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I’m back in Chattanooga, as of late yesterday afternoon. It’s been a warm day here, but it’s about to get wintry cold for the next week or so (at least). So far, this has winter has found me in a strange mood. For the first time in years, I’ve been yearning to be up where the snow is flying.
And further, I want to be in a place where heating systems make some sense. Now that it’s getting cold here, I am suffering through my annual annoyance with the way Southerners heat their homes. The beauty of warm, still, radiant heat is eschewed in these parts. We instead favor the much cheaper forced-air systems, which blow cool, drafty, allergen-filled air through our homes, drying our skin and chilling our bones. It’s just not possible to get warm when there’s a breeze blowing through the house.
The good news, though, is that we spent a very warm, cozy Christmas in Ohio, in a house full of family and associated animals. And there was snow on the ground when we arrived, which lasted for a bit, so I got to enjoy some lovely winter scenery. G-Dog and I got out for a run in it for a couple of miles on both the Eve and on Christmas Day and it was lovely to pass snowmen and frozen ponds along our route. I didn’t quite get the snow lust out of my system, but it was a satisfying dose of winter!
If you’re in a similar mood, you might enjoy these winter scenes from Boston.com’s Big Picture! And Happy Nebulous Week, everyone! It’s the happiest week of the year!! 
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Here’s a question: do they exist in the natural world? Away from the land of Ore-Ida? Can you make them in your own kitchen? With, like, uh… potatoes?
I searched myrecipes.com and the only hits returned were ones with tots listed amongst the ingredients. No recipes for actually making them with natural-occurring food. Wikipedia says they’re rendered hash browns — but not at all clear on what they’re rendered with.
I’m not sure if I can ever eat the tots again…
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Toward the end of the summer (which wasn’t all that long ago here in Tennessee!), my friend Jason and I took a walk through the grounds at the Tennessee Aquarium after having lunch downtown. I’m used to seeing butterflies inside (there’s a great exhibit at the top of the Ocean Journey building), but I didn’t know they also had some butterfly gardens outside, which is where we saw this lovely specimen. (Is it just me, or did it alight on what looks to be a lego flower?)
Have a great weekend, everyone! We’re hoping to get the yard raked of all its leaves on Saturday before some rain moves into the area on Sunday. In the meantime, in addition to enjoying your regular weekly variety of creatures on the modulator’s ark, check out Optus Whale Song, a very clever ad released last spring by a telecommunications company in Australia (if you’ve got broadband, make sure you opt for the larger format!).
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Things that caught my eye recently…
• Oh, Sarah Palin, why do you make me think of you and your horrible inadequacy?!? I don’t deserve that (more here!).
• The world in lego!
• Sesame Street made a joke, the wingnuts freaked out and Colbert had some fun. Honestly, I have no use for Sesame Street or the muppets since that horrible Elmo made his debut, but cut the shaggy rags a break — it was a freakin’ rhyme.
• These photographers color outside of the lines.
• Al Gore (the thinner version!) visited The Daily Show last week.
• Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey and how much will you pay for it? Years ago, when Emmie was a bleeding-heart teenager, she announced that she would not be eating any Thanksgiving turkey unless it had been a happy bird who had lived a good life. I said ok, I’ll give it a whirl, and picked up a free-range, organic bird (and took some long, deep breaths to get me past the sticker shock). I cooked it up and was amazed at how much more moist and delicious the turkey was that year, and have paid the premium prices ever since. It really is better meat.
• The History of Birth Control.
• US Exclaves.
• This link is a bit older, but I loves me some Sarah Vowell!
• Al Franken has gotten to work (he’s not funny (much) — he’s just really good).
• In America, people of all faiths are welcome here to worship Jesus in their own way.
• What’s happening to American conservatism?!?
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I just stumbled across this today and took a good look at it for the first time in many years. It’s the food guide pyramid and I haven’t seen it for a while because I don’t eat cereal for breakfast anymore, so I no longer have a box to read in the mornings.
OK, so here’s my question: who eats that much?!? Granted, “serving” is not defined, so maybe it’s a small amount. But if it’s a natural amount (i.e. a slice of bread, a medium sized bowl of cereal, an apple, an egg), does anyone really eat this much in day? It seems like a lot to me, by pretty much any standard — I mean, we’re only talking about 3 meals and maybe a snack in a day here, so where is all this food supposed to be consumed? And is the pasta lobby really that powerful? ;-D
I think I like this one better — it includes staples left off of the official pyramid, like seasonings and “accompaniments” (wine and tea are in the picture!), and recognizes that there are good and bad fats. It also deals in proportions rather than servings, which seems much more reasonable to me.
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I’ve been cleaning out my bookmarks some this weekend and just ran across this cool series of Earth images from Boston.com’s Big Picture. This image in particular (the blocks of homogeneity are completely freaking me out) gave me an earworm (which I will forever associate with the awesome TV series, Weeds) that I am generously passing on to you, dear reader. (More, unrelated, stunning photos are here… I can’t decide which one is my favorite!)
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Click to embiggen image
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