Shipwrecked & Comatose

When you were a kid, did you wonder what Scooby Snacks tasted like? Shaggy wanted to eat them as well as Scooby.   They couldn't have tasted like dog biscuits, could they?  Would anyone's vocabulary contain the word "cranny" if it weren't for Thomas' English Muffins?  Has anyone ever used the word "cranny" without it being preceded by the phrase, "Nooks and..."? Yesterday I was online looking for a recipe and I found one on an old, neglected food blog.  The blog was a non-commercial, simply-formatted, ad-free Blogger piece - just like this one and The Essential Rhubarb Pie.  I miss the days of homespun bloggers.  When I first started blogging, food blogs were a community of simple sites, written from the heart, by people who weren't obsessed with self-promotion or media presence.  We formed a community.  We read each other's blogs and formed online friendships.  People read my blog because they liked my writing and my take on r...

At the beginning of 2018 I deleted my Facebook .  I didn't tell anybody what I was doing.  I wanted to disappear and go on with a new phase of my life.  During that year I read more books, I had a cleaner house, and I wrote more blog posts.  I lost some weight too. The down side is that I lost some connections with people.  Facebook is the main way many of my friends socialize.  I had Instagram, but Instagram lacks the same interactive quality.  I can post anything on Facebook.  Instagram requires a photo.  It's also harder to share other people's posts on Instagram, so I don't have the option of sharing something I like from another friend with my friends list.  Furthermore, many of my closest friends didn't use Instagram regularly if they used it at all.  That left me with reaching out to individual friends with emails and phone calls.  I often felt guilty doing so because I know many of my friends are busy and going throug...

Every year around this time I find myself raging against the folks who believe there is a War on Christmas.  Over and over again I talk about how we are all entitled to celebrate the way we want , or how n obody is obligated to feel a sense of good cheer when wished a Merry Christmas , or how telling a non-Christian to have a Merry Christmas is like wishing someone else a Happy Birthday when it's your birthday .  I'm sure even my friends who agree with my are tired of reading posts like this.  I'm also sure I'm preaching to the choir.  My friends who believe in the War on Christmas are never going to read my rants and miraculously see the light.  I am nothing more than a single blogger with little to no audience (my last post here on S&C had twelve views).  I can't change the world, so I should give up. In that spirit, rather than return the rage of the War on Christmas, maybe it's time for me to understand where that fear and anger comes from. Fea...

I have had no budget for new clothes this season.  This has turned out to be the perfect time for this to happen.  The ugliest colors are trending now.  All these earth tones are ugly and depressing.  The negative energy from all this brown is bringing me down. I need color.  No clothes shopping for me. I know I'm a dedicated omnivore, but I'm not against having the occasional vegetarian or vegan meal.  However, if I want to eat plant-based, I want to eat it the way I always eat.  I prefer to enjoy food as natural and close to its original form as possible.  When I am in the vegan mood I will enjoy falafel, or a well-made bowl of rice and beans (I made an awesome three-bean chili recently), a vegetarian pad thai, or a simple almond butter and jelly sandwich with all-fruit preserves on whole grain bread.  I want to eat food I can recognize. What I can't bring myself to eat are these new meat amalgams that are becoming popular on the market...

If you were to ask me that number one inconvenience that bothers me during the fall season it's the traffic.  Every weekend I have to drive seventy miles one way to visit my horses in the rurual corner of northwest NJ.  This area (that also includes the area over the border in Orange County NY) is filled with apple orchards, farms, and parks.  This time of year the hordes of people seeking a day in the country clog the roads and double the length of my drive home.  I'm exhausted at the end of the day and I want to go home.  Instead I sit behind the wheel of my car shaking my fists at the "apple pickers" who impede my ability to go home to a hot shower, dinner, and bedtime. There have been some perfect days for riding in recent weeks, but I often stay home to avoid the headache of traffic, even though I miss my horses.  For example two weeks ago I didn't have rehearsal on a Sunday (rare) and I stayed home anyway because it was the Warwick Apple Fest, as we...

If you're a Republican, even if you proudly wear the label of hardcore and right wing, it's okay to not support Trump. That's right.  You are allowed to not like him.  You are allowed to turn your back on him. There is an unfortunate element of tribalism happening in the country today.  We pick sides and our side is always right, even if a member of our team is clearly corrupt or incompetent or inept.  We will dig in our heels and defend the undefendable just because he is one of ours. Both sides do it, but in my observations, Republicans do it far more.  I have seen many politicians and other public figures on the right manage to continue long careers after major scandals and even imprisonment (think Jim Baker).  Democrats are more likely to be ruined by scandal (think John Edwards or Gary Hart). I see so many people twisting themselves into knots trying to defend Donald Trump.  It must be exhausting.  Is this because it's easier to suppo...

I hate it when toilet paper commercials claim using the advertised brand will prevent skid marks on your underwear.  Not only is it gross, but it's misleading.  Skid marks aren't caused by improper wiping.  Skid marks happen when you don't eliminate fully.  If you clear all poop from the chute, you will wipe pretty clean regardless of what kind of toilet paper you use.  If you constantly suffer from skid marks, you don't need new toilet paper.  You need a better diet, a better exercise routine, and a better water intake. Do you ever wonder how it would have changed the course of WWI if Dick Dastardly had managed to stop the pigeon? Why is it so hard to find single-pan eyeshadows?  Sometimes all I want is one or two basic colors like plum or gray or taupe or vanilla.  I go into any cosmetics store or drugstore to try to find one, and I only ever see the colors I want in a palate of six or nine or twelve shadows.  My basic colors come along...

Thanks to Dad and Beth's generosity this summer, the family spent the first ten days in August soaking up the sun and the culture in beautiful España.  As with our other trips to Prague and the Mediterranean , we enjoyed beautiful sights, tasty food, and special times with the family.  I will share my long-winded memories as I always do. Some general observations about the country: I didn't find the Spaniards spoke English as well as they do in other countries.  The French speak English because they don't want to hear our American accents when we try to speak French.  Italians like American accents and will converse with you in Italian if you want to, but their English is adequate in most public situations.  The Dutch and Germans speak so well they could pass for American.  The Czechs love the US, so English is a standard second language.  It is a cliché that Europeans can spot an American at a glance and will always address tourists in English a...