I don't know. I've never kipled

Which is, of course, the punchline to the joke, "Do you like Kipling?"

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

I read a poem a few weeks ago, and it really spoke to me, as they say. Its by Rudyard Kipling^ titled, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, and is about having the common sense illustrated in the mottoes of copybooks. I fell in love with the pictures painted by the words, and the sentiment.

Rudyard Kipling, who Kipled his entire life.

Life would be wonderful if we all exhibited simple common sense. It would be Heaven on Earth if we practiced and worked to do the very best we could.

The poem in a moment...

First, some background: Copybooks were books that students copied to learn good penmanship, considered a critical business skill starting sometime in the 18th century. Copybooks existed before then, though, and there are examples online which date back as far as at least 1658. The Pen's Triumph: A Copybook, by Edward Cocker^ (c. 1658), which is a free download at Archive.org^ is one example.

The books often included intricate pictures made from pen strokes were included, to be copied. This is one such drawing, of a stag:

And this one, of a bird, with a suitably inspiring motto:

And this horse. This is what you did, over and over if you wanted to have beautiful handwriting:

I do not have beautiful handwriting.

The student made as exact a copy as possible. At the top of each page, there were mottoes and common-sense sayings, including Bible verses and historical quotes, meant to give moral lessons to the student, as well as to teach handwriting. This verse was called the copybook heading.

I don't know of anyone who uses copybooks anymore, other than a few homeschoolers, which is a shame since copying verse does seem to help with memory and results in beautiful handwriting.

So, back to the poem. Here it is:

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

The imagery is wonderful. Dinosaurs and monkeys and dogs and fire and wizards.

The message (that we may have to learn even common sense things through experience and not observation) is sort of depressing. Made even more depressing, because my own experience says that this is true. Truth is awesome, even when its depressing.

I really think that this is my favorite poem.

What do you think?
Namasté.
deena

Sunday morning...

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

Dr. Seuss

Namasté,
deena

Our babies take flight

In the past week, so many things have changed.

Our oldest daughter has moved, and will be attending graduate school, our youngest has graduated from preschool, and as of tonight, our middle daughter has graduated from high school.

How's that for a busy week? 

from here^

I always say that I could not possibly have more wonderful children. It's true.

They are all beautiful, smart, funny, clever, kind, sharp, witty and talented.

 from here^

For the week preceding graduation, Clementine told me in solemn, quiet  tones that  she did not want to graduate and leave her friends. She loves her teachers, and didn't want to leave them either. She insisted that she didn't want to leave the goldfish or the butterflies, or the ladybugs, or anything at her school.

We tried to reason with her.

 from here^

  
But your new school with have those things and so many more, and you loved it when we visited. She did not want to hear this.  

Your teacher is retiring this year, so even if you were there next year, she wouldn't be. Clementine did not want to hear this, either. No thanks.

from here

So we told her that we knew that moving was scary and that leaving was scary. But that if we never moved, we'd never see or do anything new. That she couldn't read well at the beginning of the year, but she could now, and she needed to move to a new school to get a new teacher who could teach her even more. And that we'd make sure she saw her friends and got to make new ones.

That seemed to help, at least a bit. But she still didn't want to go, and the night before, told me that she was afraid to go. I held her and we hugged. Dan held her and they hugged. She decided she would try to go after all.

from here^

The next day, she went to school and bravely walked across to get her diploma. She was happy to see her teachers and her friends. She was happy to have graduated.

We were so proud. She is so brave.

from here^

As we were proud last night when Caroline graduated from high school. She was accepted into the college of her choice, and will be attending in the fall. It requires a little bit of travel, and this is the first time she'll be living away from home for any period of time. We could not be prouder or happier that she is getting this opportunity. She has always been our sunniest child, and I hope that the students and faculty at her new school know just how lucky they are to get to see her every day.

from here^

And we are so proud of our oldest. She is going to be going to graduate school and has a job working with children, the most important sort of work there is. She has always been my toughest-yet-most-tender, always helpful, pragmatic, and sensible in the best way possible. She is funny, wry, and loyal.

I consider myself the luckiest mommy in the world, because anything I can say about any one of my daughters I can proudly say about all of them.

from here^

Our daughters are the never-ending joys of our lives and we are so proud and happy and blessed to be their parents.

faith

I came across a quote early this morning. It speaks to several things I've been thinking about lately.  

  source^

There are two men in each one of us: the scientist, he who starts with a clear field and desires to rise to the knowledge of Nature through observations, experimentation and reasoning; and the man of sentiment, the man of belief, the man who mourns his dead friends, and who cannot, alas, prove that he will see them again, but who believes that he will, and lives in the hope.
Louis Pasteur

 Namaste

A Basic Human Right

This is from a blog meme I ran across today called BlogDriveInsanity(^):

Wednesday Mind Hump

Welcome to another Mind Hump. Today is Human Rights Day.
What human right are you most passionate about?

My answer would be... Well, I would start with the fact that I've never heard of the United Nations' Human Rights Day(^) before now, even though this is the 60th anniversary of the first one.

Yay, learning new stuff!

And second, to answer the question, I guess I would say that I am most passionate about the right to self defense. Without the right to protect yourself, all other rights immediately cease to matter. If you aren't walking the Earth anymore, the right to vote; to property; to clean air and water; to food, the right to anything becomes meaningless.

I'm not talking about the dubious "right" to be an aggressor, or the ability to go to war. Simply put - I mean the innate right to stop aggression against yourself or those you care for. To feel safe and secure to the best of your ability without harming others who are innocent in the process.

I was a long time in becoming convinced that I could protect myself. And that even if I could, that I should. One thing that prompted me toward action was seeing other women taking the steps to defend themselves or others.

Women like Jeanne Assam(^), from my own neck of the woods, who saved untold lives at New Life Church last year.

Women like Stephanie Nielson, author of The NieNie Dialogues, who decided earlier this year to take firearms training and get her concealed carry permit because of crime in her neighborhood. She wrote about it eloquently in a post entitled NieNie get your gun(^).

And women like an unfortunate neighbor of mine whose home was invaded over the summer, and who was beat mercilessly. She didn't have the means to protect herself or her family.

So, I made the decision, took the classes, and did the most important thing: practice, practice, practice.


range practice

I made some interesting discoveries along the way:

• Women are most certainly welcome at firearm ranges. I'm never the only one there. Women made up exactly 25% of my training class, and there are often knowledgeable women working in sporting goods stores that sell firearms.
  
• People in the know are willing to answer questions, make suggestions, and offer explanations. There are no stupid questions, and all of my questions have been answered with respect and patience.
• Everyone involved with firearms that I've met takes safety and competence very seriously.
• It feels good to become competent at something that had previously seemed so scary and once I did become competent, the scare factor went away.

So, the right I am most passionate about is the one I consider to be most basic right of all, the one that all others flow from.

Finally, I mentioned Stephanie Nielson above, a blogger I've very much enjoyed reading for some time. Stephanie and her husband, "Mr Nielson" were in a terrible airplane accident in August, 2008, and they both sustained life threatening critical burns.

While they recover, their loved ones are reposting previous NieNie posts. To read her blog, click on the link above. If you'd like to learn more about these two wonderful people, or if you would like to help, click the icon below.

Namaste.

Current mood:

What Have I Done?

Nothing bad, I hope.
Nah.
It's a list of experiences I may (or may not) have had.
Things I've done are in bold; things I'd like to do are in italics.
From Lea Is Gluten Free(^), an awesome GF blog.

1. Started your own blog?
Obviously.

2. Slept under the stars?
Many times. I was a Girl Scout!

3. Played in a band?
Badly and briefly, but yes. My school's 4th grade orchestra.

4. Visited Hawaii?
I've always wanted to visit Hawaii, especially since my Dad was once stationed there.

5. Watched a meteor shower?
Many times. At least annually for many years.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity?
Yes.

7. Been to Disney World?
Many times with my dad & the girls. Dan and I need to take the girls & the Supercat.

8. Climbed a mountain?
Not in a long time, but yes.

9. Held a praying mantis?
They have scratchy feet.

10. Sang a solo?
You wouldn't want me to, as I have an awful voice.

11. Bungee jumped?
My husband has bungee jumped (from a hot air balloon, no less), but I would never ever do it. Ever.

12. Visited Paris?
I would very much like to see Paris. My sister went a few years ago & loved it.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea?
I wasn't at sea, but the storm was. Does that count?

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch?
I taught myself to knit. And I taught myself how to use polymer clay. And a bunch of other artsy/crafty things.

15. Adopted a child?
Thought about it a bit; but I'm not sure it's feasible.

16. Had food poisoning?
I was green

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty?
No. Not for lack of trying, though. Every time I've been to NYC, its been closed for one reason or another. I did walk to the top of the Washington Monument a couple of times.

18. Grown your own vegetables?
Many times.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France?
I'll have to see her on my trip to Paris.

20. Slept on an overnight train?
Two different trains. The California Zephyr from Denver to Chicago, and the Cardinal from Chicago to West Virginia. The train is a wonderful way to travel. Dan & I are taking the other half of the California Zephyr route next year when we travel to San Francisco, so I will be able to add several more nights spent on trains then.

21. Had a pillow fight?
Many times. See Question #2 (I was a Girl Scout)

22. Hitchhiked?
Sorta, once.
Bad: it's a really bad idea and don't ever do it.
Good: a friend picked me up.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill?
Ya. Naughty naughty naughty.

24. Built a snow fort?
Yep. The first time was at Big Bear Lake(^) when I was a kid.

25. Held a lamb?
When I lived in West Virginia, once a year in the Spring there would be a petting zoo outside the grocery store & I always took the girls. My oldest loved sheep - her "lovie" was a lamb. Anyway, we always held the babies. They are so soft and sweet.

26. Gone skinny dipping?
(blush) yes (blush)

27. Run a Marathon?
Yes. Exactly one. I did very poorly, but I did finish it. Yay, me.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice?
never been to Venice, though it is probably higher on my list than Paris.

29. Seen a total eclipse?
No. Many partial, annular & lunar eclipses. One hybrid, iirc. No total eclipses, though.
Speaking of which, you know the Carly Simon song You're So Vain?

Well I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won Then you flew your Lear Jet up to Nova Scotia To see the total eclipse of the sun

That eclipse took place July 10th, 1972 and a friend of mine was there. He wasn't the subject of the song though. How spiffy is that?

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset?
Over the Pacific and the Atlantic

31. Hit a home run?
No, but I got to 3rd base once on my own at-bat. Considering how sports-averse I am, that wasn't too shabby.

32. Been on a cruise?
No. My husband and I have talked about the Alaskan cruise thing, but I don't know if I would like to spend that much regimented time or not, and neither does he.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person?
It's always been on my 'to-do' list.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors?
That would be Scotland and/or England. No, I have not yet.

35. Seen an Amish community?
Many times. I lived near some Amish folks for a long time, and we'd see them in town from time to time. There were Mennonites in the area, too. They all seemed very nice. Dan & I recently watch a documentary about the Amish Rumspringa (called Devil's Playground(^) that really raised my eyebrows in relation to what I thought I knew about the Amish.

36. Taught yourself a new language?
No. I keep meaning to learn some Mandarin before we go to China, but haven't gotten around to it. I speak a bit of Spanish, but I didn't teach myself (a series of teachers did), and an even smaller bit of Japanese.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied?
Yes, but probably because I'm not a money-driven person

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person?
::sigh:: not yet.

39. Gone rock climbing?
I used to rappel in high school.

40. Seen Michelangelo's David?
not yet

41. Sung karaoke?
No, but Dan has and he sings beautifully.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt?
Yes, it was very cool, but I liked the volcanic paint pots better.

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant?
Yes.

44. Visited Africa?
not yet. I really want to see Egypt. My husband has been, though.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight?
Many times.

46. Been transported in an ambulance?
Once, when I was hit head on in a car accident when I was 6 months pregnant.

47. Had your portrait painted?
No. I don't know if I would like that or not. I'd have to think about it.

48. Gone deep sea fishing?
Sort of. On a boat where others were fishing, but didn't fish myself.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person?
Another "not yet"

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris?
Nope. Gah! What's with all the France questions? If I haven't been to Paris (see question above), then I haven't seen the various things in Paris.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling?
Yes. In a pool, in a lake, and in the Bahamas.

52. Kissed in the rain?
My husband. He's a good kisser.

<3 style="font-weight: bold;">53. Played in the mud?
As a child.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater?
Many times. We talked about going again last summer, but never got around to it. Hopefully we'll make it next summer.

55. Been in a movie?
No. How cool would that be, though?

56. Visited the Great Wall of China?
The restaurant or the Wall?
We're going abroad for vacation in the year or so, and China is very high on the list.
I hope to see it soon.

57. Started a business?
No, I'm not a very entrepreneurial minded person.

58. Taken a martial arts class?
No, and it really doesn't interest me much, though my husband seems to be thinking about learning Krav Maga, which would be pretty cool.

59. Visited Russia?
Not yet, but I would like to see Saint Petersburg.

60. Served at a soup kitchen?
Sort of. I volunteered in a battered women's shelter for a while., and I used to give out food from the food pantry at church.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies?
Yes, several times. Would you like to buy some Thin Mints?

62. Gone whale watching?
Yes. We saw whales and dolphins.

63. Got flowers for no reason?
My husband is the most romantic person on the planet and often surprises me with flowers for no reason ::sigh:: I'm very lucky that way.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma?
Yes, and I would still be doing it except that my veins collapse and they can't get enough to make it worthwhile anymore.

65. Gone sky diving?
No, and I never will.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp?
No, but I'd like to, although "like" and "Nazi Concentration Camp" hardly go together.

67. Bounced a check?
No. How boring am I anyway?

68. Flown in a helicopter
No, and I'm pretty unlikely to ever wish to do so.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy?
I have a stuffed sheep and a stuffed Dancing Bear from Captain Kangaroo, both from childhood. I don't have a lot else in that regard, so they are very important to me.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial?
Several times.

71. Eaten Caviar?
No, but I'd like to. I've been in the room with it, and don't know why I didn't try it. I will try pretty much anything, food-wise.

72. Pieced a quilt?
I've made several quilts. I'm going to start another after Christmas.

73. Stood in Times Square?
Many times. I ♥ NY

74. Toured the Everglades?
Yes. Lots of alligators, really pretty birds, and mosquitoes the size of small aircraft.

75. Been fired from a job?
Never.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London?
Not yet. See: all other questions pertaining to Europe.

77. Broken a bone?
Many. Mostly in my hands. I found out last year why that was happening, so it shouldn't happen again.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle?
Yes.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person?
Yes, and it looks a lot like the pictures. By that I mean that it's so huge and so expansive, that standing at the rim, it almost seems flat and not-quite real somehow. Amazing.

80. Published a book?
Not my own all-by-myself book, but I have had my writing published in a book. Does that count?

81. Visited the Vatican?
My sister went a couple of years ago, but I haven't been yet. I'm Catholic, she isn't, so I guess I'd better get on that.
She brought me a rosary, though; she's very thoughtful.

82. Bought a brand new car?
Yes. It's a vastly overrated option. Used seems to work better for me.

83. Walked in Jerusalem?
No, but my sister has. I sort of want to go someday, sort of not.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper?

85. Read the entire Bible?
Yes.
Twice.

86. Visited the White House?
It's lovely.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating?
Yes, but only domesticated farm animals. My husband hunts.
I'm taking hunter safety classes this winter, so I plan to join him next autumn.

88. Had chickenpox?
Yes, in 6th grade. I started getting sick at school on Valentine's Day, and tried to stay because I didn't want to miss the party at the end of the day, but I didn't make it. I have a small scar near my collar bone.

89. Saved someone’s life?
Perhaps. I gave someone CPR once.

90. Sat on a jury?
In early 2005, I was one of 200 or so people called for jury duty. It was my first time. It got narrowed down to about 4 dozen people pretty quickly, half of which went one place, half the other. Lawyers from both sides talked to our group (and I assume the other group, too). Then we were given a questionnaire to fill out, which we turned in & waited. Eventually, we were brought back in numbered order to the courtroom. I was # 13. Some of us were questioned again, and I guess they decied to keep things the way they were because they eventually chose numbers 1-12, and the rest of us were allowed to go home.
So, I missed it by >< that much, which was sort of sad, because I would have like to have served and will be happy to do so if I'm ever called again.

92. Joined a book club?
No. I read alone, baby. I'm a rebel.

93. Lost a loved one?
Terribly, horribly, yes.
I lost my Dad almost five years ago.

94. Had a baby?
Yes, several babies.

95. See the Alamo in person?
Yes, it's spiffy. Stay out of the basement, though. Bad jou-jou.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake?
No. First, can you actually swim, or do you just sort of float due to all the salt?
And second, ewwwwwwwwww. Have you smelled the Great Salt Lake?
Icky.

97. Been involved in a law suit?
Yes, for my former HOA as an officer. We won 7/7.

98. Owned a cell phone?
My current phone is a G1 Android (the Google phone), but I've had cell phones since they were huge hulking things in bags.

99. Been stung by a bee?
Yes. But not until I was in 5th grade. A bunch of us were sledding on a hill of mud at Girl Scout camp we ran into a wild bee's nest.
Ouchies.

100. Read an entire book in one day
Many, many times. I'm a readin' fool.
Namaste. =^..^=

Current Mood: (geeky)

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

♪ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ♫

After a day and a half of waiting and listening to the seemingly interminable up-to-the-minute Channel30/5/11/13/21NewsCenterAccu-WeatherQuickAlerts, we finally saw snow.

Yesterday afternoon, around 4:00 PM, my husband called and said that his boss had advised everyone to go home and finish the day working from home because the weather was getting bad. Just as he arrived home, it was as if the sky above turned on the snow-making machines and we went from an vast expanse of bare grass to several inches of the white stuff within 20 minutes or so. We get a lot of snow here, of course, but it doesn't usually start so abruptly. It continued all evening. Here are a few pictures from right after dusk:

Santa and Rudolph weren't fully inflated yet when this was taken, making them look as though they really, really liked each other.

inflatable heaven

all lit up

Our Christmas tree is about 7½ feet tall, but it doesn't look that big here, probably because we have gift bags circling the tree like covered wagons to keep the galloping herd of buffalo our giant dog from chasing the kitties under the tree and knocking it over.

It's hard to capture details, so you'll have to imagine the cool bubble lights. I always thought those were the coolest and thought that I'd have them when I grew up. I do have them now, and they are (in fact) the coolest.

The fireplace is to the left, and you can't really see it, but there is a very large clay chiminea shaped like an owl on the hearth full of pebbles and candles.

PS: I noticed that I forgot to include Question 4 from the yesterday's quiz. It should have been:

4. When do you take the tree down?

I used to leave the tree up till at least the Feast of the Epiphany(^) (January 6th), but the last several years I've taken the tree down the day after Christmas, because that was all I could stand (after my Dad died). Somehow, this year is finally different, and I feel like celebrating again, even if only tentatively. I don't know if we will make it to Epiphany, but I'm certainly willing to try.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo's(^)
Adoration of the Magi (17th Century)

Finally, a quick Q & A, because a friend was wondering about a few things after I posted a picture of our tree last night:

Q: What's that lurking behind your Christmas tree?
A: A copy of the poster for Le Chat Noir(^), the famous 19th century Parisian cabaret. Well, famous in the 19th century, anyway. The poster (not my copy, of course) dates to 1896. Here it is without a tree in front of it:

I always think the cat looks really cheesed.

Q. The picture makes it look like your walls are painted purple. What color are they really?

A. Purple. A purple-y sort of dark dusty violet. I ♥ the color.

Namasté

Current mood: (cold)

Holiday Quiz

I was super busy today, deep cleaning the kitchen in advance of the Holidays. I got the oven and microwave clean, as well as about half of the cabinets. I watered and trimmed the plants, yanked down a brown vine that had tried to strangulate the window blinds before it up and died, and filled the aquarium-that-doesn't-have-a-fish-yet with more water. I need to get a fish or a frog to replace our dearly-departed Siamese Fighting Fish, Cookie Monster ('cause he was blue), but we haven't decided on fish or frog yet, so the aquarium remains empty but for water.

Earlier, the SuperCat had taken another in her series of epic baths, launching her fleet of ducks, and swimming around for close to 90 minutes while I picked up in our adjacent bedroom. The bedroom is a bit cleaner, and I'm pretty happy with what I managed to do today. I'm finally getting into the holiday mood (after like, 8 years without it), so I'm trying to take advantage of it by getting things accomplished.


more animals
A friend sent me this quiz in email, and instead of just answering it and sending it back (which I did do) , I'm posting it here. Let me know if you answer the questions; feel free to post a link to your answers or post the answers in the comments field if you'd like.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Due to playfully pouncing kitties, lumbering dog-oxen, and rampaging SuperCats, we try to avoid sitting down with large rolls of wrapping paper and sticky tape at all costs, and use (then subsequently re-use) gift bags as often as possible.

2. Real tree or artificial?

Artificial. Real trees are pretty and smell nice, but real trees are an allergy issue around here. Plus, real trees last a few weeks at best, while an artificial tree lasts for years and years. Thus, it seems greener somehow to have a fake plastic tree.

3. When do you put up the tree?

The weekend after Thanksgiving. That feels like the right not-too-soon-not-too-late time break out the presents!
The ribbons!
The wrappings!
The tags!
And the tinsel!
The trimmings!
The trappings!

5. Do you like eggnog?

Love it. So far this year we've had "regular" nog; "light" nog (relatively speaking, of course. Egg nog is not "light"); and soy nog. Soy nog is better than I would have guessed, and I plan to get it from now on. When the SuperCat was very small - and she was born very small - she showed an early preference for egg nog. She was so small and tiny, and she needed the calories, so we gave her egg nog (pasteurized, of course) whenever we possibly could. She's still a huge nog fan, just like Mommy.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

Lincoln Logs from my Dad when I was about 5 or so.

7. Hardest person to buy for?

My husband. Generally speaking, he doesn't want a lot of stuff, and if he wants it, he probably has it already. It's very difficult to come up with new things he'll like.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

Any of the kids. They want (variously) toys, clothes and/or money. Very straightforward. And they are always appreciative, which is nice.

9. Do you have a Nativity scene?

A crèche? Yes. For some reason, most Catholics seem to call it a crèche, which means "manger" or "crib" rather than calling it a Nativity scene. I have three. A smallish mostly-plastic one, a handmade wooden one, and one made from polymer clay that I made several years ago. The tradition I am familiar with is to keep the baby Jesus out of the crib/manger/crèche until Christmas day, to signify His birth.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Sometimes, we get around to mailing them, but not usually, so often it's email or phone calls.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

A hideous short-sleeved bright green sweater with a white striped neck band from an aunt who did the shopping for my grandmother that year. Yuck. Seriously yuck.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

A Christmas Story (You'll shoot your eye out, kid!)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Year round if I see something I like, but after Labor Day in earnest. I dislike crowds, so I try to get it out of the way before they kick in in earnest.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Yes, a few times. Not the hideous green sweater, though. I donated that. I don't like to return stuff, ever. I would rather do anything than stand in line to return things, so unless it was broken, I try to make-do, donate it, or give it away.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

I haven't had it in years, but my grandmother's Peanut Butter Divinity Fudge. I need to dig up the recipe and make some. The other favorite would be turkey and gravy. Oh, and Chex Mix. Gluten-free, Rice-Chex-only Chex Mix.

16. What decorations are on your tree?

Mostly blown glass. White lights. Things the kids made over the years.

17. Favorite Christmas song?

Don't really have a single one. I like Fairytale of New York, obviously (see previous post). I love Carol of the Bells, which everyone knows, but many people don't seem to know the name of.



And a song called Walking In The Air, by the English composer Howard Blake, for the film version of Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. It is simply beautiful.



18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?

Both. I really would prefer to stay home, but we usually end up away from home, which I find sort of stressful, sort of not. Aside from my kids, I don't really have a lot of family, and I prefer to stay home; my husband has a lot of family, though, and he understandably wants us all to be together. So it's sort of stressful, but tempered by the fact that he's happy, so I'm ok with it.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Yes. Yes, I can.
Dasher
Dancer
Prancer
Vixen
Comet
Cupid
Donder & Blitzen (originally Dunder & Blixem - the Dutch words for Thunder & Lightning).
And sometimes, the non-canonical Rudolph.

20. Angel on top of tree or star?

A tin star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

Christmas morning. It doesn't feel right to open gifts Christmas Eve.

Because we often travel, we often end up either opening gifts at home Christmas Eve and then go "out and about" Christmas morning; or go "out and about" Christmas day and open gifts whenever we get home Christmas night.

When I was little, my Dad often worked Christmas Eve night, so we didn't see him until Christmas morning, and it would have been impossible to think of opening more than one gift on Christmas Eve without my Dad being there.

If we opened one gift, if was the one from our grandparents back East. That was only because we'd called long-distance to talk to our grandparents to wish them Merry Christmas and to thank them for their gifts, so we'd open them to know what they were.

Long distance was always such a huge big deal back then, reserved for holidays or special announcements. It wasn't something you did just because.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

All of those sappy made-for-TV-mushy-romantic-Christmas-movies. For example: pretty much whatever is on the Lifetime Movie Channel this month(^).

Oh! And the fact that The Night The Reindeer Died isn't a real movie. Because if it was real, it would be awesome. Lee Majors-awesome. Just think about that for a minute, will ya'?



I'd like to say that consumerism, greed, and all that bothers me, since it does seem to be magnified around this time of year. And it does, but probably not as much as maudlin sentiment.

23 What theme or color are you using when you decorate?

I hadn't put up my largish collection of ornaments in many years, due to a number of factors; until this year. During the years we didn't put up the big tree, I fell into putting up a tiny tree with turquoise, pink and silver ornaments. It was really pretty. This year, I'm back to the "everything goes" color scheme, with turquoise, blue and silver decorations outside.

As for a theme, it's eclectic, just like all of my other decorating endeavors. I like vintage and unusual ornaments.

♫ Oh, Christmas Tree ♫

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

Food? Turkey and gravy (see question # 15). We don't seem to have any one thing that has to be served to call it Christmas dinner. I knew someone years ago who always had fish soup. I know people who always make Dresdner Stollen(^), a German bread-like cake (link pops to recipe). I've known other people to always have lasagna, spaghetti or beef roast. I have a friend whose family always eats shrimp.

Maybe we should start a tradition. Any suggestions?

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

Hmmm. Not too much, really, apart from the usual... Peace On Earth... Goodwill Towards All Men... and a new flannel night gown.

If Santa is listening, a DVD of The Snowman would be nice, since I haven't seen it in many years and would like to share it with the SuperCat.
Since I've been extra-good, maybe a self-healing cutting mat for sewing, and/or a charm or two for my bracelet.

Namasté
Current mood: (accomplished)

Holiday Havoc

A couple of weeks ago, at the bookstore, while looking for a birthday present for Dan, I realized that the store was playing Christmas music. Thanksgiving, which seems to be the unofficial earliest date possible that has been deemed safe to play Christmas music without customer rioting, was still six days in the future, but that wasn't what really surprised me.

What surprised me was the song.

They were playing one of my favorites, Fairytale of New York, originally by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl. It was surprising because it's a bawdy song about spending Christmas in the drunk tank in NYC. Part of the song is sung between two characters who, while fighting each other, use some pretty nasty language. I waited, listening while I shopped, and when they got to the verse with the naughty words, I waited for them to be sung out over the bookstore...

I waited for it... and... they'd been replaced with non-naughty words that sort of rhymed with the originals.

Dammit.

They'd trashed the song.

When I caught up with Dan and the Supercat, I mentioned it to him, and he's heard it, too, noticing the clean version they'd played. I think we were both a bit miffed: someone had taken a perfectly indecent Pogues song and completely ruined it by tidying it up, ridding it of part of what made it good to start with. They aren't words I use in everyday conversation; they aren't nice or polite words at all - rather nasty, in fact. But they convey the mood of the besotted characters, so they belong in the song.

Worst of all, it was a bookstore. Grrrrrr. They deal in ideas, but for whatever reason, someone decided that we couldn't handle ideas, and scrubbed the song clean for us.

Phooey.

A teeny tiny itsy bitsy part of me thinks I should be happy that they played the song at all, but the bigger part of me thinks it should be played as written, as the composer intended, or not at all.

If it doesn't belong in a retail atmosphere (and it may not - I'm not sure it's something I want my small child to hear), don't play it at all. I can see plenty of good reasons not to play it - it's a song about drinking and has foul language; and that might have a deleterious effect on holiday shoppers. That makes perfect sense.

What doesn't make sense is playing a song known to have naughty words and an adult theme, then editing it to remove the parts that make the song unique.

Oddly, this has come up before, almost a year ago, when BBC Radio 1 played a censored version last Christmas(^), after years of playing the "regular" version. They said they were censoring it to "avoid offence". The scrubbed version lasted less than a day, Kirsty MacColl's mother (KM died as the result of a terrible accident a few years ago), and zillions of fans complained.

Anyway, here it is in all its uncensored glory:

The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl

At around the same time the BBC was censoring the Pogues last year, the fine folks who bring us The Venture Brothers(^) (probably my favorite TV show) released their annual holiday song to the world.

The Venture Brothers, is a definitely-not-for-children (mostly due to cartoon violence and adult situations) animated series on Adult Swim(^), what the Cartoon Network turns into late at night. It follows the adventures of a scientist (Dr. Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture), his bodyguard (Brock Sampson) and the doctor's two sons (Hank and Dean Venture) as they fight villainy, mostly found in the form of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, sort of a union for bad guys (with health/dental insurance and everything).

If it looks and sounds a lot like Jonny Quest, it's almost certainly no coincidence, The Venture Brothers seems to try to balance on the thin line between parody and an earnest homage to Jonny Quest.

Here's a clip from The Venture Brothers, with their arch enemies, The Monarch, and his wife, Dr. Girlfriend. Dr. Girlfriend is the one with the really _low voice. And yeah, she's a she.

So, as I said, every year around the holidays (since 2004, anyway), The Venture Brothers creators have released a Christmas song on their website. They haven't released one for this year yet, but I went looking yesterday, and found the songs from the previous four years(^).

The songs thus far have been:

The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend singing the Bing Crosby-David Bowie classic Peace On Earth/The Little Drummer Boy (2004)

The Monarch and Henchmen 21 & 24 singing Dolly Parton’s Hard Candy Christmas (2005)

Venture Aid (2006)

And, from 2007:

The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend singing (you guessed it) Fairytale of New York. Since it was released around the time of the BBC controversy, I wonder if it was released in response to the censorship?

Regardless of why, it makes me happy to know that someone else gets it - in fact, that a lot of people get it. Not everything is for everyone at all times - some people may be offended, or the material may be inappropriate. But destroying original work is not the answer.

Namaste.

Stand By Me

A video from the film Playing For Change: Peace Through Music(^), about the Playing for Change Foundation,(^) established to build music and art schools worldwide.

I saw this originally on Bill Moyers Journal(^), where the director talked about uniting people through music.

The cynical part of me wonders if programs like this help. The hopeful part of me wants very much for it to be so.

Tangentially, it makes me miss my dad and New Orleans, where some of it was filmed, as you can see in the video.


Stand By Me



Have a wonderful, peace-filled weekend.

Namaste.

Attack of the Domo-Kun! (Birthday Party, Part II)

In addition to making Totoro cupcakes (see post below), we made Domo-kun brownies for the combined SuperCat/Daniel's dad's birthday/Halloween party. Who doesn't like brownies? Who doesn't like Domo-kun? I looked around the web and didn't see any food that was Domo-Kun related, so I created these. The brownies were a natural for Domo-kun's body, and the rest was easy to figure out.

When I was diagnosed with Celiac and could no longer eat wheat, I stopped baking for a while. I could no longer just "make" our favorites because it isn't possible to simply substitute any one type of flour for wheat flour. Wheat flour gives food a unique flavor, texture, and taste to food that nothing else really has.

When I started baking again, I started with mixes. My favorites are Bob's Red Mill(^), and Whole Foods' 365 private label(^) gluten-free products.

I am a pretty accomplished baker with wheat flour, but still resort to "mixes" once in a while as I learn to navigate gluten-free waters. One great thing about eating a gluten-free diet is that many of the mixes I've used have fewer processed ingredients. This is because who really wants high fructose corn syrup in everything?

The brownies we had for our party were gluten-free from a mix. We added some extra high-quality semi-sweet chocolate, and used real butter, both of which made them taste a lot closer to "homemade".

Gluten free brownies taste at least as good as "regular" brownies. I like to serve mine about 8 hours after they've cooled, to reduce any chance of them having a grainy texture. After about 8 hours, though, no one I have ever served them to could tell the difference.

If gluten-free isn't a concern and you'd like to make these, use your favorite brownie recipe, or the boxed mix of your choice.

About Domo-kun: Domo-kun is sort of short for "dōmo, konnichiwa!" which means "hello, there!" in Japanese, but can also mean "Hello, Domo!" "Kun" in Japanese is an honorific used for young men. So, sort of a pun, and a play on words.

Domo-kun is the mascot of Japan's NHK television station(^), sort of the way NBC has the peacock. We get stuck with a peacock and that goofy CBS eye; the Japanese have this happy fuzzy monster who lives in an underground cave with a rabbit named Mr. Usaji (a play on the Japan words for rabbit "usagi" and old man "jii").

The TV-watching public in Japan get the better deal, I think.

If you decide to go to their website and see Domo-kun at the link provided above, click through his world. At the end, the fine folks at NHK have a bunch of cool Domo-kun wallpaper and Java widgets.

Recently, the US department store chain Target brought Domo-kun to the US in the form of Halloween toys. I was happy to see Domo-kun, but a bit miffed that there were only a limited number of toys, and that almost all of the items used in their advertising (a Domo-kun Halloween pumpkin, for example) were never available in stores.

Not to worry - I'm already working on my own Dono-kun pumpkin for next year. We tend to theme our pumpkins, so next year will be Japanese icons. You'll have to wait to see what else we come up with :)

Yay that Target had anything Domo-kun related.
Phooey that they didn't even have the stuff in their own in-store pictures, though.

Back to the brownies.

After the brownies were cool, we cut them into blocks roughly 1½ by 3 inches.

We placed the cut brownies on a platter and used mini-Tootsie rolls for arms and legs, attaching them by pushing them gently into place on each brownie.

Next, we placed a rectangle of cut strawberry fruit leather where the mouth would be. I cut the fruit leather using clean scissors. Fruit leather or "fruit rollups" are available in pretty much every grocery store on the planet.

Then, we placed two rows of teeth, made from a flattened bit of roled fondant left over from the Totoro cupcakes onto the top and bottom of each mouth. To make the teeth with fondant, thinly roll out the fondant, then use a sharp knife point to cut the teeth. We allowed the fondant to set up lightly covered with paper toweling overnight before we used it to decorate the Domo-kuns.

If you would like to make these but don't want to purchase or make fondant, a rolled out piece of white taffy cut to size would be a fine substitute.

After that, we pushed semi-sweet chocolate chips into his "head" for eyes, and that was it. Done. The one thing I would have done differently is that I would have used brown M&Ms for eyes if I had had them. They are slightly larger and shinier, and would have looking a bit better in my opinion.

Here they are (click each for the larger size)






























This was our menu:

Wild antelope burgers (from my hunting husband)
Organic uncured buffalo dogs
Bratwurst
Tomatoes
Onions
Lettuce
All sorts of condiments
Wheat buns (I just skip the bun if I want a burger and use a fork)
Hash brown casserole
Twice-baked stuffed potato
Tossed salad greens with veggies

Chocolate cupcakes with fondant Totoros

Domo-kun double-chocolate brownies

Several different delicious ice creams.

Everything was wonderful, and we had great company. Dan and his dad did the grilling, his mom made the salad, the hash brown casserole and the twice-baked double-stuffed potato (made after she noticed gluten in one of the casserole ingredients).

We were joined by the SuperCat's grandparents, her aunt and uncle, her two cousins, some dear friends. It was a lovely day to celebrate.

I have to say, these were so incredibly easy that I will certainly make these the next time I bake brownies because they add only a few short minutes to the process, but were so much fun to make and eat.

Namaste.

My Neighbor Totoro

Two of the last three weeks have been... I'll settle for "interesting", since "pitifully sad" sounds so... pitifully sad.

My husband got sick on the day of our 5th anniversary. By the end of the day, (Saturday, October 18th), he was yearning for the sweet release that only Ibuprofen and a swig of NyQuil can bring. What followed were two weeks of flu-ishness in everyone. I had it three different times. SuperCat had it once. Yuck.

Thankfully, the next week, the week leading up to Halloween, we were all given some sort of Get Out Of Jail Free card by the Universe. We were healthy, we were happy, and we got everything accomplished that we'd planned. We carved pumpkins (my husband and I each carved n owls and the SuperCat helped with her Blue pumpkin, from Blue's Clues). This year, her grandfather grew pumpkins for all of the grandkids, and shortly before Halloween, led Supercat out to the pumpkin patch to harvest her very own, home-grown pumpkin!








On Halloween night, we went Trick or Treating with the SuperCat. Or, we did after she finished giving out candy, because as soon as the doorbell rang, she ran to the door with a tin pail of candy, ready to dispense treats to all of the other kids in the neighborhood. None of them scared her, either, even though this seemed to be the Year of the Zombie, costume-wise. Because Halloween is her birthday, we started early, when SuperCat was about eleven months old, telling her that none of the scary stuff was real. As a result, she calls everything scary-looking "not reals". Skeletons, zombies, witches, goblins and the like are all "not reals" and she isn't the least bit afraid.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday both because of the good memories I have of it as a kid, and because of the memories I have of my own children's Halloweens. The costumes I've worn, the costumes I've sewn, the pumpkins we've picked out and carved, the candy. I don't think I have any bad memories of Halloween at all, just happy thoughts.

So, I was happy when the SuperCat was born on Halloween. She'll always have a national dress-up party on her birthday with special foods, decorations and games. How much fun is that?

With her actual birthday being Halloween, we've decided that at least while she's young, it really is too much to ask for everyone else to miss their Halloween, and besides: SuperCat's grandfather's birthday is 4 days later, and postponing the party two days allows us to all gather for a combined party, which is so much fun!

The menu included a double-baked and stuffed potato for me (gluten free), delicious hash brown casserole for everyone else, a salad, and cake and brownies for dessert.

This year, when I asked SuperCat what sort of cake she'd like, she told me, "ponies... no... kitties...", then quickly changed her mind and blurted out, "Totoro!"

Totoro is from a Japanese animated film titled Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) by director Hayao Miyazaki. It's about a giant forest sprite (Totoro) who befriends and helps two little sisters in post-World War Two Japan. It has been a part of the childhoods of all three of my children, and if you haven't seen it, check it out. The children in the film are smart, able, and they are respectful of adults. The adults in the film are smart, help and comfort the children, and are competent and caring. In short, it's everything a lot of children's films aren't.

My Neighbor Totoro is a wonderful film, one of our favorites. The story is winsome, sometimes sad, always touching and beautiful. It's on DVD, so if you get a chance, check it out.

This is a Totoro:









So, how to make a Totoro cake? I don't live in Japan, where products with Totoro are sold, so buying a Totoro thing for the top of the cake was right out.

I don't do Wilton-type decorating (although learning how to is on my list for 2009), so that was out as well.

I do craft in polymer clay, and I'd made a Totoro before, but it's best not to touch polymer clay to food, and besides, a Totoro that would be appropriately sized would weigh several pounds and would take a ton of (expensive) clay. I finally settled on fondant. And instead of a cake, I'd make cupcakes. Our wedding cake was covered with rolled fondant, and although I didn't make it, I had always wanted to work with fondant.

Fondant is a mixture of sugar, water, gelatin, glucose (or white corn syrup), a bit of glycerin, and some flavoring and/or coloring, if desired. You mix all these things, bring it to temperature, take it off the heat, and knead it till it is a soft, smooth dough.

Fondant can be modeled, rolled flat to cover entire cakes, made into bows, any sort of shape you can think of; in short fondant is like edible candy modeling clay.

Fondant doesn't really taste like much except "sweet", so it's a good idea to frost the cake before the fondant is applied, since most people don't eat it.

But I didn't want to make it because I've never made it. For one thing, I live more than 6000 above sea level. Water boils at a lower temperature where I live than where most other people live. It's drier and it's cooler, both of which affect candy making. I didn't want to risk making it for the first time, so, I went with Wilton's pre-made. Five pounds is about $22.00 at Hobby Lobby; around $13.00 or so with a 40% off coupon, and is enough to cover a 3-tiered cake or make probably 3 dozen Totoros. I've promised to add "making fondant from scratch" on my list of things to do in 2009, right below learnng Wilton-style design.

I only needed about a dozen Totoros, so I saved the rest of the fondant for Thanksgiving (squirrels for decorating a gluten-free cake ) and my husband's birthday (within a few days of Thanksgiving). He's getting Tux the penguin cupcakes (Tux is the mascot of the operating system Linux & my husband is a Unix/Linux systems administrator).











Last Saturday night found my fabulous husband and myself standing in the kitchen, molding about a dozen Totoros. We followed a picture and were done in about 90 minutes. He's basically a flat-bottomed egg shape, with pinched tubes for arms, cones for ears, a ball for a tail, ovals for eyes, a thinly rolled oval of white for the bib, and that's it! Stick the parts on with water if they start to dry out, and try to keep the yet-to-be used "clay" covered with a moist paper towel while you work.

Sky blue Wilton's paste food coloring was used to dye the fondant to make the body, ears, arms, and tail; I left it plain white for the eyes and the chest; and used the blue paste food coloring watered down and applied with a sharp toothpick for the pupils, fur, and noses. Before I tinted it, I flavored the fondant with vanilla and a bit of orange oil so that if anyone decided to eat it, it wouldn't taste really icky.

The flowers are Smarties candies. The grass is coconut dyed with green Wilton's paste coloring.

Here are the results. You can click on the pictures for bigger versions.
















































We were happy with them, but SuperCat was thrilled.
Happy 3rd Birthday, sweetheart!

Namaste.