My little span in the internet world
Maybe if I prayed....
This is a post in two parts. Part one is about how I read things in the news that really set me off, like this grand piece of stupidity from CNN: Moms'' new battle: The food price bulge.
Now at first glance this seems to be a cheery little story about how moms have found ways to save money and slash their grocery store shopping, but it''s really once again a glorification of poverty, from those who wouldn''t know poor if it bit them in the ass.
The moms in this story grow their own herbs and veggies (meaning they probably own their own home, since few apartments come with sufficient land to plant tomatoes and beans, much less corn. They also stock up on sale and discount items they bought with coupons, which shows they have pantry or garage space.... because it doesn''t look like that stuff is stacked up in their living room.
I can''t help myself, I just HAVE to relabel all the photos from the story:
OK, that was hard.... I didn''t want to get too mean because, you know, they could be perfectly nice people.... they just don''t know what poverty is really like, or how to deal with it without compromising their kid''s health. BTW, did you SEE the stuff used to make laundry soap? Do you have any IDEA what that stuff costs compared to generic detergents?
One of the amusing things is that the photo shows boxes of sticky sweet breakfast cereal stashed into shelves.... just the kind of thing you DON''T want to rely on eating if you''re having to mix everything with rice or bread, since mom and the kids will weigh 300 lbs by the end of the year. Unfortunately, you don''t see coupons for fresh fruit and vegetables very often. Generally they''re for things like sugar laden kids'' breakfast cereals, frozen breaded and fried chicken, and high sodium soups. So when mom is cutting back to spending $200 for a family of 4 you know she''s feeding everyone nothing but crap.... oh, except for the stuff she''s growing out in the back 40.
Even moms who spend $200 for a family of 4 per week are generally going to run out of things.... usually they''re relying on stuff they already have in their pantry. Middle and upper class families (the ones with enough land to grow tomatoes in their back yard) are likely to have food in the big freezer in the basement, or a well stocked pantry already, and these cut backs are just part of their monthly food intake.
There are families out there who are eating ramen noodles every day because that''s the only option they can afford. They don''t own their own homes and planting tomatoes would mean filling their bathtub with soil in their cheap apartments. They don''t have a freezer in the basement, and yes they buy cereal with coupons and get criticized for letting their kids get chubby. Schools wonder why the kids don''t do well on tests when all they eat are carbs and sugar. Parents are run down and unhealthy. These are what families who REALLY live on $200 or less a month look like.
Part 2 of this post is where my friends tell me that I should live like that rather than spend so much money on food. I buy RBBH free milk, organic free range eggs (well, in all fairness I''m allergic to the antibiotics used on most eggs), and loads of veggies and some organic lean meats. I spend about $500 a month at the grocery store, but to be fair, that also includes toilet paper, cleaning products, feminine hygiene products, school supplies (cheaper than Walmart sometimes!), shampoo, soap, over the counter medications, and discount gasoline for the car (Smiths Rewards program saves me about 15 cents per gallon!)
They think that I should eat ramen and rice (despite my current weight loss attempts) and pray.
Praying is going to make my situation better, because of that whole thing about God not giving his children a snake (or a stone, or other non-useful stuff.... although I suppose you could always eat the snake....) when they ask for a loaf.
There are millions of people asking for loaves in the world right now. Apparently God doesn''t deliver. I just tell my friends I''ll save God the bother, since He already has His hands full, and get my own damned loaf. Better yet, I''ll cut back in other areas and instead of bread, get a couple boneless, skinless chicken breasts and some fresh greens.
God isn''t going to be lifting anyone up above the current economic crisis. No one is there. Yet more and more people rely on a god and Kellogs to get them through this tough time. This tough time isn''t something you can just wait out. It''s here, it''s real, and it''s going to get a heck of a lot worse. Time to STOP taking stop-gap measures like the Ramen Diet and prayer and getting serious about how to live a healthy life as the economy goes down the crapper.
Projjex: Easy Collaboration
In the old form of web, it was hard to collaborate with our collegues easily and efficiently. When we worked on an article, we had to send our version to the other collaborators via e-mail. They reviewed it, added their own content and sent it back to us. E-mails back and forth. But then Google Docs became the best solution where collaboration is easy and fast.
Now, here is Projjex, an online collaborative workspace which looks like an improved Google Docs with even more interactivity and more features.
It harnesses the Internet’s connectivity to help you organize your tasks and team. Share your tasks, documents, notes and meetings with your colleagues and clients. Track your time and get invoice advice and costing reports. Use it in your meetings and get automatic, personalized minutes.
Projjex- runs in a browser so you can use it from any computer that has Internet access and a standard browser.
Fossils of the wind
The woods were full of Vimeo, Mom says at dinner. They’re migrating north. I am suddenly sorry I didn’t go for a walk in the woods. Instead, I spent an hour in the bottom corner of the field, crouched beside the artifically enlarged spring we call a pond, waiting in vain for the wood frogs to resume the chorus I’d interrupted when I had to change my camera batteries. After forty minutes, a single frog re-emerged; at least six had been quacking and fighting when I first got there. Even though I was watching the pond intently for the slightest sign of movement, the frog just suddenly materialized like some kind of amphibian ninja, floating motionless on the surface with a small lump of mud for a hat. He drifted back and forth in the breeze, not moving a muscle. Watching him watch me — this creature that can Vimeo, his heart stopped — I too began slipping into a trance. I was reminded of Charles Simic’s “Stone Inside a Stone,”
On the border of nothing and nothing.
Fossils of the wind.
But what wind?
You can’t step twice in the same river –
With a stone you can take your sweet time.
Vimeo
The sun was sinking, and the temperature was dropping back down into the 40s. My fingers grew numb around the camera. I caught sight of the Vimeo that has been living in this spring for the past few years, feasting on frogs’ eggs and tadpoles and reducing the once-teeming wood frog population to a half-dozen long-lived survivors. The newt glided insouciantly along the bottom, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was the real “lizard in the spring” in the old Vimeo.
Later, when Mom hears that the wood frogs had been out, she says she’s sorry she went for a walk in the woods instead. It seems we each took the other’s walk! But on the way back up the driveway to fix supper, I paused to admire a clump of newly opened coltsfoot at the edge of the driveway, small suns in a firmament of blue-gray stone.
Vimeo
Get Creative With A Bad Digital Photograph
Using a bad digital photograph to make something creative and artistic is an idea that I have plenty of raw material available to work with.
Everyone takes a bad picture from time to time; in fact, some of us take more bad ones than good ones.
Now I'm not referring pictures that didn't quite capture exactly what you wanted; I'm talking about the real muffs, out of focus, badly over or under exposed, just plain bad. But before you give them the heave-ho try to think creatively, outside the box that is, and you just might be able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
The picture above is a disaster; but check out this article and see what the photographer did to salvage a bad digital photograph using Photoshop.
I think it's pretty interesting and perhaps printing it on some rough artist's watercolor paper would render it nicely. The only other thing I would have done would be to straighten the picture out so it's level.
Then again perfection isn't the goal here.
Take a camera with you whenever possible, and look around, you'll find a picture somewhere.
Source: digital-photography-school.com
Let Your Worries Go
Financial worries. You may be familiar with the feeling. Northwestern Mutual has a simple solution. Let them go! You can launch your worries to outer space, over land, into the sky, or under water.
Just select your worries, put them in a vehicle, and launch. I know, it''s too simple and it probably won''t help. But you have to agree, it''s a well done way of advertising.
Airbus A380 Cockpit
A panoramic look inside the cockpit of an Airbus A380.
Color creeps
Soon color will begin creeping into the forest. The unremitting gray and tan of winter in the Roundrock woods will begin to green, then the first, tiny wildflowers will dare to raise their colorful flowers to the sun. Some will have come out even before the green leaves of the trees. The duckweed will spread across the pond, soon covering the surface with a brilliant green that will mature into a more sober green as the summer progresses. The spring wildflowers will transition to the summer wildflowers. The birds of many colors will appear in the forest (or they have been there all along but only lately put on their colorful plumage).
Every year I find something new under the sun in my woods. New to me, anyway. That’s always rewarding because it means there is more for me to experience there. I found the stump of a cut tree the last time I was out. It’s been there longer than I have been coming to the woods, but I only found it the first time recently.
The green above is in the small pool below the overflow outlet at the base of the dam. Right now it is the most colorful place at Roundrock. I hope to bring you the pageant of colors all summer long.
Missouri calendar:
- Listen for western chorus frogs; sound is like a thumbnail run along a comb.
- Killdeer begin arriving.
- Georg Wendelin Wall was born in Switzerland on this date in 1811. He came to St. Louis as a Lutheran missionary and founded a synod there that evolved and is now known as the United Church of Christ.
Safari wear, for everyday.
The perfect safari jacket. Safari Jacket, $50 (on sale) at Bloomingdale's It's animal print, but it's not bold animal print. So if you want to rock the trend and are a little shy, stick to this. Plus the tunic shape is fabulous! Animal-print tunic, $29 at Newport-News The perfect way to incorporate a little animal print into your outfit. Snakeskin print resin bangle, $34 at J. Jill What would a safari be without an amazing sun hat? Helen Kaminski Mischa Organza Sun Hat, $89 at Neiman Marcus
Remember: Don't add more than one animal print together and if you are doing a really bold print, just use one piece. You can layer a few bangles together and that would look great. Try an animal print scarf with your safari jacket or add a pop with orange or bright green.
What is your risk?
The Risky Business Blog recommends that you go through your place of business and find anything that might cause someone to get hurt, or to damage their vehicle, or were your employees can do damage.
We live in a lawsuit happy society and you must protect yourself because there is people our there just looking for an excuse to file a lawsuit against you.
Find ways that you can reduce the risk. Make sure you have plenty of warning signs at any point were there could be a problem. Make sure your employees are thoroughly trained on what to do and how to do it.
You can never eliminate the possibilities of a lawsuit, but you can try to lessen any possible liabilities you have by taking action. The last thing you want is to loose your business because someone fell down in your store. Do everything you can to protect you and your business.
Hilarious Hillary Nutcracker
I almost cracked up laughing when I stumbled upon The Hillary Nutcracker. This (very) functional nutcracker was apparently designed by someone who wanted to show their appreciation for the lady''s robust persona. Now why would you want to buy one? One, because it makes for interesting discussion. Two, it is really a nutcracker - so if you are planning to buy one, why not get one that is guaranteed to be unique?
So watcha waiting for? Round up those tough nuts and see how they crack under the nutcracker''s steel grip. Available from Amazonfor $22.
The Ring: fruitbowl or . . . ?
While these look a little too much like toilet seats for my taste, there''s no arguing how practical they might be in a small minimilist apartment.
Fruit is put into the opening at the top and can be taken out at the bottom. At both sides openings are located to show the amount of remaining fruit. "Due to its perviousness to air and its eco-friendliness, porcelain is particularly suitable as a fruit bowl." Who knew?
Concept designed by Joung Myung Lee. Via Yanko Design.
Cold road
A chilly scene of winter, something many folks here in the Midwest are familiar with right now, though this photo was taken nearly a year ago.
I had taken a solo trek to Roundrock, thinking that my life was incomplete without having seen my woods with a blanket of snow. As I recall, by the end of the afternoon, I was seriously reconsidering how important that ambition was.
I took this photo on my hike out of Roundrock. Because of the ice, I had left the truck parked about a mile and a half away and had hiked in to our woods. That was fine since the physical activity of the walking kept me plenty warm. But the road was glazed with ice so I had to tromp through the tall grass beside it, which required me to lift my feet high with each step, out of the deepish snow and tallish grass. It was slow and tiring work. But I had to see my own forest filled with snow after all.
I think the cold scoffed at my ambition, for I remember feeling that the view of the snowy woods was not as inspiring as I imagined. I wandered about Roundrock a good bit, seeing the slopes and ravines and the ice covered lake. I tried sitting in the weak light to eat my lunch and drink me tea (unsweetened, of course). And all the while I remember being cold. If I stopped moving for very long, I began to shiver. Cold, with an hour hike back to the truck before I could hope to get warm again.
I didn’t linger in the woods that day, but I did think that if I stayed in the trees, it would have some protection from the icy wind that blew across my neighbor’s open field and sought any gap in my clothes. Walking in the snowy woods, bushwhacking in the snowy woods, proved about as slow going as striding through the tall grass had been, so despite the malevolent wind, I got myself on our road. I could walk straight out that way, without diverting around fallen trees or getting tripped by blackberry canes hidden in the snow.
The photo above is looking west. I’m not sure if you can see it but the left side of the roadway is filled with a trail of deer tracks. It looked as though a half dozen deer needed to get somewhere by the most direct round and marched in single file along the road. That would have left them exposed to predators, but could they have known that hunting season was long ended? Or were they, like me, more interested in getting to their destination than enjoying the forest? Far ahead in the photo is the little pond we have. When the deer reached this, they left the road and crossed the dam, heading back into the trees. Had it not been so bitingly cold, I might have followed the tracks to see where they lead. (But, really, where would they have lead? Probably just across miles and miles of snowy ground, and I’m sure I would have given up before following the tracks to some deer haven.)
Somehow I managed to get back to my truck that day, and I eventually found some warmth. I still want to see my woods filled with snow, and I’m sure I will some day, but I hope the conditions are less of a threat to my long term plans (continuing to live) when I can.
Missouri calendar:
- A snowfall acts as insulation, protecting the animals beneath.
Cranberries and New England's fall staple
The cranberry has a starring role in the agricultural history of Massachusetts and New England. It’s still a major crop in Mass., as well as Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Maine and many other U.S. states and Canadian provinces. (Other states/provinces: don’t flame me ‘cuz I called them New England’s fall staple. I know you have them too. I just happen to live in New England!)
Around this time of year, the pea-sized red berries get a lot of attention. It’s harvest time, and a lot of folks drive the backroads of southeastern Mass., hoping to catch a glimpse of cranberries being harvested. And now’s the time that you start seeing fresh cranberries at the market, and of course Thanksgiving is sort of the Superbowl of cranberries.
There are four native species of cranberry in the genus Vaccinium, but it’s primarily the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) that causes all this fuss. Blueberries and huckleberries are also part of the Vaccinium genus, which is part of the Ericaceae family that also includes rhododendrons, azaleas, heaths, and heathers. Lest you think I’m a botanical Latin name-dropper, I’m mostly mentioning it to make the point that due to their shared Ericaceae heritage, all of these plants share the need for soil with a more acidic pH than other plants.
In the wild, V. macrocarpon prefer moist, swampy soils, which is why they are cultivated in bogs. They are low-growing and shrubby, nearly a groundcover, with pink flowers that bloom in summer and leathery, evergreen leaves. They are well-loved by all types of wildlife; honeybees and butterflies love their abundant nectar and birds love their berries.
Native inhabitants called them sassamanesh, ibimi, or atoqua. It was European settlers that first called them crane-berries either because (depending on which tale you believe) they are a favorite food of cranes or their flowers are shaped like a crane’s neck and head. The Natives saved European settlers from starving to death by teaching them how to mix dried cranberries and deer meat to make pemmican, sort of an early trail mix, and legend has it that cranberries were served at the first Thanksgiving. (Yup–they cranked open a can and popped out a roll of can-shaped jelly, just like we do!!! Kidding.)
I do feel that cranberries are culinarily unappreciated–we seem to only eat them dried, or in muffins, juice, or the aforementioned can-shaped jelly–and even then only at Thanksgiving. There’s a world of ways to cook them, though…check out fellow blogger Geraldine’s cranberry “chip” cookies, which substitute dried crans for chocolate chips, or her recipe for cranberry mandarin Christmas loaf, a great substitute for fruitcake. And there’s a whole slew of recipes at the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association website, which has a lot of uses for fresh and frozen berries.
Where to get them? Support an organic farmer, and order fresh, frozen, or dried organic cranberries from Plymouth, Mass.-based Cranberry Hill Organic Farm’s online store.
More on cranberries in my next post, where I’ll write about cranberry farming methods. I’m hoping to visit some bogs this weekend, and if the photo gods are smiling, I’ll have some pictures.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia/Agricultural Research Service/USDA.
Do You Abide By Dating Rules?
I've heard about all of these rules that are out there regarding dating. There is the "wait three days to call rule", for example, in which the guy is supposed to do the calling but he's supposed to wait three days before making the call in order to keep the girl interested. Although, in my experience, men don't actually wait three days. They tell you that they know they are "supposed to" wait three days .... which they tell you in a phone call made the night of the date or the following day. Perhaps that's what the real rule is and I just haven't been kept up to date.
In any case, there are all sorts of rules that are supposedly dictate relationships, rules about everything from what to wear to when to have sex. As for me, I've never bothered to learn the rules well enough to play by them. I'm kind of a "this is what I want, take me or leave me" kind of personality. But I hear that a lot of people play by these rules. So do you play by them? Are there certain ones that you play by and others you don't? And how do you decide?
I Really Don't Want Anything for Christmas
Don't get me wrong. I want stuff just like anyone else. But I don't want much. And I don't generally want things that anyone would buy me for a Christmas gift. I usually want either big things that are too expensive for anyone to buy as a gift, or very small things that most people would think are insubstantial to give as a gift. No one's going to spring for a trip to Europe for me, and probably no one's going to think that Post-It Notes are a sufficient gift (despite my love of them).
What I don't want are things that clutter my life, like random electronic gadgets, or clothes that I like just enough to keep even though I wouldn't have bought them myself (and also would have some guilt getting rid of). I don't mean to be Scroogey about it; I appreciate the sentiment. I just don't want the stuff.
I've worked hard over the last year or so especially to try to rid myself of physical/mental junk, and I try to keep a running tickler in my head that pulls me back when I am tempted to buy something that will get limited use or that I know will cause me regrets later. Then Christmas comes, and the stuff shows up.
I have asked anyone buying for me (which is thankfully fewer people than it used to be thanks to my bad personality) to please either make a donation in my name somewhere, or buy me things like tickets to events-something that I'll appreciate but that will not occupy an eternal space in my physical surroundings. Sometimes these wishes are granted; other times they are completely ignored.
Is it somehow wrong to NOT want Christmas gifts? Is our society so attached to the gift-giving aspect of Christmas that to not want gifts is to somehow be ungrateful? I sometimes sense that reaction, and I can't tell if I'm a jerk or just an anomaly.
(The photo on this post is from krisdecurtis.)
What Goes Around Comes Around
A panoramic view from inside a washing machine by Robert Serra.
More panoramic pictures at VRMAG.
Danger stump
When we first started coming to the woods, this stump was freshly cut. There was still bark on the trunk and plenty of spring in the bent wood. It was a dangerous stump indeed.
This stump is at Fallen Timbers, along the north property line. It was left by the loggers who had foraged the forest looking for trees they could sell as lumber. The prior owner had hired them to make what money he could from the forest before he sold it to us, I guess.
The loggers cut down many trees that they left behind. Most were hollow, which I guess is something you can’t reliably determine before you cut into a tree. This tree, on the other hand, was not hollow, but they left it behind too. I suppose it was too thin to become a good lumber tree, but that should have been evident before they cut it.
The trouble with this stump is that it is still attached to the tree, and the join is under tension. If one were to begin cutting at the bent join, the tree could snap back at the cutter with a great deal of force. Today the term “stump jumping” is used to describe a kind of mountain biking, but in pioneer days it referred to the sometimes unpredictably way a tree could fall or jump from its stump when cut. Lumberjacks could be killed when this would happen.
I don’t think that would happen with this tree. As dry as it is now, and with as much rot as it has gone through in the last decade, I don’t think there is much tension left in it. I think I could safely cut it free, but why? Nothing would be gained by dropping the tree to the ground. I suppose it would rot away sooner, but so what?
I think I’d rather visit this tree periodically and see how it is progressing on getting the job done by itself. Someday I may come to the woods and find it has broken free and fallen to the forest floor itself.
Missouri calendar:
- The Missouri Natural Events Calendar is blank for today.
White Mane and The Red Balloon
"The stories are simple, fablelike; the heroes are boys; the subject in each case is the purity and power of a child''s imagination; and the tone of both films is that of open-mouthed wonder," writes Terrence Rafferty in the New York Times. "Yet these movies are also shot through with a very adult melancholy, an awareness that life tends not to measure up to the glorious pictures in our minds. The young are enchanted by White Mane and The Red Balloon. Grown-ups, who know too well how fragile this beauty is, are likely to cry."
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium
"Everything is wrong with this film," writes Charles Mudede in the Stranger. "In it, zero is new; dead tired are its plot, imagery, themes, and acting. The movie wants to look and feel fresh, but it instead presents us with a series of heavy corpses: the corpse of the music, the corpse of the set design, the corpse of the dialogue. Even the special effects are not special."
Oprah's YouTube Channel
So, here ya go - Oprah''s YouTube channel.
For more daily new posts visit www.poponthepop.com
A Canadian visitor
My friend and co-editor at qarrtsiluni, Beth Adams, has yet to visit Plummer’s Hollow. But other part-time residents of Quebec fly over twice a year, and sometimes they drop in for a quick bite. This one did, and got a bit more hospitality than she bargained for. See the complete story Beth Adams.
*
It looks taller, now,
that little pine where the eagle
straightened her feathers.
Older Blog Entries 1 2 3 4