Backyard Bebop

Santa Monica

2010-12-10T11:15:00.012-07:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Michael and I took a trip to Santa Monica, CA, to see an old friend - old, only in the sense that we have known him for a long time. His name is Stephen Grosscup, and he lives on the top floor of the Pacific Plaza, the twin-towered building on the right in the photo above. (Click on photos for a larger image)

Stephen and doggie friend in front of Pacific Plaza

We arrived very early Saturday morning, and took a taxi to our hotel, The Georgian, the turquoise building to the left of the Pacific Plaza, where we enjoyed breakfast on the ocean view terrace.

Breakfast view

Pigeons on the terrace

Later that day, we took a walk out onto the famous Santa Monica Pier. The pier, and views from it, below.

Below is the view from Stephen's apartment. This was taken on Sunday morning, when the sun was out. It's looking north, up the coast to Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

From the 16th floor

Earlier that morning, we had gone for a stroll along that green space to the left of Ocean Boulevard, Palisades Park. The plant life is spectacular, and so is the view. Below the palisades (those steep cliffs) runs State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway.

Palisades Park

Eucalyptus trees

Looking north toward Malibu

Looking south toward Los Angeles

Hanging on for dear life

Looking west

Michael and the giant jade plant

Gnarly!

The only souvenirs we brought home were wonderful memories of a great time with Stephen, and some eucalyptus seed pods which we gathered from the ground in the park, although on Saturday we had walked into the Santa Monica shopping district to see if we could find any small Christmas gifts. We wandered inside a store called Kitson. It was full of (high-priced) eclectic, cutesy, trendy stuff, but nothing we wanted for stocking stuffers, and we left empty handed.

It was only when we returned home that I realized how derrière la garde we were not to have purchased something from the store. According to an article in the November 30th Wall Street Journal, Kitson is the store where Britney Spears bought baby clothes! And to think that we could have come home with pair of $395 Diddy Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, whatever that is, and didn't!

I guess we'll just have to go back.

Winner!

2010-12-09T09:43:00.004-07:00

Now that winners in the various categories have been officially announced, it can be told: I won! I entered a contest called "Get Caught Reading The Dinosaur Hunter" which author Homer Hickam and his wife, Linda, promoted on their Facebook pages. Since I've read most of Hickam's other books, Rocket Boy, Back to the Moon, I thought I would give his newest a try. It's great fun. Set in the badlands of Montana, it tells the story of a retired LA detective, Mike, who moves to Montana to work on a cattle ranch and fall in love with the ranch's owner, Jeanette. Along comes a paleontologist who wants access to the ranch to dig for dinosaur bones, and pretty soon, trouble ensues.

Once I'd finished the book, I thought I would enter the contest, and made a little photo-video. I had great fun making it. Thank goodness I saved my grown sons' toys.

Re-bopping

2010-12-08T12:05:00.008-07:00

I've re-taken up the camera and the keyboard and started posting again, so be on the lookout for more regular articles.

Today, while taking Matilda the Welsh Pembroke Corgi for her morning walk, I decided to climb a hill. It's only a construction hill, build about two years ago by digging a big hole in the ground nearby for a drainage pond. I think the builders had hoped to put some kind of retail store there, but then - well, everybody knows what happened in late 2008.

Anyway, the hill is dotted with mice holes, which Matilda loves to poke her nose in, so that was fun for her, and we did some exploring. Atop the hill is a great view of our area. Looking southwest, we saw this. That is the drainage pond down at the bottom right.

(Click on all photos for a larger image)

Looking due west, toward Boulder, this is the view:

Here is the view to the northwest:

Turning around to the east, it's a completely different story:

Up at the top of the hill, Matilda found something. I just finished reading Homer Hickam's latest book, The Dinosaur Hunter, so I was sort of halfway hoping I had stumbled on an artifact from "deep time." Alas, while it may have come from semi-deep time (the last few hundred years or so), it was not a dinosaur bone. It probably got dug up from the drainage pond, and re-deposited on the top of the hill on which Matilda and I were standing. I'm pretty sure it's a cattle jaw bone, although it could be from a horse. This was, and mostly still is, ranching territory, but as you can see from the photos, our immediate area is suburb territory.

The bone is rapidly disintegrating, and is very flaky. Most of the cavities are filled with dirt, and parts of the jaw have fallen off, as well as some of the teeth. I collect stuff like this, so I brought it on home. Where I'll put it, I don't know. Perhaps I can turn it into a Christmas tree decoration . . . or not.

In any case, Matilda and I had fun. We'll be back tomorrow with more exciting tales of discovery. Until then, Happy Trails!

Summertime!

2010-06-10T17:22:00.005-06:00

Today is the hottest one so far this year out here. The forecasters were predicting 95-plus degrees for a high. It's not gotten that high yet; probably closer to 90. And that's good.

Because our air conditioner is broken.

And they won't come to fix it until late tomorrow or Tuesday.

The fan on the outdoor unit won't turn.

Wait...update. Our resident repairman (the spouse) just went outside and manually spun the fan to kick start the thing. It's turning! Now we will see whether it starts to cool us off.

If it does, we won't need it again until after next Tuesday anyway. The high tomorrow will be in the mid-70s, and the high on Saturday will be 55, with rain.

Matilda has a Sheep

2010-03-24T10:35:00.003-06:00

It's a stuffed one, but she loves it anyway. Here it keeps her company while she has a nice chew.

This is what a Corgi looks like from the back.

Springtime in the Rockies

2010-03-24T10:13:00.003-06:00

Four p.m. March 23, 2010.

Once More Into the Vat

2010-03-18T19:31:00.008-06:00

Dear friends of Janet Oliver Studio,

In the words of Bartles & Jaymes, "Thank you for your support!"

Like Frank and Ed, it is my aim to make a premium product. I feel I have done that, but it seems people just aren't buying wine coolers - er, original art - these days. But, while times are hard, I continue to hold out hope that one day, more people like you will appreciate the value of all the hard work that goes into making a delicious drink/painting and will bring home a four-pack for themselves. Until then, I'll keep stomping away!

And of course, there are many ways to use original art; for instance, as a topping! Over ice! Try it for yourself and see.

First Friday

2010-03-05T14:07:00.005-07:00

Vienna, View from The Leopold Museum

Die Pferde des Kaisers Karl/Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School

Reconstructing Paris/Anarcho Plumbing

Pont Neuf at Night

Ternay Under Glass

My new series, Tiny Travels, opens tonight at Gallery 510 in the Oregon Arts of Dayton, Ohio.

It's Shake n' Bake, and Matilda Helped!

2010-02-09T18:58:00.004-07:00

Freudian Nebula in the Ringstrasse Galaxy

Actually, it was bubble wrap, but Matilda did help. Today I packaged up twenty of my drawings of my new series Tiny Travels for delivery to a gallery in Dayton, Ohio (I'm waiting for the twenty-first to dry).

Many of my readers will remember Sara Cogswell, who worked for the Weatherspoon Museum, and then for Gallery 115, and you will also remember that she and her husband Will South moved to Dayton so that Will could begin his new job as a curator for the Dayton Art Institute.

Sara now works for another gallery with a numerical name, Gallery 510, and that is where my series is headed. The drawings will be on exhibition beginning March 5. Above is an image of the penultimate drawing. As I began drawing, I discovered the creatures that now inhabit it. As I continued to flesh them out, I wondered how it would fit into the series. They seemed to bubble up out of my subconscious, with no particular relation to the trip I took, until I remembered that Vienna was the birthplace of Sigmund Freud, and so the drawing became the "Freudian Nebula," birthplace of cosmic psychoanalysis.

Speaking of bubbles, I ran out of bubble wrap mid-way through the packaging process so I headed out to the office supply store to pick up some more. When I brought it home, Matilda the Pembroke Welsh Corgi told me she could help me open the package. And so she did.

Matilda Kills the Wubba

2010-01-14T19:08:00.003-07:00

Finally! More Matilda, the Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy!

Matilda is now almost nine months old. She is a teenager in dog years, which means that some days she is the most adorable creature on earth; on others, she wants to steal the car keys and go for a joy ride. Her unpredictability makes our lives interesting.

A Wubba is a dog toy made by the Kong company. It consists of two balls with squeakers inside, all covered by practically indestructible canvas. In this video installment, Matilda shows off her killer instincts.

In the Making

2010-01-12T16:17:00.007-07:00

Rise and Shine, Breakfast in Vienna

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the year twenty-ten, where I have been very busy creating new worlds. There are sixteen so far, with at least five more to come. That's one of them above, and another one below.

Vienna, View from the Leopold

Here is one more.Tativille, View from Le Meridien

These little images are part of a new series I call Tiny Travels. I am making them to commemorate a trip I took to France and Austria in 2006. I have big plans for the series, which I will reveal shortly. For now, I hope you will enjoy the sixteen small worlds I have made.

Click here to see them.

All You Need is Art

2009-11-17T15:42:00.005-07:00

And I have some for you. In December, I will have works not only at Gallery 115, but also at the Green Hill Center for NC Art.

Lynn and David Gibbs, owners of Gallery 115 on Pomona Drive will be hosting their annual Winter Show. Opening night is Friday, December 4. As always, along with familiar faces, new artists will exhibit. I've sent two new works:

Opteron Two
5 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Strathmore illustration board

Opteron Three
5 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Strathmore illustration board

Green Hill Center for NC Art will be hosting their 30th annual Collector's Choice Gala and Winter Show. According to the press release, the focus of the show is on "young and first time collectors" in order to support Green Hill's First Works program. Curator Edie Carpenter says that the Center "want(s) everyone to become a collector, no matter what their budget or what the economy is doing.” She goes on to argue that even if you "have less money...why not invest it in something unique and handmade, something that is one of a kind, and something that will increase in value." Carpenter assures the would-be collector that works in the exhibition have been priced to fit any budget. I say, go in with a friend and split the cost. The work can live chez vous for half the year, and with your friend for the other half.

Opening night for Collector's Choice Gala is Saturday, December 5th; the Winter Show opens to the public on Sunday, December 6th, when admission is free.

Some of my birds have migrated over for the exhibition:

Snow Goose
12 x 9" (image)
Mixed media on Bristol board

What better way to start the holiday season than a weekend of gallery (s)hopping?

Here She Goes a-Potato-ing

2009-11-01T13:01:00.003-07:00

Matilda the Corgi puppy helps me make dinner.

Day Two of the Blizzard of October Oh-Nine

2009-10-29T20:24:00.006-06:00

Some images from the biggest storm to hit during the month of October in all of Colorado history. I'm exaggerating, but we've only been here two and half years.

The Matilda Plow

The Hostess Sno-Ball Outdoor Furniture Line

Circuit box

Air conditioner with a new 'do

There's a car under there somewhere

Bird Feeder

There's a tree under there somewhere

View from front porch

The roof of our house - check out the icicle in the corner

Do you think she's had enough yet?

Let it Snow

2009-10-28T20:05:00.003-06:00

It started snowing last night around 7:00. It kept up all night and all today. Matilda the Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy loved it. There is almost a foot of it on the ground.

Even More Matilda!

2009-09-20T12:58:00.002-06:00

Wherein she finds a green water snake in her kiddie pool.

Play Ball!

2009-09-19T14:09:00.005-06:00

As promised, new video of Matilda, the Corgi puppy. Corgis are herding dogs, but Matilda doesn't have access to a herd of cows, a flock of sheep, or even a flock of geese. She is scared of those.

What she does have is a $2.00 beach ball from Wal-Mart, onto which I drew a cow face. Matilda loves telling it what to do and where to go.

(Un)steady as She Goes

2009-09-18T13:51:00.003-06:00

This is my brain on drugs.

I haven't posted for a month, since August 21st, when I wished everyone a Happy Friday. That Sunday, August 23rd, I woke to find my world spinning. It's been downhill ever since.

It turns out I had a case of vestibular neuritis, an inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear. The main symptom is extreme vertigo. Definitely had that; I couldn't sit or stand without feeling as if I were falling. A two-week course of prednisone alleviated the vertigo, but, as anyone who has ever taken steroids knows, they bring their own set of side-effects. Inability to sleep and an EXTREME! energy boost were the two that affected me the most.

Most mornings I would be wide awake at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Whatever needed (or didn't need) doing, I did it. I baked, made lunches, and made dinners - all before anybody else woke up, including the dog. I dusted, vacuumed, mopped, and cleaned. And I do mean cleaned. By golly, I reckon I scrubbed those faucets so hard to where they didn't say "Hot" nor "Cold" no more. I also watched way too much crappy late-nite TV. Although I have to say "Reno 911" is very funny...

I even rearranged almost the entire house. I turned our formerly nearly useless living room, which is in the front of the house, into a cozy sitting room, mostly by bringing in furniture from other rooms. Moving as I was at hummingbird-like speeds, it only took a few hours. Once I did that, one of my sons suggested that the TV/movie room would look better if it were rearranged, too. That was all the motivation I needed. It's been moved a little to the left.

Now that I'm off the steroids, the hyper-energized state I was in is waning. What I'm left with is exhaustion, and a queasy quandary about which might be worse - the upside or the downside. Right now, I'll settle for a balance between the two.

Tomorrow - more video of Matilda, the Corgi puppy!

Happy Friday everyone!

Happy Friday, Everybody

2009-08-21T14:40:00.001-06:00

Let's all get out there and do something fun! Like bobbing for Pup-a-Roni in a kiddie pool after herding the ball.

Whole Shopping, or, Not with My Money, You Don't

2009-08-18T18:58:00.008-06:00

Yesterday I wrote about a company (CIT Bank) that made me mad when it changed the terms of our contract and raised the interest due on the outstanding balance of my Dell account. I was very unhappy with the development, and rightly so.

However, I did not mean to imply that I was against the company acting "all corporation-y" (watch at your own peril) or that I was complaining about so-called abuses of capitalism. I'm sure that somewhere in our original contract is a clause that gives the financial institution the right to change the terms whenever economic conditions necessitate. It's probably in the very small print that most of us don't read. That's fine. It's also fine that the company exercised that clause.

It's even more fine that I exercised my option to cancel the contract. The company took the risk that I would when they raised my interest rates. It is definitely too bad, though. I have never had a problem with Dell products. I still don't. It's their financing division that I complained about.

Today is a different story. Many of you may have heard about an op-ed piece written for the Wall Street Journal by John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods. In the article, Mackey, who is a libertarian, proposed a free-market health care alternative to the one being pushed by our current administration. He has come under fire for speaking his mind (and no doubt for daring to challenge the current proposal), and for challenging what seems to be the prevailing view that health care is a right.

Those who disagree with Mackey's views have vowed to boycott Whole Foods, thereby cutting off their hummus to spite their falafels. They have every right to do so. A boycott is one of the surest ways to get one's opinions across about how a company is performing. It hits them where it hurts, in their balance sheets. I decided to boycott Dell, or at least CIT Bank, didn't I?

I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and I read Mackey's piece. The link to his op-ed article is here. Read and decide for yourselves. In it, Mackey states: "Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This 'right' has never existed in America."

I agree with Mackey. So, instead of boycotting Whole Foods, I decided to champion them. I can't afford to shop them every day, but they have stuff I want, and stuff I need. I should say that one of the things that I have discovered about this neck of the woods is that I don't like the grocery stores here. If you have ever shopped at the Taj - Ma - Teeter on Friendly Avenue in Greensboro, you will know what I am missing. And the blue laws in Colorado are such that I can't even buy wine in the grocery stores I do shop in!!!

This morning I had to go into town (Boulder). While there, I visited the newly rennovated Whole Foods store on Pearl Street. I am gluten intolerant (the stuff I need), and Whole Foods has loads of GF products, and they are all extremely yummy. They are a bit pricey, but since time is money, and since I don't have time to do as much baking as I would like, today I spent my money instead. The Whole Foods products are worth it.

I also bought all the items I have not been able to find in the Safeway or the King Soopers (the stuff I want). Such as: really good salsa and very thin, crispy tortilla chips, some beautiful fresh basil, two gorgeous swordfish steaks, some Szechuan peppercorns (I have a recipe for a smoked chicken that uses these, which absolutely cannot be made without them), and some gluten free baked goods. I know I could have gotten some of these items in a farmers' market, but it is only open one day of the week, and today wasn't that day. And it is not open in the winter months.

Speaking of open air markets, I dream of the ones I shopped at in France in 2006. Never in my life have I been so overwhelmed by the choices. I like food, can you tell? But I digress.

Whole Foods has a dedicated gluten free bakery in Durham, NC. They make these:

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes! They also make chocolate ones!

I also found this from a local Denver bakery, Udi's:

Gluten Free White Bread!

And guess what? It's soft! Most GF breads have to be toasted to be palatable. This one claimed it didn't. But I was skeptical. As soon as I got it home, I opened the bag, took out a slice, and gave it a sniff. Good. Then I twisted it. Better - it was soft. I held my breath while I loaded up a slice with peanut butter. I folded it, and took a bite. OMG. Or as Homer Simpson would say, "aarrrmmmph, aarrrmmmph, aarrrmmph." For twenty years I have been craving a gummy peanut butter sandwich. The kind that gobs up in your mouth when you eat it. And today I got it.

I grilled the swordfish for dinner. I served it with a chimmichuri sauce made from the fresh basil. It was delicious. I think I will have a cupcake for dessert.

Not all corporations are "corporation-y." The one run by John Mackey is one of the best ones I know. Whole Foods gives its customers choices - lots of them. It doesn't force you to buy the $15.00 a pound swordfish. But it offers it to you if you want it. It doesn't make you buy their house brand of canned artichoke hearts, but it sits on the shelf if you want it. It doesn't tell you that you need its goat cheese, fresh spinach, locally grown yams, fresh anchovies, grass-fed beef, warm baguettes, Indian breads, fresh pizza dough, or gluten free cupcakes. But they are all right there if you want them, and are willing to pay the price.

Today, I was, and I did. Tomorrow I might need to go to Costco for my paper towels and my olive oil. But it's my choice. And I'm glad I can still make it.

Signs of the Times

2009-08-17T16:23:00.001-06:00

Janet Oliver

2221 Dogwood Drive

Erie, CO 80516

August 17, 2009

DFS Customer Care/Terms Change

P. O. Box 81567

Austin, Texas 78708-1567

Re: Account # xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

Gentlemen:

I received a letter today from CIT Bank, c/o Dell Financial Services, to the effect that the Standard and Default Annual Percentage Rate on my account is being raised to Prime + 20.24% and Prime + 24.74%, constituting an increase of 8% and 12%, respectively, for an average of 10% annually.

The outstanding balance on my account today is $4,357.68, which would mean I would pay out approximately $435.00 more over the coming 12 months. This is entirely unacceptable, and I hereby Reject those changes to my account. I have already placed a phone call to Dell Financial Services to request that my account be closed. This letter is a follow up to that phone call.

As a long-standing and very loyal Dell customer, I would like to take this opportunity to express my extreme displeasure at this action by Dell Financial Services, and CIT Bank. Since 1992, I and my family have purchased only Dell products, the most recent purchase being a netbook which I bought from Best Buy for my sons to take with them on an overseas trip. While at the store, I had every opportunity to choose another brand, such as HP, but I didn’t. I maintained my loyalty to Dell.

You should also know that a portion of the balance on my account is there because I bought a Dell computer for my mother-in-law for her birthday a few years ago. She was extremely surprised and very happy with the gift.

In addition, as a newly unhappy Dell customer, I think it important for you to know that it was not a good idea for CIT Bank to try to increase their cash income by the use of this tactic. But I suppose the $2.33 Billion the Federal Reserve gave them from the Troubled Asset Relief Program didn’t quite add up, so they have resorted to pilfering from Dell. For shame.

The good news is that my younger son just made his own computer. It’s bigger, better, faster, and cheaper than anything we have ever purchased from Dell. In the future, should any member of my family wish to upgrade, we know who to ask.

Regards,

Janet Oliver

Cross-blogging

2009-08-16T21:26:00.003-06:00

Thought I would let all my readers know that another blog, The Drex Files, has posted an entry written by Lauren about the architecture of Takamatsu Shin, which he and Bret saw while in Tokyo and Kyoto. To read, click here.

Last week was a busy one, but I should have some new posts of my own soon. Plus, new video of you-know-who!

Bringin' in the Sheaves

2009-08-07T18:41:00.006-06:00

I read somewhere that Corgis need jobs. They are herd dogs, and will quickly become bored without something to occupy their extremely active minds. They were bred to push around animals much bigger than they are. In fact, the reason that Corgis are so low to the ground is because the kicks from cattle and horses are higher than they are, and will not touch the dogs when they are performing their herding duties - nipping at the beasts' heels.

Our ankles have provided ample stand-in for Bossie and Ole' Paint, but since none of us can run away and kick out at the same time, no damage has ensued to the dog. This is not to say that our ankles have come away unscathed, however. But since we have no other substitute for a flock, or a herd, or a gaggle, and since we are running out of Band-Aids, we knew we had to give Matilda some other outlet for her inborn tendencies. She has a big beach ball that she chases around, and puts into place in a corner of the backyard, but we think she sees this as more fun than duty, and seems to be tiring of it. She needed a real job.

Matilda came up with the idea for her job herself. She taught it to herself, too, and can't wait to perform it every morning. After her breakfast, Matilda waits by the front door for my signal.

"Paper," I say. Then this is what happens:

The Goldfinch

2009-08-05T12:13:00.001-06:00

As we returned from our morning walk, Matilda and I heard some beautiful birdsong. We both looked around for the source and discovered the golden warbler presented here:

Going to Seed

2009-08-04T19:53:00.005-06:00

Today, I took a walk up to our neighborhood pond, without the dog. I know, you all want to see Matilda, and I promise I will upload some video of her soon. At this point, I am too busy training her to be able to actually record her. I have included a recent photo, above, as an appeasement.

This afternoon was warm, and a bit breezy. I'm hoping the wind brings some cooler weather, but in any event, the wildflower season is waning, with most of the plants doing what they can to ensure that next year brings a bumper crop - to wit - sending out seeds. The wind today certainly helped.

So, in keeping with my recent lepidopteral project, I give you:

Metamorphology, continued

2009-07-28T13:45:00.006-06:00

Opteron Two, 2009

Oil crayon, oil pastel, oil paint on illustration board
5 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches

The series continues with a new image. By the time Gallery 115 's annual Winter Show rolls around in December, I should have five or seven more ready for the exhibition.

The first in this series was donated to a silent auction to benefit the works of the Hirsch Wellness Network. That auction takes place on Saturday, August 8 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Gallery 115. For more information, call Lynn Gibbs at 336.856.0815.

Tomorrow: More Japan diary with Baumkuchen and Mr. Donut!

Our Men in Japan - Day Thirteen - Oklahoma City

2009-07-19T18:27:00.004-06:00

The downside of travel is always the return, it seems. There is the inevitable delay and the missed connection. And the plane gets re-routed due to supposed bad weather, even though there was not a cloud in the sky.

And it all happens when you least need it; when you have a cold drink and a nice steak dinner waiting at home.

And the person behind the gate counter looks like she would eat your mother. So you don't dare ask her what your chances of getting on the next flight out are.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matilda the Corgi puppy awaits her masters' return by playing ball.

Our Men in Japan - Photo Diary, Days 11 and 12 - Kyoto and Tokyo

2009-07-18T13:37:00.008-06:00

"He say you brade runner"
Find the son in the picture
Pharaoh Building
by Takamatsu Shin
Kyoto

Kyoto Pottery Barn

Temple, Kyoto

Les Bicyclettes du Kyoto

City stream and willows, Kyoto

Kyoto Train Station

On Friday our men had the good fortune to meet the architect Takamatsu Shin (see here). It's a long story, and one that they will write down once they return, but for now I will say that it was a rare and wonderful opportunity. They had planned to spend Friday back up in Tokyo, visiting some of the sites that they had missed during their first few days there, but when the opportunity to visit the headquarters of STAA presented itself, our men switched their plans, stayed in Kyoto on Friday, then took the Shinkansen to Tokyo on Saturday. They took the Shinkansen back to Kyoto Saturday evening, from where they will leave to return to Colorado on Sunday.

View from Shinkansen

Tocho, Tokyo City Hall
From the observation deck on top, our men saw all of Tokyo

Interior, Tocho

Tokyo Tower

Earthtecture Sub 1

Takamatsu Shin
Tokyo

Our men will be sad to leave Japan. They have had a most excellent trip.

The Future is Now - Our Men in Japan, Day 10 - Kyoto

2009-07-16T19:27:00.016-06:00

Tower of Babel, still from Metropolis

The vision of the future presented in director Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece is alive and well. It lives courtesy of architect Shin Takamatsu. All the images below are his buildings. All are located in Kyoto. Our men in Japan toured them yesterday. Click on the images for a larger view.

Maruto IV

Cupola of Maruto IV

MK Station

Cella Retail Building

Cella Retail Building

Cella Retail Building

Ining' 23

Ining' 23

Week

Week

Week

Our Men in Japan - Photo Diary, Days Eight and Nine - Takayama and Miyajima

2009-07-15T19:56:00.005-06:00

The view in Takayama

Miyajima Native

Miyajima Pagoda

Our men are now in Kyoto, have access to internet, and have sent photos of their time in Takayama, and Miyajima.

Evidently, the deer on the island of Miyajima have the run of the place. Our men report that one of them ate their map of Japan.

Today (it is 11:06 a.m. Thursday, July 16th their time) our men have plans to visit as many of the architect Shin Takamatsu's buildings as they have time for.

Opteron One

2009-07-14T17:46:00.003-06:00

Sorry there are no new photos from Japan today. There was no WiFi in the ryokan in Miyajima. However, our men report a unique dining experience, as well as a very close encounter with some island deer.

No new video of Matilda the Corgi puppy either. More tomorrow, I promise. We bought her a Frisbee today...

In the meantime, I have completed the first work in a new series called Metamorphology (I know, it's not a real word). Image - including two details - above. This painting has been donated to a silent auction that will benefit the programs of an organization called the Hirsch Wellness Network and is sponsored and organized by Gallery 115.

The auction takes place on Saturday, August 8, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00p.m at the Gallery. The cause is a good one, and many local artists and artisans have donated their time and talent to the event. Hope you can make it!

More paintings in this series will be exhibited in Gallery 115's annual winter show in December, so it's back to the studio for me.

Our Men in Japan - Photo Diary, Days Six and Seven - Takayama and Shirakawa-go

2009-07-13T10:38:00.007-06:00

Restaurant sign in Takayama.

From here, our men went to , Shirakawa-go, a preserved traditional Japanese village.

One view of Shirakawa-go

Find the frog

Tomorrow it's on to Miyajima, an island south of Hiroshima, for a one-night stay in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matilda the Corgi puppy discovers something in her space that wasn't there before.

Our Men in Japan - Photo Diary, Day Five - Holiday in Hakone

2009-07-11T19:53:00.005-06:00

This one and one-half inch long fellow lives in the waterfall, above.

Hakone is a day trip from Tokyo, and a get-away spot for city dwellers. It's about 80 km southwest of Tokyo, and in the mountains. Our men report that air is dryer and cooler than in Tokyo, and is a welcome relief. They are here for only one day and night before catching a bus, then the Shinkansen (bullet train), to Takayama. Takayama is a small town located in the "Japan Alps," in the Gifu prefecture.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matilda plays with a ball. No barking this time!

Our Men in Tokyo-Japan Photo Diary, Day Four

2009-07-10T18:46:00.007-06:00

Imanishi Motoakasaka
Designed by Shin Takamatsu

Located on Odaiba

Tokyo Big Sight

The Ueno Green Club
(for Bonsai exhibitions)
also designed by Shin Takamatsu

Koban, or police station, in Tokyo

And now for some Japanese architecture. I know what and where some of these buildings are, but not all. In any case, they are all visually arresting. I have linked some of the captions to explanations, so be sure to click on them for more information. Also, clicking on the photos themselves will bring up larger images.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, Matilda the Corgi puppy decides to take a drink from the kitchen sink.

Our Men in Tokyo-Japan Photo Diary, Day Three

2009-07-09T16:02:00.004-06:00

Studio Ghibli Store
Unfortunately closed for renovations, which means that a Totoro doll will not be headed this way.

The mushroom-shaped ice comes from the hotel vending machine.
The robot who wants a drink came from a toy store, perhaps in Akihabara.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, and while we are on the subject of animated creatures and robots, here is what Matilda has been up to.

Our Men in Tokyo-Japan Photo Diary, Day Two

2009-07-08T08:51:00.004-06:00

The ubiquitous vending machine. One can purchase almost anything from these.

Phone Box

Capsule Hotel. It appears to have been taken over by squatters.

Train station. Our men report that the trains themselves are spotless.

Sensory overload

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matilda the Corgi puppy is fascinated by a potato.

今日は, Konnichiwa, Hello

2009-07-07T18:10:00.005-06:00

My two sons are in Japan for a two-week tour. This is the view from the Shiodome Media Tower, which houses the Park Hotel, which is where they are staying for the next three days. The photo was taken Wednesday morning, Tokyo time, at approximately 6:00 a.m. It was 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, Mountain Time, as Japan is 15 hours ahead of Colorado.

I'm hoping they bring back some of those round ice cubes (oxymoron alert) that Japanese bars are fast becoming famous for.

The orange Eiffel Tower-looking structure on the right is the Tokyo Tower, basically the world's largest antenna.

Corgis Sleep on Their Backs

2009-06-24T08:35:00.002-06:00

This is what an 8-week old puppy looks like after a 45-minute morning walk.

Matilda and the Ice Cube

2009-06-23T15:03:00.003-06:00

We took our puppy for a walk today, but the weather was hot, and so was she. When we got home, we gave her an ice cube to help cool her off. This is what she did with it.

Meet Matilda

2009-06-21T13:49:00.004-06:00

We have a new member of our family. Yesterday we brought home an eight-week old Welsh Pembroke Corgi puppy. Her name is Matilda. She likes to sleep, eat, and play with her squeaky-duck toy, and all the other stuff that puppies do. Like keep their owners awake at night. Click on the images for a larger view.

Wild Flowers

2009-06-17T19:01:00.003-06:00

Three examples of what is coming up now.

The National Flower of Scotland

2009-06-17T13:44:00.004-06:00

I went for a walk yesterday afternoon and found these. We have had lots of rain out here this spring, so I have high hopes that we will have a bumper crop of flowers later this summer. There are already hundreds of thistles.

One genus of thistle, the Cynara scolymus, is edible. We humans usually dip them in melted butter.

The Drex Files

2009-06-10T16:54:00.006-06:00

Doug Drexler

I recently discovered a blog that I like very much. In fact, I like it so much, I even wrote a post for it.

The site is maintained by Doug Drexler, a "designer, sculptor, illustrator, and an Academy Award-winning makeup artist." He is also a digital effects artist. He has worked on such films as Starman, The Cotton Club, and Dick Tracy. He is probably best known, at least to fans of the television series (see here), for his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise. He has also worked on a couple of Star Trek films.

Most of the blog posts concern the Star Trek ships of the line and the model-building of same. The photography that accompanies these posts is gorgeous. In addition, Drexler often offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of the films and television shows he has been involved with, and from time to time he writes about the history of Hollywood - great fun for a movie buff.

Drexler also posts (as all bloggers do) about some of his favorite things. One of those is comics from days past, including, naturally, Dick Tracy and one drawn by Wally Wood; readers of Calvin and Hobbes will recognize the artistic inspiration.

What Drexler doesn't write about is current events, which is one of the reasons I like it. No politics, no White House, no Congress, no crime, no ugly celebrity beach bodies, "Sexperts," or gay penguins. (You can find all of these on Foxnews.com.)

The other reason I like the blog, and this is the main one, is Drexler's optimism. It permeates everything he writes. There is no whining on "The Drex Files" - at least, not by Doug. Even when he is writing about things from the past, Drexler has his eye on future. And it's clear he has high hopes for it.

After all, he's seen it; he works there.

Visit "The Drex Files" here.

Persistence of Vision

2009-05-25T18:22:00.006-06:00

West Columbia, South Carolina. 8:30 p.m., Thursday, September 8, 1966. A thirteen-year old girl sits crossed-legged on the floor in front of a console television set.

The next year, the show she was watching has been moved to Friday nights at 10:00, but she is still there.

Four years later, that girl is sitting with her boyfriend on the porch of his landlady's house, in front of a tiny television. The original show from 1966 has been canceled after three seasons, but is in reruns.

By 1987 the girl and her boyfriend have been married for 16 years. They have a son, five years old. They are all in front of their television, in Scottsdale, Arizona, watching the next incarnation of the original series from 1966.

Greensboro, North Carolina, 1993. The couple has another son, who is four years old. The family gathers in front of their TV to watch the third version of the original series.

1995. The fourth television series to be based on the original one, debuts. Needless to say, we watch.

In 2001, the fifth, and final manifestation of the series from 1966 airs. Guess who is in front of the TV.

Midnight, May 23, 2009. An IMAX theater in Westminster, Colorado. Need I say more?

In case you haven't guessed, the series in question is Star Trek. From the time I was 13 years old (actually, almost 13) I have loved Star Trek, and everything it stands for. And just what is that? Is it what many reviewers call its "optimistic view of the future?" Is it the fact that the series depicts humans and aliens living in harmony in a quasi-utopian society where any disease can be cured with the squirt of a hypo-spray? Is it the fantastic spaceships that travel at speeds beyond the speed of light? Is it the adjustable weapons, the phasers that can stun, but not (unless set to) kill? Is it the sci-fi transporters that beam its occupants from one point to another in the blink of an eye? Is it the babes in short skirts and the guys in tight pants?

Yes.

And no.

Star Trek is so much more than a space western. While it is, and was, according to its creator, Gene Roddenberry, a morality tale, just what morality does it depict?

Several reviews of the new Star Trek movie have concentrated on the bonding-arc aspect of the main characters, Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Checkov. True, this movie is a re-boot of the original series, and as such, necessarily needs to explore how these characters came together. How they came to function as a team. How they developed their deep friendships.

O.K.

And no.

The new movie is not about the "importance of friendship." Is it not about "bonding." It is not about "teamwork." While these are all themes that run through the series, and the movies, it is not their determining aspect. These themes are not what discriminates Star Trek from say, Thelma and Louise.

Star Trek always was, and continues to be, about the individual. About what it is to be one. About what it takes to be on the bridge of a starship. Or at the head of a corporation. Or at the top of one's game.

You have to earn it.

You have to work at it. You have to be a grown-up.

A scene in the new movie illustrates this well. The young James Kirk, who is depicted early in the movie as a fatherless, rudderless, punkish, enfant terrible, manages to come on board the Enterprise, despite being put on academic probation for, in essence, cheating on what we would call an entrance exam.

His new friend, Doctor McCoy, arranges the deceit. Once Kirk is there, however, events transpire so that he merits his place. Kirk has knowledge that others do not, and he acts on that knowledge. He manages to convince the captain (Pike) that he is correct in his interpretation of the facts.

Throughout the movie, Kirk continues to grow into the role of captain of a starship. We see him take action based on ideas. All the characters do.

Yes, they all become partners, friends, comrades. But they are bonded by their mutual respect for each other's convictions, integrity, and virtue. They are joined in the enterprise of becoming human, in the very best sense of the word.

Enterprise equals action, activity, endeavor, engagement, purpose, pursuit, ambition, boldness, daring, dash, gumption, industry, initiative, resourcefulness, readiness, zeal.

After all, the ship isn't named the U.S.S. Mediocrity, now is it?

Flux

2009-05-24T18:08:00.006-06:00

It's been over a month since I last posted, and with good reason. Life has been extra-normal for the past few weeks.

First, my husband went out of town on a business trip. While that was in progress, and I had taken a few days off to mind the home front, my younger son contracted pneumonia. He's fine now, but it took him a while to recover. Then, I contracted the virus that gave him pneumonia, and the resulting bad cold kept me out of work for several more days. By that time my husband was back home, and I could get better, and return to work. Then we had a friend from Hawaii, who now lives in Washington, as a house guest.

No sooner had I done returned to work, when, as a result of the business trip, events transpired to the effect that I was out of a job.

And into a new one.

I'm now working for my husband, and his market advisory firm. From home. Have been since Thursday, May 21st. It's a wonderful transition, and one that I am still processing and settling into.

The details aren't important, but suffice it to say that the recent market turbulence, and economic chaos have actually worked in our favor. For now. We'll need to work hard to keep it that way, but we are up for it. It's almost enough to make me want to say a prayer of thanks to Ben Bernanke. Almost.

In any event, I need to get back to dinner. Now that I have a little more free time, I can indulge in one of my hobbies, cooking. Yesterday I decided that I will not buy any more food until the contents of my freezer and fridge are emptied. I made up a menu that consisted only of those items. Last night's dinner was actually a cocktail party menu - wish you could have been here!

We had a puff pastry concoction that included Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms; a dip made from left-over grilled salmon; a raw vegetable platter with an Asian dipping sauce; cheddar cheese shortbread crackers; and shrimp cocktail. All made from the bits and pieces of things sitting in cold storage.

Tonight I am making a quasi-Greek feast, with spanakopita, a grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, the requisite salad, and probably some peas. They all have some sort of Greek seasoning in common - oregano, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, etc. Should be good!

I also took some time today to update my website. I hope you will take a look: http://www.janetoliverstudio.com/home

That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll be back with a review of the latest Star Trek movie. It's AWESOME.

Dreaming Out Loud

2009-04-16T08:35:00.011-06:00

If you haven't yet heard about a woman named Susan Boyle, you will. She is a 47-year-old woman from a town near Bathgate, Scotland who recently sang for a panel of judges on the British version of American Idol, Britain's Got Talent. The video of her performance has, at last count, over 12 million hits on YouTube.

Most popular reaction to seeing Susan Boyle has concentrated on what is perceived as a disconnect between her voice and her personal appearance; as if the plain brown wrapper conceals nothing more than other equally ordinary attributes. That is, to be fair, part of the astonishment. We are so used to living in a world where "to seem" is so much more important than it is "to be," we are suspicious of the very quality that brought Susan Boyle to stand up on stage in front of hundreds of strangers (and Simon Cowell) and take her life in her own hands - passion.

Boyle sings a song from the Broadway hit Les Misérables, "I Dreamed a Dream." In the play, it is sung by Fantine, who, after being abandoned by her lover, gives birth to her daughter, Cosette. Fantine is wrongly fired from her job and forced into prostitution in order to support herself and her daughter. Fantine sings about the wretchedness of her condition:

I Dreamed a Dream

There was a time when men were kind

When their voices were soft

And their words inviting

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

This song is important to Boyle. She also dreamed a dream in time gone by - she has wanted to be a professional singer since she was 12 years old. She is the youngest of nine children, and until recently lived with her mother, who died about a year ago. She is what used to be called a spinster, an old maid. Her sole companion these days is her cat.

When you watch the video, you will see the entrenched cynicism and skepticism of the audience and the judges literally melt away as soon as Boyle begins to sing. They cannot believe what they are seeing - and hearing. But they quickly begin to believe. They want to believe. Their belief turns to guarded hope - that Boyle will hit the high notes - and their hopes are rewarded. She does it! The crowd goes wild! Yes!

The judges are shocked, surprised, amazed! But Boyle knew she could do it. She knew she had the power within herself. She has kept her dream alive. She has decided that life will not kill it, that there is still time for her dream to come true. She took her dream out of her small town, and brought it to the world stage. Susan Boyle has the courage to dream her dream in the daylight, for all to witness.

And that is what is so inspiring.

Watch Susan Boyle.

And then decide. What is your dream? How will you live it?

The Sound of Joy

2009-04-05T14:22:00.007-06:00

This is my kind of performance art:

Life imitates art:

Sunday in the Prairie with Wiley

2009-04-05T11:40:00.015-06:00

John James Audubon, Meadowlark, 1832

Since we moved out here in the summer of 2007, and I first heard the sounds, I have been trying to record the call of the Western Meadowlark. It is one of the most beautiful bird songs I've ever heard. I got my opportunity a couple of weekends ago. I also encountered a wee bit more wildlife than I originally intended.

The Meadowlark's song travels a great distance over the open prairie, and at first I had difficulty locating the source. I finally narrowed it down to a bare tree about 100 feet from where I was standing; the bird was sitting, warbling away, on a dead branch. As I was zooming in on it, I heard a rustling in the dried cattails to my right. Knowing what might be making the noises, I stopped in my tracks. I turned slowly toward the sound, and saw this guy.

As you can see, it is running away from me. That's what any wiley wild creature should do. I was not afraid of it, but it was good to know that it was afraid of me.

This bit of open space is adjacent to a golf course, however. Guess what some golfers had been doing with the coyotes?

Feeding them.

This causes the coyote to lose its fear of humans. It also causes it to approach them, in hopes of obtaining a little morsel of something. It also causes them to bite the hand of the human when nothing is forthcoming. That has happened on this very spot. A coyote snapped at a young boy who was snowboarding in this area (he was not seriously injured).

I knew what to do should the coyote approach me, and was prepared to make myself as big and as loud as possible. Most everybody out here knows this, or learns it, as soon as they move here from somewhere else.

I have no idea where golfers are from...

Anyhow, cue the video, and enjoy the luscious sounds of the meadowlark.

How Far We've Come, and How Far We Have Yet to Go

2009-03-29T11:14:00.016-06:00

Yesterday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. was worldwide "Earth Hour." Participants - individuals, cities - were to turn off their lights in order to "celebrate" their love of the earth and to acknowledge what they consider man's part in the ruining of it. Mainly by our very existence.

The return to the dark ages is upon us. We are living in an age of inquisition and witch hunts - Galileo would find himself at home in our century. We are sinking fast into a morass of muddy thinking, stolen concepts (how would it be possible to celebrate the earth if we were not in fact upon it?) and outright hatred of humankind (again, a stolen concept - who other than humans can hate?) and all, and I mean all, of the history of human achievement.

A. E. Housman (1859-1936) wrote quite poignantly, in The Laws of God, The Laws of Man, of being

"a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made."

The lines are not, as some have usurped them, an existential cry about the benign neglect of the universe. Housman was a homosexual, and the first few lines of the poem announce his anguish:

"The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs."

Housman was also a classicist. One aspect of good poetry is its classical, that is, enduring, nature. We can easily transport Housman's words to our time. What do they have to do with yesterday's Earth Hour? Housman continues:

"Please yourselves, say I, and they
Need only look the other way.
But no, they will not; they must still
Wrest their neighbor to their will,
And make me dance as they desire
With jail and gallows and hell-fire."

A cry for a laissez-faire attitude regarding Housman's sexual orientation could just as easily apply to today's public outcry against anything that could be even remotely responsible for the supposed wretched state of the earth, and the outcriers' demands to "wrest their neighbor(s) to their will." Cap-and-trade, anyone?

In terms of the supposed wretched state of the world economy, one only needs to witness the planned protests against the rich at next weeks' G20 summit (photo above), the employees (thugs) at 3M France who took their boss hostage as a protest against layoffs, the attack on the home of the CEO of the Bank of Scotland, and the death threats (garroting by piano wire was one) against anyone who works, or worked to fulfill the terms of his contract, at AIG. When CEO Liddy pleaded with Barney Frank at last week's hearings regarding bailout bonuses for assurances that the names of people who were given retention bonuses would not be made public, Frank could offer no such thing.

But I digress. Earth Hour. Time for another stolen concept. Have you guessed it yet? I'll help.

Earth Hour.

Hmmmm...I guess manatees invented the CLOCK.

The appeal to turn off your lights is a blatant slap at human achievement. A human invented the light bulb. It took other humans out of the dark. What happened then? The massive "exploitation" of the entire world population (except for maybe North Korea). Because of light, factories could be lit, and people could work (produce) at night. Factories could make more lamps to illuminate the darkest reaches. Because of light, people were no longer chained to the natural tempo of the rising and setting of the sun.

A new world resulted. People could live in a world that human achievement made. It is a world that proponents of Earth Hour are "stranger(s) and afraid" of.

Needless to say, I did not participate in Earth Hour. I'm a fan of human achievement! I embrace and celebrate it. And so, yesterday during Earth Hour, I did not sit in the dark. I did not weep for the rain forest or the polar ice caps.

I participated instead in "Human Achievement Hour." Organized by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, it promoted the celebration of humanity. All it asked was that participants keep their lights on. I did. And I watched television; a DVD recording of a show that is part of the family of one of the best TV series ever, Star Trek. I watched an episode of Voyager, the series with a woman as captain of an exploratory spaceship. I drank a glass of wine. I ate a delicious dinner - that I cooked on a gas stove. I dreamed of a world in which people understand that, according to Franklin Roosevelt, "Happiness lies in the joy of achievement, and the thrill of creative effort."

Imagine that.

I think I will.

But I'm afraid that day is long in coming. We are living in a "gimme" society. Producers will produce at their own risk. Money makers will bury their wealth in their back yards, or offshore. Achievers will achieve in the closet. But not if I can help it. I will do the opposite of what Housman resigns himself to in the closing lines of the poem:

"They will be master, right or wrong;
Though both are foolish, both are strong.
And since, my soul, we cannot fly
To Saturn nor to Mercury,
Keep we must, if keep we can,
These foreign laws of God and man."

I will not keep those foreign laws. I will make my world one of joy, one of freedom, one of achievement. I am proud to be Human.

The Blizzard of Oh-Nine

2009-03-26T13:59:00.011-06:00

We heered it was a-comin'. We feered it was going to be big. It was.

Twern't nothin' to see for miles around but the snow.

Blowin' up the roads, off the rooftops, and under the eaves.

Winds so fierce they made a body fear the devil hisself was rattlin' their very bones.

Snow formin' drifts outside the winders...

Makin' it nigh-on impossible to see through.

Only a fool and his baby brother would go outdoors in this hell-ation.

It don't show no signs of quittin'

I reckon I best be gittin' back indoors.

The Sunday Chef - Coffee Cake

2009-03-09T10:27:00.003-06:00

Who doesn't love coffee cake? The one I made is full of butter, sour cream, pecans, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon.

You know you want the recipe.

The Sunday Chef - March 2, 2009

2009-03-01T19:06:00.006-07:00

Today's dish is a Viennese one - beefsteak with a vegetable and sour cream sauce. The ingredients are simple: bacon, carrots, celeriac (I used celery), carrots, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and a tender cut of beef. We had some of that tenderloin on hand, so I used that.

This is what the vegetables looked like in the pan:

bacon, peppers, onions, celery, onions, tomatoes, thyme

The vegetables are placed on top of the bacon strips, then the pan is covered so that everything can cook together for about 10 minutes. Once they are tender, broth is added so that they can steam a little bit more. The original recipe calls for the meat to be placed on top of this melange, but I browned it in a separate pan, put everything back together in the above pan, then made the sour cream gravy.

Here is how it looked before the gravy:

beef and vegetables

I made the gravy in the same pan in which I had browned the beef. Here is how everything looked on the plate:

The Finished Plate

I had also made blueberry scones for breakfast that morning. Here they are, on the baking sheet, ready to go into the oven.

Unbaked scones

And here they are, fresh out of the oven.

Blueberry Scones

That's it for this week. Let me know if you would like the recipes. Until next time, on The Sunday Chef!

The Sunday Chef - Remix

2009-02-24T17:07:00.008-07:00

I added a post on Sunday the 21st but took it down because I was made to realize that I would be violating copyright by posting exact recipes. But I've decided that I can still post the photos of my efforts, and if any of you want the recipe, I can email it to you. As long as the recipe is not up here for the entire world (as if) to see, I think I'm in the clear.

Anyway, I thought of the new segment, The Sunday Chef, when I was organizing my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer before going shopping on Saturday. The fewer things I needed to buy, the better, so I started taking stock. After making three lists of all the items contained in the three food-holding areas, I made a fourth list of all the dishes I could make from these things. I had a lot more options than I realized. Like everyone else, I'm trying to keep my food budget low without sacrificing quality. And, we just like good food. Still, I needed some staples, so it was off to Costco.

I bought some boneless chicken breasts, a 5-pound whole, untrimmed tenderloin, mushrooms, lettuce, coffee, and a few other things - namely fruit. I went berry wild! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

We had one portion of the tenderloin, cut into steaks, for dinner that night, along with a mushroom pilaf and a salad. Did you know that a 5-pound tenderloin can be cut to make three meals? At an original cost of $50, this comes to $16.66 per meal. Divide this by four people, and each person eats for a measley $4.16. The cost for Saturday's dinner was around $24, including wine. Way cheaper than in a restaurant for the same caliber meal.

Sunday we had Yakitori, a shiitake and brown rice soup, and a carrot salad - all Japanese-themed. For dessert, the berries! I made a berry tart. It was very simple, and the recipe came from a magazine that I bought at Costco, too. The recipe calls for puff pastry, cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, jelly or jam, and berries.

Ingredients

All that got turned into this:

The Final Product

Everything but the cream cheese and the puff pastry came from Costco, although one can purchase cream cheese there. About 10 pounds of it; but since we wanted to save a little room in our arteries for the fat in the puff pastry to go straight to our hearts, we decided against it.

In any event, if you want any of the recipies, let me know. Maybe we can start a recipe swap. See you next week on The Sunday Chef!

It's Eight O' Clock

2009-02-22T14:54:00.006-07:00

Eight O' Clock Coffee

How many of you remember this? How many of you remember where it came from? That's right, the A & P - short for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The stores still exist, mostly in the northeast - Pennsylvania up through Connecticut. If there's no store near you, though, you can still shop online. Which is a good thing, especially if you like their coffee.

Consumer Reports recently ranked the Eight O' Clock 100% Colombian coffee #1 in a taste-test of 19 coffees. I didn't even know it still existed, but I found some yesterday at Target. Instead of the 100% Colombian beans, however, I bought the regular blend - it's the one I remember. When I was growing up, my mother always had a percolator full of it on tap, and she almost always had a cup of it in her hands.

This morning, I decided to make a pot for myself. I also decided to make something to go with it - a gluten-free vanilla cake. I had a mix that I had not tried, so this was a good time to test it. I also went berry-wild at Costco yesterday (more on that in my next post), and had some fresh raspberries to put on top of the cake.

Costco had strawberries, too.

While the coffee was brewing (I don't have a percolator), I decided to fancy things up a bit. I got out a china cup, and a nice plate. I would have a tea party of one (no relation to the one being planned in Chicago).

Cake and Coffee

It was a great success. The cake and raspberries were delicious and the coffee tasted as I had remembered. In fact, it reminded me of the kind of coffee one gets at fancy hotels or resorts. Which is not to everyone's taste, I know. Sort of on the mild side. Which was perfect for my breakfast retreat.

Three Cheers for Rick Santelli! Don't Drink the Water, or What if We Started a Revolution and Everybody Came?

2009-02-19T11:55:00.010-07:00

Every morning while I am getting ready to go to work, I watch Squawkbox on CNBC. I especially look forward to the comments of the on-air commentator from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Rick Santelli. He is a straight-forward, no-nonsense kinda guy. I can always count on him for some clear-headed comments amid the current cultural fuzz. He is also a good showman, and fun to watch. I find myself talking over the ironing board back to the TV when he is on. "Yeah, that's right - you tell 'em, Rick." That sort of thing.

This morning, he outdid himself. Why? Because of his disgust at the climate in this country, which he said "rewards bad behaviour." He called for this administration, who he said is "so big on computers and technology" to put up a website to have people vote on the Internet, as a referendum, to see "if we really wanna subsidize the losers" or would we want to reward people who actually "carry the water" rather than just "drink the water!"

Santelli then announced his plans for a "Chicago Tea Party!" He said to all the capitalists, perhaps only half facetiously, who want to show up at Lake Michigan in July (on the 4th, presumably), he's going to start organizing. What will he dump into the lake? Santelli offered the idea of mortgage derivatives.

I have a better idea.

In 1773, the Sons of Liberty dumped 45 tons of tea brought into the colonies on the East India Company's ship, the Dartmouth, into the Boston Harbor. This symbolic act eventually proved to be the catalyst for the American Revolutionary War, which resulted in our independence from Great Britian - probably the single best example of philosophy in action - EVER.

I say Santelli should dump 45 tons of paper instead.

A ream of bond paper is 500 sheets, and weighs about 5 pounds. Which means that 1,588 sheets of paper, a little over three reams, weights a little more than 15 pounds; 15.88 to be exact (1,588 pages divided by 500 pages per ream equals 3.176 reams. Multiply that by 5 pounds per ream and you get 15.88 pounds for 1,588 pages). One ton, or 2,000 pounds, divided by 15.88 pounds per 1,588 pages, equals 125.944 three-ream sets. Multiply that by 45, and you get 56,667 three-ream sets.

Why did I pick the original number of 1,588 sheets of paper? That is the number of pages in President Obama's "Stimulus Package," that's why.

I say Santelli and his fellow capitalists (shall we call them the "New Sons of Liberty?") should dump 56,667 copies of that so-called stimulus monstrosity into Lake Michigan. It would be a symbolic act, as was the original. But it might just be the start of something big. Hell, it might even be the "beginning of the end."

Count me in.

Click here to see video.

Say Goodnight, Sydney (1992-2009)

2009-02-15T08:39:00.010-07:00

Sixteen years ago our family made a new friend. We met her at the Guilford County Animal Shelter, where her previous owners had surrendered her, saying they "didn't have time for her." We gathered that much right away. She was filthy, her fur was atrociously matted in a tangled mess, and she was covered with fleas and fleabites.

But appearances meant nothing to this ten-pound combination of hope and tenacity. When the attendants brought her out for our inspection, she knew what she had to do. She stood up on her hind legs, and putting her front paws together as if to plead with us, danced around the lobby floor.

"Please, please, oh pretty-please! Take me home with you! I promise I will be a good girl and love you forever!" she said. If Cupid had shot an arrow straight through our hearts, we could not have been more smitten. So, home with us she went.

She kept her promise. She was a very good girl, and she sure did love us. She was a true-blue and trusted friend. She was steadfast and steady. Right up until the end. On Friday, February 13th, Sydney Oliver passed away. She died of kidney failure, a condition with which she had lived for the past year and a half.

Sydney was a Silky Terrier, a breed originally developed from a cross between a Yorkshire Terrier and an Australian Terrier, as a companion dog. That she certainly was. But as loving as she was to us, and to every person she ever met, she was also tough. She was a terrier, after all, a ratter. And even though she never killed anything (it was her late, great best friend Opal who had that honor, capturing and killing a vole - whose last sound was "eeek!") it wasn't for lack of trying. "Syd Vicious" was her nickname. Squirrels and chipmunks were her most abundant enemies, but she saved most of her animosity for cats. She hated cats. Especially this one:

Syd and Kitty

This one got the best of her. He swaggered up onto our back porch one day, sidled right through the open back door, and headed straight for Sydney. Cats are like that, I'm told. They can pick out a cat-hater from miles away. He slid over to Syd, and rubbed himself up one side of her and down the other. She was petrified, trembling with anxiety. How she wanted to put this guy in his place! But she knew she couldn't, because we would not have approved. She kept her promise. She was a good girl.

But that didn't stop her from giving him what for, from the inside of the sliding-glass door, once the cat was outside again.

Her killer instinct surprised us once. It was triggered in the summer of 2007, when we were returning to Greensboro from a trip to Florida to see friends before we moved to Colorado. It was late at night, and Sydney was asleep in the bed we had arranged for her in the well of the front seat (we know, not the safest place). The unmistakable odor of road-kill skunk suddenly saturated the car. Before we could open the windows to aerate, the sound of her ancestors rolled up out of the darkness: "Grrrrrrrrrrr, grrrrrrrrrr, grrrrrrrrrrr, rrrrrrrr." That musk meant something! It was a good thing for that skunk that it was already dead. Because if Syd Vicious had caught up with it, well, my money would have been on the dog.

In her younger days, Syd loved to chase balls. She ran after them at light speed. She was so fast, we couldn't even see her feet moving, she was just a blur of happiness and purpose. She loved chicken, peanut butter, luncheon meat, rice, peas, cheese crackers, barbecued ribs, ice cream, and fortune cookies. Syd had recently developed a fondness - almost a craving - for eggnog. She was disappointed when the seasonal supplies went off the shelves.

Syd especially loved sunbathing.

Sydney loved her daily walks. During this past year, when I was away at work, she would anticipate my return, which meant it was time for our walk together. I would come in the front door and she would be waiting for me on one of the living room steps. Halfway up the stairs was the place she sat. Lately, she would sleep during most of the day, but when her internal clock told her it was time for me to come home, she was ready.

She would run up and down the hall, stand on her hind legs, put her front paws together, and dance around. "Please, please, oh pretty please! I've been waiting all day! Won't you please take me on a walk with you!"

And we did. Because that was just one of the promises we made to her.

Goodnight, Sydney

No Pretty Pictures Today

2009-02-06T12:43:00.008-07:00

In Monday's post I mentioned that I had seen what appeared to be a coyote carcass in the frozen pond where I go on my lunch hours. The photo above is one piece of the evidence for that conclusion. It looked a little like coyote fur.

This is another piece, the ribcage that was above the ice. As you can see, the pond is no longer frozen.

I took these photos yesterday, when I went back to the pond to investigate a little more. It turns out it was not a coyote.

It was a deer.

It may have wandered out onto the pond when it was frozen, and fallen through the ice, becoming trapped. But the carcass is close to the shore, and the water is shallow there, so it is difficult to say. Whatever happened to the deer, it is a reminder that nature doesn't allow for any missteps.

We should all be careful of our own.

It's More Like a Drawing a Week

2009-02-02T17:20:00.003-07:00

Instead of putting up each and every little scribble, I decided to hold off and post only once a week for this drawing. I worked on it every day at lunch last week, except for Friday, when I went for a walk instead.

It was a beautiful day, and I walked over to a pond where Canada Geese were hanging out. I've been able to get close to some flocks, but not this one. They weren't interested at all in the peanut butter crackers I had bought from the downstairs vending machine just for them. They must have heard about the salmonella scare...

I walked over to another half-frozen pond and saw a coyote carcass sticking up out of the ice. It had been eaten on, and its ribs were visible. It's a wild life out here.

Drawing Number Four

2009-01-22T13:53:00.004-07:00

I have added just a wee bit more. I only worked on this for 30 minutes yesterday. The day was so beautiful here, I decided to take a walk. Today we have similar weather; almost 70 degrees, warm sun, blue skies. Time for another short walk, then back to drawing! My brother said he saw a 'baby chicken' to the left of the large flower in the bottom center; my mother-in-law sees a yellow flower in the top right; my sister sees roses climbing up a brick wall. Keep those visions coming....

Drawing Number Three

2009-01-21T13:31:00.001-07:00

I've added a wee bit to this. The changes are subtle - will work some more on this at lunch today.

Drawing Number Two

2009-01-19T12:23:00.010-07:00

I'm going to try an experiment.

A few blog posts ago, I introduced the first drawing of a new series of Colorado wildflowers. It was this one:

Wildflowers, 2008
Mixed media on Arches

I thought I would show you the process with the second one in the series. I started the drawing above on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch portion of an old monoprint that I had made as a grad student back in 2001. One rule of the grad studio is to save all your work, especially the unsuccessful stuff, which is what that print was. I think it was made from ink still on the plate after one run through the press - an afterimage. Second rule of the studio is to use up all leftover ink - it's costly. The afterimage was not saturated enough to work by itself, but I saved it for a rainy day.

That would be today. It's sunny and warm outside, but no matter.

The second drawing will begin on another portion of that same monoprint, namely this:

As you can see, the print already has a fairly floral nature. What I will do next is to "find" the flowers in the print. I may give it a landscape orientation in order to do that. Something like this:

Click on either of the images to bring up a larger view. Do you see any flowers in the print? Where? Let me know, and I'll see if I agree with you. In any case, the next time you see this, it will have some new marks on it. Maybe some of them will be yours!

Ta 'till then!

Drawing Number One

2009-01-18T15:51:00.004-07:00

Dried Thistle Pod, January 18, 2009

I promised a drawing a day, and this is the first. These pods seem to have no actual surface, just thorns that emanate from the stem and spread outward in every direction. The long, straight thorns have smaller thorns along their surface. The long, curved thorns also have smaller thorns. The stem is covered with minuscule thorns. The straight thorns have opened, and at their base, wherever that is, they contain small seeds which fall out when you shake the pod. Which is impossible without wearing protective gloves. There's not much that could get past a field of these. Maybe I'll go shake some seed in my front yard...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-17T15:05:00.002-07:00

This photo bears no particular relation to this post. It's just indicative of the wild skies out here. Every day brings something new. And since we are in the new year, we can look forward to a whole new visual feast. There's that word "new" again. Which must mean that I am up to something new. . . and I am!

I started a new group on Facebook called "Janet Oliver Studio." Trying to think of ways to get people to see my work, naturally. I also started a new series of drawings (actually I announced that here a couple of months ago, but some ideas need time to take hold) of Colorado flora. I collect things on my walks, bring them back to my studio, and make drawings. I will be posting them here and on my Facebook page, so stay tuned for something new!

And while I'm at it, what's new with you?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-22T16:18:00.003-07:00

The Magpie, Claude Monet

At 4:01 on Monday, December 22, a black-billed magpie flew by my office window.

Magpies are common out here, but nowhere to be seen back east. As a child growing up mostly in the south, I had always wanted to see one, possibly because I watched the “Heckle and Jeckle” cartoons, but more probably because it was about the only bird I had not been able to match with its picture in a book of birds that belonged to my grandfather. The first time I ever saw a magpie was in France, two years ago this winter. I was fascinated then, and I am fascinated now.

Magpies, Versailles, 2006
Photo by author

Magpies belong to the crow family, and are said to be the only ones that recognize themselves in a mirror. The bird was referred to as “pie” (short for “piebald” most likely, because it is black and white) until the 16th century, when the feminine “mag” was added to the beginning (probably because it talks so much).

The magpie has many legends and symbols attached to it. The fact that it likes shiny objects gives it the reputation of being of thief, and it does have the habit of insinuating itself into other birds’ nests – and eating the eggs. An old English folk tale states that when Jesus was crucified on the cross, all of the world's birds wept and sang to comfort him in his agony. The only exception was the magpie, and for this, it is forever cursed, and in Scottish folklore, magpies were long reviled for allegedly carrying a drop of Satan's blood under their tongues. In the Middle Ages and during the witch-hunts in Europe, the bird was considered to be connected with witchcraft - just like crows, ravens, and black cats.

But I prefer to entertain the magpie’s more positive symbolism. The Chinese regard the magpie as sacred, and its singing foretells happiness and good luck. And Claude Monet obviously liked them.

So, to all my friends and family who reside on the east coast, down south, the mid-west, the west coast, or the continent, (and everyone else): may the magpie that you see in the painting above be your omen for a happy holiday season, and a very prosperous new year.

On My Way, or Thinking Outside the Box

2008-12-18T12:01:00.003-07:00

A formation of Canada geese flies by my office window. On Wednesday, December 17 at 3:23 p.m. I decide to step outside. I put aside my work, put on my coat, pull on my gloves, and walk past the cubicles and rows of file cabinets that flank the path to the front door. I open it.

It is cold, but it is a good cold. It is a fine day for a walk.

I walk across the lot, turn the corner, and head up the street. At the end of the street, the path diverges. I can go left, or I can go right. To my left is the east, where the prairie rolls out. Over the prairie the sky is still blue, the clouds are high, and the way is clear. To my right is the west. The mountains block my view. The clouds are dark and hang low. This way could be tricky; filled with many challenges. I take the right way.

The path is icy in spots, made so by the recent snowfall that melted, then refroze overnight. But it does not slow my stride. Nor does it seem to hinder the others on this path, most of them runners. They race by me, focused on nothing but the rush.

But I keep a steady pace. I notice the things that they cannot. I watch the geese slide to a landing on the frozen pond. I see the twisted formation on the side of the giant cottonwood tree that looks like a ghoulish face. I hear the magpies whistling their warnings. I see the waning gibbous moon above me.

On my way, I sense a sudden stillness. I pause, and slowly turn my head to the source. A fox. I wait. The fox resumes her hunt, digging through the snow for a morsel. Finding something, she quickly chews it down. When she is done, she raises her head to look at me. Her eyes are steady. They hold mine. They seem to say “Well, what are you waiting for?” “Nothing,” I think.

The fox crosses my path and begins her hunt anew on the other side. I walk on. Satisfied with my answer to myself, I continue my journey.

Where am I headed? Anywhere I want. I may even make it up as I go along. I’ll need some tools, but a sharp pencil and a blank sheet of paper will suffice for this trip.

Up ahead there is a bridge on the path. I cross it. The world opens up. I am on my way.

May He Live Long and Prospero

2008-12-10T15:38:00.013-07:00

Original artwork by Chris White

This story made the news in the December 10th edition of the Denver Post, but it comes from nearby my previous neck of the woods. About 35 miles south of Greensboro, Siler City, N.C. is a long way from Altair IV, but one of the city's inhabitants has a vision that's as grand as anything dreamed up by William Shakespeare or Gene Roddenberry. And I'm not talking about Aunt Bee's pickles.

He's already a stock market prognosticator, but junk collector Stuart Ellis also wants to be the "Christmas-light king of the world..."

Ellis is selling his flying saucer so he can pay off his credit-card and mortgage debt and then stake himself as a stock-options trader. "I'm going to excel in the stock market and make me some money, and then I'm going to be the Christmas-light king of the world," he said.

Ellis lives on 17 acres with thousands of trees. He's wrapped hundreds of them with about 650,000 lights. But he doesn't have enough money to power them up. So he's selling his saucer.

A Calabasas, Calif., auction company called Profiles in History hopes to auction Ellis' spaceship for $80,000 to $120,000 on Thursday. The auctioneer also hopes to sell Luke Skywalker's light saber from "The Empire Strikes Back," among other Hollywood treasures.

"My mom called me on the phone," Ellis said. "She thought I was totally broke. Which I am not. And she said go find something to sell." He turned to the 82-inch-diameter spaceship hanging from his garage ceiling. It was built for the groundbreaking 1956 sci-fi flick "Forbidden Planet." It also appeared in six episodes of "The Twilight Zone" before MGM auctioned it in 1970s.

Ellis, who grew up going to flea markets and auctions for fun, said he bought it for $150.

Learning to day-trade stock options, Ellis said he believes the Dow Jones industrial average eventually will fall to 500. "I just wanted to say that to you for no reason at all," he explained, "but in about seven to eight years, you're going to understand."

And perhaps by then, someone will look down upon Earth and see a patch of light streaming into space from North Carolina.

"Everybody has a stupid dream," Ellis said. "I have always wanted to be the Christmas-light king of the world."

Neige at Night

2008-12-09T10:39:00.005-07:00

Photography by Lauren Oliver

The snow is late this year. Normally, it begins sometime in late October, but this year it didn't arrive until late November. Last night the snow started coming down at about 4:30 and it didn't let up until early this morning.

The weather outside was frightful(ly beautiful)

2008-12-02T11:00:00.002-07:00

We were expecting snow on Thanksgiving day, but it came down on Friday instead. So we took a hike - in it. It was starkly glorious.

Oh, my aching back . . . or, how I went in for an injection and came out with a $6,730.00 bloody nose.

2008-11-18T08:00:00.005-07:00

A little background. In 2003, I had back surgery to fuse vertebrae L4 and L5. The surgeon also did a little judicious scraping here and there to open up the nerve channels, and he replaced my once-functioning disc material with cadaver bone and titanium screws. Four of 'em. Limited mobility, but no pain, was the upshot. Until recently. It seems that sitting all day at an 8-to-5 job is not good for a person with my history. In fact, it's very, very bad.

Mind you, I do get up from my chair every hour on the hour to stretch, to walk around my cubicle, or to go mind somebody else's business, but evidently that's not enough. No, I have what is referred to in the trade as "Failed back-surgery syndrome." FBSS. Yes, there is probably some BS in there.

Not that I shouldn't have had the surgery. I should have. But I didn't follow up properly enough. I didn't strengthen my core. I didn't even know what my core was until I was told that I had to strengthen it. So let this be a warning to you all. Find your core. Strengthen it. Or else you, too, will end up with a $6,730.00 bloody nose.

I went to see a local Pain Specialist. What they do is this. They listen to your complaint, tell you that you have FBSS, and then they tell you that the only way to fix it is to have a steroid injection in your spine. Alright! That'll do it! Did I ask about side-effects? No. I had this same procedure in 2002, twice, prior to the surgery. So I knew about all of them. Sleeplessness, irritability, edema, headaches, etc. No sweat - except for the night ones.

Did I ask how much it would cost? No. My insurance in 2002 paid for it - all of it. Should I have? Oh yeah. I got the bill yesterday. I won't have to shoulder the entire burden. Only about $1,060.62 of it. Still. That's a lot to pay for a bloody nose.

So now you are asking - "What's up with the bloody nose, fer chrissake?" Well, just before the anesthesiologist squirted the stuff that would give me blessed release from the anxiety that accompanies the knowledge that someone I just met would be swabbing my naked backside with antiseptic and then threading a 30-foot needle into my back thigh via my sacrum, he inserted two tubes into my nostrils. Oxygen, he said. Fresh from the bottle, he said. Dry, he neglected to say.

For two weeks now I have been scraping bloody crustables from my interior nasal cavities. The air out here - minus 20% humidity - doesn't help. I'm probably anemic by now. But I figure that $6,730.00 is a small price (for me and my insurance company) to pay. Except for my wallet, I am pain-free. And I am well on my way to having a strengthened core. Whatever that is.

I Heart Alton Brown!

2008-11-17T18:40:00.002-07:00

I have always liked Alton's show on the Food Network, but never more so than during the recent election. His show airs out here at 6:00 p.m., at the same time as network news - which I actually stopped watching about a year ago - but also at the same time as shows like "Bill O'Reilly" on Fox or "The Lehrer Report" on PBS. My husband is a politics/news junkie, but I was getting fed up with election coverage. I even published blog posts on it. Yikes - what was I thinking? That any of that stuff mattered? Well, yes, but that's another post.

By happy accident I discovered - after taking the remote into my own hands - that "Good Eats" could take the place of election coverage while I was cooking our eats. Now I'm hooked. I can't wait to get home, prepare dinner, and tune into Alton Brown. Yes, he's a little goofy, a little gimicky, but his recipes are good.

Tonight he recast that Thanksgiving classic (since 1955 anyway) the green bean casserole, into a suave, silky, eminently edible dish. I am going to make it. And it will appear on my Thanksgiving table! Along with another Thanksgiving classic, Chicken Marengo!

Vive l'haricot, vive l'oignon, vive le champignon!

Here is the recipe. I hope some of you will join me in this Thanksgiving treat:

Best Ever Green Bean Casserole

Prep Time:: 25 min
Inactive Prep Time:: hr min
Cook Time:: 45 min

Level:: Easy

Serves:: 4 to 6 servings

For the topping:
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Nonstick cooking spray

For beans and sauce:
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed, trimmed and halved
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Combine the onions, flour, panko and salt in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and evenly spread the onions on the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. Toss the onions 2 to 3 times during cooking. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside until ready to use. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees F.

While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans. Bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil in an 8-quart saucepan. Add the beans and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately plunge the beans into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and simmer for 1 minute. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add the half-and-half. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the green beans. Top with the remaining onions. Place into the oven and bake until bubbly, approximately 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on 10/08/2008

We Are All Individuals!

2008-11-05T05:06:00.002-07:00

I'm not.

(Click on bottom photo for something completely different)

It's a Big World After All

2008-11-03T18:37:00.003-07:00

No matter who wins the election, it behooves us all to remember that politics does not move the world. The realm of politics is but a miniscule portion of life on planet Earth. Politics=this much. The Universe=EVERYTHING.

Politicians do not create, they do not innovate, they do not discover, they do not matter.

What if we gave an election and nobody came?

What would happen if we quit listening to politicians and listened to Beethoven instead?

What if, instead, we gazed at the stars, and wondered if anyone was looking back?

What would happen if we stopped giving politicians our oh-so finite and valuable time? What beautiful works could we create? What inspiring books would we read? What wonderful movies would we watch? What challenging discussions could we engage ourselves in?

What if we refused to allow politicians into our homes via the television, the radio, the internet?

What if they figured out that we don't care?

Would they go away?

Probably not. But we can hope. And we can keep looking up.

I'm Optimistic

2008-11-02T16:59:00.006-07:00

In 1939 Dietrich Bonhoeffer (see Thought for the Day) joined a secret group of high-ranking military officers based in the Abwehr, or German Military Intelligence Office, who wanted to overthrow the National Socialist regime by killing Hitler. Bonhoeffer was arrested in April 1943 after money used to help Jews escape to Switzerland was traced to him. He was charged with conspiracy and imprisoned in Berlin for a year and a half.

Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging at dawn on April 9, 1945 just three weeks before the liberation of Berlin and one month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany. The manner of execution was, like other executions associated with the July 20 plot, so brutal and graphic that even Wehrmacht soldiers were loathe to watch.

Are you there Universe?

2008-10-30T20:36:00.008-06:00

It's me, Janet.

Evidently we are still locked in the battle between Aristotle and Plato, but I want you to know that I am optimistic that Aristotle will win - in spite of the shape-shifters that would have us believe that the world we observe is merely an imperfect reflection of the 'real' world; that our senses deceive us; that we cannot trust our eyes.

Even Paleolithic man knew better than that. He recorded what he saw - so that future man would see it and know that he saw it. And that he understood reality. The paintings above are not allegories - they are the real thing. They are not shadows on the cave wall - they are paintings. They represent not a nebulous world, but the world of 15,000 years ago. If pre-historic man got it right, then why can't we?

Click on the last line of "Thought for the Day" for a treat.

On Holiday

2008-10-22T10:26:00.004-06:00

If you need a break from the world today, add the above film to your Netflix queue. Click on the poster for the trailer. Review by guest contributor, Lauren Oliver.

Les Vacances de M. Hulot (1953)
No groups have advanced the art of film more than magicians and comedians. In the first decade of the cinema, the veteran stage magician Georges Méliès contributed inestimably to the bag of technical tricks. And when the famous Lumière brothers attempted levity (mixed with horror) with a man's crossing the street, being run over, and then dusting himself off, they discovered the in-camera edit. Legerdemain and laughs depend on the same thing: knowing and exploiting the peculiarities of one's medium, be they a seltzer bottle, a handkerchief, or a camera.

Jacques Tati was too late to be a technological pioneer like Méliès or the Lumières, but he possessed the same keenness for experimentation. He was a superb mime (which is nothing if not a combination of magician and comedian), and as young man bore a resemblance to one of his heroes, Buster Keaton. Les Vacances de M. Hulot, the titular Monsieur's first outing, could almost be a silent comedy. The dialogue is sparse and, when not essential, mixed into the background noise. Similarly, only the most important sounds deserve foley work, like the swinging door to the hotel's restaurant, or M. Hulot's gasping jalopy. The character himself is best described as the ancestor and better of Inspector Clouseau and Mr. Bean.

The film is frugal (it has but one musical motif, a light jazz tune) and plays at a pace befitting its setting: a calm resort that is presumably just a few hours from Paris. The holidaymakers include a retired military Commandant who retains his air of authority and talks often of the Ardennes; a British woman who finds endless amusement in M. Hulot's surprising skill at tennis and ping-pong; and a blonde ingénue who I don't believe ever utters a word.

M. Hulot, who walks propped forward with a bouncing gait, seems propelled by his own indefatigable je ne sais quoi. To say "zest for life" would not only be trite but wide of the mark; nothing ever fazes M. Hulot for longer than a few seconds, enough time for the reaction shot, and perhaps that is sufficient to describe his basic innocence and gentleness. Tati's humor has been described as civilized. I might apply that adjective to the plays of Oscar Wilde, but Tati's essence seems to be dignity; no character is ever made the subject of fun. We know all of their foibles, and they are endearing, as, for instance, when the Commandant stands at the head of an armada of automobiles and navigates them in characteristically clipped language to the picnic site. Even M. Hulot is never made out to be a buffoon.

You can be assured that by the end of a modern comedy, the protagonists will have had to change their ways, straighten out their act. There is barely a plot to Les Vacances, and certainly no act-straightening, but there is, nevertheless, a softly presented point, if that isn't an oxymoron. The Criterion Collection DVD includes a "Director's Introduction" by former Python Terry Jones. He calls the climax (and I use the term loosely) a metaphorical attack on the stuffiness of the older generation. His assessment isn't wrong, per se, but the enemy isn't stuffiness; it's broader than that. It's an attack on a way of life that ignores most of what there is to life. The residents of the hotel are preoccupied with news broadcasts and radio pronouncements by stentorian politicians, and not all are as old as dust; amongst their number is a heavily spectacled young man who plies the taciturn blonde with philosophy and headlines. A jazz record is anathema to these people. In their judgement (the harshest in the film), M. Hulot and the blonde are frivolous.

I won't say how and when M. Hulot triumphantly upbraids the fuddy-duddies, but if a smile doesn't crease your face, best to crank the news from Capitol Hill.

Blazing Sunset

2008-10-20T15:40:00.002-06:00

Among the savage black rocks.

Blown Away

2008-10-17T10:03:00.005-06:00

These are all over the creek path now. When the milkweed pods are ripe and dry, they pop open. Inside is a closely packed roll of several hundred flat brown seeds arranged like scales on a fish, each with a folded parachute of fine silky fibers. Gradually, these parachutes open and the seeds are carried away on the fall winds.

Click on any image for a larger version.

Ruff Times

2008-10-14T09:49:00.003-06:00

She's keeping track of her T-bones.

Maple Leaves

2008-10-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

These are from the tree in my front yard.

SpaceX

2008-10-01T19:54:00.007-06:00

My Rocket Boys c. 1996

I digress a wee bit from my usual posts, but on Monday, September 29, a spectacular event took place. It got such piss-poor pitiful coverage that I decided to replay it here. SpaceX, a private company devoted to the exploration of space, launched Falcon 1, Flight 4. A privately developed liquid fuel rocket entered Earth orbit, becoming the first such rocket to do so.

The economic climate of today is causing many people to ask themselves whether there is hope for humanity. The answer is "Yes." And the proof is not in the political pudding. It's visible in the faces and borne in the hearts and minds of those who dream that a better, more livable world is possible through innovation, imagination, dedication, and hard work. Three cheers for all those rocket boys! May the candles you light never go out.

From Where I Stand

2008-10-01T06:55:00.003-06:00

This is one of a series of ponds in the wetlands along the Boulder Creek path that I walk every day. You can see a little of the path in the middle right of the photo (click on it to enlarge). The creek itself is to the left of the lake, and hidden behind the row of trees. The mountains are the Flatirons, so named by early women settlers, who felt they resembled a familiar household tool of the time. My office is about one-half mile west of the pond, between it and the mountains.

My Flowers

2008-09-30T10:07:00.001-06:00

First in my new series.

I Don't Like Mondays

2008-09-29T06:00:00.003-06:00

So there I was, having a quiet weekend, when out of the blue: "Bam!" it's Monday again.

The Three Dabblers

2008-09-26T06:00:00.001-06:00

Some water birds are divers, and eat fish. Others, like these Canada Geese, are dabblers. They eat pond scum.

Going to Seed

2008-09-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Autumn Leaves

2008-09-24T07:14:00.003-06:00

Drift by my Window

Click above for a song.

Back to the Future

2008-09-23T09:32:00.014-06:00

Busy Bee Spacebook, 1953

From Flight, Today and Tomorrow, by Margaret O. Hyde, illustrated by Clifford Geary

Space Science Fiction, December 1953

Mooncon 1
Conquest of the Moon, by Werner von Braun and Fred Whipple, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell

Mooncon 2
Conquest of the Moon, by Werner von Braun and Fred Whipple, illustrated by Chesley Bonestell

Back in 1953, space was on everybody's mind. In the not-too-distant future, we were all going to live there, work there, even walk our dogs there. Today those dreams are all but vanished. But there's hope. Private entrepreneurs, engineers, and explorers are making progress in reviving those dreams.

My birthday wish today is that they all come true.

Lift

2008-09-21T21:15:00.002-06:00

Something we all need on a Monday morning.

Thank Dog It's Friday!

2008-09-19T07:01:00.000-06:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Blossoms, Dearie

2008-09-18T12:14:00.006-06:00

More examples of Colorado wildflowers. I've been making drawings of these on my lunch hours. I usually walk for a bit along the Boulder Creek Path, find myself a big rock, sit down by the creek, and get to work. Click on the bottom blossom for a song!

The Softer Side

2008-09-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Because we had a very dry summer, the wildflowers were late this year. Autumn's approach has also brought rain, and with it, my favorites.

Birds of a Feather

2008-09-15T06:00:00.002-06:00

The weather is getting cooler and the birds are getting hungrier.

My Stachelig Nature

2008-09-12T08:00:00.001-06:00

The real danger when hiking in Colorado is not the bears or mountain lions. It's these little pricklers.

The Twin Towers of Greatness

2008-09-11T09:51:00.003-06:00

"I feel this way about it. World trade means world peace and consequently the World Trade Center buildings in New York ... had a bigger purpose than just to provide room for tenants. The World Trade Center is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace ... beyond the compelling need to make this a monument to world peace, the World Trade Center should, because of its importance, become a representation of man's belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men, and through cooperation, his ability to find greatness."
— Minoru Yamasaki

Where the Seals and the Pelicans Play

2008-09-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Marin Headlands again. We did see one seal swimming in the inlet, above. And lots of pelicans. Three guesses as to why that rock is so white...

From Colorado to California in 60 seconds

2008-09-07T09:09:00.004-06:00

"In a world where three people braved the dangers of the wild west, comes this new adventure. From a truck stop in Laramie, Wyoming; past the great Salt Lake in Utah; across the desert and the Bonneville Salt Flats in Nevada; to the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands - they saw it all! "

The Claremont Hotel

2008-09-04T11:20:00.006-06:00

Frank Lloyd Wright called The Claremont, “…one of the few hotels in the world with warmth, character and charm.”

Born of a “golden” era, The Claremont Hotel is situated on a mountainside in the Berkeley Hills, with a view of the San Francisco Bay. The history of The Claremont dates back to the early days of the Gold Rush, when a Kansas farmer, Bill Thornburg, struck it rich. He came to California with his daughter and his wife who dreamed of living in an English Castle. Thornburg purchased 13,000 acres (part of the old Peralta and Vicente Spanish grants) to fulfill his wife’s dream and built the castle and several stables, which housed pedigreed hunters and jumpers. Shortly after Thornburg’s daughter married a British lord and moved to England, Mrs. Thornburg died.

Bill Thornburg subsequently sold the “castle” to the Ballard family. While they were out on July 14, 1901, a dry and windy day, the castle burned to the ground. The destroyed property fell into the hands of Frank Havens and Borax Smith, a famous miner. They planned to erect a resort hotel on the property with trains running directly into the lobby. These plans were later abandoned. One night, Havens, Smith and John Spring, a Berkeley capitalist, played a game of checkers in the old Athenian Club of Oakland with the stakes being the property. As legend goes, Havens won.

Havens and the Claremont Hotel Company began building in 1905, but the earthquake of 1906 and subsequent Panic of 1907 interrupted construction. The additional land The Claremont now rests on was purchased in 1908 and The Claremont Hotel opened for business in 1915. In the 1930’s bands as Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey performed. After the repeal of Prohibition, the Claremont Hotel continued to suffer from a state law banning the sale of alcohol within one mile of UC Berkeley. In 1936, an enterprising student and her friends measured several of the possible routes, finding that the shortest distance from the school to the hotel's front steps was a few feet over a mile. The Claremont immediately opened a bar and awarded the student free drinks for life!

Roses at the Claremont

2008-09-03T11:19:00.003-06:00

When in California, we stayed at the lovely Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. It's a wonderful old place with an interesting history (the rights to the property were won in a poker game in 1915). While there, I photographed the beautiful roses that grow in the Claremont's gardens.

Weeee're Back!

2008-09-02T18:14:00.002-06:00

There's just enough time today to post these photos; more about our trip later.

Top: Bonneville Salt Flats at about 9:00 p.m.

Middle: Marin Headlands

Bottom: San Francisco from the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley

Till Tuesday!

2008-08-29T07:22:00.005-06:00

We're headed west today - to California. Will return with photos of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and the Bay Area.