My Bit of Earth

Unexpected Guard Dog

Quick Quotes Quill Friday: Surprisingly, No One's Really Talking About This Anymore

"To the Dark Lord

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.  I have stolen the real Horcrux and intent to destroy is as soon as I can.  I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B."

--Half-Blood Prince

The Knight Bus!!!

As promised, here are pictures of the Knight Bus which we saw today at the St. Louis County Public Library. 

A lady we talked to in line said she saw the bus traveling down the interstate and it was going about 30 miles per hour--evidently it's not as maneuverable as the one in the books and movie!  From the outside, the bus was about 15 feet tall, but the inside compartment was much smaller.  There was only room for about 10 people max and the ceilings were definitely not triple decker.

When we got to the library the bus was already there.  There were hundreds of little kiddos running around doing different crafts (you could make Harry Potter glasses, a tie, and a magic wand) and answering trivia questions for prizes.  Purple and gold stars and crepe paper were hanging from the trees, and the sidewalks had all been sprayed with glitter paint.

Everyone who had pre-registered got a purple bracelet that allowed you to get on the bus.  We were called by number and allowed to get on the bus about 6 at a time.  As I waited in line, one of the bus crew people quizzed me on what I thought was going to happen in Book 7--I think it was his job to get people thinking about what they might say for their video.

Then I got on the bus, which was filled with purple benches made to look kind of like beds. There were electric candle sconces on the walls, a shelf full of Harry Potter books, and a giant countdown to the Deathly Hallows release date. After looking around a bit, I sat down and discussed theories with a few younger fans. They were obviously misguided, as they both thought Harry and Hermione will die, but I didn't argue! :)

After a few minutes I was given my password to look at my video online later.  Then I went through the narrow purple door at the back of the bus and into the video booth.  The guy running the recording asked me if I knew what I wanted to say, and seemed pretty relieved when I said I did.  I sat down, spoke my bit, and left through a kind of hidden back door at the back of the bus.

It was quite a drive (4 hours!) for such a short trip through the bus, but it was fun and I'm glad we went!  There are a few more pictures here.

Thinnings

Lots of Phoenix Clips Redux

Here are those movie clips I posted yesterday, only this time in English.  (Again, spoilers.)

What He Said

As part of the Knight Bus--which I'm going to see day after tomorrow--participants get to make a short video discussing why they love Harry Potter.  I have a long history of turning into a geek on camera, so all week I've been trying to think of something touching or witty to say. 

It's led to some self questioning, to say the least.  After all, what makes an adult fall in love with a kid's book?  What makes a college student blow goodness-knows-how-much on collecting said books?  What makes a grown woman want to drive 4 hours to see a giant, purple bus?

I was reading this article tonight when I found it:

"If you fall in love with reading when you're young, as I did, you spend the rest of your reading life trying to recapture that amazing feeling of tumbling down the rabbit hole for the first time and allowing a book to completely transport you to another world. It's often a bittersweet search; you end up disappointed far more often than not. You learn to resist hype, to keep your hopes down but your fingers crossed—and occasionally you're rewarded with a book like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Before I was 50 pages into that relatively slim novel (slim, that is, compared to the later books in the series), I realized how wrong I'd been. Sucked straight into Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, I knew that this was one of those rare books that remind me why I read."

Lots of Phoenix Clips

I had to figure out how to register for a website in German this morning in order to watch these, but thanks to HPNA here they are, no foreign language skills required!  (They are, unfortunately, still dubbed in German, but you'll get the idea at least.)  Needless to say, if you don't want to see a pretty good chunk of the movie (a little over 10 minutes total) don't watch.

Burst

Wednesday Poll: "And we shall teach rock 'n' roll to the world."*

Because I'm looking for something new to download....

For this week's poll:

If someone handed you a free set of concert tickets, what band or musical act would you want them to be for?

Comment and discuss.

(*Jack Black, "School of Rock")

Celebrate! Rejoice! Jump Up and Down!

For today, I picked the first tomatoes!

Which were first out of the gate?  Well, the little ruby-red gem perched at the top of the pile is an "Arkansas Traveler".  The two dark and mysterious looking characters below are called "Nyagous".  All three are scheduled for a well-timed celebratory pizza tomorrow night.

Garden Egg Pie

It began as a frittata.  Potatoes from the garden on the bottom, eggs and cheese on top.  But then we realized we'd forgotten to add the herbs, so we had to dump it all back into the mixing bowl to add them.  Then, after putting it back in the baking pan once more, we realized we'd forgotten to add the garlic--back to the mixing bowl.  By the time we were done it was kind of just a big egg-and-potato-and-herb-pie-kind-of-thing.  But it was good.

More On How to Buy a Puppy

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to Christie Keith's Whole Pet column discussing why it's not OK to buy puppies online or from pet stores.

In this week's column she tells us all how to find a good breeder. 

"Pet stores routinely assure shoppers that their pets don't come from puppy or kitten mills, and Internet pet store sites certainly won't announce that theirs do. Instead, they use the phrases people find reassuring: 'Family raised.' 'Private breeders.' 'Raised with love.'

"Despite those marketing slogans, the reality is that nearly all puppies and kittens sold in pet stores and on the Internet are mass-produced in circumstances that range from truly hellish to sterile, lonely and boring. The mothers and fathers of those puppies and kittens spend their entire lives in cages, bored beyond belief, sometimes kept in filth and misery, having litter after litter until they can't produce any more.

"So how can you know whether a breeder or other seller's claims are true? And even if you could hook the breeder up to a lie detector, how do you know what questions to ask or what the answers should be?"

She goes on to discuss what questions should be asked of you (that's right, not what questions you should ask), as well as the fact that a good breeder will 1) always require that you return the dog to them should things not work out, and 2) never require that you return the puppy to get your money back should your dog have serious health problems.  Her bottom line:  "the easier it is for you to get that puppy or kitten, the less careful the breeder of that puppy and kitten is."

If you're thinking of getting a dog, or even if you aren't, please go read.

No Intervention Necessary

I took this quiz (which I found on "Dogged", see link at right) with some trepidation.  What if the number ended up being too high?  Would my family--some of whom have already commented that I post an awful lot and have not 1, not 2, but 3 blogs going at present--stage a "come to Jesus" meeting?  Would Sweet Husband make me disconnect?

Thankfully, it didn't really turn out to be that bad...

64%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Listen to the OOP Full Soundtrack Here!

I Failed My W.O.M.B.A.T.

What can I say?  I'm a little ashamed....I got a "Poor".  Even Sweet Husband got an "Acceptable"--I'll never live it down.

The Mystery Essential Character Is....

Earlier this week I posted that OOP movie director David Yates said that in the original draft of the screenplay for OOP, they had decided to remove a character from the story. Rowling read over the screenplay and said “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” that they were free to do whatever they liked, of course, but “if you make a 7th movie you’ll have tied your hands.”

Well, today the mystery character was revealed.  Knowing who it is doesn't give hardly anything away, but don't click on the link if you don't want to know....

It's Kreacher!

But I wonder what essential part he has to play?  Maybe unwillingly helping Harry to find the real locket?  Maybe stabbing him in the back with a heavy sword?  (See this post.)  Maybe something random that no one's thinking of?

See what I mean?  Knowing doesn't help at all.

They Call It a Wanderer

This was another bit of good karma that came as a result of the spare hens'n'chicks I passed out.  Nice Friend has been rooting it for weeks, and finally deemed it ready for potting.  She tells me it's called a "Wandering Jew".  With a name like that I knew it had to have a story.

Of course, wikipedia reveals all.  Here's the info on the plant--which is properly called Tradescantia zebrina, by the way--and here's the story behind the name.  Apparently you can make tea with it's leaves as well.

The Quest for Stir Fry

Sweet Husband and I head down to our favorite Thai place for some good stir fry every now and then, but so far all the recipes we've tried at home always end up badly.  It's always too bland, too spicy, too salty, too something....

But tonight we tried this recipe for asparagus-cashew stir fry (from "The Perfect Pantry", see link at way lower right) and it was actually very nice.  I'm a new convert to soba noodles anyway, but what I think really made this recipe good was the sauce which was juuusst right.

Pumpkin Blossoms

My pumpkins--which are slowly and steadily winding their way out of their third of the garden and into the herbs and onions--now have several pumpkiny-hued blossoms hiding from the sun under their giant leaves.  As much as I'd love to, I think if I let them all grow up I'll have thirty or forty little pumpkins instead of ten or fifteen usable ones.

Rather than wasting the culled blossoms though, I thought I'd try some fried.

Honestly, I hadn't ever had fried pumpkin blossoms before.  I wasn't really even aware such a thing was done until I saw a lady selling raw blossoms by the bag at the farmer's market last summer.  In one of those wonderful conversations that only happens when you aren't afraid to ask questions, she told me all about how to cook them and how her grandmother cooked them and how her grandmother's grandmother cooked them--it was delightful.

So, with my ten or so blossoms in hand (I couldn't bear to pull off more) I got started.

It's Like Buttah

In my ever growing search for new, fun recipes I've added a few food blogs to my blog rolls (see way lower right).  A few days ago on one of said blogs, "The Traveler's Lunchbox", Melissa made butter.  It looked like way too much fun not to try, so this morning Sweet Husband and I decided to give it a churn.