Monday, July 18, 2011

Baking Q&A

Question: What is worse than your son having a breakdown because you decided to try a new dessert recipe instead of his standard favorite treat?
Answer: The new dessert turning out to be a burnt, miserable failure, completely contradicting your optimism and reassurance that this new recipe could be his new favorite.


Question: Is there a silver lining to burnt caramel dumplings?
Answer: Yes. You eat much, much, much less dessert than you would have otherwise.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Pack Rat

Pack Rats are real rodents that live in the desert. In their foraging, should they chance upon a shiny treasure, they will drop what they are carrying and take their new treasure home. Their burrows are filled with all of the little treasures that they have found.
So, a slumbering camper might find in the morning that the spot where they left their watch has been replaced by a stick. Or, someone might find that at home, all of their favorite pens that make writing a joy, have slowly been replaced by cheap-o pharmaceutical pens that hardly write at all, and someone else's backpack is full of someone's favorite pens... for example.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Goodnight Moon

Smoke trail from Atlantis- 5/14/10 (personal photo)
The shuttle program is deeply rooted in my childhood memories. From a young age, space exploration captured my imagination, and has always been a thing of awe and wonder. Man in space bringing home perspectives of our world unlike any other, and views of the mysteries of space... incredible.
As a little girl, I remember watching videos made by astronauts, and laughing as they ate bananas and sent the peel spinning through the anti gravity air. Our family would often drive to the local high school's parking lot and search for the orange glow and smoke trail of a launched rocket on the horizon. Later, I was able to witness in person a rocket light up the night sky like the sun- an unforgettable experience. Visiting the Kennedy Space Center is where the beginning stirrings of patriotism grew in my heart. Nothing can make your heart swell like an IMAX film on our space program set to Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man".
Shuttle launches are perhaps something I have taken for granted, yet a tradition that I had hoped to share with my own children. My husband and son have seen launches from a distance, but nothing in person. Now with Atlantis' final mission, I mourn the end of a chapter in my life and in our nation's history. I can only hope that, like a good sequel, it will be back so that my children can exeprience the same pride and wonder in man and in our country.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Under Where?

The below picture is evidence of why it might be a good idea to blowdry your hair in the the children's/guest bathroom every now and then:


It's amazing the things you miss when you focus below eye level.

Monday, July 4, 2011

America For Me

'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down
Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,-
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living there is no place like home.

I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;
I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;
But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day
In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!

I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,-
We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.


Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.


-Henry Van Dyke