Good Book

I just finished reading The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, a novel of war and survival by Louise Murphy. Set in Poland during WWII. Very well written. I recommend it. Anybody else checking the blog site and reading?

Irish dancing

Here are Clare (white shirt, intense look) and Thomas (pink coat, eating) taking a break during the St.Patrick's Day parade on our base. We are standing in front of the commissary and the kids are taking turns dancing. Clare is watching some of the other kids do their jigs. She's now 5 1/2 and he's 2 1/2.

Cute Kids

Patrick peeked into Thomas' room during nap time about a month ago, and found him sleeping on his bookshelf. Usually he's in his bed, so who knows what's up...

Good Food

I recently read Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver and enjoyed it. It is a little preachy in the beginning, but then really picks up. She and her family try to restrict their diet to food grown in their county in West Virginia. My favorite chapter is the one about their attempts to get turkeys to mate. My book group read it and then I took them on a field trip to the farm in our village where I buy my meat and most of our vegetables. We had a great time. Agricultural endeavors in our area are small-scale and wonderfully delicious. For example, I am amazed at how small a herd of milk cows can be for a farmer to find it worthwhile to continue dairy-ing. Our village is too small to support a gas station and our corner store just closed due to lack of business, so we are very small. Yet there are two dairies on our main road. Both sell to a larger company for packaging of their milk, and one lets neighbors buy raw "cow warm" milk on the honor system. We go 4 times a week. It doesn't do to let unpasturized milk sit long in the fridge. I think I'll suffer a little culture shock when I get back to the states.

Writing of which... how do you spell

"dilemna"? I asked my housemate and he replied "dilemma". Huh...

http://dsquared22.com/blog/2007/01/06/the-dilemma-dilemna/

Two books I've really enjoyed....

I was talking to Curtis a while back and he mentioned a book I read while at NECI but to which (apparently) I failed to pay adequate attention. I decided to re-read it and am so glad I did. It's titled The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

And with the Chateau being quite slow now, I've also finally had the time to read a book I picked up years ago and failed to read called Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. I only wish I'd read this one before I headed to New Zealand. My favorite food discovery while there was kumera (a sweet potato varietal) that I cannot find in the U.S. I've never much liked sweet potatoes and yet kumera now holds a position of honor on my passingly official "favorite foods to cook and eat" list.

I'm admittedly a little food-centric (okay... a lot) but I think many of you will find both books interesting if you've not already read them. The first is a discussion of corn and modern agricultural practices, politics, diet, food science, cultural proclivities, and much more. It's clearly also a book written by someone with a reverence for food - and so of course I liked it. It's a bit like Fast Food Nation with corn - but much less strident. It also threw me back to ag discussions had at A&M at almost every chapter. I am now old enough to reflect back two decades (instructive and jarring simultaneously) and find it fascinating how the issues have unfurled. As for the second book, since it won the Pulitzer, many of you might already have read it, but basically it's world history since the dawn of humans and attempts to answer how and why cultures came about when and how and to what "advancement" they did. What I found intriguing, having read them as I listed them, was the interconnectedness of many of the topics raised in Ominivore's Dilemma.

Anyone else have any books they've read and enjoyed and would like to share?

Who knew..

..that McDonald's could be so much fun! Here's the picture Julia mentioned. ...altogether too cute!...

Hope you are all doing well, and are enjoying the summer. Take care,
Lila

visiting SA

Hey, Patrick is taking a 10 week long course in Norfolk, VA, so I'm visiting in the USA. One week with his folks in Brevard, NC, on the first and last leg of this trip and SA in the middle. I managed to see JB Summit and his wife Mina and their 3 1/2 year old son William and also Lila at a McDonald's on Sunday. It was great to see them! Lila, post the photo you took, please! My daughter Clare just watched the TV and negotiated over dessert and Thomas was busy making friends, while Will actually played a little on the play structure. Mina and JB are living in Brooklyn and coming to SA quite frequently for the very sad reason that his mother is terminally ill with cancer. We talked about kids and jobs and food (JB's dad has taken up cooking, while in Brooklyn they call in a lot of Thai food. I wish we could call in Thai food in our German village!)
So, there it is. I hope all is well with folks. What is anybody else doing this Summer?

20 years

My mother-in-law has 6 friends that have met every year for the last 20 years. She is 62 and the oldest in the group. There is a 10 year difference between Margarette and the youngest. They always meet on the last weekend in April, so she missed for our wedding and she missed one other time to go hiking with a different friend and she took all kinds of flack for that decision. Another member missed once while she lived in the Philippines with her military husband. None of the others have missed, even when two, who are sisters-in-law, weren't speaking to each other over some family issue. They used to arrive on a Friday and depart on a Sunday, but now some of them will arrive on the Thursday. Four of them live in Charleston, SC, so those four always drive together. At the beginning they all went to the same church in Charleston and this started when the military one was about to move away. It was like a going-away party weekend for her. Now wherever they meet, it is within driving distance of Charleston. They wish they had suspended that rule and come to SA for our wedding. At one point in the early days they left 22 children and infants at home while they went off for their weekend. (Patrick is the oldest of 4 and the other families are large-ish also). They take minutes and keep them in a binder. Minutes from a few of the early years have been lost, but they love looking over the old ones that remain as they are generally hilarious.

I was wondering if we could try something like this for the high school crowd. It is probably impractical to do it every year and we could bring families if we wanted, as some of the spouses enjoy the group as much as the Mac folks. I like the part about the same weekend every time so people know way in advance to keep that weekend open if possible. Something to think about. Suggestions welcome.