The peaches are jealous.

A rare (for me, these days) interlude in Lansing today, which means I was up at 5:30, out the door an hour later, driving through drenching showers 20 minutes later, work/meeting/lunch and finally to the office-furniture store by early afternoon. I was there to buy a used Aeron chair, and yes, I’m expensing it, because that’s how awesome my job is.

It’s absurd, how happy this chair makes me. I’m not the sort of woman who lives to string jewels around my neck or Mercedes up and down my driveway, but good, functional design makes me happy in a very fundamental way.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Deborah’s doing at Beaver Brook. I’m looking forward to seeing how the bathhouse turns out.

On the way home, I stopped at a farmers market for some fruit. I was after peaches and blueberries, but also picked up a cantaloupe and, after a little thought, some of the first apples. I always feel a little bad about the first apples of the season. It means summer is drawing to a close, for starters, and because peaches always are my favorite, the joy I take in the first apples always feels a little like cheating. Yes, cheating. I heard an interview with Mandy Patinkin on Q, Jian Ghomeshi’s radio show, and he said he lives almost entirely in an imaginary world. As a person who feels guilty for cheating on the peaches in the fruit bowl, I identified.

Man, those apples were good, though. It’s a bumper crop this year in Michigan. (Cheap ho’s.)

Bloggage? Sure:

Michigan fails to pass the Medicaid expansion. So far, anyway; it’s what we call a developing story. No, wait, it did pass.

Two medical stories to get your blood pumping today: Four Tennessee infants get rare bleeding disorder because parents refuse routine Vitamin K injection, and a Texas megachurch is ground zero for a measles outbreak. Freedom! Natural!

Off to explore my library’s Freegal music site. Have a good Wednesday, all.

Posted at 12:30 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

64 responses to “The peaches are jealous.”

  1. Dexter said on August 28, 2013 at 1:42 am

    That does it. I am heading out for peaches and apples at daybreak.
    We didn’t get any of the Detroit rain that washed away the Tigers’ chance at a comeback; the game was called because of more rain after six innings and a long rain delay.
    And I am getting sick of politicians saying “we do not want to be the world’s policemen”, only to hear Hagel say “we’re ready to go”…to be the world’s policemen, of course.

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  2. David C. said on August 28, 2013 at 6:12 am

    Our one lonely apple on our one lonely apple tree, a Cortland, is starting to blush and is looking fine. We’re going to get a Chestnut crab apple, an edible crab, next spring and hope that helps our tree get better pollination than we get from the neighbor’s crab.

    Now that the Michigan lege has passed Meidcaid expansion, I hope Wisconsin is next. I doubt that though. Snyder ran as a technocrat and any technocrat worth the title would take that deal. Walker ran as an ideologue. His base would freak.

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  3. coozledad said on August 28, 2013 at 6:52 am

    Republican justice G. Todd Baugh, Mark Racicot appointee:
    http://gawker.com/teacher-gets-just-30-days-in-jail-for-raping-14-year-ol-1211602945

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  4. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2013 at 7:13 am

    David C., pray for us in Ohio, too! We’re not looking good in the Statehouse, but both Kasich & Portman are legitimately pushing for it, and putting weight into the pressure, so there’s some hope.

    I’m not defending megachurches or religious obscurantism, but while it’s sad what some preachers are pushing, I run into a fair amount of resistance to medical recommendations and treatments with both my pastor & juvenile court hats on — and I’m often uncomfortable with having to balance either of those roles with pressing for letting the doctor or NP have their way. It feels awkward, even when I am certain of the efficacy or benefit of the shot or medication or therapy in question.

    What’s creating the problem is absolutely putrid explanations from the medical staff. It’s muttered, it’s peremptory, and it’s not infrequently high-handedly announced . . . and I also know it’s often not for any poor motive, but because of staffing cuts, time pressure, and a certain amount of long-shifted weariness. But the result is the same. I think medical folk are generally still working out of a “I’m in a white coat/scrubs, trust me” model that went away some time ago, and they didn’t notice. Automatic trust in, and respect for authority is vastly diminished over the last few decades, and I think most of us would agree that’s not all bad; some doctors and nurses get this, and approach patients and families differently, but in general, they’re still mostly in the 1950s.

    Again, this is not to excuse the vaccine deniers, but you don’t have to go to a megachurch or to religious conservatives to find this — some of my most educated acquaintances are still holding onto the autism-inoculation connection, or taking megadoses of stuff that’s clearly not validly helpful (and may even be the reverse). And don’t get me started on crystals and orgonites. We need more Dr. Nancy Snydermans & Sanjay Guptas (color me ambivalent about Dr. Oz) who take a more collegial, explanatory approach to why your child or critically ill family member needs this shot or that nebulizer, and I don’t see enough of it . . . and as a mediator for the court, I don’t want to have to be the FIRST person to explain to a low-income family about side effects and time to efficacy for anti-anxiety meds, nor do I as a pastor want to be the lead advocate in a rehab center room full of relatives for the patient getting palliative care. But it happens all the time, as I see people turn aside from brusquely thrust forward options. (Here endeth the sermon this day.)

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  5. Connie said on August 28, 2013 at 7:32 am

    Peaches for me too. The season doesn’t go much past Labor Day, so get them while you can.

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  6. Deborah said on August 28, 2013 at 7:43 am

    Nancy, at comment #53 from yesterday’s post I left a link to a flickr site of one of the other Beaver Brook participants, photos are added periodically.

    I can’t tell you what a fabulous experience this is. Everyone is so gracious and helpful, I have learned so much from everyone. I have mastered drilling and using the impact driver but I’m still terrified of using power saws.

    I thankfully have a private room in the bunkhouse, there are only a few and we had to be the first to reserve one, I jumped on that immediately. Lots of socializing in the evenings after long days of hard, sweaty, but very satisfying work.

    Here’s the flickr link again: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikelianos/sets/72157635251680441/

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  7. alex said on August 28, 2013 at 7:46 am

    Jeff, I was reviewing a medical chart yesterday and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A woman was told by multiple doctors overseeing her care that her lab work indicated kidney problems, but she wouldn’t go to the nephrologist to whom she was referred. She went to an iridologist instead who looked into her eyes and told her everything was hunky dory. She eventually went into acute renal failure and now has stage III disease.

    I think distrust of authority figures doubtless plays a big role, but so does the natural human tendency toward denial, and unfortunately we live in a media culture that aids and abets denial. Throw low intellectual functioning into the mix and you’ve got people who’ll go palm readers and psychics and the like for medical second opinions. A while back there was a thread about condescending medical personnel who chide people for looking up their medical conditions on the internet, but I suspect some of this attitude is born of frustration over constantly having to deal with patients who simply don’t want to face reality.

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  8. Linda said on August 28, 2013 at 7:47 am

    Jeff, I’m crossing my fingers for expansion of Medicaid in Ohio, too. Of course, one of the Republican legislators who has been pushing for it, Barbara Sears, now finds herself in the crosshairs of the Tea Party nutbags in Michigan, and may face a primary. I hope it happens, since she is popular and would wipe up the floor with her opponent.

    In Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer faced nutbags who opposed Medicaid expansion and simply refused to pass another law that session until they did the expansion. Maybe Ohio’s Gov. Kasich can ask to borrow her testicles from her, since his seem to be in the possession of the most extremist element of his party.

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  9. Linda said on August 28, 2013 at 7:48 am

    Oops! Sears is facing a challenge from Tea Party people in OHIO, not Michigan. My bad.

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  10. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2013 at 7:57 am

    Ohio is used to facing challenges from Michigan. It usually goes well!

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  11. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 8:13 am

    kaCHING! (score a point for Jeff TMMO)

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  12. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2013 at 8:17 am

    When I hear even NPR getting all Tom-Clancy-breathless about “staging of cruise missiles” and “targeting locations for nuclear submarines” and “task forces in the Mediterranean,” I can tell we’re not going to be able to step back from Syria and take our finger off the trigger. But I can’t shake the feeling that by striking Syria we’re going to be doing the precise equivalent of firing random sprays of automatic weapons fire into the dark, at unseen targets . . . and the Marines trained me better than that. Yes, chemical weapons = bad. But whose weapons, used by whom, and for what purpose? I don’t think we have even a clue. John McCain saying it’s absurd to think the rebel forces would gas “their own” people isn’t convincing: do the rebels really think these are “their” people? Or do they want to bring down the regime by any means necessary, an understandable position even if it doesn’t justify all possible actions?

    Okay, sorry for the downer – back to 50th anniversary observances. See you at 3:00 pm for Pres. Obama’s speech . . . this moderate Republican is looking forward to it.

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  13. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 8:35 am

    Jeff, couldn’t agree more; it feels like we’re being played.

    One partisan thing I’m tempted to say is we’d already have taken potshots (multi-million dollar potshots, but potshots nonetheless!) if President Cheney – or President Clinton (WJ) was in office.

    But indeed, President Obama simply cannot make a theatrical (theatrical from here; deadly real for any poor sob on the ground near one of the targets) military strike on the very day that he also is engaged in the altogether right and proper national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Dream speech*. It would honestly be the living end of the Obama presidency, I do believe

    *to be shown in its entirety on msnbc this evening)

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  14. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 9:08 am

    …and speaking of luscious apples – President-elect Lincoln wrote the following fragment (in January, 1861) about the relationship between the Declaration of Independence (and specifically, the idea of “liberty to all”) and the Constitution.

    I think the very same thought-process applies – perfectly and completely – to Martin Luther King’s ‘apple of gold’, fitly spoken at the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago

    All this is not the result of accident. It has a philosophical cause. Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result; but even these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity. There is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of “Liberty to all”–the principle that clears the path for all–gives hope to all–and, by consequence, enterprize, and industry to all.

    The expression of that principle, in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy, and fortunate. Without this, as well as with it, we could have declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it, we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity. No oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.

    The assertion of that principle, at that time, was the word, “fitly spoken” which has proved an “apple of gold” to us. The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple–not the apple for the picture.

    So let us act, that neither picture, or apple shall ever be blurred, or bruised or broken.

    That we may so act, we must study, and understand the points of danger.

    Indeed.

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  15. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2013 at 9:19 am

    4:00 pm — and I’m hoping MSNBC has the presence of mind to include the prefatory song by Mahalia Jackson!

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  16. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 9:32 am

    We’re still getting great peaches here and the pears have been good the last couple of weeks. We get peaches into mid September, pears a bit longer, then it’s a little bleak until the local oranges in mid November. I am teased about my love of peaches. I think a ripe peach looks beautiful and tastes beautiful.

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  17. Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2013 at 9:37 am

    Last night on the news we saw a story about Syria, in which an 11 year old was vowing revenge against the US for not intervening. And yet think how many will be further radicalized if we do respond, as Jeff says, randomly firing into the dark. Once again when it comes to the Mideast, it’s a lose-lose proposition for us.

    Deborah, Beaver Brook looks fantastic, as do you! You’re taller than I thought. Nice to know you have a bit of privacy at the end of the day. That communal bedroom looked like a place where no one gets any sleep.

    Peaches I can pass by, but I’m hoping for one last run of sweet corn.

    And lastly, the walls do come tumbling down, as Walmart extends health coverage to same-sex couples. Of course, their insurance is too costly for most who work at WM, and the bad news is, you’re still working at Walmart.

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  18. Dorothy said on August 28, 2013 at 9:46 am

    I too was tickled to see how tall you are, Deborah! And since I’m sporting a new knee, the first thing I thought of when I saw the communal beds/sleeping area was “Oh Lord I’d never be able to get down there to sleep. Or if I did, I’d never get back up again with the assistance of a hydraulic lift.”

    A peach cobbler should be on the menu this weekend at our house. I’d prefer that over a cake for my birthday weekend anyway. Does everyone know that today is Jeff (tmmmo)’s birthday?? Mine is still three days away….and I’ve got four years on the youngster Jeff.

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  19. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 9:57 am

    All together now –

    Happy birthday to YOU;
    Happy birthday TO you;
    Happy BIRTHday Dear Dorothy and Jeff TMMO-oh;
    Happy birthday to YOOOOOOU-both!

    PS – and Jeff’s reference to Ms Jackson got me Googling, and if you haven’t read this marvelous article, you should:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/opinion/mahalia-jackson-and-kings-rhetorical-improvisation.html?_r=0

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  20. Connie said on August 28, 2013 at 10:19 am

    Dorothy reminds me that we have the same birthday weekend, and not too much longer we will have our sort of our close together wedding anniversaries. This is my rare year for NOT having my birthday on Labor Day weekend, rather the Tuesday. I was supposed to be born in Ann Arbor but my parents came to Holland for a weekend at a family cottage on Lake Michigan.

    And Happy Birthday to Jeff(tmmo)

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  21. Heather said on August 28, 2013 at 10:23 am

    Mmmm peaches! I love them au naturel but I’ve been baking peach crumbles as well. So easy and delicious, and it always impresses others. I actually prefer nectarines but I mostly missed their season at the farmers’ market this year.

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  22. Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2013 at 10:57 am

    Happy Birthday to Jeff, Dorothy, and Connie! Our daughter was born on September 3, which usually falls on Labor Day weekend too. I’m not sure she’s forgiven us yet, since birthday parties were always difficult to schedule. Sorry, kid, you’re the one who arrived three weeks early.

    What do you think of Freegal? Our library has had it for a couple of years, and despite its clunky interface (recently improved, but still not great), I’ve liked being able to download music. Being frugal I don’t use streaming services on my phone–we have four people sharing a data plan and I refuse to go up to the next level.

    Anyway, I’ve found with a little delving I can find a lot to download. Okay, make that a lot of delving, but I’ve found some great choral and organ music and some fun musicals. Right now I’m listening to Kinky Boots, which won best musical this year at the Tony’s.

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  23. adrianne said on August 28, 2013 at 11:08 am

    I’ve seen Paula Reds out at our local farmstands…fall is definitely on the way. And here in the Hudson Valley (not far from Beaverbrook) we’ve had outstanding weather for growing all summer. Peaches, blueberries, melons, greens, all in abundance every week. I’m fixing to make a third peach-blueberry pie this summer. First one was auctioned off for $100 at a charity event. I credit the auctioneer, Barry Lewis, son of a Catskill tummler, for driving the price up!

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  24. Pam said on August 28, 2013 at 11:38 am

    Heather @21 What’s a peach crumble? Could you post a recipe or a link to one? I was going to try a cobbler but couldn’t find any recipes that looked right so I made a pie instead.

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    • nancy said on August 28, 2013 at 11:41 am

      Google “peach crisp” — basically the same thing. You make a crumb topping out of oatmeal, butter, brown sugar, maybe some chopped nuts, sprinkle it over a bunch of sliced peaches in a pie plate, and stick it in the oven. Less work than a pie.

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  25. Heather said on August 28, 2013 at 11:49 am

    Yes, it’s super easy and even more delicious than a pie, IMHO–less doughy. For one in a standard pie dish, I use maybe 2-3 cups of fruit and stir in about a half cup of sugar. For the crumble, I mash together 1/2 cups each of sugar and butter, then a little more than twice that much flour with a half tsp each of baking powder and salt. I mix the butter and flour mixtures and then add the oatmeal. I do like chopped almonds as well but someone around here doesn’t like the texture. The final crumble mixture should be crumbly, not doughy like cookie dough. Top up that fruit with the crumble mix and bake at 350 for maybe 20-30 minutes until topping is slightly browned.

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  26. Heather said on August 28, 2013 at 11:51 am

    I forgot to add, I use regular sugar, but brown is good too. There is much potential for fun variations, like adding spices to the fruit or crumble mix.

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  27. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 11:52 am

    The nectarines have been excellent here this summer and so were some early plums. I wish I knew the name of the variety. They were very dark purple inside and outside, and were much more flavorful than other plums I’ve had. They were roundish ones, not the egg shaped variety.

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  28. Jeff Borden said on August 28, 2013 at 11:53 am

    I’d wager no matter what we do in Syria, it will be wrong. The U.S. history in the Middle East is an almost unremitting march of failure after failure. If there is a way to make everything worse, I’m confident we will find it.

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  29. Jolene said on August 28, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    I’m a peach-lover too, but I always buy them with trepidation. All too often, I’ll get peaches that look and even smell divine, but have a terrible texture and little flavor. So disappointing.

    Thanks for the reference to the “apple of gold” speech, Brian. Not being the Lincoln scholar you are, I hadn’t heard of it.

    Today’s festivities in DC are being broadcast on CSPAN now. It’ll likely be repeated sometime later today. Advantage of watching on CSPAN: No commentators!

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  30. Deborah said on August 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    We’ve been having lots of peach desserts at BB.

    I’m taking a break, super hot and muggy at Beaver Brook. As to the comments about my height it’s 5′ 8 1/2″ tall, used to be 5′ 9″. It might be deceiving in the photos because the boots I’m wearing in the first photo have about a 1 1/2″ heel.

    This morning I conquered my fear of the power saw!

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  31. Dorothy said on August 28, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    Heather about 2 months ago my husband made a recipe we found in the NYTimes for a fruit crumble. It had slivered almonds in the topping. I was skeptical to try it, because I prefer almonds in green beans and wasn’t sure it would be good with fruit. HEAVENS it was to die for! The TIMES links seem to be wonky today. Here’s the same recipe listed elsewhere:

    http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?119922-Mixed-Berry-Almond-Crunch-Crumble

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  32. Dorothy said on August 28, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    We need a picture of Deborah, me and Jeff the Birthday Boy, with him in the center. We’d be perfect bookends for him. I too am 5’9″ but I MIGHT have lost a half inch in my nearly 56 years on earth.

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  33. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Jolene – very good to hear from you. Here’s hoping all is going as well as possible for you.

    This MLK anniversary is so important; and it strikes me that AL’s ‘fragment’ (so called) regarding the ‘apple of gold in a picture of silver’ fits the occasion 100%, for America 2013.

    Really, the nay-sayers might well think twice before the knee-jerk denigration of “that hopey-changey thing”. It illuminates the central importance of hope; millions of people with hope is a very transformative thing.

    Anyway, surely our current president from Illinois will invoke the memory of that other president from Illinois – as he stands before the Lincoln Memorial. This one is a fave of mine, which you hear about with every so often at Lincoln Colloquiums* when the authors and scholars examine what Gary Wills called (in reference to the Gettysburg Address) “open-air sleight of hand” – substituting the Declaration for the Constitution, in order to justify his position that slavery was simply a wrong in America

    *next one is September 28 at Knox College in Galesburg IL; and friend-of-nn.c Gerry Prokopowicz will be in the cheap seats there, too

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  34. Heather said on August 28, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    Dorothy–I know! It’s a compromise thing. I suppose I should make a little one with almonds just for me.

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  35. Connie said on August 28, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    Freegal is one of the single most expensive digital products I purchase for my library. For my population of 41,000 my annual cost is 6,000. We are currently reviewing movie streaming services in a similar price range. I also spend a minimum of 8,200 a year for my basic Overdrive e-book product, plus whatever I can add to it to purchase more titles and more copies. I just processed the paperwork for an additional 5,000 for Overdrive.

    I have an old family recipe called “peach slop” (our made up name for it) which has a kind of puff pastry topping rather than a crumble topping. I will post it when I get a chance.

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  36. Scout said on August 28, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    The talk about cheating on the peaches with the apples seemed to correlate with the emotions I’m feeling today because I just sold my long time VW Golf, Zippy, to a co-office person. I actually cried when I got to work knowing that was my last drive in her. She and I have been through a lot together and seen many places. I still have a lump in my throat. I feel like I’m cheating on her with my new ride.

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  37. Brandon said on August 28, 2013 at 1:27 pm

    To Dorothy and Jeff(tmmo): Hau`oli la hanau!

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  38. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 2:00 pm

    Scout, I bought a 1998 Olds 88 back in ’04 (it was a one-owner company car with 140,000 mostly-highway miles on it) and that car always started and always ran well, and everything worked. It was at about 230,000 miles when it met its sudden demise (my fine young son got tee-boned at an intersection; nobody was hurt)

    I’m still bummed out about that. It was genuinely the best car I’ve ever owned.

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  39. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 2:01 pm

    Happy Birthday to all the birthday boys and girls here, and to Pee Wee Herman.

    Here’s a lovely rendition of the birthday song:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ6tRB5egts&feature=player_embedded

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  40. Connie said on August 28, 2013 at 2:11 pm

    Recipe for peach slop.
    1. Place 2 to 3 cups of peaches in an 8 or 9 inch square pan.
    2. Mix together:3/4 cup sugar, 4 T butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup milk. Spread over the peaches.
    3. Mix together 1 cup sugar and 1 T corn starch. Sprinkle evenly over the batter.
    4. Pour one cup boiling water over the whole thing.
    5. Bake 50 minutes at 325 degrees. I often find I need ten more minutes.

    It is very sloppy and should sit for a bit before serving. Serve warm with ice cream.

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  41. alex said on August 28, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    Scout, I know the feeling. I’ve had a couple of vehicles that became just like best friends and saying goodbye was tough.

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  42. Little Bird said on August 28, 2013 at 2:13 pm

    Does conquering tha fear of power saws mean we’ll be getting one, Deborah? I’ve been wanting a portable table saw ever since we had that yard work done last year!

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  43. Brandon said on August 28, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    As I posted yesterday, Miley Cyrus is actually a very good singer. But her performance has no artistry so it comes off not just raunchy but ridiculous, and one just has to laugh. Compare it with Madonna’s performance of “Like a Virgin” on the inaugural VMAs in 1984, or her rendition of “Vogue” in 1990.

    I thought Robin Thicke’s suit was outstanding, and he reminds me of Tom Jones.

    On another, far more serious note: is anyone following what’s happening in Fukushima, with contaminated water slowly leaking into the Pacific?

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  44. Dexter said on August 28, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    Scout, you remind me of my blog-guru and e-friend, Craig Crawford, who reported he cried when he had to turn in his beloved Nissan Altima , beat at ten years, in on a new car two years ago. But here’s the kicker…he and his husband David together have only put 6,000 miles onto the new Altima in these twenty-four months, and twice have had to call a service truck because they drive it so infrequently the battery runs down.
    I am wracking my brain to remember which car it was that possibly nearly brought me to tears on my last day with it, but I was always happy to have something new to play with. Looking backwards, was there a car or three I would have kept, say if I was a hoarder? Yeah. My Karmann Ghia, my first 1966 VW Microbus, my Volvo 240 Wagon, my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500, which would be worth many thousands today…how was I to know? My 1966 GMC flare-side blue truck was a blast. I guess everything else was just junk when I got through with it.

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  45. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    I felt bad when I had to trade in my 1976 Rabbit and when I sold my 1969 VW Bug. My Karmann Ghia was totaled and that upset me, but it was dying mechanically so it was probably a lucky thing when a guy made a left turn into the front end of it. I wasn’t hurt and I probably got more from his insurance company than I would have if I had sold it. Can you tell I like VWs? I also had a Honda Civic Wagon that was excellent, but I got rearended by a Volvo which pushed me into another Volvo. The frame was very messed up by this and I couldn’t open the door to get out. The fire department came and slid a backboard into the window, I climbed on and they slid me out. I had slammed my head into the headrest so hard I had a three inch cut in my scalp which was bleeding like crazy. My white shirt was soaked in blood, which caused the guy how hit me to freak out and start pleading, “don’t sue me, please! My dad will pay for everything!” Dad was living in Bel Air so I got compensated well for the car and the gash in the head and the shoulder and neck pain. The accident was in front of Century City Hospital, btw, so I walked about thirty feet to the ER.

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  46. Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2013 at 3:05 pm

    Wow, Connie–who knew? I’d be willing to give up Freegal if it gets too expensive, but while it’s around I’ll take full advantage.

    My late MIL used to make a dessert called Dump Pudding that sounds similar to Peach Slop, with whatever fresh fruit was in season, cherries, blueberries, etc. It was darn good and I always thought it deserved a more elegant name. Of course, she always served it warm out of the oven with a big dollop of ice cream on top. Ice cream was her only vice.

    NPR is carrying the celebration of the 1963 March and I’ve been listening as I’ve been in and out of the car running errands. It’s been terrific, and one thing in particular struck me, that at the time, many didn’t believe a large group of African Americans could gather without violence.

    I don’t get too attached to cars and right now I’m wishing someone would gently strike me where I dented the van getting it around the corner into the garage. I feel like such a fool every time I see it.

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  47. Bob (not Greene) said on August 28, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    I just made this over the weekend with farmers market peaches and pitted sour cherries. It’s kind of like a pie, but a lot easier. I used a store bought crust, which made it even easier. Like Nancy, I finished it off for breakfast today.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/dining/29mini.html

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  48. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    It was back-to-school night at South Side last night, and they did an ice cream social.

    Tonight is back-to-school night at Wayne New Tech, and it will also be an ice cream social.

    So cobbler or no – I’m as happy as a pig in mud! (it IS always fun to meet and gab with all the teachers; an eclectic, engaging, and interesting bunch of people)

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  49. Charlotte said on August 28, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    I put up a whole flat of peaches last week — they had a deal at the local non-chain grocery store I couldn’t pass by — $9.99 for the whole box. Six pints and four quarts of peaches in very light syrup for use on everything all winter. We’re still waiting though for the guy with the truck full of Utah peaches (or even better, Paonia peaches from Colorado) — usually shows up around this time of year. But unpredictable.

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  50. MarkH said on August 28, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    as a veteran of retailing cars for some eight years, I don’t get as attached to any vehicle as I did while younger. The exceptions are my beloved Alfa Romeos. Among our seven vehicles, we have two, and ’89 spider and my pride and joy, a ’67 Giulia Super sedan:

    http://www.automobilemag.com/features/by_design/1103_alfa_romeo_giulia_super/viewall.html

    I have to sell the Super and I’m getting close to a deal. Separation anxiety is setting in. It’s stock 1600cc motor replaced by a 125hp 1750, it weighs just 2200 pounds. It will out run and out-handle most sports cars of its vintage and newer. The model’s claim to fame is tenure as the Italian state police car through 1976, through which it achieved prominence in the original Italian Job movie (1969) being thrashed by Michael Caine’s original Mini-Coopers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ZImfAxOu0

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  51. Connie said on August 28, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    Julie, is dump pudding anything like dump cake? Dump cake uses fresh fruit and sugar or canned fruit pie filling, the topping is one box of yellow cake mix dry plus one stick of butter melted. Pecans optional. It bakes up a lot like cobbler top.

    I originally typed it dumb cake which seems appropriately descriptive. If you make it in the winter mix one can cherry pie filling with one can crushed pineapple.

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  52. David C. said on August 28, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    “One U.S. official who has been briefed on the options on Syria said he believed the White House would seek a level of intensity “just muscular enough not to get mocked” but not so devastating that it would prompt a response from Syrian allies Iran and Russia.

    “They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic,” he said.”

    So it’s an exercise in dick measuring, but we don’t care if ours is only a millimeter longer than theirs. No good is going to come of this.

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  53. MichaelG said on August 28, 2013 at 7:10 pm

    Happy Birthday to all!

    Indeed, Mark, those Giulias are wonderful cars.

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  54. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    Colorado Western Slope fruits are wonderful. I miss this time of year there. I should move back.

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  55. Sherri said on August 28, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    Greetings from Walla Walla! On the drive over today, we passed through Yakima, where we saw a sign proclaiming Yakima the Palm Springs of Washington. I’m mystified as to the connection, but most of the “X is the Y of Z” constructions make little sense to me. Like Nashville, the Athens of the South.

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  56. Prospero said on August 28, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    Johnnie Football Yeeyhhaww, AJ Green Naw He sold his shirt. Greatat whit dopepe

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  57. Julie Robinson said on August 28, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    Connie, the recipe was very much like the one you gave earlier, with the last step pouring boiling water over the top. I’d guess the recipe predates boxed cake mixes. She mostly made things all the way from scratch, so of course the kids thought they were in heaven when they went to friends and had crap like Pop Tarts.

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  58. Deborah said on August 28, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    LA Mary, did you live on the Western slope or is that where the fruit came from? I love driving to NM along the Western slope, so much wildlife.

    Here’s another set of BB photos, the end of the set shows me using the power saw. Do not feel obligated to look at these, please: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sikelianos/sets/72157635270840599/page2

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  59. Jolene said on August 28, 2013 at 10:54 pm

    Loved your pictures, Deborah. Looks like you are having a great time. Also, your hair is gorgeous. So striking.

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  60. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 28, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Back from a high school open house meeting the teachers . . . and realizing that we only have two more of these.

    Unless our son goes to a college that has an open house to walk through the schedule. Which doesn’t happen, I’m pretty sure. Wow, now I DO feel old.

    Thanks for the birthday wishes, and happy birthweek, Dorothy!

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  61. brian stouder said on August 28, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    Jolene – not striking – but cutting and slicing (little saw versus hammer joke, there)

    Jeff – indeed, Pam and I had the same conversation. Yesterday was presumably our last open house at South Side, although we have year’s worth of informational “Inside the Ivy” meetings there…and it occurred to me that I’ve already visited my old South Side (class of ’79) at an older age than my dad (South Side class of ’49) ever did (my lifespan is just now surpassing his).

    But we have a whole new series of meetings and all the rest for our daughter at Wayne New Tech, and then wherever our youngest daughter winds up (presumably Wayne New Tech).

    Wayne has 1,400+ students, and the New Tech wing has about 400 of that number. It is a school within a school, and the new principal is a man we came to know at South Side; he was Assistant Principal at South Side up ’til the end of last year, and is now Principal at Wayne New Tech. We love the guy, and his job is to effect a turnaround at Wayne – a task at which I have no doubt he will succeed. He’s an ex football coach, and he tends to rally and motivate the students and the staff….it will be interesting

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  62. LAMary said on August 28, 2013 at 11:52 pm

    I lived in the Denver area for about 6 years when I was in college, including a break in the middle when I was just sick of college for a while. I used to wander around Colorado and NM whenever I had time, one summer as a camp follower to my then boyfriend who was studying to be a geological engineer and had to take a summer field study class that moved to a new location every week. I would meet up with him, a d few of his classmates, with a car full of beer and good food. I especially like the four corners area. I would drive across Colorado, west from Denver, then south down along the western slope.

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  63. Prospero said on August 29, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    There is a Best of Sam and Dave album coming out. Park me on the bumper. There were never better than these cats. Hold On, I’m Comong. And that nonsense you hearrd in that white boy movie? Shinola!

    Brian brings up a good point. How many of you did the straight four years, I didn’t. Two schools and nearly five years. My ex made three schools and doubled down. Changed her major from mathe to education, at which she was spectaclular. I changed my major because they were going to make me read crap in English I had already read in Greek. Sorry bout that elitism.

    Then again, you can try lots’s of bimbo schools and still be Ms. Wasilla.

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