Shantaram

Somehow the words "Stephen Fry" don't evoke the same kind of mystery.  But from reading The Fry Chronicles (an autobiography, Memoir #2) I've learned some facts about the man who's charm and accent made me think him something else: 1. He'd been in prison 2. He'd been an addict 3. He'd often lied.   

Again, whispered, "Shantaram".


I haven't seen Paul so interested in a book -- he would laugh and when our eyes met afterwards, "Shantaram".  I'd be cooking and he'd walk through the kitchen, "Shantaram!".  Low and insistent, it sounded exotic and a little like "Fanta-cram", "rent-a-sham", or my favourite, "can-o-ham"!

Anyway, ,y interest is certainly piqued and I think this will be a "to-read" book.  Meanwhile, I'm not sure if I'll get through Fry's, despite the surprises...

For want of a clip...

Me: Just fold the bag.

Paul: Could you imagine the controversy if the auditors of the Prairie Provinces Branch died after eating some of the treasurer's crisps?! 

"Scandal!" ~ Sun

"Tragedy!" ~ Globe and Mail

"Cat climbs up tree and gets stuck." ~ Edmonton Journal

Me (rolling eyes): ... Fine.  I'll find you one.

How to Manage the MILFH**?

Dear DILFH*, 

Hope you're having a good week.  

MILFH** has remarked more than once that she was surprised you didn't send me a list of things she shouldn't be doing.  I'm now starting to think I need such a list, for she has been a little too enthusiastically taking part in the following that I believe you may normally not allow: 

1. Playing Spider Patience 

2. Eating dessert 

3. Reading 

4. Sleeping-in

Please confirm if these (and any other) are indeed things MILFH shouldn't be engaging in, and how to manage her.

Yours truly,

BDIL***

P.S. She also seems to loves plastic containers and luxury bedding -- should I use these are motivators?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Daughter-In-Law-From-Hell
** Mother-In-Law-From-Hell
*** Bad-Daughter-In-Law

Chinese President's Enaugural Speech in Cloud Form

Paul sees "People Must Party." 
My response: "O.k.!"

The actual article on BBC news: 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20233101

Tues-Date with Poirot

Pasta, then Peter Pauper Press's Poppies and Puppies. 

Metro 'Musements

More Math and Music

The article was rather short.  Big headline, three columns of barely three and a half inches long (and that's including a picture of Elvis with a dancing girl) to explain, rather tell us, that there has been another link found between math and music.  Further elaboration could not be found on the Metro site.  However, Winnipeg Free Press has a little more to say on the subject. 

Daniel Levitin: "The brain knows about this one-over-f distribution even if we don't ... It's evidence that music may be tapping into structures of our brain."

My two cents: "Hips don't lie" :P


Something unique to consider
(it would probably make Bessie happy...)

Let Sleeping Potatoes Lie

It's been a whole year of daily proverbs from Paul's calendar.  Many of them led to interesting interpretation discussions and some were even good (and strangely timely) advice.

Paul's been typing them into a file once they've been pulled off the calendar.  Today he started playing with the data. 

Dogs seem to appear quite often.  How often?*  Do a quick find and replace and you get a count. 

Now, was it because I happened to be peeling a potato when Paul was doing just that and inspiration struck?  All of a sudden I was hearing him read out:

Every potato has his day.
You can't teach an old potato new tricks.

I laughed, but um... they're still strangely meaningful. 

Below are the proverbs and their respective dates.  Do you have a favourite? 

* There are 10 instances. 
______________________________________________________

01/01/2011: A cherry year, a merry year; a plum year, a dumb year.
02/01/2011: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
03/01/2011: Who won't be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.
04/01/2011: You never miss the water till the well runs dry.
05/01/2011: Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
06/01/2011: A watched pot never boils over [sic].
07/01/2011: Time and tide will wait for no man.
08/01/2011: All things come to those who wait.
09/01/2011: Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
10/01/2011: A bleating sheep loses a bite.
11/01/2011: In vain the net is spread in the sight of the bird.
12/01/2011: Little leaks sink the ship.
13/01/2011: What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.
14/01/2011: Charity begins at home.
15/01/2011: Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
16/01/2011: The pen is mightier than the sword.
17/01/2011: The leopard does not change his spots.
18/01/2011: The sun loses nothing by shining into a puddle.
19/01/2011: Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.
20/01/2011: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
21/01/2011: He that cannot obey cannot command.
22/01/2011: Second thoughts are best.
23/01/2011: No man can serve two masters.
24/01/2011: When house and land are gone and spent, then learning is most excellent.
25/01/2011: We must eat a peck of dirt before we die.
26/01/2011: It is never too late to mend.
27/01/2011: Self-preservation is the first law of nature.
28/01/2011: Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them.
29/01/2011: He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.
30/01/2011: Virtue is its own reward.
31/01/2011: Thrift is a great revenue.
01/02/2011: If in February there be no rain, 'tis neither good for hay nor grain.
02/02/2011: Least said, soonest mended.
03/02/2011: Don't cross the bridge till you come to it.
04/02/2011: Out of debt, out of danger.
05/02/2011: The rotten apple injures its neighbour.
06/02/2011: After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile.
07/02/2011: What can you expect from a pig but a grunt.
08/02/2011: Life isn't all beer and skittles.
09/02/2011: What's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.
10/02/2011: None but the brave deserve the fair.
11/02/2011: Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.
12/02/2011: No one should be judge in his own cause.
13/02/2011: Patience is a virtue.
14/02/2011: A faint heart never won a fair lady.
15/02/2011: Happy's the wooing that's not long a-doing.
16/02/2011: The unexpected always happens.
17/02/2011: Procrastination is the thief of time.
18/02/2011: It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
19/02/2011: A cat in gloves catches no mice.
20/02/2011: The best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet, and Dr Merryman.
21/02/2011: Enough is good as a feast.
22/02/2011: What you've never had you never miss.
23/02/2011: Variety is the spice of life.
24/02/2011: If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well.
25/02/2011: Do not meet troubles half-way.
26/02/2011: After a storm comes a calm.
27/02/2011: Promises, like pie-crust, are made to be broken.
28/02/2011: The husband is always the last to know.
01/03/2011: March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb.
02/03/2011: Little pitchers have large ears.
03/03/2011: A mouse may help a lion.
04/03/2011: Straws tell which way the wind blows.
05/03/2011: Home is where the hearth [sic] is.
06/03/2011: What can't be cured must be endured.
07/03/2011: Honey catches more flies than vinegar.
08/03/2011: The buyer has need of a hundred eyes, the seller of but one.
09/03/2011: A bully is always a coward.
10/03/2011: The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
11/03/2011: An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
12/03/2011: It is better to be born lucky than rich.
13/03/2011: Little strokes fell great oaks.
14/03/2011: In the country of the blind the one eyed man is king.
15/03/2011: A rising tide lifts all boats.
16/03/2011: A fool at forty is a fool indeed.
17/03/2011: Fine words butter no parsnips.
18/03/2011: Keep no more cats than will catch mice.
19/03/2011: Two wrongs don't make a right.
20/03/2011: Haste makes waste.
21/03/2011: It is not spring until you can plant your foot upon twelve daisies.
22/03/2011: Never send a boy to do a man's job.
23/03/2011: He who hesitates is lost.
24/03/2011: Any publicity is good publicity.
25/03/2011: Any port in a storm.
26/03/2011: Constant dropping wears away stone.
27/03/2011: Go abroad and you'll hear news of home.
28/03/2011: Better safe than sorry.
29/03/2011: Penny wise and pound foolish.
30/03/2011: When one door shuts, another opens.
31/03/2011: Please your eye and plague your heart.
01/04/2011: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
02/04/2011: Punctuality is the soul of business.
03/04/2011: One story is good till another is told.
04/04/2011: Hurry no man's cattle.
05/04/2011: All's fair in love and war.
06/04/2011: Every dog has his day.
07/04/2011: It's a sin to steal a pin.
08/04/2011: Cheats never prosper.
09/04/2011: He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day.
10/04/2011: It is best to be off with the old love before you are on with the new.
11/04/2011: The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.
12/04/2011: While there's life there's hope.
13/04/2011: Handsome is as handsome does.
14/04/2011: A bird never flew on one wing.
15/04/2011: Blessings brighten as they take their flight.
16/04/2011: You cannot shift an old tree without it dying.
17/04/2011: Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
18/04/2011: Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
19/04/2011: A hungry man is an angry man.
20/04/2011: The best of men are but men at best.
21/04/2011: The early bird catches the worm.
22/04/2011: You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
23/04/2011: Out of sight, out of mind.
24/04/2011: Curiosity killed the cat.
25/04/2011: Adventures are to the adventurous.
26/04/2011: The mill cannot grind with the water that is past.
27/04/2011: There goes more to marriage than four bare legs in a bed.
28/04/2011: Dog does not eat dog.
29/04/2011: Manners maketh man.
30/04/2011: Judge not, that ye be not judged.
01/05/2011: Fair and softly goes far in a day.
02/05/2011: They that dance must pay the fiddler.
03/05/2011: Long foretold, long last; soon notice, short last.
04/05/2011: Be just before you're generous.
05/05/2011: The cowl does not make the monk.
06/05/2011: Ask no questions and hear no lies.
07/05/2011: Give credit where credit is due.
08/05/2011: A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse.
09/05/2011: Beauty is only skin deep.
10/05/2011: Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
11/05/2011: A penny saved is [sic] penny earned.
12/05/2011: There is nothing lost by civility.
13/05/2011: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
14/05/2011: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
15/05/2011: Eat to live, not live to eat.
16/05/2011: Poverty is no disgrace, but it's a great inconvenience.
17/05/2011: Cut your coat according to your cloth.
18/05/2011: Never too old to learn.
19/05/2011: You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
20/05/2011: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
21/05/2011: Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
22/05/2011: Great oaks from little acorns grow.
23/05/2011: Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
24/05/2011: While two dogs are fighting for a bone, a third runs away with it.
25/05/2011: A trouble shared is a trouble halved.
26/05/2011: Time is a great healer.
27/05/2011: A still tongue makes a wise head.
28/05/2011: Set a thief to catch a thief.
29/05/2011: Good fences make good neighbours.
30/05/2011: Empty sacks will never stand upright.
31/05/2011: Whatever man has done, man may do.
01/06/2011: A dripping June sets all in tune.
02/06/2011: There is no royal road to learning.
03/06/2011: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
04/06/2011: Too many cooks spoil the broth.
05/06/2011: The early man never borrows from the late man.
06/06/2011: Never marry for money, but marry where money is.
07/06/2011: Misfortunes never come singly.
08/06/2011: Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan.
09/06/2011: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
10/06/2011: The bread never falls but on its buttered side.
11/06/2011: The squeaking wheel gets the grease.
12/06/2011: One wedding brings another.
13/06/2011: One volunteer is worth two pressed men.
14/06/2011: Corporations have neither bodies to be punished nor souls to be damned.
15/06/2011: Half the truth is often a whole lie.
16/06/2011: A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a good couple.
17/06/2011: Cowards may die many times before their death.
18/06/2011: Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
19/06/2011: You can have too much of a good thing.
20/06/2011: Two of a trade never agree.
21/06/2011: One swallow does not make a summer.
22/06/2011: If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive.
23/06/2011: Little things please little minds.
24/06/2011: We must learn to walk before we can run.
25/06/2011: Civility costs nothing.
26/06/2011: If you run after two hares you will catch neither.
27/06/2011: It is a poor heart that never rejoices.
28/06/2011: Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
29/06/2011: It's too late to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted.
30/06/2011: Full cup, steady hand.
01/07/2011: Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
02/07/2011: A bad excuse is better than none.
03/07/2011: It is the first step that is difficult.
04/07/2011: Where there's a will, there's a way.
05/07/2011: A liar ought to have a good memory.
06/07/2011: It is good to make a bridge of gold to a flying enemy.
07/07/2011: Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.
08/07/2011: It takes two to make a bargain.
09/07/2011: It never rains but it pours.
10/07/2011: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
11/07/2011: It takes three generations to make a gentleman.
12/07/2011: Do not throw pearls to swine.
13/07/2011: Don't change horses in mid stream.
14/07/2011: What is given to a neighbour is not lost.
15/07/2011: There is an exception to every rule.
16/07/2011: It is not work that kills, but worry.
17/07/2011: A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
18/07/2011: You can take a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink.
19/07/2011: A slice off a cut loaf isn't missed.
20/07/2011: Punctuality is the politeness of princes.
21/07/2011: Don't throw out your dirty water until you get in fresh.
22/07/2011: The sooner begun, the sooner done.
23/07/2011: Lend your money and lose your friend.
24/07/2011: It takes two to make a quarrel.
25/07/2011: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
26/07/2011: A live dog is better than a dead lion.
27/07/2011: A king's chaff is worth more than other men's corn.
28/07/2011: Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.
29/07/2011: The last drop makes the cup run over.
30/07/2011: When the cat's away, the mice will play.
31/07/2011: A civil question deserves a civil answer.
01/08/2011: If you don't make mistakes you don't make anything.
02/08/2011: A bad workman blames his tools.
03/08/2011: A fool and his money are soon parted.
04/08/2011: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
05/08/2011: He that goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.
06/08/2011: Life begins at forty.
07/08/2011: If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen.
08/08/2011: Young men may die, but old men must die.
09/08/2011: Bad money drives out good.
10/08/2011: It is a wise child that knows its own father.
11/08/2011: There's none so blind as those who will not see.
12/08/2011: You cannot lose what you never had.
13/08/2011: Beggars can't be choosers.
14/08/2011: The longest way round is the shortest way home.
15/08/2011: What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.
16/08/2011: Long and lazy, little and loud; fat and fulsome, pretty and proud.
17/08/2011: Learning is better than house and land.
18/08/2011: He that drinks beer, thinks beer.
19/08/2011: One law for the rich and another for the poor.
20/08/2011: Misery loves company.
21/08/2011: The best things in life are free.
22/08/2011: Love laughs at locksmiths.
23/08/2011: One man's loss is another man's gain.
24/08/2011: Rome was not built in a day.
25/08/2011: Make hay while the sun shines.
26/08/2011: A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
27/08/2011: Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.
28/08/2011: A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.
29/08/2011: If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands.
30/08/2011: The devil can quote Scripture for his own ends.
31/08/2011: A fault confessed is half redressed.
01/09/2011: September blow soft till the fruit's in the loft.
02/09/2011: Ask a silly question and you get a silly answer.
03/09/2011: Common fame is seldom to blame.
04/09/2011: A rolling stone gathers no moss.
05/09/2011: If you can't be good, be careful.
06/09/2011: You never know what you can do till you try.
07/09/2011: What goes up must come down.
08/09/2011: Children and fools tell the truth.
09/09/2011: If every man would sweep his own door-step the city would soon be clean.
10/09/2011: Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.
11/09/2011: The better the day, the better the deed.
12/09/2011: The apple never falls far from the tree.
13/09/2011: The course of true love never did run smoothly.
14/09/2011: Necessity is the mother of invention.
15/09/2011: A creaking door hangs the longest.
16/09/2011: Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
17/09/2011: Love and a cough cannot be hid.
18/09/2011: Coming events cast their shadow before.
19/09/2011: Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
20/09/2011: Of two evils choose the less.
21/09/2011: Man cannot live by bread alone.
22/09/2011: Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.
23/09/2011: He who can does, he who cannot, teaches.
24/09/2011: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
25/09/2011: If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.
26/09/2011: The devil finds work for idle hands to do.
27/09/2011: Old habits die hard.
28/09/2011: You can't tell a book by its cover.
29/09/2011: When the wind is in the east, `tis neither good for man nor beast.
30/09/2011: Marry in haste and repent at leisure.
01/10/2011: One cannot love and be wise.
02/10/2011: The best things come in small packages.
03/10/2011: Red sky at night, shephard's delight; red sky in the morning, shephard's warning.
04/10/2011: Don't cry before you're hurt.
05/10/2011: Let sleeping dogs lie.
06/10/2011: Everyone speaks well of the bridge which carries him over.
07/10/2011: Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
08/10/2011: One man's meat is another man's poison.
09/10/2011: The greater the sinner, the greater the saint.
10/10/2011: Nothing succeeds like success.
11/10/2011: You win a few, you lose a few.
12/10/2011: A stream cannot rise above its source.
13/10/2011: The eyes are the window of the soul.
14/10/2011: Shrouds have no pockets.
15/10/2011: Why should the devil have all the best tunes?
16/10/2011: Keep your shop and your shop will keep you.
17/10/2011: Actions speak louder than words.
18/10/2011: Love begets love.
19/10/2011: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
20/10/2011: Much would have more.
21/10/2011: Better be envied than pitied.
22/10/2011: A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.
23/10/2011: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
24/10/2011: Young folks think old folks to be fools, but old folks know young folks to be fools.
25/10/2011: Empty vessels make the most sound.
26/10/2011: Many a true word is spoken in jest.
27/10/2011: Nothing should be done in haste but gripping a flea.
28/10/2011: Fire is a good servant but a bad master.
29/10/2011: Once bitten, twice shy.
30/10/2011: Never do evil that good may come of it.
31/10/2011: He that has an ill name is half hanged.
01/11/2011: Wilful waste makes woeful want.
02/11/2011: Old sins cast long shadows.
03/11/2011: Cold hands, warm hearts [sic].
04/11/2011: Prevention is better than cure.
05/11/2011: Many go out for wool and come home shorn.
06/11/2011: There are no birds in last year's nest.
07/11/2011: When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of the window.
08/11/2011: An old poacher makes the best gamekeeper.
09/11/2011: Today you; tomorrow me.
10/11/2011: You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy.
11/11/2011: The darkest hour is just before dawn.
12/11/2011: There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle.
13/11/2011: Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape.
14/11/2011: Every man is the architect of his own fortune.
15/11/2011: If you can't ride two horses at once, you shouldn't be in the circus.
16/11/2011: The eye of a master does more work than both his hands.
17/11/2011: More people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows.
18/11/2011: One good turn deserves another.
19/11/2011: The more you stir it the worse it stinks.
20/11/2011: Why buy a cow when milk is so cheap?
21/11/2011: Birds of a feather flock together.
22/11/2011: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
23/11/2011: Pride goes before a fall.
24/11/2011: Diligence is the mother of good luck.
25/11/2011: Fools ask questions that wise men cannot answer.
26/11/2011: Discretion is the better part of valour. --- Shakespeare
27/11/2011: Many hands make light work.
28/11/2011: Light come, light go.
29/11/2011: The tongue always returns to the sore tooth.
30/11/2011: One half of the world does not know how the other half lives.
01/12/2011: Do right and fear no man.
02/12/2011: There is a time and place for everything.
03/12/2011: Never let the sun go down on your anger.
04/12/2011: Practise what you preach.
05/12/2011: Dirty water will quench fire.
06/12/2011: Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.
07/12/2011: A man is known by the company he keeps.
08/12/2011: Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door.
09/12/2011: One does not wash one's dirty linen in public.
10/12/2011: Nothing so bad but it might have been worse.
11/12/2011: Out of fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
12/12/2011: There is a remedy for everything except death.
13/12/2011: It is easy to be wise after the event.
14/12/2011: What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
15/12/2011: One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after.
16/12/2011: Think first and speak afterwards.
17/12/2011: Wonders will never cease.
18/12/2011: The sea refuses no river.
19/12/2011: Moderation in all things.
20/12/2011: Attack is the best form of defense.
21/12/2011: If it were not for hope, the heart would break.
22/12/2011: Strike while the iron is hot.
23/12/2011: The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love.
24/12/2011: The devil makes his Christmas pies of lawyers' tongues and clerks' fingers.
25/12/2011: One seed for the mouse, one for the cow, one to rot, one to grow.
26/12/2011: Confession is good for the soul.
27/12/2011: Every cloud has a silver lining.
28/12/2011: Experience is the father of wisdom.
29/12/2011: The end crowns the work.
30/12/2011: Little birds that can sing and won't sing must be made to sing.
31/12/2011: The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer.

Je-Paul-dy

Watson the IBM computer wins at Jeopardy! 

I tried to explain Jeopardy! to Paul.  Roughly: Clues are given, contestants then have to ring-in with the question that would have that clue as the answer. 

My bad example clues gave these results:

"Are you Montreal?"
"Are you a tuba?"

I think someone just needs to watch the show.

High Tea for Three

High Tea at Rutherford house, Steph's treat for Jenn's birthday. 

Here's to tea and birthdays!

 

Turkey pot pie. 

Yay!  The bar handled moustache eyeglasses tray!  And the delicious scones and desserts. 

Cool Gruel

Since we love congee so much (ordering some version every time we go to Double Greeting), we finally decided to make it ourselves.

There were plenty of recipes online, but the base seemed easy enough (rice, water, heat, and time).  The were what proved difficult.  Instead of the soupy consistency we'd find at restaurants, ours ended up being definitely more like a thick oatmeal. 

I didn't think we used a lot of rice, but enough congee was created to fill the pot so that we couldn't even add more water to thin it out.  (You have to hand it to "famine food" - there are definite tricks to make food stretch). 

The very filling result was further augmented with fresh ginger, green onion, and peanuts.  Delicious!  I definitely have some other ideas for next time. 

Stomachs full, we turned our attention to dance, namely: Best Dance Moves in the World . . . Ever!: 100 New and Classic Moves and How to Bust Them. 

No ballroom steps made the list (but did feature in the "concise history"), but there was The Worm, The Chicken Dance, and more importantly, The Boxer (which I always thought was something Paul made up to make me laugh).  Anyway, we busted some moves, threw some shapes, and tripped the light fantastic... he was better (I was laughing too much :P). 

Oh, and after some fruitful scavenging, we have new furniture for the telephone room!