Caramelization is the sweet dance of sugar under heat, transforming from crystalline to a rich, golden elixir, a testament to the delicate balance between time and temperature. ~Unknown I’ve never made caramel candy myself, but I do confess that I love caramel far more than the ubiquitous chocolate. As I was treating myself to a […]
Sweet & Salty – Caramel Read More »
Wise men come to see a child of greater wisdom and honor divine. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich In almost every manger I’ve ever viewed, I have seen baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, farm animals, and … wise men. How many wise men? Always three. Why do we think there were three–no more, no less? And what
About Those Wise Men Read More »
Any family tree produces some lemons, some nuts and a few bad apples. ~Unknown If you don’t see the truth in this, your family may be an outlier. Anyway, as with the fruit and vegetable oddities mentioned in my November 7th post, food group classifications can be wildly diverse. And so it is with the
Fascinating Family Trees Read More »
People think dreams aren’t real just because they aren’t made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes. ~ Neil Gaiman I agree with Mr. Gaiman to some extent. Dreams are real; we do have them. Whether they are possible to execute
Dream a Little Dream, But Why? Read More »
Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. Mark Twain He wasn’t wrong, according to Brittanica. Cauliflower and cabbage are in the same family. Further, cauliflower is considered to be a domesticated version of cabbage. That conjures visions of cabbage heads marauding among the scallions, but I digress. While thousands of families consume what
A Potpourri of Naming Oddities Read More »
I’ve always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed. ~ David Benioff, City of Thieves Generally speaking, I drift off to sleep shortly after my head hits the pillow. But
What Does Sound Have to Do with Sleep? Read More »
We . . . go out into the Waste Land of Experts, each knowing so much about so little that he can neither be contradicted nor is worth contradicting. ~ G.M. Young, Victorian England: Portrait of an Age And with that, I will admit to a few things. I am often intrigued by questions that make others
Characters, the Special Kind Read More »
Who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes? ~Attributed to Groucho Marx In December of 2022, I published a post about Foley art, which is a process by which studios create background sounds for television shows or movies. Listeners think they recognize the sounds as footsteps or thunder, for example. However, it’s all fake.
You Can’t Believe Your Lying Eyes Read More »
You hear about adrenaline, how it spurs you on and gives you uncanny strength, but there’s a flip side. The feeling is heady, out of control. It heightens your senses to the point of paralysis. You have to harness the power or it’ll choke you down. ~ Harlan Coben, Tell No One As with many physical
Adrenaline Rush – the Good & the Bad Read More »
Take a look if you’ve ever wondered why cookies are called biscuits in England. And why, if you ask for chips across the pond, they won’t be crunchy.
Pudding, Biscuits, and Chips Read More »
Luz’s manner of speaking made it clear that she had no idea what she might say next. It wasn’t that she made things up, strictly speaking–only that facts were merely a point of departure for her.~ Daniel Alarcón Based on multiple conversations with a variety of people, I have come to the conclusion that some
As a Manner of Speaking Read More »
Crows are ubiquitous. But how much do we know about these glossy-feathered scavengers? And how many crows does it take to qualify as a murder?
Music can take us to an emotional high or reduce us to tears. How long have humans been hearing melodies, and how are those works of art created?
A Brief History of Music & Methods of a Songsmith Read More »
Afraid of all that slithers? Snakes are good for the environment, and most of them are trying to avoid you, too. Read and learn!
Snakes: Your Fear & Their Role Read More »
If you know someone’s personality type, their behavior begins to make sense. ~Tom Butler-Bowden We all know at least one adrenaline junkie. Someone whose idea of a good time equals that of Evel Knievel. And probably all of us “enjoyed” having someone on a school project or work team who provided entertainment, but didn’t add
Your Personality Type, Sad Movies, and You Read More »
This week I’m raising awareness about heart attacks and cardiac arrest and being ready in case someone near you needs immediate, life-saving attention.
As serious as a heart attack Read More »
We lived for honey. We swallowed a spoonful in the morning to wake us up and one at night to put us to sleep. We took it with every meal to calm the mind, give us stamina, and prevent fatal disease. We swabbed ourselves in it to disinfect cuts or heal chapped lips. It went
Naturally sweet – a spoonful of honey Read More »
We hear only our own voices, still echoes returning to our emptiness. ~ Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun Not really. We do hear other people, but when we hear ourselves, we listen differently because we are surprised by what we’re hearing. Lest you misunderstand, I’m referring to how you feel when you hear your own
What do you hear when you listen to yourself? Read More »
“…failure with clay was more complete and more spectacular than with other forms of art. You are subject to the elements… Any one of the old four – earth, air, fire, water – can betray you and melt, or burst, or shatter – months of work into dust and ashes and spitting steam. You need
Throwing, shaping, firing, Creating. Pottery Read More »
She sat still, I thought, and yet she traveled. And when one stitches, the mind travels, not the way men do, with ax and oxen through the wilderness, but surely our traveling counted too, as motion. And I thought of the patience of the stitches. Writing a book, I thought, which men often do, but
A CENTURIES-Old Skill – is quilting still a thing? Read More »
Every other civilized nation in the world has been compelled to care for its forests, and so must we if waste and destruction are not to go on to the bitter end. ~ John Muir Mr. Muir was actively involved in environmental causes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All told, he spent
The hair of the dog; a prescription for our forests Read More »
Peasants have believed in dowsing, and scientists used to believe that dowsing was only a belief of peasants. Now there are so many scientists who believe in dowsing that the suspicion comes to me that it may only be a myth after all. ~Charles Fort Dowsing tools have ranged from forked sticks to bent wires
Useful Search Tool? You decide. Read More »
A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. ~ Ernest Hemingway For as long as I can remember, I have loved cats. Their fur is soft as silk and they smell like stuffed animals. That is, they never carry the unpleasant odor
Can you tell what felines really feel? Read More »
I’m sorry, Gemma. But we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you. ~ Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty In the summer of 2022, I participated in a field trip to learn about fireflies, aka lightning bugs. My fellow students
How do you see it? Read More »