Category: Anything but writing

Sick of winter?

Updated on February 7, 2014 by Elena Greene

Please don’t throw things at me, but when I see memes like this on the Internet, I laugh but I also feel torn.

Don’t misunderstand. I don’t enjoy crazy sub-zero temperatures. And despite years of experience driving in all sorts of conditions with no mishaps, I don’t enjoy driving on icy, snowy roads.

I still don’t want winter to rush by too quickly. I’ve been too busy guiding my oldest daughter through the college search and application process to get out to the slopes. Maybe once I get my skiing fix in, I’ll be more ready for spring.

But that’s not all of it. Part of it’s my affinity for a time when more people agreed with the following quote from Edith Sitwell (British poet and critic, 1887-1964).

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

Although I’d add winter sports to her list, I agree with the idea of enjoying the season, rather than rushing about keeping to our usual schedules even in wintry weather. It’s too bad we often don’t have a choice about it. I once worked for an employer who would not close our facility even during states of emergency, as if our work was so important it was worth rising peoples’ lives. More likely, they just wanted to save money by forcing us to take vacation time.

Now that my jobs are stroke caregiver and writer, snow days don’t bother me except for worrying about those who are still obliged to travel to work.

Since my daughters are old enough to leave me alone if I take an hour or two to write, snow days are pretty near perfect. Even when they were small, I enjoyed going out to play in the snow, making soup or cookies, watching movies, playing board games or cutting paper snowflakes. We still do a lot of these things. Since my oldest is heading off to college next year, I cherish the extra time together.

Maybe that’s really what it is this year. I don’t want time to speed up when I’m heading toward a change for which I don’t feel quite ready.

How about you? Are you one of the many who are sick of winter? Or are there things you still enjoy about it?

For those of you who are sick of winter, we Riskies are planning something that may cheer you up. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’ll hold the first ever week long Risky Regencies 99 Cent Ebook Sale, including titles by the Riskies and some special guests. More details coming soon!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Anything but writing | Leave a reply

Short but Sweet

Updated on November 29, 2013 by Myretta

Here’s my follow-up to a mighty sweet Thanksgiving. I’ll start right here by admitting that I love food (I know – who doesn’t?). My extreme love of dessert is thwarted by the fact that certain factors make it impossible for me to indulge on a regular basis. Thursday was one of the exceptions. I also misbehave (culinarily) on Christmas and the occasional birthday.

In between bouts of gustatory vice, I manage this sorry state of affairs by vicariously indulging in food web sites. One of my favorites is Great British Puddings. There are some great recipes although, if you’re in the US, you’ll have to do some conversions to get the ingredients right. Happily, the site includes a conversion table.

The picture I’ve included is, Sticky Toffee Pudding, one of my favorites. I believe this is considered a rather low-class choice in England. But who cares? I make this every Christmas and it could only be improved if I could get my hands on some honest-to-goodness clotted cream. But, even without it’s yummy. So, whether you want to bake or, like me, indulge vicariously, this might be right up your alley.

Do you have favorite food sites? Please share. One can never have too much vice.

Posted in Anything but writing, Frivolity | 4 Replies

Jama Day!

Updated on November 29, 2013 by Elena Greene

Janet is having technical difficulties, so there was no post yesterday. But the Riskies hope you’ve all had a lovely Thanksgiving and we are grateful for having such nice visitors!

As for today, since I’ve been working very hard lately, and so have my daughters (challenging academic loads and college applications for the oldest!) we’ve decided to do the opposite of the typical Black Friday.

The idea of a “Jama Day” came from this Peter Mayer song about spending a day in your pajamas as if “you don’t have a job, not even a resume.”

Our “Jama Day” is going to be a little more structured than in the song, partly because we’re doing it as a group and also because it’s not in my nature to be completely unstructured. Ironically, that would stress me out and being stressed out is not the point!

So we decided to do a Lord of the Rings marathon. We laid in a supply of easy munchies, some healthy (quacamole and chips, hummus and veggies) some not so much (M&Ms, donuts for breakfast and of course, cake). For dinner, we’ll have mushroom pizza in honor of the hobbits.

Soon I will be off to have some donuts and watch the first movie.

So what are you all doing today? I hope you’re enjoying the day in the way you like best.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Anything but writing, Frivolity | Tagged Jama Day, Lord of the Rings, Peter Mayer | 1 Reply

Mad Dogs and Englishmen….

Updated on September 23, 2013 by Diane Gaston

This really has little to do with mad dogs and Englishmen, but bear with me. There is a sort of a connection.

Yesterday, the neighborhood cat came to our patio door to taunt and torture our cats and I did a foolish thing. I reached down to stop our “Devil Cat” from rushing the screen and he bit me! Good. His canine tooth sank into the skin of my palm right below my thumb. A couple of other teeth did less damage. I washed and soaked and slathered the wounds with antibiotic cream and bandaged them. Today I’ll call my doctor’s office. My hand hurts and I’m running a low grade fever but other than that, I’m not worried. My cat is current on his rabies shots and, being an indoor cat, he is never exposed to rabid animals anyway. And even if my cat had rabies, at least there is a (reputedly unpleasant) cure.

It certainly was not so in Regency England, though.

Rabies was described as early as 2300 B.C. in Babylonia. In 800-700 B.C. Homer describes Hector as being like a “raging dog.” Four hundred years later Aristotle describes dogs as suffering from a madness that is contagious and fatal to other animals who are bitten. As time goes on, rabies is mentioned all over Europe and Russia and first appears in the British Isles in 1026 A.D.

In the mid 1700s, a serious outbreak of rabies swept London. All dogs were ordered confined for one month and a reward of 2 shillings for killing dogs on the streets led to a carnage.

It wasn’t until 1804 that a German scientist demonstrated that rabies was transmitted through the saliva of mad animals, and finally in 1885 Louis Pasteur cured the first patient with his newly invented vaccine.

Nothing in the history of rabies mentioned rabid cats. Probably another way cats feel themselves superior to dogs.

I’ll let you know what happens at the doctor. Have you ever been bit by an animal? Tell us your story.

Posted in Anything but writing, Regency | Tagged cats, Louis Pasteur, mad dogs, rabies | 22 Replies

Me & Dennis–a very close relationship

Updated on September 5, 2013 by Janet Mullany

I want to share with you all some news.

Dennis and I are together again.

Yes, Dennis the kneebrace.

We have been on and off since I indulged in some extreme gardening a few years ago. Having fallen flat on my back while ripping up English ivy, it was–oh my gosh, it was like Marianne and Willoughby in better weather. With his assistance I could stand and he flung me onto the back of his stallion and rode with me back to safety, me nestled in the comfort of his warm cloak, inhaling his masculine woodsy scent of lime and tobacco and beer and all that. Well, sort of. I’m a bit nervous of sniffing Dennis after the very hot weather where you sweat in strange places, like the back of the knee.

And since then, he has answered my call. Except for the time he didn’t and I fell into a decline. I decided then I’d go with the first substitute I met, and in the pharmacy I met a sneering billionaire kneebrace who wanted to strap me up good and proper and restrain me in fifty shades of whatever. Consequently I now have an Upstairs Dennis and a Downstairs Dennis.

Most recently we took a fabulous trip to San Francisco and together we strode through the city and sat around for hours in coffee shops writing. I’m not even sure my lovely hosts were aware that I brought Dennis and not my husband. We were very discreet.

And after that trip, things sort of cooled off.

But this morning, feeling the pangs of unrequited love (pangs at any rate), I took Upstairs Dennis out of the dirty laundry basket, reveling in the clean masculine smell of his sweat (or more likely my own) and got it on.

Posted in Anything but writing, Frivolity, Jane Austen | Tagged Dennis the kneebrace, generally silly stuff | 6 Replies