New Feeder

I've been meaning to write about my birthday present from my parents and just hadn't taken the time yet. But I've been enjoying it on a daily basis and figured I'd finally share my new toy. You know you're old when you ask for a new bird feeder for your birthday. Well I'm officially old. And I couldn't love my new feeder more.

The squirrels had destroyed my last one. In one swipe of a paw they had sent it flying to the ground and broke it. When asked by my parents, Jeff had mentioned I wanted a new finch feeder. And not just any finch feeder, an antimicrobial feeder from Wild Birds Unlimited. So I went without for almost two weeks waiting for my birthday. When I opened my gift I knew instantly what I was getting. But I didn't realize that they would include the great rain cover. I hung it up the very next day.

I filled my new feeder with Finch Feed from Wild Birds Unlimited and look what I get. Finches!! Those are five goldfinches (in their winter plumage) eating at my feeder. What you don't see are the three others on top of the hook, the woodpecker waiting his turn, and two chickadees that are waiting for an opening. I have a constant stream of birds. The only ones who haven't come back are the cardinals. Oh..and the squirrels. I watched a squirrel come up to the feeder, sniff it, and walk away. I don't think I have to worry about this new feeder.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's my favorite holiday of the year again. Thanksgiving is, for me, all about food and family and spending time. I'm heading over to my parent's house this evening for dinner and couldn't be more excited. I made my Frog Eye Salad this morning (see previous post) and am ready for tons of good food. My dad even made me a vegetarian dressing which was so incredibly sweet. I'll have to eat huge servings.

We're eating later this year than normal because my sister has to work most of the day. But after gorging ourselves on food we'll sit around and drink coffee and perhaps later play a game. Jeff is hoping to get everyone back here to the house to watch Pumpkin Chunkin' on the Discovery Channel tonight. An idea that also makes me happy.

We watched Pumpkin Chunkin' one year while on vacation and have been fascinated ever since. Imagine groups of people meeting out in a corn field to see how far they can shoot, fling, and throw pumpkins. There are air cannons, slingshots, trebuchets, and any other device you can think of. They shoot for distance but mostly it's just fun to see those pumpkins fly. Perhaps that will be our new Thanksgiving tradition. We'll see.

Some of the devices used for Pumpkin Chunkin'

Whatever you do for Thanksgiving, spend some time giving thanks. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm truly blessed. I hope you remember that you are too. Happy Thanksgiving all. Eat much and enjoy more.

My Thanksgiving Dish

I'm heading to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year. It will be a day filled with food and family. I'm looking forward to it immensely. For the last couple of years, we kids have been allowed to bring a dish to dinner.

I've brought a few dishes but my favorite is Frog Eye Salad. I first had Frog Eye when I was working back at Heartland. I was more than skeptical the first time I was offered some of the dish. Not only did it have a bizarre name but it had a weird looking texture. I hesitated the first couple of potlucks until I finally tried my first taste. Then I was hooked.

I've made this dish so many times now I don't really need the recipe. The salad isn't what it sounds like. The name comes from the tiny pasta, called Acini de Pepe. The salad has a Cool Whip base and is filled with mandarin oranges and pineapple. It's a pasta salad and a dessert all in one. I'm excited to make it again for another Thanksgiving although I'm sure my family is probably tired of it. I thought I'd share the recipe here.

Frog Eye Salad

1 C. Sugar

2 T. Flour

2 eggs, beaten

3 qts water

2 1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c. pineapple juice

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. cooking oil

3 cans mandarin oranges, drained

2-- 20 oz cans pineapple chunks, drained

1-- 12 oz carton Cool Whip

1-- 16 oz pkg Acini de Pepe pasta

2 c. marshmallows

In a saucepan mix flour, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt. Slowly add pineapple juice and eggs. Cook until thickened. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Allow to cool completely.

Bring water, remaining salt, and oil to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until done. Drain. Mix egg mixture and macaroni. Refrigerate (I normally allow it to cool overnight).

When finally cool, mixed in the rest of the ingredients. I normally start with the Cool Whip to loosen up the pasta and then add the rest of the fruit and marshmallows.

This recipe is huge. I often cut it in half even for a large family gathering. It is a heavy salad although leftovers are still good for up to three days. I also tend to go heavy on the Cool Whip and often use more than just the one carton. More than anything, enjoy. This sweet salad is guaranteed to satisfy.

My Neighbor Totoro

One of my big requests for my birthday was for Hayao Miyazaki films. It's hard to call myself a true animation fan with the knowledge that there are some Miyazaki films out there that I haven't seen. I've seen a few and I even own Spirited Away but there are plenty of his films that I don't own. So I asked my sister for Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro (pronounced Toto-row) and I was thrilled when she bought me both that one and Castle in the Sky.

My Neighbor Totoro is enchanting. It is a small elegant film about two young girls and their father who settling in rural Japan during the 1950s. The girl's mother is in the hospital suffering from tuberculosis. The family move into a wonderful old farmhouse filled with soot sprites, nice neighbors, and a nearby grove of trees. The trees are guarded by Totoro, a cat/bear/owl creature who never speaks but takes the girls on the most amazing journeys. Totoro protects the girls and the living things around him. When Mei, the younger, runs away, it is Totoro who helps to find her with the help of his friend the cat-bus. If that sounds fantastical, it is. The movie is a mix of quiet gentle moments, and almost psychedelic fantasy. The cat-bus in particular is a bit out there. But what I remember about the film isn't really the fantastic elements, but the gentle moments of beauty. Totoro is a wonderful creature, gentle and sweet. He is silly and playful and nurturing.

Life is quiet out in the rural world and the people are polite and thankful. I was touched by the politeness and gentility. People thank the gods for simple things, like when the girls are trapped in a small roadside shrine by a rainstorm. They both turn and bow to the roadside god with the simple plea that they be allowed to stay. It's a touching moment, filled with a humility that we don't see much anymore. I'm not particularly religious but I loved the constant mention of spirits and gods in this film. The family thanks the trees for protecting them. They attempt to appease the soot sprites, in order to get them to leave. The characters seem to respect the things around them.

There was no central plot with this movie. In fact there was very little action. Instead it was a collection of simple scenes but they all added up for me. I felt at peace after watching the film. And more than anything, I felt renewed.

Montages

I've decided that my life would be so much better with montages. I got the idea from watching Kung Fu Panda of all things but I've noticed montages in tons of movies. And that gave me an idea. What if life was a little more like the movies? Want to lose weight, cue the exercise montage. Want to learn a skill, cue the practice montage. Want to get a promotion, cue the rise to power montage. Montages would solve all sorts of pesky issues where you have to practice and learn daily for long periods of time. Instead we could just cue up the music and it would be done in less than five minutes.

I'm only partially joking. I've been trying to lose weight for a while but the slowness of it drives me crazy. I'm not particularly good at being patient when I don't see any shred of improvement. So it's tempting to think that I could cue up my movie montage for exercise (set to Move Along by the All-American Rejects) and find myself slim and trim in only a couple minutes. Like Rocky in...well any of the Rocky movies.

I would probably do the same thing with writing. Cue up the writing music (something like This Is the Day by The The) and have that novel written by the time the song is done. Of course I'd do the same thing for painting and learning to cook and...everything. I'd be brilliant in only minutes a day. My life would be so much better with montages. Sigh, if only they were an option.

Games Weekend

This past weekend was my birthday and one of my friends from Minneapolis came down to help me celebrate. He arrived on Thursday and hung out with Jeff and I until Monday (which is why I didn't get any posting done). It was an incredibly relaxing weekend. We left the house for meals but otherwise it was a quiet weekend at home with plenty of tea, movies, games, and talking. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday. Thanks Jon!

We watched a ton of interesting movies and television but the biggest hit for me was the games. Jon had brought down some of the games from his collection and we played something almost every night. Our first evening was the game I'd asked for by name, Cleopatra. This game has each player acting as an Egyptian architect building a palace for Cleopatra. You must collect the resources needed to build each piece of the building, which gives you money. But some resources also give you corruption, which you must avoid. The player with the most corruption is sacrificed to the crocodile god and the others are left to figure out who made the most money. An interesting strategy game with plenty of fun little pieces to play with.

One of the games that we played regularly was Chronology, Jeff's favorite game. This quick game requires players to figure out where things happen in a historical context. You start the game with one card which sets your baseline year. The next turn you are read a historical event without the date. You have to figure out whether the event took place before or after your baseline year. Each card after that also needs to be put into chronological order. You win when you have 10 cards all lined up in their spots. It's not a game I'm good at (I'm terrible with dates) but we had a great time.

On my birthday we played Apples to Apples with the family. This silly game has quickly become my favorite game although I'm terrible at it. One person reads the words on a Green Apple card while the other players find the red card in their hand that they feel fits the words. Then they turn them into the reader and the reader decides which they think fits the best. It's subjective and silly and a lot of fun. We laughed a lot and talked a lot and had a wonderful time.

The last game we had was the most complicated and ended up being my favorite one for the weekend. Agricola (pronounced A-grick-ola) is the latin word for farmer. In this rather involved game, players start a farm. On their turn they must decide how they will allocate their resources (crops, animals, home improvements....) and with limited turns it is all about finding food fast and building up your reserves. This game had us talking long after we'd finished. There are limitless strategies for ways to win and we each had plans for how we would win the next time. I focused on grains and bread and did well. Jon focused on animal production and easily blew both Jeff and I away. It was a great game though. A wonderful weekend filled with games and laughter and fun.

Veteran's Day Poem

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I'm not going to have a ton of time for posting. So I thought I'd post a poem tonight to honor those who make the ultimate sacrifice. Although I'm a pacifist, I believe in supporting those who actually go out to fight, even if I don't agree with the war. I'm in awe of those who serve.

The Charge of the Light Brigade sums things up pretty well for me. The poem, written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, commemorates the Battle of Balaclava, a disastrous charge made during the Crimean War. The poem, of the Light Brigade's charge against Russia in 1854, is considered one of the finest pro-warrior and anti-war poems out there. It praises the heroes who fought so bravely and blasts the horrific loss of life.

Plus I tend to use the paraphrased line "ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die" a lot during the course of the day.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!" he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

Renata Liwska

I've been meaning to write about Renata Liwska for my other blog about children's books, but something keeps stopping me. It would make sense to post her work there, after all she is a children's book illustrator. Her work is, in a word, adorable. So it would make sense for me to write about it there, but I think her beautiful tiny pencil sketches are simply too perfect to not consider art. She belongs in both blogs, there as illustration and here as art.

I was introduced to Renata's work through The Quiet Book, written by Deborah Underwood. The moment I saw the cover at Barnes and Noble I knew I had to own the book. And I knew that I had to learn more about the artist. The cover drew me in, and the interior illustrations enchanted me further. Her image for "Pretending you're invisible quiet" is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. And all of Renata's work is that cute.

Renata works mostly in pencil, adding color digitally for her printed illustrations. She's illustrated seven books now and all of them are soft and cute. I've been reading Renata's blog (Pandas and Such) for a while and love her posts. Her blog offers glimpses into perfect miniature animals, that spring from her pencil with personalities all their own. The light pencil hash marks create detailed and adorable characters. Plus she's not afraid to show work in progress, something that I love almost more than the finished pieces. She shows off her sketchbook drawings which are enough to make almost any illustrator jealous. Look at her "rough" drawing below. I wish my finished products looked that good.

Renata is a Polish artist who has moved to Calgary to be with her artist husband. The two of them share a website. His work can be found here. I've been slowly trying to buy up Renata's books to add to my collection but I'm also thinking about picking up some of her pencil drawings as well. I'm a huge fan of adorable animals and beautiful art; and they just don't get more adorable or beautiful than Renata's work.

Winter Foods (or Pomegranates for Dummies)

It was officially winter for me today. Oh sure I've already seen my first junco of the season (a birding sign of winter). I've already scraped my car a couple of times now. I've worn my mittens. I've had the heated mattress pad cranked up in the evenings. I've even brought out my winter coat. But the final straw was this morning when the house dropped below 63 and we had to turn on the furnace. Winter begins when the furnace kicks on for the first time. From now until March the house will rarely drop below 68. We spend a small fortune in heating bills but it's worth it.

One of my other signs of winter is that I get the sudden urge to bake. Each winter I typically bake a couple dozen cookies but I'm learning this year to bake bread. Last week I started with an easy banana bread that came out pretty well. I didn't have enough banana to make the recipe so I substituted in some applesauce which worked beautifully. It was a bit dry but very tasty. This week I'm thinking about doing a wheat and rolled oat bread from a recipe I found in a dieter's cookbook. We'll see how it comes out. I'm also suddenly interested in cake decorating. i picked up a couple books from the library and am going to spend some time with food coloring, sugarpaste, and royal icing. We'll see what comes out of that. I'll post pictures of both the successes and tragedies. I'm assuming both will be equally tasty. :-)

But my big excitement for November are those oddly shaped red fruits called pomegranates that I gorge myself on every year. If you're new to the blog, I wrote about my undying love of pomegranates. I devour them throughout their limited season until I'm practically sick. And about the time I'm starting to get tired of eating them day in and day out, the season ends and I have to wait 10 more months to get them. When Jeff and I were in the grocery store today I noticed that they were back in stock. I bought three and brought them home to rip apart.

For those of you who've never prepared a pomegranate, they can be a bit time intensive. You have to pluck the delicate seeds from the rest of the fruit. I used to waste hours on them until I mentioned my addiction in the blog and my friend Salt pointed out a much better way to prep them that I thought I'd share here. First, you want to pick your pomegranates based on weight. The fruit should feel surprisingly heavy. That means the seeds are filled with juice. Once you get them home you'll want to cut the top and the bottom off of the pomegranate. Try to stay pretty shallow so you don't cut any of the seeds. Once that's done, score the fruit along the white material. I tend to stay shallow for this as well. Then the fun begins.

Grab a big bowl and fill it mostly full with water. Holding the pomegranate under the water, start to gently pry it apart. The seeds spray purple everywhere when pushed too hard, so having the fruit underwater will minimize the mess. Rub the seeds off gently by pulling them away from the white foundation. You'll be able to pull off multiple seeds at one time by simply rubbing the tops of the seeds. The fruits will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the white debris will float to the surface. After all the seeds have been pulled off, I scoop the debris off the top of the water, and then strain the seeds. They go into a tupperware container to sit in my fridge. I've found them great for snacking or in salads. They'll keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Winter may be my least favorite time of the year, but baking and pomegranates make it just a little bit sweeter.

It Gets Better

If I could remove a couple years of my life they would have to be the years I spent in middle school. I had a really tough time in middle school. High school was okay but middle school were flat-out the worst years of my life. I was teased and bullied nonstop for almost three years. The bullying even escalated to physical attacks and demoralizing gestures. It was a horrible time for me. I vowed when I left for high school that I would never consider a day as bad unless it was middle-school bad. And so far I haven't had a day that was worse. It keeps my bad days in perspective.

Now I'll freely admit, I was a weird kid. I still am. And I'll tell you that I'm stronger in many ways because of those years. When I got to high school and was called names, I didn't even bat an eye. Names didn't hurt anymore. I found happiness with who I was: nerdy, odd, quiet, and bookish. I was the kid in the corner reading a book and telling tarot cards. I was the kid who slipped away during lunch to write. I never really fit in but at least I didn't have bad days. And I don't think my childhood was all that unusual. I'm sure most of us can tell stories of being teased and bullied.

This is all to say that I completely love the new video series that has been sweeping the internet called "It Gets Better". The project is geared towards LGBT high school and middle school students to show them that life gets better after those challenging years. I know that at the time for me, things seems like the end of the world. These videos are designed to help combat the high incidences of young suicide. It is to remind kids that after all the horrors of high school and middle school, life actually gets better. You may still get teased, but you simply won't care as much. For many LGBT kids, the future may not seem so clear when they are in high school and kids are calling them names. This is a wonderful reminder that they can have some amazing lives if they just hold on.

The series is targeted towards LGBT teens but I think that the message is even more far reaching. I wish someone had told me when I was being bullied for being different, that it would get better. That after middle school I wouldn't care about being teased. That once I reached college, different would be okay. And that I would gradually find people who would not only accept me for who I was but appreciate those differences. I know that there is an incredibly high incidence of LGBT teens who commit suicide. Anything that can be done to prevent that is amazing in my book. And after watches these videos I truly think they should be required viewing in middle and high school.

Videos are recorded by people like President Obama, Suze Orman, Tim Gunn, Dan Savage, and many others. In fact there are currently over 1000 videos posted on the It Gets Better project website. Videos are from celebrities, LGBT speakers, community leaders, and just everyday people who wanted to share their experiences. Each tells a story of struggle and survival. Of power from powerlessness. And each is inspiring. I wish I had had something like this when I was growing up. I wish I could go back and tell the 11 year old me the same thing. It gets better. And it really does.