Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The revolution will be supervised.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Republicans in disarray!

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Republicans don’t trust women.

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 201 Comments

This post is in: 

Looks like we could use an open thread.

I’ve got nothing, except a confession that I have watched the Randy Rainbow clip (that Betty posted) multiple times.

I totally love the “background singers”.  Favorites are “what a loser”, “fuck this guy” and “fuck these people too”.  The second half that feels more show-tunes-like isn’t as good, except it has the great Josh Hawley slam, so there’s that.  Not to mention “Judy” and “Step on it, Sis!”

The only other thing I’ve got is another giant dahlia, although this one didn’t get snapped off in a storm.  It’s taller than I am, so it’s harder to photograph.

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread 13

Oh, and some of my round zucchini, fresh from the garden just now.

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread 14

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  4. 4.

    PAM Dirac

    Just roasted acorn squash right out of the garden. The salmon is just about finished broiling and about to pop the cork on a local chardonnay. Unfortunately my wife is stuck at work dealing with getting someone to surgery ASAP. Best of luck to the patient. Sometimes perfect timing on serving dinner has to yield to more important matters.

  5. 5.

    Math Guy

    @Baud: You’ve never had a friend or relative who grew zucchini in their garden and was constantly foisting it off on you.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: You could make fun of them because they are round.

    🤷‍♀️

    I appreciate your not snarking on my dahlia, though!  I love it.

    edit: I do NOT like the way the merged site handles my favorite emojis. It totally ruins shrug girl, it doesn’t even look like her! At least it can’t mess up my other favorite 💕.

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    We’ll see soon if the reason that I was looking up Alexander Dugin holds up or not (way too rumor-y for me to link to it so far), but I was struck by this bit from an NPR piece a while back about Dugin.

    Dugin is a good old-fashioned mystical fascist of the sort that kind of flourished after World War I, when many people in Europe felt lost, felt like the Old World had failed, and were searching around for explanations. And a certain set of them decided the problem was all of modern thinking, the idea of freedom, the idea of individual rights.

    I think I have a new term of art for all these MAGA Repubs: Mystical fascist!

    (emphasis added)

  12. 12.

    Baud

    @Math Guy:

    My people are more eggplant people than zucchini.

     

    @WaterGirl:

    I was curious about round zucchini but I didn’t want to appear like a dullard because I had never heard of such a thing.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    @PAM Dirac: You are nicer than me.  I would eat the meal, including the wine, and then have a nice glass of wine with her when she got home and could eat dinner.

    Maybe there’s a reason I’m not married!

  16. 16.

    RaflW

    On the garden front, I missed out on our ‘surprise lilly‘ season at the lake. I’m stuck home in quaratine. Last year was our first year owning the cabin and those blooms fully lived up to their name! BF did send a nice photo of them before the thunderstorm torrents trampled them.

    Ah, well. I seem to be doing better today. I should throw salt over my shoulder or something, though. I ‘seemed to be doing better’ on Thursday after a rough Wed, and then Friday threw a curveball symptom at me that was not fun. Alas.
    (And, still, thankful as heck for the scientists and medical folx for my four jabs.)

  17. 17.

    James E Powell

    A COVID observation. I teach in Los Angeles schools. We started this week. I estimate 90% of staff & 95% of students are wearing masks, including your humble narrator. I note this with are wry laugh because when our new union buster superintendent took office last Spring, he announced the end of the mask mandate like was solving some big problem we were struggling with and said “now we can focus on students” as if masks were controversial here or an impediment to education. They weren’t either one. Maybe it’s because he’s from Florida?

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    Pretty flower and veggies!

    RollCall – Prospects dim in House for Manchin’s federal permitting measure:

    A federal permitting deal between Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., is facing pushback from environmentalists and would be difficult to get through the House, lawmakers said.

    As part of a deal to secure Manchin’s support for the climate, health care and tax bill President Joe Biden signed into law Tuesday afternoon, Schumer agreed to put a separate bill on federal permitting up for a vote. But threading that deal through Congress when both chambers return from August recess could be a slog, liberal and conservative House lawmakers said.

    “I don’t know about the Senate, but on the House side, some Democrats are not going to support it,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said in an interview.

    Asked if the permitting deal could be attached to an appropriations bill needed to keep the federal government open past Sept. 30, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., demurred: “That’s clearly an issue, but we haven’t discussed it yet so I can’t tell you what the caucus feels about it.”

    Speeding up the permitting process for construction projects has some support from both parties, especially Republicans from districts with a heavy fossil energy industry, but guiding Manchin’s proposal through both chambers provides limited room for error, given the Senate’s 50-50 split and a narrow margin in the House.

    […]

    [ womp, womp ]

    I don’t expect it to pass, and I don’t think that Manchin necessarily does either. It’s “heads I win, tails you lose” for him in WV, I think. “I fought for you to get it in the IRA against the objection of all those liberals! We came really close! You need to re-elect me so that I can push to get it through next time! Nobody else can do it!!1”

    :-/

    But it really depends on how leadership puts the legislation together…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I like round zucchini for two reasons.  One, because they grow better for me than regular zucchini.

    Two, because they are cute and good for stuffing.

    Three, because they are better behaved.  With regular zucchini, you can think “oh, that will be ready to pick tomorrow, but when you get back tomorrow it’s 5x as big as it was yesterday.  The round ones do not grow exponentially overnight.

    Okay, so that’s 3.  Or 3.5 since I combined cute and good for stuffing.

    The dark green one is 8-ball and the lighter one is a french variety called Ronde de Nice.

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    This was a nice little weekend read: Behind every Trader Joe’s sign is a working artist who painted it

    Terrell is one of hundreds of sign artists employed by grocery store Trader Joe’s. You probably know the idiosyncratic chain for its eccentric snacks and peppy cashiers, but that festive atmosphere extends to the stores’ interior design, too: Each of the 500-plus outposts has custom, handmade signage, all created by staff artists. Your grocery store is their art gallery.

    As what Trader Joe’s calls a “crew member with sign making talent” (we’ll just call them sign artists), Terrell, 40, spends much of her workday at the Athens, Ga., store wielding a paint pen in a backroom studio. She makes signs to promote products with puns like “Hot Grill Summer” and creative drawings such as the Powerpuff Girls reimagined as vegetables. She paints murals that represent the local area, University of Georgia sports teams or the surrounding rural landscape. Occasionally, she gets to incorporate Korean lettering into her work, such as when the store got a shipment of scallion pancakes known as “pajeon.” That was a highlight for Terrell — Korean students told her that seeing the Hangul writing made them feel a little more at home.

    “I always tell everybody, it’s probably the best entry-level artist position that has a steady paycheck, good benefits and everything,” says Dan Kaufeldt, a 35-year-old sign artist in Sacramento, who has been with the company for 16 years.

    Kaufeldt’s store decor combines comic book energy with meticulous detailing. For Thanksgiving, he painted a smooth-looking Turkey named DJ Gravy Grav who mixes “All about that Baste” on a turntable, while spring break this year inspired an image of a cartoon lemon, strawberry and potato going on a road trip in a bouncing, orange RV.

    For many Trader Joe’s sign artists, going all out is part of the fun. At one of the Philadelphia stores, McKinna Salinas, 25, is working on transforming the bathroom into a parody of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, inspired by works from the museum collection such as Severin Roesen’s “Flower Still Life With Bird’s Nest.” In her version of Winslow Homer’s “The Life Line,” a man is seen dangling above stormy seas — but instead of saving a woman, he’s saving a carrot.

  29. 29.

    EarthWindFire

    @WaterGirl: I love your dahlia too. I saw some pictures of purple sunflowers that I loved – your dahlia looks similar.

    @PAM Dirac: I remember cooking a second dinner some nights when my spouse came home from a gig. I couldn’t do it now. You’re a good person.

  30. 30.

    Ken

    My guilty pleasure lately is reading the various anti-crypto blogs and twitter accounts for the schadenfreude. A recent favorite: “They’re speed-running the last three centuries of financial crises. They’ve done the South Seas Bubble and the Panic of 1873, and the Crash of 1929 is next.”

    By the way if you have any funds in cryptocoins or NFTs, last March is the time to sell.

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    I love the Randy Rainbow thing and have watched it multiple times. (I love the whole thing, but then I love show tunes, although I wouldn’t call the style show tunes. It’s more like “Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.”) I love that he slipped in “Clark Kent,” the cute guy who was in the audience at the last hearing and the internet went crazy over.

  36. 36.

    Another Scott

    #Ukraine: A Russian BTR-82A armored personnel carrier was destroyed by the Security Service of Ukraine using commercial drones armed with improvised munitions based on M430A1 40x53mm HEDP grenades.

    This time it took a dozen munitions to finish the APC. pic.twitter.com/QY8httPQRi— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 20, 2022

    It’s like watching something out of the 1910s when grenades were first dropped out of a plane over Libya. Drones will only get more capable over time…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    Another Scott

    During our hearings, the committee presented evidence that Trump’s campaign and its surrogates misled donors about what their money would be used for.

    Trump used his lies to raise millions of dollars from the American people for himself and his allies. pic.twitter.com/T605GWQmSF

    — January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) August 20, 2022

    Oooh. Mail Fraud? Campaign Finance laws? Something else?

    We know that one doesn’t mess with Librarians. One doesn’t mess with Postal Inspectors either.

    OhpleaseOhpleaseOhplease…

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: He’s probably a wingnut. One of the articles says he’s Sarah Matthews’s boyfriend, and she worked in the TFG White House.

  42. 42.

    Ohio Mom

    I started decluttering/downsizing/tossing stuff in earnest last month. I am determined that in the next year or two, Ohio Family will have decamped this suburb and moved to someplace more fitting for the next stage of our lives.

    Ideally, I want a fourplex in a neighborhood on a bus line line (I have a couple of neighborhoods in mind). One apartment for Ohio Dad and me, one for Ohio Son so he can get going on learning to be on his own, and two renters to foot the at least some of the mortgage. The busline is so Ohio Son can get himself places.

    But after a month of schlepping things to Goodwill and other destinations, I am beat. And I’ve only done two rooms so far!

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: He looks very conservative.  Plus he’s classic good-looking, like Tom Cruise in his younger days, which never appealed to me at all.  So I guess i won’t be in competition for him.

    I’ll take Idris Elba or Rufus Sewell.  I’m sure there will be no competition for them.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: Hey, reports are that Alexander Dugin’s daughter was killed when her car blew up. Her father was supposed to be in that car but took a different one.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: the only people I could identify were Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Bogie ETA and Fred MacMurray. ETA,A and Jimmy Stewart of course. I was hoping there would be more ID’s in the comments, but there really weren’t

    apparently Warner Bros made those gag reels for their Christmas parties, and they’re on YouTube. Those parties must have been some events

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl: Pennsylvania has dumbass liquor laws. Beer and malt liquor can only be purchased at beer distributor stores, most of which are locally owned. Wine and liquor can only be bought at state stores, all of which are called “Fine Wine and Good Spirits”, and even the nicer ones (which they dub “Premium Collection”) are just a bit yucky.

    In recent years, there was an amendment to this, and now some places like convenience stores and grocery stores can sell limited selections of beer and wine…. But they have to be rung up at a separate register.

    So Oz making his dipshit comment about needing tequila…. felt like he was from somewhere else.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    The new negative ads against Ryan in Ohio are weird

    they focus on the House – Ryan and Nancy Pelosi – they seem recycled from a prior GOP House campaign

    oddly not topical or relevant

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    Hmph.

    Beginning to think about packing. Know for a fact there’s at least a half dozen brand new individually wrapped cloth masks in the cottage, but I’ll be damned if able to remember where I stashed ’em. Cannot find them anyplace. Maybe ran off with the mustard?

    Relatedly, not courageous enough yet to open the luggage for airing out. FSM only knows what’s been living inside them over the past three years.

    ;)

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne: Here in Godless California, the grocery stores are allowed to sell hard liquor, so while I haven’t specifically checked, I’m pretty sure my local Whole Foods does stock tequila. And crudités, of course.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    I will note that I have never felt like more of a Pennsylvanian than the day that I walked to the liquor store on the next block in my pajamas.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    So I tried Waffle today after several of you guys mentioned liking it in my Quordle thread the other night.

    At first I had no idea what to do, but i started moving letters around and it all came into view.  I did manage to get all 6 words with 0 swaps remaining.  Somewhat respectable, I guess.

    Looks like there is no “practice” option like there is with Quordle.  So it looks like I have to wait until tomorrow.

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic: Things are getting interesting.

    It looks as if he was supposed to be in the car, as you say, but got in another car coming back from some festival.

  63. 63.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: A pretty good (big, organic, with ranch dip) premade veggie tray at Whole Foods was 12.99 today, so Dr. Oz is not just from New Jersey, he also doesn’t know how to shop.

    I did not buy one.

  67. 67.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, man, I can’t list them all. There was lots of Olivia de Havilland. William Bendix, George Brent, Ann Sheridan, Rosalind Russell, at one point George Cukor was in the shot as Joan Crawford went by, there’s a Barbara Stanwyck / Dennis Morgan one from Christmas in Connecticut. I could go through and get more, but it would take a while!

  71. 71.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne: Yes, but I’ll bet the WF tray didn’t include five full pounds of carrots or a container of salsa.

    (Future PoliSci prof lecturing: ‘And, as it turned out, the outcome of a key Senate race hinged on a tray of vegetables’. Students: ‘We don’t believe you’)

  72. 72.

    Ken

    @Kay: oddly not topical or relevant

    If you were a Republican candidate, would you want to talk about recent events?

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    @Kent: It’s mainly about the Mountain Valley Pipeline – a huge 330 mile long gas pipeline in WV and VA that has been held up over environmental permits and the like.  A federal judge has been making them follow the rules about getting permits and so forth and the companies and their politician-supporters don’t like it, so Manchin has part of the IRA say that there would be a vote on a bill to strip the judge of his power to hold it up.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Hopefully you consoled yourself with guac for your asparagus.

    Guac for the asparagus us all very fine, but what about SALSA FOR THE HUGE GIANT CARROTS !?

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev: Oh Lord, I know. Our politics are just so fucken dumb right now. I am glad Fetterman is exploiting it to his advantage, and he seems to be having a good time, but it really is just so dumb.

  76. 76.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Полиция считает, что именно она была целью покушения. По предварительным данным, она погибла на месте. Сейчас на месте работают специалисты и работники экстренных служб. Подробности трагедии выясняются.

    “The police believe that she was the target of the assassination attack. According to preliminary information, she died instantly. Specialists and emergency personnel are working at the scene now. The details of the tragedy are being investigated.”

    ETA to correct my hasty translation. It looks as if she’s been a propagandist carrying on her father’s “work,” so it’s not inconceivable that she was the target.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    Oh, and have been meaning to ask of the collective wisdom —

    Hear tell that people rave about certain of the frozen entrees at Trader Joe’s. Since will be traveling to a place where that store exists (albeit requiring a 20 or so minute drive), any recommendations about what to keep an eye out for and what to avoid? Mom not so much into cooking anymore (which is perfectly fine by me, she’s more than earned that perq). She’ll want us to dine out; I much, much prefer getting take-out and eating in while visiting.

  80. 80.

    Ken

    @Suzanne: you could buy firearms and alcohol at the grocery store

    The trifecta I saw a lot in rural Missouri: “AMMO • BAIT • BEER”.

    Perhaps someone still-resident can say if that’s still on offer?  Possibly with “POWERBALL TICKETS”.

  82. 82.

    Kent

    @Ken:

    My guilty pleasure lately is reading the various anti-crypto blogs and twitter accounts for the schadenfreude. A recent favorite: “They’re speed-running the last three centuries of financial crises. They’ve done the South Seas Bubble and the Panic of 1873, and the Crash of 1929 is next.”

    By the way if you have any funds in cryptocoins or NFTs, last March is the time to sell.

    I like how they aren’t just doing one fraud.  They are doing ALL of them simultaneously.  Which takes some effort.

    It is a pyramid scheme, but also a multi-level marketing scheme, and also affinity fraud, also identity theft, also a Ponzi-scheme, also tax fraud, also advance fee fraud, also annuity fraud, and no doubt a bunch of other frauds I can’t think of or haven’t been named yet.

  85. 85.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yanno, maybe I am going to get my ass handed to me for saying this…. ranch is gross. If there’s no hummus, I would rather dip carrots in salsa than in ranch.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Wow! Has it been three years since your last trip?

    I guess that also means it’s been three years since you last saw NotMom. That is too damn long a time. For those of us who won’t be at the meetup, I hope you’ll relate details of the mother-son reunion.

  89. 89.

    Kent

    @Ken:

    The trifecta I saw a lot in rural Missouri: “AMMO • BAIT • BEER”.

    Perhaps someone still-resident can say if that’s still on offer?  Possibly with “POWERBALL TICKETS”.

    There is a little roadside kiosk along highway 6 on the way to the Oregon Coast that advertises “Espresso and Bait” which is a particularly Oregon combination I guess.

    In Texas the popular thing was drive-through liquor stores or “Beverage Barns” where you could drive up and have your car filled with beer without even getting out of the driver’s seat.    The one near by house was truly drive-through.  You literally drove THROUGH the barn, not along side it.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @NotMax: At TJs, they have some pretty good individual frozen Indian meals. Channa masala, chicken tikka. (They used to have a bibimbap bowl that was my favorite, but they discontinued it, and I’m still salty.) For the bigger servings, Mr. Suzanne likes the chicken chow mein and the teriyaki chicken. Both are a bit too salty for me, but no more so than most restaurants.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax: Here’s a few things I get fairly regularly:

    • Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese (mild and interesting)
    • Burritos Carne Asada
    • Chicken Burritos
    • Fiery Chicken Curry (very spicy)
    • Vegetable Biryani with Dumplings (yummy)
    • Chicken Tika Masala (spicy)

    They have lots and lots of frozen pizza varieties, but I haven’t found any that I particular care for (I’m generally not a thin-crust pizza person).

    Lots of good stuff there.  HTH a little.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JoyceH:

    I know, right? Salsa requires a scoopy Dorito or something to ferry it from jar elegant serving bowl to mouth.

  97. 97.

    Suzanne

    @Kent:

    You literally drove THROUGH the barn, not along side it. 

    Um that describes the beer distributor in my neighborhood, one block over.
    I’m very coastal elite.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, she may not have been as evil as her father, but she was definitely a chip off the old block. Would have been sweet if they’d gotten them both, though.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: Did you never learn that you don’t dip into something that is close to the same color?  Asparagus green and *guac green are like white and cream together!

    Except for, you know, the taste, I guess the carrots work with salsa?

    *though I truly have no idea what color prepackaged guac is, and I hope to never find out.  My favorite guac is a perfectly ripe avocado smushed and mixed with my chunky salsa.

  108. 108.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @trollhattan:

    On the recommendation of … somebody here  (drawing a blank), I ordered the free sample excerpt of RR’s autobiography and read it on my Kindle app. Cute, maybe a little too twee for my taste in long stretches, so I’m not inclined to drop $14 bucks or whatever it is right now. But I might check the library, or wait a few months to see if they offer a deep discount. I expect he has an interesting life story.

  110. 110.

    Suzanne

    GODDAMN now I want chips and salsa.
    But good chips.

    SPEAKING OF TRADER JOE’S…. The “restaurant style tortilla chips” are the best ones I have found premade in a bag. Not the big yellow bag. Those are meh. The “Salsa Autentica” is the only salsa from a jar that I will eat. Nothing from a jar is great, but that one is better than any of others I have tried.

  112. 112.

    Ken

    @Kent: Where would “telling prospective clients their accounts will be FDIC insured when they are not, in fact, FDIC insured” fit in your list of frauds?

    The cherry on top is that when the FDIC told them to stop, some complained that the FDIC was trying to regulate their speech, like there’s some First Amendment issue involved.

  117. 117.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Salsa requires a scoopy Dorito or something to ferry it from jar elegant serving bowlto mouth. 

    Have you ever had Super Nachos from any restaurant that ends in -berto’s?

  121. 121.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Sounds like Republicans are trying to exploit the dynamic of negative partisanship, attempting to motivate voters with a scary portrait of a radical, “woke” Democratic party. They really don’t have anything better to work with.

    I think they’re playing catchup in Ohio. Tim Ryan got his ads in first, and my understanding is that they portray him as an earnest and pragmatic man. Ryan was not so well known beyond eastern Ohio, but hopefully first impressions will be lasting in his case.

  124. 124.

    Ohio Mom

    @NotMax: I imagine Mom might want to eat in restaurants just to get out and about.

    I was in Manhattan in June and lots of places have added outside seating, if Covid is your worry.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken:

    …some complained that the FDIC was trying to regulate their speech, like there’s some First Amendment issue involved.

    I snorted.  Literally. So attractive! :-)

    Speaking of cherry, I made cherry-white peach popsicles today.  They look good, but it takes a good 7 hours for them to freeze.

  127. 127.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne: +1, especially the shelf-stable stuff sold as ranch, given the “real” thing doesn’t keep at room temperature. It’s just…weird glop.

    And Oz better be blanching and chilling that mountain of broccoli beforehand, not putting it out raw. Food crime.

  128. 128.

    Ken

    @Geminid: I think they’re playing catchup in Ohio.

    I’m trying to decide if you were doing something, so I can say “I saw what you did there.”

    (The something involving TFG’s habit of throwing catsup/ketchup.)

  129. 129.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: Speaking of cherry, I made cherry-white peach popsicles today. They look good, but it takes a good 7 hours for them to freeze.

    Dang, how much booze is in those things?

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    @Ohio Mom: We got rid of a lot of our outdoor seating and the covid-closed streets are all open to cars again. “Too soon” says me, plus I was hoping some of them had been made permanent (“But, what of the poor cars?”)

  144. 144.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    I actually almost never eat fries. I don’t dislike them; I just never think of them. But I’d be willing to dip them in salsa. Could be tasty.

  146. 146.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t eat fries much, either. Haven’t had any in at least a year, maybe two. I like to make oven-baked sweet potato “fries” in my little convection oven.

  148. 148.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    That’s one of the things that keeps me coming back to him. Not only is he an incredibly gifted and clever parodist and an appealing personality, but he has a really good voice. He groks the supreme importance of both the words (100%) and the music (also 100%).

  161. 161.

    pinacacci

    My mom died last night. I touched her and she was cold this morning.  That is all.  I say it because I don’t say much but I’ve always considered myself part of the community. I kissed her cold forehead before they wrapped her in her bedsheet and carried her out like groceries.  I just needed to scream to the world that a great woman is gone.

  166. 166.

    RaflW

    @NotMax: We have some dietary restrictions these days, sinuses less of the frozen entrees.

    I do remember really liking the orange chicken (rice has to be done separately, but they have really good convenient cooked frozen rice).

    In the quick meal realm, we eat a lot of the schwarma chicken thighs. Just pan fry them till done. I sometimes cook carrots (cut like coins) with the chicken and they take up the spices – and, okay, sure, some of the yummy fats – and that all get served on rice.

    Refrigerated ready to heat the curry chicken is great.

  170. 170.

    RaflW

    @Gin & Tonic: The high profile nature of the (apparent) assassination, and where it occurred, seems like a fairly big deal.

    Which of several orgs or cells pulled it of will be quite a stream of speculation, I’d guess.

  174. 174.

    Emma from Miami

    @pinacacci: I am so, so sorry. But it sounds like she died peacefully. My mom did the same. I was not by her side that night but my sister was, and she said it was as she had breathed out her spirit in one single breath. May her memory be always a blessing.​

  178. 178.

    Cameron

    @WaterGirl: Back when I used to cook I found a lot of interesting recipes at Food52, although I think it’s more of a lifestyle than a cooking site.

  179. 179.

    Ohio Mom

    @pinacacci: What a terrible shock to start the day with and a terrible loss to endure.

    Please take very good care of yourself in the coming days as you adjust to this new world of yours. And keeping commenting, we want to know how you are doing.

    Sending you my deepest sympathy.

  188. 188.

    Nukular Biskits

    @pinacacci:

    Been there, done that.
    And I feel your loss.

    My mom passed away (hopefully) blissfully unaware of her suffering 20JUL2021, courtesy of lung cancer.

    The three of us (me, my brother and sister) as well as my niece and my sister’s sig-other had spent the previous couple of days administering to her (1 mg morphine, 1 mg Ativan [sp?]) every hour at the end.

    The rapid downturn started on Tuesday.  I sent everyone off Thursday morning as there was nothing else we could do and she was resting peacefully.  Sometime after me administering her meds at 9 she shuffled off this mortal coil.

    I sat at the edge of her bed and cried for a couple of minutes.  Even though I knew it was inevitable, her departure, the woman who had brought me into this world, left me devastated.

    I like to think that she waited until everyone else had left as to spare them the (completely expected) shock of loss, knowing that I, as the oldest, was probably best prepared to deal with it.

    When we’re younger, we (hopefully) never have to deal with death (except in the case of tragedy).  When you approach middle age, everyone who was part of your universe growing up starts passing away.

    It’s all part of “growing up” … and it sucks.

  191. 191.

    geg6

    @pinacacci:

    My deepest sympathies.  I pretty much know that feeling from when my own mom died.  It’s hard.  Hang in there.  It really does get better.  *hugs

  194. 194.

    The Lodger

    @Suzanne: When I was living in PA it was illegal to buy three six-packs of beer. A bar could sell a maximum of 12 cans, but you couldn’t get less than a full case from a distributor. Grocery stores or 7-Eleven, fuggeddaboudit.

  197. 197.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @NotMax: the frozen mini samosas at Trade Joe’s are good if you’re not upset over their lack of authentic Indian flavor

  199. 199.

    eachother

    Live theater is where drawing a blank makes the marvel of quick thinking  the only thing between you and the ticking of the next second. Just you, the facade,  stage lighting, and an acute awareness of space, time and options narrowing  quickly.
    And it is being recorded.

  201. 201.

    SWMBO

    @pinacacci: ​
      Peace and comfort to you. My mom died in November 2020 in ICU of covid. She was on a ventilator at the time and under sedation. I was 1200 miles away and didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. At least your mom went peacefully.

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