It’s taken a while, but I’ve come to terms with the fact photography just isn’t my strong suit. But a good model can cover for a multitude of sins:
Ah, that U.P. sky — wide, clear, humidity-free. Just what the doctor ordered. Especially at sunset:
Behold the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. A CCC project. You know, government make-work welfare-state drudgery. Never created a thing of value, ever. Just look at all that nothingness. Wouldn’t a nice theme park look good there?
When it’s not swallowing 700-foot freighters, Lake Superior likes to loaf around on nice summer days, impersonating the Caribbean:
So peaceful, so pleasant. And on that particular day, not even very cold. Wide, blue, placid. And, probably 20 feet out, damn cold. But beautiful.
And that will be the end of the vacation slide show, and much of the vacation narrative. We didn’t do much. We drove over the bridge, saw some old boats and old friends in Hessel, turned west, arrived at the Green Cottage, aka John and Sam’s ancestral family estate (Sam’s, actually), opened “A Storm of Swords” and barely moved for a week. It was a week in literary disappointments. Me, that I did little else but read yet another goddamn George R.R. Martin fantasy epic, got through hundreds and hundreds of pages, in fact, and still have only 70 percent of it under my belt. And now I have to read the rest of the goddamn things, because I’m committed. I have to find out who Jon Snow’s mother was. I have to see what happens when the dragons reach Westeros. Winter is still coming, and I want to get a feeling for it. And if you tell me that after 12 million pages, all those questions are still unanswered, I need to hunt Martin down and shake that extra middle initial out of him.
As for Alan, he fished the Fox River, which you Hemingway fans know is the one in the Nick Adams stories, and yes, I know the author says it’s the Two Hearted, but it’s not. The one you walk to from the train station in Seney is the Fox. But “Two Hearted” is a far more poetic and literary name than Fox, so he switched them, and let’s let that be the end of it, shall we? Anyway, Alan fished the Fox, or one of the branches. It was about as wide as our bathtub, and no deeper. He caught some fish. They were good fish. He turned them all loose.
And it was nice being in that part of the U.P., which is new to me. I like the look of those old farms, those triumphs of hope over experience, as the growing season is short and the soil is poor. About all anyone raises is hay and beef, not even alfalfa, and I don’t know how you keep a herd growing on grass hay, but I guess they do it in the west all the time, don’t they? Sam’s family place — she’s the fourth generation to own it — used to be a pea farm. They grew seed stock for gardeners, and on maps, it’s still called the Pea Farm, even though peas haven’t been grown there in decades. There’s an orchard, and we made applesauce one day with the early-ripening specimens. Everyone up there has a few apple trees, and besides the obvious reasons to grow apples, there’s the one they didn’t teach you in the Johnny Appleseed unit in school — hard cider for long winters.
Because that’s what the U.P. specializes in. However, I’m glad we got there for a week of its very lovely summer. There was a bald eagle roosting on the point over the lakefront (Big Manistique) on Sam’s property. I assume that means we made it all the way to Real America.
So, I’m glad last week’s retreads seem to have gone over well. I was well and truly off the grid, and had difficulty reading them myself, with half-bar service and the dreaded Edge data network. But I did read all the comments, very…slowly. One…by…one. It was a lesson on what constitutes urgent communication. News was that which was covered by NPR, and little else. So I missed the Kardashian nuptials and anything else that was deemed newsworthy by bloggers and the like. Although someone sent me this, about Rick Perry, and that’s pretty amusing. Beyond that, I don’t have much, and it’s Monday. And you know what that means.
It’s good to be back with all you peeps. Let’s see what the rest of August may hold, shall we?
coozledad said on August 22, 2011 at 9:21 am
Those photographs remind me of Masonboro inlet, near Wilmington.
Perry’s got that stupid/evil moribund bastard thing going that Republicans can’t help but worship. He’ll likely get his party’s nomination.
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ROGirl said on August 22, 2011 at 9:34 am
Cooz, it’s time to start re-reading “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Beautiful pictures. The chill is in the air already.
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adrianne said on August 22, 2011 at 9:51 am
Love the photos!
End of August has brought a cornucopia of tomatoes, basil, Swiss chard, peppers and other yummy things from our CSA. Trying to cook/prepare them all this week before we depart for our upstate New York vacation (Cooperstown, Lake George, etc.)
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Deborah said on August 22, 2011 at 10:06 am
Ah the best of summer. Sounds like heaven, to loll around and read in a beautiful setting with great weather. I haven’t done that in awhile. As I’ve said here before, the older I get the harder it is for me to take the heat, the humid, muggy kind. We have been warned that we will have two more days of it this week, Tues and Weds. I hope to god that’s the end of it.
Our St. Louis weekend turned out to be quite pleasant (though hot). Saw some old friends, that’s about it. I am always glad to come home to Chicago instead of the other way around, when I used to live in St. Louis and would visit Chicago for a weekend.
How about that Libya situation? Obama did the right thing once again, and is getting little recognition for it. Qaddafi will probably do one last bloody strike before it’s over for him.
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coozledad said on August 22, 2011 at 10:13 am
Deborah: Juan Cole spells it out. The administration ought to retain him as an adviser.
http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/top-ten-myths-about-the-libya-war.html
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Dorothy said on August 22, 2011 at 10:30 am
I have vacation envy after seeing those pretty pictures. Welcome back! And I don’t know why, but this year I have this feeling of dread creeping into my veins as fall approaches. I wore a sweater to work today it was so nice and cool. I wish it could be 75 and partly sunny every day of the year.
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Julie Robinson said on August 22, 2011 at 10:35 am
“We didn’t do much.” The best kind of vacation.
We have also been enjoying the bounty of nature. For dinner last night we made black bean soup using fresh sweet corn and tomatoes I picked moments before. Then we added sandwiches made with sprouts, egg, muenster cheese, and more slices of those exquisite tomatoes. The flavors were orgasmatory. And if that isn’t a word, it should be.
Edit: That’s my idea of perfection too, Dorothy. I’ve noticed a few trees turning already and am wishing I could store up these days to pull out one at a time during January and February.
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Sue said on August 22, 2011 at 10:47 am
I didn’t even know one of those Kardashian people (otherwise known as this generation’s Gabor family) was getting married until I turned on the TV this morning and saw the opening shots on GMA or maybe Today, same difference. Anyway, whoever was getting married was in the usual bride’s finery but all I could see was OMG, her eyes! They’re being attacked by spiders! Long black spider legs everywhere!
Oh, false eyelashes. Layers of them. Perilously close to TammyFayeVille. When people stare at your eyes in horror, wondering if your lashes are going to start wandering away, perhaps that’s not the dewy-eyed wedding look you intended.
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Linda said on August 22, 2011 at 10:55 am
I am harvesting tomatoes, basil and garlic, and it’s all gonna be enjoyed. I’m eating some fresh pesto right now, and put some up for winter. That’s the equivalent of saving some of these days for winter, and I relish them.
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Dorothy said on August 22, 2011 at 10:56 am
Sue thanks for that visual and the great laugh you gave me! Is there anyone in the World ‘o Celebrity that understands what demure means anymore?! And I’m proud to admit I don’t know one Kardashian from another.
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Julie Robinson said on August 22, 2011 at 11:06 am
Alert! Friend of nnc Laura Lippman is on the Diane Rehm show this hour promoting her latest book.
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 11:18 am
Nancy, That sunset photo is a beaut, I ‘d like to use it for my desktop. I change the desktop background frequently, and that shot is lovely. Closest I’ve been to the UP is winter camping on the Au Sable when I was in the Boy Scouts, with one quick bus trip to the bridge and the island at the end of the campout to ease back into civilization.
We’ve got great local produce and a three block long, live-oak lined Farmer’s Market over on the mainland. Somebody was thoughtful and gracious enough to put a brewpub right in the middle of the market. This time of year, I’m busy roasting tomatoes with olive oil, onions, garlic, oregano and basil to fill our freezer with a winter’s supply of tomato sauce, for chili and pasta. We smell like an Italian restaurant. These tomatoes are as far from the kind shipped in from California to sell for $3.59/lb. during the winter months as you can get. Thank the Lord for my Cuisinart. And speaking of tomatoes…
Culture vultures in LA (there’s an inherent contradiction somewhere in that term) are aflutter over a gorgeous young Chinese woman wearing a perfectly-fitted mini-dress and gold sandals to play Rachmaninoff. Seriously? Somebody had a problem with a piano soloist wearing this dress? Old blue-haired dowagers built like battleships and wearing Margaret Dumont’s wardrobe.
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Sue said on August 22, 2011 at 11:26 am
Forgot to add – good job capturing the annoying Hemingway writing style.
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LAMary said on August 22, 2011 at 11:29 am
“Culture vultures in LA (there’s an inherent contradiction somewhere in that term)…”
I’ve lived in LA for almost thirty years and it gets really tiresome to hear we’re all mindless Philistines. And all New Yorkers talk like cab drivers and all Southerners are rednecks. Please.
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Judybusy said on August 22, 2011 at 11:31 am
Yes, this time of year is lovely for the kitchen….fried eggplant with basalmic, garlic, basil; gazpacho,Thai food with eggplant, bruschetta…sweet corn and tomato pie. Our bigger tomatoes are finally getting ripe; we’ve been eating little Golden Nuggets for about 10 days.
The vacation sounds so mellow–lots of reading, watching waves. Perfect.
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Sue said on August 22, 2011 at 11:34 am
And all Midwesterners are wholesome apple-cheeked salt-of-the-earth farm folks whose good common sense makes up for their lack of deeper thought processes. That is, when they’re not second-, third- and fourth- city dwellers foolishly trying to emulate their betters on either coast.
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Deborah said on August 22, 2011 at 11:37 am
Judybusy do you have a recipe for tomato pie? That sounds fantastic. Or is it sweet corn and tomato pie?
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alex said on August 22, 2011 at 11:41 am
My eighty-plus tomato plants have been yielding a couple of bushels a week now for better than a month. Did lotsa cooking this weekend, big multi-gallon batches of this favorite Hungarian dish that I freeze and eat all winter. Next I plan to make a year’s supply of tomato paste with all my Romas.
Tried this Mark Bittman recipe last week and thought it was pretty good, although in the future I plan to add either chicken or fish broth and some meat.
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Judybusy said on August 22, 2011 at 11:51 am
Alex, I can’t imagine working with all those tomatoes–brava for you. I am definitely making that paella next week. Wow.
Deb, here is the recipe for the corn and tomato pie. It is not heart healthy, but oh, my, it is so good.
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LAMary said on August 22, 2011 at 11:59 am
Look for a recipe for Pissaladiere. Sometimes there’s only one S in the word. I’ve had it with tomatoes and without, and the tomato version is great. Basically it’s thin, crisp crust pizza with no cheese, onions, thin sliced tomatoes, anchovies and good olives.
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nancy said on August 22, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I ate a pastie. Meh. Stingy on the filling, despite what the charming waitress said. But there was rutabaga, so it was authentic.
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Just a joke, Mary. No offense meant. But people getting all bunched-panties about that young woman’s dress struck me as seriously gauche, when she is considered one of the finest pianists in the world by experts, and can certainly wear that orange dress without apology.
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 12:07 pm
I can’t remember who it was here with the connection to the Avid Book Store, but that venture seems to be going pretty well.
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LAMary said on August 22, 2011 at 12:12 pm
I’m at work so my search capabilities are limited, but here’s a tomato pie recipe that is not Pissaladiere but it sounds very nice:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/08/tomato-and-cheddar-pie
EDIT:
I found a good one.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/20/food/la-fo-rocknrollrec20c-2010jan20
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Deborah said on August 22, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Coozledad, I read the Juan Cole link, thanks for that. I think Obama did the right thing in terms of the US being a “junior partner”. McCain and Graham are now giving him lip for not being more aggressive. I think because we are still embroiled in two other conflicts in the mid-east, we have done our part and it was time for others to step up to the plate. Which they did, and as Cole said France initiated the intervention anyway, which was in my mind completely appropriate. The people of Libya are the ones who have pulled this off with some help, and that’s the way it should be.
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Connie said on August 22, 2011 at 12:20 pm
My librarian email is filled this morning with the link to a nice story about libraries on cnn.com. Unfortunately it’s by Bob Greene. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/21/greene.books/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
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Deborah said on August 22, 2011 at 12:25 pm
All thanks for the pie recipes. There’s a green market on Tuesdays that’s a couple of blocks from us in front of the Contemporary Art Museum, a trip to buy the ingredients is in order for Littlebird that day. We’re out of tomatoes because we were in St. Louis over the weekend and didn’t make it to the Lincoln Park market on Saturday.
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nancy said on August 22, 2011 at 12:28 pm
And yet, still! Vintage Greene. Trite lead:
Are you a person who loves to read books? If so, you’re set for life.
Then he goes on to state the argument some twit made to me when I dared to complain that Fort Wayne didn’t have any good bookstores:
There are so many wonderful books that have been written over the centuries, books that will thrill you and make you cry and change you and bring laughter to you and keep you up all night. Even if you did nothing else for the rest of your life but read, you would only be able to get to the most infinitesimal percentage of books that you would be destined to adore. They’re just waiting for you — waiting to be found, right now.
(Love that extra emphasis there. They’re just waiting for you. Waiting to be found. Right now. Someone is getting paid by the word.)
Then a detour into nostalgia: Try these two 50-year-old books I just walked past on the shelf. A brief acknowledgement of reality:
Public libraries themselves are facing difficult times. They’re losing funds and cutting hours, or even entire days; budgets for purchasing new books are being slashed; staff is being laid off.
But don’t worry!
But the glory of the American public library system remains.
Then some meaningless figures, which suggests he’s learned to use the Google:
The Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, public library (and branches) has 9,261,259 volumes. The Detroit public library has 7,366,782 volumes. The Dallas public library has 5,462,742 volumes. The St. Louis public library has 3,381,858 volumes.
Annnd, a final there-there pat on the shoulder. All is calm, all is bright, and Bob cashes another check.
I can’t fucking stand it.
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alex said on August 22, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Slightly off topic, but here’s a New Yorker profile of Clarence Thomas that is more illuminating than anything else I’ve ever read about him. I must say it’s too bad that Joe Biden didn’t call the other sex-harassment witnesses waiting to testify at his confirmation hearing.
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beb said on August 22, 2011 at 12:57 pm
All I can say about that dress that Miss Wang was barely wearing is — God, I hope she was wearing clean panties. There wasn’t a lot left to the imagination. But could she play in those high heels? It had to be hard working the pedals in them.
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Julie Robinson said on August 22, 2011 at 12:59 pm
My mouth is watering at the idea of a tomato-sweet corn pie. Yes. Yes! Yes!!!*
Holy cow, Alex, that is impressive. 14 here, and it feels a bit over the top. At our Extension Service plant sale I bought a variety called Yellow Pear, and that’s exactly what they look like, miniature pears, 1-2 inches long. They’re fun to put in dishes because of their color but blindfolded I couldn’t tell the difference from a standard cherry tomato.
If you missed Laura Lippman, make sure to catch the podcast. Her newest book sounds wonderful, no surprise.
(*in the style of the diner scene in Harry Met Sally)
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Coozledad: Think how the whole world would be different if people had listened to Juan Cole about Iraq. On Liby, he seems a little pissed off to have been marginalized. I’m sure he’s got the current situation right, and anybody who had a clue about anything beyond making sure Obama gets no 2nd term would have to admit that all the hair on fir bullshit about a third war was simply knee-jerk obstructionist criticism in the first place. The USA/NATO/UN strategy was about just right. For the Libyan revolutionaries, winning this pitched assault against overwhelming force of armor is surely a very sound basis for establishing a new government. Of course, the NATO attacks on Moammar’s tanks etc. was a great aid, but it also has the result of creating space for the Libyans to more or less have a government up and running as soon as the Colonel and his boys are run out to Berlusconi’s country villa for a little “bunga bunga” to lick their wounds. As it turns out, this situation was handled quite well by NATO and the American president.
I have to wonder how much of Professor Cole’s wisdom is a direct result of having lived in that part of the world and actually speaking the language. But , hell, how would that sort of experience help? He is obviously pissed off royally about being marginalized by ignorant commentators on this development, and his line about Alexander Cockburn agreeing with Max Boot is hilarious.
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Jolene said on August 22, 2011 at 2:18 pm
The other annoying thing about today’s news is all the talking heads exclaiming about what terribly difficult problems in governance Libya now faces. Really? What insight! Do they think the Libyans don’t know that?
In addition to in-country leaders, expats from all over the world have been working for months as the fighting has gone forward to establish unity and create a framework for governance.
Obviously, there are a lot of challenges ahead, but it seems like we could take a day–or, at least, a few hours to celebrate the achievement of deposing Gaddhafi.
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Jolene said on August 22, 2011 at 2:29 pm
All these tomato and corn recipes look terrific. Along w/ strawberries and fresh peas, they are the best of summer foods.
When I was a kid, we had a huge garden and ate fresh tomatoes for supper (dinner was at noon) every night for a month or more and canned prodigious quantities that we used throughout the winter. My mother and my aunt would spend a couple of days canning and freezing corn for the two families.
Not sure why I remember it so strongly, but one of my all-time best meals was an all-American spread of steak, homemade french fries, sliced tomatoes, corn on the cob, and beer eaten late in the evening w/ Mom and Dad and a friend w/ whom I’d just returned from a trip to France. I was eighteen. A perfect, perfect memory.
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brian stouder said on August 22, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Let me join in thanking Cooze for the Cole link, and our rested and refreshed hostess for the Perry link.
Regarding Libya, and despite that I trust our president’s judgement, I was quite uncomfortable at the onset of more war for us. It will be a great relief if indeed the Khadafy era – and the war that marks its end – is indeed over.
And with regard to the secessionist knownothing with the good hair from Texas, we could rework the title of today’s post just slightly, and it would describe Perry’s America quite well, if lightening should strike and he got himself elected president.
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Dorothy said on August 22, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Avid Bookstore is my niece Janet Geddis’s new business venture! Thanks for the plug, April/Prospero/Sybil.
Sweet Jesus I’d forgotten about that tomato/corn pie recipe that someone led me to last year. I’m going to have to make that again this week. It was quite heavenly if my tastebuds are remembering correctly. I made a tomato and corn cold salad for my son’s National Guard commissioning party last weekend it was very popular with our dining guests.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 22, 2011 at 2:37 pm
beb – apparently the heels were not a problem. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-concert-dress-notebook-20110820,0,3268760.story
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coozledad said on August 22, 2011 at 2:47 pm
My only concern is that if Libyans adopt a sensible bureaucratic government that nationalizes oil revenues and tears up the blood money contracts BP inked with Ghaddafi, congressional Republicans will call for war. They always prefer dealing with strongmen who’ll help them thieve.
After all, it only took the BP contracts for Bush to rebrand Muammar as a partner and all around good guy.
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Jolene said on August 22, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Joe Biden being a good sport in Mongolia.
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brian stouder said on August 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm
And speaking of presidential politics, good ol’ Nate Silver has an interesting column, including full cover graphics that are (or at least start out as) strikingly clear and interesting
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
The disgrams reminded me of when the girls blow bubbles, with multi-color bubble-liquid.
Frankly, it is almost tempting to root for the secessionist from Texas, since the president’s campaign would flatten him in short order. Romney, though, would have the easiset time moving his Nate-Silver bubble into the reasonable region of people’s perceptions, and I think he (alone) could possibly win.
We shall see
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Jolene said on August 22, 2011 at 3:09 pm
ICYMI, here’s the Lippman interview on Diane Rehm.
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Jolene. The Libyan people have had a government pretty much up and running in Benghazi since early on, able to operate because of the cover of NATO pounding Ghaddafi unmercilessly. As Cole tells it, the Berber minortiy led the way in the rebel forces, and it appears that the revolution took place across tribal and ethnic lines. There may have been some luck involved, and clearly Ghaddafi was a very courageous and determined uprising, but if PNACers and their fellow travellers like McCain and Lidsey Graham won’t admit this was handled with finesse and in well-oiled concert with real allies, they can suck a corndog. It would be nice if one or two of the handful of rational Republicans extant would admit thhis was a well-handled foreign affairs operation with a good outcome. But I might have a heart attack.
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adrianne said on August 22, 2011 at 3:23 pm
News alert! Andy Borowitz reveals that Moammar has been found – in New Hampshire running for the Republican presidential nomination: http://www.borowitzreport.com/
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Yuja Wang playing Rachmaninopff in another dress that would probably not pass muster (at rehearsal, though). I’m no expert, but her technical skills seem astonishing, and she plays with a lot of animation and emotion.
Revolting conservative commentators abound, even in print. George Wills expertise at purely sophistic argument is as disgraceful as his supercilious faux upper class elitism. He’s a common criminal, having stolen that debate prep book for his patron R. Raygun. But for pure nausea inducing phoniness in the conservative cause, you have to get Shakespearean to accurately describe Charles Krauthammer. As in Richard III. “Bottled spider”, “poisonous bunch-back’d toad”. He got where he is today by disguising all of the Raygun-era Iran-Contra lawbreaking as “the Reagan Doctrine”. Despicable. His inset byline picture is a perfect illustration for a Richard III Cliff’s Notes edition. Mean, bitter and misanthropic. Yeah and I know he’s in a wheel chair, and I can understand how that’s a challenge to enjoying anything in life. But other people suffer through worse situations without losing humanity completely.
I believe Ghaddafi is headed straight to Italy with his Amazonian blonde Praetorians to Bunga Bunga with his best bud Berlusconi.
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MichaelG said on August 22, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Here, here, Mary on the culture vulture remark. And those winter tomatoes don’t come from California, they come from Mexico. Good tomatoes are available if one takes the time to look.
Below is a recipe for pissaladiere from the delicious Laura Calder.
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/laura-calder/pissaladiere-recipe/index.html
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LAMary said on August 22, 2011 at 4:04 pm
The photo of pissaladiere has made me very hungry. I’ll need to stop and pick up some anchovies on the way home.
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Dexter said on August 22, 2011 at 4:45 pm
I thought someone would chastise the spelling you use, “pastie”, but it wasn’t going to be me. I was obsessed with this for the shortest time when I figured it out: it makes no difference if it’s pasty or pastie, it’s the same thing.
I had a couple of them about twenty years ago, and the remarkable thing is that I can’t remember a thing about them, they were so plain tasting.
I used to work with a grizzled guy who really resented authority, and was unhappy in all things and matters. When he had enough time in, he retired, divorced his wife as I recall, and lit out for a cabin he had his sights on near L’Anse, Michigan. A few guys from work actually visited him up there, close to Lake Superior, and found a contented, even happy, man, living apart from most of society’s burdens, hunting and fishing, and wanting nothing.
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Well, “pastie is the proper spelling for those minuscule articles of apparel Janet Jackson could have used at the Super Bowl, the mammary merkin, so to speak.
Entertaining comments on airport security from Dick Cavett, with nice words about the airport in Detroit. I like to read Cavett’s columns, because I always here his voice, mannerisms and accent when I do, from years of watching him do interviews on TV, at which he excelled. His interview of Jimi Hendrix was great. Charley Rose is just about the only really good interviewer around anymore. That Piers Morgan guy is such a smarmy tat it’s hard to believe he gets paid for his schtick. Tavis Smiley is OK, but his questions tend toward being vague rather than incisive. Conan O’Brien and Leno are hopeless. And Lettreman makes it about himself too often, but when he’s got a serious subject he can be very good at introducing his own opinion without being overbearing. Best TV interview I’ve seen in years, was Craig Ferguson talking to Desmond Tutu for an hour. (I think this may actually have won an award from the Peabody Foundation, unlike O’Reilly, who only imagined winning.) They actually discussed modern theology as it relates to war and social justice and both men knew what they were talking about. Of course, Ferguson is also funnier by miles than anybody else on after 11pm set, aside for, occasionally, Jimmy Kimmel.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1133402/Craig-Ferguson-Desmond-Tutu-Peabody-Award-Interview
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alex said on August 22, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Pizza la derriere? I thought I was such a know-it-all foodie and the denizens of nn.c teach me new things all the time.
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Dexter said on August 22, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Pizza la derriere? Does that translate to peace of ass or piece of ass?
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Dexter said on August 22, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Musical interlude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKzVfy0AcLo&feature=related
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Brandon said on August 22, 2011 at 6:54 pm
“I’m proud to admit I don’t know one Kardashian from another.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:The_Kardashian_Family
Kim Kardashian (sister)
Kourtney Kardashian (sister)
Khloé Kardashian Odom (sister)
Kendall Jenner (half-sister)
Kylie Jenner (half-sister)
Burt Jenner (stepbrother)
Casey Jenner (stepsister)
Brandon Jenner (stepbrother)
Brody Jenner (stepbrother)
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LAMary said on August 22, 2011 at 7:22 pm
If you look at the photos from the Kardashian wedding, you might notice that the new Mr. Kardashian (Kris Humphries) looks a lot like Khloe Kardashian. Or rather, if Kris was in drag, he would look like Khloe. E!Network website has photos.
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jcburns said on August 22, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Glad you had a good time, Nance. Feels better to get back where email and web packets just flow through your world like a mighty stream, eh? (Yeah, us too. Downstate!)
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april glaspie said on August 22, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Well there’s also the stepdaddy Bruce Jenner who looks separated at birth from either Joan Rivers or Phyllis Diller. No room for him in the family cosmetic surgery budget.And the super-soft NBA player Lamar Odom,married to one of the Butt Sisters. Lamar Odom famously lives on Gummi Bears and Twizzlers.
Isn’t it true you could put anything you damn well please in a pasty, like a gringo quesadilla or a yankee calzone. Or is it a requirement they be bland?
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crinoidgirl said on August 22, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Have not had enough time to process today, but I agree with april glaspie that the sunset photo is a beaut, and with you that a great model can cover for a multitude of sins. And the two of you seem to have turned out a damn great model.
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Sherri said on August 23, 2011 at 1:35 am
I really hate to tell you this, but I’m through A Dance With Dragons, and we still don’t have an answer to either of your questions. I’ve advised my husband to get through A Storm of Swords, then stop. The next two are really long slogs. I read A Feast For Crows because A Dance With Dragons was really truly going to be available in a couple of months, and I read A Dance With Dragons hoping it would redeem A Feast For Crows, but I didn’t find either of them all that satisfying.
So, you’re not the only one who wants to shake the extra middle initial out of Martin.
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Linda said on August 23, 2011 at 7:08 am
April–
Bruce already BURNED THROUGH his facelift money. The shame of it is, he was a terribly handsome man, but chased surgical eternal youth, which is a sucker’s game. Before guys do that, it should be mandatory that they talk to Sean Connery, who is ruggedly handsome in his old age, in his untouched self.
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april glaspie said on August 23, 2011 at 10:45 am
I heard about the George Martin Thrones books a few years ago and was all ready to wadein. Problem was, when I found them at the library, I was on my bike, and the thought of one of those doorstops in my backpack after a foreshortened grocery shop was daunting, so I left them there and reread the Gormenghast books. LOTR aside, the adventures of Steerpike (brilliant villain) and Titus (reluctant hero) are my favorite story in all of fantasy writing.
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LAMary said on August 23, 2011 at 5:41 pm
I think Bruce had a bad nose job before he entered the face lift phase of life. He went from being a good looking guy to having an vaguely feminine face. His old nose was fine. I think Bruce has tuned up the face a few times over the years and it looks too tight now.
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