If you're bored with Disneyland...

If you are looking for something different to do with the family you might consider the newest tourist attraction in Sweden, a giant pile of ... logs. Yes, logs. Here's the link to the news story. And here's the panoramic view. I'm thinking ... giant bonfire!!!

Quiz

Ok, the quizes on Candi's blog were fun, so I decided to do one myself, here goes: quiz

Mmmmmmm

Ok, this definitely isn't healthy, but it sure was good! I was cooking brunch for 3 yesterday and had two day-old croissants and 2 bananas I wanted to use up. So I sliced the croissants in 1/2 inch slices,a nd the same with the bananas. Then dropped them in a frying pan of butter, brown sugar, and a little cinnamon, all melted together and bubbling. Stir the bananas gently now and then and turn the croissant pieces so they cook evenly and get a sticky, gooey crust of the caramel and then dump it all into a shallow bowl and serve warm. I didn't measure the butter and sugar, just use whatever looks good, I think I used maybe 2 parts brown sugar to 1 part butter. How much you put in depends on how much sauce you want along with the banana and croissant pieces.

Woot again

I LOVE the weekly Woot picture contest. I haven't been in any danger of winning yet, but it's just so much fun. This is my entry for this last weekend's contest... yes, it involved a blender...

Great online shop!

I found an online grocery store that specializes in regional and other hard to find foods. Hometown Favorites is great. I should be getting my first order in today. They even had Moxie, the soda I discovered when I used to spend time up in Maine in the summers way back in college. It's the oldest continuously marketed beverage in the country, sold in New England since 1884. It's hard to describe the flavor, you either love it (me) or hate it (my dad)...lol. I also ordered some Hersheys Raspberry chips, like chocolate chips, but pink and raspberry flavored. And some other odds and ends, including some raspberry salsa and the Junket ice cream mix we used to get in California. Browse around the site, it will bring back alot of memories.

Seperated at birth?

Looking at the felted purse Whitney made made me think of my favorite souvenir from my Iceland trip...my Grinch hat! It's not particularly flattering, it's a weird color, and most people think it's a little weird (my father can't believe I go out in public in it...lol), but I love it. Something about it's quirkiness just drew me to it. I saw a lady wearing it when I was shopping one night and thought, wow, I want one, then then the next day I ran across some in a shop and knew it was fate! They had more normal colors but the Grinch green just looks like what it should be. It's incredibly warm and the next scarf I knit will be one to go with it.

Happy Birthday!

To Gumby, that is. Does anyone else remember him? I loved him when I was a kid. In fact I would put up with "Romper Room", which I detested, because it played the Gumby and Pokey short stories. And I had several of the Gumby toys, which were great since they were made of a stretchy, rubbery material and you could pull the limbs to almost double their length without breaking him. I'm not sure that I ever figured out exactly WHAT Gumby was supposed to be, though.

Su-doku

I am totally hooked on this puzzle. I started doing it when the London Mirror newspaper started printing them and including them on their online site. Now the Washington Post prints one every day, too, and I found software for my laptop that generates new puzzles endlessly. The goal is to fill in the blanks to that you have the numbers 1-9 listed once each in every row across, row up and down, and in every smaller 9-block square. Interestingly, I read an article that said that mathematical ability plays only a small role in your ability to be good at this puzzle, it has more to do with seeing patterns, problem solving, and using the process of elimination.

Hello Kitty and Bunny and ....

I'm not sure why, and I probably shouldn't admit it at my age, but I find that I am a closet Hello Kitty fan and also alot of the other similar Japanese characters of that ilk. I've restained my fandom to just a few nightshirts so far and have avoided browsing through the Hello Kitty shop at the nearby mall. But, I may have to break down and get one of these Dust Bunnies. I don't know why but they just crack me up, there is something so cute and quirky about them. http://pixelgirlshop.com/

One of my heroes

The anniversary of the nuclear bomb being dropped on Nagasaki reminded me of one of the most moving books I've read, The Bells of Nagasaki, by Takashi Nagai. I'd really recommend it if you can track down a copy. Dr. Nagai was raised in the Shinto religion but became interested in Christianity after his mother's death. As a young radiology student in a Nagasaki medical school, he lived with a Catholic family and ended up becoming a Christian himself and marrying their daughter, Midori. The dangers of x-rays weren't well known back then and he was already dying of leukemia when the bomb hit Nagasaki in 1945, killing his wife. He spent his last 6 years with his young children, caring for bombing victims and writing books about faith and encouraging people to forgive and love each other. Today there is a distinct difference in how Hiroshima and Nagasaki deal with their nuclear experiences, Hiroshima being very militant, and Nagasaki being more philosophical and reaching out to others. A lot of that attitude is attributed to Dr. Nagai. Anyway, more serious than most things I post here, but it's a book very worth reading. http://praiseofglory.com/tnagai.htm
http://www1.city.nagasaki.nagasaki.jp/na-bomb/nagai/nagae01e.html

Great news!

Some of you might remember my friend Jeremy, a marine pilot stationed in Afganistan. I got this email this morning from his wife, Torry: "
Hi~
Just thought I'd let you know that Jeremy FINALLY made it home yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. His final leg of his journey was about 7 hours so he was pretty tired when he got here. Needless to say, we're all ecstatic that he's back. The kids were so funny in their anticipation of his return. The excitement was palpable. We were at the squadron about half an hour before they arrived. Since this is the first time Jeremy has flown the jets in, it was a new experience for us. It was very cool. We were just sitting in the hangar waiting and all of a sudden, you hear the loud roar of jet enjines, then a minute later, you see them file by. At this point, everyone in the hangar is running from their seats to the front of the building. After they landed and shut their engines off, they began to climb out. It was so neat to see him get out of the plane and just start walking towards us. Abby was giggling so much, you would have thought someone was tickling her. Marshall was excited to see jeremy, but had been a bit apprehensive about the noise. We had a laid back evening. It was a very nice summer evening, so we took a walk after dinner. Jeremy spent most of his evening giving horseback rides and playing my little pony and tossing a football. And Amelia, not be outdone by her overbearing siblings decided that she would get attention by choosing to roll over for the first time while jeremy was playing with the kids. All in all, it was an incredible day, but quite frankly, one I'll be happy to not have to do again for quite some time! Take care.

Love, Torry and the rest too!"

Arthur Murray look out

I like to change my computer wallpaper every few weeks and this is the latest. I thought the pictures of my young cousin Michael charming a guest at a recent family wedding were adorable.

Woot contest

I love the weekly picture contest on www.woot.com. Every Friday they pick a theme and then you have the weekend to work on a suitable picture and enter it. This week's theme was based on one of this week's woot products, a tool box vacuum cleaner. The suposition is "What if the old saying, 'Nature abhors a vacuum' was literal"? You are supposed to come up with an illustration of what it might look like if Mother Nature REALLY did hate this vacuum cleaner. Ok, weak premise, but some fun entries. I entered twice, but neither was as strong as I'd like, the first is Mother Nature dreaming about things she'd like to do to the hated vacuum, and the other is some of "Nature's" giants going after the doomed vac.


Yes, I occasionally have too much time on my hands.

Home Sweet Home

Had a great time out in California this past weekend! But I did go through hi-tech withdrawal as there was no cellphone coverage, wi-fi hotspot or dialup access where I was. I did finally stumble across a local wi-fi spot and got my "fix". Just a few years ago we didn't have cellphones, computers, ATM's, digital cameras, etc., however did we manage. . . . Do you start twitching and breaking out in a rash when you're away from your electronic toys for too long?