Extended Exposure to That Southern Heat - H. V. Burns Farm, Townsend, TN - Summer 2007

From the UW Archives: Beautiful Boxer

Charles Mohr, 1959 NCAA Middleweight Champion

From the UW Archives: Former Pool w/ Canoe

With a tip of the hat to a friendly reader...

Kitchen Triplets

from Townsend, TN - Vacation - Summer 2007



* I brought

1. a basil plant,
   
2. a grater,
   
3. a pepper mill.

* I wished for

1. cayenne pepper,
   
2. Gruyère,
   
3. more than two working electric burners.

* I bought

1. parchment paper,
   
2. a reamer,
   
3. a fine-mesh strainer.

* I discovered

1. an electric can opener,
   
2. a filthy cast-iron skillet (which I bleached and re-seasoned),
   
3. a soufflé dish.
   

* I prepared tons of

1. okra (fried mostly but also stewed with tomatoes and orange peppers),
   
2. gougères (sans Gruyère),
   
3. (Kenneth having requested them because Lurline always served him a surfeit) Tollhouse chocolate-chip cookies.

We had okra almost every night. When someone asks me where I'd like to establish my career, I plan to tell them, "Any place where local okra is plentiful and reasonably priced."*

*Willy St. Co-op currently has too-big okra for $6/lb. No dice. I can find it at the Saturday Farmers Market, but I have to go very early...

From the UW Archives: Primary Post

Introducing a new feature in which I post choice finds from the UW-Madison's archives, which I've dipped into recently while working on Dance Program documents and publications.

It looks like a little city

Kenneth is rigging one of our computers so that it can record HD television in HD and play it back on our HD television. Very exciting! However, as a result of the project, I haven't been able to access pictures from our camera. As soon as I can, I promise more, more, more vacation posts. Just wait.

Vacation Stills - H. V. Burns Farm, Townsend, TN - August 2007

Dinner at the Crofts's - Johnson City, TN - 8/7/07

New. Urban. Living.

Near the end of our vacation, Kenneth and I spent a late afternoon strolling around downtown Knoxville, killing time before that evening's Grand Ole Gospel Reunion concert (an event that we both enjoyed but which Kenneth is much more likely to blog about. I lack the patience to articulate and qualify the pleasure I took in many of the performances.). For years, downtown K-town was abysmal: but for weekday lunch hours, it was empty, dead, and dreadful. I'm happy to report, however, that Knoxville's downtown is currently undergoing a renaissance. We dined at The Tomato Head, which has long been in Market Square but which now-- with its airy, alternative atmosphere-- typifies the square. We shopped at Mast General Store. We popped into the terrific Yee-Haw Industries, a Hatch Show Print rip-off more pleasant and enjoyable than the Hatch original, which takes itself mighty seriously. We had a beverage at a coffee shop/cleaners in a beautifully renovated building on Gay Street. We took cellphone calls while checking out the East Tennessee Historical Society's exhibits on the 1982 World's Fair and Henry Horenstein's honky-tonk portraits. Then we entered this drug store so that Kenneth could purchase a ChapStick:

I couldn't resist snapping a cell-phone pic of old downtown Knoxville, my old downtown Knoxville, that is, as many others preceded my experience: ashamed, denuded, confused, plain yet garish, ugly, desperate. Upon returning home and reviewing my pictures, I was delighted to discover that the reflection of the window captured what I hope will remain the future of the city: New. Urban. Living. Keep it up, Knoxville!

Well phrased, Anna Wintour:

"It's a common misconception that an interest in dressing well is inimical to being a person of substance."

Where, now, the bats their wavering wings extend,/Soon as the gloaming spreads her waning shade...

It's bat migration season. I just opened my office door and sent a bat flying down the hallway. "Whoa!" I cried, shutting the door before peeking out again. Five bats had to be dealt with in Lathrop Hall yesterday. Yikes! I'm told that the fellow comes with a big net but just sets it aside and catches the bats with his bare hands.



Yep: that's just about what m'bat looked like, though I didn't get a very good look in the millisecond between opening the door and jumping back into my office. Was very batty, though, I'm certain.

Just You Wait...

Kenneth and I just returned from two weeks of vacation in Townsend, TN where we frequently drove past the above billboard and a couple others like it. Thanks for waiting so long for a new post and just wait 'til I post more about our trip.