Firefly Nights

      Time has passed so quickly in the past week that I can hardly believe it’s time for Dogs on Thursday again.  I’ve been busy every day, but looking back over the week, I can’t point to any major accomplishments that we’ve made.  Just progress on lots of little projects like buying plants for the yard, throwing out old catalogs and newspapers, paying bills, rearranging books in a bookcase that moved from one end of the house to the other, selecting a box of old college books for the local thrift shop, ordering a few things we need before our first Michigan trip of the year, and doing a little knitting on the shawl for the River City Knitters KAL.  This is the first time I’ve seen my blog in a week, and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get to visit any of yours, either.  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and I’ll be behind in the Tea Blog-a-thon once again.

      But, I do have lots of doggie photos this week starting with Mosby and his miniature tennis balls.  The little guy loves playing with them and chasing them, but he just hasn’t quite learned the art of returning them to the person who will be throwing them.  He thinks it’s cute to drop them about 15 feet away. His daddy has been indulging him by walking over and picking them up for him, but if Mosby wants to play bad enough I think he should bring them to us.

      Last Thursday we spent part of the evening putting in a few new plants and then after dark I planned to settle down to an evening of blogging.  The weather, however, had other plans for us.  When we went back to the house we found a message from Notify! by the Weather Channel that our area was under a Tornado Watch.  As the evening progressed, the Watch was upgraded to a Warning, so we ended up in the basement where we kept an eye on the Doppler Radar for the rest of the evening.  We could hear a few rumbles of thunder, but the severe storms missed us.  The folks in Stafford, VA about 40-50 miles away weren’t as lucky.  An F2 tornado ripped a path about four miles long through their area, damaging a number of homes along the way.

      The number of tornadoes in our part of Virginia has been steadily increasing over the past decade.  This, coupled with the fact that Roscoe is terrified of storms, prompted us to subscribe to Notify! a few years ago.  If you’re not familiar with this Weather Channel offering, there are two levels of service.  We have ours set up to call our home phone and two cell phones with weather alerts related to thunderstorms and tornadoes, but there are a number of other alert categories.  We also receive e-mails with the alert notifications. 

      The rains continued off and on throughout the weekend, and a nearby lake that was three feet low last year is now overflowing.  I hope Georgia and the other Southern states that experienced a severe drought last year have been as lucky as we have with rainfall in recent months.

      Mosby went back to the vet again this week for his ear problem after we decided it hadn’t cleared up as much as it should have.  This time we went to the vet down the road — the one that we are phasing in slowly as our main vet — and she cleaned both ears and gave us a different type of ointment.  After only two applications both ears look much better, but the ointment oozed out onto the long hair around his ears so he’ll be a dirty, scruffy little dog until he gets a bath.

      While we were there I talked to the the vet about allergies and how Mosby has chewed his front feet ever since he was a puppy.  She recommended a cortisone injection and I’m pleased to see that he’s only touched his feet once since he received the shot.  The vet says it will last for 3-4 weeks and than we can switch him to an oral allergy medication.  She also gave him the first of two Lyme Disease vaccinations.  The vet sat right on the floor with him and held him in her arms as she gave him his injections.  Mosby wasn’t impressed with her great bedside manner and he quickly darted behind my legs after she let him go.  But, he strutted around the office like a little peacock with his tail wagging wildly as he greeted everyone else while I was paying our bill.

      I also signed Mosby and Roscoe up for pet insurance today through the ASPCA program.  There are currently five plans to choose from beginning with an accident-only policy at $9.50 a month all the way to a long-term care policy at $77 a  month.  There is a 10% discount for more than one dog.

      We had insurance coverage on Riley for several years, but I quickly found that the claims process wasn’t user-friendly.  The policy only paid for certain covered problems and we had to look up a diagnostic code for every item to be reimbursed, so I eventually let the policy drop.  I regretted that decision when we discovered Riley was dying of cancer and our efforts to save him cost thousands in just one week.

      The ASPCA policy operates much more like the human health insurance policies I’m familiar with.  There is a $100 deductible for each dog for each year, and then the policy pays 80% of the costs of covered care, up to certain limits.  I downloaded a copy of the claim form to review, and it is very simple, especially when compared to what we had to go through with the other company.  And, even though Roscoe is almost 12, I was still able to get both illness and routine preventative care for him in addition to the accident coverage.  His rate is higher than Mosby’s, and it will go up again when he turns 12.  But, the other programs I’m familiar with will only offer accident coverage for older dogs.

      Over the years I’ve had some rather hefty vet bills for my dogs.  Pork Chop, my first Jack Russell, had a calcium deposit on a vertebrae in his neck that required surgery.  Riley had lots of bumps and scrapes and a strange growth on the pad of one foot before his very sad and expensive final week.  Roscoe had TPLO surgery on a rear leg after he tore his ACL racing around in the yard and he also broke a bone in a front foot.  So far Mosby has been lucky.  His medical adventures have only involved a few x-rays and a late night emergency visit to see what he gobbled down and some hydrogen peroxide to bring it up. 

      Roscoe also let me take a few photos of him this week including this one of him in doggie jail — the pet playpen where they go when we’re busy in the yard and can’t watch them.

It didn’t take him long to forgive us after we let him out.  How would you like that big tongue giving YOU a wet doggie kiss?

      It’s been three weeks and I’m still waiting for the Alpaca Sox yarn that I ordered for a yet-to-be determined shawl.  I also ordered a one pound cone of the Jagger Spun Maine Line Wool 2/8 in Williamsburg Blue.  This is the same yarn that we’re using for the RCK KAL.  I still prefer mohair and mohair blends, but the Jagger Spun has grown on me since I discovered it’s a mothproof wool.  And, the strands have clung tightly together as I ripped out various rows of my KAL shawl so I’m impressed with it. I also like the fact that I won’t have to join any yarns to complete a shawl using the one-pound cone. 

      I have a couple more pattern repeats to go on the KAL shawl and then I’ll be ready for the next set of instructions that we’ll receive at the RCK meeting on Saturday.  Our program is on short rows and since I know nothing about how to work them, I’m sure I’ll learn something.  I didn’t have any blocking pins handy, so the border and bottom section of the shawl are curling quite a bit in the photo.

      I hope everyone escaped the severe storms and the flooding that’s been sweeping the country lately.  I’m going to catch up with the other DOT folks this week, and I hope you take the time to visit them also.

    There’s dog hair all over my computer, a big slurpy spot near the keyboard, and a noseprint on the screen.

      Mosby.  Have you been using the computer again?

Who?  Me?

      Mosby missed his therapy dog visit last week but he’s certainly been getting enough scratching and doggie massages at home to make up for it.  It took a while for him to stop shaking his head either from the ear infection or the medicine we were putting into it, but it finally seems to be getting better.  I know he must be feeling better because he insisted that he needed to sit on my chest with his tail in my face lap last night so he could get his front legs on the computer desk to see what was going on. 

      For some reason Mosby really likes taking a look at the computer. When he’s feeling well he scratches at my leg and hip at least once every evening until I pick him up so he can see what I’ve been working on.  I think he’s looking for Dogs on Thursday.  After a few minutes he’s satisfied and is then willing to go off on other doggie business around the house.  He hasn’t asked to do his own column again, but maybe he was trying to sneak one in and I surprised him and found the evidence he left. 

      I’m amazed that after years of Roscoe being afraid of cameras, I’m finally able to take some snapshots of him inside the house without him totally freaking out.  Using the little silver Canon pocket camera that he tolerates, I can take a few snaps of the little wuss him doing cute things like lounging in his fleece blankie on the sofa.

      I’ve started on my River City Knitters shawl knit-a-long and Chart 1 was a breeze.  I’m not so thrilled with the eight-row repeat that makes up Chart 2.  For some reason many of the yarnovers stick to a stitch next to them, so it’s really easy to miss one when knitting the next row.   The pattern was written for size six needles, but like many of the other RCK members, I’ve opted for size nines.  I’m using addi circular lace needles and the Bryspun in the photo was just inserted to help hold the shape for the photo.  The way the yarn curls, it’s definitely going to need blocking. I’m also knitting with a lifeline so if I make a huge mistake I can just rip back to it.  Here’s what it looked like when I finished the 28 rows of Chart 1. 

      The rectangular shawl for our KAL was designed by Renee Leverington of Godess Knits.  We get one set of instructions (clue) per month and after we finish our shawls in the fall we’ll all wear them to the RCK December meeting.  While some members decided to purchase their own yarns, I went with the one Renee and the group recommended:  Jagger Spun by Halcyon Yarns Maine Line 2/8.  I was just getting ready to tell you that I’m not crazy about this yarn but when I looked it up to find a link to it, I discovered that it has been mothproofed.  Suddenly I’m liking it a lot better.  I guess I won’t worry about what chemicals were used to mothproof it and just rejoice in the fact that this is one less knitted or crocheted item I have to worry about when it’s finished and being stored over a summer.  After it’s finished I’ll find something to soak it in to bring out some softness in the wool.

      We bought our yarn in one-pound cones which reduces the shawl’s portability.  It also created a dilemma about how to best unwind the yarn from the cone while I knit. One of the RCK ladies hung hers from a dowel rod suspended between the sturdy handles of a basket that she carries.  My solution was to have my OH mount a dowel in a small square of wood so that the cone will hang just above the board and spin freely.  It sits on the floor next to the sofa where I knit, and when I’m finished I just put the project in the Bagsmith project bag I bought last month that sits on the floor next to it.

      A few weeks ago I ordered a WooLee Winder for my spinning wheel but hadn’t had chance to install it and try it out until just recently.  First, take a look at what I’m spinning.  It’s actually starting to look like yarn, isn’t it?  I’ll have to wait until I get my pink roving spun and ply them together. Then I’ll have a better idea of whether I have too much or not enough twist.

      For some reason I had a hard time getting my yarn started with the WooLee Winder.  It was probably because I hadn’t spun for a couple of weeks. But, once I got underway, the winder is a wonder.  No more worrying about too much yarn stacking up on one section of the bobbin.  The mechanism of the WooLee Winder — shown at the bottom of the second photo — just moves gracefully back and forth spreading the yarn out all on its own.  I’ve also discovered that a spring-loaded wooden clothes pin makes a dandy aid to hold the end of the yarn in place until I find time to spin again.  I just clip it to the delta orifice on the Fricke wheel and the twist stays in the end of the yarn.

      In recent weeks I’ve been reading several blogs that mention small earthquakes that have occurred recently in the Midwest.  We don’t think about earthquakes much here in Virginia.  Occasionally there’s a rumble through our area, but I’ve only felt one once and all it did was rattle a few things in the house.  But, the suburbs outside of Washington, D. C. had a little 1.8 quake a few days ago in the Annandale, VA area.  Whatever the earth has planned for this area, I hope it waits another hundred years or so.

      Don’t forget to stop by the other Dogs on Thursday blogs.  Just tell them that Mosby sent you!

      Despite my love of tea, I don’t set a proper afternoon tea table very often.  Oh, I have all of the various linens, accoutrements, and accessories for a beautiful table, but they’re scattered around the house and I don’t entertain very often.  Instead, I guess I get most of my pleasure from the lovely photos of pretty tea tables and festive tea gatherings in publications such as Tea Time magazine, one of my favorite of the fine magazines and books from Hoffman Media.   If you like tea, pretty pictures, and tasty recipes, you’ll love this magazine.

      Therefore, I don’t have personal photos to share for Week 8 of the Tea Blog-a-thon where the topic is setting the afternoon tea table.  But, I can send you off in the right direction if you’re interested in learning more about setting an attractive table or more about the history and the use of the many little accessories that are so important to afternoon tea service.

      To learn all about the proper tea equipment you might want to start with Jane Pettigrew’s Design for Tea: Tea Wares from the Dragon Court to Afernoon Tea.  I’ve mentioned this book before and it is packed full of information about all of the little necessary items for serving a proper tea..  Even if you’ve run your own tearoom for years there’s probably something new to learn here.

      Some pretty tea tablescapes can be found among the recipes in The Tea Experience, and I think Southern Lady: Gracious Tables is one of the prettiest books on entertaining currently available.  Gracious Tables is not tea specific, but it offers a number of tips on selecting china, silver, glassware, linens, and other items to set an attractive table. 

       Here’s a peek at what you can find in The Tea Experience.

 And here’s a look at Gracious Tables.

      I think one of the most important things to set your tea table with is friendship.  I’m slowly coming to learn that there is a big difference between entertaining and hospitality.  My mother hated to entertain, but she was a most gracious hostess who always welcomed visitors into her home and then immediately offered them food or drink.  She never made a guest feel out-of-place or unwelcomed, no matter how unexpected their arrival. 

      And, serving tea is one of the easiest impromptu ways to provide hospitality.  The reason that I like the scone mixes from Sticky Fingers Bakeries so much is that the only thing you need to add is water.  You’ll never have the problem of being out of an ingredient to make scones.  What could be easier?  Tea and hot scones ready to serve in less than half an hour. 

      To see how other blog-a-thon participants are setting their tables, here’s a list of blogs to visit.  And, I posted my item for Week 7 just before this one, so scroll down to learn more about the various types of tea and some of my favorites.

      Again, I’m a week behind in the Tea Blog-a-thon but I’m trying hard to catch up.  I promise I’ll eventually be around to visit everyone who has posted about tea in the past few weeks.  I’m really that far behind!

      The Week 7 topic is The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea. — Tell about your favorite teas . . . .

      Since not everyone reading this is a big tea fan like those of us in the blog-a-thon, let me first explain some simple things about where the white, green, oolong, and black teas all come from.  The leaves used for each of these different types of teas start with the same plant, the Camellia Sinensis.  The differences among the teas is in the way they are processed, the time they are picked, the amount of oxidation allowed, and the particular leaves or leaves and bud that are selected. The processing of the whites produce the lightest and most delicate flavors with the most nutrients retained.  Elevation, weather conditions, seasons of the year, and soil conditions also contribute to the differences among teas.   For more about tea processing, check this link and go here to learn about some of the health benefits of tea.

      I have in the past called tea the poor man’s wine, not because I think less of it than wine, but because you can have similar taste thrills, aromas, and color nuances with tea as you do with a fine wine but a lot less expensively.  China, Japan, Taiwan, Ceylon, and India are the world’s major tea regions and the tea from each is very different from the others.

      I’ve never understood why some people like to bury the color and taste of a beautiful tea under a coat of milk.  Back when this tradition began, most teas reaching England and the U.S. were brewed strongly and often overbrewed, so perhaps the milk was used to cover up a bitter taste.  Apparently there is now evidence that milk will block some of the healthful properties of tea. Today, with hundreds of wonderful teas to choose from, I think only the most robust black teas are suitable for the addition of milk.  If you do like a splash of milk in your tea (never use cream in tea, it’s too overpowering) avoid doing this with the whites, greens, and lighter oolongs.  An Irish or English breakfast blend would be your best choice if you like milk in your tea.  I also don’t use sugar in any of my teas, preferring to enjoy the natural flavor.

      There are two other “teas” that are very popular that aren’t really tea at all.  One is rooibos or red bush from South Africa which is actually made from the Aspalanthus linearis plant.  The other is any of many herbals that are most correctly called tisanes. Sugar actually enhances the flavor of many of the tisanes, but they are healthier without it.

      I have a couple of boxes of teabags but probably the only ones I use are a few herbal favorites from Celestial Seasonings such as Red Zinger or Sleepytime.  Instead, I buy loose teas, not only because the tea is more beneficial and tasty, but because I like seeing the differences in the colors and shapes of the leaves.  The more leaf surface exposed to the water, the more flavor and nutrients are extracted from the leaves.  Of all the tea grades, fannings followed by dust are the lowest qualities and the dust is usually what you find in a traditional teabag.  This is quite literally tea from the bottom of the barrel.  Not only are the health benefits reduced with most teabags, but so is the flavor. Think of it as comparing instant coffee to a coffee brewed from fresh-ground roasted beans.

      I’m sorry to say that when I was growing up my mother was in love with everything “instant” including instant tea.  I’ve probably swallowed gallons of that nasty stuff in my lifetime and I can still remember the little powder crystals riding on top of tea bubbles after a vigorous stiring of the pitcher.  Never again.  Not in my house.

      If you prefer teabags, let me offer two solutions that will produce great tea for you.  First, consider buying loose teas and adding them to your own tea bags.  You can purchase these paper filters from many of the better tea companies.  Or, you can buy loose tea in bags such as these tea sachets.  But, I prefer the use of a permanent tea filter and have been using one like this for years with excellent results.  They come in sizes for mugs or pots and I’ve found the larger one to be the best all-around filter.  If you want to use it for just one mug, put less tea in it.  These filters allow the leaves to expand freely, can be used over and over again, the lid also serves as a saucer, and they fit nicely into a pewter Maryland Cup (a mint julep cup from Salisbury Pewter) for a much neater appearance on your counter if you plan to use the leaves again.  

      Yes, you read that right. I said if you plan to use the leaves again.  That’s another advantage of buying loose teas.  The cost is minimal and, unless you’re using a tea with some type of heavy flavoring such as cassia oil added, they’re usually good for brewing multiple pots of tea.  We often use the same leaves throughout an afternoon or evening of tea brewing, or will brew multiple pots and then pour the tea into a pitcher and refrigerate it for iced tea.

      Sometime in the future I’ll write about how to brew a perfect pot of tea, but for now let me give you a couple of quick tips. 

      1.  First, and probably most important, DON’T OVERBREW!  Follow the times recommended by the company you purchase your tea from.  If you want stronger tea, add more tea leaves, NOT more brewing time.  Overbrewing just makes the tea bitter.  Most black teas brew for about three minutes, greens are about one to three minutes, tisanes are usually about five minutes, and whites will vary.  Some brew in the same time as green teas while others need a longer time to bring out their flavors.

      2.  Use filtered water.  Why spend time selecting a great tea and then mask the taste with chlorine or minerals that may be found in your water?

      3.  Not all teas require boiling water.  White and green teas are brewed at about 160 - 180 degrees F.  If you don’t have a tea thermometer, you can guesstimate the water temperature by observing the action of the bubbles that form in the water as it is heated.  Click here for more information.  Also, don’t let the water continue to heat once it has reached the correct temperature, even if it is boiling.  Overboiling results in tea with a flat taste.  You want to retain as much of the oxygen in the water as possible.

      4.  The smaller the tea leaves, the less tea you need to use.  Large-leaf white tea leaves will require more leaves for a pot of tea than much smaller black leaves.  Keep in mind that rolled teas such as the gunpowder greens or some of the oolongs can fool you since they will unfurl into much larger leaves.  It’s easy to use too much of these tightly rolled teas. Start with a smaller quantity at first and then adjust according to your taste.

      If you’d like to sample some loose teas without buying them in large quantities, one of my favorite tea companies has made this easy.  Adagio sells samples in small tea tins that will brew anywhere from four to 10 cups depending upon the tea.  They also have boxes that hold four or six tins, so if you need a tea gift, keep this in mind.  Another nice feature of the Adagio website is the fact that they show large pictures of the tea leaves for each tea they sell.  This is a great educational feature!  They also include reviews and ratings from customers.

      Current Adagio favorites include White Peach, White Tropics, Silver Needle, Earl Grey Green, Vanilla Green, Almond Oolong, Peach Oolong, and Keemun. Adagio also sells an electric tea kettle with different settings for black and green teas.  From Simpson and Vail I recommend Victorian Earl Grey (this is a lovely tea-party tea), the J. P. Morgan blend (if you like a touch of Lapsang Souchong) and the herbal Precious Paulina.  Simpson and Vail is also one of my favorite sources for all types of teaware including their extensive line of tea cozies.  At Harney and Sons I like Lychee Black, Earl Grey Supreme, Chinese Flower (lovely to look at), Winter White Earl Grey, Peaches and Ginger, Apricot, and Passion Fruit.  The last three also make excellent iced teas. 

      More sophisticated (and expensive) tastes might like Ceylon Silver Tips, Lung Ching, Ali San Oolong, Top Ti Quan Yin, or a Keemun such as Hao Ya A or B.  I also recommend the selections from the Imperial Tea Court of which I have tried many over the years.  Organic Lavender Green is one of my more recent favorites.  I’m partial to teas from China, so any of my region-specific teas usually come from this area.

      To learn more about the differences among teas, you might enjoy the New Tea Lover’s Treasury and The Green Tea User’s Manual.  These are excellent tea references. 

      To see what other Tea Blog-a-thon participants are drinking, visit Gracious Hospitality where you will find a list of this topic’s blogs to visit.  Or, you can read all of my articles for the blog-a-thon here.

      If you’ve been wondering what’s wrong with today’s teenagers, let me tell you about a young woman who is talented beyond her years.  I’ve just become acquainted with the blog of a 16-year-old who has been knitting since she was five-years-old.  She creates and sells some of her own patterns, she makes and sells stitch markers, and she has a website where she will create made-to-order items.  Please drop by Made by Lindy and let her know what an amazing young woman she is. 

      I also bought several of her dishcloth-facecloth patterns.  If you’re looking for instant gratification these little cloths make excellent projects and gifts.  I’ve found that my other projects tend to drag on and on, but a cloth can be done in a day or two, or even one day if I’m really industrious. It’s never too early to start working on Christmas presents.  Go give Lindy’s patterns a look-see and throw a few in your cart while you’re there.

      Ever have one of those days that just starts out dreadfully wrong and you’re still in your robe and without that morning cup of coffee?  The kind of day that really wasn’t that funny to you, but it makes your friends snicker, if not ROFL?  Take a few minutes to visit GMarie and read about her adventures.

      If you’re a knitter, stop by A Place Called Home and read the touching story about Vera.  You’ll be glad you did.

     Randi over at I Have to Say is hosting another Recipe Swap.  The theme this month is Cookies and Bar Cookies so if you’d like to participate, post a couple of your favorite recipes from these categories on your blog. Then drop by at Recipe Central (Randi’s blog) and let Mister Linky know that you are participating.

      When you get right down to it, some of the very best cookie recipes are the old standbys that we cut from the backs of manufacturer’s packaging.  Probably the most well-known of these is the recipe for Toll House chocolate chip cookies that’s still printed on the back of the Nestle package.  To learn more about Mrs. Wakefield who originated the recipe, take a look at The History of Chocolate Chip Cookies.  You can also visit the History of Cookies that traces the origin of cookies from the 7th century A.D. through 16 present-day favorites.

      Before I share a few recipes, I’d like to tell you about a couple of great recipe websites. The first is Diana’s Desserts and after visiting there you may never need another cookbook to whip up something sweet.  Diana also has a newsletter several times a year, and a dessert forum.  This is a great resource for frequent bakers.  The second is RazzleDazzle Recipes, the holiday and party section of a huge recipe website called That’s My Home.  Using the resources of these three websites, you could bake a different dessert recipe each day for a number of years and never repeat the same recipe twice.

      While I was trying to decide what recipes to pick, I came across a handwritten card where my mother had recorded Mrs. Bernstein’s Mandelbrodt recipe.  Mrs. Bernstein was our Jewish next-door-neighbor when I was a very young child and Mandelbrodt is a twice-baked almond bread cookie that resembles biscotti only it’s not quite as hard.  I spent a lot of time looking over recipes for this treat online (you can also find them listed as mandel bread or mandelbrot) and Mrs. Bernstein’s recipe seems to be just a little different from the rest of them.  It’s at least 60 years old and probably much older.

Mrs. Bernstein’s Mandelbrodt

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 T. lemon juice

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2-3/4 cup sifted all purpose flour

2 tsp. double acting baking powder (that’s what most of them are today)

6 T. vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped almonds

Beat eggs and sugar until light and smooth.

Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, and almond extract.

Sift together the flour and baking powder.  Add half of the flour mixture to the other ingredients and blend well.

Add oil and then the remaining flour mixture, again blending well.

Add the almonds and mix until dough is smooth.

Form into two log rolls or wedges several inches wide and about 12 inches long.  Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees about 30 minutes until the loaves turn a rich brown.

Slice the loaves into half-inch strips while still warm and then return them to the cookie sheet and bake for about five minutes more.

      Note:  You may find it easier to slice the mundelbrodt after it has cooled.  In that case, you would return it to the oven for up to 20 minutes rather than the five minutes for the still warm sections.  For this second baking, experiment with your oven temperature between 250 and 325 degrees until you determine which temperature produces the best results.  Turn the sections over halfway through this second baking.  You may also add up to a cup of raisins or other dried fruits to this recipe and many of the recipes I reviewed online also added up to a cup of chocolate chips.

      Shaping and slicing mundelbrodt is similar to the process used in making biscotti.  For some helpful photos and an almond biscotti recipe, visit the Smitten Kitchen.

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      Another recipe that was a favorite when I was growing up was the simple Vanilla Refrigerator Cookie.  My mother always made the basic recipe, doing little more than shaking some sugar or colored sprinkles on top or using the more festive red and green sugars for the holidays.  Occasionally she would press a pecan half onto the top of the cookies in place of the sugar or sprinkles.  You could also add a half cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans, exchange the white sugar for brown sugar, or add a one ounce piece of melted, unsweetened chocolate for variations.  

      My mother’s recipe came from the 1942 Good Housekeeping Cookbook and it’s easily doubled.  When I removed the “bookmark” that my mother had placed to indicate the location of this recipe, I discovered that it was her grocery receipt from an October day in 1960.  The receipt listed more than 40 unidentified items although nine of them were some type of meat.  The total for all this?  $26.97. Times have certainly changed! For a little history on the “icebox” cookie and three other recipes for them, visit this link.

Vanilla Refrigerator Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, well-beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

      Work shortening with a spoon until fluffy and creamy.  Add sugar gradually, while continuing to work with a spoon until light.  Add well-beaten egg and the vanilla, and mix thoroughly.  Sift together the dry ingredients and gradually add, beating after each addition.  Shape into a log roll 1-3/4 inches in diameter.  Wrap in waxed paper and chill for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator.  Then cut the slices 1/8 inch thick and bake on greased cookie sheets in a moderately hot oven of 375 degrees F. for about 10 minutes.  Makes about 50 cookies.

Note:  This cookie dough may be wrapped in waxed paper, stored in the refrigerator for a week or more, and then sliced and baked as needed.

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      The last recipe I’d like to share is one that both my mother and I chose as favorites at times that were almost 40 years apart.  I made Magic Cookie Bars last Christmas from the Favorite Brand Names Best-Loved Recipes cookbook, enticed to do so not only by the yummy picture in the cookbook but also by how easily these bar cookies are made.  As I was thumbing through the pages and clippings in my mother’s recipe collection I first came across her handwritten Magic Cookie Bar recipe and then later found a magazine clipping she had saved of the recipe.  Her note that you could add coconut to the recipe “if you like coconut” reminded me why I hadn’t recognized the recipe as a childhood favorite when I made it last year — my mother never included the coconut!  I don’t know if these cookie bars are magic because they whip up so easily, or if it’s because they disappear like magic after baking them.

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 14-oz. can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)

1 6-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate morsels (about a cup)

1 3-1/2 oz. can flaked coconut (about 1-1/3 cups)

1 cup chopped nuts

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (325 for glass dish).  In 13 x 9-inch baking pan, melt margarine in oven.  Sprinkle crumbs evenly over margarine; pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top with all remaining ingredients; press down firmly. 

       Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.  Chill if desired.  Cut into bars.  Store loosely covered at room temperature.  Makes 24 bars.

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      If you like baking a variety of cookies, you might want to consider purchasing the new Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share. This book has only been out a few months but it’s fast becoming one of the most popular cookbooks of the decade.  The photos are fantastic and although I haven’t made any of the recipes yet, I’ve very much enjoyed reading through it.

      Don’t forget to visit the other Recipe Swap participants to see what treats they have shared.  And, if you’re not a regular visitor here, you may want to stay long enough to check out an earlier post this week that includes some recipes to use with afternoon tea including former First Lady Roslyn Carter’s favorite scone recipe.  There is a link in that post that will take you to other Tea Blog-a-thon participants who have shared tea party recipes in recent weeks.

     Is your boss a monkey?  What about your spouse?

      Maybe he or she resembles the south end of a donkey that’s headed north.  Or a raging bull snorting and spitting fire.  Perhaps a hyena or a vulture or even a skunk.

      It doesn’t really matter what picture you’d like to paste in the dictionary next to the word “boss” or “spouse”.  You can have him or her purring like a kitten or eating out of your hand if you will apply some of the same training skills that you’d use for schooling your dog.  It works on husbands, too.  At least that’s what Amy Sutherland says.

      Sutherland spent a year observing the training methods used at the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at California’s Moorpark College doing research for a book on animal training methods and the school’s unique program.  Midway through her research, she had a lightbulb moment. She decided that if the school’s methods worked so well with animals, they might work with her husband, too.  And, they did!

      Not only that, but when she began applying them to other people in her life, she saw it worked in those relationships as well.  The result is her newest book, What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage.  It grew from What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage, her very popular 2006 article for the New York Times.  A recent online article suggests that the principles Sutherland applied to her husband will work for training your boss, as well.

      If you’ve spent much time learning how to properly train your dog, these principles may not be new to you.  For a decade trainers have relied upon Karen Pryor’s Don’t Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training.  While directed at a dog-related audience, her book stems from her experiences training dolphins and her knowledge of the work in behaviorism carried out by psychologist B. F. Skinner.  Even before her book first appeared, she had been teaching the use of clicker training and positive reinforcement to thousands of dog trainers.

      Pryor’s book doesn’t waste any time sharing her secrets.  “A reinforcer is anything that, occurring in conjunction with an act, tends to increase the probability that the act will occur again.  Memorize that statement.  It is the secret of good training.”  These are her opening lines.  She quickly applies this information in a discussion about the outcomes that result from both positive and negative reinforcements.

      Do you have people in your life who need training?  Perhaps first we need to re-train ourselves. My OH and his ADD annoy and frustrate me and, even after all these years, I’m quite vocal about it.  Sometimes he just plain drives me nuts!  It doesn’t seem right to me that I would have to praise him for every little good thing he does just to build up a series of positive reinforcements to get him to do a good behavior again.  I believe that there are certain standards in life that everyone should naturally achieve as a norm, but I guess the problem comes when one’s set of norms differs from those of another.  

      So, is it possible to teach an old dog new tricks?  To re-program myself so that some of the methods that work with animals will work with my OH?  Or, for you who are having difficulty with a spouse or boss or other significant person in your life?  We learn so much from our relationships with animals that perhaps we need to heed the advice of people like Sutherland and Pryor.   At least it’s well worth thinking about.   

      Mosby had an unexpected trip to the vet on Tuesday when his yelp of pain as my OH touched him clued us in to a medical problem.  I quickly determined that his ear hurt when he shied away as I attempted to stroke his left ear.  Closer observation showed redness and some blood in his ear, so off he went less than an hour before the office closed.  He came back with the diagnosis of an ear infection and medication to be applied twice a day. 

      Poor little guy doesn’t seem to be in any pain, but he doesn’t care for the medicine and tries to shake it out of his ear.  He’ll have to miss his therapy dog visit at the nursing home this week.

      When Roscoe isn’t barking at the workmen rebuilding the neighbor’s chimney, he continues to wallow on my new knitting magazine or whatever else he finds in his way.  I’m thinking about taking him to the nursing home on Friday to fill-in for Mosby, but it won’t be the same, either for me or for the residents.  Roscoe’s “love ‘em and leave ‘em” visiting philosophy doesn’t endear himself to the residents. Mosby could sit for hours just to be scratched but Roscoe prefers a quick “hello” and then he’s ready to move on down the hall.  The love that he shows me at home just doesn’t come across through his occasional therapy dog visits.  I guess he’s just a travelin’ man, always ready to move on to a new adventure.

      Remember how proud I was the other day when I visited a yarn shop in Richmond and made only a few purchases, none of them being yarn?   My accomplishment didn’t last very long!  Barbara down at Stony Mountain Fibers had been holding several skeins of Wildfoote for me from the same dye lot as an earlier purchase and I knew she would be packing this week for her booth at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  I stopped by on Monday to pick up the three skeins of yarn and this is what I came home with:

       I usually don’t get excited about yarn and I try not to stash too much of it, but I LOVE the Zitron Samoa 100% cotton from Skacel.  The colors are absolutely beautiful together, very vibrant and definitely summery.  I bought all 10 of the little balls that Barbara had in her shop and then spent part of yesterday afternoon searching through my patterns and online to find exactly what I wanted to make with it.  I downloaded a few and ordered a few others and I’m waiting for the mail to bring the Secret Garden Vest pattern from White Lies Designs.  I think I have enough to make this vest so my decision will rest on how much trouble it would be to knit this pattern. 

      I originally bought the Wildfoote when I thought about learning how to knit socks, but the sock bug didn’t really bite me.  I decided that I could put this yarn to better use in a shawl, and that’s why I needed more of it.  I’ve got about 1,000 yards so I’ll soon be evaluating patterns for it as well.  One of the Tofutsies will become a scarf and the other two will probably become a small rectangular shawl.  The little cone of red Infinity Soysilk from South West Trading Co. in the center of the photo will soon be married to the green yarn I selected last month for the River City Knittersmystery shawl knit-a-long.  And, I’m waiting for an order for beautiful Alpaca Sox yarn in the Emerald colorway.  I’m picking out a very special shawl pattern for this yarn and I don’t expect to finish the project until sometime in the fall. 

      I certainly have more than enough yarn for projects to keep me busy all summer so I’ve decided to skip the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival this year.  I don’t think my bad knee is up to it so I’ll just wait until next year’s event which should be after I have a knee replacement.

     Before you run off to the festival, don’t forget to drop by at the Dogs on Thursday group to see what’s been happening in the other dog houses this week.

      It’s already Week 7 of the Tea Blog-a-thon and here I am only now getting around to posting teatime recipes for the Week 6 theme. Shame on me.

      I must confess that despite my large collection of tea-related books that include many, many recipes, my most industrious effort toward baking for teatime in recent years is usually to whip up some yummy scones using the quick scone mixes from Sticky Fingers Bakeries.  These folks sure knew how to name their business because the first time I tried one of their handy mixes I couldn’t get it off my fingers when I tried to drop individual scones onto a baking sheet!  I finally gave up and now I just make them in one large cake-like mound that I cut into little triangles.  This, by the way, is the traditional shape for scones.  It’s only been in more recent years that drop-baked or cut-out scones have become popular.   But, even though I often cheat with these quick mixes, I do have some recipes to share. 

      About 10 years ago I attended several of the tea conferences offered by the Magnolia and Ivy tearooms which were at that time operating in and around Columbus, Georgia.  For years tea enthusiasts and budding tea shop owners journeyed to Magnolia and Ivy to learn the secrets to success from tea sisters Teri Eiger and Kay Snipes.  Today, Magnolia and Ivy serves tea from the trendy golf and beach resort city of Sandestin, Florida, but the sisters’ influence on tea is felt around the country. 

      Over the years they have shared a number of recipes including one for scones that former First Lady Roslyn Carter used as her contribution to a First Ladies Tea Party in New York City.  The Carter family home in Plains, GA is only a few miles from where Magnolia and Ivy began.

Roslyn Carter’s Scones

3 c. self-rising flour

1 T. cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick of butter (not margarine)

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup raisins

Egg whites

      Combine the flour, cinnamon, and sugar.  Cut in the butter as if making biscuits until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Add the buttermilk and raisins to make a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured board and cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter or similar.

      Spray a cookie sheet with vegetable spray and place the scones closely together.  Brush tops with egg whites.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. 

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      The Magnolia and Ivy sisters are also well known for their microwave Lemon Curd recipe which they demonstrated on HGTV about 10 years ago. 

Microwave Lemon Curd

3 eggs

1/2 cup fresh or bottled lemon juice

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup sugar

      Beat the eggs in a glass bowl until frothy.  Stir in the lemon juice, sugar, and butter.  Microwave for three minutes on high.  Remove and stir with a whisk.  Then microwave again for three minutes and whisk again.  Repeat as necessary until the mixture has begun to thicken.  It will thicken more as it cools.

      This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. 

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      Scones can also be served with jam or honey, and they are most often topped with clotted cream. Since clotted cream is made from unpasteurized milk, a better solution is to make your own mock clotted cream. 

Mock Clotted Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Approximately 1/4 cup powdered 4X sugar

1 tsp. almond or vanilla flavoring

      Use an electric mixture to beat the cream and slowly add the powdered sugar to taste.  As the mixture begins to stiffen, add the almond or vanilla flavoring.  Continue beating until the mixture forms stiff peaks.  Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

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      The above ingredients, when coupled with a cup of tea, make up the traditional fare for a cream tea that has been served as an afternoon respite throughout Britain and America for decades.  This might be an appropriate time to point out that afternoon teatime is NOT to be called “high tea”.  If you do so, you will surely identify yourself as being very naive about teatime etiquette.  High tea is actually a hearty meal, usually with meat dishes, served on the sideboard (a “high” table vs. the lower afternoon tea table) along with tea in the early evening when most of the farmers and workers would come home tired and hungry.  Although the phrase might sound high faulutin’, it actually refers to a very bourgeois meal.

      So, what exactly is the correct way to eat your scone during afternoon tea?  Do you cut it in half and slather it with the lemon curd and cream and then cram one of the halves into your mouth?  Your companions will be too polite to say anything, but trust me, they’ll notice what you’ve done.  The correct way to eat a scone is to treat it as if it were any other biscuit or bread — you break off a small piece and apply whatever toppings you choose to a bite-sized piece which you may then convey to your mouth with your fingers.  Jams, honey, curds, and creams would be served in small, decorative bowls and you use the little serving spoons that accompany them to spoon a small amount of each that you want onto your tea plate.  Then take your own knife, preferably a butter knife, and apply first the jam, then the honey and/or curd, and finally a dollop of cream.  If the piece you’ve broken off seems too big for one bite, it probably is, so save part of it for a second bite.

      If you’d like to serve a heartier tea — known as a full tea — you’ll want to include some sweets such as petit fours, bite-sized brownies, candied or chocolate-covered fruits, shortbreads, cookies, or any other dainty dessert-type items or even fruits.  And, you’ll need to start with savories — little tea sandwiches or items often served as appetizers such as miniature quiche or tiny puff pastries filled with crab or chicken salad.  A longtime favorite tea sandwich is made with buttered, crustless white bread covered with a little mayonnaise or cream cheese and topped with thin slices of cucumber. They can be served open-faced sprinkled with herbs or lemon pepper, or you can add a second piece of bread.

      I often use an Apricot-Almond Spread to make tea sandwiches and have even used it on scones or as a fruit dip.  This is a very versatile recipe.

Apricot-Almond Spread

1/4 cup apricot preserves (I usually use Smuckers)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup chopped and toasted almonds

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

Blend well and either use to make sandwiches or serve in a decorative bowl along with scones or other breads. 

      Other favorite sandwich spreads are the carrot jam from Rowena’s and the red pepper jam and jalapeno jam from Kitchen Kettle Village.  Just spread a thin layer of softened cream cheese on sandwich bread and top with a little of one of the jellies or the carrot jam.  Delicious!

      I’ll leave you with another versatile recipe that can be used to fill small puff pastries or little sandwiches for tea or as luncheon fare when served on croissants or between hearty slices of bread or as the topping for a bed of salad greens.  This recipe comes from the Junior League of Roanoke Valley’s cookbook Oh My Stars!  Recipes That Shine and it was served to Queen Elizabeth when she visited the University of Virginia back in 1976.

Chicken Salad Fit for the Queen

Curry Salad Dressing:

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. curry powder

Salad:

2 cups cooked, chicken cubes (1/2 inch cubes) - white meat only!

1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts

8 oz. seedless green grapes, cut into halves or quarters

1 8-oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

      For the salad dressing, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, soy sauce and curry powder in a bowl and mix well.

      For the salad, combine the chicken, water chestnuts, grapes, pineapple, celery and almonds in a large bowl.  Add the salad dressing and toss to mix well.  Chill for several hours.  Serves six during a main meal but goes farther in smaller teatime sandwiches or puffs.

       For other teatime savories and sweets, or for hors d’oeuvres for any occasion, one of my alltime favorite cookbooks is the little spiral-bound Party Receipts from the Charleston Junior League.  From punch and tea recipes to dips and spreads, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, sandwiches and baked savories, sitdown starters, and  cookies, cakes and confections, the menu for your next party will be a success if you choose some of the time-tested recipes in this book.  The Southern Junior Leagues are widely known for the entertaining skills of their hostesses and this is one of the most popular Junior League cookbooks of all time.

      If you would like to see what recipes other blog-a-thon participants have shared, please visit The Sweet and Savory of Yummy at Gracious Hospitality where links to this week’s participants are listed.  Or, click on the link to the rest of my tea blog-a-thon postings to read what else I’ve written about tea.

      I went to a yarn shop and didn’t buy yarn.  Imagine that.  And, it was a very nice shop run by very helpful ladies.  I also went to a program on knitting machines and came away convinced I didn’t need one.  Such restraint.  You should be proud of me.  I said no to something that cost money twice in one day.  But, I did buy something, so stick around to see what it was.

      Before I tell you about my escapades yesterday and about the River City Knitters meeting, let me apologize for being so far behind in visiting favorite blogs and in responding to any comments that I would normally answer.  I don’t seem to be getting a lot done lately, but I sure have been busy. 

      Saturday morning I met Chan at Gum Spring along I-64 and we drove into Richmond’s west end for the monthly RCK meeting.  Each time I attend a River City event it reminds me again of what a nice group of ladies this is.  If you knit or crochet and you live within an hour or so of Richmond, I urge you to check them out.

      I had been very curious about knitting machines ever since I first heard about them so I was looking forward to the meeting.  Although I think it might be fun to have one of the inexpensive, hobby type knitting machines to play around with, Carol satisfied my curiosity about the more expensive ones with her demo.  If you’ve never seen one in action, take a look at the first 30 seconds of this video. Carol brought a fairly simple table top model that was slightly longer than a portable piano keyboard.  About $500 will get you into this level of knitting and prices go up with the size and capability of a machine.  The computerized ones are much more expensive.  This type of knitting is too mechanical for me, and as one RCK member said later, part of knitting is feeling the fibers as they work through your fingers.

      We also received the first clue (instructions) for the RCK shawl knit-a-long.  While my friend Chan prefers to follow knitting charts when she works, I follow the written instructions. Most patterns will usually offer both to accommodate either preference.  When we arrived, Margaret handed me our first clue.  I took a look and saw a chart, so I turned it over looking for the written instructions.  Guess what?  There weren’t any.  I can either pass on participating in this KAL, or I can sit down and write out the instructions using the chart we received.  We have a month until we get the next clue, so I guess I can suffer through this. 

      Or, praise be, for a mere (do you hear the sarcasm?) $185 I can purchase Knit Visualizer where I can transfer the chart symbols into the software and when I print out everything I’ll have both a chart AND the written instructions.  I tried out the demo so I know it will do this.  Tempting, very tempting.  After all, I didn’t buy any yarn …..

      Speaking of yarn, we went to Lettuce Knits after the meeting where we both petted a number of yarns and chatted with the friendly staff.  I seem to be holding true to my intent of only stashing a minimal amount of yarn, so I satisfied myself with just admiring the store’s excellent selection.  While we were there, I found a store copy of Victorian Lace Today and looked through it.  This is a lovely book and the source of THE most beautiful shawl that one of the RCK members had been wearing earlier in the day.  But, I guess it just wasn’t my lucky day.  All of the instructions were in chart form!  No wonder I hear Knit Visualizer calling my name.

      I did buy a pattern, a book, and a magazine that Roscoe promptly took over.  And, I found this wonderful project tote from The Bagsmith that I had admired online several times.  I have other bags and I wasn’t sure if I would actually like this tote so, at first, I didn’t even pay any attention to the one that a customer had brought with her into the shop.  But, after I’d already paid for my other items, a display bag caught my attention and I gave it a closer look.  Eventually I decided that it, too, would come home with me, and I’m glad it did.

      The front of the bag has two plastic, zippered pouches that keep your knitting and crocheting notions in full view.  Very handy.  The Bagsmith also comes with a strap to turn it into a shoulder tote, but to me, this tote is designed more for home use than as a travel bag.  I have other totes I like much more for that.  If you’re in need of a new take-a-long knitting bag, consider the Vera Bradley Baby Bag.  It even has a full-length pocket on the outside where I keep whatever patterns I might be working on.  If you don’t mind one of the retiring patterns, you can puchase the VB bag for almost $40 less than the regular price.

      The inside of the Bagsmith tote has canvas pockets on one side that are sized for straight needles and a couple of wider pockets that might hold circular needles.  The other side left something to be desired.  Instead of continuing the use of canvas, the manufacturer chose tacky plastic pockets. The way they are designed, I just couldn’t figure out how I’d ever use them.  So, the first thing I did after I got home was to cut out the top three and remove all of the stitches that had held them in place.  I did, however, put the bottom three to use holding my notions kit, a small crochet kit, and a small skein of yarn.  There’s a lot of room in this bag.  I added my magnetic chart keeper, The Knitting Answer Book, four projects (one of them fairly large) and a couple of skeins of yarn that I’ve been using for crafts projects.  There’s still room left over.  There’s even a plastic sleeve on the back where you can store a few patterns.

      I think the thing I like most about this bag is that it looks like it belongs in my house.  All of my other project bags or totes look like they’ve been dropped haphazardly by my sofa and the handles are always flopping about, making everything look untidy.  I don’t get that feeling when I look at this bag in use.  I’m very pleased with the purchase.

      I had intended to stop back at that cute little country antiques store near Mineral that I visited last month, but I kept watching the sky as I headed toward home and I didn’t like the ominous gray areas to the west or the big white thunderheads that were collecting ahead of me.  When I learned that the Culpeper area was already in the midst of a thunderstorm, I decided I’d drop by the store again on another day.

      To see what Chan bought on our outing, stop by her blog.

      Saw this cute quiz over at the Dogquilter blog.  Find out what celebrity your pet would be.  There’s a link to the quiz in the graphic.

Who Would Roscoe and Mosby Be?

Roscoe is Will Ferrell!
      Keeping a straight face around Roscoe is a cheek muscle-wrenching nightmare. Try as you may, but giggling is inevitable because Roscoe is comedian Will Ferrell!  For a while Roscoe was just funny on Saturday nights, but that’s all changed now that he’s taken his act on the road. Whether he’s being silly in real life or on the silver screen, Roscoe has a true knack for making people crack up. Roscoe has even managed to make the crossover to the cyberwebs, where he delivers raw, fresh, uncooked humor to his countless cyberpet fans. A fast runner, Roscoe runs marathons when he’s not dreaming up his next slapstick routine. Widely talented and able to impersonate any number of two and four-legged critters, Roscoe’s fans will be lapping it up for a long time to come.

Mosby is Mick Jagger!
      A super-trooper who gathers no moss, Mosbyis rock and roll legend Sir Mick Jagger!  The ePETome of someone who knows how to have a good time, Mosby is a mover and a shaker, onstage and off. His luck with his lady friends is legendary and Mosby has obliged many of them by giving them a little shelter. Known for his unique barking, Mosby relishes his time in the spotlight and loves to let loose and give his audience what they expect. Unable to get satisfaction, he and his pals still paw away at the prize, clinging to the memories of the past as he continues to churn out the hits that made him a leader of the pack.

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      I may be able to agree with Roscoe being Will Ferrell, but cute little Mosby as Mick Jagger?  Oh, come on now.  Sure, he’s a star and he has quite a following with the ladies at the senior homes we visit, but a rocker? No way.  He’s too conservative. I picture him more as some type of movie celeb, shy at times and the center of attention whenever the need arises.

      Now Mr. Roscoe, the talented boy who finishes his dinner and makes noises from both ends as he wanders out of the kitchen, would do well as a comedian.  Either that or a gigolo.  Kind of like a redneck George Hamilton. After all, he’s quite the lover, always showering me with his affections.

      What celebrity would your dog or cat be?

      Sometimes you just have to find a way to beat the system. 

      I have a WordPress blog mainly because all of the blog URLs that I wanted had already been taken at Blogger.  I learned how to master WordPress within the limits that the free version offers, and I’ve overcome the difficulties that are still associated with the recent dashboard upgrade that was dumped on us.  But, I’ve been ripping my hair out over the unexplained incidents when Blogger doesn’t seem to recognize my WordPress sign-in through the Open ID system.  Usually everything works fine, but then there are days like today that nothing I do will allow me to leave a comment on a Blogger blog using my WordPress ID.

      So, I put on my thinking cap, changed the display name for a Blogger account that I have but don’t use, added the URL for my WordPress blog to my profile along with some other information, and presto, I have a Blogger ID for Firefly Nights that will lead back to my WordPress blog.  It even allows my avatar to show on Blogger instead of just leaving a blank space.  It does add one extra step causing users to go to the profile page to find the link for my blog instead of being taken there immediately by clicking on my blog ID in a comment post.  But, that’s a small price to pay to alleviate my frustration. 

      Sometimes you really can just make lemonade when life hands you a lemon.