Monday
July 29, 2002

I don't want to be right...

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Here are a few of my favorite online haunts:

REALTOR.ca
[This is the site I visit to fantasize about living in Toronto again, which is almost every single day during the winter]

Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts
[This is where I visit in the morning, when I need a positive spin on things past, present and future.]

Living Local
[This is where I go to see what Canadians are up to, sometimes I even buy things from the businesses listed there.]

Environment Canada Weather
[This is the site I visit every morning, and before every road trip during the winter]

It is back. The heat, the humidity, the poor air quality, the discomfort, it is all back. Summer is not my favorite season. In cooler weather, one can always cover oneself with protective clothing and venture out of doors. In hot humid weather, I would be uncomfortable in even the briefest of outfits. I find it hard to believe that some people enjoy this weather. I certainly do not.

This past week Terra dropped by with her boyfriend Lares. They helped me in the garden for a bit, did a few loads of laundry, and afterwards we cooked a few hot dogs on the BBQ and talked about all sorts. It was lovely to observe what Terra makes of herself these days. Lares most obviously cares for her and respects her, which leads me to feel the same way about him.

Since the air conditioning is running today, I decided to catch up on my baking. I have baked and frozen two Date Nut Loaves and two Fresh Orange Loaves. A loaf of whole-wheat seed bread is currently baking in the machine. I am also preparing elbow macaroni for a cold salad and granola in the crockpot. When I cook and bake during the hot weather I open the vent to the attic to give the heat an escape path, reducing the need for cooling the air in the house. A strategy that seems to work very well.

I remember the old farmhouses in the farming community where I grew up; summer kitchens were common.

"The summer kitchen, connected to the main house by a covered breezeway, was used throughout the year for baking and cooking. Seasonal chores like butchering and food preserving were done here." Source: Montgomery County, Peter Wentz Farmstead Note: This is the only good graphic example and definition I could find on the Net, and although it is from the USA, it looks exactly like those in Ontario museums.

It seems to me that with the amount of luxury we build into the modern home; it would not be much of a stretch to extend kitchens by adding an enclosed porch for use in the summer. This could include a counter and appliances such as a hot plate for jam making, a convection oven for baking, and a crockpot. All could be easily moved indoors during the winter months.

One of ways I try to use the concept is to setup the crockpot on the back deck, releasing the heat to the great outdoors. This has significant drawbacks; as the local wildlife find the project of great interest and are not above investigating the possibilities. Vigilance is required, making the whole project rather time consuming and intrusive.

The back porch summer kitchen is one of my "when-I-win-the-lottery" projects. No fur coats and flash cars for me. If I had money, you would find me making berry jam under the trees, visiting museums, and spending much more time with Attila.

I am an example of ambition gone wrong.



Top of Page
RECIPES :: Cast

Worldly Distractions

Summer Kitchen from the Wentz Farmstead USA
Historical North American
Summer Kitchen



By the Easy Chair
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory



Weather
9:58 EDT
Temp: 24`C
Humidity: 94%
Wind: W 7 km/h
Barometric:101.1 kPa

Sunrise 6:12 AM EDT
Sunset 8:50 PM EDT
 

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal
Photography
Poetry
by Maggie Turner

Canadian Maggie Turner writes and publishes poetry, photography, and a personal journal online. Her work reflects the current way of life in Canada, embracing Canada's past, present, and future in a unique portrayal of everyday life. Maggie's voice is one of the many that actively depict the rich diversity of Canadian culture.

Photography: "a term which comes from the Greek words photos (light) and graphos (drawing). A photograph is made with a camera by exposing film to light in order to create a negative. The negative is then used in the darkroom to print a photograph (positive) onto light-sensitive paper.
Source: University of Arizona Glossary

Poetry: "a form of speech or writing that harmonizes the music of its language with its subject. To read a great poem is to bring out the perfect marriage of its sound and thought in a silent or voiced performance. At least from the time of Aristotle's Poetics, drama was conceived of as a species of poetry."
Source: Creative Studios

Journal: " "Though a journal may be many things - a treasury, a storehouse, a jewelry box, a laboratory, a drafting board, a collector's cabinet, a snapshot album, a history, a travelogue..., a letter to oneself - it has some definable characteristics. It is a record, an entry-book, kept regularly, though not necessarily daily.... Some (entries) will be nearly illegible, written in the dark in the middle of the night.... Not only is it a record for oneself, but of oneself. Every memorable journal, any successful journal, is honest. Nothing sham, phony, false...." (Dorothy Lambert from Ken Macrorie's book, Writing to be Read )
A journal is a way to keep track of your thoughts about what you read... as well as what you did on any given day."
Source: Journal Writing

A Blog is an online journal created by server side software, often hosted by a commercial interest.

"The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_blogging


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