Josh, the neighbor kid

We had a little neighbor kid named Josh back in the seventies. He was an average boy with Dennis the Menace blond hair. His mom left for work in the afternoon before his dad got home, so we would take care of him for a few hours every day.

Bren's boyfriend Steve was over at our house one afternoon soon after we got our first TV with a remote control. Steve was sitting on the couch with the remote hidden next to him where Josh couldn't see it. He soon had little Josh tricked into believing that he was magically changing the channels on the TV by walking past it or making "zapping" gestures. Josh soaked up our admiration at his abilities. He was having great fun; magic powers are pretty heady stuff for a 5-year-old.

A while later, Steve was teasing Josh. The little boy turned to him and said, "You better stop that or I'll zap you and you'll be dead!" We were blown away at how we had created this little monster. We quickly showed him the remote and how it worked and explained it was just a joke.

As they say, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Since Josh was "babysat" by whoever was around when he came over, we pooled the money earned and bought a new stereo system to replace the old HiFi. Those were the days of LP records so it only had a turntable. My dad built me a big record cabinet because we had a very large collection by the late 70's.

I finally sold all those LP's to Cheapo Records for $20 in 2005 since nobody in the family wanted them. Most systems no longer had turntables and it was difficult to find needles for them.

In my lifetime, the recorded music format has gone from 78's to LP's (with an overlap of 45's) then on to 8-tracks (big mistake) to cassettes to CD's and now...MP3's and ?

About my grand-dogs

                                    I love goofy dog poses.
We stopped at my middle daughter's home out in the 'burbs to pick up my big stock pot for making matzoh ball soup. We were greeted at the door by all six of the family dogs. It always makes me laugh at their overwhelming exuberance as they jostle for position in the entryway.

The family never set out to have that many animals but things happen. Steve, my son-in-law wanted a lab for duck hunting. He got a female black lab named Reggie from the friend of a relative, but she turned out to be gun-shy. So, he got another big blond lab named Duke for hunting.

The two daughters decided they wanted some small dogs for their own and got a pair of chihuahua crosses and named them Yoda and Dobbie. Daughter Sam was working part-time at a vet clinic and fell in love with an elderly dachshund named Freddie that was abandoned there. She brought the little fella home where he became number 5. (Here's to dachshunds with waggly tails)

                                          Family dog pile                   
Just recently, their grandma died  (The beauty of the "surge"). Before her death, my daughter had promised that they would take her dog Ruby after she died. So, poor sheltered Ruby was thrust into this riotous throng. It was a big adjustment for the beagle-cross who was the sole, housebound pet in a quiet home. She was very shy and obese as well.  However, after a few days, Ruby decided that she wanted to join the pack. She now chases rabbits outside and romps with her new canine friends. She has already lost four pounds.

My daughter is a little embarrassed at the number of dogs they have, but she takes it in stride. I'm just happy to get lots of doggie loving when I go over there!

A major holiday approaches

We never actually celebrate Christmas on the 25th. With several nurses and a policeman in the family plus in-law obligations to reconcile, it just doesn't work out. It hasn't dampened our fun however.

This year, we'll meet halfway between the two farthest points in the town where my youngest daughter lives. She has reserved the fully-equipped community room in the Assisted Living Facility where she works. This year we are having a non-traditional menu and going Mexican. We're having tacos, enchiladas, refried beans, rice and lots of accoutrements. I'm calling it our Mexicano Navidad.

I've got all my calendars bought so now I have to wrap them. When we get together for Christmas, the adults no longer trade gifts as it got to be too expensive. We each bring a $15 gift and then play a dice game. After all the gifts have been won, we continue playing so the gifts won are up for grabs. Anyone can take away your gift and give you theirs. A popular gift may change hands many times, so it gets to be lots of fun.

      All the cooking and shopping does tire a person out!

Good Grief! Christmas is coming!

I just realized that our family Christmas get-together is in two weeks. All I've done so far is to set out the little Charlie Brown Christmas tree and buy some calendars. Not a great start!

We got an entire foot of snow yesterday so we're holing up until all the streets are cleared.  While the fluffy white snow makes it very "Christmassy" outside, I'm really feeling bad for the turkeys. Their whole world has turned upside down. They were hatched back in June and grew up over a long, hot summer. When fall came, it cooled down but there was still plenty of foraging and food to be found. This morning, the food I threw out for them was eaten quickly and some of it disappeared into the snow. Confused, they would scratch with their scrawny Tyrannosaurus Rex toes, but it just moved the snow around.

              (Turkeys trying to find the food buried in the snow this morning.)
The flock moved on plowing swaths though the snow as they looked for food on neighbor's patios. In desperation, they ate snow. After a time they went up on the slope and just hunkered down trying to warm up. No doubt, eating the cold snow gave them chills and stomach pains. After a long rest they moved on. I'm waiting for them to come back and make me feel better about their miserable lot.

I might getting a little too obsessed over them--God knows there are a lot bigger things to worry about--but these turkeys are right here outside my window. I can hear them making their little clucking sounds as they look for food and I'm not the sort of person who can just look away.

Of Twinkies and hungry turkeys

Recently the Hostess Baking Company went bankrupt and closed. It made the national news mostly because they made the iconic Twinkies. I never bought any Hostess products except for an occasional Snowball so I didn't really give a care until today. But today, it suddenly hit home.

We make a trip over to Minneapolis every couple of weeks to shop at the Master Bakery "used bread" store. They sell bread that is near the "sell-by" date at half the price. We always stock up on English Muffin Toasting Bread. It's the very best for breakfast toast and also grilled cheese sandwiches, BLT's or French toast. It's basically the only bread we eat.

Ever since I began feeding the flock of turkeys this summer, we had been buying expired bread that they sell for animal feed. We could literally  buy a car trunk full of bread and buns for five dollars. The turkeys happily gobbled it up, along with the squirrels, birds and assorted other animals. It was a feast by the wooded lot twice a day. Little did I know that when they stopped making Twinkies and other Hostess products, it would trickle down to create a problem for my menagerie.

Today, when we asked to buy a cart of stale bread, the gal said they didn't have any. She told us that when Hostess Bakeries closed down, people who had been getting bread at the local Hostess thrift store started coming over to the Master Bread thrift store. She said a man came in one morning who was with an organization that provided food for homeless people. He bought 50 loaves of bread. She said they are clearing out their shelves every day now so there's no leftovers to sell for animals.

It brings home the interconnectedness of everything that happens--and I will miss those yummy Snowballs.

Hostess marshmallow-covered, cream-filled Snowball. They come in lavender for Easter, green for St Patrick's day and orange for Halloween plus white for every-day.

Another sad duty of the hoarder

It's December first and I changed my wall calendars to their last page today for yet another year. I have begun shopping for calendars. I've been giving everyone in the family a calendar for Christmas every year for a long time. It's my thing and I really enjoy it.

I love calendar art and so I can't bear to throw old calendars away. As a result, I have a big accumulation of them on my closet shelf. Today, I noticed that the weight of those stacks of calendars was causing the shelf to sag pretty low in the middle. I took down a hefty pile of them and decided some of them have to go.

Sorting through them has been a difficult thing to do. Every one had to be paged through to make sure there weren't any notations of momentous importance, such as a dental appointment in 1996. I also have to make sure there aren't any pictures that I want to save. This made for some brutal decisions, but I finally reduced that pile to less than half.

So now I have the pile of rejects sitting aside ready to be disposed of  humanely. I feel guilty about it because there is some really wonderful photography and artwork in those calendars. Most of them are printed on high-quality paper. They don't deserve such an ignominious fate as to go into the recycling like a mere stack of old newspapers!

Of cats and dogs

Yesterday, before Thanksgiving dinner, my son arrived with a dog that he's pet sitting for a friend. When the big dog came into the house, Sunny (my cat with the cocked head) was sitting in the living room. Sunny hunkered down with hackles raised, his eyes glowing in fear. The elderly dog sauntered right past Sunny completely uninterested and sat down. Sunny looked stunned for a moment then took off running and dived under a bed.

My granddaughter and her family were also here. Her husband, Ty is a policeman and along with his black lab pal Kino, they are the town's K-9 unit. He and the dog went through all the strict training for the K-9 service. Kino lives with the family but they didn't bring him along.

              See Kino sneaking into the picture on the right side.

When we got on the topic of dogs chasing cats, Ty said that part of Kino's police training was aversion to cats. He said the first time Kino went after a cat, he got a big jolt from his shock collar and never did it again. (It sounds cruel but I suppose they need to rigidly reinforce it in the dog's mind.)

That reminded me of the picture that's been floating around online for years that shows the cat marching past a row of German Shepherds.


                              I love the tension in the shot.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Hidden Valley

The Hidden Valley turkey troop has acquired an 11th member. In the last several days, a little female has been tagging along with the ten others as they stroll around the neighborhood. She must have been from a later hatch, perhaps from another brood as she's noticeably smaller than the others. She also walks with a limp so she's always the last one to reach the food. There's always plenty so she eats well.

 

I don't know if I've mentioned before that my neighborhood is called Hidden Valley. The "valley" was created when a gravel pit was excavated on the north side of a big hill in the early twentieth century. It is about eight blocks long and bounded by a large cemetery on one end and a large greenhouse/nursery on the other. All the streets running south off the main road end in a cul de sac or a turn at the base of the steep, forested slope. The cliff rises 100 feet just a short way from my patio.   

Google image of Hidden Valley, click to enlarge--the small X marks my building. (The tiny car in the driveway in my old car that I crashed two years ago.) Directly north is the wooded lot that my bedroom window overlooks. The trees across the bottom of the image are on the slope. At the top of the slope is a fence surrounding the cemetery. There is a large woodsy area on the east side behind the apartment buildings, as well.

Tonight we will be watching Homeland and Dexter on TV. They are both gripping series we never miss. Last week ended the (old) British series William and Mary and Call the Midwife which we will miss. I'm hoping there will be a new season of Doc Martin coming soon! Martin Clunes is a really likeable guy.

If you feed them, they will come!

I often write about the wooded lot next door and the animal life there. I began putting out pans of water this summer during the drought and it attracted so many birds and animals that I've kept it up.

We also have been putting food out and the crowd of wildlife coming to the "dinner table" on the retaining wall by the wooded lot keeps growing. In addition to the dozen or so squirrels, an assortment of birds and the wild turkeys, there are three opossums, several raccoons and a two foxes. There are an occasional couple of freeloading cats, two cottontail rabbits and four or five deer. Someone down the block dumped their Halloween pumpkins in the wooded lot and the deer come to munch on them. The pumpkin seeds are gobbled up by the squirrels. 

My twelve wild turkeys have shrunk to ten. I suspect that someone poached the missing two--although the foxes may have gotten them. With Thanksgiving next Thursday and roast turkey being the traditional meal, I worry about the rest of them. It's illegal to hunt in the city but someone with a crossbow could sneak up on them. They stroll around the neighborhood all day and they're so used to being around people that it wouldn't be hard.

 

The traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner that I cook every year consists of: roast turkey with herb dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato/apple casserole, relish tray with pickles, olives and fresh veggies and dinner rolls. For those who don't eat meat, I also serve salmon (we don't have any vegans). I also make pumpkin pie and another pie. It's a lot of work, but it is sooo good!  

Thanksgiving 2010 (Note dog intently watching platter of turkey!)

The beauty of the "Surge"

There is a phenomenon among the dying called a "surge". Apparently, sometimes the brain will suddenly become active and the patient will revive for a brief period before they expire. 

Last week, my daughter's mother-in-law died. She was my three grandkid's other grandma. Her health had suddenly declined to the point of no return and she was taken to hospice care where she remained in a semi-responsive state.

All the family members and relatives came to see her and visit over the final days but she seemed only vaguely aware of them. On the last evening of her life, many of the family came to say their farewells. After the older folks had gone, only her five grandchildren remained--all of them in their early twenties.

Their grandma suddenly woke up, threw back the covers and wanted to get out of bed! The kids summoned a nurse who got her up and into a chair. For the next twenty minutes, she regaled them with jokes and wisecracks that had them all convulsed with laughter.

Afterward, she went back to bed and the five cousins left. Their grandma died at 3:00 in the morning.

But, what a marvelous gift she gave them! She left them with those wonderful memories of that final night they had all shared together. They weren't saddled with sad memories of the sick old woman who they had known in her later years. She was the lively, personable grandma they could hold in their hearts as someone who loved them.

Wouldn't it be great if we all had that option?

Quotes from A Robert Brault Reader

The Hope In A Two-Party System...

"The hope in a two-party system is that the party of 2 + 2 = 3 and the party of 2 + 2 = 5 can carve out a compromise."


First Rule of Political Debate:  "If there's no proof, deny it.  And if proof turns up, deny you denied it."


Heard in a Washington DC confessional:  "Bless me Father,  for sins have been committed."

And one of my favorites:

"Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true."

My North Dakota grandson

On my sidebar, I state that all my kids and grandkids live in Minnesota. There is one notable exception, however. My grandson, Aaron managed to slip across the border and marry a sweet, small town gal from North Dakota named Jaime.

For their second anniversary, they took the long trip from the far side of ND to the Twin Cities for a vacation. Included in their itinerary was a nostalgic trip with grandma to Snuffy's Malt Shop. When Aaron was a kid, I used to take him and his two younger brothers there--actually, I took all my grandkids there whenever I had the chance!

Since Jaime has never been to the Twin Cities before, they're doing a lot of tourist stuff like the Mall of America, "Beauty and the Beast" production at the Orpheum Theater, a Smashing Pumpkins concert, Bubba Gump restaurant, general sight-seeing.

I told Aaron that I had a picture of him as a toddler standing next to my dad in his chair shortly before he died in 1986. Dad suffered from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and spent his days sitting in that chair. Little Aaron had rested his hand on the arm of the chair next to Dad's. Dad reached over and patted Aaron's hand three times. The little boy responded by patting Dad's hand three times. My Dad, as we say, got a big bang out of that.

Aaron then told me how he mostly remembered Dad's pool table in the basement and the big tapestry on the wall with the dogs playing pool. He really loved to look at it.

I was delighted to tell him that after the estate sale years ago, nobody wanted the tapestry so we just rolled it up and I stored it on my closet shelf.  We pulled it down and unrolled it for him. He is really tickled to have it since it's kind of an heirloom and he has the perfect place for it. I was so happy to give it to him!

(Great art, it's not!)

I'm going to have to keep looking for the picture of the sweet little boy who made a sick grandpa smile.

October Sunday

We finally got some rain yesterday for the first time in months. It wasn't much, just enough to dampen all the leaves lying all over the ground, but it put me in the rainy day mood to bake some cookies. Of course, I ate a lot of cookies and then felt more depressed because of it.

The flocks of migrating American robins are now gone. Every fall they stop here to eat the dried crabapples off of the trees behind my place. There are other migrating birds stopping too, like white-throated sparrows and cedar waxwings. There is a constant flurry of excited birds while they're here, and then they're suddenly gone.

The only birds around now are the clutch of twelve turkeys who amble through once or twice a day. Some of them have tried to roost up in the tree but there was nothing to eat so they flew down again. I've been setting out pans of water during the drought and they will come up to my patio to get a drink. I haven't been able to get a good picture of them because they are in constant motion.

borrowed image

When all of the leaves fell from the black walnut tree, I noticed there is a new squirrel's nest at the top. Now there are four half-size little squirrels hanging around the tree. I feel sort of responsible for them. I've been feeding the squirrels for years and there are probably a lot more of them living here than if they were having to survive on natural food. I'm a squirrel mama!

          Borrowed image-this was just too cute to pass up!

Really outrageous recipe

October 8th was Fluffernutter Day. It is a New England sandwich that combines creamy peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on white bread. I have never eaten one but since I don't like that all-American kid's favorite peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, I'm not really tempted.

The Parade Magazine article gave the following recipe for a "gourmet" Fluffernutter sandwich.

On sliced brioche, challah or white bread, layer peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and thin banana slices. Close the sandwich and dust with white flour. Soak in 2 beaten eggs and coat with 1/2 cup panko. Then fry in vegetable oil until both sides are golden brown. Sprinkle salt on top and eat.

Although this sandwich would be way over the top, I must admit I'm a big fan of the ingredients. I have a toasted English muffin with peanut butter every day with my oatmeal for breakfast. I love peanut butter in all kinds of foods.

What's your favorite breakfast?

I love grocery stores

I have known people who hate shopping for groceries but I love grocery stores. I have been in dozens of local markets of various ethnicity, size and specialty. It is always interesting.

We have a large Hmong population here in St Paul. They helped the US forces during the Vietnam War and were brought here after being displaced to Laotian refugee camps after the war. In a visit to one of the many Hmong food stores, I found frozen giant bullfrogs. There was an amazing variety of strange and exotic foods that I could only speculate on edibility or use of. 

Whenever I travel, I make a point of going into a local store to check out the different kinds of foods they offer. In 2005, my sister, Karen and I went to Iceland on vacation. We went into a grocery store in Reykjavik. I was looking for Icelandic candy to bring back for co-workers and friends. I was surprised to find most candies contained either cereal or cookie bits, but none with nuts. There was very little chocolate and nuts were non-existent--I suppose because they're expensive to import.

When I was in England some years ago, the grocery store I went into carried a large variety of fish. It was far more than a Minnesota market would carry. The amount of beef was very small and it was incredibly expensive, but that may have been soon after the Mad Cow crisis (1997).

I loved the variety of Cadbury chocolate bars especially the chocolate-covered shortbread cookies. I also discovered that what we call a Snicker candy bar was called a Mars bar. Our version of the Mars bar is different. I went on Google to research it and discovered that the Mars bar actually originated in England. There are now English and American versions of it and also Canadian and Australian!

My daughter Brenda went to a "Eurospring Quarter" at Oxford back in 1980. She fell in love with Lion candy bars and said she ate one every day. They are very hard to find in the US but I discovered that Brit's Pub over in Minneapolis sells them for $2 each. We can also order them online. 

Just a token post

I've been in a slump lately and while I think of things to post about, I just can't gather my thoughts sufficiently to actually do it. I guess you could say I'm just plain lazy--and you would be right!

In today's paper, the daily Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz subject was British to American--provide the American term for the British term (e.g. Afters. Answer: Dessert)

Freshman level
1) Chemist
2) Rubber
3) Jumper

Graduate level
4) Hole-in-the-wall (cashpoint)
5) Crisps
6) Kitchen roll

Ph.D. level
7) Bog
8) Lay-by
9) Off-license

I knew numbers 1 through 6 but didn't know what the rest of them were. Bog only brings to mind a swamp,
lay-by brings to mind the store "lay-away plan" where you have them hold the purchases until Christmas when you have saved up the money to pay for them. Off-license kinda seemed like it might be liquor related.

So, here are the answers:
1) Pharmacist, 2) Eraser, 3) Sweater, 4) ATM, 5) Potato Chips, 6) Paper towels, 7) Bathroom or toilet, 8) Rest area, 9) Liquor store.

The dog heroes of 9/11

This was sent to me in an email and I was so touched by all the sweet faces that I had to share it with you.

Nearly 100 rescue dogs worked at the World Trade Center eleven years ago. Only a handful of the hardworking dogs are still left.

Moxie came from Winthrop Mass with her trainer on 9/11 and worked for 8 days.

 Tara also came from Massachusetts and worked for 8 days with her handler.

Kaiser came from Indiana and searched tirelessly for those trapped in the rubble.

 Bretagne and his owner Denise Corliss came from Texas and stayed for ten days.

Guinness came from California with his owner Sheila McKee and worked 11 days.

Merlyn and his handler worked on the rubble pile for five nights.

Abigail worked with her handler for 10 days after the collapse.

Hoke and her handler came from Denver Colorado and worked for 5 days.

These pictures and many others were made for a book commemorating 9/11 and the rescue dogs and handlers who worked so hard in the aftermath. The book is called Retrieved by Charlotte Dumas.

Indulge me

I hate to be one of those insufferable grandmas that are always flaunting pictures of the grandkids, but today is Back-to-School and they're just as cute as can be.

Here are my three great-granddaughters leaving for school this morning. It's supposed to get over 90 F again today so they get to wear shorts.

My youngest grandchild, Allen is starting his last year of high school today as well. I suppose I should say something profound here but I'll just quote Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off,

"Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it."

How Come #4

There are two anonymous comments that showed up after my most recent post. They are pointless junk and have no reason to be there.

This raises the question of why!

It is incomprehensible to me why anyone would spend time writing a bunch of gobbledygook and sending it to total strangers for absolutely no reason! What's the payoff? What is the fun in that?

I suppose I'm making the mistake of trying to approach this in a rational manner. I am making the false assumption that those jerks are rational human beings.

More likely, they're simply acting out their anti-social tendencies in a milder manner than those who shoot down strangers in public places.

All things considered, I guess anonymous spamming isn't that awful after all!

Here's to dachshunds with waggly tails!

My granddaughter Samantha has been a diehard animal lover her entire life. While going to school, she worked part-time in a veterinary clinic.

One day, a woman brought in an elderly dachshund named Freddie and never came back for him. As it turned out, the owner moved away and didn't want to deal with the poor little pooch.

The little dog became a fixture around the clinic while they tried to find a home. Samantha fell in love with the little guy. So, despite the fact he probably wouldn't live all that much longer, she brought him home and loved him mightily.

And that's almost two years ago.

The Zombie Effect

I've been feeling really dragged out in recent weeks. I have low energy and I'm headachy, dizzy, unable to concentrate and irritable.

I'm especially lethargic today. So, I'm lying on the couch thinking about what changes I've made in the last several months that may be causing it. I got to thinking about my sleep therapist appointment several months ago.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea back in 2000 and I've been using a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine ever since.

                                    (This is not me.)
After getting a newer machine recently, the sleep therapist asked me if I had trouble with my mouth drying out during the night. When I said I sometimes did, she suggested that I switch from taking Benadryl (a decongestant and sleep aid) to Melatonin at bedtime. I've been taking it for a month now.

I just googled Melatonin side effects and got a shock. The information provided by a doctor on the Mayo Clinic site said that the dose for a sleep aid should be .5 mg and for bigger problems like jet lag, it should be 3 to 5 mg. I checked the bottle of melatonin to see the dosage I'm taking and it's a whopping 10 mg! Why would they even sell it in such high doses?

No wonder I'm feeling like a zombie (don't tell John Gray!). Needless to say, I'm going off the Melatonin now!

I hope to be feeling chirpier in a few days and then I can contact the company that sells the nasty stuff!

The pressure builds

It's been a week and a day since I last posted. I write posts and then wimp out because I don't have the courage to hit the little orange rectangle that says Publish.

I wrote a rant the other day but backed off because it doesn't seem to fit my grandmotherly persona. I would rebel against the idea that this persona is all I am, but then I worry about getting too far out of character. This would make it seem that I'm pretending to be somebody I'm not or that I don't have the confidence to just say what I want to say and let the chips fall where they may.  I worry about disappointing people who think I'm above what might be perceived as petty annoyances. I aspire to be one of those bloggers who write about nice, safe things.

But darn it, that is not who I am!

Well, not entirely anyway.

A few follow-ups

I just spotted the mama turkey over by some trees and all 9 of her chicks are still with her. They look to be half-grown and they're fully feathered now.

                                   (Borrowed image)
Sunny's vestibular disease has not cleared up. He walks around with his head cocked way over to one side. He get disoriented easily but seems to be dealing with it. I'm still worried about him because that's the kinda gal I am!

                      (It seems to have affected his eyes too)
The tomato dumpling soup was not up to expectations. I had previously blogged about how messy and steamy it was to can peaches. As it turns out, making soup from fresh tomatoes is almost as bad! The soup was good but I need a better recipe for the dumplings. I think I'll try it with spaetzle next time!

When I went on Google to find a picture, I found this one that had a recipe attached. Now, who would have thought to go into Google Images to find a recipe!

The family reunion picnic on Saturday. My two cousins on the left and me between my two brothers on the right. We look like a bunch of old people!

Sunday Afternoon

It was an exceptionally quiet Sunday afternoon today. My roommate Sue had to pick up a book over at the Roseville Library so I tagged along.

My daughter gave me a bunch of fresh tomatoes from her garden. I want to make some Tomato Dumpling soup like I used to get at a now-defunct restaurant. I have been looking for a recipe for that delicious soup and I hoped to find one in a cookbook since I can't find anything online.

It turned out that everybody was at the library! The huge parking lot was packed and every computer was occupied. This is the city's new "new age" library and it is spacious, bright and as charming as a warehouse. There is nothing that invites you to linger. 

             (This is just the lower level of computers!)

I had no luck finding my recipe, I'm just going to have to "wing-it" to make the soup and dumplings. I can't find a recipe anywhere that comes close to what I'm trying to find. I'll let you know how it turns out!