Todays rain seems oddly Spring- like, and my thought have turned to Lent.
Many peope have asked if we will do a Lent Blog as we did in Advent. We are at the ‘yes, in theory…’ stage.
We need more contributors if we are to pull off daily posts for six weeks. If you would like to help us, or if you know of anyone who might enjoy the opportunity to write during Lent, please let me know.
Lent begins the first week in February.
The Lent blog is called Beauty from Chaos.
Oh wow.
Tonight was supposed to be the time to write a properly theological post (or at least a timely rant on the need for inclusive language), but while looking for a good recipe for Italian Kale, I stumbled across a new twist on the sourdough theme:
One batch, no knead bread that you make once and bake bits of for weeks. And this particular recipe is for challah and sticky buns. Better hurry — Lent is only a few weeks away.
(and ‘lead us not into temptation’ is clearly not working very well when one can go hunting for a cabbage recipe and come back with stick buns. Now, what shall I do with my kale…)
update: Maybe the prayer works after all. The book isn’t released in Britain till 14 February. Spinster-festers, take note. For the more virtuous, the Kale recipe is below. Continue reading “dangerous diversion”
I took Molly to the vet’s today.
The cycle of violence is alive and well.
update, for the non-Girardians: it’s about blood sacrifice.
A tangential thread on an earlier post sent me browsing through an old favourite: Elizabeth Aldrich’s From the Ballroom to Hell. The relevant bit is in the comment thread below, but I thought a more fulsome quotation might amuse you.
This one is especially for father Zebadee (and I dare say, his son).
The Canon of the Polka
1. At the concluding note of the bar before you begin, throw back your left foot. If there is such a thing as a pewter Mercury, or a plaster Cupid in any of the gardens in your neighbourhood, you may practise standing in the attitude the figure is in, the being able to stand like a goose on one leg, being an important, and indeed, essential facility to those who aspire to be rated, A.1. in Polka.
II. Take a good hold of your partner and keep it; it is the height of spooniness to let anything slip through your fingers.
III. Remember, that in your step you stride, not straddle. If you cannot keep your own legs in their proper places, no one else will do it for you.
IV. Be moderate in your kicks, as you ought to be in all your pleasures, and do not forget that kicking, you lash, not prance.
V. Stop when you hear your partner sobbing very painfully, or when you observe her gown is coming off. Nothing marks a chivalrous mind, more than consideration fro women…
VI. [on what to do if you can’t dance, see the comments for in your heart below]
VII. If you can dance, impress upon your partner that she must trust herself implicitly and unresistingly to your guidance — Faith being the only virtue that saves a Polka.
from Captain Knox’s
The Spirit of the Polka
London, 1854
wonderful exchange 