Fix'n

It wasn't broken, but they had to fix it. Something in our genes makes us create complexities we call 'updating'.. We can't seem to leave things in a simple state if its at all possible to change the involvement of a procedure. Take for example, checking out a library book to read on a kindle.

In the old days all you had to do was ask the librarian at your local library for a card with your name and a number on it, which gave you the privilege of borrowing a book, free of charge, for so many days. If the book was returned late, there was a fine of several pennies for each day the book was over due. The card never expired; it was good for as long as you continued to use it at this particular library.

Then along came the internet with its digital universe. Using a computer to scroll thru a library digital catalog and downloading an ebook to a digital device was a lure too hard to resist. One of my favorite activities had been going to the library, browsing the stacks and rummaging thru the books on the sale table, then going home with an armload of books to read. I liked holding a book and turning the pages, but when I received a kindle as a gift, I gave in, and gave up trips to the library.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ease and convenience of downloading an ebook to my kindle at any time of day or night. Several years went by without a hitch until the digital gods would no longer accept my library card.

What to do, Percy? What to do?

It turns out that the powers that be decided to upgrade the system. The routines had been too simple. Complexities had to be created. Card numbers expired and had to be replaced. Scrolling the library digital catalog now requires clicking and choosing from a myriad of photos and instructions before even getting into the library. Further clicking is required to narrow the search by choosing from a long list that includes which device, type of subject, and availability,

It took me almost 2 weeks of trial and error to download a book to my kindle, even after phoning the library for 'how to'.

The first librarian was brusque, but told me to click on a particular photo, then 'go from there'. I did as told, but 'going from there' didn't work for me.

The second librarian I talked to was more explicit, but mentioned the steps so fast I had trouble jotting down the steps involved before she hung up.

It was by chance and by golly that I finally downloaded 2 ebooks....
I hope I can do it again.

Ripples 9 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

09 Fleas

The car parked discretely in the dirt lot, she began transferring her wealth.

Nearby, noises of others doing the same. Soft bangs and crunches as crates, boxes and bundles were transported towards the street. Arrays of colorful tents and awnings ringed by chalk, lined the gutters. Folding tables unfolded. Contents staged according to each seller's hopes of a buyer.

Vendors carefully watched as their neighbors and competition set up stalls.

What did they bring?
What would it be priced at?
Will a buyer stop there first?
Did they get a better location?

Jealousy. Fear. Envy. Subtexts swirling through the circuit of tables.
Wealth is only wealth, if it brings the price of a meal.

She did not move towards the colorful street marked with chalk outlines, choosing instead a corner just beyond the traced boundaries.

Already, others were there. Mimicking their counterparts just a few steps away. Cautiously unpacking their limited wealth. A few items here and there. Worn packaging, thrift store treasures and dollar store notions set on upended cardboard boxes.

She placed the blanket in an open spot, marking it as hers, and began arranging the driftwood sticks. Cardboard placards with neat lettering described the names of the woods: Oak, Madrone, Redwood and Pine. Satisfied with her arrangement, she opened a battered tool carry, recycled from other projects, now holding a few tools and a stack of sandpapers. Selecting a sandpaper and one of the driftwood sticks, she rubbed away the rough splinters.

She mused about who might come to buy today and what price she would place on various woods. Each type appealed to different buyer. Long straight pieces might be selected as walking sticks. Twisted and gnarled ones were preferred by wood crafters who fashioned them into lamps or turned them on lathes. Pocked marked pine might be selected as a home accent, a testimonial of bark beetle ravage tastefully placed in a flower arrangement. Then there were some who didn't want the wood at all but would slip a banknote in her hand before moving on.

Curios for Gentrifiers.

The early morning parade of lookers passed by. There were the Early Birds, determined to Get There First scanning for their specialty items then hurrying towards the next offering, fearful that another might get there before them.

After the first wave, came other vendors. Not looking to buy but to check pricing; a quick survey of the competition. Rivalries subdued under faked smiles and false wishes for A Good Sale Day.

By mid-morning the Early Birds had fled to other venues and vendors had retreated to their own stalls. Trickles of potential buyers moved slowly through the lanes of merchandise. The calls and chants hyping various items droned in the background.

The pace slowed.

The morning gone, she knew there wouldn't be many more sales this day. The funds she secured in her purse would provide fuel and food for the week. A victory .

Now she could visit. The corner proffered a combination of survival with companionship. Casual friendships lasting from one week to the next, bonded by the weekly gathering, severed when even the cheapest notions became too dear or misfortune forced departures to elsewhere,

Her good friend was sitting nearby. An Old Timer of the corner.

Sales over, her friend was now squinting intently at a phone. Watching her friend's fingers stroke the glass surface, the screen shifted left, right, up, down. A mysterious ballet of choreographed movements; an arabesque performed by Touch under the vigilant direction of Sight.

It was a starting place. A good starting place.

Fine Time Art 04 by Marion 2017

Fine Time Art 04 by Marion 2017

“In The Devil's Garden” Review and Commentary by D. Vour Part 4 of 4

Review and Commentary by D. Vour
Gourmand and Food Critic at “The Home“

“In The Devil's Garden” - “A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food”
Ballantine Books
by
Stewart Lee Allen

Chapter Four – Conclusion

How we prepare foods is a big part of the food taboo story. Rules and recipes abound on precise ways to make, bake and prepare things 'legally'. Variations – authorized or unauthorized – have caused chaos, and all hell breaking loose when food violations occur. The Roman Catholic church, and Greek Orthodox church for example. Someone added yeast to the recipe to the communion wafers, and made little mini loafs instead of wafers, and war broke out between the factions 'til they split, a schism lasting over 900 years, until resolved in the 1960's... all that drama over a touch of some yeast bacteria - it's quite a remarkable story!

Great Chefs are almost a modern form of high priest today, but they have always held special places in society throughout the centuries. In some cultures the highest chef was even made the King-Priest! There is a direct symbolic relationship to a priest giving a wafer, and a chef serving a meal! Chefs are our modern high priests! Each one teasing us with greater and greater culinary heights and delights, vying with each other in social acceptance, and celebrity, like modern day gunslingers, each pulling us into their orbit of gastronomic experimentation with nearly spiritual food experiences! Each modern bite prepared by these wizards of food prep, can be virtually a quasi-religious-spiritual and orgasmic experience at once! Modern chefs are expanding culinary horizons to places seemingly without rules .. can this mean the end of civilization as we know it, or are new rules evolving? Perhaps the yardstick has simply been temporarily pulled out, like a golf flag, and will be moved a bit farther out ?

Every food we enjoy today has been banned in history at some point. Garlic and onions could bring a death penalty, as have at one time or another, eggs, all types of meats, vegetables, almost every spice, many methods of preparation, and even what ingredients may, or may not, be used to 'correctly make' something - some even had punishments worse than instant death for the hapless chef (often in horrible ways related to the ill used food.. boiling in oil, roasting in an oven, or flayed and cooked along with the meal, or buried in salt!) The famous French Chef to Louis the 14th – Vatel, is noted to have committed suicide by falling on his sword when the fish to be served arrived a half hour late for the Kings dinner !

Each of the seven sins is well covered here with great erudition and wit .. and it reads easily and quickly .. perfect for a kindle and limited read time .. short segments tied together for easy chapters on Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Greed, Envy, and Anger, and he even offers an intriguing 8th sin – “When Everything Is Allowed, And Nothing Has Flavor.” !

This whole idea of forbidden foods bumps up against a future where we currently have vast foodie 'lawlessness' – where the classic rules are tossed out in ever more adventurous culinary feats. In severe contrast, this trend is fighting against a growing wasteland of corporate food conformity.

Modern attitudes to dining, encourage creative chefs to reach out and try new things; allowing, and encouraging the meeting of disparate ingredients not traditionally used together, breaking new ground, and food laws too, whilst seeking exotic flavor profiles, and ever more complex taste horizons. These valiant modern priest-chefs seek to sate the demand for 'Amuse-bouches' that are more over the top than the previous efforts. Battalions, and cadres of new young chefs work to fulfill ever exotic culinary demands by modern gourmands – in some irony – or homage – mirroring the extreme explorations of olden time chefs trying to meet the demands for sumptuous meals and feasts of their own times. Now, good foods are in reach of everyone, and no longer consigned to the rarefied dining of only the aristocracy.

However, on the other side of that approach, could we just as easily be facing a looming and darker corporate food future in the not too distant future; one fraught with the dangers of mass food conformity, trying to feed the increasing masses? This portends a dreary corporate sterility – a world without many food options – everything cardboard flavored, but “approved”? (Soylent Green comes to mind !?)

We have to be watchful about our modern food rules, laws, and taboos. We could just as easily be evolving to a place where the only foods being offering are those officially approved! No other foods need apply! Whoever controls the food chain controls this issue.

Where do you stand on food conformity, or genetic modifications, or mass production of your grub? The western food supply lines are getting more and more tenuous, in spite of the amazing range of seeming abundance, and choices that we enjoy in fancy western markets. Will our modern western cornucopia endure forever? Genetic modifed grains, droughts, sever weather and storms, global climate changes, all will play a role in our food supply in years to come. Are we prepared for it?

What about places in the world that barely have one item of food for the masses; limited local grains, rice, or corn - and that's it!? Do we need to have guilt about our abundance of choice, while others have none? Is this a form of subjugation that we unwittingly play a part in ? Food laws and taboos are ever evolving, and challenging us all to stay alert and aware.

There are forces at play that want to control your food, and all your ideas about food, thus controlling your thoughts and emotions especially, so that you buy and eat what “they” want you to. Food taboos and laws are the means to control you !

It's a crazy, modern, adventurous, and even dangerous food world out there, but delicious and exciting, good, and wholesome foods still await the adventurous – enjoy, but be sure to follow the rules, and remember, only allow your “right” foods in !

End

In The Devil's Garden
A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food

“In The Devil's Garden” Review and Commentary by D. Vour Part 3 of 4

Review and Commentary by D. Vour
Gourmand and Food Critic at “The Home“

“In The Devil's Garden” - “A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food”
Ballantine Books
by
Stewart Lee Allen

Chapter Three – of Four

Food is a powerful tool, for good and evil; used to control people through virtually every civilization, religion, region, state, and even across continents. Throughout history for example, limiting – or preventing – certain foods has allowed subjugation of the poor.

The true story of the white potato is heartbreaking .. and I thought I knew about the Irish potato famine. I learned the tragedy was put in motion many years before, when grains were restricted, or priced out of reach, or forbidden. The English - used the white potato to subjugate the Irish, and control them. Believing the white potato was not fit for humans, it was forced by law, as the only crop allowed to be grown by the 'subhuman' Irish. Grains were virtually non existent, and at times illegal to posses, making the lowly 'tater the only food source. When the potato blight hit, destroying all the potatoes, and ruining the only food source, it doomed millions to perish from starvation. There was no grain to fill the void! The resulting migration to 'greener pastures' brought millions to North America, and anywhere that wasn't Ireland. The Irish were amazed at our 'land of plenty', which was certainly a remarkable, and welcome, contrast to the old country. It's no accident that the early Irish in North America settled where grains grow!

Who you feed, invite to dinner, or don’t invite, has each been the cause of wars and social unrest. Religions with castes for example; if one invites another from a higher caste, they have just redefined that person as a caste lower! .. and in some cases such an invitation can bring a death penalty. It pays to know your place – literally .. in the 'food chain' ! Surprisingly, food has even been used in lieu of wars – to prevent fighting – there is an anecdote about a state that believes whoever throws the biggest most lavish gluttonous feast wins – when the last person can't put in one more morsel of food!

Food has been used to pit one religion against another – or even within a religion. I was unaware that the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox Greek split apart for over 900 years over the serious philosophical argument about the use of 'yeast', or 'no yeast' in the baking of communion wafers!

We begin to see food as a primary force, moving, shaking, controlling, and shaping history. There have been food laws in every time and place throughout history; Aboriginal, Native American, European, Middle Eastern, Asian, and every known place around the globe. You name it, and virtually every society, culture, religion and civilization, has rules or laws about foods. There are laws to 'use', or 'not use', almost every ingestible ingredient in history. Food has played a dominant role in shaping the times, and places of history, and even all human evolution !

Everything that can be ingested has been used to control manipulate, or stimulate, in some way in its past -- you name it – there are factions on both sides of it ! Virtually every single thing you get at a modern grocery store or restaurant, has detractors, or proponents: for good or bad, either currently, or in the past. In ancient times, many things that you can't even believe could be eaten today, were prized and controlled. All foods have had their unique moment in time, and place.

End of part 3 ... to be continued..

In The Devil's Garden
A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food

“In The Devil's Garden” Review and Commentary by D. Vour Part 2 of 4

Review and Commentary by D. Vour
Gourmand and Food Critic at “The Home“

“In The Devil's Garden” - “A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food”
Ballantine Books
by
Stewart Lee Allen

Chapter Two – of Four

We all have favorite foods, and some have traditional places in time, season, or related superstitions ... have you ever tossed salt over your shoulder? Ever been curious why bacon, eggs, toast, and cereal are considered just for breakfast? They weren't for centuries. How did that evolve? We have classic and traditional holiday meals – Turkey feast at thanksgiving comes to mind, or a Christmas Goose, Ham at Easter, even 'Day of the Dead' feasts for the Mexican culture. We all have foods made to celebrate various religious dates. This goes back past ancient Egypt, the Romans, and Greeks.. who have each successively co-opted the others holy day feasts … unto modern times.

Many years ago I saw an intriguing documentary on foods – exploring the idea that food was a big factor why the ancient Roman soldier was so successful. They contrasted what the Roman army ate against the sumptuous banquets and the omnivorous diet of the aristocracy; warrior food, versus royal food. They recreated the soldiers recipes from ancient cookbooks, prepared, and reviewed the flavors of the foods – even checked nutritional values – It was all quite different than modern times I assure you. The food and flavors would never be accepted today, - using herbs, and plants,and ingredients that in modern days would never cross your lips, but were popular favorites of the Roman troops of the day. Flavors that would make a modern person gag. Overripe and putrid foods, and just 'nasty stuff'. Some dishes and sauces were too nasty and not edible by the TV crew. However, the idea that one type of food was only acceptable to certain classes was an eye opener to this omnivorous writer … I never followed up on this interesting idea until this book arrived .. but I digress..

I will try to give a sense of the depth and scope of this insanely fun, informative and equally challenging tome. There is a remarkable range of food information covered, and I doubt that I will ever think about any food in the same way ever again. The author - Steward Lee Allen – makes wonderful and remarkably intriguing connections, and tells amazing and fascinating stories of how foods have been used to shape history. He utilizes a clever format for the sections, the seven deadly sins. He ties these sins to an incredible array of foods and ideas; religious, political, and social. He offers great anecdotes about how these foods have come to associated with the appropriate sins. With 10 pages of fine print bibliography, it is very well researched. Reads like a travelogue around the globe through time and places, past and present, covering the four corners!

Each chapter starts with an appropriate menu to that sin, and there are a few incredible recipes offered from the menus, all done with a delightful bit of tongue in cheek wit liberally applied, reflecting a modern twist on some interesting old foods or drinks – all worth trying at home. Absinthe with Champagne sounded pretty interesting. All look fun, some for curiosity, some because they still taste great ! .

This is a complicated tale of how food has played a role in evolving everything – all aspects of history -- not just physical history, but the whole evolution of our core religious, sociological, anthropological, political, emotional and psychological beliefs! It's a tale of how these ideas and beliefs can be manipulated by society, social organizations, corporations and religions, to affect what we believe, and thus ultimately in modern times : how we buy, eat and see the products we get – often symbolically.

Ketchup, is our modern metaphor for 'blood' (representing a fresh kill when we go out 'hunting' for food -ie driving for a burger). We learn that salads are traditionally 'woman’s food'. As an historical fact, at one time in the 1800's, women were only allowed to eat salads.. meat was forbidden, thus today, commercials selling salads feature women, because we have been inculcated by time and DNA, and traditions, that salads are for 'women folk'.

Conversely, meat is for men. We only see 'He-men' at a BBQ grill in TV meat commercials ! (how would you feel seeing a woman grilling a steak, or a football player eating a dainty salad in those commercials?) - these feelings are created and manipulated to make us think a certain way, by promoting or prohibiting foods! We even have had restrictions on what we can eat on certain days; meatless Monday, fish on Friday. Marketeers know that everyone likes to break rules .. so if it is 'forbidden' or Taboo, you will crave it. We tend to give higher marks to food we feel guilty about. Ever feel guilty eating something? That was because you were manipulated to feel that guilt.. and guilt sells! If you put a warning label on food .. the sales surge ! Why?

This book helps us understand a lot of those why's !

End of part 2 ... to be continued..



In The Devil's Garden
A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food

“In The Devil's Garden” Review and Commentary by D. Vour Part 1 of 4

Review and Commentary by D. Vour
Gourmand and Food Critic at “The Home“

“In The Devil's Garden” - “A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food”
Ballantine Books
by
Stewart Lee Allen

Chapter One – of Four

I just finished reading one of the most interesting books I've ever come across. I found it completely by accident . As these things usually do, I was looking for another book with a similar title, but mistyped the search, and by pure synchronicity 'The Devils Garden' popped up. I saw that it was a history of forbidden food .. which immediately caught my fancy, how fascinating .. I checked it out from the library, and started reading the prologue. I was hooked, … line and sinker! I could see that I was going to be caught up in an exciting maelstrom of swirling, new ideas to me about food: Taboos ! Food as social engineering – who knew?

How could we not be fascinated with forbidden foods? What foods are forbidden? I quickly wondered to myself – hmm … religious food bans of course … (or curse) .. but nothing else came to mind. After reading a few paragraphs, I realized that this was covering way more than just 'don’t eat pork'! I saw a comment about being a taboo to enjoy, and a taboo to not enjoy, eating!? This begs the question, if it's a sin to enjoy food, and a sin not to enjoy food – which side are you on: Saint, or Devil ? With food, don’t both views have some allure?

I love food and cooking stuff, and have always had a curiosity about foods people have eaten in bygone days. Likewise, I've been curious why certain foods are always identified with people or places; think of sauerkraut, and Germany comes to mind, think wine – et voila La Belle France, and pasta is of course “Italian”. Of course today, these items come from everywhere, but we still think of them as things related to those people or places.

What do you think of first, if I say 'watermelon', 'garlic', curry, or 'sweet potato pie' ? I suspect that cultural factors reflect your personal view of these; We ate Chinese food on special occasions. Garlic, when I was a kid, was avoided in school as being for 'Italians, as was the dreaded salami sandwich – garlic breath is death'. Curry was 'foreign food'. I didn’t eat curry 'til I got to college. Watermelon somehow ascribes to black southern culture, as does 'fried chicken' – even while both are readily available anywhere around the world and equally popular or famous ! What about the poor and oft maligned sweet potato, and sweet potato pie, which is not as quite popular as its' Pumpkin pie cousin. The lowly sweet potato was once a product allowed for European royalty only, and now in modern times, it is thought of as something more for 'poor folks'. In spite of this, the sweet potato is becoming respectable and trendy with modern foodies again. The sweet potato, and other veggies are seeing a re-surging popularity among the hip young organic crowd. You could not give kale away 10 years ago. Its only use was decoration on a salad bar. Now kale s everywhere, and in everything !? Our ideas about food are constantly evolving!

We do assign our belief structure to our food. Would you eat a live baby octopus ? Apparently, this is quite popular in Korea – but not so much here in USA.!? My point exactly!. One mans meat is another mans throat choker - err - I mean 'poison'! Snail, grubs, brains offal, sweetmeats, organ meat, wild game, bush meat : how do you feel about eating these ? What emotions are stirred pondering a bite fried insects? These emotions are used to control us, by making certain foods approved, or taboos.

This tale is brilliantly told with compactness and alacrity. The scope is remarkable, making connections, and contrasts with the ancient and modern views on our constantly evolving and changing attitudes, rules, and laws about food, and food items. There are amazing and incredible histories and anecdotes into the whys and wherefores of how these taboos, superstitions, and traditions have come about … and usually not what you previously expected or believed !

End of part 1 ... to be continued..



In The Devil's Garden
A Sinful History Of Forbidden Food

Ripples 8 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

08 Ties of Time

The phone and Whatsit chip joined the residues of a different time.

The plastic containers holding the reminders of her life now held the reminder of another's life.

Outside, along the slim walkway, she sorted through her harvests of driftwood. Tangled heaps in varying states: wet, drying and dried, inversely mimicking her hopes: today, tomorrow and the next.

Selecting pieces of the dried wood, she tied them into a bundle using a worn rope. She didn't think much of the rope. Unraveling and frayed, a pale yellow betraying its age, yet still strong enough to be useful. She had found it on the beach. Another piece of jetsam brought in with the tide along with other trash, much of which, would be washed away on the turn.

A continuous cycle of: Trash in. Trash out.

She placed the bundle of dried wood in the back end of an old car. The car had once been new ... for someone else. Like herself, it had traveled the roads and turnings that make up time coming to rest, at least for a short while, in her possession. It would remain for only as long as she could pay the costs: fuel, license, insurance and the never ending repairs needed to keep an old vehicle running. While you might get a modicum of moral support or token financial allotment for caring for an aged person, caring for an aged car was unique and there wasn't any support for that anywhere. Old cars, like old people, just died. Few cared either way.

Collecting a jacket, a blanket and a recycled plastic baggie with some food in it, she placed these in the car too. Intended as lunch, the baggie was secured with a mangled green twister saved from a grocery visit. Verifying she had already stowed a folding chair, she returned to the kitchen.

Taking the paper from the worn table she folded it neatly and placed it in her pocket.

She picked up her purse; locking the door as she left.

Fine Time Art 03 by KimB 2017

Fine Time Art 03 by KimB 2017

Ripples 7 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

07 Whatsit

The stub of a pencil traced the new information on the paper.

She compared her drawings with the phone: front and back. Arrows pointed to the location of tiny connection points. She did her best to copy the stenciled patterns.

She set aside the phone and reached for the tiny plastic container.

Tipping the contents into her hand, she examined the tiny black and red object.

It was certainly small. One side had some symbols on it and the other side had golden stripes. Avoiding the golden stripes she turned it over. She knew what it was or at least she thought she knew. It was old school now. She smiled, rather like herself. Old School.

Using the magnifying glass to see the tiny symbols, she copied them onto the paper. Funny looking symbols. Broken circles, buckets, numbers and stylized lettering crowded the tiny surface. Notches, dog-ears and crop outs formed its irregular shape. These she carefully added to the paper.

Satisfied that she had copied all correctly, she dropped the tiny object back into the container and snapped the lid tight.

She examined the finished drawing.

Something was odd.

Her eyes scanned the drawing several times.

Something was not right.

She picked up the phone, compared it with her drawing. Turing the phone over and around, looking at it from all angles to confirm.

She hadn't missed anything. The drawing was correct.

There was still something wrong.

The golden bars on the object, now locked inside the plastic container, were there for a reason. They allowed the object to be slipped into a matching slot. But this phone had no such opening. None. The tiny object had been sandwiched between the protection case and the phone. It had fallen out when she pulled off the protector.

It wasn't part of the phone.

Fine Time Art 02 by Marion 2017

Fine Time Art 02 by Marion 2017

Ripples 6 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

06 Peppers and Pins

From a drawer, she retrieved a small plastic container and lid.

The kind you get at fast food places for holding hot peppers or dressings. Once washed, they become useful for holding the miscellany that seem to accumulate in every drawer: odd coins, paper clips, brads and push pins. Packaged with cork boards, now long discarded, the colorful pins never seem to get thrown away. Lingering on in drawers; loose pins waiting for an unwary finger.

Carefully, she placed the tiny black and red item in the container and snapped the lid on. She placed it next to the phone.

Now she had two items to consider.

She frowned to herself for a moment then returned her attention to the phone.

Big dogs first, she thought.

With the protective cover removed, she could see more details. Faint engravings. A logo. A manufacture's name. Stenciled patterns. On one edge, neatly hidden in the stenciled stippling, some barely discernible text.

Through a scratched magnifying glass, retrieved from the drawer while avoiding some colored pins that had escaped their repurposed container (the lid having popped off), she peered closely at the minuscule text.

She could see:

A name followed by a mixture of numbers and letters.

Fine Time Art 01 by Marion 2017

Fine Time Art 01 by Marion 2017

Fine Time Art

[Note: Editor's Post]

Coloring Books were FUN to do as children.

Selecting the never ending colors of crayons, deciding which colors went where and trying to stay in the lines with generally happy results. Of course there were disappointments: broken crayons, missing favorite colors, scribbles and the not uncommon dreaded gash of color outside the boundaries caused by an uncertain young hand or an over enthusiastic application of color.

Later coloring books gave way to sketch books and painting and the DIY world of art.

Make your own and make it your own way.

Coloring books were set aside on the way to adulthood becoming the provenance only of the very young.

Personally, I did miss coloring books. Sometimes I would look at the ones offered up for children remembering hunting for that periwinkle crayon or lamenting the stubs of broken crayons that never seemed to color as well as the unbroken ones. Sketch pads were not quite the same.

Someone in marketing must have noticed.

The makers of coloring books realized there was a ginormous market of untapped coloring book artists just waiting for a chance to color: this time as adults. They recognized that the large block cartoons offered to children would not satisfy the inner coloring desires of an adult and embarked on the possibly hazardous path of offering coloring books for adults.

They built upon the last vestige of time when young people colored between the lines, doing complicated posters that often grace the rooms of high school students and college dormitories.

Building upon the complicated designs of the posters they returned to a book format. Something that would fit in a briefcase or could be carried easily and perhaps sheltered from disapproving eyes. The secret coloring book artist would not be betrayed by a garish cover trolling:

LOOK! SHE'S COLORING!

Suddenly, the inner coloring book genie escaped and an explosion of coloring books for adults are now available. Stacks and stacks of all sorts of books. Hard designs, easy designs, books that include the colored pencils, color by number books, books of favorite characters or movies, books with holiday themes. Colored pencils, gel pens, watercolor felt pens, crayons and every sort of media from ink to glitter are available. No more laments for the missing periwinkle as assorted packs of pencils and pens offer hundreds of colors with duplicates of the favorites.

MrsB has become an enthusiastic coloring book artist. She's passed her enthusiasm to everyone around her. She's taken the challenge of merging DIY art with a fixed format. Her selection of media for any piece ranges from colored pencils to gel pens to well, anything she thinks will be interesting. She mixes gel pen colors: coloring one color on top of another while the ink is wet to obtain unusual and distinct colors.

Of her work she said:

Well, it's not Fine Art.

I countered:

It IS Fine Art because we have FINE TIME doing it!

Thus, our Fine Time Art selection was created.

Look for examples of the art produced by MrsB, myself and perhaps other intrepid secret coloring book artists. The designs will be posted on Mondays. We already have quite a few ready to show.


Our current recurring topics are:

Recurring Topics
Monday	Fine Time Art
Wednesday	Ripples Episodes

We hope that spring will bring back some Gardening Competition... that is if the rain ever stops. And perhaps a few new recipes will make their way on to a page here and there.

And we want to thank all the readers of MrsB blog. We know that people from all over the world visit her pages and we hope they feel welcome here. We hope you enjoy the stories we tell.

No matter where you are: We are all family.

KimB Editor

Ripples 5 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

05 Opening Move

She put the emptied chipped mug, in the tiny sink.

A quick turn of the tap, a quick swish and the mug was set on a towel to dry.

Washing the mug was easy.
Finding the owner of the phone still eluded her.

Returning to the table, she picked up the phone and examined it again. A rubbery protective cover enclosed most of the phone. She looked carefully at the cover and began to pull at a corner. Pulling here and there along the edges, twisting the phone as she went, she worked at loosening it. She worried that she might damage the phone trying to get the cover off. Still, she thought, if the cover had been put on, then the cover could come off.

With nervous fingers she worked the cover over the edges of the phone. It seemed as if the cover resisted her attempts but like a reluctant jar lid, once the vacuum seal was broken, the cover slipped easily into one hand, the phone in the other.

Something fell on the table.

It was small. Tiny. The red and black color nearly lost on the surface of the worn table. Not even as big as a postage stamp.

She wondered, how many still remembered postal stamps.

Can't

Can't is a contraction of the words: can and not

Meaning: unable
Example:

The French can't count to twenty.

American Generals can't keep their mouths shut.

Ripples 4 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

04 By Any Other Name

Plastic bins, holding the fragments of what once was, were stacked along a wall. Remnants of the past. Harbingers of the future.

She got up and crossed the room and began to shift the stack of plastic bins. Rummaging through one of them she returned. An old pad of paper and stubby pencil placed on the table, she sat down, picked up the hot coffee and considered the phone.

It couldn't hurt to try to find the owner, she thought.

Brushing aside a small counterpoint of doubt, she placed the found phone on the paper and traced two outlines: one front and one back. She began to draw in all the features she could see. Buttons here and there. Plugs and connection points. She noted the colors that she could see but an enclosing protector covered the back and sides obscuring parts of the phone.

After labeling the outline drawings with what she could see, there still wasn't anything there to indicate the owner.

She frowned slightly.

She remembered long ago, losing her wallet while riding the municipal bus. She had gotten home with a small plastic bag of groceries only to find that the most important item she owned, the wallet, was missing. Her I.D. and a tiny amount of cash were in the wallet. Losing the money would mean a few extra dinners of peanut butter, but losing the I.D. was far worse.

Dread thoughts of having to stand in line after line at numerous offices waiting for bored and exhausted employees to help her fill out the required forms and obtain the official replacements, generated tears of frustration and anger at her own stupidity. Losing the wallet was just another step on the rung downward. No amount of peanut butter could fix that.

It was to her surprise that the door bell rang. Wiping her still damp face, she opened the door to see a person she did not know, standing there. Polite and well dressed, the person stood there and in broken English spoke her name. Yes, she nodded, puzzled as to what this person wanted of her. Then, as if in response to her expression, the person held out her wallet.

Almost like a dream, she reached for the wallet and opened it. There was all her money and her I.D too. A joy of profound relief flooded her. She stuttered her thanks and gestured for the person to remain. She hurried inside to find something suitable. Taking a small knitted lap robe from one of the plastic bins, she returned to the open door to give her thanks and the gift. Stepping outside to share her happiness, she looked around.

The person had gone.

The wallet, the only testimony that the person had ever been.

Valentines

The valentines I've received over the years has varied from Valentine cards from schoolmates, to boxes of chocolate and flowers from admirers to tokens of affection from husband and my children. In long ago lower grade school days, trading valentine cards with those in class was a ritual we always looked forward to. It was a sort of validation that we were liked by our class mates, and we took satisfaction in comparing the numbers of valentines we received.

I remember one particular valentine card I received when in high school. When I removed it from the envelope, I was surprised to see a fancier card than the type we usually bought at the dime store to give away. This valentine had a bit of paper lace and ribbon. It was signed, George.

Now, there was a boy that I has a secret crush on, whose name was George. He was a year ahead of me in high school, so we didn't share any classes, but he was one of a group that often met at my friend Caroline's house after supper to play games. My secret remained just that. Regardless of the fancy valentine, George never seemed to go out of his way to chat or sit with me during lunch.

Some time later, I discovered the valentine had come from Caroline's younger brother, George. It had never occurred to me that a boy in a lower grade would have sent me such a fancy valentine. Needless to say, we both survived our misplaced affections.

Ripples 3 by KimB

[Editor's Note: Ripples is a serial story.
The author makes no guarantees as to completing the serial.
Publication dates are located in the left side menu.]

03 Finders Keepers?

The phone was like a lost dog.

It had a home, it had an owner. It had been costly to acquire. It would be costly to replace. It had been wanted, at least at some point.

What do you do with a found phone, she thought.

Her first thought was that she would it would be easy to find the owner, just turn it on and Phone Home. As she considered this, something about the phone made her pause, something about it made her question, something made her uneasy.

Maybe Phoning Home wasn't such a good idea.

In the old days, if you found a lost dog, there was the Lost and Found section in the newspapers. The ads were generally free to place and people knew where to look.

• Found Fancy Dog. Near Corner Park. Call to identify
• Lost Fancy Dog. Near Corner Park. Please Call. Reward.

Now, there really wasn't anywhere to look or rather, there were too many places to look. There were millions of people looking in these on-line places but not necessarily the one you needed to find.

There were always plenty of people willing to claim a fancy dog that wasn't really theirs. The dog would always expose the fake owners.

Can't call the dog? Not your dog.

There would be a lot of people willing to claim a fancy phone.

A lot.

Too many.

For all of it being a "smartphone", it wasn't near as smart as a dog ....
A dog would have tried to find its own way home.

Then again, there were some who didn't want their dog back.

Saving Animals

After I learned about saving wild mustangs on the web pages of the Bureau of Land Management, I surfed other Bureaus of the Department of the Interior, which in turn led to browsing web sites of various foundations and conservancies dedicated to saving wild life.

While wars rage across the planet, one is hard pressed to think of saving wild life when rivers of refugees stream from country to country, seeking safety from falling bombs.

As a child growing up in a small river town in the middle of the country's agricultural area, the only time we saw exotic animals like elephants, giraffes, monkeys, lions and tigers was when the circus came to town and in later years, visits to zoos and aquariums. In those long ago days, the thought that giraffes might become extinct was as absurd as believing in Buck Roger's space adventures.

In the high school class room where we studied biology, the walls were lined with shelves holding stuffed birds of all description. The room was also used by college students and it was assumed that college students studied them, but in those days, birds were the least of my concerns; Robbins were just a familiar sight as they hunted for earthworms in the lawns we passed on our way to school.

It wasn't until I browsed the American Bird Conservancy web site that I learned about bird safe glass. The N. Y. Audubon group has been monitoring the base of a dozen buildings, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Warner Center, for bird kills since 1990. Its estimated that 90,000 birds die each year after flying into glass facades. The solution is bird safe glass.

There are several approaches to creating bird safe glass, silkscreen coating and ultraviolet patterns birds can see, but humans can't. A German company created ultraviolet patterns inspired by the reflective silk strands of spider webs. regardless of techniques used in making the glass, research shows that spacing is even more important. If patterns are placed 2" apart horizontally, and 4" apart vertically, birds will not fly into the glass. Birds will not fly through spaces that are less than 2" high, or 4" wide.

There are hundreds of web sites dedicated to saving birds and more than an equal number dedicated to saving all manner of wild life. Knowing that species come and go, we may not prevent the demise of some. If humans continue to kill humans, AND, continue to search for ways to do so, maybe our species will be the first to go.



ORNILUX
bird safety glass