshouts the others, the brain rationalizes the outcome after
the fact and concocts the impression that a single self was in charge all along."

It turn out all parts of our brains interact as much as they can and all our perceptions are filtered through prior experiences. One of the few things I can say for sure about this is that in a hundred years, we'll be laughing about how primitive our understanding of consciousness was in 2006.

Senator Brownback

Senator Brownback is announcing his intent to run for president live on CSPAN. Honestly, I'm an open minded kind of guy. And, awkward though it is for a Democrat, I agree wholeheartedly with Republicans that "we need stronger families." But Brownback says that depends on a commitment to "marriage between one man and one woman for life[emphasis added]." Do you think this means that in addition to opposing same-gender marriage (not to mention polygamy), we should be looking at a constitutional amendment to prohibit divorce? Should we, furthermore, institute a policy to find replacement spouses for parents, or even single people, who've lost a partner through death or abandonment?

Marriage is a wonderful institution giving certain benefits to people who commit legally to care for each other. This is a good thing. We should encourage people to care for each other in every way we can. The way to support stronger families is not through narrowly defining marriage.

How about economic policies that make it possible for one partner to earn enough money to support the family, enabling the other to provide physical care for the family or volunteer service to the community? How about vacation, sick leave, family leave policies that enable the family to spend more time together?

How about stronger neighborhoods that make it possible for families to work and shop in the neighborhood where they live? How about support for neighborhood child care facilities to help children in families with two working parents?

How about agriculture policies that promote production and processing of healthful foods? Housing policies that make safe housing affordable for everyone? Education policies that focus on providing what every child needs rather than just bringing the most disadvantaged children up to average?

Compound Interest

In the midst of my annual re-examination of my retirement plan, I'm prepared to accept the unconfirmed rumor that Einstein once said that compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. For more than three years, I've been in the unenviable position of using my savings for living expenses. I'm also in the, perhaps enviable, position of having a very modest lifestyle and consequently no long term debt whatsoever. That is to say, I have only one credit card with a balance I pay off every month, no car loan, no mortgage, no student loan, etc. I really can't afford to pay someone else to buy my car for me. Even if I could, I'm not sure I'd want to.

When I decided to stop looking for a full time job, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. But this year, for the first time, it seems that, barring a global cataclysm, it will work. Apparently, given current conditions (12% return on investment and 4% inflation) I can live forever and still (Maggy, stop reading here!) leave my daughter a million dollars or more. Let me hasten to add, I don't have anything like a million dollars now. My assumptions in past years made it look like I could only afford to live to age 82. But conditions in the past three years have been better than I expected. Now, with just a little tweaking, my plans can even accommodate conditions much worse than the current 12% ROI and 4% inflation.

One interesting aspect is the effect of Social Security Insurance. For most people, the later you begin collecting Social Security payments, and assuming you live at least six years after that point, the more money you get in total over your life from Social Security Insurance. For me, since I'm using savings to cover living expenses, the sooner I start collecting Social Security payments, the longer my savings remain above the point where investment results exceed my modest budget.

So, it looks like I can afford that roof repair after all. And maybe eventually the garage and back porch I've been thinking about. I'm telling you, it's a very modest lifestyle.

Toyota Tundra

I got an email from Toyota promoting their new truck, the Toyota Tundra. I drive a eight year old Toyota Corolla with standard transmission. It's a great car and it helps me understand why Toyota is poised to become the leading car manufacturer in the world. The Corolla is the top rated car in its class for mileage and emissions short of a hybrid. Mine, designed and engineered in 1998, gets more than 40 MPG on the highway.

I'm a staunch supporter of protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as the last pristine ecological system in the world. And the name Tundra evokes a certain warm fuzzy feeling for me. But I wonder how appealing the name will be to people looking for a 14-20 MPG vehicle. These are the people who are thinking, "I don't care how much gas I use. There's plenty of oil in ANWR."

Birthdays

Today is the birthday of Muhammad Ali and the House is debating a bill to honor him.
Debating may not be the right word since no one seems to be against it. They're just talking about it.

It happens, also, to be my father's birthday which is why I know it's Benjamin Franklin's birthday. I don't recall how many times my father had to mention that before it took on greater proportions than my father's birthday itself.

According to Birthdays in History, it's also the birthday of Betty White, Sheri Lewis, Vidal Sassoon, Maury Povich, Paul Revere (the musician, not the patriot), Eartha Kitt, James Earl Jones, Rock Hudson and an incredible number of other people I've never heard of.

My friend, Bill, shares a birthday with Adolph Hitler, Stephen Colbert, Pat Roberts and Lee Hamilton. Bill was born in 1923 so I can't help wondering what the daily horoscope was on April 7, 1943 as Hitler and Mussolini met in Salzburg and Bill prepared to ship out to the Pacific.

[Fabulous photo to be entered whenever Blogger allows it. Grr...]

Winter Motivation

Daily KAZ has started blogging! This is going to be fun. Dave and KAZ and Simon are managing daily posts that put me to shame. Maybe that will help motivate me.

Here in the north, in the natural scheme of things, we would not be expected to accomplish a lot: tend the livestock, sharpen the tools, keep the homefires burning... But these are not natural times. I'm keeping up with the livestock and fires, but I haven't sharpened any tools yet.

I'm drawn to the computer screen as an artificial light source. But it doesn't energize me to actually work. So, now I've got a cute little "portable light therapy goLITE" which promises me "Get an energy boost. Naturally." Nothing electric really meets my criteria for natural. But it probably is better than drugs. We'll see.

[Oh, dear. Looking for that link showed me the price of the light. It was a gift. Now I'm seriously committed to using it to best advantage.]

New York

What a gorgeous weekend in New York. It was in the 70s when we started out for South Street Seaport on Saturday. The 1 train is only running to 96th Street. So, we boldly decided to walk the 37 blocks to catch the train there. Funny I never noticed before how uphill it is. So by the time we got to South Street, we were glad to settle down for a nice lunch outdoors at the Heartland Brewery. The weather was so nice we decided to skip the Bodies Exhibit. The Seaport area is more of a mall than a seaport lately. But we enjoyed browsing and looking at the water. (Photo to follow when I reinstall some software and/or figure out how to use my new network.) Nerd that I am, my favorite souvenier is purse size notebook from the Metropolitan Museum gift shop.

For dinner we went back to a place we'd noticed on our long morning walk. At Henry's, on Broadway and 105th, we had melt-in-your-mouth crabcakes, homey roast chicken and fine braised lamb shank. Not to mention Tiramisu and Blueberry cheesecake.

On Sunday we sucessfully navigated a trip to Target in the Bronx and Whole Foods in Edgewater. I now have a much better idea of the Whole Foods vs Wegman's competition. Back at my sister's house, Maggy made a delicious chicken picata that rivaled our terrific dinner of the night before.

The Search for "Average"

The Average American describes Kevin O'Keefe's search to understand, well, the average American. Starting with census bureau data and spending months interviewing people around the country, O'Keefe arrived at a list of 140 criteria and began his search for a single person meeting those criteria. In addition to his factual search, this is a spiritual quest for O'Keefe. He counts himself among many who have consciously avoided any tendency toward average.

"Whenever I had a choice between settling or struggling, I chose B. A, of course, stood for average."

Sound familiar? Turns out there's another whole set of people who view average as ideal. The thinking goes as follows: the reason certain traits become so common is that they work. The more of such traits that an individual accumulates, the more successful his/she is likely to be.

It's a fun trip as O'Keefe uncovers one criterion after another and he (and I) can't help comparing ourselves to the hypothetical average person: I live in the state where I was born; have lived in the same house for more than five years; am a high school graduate; believe in God - oops, no. I have a car, but no garage, I wear my seat belt and have a pet, but I don't live with "two to four people." And so it goes.

I may buy a copy of this book 'cause I think in twenty years it will be comical to look at things we now consider normal, or at least average: eats at MacDonalds and shops at WalMart at least once a year; lives within 100 miles of the ocean. Hmmm... Has a porch or deck and a grill; eats meat and ice cream; has a kitchen, at least one bathroom, a washer, a dryer and a dishwasher; showers and brushes teeth daily.

O'Keefe begins with a Norman Rockwell quote:

"Commonplace never became tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative. It is not a new scene which is needed, but a new viewpoint."

Spoiler follows. O'Keefe is disappointed and edified when his quest leads to his hometown and a person he'd known in high school.

Happy New Year

What is it about the tabula rasa, the blank page, the "I'm going to do better from now on..."? There are several dates that can mark that starting point. I'm lucky enough to have a summer birthday which can function as the first day of my new year. Even though it's been many, many years since I was in school, the first day of school still feels like the first day of a new year. There is, of course, January 1. But my favorite is the entire season from Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox. This is the season we plan for the new year. In fact, depending on how you feel about numbers, every single day is the first day of a new year.

I have some of the same resolutions most people have: exercise more, smoke less, eat better... But the biggie for me is planning. I don't have enough time or money to waste much. And there are sooooo many things I want to do (and quite a few that I don't want to do but have to)

I'm off to make a list...

Watch this space...

"It is not enough to be busy... The question is what are we busy about?"
– Henry David Thoreau

Collections

My mother collected words which used to end in -ed but no longer use the ending. I know, some people collect thimbles or stamps. I even have a friend who collects Lincolns. But my mother collected words.

It piqued my interest but I tend to forget the words as soon as I notice them. I've got iced tea, waxed paper, barbed wire and here's a new one: hedged fund. Scroll down to "Origins and definitions." I've forgotten how to do that in the link.

Dropping the -ed may make pronunciation simpler. But it blurs the line between nouns and adjectives. No wonder young people have trouble diagramming sentences. Well, maybe that's not the main reason.

Okay. Some days start out stranger than others. But you go ahead with the day you've got, not the day you wish you had.

Progress

Just look at this weather! Temperature in the 50s. It makes it hard to stay on track with holiday preparations when it feels like I should be outside. I could be turning the compost, cleaning up fallen branches, clearing more of the saplings in the chicken yard...


But we are making some progress. Here's the tree with lights. I try not to rush into anything. That's a gentle way of saying that I procrastinate like crazy. Anyway, I'll be adding decorations bit by bit all week. I may even save a few for Maggy to put up when she gets home Friday.


And the disorder on the dining room table is more wrapping paper than crafts in progress. It's rare that I do this much wrapping before Christmas Eve. It's giving me the illusion that I'm on top of everything.

Gifts

This is the gift I'm so proud of. These are four inch square glass coasters displaying my photos of a tree atop Mt Pleasant. The gift exchange was at a party on Mt Pleasant and probably everyone knows where the tree is, tho' no one has as close a relationship with it as I do.

My note accompanying the gift explains:

I take lots of pictures of this tree.
I call it "The Mt Pleasant Tree"
and we've kind of become friends.

P.S. You can use your own tree
or your own friend
or whatever...

I'm happy to say that the person who went home with the gift loves the photos and will probably not replace them with his own.

On the flip side, the gift I drew is this hilarious book by Amy Sedaris. The subtitle, "Hospitality under the Influence," says it all. I was second to draw a gift, giving the other eleven people a chance to steal my gift. (see my description of the gift exchange process) I managed to intimidate everyone to leave it with me. It helped that ten of the thirteen guests were men. To put them off I had only to hold up a few of the comical graphic illustrations of things only girls talk about and only in private. The other two women were the hosts and they were too kind to disappoint me by stealing the gift, tho' one said she's going to buy a copy for herself. In defense of my men friends, the gift was contributed by a man who said he spent an hour in Borders reading the book and laughing out loud.

Winter Festivity

I need to give more recognition to the beautiful wreath from Ludgates. I got my tree there, too - a delightfully fragrant fir. I understand some of their trees come from Ed Cope in Caroline. We visited him last summer when we were collecting information for the Renewable Energy Ordinance because his house is powered with wind and solar energy.

This door, by the way, was handcrafted by my father using a stained glass window made by my best friend from grad school. (Who'd guess that she was studying biology and I was studying labor relations. She's now an ASL interpreter and I'm, well, not a labor organizer.) The door is beautiful heavy cherry. I could never have afforded to buy a door this grand. I think my father enjoyed making it and was proud of it tho' it did cost him a couple of days in the hospital as a result of an instant of inattention to the miter saw.


So, I've got the one decoration up, but this is my dining table. I hope I don't have serve dinner on it before next week.

I've got a great photo of the gift I made for the party I'm going to this weekend, but I can't post it 'til Sunday. A couple of the people who will be at the party also read the blog.

The gift exchange is complicated and fun and secrecy is important. Everyone draws a number. The person who draws #1 chooses a wrapped present. The #2 person may choose a wrapped gift or "steal" the gift that #1 has unwrapped and revealed, in which case, #1 chooses another wrapped gift. And so on... It gets more complicated and more fun as more gifts are revealed and available for stealing. I can say modestly, that in past years there's been some mock fighting over the gift I brought. It may be second in popularity only to always coveted Home Depot gift certificate. I'm very happy with the gift I made this year. I hope it pleases someone as much as my past efforts have.

Holidays for Cats

Well, I have no decorations up yet except a beautiful wreath. Thanks to Amazon.com, I think I've got the gift giving under control but I haven't done a bit of wrapping yet. Haven't made the Holiday brunch and dinner shopping lists yet. Oh, well. Plenty of time. It's all about savoring the season.

For cats, it's really all about the boxes.

Word of the Year

Omigod! He wasn't kidding! Stephen Colbert pointed out tonight that "truthiness" is the Merriam Webster 2006 Word of the Year.

truthiness (noun)
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen
Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)

Check out Merriam Webster for the rest of the top ten words of 2006:

google
decider
war
insurgent
terrorism
vendetta
sectarian
quagmire
corruption

Do we detect a theme?

Bad Days

We've all had them. My favorite, in a twisted way, was Maggy's. But last week I overheard a friend unwinding at dinner. I didn't hear the whole saga, but when she said "... and I've got six missile launchers coming in and I've got to figure out where to put them..." I thought, well, that's a problem most of us aren't going to have this week.

Speaking of friends at dinner... Coconut cream pie is a really good thing. We had this one last week.

Chocolate Macaroon Crust
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
Pinch of coarse salt
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly coat a 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate, butter, sugar, coconut, and salt. Using your hands, mix until well combined.

2. Press mixture into bottom and all the way up sides of prepared pie plate. Bake until firm but not yet browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Crust can be made up to 2 days ahead, and refrigerated, covered with plastic wrap.


Coconut Cream Pie
1 teaspoon gelatin
2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure coconut extract
Pinch of coarse salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large egg yolks
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 cup toasted shaved coconut, or as desired, for garnish

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water. Let stand for 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan, whisk together coconut milk, sugar, gelatin mixture, coconut extract, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, 3 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with cornstarch until combined.

2. Slowly whisk one-fourth of the hot-milk mixture into egg yolks; return to saucepan. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture returns to a boil, about 1 minute. Stir in shredded coconut. Transfer to a large bowl; let stand 15 minutes.

3. Pour filling into the prepared crust. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours, and up to overnight. Spread whipped cream on top; garnish with toasted coconut, if desired.