If you missed the September premiere of Ken Burns', The National Parks: America's Best Idea, you are in for a treat. It is being re-broadcast on PBS and online in six parts, beginning Wednesday, January 27th. Don't miss this truly magnificent film.
Tuesday, January 26
Sunday, January 24
Puzzles
With all the rain we have had in California this past week, it has been a good week to work on an indoor activity. I had forgotten how much fun it is to put a puzzle together and how addicting it can become. I used to get puzzles all the time and set them up in the family room so all of us could work the puzzle when the mood struck, but I haven't put puzzles out in the last few years.
It's a great wintertime activity, it stretches your brain a bit, plus everyone can get involved in putting it together.
It's a great wintertime activity, it stretches your brain a bit, plus everyone can get involved in putting it together.
Tuesday, January 19
An Incredible Artist
My mom sent me this video below in an e-mail. Please read the text below before watching the video.
This is the text included in the e-mail:
"This video shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", artist Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the prize of about 75,000 pounds (about $122,411).
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns, and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears. She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns in a monument of an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window, as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from a house...In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to eleven million deaths out of a population of 42 million."
The artist, Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there's surely no bigger compliment." You can see more of her art on YouTube.
This is the text included in the e-mail:
"This video shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", artist Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the prize of about 75,000 pounds (about $122,411).
She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.
It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns, and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears. She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns in a monument of an Unknown Soldier.
This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window, as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from a house...In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.
The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to eleven million deaths out of a population of 42 million."
The artist, Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there's surely no bigger compliment." You can see more of her art on YouTube.
Monday, January 18
The 3,000 Mile Garden
One of my favorite places to buy used books is at the Goodwill. Their book prices are very affordable (read cheap) and they are a great source for out-of-print books. I am always finding wonderful vintage, and not so vintage, cookbooks, decorating books, and gardening books. Recently, I found a delightful gardening book, The 3,000 Mile Garden.
The book is a collection of letters exchanged between Leslie Land, an American food writer living in Maine, and Roger Phillips, an English writer/garden photographer, who has a garden in Eccleston Square which is in the heart of London. Leslie and Roger met at a mushroom foray in New Hampshire, hit it off, and started corresponding about gardening, recipes, and other thoughts on their lives. The letters are flirtatious, witty, humorous, and very entertaining and gives a vivid picture of gardening in America and England.
When I did a little research on them before doing this post, I discovered that Leslie has a Web site, that she wrote for numerous publications, including The New York Times and was Senior Editor for Yankee magazine. I also learned that she was once a chef at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley. Roger is an expert rosarian and has encyclopedias on mushrooms, roses, and trees and shrubs available online. Also, the Queen of England just this month honored him for his work for his "service to London Garden Squares."
I also found out that The 3,000 Mile Garden was made into a PBS series in 1995-1996. I would love to see it, but I couldn't find it available anywhere online.
I also found out that The 3,000 Mile Garden was made into a PBS series in 1995-1996. I would love to see it, but I couldn't find it available anywhere online.
Wednesday, January 13
Monday, January 11
In a Fog
I feel a bit ungrateful whining about the fact that we have only seen minutes, I mean minutes, of sun in DAYS when so many in other parts are dealing with freezing temperatures, snow, and ice. But the grey days just get me down and instead of driving up the mountains in search of the sun this weekend, I decided that it was more important to finish packing all the Christmas decorations away.So-o-o-o-o after another GREY Monday, I came home and headed straight to the kitchen to make some Toffee-Espresso cookies.
These Toffee-Espresso Shortbread cookies are fast becoming a family favorite. The recipe is from the December issue of Southern Living magazine and you can find the recipe here. Another variation of this shortbread recipe is the Cranberry-Orange Shortbread cookies. They are also delicious and were the first cookies to disappear off the plate of cookies I took over to the family Christmas Eve celebration.
Mmmmm...Nothing can beat the winter doldrums faster than some shortbread cookies and a cup of tea. The forecast tomorrow? Rain. Never thought I would be so happy to know that it will be raining.
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