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A nerdy problem (only Yiddish enthusiasts should take note)
I have a lot of paperback books for sale at Amazon's Createspace, and in general it's a great resource for authors and readers alike. But what a problem I have with my Yiddish titles! They don't allow...
View ArticleRecipe: cranberry muffins
I developed this recipe from a blueberry muffin recipe. I dealt with the problem that cranberries take so long to cook - and also, that they're a little gross when they pop in your mouth - by chopping...
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Aunt Mary Taylor Mason of Germantown of Germantown, Pennsyvlania (1971-1957)
I was named after my grandmother's aunt Jane Mason, who lived her entire life with her sister in Germantown, Philadelphia. They were always cited thus: "Aunt Jane and Aunt Mary." It must have been a...
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My two donkeys free to a good home.
Hector and Jethro are calm, smart, and gentle. I've loved being a donkey owner but it's time to find them a new owner to enjoy them and feed them treats (they like banana peels, for instance). If you...
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Voting by mail (Absentee Ballot) in North Carolina for the Nov 6 2018 general...
I've spent most of this past year canvassing. I meet a lot of people who are going to have trouble getting to the polls in November: the NC GOP has reduced the number of early voting sites and...
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Albanian spinach pie (Byrek me spinaq)
I took a break from politics to make this. Filling: 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes 1 medium finely chopped onion 1 pound chopped feta cheese 30 ounces frozen chopped spinach defrosted 1 egg Dough:...
View ArticleCaribbean bean and rice salad
This is one of the most precious things left behind by a boyfriend I lost long ago. A delicious recipe and you can make it the day before you want to serve it. 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup apple cider...
View ArticleOzark pudding
I saw this mentioned on twitter and tried it yesterday. It is not a beautiful dish but it's very tasty and best of all, it's incredibly easy and fast to make and you usually have a couple apples around...
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Tex-Mex chicken cheese turnovers (empanadas)
I'm "sheltering in place" with my son, daughter, son-in-law, grandkids, and two kids and a dog. We take turns cooking and this is what I made tonight, with my favorite pie crust recipe. It made twelve...
View ArticleSwedish Raspberry Almond Bars
This is a favorite recipe for dazzling people. Hard to stop eating3/4 c. soft salted butter3/4 c. confectioner's sugar (regular sugar will work too)1-1/2 c. flour3/4 c. raspberry jam3 large egg whites6...
View ArticleGenevieve's tamales
Genevieve's tamales2 chickens: breasts, thighs, and legs, boiled. Save the water. Shred (takes a long time to shred)3 pounds tomatillos3 plum tomatoes or any red5 jalapeno peppers1 big clove of...
View ArticleBlueberry buckle
Make in an 8x8 or 9x9 greased baking pan. Preheat oven to 375. Blueberry buckle3/4 cup white sugar1/4 cup butter (softened)1 egg1/2 cup milk2 cups all-purpose flour1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder1/2...
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Let Memory Keep Us All: a songbook, a video, a remembrance. Available as a...
UPDATE: Reposting to add the video I just made of this song, which is on our "Under the Drawbridge" cd available at Bandcamp: Let Memory Keep Us All. Here's the video: The Solstice Assembly Songbook:...
View ArticleLinks for studying cutout animation
Mike Craver's cutout masterpiece The Dame of Camellias - he uses watercolors and works very large, using an old iPhone SE because the camera is so good. He has rigged his to a tripod but I'm thinking...
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My first cut-out animation music video: The Frozen Girl (Pratie Heads version)
The Frozen Girl was a very popular song from its beginnings in 1840 through the early twentieth century; more than 200 versions have been collected, in thirty states and in eastern Canada, titles...
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Another cut out animation video: Ben Franklin's Advice
Lately I decided to start recording songs that, for whatever reason, I never put out there before. It's a bit mortifying not to sound the way I did a decade or two ago, but this is where I am now....
View ArticleGrandma Peppler's coconut custard pie
This was one of the first recipes I got from my grandmother when I was in high school and so inexperienced that I didn't realize (and she hadn't thought to tell me) that you have to cook a cornstarch...
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Music video with cutout animation: The Day We Went To Rothesay-O, a Scottish...
My grandkids came to visit and while they were here I got my grandson to sing on the choruses of two songs, this was the first. A song I could never get anybody to record with me before! As usual,...
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Music video with paper cutout animation: Turpin Hero
Another in my series of recordings of songs nobody ever wanted to perform with me. I learned this one at a house concert in Durham NC featuring the wonderful Brian Peters. I've loved the song ever...
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Another music video with paper cutout animation: Away With These Self-Loving...
This one has some moments that really make me laugh, amusing myself as usual. It didn't take as long to put together because the song is shorter and there are fewer "scenes." It's a challenge figuring...
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Music video made with images from the Codex Manesse: Touch But My Lips
Thirty some odd years ago my vocal ensemble "The Solstice Assembly" got hired to do the occasional Renaissance Fair. We became acquainted with the Society for Creative Anachronism. I'm at the bottom...
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Animated music video: Take a Bumper and Try (from the woman's point of view)
In the 1980s I sang this song with Bob Vasile to great audience approbation. Middle aged ladies would come up to me and say "That's the story of my life." Beth Holmgren and I recorded it on our cd...
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Music Video: "Our Captain Cried All Hands."
I heard this song from the wonderful band The New St. George in 1994 and fell in love with it. My kids and I had a family band called Flash Company toward the end of the 1990s and we performed it a...
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Animated music video: "What a Shocking World This Is for Scandal" (I Never...
Sixteen years ago Bob Vasile and I recorded a Pratie Heads cd called "We Did It! Songs of people behaving badly." We got the idea from Clarke Thacher, head of the local folk song society, who said...
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Animated music video for Hallowe'en: Lucy Wan
Lucy Wan is Child ballad 51 (read about it here) and one of the grimmest we've ever done. We put it on our cd "We Did It! Songs of people behaving badly." I used my cigar box fiddle, which I bought in...
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