Dogs

My goal is to someday be the person my dog thinks I am.
Author Unknown, QuoteDB

PBS NOVA: Dogs Decoded How smart are dogs, and what makes them such ideal companions? captured my attention and led me on a pleasant, informational journey. The documentary not only discussed the dog-human connection but many components that intertwine to articulate dog companionship.

One part that fascinated me was the research into the primal similarities and differences between dogs and wolves, with the test group being a different branch of canids.

Another sequence explored the genetic history of dogs, which dovetailed perfectly into an interview with a breed standards protester.

Conclusion quote from the end of the documentary transcript: "Experiments have shown what dog owners have always suspected: after thousands of years of living together, dogs are attuned to us like no other animal."

If you click on the transcript for PBS NOVA: Dogs Decoded, the full text of the documentary drops down for discovery, at your leisure.

Hard to believe he's 66

It's my husband's birthday today and part of his birthday celebration includes playing with his new Protocol FLIX with Gyro RC Helicopter with video & camera, compliments of our daughter.

Our 4-year old grandson thinks it is hilarious that his grandad has a helicopter. I join him in that thought and raise it with incredulity.

Here is a YouTube video review of the same toy:

Separating the signal from the noise

Have you ever visited Brain Pickings? If not, get ready for a real treat.

It reeled me in with the pull-quote on the 'About' page, " Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are."

Make it so!

Some art class drawings

Here are some drawings from the SpeakArt Class I've been taking. The Art Psychotherapist, Eva-Marie Stern, has written a feature 'Trauma therapy: helping survivors of abuse and violence rebuild their lives'

Stop by to view the online gallery for The Art Not Violence Project.

My crafting room

'Go to' cookbooks

I love food, ergo I must cook. The best times in my life are associated with food preparation and consumption, surrounded by the people I love. Winter always spawns activity in my kitchen because venturing outdoors in Canada is a chilly endeavour.

I've been churning out meals for over 35 years and have the resultant plethora of cookbooks to liberally cover that time span. Mostly now, I just whip stuff up without consulting any of these books but, when I do need to find a recipe, these are the cookbooks I revisit, time and again.

Over the years, my preferences gravitated to recipes providing good methodology and ease in both comprehension and execution. I've listed them in descending order of visitation.


The Fanny Farmer Cookbook
America's great basic cookbook completely revised to provide, for our generation, a full repertory of wonderful dishes and ways of good cooking in the best American tradition. With an introduction by James Beard
By: Fannie Merritt Farmer, Originally published in 1896 under the title The Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Merritt Farmer
Obtain a copy: No longer in print but a version has been revised by Marion Cunningham to take into account newer preparation techniques and newer dietary preferences.

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1,000 Vegetarian Recipes
By: Carol Geddes
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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Betty Crocker's Cookbook
By: Betty Crocker Food and Nutrition Center
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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Traditional Recipes of Atlantic Canada
By: Shirely Jones and The Culinary Institute of Canada
Obtain a copy: No longer in print because it was a promotional item put out by Ultramar, where chapters were offered each week and you could also purchase the binder to hold them. Sections of it come up for auction sometimes on Ebay, Canada.

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Recipes: Middle Eastern Cooking
By: Time Life Books' Foods of The World series
Obtain a copy: Dig Modern

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The Southern Accent Cajun & Creole Cookbook
By: Elena Embrioni & Frances Wood
Obtain a copy: Wikio

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Betty Crocker's Southwest Cooking
By: General Mills
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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Better Homes and Gardens Cajun Cooking
By: Better Homes and Gardens
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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A World of Baking
By: Delores Casella
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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Canadian Mennonite Cookbook
By: Rita Kaethle & Pat Gerber Pauls. Originally published under the title Altona Women's Institute Cookbook.
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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The Silver Palate CookbookDelicious recipes, menus, tips, lore from Manhattan's celebrated gourmet food shop.
By: Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins with Michael McLaughlin
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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The Alice B. Toklas CookbookForeward by M. F. K. Fisher
By: Alice B. Toklas
Obtain a copy: Amazon

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Life, Love and LobstersAn Anecdotal Collection of Recipes from Harris' Seafood Restaurant
By: Clara Kathleen Harris & Gaynor S. Kleiber
Obtain a copy: Email Gaynor Kleiber at kleibergay@hotmail.com

Cootie

What fun! A friend dropped by this evening and, since we both enjoy playing board games, she brought the original, 1949, W.H. Schaper Mfg. Co. Inc., game of Cootie to play.





















Hasbro's Milton Bradley gave Cootie a makeover in 1986. You can see the redesigned game at the Hasbro web site.

My very first drawing

I did this by following the first exercise in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, which has collected dust on my bookshelf for eons. It was published in 1979. A high school art teacher, who used it for his classes, recommended it. He confidently asserted that, by following the exercises in the book, anyone could learn how to draw.

Betty updated the book under the title The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and there is also a workbook available called The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook: Guided Practice in the Five Basic Skills of Drawing.

Leisure connections

Making a healthy connection to leisure activities creates a sense of personal power, relaxation and balanced lifestyle.

Devoting free time attending to YOUR needs, interests and feelings injects fun, enjoyment, laughter and expanded awareness into yours and others' lives. Many times, others' needs are nurtured, to the detriment of ourselves. Everyone benefits when we take the time to self-nurture.

What is leisure?

1. It is ANY activity.
2. It creates a sense of enjoyment for YOU.
3. It is YOUR choice.
4. It is YOUR free time.

It is not necessarily the specific activity that determines if your choice is healthy or unhealthy. Rather, it is how you connect to the choice you have made. For example, I can derive a lot of pleasure in the process of creating personalized greeting cards BUT this same activity can be stressful if I do it to meet others' expectations by deciding to churn out 200 of them as holiday cards for all my work and personal contacts.

Healthy leisure promotes:

1. personal growth
2. connections to feelings
3. connection to other people
4. positive feelings about yourself
5. time to nurture yourself
6. living in the moment

Unhealthy leisure produces:

1. apathy
2. boredom
3. anxiety
4. possible destructive behaviour such as substance abuse

Creating a history of healthy leisure connections has a cumulative affect that eventually replaces old, unhealthy patterns. The benefits are endless.

Have some fun with it!

10 DIY project stumbles

Hobbies, crafts and horticulture are powerful ways to make healthy leisure connections in your life. Here are ten stumbles that you might enjoy.



The Bonsai Site: detailed guide to bonzai as an art, hobby and horticultural practice.

Cabinet Embellishment Ideas: with links to the tutorials on the Better Homes & Gardens web site.

Make Your Own Umbrella Caddy

A Fringed Flower Card: Learn the simple technique of making double fringed flowers to dress up a stylish, handcrafted card.

Make Shades Out of Mini Blinds: Do you love the look of fabric shades but don't want to fork over the cash?

How to Paint Moss Designs in Your Garden

A Jam Jar Topper Tutorial: A nice way to decorate homemade jam bottles to give as gifts.

Make Your Own Gallery: Three templates to download, personalize and frame.

Little Metal & Canvas Mixed Media Books: A tutorial on how to make a personalized book and how to insert your artistic projects.

Punched Paint Chip Cards: Make greeting cards from paint chip palettes.

New-to-me camera

Here is the camera that my husband gave me when he bought a professional one. It is a FujiFilm FinePix S9100. Digital Camera Info's web site says it has enough features to confuse a Ph.D. student! That's OK, I'll take my time learning the advanced functions. Right now, I'll just get used to the automatic ones. It's a pretty good non-SLR consumer camera and, considering I'm a novice, this camera will probably keep me interested for years.