The Inside of My Eyelids

 
Our Friday night work hours at the paper have been pushed later, to the point where it's becoming more like the hours the newspaper route had, which are my very worst to be awake. Not liking that so much.

Today, I was hoping to mostly see the inside of my eyelids. I was asleep within minutes of getting home.

However, the Social Security office called at 11 am to complete the processing of my application for Medicare. I was really surprised. I had no idea that one application would result in them calling to check if that meant I wanted to start taking my retirement benefits (hah- maybe I'll get to lose one of these dead-end jobs, anyway). It was painless and easy to complete the process. Now, there are two words I thought I'd never say in regards to something run by the government. Of course, it wasn't painless getting to this point. Since this blog is supposed to be about the good stuff, I won't tell you how difficult it was to get on the SS web site, since the first time I tried to log in, months ago, they said I didn't exist. It took two trips to the SS office to solve that problem.

But, I am one step closer to being more free to take advantage of my little portable office.

After that call, I was wide awake but felt the way I always do when awake at those really bad times for me. There's a word for it, but this is a family-friendly blog. I shoveled some snow (the driveway is softening and turning into a car-eating bog), came back in and read a bit and slept some more. That now leaves me wide awake, but hopeful I can sleep again in a while.

So, I have nothing pretty from today to show you, but I'll leave you with a male goldeneye duck on the Manistee River from earlier in the week.

	See Riverwalk Flora and Fauna
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The Schemings of Scapin

 
Went to a play tonight that was exceptionally good. It was an updated version of the classic Moliere comedy, Les Fourberies de Scapin. This translation was done by Timothy Mooney, who also played the role of Scapin. Interestingly enough, the whole thing was done in rhyme, but so well done that it added to the comedy rather than becoming sing-song. Many of the characters wore masks, heightening the stereotypes of the roles.

First performed in 1671, the play still works as a slapstick sit-com.

There are too many pictures, so just bear with me. I was brutal and eliminated almost half of what I had picked out. First off the staging. I can show you how that worked in one shot. The musicians are on the left of the picture (guitar and recorder- nice baroque melodies), with the Mayor behind them. The stage proper is in the center. On the right are the rest of the cast. They served as "studio audience" whenever they weren't actually acting, providing laughs, jeers, and poking fun at people. The cart, where one man seems to be dressing, is just that. Whenever it was time for someone to go on stage, he or she would get their mask (if needed) and props from the cart and get ready.



It is one of those complex tales of young lovers at odds with their fathers. The fathers are Geronte and Argante. They each have a son, and they each have a plan for who the son will marry. But of course the boys don't like those ideas. Instead, Argante's son Octave has fallen in love with, and married, Hyacinthe, Geronte's daughter. Geronte's son, Leander, has designs on a gypsy girl, but dad doesn't like that.

Here Argante (right) tells the rascal Scapin (left) the trials of being a father. Scapin commiserates.



But both boys beg Scapin to help them get enough money from their fathers so that they can marry the girls they love rather than their fathers' choices. Of course Scapin agrees.



Scapin begins making up tales to get enough money to help the lovers. Here he is working at convincing Geronte to hand over a huge sum of money.



Leander is ready to shoot himself when Scapin teases him that he couldn't all get the money. (I wanted to include this picture because Leander is the same actor who played Charley in Flowers for Algernon)



Because Geronte said some unkind things about Scapin, the wily Scapin tricks Geronte into hiding in a sack, where he then manages to thrash him while blaming it on some other mysterious men.



Unfortunately for Scapin, he is caught in this ruse. Then, Zerbinette, the gypsy girl comes along and tells Geronte a huge joke of a story about how a friend of hers fooled an old man and extracted a huge sum of money from him, not realizing she's telling Geronte his own tale.



In a crazy plot twist, predating but like those used by Gilbert and Sullivan, the fathers realize in the end that their sons have chosen the perfect girls, despite the original plans, but they still blame Scapin for taking their money.



Poor Scapin must feign a mortal wound to receive their forgiveness, so that there can be a happy ending.



Like any comedy, it will either work, or it won't, depending on the dialogue, actors, timing and all the rest of it. With the costumes, masks, dated script (not the translation) and rhymes, I knew this was either going to be tedious or really good. It definitely made it to REALLY GOOD, without my having to strain to make it so.

	See Theatre
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Local Finnish Heritage

 
At one of my work sites this week I pictured an old barn.



Note that the front quarter closest to the camera is built of squared logs. I encounter old log buildings with some regularity, but this one was a bit of a surprise. It shouldn't have been, really. There are lots of Finns who settled in the area. In fact, there is an entire town, Kaleva, in Manistee County created by Finnish people in 1900. Every street name is Finn. But that's about 20 miles from this barn.

Still, many people from Finland came to the area, not just to Kaleva. There are a good number of Finnish names in the phone book.

How do I know this farm was homesteaded by Finns? Because of an historical tour Marie and I took in St. Louis County Minnesota. That area was also settled by people with Nordic heritage, and Germans too. People from each of those countries had specific ways they fitted the log corners of their cabins.



This method, with the dovetailed joints, is the Finnish corner. It's the first time I've seen one locally. Pretty cool. Makes me wonder if those two walls were part of the original cabin where the family lived for a while, and then expanded to build a house, and made this structure into the barn.

The link below is to a picture of one such corner in Minnesota.

	See Finnish corner
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Pastel or Deep Tones- Your Choice

 
Went and hung out with Loretta for a while today, which included taking in the sunset across Lake Michigan at the Pentwater Channel.

The long shot has a lonesome, pastel sort of wistful beauty.



But when I zoomed in, it all became very dramatic.



It sure was nice to see the sun.

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English Muffins

 
A LONG time ago, I used to make English Muffins, and I decided it was time to do it again. I forgot a few things, and thanks to the internet, I think I'll do one thing differently next time. Here we go...

Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. I didn't get it consistent enough. You really don't want it thicker or they are too thick to cook all the way through.



I forgot to sprinkle corn meal on the trays before I let them rise. I'll remember next time. It's not required, but I like it.



Bake on an ungreased griddle. These are small. I couldn't remember which size cutter I used, but now I know it was the biggest one I have, one larger than the one I used here. They rise up, but not out very much.



Split by sticking a fork in the edges all around and they will just pull apart.



Add butter. Since this was hot off the griddle I didn't toast it, but I will in the morning.



I used the recipe I had used years ago, which calls for milk, but all the recipes on the internet use water. I think I'll do that next time. I also want to use more whole wheat flour, but only had a little bit (have to go shopping), so these are mostly white.

The trickiest part was to get the griddle the right temperature to brown them nicely in the same time needed to cook all the way through.

Definitely need to do another batch to get the hang of them again, but although they aren't perfect, they are dad-gummed good.

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