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The Treasure in the Little Trunk by Helen Fuller Orton It came to me today that if I had been substitute teaching rather than selling real estate, I might have passed the test to qualify to be on Jeopardy. Today I subbed 6th grade Social Studies, American History, and I learned all kinds of interesting things. I've been a reader from the moment I learned how to do it in first grade. God forbid anyone would teach you to read any earlier than first grade in those dark days of olde. I remember that in the library at River Oaks, there was an author whose name started with "O", and the books were on a bottom shelf. I remember that I loved the mysteries by this author. Nowadays they would call these chapter books, but in those days I was just a reader, and they were just books. For the last 10 years or so, whenever I'm in the children's section of a library, I always look at the authors in the fiction section whose names begin with "O". And for the last 10 years, there have never been any mysteries by a female author whose name started with "O".
Until last spring. I was subbing in the library at the elementary school with my friend Barbara who is the assistant librarian, and told her of my search. We looked on the shelf, and there it was! One book by Helen Fuller Orton entitled The Treasure in the Little Trunk. I recognized the name right away, and vowed to read the book as soon as I had time. Last week I was subbing with Barbara again, and checked out my book. I finished reading it this afternoon during my break period. I loved this story, which I'd probably read once before when I was 7 or 8. I'm surprised at how sophisticated the writing is, and at how much I enjoyed the embellishments (illustrations) by Robert Ball. It takes place in 1823-25, it's written in the 3rd person, and the main character is Patty Armstrong, a nine year old girl "going on 10". She and her family move from an established Vermont village and a lovely home to settle in the western part of the state of New York near the Erie Canal, which is then under construction. They travel by covered wagon, and among Patty's possessions is a little trunk holding her best treasure. When they arrive at their land, a friendly neighbor helps them to construct a log house, and their dad clears trees from the land so that he can farm in the rich soil. This book is so good! It was written in 1932, and the book I was reading was copyrighted in 1959. And the list of other books by the author are all mysteries! Mystery Solved!
I've been thinking about it ever since I found the Pearl Rice at Food 4 Less last week. Food 4 Less is Krogers which made it less daunting because we have Krogers in Detroit. It was nice. Well lit, OK prices in spite of the 4 Less in the name indicating that the prices might be super great, and a great selection of white rice. My grandmother's recipe calls for Water-Maid Short Grain Rice, but try to find it. So I use the pearl now which is more available with the popularity of Rissoto. ANYWAY. I wanted to make the double recipe, but had written a note on the back of my recipe card in 2003 telling myself not to double the recipe because it makes too much, I'm the only one who eats it, and besides, it burns the pan and has a burned flavor. Bummer. I really wanted to make the large batch. I decided to boil the rice and water 'til water is absorbed in a smaller pan, and then heat the milk in the larger pan. As I was heating the milk, I came up with the idea to put the larger pan on two stacked stove grates 
so that the pudding wouldn't be so close to the flame which always causes it to burn in that pan. And it worked! And it's delicious. And oh, so comforting. Especially since it's in the souffle dish that my grandmother and mother always used for it.
Grezagolo
1 cup Water-Maid Rice (short grain) (I've been using pearl rice)
1 cup water 1 Quart hot milk 1 beaten egg 1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
This is how I made it today, but my recipe really calls for 6 cups of water for the first step! No wonder it went so fast today. Boil the rice and water until the water is absorbed. (In the original recipe, boil the 1 cup rice with 6 cups water until the water is absorbed, then add the hot milk to it) Heat the milk in a large pan and add the rice to it. Cook and stir well for 5 minutes. Add sugar and beaten egg (beat the egg in a measuring cup or bowl, add some of the hot rice mixture to the egg and then add the egg back to the hot mixture. This keeps the egg liquid). Boil until thick and creamy; Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into serving dishes and top with cinnamon. Enjoy.
Greek Sapouni by Maro Kentros - Do you like my font color in the color of the Greek flag on this one? I read a review about this in my University of Michigan Alumni magazine years ago, but could never track down a copy to read. Then one day, there it was on Amazon. It's the story about 3 generations of a Greek family. Sapouni means soap, so Greek Sapouni is grenglish for a Greek American soap opera. I don't want to give too much of the story away, because some of the characters last through the whole book, and others die young. Maro Kentros incorporates elements of Greek tragedy, philosophy, poetry and conversation into her story, making it very informative about Greeks, Greek Americans and American Greeks. It would be fun to know her. My suggestion is to read the commentary about the history of Greece as well as the Greek word translations and author note before you read the book, or at some point during your reading. It will give you a deeper perspective for the story. And I love the cover art of the YiaYia crocheting a blanket between two columns and on a tile floor. So greek.
I am seriously thinking about taking a month off from the computer. So, no Facebook and Facebook Scrabble, no email, no this 'n that. The exception would be to list my stuff on Craigslist, but no Craigslist shopping. I could set up one of those automatic email responses that says I am off my computer for one month, and if you want to talk to me or buy something, you have to call me at home. Then if you're a friend, you'll call me, because you know my number, and if you're responding to an ad, you'll call me because I always put the phone number in the ads. Basically I'd be free of this huge time-taker-upper. I'm willing to miss whatever I'll miss by not looking at email. Having to go through a month worth of email at the end of it might not be worth it. It will take a day or more to catch up. So the question is....in a given month, does the computer take up a day or more of my time that could be spent otherwise accomplishing things? If you look around here, you might say yes. Discipline isn't my middle name when it comes to the computer.
I might or might not do this, and it might or might not be with any warning. Just one day THAT'S IT!
Oh, and of course I'd blog. But then could I search for the images that I like to have accompany the reviews? I think that would be OK. As long as I do it quick. I just went around and took 14 pictures of different areas of the first and second floors of my house that are a mess. I just can't bring myself to post them, though, so that's how bad it is. You are saying so iron it, put it away, sew it, read it, throw it away, put it somewhere until you sell it, pack it and send it, make a decision on it, call about it, make it, be creative! But I'm blocked. To top it off, it's an overcast rainy day, so I'm going to go bring in my soggy newspaper and read it. I've been wanting to make some grezogolo.
I had something to blog about, and I've forgotten what it was. I thought of it a number of times; it crossed my mind and I was pretty sure that it was big enough that I'd remember it when ready to put fingers to keyboard. I don't think I wrote it down, but I don't remember. Anyway, like I said the other day, I made a little house progress. Went downstairs and found my fall front door decor:
It's really pretty, and I love its verticality. I wish it were a little more orange and less red, but since it's got the red it will take us right into Christmas. I was inspired, so I emptied off the top of the painted cabinet in the dining room (it had stuff I wanted to sell or otherwise deal with on it for months) which turned out to be good luck, because someone came over and bought the clear etched depression glasses from their new spot on the dining room table until I could deal with them, and now they are in a happy new home and dealt with! OK, so after clearing off and dusting and fixing the fabric runner that was a piece of fabric folded over and not sewn (I pinned a hem onto it), I created this little vignette with all the rest of the fall decorations:
I think it's sweet. A little early for the pilgrims, but considering that I usually forget about them, I'm happy to have their presence. The Japanese Lanterns are home grown, and the last ones I have, because the plants did not flower this year. I love them because they remind me of my grandmother. She had them right outside the front door which is where I have them. All summer long they don't do much, and then in the fall...voila...the lanterns. The other stuff is this 'n that from the mart. I might get ambitious and put a piece of orange or black paper over the little oil painting and then put something fall on the paper. A picture, a leaf or two, something. We'll see, and I'm open to ideas.
Pretty Bird was so happy to have me working in the dining room. Did she sense that it made me happy to do so? She was chirping and talking and adding to the happiness. Here's our little green bird that afternoon:
Gotta get her a new perch, and withstand Steve's comments.
The Time Traveler's Wife - I just finished watching the movie which is on HBO this month. It's a great story about a man who cannot control his time travel. He never knows where he'll go or what year it will be. The music was bigger than the movie, but other than that, it's the perfect way to spend an evening, especially if you'd read and enjoyed the book. I'm happy that I'd read the book ages ago, and that the details in the story were fuzzy, because I'm always disappointed when a movie script takes too much license with a book. Considering that it didn't last long at the movies, it was pretty good.
On another note, I got a few things done today. The first progress I've made around the house in ages. Put a ton of stuff on Craigslist, put up a small amount of fall decor, including adding a little spiff to the dining room chandelier, did a lot of paperwork, made a call or two, saw the movie and a couple of other shows which brought the DVR percentage down, started to get the new digital cable boxes from Concast set up on two of the tvs, took Peter to Game Stop for his new game, checked American Apparel for tube socks for my goddaughter's holloween costume, etc. Well, to be honest, that might be all that I did, and etc. is read the paper and take a bunch of Scrabble turns on fb, and check and reply to emails incessantly. It feels good. I took a few pictures and plan to post them tomorrow, to show my little fall vignette. It's little, but it's an improvement over the junk which had been in its place for pretty much the entire spring and summer. Yea.
The Social Network - It's been ages since I've been to a movie at the theater. And then even more ages since I went to a movie as an escape. Or maybe not. Since group didn't meet today, and I had a million other things to accomplish, and I had absolutely no motivation to accomplish anything more than read the newspaper, it seemed like a good idea to see The Social Network. What a great movie. It's about how Facebook began and the toes that were stepped on in making it happen. Even though it's free, if Facebook didn't have Scrabble, I might quit it on principle. But it has Scrabble, so I'm stuck. Anything else I say will sound negative, except this: It's an entertaining movie.
Oh, and I saw Modern Family last night for the first time. It was so much fun, and just what I need: another can't miss TV show. Oh well. TV is the best escape of all, and you don't have to go anywhere but to your recliner to enjoy it.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - This book is the third and final story in the Hunger Games trilogy. This is where we find out what happens to Katniss and Panem, and more importantly whether she ends up with Gale or Peeta or not. This is just a bit slow at the beginning while Katniss catches us up on the events of the previous two books. Once she is on her way to the Capitol, though, things really start to move. Katniss is an interesting character, and I find myself thinking about her and her relationships and how she can be clueless and clueful at the same time. It's pretty heavy stuff for pre-teens and teens, but I guess it's what we like when we're young. I love these books that transcend age, gender, and time in history. Enjoy!
Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy - It's no surprise that anyone would love the title of this book, which is a compilation of short stories. I've written about my love of short stories in the past. They are perfect little jewels of reading. In small doses, an author gives you a character, a situation and a wrap. I used to love the short stories in the womens' magazines when I was younger. Redbook was full of them, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Women's Day and Family Circle and McCalls always had one too. I'm pretty sure Better Homes had one. These stories are about families, friends, misfits, relationships. In many of these stories, the main character has a secret. I loved this book.
Couples Retreat - The trailers on tv looked so fun, but the movie did not get good reviews, so I waited until I could watch it for "free" on cable. The premise was good, the characters fun, it just lasted too long and needed tighter editing. The setting at the retreat was fabulous, though. My eyes feasted on the blue water and palm trees - it looked so warm there. Cute movie for something mindless; I like watching Vince Vaughn.
Where've I been? In Florida, playing fb Scrabble, worked one day, and trying to catch up in general. I need a major stuff purge. I need to not care so much about the stuff I'm getting from my relatives because they can't deal with it. It leaves no room for my own stuff which I was always able to handle. I can't even get down to mine because of having to sort through theirs. I've got a Purple Heart pick up on Tuesday morning, and am planning to let a fair amount go. Wish me luck. I need it.
The Treasure in the Little Trunk by Helen Fuller Orton It came to me today that if I had been substitute teaching rather than selling real estate, I might have passed the test to qualify to be on Jeopardy. Today I subbed 6th grade Social Studies, American History, and I learned all kinds of interesting things. I've been a reader from the moment I learned how to do it in first grade. God forbid anyone would teach you to read any earlier than first grade in those dark days of olde. I remember that in the library at River Oaks, there was an author whose name started with "O", and the books were on a bottom shelf. I remember that I loved the mysteries by this author. Nowadays they would call these chapter books, but in those days I was just a reader, and they were just books. For the last 10 years or so, whenever I'm in the children's section of a library, I always look at the authors in the fiction section whose names begin with "O". And for the last 10 years, there have never been any mysteries by a female author whose name started with "O".
