Nina Lewis

Archive for February, 2010

Dear Mr. Weather,

I am hereby lodging a formal complaint against you.  Let it be known that I do not like it AT ALL when you try to be something you really aren’t.  You are fraudulent and fallacious.  You are deceitful and deceptive.  You are bogus, Janus-faced, disingenuous, duplicitous, mendacious, and a host of other adjectives that I can’t think of at the moment because you’ve got me in such a tizzy!  Phew!

A few days ago, you had warmed up to the mid-40s.  I reveled in the warmth.  (Disclaimer:  warmth here is relative.  As in 40 degree weather is warmer than the six degree weather it used to be.  Much.)

Buds are forming on the trees.  Methinks my tulips and daffodils are gussying themselves up for their spring appearance in my yard.

Then, you lead me on. You cozen me. You delude me.  Your trickery of ‘it-will-soon-be-spring’ one moment and then ‘hah-fooled-you-it’s-snowing-again’ is unacceptable.  Such flimflam.  I just won’t stand for it any more!

One minute you act like spring.  The next, your temperature plummets to fifteen degrees.  And you are snowing this very moment!  Snowing as we speak!  Snow is in the forecast for today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next.  What do you think this is?  Winter?

If you are in winter mode, then act like winter.  All out. All the way.  Why this recent teasing of spring-like weather?  Such a temptress you are!  If you want to be spring, quit sallying forth in your coat of snow!

All I can say is that you are driving me into the arms of another climate.  I hope you’re happy with the consequence of your behavior!  Into the arms of one that is ALWAYS warm.  One that is paradisaical.  One with palm trees swaying in the breeze.  One with crystal clear turquoise ocean water and white sparkling sand.

Fiji, here I come.

Sincerely,
One who is disgruntled with you

I am reading a book about the constitution of the United States. So interesting!

It discusses the commonality of the founding fathers — their education and their beliefs. It mentioned that these men came from widely disparate walks of life — farmers and wilderness pioneers to presidents of universities.  However, they were all remarkably well read.

Care to take a guess at the names of the folks that they read?   Was it a popular author of pulp fiction of their day?  Their version of Stephen King, Clive Cussler, John Grisham, Danielle Steele, or Nora Roberts?  Did they read a National Enquirer, or a People’s Magazine, Newsweek, or Times?  Possibly.  But those weren’t the things mentioned in this book.

Our mighty founding fathers read folks like Polybius, Cicero, Thomas Hooker, Coke (isn’t that a soda pop???), Montesquieu, Blackstone, and John Locke.  (Ever heard of these guys?)  Our founding fathers had great breadth and depth in their reading — even the farmers and the wilderness pioneers!

Amazing, isn’t it?

I would be surprised if more than five percent of our elected officials in Washington have read (let alone even heard of) these men.  (They probably have at least heard of Cicero and possibly John Locke . . .)  I have even less faith that our state officials have read the writings of any of these people.  I know I haven’t.  And I have a Master’s degree — which means according to today’s academic standards, I should be fairly well educated . . .  I guess I’m a rube and not as well educated as the farmers in the late 1700s in the United States . . .

The second intriguing thing was that one of the principles they based the constitution on was that of developing a spirit of public virtue by having elected leaders with strong private virtue.  Boy have we strayed far away from that!  I don’t think that virtue and the name of many of our congressmen, previous presidents, and some governors could be used in the same sentence.

Another item of interest was that they felt that high-salaried public officials was repugnant.  Benjamin Franklin warned that high salaries for government offices was the best way to attract scoundrels and drive away from office men who possessed true virtue.  This describes the US perfectly!  It would be nice to go back to that belief today.  But I don’t think it would happen.  Would the elected officials do away with their high salaries and their fabulous pension for life?  No way!

My reading has humbled me.  (And that is a HUGE miracle!)  Not only do I not know much about the constitution, I feel that I’m poorly educated when it comes to the foundational reading that our founding fathers had.

Guess I’d better get on the stick and change my reading habits. . . .

I guess I’m in good company.

I’ve found out that this is SO true!

Such good advice.

Last Saturday, my husband and I decided that our fun with a vengeance activity would be to visit the local used book store.  We will be going to Fiji next month and need a little bit of reading material for the 8+ hours in the air (and all the time spent at the airport).

When we walked into the store, we were greeted by a squabby* red-headed lady.  When she asked if she could help us, I asked here where the business books were.  And books on economics.  I was also interested in biographies and possibly a history book like Team of Rivals by Doris Goodwin.

She led me to a little nook.  The shelf was three feet wide and six feet tall.  Books were in random order, in piles hither and yon.  It didn’t take me very long to look at all of them and decide that those books (dating from the 1960s) weren’t quite what I had in mind.

Then, I asked her where the Newbery Award books were.  She took me to another spot.  “They are mixed in with the classics,” she said.  More piles.  More stacks.  More lack of order.  Before she left me to browse, she said, “I think that you would really like books by this author.”  She mentioned a name that I was not familiar with.  “He has written a series of 12 books all about a baptist preacher.”

Hmmmm. . .

I was surprised (to say the least) by her suggestion to me.  I was seeking books on business, economics, biographies, history — and award winning children’s books.  What synapse in her mind connected these topics to the series about a Baptist preacher???

It was interesting to note that there was one whole room for romance novels.  You know the kind . . . heaving breasts, breathy whipsers of desire.  That room was very well organized.  No piles there.  Each series was arranged alphabetically so it was easy to find a book.  And, the clerk could tell you all about every single book and every single author.

What does this tell you about the used bookstore and its clientelle?  If the romance novels take up a whole room and is very well organized, that must be where the heavy traffic is.  Are economic books important?  Are business books a priority?  Do they care about history or biographies? Me thinks not.

There was a section in the back for the political intrigue, action-packed books.  They were alphabetically organized.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I don’t think this used bookstore is for me.  Somehow, I don’t think that I’ll ever find very many books that interests me there . . .

*squabby:  short and stout.  (This lady was almost wider than she was tall.)

My son, Tyler, and his wife, Lisa, made licorice and gave some to my husband and I.  He knows how to win points and influence his mother who LOVES licorice.  It was with great self-control that I ate less than 3 pieces a day.  (Self-control?  Just who am I kidding?  I had none.  Absolutely none.  I pigged out every day.)

Such soft, chewy licorice!  Here’s the recipe if you happen to be interested in making some. I recommend it.

When Lisa explained how to make it, she mentioned that her sister just sprayed the pan with Pam instead of lining the pan with buttered foil.  Spraying the pan sounded so much easier.  I sprayed my pan.

I used a powdered food coloring recommended at the local candy making supply store.  Did the candy come out black?  Nay.  Sickly grey-green is more like it.  Kinda the color of an old army ammo can. (I’ll just close my eyes before I put a piece in my mouth.)

Then the recipe said to put it in a cool place over night.  The fridge is cool, isn’t it?  In it went.  When I got it out, it was as soft and chewy as the ice cap at the South Pole.

I broke a spatula trying to get the candy out of the pan.  I used a crow bar instead.

You know the spray oil I used?  I didn’t want the candy to stick to the pan, so I sprayed it.  And sprayed it.  And sprayed it.  When I tried to get the candy out of the pan, oil gushed up all over the edges like the oil that Jed Clampet discovered on his land in the TV show the Beverly Hill Billies.

I tried to wipe off the oil with a paper towel.  Paper fibers got stuck in the licorice.

I tried wiping off the oil with a damp dish towel.  Lint got stuck in the licorice between the paper fibers.

When I was ready to cut the candy, I pulled out Craig’s chain saw.  I broke the saw.  It took me hours to cut and wrap the candy in waxed paper.

During the cutting and wrapping, I had eaten so many pieces in the process, I felt licorice oozing out of my pores with my sweat.  Sigh.

I have some advice where I posted the recipe.  If you’re interested in making this candy, you might want to read it.  Experience is such a great teacher, isn’t it?