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Post by breeze on Nov 19, 2014 21:54:42 GMT
Oddly enough, we don't appear to have ever had a thread specifically addressing the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal in the United States. At least, I did do a search on 4 different threads and didn't find one, although Thanksgiving is mentioned from time to time. To be perfectly honest, the reason I am starting this thread is that I have been totally indifferent to Thanksgiving for more than 40 years, which is sort of normal considering I have not been living in the United States during all that time, but perhaps a bit odd for someone who was born in the American culture and who enjoyed the Thanksgiving experience during my youth. I would imagine that the main reason that I have never missed it is because French culture has plenty of festive events throughout the year, so I never really felt that I was missing an indispensable holiday. However, this year for some inexplicable reason, I have been having warm thoughts about Thanksgiving and have been wondering what people are doing. My main experience of the holiday all these years has been to see it in various movies where it is sometimes a nightmare and sometimes a touching moment of reconciliation but in any case always considered to be one of the moment important times of the year in the United States. My fantasy Thanksgiving (thanks to Hollywood) takes place in an oversized house. The children watch the parade on television while the womenfolk (where the fuck are the men?) are busy in the kitchen. Family members arrive during the morning from near and far by plane or car. The menfolk offer them drinks (ah, that's where they were!). The meal happens sooner or later, but in my mind I skip the part about the prayers and the heartfelt speeches and the old grudges exploding unexpectedly. I even skip the food since I hate turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and so many other things like that, but I am happy for all of the people who love it. After the meal, the women go back to the kitchen for a major cleaning event (of course) while the men go out for a walk in the cold and a few more beers before the big game. Then there's the football game which a few people watch and most people sleep through. Snacks are served... And really that's all that Hollywood has taught me because usually the scene dissolves at that point to the next morning. After all of these years of not giving the day a thought, this year I sort of miss it for some reason. Old age?
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Post by breeze on Nov 18, 2014 20:16:00 GMT
Mark, if you were to return to your old trade of taking travelers overland, I think you could fill the vehicle with anyporters. I for one would go along just to see you in action in this kind of situation.
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Post by breeze on Sept 12, 2014 21:32:37 GMT
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Post by breeze on Jul 29, 2014 0:27:28 GMT
Happy birthday, Bixa!
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Post by breeze on Jul 29, 2014 0:13:16 GMT
This gets better and better! You said two of the month's parades take place on the last two Mondays of July. Is there some agreement that some groups will march on certain days? Or can they march both days? I know I'd want to march twice, if I could wear a big colorful skirt and flounce it.
I love the corn stalks with the big flowers and the kerchiefed man who hid his face, then looked back at you. I like the young women at the beginning with their striking long black braids. The red and black marching band.
The four little girls with the circlets of twisted scarves on their heads may be my favorites so far. They look so serious and so do the two little boys with them.
The two women in navy blue skirts with simple white tops, and the shawls over their shoulders tied at the waist--so stylish.
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Post by breeze on Jul 27, 2014 22:23:37 GMT
Htmb, “Haven’t killed each other yet” is a very good stage to be at after using that little IKEA wrench on 2500 pieces of furniture.
I'm on a first-name basis with a lot of IKEA furniture. I keep the catalog handy.
Bixa, I hope you get to go to an IKEA. I can't believe Mexico is IKEA-less, but just wait. Oaxaca’s turn will come. Then you can get htmb to come and assemble your furniture.
A few years back we were in France and there were two big headlines in the regional newspaper: “Pope’s Visit” and “IKEA at Argentan” The pope got second billing.
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Post by breeze on Jul 20, 2014 22:05:26 GMT
Ohhhh. I hadn't seen this before. Everything is gorgeous. I would be so proud to wear any of those if I were from the region.
I'm not, so I'd happily make do with some of the white cotton clothing.
Close-ups of the thick embroidery on your flickr photos show meticulous work. A lot of this must be the work of grandmas, wanting their jeans-wearing granddaughters to have something beautiful and traditional in their lives.
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Post by breeze on Jul 17, 2014 0:36:25 GMT
Here's me thinking a long-standing vendetta was exported to Mexico. Obviously, I did not recall what year Columbus reached America. Details, details.
Francisco Toledo won the Right Livelihood Award, wikipedia tells me, and there's a long list of good things he did, in addition to his being remarkably creative. I can only envy that kind of creativity. Some people can bring art out of practically nothing.
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Post by breeze on Jul 16, 2014 15:34:07 GMT
This thread has turned around how I picture Mexico, where I've never been. I've always been fascinated by photos of the markets, the street life, the religious observances, the faces and clothing. The color and variety and exuberance of Mexico come through in photos.
But this visit to the hills, to a quiet place where architecture and art blend, I find even more appealing. There were so few people there on that day that you must have felt it was a real find, Bixa.
Even the churches--and I have trouble appreciating churches, even their architecture--had an unusual simplicity, which I admired right up to the point in your report where martyrdom cropped up. I should have expected it, since there's a lot of that in churches.
Since the Cathars were against killing, I am dubious that they were responsible, and I'd be surprised if the Cathars had such a long arm.
The people working on jewelry, are they working on their own creations, or are they carrying out the designs of other people?
Also, are the wall vines thunbergia on the previous page?
I hope there is more of this.
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Post by breeze on Jul 15, 2014 21:14:02 GMT
I hope there will be more. I'm willing to wait.
Your photo of the cafe scene, with the leaves overhead, some people in full light, the waiter in the shade, captures a beautiful moment that says summer to me.
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Post by breeze on Jul 1, 2014 0:31:15 GMT
My support is the kiss of death for most teams during this Cup. We rooted for Algeria today, so you can blame us for their loss. We felt they deserved better. The calls went against them a lot of the time, or fouls by the Germans were overlooked.
Some commentators call it as they see it, but today's English pair just let all the iffy calls go by without comment. Come to think of it, in most of the matches I've watched, the audience would be shown a replay of the incident twice from different angles so we could make up our own minds, and the announcers would freely give their thumbs up or down to the referee's call. That didn't happen today.
At this point I'd almost rather watch a match between two teams I don't care about so I'm not so invested in the outcome.
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Post by breeze on Feb 27, 2014 5:01:56 GMT
A few days ago I found an old note I'd written back when I had legible handwriting. "To remove splinter from a finger, fill a bottle almost to the top with boiling water, put the injured spot over the hole, and press down. Steam and pressure should pull the splinter out."
I haven't tried this but I'd like to think it would work. My handwriting looks so authoritative!
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Post by breeze on Feb 23, 2014 3:57:38 GMT
That's a timely song for this winter evening, Lagatta. I listened to it on youtube after I read the lyrics.
In Pennsylvania I guess we could substitute "William Penn" for "Cartier."
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Post by breeze on Feb 23, 2014 3:33:06 GMT
casimira, instead of heavy work with machetes, may I suggest groundhogs? Groundhogs will save you a lot of backbreaking work clearing overgrowth. They tunnel too, so any drainage problems you may have will be gone.
We have more than enough here and are ready to export some. As soon as they come out of hibernation, I could send you as many as you want.
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Post by breeze on Feb 22, 2014 0:22:02 GMT
Thank you for showing us this beautiful suburb, MrsFM. Now that you're not in charge of middle-schoolers any more, I hope you have more time to get out and about with your camera.
I'm always impressed to see palm trees thriving in the Paris region, so far north of where I live in the US, which is palm-less. I don't know why the Gulf Stream couldn't have turned west at Philadelphia.
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Post by breeze on Feb 20, 2014 20:15:43 GMT
htmb, over on Slow Travels there's a brief discussion of La Rochelle and Ile de Re. Bruce Mc always has practical advice. slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/3956056284/m/741007469001Thank you, Patrick. Coup d'etat isn't available in the libraries in our state, but Moinot's As night follows day (in translation) is in two libraries I use often. It's now on my list. Marie du marais sounds good but it hasn't been translated into English. Too bad for me. I stumble through French novels. By the time I've reached the end of a sentence, having looked up/guessed at half the words as well as figured out what tense the verb is, I've usually forgotten how it started.
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Post by breeze on Feb 19, 2014 23:02:10 GMT
htmb, it's possible to use McDonald's wifi outside the building. I did have to strongarm my husband into buying a cup of coffee there once, so we could get it set up the first time, but after that whenever we came across a McDonald's, we'd pull in to the parking lot and check our email and never a burger crossed our lips.
When cultural imperialism comes with free wifi, I have to remain silent.
We're planning a trip to France in May-June, so I'm very interested in your planning.
Patrick, what was the name of the novel about the Venise Vert, please?
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Post by breeze on Feb 10, 2014 1:56:19 GMT
Lizzy, your seed starting box is truly impressive. Do you buy seeds for lavender, rugosa roses, and other perennials from a US catalog, a Canadian catalog, or do you have some good gardening stores locally?
Bixa, you asked if violets were growing near the bulbous irises in my photo. I don't think anything else blooms as early as those little irises, though violets pop up later in the grass. Any day now....
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Post by breeze on Feb 7, 2014 15:58:13 GMT
I'm in Pennsylvania, east coast USA, up in the hills where our growing season is supposedly May 10 through October 10. When I read about what you can grow in South Africa and Central America, I wish for gardens on both sides of the equator so that I could have endless spring and summer. I don't want much, do I?
Lizzy, these little bulbs are right next to the house and have never been eaten. Deer are pretty ruthless eaters, but I think you are right about daffodils being safe. Not much is, in spite of what the experts say. I thought deer would not eat kale, but once they got hungry enough, they did.
Lizzy, you also are lucky in your climate. The Pacific NW is the closest we can come to the English climate here in the US. My favorite mail order nursery is not far from you--Forestfarm in Oregon. We have many tall trees we bought as saplings from Forestfarm, costing around $10 each.
I do have a peon that I think will be available to help in the garden this year. He would rather grow vegetables, but I think I can divert some of his energy into garden renovation.
wishing all of you a good gardening year.
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Post by breeze on Feb 7, 2014 12:49:53 GMT
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Post by breeze on Feb 7, 2014 0:57:45 GMT
It's just a little too early here for me to have garden dreams. The first dream usually comes to me some night in late February or early March, and I am walking in my own garden that looks nothing like our ramshackle garden, more like a mini-Sissinghurst. In the dream there are wonderful early plants in bloom, and I marvel at the work I supposedly have done (when?)and am thrilled at so many exotic and special plants. And everything is SO beautifully arranged. Weeds? What are they? This is perfection. I must be quite the gardener! Or is it possible that I now have a garden staff? Please, don't wake me up.
The reality is that once our dog died and we began keeping our cat indoors, small animals started to wreak havoc out there. I have to keep shrubs in cages. I have to plant bulbs in wire cages and dig big holes to bury them. We have to cover blueberry and raspberry plants to keep the birds from getting the fruit. I set out traps that catch nothing. Deer get through the electric fence. Rabbits even come up on the porch and shuffle past me while I'm eating my lunch there. They think I'm St. Francis of Assisi.
I love my garden and I miss it. For years I thought of myself as a good gardener, and I hope to get that feeling back. This thread has started me thinking that this year I want to find my flower garden again. Many of the plants are still there but the whole thing is very overgrown. There used to be a path through it that I now can't find. I need to whack things back and re-establish a path. I need to dispatch moles and voles and chipmunks and groundhogs and rabbits. I want to fill in the gaps, replacing the special things I've lost to desecrators. Things like the Patty's Plum poppy, hellebores, clematises...it's too painful to think of what's gone.
Maybe this is the year I get back to the Phila Flower Show, which is a burst of color and humidity at a time of the year when I need both.
Other people's ideas and work inspire me. I'll be interested to read what everyone else is doing.
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Post by breeze on Dec 23, 2013 15:25:31 GMT
My approach to cleaning was established in elementary school with the story of dear little Miss Mouse. She loved to go out dancing in cute little pink dresses but never cleaned house. At some point she had to give her adorable little house a good scrub. She was so pleased with the result that she resolved to...I don't remember the next part.
Lesson: wait till your house is really dirty and when you finally clean it you'll be so pleased. It's a waste of time to clean before that.
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Post by breeze on Dec 21, 2013 14:19:43 GMT
Ingenious and adjustable. I expect to see a Bixa in the office section of the next IKEA catalog.
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Post by breeze on Dec 20, 2013 2:32:18 GMT
You have my sympathy. It took me a few months of physical therapy to get rid of a computer-caused upper arm problem. My only consolation was that the physical therapist was baffled. Served him right, making me watch Fox News on the exercycle.
You would not be impressed by the beauty of my new desk-like work area, but it's ingenious. Every time I look at it I get a thrill realizing I saved a fortune by not buying a standup desk.
This Rube Goldberg contraption is a half-height bookshelf topped with a 24" x 36" piece of plywood topped with a heavy box of printer paper on which sits the monitor. The keyboard sits on the plywood just below elbow height and the monitor is just at eye height. Perfect, as long as we don't use any more printer paper.
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Post by breeze on Dec 20, 2013 2:20:32 GMT
They have my state down for pizzelles. Probably chocolate chip cookies are more typical, but where in the U.S. isn't that true.
Russian tea balls, aka Mexican wedding cakes, were our family's absolute favorite of the Christmas cookie exchange, made by my mother's friend Sally. I think we each got two of them once a year, so they were like gold to us.
My mother never made them herself, knowing that if she just waited another 12 months, they'd appear with no effort on her part.
Since Mom was a great cook, I figured they had to be too difficult to make, and when my sister made them the first time I was so impressed at her savoir faire.
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