Peterman's Choice*
On Going Rogue

It is amazing how his ideas still hold true today...  

mbailey: Good Sense is always Good Sense, regardless of how many Cultural bastardizations we are stupid enough to allow ....... and which we always regret ...

Is the animal in the picture a dog or a wolf? Either way, he's looking at us with a condescending smirk on his face.....

Gene Kelly perfected the art of singing and dancing in the rain and this morn I arose @ 5 dings to think with the rain from my wicker rocker. The rhythm of the rain and the distant thunder that my mom said was "the devil beating his wife" causes a man to ponder stuff. John Quincy, wise, keenly aware of the human quest "My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still would want for more. Me too!

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I didn't think it was "good sense"...  It just always amazes me when bits of wisdom such as his withstand the test of time and are still applicable in today's society without any alteration.

I got nothing on this one. Stomach still feeling iffy so nothing fancy for breakfast - milky coffee and scrambled eggs maybe. Well, call it breakfast, it's lunchtime here.

If I take my fingers and brush my cat's fur at the base of her neck forward, she looks amazingly like JQ.

Hazel sorry you're not better, hope it does not get worse.
TT is good sense the same as common sense?
Your musings are hilarious!! Morning!

I gots not much................I have toured the JQA house & it's beautiful.................................HAZE...................scrambly eggs are always good for what ails you..................be well......................

It's amazing to consider the work of John Adams, how he groomed his son for leadership. . . how much they accomplished without any of our modern day conveniences.  We in the U.S. are blessed to have a rich heritage of our founding fathers.   I wonder what they would think of their America today. . . . .  Hazel, may you recover quickly.

I find it amazing that anyone could keep a diary for so many years.....I've tried from time to time--especially if I've a pressing problem I'm working on at the time, but I've never been able to keep one going for long.  Oh!  And then I end up destroying all I've written later on when going back and rereading it after a space of years.   The records that people used to keep are invaluable to an understanding of the times and their lives.   Probably a much truer picture than any "diary" or "autobiography/biography" sold today.  They called 'em as they saw 'em and didn't have agents or marketers insisting on a certain spin for better sales.  In fact, most diarists never thought of anyone ever seeing their words.  

Its interresting to me CAROL that you state that most diarists never think of anyone ever seeing their words, because I think the opposite. The amount of time spent on a daily journal can add up to years of one's life and there's a certain amount of self-importance that can go along with such perserverance. Please don't misunderstand me, I am very grateful for the wonderful history and "slice of life" views we are provided with by diairies. One of my pasttimes for years has been seeking out and reading diaries and journals from World War II written from any point of view. The more I read the more fascinating it becomes.

HAZEL--hope you are on the road to recovery. BEBE is right--scrambled eggs are always the answer! Hot toddy....

CarolB- What is that old saying about GUMPTION?...If you ain't got it, you don't know what it is. I hope I have the common sense though it ain't so common these days to use some good sense not like the sense God gave little greeen apples because the turnip truck I was driving (as opposed to falling off) Then there's Horse Sense the kind that Grandpappy Typical used when he saw me cut my finger whittling for the first time. "I reckon that hurts, son. I wouldn't be whittlin' like that again. Let me pour some turpentine on it." He grinned and his buddies laughed. In those days, a little hurting was acceptable if you learned something. Anyhow I agreed, refused the treatment and didn't do it again. Philosophers in overalls served me well. All this talk about politicians being smart is not as important to me as being wise. I guess knowing something is one thing. Using your noggin is something else.

CHEFD.........................or hotty totty...............bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha....................just made a batch of choco chip oatmeal cookies........................breakfast of champions.....................

JQA might also have wondered if it is a tax or penalty...and why Dan Quayle...or Sara P

Hazel-I'd go with dry toast and a cup of tea, be well.TT, You are so interesting to read, I love the way you use the Enlish language.

Toddy, I'm a maroon.........................RY....................It actually seems as if S. Palin's 15 minutes are almost up..........................it seemed like she was immune to it, but now, not so much.......................

I believe it to be a wolf, Bert, and I love the smirk, too.  "It seems to say, "Don't tell me you're going to run out and buy that book AND beg an autograph?"
 
 

The Adamses are an inspiration even now....as long as you mean the John and John Q and Abigail variety, not the Addams Family that is so popular now in theaters and on stages across eerie-loving America.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=the+addams+family&qpvt=the+addams+family&FORM=IGRE

Abigail was a staunch supporter and adviser to John, as well as a strong supervisor running the family farm while he was gone. She could be a role model, even today. The film of their lives is worth your time, and shows inspiring lives.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/adams/index.html

Diaries are invaluble for the skits I do about the Civil War era.  I have 12 at my disposal; 9 of which are written by women who lived in my general vicinity. The others are by elderly men who lived near where I am.  Young me were off fighting.  The one covers 1830 through 1866.  That one I know the gentleman used as a reference for himself going back to see what the weather conditions were, when the corn or rye was planted in a previous year, how long ago it was that he bought such and such a horse and the price paid.  I know this because he notes it in the diary. 
 
One of the most interesting pieces is written by and woman in her 50s.  Only herself and a slave were home when a small group of northerners rode up to the house.  They went through the house taking food and clothing and bed covers.  They also took things from the smoke house and killed the few remaining chickens.  After noting all this she ends by saying that the great insult was that one man took one of her prize tea cups and hook it onto his horse's bridle and rode off.  The aim by that time of the war was to demoralize the enemy and it was the southern women who were holding the south together. 

I have a diary I got at some antiques show years ago, DEB, it's written by a girl in the 1940's and she's the epitome of boy crazy, empty headed young womanhood I've ever read.  She tried to write everyday, but didn't accomplish it, and when she wrote it was in a practiced and round handwriting, like she was trying really hard to make it pretty, having one eye on the idea that someone might find it and read it - like I was doing.  Sadly, she was an airhead, but she had some good comments about movies she was going to see and with which boy, and her reviews of movies she saw (and with which different boy) - her reviews are sketchy and about as deep as this shallow water swimmer  could be expected to write - but there were white roses petals and some other papers in it, little pieces of paper - and that's what I love about it mostly, these additions.  Put them and the diary together, and I've wondered and daydreamed what whe grew up to be and where she would live and marry and have kids or not - all the usual curiosities about people that we've only known for the shortest time.    Good stuff, diaries, and CHEFDEB I particularly like the 40's too, right now - for whatever reason, they once bored me, and now, I find that era fascinating in many ways.

Bert Wolf?

Some how blogging and email just can't compare to hand written journals and letters.  Can you imagine a Ken Burns style documentary on our age done in 50 years with voice over artists reading out text speak?  "N thn I wuz like OMG LOL 4 sur!" I shudder. Lunch break is almost over and I don't want to go back *sigh*, I keep trying to convince the powers that be to let me be a rogue and work from home, it doesn't look promising.

Thanks! TT. All in the interpretation & application!!
Yep! That pic looks just like the wolf that was running by my house at 1:30am 3-4 months ago!! My dog spooked him aniDVD did a 180 and stood in the yard across the street. He was sizing up my dog & George was doing the same. When he looked like he might move forward again I said "are you a wolf?" startled him again, he hadn't seen me. Zip! He was gone back the way he had come. I told all my neighbors it was a coyote. I'm sure it was a grey wolf.

I know too little and am too little interested to have an informed opinion about Mrs. Palin.

PAARK Maybe the 40s are so fascinating not just because of the impact of the horrific war and the knowledge that man can stoop to his lowest, but also because ultimately the 40s turn out to be the bridge years between 2 very different worlds. The prosperity and promise brought on by the 50s which turned into a technological revolution we were incapable of imagining but also an economic failure dramatic in its own way as the Great Crash & Depression. I don't know why exactly, but I am riveted to the subject matter. And yes, the showboating of the journals! The silliest stuff becomes quite enlightening.

ChefDeb and others.....I'm going to dig in my heels and be a little stubborn on this one......I still think the majority of diaries were written NOT to be read by others.  Perhaps by the 40's this was different, but I'm thinking of the ones like Rusty mentioned and JQA and others.  Before the days that Trollope had published his and Pepy's diary had become famous I believe that people entrusted their days to writing for their own personal memories---maybe to sort out their own issues or to make an accurate record of what happened, such as life traveling on the Oregon trail.  Coincidentally those have become precious aids in understanding events and happenings from the viewpoint of actual participants.    

Diaries ~ I've kept one since I was nine and we read Anne Frank's Diary in school. All handwritten - when I got a computer I couldn't bring myself to abandon my spiral bound reporters notebooks - it felt like I was contemplating infidelity. If I'm in need of a good laugh, a few pages of me as a 16 year old art student or a young mother, earnig a crust flipping burgers, pumping petrol, whatever, a while at teaching, inevitably some amusing stuff in there and then Social Work. Ye Gods! If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. Then there was the gardening and the pedigree cat breeding - O and somewhere in there I had a go at growing dried flowers for profit. Don't bother! Then of course there are comments about friends and family, tales from Wales on the top of box and down the bottom in my childish scrawl tales from Africa. A fairly recent one I glanced through had an account of being invited to the old peoples weekly tea at our village hall. The lynch mob would be out with walking sticks of they saw what I wrote about them. Old Age Pensioner's Teas is not my cup of tea!

Carol - I agree with you that most diaries were personal and not meant to be shared....Think of Ben Franklin writing all those days of his own misadventures, his weaknesses, and his goals to self-improvement!

In his confessional diary, he admitted to a weakness for the fair sex, too much alcohol, too much rich food, and set about being more studious, more moderate in gustatory indulgences, and more organized in his personal habits. Oddly, although he mentions having a time for spiritual modeling after the example of Jesus, he does not require of himself the attendance at church.

See his 13 Virtues.... http://www.sfheart.com/FranklinsVirtues.html

I still keep an occasional diary that I pull out when I need to ruminate on some puzzle of life, or reflect on an issue to weight the pros and cons, such as why I seldom hear from my son, but talk with my daughter nearly every day?.....and then there is the ongoing marginal diary of weather and life's minutia that I write daily in the margins of the crossword puzzle books that I keep! Boring!

Now you come to mention it, Moose, I missed out from my list of 'Things wot I have done' the Pottery, Craft Shop and Cafe. Our keeping of accounts was very casual - the famous spiral bound notebook - but we always made little weather icons at the top of every days page. Welsh weather being what it is, we doubled the size of the cafe on the basis of our weather records - Kerching! The place our business was had the most amazing rainbows and I'd chivvy everybody out to see them. It was amusing to see them being a bit sulky at being shifted from their chairs to being delighted by a huge raibow - often double ones.

Diaryof a Mad Housewife........................

space between diary & of.....................doh.............

Journals or diaries I believe if they are personal they should be destroyed. Preferably burned so the smoke rises to the heavens.

Cocktail time soon................CHEFD...........can you make cheese straws? I adore cheese straws...............

In other news I was given the gift of a beautiful shemagh today.  Does any one here know how to wear one?  I've got scarves and tichels and do alright with this but this thing is almost a shawl it is so big. 

Bert~ It's a wolf.

NACHISTA:
http://artelplus.com/blog/two-ways-to-tie-the-shemagh-scarf-for-casual-wear/
Here are two ways to wear a shemagh. If you put shemagh tying instructions in your search engine you'll get lots of sites to review.

BEBE you can make them too...frozen puff pastry---cut in strips, cheesed, twisted and baked! yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Thanks Korthal.  My ex had one and would wear it when we went hiking, if it got hot he'd soak it with his water bottle and wrap it around his neck to stay cool.  I've never worn one.  Youtube has a LOT of videos...mostly paintball enthusiasts, not exactly the look I'm going for.  

Bebe--cheese straws are easy and oh so tasty!  I made some as part of my MIL's Christmas gift (among other homemade goodies) last year and the cranky old woman that she is liked them!  Technically I don't make cheese straws, but more cheese wafers since I don't much like squirting things out of a pastry bag.  My recipe is super easy and all done in the food processor.   Now if I kept a diary I could just turn to the correct page and give you all the details, but alas....unlike Hazel, I've never had the discipline to keep one......

Okay, CHEFD......................great tip..................I will try it. I have this paranoia about puff pastry, but this summer I will do it! thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're a goddess! What kind of cheese do you suggest?
 
CAROL...........................Yours sound wonderful also.................I don't want to be presumptuous, but I know I am not the only one here wanting your recipe...................give it up, PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember the Diary of a Nobody topic.

I'm writing the words, "It's time to go to sleep" in my diary or should I say journal.Night Villagers!

Bebe--thanks to the site "Smitten Kitchen" here goes:  Oven 350.  In food processor cmbine 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar, 1/2 stick butter (cut into 4 pieces), 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 ts.p kosher salt,1/2 tsp.crushed red pepper flakes.  Pulse in 5 second pulses until mixture resmebles coarse crumbs. Add 1 Tbl Half & Half and process until dough forms a ball--approx 10seconds.  On lightly floured surface, using floured rolling pin roll dough 1/8 in ch thick.  Using knife or pizza cutter cut dough into strips.  (here I just go for a glob and criss cross w/a fork).  Bake on parchment lined bakeing sheet for 12-15 minutes.  Easy and tasty.  And absolutely wonderful with a cocktail!!

Rusty--Aha!  I believe that even the fictional "Diary of a Nobody" was written from the viewpoint of somebody who wanted to be SOMEBODY,whereas the diaries we speak of today are the scribblings of those who had no yearning to be Somebody and just wanted to speak their mind.   Perhaps some of those ardent journalists were intellects who longed for like minds and conversation but found themselve in intellectual isolation or point of view isolation and just needed to say to someone--even an empty page--what they felt, thought and experienced.

CAROL.......................many thanks, I will copy it next to MISS BLUE's fabulous lime pie recipe & CHEFD's cheese twists! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................