The Daily Rave

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Originally Posted by razz

Now I am curious. Tried thinking about the wolf's perspective on the three little pigs story and how I would write it. I had no success so need some suggestions please. Was he just trying to help them build a better house by blowing the old one down? ;)

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Well the sad truth is that Mr. A. Wolf was framed.


All he wanted was a cup of sugar from the pigs. He was baking a cake for his dear granny and he ran out of sugar and so he went to his neighbors, the three little pigs, to borrow sugar. But he was not feeling well and had a cold. It wasn’t his fault when his cold made him sneeze and huff and blow the straw house down. He ate that homeowner pig because the pig was already dead, so why not?


Same thing for the pig who lived in the house of twigs. A. Wolf just wanted to borrow sugar but when he got to the door he started sneezing and huffing and the house of sticks fell down. It was not his fault. He couldn’t let the dead pig in that house just lie there and rot, that was good food! so it had to be eaten.


He tried to borrow sugar from the last pig who lived in a house of brick. His cold came on him and he sneezed and huffed and puffed, but the house stood solid and that pig, selfish as he was, would not share any sugar. The cops came and caught the wolf and then accused him of deliberately huffing and puffing to ruin the houses. basically he was framed.

That is not bad, IL. That is a lot of pig to clean up so as not to waste good food. :D

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Originally Posted by razz

That is not bad, IL. That is a lot of pig to clean up so as not to waste good food. :D

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Haha yep!

I bought that book for my brother when I first saw it- He had us read him the 3 little pigs EVERY NIGHT for a long period of time. He remembered and laughed at the wolf's perspective in "The True Story".

I told my daughter-in-law she should open a Roth IRA and contribute to it for 2020, and she told me last night at dinner, all excited, that she had used her vacation pay out from her old job to open it. She was so proud and excited. So I'm helping her learn about index etf's, and I am really, really happy she listened and now is asking for advice.

What a nice Mother's Day present--and she cooked dinner for me, too! She is a wonderful family member, we are so lucky to have her.

That is great, Tybee!

Very very nice Tybee!

That’s great Tybee!

Love it, Tybee! It shows the great respect your DIL has for you, and one has to EARN that!!

Do you want to see something weird? And strangely beautiful? And interesting?

behold! The ‘Jungle Shadows’ iris.

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when I saw it in my friend’s garden last year all I could say is “what is that? What is that? What…Is THAT!”

It’s spooky and creepy and Gothic. It looks like it grew up among mushrooms. It’s just weird as hell. I love it so much and it gives me goosebumps and makes me a little verklempt.

I ran out and ordered three rhizomes, and two of them survived the winter So I hope this clump grows.

It reminds me of an iris I was obsessed with about 10 years ago, for the same reasons. I thought it was dark and mysterious and insanely interesting. I still have that Iris but I’m not in love with it as I once was. It’s called ‘Disguise. ‘

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Beautiful iris! It is spooky--an Addams Family plant! I could see it working well in a Chihuly installation!

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I grow black hollyhocks, so I get the attraction--they are so unexpected.

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Originally Posted by Tybee

I grow black hollyhocks, so I get the attraction--they are so unexpected.

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Oh black Hollyhocks! I had a few one year for my gothic garden!

The main thing I learned from that gothic garden experience was: there is an inherent conflict in what I want and vs. what I can grow. I wanted a shady, ferny area with black flowers, dark leaved plants, with bits of bright color for contrast. There are some wonderful near-black flowers out there.

What I learned was in order to develop that gorgeous rich dark color, these black flowers need full sun. That sunny environment is opposite of the shady, dark and quiet, spooky atmosphere I wanted.

Like the black-ish tulips! A Goth garden would be really fun, but you are right--you need that sun.

My rave is that my husband's nephew came to visit, and we met his girlfriend, and she is a delight. We decided to cook up some fiddlehead ferns as an experiment and they were really good.

It was a great day, with really nice young people to share it with, with young people enthusiasms and optimisms, and we even went out to a restaurant to eat, though we decided to eat outside on the picnic tables, because it was too loud inside.

It's fun to see them grow up, when you remember them as little kids.

And oh, I got to offload 10 photos of the nephew as a little boy, including pictures from his second birthday party.

Score!

That sounds like fun Tybee.

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Originally Posted by Tybee

My rave is that my husband's nephew came to visit, and we met his girlfriend, and she is a delight. We decided to cook up some fiddlehead ferns as an experiment and they were really good.

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Sounds like a great day! We went to my son's house the other night and he has a LOT of fiddlehead ferns growing in his backyard. Can you share your recipe? He cooked them last year but I'm always open to suggestions.

Just put “seek” app on my iPad to identify flowers and, hopefully, birds. Tried it out on a few flowers in my yard and it worked well. Kinda cool.

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Originally Posted by frugal-one

Just put “seek” app on my iPad to identify flowers and, hopefully, birds. Tried it out on a few flowers in my yard and it worked well. Kinda cool.

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My favorite plant ID app is Picture This. Let me know how Seek is!

These apps are so amazing to hear about. Thanks for sharing. The dog and I will have more to explore now on our daily walks.
I found the 'picture this' app but not the 'seek' as yet. Is more info available?

Oh, I will have to try Picture This for tree identification. We have no idea what some of these are, but I guess it would help if the leaves would open already.

Catherine, for the fiddleheads, we washed them by soaking in cold water several times, boiled them for about 5 minutes in salt water (not sure why you do this) and then sauteed them with butter, olive oil, and a minced clove of garlic. Then we just ate them, although I added shaved parmesan to mine.

We all decided they would be a good addition to fettucine alfredo.

They taste an awful lot like asparagus.

Just some pretty iris photos tKen yesterday in our community garden. Enjoy them upside down or rightside up, whochever way the photo posting fairy places them!

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Those are beautiful!!

I particularly like the yellow/maroon variety.

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Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

Those are beautiful!!

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I especially love the rose pink of the first image and last image. Love Irises! Thanks for posting these, IL.

Lovely!

Love irises. Thanks for sharing the pics.

The neighbors across the street moved. The wife was a serious social climber/snob (first encounter: she told me she almost didn't buy the house because she didn't think my house was good enough to be in her neighborhood) and the husband spent all his free time with motorized things taking care of his lawn. Watering daily, mowing 3 times a week, daily blowing of the driveway, occasionally other motorized things were going. Usually when I wanted to relax. Often before 7am on a weekend morning.

The new neighbor hired a lawn service that comes once a week during the day for 1/2 hour. She has 1/2 time custody of her grandchildren and its delightful to hear their chatter instead of constant machine noise.

Herb, what a snob and good riddance to that jerk! At my house we had 3 kids next door and it was delightful to see them grow up. I never minded the noise either. They were really nice kids.

My neighbourhood is a mix of ethnics, seniors, singles, families, obsessive lawn, some opposite in viewpoint on lawns... I enjoy and visit with them all. I deliberately chose to avoid a senior complex. I wanted a garden and space for my dog as well as the mixed society.
The only aggravation is one dog owner of an uncontrollable poodle cross. He keeps wanting to have his dog learn to be friends with mine. I suggested he take the dog to a kennel to help with this training. The kennel evaluated and refused the dog.

Finally, last week when I was out on a walk, he crossed the road towards me with his attempting to have the dogs visit, I informed him," That won't happen as I do not wish to be scratched by any dog." I hope that is the end of it.

The new facility got my mother to take a shower--it took them a week, but they did it.

She had been wearing the same clothes, day and night, at the old place, for over 4 weeks. When my husband and I were moving her things out, we found trash and old food everywhere. One of her nightgowns hanging in the closet smelled so bad it made me sick.

(It has been my mission, since I arrived here, to get her out of that place, and I had to fight my brothers every step of the way, as they kept telling me "they are doing such a good job with her." I was ready to call Adult Protective Services. She was so stressed that she actually hit someone.

Today, at the new place, she was actually happy and relaxed.

I'm sorry Tybee; that sounds so distressing. So glad she is in a better place. Good job!

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Originally Posted by Tybee

The new facility got my mother to take a shower--it took them a week, but they did it.

She had been wearing the same clothes, day and night, at the old place, for over 4 weeks. When my husband and I were moving her things out, we found trash and old food everywhere. One of her nightgowns hanging in the closet smelled so bad it made me sick.

(It has been my mission, since I arrived here, to get her out of that place, and I had to fight my brothers every step of the way, as they kept telling me "they are doing such a good job with her." I was ready to call Adult Protective Services. She was so stressed that she actually hit someone.

Today, at the new place, she was actually happy and relaxed.

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So glad that you were there to support her to ensure that she is safe and 'feels cared for' as well as is cared for. Well done!

Tybee, I'm so glad she is in a stable, well-staffed place with the best care, and that she is adapting well!! It must be such a load off your mind!

The discussions here lately around the difficulty of dealing with parents with dementia made me want to read the book Still Alice. I saw the movie, but from what I understand, the book (which is usually better than the movie anyway) is written from the Alice's POV. Hard to accomplish that in a movie, but apparently the author has a degree in neuroscience and she interviewed tons of patients to get their perspective on the journey. She also distinguishes between "sympathy" and "empathy" and that her book is really focused on empathy--being "with" the person on their journey.

I've been trying delayed gratification with my one-click Amazon trigger finger, but it's been 3 days now since I've had the urge to get the kindle version. I may go ahead with it, after I check my local library.

Thank you, guys, it was a tremendous relief and takes away much stress!

That is so good, Tybee! Glad things are working out.

Thanks, happystuff!

Tybee, I'm so happy she is doing better. Maybe you can relax a bit.

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Originally Posted by nswef

Tybee, I'm so happy she is doing better. Maybe you can relax a bit.

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Thank you! Once we figure out where we're living, that will help on the stress front.

That’s great news Tybee!!

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Originally Posted by Tybee

Thank you! Once we figure out where we're living, that will help on the stress front.

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Tybee, from the little that we know, it seems that the move was necessary to sort things out for your mother. Such levels of support are almost impossible from a distance. It was a needed move.

In addition, it gave you an opportunity to consider alternatives to Michigan; again, some important experience to help sort out your priorities going forward. You really are in a strong position. Housing prices are going up whatever you decide. Give yourselves credit for being smart, capable and able to sort out the next step.