This Veteran’s day marks the Monday after a whole weekend without blogging for me. Others may mourn fallen soldiers; I mourn having free time.
Friday we went to Toni’s cross-country banquet. It was at a sports bar over by the Coliseum. It lasted forever, because all the girls had silly presents for each other.
On Saturday morning, we all went to the last outdoor market. Got apples and carrots and eggs. Rach came too, and we dropped her at the airport after. Got in a quick walk with Mark, and then drove Al to the east side to get his car, and fought football traffic on the way back west. I figured since I needed to stay home and work on my paper for systems analysis class, I might as well park cars for the football game. But I only got two. Oh, well, it’s $20 I didn’t have before, as Al said.
Oh yea, and I made pumpkin scones, with dates and cream cheese glaze. And beef enchiladas for Al, and nachos.
Sunday we had Mark’s mom’s sour cream waffles for breakfast, with the link sausages from our pig. Mark drove Toni to an AFS fun day in Fall River. And I went back to working on my paper.
Got the paper handed in around 7:00 in time for Boardwalk Empire and Homeland. But I kept falling asleep in front of Homeland. I made some cookies with white chocolate & dried cranberries, from the Ocean Spray website – they were pretty good – but I thought they didn’t have enough sugar when I read the recipe. I thought, “Maybe all the white chocolate will make them sweet enough” – but not really. They’re not to be added to the Christmas Cookie Pantheon. But these might be. Still, felt surprisingly good to get the paper done.
Monday was mostly meetings – and answering lots of emails from students who were having trouble registering. Last week advising, this week registering. My favorite was, “Prof Shapiro, we filled out my authorization form and you signed it, but I still can’t register”. Me, “Did you hand it in at the School’s office?”
Monday evening I looked at the new week in the course, databases, data normalization, and ERDs. Not entirely foreign topics – I have actually taught ERDs – but haven’t done anything yet. I kind of feel like I deserve the night off.
I made this roasted pumpkin and lentil and goat cheese salad (with a red kuri squash, very pumpkin-like, and no mint, brown lentils instead of green, and on top of regular greens, not arugula) for dinner, and a baked potato bar with bacon bits and sour cream and cheese. It was all really good, now I am too full, and still in my work clothes and have a sink full of dishes to wash.
I thought I better find some Veterans Day pictures since I don’t have any of food, and these from a remembrance Sunday ceremony in Ypres seemed the best to me. Watch the video and see the poppies float down, and hear the music, too.
Poppies falling at Menin Gate
The sound of bugles playing the “Last Post” will echo under the Menin Gate as it does every day, red paper poppies will float down onto the hushed public and the haunting lines written by poet Robert Laurence Binyon will be read:
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
There are no longer any veterans from World War I to attend the ceremonies. The last, Britain’s Florence Green, died in 2012 just a few days short of her 111th birthday.
