I enter the Wacky Photo Contest

                                        My wacky contest entry, Miss Whisk, possibly a rock singer.

 If a peeping Tom was looking through my kitchen window last night, he might have decided I was ready for the loony bin.  My erratic behavior started after I aimlessly clicked on the Cooking.com website and read about their Wacky Photo Contest with the grand prize of a new iPad.  Counting old can't-get-rid-of-them and new computers, we already have too many electronics in the house, but I want an iPad.
        The contest promised that all I had to do was submit a wacky photo using a kitchen appliance, tool, cookware, etc., load it to their Facebook page, write a blurb and give the url where the pictured kitchen item could be found.  I immediately began sorting through my cupboards looking for a suitable subject.  Finally, my new Williams-Sonoma whisk looked like a likely culprit.  Holding it up, I could see hair made from cooked spaghetti, eyes from pimento stuffed olives, and a mouth made of another olive with the pimento removed.  Perfect!
       I told my agreeable husband my plan and he said he liked it and would even take the photo with his new camera.  It took a long time to keep the spaghetti hair from sliding right off.  We took a few photos just as it began to slide. Finally, we got a few possible photos.  I loaded them onto the computer and we selected what we thought was the best one.  The rest was easy--put it on the website, write the blurb and feel pleased but a little silly.
     My final photo is at the top of this post.  If you want to enter the contest, the deadline is May 31, and the info is  at Cooking.com.  Have fun!!
(Just had a thought.  I hope writing about this does not disqualify me.  Oh well)

Yet another Bin Laden commentary

            This week, every form of media has commented on Bin Laden's death and life.  I've read a lot of it, and feel compelled to put in my two-cents worth.  I didn't get the news until I saw gigantic font headlines in the newspaper the morning after the U.S. forces staged their attack.  After reading the details, my first thoughts were wishing his death had happened differently.  Idealistically, I wished that he had not been killed in his home with his family.  My vengeance would have him captured, brought to trial and executed or confined to prison for life.
          During the ten year ordeal since the towers were demolished and almost 3,000 people died, the long-time goal has been to find him and bring him down and that was done in the most expedient manner.  No doubt capturing him would have caused greater bedlam and retaliation from his allies.
          I also remind myself that, yes, he was in his home, unarmed with his family when it all came down, but the 3,000 people he killed were going about their private business when they were killed.  They were working at their desks, meeting in conferences, talking on the telephone, typing at their computers, or sitting in an airplane thinking their private thoughts.  None of them had any warning or any mercy granted to them.  Crashing planes into the twin towers was a terrible, evil deed.  It changed us as a nation and as individuals.  Now we know what evil can exist and we know its consequences.  My idealism has also vanished.  Perhaps we can begin to heal, but I doubt it will happen in my life time. 

Happy, Happy Day, Prince William and Princess Kate

    I can't let the day go by without commenting on the happiness in London this morning before, during and after the Royal Wedding.  How wonderful that television has allowed us to be there, and how wonderful that in a world of strife and unhappiness for so many, happiness took over for a few hours.

     The couple seemed relaxed and happy with each other after the formalities of the very elegant wedding. If you get married at Westminster Abbey, you're really married!  The beautiful architecture, the tradition, the history of the Abbey create a sense of permanence.  The bells, the shouts of the crowds, the music build the happiness and excitement.  What a wedding day!

    The royal pair were so poised and well. . . royal.  This anglophile was ecstatic.  I would have loved to have been in the crowd along the street seeing the couple laughing and talking with with each and waving to the crowd as they rode down the street in an open horse-drawn carriage. It was magical, better than Cinderella, but I know I had a much better view of the events on television than if I had been there.  We wish them well and a long and happy marriage.
     Now, I need to go have a celebratory glass of champagne and send out a toast.  I loved the tv coverage of a pub in London that featured a group of women dressed in go-to-a-wedding clothes complete with exotic hats.  They were drinking champagne and lamenting that Prince William is no longer available.  The clothes and hats, every woman wore a hat, of the wedding guests were spectacular and expensive.  What a lovely morning!  I'll be in a good mood the rest of the day.  

The Royal Wedding, Anglophiles' Delight

I haven't  received my invitation to the royal nuptials on April 29.  Perhaps it was lost in the mail.  Never mind, I will watch on television if I can manage the 6am, US time (11am England time) wake-up call.  Many of us sentimental, Anglophiles will be watching, sniffing into our hankies.
      Girls at the school where my daughter is a teacher are planning an all-nighter to catch all the pre-wedding hype and early broadcast.  If you live in NY City, for a mere $150. you can enjoy a formal English breakfast, royal favor and watch the ceremony on several televisions scattered about at the New York Palace Hotel.  Other hotels are also providing such services.  In London, television sets will be set up outside around the city for those who don't want to miss the event.
      The excitement is starting to build even here in the USA.  What Romantic doesn't want to see a beautiful young woman marry a handsome prince.  We hope their love will prove more solid than others of the royal family--Charles and Diana, Andrew and Fergie, but they are a new generation.  Prince Charles and Diana barely knew each other.  Prince William and Kate have lived together for two years and been a couple for twelve.  Their relationship is time-tested.  He's already losing his hair and she knows it.  There can't be too many future surprises.  I remember being horrified when Diana had to submit to a virginity examination before her wedding to Charles.  Yikes!! No such antiquities for this couple.
      At Books-A-Million near my house, there's plenty to read about the couple, the Tudor family, and known details of the wedding.  Here's a tally I took at just the one book store:

• 16 book titles on the royal wedding and related subjects
• A bin with 10 special royal wedding magazines
• A jigsaw puzzle
• Cheap replicas of "the ring"
• Knit your own Royal Wedding instructions
• A waving Queen Elizabeth figure, solar powered
• Kate and William paper dolls
• Royal tea bags
• Magnets picturing the couple or the Union Jack flag
• Tiny china cup and saucer

A bin of Royal Wedding magazines

Magnets and books

Westminster Abbey, where the wedding takes place.