Today I received and planted raspberry bushes, a current bush, and a 4-in-1 antique variety apple tree. Long rage planning, yes especially the apple tree. I suspect I will buy a few more raspberry, currant and grape plants. Nothing like specialty fruits.
I also started a few dozen pepper and tomato plants, some cilantro and buttercup squash. All my favorites and some of the priciest varieties that I would and do spend money on. There is no point in planting things you won't feast on in the summer and fall. Squash lasts quite a while in the refrigerator and plenty of vegetables freeze well, too.
The Maximalist could eat tomatoes and peppers every single day of her life and never tire of them. Excellent sources of vitamins too. Should be beautiful
Just for sport, I also started Echinacea and Gaillardia flowers. They remind me of my grandmother. But then so do all these fruits bushes I planted today. We always had plenty of beautiful, nutritious fresh treats. Talk about nepenthe!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Carrot McNuggets? No legislators, it's not happening
Loved the Joe Crummey show and the focus on the guy who stated that parents were unable to say no to kids. While I agree in principle that "happy meals" could be a little healthier, I don't blame fast food businesses for bad decision making. People can get just as heavy from eating junk food at home, too much pasta at home, or even too many veggie-burgers! Short of calorie rationing, we can't force parents to make good choices for their kids or themselves. This is just a feel good thing for the regulation happy. We can't solve the problem, or blame the people who may vote for us, so we'll blame "greedy" businesses. Problem solved?
Nope. And for the record, I took my kids to a MacDonald's precisely once. It was after a swim meet and because the other mom wanted to go and I was too wussy to belittle the choice of food. My kids still don't eat fast food and they are 29 and 27years old. They were "deprived" of fast food, cable television, and sleazy pop music.
They lived. Yes, they had a few moments of miffed behavior about not getting this crap especially when their friends had it, but only a few moments.
And let's be honest here. The fast food joints sell this stuff because there is a demand for it. If there was no demand, it would vanish. If there was a demand for "carrot mcnuggets" someone would provide the little toys from China to go with it, but there is no demand. Simple economics here, people.
Parents, you can get past the whines, by sticking to your principles a few times, when whining is not rewarded it won't be repeated. Yep, Nancy was right "just say no".
Nope. And for the record, I took my kids to a MacDonald's precisely once. It was after a swim meet and because the other mom wanted to go and I was too wussy to belittle the choice of food. My kids still don't eat fast food and they are 29 and 27years old. They were "deprived" of fast food, cable television, and sleazy pop music.
They lived. Yes, they had a few moments of miffed behavior about not getting this crap especially when their friends had it, but only a few moments.
And let's be honest here. The fast food joints sell this stuff because there is a demand for it. If there was no demand, it would vanish. If there was a demand for "carrot mcnuggets" someone would provide the little toys from China to go with it, but there is no demand. Simple economics here, people.
Parents, you can get past the whines, by sticking to your principles a few times, when whining is not rewarded it won't be repeated. Yep, Nancy was right "just say no".
Nepenthe, the funky restaurant in the Sandpiper...still exists.
Wikipedia says that nepenthe means "a medicine for sorrow, literally an anti-depressant – a 'drug of forgetfulness' " It is also the name of the funky, artsy restaurant frequented by the artists in The Sandpiper. Delightfully it still exists and still seems pretty artsy-crafty complete with a gift shop that includes handmade jewelry, bath supplies and the heir to California Pottery, "Ocean Art Pottery".
I live in New Jersey, hate flying and am unlikely to visit Big Sur or Nepenthe any time soon. But I am still besotted by this movie, the scenery and the whole arts and crafts thing (despite my recent issues with Etsy). I think we can love Nepenthe and its history from a distance. If you visit the website,http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/ you can see the pictures, the menus and get the vibe.
I think we need a Nepenthe revival in the US, and not the anti-depressants, the opiates or any sort of drug that it could have historically meant. We need the nepenthe that this restaurant and its history promised us. The camraderie, the sitting around singing, dancing and enjoying life together. We need to hand make our life, not buy it at Bloomingdales from chinese workers. We need to entertain ourselves and not leave that job to a few hollywood "stars". Sing our own songs, read our own plays, and revel in our own company. Yes, The Sandpiper had "stars", but it was not about stardom. The nepenthe I'm talking about is the anti-depressant effect of good food, good company and a job well done....and beautiful scenery.
We can do it!
My Jersey backyard can't be transported to the Big Sur, but I can make it prettier. This fall I planted 800 cheap daffodils, and they look lovely. That is an anti-depressant! I am completely committed to my Economic Victory Garden and I think that will be a sight to see, it will also yield plenty of ingredients for terrific menus (the Nepenthe menus are not hard to replicate, and buying prepared meals needs to be rooted out of my life).
What is it we do that prevents this natural nepenthe from entering our lives? What do we do with our 24 hours a day that prevents us from "good food, good company and a job well done"?
Mindless hours of celebrity watching ranks high. When the Maximalist looks around her she sees way too many magazines devoted to this activity, this vicarious life led by so many. We have too many television shows devoted to celebrity for its own sake. What are "American Idol" and "Dancing with the STARS" but ways to worship celebrity, even if it's celebrity failing. Every hour we spend mesmerised with the lives of actors, singers or reality show big mouths is an hour we do not spend cultivating our own story, honing our skills and being creative. It is an hour we do not spend discussing ideas around the table with our friends and neighbors. It is an hour we avoid ourselves completely. And when the hour is over we have no more than we had before. Maybe we have a little more envy and a few hundred empty calories under the belt as we sit in front of the tube. This is the anti-nepenthe.
Let's go for the real thing!
I live in New Jersey, hate flying and am unlikely to visit Big Sur or Nepenthe any time soon. But I am still besotted by this movie, the scenery and the whole arts and crafts thing (despite my recent issues with Etsy). I think we can love Nepenthe and its history from a distance. If you visit the website,http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/ you can see the pictures, the menus and get the vibe.
I think we need a Nepenthe revival in the US, and not the anti-depressants, the opiates or any sort of drug that it could have historically meant. We need the nepenthe that this restaurant and its history promised us. The camraderie, the sitting around singing, dancing and enjoying life together. We need to hand make our life, not buy it at Bloomingdales from chinese workers. We need to entertain ourselves and not leave that job to a few hollywood "stars". Sing our own songs, read our own plays, and revel in our own company. Yes, The Sandpiper had "stars", but it was not about stardom. The nepenthe I'm talking about is the anti-depressant effect of good food, good company and a job well done....and beautiful scenery.
We can do it!
My Jersey backyard can't be transported to the Big Sur, but I can make it prettier. This fall I planted 800 cheap daffodils, and they look lovely. That is an anti-depressant! I am completely committed to my Economic Victory Garden and I think that will be a sight to see, it will also yield plenty of ingredients for terrific menus (the Nepenthe menus are not hard to replicate, and buying prepared meals needs to be rooted out of my life).
What is it we do that prevents this natural nepenthe from entering our lives? What do we do with our 24 hours a day that prevents us from "good food, good company and a job well done"?
Mindless hours of celebrity watching ranks high. When the Maximalist looks around her she sees way too many magazines devoted to this activity, this vicarious life led by so many. We have too many television shows devoted to celebrity for its own sake. What are "American Idol" and "Dancing with the STARS" but ways to worship celebrity, even if it's celebrity failing. Every hour we spend mesmerised with the lives of actors, singers or reality show big mouths is an hour we do not spend cultivating our own story, honing our skills and being creative. It is an hour we do not spend discussing ideas around the table with our friends and neighbors. It is an hour we avoid ourselves completely. And when the hour is over we have no more than we had before. Maybe we have a little more envy and a few hundred empty calories under the belt as we sit in front of the tube. This is the anti-nepenthe.
Let's go for the real thing!
Benedict Goldstone Admits he was "Wrong"
According to Mona Charen at the National Review online, Richard Goldstone, has changed his little mind about Israel and war crimes. AND he has the temerity to suggest that he was not in possession of all the facts at the time when he lended his name and his jewishness to this ugly smear on Israel.
Perhaps what he was really not in possession of was all of his faculties, in fact he was out of his mind, drunk on the adulation of the Israel hating, UN loving leftists who would love to see six million more dead jews (when they're not doubting the Holocaust or claiming that jews are using rabid anti-semitism and threats of mass murder to manipulate public opinion). Yes, Goldstone you became a hero to jew killing wannabes everywhere and Charen is quite correct in saying you cannot undo the slander or the libel or whatever it was...both, probably.
This begs someone to ask the obvious question, which is "why would a prominent jew lend his name to some pack of distortions that would endanger millions of jews". I suggest that there are two reasons why someone would do this. The first, of course, is the adulation and the adoration of the press which is notoriously leftist and ant-Israel. Do not discount this as flattery and celebrity are powerful drugs. Secondly and most importantly is the self-deception that if somehow the people you have influence over can be "wrong" the situation can be corrected and peace will reign forever, amen.
What do I mean by this? Let's take 9/11 as an obvious example. While Al Qaeda received a bit of negative press, all the usual suspects began blaming America (and George W Bush) as soon as the smoke cleared and they were able to find their partisan hats. If one is rational and can accept an ugly situation for what it is,it's obvious that Al Qaeda and its supporter nations were completely responsible for this atrocity, this terrorism. But looking at things rationally is scary. It means that there are people out there who would like to destroy Western Civilization and the United States in particular. Well there are, but this is worrisome, frightening and challenges the trendy assumption that all cultures are innocent and good and equal. It would also require that somehow you need to "change" or defeat the aggressor culture, a culture that does not want to change and that you really cannot change.
Well, as pop culture is quick to point out, we can only change ourselves! Enter the "why do they hate us", let's blame George Bush crowd. George Bush had his faults, God knows, but he did not cause 9/11 and his presidency did not inspire terrorists to try to bring down planes and buildings and murder as many as they could. After all, they tried to bring the towers down in 93.
So the magical thinking began, that if we only rid the nation of George Bush and his policies and "reset" our interactions with foreign leaders, peace and love would break out everwhere and we could "teach the world to sing in perfect harmony". If we could get rid of Bush, the muslim street would love the United States and all would be well.
Of course this is nonsense. Radical islam is not a reaction to Bush and it cannot be cured by a few flowery speeches read off a teleprompter. Radical Islam has been around for a very long time, so "changing ourselves" by showing how much we hate W did not and could not remedy anything. If we are honest we will see that radical islam is, in fact stronger because of our delusions. The Muslim Brotherhood is very likely to control Egypt and establish sharia law.
So what can we do next to prove to this aggressive, but innocent, good, and co-equal, culture, that we mean it no harm? Show that we will allow Israel to be villainized for trying to survive. The press works overtime to downplay the goals of Hamas and Hezbollah and to show their "humanitarian faces". They minimize the "death to the jews" jazz to the point of not reporting on it at all or giving it scant attention and slanting the story to justify the killing of civilians, even children, if they happen to be jewish.
"Well the jews won't kill us for lying and the radical islamists might kill us for telling the truth....and we wanna live, dammmit!" So the media lies and distorts at every opportunity. And yes, some of that lying falls into the "I want to be a loved celebrity" rationale as well. There will be no prizes for reporting about islamic terrorist goals. Bugly, no?
Lately, I am aslo considering the possibility that reporters are being co-opted by the people they report on. This business about how we must curtail free speech as long as it is "critical of islam" free speech. Sure, it must be offensive to jihadis and to the muslim faithful that korans are burned or "defiled", well it's insulting to me that they burn the US flag and I bet there were plenty of bibles in those churches they desecrated. Nobody calls for their speech to be less free as a result. Civility is a two-way street? Apparently not. But to admit this means that you have to once again accept the reality that there are people out there who hate us and mean us harm. And that is scary, so again we start with the let's change ourselves instead crap. Maybe we should even make hate speech against islam a crime? But only against Islam. We can feel "free" to call for the destruction of Israel or to put crucifixes in urine or to burn US flags (why do they always have an endless supply of US flags and US president dolls?).
By "acknowledging" that we must not offend islam we are slouching toward sharia! And all to avoid a confrontation with reality.
Goldstone is trying to undo his delusional report. But it is too late for him.He has done critical and massive damage. Let's start facing reality about cultural relativism, hmm? A "culture" that mutilates its women and hangs gays is not "equally valid". Sorry. And if we publish a report that whitewashes this culture, it will not make it change its ways.
Yes, this is rambling...but so what.
Perhaps what he was really not in possession of was all of his faculties, in fact he was out of his mind, drunk on the adulation of the Israel hating, UN loving leftists who would love to see six million more dead jews (when they're not doubting the Holocaust or claiming that jews are using rabid anti-semitism and threats of mass murder to manipulate public opinion). Yes, Goldstone you became a hero to jew killing wannabes everywhere and Charen is quite correct in saying you cannot undo the slander or the libel or whatever it was...both, probably.
This begs someone to ask the obvious question, which is "why would a prominent jew lend his name to some pack of distortions that would endanger millions of jews". I suggest that there are two reasons why someone would do this. The first, of course, is the adulation and the adoration of the press which is notoriously leftist and ant-Israel. Do not discount this as flattery and celebrity are powerful drugs. Secondly and most importantly is the self-deception that if somehow the people you have influence over can be "wrong" the situation can be corrected and peace will reign forever, amen.
What do I mean by this? Let's take 9/11 as an obvious example. While Al Qaeda received a bit of negative press, all the usual suspects began blaming America (and George W Bush) as soon as the smoke cleared and they were able to find their partisan hats. If one is rational and can accept an ugly situation for what it is,it's obvious that Al Qaeda and its supporter nations were completely responsible for this atrocity, this terrorism. But looking at things rationally is scary. It means that there are people out there who would like to destroy Western Civilization and the United States in particular. Well there are, but this is worrisome, frightening and challenges the trendy assumption that all cultures are innocent and good and equal. It would also require that somehow you need to "change" or defeat the aggressor culture, a culture that does not want to change and that you really cannot change.
Well, as pop culture is quick to point out, we can only change ourselves! Enter the "why do they hate us", let's blame George Bush crowd. George Bush had his faults, God knows, but he did not cause 9/11 and his presidency did not inspire terrorists to try to bring down planes and buildings and murder as many as they could. After all, they tried to bring the towers down in 93.
So the magical thinking began, that if we only rid the nation of George Bush and his policies and "reset" our interactions with foreign leaders, peace and love would break out everwhere and we could "teach the world to sing in perfect harmony". If we could get rid of Bush, the muslim street would love the United States and all would be well.
Of course this is nonsense. Radical islam is not a reaction to Bush and it cannot be cured by a few flowery speeches read off a teleprompter. Radical Islam has been around for a very long time, so "changing ourselves" by showing how much we hate W did not and could not remedy anything. If we are honest we will see that radical islam is, in fact stronger because of our delusions. The Muslim Brotherhood is very likely to control Egypt and establish sharia law.
So what can we do next to prove to this aggressive, but innocent, good, and co-equal, culture, that we mean it no harm? Show that we will allow Israel to be villainized for trying to survive. The press works overtime to downplay the goals of Hamas and Hezbollah and to show their "humanitarian faces". They minimize the "death to the jews" jazz to the point of not reporting on it at all or giving it scant attention and slanting the story to justify the killing of civilians, even children, if they happen to be jewish.
"Well the jews won't kill us for lying and the radical islamists might kill us for telling the truth....and we wanna live, dammmit!" So the media lies and distorts at every opportunity. And yes, some of that lying falls into the "I want to be a loved celebrity" rationale as well. There will be no prizes for reporting about islamic terrorist goals. Bugly, no?
Lately, I am aslo considering the possibility that reporters are being co-opted by the people they report on. This business about how we must curtail free speech as long as it is "critical of islam" free speech. Sure, it must be offensive to jihadis and to the muslim faithful that korans are burned or "defiled", well it's insulting to me that they burn the US flag and I bet there were plenty of bibles in those churches they desecrated. Nobody calls for their speech to be less free as a result. Civility is a two-way street? Apparently not. But to admit this means that you have to once again accept the reality that there are people out there who hate us and mean us harm. And that is scary, so again we start with the let's change ourselves instead crap. Maybe we should even make hate speech against islam a crime? But only against Islam. We can feel "free" to call for the destruction of Israel or to put crucifixes in urine or to burn US flags (why do they always have an endless supply of US flags and US president dolls?).
By "acknowledging" that we must not offend islam we are slouching toward sharia! And all to avoid a confrontation with reality.
Goldstone is trying to undo his delusional report. But it is too late for him.He has done critical and massive damage. Let's start facing reality about cultural relativism, hmm? A "culture" that mutilates its women and hangs gays is not "equally valid". Sorry. And if we publish a report that whitewashes this culture, it will not make it change its ways.
Yes, this is rambling...but so what.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Ebay disappontments.
I am currently haggling with two sellers.
THe first keeps telling me that item was sent and I will get it "tomorrow". Today she sent me one of those tracking messages:
The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on March 28, 2011 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.
Does this sound "shipped" to you? I filed a complaint and she did return my money, which leads me to believe that the item was never shipped at all. Sellers do not refund money for shipped items, at east this has not been my experience.
Second seller posted a USPS tracking number that said my item was delivered to Texas. As I live in New Jersey, I am inclined to believe that a mistake was made some where. She says "lol" and gives me a new tracking number. As soon as ebay allows me to I will file a complaint, unless I happen to receive this item and I am beginning to doubt it.
Is it the crappy economy that moves ebay and etsy sellers to become less than honest, or is this just a run of bad luck?
I am becoming disillusioned with these online garage sales!
THe first keeps telling me that item was sent and I will get it "tomorrow". Today she sent me one of those tracking messages:
The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on March 28, 2011 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later.
Does this sound "shipped" to you? I filed a complaint and she did return my money, which leads me to believe that the item was never shipped at all. Sellers do not refund money for shipped items, at east this has not been my experience.
Second seller posted a USPS tracking number that said my item was delivered to Texas. As I live in New Jersey, I am inclined to believe that a mistake was made some where. She says "lol" and gives me a new tracking number. As soon as ebay allows me to I will file a complaint, unless I happen to receive this item and I am beginning to doubt it.
Is it the crappy economy that moves ebay and etsy sellers to become less than honest, or is this just a run of bad luck?
I am becoming disillusioned with these online garage sales!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Things I hate today
1) The use of "invite" for invitation. "Did you get your invite?" "The sale is invite-only", etc. Have we really become so sloppy that we cannot use an entire word.
When certain mentally ill people make up words, called neologisms, it is a symptom of their disease. "Invite" sounds like something Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies might say. Mrs. Drysdale would roll her eyes.
2)Secret shopper spam
3)The obamacare waivers for supporters of obamacare, and that includes our elected officials who should all live with this mess. If memory serves me correctly political partisanship helped determine who would keep and who would lose GM and Chrysler dealerships. This waiver system appears to reward political allies and punish the less supportive. Apparently some people are above the law after all!
Only three today, the first two annoying and the third reprehensible.
When certain mentally ill people make up words, called neologisms, it is a symptom of their disease. "Invite" sounds like something Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies might say. Mrs. Drysdale would roll her eyes.
2)Secret shopper spam
3)The obamacare waivers for supporters of obamacare, and that includes our elected officials who should all live with this mess. If memory serves me correctly political partisanship helped determine who would keep and who would lose GM and Chrysler dealerships. This waiver system appears to reward political allies and punish the less supportive. Apparently some people are above the law after all!
Only three today, the first two annoying and the third reprehensible.
She's got Jared Loughner eyes!
Her hair is dirty brown
Her threats a vile surprise
She comes from a liberal town
She has Jared Loughner eyes!
Katherine R. Windels, there is a teacher in her community with the same name, the same age and the same appearance was charged today with making death threats against GOP legislators. TODAY? Yes you read that right, Ms Windels has been free as a bird for weeks since making the threats. Tell me, if she was making threats like these "We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. " (the spelling errors are her own).
If this threat were lobbed at Democrats is there any doubt that she would have been immediately jailed and an investigation launched into who was meant by "we"? IS she acting alone or is she just a part of a big left wing conspiracy?
Where is all the media crying that Obama should be held responsible for his "heated rhetoric" that inspired this criminal edumacator? (the spelling error is my own).
Are the parents of the kids she teaches so like-minded that she was not removed from the classroom? Were they even told?
There are a lot of questions to be answered here and most revolve around why threats against republicans are "not serious" enough to warrant intervention by law enforcement or scrutiny by the "media".
Has she got Amy Bishop legal ties?
She's got Jared Loughner eyes>
Her threats a vile surprise
She comes from a liberal town
She has Jared Loughner eyes!
Katherine R. Windels, there is a teacher in her community with the same name, the same age and the same appearance was charged today with making death threats against GOP legislators. TODAY? Yes you read that right, Ms Windels has been free as a bird for weeks since making the threats. Tell me, if she was making threats like these "We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head. " (the spelling errors are her own).
If this threat were lobbed at Democrats is there any doubt that she would have been immediately jailed and an investigation launched into who was meant by "we"? IS she acting alone or is she just a part of a big left wing conspiracy?
Where is all the media crying that Obama should be held responsible for his "heated rhetoric" that inspired this criminal edumacator? (the spelling error is my own).
Are the parents of the kids she teaches so like-minded that she was not removed from the classroom? Were they even told?
There are a lot of questions to be answered here and most revolve around why threats against republicans are "not serious" enough to warrant intervention by law enforcement or scrutiny by the "media".
Has she got Amy Bishop legal ties?
She's got Jared Loughner eyes>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)