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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fall in Purcell Park

Liam took this picture (with a little mama help)

I spent an hour with Liam today in Purcell Park. He would swing forever if I let him, but I made him walk around a little bit to look at the leaves. The sky was really overcast and dark, but I LOVE the pictures of Liam in the storyboard (top picture). He walked around with leaves in his hands all day. I love fall leaves.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

JMU Arboretum

Liam and I spent some time in the JMU Arboretum this week. The leaves are changing and it's beautiful. It's such a quiet place to hike and think. Peyton and Liam like to go see the statues. They really love the bear.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Serious Boo Boo

We had our family bonfire on Saturday and it ended up being a great event. The weather was overcast and nasty all day, but the rain held off....until about an hour before it started. We set up a big tent, put the food under it, and forged ahead. It didn't rain hard, just light rain that didn't stop us from roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. We enjoyed fellowship with family, great food, and were settling in around the fire to enjoy the evening when my sister-in-law's phone rang. She answered and told her husband that she was standing outside, and asked why he was calling her. Then she told us that Liam was hurt and we needed to go inside.

I ran into the house and saw him screaming and crying on my mother-in-law's lap. She had a bloody rag on his head and showed me a cut that looked really bad. I screamed for my mom and then we scrambled around trying to figure out what to do next. There was talk about finding a 24 hour clinic instead of the ER, but nothing seemed to be open. I changed my shoes and got Peyton settled and we took off for the ER, which is about a 30 minute drive from the family farm. By the time we arrived his cut had stopped bleeding so we signed in and waited. The entire visit was only about 2 hours long, but it always feels like an eternity.

Liam fell asleep while we were waiting and didn't flinch when I peeled his band-aid off for the nurse to take a look. He said Liam would need stitches, but that it was a clean wound. He stayed asleep while the physician's assistant examined him and told us that she could use Dermabond, a superglue for the skin, instead of stitches. Liam woke up while she was cleaning the wound and screamed and cried and yelled ouch. We had to hold him down and I finally couldn't take it and had to walk away. I hate to see my kids hurting and just couldn't be the one holding him down. She tried the glue once and the cut kept bleeding so she had to peel it off and try again. She got it closed the second time, but the blood and glue mixed and look like a smashed berry on his head.

He has been asking to keep a band-aid on it and doesn't want his friends to touch his "dermabond." Mark was teasing me that Liam's modeling career would be safe. I told Mark that I'm done for a while. Two ER trips in two months is enough!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fire Trucks in the 'burg

We had quite the incident last night, but we aren't sure exactly what happened. We heard our neighbor's alarm go off, but it was a different alarm than the one that we usually hear (it goes off often). Then a short while later, I looked outside and saw a fire truck parked across the street, then another one came, then another. There were 5 fire trucks on our street and another one further down the road and two fire chief SUVs came too. There was no urgency to their actions, but the firemen were coming and going out of our neighbor's house and they did pull a hose off of a truck, but then they rolled it back up. I did ask one of them if it was carbon monoxide and he shook his head no, but wouldn't say anything else.

It was a little bizarre that so many trucks responded to his alarm. When the burglar alarm sounds, a police officer comes to clear the house. I've talked to the police at few times when that has happened, but this was just weird. I joked with Mark that it was a slow evening for the HFD so they sent all of their trucks to our neighborhood!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Shenandoah Caverns-Part2

Enormous Parade Floats - these were in Tournament of Roses Parades and were once covered in living things like grass seed, beans, etc.
Tractors on display outside of the gift shop
Ice cream treat in a 1950s soda fountain!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Shenandoah Caverns

"Bacon" formation in the caverns!

Mark and the kids in the enormous train float

We had expected to have guests staying with us this weekend, but they canceled at the last minute, so we decided to play tourist in our own town. We went to Mt. Jackson to visit Route 11 Potato Chips and the Shenandoah Caverns. The chip factory was selling, but not cooking, so we bought some chips to eat with our picnic lunch and we went to the caverns. We took the kids to Grand Caverns a few months ago and Peyton was awestruck. She really loves being underground and seeing all of the cave formations. She follows the guide pretty close and tries to answer the questions they ask. The tour was about an hour and I think our favorite formations were the ones that looked like bacon!

After the tour we ate lunch and then visited the other attractions. They have old department store displays that have been renovated and installed and the kids really liked seeing Cinderella at the ball, marching toy soldiers, and a circus. Peyton's favorite was a presidential inaugural parade in miniature!

We also walked down the hill from the caverns and saw American Celebration on Parade, a huge warehouse full of Rose Parade and inaugural floats. The floats are incredible. They are huge and some had buttons to push that made them move/ sing/ talk. The kids were pretty excited about pushing the buttons. I was in awe of how huge they were! I marched in the 1993 Tournament of Roses parade, but really didn't see the floats up close and personal. It's amazing to think that these huge things move down the street so smoothly.

It really was an awesome day. I am excited that our children are experiencing great attractions so close to home. We have 5 caverns in our area that we'd eventually like to see. 2 down, 3 to go!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Back home on the farm Part 2

More pictures from our fun weekend trip!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Back home on the farm

Peyton and Liam LOVED the giant slide. They went again and again and again

We spent 3.5 hours at Hess Greenhouse Back Home on the Farm on Saturday. They had been calling for rain all week, but it was clear and sunny and gorgeous! The kids ran all over the farm doing the different activities. They went down the giant slide, rode the antique carousel, ate cookies, rode on a haywagon, and had a blast! We were all pretty tired when we left, but it was really fun.

We have a fairly busy week ahead. We have some guests coming, some school activities, church activities, and preschool/ school busyness. Mark is not traveling this week, which is nice. We have a lot planned for October and will be very busy, but so far (fingers crossed) November will be less hectic!


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Charles G Maitland M.D.

Charles G Maitland M.D.

Professor, Neurology, Faculty-Tallahassee, M1, M2, M4
Main Campus

Gerry Maitland M.D has been a faculty member of the FSU College of Medicine since its inception. He is professor of neurology in the Department of Clinical Sciences. He currently serves as director of the National Parkinson’s Foundation Clinic, the Multiple Sclerosis Center, and the Movement Disorders Center. He is also co-director of FSU/TMH Neuro-cognitive Neuro-linguistics Rehabilitation Research Center. Prior to coming to FSU, he was clinical professor of Neurology at University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida and prior to that associate professor of Neurology and Neuro-Ophthalmology at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences School of Medicine, Washington DC. During the latter appointment, he served as the Neuro-Ophthalmology consultant to the Vietnam head injury study. His primary responsibilities at the college of medicine include teaching clinical neurologic correlation in the neuroscience course and the neurologic and ophthalmologic examinations in the Doctoring courses years 1 and 2. He is in charge of neurologic rotation for the FSU Internal Medicine program at the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. He serves as mentor to the BRIDGE program and academic advisor and preceptor to years 1 and 2. He mentors students involved in clinical research in the field of neurological science with particular emphasis on visual function and motor performance in both healthy elderly and individuals with degenerative disease. He has authored over 140 refereed articles and published abstracts and has presented both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Maitland received his medical degree from St. Louis University. His post-doctoral training include internal medicine residency at the University of Connecticut; a neurologic residency at Letterman Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco, and fellowships in pediatric neurology and Neuro-Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco.

• Best Doctors in America
• Best Doctors in the Southeastern United States
• Outstanding Senior Faculty educator, FSU College of Medicine 2009-2010
• Certificate of Recognition as Outstanding Clinical Practice and Research Site for Neuro-Ophthalmology, National Eye Institute
• Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Achievement and Contributions during Post Doctoral Study, University of California College of Medicine, San Francisco
• Hall of Fame, National Council on Aging
• Alpha Omega Alpha out of faculty, 2013

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Media Girl - sports en The headbutt heard (and talked about and hashed over and ranted about) 'round the world
I see that the #1 search on Technorati is for "Zidane", to which I had to scratch my head and dig around a little to see that all the fuss is about this guy's butting heads, to which I had to scratch my head again -- which goes to show what kind of interest the World Cup holds for me. I suppose this is one area where America has a leg up on global culture.
  culture sports whimsy CDATA Headbutt Monster Music industry Technorati World Wide Web XML Thu, 13 Jul 2006 23:57:35 +0000 media girl 1293 at


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17 October 2011

Smoking rules eased a puff at Crown Casino - 17th October 2011

Crown Casino Crown Limited James Packer Politics Melbourne Gaming

Smoking in and around gambling dens in Australia continues to be a hot topic. Media Man investigates...

Crown Casino has been granted exemptions from smoking bans on four separate floors of the casino complex.

Crown Casino has been kindly granted exemptions from smoking bans on four separate floors of the casino complex...despite an election promise by the Baillieu government to review the casino’s special five star treatment.

Health Minister David Davis recently approved smoking in "high roller" or "whale VIP" areas on the ground floor and level one of the casino and on levels 29 and 39 of Crown Towers. Former health minister and now Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews approved similar exemptions for the casino last year.

Crown is the only poker / slot machine venue in Victoria where smoking is allowed.

It also enjoys a more favourable tax rate on its 2500 poker machines, is the only venue allowed to operate 24 hours a day and can make larger cash payments from its machines.

In the lead-up to last year’s election, the Coalition promised to examine "Crown Casino’s exemptions ... to ensure that gambling regulation is as consistent as possible".

"It is an important principle that, insofar as it is appropriate, gambling regulation be consistent across the state and across various modes of gambling. This is particularly so when considering measures that are designed to address problem gambling," the election promise said. Almost 12 months on from the election, the review of Crown’s special treatment is yet to begin.

Premier Ted Baillieu and Gaming Minister Michael O’Brien have also refused to detail discussions they have had with Crown Casino boss James Packer about poker machine reforms proposed by the Tasmanian federal MP, Andrew Wilkie.

The Baillieu government will not rule out a legal challenge to Mr Wilkie’s poker machine reforms, which could include mandatory cards forcing players to pre-set how much they are prepared to lose or low-intensity poker machines. Mr Packer has been actively lobbying federal and state MPs over the proposals.

Mr O’Brien told Fairfax owned The Age the review of Crown’s exemptions would begin "either the second half of this year or early next year".

"There is no doubt that Crown is treated a little differently from other gambling venues; there have been arguments put forward as to why there is good reason for that because of Crown’s mecca as a tourist destination," he said.

"I just think when things have been in place for quite some time it is always useful to have another look at them to see if the reasons you originally introduced them for still apply and if they are still appropriate," he said.

InterChurch Gambling Taskforce’s Mark Zirnsak said it was disappointing the Baillieu government had exempted Crown again from smoking bans.

"I think if employees were to suffer health effects down the track they would be wise to look at their legal options," he said.

He called on the government to review all of Crown’s exemptions.

"It is long overdue to have a review and what’s disappointing here is the same cosy relationship Crown enjoyed with the previous Victorian government appears to continue unabated with the new Baillieu government," he said.

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Home » Tag Archives: Escadaria Selarón

Tag Archives: Escadaria Selarón

THE GREAT MADNESS – I will only complete this crazy original dream on the last day of my life

JORGE SELARÓN 1/4 – Selarón Steps, also known, also known as the Escadaria Selarón, is a set of world-famous steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claimed it as “my tribute to the Brazilian people”. Jorge Selarón was born in Chile in 1947. He traveled, lived and worked as a painter and ...

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The Case for Tabletop Video Game Crossovers

Gears of Wargame

Total votes: 107

With the recent announcement from Ubisoft developers during their Eurogamer expo that they used real life models of Assassin's Creed characters, soldiers and citizens to sell the concept of AC3, and my own interests in wargaming as well as video games, it got me wondering: why don't we see more tabletop crossovers with video games? I've already argued about what I think the video game industry could learn from board games, but what about wargames learning or being inspired by video games?

Seriously. Why isn't there a Gears of War wargame? Why can't I fight across a city with an army of Cog marines, fighting against another player with his forces of stampeding Locust? Perhaps a third player could come along and fight it out with a hybrid Lambent army.

Where's the Halo Wargame? The Red Alert tabletop game? Ruse could be an interesting adaptation, Homeworld another. All of these games could be fantastic with tabletop miniatures and their own unique ruleset that's inspired from the video game source material.

Why haven't these been made yet?

Part of the reason I think is because despite the growing acceptance of video games as an every-man’s activity – even if some genres are still seen as cooler than others – specialist board games and wargaming are still seen as pretty nerdy activities. While gamers might roll their eyes at the idea that they are all sweaty teenagers, many are still happy to point their fingers and laugh at those that paint little 28mm characters as part of a growing army.

It could also be argued that often in video games, there's one protagonist and one antagonist and an army of inferior minions in the way. But if you believe that a clever writer couldn't expand or adapt what the original game had into multiple gameplay units you're dreaming. Clever writers can do anything. Just look at this article.

Another argument that they haven't appeared yet could be that a video game developer should focus on what it does best, making games. And it should. But who do you think writes the companion novels for every big franchise? Who's set to direct the movies based off of game characters? The studios license their franchise and that's what they should be doing with wargames too.

Find an established tabletop game maker and license your franchise. Look at the Lord of the Rings series of movies? Games Workshop made that one of its flagship model ranges and it's about to receive another boost thanks to the Hobbit movie. I see no reason why we couldn't have something similar for any of the great RTS games available at the moment. Every time a sequel is released, a host of new units could be unveiled, along with a rule update or refresh of the line.

Of course they'd need to be converted into a turn based system, but if Warhammer 40,000 can go from a turn based tabletop game into something as nuanced as the Dawn of War RTS series, then surely it can go the other way too.

It's not like we don't have the middle ground already covered. Board games have adapted certain video game gameplay onto the tabletop, but not in the same way as a wargame could. There have been ones for World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Gears of War, but where's the wargames?

It doesn't have to be restricted to strategy video games either. I already mentioned the Halo and Gears of War universes that are ripe for the miniature reproduction taking, but plenty of other genres would be amazing on the tabletop too.

How about any of the big MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games? Riot games should have jumped on this long ago with League of Legends, or Valve with DotA 2. This would be more of a hybrid board game/wargame, but you could equally have one player per team with multiple characters as you could several players with one each. Make it a turn based grid game where players fight across the classic forest map, buying items and using abilities based on their speed, toughness. I'll leave the rules to the professionals to figure out, but can you start to see the possibilities here?

So this is my argument, to you the player base as much as game developers and tabletop gaming companies. Please give us wargaming experiences for some of our favourite games. The reason we love them so much is because the universes are so rich and the characters so meaningful. We love reading books about them and we're eager for movies to be made about them, so why not a wargame?

I'm not the only one here, right?

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Don't make your own posts about your own thoughts, make posts about what game companies are doing, and game related news, we don't want to see your crap, you don't matter. Open a Livejournal account to post this b.s. 10+ year Megagames fan, these changes on the site aren't okay.

Last board game i ever played

Last board game i ever played was Battletech. I loved D&D and AD&D, but by the time i got Battletech there were already the Mechwarrior games for pc, so i just didn't have the patience to learn those tons of rules of the board game (wich was extremely difficult to get someone else to play with) when the Mechwarrior games were so good. I'ts not a lazyness thing. Although i really loved Dungeons & Dragons and the like, i can't stand turn based video games. They don't fit togueter for me.

Why bother?

Yes it is a good idea but at the same time why bother? Like so many video games being similar, the same would be for table top games that are already a very niche market. A GoW (although as pointed out above has already been made) game would really play best as pretty much a WH40K clone using rulesets already available. The GoW series wouldnt really bring any new ideas to the table top game itself, the models could be nice...........

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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

See you soon!

For the past few days I have been working my way through the book, 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho. I am reading it for my books group. I admit to beginning to read with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. I don't like to read or watch things with too much hype. I wanted to be the only person in the world who hadn't seen Titanic because I didn't want to give in to the hype. I almost didn't read any of the Harry Potter books for the same reason. I kind-of felt this way about this book. I have found that when there is a great deal of hoopla about something I get disappointed when I do see or read it.

Luckily I admit to enjoying this book very much. It's a sweet story with wonderful lessons. Interestingly it is a very simple phrase that has been coming back to me again and again. I had to go back through the book to find it. Usually when I read I either fold down the corners of pages or put in bookmarks or write softly in pencil beside passages that hit me. This was so small that it didn't register until I had read past it.

The boy and the alchemist are riding across the desert having a conversation about alchemists. The boy asks about some of them and why they didn't succeed in their quest.

"They were looking only for gold," his companion answered. "They were seeking the treasure of their destiny without wanting actually to live out their destiny."

That passage just resonated for me. I think that I have been guilty of this for the past little while. So worried about money and the lack of it, I have been looking towards what will happen when we finally have more of it. I have been missing the fact that the journey - the process - is more important that what I am going to get at the end. By thinking in this way I am stifling any creativity and process that might actually create something that might be saleable. No one is going to buy a book written by a stress-case. It will be forced and unnatural and won't fill them up. People will buy books written by someone who is living in the centre of her experience. People will respond to writing that is about life, not about the paycheck that it will bring.

I am off in a couple of hours for a trip HOME. I am doing a one-week flying visit to Canada. It is going to be a crucial rejeuventation for me. Canada. Sigh. I won't be posting very much. I am going to be filling the well, the heart, the belly and the soul. I'll be hugging my loved ones close and meeting new loved ones and eating lots and lots of my Mom's cooking! I'll be back next week - filled up and ready to post much more often. In the meantime, love to you all. Keep safe and well and take care of you.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Sunday Scribblings #13 - Music

The prompt for this week's Sunday Scribblings is "Music." I don't know what I want to write about it. I think I had an idea when I first read the prompt but then Laini suggested that we try to go deeper than our first reaction.

I initially thought about the music I used to listen to as a teenager. Mark and I caught the last little bit of a program on T.V. called "The Top 50 Albums that You Must Own." It was a lovely walk down memory lane. I own a lot of them, but I was a real Canadian music freak when I was a teenager. I spent a lot of money on concerts in a small venue called "Artspace" in my youth. I loved supporting new bands before they were famous. I felt helpful!

But then I was supposed to go deeper. So I thought about my problematic relationship with music. I don't like to play it loudly - unless I am in my car and then I play it and sing as loud as I can. I used to collect CDs but I rarely listened to them. I didn't always feel comfortable playing the music that I needed to hear so that other people could hear it. For some reason for me listening to music is a very personal experience. I feel deeply freed by the invention of the ipod. Now I can play whatever I want, whenever I want and no one else needs to know.

But then I want to go deeper even than that. If I go back as far as I can my first memories of music were warm, fuzzy ones. I've mentioned before that I lived at a summer camp. Well for the first six years of my life all music was played on guitars and sung in groups. Whether it was just my family sat around a campfire or a group of counsellors and campers singing silly action songs, or a church service deep in the woods, music was about love and joy and being silly together.

So the deeper I think about music the happier I get. That's interesting! I had a really difficult time writing this, and despite my happy musical-beginnings I still don't like to listen to music with other people. So I know that there is more here. I need to go deeper. I think I'll have to look at this some more in another post when the writing is easier.

P.S. I also thought about this in an earlier post about my own personal soundtrack. I created one - if you haven't done this already, what would be on your own personal soundtrack?

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Poetry Thursday

* Before I say anything else I need to warn people from my Canadian world that this post is about Mark D. I've never written about him before but he's been in my thoughts a lot over the past few weeks so I thought I needed to honour those thoughts.

Once again, I have worked out a Poetry Thursday entry without reading the instructions first! I am home sick from work. I have some sort of bug so I am sipping tea and watching Oprah. (Funny - no matter which country I am in the sick day is the same - but I sure am missing saltine crackers.)

I have written a poem for Poetry Thursday this week. I haven't written a poem in years but I started scribbling in my notebook yesterday and this is what came out. I feel the need to explain a little. When my Mom was pregnant one of her best friends was also pregnant at the same time. They gave birth three days apart. We shared a playpen - one little blonde head, one little dark one - and grew up close friends. We went to camp together, trained as camp counsellors together, both soon had little brothers (he had two!) and went off to university.

One morning before seven our phone rang. My Dad is a minister so the phone ringing that early often means something bad has happened. I can only vaguely remember what happened next, but my Mom came into my bedroom and told me that my friend had committed suicide. There are no words to describe what happens to you when you hear those words. A part of me shut down in that moment. Mutual friends came to stay with us and all of them asked me how I was. Everyone knew how close we had been but I couldn't cope with those questions. If we had been so close, how could I not have known? Could I have done something? I shut down for many years. I couldn't let myself be sad - I didn't deserve to be sad.

It began to come out years later and eventually I was broken enough and brave enough to go and see a counsellor. We sat and coloured and talked and I finally cried and began to heal enough to think about him again. His Mom and I can finally talk about him a little. And I can finally write about him. So this poem is about all of that. It's here just as I wrote it so forgive the roughness -

When you died
we were twenty.
Two souls -
three days apart.
Salt and pepper
light and dark
girl and boy.

It doesn't get easier -

It gets harder
because some days
I don't think of you at all
and then when I do
I remember.

Where is the line?
The one that you crossed.
The one between
sadness and darkness?
Why couldn't you see
the way back?

I miss you.

There is a hole inside of me
where you used to be
It is surrounded by questions
that you can't answer.

You've missed a lot
you know.
I've danced alone at two weddings
and you're an uncle now.
I'm an aunt, too.
Or do you know that already?

come back.
Explain it all to me.

Two souls.
Three days apart.
But one will be twenty forever
and one never will be again.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sunday Scribblings #12 - Bed

"When in doubt, take a nap." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

P.S. I had the most wonderfully-connectedy- luscious (and hot) afternoon with some bloggie sisters - check out the pictures Susannah posted!!

I live in amazement when it comes to blogging. No matter where a post starts in my head, it never ends up where I think it will go! This Sunday Scribblings is supposed to be about 'Bed.' I meant to scan just the bed part of the picture and write a story about the girl who owned the bed. But now I just can't seem to get my act together.

I must admit that I co-started Sunday Scribblings as a means to make myself write some fiction. Instead I have used it as a means to look at my life in ways that I haven't before. I have used it as a way to get to know myself and for you to get to know me better. I think I have learned something about myself. Fiction is really not my thing right now. I love to write and I love having written a novel and I love the novel ideas that come into my head. But right now for some reason I just can't fiction. Who knows. It's easier to walk across the river if you don't fight the current right?!

This page is something out of my Illustrated Discovery Journal. I talk about this book a lot and I think I will talk about it more in the future as it really does tell me a lot about myself. It's something Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about in her book 'Simple Abundance.' Basically I go through magazines and anything that catches my eye for any reason I cut out and add to the book. Looking back through the pages I find that I am surprised by the insights I come to about myself. It's like reading a letter from my soul.

But what does this have to do with bed? Well, nothing except that as soon as I sat down to write about bed I thought of this picture. this is my second dream bed. My first dream bed is in my Illustrated Journal that lives under my bed in Canada so you'll have to wait to see it. But I think that this one (indeed this whole page!) says a lot about me. I think you can tell a lot about a person by looking at where they sleep. Right now I sleep in a big bed with white linens. The bed was a hand-me-down so we didn't pick it and Mark picked the linen - so really my bed says almost nothing about me. (Unless you look at the well-loved stuffed dog that lives on my pillow, the four half empty bottles of water on my bedside table, the fairy lights that are wound around the ugly headboard and the selection of various inspiring books by women writers on the floor!) So the bed in this picture should tell you something about who I would like to be.

I would secretly like to have a whimsical life. I would like to stop being practical and afraid and a worrier. I would like to sleep in a bed that makes me smile when I look at it. I would like to have a magical doorway in my house out to a magical garden. I would like to have a funny quirky 'Wendy-house' to write in. (That's what they call the little houses like the one in the picture in the UK.) I would like to be surrounded by friends and flowers and family and faerie-dust. And more than anything I would like to do nothing for income but write.

And yes, I got all of that from the topic of 'bed'. Sheesh.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Poetry Thursday

For this week's Poetry Thursday I have decided to post a link to the poem that I have up in a place of honour on my bulletin board. I've been very girlie/ woman-y lately so I thought that this poem was timely. It's called "Imagine a Woman" and you can find it in it's entirety here.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

the measure of a woman

I've just been over to Susannah's site and she has some great headers with Marilyn on them. She inspired me to share this picture. I have been holding on to this for a really long time. It is an ancient Nike ad. I remember the first time I saw it in a magazine. I ripped it out carefully and put it in a big book. Over the years I have found and loved it over and over again.

I'm not sure why I loved Marilyn. I went through a real phase when I was younger. I read all of the books I could find on her. I loved how beautiful and fragile she was. Sometimes growing up the images I found of women were all about being tough and ballsy and in a world of strong role models I think I found her femininity and curves reassuring.

And now as I get older and learn more about the world I appreciate that femininity even more. I often think that somewhere along the line while women were trying so hard to be equal to men many of them forgot that equal doesn't mean the same. Learning to embrace being a woman is something that has taken me a long long time to get to. I wish I had started this journey earlier. I think it is going to be amazing.

Monday, June 12, 2006

an enormous question

"If anything at all were possible, how would you live your life?" - Christiane Northrop

I've been a bad blogger again. I even missed Sunday Scribblings this week - ME! - I just haven't had time. I've been overwhelmed by work and other work and being an auntie and the feelings that that has brought up (gleep!) Does anyone else look at their life sometimes and just shake their head in amazement?

I've been thinking a lot lately about choices and changes. We always look at new babies and see all of this potential and amazingness there. Why do grown people not see that about themselves? At what point in our lives do we lose that sense of anything being possible? Why do we live by a set of limits that make no sense to us? When do we become afraid to be everything we want to be? How can we get that back?

And how can we help new little ones (and other not-so-little ones) keep faith in themselves and their dreams? Whew - that's such a big question isn't it?! xo

Thursday, June 08, 2006

My New Niece!!! and Poetry Thursday

This poem has been running through my head (of course it's Shel again!!)

I Won't Hatch!

Oh, I am a chickie who lives in an egg.
but I will not hatch, I will not hatch.
The hens they all cackle, the roosters all beg,
But I will not hatch, I will not hatch.
For I hear all the talk of pollution and more
As the people all shout and the airplanes roar.
So I'm staying in here
where it's safe
and it's warm.

Shel Silverstein

The reason it's been in my head is that my brother and sister- in- law seem to have waited extra-long for their daughter to arrive. She didn't seem to want to be born. But after some nagging and assistance yesterday, SHE'S HERE!! I am an aunt for the very first time!! Her name is Helen and I am just itching to get home to see her!! Three weeks and counting!!

P.S. I have permission to show her off - here she is, all new and wrinkley!!

Monday, June 05, 2006

A race for life.

"What it gets down to is: how do you want to spend your time on earth?" - Meredith Monk

Well, I DID IT!! I completed the 5K 'Race for Life.' It took me about 39 minutes. I admit to doing some walking - up the hill that we had to do twice!! It was such an amazing experience. It was incredibly, scorchingly hot, and there were 5000 women doing it. I had a few moments of concern for my ability to finish the race when I was walking towards the venue. I was following all of these women with messages about who they were running for on their backs. I got all teary and goose-bumpy as I read about people's loved ones and people's struggles. I felt the emotion of the day all around me. It was difficult keeping focused. BUT I DID IT!! (Here is a rare photo of me. I am the one on the left - the one who seems to have lost her eyes somewhere along the route!!)

Three years ago if someone had told me I would be running a 5k (or training for a half marathon) or that I would have finished and sent off a manuscript, I would have laughed and looked down, bit my lip and known full well that it would never happen. I have had a very strange vision of myself. Like I said in an earlier post, I am good at controlling some parts of my life and not others.

In the past little while, however, I have felt like things were changing. I can trace its roots back a few years, but it is only in the past few months that I have really been feeling the effects. I have heard a grumbling - a roar, a growl - deep in my insides. I know almost at a cellular level that there is so much more to me than I have been allowing so far. I have been clenching - holding back huge parts of myself - worrying about so many things. I have been stuck seeing myself as a fat, stuck, struggling writer, and have not allowed myself to see that I am so much more than that. Lately I have sensed that curtain being pulled back a little. I can see my life on the other side. Every time I have gotten a peek I have stumbled back a few steps and had to make my way back there again. Each time I've gotten a little bit stronger. Each time I've gotten a little bit braver. The growing pains have been enormous. I've wondered if it was all worth it.

But this weekend I pushed myself past one of those perceived boundaries. I CAN be strong and fit and healthy. Why not? As I finished the miles I could hear the growl becoming louder and louder. On Saturday I sat down and drew this tulip - pushing past my creative fear for the first time in a long long time. Today I officially started in a permanent job. Saturday I talked to a wonderful new friend for hours. Tonight I spoke to another inspiring friend for the first time. I can feel my life shifting in profound ways.

So when I was drawing this I was pulled to use these words of Liz's to go with it. It captures the way I want to be right now - softly, honestly, and gently continuing to grow and change and be strong - and finding the beauty that is in there. GGgggggggrrrrrroooooooooowwwwwwlllllllllllll!!!!!

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Sunday Scribblings #10 - ... earliest memory

I can't believe it is the 10th week of Sunday Scribblings already. Time sure flies!

No matter how hard I try I can't decide on my first memory. I have an amazing memory for things that happened after I was about 7 or 8 but the things that happened when I was really little are a bit fuzzy. I think that the problem is that I don't know if they really are my memories or if they have been taken from pictures or stories that other people have told. I don't remember very much about living at the camp. I am terribly sad about that, because I am sure that every memory would be interesting.

I can remember climbing up my "step-up cupboard." My room had a closet with lots of shelves that I could use as steps to get up to the top. I loved it! I also remember falling and scraping all of the skin off of my knee on our front step. I remember running up the steps to my Mom and getting her to "fix it." But I think that my clearest earliest memory that I know is simply a memory was from when I was about four. I went to a Nursery School near where we lived, but my Dad or Mom drove me to school every day. I remember being at school at the far end of the room (it was green, I think) and looking over towards the door. My Dad had come in and he was holding something in his hands. From that distance I thought he was holding a huge hamburger. ( That part of the memory always makes me laugh - even then I had a thing for hamburgers!!) But as it turned out, he was holding a turtle! He had found it on the road and had brought it in to show the kids at the school before he let it go somewhere safer.

My funniest earliest memory was from my last day of school before we moved away from the camp. I must have been in Kindergarten by then, because my memory of this classroom is red, not green. On the side chalkboard, there was a cardboard cut-out of a shoe for each student. The shoe had yarn laces and your name in big black letters. If you could prove to the teacher that you could tie your shoes, you could have your shoe moved up to the chalkboard at the front of the room. Well, I remember sitting behind my bedroom door on my last day of school, determined not to go until I could tie my shoes. And yes, the tenacious little madam that I was was able to figure it out in time to get my shoe put at the front of the room before I had to leave that school. What a kid!

I think I need to channel her spirit to help me get other things in my life done!!

What are your earliest memories?

Thursday, June 01, 2006

control issues

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." - Confucious

This morning I posted a poem by Shel Silverstein about running the world. I feel like I need to write a little bit more about my reasons for choosing it. Last night Mark made some funny comment about me being 'in control.' My response to what he'd said shocked me. I said something to the effect of, "No. I pretend to be in control, I want to be in control, but in fact I am completely not in control." It doesn't sound like anything written here, but it hit me really really hard.

I am a bit of a control freak. I am a real worrier. I'm the girl who needs to be at the airport 4 hours early. Not only that but I usually know which desk I need to go to for check in. I have to check that the doors are locked before I go to bed, and I drive Mark crazy asking what we are going to have for dinner hours (sometimes a whole day) before any normal person would want to know. I need to know what's going on. I need to feel like I am in control.

But there's more to the story. If I need control so badly, why is it that I can't stick to a healthy eating plan? Why is it so darn hard to get up in the morning and go for a run? Why can't I sit at a desk and get some writing done? Why do I put off doing laundry until it is climbing out of the hamper? Why does it take me so long to respond to email? What is wrong with me??

Why do we pick and choose the things that we can control? Why can we make ourselves do some things and not others? Why are we so hard on ourselves over the small things we aren't doing when we are doing so many other things well? How can we learn to be gentle with ourselves without adding even more stress? How can I learn to be more in control of the important things and to let the other things go?

Sigh. Sorry, another big question!

P.S. Further to my "I'd like to move it, move it" post - my Race is on Sunday! Wish me luck!!

Poetry Thursday

I haven't read the instructions for this week yet, but this is the poem that has been in my head today. I am in a Shel Silvertein kind-of place, and this poem is about where my brain is too. I am working through some 'control' stuff. This makes me smile about it.

“God says to me with kind of a smile,
"Hey how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set?
How much do I get?
What time is lunch?
When can I quit?"
"Gimme back that wheel," says God,
"I don't think you're quite ready yet."”

-Shel Silverstein

P.S. I just went to Poetry Thursday and realized that the instruction this week was to find a poem you could read out loud. So I went on line and found this one by Robert Service. It's truly a fun read. This is the first stanza. If you don't know the poem, go here. It's well worth a read!!
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.


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Mile End Institute

Events menu

Oral History and the Study of Contemporary British Politics

25 November 2015

This event, hosted in partnership with the British Library, brought together early-career researchers and a small number of more established scholars to reflect on the value of oral history for the study of British politics since 1945.

Time: 10:00am
Venue: British Library

Oral history constitutes one of the core research methodologies of the contemporary political historian.

From interviews with former Cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials to the recorded testimonies of grassroots activists and ordinary citizens, oral history can enrich and complicate narratives of change and continuity about government and politics in the recent past. It also poses considerable intellectual, ethical and practical challenges both to researchers conducting their own oral history projects and those utilising the archived oral sources collected by others.

The event was part of a wider programme of activity on the theme of Rethinking Contemporary British Political History, which is funded by a British Academy’s Rising Star Engagement Award held by Dr Helen McCarthy at Queen Mary University of London.

For information about the British Library’s extensive oral history collections visit Over 3,000 interviews can be accessed in full at

Plenary address

Dr Anna Bryson (Queen’s University Belfast): Oral History in the Shadow of Conflict: Ethics, Risk and Trust

Activism and Community

Dr Natalie Thomlinson (University of Wolverhampton): Women’s Liberation and the Politics of Race

Daisy Payling (University of Birmingham): Social activism, local government and the Left in Sheffield, 1970-1990

Government and Policy

Dr Catherine Haddon (Institute for Government): The Contemporary History of Whitehall

Dr Thomas Lean (British Library): Privatisation and the Politics of Power: Oral History and the Privatisation of the Electricity Supply Industry in Thatcher's Britain

Parliament and Constituency

Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Priscila Pivatto  (History of Parliament Trust): The History of Parliament Oral History Project

Dr Emma Peplow and Dr Kayleigh Milden (History of Parliament Trust): ‘From the Grassroots’: Oral History and Party Politics in Devon

Collecting, Archiving and Re-use

Informal discussion led by Mary Stewart (British Library) followed by final reflections led by Rob Perks and Helen McCarthy

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Monday, March 17, 2008 - 18:23 PM

Smartest Move They Ever Made

Ethan Luck
Scott Batiste
Allen Blickle

I want to fill you in on some more cool cats that are now slamming MEINL cymbals. Smartest move they ever made...   :-)

Ethan Luck - The first time I saw Ethan, he was onstage at The End in Nashville, Tennessee playing rhythm guitar for one of the best singer-songwriters out there, John Davis. The next time I saw Ethan, he was onstage at Rocket Town in Nashville, Tennessee playing bass guitar for the extremely bada** metal band from Seattle, Demon Hunter (whose drummer Tim 'Yogi' Watts is a MEINL Cymbal artist by the way...). The next time I saw Ethan, he was drum-teching for the power-pop rock maestros Relient K. Now, Ethan IS in Relient K! So now Ethan is gearing up to head out on the road with the band to get down to some serious business. You can catch him all over the US this summer on the entire length of the VANS Warped Tour, where he'll never get a shower, he'll eat bad catering and he'll wait 23 hours a day to play one hour. However, there's a happy ending to all of this, and that is that Ethan will be playing to thousands of people every day and will be loving it! Not bad...

Click here to see Ethan's artist page.

Scott Batiste = Scott slams the cymbals for the Oakland, California metal outfit, Saviours...and these guys are as cool as it comes. MEINL Cymbal artist, Trivett Wingo of The Sword, hipped me to Scott and Saviours and boy! I glad that he did. When you throw Saviours' CD into the stereo, a shower of killer metal infused by the honest vibe of rock and roll from the early 70's hits you hard. Scott's drumming shows shades of Ian Paice, Bonzo and Bill Ward. He plays with a tight yet swinging feel that makes you absolutely want to nod your head in rhythmic agreement. These guys are always on tour and are really happening. I recommend giving them a real listen.

Click here to see Scott's artist page.

Allen Blickle - Allen is with the Brooklyn, New York-based Baroness. Another very, very cool band. These guys must be doing something right, because their Red Album just won the 2007 Album of the Year award in Revolver Magazine, and rightfully so. Allen plays with a creativity that elevates Baroness' blend of metal and punk rock ethics, making it an absolutely genuine experience. One minute they have you in a trance with hypnotic passages and the next minute they're crushing your skull with piledriving riffs and beats that rule.

Click here to see Allen's artist page.

So check these drummers and their bands out. Great stuff!

By the way, my colleague Norbert Saemnan is out of the office while feeling a bit under the weather. He'll be able to respond to all comments on his blogs next week when he returns.

Thanks for reading and take care!

Chris Brewer

Chris Brewer

Artist Relations Manager for Meinl USA


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Friday, June 24, 2016

Friday Favorites- Entertainment Edition

It's been a hot minute since I blogged, but I just felt like I didn't have anything to talk about. You know how that goes?

Anywho- since my topics are pretty limited, I thought I'd give you a little review of some of my FAVORITE books and shows I've finished. If you haven't read or seen these, drop everything you are doing and pick these up.

You guys. This book. One of my favorites I've read in a long long time.  We read this in our book club for May, and it is by far my fave that we've read together.

A teacher is kidnapped and then something happens with her kidnapper and then there's a twist at the end. (Yes, I realize my summary skills are lacking in this post. And surprise! I am an English degree holder. But I just can't say anything without giving away the good stuff.)

Take my advice- read this book!!!

So this was our book club choice for June. One of our clubbers is a social worker and thought she would love this. We all loved it.

This book is about a social worker, a poor girl and her family who live and work on a farm in exchange for a place to live, and the Eugenics program that was in place in America from the 20s-70s. I didn't even know such a program existed.

It's not super heavy, but it's emotional and really makes you think. Great discussion book.

Pretty Baby

This book isn't a fave of mine....yet. Because I loved Mary Kubica's The Good Girl so much, we all decided to read this for our July book club. I'd love for you to read along with us. Let me know if you decide to read it or if you've already read it.

Orange is the New Black

Just finished the 4th season last weekend, and while it was kind of slow, it did have some great scenes. The baby mouse (gross!), the body parts, the death of a really good character, and then the final scene. What will Daya do?????

Also, I really want to read this book by the real Piper Chapman. Have you all read it?

Greys Anatomy

Did I tell you I finally finished Greys on Netflix? It took me months and months, but I finally watched from beginning to end....or the end of what was offered on Netflix. Such a good series. That Shonda Rhimes knows what she's doing. If you've been living under a rock, like I have, watch this series now!

Linking up with Andrea for Friday Favorites!

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Fargo 3D Printing

  • 16 February, 2014
  • MELD Workshop
  • abs, 3d design, 3d printer, membership, workshop, pla plastic

A large portion of the 3D printing segment of MELD Workshop will be changing over to Fargo 3D Printing.

As some of you know, 3D printing is one of the big reasons I got into the makerspace side of things in the first place. I've partnered with Jake Clark to form Fargo 3D Printing. We'll sell, service and provide training on 3D printers, primarily MakerBot printers initially. MELD Workshop will still exist, there will still be 3D printers at MELD, and members will still have access to the printers at MELD.

So, what does this change mean?

  • Custom 3D printing jobs will be taken care of through Fargo 3D Printing.
  • Fargo 3D Printing will be basing operations out of MELD Workshop, so you'll still see me around most days.
  • 3D printing classes will continue to be through MELD Workshop, though this may change to going through Fargo 3D Printing in the future.
  • Fargo 3D Printing's MakerBot Replicator 2 will call MELD Workshop home! The printer may occasionally be unavailable for use when needed for a demonstration, event, or custom printing job.
  • MELD will still be handling all custom laser cutting and engraving work.

I won't be able to devote as much of my free time toward MELD as I have been. This has been a tough decision since I believe in MELD, what it stands for, and the impact that it can have on people's lives. MELD will be transitioning to being more of a member/community-run space. I'll be sending out emails soon to select members asking if they'll be able to watch over the shop some evenings and/or weekends in exchange for a substantially reduced membership rate.

If you're interested in helping out, please send me an email at john@meldworkshop.com.

This is an exciting time and I can't wait to see what the future will bring!

-John Schneider


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Monday, 18 January 2010

I am back :)
Not just back from Bangkok but back in blog land too. For the past two months, I wondered if I will do a "goodbye" post like many departing bloggers. Those lazy months certainly makes one very lethargic, but it's New Year and back to our crazy work and home schedule somehow makes one..well, me, more motivated to blog and travel. There is a long list of traveling plans for this year and I hope I can fulfill all of them. Bangkok was fun. Great for eating and a shopping haven for everyone. One of my colleague who often goes on shopping trips to Indonesia and Vietnam was a real pro in bargaining. For every price that was given, she would mark it down by another 60% and the best part, she got the deal, even our Thai friends were amazed.

This post is on the Grand Palace - a must visit for all visitors. It was my 4th trip and 2nd blog post. I would like to say that whenever I post, it is always about sharing information I know personally and more importantly, the photos. So, if anyone wants more information, kindly google it separately as I won't attempt to do a dissertation on any requested by some at times.
At the main entrance of the Grand Palace.

Entering into the Palace, we saw many locals praying.

This is the Phra Sri Ratana Chedi built by Rama IV and said to contain a piece of Buddha's breastbone. Religion aside, it is my favorite piece of architecture, just love the color of gold glistening in the sun. By the way, both Thailand and Malaysia have the same climate, and it was hot and humid in Bangkok at 34 celcius throughout the day.

More giant statue as guardians everywhere and this year, I saw the same imposing figures at their airport too.

The Palace was built in 1782 and for 150 years was the official residence of the Thai Kings, Royal Court and Government administration. If you know the history of Thailand, it is the only Asian country which had never been colonised by the West.

When you go up close to these ornate buildings, you will find mirrored mosaic of many colors. I was amazed on how they piece it all together.

A miniature model of my favorite monument - The Angkor Wat, Cambodia. In Cambodia, it is the only temple which faces West built a little over 1000 years ago. I am so keen to go to Cambodia again if I could find a travel partner :)

Another peek of a different chedi / stupa.

The Grand Palace is a mixture of Thai and European architecture. The current King still uses it for ceremonial functions.

Mural restoration is an ongoing project. At first I thought they were painting but upon close up, they were actually painting it with gold leaves.

After Grand Palace, we head on to Wat Po.

We saw children rehearsing for a traditional dance.

In every corner there is a prayer room with Buddha.

More Chedis.

People praying inside Wat Po.

The reclining Buddha.

Tuk Tuk anyone?

Have a great week everyone, now I've got to visit all my buddies in blogland :)


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Got More Monet than Time

August 23, 2007 @ 8:07 am | Filed under: Art, California landmarks, Family Adventures, Outings

We’ve been meaning to visit all the Balboa Park museums since our arrival in San Diego, but the zoo and the aquarium kept wooing us back for repeat visits this summer, hogging our outing time. Then a couple of weeks ago, Alice discovered an incredible art museum near her San Fran abode, and her stories of close encounters with works by Rembrandt, Cassatt, and Monet fired me up to move “take kids to San Diego Museum of Art” from the Sometime list to the Do It Now one.

Yesterday, as I mentioned in my somewhat grumbly tale at Lilting House, was the monthly Free Tuesday there, so off we went.

Lesson number one: You might think you are being all kinds of clever and responsible by spending the morning cleaning house before packing up the kids for the big museum outing—”We’ll come home to a nice clean house, won’t that be nice?”—but you are wrong. The parking lot police officer took time out from writing tickets for cars illegally parked in the handicapped spaces to tell me, jovially, that you have to arrive before 10 a.m. if you want to get a (legal) parking spot. It was 11:45 when he was telling me this, so: whoops.

He very kindly told me where to go to find a parking lot I could drive around in for 25 minutes hunting for a space. I took his advice, and figured out all on my own how to stalk a pedestrian strolling into the lot with keys jangling, suggesting the possibility that she was returning to her car and therefore about to vacate a space. The space was approximately four inches wider than my minivan, so I spent another 18 minutes backing-and-filling in order to get into it.

By this time the kids were fed up with Balboa Park and asked if we could go home. I laughed like a crazy person and told them if they thought I was going to give up this parking space, EVER, they were sorely mistaken. “We are going to LIVE here from now on,” I told them. “Forever. I worked too hard for this space. I am never going to leave it, you can bury me here. Hold on, I need to call Daddy and give him our new address. Honey, we now reside at Space #16, The Lot Behind Spreckles Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park, San Diego, I don’t know the zip code yet. Can you change the mail forwarding? Because I can’t leave this spot to go to the Post Office.”

Then one of the kids pointed out the sign that said the lot closes at 6 p.m.

“Shoot,” I sighed. “We’d better go see that museum before they kick us out.”

YoungshepherdessThe facade of the museum is currently hidden behind plywood and tarps, presumably for a restoration of some kind, but you scarcely notice that as you herd your children up the stroller ramp, because your gaze is transfixed by the lovely pensive face of the Young Shepherdess, the gem of the museum’s collection. Painted in 1895 by William Bougereau,  the Shepherdess is arguably the gallery’s most beloved work of art. My daughters want to be her (because she is pretty, goes barefoot, and has sheep) and were desperately eager to see her.

Turns out she is off gallivanting around the country right now. A museum guard told me (very chatty these Balboa Park personnel are, and don’t I appreciate it!) that the painting is making a U.S. tour this summer. But she’ll be back in a few months, and that’s fine because it will probably take me that long to find another parking space.

Instead of the Shepherdess, we visited Giverny. Oh! Giverny! The word is magical. It whispers: Monet, poppies, haystacks, light-streaked skies, picturesque laborers in wheat fields drenched with sun. We made a beeline for the visiting exhibit, a large collection of Impressionist works by the artists who congregated in the little French painters’ colony during the late 1800s. They took their easels out to the woods and fields in a golden frenzy of plein-air painting. All right, the wall placard describing the exhibit didn’t say anything about a frenzy per se, but it did talk a lot about plein-air painting, a term whose pronunciation I managed to fake quite passably but of whose definition I was ignorant until a kind-eyed Englishwoman explained it to Jane.

She was quite a knowledgeable woman and shared many tidbits of information with us as we strolled from painting to breathtaking painting. Monet was everywhere, shimmering in leaf green and spruce green, plummy shadows, frothy blues. Forget my parking space, I want to live in one of those paintings.

I particularly liked the work of American Impressionist Theodore Robinson, about whom I probably ought to have known before but didn’t. (Oh look! I just realized he’s the same guy Elizabeth posted about a few days ago. Maybe that’s why his name jumped out at me.) We also greatly admired the work of John Leslie Breck and Guy Rose. But it was Monet who gave us the goosebumps. Jane and I could not believe we were standing there in front of his actual paintings, a dozen of them at least. I lost count. I was too occupied with counting the heads—and more to the point, hands—of my own children. “Don’t touch the wall, honey. Oh! And don’t point at the paintings. What if you accidentally touched one! Good heavens! Oh! No, Wonderboy, don’t poke the nice English lady. She’s your sisters’ only chance of having their questions answered here because Mommy is distr—Oh! No, Beanie, you can’t eat string cheese in an art museum!”

I do not pretend our outings are serene.

If I get a chance later, I will link to some of the paintings we got to look at. This one, Morning on the Seine Near Giverny (which looks washed out in every image I could find online but is in reality saturated with color so rich it’s like light poured itself into pigment) is the one I mentioned in yesterday’s Lilting House post, the print Rose fell in love with in the bookstore. There were other paintings we liked even better: I think all of us favored the golden haystack ones (and there were many—mighty fond of painting haystacks were those Impressionists) over the misty river paintings.

Not that there’s any reason to choose. The world is an art gallery nowadays. I foresee many virtual pilgrimages to Giverny in our future. As there have been in our past—Linnea in Monet’s Garden and Katie Meets the Impressionists have ranked highly in our book catalogue for many years.

After the Giverny exhibit, we toured several other galleries in the museum, encountering Goya, Renoir,  O’Keefe, Warhol, Fra Angelico, and Giotto. We missed Picasso, Rembrandt, and Chagall, but we’ll be back.

As soon as I find parking.

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7 Responses | | Comments Feed

  1. We’ve found great resources for the Impressionists and I highly recommend the Impressionists art game (and the Van Gogh and friends one, too). I blogged about them ages ago here:

    The books are very well done. Accessible to the kids but chock full of good information that really helps you learn how to look at these things.

  2. Ahhh.. more fond memories. What we used to do on Free Tuesdays is to arrive at the park around 9-ish for a breakfast picnic – some quiche, cherry tomatoes, cheese and crackers. That way we always found parking literally right beside the musuem without too much hassle. Hope you have better luck next time!

  3. Gosh, this makes me feel so grateful to be European… Monet at the National Gallery a few tube stops away, not to mention Paris just over (or under) the water! I’ve been to Giverny, too, and it’s absolutely lovely, behind all the swarms of other tourists.

  4. Don’t worry, parking gets much easier right after Labor Day. You’ll like some of the other museums, too. When my kids were still in the stroller, we liked the Mingei (Folk Art) a lot. The last time we were there, strollerless, I turned my back for a moment and my son decided to dance on the carpet from Kazakstan. So I don’t recommend it for really adventurous four year olds. Our current family favorite is probably the Rueben H Fleet (Science). Lots of hands-on stuff, and a large area specially designed for the under-6 set. (and packed on free Tuesday)

  5. I really enjoyed reading about your trip. I had to laugh about the parking as I am from Baltimore and experience that frequently – except we have to pay $12-20 for that right to park! The blessing is now the two major art museums in Baltimore are always free (something our current governor did in his last months as mayor of Baltimore – hmmm something to help him win the election, perhaps?)

  6. I Love Monet.
    when I was kid, we used to go to The Met several times a year. We took the Subway. No problem parking.
    The Realtor group went to N.Y. several times a year. At least 3xs, we would got to The Met before going to a twofer. Our mode of transportation was the Bus.
    Every Year The Alzheimer’s Assoc. sends me a calendar of Impressionists. This year was mostly Monet with a few Van Gogh’s nd a Renoir. Continue to enjoy. Love and kisses to All, Mom/ Grandma Joan

  7. […] was the day we visited the art museum. We had parked behind the Organ Pavilion, which is next to the Japanese Garden, so of course we had […]


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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Hot and Spicy Chicken Recipe

Hot and Spicy Chicken Recipe

Serves 4

  • 3lbs chicken, diced

  • 4 tablespoons Oil

  • 1 Scallion

  • 2 Hot peppers or more

  • 1 tablespoon Sherry

  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce

  • 1/2 cup Chicken broth

  • 2 tablespoon Wine vinegar

  • 1 tablespoon Sugar

  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt

  • 1 teaspoon Anise pepper

  • 1 tablespoon Cornstarch

  1. Marinate chicken with sherry, soy sauce mixture for 20 minutes.

  2. Cut scallion and hot peppers diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Grind anise pepper to powder. Mix chicken broth, soy sauce, wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.

  3. Heat oil. Add scallion, and stir fry several times.

  4. Add sherry, soy mixture and chicken to scallions and hot pepper, and stir-fry for 2 minutes more. Add chicken broth mixture, mix well.

  5. Cook over low heat until chicken pieces are tender. Add cornstarch to thicken. Serve.

Serve and enjoy this delicious Chinese Food Recipe – hot and spicy chicken

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FAJ condemns recent killing of journalists  Join our daily free Newsletter

MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) - 24/08/2014
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(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Federation for Arab Journalists (FAJ) condemned Saturday recent assassination and kidnapping crimes against Arab and non-Arab journalists, expressing sorrow for these atrocities that violate freedoms of expression and opinion, as well as freedom of the press.

FAJ called, in a press statement, all international institutions, particularly media and human rights, to condemn these crimes and bring their perpetrators to justice.

The federation, based in Cairo, also condemned the murder of U.S. journalist James Foley in Syria by members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), noting that Foley was performing his duty in reporting facts on the Syrian crisis to the international public opinion.

It also condemned the kidnapping of Libyan journalists Osama Rashed and Mohammad Al-Saaeedi, who worked for the state-run Libya International Channel, while on their way to their homes, pointing out that the kidnapping of the two is one of the latest series of press freedom violations in the country.

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)

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 Mar 26 2017 - Opec, non-Opec to look at extending oil production cut by another six monthsGulf Times
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Adult Chameleon

Hi Guys! This chameleon is responsible for taking up a lot of my free time the last few weeks...

This was a fun, involved knit. But one that I enjoyed making very much. I got to use lots of short rows which oddly enough I enjoy. I sampled and tested a lot of different methods of doing short rows in the past month or so and have since been using a combination of techniques. I used the yarn-over short row method when turning from knit to purl side and a Shadow Wrap when turning from purl side to knit side. I just found that each of these methods look best (most invisible) in these circumstances.

Not sure what I'll make next, but I'm considering the Cuttlefish, the Pufferfish, or maybe a Seahorse or two.

Hope you're all doing well and take care, Ken

Bill's picture

He's charming, Ken!'re becoming very expert with these critters!

ronhuber's picture

He is so cute. You should put all your creatures together and post a photo. I would love to see them all. Beautiful work.

CLABBERS's picture

Amazing workmanship! I would love to have one of these guys in my 7th-grade classroom. The kids would become quite attached to it, I'm sure. Well done!

Kiwi Trevor's picture

That looks absolutely fabulous!!!! Good on you. Did you make up the pattern?

KenInMaine's picture

Hi and thanks. No, definitely not my own pattern. It's by the super talented Hansi Singh. You can find her patterns on Ravelry if you just search her name.

bobinthebul's picture

Amazing! Does it have an extendable tongue? :)

KenInMaine's picture

No, but I did consider it!

santaml's picture

this is a very cute little guy. It shows great workmanship. I love it.

Joe-in Wyoming's picture

Very cute, Ken. If you had some striping yarns - like NORO - you could even make it look as if the little darling was in the midst of changing color.

Books, knitting, cats, fountain pens...Life is Good.

KenInMaine's picture

Yes that would be a very cool effect! This was Kroy FX sock yarn and it did do some of that, but not as vibrantly as some of the Noros would.

Joe-in Wyoming's picture

The Kroy was pretty effective, I see, now that I have a better monitor to view it on. NORO is a bit more vibrant, which is what I think off with chameleons. Regardless, it is great knitting.

ETA: My brother also thought it great...and he doesn't knit.

Books, knitting, cats, fountain pens...Life is Good.

You're the man, obviously, when it comes to knitting creatures of any kind. Have you ever considered making a full size elephant or giraffe :-) I am on my first toy, a Koala ( Not a surprise, for me here in Australia ). What do you use as filling? Raymond

KenInMaine's picture

I use a poly fiberfill, Poly-Fil brand to be exact. In the past I have tended to under-stuff the creatures that I make and then was not happy with the results. Now I stuff to the point of possibly over-stuffing with the knowledge that the filling will relax a bit under pressure and turn out just right.

JRob's picture

Wonderful piece. Great job it looks great.

Crafty Andy's picture

I love the pattern and you have done a great job!

Tom Hart's picture

Stupendous. Your craftsmanship is a marvel. It inspires pride in the craft. Awesome work.

mr.cullen's picture

Great work Ken. The craftsmanship looks great. I like the curved tail of the animal. And especially how you placed the chameleon in the tree, on a branch. That's very creative...By the way, what are you going to do with him?

michaelpthompson's picture

Looks great! You're so talented.

"All knitting is just one stitch at a time."

Kerry's picture

Britannic's picture

Wow! Great job! Looks like the real thing, too!

KenInMaine's picture

Thank you very much for the kinds words on the chameleon, guys. I am kind of a lone knitter (that is, I don't belong to any local knitting groups) so please know it is much appreciated!

mrossnyc's picture

I love it!

SimonWales's picture

Wow he is lovely - so beautifully shaped - I'm impressed. I have seen a few animal knitting and crochet on the internet and this is up with the best. Well done.

KenInMaine's picture

Thank so much!

raydio's picture

Love it!

Good job!


text:
What do you think of my buns?

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Every year hot cross buns and easter eggs seem to appear on the supermarket shelves earlier and earlier.  I’m fairly sure that they just remove the mince pies from christmas and replace them with the hot cross buns. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got to the point where they will be available all year round.  This would piss me off as I love the anticipation of waiting for things to come in season to enjoy them often for a short amount of time.  Now before I get on my high-horse I should make a confession….

One year I was so lazy that I left the christmas tree up for the whole year.  I know, I’m so ashamed.  You see, life just got in the way and other things always seem to be a priority (read: more fun than taking a christmas tree down).  Before I knew it, it was March and then it was July and then I just thought, fuck it, December will be here before you know it and I’ll just have to put it back up again, I’m just going to leave it…*cringe*

Ok now I feel better that I got that off my chest, please don’t judge me!

Back to the HCB’s.  I thought this year I’d have a crack at making some myself.  I found a Donna Hay recipe that I based my buns on let me just say that these buns are on steroids my friends.  They rose like nobody’s business – I was actually a little worried they were going overflow in the baking tin, but they behaved and stayed put.

A modification I’ve made to the recipe is the addition of more fruit. A big part of why I love hot cross buns are the juicy sweet sultana’s, especially when you toast the buns, so I thought I would go crazy and invite raisins and currants to the party and because this is a Christian party we couldn’t ply them with alcohol  so I soaked these little babies in earl grey tea.  Trust me, they loved it, and so did I.

Hot cross buns

Recipe inspire by Donna Hay

Makes 12

What you need:

  • 400ml strong earl grey tea
  • 110g sultanas
  • 110g raisins
  • 110g currants
  • 2 tbsp dried yeast
  • 1/4 cup caster sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups warm milk (just zap in the microwave for 1 min)
  • 4 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp all spice
  • 50 g butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 caster sugar, extra

For the crosses

  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/3 cup water

For the glaze

  • 50g sugar
  • 30ml water

What to do:

Put the raisins, currants and sultana’s in the earl grey tea and soak for around 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 200C/390F

In a jug or bowl put the warmed milk, sugar and yeast.  Mix and leave to stand for 5-10 mins.  It will be ready when the mixture looks frothy.

In a large bowl, sift in the flour, spices, butter, egg, sugar and the drained fruit and the milk/yeast mixture.  Mix with a butter knife until it starts coming together.  Turn out onto a floured bench and knead until elastic.  This will take about 10mins.

Put the dough into a clean, lightly oiled bowl covered with cling wrap or a tea towel and let it rise until it’s double in size which will take about 30mins.

Take the dough out of the bowl and lightly knead it for another 5 mins and then split into 12 pieces, roll them into balls and place them in a square 23cm baking tin lined with baking paper if your tin is not non-stick.  Let it sit for another 20-30 mins, again till they’ve doubled in size.

Make the mixture for the crosses by stirring the plain flour and water together and put in a piping bag and draw on the crosses.  A cool trick I learned from Jamie O is to use a snap lock bag with the corner cut off as a piping bag if you don’t have one.  Works a treat.

Bake the buns for 30mins or until they go a dark golden colour.

Make the glaze by combining the sugar and water.  Zap in the microwave for 20 secs to dissolve the sugar.  Brush the glaze on the warm buns.

Serve with butter.  Everything is better with butter.

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  • been reading HCB recipies all day looking for the perfect one to follow this easter. yours is real easy to read and actually uses the same abbreviation for them that I do!! hehe. look forward to using this over the weekend!!

  • mercimama

    good luck with it Susie! Let me me know you go with the HCB’s and Happy Easter!

  • MMGroupie

    I have now officially made these Buns twice and each time was met with such overwhelming praise I may just make them all year round just to keep the compliments coming!
    Great recipe and as far as I can tell pretty failsafe – many people have often complained their buns come out like river stones, but not these babies!

    • mercimama

      you must be totes be a kneading and yeast expert now!

  • PeacockPie

    I made these yesterday, and I have to say, they turned out AMAZINGLY! Thank you so much for the fab recipe!
    Just a note though, for me I had to add at least another 1/2 cup of flour while kneading because the dough was so wet, and mine turned out more like a loaf… A huge hot cross bun loaf! (But I’m not complaining, they were still delicious!).

  • PeacockPie