but as John Handey [who knew? not me!] points out, that “way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”
But I find as I get older I am much more able to imagine the fit of other people’s shoes than when I was younger. And when I remember to do that, I find the fit of my own shoes very comfortable, almost too comfortable. As I pick which UGG’s to wear I cannot help but think of the Chinese proverb, “when there is food on the table there are many problems, when there is no food there is one problem.”
That dreadful scene from a Christmas Carol comes to mind, with the souls who want to intervene in the affairs of man but no longer can, wailing as they watch people starve. We have watched that classic, with Alistair Sim, on Christmas Eve [more importantly known as Xty’s birthday] since I was a baby, so initially for me it was a horror movie. The animatronic toys in the toy store window
the happy jolly Father Christmas figure who turned out to harbour two starving children, one want and the other ignorance, whom I was to dread more than anything.
I can’t find a cheerful way out of this … Dickens often strikes close to the heart and he nails this one. The movie is very true to the book:
“They are Man’s and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”
Wait, I do see a light out there … while we find ourselves in polemical times, ignorance is taking a beating [sorry lad] with the internet proving a remarkable levelling field for access to information as smart phones put a computer into the hands of literally billions. Maybe there is hope …
If only it were so simple … and we could all make Fred so very happy.
Best of luck on this wintry Friday.
my father in law yesterday spoke of a native Russian he knows through church. he (the Russian immigrant) says that the USA is approaching a point, just as in the former Soviet Union, when the public no longer believes any government statistics at all. and then this morning the job numbers come out. good grief, what a cynical joke these numbers have become.
the Dickens theme is good Xty. i wish you would have posted this on a Monday, because if i can find time i probably have a lot more to contribute.
good time to bring up the 6 degrees of separation idea again as well.
this shows the power of the internet, if/when not captured by corporate interests…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation
i am in better spirits now, so i decided to bother you guys again. 😳
Your teeth look great!
We liked that duck we made last month so much that we are going to try a goose tomorrow. I haven’t made a goose in probably 20 years.
Goose is almost double the price of duck though, so this is likely a one time thing, unless it’s somehow twice as good, which I really can’t even imagine.
I bet I get 3-4 cups of awesome goose lard from it. I’ve been going through my duck fat at a pretty steady clip. Good for all kinds of baking and frying, just like regular lard.
I have to laugh at some of the recipes I’ve seen. “trim off excess fat and discard”. Uh, NOT!
Speaking of fat, here’s a tune that might be about making butter, or maybe not… 😉
Less than 2 hours into cook time, and I already have 2.5 cups of perfect, clear, wonderful goose fat. I’m more excited about the fat than I am about the dinner.