An Anniversary and a Story - 29 July 2022

Today is the anniversary of the most talked about wedding of 1981 - the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England.

We all know now that it wasn't to last, but at the time the world seemed to think it was a fairy tale come true. Perhaps those Brothers Grimm knew whereof they wrote when they had more cautionary and grim endings than the ones Mr. Disney purveyed.

At any rate, I've told this story before, but I do like it quite a lot, so:

Our wedding (and please note that the subsequent marriage has already lasted very nearly 40 years, thank you very much) took place with much less fanfare and media coverage than did that of the Lady and the Prince (hmm - Lady and the Tramp? Prince Spaghetti? there must be some connection here) just over 13 months later.

Less media coverage, perhaps, but more bumper stickers (at least that's my assumption).

One of our friends who had attended our wedding was driving through Ontario some time after. I'm not certain where she was, but I'd like to think she was on the QEW (more likely the 401, but that's less fun).
At any rate, as she drove along, people were honking and waving at her and pointing at the rear of her car.

Finally unable to handle not knowing why, she pulled off the highway and looked at the back of her car to see the torn sticker gracing her bumper
.

Et, voila! No wonder those loyal subjects there in the Dominion of Canada were so excited - they thought they had encountered someone who had attended the royal wedding.

Anthony! - 04 January 2022 - Plague Journal Day 663

Micah 6:8
Leviticus 23:1-2
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

In spite of its being Tuesday, today is National Spaghetti Day! Let's consider it Wednesday Eve rather than Tuesday and maybe we'll all feel more comfortable eating our spaghetti - right, Anthony?

Really, why do we have to wait for Wednesday for a plate of slurpy goodness? I say any day can be Prince Spaghetti Day. Who would vote against that, one wonders.

On a non-pasta, yet also historical note, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate, all around cool cat, Erwin Schrödinger died on this date in 1961 ... or did he? I'm not going to be the one to open the box and find out!

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

No Fooling (?) - Maundy Thursday - 01 April 2021 - Plague Journal Day 385

Micah 6:8
Luke 22:14-23  Ezekiel 3:1-3   Revelation 10:8-11
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is April Fools' Day. I understand that this designation came about when France moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, moving the New Year from 01 April to 01 January. Those who continued to celebrate on 01 April were labeled April Fools.
That's a nice story, but I don't think there's any real history to back it up. I think it's nearly as true as the famed BBC documentary of the Swiss spaghetti farmers and their pasta harvest. How gullible do they think we are? Moving New Year's day from April to January - that's simply incredible.
Further evidence, as if it were needed, is found in the fact that today is still New Year's Day for our Assyrian friends and family. I'm not inclined to call them "Fools" for celebrating their distinct heritage - are you? Culturally insensitive is probably the kindest way to describe such an attitude.
While we're at it, remember that today is Maundy Thursday - the day we commemorate the institution of the Lord's Supper. It's quite appropriate that it fall on April Fools' Day, as it was the beginning of God's prank on Satan. Take that, chump!

Further, today is also the International Edible Book Festival. Frankly, I don't understand why this needs a festival - especially since any non-digital book is already edible, thus making the "Edible" part unnecessarily redundant. (No, really, the paper is just good old fiber ("Grandma called it 'roughage'" as the oatmeal carton used to inform us.) and the binding glue is generally made from natural products.)
I recall a classmate in my first Elementary School who generally ate the notes that were sent home to his parents before he arrived there - a walk of a mere two blocks - suffering no apparent ill effects. If he could eat paper with that purple ditto ink that smelled so good, surely you can eat paper with the soy-based ink that most publishers use these days!

On a personal note, we recall the passing of the late, great Herschel Bernardi. Not only did he have a fairly good TV sitcom (Arnie), but he also voiced some of the most classic commercial mascots of all time. He was the voice of the Jolly Green Giant (modeled on the Ent, Treebeard, from JRR Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy) as well as Charlie the Tuna, spokesvictim for Starkist Tuna. In that vein we note that today is also Sorry Charlie Day. Sorry indeed.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Spaghetti - 13 October 2020 - Plague Journal Day 215

Micah 6:8
Revelation 6:12-14
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Astronomers have found a star being sucked into a supermassive black hole.(click here for a good article on this development.) Perhaps the best thing coming from this study is the word Spaghettification. The article illustrates this concept with this picture:

That's pretty cool, but I had a couple other pictures in my mind when I read of the way this black hole was spaghettifying the star.

Not only did Walt Disney give us a great visual for this, but the BBC on 01/04/1957 gave us a brilliant documentary on the spaghetti harvest in Ticino, Italy. Rather than watching that dreadful movie "The Black Hole" today, why not seek out either of these. That's good viewing.

You might also want to look up Larry Niven't short story, "Neutron Star" that gives a pretty good description of a trip through a very steep gravity well. Granted it's not a black hole, but it's the next best thing (so to speak).

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Pescage du Jour - 17 February 2016

What's so special about a Blue Plate Special?

That, of course, depends upon the specifics. In this instance we're considering that revered combination of salmon patties and spaghetti, and that actually can be something special.

When I got home from work, Heidi informed me of the selection for that evening's meal - my only task was to create the patties. After opening a brace of cans of salmon, finding the panko (it was right in front of me, of course, that's why it took so long to find it), getting the horseradish sauce, lime juice, and so forth, it was only a matter of minutes to create a tasty blend of meat, flavours, and binder which was ready to become nice crispy patties.

The spaghetti went into the pasta pot, the sauce had already been created and was heating nicely on the back burner, and so it was time to fry those patties. (Perhaps sauté is more correct, but since I was going for crispy, I think it really was fry.)

Once the pasta was done and drained, the patties were removed from the warm oven where they had rested after being taken from the skillet. Noodles and sauce went down first, then a couple patties, then another splash of sauce and a dusting of shredded cheese (a blend of parmesan, romano, and asiago) and we were good to go.

Oh, and so was the meal - tasty as always, and all thanks to Heidi's announcing her craving.

Delicious and highly recommended.
Cheers.