Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
message 5301:
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Nina
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May 13, 2015 12:05PM
I am not sure if anyone wears corsages any more, orchid or not.
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The kids still wear them at their proms & weddings - if they don't forget - which Erin & all did at her wedding last year.:)
Getting our dogs injected with an ID chip is pretty standard now. Apparently there are some cheaper chips that are pretty much a scam, though. They use a 900 prefix that doesn't tell which one of a half dozen companies they are or even keep proper records.http://www.chicagonow.com/steve-dales...
Good idea for Dog protection. I had a white orchid on my prayerbook with tiny white flowers streaming down from it. It was lovely. I don't think the bride would have any place to put an orchid on the sleeveless dresses they all wear now.
Not getting as many messages from goodreads today so this is an experiement to see if any come back to me. Usually, if I send a message it returns so we'll see what happens next.
Jim, that's interesting about the ID chip for dogs.Nina, that's a lovely memory about the orchid on your prayerbook.
Nina, I hope you'll get a Goodreads notification about this post.
James got home safely last night & actually remembered to send us an email to let us know! It's a long drive, 14 hours, from here to RI, but it allowed him to bring his dog, Scrat. She is 14 now, the daughter of 2 of our dogs (Munchkin & Harley) that have died in the past 5 years, so quite special to us in a lot of ways. She's developed a heart murmur so can't fly any more.Had a great time with the boy. I hope we didn't make Marg feel left out as we chatted about flowers, computers, books, our new microscopes & all sorts of things she isn't very interested in. We did take a couple of rides around the farm. James rode Indy bareback & taught him a few things. He's an excellent rider & tried to buck James off once, but he's 6'3" with very long legs. Indy found out that he can stick like a tick.
Mom got an opportunity to go up to RI & MA, so dropped in at James' house on the spur of them moment & spent Friday night with Lauren, his girlfriend. That flustered Lauren, but she survived it & Mom took off Saturday morning early. She's supposed to drop by again on her way back home Sunday for a while to see them both. It's kind of funny. Mom has mellowed a lot, but is a bit of a family legend. To hear Lauren tell it, you'd think she swooped in on a broom rather than getting a ride in a car.
;)
Glad you enjoyed your son's visit, Jim. As for your mom's visit, it sounds like the mother-in-law syndrome. Hard to escape it.
Your message today sounds like a short story. I love some of your phrasing/stick like a tick and others/riding on a broomstick. Fun to read on a rainy day here.
Close, Joy. More the fear of mother-in-law syndrome & surprise. Mom is suddenly popping up in unexpected places & doesn't mind couch surfing. Lauren said they actually had a good time. They're both really into plants & the guest room bed was on its side because of the cold & sudden influx of boarders (Lauren home boards dogs for a living.) so Mom's sudden decision had her sleeping on the couch since James wasn't there & Lauren had her hands full.We're getting rain too, Nina. Thankfully! It's been very dry here.
We're going to the local Shaker Village for a trail ride this morning.http://shakervillageky.org/
A friend of ours is spending the weekend there & we're going to meet her for this morning's explorations. They have about 3000 acres to ride, hike, & bike on. We've been there riding a few times & always had a good time. There's rarely many people, lots of wild life to see, & beautiful scenery. Should be fun.
Have a good time, Jim.
My horsey daughter would be jealous. Have fun. I know your horse will.
We had a good, fun ride. Chip was perfect, as usual. Only spooked a few times & I was in no real danger of coming off. My bareback pad is fantastic! Very comfortable even after 2 hours & it lets me ride in shorts. It was sunny & warm out, lower 80's, but breezy so there weren't many flies & it didn't feel terribly hot. Chip got sweaty, but I hosed him off when we got back to the trailer & he really appreciated that. I appreciated being able to hose him rather than washing him out of a bucket. They weren't crowded, maybe 6 or 8 other trailers there, so we turned the horses out in a paddock & had our lunch which we'd brought.The ride was beautiful. I got some pictures, but nothing fantastic. I missed the bit of wildlife we saw - a deer & huge hawk. They've done a great job restoring the farms which are mostly bordered by dry-stacked rock walls with vertical tops (the stones are edge up at an angle). They have a tendency to fall down over time as the weather & trees push them over & take real skill to build properly. We saw repairs going on in several places.
Good company between Marg, Monica, & Nancy. All were on fairly green horses, so Chip led fairly often. He didn't shy at a single dead tree or limb, which surprised me. He usually thinks they're dragons laying in wait. He gave everyone a lead through the one stream we crossed. He wished it was bigger & thought the one splash he made was pitiful, but the others thought it was scary.
I was bushed by the time we got back. It's about 1.5 hours each way. Marg is pretty sore. Her hip was good for about 1.5 hours into the ride & then my suggested 'short extra loop' took longer than expected & did her hip in. Drat.
It will be a good memory when winter comes howling in next January.
Another death. Just learned my sister in law died yesterday. She was ninety and not in good shape so it is a sad blessing. Sad to lose a sibling but blessing she no longer is suffering. She lived in Atlanta. As my husband said, "Last month it could have been me" and that would not have been a blessing. The other way around. That it wasn't him it truly a blessing. I count them. nina
Jim wrote: "We had a good, fun ride. Chip was perfect, as usual. Only spooked a few times & I was in no real danger of coming off. My bareback pad is fantastic! Very comfortable even after 2 hours & it let..."Jim, glad you had a good time. It looks like a fun place!
Nina wrote: "Another death. Just learned my sister in law died yesterday. She was ninety and not in good shape so it is a sad blessing. Sad to lose a sibling but blessing she no longer is suffering. She lived i..."Sorry to hear the sad news, Nina. My condolences to all.
Nina, what Joy said! Barb and I will be praying for your family.
Strange what sticks out in your memory of a person. Just before we heard of my sister in law's death I had had said to my husband, "Jean was such a good cook. She made carrot cake in the fifties when no one had ever heard of it." Of course, I remember other things about her, but that thought stuck in my mind.
Thanks for your caring condolences. I will pass them to my husband.
Nina wrote: "Strange what sticks out in your memory of a person. Just before we heard of my sister in law's death I had had said to my husband, "Jean was such a good cook. She made carrot cake in the fifties wh..."So true. Whenever I see the following, I think of my father because he had these bushes in his garden or he planted one at our house: bridal wreath and forsythia, respectively.
PS-I think of my MIL when I see rhubarb pie because the first time I had ever heard of it was at her dinner table.
Joy, I grew up eating rhubarb pie and rhubarb sauce. When my husband and I were first married and he was still in school, we were living on his GI bill and not quite starving and his aunt took pity on us and gave us jars of her canned rhubarb so we have a fondness for rhubarb.
Joy, I grew up eating rhubarb pie and rhubarb sauce. When my husband and I were first married and he was still in school, we were living on his GI bill and not quite starving and his aunt took pity on us and gave us jars of her canned rhubarb so we have a fondness for rhubarb.
Joy, I grew up eating rhubarb pie and rhubarb sauce. When my husband and I were first married and he was still in school, we were living on his GI bill and not quite starving and his aunt took pity on us and gave us jars of her canned rhubarb so we have a fondness for rhubarb.
As Joy quoted on another thread, "One man's meat is another man's poison." :-) I was introduced to rhubarb once as a small child, and really disliked it (I found it ultra-sour, and lacking in any appealing feature). There are actually very few foods that I refuse to eat, but to this day rhubarb (along with sardines --oily, bony and generally noxious) tops that list. Childhood food impressions tend to be the most ingrained, I think.
Nina, I love Rhubarb pie. It's sweet.Werner, was the rhubarb you tasted in a pie? Was it sweet?
No, Joy, the rhubarb I tasted was stewed, by itself, and was anything but sweet. I'm sure it would be better in a pie, where sugar and other ingredients would help to mask the taste; but for me, that would be much like mocha ice cream (since I don't like the taste of coffee either) --my philosophy is, if you're going for something that tastes good, why start with a main component that doesn't but can be masked, when you could go with something that's good-tasting to begin with? :-)
Werner, I can understand why you don't like rhubarb!I often wonder why I like coffee. It's has a strange taste. Actually, it must be an acquired taste. I do need at least a half teaspoon of sugar in it. But I do enjoy it.
PS-I love artichokes, but my husband doesn't like them. Again, it's an acquired taste.
Our Internet was awful this weekend, so I couldn't post pictures of our trail ride at the Shaker Village. I've done so now here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
Thanks for the pics, Jim. That's beautiful country! Did you trailer all those horses? If so, how do the horses fare during those rides?About the stone wall, it's incredible! Yes, so much labor! Back in our hometown downstate, there's a stone wall along a fairly busy but country-like road with woods alongside much of the way. I noticed that the stones are slowly being stolen away and the walls will probably disappear sometime in the future. I once called the cops to tell them that the stones were being taken away but what can the cops do? It's a shame.
It is beautiful & they do a lot of work making it so. It's very reasonable, too. KY does a great job supporting parks & places like this. It was only $10 per horse to ride there & they use the honor system for payment. No one is around or checking. Of course, those of us who use it tend to keep an eye out to make sure no one else abuses it, either. Yes, we all trailered our horses in. They all do fine. Some are more nervous than others & it's best if they have a buddy along, but Indy often goes off by himself.
Loading them on is usually the biggest issue. We've been working with Indy on loading a lot. He suddenly decided he wasn't going to get on a month or so ago. Of course, that didn't work out for him, but was a pain, so we practice loaded him a couple/few times almost every night until he now walks on without a lead.
Most people don't appreciate rock walls. I do, but I've built & repaired quite a few. Some were built because I had to clear the rocks from an area, just like farmers of centuries past. It's a lot of hard work.
Have you ever noticed rock walls that zig-zag through the woods for no apparent reason? I wondered about those until I read one of Eric Sloane's books where he puzzles about the same thing. He finally figured out that folks put up a snake fence* & then piled rocks next to it. When the field was abandoned, the wood fence disappeared & the woods grew up, so only the rocks remained.
*A snake fence is made up of split rails stacked alternately at their ends at angles to each other.
I suppose the horses do get a little nervous when they have to travel. Poor things.Interesting about the zig-zag fence and piles of rocks. (Thanks for the pic.) Why couldn't they just pile the rocks and have the wood fence straight?
We had a rock wall in our back yard downstate. It supposedly marks the boundary lines of the property. Yes it was a rocky area and whenever we did any planting we had to deal with rocks!
Jim wrote: "Our Internet was awful this weekend, so I couldn't post pictures of our trail ride at the Shaker Village. I've done so now here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s......"Nice pictures of a perfect day.
I love the zig zag fence. We have split rail across the road from us; the border between the open field and the street and I wish it zigged.
Joy, did you ever eat strawberry rhubarb pie? It is one of my favorites. And Werner, I have never eaten rhubarb without sweetening so I guess, unlike your first taste, mine was good. I can understand yours must have been bitter tasting. Too bad.
I just read that 85 per cent of tea drunk in the US is iced tea. When I moved to Milwaukee after marriage no one there had ever heard of putting ice in tea. And when we visited NJ in 1960 none of the people we were visitng there had ever eaten chili.
Nina wrote: "Joy, did you ever eat strawberry rhubarb pie? It is one of my favorites. And Werner, I have never eaten rhubarb without sweetening so I guess, unlike your first taste, mine was good. I can understa..."Nina, I'm not sure if my MIL ever mixed in the strawberries with the rhubarb. She might have. Sounds like a good idea! My husband remembers only rhubarb in the pies, but his mother did grow strawberries! She had endless energy!
Nina wrote: "I just read that 85 per cent of tea drunk in the US is iced tea. When I moved to Milwaukee after marriage no one there had ever heard of putting ice in tea. And when we visited NJ in 1960 none of the people we were visitng there had ever eaten chili."I'm surprised at that fact about tea, Nina. I would expect most people to drink tea hot. Perhaps that's only in England. :)
As for chili, I think I remember putting "Chili Sauce" on clam cakes. I think it came in a bottle like ketchup, but I'm not sure. Do they still sell it like that? Did they ever? It wasn't as spicy as you might think. Otherwise, I don't think I've ever eaten chili except for when it might be in salsa.
Joy H. wrote: "Interesting about the zig-zag fence and piles of rocks. (Thanks for the pic.) Why couldn't they just pile the rocks and have the wood fence straight?"It's how the field evolves. Simplistically & typically, fences were made as the field was cleared. This meant felling the trees which were then cut & split up for rails. The ground was stony, so instead of posts, they stacked rails at angles which supports itself without posts & creates a solid looking wall to the animals. As time goes on, more clean up is done in the field & rocks keep sprouting, so they are carried over to the fence & grew into rock walls in their own right.
In reality, it was rarely that straight forward. Fences were usually a conglomeration to start with. Often stumps that were pulled were laid on the edge of the field & supported rails as well as having roots which were also a barrier. Other areas had rails & rocks wedged between trees, even brambles were used. Some areas did get the snake fence, though. Sometimes rocks were piled so people could get over the fence more easily, but not the animals. In the later 1800's, barbed wire & metal fence posts became readily available. It was easier & cheaper to put them inside the old fences & let the forest take over the old fences rather than moving all that material out of the way to gain a few extra feet.
Maintaining a fence is tough, especially a snake fence. The bottom rails tend to rot first, but all of them start to go where they lap & stay damp. Depending on the conditions & the type of wood, a rail could rot out in a few years. In order to replace 1 bottom rail, at least several sections on either side have to be dismantled. While I've done it alone, it goes a LOT faster with 2 or 3 people.
While there is a lot of science behind fencing animals in, there's also a lot of art & bowing to circumstance. Even today with all our high tech, keeping animals in or out is tough & it's never 100%. Something is always breaking, wearing out, or getting over run.
I am now wondering if any of you goodreaders ever ate chili/the official name is chili con carne/chili with meat. The chili I am referring to is something you cook by browning hamburger with onions and then add cans of kidney or red beans and then add canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce or catsup and sometiems a bit of Worchestire sauce and last some chili powder. You then cook this mixture on low for about forty minutes and it is so good with cornbread. Also, Harry Truman had a favortie restaurant here that served chili without beans and he frequented it often.
And yes, Joy there stil is chili sauce that comes in bottles. You can add that to the chili I was describing if you care to do so. Most of the times it is served with boiled shrimp.
When I was a kid growing up, we sometimes ate browned hamburger mixed with kidney beans (and called it "chili"), but not mixed with any of the other seasonings you mentioned, Nina.
Jim wrote: "....they stacked rails at angles which supports itself without posts ..."Jim, I didn't realize there were no posts. What a good idea! Of course, the upkeep is a problem. Thanks for explaining all this.
Nina wrote: "I am now wondering if any of you goodreaders ever ate chili/the official name is chili con carne/chili with meat. The chili I am referring to is something you cook by browning hamburger with onions..."Nina, I've heard of chili con carne but I'm not sure if I've ever had it. I don't think so. Thanks for the translation (chili with meat). I didn't know that... but I guess I should have. :)
Nina wrote: "And yes, Joy there stil is chili sauce that comes in bottles. You can add that to the chili I was describing if you care to do so. Most of the times it is served with boiled shrimp."Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, Nina, my husband sometimes serves boiled shrimp (shrimp cocktail) with a red sauce of some kind. He adds horse-radish to give it zest.
What are you doing today?Went to Mimis with a friend and the service was not great. I rarely go to Mimis, she goes more and according to her the service has always been great but our waitress was no good today, until the end that is. My orange juice came in a glass that had all these brown spots on the outside so I had them switch it. She ordered bread, which is I guess free and they serve while your food comes, well, the bread NEVER came. She didn't remind the waitress because she was pretty annoyed already that when the lady came to pour more coffee, without first asking, she spilled some on my friend's hand. So then our well done burgers came but my friend's had all these raw spots - gross! It wasn't until the end that our waitress was a little more attentive but too late we left no tip. My friend talked to the manager and he gave her this note signed saying free entree next visit, which was great but I thought it was weird that it was just a written note in back of a Mimi's card. So anyways, this is why I RARELY do restaurants. I'd rather cook at home.
Later I went on my own to Michaels to get me some washi tape. <3333
Mercurialgem wrote: "Went to Mimis with a friend and the service was not great... Later I went on my own to Michaels to get me some washi tape. <3333 "Mercurialgem, I guess you won't be going back to Mimi's! :)
What's washi tape?
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