Simpsonized QM, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I do kind of look like this photograph. That’s Kiev up on my shoulder. She’s upset that I’ve done three posts about Mr. StripeyPants (“Pants” for short) and have yet to upload one photograph of her sleek and furry self. (If it pleases the court, we’d like to submit the following items into evidence: Exhibits #1, #2, #3.) I’ll have to make restitution next year.
Liz was playing at the Simpsonize Me site one day and I leaned over her shoulder just in time to take a slow walk through Springfield. The website’s been around a while, but if you haven’t tried it yet you’ll need Flash Player and a clear shoulders-up photo crop.
ybonesy’s still a bit groggy from her trip to Vietnam, so I guess a little self-indulgent play won’t hurt. Here are a few of my favorite things. Strange as they may be — they are all mine.
1. Answering The Phone, “Dunder Mifflin this is Pants…” — any The Office fans out there? In last week’s Moroccan Christmas episode, Meredith’s hair caught on fire. And Dwight Schrute was selling bootleg dolls during the Holiday party. It’s a must see.
2. Porcelain Sinks — Not partial to stainless steel in sinks or tubs. I like the tactile, white brightness of something more organic, and would rather hear the thump of dishes on porcelain than the clank of a glass on stainless steel. I do like brushed steel in microwaves, refrigerators, and stoves.
3. Cool Eyeware — I didn’t wear glasses until I was 42. I try to make the best of it. This year I bought a pair of squarish red Ray-Bans. I also like the way people look in glasses. I wonder if that’s because they look more writerly to me.
4. Woofle Jelly Cake — Hmmm. Ran across the recipe Mom sent last year for Ada’s Jam Cake with homemade preserves. More to come on that one later.
5. John Coltrane Playing My Favorite Things, Circa 1961 — John Coltrane with his band in Baden-Baden, Germany gets a 5 star rating from me. To view in widescreen, click on the link and it will take you over to Astrotype’s YouTube page with John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, and more.
John Coltrane – soprano sax, tenor sax
Eric Dolphy – flute, alto sax
McCoy Tyner – piano
Reggie Workman – bass
Elvin Jones – drums
You can read about the life of John Coltrane in his biography in Rolling Stone or at JAZZ, a Ken Burns film on PBS.
My Favorite Things, written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers, was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original 1959 Broadway musical production, and later sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film adaptation, The Sound Of Music. It has become popular around the Holidays for the winterish theme and upbeat tempo.
I can be found humming it around the house. And you might, too, after you hear Coltrane play it. Are there songs that get stuck in your head this time of year? What are some of your favorite things?
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels;
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles;
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes;
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes;
Silver-white winters that melt into springs;
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
A Walk Through Springfield, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
-posted on red Ravine, Sunday, December 14th 2008
A few of my favorite things:
Curling up on the couch with my kids, watching a movie or listening to music.
Playing a game with my kids (especially when they get silly).
Long walks in the woods with that special someone watching the fall leaves fall in a carpet around us.
Sitting quietly by a bubbling brook.
Curling up under a comforter on a cold winter night, drinking hot chocolate and reading a book.
Talking to family on the phone, catching up on their lives and sharing my own stories with them.
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A few of mine:
Bacon
Hanging out with my parents, doing nothing but talking (what we talk about, I don’t know, but we always seem to talk)
Rain (two mornings now of waking up to it)
Watching the wild birds that come to the field—yesterday four sandhill cranes hung out all day long
Hanging out with the family in the family room, a roaring fire, eating popcorn and watching a movie or reading
Road trips
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Hey, QM, how fun to read about some of your favorite things. Porcelain sinks. I can see why. They are awfully nice, aren’t they? I especially love really old, deep ones.
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R3, cool to see that one of your favorite things is also talking to family. I love hearing about aunts and uncles, too. Also wanted to say that I like your new avatar. Nice colors of aquamarine. What is the image of?
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R3, lovely list. Very romantic. I wonder if that runs in our family. 8) Hey, I just saw you called. I’ll be calling here in a few minutes!
ybonesy, yes, I love porcelain. It’s hard to work with in real clay terms but such a different texture than other kinds of clay. Very refined. I don’t know how they used to make old porcelain sinks, but I really like the feel of them.
Sandhill cranes right in your yard? I’m so jealous. They must be migrating through down to southern New Mexico and Texas.
BTW, it’s raining here, too. Tonight, temps are supposed to drop, windy, and, I’m guessing, some really slick roads. Got to go shovel a bit today before the deep freeze.
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For all you Coltrane fans, here’s another link that Liz is listening to, a 1960 interview with John Coltrane.
John Coltrane Interview (1960) (LINK)
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A few of mine:
Family & friends (They all top my list)
The way my grandson tells me how much he loves me
Watching the wildlife in my back yard
Being at our camp on the island
Cloud or star gazing
Christmas with my family & also with J’s family
D
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diddy, wonderful list. I’m adding cloud or star gazing to mine, too. In fact, I was just outside shoveling snow and saw a sundog in the sky. Liz called to point it out to me on the way to work. They are so cool!
It’s -6 degrees here where I am with a 35 below wind chill I just heard on the news. Yesterday it was 40 degrees and most of the snow melted off driveways, decks, and cars. So today I had to nearly CRACK open the car doors — they were frozen shut! But, as usual and knock on wood, Greta the Camry started no problem.
All this to say I’m adding skygazing to my list. As well as being out in and shoveling snow after a storm. I really like those things. 8)
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This is a great blog…I’m glad I stumbled on it. I’ll be back.
-Lynn
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Thanks for stopping by, Lynn. Hope you do visit again. I saw you have one of my fave albums, Shawn Colvin’s Steady On on your sidebar. One of her first and best. 8)
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Warm cashews.
Bacon…both QM and ybonesy know how many times I cruise pass the bacon plate at Mabel Dodge.
Hot rolls and butter.
Carol Maso…a new author a friend introduced me to.
Vampires…have a new Vampire series that another friend told me about.
Shatto Chocolate Milk…the best I have ever had and it’s local.
Tea shops.
One-to-one time with friends.
Writing.
Sleeping.
Good chili.
Those are a few of my favorite things. (I notice a food theme here.)
Aretha Franklin
The Supremes (before Diana Ross got such a big head)
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Bob, LOL, she did kind of have a big head. I wonder what’s happened to Diana Ross over the last few years. Don’t hear much from her anymore. I used to love The Supremes, Four Tops, Tempations, anything Motown. I started listening to it all on WBBQ in Augusta when it first came out.
You know, I probably passed you at the bacon plate at Mabel’s. I usually went back for more of Jane’s eggs. 8) We like some of the same things. I love chocolate milk but have never had Shatto brand. Can we try it when I’m down there in April?
I also like warm cashews and chili. I love chili. Stay warm down in Missouri. I’m planted between two heaters, one reflective, one ceramic. Mostly the cats are hogging the reflective. They don’t like the noise of the little ceramic one.
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I will stock the fridge with Shatto, hormone-free chocolate milk for the visit.
Do I have a chili recipe on the way from your family? Today would be a great day for it. I have ventured out once to get the mail and quickly retreated into the “warmth” of the house.
Miss Ross came upon some hard times for her bad behaviors in airports. I haven’t heard anything about her in a long, long time. Poor thing! Fame is so fickle…not that I know from firsthand experience.
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Bob, YES, the chile recipe is supposed to be coming from Ms. Diddy. I’ll have to check with her and see if she’s mailed it yet. At any rate, I am sure you will have it by April! It is a good day for chile. It’s only gotten up to -4 degrees. I’m partial to my mother’s recipe, too. It’s really simple but taste like home to me.
Hmmm, bad behaviors in airports. I hope it’s not related to that Senator’s shenanigans in the Minneapolis airport last year. No, come to think of it, I’m sure it isn’t. 8)
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QM, I just finished e-mailing you the recipe for Bob. I was planning on sending it, but can’t get my stupid scanner to work. You should have it now. Feel free to email it onto him. I didn’t forget & saw Bob’s list earlier. Made me chuckle. Also, you too can feel free to make it if you want. Hugs! D
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Favorite things —
pink sunrises, especially through clouds
the click of the furnace coming on – especially today!
a new book, the first time you open it and the spine cracks
the smells of home-cooking when you walk in the front door
the desert sands, shifting in the wind
a campfire, especially when way out in the wilderness
full moons
clicking “send” and making a writing deadline, especially when I’m sweating bullets to finish it on time
the sounds in a forest at dawn or dusk
NOT on my favorite things list:
shoveling snow – never, nada, no way, I hate shoveling snow!
BTW, what is a sun dog?
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Mmmm, warm cashews. I like all warm nuts. (Ha, that sounds obscene. No really, when you fly Business Class, the first thing they bring you is a cup of warm nuts. And whatever you want to drink.)
Yes, QM, sandhill cranes in the yard. But not today. They probably hit the road. Brrrr. Too snowy. I’ll post a photo of them—not so good, as we were afraid if we tried to sneak close we’d scare them away—later this week.
Love the smell of a new book, too. And the smell of home cooking in the house. Or the smell of popcorn. Any good food smell. Jim just made muffins with fresh strawberries. Yum. (One of my favorite things—when Jim bakes.)
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Mine:
~Staying warm inside when it is freezing out.
~Staying cool inside when it is scorching out.
~The smell of freshly baked bread.
~All my kids in the same house with me (it doesn’t happen often enough).
~Sharing my thoughts and experiences with my blogging freinds.
~The Christmas season.
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yb,
It took me a while to remember where I got the avatar then I looked closer and realized it is part of a photo I took in Canada this year. There was a little picnic area in a small park that had some really interesting detail on the ends of the roof. One place the paint was peeling back.
I thought that would make a great avatar both graphically and figuratively since what I am doing here is pealing back the the covers to my soul. I am laying myselve out for others to examine, critique, validate, ruminate on and to commiserate with.
I will send the original picture to QM so she can share it with you or with the redravine community if she so desires.
R3
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http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=532265
QM, like Bo, I had no idea what a sundog was, so I googled it. There are many lovely photos of sundogs, but the above link is proof that you did indeed see one on Monday! Of course I believed you, but then I saw the link that was specific to your area. How beautful! Did you get any photos of it? D
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Bo & diddy, yes, I had been meaning to get back to this post and the question about the Sundogs. Liz said she saw them quite a bit growing up in North Dakota. I don’t remember them much back East though. We see them in Minnesota on occasion and conditions have to be just right. Yesterday it was -6 with 30 degree below zero windchills. The air was clear and frigid after being around 40 degrees the day before.
Thanks for the link diddy, I’ll check it out later. And I’m sure it might go into more detail. I also found that Wikipedia had some pretty good photos on the kind of Sundogs we were seeing here yesterday, and the kind that Liz tended to see in North Dakota:
I’m going to add the link and also a short definition blurb:
A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, for “beside the sun”) is a common bright circular spot on a solar halo. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon primarily associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.
Sundogs typically, but not exclusively, appear when the sun is low, e.g. at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystal forming cirrus clouds, but diamond dust and ice fog can also produce them.
-from Sundog at Wikipedia (LINK)
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oh, diddy, I just realized you used a KARE 11 link! How thoughtful that you looked up one in our area of the country. Yes, we really did see one! (Not that you doubted me for a minute!) 8)
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Corina, thanks for stopping by. Hmmm, the smell of freshly baked bread. And I also like when our whole family has the opportunity to be together at once. We’re a little spread out but it happens once in a while. Lovely.
Bo, I like the sound of the heater coming on, too. For us, it’s a clicking, then the whoosh of the gas catching fire. We live in a tiny cabin-like home, so the house sounds are very noticeable to us.
ybonesy, yes, popcorn, I love the smell of popcorn popping. What about chestnuts, do people still roast them this time of year on New York sidewalks? Does anyone know?
Oh, yeah, and the smell of a new book. Nothing like it. Old books have a distinct smell, too, that I usually like. I mean really old books, antiques.
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diddy, BTW, I did get the chile recipe but haven’t had a chance to forward it yet. I’ll be doing some email maintenance tonight and will be sure to do so. Thanks for sending! Bob will be thrilled. We might try it as well here in frigid Minnesota.
R3, that’s so cool that the photograph in your avatar is a chip of peeling paint. I had it pegged for some kind of geographical form (like an alluvial fan), something you’d taken when out geocaching. I like that you’ve added the layers of meaning to it, too, the peeling back of layers that happens when sharing out on the Internet for anyone to read.
I just heard a quote from an artist that said, “Good art has layers.” Of course, that’s the way writers write, and artists of all kinds work, and sometimes the layering is intentional and sometimes it just happens in the work.
The amazing thing about avatars is that they are this small squarish visual — yet they reveal so much about the author of the comment. I’ll check out the jpegs you sent later tonight when I’m in email.
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[…] to posts: haiku 2 (one-a-day), Poem For The Trees (Keepers Of The Light), A Few Of My Favorite Things, On Eating December Snowflakes, Tamales — A Christmas Tradition, Merry Merry, Happy Happy, A […]
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QuoinMonkey
Is woofle jelly real ?
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Philly, I sure hope so!
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