John has a cold so he gets to rest and get better. He is happy as a clam with a stuffy nose and cozy on the couch reading Green Thoughts by Eleanor Perenyi.

I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but John really loves it. So we got out his grandmother’s recipe and popped it in the oven. It won’t be the only dessert over the next few days…

UPDATE: John rightly points out that if you try this recipe don’t make any substitutions on the Molasses. Anything darker will make for a very dark, rather unpleasant pie.

Never a fan of crowds, I set the alarm for 7:00 AM so I could get to the grocery store before the worst of the crowds. And it is a good thing I did. I got the very last bag of cranberries in the store. I was back home by 8:30. Mission accomplished.

Our biggest snowfall in 4 years (and we missed that one, we were in Phoenix) and the most accumulation in December in 70 years. I’m glad I brought plenty of firewood in last night.

After a blissful year of only working three days a week, I am back to working five days a week. The nice thing is I like what my new job has me working on. And I like the fact that I am actually being kept busy. The bad thing is I have less time for me.  Only time will tell what the impact will be on my reading and blogging.

In the meantime, enjoy one of the Christmas cards we sent out this year.

Here are two particularly good (that is bad) scam emails that have arrived here at My Porch:

Dearest One, My name is Mr Johnson Mark, a 20 years old boy undergraduate. I am only son of Mr. and Miss. kone Mark, My father was a very wealthy Gold and Diamond Merchant in Monrovia the Gold Capital city of republic of Liberia in West Africa based in Burkina Faso west Africa, my father was poisoned to death by his business associates while my mother died when I am little and my father took me so special because I am the only child. Before the death of my father on 4th June 2007 in a hospital here in Burkina Faso he secretly called me and told me that he deposited some a huge sum of $14 million Dollars ($14, OOO, OOO USD) and the inside a bank which he deposited with a bank of Africa here in Burkina Faso as family saves. He also made me to understand that it was because of this wealth he was poisoned while on a business trip with them and he instructed me to look for a foreign partner who will help me retrieve this fund out from the bank of Africa then. On the 30th of December 2007 my uncle fly to London with his children. With all that my father left behind, just because I am a small boy and I do not have any right in my father property. My uncle seized all my father’s companies and properties because of our tradition believe that I’m a small boy i don’t no anything to do with money. I was left with nothing and dropped out of school because of financial difficulties and my uncle’s wicked attitude. Although I have contacted the bank of Africa they confirmed the lodgement to me My purpose of contacting you is for you to help me, as late father advised me at his sick bed.1) To transfer this amount to your location,2) To make arrangement for me to come to your country to continue my education.3) To utilize this money by investing it in good business. I am now under hidings to safe my life from any accidental harm that might befall me from them. Please tell me if you will be of assistance to me after your good considerations I am willing to reward you with 35% of the money for your good assistance. As for the money I hope you can have them for your self.. I will be glad if you will get back to me soon to tell me of your interest so that I will give you the contact information of the bank for you to contact them on my behalf as I will be introducing you. I am pleading to you with the name of Almighty God to help me out of this problem. With tiers on my eyes here as I am written you this mail. I am kindly waiting for your response MAY GODBLESS YOU, All my love, Mr Johnson Mark

Or how about this one from Mr. Buba Ouedo:

Dear friend

How are you doing with your family? Hope fine, please pay attention and understand my reason of contacting you today through this email, my name is Mr Buba Ouedo, bill and exchange manager in bank of Africa. in my department, during the auditing of this year 2009, i discovered an abounded sum of ($3.5m) three million five hundred thousand us dollars which belonging to a deceased customer of this bank he was involved on Friday December 26TH plane crash posted 11.15amest (16.15gmt)2003 at Benin .

i desperately need your assistance to secure and move this huge sums of money left behind by my late client to the tune of $3.500.000,(Three Million Five Hundred thousand us dollars) out from bank of Africa to your own account, he executed contract through department of work and housing here in this country and the mentioned money above is his money left in our bank before his death. Meanwhile, for your smoothness of this transaction, i will pay you 40% of the total sum for your co-operation in this matter. if you know that you are interested and capable to handle this business transaction,contact me as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Buba Ouedo.

What do you think, should I do it?

I came across this photo on someone’s blog and loved it so much I copied it to my desktop. Problem is, I don’t remember where I found it. Does it look familiar to you? Is it yours?

I have been tagged by Skirmish of Wit to list 7 things I love. True to my nature, I find it very hard to limit myself to just seven things. Suffice it to say I love, love, love books, food, travel, classical music, and television. But those are big, broad categories and I am tempted to list seven things for EACH of them, but that seems to defy the spirit of the challenge. So, I decided to find a few specific things that serve as examples of some of the broader themes listed above. They are in no particular order.

7 (Specific) Loves

Mutts
We can’t wait to get a dog, hopefully sometime in early 2010. And although there are some breeds that I take a shine to (like Golden Retrievers), there is nothing quite like a cute, lovable mutt. Especially one rescued from a shelter.

Pipe Organs
I get a fair amount of teasing for this one. Apparently the sound of a pipe organ is an acquired taste. But I find the sound magnificent. The variety and power of the sounds available in even smaller instruments is impressive, but when you get a really big mother going it is a sound you literally and physically feel as much as hear. And I love the way they look. The pipe cases are beautifully sculptural and architectural and they are usually in the stunning surroundings of a cathedral or a grand hall. (Passau Cathedral shown below.)

Excel
In general I love to organize things. I love to sort, and throw, and donate, and stack, and line up, and tidy, and well, organize. And I love to organize data in an Excel spreadsheet. There isn’t much that doesn’t benefit from a good Excel spreadsheet. From all the books I have read since 1994, to concerts, budgets, CDs, travel arrangements, you name it.

Sissinghurst
A few summers ago when John and I were in London we spent a day at Sissinghurst, once the home of Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson. Between Vita’s cozy study in the tower and the amazing gardens, Sissinghurst is a little slice of heaven. Even with lots of tourists it was possible to find a quiet spot at the edge of the orchard looking across the moat to the surrounding pastures. It’s a place I could sit for hours.

Fonts and Graphic Design
I love good graphic design in general (please don’t judge me by my poorly designed blog), but am particularly fond of fonts and their use in graphic design. No doubt this is tied to my love of the written word, books, letters, etc. One of the reasons I loved our visit to the Plan Museum in Antwerp in October. But I love fonts and good graphic design wherever it is, books, signs, stationary, posters, product packaging. If you haven’t been there, The Book Design Review is a great place to see some of the best and most interesting book covers out there. There is also a site called Brand New that is all about corporate branding with lots of before and after images of logo redesigns. And don’t even get me started on the brilliance of the graphic design on the London Underground. I am probably going to blog about that one of these days.

The Alcotts movement from Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata
I urge you to immerse yourself in this movement from Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata. I think this is one of the most sublime six minutes of music every written. The interpretation on this video isn’t my favorite but it still does the trick. I think she is a little too bombastic and literal with the Beethoven quotations at about 1:44 minutes, but the performance overall is pretty satisfying. There are a few commercial recordings of the sonata available. My favorite is by Canadian Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Charles Ives was an American composer (and fulltime businessman) whose output can sometimes challenge even modern ears. In his Concord Sonata he gives a movement each to American transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson and Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau.

Modes of Transportation
When it comes to planes, boats, trains, and to a lesser extent, cars I turn into a 12-year old. I am particularly fascinated with fixed-rail public transport systems. I love the variety from city to city. Light rail, heavy rail. Underground, overground. Stations, platforms, and signage. It all fascinates me. On one trip to London, I took the District Line out to Wimbledon, hopped on the light rail to Croydon, then took British Rail back into town. All just for the fun of it, and to see (and ride) the new light rail line. (The tram shown is in Grenoble, not London.)

And I am one of those people who buy those airliner magazines that are like commercial jet porn. Except instead of buxom blondes or hunky guys, the centerfolds are pictures of jets taking off and landing or showing off new (or old) livery. (That’s right, the paintjob on a plane is referred to as its livery. How cool is that?)

Now I need to tag seven others. I realize you may not want to (or have the time to) participate, but if you do, let us know about your 7 Loves.

The B Files

Savidge Reads

Periodic Pearls

KyusiReader

Paperback Reader

Books and  Border Collies

Stuck in a Book

After my recent post about Upstairs Downstairs, it seemed that many of you have never seen this wonderful show, and would probably like it. So I found this clip from from the 2007 Bafta awards that gives a quick glimpse of what Upstairs Downstairs was all about. The laugh track is absolutely awful, the director/producer of the Bafta show should be ashamed. Although the show had its humorous bits, none of the clips shown here and overlaid with laugh track fall into that category. Also, based on the delivery of some of the casts’ lines at the award show, they meant this whole thing to be funny. I don’t know why. It’s like a bad episode of Jonathan Ross–oh wait, every episode of Jonathan Ross is a bad episode of Jonathan Ross. The audio is also a bit off from the video, but despite all of this it is still worth a look.