Spirit of Bees

Forty eight hours since the election and I haven’t posted. I must be in shock. My side hardly ever wins.

I am definitely grateful for this change in the balance of power. I hope it will provide an opportunity for the Democrats to actually do something that will help to make it possible for them to have a shot at the Presidency in 2008.

Making this a particularly choice moment in history is the fact that Nancy Pelosi will be the first woman Speaker of the House. Definitely a moment to celebrate.

But we also have to question why it has taken so long for a woman in this country to achieve this position of power. Plain Jane makes some very thoughtful observations in her blog entry We Can Be President

I voted this morning about 10 am. There were no lines.

They asked for ID which I did not think was required, and I questioned that, causing a flurry of uncertainty when they couldn’t actually point to anything which said ID was required. I provided it anyhow.

We have a new ballot here which requires connecting two parts of an arrow. One of the judges told me also that I could just draw a line between the arrows with the special pen; which was just a black Pigma micron pen. But I filled the blank space in completely as directed at the top of the ballot. I wonder just how much confusion this is going to cause when the ballots are counted.

I only voted for major offices and voted Green if I really hated the candidates. Forgot my judges cheat sheet so I left it all blank. When I left the judge came up to me specifically to show me a line printed on the voter verification sheet which said proof of signature verification was(or might be?) required. I am still unsure about just what the law is in Illinois so I’ll have to check into that.

I’m sitting here with the heating pad on behind my back. It feels so warm and comforting that I have just about lost all motivation to try to come up with something to say on this election eve.

It’s not just the heating pad creating the lethargy or apathy. Here, the races are definitely not worth getting excited about this year. They will have little impact on the national political scene.

We are voting for a governor. The choices being either one of two equally sleazy politicians, or the Green party candidate. I’m not all that crazy about him, but the only way I can figure out how to send any message at all is to vote for the Green party candidate. Since he hasn’t got a chance of winning anyhow, I rationalize that I’m not really voting for him, exactly, rather for more choice in the future. The rationale is that if the Green party gets only 5% of the vote it will then be considered an established political party. As such, they will then be required to collect only 5,000 signatures for each candidate as opposed to the 25,000 required now, thus they will be able to more easily slate candidates on the ballot in future elections.

At least the possibility of having candidates from more than two parties is something to be hopeful about.

Something to be even more hopeful about, of course, is that all the Democrats actually will win tomorrow and control of the House and Senate will revert to them.

I’m afraid to hope to much, for fear of jinxing it all.

Precursers of the modern emoticon.

Too tired to post.

…because we all gotta eat sometime.

I got completely distracted today by a recipe search and ended up looking for all the recipes for Mom’s meatloaf. I love mine, but I just wanted to compare ingredients. Most were the pretty basic traditional variety, about what you would expect with a few minor variations. Then I came across one, meatloaf with red pepper coulis.

Right.

It sounds like maybe a good idea, and it might taste just fine. But, I dunno, is the point of meatloaf to pretty it up and make it pretend to be something it’s not? And I bet it’s not really your mom’s. When she was thinking meatloaf, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t also thinking, I’ll just whip up a little red pepper coulis to go along with it. Nah, she was just thinking I just gotta get something made for dinner

So here’s my meatloaf recipe. Pure and simple with few pretensions.Try it you’ll like it.

Mom’s Meatloaf

This large recipe makes two meat loaves.
Cut the proportions in half for one loaf.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef or half ground beef and half ground turkey
1 1/2C. bread crumbs or crushed cracker crumbs
4 eggs
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. tomato sauce (from15 oz.can)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 heaping tsp. oregano
1/2 C. chopped parsley
1-2 bay leaves, crushed

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, hands work best. Shape into two loaves. Spray oil in a baking pan which is big enough so there is space left around both loaves. Make a depression lengthwise in the top of the loaves and put on remaining tomato sauce, spreading around to cover top.

Bake in 350°F. oven for 1 1/2 hours until done. Served with mashed potatoes and creamed corn and it’s an all American meal.

A little mood shot showing a collection of various tools, drawings, patterns, miscellaneous bits and pieces used this week in the process of replicating of some hinged brass book catches for a recent commission. These are usually done on a one of a kind basis, or, as in this case, two of a kind. Making them can be challenging as well as creative.

Busy

Spirit of bees? I first saw the phrase in an old pharmacological text whihc I repaired. Entry about that can be found here in an entry from my original old blog. Technically, it was an ancient curative made from extract of bees. I just like the sound of the phrase, the rhythm of the words. Spirit of bees. The buzzing swarm, the activity of the hive, the busy bee-ness going on all the time. Acting with energy and purpose, this is the spirit of bees.