Hash browns done right

Since it's Thanksgiving Day, this morning I made bacon, eggs and hash browns just like I do on most Saturdays. This morning somehow I used the right combination of potatoes, heat and bacon fat to create the properly done hash browns pictured here.

Sorry to brag, but I was so pleased with my efforts I had to take a picture and post it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Skating has begun

The outdoor ice skating season has begun at North Park. Here's Sarah helping her friend Joey teach a class of seven year-olds. Well actually they were just taking a break.

The rink is refrigerated so it was about 60 degrees when this photo was taken. Of course it's much colder on the ice. Too bad the class wasn't earlier in the day. It was a spectacular sunny afternoon. The rink is surrounded by forested hills that have only a few leaves left. Still, it's quite a view.

The skating season lasts from now until March with a three week hiatus for Christmas and New Year's. Now if Dad will ever learn to skate...

Saltworks - John

John performed a monologue from Cheaper by the Dozen at last Thursday's Saltworks Fall Workshop performance. (While I stood by the PA speaker, the microphone on my camera is still lacking, so you may need to turn up the volume.)

John learned some good pointers that will help him with the next Shakespeare competition. He moved around, and he varied his voice in both volume and pitch. As always, he thrives on memorization. When he puts his mind to it, he can have a full minute memorized in only a few tries. Next time he says that he will do two monologues. We will look forward to that.

Saltworks - Sarah

This past Thursday was the workshop performance for the fall Saltworks classes. While John did monologues, Sarah did Greek theatre.

Both performed Thursday, but this post is about Sarah. Look for one later for John.

Her class and she learned a lot.

• All the ancient Greek plays that exist are by only four playwrights written over only 78 years.
• The role of the chorus is much greater than they imagined.
• All of the ancient Greek plays were performed outdoors.
• While the nature of the stories could be quite bloody, all dying took place offstage.
  
• Naturally, there are a lot of contemporary words, such as scene, traceable to ancient Greek theatre.
• All roles were performed by men in masks.
  

Sarah was in a scene from the play Agamemnon. (Agamemnon is the first play of Aeschylus’ trilogy, the Oresteia.) Once again she plays the "other woman" as Cassandra, Agamemnon's mistress. In the scene both are killed (offstage) by Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, who then returns with a bloody battle axe.

Hmm, first Ophelia, now Cassandra. Maybe someday Ado Annie?

Pumpkin time

Janine and Sarah chose the last minute pumpkins this year. We were able to buy this large one at a local farm market for a reduced price because it was October 30 this was the last one and we asked.

"Gee, do you have anything bigger than all these six inch pumpkins?"

"Sure, we have this one."

"Hmm, it seems a bit too big."

"What's the price? Fifteen dollars? I'll give it to you for 10."

"Well, OK."

Not wanting to waste my time or the people at the farm market, we paid and packed it in the car quickly. Soon thereafter we saw some friends from church drive up, and then leave soon thereafter.

Sarah recognized them. "You guys got the last one!" her friend yelled out the window as they pulled back out onto the road.

Yes...we did.

Trunk or treat

This past Wednesday our church held a Trunk or Treat party. While John and Sarah were lukewarm on the prospect, Janine took to it with her usual gusto. Here she is at Greg's car. Greg is in Senior High youth group with Sarah. Pretty nice decorations. I bet he even vacuumed beforehand.

The idea is that folks at the church dress up, decorate their cars and the kids come around the parking lot. Thankfully the rain stopped for most of the event.

Here's some of the costume prize winners below. Carolyn, the lady in the photo, won best adult costume for her Homecoming Queen in the convertible. The boy was dressed as a jar of Jif peanut butter and won the best kid's costume prize. Afterward we all went inside for hot dogs in the Fellowship Hall.

Janine's Birthday Party

Now that Janine had her birthday pie, she now gets her birthday cake and what a dandy. Schorr's bakery in West View came through again with balloons, raised letters and everything.

This is the cake from her birthday party this past Sunday afternoon. It was quite an event with eight little girls all sitting around the dining room table.

As Bobbie said, it was a success because no one threw up or got hurt. Overall the girls were very good, but we were thankful it was a nice day, so they all got to burn off some energy outside beforehand.

Finally, here's the big moment with the cake. Drat! Those candles!

Replacement time

Take a look at the date on the inside of the upstairs smoke detector- January 1996! I showed it to John and he remarked that it was older than him.

The safety experts say to change the batteries in your smoke detectors when daylight savings ends in the fall. The battery was new in our downstairs smoke detector but the unit itself was quite old. In fact it started to peep intermittently with both new and old batteries. Replacing it prompted me to replace both.

Glad I did.

Janine's Birthday

Yesterday was Janine's birthday and we all celebrated with our traditional birthday pie. Her request was peach/blueberry and it tasted great. I think partly because we ate the pie about two hours after it came out of the oven. It was just enough time to cool, but still taste fresh.

As you can see from the video Janine wanted to make a separate wish for each candle. Then all decorum broke down. Sarah as the oldest is the rule keeper saying, "you can't do that!" John as the brother in between started blowing out the other candles! But it was all in fun and we all dug in after that.

Traveling with Han Solo

In all of his intergalatic travels, I don't think Han Solo ever dove into a dozen oysters until now. Well a few weeks ago that is. Here's Han at the Red Drum in Nag's Head, NC.

The oysters were interesting. They were a variety found in Chesapeake Bay with a tiny crab inside. At first we weren't too sure about them. After we checked with the waitress, Sarah, Bobbie and I dug in with gusto, tiny crab and all.

Back to Han for a moment. Sarah has brought Han Solo along on all trips she has taken in the past few years. We have photos of Han in Washington, DC and New York more recently. So finally, here's Sarah setting up a shot of Han when we were at lunch in Manteo, NC at an outdoor cafe. I guess Han likes good food.

Sarah Surfing...sort of

Here's some more vacation posts.

Sarah went out one day to surf and found it a bit difficult. I think the waves were not high enough. She got out past the sandbar and tried to catch the waves as they broke, but as you can see the waves would wash over her without much propulsion forward.

The sound gives you an idea why the Wright Brothers made their first flight just a few miles away. The wind is almost constant so it's a great place to fly a kite, or try out a new contraption that just might fly like a bird.

Elizabethan Gardens

In Manteo, NC there is a special place called the Elizabethan Gardens. Bobbie and I first visited it in 1991 while staying at an Inn in Manteo. Later, we returned in 2002 as part of our history lesson for the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

This year we just went back to enjoy the gardens. It is primarily a shade garden featuring many statues and walking paths. The girls particularly enjoyed walking around, but John was bored. So the two of us each got a bottle of soda and sat at the tables near the entrance.

My favorite part was the live oak that had lasted since the days of early exploration in the 1610s. It's mainly held together with cables now, but still has most of its branches and leaves.

300th Post

This is the 300th post to Little House. But I have to remember my heritage and pay homage to another 300th milestone passed this Saturday in my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

This is a record unsurpassed in college football. Notre Dame is the only one close at just over 200 consecutive sellouts.

It started on November 3, 1962 when Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus sold out for a 7 to 6 loss to Missouri. Most sources say there were about 39,000 at that game.

My dad took me to my first NU game soon thereafter. I remember loosing my prized blue St. Louis Cardinals cap in between the seats and under the bleachers on the near end of the field. I soon recovered when they won the 1964 World Series. Since then the old stadium has been expanded many times and now seats more than 80,000. Like Wrigley Field, Memorial Stadium now has lights.

The football culture is strong throughout Nebraska and the Husker Nation. There is a Californians for Nebraska group, Texans for Nebraska and just about every other state. But keep it all in perspective. Nebraska has a lot of land and not a lot of people. Since Memorial Stadium was expanded in the late 1960s, it has been the third largest city in the state on game day, only Omaha and Lincoln are bigger.

One of the recent traditions has been the tunnel walk video that runs on the Jumbotrons just before the team hits the field. (Somehow that is missing from my childhood memories.) Here's the one that ran on Saturday.



Then, there's this one. Oh let me tell you about it! Listen to how he says Bob Devaney.

There are many other good videos. More to come later.

John at the beach

Here's John getting ready to go into the surf on Monday. He actually did later, but I had already gone back to our spot on the beach.

The weather this year has been great. Sunny every day with rain predicted for tomorrow, our last full day here.

I will admit that I had hoped I would get to the beach more than I have, but that's the point of a vacation, doing what you like, when you like.

Last night's dinner

Here's Janine with last night's dinner, a baker's dozen of blue crabs.

That's right, we are at the beach and having a great time if Janine's hair is any indication.

We love coming to Duck, NC at this time of year. The ocean is at its warmest. The rents are at their lowest and there are no crowds. In other words, it's possible to relax and enjoy each other, and that's exactly what we are doing.

We have had sunny weather all week long. It's been in the 70s for the most part, so we have not used the pool at the house at all. That is until last night right before dinner when Janine took a bracing dip.