it's gone...
there was a time when I could hear the earth sing under my feet. Maybe not an actual song, but singing, none the less. It would resonate in the bark of the trees I touched, it would whisper behind me in the wind and lift itself in crescendo in bluest skies or murmur, unseen, in the darkness of night; I would feel it in myself when I walked upon the world, in the woods, in the towns or beside the waters. I would vibrate along with it's chord, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. It was a song I sang to in the gold of the morning and in that color of twilight that you can't describe. It would overpower me when I tried to accompany it in the driving rains, it would be the faint chorus behind my song in the softness of falling snow. A voice in the spring breeze that stirred the nodding daffodils, a song in the breathless heat of summer sun and the long sustain that announced the end of summer in the rattling of dry leaves that hung on tired branches, a last applause, and a plaint to call the world to rest in the night of it's winter. It would be the first music I would hear upon awakening and the melody that drew me to sleep. It was a gift, freely given to me as long as I was willing to listen to it, but now it's gone. And, worse, it's been gone for a long, long time, and I've only just noticed, and now, I'm nothing...
pearls before swine...

this used to be fun...
I don't know what happened. I've been thinking about bloggy stuff for a few days now after reading a post on Erin's outstanding SweetandSourGoth bloggy thingy. Got me wondering about how and where this started, where it's been and where it's headed. Also, and most importantly, for whom do I sit here and wring words out of the stone that is my mind sometimes? It ain't easy, you know, especially when you loose direction. When it comes to this blog I think that, to paraphrase that great American philosopher, Yoggi Berra, "I came to a fork in the road and I took it..."
Several times. I think I started out in the true spirit of what a weblog was intended to be, which is a diary, a newsletter, a swinging door on my everyday life, take it as it comes, nothing promised, nothing proffered, but I think I got caught up in trying to say not just things that were on my mind, but things that might be fun to drop on the unexpecting minds of others... thinly veiled attempts at wit and humor, sometimes even venturing into the dreaded realms of satire, but everything seemed to turn cynical, which, in spite of what I think, I'm probably not too good at. I dabbled in politics, but that turned out to be just a way to rub the cat the wrong way, I guess I was lucky the cat didn't turn around and claw the shit out of me... I have, over the years, posted some of my poetry, some of my short stories and little snippets of a life that I lived long ago and far away. I guess they were a good read, no one trashed them, anyway. I think what I'm trying to do here is decide whether or not I want to keep this particular effort going, or perhaps make a drastic change in content, or maybe neither, I don't know. This has become a very public place and it's hard to be honest and sincere sometimes. I find myself thinking how this reader or that reader might react to what I'm writing, rather than just hanging it out there and letting it flap in the wind for what it's worth and moving on to the next bit of lunacy. Shit... I have no idea what to do...
I'm going to go sit in the dark, listen to my new Sneaker Pimps CD and drink some coffee and get a good brooding session on...
Gimme some ideas, people. Hell, you read this fucking thing, I only write it...

pearls before swine...

Agent Smith...
better watch his cracker ass.... there's a new program in The Matrix...
Condi!

or is our Secretary of State just showing her Goth side..?

either way, Condi, you ROCK!
pearls before swine...

oh...
good jumping jesus on a stick... it's freakin' snowing again. It took me almost two and a half hours to get home, it's usually just an hour drive. Well, that time did include a quick stop at the local Chinese place for some take-away...
When I got home, I changed into some warm stuff, cracked a Beck's and chowed down on some Sesame Chicken, Veggie Lo Mein and an egg roll while watching a basketball game, then, well, here I am.
I've been running ragged for the past two weeks with roller derby stuff, while trying to do all the usual mundane everyday stuff that needs to be done, like bill paying and checkbook balancing and rubbing the cat's belly and blogging...
I haven't sat and read a book in over a month. When I'm not up until midnight doing roller derby stuff, I fall asleep at eight. I wish I was about twenty years younger, it would be so much easier.
I guess I'll go crash out now, I will need to be up extra early to clean off the cars and such.
later.
wow, I love Blogger's spellchecker... when it got to "freakin'", it suggested "foreskin"...


pearls before swine...

wanna be...
the life of your next party? Or maybe the next time you're sitting alone at home with nothing to do and a hundred watt lightbulb...

click here and you, too, can amaze yourself, your friends and the easily amused by learning how to create hand shadows...
Another useless talent and cure for idle hands... I can't wait to put this on my resume...
have fun.
(go to the bottom of the web page to the download section... click the one that works best for you... oh, go ahead, it's safe... )
pearls before swine...

a visitor...
It was still twilight when I got home from work tonight. I grabbed a beer and went outside to have a cigarette and a huge redtail hawk flew across the property and alighted in a low branch in a tree by our little brook. I stood there for fifteen minutes watching her, until she flew away.
that's all...
pearls before swine...

roller derby...
has taken over my life lately. It's finally all coming together, after almost a year of hard work. Very exciting. Visit the Penn Jersey blog to keep up on latest developments.

pearls before swine...

Emeril Lagothy..!
Yep, it's Sunday, so that means another exciting adventure from the scullery of Stately Sad Old Goth Manor!

Mushroom Noodle Soup

1/2 lb sliced mushrooms (I used a mixture of Shitake and Crimini, but use whatever you like).
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 1/2 pints vegetable stock
1/2 pint ale (something nice and heady, like Sam Adams)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 oz butter
1 cup cooked green soy beans
1/2 lb egg noodles
fresh savory, finely chopped
fresh rosemary, finely chopped
pinch of ground mace
salt, a big pinch
black pepper, a good dozen or so twists of the pepper mill

In your favorite soup pot add the mushrooms, onion, ale, garlic, butter, salt, pepper and spices. Cook at a simmer, covered, for about fifteen minutes. Give it a shake once or twice to make sure nothing sticks.
While it's simmering, steam the soy beans until bright green and tender.
When pot has simmered long enough, add the vegetable stock and gradualy add the noodles. Bring to a quick boil while constantly stirring. When it boils, lower the heat to a low simmer, cover and let it go for a half hour. Give it a light stir once in a while.
After a half hour, stir in the steamed soy beans, cover and simmer another fifteen minutes or so.
Serve hot, with a little freshly grated romano cheese on top, and some fresh biscuits and herb butter on the side.
Goes good with the rest of that Sam Adams, too.
Enjoy!
pearls before swine...

Like I said...
I've been pretty busy this past week... but the time and effort is starting to pay off.
We had our first Penn Jersey She Devils Roller Derby recruitment meeting this past Wednesday night in Philly -
went much better than we could have ever hoped. You can read about it and see some pictures if you click here...
Much follow-up to do, so don't look for too much here over the next month...
but you never know, there's always a new recipe in the works!
later

pearls before swine...

Emeril Lagothy...
I outdid myself this Sunday. It was the usual Stately Sad Old Goth Manor soup making orgy... this week - potato broccoli cheese!
Here's the recipe if you want to give it a whirl:
6 or 7 medium potatoes (I used Eastern potatoes, but any will do. The potatoes I used were a little smaller than a fist, so adjust the number accordingly to size).
a small yellow onion
a good sized head of broccoli
32.oz organic vegetable broth
1 pint whole milk
1/4 pint heavy cream
1 good sized block of very sharp white cheddar cheese (I have no idea how much mine weighed... it was about the size of a half pound of butter, if that helps...)
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of unbleached flour
fresh rosemary (chopped up leaves only, the stems are a bitch to chew)
fresh sage (strip the leaves off the stems)
fresh oregano, chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Pour the vegetable broth into a 6 quart soup pot with lid
Peel and chop the potatoes into thumb sized pieces, add to broth
Peel and dice the onion, add to pot.
Add a pinch of salt and grind in some fresh pepper, cover and bring to a boil.
When it boils, reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until you can pierce the potatoes with a fork.
While the potatoes and onions are cooking, start to scald the milk in a small sauce pan.
In a small saute pan, slowly melt the butter (very low heat) and stir in the flour for a rue.
While all this is going on, cut the broccoli trees from the thick stems and finely chop the trees. It's going to look like a lot of broccoli, but it's not.
With your third set of hands, coarsly grate the cheddar cheese.
(Emeril Lagothy's kitchen hint - put the cheese into the freezer for about a half hour or so before you grate it; it will grate easier and not fall apart in your hand).
When the potatoes are done, slide the pot off the heat and just lightly mash the potatoes - don't get gay with the potato masher, you want some small chunks in there...
Add the finely chopped broccoli now.
Slide the pot back over the heat and stir in the rue. Bring it back to a boil, while stirring constantly and when it boils, turn down the heat to a simmer and slowly stir in the hot milk. When thoroughly stirred in, add the spices and cover. Simmer for about a quarter hour, stirring every once in a while, so you don't get bored. Slowly stir in the heavy cream and the grated sharp cheese, add another good shot of ground pepper, cover and simmer another half hour, stirring every now and then.
*keep the flame at an absolute minimum to maintain a simmer - stir often, the cream and the cheese will want to burn on the bottom...
Stir well before serving, as the heavy cream will want to rise to the top. Add a dash of pepper to the top and some toasted bread crumbs, and prepare for an orgasm of the stomach!
Oh, yeah... save the broccoli stems. You can peel them, slice them and steam them for a snack later in the week, or use them to make more vegetable broth. The steamed stems, chopped, make a nice addition to kitty's dinner as well...
Waste not, want not...
good eating!
pearls before swine...

this is why...
is why I can't help believing that the majority of the great unwashed out there are nothing more than a bunch of self serving fuck heads...
read this...
pearls before swine...

today is Imbolc...
As the days begin to grow longer, the first, faint whispers of Springtide can be heard, if you listen carefully.
This is a time for starting things, of planting seeds with hopes for reaping the crops to come.
On that note, I have to say that this blog will be taking a back seat to other things for a while, especially the seemingly endless quest to get the roller derby league up and running. We're finally at a stage of do or die with the whole thing and by the end of next week we shall know if it is going to happen or not. You can find out what's going on by visiting the Penn Jersey She Devils weblog, via the link in the right sidebar.
So, between now and then, I will be posting very little in here, but stop in once in a while, you never know when something interesting might crop up.
I wonder what the groundhog will prognosticate for us today?
I'll be back soon...

pearls before swine...