"I was thinking about that in my bed last night, what am I going to do with my rhubarb?" - ringo

Apparently too many cooks in the kitchen is not always bad. Ringo, K8, Cowboy and I made a strawberry rhubarb pie together, and it was FAN-frickin'-TASTIC!

Here is what you do:

1) Piecrust

Via K8. K8 is an expert pie crust maker, and with flour, butter, salt, some ice water, she made an excellent pie crust. We did not have crisco, which is apparently better, but you know, it turned out GREAT!

2) Filling:

about 3 cups of rhubarb and a quart of strawberries, cut up.
about 3/4 cup of sugar. maybe more like 1/2.
a splash of vanilla
a dash of salt

3) Topping

Via Ringo. Oats, butter, cinnamon, cardamom, walnuts.



4) Bake about 50 minutes at 425, wait for 15 minutes. Eat with cinnamon ice cream. YUM!


Cowboy walked the dog while we were chopping things, which was an essential part of the pie making process.

"wil shortz , you're an ass" - ringo

Ringo and I had to do the kids' crossword puzzle in the Sunday paper last week to console ourselves for only getting about 8 clues in the nytimes puzzle...Poor Wil Shortz. It's really not his fault we aren't adept at clues. But I wouldn't like to be in a situation where I had to rely on my crossword puzzle solving abilities to get me out of it. Say, if I was being held hostage and the only way to get out was to do a crossword. I would probably die trying to figure out a 4 letter word for "heroin, slangily" or a 5 letter "beast with twisted horns."

The likelihood of such a hostage crossword scenario is pretty slim, I know, but I like to be prepared.

introvert dating

from the Atlantic...Should introverts date introverts? Or extraverts? Real question, peeps. What's better?

"I promise I don't have swine flu, even though I'm mexican" - Cowboy

ha ha.

Speaking of mexicans, this is an AWESOME blog. If you're looking for good immigration resources/information, good spot to go to. teaching tolerance doesn't like it's title, but I'm less p.c. and think it's hilarious.

"We need Batman." - LP

Batman would be a nice thing for the Seattle School District right about now, which is having some fun times in the teacher department.

In other ed news, WA state gets low ratings from the Education Trust.

clap your hands if you believe in libraries

thank you. Ms. Hildreth thanks you too.

lol g-chats

jessie: http://cohitre.com/

evs: http://maybeyoushouldntbuythat.com/

megs: hey boss, nice job telling me your baby was sick, leaving early and going to play golf. did you forget my husband is the high school golf coach and plays everyday at 3pm?

k8: when you pray, move your feet. --african proverb

let's be boring...

it's good for profitable companies.

"these are the requirements for k8lin's boyfriend:

(and for yours, too, gretzky, same goes)

1) He must not mind that I come over a lot.
2) He must give me rides home when I have drunk too much to drive. "

- Cowboy

my name is gretzky, and i am an introvert

Some days are cranky days. The sort of day Alexander had. I bet Alexander was an introvert.

I recognize I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a decent job. I have a family that has its share of characters, but mostly gets along. There are people I get to hang out with whom I love. I’m also in love with a great dog named Wallace. And there’s seeds sprouting up in all the pots on the dining room windowsill. Spring is coming.

But I don’t do too hot when weekends are packed full of events and gatherings and people. I’m more on the scale of 1 event a weekend. That’s a good number for me. I need to keep this in mind for next time. Sometimes I forget and try to plan too much. And it doesn’t work out well. I get tired and then cranky and then I wake up and am in a horrible, no good, very bad mood and even Wallace nosing my hand for a pet doesn’t help.

Hmph.

But some days are like that, even in Australia.

"i am not going to sit back and watch my babies die, Lord, even if that's what you in your great wisdom decide" - Patria

- from In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, page 162


Dear Ms. Alvarez,

I can't decide which sister is my favorite.

I love Minerva's passion, and Maria Teresa's sweetness that turns into commitment. And Patria's devotion.

I think I love Dede most of all, though, her solidness, and being there, and wanting to be part of it all but also wanting her family to be safe.

I hated the ending, because I wanted them to turn around in that car and not get trapped.

Keep writing.

Love,

Gretzky

Come One, Come All Re-mix

Hey peeps, in the youth events category it's quite a busy couple days. Tonight's the Youth Poetry Grand Slam at Town Hall, which will be awesome, and tomorrow is the School is Out! Hip-hop competition.....The b-boy/b-girl dance competition is being held for dancers under 18, and all money raised goes to rural communities across the state of Washington who are struggling to hold youth programs this summer...if you've never been to a battle before, now's your chance!

Details

Place: ACRS, 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, Seattle, 98144
Time: battles start @ 2 p.m.
Cost: free, suggested donation of $10.00

Come One, Come All!

You're invited, tomorrow night, to the Youth Grand Slam at Town Hall, at which two of my favorite Seattle poets will be hosting - Gano and Finneyfrock, and yours truly will be judging....Buy your tickets at brownpapertickets, peeps.

xoxo,

gretzky

effin hipsters g-chats

evs: just heard a child yell, "Mom, I tried to get you a pack, but they asked for my ID!" I really will miss Baltimore.

meg: f'n hipsters and their f'n $40 coffee mugs http://store.somafab.com/morucoho.html

k8: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

all the other girls here are stars - you are the northern lights

they try to shine in through your curtains—you’re too close and too bright

- Josh Ritter, Kathleen, Hello Starling album...



I go through periods where I listen to a few select albums and not much else, changing with the season....a few new/old favorite songs for spring:

Kathleen & Snow is Gone, by the lovely Josh Ritter, via the lovely K-Man.

Just for Now & Don't Go Easy by the silver-voiced old-timey Jill Barber

Eat to Live & More or Less by the always down to earth Talib Kwali

Stars Shine Quietly & Dr. King by the sweet, sweet Mason Jennings

Escape & Ringa Ringa from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack


I am having a love/hate relationship with the following new albums:

Decemberists' Hazards of Love (not entirely sure their concept works, am going back to crane wife)

Indigo Girls' Poseidon and the Bitter Bug (I mean, really, what kind of title is this?)

In other thoughts, as a former English teacher I should know this, but is the proper way of citing songs actually in quotes? And then the albums are italicized?

defeating satan, california style

if you needed more arguments about how stupid beauty pageants are, here's one: miss california's conversation with dobson. can't stand beauty pageants or their contestants, but I do love andrew sullivan, who posted it...

"you should have been born in a castle...

with a little man feeding you crumpets on trays." - BeCs

I think she was implying I might be spoiled. Me? Really? No......

I always wanted to be born in a castle except after reading Dodie Smith's i Capture the Castle (she also wrote 101 Dalmations) I changed my mind. Too drafty, and the pretty princess dresses don't keep you warm enough.

"i think love is a perfect word for this year - look at how much he loves you!" - BeCs

It is really good to have friends who love us, and know us, and come visit us from far away. BeCs was here from Berlin last week, and it was so good to have her here - I miss her terribly some days. Especially when I am laughing at things no one else finds funny, but I know she would.

Wallace is reminding me that the word this year is to love. And not just to love, but to love lavishly. Wallace, you may remember, is the mutt I found at the King County Animal Shelter last month. He's soaking up attention like there's no tomorrow. NJ called me last friday after I had left the house to run an errand, saying that Wallace was still waiting at the door for me to come back, 20 minutes later.

When BeCs said this, I was petting Wallace's head, and it's true, he came over to where we were talking, just to say hi and make sure I still knew he existed. I've read that dogs adopted later in their lives are often more loyal than ones who grow up with you. In any case, Wallace thrives on attention. The more we shower him with treats for good behaviors, the better he gets. The more we pet, the sweeter he becomes.

He is scared of people. I don't think people were very nice to him before he came to us. The first time we had people over when he was here, he cowered in a corner. So we instituted a treat campaign. Last week when a bunch of friends came over for dinner, we handed them all handfuls of treats with the instructions, please give these all to wallace and tell him what a good boy he is.
By the end of that night, he was going up to people and trying to nose treats out of their hands. I know this is simple behavior modification, really, and the next night, he was jumpy again and we had to coax him again. And I think it will be like that for a while, the coaxing. But the point is that
Wallace is a good example for me of how important it is to not hold back with the love. The more you give, the more you get, peeps.

to market, to market

Dear Madison/Madrona Farmer's Market,

I miss you.

Please start soon.

Thank you!

Love,

gretzky

"if you ever think of it, you could try pinching the basil" - nj

Umm, I will never think of pinching the basil. In fact, I will probably never water it. Maybe if NJ goes away for a bit, but even then, a text/email reminder will probably be necessary. But apparently, pinching the basil will help it grow out and not just up. This is supposed to be good.

I can kill plants just by looking at them. Maybe I could be a superhero - bup ba da, Plantkiller to the Rescue!

But NJ is going to town, with plants all up and down our windowsills, and I did help this weekend clear out some weeds and invasive things that had taken over. And we will have chard, and kale, and squash, and pumpkins, and tomatoes, and cucumbers! Theoretically, if they grow, of course. Which they probably will, since I am not responsible for them and NJ has a garden plan and everything.

dear mayor nickels, are you listening?

to the questions posed so politely by Mr. Kammerer?

reason #851 why I want to be a librarian

Look at how the kcls librarians are helping people looking for work here! I love you, i really love you!

be still my heart

aw, sigh!

i cannot believe this lady was our secretary of education

sigh again. but this time not from happiness.

effing idiots mucking up the system even worse than it is. i can't believe the ny times is still quoting her after she's left office. enough, already.