A yummy recipe for the holiday weekend:

GRANDMA’S LEMON CURD

Ingredients
An equal number of lemons and eggs; sugar; piece of butter the size of a walnut.
Other equipment needed
Double boiler or enamel pudding basin which will sit on a saucepan above the water; grater; juice squeezer; metal spoon; jars for storage.
Method
1. Grate the zest from the lemons and put in top of double boiler.
2. Squeeze lemon juice and place in top of double boiler. Pay attention: don't turn the heat on under the double boiler yet.
3. Gently add sufficient sugar to be absorbed by the juice.
4. Add whisked eggs and stir gently to mix.
5. Now: bring the water in the bottom of the double boiler to the boil.
6. Stir mixture gently but continuously until it coats the back of a metal spoon.
7. Turn off the stove and stir in the knob of butter. **NOTE** Don’t think adding more butter makes it better: it loses its tartness if you add too much.
8. Put into jars and treat as you would jams or jellies.

You thought I was kidding about just enough Flash to be dangerous? Check this out...

A little light reading for my Labor Day weekend: Foundation ActionScript for Macromedia Flash MX and Foundation Flash MX, by Sham Bhangal and friends. Our instructor - a former librarian turned web goddess - recommended Sham. All I know is that I have enough Flash under my belt to do some truly horrible things to the library's website. Twirly, bendy, flashy, type things.

On other fronts - Vegas is on! Turns out two, possibly three friends are up for the birthday festivities. Hooray! If you'd like to come along just drop me an e-mail.

Sigh. Must get back to my misbehaving print stylesheet.

I have been lured into the "Creative Memories" scrapbooking cult by a dear Canadian librarian and admit I am thoroughly enchanted. I came home Tuesday with a kit, a Russian tutor [more on that later], and a craving for more.

I spent yesterday opening envelopes of photos, re-reading old diaries, and sorting through an overstuffed shoebox filled with posters, newspaper clippings, concert tickets, and more. It's been a few years since I looked at this stuff and there were a few surprises.

The first surprise was that I'd arranged my photos not by decade, or city, or even grade, but by "ex" girl/boyfriends. They are labelled as such. There is "Before Heidi" "Jude" "After Feli" and so on. I think my self-imposed singledom these past few years has been worth it, because cataloging my life in this way strikes me as bizarre.

I found several complete sets of 'zines I used to publish - Anomic Perspectives (early/mid 1980s) and SMACKS (early 1990s). There were photos and other mementos from friends and family now gone (the family - old age - the rest, AIDS, suicide or drugs). There was plenty of bad poetry, a few unfinished short stories, and these tantalizing words, scribbled on the back of a boarding pass dated April 1995: "I'm not ready for peace. But I am so tired of war."

Pinhole magic from Martha Casanave. I have a long way to go.

Okay. A new plan... 2 weeks vacation in the Spring. I'll start in Poland, travel through the Baltic States, and finish in St. Petersburg. Anyone want to join me for any or all of the trip?

I'm thinking of changing my birthday plans. Originally I'd planned to go to Vegas. But now I'm thinking Lithuania. Check out the Hill of Crosses. Advice?

Update: Hooray! I'm right!!!

Can I just say Bill is *so* absolutely the Mole. So there. One other thing. Anderson is lovely.

Random quote of the day, from oblivio.com: "I feel that I am traversing an endless solitude, going I know not where. And I myself am at one and the same time the desert, the traveler, and the camel." - Gustave Flaubert.

More Friday Five.
1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from? England, on both sides of my family. I'm pretty much as white as they come! No one has ever done a family tree and I can't trace back past my parents (ahem) so there might be some surprises there. But England it is.
2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit? I've already been to the UK lots, but it has of course changed since my folks lived there. I'm sure there are parts I haven't seen that might be kind of cool.
3. Which would you least like to visit? Why? I'd love to explore it all, silly....
4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage? I celebrate my Britishness often, and in many ways. I eat marmite (on toast) and lots of salad cream and cheddar sandwiches. I watch "Keeping up Appearances" every week (ahem) and sat through the Brideshead Revisted marathon last month on PBS. I'm fond of Tony Blair (don't shoot me) and of course Prince Charles with his silly ears. When we were little my grandmother would tell my sister and I that if we were lucky we'd grow up to be princesses. Sheesh....
5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)? Hey that's me! I'm the first one in the USA! My parents did leave jolly old England but they went to Canada, and I have a sister in Ireland. Everyone else is still in the UK.