Blog
Adventures In Wide Open Spaces
Every time I see or hear or say the phrase “wide open spaces,” the Dixie Chicks’ song of the same name pops into my head. Whether you like the group or not, it’s really an excellent song. Oh, I just noticed they changed their group’s name to The Chicks. Huh.
Adventures In Ingenuity
I know that I’ve already mentioned that I believe knitwear designer Martina Behm to be a genius. (More than once, actually.) But she is not the only knitwear designer that I consider a genius. I’d like to introduce you to another: she goes by the quirky moniker Wooly Wormhead and works primarily with hats.
Adventures In Nana Nilla Pudding
Most every southern cook has some version of a banana pudding recipe. They mostly seem to feature a combo of Nilla Wafers, bananas, boxed banana or vanilla pudding, and Cool Whip. Well, I hate Cool Whip. And I generally think one can do better than boxed pudding. So I have my own version, which is quick and easy and sublime. It’s basically Banana Cream Pie in the shape of a trifle.
Adventures In Punchboards
What is a punchboard? Well, in crafting terms, a punchboard is a little device, usually flat, that allows a maker to punch out shapes and score lines to make a specific thing quickly and easily.
Adventures In Strange Lands
My misquote of Robert Heinlein aside, this post is a review of a book entitled An Atlas Of Countries That Don’t Exist by Nick Midddleton. I saw the cover of this book and immediately jumped to the conclusion that inside its pages, I would find Narnia, Middle Earth, Wakanda, Atlantis, Westrios, and a whole host of other fictitious countries.
Adventures In Greek Cuisine
Right now, it seems like Indian food and Thai food are all the rage. I really like Thai food, but Indian cuisine isn’t really to my taste. I don’t care for the flavor profile of those particular spices. One of the lesser known (these days anyway) ethnic foods that is readily available in the US is Greek cuisine. If you don’t know if you like it because you’ve never had it, well…chances are excellent that you’ve had at least two different dishes (four if you’ve made my Greek salad or my chicken gyros). The two very well-known Greek dishes I’m thinking of are the sticky yummy dessert baklava and the savory pastry spanakopita.
Adventures In Gaining Height
I’ve been 5’4” my whole adult life. Until my last doctor’s appointment, when I was informed that I am now 5’ 3 1/2”. Dangit!
Adventures In Sweet Milk
Dulce de leche. Sweet milk. Divinely delicious creamy caramel. Yes, you can buy it in a can if your grocery store can keep it in stock. But if not, never fear. It’s about the easiest thing in the world to make yourself.
Adventures In Moderate Warmth
My poor father is quite bald. He has a little hair around the sides, rather like a monk’s tonsure, but on the top? Nothing but a few lonely spikes of hair. So his head gets cold year round. Outside, he favors baseball caps, but indoors, it’s all beanies all the time.
Adventures In Magic Roasting
I have in a previous post mentioned the joys of roasting vegetables. I’d like to go a little farther today. I’m going to posit that roasting transforms almost any vegetable—and some starches, like potatoes or corn-on-the-cob—into something delicious. Except broccoli. There’s nothing that can redeem broccoli.
Adventures In Alternative Pizza
On July 20th, I was privileged to see a movie entitled Rebel With A Clause. This is naturally the film version of the book of the same name, which I reviewed recently. The author—and star of the movie—Ellen Jovin was going to be present at the viewing, answering questions at the Grammar Table and autographing her book. I have a hardback copy of her book, of course, perfect for autographing. But having recently packed up my whole household to move and being slow to unpack in the new place, I hadn’t gotten around to unpacking a single one of my books. Which occupy about thirty boxes. How to find the one book I needed to take to the autographing session?
Adventures In Necessary Cases
I mentioned in a previous post that I’m loving my new massaging neck pillow. In fact, I love it so much that I bought that company’s original lower back pillow, which performs the same functions. However, while the neck pillow does actually apply gentle traction to the neck, the same can’t be said for the lumbar pillow. The mechanics of the body just don’t allow it. Nonetheless, I’m glad I bought it and it is helping somewhat with my chronic lower back pain.
Adventures In Post-Apocalyptic Nookery
Post-apocalyptic: relating to or set in the period following an apocalypse, such as an imagined nuclear war or the collapse of global civilization.
Adventures In Grungy Holsters
I recently published a blog article singing the praises of my new adjustable platform for my sleep number bed I have not changed my mind about it, but I was having a little issue. The remote control to adjust the bed works great, but where do I put it when I’m not actively using it? If I have it on my nightstand when I’m ready to raise the head of the bed, I can just reach over, pick it up, and use it. But once the head is inclined, I can no longer reach the nightstand without reaching perilously far out of bed. I haven’t yet fallen out of bed, but I was positive it was only a matter of time.
Adventures In The Hard Rain
Back in May, my former co-worker and fellow bibliophile Larry Porter recommended a book to me. Okay, I already need to digress. Larry Porter is tall and thin and wears perfectly round glasses. The day I first met him, I thought he looked like a grown up Harry Potter. When I expressed this opinion (because in my younger days, I thought all opinions should be immediately expressed), he smirked at me and replied, “Larry Porter.” And so he was.
Adventures In Being Swallowed By A Cloud
Whenever I’ve visited my parents in recent years, I’ve spent the night on an air mattress. At first, it was my parents’ air mattress, which (like all air mattresses) would slowly deflate during the night until I was sort of “encased” in the mattress, which is both uncomfortable and creepy.
Adventures In Fourth Blog-iversaries
In all the excitement and disorientation of my recent move to a new house, I almost forgot that I just finished my fourth year of this blog. Four years of posting a new article every Friday. I know I say this every year, but it’s more and more true every year…I’m so impressed with myself! Okay, enough of that.
Adventures In Rocky’s Space
I had such fun with my recent compare/contrast writeup of the movie and book versions of The Martian that I thought I’d do another: Project Hail Mary, by the same author, although different filmmakers.
Adventures In Massaging Traction
For most of my adult life, I’ve suffered from frequent headaches related to neck/shoulder tension and spine alignment problems.