SUPPORT YOUR TAFF AUTHOR

Hello Shepherd University! Nice of you to visit.

The admin of this blog is currently advising Matt Beynon Reees on his post-doc research on Floral Management. More anon.

LAURA JOH ROWLAND AND ZHANG DAI

Laura Joh Rowland not only writes well researched and entertaining novels, she also gives a terrific interview. She is the author of the acclaimed Sano Ichiro series set in 17th. century Japan. Recently, she wrote Charlotte Bronte's Secret Adventures, a mystery that places the Victorian writer and her family center stage. Read what she has to say about her work at www.richtexts.blogspot.com

While working on Joh Rowland's interview I read Jonathan Spence's biography of Chinese essayist and literary stylist Zhang Dai whose long life spanned the late Ming and early Qing Dinasties. Having lost his home and nearly all his possessions, including 30 000 volume library, and a priceless collection of art and antiques during the Cataclysm, the Manchu invasion of China, in 1644, Zhang rented a house in his favorite place, Happiness Gardens and set out to become a farmer. He learnt how to hull rice, how to care for silkworms, how to cultivate eggplant and pumpkin, and how to use his memory to reconstruct his paradise lost. here is what Spence, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale, wrote about Zhang in Timeasia Magazine,

"As part of his reconstruction of the vanished past, Zhang Dai wrote a further essay offering his readers the chance to construct the paradise for themselves. He gave all of us a blueprint for the use of air and space, in which wisdom was not buried underground or hidden by rocks but was part of an airy spring and summer world, where the formal placement of halls and corridors and pavilions was given logic by its relationship to the landscape of hills and trees, sky and water, always visible beyond. The constructed spaces echoed nature's rhythms, and paths led to waterways that guided one naturally to a river, curling through paradise to the north. There stood the gate, clearly marked "Paradise," and there was a bridge that might take one farther if one chose. But what would happen if one crossed it? Zhang Dai did not say; his paradise ended at the bridge. If we chose to linger there, he provided a chair, a breeze, and the clear light of the moon. The rest was up to us."

COMING SOON

Hello Frontiernet client!

The literary gardener.

SAVORY BISCOTTI

Hello Argentina, East Northport, Westchester, Brooklyn, Carmel, Mineola, NY, Skillman. NJ, Augusta, GA, Lemesos, Cyprus, Parow, ZA. Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain, Mill Valley, CA! Thanks for visiting.

12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

4 eggs

1 cup milk

8 ounces grated Parmeggiano cheese

6 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons coarsely grated black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced

1 egg, beaten

Half a cup poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Blend butter and eggs. Add grated cheese. Add milk. Blend flour with pepper, salt and baking powder. Add to liquid mix. Add cheese and rosemary. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Shape into two 12" flattened logs. Place logs on a buttered cookie sheet. Score, diagonally, at half inch intervals. Brush each log with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow logs to cool. Cut along scored lines. Return to cookie sheet and bake for ten minutes. Flip biscotti over and bake for ten more minutes. Allow to cool before storing.

VERDE QUE TE QUIERO VERDE

A katydid does a superb job of blending with red salvia leaves . Photo by IMB

LET'S COMMIT JOURNALISM

ALLEGATIONS, ALLIGATORS, ALIASES, OH, BIG FAT BLAST...

Identify the print media wonk who allegedly made this comment to a citizen who wishes to remain anonymous,

"You don't get young people. You only care about the value of property. That's because you bought a big house."

Hint--it did not happen in  our town. No, it didn't, right?

PARK FAUNA

Hello Brooklyn, Ubatuba, Sao Paulo, Turkey, Winchester, VA, Shenandoah Junction, WV, Zionsville, IN, Finland, Netherlands, Chile, Edmonton, Canada! Thanks for visiting.

According to neighbourhood sources an eagle was sighted at Rumsey Park. Eagles are a protected species. Hmmm...Most interesting. Another kind of beastie few people seem to see at the park though it is there, is darling little copperhead snakes.--nests and nests of 'em. Will they be given free wine and beer? Hmmm. Hmmm.

There are beer guzzzling beasties almost everywhere these days and some of them are nowhere as darling as copperheads. I hope the municipality is not going to launch an extermination campaign. I am rather fond of Alfredo, an abstemious snake who lives under my front step. I would have to launch the Snakes Are People Too and Them Have Rights! Sure them do.