Miscellaneous – Page 3 – Sarah Potter Writes

Neglected Structures & Overgrown Places #28 — Going Nowhere Fast

This two-wheeled trailer, piled high with household rejects, has been parked at the side of a road for a week.

To me, it’s symbolic of life and all the psychological dross we accumulate over the years. How often do we find ourselves saying “I’ve turned over a new leaf”, to meet with speedy failure? We do the equivalent of loading our unwanted behaviour in a trailer, but can’t find the willpower or motivation to drive it away and dump it for good on the rubbish tip.

For instance, who really wants to hang on to things below?

a green sofa (envy)
black rubbish sacks (black dog moods)
broom handles (unrealistic notions of looking like a stick-thin model)
white doors without handles (false notions that the grass is greener on the other side)
old cupboards (constant worrying about family skeletons)

My trailer would contain old shoes, as I need to walk taller with a confident spring in my step, instead of thinking that great success happens to other people.

What would your trailer contain, and would you have the willpower to drive it away?

My Sick Computer Has Gone to the Vets;-)

This morning my computer went to the veterinary hospital. That’s what I told my dog anyway. How else does a person explain to her chief supervisor — Ms Labrador — the removal of such an important fixture from the house?

This is my interpretation of how our conversation went.

Dog: “My vet is a woman. That nice smiling man at the door who‘s come to collect your sickly PC can’t be a vet.”

Me: “Remember we met Mrs PC Fixit yesterday. She told us she needed to take my computer to the surgery for full diagnostics and treatment. You washed her face as your seal of approval.”

Dog: “What if this man at the door doesn’t bring your computer back?‘

Me: “Of course he will. It‘s the same as when you were an in-patient at the vets after that Alsatian bit you and the poison needed draining out of the wound. You were there overnight and then allowed home.”

Dog: “But will the PC be in pain and have stitches that need cleaning twice daily with a stinky pink liquid that smells of hospital?

Me: “No, but it will be dusted more regularly and I won’t ever again go fiddling with code in its terminal, giving it a mega dose of worms.”

Dog: “Will it need worming tablets once a quarter?”

Me: “Talking of tablets — thank heavens for small mercies. At least while I‘m computer-less I can still actively engage with the blogging community via my Asus tablet.”

Dog: “That explains it. Your PC is sick because it gave birth to a puppy out of the wrong orifice.”

Me: “Ms Labrador, I think your ears need cleaning. I did not say an**.”

When You’re Sick of Christmas Cake & Pudding

None of my family like Christmas cake as it’s too rich and heavy, but we adore the taste of marzipan, which is why I invented this cake.

Okay, it’s Christmas Eve and you’ve already bought or made your cakes and puddings, but this recipe will do just as well as a celebration cake for New Year, or as a pudding with custard and/or ice cream. So get baking next weekend and surprise everyone with this super-gooey and tasty offering.

MARZIPAN AND CHERRY CAKE

Ingredients

150 g sunflower baking spread at room temperature
150 g golden unrefined caster sugar
3 large eggs
225 g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoonful baking powder
150 g natural glace cherries, halved
250 g golden marzipan, cut into cubes
demerara sugar for sprinkling

Method

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 3 or 170º C

Prepare 18-20 cm round tin, lined with baking parchment, or greased and lined with greaseproof paper.

Put the sunflower spread and caster sugar into a bowl. Mix with an electric whisk or beat with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy.

Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and add them a little at a time into the butter and sugar.

Fold in the sieved flour and baking powder with a tablespoon. Best to fold in a third of the flour at a time. The mixture should end up of a soft dropping consistency. If it is too dry, add a dessertspoon of milk.

Stir in the halved cherries and cubed marzipan.

Spoon the mixture into the lined cake tin and smooth it out with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle a generous amount of demerara sugar on the top of the cake.

Place the cake in the centre of the oven and bake for 2-2½ hours, but check after 2 hours, as this is usually long enough as you don’t want your cake to dry out.

Leave in the tin to cool before removing.

Enjoy:-)

Save Time for Writing: Dump Ironing

This week, I’ve had a revelation: not of a religious kind, but one related to ironing. You know how people can tell you something a million times over, but you don’t believe what they’re saying until the time is right?

“Oh, I never bother ironing — what a waste of time,” they’d say to me.

“Superior whatsits,” I’d think (and they’d probably be thinking the same, or feeling decidedly sorry for me).

MATHEMATICS TIME

35 years X 52 = 1820 weeks

1820 weeks X 2 hours of ironing per week = 3640 hours spent ironing

3640 divided by 24 = 152 days (rounded up)

That’s 2.4 of a year of my life spent ironing, instead of writing D:

I started to question ironing as a necessity when my newly graduated son returned from university with the iron I bought him still in its original packaging. Then, a fortnight ago, when my husband commented on how long the ironing had taken, I showed him how much of it was his, including seven white cotton T-shirts (one for each day of the week). He said to me, “You don’t need to iron those. I’m only wearing them underneath as vests.”

Well, that was all the permission I needed to stop ironing altogether.

Here’s how I achieved satisfactory results, as well as cut down on electricity consumption (yes, it saves money as well as time):

Take the washing out of the machine directly the cycle ends.
Shake out the clothes before hanging on the clothes line.
Peg the clothes inside out.
Smooth the clothes into shape on the line.
Fold them with care when you remove them from the line if they’re bone dry, otherwise air them on hangers indoors first.

Simple, isn’t it? And what an easy way to earn yourselves two extra hours a week to write, blog, dance, sing, go for a walk in the country, or plain relax: whatever you fancy.

So please feel free to display my anti-ironing logo on your blogs and, perhaps, link it back to my post so we can spread the word and gain as many converts as possible 😉

“Mini Blogathon” for those of lesser stamina.

I can’t believe three weeks have passed by, since one of my very dear wordpressing friends tagged me for the blogathon. Aurora HSP is a beautiful, creative, brave and honest person, who fights valiantly for what is right and good in life.

http://auroramorealist.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/what-is-a-blogathon-you-might-well-ask-lol/

Thank you for tagging me, Aurora HSP, and for your wonderfully kind words. I hope you’ll forgive me for opting out of the full race and designing a mini version of the blogathon.

So here it is below

Here are the rules:

1. Each person tagged must post 5 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 5 questions the ‘tagger’ has set for them.
3. They must create 5 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 5 bloggers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There are no tag backs.

Five things about me:

1. I collect ornaments of strange birds.

2. I love the impressive architecture of trees.

3. The best novel I’ve read this year is ‘Music and Silence‘ by Rose Tremain, which won the Whitbread Novel Award in 1999, and is set in 17th century Denmark. You can read a review at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6167.Music_and_Silence

4. My favourite television drama of the year is ‘The Paradise’, which the BBC describes as “An intoxicating love story set in England’s first department store in the 1870s”. The story is based on the classic French novel Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola.

5. I refuse to engage with the commercialism and materialism of Christmas–especially glittery decorations and false expectations of a magical outcome. Such can lead to family arguments, disappointment, debt, and even mental illness, as well as being an unacceptable drain on the world’s resources. I would rather go outside and contemplate a holly tree.

My answers to the tagger’s questions:

For this part of the blogathon I’ve gone for the full eleven questions, as I couldn’t choose which five I wanted to answer the most. Aurora HSP must have loved these particular questions set by her tagger (http://evilnymphstuff.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/the-tag-blogathon/) as she passed them on to me, rather than posing some questions of her own 😉

1. All right, so you’re on a cloud up in the sky. You look down. What do you see?
My feet being enveloped by cloud.

2. What is that one thing that triggers your admiration for someone?
Unconditional positive regard for others.

3. What is the purpose of your blog?
Creative engagement with people from around the World.

4. What is your dream job?
A published novelist.

5. What is the song that you just can’t stop listening too at the moment?
Birdsong.

6. How would you spend your very last day on Earth?
Scared.

7. It’s my birthday. What gift do you send to me?
For you, dear Aurora HSP — healing and happiness enfolded in blue light
http://www.psychicguild.com/colour/primary.htm

8. What are you most afraid of?
War fuelled by ideological extremism.

9. Computer/laptop or smartphone?
Computer.

10. Tell me what you eat for breakfast.
Porridge oats made with goat’s milk and sprinkled with ground nuts.

11. And finally, give me a nickname!
“Takchawee” — Sioux Indian for doe, in all her beauty and gentleness.

My questions for my “taggees”:

1. What’s your favourite opening sentence to a novel or short story?

2. Have you ever read a self-published novel, and enjoyed it?

3. What’s your favourite quote of all time?

4. When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see?

5. Do you believe extraterrestrials have visited our world?

The lucky bloggers tagged (well, I hope you think you’re lucky!):

Tea with a Pirate at http://managuagunntoday.wordpress.com/ is an errant gypsy who roams the seven seas searching for a home to call his own.

Gloria the Poet at http://lovelifeandpoetry.com/ is a hopeless romantic poet who can’t help but be in love.

Patrick Latter at http://hikingphoto.com/ likes hiking and photography.

Phil at http://up2randomthoughts.wordpress.com/ is master of the random and eccentric.

Ralphie at http://ralphiesportal.me/ is the proprietor of a home to the zany and whacky dodo.

On an earlier occasion, while fired up with exceptional mental energy, I did run the full blogathon. You can check this out by sprinting over to https://sarahpotterwrites.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/tagged/.

If any of my five taggees of today would rather go for the long haul, please feel free to answer the eleven questions I asked of my “victims “on that earlier occasion. Of course, there is no obligation to take part in either the blogathon or the mini blogathon, but, if you do, I would very much appreciate you copying and pasting the relevant emblem into your post.

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