Deja Vu All Over Again

On the green carpet – I sent this Polaroid snapshot to my mother about 1973 as I was packing for a trip to Europe. On the back I scribbled the details: “The shawl is beige and 100% cotton. Skirt and blouse are pale green.”

I was reading Richard Hicks’ mystery MURDER BY THE NUMBERS when I came across a line that made me put down the book and laugh. In one paragraph, a character packs for a trip from California to Pennsylvania:

 “She was going to a farm in Pennsylvania at the end of summer. It was going to be hot, so she needed something simple that would travel well and still be stylish, but not sophisticated. She settled for stretch, non-wrinkle black pants and vest with a jacket no one ever guessed was polyester. It wouldn't breathe but it would look good, and as her mother always said, ‘It hurts to be beautiful.’ She rolled some T-shirts up, threw in a jeans skirt and shorts, sandals and a light summer coat that would serve as a robe if needed.”


Did Hicks read Frommer’s book or was he sitting in the back of the tour bus on my first trip to Europe?


I had read and re-read Frommer’s book. He advised not taking up suitcase room with a bathrobe but letting a light raincoat do double duty. So there I was – in Stockholm, July 1969, with a tour group staying in the Swedish equivalent of a Motel 6. I don’t remember a single thing about it except that I needed a shower.


I put on my shower cap, my raincoat and my fuzzy slippers and headed for the community bathroom. Unfortunately it was located on the other side of the lobby and the lobby was full of Japanese tourists who were just checking in.


Every last one of them turned to look at me and chatter came to a standstill. I felt like a first class fool. Welcome to Europe on a budget.


I never again took a raincoat on a trip anywhere. I took an umbrella.

Bowl Buzz

Photo by Doug Hoke for The Oklahoman


It's that time again, and everybody has a bowl. The Chick-fil-A Bowl? Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl? Give me a break! What -- no Doggie Bowl?

Oh, well -- here are some bowl projections from today's Oklahoman.

New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 19, Albuquerque, N.M.
Air Force vs. Nevada
St. Pete Bowl, Dec. 19, St. Petersburg, Fla.
South Florida vs. Central Florida
New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 20, New Orleans
UAB vs. Troy
Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 22, Las Vegas
Utah vs. California
Poinsettia Bowl, Dec. 23, San Diego
BYU vs. Arizona
Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24, Honolulu
SMU vs. Fresno State
Emerald Bowl, Dec. 26, San Francisco
Florida State vs. Oregon State
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Dec. 26, Detroit
Middle Tennessee vs. Ohio
Meineke Bowl, Dec. 26, Charlotte, N.C.
Boston College vs. Pittsburgh
Music City Bowl, Dec. 27, Nashville, Tenn.
North Carolina vs. Kentucky
Independence Bowl, Dec. 28, Shreveport, La.
Iowa State vs. Auburn
Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 29, Orlando, Fla.
Clemson vs. Minnesota
EagleBank Bowl, Dec. 30, Washington, D.C.
Duke vs. East Carolina
Holiday Bowl, Dec. 30, San Diego
Nebraska vs. Southern Cal
Humanitarian Bowl, Dec. 30, Boise, Idaho
Bowling Green vs. Idaho
Texas Bowl, Dec. 30, Houston
Texas A&M vs. Navy
Armed Forces Bowl, Dec. 30, Fort Worth, Texas
Wyoming vs. Southern Miss
Sun Bowl, Dec. 31, El Paso, Texas
Texas Tech vs. Oregon
Insight Bowl, Dec. 31, Tempe, Ariz.
Northwestern vs. Missouri
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Dec. 31, Atlanta
Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina
Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, Tampa, Fla.
Wisconsin vs. Georgia
Capital One Bowl, Jan. 1, Orlando, Fla.
Iowa vs. Ole Miss
Gator Bowl, Jan. 1, Jacksonville, Fla.
Miami vs. Notre Dame
Rose Bowl, Jan. 1, Pasadena, Calif.
Stanford vs. Ohio State
Sugar Bowl, Jan. 1, New Orleans
Florida vs. Boise State
Cotton Bowl, Jan. 2, Arlington, Texas
LSU vs. Oklahoma State
Liberty Bowl, Jan. 2, Memphis, Tenn.
Houston vs. Arkansas
International Bowl, Jan. 2, Toronto
West Virginia vs. Temple
PapaJohns.com Bowl, Jan. 2, Birmingham, Ala.
Rutgers vs. Tennessee
Alamo Bowl, Jan. 2, San Antonio
Michigan State vs. Oklahoma
Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 4, Glendale, Ariz.
TCU vs. Cincinnati
Orange Bowl, Jan. 5, Miami Gardens, Fla.
Georgia Tech vs. Penn State
GMAC Bowl, Jan. 6, Mobile, Ala.
Louisiana-Monroe vs. Central Michigan
Big Bowl, Jan. 7, Pasadena, Calif.
Texas vs. Alabama

A cop's life

Deputy Steve Lucas


My nephew, Steve Lucas of Norman, OK, was stabbed with an X-Acto knife by a sex offender who then cut his own throat because the judge revoked his probation. Steve is a sheriff’s deputy and retired Norman police officer. Steve’s okay. The prisoner is in critical condition.



Here’s the story from the Oklahoman.
***
Deputy receives cuts in Norman courtroom attack | NewsOK.com

BY JANE GLENN CANNON and JAMES S. TYREE Published: November 14, 2009

NORMAN — Cleveland County officials said a metal detector could have prevented a convicted sex offender from smuggling a knife into a courtroom Thursday.

Troy Leal, 43, used an X-Acto knife to cut his throat and stab a deputy, courtroom witnesses and officials said.

The incident marked the second time in three months someone brought a weapon inside the building.

Leal was in critical condition at Norman Regional Hospital on Friday following surgery. Deputy Steve Lucas received 18 stitches for stab wounds to his arms and hand.

Lucas said he was cut as he tried to subdue Leal when he saw the man pull something from a pocket.

"I never saw the knife. I never felt myself get hit. I saw a lot of blood and thought maybe I had broken his nose when I fell on him," Lucas said. The deputy said he used a Taser to subdue the man, and then saw that his throat was cut.

"It was spurting blood everywhere. I called for some towels and applied pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived," Lucas said.

District Judge William Hetherington called Lucas "a true hero. It could have been a whole lot worse if he hadn't reacted as quickly as he did."

As it was, the judge said, "It was the most shocking thing I've ever seen in my 20 years on the bench. It was a really violent act committed in front of everyone with no warning at all that it was about to happen."

County Commissioner Rod Cleveland said the incident points out the need for tighter security at the courthouse. He said commissioners probably will discuss the issue at their meeting Monday.

A metal detector has been purchased for the west entrance to the courthouse, but has not been used because the county lacks money to pay for deputies to staff and monitor it, Cleveland said.

In August, after a woman was arrested on a complaint of bringing a loaded gun into the building, officials decided to station deputies at both the east and west entrances to the courthouse. Undersheriff Rhett Burnett said the plan lasted about a week.

Officials said Leal was in court because he violated conditions of his supervised release. He was convicted in 1995 on one count of forcible oral sodomy in Stillwater and another count of making an indecent proposal to a child in Norman.

Hetherington had just ordered Leal's probation revoked and sentenced him to six years in prison when the incident occurred.
***

Shakespeare Writ Small

William Shakepeare and I invite you to Reedley, California on Nov. 5, 6 and 7. Okay, it's an old photo, taken at Madame Taussaud's wax works in London in 1973. I changed -- a lot! -- but Willie probably looks the same.

Big doings at Reedley on Nov. 5, 6 and 7. Wish I could be there, but I sent a copy of my book, ABSINTHE OF MALICE, for the auction. Author Lorie Ham is rounding up the books. Her own mysteries are set in a fictional version of her town -- Reedley,near Fresno. My book is set in a fictional version of a little town near Fresno.
***
Lorie Ham’s Press Release
"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" takes the stage at Reedley High School on November 5, 2009. All 39 of the Bard's plays are condensed down into a 90-minute lightning speed romp that will leave your sides sore from laughter.

Created in 1987 by The Reduced Shakespeare Company, the show has been performed in thousands of venues and has been met with critical success and reviews. Hailed by the New York Times as "Shakespeare writ small, as you might like it....Pithier than Python!", this outrageous farce is not to be missed.

Performances will be at the Reedley High School Performing Arts Theater on November 5, 6 and 7 with 7:00 PM shows each night, plus a 2:00 PM Saturday matinee. Tickets are available at the RHS Finance office and at the door. Group sales are also available for more information on that please call 305-7100 ext. 2343.

Each night will include a silent auction to raise additional funds to support Reedley High School Theater. The auction will feature items from not only local businesses, but also local artists, authors and musicians. One very special item to be auctioned off will be a signed copy of “Definitely Dead”, a book by well known author Charlaine Harris. This book is from her vampire series on which the popular HBO TV show “TRUE BLOOD” is based.


They will be doing a canned food drive for LOVE INC. at each performance. The price of each ticket will include one can of food that will be given to LOVE INC. Love INC brings people together to help the poor by meeting immediate needs such as food and clothing, to longer-term responses through relational ministries such as life skills training and transitional housing.

"The Egg And I" -- a book of its time

The world has changed since Betty MacDonald wrote “The Egg And I” in 1945. It’s a wry and comical book based on her adventures as a young bride on a chicken farm on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula.


“No running water, no electricity, a house in need of repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, with barely a moment to put one’s feet up …”


Yukon storyteller Beth Kouba reviewed the book for an attentive audience at the Yukon library Tuesday night.


The book was a runaway best seller in its time. It spawned a movie starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, and a series of Ma and Pa Kettle movies starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. It also spawned some libel suits by neighbors who claimed she ridiculed them as country bumpkins in the characters she called the “Kettles.”


While accurate to its time, "The Egg And I” is politically incorrect in this day and time, and should be read with that in mind -- times change. It was reissued in 2008 in observance of what would have been MacDonald’s 100th birthday. She died in 1958.

My lakeside apartment

It rained all day. ALL-DAY. Lots of flooding in the state. A spate of traffic accidents. The rain seems to have stopped in my neighborhood now -- but it's after 10 p.m. and way too late to haul my dirty clothes up to the laundry room. Maybe tomorrow.
--
ABSINTHE OF MALICE, now on Kindle,
End-of-Summer Special $5.99

The price of eggs

Actually eggs are reasonable right now, but the price of vanilla is sky high. Never mind. Cool weather is cake-baking weather. Instead of a big bottle of vanilla I bought a small bottle of almond extract at half the price, and baked a pound cake.


I used regular flour instead of unbleached flour. You can use either a bundt pan or a tube pan. Bake at 50 minutes or 1 hour, depending on your oven. I don’t have a cake tester so I used a toothpick. Like Julia Child – you use what you have.


The recipe comes from author Vicki Lane, who lives in North Carolina and sets her mystery novels in the mountains of Appalachia.


Vicki’s web site is at http://www.vickilanemysteries.com. Among other things there’s a section called Lore – fascinating mountain lore about herbs and folk remedies. Did you know that powder made by crushing a dirt dauber’s nest will cure diaper rash? That a dusty cobweb will stop bleeding?


But back to cake. Here’s the recipe.


****
BA’S POUND CAKE
By Vicki Lane


Ba was my maternal grandmother and she probably made this pound cake once a week. It was almost always around, there on the counter by the refrigerator, under the aluminum cake dome with the wooden acorn knob on top. It is a dense cake -- but pure, basic goodness -- requiring no frosting. If somehow it stays around long enough to get stale, it's good toasted.


The original pound cake required a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, and a pound of eggs. That makes this a half-pound cake.


2 sticks butter (1/2 pound) at room temperature (softish but not melting)
1- 2/3 cup sugar2 cups flour (unbleached -- and I don't sift)
5 eggs (also at room temperature)
1 tablespoon vanilla


That was Ba's recipe -- I have taken to adding the following in these approximate amounts:
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper


Cream butter and sugar thoroughly, by hand or with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add flour and (optional) spices; mix in; add vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
Put batter in very well-greased tube pan. Put in cold oven; turn to 350 F; bake one hour.


Turn out to cooling rack but be sure to try a slice while it's still warm
****


Easy to make and purely delicious. Freezes beautifully. I just slice it and put the slices in freezer bags.

An "antidote" to fear

I took the photo of an Oklahoma redbud tree in Yukon a couple of years ago.

My friend, author Peter Abresch, sends weekly poems called "Burnt Offerings." The latest, Antidote, seems especially appropriate in these unsettled times. Here it is.

ANTIDOTE

There is a poison that
can lurk in our souls,
its symptom is fear,
fear of death,
fear of hell,
fear of judgment.
But God gives us
His antidote
in abundance.
Love.

Peter E Abresch
August 5, 2009

Peter Abresch
http://www.elderhostelmysteries.com
http://www.easyreadingwriting.com
http://www.SIDEWALKBOOKS.com