Man, I don't know if it's the American Thanksgiving, the fact that it's getting closer to the holidays and people don't have as much time to waste reading blogs or if I'm just getting boring, but my stats did a freefall. They dropped about about 20 per cent this week.
And yes, I'm a statcounter whore. I check about four times a day. I notice these things. It's a sickness and I probably need help.
You do run into challenges trying to post every day, though. Iqaluit, while it has many virtues, is not the most happening spot in all that land. And, let us be honest, neither am I. Although I did win a really excellent curling match last night. While that puts me in a good mood, it's not exactly huge news. The legislature is back in action, which is making work busier, but it's not anything I can talk about.
Also, I'm finding it difficult to comment on political items back home. I've been away for about 15 months now. I could comment before because between the media outlets, my own instincts and not being away too long, I generally could read between the lines and figure out what was happening.
Not so much now. It's a lot harder and I'm more reluctant to comment on things when I don't think I know them as well as I should. Hopefully some time back in Newfoundland will recharge the batteries.
And, of course, the book is sapping my will to go on. But I'm at nearly 40,000 words. Cathy is going to be out playing poker again Saturday for a few hours, so I might try and see if I can finish it off in one burst. Well, get to my 50,000 word count. I suspect the book is going to be closer to 70,000 in length.
Finally, a word to my American friends about Thanksgiving, which they are all celebrating today.
"...it's time for English Thanksgiving, where we give thanks to our ancestors for throwing all the creepy religious types into boats and floating them off to a continent cursed by earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados." - Warren Ellis
8 comments:
Yep, it's the "boring" bit that's doing it.
What I want to know is--what's up with candied yams? Or sweet potatoes with marshmallow fluff or whatever variation thereof some people use? Who came up with that culinary bastard child?
Pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin bread--excellent desserts. Green bean casserole--okay, makes sense, even if you cringe at the thought of using canned soup as a base. (And there are non-canned soup base recipes out there.) Cranberries in all their glory--even canned and gelatinized. Right on--still makes sense. Brussel sprouts--heck, why not. Mashed potatoes. Innocuous enough. You need something for the gravy.
Sweet potatoes mashed with nutmeg, a bit of ginger, orange juice are pretty good. Warm spices, a bit of sour/bite to cut the sweet.
But, I ask you.....marshmallow? Brown sugar? With an already sweet vegetable? Marshmallow!!??
Exactly what is it with anonymous arseholes and your site, Craig? I admit, I skip over the curling, but you've really been attracting the obnoxious buggers. They also seem quite unaware of the paradox: if they don't like the site, why are they reading?
The creepy religious types are seriously overtaking the US. It must have been some last-breath manouvering on the part of the religious-right republicans, they've appointed an anti-contraception (I guess we needn't ask about abortion) doctor to head up the national organization for family planning. [got that from doonesbury]
Do they think that the second coming of christ is a numbers game or something - just pump out babies until the nations' uteruses (should that end in an "i" like cacti?) dry up and die, laws of averages say the next messiah must be in there somewhere!
Colette, you need to back away from the ledge, ok? You're getting a little crazy there. It's American Thanksgiving. No need to freak out.
And Mireille, I'm just special...
Phbbbbht. Mock if you must, Craig dear, but the (very) amateur culinary historian in me is genuinely curious about one of the iconic dishes of American Thanksgiving. It's sweet when it should be savory. Worse, it's obnoxiously sweet when it should be savory. It's a culinary mystery like Jello salad--one of those things which hits you in your mental tastebuds and says "this is wrong". Yet it's one of those archetypical Thanksgiving dishes in both the US and parts of mainland Canada.
And dammit, I'm now craving turkey and dressing and gravy and cranberry sauce. And salt meat. And hashed up leftovers.
Mireille:
Most likely being a bastard just attracts the anonyposters.
;-)
I feel I'm being discriminated against merely because I happen to be a bastard. It's wrong.
And Colette, the food stuff is still freaky. But you can feel free to lecture me at length over lunch when I get home.
This may have something to do with it - I just noticed that none of your posts have shown up on Bloglines for the past few days (I just happened to visit the site itself and saw several posts I haven't read). So maybe your RSS feed's gone wonky, or else Bloglines has gone wonky and some of us can't see you have new posts.
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