Primarily I use the Ipod interface to listen to podcasts while driving. The CD player supports MP3 so the new books on one CD are also available to me.
The Operator's Manual has been useful since I can't see well enough while driving to figure things out by experimentation.
Just like today's media, the combination half truths, blipverts, under-educated working class, and a need to stir controversy resulted in the common man completely misunderstanding what the new law has actually doing. They mistakenly though that 11 days of their life and 11 days of wages were being taken away from them. Thus the slogan;
Give us our eleven days!
In this print you can almost make out [click image to enlarge] the slogan on the flag outside the window. (The Tories are carrying an antisemitic caricature of a Jew, a reference to recent legislation passed by the Whig government which allowed greater freedom to Jews. They are also carrying a banner containing the words "Give us our Eleven days", a protest against the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.)
As a software test professional, whenever you are testing an application that deals with dates consider the impact of September 1582 on the algorithm, there are 11 days missing after Sept. 2nd. (: Sharon's birthday is safe :)
It was planted on March 25.
6:30-7:00
Jim Ed Brown, Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys, Keni Thomas
7:00-7:30
Mike Snider,
Jimmy C. Newman,
Mandy Barnett
7:30-8:00
Hal Ketchum,
Jean Shepard,
The Whites
8:00-8:30
Porter Wagoner,
Jan Howard,
Jack Greene,
Del McCoury Band,
Opry Square Dancers
8:30-9:00
Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers,
Connie Smith,
Riders In The Sky
The first act to really stand our for me was Keni Tomas. A good look young guy that has an excellent stage presents and gets the girls hot. He was an Army ranger that served in the Iraq war and uses his experience there in his songs. The song Not Me was particularly moving. Read the lyrics if you have a few minutes.
The world becomes a better place when someone stands and leads the way. Steps forward when they'd rather say not me.
Porter Wagoner hosted one of the segments. My parents use to listen to him on that old black and white country music TV show back in the sixties. He is past his prime now and looking shape as ever. I didn't recognize the songs he sang so I just listened to the quality backup musicians, quite a house band at the Opry.
The last act of the night was America's Favorite Cowboys, Riders In The Sky, one of my favorites. The Riders were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1982. Danell and Helen had never heard of them and were ticked when they played their cheeks.
The commercials were fun to listen to. The Martha White's products were making me hungry. They announced this years winners for the cornbread recipe cookoff, the one from Arizona sounded great and reminded me of the recipe that Helen made the other day. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the wining recipe, Sharon didn't hear it and don't see in on Martha's site, perhaps it will show up in the near future (it sounded real good, chicken and pepper and all).
This recipe for Broccoli Cornbread I got from Shanon's mom (blogger source). She made it the first day we were there visiting, it went really well with her wonderful homemade soup (a jaya quality soup). I continued to eat it with the bar-b-que pork we picked up for Friday evening.
It is light, moist and creamy. Doesn't need butter to get it down because it melts in your mouth. The green/yellow color made Sharon and I think that it would be perfect for a St. Patrick's Day food.
1 box frozen broccoli; thawed and drained
6 oz. cottage cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 stick margarine, softened (we actually use butter, tastes better)
4 eggs (3 XL eggs)
1 box Jiffy cornmeal mix
salt
[1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional]
Mix together, pour into greased pan.
Bake at 400°-425° until golden brown, about 30 minutes
Freezes well.
Karfluki Fest this year was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love", San Francisco circa 1967. The fairy wings Sharon wore were designed and hand crafted by Magda Heilborn.
I started my first pine bark pattern (Matsukawa - Bishi) quilt a year ago by having Ms. Melanie take the first day of a class and I took the second day the following weekend.
This quilting project has not been a pleasant experience. First, the person leading the class was a poor instructor. Second, this person wasted most of the class time doing common/basic quilting operations and didn't have any time to actually teach "the tricky bit" that make the pine bark pattern practically impossible to figure out.
The picture to the right is a photo I found on the web, it shows the pine bark "squares" nicely. My quilt that Ms. Melanie designed is so much more interesting and beautiful.
After sewing together all my squares I realized that we were not taught how to do that step and I did it completely wrong. The pieces would not go together. Sharon calmed me down and said that she would help rip it apart so that I could try it again.
After ripping out all the seams and sorting the puzzle pieces back into their original order (several hours) I was back to step two, cut up your squares into diamonds.
This is where I stalled. Well not quite. Before putting the project aside I took some paper and figured out how the bloody pine bark pattern worked. Once I understood how it worked I could see how to construct a quilt. Satisfied that I could now do the top I was able to let the frustration of the misguided instruction go and do my own thing. Basically, I figured out how to do a pine bark quilt myself, without taking a class.
When I get back into it I'll post some pictures. Perhaps even some notes on how it is done.
