Although my mom died over 30 years ago she was in our house today. I feel that way every time I fix spaghetti. When I was a kid she would make this and it was quite an occasion.She would put it on at 8 in the morning and by the evening the house would be filled with a wonderful aroma, She claimed the recipe was given to her by a friend of my dads. His name was Charlie Masterpolo and his family was said to have owned an Italian restaurant . Of course my mom also claimed she was going to name me doing very (Niceley). Anyway, it is a nice story and I am sticking to it!
She would always complain as we were eating . The sauce was always to watery or something else would be off. It always tasted good to me though. As I got older I was not going to chance eating spaghetti fixed any other way so decided to learn to cook it myself. Although I have gotten fairly competent fixing it I still can't resist thinking it is just not good enough either. I guess that is just part of the recipe.

SO!

I had been watching a ballgame(well actually a ballgame and a movie on TCM) for almost an hour.I turned to look at my cat Harlech (a castle in Wales) for just a second and when I looked at back the picture had shrunk to the center of the screen and turned a funny brown color. Just as I thought--- what the--- a funny cracking sound came from the rear of the set followed by a loud POP and a strong electrical burning smell. "This does not look good" I thought. Odd that I had been thinking earlier that we have had this set for 20 years . And it still has such a great picture! Talk about going out with a bang!

We have less than 20 pineapples left(having started with around 60) and it is time to move to the next phase
of rooting starts and planting them. Faced with a shortage of new planting space we are
doing things differently this year.We would usually leave the 2nd year plants in for another season(plants can
fruit for more than one season) but these have multiple shoots that might produce more that one fruit on each plant meaning smaller fruits and less quality. Removing these (pictured) plants will give us the needed space and better fruits, They wont have fruits next season but the 60 pants we put in last time will. Never though this would turn into such a fun (although labor intensive) project!

Can I get an amen!

Time for a change of pace(reading material that is) . I normally like to read non fiction but
Sharon thought I would like this Mystery. Now that I have read almost 100 pages I can say she
is correct! More later

From the Archives

Tthings my wife wants me to throw away #4

Pineapple time again! This year we have about 60 that are almost ripe ,last year it was 100. Slowly we are succeeding in downsizing because it is too difficult to use or give them away fast enough . last year it was worse because warm weather made them ripen all at once. Problems Problems!!!!

what a wonderful thing!

Gil Scott-Heron 1949-2011

One of the winning groups at Merrie Monarch

Fun Stuff

miss you

The Way it feels sometimes

Merrie Monarch time again

Here is a brief rundown from the Merrie Monarch festival page

King David Kalākaua

The Merrie Monarch Festival is dedicated to the memory of King David Kalākaua, known as the Merrie Monarch. King Kalākaua came to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1874 and reigned until his death in 1891. He was a patron of the arts, especially music and dance.

Kalākaua restored Hawaiian cultural traditions that had been suppressed for many years under missionary teachings. He advocated a renewed sense of pride in such things as Hawaiian mythology, medicine, chant, and hula.

Ancient Hawaiians had no written language, but chant and hula served to record such things as genealogy, mythology, history, and religion. Hula, the dance of Hawaiian people, was one means by which culture was expressed and passed down through generations.

The Merrie Monarch Festival has steadfastly maintained the teachings of our kupuna, our elders, and in doing so we strive to perpetuate the history and culture of Hawaiian people in a manner that respects those teachings. Through our efforts, along with those of other organizations, we hope to ensure that the unique traditions of Hawaiian people will continue to flourish.

Now I understand!

U.K. Town / Pub names #4

Woke up with a tune on my mind this morning. This used to go on for hours.
Every few minutes I would find my self whistling or singing
(well attempting to sing) this intruder.
Then one day I read that if you can name it you can usually relate it to your mood. For the past week I have been fighting off this cold that is an energy zapper. Not bad symptoms but general tiredness. Well the morning of the songattack I was feeling better hence the tune "No more Blues" was in my head. Pretty slick!

Things my wife wants me to throw away # 3

It's becoming a habit; This Saturday afternoon CD review. This week it was the Hi-lo's ,
a tight harmony vocal quartet.They were formed by Gene Puerling in 1953 and
produced almost 30 albums . This CD (actually a 2 album compilation of albums made in the 50s) was produced in 1999. Suddenly it's the Hi-lo's is presented first but the second( Harmony in Jazz) is what interests me. This is because It has a more serious jazz nature . Unlike the first half of the album ,which has a complete orchestra including strings, the second half (Harmony in Jazz) has the group accompanied by the Marty Paich Dek-tet so the material selected is less commercially oriented . This smaller group also showcases the voices better ! This is another of my comfort albums( recordings loved as a child)
but remains vital still. Another case of quality material passing the test of time!