Dept. of Nance

Brain Broom: Sweeping Out Some Cerebral Such-And-Such

2026-05-20T10:06:44.147-04:00

It's time to clear out some cranial clutterbits. I had to think about this stuff, and now you do, too. This won't happen too often, so don't be overly concerned. No way do I ever want you to spend a great deal of time inside my head.

It can be scary in there.

1. Podcasts--As I've said many times before, I am not a fan of podcasts. So many--too many--sound ill-planned, rambling, and boring. They make me impatient and irritated; stop yammering about tangential things and inside jokes and get to the point. It's more tedious than party conversation at a gathering of a bunch of people that I don't know. One exception to this is the podcast Ill-Advised by Bill Nighy. Nighy is a British actor you may have seen in a Pirates of the Caribbean film or the movie Love, Actually, among others. It's delightful. As The Guardian put it, "the questions Nighy tackles range wildly, from how to avoid going to parties to “Why doesn’t my horse like me?” His advice is always conversational, generous and uncertain, with a sprinkling of his trademark self-deprecation. Each episode begins with various reasons why you shouldn’t listen to a word he says." Each installment has predictable segments: listener questions, banned words, a recommended playlist, and a favourite book he then reads an excerpt from. All of this takes place in nice, 25-30 minute chunks. He has an Instagram, too. Highly recommend.

2. Reading--I just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, reviewed a few months ago by Engie. I was in the middle of it when I put it down and actually wrote her a thank-you note. It immediately went on my Favourites shelf of my bookcases. One of the things I loved best about it was the main character's (Mme. Michel) devastation and dismay when encountering mistakes in The Language. She describes receiving a note with a misplaced comma as an attack, and she has to sit down immediately to recover. It's a beautiful story about humanity, self-perception, and finding beauty and understanding in a world that may feel unsatisfactory. The ending is cause for a great deal of thought.

3. Birds--We tried our darndest to save a brood of baby robins a few weeks back. It was eerily reminiscent of this episode six years ago. A mother robin built her nest on the crook of the downspout under the eaves of our house. She didn't do a very good job because at one point the nest tipped over and I found two naked, giblet-sized babies in my herb garden. One was still alive; the other one wasn't breathing. I did what I could to revive the unresponsive baby, but my efforts were in vain. Since I am banned from all ladders, I immediately put Rick into service. I put the living baby back into the nest, and Rick replaced it. That didn't last long. It tipped over again, so I again employed Rick, this time to use some zip ties to anchor it in. Mama Robin came back, kept fidgeting around to get comfortable, then abandoned the nest after a day or so. Naturally, I worried and fretted over it until Rick went back up the ladder to check on it. The baby was nowhere to be found, but a new egg was now there. We waited about a week, then removed the nest. She hasn't returned to rebuild, so I am morose. Another sadness is that my blue jays have disappeared, likely because the robins have established my yard as their territory. The two are classic enemies, but I wish the blue jays had prevailed.

4. Basil/Pesto--We had a couple of 90 degree days, so I was finally able to get my 9 basil plants (raised from seed and cuttings) into the ground. Actually, Rick did this; I am unable due to my illness, and I merely supervised and thanked him profusely. Once they were in, I trimmed them up again, made a few cubes of basil with olive oil in my mini-processor to add to pasta/sauce, and stuck them in the freezer. As I was doing this, I remembered that a Comment on a previous post asked for my pesto recipe. All I can do is to give you the basic recipe that I work from but modify, like so many cooks out there. Here it is:

1 C basil leaves

1/2 C parsley (I prefer curly)

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper

1/4 C walnuts or almonds (I avoid pine nuts; they're often not good quality)

Very good extra-virgin olive oil

Place herbs and garlic in food processor; pulse high until all is chopped well. Add cheese, S&P, and nuts. While processing, stream in olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Put into small jars, add a thin layer of olive oil on top (to prevent browning), and add lid. Refrigerate immediately. Lasts 2-3 weeks. Alternatively, put into ice cube tray and freeze, then store cubes in reclosable plastic bag.

5. Rod Stewart--I have been a fan of Rod Stewart forever, but never more than recently when he attended a charity event hosted by King Charles shortly after the monarch's trip to the USA and the state dinner at the White House. In the receiving line, Rod said, "May I say well done, sir, in the Americas. Superb. Put that little rat bag in his place." Here's video of the incident, and I'm even more deeply in love with Rod Stewart now. And rat bag is my new name for the criminal at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. No caps.

Okay! I feel more tidy and less burdened, at least for now. Chat me up in Comments.

In Which I Am Irritated By The New York Times

2026-05-08T11:18:39.662-04:00

Just a quick morning conversation with Rick at the lakehouse:

Nance: (reading the newspapers online) Rick! The New York Times says it's time to upgrade our cabinet pulls.

Rick: (lying on the couch, watching the news) Who cares what they say? They also want you to eat salmon all the time.*

Nance: You're absolutely right. I'm not listening to a single thing they say!

Rick: Don't let them run your life!

#################################

*I get the NYT Cooking newsletter every single day, and it never fails to irritate me. The people there are constantly shoving recipes for salmon at me. I hate salmon. They also include gochujang or miso or matcha or mochi in almost every recipe, and I don't have those or have any desire to seek them out. Actually, I've never even seen those things at my grocery stores. I also do not like to be Bossed Around by anyone, let alone print journalism. Screw the NYT; I do what I want, damn it.

This And That, The Goodbye April Version

2026-04-30T16:14:00.001-04:00

Why? WHY?!

Tomorrow is May 1st, and I am still trying to figure out where in the heck April went. Also, will someone please inform the Weather Deities that it is May and not February. We have had two freeze warnings in the past ten days, and I have 11 basil plants sitting all over my kitchen, waiting to be put in my herb garden. I've already trimmed them down once. It would be great to get them into the ground before I have to do it again, you know? Look at those hideous temperatures and ALL THAT RAIN. Ridiculous and completely unacceptable. WHAT IS HAPPENING? I already put away all my sweaters and toasty clothes. It's just wrong.

Speaking of basil, our friend Butch who owns a local garden center sent over a plastic grocery bag full of basil trimmings from the greenhouse. I wasn't feeling awesome, but I immediately got out my food processor and all the ingredients to make pesto. Thank goodness Rick is amenable to helping, and the tedious job of pulling all the leaves off the basil went quickly. As a result, I have this:

The Goya jars are old; I am still boycotting them.

That, plus a few cubes that I froze, is just a little over a quart of pesto, and it was well worth the effort. A couple of the jars went to Butch today, and I'll likely give one to Jared. THE REST ARE MINE, ALL MINE!

Back when the weather was lovely, I started letting Piper out into the back yard while I was on the patio. He always goes out to the front yard with me each morning when I put out peanuts for the blue jays (and squirrels), and he behaves very nicely. After several minutes of hollering at me from the back door, I let him out for a trial run. Here he is, relaxing among the daffodil fronds, which he nibbles on.

I can't wait to uncover and get the pond and waterfall running;
he'll really enjoy that.

Inspired by Julie, I started thinking about going through my books, which are also double-shelved, one row in front of the other. A Little Free Library several blocks from me has had the same crummy books for years, most of them being old management textbooks and religious stuff. The door recently blew off in a terrible storm we had, and I was going to get Rick to repair it before I cleaned it out and put my donations in. Luckily, someone already replaced the door, and they also got rid of the shitful books in it. I've set aside a few books so far, but I need to do a deep dive. I've got a few cookbooks to put in there, a graphic novel (the original Creepshow by Stephen King), some little kid books, and I'll see what else I can part with. I never even read Creepshow; I bought it because I was a major Stephen King enthusiast until his writing started getting repetitive and his endings kept sucking. It's this one:

photo found on Ebay; mine is in mint condition

Speaking of books, I finally finished Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Biggest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt. It was a very deep dive into the life and death of Christopher Marlowe, poet, dramatist, spy, and Shakespeare contemporary. Honestly, it was a bit of a slog, but also fascinating. People during the Renaissance had it tough. Being a Catholic got you tortured and killed; being suspected of being Catholic also got you tortured and killed. Queen Elizabeth I was constantly on guard because Mary, Queen of Scots was a threat to her throne. Liz took care of business, though, and had her executed. Both of them had myriad spies, and Christopher (Kit) Marlowe was just one of many working for Elizabeth.

I have since moved on to John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs, which is a compelling book about Lennon and McCartney, starting with the early days of their partnership, which lasted more than 20 years. I've been a Beatles fan since I was four or five years old, thanks to my older sister, who was obsessed with them and played their music all the time. This tells their story via hit songs in chronological order. It includes some photographs and so much that I never knew about the Beatles from their inception to the dissolution of the band to the death of John and more. I'll finish this one up tonight or tomorrow, but I'll be thinking about it for a long time, especially when I hear any Beatles song.

Speaking of Rock and Roll--actually just Rocks--I ordered those cute little ghostie rocks that were the header image in my last post. I decided to treat myself for my birthday (3 May). They're arriving today, but we're currently at the lake. I can't wait to tuck them around my yard.

We were at the lake last week for a couple of days, too. I wanted to try and reset my sleep, which has been lousy lately. I got a little better sleep, but I was still awake at about 6:45 AM. It was okay, though, because I saw this gorgeous sunrise right outside the sliding doors of the bedroom:

#NoFilter

Finally--and thanks for sticking with me thus far--I'll be celebrating my birthday with Joy in my heart. One of the reasons is because of my wonderful family. Jared, Sam, Jordan, Theo, and Rick make me happy every day. Another reason is because of you. I am so grateful for this community of ours and how it has led me to so many, many friends. I am fortunate, and I know that. Thank you all.