Snow Day!

It's a snow day here in Missouri!

There's something about snow days that bring out the kid in everyone -- a "free" day to spend shoveling, cooking, eating, playing.  Even though I've shared this beauty before, I must share it again.  Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins nails the essence of a snow day in his poem bearing the same title.  Enjoy!

Snow Day

By Billy Collins

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,  

and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost

under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while, I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,

and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,  

and I will shake a laden branch

sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed.
the All Aboard Children’s School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with—some will be delighted to hear—

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School 
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and—clap your hands—the Peanuts Play School. 

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence. 

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting, 
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.

Billy Collins, “Snow Day” from Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random House, 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Billy Collins.

Too cool.

You know how it goes – you’re researching legitimate things (in my case, a mini fridge that would be suitable for my office) and end up bamboozled by something else (in my case, this jaw-dropping über-cool {pun intended} French-door Refrigerator/Freezer.

Let’s just dream for a second. This baby, from the Samsung Chef Collection, sports 34 cubic feet of storage space. That means it can hold (hold onto your hat) 34 bags worth of groceries. It has an LED display on the door that lets you know the temperature inside, is lined with stainless steel panels to lock in the cold, offers zoned temperature and humidity control, and can produce chilled still or sparkling water at the touch of a button.

 
Yada yada you say. And, I agree. There are many lovely-such cool boxes in the world. But, take a look at that freezer down there. Yes, lookie! The French-door freezer has six drawers and six shelves, which, to my mind, makes me inclined to let the refrigerator tag along, if I were in the market for a new refrigerator/freezer (and not just an office-sized number). Such organizational potential! I can almost see my little containers of frozen pesto, frozen stock, and frozen pie crusts neatly arranged and cataloged. But, I really do not need a new refrigerator/freezer and have no intention of buying one anytime soon. But, I do wonder, friends, if any of you have such a freezer? And, if so, is it as cool as I think it would be?

The Handwriting on the Wall about Handwriting

Is handwriting the new educational dinosaur?  Finland seems to think so.  As of 2016, in a nod, apparently, to the age of keyboarding, handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish schools.  Is handwriting important?  Do children need to learn it?  Take a peek at this fascinating (and short) article (click here) by Misty Adoniou about the history, methods and madness of handwriting and handwriting education.  Whether you're a leftie, a bottom-to-top letter-former, or an ALL-CAPS sort, you'll now have conversational fodder for anyone who points a judgmental pencil at you.  Or will you?

Riddle me this:

 If broccoli is the new kale . . . 






and 50 is the new 30 . . .  

and teff (an Ethiopian grain) is the new quinoa  . . . 

and "Orange is the New Black" . . . 

Then, _________________ (in your opinion) is the new ___________________?

Get the picture?

Fictitious Dishes

Some of my favorite book scenes involve characters sitting down to a meal.  Remember Leopold Bloom’s kidney breakfast in James Joyce’s Ulysses?  Or how about Esther Greenwood’s famous crab stuffed avocado lunch in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar?  Don’t get me started on all of the apple pie, ice cream, and coffee in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, or the decadent party bites featured in F. Scott Fitzgerals’s The Great Gatsby. 

Dinah Fried put together a spectacular book, Fictitious Dishes:  An Album of Literature’s Most Memorable Meals (HarperCollins), showcasing her own photos based on said famous meals.  Fried, a designer, art director, and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, has done a glorious job of visually representing these fictitious meals.  Check out the book’s website and pick your favorite among the sample photos displayed on her page.  Better yet, order the book as part of your coffee table collection.

My favorite?  At least today, I’m salivating over Holden Caulfield’s (The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger) grilled cheese and malted milk lunch – well, mostly the malted milk.  What about you?

Click here to check out photos of some fictitious dishes!  

For the Artsy Foodie

Talk about making you want to eat your vegetables (and fruit).  Vegan photographer Amber Locke uses her artistry to celebrate her passion for healthful eating.  She captures the natural beauty of vegetables and fruits in her stunning limited-edition prints.  This print, in particular, captured my fancy – violet and white kale, papaya, limes, passion fruit, pomegranate, clementines, black cherries, strawberries, kumquats, and cucumber.  I may just serve you such a concoction if you come over soon for lunch (although I certainly don’t promise to make it look this pretty).   Take a peek at some of her other offerings on her blog (www.ambaliving.com) and see what might inspire you.  From artichokes to zucchini, Locke has a visual feast for every taste. 

Happy 2015!