Waving at the Top of the Hill

Tags

bisquits, Catholicism, Chinese, dessert, education, environment, immigration, pasta, religion, US Gov., world history

This beautiful stained glass is undoubtedly more beautiful than any photo can do it justice. It is “The Virgin Mary and Five Standing Saints” and was done between 1440-1446 in Germany in the Rhine Valley. It can be seen at MMA.

We had some brief showers this morning and then the sun can out. It is back and forth but more cloudy that anything. The water is just standing still, and it’s so frustrating. Both the Contarian and I are just getting so tired of waiting to get out of here and do some shopping. It’s near to time to start a few plantings at least, and we are mired in this mud. He thinks the lane itself is much better but we have a good 50 feet where the car is sitting that is now a swamp. He’s of course regretting that he didn’t leave the car farther from the house. But of course, one can’t predict these things. We expected to go the day after we got unstuck last Thursday. Then it started to rain.

The cleaning continues and is showing some real progress. The office is slowly being revealed as we sort and throw out “stuff.” Of course, there are plenty of disagreements; I am far from a pack rat and throw out stuff easily, especially if I haven’t used it since the last time I was decluttering a room. The Contrarian functions more like the typical farmer. Anything and everything will no doubt be useful in some decade in the future, so it best be saved. The tension gets a bit, well, tense, now and then. We usually arrive at some agreed compromise.

The Contrarian has also seemed to have solved the camera downloading or uploading issues. He found the manual, during his sorting foray and sat down and had it basically working in minutes. He needs to run through it a bit more before he can successfully explain it to me and then I can take off with the picture doing thing.

Well, let’s get on with the days news before it becomes yesterdays:

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You can get a nice tutorial on making dumplings, the Chinese kind at 101 Cookbooks. She has a nice recipe for pea dumplings. Any filling you want is of course fine, but her good instructions for the actual construction and steaming are very helpful in getting them to turn out well. They freeze beautifully, and so you can always have them in the freezer ready to go.

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I’ve featured scones before, but this recipe caught my eye. Lemon Buttermilk Scones from A Mingling of Tastes is a wonderful brunchy type scone that would serve up well for a small brunch party. Take a look and copy it for your files.

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My first reaction to this report was simple shock and disbelief. I could not think of why Senate Republicans would do this. A bit more reflection and I guess the answer is clear. The far right, of which they are so enamored of retaining, is up in arms about immigration. Witness how quickly Bush and McCain dropped discussion of immigration revisions that didn’t involve arrest and deportation of millions. So we learn that Senate Republicans blocked a simple resolution that was to honor the service and work of Cesar Chavez, noted labor union organizer, and arguably the most revered Latino in this country. Shame on the GOP. I intend to find out which way Grassley went on this issue, and react with a e-mail accordingly.

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Of course we all were witness to the meeting between Bush and Pope Benedict XVI who was visiting the US last week. American Presidents Blog has a nice post about another such meeting, this time between President Woodrow Wilson and Pope Boniface XV. See how that meeting went as Boniface attempted to end WWI.

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Baking Delights has a long list of blogging giveaways that you can sign up for a chance at. I will check through the list later, but you really should take a look. Many are crafting gifts and kits of one sort or another, so take a look.

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Britannica Blog offers a nice exposition on the many different hats a president can and does wear. Which type are you looking for?

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I ran across this new book that is about to be released and thought you might be interested. It’s called “Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement.” It looks at the problem from a socio-economic, ecological, and psycho-spiritual angle. I’m definitely intrigued and plan to see about getting a copy. Get additional details at Catholic Anarchy.

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The Contrarian sweetly always does the TIVO on Masterpiece Theatre, even though most of the stuff he considers “chick flicky.” He does dutifully watch however. We watched with deep attention the offering last Sunday, “My Boy Jack,” about Rudyard Kipling and his son Jack, lost in WWI. It is a poignant story, one that takes your emotions up and down and around. Read a fine post on it at C’est La Vie, as well as the beautiful poem Kipling wrote about his son.

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No doubt you are aware that today is Earth Day. And for that reason alone this post is important. But every day should be earth day shouldn’t it? Life Science gives you “Ten ways you can improve Earth’s health.” Take a look, make a change, feel good. Please don’t think that your little changes don’t make a difference. A lot of little changes make big differences, and we can all participate.

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Mamiedale has come across some tutorials for a variety of crafts. Visit her site and find them on her sidebar. The coiled basket interested me, and I’m going back later to look more carefully.

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I guess one of the reasons I go ballistic when the far right starts up with the intelligent design and creationism junk science they want to include in classroom curricula is because education in this country is in very big trouble. Everyone who takes a look seems to agree. Compared to kids in other developed countries, we fall further and further behind. We catch Jay Leno’s “jaywalking” here and again, and rather than funny, I find it fairly nauseating that grown people, many of them college students, have not a clue about rather basic information. And what is worse, they seem to think its amusing and funny not to know. Read Robert Herbert’s editorial in the NYTimes and see what you think. Are we “clueless in America?”

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The On Faith section of the Washington Post, poses this question: What can Pope Benedict XVI say and do to repair the growing rifts between the Vatican, the clergy and the laity in America? Follow the link and read a variety of responses from the panel and from regular folks like you and me. I’m intrigued as to how Depak Chopra thinks of the situation. Also Sally Quinn weighs in, as well as several others, like John Dominic Crossan. A must read.

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Now talk about comfort food. This is certainly it. Rice pudding, in all its smooth, sensuous seductive taste and smell, never fails to please hardly anyone. Simply Recipes has a wonderful recipe for you to partake from. Simple yet so fulfilling.

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Tip Junkie has a Mother’s Day giveaway. So stop by and leave a comment and get the chance to win! The prize is a “Mom” charm for either a bracelet or necklace.

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“To my embarrassment I was born in bed with a lady.” Wilson Mizner

“Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Carl Sandburg

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Be careful in Arizona or you may be arrested for these crimes:

• A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
• Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony (This goes back in the days of the Wild West).
• Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American
• Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs.
• Due to a typographical error in the Tempe, Ariz., code, a shooting range can be run by the “Amateur Crapshooting Association.”
• Glendale: Cars may not be driven in reverse.
• Hayden: If you bother the cottontails or bullfrogs, you will be fined. • Hunting camels is prohibited.
• In 1985, an Arizona legislator proposed that each candidate for the legislature take a reading and an I.Q. test three months before the election. The scores would have been posted on the ballot, had the bill passed. But a majority of legislators, for whatever reason, voted it down.
• In Arizona it is illegal to take naked photographs before noon on Sunday.
• It is illegal for men and women over the age of 18 to have less than one missing tooth visible when smiling
• It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
• It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.
• Maricopa County: No more than six girls may live in any house.
• Mesa: It is illegal to smoke cigarettes within 15 feet of a public place unless you have a Class 12 liqueur license.
• Mohave County: A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.
• Nogales: An ordinance prohibits the wearing of suspenders.
• Prescott: No one is permitted to ride their horse up the stairs of the county court house.
• There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.
• Tucson: Women may not wear pants.
• When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses.
• You may not have more than two dildos in a house.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave us the New Deal. George Walker Bush gives us an appearance on “Deal or No Deal.” – Jon Gelberg

The Pope has finished his trip, and I thought this was a little overboard. Today, Barack Obama accused the Pope of clinging to religion. Jay Leno

And earlier this evening, President Bush made an appearance on the TV show “Deal or No Deal.” I guess he got turned down for “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Jay Leno

Earlier tonight, President Bush made a special taped appearance on the game show “Deal or No Deal”‘ Yeah. Afterwards, Bush said, “I like this show because randomly pointing at boxes is how I make decisions too.”

Yesterday was April 20, which has become the unofficial holiday honoring marijuana. Yeah. It was supposed to be April 16, but they totally spaced. Conan O’Brien