Daily Archives: March 7, 2009

Smith-Corona

Posted on March 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

No, it’s not a beer and has nothing to do with limes. This machine got me through college.

My HS Legacy

My HS Legacy

I always had a list of people who needed this machine in college and when I finished my paper it went to first in line. Now that I recall, I paid for all those ribbons. This baby has been in storage for nearly five years and we just got it back today. The case was dented in a move 20 years ago.

So good to see you again, my old friend! My Aunt Lorna gave me this typewriter after it got her through college and helped make her an excellent teacher. It was given to me on HS graduation day. I’ll have to find a typewriter shop for a new ribbon but right now I thank my Aunt for the most productive gift I ever received.

At the time it was utilitarian, pre-computer. My mother used to use 12 carbon sheets to present the minutes she took at meetings of the Montreal Board of Trade (our commerce counterpart). She couldn’t make a mistake and did not do so during her tenure. Aunt Lorna’s typewriter is a relic I cherish. Today we have the luxury of computers and delete and edit and spell check features.

Personally, I think we need to challenge kids more, not less, because they can find information now that we could never have gotten back then without countless days in the library and visiting other libraries without a car to get there.

Anyway, I have my baby back. Her case may be dented but I’ll wait for Jim to come back with the dog before plugging her in, as he has already raised concerns about the wiring.

We spent the day clearing out storage. We’re freaking out the dog and may be moving. But we liberated the Smith-Corona, first portable (not in my mind at at over 20 lbs.) in the world that might have sent me blogging!

I’m off to see my husband and dog, they’ve been gone a while. Cheers, Dee

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Reading

Posted on March 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

I haven’t been good with this for quite a while. I used to be a voracious reader but taking care of Jim and the dog and related duties takes its toll. That said, in one 1/2 way cross-country plane trip I devoured “Spain” by Mario Batali with Gwyneth Paltrow. It makes me want to make Spanish foods and tells me what I’ve been missing all these years.

Olive oil, peppers, smoked paprika, I have to visit to be properly inspired. This book and the two shows I saw on PBS make me want to go to Spain and taste the flavors of the food there. Of course there is much to be savored: the people and culture and history.

I love people, food, history, art in many forms, literature and learning about everything I can, including different cultures. In less than a week, people in Scotland were stopping me to ask directions, which I gave in addition to letting them know about free adventures…

My eyes have deteriorated a bit with age, but I’m still at the lowest possible point for drugstore glasses. That said, I’m good with my prescription glasses and tend to wear them most of the time. I only need glasses for reading. And reading is the topic.

I read cookbooks like great literature. Page to page until the end. If there’s a dinner party I used to set up in bed with 7-8 cookbooks and a notebook and create a menu.

Now I cook on the fly and consult cookbooks I’ve devoured as a reference. With age and experience comes a sort of comfort in ones choices. Confession: In a pinch, when I get nervous about a group affair, I do work backwards from initial service and time everything, on paper.

We do love entertaining, but in small groups or an individual and usually for a “family” meal that might include roast chicken, stuffing, gravy, potatoes and a couple of vegetables. Perhaps store-bought vanilla ice cream with a fresh fruit coulis and berries. Complex people, simple tastes. My food rule is to buy the best, cook it simply and try not to mess it up.

What is different these days is that we read more online than in books. Much is happening in that space with Kindle II and now Google wants to digitize all books. That’s an endeavor Jim worked on years before we met. Google might be able to do it although it already comes with lawsuits by copyright holders.

I’m upset that I read nearly 100% of content of newspapers (I have many so have a broad view) but never have the satisfaction of opening the morning paper. Since many folks get their morning coffee elsewhere, why get a paper delivered? I read this morning online that Hearst’s Seattle paper, the Post-Intelligencer, may be the first major newspaper to cease printing and only deliver an online newspaper.

My home page is customized for a number of daily newspapers and market feeds. How many more trees do we need to cut down to line bird cages? That carbon footprint is hundreds of times of ours. At least you know I’m reading. Online. Cheers! Dee

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Challenges

Posted on March 7, 2009 | 1 Comment

I’ve always been interested in herbs and spices, new ideas and locales. A few days or weeks in another state or country awakens the senses. No, I’m not eating vegetarian haggis, thanks for asking.

A new adventure may be afoot. We’ve enjoyed our short-term gigs in Scotland and the UK and Utah over the years. I’m stating Scotland specifically not only because the accommodations and people were terrific, we believe they deserve their nation back. The rest of the time was in the UK, London to be exact.

Our time in Utah was interesting, as we had to manufacture our own “corporate apartment” and I had no car, laptop or cell phone. We had to buy a phone card at the local market that made me dial a 30-digit number to call outside of 1,000 yards from the apartment. I couldn’t call my husband after 4:00 pm at that number because everyone but him had gone home and there were no extensions to dial to. One time they were working on a critical project until 5:00 a.m. and I thought he was dead on the highway because I couldn’t reach him.

I learned a lot more about remote locations in the UK deal. I now have my own laptop, cell phone, Skype, you name it I’m ready for a gig. If it’s three months, we keep our current abode and get corp housing and I know what we need to take along to make it livable (my knives, a few utensils and silverware, food processor, cutting board). If longer, we move our stuff. I don’t look forward to that, as we’ve had five years to amass furniture, books and paper and it’s a time to re-assess our priorities of what to keep, store, or toss out.

That’s more of a job than just moving. It’s stuff to go through and decide what to keep and what to toss. As you may know my mother died several months ago, but for our fifth anniversary she sent a wooden bowl in which she usually served nuts. Yes, it was the “wood” anniversary, I had to look it up.

Please stay with me and forgive lapses in posts. You’ve made this blog and when I can’t post you can imagine coyotes howling or snowy egrets or sheep with strange markings.

Or way too many goats. My m-i-l has had birthings a-plenty and this is either a real business … or not. That’s my urban spin on this, knowing only that when I go to the bathroom when sleeping in Jim’s old bedroom there are bull eyes looking at me from 20′ away. It’s not whether Jim’s folks know how to raise goats, as they’ve been in the beef business all their lives so significant livestock experience is there.

Goat meat has its market. Goat cheese is another. Learning about making goat cheese and helping to create something new would be a challenge I’d like to help Jim’s family meet.

We love our family around the world (literally) and in the U.S. I remember that my father’s great-uncle in Switzerland made him executor of his estate many years ago then reneged upon it because Dad moved too much! We did get a taste of the country and world, and educational and artistic endeavors, through his works here and abroad.

Is it luck to count the folks we’ve met as friends on international and US postings? Yes, I believe so. Great luck. I’ve met so many people throughout my career and life and keep in touch with a sizable but winnowing number. Over the past ten years we’ve lost many of our friends simply because they’re older and wiser and we loved them for those attributes.

Thanks for visiting and contributing. Tomorrow I have to make a lamb arm chop and I’ll either have to marinate it in lemon and rosemary and saute, or braise. Cheers, Dee

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