Quilts

So nice to see you posted a picture Jackie. I am perplexed as blogger seems to have improved (changed) the menu bar. Lots of fancy options now, but I can't seem to find the spell check - which it what I use the most......

Thought those who quilt might appreciate a look at my neighbor Judy's quilt. Her first needle-turned hand appliqued quilt. It won first prize at the Oshkosh Guilds EAA show last summer (forgot the category). Most of Judy's quilts have houses on them.

A Learning Experience!

Amanda is teaching me how to post pictures on the blog, and I really liked this one! Such beautiful nieces we have!

It's Snowing!

Good morning, everyone!

It's snowing here - very pretty, and falling determinedly. We were going to go to a new yoga class this morning...but I think we'll just stay home. It's cozy here, and the driveway isn't plowed yet.

We had an incredibly productive Saturday. Laundry, grocery store, made and canned applesauce, baked a giant squash for soup, dried apples, and Christmas movie. Today, we have to finish wrapping some gifts and write those darned Christmas cards.

Have a nice day, everyone! See you on Friday!

One Little Event After Another

OK, so it is the most amazing thing...the guys are here putting in the new furnace and before the main event of installation, they are now cleaning out 60+ years of dirt and dust from my hot air ducts. My house already smells better! And to think I was skeptical of having this done! I had read somewhere that it really didn't do anything. Well it certainly seems to make a difference in my house. The poor workers keep sneezing!

So, Emily flew into Madison last Friday and we enjoyed a nice time shopping on State Street. At Thanksgiving, Emily brought along her outfit for the December 12th wedding she was attending. It was a nice dress but the FDL family all felt she needed something just a little more glitzy. After all, this was her old boyfriend Tom who was getting married and she is also friends with the bride, Rachael and she was attending it with Shaun, so we wanted her to look extra nice.

We found this great dress at a little shop on State Street. Rachel and I knew it was perfect before Emily even tried it on. In real life it as not as shiny as it looks in the photos.

Emily with her friends Emily and Tracy

Back of dress

Shaun looked nice also!

And, I forgot to tell you what else we did in Madison on Friday. We had a really nice dinner at a Spanish Tapas restaurant. Our first time for Tapas (well not for Emily, when she visited her Barcelona friends, she went to real Spanish tapas bars-DUH) Anyway, the waitress told us most people order 2 or 3 plates. We started with 2 each, so we had 8 things to share. YUM!

My creamy mushroom soup contained 4 kinds of mushrooms and was so delicious---Wish I had some for lunch today. I also had tilapia encrusted with noodles - good but a little spicy for me. It was interesting- looked like a fillet in prison ( noodles being the bars) Somewhere in that noodle confinement were jalapeno peppers. Emily ordered baked goat cheese floating in a tomato sauce with garlic toast points, not only delicious but pretty. I think my favorite thing was what Rachel ordered... chicken croquettes with horseradish sauce or maybe it was the manchego cheese, red wine, onion flatbread... or maybe the almond pear tart with citrus sorbet I had for dessert. Jeff enjoyed fried bananas with peanut butter ice cream. Rachel loved her flan and Emily had some kind of chocolate mousse. Eating new things I don't have to prepare myself is certainly appreciated.

And, the reason for our trip, we saw the musical Grease. I love live music. The orchestra was so good not to mention all that singing and dancing. What ruined the whole night was Taylor Hicks. He plays Teen Angel. I guess he was ok as that role but looked kind of stiff against all those bouncy, dancing, young kids from Rydell High. What ruined it was after the short encore, which was a medley of the shows famous tunes, we were all humming and tapping our toes to "Born to Hand Jive" and "We Go Together" and then Taylor Hicks comes out and sings and plays his guitar to some County/Rock song on his new album. It was so loud I couldn't understand the words (yes, I am old) and then he whipped out and played that harmonica too. The feeling in the theater just stopped. Everyone was all peppy and happy and the mood changed like we had all been yelled at by the principal. Anyway the musical was nice.

Well, I guess fun was had by all last weekend until Monday morning when Emily missed her flight back to Maine. We had snow and Appleton's airline website said the flight was delayed over an hour. So Emily took her time getting to the airport, arriving a little over an hour before the flight said it was going to leave (usually an hour is plenty of time in Appleton's little airport to check in, get through security and find your gate. I think there only are 6 gates!). When she checked in, the board still said the flight was delayed one more hour, but in fact the plane had just left --- without her. Whoops.

No Tudor Dinner for Us

Usually I am the one that worries about driving on slippery and snow covered roads but today Jeff and Bob decided snowstorm "Allison" was too much for us to drive to Madison for the Tudor Dinner. We had tickets last year and were snowed out. The Union was kind enough to allow us to use the tickets this year. I doubt if they will do that again. I bought a new Christmas pin and planned to wear my fancy sweater set and everything for the event.

This is what I would have been eating and doing tonight if it wasn't going to snow 12-15":

5:45 pm, Main Lounge
Wassail bowl and hors d’oeuvres

6:45 pm, Great Hall
Presentation of the Boar’s Head
The Grand Processional and caroling

Tudor Feast

Chopped romaine with Kalamata olives, Feta and balsamic vinaigrette
Jeff was having Cornish game hen with raspberry puree
Darleen was having Curried vegetable paella with asparagus
Roasted baby red potatoes
Herb garden vegetables
Flaming Figgy Pudding with hard sauce Ceremonial

Banquet Ceremonials
Strolling minstrels
The Figgy Pudding Ceremonial
A Yuletide Toast
A Celebration of Song from the
Philharmonic Chorus of Madison
Carols for singing by all

There are rooms at the Union available, we could stay overnight but it is expected to snow all the way through midnight on Wednesday. So instead of a night of old English Pageantry in the Grand Ballroom I guess I will make tuna noodle casserole with potato chips on top and do some knitting while I watch the flakes fall. I hope the "King and Queen" don't get angry that we are not there.

Jeff is trying to get the snow blower ready right now. Good thing I always have a backlog of projects to finish, I don't think we will be going anywhere for awhile.

Thanksgiving

Pictures? Anyone? Joe and I would love to see.

Awful Library Books

One of the blogs I try to read occasionally is from two librarians in Michigan. The librarians feature books that are still on library shelves that should have been weeded years ago. HERE is the link.


So this book explains why my teenage years were so terrible, I never had access to Betty Betz Party Book, copyright 1947. But there is still time to save Rachel. Look at the advice Betty hands out: ( my favorite is the dead butterfly party)




- What to wear. “Always be sure that your dresses are at least an inch or so below the knee, because it’s always embarrassing to have a few cards wisecracking about your peekaboo knees.” In the late '60's and early '70's dresses were so short we hard to worry about other parts of our anatomy being peekaboo.

- Who to invite. “If you have singles, be sure that they can be paired off suitably. And don’t forget to consider such things as height, looks and IQ.” IQ? It has been a long time, but I don't recall that being a criteria for "pairing off".

- What food to serve. “Exotic foods are fine if your friends are making a point of going to an East Indian tea room or a Pizzeria, but if you’re dishing it up, it’s best to be strictly homespun.” Pizza? Exotic? Yes, Rachel, lets have a party and serve meatloaf!

- What songs to sing. “Nothing lets the hair down faster in a mixed group than a few peppy songs.” Such as “Shoo Fly,” “Buffalo Gals,” “Johnny Get Your Hoe-Cake Done,” and “Good-Night Ladies.” No song gets me up on the dance floor faster than "Good-Night Ladies".

- What games to play. “Each girl…takes off her right shoe, and puts it in a bag. All the bags are collected and put in a laundry basket. Each boy selects one of the packages. The girls are all seated in a line against the wall, and it’s up to the men to find the owners of the shoes. When this is done, they are all off in a swirl of swoony music, and woe unto the ‘dolly with the hole in her stockin’!'”

Miss Betz also has some suggestions for theme parties, such as a butterfly chase party. Each couple gets a butterfly net and small bottle of gasoline to “to chloroform the insects” and then sets off into the woods to “bag booty.” When it’s over, you have plenty of beautiful dead butterflies to mount for your rumpus room! What parents would think it a good idea to send their teens off into the woods, coupled by height, looks and IQ with a bottle of gasoline?

Genetics

Just a note to let you all know we're still here! We've been busy.

On Saturday, we went to Wellesley, in torrential rain, for a hand-papermaking workshop. It was fun, we made a ton of paper. (Darleen, Faith Marilynn Madzar was there and asked me to say hello to you.)

We've also been gradually cleaning the house, getting ready for Bruce and Judy Fink to come for Thanksgiving. (They arrive on Saturday.) This always takes longer than I expect it will. I am blaming my genes for expecting my house to be as clean as my mother's, even though it has non-square corners, strange nooks and crannies, old windows, and layers of dust going back more than 200 years. But still, I strive for the sparkly, clean, and tidy. The battle continues.

I am also blaming genetics for the fact that I've volunteered to serve a continental breakfast and a soup and sandwich lunch to twenty people tomorrow. I made the mistake of reading ingredient labels on items at BJ's (the wholesale club that camp belongs to). I know it will all taste fine, but I think that the ingredients in sliced turkey should be "turkey, water, salt" with maybe a few spices. I was, sadly, mistaken. To make myself feel better, I splurged on good coffee.

And, it is also your fault that I'm packing a basket full of tablecloths, napkins, pretty plates and bowls, etc., and will be decanting everything from its convenient plastic packaging. Really, would we want it any other way?

Okay, off to wash and cut grapes into serving-sized bunches.

Love you!
Amanda

Two Tiny Baskets

I just finished two little baskets of walnut and ash and since they are a gift I thought you might like to see them before I give them away later today. The market was just fun to make, the bushel basket, from it's waxed linen twined base, to tucking in such a small space to the 1/8" round oval ash rim was just miserable to weave. I must have soaked the rim for 6 hours and it still wouldn't bend easily. But overall I love weaving with real wood.



The nickel is in there to help you judge the size. The market is about 1 1/2" by 2" by 2" high. The bushel basket is about 2" in diameter and almost 2" high. Too bad no one plays with Barbie in this household anymore, Barbie and Ken could go on a picnic.

Feeling Old and Stupid

Sometimes, no matter how much I concentrate I just do not understand. It is not like the problem is something new... I am sure some of you know what I am talking about. The situations occur when you can't figure out how to turn something on and your daughter looks at you like you are really dumb and says "Mom, it's the universal symbol for ON & OFF ". Who knew there was a universal symbol for such a thing?

OR no matter what buttons you push on the tv remote you can't figure out how to get the tv back to being a tv - it is stuck in Guitar Hero mode. ( I am getting pretty good a playing "Slow Ride" but that is another story) And when you ask your other daughter to help you, she looks at you with pity in her eyes, pushes a couple buttons and in less than a second "poof" the tv is fixed.

There is one area I usually understand with no problem and that has been sewing. So, you can understand my distress today as I found an article on a craft blog titled Sewing with Deployable Structures . What? The only "deployable" thing I could think of was sending out the troops. My College Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary said "deploy was to spread out your troops to form an extended front". When I was teaching, some days I would have liked troops to cover my front but I still didn't understand how it related to sewing.

So I had to Google. It took a while as I filtered through articles about bridges and buildings until I found an article about structures that can folded small and then be opened. Ah Ha, Deployable Clothing. It sounds like a good idea to me. Nice for travel. I think they had clothing like this on The Jetson's. Jane and Geroge pushed buttons and the clothing got larger. The article focused mainly on hats. I don't think McCalls and Simplicity have patterns for this yet but at least I know what they are talking about now, not quite so old and stupid as I felt earlier in the day.

Martha Does It Again

Just when I thought Martha Stewart had glue gunned, glitter and gilted, collected, cooked and created about everything there was and ALSO tried to sell just about everything from flowers to furniture, I found this..... She is now into turkeys. Just in time for Thanksgiving too! Click HERE for the whole article.


Prices start at just $70 a turkey and include a FREE copy of Martha's "Turkey 101" and true recipes from Martha Stewart Living. I wonder what a "true" recipe is?

Mario Quilt Comics

I read a few web-based comics. Occasionally one of them chooses to cross the line from straight geek-centric to barely grazing the realm of "normal." Real Life Comics did so this week, touching on a topic I thought this group would enjoy. I present the Saga of the Mario Quilt:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

Since the last one was just posted today, I don't know whether or not the storyline will continue next week, but I couldn't wait any longer to share. Enjoy.

More Salsa

Last Friday, 10/09/09, my mom came over and helped me make salsa and stewed tomatoes. I froze 7 pints of salsa and pressure canned 7 quarts of stewed tomatoes. We also chucked a few bags in the freezer. Then, this past Sunday I pressure canned 7 more quarts of salsa. The thing is, we still have many, many, many tomatoes. Yikes!

Fresh Tomato Pie

I made this pie last Thursday and it was very good. Here is the recipe the way it was supposed to be and then with the changes I made:

Fresh Tomato Pie

2 c Bisquick

3/4 c milk

4 medium tomatoes, sliced 1/4" thick

1 green pepper, sliced

1 t dried basil

1 t dried chives

1 t dried parsley

1 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 c mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together Bisquick and milk. Press into bottom and up sides of a greased 9" pie plate. Layer the tomatoes and green pepper in the pie plate, sprinkling each layer with the herbs. Combine the cheese and mayonnaise and spread on top. Bake 20-35 minutes, until the crust and top are golden. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I did not have the chives or parsley, so I used the dried basil and some Italian seasoning. Also, I added more cheese.

I hope some of you will try it. If you do, let me know what you think. I believe I got this recipe from my aunt, or my cousin.

I'm on the Interwebs!

I haven't posted here in a while, and there's good reason for it: I've been busy! It's life at a startup: work as fast as you can when you have an idea, because someone else may have also had the idea, and you don't wan them eating your lunch.

For a glimpse and what I've been working so hard at, have a look at video of a presentation I gave at a conference last Monday. Response to that talk has been pretty awesome so far, so we continue to be excited about the future.

It's not all nose-the-grindstone every minute, though. Amanda and I are still cooking up a storm every chance we get. Pizza, bread, and pumpkins tonight. Sauerkraut, beer, and possibly grape jelly (with concord grapes -- from Concord!) tomorrow. We may even start the day with waffles and sausage if we're in the mood.

Speaking of jam, here's a picture of the raspberry jam Amanda promised a couple of weeks ago:

Sewing Produce Bags!

OK, about 75% of the time I remember to take my reusable bags to the grocery story. When I buy produce I hate those little plastic bags you have to put the veggies in. They are not even recyclable. Quite often I don't even use them and get odd looks when I lay my lonely unplasticized vegetable ( I only do ones with skin or peelings) on the checkout conveyor belt. So when I saw this idea, I was really excited. HERE is the whole article. I wonder how the mainstream grocery stores in FDL will respond to me bringing in my own produce bags?

Now, my only problem is that I don't have any basketball jerseys laying around to sew into produce bags. The idea of buying some at Goodwill to transport food in kind of gives me the creeps. I know, if I wash them in hot water they should be fine, but the thought of putting my lettuce in a bag that was once worn by some sweaty stranger just makes me uncomfortable. I wonder if there is some other material laying around my house that is lightweight, washable and breathable? Gives me something to think about.

North Fond du Lac Homecoming

Another Horace Mann Homecoming has been anxiously awaited, prepared for and now all that is left is the photos ( and the magenta under Rachel's arms which will be explained shortly)

A special shopping trip was made to ensure Josh's shirt coordinated with the dress. I Love Rachel's dress and hair. I wish she would wear that dress again.

Lots of activities and contests. Jackie's class actually had a float in the Homecoming Parade and stood to be announced during the game. Jackie will have to tell you about her Reunion.

I know this picture will make you dizzy but I liked it so much thought you all should see it. Everyone is very happy as the Junior Class won the Spirit Stick.

Left to Right, Becca, Jackie, Rachel and Abby

The shirts are the 2011 class colors. Purple and lime green. Wonder what flowers will be used at graduation next year?

Rachel and a bunch of kids ate at Red Robin's in Oshkosh. Red Robin serves Never Ending Drinks. Rachel enjoyed the "Never Ending Root Beer Float" while her friend Stephanie spilled her "Never Ending Lemonade" all over her own dress as well as Rachel's dress. And, of course then there was also a little rain shower on the way to the car.

Then there was the dance. The theme was "A Night in the Lights or something like that, the room was covered in black paper with about 50 black lights all over". During dinner and the drive to the dance Rachel worried the lemonade stain would show up under the black lights. It did not.




But, even worse Rachel's arms rubbing on the wet dress caused her upper underarms and armpits to stain a bright shade of magenta. She said it made dancing a problem--she had to keep her arms down. Even showering today has not removed the stain. Fun Memories.

Weekend in Chicago

I just spent five days in the "windy city" with my friends Jennifer and Marian.  We stayed with Pete's sister Mary, who is the hostess with the mostest!  What a fun time we had!  We spent an afternoon at the Shedd Aquarium, which has a wonderful new "oceanaruim" with whales and dolphins and lots of other creatures.  It was really cool!

Then we saw two shows that Mary recommended to us.  One was an Arthur Miller written in 1947 called "All my Sons".  It was very well acted with an excellent message.   And then we saw "The Million Dollar Quartet", which is the story of the December evening in 1954 (?) that Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins spent time together at the Sun Studio in Nashville just jamming and playing all their hits.  It was great music - and a rather touching story about all of them.  

 

We went to afternoon Tea at the Peninsula Hotel, which is right downtown next to the Water Tower Building.  It was lovely - tiny little sandwiches and scones and sweets - and as much tea as you wanted!  There were violin players in the balcony - just a lovely afternoon.  Even my friend Marian - who does not like tea! - said it was lovely and she would do it again.  

We also watched two movies - "Doubt" and "Revolutionary Road".  Both were very interesting and thought provoking.  It's always amazing how people can watch the same movies and come away with different messages!

And on Sunday afternoon we took a boat cruise down the Chicago River and out along the lakefront.   It was an "architectural tour" pointing out all the building/landmarks on the Chicago skyline.  It was a rather windy day, and when the boat got out into Lake Michigan, those waves whipped right over the side of the boat and we got soaked!  All in the fun!

I also learned why Chicago is called the "windy city"!  It isn't  because of the strong air currents!  It's because of the politicians from Chicago and their reputation as being very long-winded and loud!  

So it was a fun few days away!  And when we got back into Marshfield on Monday evening, it was so lovely to see our quiet streets where there are plenty of places to park and nobody charges you $$$$ so you can park and shop.  I'm glad I live here!!  

Our Garden

Well as happens this time of year in Northern Minnesota the threat of frost is upon us, so we have undertaken bringing the garden in.

Here are most of the ripe tomatoes, which will be turned into salsa next week.

As you can see we also have lots of green tomatoes. We will let some ripen, but I found a recipe for Green Tomato Relish that sounds tasty, so will try that.

We also have green beans. Not very many this year and most of them have gotten too big. I think I will just sort through them and see if there is a nice amount to have with supper. May try drying the large "bean seeds" and sprouting them.

We also grew some green peppers, shown here with the rest of the ripe and green tomatoes. Some of them got quite impressive and I will freeze those for stuffed green peppers later on. The rest will go into the salsa.

Today I will pick the Swiss chard and blanch and freeze that. The carrots will have to wait in the ground. Also the winter squash will wait until after frost.

Next week I am going to shred the huge zucchini, 2+ feet long, and make and freeze zucchini pancakes. Busy week ahead, but first fun at the shack.

Deanna

Fall Update

Hi Everyone,

We've had a busy month of September. The camp season was longer than usual, because we had a reunion at the end of the summer, but all went well.

On Labor Day weekend, we flew off for a week in Boise, ID, for our friend Matt's wedding. (He was the best man at our wedding.) We had a lot of fun, and got to see some friends from college, and enjoyed a lot of relaxing. We both brought stacks of books to read and spent lots of time reading in coffee shops and parks. We also went to the art museum and the Basque museum; ate lots of tasty food; went to a local distillery/restaurant that makes its own gin and vodka; and I even went to a cooking class and learned to make paella while Bryan was off at a bachelor party.

Since we've been home, I made paella (semi-successfully...it was tasty but not quite right in color or consistency). I also picked a bunch of raspberries at our farm this week, so we made raspberry jam. (Bryan will have to post the pictures of those two projects.) This morning, we were very ambitious and went to the hardware store to buy a hedge trimmer; we are finally going to trim the bushes in the beds around the house. It has been a few years, so it's probably time.

That's all that's new around here!

now lets see if this works? i've only been sitting here an hour trying to
do this.
we had a wonderfull rain today. over 2 inches. what a blessing.
i saw the grass straighten up and just gasped at the rain. and the
flowers just sighed at the feel of it.
its fall all right. you can feel it in the air. and the leaves are
turning and falling.
its time to go to the shack in the woods up north. next week-end
we must go up there. it's a must at this time of the year. hafta!!!
now cross you're fingers and lets get this to go.
it's me---- bette

Covers

I seem to have spent a lot of my adult life watching Mr. Rogers. I recall a show where he made covers for everything; trolley cover, fish tank cover, tree covers. I believe the show even contained an opera about covers.

I wove a set of covers for my nesting pyrex bowls. I already gave the large navy blue one away, so am weaving a new dark green one to match the other three shades of green in the set.

Weeding and Risers or Cleaning Up the Basement

I am so excited. Jeff just sawed AND installed risers for the top 4 basement stairs. Well, I think they are called risers-the back part of the step so the stairway is no longer open. I have such high hopes as before dirt, leaves, pebbles etc from our shoes would fall through the open back onto what was stored below.

I am so optimistic that I moved almost all of our Christmas ornaments into the cabinet under the stairs. (The homemade ornaments fit in a small box and I found room for them in the kitchen. I didn't like all that paper and yarn in the basement anyway. )

Fitting the decorations under the stairs involved a little ornament weeding. We got rid of a few things in really poor condition. It feels good to get it organized and I can't push too far. If we compare all Jeff's boxes of Christmas ornaments to my boxes of reed, yarn and fabric, Jeff's Christmas collection is really, really small!

Hey, Where Are All of You?

Sound of Silence on here. Please finish this sentence.

This week I________________________________.

Feel free to substitute "month", "year" or "decade" for "week".

Miss all of you!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Sorry Joe, We forgot again. I thought of your birthday a few days ago and then poof... Hope you had a fun day.

I WON!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. My basket, Penobscot Treasures, won during the 2nd round in Baskets of Joy's "My Favorite Basket Contest".




What to choose with the gift certificate? Lots of Patterns? A Couple Books? Colored Reed, Lids and Handles?

I feel just like it is Christmas morning! Thank YOU!

Wood Smoke

Have you ever noticed that most of the Worm Family photos contain woodsmoke?
For a change, we could shoot away from the fire, maybe just once?

Tomato Gluttony

Remember the scene from the movie Charlotte's Web where the rat Templeton goes to the fair and spends the whole night eating his way through every kind of fair food possible? I can even remember some lines of the song he sings," Glut, Glut, Glut". Well it is kind of like that here but with tomatoes..... and plums are approaching quickly.
( I stopped at your house today Bette with a big box of tomatoes and plums but you were not home)

It is one of my life goals to eat as many homegrown fresh tomatoes as possible each summer. It has never been a challenge... until this year. Most years a few BLT's and we are good. This year I have had to search outside my normal realm to handle the load.
(No, I am not into "putting up tomatoes for the winter".)

We really liked both of these recipes so I though I would share.

Marinated Cherry Tomato Salad

4 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 t dried or 1 T fresh chopped parsley
1 t dried or 1 T fresh chopped basil
1 t dried or 1 T fresh chopped oregano
1/2 t salt ( I used less)
1 1/2 t sugar ( I used less)

In small bowl mix together oil, apple cider vinegar, herbs, salt and sugar. Pour dressing over sliced cherry tomatoes and gently stir to coat. Chill for at least 2 hours. Stir gently before serving.

I am thinking of trying the recipe again but adding thinly sliced red onion. Hum. What do you think?


Italian Bread and Tomato Salad
Serves about 4

1/2 pound firm Italian bread, cut into 1" cubes
2 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, put though press
4 large, ripe tomatoes, I used Brandywine (heaven), cut into 1-inch chunks
2 T. thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup pitted sliced black olives
1/2-1 cup sliced fresh basil
2 T. olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into bite size pieces
salt and pepper ( lots of pepper) to taste

salad greens

Place bread cubes into large bowl, toss with 2 T. olive oil and pressed garlic. Place on baking sheet and toast in 350 oven for 10 minutes. Turn and toast another 10 minutes. Remove when crisp and set aside.

In bowl, mix cut up tomatoes, black olives, onion, chopped basil leaves, 2 T olive oil, 2 T. balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit for 30 minutes. ( The original recipe had you placing the bread cubes in this mixture also, the cubes soaking up the oil and vinegar dressing, it was good but we felt we liked them crispy, like croutons - do what you like.)

To serve- Arrange salad greens in shallow bowl, throw on a HUGE spoonful or spoonfuls of the tomato mixture, throw on a few pieces of cheese and a handful of the bread. Yum.

Hello from Edinburgh

I just wanted to share a couple highlights from my past week in Scotland.

The picture on the left is of us pony trekking. My friend Amy (far right) is part of the Exmoor Pony Trekking Club at the University of Edinburgh. In the summer they take the ponies up into the highlands for trail rides. We went for a tour hour ride. It was so fun. My pony was named Rosie and liked to go really slowly and then go fast to catch up. I laughed the whole ride. We also rode through a field of sheep. The guy in the middle is Amy's husband, Bradon.

I spent the last two nights on the Isle of Mull at in this amazing place, the Camas Centre. I was visiting a friend who works there. It is a retreat center where groups come and participate in activities, go camping, kayaking, etc. To get to the center you have to take a ferry over to the island catch one of 4 busses a day, ride for 40 minutes, then walk a mile and a quarter down a muddy track. The center has limited electricity provided by a wind turbine and grow all their own vegetables. You can't tell from this picture, but there are sheep roaming everywhere. It is so fun to walk out the door and have sheep munching grass right there. Plus they don't have to mow the lawn. I want a sheep.


While staying on Mull, we took the ferry over to the Iona. Iona is famous for an Abbey which dates back to the 1300's. It was really neat and I will post pictures of it later. This is the beach on Iona. It was gorgeous. If it wasn't cold out I would have though I was in the Carribean. Supposedly they have bottlenose dolphins there, but I didn't see any. I did see a hedgehog in the garden at Camas though. It was so cute!

Ok, I think I'll head to bed now. Tomorrow I'm going into Edinburgh for the day to do some shopping and tour the museum. Then on Monday I'm off to Copenhagen.

Do I Have It Right?

Now listen folks, if this doesn't go through, I've had it!!!! I've had the best professional help possible and it better be right! I'll write something better next time. Bette

Update from UpNorth

Finally, finally, finally getting some veggies coming in. We have had 4 ripe tomatoes so far, 2 not so ripe, and a couple of little ripe cherry tomatoes. Picked 6 cucumbers last night, a couple more zucchini. Peppers are coming along. Tall carrot tops, lots of Swiss chard (come pick your own), some winter squash coming, but no beans. The green bean vines are finally growing, but no blossoms yet. I still have my fingers crossed. The sunflowers are very, very tall and getting heads.

We finally made the move and bought a tent for fur trade reenactment rendezvous. Picked it up yesterday. Will try our hand at setting it up next weekend. Exciting!

Got a fur trade era catalog from which one can order a leech jar. Let me know if anyone needs one!

Not much else new. Joe is trying to rid the pond of beavers, which is sad, but needs to be done. We are enjoying all of the birds coming and going, you can sure tell the year is waning.

My first basket class will be next month. I have all of them figured out for the school year, which is amazing. Now, I just need to make them all, but first need to order the supplies.

That's it for now.

An update from this large, Midwestern city...

Much has been happening in my world. I just wrapped up my work for the next issue of American Woodworker (the October/November issue; there's a lot of lead time for magazine production). I got to write an article about a router pantograph (among other things). It's a pretty neat little tool that lets you trace and reduce images and then reproduce them with a router. Here's a sneak preview of me in the magazine:

Two weeks ago, American Woodworker took me to Las Vegas for a day. They wanted me to get to know some of the manufacturers I've been dealing with, and the American Woodworking and Finishing Supply convention is the place to do it. I spent a day wandering around the Las Vegas convention center seeing the latest and greatest new tools. Then I spent my night in "old" Las Vegas before heading back to the Las Vegas Hilton for some much needed sleep. I booked my flight out for late the next day, so I spent my day off wandering around the strip. I didn't win it big, but I only invested about $20. I spent the rest of my money on food and drinks (it was 115 degrees for the short walks outside between casinos). It was a nice break and the first, I hope, of many fun business trips.

I also found a spot to build a modest recording studio in Minneapolis. It's about eight blocks from my apartment in a building that houses about 30 small creative businesses. A handful of buddies are moving their equipment in with me, and we'll be giving it a go as a business. It's very exciting. I'm mostly excited that I'll have a place to make some noise without disturbing my neighbors. I signed the lease on Friday and we're hoping to be up and running by the end of the month.

I'm still working late night shifts at the Genesis Communications Network. I'm officially a producer, but mostly I take calls and talk to hosts for the AM talk radio shows that the company produces. I've learned a lot about satellite connections and other specialized technology.

Jill and I spent this weekend in Alexandria, MN, at her roommate's parents' house. They live on a lake and have a boat. It's a little resort town, with 11 lakes that connect to each other. We spent most of our time outside with drinks and snacks on hand. It was wonderful.

I thought I should also let everyone know my new address so they can pop in unexpectedly:

Andrew Zoellner

2015 Pleasant Ave S #1

Minneapolis, MN 55404

Drive On and On and On

We are slowly on our way back to Wisconsin. Spent last night and tonight in Ottawa enjoying the Parliament, Mint ( Jeff always very impressed with shiny things like $300,000 bars of gold which we all got to lift and touch), Chinatown, open markets and in Rachel's case the mall attached to our hotel. Replaying our trip backwards we drove through Vermont and New Hampshire to get to Ottawa. Hiked around the rim of Cannon Mt. in NH ( got to the top via gondola), and shops by Keepsake Quilting ( too much fabric, I came out with 4 greeting cards).

We stayed overnight in Waterbury, Vermont and went to Ben and Jerry's for the tour. We stopped by on our way out of town the next day for ice cream and JERRY HIMSELF WAS THERE, sitting quietly at a table with friends eating ice cream, shaking hands and having his photo taken with fans. Of course we don't have a camera right now... Rachel thought about having her t-shirt signed but we didn't have a Sharpe pen. Also saw the Trapp Family Lodge. Lots of people there....lodges, condos, cabins, huge, outdoor concerts, wagon rides. On our way to Canada we enjoyed driving through the islands of Lake Champlain.

So, in Maine it was damp, damp and more damp. We couldn't get into our cottage the first night so Rachel stayed with Emily as we could only get a room for two at the East Wind Inn in Tenants Harbor. The Inn is reported as being haunted but we just had a cute wallpapered room with a nice view of the sea.

Saturday was the BIG St. George Day festival. Poor Rachel painted faces for hours ( kids kept asking for painted lobsters) and Jeff and I both helped Emily with crafts. Huge book sale, garage sales, parade, pancakes and a lobsta' dinner. The dinner was served with a huge pile of mussels-tasty cooked with lots of garlic. ( but it didn't agree with me later on!) I did not win the signed Wyeth print at the raffle.

Nate's grandmother invited us to her home on the ocean to watch the fireworks. The fireworks put FDL's 4th of July fireworks to shame.... odd too, as Tenants Harbor has some fireworks on the 4th also, but more on St. George Day.

Our cottage had a great view, it was on a nice rocky cove. I already forgot the name of the cove. It was close to Emily's house. Saw eagles getting fish in the water there. It was OK but not as fantastic as the Memo's home where we stayed last year. Oh, I forgot to mention we met Memo at the Library book sale.

We went on a boat ride and saw; dolphins, seals, puffins, Wyeth's Islands, Steve's house .....Steve.... the former guy from This Old House (Nate went to school with his kids), other famous peoples house that I forgot too. We also pulled up lobster traps and if you need to know, we can all sex lobsters now and explain the difference between soft and hard shell lobsters.

Jeff, Rachel and Emily also went sea kayaking at night to look for the bioluminescent plankton. They enjoyed it but Rachel later said it was kind of scary being 4 miles out in the ocean in the dark. They took me to the pier at night the next night and I got to see it too. Looks like fireflies but under the water. Jeff and Emily climbed Mt. Battie. Jeff looked pretty good at the top--a little pale but he did it. While they climbed, Rachel and I went to Reny's--as soon as Rachel found out they had American Eagle clothes she was hooked.

One sunny day we went to the beach at Popham Beach by Bath. It was SO AMAZING. With my knees I stayed out of the big waves, but the other 3 played in the huge waves all afternoon.

So on our way out to Maine we stopped at Waldon Pond and since it was so close... well I knew it was close but it took us over an hour to really find it, we stopped at Amanda's office and really, really surprised her.The expression on her face was well worth the time we spent in confusion trying to find the building. We also had a great time in Corning, NY at the Glass Museum. We all took hands on classes and either pulled or blew glass. I guess that's all. We are tired and looking forward to being home on Wednesday.

Prize for Procrastination

Today I finally accomplished something I have been putting off and working on for over 15 years. It is SUCH A RELIEF to have it done and over with.

When we moved to Fond du Lac in 1985 I joined a group of local Home Economists. The group formed back in the 1970's and had what I always thought a silly name that was a mouthful; Fond du Lac County Graduate Home Economists. I enjoyed the group. We had lots of speakers, organized panel discussions, took little tours and went out to eat. Unfortunately people got busier, the founding members got older, people moved away and when I was president in 1994, the 8 or 9 members who attended regularly, decided to disband and donate all our treasury to the women's shelter. Quite an honor to have the club disband when one is president....

So, as President, I got all the files. Five big loose leaf binders full of unorganized papers, programs and receipts covering the 25 plus years of the club. I was to organize it and give it to the Galloway House who agreed to kept that information for eternity. Only problem was Rachel was a baby, Emily was busy and needed to be driven here and there and we started to remodel the house. ( and that isn't done yet either!) Once in awhile I would take out all these papers and try to organize the mess but most of the past 15 years it has all been on a shelf in the basement.

Over last winter I worked on it often. Throwing out duplicates, organizing year by year and yesterday, very embarrassed, I finally called the Galloway House. I found out the lady who takes the donations is only there once every three weeks and today was the day. Condensed down to one large binder the history of the club is finally home.

It will make a good resource for some college paper....for about the first 15 years members didn't have first names... Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Robert Smith never Carol Smith. Programs changed from "The Science of Dry Cleaning" and "Fitting Home Sewn Slacks" to "Child Abuse in FDL County" and Tours of Earth Sheltered Homes. Also I forgot how hard it was to make handouts and send out letters. Everything I did was typed on my old electric Smith-Corona. Clip Art was actually cut out and pasted on with glue. Receipts from the Office Supply for copies were well recorded. Well, I should have turned in 14 years ago, but at least it is FINALLY DONE. And now I am going to forget it completely.

Today in just ONE HOUR; with the help of 8 volunteers, 5 mothers and one children's librarian, Rachel and I ( the only weavers in the group) helped 21 kids, ages 5-10, weave 21 baskets. The kids were happy weavers and each child seemed very pleased with their finished little basket. I don't have any pictures of the finished baskets- we were all too busy cleaning up as another group was coming in for another program in 30 minutes. (Think small round wood base with continuous weave , a block of color in the center and a loopy rim-that I kind of invented)

I divided the group for the first demonstration with half going over to Rachel and her friend Allison who were guarding three big Rubbermaid Tubs of Dyed Reed. The plan was for Rachel and Allison to pull the colors out for the kids , thus keeping the long strands of reed tidy and organized, BUT as Rachel later told me, "It was insane, with 10 excited kids all grabbing around in the tubs". By the time I did the demonstration for the reed grabbing group things had calmed down but you can see the great expression on Rachel's face as she is talking to the librarian about her experience with a pack of hungry reed grabbing kids.

Not a lot of smiles in these photos but at the end all the kids had big smiles. I just wanted a big glass of ice water!

Comment on Tanglewood

I don't know to put a link on a comment so I will do a little post.

It is so pretty by Tanglewood. ( Many Shaker Villages!) I'm so glad you didn't have to sit on the wet grass in the rain. Since our radio reception is so bad I never listen to PHC on the radio but on Garrison's website. If other's would like to hear what Amanda and Bryan enjoyed click HERE. Click on "Go", then June 27th and then the arrow. I have some weaving to do tomorrow so am looking forward to listening while I weave. I hope I can hear you clapping.

I saw Arlo and his band Shenandoah when I was in college-he was very attractive then in a hippy kind of way. He was just so "cool". (Do you think the curl is natural or he has to perm?) He gave a free concert at the old Civic Center on State Street for someone running for president.

Arlo's popularity was fading then and the concert really was not well attended. As a result we had great seats. I can't remember who he was endorsing. Well, I am reasonably sure it was not for Richard Nixon or George Wallace. I don't think it was even for Jimmy Carter. Wow, I just googled 3rd party candidates in 1976 and no name rings a bell. Guess I paid more attention to the music. I remember Alice's Restaurant and the City of New Orleans and some song about Watergate. Fun.

Prairie Home and other fun stuff

If you had the good fortune to listen to last week's broadcast of Prairie Home Companion (with special guests Martin Sheen, Steve Martin, and Arlo Guthrie), you should know that WE WERE THERE!

Way back in December, for Bryan's birthday, I told him that I'd like to take him to a Boston Symphony Orchestra performance...but then we had a busy few months, and by the time he got around to choosing, it was nearly summer. Even though Prairie Home Companion is not exactly the BSO, it was at Tanglewood, their summer home in western Mass. - so we decided to go for it!

I was glad we'd gotten tickets under the shed (essentially a giant pole barn with three open sides), because it rained on and off all afternoon and poured during the performance. (The other option at Tanglewood is to get tickets on the lawn, where you can hear but not see so much. Going to Tanglewood is clearly a Berkshires institution; the lawn is covered with blankets, chairs, picnics of all kinds, and people arrive at noon to stake out their spots.)

There were two best parts for me: watching the sound effects guy do his stuff, and seeing Arlo Guthrie. Before the show, we spent a couple of hours wandering Lenox, Mass., and we bought a case of beer made in the Berkshires to take home and enjoy over the course of the summer. We spent the night in Northampton (with dinner at the Northampton Brewery). The first sessions of camp started on Sunday, so that was a nice way to kick off the season.

Last night, we had the second part of our belated birthday celebration: we got all dressed up and had dinner at a Boston restaurant called Pigalle. Everything on their menu is imaginative and delicious; we had a five-course tasting menu. I think we will have to fast to recover today! No Boston Pops for us; we tried to go last year and ended up soaked, so we're just going to relax today (our day off), and then I'll be working at camp all weekend!

Too much information

Today almost every news channel was unbearable. It's just all too much and so unimportant. It even "spilled" onto one of my favorite craft blogs. So, that is why I am sharing this photo from Craftzine. The whole thing is made out of kids breakfast cereal. I will have to look at the cereal aisle more closely, I didn't even know cereal came in blue and black. It is interesting to think about, if I were an artist I would never think of cereal as my media. Handy I guess, if hungry one could just grab a handful but what about humidity, bugs, rodents? Wonder if the value of this "artwork" went up? Maybe one of us could do something with cereal for Christmas?

"Breakfast in Neverland" by Jason Huntley

(Did you catch it? The cereal "spilled". I know.... )

Some Blogs to Check Out

Darleen turned me on to whitepines.blogspot.com. It is a woman in MN who writes about life up here. I believe she may live near us. From there I found foothillhomecompanion.blogspot.com. I really enjoy these two. Good recipes, too.

Another site I like, that you can get an almost daily e-mail from is farmgirlfare.com. Lots of wonderful picture, recipes, etc. Check it out.

Anyone out there have any good blogs to mention?

More delicious food!

Bryan has once again outdone himself. I fully support this and feel that I must tell the world, or at least the family, exactly how amazing he is.

I came home from camp yesterday to a house that smelled delicious. Bryan had gotten to the cookie chapter in the Ratio book...so he made a batch of basic cookies (essentially shortbread), and then three variations: almond, lemon-poppyseed, and mint. All four varieties also tasted delicious. Mom, you should recruit Bryan to do the baking for your next tea party!

For dinner, there was homemade whole wheat pasta (again, but no complaints here), with bechamel sauce (Ratio again) and fresh shelled peas (which I picked at the farm on Wednesday), blanched and shocked. Sheer bliss, in noodle form!

And then, to top it all off this morning, a meal that Bryan claimed he's been imagining and planning since Thursday. Last week, we watched a science video on the internet, which show-cased making butter. Bryan made the butter this morning, saving the buttermilk. Then, there were buttermilk pancakes (another Ratio recipe), with fresh strawberries from the farm...and a little bit more homemade butter.

I am told that there will be grilled pesto flatbread and salad for dinner tonight, as Bryan will be busy much of the day bottling two batches of beer.

Truly, I don't mean to brag - I just mean to entice you all to come and visit, and eat all this tasty food. It never seems to last long enough for us to take pictures to post.

This and That

Emily flew back to Maine last night. Her stay was way too short and we were way too busy. Her itinerary included visits to both Rambow and Worm Grandmas and Grandpa Worm, Gillies, buying string cheese and floating down the Mecan River.

Jeff is now snoring comfortably on the sofa as he recovers from his first colonscopy. To tell patients they might be a "little groggy" is an understatement. Nothing was found and the doctor told me to bring him back in 7 to 10 years. Jeff's first question to me AFTER it was over, "Are they going to start soon?". I think I need whatever they gave Jeff when I have one of my really bad headaches! Strong Stuff.

Joe's Tick Reduction Method

I'm just back from a fun trip to Minnesota to visit Joe & Deanna.  I just wanted to share Joe's method of keeping the ticks at bay.  It seems to be prime tick time in the suburbs of Wrenshall - and Joe has a unique method of keeping the little critters at bay.  After tucking his long pants into his socks,  he wraps his ankles tightly with masking tape.  I suppose it would work on your sleeve cuffs, too (maybe around the neck?).   Anyway, Joe taped us all up for a hike down to the new pond. We had  a sweet trip - it's a nice pond!  However, back at the homestead, after we all ripped off our masking tape, the ticks were everywhere!  There were probably a dozen on the three of us! But, to be fair to the masking tape method, I don't think there were any "inside" our pants - they were just everywhere else.  Joe expertly picked them off and "destroyed" them!  But I have to admit that I had that creepy crawly feeling for the rest of the evening.  Joe assured me these ticks aren't the disease carrying kind - just the kind that will suck my blood. But remembering Amanda's tick experience of a couple of years ago,  I decided to spend the rest of my visit inside the house looking OUT at the beautiful scenery!

Fun Time

What a fun weekend with Jackie coming to stay. We did lots of fun things like the MN Quilt Show, Jackie meeting a couple of my cousins, the Renaissance Faire in Twig, and then eating at Gordy's Hi-Hat. Also sewed on quilts and watched a couple of movies. What more could a person ask?

Now it is back to the real world. I am working and washing clothes.

After work I hope to get outside and get some weeding done. It is amazing, you get your veggie garden planted with nice new soil and the weeds instantly pop up!

Also, I still need to plant my herb garden.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday!

Gordian Worm?

Yesterday, during a mild drizzle, I was walking past the 'back porch garden' when I noticed something very, very tiny moving very snake-like. Since I have a mild snake phobia, I had to bend down and watch it for a long time-In other words, I was trying to decide if I needed to kill it. Fortunately it was small enough that I felt confident I could smash it and the whole plant it was on with one quick stomp.

I watched this hairlike 6" long thing move down from leaf to leaf and finally crawl away on the dirt. It was whitish with bright yellow on both ends. It gave me the creeps but it was starting to rain harder so I went inside.

I'm not sure what it was --perhaps a Horsehair Worm (Nematomorpha commonly called Gordian Worms). But, everything I found on the Internet said the Horsehair Worm is often confused with Mermithidae which are in the nematode family. Both have larva that eat things I don't like so I can live with them here. I would be happier if it lived more by the pond than my back door but I can adapt (and maybe have Jeff move it for me if I spot it again).


My thing looked a bit like this but was whiter with bright yellow on each end for about 1/2 inch. ( I stole this picture from the web, I would never pick it up) Creepy.

Getting Old

Not me, the weather. I looked in the garden last night. I went to pick a dead leaf off of a cucumber plant and the plant broke. The cool weather veggies are making an appearance, however, which is good. Little teeny spinaches and tiny little lettuces, and some radish tops. At least we are getting rain. Now we need some heat.

My herbs are still living in the house and I don't think they are very happy. Except for the thyme, which seems to be thriving. The basil are not happy campers.

Ah spring, wherefore art thou?

June? Are you sure?

This is getting ridiculous. Is a person supposed to have to cover their little veggie plants almost every night in order to protect them from frost in June? I know this is Northern Minnesota, but come on! Let's just say I am glad we have lots of 5 gallon pails and old sheets.

One of these days it will warm up and the plants can grow. Maybe it will even rain. What a concept in the spring, warmth and moisture.

One thing for sure, the dandelions don't mind cold or dry.

Pics of Our Veggie Garden

As you can see there are no veggies yet, but we planted seeds today. This end has the beans, then will be tomatoes, radishes on this end of the tomatoes, lettuce and spinach, cucumbers, Swiss chard, carrots, winter squash and zucchini. There is a chance of patchy frost tonight, so we are not putting the plants in until tomorrow. After that it will probably look more like a garden. More pictures to come. We are happy with the new look. Also, we will have to put the fence up tomorrow if we plant the plants.

Water

My washing machine broke last night. This is the 2nd time this spring I have had water running all over the utility room floor, through the dryer vent opening in the floor and down into the basement. Last time a hose broke, this time something broke and the washing machine continued to fill even after the tub was full. It made a mess. Jeff and I were both right there, but since the washing cycle started, we didn't even hear the water running until floods of it were pouring through the vent hole into the basement. ( It fell all over my stash of colored reed this time-I had been sorting it by size on a table in the basement.)

Seems like water has been a continuing theme in my life since we moved to FDL. Started with me losing the car in the water on Highway 41, small flooding of water in my basement (too many times to count) and water standing in our lot multiple times each year. Which reminds me, the county finished the back drains last week Thursday. They did a nice job leaving the area seeded and covered with straw. I am looking forward to a big downpour to see if we continue to get standing water in our lot. With the huge pipes that went in, I don't think we will. TA DA...the Aspen Forest and Asparagus Beds are saved!

The washer repair man is coming tomorrow.

Herb Help

I would like any tips on growing herbs. I have some basil and thyme, which I seem to do well with, and then some parsley. Last year my basil was okay, but I would like to get more out of it. Also, any tips on parsley would be great. I will also probably get some cilantro.

Also, any recommendations on other herbs to get and what to use it for, such as marjoram, oregano, etc.

I grow in a container of sorts, two old wash tubs on the corner of the deck, which is full sun.

Thanks!

Books

I didn't know about the new Madeline Island book. I will have to reserve it at the library. I always have a book or two going. My book club just finished a book by Oshkosh author Jess Riley called Driving Sideways. The story line followings the main character on a road trip to California stopping at just about every major place Jeff and I have ever been to. Besides mentioning lots of local places in FDL, I even recognized rest stops, highways and of course a handful of national parks.




The previous month we read I Was Told There'd be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Well actually I listened to it on tape. A really funny book of essays often with a deeper meaning. Overall the book reminded me of the Seinfeld Series. Nice CD for a car trip.






On my own I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. It is set in present day Seattle, but the focus is on a Chinese man's flashbacks to the internment of Japanese Americans friends during WWII. Well, actually the book is a love story. I liked it a lot.




Then I have been reading the Twilight Series. I had no interest in this series about vampires at all until Rachel did a short essay on why she didn't like the books. Since the books are so popular and several of Rachel's teachers even raved about them to me, there is even a Twilight Club at our High School, I had to read them. In general I don't believe in banning books but if I did I would ban the Twilight Series.

I am only slightly annoyed that the book is poorly written and the characters are not developed. There are a whole handful of teenagers in this book and you never learn about anything they like to do, what their dreams and goals are. Well this is not entirely true, Bella is a klutz, she trips and falls often. She's not beautiful and doesn't care about the way she dresses. Edward, the vampire boyfriend is BEAUTIFUL. There are so many references to his beauty, his wonderful clothes and his expensive cars that one could easily gag reading the book. The plot; Bella falls in love with Edward and within less than 2 weeks is willing to give up her family, a safe home, everything in her life and is pleading for the vampire boyfriend to bite her so they can be together forever. Does Edward love her for her sense of humor? her intellect? her physical appearance? NO! He loves her for the way she smells.

There are too many other degrading influences upon teenage girls in our society on tv, movies and magazines and now this popular book series. I have nothing against a vampire story line, I just hate how Bella is portrayed as this dumb, lovesick teenage girl who needs someone to protect her from her own clumsiness. Rachel tells me the movie is better than the book. I am not sure how to take that.