Red-Handed Jill

It's gorgeous! Are you going to be wearing it to Ojai?

Try www.scaboots.com - comfortable boots at a really good price. Check out the Sir Henry and the Robin Hood styles.

A crowd of cutthroats carousing capriciously

She felt that she needed the extra padding - she has fairly saggy mid-size breasts. The first time she wore that bodice she was so happy with her "new" breasts that she practically kept shoving them into people's faces.

Tons of tantalizing tidbits

Bread pudding is essentially a loaf of bread (not sliced and NOT fresh), cubed and soaked in milk with vanilla, sugar and spices. When the bread has absorbed the liquid, you put it in a container and bake it. I suppose you could cook it in a dutch oven. For a simple sauce, cook down butter and brown sugar. Add rum and cook some more.

^ Recently received a surprise that made her happy

Ridiculously Rowdy Revelers

Veggie quesadillas and margaritas!

Haunting Lily - just checked out that Halloween monster website. Wow! Thanks for sharing it!

I've quoted this before - from one of my favorite authors, Spider Robinson: "There are no passengers on Starship Earth - only crewmembers." Too many damn people out there think they are passengers. It is too late to have any huge impact on what we've already done, but we can take steps to reduce our future impact. Global warming is just one issue of many and quite frankly, I think the human impact on it is fairly minimal. But there are so many things that need to be addressed: excessive trash, air quality, water quality, resource draining, species extinction... so many ways that humans have made poor choices. And that's just environmental issues.

Mountains of magnificent mangoes.

You do get used to it... I recall that after an ex-coworker of mine got married after being engaged for a long time. She had to keep saying "husband" to get used to the idea.

Aye - which is why when I go the more authentic route, I dress as a man.

Wow - congratulations on your positive change of luck!

Yikes - I missed that post; got distracted by Sean Connery in that getup. Yep, Sophia got it!

Mashed potatoes Flour Herbs Salt and pepper Mix them together until they form a kind of dough. Scoop out some, form into a ball and flatten it. Keep doing this until you're out of dough. Put some butter in a pan and fry them until crisp on both sides. They are a really good base for a stew or sauteed veggies. Or just smear some very soft cheese on one and eat it like bread.

We should probably explain the rules of this game. The person who correctly guesses the quote gets to post theirs. My quote isn't from Planet of the Apes. I will give you a hint though: the movie did star Sean Connery.

^ Been married sixteen years!

Yeah, but women are still objectified in the media and are often shown as victims and women are neither victims nor prizes to be won by the victorious man. And I've often thought that men should be insulted by how they are portrayed in commercials. They are usually shown to be incompetent boobs who can't do anything right. But we know that it's not usually the case. (Although there are guys who are incompetent boobs and women who are strictly decorative. We can't all be icons of reason and competence.)

There are all sorts of ways to donate money. Some of the reinactment groups here have held fundraisers for one cause or another. We could do the same. Also, there are several talented pirates here who might be amenable to selling some of their wares on, say, eBay to donate to the cause.

You don't marry Jack Sparrow types. You flirt and play with them and then marry the good guy. That's what a rational, intelligent woman would do. That being said, not every woman always makes rational choices. She might have had a lousy childhood, which would have a real impact on her choice in men. Or at a certain point in her life she chooses not to make a rational choice. Also, I haven't noticed any contempt for family men. Trust me on this - when women talk with each other and one of them says that her husband is loyal, helps out around the house and is a good family man, the other women are envious.

My argument wasn't meant to be selfish, but it's been my observation that most people live as if they were the only species that matter on this planet. So I've learned to adjust my arguments and appeal to how most people feel about themselves and their place on earth.

Yeah - Kevin Costner was great physically, but the moment he opened his mouth... My personal favorite is "Robin and Marian" with Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw. Oh, yeah - I have to come up with a quote. "Monkeys do not laugh. Laughter is particular to men. "

I'm all for it. A lot of the folks who mock going green and discount folks who do by calling them "tree huggers" and such just don't get it. Bottom line is this planet will ultimately take care of itself. Even if we destroy it, it's got four billion years to rebuild itself. The issue is will WE be able to survive what we're doing to the planet. Oxygen? Kinda need that to breathe, so cutting down our rainforests just so that fast food restaurants can send cattle down there is not a good thing for our ability to breath in the future. Driving huge cars, trucks and SUV's with no real reason to is going to pollute our air that much faster. Never mind global warming - I'm just talking about air that will be fit to breathe. And being cavalier about endangered species is just idiotic. Every organism on this planet has a place in it at one time and wiping one out upsets the balance of things. Okay - I'll get off my soapbox now.