Yet another holiday weekend! You know what that means... Cooking and hurricanes! Not really, but probably this particular weekend.

I just discovered that FoodTV has a whole page of video tutorials on kitchen skills like folding omelettes, making sushi, using a knife, preparing meat and more. How helpful! Each skill has an accompanying printable instruction sheet.

A Beach Blanket Clambake sounds fun (although probably more reasonable in Quinzeeeee, MA, where this episode was filmed). Those kinds of things always sound fun, if not completely messy. Plus I have to take in consideration the cleanliness of Jax Beach's sand.... errr, nevermind.

Or peruse the schedule for FoodTV on Saturday to get ideas on what else to cook--they're doing an all day marathon of Labor Day cookout food. If all else fails, you can always make Bobby Flay's Grilled Sea Scallops with Angel Hair Cooked in Squid Ink and Roasted Tomato-Saffron Vinaigrette. Haha! What a nut!

For us, it would be a great weekend to head to Orlando, or view the new Butterfly Solarium at the Natural History Museum, but guess who is visiting? That's right, it's Hurricane Frances! I'll tell you what, this weather foolishness needs to stop. Every good weekend is rife with storms of various kinds.

You must check out the Weather Channel's photo gallery though. Some fantastic pictures, including a sunset off the Keys.

Finally, in yet another triumph, I got the top quote on the Business Section yesterday in the Times-Union. Wahoo!

I was researching new products for the WrapStarsToGo.com site and thought I'd make this an all-product entry....

In the running for WrapStars:

Mor Cosmetics :: Picked up a tub of the Lemongrass Body Butter, which is almost entirely thick shea butter with a lemony fragrance, and was really impressed. The manufacturer is in Australia, and the site has fantastic pictures (a little too much Flash) and great colors. Worth at least a look.

Aubrey Cosmetics :: Organic, good scents, and some actual vegan products. Might be good to hit a niche market. They've been around forever, but recently redid their packaging. We'll at least carry their Natural Spa line, the Baby line, and the Blue Green Algae Masque.

Definition of Shea Butter

From the Think Geek newsletter:

USB & FireWire plug in a cigarette lighter :: I just can't describe to you how very cool that is!

PuckerPins :: Essence of this pin? A pair of clay lips, wrinkles and all, with a chain of charms hanging from them. Charms include broken hearts, chili peppers (don't rub those on your lips, and don't ask me how I know that), a Titanic (???), and "Tuna Breath." To say I don't understand would be an understatement.

An interesting article on society and technology reaching "The Singularity" ... skim it and then skip to the bottom for the writer's theory on why SETI will fail. Makes sense.

The Law of Accelerating Returns

I discovered 3 new caterpillars in the garden. Starting all over again!

• One of my favorite profs in college and her annual percussion concert: Charlotte Mabrey
• Because I feel like I've been plugged into my website for 3 weeks: What Matrix persona are you?
• Today's featured song... The Sheila Divine: The Swan

By the way, WrapStars.com is finished and all the items look great! I even put up a learning center about the various things we carry and recipes for skin care, candles, etc. to make at home. Check it out and tell me what you think!

From Get Fuzzy today...

I was at the movies with my mother the other day, sitting behind a young guy and his dad, who was probably in his late 40s. Of the two of them, who turned around and nodded at me when I laughed at a funny part? Who agreed knowingly when I commented loudly about the movie in the parking lot despite being 40 feet away? Who turned suddenly and waved when we got in the car? Who?! I think you know.

Weird.

My INFJ listserv had some great links to tests today and a couple of poems, all worth repeating for a space in thought.

What kind of thinker are you?
An Inkblot test (long but interesting)

An article on a cave linked to John the Baptist. I really love the description about what each part of the cave was used for, especially the anointing oil on the right foot.

A poem by Czeslaw Milosz, who died in his 90s this past weekend. Sounds like a blend of Robert Frost and Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach." (one of my favorites)

Encounter
We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.

And finally, a long, beautifully accurate description of what a potential love really wants to know...

Oriah's Invitation

It doesn't interest me
what you do for a living.

I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of
meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me
how old you are.

I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool for love,
for your dream,
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me
what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow,
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain,
mine or your own,
without moving
to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy,
mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to be careful,
be realistic,
remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me
if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know
if you can disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know
if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure,
yours and mine,
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes!"

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.

I want to know
if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair,
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.

I want to know
if you will stand
in the centre of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.

I want to know
what sustains you from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

--Oriah Mountain Dreamer

"Oedipus, as you know Katie, is the tragic Greek king who killed his father and married his mother — a sequence of events that seldom turns out well." - Bob Costas

"I love to see all these smiling faces!" - Katie Couric

I wonder if we made a list of all the stupid things those two say over next week of Olympic coverage and faxed it to the network, if they would refrain from hiring those two next time. Or anyone else. Just play the sports. If you must explain that it was a triple-dipple loop-de-loop flip, subtitle it, since the routines are pre-determined. That's my suggestion for a ratings boost.

Well, Charley blew through last night off the coast at Daytona and really had no effect on Jacksonville (at least in my area of it) other than a much-needed rainstorm. Winds topped 30 mph. I slept through it. The sun rose over the garden as usual, and a small lizard flung himself at a moth drinking the nectar from my blooming basil.

The southern part of the state had it rough, though, including Orlando where my brother lives. His condo lost a window and we can't reach him by phone. They're finally starting to survey some damage on the barrier islands in the Gulf, and it is very bad, as the storm was a high category 4 when it hit them.

I do have to say that I've heard some of the most ignorant, asinine comments from high-ranking officials and those in the "know" on TV in the last 48 hours. "Mother Nature does what she wants to do, when she wants to do it, where she wants to do it." and "God does this that and the other blahblahblah." This is the 21st century, folks! Much like we no longer believe babies come from storks, we know how hurricanes are born and that, if anything, they are unpredictable thanks to 140 mph winds and clouds spanning hundreds of miles at a time. It doesn't make people feel better to believe "Mother Nature" or God is malevolently smashing these things into people's homes, and it's irresponsible to say so on TV! It's just a weather system, good or bad. There is no such thing as Mother Nature, and as far as I've read, God is in charge of good things, not wrecking lives. Low pressure systems off the coast of Africa seem to do that pretty well without any help from Him.

In between news broadcasts I saw a great recipe for Chicken Cacciatore on FoodTV, so I'm off to start up the olive oil....

Hurricane Charley is headed up the state, and we're all working as long as we can before things shut down later today. Last night after Bonnie blew through, the sky was incredible. Clouds stacked up towards the Georgia border (visible from the highway) and with the curve of the earth I could just see over the top. Storm clouds dotted the outer borders, making striations in the sky, and the sunset lit her remaining bands, now thrown out from their circulation into lazy lines, in Caribbean neons against a cornflower blue background.

By the time I grabbed my camera and found a good place to shoot, the sun had set.... Sigh.

Now that I've tanked up on my Friday caffeine fix, some observations:

* You're going too slow if you're drifting in your lane.
* The air pushed ahead of a hurricane is dense and terribly humid. I should have an afro by the end of the day. Also, it holds sound more, so that it seems quiet outside, except for the cicadas, which are the size of sparrows.
* Just watched this trailer, with "Edge of the Ocean" by Ivy in the background. Excellent song, and looks like a decent enough romance movie, for a change. Feels familiar, like something we've always wished for.
* Princess Diaries 2... The first one was cute enough and plenty of fun, but there's just something about this one that strikes me wrong. Namely, it's yet another princess story where the girl has to find her prince charming before she can even be who she was born to be. I know Anne Hathaway is 21 and certainly old enough for a romance, but girls watching this movie aren't. You want the perfect job, the one you're meant to have from day 1? Well you have to get married... or you'll never have it... right away... to the bad boy... in 30 days. Ick. Why is that acceptable? Julie Andrews was quoted as saying she tried to show concern that it would have been an arranged marriage, but it's concerning enough without that.

Well, Charley has been upgraded to a category 4 by the hurricane hunters, so back to work to wrap up for the day...

I woke up this morning anticipating a butterfly hatching and was not disappointed. In fact, for the first time I saw one peel back its case and crawl out! Usually, they wait until I go back inside to pull that stunt, but this one allowed me to watch. Its wings were completely crumpled into a bunch even shorter than its swollen body. Within 10 minutes, they had unfurled from the circulation. Despite this being the largest caterpillar I'd ever seen and having eating half the plant including food for its much smaller sibling, now cooking in its undersized cocoon, the butterfly was no larger than the others. It suddenly occurs to me that their coloring would make a beautiful Caribbean themed kitchen...

The emergence was just in time, as two tropical storms are making their way past the state this week and there will be few clear mornings.

The Retirement of Hurricane Names

Fractals Wallpaper

Catster

Diagramming Sentences, which is, by the way, very helpful in visualizing parts of speech and teaching kids how to write correctly.

An article on the filming of Return of the Living Dead 4, being filmed at Chernobyl.

Which led to this photo essay of a motorcycle ride through said city. Hard to imagine.

In honor of my mid-morning breakfast (see above), my new Picard Collection DVD, and the coordinating quote...

Crusher says to Picard, "Coffee and croissant. That's all you want. Coffee and croissant." ST:TNG, last season, "Attached" (written by Carl Sagan's son)

...some links:

Which TNG character are you?
Gates McFadden's Bio (a great, personable piece with interesting trivia, even if the font is horribly annoying at 16 point in violet)
Happy Birthday, M. Night Shyamalan

Terrarium Guy (tm) crawled out of his glued up pupa shell (another caterpillar chewed off the branch he'd settled on) and flapped his brand new wings. I'm guessing this one was really a male because it's slightly smaller than others I've seen. He was already out showing off when I woke up and flew away right before I left for work. Bella, my mother's black cat, watched from the screen door with a very pleased look, and I told her she did a great job babysitting them when I was at work. I have a sneaking suspicion that butterflies really prefer to have you tell them how beautiful they are and what a good job they did in there before they head out into the world, because mine always seem to wait for me to say so, as well as a "Come back next year!" Then they take a run up to the top of the stalk and flit away over the rooftop. I love August mornings.

On a different note, this is a great (as usual) opinion piece by Walter Williams related to my rant about how left-wingers treat their constituents... be sure and read his "Amnesty" certificate at the bottom of the page. Truly hilarious.
Walter E. Williams: Conservatives, liberals and blacks

By the way, an actual military person wrote into Mike Straka's "Strakalogue" column about Moore's assertion that they are "children." The column, and the quote:

Sgt. B.H. in Kansas City, Mo.: My biggest Grrr has to be the condescending fools like Michael Moore-on. His interview with Bill O'Reilly the other night really got me Grrrd to no end. After 10 years as a soldier in the Army National Guard, a college degree, being married, holding a good job, etc., I don't think that I qualify as a child. Nor do the men and women whom I serve with. They are all true professionals who understand what they stand for and why we fight. To call servicemen and women of all ages — some older than Moore-on — "children" and "kids" is an insult. The same goes for the politIDIOTS who do the same thing. I can do something about them besides Grrr though, because I am not a "child," I can vote. Whew, I feel a little better now!

The "Grrr" is a bit that Straka does about things that annoy him, so other people write in as well. He's nicknamed certain parts of the population Oblivions (obvious), Left-lane Vigilantes (those who enforce the speed limit by blocking you in the left lane), Self Righteons (lets everyone know how right they are), and ImporTants (for some reason their lives are more important than yours, hence the cell phone conversations mid-meal, skipping you in line, etc.)... The glossary. Sometimes it helps to know you aren't the only one that notices these things.

I'm in the midst of a WrapStars redesign, so time is limited again...
* All the kiddies (caterpillars) are pupaes now, with the last one forming last night during a gust of rain from Tropical Storm Alex. And just in time, since they've eaten my entire plant. A few have already emerged and flown away, including one very early Saturday morning.
* What is it with companies cutting their juice with apple juice? Had a Raspberry Spritzer yesterday, and it was full of apple juice. If I wanted apple juice, I would drink it. That's all I can taste! At least say Raspberry Apple. Ugh.
* Finally, this is a great blog comparing X2 to the Best Trek Movie Ever, Wrath of Khan. Never thought of the parallels before, but he makes a great point. It's also just a good review of X2 in general. PvPonline In the end he lists his favorite superhero movies as follows:
1. X-men/X2
2. Spider-man
3. Superman
4. Rocketeer
5. Batman (1989)

I think I'd say it was more like...
1. X-men/X2
2. Spider-man
3. Batman (1989)
4. Superman
5. Rocketeer