After the freeze is over .... oops... it is over. Last week it reached freezing a couple of times. Tomorrow it is back up to 77 F.
Still, the leaves are turning, and in another month or so it should be Fall. Autumn, that is.
Yours, timelessly,
N.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
A late fall
There were a number of reasons my parents came over from the UK at the time they did, and one of the minor ones was certainly that they might get a chance to see some of the fall colors, that is, autumn colours.
Unfortunately, they didn't count on our weather this year. Now, we did have a freeze last week: two or three in fact. And when I say freeze, I do mean that it reached 31 F. Finally the maple tree in our front yard has started to turn. Unfortunately for the tree, it is in for a surprise. We are getting back up into the mid-to-upper 70's next week. Still, for now, some nice beginnings of turnings of leaves.
Yours, as confused as the trees,
N.
A doll's house
This morning, LOML and I had our work cut out for us.
We'd given Boo a doll's house for her birthday, and hadn't put it together first: in the excitement of Friday there was no time, so we had promised first thing Saturday morning.
And first thing Saturday morning we were reminded of this promise. And by first thing, I mean well before 7am. And by reminded, I mean reminded. By Boo, bouncing up and down on our bed reminding us:-)
Fortunately the instructions were short. There were no words, only blown up diagramatics, which in places were completely unclear. But eventually, and actually rather quickly in the end, we had put together a lovely wooden doll's house for her.
And we had one very happy little five year old girl too:-)
Yours, constructively,
N.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Make great (white) bread
I wanted to make a great batch of bread for Boo's party today: I settled on the following method:
Mix a cup or so of warm water, a teaspoon or so of yeast, and a cup and a half or so of flour in a large mixing bowl, to make a thick batter. Cover with plastic wrap, and leave overnight to rise. Add enough flour plus about 1-2 teaspoons of salt (depending on size of spoon, variety of salt, etc), and knead until smooth. Place dough in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rise.
Now cut the dough into one inch (or so) pieces: add a cup of water, and enough flour (1-2 cups or so) to make everything come together in a stand mixer.
Shape, leave to rise, slash and bake at 425 or so, for 30 minutes or so.
Yours, doing what is kneaded for the party:-)
N.
Mix a cup or so of warm water, a teaspoon or so of yeast, and a cup and a half or so of flour in a large mixing bowl, to make a thick batter. Cover with plastic wrap, and leave overnight to rise. Add enough flour plus about 1-2 teaspoons of salt (depending on size of spoon, variety of salt, etc), and knead until smooth. Place dough in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rise.
Now cut the dough into one inch (or so) pieces: add a cup of water, and enough flour (1-2 cups or so) to make everything come together in a stand mixer.
Shape, leave to rise, slash and bake at 425 or so, for 30 minutes or so.
Yours, doing what is kneaded for the party:-)
N.
A successful present
Boo's teacher is working with her on learning to read, write, spell, etc.
And one of the letters she's teaching is "e": and to make the point about the sound it makes, she needs words that start with "e": like egg, elephant.....
And there she got stuck. What easy words start with a different word than egg or elephant, but still have the same vowel sound? "Exact" or "elapse" are too elaborate, as is "elaborate". Finally she fixed on "Elvis": and so I decided to get Boo a CD of Elvis (Presley)'s number 1 hits.
Boo is now a huge fan, especially of "Hounddog" Definitely her favourite Elvis song so far.
Yours, thrilled she was thrilled,
N.
And one of the letters she's teaching is "e": and to make the point about the sound it makes, she needs words that start with "e": like egg, elephant.....
And there she got stuck. What easy words start with a different word than egg or elephant, but still have the same vowel sound? "Exact" or "elapse" are too elaborate, as is "elaborate". Finally she fixed on "Elvis": and so I decided to get Boo a CD of Elvis (Presley)'s number 1 hits.
Boo is now a huge fan, especially of "Hounddog" Definitely her favourite Elvis song so far.
Yours, thrilled she was thrilled,
N.
A happy birthday
Boo turned five today. Hard to believe that she's a third of the way to my worrying about her driving.
Actually, I'm already worried about her driving. But now, it's ten years in the future. In ten years, I'll be worrying on a more immediate basis!
We had a lovely time: this morning she opened a couple of presents before going off to school: I brought her and Skibo home at lunchtime, and she opened the rest of her presents from family: then after I taught origami, we threw a birthday party. Lots of food: good food for the grownups too. Chili, vegetarian and non-vegetarian: hummus (with Tahini added: thanks Joyful Abode!): sausage rolls: snack food like pretzels, goldfish, chips, etc: and the best bread I've made in months. I'm not a fan of blowing my own horn: but this bread was superb. I'll describe the recipe in another post.
And everyone left early enough that we could put the kids to bed late, but not too late.
Yours, exhausted, but in a good way...
N.
Actually, I'm already worried about her driving. But now, it's ten years in the future. In ten years, I'll be worrying on a more immediate basis!
We had a lovely time: this morning she opened a couple of presents before going off to school: I brought her and Skibo home at lunchtime, and she opened the rest of her presents from family: then after I taught origami, we threw a birthday party. Lots of food: good food for the grownups too. Chili, vegetarian and non-vegetarian: hummus (with Tahini added: thanks Joyful Abode!): sausage rolls: snack food like pretzels, goldfish, chips, etc: and the best bread I've made in months. I'm not a fan of blowing my own horn: but this bread was superb. I'll describe the recipe in another post.
And everyone left early enough that we could put the kids to bed late, but not too late.
Yours, exhausted, but in a good way...
N.
Oh dear. Here we go again
Oh dear. Another movie is out soon. And it's going to destroy our morals. And it is aimed at our kids. Run for the hills, everyone!
I will admit that I have not read the second book in the trilogy yet: I started it, and found it hard going --- not like the first one, which grabbed me immediately and pulled me in.
But so far, the Philip Pullman trilogy "His Dark Materials" looks good: I just need the time to sit and read a whole book again without being at the beach. (And I have another book, "The Indian Clerk" ahead of the second book too....)
But I just became aware of a buzz on the internet of concerned Christian parents, especially in the US, worried that this is going to be another "Monty Python's Life of Brian" only for young children: or like Harry Potter, it is going to send them to hell.
I'm sorry. I like Rowling's books, most especially because she has got young children, especially boys, excited about reading. This is fantastic. It outweighs almost anything else, especially since the books actually espouse moral codes, good behaviour over bad, the triumph of good over evil.
And the movies have been good: super in parts, very good in bits, and overall very solidly well made, cast, acted. There's a reason they have been blockbuster successes.
I don't know whether Pullman has the same potential for good --- getting kids reading: but his first book of the three is thought provoking, well written, and is certainly presented from the point of view of good versus evil. From the point of view that the good side is the good side, I'd say.
It is true, I suppose, that the characters could be said to be believers in a parody of religion. It could be said. Mind you, the same could even more truly be said of many real life religious people, including, I suspect, more than a few of those objecting to the upcoming movie.
Tell you what: I'd be more than happy to have a label slapped on the front of the theatre posters saying "This movie may offend certain people of some beliefs", so long as the same is done for every other movie that offends others of other beliefs. Unfortunately, that leaves us with just about zero movie posters unmodified.
So, let's agree that if you find this movie offensive, you can email everyone you want, campaign to persuade like minded people not to see it: but remember: if you try to keep it out of the theatres to prevent others from watching it if they choose to, then that is intruding on our rights.
Ugh. Definitely an ughlier post than I intended to write. But I got started, and couldn't focus on finishing the post....
Yours, moved to write.
N.
I will admit that I have not read the second book in the trilogy yet: I started it, and found it hard going --- not like the first one, which grabbed me immediately and pulled me in.
But so far, the Philip Pullman trilogy "His Dark Materials" looks good: I just need the time to sit and read a whole book again without being at the beach. (And I have another book, "The Indian Clerk" ahead of the second book too....)
But I just became aware of a buzz on the internet of concerned Christian parents, especially in the US, worried that this is going to be another "Monty Python's Life of Brian" only for young children: or like Harry Potter, it is going to send them to hell.
I'm sorry. I like Rowling's books, most especially because she has got young children, especially boys, excited about reading. This is fantastic. It outweighs almost anything else, especially since the books actually espouse moral codes, good behaviour over bad, the triumph of good over evil.
And the movies have been good: super in parts, very good in bits, and overall very solidly well made, cast, acted. There's a reason they have been blockbuster successes.
I don't know whether Pullman has the same potential for good --- getting kids reading: but his first book of the three is thought provoking, well written, and is certainly presented from the point of view of good versus evil. From the point of view that the good side is the good side, I'd say.
It is true, I suppose, that the characters could be said to be believers in a parody of religion. It could be said. Mind you, the same could even more truly be said of many real life religious people, including, I suspect, more than a few of those objecting to the upcoming movie.
Tell you what: I'd be more than happy to have a label slapped on the front of the theatre posters saying "This movie may offend certain people of some beliefs", so long as the same is done for every other movie that offends others of other beliefs. Unfortunately, that leaves us with just about zero movie posters unmodified.
So, let's agree that if you find this movie offensive, you can email everyone you want, campaign to persuade like minded people not to see it: but remember: if you try to keep it out of the theatres to prevent others from watching it if they choose to, then that is intruding on our rights.
Ugh. Definitely an ughlier post than I intended to write. But I got started, and couldn't focus on finishing the post....
Yours, moved to write.
N.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Hummus
Well, my plans to have made most of the food for tomorrow by this evening appears to have gone by the wayside. Competition for limited space in the kitchen, together with Boo and Skibo wanting to help make her birthday cake meant that I didn't get to play there until about 10.
So, I've thrown together hummus (chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, a little salt, some seasonings if you taste it and feel that it needs it): in the morning before going to work I'll throw together the dough for some bread:
I'll take off half a day or more, come home and then quickly assemble sausage rolls and a chili con carne, shape the bread, and leave it in the capable hands of
LOML to bake everything which needs baking. Then off to teach origami again, before rushing home to finish preparing for Boo's party!
Update: as Joyful Abode has pointed out below, I left out the tahini. Rats. That's what comes of making it late in the evening and not dragging out a cookbook! I'll have to add it this morning when I get home....
Yours, beaten, like an egg, but not whipped like cream.
N.
So, I've thrown together hummus (chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, a little salt, some seasonings if you taste it and feel that it needs it): in the morning before going to work I'll throw together the dough for some bread:
I'll take off half a day or more, come home and then quickly assemble sausage rolls and a chili con carne, shape the bread, and leave it in the capable hands of
LOML to bake everything which needs baking. Then off to teach origami again, before rushing home to finish preparing for Boo's party!
Update: as Joyful Abode has pointed out below, I left out the tahini. Rats. That's what comes of making it late in the evening and not dragging out a cookbook! I'll have to add it this morning when I get home....
Yours, beaten, like an egg, but not whipped like cream.
N.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Origami
Back at the beginning of October, I bragged on the fact that I had done some origami with Boo and Skibo: here is a picture of a couple of the pieces they made (as I said at the time, I precreased the paper, so that they would naturally crease along the appropriate lines).
Yours, increasingly proud:-)
N.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The lake
Many years ago, when the earth was young, and the world still cool, I spent some time near a lake. And every weekend, I'd get to go to stay at the lake with friends who had a cottage there. Second family, really.
This spring, I had a chance to visit again, and I have been meaning to post these photos for quite a while now. But given that there was snow on the ground, and the lake was still frozen, I really couldn't post them when it was still hitting 20 Celsius here. Tonight, however, it is supposed to hit freezing here, and I finally feel that I can post them. So, here is where I did a lot of growing up.....
Yours, nostalgically,
N.
This spring, I had a chance to visit again, and I have been meaning to post these photos for quite a while now. But given that there was snow on the ground, and the lake was still frozen, I really couldn't post them when it was still hitting 20 Celsius here. Tonight, however, it is supposed to hit freezing here, and I finally feel that I can post them. So, here is where I did a lot of growing up.....
Yours, nostalgically,
N.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Anniversary dinner
For our anniversary we were thinking of going out to dinner: but there was a slight problem. Our anniversary this year was a Monday, and there is no drinking on Sundays round here. "Huh?" I hear you ask? Well, since restaurants can't serve alcohol on Sundays, they usually don't bother to open on Sundays: and since restaurant owners don't like spending money on managers for just one day a week, a lot of owner-run restaurants also shut on Mondays, so that the owners can run the place without help. Hence, in this area we have a tradition of restaurants --- even really good, busy ones --- not bothering to open on Mondays.
Additionally, our regular babysitter finds it really difficult to babysit on Monday evenings. Furthermore, both children go to gymnastics on Mondays at 5:30, making evenings out even more complicated: so the two of us are going to go out to dinner sometime soon -- perhaps tomorrow.
Tonight, I cooked our traditional "special evening" dinner: the one we have on Christmas Eve, for example: not a feast, but still very special:
Smoked Salmon in wine, cream, dill and shallots
Finely dice a couple of shallots: add a couple of cups dry white wine, and simmer until it reduces to a quarter cup or so of liquid. Turn down the heat, add a cup of heavy cream, and several tablespoons of chopped fresh dill.
Bring back to a slow simmer, and turn off the heat.
Serve the sauce over linguini or fettucini, and top with eight ounces of smoked salmon, cut into small strips.
It's good. Experiment with it!
Yours, still married:-)
N.
Additionally, our regular babysitter finds it really difficult to babysit on Monday evenings. Furthermore, both children go to gymnastics on Mondays at 5:30, making evenings out even more complicated: so the two of us are going to go out to dinner sometime soon -- perhaps tomorrow.
Tonight, I cooked our traditional "special evening" dinner: the one we have on Christmas Eve, for example: not a feast, but still very special:
Smoked Salmon in wine, cream, dill and shallots
Finely dice a couple of shallots: add a couple of cups dry white wine, and simmer until it reduces to a quarter cup or so of liquid. Turn down the heat, add a cup of heavy cream, and several tablespoons of chopped fresh dill.
Bring back to a slow simmer, and turn off the heat.
Serve the sauce over linguini or fettucini, and top with eight ounces of smoked salmon, cut into small strips.
It's good. Experiment with it!
Yours, still married:-)
N.
Guido ffawkes
When LOML and I decided to get married three years ago (we like to say that the children persuaded us:-) we settled on November 5th for the date: that way we know that no matter how mundane our lives our at that point in time there will be great fireworks somewhere!
Yours, going off like a rocket!
N.
Yours, going off like a rocket!
N.
Spelling of Siamang
Bernie raises the question of the spelling of "Siamang": this brings up an interesting point: US spelling of words.
Having grown up in the UK, with the correct spelling of many words, it always amuses me to see the US spelling of various words; such as aluminum instead of aluminium, color instead of colour, and dove instead of dived.
And in at least two of these examples, the pronunciation is messed up as a result of the spelling too! Not to mention those cases where pronunciation is messed up in spite of the spelling being the same --- "Z" being zee instead of zed comes to mind.
I believe that much of the american pronunciation/spelling comes from the Dutch: there are lots of words, such as cookie which come from the Dutch, and many that are less well known: for example: in English we say "Mummy", but in the US it is "Mommy" (ugh!)
Back to Bernie: he also insists that the photo is in fact of him: whereas I have it on good authority that he is in fact a much more handsome devil, with a somewhat smaller wattle.
Yurs,
N.
Having grown up in the UK, with the correct spelling of many words, it always amuses me to see the US spelling of various words; such as aluminum instead of aluminium, color instead of colour, and dove instead of dived.
And in at least two of these examples, the pronunciation is messed up as a result of the spelling too! Not to mention those cases where pronunciation is messed up in spite of the spelling being the same --- "Z" being zee instead of zed comes to mind.
I believe that much of the american pronunciation/spelling comes from the Dutch: there are lots of words, such as cookie which come from the Dutch, and many that are less well known: for example: in English we say "Mummy", but in the US it is "Mommy" (ugh!)
Back to Bernie: he also insists that the photo is in fact of him: whereas I have it on good authority that he is in fact a much more handsome devil, with a somewhat smaller wattle.
Yurs,
N.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Hide and seek
One of my favourite movies of all time is The Princess Bride: there's a wonderful scene in it when Mandy Patinkin says to Wallace Shaun "I do not think you understand the meaning of that word": this is sort of how I feel about the way that Boo and Skibo play hide and seek (that's hide-and-go-seek to my US readers).
Anyway, Skibo loves to count: "one, two three, fourfivesixseveneight, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, what comes after thirteen????": and he's beginning to get the hang of the seek part --- but when it's his turn to hide, he does a dreadful job of it! He will get a quarter of the way round the tree, and as if he's a human ostrich, hide his head in his hands and hug the tree. In plain sight.
Boo is almost two years old, but almost as bad: she will hide well, but as soon as she hears someone coming to look for her, she will let out little noises and give away her position. And if Skibo doesn't hear her, she'll poke her head around the tree, and then run towards him.
Yours, in hiding,
N.
Anyway, Skibo loves to count: "one, two three, fourfivesixseveneight, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, what comes after thirteen????": and he's beginning to get the hang of the seek part --- but when it's his turn to hide, he does a dreadful job of it! He will get a quarter of the way round the tree, and as if he's a human ostrich, hide his head in his hands and hug the tree. In plain sight.
Boo is almost two years old, but almost as bad: she will hide well, but as soon as she hears someone coming to look for her, she will let out little noises and give away her position. And if Skibo doesn't hear her, she'll poke her head around the tree, and then run towards him.
Yours, in hiding,
N.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Busy week upcoming
We have three birthdays coming up this week: one of them is Boo's, so we are having a party for her: the other two are little boys a few months younger than Skibo, so we are going to parties for them too --- the first was today --- and also, we have a wedding anniversary as well. All in all, I have no idea where we are going to find the time to not have fun any day!
Yours, in anticipation,
N.
Yours, in anticipation,
N.
More from the zoo: not a housecat
We are a pet loving family: two dogs, two cats, a whole bunch of stuffed toys, an electronic parrot which answers back.... but this is one animal that I'd not bring in as a pet! You can almost smell the raw power emanating from this beast! And look at the size of the paws!
Yours, totally intimidated by this one!
N.
Yours, totally intimidated by this one!
N.
Friday, November 2, 2007
More from the zoo: the lion's mouth
Probably every zoo has one of these --- but I have not been to many zoos --- and this is the first one of them that I've seen. It's actually a water fountain (which was unfortunately turned off, so we had to go and buy a couple of bottles of bottled water instead). Still, it was a cute shot, and so I took it. LOML promptly claimed to have taken the exact same shot a few months ago on a trip to the zoo without me....
Yours, tritely,
N.
Yours, tritely,
N.
More from the zoo: siamangs
More from the zoo: if you have never heard a siamang (which I believe is a species of gibbon: a moderately large ape: checks Wikipedia: is proved correct) or a in my case, have never even heard of a siamang, then you could be in for a surprise one day. As we approached the area where the ape enclosures were all located, we heard these extremely loud, almost whooping-cough-like barking howls. Various speculations followed on what could be making these noises: as we approached the area we saw them: siamangs from Indonesia. Apparently the calls are territorial: they are like bullfrogs in that their throats expand out as big as a cantaloupe, as you can see in the photograph below: and out comes this bellowing "Get away from here: this is our area" type of message.
Yours, silenced,
N.
Yours, silenced,
N.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
A new month
A new month, in which many people are promising/threatening to blog at least once every day. I'm choosing not to do so, although, looking back over the past few weeks, it appears that I could probably manage it.
But I don't want that promise hanging over my head --- as soon as I made a pledge like that, it would act just like a mental block, to stop my mind from being able to think of anything to say. And it feels like that often enough already without having an extra barrier raised!
So, I am now promising not to promise to blog every day this month:-)
Yours, not doubly negative,
N.
But I don't want that promise hanging over my head --- as soon as I made a pledge like that, it would act just like a mental block, to stop my mind from being able to think of anything to say. And it feels like that often enough already without having an extra barrier raised!
So, I am now promising not to promise to blog every day this month:-)
Yours, not doubly negative,
N.
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