The Bog of Lost Scholars

29 August 2006

Random Things to Do with Peppers

Filed under: Food — Castiron @ 07:32

1. Bell peppers from the veggie box, cored and stuffed with a smidge of breakfast sausage and some apple slices that my son decided he didn’t want: The apple/pepper combination is a little strange, but probably could work well in different proportions.

2. Jalapeno and onion omelet (or jalapeno and leek omelet, or jalapeno, onion, and purslane omelet, or….): Still tasty, especially with some good cheddar.

2a. If you didn’t wash your hands well enough after slicing the jalapenos, it will become obvious the next time you scratch an itch near your eye.

3. Bells and jalapenos as part of the Random Fried Vegetable mix. Chop some onion and fry in a bit of olive oil till golden; add chopped garlic, peppers, squash, eggplant, tomato, pretty much whatever happens to be in the veggie box, and cook till everything’s sufficiently done. Add a little cooked chicken or sausage at the end if you feel so inclined. Eat with pasta or rice or bread.

25 August 2006

Census Ahoy!

Filed under: Genealogy — Castiron @ 23:45

For my birthday, my parents gave me a year of DSL. (Yeah, actually, it does feel like my dad said, “Happy birthday! Here’s some high-grade heroin; have fun!”) So I’ve finally been able to buy that Ancestry subscription, and between that and the new desktop that actually does run TMG at a reasonable speed, I’m having a lovely time.

My long-term project is to get census data for everyone in my database who would have been named on a census (basically, living at any time between 1850 and 1930). There are almost certainly people who would do this in an orderly and systematic method — work their way up the family tree and then down one line at a time. My method is more like a magpie on speed. Here’s Family A… oh, there’s an in-law in Family B….hey, Family C living next door here, I recognize their names, yep, they’re in the database, so I’ll update those records….who was I originally researching again? Frederick, Maryland, being a place with a slew of family interconnections, eventually I do make it back to someone I’m actually related to, but there’ve been a lot of tangents on the way.

I’m enjoying it, though. I’ve managed to confirm that a couple people entered in my database were actually the same person; with the 1920 and 1930 census, I’ve been able to expand on some information my great-aunt had collected about cousins. My Cronise family moved from Maryland to Virginia around 1867; I’ve been able to trace down several of the ones who stayed there. I’m also convinced that there’s a section of Frederick County whose 1860 census pages either disappeared or weren’t taken; there’s a particular group of ancestors and their neighbors that I can find on 1850 and 1870, but not on 1860.

24 August 2006

Recent Reading: Yarn, Art, Autism, Tolkien Parody

Filed under: The Castiron Reading Journal — Castiron @ 23:12

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Yarn Harlot, At Knit’s End, and Knitting Rules. I got these in time for her book tour visit. (The Yarn Harlot touched my shawl!) Lots of short essays on knitting, yarn, etc. They’re very fun reads; they’ll probably eventually move to the bathroom, as they lend themselves well to bathroom reading.

Caroline Stevermer, When the King Comes Home. I don’t like this one as much as I like the A (.+?) of Magics books, but it’s still good. Hail is an interesting character, who clearly doesn’t Get a lot of things happening around her.

Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. An autistic boy solves two mysteries in his life. Very well written; I’m not sure whether it says more about Haddon’s writing or my brain that I found Christopher’s logic easy to follow. It was also interesting comparing Christopher with my own son; my guy can’t talk or read, but he can handle new places and human touch far more easily than Christopher can. And the last line nearly made me cry.

Limyaael, The Game of the Gods. Still my favorite piece of Tolkien fanfic; still hilarious.

23 August 2006

Handle Everything Once: Summer Doldrums

Filed under: Dejunking and Organizing — Castiron @ 23:00

Note to self: While summer provides lots of time at home, which helps with decluttering, summer also provides heat, which kills motivation. Do not expect to make significant progress during July and August.

In spite of that, the bathrooms are both done. The big toss-out here: half a shelf full of incandescent light bulbs. I’ve switched almost every bulb in my house to compact fluorescent, and I’m unlikely to switch back.

Next on the schedule: my hall closet, the third most challenging space in the house. (The office is more challenging because it has so darn much stuff in there, most of which is stuff I want to keep; the worst space is the utilities room, slated for September.) I haven’t touched it yet, but sometime in the next week or so I’ll probably get the urge.

17 August 2006

Crossing the Bridge

Filed under: Film and Media — Castiron @ 23:19

Some days one lucks out. I heard about the movie Crossing the Bridge on the last day that it was playing in town, so I took my boyfriend to see it.

It’s a documentary, narrated by a German rock musician, about music in Istanbul. The music is amazing — everything from tradition-based singers to grunge rock bands to itinerant street musicians to rappers. (Yes. Turkish rap. It works. Well, I don’t know the language well enough to tell whether it works when you can understand the words, but the sounds and rhythms definitely work.)

Interspersed with the music, there’s views of Istanbul, the scenic and the seedy. There’s political commentary. There’s an elderly father commenting on his son’s interest in hip-hop. There’s random dogs. There’s a Rom wedding. There’s a haunting story of the origin of the Turkish flag.

I’m very glad we saw it. Of course, now I want the soundtrack….

14 August 2006

Cucumber Salad

Filed under: Food — Castiron @ 10:33

Mindless cucumber salad, recipe modified from one that came with my veggie subscription:

Slice desired amount of cucumber (I usually do one enormous or 2-3 small). Put in colander, sprinkle with salt, and let the water drain for a while — a half hour if I’m hungry, an hour if I’m patient. Rinse cuke slices. Put in a bowl with a little bit of chopped sweet onion. Add glug of plain yogurt, enough that everything’s coated when it’s mixed, and a pinch of dill (fresh is great; dried works too). Eat.

The leftovers will keep in the fridge for a couple days, but it really looks and tastes best when it’s freshly made.

3 August 2006

A Note to My Northern Friends and Relations

Filed under: Random Ramblings — Castiron @ 20:35

Dear friends in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. and in eastern Canada:

Next winter, or perhaps the winter after, when you hear stories of southern U.S. cities closing down due to receiving a quarter-inch of snow? Think upon this past week’s heat wave, and hold your snickers. Thank you.

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