Stowe, Vermont

Trapp Family Lodge I am going to Vermont for about a week with my sons and their families. There will be five kids, the oldest being six.  The German contingent is still here, and we shall look for Maria and Captain vonTrapp every day.  My family has had a home at the ocean in Maine for many years. A conundrum, mountains vs. the ocean, which is why I love the following poem,  "It's all temporary," anyway, who cares?                                            Our Valley by Philip Levine We don't see the ocean, not ever, but in July and August when the worst heat seems to rise from the hard clay of this valley, you could be walking through a fig orchard when suddenly the wind cools and for a moment you get a whiff of salt, and in that moment you can almost believe something is waiting beyond the Pacheco Pass, something massive, irrational, and so powerful even the mountains that rise east of here have no word for it. You probably think I'm nuts saying the mountains have no word for ocean, but if you live here you begin to believe they know everything. They maintain that huge silence we think of as divine, a silence that grows in autumn when snow falls slowly between the pines and the wind dies to less than a whisper and you can barely catch your breath because you're thrilled and terrified. You have to remember this isn't your land. It belongs to no one, like the sea you once lived beside and thought was yours. Remember the small boats that bobbed out as the waves rode in, and the men who carved a living from it only to find themselves carved down to nothing. Now you say this is home, so go ahead, worship the mountains as they dissolve in dust, wait on the wind, catch a scent of salt, call it our life.

Thrift Shop Thursday

The local thrift shop feeds my retail therapy hunger. It contains an astonishing selection which is constantly changing. If you see something you like, buy it, because it won't be there if you come back an hour later. Pictured below is my latest find, three canisters to hold my Boston Terrier's food. How I love them and Oskar is thrilled.  We both get excited at meal time, our tails wag and wag even though his was chopped off rather unceremoniously when just a puppy, and mine, well, lets not talk about that . . . 

I cruise through the shop at least once a week, pausing at the entrance to check the place out. Like a hawk scrutinizing the horizon, I scan the tables, always looking for small glass containers with LIDS! Hard to find.  I then check out children's clothes for my puppets and fabric, sheets, posters, etc. for backdrops.  Last but not least I buy several children's books.  At 29 cents a book, you can't go wrong, and my grandchildren love them!  They go fast, "it's all temporary."

Wig Wednesday

Wigs are a major addition to my puppet props, they love their wigs. Here are two cuties at the manicurists.  I should have painted their nails red, but so be it. "It is what it is" seems to be the appropriate thing to say these days (about everything.)

And this is my friend, Nick, who owns the local wig shop and has been kind enough to give me discount wigs and many bald heads stands. I am sorry his hair is covered, I'll take his picture again some time when he is showing us his dreadlocks because they are quite wonderful.

This is his little shop and below that a "trailer" I made for fun.  It needs work, but will have to do for the time being.  My little people enjoyed making it and we know "it's all temporary" which makes any project less daunting. 

Twitter Tuesday

I love twitter.  I love to tweet. There is something so satisfying about leaving a tweet bomb. Who knows, who really cares who will read it, it's mini therapy. I often wonder what those who passed on 20 years ago would think about our vocabulary in 2011: Google it, Facebook, friend me, tweet, email, youtube, Blackberries, imacs, iphones, ipads,  eye, eye, eye!   It is indeed a strange new world. Sometimes I think things are spinning out of control far too quickly even though "it's all temporary."

Debt Ceiling Negotiations?

Finally Friday

And here come the Hamburgers!

!

En route from Hamburg, Germany, as we speak, are my two grandsons, Max and Felix, my son, Alex and his wife, Simone.  These next two weeks have been planned for so long, the heat wave here in New England is supposed to break and all is well.  Cousins bonding, uncles grilling all week end, and then off they will go to Kennebunk, and Hanover, NH. Alex wants to show Simone the town where he grew up, the bicycle trails, the gym, the pool. Growing up on Dartmouth's campus was just great and the school was wonderful.  They actually learned how to write a coherent sentence and speak the king's English. It's too hot for me to go off on a tangent on the dumbing down of America. Keep cool, the heat can be dangerous but remember, "it's all temporary."

Lips

Benjamin Franklin

A cool app for your ipad or iphone is Benjamin Franklin’s Virtues Chart Ben’s Virtues. While still a young man, Franklin made a list of the twelve virtues he believed necessary to live a good life: 

temperance 

silence

order

resolution

frugality

industry

sincerity

justice

moderation

cleanliness

tranquility 

chastity. 

He devised a chart, one week for each virtue, and completed the entire chart four times a year. The app makes the chart for you, it's fun to follow. After completing his list, he realized it was necessary to add one more virtue, humility, as he knew deep in his heart that he was not a humble man.  Humility, said Franklin was something he had to work on his entire life.  He said, “there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.  Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one please, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself.” Other than humility, he struggled most with order. Try as he may, he could not live by the adage, a place for everything and everything in its place. Which virtue would give you a run for your money?  I suspect tranquility will be my Waterloo.  (Who me, nervous???)

The Post Office

Baked Ziti

Prep Time:
20 Min

Cook Time:
30 Min

Ready In:
50 Min

Original Recipe Yield 8 servings 

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package dry ziti pasta
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 (28 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces sliced provolone cheese
• 6 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown beef over medium heat. Add onions; saute until tender. Drain off fat and add spaghetti sauce; simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. In a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish, place about half of the pasta; top with a layer of provolone and mozzarella cheese slices. Spread on a layer of half the spaghetti sauce mixture and sour cream.
5. Cover with remaining pasta, cheese and sauce; sprinkle a layer of Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese and sauce are bubbly; serve.

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I am not much of a cook but I tried this and it's good.  Most kids will like it (except for those who don't!)

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

Michael Behenna

For those of you who are not familiar with Michael Behenna, google him or go to the website, www.defendmichael.com. The website will tell you all you need to know.  This mess has been going on for far too long, it makes me quite ill to think about him behind bars day after day. Please write to him, it's the least we can do, and pass his name on to others. Over and out.

The Family Photograph

The Family Photograph by Vona Groarke In the window of the drawing-room there is a rush of white as you pass in which the figure of your husband is, for a moment, framed. He is watching you. His father will come, of course, and, although you had not planned it, his beard will offset your lace dress, and always it will seem that you were friends. All morning, you had prepared the house and now you have stepped out to make sure that everything is in its proper place: the railings whitened, fresh gravel on the avenue, the glasshouse crystal when you stand in the courtyard expecting the carriage to arrive at any moment. You are pleased with the day, all month it has been warm. They say it will be one of the hottest summers the world has ever known. Today, your son is one year old. Later, you will try to recall how he felt in your arms— the weight of him, the way he turned to you from sleep, the exact moment when you knew he would cry and the photograph be lost. But it is not lost. You stand, a well-appointed group with an air of being pleasantly surprised. You will come to love this photograph and will remember how, when he had finished, you invited the photographer inside and how, in celebration of the day, you drank a toast to him, and summer-time.

Oskar

Meet Oskar.  Now that I know how to add photos, I'm off and running. I shall try not to post too many photos of my beautiful grandchildren. My posts will hopefully be 100 words or less.  We're all busy and there is far too much to read online. I also think it a good test of ones writing skills to use words judiciously. To quote Benjamin Franklin: "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation." OK, sounds like a good idea to me.

It's all temporary

Words I live by, the more I am able to do so, the easier life becomes. I have been nibbling around the edges of my blogging, navigating is the term computer geeks use. I prefer nibbling around the edges. I do love my fish, though.  I have not yet learned how to download a photo but as soon as I do, I will introduce you to Oskar. I talked to my son last night who was quite encouraging about my blogging. He also gave me some interesting suggestions for my puppets.  We shall see. Don't forget to check them out on my youtube channel: puddleduckpuppets. Be happy.  Over and out.