Morning Has Broken

 

Dear Sirs

Dear Senators Budd and Tillis and Representative Edwards:

I'd like to know if you personally approve of raising the cost of health insurance premiums as will happen if the so-called B.B. Bill goes into effect.

Did you consider a good use of government money to summon 800 military leaders to Quantico to hear a pep talk from a Fox News personality and a rambling, self-congratulatory discourse by POTUS?

Are you on board with sending the military to US cities that have specifically opposed this overreach?

Do you support the use of masked ICE agents who seize  random suspects--including citizens--in their bounty hunter type behavior?

And why are the Epstein Files not being released? What pedophiles are you protecting?

Don't you ever feel embarrassed at the volume of lies coming from the White House?

I'd like genuine answers to these specific questions

Your angry constituent

 

A Culinary Blast from the Past

When John and I were first married (November 1963) and living in a small silver trailer in the Marine Corps' Midway Trailer Park (officially designated as "substandard housing,") at Camp Lejeune, we were living on his corporal's pay. It was not much but enough. (I got a teaching job the following September and we felt like plutocrats.)

But in those early days, we had to watch every penny. The fine china, crystal, and silver we'd been given as wedding presents seemed like a joke in our current circumstances. Plus all that stuff was back in Tampa.

Anyway, after a few months of life in the trailer, we decided we needed a television set and went to a discount store that advertised "90 days --same as cash!"

We selected their cheapest model--a small black and white set that probably cost $150--a not inconsiderable outlay for us.

But! As a bonus they threw in a little paperback cookbook- The World's Best Recipes! 

I was thrilled. I had begun housekeeping with two cookbooks--The Gasparilla Cookbook from the Tampa Junior League (I've worn out two copies and am on my third) and Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two (which was useful but uninspired.)

The World's Best Recipes drew from well known cooks and cookbooks, as well as various celebrities. It was, (and is) a fun read.

Pork chops Charcutiere was one of the recipes that I made over and over. And last night, I made them again and we reminisced about those early days.

(The original little paperback fell apart finally, and I was thrilled to find a used hardcover copy online a few years ago.)

 

Rabbit, Rabbit

 

Professional Sleepers

 

What's for Supper?

Cream of spinach and mushroom soup accompanied by Pumpkin Challah rolls--an early fall delight.

The soup was a no-recipe effort to use up some mushrooms. I sauteed chopped onion and celery in butter, added the mushrooms and sprinkled in a little flour to make a light roux. Added chicken broth and thawed frozen spinach. Cooked till it thickened a bit then stirred in some heavy cream.

The rolls were from a recipe I saw HERE. Mine didn't turn out as pretty and shiny as theirs, but they were extremely tasty. I'm looking forward to some for breakfast too.

 

Three Things

1. Fox pundit turned Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth summons all top level brass to DC for a pep talk.

2. Hegseth announces that the Medals of Honor awarded to combatants in the 1890 massacre of Lakota women and children at Wounded Knee would stand. (The previous SecDef had ordered a review after years of controversy.)  Hegseth called the recipients "brave soldiers."

3. Dear Leader announces that he is sending troops to "War ravaged" Portland, Oregon, authorizing "Full Force, if necessary." (The mayor  and the governor oppose this characterization and action.)

Is this a setup for a coup?

 If protests against ICE are acts of war, what about any other protests? If Dear Leader can declare war on anything he dislikes, how big a step to martial law and no elections?

And if the military is assured that, however heinous and immoral the orders they are given, they will be rewarded for following them, will we see more massacres of innocents?  

And will that "pep talk to the generals and admirals include a loyalty oath to Dear Leader? Hitler called his top brass together for such a purpose. 

Three things. How are they related?

Miscellaneous

 

Jumping Worms

                                                                   

 Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Jumping worms, also known as snake worms

  It sounds like a rock group from the past but it's no joke. Jumping worms are an invasive Asian species and a friend of mine has found them in her beautiful, carefully tended for decades garden. 

Evidently they've been around for over a century, now they're spreading to forested areas where they are altering the ecosystem.

These worms feed on the upper layers of forest litter and they are insatiable. They out compete native earthworms and leave the soil depleted, to the disadvantage of native growth.

As if the current regime weren't bad enough--these guys could be their mascots.

A good article on these critters is HERE.

Early Autumn Blooms

 

 

Our National Embarrassment

After the cringefest at the UN where Dear Leader lied and bloviated to a captive audience, and after his medical advice on Tylenol and autism, there is so much I could say but I'll just content myself with RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!

 

Power to the People

The news that Disney has caved to the massive boycott and that Jimmy Kimmel will return tonight is, to me, a very hopeful sign. I don't think I've ever watched Kimmel, but I deplore the sort of government coercion that this regime is exercising.

We didn't have a Disney subscription to cancel but it was a delight to see so many cancelling that Disney's website for subscriptions crashed. Even my friend Martin in England cancelled his, standing in solidarity with us across the pond!

And what makes me hopeful is the very real demonstration of people power--something we are in sore need of to combat this heartless, corrupt, oligarchical regime. 

Starting with midterm elections . . .

 

Autumn Equinox

 The sun is halfway through his journey across the eastern sky. At the Winter Solstice, he will rise far to the south then begin the slow return.

But for now, our day and night are of equal length. Those long-shadowed summer evenings when the twilight lingered on and on and fireflies danced across the meadows will give way to early dark, the comfort of lighting a fire and pulling up an extra blanket.