Summary of Missing getting closer to the end. Ideas keep coming. The work, not really revising yet, has its really boring moments. Yawning. Urge to do something else. Fortunately, my freedom software locks down the internet while I’m working.
Monthly Archives: August 2012
In August, Thinking of January
Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
The harvest and preservation season continues apace. This morning I made a leek/tomato soup using 18 of our own leeks, two of our tomatoes and six of the ones we purchased yesterday at Green Barn, also locally grown. This afternoon I’ll make another four chicken-leek pot pies for freezing and tomorrow a batch of chicken noodle soup and at least one, if not two, sugar cream pies.
Sugar cream pies are a Hoosier tradition and one of my favorites. On a webpage devoted to the history of the sugar cream pie in Indiana it referred to the recipe as a desperation one, a recipe used when all the other stores had been used up. Could be. The recipes, though they vary a bit, all call for butter, cream and sugar. Some of them that’s the whole recipe. Finger stir–so as not to whip the cream–pop in the oven.
Desperation never tasted so good.
So we’re in August here in Andover, thinking of December and January. The house smells great. Kate’s making corn relish,
Patently a Martian
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Cybermage Bill Schmidt has two new gold stars on his life resume.
1. His signature is now on Mars. He has a friend who works at JPL who, about three years ago, showed him around the place, pointing out during the tour the rover now named Curiosity. Behind it was a book. “Sign the book,” his friend said. Bill did. “What’s it for?” “We’ll take a picture of all the names, put them on a chip and send them to Mars with the rover.” Mission accomplished. Bill’s a Martian. Sort of.
2. Over the last few years Bill has worked at his favorite activity, coding, to make an invention by a local psychotherapist even more useful. The invention records on video both sides of a conversation and allows easy tracking back through the dialogue later.
The company applied for a patent and Bill’s name stands as one of the two applying. The patent has 38 claims for uniqueness.
Vikings. Then, Vikings.
Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
Thank you Vikings for continuing to free up time on Sundays later this fall. I think I might take that online course on mythology. Don’t know why, but as a fair weather fan, I’m willing to come back if you show me some winning football.
Guess in the end I’m a transplant when it comes to football, even though I’ve been here over 40 years. The Vikes are just not enough my team to keep me interested in the rebuilding years.
Friday workouts are intense. My back, my legs, my shoulders and chest all feeling it this morning.
Today’s a cooking day, so I’m off to the grocery store.
Oh. One more thing. Kate and I did watch Vikings last night, the Vikings in How To Train Your Dragon. Much more entertaining than the football bunch.
The Friday So Far
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Latin morning. Greg, my tutor, says he sees a lot of progress. I can feel it, too. He wants me to start reading Vergil now, at least a sentence or two a session. I’m now translating with fewer and fewer mistakes, often where I’m confused, so is Greg. He still gets me out of tight places and we wonder about the tougher ones together. It’s more collegial.
(Philemon and Baucis)
Kate and I went up to Isanti to the Creamery for lunch and then down to Greenbarn to pick up some composted manure, sweet corn, cucumbers and, ironically, tomatoes. I want to make a double batch of tomato/leek soup this weekend and we don’t have enough ripe tomatoes right now. I’m gonna do more pot pies and make some chicken noodle soup as well. All for the freezer.
As you might able to tell, my mood has lifted, I’m back in the with it range. A lot of the lift came from talking it out with a Kate a week or so ago. She’s a great listener and my love. The combination is a good one for healing.
Sheepshead
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Whoever manages the distribution of cards to players has picked me for challenges the last three months in a row. Fortuna? Lady Luck? Whoever you are, I’d like some different pasteboards please.
(trump in sheepshead in order)
Even with bad cards though there is always good company. Tonight two stories of women claiming victories in the here and now over debilitating disease. Regina continues to have good energy in spite of the cancer she has and the daily blood-thinner shots she has to take. Ed’s wife, who has lupus, went to Chicago on her own and she and Ed went out to dinner for the first time in five years. On reflection, if that’s where Fortuna has shifted her attention, good on her.
Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
Two Rembrandt tours today. The crowds have begun to thin out some, though the tours were still around 30 for both Bob Marshall and me. Today’s were good. Interested people, engaged. Paying attention. Good questions and response.
Into St. Paul tonight for sheepshead. We’ll see what the cards have in store.
Garlic
Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
Ordered some more garlic from Seed Savers. Drying the small garlic slices preserves the garlic volatiles and keeps the garlic from rotting. Good deal. We’ll make more next year. Kate’s going to try drying leeks, too. We have an abundance of leeks. I was a bit over eager when I hit the garden store in May. Leek/tomato soup, leek/potato soup, more chicken pot pies, some chicken noodle soup.
Crushed the Colorado beetles. Seems harsh. Felt harsh. But gardening demands choosing sides. For the plants and against their attackers. This is what I’ve called previously switching over to Mr. MacGregor. There are, though, limits. At least for me. For instance, I will not go to pesticides, so if an infestation overcomes my manual or less lethal intervention, so be it.
Also picked our entire 6 apple Zestar crop today. Apples are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
All but the last chapter of Missing now summarized and another 6 verses of Philemon and Baucis done. A good day.
Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
More work done on Missing. But not as much as I might’ve. Went to sleep last night late after a nice evening out with the Woollies. I also did my short bust plus resistance workout. The combination knocked me out until 9:30 a.m. That leaves a narrow window in the morning.
The MIA’s annual docent letter came out, detailing the number of visitors with whom docents come in contact. It’s a lot. 59,000 in round numbers. With all the guide programs we interact with a third of the museum’s annual visitors. When I consider that museum going for me is a largely solitary process, that number seems about right.
In the Jungles of Northern Andover
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Living out here, in the wilds of exurban Andover is very peaceful. Quiet, except for the neighbors who occasionally try out their motorcycles and dirt bikes on our street–not all that often. Spacious, we have one hectare or 2.5 acres with woods, flower and vegetable beds and an orchard, plus a large reasonably useless yard. Roomy, with rooms for Kate’s sewing and quilting, exercise, reading and for my writing and study. Memories, we’ve been here 18 years and have many birthdays, Thanksgivings and holidays in our past plus visits from the kids and grandkids and all the dogs.
Yet peaceful has its limits. When we met last night with all the Woolly wives and discussed books on a clear, comfortable evening, it was wonderful. The buzz, the casual conversation, the different personalities. People I’ve known for years, shared intimate parts of their lives. That we don’t have out here.
I’ve never found my people in Anoka County, though I love it out here. That’s partly 
because I’ve refused to give up my urban connections, working in politics for the Sierra Club, volunteering at the MIA, visiting museums, meeting with the Woollies. It’s partly because I’m an introvert and starting over with new friends is tough for me. It’s partly because my politics don’t have company here.
I suppose another way to look at this is that I have the best of both worlds, a peaceful refuge and cosmopolitan friends. I’ll stick with that one for now.