A peep from Ms Sparrow

I guess I've been sorta burnt-out on blogging lately. I'm approaching the 4th anniversary of "Ms Sparrow" and I'm still ambivalent about what she stands for. (Like, is she the sort who ends a sentence with a preposition?) Anyway, I blame my inner critic who won't let me get away with anything! I will be back.

God Bless Cool Whip (Again)

I'm tied up working on a volunteer project so I went back in my archives and got this post from 2008. I only had a few followers at the time so it's new to most of you.

What can I say about the blessings of Cool Whip? There it sits in the fridge in it's pristine blue and white container--so easily accessible. You can dip a strawberry at a moment's notice; you can drop a dab on your chocolate pudding cup, peaches or Jello, then sit back and revel in the sensuality of it all.

Back in the "pre-Cool Whip" days, having a creamy, fluffy white topping on your dessert was a luxury reserved for special occasions like having company or Sunday dinner. It required planning ahead and precise timing.

First, you had to remember to buy the whipping cream. You had to keep it cold in the refrigerator and keep the family from sneaking it into their coffee. Then, when you made your special meal (probably mashed potatoes with chicken or roast beef) you had to remember to wash the mashed potatoes off the beaters right away. If you forgot, the dried-on potatoes would screw up the timing to the point of desperation. So, you had the beaters clean, the bowl and mixer at the ready, the cream on standby chilling in the fridge.

You could now sit down to eat dinner with your guests or family but, when the dinner started winding down, you had to jump up to make the whipped cream. (If you whipped the cream too far ahead of time, it would "weep"and collapse.) After you put the chilled cream into a deep bowl, you could start the process.

If you had an electric mixer it didn't take too long but it required concentration. The tricky part was to whip the cream to just the right consistency without doing it too little or too much. Too little, and you wind up with sloppy topping or, too much, you have extra stiff topping larded with bits of butter.

After you had achieved the optimum of beautiful fluffiness, you added the sugar and vanilla. If all went as planned, it was ready to serve at this point. The servings of dessert (say pumpkin pie) had to be lined up and the piece de resistance--a dollop of whipped cream would be lovingly placed on top and then trotted to the dinner table immediately.

The memory of it leaves me breathless!

Now, with our ever-ready tub of Cool Whip, we can enjoy the extravagance of beautiful white fluffy stuff without all that stress. (OK, so Cool Whip will never replace the epicurean delight of real whipped cream, believe me, I can deal with it!) 

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.

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.

A token post

I often start to write a post and then lose heart. I feel like it's too trivial or edgy or just plain stupid.

Like yesterday, when I posted about the Iceman. I debated whether to delete it or not. I tell myself that just because something is really interesting to me, it's not necessarily interesting to others. As a result,  it's really gratifying when others comment, and I appreciate the fact that nobody ever says, "Gee, you are weird!"

I attribute this lack of creativity and confidence to the fact that I don't have a really reliable Muse. Here is the only picture I have of her. (She's a muppet!)

What does your Muse look like?

Thirsty Thursday

Water is my favorite beverage of all!

By the wooded lot

Yesterday afternoon, a doe with two grown fawns walked right past my patio. I suspect it's the same doe that gave birth last spring in the wooded lot next door. The three spent a while leisurely browsing and then left. They didn't look thin so they must be doing OK so far this winter.

We always put out food for the squirrels and we have a troop of seven or eight who are johnny-on-the-spot whenever the food appears. It's amazing to watch them appear out of nowhere. There's also a family of crows that show up. That's during the day; at night we are getting a different bunch. There are two foxes who have been coming to chow down on the food left over. In addition, we still see occasional cats coming around as well.  (I'm pretty sure I saw a coyote last week, too.)

We frequent a "used bread store" over on Silver Lake Road where they sell big bags of stale bread for animals at bargain prices. We chop it up and enrich it with leftover cooking grease, popcorn, peanut butter and whatever scraps we have around.Whatever one batch of noshers leaves, the others eat. It provides entertainment for the three kitties and me.

The last time we bought a bag of bread, the gal at the bread store said that some of the squirrel-feeders who come in to buy bread ask for whole wheat because their squirrels are getting too fat! It makes you wonder if the impulse to feed animals is an addiction! Hmmm...

Maybe this will work

After getting a different computer and other technical changes I couldn't begin to understand, I believe I may finally gotten into my blog. Since I don't even know if this will actually post, I'm not going to say much except that I'm doing OK. It really warmed my heart to see all the comments from my bloggie friends while I've been, well--should I say moping?

If this works I'll try to start following your blogs again. I've missed you all!

August and time for fresh fruit

I am a Leo. I don't take that very seriously, however. The one thing in this August graphic that actually applies to me is that I tend to overthink everything. As a result, I often can't make a decision because I don't have enough facts. I dither and sigh as I try to get my brain to muddle its way through the confusion.

Whenever I read a Horoscope for Leos, it is laughably wrong.  So, do you read your Horoscope? Do you ever think it applies to you and your life? 

Follow-ups

Just in case you've been wondering:
(Yes, I am a Ms. Piggy fan!)

I called the Census Bureau and had them send me a form. It's going out in today's mail.

I finally found the lost pictures of my three great-granddaughters that I put away before Christmas. They were in a dresser drawer hidden under gift wrap and stuff. I felt like a dork for not finding them in such an obvious place, not to mention all the time I wasted looking!

I haven't gotten any more strange comments from Anonymous.

My computer continues to be balky. A computer-savvy friend suggested that I switch from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox for better service. I'm in the throes of getting that done. It's really tough for computer-putzes like me!

My car still has the big dent, but a friend was able to get the passenger-side door to open almost all the way, so things are good.

My shoulder is still sore off and on, but the cortisone shots have helped. The orthopedist now has me going to Physical Therapy to strengthen that shoulder. I will see my other orthopedist for the sciatica on Thursday and find out where my spine "stands".

As I read back through my old posts, I realize that I complain waaay too much. I will try to do better--if only for my own sake!

Minnetonka Arts on 7 is hiding from us

My son plays the string bass with a community orchestra. Last night they had a concert out at a school in Minnetonka and I really wanted to go see it.

Now, I live on the opposite side of the Twin Cities--I don't do Minnetonka. I went on Mapquest to find out how to get there. Unfortunately, Mapquest didn't quite know how to get me there either.

After about an hour of finagling around, I had some really weird directions. I tried a variety of methods to get them clarified and finally figured I was OK.

So I took off an hour early and drove and drove until I got on Hwy 7. Then I drove and drove west until I got to the intersection where I was supposed to do a U-turn. I zoomed east again per instructions, but couldn't find an entrance to the school from the highway. I turned south at the next intersection, then west and north and finally got on a frontage heading west again. At last, I arrived a a huge high school and arts complex with multiple entrances and parking lots. I tried several before locating the correct one. I arrived with barely five minutes to spare.

No wonder Mapquest couldn't give good directions! Who designs crazy entrances to public buildings like that? Well, anyway, it was a wonderful concert.

Thanks to Kittie Howard for the "Over the Top" Blogger Award. Check out her wonderful stories

at http://kittiehoward.blogspot.com/.

No yolk?

I got a notion to make some homemade vanilla pudding (I don't have a pudding mix on hand right now) because I have some nice bananas plus an abundance of milk in the fridge. A banana cream pie would be so nice for Sunday supper.

So, I go online to look for vanilla pudding recipes. I find lots of them but they're just milk, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla. That confuses me because I thought it had to have egg yolks in it. Or, is that just lemon pudding?

Well, I'm going to give the yolk-less vanilla pudding recipe a try and hope it's not too bland.

Blog-Surfing

Sometimes, just for the heck of it, I click on "Next Blog" at the top of my blog page. It's really interesting to check out the variety of other blogs that are out there--at least to me.

Today, I found a blog called Hot Mormons with pictures of young people posing in swim suits.There's another by an ENT doctor who is taking a team to the Dominican Republic to treat kids with problems. Then I found one from Japan that I couldn't read, but it consisted of pictures of a pair of orange and white cats in casual poses. The ones of cats luxuriating in the sun made me smile. Many blogs seem to be for promoting art work or fashions, and some are family blogs strictly for the relatives.

I have been trying to blog every day until October 18th, Ms. Sparrow's 1 year anniversary and (hopefully) my 200th post. But, as I read somewhere, if you don't have anything interesting say, it's better not to post at all.

Anyway, I'm hanging in there for 9 more days and posting drivel (which I excel at) solely as a personal goal.

Setting goals

In 19 days, I will reach the first anniversary of my blog. In checking my number of postings, I discovered that I will have to post 19 more to reach 200.

Therefore, I have set myself a goal to post every day for the next 19 days!

I have to admit that I'm not good at following through with my stated goals. For example: I am the sort who is always going to start a diet next Monday; I am always promising myself I'm going to get my desk cleaned off tomorrow; I'm going to get the garage straightened up next weekend, etc.

So, here I go with my 19 postings. May they all be more interesting than this one!

Any good dream interpreters out there?

I had that dream again last night...the recurring dream that inevitably ends the same.

The setting is always different, but the constant is that there are a lot of people to feed. I'm desperately scrounging around trying to find food to prepare and get the table set. Sometimes I'm washing up dishes or searching cupboards for dishes. Even though the background crowd is oblivious of me, I'm frantic over getting things organized in the church basement or the school lunch room or the stranger's house.

Last night's version was especially frustrating: a group of elderly relatives are assembled (all of whom are actually deceased) and it's dinner time at this unfamiliar house. I can't find enough food in the fridge to make a meal and I can't find any dishes in the cupboards. The obligation is weighing heavily on me and I don't know what to do, but I keep scrambling around.

We decide to go to a restaurant. The relatives all get in one car and leave while I get in another car with my granddaughter driving. Several anonymous people are in the backseat.

When we get to the intersection, the old folks turn left to go into town but my granddaughter goes straight ahead. I keep telling her she has to go back so she makes a u-turn in the middle of the road. But we are stopped short by a camel directly in front of the car. It won't move and a farmer tells us that the camel is just curious about us.

Finis.

It's the same every time. Not the camel, but my unfulfilled need to feed the people (or sometimes, clean up after them) is thwarted, leaving me feeling incompetent and frustrated.

This has been going on for years. Of course, I still occasionally have that nasty old school dream where you have a test you're unprepared for and can't find your locker etc.

What brings me down is that the dreams are so defeating. Why can't I have a fun dream sometimes? Why can't I have an enlightened or uplifting dream that empowers me?

And, what kind of putz am I if I can't even dream well?

Another lazy Sunday

It's been a hot day without much going on in the Twin Cities. This morning I read the Sunday paper and talked with my sister in Madison WI for an hour. I went on the patio and "deadheaded" the hanging petunia plant to keep it blooming.

I made myself some pancakes and covered them with some raspberry "freezer" jam my cousin gave me. I watched Gracie for a while as she crouched down in front of the patio door "stalking" a tiny little mouse wandering around the tomato plants. Then I took a nap.

Am I boring or what! It really bothers me when I am so incredibly lazy.

Then I got to thinking about making an apple pie. Nothing swings me into action like making something tasty. I have a bunch of apples in the fridge that should be used up--especially now that the new crop is coming in. However, I'm debating whether it's too hot to bake.

But then, it cools off quickly when the sun starts to set and it will take a while to peel the apples and make the pie crust (from mix, but still...). Of course the pie will take an hour to bake and an hour to cool so by then it will be 9:00. This wouldn't be a problem except that cinnamon gives me heartburn if I eat it before bedtime.

Sigh... Life is so difficult for lazy, indecisive people like me.

It's a great year for strawberries

Sparrow practices doggerel for a day

Who doesn't love strawberries?

And this summer they're abundant and sweet.

No matter what you do with them,

They are a delightful treat.

Not only that, but strawberries are a delight to the eye.

They look so scrumptious you want to sigh.

So eat lots of strawberries

(Unless you have diverticulitis).

In which case, you have my profound sympathies.

150th Post

I was going to be a "smarty pants" and show a picture of a fence post, but I couldn't find one that fit. I'm becoming pathetically reliant on visual aids to sustain my capricious Muse.

Well, let me tell you about her!

She is a scatterbrain and quite giddy so she skips around in my head suggesting

all kinds of loony topics that nobody would be interested in. She can never get to the point while I sit at the computer. Nooooh! She waits until I'm lying in bed trying to get to sleep. Then she starts in with all the brilliant, creative and original ideas that would make me a world-renowned blogger.

So, here I am, making excuses for being so inconsistent in my blogging. I'll keep working on it though and maybe one of these days she will give me some help!

Farmer's proposal

I really want to be one of those folks who contribute witty posts every single day. Unfortunately, I'm restricted by whatever thoughts my tiny little brain can squeeze out. I often have to resort to visual aids to stimulate my muse. This little ditty got me to thinking about a song from years ago that was fun to sing:

"There once was a farmer who took a young miss

In back of a barnyard and gave her a

Lecture on horses and chickens and things about eggs

And told her that she had such beautiful

Manners that suited a girl of her charms

A girl that he wanted to take in his

Washing and ironing, and then if she did

They could get married and raise lots of

Sweet violets, sweeter than the roses

Covered all over from head to toe

Covered all over with sweet violets."