quote of the day

When you choose your friends, don’t be short-changed by choosing personality over character.

-- W. Somerset Maugham

sugar art

This weekend we went to the Tulsa State Fair so Dorothy could attend the Sugar Art Show. She likes to go every year to get ideas for her cake decorating



There were hundreds of cakes to look at.



Here is an example of the intricate work done on these cakes.

quote of the day

Happiness is a direction, not a place.


-- Sydney J. Harris

what I'm reading now

I recently read The Royals by Kitty Kelley.  Ms. Kelley is famous for her unauthorized biographies. The accuracy of her portraits of famous people have been often questioned, but I would rather read a well documented unauthorized biography than one written by a family friend or political sycophant. There was a negative reaction to the publishing of this book (1997) but it does show the royal family as human beings with all the faults of character and misbehavior that is true of most ordinary families. From the German roots of the Windsor family to the neurotic antics of the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York, it is an interesting read.

quote of the day

“The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it.”


--Edward Dowling - Chicago Daily News, 28 July 1941

game night

Sunday we had a game night at our house.  We always eat good on those nights.

Dorothy made some of her famous egg rolls,

and I experimented with these steamed barbecued Chinese pork buns (char siu bao)

We also had California rolls

Here we have L-R Samantha, Tara, Marley, Hunter, Jenna (behind Hunter) Kelly, Burk, Jenna, (Huh? Jenna again?) and Jenna's friend Annalice.

Tulsa Scottish Festival

On Sunday, Dorothy, Rachel, and I went to the Tulsa Scottish Festival where we enjoyed a sample of the culture of our ancesters.




 

quote of the day

Why are we so sure that some planning, or progressive taxation, or the collective ownership of public goods, are intolerable restrictions on liberty; whereas closed-circuit television cameras, state bailouts for investment banks "too big to fail", tapped telephones, and expensive foreign wars are acceptable burdens for a free people to bear?

Tony Judt

quote of the day

"The nine-to-five is one of the greatest atrocities sprung upon mankind. You give your life away to a function that doesn't interest you. This situation so repelled me that I was driven to drink, starvation, and mad females, simply as an alternative."


--Charles Bukowski

what I'm reading now

The Help,  the first novel by Kathryn Stockett. is one of those books that come along once in a while that make you glad you can read. This story has three narrators: Skeeter, a young white southern woman living in 1962 Mississippi  trying to find her place in the world as a writer. Then there is Aibileen and Minny, two black women who work as maids for white families in the city of Jackson. The three come together in collaboration with a literary project that threatens to ruin their world. This story has all the elements I like in a novel. It has the suspense of a mystery, the tension between characters and events that hold the plot together and it creates a window through which we can perceive an era that held people within certain boundaries of class and color. I highly recommend this book.

grandparents day

Today was Grandparents Day at Hunter's school. I sat in his class and listened to the students read stories about their grandparents. They also served cookies and apple juice.

quote of the day

I don't have to tell you it goes without saying there are some things better left unsaid.  I think that speaks for itself.  The less said about it, the better.

--George Carlin

Rachel comes home

Our daughter Rachel flew in from St. Thomas last Friday.  We all met her at the airport. After living there for 2-1/2 years she had the good fortune to experience hurricane Earl before her departure.Good fortune in that the storm came close enough for her to witness the ferocity without the risk of life and limb.

Rachel and a friend took refuge in a hotel room for the duration of the storm. The iguana  seems to be weighing his options. Stay outside with the storm or come inside with the humans.

what I'm reading now

I just finished another James Michener novel.  Caribbean is an excellent book spanning the centuries from 1300 to 1989. It starts off with the Arawak and Carib Indians and intertwines history and story throughout the early European exploration of the Caribbean, the Spanish dominance during the 1500's, the piracy of Henry Morgan, the struggle between the Spanish, French, and English. Through a well told tale you can learn about the sugar plantations, the importation of slaves from Africa (who mostly comprise the population of the Caribbean today) the rise of Rastafarian, Haitian voodoo, and  even the Cuban Revolution. Over 600 pages but they turn quickly as you get engrossed in the book