tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40134155663822206052024-03-12T20:55:37.776-07:00Too Much Informationorchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-44673960401923800152023-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:002023-12-23T18:10:48.657-08:00An extremely hearty and simple soup for a wintry day<p> <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Making my Vaguely Italian Bean and Greens soup tonight! The contents are extremely variable, the results are always really good. </span></p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Start with browning some crumbled sausage in olive oil. Using Italian sausage tonight, but could be turkey sausage or plant-based (which I haven't used so can't advise). You can also omit the sausage and substitute diced onions or carrots. </span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br />Add minced garlic to taste, and a hearty dollop of basil pesto. </span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Add a can of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted, chilies added, whatever you like) and a can of beans (cannellini today, could be roman beans or navy beans or whatever you prefer). </span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Add enough broth or water to make consistency you prefer -- I like a nice dense soup. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. </span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then add shredded greens. Anything goes. Marcella Hazan's simpler cookbook version of this soup uses Swiss chard, which is excellent. I've used spinach, arugula, kale, escarole, whatever; tonight it's shredded Tuscan kale. </span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">When the greens are done, serve forth! Enjoy with grated Parmesan cheese and lots of crusty bread, and a bottle of wine. </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm pretty sure I first made this soup before I saw the Hazan version, but I've no idea where I got the idea from. Probably a food magazine? Hazan's version is much simpler, without the sausage and tomatoes, really a variation on classic escarole and white bean soup, which is also delicious. </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-28953784198156934512023-07-12T12:49:00.002-07:002023-07-12T12:49:39.493-07:00My Goodreads Reading Challenges, part 1: 2020<p> A few years ago, the end of 2018 to be precise, I thought I
would have an easier time reading and finishing many of the many, many books in
my To Be Read pile. The reason was, I was no longer a full-time employee
anywhere, but freelance, and given my lazy approach to finding work I thought
this would mean more time to knit, more time to read, more time to Do Things
that were not directly employment related. For example, I finished writing a
second novel, and kept working on my third and fourth! And started cleaning out
our crowded apartment of superfluous things. And pampering my plants.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for more time to read? Once upon a time I read short
stories voraciously, subscribed to all the SFF mags and bought collections and
anthologies. But my tastes shifted over the years, and I began craving longer
and longer stories practically to the exclusion of true short stories. The
quality of available reading material had nothing to do with it. Just personal
taste. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Things didn’t happen quite the way I imagined. During 2018,
when I still commuted an hour each day by bus, and often spent lunch time at my
desk, and we flew on lengthy trips several times, I read a lot of books.
Seventy two! Same as 2017! And back in 2016 I read 77, perhaps an all-time
personal best. I’ll write about those books some other time. (And yes, I’m
using Goodreads to track all that.) <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 2019, I made the same modest goal of reading 50 books
that I had for years past. And read 55! I blamed it on shorter bus rides, not
traveling by air as much, and having generally more stuff to do. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then…pandemic. Surely, even the distraction of having Spouse
home all day working from home could not prevent me from continuing to tackle
my book-reading goals head on. Surely I’d get lots of knitting done, lots of
reading done. I once again set a goal of 50 books, which seemed eminently
doable. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I read only 39 full books in 2020. Many were but novellas, or
even shorter. Graphic novels, with not much dialogue. I know now, that between
pandemic and politics I wasn’t alone in struggling to concentrate enough to get
through some very anxious periods. I thoroughly enjoyed what I read. But I
worried about my aging brain, and set the same goal of 50 books for 2021. Which I missed. By a lot.</p><p class="MsoNormal">(I
will report that thankfully neither I nor Spouse actually contracted Covid that
year. Nor since, so far.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2020 books included:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>The Death of the Necromancer</i>, by Martha Wells<br /><i>
Rogue Protocol</i>, and <i>Exit Strategy</i>, and <i>Network Effect</i>, by Martha Wells<br /><i>
The City in the Middle of the Night</i>, by Charlie Jane Anders<br /><i>
Paladin’s Grace</i>, and <i>A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking</i>, by T. Kingfisher<br /><i>
Life of David Hockney</i>, by Catherine Cusset<br /><i>
Stormsong</i>, and <i>Midnight Bargain </i>by CL Polk<br /><i>
Gideon the Ninth</i>, and <i>Harrow the Ninth</i>, by Tamsyn Muir<br /><i>
The Ten Thousand Doors of January</i>, by Alix E. Harrow<br /><i>
Beneath the Rising</i>, by Premee Mohamed<br /><i>
The Haunting of Tram Car 015</i>, by P. Djeli Clark<br /><i>
Color</i>, by Victoria Finlay<br /><i>
The Raven Tower</i>, by Ann Leckie<br /><i>
Blackfish City</i>, by Sam J. Miller<br /><i>
The Empire of Gold</i>, by SA Chakraborty<br /><i>
The Vinyl Detective: Low Action</i>, by Andrew Cartmel<br /><i>
Rag and Bone</i>, and <i>Slippery Creatures</i>, by KJ Charles<br /><i>
Storm of Locusts</i>, by Rebecca Roanhorse<br /><i>
The House of Sundering Flames</i>, and <i>Of Dragons Feasts and Murders</i>, by Aliette de
Bodard<br /><i>
Solutions and Other Problems</i>, by Allie Brosh<br /><i>A Pocketful of Lodestones</i>, by Elizabeth Crowens<br /><i>The Morning of the Magicians</i>, by Louis Pauwels<br /><i>Daemon Voices</i>, by Philip Pullman<br /><i>The Physicians of Vilnoc</i>, by Lois McMaster Bujold<br /><i>Girl Genius: Queens and Pirates</i>, by Phil & Kaja Foglio</p><p class="MsoNormal">(I am omitting several things I read mostly for research purposes for my own writing.)</p><p class="MsoNormal">TO BE CONTINUED...</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-60830876921786859922023-07-12T12:14:00.001-07:002023-07-12T12:52:09.041-07:00Variations on a Tuna Saw an interesting idea for lunch in a recent NYT Food newsletter, and tried it today. SUCCESS. We both loved it! <div> <br />Mix canned tuna (1 can for 2 people) with a little soy sauce, a little sesame oil, as much mayo as you like (I am using Kewpie these days), mix with chopped cucumber (I used 1 small seedless for 2 people) and chopped scallion. Put over hot rice. Add a few shakes of furikake (flaked nori and sesame seeds). <br /><br /></div><div>Not so much a recipe as a procedure, as all is to taste. Other ideas included were chopped radish, avocado and tomato. I'll definitely try those! <br /><p>Previously, my fanciest tuna salad lunches were scallions, dill, olives, capers and mayo and olive oil, sometimes sliced grape tomatoes. Diced celery is good too, but I usually only buy celery in fall and winter. Other times too lazy, just use mayo, capers and lemon pepper or Italian herb blend. I'm going to try chili-lime spice blend too! </p><p>You can use whatever canned tuna you like, of course, solid or light. We eat canned tuna once a week or so, alternating types. </p><p>My tuna salad notions came about after many years of my being convinced I didn't like canned tuna, while my Spouse claims he practically lived on tuna sandwiches for years while a bachelor. I gradually came to appreciate it, now I even crave it sometimes. </p><p>I started out ages ago making a "Tuscan Tuna Salad" we ate in pita pockets or over beds of lettuce. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sauté in olive oil: sliced scallions, diced fennel, red bell pepper, 1 can small white beans until warmed. </li><li>Mixed with tuna, diced cucumber, chopped parsley and dill. </li><li>Chopped olives are optional. I like them. </li><li>Simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Lots of fresh ground pepper. Salt. </li><li>Again, not a real recipe, more a procedure. Spouse can't eat raw onion, for example, so I use scallions instead, but you could use diced red or sweet raw onion. </li></ul>Quantities vary. I literally never measure chopped or sliced veggies in any recipe. I go by what would serve the 2 of us, depending on whether we want leftovers or not. Tuscan Tuna Salad could absolutely become leftovers for lunch, so eyeball it. Quarter a fennel bulb for 2 servings, half for 4. Peppers come in all sizes, so maybe half a cup for 2 servings or 4. An entire small Persian cucumber for 2, or a few inches of a larger greenhouse cucumber. <p></p><p>Then I started making several tuna-based toppings for pasta. My first version was: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sauté shallot, garlic in olive oil; </li><li>Add petite diced canned tomatoes, basil pesto, chopped black olives, capers, flaked canned tuna, crushed red pepper and lots of black pepper. </li><li>Use whatever pasta you like. Curly pasta holds the topping really well. </li></ul><p></p><p>My delicious version of Pasta Puttanesca is really easy for a pantry dinner when I'm tired. Again, for 2 people:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sauté small chopped onion or large shallot in olive oil, with lots of garlic. </li><li>Add a generous heap of anchovies, 1 can of drained diced tomatoes and at least a heaping tablespoon of basil pesto. Cook down a bit. Stir a lot. </li><li>At the last minute, add the can of tuna, a handful of chopped olives and a few spoonfuls of capers. </li><li>Shake on some hot red pepper flakes, and plenty of grated Parmesan. </li><li>Serve with red wine! </li></ul><p></p><p>OF COURSE Salad Nicoise is still the king of tuna salad meals. I try not to make a huge production of it, as good tomatoes and green beans and baby potatoes are in the Greenmarket just when I don't want to heat up the house by cooking. So I cheat! </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Cut the baby red potatoes in half. Boil. When they have boiled 5 minutes, add the green beans to the same pot. They will come out done at the same time. Drizzle with dressing while still warm. Let cool a bit. </li><li>Hard-boil eggs preferably some other time if it's hot in the kitchen. Peel and slice in half or quarters or whatever you like. </li><li>Meanwhile, prepare vinaigrette dressing (olive oil, lemon juice or red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard). I sometimes add some mayo. Lots of ground pepper. </li><li>Prepare the lettuce. Mix it with a bit of dressing. Slice tomatoes. </li><li>Break up the tuna you're using (the jarred filets are best but canned is fine). I like to pre-combine it with plenty of small olives and plenty of capers and plenty of drained anchovies. Fewer bowls to wash! Mix with a bit of dressing. </li><li>Serve however you like. I fill our bowls with lettuce, then we pick the rest. </li></ul><p></p><p>I have a David Rosengarten recipe for "Lemony Tuna and White Bean Antipasto Salad" that I still haven't tried, but it's pretty simple. Tuna, canned cannellini, olives, sliced celery, capers, parsley, roasted red pepper, all combined with a lemon juice & olive oil vinaigrette plus lemon zest. Maybe next week! </p><p><br /></p></div>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-36509285384976699592022-12-22T20:55:00.002-08:002022-12-22T20:55:07.809-08:00Blue Ruin<p> I'm continuing to experiment with gins that are new to me.</p>My Tanqueray and Tanqueray 10 bottles are long gone, as is the Hendrick's. Love all those. Trying new ones! (Hendrick's makes the best mixer tho, for tonic or lemonade.)<div><br />Partway through a bottle of Nolents Silver; I absolutely love it. Flowers, roses, berries, violets. My favorite mixer: 1 part Nolents, 1 part cranberry juice, a splash of sour mix, and plenty of seltzer, over ice (think of a gin Cosmo). Excellent as a Collins with a bit of lemonade. Or just plain with seltzer and ice. This is not a tonic-friendly gin. Tonic water overwhelms the botanical nuances.</div><div> <br />Just opened a bottle of Brockman's. Reviews mention berries, citrus and hibiscus. The scent is wonderfully fruity, the ingredients include blueberries and blackberries! Plain with a splash of water to open it up, the taste is quite dry, more lemony. The trad juniper is low in the mix, in my opinion, which is OK. I'll smash a few blueberries into my next serving...just like the maker recommends...</div><div><br /></div>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-68001951541833577512022-11-02T13:05:00.000-07:002022-11-02T13:05:12.634-07:00Irish Seafood Chowder, a bit overdue<p> We went to the World SF Convention in Dublin in 2019, little knowing it would be our last trip abroad...well, since then. Because freaking pandemic. </p><p>Dublin was a new city for us, a new country, and we had an excellent time. The convention had some Issues, but the convention center is conveniently located just steps from the Samuel Beckett Bridge and one of the tram lines, and it's really easy to get to other desirable locations from there. So we did. </p><p>Our hotel was also conveniently located. A stop for the other tram line was literally right under our window--so hitting the road every morning was simplicity itself. </p><p>There were terrific gastro pubs nearby as well. We love a pub, and were not disappointed. Atmosphere in the nearest ones was maybe a bit touristy--hardly surprising, given the neighborhood--but the food was excellent. Do people actually complain about the food in Ireland the way they complain about the food in England? If so, they're not going to the right places. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisO0gANIxPZcYOHaVtF26ycost6jv8p9LTkVRGqVW3WiGwJn06mhgUPpopj8xX0MjUidtAMhHkLONd36dpeaU_M3tfnjsn6DKcdMhUrqT8SAa5VoetjRFamO92N4mol121f-Pcq0FJRsT6gExIDyd3ObpsAz9WcWftBmJLpJAzFb7S6Z7riixtvLABWw/s4032/20190814_211017.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisO0gANIxPZcYOHaVtF26ycost6jv8p9LTkVRGqVW3WiGwJn06mhgUPpopj8xX0MjUidtAMhHkLONd36dpeaU_M3tfnjsn6DKcdMhUrqT8SAa5VoetjRFamO92N4mol121f-Pcq0FJRsT6gExIDyd3ObpsAz9WcWftBmJLpJAzFb7S6Z7riixtvLABWw/w400-h300/20190814_211017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner: chips (fried potatoes), a rare steak, some veggies</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Look at that feast. Steak, chips, veggies...it was so ridiculously good! And I absolutely adore a good Irish breakfast. Our hotel featured a nice breakfast buffet and oh did I ever take advantage of all the white pudding and black pudding and Irish bacon and brown bread. Oh did I ever. </span></div></div><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrwi2e0g7iO1l7budcN0KjvK0Z6Crf78ieAynPFmwDgCwxn9RKpvP_0qi-SoLVt1zfHRMOxPW5aaYpRny7NPqt8rzzxR6y6KabkThyDP9PDpwUFPAXJv2GSzn62ntJvavp8wm2XrczrqSnJIburQqnHV9xUZdomei6d4v1gmOlnM1KZc83N1UBqWiQQ/s4032/20190821_083600.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrwi2e0g7iO1l7budcN0KjvK0Z6Crf78ieAynPFmwDgCwxn9RKpvP_0qi-SoLVt1zfHRMOxPW5aaYpRny7NPqt8rzzxR6y6KabkThyDP9PDpwUFPAXJv2GSzn62ntJvavp8wm2XrczrqSnJIburQqnHV9xUZdomei6d4v1gmOlnM1KZc83N1UBqWiQQ/w400-h300/20190821_083600.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast: Irish brown bread, black pudding, white pudding, Irish bacon, eggs</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>(I guess it helps if you like black pudding...which is just a firm blood sausage made with pork and oats. I like every variant of blood sausage I've ever had, including German blutwurst and Dominican morcilla. White pudding is the same thing without the blood. Also extremely tasty.)<br /><p>Our favorite culinary discovery was Seafood Chowder. A chunkier, more satisfying version of comforting and familiar New England Clam Chowder, this ubiquitous soup really is a meal in a bowl, with a couple slices of delicious Irish brown bread. This one featured salmon, and peas.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_9dMVH9501K-fS8dA8mUS1Evu6DS-5q2m35LXNCPq0lKZo07dKoEnynaYMEonhqj6kklyl3x5iqJ2WFjbAVq8lo-sniSAdYV8SyzHRrCTHAsHugZfMIQ2MWdvqGsaibh55pce-fGFE0I5P-S_mH6Nkm57Y8soWJrye_Iwk61NYroT33Rs3ozRXoDtDA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_9dMVH9501K-fS8dA8mUS1Evu6DS-5q2m35LXNCPq0lKZo07dKoEnynaYMEonhqj6kklyl3x5iqJ2WFjbAVq8lo-sniSAdYV8SyzHRrCTHAsHugZfMIQ2MWdvqGsaibh55pce-fGFE0I5P-S_mH6Nkm57Y8soWJrye_Iwk61NYroT33Rs3ozRXoDtDA=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salmon seafood chowder, brown bread on the side</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>And in Temple Bar, I perused the cookbook created by the chef at a restaurant we lucked upon, and discovered the recipe for the delicious concoction we ordered for lunch.</p><p></p><div>Simplicity itself. Onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, herbs, butter, cream, white wine, fish. SO GOOD. </div><p></p><p>So when we returned home, I decided to put my own versions of this soup into regular rotation. I already was making a summertime corn-tomato-fish chowder, so changing it up a bit was easy-peasy. </p><p>This version has onion, celery, carrot, broccoli, peas and firm fish--bluefish in this case. Softened the veggies in a little butter first, added cream and milk, simmered, added the fish last and broke it up when it was cooked through. Similar results for shrimp, scallops, etc. Pretty much any fish will work if it doesn't get mushy when simmered in broth. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin411ucqOBLPRxpr0XCxvhHvNKhQiv3PDfyUzGrHWMbESvK5ViwUwCVjm2-EbxHmhw8gV4qgrGVrXCgAqDzRslUW-Gg7BX9EchaQwgxv1_M1lCixAWDfnKQWQBydaHbiD77NhF1UCHeSac5ko4hBXdQe7irMq1GcPjyurYSjVithkOV6HbrlaBL7ecqg/s4032/20201028_205203.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin411ucqOBLPRxpr0XCxvhHvNKhQiv3PDfyUzGrHWMbESvK5ViwUwCVjm2-EbxHmhw8gV4qgrGVrXCgAqDzRslUW-Gg7BX9EchaQwgxv1_M1lCixAWDfnKQWQBydaHbiD77NhF1UCHeSac5ko4hBXdQe7irMq1GcPjyurYSjVithkOV6HbrlaBL7ecqg/w400-h225/20201028_205203.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bluefish and veggie chowder, my own concoction</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PxUqVzF852QmJKhkQrMW2Dgl9NpHud7DHj--07vi_T3DNxzQ0txDePdozYbcKLeSVEucZFHyW5sBah5hygOGSyfr8pvAL9x1lQQPE5t4szPg89Ijl1hPL-_xuGyivBmYPExITOvnKwZmvu2dVcOt3wiP6sQhqX9rgDUwDVmmCnJYtP8dSd5gp-KUtw/s4032/20190826_205417.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4PxUqVzF852QmJKhkQrMW2Dgl9NpHud7DHj--07vi_T3DNxzQ0txDePdozYbcKLeSVEucZFHyW5sBah5hygOGSyfr8pvAL9x1lQQPE5t4szPg89Ijl1hPL-_xuGyivBmYPExITOvnKwZmvu2dVcOt3wiP6sQhqX9rgDUwDVmmCnJYtP8dSd5gp-KUtw/s320/20190826_205417.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vegetarian creamy chowder</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>As usual, I decided to make vegetarian versions besides fishy ones. Inspired by the tasty Cream of Broccoli soup served by our local diner, I added lots of broccoli to a chowder chunky with onion, carrot, potato, corn and frozen peas. Cauliflower is also an excellent addition. </p><p>The vegetarian version has become a regular favorite of ours, as I nearly always have suitable veggies in the fridge, and cream and milk. Though I'm thinking of trying a cream soup trick Julia Child wrote about: you cook a suitable amount of white rice and puree it, having thinned it out a bit with broth. A vegetarian broth would work well, suitable to the flavors of the soup. The craze for cauliflower-in-everything is waning, but pureed cooked cauliflower would be good here too, added to the rice. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-3250947875780865612022-06-25T22:21:00.000-07:002022-06-25T22:21:00.523-07:00Welcome to My World: The Magpie Prince Tales<p>Books help soothe us, inspire us, inform us, distract us,
thrill us, terrify us, amuse us. Etcetera. I love to read all sorts of stories.
Turns out I like to write all sorts, too, all within what I'm calling The Magpie Cycle, or Tales of the Magpie Prince. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">SEVEN FOR A SECRET, the first novel I finished a couple of
years ago, is not soothing. It's a story about trauma, hubris, psychological
abuse, misuse of authority, the urge to violence, and the terrible burden of
trying to love one's family no matter what. The characters are nearly all
demon-bred witches with varied magical powers, none of which keeps them from
making terrible mistakes. There is bloodshed. Children suffer PTSD. It's set in
1955, in postwar northern England, and things that happened during WWII are
still fresh in people's minds. The story is narrated by Gerry, the child most
affected by events in the books, describing events from the perspective of an
older man looking back. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don't think I realized quite how nasty all that was, when
writing it, but it felt right, given the set of characters I'd created. They
are likeable and also dangerous. Some of them have done terrible things but
it's brushed off by those who love them, owing to social expectations. It's
okay if this person has done terrible things...the results were worth it! They
did it for the best reasons! And children take that in, and some of them
learn to also accept it, and others do not and never will. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is the descriptive for the sales sites:<o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal">Gerry Llewellyn's mother is teaching him death magic, and
his grandmother thinks he might help their family take over the world. He's
eight. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Waning magic in their land, and a legendary curse, meant
British demon-bred witches were unable to enter the Otherworld, source of
their strongest magic, for 200 years. Gerry and his father are the first
seventh-born witches in all that time, a signal the curse may soon end, heralding
a new era of greater power for them. But even his family can't agree whether
this is a good thing. They have peaceful lives, blending in with the rest of
humanity, doing much as they please in the more tolerant postwar years of the
1950s. Are vague promises of fabulous divine gifts worth upending that?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Already scarred by family secrets and politics, precocious
Gerry hates being treated as a miracle child. And now Gerry's eldest brother is
getting married, so the Llewellyn children have lots to do besides dealing with
their emotionally damaged parents, death demon siblings, and a sundry lot of
fractious relatives.</p><p class="MsoNormal">They are all about to learn that seventh sons are special
all right, but it's their mothers you really need to watch out for...</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">THE RAGE OF CALIBAN is, I think, more amusing and
inspirational. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I won't include spoilers, but will explain a bit. The book
takes place ten years after SECRET, and includes many of the same characters.
SECRET is set in 1955, CALIBAN in 1966. Lots and lots of things have happened
to those characters since then, both good and bad. Gerry, the narrator of
SECRET, is mentioned as “Morgan’s baby brother” but not by name, and does not
actually appear. That was deliberate, as Gerry tends to take over a room. His
brother, sisters and father are major characters, however, and his Manchester
aunts and uncles, and even his grandmother. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">CALIBAN's main character, Phoebe Starwood, marries Gerry's older
brother Morgan in 1964. She alludes to the wedding having been a bit of a
disaster because of Gerry, but they remain happily coupled and now have an
adorable and very loud infant daughter. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m working on what may end up being three VERY long stories
that happen between SECRET and CALIBAN. All are told from Gerry’s POV, and
document his adventures between 1960, when he turns thirteen, and 1965, when
the massive mess he’s made of his life really catches up with him. LUCKY THIRTEEN,
GIRLFRIENDS AND BOYFRIENDS AND OTHER BAD HABITS, and HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL will
show up…eventually. Most of the story is written, but not properly stitched
together. I'm writing as fast as I can. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Phoebe and Morgan’s wedding takes place in GIRLFRIENDS. Other
characters in CALIBAN, including Lizzie and Daphne, show up in HELLHOUND. Saying
anything else would be spoilers…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I'm also working on a related book that takes place at the same time as CALIBAN, with other characters we see in Gerry's stories and who are mentioned in CALIBAN. I'm tentatively calling it THE STINK OF MAGIC. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My explanation for my (extremely fictional) demon-bred
witches is that long ago, demigods (offspring of humans and godlike beings, see
many ancient mythologies) kept mating with mortal humans gifted with a certain
amount of fortitude. Some of those offspring went and did great deeds in the
mortal realm—both good and bad—while others withdrew to the Otherworld of
wherever they lived, and marinated in magical power and became what many mythologies
think of as demons. A lot of magically gifted people ran into all sorts of
trouble, and over the centuries their numbers rose and fell and rose. They
learned to escape persecution, they developed new cultures within their
families and clans, and now and then mated with demons to bring fresh magic
powers into their blood lines. Non-human magical beings also exist, but are largely
unseen by non-witches. I have a lot of fun with this idea. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2TgtyVJkW0-VUTXaxKi13Ws3s_o9xhS2_tmi-fx2ifDizD-fbFHpOgqnJ5LD1pg2yIWVzRRUpXSdRCCGfWHMlLQySxOx8ekm5gee6YwEOJ-r8FoKIEMkX4U9AWXUKZaZqMXUxCP4acYQPFiIP1SjT_BhNN49oL1pTKppVd0TBnYyHRFLejuzLT5Jhw/s800/Seven%20Secret%20600x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2TgtyVJkW0-VUTXaxKi13Ws3s_o9xhS2_tmi-fx2ifDizD-fbFHpOgqnJ5LD1pg2yIWVzRRUpXSdRCCGfWHMlLQySxOx8ekm5gee6YwEOJ-r8FoKIEMkX4U9AWXUKZaZqMXUxCP4acYQPFiIP1SjT_BhNN49oL1pTKppVd0TBnYyHRFLejuzLT5Jhw/s320/Seven%20Secret%20600x800.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">I do also have a LOT of fun designing my book covers. Art school had to be good for something. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIx0vUXRwONDb8yhB7uB8omqqrGyQs20SaU7oDlnR3WV3fq7kyXE3N3oydUgts7-4i_H6h4pm230maIX5hZF22SLAB0qOfVGtcCAR3KMaWM8gcAF-zfjfwuyTdbospKAfbI0RNTfxsvls-_3h1FT__I6yfL1WFkjzias_wg6WQbuD2XNN-xI30xD-I6Q/s2500/Rage%20of%20Caliban%20AMZ%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIx0vUXRwONDb8yhB7uB8omqqrGyQs20SaU7oDlnR3WV3fq7kyXE3N3oydUgts7-4i_H6h4pm230maIX5hZF22SLAB0qOfVGtcCAR3KMaWM8gcAF-zfjfwuyTdbospKAfbI0RNTfxsvls-_3h1FT__I6yfL1WFkjzias_wg6WQbuD2XNN-xI30xD-I6Q/s320/Rage%20of%20Caliban%20AMZ%20copy.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-52437183247242411202022-06-24T22:01:00.002-07:002022-06-25T22:22:54.349-07:00The Rage of Caliban: NEW BOOK FROM ME!<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The world is burning down. Other people have terrible, true stories to tell. I am astonished I have the nerve to write fiction and try to finish it and hope other people will like it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I bloody well did it. I finished a second novel. I have self-published it as an ebook on all major platforms available. I am very bad at marketing and self-promo, but </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'll do my best. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwEVaPWbIMuVIlLm3NTjWrn--BSfWNPUID1l7uaMwan0ggSyNpCYYSK_0UMZBS-_8HtcClsO8vZoRG5JSskSnw8iosjigFaqBks6AmPHURzpXcvMXswTpW0sAPFuw192Shdk2BShRfZPV-pKpcotODMIlROR_nwWCZxVjy11l8LDlIwEAbYic6vX3BA/s2500/Rage%20of%20Caliban%20AMZ%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimwEVaPWbIMuVIlLm3NTjWrn--BSfWNPUID1l7uaMwan0ggSyNpCYYSK_0UMZBS-_8HtcClsO8vZoRG5JSskSnw8iosjigFaqBks6AmPHURzpXcvMXswTpW0sAPFuw192Shdk2BShRfZPV-pKpcotODMIlROR_nwWCZxVjy11l8LDlIwEAbYic6vX3BA/w256-h400/Rage%20of%20Caliban%20AMZ%20copy.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Available: Kindle <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rage-Caliban-Magpie-Cycle-Tale-ebook/dp/B0B3HSLPLX/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1656130566&refinements=p_27%3AElena+Gaillard&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=Elena+Gaillard" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rage-of-caliban-elena-gaillard/1141584636;jsessionid=0BD1D1E7F10AAFB7C3B0FCDF2156BBB7.prodny_store02-atgap04?ean=2940166433466" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> Nook, <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-rage-of-caliban-1" target="_blank">Kobo</a>, <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-rage-of-caliban/id6442909215" target="_blank">Apple iBooks</a>, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/576469333/The-Rage-of-Caliban-The-Magpie-Prince-Cycle" target="_blank">Scribd</a> and some library apps. </span></b></p><p><b style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana;">"Never, never ever make a witch annoyed with you. Just…don’t.</b></p>
<p><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana;"><b>Painter Phoebe Starwood-Llewellyn is struggling to create an art career despite
specializing in portraiture, which simply wasn't fashionable among mid-sixties English
art critics. A young woman, and a mother, she is also a witch,
part of an ever-growing tribe of people with demon ancestry and inherited magical powers.</b></span></p>
<p><b><span style="color: #800180;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Phoebe doesn't consider herself particularly skilled in magic, but a wealthy art collector tempts
her with a lucrative if morally questionable challenge requiring spells her
fellow witches think impossible. She becomes determined to see if she is up to
creating a version of one of the most famous pictures in English fiction: The
Picture of Dorian Gray.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: -.5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in -0.5in 0in 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #800180; font-family: verdana;"><b>As you may already know, there’s never any
telling what a witch might do."</b></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">No spoilers for my own book, duh, but I'll say there's LGBTQ characters, an adorable and very loud infant, adult smooching (no graphic sex, which simply didn't belong), and stuff about painting, art critics and art collectors (hey, I was an art major). Phoebe was a lot of fun to write. She is quite level-headed for an artist, probably has a touch of ADHD, and just enough self-confidence in her talent to make a serious art career. The question was, did she have enough confidence in her magical abilities to meet a mad challenge? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">THE RAGE OF CALIBAN is, I think, more amusing and feel-good than my first novel, SEVEN FOR A SECRET, which is kinda violent and filled with traumatized kids.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'll discuss the relationship between SEVEN FOR A SECRET and CALIBAN in greater detail in another blog post. Suffice to say this book contains many of the same characters, but ten years older, taking place in 1966. CALIBAN also alludes to things that happened in SECRET, and to things that are still unpublished in the greater cycle of </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Magpie Prince Tales, the story of Gerry Llewellyn and his large family. Phoebe was a relatively minor character, aside from marrying Gerry's older brother Morgan, but I always knew she was an artist. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I truly appreciate who read this and liked it, and those who helped make it better, and </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">SEVEN FOR A SECRET is also available from all major ebook sources:<br />Kindle <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0181VJB90?*Version*=1&*entries*=0" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seven-for-a-secret-elena-gaillard/1122954483;jsessionid=C4B2827DCA382B4E38E849329DF22AEF.prodny_store02-atgap12?ean=2940152676396" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> Nook, <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seven-for-a-secret-12" target="_blank">Kobo</a>, <a href="https://books.apple.com/us/book/seven-for-a-secret/id1059302278" target="_blank">Apple iBooks</a>, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/289866492/Seven-for-a-Secret" target="_blank">Scribd </a>and some library apps. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-49074683566306680582022-03-06T21:44:00.004-08:002022-03-06T21:47:39.883-08:00Reading is Hard<p> I used to read something like 50-60 books a year. </p><p>I never thought I would burn out on reading. Or just find it difficult </p><p>I have burned out on knitting, a couple of times, for varying lengths of time...once for nearly two years, more recently for about a year. Odd, how that coincided with my reading burnout. But I'm not alone, in that people who have taken the pandemic seriously have often found it hard to concentrate on things that were once enjoyable pastimes. Many of my friends have complained they can't focus on reading fiction anymore, or finish simple knitting projects, or paint, or...whatever they do. My plant growing friends seem to be an exception: the plants need care, and abandoning them seems cruel. Um, likewise. My orchids are doing pretty well. New shelf arrangements, new light fixtures, new plants via online order. </p><p>The knitting is still going v e r y s l o w l y these days but my once-a-month knitting group helps a bit, I actually made progress on a new piece the other day. And I'm nearly done with a super-super simple garter stitch shawl I only work on during long phone calls. </p><p>But finding myself unable to dig into books properly, and read for several hours on end like I used to, is a whole other world. I began hitting a few roadblocks several years ago, even before pandemic times. I started to fall asleep while reading. Didn't matter what book, what subject, how fascinating...after about 20 minutes, zzzzz. Self hypnosis? Annoying as hell, whatever the reason. I get plenty of sleep! I don't work in an office, I sleep late if I need to! </p><p>I used to read a great deal while commuting to/from work, on city buses that often got stuck in traffic. Yay, more time to read! Tore through a lot of paperbacks that way, then started to read ebooks on the move instead, with the Kindle app on my phone. If I wasn't knitting knitting knitting on a longer trip, I was reading reading reading.</p><p>Then something happened. Was it writing my own stories that absorbed all my reading desires? Was it just a shift in mindset? I still WANT to read. But starting a book...stopping after a few pages...not returning to it for days...that just wasn't ME. And the sleepiness thing often curtailed my stubborn attempts to dig into a new book. </p><p>I came up with strategies. Read shorter books! Read novellas! Fortunately several favorite authors (Ursula Vernon aka T. Kingfisher, Premee Mohamed, CL Polk, KJ Charles, Martha Wells) are also prolific authors of shorter works. Other faves came out with new books I absolutely had to read (Becky Chambers, SA Chakraborty). I caught up with several rock musician memoirs, finally started tearing through the Johannes Cabal books (Jonathan L. Howard), finally read The City We Became (NK Jemisin), Piranesi (Susanna Clarke), Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) and some older novels, as well as some pretty interesting non-fiction. I tore through both of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb novels as soon as they were released, so there's that, too, and hope the third will be equally easy to devour. </p><p>So I'm feeling a bit better now about my reading pace. It's MARCH dammit and I only just finished four books so far this year! Two of which I started LAST year! </p><p>The two big things on my reading plate: The Tyrant Baru Cormorant (Seth Dickinson) and Perhaps the Stars (Ada Palmer). Tyrant is third in an incredible trilogy, a masterpiece of worldbuilding and character development, and I TORE through the first two books. This one is still sitting moribund in my Kindle queue. I haven't been confident enough to attempt it. But I will. </p><p>The Palmer book is fourth in a series. I hardly ever buy hardcover fiction, but I made an exception for these books. The long wait between each one was no obstacle, for the first three. But now...I opened the new book and my heart dropped. I'd FORGOTTEN everything. I couldn't remember the salient details of what happened in the third book, or the others. I read five pages in a total fog, and realized to my dismay I'd have to go back and at least partially re-read the third book. That's fine, as I loved it. A lot happened in it. But oh, the delay in gratification...</p><p><br /></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-59729174672078032642021-12-07T18:09:00.004-08:002021-12-07T18:09:57.215-08:00Rejoining the Internet (aside from Twitter and FB)<p>I am rather aghast to realize my last post here was from the Day Before Lockdown. </p><p>We are healthy. We are OK. I have stupid random tachycardia attacks, under a cardiologist's supervision, and I'm having my teeth fixed and we are both getting our booster shots this week. </p><p>Doomscrolling on Twitter throughout the first OH GOD 21 months of Pandemic felt both necessary and nasty. I still do it, several times a day. Hours on end. I retweet a LOT of shit. I really want to keep to Weird Twitter posts but it's been impossible to ignore TFG crap and not keep retweeting critical information. Somehow I've amassed over 1140 followers. Yay? Lots of people retweet my retweets. Yay? Lots of people seem to like my replies to tweets involving art or birds or publishing or politics. Yay? Yay! </p><p>Twitter recently reminded me of my 12 year Twitterversary. Twelve years?! I joined Twitter in order to share orchid meetings. Now I'm a communist. No, wait, I was always a socialist, raised by two socialists, so "<i>now </i>I'm a socialist" isn't strictly accurate...oh never mind, it's a Twitter joke. </p><p>I won't give up on Facebork just yet. I don't have the negative experiences so many people complain about. </p><p>"Oh my terrible family and their terrible pro-Republican and crazy Q posts!" Well, I hardly have any family, and I certainly don't have any family on FB. So I don't see that.</p><p>"Oh those horrible people I went to high school with and I'm forced to see their terrible pro-Republican and crazy Q posts!" Well, I still have BFFs from high school, and I'm friends with nearly 100 of the wonderful and amazing women who were my classmates. We gladly attend our 5 year reunions. No stupid dramas, no bad memories, no bullies to shudder and commiserate over. My school was hardly typical, of course. But again, seeing those women posting their triumphs and lows on FB makes my life better, not worse. </p><p>"Oh those terrible rabbit holes people fall down and become radicalized!" Well, I don't fall down many rabbit holes, I guess. I have extremely fixed online interests: orchids & rare plants, SFF books, birds, knitting and cooking. I don't deviate from those groups. I don't go hunting for trouble. I don't WANT to see politics on FB. I see plenty of it on Twitter, where it's much easier to ignore or engage anyway. My friends do share political views and posts, but--I know!--THEIR VIEWS ARE MOSTLY SHARED BY ME. I don't have friends who are assholes with views strongly opposed to mine. (LOL of course I'm convinced that I'M Not the Asshole either.) So I'm not forced to see that shit on FB. </p><p>If I were bored? If I were at loose ends and actively looking for rabbit holes that might hide toothy tentacles? I still wouldn't find shit I'm opposed to. I'd rather read a book or watch TV. I'd rather watch Curse of Oak Island or the Weather Channel than go down FB rabbit holes into bullshit and madness. </p><p>But that's just me, I guess. And several hundred of my friends. I am always grateful for my friends. Most of whom are real people to me, not just FB photos and posts. I'm lucky and I know it. But even so, I'm not on FB much these days. It's not as much fun as Twitter for me, but I do treasure the long personal posts my friends share. And it helps me remember birthdays! </p><p>Speaking of friends, I'm also grateful that we've been able to have lunches out with friends again, and weekend knitting, and weekend dinners at their homes. We were able to go to the Catskills twice this summer. We're so lucky and we know it. </p><p>I still can't read at my old pace...finishing books just takes me forever now. I'll link to a few of my recent Goodreads reviews in another post. </p><p><br /></p>orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-66916305964700035332020-03-13T17:24:00.000-07:002020-03-13T17:28:11.903-07:00Shelf-Stable Goods<span style="font-family: inherit;">I visited the NY Botanical Garden with my BFF yesterday, whose special-needs kids will likely be home for weeks so I won't get to see her for a while. They won't get educational therapy while they're at home, so she despairs of keeping them entertained while trying to get work done.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The orchids were very pretty. There weren't many people around. We had lunch in the sit-down restaurant, overpriced but tasty; the place was more than half full. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I went with my friend to the Aldi on Broadway in the Bronx. The lines wrapped up and down the aisles, and she later reported the shelves weren't being restocked because the cashiers are supposed to do that. I didn't need anything from there so I went home; I had a shopping list for my own neighborhood, as Spouse started working from home today. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The express bus passed the Met Museum, where fewer people than usual were lingering on the steps. I felt heartsick for the street vendors who won't have thousands of tourists thronging their carts for weeks and weeks. I hope they can survive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As I rode a bus home, my iPod offered up, in a row:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Weeping Song, Nick Drake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I Wanna Be Sedated, the Ramones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">THEN the supermarket all-70s muzak offered up OH MY MY by Ringo Starr. "I called up my doctor to see what's the matter, He said come on over, I said do I haveta..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">THANKS UNIVERSE.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I bought a lot of durable groceries this week, to supplement the stuff we already had: rice, pasta, ramen, canned tomatoes, butter, cheese, potatoes, turnips, carrots, hummus, peanut butter, crackers, chocolate, cookies, frozen sausage, frozen veggies, matzoh, popcorn. Hot sauce for all the rice and beans in our future. WINE. Got a hunk of corned beef for the weekend and a head of cabbage, enough to share with Spouse's elderly aunt whom we are still planning to visit on Sunday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(We already had beans, coconut milk, jam, canned soup & shelf-stable broth, corn chips, pumpkin, couscous, bulgur, cornmeal, coffee, tea, cereal, raisins, nuts, granola bars, chutney. Ordered more <a href="https://birdsandbeanscoffee.com/">Birds & Beans</a> coffee the 2 of us usually drink 3 cups a day total.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eggs keep for over a month in the fridge. We eat a lot of eggs. I bought a lot of eggs. There were plenty in the stores. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The supermarket has lines, as does the gourmet market, but I've seen worse on just regular weekends. Shelves were being restocked all week. The usual stuff was flying out: paper goods (we have plenty), bread (we have enough), Clorox wipes (we have LOTS). I did buy extra laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid. Gourmet market coffee was partly cleaned out today -- a lot of people won't be going to Starbucks next week as usual. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got good at prepping due to 9/11, Hurricane Sandy and various big blizzards. I know how to cook meats and veg nobody else seems to bother with. Today I got oxtails that I can freeze, and make stew whenever, same as I did during Sandy when more popular fresh meats were scarce. The freezer also contains random sausages, a package of ground bison for chili, and a roast chicken carcass for soup. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pretzels don't seem popular with food hoarders, while chips & popcorn go fast. Judging by what's gone first, I suspect a lot of the folks emptying the shelves don't actually cook very much, and aren't entirely sure what to buy or how much. They aren't buying things to eat NOW -- fresh fish or fresh produce, only fresh meat, so maybe they're freezing all that chicken? First rule of prepping, don't eat the storeable goods until all else is gone! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I should've bought fish for tonight's dinner but I forgot as soon as I had ground lamb in hand, so oh well, so much for my own advice...</span><br />
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-21225115780885331412019-12-12T16:53:00.000-08:002019-12-12T16:53:10.965-08:00NaNoWriMo 2019 OMGWHAT HAVE I DONE<br />
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I wrote 40k words of a NEW NOVEL in one month. I did THE THING.<br />
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<a href="https://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">National Novel Writing Month</a> has become quite a phenomenon among young writers. I do NOT say would-be writers, as all writing counts. I don't care if you only write fanfic for personal consumption, or share it on AO3. I don't care if you only write blog posts twice a year. I don't care if you have dozens of short stories that still haven't sold, or have sold only one story of those dozens. Writing is writing. Art and self-expression matter. If you're not a writer, maybe you draw or paint or knit or sew or bake cakes or sing karaoke or dance or weave or make your own soap or take pictures of birds or collect cat figurines. If you're not hurting anyone with your art -- including yourself -- then enjoy it.*<br />
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And even if I didn't already believe that with all my heart, meeting a lively group of fellow NaNoWriMo participants last month would convince anyone. These were terrific folks who love to read and want to write but need some extra incentive to sit and commit words strung together into stories. Some were doing NaNo for <i>years </i>already, and had never finished anything, or worked on their novels the other 11 months. That's ok. Others had finished novels of varying lengths but hadn't done the cleanup necessary to try and find an agent or publisher.<br />
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Some of these folks are incredibly busy working and raising kids and managing elder care and facing all sorts of other challenges. Some are just young and still finding their voice. Others are trying to find the right idiom for their expression and aren't thinking about being published.<br />
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All of it is good. NaNo is a great challenge to just SIT and WRITE and get a story told. I'm glad more and more people take the challenge. Now, I do hear that agents and publishers get absolutely inundated with barely-finished, sub-par 50k novels every December and January -- that a lot of NaNo folks feel their stream-of-consciousness masterpieces are DONE once the calendar ticks over to December 1. Well, those folks are unfortunately delusional, and are cluttering up the lives of publishing professionals with unprofessional work, and that's a shame.<br />
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Very few people who write ever get published. That's a fact. That's why there are millions of self-published stories and novels out in the world now (hey, including mine). Publishing is a very weird business and not everyone can stand the weirdness. Lots of writers have one published novel and then are never heard of again -- sometimes its the publisher's fault, sometimes the agent's, sometimes the writer just can't produce more good work, sometimes the next work gets rejected. It's disheartening to hear the stories writers can tell about this.<br />
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BUT ENOUGH ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. Here's what I did: I took what I thought was a pretty good short story, took my writing group's advice on making it much much better, and then started looking at SFF genre short story markets. They are incredibly hard to sell to. There are thousands and thousands of really good writers selling short fiction and I've realized I'll never be one of them. I don't think in 1000 - 10,000 word bursts. I'm one of those elaborately wordy bitches who can't build a world or a story that short. The story I wrote, "The Rage of Caliban," takes place in the same world as <i>Seven for a Secret, </i>with many of the same characters (now about 10 years older). The group thought it was a great opening for another novel. NOOOOOOO. I was already working on three other novels in that story cycle!<br />
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But I thought about it for a few months, and ultimately gave in. So in September I started expanding the existing 8000 word story, and by November 1 I had 23k done. I plunged into NaNoWriMo with great enthusiasm. It seemed the ideal way to approach just getting the whole darned thing done.<br />
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And it worked! I fell short, I only achieved 39k on the scoreboard. Tacked onto that original 23k I ended up with 62k of a nearly-finished novel. I've kept going, I have no intention of NOT finishing this sucker. <i>The Rage of Caliban </i>will probably end up around 80k, a respectable length. I've started back-editing as a way of correcting some continuity issues, and shuffling characters around,<br />
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<i>Seven for a Secret </i>is about the angst of a young demon-bred witch boy born into an impossibly damaged family confronting an impossible situation. Gerry's not a "chosen one" among his people, he's the thing that allows someone else to do the thing a chosen one customarily does. And that's much worse, from his point of view.<br />
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The rest of his story cycle -- four more novels and novellas, if I'm dogged enough to finish them -- takes Gerry on his life journey towards adulthood. He's not nice. He's scarred, selfish and arrogant, thoroughly an asshole, though he tries to be better. He loves deeply and hates fiercely. He makes some terrible mistakes that ruin other people's lives. Everything good he tries to do goes wrong. The people around him try to forgive and forget -- he was born <i>special</i>, after all, and they can't quite shake that -- but eventually the mistakes pile up and force him to humility and responsibility. This arc covers 1955-1965, mostly in northern England. The cast of characters is bloody enormous, and I refuse to apologize for that. It's still smaller than that of <i>Game of Thrones. </i>I also really enjoy all the British Invasion blues and rock research I continue to do.<br />
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<i>The Rage of Caliban </i>takes place in 1966, with Gerry's older brother's wife as the focus. (Gerry doesn't appear in the story at all, except for a couple of mentions.) I adore Phoebe Starwood, I created her years ago but didn't do much with her--mainly, she stood by rather helplessly as Gerry and his girlfriend unintentionally wrecked her wedding. I knew she was an artist. She liked snapping pictures of family events and travel scenery, and made the best of having fallen in love with a member of the most notorious (and dangerous) coven in Britain. When a story idea popped into my head, I knew she would be the POV character, and would deal with the situation with stubborn intelligence. I knew I would really enjoy torturing her! It was also really fun to get myself out of Gerry's head, and into hers instead. Unlike her terrible brother-in-law, Phoebe is not an asshole. 😁<br />
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I really hope I can finish <i>Rage </i>by the end of December...I'll definitely do a new round of agent queries with this one. Wish me luck.<br />
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*"Harm" takes many forms. <i>Endorsed </i>bigotry and racism and misogyny in a story is harmful, as opposed to your narrative making it clear why those things are bad and have bad consequences. Harming yourself or people around you can happen if you begin to ignore the real world and its responsibilities, and possibilities -- you might start acting like a dick without even realizing it or getting therapy or other help. Don't be a dick.<br />
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-60030120818707164852019-11-12T21:00:00.003-08:002019-11-12T21:40:21.880-08:00Melodious Blend, the Bestest Blend!<br />
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HWAET! I come to inform you of the wonders of TJ Melodious
Blend.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you are a Trader Joe’s fan, or even an occasional
shopper, you almost certainly have a wagon-load of favorite, staple items that you’ve
come to love, depend on and feel bereft of when out of stock or out of season.
I have a couple of dozen such favorites in my pantry and freezer.*<o:p></o:p></div>
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Melodious Blend is in the frozen foods, and like many TJ
packaged goods it is a godsend when you don’t know what the f-word else to
cook, want a leguminous meatless or nearly meatless meal that isn’t just
opening a can of beans again. Not that I lack for recipes that include opening
a can of beans of pretty much any variety. (Note: Spouse and I Do. Not. Like.
Tofu. It is not part of our diet. It is not something we’ll ever heartily
embrace unless every mammal, bird and fish on the planet goes extinct in our
lifetimes—in which case soybeans and humans are probably doomed as well.)
(Well, we are probably doomed, but it’s my fervent hope that enough vertebrates
outlast us to kickstart evolutionary diversity again in a few hundred years.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway. Melodious Blend. As you see from the package, it’s
pre-cooked and only needs heating to make it savory and delicious. You COULD
choose to believe the TJ copywriters, or you could believe me instead. Without
a bit of additional fuss, MB is tasty but bland. Not that some people don’t
enjoy that. But it’s pretty easy to make it a bit more interesting. I will use today’s
dinner as an example in several easy steps, as today was nasty and cold outside
and I decided that cooking from the freezer and fridge veggie bin was better
than going to the store. I mean, this is WHY I even have MB in the freezer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First step: note that the ingredients of MB are primarily green lentils, red lentils and green chickpeas (which are just regular chickpeas cooked before being dried). It also includes olive
oil and some tomato. This last part is technically accurate but honestly, a
bit misleading. Cooked by itself, MB’s seasoning is barely barely detectable. Legumes
are tasty but they do need significant seasoning--witness pretty much the entire world's cookery. So while I ordinarily go along with the vaguely Italian seasoning, you could in fact concoct Indian, Middle Eastern, French or pretty much any other flavoring you enjoy. Plan accordingly. </div>
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Second step: decide which fresh or frozen veggies need to be
used up. Canned are OK too if that’s what you have. Pretty much anything goes,
at this step. Choose any two or up to six, at which point this becomes too much
work and doesn’t get any tastier.</div>
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Possibilities: Bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, summer squash/zucchini,
winter squash/butternut squash, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, bok choy, cabbage, kale, spinach or similar greens, carrot, turnip, parsnip, peas, potato,
green beans, okra, leeks, fresh or sun-dried tomatoes, olives…you get the idea. The legumes in MB are bland enough to go
with pretty much ANYTHING. Mix up whatever combo you like. Precook or parboil
whatever you feel needs it, though my methodology includes that step and will work for most root veggies.</div>
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Third step: heat a large pan with a good glug of (olive) oil,
and chop a medium-sized onion into coarse dice, and fling it into the pan. Add
some smashed or minced garlic too. Add salt to get things started. Meanwhile,
prep and chop your chosen veggies, and begin adding them in order of necessary
cooking time. Tonight, I added the zucchini, butternut squash and eldritch (Romanesco)
broccoli as the onions were starting to color a bit, along with some water, and
covered the pan to get those veggies good and steamed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I also sometimes add diced sausage of one type or another. Picture above is a single link of (frozen) Aidell's Andouille. Pretty much anything goes. Crumbled Italian sausage is really good, as is BACON I mean, bacon, or ham. Any plant-based sausage you might prefer would also be good, or tofu, or tempeh. </div>
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I have a jar of Mystery Hotter than We Thought herb/spice seasoning (from an upstate NY supermarket no less) and it went great with the veggies and Andouille sausage. The vague ingredient mix has only the obvious items; someday I'll figure out what the heck else is in that mix. Hasn't killed us yet, though. </div>
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I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure MB would be a good coconut curry base. Use coconut oil for sauteing, use Indian (curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, etc.) or Thai (lemongrass, cilantro, lime, fish sauce) seasonings and add coconut milk to make a nice gooey sauce. </div>
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Fourth step: it is optional but conventional to prepare a starchy side and turn your effort towards the Rice and Beans spectrum. We always do this, but you needn't. Pretty much any grain or pasta you like will go, with whatever veggies you've chosen: rice of any kind, bulgur wheat, quinoa, couscous, etc. You could also incorporate your starch into the dish and turn it into a kind of pilaf. Your dinner, your choice. </div>
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Fifth step: Once the veggies are nearly cooked, add the MB. DO NOT THAW IT FIRST. DO NOT RINSE IT FIRST. Just open the package and dump the contents into the pan. There will be ice crystals. Don't worry. Just break up the lumps, add a bit of water (depending on how much liquid is already in the pan with the veggies), stir it all a bit, and cover. Stir it again after about 3-4 minutes. Add another glug of oil if you want, maybe more liquid. (Doesn't have to be water, could be broth or even a bit of wine.) Cover and cook another couple of minutes. Done! </div>
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We added more hot sauce anyway. Hot sauce is yummy with legumes; there's a REASON most cultures that have both always combine them. Anyway, a nice Gewurtztraminer was also a nice accompaniment. </div>
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Hope you're feeling more inspired on your What Do I Cook days! </div>
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*Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries, Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries, Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Chocolate Almond Spread, frozen Vegetable Masala burger patties, frozen Sweet Potato Gnocchi, frozen Palak Paneer and Vegetable Biryani, frozen Paratha bread, frozen Scallion Pancakes, various granola bars, Greek yogurt with almond butter, Greek yogurt with coconut, quick-cooking brown Basmati Rice, Inner Peas, Movie Popcorn, organic raisins...ETCETERA. </div>
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-49113596354286807212019-10-15T22:25:00.000-07:002019-10-15T22:25:07.782-07:002017: An okay year for birds, part 1It would be hard to beat 2016 as a year for new life birds, without making extensive new travel plans, and that we did not do in 2017.<br />
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We returned to Boynton Beach, Florida in late January, and discovered that it wasn't nearly as birdy as late February 2016 had been. It was disappointing, but we still had a wonderful time and managed to scrape up a few more life birds apiece. Knowing more about the region this time, we were determined to visit all three of the local wetlands within easy driving distance. (Not that we were dong the driving. Our wonderful friend Adam Castro did the driving.)<br />
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<a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/arm_loxahatchee/" target="_blank">Loxahatchee </a>wetlands is a tiny slice of the Everglades, a National Wildlife Refuge with a lovely nature center, lots of alligators, and a chunk of nearly-extinct cypress forest, all alongside encroaching farms. Just driving there, I was extremely lucky to spot a Crested Caracara flying across the road in front of us. Alas, no picture. Alas, Ed did not also see it. But the bird was utterly unmistakable in flight, with its short wings with a big white flash, its black-and-white head. Mind you, I'd never seen one. But I had memorized the image from the bird books, and I had zero doubt what I saw and shouted out as soon as I saw it.<br />
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There were Loggerhead Shrikes on the wires. No photos from either of us, but there's no mistaking their silhouettes. Definitely birds we want to see more closely in the future. [Spoiler Alert: WE DID, but 2 years later.]<br />
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Another bird we came to see was not a disappointment. Our first ever Pileated Woodpecker! We heard him before we saw him, as we traveled on the cypress forest boardwalk. You better believe we RAN towards the sound -- it was like someone hitting a big tree with a smaller tree. And there he was, in his pileated glory! Of course he flew off after we got only a few shots...<br />
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I hadn't been feeling well, so I stayed behind while Ed and Adam went chasing after gators. There is a nice deck with shaded benches behind the nature center, facing into the cypress forest. I sat and found a few warblers and gnatcatchers, which made me happy.<br />
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Then this happened. One of Florida's ubiquitous Turkey Vultures landed on the railing only a few yards away from me.<br />
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Then a few more showed up. And performed an aerial ballet in the wide clearing in the cypress forest that was right in front of me. I had seen one up close before, but not so many. Not like this. </div>
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They are BEAUTIFUL. They are made of bronze and sunshine. </div>
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They spent a good fifteen minutes lazily circling and drifting about in the clearing. A couple of them drifted away, a couple others landed to enjoy the sun. If I hadn't been feeling unwell, I'd have missed the show. <span style="text-align: center;">Turkey vultures. Damn.</span></div>
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After Spouse and friend failed to find alligators, we departed and visited Wakodahatchee. Like Green Cay, this is another "artificial" wetland created for purposes of water treatment, surrounded by developments and shopping centers. The birds don't seem to mind.<br />
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The special thing about Wakodahatchee is how close you can get to LARGE BIRDS and their extremely um, adorable babies. Great Blue Herons and Wood Storks really are extremely large, and it's extremely startling to realize their nests are sometimes just a few feet away from the boardwalk.<br />
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There was a system to the mixed flocks in the low, broad trees. Great Blue Herons had the top of each tree -- one or even three pairs. Then Storks and Great Egrets below. Then Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Anhingas and Gulls crowding into whatever branches happen to be left over. Cormorants seemed to have their own trees to themselves. Wood Storks mostly had their own trees too. Iguanas hung out on the lowest branches nearest the water, not doing much.<br />
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We'd never seen colony nests like these before.<br />
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I'd also never seen a Great Blue Heron try to swallow a duck before.<br />
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And I hope never to see <i>that </i>again, anytime soon.<br />
(For the record, he gave up, a turtle made off with the carcass, and then he tried again...at which point we got on with our lives and departed.)<br />
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Cormorants were everywhere, flying and swimming and diving and hanging out. One of them was another lifer, a Neotropic Cormorant. Yay!<br />
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It pays to pay attention to even common looking birds. You never know.<br />
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Alas, there was only one Roseate Spoonbill. Dat spoon, dat spoon, dat spoonbill.<br />
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We visited Green Cay again the next day, to witness what we already thought of as The Usual Assortment of wetland waders and swimmers. Lots of Anhingas, Common Gallinules, Blue-winged Teals, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Tricolor Herons, Pied-billed Grebes, Gray-necked Moorhens, Green Herons, various swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Boat-tailed Grackles, Limpkins, White Ibises, Glossy Ibises, etc.(Pretty much the same birds as Wakodahatchee, but in different blends.)<br />
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Any visit to Green Cay is a good one, though.<br />
<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-3670446973763449502019-10-15T21:49:00.001-07:002019-10-15T21:49:01.700-07:00Lamb: it's what's for dinnerHaving grown up eating lots and lots of lamb, I'm happy to keep figuring out new ways of incorporating it into dinners. I'm lucky that Spouse also enjoys lamb any number of ways.<br />
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Lamb shanks are a favorite winter stew. They take 3 hours to cook properly, but it's worth all the trouble. My base recipe is onions, garlic and a few cups of durable chopped vegetables--turnips, carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, winter squash, cauliflower--plus either beer or wine as the cooking liquid, and generous amounts of whatever seasoning suits our fancy of the evening. I'm particularly fond of Herbes de Provence, Kofte Kebab spice, or sorta-kinda Italian herbs.<br />
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If you're lucky enough to find breast of lamb riblets, as I frequently am in my local supermarket, they are a bit of trouble but are absolutely delicious. They need VERY long roasting for such small amounts of meat, but it's nearly impossible to mess up. Just cut up the breast section into smaller pieces -- 3 or 4 ribs per piece -- season with salt & pepper and any spice mix you fancy with lamb, and lay them on a bed of onion, celery and carrots in a deep roasting pan. Roast at 350F for between 2 and 3 hours, which will seem ridiculous but honestly, it's necessary. The meat just won't be tender otherwise. The result is tender (but still slightly chewy) meat that falls of the tiny bones, with richly browned fat. Don't bother trimming before cooking: just be resigned to eating and ejecting some gristle. If there's enough meat to use a knife and fork, yay! Otherwise just pick up and nibble, same as any other ribs.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roasted breast of lamb ribs with a lot of roasted veggies. </td></tr>
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My parents ate a lot of lamb mostly because it was cheap when I was a kid. My dad bought my mom a hacksaw JUST so she could cut up whole legs of lamb we bought on sale. Each leg fed us for over a week: steaks to broil or saute, hunks for stew, shanks to freeze until we had enough for another stew. Just roasting that leg entire was a treat for Easter. I still make roast leg of lamb if we're having company, but I usually buy a butt-half leg partially boned, or have the butcher bone the whole thing so I can stuff it with garlic and herbs. <div>
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If I buy a supermarket boned leg, it usually comes wrapped in a string net, and is a royal mess that needs cleanup with a good sharp boning knife. All that lamb fat needs to come off. And that thick membrane, the fell, that covers muscle groups...you can't eat that, and the seasoning won't penetrate it, so you gotta use that knife and gently peel it all off. <div>
<br />If roasting or stewing lamb is too much effort and the grocery budget allows, loin lamb chops are amazing. Tiny T-bone steaks! Thin ones can be pan-sauteed. Thicker ones can be pan-roasted (started on the stovetop, moved to the oven to finish).<br />
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But ground lamb is our favorite thing these days. There is so much you can do with it! I get that not everyone can easily find it, but if you have any kind of access to it, try it. It's mostly made from lamb shoulder meat. It's a bit fatty, that's unavoidable, but i<br />
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There are tons of lamb burger recipes all over the internet. ALL OF THEM ARE GOOD. You can't go wrong. I have settled on a simplified Ur-Lamb Burger -- ground lamb plus salt, pepper, seasoning of choice, 1 beaten egg per pound, 1/2 cup bread crumbs (either dry or fresh). I'm not fond of burgers stuffed with cheese bits, but YMMV. Bulgur and yogurt are nearly always good sides. Note that pan-fried burgers will end up swimming in their own grease. All you have to do is put them aside to drain them. Grilled burgers have no such problem, of course.<br />
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On days when seasoning and mixing and forming and cooking burgers is too much trouble, which is most days nowadays, I do what I've come to call a Lamb Scramble. You can call it whatever you like, and use ANY lamb stew, tagine or curry recipe as a starting point. Here's a mock-Moroccan dish I made with ground lamb, onions, garlic, butternut squash, olives and peas. (Probably a few other things I've forgotten.) Side here is mashed golden potatoes and golden cauliflower.<br />
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This <a href="https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/lamb-butternut-squash-paleo-stew" target="_blank">lamb & butternut squash stew </a>(from <i>Cooking Light</i>) is a great guide for experimentation. (Don't use beef stock! Use wine! Or beer! I don't care for so much liquid in this recipe anyway.) Use carrots instead of squash, use spinach instead of kale. When I made it, I used Kalustyan's KOFTE KEBAB seasoning in addition to the recommended spices, and the result really honestly tasted like kofte kebab, or doner kebab! (Oh, I also didn't bother to use the oven, I did it all stovetop.)<br />
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Pretty much any lamb curry recipe is faster to make using ground lamb. I tend to make what I consider Fake Curries, flinging a bunch of things in a saute pan after glancing at a recipe book. I gave up using lamb shoulder chops ages ago. The results my way are quicker and tenderer.<br />
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Tonight, I started with a pound of ground lamb and a bunch of Greenmarket veggies that needed to be cooked. Started by sauteing the lamb in olive oil, with lots of kebab seasoning. Added chopped onion and red bell pepper (a banana pepper or poblano would be awesome too), a coarsely chopped zucchini, green beans (big ones, broken in thirds), some butternut squash noodles (which dissolved and disappeared), a chopped tomato and a couple of handfuls of baby spinach. I also had some freshly cooked fresh cranberry beans on the stove, so I added a few spoonfuls. It was a glorious, delicious mess. Served it with bulgur wheat. Forgot to serve some yogurt on the side.<br />
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Try lamb scrambles with: winter root veggie medleys, a meat-and-mushroom mix, springtime greens, summer tomato and peppers, or any combo thereof. Beans are a terrific addition, especially lentils and chickpeas if you want a Middle Eastern, North African or Indian vibe.<br />
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And, of course, the same goes for ground beef, ground turkey and ground pork.. for which there are no shortage of recipes out there.<br />
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-37457634993103793192019-09-29T20:37:00.002-07:002019-09-29T20:37:26.455-07:00How to Rescue Wrinkly Grape TomatoesWe like tomatoes. We like tomatoes A LOT. We mostly do without in the winter, except for sales on pints of organic grape tomatoes. If they're not tossed into a salad, they're delicious with hummus and cucumbers as a snack.<br />
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In summer, unused tomatoes tend to rot. I buy mostly heirloom tomatoes, and even when kept out in the open, treated tenderly (just short of being coddled in cotton batting), a few will over-ripen and split and ugh, the smell is usually my first warning that the bottom tomato has given up.<br />
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In winter, in our house, unused grape tomatoes tend to dry out. Weird. Kept in their plastic pint container, in cool temperatures and fairly low humidity, they slowly turn wrinkly and slightly leathery. When I notice this happening, I usually slice them in half and add them to a stir-fry or saute -- nice juicy little nuggets of faux summer in my otherwise (mostly) seasonal dishes.<br />
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I had an entire pint go wrinkly not long ago, as I simply forgot about them. It happens. The wrinkly tomatoes were still juicy inside. I was in an experimenting mood, so I sliced the lot, put them in a baking dish, sluiced them with olive oil and a bit of salt, and roasted them. I was baking a pie that day, anyway.<br />
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I think the oven was set to 350F or 375F. I stirred the tomatoes every fifteen minutes so they wouldn't stick. Forty-five minutes later, I had a baking dish full of what tasted very like sun-dried tomatoes, but much squishier. Sweet, savory, chewy, with charred notes that were beyond delicious.<br />
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A few days later, these little flavor bombs became a homemade pizza topping, Mushrooms, anchovies, lots of shredded mozzarella, and fresh-made dough from my local gourmet shop, and behold. A thing of wonky well-meaning and very tasty beauty.<br />
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BTW sliced chorizo -- another wonderful product of the same gourmet shop -- is another revelation when roasted. The next time I made pizza it was chorizo, roasted tomatoes and "Mexican cheese mix" from Trader Joe's. There was space around the edges of the foil-lined baking sheet (yeah, no pizza stone in this house) so I laid out six spare slices to cook. SPICY BACON BEST EVER THING OMG.<br />
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Seriously, do the tomatoes thing and also the chorizo thing. Totally worth the trouble.<br />
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-91573246107422979052019-08-27T19:56:00.002-07:002019-08-27T19:56:41.941-07:00Catching Up, Part 1: Summer 2018<br />
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Been a long time since I made a blog post. Much has happened
in our lives since I last nattered on about birds and orchids and cookery and
books I like. I reckon I’ve felt distracted. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We recently went to Ireland for a week to attend the World
Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, and that seems to have knocked loose some
inspiration, some renewed desire to natter on again outside of Facebook. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Spouse and I made two trips to new places back in 2018: San
Jose, CA (again for Worldcon), and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (for a birdy
vacation). (SEE NEXT POST for more about that trip.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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California is a delight to us because we know delightful
people there. We stayed in Piedmont (part of the Bay Area) with a delightful
family for a week, from Spouse’s group of amazing friends. They made us
comfortable and fed us and entertained us and we did our best to be good
guests. We love and adore these people and feel so lucky that they seem to like
us too. The August weather was cool and bracing; we enjoyed the open windows in
our guest room every night, and only once in that week did we catch whiff of
the terrible wildfires destroying huge swathes of northern California that
month. (The fires did come much closer in the next few weeks, but we were gone
by then. Our friends were fortunate to suffer only from the choking smoke,
though for asthmatics that is plenty terrible.) (See above for a sunset view from their home.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing we did that was necessary was to visit the
American Museum of Bookbinding in San Francisco. Our hospitable artist friend
needed to see the place, and we wanted to see author and friend Madeleine
Robins again, as she now works there. (Do please visit her page in <a href="https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/" target="_blank">Book View Café</a>. We are fans of hers as well as friends.) I highly recommend this museum
to anyone with a love of books, a geeky love of the history of technology, and
a love of the arts of covers and type. Witness the efforts people have made
over the centuries to make the written word not just more widely accessible but
also attractive to have and hold. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What else was wonderful was our new appreciation for the
bird life of the Bay Area. When last we visited it wasn’t quite one of our
obsessions yet. But now? I paged through the guide to Western US birds on the
plane, with emphasis on those creatures featured in the eBird lists Spouse had
shared. One of my rewards was to stand on our host’s rear deck overlooking a
forested canyon road lined with native scrub as well as hill gardens, and know
INSTANTLY that the twittering cigar with wings swooping at eye level had to be
a White-throated Swift. The backyard also yielded Anna’s Hummingbird,
California Scrub Jay, Lesser Goldfinches and Hermit Warbler. Spouse later saw
Bushtits, and I was sorely vexed to have missed those. They remain a target
bird for me.</div>
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We visited Lake Merritt and we found an Oak Titmouse and
Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Bewick’s Wren, California Towhees and Brewer’s
Blackbird. California and Western Gulls were abundant, as were both White and
Brown Pelicans. Black Phoebes were on the wires. No Bushtits. Argh.</div>
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San Jose was close by but oh so different. The sun felt so
much hotter, for one thing. It’s a smaller city than San Francisco or Oakland,
but has quite a distinct personality of its own. The public transit trams run
frequently, there was bike and scooter sharing, and a lengthy pedestrian (and
tram) street mall lined with shops and good restaurants. The Museum of Art was small
but quite wonderfully inviting, with intriguing exhibits and good public space inside.
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Our convention-block hotel, the Fairmont, faces Cesar Chavez
Plaza. Spouse had learned from eBird and elsewhere that Acorn Woodpeckers, a
normally shy and non-urban species, had established themselves in the palm
trees of the park, and when we actually arrived at the hotel and saw the park
we were skeptical, to say the least, that shy birds would enjoy living there.
But lo! We exited the hotel after checking in, and FIRST THING we saw looking
up was not one but two Acorn Woodpeckers flitting about above our heads. It turned out there were dozens of them. Magic.
We soon got to know their favorite trees for acorn storage, and really enjoyed
watching them going about their lawful woodpecker business every day. Furthermore,
there were Black Phoebes casually perching on the backs of benches, something
we’ve never seen Eastern Phoebes do in Central Park. Made more remarkable by
the large numbers of people using the park every day.</div>
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Worldcon 2018 was quite enjoyable, shared with multiple
friends also in attendance, and I might’ve bought a few books and um, some
jewelry. The panels were good, except that towards the end the crowds did
exceed many room capacities. I'll always have fond memories for attending. </div>
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-9712241351197558352018-05-13T19:06:00.002-07:002018-05-13T19:06:44.708-07:002016: A Great Year for Life Birds, Part 3It took far too long for us to discover Jamaica Bay. We finally went there one blustery but very sunny day in March, and of course added a life bird to my list. To OUR lists.But I failed to get any photos of the American Oystercatchers we saw.<br />
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The rest of the water birds we saw that day weren't anything new: Brant, Canada Goose, Black Duck, Mute Swan, Ring-billed and Herring Gull, Double-crested Cormorant. The land birds were similarly familiar late winter New Yorkers: Robin, Song Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird. A pair of Ospreys were making nookie on their nesting platform.<br />
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The unexpected were at least 50 Boat-tailed Grackles. They were a noisy lot. We hadn't realized they we'd see more of them in Brooklyn/Queens than we did in Florida a month earlier.<br />
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Ed returned to J Bay without me a couple of times, then we finally went there together with friends in the early summer. The Black Skimmers were breathtaking.<br />
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The East Pond treasures were, for me, a long line of Oystercatchers.<br />
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And this very concerned Swan:<br />
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So many lovely birds! The terns were in fine form, fluttering and plunging into the water. So many gulls, so many swallows. So many Yellow Warblers! But it would be a year before I returned.<br />
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-4962796262507740722017-08-23T19:54:00.002-07:002017-08-23T19:54:44.728-07:00Too Much Yarn, Part 2 -- A New Hope<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">
Learning to RESIST yarn emporium emails and catalogs is actually therapeutic. The hoarding shows all claim that learning not to accumulate stuff requires repeated exposure to the things you normally can’t resist. They might be right! I’m really enjoying “shopping” my stash and not adding to it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAsnthbeFqsXcL-2vw_bmmv-HfohZbgR_BBHqGA5wmfJP7-nfatKwwH9IR4tfgiG-rKkl0G3UlcAQRb1_wqY1Ry481RkLWkYxVKfEzrWwZjwG1hZMQ3yrdsD6di5UVAWcYd1OVHL6upta/s1600/Freia+Lace+Xenon+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAsnthbeFqsXcL-2vw_bmmv-HfohZbgR_BBHqGA5wmfJP7-nfatKwwH9IR4tfgiG-rKkl0G3UlcAQRb1_wqY1Ry481RkLWkYxVKfEzrWwZjwG1hZMQ3yrdsD6di5UVAWcYd1OVHL6upta/s320/Freia+Lace+Xenon+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I mean, damn. Lookit that.</i></td></tr>
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That said…a whole bunch of the yarn that I’m most eager to play with needs winding. A whole bunch. Four skeins just for WIPs (where I wound half the skeins and decided to wait to wind the rest). GAH. Winding is BORING. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLvV2Vhx8Rglz8iVQNnyE3rJnjad15ENCL1GEF3B9HbxtB4Hmzd182M7flsLCbfOZZC6bfYmz25BbC5UvOorjZdOakOStXZHobkKm0hjRCg4LoY22uJK1Or5G40wVDsKqU1ITssJmROQ0/s1600/DSCN7497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLvV2Vhx8Rglz8iVQNnyE3rJnjad15ENCL1GEF3B9HbxtB4Hmzd182M7flsLCbfOZZC6bfYmz25BbC5UvOorjZdOakOStXZHobkKm0hjRCg4LoY22uJK1Or5G40wVDsKqU1ITssJmROQ0/s320/DSCN7497.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Everything needs winding.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMoGd2bUk-WTWBoJPklpbQaUzjsXkNtYTRY3fg894pXShInlIuT2rasNJn0SVQ7EyyLwhHdVfWfz9jeP8NmTmCNjYcW5gRB9lQhoBWyEJepVElnfNZHrBVqMKfBBgdY5aYPS4UYoCeK0z/s1600/malabrigo+silky+merino04.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMoGd2bUk-WTWBoJPklpbQaUzjsXkNtYTRY3fg894pXShInlIuT2rasNJn0SVQ7EyyLwhHdVfWfz9jeP8NmTmCNjYcW5gRB9lQhoBWyEJepVElnfNZHrBVqMKfBBgdY5aYPS4UYoCeK0z/s320/malabrigo+silky+merino04.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Everything.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-R52qB8szewJkzrQd-jFlVblkCdTBKibX6UjlwTtoi25NL571tZL9JgGMkM3adpmZBYYyj8IOUH6fjGqorWq-eHwqt4NIKcW7U0AddwziCecAxgHLnUHBKtLrh3DxVuJ7XwtUrJ95Tde/s1600/DSCN6471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-R52qB8szewJkzrQd-jFlVblkCdTBKibX6UjlwTtoi25NL571tZL9JgGMkM3adpmZBYYyj8IOUH6fjGqorWq-eHwqt4NIKcW7U0AddwziCecAxgHLnUHBKtLrh3DxVuJ7XwtUrJ95Tde/s320/DSCN6471.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>EVERYTHING.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7s1jotcQt0Pdc124ZJWzhEmqbtcC0DDmAna8KyUCKoGV7Y_jh4orzDp2tYvsBSuVTkQYDXm7bpM0eA0NeZnagIiA_VIVtHNSJVowtSP0iyp6mTPWtSaiMzqQpsP4mLs7LViyX6l7P3Hn/s1600/DSCN4717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7s1jotcQt0Pdc124ZJWzhEmqbtcC0DDmAna8KyUCKoGV7Y_jh4orzDp2tYvsBSuVTkQYDXm7bpM0eA0NeZnagIiA_VIVtHNSJVowtSP0iyp6mTPWtSaiMzqQpsP4mLs7LViyX6l7P3Hn/s320/DSCN4717.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SO MUCH GODDAMNED WINDING.</i></td></tr>
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What's worse than winding? FROGGING. Ripping apart something you worked on for possibly hours and days, because you completely failed to notice something was deeply wrong and just kept going. Because you really liked the yarn but got the gauge wrong. Because you really meant well to make a baby blanket but didn't have enough yarn and nothing else to do with it. Because halfway through you realized you were totally sick of making even one more chunky wool sweater you'd never wear. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I recently frogged a hat I’d created in great enthusiasm, because a) kept screwing up the pattern, but mostly b) 100 stitches is way too big for my head even in fine sock yarn. How is it possible so many hat patterns use 100+ stitches for the headband?? I have a fairly average-sized head and that’s too much. So I cast on again with 80, the next size down, and I hope it will go better now.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGpC1qU6Z6G0Q1MurQegRhlV5GMnHTbnkIHklkdkqwmjKhCBJTtyIDTP_pqtKb9LqV5DU2Msbfxf2GDYTnTMRYIY6ZoOhZjTnTFVK6G3mSCFxz5j1yQcbIAQcm9y9KCEREFeURkT0uIsh/s1600/DSCN2371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhGpC1qU6Z6G0Q1MurQegRhlV5GMnHTbnkIHklkdkqwmjKhCBJTtyIDTP_pqtKb9LqV5DU2Msbfxf2GDYTnTMRYIY6ZoOhZjTnTFVK6G3mSCFxz5j1yQcbIAQcm9y9KCEREFeURkT0uIsh/s320/DSCN2371.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Don't be fooled by the cute doggie button.<br />This stupid thing needs frogging too. It's big enough for the Jolly Green Giant.<br />Anyone want to ask him if he needs a blue hat?</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">If you catch it in time, though, and you have enough yarn, an overly large hat can become a nice cowl.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxJ73drW1rXnEY6V2FKGlITOjMimSt28-zMrTjRpocv07Bvek9k0H_yI5RXuR6ili_5552K1XDG1sczLqYDlFB-Ykf3Xzfhv5_CVw7nprJCDNrVtFWd6Qta28OlqKfqJsMjBDPHBAGDPh/s1600/DSCN7041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxJ73drW1rXnEY6V2FKGlITOjMimSt28-zMrTjRpocv07Bvek9k0H_yI5RXuR6ili_5552K1XDG1sczLqYDlFB-Ykf3Xzfhv5_CVw7nprJCDNrVtFWd6Qta28OlqKfqJsMjBDPHBAGDPh/s320/DSCN7041.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice cowl, even if it started out as a beret.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, "lucida sans unicode", "lucida grande", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I had fun re-organizing the pattern stash and WIPs while prepping for a four-day trip during which I knitted for HOURS each day. Every year we go to our favorite science fiction/fantasy convention, Readercon, which is heavy on books. It’s like attending grad-level lit courses for 3 days, which really is fun if that's your idea of fun. All those panel discussions are full of people knitting, crocheting, needlepointing, spinning and embroidering. It’s fabulous. We also had 5 hours riding in the car each way, so I brought 4 projects (3 WIPs and 1 new) and ACTUALLY worked on all of them. Didn't FINISH any, but made lots of progress. </span></div>
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Organizing the stash takes time, that might be spent knitting instead, but it's not a bad thing to play with the yarn and re-engage with why I bought it in the first place.<br />
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Except for all the freaking winding.<br />
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-84679579530496474962017-07-29T20:27:00.002-07:002017-07-29T20:27:16.248-07:00Catasetum FeverI really like Catasetums. I really like most of the species and many of the hybrids. They've fascinated me since the days of my first Jones and Scully orchid catalogues back in 1984. The images of Cstm. Orchidglade made my mouth water. But it was years before I actually grew a Catasetum. I ended up with two that were smallish and, as a bonus, semi-reliable bloomers. I was happy for many years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5y0yg7HR0LfH8HY_GTDlIZyryrVY6f1UfkbNhvczkx48N8veyz266W2w5UbveB8ZX-va5cl2ASp8VlphhgOi7Fsfa9aYh-juldJbCzx06L16_u6nQuf2aRQ-zu4ZTvKl5P6QX3OjmM-c/s1600/Clowesetum-RaymondLerner-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5y0yg7HR0LfH8HY_GTDlIZyryrVY6f1UfkbNhvczkx48N8veyz266W2w5UbveB8ZX-va5cl2ASp8VlphhgOi7Fsfa9aYh-juldJbCzx06L16_u6nQuf2aRQ-zu4ZTvKl5P6QX3OjmM-c/s320/Clowesetum-RaymondLerner-3.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clowesetum Raymond Lerner</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKKrCHU2gXm2VjaKRB8z_quE_hFzdKyoWzFakDavq9C1LjB_Rc1GVWhTXMSjfFVjQXeOW7YZKH_hyUbYNWQvuN0AQ42hyphenhyphens5m3oJBa7zHjOAi9Q4qQLUIHp7lA1KNnQ6qU1UaAsdzqvb3j/s1600/Ctsm-atratum-08-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKKrCHU2gXm2VjaKRB8z_quE_hFzdKyoWzFakDavq9C1LjB_Rc1GVWhTXMSjfFVjQXeOW7YZKH_hyUbYNWQvuN0AQ42hyphenhyphens5m3oJBa7zHjOAi9Q4qQLUIHp7lA1KNnQ6qU1UaAsdzqvb3j/s320/Ctsm-atratum-08-web.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ctsm atratum (I still think)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But then Fred Clarke and <a href="https://www.sunsetvalleyorchids.com/" target="_blank">Sunset Valley Orchids</a> came on the scene, and I longed for more. I hesitated. Most of those hybrid plants eventually become HUGE, especially the <i>Ctsm pileatum </i>hybrids. I don't have overhead space for plants that get even a foot tall. I continued to hesitate. Then the ever-inventive Mr. Clarke decided to try breeding MINI Catasetums. Oh no. I got one.<a href="http://orchidgrrlnyc.blogspot.com/2015/11/catasetum-karen-armstrong-flowers-yay.html" target="_blank"> It bloomed!</a> (It's not doing so great right now, but I have hopes for its revival.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdHdWQDYlLhCnhbWAW24QTyq00S-m9JvrbVZNnJL6EhvCADUVQhD5HbKxK-lNp2bSNtDtdF9VNlAulDCVLCd4eP_hGYIW_T05IzaKKbuuWt03y01qI2qNq3gziQ7OsnROXqpyObqxTh4i/s1600/20150910_234056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdHdWQDYlLhCnhbWAW24QTyq00S-m9JvrbVZNnJL6EhvCADUVQhD5HbKxK-lNp2bSNtDtdF9VNlAulDCVLCd4eP_hGYIW_T05IzaKKbuuWt03y01qI2qNq3gziQ7OsnROXqpyObqxTh4i/s640/20150910_234056.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://orchidgrrlnyc.blogspot.com/2015/11/catasetum-karen-armstrong-flowers-yay.html" target="_blank">Ctsm Karen Armstrong</a> (Susan Fuchs x <i>denticulatum</i>) is a building block hybrid for the new minis SVO is creating. And creating, and creating. There are a lot of new hybrids available, and some are kind of meh and others are really exciting.<br />
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This spring, SVO had a big sale on their unbloomed seedlings in 3-inch pots. So I went in on a group order with friends, and I somehow (hah) ended up with five new Catasetum plants. Well, actually 4, since I ended up with two of one cross. Group orders tend to include surprises, after all. Some sell-outs, some extras.<br />
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Ctsm. Double Down (Ctsm. Chuck Taylor 'Wow' x Ctsm. kleberianum 'SVO) (2)</div>
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Ctsm.(Ctsm. gladiatorium 'SVO 35' x Ctsm. barbatum 'SVO' HCC/AOS)</div>
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Fredclarkeara (Mo. Painted Desert 'SVO' HCC/AOS x Ctsm. Alexa 'Good One')</div>
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Fredclarkeara (Mo. Painted Desert 'SVO' HCC/AOS x Ctsm. Karen Armstrong 'SVO')</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here they are, fresh out of the box.<br />
And already sprouting!</td></tr>
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Most of these babies were already developing new roots on the new shoots. Because I am an indoor grower with lousy humidity levels, I began watering them right away. Older pseudobulbs should not shrivel as the new growth expands, and if you don't water them enough that will happen. The plants won't grow as heartily as they should.<br />
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The popular wisdom is to keep these sprouting plants dry so their roots will hungrily seek moisture and grow rapidly, while the sprout lives off the water stored in the older bulbs. A very humid atmosphere helps keep the plants going. But honestly, in their native deciduous forests, substantial amounts of morning dew often soak the plants at this stage so I say the hell with pop wisdom and just water the damn things. Especially since I popped them out of their pots to check root growth, and I saw no issues, just lots of nice healthy white roots.<br />
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I did wait just a tad too long to actually repot them, but they didn't seem to mind.<br />
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The old tiny pots were completely packed with roots by now, and so I just popped them into bigger pots and filled in with seedling mix. Once they go dormant and the roots die back, I'll clean them up and repot them properly. Probably.<br />
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The first one to spike and bloom was this (<span style="text-align: center;"><i>gladiatorium </i>x <i>barbatum</i>)</span>:<br />
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It's got spots and a fringy lip from both parents, not quite best of both (which are very similar) but pretty nice. It's a great flower count for a first-bloom seedling!<br />
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Two other people also had this cross bloom first. So it's a great choice for even beginners with this group of hybrids! That same plant pictured now has a second spike filled with buds. I'm seriously thrilled with it.<br />
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I'm curious to see if the <span style="text-align: center;">Fredclarkeara hybrids will wait to spike until they've dropped their foliage, the way Mormodes species usually do. (I won't have long to wait for two of them, since uh, they were fiercely attacked by spider mites and my battle waged didn't prevent premature leaf drop.) </span><br />
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I'm happy to have these plants doing fairly well...this summer has been a bummer for my plants overall. Mostly my fault, not watering sufficiently even though I started out well feeding and misting. I'm trying to make amends and see what the rest of summer holds.<br />
<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-36802918632920784262017-07-24T19:29:00.002-07:002017-07-24T19:29:20.546-07:00Too Much Yarn, Part 1<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; padding: 0px;">
I overdid buying yarn last year. And the year before that, and before that. And at the beginning of this year. One night not long ago, I realized that I’d forgotten to enter <i>a whole 2-gallon bag of yarns </i>from late 2016 into my Ravelry stash. (I knew they <em>existed,</em> but not being on Rav they weren’t ready to be claimed by queued Rav projects.) I wasn’t a very good girl January, February and March of this year either…but I’ve been good ever since. I HAVE TO BE.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>No regrets for these final skeins. None at all. </i></td></tr>
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Digging into more neglected parts of the stash in order to log them properly, I found myself seriously wondering WTH I was thinking on some occasions. Just 1 ball of Lion Brand Kool Wool?? I gave it away. (Along with a bunch of other odd skeins not worth combining with others in a project.)</div>
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One thing struck me very hard, as I was hunting for a couple of skeins for a new project.</div>
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All those storage bags and bins of yarn I have -- eight or nine, packed pretty full -- represented dreams and <i><b>POTENTIAL </b></i>when I bought that stuff. Potential new sweaters, new shawls and hats and scarves. SO many pretty things -- so many patterns! I locked myself into a yarn shop of my own desires. At my present best rate of usage -- about 12000 yards a year -- I’m set for the next ten or fifteen years of knitting. And I’m in my mid fifties.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mild regrets for this stuff.<br />I'm sure I'll love the sweater I'll make 5 years from now. </i></td></tr>
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Giving away the excess yarn -- something I’ve been doing for years anyway -- is becoming an even bigger goal than just knitting it up as fast as possible. I give a few bags to a friend for charitable knitting every year, some to a women’s shelter. I sell some on Rav. I give some to friends who are down on their luck but love to knit. I'm keeping only what I really love. </div>
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But even if I give away more things than I keep, there’s still only so many sweaters my spouse and I can wear or stuff into drawers. Only so many scarves and hats. Only so many throws to pile on the sofa. I surprised myself by giving away a shawl I spent weeks and weeks working on; I didn't love the colors once it was finished, but my friend had been admiring it so now it's hers. </div>
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I like piling up small projects like hats, cowls, scarves, simple shawls and baby sweaters to give away. It’s entirely win-win. I get to enjoy the yarn for a while -- or not, as sometimes happens. I get to try another new pattern. I get near-instant gratification of a finished project. And I get that yarn out of the house entirely! So back in April, I decided to make a game out of my goal, similar to plowing through a book a week, to cut my To Read list down a bit each year. I decided to knit a hat or cowl every week for the rest of the year, in addition to the usual scarves and shawls that I work on while I commute. Depending on the gauge, it takes me 3-5 days to make one.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This one took 2 sessions watching TV.</i></td></tr>
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To speed things up a bit, I organized the stash better, and made a bag of "ready-to-knit" skeins that don't need winding (thank you Big Yarn Companies) or I already wound. Imagine my joy when I dug into one bag and came up with a bunch of Deep Stash skeins I'd forgotten about, all set for hats and stuff! I’m capable of whiling away a whole evening browsing my pattern printouts and fondling bags of stash instead of actually, you know, KNITTING. But I hit a new realization, as I was digging in the bag of Ready To Knit skeins a little while ago.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVTkdVltUTe6B3YChgX0A2Zn9G5O9kVLymrimp7sovbhYu3i0KKygPpQFWw66uMf4eVK_KdfNy0I__xLreKnjGCUZP7XjWFyw1J1zCSxNbYhHCLhTy1-U_TOPa4ciJepmqZ_MMfLeV1TX/s1600/TyDy+cotton_PaintedDesert.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEVTkdVltUTe6B3YChgX0A2Zn9G5O9kVLymrimp7sovbhYu3i0KKygPpQFWw66uMf4eVK_KdfNy0I__xLreKnjGCUZP7XjWFyw1J1zCSxNbYhHCLhTy1-U_TOPa4ciJepmqZ_MMfLeV1TX/s320/TyDy+cotton_PaintedDesert.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Like, What the hell was I thinking?</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKTccP5Cs2tpvUNuKrnN0SooYubfLa41_bZ708oezHuDBIE1pJ6zlVfQxZ2om0PsTI40z_BFfytmkWbOGovVgzgRXIjp4CsWV5rUDGA_aiGwSOii121pqejWLyAYy8wxGGrVrLc9j2gtk/s1600/Kureopatara_1022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKTccP5Cs2tpvUNuKrnN0SooYubfLa41_bZ708oezHuDBIE1pJ6zlVfQxZ2om0PsTI40z_BFfytmkWbOGovVgzgRXIjp4CsWV5rUDGA_aiGwSOii121pqejWLyAYy8wxGGrVrLc9j2gtk/s320/Kureopatara_1022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Noro at its worst...</i></td></tr>
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While it feels good to have rediscovered some yarn I once loved -- I quickly made a giveaway hat and planned a few others -- I have to curb that impulse a bit. Because my stash is vast and life is short, I need to -- I deserve to -- knit the yarns and patterns that I love the <i>most </i>first. Not just stuff that happens to be easiest to access because it’s sold in pull skeins. Good thing I already wound a bunch...<br />
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-57574873793366106022017-07-21T13:04:00.002-07:002017-07-21T13:04:17.328-07:00Pancakes for DinnerThere's nothing wrong with pancakes for dinner. You don't have to pretend they're crepes either. It's especially nice to have pancakes for dinner when the weather is hot and you're tired of eating salads.<br />
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Multi-grain pancake mix is a wonderful thing. I use Arrow Mills organic or Bob's Red Mill. Arrow has a grittier texture, probably due to more corn meal. I like both just fine.<br />
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I don't follow the package directions. I grew up eating my mom's very crepe-like pancakes made from scratch -- we never owned a single box of Bisquick or Aunt Jemima -- and so I know that proper ones include eggs as well as milk and oil. </div>
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My recipe to make enough pancakes for two hungry adults plus leftovers for next day lunch or breakfast:<br />
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Beat 2 eggs, add 1/3 cup milk, a good splash of walnut oil. If you want a nice savory note, add either vanilla or almond extract, about a teaspoon.<br />
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Stir in at least 1 cup of the packaged mix. Here comes the tricky part! If you want thin cakes, which I never do, keep adding liquid until the texture is quite loose -- nearly as goopy as before you added the floury stuff. I like thicker cakes, because I like to add stuff into them, so I adjust liquid/mix to make a quite stiff batter.<br />
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Then I add the solid stuff we like. Verrrrrry thinly sliced bananas are excellent. Tiny wild blueberries, either fresh or frozen. Corn, either fresh or frozen, preferably white; grated corn will add more liquid to the batter, so make it extra-stiff if doing this. Theoretical additions: diced strawberries, chocolate chips, flaked coconut, anything not too chewy or crunchy. At least in my kitchen. Add at least 1 cup of solids, or you won't notice them. If adding corn? Really add corn. Lots of corn. Make these into corn fritters if you're going to add corn.<br />
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Butter or coconut oil are the only cooking fats I'll use for these, but do your thing your way. I like the butter just browned before I add the batter. Each cake should be about 2 tablespoons of batter, for ease of flipping and quickness of cooking. My 2 nonstick pans hold 5 and 6 cakes each, if I didn't goof up and make the batter too thin.<br />
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While side 1 is cooking, I can decide to sprinkle stuff on the uncooked side. Preferably sliced almonds, if there are bananas or berries in the mix. No need to toast them first, they'll toast nicely when you flip the cakes.<br />
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Is anything better than just butter and maple syrup for topping pancakes? Well, depends. For breakfast I'm happy with that, but for dinner I like more substance. Fruit is a wonderful thing. Whatever is in season and goes with the pancake theme works great. So berries with berries or bananas, or peaches with berries, whatever you like. Banana pancakes deserve some butterscotch sauce and clotted cream, Fosterizing them.<br />
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Corn pancakes/fritters go with pretty much anything, surprisingly. Last fall I mixed sauteed apples and fresh figs with butter and maple syrup. They were darned tasty. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8hQsfRlawM-V2Xok-ZlJ8jfM64CEseZfs5hpyaec134Wkb1nQUOPC6z0LWvwNLNpYnv5DQGLA12Aju-zT2RVEjD3zRRFP8HVlA385LniB9O_lRz_RuMG757XQYhLuEECbMGbskAr6WPZ/s1600/DSCN6780.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8hQsfRlawM-V2Xok-ZlJ8jfM64CEseZfs5hpyaec134Wkb1nQUOPC6z0LWvwNLNpYnv5DQGLA12Aju-zT2RVEjD3zRRFP8HVlA385LniB9O_lRz_RuMG757XQYhLuEECbMGbskAr6WPZ/s400/DSCN6780.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sauteed apples with cinnamon & vanilla. Rum would be excellent too. </td></tr>
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Mascarpone is a wonderful, wonderful thing. It goes with everything. Everything, I tell you. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh strawberries and nectarines, in this case, over corn cakes.</td></tr>
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I wanted pancakes but there wasn't much fresh fruit in the house last week. I did however have a pint of sour cherries I'd intended to pit and freeze. I thus discovered that cherry compote is a FABULOUS thing on corn and almond pancakes, especially with mascarpone.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2-h9bz4izMzYvmqFE-mxRHV56EuxXz1HCxVSZK1jbXMgz7rymGBafOamFCctg1iPVdAqIvAr3dUuRHuML-38rWZQC6oUeYKUj8iu7qm1cxXoLUqAUTBkB3sISaHpJr0nDs9vpTTSByS-/s1600/20170709_205841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2-h9bz4izMzYvmqFE-mxRHV56EuxXz1HCxVSZK1jbXMgz7rymGBafOamFCctg1iPVdAqIvAr3dUuRHuML-38rWZQC6oUeYKUj8iu7qm1cxXoLUqAUTBkB3sISaHpJr0nDs9vpTTSByS-/s400/20170709_205841.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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And it's super easy to make, being essentially cherry pie filling. Pit cherries, put in small saucepan with a little water, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 cup or so of sugar, and some almond extract. Simmer VERY gently until the cherries start to soften. Add more water if you added too much cornstarch. Add a little amaretto or, preferably, kirschwasser. Taste, add more sugar if needed. This is also a great topping for ice cream or cookies for desserts.<br />
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The nicest wine to enjoy with these pancake dinners is chilled Prosecco, dry and light and fruity and crisp. Vinho verde is good too. </div>
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-70792853149529509332017-07-12T17:54:00.003-07:002017-07-12T17:54:41.974-07:00Southern African Epiphytic Orchids, by John S. Ball<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_WamkuXIxXS_NXPcSZTBIdMfVakTkrnGeHaAqt3bMY-qpt9fsY-1vVj0NpXA0kdXY5C42obRgPU8nabWVkL8mgRKXNGqmSLxgVAZNSuImTc6qoksfPaUe54ez-YdZCdiB8ObeDloJgcW/s1600/SA+Epiphytic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4_WamkuXIxXS_NXPcSZTBIdMfVakTkrnGeHaAqt3bMY-qpt9fsY-1vVj0NpXA0kdXY5C42obRgPU8nabWVkL8mgRKXNGqmSLxgVAZNSuImTc6qoksfPaUe54ez-YdZCdiB8ObeDloJgcW/s320/SA+Epiphytic.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
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At one point I obsessed over collecting rare or unusual orchid books, aided and abetted by several friends who also delighted in used bookstore finds or eagerly and impatiently awaited new publications. Magpie, you know. I was so eager to expand my knowledge of ALL types of orchid I'd read pretty much anything. I honestly don't remember how this wonderful old book ended up in my collection, it might have been a gift or a lucky purchase.<br />
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<b><i>Epiphytic Orchids of Southern Africa </i></b>is a treasure. The paintings by Patricia van de Ruit are exceptional, made life-size for the oversize pages. The book was published in 1976 after Ball's death, from his detailed notes, and edited by his sister, Jane Browning, with the assistance of Peter Ashton.<br />
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The plants depicted include a number of species even now only rarely seen in cultivation in the US. Thanks to people like Fred Hillerman back in the 60s, 70s and 80s whole tribes of Angraecums, Aerangises and related genera were introduced to our collections, and my friends in New York in the 80s included several fanatics who had to have all the plants and all the books. Nowadays many of the species are somewhat easier to come by, and many are raised from seed. This book is still a great place to learn more about them.<br />
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I'd love to get his other posthumously published book <b><i><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/john-ball/terrestrial-african-orchids/paperback/product-6041794.html" target="_blank">Terrestrial African Orchids</a>. </i></b>To quote the blurb on Lulu.com, "The 128 orchids illustrated in this work were collected from the wild in many localities by the late John S. Ball, mainly during the early 1950s when he worked as a forester in the Melsetter area close to the Chimanimani Mountains in Zimbabwe. Many of the species from this area are recorded to the North in the Flora of Tropical East Africa floristic region and to the South in the Republic of South Africa, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal. In 1978 John Ball's work on epiphytic orchids from this region was published in the book <i>Southern African Epiphytic Orchids. </i>The present work is edited by Jane Browning (John Ball’s sister) assisted by Esmé Hennessy."<br />
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Ball was one of those obscure but vital people in science, Born in 1926 in Rhodesia, he was also a Rhodes scholar, and then returned to Africa to work in forestry. He died in a car accident in 1976. It's a pity he never got to see his books published and enjoyed.<br />
<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-23940565888779024362017-07-07T13:30:00.001-07:002017-07-12T11:42:07.250-07:002016: A GREAT Year for Life Birds, Part 2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3oPJtXgjQmoI9_iaxTxe2Xmm56KbCunJNl89EpKj3dHj6FcQwyCP7HDRAyoe_HH2aawyDeI0_Nz53ws9_5KA4euTFY-T7YxZk3dafmYBVTuWwPCP1EOC03vhaPPHfAGfZYrm_Q7O4vMe/s1600/DSC05489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3oPJtXgjQmoI9_iaxTxe2Xmm56KbCunJNl89EpKj3dHj6FcQwyCP7HDRAyoe_HH2aawyDeI0_Nz53ws9_5KA4euTFY-T7YxZk3dafmYBVTuWwPCP1EOC03vhaPPHfAGfZYrm_Q7O4vMe/s320/DSC05489.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a bird. My apologies.</td></tr>
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In mid-February 2016 we went to Florida, with intentions of birding at Loxahatchie and Green Cay reserves near the Everglades. We visited a friend whose home is on the shore of a small lake and surrounded by a moat, and he likes to post photos of white ibis gazing into his living room windows while the indoor cats lose their minds. Well, it was all true.<br />
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Good times started with lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Griffin Road, between Ft. Lauderdale and Boynton Beach. They have a friendly male Boat-tailed Grackle that likes to steal sugar packets from the outdoor patio tables, and enjoys snacks of fried calamari. Anhingas swim and fish in the canal alongside. I have seen both species before in previous trips to Florida, but never bothered to enter them on a life list before. Likewise the earnest Muscovy Ducks also enjoying the water, and the Cattle Egrets on every roadside greensward. Boom!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1uEYlypO6bVbSlwatmJzDyPEHMKLKdTdchWPyiNUn5CcTkWSgzOKrhsyFyvNNb4tLeXHDxtAM3iReuStnSH76_zkKL9MCkT8LhKZ5LKoCw8Wc7p5pOf-a1ulYzLYuPJDLqWRGxQAVLl-/s1600/DSC05662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1069" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs1uEYlypO6bVbSlwatmJzDyPEHMKLKdTdchWPyiNUn5CcTkWSgzOKrhsyFyvNNb4tLeXHDxtAM3iReuStnSH76_zkKL9MCkT8LhKZ5LKoCw8Wc7p5pOf-a1ulYzLYuPJDLqWRGxQAVLl-/s320/DSC05662.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The word anhinga comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird.<br />
Wikipedia says so.</td></tr>
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Come morning, the White Ibises in the canal by the hotel, and in the parking lot, kind of put things in perspective. Big birds are just part of the suburban landscape in that part of Florida. If you look up you'll see Turkey Vultures, gulls, terns, egrets and herons drifting by. If you're lucky, you'll see a Double-crested Cormorant trying to perch on a power line like an enormous pigeon wearing swim fins. (I <i>wish </i>I had a picture of that.)<br />
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We only made it to Green Cay that weekend, with a couple of friends along to make the experience even more fun. One friend spends most of the winter in a nearby community and visits the place several times a week. She knew all the good places to keep one's eyes peeled, and helped spot two alligators. Another birding friend who lives in the region also kept pointing out good things. We really hit the jackpot there for new life birds. Best birdy afternoon ever!<br />
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First thing we saw gallinules, wood storks, egrets, herons and ibises. Like all at once, right near the nature center and boardwalk. Considering how much trouble we go through in New York to get good views of herons and egrets, it seemed almost unfair!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3FBBx2AyBV0q9C-gk1XDoOJ6OhlG0atvZyOi28IPTQlls3c7WtFo7XNtgSgjNreR0QapMq6pPt5CyRBLtwuFYop9cPk2fX6BeOXzcPYVZRot5UeQyUDVkhqxjLw07qGd3q6_UOQwubw4/s1600/DSC05120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="wood stork" border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS3FBBx2AyBV0q9C-gk1XDoOJ6OhlG0atvZyOi28IPTQlls3c7WtFo7XNtgSgjNreR0QapMq6pPt5CyRBLtwuFYop9cPk2fX6BeOXzcPYVZRot5UeQyUDVkhqxjLw07qGd3q6_UOQwubw4/s320/DSC05120.JPG" title="wood stork" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood storks are clearly dinosaur throwbacks.</td></tr>
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Purple Gallinules aren't common, like the Common Gallinule, but were among the first birds we saw there. Gray-headed Swamphens, an introduced species, were only seen further along the trek.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ngxBmLExJ8OiQscxJi0_vTpY-inyIzBMMjHemy-GJ4UGjhSG7g2oHCJScVRTimx0wZBbpmYVdoFktkX_hk4ZCCoRP8Zh_s5qIO6vqAf8yqi0OV1gSZUlIvp6gtPeLvA0W97IzWRuyfsN/s1600/DSC05128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Purple gallinule" border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ngxBmLExJ8OiQscxJi0_vTpY-inyIzBMMjHemy-GJ4UGjhSG7g2oHCJScVRTimx0wZBbpmYVdoFktkX_hk4ZCCoRP8Zh_s5qIO6vqAf8yqi0OV1gSZUlIvp6gtPeLvA0W97IzWRuyfsN/s320/DSC05128.JPG" title="Purple gallinule" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmu1Y_eZA0cSpoliMAHqXxXdOExie46p75xyrr6cUWR7DuBIu7PbWWOE2iJYooNCVO6WR30oRqETilS4LzhWNqfs_2RfyZqpDFxAu5HOUy_q6ZYgAiVdJR9_a_91skTam41SW9Zy6G9xzA/s1600/DSC05467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmu1Y_eZA0cSpoliMAHqXxXdOExie46p75xyrr6cUWR7DuBIu7PbWWOE2iJYooNCVO6WR30oRqETilS4LzhWNqfs_2RfyZqpDFxAu5HOUy_q6ZYgAiVdJR9_a_91skTam41SW9Zy6G9xzA/s320/DSC05467.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sgvRKBvD7T8wzM5Op33bPI2tR8oIVA5NojgLQPdpc3npVNH88V1xv-edHQpulsp1e4UTB1EucQokHPwxDk2KwobKj-7efgjK8UHXidy60n2eDzHt72Qys0RJOAIMH39_Occ-VZqqzi77/s1600/DSC05398.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sgvRKBvD7T8wzM5Op33bPI2tR8oIVA5NojgLQPdpc3npVNH88V1xv-edHQpulsp1e4UTB1EucQokHPwxDk2KwobKj-7efgjK8UHXidy60n2eDzHt72Qys0RJOAIMH39_Occ-VZqqzi77/s320/DSC05398.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One is purple. One is common. One is neither.</td></tr>
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Tricolored Herons were abundant. They seem to find the boardwalk railings a congenial place from which to watch humans pass by.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ObgHHT5LwI8oR1o9Eb8JGGstLt5CER-wojUOVFOhDS4u0c67SBVb9UrTBOih4eR65uHQaKEG0QJa4LpcgulycB25U0K1RlZEf7ncIjp_oeHKun6zu1_i0zzEWlhPLAO619nOjEgs_b2y/s1600/DSC05792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ObgHHT5LwI8oR1o9Eb8JGGstLt5CER-wojUOVFOhDS4u0c67SBVb9UrTBOih4eR65uHQaKEG0QJa4LpcgulycB25U0K1RlZEf7ncIjp_oeHKun6zu1_i0zzEWlhPLAO619nOjEgs_b2y/s320/DSC05792.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I walked right around this one. No reaction.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Little Blue Herons and Green Herons stalked about everywhere. I could only recall all the trouble I'd had seeing my first Green Heron in Central Park a few years earlier. Gah.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwwH73iONuzedCYLZUiwn2EuTHoOvlVzmRtjJ5tQAD8Mwe-Az0sULZcImdTttaoTBPXaYzJlfYudmUV-pmXnHyO0CMjsEW-1rXHtqp_bxcBJLRs2oikyx1_6DiXH2QVSyipzrC_C2Izx9/s1600/DSC05834.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwwH73iONuzedCYLZUiwn2EuTHoOvlVzmRtjJ5tQAD8Mwe-Az0sULZcImdTttaoTBPXaYzJlfYudmUV-pmXnHyO0CMjsEW-1rXHtqp_bxcBJLRs2oikyx1_6DiXH2QVSyipzrC_C2Izx9/s320/DSC05834.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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I had the completely mistaken impression that a Limpkin had to be an exotic and elusive creature.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHU6JgBTZHgt95XbwCTTjo6bAnnBkutYW6Z3UEZpOfhc4uSzy3OZlMnPQbVuqEG3CLVmkJz6c8MrZQevo42_ozKzwvwvYqHb3U68d06tqY_pw0WRJ4l_fW8jspsw2-IqajwL00krA5zYn/s1600/DSC05256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="limpkin" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHU6JgBTZHgt95XbwCTTjo6bAnnBkutYW6Z3UEZpOfhc4uSzy3OZlMnPQbVuqEG3CLVmkJz6c8MrZQevo42_ozKzwvwvYqHb3U68d06tqY_pw0WRJ4l_fW8jspsw2-IqajwL00krA5zYn/s320/DSC05256.JPG" title="limpkin" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">It's not.</td></tr>
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As a special treat, a normally elusive American Bittern was hanging out right alongside the boardwalk, basically right under our feet. It didn't seem to care how many camera lenses were pointed at it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulYjWj4Ww1QZ6nsEkT_jSXx4Z0fp63kpfQ4hdbM1aeHfP6xz8U1TcxbLfzis8UI5TwLsZ753fcHTYP0Zc2q9mBBOUAqgzjIaIexWs4oqXCNv6D5yQFMgCwkb2jnRFfCGQ9Q1ia2cClFry/s1600/DSC05211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulYjWj4Ww1QZ6nsEkT_jSXx4Z0fp63kpfQ4hdbM1aeHfP6xz8U1TcxbLfzis8UI5TwLsZ753fcHTYP0Zc2q9mBBOUAqgzjIaIexWs4oqXCNv6D5yQFMgCwkb2jnRFfCGQ9Q1ia2cClFry/s320/DSC05211.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not pretending to be reeds.</td></tr>
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I also never expected to be thisclose to a Pied-billed Grebe. I can throw away all my long-distance shots from the Central Park Reservoir birds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCSpDW36k5qLK_WiWriNfM31eU9uO6aYVZoQxO0HtyJLpqEyJ18tjMgg8CHRMXNfEssh91XZQbLl8Pn7eMUcT_rUBGziHSQWBGhD55Ww9aNiCfVCeU1_NPn6VgyixZGrleiK9aUO8Bm1k/s1600/DSC05591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipCSpDW36k5qLK_WiWriNfM31eU9uO6aYVZoQxO0HtyJLpqEyJ18tjMgg8CHRMXNfEssh91XZQbLl8Pn7eMUcT_rUBGziHSQWBGhD55Ww9aNiCfVCeU1_NPn6VgyixZGrleiK9aUO8Bm1k/s320/DSC05591.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Mottled Ducks and Blue-winged Teals were the dominant waterfowl. Both were often found right around the boardwalk. Both are very nice to see up close.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QUXh7cYSNRkcdsiizp3Ws89ZQZrbSIi5Kowlvr7vNAwK6sKFJBriRGvh4P_idXQbDu7BkhhlII_gyW5sU5hZ3BP9I8FhGkUZx_IDfxVxxHY7bBugKEBo88kGaCMLo5UvtO7xeXGap2sg/s1600/DSC05504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QUXh7cYSNRkcdsiizp3Ws89ZQZrbSIi5Kowlvr7vNAwK6sKFJBriRGvh4P_idXQbDu7BkhhlII_gyW5sU5hZ3BP9I8FhGkUZx_IDfxVxxHY7bBugKEBo88kGaCMLo5UvtO7xeXGap2sg/s1600/DSC05504.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sleepy Mottled Ducks. Sleeeeeepy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKW-dyDXf00wp1g7hcxDmWrHymiVtpEJbbRBXT7IkRuGp6bJjqozW8VRIL_5dPWnJh85zLCVp9oryU9zj13MdLDfsXNUNuqQJuENSvFG0whAR19sphTQTMnVCXFifD8c4bLMCytKl9Qtz/s1600/DSC05324.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKW-dyDXf00wp1g7hcxDmWrHymiVtpEJbbRBXT7IkRuGp6bJjqozW8VRIL_5dPWnJh85zLCVp9oryU9zj13MdLDfsXNUNuqQJuENSvFG0whAR19sphTQTMnVCXFifD8c4bLMCytKl9Qtz/s320/DSC05324.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plump, stately Teals.</td></tr>
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White Ibis and Glossy Ibis are quite handsome birds. (I actually didn't realize Glossy Ibis also live in New York City, at Jamaica Bay, as part of their invasion force in the US.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig01XAVuBSBLMYeEa3VaT47yIdWhN9EIMue3reerVQ8e5tQh-kOJ5Dc228BMfGvSO06EMRX97keKYafScautvrV8owUJM6f7CV9j4SbBYw7_7oPfVqmfVbhKbAmEdtVFScj9r474MeOqKv/s1600/DSC05357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig01XAVuBSBLMYeEa3VaT47yIdWhN9EIMue3reerVQ8e5tQh-kOJ5Dc228BMfGvSO06EMRX97keKYafScautvrV8owUJM6f7CV9j4SbBYw7_7oPfVqmfVbhKbAmEdtVFScj9r474MeOqKv/s320/DSC05357.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sentinel.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvGrlorleNvvT2M21wwrxCIlx5xne1or0bZOxJ2f-VFot-KnXbm0AtbVh4J3lkOtuFR1uO5tG6yOQXIAGRsVCqlFWiwGMJLXfGCHKRPp3WUkohhR8FrKqLH9DQ9fO7GdCuual_wF8yjPY/s1600/DSC05382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUvGrlorleNvvT2M21wwrxCIlx5xne1or0bZOxJ2f-VFot-KnXbm0AtbVh4J3lkOtuFR1uO5tG6yOQXIAGRsVCqlFWiwGMJLXfGCHKRPp3WUkohhR8FrKqLH9DQ9fO7GdCuual_wF8yjPY/s320/DSC05382.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Roseate Spoonbills are among my favorite dino-birds. I've seen them quite close up in zoos, the better to appreciate their bony faces, but seeing them in the wild is quite another experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90rGJWq0mb2LHWUWg0PNvBC63-9c3LiZ-j1oVumyFij7ep0WVL7UBrLf_P2vv1QJDOnqT0cJtdrV7PbIt6el3kuUs3uecHKpFRiVJqyO_yGZIRfZ8aROJJvMJvuKlY9fBXb1Z1zys-I7Z/s1600/DSC05821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90rGJWq0mb2LHWUWg0PNvBC63-9c3LiZ-j1oVumyFij7ep0WVL7UBrLf_P2vv1QJDOnqT0cJtdrV7PbIt6el3kuUs3uecHKpFRiVJqyO_yGZIRfZ8aROJJvMJvuKlY9fBXb1Z1zys-I7Z/s320/DSC05821.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A farther-away experience, mostly.</td></tr>
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Didn't get any good photos, but before the day was over I'd also added Caspian Tern, Royal Tern, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk to my life list. </div>
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There were also plenty of Coots, Lesser Scaups, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Brown-headed Cowbirds, White-winged Doves. Prairie Warblers and Palm Warblers and other species familiar from elsewhere. Also Painted Buntings in abundance at the bird feeders right at the entrance...just two months after we hunted one down in Brooklyn!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6wtzWnZZg7ySFyt4F7unzVgaBez6Xwy5_N-MNPJ_TrXcLvpOT5f53-rHN1W0UaDucsb6ypxTXfpexK5QOE_S5QrgUs1zFGZ5x4-mR_ULgTJ7m0Ye-NJU5OHqYUJaUtL9W0hiSN7BJFRN/s1600/DSC05641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh6wtzWnZZg7ySFyt4F7unzVgaBez6Xwy5_N-MNPJ_TrXcLvpOT5f53-rHN1W0UaDucsb6ypxTXfpexK5QOE_S5QrgUs1zFGZ5x4-mR_ULgTJ7m0Ye-NJU5OHqYUJaUtL9W0hiSN7BJFRN/s320/DSC05641.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also this Sora, more cooperative than expected. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Green Cay is just a terrific place to BE, never mind spot birds. The boardwalks are comfortable (I could wish for a few more shaded gazebos but oh well). The nature center is well-organized and informative, and I love the tote bag I bought. The writer friend we were visiting was happy to learn of the place, as it's ten minutes from his house and gives him a great place to take exercise walks.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipu7BJ0wMSUkhZJ8QEHsxaW6ZSqIWRAfWCBKBEFe8K2gSrGXRQxz5txCsqVCFwS9ssNGGwGZKbgmRgznUURPzzT3WKgiOQuTPGtsfTnGn_6L76mZR7lnlpxhl8753-cD2Lt5-8yzlh51XC/s1600/DSC05367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipu7BJ0wMSUkhZJ8QEHsxaW6ZSqIWRAfWCBKBEFe8K2gSrGXRQxz5txCsqVCFwS9ssNGGwGZKbgmRgznUURPzzT3WKgiOQuTPGtsfTnGn_6L76mZR7lnlpxhl8753-cD2Lt5-8yzlh51XC/s320/DSC05367.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Cay is also a great place to see lots of bird butts.</td></tr>
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We returned in January 2017. That's another post.<br />
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-19237186315981077452017-04-02T21:16:00.000-07:002017-04-02T21:17:16.950-07:002016, A GREAT Year for Life Birds, Part 1<i>[I'm more than a bit behind in my posting! Here's where I finally catch up on all my bird posts that should've been made in 2016 but weren't.]</i><br />
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As of the first week of February 2016, I already added 7 new birds to my life list -- as many as I added in all of 2015.<br />
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The last Saturday in January, I finally saw a Common Merganser on the Central Park Reservoir. It was definitely bigger than the more usual Red-breasted Mergansers,<br />
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On the last Sunday in January, we enjoyed an Audubon Society Eco-cruise of New York Harbor. It was a picture-perfect day of bright sunshine, blue skies, calm water, near 50 degrees. The 2-hour cruise took us past the shores of Brooklyn, Governor's Island, Ellis Island, Liberty Island and Bayonne, and down to Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, two small man-made islands on the eastern shore of Staten Island. There are ducks out there, ducks and loons and gulls that don't come inland to the Central Park Reservoir and only occasionally visit the East River or Hudson River for easy viewing.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o20nZXfLSm0M7CQr_lyirbVqFnORhWqqh5KxJymZ2GVp6qqDqau_adTrlaEVdf1inPwKfwhCur2kcdXZrDz0vNUUr58uYZx-LQI7xkf-aeVl_xE6BuFeSWkvpZpv0uK3LEcbUA-tAi94/s1600/CLANGULA.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o20nZXfLSm0M7CQr_lyirbVqFnORhWqqh5KxJymZ2GVp6qqDqau_adTrlaEVdf1inPwKfwhCur2kcdXZrDz0vNUUr58uYZx-LQI7xkf-aeVl_xE6BuFeSWkvpZpv0uK3LEcbUA-tAi94/s320/CLANGULA.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Clangula hyemalis. </i>Accept no substitutes.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6DtDcBHZaUlJX1G7XOREHVYVqCm5Qr9FF4dqJ0YTb1iiDayWf87Z1pXm6QxFu4zqsQy1gEvMdMCxKeZm0j2VVfKzCwFBGu2NA1XsQrZpQsQ9D8rLwDz_9CfJiMGiZF-NUKSe0a06YZotR/s1600/P1319027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6DtDcBHZaUlJX1G7XOREHVYVqCm5Qr9FF4dqJ0YTb1iiDayWf87Z1pXm6QxFu4zqsQy1gEvMdMCxKeZm0j2VVfKzCwFBGu2NA1XsQrZpQsQ9D8rLwDz_9CfJiMGiZF-NUKSe0a06YZotR/s640/P1319027.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lots and lots of gulls and cormorants all over the place.</i></td></tr>
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Familiar Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, Mallards, Black Ducks, Buffleheads and Red-breasted Mergansers were abundant along the shores. Spotting the unfamiliar Bonaparte's Gulls and Common Loons was the challenge! <br />
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There are seals too! Harbor seals like to sun themselves on the rocks and sandbars around Swinburne Island. They tend to hit the water when the boats come close, and stared at us from the waves.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUg80sOglQXz9gAMSrL5E39jwIJh5wkjoRLtqRKTf9x4I538QuomGGy7ZfSFZehDkeoUpBSFQWmMYECFHYq_xCCeHYbhMNZUUNem1Tl7kNLnwvACsm0RWpxjP2QT2EH1c0HFeAy6ZRXcn/s1600/SEAL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUg80sOglQXz9gAMSrL5E39jwIJh5wkjoRLtqRKTf9x4I538QuomGGy7ZfSFZehDkeoUpBSFQWmMYECFHYq_xCCeHYbhMNZUUNem1Tl7kNLnwvACsm0RWpxjP2QT2EH1c0HFeAy6ZRXcn/s400/SEAL.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>So freaking cute.</i></td></tr>
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So on one cruise I got Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneye, Great Cormorant, Bonaparte's Gull, Red-throated Loon, and this Surf Scoter that was an unexpected bonus bird:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijK7dijdRp4WEUQo5jSMz5HLXwduQ7efyqGLyZ7taVdN7Ei0HyP931wnAuDmK-dwMlT3qeAjHgdVjvj_6qkolDkId5MKagJXJXR4cYN3WcW1_074I_i7K1djCnRkGek91sl5-Py9kARzrr/s1600/SURF+SCOTER.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijK7dijdRp4WEUQo5jSMz5HLXwduQ7efyqGLyZ7taVdN7Ei0HyP931wnAuDmK-dwMlT3qeAjHgdVjvj_6qkolDkId5MKagJXJXR4cYN3WcW1_074I_i7K1djCnRkGek91sl5-Py9kARzrr/s400/SURF+SCOTER.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>That is totally a Surf Scoter. Yay!</i></td></tr>
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It hardly bothered me that <a href="http://rumorsofwarblers.blogspot.com/2016/02/cruising-and-scrambling-for-new-birds.html" target="_blank">my erstwhile spouse </a>had already seen several of these birds elsewhere around New York City waters. I'm just not as eager to go chasing a critter that might have flown off by the time I got there. I figure I'll get them eventually...and often do.<br />
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In mid-February we went to Florida, with intentions of birding at Laxahatchie and Green Cay reserves near the Everglades. We visited a friend whose home is on the shore of a small lake and surrounded by a moat, and he likes to post photos of white ibis and wood storks gazing into his living room windows while the indoor cats lose their minds. Well, it was all true.<br />
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That's in the next post.<br />
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<br />orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4013415566382220605.post-62584159732517988232017-03-08T08:21:00.001-08:002017-03-08T08:21:59.227-08:00Why I HATE the current crop of Republicans<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Some leading Republican politicians think poor people still aren't poor enough. Hence their redoubled efforts to take yet more money away from the mass majority of Americans, and fork it over to insurance company CEOs instead. Never mind that actual human beings -- including children -- will go hungry, or suffer pain and hardship because of untreated illness, or end up sleeping in their cars because they can't pay rent. <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/" target="_blank">Here's a lovely list </a> by John Scalzi, of so many of the effects of poverty on a person. (And here is a <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/04/quick-followups/" target="_blank">followup post </a>he made, too.) </div>
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My family didn't have much money when I was a kid; we lived with my grandparents and aunt and uncle, we made do until I was in 3rd grade. When I was 5 I didn't know that my supermarket meltdown over a box of heavily advertised cereal -- that I then refused to eat -- meant we did without other things that week. I didn't know why we bought bread at the Silvercup day-old store instead of across the street at the supermarket. I didn't know fabric and thread for homemade clothes w<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">ere cheaper than store-bought clothes. I thought shopping in bargain odd lot stores was fun, not just necessary. Things got much better after my dad got a new job. When he got very sick -- twice -- and needed hospitalizations, operations and lengthy recuperation, the union he belonged to made sure we had health coverage, and made sure his job was still there once he recovered.</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">And, I didn't know how many of those poverty habits were left over from my father living through the Depression, or my mother surviving as a teenager in a Displaced Persons camp after World War II. They never took good times for granted. Ever.</span></div>
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I become absolutely ENRAGED when smug Republican shitgibbons try to suggest poor people are just stupid, or unworthy, or a lower class of animal. Poverty can happen to anyone because bad shit can happen to anyone. </div>
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Yes, I'm one of the privileged now: we don't have to choose between a smartphone bill and a grocery bill, we have health insurance, renters' insurance and we have retirement funds. But not a lot of things have to go wrong for us to upend us. And I have too many friends who truly live on the edge of disaster, through no faults of their own, to ever feel comfortable enough to not worry about growing old in a society being overrun by these hypocritical shitgibbons who lack sympathy, empathy and humanity.</div>
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There's a lot of poor-shaming going on. A lot of well-off people think poverty is somehow a "choice" or that poor people aren't being inventive or aren't "thinking positive" or praying hard enough or whatever shit they use to excuse their own lack of caring about other people. There are people who think they are Christians who go to megachurches and pray very loudly, but don't actually pay attention to anything Jesus or his disciples were quoted as saying. These "prosperity gospel" fatheads aren't Christian. They belong to a much older type of religion in which the gods were sometimes kind and sometimes cruel without reason, much like the view of god in the Book of Job. They're basically pagans with a Biblical veneer. </div>
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I'm not a Christian either, so I can wholeheartedly say, without fear of burning in hell, that I hope those smug smiles get wiped off their faces by Fate someday. I hope they end up dumpster diving for their next meal someday. I hope they have to buy an interview outfit at Goodwill. I hope they feel desperate someday. I hope they learn humanity. </div>
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orchidgrrl nychttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03564432595920079472noreply@blogger.com0