i don't think i know her, but i certainly have been reading about the issue. for those of you that know her, monica has made it to john scalzi's attention:
i certainly enjoy reading scalzi. sometimes more than others
other than that, still alive and thankfully not dead yet (though my lungs are taking a beating. i'll leave this unlocked, so that folks who might want to pass it along may. i'll hopefully have the energy to post something more substantial soon
as part of my vacation i resolved to focus on some long overdue cleaning. in several areas of my life. i've just cleaned up my friends & feeds on lj. it's not a huge re-vamp, but i do feel that at least at attempt at reciprocity or interest should happen. if this is upsetting to anyone they can comment and things can be discussed. i'm not expecting to be overwhelmed though. and i'm hoping that we're adults here and can discuss things intelligently.
is the link. the recipe is below: i'm gearing up to work with the 6 lemons i have. i think they might actually get me the quantities in the recipe (they are on the large size)
Meyer Lemon Marmalade makes about 6 half-pint jars
i might not get the 3cups of segments &juice :( but going to try. if i have to cheat & supplement with something, what do my other cooking friends think? i'm also not sure about the baking soda in a preserve :/ but thinking about it. reducing acidity perhaps?
i'm torn about zest vs peel. i would rather go with the zest, but i have made proper marmalade, & the purist in me says peel. i do know that a scratch marm involves cooking & draining the peel several times though (not just the once).
what are other folks thoughts? i'm hoping to finally get around to it this weekend
interesting blurb in chow- the grinder on chinca's food and such imports. not sure that putting quality control in their own hands is such a good thing. but *shrug* other things more pressing in my life.
i will post soon. i have a few things percolating through my brain cells. honest. they're not dead yet jim ;)
to prove i am still alove *g* and because i know i owe a few folk some fun tales of feline foibles :)
i think i have mentioned that treacle has a pair of socks. she claimed them early. and they have been moved for location to location when the whim strikes her. little have i known that it was an indication that treacle is simply a wanna be human with a penchant for organization.
i was in the process of washing some of my many knitted things (gloves, sweater coat, head bnd and such). treacle decided that the gloves didn;t need to be washed and re-located them. ok, perhaps she's got a wool fetish i thought. i put them back in the pile to be handwashed. they got shifted again. and just the gloves. she sorted through the pile to retrieve and remove them. i guess i have lost a pair of gloves. i just didn;t know they were hers....
then i found a package with a few balloons. the inner imp won. i blew some up. they got ignored by all three felines. an intial what the? was expressed. but beyond that- they didn;t care. i then decided to float one in treacles favourite pond (the toilet) to see if that would get a reaction out of her. _WELL!_ she adores jiggling the handle and requesting that the movie channel be played on a regular basis. and she has to fight for viewing space sometimes. because motley also enjoys watching the waterworks.
she patted the ballon. she bobbed it about. tried to hook it with her paw. i made a fearful and regretul face. nothing happened. she got ticked. and climbed onto the seat. more poking ensued. she got more ticked. finally she reached down and bit the balloon. *wince*.... *i open one eye* then i looked stunned. treacle had carefully bit down without breaking it and taken it out of the bowl. she dropped it on the floor, and proceeded to glare at me. i was being toroughly told off for having put something that didn;t belong in my litterbox. i boggled. then to be sure, i of course did it again :) again, she rescued the balloon. although quicker this time. and then stalked away from me. i did have to repeat this again a week or so later. she did the routine again. i have to admit, i am impressed that she could remove the balloon without breaking it. but i am also impressed that her main motivator seems to have been the knowledge that 'it didn't belong there'. because once it was out, she ignored it. as soon as it was seen in the wrong place- she jumped up and took it out.
pity she can't extend her organization skills to include doing things around the apartment ;) i think putting away her cat toys could be an admirable goal. at least stepping on pipecleaners doesn;t hurt the same way as stepping on those dang balls in hard platic cages ;)
btw- priss has sunk to new depths of vacant blonde. upon being chased by treacle one morning, she ran into the hallway. upon seeing the wee stool - she stuck her head into the opening underneath. as her head was under, she plunked the rest of her body down in relief at being hidden. treacle and i watched in amazement for several minutes as she sat there with her head in the sand so to speak) thinking she was safe. treacle walked away (in disgust i think). i lifted the stool to get a 'o! where did you come from?' chirp and look. *sigh* she's cute. not the brightest bulb. but cute.
so priss raced in last night following a small brown blur. omigod, i thought- that's a large mouse. i was dreading the thought of dealing with a large quick rodent, when it flew into the air. a bird! the dread changed to despair. those are equally hard to catch. it could also get seriously injured inside. especially with three cats. barely a second elapsed when i went racing after priss. dammit, it was 930 or so at night, aren't all good birds supposed to be asleep at this hour of darkness?
first priority was getting her away from the poor wee beastie. mission was accomplished with difficulty. and the other two were none the wiser for knowing what was going on (thankfully). she went into my bedroom. the door was shut and the other two were tackled. treacle was pretty easy to catch. motley however, having witnessed the prior two was having none of it. a rather three stooges routine of chasing in circles and reversing proceeded. one way, then the other. at least the bird was safe while we did this. finally he slipped up and zigged rather than zagging. in the room he went too.
now to find the bird. i have a lot of little cubby holes for a creature that size to hide in. so i was only hoping that it was still uninjured. heading to the area in question, i started carefully moving things. in short order the creature was startled anew and flew up. only to batter into the window glass. yikes. then off to my bookshelves. it settled there for a while on teh topmost shelf amid the books.
we watched each other. not much happening, while mutual assessments happened. meanwhile, the cats tried to fit paws under teh door in vain.
i opened the balcony door and thought hopefully of it flying out. i then went towards it again. my luck didn;t improve. it went into the cul de sac bathroom instead of towards the more open area of the living room. now esconced in the towels, it eyed me anew.
i retreated and phoned marsha in a panic. rayna is a bird person, perhaps she would have a clue? and the humane society? some government agency? help! numbers please? and i promise i will phone back with an update.
no luck on the phone calls except to marsha. but at least bird hadn't moved. i went forward again, and it flew out. i didn;t catch where though, so some hurried looking started to happen.
finally i went into the dark second room. turned on the light to see him on the piled laundry on the bed. giving me the eye, he flew up to the ceiling and went into a corner on stuff on teh shelving. tightly holed away and watching me. i thought for a bit and figured he wasn;t going to get away easily and without harm any time soon.
so i thought for a moment. i cleared teh window area, and managed to remove the screen in the small section on the bottom. put out some birdseed and water. then i shut the door. called marsha to update her. then went on with my night. cats were happy to get out of the room, but were none the wiser of the feathered roomate.
the next morning i checked in on him. yup. he had flown the coop. he wasnt in his hiding spot, and i didn;t see him anywhere readily visible. so i could only hope that he figured things out. too much excitment all around. at least it had a happy ending though :)
treacle is a cat of discerning tastes. the new HP book has again succumbed to being munched by her. she doesn't do it to any other book (soft or hard cover), so maybe sustainable printing tastes good? last book was a corner edge. this time she went start for the spine.
exhausted