Sunday, October 26, 2008

Six Generations

Posted on/at 5:10 PM by The Goddess


My great-great grandfather, Maxwell Wellington Wilkinson (1847-1922)



My great grandfather, Francis Eugene Wilkinson (1872-1956)



My grandfather, Howard Edward Wilkinson (1899-1965)




My father, Peter Wilkinson (1937-2002) A rare early shot of him mustacheless. He later followed the Wilkinson walrus trend.







Me! Gabrielle Kimberly Wilkinson Adams (1969-) Fuchsia hair in front of my family tree. No mustache here, though I'm tempted to buy one, just for laughs. My brother wears one.



My children, Conner and Samantha. No mustaches... yet.





I would love to add a picture of my ggg grandfather George Maxwell Wilkinson (1809-1884) to my collection. He emmigrated to New York from Scotland and married Polly Spicer, a descendant of the venerable Spicer family. If anyone knows where I can find one, I'd be thrilled.


Update: Apr 20, 2009


My distant cousin Ross sent me this photo of the aforementioned George Maxwell Wilkinson. I'm beside myself with excitement. Pictures of the entire lineage... all seven generations.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

They Grow Up So Fast

Posted on/at 4:42 PM by The Goddess


Alice is unlike any cat I've ever owned. Her coat colors have grown in. She's not solid grey, as we first thought, but has touches of beige, cream, and peach; a tortoiseshell pattern with a white bib under her chin. She looks like what she is-- an alley cat.

Poor Russell is beside himself. He's been top cat around here for years. His only enemies were an overly loving little girl, my grouchy cat-hating husband, and the vacuum cleaner. Then Alice showed up.

Don't get me wrong; Alice adores Russell. She follows him everywhere. She longs to play with him, eat with him, snuggle up and sleep with him. Russell apparently views her as an exasperatingly pesky younger sister. If he were a kid, I'd be treated to constant bickering and cries of, "Get out of my room!" and, "Quit looking at me!" as well as, "Mom! Tell Alice to stop touching my stuff." Instead, I hear brief spates of hissing and snarling before Russell turns tail and flees to the relative safety of the back yard.

Whenever Russell manages to sneak back into the house, he always greets me with a long, very vocal greeting, he and I going back and forth, "Herro!", "Well, hello, Russell!," "Herrrooo!", "How ya doing, big fellow?", for several minutes, or at least until Alice shows up to investigate the commotion and bat at his ears.

Alice, on the other hand, is the quietest cat I've ever owned. It wasn't always so. The day we found her, she was yowling loud enough to be heard from across the street. Every need of hers was announced at the top of her tiny lungs, and it seemed she needed something every hour of the day. This was balanced by a purr that sounded like Harley. Now that she's older, she's become eerily silent. She'll give a tiny squeak if you accidentally step on her, but other than that, the only other noise she ever makes is a soft little chatter that she makes when hunting.

Oddly enough, it's her hunting habits that makes grouchy cat-hating husband smile. She's utterly vicious , stalking grocery bags, balls, toes, dust mice with equal glee. That wouldn't be so bad if she didn't ruthlessly go for the kill and sink her teeth into my chin, or rake her talons across my scalp after she chased down my hair in a life-or-death pursuit. She spent a good ten minutes leaping into the air, trying to bring down a friend's free-range backside the other day as he stood in my kitchen talking to Mr. Grouchy.

The sight of Alice streaking down the hallway halfway up the kitchen wall never fails to amuse my hubby. He lets her climb all over his stuff, bringing his precariously balanced piles crashing down. He complains bitterly the whole while, but does nothing about it. He even worries about me traumatizing her if I take after her with the squirt bottle for chewing electrical cords.

It was recently pointed out to me that I'm the only one whose voice Alice obeys. Gee whiz! I wonder why? Same reason my kids aren't the ones throwing tantrums at the toy store. Beat them early and beat them often. With both kids and cats, I have only to raise my eyebrows at them to get them to quickly reconsider the wisdom of whatever mischief I can see brewing in their little minds. If only that worked on Mr. Grouchy.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Fiercesome Glop-- A recipe

Posted on/at 10:02 PM by The Goddess

Alice, the kitten, now has teeth, but isn't up to eating dry cat food yet. I started her out with meat flavored baby food, gradually mixing in canned cat food until I got her switched over to that, but the stuff is dreadfully expensive.

I decided to make her some homemade kitten food with odds and ends I had in the cupboards. The smell is appalling, just what she and her older brother like. Here's how to replicate my "Fiercesome Glop" as I fondly call the mixture. Be aware, this stuff is nasty. The smell is actually improved after it passes through her digestive tract.


Assemble in food processor the following;

1 can spam
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tuna (with its liquid)
3 eggs, scrambled
1 slice wheat bread

Process until pasty or until your stomach rebels at the sight of it. Hold breath while spooning it into an airtight container and store in fridge. Use within a week.

Bon apetite!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Alice

Posted on/at 1:43 PM by The Goddess




This is Alice. She came into my life a week ago Thursday. She's very tiny, but has a big, big voice when she puts her mind to it. As near as I can tell, she's about four weeks old, though small for her age. She likes to sleep on my nice warm laptop, insists on being swaddled while eating, and makes a grand production out of taking a bottle. She also has adorable burps.


Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Love Codes

Posted on/at 3:54 AM by The Goddess

I remember my mother telling me that when she and my dad were dating, they couldn't afford the price of a phone call, so they would call at a prearranged time and let the phone ring just once. It was their code for "good night and I love you".

In college, during summer break, my husband (then boyfriend) and I wrote often. Out code was to put the stamp on the envelope upside down. We never talked about it until later, and realized we were both doing the same thing. Guess that made it a top secret love code.

With my son, I used to flash the American Sign Language sign for "I love you" to him after he boarded the bus every morning on his way to kindergarten, and he'd flash it back from the window. We still use it on occasion these days, even though he'll be in fifth grade next month.

What love codes do you use?

Monday, August 4, 2008

Lacy Ripples Scarf

Posted on/at 9:21 PM by The Goddess




Gauge: not critical


Abbreviations:

k=knit

yo=yarn over

sl=slip

tog=together

psso= pass slipped stitch over


Materials: This scarf used about 300 yards of my own light fingering weight lambswool/angora/cashmere (80%/10%/10%) hand-spun, hand-dyed, two-ply yarn


Needles: Size 9



Instructions:


Cast on 49 st (multiple of 16 +1)


Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: K1, *yo, k6, sl1, k2tog, psso, k6, yo, k1*, repeat between *'s to end


Repeat these three rows until you are about to run out of yarn (scarf should measure about 48" long). Bind off in pattern after row 2.


Block the scarf tightly, pulling it and pinning it to the limit of its stretch, to best show off the lacy pattern, making sure to pin out the ripples at the ends.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Finished

Posted on/at 2:51 PM by The Goddess

Well, the bare bones are done. With Conner's dedicated help, I got the furniture and most of our belongings swapped between bedrooms. I'm now in the master bedroom, which for the past eight years has served first as a computer room and later a nursery. Zam's stuff has been moved into her new bedroom. I'm afraid, however, the poor girl is forever doomed to lend closet space to Mom.

The main benefit of having the master bedroom, besides the fact that it's bigger and located on the cooler side of the house (no more southern exposure!!) is that I now have my Own Bathroom. Technically, it's only a half bath, but it's mine, and I don't have to share it with anyone, ever. Unfortunately, after sitting unused for nearly five years, none of the plumbing is working, so I've spent the last two hours doing plumberly things; crawling under the sink, working on the toilet, tearing apart the faucet. Decided to just buy a new faucet on eBay.

My son is such a good kid. He's a very hard worker. Now I know why his grandma pays him sop well when he works for her in the summer. And now he's rubbing my sore feet. He pestered to do it until I gave in.

Toothache Drops 1879

Posted on/at 2:45 AM by The Goddess


From my copy of "Housekeeping in Old Virginia Containing Contributions from Two Hundred and Fifty of Virginia's Noted Housewives, Distinguished for Their Skill in the Culinary Art and Other Branches of Domestic Economy" published in 1879.
This stuff no doubt cured toothaches, but any other damn thing that ailed you! Morphine and laudanum. Good stuff. Bet it worked a lot better than the stuff you get at the drugstore these days, which generally leave out all the ingredients except the clove oil.

Friday, July 18, 2008

I'm Giddy with Excitement.

Posted on/at 4:11 PM by The Goddess



My fabulous Aunt Joan sent me this. What is it?

Here's the back.








Give up? Huh? Huh?


I'm so tickled I can't stop grinning. It's the military discharge papers my great great great grandfather George Maxwell Wilkinson received in Dumfries, Scotland. He was released from the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade after being wounded and no longer being fit for service. According to this paper, he served in Malta and the Ionian Islands, enlisting when he was nineteen and discharged eight years later. On the back, it specifies that he is to receive eight shillings "marching money" for marching three miles from Leith to Dumfries. Most of that information is not in the official published Wilkinson history. I'm feeling gleeful and smug.

I'm still trying to dig up info about his battalion.

Catte's Kansas Catfish

Posted on/at 6:18 AM by The Goddess



Kansas newspaper from 1922


Recently a peculiar thing was found at the Catte Fish Hatcheries near Langdon when a
large bass was found dead, having choked to death while trying to devour a goldfish
nearly as large as himself. The bass are cannibals in their diet and method of feeding and it
is very hard to raise any other fish with bass in the pond.

The female bass lays her eggs and from that time on the male bass takes charge of
matters, setting on the nest and watching over the hatch. The female bass will destroy her
own young if the male did not protect the little ones.

The Catte Hatchery at Langdon is one of the sight-seeing places in western Kansas and
each summer thousands of sight-seers visit the hatchery. The Catte Hatchery is a branch of
the United States Hatchery at Neosho, Missouri, and is the only federal project in the state
of Kansas.

Bass and crappie are the two fish raised at this hatchery and many farmers in the
Langdon community find it profitable to construct farms and raise fish to sell to the
government. The hatcheries are under the Department of Commerce and each spring and
fall government fish cars spend about six weeks working in and out of Langdon
distributing game fish to the entire southwest part of the country, including Kansas,
Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Eugene Catte, owner of the place and manager of the hatchery, is known all over the
country as one of the leading fish culturists in the United States. A son, Harold Catte,
recently moved to Meade, Kansas, where he is superintendent of the new state hatchery
being established there.

On an adjoining farm to the Catte place, Mr. Catte raises many kinds and breeds of
goldfish, having one of the few goldfish hatcheries in the United States. Goldfish are
shipped by express from Langdon to all parts of the country.

The Catte farm has another diversion and that is handling of water lilies and bulbs. This
particular line of work is looked after by Miss Mildred Catte, who ships the beautiful
water lilies all over the southwest. At Decoration time thousands of the lilies are shipped
by her and it is at Decoration time that they are fullest with bloom.

The Cattes are all very pleasant folks and are always ready to take a little time to show
visitors over the place and tell them of some of the unusual things that go with the
operation of a fish hatchery.---

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

What!?

Posted on/at 4:39 AM by The Goddess

This boggles my mind beyond anything I've ever heard. Italy has laws against "driving while gay"? Just when I think I've heard the most stupid thing possible, there's this;

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian court has ruled the government must pay 100,000 euros ($157,700) in damages to a man who was told to retake a driving test because he was homosexual.

When 26 year-old Danilo Giuffrida told doctors he was gay at his medical examination for military service, they passed the information to the transport ministry, who told him he must repeat his driving test or have his license withdrawn due to his "sexual identity disturbance."

Giuffrida agreed to re-take his test, passed it for a second time, but the ministry renewed his license for just one year rather than the usual 10 years because of his homosexuality.

The judge ruling on the case in Catania, on the southern island of Sicily, said the actions of the defense and transport ministries showed "evident sexual discrimination" against Giuffrida and ran counter to his constitutional rights.

The behavior of the ministries led Giuffrida to have "a grave sense of mistrust towards the state," added the judge, who ordered them to pay him 100,000 euros of damages in his verdict issued on Saturday.

Giuffrida's lawyer said the case marked the first time the state had been punished for sexual discrimination, and he hoped Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would "summon Giuffrida and apologize to him on behalf of the state and all Italians."

Giuffrida said the sentence was "a step forwards for civil rights because from now on what happened to me can't happen again."

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Scanning Malfunction

Posted on/at 7:06 AM by The Goddess

My mom appears to be having a "bad face day". Time to rescan this one. She was beautiful, honest!






See? No "funny face". Though I may have to keep the funny one for posterity.

Friday, June 6, 2008

I Will Survive

Posted on/at 9:00 AM by The Goddess



Brought To You By Favorite Sex Toys

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Poor Cat

Posted on/at 2:30 PM by The Goddess















Russell has always had an iron stomach. He has never coughed up a hairball on my floor. Not even once.

His sister used to do that with great regularity, always at three in the morning, always at the foot of my bed, or if she were feeling especially devious, right outside my bedroom door where I was guaranteed to step in it first thing in the morning. She performed her weekly regurgitations with great gusto, dramatically coughing at high volume and making the most ghastly sounds aimed at getting me to join her on my knees on the carpet.

Last night Russell finally caught the rat he had released into the wilds of my kitchen last week. There must be some instinct that tells cats to take a kill somewhere else to eat/play with it. Normally he brings his prey inside the house and flings it about gleefully until I catch him and shoo him outside before he gets fur/feathers/guts all over the place. If it's a frog, I catch the poor frightened beastie and gently release it in the garden and lock the cat inside.

Last night tho, he begged to be let out, rat clamped firmly in his jaws. I obliged and closed the window behind him to keep him from sneaking it back in.

This morning I found him in the hallway, sitting in from of a pile of rat barf, looking so thoroughly disgusted and depressed, it made me smile. I feel bad for the little guy. He just looks like he feels nauseated and yucky, and that's hard to pull off for a cat.

Get better soon, my furry son.

Friday, May 16, 2008

MUTO a Wall-painted Animation by BLU

Posted on/at 11:10 AM by The Goddess


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Faildog Fails Again

Posted on/at 11:56 PM by The Goddess

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