Trust

Daughter C and Mr. Bow Tie went to the store this morning. (Yes. The cigarette store was open on Easter.) When they returned, Miss M said to Daughter C, "Where's my dollar?" And Daughter C handed Miss M one United States dollar.

Daughter C asked, "How did you know I had your dollar?"

"Because I knew the girl at the store would give you my dollar."

To which Daughter C replied, "That's why I love this county."

As it turns out, a couple of days ago the lady ahead of Miss M was short $1, so Miss M gave her $1 and the girl at the store told Miss M the lady was good for it and to just collect it next time she-- Miss M-- was in the store. And because Miss M and Daughter C are sisters, the girl at the store gave Miss M's $1 to Daughter C. 

They don't do this sort of thing in Starkvegas. And that's why we love our little county.

Day is Done

And a fine day it was!

Dense fog tomorrow morning!

I think the Same Can Be Said for a Good Life

Keith Richards has replied to Thomas Edison:

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a tv screen.

The full conversation-- with some wonderful quotes-- is here.

Happy Easter!

Al-le-lu-ia!

From The Cokesbury Hymnal published by The Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Tenn., copyright 1923.

Jesus

Jesus' last meeting with his disciples; Jesus appearing on the shores of Galilee

From The Bible Story Book: A Complete Narration from Genesis to Revelation for Young and Old (new and revised) by Elsie E. Egermeir, published by The Warner Press, Anderson Indiana, copyright 1923 ... 1939, discarded by the DuBois Public Library. Thanks, Mom, for picking this up.

I know. I'm a few days early on this. Everyone focuses on the Resurrection. That is to say, everyone who thinks there's more to Easter than the Easter Bunny focuses on the Resurrection and only the most devoted know-- or think they know-- what happened in the days and years immediately after.

In the last chapter of the Gospel of John there is an account of how the risen Jesus appeared to the disciples one day when they had gone back to their fishing boats on the lake of Galilee, and of what he said that day to Peter and John. And in the first letter to the Corinthians it is recorded that he showed himself also to the apostle James, though it is not told how or where.

From The Story of the Church by Walter Russell Bowie, published by Abingdon Press, New York, Nashville, copyright MCMFLF, discarded by Eupora Methodist Church. 

Some years later Saul of Tarsus-- a.k.a. Paul-- came down the pike. That's when Christ went exponential/global. At least that's what my Saturday before Easter reading of my crappy old books on the subject suggests. 

"The world cannot forget or ignore them, no matter hard it may try."

From The Book of Life: Volume Seven Paul, Life, Letters, arranged and edited by Newton Marshall Hall, A.M., D.D. and Irving Francis Wood, Ph.D., D.D., published by John Rudin & Coompany, Inc., Chicago, copyright 1934.

"A knowledge of their great lives is absolutely necessary to the intelligent understanding of human history."

I agree.

Here's my plan. We stop the clock on everything, everywhere. It's a Holiday!

He Said, She Said (con't)

Jack Kerouac said, "The only people for me are the mad ones. Mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved. Desirous of everything at the same time. The ones who never yawn or say a common place thing. But burn burn burn."

And then Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Gordon Ramsey, Juli Child, Christopher Wallace (Notorious Big), Lewis Carroll, and John von Neumann each in turn said something.

Now, Neal Stephenson replies to to John by saying, "Well, all information looks like noise until you break the code."

Here's how the conversation flowed.

He Said, She Said

Amelia Erhart said, "Help!"

And then Philip K. Dick said, "... ."

... 

And then John Wayne said, "... ."

And then Grace Kelly said, "I don't care who's right or who's wrong. There's got to be some better way for people to live."
~~

You can read the conversation here.

This Just In

I guess this is an effort to move Mississippi closer to New York on the Freedom in the Fifty States ranking.

JACKSON, MS—Citing a wish to maintain the quality of life for residents across the state, the Mississippi Senate on Thursday passed a bill outlawing the sale of soft drinks in containers smaller than 20 ounces. “We have a responsibility to ensure that Mississippians are consuming sugary beverages at an acceptably high and constant rate, and this ban will see to it that this standard is upheld,” said State Sen. Terry W. Brown (R-District 17) in a morning news conference, adding that the new law will be strictly enforced by state authorities and that any business caught selling soda, coffee, tea, lemonade, sports drinks, or energy drinks in standard cans or containers rather than 64 or 85-oz. cups will be subject to a fine.

Read the whole thing here.

Note that this post is filed under silliness & funny story.

h/t Instapundit.com

Easter Egg Tree

Now that the mystery of how Easter Eggs came to be associated with the Easter Bunny has been resolved, we are confronted by the mystery of the Easter Egg Tree.

We have an Easter Egg tree inside.

I wanted to just pile eggs on top of Christmas bulbs (in March) but I was out voted and it didn't seem an issue worthy of debate.

So where did the idea of an Easter Egg Tree originate? Lots of folks have them. What's the history?

UPDATED! Clueless

If anyone out there has clue as to what's going on, I would appreciate your letting me know.

Looks fine in picasa. Flipped all over the place when I upload.

UPDATE: I figured it out! If you'd like to read what John von Neumann said to Lewis Carrol, click on the Conversations Page at the top. Or... click that link over there <--- .="" br="">

A Tribute to Librarians and the Easter Bunny

"Why didn't you put more plays into your series Our American Holidays?"

The plaintiff was my friend Miss Eugenia Kruss, Librarian of the Epiphany Branch of the New York Public Library. I pleaded lack of space.

"Then why not bring out some supplementary volumes devoted entirely to drama?"

She drew an interesting picture of the situation in 23rd Street.

"Before each holiday and special celebration we are swamped with clients who clamor for appropriate plays. They must be not too long and not too hackneyed. They must be effective, amusing, interesting, with economical costuming and setting, and fairly easy to act. We hate to do it; but we have to send most of these people away empty-handed. We simply don't know where to turn for material. And the same thing happens at the other branches."

Now, any request from librarians always has my respectful consideration, because librarians are so often right. ... [A] few years ago, a five minute talk with two of them resulted in the publication of a book of travel and the eleven volumes of Our American Holidays ...

From the Introduction to Plays for Our American Holidays: Plays for Christmas and Other High Days, compiled and edited by Robert Haven Schauffler and A.P. Sanford, published by Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, 1928.

Having read the Introduction to Plays for Our American Holidays, I wondered if this crappy old book was cited in any other of my crappy old books for librarians. It is not cited in my older edition of Anniversaries and Holidays because that crappy old book was also published in 1928. It was cited in the later, 1944, edition. That said, Our American Holidays was cited in the 1928 edition.

The three books with Peter Rabbit (not the Easter Bunny)

Oh my! Look what's in Plays for our American Holidays!

Crappy old legend

"The First Easter Bunny" is set in a "field near a church in Central Europe many years ago." The characters-- boys, girls and a few women-- wear peasant dress. The children are on their way to church to sing. We learn from the first bit of dialogue that there's been an ongoing famine for some years. The children were particularly hungry during the past winter. They are disappointed that there will be no Easter gifts this year but they understand their parents are poor. They are glad that spring has arrived because the chickens have begun laying-- so their hunger has abated somewhat.

As legend has it, the mothers got together, dyed some hardboiled eggs, and hid them in the field near the church. As fate would have it, the children discovered the colorful eggs-- too big to be robins' eggs!-- as they were chasing a large bunny through the field.

So there you have it. The first Easter Bunny and Easter Egg Hunt.

Now, I ask you folks in Alabama, what's so objectionable about that?

What's Up with Alabama?

First the Easter Bunny and now this?

By God! We Ain't Horses!

Click to enlarge (& read!)

The focal setting of the remarkable western movie, Unforgiven, is the town of Big Whiskey--  an unremarkable town inhabited largely by unremarkable characters. The movie begins when a local cowboy slashes the face of a giggling whore. The sheriff, Little Bill (who may be the only remarkable inhabitant), is called to the scene. The whorehouse/saloon owner complains that the cowboy & his pard have damaged his property, the giggling whore, and he deserves to be compensated. Little Bill proclaims that come spring, the cowboys will give the owner some horses. 

Everyone's fine with this resolution except Strawberry Alice, the whorehouse matron. She argues,

Just because we let them smelly fools ride us like horses don't mean we gotta let 'em brand us like horses. Maybe we ain't nothing but whores but we-- by god!-- we ain't horses.

On a related note, I once again read MLK's letter from jail, and skimmed through The Declaration of Independence. Good stuff. If you're inclined to do the same, pay particular attention to their Grievances. Also note Jefferson's appeal to his British Brethren, and King's appeal to his Fellow Christians. Note their disappointment. 

Jefferson on his Brethren:

They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity.

King on this Fellows:

but I have longed to hear white ministers say, "follow this decree because integration is morally right and the Negro is your brother." 

~~

We're thinking about a new game, by the way.

Signs of the Times | The Girl from Alabama Comes to Town

Today I had the distinct pleasure of being on the campus of a large land-grant university

where our friend talked with some Honors students about justice in Honors Cultures, and contrasted that with "institutionalized" justice.*

 

 

We Southerners have a well-honed sense of Honor.

As is my habit when on a public university campus, I snapped a few pictures of some signs.

This is good advise. Later in the evening, The Girl from Alabama had more Good Advise.

Respect for others. R-E-S-P-E-C-T is a motivating factor of the behavior of folks in Honors Cultures.

Although studying in Oxford, Mississippi would be sort of like going to another country, they're talking about Oxford, England, a real other country. I don't think I'm mischaracterizing anything when I say that part of what's going on in Great Britain** and on the Continent is a clash of cultures. But the Girl from Alabama would be the one who'd have more interesting things to say about that than I.

This is problematic. You are what you eat. You eat free food. What does that say about you? Let's ask The Girl From Alabama! 

What are your thoughts?

How could I resist

sharing this?

“Where Are the Books?”
posted by Lawrence Cunningham

Books have lined the shelves of the offices of all my colleagues at every school where I have worked.  In my early days of teaching, or when spending a term as a visitor, I’d wander into a learned neighbor’s office to get acquainted.  The titles and content of those books announced a persons’s intellectual background and interests. They were instantly and extensively a topic of earnest discussion.  If my interlocutor should be interrupted by a call or an assistant popping in, I’d amuse myself by grazing over the titles, scanning the shelves that added up to an inventory of knowledge.  On their shelves and mine, students attending office hours would likewise find easy ice breakers.

When visiting the homes of friends, especially new friends but longer-term friends as well, it has always interested me to see what books are stacked on their shelves, in the living room, the study, along hallways. At parties, these books have been great conversation starters, fountains of discourse and debate.  You could even pick them up and hand them over, citing the passage on a given page where you recalled a point being made particularly well.

Read the rest here. It's a very short story.

via Instapundit.com

We Were Just Talking About This

VIDEO: GUY IN BLOOMBERG GUN-CONTROL ADS BREAKS ALL THE MAJOR RULES OF GUN SAFETY: “I really do hate to be a stickler, but if there’s one thing to be a stickler about, the basic rules of gun safety while you’re in an ad for alleged advocates of gun safety is a pretty good choice.”

via instapundit.com.

Here's what I said Saturday:

We begin with the rules because contrary to what some folks in Crazyland think, the vast majority of gun tottin' folks are not crazy. We then move on to a .22 or two.

Here's how we do shooting at the Farm when we have guests.

1. We announce that we'll be shooting between the hours of x-y. If you want to shoot, come out before y. If you'd don't, arrive after y. This works out well. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

2. We do begin with the rules. Rule aught is no drinking before before or during shooting times.

3. Rule One is that we treat every gun as a loaded gun even if we know it's not loaded. 

4. Always point the gun in a safe direction.

5.  Finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot. 

6. Know you're target and what's beyond. 

And then it becomes audience participation. What rules have we forgotten? 

And then it's everyone's business to make sure the rules aren't broken. 

Alternative post title: How To Make A Culture.     

There's Been A Lot of Talk Lately

Today, I listened to a friend-- who's a guest here at the Farm-- talk about Moral Agency and the irrelevance of Moral BusyBody Morality Experts' thoughts on Morality in Real Life. I also priced some fig, pear, and peach trees, and junipers and blueberries. We do not need thornless blackberries because we have dewberries. Daughter C loves to go dewberry picking.

We returned to the Farm and continued our conversations. 

May I Have Your Attention Please!

Listen up! Mr. Big Food has something to say.

Another Notch

Newbie #218

Down on the range... .

I haven't really kept track of the number of I've-never-shot-a-gun-before folks who've shot at the Farm and it's now well past the time I could recollect who they all are. But I feel as if we are doing our part to promote a healthy understanding of guns and gun totting folk.

We begin with the rules because contrary to what some folks in Crazyland think, the vast majority of gun tottin' folks are not crazy. We then move on to a .22 or two. 

Several hours later

we eat!

 

Outlaws Say the Darnest Things!

Good Lord! I've Made a Mistake!

(No. That's not a cheesy way to invite comments from those who know me well.)

Dear Readers, 

Please accept my heartfelt apology.

Yesterday, I commented that some years ago on March 22nd Patrick Henry proclaimed, "Give me liberty or give me death." I was wrong. He asserted that on March 23, 1775.

Wonder what Patrick would have to say about this?

Starting in 2014, per the dictates of the federal government, your doctor must record your body mass index (BMI), which measures whether you are overweight, each time he or she treats you and turn it over to the government via your electronic health record, which every patient is required to have. Your BMI will then be tracked by the Health and Human Services Department, the agency rolling out ObamaCare, and a bevy of other state and federal agencies. Shock and anger ensued this week as CVS employees learned that if they didn't turn over that information to their insurers, they'd be fined. But CVS is merely rolling out what may become one of the most controversial aspects of ObamaCare a little ahead of schedule.

via Newsalert.

Anyway-- sorry about the mistake. Have a nice day,

Marica

The Conversation Has Gone Batty!

Bat country.

Let Me Take This Opportunity to Say

Indeed!

Drink up!

It's World Water Day!!

Funny. My Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them makes no mention of World Water day. Hum. 

I do see that the British Stamp Act became law today in 1765. That's worth noting. 

Also, ten years later some dude with two first names for a name said, "Give me liberty or give me death." That's pretty strong language.

But no mention of Water Day.

Wonder whatt's up with that?

GMOYA

From my Representative in the House of Representatives:

Dear Friends,

My goal is to be the most accessible Congressman possible because listening to your questions and concerns allows me to better serve you. With that in mind, I would like to cordially invite you to a town hall meeting April 4th at the Olive Branch City Hall from 6 to 7 p.m. We will be discussing the budget, job creation, 2nd amendment rights, and any other issue that may be on your mind. I hope to see you there!

Bring me my Calendar.

Dear Alan,

It is presumptuous of you to call me your friend.

 Bear with me while I work out what I'm sending him. I like that line.

 My goal is to be the most accessible Congressman possible

 Just fer fun. Maybe there's a more accessible Congresswoman.

Possible.

We will be discussing the budget

There is no budget. What are you talking about?

job creation 

is not a proper function of a federal government

2nd amendment rights

 are enshrined in the Constitution.

So what do you want to talk about?

Les is More

Ain't that the truth!

On a technical note, sorry about the smaller font. I'm having some difficulties. Kat's trying to help me. Wish her luck!

Recipe: Saucy Pork and Beans

Tasty!

SAUCY PORK AND BEANS

1 lb bulk sausage (any variety—you choose)

2 16 oz cans pork and beans

½ C shredded cheese (any variety)

2/3 C onion (white or yellow), chopped fine

¼ C brown sugar

1/3 C barbeque sauce

2 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 Tbsp chili powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 350^o. Brown sausage. Drain. Combine sausage and remaining ingredients in baking dish or casserole. Mix thoroughly. Bake uncovered 1 hour.

This Just In

I hear tell there are folks out there that don't "get" the Dinner Party / Dinner Party Conversation Game. Frankly, I don't get that. But you know, "they" say it takes all kinds and on that, "they" might be right. "Our" kind seem to be having fun, as is nicely illustrated by Denis Leary's response to Alan Alda. Take that!

I don't think life sucks. Maybe that's because I can Plyk. You know, Plyk-- Play Like I'm at a Dinner Party.

I feel sorry for people who can't Plyk.

Recipe: Buffet Potato Salad

Potato. Salad. Two words that were meant to be together.

We'd not had this one before. And now, thankfully, we have! It accompanied Blue Cheese Burgers. 

BUFFET POTATO SALAD
Serves 4 to 6

2 C cold cubed cooked potatoes
4 hard-cooked eggs, diced
1 C cold cooked peas (can use canned)
2 small onions, dice
1 bell pepper, diced
½ tsp salt
1 C mayonnaise (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)
Lettuce (for serving)
Deviled eggs (for garnish—see recipes in this section)
Tomatoes, cut into wedges (for garnish)

Combine potatoes, eggs, peas, onions, bell pepper, and salt, mix with mayonnaise (saving some mayonnaise for topping salad), and chill thoroughly. Serve on lettuce. Garnish with deviled eggs and tomatoes. Top with reserved mayonnaise.

Recipe: Blue Cheese Burgers

These were off the hook just off the grill, and were excellent next day for lunch. We used Roquefort cheese, and of course Mr. Big Food ground a choice cut of beef minutes before assembling the ingredients. Truth be told, we just used onion buns slathered with mayonnaise but that French bread angle sounds great. Served with Buffet Potato Salad.

Nothing screams, "SPRING" louder than a burger!

 Recipe below.

Recipe: Orange Butter Frosting & variation

I used this recipe to frost the Creole Beauty Cake and substituted chopped canned cherries and cherry juice for orange rind and juice. For the three-layer cake, I made one and one half the recipe. That was enough for a generous heap of frosting between the layers and on top with some running down the side. I think in order to completely frost a three 9" layer cake you'd need to double the recipe.

Recipe: Creole Beauty Cake

This was the fabulous three-layer cake I baked for Daughter C's and Mr. Big Food's birthday. I didn't take a photograph of a slice-- sorry-- but the alternating pink and white with cherry layers give it the look of an extra-special effort cake baked by someone the baker loves.

I used pecans instead of almonds (who makes a birthday cake for a couple of Southerners with almonds?), and I greased and flowered the pans. I frosted it with a cherry adaptation of Orange Butter Frosting.

CREOLE BEAUTY CAKE 

2/3 C shortening (softened if necessary)
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 ½ C sugar
A few drops red food coloring (to get a pink coloring)
¾ C chopped blanched almonds
3 C sifted cake flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 C milk
4 egg whites, beaten fluffy (not stiff) [Yolks can be used in frosting recipe. See above.]
½ C maraschino cherries, drained and cut
Icing, white, or colored and flavored as desired (see recipes in this section)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together shortening, salt, and extract, add sugar gradually, and cream well until all sugar has been added. Sift together flour and baking powder 3 times, and add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in beaten egg whites. To 2/3 of the batter, add red food coloring to color batter pink, and fold in almonds. Pour into 2 greased 8 inch layer cake pans. To remaining batter fold in cherries, and pour into a third greased 8 inch layer cake pan. Bake 30 minutes or until completely done in center. Fill and ice with cherry layer in the middle.

Dear Rocky,

I'm happy when you're happy. BUT

NO DOGS ALLOWED in the planter with the giant red mustard seedlings.

Love, 

Marica

XXX
OOO

A Polite Society*

I had in mind today to check out the local junk shop. I needed surface area for some cool crappy old stuff that needed to be consolidated in a semi-attractive fashion. So after I took the dogs to the over-grown pasture-- where we recently found the fairly large (about 4' long) but definitely dead copperhead-- and after reading (on the world-wide-web and in crappy old books) a little bit about the history of freedom of the press in England, and oh yeah, after doing some work around the farm, I collected myself and my stuff and made my way to town.

Success!

Those are old desiccators on the second shelf. 

Desiccant-- charcoal, cat litter in a pinch-- goes in the bottom. What you want to dry goes on the "shelf." Both the rims of the vesicle and the lid are ground glass. An airtight seal is created when the rims are coated with Vasoline (TM).

While at the junk store, I had an exchange with one of the fellows here-- an exchange that illustrates nicely just how polite my little community is.

The Conversations Turn to First Principles

Fool me once!

Last evening when the lights were out and Mr. Big Food, Miss M, and I were chatting around the hearth, our real conversation turned to the conversations. A. Leland owes Notorious BIG a response, by the way.

Alan Alda's (Miss M) response to Diane Keaton (Daughter C) and Joel Salatin's (Tony) to Bertrand Russell (A. Leland) below.

For the Birds!

A red bellied woodpecker which often visited a deck near the south fork of the Shenandoah River

My friend Becca has a musing up over at Keep Guessing. It begins

It's bewildering how random the world can sometimes seem. I never saw that movie about the butterfly and the wings and all that, but I know and appreciate the sentiment. One insignificant action changes the course of your life in such a major way. 

Here's my bit of randomness-- minor, not major--- for the day. I was looking for something quite specific concerning the history of the free press in England and I stumbled upon this lovely little "sermon" by St. Francis.

From Modern Eloquence: A Library of the World's Best Spoken Thought Vol. X, edited by Ashley H. Thorndike, published in 1941 by B.F. Collier & Son Corporation, New York.

It's an Honor to Be Nominated!

PREFACE: I had a lot of work to do today, and I knew there was a storm brewing. And there was. It took me all day and into the wee hours (it's 10pm and the lights have just come back on) to get this done. Plus... Miss M & Tony are real troopers about conversing and have sent quotes for the Dinner Party Conversation. I'll get to that.
~~ 

Aggie over at Shoestring Manor has nominated Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life for a Liebster Award! Thank you, Aggie! 

As I understand it, the Liebster Award is sort of like a chain letter for small-time bloggers-- there's no actual award associated with the Award. Humm... much as there is no actual dinner guests or conversations at imaginary dinner parties. But it is an honor to be nominated! You can read a bit more about the Liebster Award's origins at Sopphey Says.

"Nominees" must have blogs with fewer than 200 follows. Big Food, etc. has four official followers, so I qualify. The nominated blogger in turn nominates 11 others by posting a nomination to each of their blogs (as a comment).

The nominee is required to do three things in a blog post.

1) Provide for his/her blog's readers 11 "random facts" about him/herself. (Did you know that Aggie's "biggest fashion statement is an apron?")

2) Answer a set of 11 questions developed by the person who nominated him/her. (Aggie's favorite comfort food is onion soup. Now we know.)

3) Develop a set of 11 questions for his/her nominees. (Ha. Aggie wants to know if I prefer books or movies.)

The only other rule is no "tag backs"-- I cannot nominate Shoestring Manor.

Alrighty then! Let's get started.

First-- here're Aggie's responses to D. Marie's (Lesson's on the Cheap) questions.

11 Random Facts About Me: