Happy Holidays

[Mary]

Specialized put this holiday greating up on You Tube.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=68N43K5Y0Ek

Happy Holidays to everyone

[di]

"mary" > wrote in message
...
> Specialized put this holiday greating up on You Tube.
> http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=68N43K5Y0Ek
>
> Happy Holidays to everyone
>

And a Merry Christmas to you.

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"DI" > writes:
>
> "mary" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Specialized put this holiday greating up on You Tube.
>> http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=68N43K5Y0Ek
>>
>> Happy Holidays to everyone
>>
>
> And a Merry Christmas to you.

The bad solstice is quickly sneaking up upon
Northern Hemispherians.

We've gotta do something to make up for
the lack of vitamin D-enriched sunlight.

I guess it comes down to either cheering up,
or taking cod/halibut liver oil.

I can do both, and still come out smiling.

See? :-) <gulp> <choke> <stifle>


Those halibut liver oil gel nodules are
mercifully tasteless, unless you accidentally
bite one. Then, oi, look out!

Look at it this Sagittarianly optimistic way:
summer is just around the next next corner.
All you've gotta do, is live that long.

But I do hate winter.

I'm not terribly fond of lima beans, either.

Winter is like lima beans. Blah!

And a holiday in winter is like an insufficient
dollop of ketchup on too many lima beans.


cheers, & screw winter,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[PatTX[_2_]]

::
:: And a holiday in winter is like an insufficient
:: dollop of ketchup on too many lima beans.
::
::
:: cheers, & screw winter,
:: Tom

I don't share any of your problems, for being in north Texas, we have plenty
of sun...and wind.

BUT, I can tell you this: I have found that where there is some aspect of
weather one cannot change, it behooves one to try and change attitude toward
the weather. I, myself, applied this last Spring. Instead of cursing the
wind, I decided to embrace it. I decided that it made my rides
better---better workouts in a shorter amount of time. Rides on the flats
were like hills when the wind was in my face. I decided that it was helping
me to get stronger in the available time.

So, I would ask you to try and find something worthwhile about your weather
problems. Snow? hides leaves, doesn't it? You don't have to mow the grass in
the winter. Lack of sunlight? Try another sport such as hiking or
snow-shoeing. Embrace the weather and go for it instead of cringing away
from it. There MUST be something that you can figure out is beneficial in
the winter time. For what it's worth, I even like lima beans--but they must
be fresh, not canned. But, we don't put ketchup on them. Salsa, maybe, but
ketchup? Never!

Good luck.

Pat in TX

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"PatTX" > writes:
>::
>:: And a holiday in winter is like an insufficient
>:: dollop of ketchup on too many lima beans.
>::
>::
>:: cheers, & screw winter,
>:: Tom
>
> I don't share any of your problems, for being in north Texas, we have plenty
> of sun...and wind.
>
> BUT, I can tell you this: I have found that where there is some aspect of
> weather one cannot change, it behooves one to try and change attitude toward
> the weather. I, myself, applied this last Spring. Instead of cursing the
> wind, I decided to embrace it. I decided that it made my rides
> better---better workouts in a shorter amount of time. Rides on the flats
> were like hills when the wind was in my face. I decided that it was helping
> me to get stronger in the available time.
>
> So, I would ask you to try and find something worthwhile about your weather
> problems. Snow? hides leaves, doesn't it? You don't have to mow the grass in
> the winter. Lack of sunlight? Try another sport such as hiking or
> snow-shoeing. Embrace the weather and go for it instead of cringing away
> from it. There MUST be something that you can figure out is beneficial in
> the winter time. For what it's worth, I even like lima beans--but they must
> be fresh, not canned. But, we don't put ketchup on them. Salsa, maybe, but
> ketchup? Never!

Aw, I was just being a little tongue-in-cheekedly facetious.

Of course you're quite right -- we just adapt to whatever
the weather gives us. And unless it's hurricanes or blizzards
or gales or earthquakes or volcanic eruptions or other such
extreme conditions, it's really quite possible and easy to adapt.

Nevertheless, there's some weather I will not embrace.
But -- I thrive on the summer heat, and I know lots of
people who hate it.

Getting back on-topic as per the subject of this thread,
wouldn't it be nice if there were more bank holidays between
December and March? We /need/ them. There's Valentine's Day
in February. Maybe that could be a day off work.

At least we do get some precious few holidays in winter,
and I wish everybody good times and happy holidays too.
And a happy birthday to Claire.

cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[bluezfolk]

On Dec 9, 8:42*am, (Tom Keats) wrote:
> In article >,
> * * * * "PatTX" > writes:
>
>
>
> >::
> >:: And a holiday in winter is like an insufficient
> >:: dollop of ketchup on too many lima beans.
> >::
> >::
> >:: cheers, & screw winter,
> >:: Tom
>
> > I don't share any of your problems, for being in north Texas, we have plenty
> > of sun...and wind.
>
> > BUT, I can tell you this: I have found that where there is some aspect of
> > weather one cannot change, it behooves one to try and change attitude toward
> > the weather. *I, myself, applied this last Spring. Instead of cursing the
> > wind, I decided to embrace it. I decided that it made my rides
> > better---better workouts in a shorter amount of time. Rides on the flats
> > were like hills when the wind was in my face. I decided that it was helping
> > me to get stronger in the available time.
>
> > So, I would ask you to try and find something worthwhile about your weather
> > problems. Snow? hides leaves, doesn't it? You don't have to mow the grass in
> > the winter. Lack of sunlight? Try another sport such as hiking or
> > snow-shoeing. Embrace the weather and go for it instead of cringing away
> > from it. There MUST be something that you can figure out is beneficial in
> > the winter time. For what it's worth, I even like lima beans--but they must
> > be fresh, not canned. But, we don't put ketchup on them. Salsa, maybe, but
> > ketchup? Never!
>
> Aw, I was just being a little tongue-in-cheekedly facetious.
>
> Of course you're quite right -- we just adapt to whatever
> the weather gives us. *And unless it's hurricanes or blizzards
> or gales or earthquakes or volcanic eruptions or other such
> extreme conditions, it's really quite possible and easy to adapt.
>
> Nevertheless, there's some weather I will not embrace.
> But -- I thrive on the summer heat, and I know lots of
> people who hate it.
>
> Getting back on-topic as per the subject of this thread,
> wouldn't it be nice if there were more bank holidays between
> December and March? *We /need/ them. *There's Valentine's Day
> in February. *Maybe that could be a day off work.
>
> At least we do get some precious few holidays in winter,
> and I wish everybody good times and happy holidays too.
> And a happy birthday to Claire.
>
> cheers,
> * * * * Tom
>
> --
> Nothing is safe from me.
> I'm really at:
> tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

I sorta enjoy the changing seasons, each has its good and bad
aspects. Few days in winter are unbearable and few days in summer as
well, at least in my part of the world.

Eric

[PatTX[_2_]]

:
: I sorta enjoy the changing seasons, each has its good and bad
: aspects. Few days in winter are unbearable and few days in summer as
: well, at least in my part of the world.
:
: Eric

Which is where?

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
bluezfolk > writes:

> I sorta enjoy the changing seasons, each has its good and bad
> aspects. Few days in winter are unbearable and few days in summer as
> well, at least in my part of the world.

The optimistic approach is a pretty good survival tactic.

Cactus League baseball is only a few months away.

Less than half a year.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"PatTX" > writes:

> For what it's worth, I even like lima beans--but they must
> be fresh, not canned. But, we don't put ketchup on them. Salsa, maybe, but
> ketchup? Never!

Chunks of cardboard with salsa on 'em would
at least be greatly improved, if not palatable.

My parents lived through the Great Depression.
That was when refrigerators were called ice boxes,
and there was horse-drawn ice delivery service, and
the delivery guy would sometimes give you a
complementary ice pick with the ice company's
name & slogan wood-burnt into the handle:
"Phone To Morrow For Your Ice Today."

So, my mom liked to boil the living daylights
out of everything.

For me and my hatred for certain veggies, it's
lima beans. For my older brother, it's leeks.
For my dad, it was parsnips. For all of us it
was over-boiled vegetable marrow or squash.

I guess my mom liked her veggies "squishy," and
didn't realize most people like to chew 'em at
least a little.

So to me, lima beans are like biomasses that
have already been digested by somebody else.

I'm not terribly enamoured with garbanzoes,
either. When canned, they smell like barf.

cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[PatTX[_2_]]

:: My parents lived through the Great Depression.<snip>
:: cheers,
:: Tom

Have you ever thought about how much that experience marked them and their
lives from then on? Even us, the children of the ones who lived through the
Great Depression have certain traits that our children do not share, and,
indeed, look upon as being bizarre.

For example, my father used to straighten out nails and keep them in a mason
jar. "Just incase" My mother would "can" (home process) vegetables and then
never open them. She was keeping them for an emergency. When she died, she
left behind 299 jars of vegetables, some as old as 1980 (and she died in
2006). She would never throw away any food, even 15 years past the
expiration date. When she died, I found store-bought canned food so old that
it didn't have UPC markings!

And us? the children of those who lived through the Great Depression? I find
myself searching for the lowest price on gasoline. I buy store brands to
save money. I try to fix anything and that which cannot be fixed I take
apart and save the pieces in case I might find a use for them in the future.
I deplore the "use it up and throw it away" trends we see in small
appliances today.

I do not, however, save nails and straighten them out for future use.

Pat in TX

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
"PatTX" > writes:
>:: My parents lived through the Great Depression.<snip>
>:: cheers,
>:: Tom
>
> Have you ever thought about how much that experience marked them and their
> lives from then on?

Thought about it?! I've had it drummed into me!

> Even us, the children of the ones who lived through the
> Great Depression have certain traits that our children do not share, and,
> indeed, look upon as being bizarre.

You can say that again.

> For example, my father used to straighten out nails and keep them in a mason
> jar. "Just incase" My mother would "can" (home process) vegetables and then
> never open them. She was keeping them for an emergency. When she died, she
> left behind 299 jars of vegetables, some as old as 1980 (and she died in
> 2006). She would never throw away any food, even 15 years past the
> expiration date. When she died, I found store-bought canned food so old that
> it didn't have UPC markings!

Yup. Just boil the living daylights out of it and it might
at least be more-or-less sterilized, if not palatable. As
long as the can isn't swollen or dented.

> And us? the children of those who lived through the Great Depression? I find
> myself searching for the lowest price on gasoline. I buy store brands to
> save money. I try to fix anything and that which cannot be fixed I take
> apart and save the pieces in case I might find a use for them in the future.
> I deplore the "use it up and throw it away" trends we see in small
> appliances today.

You 'n me both.

> I do not, however, save nails and straighten them out for future use.

My father assigned that task to me on a number of occasions.
I had to pull them out of used lumber obtained from a wrecker's yard.
A proper nail-puller keeps them straighter than a claw-hammer.
A wrecking bar (sometimes inappropriately referred-to as a crowbar)
is the next best thing.

I guess we've both had the value of value instilled in us
by our parents. I dunno why that tradition died out, and
it's too bad that it did.

But I'll tell ya what -- Depression Era cooking methods
deserved to die out ;-) I do miss Chicken Haddie
on Toast, though.

We no longer have to boil the living daylights out of
everything. We just have to wash the salmonella and
lysteria off of it, with uncontaminated water.


cheers,
Tom


canned creamed haddock. Good tasting stuff.

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

[Tom Sherman[_2_]]

Tom Keats wrote:
> [...]
> But I'll tell ya what -- Depression Era cooking methods
> deserved to die out ;-) I do miss Chicken Haddie
> on Toast, though.
>
Did that cooking include a lot of bran?
<http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/bran/index.html>

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
LOCAL CACTUS EATS CYCLIST - datakoll

[Tom Keats]

In article >,
Tom Sherman > writes:
> Tom Keats wrote:
>> [...]
>> But I'll tell ya what -- Depression Era cooking methods
>> deserved to die out ;-) I do miss Chicken Haddie
>> on Toast, though.
>>
> Did that cooking include a lot of bran?
> <http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/bran/index.html>

It might have not included much cereal grain products at all,
what with the Dust Bowl thing, depressed commodities markets
and farm foreclosures. Good thing we don't mess with the
environment and the Socio-Economy like that any more.

But it sure involved a lot of substitution. Especially
water for milk. I suppose sawdust could be disguised
as bran if it was coloured with molasses. Y'know that
no-apples apple pie, made with saltines and lemon juice?
I wouldn't be surprised if that was a Depression Era invention.

I've heard unverified stories about how some bakeries
would extend their flour content with sawdust.
I dunno what saltines were made of, back then. Speaking
of which, notice how saltines (or store-bought pretzels)
don't have those big salt crystals on 'em anymore?

It used to be possible to buy minimally cracked eggs at
discount, until eggs changed somehow, to become a health
risk if they're a little damaged.

Wieners & sauerkraut, (canned) corned beef hash, (canned)
creamed haddock on toast, and [(canned) pork &] beans on
toast apparently were the Kraft Dinner of the day.

Sawmill gravy on biscuits made with real milk & butter
instead of substitutions was a stick-to-yer-ribs treat,
if you could afford it.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca