Dear friends! On this the last night of the year, I have prepared myself a fine little feast for one. Ron was called into work, despite his being sick in bed yesterday. So here I sit with a platter of a really good salsa and chips, green olives, thinly shaved provolone and some horseradish cheddar, a marvelous tapanade of olives and feta, and freshly baked pizza. And in a thin crystal glass a nice dry red wine. Why the apparent excess?
Part of the notion of new year is to create an expectation of the coming year. To resolve to do better yes, but to trick the fates into thinking you're just due for goodness. In the business world, this is called priming the pump.
Whatever the purpose or motive, it's just a wonderful treat for myself and a great way to nosh while I'm surfing the web and waiting for the new year to arrive. Enjoy and good year ahead everyone!
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne?
CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We'll tak a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne!
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp, And surely I'll be mine, And we'll tak a cup o kindness yet, For auld lang syne!
We twa hae run about the braes, And pou'd the gowans fine, But we've wander'd monie a weary fit, Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn Frae morning sun till dine, But seas between us braid hae roar'd Sin auld lang syne.
And there's a hand my trusty fiere, And gie's a hand o thine, And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught, For auld lang syne
Wow - it's like a little present to me to find Mia still out there in blog land. When my link to her site stopped working, I wondered if she'd moved, given up on blogging, lost her ISP or who knows. Luckily, I'm one of those people who throw an eye on my counter statistics. Where visitors come from and how they find my site interests me. And there was a URL that looked so familiar and yet.... could it be??? yes! it was her!
This year the lull between Christmas and New Year has been... well, anything but a lull. Some big family stuff going on, and no quilting whatsoever, and way too much work. And too much work when I'm working. Ron's been pulling the big OT too, because of a lot of illness among his co-workers. Tomorrow I hope to be productive and do some - well anything!
Oh! And if you want to see some photos of our holiday, go here
Welcome MSNBC Weblog Central readers! Hope you like the mix of holiday preparations and quilting! Often times, there is more quilting going on, but you know how it is this time of year.
Written at:
12/22/2002 10:01:00 PM
I'm going to bake today, no matter WHAT. Baking cookies is one of the small pleasures in my life. Messy but productive and nice to share. I love cookies. Gingersnaps, hermits, pecan cookies rolled in powdered sugar, a layered cookie that is topped with coconut, nuts and chocolate chips, flourless peanut butter cookies, shortbread. I have a new chocolate cookie to try making this year which is also flourless. What sort of cookies do you bake?
Yup, fruitcake fame strikes again. What's not to like about the Wall Street Journal up and citing my web site in an article about a topic near and dear to my heart?
On Monday, I'll be making a morning show call in appearance on WTRC radio in Elkhart IN. On Friday I'll be chatting up the folks in Edmonton Canada on CBC radio there.
Meanwhile, Christmas fast approaches, so I think I better get back to work. And even just a little sewing machine time would be a good thing.
Is this crazy or what? Yesterday, I got to meet, in person, Natalie Merchant. That's all I'm going to say about that. It was a little thrilling to me. OK, that's it.
On the personal fame thing, I've been contacted by a TV show-to-be (does the Society do a fruitcake bake off?), and today the Society got big press in the Sacramento Bee and little press in the Tampa Tribune. what a hoot. I think there's a phone message for the Society as well.
On a different note altogether, but as a result of the Sacramento Bee article, I received email from the Founder of Sinkie.com. What's a Sinkie? The International Association of People Who Dine Over the Kitchen Sink. Their motto: "If it has anything to do with having a quick bite, it has everything to do with being a Sinkie." www.sinkie.com
Written at:
12/18/2002 08:31:00 PM
Last night I had dinner with three friends. One had a gift certificate she "had" to use up and she chose to use it with us. We all agreed to split whatever the balance was. The place was homey, the portions were good and generous and we talked non-stop for like 3 hours. The place wasn't busy and so there was no pressure to relinquish our table, and we weren't demanding, so the waitstaff didn't mind either.
But what a great time - we told our stories and laughed and enjoyed each other and our friendships. We exchanged some gifts, but that wasn't the highlight of the evening.
When we headed out into the sharply cold night, the sky was clear, the moon was high voltage and the stars twinkled merrily. The hugs were warm though and we went our ways home in peace and with a smile.
Pat, Sue, and Naomi - thanks for being part of my life.
And now, what you've all been waiting for - An FAQ for the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Fruitcake.
As a side note, the Society's web page broke, nay smashed, its all time record for daily page views today. Apparently a big ISP put some holiday links on the page members get after logging into their accounts and the Society was one of them. So yeah, that ticking you've heard all day was the visitor counter whirring madly away. Now if I could only attract that kind of traffic to my main pages! Fruitcake meta tags anyone?
Written at:
12/16/2002 08:52:00 PM
Went to the family christmas party Sunday night. My brother and his family hosted it and everyone brought food to share. Lots of people came and ate and talked and had a good time.
It was great to see all my cousins talking amongst themselves and how well their kids all get along. I even got to see the inside of my nephew's bedroom and the cool electric guitar and amp he got at a garage sale. Later I heard that my cousin Joe had "consulted" with him about this, giving him some advice about needing new strings etc. Since Joe plays himself that was a very nice thing. Always good to see my aunts and uncles. In short a good time was had by all.
I brought caesar salad at the request of my brother and hoooo baby, it was a good thing we're all family and like each other because baby - that garlic was serious business! Mike snagged the left overs so I guess it passed muster.
I know our family really needed an occasion like this. It's not all good times, but getting together like this reminds us of our past and what we share and why. Thanks everyone who made it all possible!
In case you're not one of the many I've been blathering on and on to -- the yearly search for information about Fruitcake is well underway. Today there will have been over 230 visitors in search of some crucial bit of fruitcake info. The Society for the Protection and Preservation of Fruitcake is, of course, a great resource for those in need of recipes and information. A great example of what the World Wide Web is all about, it is. In the process of getting some information for the reporter from the Sacramento Bee newspaper, I found out that I've been making fruitcake since 1982 and that the fruit involved ranges from 114 - 178 ounces. Now you know. Now go out and find good fruitcake! Stop laughing now!
Always the same, when on a fated night At last the gathered snow lets down as white As may be in dark woods, and with a song It shall not make again all winter long Of hissing on the yet uncovered ground, I almost stumble looking up and round, As one who overtaken by the end Gives up his errand, and lets death descend Upon him where he is, with nothing done To evil, no important triumph won, More than if life had never been begun.
Yet all the precedent is on my side: I know that winter death has never tried The earth but it has failed: the snow may heap In long storms an undrifted four feet deep As measured again maple, birch, and oak, It cannot check the peeper's silver croak; And I shall see the snow all go down hill In water of a slender April rill That flashes tail through last year's withered brake And dead weeds, like a disappearing snake. Nothing will be left white but here a birch, And there a clump of houses with a church.
Great article in the Christian Science Monitor about quilting and some considered responses to the whole Wall Street Journal Debacle. I'll forgive the Houston curator for saying that when people think about quilts they think about Quakers (he probably meant Amish) because the rest was fabulous. Consider these two quotes:
Curators like Mr. Marzio [director of the Gees' Bend exhibit when it was in Houston] contend that the balance between traditional and innovative in quilting isn't an either/or issue: Innovation is the tradition.
and this one:
Janet Koplos, senior editor of Art in America, agrees: "To attack quilts because they're cheaper to ship - or because people like them - seems wildly off the point," she wrote in an e-mail interview. "The proof of whether something should be shown in a museum is whether it rewards attention, and quilts are as interesting as other art forms."
Being sort of inbetween projects - still sewing small bits of stuff together for the pink and green quilt, finished with the coat of arms (except perhaps some more quilting) and scrambling for a raffle quilt idea led me to sort through my stash. Good idea, but now the rest of my sewing room is a disaster. I'm in need of quilt storage too. Mainly though, a shovel of some sort or an industrial vacuum cleaner would do good.
