The Great Outdoors

Walk

Outside your front door. Getting outside and walking is the best way to enjoy fresh air, nature and it's free. All you need is the desire to get out of the house.

Progress on my novel, hooray!

Tags

bootlegging, doozy, exciting city, intimate scene, postaday2012, streets of paris

I took advice from a very nice writing buddy, TillyBud, she said “to thine own self be true” and so I wrote my first intimate scene for my heroine, Madeleine and her true love Jack. The scene is short and the focus is on the emotion shared between the two and the complete convergence of their lives into one. This moment, especially for Madeleine, is the moment of no return, her destiny is no longer her own, it is now intertwined with Jack’s. This was a big stumbling block for me because I felt awkward in writing it and so I kept writing about everything all around Madeleine, the streets of Paris and the food that she made and ordered to eat, what she thought and how she felt. Now I feel liberated to move forward with the story and get Madeleine and her love Jack out of Paris and overseas to the exciting city New York.

I wonder if I’m stalling in Paris because since I miss France so much, I’m really enjoying researching the history of 1920’s Paris and writing about it. It is a lot of fun to write about French food and recipes but I am sure that researching New York of the 1920’s will be a lot of fun as well. The nightlife must have been a doozy given prohibition and the underworld of bootlegging.

Republican Truth and Real Truth: GSEs and the Housing Bubble

The evidence that shows that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came late into the game of subprime loan mortgages has been written about and analyzed quite extensivel­y since 2009 and I would think that it wouldn’t surprise anyone that the republican candidates for the nomination as well as any republican in political office would seek to counter point the evidence that shows that the private sector banking industry went full speed ahead in selling those subprime mortgage loans and bundling them into securities to make the most money possible. The republican­s would never betray the banking industry and their campaign contributi­ons especially just for us mere constituen­ts. Unfortunat­ely if you watch Fox news every single contributo­r will also back up the false evidence of wrongdoing in the mortgage industry by blaming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so if you are a republican and gravitate to conservati­ve reading sources and news outlets, that belief in the wrongdoing of a government enterprise will surely be reinforced­. I am sure that the same can be said of progressiv­es but I have read from sources such as Der Spiegal, Guardian, Le Monde and others and the different publicatio­ns all point to the same conclusion­, that the private banking industry indulged their greed through fraud and criminal activities which is made even worse because no one has gone to jail.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

David Gregory is the one moderator who needs to be replaced. All he can ever talk about is the false premiss that social security and medicare are the only reasons for our federal deficit when there is clear evidence in black and white by the impartial CBO that the Bush tax cuts that occurred under Mitch Daniels watch as budget director 2001-2003, the two wars and the medicare Prescripti­on part D plan and the Great Recession are the driving force behind the federal deficit that Gregory LOVES to scare his audience with. Can anyone imagine Trump participat­e in a debate? I know that he went to Wharton School of business and according to him, he did very well but his way of speaking doesn’t reflect his academic record and that is a minus. I have grown tired of the republican field of candidates because there is nothing new coming from them, Romney and Gingrich both pay homage to the same tired supply side economic theory, bashing illegal immigrants without coming up with practical solutions, silent on matters related to our numbers in poverty except in placing blame on them for their own plight in poverty.I hope that the house reverts back to the democrats in 2012 and that the senate stay in democrat hands so that the proposals laid out in the SOTU can be achieved.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A day filled with Blandford activities

Tags

Blandford, hiking, postaday2012, potluck dinner, pristine blue, snow covered ground

In my small town we have various committees who plan quite a bit of recreational activities for Blandfordites. Since I am on the board of directors of the Blandford Historical Society, the hubby and I get invited to all the gatherings and social events. Today, our first outing was hiking the trails at the Knittel Conservation Area on Herrick road. The Conservation Area is quite large, 243 acres dedicated to the public for nature’s activities. The hike was quite lovely, in the mountains and snow covered ground, the sky’s pristine blue,not too cold, not windy. A glorious day for a hike and for really appreciating the luxury of being able to walk down the road, meet up with your fellow townspeople and breath cold fresh air, hike around a beaver dam, and wonder if you might see some wildlife like a moose, a deer or coyote. We walked for a good forty minutes and then it was time to go home and prepare a dish for the potluck dinner at the Historical Society. I agonized over what to make yesterday because I don’t have a slow cooker or anything to keep a dish warm so I was torn. It was only late last night that I decided to make pasta Carbonara. What pushed me in that direction is that pasta Carbonara still tastes good lukewarm, I had all the ingredients and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like it. Essentially, pasta Carbonara is linguine, I used thin spaghetti, folded into an egg, cream, Parmesan cheese, bacon and onion mixture. What is not to like? At 6:00 we met at the Historical Society, everyone put out their dishes and we had a lovely dinner, the food was delicious and eclectic, there was potatoes gratineed, a pork stew, chicken and rice soup, a cheese and broccoli quiche, pasta, coleslaw and dessert. Someone even brought red wine, there was water for me and tea for whoever wanted it. The conversation flowed freely, everyone had seconds and we all cleaned up together. The hubby and I had a wonderful day in and around our town.