How could I not try pickled potatoes? The recipe called for slicing and then frying them after brining, but I decided to chunk and roast them. Delicious! It's like a morsel of warm potato salad in every bite.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Celebrate Life
There was a street fair surrounding the funeral home when we arrived yesterday. All the side streets were closed for blocks, and on Main Street, police officers in neon-orange vests stopped traffic for any pedestrians who wanted to cross. The staff at the funeral home were keeping a watchful eye for people who were trying to find festival parking in their lot, but noting our black clothes and out of state plates, they didn't even look twice at us when we pulled in.
The viewing ended at twelve but the service was not scheduled until 1. The church was only a few blocks away, and so we decided to walk. Our path took us through the fair, and we stopped for coffee, browsed t-shirts at a sidewalk sale, and played with the kittens they had for adoption at the pet shop. It was a warm reminder that life, somehow, goes on no matter what.
"I think Tom did this," his sister told us before we left the wake. "The fair was rescheduled from a couple weeks ago from the hurricane that never came. Now we're going to lose half the crowd to the beer tent!"
The viewing ended at twelve but the service was not scheduled until 1. The church was only a few blocks away, and so we decided to walk. Our path took us through the fair, and we stopped for coffee, browsed t-shirts at a sidewalk sale, and played with the kittens they had for adoption at the pet shop. It was a warm reminder that life, somehow, goes on no matter what.
"I think Tom did this," his sister told us before we left the wake. "The fair was rescheduled from a couple weeks ago from the hurricane that never came. Now we're going to lose half the crowd to the beer tent!"
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Bad GPS Good GPS
We were relying on the directions function of the map ap on our phones to get us where we needed to go 4 hours from home this morning. Oh, we knew the broad strokes; it was a route we have traveled often, but it was the last 20 miles that we were counting on help for, and sadly, our devices let us down-- taking us on and off the same highway three times, past our destination and back around again. In the grand scheme of things it didn't matter; we gave ourselves a wide window and made it there in plenty of time, but it was frustrating.
On the way home, our phones redeemed themselves: coming upon a 7-mile stop-and-go backup, we took a quick exit and the GPS function directed us around the congestion in less than 10 minutes, and it was exhilarating.
Technology taketh and technology giveth in return.
On the way home, our phones redeemed themselves: coming upon a 7-mile stop-and-go backup, we took a quick exit and the GPS function directed us around the congestion in less than 10 minutes, and it was exhilarating.
Technology taketh and technology giveth in return.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Is this Going to Be on the Test?
After the second annual Day of Peace and early release for students, we had staff development this afternoon at school. The meeting was scheduled to start at 1 pm, and at 12:55 most of the tables in the library were full. My friend Mary and I chose the neck cramp table right in front of the screen. A minute later, a younger teacher joined us just as the meeting started.
"You all had homework to prepare for this session," the presenter said jovially. "There is an activity at your table for you to reflect on the video as a group."
"We did?" Mary whispered. "I didn't do it."
"I didn't either," I shrugged.
"You guys!" the other teacher said.
"Uh oh, she's going to switch tables," Mary said.
"Did you do it?" I asked our colleague.
"Yes, and I even took notes," she answered. We all laughed uproariously.
"OK," Mary told her, "fill us in."
"It was about the seven habits kids need for success," she started.
"Wait," I said. "Let us guess what they are."
Organization, Cooperation, we chanted. Critical thinking...
And while we didn't get the exact terminology, we were close, successfully completing the activity despite 2/3s of our group being unprepared.
Booyah!
"You all had homework to prepare for this session," the presenter said jovially. "There is an activity at your table for you to reflect on the video as a group."
"We did?" Mary whispered. "I didn't do it."
"I didn't either," I shrugged.
"You guys!" the other teacher said.
"Uh oh, she's going to switch tables," Mary said.
"Did you do it?" I asked our colleague.
"Yes, and I even took notes," she answered. We all laughed uproariously.
"OK," Mary told her, "fill us in."
"It was about the seven habits kids need for success," she started.
"Wait," I said. "Let us guess what they are."
Organization, Cooperation, we chanted. Critical thinking...
And while we didn't get the exact terminology, we were close, successfully completing the activity despite 2/3s of our group being unprepared.
Booyah!
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Infinite Jest
Cold and frosty morning
There’s not a lot to say
About the things caught in my mind
I’m not afraid of ghosts, but there is a Halloween display in a yard that I pass each morning on my way to school that bothers me. Human bones are scattered across the grass, while nearby a tiny dog skeleton stands, jaws open in an eternal yap. The dog is dumb-looking; little bony ears on its head are proof that it is a fake, but the other part is different. Perhaps because of the Yorick grin of the skull, for there is certainly no merriment there, the human skeleton gives my stomach a bit of a turn every day.
Damn my education, I can’t find the words to say
With all the things caught in my mind
I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard one or two. Back in 1985 my sister, my dad, and I moved into the second story apartment of an up-down triplex. My father had been given six months to live, and my sister and I were to be his caretakers.
We didn’t have much furniture at first; my dad was returning from several years in Saudi Arabia, and my sister and I were 19 and 23 with not a lot of worldly possessions. We bought a couch, a TV, and some beds to begin with, leaving the dining room between the kitchen and the living room empty and echoing. I can’t count the number of times I would be working in the kitchen and turn to see who was coming in only to find myself alone. Eventually, the sound of invisible footsteps crossing the dining room was such a persistent presence that we grew used to it. “Oh, that’s the ghost” we’d shrug when others heard it, too.
Later we found out that the tenants before us had been an elderly brother and his two sisters, and that he had passed away in the apartment, and so we assumed it was he who approached the kitchen. At Thanksgiving we got a table, and the footsteps stopped.
So don’t go away
Say what you say
Say that you’ll stay
Forever and a day
My father outlived his prognosis by over a year. Near the end of his life he ordered the As Seen on TV clap-on, clap-off, Clapper so that he wouldn’t have to get up from the couch to turn the lights on and off, but he was too weak to clap loudly enough to make it work. We left it plugged in, though, and in the days after his death, the lamp connected to it turned on and off all by itself on several occasions.
‘cause I need more time
Yes I need more time
It was just before 7 am on Tuesday when we heard the news that our friend Tom died. The last time we saw him was at our Buffalo marriage reception. He was the only guest we were allowed to invite ourselves, a fact he took such wicked delight in that he gladly flew from NYC for the weekend. “Are you kidding?” he told Heidi. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, especially if it’s going to be as awfully awkward as you say! I’d crash it if I had to!”
Then, as ever, he seemed larger than life, and even though we knew he had a grave illness, it seemed impossible that he wouldn’t beat the odds. He was confident, and so were we. And while his death was not a total surprise, it was still a shock.
The day passed shrouded in the disconnect between what I wanted to be true and what was true, and I fell into an exhausted sleep early that night, resting dreamlessly until a loud noise woke me. It took me a few minutes to realize that the TV was on, LOUD, downstairs. Before it could wake Heidi, I stumbled down to turn it off. The empty living room glowed in the flickering blue light of the screen. There no reason for the television to have come on.
As I reached for the power button, I saw that a sitcom funeral was in progress. I stood watching as one of the characters paid tribute to a person lying in an open casket. The joke was that the two were strangers, and in an awfully awkward moment, the eulogy was refuted and the funeral crashers humiliated.
Tom would have thought it was funny.
There’s not a lot to say
About the things caught in my mind
I’m not afraid of ghosts, but there is a Halloween display in a yard that I pass each morning on my way to school that bothers me. Human bones are scattered across the grass, while nearby a tiny dog skeleton stands, jaws open in an eternal yap. The dog is dumb-looking; little bony ears on its head are proof that it is a fake, but the other part is different. Perhaps because of the Yorick grin of the skull, for there is certainly no merriment there, the human skeleton gives my stomach a bit of a turn every day.
Damn my education, I can’t find the words to say
With all the things caught in my mind
I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard one or two. Back in 1985 my sister, my dad, and I moved into the second story apartment of an up-down triplex. My father had been given six months to live, and my sister and I were to be his caretakers.
We didn’t have much furniture at first; my dad was returning from several years in Saudi Arabia, and my sister and I were 19 and 23 with not a lot of worldly possessions. We bought a couch, a TV, and some beds to begin with, leaving the dining room between the kitchen and the living room empty and echoing. I can’t count the number of times I would be working in the kitchen and turn to see who was coming in only to find myself alone. Eventually, the sound of invisible footsteps crossing the dining room was such a persistent presence that we grew used to it. “Oh, that’s the ghost” we’d shrug when others heard it, too.
Later we found out that the tenants before us had been an elderly brother and his two sisters, and that he had passed away in the apartment, and so we assumed it was he who approached the kitchen. At Thanksgiving we got a table, and the footsteps stopped.
So don’t go away
Say what you say
Say that you’ll stay
Forever and a day
My father outlived his prognosis by over a year. Near the end of his life he ordered the As Seen on TV clap-on, clap-off, Clapper so that he wouldn’t have to get up from the couch to turn the lights on and off, but he was too weak to clap loudly enough to make it work. We left it plugged in, though, and in the days after his death, the lamp connected to it turned on and off all by itself on several occasions.
‘cause I need more time
Yes I need more time
It was just before 7 am on Tuesday when we heard the news that our friend Tom died. The last time we saw him was at our Buffalo marriage reception. He was the only guest we were allowed to invite ourselves, a fact he took such wicked delight in that he gladly flew from NYC for the weekend. “Are you kidding?” he told Heidi. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, especially if it’s going to be as awfully awkward as you say! I’d crash it if I had to!”
Then, as ever, he seemed larger than life, and even though we knew he had a grave illness, it seemed impossible that he wouldn’t beat the odds. He was confident, and so were we. And while his death was not a total surprise, it was still a shock.
The day passed shrouded in the disconnect between what I wanted to be true and what was true, and I fell into an exhausted sleep early that night, resting dreamlessly until a loud noise woke me. It took me a few minutes to realize that the TV was on, LOUD, downstairs. Before it could wake Heidi, I stumbled down to turn it off. The empty living room glowed in the flickering blue light of the screen. There no reason for the television to have come on.
As I reached for the power button, I saw that a sitcom funeral was in progress. I stood watching as one of the characters paid tribute to a person lying in an open casket. The joke was that the two were strangers, and in an awfully awkward moment, the eulogy was refuted and the funeral crashers humiliated.
Tom would have thought it was funny.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Sure Lock
"I can't open my locker!" a student burst into my room at lunch and reported. "I keep putting in my combination and it won't open!"
"When was the last time you could get in?" I asked her.
"This morning!" she told me.
"That's strange," I frowned and grabbed my master list of lockers and combination and followed her to the hallway.
There we found a friend of hers on her knees fiddling with the padlock. "It won't open," she told me.
"You shouldn't tell anyone your combination," I said to the first student. She shrugged in a What could I do? kind of a way. I consulted my list and twirled the dial, pulling down confidently at the end, but the lock held tight. The hallway was getting busy with other students returning from lunch, but I knew it was nowhere near as chaotic as it got during those moments right before the bell rang in the morning.
"Who else was here this morning when you closed your locker?" I asked her.
"Kadin," she told me and pointed three steel doors down from hers.
"Aha!" I said. "Try your combination on his lock!" While she spun the tumblers on that one, I once again consulted my list and used his combination to open the padlock on her latch.
"Yay!" We cheered our mutual success and traded padlocks and spaces. She grabbed her books and both her locker and the case closed with a satisfying clang.
"When was the last time you could get in?" I asked her.
"This morning!" she told me.
"That's strange," I frowned and grabbed my master list of lockers and combination and followed her to the hallway.
There we found a friend of hers on her knees fiddling with the padlock. "It won't open," she told me.
"You shouldn't tell anyone your combination," I said to the first student. She shrugged in a What could I do? kind of a way. I consulted my list and twirled the dial, pulling down confidently at the end, but the lock held tight. The hallway was getting busy with other students returning from lunch, but I knew it was nowhere near as chaotic as it got during those moments right before the bell rang in the morning.
"Who else was here this morning when you closed your locker?" I asked her.
"Kadin," she told me and pointed three steel doors down from hers.
"Aha!" I said. "Try your combination on his lock!" While she spun the tumblers on that one, I once again consulted my list and used his combination to open the padlock on her latch.
"Yay!" We cheered our mutual success and traded padlocks and spaces. She grabbed her books and both her locker and the case closed with a satisfying clang.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Requiem
It was a beautiful day here, loaded with every splendor October has. Colorful leaves, crisp air, and blue skies abounded, but it all seemed a little empty because of the news we received this morning that our good friend Tom had died. To us, the world has lost a little of its twinkle, and to be honest? It sucks to think we'll never spend time with him again.
I just didn't realize how much I was looking forward to comparing our Alaska adventures, all the while mocking the ulu knife craze they have going on there. Nor did I know that I was expecting years and years more movies and dinners around his annual recruiting visits here. And I'm sure I didn't sufficiently appreciate his delighted interest in all our tales of family drama.
Tom was Heidi's childhood friend, but he was the type of person who made everything a little more fun, and now that that wicked fast-talking, quick-witted guy is gone, oh how I'll miss him.
I just didn't realize how much I was looking forward to comparing our Alaska adventures, all the while mocking the ulu knife craze they have going on there. Nor did I know that I was expecting years and years more movies and dinners around his annual recruiting visits here. And I'm sure I didn't sufficiently appreciate his delighted interest in all our tales of family drama.
Tom was Heidi's childhood friend, but he was the type of person who made everything a little more fun, and now that that wicked fast-talking, quick-witted guy is gone, oh how I'll miss him.
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