The snow will soon be gone

Time capsules in yellow and red

Around 1985 I bought these audio cassettes

at Swedish and Norwegian postoffices,

with a padded envelope, ready to send.

It was a fairly short tape, but it was just right for

sending "a talking letter".

Now, 25 years later, I have just listened to these

two cassettes.

On one, my son, then four, and I talk. It is so

enjoyable to listen to him speak and to pay

attention to our interaction.

I loved it!

I even imagine Kate three years from now.

The second one I had made for a friend and it was

more a collections of my thoughts at that time.

Still thinking....

A time capsule in red.

A time capsule in yellow.

Now I just need to get the soundtracks over to my

computer in some way.

Roses and thorns

A person who gathers honey will not escape being stung

by bees.

A person who gathers roses will not escape being

scratched by thorns.

The positive things in life also have negative aspects.

Keep your focus on the beautiful roses of the world,

and the thorns will seem trivial and inconsequential.

From Zelig Pliskin's Gateway to Happiness

My teff and injera experiment

http://www.applepiepatispate.com/bread/injera-ethiopian-sourdough-flatbread/

Above is how an injera should look.

Below is one of my experiments.

As you can see, far from the original.

But it was interesting to try.

For the last twenty years I have occassionally eaten injera,

also described as Ethiopian sourdough flatbread.

A few times the injera was made from teff, a special flour

that comes from Ethiopia and Eritrea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teff

The teff flour is very expensive. I think I paid around

15 dollars for one kilo here in Norway.

So injera made outside Ethiopia is often based on a

mix of teff and wheat, or just from wheat.

According to the text on the teff flour package, teff could be

an interesting option for athletes, vegetarians, coeliacs

and diabetics.

One of the basic principles of making injera,

is to make the batter one day

and fry the injera several days later.

So my kitchen has had the aroma of sourdough

for many days now.

I actually did two batters:

One only with teff and water that was to be used

three days later at the earliest. Four days seemed

better.

The second with teff, water and yeast - a quicker

version to be used the next day. I found this to be better

two days later.

It was also interesting to compare how the two batters

looked each day.

This morning I ate my last injera for this time.

Another time I want to try one of the vegetarian

versions of wot, the stew you serve on top of the injera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_cuisine

This time I only ate injera, without wot.

Like tasting potatoes, without anything else.

My icicle friend

It was the day after those in-the-middle-of-the night

photos I took of the icicle outside my window.

The temperature changed.

The sun came out.

The sun felt really hot, even inside.

Water ran down the icicles.

Their surface became flatter.

The ice was more transparent.

The sky was very blue.

I took a photo because of the contrast to the night before.

I did not think about what would happen one hour later.

I just watched and photographed the icicle.

One hour later: The icicle was not there any more!

It did not disappear because it had melted away.

It could not hold on to the roof and dived into

the snow below.

After it had happened, I decided it was a sign

spring is getting closer.

A good sign.

All the Rivers Run

http://www.crawfords.com.au/libary/series/rivers_run1.shtml

More than 20 years ago I followed an Australian

TV series called All the Rivers Run.

I think it was one of the first Australian TV programs

I had seen.

Australia seemed so far away, but this series

brought it closer.

The life on the River Murrey, the paddleboats, the

huge eucalyptus trees and the wonderful music made a

deep impression on me.

Later, a Swedish girl gave me an audio with the music.

Now, twenty years later, I put this audio into

the cassette player and listen once more to the music.

I still love the music!

It brings me back in time, both in my own life 25

years ago, but also 110 years back in Australian history.

Would I also like the series if I saw it once more?

YouTube even have a preview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjCJO7LnPNA

which reminds me that when I saw it on TV it was in

black and white.

PS. In 2017 I found the pocketbook " All the Rivers Run"
by Nancy Cato. Perhaps I will read it. :-) There is something
fascinating about books made into films.
Did you see the film  first? Did you read the book first?
How do the two compare? Can you like both?

Another icicle at night

This time meeting the moon.

Icicles at night

Waking up in the middle of the night, I saw that some

icicles that had "grown" within the last two days,

looked beautiful with the street lamps shining on them.

Small pleasures....