Katie and her mental meanderings

Shiny new wiblog, and not only have I not written for ages, but I switch my design back to my old one!

Anyway, in case you are feeling jealous, it is still pretty warm here in the daytime but houses in Southern California, especially older ones, tend not to be insulated at all so we are bundling up, buying extra blankets for the bed, and putting on the (one, for three bedrooms) heater in the evenings.

I leave you with my Halloween costume:

Halloween Wings

I’m used to people in the US not understanding my English. This starts with my name. Either I have to pronounce it very carefully, or everyone thinks I’m called Casey. This was more awkward when I was a small child with very short hair as everyone thought I was a boy called Casey.

Today I decided to have sushi for lunch and ordered a rainbow roll. I am not a sushi expert, more of a sushi glutton, but the place at work is cheap, and fresh (they make it right at the counter). The cashier called out what I thought was “rainbow roll”. But his accent was quite strong (Japanese, I’m assuming!) and it was, in fact a dragon roll. It was very pretty though and very tasty. I may have that one again.

While I’m beavering away in the lab, The Spouse™ is taking the time to do some distance learning courses. He was looking at ones that are about to start, and what they might lead on to.

This morning he was heard to exclaim “Accounting, Finance and Computing! Ooh!”.

That is not a phrase I’d ever thought to hear said in excitement.

to the latest addition to our blogging stable, How did I get here?.

We’re both suffering culture shock – him I think a bit more than me but our temporary situation (we’re here till April) means some things are loads harder, like what to do about cars or cellphones, and sorting out health insurance is also harder now I’m older and sicker. But the weather is nice and our little house is very pretty and has a view of the ocean, and it’s quite relaxing to be in a little office with no students or colleagues wanting a piece of me…

Lovely. Which apparently British people say a lot – according to our Japanese waitress the other night.

I think I had vaguely heard of Elaine Stritch before but just listened to a fabulous interview with her on Radio 4’s Front Row. She is, as my grandparents would have said, a pistol.

Her voice and accent are incredibly similar to my grandmother’s – I may just think this because I have not known a lot of older ladies from the Northeast of the US – but it certainly brings her back. My grandmother would have been 100 this year.

Ten years ago today bomb blasts hit both Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

I had spent July 4th that year at the US Marine club in Dar, just round the corner from the embassy. Casualties were few in Dar, as the embassy was more isolated and had been a former Israeli embassy so was very well fortified. In Nairobi over 200 people died and thousands were injured, as the embassy was right down town and next to some office buildings. There was understandable resentment as ambulances were held up and people were prevented from moving around the area and the feeling is that casualties need not have been nearly as high, and that victims were badly treated later.

(see Cal’s blog…)

We thought we had a lovely little house lined up in a great location for our Overseas Adventures. Just after the owner sent us some swoony pictures she told us she’d found a renter for the whole year (we only want it for 8 months)…

We’ve been looking at other things on line and have found a couple of maybes. Both more expensive but we might be able to get away with a month less rent so would be not too bad overall. But I got some photos from one of them today and the place was advertised as 3 beds – but she says she wants to lock up one of the bedrooms! And it’s more expensive than the original 3 bedroom place! Cheeky or what!

In other news I went for a run this morning – my second in about a year (the first being last weekend). I’m happy to report I’m a lot fitter than when I started up running 18 months ago. Probably something to do with the minimum of 18 hilly miles I’m cycling each week.

1) Write S forwards (I knew this)
2) Peel the back of sticky bits of paper (I also knew this)
3) Fold paper with a sharp crease. Even if you tell them to press hard on the edge.

The Rainbows wanted to cook, but we don’t have a cooker at the school we meet at. Most of the “no cook” recipes are lying – they mean “no bake”. But there were a few I could think of and some more in recent issues of Guiding magazine. I decided to do sweets because a) they are popular with children and b) the ingredients are compact and I was on my bike. The other limitation was things that are available in the mini Spar on campus. So we made:

Peanut butter creams
Mix peanut butter, icing sugar, and chocolate chips (we used cut-up chocolate buttons). Shape into balls.

Vanilla fudge
Mix condensed milk and icing sugar. Roll into logs on an icing-sugar covered board or plate (if you don’t have a chopping board). Slice into pieces.

Marshmallow snowballs
Melt chocolate (in a bowl over boiling water, thankfully there is an urn in the staffroom). Dip in marshmallows held on a fork (because the Spar does not sell skewers. Though it does sell disposable barbeques. I know the University groundskeepers are ever so grateful for that.). Roll in coconut or chocolate sprinkles.

I have a very large number of these and am willing to post anywhere in the world if you pay for it. They start about 1993 and finish about 2002. Some of these issues are either available or indexed here.

I have:
1991 June
1992 May-June
1993 Feb-June, Sept-Oct, Dec
1994 Jul, Sep, Nov, Dec
1995 Feb-Oct
1996 April
1998 Dec, Nov
1999 Feb, April, June-Jul
2000 Mar, May, Sep-Dec
2001 Feb-Aug
2002 Jan-May, Jul-Dec
2003 Jan-April, “Summer”-Dec
2004 Jan-Oct, Dec

I also have a couple of issues of Winebibber, vintage evangelical comedy (Viz for Christians). Taken

And I have a few issues of re:generation quarterly:
Vol 4 no 4
Vol 6 no 2 (2 copies for some reason), no 3 and no 4
Vol 7 nos 1 and 3
Vol 8 no 2

Put a comment here to claim some, or PM me on the ship with your details.