Author archive: Ellen Sander

Taken from this post:joyeaux

Taken from this post:In gratitude. In memoriam.

I was at the Hutchinson Center branch of the University of Maine last week and I urgently wanted to keep up with the news in the Mideast. I had on my person my cell phone and my iPod touch which is normally full of breaking news items from a wealth of sources, including pictures and live video. But the wifi went down for a while at the facility (and it’s normally unavailable in some parts of the Continue reading →

ChocolateThe best day of the year to buy chocolate is the day after Valentine’s Day. Every establishment that sold fine holiday boxed chocolates will have fresh stock at half price or less. Chocolate does go on sale on other occasions, however, it is usually not fresh at that point. The peak freshness of chocolate doesn’t last long. Day after Valentine chocolate is almost always fresh. Continue reading →

Morning Joe on MSNBC is the smartest weekday show on TV. Worthy of the crack of dawn time slot. The View used to be the smartest weekday show on TV, but not any more. With each of the hosts having obviously more compelling professional interests, they’ve gone totally daytime. The Situation Room on CNN is a contender, but whenever Wolf Blitzer takes a day off they put a cupcake (intended as a Continue reading →

I wrote the previous post on Egypt’s populist uprising before violence broke out, but that violence, by pro-Mubarak thugs trying to provoke a fiasco, failed. The protests remained peaceful through even Mubarak announcing yesterday that he wouldn’t resign. But by today, he finally got it; he was done, stick a fork in it. Sweet: Swiss banks are freezing any assets they can ascribe to him. While Continue reading →

It’s phenomenal what the Egyptian people have done peacefully and without the electronic connectivity that their tottering government has deprived them of. Even though the repercussions of the Egyptian uprising are unsettling, particularly in the case of Israel’s security, it’s a phenomenon that is hard not to admire and support. You go, Egypt! Claim your destiny! I am reminded of being a Continue reading →

Wash and save the lightweight plastic bags with holes in them that grapes (and other small fruits like cherries) come in. They are ideal for keeping mushrooms in the refrigerator. Mushrooms should immediately removed from the plastic sealed containers they come in. They’ll get slimy in there pretty quick. Re-use the perforated grape bags and they’ll stay fresh at least twice as long. Continue reading →

Keith Olberman, one of the yappy dogs of MSNBC, has left the network for unspecified reasons. It was the talk of the industry today. He was the highest rated newspinionator on MSNBC, and one that may have set the windbaggy, highly partisan tone there. MSNBC, with Olberman, became a left wing counterpart to the predominantly mega-right wing Fox “news” organization that has been eating the Continue reading →

Predictions are that grocery prices are going up, which seams credible. Costs have gone up for farmers, distributors and packagers and commodity prices on the spot markets have risen.Your grocery bills could go down if you eat out of your cupboard for one week out of the 4.3 (avg) weeks in a month. Buy only proteins and produce and then, for the rest of the week, supplement that with the Continue reading →

The local public radio station, MPBN was playing classical music by artists that died in 2010 this morning. I so enjoy creative programming ideas and take a break from playing tracks for those rare stations/programs that feature such a true love for recorded music. Amongst them is Highway 61, all Dylan hour on WERU (streams live Fridays) and KCSM jazz station from the Bay Area and of course WOZ, Continue reading →

Don’t pay good money for flavored coffee. It’s just second-rate coffee disguised with flavorings. If you like your good coffee flavored, add some cinnamon or cocoa or vanilla (or all of the above) yourself. Continue reading →

Washed all the snow away! Phooey! But it’s so warm, I can wear my leggings by themselves.The birds are (bottom) chickadee (common, the state bird of Maine) and the one above is, I think, a kind of finch known as a siskin, an olive morph, which is not very common. Continue reading →

There has never been a better time to buy a laptop than now. Prices are plummeting as the laptop/netbook market exhibits apprehension that the tablets, novelty of the year, are going to eat their lunch. This is a very active season for all consumer tech. Maybe you’re giving or getting one or more new tech toys yourself. I hope so. What a fantastic array of gadgets there is to choose from!As Continue reading →

Taken from this post:Missing John Lennon

Free Therapy:If you walk with a spring in your step, it works every muscle in your body, gives your heart beats a boost and gives your mind a lift after a while too. And you look instantly younger.Jauntily go. Continue reading →

My late mom made this Menorah. If you look carefully, you can see her name, Faye. She is my candle in the dark. Continue reading →

Now isn’t this a revolting development? Documents released by Wikileaks uncover some rather awkward communiques between diplomats and their government contacts. You’ve heard the same news that I have, so I won’t reiterate, but if this was really done in the name of war protest, all it does is huck gumballs into the the best avenue for averting war, namely diplomacy. This speaks most unwelcome Continue reading →

I’m not smart enough to be a pessimist. What’s wrong with all this theorizing and speculating is that there are no “ordinary Americans.” Continue reading →

For: jazz, pizza, tech, mousetraps, my kid, my grandkid, my daughter-in law, dance, romance, Louis Armstrong, jiaodzi, saffron, wireless, Belfast, Bolinas, New York, L.A., Roma, Beijing, Amsterdam, Elkins, Big Sur, Boston, passion, inspiration, nuthatches, cinema, photographs, string theory, seashells, prime rib, lobster, tidepools at low tide, hardbacks, e-books, seasons, seafood, black sticky Continue reading →

47 years ago today I was working for a publisher in New York. I was at lunch. When I came back I heard someone in the elevator say “I thought this was a civilized country.” I didn’t think anything of it until I walked into my department. Everyone was in various degrees of shocked silence. They told me. We went home early and watched it all unfold on TV for 4 days. We were a country joined in Continue reading →

Predatory lending? Absurd. If someone doesn’t know enough to read and understand loan papers, they have no business owning a house. Continue reading →

Seasonal wisdom:If you’re eating a pomegranate and you can’t get nekkid, wear a red top. Such a short, exquisite season.Bon appetit. Our love was like the waterThat splashes on a stoneOur love is like our musicIts here, and then its gone — Rolling Stones, No Expectations Continue reading →

Never allow your paid subscriptions or membership to ANYTHING to continue on “Auto Renew!” When your term runs out they will most likely contact you with a substantially reduced price. (The only exception I’d make is insurance, but it never hurts to call your broker just before the renewal date and ask if there’s a better deal available.)If you subscribe or are a member of anything, online or Continue reading →

So, one of my pet outrages is in the news tonight. On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams delivered an NBC special investigation on imported seafood. Seafood imported from Asia and Indonesia has tested tainted with banned chemicals that you can’t taste and they don’t cook out. If you ate it over time, it could cause anemia or cancer or other serious conditions not determined. They showed a Continue reading →