So here we are back in O-town [that is an o not a zero, please] and the drive home was just like a drive home.
I remember the Prince of Wales once being asked by a journalist upon his arrival in Canada how his flight had been, and he responded, “Have you ever been on a trans-Atlantic flight?” To which the hapless journalist responded, “Yes.” “It was just like that,” said Prince Phillip and walked away. He got a lot of flack for it, but I think it was a great answer to a stupid question.
And the azalea, which looked like it was toast, has magically re-inflated, trying to take my mood with it. It looks like I feel, a little wrinkled, dehydrated and in need of a trim:
We didn’t get home until after 1:00 in the morning, because we, initially I, but then joined by patient and equally obsessive hubby and ultimate chauffeur, couldn’t stop boiling the syrup down. I feel like a proud mama. The birth might have been a touch premature, and we might need to boil it up again to achieve the golden magic boiling temperature that lets you call it syrup. Boil it on the barbecue, not on the stove, I might add, a mistake someone made at the in-laws’ cottage. Honestly it wasn’t me … at least if it was my memory has handily erased all traces of it. [Unlike the futile attempt to clean the ceiling, ed.] The memory has not been erased in my mother-in-law’s astute brain, however, and she might have mentioned it just the other day, but I have forgotten already. Practice makes perfect [or permanent, ed.] after all.
So here is what we brought home, having left about twice this at the cottage to be finished by mum-in-law:
Oh, sorry, that is the desiccated puffer fish we gave to my dearly departed pop after an incredible holiday in Guadeloupe. We were meant to go to Martinique, but it all worked out in the long run. We even eventually made it to Martinique, where I came within an eyebrow’s hair width of terminating his life even sooner, with an errant, very errant, golf ball. I was five months pregnant with Mikey, and my swing, while better than ever before, was now mighty but inaccurate. Something to do with getting the baby out of the way of your swing. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend getting pregnant in order to golf better, but it is an option young ladies might consider. It also allowed my dad to shout “Zero” [instead of “Fore”, for you non-golfers out there who are not laughing] after a fellow on the tee ahead of us swung at the ball with an iron of some sort, and the head of the club came off and flew down the course. The fellow wasn’t amused.
This [at long last, ed.] is the syrup:
It is a ludicrous enterprise – a full day’s labour, and I am too much of a weanie pup to actually collect all the sap. Carrying buckets through deep snow wearing snow-shoes kind of went out the window with my irritating internal issues. So I had to get a sap to do that [thanks, sap!], and then of course there is the burning of approximately a forest’s worth of wood, releasing carbon into the atmosphere like the rotten Canuck that I am, so that we can have the nectar of the gods on our oatmeal. Now steel cut so we can fit in with the right people.
Straight from the woods to the city always hits me in a strange way. I think I just love the traps I have created, but sometimes they do have walls.
But I hope you have a wondrous Wodensday, those same syrup producing gods willing.
Good heavens, I forgot to include these cool, if I do say so myself [and you do, ed. [well, it wasn’t warm, ha!]], pictures of drops of sap, and the snowy woods I was lucky enough to enjoy. My little Mouse did not think it queer to stop without a farm house near, btw. She thought it was boss, if I am allowed to use that word of a female, who after all is a Bernese Mountain Dog mixed with an Australian Shepherd, so is in fact, a Baussie.
18C here today. it is coming your way Xty.
i am spoiled. i get a gallon of maple syrup from a friend every year. i may have to bump that up – i have been using more of it. have you ever tried it as a glaze on salmon Xty?
dollar down another 30 cents today – so 80 cents in two days. unreal.
Absolutely to salmon and maple syrup and baked beans! – but you preach to the choir. From dawn to dusk, if people aren’t stopped.
I know a guy who raved about mac and cheese w/ maple syrup- I tried it- I’d rather have it as Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown Ale.
GREEN, not gold or silver-
http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/biotech-pharma/articles/Marijuana-Will-Be-the-Single-Best/2/27/2014/id/53944
remember this bet/debate
facebook vs silver (couldn’t get comparison chart to post)
yup – i get some dark and smoky maple syrup most years for free. works great for beans, salmon, and BBQ sauces. unfortunately my friend only is going to have the good stuff this year (amber grade) because he ran out of wood to burn, due to the WFH (Winter from Hades).
yes, Dude. i see that the so called “face plant” has now lapped silver – twice.
a cat and a duck went for a walk. well, that’s all i got so far…
Maybe they are thinking about hating dogs and planning an attack.
As to green being a good investment, that is very interesting. Maybe I should look more closely at that Hershey’s plant.
Oh, and mac and cheese with syrup sounds fairly ghastly. Unless maybe it was maple bacon on the side. My in-laws eat ridiculously well, and I am in full food mode. Lots of fish, including smoked trout that was very toothsome. Kale. Squeeze o.j. every morning.
It really is a heavenly place. Even turkey schnitzel was delicious.
Did someone say schnitzel? My ears always perk up on that.
And Peckerwood, you are right, the dollar has fallen out of bed in recent days.
And the reaction in the metals? Yawn. Especially silver.
It just had to be said.
Here’s good news. I engaged in a short term trade this week, for the first time since last October. I seldom do such a thing, but let’s chalk up a $500 gain for the good guys. That’s money taken right out of the mouths of the trust fund babies of the high frequency traders, and I can’t think of anything more noble than that! Filthy lucre, indeed.
How did it work? On Tuesday morning the market had been down three days in a row, and everybody was screaming that the bubble had burst. So of course I went long with some spare cash (all that silver money, heh, heh). Set my sell limit for a $500 gain, and it hit on Wednesday afternoon. Ka-Ching.
Sometimes it really is that easy. Of course, next time I’ll give it all back, and then some. 😯
Here you go. A chart of Facebook, priced in silver. With a 200 day on there, just for grins.
I was one of those wise guys, cheering on silver as FB initially collapsed. Talking smack about maybe buying FB at $10 or so. Yeah, that was me.
Well, here’s the reality. It’s been a bull market. Still is, even with FB pulling back.
EO, pulling the late shift, all by his lonesome, apparently. I’m sauna’d, I’m showered, tomorrow is a big day, in my little world of tax deadlines. In early, home late, bang it out, time’s a wastin’, stand tall or not at all.
Just clicking through, from one thing to the next.
This is pretty damn good. Any fan of “Wicked”, which I am, will be moved nearly to tears.
Anna ain’t no Idina, but not shabby at all, and the song is of course amazing.
As they said in “Animal House”, let’s take the cheese.
I would guess Tibet is “somewhere like Nepal”, but…whatthehelldoIknow?
W.O.D. chatter, for those who don’t partake.
Tibet. lol
I probably just made the biggest insult ever. Like saying Illinois is somewhere like Wisconsin.
about 7-8? years ago, i did the Master Cleanse. For 21 days i only drank Grade B maple Syrup in lemonade.
I had set 21 days as the goal when i started, and man was that an experience. mmmmm, and i still love maple syrup.
Peanut butter (or even better- Almond Butter) and syrup sandwiches… Maple syrup on my frosted flakes, cinnamon toast, oh yeah.
My niece and useful nephew-in-law did that purge a few years back, before they bred, and I wondered at the time where they got the idea from – water and maple sap – they didn’t even drink syrup I don’t think. How did you feel? It honestly sounds terribly unhealthy, from someone who has lived on smoke and coffee. But not today I might add. I have had to give up coffee, pretty much, and I used to absolutely love it. And this is embarrassing – it turned out that the Red Rose – yes, they may like food but they cannot be trusted – was decaf – and I didn’t notice. So for about a week, until I was informed of the perfidy, it was no caffeine. But I remember reading somewhere, and I cling to it like it must be true, that caffeine is good for you and keeps you alert and good to go. It was the first drug they gave Mikey, literally, when he was first born and it was the last drug he was weaned from. He didn’t have many, just ventilin mostly and oxygen, but caffeine all the time. Kind of makes you like the stuff.
And good morning. I often think that tea and reefer, and previously my good friend coffee, have really enhanced my enjoyment of life. And red wine, chocolate and salmon. Like a dessert island list of food, those could keep me going for ages, throw in a pineapple or two.
and schnitzel. 😛
Even if it has to be made with turkey.
My 21 day Master Cleanse was extremely healthy. Best thing i ever did to improve overall health. But i needed to do it.. wouldn’t recommend it as something to do just to do.
I was never hungry, because if you get hungry you just drink the maple syrup lemonade. But there were lots of interesting ‘phases’. All the major craziness was over by the tenth day or so.
By about day 17 i almost felt so content? clear-minded? it was weird. And my sense of smell was magnified by about 10! (why? i have no idea)
OK, so I’m a degenerate gambler after all.
If the Dow can go green sometime today, I’ll make another 200 bucks.
Baby steps. Our adviser fellow is very keen on not looking for home runs, and $200 bucks is a fine amount.
I have not refreshed anything today because I was off getting an injection into my hip that I will undoubtedly rant about later. Let me just say that I expected it to hurt, but that was ridiculous – not the doctor’s fault, just taking the sorest part of one’s body, the saga of which you have been grossly exposed to, and sticking a needle three inches into it, is a strange way to try to ameliorate a chronic problem, even if it is a good idea. I am going to be a pain baby today, but two Christmases ago my lovely offspring gave me a certificate for a 90 minute massage, which is booked for today at 11:30! I have only had a few massages before and they were all great and the contrast to what just happened should make this a rare treat. Selfish Friday got off to a rough start but it is going to have a fabulous finish, I hope.
Well, I’m out, and book the two hundo.
dunno if it helps you at all xty, but maybe you can vicariously bask in the glow…
Well, I am finally recovering from that lovely experience this morning. Not to go on and on, but well, you know me – it friggin’ really hurt. I had no pain meds through two births (Mikey doesn’t count ’cause they sliced my belly open) but this got me swearing and making bad noises. A poor older lady in the waiting room made great eye-contact with me and we had a slightly humorous exchange and I tried to reassure her I was an unusual victim. Ow.
I went and bought some nice wine though, and what with a little help from my little green friends I feel only slightly worse than I did when then started. But you can be assured you will get a blow by blow of the developments, if any.
That was a terrible comment.
I love our sump pump by the way.
There aren’t many Paul Simon songs I would admit to liking, but this is one of them
Which always reminds me of this surprising song by Max Webster
Yup, sounds like pain control is kicking in…
um, yeah.
Man it still feels like I was pushed from the frying pan to the fire! Dangity!
Distraction is hard to come by in the wee hours, but it can be done. I think I will put up an album of the day, but I might have trouble with the mp3. Let’s see what the internets can do! (Which is a reference to the end of a poem by Stanley Holloway I think, about Little Albert being eaten by a lion at the zoo; I better look it up.)
There’s a famous seaside place called Blackpool, That’s noted for fresh air and fun, And Mr. and Mrs. Ramsbottom, Went there with young Albert, their son. A grand little lad was young Albert, All dressed in his best; quite a swell, With a stick with an ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle, The finest that Woolworth’s could sell.
They didn’t think much to the Ocean: The waves, they was fiddlin’ and small, There was no wrecks and nobody drownded, Fact, nothing to laugh at at all. So, seeking for further amusement, They paid and went into the Zoo, Where they’d Lions and Tigers and Camels, And old ale and sandwiches too.
There were one great big Lion called Wallace; His nose were all covered with scars, He lay in a somnolent posture, With the side of his face on the bars. Now Albert had heard about Lions, How they was ferocious and wild, To see Wallace lying so peaceful, Well, it didn’t seem right to the child.
So straightway the brave little feller, Not showing a morsel of fear, Took his stick with its ‘orses ‘ead ‘andle And pushed it in Wallace’s ear. You could see that the Lion didn’t like it, For giving a kind of a roll, He pulled Albert inside the cage with ‘im, And swallowed the little lad ‘ole.
Then Pa, who had seen the occurrence, And didn’t know what to do next, Said “Mother! Yon Lion’s ‘et Albert,” And Mother said ” Well, I am vexed!” Then Mr. and Mrs. Rarnsbottom, Quite rightly, when all’s said and done, Complained to the Animal Keeper, That the Lion had eaten their son.
The keeper was quite nice about it; He said ” What a nasty mishap. Are you sure that it’s your boy he’s eaten ? ” Pa said “Am I sure ? There’s his cap! “ The manager had to be sent for. He came and he said ” What’s to do ? “ Pa said ” Yon Lion’s ‘et Albert, And ‘im in his Sunday clothes, too.”
Then Mother said, ” Right’s right, young feller; I think it’s a shame and a sin, For a lion to go and eat Albert, And after we’ve paid to come in.” Then off they went to the Police Station, In front of the Magistrate chap; They told ‘im what happened to Albert, And proved it by showing his cap.
The manager wanted no trouble, He took out his purse right away, Saying ” How much to settle the matter ? ” And Pa said ” What do you usually pay?” But Mother had turned a bit awkward, When she thought where her Albert had gone. She said “No ! someone’s got to be summonsed”, So that was decided upon.
The Magistrate gave his opinion That no one was really to blame, And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms , Would have further sons to their name. At that Mother got proper blazing, “And thank you, sir, kindly,” said she. ” What, waste all our lives raising children, To feed ruddy Lions? Not me!”
Ah, this is better. Both parts read out loud by the author, as is best. It is all a poke at Yorkshire men for being tight like bark to a tree with their money.
“This video contains content from WMG and Adshare MG for a Third Party, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”
So………..young Albert came back, did he? Do tell, the lad seems a bit of a real pisser.
Heavens, I mustn’t leave you hanging! I just put up a new post, so I will post the second breathtaking instalment under it.