Beautiful Things

I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve barely had time to collect my thoughts, much less rub two of ’em together to see if they spark. This morning, however, vivid images past and present swirled in my mind; aided by a thread elsewhere, I resisted the urge to squash a poetic moment. And upon contemplating the result, I decided I liked it enough to put it here.

We finally had a deviation from the unusually damp and cool spring here, and I made good use of it. I’ve been dodging the showers as best I can, getting the garden plot ready for planting. Yesterday morning, I finished that task; and in the afternoon, the snolfs and I finally got the garden planted!

Yes, I continue to dwell on the “Is all fun profitable?” idea. It occurs to me that part of the reason I have difficulty with responses like Brad Spangler’s is that it’s based on something that may be ineffable for as long as humans exist: a way to objectively define, quantify, and calculate relationships among concepts including “profit”, “fun”, “cost”, “risk”, and “happiness”. I could go off on many tangents from that observation—and I may still, in future ramblings—but for today, I will simply say that I am unconvinced that an economics-based analysis is always the best course.

A deceptively simple question, perhaps ... but something I’ve been pondering for quite some time now, actually. It burbled into this question on my recent cross-country drive.

Ignore practical considerations of cost, “relevance”, duplication, etc. What would you focus on in the museum you would love to create?

I’ll provide my answer in the comments, after giving you fine individuals a chance to answer.

You know who you are ... and while you may have thought that I wouldn’t say anything publicly because I didn’t ask permission to, you thought wrong. A very happy birthday to you, my dear badger friend, and warm wishes for very many more! I’m sorry I couldn’t bake a cake for the occasion, but I’ve yet to find a cake that travels through the mail well.

[If you’re a regular here, you may well know the individual to whom I am referring. Even if you don’t, what harm can come from wishing another pro-freedom Family member well?]

... that leads to our door is covered with snow and ice.

Sunni's turkey roasting account spurred me to share my own methods and recipes here. Cooking is certainly one shining example of the idea that there is more than one "right" way to do things! I'll have to try her method one of these days, and thought some of you might enjoy reading about mine.

This method is good for any size turkey, and for any wild game birds. There are some extra tricks for the wild birds, however, so ask me if you want those too.

After blowing off some steam over the ongoing squabbling in The Family, I’ve been able to calm down some. Get into a better frame of mind. Many things have helped me accomplish that, but one choice I made boosted my spirits enormously—and the funny thing is, I didn’t expect my trivial action to have any consequence to my perspective.

The other day we went for a ride in a hot air balloon! It was my first time on such an expedition, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone did, actually; and the crew seemed to like that we enthusiastically helped with packing up after the trip was over too. More, perhaps, when I’ve some time to devote to telling about the adventure ... but that may not be for a while, as we’re going to be on the move again soon.

Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying yourselves too!

Over the garden, that is. Despite the weather being hotter and drier than usual for this time of year, our little plot is flourishing. Follow me outside for a peek, if you’d like ...

You can't keep us 'cause our eyes can see.
Mainly marine images with a classic from Van Morrison.

Someone (not me) recently made a birthday present for their "angel."
(Click the player image on the start button to view here or on another part of the image to get the video at YouTube.)
I have lyrics after the "read more" jump.

I adore the web. It such great fun to meander around, or to search for something or someone and discover treasures that one couldn’t know existed. For art lovers, it’s a wonderful way to explore the corpus of familiar as well as unfamiliar artists without needing travel papers and oodles of money.

The snolfs have long enjoyed playing with my cookie cutters, but they aren't good at taking proper care of them (many are from my mother's collection, which means some are easily 50 years old), so they're generally off limits. This was the first year I thought both of them could handle all the steps in making cut-out cookies, so I gave it a try. We had a lot of fun, and amazingly enough, they lost interest in the cutting and decorating before we ran out of dough. For those who want to see some of the doings, please continue on.