Patrick, I'm sorry so many things are so hard right now. I hope you feel better soon.
Happy news! Happy new year! I'll repeat what I have been saying: I hope 2009 will be filled to bursting with good and improving health for all of us.
So so good to see these pictures.
Lost it during the call-and-response part of President-Elect Obama's speech. Our whole results-watching party has been bursting into tears over and over again.
Myrtle and Washington Streets in Brooklyn are in happy chaos.
I'm so so happy. I've been offline for a lot of tonight, but I loved knowing y'all were here.
Music-handling folks: Do we know if there is a CD player at NYM now that will play CDs of mp3s? Francis and I can burn some of what I think of as the more obscure stuff (Dismemberment Plan, Loud Family) on Scrap's list, and I can drop it off tomorrow (the hospital is 2 stops away from me).
I was just in ICU for a day a couple of weeks ago (appendix!), and I can't remember it, and it was still horrible. My heart is with Velma and Scraps and everyone who loves them.
@105 vcmw -- oh oh oh -- the kids who stay in the library until it closes. Thank you for knowing why they're there.
I asked the head librarian to let me work in the library after school when I was not-quite-fourteen. She bent the rules just a little, and suddenly I had a place to be after school until the library closed, every day, and Saturday mornings as well. And they paid me! By the time I got home at night, my father was often asleep. It was such a blessing.
In my life, I've had the best in loco parentis figures a a traumatized, mixed-up girl could ever have wished for. I've been so, so lucky.
Everyone who has talked, thank you so much. You're all so brave and kind and wise, and you're all helping me feel less alone. When I work on forgiving my parents, I have a hard time remembering that forgiving them doesn't then mean that my youth was *my* fault. Forgiving them means it was *their* fault, and I didn't deserve to cope with their dysfunctions when I was so young, and when all I wanted to do was grow up. Thank you for reminding me, with all your stories.
Thank you all for talking; thank you all for listening.
When I was 15, I saved as much money as I could from my job working at the Ascension Parish Library and planned to run away from home. I had looked up how to become an emancipated minor. I also knew that at 16, I could take the GED, and then perhaps apply to LSU. This all made sense to me, because I was willing to do anything to get the hell away from my insanely controlling father and mother.
I was luckier than some, because they loved me and they meant well, but I was miserable. My father didn't want me to turn out badly. So he read all my notebooks and eventually started stealing my mail.
I told my favorite teacher that I would be running away soon, so she wouldn't worry about me. Instead of turning me in, or laughing at me, she asked if I could wait a little while. A few days later she asked if I wanted to go to college early, and that was that.
After I went to college, things were a little easier with my parents, but not much. Somehow I still managed to always do the wrong thing for my dad, even when the rest of the world thought I was wonderful. (And then I recapitulated my relationship with my father in a lengthy emotionally abusive romantic relationship that took up most of my 20s. Arrgh.)
I hadn't seen my father for seven years when he died, five years ago. I still remember the relief I felt, a visceral sensation of lightness. And yet I still grieve for the relationship we didn't have, because he was a remarkable, fascinating man, and he did love me.
I used to tear up in the aisle of the drugstore as I tried to pick out a Father's Day card that I could stand to send (because I wasn't quite willing to not send one). I'm so glad that's over.
Thank you for this thread.
Thanks so much, Patrick, for giving such a full and soothing report. I'll continue to fret gently anyway, and keep Teresa and you and helper/houseguest Elise in my thoughts.
My fondest wish is for no surprises and a quick exit from the hospital!
Thanksgiving this year is in Medford, MA, instead of in our adopted homeland of Brooklyn. There will be seven of us, one vegetarian and one vegan, so only five turkey-eaters. The weather has smiled on us, so we are GRILLING the turkey! Which is still in its brine at the moment, and which will have amazing spice paste and butter rubbed under its skin.
My contributions have been veganized pumpkin brownies and chocolate espresso pecan pie -- haven't tasted it yet, but it looks fantastic.
Of most potential interest to ML folks is that we tried the new "foolproof pie crust" recipe in the recent Cooks' Illustrated. The main peculiar thing in the recipe is (a) that the fat gets thoroughly mushed into half the flour, then the other half of the flour gets cut into the mixture. (Rather than carefully cutting in the flour to leave small chunks of butter.)And (b) half the water is replaced with vodka, and there's a little more total liquid than I am accustomed to. The idea is that the vodka is 40% alcohol and 60% water, and the alcohol doesn't contribute to gluten development, but is wet and helps the dough roll out nicely.
I blind-baked the shell last night and it was gorgeous! It broke my head a little that the pie dough looked so crazy, but I would make it again if it turns out to taste as good as it looks.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Making Light is one of the many things I am thankful for!
Oh, that's really too bad about PB.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't have the fortitude to have eensy pets. Saying goodbye so frequently would be very, very hard for me. Seventeen years (how long I had my cat who just died) is Not Long Enough for me.
Looking forward to new hamster stories -- they are so wonderfully expressive and cute, and I love to enjoy them vicariously.
I've only known him here, but he's made me smile, and think twice, so many, many times.
Be well, everyone.
Huh. My favorite sentence was, "When she didn’t answer, he went into the back yard, police said, and took a lamb into a nearby barn."
What would he have done if she *had* answered? Eek.
Read Language Hat for another solution to the "-gry" problem: "igry".
Hppy Brthdy to everyone's favorite disemvoweler! Yay!
Speaking of rhubarb, my favorite of the fruit liqueurs I made last year came from this recipe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/rhubarbvodka_65975.shtml
It was just right -- not too sweet, not too dry. I can't wait to make a much larger batch this year, as soon as rhubarb looks good in the greenmarket!
On the subject of anagrams and religion, my husband's just posted the latest installment in his "Holy Tango Basement Tapes" -- they answer the question "What if songwriters wrote songs whose titles were anagrams of their names?" The new song is "Presbyterians" by Britney Spears, and I think it's quite likely to amuse a lot of folks here.
Y'all: From the WWL update page (http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html)
6:41 P.M. - Efforts to stop the levee break at the 17th Street Canal have ended unsuccessfully and the water is expected to soon overwhelm the pumps in that area, allowing water to pour into the east bank of Metairie and Orleans to an expected height of 12-15 feet.
Sorry, forgot to include the actual link to the lyrics:
Year Down in New Orleans
Nanci Griffith, "Year Down in New Orleans."
I truly need ... a year down in New Orleans,
the hum of a southern drawl that I could understand
...
Now when I'm lonely ... I send my heart down to New Orleans
to chase my memories alone down through my dreams
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 |
| 2008 | 5 |
| 2007 | 3 |
| 2006 | 5 |
| 2005 | 19 |
| 2004 | 30 |
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