Maggie Turner: Page by Page

It Was Dark and Stormy Night

Maggie — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:22:28 +0000

“I am surrounded by dead bodies. I sit quietly, watching, for I will kill again. The crushed and twisted remains lie strewn across the tables on either side of me, a testament to my determination. I am without remorse.”

This is my version of, “it was a dark and stormy night.”

Mosquito Season started last night, at our country house. It began for us at about 9:30 p.m. last night. The beginning of Mosquito Season, as I define it, is distinctive. It begins when I hear a mosquito humming near my head, or feel it tickle the hair on my arm, or land on me, or at worst, bite me, as I sit in the living room or lie in my bed. Having killed that one maddening source of itchy irritation, another materializes to take its place. As soon as the newcomer has been destroyed, another moves in to take its place. And so the day goes, one mosquito after another, all day long, and all night long.

How these mosquitoes get into the house is unknown. They have their ways. There are certainly fewer of them if we ensure that the dampers on the fireplace and wood stove are completely closed. It helps, when coming in from outdoors, to stand quietly in the screened in porch for a little while, killing as many of the hitchhiking mosquitoes as possible, before opening the door to the interior of the house. But, no matter how careful we are, at the beginning of mosquito season, when we seat ourselves to relax, mosquitoes will line up, waiting their turn to take their chance at a meal, at our expense.

If it weren’t for West Nile Virus this could be ignored more easily. But the threat of disease makes the presence of mosquitoes a bit dangerous, in addition to irritating.

Soon the dragonflies will be out and about, and they love to eat the mosquitoes. I love to watch the dragonflies as the dip and dive to eat their fill. It helps that their activity improves my experience of the natural world.

On the other hand, the black flies have made a quick exit, and are few and far between. They will make a repeat appearance later in the summer, but for now we are relieved of their presence.

One has only to live in the bush to understand this obsession with insects. They are small, but their impact is mighty indeed, particularly when they exist in great numbers.

Bright and early I was out in the screened in porch, with my scissors and spoon and trays of seed pots. I transplanted a stevia plant into a large container, in hopes that in turn it will grow large. I filled my 20 newspaper plant pots with soil, inserted a single basil seed into each one, covered each lightly with soil, watered each carefully, and placed the trays in the screened in porch, where the sun will shine on them for part of the day. They will be safe from hail and animals in the screened in porch. I hope they come up before we next visit the little house in the city!

A few stems had fallen off the portulaca plants I purchased, so I put those into a cup of water thinking they might root. The portulaca will not be planted in the deck planter for another week at least, as I am waiting till the likelihood of frost has passed.

Yesterday’s mail brought yet another missive from the former employer, the one who has been so miserable to deal with for the last two years. This time they sent a document, that they categorically refused to send me previously, a stance on their part that was sent to me in writing. Now they have backtracked and sent the document, which we had already worked around. This means another letter to a government agency, and further complications.

This company is truly as bad as it sounds, and I feel genuine pity for all of their previous employees, and customers in this area. If there was ever a company that deserved to fail, in my opinion, they are it. They still own companies in the city, which I would never do business with.

So I was correct in being superstitious, it is not yet over with them. It seemed to good to be true, being free of the torture of dealing with their energy. It has been almost a year since they laid me off, and announced that the doors were closing. That is almost a year of time spent dealing with, on my own time, their incompetence or malice (not sure which, maybe both).

This is the contents of the last fresh food basket. Actually it arrived in a cardboard box, but calling it a basket works for me.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

17°C
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 100.8 kPa
Visibility: 8 km
Temperature: 17.2°C
Dewpoint: 15.8°C
Humidity: 92%
Wind: SSE 11 km/h

Quote

“It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.”
Peter Ustinov
1921 – 2004

Weather!

Maggie — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:03:27 +0000

Hail! I heard something fall on the roof, then something else and then it thundered down, hail! The boards on the deck are just under six inches across, for reference. I have never before experienced hail of this magnitude, but have driven by banks of it on the side of the road, shortly after a hail storm. Spectacular! And a little scary.

We had a few days off last weekend, because it was a long weekend in Canada. We decided to visit the little house in the city. When we arrived there was still light in the sky; enough light to see that the dandelions had taken over much of the front yard, and that the back yard was more like a hayfield than a lawn. It was too late in the day to have a lawn mower running, so Attila planned to begin the mowing job as early as possible the following day, Sunday. Sunday began with sunshine, but by the time it was acceptable to have power tools roaring in the neighbourhood, it had started to spit rain. Attila got the job done though.

Our neighbours, who keep a pretty close watch for goings on at our little house in the city, when we are not there, told us about the local dogs. Apparently a few of the local dogs like our back yard, a lot. Since there is no gate to the back yard, they have had free entry. The neighbours like to chase the dogs away from their yard, and ours, which we approve. We have talked about putting up a gate, but it has not made it anywhere near the top of our project list. Taking into account the neighbour’s concerns, we decided to move it on up, right to the top of the list.

Attila spent the weekend building a gate, which he finished, for the most part. It is functional, but needs a few small finishing touches, which we will take care of next time we are visiting the house. It was an unexpected expense, and an unexpected time-swallower. But it got done!

As usual, as Attila was busy with the most physical tasks, I was busy with the organizational tasks. I spent time pricing gates, ensuring that the materials were in stock and that we could afford them. I also did a significant amount of shopping for food supplies, since we had not purchased groceries for almost three weeks.

A pleasant surprise was that the rhubarb, which had died off completely last summer, has come back. At least, three of the four plants we planted have come back to life. I spent a great deal of time on those plants, watering, then putting down newspaper around them and applying mulch to keep the dandelions at bay. The dandelions have taken over a great deal of the lawn and garden.

While I was purchasing the mulch, I also bought portulaca for the front flower box and some petunias for the flower “box” on the lawn, both were on sale. I planted, watered and mulched those two front flowerbeds. The perennials in the back garden, which are there temporarily, until we get a front porch built, were drowning in dandelions and bindweed. I spent many hours removing the worst of the dandelions, pulling them and the bindweed carefully out from between the emerging perennials.

I seldom have the opportunity to work outside at the country house, the mosquitoes are just too horrific. At the little house in the city I can putter in the garden for hours and hours, and only be bothered by a few dozen mosquitoes, there are no swarms. I was enjoying myself so much that I overdid it, and after sitting down at the end of the day, I had trouble getting up again. I spent a painful night, and was extremely stiff again the next morning. I hurt even when I was not moving! Today I am feeling much better.

Equipment for making plant pots for the basil seeds.

Today I am going to plant some basil seeds. When I purchased them, while shopping at a garden centre with Terra, I intended to leave them with Terra, who would have plant them in her garden for us. However, I forgot to send them home with Terra, and now I have them here at the country house. I found an online video which demonstrated how to make small plant pots out of newspaper, for seed starting. I ended up using an empty toilet paper roll, a stapler and newsprint to make mine. I will plant the seeds, and care for them, until our next visit to the city house, where Terra will pick them up and take charge.

We are under a severe weather warning. It has been raining. Just after the lunch hour we received severe hail, some of it about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, perhaps larger, I was not going out to measure. It thundered onto the roof, and even shook the floor a little when it hit the deck attached to the side of the house. Attila checked the car this evening, for damage. It suffered several dents, but the paint job was not compromised, we think. It is difficult to tell the full extent of any damage because the car is covered with leaves, seeds, and twigs. When we get it all cleared away we will know better. Nothing to get upset about though.

Mist, our dear, deaf cat, slept thought the entire hail storm. She even looked offended when later she awoke, and protested that the sliding door was closed.

Hopefully that is the last we will see of this storm, but the storm watches are still in effect, and I can hear rumbling in the distance from time to time.

I am posting this entry early and hoping that no new news is generated between now and tomorrow, when I might post again!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT
17°C
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 100.9 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 17.4°C
Dewpoint: 15.9°C
Humidity: 91%
Wind: ESE 9 km/h

Quote

“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.”
Leonardo da Vinci
1452 – 1519

Celebration of Gifts

Maggie — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:24:57 +0000

Poplar Two. I’ve been playing around with my camera, enjoying patterns and perceptions. Life is all about relativity! This image is part of my Altered States Gallery, which has just been updated.

I don’t think frugal quite covers what Attila and I do with our scant resources. It is not desperation. It is not dire need. It is more like a celebration of gifts. Our take on waste not, want not, seems extreme to some people. But we feel better about being alive when we use resources respectfully, and return what we cannot use to the ecosystem. We are not entirely successful in this; we use the public sewage system and water system at our little house in the city. We had to dispose of the material from our gutted basement, the whole mouldy, mildewed lot, to a landfill. These are, to us, spectacular failures to recycle, that seemed unavoidable. Our choice of materials for renovation are as recyclable as we can afford, and manage. We are ever mindful.

I think with us it is where our natural aggressions and hostilities are worked out, brought into the world. We fight not against others, but against imbalance. It is similar to a sport, pitting ourselves against the great waste, the insane consumerism, that surrounds us. Sometimes we win, hooray!; and sometimes we lose, hiss! But we always try. That is our game, one that we have played for more than five decades; that is over fifty years.

Increasingly we see others playing similar games, adding glamour, glitz and pomp to it, the new “homesteaders”. There is a danger with glamour, glitz and pomp, in evolving into consumerism; the ads and gambits for profit abound. The new homesteaders aren’t inventing anything new, they are just trying to relearn a little bit of what has been lost, in a much diminished context; a very challenging project. Most of them don’t even realize that this has all been done before, and that there are still people around who have been living this way all their lives. I wish these new adventurers luck, and I am glad to see them out there making the effort.

We purchased another fresh food basket this month. I picked it up yesterday. It is a little bit sadder than the last, as the season for growing and harvesting fruits and vegetables is just beginning. Still, Attila calculates it is worthwhile. My only concern about it is that the produce is from the Ontario Food Terminal in Toronto, and we might be getting GMO products. That cannot be helped at this point, and someday we hope to live somewhere where we can have a viable garden. For now, the fresh food basket is the best we can do.

Both baskets have had pleasant surprises from local producers and food manufacturers. Last month we got a little bag of dried cranberries from Muskoka, which have been very nice, no allergens, so I’ve been eating them for snacks with roasted almonds. This month the surprise is a tiny bag of granola, locally made. I do not trust it to be allergen free. The label doesn’t list my allergen. However, it would only take a little bit of cross contamination to prove fatal. Small producers are unknown quantities, with shallow pockets and therefore less fear of potential entrepreneurial law suites. Their foods are seldom tested for allergens. I know that some have limited awareness of the insidiousness of allergens, sneaking into ingredients, undetected. So, Attila alone will enjoy this month’s offering of granola.

One thing that appeals to me about the fresh food basket it that there is no knowing what will be in it! This time around we received a bundle of fresh parsley. Attila immediately used half the bundle to make a batch of tabbouleh. What to do with the other half? This morning I rinsed it thoroughly, on the stem, and dried it in a salad spinner. Then I plucked the leaves and placed them on the dehydrator trays, which I now have sitting all over the living room. They will air dry all day, and then when hydro is less expensive tonight, the trays will be placed on the dehydrator and it will finish the job of drying.

The leftover stems were sitting on the counter and staring at me. What to do?

I have a “broth bag” in the freezer where I stash most vegetable trimmings when we prepare fresh vegetables. Worried that the parsley flavour would be too strong for the broth, another use needed to be found. So I looked online and found multiple recipes for “parsley simple syrup.” I didn’t like any of them, and the short shelf life of the syrup did not enhance their appeal.

So I made up a recipe of my own. It is a Parsley Syrup that I will use in cooked dishes, where I would use dried parley; dishes such as baked beans, soups and stews.

Parsley Syrup

Recipe By: Maggie Turner

Ingredients:

stems from 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Place chopped parsley stems in water, bring to boil, simmer for 10 minutes with lid.
Add sugar and salt. Bring to low boil, boil for 5 minutes.
Pour into sterile jar. Refrigerate.
Use 1 tsp in soups, stews, baked beans etc. where you might use parsley.

I am quite pleased with the results. I need to make more salad dressing for myself today, perhaps I will add a little bit of my parsley syrup to it!

We also received two oranges. Tonight, when the hydro is less expensive, I will bake two Fresh Orange Loaves, and freeze them for Attila’s lunches during June and July.

I’ve been reading about dandelion greens as food. We tried them raw and they are far too bitter to eat that way, in my opinion. I’ve been looking at different ways to mediate the bitterness, and will give some of those a try. If I succeed then we will be well sorted for greens. Since many pesticides have been banned in Ontario, the dandelions are taking over the known world. So if one could eat them, the food supply would seem endless.

Our yard here at the country house has been left in its natural state, since we bought the place It has been nine years without fertilizer or weed killers or any kind of human interference, except occasional cutting. It will yield organic dandelion greens and flowers. The front yard at the little house in the city was seeded last year, and chemicals may have been used by the contractor, although that seems unlikely given that Terra describes it as a “sea of dandelions”. The backyard has been chemical free for three previous summers, so the dandelions from the back yard might be better for consumption. That is, of course, if I can find a way to prepare them as delicious food.

Are there GMO dandelions? I don’t think so.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

6°C
Feels like 6
Cloudy
SW 1 km/h Wind
83% Humidity
102.3kPa Pressure

Quote

“Sin bravely…We will never have all the facts to make a perfect judgement, but with the aid of basic experience we must leap bravely into the future.”
Russell R. McIntyre

I couldn’t find a single written word about who Russell R. McIntyre. I found an image connected to this quote, but no information about just who Russell R. McIntyre is or was. If anyone knows, please enlighten me!

Cautionary Tale

Maggie — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:07:07 +0000

If you insist on looking under rocks, you may find things that you do not want to touch. Recently this happened to me. I interacted with a politician.

Politicians and I are on different pages. I believe in equal inclusion of the population as the basis of a democracy, and that that inclusion is of primary importance, in an ideal world of course. That ideal puts me in a philosophical position where I do not accept poverty as necessary, or violence, or conflict, or greed. I accept that these things presently exist, and are ubiquitous in this suffering, dying world that we live in. But do so many of us have to suffer? I don’t think so. I think that the human species needs to calmly introduce new ways of looking at things. “Same old, same old” social structures are not how change happens, in my opinion.

My interaction with the politician was ill advised, I admit it. I know better, really, I do. But every once in a while I feel the urge to turn that rock over, the one with the word “helper” written on it, and see what is going on where the light does not shine. I feel the urge to see if a politician is on the same page as I am.

The discussion ensued after being publicly asked to donate money to a specific politician’s election campaign. I do not have money to give away. But I am a talented, well-educated individual with a lot to offer. I asked, “how can a cash strapped person support you xxxx?” And I will admit that I harboured hope, that this question would generate genuine consideration. Otherwise I would not have bothered to ask.

The interaction wound around in various directions, suggesting I volunteer locally (the money they asked for was not for a local campaign, but to help this politician in his personal bid for power). I have been watching what the “local” group does and I will not be joining. Since I was asked by the particular politician for money for HIS campaign, I was asking how I could support HIM, which is what I told him. The discussion went on, and I had the impression that he was feeling impatient with my request for suggestions for cash strapped supporters. At one point he stated, “I am not looking for viable and profound solutions to the world’s problems. My job is to have a team in place to beat the Harper gang. This is how change happens.”

And this is where we are not on the same page. For me the old adage applies, “It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game.” If a politician is elected, I personally would hope that they were interested in all problems that impact all Canadians, including world problems. The politician and I have stopped interacting. I suspect he felt he scored points by explaining, to the cash strapped Canadian woman, that change happens by beating the Harper gang. I shall leave him with whatever impressions he has garnered from the interaction. I have stopped reading what he writes, and what he shares. For no matter how plausibly he speaks of change, I know that the kind of change I would like to see is not what he is talking about. Once I know verbiage is what I perceive as “doublespeak”, what they are saying is not what I am hearing, I cease to listen.

I only learned one new thing from this interaction. It was the Facebook never forgets. The politician’s original statement, “I am not looking for viable and profound solutions to the world’s problems. My job is to have a team in place to beat the Harper gang. This is how change happens.” was edited out of the comment within minutes. I was disoriented by that for a few minutes. Then what I discovered was that if a comment on Facebook has a little word Edited below it, and if you click on Edited, you get to see the before and after of the edited comment, and you get to read what the author decided they wanted to change about what they said. So those words, although most people won’t see them even if they read the post and comments, will always be there. And of course, if you are sent email messages alerting you to each post comment, you will have a record of those words in your email Inbox.

In a way it is a cautionary tale to all of us who interact on Facebook. “Big brother” corporation is watching, keeping a record, of every single word. I was also thinking that it would be extremely easy for big brother corporation to rewrite history, would it not?

Worldly Distractions

Weather

9C
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 100.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 9.2°C
Dewpoint: 3.6°C
Humidity: 68%
Wind: SSE 32 gust 52 km/h

Quote

“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.”
A. J. Liebling
1904 – 1963

Autocorrect… WRONG

Maggie — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:55:15 +0000

Re the MarsEdit software as a culprit for my occasional odd use of the English language.

I just posted a comment in a previous post. I wanted to use the word water like, but all as one word, I typed it in as all one word and my computer changed it to waterline. It does it quickly, so if I blink I’ll miss the fact that this computer is editing my words, changing them to something unintended.

So, some of the words that are misused here are my mistakes, some of them are digitally edited corrections that occurred when I wasn’t looking, and they do not show up as spelling mistakes during manual editing.

If I knew how to turn off this computer-wide spelling autocorrect, I would certainly do it! The operating system I am using is Mountain Lion. I’ll have to do some research, eventually, if I remember.

I’ve been busy with my genealogy today. I’ve done some cooking, baked beans. I’ve done dishes. I have opened the window and closed it again several times, each time hoping that it was warm enough outside to leave it open, and each time quickly discovering that today is not a day for open windows.

Terra called this morning to describe how she single handedly retrieved a cow that had escaped from the pasture next to her house. Country life can be very exciting! She sent me a message later in the day to let me know that she and Lares had cut our front lawn, at the little house in the city. “It is no longer a sea of dandelions,” she wrote. My message software reads the text to me as messages arrive. It pronounced dandelion as dan-deal-ion, which sounded pretty funny.

Tomorrow should be warmer, with thunderstorms. I can do warmer, 18C is warm enough to sit outside in the screened in porch, which will be dry and comfortable even if it does rain and storm.

We have been watching the first season of the British series Shameless, and really enjoy it. The program reminds me of All In The Family, in that it deals with something other than the cloying fantasy of consumerism. Netflix only offers four seasons, but there are eleven seasons. Hopefully Netflix will pick the rest of the program up in the future.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

13C
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 101.6 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 13.0°C
Dewpoint: -1.2°C
Humidity: 37%
Wind: SW 21 gust 34 km/h

Quote

“A day’s work is a day’s work, neither more nor less, and the man who does it needs a day’s sustenance, a night’s repose and due leisure, whether he be painter or ploughman.”
George Bernard Shaw
1856 – 1950

Salad Dressing

Maggie — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:40:23 +0000

Luna called last night, to wish me a happy Mother’s Day. Attila and I got to chat with the Grandbabies for a bit. It is challenging, because their phone is through their internet connection, and kept blanking out, so there were frequent periods where we couldn’t tell if the kids were being silent, or were talking, unheard. They sound so different than they did when we last saw them, in December 2012. They grow up so fast, in the blink of an eye!

It snowed all day yesterday. It was very windy, so for most of the day the snow was prevented from accumulating on the newly unfurled leaves. But it did accumulate on flat surfaces. When I retired for the night there was a half inch thick blanket of white on the deck. And miraculously, it was exactly the same when I arose this morning. No trees were damaged, which was my primary concern. The temperature is rising, it is already 3C, and the sun is out and making short work of the snow. It is a bright and drippy day.

I have managed to garner an additional three hour shift at work, in June. It will be at a distant location where I always enjoy my day, but make very little money after transportation expenses are accounted for. And since it is so remote, not everyone will travel all that way to take that particular shift. Since I like it so much, it is a win/win situation.

While in town shopping last week, I purchased a small bag of xanthan gum. It is relatively expensive, so I plan on using it for only one thing, salad dressings. We eat a lot of salads, and a lot of vegetables.

One thing I took careful note of; NOT TO BREATH IN THE DUST that billows around disturbed xanthan gum. I used a funnel to pour the contents of the bag into a glass jar. Dust billowed, I stepped back so as not to breath it into my lungs. Thank goodness. There was a very light film of xanthan gum dust on the funnel, which I had placed in a sink of dishwater after using it. When I went to wash the dishes, just a few minutes later, there was a film of “jelly” on the funnel, and it clung. That could have been in my lungs. I will be very careful with this ingredient, and use it sparingly.

Now that I have my secret ingredient on the shelf, my great salad dressing recipe development project is underway with Batch One. I began with a likely looking recipe from the Internet, that called for 1 1/2 cups of olive oil and 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar. I reduced the recipe to 1/3 of the original. I now know that recipe’s proportion, of oil to vinegar, is wayyyyyy to high for my taste buds. I think half and half might work better for me. So I kept adding lemon juice and eventually started adding water. I also added a pinch of xanthan gum, salt, pepper, sugar, dried basil, garlic granules and minced onion. By the time I was done adding bits of this and bits of that, I had a salad dressing that I liked.

However, because I was adding things constantly, a recordable recipe was out of the question. So, when I have enjoyed the entirety of Batch One, I will move on to Batch Two, measuring and recording more carefully, with the same basic ingredients.

What the xanthan gum does is emulsify the ingredients, and create a creamy consistency that actually increases the degree to which the dressing clings to the raw vegetables. It is expensive, but is used in such sparing quantities that my purchase will literally last for years.

Used, empty, glass juice bottles are just the right size for my recipe for salad dressing. But the lids are a problem. They collect organic matter under the rolled rim, where it grows unpleasant organisms, which are very difficult to remove. So my next task is to discover a good way to clean and safely use these lids. My first experiment involves lid preservation, using waxed paper, placed between the glass jar and the screwed on lid. It might work. I am a big fan of waxed paper; it is inexpensive and biodegradable and I have been using it since it wrapped my Grade One lunch sandwiches.

Before the Mother’s Day Snow Storm

Worldly Distractions

Weather

3C
Condition: Mainly Sunny
Pressure: 101.4 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 2.8°C
Dewpoint: -1.4°C
Humidity: 74%
Wind: WNW 21 gust 45 km/h

Quote

“I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active – not more happy – nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.”
Edgar Allan Poe
1809 – 1849

Xantham Gum

“Xanthan Gum is used by people who are allergic to gluten to add volume and viscosity to bread and other gluten-free baked goods. It is made from a tiny microorganism called Xanthomonas campestris and is a natural carbohydrate.” [a secreted polysaccharide]
Source: http://www.bobsredmill.com/xanthan-gum.html

“The polysaccharide is prepared by inoculating a sterile aqueous solution of carbohydrate(s), a source of nitrogen, dipotassium phosphate, and some trace elements. The medium is well-aerated and stirred, and the polymer is produced extracellularly into the medium. The final concentration of xanthan produced will vary greatly depending on the method of production, strain of bacteria, and random variation. After fermentation that can vary in time from one to four days, the polymer is precipitated from the medium by the addition of isopropyl alcohol, and the precipitate is dried and milled to give a powder that is readily soluble in water or brine.
In the United States, the manufacture of one kilogram of cheese creates nine kg of the byproduct whey, for which the USDA sought to find more uses. Whey is composed mostly of water and lactose, so researchers developed a strain of X. campestris that would grow on lactose rather than glucose. The newly developed lactose-using bacteria produced 30 g/L of xanthan gum for every 40 g/L of whey powder. Whey-derived xanthan gum is commonly used in many commercial products, such as shampoos and salad dressings.

It was discovered by an extensive research effort by Allene Rosalind Jeanes and her research team at the United States Department of Agriculture, which involved the screening of a large number of biopolymers for their potential uses. It was brought into commercial production by the Kelco Company under the trade name Kelzan in the early 1960s. It was approved for use in foods after extensive animal testing for toxicity in 1968. It is accepted as a safe food additive in the USA, Canada, Europe, and many other countries, with E number E415.

Xanthan gum derives its name from the strain of bacteria used during the fermentation process, Xanthomonas campestris. X. campestris is the same bacterium responsible for causing black rot to form on broccoli, cauliflower and other leafy vegetables. The bacteria forms a slimy substance which acts as a natural stabilizer or thickener.On May 20, 2011 the FDA issued a press release about SimplyThick, a food-thickening additive containing xanthan gum as the active ingredient, warning “parents, caregivers and health care providers not to feed SimplyThick, a thickening product, to premature infants.”[9] The concern is that the product may cause necrotizing enterocolitis (i.e., NEC). As of July 10, 2012 the FDA has not established the causal link between SimplyThick and NEC…

Xanthan gum may be derived from a variety of source products that are themselves common allergens, such as corn, wheat, dairy, or soy. As such, persons with known sensitivities or allergies to food products are advised to avoid foods including generic xanthan gum or first determine the source for the xanthan gum before consuming the food.

Specifically, an allergic response may be triggered in people sensitive to the growth medium, usually corn, soy, or wheat. For example, residual wheat gluten has been detected on xanthan gum made using wheat. This may trigger a response in people highly sensitive to gluten. Some consider this to be a separate allergy to xanthan gum with similar symptoms to gluten allergy. Xanthan gum is a “highly efficient laxative,” according to a study that fed 15g/day for 10 days to 18 normal volunteers.[11] Some people react to much smaller amounts of xanthan gum with symptoms of intestinal bloating and diarrhea.[4] There are many substitutes for xanthan gum when used for baking such as guar gum and locust bean gum.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthan_gum

Jingle Bells for Mother’s Day

Maggie — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:21:13 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers!

We made a lighting trip to visit with my mother yesterday, it was her birthday after all. We left after Attila got home from work, drove three hours, had a wonderful time and a fantastic meal at my sister’s home, with Mom and nieces et al and nephew in attendance.

My Mom owns property which she and one of my brothers are clearing. One of Mom’s birthday presents was, as you can see below, a tool to make clearing land easier. Mom is 82, and is always, always busy with a project!

Mom’s Machete

We drove back last night, arriving sometime after midnight. It began to spit snow and blow as we travelled north. The temperature went down to around 2C, but that doesn’t take into account the wind chill factor. We spent a cold night under our blankets and were comfortable enough.

This morning it has been even windier, and the snow is blowing hard across the sky. We should be singing Jingle Bells for Mother’s Day. It is still below 5C, so Attila has started a fire in the little cast iron stove in the basement, to try and warm things up. Mist is down there now, in front of the blaze, resting comfortably. Of course, we heard about our lack of appropriate attention to providing heat; she wore herself right out.

I am keeping this from Mist, it might inspire further rebellion!

Terra called to wish me Happy Mother’s Day, before she headed for some much needed sleep. She is working nights on weekends and must sleep during the day.

Harriet and Hogan dropped by for a cup of tea and a chat. They were on their way home from their cottage, taking the scenic route. It was lovely! Their cottage was not damaged by the floods, but they did have a few repair and maintenance projects to tackle.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

5C
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 100.7 kPa
Visibility: 10 km
Temperature: 5.0°C
Dewpoint: 4.6°C
Humidity: 97%
Wind: WNW 15 km/h

Quote

“God will not look you over for medals, diplomas, or degrees – but for scars.”
Elbert Hubbard
1856 – 1915

Note

Elbert Hubbard

“Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he met early success as a traveling salesman with the Larkin soap company. Today Hubbard is mostly known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, an influential exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Among his many publications were the nine-volume work Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great and the short story A Message to Garcia. He and his second wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS Lusitania, which was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915…
…Hubbard was born in Bloomington, Illinois, to Silas Hubbard and Juliana Frances Read on June 19, 1856. In the fall of 1855, his parents had relocated to Bloomington from Buffalo, New York, where his father had a medical practice…
Ironically, a little more than three years after the sinking of the Titanic, the Hubbards had boarded the RMS Lusitania in New York City. On May 7, 1915, while at sea 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, it was torpedoed and sunk by the German u-boat U-20.

In a letter to Elbert Hubbard II dated 12 March 1916, Ernest C. Cowper, a survivor of this event, wrote:

I cannot say specifically where your father and Mrs. Hubbard were when the torpedoes hit, but I can tell you just what happened after that. They emerged from their room, which was on the port side of the vessel, and came on to the boat-deck.
Neither appeared perturbed in the least. Your father and Mrs. Hubbard linked arms—the fashion in which they always walked the deck—and stood apparently wondering what to do. I passed him with a baby which I was taking to a lifeboat when he said, ‘Well, Jack, they have got us. They are a damn sight worse than I ever thought they were.’

They did not move very far away from where they originally stood. As I moved to the other side of the ship, in preparation for a jump when the right moment came, I called to him, ‘What are you going to do?’ and he just shook his head, while Mrs. Hubbard smiled and said, ‘There does not seem to be anything to do.’

The expression seemed to produce action on the part of your father, for then he did one of the most dramatic things I ever saw done. He simply turned with Mrs. Hubbard and entered a room on the top deck, the door of which was open, and closed it behind him.

It was apparent that his idea was that they should die together, and not risk being parted on going into the water. ”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbert_Hubbard

Roycroft

“Roycroft was a reformist community of craft workers and artists which formed part of the Arts and Crafts movement in the USA. Elbert Hubbard founded the community in 1895 in the village of East Aurora, Erie County, New York, near Buffalo. Participants were known as Roycrofters. The work and philosophy of the group, often referred to as the Roycroft movement, had a strong influence on the development of American architecture and design in the early 20th century.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roycroft

Retired to the County Gaol

Maggie — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:46:35 +0000

After much investigation, I found GGG Grandaunt Bella’s Death Registration record. The record was obscured by a faulty transcription: a misspelling of her surname. She lived to be 88 years old, and spent the last years of her life at the County Gaol. She is listed as a vagrant, although that seems a bit harsh, as a description of someone who cared for her father till he died, and then supported herself as a seamstress, eventually buying a small plot of land that I assume she lived on. She is buried on her father’s farm. She was probably institutionalized because she was old and needed care herself, and not because she was shiftless or had committed any crime. It seems sad, but who knows what kind of a place it was. Surely there were other honest, hard working people there, who faced similar circumstances, allowing people to at least offer each other some understanding and perhaps even camaraderie.

Things have changed. But I am not convinced they have changed for the better. Older women make up a significant proportion of those living in poverty in Canada, and they are also well represented in the homeless population. I don’t trust professional Feminist appraisals of the quality of life for Canadian women. Professional Feminists make a career out of advocacy. I have trouble with the need for advocates. The advocates get to have a career helping others, are usually well paid and middle class, and although they do help a few people, they seldom, if ever, make any significant change to the issues causing the disparity, which are structural and institutionalized.

Yesterday the blood test did not take as long as I had feared. There were only about ten people in line before me. At this lab you have to take a number when you come in the door. I carefully hang on to that little tab of paper, as it represents a place in the queue. Lose it and you will have to go to the back of the line again. I am sporting a beauty of a bruise, but there is not pain.

I also managed to do all the trip-to-town errands that were on my list yesterday. Shopping is a dangerous activity. There are always bright and shiny things that, in the wonder of the moment, I think I might need. But if I keep walking around the store, by the time I cycle back to those appealing items, I realize I do not need them, nor do I really want them.

My Mom has a birthday this weekend, 82 years young. And young she is, what a spirit! Her father, my Grandpa, was a fine fellow, and he was active his whole life through, all 89 years, an example to all of his children and grandchildren. That is where my Mom gets her gumption, which she has in spades. Happy Birthday Mom, and wishing you many, many more!

Attila has been spending a few hours stacking fire wood every evening. I think that by the end of May he will have all of it stacked. Then we will be able to recover the lawn, which has been buried under the dumped load of fire wood. Of course, once this fire wood is stacked, Attila will be bringing in wood from the bush out back, from trees culled by the wind and weather.

We are having an all day rain! The landscape needed it, and since the floods have subsided, no harm done.

One of the lovely things about the leafy season is movement. The slightest breeze animates the world. It is difficult to resist becoming lost in reverie, watching the lilt and sway of newly unfurled greenery.

In reading various news reports this morning, I was struck by a contrast, which I will describe. I read quotes from two people who experienced the power of mother nature this spring. The first person quoted, I found admirable. The second person quoted, not so much.

The first quotation is from an interview with a man who had experienced serious property damage, done when ice blew off the lake next to his waterfront property. Ice was driven ashore with unusual force, by wind. The man lives in Alberta, and his comment is:
“Nature’s pretty powerful,” says Morrison. “I’m actually quite fortunate that that’s all it did.”
Source: http://globalnews.ca/news/542967/ice-blown-off-lake-damages-dozens-of-alberta-beach-properties/

The second, which I didn’t like nearly so much, quotes a letter from a Mayor, a seasonal resident in the Ontario area she represents; an area that experienced flooding in the spring of this year.

The flooding was caused by a combination of factors. The ground was saturated since last fall, and was still frozen when the area experienced heavy rain. The frozen ground was unable to mediate the effects of the unusually heavy rain, resulting in heavy run off, and thence flooding.

This is clearly an act of nature. It is something that scientists would regard as an infrequent, but not unexpected, occurrence.

“Murphy claims there was a “…lack of advance warning from the MNR to the municipalities.” This statement contradicts the MNR’s assertion that its first Flood Outlook warning was sent to all municipalities on April 16 (to identified emergency management coordinators including the Township’s Richard Hayes) and followed up the Flood Outlook with a Flood Watch (reported on Moose FM April 18) that was then upgraded to a Flood Warning (followed by more Flood Warnings specifying areas that could expect flooding). You can read the full letter that was sent by the Mayor to the Premier, various provincial cabinet ministers, the District…”
Source: http://muskokanewswatch.com/opensession/comments-by-muskoka-lakes-mayor-inaccurate-and-inappropriate-says-councillor/

What a contrast in attitudes!

There were floods where we live. I did not hear the Flood Outlook warnings, and I take responsibility for that. I don’t listen to the radio station that announced the warnings, although I could have, if I had been concerned. I live on higher ground and am not as concerned about flooding as I would be if I had waterfront property. I am not holding public office; I am not morally or legally obligated to monitor conditions for the general population of the area I live in, nor do I have the resources to do that.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

7C
Condition: Heavy Rain
Pressure: 101.2 kPa
Visibility: 3 km
Temperature: 7.0°C
Dewpoint: 6.0°C
Humidity: 93%
Wind: ENE 11 km/h

Quote

“The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.”
Umberto Eco
1932 -

Bella

Maggie — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:16:16 +0000

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

On the job yesterday, I sat down for 15 minutes, between 8:15 and 5:15. It was a very busy day, and I should have sat out my unpaid lunch hour, and taken my two ten minute breaks, but I didn’t. If I had, the work would not have been completed, customers would not have been served. So I did what had to be done to do to run the place by myself for the day. There will be little thanks for it, from the management. I don’t care, I feel better when I do a good job. However, were I to be working every day like this, I would hunker down and take my unpaid lunch hour for myself, and my two ten minute breaks. I would have a chance to organize the work flow to that end. But going in to take over for one day, a few times a year, means it is a whole new ball game, every time.

Last night I was so tired I could hardly put two sentences together!

And I was very, very stiff from standing the whole day long. This morning I woke up refreshed and not too stiff at all. Thankfully, this recovery took place without the aid of medication.

Today I have been working on my genealogy sources, and making a bit of headway. I am still working on the first generation to arrive in Canada, in 1820. Right now I am looking at the available information for Bella, one of my GGG Aunts. She was single and living with her father until his death. Then she married, at the age of 48, a widowed man with eleven children. It seems that the relationship did not bloom, as I find her in the census again at the age of 55, married and living alone as the head of her own household, employed as a seamstress. And that is what she continued to do, support herself as a seamstress throughout the ensuing years. I am still looking for a record of her death, and information about where she is buried. That has taken up most of the day today, and I still haven’t found any death or burial records. They are probably out there somewhere, obscured by misspellings and poorly transcribed indexes.

My diligence in making my required calls to all those government agencies seems to have paid off. The whole episodic experience was due to a deliberate refusal by my former employer, to abide by the laws of the land. I came home from work yesterday to a recorded message asking me to call the government agency, providing me with an extension to a direct line. I made the call and was thrilled to hear the news, that the issues have been assessed and apparently resolved, and that I am to receive a modest payment due to the adjustments. It is a rare case where honesty is the best policy, rarer than I would like to think. I have been meticulously honest with the three government agencies I have had to deal with over this issue. I kept meticulous records of my former employers actions and statements. I have been slightly euphoric all day, it has been almost a year since this fiasco began. Being a bit superstitious, I hesitate to say the issue is resolved. Just me, dodging the evil eye.

The sky has spent the day gathering clouds, colouring them blacker as the day grows older. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get rain this evening. There is a fire ban in the area at present, and the retreating waters of the recent flood, it is an odd combination. We need the rain on the land, but we do not need more water in the lakes and rivers.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Last evening I was sidetracked, I was focused on not eating. I had to fast from 8:00 p.m. last night, so that I could get a routine blood test this morning. The danger was, and is, that I will forget that I am fasting and grab a glass of orange juice or some other treat I should not have. And that would mean I would have to start all over again with the fasting.

The laboratory is a one hour drive away, and will be crowded when I get there. Everyone who has had to fast for their blood test shows up first thing in the morning, so that the waiting room is sometimes standing room only, and the wait can be long. I have seen seniors, with low blood sugar from fasting, experiencing conflicts over the queue. Getting a blood test is a half day ordeal.

I will take food with me in the car, and something to clean my hands with, before I eat. After I eat and drink some water, I will hunt down a Tim Horton’s and savour a rare store-bought cup of coffee. When energy levels are replenished, there will be chores to do. I have a list. Another hour long drive, and then I will be home, sometime in the afternoon!

The day is cloudy, and will be warm, 22C. The birds are singing in the trees, and the newly unfurled leaves are slightly swaying in the breeze. Mist is sleeping in her basket, having had a few sips of her morning milk. The next door dog is barking to get in after his morning consitutional.

I am looking forward to the day.

Spring Morning

Worldly Distractions

Weather

25C
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 101.5 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 23.9°C
Dewpoint: 7.3°C
Humidity: 34%
Wind: SE 8 km/h

Quote

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”
James Branch Cabell
1879 – 1958

Note

“James Branch Cabell (pron.: /ˈkæbəl/; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his works were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was “the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare…

Cabell was born into an affluent and well-connected Virginian family, and lived most of his life in Richmond. The first Cabell settled in Virginia in 1664; Cabell’s paternal great-grandfather, William H. Cabell, was Governor of the Commonwealth from 1805 to 1808. His grandfather, Robert Gamble Cabell was a physician; his father, Robert Gamble Cabell II (1847–1922), had an MD, but practiced as a druggist; his mother, Anne Harris (1859–1915), was the daughter of Lt. Col. James R. Branch, of the Army of the Confederate States of America. Cabell County in West Virginia is named after the Governor. James was the oldest of three boys—his brothers were Robert Gamble Cabell III (1881–1968) and John Lottier Cabell (1883–1946). His parents separated and were later divorced in 1907…

On November 8, 1913, he married Priscilla Bradley Shepherd, a widow with five children by her previous marriage.[2] In 1915 a son, Ballard Hartwell Cabell, was born. Priscilla died in March 1949; Cabell remarried in June 1950 to Margaret Waller Freeman.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell

Yellow

Maggie — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:18:51 +0000

The nights are cold, as the temperature listed here, recorded at 8:00 a.m., confirms. The leaves are quickly opening to the world. We are surrounded by a green riot; every shade of imaginable green is displayed as far as the eye can see.

The early morning is cool and crisp. It is the perfect time for cooking and baking. Yesterday morning I baked an Fresh Orange Loaf. This morning a second macaroni salad in being prepared, as this is one of our staple summer foods. This week we have needed to shift from our winter staple recipes to our summer staple recipes. It was just last weekend that we enjoyed a roasted turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and the subsequent leftover dinners and turkey soup. Suddenly oven dinners are out of the picture, until next fall. Macaroni salad can be eaten with a great variety of summer dinner dishes.

On Saturday I picked all of the yellow daffodils from the front garden. There are not very many of them, we have not spent any money on garden plants at this house in the country. They are barely noticed in the front garden. I cannot see them from inside the house, they are only visible to passing traffic. The traffic that passes here do not look at our house, the drivers and passengers always being intent on their own doings and comings and goings. No one will miss them from the front garden, except perhaps the plants that begot them.

Terra has been busy welcoming spring at her new house. They have a pool, which was opened last weekend. She has rescued many of the garden beds, on the property, from the grass. They have prepared a vegetable garden bed, with the help of Lares Dad, and have purchased their vegetable seeds. They will be learning as they go along, and seem to be enjoying the process.

Had a chat with Harriet this evening, all is well at her house. Apparently her cottage escaped the flooding, so that was good news.

Daffodil in the Morning Light

Worldly Distractions

Weather

5C (8:00 a.m.)
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 5.3°C
Dewpoint: 3.7°C
Humidity: 89%
Wind:ESE 4 km/h

Quote

“Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.”
Nikola Tesla
1857 – 1943

Note

“Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla started working in the telephony and electrical fields before emigrating to the United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison. He soon struck out on his own with financial backers, setting up laboratories/companies to develop a range of electrical devices. His patented AC induction motor and transformer were licensed by George Westinghouse, who also hired Tesla as a consultant to help develop a power system using alternating current. Tesla is also known for his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs which included patented devices and theoretical work used in the invention of radio communication,[5] for his X-ray experiments, and for his ill-fated attempt at intercontinental wireless transmission in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project…

On 30 July 1891, at the age of 35, Tesla became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He told many of his companions that he valued the citizenship more than any scientific honors that he had acquired…

Although Tesla opposed war and believed that war could not be avoided until its cause was removed, he concluded that some wars might be justifiable.Tesla became a vegetarian in his later years, living on only milk, bread, honey, and vegetable juices…

Tesla read many works, memorizing complete books, and supposedly possessing a photographic memory.[183] He was a polyglot, speaking eight languages: Serbo-Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.[184] Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by visions. Often, the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; at other times they would provide the solution to a particular problem he had encountered. Just by hearing the name of an item, he would be able to envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualize an invention in his mind with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage, a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand but worked from memory. Beginning in his childhood, Tesla had frequent flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life…

Tesla claimed to never sleep more than two hours.[185] However, Tesla did admit to “dozing” from time to time “to recharge his batteries”…

…in his later years. He developed a hatred of jewelry and round objects, could not bear to touch hair, did not like to shake hands, and became obsessed with the number three—he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, and demanded 18 napkins (a number divisible by three) to polish his silver and glasses and plates until they were impeccable, whenever he went dining. If he read one of an author’s books, he had to read all of his books…

Tesla never married, claiming that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities.[183] However, towards the end of his life, he told a reporter, “Sometimes I feel that by not marrying, I made too great a sacrifice to my work….” There have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla’s affection, even some madly in love with him.[citation needed] Tesla, though polite and soft-spoken, did not have any known relationships.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

A fascinating man, who, if he lived in this local area, would probably have been branded as weird, and treated with grudging tolerance and smirking contempt.