Halloween whining

There I was in Facebook earlier today, whining that nothing fun happens in England for Halloween. But I was wrong -- there was a pumpkin-carving competition at the office. Here's me and my entry:

And a guy at work sent me this important reminder to not let your pumpkins drink too much alcohol today:

I'm going home later to carve our huge family pumpkin by myself. My daughter's away at uni, and my son is going to a party. It'll be my first Halloween without kids. Sob. I'll just have Mel and Minnie for company.

Sunday breakfast

My daughter came home for the weekend so we could all go up to London on Sunday for the big American football game at Wembley.

Here is everyone having breakfast on Sunday morning. My husband Mel makes eggs every Sunday, and you can see the papers sprawled all over the table. Mel is looking at my laptop in the picture, checking to see if I had any groovy comments put on my blog overnight.

When Mel mentioned my blog, my son Mikey piped up:

"She probably put up a post about a china pot that her mother used to have and now she kept it and looks at it all day."

It made me laugh to hear him say that because it's so accurate. That sounds like just the sort of post I would do.

One day you'll miss me and my blogs, I replied. He didn't look convinced.

Human takes cat's favorite spot

My daughter Katie coming home for the weekend caused a bit of consternation to our cat Minnie. She's not sure who this woman was so tried to avoid her. But on Sunday morning, Katie had the audacity to take Minnie's fave sleeping place on our antique sofa. The sofa cushions are filled with goose feathers and are extremely comfy.

I knew something was amiss when Minnie came into the kitchen where I was and started complaining. She doesn't meow and talk a lot unless she wants food or there's a problem. I went into the living room and saw Katie watching TV, occupying Minnie's spot. Minnie doesn't know what to do now and is wandering around the house aimlessly.

I did get a pic of her trying to get Katie to move -- here it is, below:

Later, after Katie finished watching television and moved into another room, order to the universe was restored and Minnie resumed her rightful place:


Addendum:

Terrible news came last night. The cat charity phoned and a nice 79-year-old widow wants to adopt Minnie permanently. I'm sure she's a very kind woman, but to take Minnie away from me is so mean. :) I was talking to my friend Jax at work who adopted a cat from a foster home, and they didn't want to let their cat go either. I told Jax my idea of inviting the woman in to see Minnie, then hitting her over the head and pretending she never showed up so I can keep Minnie. Jax laughed at my idea and suggested that I would love the next cat I fostered just as much as Minnie. I guess I'll have to be mature about it but I hate to let Minnie go....

Dress Like Palin

This game is fun to play, just in case you get bored today and want to waste a few minutes:

Dress Like Palin

Snow and diwali

It started snowing last night. I don't think that's ever happened in England in October before. I was looking out my bedroom window last night watching it fall, then the Diwali (info on this below) fireworks from the Hindu Temple near my house started to go off. (I wanted to go to Diwali festivities but don't know anyone who goes to that temple; my Indian friends at work live closer to Farnborough so they don't come to Reading for events. I see women dressed in colorful saris walk down the road past my house to the temple with plates and plates of food, and of course, I'd love to get my hands on that. Great food and fireworks --- my kind of religious event.)

It was so peaceful to watch snow and fireworks then go to bed. I woke to snow everywhere this morning. It took me ages to get ice and snow off my car. Driving to work, I noticed how muffled the world is when it snows. People drive more slowly and sounds are dented by the ice and snow all over. It's nice.

Except I forgot and started driving at regular speeds down country roads. My car skidded a couple of times before I came to my senses. Really, I can be so stoopid sometimes.

I finally got to work and heard one of the jams I was in was due to a Porsche driver running into a pedestrian and throwing him over the railway bridge near the office.

Diwali facts:

Diwali (or Deepavali) is a major Indian holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. Diwali is celebrated on the new moon day (approx fifteenth day) of the month Kartika.

Win a bag

See what I have to put up with. The groceries were delivered tonight (we order them online), and my husband was unpacking bags and said, "Oh look! I can get a new wife."

I looked up. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

He showed me the butter. "See this," he said, pointing to it. "I can get a new wife here. Actually, the one pictured looks quite nice."

I grabbed the butter out of his hand and had a look:

Feeling better and Hummingbird cake

I'm back from the spa, and I feel much more together now. After my float in the Dead Sea tank, I had a head massage then just lay around the pool with my book. I did token swimming for exercise, but mostly I chilled out. They have heated loungers in a quiet area with lavender-scented air that sends you to sleep in no time. Wish I had one at home.

Now I'm at home, and rain is pouring down outside. I just got an e-mail from Lillian in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She was my mother's carer and wonderful friend to our family. She used to call me Soul Sister Number 1 when we were young in the '70s, and I called her Soul Sis Number 2. We still sign our letters that way. Anyway, she wrote to ask me if I had the recipe for my mother's favorite fruit cake, the Hummingbird Cake. My mother loved this cake, especially since it consists of basically dumping a bunch of fruit in a bowl and baking it. I found a recipe for Lil and am sharing it with you.

Hummingbird Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 (16 ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs, and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.(Do not beat) Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup pecans, and bananas. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9" round cakepans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake; sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans on top. Store in fridge. Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed, with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Going to take a break

On Tuesday, I'm taking my first flexi-time day off. Nokia gives workers time in lieu, so if you work enough hours, you can take one day off each month. I've never had time off that was paid for before so am happy. I'm going to Nirvana spa and float in their Dead Sea tank. It's so relaxing. Pic below:

I've been doing so much and around so many people with all their different viewpoints and assumptions that I want a short break from all activity. I'm going by myself tomorrow with only a book for company: Freethinkers -- A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby.

After the Christianity lecture last week and heated discussions in this blog, I could do with a little atheism break. I like this quote by Susan B Anthony:

"You may go all over the world and you will find that every form of religion which has breathed upon the earth has degraded woman...What power is it that makes the Hindu woman burn herself upon the funeral pyre of her husband? Her religion. What holds the Turkish woman in a harem? Her religion. By what power do the do the Mormons perpetuate their system of polygamy? By their religion. Man, of himself, could not do this; but when he declares, 'Thus saith the Lord,' of course he can do it. So long as ministers stand up and tell us Christ is the head of the church, so is man the head of woman, how are we to break the chains which have held women down through the ages?"

The wonders of blogging

I feel like I should do something when the comments section of my blog gets heated as it has recently, but I don't know what. It's not like I'm the moderator of a forum. I think it's my job to post something, and you all can say what you like in the comments section, and I will learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to contribute.

Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic's blog wrote this about blogging that illustrates that point:
To blog is therefore to let go of your writing in a way, to hold it at arm's length, open it to scrutiny, allow it to float in the ether for a while, and to let others, as Montaigne did, pivot you toward relative truth. A blogger will notice this almost immediately upon starting. Some e-mailers, unsurprisingly, know more about a subject than the blogger does. They will send links, stories, and facts, challenging the blogger's view of the world, sometimes outright refuting it, but more frequently adding context and nuance and complexity to an idea. The role of a blogger is not to defend against this but to embrace it. He is similar in this way to the host of a dinner party. He can provoke discussion or take a position, even passionately, but he also must create an atmosphere in which others want to participate.

A Sarah Palin e-mail

An acquaintance sent me the following e-mail. Obviously she doesn't know me very well!

I had to laugh when I read this though -- I think an older person wrote it -- note the emphasis on 'liberal feminists' who support NOW and don't shave their legs. Isn't that sort of 1970s thinking?

"Not verified with Snopes or Truth or Fiction--but who cares?

21 Reasons Why Sarah Palin Should NOT be Elected Vice-President of the United States :

1) She is a Woman.

2) She does not believe in killing babies, born or unborn.

3) She is NOT endorsed by Susan Sarandon, Jane Fonda, Rosie O'Donnell, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Geraldine Ferrara, Barbara Walters, Helen Thomas, Ellen DeGeneris, Ted Kennedy, Keith Olberman, Chris Matthews, Barbra Streisand or David Letterman.

4) She is married to a Foreigner--a species called 'Native American'--meaning her five children are half-breeds.

5) She has on more than one occasion expressed PRIDE in the United States of America.

6) Unlike decent, self-respecting Democrats everywhere, she has a 17-year-old daughter who became pregnant out of wedlock.

7) She is a member of the American Riflemen's Association / actually owns firearms / and knows how to use them.

8) She has killed a moose, among other animals--and spreads the propaganda that it is hunters, through their license fees, that keep American wildlife from becoming extinct.

9) She often does her own grocery and other household shopping.

10) She drives a car, and flies a plane.

11) She chose to give birth to a defective child, rather than allow a skilled Abortion Doctor to kill it for her.

12) She refuses to apologize for seeking the termination of an Alaskan State Trooper just because he applied a gentle taser to his 12-year-old stepson (who, of course, happened to be Gov. Palin's nephew).

13) She is inexperienced. And she refuses to admit that her duties as the chief executive in the State of Alaska are nowhere near equal to those of a public servant who was once a Community Organizer, or that of a United States Senator who has carried the awesome burden of overseeing a staff of political appointees.

14) She has a son who is in the U.S.. Military, deployed to the Persian Gulf- probably making her prejudiced against all the peaceful Muslims in that part of the world.

15) She is on Oprah Winfrey's 'Do Not Invite' list.

16) She professes to be a Christian, but has no 'Spiritual Adviser'-- even though Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who served Sen. Obama in that capacity for 20 years, is now available.

17) She isn't really a 'beauty queen,' as advertised. She was only the runner-up in the Miss Alaska Contest; and Alaska is not a very populous state, anyway.

18) The Obama-Biden ticket is favored over McCain-Palin, 80% to 20%, by our friendly allies in France.

19) Her children are not properly trained in hygiene. (Did you see her 7-year-old daughter shamelessly lick the entire palm of her hand at the Convention, then use it to slick down the hair of her little brother?)

20) She is of mixed English, German, and Irish ancestry--and you KNOW you can't trust the Limey's, Krauts, or Micks.

21) Back to No. 1: This is the one that really galls modern, liberal 'feminists.' Gov. Palin is a Woman, a female-type wife and mother, who shaves her legs, wears makeup, dresses smartly, often cooks meals for her family, doesn't give a hoot about the National Organization for Women or the all-powerful Teachers Unions--and obviously will never, ever fit in as a member of the Washington Elite.

Do we want a person like this to be the Vice President of the Unites States?

You bet we do !!! "

The Saints went marching in

We went to see the New Orleans Saints play the San Diego Chargers yesterday. It's fun to go to an all-American event in a foreign country -- the reactions are all so different. One thing I noticed is that English people dressed in any NFL outfit they could find, rather than one for the teams that were playing. It was confusing to see Green Bay stuff around the stadium when they weren't playing, for example.

The above pic is pre-game stuff -- the Stereophonics were playing on the field when we came in.

Shortly after that, the national anthems for America and England were played. The English talked on their mobile phones and shouted at each other while the American anthem was playing, but when Joss Stone came on to sing God Save the Queen, the stadium was silent.


New Orleans won 37 to 30. We left a little early to avoid going home with the 86,000 other attendees at the same time.

Here's a cute YouTube video someone made about the NFL in London:

American football comes to London

Tomorrow night, I'm going to see the New Orleans Saints play San Diego at Wembley. They first brought an NFL team London to play a regular game last year and we went. It was so much fun except when the Giants got a touchdown and I jumped up to cheer and spilled beer all over the long hair of the woman in front of me. I'm going to try to be better behaved this year.

My aunt in New Orleans wrote me that 4000 Saints' regular season ticket holders are coming to London. Today there was a New Orleans festival in Greenwich to celebrate. I couldn't get up there today though but regular reader Theresa was going. Maybe she'll tell us how it was.

There's tailgating party at the game with three Mardi Gras floats preceded by a band, and jambalaya, etouffee, hamburgers and hot dogs. Wow, who will even care about football after all that fun?

My cousin Mike in New Orleans sent me these instructions for the game:

I hope that the Saints give you a better game than they gave us last week. We spent last Saturday night camping in the back yard with friends and kids, then waking up to prepare for the big Sunday afternoon game, only to have the Saints get blown out. ouch...Don't forget to scream "DEUCE", when Mcallister runs the ball. He has become a fan favorite, as has Scott Fujita. One of our friends signs her e-mails "Fujita all day, every day". Not sure what that means.

A birthday dinner

We celebrated my friend Karen's birthday last night in a nice pub in Hampshire. Here are Karen and my friend Elise:

Elise gave Karen the most beautiful piece of jewellery from Brazil. A large agate with a sterling-silver snowflake floating on the top. Here is a pic (but doesn't do the silver justice):

We had a nice time but when it came time to pay, Karen slipped away from the table with her credit card to pay. Well, we couldn't have the birthday girl pay for her own celebration, so Elise and I chased her and I darted into the kitchen area and snatched her card away. I ran back to my bag to get money out, and I knocked my eye on the chair as I bent down. By the time I got home, I had a black eye. I told my husband I'd been in a pub brawl to make my injury sound more exciting. I have to go out a lot this weekend, and I know people will think Mel took a swing at me. Here's my eye -- I have no makeup on so what looks like Amy Winehouse eyeliner is really a big bruise:

Here's the last pic of the birthday girl with her cake. Happy Birthday Karen!

Russian love song to Sarah Palin

Remember that interview Sarah Palin did where she said she can see Russia from her state, and will notice when Putin 'rears his head?' Some Russians did a song about that. It's here:

Karen and her lecture series

My friend Karen Blakeley is a deeply religious woman. She knows that I'm not, but we are still great friends. Karen decided to organize a series of lectures on reconciling science and faith and lined up a roster of eminent scientists to give talks. I thought I'd better go to her first lecture to show my support, but I didn't even need to because the place was packed and ended up being Standing Room Only.

I was amazed that my friend could have undertaken such a task and ended up with such numbers of enthusiastic people. People around me were taking notes and very enthusiastic about what they heard.

Here's Karen at a break in the talk. There's something wrong with my camera because she looked beautiful last night but this photo doesn't do her justice.
The lecture last night was sort of aimed at the already converted so I was definitely an odd attendee since I don't believe in God. But I thought how great it was that Karen and I could have such different world views and still be such good friends. I'm sure if I arranged a series of Atheist Lectures, she would come just to give me support.

Here is my friend Elise's husband Brian. The reason he looks so happy is that there wasn't enough coffee to go around in the break, but I managed to get a cup for him and brought it over.

Excerpt from lecture brochure:

It is often assumed that faith and science are at odds with each other and that scientists dismiss religion as irrational. This series of talks on science and faith will challenge that myth. Our speakers, all prominent in their fields, will discuss how findings in biology, cosmology, physics and philosophy support a Christian approach to the world and will show how it is possible to have ‘a scientific faith’.

Her talks go on until next April so if you live in southern England and are interested in attending, see Karen's website for more info:

Beyond Dawkins' God Delusion

the Great Pumpkin

I miss American Halloweens with the trick or treating and everyone dressing up and going around the neighborhood and seeing friends. They don't do this much in England, although Halloween gets more attention with each passing year.

The kids and I carve up a big pumpkin every year and wait for trick or treaters to come, but they never do. One year I had about five kids come to the front door. I've always tried to find Halloweeny activities for the kids but it's hard to find stuff to do. One year I took them to a theme park and we waited in line for over an hour to go into an ice maze and get scared by monsters who popped out to scare us.

My father used to be part of group that put on a Halloween show every year in Natchez, Mississippi. I used to love to scream my head off in fear. Then there would be Saturday Nightmares -- scary movies to watch each weekend.

But they don't have that stuff in the UK -- but at least they have Guy Fawkes day so we're going to a big fireworks event on the 1st of November.

Last night I stopped off and bought a pumpkin to carve on the 31st. I always buy the ugliest one because no one else will. I feel sort of sorry for the ugly ones, left to rot in the bin after all its attractive sisters have been purchased.

Running away from the truth

A friend at work and I force ourselves to run in the sun-dappled woods near Nokia on Fridays at lunchtime. We frequently find some excuse why we can't go, though. "I saw a few raindrops on the windowsill," I'll say. "We can't go -- my hair will get all frizzy and we'll be wet."

Or she'll say, "I'm a bit under the weather today."

Lately we've been very tough on ourselves and run no matter what. But we can't go very far -- only a mile or two -- and it kills us to do even that. People always reassure us that we will get better in time -- "but we've been doing this for YEARS," I reply.

The worst thing is the guys in the office -- they run in macho packs of 5 or more and go for about 10 miles a session. When they see us, they laugh and call to us to go faster or hurl joking insults our way. We laugh but inside we dread seeing them.

Sometimes when we hear the sound of them coming, we slow down to a walk so they can't see how slowly we were running. And we've even talked about hiding behind a tree until they pass by.

I rationalize it all by saying at least we are doing SOMETHING, right?

It's so embarrassing though to be an inadequate runner. How many people must give up totally to avoid humiliation?

funny litigation story

One of my English friends sent this to me as an example of the excesses of America.

BEST LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR,
Charlotte, North Carolina

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.'

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and WON!

(Stay with me.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed
that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars lost in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured ! property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the First Place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest..

Transitioning from contractor to permie

I'm trying to see work differently now that I am a permanent employee at Nokia, rather than just contract staff.

Now I have to develop measurable goals that I will be judged against when it comes time to decide bonuses. Eek.

My new boss says things so euphemistically; instead of asking what I perceive my weaknesses to be, he politely asks: 'Are there any areas that you think need complementing?'

Uh yeah, I said. I can't say no! If a customer told me he wanted the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica rewritten in a month, I'd agree to do it because I wouldn't want him to think badly of me.

My friend Karen's husband is a management consultant, and he told me to say: 'I would love to help you out with this but I don't have the bandwidth at the moment. Let me put it on my list of things to do, and speak to my boss about it.'

I got this other piece of advice too. Say on the phone, 'let me get back to you through e-mail,' then never do it.

Do you have any advice on this subject for me? (My new boss says he will put me on an assertiveness course sometime so I can learn to say no.)

Want to eat here sometime?

Hey, let's all meet up at this place sometime (below) and eat ourselves into the grave. :)

Spanish tea cakes -- muy sabroso

My beautiful Spanish friend at work (I mean this literally -- her Facebook profile photo is so hot that she gets deluged with friend requests from guys all over the world -- she had to set herself to hidden to escape the attention) Cristina brought back a magdalena for me from her long weekend at home.

I didn't know what it was but that didn't stop me from eating it right away. Was it delicious. I got the recipe for you all. Cristina says she and her mother make them sometimes, and they are very easy.

Magdalena recipe
This is the most yummy Magdalena!!! I live in Spain, and I have tried many recipes of Magdalena, and this one is the most yummy for me.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup margarine
3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Beat egg, margarine and sugar until very creamy and light. Add lemon peel. Combine salt, baking powder and flour and stir into batter.

Add milk and beat well again. Spoon into paper cups. Sprinkle granulated sugar over each. Bake 15-20 minutes.

No more baby carrots

My sister-in-law Paula sent me this:

The following is information from a farmer who grows and packages carrots for IGA, METRO, LOBLAWS, etc.

The small cocktail (baby) carrots you buy in small plastic bags are made using the larger crooked or deformed carrots which are put through a machine which cuts and shapes them into cocktail carrots. Most people probably know this already.

What you may not know and should know is the following: once the carrots are cut and shaped into cocktail carrots they are dipped in a solution of water and chlorine in order to preserve them (this is the same chlorine used your pool) since they do not have their skin or natural protective covering, they give them a higher dose of chlorine.

You will notice that once you keep these carrots in your refrigerator for a few days, a white covering will form on the carrots, this is the chlorine which resurfaces. At what cost do we put our health at risk to have esthetically pleasing vegetables which are practically plastic?

We do hope that this information can be passed on to as many people as possible in the hopes of informing them where these carrots come from and how they are processed. Chlorine is a very well known carcinogen.

Wishboning our way to economic recovery

I had a marathon cooking session today, preparing for the week ahead. I crock-potted chicken, made a huge thing of soup (enough to feed thousands), roasted a goose, etc. When I was going through the chicken carcasses, I found a wishbone. Then I had a clever idea. I whispered to Mel (so the wishbone didn't hear) to wish that the stock market recovered so our retirement fund comes back to full strength. I said I would make the same wish -- then whatever happened with the wishbone (whoever got the biggest part), the wish would come true.

We'll see what happens.

Credit Crunch Christmas Market

Last year, my husband and I flew to an old town in Germany for a weekend at a Christmas market. It was fab -- full of atmosphere, good food, great shops and best of all, freely flowing gluhwein, that spicy red-wine stuff that Germans invented.

This year though, with the credit crunch in full swing, there will be no trips to Germany for the weekend. Instead, I found a German discount supermarket (Lidl) in Reading that is importing Christmas market items for its English shoppers. Mel and I sneaked in there this morning, before it got jammed packed with the protelariat. Mel also preferred no one he knew see him going in there, although I, as an American and outside the strictures of British society, can do that sort of thing as no one expects much from me anyway.

I had so much fun in there, picking over German food items, wines, Christmas ales and so on. I got a bottle of gluwhein, some Christmas ale, a goose breast, stollen, almond spiced cookies, gingerbread and other goodies. When I was in one aisle that was almost totally taken up with German food and was trying to decipher what the labels said, I could almost pretend I was really at a Christmas market.

I must get used to this sort of virtual reality until the economic situation becomes rosier.

ps
One thing my son would have loved to have but I never would have bought is chocolate-covered sugar cubes. Can you imagine how much kids would love this treat, but can you also imagine the dental bills later?

Junk Food Day

Do you ever have days where you realize you've eaten nothing but crap all day but you enjoyed it? And you know your body will soon be the size of a barn if you don't stop?

I've eaten toast, stollen (German cake w/ marzipan), almond biscuits, leftover Chinese takeout for lunch, then pizza for dinner. Must reform tomorrow.

I bought a goose today but don't know how to cook it. I read somewhere to stick holes in it so the fat can go down into the meat, boil it for two minutes then leave overnight in the fridge so the skin dries out a bit. I did all that and will see how it comes out tomorrow.

I went into Reading this afternoon to meet two friends for coffee, and I was given an enormous mug of latte about a foot tall and ended up with coffee jitters. Do you ever get that?

Minnie at the window

Minnie, our foster cat, gets so hungry while I'm at work that she listens for me to come home in the evenings then starts meowing loudly for her dinner. She hears my car door slam, then runs to the bay window at the front of the house and starts meowing at me through the window to get her dinner. It's so cute. I took a picture of it tonight (above) but I can't figure out how to turn the flash off on the camera so it's not the greatest photo. You can see her burning eyes, thinking about the cat food to come.

When my brother-in-law Louis heard about our cat fostering, he laughed. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard," he said. Then, at the end of our dinner out last weekend, he had an idea. "Can you foster Paula?" he asked. (that's Mel's sister and Louis' wife) He remembered that I said the cat charity we foster for pays all the bills for Minnie's keep so he was hoping for some sort of deal to pay for Paula's shopping bills! [we were too quick though and refused to take Paula as a foster person]

Note to my daughter:
Daughter dear, can you please remind me how to use the flash in my camera? You tell me everytime I see you, but I can't remember. Thanks.

McCain Crazy Lady

Remember the crazy lady from the McCain rally who thought Obama was an Arab? Here's the actual footage.
Then watch the spoof from Saturday Night Live underneath that. It made me laugh so much today.

Cat Reiki

Now that I've entered the world of cat owners, I'm coming across some strange stuff. I was at the vet getting Minnie her shot, and I saw brochures for a woman who does Cat Reiki.

I've always been skeptical about reiki on humans, but on cats! --- it seems preposterous. (Argue with me in the comments section if you think I'm wrong.) Once a man told me proudly that his daughter had just passed her Reiki 2 Advanced course and was now qualified to practice -- he made it sound as hard to get as an MBA.

Here's a woman who does Cat Reiki from a website (below). Maybe I should get into this for some easy money? I can send healing energy to anyone who needs it via my blog -- but I'll need at least five bucks in exchange (for mental postage costs).

"The healing energy I'll be sending to any cat who requests it is Reiki (pronounced ray-key) which is, in its simplest translation, universal life energy. It has also been referred to in other cultures as light, chi, prana, and spirit. It is the life force that exists in all things. The practice of Reiki is the art and science of channeling this universal life energy to promote spiritual, mental, and physical well-being.

As Reiki involves directing the natural flow of universal energy, it can best be likened to recharging a battery. When a battery's energy supply is low, it doesn't function well. By introducing a charge to it, it can once again run on its own. Reiki works much the same way. If you are suffering from an illness (physical, mental, or spiritual), your energy supply is lessened, Reikiworks to assist you in bringing your energy level back up to its natural flow, thereby enhancing your own natural healing powers. The Reiki practitioner does not suffer from an energy depletion, as they are trained to channel energy from the outside environment, not from their personal supply.

What I'll be doing here is distance healing. Just as energy travels through an electrical cord, so does the energy of the universe travel from the Reiki practitioner to the animal receiving the treatment. Reiki can be more effective than pet health insurance, which only cover medical treatments."

Here's a cat being Reiki'ed -- what do you think?

Louise Griffith RIP

We rented a vacation house in Portugal from a delightful woman from Kentucky one summer. She'd left the South to make a new life in Portugal, doing up distressed houses and turning them into sought-after villas for holidays. Her homes were featured in magazines, and in the Times newspaper.

Her main house in Portugal was stuffed full of antiques and portraits of her ancestors, as Southerners tend to do. (My grandmother always had a painting of an uncle who was a major in the Confederacy on her wall.)

Even though we'd only rented her house once, we became fast friends and corresponded through email and Christmas cards. We'd always intended to go back. But tonight we got an email from her account, saying she was dead. You don't often get that, do you? A shock to hear the news of a death from the person herself.

She'd always been a smoker and died of cancer. But she was too young to die, only in her '60s. I just wanted to take note of her death because she was so full of life when I knew her. She used to come over to the house in the afternoons and play cards and drink lemonade that we made from lemons in the grove at the back of her house.

Bye-bye Louise. I'm sorry you have left us.

My life this week

My week has been going like this:

I come to work, run to the cafeteria to get a cup of tea and a piece of toast, and hurry back up to my desk to check on the latest McCain/Obama election news. I don't even read celebrity gossip anymore, the American presidential election has been so thrilling. When I read Madonna is getting a divorce (didn't we know that was coming?), I didn't even blink. Wasn't interested to read about it -- and if some celebrity gets a DUI/drug bust, I don't even bother to go to the TMZ.com website to see the mugshot and laugh. This election has been that riveting.

I'm starting a new permanent job at Nokia now so have been juggling my old job and my new one and feeling a bit anxious. I got loads of cool stuff since I've gone permanent though -- a new laptop, a fab new phone and SIM card & the company pays for my phone expenses to boot. I am a obsessive money worrier, so getting a permanent job has helped me breathe a bit easier in this recession.

I come home every night to a starving cat that my son doesn't bother to feed when he gets home from school and then there's my new prob of fox poo in the garden. There's an urban fox who eats the berries from my garden then poos. It's so gross -- it's a big turd that looks like it's filled with half-digested cranberries. What can I do to stop this? I put disinfectant on the gravel but it still comes back and does its business.

Just cooking dinner as I type this -- chicken, stuffing, new potatoes and broccoli. I'm like the first president Bush though -- I just don't like broccoli but the family does so I cook it anyway.

Oh yeah, and there's an American expats online conference that I belong to and don't post much in but this week a woman unleashed a torrent of abuse about British people and this culture so I replied to it then she started trashing me! 'You don't know what I've been through,' she said. Then she accused me of not really being American and probably thinking that Osama bin Laden should go free and spread terrorism throughout the world. Really, all I said was she should let anti-American comments go when she hears them, and don't get so upset. Then she said if I was that type of person (to let things go) I probably had no problem with people saying racists or anti-semite things.

I gave up arguing with her in the end because she seemed to be a bit deranged.

Palin as president

This site is amusing -- click on the link below then click around in the photo and see what happens.

Palin as President/

I scared myself to death

I stayed up late on Sunday night to watch the Innocents (1964) and frightened myself so much I couldn't go to sleep afterwards. It's one of those repressed psychological horror movies with no overt violence but it was scarier than any slasher movie I've seen. The ending is ambiguous so the viewer is driven to distraction trying to figure out what really happened, in addition to being scared out of their wits from the scary stuff. Truman Capote (my daughter used to call him Truman Compote by accident so we still call him that in the family) wrote the screenplay so it's full of seething repressed horror and sexuality. You watch it, and see if you can sleep afterwards! Here's more info:

"Jack Clayton's celebrated screen adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw 1898) is a brilliant exercise in psychological horror. Impressionable and repressed governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) agrees to tutor two orphaned children, Miles and Flora. On arrival at Bly House, she becomes convinced that the children are possessed by the perverse spirits of former governess Miss Jessel and her Heathcliffe-like lover Quint (Peter Wyngarde), who both met with mysterious deaths.

Deborah Kerr gives the performance of her career and makes The Innocents an intensely unsettling experience. Are the ghosts the products of Miss Giddens' fevered imagination and emotional immaturity, or a displacement of her shock at the sexually precocious behaviour of ten-year-old Miles? Is she the protector or the corrupter?"

Vote now in the Global Electoral College

My Russian friend Vladimir sent me a cool link to the Economist mag where they have set up a Global Electoral College to let everyone in the world vote for McCain or Obama. Amazingly, Georgia is solidly for McCain. :)

Check the link out below, and vote if you live overseas:

http://www.economist.com/vote2008

The Siege of Krishnapur

I'm reading JG Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur for our next book club meeting. I know so little about Indian history so it's a good education for me to read this book.

Here's a little info about it:
Students of history will recognise 1857 as the year of the Sepoy rebellion in India - an uprising of native soldiers against the British, brought on by Hindu and Muslim recruits' belief that the rifle cartridges with which they were provided had been greased with pig or cow fat. This seminal event in Anglo-Indian relations provides the backdrop for J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize- winning exploration of race, culture and class, The Siege of Krishnapur.

It's an interesting book and when everything goes wrong for the main character during the siege of his compound, I enjoyed this description that illustrates it:

"He lit the oil-lamp on the table...his shattered bedroom slowly materialized out of the darkness, the splintered woodwork, the broken furniture, the wallpaper hanging in shreds from the shrapnel-pocked walls; this once beautiful, complacent, happy, elegant room was like a physical manifestation of his own grieving mind."

How old should a book club member be?

A friend of mine has just had the shocking experience of a younger woman dropping out of her book club because too many of the women in the group are 50 years old. This has caused my friend (she has a literary bent, of course) to write the following essay on turning 50.

Thank you for sending this in! We love it.

"Dorothy Parker said, "One should either be young, or DEAD." (emphasis mine, I think...)

Turning 50. FIFTY. Half a century. Cinquanta anni. Cinquante ans...funfzig Jahren? Nope, no way in the world to make it sound sexy. And for all the gym sweating, expensive-skincare-applying, brain-stimulating puzzle-working, low-carb eating, faithful check-writing to expensive haircolorists, reading (and quasi believing) perky articles about how "Fifty is the new 30!"...well, there The Cold Fact remains, like Poe's Raven, "never flitting." It's still there, on ones' driver's license, birth certificate, medical records...fifffffttttty. UGH and double-ugh.

But...it isn't all bad. Mostly bad, granted, but not all. I mean, as the cliche' goes, consider the alternative! And if you have lived life well and mindfully, you have a coterie of friends in exactly the same pathetic fix (or glorious fruitful autumn of life, depending on one's view of it) and maybe even a long-time spouse who still looks lovingly and longingly at you, seeing only the twenty-something hot babe he originally asked out...and if you are double-extra-lucky, a child or two, or four, who are now adults, who have become treasured friends instead of a drain on one's bank account. If you started early enough, you're through with college tuition! Some fifty-ish people even have grandchildren, but I'm not there yet, and better not be for some time to come...please, no, God!...but when it does happen, I'm sure that will be wonderful, too. I admit that I have less and less interest in cultivating friendships with those younger than me, even as I have experienced the reverse discrimination: MERE INFANTS in their early 40s have distanced themselves.

Two in my Thursday book club, bored, no doubt, by the rest of us lamenting/celebrating/analyzing (okay, mostly lamenting) the passage from theoretical middle age to Sure-Enough Middle Age have not been coming around much. Fine. Go hang around with youngsters like yourself, I think. Your turn will come, and you'l be sorrrrryyyyy you didn't listen to us... Things do change, no doubt, and those in serious denial are doing themselves no favors. We do have to be careful not to risk the "mutton dressed as lamb" critique when we choose skirts that might be a tad short, even if our legs still look nice. "Still"!!! The very fact that that adverb must be put in the sentence says all, I think. Younger women don't want to hear any of this. I don't necessarily want to hear about the next phase from my octogenarian mother, either---plenty of time to weep about the awful stuff really really old people get. But I listen, because one day (God willin') I'll be there, and might need to know that I'm not the only one who ever experienced it.

In mixed groups (the Over Fifties and Under Fifties) I don't dwell on this stuff. Much more interesting to talk about books read, tennis played, gardening projects finished, new recipes tried...but still, there it is, the looming unspoken message MEMENTO MORI. Well, sure, we're all gonna die, one by one by one, like birds falling off a bare winter branch. But meanwhile...has anyone tried that new neck-lift serum by Lancome? I hear it works miracles..."

Dinner with the family

Family outing to a restaurant in London this weekend. Every so often we meet my husband's sister and family and other assorted cousins for a meal in London. Here we are at Hunter's in Cockfosters:

I was so happy to see my daughter again. She's in medical school in London so I don't see her much but whenever there's a free meal or drinks to be had, she shows up! She's a poor student these days and lives on scrambled eggs and rice so is always thrilled to see us if there's food on offer.

I'm trying to think if there's anything amusing to tell you from our dinner. I sat next to my son Mikey who is in his own Ipod world these days so I didn't get much conversation out of him. He was playing with my husband's Blackberry all night, in between stealing onion rings off my plate.

He had the Ipod blasting in the car on the way up and down to the restaurant. I have earplugs in my bag (I used to sit next to noisy colleagues at work so needed them), and put them in my ears, but I could still hear Mikey's music assail my ears. I feel like such an old fogey now asking him to turn down the reggae.

Anyway, one of the family at the restaurant -- Jack -- has retired from his normal work and started driving a London bus for some extra income. The stories he tells... There are 13 CCTV cameras on each bus now, and the driver has to sit in an enclosed cabin for his/her own protection. When there's trouble, the driver presses a big red button, and the police are instantly summoned. He said some people get on the bus, refuse to pay and get violent if he insists they pay. He said they run upstairs to the top of the bus so he can't do anything about it. Then if he presses the red button, all the other passengers get furious because they are delayed, etc. It all sounds very stressful.

Minnie and Mel

I met my friend Sue yesterday for a hot chocolate and then a manicure. Here she is sitting outside at the cafe -- it was a beautiful sunny day and we sat outside for five minutes then the man next to us lit up a big cigar. Phew - how anti-social is that? We had to escape indoors after that.


Before I met Sue, I was at Boots buying a fab new 24-hour eyeliner and eyebrow tint when the phone rang. It was my husband Mel. He began to tell me in detail how Minnie, our foster cat (pic below), had an attack of diarrhea in the kitchen. He described where it was, the color, the smell, the amount -- in such excruciating detail.

I was still looking at the eye liners, trying to decide between dark brown and black, as I listened. Finally I said, 'Look, just leave it all and I'll clean it up when I get home.'

'I can't do that,' he said, 'the smell is too awful to leave it. I have to clean it up now.'

'So why did you call me?' I asked.

'I just wanted you to know what I'm going through,' he replied. 'I wanted to make sure you were aware of this incident.'

That made me laugh. He just wanted to officially register that he had suffered such a distressing episode, I guess, on our Marital Register of Things We Have Gone Through -- some points in the Goodwill Bank so to speak.

Restraining myself

It is soooo hard not to write about your real life in a blog -- you know, you can't really say things like 'this idiot said to me yesterday blah blah' in case the idiot actually reads your blog then sends death threats or threatening legal letters. I've often wondered how you could write about real life but disguise it enough so people can't figure out who you are talking about. It would be so cool if you could really let it all hang out in your blog.

But still...today a woman told me she was going to the opera in London soon. I was very impressed, as I never took her for a person of culture. 'Yeah,' she went on, 'I'm goin' to the opera theatre in London.' She described how she needed a new outfit, etc. and repeated her intention to go to the opera.

'Which opera are you going to?' I asked.

'The Phantom,' she said, totally serious.

OMG, she was talking about the Phantom of the Opera the whole time! I almost fell off of my chair.

Other things I find hard to talk about in my blog

The US presidential election -- I try not to talk about politics in here anymore but I am totally obsessed with the race. I spend hours checking the latest thing that Sarah Palin has done or what the latest poll numbers are. It's taking over my life --I will be relieved when it's all over. It's like being on a roller coaster now -- with that and the stock market crash, I have no sense of balance these days.

At least we'll be able to afford a turkey at Christmas (I hope)

Spent all day today in a big meeting room at a test camp. We had to work on a specific software release from Copenhagen all day -- I didn't have any time for checking my blog, sending e-mails or even checking the stock market -- so by the end of the day, I had a headache and a backache from sitting in a crappy chair all day and was grumpy.

But when I opened the door to the house, there was Minnie, our new foster cat, waiting for me. I like to think it is LOVE that makes her anxious for me to return home, but I know she just wants her dinner. Still, it is a ritual that I already love, and we've only had her in the house for a few weeks.

I know I've already written one ode to Minnie, but I want to write more -- but I can't write poetry worth a damn so will borrow from Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

I love thee--in thy sight
I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
With conscience of the new rays that proceed
Out of my face toward thine.

Stock Market

My husband is totally freaking out about the stock-market crash. I am worried too but I don't know what we could have done -- if I'd taken our money out of the bank and put it in the mattress, it would have burned up by now or been stolen or something similarly ruinous.

I tried to reassure Mel -- 'it's not like we are the Cratchits yet,' I said. 'We still have enough money for a Christmas turkey!'

Ivanov & Kenneth Branagh

I'm sorry, but I've been sick for the past few days and dead to the world. I haven't been keeping up with the blog. I did manage to get up last night to get myself to London to see the hottest play in town, Ivanov. Kenneth Branagh is the lead -- do you remember him; he was married to Emma Thompson?

I went up on the train with my friend Karen Firbank. We were talking about the most intimate things, as you do on a train, then at the end of the trip when we were getting out at Paddington Station, my neighbor said hello. She'd been sitting right behind Karen the whole time so must have heard every word. I was embarrassed -- I wonder what horrible thing I said that she heard and will mull over?

Anyway, Karen and I met my husband Mel and my friend Mrs Williams at Fortnum & Mason's for a quick glass of champagne before the show:



I love Chekhov. The lives of his characters are so horrible, yet you can see the humor of their existence, compare it to your own, and hope to make your own life better because you've seen his work.

Here's what Chekhov wrote:

“All I wanted was to say honestly to people: ‘Have a look at yourselves and see how bad and dreary your lives are!’ The important thing is that people should realize that, for when they do, they will most certainly create another and better life for themselves. I will not live to see it, but I know that it will be quite different, quite unlike our present life. And so long as this different life does not exist, I shall go on saying to people again and again: ‘Please, understand that your life is bad and dreary!’”

Here's a pic of Kenneth in the title role. He was fantastic. I don't think I've seen a better play in my life.

London teen slang

Last August, my friend Elizabeth from Detroit wrote me that she needed help. Here's what she said:

"On Sunday, the Maccabi Games will begin here. Something like 4,000 kids are participating and they're coming from all over the world. We've got a big group already here from England, and I want you to give me some cool phrase, some British slang or something, to amaze these people."

My daughter Katie raced to the rescue with these phrases. Try them out on your friends and see if they aren't impressed. :)

"I'm knackered" means "I'm tired"

"Allow it" - The simplest explanation of this is "Don't allow it" - an example - "I want ice cream" "Nah, allow it" <-- this is London slang and hasn't really made it out of London yet. Another way of saying it is "I don't agree with that suggestion".

"lush" - "great" - this is really a Welsh term and if you tried using it on the Londonders, they would rightly laugh at you.

"innit" - affixed to the ends of sentences in a complex pattern that appears seemingly at random. An example may be "You're stupid, innit"

"Bollocks" - Can mean completely untrue - alternatively can be used as an interjection to replace "Dammit"

"Bloody" is still an acceptable term to use. However, usage of "I say", "rather" and "Hello" as a means to attract attention is, these days, considered obsolete.

Quiz Night

My smart-ass husband predicted that I would write about the Quiz Night we attended last night with the clever post title "Quiz Night," so I will.

Here are some of the questions we didn't get. Can you answer them?

1) Which ABBA song begins with "I wasn't jealous before we met. Now every woman I see is a potential threat."

2) What do the initals SPQR stand for?

3) And what about GPRS?

4) To the nearest mile, how high is Mount Everest?

I can't believe our table lost, even though we couldn't answer these questions. We were in the lead all night, then lost in the last round. I think the other tables must have been cheating....

Dr. Dillingham reads

I've posted book recommendations from my former English professor before. I recommended he read our latest book club read, Antonio Tabucchi's Pereira Declares: A Testimony, and he wrote to say he liked it. I couldn't believe he approved of a book we read. He's so well-read and discriminating in his tastes that I thought he'd hate anything we chose. :)

Here's an excerpt from his e-mail with other recommendations in case you are looking for some intellectual reading:

"I can't remember right now whether I have mentioned to you already that I did read Tabucchi's Pereira Declares: A Testimony, with great enjoyment. I plan to look around for more of Tabucchi's work. That's a very clever and powerful novel.

Coincidentally, I read it as part of a sequence of reading that started with Sandor Marai's Memoir of Hungary, 1944-1948, and included a couple of books by the British travel writer, Norman Lewis---his amazing memoir, Jackdaw Cakes, and his book on being in Spain during the 1930s and then his diary (published much later) Naples '4, which chronicled his time as part of the occupation of southern Italy in that year. So the whole account of life in Portugal leading up to WWII was part of a fairly rich context and probably acquired some added intensity from the related readings."

Autism genes can add up to genius

This is an excerpt from a fascinating article from The Sunday Times in London today. Remember the guy who played Borat? His brother is doing research into autism and thinks the genes that create the disorder can also give mathematical or musical genius to people who don't have autism or Aspergers Syndrome.

"Intellectual gifts and certain brain disorders are closely...Some people with autism have amazed experts with their outstanding memories, mathematical skills or musical talent. Now scientists have found that the genes thought to cause autism may also confer mathematical, musical and other skills on people without the condition.

The finding has emerged from a study of autism among 378 Cambridge University students, which found the condition was up to seven times more common among mathematicians than students in other disciplines. It was also five times more common in the siblings of mathematicians.

If confirmed, it could explain why autism - a disability that makes it hard to communicate with, and relate to, others - continues to exist in all types of society. It suggests the genes responsible are usually beneficial, causing the disease only if present in the wrong combinations. “Our understanding of autism is undergoing a transformation,” said Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the autism research centre at Cambridge, who led the study."

Act quickly

Why English is so hard to learn

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

3. The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.

4. We must polish the Polish furniture.

5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7. Since there was no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10. I did not object to the object.

11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12. There was a row among the oarsmen on how to row.

13. They were too close to the door to close it.

14. The buck does funny things when does are present.

15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Cute pix

Here are some amusing snippets so I don't have to think of anything intelligent today (not that I ever do anyway):

More scary health news to worry about

More stuff to worry about -- now they think you can tell secrets about your general health from looking at your hands. I was checking my hands constantly while browsing this article -- I'm surprised I hadn't dropped dead from worrying by the end of it.

"Dry skin and chipped fingernails are not the only reason to pay attention to your hands. For new research shows they contain vital details about our health, including clues to hidden diseases such as cancer."

Here's some info, so start checking your hands right now. Click on the link at the bottom of the post to read the full article.

REDDENED PALMS
Could mean: Liver cirrhosis

FATTY KNUCKLES
Could mean: High cholesterol

SPOON NAILS
Could mean: Anaemia

CLUB FINGERS
Could mean: Lung cancer

BLUE FINGERNAILS
Could mean: Heart failure

BEADED NAILS
Could mean: Rheumatoid arthritis

BONY LUMPS ON FINGERS
Could mean: Osteoarthritis in the hips

TWO-TONE NAILS
Could mean: Kidney disease

SWEATY PALMS
Could mean: Overactive thyroid

OVERSIZED HANDS
Could mean: A pituitary tumour

More info here:
Click here to read article about hand health.

Opera night

Went to an old village pub in Hampshire last night to meet our friends the Blakeleys and Elphicks for an opera night. A handsome talented singer entertained us during the six-course meal, and my husband said later how amused he was by how the older women there swooned. I think he included me in this comment.

Here is Karen Blakeley making friends with the singer Humphrey Berney. He's going to NYC and LA soon to audition for things and hopes to become the English Josh Groban in the US. I'll bet he could do it too, as he's a lot cuter than Josh G and has a wonderful voice.



I wish I could think of interesting or amusing anecdotes from last night to entertain you with, but I had too many Bellinis and pink champagne so probably my short-term memory is gone.