I finally got myself a new car. After my car was totaled I was driving my son’s twenty year old manual and the clutch was killing me. Now I have a brand new automatic. I still keep trying to put the clutch in but that should fade away.
The only other automatic car I ever owned was about fifteen years ago. I decided having a manual in the crazy Washington DC traffic was too much so I opted for a new automatic. The first day I drove to work, I parked it in my usual garage space. I could not get the keys out of the ignition. They would not come out. It was like they were welded into the steering wheel. I got out the manual and skimmed though it but could not figure it out. I finally called roadside assistance. “I can’t get the keys to come out”.
“Are you in Park”??
“Ummmmm”. I felt like a complete idiot. Seriously an idiot. I apologized profusely.
That is one lesson I will never forget. Ever.
Funny thing when I was paying for the car. I was sitting with the finance guy and he complimented me on my nails. He said he really liked my nail color. Then he said he wished his wife had that nail color. Her nails apparently looked like “Christmas”. After a while he speculated on the color. “It must be something like lavender…” I helped him out. “It is called orchid something”. Maybe he will buy her some.
Now I just have to figure out what all the gadgets and lights and messages mean on my new car. It is like learning how to use a new computer program. But, still, I like it a lot.
I just read a memoir – Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu. She is a Third Culture Kid and grew up with a lot of trauma. Her mother was Armenian American and her father was Ghanaian. Growing up she lived in Tanzania, Italy, England, Ethiopia and Uganda and spent summers in Ghana. There were wars going on when she was in Ethiopia and Uganda. That is a lot to unpack but on top of that she had ongoing personal family issues to deal with. It is really not so much a memoir as a poem. A poem of self discovery. Who is she. Where is her home. How do the people around her influence her sense of self. How does the outside world influence her sense of self. It is a beautifully written introspective.
Speaking of Ghana. I read a fun murder mystery by a Ghanaian. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey. I also read Dune for the first time. The Sci-Fi novel, Dune, was written in 1965 by Frank Herbert. The second part of the latest movie iteration just came out. After reading the book I watched both movies. It was a good plan. Read the book first.
And just to round things out, I’m currently reading Massacre in Minnesota: The Dakota War of 1862, the Most Violent Ethnic Conflict in American History by Gary Clayton Anderson. What a horrible thing that is. Ugh. I can only read a little at a time. Even though I have been reading about US History for many years, I am still shocked and disgusted by it. The unbelievable corruption and greed. In many ways it still carries over to the present day. Sad sad sad.
Another book I read recently was The American Adventuress: A Novel by CW Gortner. It is based on the life of Jennie Jerome, an American from New York, who married Randolph Churchill and was Winston Churchill’s mother. It explains a lot. She was a real character. In her later years she married a man Winston’s age. Mostly just because she could.
Next on my list: Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux. It is a novel based on George Orwell’s time in Burma as a servant of the British Empire. I am looking forward to it. George Orwell also wrote a book about his days in Burma – Burmese Days – which I read many many moons ago. I read someplace recently that many of his books were based on Burma and his time there. It influenced him heavily.
If you are interested in more books specifically about expats and TCKs, see my TCK/Expats Films and Books page.
Random Thought
When I was very little I had a recurring dream about Babylonians waging war all around me.
In my 20’s I had a recurring dream about being in a big city running through alleyways evading bullets and bombs.
Daylight Savings Time. It is controversial. It is way too complicated for me to go into it. It is kind of like jet lag. Takes about a week to adjust to it. Messes up your schedule. Makes you tired, disoriented. But without the exotic new location.
Book I finished reading Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig. It is a novel but it is based on the author’s family and her mother Louisa, who won Miss Burma in 1956. It was a beauty pageant she won twice. The beauty pageant was held from 1947 to 1962 when the government banned it. (Interesting fact, one of King Thibaw’s grandsons started the beauty pageant. I learned about that in The King in Exile).
Louisa – Miss Burma
Louisa’s mother was a Burmese woman of the Karen (kar-en) ethnic group who married a Jewish man who was born in Burma but grew up in India. After World War II, Burma became independent of Britain and set up its own government. The Karen ethnic group wanted to be an autonomous state and were promised this if they joined forces with the Burmese. After the new government was set up they discovered they were to be absorbed into the new Burmese state. So they became rebels and continued to fight for their independence. In the book, the Jewish husband, Benny, decided he wanted to align himself with the Karens and do everything he could for them. This included procuring guns and working closely with the rebels. He ended up being tortured and locked up both in jail and in house arrest.
His wife, Khin, was a survivor and went through many hardships. She had an idea to enter her daughter into beauty contests because the head of state’s wife was involved with them. This made it possible to become close enough to talk her into helping Benny get out of jail. Louisa went on to win the Miss Burma contest and become famous both for that and for acting in several movies. And then she married the head of the Karen opposition and ended up running for her life.
It was a good book. Lots of ins and outs, surviving war, getting by, being rich, being poor, suspense. And some history. Louisa certainly had an interesting life.
In 1959 my family was living in Pyinmana, Burma, and my mother writes: The all-Burma beauty contest for both men and women (“Miss Burma” and “Mr Burma”) was held here last weekend. The ice cream party was held here at the Institute on the day they all arrived from all over Burma, and then for two nights they had programs, weight lifting contest, demonstrations of boxing, and beauty contests until 2:30 am the first night and until 4 am the last night! They started at 6:30 pm. Bill went the first night for a couple of hours, and I went the second night for about 4 hours. It really was very interesting, and one accordion solo with accordionist singing Burmese songs was perfectly lovely. He was worth the whole evening for me. But we didn’t get to see hide nor hair of the beauty contests because those were the very last thing! The weight lifters broke several SouthEast Asian records, and the beauties told someone they had never been treated so nicely as they had been here, so we are most glad for the good publicity for Pyinmana. Usually all people hear about us as a city is bad.
Random I dreamed that I met somebody with beautiful pink hair and I decided I wanted pink hair but I didn’t want to copy her. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. Maybe if it was a very light pink?
The United Nations theme for 2024 International Women’s Day is “Invest in women: Accelerate Progress” —
“In a world facing multiple crises that are putting immense pressure on communities, achieving gender equality is more vital than ever. Ensuring women’s and girls’ rights across all aspects of life is the only way to secure prosperous and just economies, and a healthy planet for future generations. Time is running out. Gender equality remains the greatest human rights challenge. Investing in women is a human rights imperative and cornerstone for building inclusive societies. Progress for women benefits us all.”
In 1908 15,000 women marched in New York City to demand better working conditions, more pay, and the right to vote. This was the birth of the woman’s movement. In 1911 more than a million women marched throughout Europe to end discrimination. On March 25th of that year 123 female garment workers aged 16 to 23 died in a fire in New York City. Many fell or jumped to their deaths to escape the fire. The doors were locked. Most of them were Italian and Jewish immigrants. The outcome was legislation mandating better working conditions.
The first Women’s Day was held in 1911 and in 1914 March 8th became the official International Women’s Day. In 1917 the women of Russia staged a protest for “Bread and Peace” in response to the death of over 2 million Russian soldiers. They protested for four days until the Czar abdicated and the provisional government granted them the right to vote. Their protest started on March 8th.
Over the years the movement grew and today many countries around the world celebrate March 8th as an official holiday. Women in the 1970’s again rose and fought for women’s rights and equality. In the West much was accomplished and women entered the workforce and gained more equality and legislative rights.
However, in the USA, women have been losing rights recently. They have been stripped of their right to choose. Women do not have equal rights or equal pay. Many women around the world are still dealing with forced marriages, slavery and horrible working conditions.
It is a time to reflect on how much more there is to do. Look out for your sisters, mothers, daughters and friends.
So funny story. Our internet went out on Thursday. It was out from about noon to after 10 pm. It came back on the next morning. In my building that means the TV is also out. And it means the public garage we all use is not accessible. The fancy new system they put in just doesn’t work. You can’t get in or out. That night all the people who work downtown could not get out to go home. And residents could not get in to go home. Somebody didn’t think it through when they installed the new fancy scanners. The company that owns the garage almost had a riot in their hands. They finally dismantled everything and opened all the gates. That meant that this morning the garage was full of homeless people sheltering out of the rain.
One word – idiots! Not really so funny. The down side of technology. I think more and more, we need a back up for technology.
Facebook is reminding me about my trip to Ireland four years ago. Check it out.
Winter is coming. William O’Brian State Park was kind of magical.
My photos look a little out of focus today. Kind of psychedelic. Or is it just me? The sky is an odd color. A rainy, dark day. But color starting as the trees adjust to winter.
I actually got a story published this week. No money but think of the fame! The notoriety!
Today is also gloomy and rainy. But that’s okay. We need rain. Rain is good. Winter is coming.
I read today that scientists think mammals will die out in 250 million years. All the land masses will collide, the sun will get brighter, and carbon dioxide will rise. We will suffocate and melt. I wonder if we will really last that long. Will we morph into something else? Will another species thrive on the new atmosphere? Will we build bio-domes like our science fiction writers predict? It is hard to imagine what 250 million years looks like. The dinosaurs roamed the earth for 165 million years and then all blew up about 65 million years ago. Mammals showed up about 225 million years ago. So we are almost half way through our time here. On the other hand the earth itself is 4.5 billion years old. We are but blips in time. It’s like democracy in Russia. A nanosecond. Apparently Earth has another 4 billion years to go. Don’t think I’ll be around to see it.
I’m reading Isabel Allende’s memoirs and in it she mentions the filming of The House of Spirits. I never knew it was made into a movie so I watched it last night. It was star studded, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, Winona Ryder, and a million other people. Of Love and Shadows is another one of her books that was made into a movie. I haven’t read that one but looks interesting.
I read that people who are optimistic and have positive thoughts on aging tend to live longer. I’m feeling positive I am aging.
A friend just found out he is going to Burundi for work. The poorest nation in the world. The most unhappy nation in the world. I first heard about Burundi during the Hutu-Tutsi genocide of the 1990’s. So I have been trying to find positive things about it. It is in the African Great Lakes region bordering on Lake Tanganyika. This is what I found.
I had a dream last night where everybody around me was drinking beer for breakfast. And I thought. I want to do that. I want to drink beer for breakfast.
All I wanna do is drink beer for breakfast All I wanna eat is them barbeque chips All I want is someone to just try and protect us You can try but never wanna try and defect us
I telling you I am through Mama’s baby boy is a bum
All I wanna do is stay in this life All I wanna pick is your nose, honey, hi Sweet little corny you’ve gotta be husky I am dreaming of a white Christmas
Honey where I’m from Mama’s baby boy is a bum Honey where I’m from Halle-fucking-lujah I’m a bum
Baby boy’s a bum Baby boy’s a bum Baby boy’s a bum All I wanna do is drink beer for breakfast
—- The Replacements
Actually it really isn’t that odd. All the way up until the 17th century, Northern Europeans drank beer at every meal. It was safer than drinking water and more nutritious. Apparently archeologists have discovered evidence of beer making in Mesopotamia dating back 4000 years. Anyway, it’s been around a while. I remember reading about pregnant women in medieval times drinking beer for breakfast. It was compared to a loaf of bread.
So I could just have a slice of “bread” for breakfast.
When you look up Beer for Breakfast on the internet you get all kinds of recipes that have beer in them. Beer muffins and stuff like that. What for? Just pop a brew instead. A lot less trouble.
I had a birthday recently and decided to take myself to go see “Barbie”. I was hoping for some fun escapism. Well… it was entertaining but it was also a story of a major existential crisis. So I’m conflicted. Not sure I liked it. But Ryan Gosling was excellent as Ken.
I can be conflicted about birthdays in general. Some good, some bad. Some have associations I don’t care for. Some happy occasions.
My mother writes about the menu for my second birthday: hunks of cheese, slices of bananas with peanut butter dabs all on a toothpick, tiny buns filled with ground spam, graham crackers with honey butter, and then cupcakes with a candle on each, coffee and Koolade. Sounds like an exotic ‘50s meal, doesn’t it?
My fifth birthday was memorable because the family had just survived a plane crash and landed at our final destination two weeks late – on my birthday. Another memorable one was in Lagos, Nigeria when my mother and I marked the occasion by opening a small tinned chocolate cake. They probably don’t make such a thing anymore…
In 1999, the last year of the millennium, I spent my birthday in France. We stayed with friends in the suburbs who had a house and small yard and a son our son, Noah’s age. They were about a ten minute walk from the train in a nice little village with a pretty chateau. The first day was spent getting our new visas organized and trying to do some shopping. On Saturday we wandered around the left bank and then the four adults went out to dinner at a very nice kind of ‘new’ French restaurant. It was my birthday so we had champagne and wine and great food. Sunday was the boat ride on the Seine with the boys and then a walk through the Tuileries garden where there just happened to be some rides and of course Noah had to go on them.
We rented a car and on Tuesday left for Metz and the eclipse. Metz is a very pretty town right on the river. We scoped out the area on Tuesday and early Wednesday morning we headed out with the telescope, video camera and other cameras. We set up our camp in the middle of the Esplanade which is a nice park right by the river. The town had organized a big festival around the eclipse and so there were parades, music, etc. going on all day long. It was cloudy. During the first half of the eclipse we were able to see it off and on. But about 20 minutes before total eclipse it started to rain. We could tell when the total was, though, because it was completely dark. It was really cool. All the flowers closed up and all the lights came on and it was really night. Then during the second half it cleared up a bit and we were able to see more. Noah kept looking at the “moon” through his glasses. Nicholas got some good shots through his telescope. And I got a new umbrella. When we got back to Paris our friends who had gone 25 minutes north of Paris on the train said they had seen the whole thing perfectly.
From Metz we drove into Lorraine and the Vosges area. We stopped at the Haut Konningburg castle which is a huge restored castle on top of a mountain in the middle of the forest. You can see forever from it. It is really cool with a moat and drawbridge and inner yard. It would be very hard to penetrate it.
From there we wound our way around down to La Bresse which is in the heart of a big ski area and lots of mountains and forest. Really beautiful. Our hotel was very nice with a good restaurant. We drove all around the area and went hiking around a glacial pool where Noah spent the better part of an hour throwing rocks into it.
On Sunday (the day before Noah’s birthday) we took the boys to the Bois de Bologne to the big amusement park there and I think they went on about 20 rides. They had a lot of fun.
Our last day in Paris we had lunch up at Montmartre with all the tourists in town. It was kind of fun.
I needed a new couch. I gave my old one away. I found the perfect couch. Super comfortable. Perfect color. Nice size. I fell in love with it. I ordered it. I paid for it. I had to wait two weeks for delivery.
It didn’t fit in the elevator. Too big.
I know better than to fall in love with anything. I usually don’t care that much. But it was a really nice couch. So back to square one. And believe me, there are not very many comfortable couches. There aren’t even very many nice looking ones. And I know I won’t see that color again. Unless I want to pay 12,000 dollars which I don’t.
I took a quiz on one furniture store website. It told me my style is Contemporary Chic. But then it didn’t give me any examples or show me any possibilities. What is that about? They did send me a $25 off coupon though…
This is the picture they showed of what Contemporary Chic looks like but it doesn’t exist on their website. I don’t really like it that much.
This is my old couch in its new home.
So after sitting on many sofas, I found this one. It isn’t perfect but I got a red chair to go with it. And it is comfortable.
Now I have to wait another two weeks for it to show up.
I took my car in to get the dents banged out of it this week. That meant getting a rental car. I had the choice of this tiny little thing or a “small” SUV. I took the SUV because it looked much sturdier. But it is big. Bigger than my car. And of course it is an automatic.
I bought an automatic (my first) about ten years ago. The first day I drove to work, I parked my car in the garage and I couldn’t get the keys out of the ignition. I panicked. I tried it again and again. I got out the user manual. And finally I phoned roadside assistant. After some back and forth, the mentioned the gear should be in “park”. What a complete idiot. I apologized profusely for wasting their time. I put the car in “park” and out came the keys.
So now I know. This is happening to me with the rental on a daily basis. But at least I know what to do.
I’m making pumpkin pie this weekend to take over to my dad. My grandmother made her pie with full fat cream and molasses. I started out with her recipe but modified it a bit because I like my pie spicy!
Here we go.
Mother’s Pumpkin Pie
1.5 cup pumpkin (cooked and mashed – I use it out of a can – 425 g., or 15 oz.) 1 tablespoon flour ½ cup brown sugar 5 tablespoons molasses 3 eggs 1/2 tsp ginger 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cloves ¼ tsp allspice ½ tsp salt 1.5 cups cream or evaporated milk (I used half and half since that is what I had on hand)
Beat eggs, add pumpkin, sugar, flour, molasses and seasonings and beat thoroughly. It will look dark.
Stir in cream. The cream lightens it up and makes it soupy.
Pour in unbaked 9 inch pie shell. The shell is the hardest part to make as far as I’m concerned. I used to be fastidious about it and make perfect little ridges around the edge and cut-outs for the center. No more. To heck with Martha Stewart. My crust is always overworked and a little tough but frankly, I like it better that way. It’s not beautiful, but it is functional and tastes good!
Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 350 degrees F. Pie will be done when a knife inserted comes out clean. (I check it at 30-40 minutes after reducing temperature. It will kind of puff up.)
