Tragedy in Texas

Oh, No!!

Evil Mad Scientist

Check this out. Besides the fact lotus roots taste great and I hate the idea of wasting them, there are some cute science "experiments" and mad links.

Trees

Red

Trees and Things

New Zealand - Nuclear-Free and Apostrophe-Free

But would you camp here?

Sorry for such shitty colors/contrast. I don't know what was wrong with me today; I didn't take any nice pics.

Another Birthday Weekend

It was Ben's birthday all day today. We went to Queen's Gardens hunting for autumnal shots in the afternoon, but it didn't look autumnal; roses and camellias were flowering together.

But someone else must have had a nice birthday there; don't worry, the present wasn't in the rubbish.

Moo

What is it about Moo cards that is so darned cute and attractive? Once again Ben and I are staring at our photos trying to figure out what we'd do if we had some made.

They are tiny, great quality, and because of the strange size, they make our photos look like someone else's...

Have you fallen into this trap?

Madeira

First recipe on Nigella Lawson's "Hot to be a Domestic Goddess". When Ben bought me this book a few years ago, I intended to bake everything in it over two or three years. I immediately set to task the following weekend, but we loved this one so much I've only baked one other cake, but this one, countless times.

Today is Ben's birthday so I did two batches - the individual loaves for us (and for friends Tim and Claudia if we don't devour them too quickly), the big one is for his birthday shout - birthday persons bring goodies at his workplace. In retrospect, I started it on Ben's 40th but never mind.

I use raw sugar instead of caster sugar, and the individual loaves have lime peels and juice, and the big loaf has peels and juice from an unidentified citrus tree in our garden; it smells a little like grapefruit, the color is very orange, and tastes great converted into marmalade or juiced but "unfriendly" eaten fresh. I mixed warmed tea-colored honey with sliced almonds at Ben's request but I doubt the honey will harden the way I had imagined, so the almonds won't be candied, and it will be a little tricky to take this to work tomorrow. More honey brushed on the entire top of the cake.

Oh well. Test piece tasted great. I prefer the graininess of the sugar and have used all kinds of sugars in the past and anything works. really.

Leaving Moo Cards

(Hideous photo, this. And the desk is dusty and scratched up.)

I could never part with mine, so from the 10-piece free pack, I still have seven, and Ben has the other three. But apparently photographers are moo-dropping their cards. Here's a DC photographer, and here's a Pittsburgh guy. Interesting stuff.

Not heard of Moo cards? I understand they've been the rage in the US and UK and parts of Oz.... Show me yours if you've got some.

Tagging

Myron tagged me. Link meme rules are:

1. Must be clean, no R rated material.
2. Tell 5 people.
3. Only 5 links allowed.
4. Link back to person who tagged you.
You can link to business, favorite, affiliate sites, etc.

I'm finding this hard since I haven't been a good reader of blogs, and the few I do get around to reading, well, the tag came from their direction. Soooo, here's my lame effort.

2. JB; whatever silly things he says about New Zealand, it's all true.
Jam; among other things, he has a big sister who was/is a Donny Osmond fan.
OK, so I don't play well with other bloggers; I was the only kind until I was almost 7.

3. Rita alerted us to this, and we are hooked; bunnies save your time and reenact major motion pictures in 30 seconds.
The rest are picture book publishers' sites where I drool and think of buying lotto tickets: Phaidon, Taschen, Watson-Guptill (they seem to be funkier and targeting younger audiences now) and Thames & Hudson, (their website has much to be desired, but the books are worthwhile).

4. Myron.

Idols

We've been fans of the (insert-nationality) Idol franchise sporadicly; we followed the first season of the Australian Idol from somewhere around Best 8 to the end, and the last season of the American Idol until Melinda Doolittle fell out of favor. Other than that, we've watched a show here and there, or not at all.

Ben enjoyed the first series of Rock Star series, but the second series got a little boring.

For some reason, he's quite interested in this Seventh series of the American Idol and has been watching it pretty much from the auditions. Except we get the series about three weeks behind the US, so when we're extra curious, we go to the web site to find out who gets voted off. (You never know what NZ television stations decide to do; I think with Rock Star we were only days, or one week behind, and Season Six of AI not as far behind as this season, if I remember correctly.)

So last night, we watched some performances on YouTube after the show, and one thing lead to another and for the first time ever we heard/watched Kelly Clarkson sing. What a voice! No wonder she remains to be successful.

The bad thing is, we've both being suffering from this head cold, and so we had a nice long, hot bath last night after the show. And then we stayed up and watched YouTube for two hours. So my body is shot this morning. And I was going to do so many things this weekend.

Darn.

I know some of you watch it. What are you thinking? Who have been the most memorable contestants?

Different Lives

In 1970 and 71, I was besotted with Merrill Osmond and went to a concert they had in Japan.

This afternoon, the Oprah Osmond special on was broadcast, and though I pretended to be not interested, I couldn't help but watch the boys in action, or in relative inaction, once again. Even Alan, whom I believe has been suffering from MS, on occasion stood up as they did just a tiny sample of their old tunes. If you've seen the special, you'll know that it was mostly about Donny and Marie - how utterly disappointing.

Donny turned 50 last December, Michael Jackson will be 50 in August, and even as a kid, I wondered how different our lives were. We were all 13, but those two boys, with their brothers, had a full-fledged career going, while I was stuck in a convent school with my life was "on hold". And even though I knew they were the exceptions, I envied that they seemed not to have had to wait to do what they wanted to, and live life to the fullest.

God only knows, and in the Osmonds' case God would know, what their lives have been like in the meantime, and I haven't exactly kept up my interested in their careers, but I know two things that possibly worked better for me; I like living in obscurity at the end of the world, and it's nice not to be a "has been" at 50, or 35, or 25 for that matter.

In a way it's nice to be a newbie in a new career at 50. Yeah.

Kath Bee Love Cake

Chock full of fresh apples, and it's mine, all mine. (But I have been sharing!!!)

Friends

I've been basking in the warmth of friendships these last few days. Lots of friends have told me they had a good time at the birthday party, (and that the food was great - the same thing we were told after our wedding!)

I got to spend some time with friends I don't see often, especially the ones who live overseas in Wellington, on the North Island. I've rekindled friendships with those from whom I've drifted away while I was trying to make my weaving work, or while they were having babies. And some new acquaintances are rapidly becoming close friends. And then there are trusted ones who make me laugh, the ones who know things without me telling them, and the ones that make my life a colorful place. And Rose who let me sit next to her handsome Hugh.

It's been heartwarming to be reminded of how friends enrich my life. With depression, during a bad patch, I avoid people contact because I can barely handle being with myself. And because I get a little tired of explaining why I hadn't been around, it seemed my circle of friends had become smaller and smaller. And that's a little sad when my family, save Ben, lives 13 hours away on a jet plane, plus 4 hours on land transport. Depression can make me feel I'm unworthy of their friendship. Working at home alone doesn't help.

At first I was going to keep the party small. Then I kept adding people I couldn't leave out, and the ones I really wanted to see, and the numbers ballooned. I was calling friends up to the day before the party.

Georgina asked me to be one of Sophie's fairy god mothers. (Me? Seriously? Did she know how flaky I am and did her hubby approve???)

Megg was on a five-day retreat out of town; she drove in for the party and then went back to the retreat.

Kath said she'd come, but she had a gig all the way down in Kaikoura and didn't get back in town until nearly 10. So she baked me a cake and brought it to my house while it was still warm, and then rushed off to work. On Sunday.

I know that some day I'll have another bad patch, and then the human relationships will seem all too overwhelming, but I also know I'll come out the other end again, too.

I have nice friends. That's what Ray said. And Ray's not the kind of bloke who would say that just because I had the party at his cafe. He's another friend.

As are you.

Bad Manners Save $s

I have a hard time passing up opportunities like these, even as I work on my fabric stash reduction projects, but this morning when I went in, the man in charge was extraordinarily un-nice, so that allowed me to go around the shop, touch/feel everything, and walk out empty-handed. There were some nice stuff, though. Sigh.

I LOVE Myron's New Toy!!

I've come a long way from the days I was awed by ... international telephone calls...

Say, this is Post 500 on Not A Woman of Few Words. I must have a lot to say, eh? We're having a "long" weekend - one whole extra hour, so though we slept in, it's only 8. I just love this special hour every year. (And hate the short weekend every spring.)

Dunedin, New Zealand: Extra

Sorry about the horrible pic, but nearly forgot one of those heaven on earth places: University Bookshop. Ground/First floor is new books, text books and supplies (and great selection of greeting cards), the Second/First floor is used books. Staff education left something to be desired, however.

I also finally discovered Scribes used bookshop about two blocks away, but I got a bit too excited I forgot to shoot it. Mind the steps in this shop, though.

Dunedin, New Zealand: Part 3

Architecture and Town Planning

The famous train station. Pity it's only used for a short tourist trip.

Prison in red, court house in gray.

Monkey Bar; don't ask.

Medical School

School of Zoology and probably my favorite building this trip.

Do you see Edinburgh?

All too soon it was time to come home. Do you see the small house behind the plane? Not sure about the story there, but Ben called it the Kerrigan House, after the Kerrigans in the Australian movie, The Castle.

Dunedin, New Zealand: Part 2

Student Life

There's always room for friends.

Always.

So be prepared to party any time.

Anywhere.

In a student town, Ben and I had to learn that some eateries go for quantity over quality, but overall, food was great and inexpensive. This is Capers Cafe around 9AM; at lunch time, it's hard to get a table. They have great raspberry smoothies.

Dunedin, New Zealand: Part 1

Ben and I were in Dunedin for five days recently. As the name suggests, it's the Edin (or Edinburgh) of the South, way down towards the bottom of the South Island, with a very strong Scottish heritage. It's also the home of Otago University, and I guess that's the city's main industry. So let's start with the fun, miscellaneous stuff.

Information

Otago Museum fence

Torres Straight Islands fish artifact - not modern art - sorry, didn't read the blurb.

Style: this is for Rita.

Funky: Ben didn't notice I was taking a pic and just kept on walking.

Kind notice: so there's a little, punctuation problem you; get the point.

Myron, Y'All

Thank you for the pointer, Bill. I'm been a pathetic blog-reader, so without you, I wouldn't have noticed this for a wee while.

I'm not sure if I understood everything he said, by ladies and gents, I give you.... MYRON!!

Keep Your Receipts!

Little Brother and Mrs apparently bought a small section back home where they are going to demolish the existing tiny old house (in Japan, most post-War houses last only 30 years or so, though older houses last almost forever) and build. And they can't forget this lovely house they stayed in in New Zealand. So they ask me, what was the name of the Bed and Breakfast I booked them into, 3 years ago May, for 2 nights, and would I have photos of the lovely house? Wha????????

Wanaka is beautiful, but too crowded for hick folk like us, so we don't go there, and we don't stay in upmarket bed and breakfast places. So, hello?!

They drove from Queenstown Airport late in the afternoon, so don't they have the great map I downloaded? A receipt? Copy of the email with instructions and booking information? Name of the hosts? Anything? I mean, Wanaka may be small compared to　Tokyo, but, but, but...

PS. Nice to know I still amaze myself. After about an hour's search, I sent Little Brother half a dozen URLs of possiblilities, and wouldn't you know, he says the first one was it. Lordy! I knew the name sounded somewhat familiar, but from the photos, I had my money on the second one. Oh well.

Feelign Like a Dinosaur Burried in Ash

Ben and I are not big on birthdays, our own that is, but this is a biggie. I've been traipsing on this planet for 50 years as of sometime later today. And as you know I've been preparing for it for some months now. And among other things, I was looking forward to having coffee with Nancy in town today, maybe going to Spotlight for a bit of button and ribbon shopping, and maybe even having a nice dinner out with Ben.

But I came home from Dunedin with a slight cold, and though I took it easy for the last couple of days, it got progressively worse and I woke up with a massive headache this morning. Ben was repeating "Happy Birthday" from somewhere in the depth of a gray fog.

I guess I was kind of looking forward to today, of doing things I like to do, of contemplating, of thinking back, and of planning, but at this rate, it could end up being just two aspirins, a tall glass of water, and back to bed. It symbolizes the way I've lived my life, in a way; making plans, changing plans, lots of hopes, and not exactly a whole heck of a lot happening in the end.

But I'm lucky to be with Ben, I'm lucky to have found something I love to do in the last few years, weaving and blogging, I'm lucky to be living in Nelson, and Ronette tells me the 50's is a really good time. I know I have more +'s than -'s. And my parents are 77 and 80 and still living a fairly normal life. Amen to that!!