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I have a few finally's for you all... First, I finally loaded all of my music onto my Christmas present beautiful video IPod. And it is 1000 times better and more awesome than my old hand-me-down chunker IPod. I love the pretty screen. I love the long battery (two hours of use and no noticeable battery change - still full? Amazing). I love it. Secondly, I finally read a book off of Time 100 that I am truly glad I read. I have liked some of the books and I really liked the graphic novel. But this book...this book I loved. It was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I don't know what it was - my guess is that it was the combination of a very current moral question and solid storytelling. Either way, here's the breakdown: 49 out of 122 read. approximately 15. Hated (just downright hated) about 2.5. That means I was neutral about 31.5 of the books. I guess the hated section could be worse...but the enjoyed section could be better... And lastly, I finally finished my first sock: Fat little foot. It only looks so fat because it's so small. Small and wide. But how nice is it that if I make socks for myself I don't have to knit as much (small feet) and can make them perfectly sized for my tiny freak feet? You're all getting socks from now on. And, I really enjoy the self-striping yarn.

Insomniacs know what it's like to spend hours by themselves. The experiences that come with the can't-sleep disease — fighting consciousness at 1am, staring into darkness at 2am, skulking around the house at 3am — amount to forced, late-night solitude. Many people, from Shakespeare to Heath Ledger to tweens with Tumblr accounts, have pointed out that sleeplessness is a lonely form of torment. Now, scientists are trying to make sense of the well-observed link between insomnia and loneliness: A new study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, explores the possibility that insomnia increases one's risk for loneliness and suggests that this phenomenon is partially explained by depression. At any given moment, about one-third of adults are dealing with at least one symptom of insomnia, i.e., they can't fall or stay asleep, or don't feel refreshed from the sleep they're getting. And, in recent years, behavior scientists have put out a stream of research linking loneliness to chronic diseases, shortened life span and impaired immune function. The uptick in loneliness, experts have posited, may be caused both by the rise of virtual (rather than IRL) interactions and the fact that people are living longer than they used to. The bulk of research connecting loneliness and insomnia depicts insomnia as a product of loneliness. Lonely people, studies suggest, go on to develop insomnia and other sleep problems. Let's call this the "Ledger Effect," as a nod to what Pinterest says is Heath Ledger's most famous quote: "I think the most common cause of insomnia is simple; it's loneliness." One way to explain the Ledger Effect is that lonely people lack social security, leaving them hyper-alert and unable to shut off their brains come bedtime. In one 2013 study, as Slate reported, participants "who were lonely were far more prone to micro awakenings, which suggest the brain is on alert for threats throughout the night, perhaps just as earlier humans would have needed to be when separated from their tribe." What about the other way around? The possibility that insomnia causes loneliness hasn't received as much attention as the Ledger Effect has. But it should. Staying awake all night long is in itself a lonely endeavor. Not to mention, insomnia affects how well people perform cognitive tasks, regulate their emotions and engage in social situations. An insomniac might not be in the right state of mind to banter with colleagues or even sit through dinner with friends. And friendless people get lonely. For the current study, a Florida State University-lead team of psychologists re-analyzed previous research linking sleep problems and friend problems to see if insomnia predicted subsequent loneliness. They also wanted to see if the insomnia-loneliness connection persisted after taking into account other psychiatric problems. In other words, does insomnia itself cause loneliness or do insomniacs get lonely due to underlying anxiety or depression? Researchers re-analyzed six studies on different sub-populations: college students, military recruiters, adults with a history of suicidal thoughts, psychiatric outpatients and young adults at risk for suicide. And they found a consistent association between insomnia and loneliness. But four of the studies were cross-sectional, meaning they only provided data about one group of people at one point in time. A cross-sectional study can show that two characteristics (e.g., loneliness and insomnia) are statistically linked, but it can't explain how or why they're linked. The two studies that weren't cross-sectional, however, allowed researchers to see if insomniacs were more likely than non-insomniacs to become lonely. And that's what the studies showed, more or less. In the study on young adults, insomnia significantly predicted loneliness five weeks down the line. But the (inverse) Ledger Effect showed up, too. These findings lead researchers to hypothesize that insomnia and loneliness have a cyclical relationship: insomnia breeds loneliness, which in turn aggravates insomnia, and so on. The re-analysis also highlighted the potential role of depression in the insomnia-loneliness link. The studies uniformly showed that insomnia and loneliness emerged independently of problems including anxiety and nightmares — insomniacs tended to be lonely whether or not they were also plagued by panic or scary dreams. But researchers were not able to discount depression in the same way. In a few of the studies, participants proved unlikely to report insomnia and loneliness unless they were depressed as well. In some ways, it shouldn't be surprising that depression reared its head. As researchers pointed out, depression is heavily (and separately) associated with both insomnia and loneliness: People who are depressed often (if not most of the time) report sleep disturbances. And, while loneliness isn't considered a symptom of depression, it does seem to be a consequence of clinical-grade sads. On the other hand, insomnia and loneliness have been linked in non-depressed people. So it's possible that insomnia and loneliness affect each other differently depending on who's being studied. While the current study doesn't clarify the relationship between insomnia, loneliness and depression, it does support the link between insomnia and loneliness, set the stage for researchers to explore insomnia as a precursor to loneliness and help identify next steps. Going forward, researchers wrote, it would make sense to consider symptoms of depression and social isolation while experimenting with insomnia treatment methods. For now, insomniacs should remember that somewhere between 6 percent and 15 percent of Americans share their struggle. They might not sleep next to people who are hopelessly wired at 4am. But new insomni-buds are just a weird Reddit-hole away.

Potter County Commissioners are forming a committee to look into designating polling places as voting centers. The move would allow voters to vote at any official polling place in the county.  Currently voters are assigned a polling place and must vote there.  The idea comes from a 2005 Texas state bill that approved criteria for forming voting centers throughout the state. Before taking any action the commissioners have decided to form a committee to examine the pros and cons of such a move.

On Friday we went to an urban site. The morning was enlivened by a public address system, which sprang into life to chastise a particular dog walker who wasn't using plastic bags in a public park, but was hiding his dog's waste under some shrubbery. The 3 gull species were differentiated & immature plumage was compared with that of adults. The 2 geese species were contrasted and a hybrid between the 2 pointed out. A Kingfisher was spotted, but the Great Crested Grebe present the previous week had gone - probably driven off by freezing conditions for 3 days between our visits. There were about 30 Goosanders, but only a smattering of Pochard compared with the numbers encountered a decade ago. A perched Sparrowhawk was eventually seen by every am participant, whilst a different one flew behind an island after lunch. The Ring-necked Parakeet attended by the Yellow Morph was seen by both groups. It is now thought that both of these birds are escapees, but not from the park we visited, which contains several plumage variations of Ring-necked Parakeets with its cages. On Thursday we went to a brand new location for every participant. Unfortunately, we went in very strong winds and many small passerines were invisible, as they hunkered down out of the wind. At least 2 different Marsh Harriers were seen and a pair of Kestrels, but no other raptors. The soundscape was punctuated with the bubbling call of the Curlew both morning and afternoon. Other birds seen included Redshank, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Shoveler, Teal, Shelduck, & Greylag Geese. In the afternoon the most memorable encounter was less pleasant: a Fox caught in a wire fence. One of the participants was a former midwife & is well acquainted with dogs & after about 5 minutes she was able to free the poor creature. Unfortunately, we don't know how long it had been struggling there, and its back legs appeared very weak as it slowly made its way through the reedbed.

So, I have been pretty busy since I first got the idea, and started sketching out particulars, for the "City States of Aquaria" game. Here is a rundown of my progress. I even got some materials to make playtest counters and a map, but then things got REALLY busy in my real life, so it is creeping along. The environment of the game is a science fiction setting - the battles that take place between various techno-feudal city states on a water planet. These city states have large domed underwater cities, with underwater industry, robo-farming, manufacturing and resource extraction. High speed movement between these domed cities is by tube train, and there are all manner of craft designed to navigate the depths below, surface, and atmosphere above the shallow seas of the world. Man has even adapted to living and moving around underwater pretty easily. Klaus Bürgle: City under the Sea In wargaming terms, this means that the action will take place on a hex map showing the sub-aqua terrain. In the game, within a hex, units can be at 5 different heights. Ocean floor, low ocean, mid ocean, high ocean, and Surface. Underwater topography (hills, plateaus) will be in one of three different levels, sort of like the "wedding cake" hills of table top miniature gaming, or of the older BattleTech maps. Each level (low, mid, high) will correspond to one of the ocean levels. Units will be able to move about in the water, although some units will be tied to either the bottom, or the surface. Each type of unit will have a basic movement allowance. This is, generally speaking, expended to move through the hexes on the map. Units that can change levels on their own (i.e. - not those tied to the ocean floor, or to the surface) can also expend points of their movement allowance to change levels. In general, a movement point is spent to move one hex, or to change one level. The moving unit must move laterally (on it's own level) one hex, before changing levels, and must make a lateral move between each level change. The exception to this is that if the unit ONLY wants to change levels, then it can expend it's entire movement allowance to go up or down 1 level, while remaining in the same hex. As mentioned in the the types of units are basically four categories. Those are: Floor Units, which move around mainly on the ocean floor. This includes Infantry, Armor, and Artillery. Ocean Craft, which includes different sized man-made submersible craft, up to and including massive multi-weapon system craft. Units include Aqua-Jets (small two man fighters), Stingrays , Aqua-Cruisers, Leviathans and Leviathan-Hunters. Biologicals, which includes various animal types that have been modified for combat, and are controlled and directed by a human telepath. These include the semi-intelligent sea mammals of Aquaria, the Cetas, Orcas, and Megas. Also, the enormous monsters from the depths, the Behemoth, the Kraken, and the Gargantua. Surface Units, which include large surface units, and a variety of atmospheric fast movers. Units include Surface Control Ships, Attack Hovers, and Assault Hovers. Most of the Ocean Craft (except for the Aqua-Jets and the Stingrays) mount multiple weapons, the choice of which (depending on the scenario) will be up to the player to choose. Most weapons will have a chance to destroy just about any unit from one shot (if it is successful), but the larger monstrous biologicals (Behemoth, Kraken, and Gargantua), as well as the larger ocean craft (Leviathans and Leviathan Hunters) have a much harder time of being destroyed from a single hit (although it is possible, just very rare). Instead, hits against them destroy capabilities (weapon mounts). I have basic stats on almost all of these units, and I'll try to get it posted for next week's Wargaming Wednesdays, here at Gaming with Chuck. --- This is some inspir ational video. There is so much cool stuff going on in this video, I just gotta watch it over and over. The "bad guy" underwater city, at about 15 minutes in is very inspirational. Also, Hydronic Rockets? Awesome! --- Painted 1964 by German futurist Klaus Bürgle for "Das Neue Universum". This and other paintings by Bürgle can be seen on

Tonight is the second night of , when seven principles are celebrated, one for each night of this African-American holiday. I am lighting a candle for each night of Kwanzaa and reflecting on each principle and how I can incorporate it into my life in 2011. The second principle is Self-Determination (Kujichagulia)... Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. This principle is so important - once we name a thing, it takes on a life of it's own, so imagine what happens when we name ourselves and define ourselves! it reminds me of a quote by Hillel: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?” If we do not define or name ourselves, then others will do it for us ...but it can't be just for ourselves, as the principle of Unity reminds us... ...also, if we are not naming who we are and what we want in our lives, what are we waiting for? Defining myself, naming myself, creating for myself and speaking for myself are skills I have been working on for many years, though I still have the occasional slip in naming certain things that I want for myself in my life. So here are some proclamations for 2011: I am an Artist that goes by the nom de plume "The Creative Beast" and I was given this name because I am a creative being in many forms: I want to push my financial limits to their utmost in 2011 by earning more money than I could dare to dream of - apparently I have not been dreaming of very great financial success in the past few years!! ;) I want to help others find their creative voice and give support where it is needed... I want to create a home of comfort and welcome for the loved ones in my life... I want to surround myself with like-minded artists, who are enthusiastic about the work they create... What are some ways you could incorporate the value of Self-Determination in your life for 2011?

Crunchy, cake-like orange-flavoured biscuits, dipped in a honey syrup then rolled in walnuts. A traditional Greek biscuit served at Christmastime and the perfect addition to your holiday baking spread. Let me preface this post by saying: I’m not Greek, I don’t have Greek heritage and I’ve only visited Greece once as a 14 year old, and as I have the worst memory in the history of the world, I don’t remember much about the trip, which is a real shame. But I love trying different foods from different cultures, especially if they’re sweet, so that has to count for something, right? I’m normally a chocolate biscuit type of girl, but there was something about these Melomakarona Biscuits that got me hooked and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Perhaps it was the crunch of the orange-flavoured biscuit or the pairing with walnuts, who knows. All I know is that I just had to make them. From my vast research (ahem, Wikipedia), I’ve learnt that these are Greek biscuits traditionally made around Christmastime. It seems they were funeral biscuits but somewhere down the line they became a Christmas thing. I think it was for the better. Orange and cinnamon and walnuts all combined together in a biscuit is just what you need during the holidays. They are crunchy on the outside, but almost cake-like on the inside and the sweet citrus flavour from the orange zest is perfectly combined with the crushed walnuts. Melomakarona Servings: approx. 30 biscuits Prep Time: 20 minutes + cooling Cooking Time: 30 minutes 1 cup canola oil ½ cup caster sugar Zest of 1 orange Juice of 2 oranges (about ½ cup) 3 cups plain flour 1½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 1 tsp ground cinnamon 2 cups walnuts, pulsed in the food processor until finely chopped SYRUP: 1 cup caster sugar 1 cup honey 1 cup water Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Line 3 large baking trays with baking paper. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine canola oil and caster sugar until sugar is starting to dissolve. Add orange zest and juice and combine. Add half the plain flour, half the baking powder and half the salt and beat until combined. Add cinnamon and remaining flour, baking powder and salt and beat until well combined. Allow mixture to stand for 5 minutes. Gather about 1 tablespoon of mixture and roll into a log shape. Place onto prepared trays, leaving a 3cm gap between each biscuit. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden. Cool biscuits completely on trays. While biscuits are cooking, make syrup: Combine sugar, honey and water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes. Bring to boil, being careful not to allow syrup to overflow, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Place walnuts in a wide bowl, then, using tongs, dip biscuits in syrup and toss in walnuts. Return to baking trays and allow to stand for 30 minutes before serving. Recipe adapted from Super Food Ideas Magazine, November 2015 edition.

It was about time that i made a start on the character properly and i made a start using Z-Brush. I have decided to start with the Torso and make a start creating the panels. The kind of look that i was aiming for was like out of Gears of War. I really like the way the characters armour was built up in this game and it looks really effective. Here is some quick pics on what i mean: With this as good reference material i decided to have ago myself and see what i could come up with. It had been a while since i had last used Z-Brush i had not used it since i was on the FD course here at St. college. After a couple of hours getting to grips with it again i had produced the panels but i happy with how things had turned out. Looking at what i had produced the edges and strap areas where not coming out smooth they was coming out very rough and look natural and at the same time i was struggling to get the desired effect like the Gears of War characters. Ive decided to call it a day at this point as i have found this very time consuming and and very exhausting, I will have another go at it tomorrow.

I thought I would share our wonderful snow we have here where I live. As beautiful as it is…..Spring can come anytime soon. But by looking at all this snow, I doubt it will come anytime soon. I think we usually get Spring at the end of May….for sure June ;) I am not sure if anyone not living here believes me when I say that we have over 7ft snow banks. Its a bit tricky backing out of the driveway, when you can't see any oncoming traffic because of the high snowbanks. I would say that the bike lanes end, lol. Yes some of the snowbanks are higher than the road signs. I hear we may get above 0c temperatures this week :) I made one of my favourite snacks :) It is crackers with margarine and honey, spread on them. Not only do I love the taste of this snack, but it also brings me fond memories of my mom and I. My mom would wait until us kids were in bed and then she would make a little treat for herself and sit and watch a bit of tv. Well, I would (many times) get up and share in her snack. She would always share, even her special treats. But I declined the frog legs or sardines she would munch on, lol. I think this is why I am a night owl, as my mom was one as well. Mind you hers was probably to just have a bit of alone time, with 5 kids, I am sure she didn't get much of that, lol. But when I got older my mom and I would stay up until 3:00am playing the card game Rummy or Yatzee…even on a school night :) So is there a snack or food that gives you such memories? I hope you all had a creative Walking Dead Sunday ;) I did more paper work today. So much so that I had to empty our shredder 3 times and I burned out the shredder. We have a heavy duty shredder and I powered that puppy out, lol. Had to let it cool down and it went right back to work :)

Because this little quesadilla is a perfect portion for one, and is equally delicious warm or cold, it makes a great portable lunch for work. Simply double or quadruple the quantities as desired to serve more people. Use any vegan mozzarella in this recipe - the one from Galaxy Foods or Vegan Gourmet are both great - or even try the 'Monterey Jack' from Vegan Gourmet. Start by heating a large skillet over medium-high heat; coat with cooking spray and add 1/3 cup corn kernels. Saute for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally - the kernels should be lightly browned. You can use fresh or frozen corn here (thaw the latter, first), but this time of year, it seems sacrilegious not to use a fresh ear! Remove the corn from the skillet and place in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon chopped red onion, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons sun-dried tomato flakes, 1/8 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. black pepper to the skillet; saute for about 1 minute, then add to the corn. I know sun-dried tomato flakes exist, but I had the hardest time tracking them down (I went to no fewer than 7 grocery stores!) Another option that works just as well, however, is to chop a sun-dried tomato (packed without oil) very finely to equal 1 and 1/2 teaspoons. Wipe down the skillet with paper towels (a step I forgot...) and return to the burner, still over medium-high heat. Re-coat with cooking spray. Drizzle 1/4 tsp. olive oil over one side of a 6-inch corn tortilla. Place another 6-inch corn tortilla atop the first and rub them together so the olive oil is evenly distributed. Place one tortilla, coated-side down, on the skillet. Top with 2 tablespoons shredded vegan cheese, then with the corn mixture, then with 2 more tablespoons 'cheese', and finally, with the second tortilla, coated-side up. Cook for 2 minutes on each side. Don't worry if you're not a flipping expert, and a little bit of the filling falls out while you flip the quesadilla over - this certainly happened to me, but its easy to slide the renegade bits of corn back inside. Remove the tortilla from the skillet and cut into 4 wedges. The whole quesadilla makes a serving for one person of 260 calories. sun-dried tomatoes (without oil) $3.99

Even though it's definitely not a big, dramatic story, one of my family's most-mentioned vacation memories is from our first trip to Prince Edward Island, when my sister and I were both in elementary school. My dad found out about a lobster supper going on at a nearby church, so we all went for dinner one night. He was all excited about it because he liked to hang out with locals and generally stick to "off the beaten path" experiences on our trips. When we got there and saw the menu, the only options were a big lobster supper, with lobsters fresh from the local fishermen, and dino-shaped chicken nuggets.. and my sister and I both opted for the nuggets. Fortunately we went to the eastern coast of Canada almost every summer, and I had many more opportunities for great lobster suppers! Pretty much ever since that trip, I would always go for the lobster given the choice, especially when they're caught right by where I'm staying, no matter how dinosaur-shaped the other option might be. (Another related vacation story from around the same age: the time when we were at a diner and I ordered a BLT without the bacon or lettuce...) That said, I also love chicken tenders (although not nuggets so much anymore) and get cravings for them every once a while! This recipe is a good quick one when a craving comes around. Adapted from Natasha's Kitchen 6-7 chicken tenderloins or about 3 breasts cut into 1" strips 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 cups panko (+ 1/2 cup if necessary) Preheat the oven to 425. Prep a baking dish by lining with foil and placing a cooling rack on top. Mix the mustard, mayo and garlic up in a medium bowl. Make sure the tenderloins or cut up breast pieces are dry, season with salt and pepper and then add them into the sauce. Mix it around so the tenders are all coated. In another bowl, drop in 1 1/2 cups of panko. One by one, take a tender out, shake off any excess sauce and drip it in the panko. Make sure both sides are coated with panko and try to pat it on so there's a good coating that stays on. Once each one is coated, transfer to the baking sheet. Be careful not to overcrowd them - they won't get crispy if they're too close together. Bake for about 15 minutes, turing the tray mid-way through. If the other side doesn't get crispy enough, carefully flip them over and bake for another 3-5 minutes. To make a honey mustard dipping sauce, just combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season. ~ Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden Back in January, I began the One Page a Day Challenge and immediately threw away my quill. Now in April, I’m participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and prepping for a Wilderness Writers’ Retreat. I need ink, a stiff drink and therapy. f gardening is art, then my canvas is in desperate need of new paints and brushstrokes. Contrary to what you may think, I don’t resent the long winter had, I really don’t! First of all, I look forward to the coming humidity and high temperatures as much as I looked forward to having my wisdom teeth yanked out of my jaws. But now my farmer/gardener fingers are getting itchy. To play in the dirt. To plant some seeds. To enjoy the peace and tranquility that comes from the caress of delicious black soil over bare feet and work-stained hands. To feel a light, warm spring breeze. To listen and coo to the birds that dance and sing around the bird bath. To grow my own herbs, vegetables, and fruit and eat with the seasons. The only other activity that gives me greater joy than playing in the dirt of my garden is writing. So I garden and then write about it. I write in my garden, beside it, looking down from my home office at it. Sunday, I planted the first seeds: the Calendula flower. Which to my surprise, is also known as the common marigold, or pot marigold. Wiki says Pot marigold florets are considered edible . They are often used to add color to salads , or added to dishes as a garnish and in lieu of saffron . The leaves are edible but are often not palatable. They have a history of use as a potherb and in salads. Flowers were used in ancient Greek , Roman , Middle Eastern and Indian cultures as a medicinal herb as well as a dye for fabrics, foods and cosmetics. [3] Many of these uses persist today. They are also used to make oil that protects the skin. So I did some more digging. (See what I did there?) And found out that the marigolds I planted last year and that saved copious seeds from are known as Used mainly as an edging plant on herbaceous borders, it is a low-growing plant with flowers of blended red and yellow in most varieties. French marigolds are commonly planted in butterfly gardens as a nectar source. Medicinally, many cultures use infusions from dried leaves or florets Note the difference: Calendula is edible; the French marigold apparently is not. Maybe I should make a sign for my garden that says that. How Green Does Your Garden Grow? I do blame Old Man Winter for preventing me from planting my precious Sugar Snaps. I may still try to plant some anyway for the sweet pea shoots ~ they make a delicious salad. Speaking of salad, I have already planned out my greens for the year. They don’t all start with G…actually, none of them do, but they are all greens: Argula ~ last year, this took off like a doped up runner. The package says to resow throughout the season, but I never had to. I would cut some leaves for dinner, and almost the next day, a new batch would spring up. Collards ~ no self-respecting Southern garden would go without growing collards. Granted, we almost make it nutritionally neutral by cooking them in bacon fat. Still awesome. And still counts as a green. That is all. Endive ~ have never planted this, so we’ll see what comes up. Literally. Kale ~ I love kale. That is all. I planted some last year and it never sprouted. So will try again this year. Spinach ~ Dad loved Popeye and would always remind us kids that we needed to eat our spinach to grow strong like Popeye. And then he would flex his bicep (which actually was impressive) and we would roll our eyes and say we didn’t want muscles like that. Today, I love spinach ~ it’s full of calcium and protein. Especially good for those of us who are dairy intolerant. Watercress ~ I’m still searching for seeds for this. It used to grow wild in the cow pasture out back, but I haven’t seen it lately. Makes great tea sandwiches. The great thing about most greens, they like cooler weather. So when that last frost shows up in May (you think I’m kidding ~ this is Virginia, people!), I won’t have to worry too much. What greens are you planting? What are you favorite greens to eat? If you would like some French marigold seeds (organic and non-GMO), comment below and then email me your mailing address.

Have you ever seen this diagram before? Here we have represented what most people consider the ultimate college dilemma. Personally, I would substitute "partying" with simply "social life", but you get the picture. The thing is, I WISH it were that simple . Two of three... that's not bad. But when you are a collegiate athlete, or you work, or you are actively involved in your church, the triangle shape-shifts into a polygon. Then we have problems. I am growing increasingly aware that I may not have as much time to blog this year as I would hope. As much as I love to write and record my thoughts and observations, my time has been otherwise occupied. My polygon includes many things - Good grades, cross country, social life, church, personal time (under which I include things like blogging), sleep.... the list goes on. Unfortunately, I can't have everything. And I am unwilling to sacrifice on many of these areas, including sleep. I'm a 9 hours of sleep a night kind of gal who also wants to make the Dean's list, go to Nationals for cross country, and have a buzzing social life. Oh, and I'm going to make sure I go to church, because I need to keep my priorities straight. So what does that leave for me to sacrifice? Personal time, unfortunately. Some days (okay, most days) it's going to have to be crossed off the list. Other days, I will choose to cross off sleep or good grades or social life. I'm aware I need balance. And I'm doing my best to find that. So in the last few weeks, I haven't had much time to blog. And I miss it. And I have been doing homework all day. So here I find myself - sending out a quick update into the internet world for whoever cares. I have already had two races. Time is flying by. Both were 4ks, and both were smaller meets. I am such a perfectionist... and it's hard not to be self-critical, but I am mostly content with my performances. I know that I have a lot of work to do, but I am grateful to find myself surrounded by such a talented team of girls. They challenge me and humble me simultaneously, and though I kind of miss being the fastest runner, I think that I will get faster as a result of not being the fastest. If that makes sense. I pr'd in the 4k by almost thirty seconds yesterday, so there you go. I have been working hard (three to four hours of practice related things every day) and taking care of myself, so I'm really excited to see what this season has in store. My favorite class, not surprisingly, is my Theology class. Because I am attending a faith-based school, I get to explore the world of religion - which anyone who knows me also knows that religion is my favorite topic. I am a Communications major, however, so most of my time is spent studying organization and interpersonal communication theories and studying research. Blah, blah, blah. I cannot wait until next year... when I can fill up all my extra space with fascinating classes like "Sociology of Religion" and "Modern Day Africa". Why am majoring in Communications if I don't love it? Good question. I think I like it, in theory. I think it is a solid degree that doesn't close doors. I think I am ultimately passionate about public speaking and writing and people, and Communications caters to that. But I wish I could just major in Philosophy and go on mind trips every day. Not much of a job market for that.... I have met so many new people in the last few weeks, I honestly don't even know who I have and haven't met. I love every second of it, though. Because I am at a new school - and a school that is so community oriented - I have been going out of my way to talk to people and make friends. And it has been wonderful. Cutting a little into my studies, for sure. But wonderful nonetheless. People are more important that Experimental Statistics, anyway. Let me also say that it is so. much. fun. to go to school with my younger sister. We play off of each other so well, and I love the fact that, when I tell her about my day, she understands exactly what I'm talking about! We plan on taking over the school. At the risk of making this the longest and dullest blog post ever, I'm going to stop there. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

In a game that meant nothing for the Dallas Cowboys, they decided it was best for the team to rest most of the starters against the Philadelphia Eagles. The final score was 27-13 in favor of the Eagles. It was definitely not the most entraining game of the season, but it was a big rivalry game and it would have been nice to win. Tony Romo got in his first rep of the season in the second quarter and threw a touchdown to Terrance Williams. It was great to see him out there and make plays. He deserved to get the time, but it would have been nice to see him play more but he is the backup quarterback and we may need him in the playoffs. It is possible his touchdown pass to Williams will be his last pass as a Dallas Cowboy. Mark Sanchez was the quarterback for the majority of the game. He threw two interceptions but both were not entirely his fault, they were just great on the ball plays by Jordan Hicks. The defense did not play particularly great, but that is probably because they were without many of the starters including Sean Lee. Zach Ertz touched the Cowboys all game. He caught 13 of 16 targets for 139 yards and two touchdowns. It was tough to lock him down especially when you have most of the backups in. This was Tony Romo’s first game since Thanksgiving of last year Randy Gregory recorded a sack for the first time in his career Dallas finished the season with the number one seed in the NFC, followed by Atlanta at number two, then Seattle at three, Green Bay at four, New York at five and Detroit at six. Seattle will host Detroit while the Packers host the Giants. There are two scenarios for who the Cowboys will play in the second round following their bye week: If the Lions beat the Seahawks, the Cowboys will play the Lions, but if Seattle wins, then the Cowboys will play the winner of the game between the Packers and the Giants. Whoever the Cowboys play, they will be ready because they have two weeks to prepare before their next game, but it will be difficult because the playoffs are a lot more difficult than the regular season.

Many times over the past decade I've seen a young player come into the Thunderbirds organization and thought to myself, that guy has a chance to be something special. It doesn't always work out that way though. For whatever reason some players never realize their full potential or they plateau at 17. A few years back when I saw Brandon Troock play his first game for the T-birds I got that sense. It was a New Year's Eve game down in Portland and Troock was still just 15 years old, I thought this kid could be very good in time. Just about every shift he skated that night he camped out in the slot and made it his home. He was strong on the puck. I couldn't wait to see what he could do with a full season in the WHL as a 16 year old. Well, the story has been told now dozens of times of how a nerve issue in his neck cost him his entire 16 year old season and nearly his hockey career. But Troock didn't give up and the T-birds didn't give up on him, sending him to specialist until a proper diagnosis was made and the right treatment prescribed. Flash forward to this season. Troock, finally healthy, gets the green light to play in October. A year behind in his development he's inconsistent over the first half of the season and then has to deal with another injury scare in a game up in Kamloops that costs him more ice time. Still, the glimpses of what he can be as a player are there. Troock wasn't originally scheduled to play in the Top Prospects Game in Kelowna on Tuesday. The missed playing time had him still a bit under the scout's radar. But a little irony changes the situation. Troock, a player who has missed a major portion of the start to his Major Junior career due to injury, is named an injury replacement and added to the roster for Team Orr. In a script right out of Hollywood, not only does Troock play in the game but he scores the game winning goal in overtime and is named the Team Orr Player of the Game (he also figured in on Team Orr's goal in regulation and just missed a scoring chance back in the first period). Troock will need to come back to the T-birds and continue to make progress in all areas of his game over the next month and a half but his play in that game Tuesday has probably dramatically improved his draft status for the NHL Entry Draft this June. He was the 90th ranked North American skater in the midseason rankings of draft eligible players. That's probably around 4th or 5th round status. It's very possible now though, that he could move up even into the 2nd round.

Hi friends. It's time for this week's challenge at , where this week's optional challenge, in addition to making a holiday or Christmas card is to use twine. I hope you'll take a peek over at the to see what the other designers have for you and then if you have a chance, why not play along with us? Hugs!

"Cetriolo" 5"x7", Oil on canvas panel $45 So proud of my garden fruits! Despite the low care I was able to provide this year, I'm picking all kinds of goodies every day. Rewards have been much higher than expected! I must have done things right at the beginning of the season to deserve so much forgiveness. This guy had the fastest career ever: from hiding in a leafy bush in my garden to modeling for a portrait, in five minute! :) I lost count of how many daily paintings I have done, this must be number 14, I'll have to double check. I believe I am a couple of paintings behind in my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, but it does not matter. All I know is that I am painting almost every day and I'm learning so much with each single painting. Happiness can really be found in front of an easel. :)

Designing a Backyard Cottage for an Elder with Alzheimer’s: Beauty Adds to the Quality of Life By the time Nancy Kimura’s mother, Stella, began calling at 3 AM, wondering why the bus to the senior center was late, it was pretty clear that she could no longer live alone in her home of more than fifty years. But what to do? Putting her in an assisted living facility felt like “a death knell” to Nancy and her husband, Marc. So they began thinking about adding an in-law to their property. Because their back yard is small, Nancy and Marc’s first inclination was to add several rooms to their house as a bump-out. However, one of the manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease is a need to repeat phrases–Stella would sing or count to three for hours on end–so it became apparent that physical separation was an essential part of any solution. Thus they settled on a cottage in the back yard. “Mother is sweet,” Nancy mused, “but the racket she made would have driven us crazy.” Simplicity is a virtue About the time they decided to build a cottage, Nancy and Marc noticed a tiny writer’s studio featured in a magazine and contacted its architect, Anne Phillips. In addition to a good feel for small spaces, Anne brought a deep understanding of universal design to the project. To minimize falls, she put everything on one level. To accommodate Stella’s use of a walker, a wheelchair or a hospital bed, she made door openings and passageways at least 3 ft. wide. The bathroom is simple and accessible, with a sturdy grab rail. To reduce the confusion that frequently overwhelms people with dementia, Anne all but eliminated hallways and interior doors. Only the bathroom has a door and the only hallway is a small area where someone can look into all three rooms–the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen–at the same time. “People with Alzheimer’s can get lost in their own homes,” Anne explained. “So you’ve got to reduce the number of choices they must make to get around. Any choice that confuses them can become an obstacle.” [Note: To keep Stella safe, the kitchen appliances were not hooked up.] Nature, light and beauty At Nancy’s urging, Anne Phillips also infused her design with nature, light and beauty. Because the lot was small and zoning regulations were stringent, the cottage could be no larger than 340 sq. ft. of enclosed space. Fortunately, patios and courtyards were not included when calculating the footprint, so Anne was able to design an L-shaped plan whose sides open onto a patio. For anyone with a small lot, an L layout makes a lot of sense. In warmer months the patio becomes an outdoor room and any time of year it lets a lot of light in. An L-shaped floor plan is also a good design for an urban dwelling if its largest windows-in this case, sliding glass doors in the kitchen and bedroom-face into the patio and yard rather than looking out into neighboring properties. The Kimura cottage feels private and respects the privacy of houses on either side. Along the back wall of the cottage, which is quite close to the property line, the windows are small and placed high up, for the same reason. The large glass doors into the bedroom also allow Nancy to keep an eye on her mother from the main house. Above all, the cottage is light and airy. Thanks to the sliding doors and the windows on every wall there’s a lot of natural ventilation. The sliding doors are also 8 ft. tall (standard height is 6 ft. 8 in.) which is unusually large for such a small house, but they make the place feel bigger. As long as there’s any daylight left you can see into the furthest reaches of any cabinet or closet without turning on a light. Abundant light makes any dwelling safer for an elderly person with failing eyesight. The crown jewel of the design and the source of all that loft and light, however, is the south wall of the bedroom, which rises to a 12-ft ridge and frames a dramatic arched window. The window floods the room with sunlight and warms up the concrete floors so effectively that the unit’s heating bills are pretty modest year-round. A younger person would probably hang curtains to block some of that solar gain but old people are famous for liking it hot. Thus, on most days when Nancy goes out to the cottage to check on her mother, she finds her rocking in front of the window, watching the Japanese cable station, doing her art work and, often as not, singing. A painter since she was a school girl, Stella continues to paint in her 90s. The question arises, is Stella Kimura even aware of the natural beauty and the nice architectural details? Nancy has an interesting take, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what lights are still on inside Mother, what she perceives and what she doesn’t. But she knows she’s loved and she’s safe. So she’s at peace.” Create Your Own In-Law! If you’re interested in second units, please check out my recent book, Outlaws and Granny Flats: Your Guide to Turning One House into Two Homes. The Library Journal named it one of the 10 Best Design Books for 2011. You can get an e-book version on Apple’s iTunes Store, or on the Taunton Press Store. You can also sample In-laws, Outlaws‘ lush color photos at  If you will be renovating a home, there’s no better companion than Renovation 4th Edition, (November, 2012). Its 614 pages, 1,000 photos and 250 detailed illustrations cover home renovation from start to finish and  contains lifetimes of practical, field-tested techniques that professional builders shared with me over a 40-year period. © Michael Litchfield 2012 For readers who’d like to start learning more about issues facing elders (including dementia) here are two sites with good sense, smart writing, and a lot of heart: As Time Goes By (what it’s really like to get older), edited by Ronni Bennett healthcentral.com especially Carol Bradley Bursack’s columns on Alzheimer’s disease. © Michael Litchfield 2012 Make room for the things you love. In the foreground, a painting Stella Kimura painted in her 90s; in the far corner, a sketch of Mt. Fuji made when she was a high school student. An L-shaped floor plan with a patio has a lot going for it: abundant natural light and ventilation, a pleasant place to take meals or relax when the weather is nice and—because the house and trellis surround the patio on three sides—plenty of privacy for you and your neighbors. Oversized elements can make small homes feel commodious. Here, high ceilings and a soaring arched window combine to create an expansive sense of space and, on a bright day, concrete floors that will radiate warmth long after the sun is down. The backyard cottage's 340 sq.ft. floor plan. Typically, municipalities do not include patios when calculating the maximum allowable footprint.

It seems as though it has been so long since my last trip to Macau, when actually it was just about 6 weeks. I love Macau, and 6 weeks away from it seems like a lifetime. My default restaurant choice is usually bene at the Sheraton. But not feeling like Italian, we went to Pink Grill, a Thai/Steakhouse restaurant. We ordered the Sautéed Organic Australian Spinach, Cheddar Baked Broccoli, Grilled Sea Bass Fillet and their signature Lemon Grass Chicken. The fish aside, I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and flavor of these simple dishes. The vegetables were crisp and fresh and the chicken was tender and not to mention, a perfect dipping tool for the sweet chili sauce. The fillet was dry, lacking flavor and the presentation itself was already a huge let down. I will be sure to stick to their recommended items next time!

The Hornby Railway Collectors' Association of South Africa was founded to achieve the following objectives: To stimulate interest in Hornby railway products, both 0 gauge and 00 gauge, as manufactured by Meccano Ltd up to the year 1973, hereinafter referred to as “Hornby Trains” To bring together collectors and operators and others who have an interest in Hornby Trains, and to encourage the exchange of information and views on such Hornby Trains, thus increasing the interest and knowledge of members  To publish and circulate a regular Newsletter containing information of interest to members To encourage members to undertake repairs and restorations or to produce spare and replacement parts To support or organise any other activity which in the opinion of the Committee is likely to further any of the above objectives PLEASE NOTE that HRCASA does NOT involve itself with Hornby trains that were not made in Liverpool or Paris, nor with other modern makes of model railways. | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The Great Model Train Expo 2014 | | | | On the weekend of the 11th and 12th of October 2014 the Hornby Railway Collectors' Association of South Africa took part in a spectacular display of model railway layouts at The Great Model Train Expo 2014. This event was organised by the N Gauge Guild of South Africa. | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1956 Hornby O Gauge layout | | | | A picture of a layout from 1956 supplied by one of the club's members taken in Cape Town. The clockwork No 51 train set in the foreground was bought with pocket money approximately a year after import restrictions on toys were lifted by the then government in the mid nineteen fifties. Besides the home made wooden station in the foreground, the remaining buildings and station were made from a series of paper "kits" issued by Caltex garages, and known as the "Caltexdal Series". When looking back on them now, they remain excellent representations of buildings such as hotels, shops, churches and other buildings found in the many small South African towns and villages which prospered prior to the building of the national roads network. The loco cost (new) R4.75, tender 63c, and the coaches 75c each - total R7.63. With pocket money at 50c per week, the set took 4 months to assemble. The remaining trains on the layout were received as presents in 1948-49, at which date the abovementioned import restrictions were placed on many so called "luxury items" as Dinky Toys and Hornby Trains. Meccano continued to be available during this period, as it was classified as an educational toy. The only way to obtain these "unobtainable" Meccano products was as presents from relatives overseas, or from the shops found on the Union Castle ships which plied between the U.K. and South African ports. The Dinky Toys shown were Xmas and birthday presents from the same period. Hornby Railway Collectors' Association of South Africa Template by Ahadesign Powered by Joomla!

For the longest time, I've been using Windows XP to run on my desktop. Even though I've been getting a prompt message on my screen about the OS whose support has ended two weeks ago, it didn't keep me from doing so. Not until now. Well, the good thing is I have a laptop that runs Windows 8 Operating System to write this post. For two weeks, I've been ignoring that message and ticked the "Don't show this message again." The only problem is that the speed of my PC gets slower and slower. It annoys me to see the prompt message plus the fact that it runs so "super slow" (for the lack of a better word) and at times, it just hangs up. But not for long. I kept on encountering this problem and then, suddenly, my PC crashes. Every time I boot up my old desktop, it just led me to a blue screen with an error about a program or any installed software that prevented me from getting through the start-up process or any of that sort. Well, it only means that I need to install a new OS. Speaking of a new OS, I have also used the newest version of Windows 8 by Microsoft. I've tried the Windows 8.1 updated version, which I only installed for curiosity's sake. I tried it just to know how it felt using the newest OS by Microsoft. It was only running on my HP laptop for less than a month, though. Instead, I reverted to the pre-installed Windows 8 OS. The nice thing about Windows 8 is that I can view the apps and programs like the ones that are seen on iPad or tablet. But, with the 8.1 OS, it feels like I am running the obsolete Windows XP operating system. It is slower than the previous OS and some programs aren't compatible with the system. I think that's the problem with all new software. Either they are incompatible with other programs or some couldn't keep up. With this incompatibility brings me to a slower speed in the operating system. I'm not sure how others view it or use it but for me, personally, it is not perfected yet. And most probably, Microsoft is working their butt off to perfecting the newest version of Windows OS. Otherwise, not many people will use it. Not even I would recommend it. It is just "absurd".

When my friend said he had two free tickets to go see Two Door Cinema Club, I jumped at the chance. The show was at Webster Hall, one of the big old venues in the Village. I'd spent half my summer listening to their album, and had no expectation of actually getting to see them perform live. The concert was fantastic. The floor was literally bouncing like a taut trampoline. If you ever stopped jumping or bobbing with the music, you could feel at least a couple inches of give, up and down with the beat, because the crowd was just that into it. Every once in a while, it will really just hit me where I am and what I'm doing. Usually this would be when I was traveling somewhere. But this time, in the middle of an excellent encore, it really hit me full force: there I was, a young twenty-something starving artist in New York City, seeing an up and coming rock band in concert, a few hours after rehearsing my own show for the first time. I don't know who or what is responsible, but whoever it is, I got the tickets right after taking the stage myself for the first time in town, the night before. But that's a slightly different story. It starts as follows: We got out of the subway stop at Penn Station and started our way around Madison Square Garden. Three bottled up text messages frantically jangled my cell phone as soon as I was enough above ground to get a signal. I read them, and started to pick up the pace. My Chilean guest behind me kept pausing to take pictures. I couldn't really blame him, but we were going to be late, and four of my friends (two of which I'll probably be living with sometime soon) were waiting for us. We were headed for Magnet Theater. Home of the Magnet Mixer. I didn't honestly know what exactly this was or what it meant. But Barry had told me two things that had me hooked: first, it was improv, and second, I could get on stage and do it with them. I hadn't done any improv onstage since high school. That's too long. We found the place, hooked up with where I should be, and I went back to sign myself up on the list. The guy in charge asked me what my background was. "I'm a professional actor, I took two years of improv classes in high school, and I'm currently in a sketch comedy show at the 45th st Theater." He clearly got the idea, and made a little note next to my name. He warned me that, since I'd come in well after the 11:00 call, I probably wouldn't make it on set. I said I understood, and we took our seats. The show runs as follows: two MCs have a list of names. They call down two or three people on the list, who then come on stage. The lights turn down low, and a 10-second clip of music plays. The lights come back up, and the people onstage improvise a scene based on the music. The lights cut them off at the appropriate moment, and then the MCs call out two or three more names. Lather, rinse, repeat. We saw some hilarious stuff. I don't even know how to describe it properly. I didn't expect them to call me up, because I was late. So when they did, I was a little surprised. They played an old time jazz number, so I immediately think film noir, grab two chairs and make like a private eye with my feet on the desk. Then my scene partner opened with the line "That was the best senior prom ever!" What's an improviser to do but to simply act like a Chicago gangster from the 50s who's just come back from his senior prom with his buddy? I put my arm across his shoulders and tell him confidently that yeah, the band did it right, and the night was something, and that when that dame smacked him one, I thought she meant it in a nice way. And we were off to the races. After the scene was over, we bowed, shook hands with the MCs, who then yelled " " Half the audience echoed this. One MC mimed a microphone, and handed it to me. I took it, tapped it, and looked nervous. "Joel? Tell us, is this your first time performing at the Magnet Mixer?" That would be when the dance party erupted. the DJ blasted, of all things, Barbie Girl, by Aqua (I'm ashamed that I even know the artist's name), and everybody got up and danced. It was only half a minute long, but still. I made my way back to my seat, and my Chilean buddy held up his iPhone. "I recorded the whole thing!" he told me, in Spanish. After the show, the MCs and regulars introduced themselves, asked me if I was coming to more of these (yes I hope to), and invited me to come with them to a bar down the street. That's when Barry told me about the tickets to Two Door Cinema Club. I'd say life's pretty good right now.

Liverpool and Chelsea avoid Anfield date switch Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in December Liverpool and Chelsea have avoided a switch of dates for their potentially decisive title showdown at Anfield. In a bid to boost Chelsea's bid for Champions League glory, the Premier League are reportedly ready to ease the club's fixture pile-up by moving their scheduled Sunday match prior to the Tuesday leg of their semi-final. However following the Champions League semi-final draw, Chelsea's Tuesday game will fall on April 22 when they travel to Atletico Madrid for the first leg of their tie. As a result, it will be Chelsea's Premier League match against Sunderland - originally scheduled for April 20 - which will now be switched, rather than the fixture against Liverpool a week later. Liverpool lead Chelsea by two points at the top of the Premier League, with third-placed Manchester City heading to Anfield on Sunday. © ESPN Sports Media Ltd

Madbakh women's initiative something I am excited to work on next, after done photoshoots. Photographer: Richard Gibbs I love working with these photographers, make-up artists, etc. It is exhilarating to be part of a creative team, and watch the result of a group effort. Richard is amazing. He has a refined taste, we bounce off ideas, and he picks great angles. A true artist. Of course, and Ottawa Fashion Week photographer, sommelier par-excellence, what does one expect. He is also fun and great to work with.

So much is going on right now! My to-do list is getting longer by the day, mostly because I would rather go to the park with Ruby than get anything done. This will become a problem very soon. Ruby went to her friend Parker's 2nd birthday party today - and I was the mom at McDonalds who took her daughter's shirt off before letting her dig into the Elmo cupcakes with red frosting... Ryan took me to see Ra Ra Riot in concert at Hope on Monday night. I really liked the opening band, Scars on 45. We were the oldest people in the crowd, and my extreme pregnancy most certainly frightened many college students throughout the evening. I'm thankful for a hubby who takes me on dates. He's so awesome. We have a "For Sale" sign in our front yard. Our landlords are going to sell the cutie house we've been renting for the last few years. If you're in the market for a single-family home in Alger Heights, click HERE to check it out! I am going to have a baby really soon! This morning at my ultrasound they discovered that she's not breech anymore, which is a total miracle since she's been head up since my 20-week appointment. Needless to say, I am THRILLED to not have to have a c-section at this point. (hopefully she won't turn back!) My due date is May 12th and our move date is June 13th. WHOA MAMA! Life is glorious!

I figured that cooking lobsters was about as difficult as cooking corn. Boil water, add food product, allow to cook, drench with butter, eat. Turns out, not so much. I had truly underestimated the amount of work that goes into a lobster dinner. Be prepared; have back up, plenty of wine and a sense of humor. I hosted the families for lobsters Monday night to celebrate Paul’s birthday and these are the nuggets of knowledge I picked up: After you let the lobsters out of the bag to crawl around on your deck, you will feel acutely more like a murderer. I thought I was alone in my pre-murderous guilt when Paul came in the kitchen and said “jeez, after seeing them crawl around like that I feel kind of sad about eating them now.” I mean how often do you see your food live right before you eat it? We get it Michael Pollan. Don’t worry though; somewhere around the time you melt 2 pounds of butter to dip them in you will get your appetite back. It might be slightly less work if you get normal sized lobsters. The guys we got were mammoth two pounders and wrangling them into and out of the giant lobster steamer I borrowed from my aunt took muscles. My muscles were out of shape because I spent the week lifting nothing but dark and stormies to my mouth and then eating and sunning myself at the beach and then eating, sunning myself at the beach and drinking dark and stormies. Lather, rinse, repeat. It was an excellent vacation. Have some man power available. Getting these men into the steamer you need three people: two to hold the beasts at the ready and one to cut the rubber bands off their claws before they meet their maker. Put them into the steamer head down (the “humane” way), close the lid, wince with guilt, and then melt some butter (the guilt melts with the butter, see above), set out some cookie sheets and dish towels to transfer the steamed beasts to when they’re done. So when are they done? I could not tell you for the life of me how long it takes to steam giant beasts like the lobsters we got, because my mother, the Fish Whisperer, kept saying “my nose will know when they’re done.” and I was like “er, are you sure your nose is working, because from my view it’s buried in a glass of Pinot Noir?” (said under my breath of course, because I wasn’t about to alienate my sous chef when I needed her most and man, did she come in handy). Less is more when it comes to how much water you put in the bottom of your steamer. I stupidly thought that I would want to fill it up as much as possible because I was worried it would all evaporate. But it’s a steamer, not an open topped pot. Also, lobsters purge some liquid as they start to cook and the bottom of your steamer will start to bubble salt water all over your range if it’s overly filled. This minor crisis will result in a quick show of muscles as you wrangle the top of the steamer off (with the giant lobsters in it), place it to the side, take the water vessel- which is brimming with melt-your-skin-off-hot sea water- very carefully and quickly to your kitchen sink, and ditch more than half of it. Just a hint, if you can: avoid this. Only fill the bottom of your lobster pot about 1/3 of the way. I felt like I was on an episode of Family Double Dare, only instead of getting green Jello on me, I was risking melting the skin off my legs if I made one wrong move. And I worked really hard to get my legs tan, so I wasn’t about to cover them up with some stupid bandages. Keep everything else as dead simple as possible. Chowder which is already made by chowder making experts is the perfect appetizer; boiled corn goes on the side, crispy roasted potatoes can be made far ahead of time and left in a warm oven as an additional side dish. Have everyone serve themselves buffet style from the kitchen table and then take their plates (btw, buy the thick Chinet oblong plates they are sturdy and soak up lobster juice well) out onto the deck. If you don’t have a deck, eat on your lawn, or heck, on the freaking driveway. Whatever you do, don’t serve a lobster dinner inside of your house. We all ate outside and as it was, my kitchen reeked like a Gloucester loading dock until I fired up enough Nag Champa to resurrect Jerry Garcia and boiled a bunch of lemons. I can only shudder to think of what the funk would have been if we had wrestled our lobsters out of the shells INSIDE the house. Set up tables real casual-like on the deck (or driveway/sidewalk/lawn) have a couple bowls of drawn butter at the ready, a couple big mixing bowls for discarded shells and bring the trash bucket right outside and leave it behind your table. That way, when everybody is done, you can huck the trash right into the bag, tie it up and never let that stank back into your kitchen again. It’s work for sure, but most things worthwhile are worth working for and a lobster dinner for your boyfriend’s birthday is, in my book, totally one of those things. It’s also the perfect meal to end a summer in New England with. If you’re planning on undertaking this task, I would highly recommend having an experienced Fish Whisperer with you. I will rent my mom to you if you’d like. I’m not sure of her current fee, but I’d be willing to bet she’d do it for two bottles of Clos du Bois chardonnay and the rights to any and all leftover lobster meat.

Welcome to Düsseldorf! Since I’m traveling myself, I’m renting out my bright & friendly apartment with a good connection to the main station & to the city centre. The lovingly furnished apartment offers an open designed living room with a cozy sofa & a dining area. The modern kitchen is fully equipped & in the spacious bedroom, a comfy double bed is waiting for you. The bright bathroom is equipped with a shower & a bath tub. A great terrace & a garden promise wonderful days in the summer. Not safe or suitable for children (0-12 years) Check-in time is 3PM - 8PM This home doesn’t have any reviews. If you stay here, your review will appear here. Always communicate through Airbnb To protect your payment, never transfer money or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app. The apartment is located in the district „Unterbilk“ and offers you a varied neighborhood. In the surrounding area, above all on the street “Lorettostraße”, you‘ll find many restaurants, cafes, bars a… The apartment offers you a fast connection to the main station and to the city centre by public transport. The underground station “Kirchplatz” is only 3 minutes away from the apartment (underground l… Exact location information is provided after a booking is confirmed. Explore other options in and around Düsseldorf More places to stay in Düsseldorf:

New study recommends statin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease In contrast recent studies demonstrated how the education on statins is deceptive and creates the appearance that they are safe and effective in the prevention of CVD. There is no question that statins are effective at reducing cholesterol levels but they have failed to substantially improve cardiovascular outcomes or reduce the risk of mortality.2 The role of high cholesterol as an etiological factor in CVD has been a source of controversy and debate for decades. Studies have demonstrated that older adults with low levels of cholesterol are just as atherosclerotic as those with high levels.3 Also another study demonstrated how statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure. This study suggests that statins may be causative in coronary artery calcification and can act as mitochondrial toxins that impair muscle function in the heart and blood vessels through the depletion of CoQ10 and ATP generation.4 Statins inhibit the synthesis of vitamin K2 a vitamin necessary to protect the arteries from calcification. In addition statins inhibit the biosynthesis of selenium-containing proteins. This impairment may be a factor in congestive heart failure as a selenium deficiency is seen with cardiomyopathies. Health care providers have many more tools today than simply looking at the standard lipid panel to assess cardiovascular health. It is essential to perform a thorough assessment for all of these patients by looking at lipid fractionation profiles chronic inflammatory markers (ferritin hs-CRP fibrinogen) nutrient markers (magnesium potassium selenium copper folate B12 B6 zinc and calcium) fat soluble vitamins (A D & K and CoQ10) oxidative stress factors (homocysteine insulin and lipid peroxidases) heavy metals and a fatty acid profile. At the end of the day protocol-driven treatment like this fails. Each person's biochemical individuality exerts a major influence on his or her health. The level of nutrient intake that maintains the best possible health is highly variable from person to person. Lifestyle choices and environmental exposures filtered through genetic predisposition are fundamental factors in the expression of disease and a successful treatment approach must include investigation into these factors.

Only on Sunday mornings is this delicious dish available. It tastes best with some fresh bread from Adobo de Chancho (Pork Marinade) 2 lbs of pork sirloin, cubed 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 3/4 cup of dark beer, chica de jora or vinegar 1/4 cup of chili powder 1 tsp of paprika 1 tsp of oregano 1 tsp of cumin powder 2 bay leaves salt & pepper to taste Adobo: 1 small red onion, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 large peeled & seeded tomato, chopped finely 1/2 cup of fresh green peas salt & pepper to taste Mix the pork with all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl and leave refrigerated overnight. Remove meat and reserve marinade liquid.Coat Dutch oven with cooking spray over medium-high heat and brown the meat in batches until done. Remove and keep warm. Add onion and cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato and half the marinade liquid and stir. When hot add the pork and cover tightly cook about 30 minutes. Add peas and continue cooking until meat and vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes more. Serve with rice and sweet potatoes. Serves 8.

Apologies for not posting yesterday. The second day of the road trip (Tuesday) wasn't as much fun as the first and due to traffic, we got to Des Moines much later than we'd planned. And yesterday was dedicated to getting my stuff into my new place, which is going to be a work in progress for a while, but I'm esctatic that everything seems to have arrived in one piece. (And downright gleeful to have a full sized stove!) That said, I'm very excited to get back on the blog-track with a Q&A from Emma of today. You may have seen her work on other blogs over the last week, but here's a bit more about who she is and what she does. Where do you live? I live in Glasgow in Scotland, I love this city, its got a great cultural and arts scene but its also known for its wicked sense of humour and fantastic architecture Tell me a little bit about what you make. I make fun, interesting accessories for you and your home. These are predominantly screen printed textiles. How did you decide to start the line? I studied product design at Art School but it was almost a year after graduation that I took a screen printing night class. One of the first things I printed there was an early prototype of my hidden patterns range. Off the back of this I was selected for the a national exhibition highlighting the work of 30 Scottish designers. This proved a great launch pad for Showpony and I haven't stopped since. I love the attitude in your products- where did the inspiration for items like the "do the dishes" tea towel come from? I really want to create products that people will find fun, and perhaps a little silly. I like to think about what the item will be used for and try to imagine how people will interact with it. Did you have any teachers who became mentors along the way? Unfortunately not. I didn't really get on very well with my tutors at art school and I have no idea what they'd think of what I do now. I try not to let it bother me but I guess in a way it does, its almost made me more determined to succeed. Is this your full time work? Yes. I'm in the studio Monday to Friday, and never stop thinking about it. Why do you enjoy printing on fabric? I love textiles, I've always had a sewing machine and even used to make my own clothes (not terribly successfully) but I have always loved fabric shops and finding vintage materials in charity shops. When it comes to printing on fabric I really like how immediate it is, from the moment I make that first print I know if I've got a good product or if its a total disaster. I like that an idea or design that you've drawn up on the computer really seems to come to life once its printed on fabric. How does your creation process work- do you sketch one design at a time, or do you create a few at once? I tend to design collections or think of concepts that I want to make into a few related products. For example with the tea towels I started with the idea of 'Kitchen Commandments' I.e. rules to be obeyed in the home, this translated into the 'do the dishes' and 'keep it clean' tea towels, I'm working on more which will be added to the series soon. I don't really sketch out my designs until I've spent a lot of time thinking about them. I prefer to 'day dream' my designs only sketching them towards the end of the process. Where do you find your inspiration? Inspiration is everywhere, it's in those silly little things you think about throughout the day, the little daydreams and conversations that take place.It's also in observing interactions with people and the things around them. Is this your full time work? Yes. I'm in the studio Monday to Friday, and never stop thinking about it. What's the best part of your day? I always enjoy my walk to the studio, a great time to let my mind wander, plan my day, think about new designs and get excited by the possibilities that might be waiting for me at the studio. What do you like to do when you're not working on Showpony? I love seeing my friends and taking the dog for long walks with my husband

This past weekend Turtle took me his new fancy schmancy dog park near his grandma's house. Here we are setting out on the path. You can see all the other dogs walking nicely on the path while Turtle is off on the side eating twigs. Here is Turtle being chased by his new friend, Sammy (poor Sammy gave up after a couple minutes--no one can catch T). Puggle camouflage! Can you spot the curly tail? All in a days work. Next up: bath time.

365/217: Square Meal, originally uploaded by riekhavoc. I'm home from Maine, and tonight my sister, her friend, Max and I went to Distrito. It's a restaurant in Philadelphia run by Chef Garces, the guy who won the Next Iron Chef show on the Food Network. Really, really amazing food, especially the ceviche and the fish tacos. And the sangrias weren't half bad either. These are part of the decoration for the place. They're those square stools you can sit on. This wasn't my first choice for my photo. I had this awesome photo of Max drinking a soda, where he looked like the cartoon guy on the soda drinking the soda. But while trying to email it from my phone to myself, I accidentally deleted it!

The last time I spoke at Sparkbrook Elim was when Pastor JJ Morgan was the minister. I was a teenager, and he had invited me to give my testimony. Fifty years later I was a speaker, together with Nigel Tween, at a convention weekend entitled, "Embracing the Holy Spirit" The church has gone through some difficult times in recent years but has seen a dramatic turn around under the ministry of the current pastor , Caleb Nyanni pictured here with his wife Angela who in the four years since he has been there has seen the church triple in size.

I did Catherine and Josh's engagement portraits almost two years ago. They've had a long engagement because of Josh's career. Catherine has done a lot with her engagement pictures, for instance she had ten of them made into 8x10's and displayed them at her engagement party. There was a contest where guests wrote their own titles for each of the images. Another image, was used to be made into a postage stamp for one of her bridal showers. The image above, will be displayed as a 20x24 above the mantle at their reception at the Cliff House at Pikes Peak. The wedding is to be Saturday the 21st at the Air Force Academy Chapel in Colorado. Last weekend, Catherine received word that the roof of the chapel had to have emergency repairs and scaffolding had been erected. See the image she was sent below. Catherine says this might make a funny story in ten years, but right now, it's not so humorous. She's going to make a decision whether to move the ceremony this week after she arrives in Colorado. Hopefully, major progress will have been made with the repairs to the chapel and the wedding can proceed as planned. If not, The Cliff House has stepped in to say that they only need a day's notice and the ceremony can be held there too. Weddings are so much fun!

On September 19, 2012 we left Komatsuka, Ibaraki and took various modes of transportation to go to Tachikawa Eki (train station) and from there a local bus to ask the Immigration Office about our status and the maximum allowable duration of our stay. The date is December 9, 2012 without an extension of my visa. From here we continued on to Kabe Eki in Ome on the edge of Tokyo where Yayoi's brother and sister in law live and who are our Japanese sponsors. We accidentally met Atsuko-san at the bus stop in front of Kabe Eki and went with her to her home where we had a delicious dinner. For us Ome has been our first port of call when we arrive in Japan and we have never considered it to be a prime tourism area. But this attitude needs to change. Vacation in Japan frequently means a trip to a hot spring resort or Onsen. On September 20, 2012 we took a bus to Ome Eki and then a taxi to Kampo Onsen. It is located on a very scenic stretch of the Tamagawa River. We soaked in the hot water, had a delicious multi-course banquet, soaked again. Next morning we enjoyed a buffet style breakfast with a wide variety of very Japanese and American style foods available. At one time Ome will have been an independent community apart from Tokyo. There are many old buildings in the areas of Ome remote from the main train stations. The unique aspect of these is the presence of advertising on the walls dating back to the fifties and sixties. Posters for the movie 'Gone with the Wind' and some of the old John Wayne movies can be seen. Instead of large department stores these streets are lined with fascinating small shops specializing in a variety of businesses. September 21, 2012 after breakfast the four of us were picked up by a friend Kaidoh-san. She is a very competent driver and tour guide. First she took us to see the second home of one of Japan's best loved authors, Eiji Yoshikawa. He was a very prolific writer including four books that have been translated into English. I have read two of these Taiko and Musashi at least twice. The two other works translated to English are The Heike Story and his autobiography Fragments of a Past. My inability to read Japanese denies me the full enjoyment of many museums in Japan. His second home is situated within a very beautiful garden complex, expressed in multiple photographs on our Picasa web site. His wife operated a restaurant nearby which we visited in the early afternoon. But first we went to see an art gallery of the artist Kawai Gyokudo who was a resident of Mitake in Ome-shi. He painted a variety of Japanese works dealing with nature and its relationship with people. There were at least four I would have been happy to acquire. Outside was a beautiful raked sand and rock garden rivaling the world famous garden of Ryoanji in Kyoto. Next we were taken to the Sawanoi Museum of Traditional Japanese Hair Ornaments. Hair ornaments have been used for thousands of years, but they reached an apex in the Genroku era of 1688-1703. The museum is located near the Tamagawa River and a walk down near the river reveals a variety of photogenic scenery which can be viewed on our Picasa web site. But we were getting hungry even after that delicious buffet breakfast. So off we went to the restaurant formerly operated by the wife of Eiji Yoshikawa. It's name is 'Japanese apricot with red blossoms garden (Ome)'. It served a variety of dishes including "kuri gohan" or rice with chestnuts. Dessert was an interesting firm jelly that was dipped in a plum sauce. The jelly itself is made using a complex process from the roots of the kudzu vine. The name Ome is the Japanese word for plum and usually refers to the green plums that are used in a variety of ways.

When the end of the world comes, the lawn will stretch out forever, the green, beautiful to see. the trees, never drop a leaf. A few weeks ago, I cleaned out my office and sifted through mountains of old scraps and notes, searching for anything that might be useful. The above is something I found on one and thought was rather good. It seemed like a poem to share on a Friday when the sky is shedding flurries and appears ready to shatter.

A friend suggested coffee mugs, so I've been messin' about with them for a while. Of the approximately 7 or 8 I've done, 2 or 3 sold back when I had an active eBay Store, and since maybe only one of them do I find interesting. That one is this one. I like the "graphic" look, totally accidental as it is was/is. The black area began as a wall with a window and from that window flowed the light that created the shadow this side of the mug. When I blackened it in, because I didn't like the "look" of it, I pulled the black paint right over the edge of the table as I focused in on the shadow line; so there's the "big oops" with this one. But I still like it so off it goes to the blog. 5x7 canvas panel, acrylics

Yesterday was a little bit better kid wise--except I made a classic parenting mistake and did not actually check the homework progress before I agreed to let them have a friend over. When I did check I discovered that "a few problems" to them means 13 of the 20 were still left to do. Sigh. So I didn't have whining and crying over homework, I had sassy attitude and I hate yous over cutting the fun time with friends short. Hopefully the weekend will give us all the break we need. I did manage to get my 10k steps (side note, my husband is a gem! He knew I needed to get out, and he offered to shepherd miss sassy pants and her sister through band practice and reading time while I walked.). I planked 3 sets of 30 seconds, which felt easier! And I took the running shoes to the donation box and went through my rainbow girl jewelry. This is another thing I know I should just get rid of entirely, and yet I can't bring myself to. I did get rid of 4 of the pins. I started my fabric shopping list for the costumes, but it isn't done. I need to check my coupons and get moving on that. Today, I was going to run, but the radar has Michigan looking like this: (Lansing helpfully highlighted--and PS I do not live in the "thumb" area--which is the only place looking clear right now) I don't run in the rain. Steps might be the challenge today. Planks and de-cluttering are still on deck. I'm also going to try to finish the shopping list and possibly go shopping for some of the fabric and notions. It just feels like a good day to stay home and clean and sew and make soup, so I may do all those things. In the meantime, I leave you with the puffball mushroom, that appeared on our porch: And the progress on the kid sock I am making: Yes, that is a lifeline of dental floss--I need to knit a bit more and see if it fits the recipient. I know a smarter person would have figured gauge, measured the foot and mathed it out. As opposed to me, a person willing to "waste" two days worth of sock knitting to make sure it fits the kid's foot the way she wants it to fit. the lifeline marks the spot where I would need to increase if I make it bigger. I happen to think it is the right size, but the girl in question was dubious with just the toe made.

There’s just no stopping Sebastien Loeb. Coming back to WRC after skipping the Mexico and Portugal rounds to indulge in some FIA GT Series fun (where he won first time out, naturally), he’s taking no time to get back to speed and is off to winning ways again in Rally Argentina. That gives him his eighth Rally Argentina victory in a row. Loeb’s spiritual successor and Volkswagen number one Sebastien Ogier remains favourite for the WRC title, finishing second but a minute behind the nine-time world champion. Ogier’s teammate Jari-Matti Latvala took the last podium step, beating the M-Sport Ford pair of Evgeny Novikov and Thierry Neuville. Citroen team leader for this year with Loeb in semi-retirement, Mikko Hirvonen had shown promising speed and impressively shadowed the rally legend to mount a victory threat, only to be side-lined by a puncture and major electrical problems. He ended up fighting for the minor points and ended up sixth. Five rounds into the 2013 season, Ogier has three wins and two second places while Loeb has two victories and a second, excluding the two rallies he sat out. The two stands at the top of the standings, with Ogier already a shoe in for the crown as Loeb is only scheduled to contest one more rally this year – Rallye de France-Alsace in October. Between then and now, he’s off to the clouds driving the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak.

A Union paper in South Carolina.... THE NEW SOUTH, Port Royal, South Carolina, November 8, 1862 Rare Union issue from the Confederacy Port Royal South Carolina Here is an interesting newspaper established in March of 1862 at Port Royal after its capture by Union forces during the early part of the Civil War. Issued in a military command, the newspaper sought to provide mostly military but no political news for the soldiers, so as not to distract them from their mission which was the suppression of the Rebellion. It is also interesting that a Union newspaper was published in South Carolina considering the state remained a Confederate stronghold until the end of the war. Notable content in this volume I (number 12) issue includes a front page military order announcing the death by natural causes of a Union general named O. M. Mitchel, commander of the 10th Army Corps, signed in type: J. M. Brannan. The front page also has: Last Words of Gen. Mitchel and a poem written by an officer in memory of Mitchel. Under The Pocotaligo Expedition is the Official Report of Brig. Gen. J. M. Brannan, which concludes on the reverse, signed in type: J.M. Brannan. This was a normally a four page paper, but due the non-receipt of paper, as explained on the reverse, this issue was published as a single sheet. Issue measures about 13 by 9 1/8 inches, the front page has minor fold foxing in the upper half, and there is some binding residue at the spine, occasional foxing, otherwise in very good condition.

Clear your weapon here: Although this sand-filled clearing barrel can stop an errant bullet, your weapon should be free of ammunition before you put the muzzle in and pull the trigger. A principle of proper gunmanship is that, even with an unloaded weapon, you must at all times maintain “muzzle awareness.” A basic tenet of muzzle awareness holds that should you never point the barrel of your weapon at another person. It would seem easy to avoid such a scenario, but at times it requires quite a bit of attention and concentration to keep a muzzle directed safely away from everyone else, as when you have a rifle slung across your back and you are trying to move through a crowded dining room. Getting in and out of vehicles with weapons can also present a challenge, and I’ve been poked a few times in the leg and ribs by the business end of a colleague’s rifle as he struggled to get into a Humvee or armored truck while wearing fifty pounds of body armor. Those incidents didn’t bother me much, as I know the improprieties were a consequence of the burdensome physical load the person was carrying. But what does annoy me is the “flashing” to which I’m subjected daily. If you are devoid of muzzle awareness and allow the barrel of your weapon to point directly at another person, you flashed him. During weapons training in the US and Kuwait, some people were notorious for flashing the rest of the platoon with both loaded and unloaded weapons. At one firing range exercise, another officer turned from the targets with her weapon still raised to ask the instructor behind her a question. Two dozen people behind her immediately fell to the ground as she flashed her loaded weapon at a line of people waiting to walk onto the range. The instructor flinched as well. On the base in Kabul, many people carry a pistol sheathed in a shoulder holster that should hold the gun under your armpit with the barrel facing groundward. Think Jimmy Smits as Detective Bobbie Simone on NYPD Blue. Yet every day I see several people walking with holsters that, because of comfort or misfit, maintain the pistol barrels parallel to the ground, thereby flashing everyone behind them. When on base, we keep the ammunition magazine out of a weapon and the weapon’s status is termed “green.” If we leave the base, however, we are supposed to lock a magazine of bullets into our weapon, and with ammunition inserted the status of the weapon changes to “amber.” A weapon is considered “red” when a magazine is locked and a round of ammunition is loaded into the firing chamber, hence the phrase “locked and loaded.” Even in amber status with the safety mechanism applied, a pistol can be dangerous when you are riding on the rough pocked roads of Afghanistan. A bullet can be chambered inadvertently, the safety switch can be jostled to fire, and suddenly you’ve got a weapon asking for an unintended victim. Which is why I became very nervous very quickly last week when a medical officer riding shotgun (but thankfully without one) in my vehicle had an amber weapon in his shoulder holster pointing not toward the floor but between the front two seats and directly at the head of another officer sitting next to me. We quickly pointed out his breach of muzzle etiquette, but his lackadaisical response was “Oh, that’s just the way my holster holds the pistol.” He made no attempt to adjust the pistol’s position. I politely proposed that the two of us in the back seat aim our pistols directly at his skull so that he could enjoy the same level of comfort we currently were feeling on the trip. He begrudgingly unholstered his gun and held it in a safe position for the remainder of the trip. From what I’ve seen so far amongst the staff officers with whom I serve, I’m much more likely to take a bullet from someone I know in an inadvertent weapon discharge than to be shot by an insurgent. Personnel from my command carry rifles and pistols for self-defense, and I think we need them when we travel into some areas of Afghanistan; but the primary danger for anyone traveling in Kabul and environs, and maybe the whole of Afghanistan, is an encounter with an improvised explosive devise on the roadside or a suicide bomber on foot or in a vehicle. A personal firearm will do little to nothing to prevent or mitigate that type of attack. We routinely discuss the possibility of taking small arms fire during vehicle convoys, and the plan is always to drive through the attack if it happens. I certainly don’t plan to exit an armored, moving vehicle to search for a sniper if a few unwelcome bullets come my way. My fellow staff officers and I are not combat arms specialists and we are not nearly as familiar with our weapons, and perhaps we are much more uncomfortable handling them, than is an infantryman or even an enlisted sailor. When we return to our base from a mission, base regulations require us to clear our weapons of any ammunition. The process is fairly straighforward: you first release the magazine of ammunition from your weapon; then you pull the slide or charging handle back to expose the firing barrel and to visually ensure that no bullet sits in the firing chamber; and finally you take your weapon off safe, point the muzzle into a large red clearing barrel and pull the trigger. You should only hear a click when you pull the trigger, as you have already emptied the weapon of ammunition and visually cleared the weapon’s firing chamber. Several times in the past year, however, officers here heard more than a click as they put a slug into the sand packed-barrel designed to smother such errant bullets. That’s called a negligent discharge, and it earns you a visit with the commanding general on base. Recently only officers have been guilty of negligent weapon discharges on this base, a fact that delights most of the enlisted personnel. Thankfully, the clearing barrels have absorbed only a few bullets. The officers who thought that assaulting the barrels was appropriate may have felt rushed to clear their weapons or they may have been temporarily distracted, but they breached weapon protocol nonetheless.

Rosendale Road, West Dulwich SE21 1 bedroom flat for sale Property description Property features 1 bedroom 1 reception room 1 bathroom Contained within this wonderful double-fronted building is a truly individual, split-level conversion flat for sale. A very interesting purchase. Additional information One bedroom Ground/first floor Characterful staircase Private front garden Excellent local amenities Victoria: 11 minutes No onward chain EPC rating D Nearest stations West Dulwich (0.4 miles) West Norwood (0.5 miles) Sydenham Hill (0.6 miles) West Dulwich area information Discover what it's really like to live in West Dulwich with information including local amenities, architecture, outdoor space, transport and local schools. Request a viewing appointment Please complete the form below and we'll get back to you to make the arrangements.

John and I have a busy wedding planning week. Last night (Monday) we met with the great Today I met with my 3rd florist in as many weeks. Last week I met with Kristen of . I liked her and received a proposal on Monday. She seems like she would do a good job and listened much more closely to me than the last person. Today I met with Lea of . She was also very nice. We had emailed a couple of times before meeting so she had a good idea and was prepared when we talked in person. She will send me a proposal in the next couple of days. I have a feeling it will between one of these women but I don't have a sense one way or another of who would be better. It may end up coming down to who can fulfill our needs most cheaply. Next up, Thursday we have a tasting of the proposed menu that Finally Saturday John and I will be tasting cake at 11AM on Saturday morning at

Yes, the floor is done. It is exactly what I wanted. And we did a good job too. For something that he is not comfortable with, he did great. There was a rough spot when we had to cut the tile for the drain hole. UGH. We had the wet cutter, chippers, a special blade in a hack saw - you name it and he tried it. But eventually he did a good job. Just a few small cracks but nobody will see them - oops - you will. Tomorrow we grout. The grout will probably be like you see it now - darker to highlight the tile. Then the walls go up - white 12x12's with a boarder of 2 rows of the floor tile at eye level. It snowed all day long. But it was always at couple of degrees above zero so it was wet snow. It is 7:30pm and it is still snowing. Some people want to come up to their camps for Easter but there is still 3 feet of snow in their driveways - honest - so they need to be plowed. It's not like in Windsor where they are picking beautiful out of their front yard - nice bouquet, Chris - soon. The fox was around today but I don't think it was ours. It looked lighter and when I taped on the window he took off like a bat out of hell. Ours wouldn't have been that startled. He ate some bird seed and was gone. Tomorrow we start on the walls, dinner with John and Linda and probably watch a hockey game. I hope it's a nice day. Dump Day!!

I finished the second of a collection of chuppahs I'm making as an Artist-in-Residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, at Brandeis University. It measures 4' x 8'. Please note that the gray on the edges is the wall color, and is not a part of this piece. Today I'll finish a 8' x 8' chuppah that's made with two 4' x 8' pieces of monoprinted, handstamped, and painted fabric, that will go together as one. I'll post pictures of it over the weekend. I am at Brandeis weekdays from noon - 5pm through April 11th working on site in the Kniznick Gallery. I'm creating a series of Jewish wedding canopies, or chuppot, to be displayed at an exhibition, Under Color, at the Kniznick Gallery from April 14 - May 22, 2014. Please feel free to stop by while I'm working in the gallery, or during the exhibit, or both.

No recipe today. I ate leftovers. You DON'T want to know how to make leftovers, do you? However, I made some progress on my quilting project. First, I solved the lack of extra swirly-creamy fabric for side #4 of my squares by eeking out the tiny bit of swirly-creamy fabric I DID have combined with the plain mocha fabric. Made perfect sense to me! And doesn't look too bad either ... I'll just say that's how I planned it. Shh! Don't tell! Second, I cut out a 7 1/2 inch square paper template, then used that to create smaller "tipsy" squares from my original large squares. Okay, I know you might think this is wasting fabric. It is ... BUT I already have an idea for using up the odd triangles created. Here are the first six "tipsy" squares (laid out on my kitchen floor) beside six about-to-become-tipsy squares. I was just checking my paper template to make sure the first square on the right got "tipsy" in the right direction. And here are all twelve 7 1/2 inch tipsy coffee cups. That's right. Twelve. I know, I had 24 colourful coffee cups to start with. I still have the other 12. I edited my "vision" along the way, and decided a coffee table runner would be more fun to create, and only needed 12 squares to do that. Now I have to decide what kind of border I want all around them. But not today!

Remaining Ferguson Demolition Money Will Go To Community Building From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:  The building shells left behind after unrest in Ferguson and Dellwood have been cleaned up, and there’s still $150,000 left over from the money used to demolish them. So the board of the St. Louis County Port Authority on Tuesday approved a measure allowing that money to be used for other initiatives in the Ferguson area. The funds, left over from $500,000 from the port authority in January 2015, can now be used for business development, marketing, neighborhood engagement, strategic planning and other efforts to boost the area. The port authority collects about $5 million a year in rent from the River City Casino and can appropriate that money for economic development activities around the county. It does not need approval from the St. Louis County Council.

Where to throw the life line? Let me to state the obvious: being saved requires one who saves. An extension of this thought concerns the apparent need to be saved. Only someone who believes they are lost need concern him or herself with finding their way. A fool is someone who is not lost but isn’t, yet remains convinced they are. Consequently if someone is persuaded they need being saved, only then does a savior make any sense. And this brings us to that central of all issues: duality and separation. Where does the idea come from that “people of the book” (e.g. Jews, Christians and Muslims) need saving? Those three religions share a common understanding based on a shared segment of the Old Testament. The first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, book of Numbers and Deuteronomy—comprise the Torah, the story of Israel from the Genesis creation narrative to the death of Moses. Genesis is common to all three religions: Jews, Christians and Muslims and all three tell the story of creation involving Adam and Eve, who allegedly disobeyed God by eating an apple and were cast out of paradise and thus in need of being saved. But (and this is a big “but”) since Adam and Eve were stained with sin (as well as their progeny) they were incapable of saving themselves and thus were in need of a savior. And here is where the story begins to divide amongst the Jews, Christians and Muslims. All three accepted the inherent nature of mankind as being condemned by God due to original sin but the means by which they were reconciled varied greatly. The Christian answer to this dilemma is that God took pity on mankind because he loved them so much that he “sent his only begotten son” to take the sins of the world upon himself and offer himself as a sacrifice to appease God (who demanded justice as recompense) by being crucified on a cross, died, was buried overcame death by rising from the dead and bringing the Holy Spirit to abide in the hearts of those who confessed their sinful nature and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Only if that confession took place would God grant reconciliation, forgiveness and give believers a new heart filled with the Holy Spirit to replace an old heart that was filled with sin. In essence that was, and is, the story that continues to inspire those who consider themselves as “born again.” Everyone else who chose to not accept this story were considered as heretics and damned to Hell. So the essence of this proposition boils down to believing in the original sin of Adam and Eve. If that part of the story breaks down then the entire story of needing a savior likewise falls apart. I have written a commentary on this story found at , which speaks to some serious flaws in the story. It will convince no one who considers this creation story as historical fact and has closed his or her mind to alternate interpretations. Nevertheless it is a reasonable commentary of a metaphor with deeper meaning that comes very close to the Buddhist understanding. The major difference between the two is the notion of duality, separation and where to find the kingdom of Heaven. Here is what Jesus is recorded as having said about Heaven and finding your true self: “If your leaders say, ‘Look, the Kingdom is in the Heavens,’ then the birds will be before you. If they say, ‘It is in the ocean,’ then the fish will be before you. But the Kingdom is inside of you and the Kingdom is outside of you. When you know yourself, then you will know that you are of the flesh of the living Father. But if you know yourself not, then you live in poverty and that poverty is you.”—Gospel of Thomas 3. There are others who have suggested that we are not lost but instead consider ourselves to be. To a person of Zen, words are a mixed blessing. They can lead you astray or open your mind to the music of the muses. One of the greatest mystical poets of all time was Rabindranath Tagore. Sadly, while he lived, he was little known outside of the Calcutta area, and not known at all outside of India. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 was awarded to Tagore, “because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.” One of Tagor’s resonate themes is opening doors. Here is one facet from his poetic jewel Journey Home. “The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end.” In similar fashion one of the great Zen Masters (Hakuin Zenji) wrote a famous poem called The Song of Zazen, which opens thusly, “From the beginning all beings are Buddha. Like water and ice, without water no ice, outside us no Buddhas. How near the truth, yet how far we seek. Like one in water crying, ‘I thirst!’ Like the son of a rich man wand’ring poor on this earth we endlessly circle the six worlds. The cause of our sorrow is ego delusion.” Jesus likewise wrote the parable of the Prodigal Son, which in essence expresses the same truth of a man who has blessing from the beginning but wanders far and wide before realizing that all along he must return home to find what he had lost. The principle treasure of Buddhist understanding is that we are not lost or in need of savings. We have never been separated from our source (our inherent and eternally indwelling, indiscriminate true self), which remains obscured due to ego delusion. We are all in essence Buddha’s awaiting awakening and once that true nature is revealed your entire self understanding and universal view is transformed for all time. You then know in the depth of your core that we are all united, one and the same—none better and none lesser and fundamentally indiscriminate. There is a profound liberty that comes with the realization that we can never be anywhere that God is not, and in God’s eyes we are all equal and loved without conditions. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” The Apostle Paul—Romans12:2 “First awaken the mind that reads and then you’ll understand.”—Zen Master Bassui Tokushō

I took these pictures of the kids at the pool, and thought they were too cute to not post them. Logan is so funny, and has become a really great swimmer. I love him and am so glad to have the pleasure of being his mom. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter little boy. Christian is so fun to have in our family. He definitely brings the spice to the table. It has been fun watching him change and grow through the years. You can't see it here, but he has the most amazing dimples. I love this picture of Gavyn it captures those beautiful eyes that he has. Along with his joker smile. He is a good little boy, but boy does he have a little spitfire in him. What can I say about Jaidyn. He is such a joy to have around. He has the most inviting smile, and the cutest cheeks I have every seen. All it takes is a smile from him and it is like his get out of jail free card. And of course then there is Emmalee. She is our little princess. And the bumbo she is sitting in is her little pink thrown. She has a house full of boys wrapped around her little pinkie. All she has to do is whimper, and everyone comes running.

NAKAMARU'S PAGE NO. 684 Dated : 22nd of April 2011 This is Nakamaru Yuichi Yesterday we did the radio recording. From now on today we'll do the choreography for "WHITE". The pollen is definitely bothering me lately. I've been sneezing extremely often and my eyes are itching. This can't possibly be hay fever? No, I won't accept it. For now let's just apply eye lotion. Since it finally has gotten warmer, I bought shirts. Lately I've been wearing shirts a lot. I'm also quite into that one. And I like gingham check. Plus, his rival, "Ma-kun the Marionette" also updated. (I seriously have no clue what this is about and couldn't find anything helpful on it either. If anyone knows, tell me. It might be some kind of inside joke referring to previous jwebs.) This time we'll be approaching the secrets of anime and chocolate. On sunday there's the news programme "Shuuichi" from 8 am until 9.55. You can easily learn about the news of the past week. Gachan, tsu tsu tsu

My friend Courtney and I decided to spend part of our Saturday night at an international bath, sauna, and spa in SF. We lounged in steam saunas where the steam was so thick we could barely see our hands in front of our face, dry hot saunas well over 100 with eucalyptus branches to flog/brush your skin, and then I alternated with an ice cold plunge. After cycling through the sauna rooms with jacuzzi and pool breaks we decided to drink kombucha (on tap) and take in the rooftop view. I must have been in the cold plunge when the sun set but the city lights are always breathtaking. My iPhone 3 managed to catch the SF skyline on the top left pics with slow shutter speed and then horizon line dotted with city lights is the east bay. We took in a few deep breaths and headed back in for more heat, but not before catching a few minutes of the Kardashians on the lounge t.v. They were lounging in an outdoor pool and Court and I laughed about how our lives are just like theirs. (I'm really joking). cute little felt hats that help regulate your body temp as you sweat in the sauna. Here's the robe and sandals I was issued. I really want to make a banya hat.

Between the two of us, we got Michelle's house looking good in about 4 hours, but it took until 3 am to get all the wash done. I only know that because I couldn't sleep and decided to keep on doing the wash. Gary slept like a baby, which is so good for him. We finished up, had breakfast at Panera and changed plans. The fishing pole was not going to be used today. Instead we were going "west" into Russell's Western Wear. Our iPad told us how to get there, and we browsed the hats, boots and shirts. They have a great selection, and an even bigger store in Brandon. We're not ready yet to purchase anything, but we look forward to Texas next year. Gary's itching to get on a horse. YeeHa. Hope you had a wonderful Easter. I was planning to wash the coach roof, but never did get around to it. However, Monday I was determined to get it done, and right after a quick breakfast I climbed up and went to work. I also looked for any trouble spots, like holes, cracked caulk, separations, etc. The only thing I noticed was a hole the size of a half-carat diamond (brilliant cut - :) and the caulking around the shower skylite really needs removing and some new applied. Our rubber roof is in good shape otherwise, a little discolored from trees, but mostly bright white. I followed Howard Payne's (RV-Dreams) directions on how to clean a rubber roof as he has one, too. I used Mean Green diluted in my bucket, and sprayed directly on stubborn areas. I tried Clorox Cleanup on the few discolored areas, but it only helped a little. All in all, Bella has a clean roof. I know I'm gonna feel all that scrubbing later. We cleaned up and went to eat at Exit 10 at LazyDays, but it was closed, so off to Cracker Barrel. At Exit 10 off Rte 4 (thus the name of the restaurant), LazyDays and Camping World share the same parking lot. Well, they planned well. We browsed the Camping World Clearance room, and found a water pressure meter for $6. I had been looking at those and they ran $20 (at least that was the price on the under sticker) so that was a deal. But we did need another anode rod for our Suburban water heater. Tomorrow we will work on that. We did the first change last year, and this is the condition we found the rod in: This should be 8 inches long and 1/2 inch wide at least. Obviously, this was the first time it was ever changed. Some water heaters don't need an anode rod, like Atwoods. But check your manuals, because this needs to be changed on a yearly basis, maybe two if you're in a good water area for a long while. Tuesday we worked at Michelle's but since they were gone all weekend at the beach, it wasn't that dirty and we got to leave a little early. Yep, I'm feeling those muscles from yesterday, so we're taking it easy this afternoon in the beautiful Florida weather. Gary's feeling really good and looks better and better every morning. We're happy campers once again!

Have you fallen in love with It's no surprise I have. I have played with making these little guys before but they just lend themselves so well to that rustic mobile that I had to throw one together myself....and with all the "ber-dt" activity here lately it was the perfect time. These little pets now live in Bam's bedroom. You can find the for Mister Blue Bird, which is a delight to make, kindly offered for free over at

After three days of travel I have made it to Pokhara. Whew...its good to finally be here. My 12 hour wait in the Delhi airport was one of the most painful waits of my entire life. Flying from Kathmandu International to the small airport in Pokhara gave me an unbelievable view of the Himalayas. I cannot believe how high up some of those remote villages are. They seem to just be built on the very edge of cliffs. I was met in Pokhara by Khim, Tara's husband. I jumped on the back of his Kawasaki with my big pack and we were off, weaving through crowded streets of cattle, food sellers and school children. The home where I am staying is nice and secure. I have a private room and bathroom with electricity and running water. After passing out for a few hours I woke up and organized my things. Dinner was so wonderful... Dal Bhaat. From what I understand, this is what I will be eating everyday for 2 meals a day. Rice, lentils and curried veggies. We ate dinner on the second floor deck, there was a breeze and the company was wonderful. A young Japanese couple joined us. Apparently Yuki and Maehway were traveling through Pokhara, stopped by Tara's shop and were very impressed by the project and her products. They posted a few picture on their travel blog and soon they had an order of over 100 items from friends viewing the blog. So the shop has been working overtime to fill the order. The couple is great, very kind and wants to help the CWSDP in any way possible. Despite the language barrier, we were all able to communicate quite well and enjoyed learning and teaching phrases and expressions in English, Japanese and Nepali. I woke up this morning to delicious mint tea picked fresh from Khim's tea garden. I also had time to sit and sketch some of the plants on the veranda. It felt so good to wake up slowly, sketch, drink tea and enjoy the sun. I just visited the weaving studio. What an exciting space: Freshly dyed skeins hang from the ceiling, six women weave in the back and four sew in the middle room, the storefront is full of light and beautiful products. It sits right on the lakeside...a great location for tourist traffic.I have many ideas for the project, my head is buzzing... that will have to be my next post.

Over a thousand years ago, native Americans lived in dispersed homesteads and hamlets across the southwestern United States, in what is now northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Archaeologists called this the Pueblo II period (about 1025 – 1075 AD) when the Chacoan culture thrived in this part of the country, and was one of several large native cultures in North America at the time (the Mississippian and the Fremont being the others).  Agriculture had become a large part of the culture by then, with corn, vegetables, and grains being cultivated, harvested, and stored by communities. People watched the weather, contemplated the night sky and established astrological patterns, had ceremonial gatherings and rituals around farming, and established roads and communication networks to trade with other communities. Chimney Rock, an archaeological site set on a high mesa in the southern part of the San Juan National Forest in southern Colorado, is believed to have been one of the small hamlets that date back to this era.  There’s conjecture that this place was associated with Chaco Canyon in New Mexico–the larger population center and cultural source at the heart of this culture. One theory has it that Chaco Canyon itself was resource-deficient and almost entirely dependent on outlying communities for providing various non-local trade goods. Around Chimney Rock, people could harvest timber and hunt game animals (such as elk, deer, etc.) Archaeologists have established communication lines and pathways between the Chimney Rock hamlet, other communities, and the center of Chaco Culture in New Mexico. It’s believed that there was ongoing trade between them, as well as a re-distribution system organized by the central powers at Chaco Canyon, that buffered communities when they faced shortages due to natural events and weather. A big factor here at Chimney Rock was the presence of prominent rock outcrops along a ridge. These rock features framed the rising of the moon and the setting of the sun at certain times of the year, and this site was seen as astronomically significant for that reason. As a result of this and other supporting evidence, archaeologists postulate that Chacoan ceremonies and pilgrimage festivals took place here, where dances and rituals were conducted in the large gathering place or kiva.  It’s stone boundaries are still here at the top of a wide plateau with commanding views of the surroundings. Many modern Puebloans such as the Zuni and Acoma tribes believe their ancestors lived at Chimney Rock.  Zunis who have lived in northern New Mexico for 3,000 to 4,000 years continuously, resisting Spanish colonists and proselytizers, signed a treaty with the fledgling United States in 1848 to establish their autonomous regions.  Being at a place where native Americans have lived for thousands of years and seeing the rocks they put together as walls for shelter was tremendously moving for me.  But it was even more of an unexpected treat for me to be at Chimney Rock on a day when a group of Zuni dancers had traveled here to celebrate a gathering with ritual dances. Some dancers imitated animals Other dancers focused on the agriculture of corn and celebrated the pottery which they have produced for hundreds of years. These ladies, led by Ms. Xyla Johnson, did a tremendous job of balancing clay pots on their head while executing intricate steps with their feet, covered in bindings of leather and shoes. These dancers were aided by a little Jasmine, who was ready to step in and dance just as soon as she could balance the pot on her head. Ms. Xyla Johnson was particularly striking against the Colorado landscape and skies, which were pregnant with clouds that day and threatening to unleash a summer monsoon lashing on us. Their costumes, clay pots, their jewelry, and their use of corn fascinated me because they reflected a long cultural association with this landscape.  Everything was centered around their sources of sustenance and the creatures that they shared their environment with; the animals, plants, and soil  of this environment. A Long Cultural Memory It was magical to be around people with a long cultural memory of this land. It was their identity.  Everything around them, the hills, the trees, the rocks, and the animals spoke deeply to their continuity with the place.  Their ancestors were here in these places, their language evolved here in response to the needs of the community living here. (Zuni is believed to be 7,000 years old).  Little wonder that I felt so moved and spellbound by the power of their expression, in this ancestral settlement. The Children The children’s participation in the dancing was perhaps one of the most inspiring things I saw.  Children being raised to learn the steps and vocalizations of the songs, to feel the power of the costumes, the imaginative associations with the meanings of the dance, was a powerful testament to the continuity of this culture. The day did end with a thunderstorm.  I caught a quick picture before I dashed back to the car.

What If Bush Was Right… OK, the title is a bit misleading, cause the fact is, this post is not about my opinion on who George Bush is. But, this post is about your thoughts on an interesting article written as an editorial by the Washington Post today. The post is a pretty liberal source, and for them to write this either is foolish of them, or they are speaking the truth. Basically…we look to be winning the war in Iraq, and the stance that our government has taken in dealing with the war seems to be proving to be correct. Now, I don’t think anyone one here would be against us finishing this war and getting the heck out of there. But my thoughts turn to the upcoming elections now. Do you think, if the war is truly taking a turn for the better, that Obama is going to be politically hurt over this? Hillary could win from this(she supported the war), McCain will definitely win from this( He most definitely supports all aspects of it). But, Mr. Obama wants us to leave immediately(the repercussions could be horrendous) and he wants us to also lay down and cease building many of our weapons( that would be really interesting for our defense and others like Israel). If Obama wins the nomination and the war is ending and we have won, can Obama still win the election? Here is the article at the Post. Filed under: Just Thinking, Opinion, Politics --- ---

Candid Engineer in Academia wrote about using a separation funnel to part organic and aqueous phases in solvent extration. I remember doing this in lab. The instructions were to shake vigorously, remembering to release the vapour pressure build up but not too hard. Shaking too hard may form an emulsion. This technique takes practice. A friend ended up with corrosive mixture splattered all over her. I was glad that she did the lab before me and warned me about it! I hope this video clip demonstrating liquid-liquid extraction helps. Source: I am Gorilla, give me the Funnel

On my latest mission I went a little picture crazy. We had quite an ambitious day planned. We were going to check up on four of our road projects, plus have a meeting with some village elders. We didn't accomplish everything we wanted to do, but we still got a lot done and validated an important project We went to the district of Deh Bala, which is in the southern part of Nangarhar. It was so beautiful out there and I instantly though mind living here. The road project is doing well. Some pictures a These guys get paid $4 a day. The Engineering team with one of our contractors. This guy is building a wall and asked for some cement from the PRT. Talking on the cell amongst the goats. On our way to the second road project, one of our MRAPs got stuck in the soft mud. So we backed up a second MRAP to pull it out and the first MRAP only got more stuck and the secon MRAP became stuck. So we backed up a third MRAP and that got stuck too. We were stuck until the bulldozer from the construction site came and pulled out us out. By the time this happened, it was dark outside, and anyone who knows anything about Afghanistan knows you don't want to be outside when it's dark. The villagers where we got stuck were very friendly (one even helped us dig out the MRAP) and said they kicked the Taliban out. The police there said they've taken fire from the surrounding mountains. We were only 20km from the Pakistan border. It's a good story and our MRAPs were going to get stuck sooner or later. I'm just glad we didn't have to spend the night out there.

Known as one of the greatest female artists in the world, her work has been revered internationally. To celebrate the expert painter, an exhibition showcasing pieces inspired by her portraits is taking place at the Menier Gallery in south London from 3 to 31 August. Born in Mexico City in 1907, she is remembered for the pain, passion, boldness and vibrancy conveyed in her handcrafted images. Although only displayed in Paris and Mexico before her death in 1954, her paintings are now honoured worldwide as symbols of tradition, and the female struggles of her era. Frida Kahlo’s work has been described as surrealist – a label she rejected, instead insisting her sketches reflected reality and not her dreams. After being severely injured in a bus accident which comprised her reproductive capacity and left her immobilised for three months, she abandoned the study of medicine and began to paint in order to occupy herself. Developing as an artist, Kahlo later became politically active, and transcended her time and cultural norms by painting taboo subjects dealing with things such as miscarriage, gender inequality, feminine beauty ideals, the sexual lives of women, and her own physical limitations. Not allowing her life to be bound by structures, many across the globe have been inspired by the outspoken, leftist, feminist, and activist nature depicted in her art. Now, forty-two international artists, who have aligned their creativity by gaining stimulus from Kahlo, are showcasing their work in the exhibition, “Lust for Life”, to be viewed in a dramatic space at south London’s Menier Gallery for the rest of the month. The organisation, The Artists’ Pool, which explores aspects of the arts, has collaborated with the Menier Gallery and the Embassy of Mexico in the UK to present new images that manifest the most important moments of Kahlo’s life. The exhibition comes as a part of a series of events about Frida in the United Kingdom, and aims to demonstrate an original approach to commemorating one of the 20th century’s most emblematic artists. Date: 3 to 31 August 2016. Location: Menier Gallery, 51 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU

Written by Steven Moffat, directed by Andrew Gunn, 2010 It’s pretty much impossible to avoid comparison to with this story… But, quite helpfully, that just demonstrates how much richer and more complex this series seems to be shaping up to be, even so early in its run. A community in space, check; disappearances, check; a beast in the bowels (well, or the top floor); check… Yet, while familiar, this also feels like a quite different kettle of fish. Though not a perfect story, I already love perhaps not as much as , though it cruises the same funny/creepy sensibility. It certainly has its flaws – notably not hanging together as impeccably as some of Moffat’s other stories, and also feels slightly rushed due to the sheer amount of elements (the Smilers, for example, seem quite superfluous). Nevertheless, for its production design alone, which is wonderful, this story feels worthy of being cherished. The presentation particularly of the London market is very reminiscent of the rundown off-kilter melanges of the absurdist dystopia of Terry Gilliam’s , London Below in the BBC’s , and especially the Meanwhile City of last year’s Though the ‘contemporary clothes in space’ approach is one of the elements broadly comparable to , it works far better here, due to this story’s unifying theme, and because it’s dealing in archetypes – the market especially comes across as a sort of Anglophile , with its bunting and bicycles (I like the touch of the rain-slicked ‘streets,’ even inside). In fact, I wish more had been made of the bowler hats and lollipop ladies, Bakelite TVs and Tube-style ‘Vator’ lifts. There’s a tactility and realism to objects like red phone boxes and ring-dial phones (understandably) which enlivens futuristic environments that could otherwise be soulless and unconvincing (see , off the top of my head). Couching as many elements as possible in familiar visuals is a very welcome approach – for example, there’s no real reason the information video in the voting booth should be delivered as if by a newsreader, but at the same time, it helps audience acceptance. In fact, I loved the Starship UK so much I can forgive what felt like an underuse of both the Doctor and Amy, and of the wonderful Sophie Okonado. (Incidentally, I wonder how many Oscar nominees/winners have appeared in ? Not that I’m trying to suggest Academy Awards mean anything – the very idea!) Liz 10 is clearly cut from the same cloth as the soon-to-reappear River Song, but that’s not unwelcome. Actually, the concept of a gun-toting black cockney queen is totally brilliant! The -like revelation that she has willingly and repeatedly erased her own memory is neat, but the overall situation doesn’t seem quite diabolical enough to prompt, say, Amy’s reaction. Maybe it’d have rung more true if they’d been willingly sacrificing the children… (Or something.) have the right idea: "Maybe Liz 10 should come back in some sort of annual recurring capacity, bitching off against River Song?") Two stories in, and I’m already in love with this version of the series; in some ways it isn’t a great deal removed from the Davies version, down to similar scenes and ideas (ie, the inevitable – if understandable – ‘last of my kind’ scene, and down to the Doctor’s so-wrong-it’s-right devirginization of Elizabeth I being brought up). It is still broad and humorous, but there’s a complexity alongside the accessibility, and I much prefer the tonal sensibility that these two stories seem to portend. The idea of ‘Starship UK’ could be a total joke, but comes to be treated far more interestingly than it would seem to have any right to. My main reservation would be that I already feel I’d like to see the regulars have some space and time to spread their wings. For example, it seemed quite glaring that Amy didn’t really have any time to consider the implications of gadding about the universe with her erstwhile imaginary friend - but I’m sure all this will come. In fact, I realise I didn’t mention the new Doctor (and it’s hard to believe he actually is still new!) and Amy last week, mainly because they were both so obviously well-suited to their roles. Matt Smith is effortlessly Doctorish, but without feeling predictable, and brings an idiosyncratic physicality to the role – all hunched and bony (I definitely concur with the ‘drunk baby giraffe’ comparison), and his halting, weirdly-enunciated delivery. His righteous anger doesn’t quite come off, but, equally, it’s nice to see the Doctor underplayed. Finally, the sixties-style lead-through to Victory of the Daleks is wonderful, with the idea of a historical figure ringing the Doctor up for assistance treading a fine line between -style campness and making perfect sense (of course Winston Churchill would know the Doctor!). The best thing about it though is the Doctor addressing Churchill as “dear”.

C. David Burgin, a longtime editor who gained a reputation as a troubleshooter for fading newspapers, died Monday at his home in Houston after a lengthy illness. He was 75. Burgin died of the effects of four serious strokes he had suffered since 1997, said his wife, Judy Burgin. Burgin had served as editor-in-chief of seven U.S. daily newspapers, starting with New Jersey’s Paterson News in 1977. His first top management jobs came at , where he rose through the ranks of sports editor and city editor to assistant managing editor and hired such young talent as future New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and sportswriter Ira Berkow. He talked two Washington bartenders, future Boston Globe business writer Chris Reidy and future Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Daley, into trying newspaper work. After getting his first assignment of running a newspaper in 1977, as editor-in-chief of the Paterson News in New Jersey, The Tribune Co. hired him a year later to merge two of its San Francisco Bay area dailies into the Peninsula Times Tribune, then later sent him to improve and expand the Orlando Sentinel. In 1985, Hearst Newspapers hired Burgin to revive the fading fortunes of its flagship San Francisco Examiner. In a 1996 profile published in the alternative publication SF Weekly, Burgin said he was fired seven months later after spurning an invitation to meet with the Hearst Corp. board. After doing consulting work for a year, Burgin took the offer of former Washington Star colleague William Dean Singleton to be editor-in-chief of the Dallas Times Herald, which Singleton had just bought from the Times Mirror Corp. From 1986 to 1990, Burgin worked to try to save two Singleton dailies from extinction, running the Dallas daily for two years before the owner of its crosstown rival, The Dallas Morning News, bought and folded it. C. David Burgin, a newspaper legend who served stints as editor of three Bay Area newspapers, died Monday at his home in Houston from the effects of a series of strokes. He was 75. Mr. Burgin worked his way up from part-time reporter to editor at posts all over the country. He served as editor in chief of seven different American papers, possibly a record. Among the papers he ran were the San Francisco Examiner, where he served as editor in chief twice, the Peninsula Times Tribune and the Alameda Newspaper Group, which published six Bay Area papers, including the Oakland Tribune. Attribution: Carl Nolte - SFGate

Here's a sneak peek at our Summer, Volume 12 issue featuring Carly Rae Jespen. I'm so happy she's a part of our magazine. If you're already a huge fan, you know all about her , where you can read about her music career and check out tour dates, photographs and videos, especially "Call Me Maybe," which she co-wrote and, as she says on her site, "never expected to take off quite like this."

A fascinating tactical battle between two systems rarely seen at international level. Vicente del Bosque supposedly had a three-way choice between Alvaro Negredo, Fernando Llorente and Fernando Torres upfront – but instead chose to play with a false nine, with David Silva and Cesc Fabregas both becoming the highest player up the pitch at different points. Cesare Prandelli went with the 3-5-2 system he’s been using in training over the past two weeks, which meant Daniele De Rossi dropping into the defence, and Emanuele Giaccherini making his international debut as a left wing-back.

Doesn't Blaine look thrilled? I'm sure he is on the inside! We were dining at Janssen's Lakefront Restaurant. They have some of the best food anywhere! We went with my sister, Tanya. She had the salmon, Blaine had the NY Strip, and I had the Orange Roughy. We also shared an order of Wham Bam Shrimp. Oh my heavens, everything was so good! I wish I could cook fish as good as Tim does! Everybody was more than pleased with our dinner. This is a picture of my sister and me. She's the best big sister I could have ever hoped to have! I just noticed that my head is twice the size of hers. I guess that explains why I'm so much smarter! HAH! I wish I saw her and the rest of my family more often. Someday I'll move closer. Until then, we stay at the TDK B&B when we visit. Thanks for being such an awesome sister! Today I had part of a subway salad with ham, a few chips with salsa and some avocado dip, and part of a tex-mex wrap (minus the wrap). For dinner I had some yummy potato salad, croutons, and cucumbers with ranch, wham bam shrimp, squash/zucchini, and orange roughy. It was all very good. If you are ever in the Greers Ferry area go eat at Janssen's! Tomorrow we are planning to go visit my niece-in-law and my great-nephew Briggs. I haven't gotten to meet him yet, I'm super stoked!

This is Joy Harjo's ongoing journal of dreams, stories, poems,music, photographs, and assorted reports from her inner and outer travels about Indian country and the rest of the world . Posted by Joy Harjo Links to this post When I attempt to over reach with human reason, I cannot hear. When I remember that I am a spirit then I have access to eternity. Posted by Joy Harjo Links to this post I have been nominated for three NAMMYs (native music awards). The winners are determined by votes, both from the advisory board and the public. My music has been nominated for: Best Female Artist; Best Song and Best World Music Recording. Please go to and vote. Soon. The voting ends in a few weeks!! Most people assume I've won for my music. I never have....I believe my band Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice holds the record for the most nominations. Thanks for your help!! And you'll get a chance to hear what's going on in the native music scene. Posted by Joy Harjo Links to this post When we lose metaphor, we lose our capability to dream ourselves and our descendants into beauty. There is everyday language, and the language used to speak of that which is sacred. In our indigenous languages even the everyday was metaphorical. We need poetry in all of its aspects. May Sarton said: "Poetry exists to break through to below the level of reason where the angels and monsters that the amenities keep in the cellar may come out to dance, to rove and roar, growling and singing, to bring life back to the enclosed rooms where too often we are only 'living and partly living'." Posted by Joy Harjo Links to this post

Since I started this blog I've wanted to give a negative review. Not because I'm a bad person (I am), or because I really want to tear something apart (I do), but because I wanted to show a range of scores in my early posts. Every game I've posted about so far might not be my favorite game, but each game is something that I'm happy to play in just about any instance. Unlike IGN's videogame ratings or grades in my Master's program, I wanted there to be a noticeable value when I say a game deserves a '5' in a category, or that I consider a '4' to be an entire level above a '3'. Giving a negative review shows that I don't just chronically review games in the '3' or '4' category, but that there are games that I like and that I don't like. Of course, there is a large selection bias in reviewing games. I know that I'm not generally into longer war games (though I have been challenging this belief recently) so I avoid them. When I spend the time to play a new game, I'm already saying "There's something about this game that I think I will like." Therefore, it's harder to find games that I don't like than games that I do, and ultimately, different games are for different people. That's what this post is about. ( Joke explanation: IGN is often derided as giving bad games a score of 9.0 and good games a score of 9.5, making a 100 point scale into a 10 point goal) ( Joke explanation: Turns out a 60 is an A-) hides under many names, as Empire Builder is more of a game franchise than a single game itself. Empire Builder is often referred to as [Location] Rails: Euro Rails, Martian Rails, Australia Rails, etc. My parents and my sister all Empire Builder. In case it wasn't clear by my lead-in, I hate it. Another thing to know about Empire Builder is that it's older than I am, according to Boardgamegeek, the game came out in 1980. The goal of Empire Builder is to make money and to build a rail network Empire. You win the game by having a predetermined amount of cash and connecting the majority of the major cities on whatever map you are playing (classic Empire Builder uses North America in case you don't recognize The Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore in the picture above). Empire Builder boards are composed of a bajillion dots on waxy material. The waxy board allows the players to draw their rails with crayons, and after game end, erase those railways for the next play-through (crayons included in the game, but paper towels are not). All the boards use the same black dots on white background format At the beginning of the game you receive 4 load cards (from which you will choose 3), each with 3 options of what good to deliver to what location. It's important to note that you will only use ONE of these three delivery options and then the card goes away, to be replaced by a new random card. You pick up the various goods in cities all over the board (you are given a reference chart to determine where that city is), and the farther that resource is from the destination city, the more money it is worth. During your turn you move your train a fixed number of spaces (that you can increase by pimping your ride) and then may spend up to 20$ million to extend your railroad. It is more expensive to build over mountains and rivers, so building in specific areas first can yield a cost advantage.You may spend your turn discarding all your load cards and drawing a new random set. It is important to note that inside the load deck there are random cards that will screw players based on their location on the board. For instance, flooding on the Mississippi will destroy your rails and cause anyone in the area to miss a turn (and since you have to repair your rails, it can often amount to missing two turns). FUN: 1 - I flippin' hate this game. It gets a '1' over a '0' because every few years I forgot how bored I get playing this game and agree to play. The first ten minutes is fun, and the remaining 2 hours and 50 minutes is pretty much pure tedium to me. In general, I am wary of train games. By construction, train empires require a lot of initial investment in order to play out in the long run. What this means is that a certain point in many of these games you can look and be like "I fucked up. It's game over for me" but you have to sit there for another ninety minutes waiting to die. Now I will say there is a group of people that really, really, really enjoys these games. Empire Builder might be my mom's favorite class of games, but for me, it's a bitter experience every time. STRATEGY: 3 - I give this rating with a very perplexed face. First result on Google for 'perplexed face' I personally feel there is little strategy, but the same people perform well in this game pretty consistently so I'm inclined to say it's a skill-based game. In the initial stage of the game, you have to assess your cards and decide where you are going to build. That part of the game is pretty brain intensive and fun as you are trying to figure out how you can efficiently connect a network to pick up your first few paydays. After, you pray that every new card you get is a load you can deliver or connect to and that you don't randomly get delayed because you were in the wrong city at the wrong time (completely out of your control). You might even completely sack out (sack - short for lucksack; to have a sack full of luck means to have a lot of luck) and draw the card that delivers Bauxite to Perth for 65 million and you happen to have Bauxite that you were carrying on board! (You can do this because you don't pay for resources in the game, you just pick them up willy nilly as long as you have room) Knowing when to discard your hand and draw a new one is definitely an experience-based aspect of the game, but it's a feel bad mechanic that most people who aren't familiar with the distribution of cards would avoid (spending a turn discarding just feels like losing). In fact, I have heard of strategies where you pick up a remote resource and then dig for locations to deliver it to. That makes sense to me, but is that fun? SOCIAL: 0 - You aren't getting away with this one Empire Builder. In the game you can take your opponent's rails and pay them to do so, but that doesn't mean there is interaction in this game. I played this game over break with my family and paid next to no attention to what they were doing and why there were doing it and still won (by some miracle; this is a game I often lose due to lack of experience with efficient rail set-ups). An anecdote of the game to show how it is the easiest game to disengage with in the world: I read a book between turns. There was a point in the game where I was making a pair of deliveries across the board so I just counted out what spaces I would end up every following turn and marked it on the map. For half an hour, I would look up at the board for 3 seconds when it was my turn, and then pass the turn to my sister. I'm not exaggerating. I timed it. For a score and ten minutes I stuck a thumb up my butt and went to la-la land. Sure, I could have normal conversations with other players when it isn't their turn, but my point is that as a 3-hour game, interaction is limited to "sucks that you got stuck crossing the Ohio River". Or in my case, "Does this play even make any sense at all?" FLAVOR: 2 - The flavor of this game is alright - you are connecting cities with railroads and delivering goods. Everything about that makes fine sense to me. You can spend money to upgrade your trains, and the initial investment of building your trains and railroads is outweighed by the long-term benefits. However, there are some things that are pretty empty flavor-wise. For instance, it's unlikely that they would call Jim from the Great Northern and say "Jim, I have a job for you. You can deliver Wine to Cincinnati, Cattle to Jacksonville, or Iron to Las Vegas. Subsequently, we will pay you 13, 27, or 14 million dollars. The choice is yours." Additionally, when you pass through a city, you can pick up any good they offer for free. Cause why not? We have too much beer in this city anyway, feel free to grab some and carry it around the world for the next few weeks until you find a buyer. MISCELLANEOUS: 2 - The game board is kinda ugly, but there is a definite appeal to drawing on things with crayons. In fact, as a child, my desire to draw with crayons on the board was my first experience with this game. Parting Thoughts on Strategy: Uh, well I suck at this game. Count out everything at the beginning to see if you can actually get to the places you want to get (building railroads is expensive!). Always stock your train full of materials because some of the nasty effects make you lose one of your goods. Unless you have delivery chains, longer runs tend to be better than shorter ones. Best of luck delivering!

Yes, and I am as surprised as this kitten about that. When it comes to family research some people just won't share. You note it in that their trees are private and they won't respond to your inquiries. They want you to go it on your own. I understand the emotion, especially if it took a lot of effort and time to personally do the research. I think the won't share people can be sold on the concept that the future of genealogy is collaberation. I refer you to a RootsTech Keynote Speach by Jay Verkler. In his speech Jay shares an exciting and fascinating vision of the future of family history research. Click this link: and it will take you to the home page which houses the keynote speaches. Jays is the Thursday keynote. It is about an hour long but worth it.

The Latin Mass: Old Rites and New Rites in Today's World | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | March 28, 2007 This article is full of great information regarding the black and white differences between the Tridentine and Pauline Rites of the Church. Parts of the Mass are explained, timed and the article is a pleasant non-biased approach to understanding the new and old liturgy. Of particular interest to me was this quote: "For the Liturgy is not about us, but about God. Forgetting about God is the most imminent danger of our age. As against this, the Liturgy should be setting up a sign of God's presence."(from the preface of Dom Alcuin Reid's book, by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, The Organic Development of the Liturgy) A H/T again to The Kentucky Catholic Eye for this informative article.

However realistic and rational you may be, no matter how much one may laugh off the emotions during festivals; it is impossible to not fall prey to the festive spirit. I might be considered a toned down version of the 'humbug' muttering, Christmas hating Scrooge. As Diwali approached, I could not help feeling disgusted about the way people splurge money and the retailers create and capitilize the 'feel good' attitude to drive their sales figures. Moreover, mummy’s orders meant that I had to fly to my home at an inflated fare thanks to the festive season. Blasphemy! Friday night we had a cards game scheduled at our place. I was responsible for entertaining the younger generation. Since the brain I possess works in line of chaos, I purchased immense firepower for the evening. The proceedings of the evening were spectacular and in a way many were inspired to continue the trend the next day. Our gang was there- Ayush, Ritesh, Rachita, Vaibhav bhaiya and me. @Akshat, Richa, Piyush- missed you guys terribly.. It's time to spread the word.. And the word is: CHAOS.. So here's on what NOT to do at Diwali: Tying 2 hydro bombs (no not the fission one; the local ones with fashionable name) and placing them in a closed box: The results we experienced were quite majestic. The box blew off and landed 10 seconds later. We repeated this until it finally flew into our neighbor's house. Fearing that this might have caused some damage to their vehicle, we never attempted to ring the bell to retrieve it. We graduated to tying three of such bombs together. The scary part was when we heard two blasts and the search for the third began. Seconds later, it was found at the ramp where we were standing. The blast from the previous two must have thrown it here. Fortunately, we ran just before it exploded. Ayush didn't have to though, he's the guy who's already a kilometre away after lighting something. Trying stuff with rockets: The bunch of us consider lighting rockets a waste if they are aimed upwards. Credit goes to Richa for enlightening us some years back. Ritesh played the daredevil here along with Mukesh. A hydro foil bomb was tied to the rocket. The Hunter (a doodley sparkler) was responsible for the ignition system. It was exciting to see the rocket take off in one direction and turn thanks to the explosion. Next we tied a ladi aka chatai- a mat made of small bombs tied together. This time, it was more treacherous. The rocket took off and bent thanks to the weight. The ongoing blasts kept wavering the rocket until it decided to come down with the chatai still crackling to a bush. A small fire came into being in the dry bush but was doused immediately thanks to the bucket of water we had. We tied two rockets together. Aligned them so that the two face different directions. Watched the rockets fight mid air- each one trying to tug the other in its direction. Finally, we headed to the park with our left over rockets. Out here, we tested and understood all concepts of a missile system. Miraculously, one of these featured a homing device. It took a u-turn mid way to head towards Ritesh. Though Ritesh did take a minor hit, hats off to his courage. Nothing stopped him to let the chaos reign. Lighting up chakkars on stretched arms with sparkler ends There is a chance that you discover holes in your sleeves the next day. This is our finale: where we burn the leftovers in the ‘havan’ fire. The fun part is when you go to drop a handful of crackers: you have to analyze and judge if any of the previous feed will burst as you approach. Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali!! The author will not entertain any words of criticism from the environment friendlies as the author firmly believes his contributions to protect the climate and reduce his carbon footprint make up for a lot. The author saves fuel and energy whenever he can thanks to his miserly nature. He is also a firm believer of upholding Diwali tradition. Lights, crackers n joy included.

This week’s lesson was about roasting and grilling. For roasting, we made roasted pumpkin, potato and chicken leg. We have our own oven under each stove but Chef preheated the three professional ovens in the kitchen and we all wanted to use it.It was kinda a disaster, we know that we can’t open the oven door too much but we did it anyway. The temperature went down so many times so some of us decided to do our chicken and potato in our own oven. My potatoes were cooked completely but the skins were not crispy because it wasn’t hot enough when I put them in the oven. I always use chicken breast when cooking at home so to clean the chicken leg was something I never did. I didn’t really like it but this will be on the assessment next week!! For grilling, we did grilled steak, zucchini and fish. Chef asked us to make it medium rare to medium and this will also be on our assessment next week. I cooked my beef 3 mins on each side and the temperature was above 55 but it came out a bit too rare. I am also not a big fan of steak so I gave away my steak after class. The only thing I ate was the grilled fish, we just seasoned it with salt and pepper but it tasted really good. Next week will be our last class with Chef Sam and we are really sad because its been a really good class so far. Chef also said that he loves teaching our class because he can see that everyone pays attention and really eager to learn. We are still with Chef Paras on Tuesday but its yeast class now not pasty anymore. The whole class worked as a group for the yeast class whereas we used to work as a pair for pastry. We made white bread dough this week and we used the machine to mix everything together, 12,5kg of flour was involved in the making. Then Chef took some of the dough and showed us the differences between undeveloped and well developed dough. In pastry and cake classes, we don’t really want any gluten but with bread we want to knead more to get the gluten. The well developed one tend to be whiter in colour and less dense in texture. We divided the dough to make dinner rolls, vienna rolls, and cobb rolls. It was really fun, because everyone got a chance of rolling the dough, seeing them rise, going into the prover and oven. As usual we are lucky to have an evening class so we could take home the breads otherwise we will have to give them to the bakeshop to be sold. We had our practical assessment for cake class last thursday. We had to make genoise sponge cake that we made last week. Everyone was so early and so quick in preparing the equipments and it was not even 1pm yet. We had to make everything ourselves, no sharing with your bench mate too. Remember that I lost point during my pastry assessment? So this time I brought some chuxs and wiped the table all the time. I usually whisk my eggs for 10 mins with Kitchenaid so to do it manually is a total workout. We also had to whip the Chantilly Cream on top of that. We had four hours to do everything including cleaning so if we messed up the cake we can redo it. Thankfully, everything was good so I could take my time and while waiting for the cake to cool down I prepared the decorations. I didn’t want to do too much so I just cut the chocolates into triangle pieces. Then we brought our cakes to the front and waited for our turn. Chef Fabien said he will give me a full mark regardless the result of my cake and he didn’t really go through each of the points on the paper. I was surprised to hear that and he explained that I have been a really good student, I always answer before he even asked questions(not that I can’t read minds >.<). He saw that I really want to learn and I will go along way if I keep doing this. I was so happy and almost burst into tears when I told him about my story. So sad that it was the last class with him this semester, he’s just so nice and always encourage us to try our best. I really hope that he will teach me again next semester. Coffee class started at 1pm this week instead of 11.30pm so I and some of my classmates when out for some Korean lunch. At the start of the class I quickly made my coffees because I couldn’t touch the machines later on as everyone’s practicing for their assessment. It was a bit boring because I couldn’t just jump on to the machine. One more week to go until then I will just practice my latte arts. This week has been a busy one but next week will be an even tiring one for me. I have one good news and will reveal it soon!! See you later ❤

"This is fantastic," said Noah Smith, representing district 09 on Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) . "This is an overwhelming amount of accommodation." The developers of 15 Dupont Circle NW (also known as the ) have set a new standard for assisting with car-free living. They presented a list of benefits they will give to their future car-free tenants as a part of their presentation to ANC2B at its last monthly meeting on March 12. The developers, led by , received ANC2B endorsement for a handful of zoning variances necessary to convert the historic mansion into 92 small apartments Among the variances requested will be relief from the obligation to have parking spaces, which in this case might mean the developers would have to find space for 23 parking spaces or more. As is often the case, the developers promised to remove the property from D.C.'s list of those eligible for on-street resident parking and provide "convenient and covered secure bike parking facilities". More unusual are the promises to do the following: designate a transportation management coordinator provide a screen in a public area showing transit options have a bicycle repair facility provide free Capital Bikeshare memberships for non-bike-owners "for the initial term of the lease for the first five years the building is open" have a minimum of 10 bicycle helmets on hand for resident use give free membership to car-share services "for the initial term of the lease for the first five years the building is open". Commissioner Abigail Nichols (district 05) asked about the legality of excluding residents from the residential permit parking program. A parking consultant with the team assured her that doing so is legal. If this building goes through as planned, it will create more demand for Capital Bikeshare in the Dupont Circle area. Commissioner Noah Smith thought a nearby area on New Hampshire Avenue near Books-a-Million would be a good spot for a new station. He requested the presenters lobby for an additional Bikeshare station. However, the ANC's endorsement of the zoning variance was unconditional. The developers are not obligated to get a new Bikeshare station. Other zoning variances concern the mechanical penthouse structures on top of the building. They are in part taller (13 feet in one area vs. 8 feet allowed) and insufficiently set back (5 feet vs. 8 feet required) according to the provisions of D.C. zoning ordinances. A representative of the said the Conservancy would recommend to D.C.'s Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) that the mechanical penthouses be reduced. The vote was 7-0 in favor of endorsing all zoning variance request. Two Commissioners, although present at the meeting, were not in the room at the time of the vote. Read a report about the same vote in the blog Urban Turf

Americans everywhere feel the crunch of the economy. I've often written on my mortgage blog) about how UNrewarding my job is lately. Always having enjoyed my career, it seems my days now consist of difficult and frustrating phone calls to borrower's that can't qualify due to job layoffs or homes that don't make the appraisal cut. I have always had (what some would call) a problem getting emotionally attached to my clients. This is true of all my team who've also recently experienced diminishing job satisfaction. We have lost sleep, shed tears, and felt helpless as loan applicants' financial or living circumstances, we cannot improve. That said, I do feel so fortunate, to have such a great team and work family- they truly are the reason for Premier's success over all these years. Of course my family too is feeling the crunch of a struggling mortgage business and difficult economy. But in the wise words of the legendary iconic George, George Michael that is, "you gotta have FAITH..." Faith in God. If not for this, I too would pull the covers over my head somedays or utilize other crutches and coping mechanisms (ok, I may be guilty of an occaisional coping mechanism- a different kind of spirit), there is nothing like the security of knowing that there is someone else in control. "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ" PHILLIPPIANS 4:19 This book has been so enlightening for me and is an easy read. With currently relevant chapters, I have re-read each one. Addressing those real-life challenges such as finances, temptation, trials and fears, it's like a guide book for commiting your mental focus to your partner's well being. Praying for your spouse is truly the most selfless and empowering gift you can give to your family. And yes, (Justin may kill me for writing this on my blog) I have often caught him reading (the book I so bought for him :-) in his "special reading nook" where he admits to doing his best thinking (ladies, I'm sure you know where this place is). "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." PSALM 55:22

Patrick Galvin, the renowned Cork writer and socialist, has died. Born in Margaret Street in Cork in 1927, Paddy was a prodigious and accomplished writer producing many works in poetry and drama, as well as writing the memoir The Raggy Boy Trilogy . He was also a most accomplished balladeer and many of his early works were in this form. (Image: Patrick Galvin at his birthday party last summer). Galvin’s early life was spent in and around the Barrack Street area of Cork – an place that he described as ‘desperately poor’ but ‘highly atmospheric’. Following charges of ‘being disruptive’ he was sentenced in the 1930s to a term of three years at St. Conleth's Industrial School in Co. Offaly - an experience that was to mark him hugely and make him into the lifelong socialist and an advocate for the oppressed. On his return to Cork, following this harrowing experience, he worked as a newspaper boy, a messenger and as a projectionist at Cork’s Washington Street Cinema. In 1943, using a forged birth certificate, he went to Belfast and joined the RAF at the age of sixteen. Following service during WW2, he was demobilised and worked in London at various odd jobs. He later travelled around Europe. He began writing poetry, by his own admission, in the late 1940s. However under the influence of Seamus Ennis, the traditional uileann piper, he first made his mark as a folk singer going on to record over 7 LPs of songs and ballads. Among many fine compositions, there is of course his renowned version of , a song later popularised by Christy Moore. Patrick Galvin’s first book of poems – – was published in London in 1959. He later went on to produce Man On The Porch Folk Tales For The General New And Selected Poems (1996) established his position as a major poet of his generation. In the introduction to this work he was described as “a poet who combines a very strong sense of the community that shaped and formed him, and gave him his voice, with a broad set of human concerns that range from social idealism through pity for the victims of power, to anger at wrongs done”. Galvin was also a very fine dramatist. He wrote and produced many works for, among others, the Lyric Theatre and the BBC. He also worked on many adaptations for the BBC and also as a writer in residence in England, Ireland and in Spain. In the 90s he returned to Cork and played a pivotal role with Mary Johnson, his partner with whom he had two children, in establishing the Munster Literature Centre in Cork. In 2003 with his reputation on the rise he was struck down by a debilitating stroke. He survived and recovered with the loving support of his family but his ability to continue writing was severely curtailed – a factor which was to become a huge burden for him. Patrick Galvin was angered by the publication of the in 2009 into the abuses at the Irish Industrial Schools. Not only did the Report remind him of his own period of incarceration, it also reminded him of reality that he was one of the first to speak out about what was going on in these institutions – and was pilloried for doing so. He had always been incensed at the vile and cruel abuses that went on in these institutions, and had long contended that they had occurred under the ever watchful and approving eye of the Irish State and the Catholic Church. In an ironic testament to his lifelong commitment to socialism Patrick Galvin spent nearly twenty hours waiting on a hospital trolley at CUH (in Cork) on what was to be the last weekend of his life – this weekend just gone. Despite receiving excellent care he died peacefully at CUH late last night. He will be remembered not only for beautiful and evocative writing, but also for his opposition to capitalism and his lifelong commitment to struggle for a just workers society. His funeral will take place this Thursday in Cork (May 12 ), fittingly, on the anniversary of the execution of James Connolly.

We took the boys to see Monster Jam. I love their expressions in these pictures. I posted a lot more pictures from that night on , if you want to see more. UGH! I had so many pictures I wanted to take this day, but non of them came out. My camera is on the fritz and the only clear picture I took was this one of my knees. Richard's aunt came over to visit and brought the boys a bunch of foam insulation to use to make ramps they had a blast. At least my new camera should be here by mid-week. The boys and I set up the foam board into ramps and had a blast all morning playing with the Monster Trucks. Colby has mastered using the computer mouse. He is loving the fact that he can now play the computer by himself. I made a train track for Colby yesterday. Blake decided to drive a lego truck on the track today. I love watching them use things in a different way. We went to the playground after picking Blake up from school. We were getting ready to leave and Colby asked to go look at the "mountain" I couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. This was taken with my new Panasonic Lumix, want to see more pictures from the first day playing with my new camera? The boys were playing Monster Truck races and I loved how they were lining up all the trucks and just had to take a picture. This is mid-line up there are actually more of this size truck, and two other sizes... can you tell we like Monster Trucks?

By Shafee Ahmed Ko, TwoCircles.net, The Town of Ambur (Vellore Dist) has a devout young man whose duty, as he feels, is only to honour the great scholars in Islam and serve them to his best. He has constructed a mosque, runs schools and he feels only to hallow the name of Allah . Himself being Hafiz-e-Quran, he wishes that youngsters become Hafiz along with the modern education . The Ambur town in Vellore District is renowned for leather and allied industries and a major spot where majority of foreign exchequer made available. The name “Ambur” is known mostly in countries like Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, UK and the USA far as the trade and industry is concerned. As of 2001 India Census, Ambur had a population of 99,855. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%, and Muslims enjoy almost 50% of the population and 90% of the leather Industry. Ambur has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 53% of the males and 47% of females literate. 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Though the official population in 2001 recorded around 1, 00,000, but there is almost equal number of immigrants from Southern Districts, who have recently moved into the town. This apart, an approximate 12,000 people visit Ambur everyday for work from nearby villages and also from far off places such as Chennai & Bangalore. Ambur is also famous for its “Briyani”. Apart from these topographic details, Ambur is proud of its pious Muslims both alike. Ambur has shaped many scholars in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Tamil. There were renowned Ulemas and Hafeeze Quran. Ambur has prestigious schools and several mosques run by Muslim philanthropist. To remember a humble industrialist Nattamkar Farook Ahmed, in his early fifties, a Hafiz-e-Quran, never can be an exaggerated flattery. Nearly 25 years ago I could attend a Bayan from an erudite Hafiz in mosque at Ambur (Phool Bhag Masjid) after the Tharaveeh Namaz. The discourse was very short and without digression. The gathering was big and spell bound on keenly listening to the Moulana. At the end the Moulana thankfully informed all the devout listeners,” I am a way farer (Musafir), Brother Farook Ahmed picked me up, although I was reluctant on an insecure situation that I lost my baggage on transit, he could understand my dilemma and helped me. The greatest news I could tell you is that he honoured me by allowing addressing on Deen and Dunya in this Mosque. Islam teaches that a real needy should not be put to an embarrassment in any wanting situation, and help should go to him/her without asking and brother Farook Ahmed proved it.”. Those who attended this particular “Bayan” may well recollect and agree with me. There are several incidences like these and such picture may augur that someone is trying as sycophant. The greatest and noble part that Farooque Ahmed has, the whole world knows "the humanity". In these days where own sons and daughters ignore their parents, when these people feel that their personal life is at stake, Farook Ahmed has come forward voluntarily for contribution for entire marriage expenses of the deprived, widows maintenance, and educational support of disadvantaged students. While his maternal uncle, Moulvi Hafiz Hazrath Jaffar Sahib was bedridden it was Farook Ahmed who felt the brunt of the situation. Farooque Ahmed has been keen in inviting great scholars of Islam whether they be from Egypt, Saudi or Pakistan, he has to take extraordinary interest to personally invite them to Ambur for any major religious events. In an event I personally know, that for an erudite and adept scholar from Pakistan visa was delayed from India. He flew to Delhi and camped there until the visa was cleared and Moulana was consequently camping in India after successful clearance of visa. This is the “shouque” and “Ishque” (Real Heart and Mind) Farooque Ahmed has in honouring and respecting the Ulema Ikrams. Half a decade ago, I met Farooque Ahmed, and he personally took me to the mosque he was constructing after his father late Nattamkar Mohammad Hashim as “Masjid-e-Hashim” When I expressed my desire that I would write a short biography on him, he said not to do so, since he felt out of favour what he said was a "propaganda" or self boasting. I well remember that one of my teachers saying that,” Those who erect schools and masaajids never die”. This will aptly apply with Farooque Ahmed. The philanthropist Farooque Ahmed’s some of the social ventures are appended below for further reading: The foundation stone for this Mosque “Masjid-e-Hashim” was laid by Moulana Tanveerul Haq sahib Thanvi, Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday 21.5.2004 after Juma prayer and the complete construction of Mosque was made in a record period of 2 years and it was inaugurated on Monday 18 December 2006, initiating the Magrib Prayer for public by Moulana Tanveerul Haq Thanvi Sahib, Thanvi, Imam of Jamia Mosque, Jacob line, Karachi, Pakistan. Farooque Ahmed remains as the Founder Trustee of the mosque, Shaik Mohammad Usman of Chennai was the architect behind and Sharafath Ali took the responsibility as Civil Engineer. A beautiful minaret is on progression and completion is expected soon. There is a “Maktab” for boys namely Maktabe Shamsul Uloom and a ladies Madarsa “Madarsa-E-Aysha Islahul Banath” are attached to this mosque. The photos will speak that how meticulous care to every detail Farooque Ahmed has taken for the immaculate perfection of the “Masjid-e-Hashim”

My personal mottoes change fairly often--but this summer my motto has been the one you see here---I made this sign for the kitchen after on particularly hectic day. One member of our crew had a fairly serious accident (cut off the tip of his finger), the resident toddler was fussy and under foot, I got behind on my preps and the oven quit in the middle of baking oven fries for dinner... the next day I sat down and painted this sign, and just having it in the kitchen has served as a great reminder.... what is your current favorite motto????

We get such a kick out of Ryan, I swear that child wants to do everything. He plays two seasons of baseball each year and then there is basketball. He recently signed up for band at school and is now toting around a saxophone. Last year he ran in our little town's fall festival and so of course he just had to do it again this year. We teased him on Saturday and told him he had his own little "iron-man" thing going on because he had a really long baseball practice on Friday night, up early for the race on Saturday and then had a baseball game right after the race. He was one stinky-sweaty boy! He came in fourth in his age division for the 5k and beat his time from last year. Surely this doesn't mean we're starting a new hobby ... :-) But it would be okay I guess if he does!

Salon International 2010 Exhibition I have had two paintings accepted into the Salon International 2010 Exhibition. This juried exhibition is a project of the International Museum of Contemporary Masters and will be hosted by The International Museum of Contemporary Masters is a support system for traditional representational artists. It challenges artists to always strive for a higher level of artistic excellence and is totally dedicated to the recognition, encouragement and support of contemporary, currently active, artists of traditional representational art worldwide. The word "contemporary" in the museum's name is to be read "of our times" and refers to currently living and active artists. Oil on Linen Canvas 24" x 18" Oil on Linen Canvas 24" x 18" Visit my website to see more works:

I'm here! I've taken the time to write, just not post. God has spoken to me on so many levels. My girl is busy doing Lacrosse. That meant getting up early everyday for the past two weeks. Totally worth it. The summer bible study is a huge success. Ok, so I only have two under my belt, but I know God is doing major things if only allowing my patience to grow. In all, it is just wonderful. One of my past excuses for not doing it was that the children wouldn't be able to come during the day. What a lie that was! I had offered to pick up and drop of (limited to my car space), but that hasn't been an issue. I can not praise God enough! I'm also making great headway (that's a positive spin) on the reading I need to do for discipleship training. I don't think of all I have to do. I'm trusting God to work out all that needs done. My family is awesome in allowing me to work. And those hours while my girl was at camp afforded a lot of time to read. Although we're busy, I've also made it priority to enjoy our summer. We have so much to be thankful for. Next weeks big agenda is cleaning the piles in my girls room. I pray God will help her let go of some of her things.

One thing I really LOVE is spending time on a "date" with my husband. We had a "date day" today and it was sweet. We ate breakfast at an old place we used to LOVE many years ago (still delicious!) We went walking around downtown Glendale to visit the antique shops. We had a LOVELY day together sans kids. P.S.-As a token of our day, he bought me a blue mason jar (hard to find)

I'm about to go to bed, but I wanted to share the drawing I did for my dad for Father's Day. I had no idea what to get/make for him until my fiancé gave me the idea to draw him something from Lord of the Rings (or maybe Josh gave me the drawing idea and I jumped to LotR? I can't remember; I'm tired). My dad is a big LotR fan (he's the one who got me into it when I was six, if that says anything!), and he loves , so I drew him the scene where Bilbo is stealing the cup from Smaug. (Click it to see it larger.) And this is the version that I'm going to print out to give Dad (the original is in my sketchbook): (Click to see it larger.) I used paintshop to edit in the background of the cave; originally I was just going to put it in the background and leave the tan floor I colored, but it looked weird that way, so I made it look like this. :) I'm proud of how well this drawing came out because drawing isn't the kind of art I'm particularly good at. Josh only helped me a little bit- he helped me with Smaug's front arms when I thought they looked a bit wonky, and the angle of the spikes on the tail (and he drew that little bust on the right; that's an "Easter Egg", a little homage to a goblin in his ), for instance, but the drawing itself is mine. :D I'm not too happy with how Bilbo's face came out, though; my pen was too thick, so it smeared his features. Still, I'm really proud of this drawing! And I know Smaug is huge and Bilbo would be about the size of his nostril or something, but I was having a hard enough time drawing Bilbo this small without making him smaller, and I didn't want to just draw Smaug as a nose. Artistic license, methinks. ;) Oh, and that diamond in the center is supposed to be the Arkenstone (Josh gave me the idea to add that). And I think I got the best compliment from my mom on this- she's not usually very supportive of my art (she always just asks if I've sold anything yet, and complains that I spend all day on the computer "not getting any work done", but I'm not going to go into annoyance of mine right now). However, this time when she saw my drawing she said it was good and said I should become an art teacher. From her, that's major praise indeed! I'd actually like being an art teacher, I think, but I'm not that great at drawing which is probably the main art talent you'd need (plus, I don't think I'd feel right kids on how well they create- who am I to say what is good and what isn't? That and I've never had any kind of desire to go to art school- who are the professors to grade , as the other flip of the coin, lol). I draw passably, but I have to look off a model or a photo to get it right (like for Bilbo I had to find a photo online of a person kneeling). I guess that's not really too horrible, and I guess with enough practice I could do it from my memory, but drawing isn't the kind of art that I love enough to to keep doing it over and over to get it right. I'll just be content with imperfect sketches and concentrate on my crochet and jewelry and all; I'll let Josh be the really talented drawer of the family. ;) But hey, when/if we ever have kids, genetically and by environment they'll be the most artistic ones with all the kinds of art we can do. ;)

I've been craving cupcakes for some time now. I made them happen today. I'm also attempting to clear out my pantry of baking mixes. I'm moving on people. I'm baking from scratch again. It feels good and I've gained some confidence. Gluten free flours shouldn't be scary. I put them in cute containers, so I'm not afraid anymore. My plate is from the fabulous . She was amazing with the shipping, fantastic to work with. I just love this plate. It is my Christmas cookie platter and everyone knows it now. Makes me feel important and special to be Gluten Free - not weird and demanding. And yes, I did frost the cupcakes in my easy-no-mess frosting process. I heat the frosting in the microwave for 15 seconds or so. Enough to make it smooth, but not hot. Then I scoop into a baggie and clip the corner, and pipe away. Fast and easy and no mess.

I am not a basketball fan, and I don't follow March Madness, but the title seems somehow appropriate to describe the past week or two. After being cooped up all winter with little motivation to work on my project during the winter like I normally do, I got outside and got inspired. Despite the temperatures being below normal over the past two weeks, I've been doing a lot in the yard...every day for more than a week...even after work, I have gone out and dragged myself in when the light was failing. Mostly I've been focused on the pocket woodland (my "would-be woods" as I've often referred to it). Come summer, this sparsely treed area grows in too thickly for me to get through the paths--and my focus by then has turned to the meadow, pond/stream bed, and various other projects. Winter allows me access to the "woods" and allows me a chance to assess my progress. It also exposes the many rocks and boulders along the slope. Some I want to showcase, while others I want to move to use in the stream bed. The beauty of the boulders have really motivated me to get this section shaded enough to keep down the weeds so I can enjoy this nearly half-acre part of our yard year round. I plan to add a lot of trees this year--mostly things I've already got growing, such as the silver maples that have appeared in the meadow, some black cherry trees that I have in pots and in a starter bed, sumac, quaking aspen, black locust, black poplar, (all fast growers) and various other tree seedlings. I also plan to buy a couple of tulip trees whose flowers I hope to be able to view from above while at the top of the slope. The slower growing oaks, shagbark hickory, and any others I want to add, will fill in under the shade of the pioneer species. Crevices for wildlife such as salamanders--I found a few the other day. Aside from all of my plans for adding trees, understory trees/shrubs, and wildflowers, I have been moving rocks--some quite large. I am trying my best to maintain the holes, crevices, and possible tunnels for any critters that make them their homes. At the same time, I am trying to stabilize the slope; many of the rocks are loose and doing nothing to hold back erosion. I have grand plans for this section and plan to use my favorite park from where I used to live in Western PA as inspiration. The slope, rocks, and various levels really lend themselves to viewing wildflowers at eye level (as well as at the foot of the path). I hope it is not too long before I have pictures to post of a more established woodland, replete with wildflowers. First I had to rake away last years growth to expose the rocks. Imagine this as a full woodland with trees of various girths, understory trees, ferns, and wildflowers. "Before" photo..give me a few years for some beautiful "After" shots. Another beauty for the stream bed. Originally I pulled this out for the pond/stream bed...but, as I did with a couple of others, I incorporated it into the hillside slope The thin, flat rock just right of center didn't have the right presence... So, I added the rock (from above) which, to me, makes the whole composition a thing of beauty. Just wait until the woodland wildflowers grace the slope. The funny thing is, in the back of my mind (although I can't be sure) I have to wonder if I didn't take it from that exact spot in the first place! :)

Ghana defender Harrison Afful has hit top form before Ghana's double 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after scoring a brace for Esperance in their 3-1 win at Bizertin in the Tunisian Ligue 1 on Sunday. The versatile player scored the pair of goals in four minutes to put the game beyond the host team. Bizertin took the lead on 28 minutes through Zoubeir Darraji but Esperance bounced back with the leveller through Iheb M'barki. Afful then found the back of the net in the 70th and 74th minutes respectively. “ I am very excited because things have been rough for the club. The two goals I will like to dedicate to my wife and our newly born baby girl,” Afful told GHANASoccernet.com. The 2014 FIFA World Cup star will arrive in Ghana on Tuesday to join the Black Stars for Saturday’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Uganda in Kumasi.

‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile,’ that’s what they say isn’t it? Or rather sang, those First World War soldiers off to the front. It’s what I’ve been doing all my life really. Of course I’m not likening my life to the horrors those men must have experienced, but into each of our lives a little rain must fall; sometimes bloody downpours. My kit bag is crammed full of all the things that I don’t want to think about. The experiences and times of my life that I want to forget and don’t want to let worry me. After all, what’s the use of worrying? It never was worthwhile. So I don’t let all the hurts and slights get to me, the people who stamped me down, tried to stop me believing or doing, the relationships that vanished overnight, the cheating and lies, the slaps in the face, the deceits, the force and bullying, the theft, the ridicule, the shouting, the blows. All these are safely tucked away in my old kit bag, and (although I no longer smoke) whilst I’ve a Lucifer to light my fag that is where I want them to stay - and most of the time they do. Most of the time… But as I said, into each of our lives a little rain must fall, and sometimes I get caught up in a storm. When that happens it’s as if my kit bag never existed. All of the things and people I want to forget come tumbling out to surround and suffocate me. Sometimes I call it the black dog, other times a bit of a mood, when asked what is wrong I say ‘I’m tired’ or ‘My back aches’. I don’t really want to discuss the contents of my kit bag you see; the who, why, and what happened, the blame, shame, and embarrassment. Sometimes I just want to put a paper bag over my head and hide from everything. Perhaps that’s why I 'self-medicate' with what I delude myself are a few drinks. It doesn’t keep ‘it’ and ‘them’ away at night when I sleep though. Despite how hard I drink and whistle or how many Lucifers I light I seem to tumble into this dark echoing place, and my whistling turns into screams, and then I run out of Lucifers. You see, walking away and cutting my losses is not as easy as I’d like to think. Keeping my kit bag firmly strapped shut has its own consequences, most of them bad. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to keep whistling in the dark and smile, smile, smile.

Curacao and Counting This blog is going to seem like a travel log sometimes! I’m not upset about that 🙂 We are currently on a repositioning cruise which is 2 weeks long and we’re in the second week. For the last 6 months we’ve been cruising from Boston to Bermuda (except for a one month Canada/New England run that was awesome!) and now, starting a week ago we are “repositioning” to an itinerary that will be Tampa to some Caribbean and Mexican ports. I won’t be doing that long though as I disembark in early December. But that means last week was a few more sea days plus St. Thomas USVI, Antigua and Barbados WI and this week our first stop was Curacao today! I’ve never been to these places and I’m having fun exploring. I’m also having fun working out at night which is totally different for me. I’m that kind of person that can’t wait to get my workout for the day out of the way so I can feel accomplished and not worry that it won’t happen. But with more chances to sleep in and the opportunity to explore exotic places I’ve found myself going to the gym, well tonight, from 11pm-1am. Hey, it’s better then watching tv until I pass out at 3am! It is a new experience for me though and I like it – no ones in the crew gym and I’m pretty focused. Can’t say it’ll be usual thing but I’ll enjoy it for now. It’s one of the interesting aspects of my career – my personality really craves structure and doesn’t like change but the career and life I’ve chosen requires flexibility and the desire to try new things, different schedules and variety in general. and just in case you’re wondering, its stupid easy to travel while eating low carb/high fat. Like 10 times easier than vegan. How odd, but great!

Posted from the Morgan family collection. Just when I thought I have posted all I could regarding the 3rd U.S. border station, a local resident, purchased this great photograph of the building and asked to contribute it to my blog. This photograph is looking NW with Canada Customs in the distance. From the age of the cars this appears to have been taken sometime in 1969 or later on a mostly cloudy, wind free day. Tomorrow I will post regarding the earliest and the current official International boundary markers here in sunny Sumas. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Cleo is a beautiful silvery brown Italian mastiff. She is only about a year in this picture. The caption I have under this picture is "What do you want, don't bother me, I'm waiting for Mr. Minky." Mr. Minky is the shiny brown mink that lives under the decks and docks at my brother's cottage. My brother being something of a story-teller himself who has a wonderful sense of fun and play, gives names to things - as did our father - hence Mr. Minky. Cleo loves to hunt and chase things and would watch for hours, ears drooping forward as she hung her head over the dock's or rock or deck's edge, trying to see underneath and find the elusive mink whom - she seemed certain - deliberately hid from her. It's a great game. Cleo owns my nephew and frankly, the hearts of all who know her. She and Trixie - another beautiful dog - a feathery perky Papillon live with my nephew and his partner and visit the cottage often to check on Mr. Minky and his cohorts. And some follow up to some previous blogs - my bits and pieces for a Friday - Yesterday one of the men involved with the Ontario Nesting Research Survey along with a mutual friend of his and mine, visited to see and record information about the two nests that I had written about recently: the elegant feathered swallow's nest with three abandoned eggs and the triplex - the twig nest constructed by a wren on top of a swallow's nest and topped I thought by another swallow's nest or a bluebird nest. We recorded the longitude and latitude of the swallow's nest and took more photographs. One of the fellows took a few of the pretty little striped feathers which looked as if they were from a guinea fowl or some fancy chicken to use in making fishing flies. We also discovered that the nest box immediately next door had also been used by swallows for successful nests - I'd forgotten that. Then we proceeded to the triplex. The fellows were impressed with the twig nest which is very tall - and then the gentleman with the survey, reached into the nest. He pulled out a tiny brown egg. My eyes popped. "It's warm," he said. At that moment I heard the wren singing away in a nearby tree. "This is an active nest!" He counted five eggs. So my job now is to watch the nest box when I walk the dogs and determine when the eggs hatch. What a treat that will be - to see five baby wrens fledge. Imagine! And I also recently posted two images of baby birds which I couldn't identify but thought might be bluebirds. As the fellows were about to leave, I saw a similar baby bird on the hydro wires across from my driveway. It was calling - that plaintive call that every mother no matter what the species recognizes - "Feed me! feed me please! I'm starving." But it was definitely a bluebird call and through the lens of one of the men's cameras, it was identified as a young bluebird - exactly the same as the ones I'd seen three or so weeks ago. They seemed to be the same age - so it couldn't have been the same birds. We looked along the wires and discovered three more bluebird babies. And suddenly a flash of that familiar turquoise and there was mum up close and personal with a grub of some sort that she stuffed into the calling baby's beak. We watched for several minutes as the mother attended to her hungry brood. And I felt pleased and proud. Seven new bluebirds from my property or nearby. (There are nest boxes on two of my neighbours' properties.) The expert told me that in the 1920s bluebirds were on the endangered species list. But due solely to the construction and use of nest boxes, they have made such a recovery that they are now among the most common nesting birds recorded in Ontario for the survey.

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California Zary and Kristina Evelyn announced the 4th annual Swim the Bay at the Barbados Open Water Festival 2015 in the Caribbean Sea. American Olympian Alex Meyer will defend his 5 km title in the crystal clear tropical waters as masters swimmers from Melbourne, Australia will also be traveling from halfway around the world in order to participate in the clinics and 1.5 km and 5 km races. Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association

I used to share favorite blogposts I had read throughout the week. I hadn't been spending a ton of time reading them however, so of course, I stopped. However, I'm a big fan of supporting other bloggers (and being supported - duh), so I've started getting back into reading and want to start sharing some favorites posts on Fridays. If you want something to read go ahead and check them out! really spoke to me because I often fearful that I am waisting time. She had some really good goals and tips for acheiving them. I definitely need to write my own list! Finding friends/community is a huge struggle for me! I need all the help I can get ;) I really appreciated the idea of reaching out to others because they aren't necessarily going to reach out to you! because I definitely want to be that type of person! Its a great post about mastering our thoughts and gives 12 tips to do so. This is definitely something I need help in doing, so I'm going to give these tips a try. all day long! It's about so much more than our to-do list! It's the little and small things we do in motherhood. I really loved this! just because of the title don't you? It speaks truth to the fact that just because Christians are "suppose to be joyful" all the time doesn't mean we shouldn't be honest about how we are really feeling! This spoke good truth to my heart! is another goals post, but I had to share because there were some awesome goals, but also some amazing ways to make sure she was accomplishing her goals! I especially loved how she tracked her screen time. I must do that! Those are my favorites from this week! Did you have a favorite blog post from this week?

Elsa (now Mew) was the second blind cat that came into our care. Debra, from Waverly, rescued her (and also rescued little Oliver and a number of of other cats at The Owl House). Mew's housemates are bunnies! I need to ask for a Mew-and-house bunny photo! Here is video of Elsa when she first arrived here. Elsa has a wonderful home north of Cortland. They will be visiting today, possibly to adopt another cat, although our numbers are pretty low at the moment, with only nine cats available, and some of those quite shy.

Renowned cyclist reveals how she suffered decades of abuse during her career Peter Cluskey in The Hague The Dutch cycling federation said it had opened an investigation as a result of the Marijn De Vries allegations and praised Petra De Bruin’s “bravery” for coming forward to support her. Photograph: Tim De Waele/Corbis/Getty Images While Formula One sensation, Max Verstappen, and Sanne Wevers, the first Dutch gymnast to win Olympic gold, were named sports personalities of the year in the Netherlands over Christmas, there was another sporting name on everyone’s lips – reminding us that fame can have its dark side too. The name was that of iconic cyclist, Petra de Bruin, now 54, who won the women’s road race world championships in 1979, forcing East Germany into an embarrassing second place in the medals table – a Cold War feat for which she too received the accolade of sports personality of the year. De Bruin was one of those stars the public loved from the start, not just because she proved herself a fearless performer in a physically gruelling and dangerous sport, but because she blazed a trail for other Dutch women cyclists, who still regularly outperform the world today. A hero to her own generation and a role model to those who’ve followed, she’s someone to whom the Dutch sporting world has always listened. What she had to say last month, however, turned the public perception of her “glittering career” upside down. Petra de Bruin revealed that she suffered decades of sexual abuse during her career as a cyclist – taken advantage of by everyone from her manager to a team mechanic to someone from the cycling federation to whom she turned for advice and who demanded, as she put it, “payment in kind”. Petra De Bruin 1979 “It took me years and years to say what I am saying now, and it hurts so much”, the former world champion told national broadcaster, NOS. “I’m 54 now, and I’ve felt grief every day because of it.” More than a decade The abuse started when she was a minor. One manager in particular, still unnamed, forced her to perform sexual acts against her will for more than a decade. “Nobody was allowed to touch me except for him,” she recalled. Years after her career ended, De Bruin reported the manager’s abuse to the cycling federation – but the procedure which should have produced redress went nowhere. The case went to mediation but was met, she says, by a wall of denial and intimidation from her abuser – leaving her feeling so “powerless” that she decided to abandon any further action. Two things changed Petra de Bruin’s mind. The first was hearing about the historical child sex abuse allegations in UK football and the lengthening list of players who’ve gone public. Their bravery impressed her. The second was closer to home, when another Dutch woman cyclist, Marijn de Vries, wrote about the sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, and intimidation she’d suffered as a professional rider between 2010 and 2015 – years after De Bruin had retired. In the macho world of Dutch professional cycling, nothing, it appeared, had changed. “I doubted myself,” De Vries wrote. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want any fuss. And I was 30! I had a lot more life experience than my 18-year-old team-mates.” As public outrage mounted, the cycling federation said it had opened an investigation as a result of the De Vries allegations and praised De Bruin’s “bravery” for coming forward to support her. Then statistics emerged showing that the umbrella body for sport, the Dutch Sports Federation, had received 269 reports of unacceptable behaviour last year alone, everything from bribery to doping – 80 per cent of which involved sexual abuse. A federation spokesman was forced to concede: “We suspect that in reality the number of cases of sexual abuse is much higher. Unfortunately, not everyone reports it.” Despite the growing evidence of a widespread problem, it then emerged that although the sports federation had what it claimed was “a blacklist of coaches”, there was only one name on it one – one single transgressor. As sports minister Edith Schippers became embroiled in the debate, the federation finally announced a full-blown investigation into sexual abuse in Dutch sport dating back 30 years, in an attempt to attempt to reach any “silent victims” still reluctant to come forward. There’s a new hotline, and guarantees of appropriate assistance, including help with making complaints against named individuals, regardless of the time elapsed. As the year turns, the focus of the debate has moved to the fact that in the Netherlands – where so much operates on trust – it is still not obligatory for people working with children to have a certificate of appropriateness or good behaviour. One thing is certain: as parents realise with horror how much was hidden in the past, an increasing number of sports clubs will make such certification a requirement in 2017.

I have this light bulb, a mini-spot I think it is, with different kind of electrical connections (a "g" something or other I think) - it's been sitting on my desk and I've always thought it looks like the old Gemini spacecraft. Out of time and ideas tonight, I thought I'd shoot it. One strobe directly overhead thru DIY Grid Spot. I used photoshop to clone out the thread that suspended it. 1/200th sec. f/9 iso 400 >>>Edit - It looked a little boring so I added some "stars" with photoshop.

A star cluster is different from a stellar nursery, as was pictured in yesterday's JSVB post. However, they are related. The mature masses in a star cluster have stayed aggregated, either because of mutual gravitational attraction, or simply because the cluster is too young to have drifted apart. I've illustrated a series of so-called Bok Bodies, which are dense black clouds you sometimes see in photographs of nebulae. They are among the densest, darkest, and coolest features in the galaxy, making them very mysterious since they seldom emit anything we can measure from Earth. Scientists believe Bok Bodies are associated with the birth of stars. Star clusters are important since they provide a measurable scale with which we can compare the rest of the visible Universe. By comparing our own Sun with similar stars in nearby clusters, we can deduce both the age of the Universe and the size of our galaxy within it. If you need to know, our galaxy is approximately 110,000 light years across, so it's roughly 50,000 light years from where you live to the center of the Galaxy That, and the entire Universe seems to be 13 billion years old. Thank you local star clusters, for all of that!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Thankyou everyone for the lovely comments on the giveaway posts over the weekend! It is great to have so much interest shown. I do love this bloggy virtual social whirl of visiting my favourite blogs to catch up on the latest news. I get to share someone's satisfaction from their latest fantastic vintage bargains, to drool over the latest yummy recipe, to wow at the beautiful flower photos from their garden, or be amazed at the cleverness of their latest project. Then there is the fun when friends visit here - I find a lovely comment left after a visit, and so on and on it goes!!!! Its like popping in and out of a neighbours house sharing whatever's happening at the time. It is also lovely to see some new visitors - welcome to my world!!! It is lovely to have you here, and it means some lovely new blogs to discover in return - I shall look forward to visiting you at your blog! The weekend seemed to go very quickly as usual, but I did find a bit of time late sunday afternoon whilst roasting a chicken (stuffed with the first lemon (a la Nigella's recipe) from our lemon tree) to try out a recipe for cinnamon buns that my daughter found on the internet. I adore cinnamon. I love the smell of it, especially when its wafting out of the oven! So when my daughter asked me to try this out, I didn't need much persuading. We don't know whose recipe it is as my daughter can't remember where she found it, but we think it is from the US as the measurements are in cups. 2 cups white flour 3 tsp baking powder 2/3 cup milk (approx) 3 tblsp melted butter 1/4 cup white sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar (I used demerara for crunchiness) 1/3 cup powdered (icing) sugar approx 1 tblsp water to mix For the dough - Sift and mix dry ingredients. Rub in the butter until mixture is the consistency of cornmeal (breadcrumbs to the british - like making pastry!) Add enough milk until dough makes a soft ball. Roll out on floured board into a long rectangular shape about 1/4" thick. (I cut dough in half and made two separate rectangles ) Spoon melted butter all over, spreading evenly. Mix the filling sugars and cinnamon together in a small bowl or cup - sprinkle evenly over the melted butter. Carefully roll up the cinnamon dough tightly like a swiss roll, lengthwise, sticking the edges together at the end. Cut the long tube of dough into 1" slices with a sharp knife, then place on a greased baking tray 1 " apart, whirly side showing These are delicious warm from the oven, but if you can wait til they've cooled on a cake rack, then drizzle icing over - simply mix the icing sugar and water until smooth and to your preferred consistency. We found that we could happily have doubled the icing recipe as there was not really enough - next time we will! These are great any time of day! Despite a frosty start this morning, it has been the most lovely spring day here today - brilliant blue sky and real warmth in the sun, although a bit chilly out of it. Not had much time to be out in it due to other committments, but have high hopes for a gardening day tomorrow. I have some pretty primulas to plant in pots for the front step, they've been waiting for several weeks now, then there's clearing borders and cutting back and pruning and vegetable seed sowing to do. And then on to the next sewing project - not sure what next - I have so many pages of ideas and inspirations, lists of what I want to make, but sometimes I just go with what takes my fancy at the time. My daughter wants me to make her an eye mask, does anybody know of a good pattern? As usual I shall probably just make one up - shouldn't be too difficult I would think - famous last words!!!!! Have a great evening!

have grown up so much. you are such a big kid, physically, intellectually and emotionally. you are bigger than all of your friends your age, and even taller than many 5 and 6 year olds we know. you are so incredibly smart. I say you're like Albert Einstein because you have a bit of an eccentric side to go with your intelligence. recently, on a gifted screening test you were able to answer questions that the test administrator had never seen kids answer. you are so grown up... sometimes too much. sometimes I think that you became a teenager overnight with some of the sass and back talk you've been giving me lately. you are such a vibrant young boy. you are energetic and active. brave and fearless. sensitive and thoughtful. you are very sweet when you want to be and often tell us that me, dad and Eli are your favorite people. you are such a good friend! while you love to be physical and rough with your friends, it's always in good fun and you never get angry. you are extremely creative and a great story teller and make up these wonderful stories that you tell us while we're driving... stories about caterpillars and geckos and trees and trucks. started playing soccer on a 3/4 year old team with two of your friends. you are probably the fastest kid out there. soccer has been so good for you. you have learned to be a part of a team, to listen and take direction from your coach, to follow directions, self control, and increased motor skills. have gained lots of new interests. you have always loved trucks and vehicles, playing in the dirt, and anything art or craft related, but this year you have gained some specific new interests from certain shows we've let you watch. you current interest is Rescue Bots, so we threw you a Rescue Bot birthday party. before that you were into Wild Kratts and became a fountain of facts about animals often telling us that cheetahs are the fastest animals. have just within the last 3 weeks made up your mind to stop taking naps but your body is still in need of some rest so we often find you asleep on the couch, back seat of the car, or in this picture in timeout as your body fights your mind for rest. have developed such a personality. you are lively and goofy and silly and wild. this face says it all. I frequently say that you should be an actor because you can quickly jump into character (usually of a superhero or animal) and it's not an easy task to break you out of it. you have quite convincingly mastered the cheetah run and paw swipe. you have done many interesting science projects including making homemade slime and mixing food coloring with vinegar and baking soda. you love to learn, experiment, play and get dirty exploring the world. have had many friends that we have weekly playdate with to the park, zoo, museum, aquarium or chick fil a. you are a very social and extroverted child. always wanting to be the center of attention and always wanting others to play with. you very rarely choose to go off and quietly play by yourself. you are also an amazing big brother! you share so well and take such good care of Eli. you two already have a special bond that warms my heart. you love having him as your best friend and getting to play together all day every day. Noah, your dad, brother and I love you so much! you make our lives so interesting and exciting, without ever a dull moment. you make me laugh every day. you melt my heart every day with sweet hugs, kisses and kind words. you teach me so much about life, myself and our God. about patience and grace and forgiveness. about love... the kind of love that puts the interests of others above your own. you make me a better woman, wife, daughter, mother and friend. you make me more aware of my words and actions and what I model versus what I say. you teach me how to have fun and not take myself to seriously. to build time into my schedule to play. to stop and smell the roses. to ask questions and figure out how things work and why they are that way. about childlike faith. you are destined for great things, my son! you are going to take the spiritual legacy and inheritance that your daddy and I give you and go so much farther. you are going to change the world. you are going to be a leader of men and a lover of people. you are going to walk in the power of God and a supernatural lifestyle. you are going to do "greater things". you will be like Noah, and will walk in righteousness despite the depravity around you. you have found favor with God and are His chosen instrument. you will be a mighty man, a man who walks with God always seeking His heart.

Here I am with yet another Get Well Soon card. I am really enjoying playing with this Lawn Fawn stamp set. Stamped and die cut the images from the Lawn Fawn Get Well Soon stamp set and colored them with my markers. Finished off with the sentiment from the same set. Hope everyone likes this card!!

So the next day was Saturday. Aka, Shabbat. So leaving the hotel before night was a no go. But that's okay. We spent the day together, having some fun by the pool, talking, having a B'nei Mitzvah for the members of out group who wanted to do that in Israel. It was very fun. After the service part we had a party. But not just any party, a 2004-06 ish themed party. Because that's when most of us became B'nei mitzvah at home. There was an adorable little pony. Also shoes. And hats. There was a light/water/music show. They projected stuff onto the water. It was really cool. It started innocently enough. We went to Tzvat. We toured it and learned its history. This was the shop sign. Are you ready? Some candles in the back, with some sweet candlesticks in the front. Look how adorable the owl and book candles are! After the candle store we walked through the city towards the artist colony. We arrived at our final (non-gas station, non-airport) location. We were going rafting. Unfortunately I have not pictures of this event. Cameras+Water=bad. But we rafted a little down the Jordan river. When we arrived at the campsite at the end we got to partake in a rock climbing wall (I kicked butt), a zipline into the water (it was awesome) and archery(I...could have done better). Then we were able to retrieve our change of clothes from the bus, and get dinner. After dinner we watched an Israeli comedy movie, while our bus driver slept, powering up to finish our long trek. After the movie our group leaders mocked us with skits (it was okay, we'd done mocking skits a few days earlier as part of an activity). You can't tell by looking at it, but they were being hilarious. Still being funny. Still can't really tell from the picture. After that we got on the bus and drove to the airport. We had a 5 AM flight so we arrived at about 1 AM to the airport. Again, the smart ones slept on the bus, and again, I was not one of the smart ones. I also didn't really sleep more than an hour on the plane. And the plane ride back was about 12 hours, plus a layover. Basically when I landed and went through customs I had been awake for 35 of the past 36 hours. I was having fun. Also when I landed in New York, I was greeted by something I'd forgotten existed about 10 days in Israel. Rain. And not just drizzling rain. Super heavy rain. It was refreshing. Also, because I am smart, I didn't actually go to sleep until about 6-7 hours after I got home because I wanted to wait and go to sleep at a normal time. Dinner with my parents that night was...interesting.

How lovely your dwelling, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God. As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, Lord of hosts, my king and my God! Blessed are those who dwell in your house! They never cease to praise you. I thought of this Psalm as I sat on the grounds of the former Catholic school and convent where my mom now lives. Many years ago they turned it into senior apartments. The sparrows in the picture flock around the many full birdfeeders that the residents provide for them. There is still a Catholic Church on the grounds where Mass is said every Saturday evening. These sparrows have found a home near the altar of the the Lord. I yearn and pine for the the courts of the Lord as well. May I never cease to praise Him!

Friday morning was a bit cooler....in the 50's. Having a cold front moving through. Al sat on the porch but I stayed inside and worked on the computer. I served breakfast/brunch of mushroom omelet, rye toast, and fresh strawberries inside. I spent some time taking some photos of the eagle nest. Around 1:30, we drove to the Island Store for supplies and liquor and to the post office to mail a card. Back to the cottage and then off to sun and read on the beach. For dinner we decided it was time to eat at the Lazy Flamingo, our favorite "dive" on the island. We went at 5:30 to miss the rush after the sun sets. We had our choice of seats at the bar, the best place to sit in this place and we could even see the sunset from our seats. Everyone has to order at the bar and then pick up your food when your name is called. Sitting at the bar is more convenient since your order is served to you. We began with a dozen ice cold fresh oysters on the half shell. Some of the best on the islands. We shared peel & eat shrimp with cocktail sauce and mesquite-grilled grouper served with Caesar salad and Flamingo garlic bread. The half order of the salad was enough to share.