We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
I have always countered people who complain about parking with the observation that they should feel fortunate to live where many other people want to be instead of some dying place where nobody wants to be and there is nothing to do.
I mostly avoid malls since internet shopping took hold, but you never really hear people complain about a 5 or ten-minute walk from a garage to their destination in the mall. Similarly when you drive into Manhattan and usually require a lengthy - but scenic - hike to your destination. Same with a stadium.
When street parking is available, people seem to think differently.
I guess it must be. No different than hoarding a stock, I suppose. Or is it more like price-manipulation? U.S. Weighs Inquiry Into Big Banks’ Storage of Commodities. Cornering markets? Soros got very rich doing this. So did the Hunt family, for a while.
HUD's
New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every
Neighborhood in U.S. - See more at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/huds-new-fair-housing-rule-establishes-diversity-data-every-neighborhood-us#sthash.Mpoyg2CL.dpuf
HUD's
New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every
Neighborhood in U.S. - See more at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/huds-new-fair-housing-rule-establishes-diversity-data-every-neighborhood-us#sthash.Mpoyg2CL.dpuf
HUD's
New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every
Neighborhood in U.S. - See more at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/huds-new-fair-housing-rule-establishes-diversity-data-every-neighborhood-us#sthash.Mpoyg2CL.dpuf
HUD's
New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every
Neighborhood in U.S. - See more at:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/huds-new-fair-housing-rule-establishes-diversity-data-every-neighborhood-us#sthash.Mpoyg2CL.dpuf
Our yellow Trumpet Vine on our entryway arbor - a mini- nature preserve - is having a good year.
A Robin is nesting in it right now. Her second batch this season. They get annoyed every time you walk through.
I devoted yesterday afternoon to manual labor because the heat wave passed. Weeding, vine removal, some mid-summer pruning, stacking logs for winter, etc. While taking a little iced-tea and cigar break sitting on my wood pile, I got free entertainment from two Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds fighting over the ownership of the entire vine. "Why not share it?" I thought. "There's enough nectar and tiny bugs for all." Nope.
Nature is not nursery school.
Elsewhere at the Maggie's HQ, I have a red Trumpet Vine. I think they prefer the red, but they seem to find the yellow worth fighting over.
Move
over NSA, here comes the Obamacare Big Brother database - See more at:
http://rare.us/story/move-over-nsa-here-comes-the-obamacare-big-brother-database/#sthash.SsANaBoZ.dpuf
Move
over NSA, here comes the Obamacare Big Brother database - See more at:
http://rare.us/story/move-over-nsa-here-comes-the-obamacare-big-brother-database/#sthash.l5A4VaSa.dpuf
Move
over NSA, here comes the Obamacare Big Brother database - See more at:
http://rare.us/story/move-over-nsa-here-comes-the-obamacare-big-brother-database/#sthash.l5A4VaSa.dpuf
It's a dreadful task to break up one's parents' household but, with my Dad's death two weeks ago, we need to get it on the market before Labor Day in order to sell it before the lengthy driveway and parking area need snow-plowing and shoveling, and are covered with ice.
My parents raised most of us kids in this sunny and cheery 6-BR contemporary which my Dad designed, and my parents remained there until they died.
The realtors want the house emptied out, heavy-duty cleaned, and floors waxed, in the next 3 weeks. We 5 kids will draw a number out of a hat, then pick stuff we want in order (jewelry, silver, furniture, chatchkes, art, the Steinway, etc.), then call in Good Will to take whatever they can use. Then comes the dumpster and the cleaning crew. Thus does a home devolve into a house.
I took some photos to help my memory of home when my Alzheimer's arrives.
This is their kitchen with its fireplace with a wood stove insert at the far end of the kitchen area. The only sign that old people lived there, I think, is having things scotch-taped to the cabinets. Plus their refusal to put a/c in the house. That baby picture I was taking home was of me. I don't really want it, but I don't want to throw it away. Everybody has some stuff like that.
10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
10:41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
10:42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the blackbird.
II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds.
III The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a blackbird Are one.
V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after.
VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause.
VII O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women about you?
VIII I know noble accents And lucid, inescapable rhythms; But I know, too, That the blackbird is involved In what I know.
IX When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles.
X At the sight of blackbirds Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply.
XI He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For blackbirds.
XII The river is moving. The blackbird must be flying.
XIII It was evening all afternoon. It was snowing And it was going to snow. The blackbird sat In the cedar-limbs.
The crisis of globalistical warmening this July must be good for beer sales.
This pic from the Spital Brewery's biergarten in Regensberg a couple of years ago, on the Danube riverbank adjacent to the brewery. It's just a pleasant walk over the 1135 bridge. I like that "Since 1226." It's true.
That Bock was mine. A mistake. At least 10%. Tasty, though. My lad had the dark one.
A dear old pal who lives in NYC sent me a box of very nice seegars to comfort me after the sudden death of my Mom in February.
Even though he is getting married (finally) this weekend in California to some sexy young babe, he took the time to do the same to comfort me for my Dad's death (he knew my Dad) last week. Pleiades and Avo Classics.
When you're too old to suck your thumb, and find yourself a sudden orphan, an Avo helps. Thanks, and Mazel Tov, old pal.
National Journal asks Do Women Make Better Senators Than Men?
Given those doing the asking, I’m pretty sure that the question really
means “better at responding to emotion-driven appeals from the left”.
And the answer is yes.
"Savvy travelers have come to depend on Karen Brown's recommendations."
Yes, indeed. Over the years, Karen Brown has never recommended a dud to us. For the past few years, Mrs. BD has relied entirely on her travel and inn recommendations. She's not about Hiltons, The Four Seasons, Sheratons. She's not about discount places either, or mass market. She's about boutique charm and local flavor.
Mort Zuckerman: A Jobless Recovery Is a Phony Recovery - More people have left the workforce than got a new job during the recovery—by a factor of nearly three.
I once saw George go to a white barbershop instead of a black barbershop
In
the postmodern, antifoundationalist world of the New Left, justice is
perverted into mob rule - See more at:
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=50102#sthash.VQfAipUi.dpuf
In
the postmodern, antifoundationalist world of the New Left, justice is
perverted into mob rule - See more at:
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=50102#sthash.VQfAipUi.dpuf
I suppose the tourist goes to see certain things, eg The Grand Canyon or Harrod's or St. Peter's. The traveler goes to "be there" and meander and to soak it up.
Mrs. BD and I are somewhere in between. We like to rent a car and pop into unknown places, farm town greasy spoon in Colorado, a little local ristorante in an unknown village in Italy, but we also want to see the cathedral, the Norman castle, and the famous gardens. My lad, a true traveler, just likes to wander with a backpack. If he sees a ferry to Sardinia, he hops on. If something looks interesting, he'll walk in.
My pic of the piazza on the dock at Bellagio on Lake Como. There is nothing much to see there, but it's a nice little place to hang out for a while.
10:25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
10:26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?"
10:27 He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
10:28 And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."
10:29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
10:32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
10:33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.
10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
10:35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.'
10:36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"
10:37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
"Cape Cod Turkey" is Codfish. One of our favorite recipes used to be Baked Stuffed Cod, the way the Portuguese restaurants make it. I was reminded of this by our dinner a couple of Saturday nights ago at the Lobster Pot (still fun and crowded as usual, but maybe not as good as it used to be) in P'town.
Here's how I make this rustic, home-cookin' meal:
1. Thickest filets you can find of Cod, Scrod, or Haddock.
2. The stuffing (you don't need to stuff the fish, just put it as a bed under the filets, skin down): Plain bread crumbs mixed with chopped onion, shallot, shrimp, crabmeat, lobster, chopped clams, whatever. Obviously you sautee those added things in butter first, then soften the stuffing with clam broth or fish stock. Salt and pepper, and parsley.
3. The sauce: Sautee in plenty of olive oil: chopped onion, chopped garlic, maybe chopped leek, some chopped red or green pepper, then add chopped plum tomatoes, some tomato paste, white wine, oregano, a little rosemary - and cumin to taste. The comino is the key. I use plenty of it. Some salt and pepper, of course.
4. Dump some of the sauce into the baking pan. Shape the stuffing as a bed to fit under each filet, and mound it on top of the sauce. Place the filets on top. It is normal to top the filets with onion and green pepper slices. Salt and pepper, and a shot of white wine to moisten.
5. Bake 25-35 minutes at 400, depending on thickness of filets, until they begin to flake properly. Never overcook a nice hunk of fresh Codfish. Baste with pan juices or white wine while baking.
Make sure each plate has a good dose of sauce, with the stuffed cod on top. Serve with pan-roasted potatoes or boiled potatoes with parsley. It's often served with spaghetti, but that makes no sense to me. And no vegetables, please. Vegetables cause cancer - but everybody knows that. But if you have to add a vegetable, I think a sauteed sliced yellow summer squash might fit in well, along with some bread to soak up all the sauce. Bread is a healthy vegetable, isn't it? This hearty dish deserves a red wine, not a white. (Whites and champagne go with shellfish, but not with real salt-water fish.)
If you are off carbs, make it the same way but forget the stuffing. It's almost as good that way.
Video: Honda presents t
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Today's image stolen from
"Cape Cod Turkey" is Codfish. One of our favorite recipes used to be Baked Stuffed Cod, the way the Portuguese restaurants make it. I was reminded of this by our dinner a couple of Saturday nights ago at the