Demonstration And Dissent

Back in the beginning of August a trial began for Jason Stockley, a white police officer accused of killing Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011. Stockley had waived his right to a jury trial in favor of a bench trial, so after the trial ended the entire city waited for the judge to issue his verdict. On Friday it was announced...Not Guilty.

The judge also issued a 30 page ruling that described his reasons for the judgment.  I read it, and thought it seemed logical and reasonable. However, not everyone thought so.  There had already been rumblings of protests if there was an acquittal. Sure enough, within a couple of hours of the verdict a group assembled downtown. Things started off peacefully, but later in the day the demonstrators smashed the windshield of a police vehicle and threw rocks, water bottles and other items. The police responded by using tear gas to disperse the crowds. All weekend groups of protesters have popped up in different neighborhoods, malls, and festivals.  So far there hasn't been any major violence, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.

With the entire metropolitan area on edge, events started being cancelled right and left. Tonight Hubby Tony and I were going to attend the Moonlight Ramble, a nighttime bike ride through the city. By lunchtime on Friday we received emails that it was a no-go. Just about every venue downtown or close to downtown (including the Symphony and concerts by U2 and Ed Sheeran), followed suit, citing the fact that the police department wasn't in a position to provide the standard amount of protection.

This afternoon Tony and I discussed what we wanted to do with the now-open evening. We tentatively settled on a jazz festival in an area we were pretty sure protesters wouldn't come to, but first we wanted to attend Mass and a reception for one of our priests who is leaving. We got busy talking at the reception and by time we got home all thoughts of going out again had disappeared.  Probably just as well.

More than likely some sort of protests will take place again tomorrow.  I hope with the start of the work week on Monday things will start getting back to normal.

Five years ago today: Basement Memories

Travel Jewelry Roll

On my summer vacation I brought more jewelry than I usually do for a ten day trip.  I needed a way to store the necklaces.  Wanting to save my money for shore excursions and souvenirs, I started rooting around in my jewelry box for a solution. At the very bottom of the box I found a set of gold plated chain necklaces presented in a thin flannel jewelry roll I received at least a decade ago.  The  chains were no longer shiny or wearable, so I took them out and repurposed the jewelry roll. It kept things from getting tangled up, but it was really too short; the longer necklaces hung out of the bottom.

When I returned home I knew I needed a different solution before my next big vacation.  The project bounced around in my head for a while, then inspiration hit. I decided it would be easy to make a new one.  Here's the result:

Closed

Opened up

The big problem with the original roll was that it was too short, so I decided that the new one should have a pocket at the bottom to hold longer necklaces.  I still wasn't looking to spend a lot of money, so I used a piece of floral upholstery material from my fabric stash, which I thought also lent a vintage touch.

The steps:

• Cut two large rectangles and one small one for the pocket. 

• Lay pieces of ribbon (for the holding straps) across one of the large rectangles.  Pin them at the edges.

• Lay other pieces of ribbon (for the ties) across the same rectangle.  Pin them on one side, and roll the loose ends up in a ball and pin to the center so I don't inadvertently sew over them.

• Hem the top of the pocket piece.

• Put the large rectangles right sides together.  Sandwich the pocket between them. Pin everything securely.

• Sew everything together, leaving a gap for turning. Trim the corners. Turn right side out and hand-sew the gap closed.

• Pin the strips of holding ribbon into place across the width of the roll.  Sew several rows from top to bottom, making channels to hold each necklace.

• Put jewelry in and admire the result!

No Seeds For Me

Hubby Tony did something really out of his comfort zone at work.  To celebrate I told him I'd take him out for a nice dinner. He chose a nearby steak and seafood restaurant, and this evening I met him there.

The restaurant's menu was extensive, but what really caught my eye was the early evening specials, which offered choices of select starters, entrees, side dishes, desserts, and drinks for a set price.  I chose a Caesar salad and Salmon Dijon with a baked potato. Tony ordered a house salad, filet Mignon, and potato.

It didn't take long for the waiter to bring our drinks.  A couple of minutes later the busser set bread and butter on the table, and our first course came out shortly after that.  Based on the traditional menu items I didn't expect any surprises with the salads, and I was correct.  Both were as expected-fresh greens lightly tossed with dressing and garnished appropriately.  The waiter offered freshly ground pepper before he left us to enjoy our food.

After the salad plates were taken away we sat and talked until the entrees came.  My large salmon filet (which covered half of the plate) was topped with a lightly toasted mixture of bread crumbs and Dijon mustard.  The other half of the plate held a perfectly-cooked baked potato.  Nestled in between the two items was half of a lemon.  At first I thought its rind had been cut decoratively, but when I looked closer I discovered the fruit end was covered by a small mesh net. The edges of the net were elasticized, making it look like a very small shower cap.

I was still puzzled about the reason for the net until I picked up the lemon to squeeze juice over my fish, and realized it kept the seeds from falling out onto my food .  What a great idea!

Both of us polished off all our food.  When the waiter came back for our dessert orders I asked for raspberry sorbet, and Tony ordered creme brulee. The sweets came and we ate all of them, too.  I can't speak for Tony, but when I left the restaurant I felt like I was waddling.

Five years ago today: Blink And You'll Miss It

Did You Know?

A friend who knows I'm a sucker for trivia sent me a link to a fun article called "29 Interesting Facts About The Internet You Really Need To Know". 

Some of my favorite facts: 

• Approximately 3.2 billion people use the internet. Of those, 1.7 billion are Asians.

• China has treatment camps for internet addicts.

• 30,000 websites are hacked every day.

• The first webcam was created at the University Of Cambridge to monitor the Trojan coffee pot.

• ”Gangnam Style ” by PSY is still the most viewed videos of all time (with more than 2,840,000,000 views).

• The first tweet was sent by Jack Dorsey on March 21, 2006, and the first YouTube video (“Meet At Zoo”) was uploaded by Jawed Karim at 8:27 p.m. on April 23, 2005.

• Approximately 9 Million adults in Britain and one-third of Italians have never used the internet.

• The term ‘surfing’ the internet originated in 1992, courtesy of a New York librarian whose name was Jean Armour Polly.

• In 2010 Finland became the first country to make the internet access a legal right.

• Almost half of the world’s population are internet users, and nearly half of them have Facebook accounts.

• Every minute 72 hours of YouTube video content is being uploaded.

Five years ago today: Midwest Special

It's All In The Presentation

Just a couple of days ago it felt like summer. Then, on Monday night when a cold front came through we turned the air conditioner off and opened up the windows. It's been wonderful to fall asleep to the sounds of the crickets at night and wake up to the birds chirping in the coolness of the early morning.

This weekend I will be attending an event that includes a basket raffle fundraiser.  A group of us decided to donate a gift card and collected money to buy a certificate to a local grocery store.  However, by itself the card looked boring and I was afraid it would be overlooked. 

I went shopping at the craft store, where I found a cute scarecrow.  I brought it home, tucked the gift card under its arm, and secured it with a couple of pins.  I think it has more 'oomph' now, don't you?

The End Of Another Season

Non Sequitur

Labor Day is considered the ceremonial end of the summer season.  Hubby Tony and I had several commitments that kept us in town this weekend, but we managed to fit in a nice combination of 'have tos' and 'want tos' that made it feel like a holiday.

On Saturday, we ate lunch at Blues Fired Pizza, a new-to-us food truck with a drive-through brick and mortar location  not far from where Sons Brian and Donald went to high school. (The building used to be a coffee stand.)  As we arrived, we saw the truck backed up to one end of the building. We walked up to the window, placed our order, then had a seat at one of the nicely-shaded tables. Several minutes later we smelled our pizza cooking.  Less than five minutes later our pizzas and salads were ready.  The pizzas were single serving sized, and there were no leftovers to take home.

On Sunday we went to the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. This is the 100th Annual festival, and it's always well attended. Tony and I toured the church and the gift shop, then went through the dinner line. We each got a salad, and shared a plate of pork kebabs with rice pilaf so there would be room for dessert. It was tempting to get one of every pastry they had for sale, but we controlled ourselves and bought a piece of baklava and a kataifi (a shredded filo roll with chopped nuts and honey). We brought them home, brewed some tea, and shared them halfies. Both were excellent.

Today we purchased a new mattress and box spring set for one of the spare bedrooms. Rather than have it delivered, we tied the pieces securely to the roof of my car, then took a scenic route home that kept us on residential streets 95 percent of the time. Every time I went over 20 miles an hour the plastic wrapping on the mattress started flapping in the breeze and I was convinced the pieces were going to slide off; I was really glad to pull into the driveway. For dinner Tony cooked bratwurst and corn on the cob and I contributed braised red cabbage. We finished off the meal, and ended summer with perfectly ripened seasonal fruit.

Five years ago today: It's Not What You Say, But How You Say It

Happy Brthday, Eugene Field

Children’s poet Eugene Field was born in St. Louis on September 2,1850. In honor of the day, here's a version of his poem "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" that combines the original Walt Disney Silly Symphony animation with the music of Donovan.



Five years ago today: Weed Through

Stairwell Inspiration

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon. From past experience I knew that parking for the building can be an issue, so I left the house plenty early. As it turns out it was no problem to find an open space, and I walked into the lobby with ten minutes to spare.  With my extra time I decided to work on my step count for the day and walk up the stairs to the fourth floor doctor's office.  When I entered the stairwell I saw a laminated motivational poster on the back of the door.

I guess I wasn't the first one to think using the stairs was a good idea!  The motivation continued as I climbed.  At the top of every flight of stairs there was another poster on the door, and sometimes an additional one hanging on the wall next to the door.  The sayings drew from many genres.  My favorites were:

• One good wish changes nothing, one good decision changes everything.  (Anonymous)

• You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. (Wayne Gretzky)

• Eighty percent of success is showing up. (Woody Allen)

• If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else. (Yogi Berra)

Clean Out The Crud

We are a coffee drinking family.

Each morning after he's had his fill, Hubby Tony makes sure there's enough for me left in the insulated carafe of our Mr. Coffee.  I have one cup with my breakfast and another mid-afternoon. It's nice that the coffee is still nice and hot when I drink it, but the design of the carafe (with a top opening so small I can't fit my hand inside) makes it hard to clean.  The best I can do is stick a washcloth in there and twirl it around before I rinse it out, and run the deep cleaning program when the "Clean" button tells me to.

Last month when Son Donald was home the coffee consumption increased proportionally.  Both he and his dad drink a lot of coffee.  The carafe was rarely empty, and I don't think it was thoroughly cleaned for weeks.  When our cups started having brown flakes of crud in them I  took a good look inside the carafe, and discovered there was a layer of brown caked onto the sides.

EWW!

I used a bottle brush on the sides, but couldn't get to all the surfaces.  It was enough to knock off some of the deposits, and we didn't have any more flakes in the coffee, but I figured it was time to do something more drastic.

I Googled "clean thermal coffee carafe" and clicked through on the first hit, a post called How To Clean a Stainless Coffee Pot.  It sounded like an easy job to get the carafe back to new condition, so I decided to give it a try. Following the directions, I threw a pod of dishwasher detergent into the pot, then filled it with boiling water and let it sit while we ate dinner. The next time I looked, the top of the water looked scummy.  When I emptied it out, it was so brown it could have been actual coffee! 

Don't drink this.

All of the caked-on residue had melted away, and the inside of the carafe gleamed. 

The next morning my morning cup of coffee tasted amazing, with a mild flavor and fruity notes that had been missing just the day before.

Five years ago today: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome

Bag It

In my opinion, Sunday afternoon is one of the worst times to go to Costco. But Hubby Tony and I were out of spinach and mushrooms (which are essential ingredients in our house). Costco has the best prices on the items, so to Costco I went.

When I pulled into the parking lot and saw all the cars, I knew the store would be packed with customers.  However, I've come up with a way to get through the store relatively quickly. If I only need a couple of items I bring in a shopping bag and skip the cart. That way I can maneuver around the people who stop in the middle of the aisle to look at something, and children who aren't watching out for other people. At the sample stand it's easier to collect my goodies, because without a cart I don't take up much space.

Then, after I have all my items I can zip past the laden baskets headed towards the checkouts. It's easier to survey the lines and pick a short one when all you have is a cloth bag hanging over your arm, and without a cart I'm not blocking the aisle for people trying to get through.

After I've paid for my purchases and head for the exit I can walk briskly past the slowpokes who are examining their receipt to make sure they were charged correctly for their items.  Finally, I don't have to push the unwieldy basket through the parking lot full of cars backing up without looking to see if anyone is behind them.

Five years ago today: Why? Just Because