Done in nine seconds.

I love it when a source suggests meeting for coffee at a Tim Horton’s. This means I can have a doughnut because duh — Tim Horton’s. I rarely eat doughnuts, because they are basically heroin for a sugar junkie like me. I need to detox, but before I do? One more delicious sour-cream glazed from Tim’s.

Sour-cream glazed are my absolute favorite, combining that little tang of sour cream with the sugar overload. My prejudices: Sprinkles are wrong on doughnuts, as is chocolate. Yes, I said chocolate. My mother raised me to believe you don’t eat chocolate before noon, and I’ve never been able to eat a chocolate doughnut in the morning with an entirely clean conscience.

And if you start eating doughnuts, any doughnuts, after noon, you have a problem.

What’s your fave doughnut? Beats bitching about the president, if only for one day.

I don’t have much bloggage, going into the weekend, because I’ve been working on something else and reducing my poking-around-the-internet time. Here’s an L.A. Times photo gallery of a number of national monuments the Trump administration is casting a stern eye at, because wouldn’t the American people really rather have a golf course?

Also, I used to start the day with the L.A. Times crossword, done on the laptop of course, but they changed the interface and I fell out of the habit. Then I realized that if you load the mobile site of the NYT on the laptop, I could do their mini-crossword on a proper keyboard instead of thumb-typing. I generally get it done under 30 seconds, and on Thursday? 16 seconds. I doubt I’ll ever beat my all-time record of 9 seconds, but go ahead and try.

I’m so tired I may walk into a wall on my way to bed. Hope you don’t, and have a great weekend, all.

Posted at 9:09 pm in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

108 responses to “Done in nine seconds.”

  1. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    You had to bring up doughnuts. I’m a sugar junkie, for sure.

    In season, my favorite is Top Pot’s glazed pumpkin doughnut. The rest of the time, a cake doughnut with chocolate and coconut. Top Pot opened a store in Redmond not too long ago, and my husband, who can eat anything and never gain a pound, likes to drop by there and pick up doughnuts after his squash game on Saturday. It’s killing me. It’s not possible for me to work out enough to overcome it, not anymore.

    Sigh. After I slandered personal trainers for having crazy nutritional ideas a few months ago, my new one seems to be an exception. So, I’m actually scheduling time with her next week to talk about changing my diet. It’s not so much that I don’t know what to do, but I know I need the accountability or I won’t keep it up.

    I don’t know which I hate worse, having to change, or admitting that I have to change.

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  2. basset said on April 27, 2017 at 10:13 pm

    No doughnuts for me, got the sugar so if I do weaken and eat one, can’t enjoy it. Scheduled checkup tomorrow, which usually means a scolding and stronger meds.
    The planning commission meeting continues, finally got around to the big item and 39 are lined up to speak.

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  3. Deborah said on April 27, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    Funny, I hadn’t had a donut in a long time, then Saturday morning I had one. I was trying to walk to the science protest and couldn’t make it so stopped at a place to get coffee and a pastry before heading back home in a cab. There it was a plain cake donut calling my name. I had to have it and it was delicious. Plain cake has been my favorite since forever. I like glazed too, but no sprinkles or chocolate for me either. And for heavens sake never anything in the donut like cream or jelly, yuck.

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  4. Sherri said on April 27, 2017 at 11:12 pm

    Just watched some of the feed, basset. The worst part of sitting through public hearings is having to listen to the same thing over and over again and not letting it show on your face.

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  5. basset said on April 27, 2017 at 11:19 pm

    it dies run together after awhile. I’m sitting at the staff table in a blue blazer and dark blue tie, old white guy with a gray goatee.

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  6. LAMary said on April 28, 2017 at 12:30 am

    I like what they call old fashioned doughnuts here I LA. It’s a slightly tangy buttermilk dough and I like them plain. They aren’t round. They’re rectangular so they get crunchy edges. There are lots of hipster doughnut places here and I have not invested the time or effort to check any of them out. I like my crunchy edged geezer doughnuts. Get off my lawn.

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  7. basset said on April 28, 2017 at 12:42 am

    Nineteen minutes to midnight and the public hearing continues.

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  8. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 28, 2017 at 12:55 am

    Sour cream plain, two; large black dark roast.

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  9. LAMary said on April 28, 2017 at 2:18 am

    In an interview Trump said being president is harder than he thought it would be.

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  10. basset said on April 28, 2017 at 2:46 am

    Gavel at five till one, out the door at ten after.

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  11. ROGirl said on April 28, 2017 at 4:38 am

    I’ve stopped eating donuts because the oil ends up making its presence known for several hours afterwards. I’m no longer even tempted.

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  12. alex said on April 28, 2017 at 7:02 am

    Never been a fan of donuts or any sort of breakfast pastry. Stuff just doesn’t appeal to me in the least. Probably a good thing or I’d be even fatter than I’ve gotten lately. People bring enormous boxes of donuts into the office all the time to share and even if I’ve gone without breakfast and I’m starving, donuts are never a temptation and I’d just as soon go hungry.

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  13. Diane said on April 28, 2017 at 7:05 am

    Honey dip. And yes, doughnuts are not a place for chocolate.

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  14. coozledad said on April 28, 2017 at 7:15 am

    Trump says Presidentin’ is hard. he wants to go back to his old life of whorin’, grabbin’ puss, and shagging his daughter. I want him to go back to his old life too.
    And to keep with the theme, Trump is not a jelly donut so much as he’s a stream of bat’s piss or a dose of clap.

    We may not be going to war with North Korea so much as South Korea. Or Trump may succeed in unifying them. Against us.

    https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher/status/857819965445079040

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  15. basset said on April 28, 2017 at 8:12 am

    Sherri, what’s the latest your planning commission meetings have gone out there? two-thirty for us, been several years though.

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  16. Kirk said on April 28, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Plain cake doughnut for me. Blueberry is good, too. I manage to get through a year eating fewer than a dozen, but when I have one, I have two.

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  17. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 8:42 am

    A new doughnut/ice cream place (“Yummy Bunny”) opened on Main Street in downtown Fort Wayne – just down from Coney Island – and the place is always packed, and lined-up down the sidewalk!

    Pam and the girls and I finally stopped in one day, when we noticed it wasn’t lined-up, and it was good (fresh ice cream on fresh doughnuts would be hard to foul-up!)…and before we left, it was lined up out the door and down the sidewalk, again.

    Basset, is a recording of your public meeting somewhere on the ‘net?

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  18. Randy said on April 28, 2017 at 9:08 am

    I like sour cream glazed. The more we hear about sugar, the guiltier the pleasure becomes…

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  19. Peter said on April 28, 2017 at 9:20 am

    Most folks discover the joys of alcohol and drugs when they leave home, for me it was doughnuts. Raised not cake. Chocolate or GTFO. But I’ve been on the straight and narrow since Ash Wednesday, and have lost 15 lbs. of doughnut fat to show for it.

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  20. Kirk said on April 28, 2017 at 9:21 am

    And speaking of doughnuts, I find Krispy Kreme hugely overrated. Sickeningly sweet.

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  21. Julie Robinson said on April 28, 2017 at 9:25 am

    A few years ago we drove to Toronto and stopped at one of those marvelous Canadian rest stops–clean bathrooms and a Tim Horton’s. Hubby was getting coffee and I thought the donuts looked good. Lordy, lordy. We stopped once again on the way there, twice on the way back, so four donuts for Julie. Each of them was different; each of them was delicious. Apparently the coffee was good too.

    Favorite donut? The one that just came out of the oven/fryer.

    This weekend we see Hamilton in Chicago. Deborah, I hope you’re not walking around outside yet, because the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday calls for 90% chance of rain and highs not even to 50. We’re staying with friends in Oak Park and hadn’t decided our other activities yet. I’m thinking we’ll stay inside and gab.

    Mother is enchanted by her new kitty. She says she can’t stop smiling.

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  22. nancy said on April 28, 2017 at 9:29 am

    Kirk, I always though Paula Deen’s Krispy Kreme bread pudding was one of those recipes that says more about the South than any five masters’ theses on the Civil War.

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  23. Icarus said on April 28, 2017 at 9:46 am

    I’ve never really met a doughnut or donut I didn’t like, though I’m found of French Crullers.

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  24. Bob (Not Greene) said on April 28, 2017 at 9:49 am

    I don’t have the morning chocolate guilt, so every once in a while (gotta watch the sugar intake these days) I’ll have a doughnut from Weber’s, a bakery on the Chicago’s Southwest Side. http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-best-doughnuts-chicago-photos-012-photo.html

    But what I really love in the morning with a cup of coffee is a couple of apricot kolackys from a place near my house that I’ve been going to since I was just a kid. http://trysomethingfun.com/chicago-veseckys-bakery/

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  25. Diane said on April 28, 2017 at 9:51 am

    Now I’m going to have to stop at the local doughnut place for a doughnut on the way into work. (There are lots of things we can’t get in my small town but there is a place with excellent homemade doughnuts.)

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  26. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 10:06 am

    My favorite pastry these days is a fresh almond croissant. There is a little coffee place near here that has good ones, they also carry Hoosier Mama goodies. The place is called Dollop, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it here before. They have excellent coffee, a brand called Metropolis (or maybe it’s Metropolitan) it’s pricey though. I get my coffee from Santa Fe now, LB mails it to me when I’m out of town. There’s a local roaster there called Aroma, they have a Pinon Hazlenut blend (decaf) that is to die for. LB has a friend who works for the company so she gets the coffee either free or half price. I feel like I’ve already told all of this here before, I repeat myself a lot but these meds make me forget what I’ve said 10 minutes later. I’m feeling much better by the way, I’m going to try to stop taking the pain meds so I can have a clear head.

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  27. Bruce Fields said on April 28, 2017 at 10:07 am

    “I generally get it done under 30 seconds, and on Thursday? 16 seconds. I doubt I’ll ever beat my all-time record of 9 seconds, but go ahead and try.”

    Good grief, I don’t think I’ve managed under 30. The clues are easy enough but I don’t think I have the technique. Also I set myself a rule that I won’t finish it till I’ve read all the clues (even though it’d often just “across” would often be enough).

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  28. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 10:15 am

    Julie, under other circumstances I would have loved to have met with you over coffee or something, I love meeting nn.c folks. But with your busy schedule and my being stoved up, doesn’t make sense. Hopefully sometime though. Have fun this weekend.

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  29. Jakash said on April 28, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Ah, doughnuts. With the old-fashioned spelling, even, though Tim Horton’s leaves out the “ugh.” That’s a swell doughnut and coffee place, no doubt. Time was, if I was having doughnuts, I’d eat about half a dozen without even thinking about it. I considered it very restrained on my part when I cut back to 3 being a “serving,” until a random woman saw my order in a shop and somehow communicated to me that she thought 3 was a lot. Having one just seems like torturing myself, so, for years now, I’ve found it easier — as with many things — to skip them altogether rather than moderate my intake.

    With a couple of exceptions in the past year, because Chicago, like many metro areas, is in the midst of a doughnut renaissance, with hipster shops popping up all over. Including a number of outposts of Stan’s Donuts, a California chain that some guy here has brought to the Windy City. And they’ve got some fine creations, if one doesn’t mind paying for them. (Another of the “minor luxuries” that folks like to treat themselves to in this economy.)

    I just don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, so the sugar doesn’t bother me; it’s the fat that I avoid. Years ago, Dunkin’ took out their trans-fats, as I believe Horton’s has mostly done, as well. So, good for them. But, wow, the saturated fat. A DD old-fashioned has 8 grams, 40% of the Recommended Daily Allowance. Toasted Coconut? (My favorite, BTW.) 13 grams, a stunning 65% of RDA.

    Which brings me to my point! Woo-hoo! The last time I had some DD donuts, they weren’t even that tasty or satisfying. (Imagine that!) And they’re gone in a flash. (When I started reading this post, I thought the title “Done in 9 seconds” was going to refer to eating the doughnut.) If I’m gonna have 13 grams of saturated fat for no reason, it’s gonna have to be a more significant eating event than that, these days. There are a number of areas where knowing, in general, that some food isn’t “healthy” is something that I can ignore for the moment. But seeing the actual numbers, due to the proliferation of nutrition facts, makes a big difference to me. This is one of them.

    But I do miss the old days, when I’d thoughtlessly plow through a half-dozen…

    D’oh! Nuts!

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  30. john (not mccain) said on April 28, 2017 at 10:43 am

    Surprised there are so many plain cake fans. I thought I was the only one. There’s a local chain here called Paula’s Donuts that makes my favorite non-plain donut: key lime. It’s gross and wonderful and makes me hate myself for the rest of the day, but once or twice a year it’s worth it.

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  31. Bob (Not Greene) said on April 28, 2017 at 10:49 am

    Hey, Julie, at 21 — if you go down Oak Park Avenue just south of the el, I’ll wave to you.

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  32. Dorothy said on April 28, 2017 at 11:00 am

    Deep sigh of happiness here because you brought up a subject I love: Baked Goods! My first job was at Sherman’s Bakery in my hometown, Wilkinsburg PA. My doughnut love has evolved over the years. I still love a good raised glazed doughnut, but lately the cake donuts are calling out to me. Cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar are good, as are chocolate or maple iced. Someone above said they’ve never met a doughnut they didn’t love. Well I can’t say that for me – never did care for a jelly doughnut. But the best pastry at Sherman’s (in my opinion) was the maple rolls, rectangular beauties connected all in a row, and you bought them in sets of three. If you got a half dozen, they fit beautifully in one of the wax bags that were also good for the coffee cakes. My hubby liked the ones we called Crispies, and most other bakeries call them Elephant Ears. Danish pastry that’s sort of flattened and has glaze on it and generally pretty dang delicious. I agree about eating doughnuts anytime except for breakfast – that’s just strange to me. I won’t and can’t do it.

    I worked most Saturdays at Sherman’s. The family’s name was actually spelled Scheurmann but they must have Americanized it for their business. This one old lady came in regularly and I tried hard not to be the one to wait on her, but with that number system, you can’t exactly tell a customer “I don’t wanna wait on you – I’ll take number 57 instead!” She wanted two lemon tarts, and they had to be PERFECT. Not a blemish on the meringue, no breaks in the crust. I had to stifle the urge to ask her “Are you taking them home to take pictures of them for a magazine, or are you going to EAT THE DAMN THINGS?!?!”

    I’ll talk about the bread and rolls another day. After I wipe the drool off my keyboard since I talked about doughnuts.

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  33. Julie Robinson said on April 28, 2017 at 11:04 am

    Our friends are on Lyman very close to there, I believe. He either walks or bikes to the train, or sometimes just bikes in to the city. It’s why they chose that location, they only need one car.

    Did anyone else get a happy-happy-joy-joy email this morning from United? It was interminably long and told me only that they’ve realized their PR problems.

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  34. Bitter Scribe said on April 28, 2017 at 11:08 am

    Never developed a taste for doughnuts. It’s funny because I consume plenty of sugar with my normal breakfast–in my coffee, yogurt, and fructose in the pineapple or other fresh fruit. But somehow the thought of all that sugar concentrated in one place is a turnoff in the morning.

    Julie: As Mittens said, corporations are people, at least in one respect: It’s amazing how contrite they become once they get caught.

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  35. coozledad said on April 28, 2017 at 11:16 am

    No wonder the Republicans can’t govern. They put Sonny Perdue in charge of ag subsidies, and he thinks they’re a tool to whip the poor:
    https://twitter.com/PoliticsReid/status/857968296725028864

    They’re already fucking up the economy just one quarter in. These people should be spat on in the street.

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  36. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 11:18 am

    Basset, our planning commission meetings start at 7 and the latest we’ve gone since I’ve been on is 10:30, when we had the public hearing for retail marijuana. We’re only 60k residents. Usually we don’t have anyone at our public hearings. Our study sessions are usually over by 8:30 or 9. City Council seldom goes later than 11.

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  37. Heather said on April 28, 2017 at 11:29 am

    I’ll take any doughnut really, but regular Krispy Kremes just off the conveyer belt are pretty amazing. Like Deborah, I gravitate more toward croissants, chocolate in my case. I buy them frozen from Trader Joe’s (you let them proof overnight) and treat myself to one every Sunday.

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  38. Mark P. said on April 28, 2017 at 11:47 am

    Way back in my 20’s, a friend and I used to get dozen mixed doughnuts on a Saturday night and eat them all. My favorite at the time was a chocolate-covered, cream-filled doughnut. It makes my teeth hurt to think about that today.

    Nancy, I’m not sure what Paula Deen’s ridiculous bread pudding recipe says about the South. She seems as foreign to me as anyone I can conceive of that lives in the US, although her background seems to be as native as they come. I grew up in Georgia, and my father’s family did, too. They were pure Georgia, but didn’t seem anything like Paula Deen. None of their cooking was anything like hers, either, although it was also pure Georgia (fried chicken, overcooked green beans). The only person I can think of who evenly remotely reminds me of her is my old high school Latin teacher. She was a gray-haired, would-be Southern aristocrat who pronounced “are” as “are-uh.” She once told my all male, all white class that you could identify an African-American who was trying to pass as white by looking at the color of the roof of their mouth. Isn’t that lovely.

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  39. Joe K said on April 28, 2017 at 12:10 pm

    Cream filled long John, not pudding filled, from Toms at the four corners at Lake James, also the sugar cake ones from the Eastern Star or Kiwanas at the Dekalb county fair.
    No coffee, love the smell hate the taste.
    Pilot Joe

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  40. nancy said on April 28, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    Well, Paula Dean has the very southern blood-sugar condition we know as Type 2 diabetes, and something about adding sweetened condensed milk to a pile of cut-up KKs strikes me as, um, counterproductive.

    On the other hand, the Dobos torte featured on the British Baking Show reminded me of the little layer cake of the south that Kim Severson wrote about a while back, so maybe I’m the one who’s wrong. If so, apologies.

    And my high-school health teacher told our all-white health class that black men had bigger dicks than white men.

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  41. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    On our vacation-palooza through the south (ultimately to the Florida Keys, for my brother’s wedding) Pam and the girls and I ate at her Savannah, Georgia restaurant.

    http://www.ladyandsons.com/

    It was good stuff, and indeed – Savannah is a beautiful place, with much to see – and which has a marvelous open-air market

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  42. coozledad said on April 28, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    No. The Irish dick is the mightiest. The slayer of worlds.

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  43. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    One off-putting thing that a history teacher told our class when I was in 8th grade (mid-1970’s), was that he always figured if a war broke out between China and/or the USSR and/or the United States, we’d side with Russia, because they’re white.

    Fast forward to 2017, and our 99-day president…..and it looks like he’d be right in step

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  44. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 12:50 pm

    Why in the world would high school teachers be talking about stuff like that in their classrooms? Black dicks and insides of mouths? I mean why for heaven’s sake? How did those particular subjects come up?

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  45. Peter said on April 28, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    Oh, the Dobos (or Dobosz) cake – that was my mom’s specialty. She made it for our birthdays and Thanksgiving, and I’ve never had another cake like it – the New Orleans version being too fluffy and sweet.

    Hers was a little off recipe – she had a thin chocolate frosting instead of caramel – but that hazelnut filling – whoa.

    She said she would take her recipe to the grave, and we thought she was joking, but she did.

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  46. basset said on April 28, 2017 at 1:38 pm

    Brian, last night’s meeting is on the YT at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP3FugaxYiM

    The mega-item starts at 3:57:58.

    Sherri, you’re in Redmond, right? Population here is about 680,000 in the county, a million-six in the region.

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  47. Kirk said on April 28, 2017 at 1:49 pm

    We made sure to avoid Paula Deen’s joint when we were in Savannah. The Pink House, now there’s a fine place.

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  48. Scout said on April 28, 2017 at 1:56 pm

    I rarely eat doughnuts because of the calorie hit. But when I do, I like jelly filled with powdered sugar and Boston creme. Go big or go home. I also like the plain glazed Krispy Kremes. I only eat the things when someone brings them to work, which is rare. Like Deborah, if I’m choosing the pastry it usually will be a croissant with an espresso. However, there is a coffee shop near my office that makes apple fritters that are to die for, probably literally.

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  49. Diane said on April 28, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    My stop for a doughnut this morning reminded me that in today’s world a favorite doughnut of mine is the maple-bacon doughnut, which, yes, I had for breakfast. Thank you for the sugar high, nnc.com.

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  50. Diane said on April 28, 2017 at 2:03 pm

    My stop for a doughnut this morning reminded me that in today’s world a favorite doughnut of mine is the maple-bacon doughnut, which, yes, I had for breakfast. Thank you for the sugar high, nnc.com.

    (I ended up in moderation because I don’t know how to type my email address. I’m blaming it on the sugar. My apologies if this end’s up posted twice.)

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  51. Diane said on April 28, 2017 at 2:03 pm

    My stop for a doughnut this morning reminded me that in today’s world a favorite doughnut of mine is the maple-bacon doughnut, which, yes, I had for breakfast. Thank you for the sugar high, nnc.com.

    (I ended up in moderation because I don’t know how to type my email address. I’m blaming it on the sugar. My apologies if this end’s up posted twice.)

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  52. Mark p said on April 28, 2017 at 2:14 pm

    I read that the ancient Greeks gave their sculptures of men small penises because they thought a large penis indicated brutishness. I suspect there is some residual of that in the common notion that blacks have large penises.

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  53. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    My husband is going to the climate march in Chicago tomorrow, a good friend of ours has been active in organizing it. It seems odd to us that they didn’t coordinate with the science march last weekend, but maybe they’re purposefully trying to spread out things like that? I don’t know what the strategy behind it is. I’m curious, is anyone else going in Chicago?

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  54. Dorothy said on April 28, 2017 at 3:00 pm

    My son and his wife went to Savannah a couple of years ago and had their last dinner of the weekend at Paula Deen’s restaurant. Megan got extremely sick from food poisoning. Stomach sick and the other sick. She was up and down into the bathroom frequently, they told us, and around 1 AM she stumbled into the bathroom one more time and while sitting on the throne, had a garbage can on her knees to throw up in. She passed out, fell off the toilet and broke her nose on the trash can as she fell to the floor. They ended up going to the hospital, she was THAT sick. And they could not travel home the next day as planned – they let her rest up one more day before they drove back to Ohio. So of course Paula Deen’s restaurant is on the Never-List in our family.

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  55. Dorothy said on April 28, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    *garbage can* – I mean the hotel trash can. Sorry if I confused anyone.

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  56. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    Well, we’re headed to Logansport – which is 100 miles closer to Chicago than we normally are – but that’s it. (I think we’re due to hit Chicago this summer, and do the museums and so on)

    Here’s a great article about “paid protesters” and the faulty assumptions behind that charge.

    http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columns/20170428/so-what

    (The Rosa Parks card gets played – thus winning the hand, and the game)

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  57. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    If I’d a knowed all that – ’bout Ms Dean’s place – we’d a skipped it!

    It had a big buffet – and I have several procedures (aka- superstitions) about how to play those (mostly – only grab what just came out of the kitchen!)…so I’m betting that’s the underlying issue….(and this is what I shall continue to tell myself!)

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  58. Judybusy said on April 28, 2017 at 3:18 pm

    Growing up, my mom’s best friend made plain doughnuts; they remain my favorite. Now the only time I eat doughnuts is when someone brings them in the office. Since I started using MyFitnessPal to track calories and exercise about five weeks ago, I only eat a half a one, if any. If I’m gonna splurge on sweet breakfast calories, it’ll be any type of croissant. When we were in Paris last year, I’d go out and forage for breakfast, picking up a baguette and beignets. My niece said the latter were “just as good as Krispy Kreme!” Well, that’s why we got her out of her small town–to expose her to the greater world.

    P.S. the tracking’s going great–I lost 8 pounds, but then got sick for 2 weeks. Now I’m back on track. I eat much healthier, and boy, do I get to the gym! I’ve never done anything like this, but kept putting on a pound or two every year.

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  59. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 3:30 pm

    Yes, basset, I’m in Redmond. My parents live in Clarksville, TN, where I grew up, so I still have some familiarity with Nashville. It’s changed dramatically just in the last 10 years, though, it seems like. I remember when metro government in Nashville was still this new-fangled controversial thing, and Beverly Briley was mayor, not a parkway.

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  60. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 4:04 pm

    Good Lord.

    “This is frustrating. Labor is being paid first again. Shareholders get leftovers,” Citi analyst Kevin Crissey wrote in a note to clients. Investors showed their displeasure by sending American Airlines Group Inc.’s stock down 5.2% to $43.98 on Thursday.

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-american-airlines-raises-20170427-story.html

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  61. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    Sherri – I will readily confess that my ignorance is invincible.

    That said – how is the Master-of-the-Universe guy’s complaint that

    “Labor is being paid first again. Shareholders get leftovers”

    in any way ameliorated by sending the value of the shares that the shareholders hold DOWN!??!!

    This is like the Beverly Hillbillies episode where the rich woman (I think played by Zsa Zsa, in that episode) would always throw a wad of cash on the ground, when she made her angry exit!

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  62. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 4:27 pm

    JudyBusy, you reminded me that I once had a contraption to make donuts with. I never used it, my former inlaws gave it to me for Christmas when I was still married to their son. It was an electronic gadget, they always gave me stuff like that for gifts, always some kind of complicated kitchen gadget even though I worked full time and then some. As if I had time to make homemade donuts back then. Now that I’m retired I’d have plenty of time but making donuts never occurs to me.

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  63. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 4:27 pm

    I have no answer for you, Brian. I believe in John Maynard Keynes’ famous statement that the markets can stay irrational longer than you can remain liquid, and invest my money in low-cost index funds.

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  64. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    Sherri – you and me, both!

    I figure the tax-free nature of 401(k) dollars (on the way in) is automatically a nice augmentation; and then a nice S&P index fund (and a few others) is either invincible, or at least – the least-worst I can do

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  65. brian stouder said on April 28, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    …and by the way, the headline of this post has made me chuckle each time I’ve seen it (leaving aside that it refers to a crossword puzzle game) – even leaving aside whether skin color affects the general size of Mr Happys in the human race

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  66. basset said on April 28, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    Sherri, I looked you up right after I posted that but didnt hit the send bitton or something. We got here in 85, when the last section of 440 was just opening. Now the mayor’s just started a new push for light rail out Gallatin Pike.

    Clarksville’s had some changes too, there’s been talk for awhile of running commuter rail up there through Ashland City.

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  67. Icarus said on April 28, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    thanks Brian, I learned a new word today “ameliorated ”

    also going back to the Doughnuts theme, according to the Daily Mile app I have run enough miles to burn “1,830 Donuts”

    and this is my post arthroscopic knee surgery running. If we factor in the miles I logged from 98-2012 when I ran all those marathons in desperate pursuit of Boston Qualifying time, I probably could have eaten an entire Dunkin’ Doughnuts.

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  68. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 5:02 pm

    Every time I drive from the Nashville airport to Clarksville, traffic on I-24 gets worse, and there’s always been a significant presence of people commuting to Nashville from Clarksville. My dad did it for several years.

    I left TN just before you arrived. I moved to Pittsburgh in fall 1984, then Silicon Valley in 1990, and Redmond in 2003.

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  69. Suzanne said on April 28, 2017 at 5:34 pm

    Julie Robinson, I was fortunate enough to see Hamilton a while back in Chicago. It completely lived up to the hype. It is an amazing show.

    Krispy Kreme bread pudding?!?!? Makes my guts hurt. Paula Deen is one of the mediocre talent cable show people who get a following because they pray and have the right politics.

    By the way, I was at Tapestry at IPFW in Fort Wayne today with Ann Curry as keynote speaker. She was very, very impressive.

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  70. Joe Kobiela said on April 28, 2017 at 6:08 pm

    Icarus,
    Are you still running? I’m still doing 35+ a week, not as fast as I used to be but still out there, 3:47 was my best marathon time. But most we’re closer to 4:00.
    I have run 12 of them.
    Pilot Joe

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  71. Jakash said on April 28, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    Apologies for horning in on the conversation. You and I don’t seem to have a whole lot in common, Pilot Joe, but 3:47 was my best marathon time, as well. I’m a piker compared to you gents, though, only having run 2. Getting, ahem, older and watching my regular runs getting slower instead of trying to make them better sucks! ; )

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  72. David C. said on April 28, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    I always enjoyed the Anthony Bourdain/Paula Deen fued. I remember him ranting on about how her cooking wasn’t Southern cooking, which is delicious, it’s garbage.

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  73. Joe Kobiela said on April 28, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    Jakash,
    You might be pleasently surprised what we have in common. Slowing down while exerting the same energy does suck, I’ll be 60 in December the only good is I’ll be in a new age group.
    Run on.
    Pilot Joe

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  74. Deborah said on April 28, 2017 at 6:53 pm

    I’m expecting my sister-in-law to show up any minute, along with her art consultant. This is the day I was supposed to go out to lunch with them along with a curator at the art institute, but my surgery put the skids on that for me. They’re going out for dinner with my husband after they spend some time with me. I’ve tried not taking my meds today but relented after I found myself hurting too much. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to dial it back some. Hope so.

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  75. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 6:55 pm

    I don’t know how people define Southern cooking. The fare of the Gulf Coast, for example, bears little resemblance to the food I ate growing up. Green beans cooked until beyond limp do seem to be universal, and I’ll even confess to liking them that way. (I also like steamed green beans with some crisp left.)

    Overcooking was probably the common denominator of most food I ate. The vegetables were homegrown, frozen or canned for winter. Meals were usually meat and three; a meal wasn’t a meal if meat wasn’t on the table. Bacon fat was used liberally, and I’ve got photographs of extended family gatherings with everybody sitting at the dinner table with a Coke bottle. My father is an iced tea drinker, and I can remember when my mom switched from making a 2 qt pitcher with a full cup of sugar to only using a 1/4 cup.

    Dinner was the midday meal, supper was the evening meal, and lunch was what Yankees and city people had.

    (BTW, my parents still have a ridiculously large garden every year, though my mom has convinced my dad to make it smaller, and they still freeze stuff and make jam from the fruit trees and the grapes, even though it’s just the two of them. They have two full size freezers in the basement. Both full.)

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  76. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 7:00 pm

    Margaret Sullivan takes stock of media coverage of trump 100 days in: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-100-days-the-media-are-still-embarrassing-themselves-covering-trump-just-not-as-much/2017/04/27/8de913fe-2a86-11e7-be51-b3fc6ff7faee_story.html

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  77. Suzanne said on April 28, 2017 at 8:17 pm

    Speaking of the Magnolia thing:
    http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/04/28/fixer-uppers-chip-gaines-sued-by-former-business-partners-for-fraud.html

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  78. James Moehrke said on April 28, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    I was just in Savannah on Tuesday, didn’t give Paula Dean a thought. And for doughnuts, I’m in the glazed old-fashioned camp. We ate at a Dunkin Doughnuts in Georgia, some highway interchange spot, and came away unimpressed. My wife said the coffee was good, though. Just not good enough to drive for.

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  79. Dorothy said on April 28, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    Sherri what neighborhood did you live in when you were in Pittsburgh? I’m wondering if we ever crossed paths.

    Deborah here’s hoping your pain is more tolerable tomorrow. I too hate being on pain meds. When I had my thumb surgeries and my knee replacement I got off them as fast as I could. My mom always says “sleep is the best medicine.” I tend to agree with her there. As long as you can sleep WELL. Not painfully!

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  80. Sherri said on April 28, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    I lived in Shadyside a couple of years and Squirrel Hill the rest of the time, Dorothy. This was when I was in grad school and for a few years after I left grad school, in the first few years of my marriage when my husband was finishing his PhD.

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  81. Dorothy said on April 29, 2017 at 5:32 am

    I was in Squirrel Hill a lot during your time there, Sherri. I took my kids to the Carnegie Library branch at the corner of Murray and Forbes. That’s where I saw quilts on display by women who just got together at each other’s homes to quilt and for friendship. They had a poster up inviting others to join, which I did. It changed my life! Many of those ladies are dear friends to this day.

    And of course there was (and still is) Mineo’s Pizza on Murray Avenue!

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  82. alex said on April 29, 2017 at 6:56 am

    Paula Deen is one of the mediocre talent cable show people who get a following because they pray and have the right politics.

    And she got shitcanned by the Food Network a few years ago over revelations about her racial insensitivity that now seem downright innocuous in the Age of Trump. These days she could probably refuse to be contrite, go into attack mode on “political correctness” and be awarded an even better contract.

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  83. basset said on April 29, 2017 at 7:21 am

    I learned a new word this week, too… “lairage.”

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  84. Deborah said on April 29, 2017 at 7:38 am

    LB is at the airport waiting for her flight to go back to Santa Fe where 3 to 5 inches of snow is predicted. Crazy weather, when I was there in Feb it was like spring. At least the precipitation is good for the land.

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  85. coozledad said on April 29, 2017 at 8:05 am

    David Remnick writes the obituary for American statecraft:

    On April 29th, Donald Trump will have occupied the Oval Office for a hundred days. For most people, the luxury of living in a relatively stable democracy is the luxury of not following politics with a nerve-racked constancy. Trump does not afford this. His Presidency has become the demoralizing daily obsession of anyone concerned with global security, the vitality of the natural world, the national health, constitutionalism, civil rights, criminal justice, a free press, science, public education, and the distinction between fact and its opposite. The hundred-day marker is never an entirely reliable indicator of a four-year term, but it’s worth remembering that Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama were among those who came to office at a moment of national crisis and had the discipline, the preparation, and the rigor to set an entirely new course. Impulsive, egocentric, and mendacious, Trump has, in the same span, set fire to the integrity of his office.

    The people who gave us Trump are bad people. When you are this far out of step with even the practical demands of conscience, your life is virtually guaranteed to be an utter waste of resources.

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  86. Colleen said on April 29, 2017 at 9:03 am

    Donuts are my kryptonite. I am fine as long as I don’t eat any. If I have one, I want to put my face in the whole box. Definite minority here. I like the chocolate glazed with Bavarian (barbarian) creme.

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  87. Deborah said on April 29, 2017 at 9:49 am

    One more thing about pain pills. I can’t imagine how anyone would want to take them if they don’t have bad pain. This opioid epidemic is puzzling to me for one main side effect that has to do with regularity. Whoo boy, I wouldn’t want to go through this for very much longer. The pills I’m supposed to take for that haven’t been working. Why anyone would want to go through that for “recreation” purposes is beyond me.

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  88. Sherri said on April 29, 2017 at 11:13 am

    I remember Mineo’s well, Dorothy! After we were married, my husband and I lived on the corner of Nicholson and Shady, a block or so away from Allderdice High School and an easy walk to all the shops on Murray Ave. On Sundays, we’d walk over and pick up bagels and a schmear at Bageland, lox at Adler’s, and tomatoes at the Green Grocer. There was also a wonderful used book store on Murray up near Forbes, I can’t remember the name anymore, but the owner was named Tovah. She was great.

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  89. susan said on April 29, 2017 at 12:14 pm

    Deborah @86 – That’s what prune juice was made for. And stewed prunes. How about a compote of prunes, dried figs, and raisins, with some senna leaves. A bit of cayenne to cut the sweet. THAT will take care of business!

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  90. Deborah said on April 29, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    My husband left a bit ago to buy some prunes.

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  91. Snarkworth said on April 29, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    I just can’t imagine meeting someone for the first time and trying to check the roof of their mouth. Or having them try to check mine.

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  92. BethB from Indiana said on April 29, 2017 at 3:42 pm

    On doughnuts/pastries: Concannon’s in Muncie, Indiana, has a creation similar to an elephant ear that is the best pastry in the world to me: its smaller than a state fair elephant ear and crispier with lots of cinnamon and sugar that melt together as it cooks. My sister gave me a half dozen for my birthday last year, and I froze them so I could spread out my eating; otherwise, they would have been gone in an afternoon.

    Deborah: Bran tablets and stool softeners and a glass of prune juice every night. I am not on any opoids–I just inherited strange innards that don’t work like most people’s. I’ve followed this regimen for forty years.

    basset: “lairage” is a new word for me, too.

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  93. BethB from Indiana said on April 29, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    Oops, opioid.

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  94. Deborah said on April 29, 2017 at 3:47 pm

    LB is back home in Santa Fe where she says there’s 8″ of snow on the ground. Pear trees and lilacs are bending horribly, the low there tonight is supposed to be in the low 20s so it will be interesting to see what will come back after this. Meanwhile it’s raining and 39 in Chicago. Blah.

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  95. Deni Menken said on April 29, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    The Quad Cities TV stations are hyping Paula Deen’s new show. I glanced up in disbelief when I heard that syrupy voice. It airs at 4:30 AM! Hahahahaha!

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  96. redoubt said on April 29, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    Probably dead thread, but FWIW: Paula Deen is from the same part of Southwest Georgia as my wife, so this is someone whose thought processes she understands but obviously does not agree with. (My wife is also a better cook.) However Ms. Deen’s, er, wilderness period seems to be about at an end. I just hope she pays her staff this time.

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  97. Jolene said on April 29, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    Also re a previous thread, some pictures of Natasha doing a standard First Lady thing and appearing to enjoy it. Actual smiles, as well as hugs for children.

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  98. Suzanne said on April 29, 2017 at 6:32 pm

    Anybody want to shed light on the announcement that Purdue U is buying for-profit Kaplan…for $1.00??

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  99. Deborah said on April 29, 2017 at 8:31 pm

    Today is the 98th birthday of my mother-in-law. We are going to Charlotte to celebrate at the beginning of June.

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  100. beb said on April 29, 2017 at 9:52 pm

    The best doughnuts I’ve ever had come from the Franklin Cider Mill, when it’s open. There’s nothing special about the doughnuts except they’re service fresh out of the grease fryer. They are so warm, soft and delicious. Of course once they cool they’re just lardy cake fit only to drown in milk.

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  101. basset said on April 30, 2017 at 12:08 am

    Just got in from one of the best days I’ve had in awhile… all-day bluegrass, old-time, and Irish harmony singing classes with casual jamming before, after, and in between, instructors participating, and three tasty catered meals. All of this just fifteen minutes from the house… finally left when my throat got a little sore and I realized I’d been singing pretty much steadily for thirteen hours. Good times.

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  102. BethB from Indiana said on April 30, 2017 at 9:44 am

    basset, My husband would love a day like this. He belongs to a group here called the Indiana Folk Music and Mountain Dulcimer Society which meets once a month. It really is more than the name implies–each month has a theme, there are various workshops, a slow-jam hour, and a sharing hour, and many more stringed instruments than dulcumers.

    What is the name of the event you just attended, where and when is it? Thanks.

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  103. Deborah said on April 30, 2017 at 10:06 am

    I managed to go from 11pm Fri night until 3am Sun morning without pain pills. I’m going to try it again today, its hardest when I’m trying to sleep. And I can’t believe I’m sharing this but the prunes worked.

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  104. basset said on April 30, 2017 at 11:59 am

    BethB, are you in Bloomington? This was the Traditional Music Weekend at the Fiddle & Pick in Pegram, Tennessee, on the western edge of Nashville. Go to their page & look at the schedule, almost always something happening there.

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  105. BethB from Indiana said on April 30, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    basset: not Bloomington, although I was there in grad school in the late 80s, but Noblesville which is on the northern outskirts of Indianapolis.

    My husband can play just about any instrument he tries, and we have way too many dulcimers, baritone ukuleles, tin whistles, squeeze boxes (older-style accordions), and others that I’ve forgotten. He recently got rid of his collection of trombones, the instrument he played all through high school. He said he didn’t have the “lip” anymore, and also his mustache would interfere?? He gave them to the band teacher at a local junior high school, where I was the librarian before my retirement in 2008.

    I’ll look into the Fiddle & Pick. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  106. Deborah said on April 30, 2017 at 4:56 pm

    Here’s the latest dilemma, a friend has offered us tickets to see Hamilton Tuesday night. I would love to go but I’m a little concerned about sitting that long because of my back. Oh, what should I do? On the one hand it’s a fantastic opportunity that i feel I can’t pass up, and it’s not until Tuesday night and maybe by then it won’t be a big deal to sit for a while. On the other hand I don’t want to mess with my recovery. I’m not worried about getting to the theater or any of that, we’ll take a cab, it will be fine. But the sitting is the part that worries me. Any advice out there? I have to make up my mind fast because the friend will find plenty of others who would love to go instead of us. Darn.

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  107. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 30, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    That’s a toughy regarding the Hamilton tix. Can you sit in a chair at home for an hour at a time?

    All this talk of donuts has me thinking of Homer Price. And I live now about fifteen miles south of Centerburg, Ohio. My first food service job, I was nervous still as to whether or not they had a donut making machine.

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  108. Sherri said on April 30, 2017 at 6:28 pm

    That’s one of my husband’s favorite stories, Jeff(tmmo). And every time we’re in Pike Place Market, we have to go see the doughnut machine (and buy doughnuts, of course!)

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