Peasant Food

Onions, cabbage, hard bread…staple of the serfs during the middle ages. However, when a cabbage about to go bad is turned into braised cabbage with onion, apple, and honey, it’s not a bad dish. And when excess onions become French onion soup topped with baguette slices and a layer of Gruyère, it’s hard to complain. Then, when you add a Vienna beef hot dog slathered in gourmet mustard to the mix, you might almost think you were royalty.

The blower made quick work of the 3 to 4 inches of snow deposited last night. Tonight, clear and cold.

A Day Late…

…and I’m not talking about the snow. We celebrated New Years this evening with a bottle of Prosecco and tuna melts from Natalie’s.

We may be a day behind, but I’m quite sure we will catch up.

Meanwhile, the snow has finally arrived, though I doubt it will amount to much now that the big blower has been fired up and is ready for service.

In Advance of the Weather

Back home, driving the last half hour in not-quite-freezing drizzle.

Significant snow forecast for tomorrow, so rather than fight it, we are back, and the big snowblower is out of Vi’s garage and crammed into ours. But, will the machine start tomorrow? That is the question (or at least a question). Perhaps we will find out next year.

Great time up north with Abby, Katy, and Will.

Thunder Snow…

…last night.

No warning of approaching storm. No diminishing of a storm moving away. Just five bright flashes spaced several minutes apart, each followed quickly by a loud detonation. At first I thought a transformer on a nearby pole had exploded. By morning about an inch of wet, heavy snow, mostly melted now.

We Were Going To Wrap…

…but the day got away.

What with post party action, a second batch of Dundee cakes (one of the previous batch was attacked by a dog), and getting gifts sorted and organized, the actual wrapping postponed until morning. That’s probably okay with Santo, too, considering the fog. Rudolph will be needed tonight.

More of Tony’s delicious kapusta tonight, although the after effects are distinctly distinguishable.

Model Building?

Not me—at least since high school. Never enough slack time, never enough patience.

But now, with my Santa workshopping completed and Sue still sewing, I brought out the old skipjack kit that has been lying in wait at least 20 years. (I think it might have been a present from brother John.) The glue was hard, but all the pieces seem to be present—so “heave ho, and up she rises.”

Actually, rather enjoying it. Model builders have a skillset I lack, such as pre-visualizing, applying the appropriate amount of glue, and clamping fragile little pieces—but I’m learning. Furthermore, the job requires micro-manipulation—holding and maneuvering itty bitty pieces in tight spaces, which has always given me the heebie jeebies.

But, so far, things seem to be working out, and there have been no deal breaking catastrophes; even when I glued the whole hull to the cardboard below it I was able to recover and reclaim.

Deep down I know I will hit a wall—some major component will break or be missing, or the whole thing will shatter into unrecoverable pieces, but nonetheless I will persevere, and I will exhibit the finished product—whatever it happens to be. The Chesapeake skipjack was a truly great boat, especially if you like oysters.

Sycamore…

…a native American tree, as opposed to its very similar cousin, the London Plane tree. (The University is doing lots of pruning right now.)

And below are the seed balls. Very strange fruit, something like inside out dandelions. The inner parts of the cluster are feathery, for wind dispersal, I believe.

The plan is to grow some this spring, along with the shagbark hickories.

Breakfast…

…with Tom and Mary—holiday get together and book marketing meeting. Also—yard pickup after the gale, which yielded two wheelbarrows-full of dropped branches and other detritus, most of which ended up feeding a fine fire in the (chiminea) fireplace. (Almost got in a good stretch of alliteration.)

And, below, the stack I brought home for the library yesterday. With the short days this time of year, and the limited opportunities outside, I’m ripping through reading matter at a frightful pace, and I can’t keep buying on Kindle. Thank goodness for libraries.

BTW, I wonder what it would be like to have a name like Merlin Sheldrake. My dad had a friend named Aethelston Spillhouse. How cool/awful would it be to have a handle like that?

Inherit The Wind…

…as well as the heat, the storms, the fires, the floods, and the drought. Sixty-six degrees Fahrenheit here in Wisconsin ten days before Christmas.

The Walworth chapter of The Citizen’s Climate Lobby is reading Kathrine Hayhoe’s book, Saving Us, the main point of which seems to be that if we talk nicely to climate change deniers we will be able to convince them that we really are facing a crisis.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any climate deniers, so I don’t have anyone to talk to. A vocal minority, financed by polluter money, are the ones pushing climate change denial, and these misguided or morally corrupt individuals are not going to be influenced by reasonable discussion.

A sizable majority of American citizens realize that we are in the midst of a climate catastrophe. They don’t need convincing, they just need encouragement.

My suggestions for things to do:

1. Vote climate.  All candidates for public office should be thoroughly questioned on their climate position, and that position widely publicized, along with their subsequent action. 
2. Spread the word on, and help neighbors get going on, the Homegrown National Park movement.
3. Encourage, spread the word on, and buy the products of regenerative agriculture. Join the “Kiss the Ground” movement. 
4. Initiate/participate in neighborhood/community action/projects such as community solar.
5. Support environmental organizations such as: FLOW, Midwest Environmental Advocates, and The Nature Conservancy.

All the while, of course, working to reduce personal/family ecological footprint.

Repairs Begun

Post flood basement has received new drywall, and everything else besides carpet is minor. Unfortunately, not everything will be finished by Christmas. Fortunately, that won’t interfere with ping pong.

Ancient cottonwood, now slowly returning its components to where they came from

Squash from neighbor, on tonight’s menu, with seeds saved for planting in our garden come spring.

Ted Lasso update. While season one was fun, season two was awful. The arc of a sports story can only last so long, and then the scripts disintegrate.