Smaller World

OK, so I know we live in a pretty small town, but something happened last night that just made it a little smaller.

I went to my regular jazz workshop, and the second person I see is none other than my niece. I hadn't said anything about the show to her, and I'd not seen her in there before, so I wondered how she came to be there. Turns out she is very good friends with a girl whose dad was playing saxophone in the band. I had met him a few years back and worked with him a couple of times.

After his set, I told him that his daughter came in with my niece, and he said, "Oh yeah, she's great. We see her all the time, she's like another daughter to us." So then I met the rest of his family, and now they know the family connection on my side.

I guess those six degrees of separation just closed a bit more.

A Small Grammar Lesson: Bi vs. Semi

Looking at a recent magazine, I saw that it is published every two months, and I thought, is this what bi-monthly means? Because some people define bi-monthly as twice a month, while others say it's every other month. Even dictionaries disagree in their definitions, so they're not much help. Well, here's my thought:

Using "bi" should mean every other (bi meaning two), and for twice per, use the term "semi" (semi meaning half). So a biannual family reunion occurs every other year, while a six-month sales meeting is semi-annual. The magazine we have is published bimonthly, while church services held every Sunday and Wednesday occur semi-weekly.

The most confusing term, I think, is biweekly. Using this definition, however, it means every other week. Since this is roughly twice a month, then, semi-monthly and biweekly are virtually the same. So take your pick for this one. (Even better, just say "twice a month" or "every two weeks." Nobody will fault you for being clear, but many will be annoyed if you confuse them.)

Any grammar specialists out there are welcome to disagree with me, but I think this system is pretty clear...to me at least.

St. Patrick's Day Thoughts

There's something about holidays to get me thinking...and also to remind me that I haven't posted anything in a while. So here goes.

St. Patrick's Day never meant too much to me as a kid. It was a reason to wear green so as not to get pinched. Sometimes I would try to cover up the green in the hope that if someone tried to pinch me, I could show the green and then retaliate by punching them. (Ah, the innocent yet violent games we played as children.) But not being Catholic or Irish (that I knew of), the significance of the day never extended beyond that.

Sometime in college, I found out that I have ties to the Wallace clan. Yes, the same Wallace clan as William Wallace of Braveheart fame. (Break out the bagpipes!) I also found out at this time (from a Scottish classmate) that the Scots celebrate St. Patrick's Day by wearing orange instead of green. So I began wearing an orange shirt and explaining myself to anyone who questioned the absence of green. (No pinching was involved that I remember...I suppose we do grow out of some things.)

Finally, a few years ago on a trip to England and Ireland, my parents found out that my mother's family name, Hurley, is of Irish origin. So I do have a bit o' the Irish in me after all. Now I can wear green, or orange, or both, and still celebrate my heritage authentically. (The only thing I have that's green and orange is an old University of Miami shirt, as those are the school colors. Good thing I've kept it.)

Thank goodness for ceramic!

In my Total Health Breakthroughs e-newsletter a couple weeks ago they gave a great recipe for Blackberry Souffle. It was great as it uses xylitol and stevia, both natural sugar substitutes.

We had guests coming over last Sunday to watch the Oscars so I wanted to try out the recipe as it seemed easy enough. So we took a trip to Williams-Sonoma (great store!) and picked up six ceramic ramekins - what the recipe called for.

I cooked the blackberries and Jeff helped with the lemon zest and juice. Mixing everything together, I spooned out the ricotta and egg mixture into the ramekins. They were quite full! Ok. Well, we'll see how they turn out.

They nearly overflowed after the first 15 min. baking. I had to spoon out some of the mixture so I could top them with the blackberry compote and bake another 15 minutes.

And then - well, let's just say I'm glad they were on a cookie sheet in the oven or I'd have to buy an oven over cleaning the thing.

Ta-Da! Exploded Blackberry Souffle.

But they tasted wonderful.
And were very filling with 15 grams protein and 3 grams fiber but with only 6 grams of sugar.

Thank goodness the ramekins were ceramic as I worried how many hours I'd have to soak and scrub them to get them clean. They actually cleaned up quite quickly.

Another Re-enacting Season Underway

My 2009 Civil War season started off with a living history event at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park. There were no mock battles but plenty of drill and demonstration, which gave us a greater chance to interact with the public. Even though the battles are fun and well-watched, it's the history that really keeps us in the hobby. There's only so much history that can be taught in scho0l, and much of it is wrong anyway. So it's our job to educate the public and show them things that a textbook never will.

Jennifer's civilian group decided not to come this time, because it had been raining on Friday, and it's really hard to set up when everything is wet. But to my surprise and delight, the weather on Saturday was clear and beautiful, and Sunday had just a few clouds with temperatures low enough to make us all glad we have so many layers of wool. Even though the initial forecast was for a wet and rainy weekend, we could not have had better weather.

Both days had a parade through the park. For the first day, I carried Vermont's regimental colors. For Sunday, I carried the National flag and led the whole Union brigade. Only Mr. Lincoln marched ahead of me (and you know that nobody was going to march in front of him). It was rather a proud moment.

All in all, it was a great start to the season and I look forward to another good year.

Thoughts from a (New) Sergeant

I am now in my sixth season of re-enacting. (Has it been that long already?) I spent the first three years as a private, then I served two more years as a corporal. Now I will spend the next season as a sergeant. It's both exciting and a little scary.

For many groups, promotion can be slow in coming, so those of us who aspire to higher rank (like me) often have to wait, then take the opportunity when we can. The hobby has lots of members who have been in it for many years (even longer than me) and have never wanted to be anything above a private, which suits them just fine. Not everyone wants to be an officer, of course, which is also good, because someone has to do the actual fighting. Also, privates (and most corporals) have less responsibility and therefore often have more fun, because they just do what they're told.

Then there is the middle management position known as sergeant. The NCO (non-commissioned officer) has several duties, not the least of which is taking care of the troops and seeing that they do what the senior officers tell them. Having now spent my first event as a sergeant, I must say that I like the position very much. The stripes definitely mean something, and I find myself noticing rank on others' uniforms that much more now that I have "extra stuff" on my own. (Jennifer keeps making popping noises when I mention it, just so my head doesn't get too big.)

I still have a lot to learn about the position, but I know it will come, just like everything else I've learned. We all started out as privates, green and clueless. But now that I'm teaching others the ins and outs, I only hope I do as well as I was taught.

Pretty Clouds

Gorgeous clouds at sunset after a hard day's rain. The system yesterday (2-13) cleared out and left the eastern hills covered white. I'm sure the higher mountains received a full blanket of snow.