(Nothing But) Flowers

She named a corporate ag head honcho (former head of the National Pork Producers Council) as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary. This group supports the use of CAFOS (contained animal feeding operations– the type that are so horrendous in rural NC and in others rural places of the US).

Edwards has supported a moratorium on the hog farms in NC. Not sure where Obama stands according to the link above and the comments that follow.

Last night some friends hosted a Gingerbread village making party– our theme started off as “An Urban Winter Wonderland” but quickly degenerated into Ginja’hood: complete with a bar, KFC, liquidation center, Snow Peeps, etc. See this link for my partner’s Flickr posting for more shots of the ginja’hood.

The pictures don’t do justice to the level of detail that went into this thing: the liquidation center has a bargain bin, towels (folded fruit roll-ups) on graham cracker and gumdrop shelves; the KFC has a graham cracker counter with a snow-peep employee and with two snow-peeps enjoying a meal of “chicken” and mashed potatoes and gravy on Necco wafer plates.

Note the Nike shoes (Good and Plenty’s) hanging from the telephone line below.

Go see this movie. Especially if you are/were a Sopranos fan.

After D.C., Boston has been ranked #2 as the most walkable urban center in the U.S. A study by Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institution found Boston to have good rail service to most of its neighborhoods and suburban areas. Its part of a larger study published in the book by Leinberger called The Option of Urbanism: Investing in the New American Dream.

We have definitely found this to be the case– I think we use our car here even less than in N.C.!

P.S: For those of you in SF–it ranked #3!

It’s cold out– in the mid 20s! We should be getting some snow this evening and tomorrow.

I am feeling very reflective as the winter arrives. Been thinking of some “winter resolutions” (I guess they are solstice resolutions, but a bit early)– things I’ve wanted to learn or do that I can take up as the winter progresses:

1) Bread making: I make lots of quick breads and occasionally make a yeasted pizza crust, but a goal this winter is to learn various bread styles. I have a loaf of bread from The Cheese Board Collective cookbook rising right now in a loaf pan– the real challenge is when I try to do sour-dough and those with fancy crusts. Let’s see how this simple loaf goes first!

2) Pie crust: For years I’ve been saying that I wanted to learn how to make a rolled pie crust but laziness takes hold and I always end up making pressed crumb crusts or buying filler crusts from the store. So, this Christmas. . .

3) Finding a spiritual practice/outlet. After having been raised Catholic, I know its not that. But, at the same time I think being raised Catholic has made me still feel some sort of need for some sort of spirituality.  I went to a celebration today at the local Unitarian Universalist church, but I have to say it was still a bit too formal and “church-y” for me. I didn’t expect the readings from the Bible and the formal hymns (OK, so maybe that was naive of me), but geez, I thought Universalists were sort of world religionists? I guess I expected a hippie-ish, “God is Love” sort of celebration– not so formally Christian. I may give it a second try, but I didn’t feel at home even though the folks were nice.

There is a Buddhist sitting group that meets Thursday nights at a space near us so I think I will try that. Its weird how as I get older I find I want to re-connect with some sort to spiritual practice (not necessary a formal tradition though). I have a feeling Buddhist practice may be the best one for me after today’s experience.