Unhappy In Our Own Way: December 2006

Party like it's 1999...

Happy 2007!

What are everyone's New Years plans? Any resolutions?

Harry Potter!

I'm a big HP fan... and can't wait for the last book to come out! The fact that they released the title is very exciting... hopefully it means she's getting closer.

Final 'Harry Potter' Title Announced

Photos
AP Photo

Thu Dec 21,11:38 AM ET

We now have a title for Harry Potter VII. But if you want to find out for yourself, visit J.K. Rowling's Web site and play a little game of hangman.

Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic Inc., released a brief statement Thursday announcing the name of the world's most anticipated children's book, the finale to her phenomenally popular fantasy series.

No publication date or other details were offered. Rowling is still working on the book, she explained on her Web site in an entry posted early Thursday.

"I'm now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more," she wrote. "I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels: I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want, and don't want, to finish this book (don't worry, I will.)"

Meanwhile, she set up a test for her Potter fans.

If you go to jkrowling.com, click on the eraser and you will be taken to a room you'll see a window, a door and a mirror.

In the mirror, you'll see a hallway. Click on the farthest doorknob and look for the Christmas tree. They click on the center of the door next to the mirror and a wreath appears. Then click on the top of the mirror and you'll see a garland.

Look for a cobweb next to the door. Click on it, and it will disappear. Now, look at the chimes in the window. Click on the second chime to the right, and hold it down. The chime will turn into the key, which opens the door. Click on the wrapped gift behind the door, then click on it again and figure out the title yourself by playing a game of hangman.

Or you can just take Scholastic's word for it: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"Anthem"

I mentioned earlier that I had gotten hooked on this singer Perla Batalla, who among other things has done an entire album of Leonard Cohen songs. "Anthem" is a fave, from I'm Your Man, so in the interest of playing good songs forward . . .

Help yourselves

I doubled the recipe and ended up with six dozen cookies, more than enough for everyone. So enjoy (three at a time!)

shocked? nope, me neither!

You are a
Social Liberal
(61% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(26% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Democrat

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Welsh Cookies

Here is the recipe that I wrote down while watching Mom make Welsh Cookies about 30+ years ago:
Cream together 4 T. crisco, 1 1/2 C. sugar. Add 2 eggs and blend. Mix 1C. flour with 4 t. baking powder, 1 t. nutmeg and 1 t. salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture. When well blended, begin to add flour, about 2 cups at a time, alternately with milk. In total it will come to 8 or 9 C. flour and 2 C. milk. Before it gets too stiff to stir add 1 lb. raisins. Roll out on floured board and cut (use a juice glass for complete authenticity). Cook on dry griddle or in heavy cast iron frying pan over slow to medium heat until cooked through and lightly browned on both sides. Mmmmm

I loved this place ....Virgin Gorda........we should all go there sometime.....maybe for Thanksgiving. And since the weather is so cold right now, I just like thinking about how warm it is.

Joyeux Noel

If you can, do yourself a favor and rent this movie. Although it is seasonal because it takes place at Christmas, it is so much more. It is french with sub-titles and has some of the most beautiful vocal music I have heard in a long time. It was inspired by the actual event in WWI when German, French and Scotish soldiers laid down their arms and observed Christmas together.

"A Visitor"

(I've recently discovered the poetry of Mary Oliver, and this poem reminded me of Dad.)

My father, for example,
who was young once
and blue-eyed,
returns
on the darkest of nights
to the porch and knocks
wildly at the door,
and if I answer
I must be prepared
for his waxy face,
for his lower lip
swollen with bitterness.
And so, for a long time,
I did not answer,
but slept fitfully
between his hours of rapping.
But finally there came the night
when I rose out of my sheets
and stumbled down the hall.
The door fell open

and I knew I was saved
and could bear him,
pathetic and hollow,
with even the least of his dreams
frozen inside him,
and the meanness gone.
And I greeted him and asked him
into the house,
and lit the lamp,
and looked into his blank eyes
in which at last
I saw what a child must love,
I saw what love might have done
had we loved in time.

just for fun.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
Philadelphia
The West
The Northeast
The Inland North
North Central
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz