The Kerouac Scroll left town June 2nd but left is the cool Beat exhibit until August 3rd.
Some websites:
Jack Kerouac's Lowell
David Amram
Kerouac Alley

Homemade Popsicles

Every summer when we were kids my mom used to make us homemade popsicles. She used those Tupperware popsicle molds.

They came out tasting a lot like vanilla custard. They were YUMMMMMM-EEEEEEEEE and I have been craving one for the last 25 years or so. Long time.

I have asked her for that recipe and she doesn't know where it is or where it came from,"Maybe from Family Circle?" she says. Hmmm like circa 1971 or so. I've looked at tons of homemade popsicle recipes and none of them looked as if they would taste or have the consistency that my mom's had. Tried numerous pudding pop recipes too and no dice. It occurred to me that maybe it tasted like custard because it was frozen custard.

So I tried this recipe and it's very close to what I remember having. I remember that my mom's was a little richer, maybe because I had kid taste buds or maybe because she used Mexican vanilla or eggs, milk and cream just tasted eggier, milkier and creamier in the 70s? Here is the recipe I used:

2 c. milk
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. cream, whipped
1 tbsp. vanilla or almond extract

1. Heat milk in the top of double boiler over boiling water.
2. Mix together eggs, sugar and salt. Gradually stir in the hot milk, mixing constantly.
3. Return over double boiler and cook over simmering water, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.
4. Remove from heat and cool.
5. When cooled, fold in whipped cream and vanilla. Pour into trays and freeze until firm. Serves 6.

Popsicle Molds

In Between Decades

I missed my chance to see The Cure perform in a venue that was crowded to the max, lacking oxygen but filled with nostalgic hearts. I heard a fight broke out and people walked out bathed in each others sweat. I like hearing that because that's exactly the sort of thing I wouldn't really enjoy and I didn't get a ticket (sour grapes). I thought about it too long, was on the fence for too long, and when I finally decided to go (only because all my friends were going), they sold out. Didn't bug me until the day of and I wondered if I missed something.
I heard they looked great, sounded great and I was becoming so jealous but then I saw photos and I'm glad I didn't go. I have issues with seeing some bands-grow older. Some bands wear their age well and surprise me but others I want to forever remain as they were when they had me swooooooooning (whether they aged well or not, it's who they were to me at the time). The Cure today just can't hold a candle to The Cure of my past. When I hear their recordings it's sublime, those old feelings all come back. To see The Cure now...I just don't want to look, I don't always want to face reality especially when it isn't necessary.

I *HEART* The Cure but it stops with Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and then {sigh} we parted ways.

Interests Du Jour

1. William Burroughs' time in South Texas-There is  a great book about it I hope to read soon!

2. Depression Era Recipes: Never really explored this genre. It can be really healthy but redundant.  I love to read cookbooks. A few Depression era recipes sound like they can set you up for discomfort.  Imagine butterless, milkless, eggless cake, intriguing.

3. ZOOM: Muby frubiends uband ubi ubare wubay ubinto rubedubiscubovuberubing Zuboom thubese dubays. Ubi hubave uba bubettuber ubapprubecubiubatubion (okay that's enough. I know it's not even done right) for this show. Wish they'd put it on DVD, complete shows that ran from 1972-1979 with commentary from all the cast members (as many as they can find, please include Joe Shrand, Jon Reuning, Nina Thomassen, Tommy White, Kenny Marshal, Nancy Tates, Tracy Schulman, Ann Davis, David Alberico(of In the Soup fame), Jay Schertzer, Maura Mullaney, Bernadette Yao, Leon Mobley, Luiz Peterton). Kids were different back then, not sure if you can get a 9 or 13 year old to dance barefooted a la Bob Fosse for PBS these days.


4. Two of the Silkies are roos so...it's time to begin the distancing process. Roosters are not allowed in the city so Dash and Chickiebaby will be going to Del Rio to live their cocky lives with my Grandfather's chickens. Won't be easy but I know they'll be in good hands. They've been roos in training since week two when they started to run towards each other and bump chests. I thought it was some sort of chicken square dancing game. The chicks would be in a circle then the two roos would run and thump chests and the other chicks would just jump around and leapfrog each other. Crazy to watch.

Kitty Koncerns (and more trouble in paradise)

I walked out this morning to feed the chicks and heard the beginning of a crow. UGH! I have been dreading the day one of the Silkies crows because it means he needs to go to Del Rio to live with my Grandparent's. I could be mistaken. Whoever crowed will be seven weeks old tomorrow. Precocious little thing: everything I have read says roosters don't crow until they are 12 weeks old. The noise of overworked ac units running at the same time worked to muffle the sound. The coop is located away from any windows and I hope no one heard. This little attempt at crowing was not at all confident, it was shaky, weak, clumsy and not loud. It did happen at the crack of dawn though... Yikes! I'm hoping it was a one time thing for at least the next few weeks but it's time to try and figure out who is what and start the process of letting go {this is why sexed chicks are the way to go}.

When my pets are healthy I'm so very happy. When they become ill, I get so worried because there is no telling what's up. My kitty has a vet appointment set but until then it's so hard not to keep wondering what could be wrong. It's hard not to worry and know she is not feeling well.

This morning my cat got ill twice and it's just not like her. She's been acting sort of depressed too and I thought maybe it was the weather but it's more than that and I'll find out what it is once she sees her doctor. In the meantime, must not jump to conclusions and look things up. Until I know she's healthy, it's hard to feel like everything is cool.

In the meantime stuff like Sharky, Max-Arthur and their chicks keep me distracted and thinking pleasant thoughts.

Remember this guy?

Yuk! When I was a kid I thought he was so gross, I think he still is. First caught Slim Goodbody on Captain Kangaroo. My little brother and I also got grossed out by the Zoom opening (here's an earlier version but similar to what they did later). It had these kids all dressed the same with their striped shirts and jeans but barefooted. That icked us to death for some reason. Once I happened to wear a similar shirt and jeans and ran after him barefooted saying I was a ZoomaZZZZZZZZZZZZooma kid out to get him. Chased him but we both stopped cause we were laughing too hard. We liked Zoom but something about the intro that season they had striped shirts.

Zoom and Sesame Street, all those PBS shows had kids from the East Coast and I was always fascinated by them. I'd ask my mom why they were so different, never met kids around me who spoke like they did, I really dug their accents. My friend Rodney and his brother came to Del Rio, Tx from Pennsylvania in 1979 or so and I remember they had those accents. Later he told me they thought we all spoke like we were out of a Deputy Dawg cartoon and couldn't stop laughing at us.

Oh yeah, The Letter People! In kindergarten we had the blow up dolls and the record. After nap time the record was played and Mrs Wall, who assisted Mrs Eckles, would come in dancing with the new letter person. After those 26 days of fun the Letter People were strung from the ceiling and soon after that, kindergarten was over.

Did anyone ever learn to read from Theodore Clymer's books? I can only recall:
One Potato, Two
Helicopters and Gingerbread
Duck Is a Duck
The Dog Next Door and Other Stories
Fish and Not Fish
May I Come In?
Seven Is Magic
How It Is Nowadays

And what set off this nostalgic minutiae? We watched Swingtown last night and I saw Tupperware. Vintage Tupperware always catapults me back to the 70s and my childhood.

Gee, our old LaSalle ran great,

It's weird how random memories can be. I have this one memory of standing outside a window holding one of those simple plastic baskets that held three tomatoes (used to use them as doll beds)and the windows were open and I could here the All in the Family theme playing. My mom would watch that show. What made my mind hit record at that moment and why does it playback? Seems so insignificant. I remember what everything around me looked like, it was after dinner,it was summer and the mosquitos were out. From what I could look up, it was probably a Saturday evening, 8pm 1975.

Surfwise

We went to see this documentary on the nomadic Paskowitz family. The movie shows what became of the surfing family, where they are now and how they are. Not many seemed happy at first but by the end they all seemed to have found creative employment in California and were managing to live a middle class lifestyle. If one chooses to drop out of society these days, with a family of that size and drive all over the country in a camper, I would expect it would be a lot more difficult. GAS. Dorian Paskowitz was a physician and was able to get job where he earned enough money for gas and wouldn't take more than he needed? That was not clear. They really didn't just say where the gas money came from but Doc Paskowitz would continue to work from time to time in remote locations where doctors were not seen for years at a time.

My only complaint was not enough was said about Juliette. I wanted to know more about her and what about her voice and opera and who was she before she met Dorian. I found this info online:
Biography: Juliette was born in Long Beach California in 1932. Her parents were originally from Durango, Mexico and she had four sisters and three brothers (which perhaps prepared her for the idea of having nine...( read more ) of her own?). Immersed in music from an early age, she learned to sing every part of the great operas such as Carmen, Rigoletto and La Traviata that her father would play for her on 78 records. After her voice deepened (and she became very tall) she continued her passion for music by attending Long Beach Community College where she took “every music course they had to offer,” with an emphasis on choral work and J.S. Bach (her “first love”). After studying music, Juliette auditioned for, and was accepted into the internationally-acclaimed Roger Wagner Chorale in Southern California. But after meeting Dorian Paskowitz in a bar on Catalina Island, things changed fast. They fell in love, and she was pregnant and married within a year, with the two of them living out of a modified Studebaker and establishing a style of beach-living that they would continue for most of their lives.

Made me wonder how many families may be forced to drop out of society due to foreclosures, job loss and the inflated cost of living. I keep hearing about car lots (maybe a car lot) in California that are locked at night so that the people living in them can sleep without much harassment.

E is for evening with the stars peeping out

My evening was spent putting the Silkies to bed in their lil rabbit box. They prefer that to anything made specifically for them.

I spent the late afternoon with friends in a biggianthouse far away from mine and among lots of yummy food and treats. This house sits on a quarter of an acre and what a wowsers house it is. The homes in this neighborhood were huge, ranch houses built for UT professors and USAF officers back in the day. In her backyard you can still see the vague remains of of a kidney shaped swimming pool and all that mid-century glamour that came with it. Thing is, the soil in this part of Austin was just too soft and pools cracked and sank and these biggianthouses had foundation problems beyond belief and were all turned into rentals. Hers was completely remodeled and, well, it was given a 2nd life as a modern house with a kitchen deserving of a chef or something, happens to be what she is too.
The ac was so strong that I was able to drive home, windows up with no car ac because I frozen solid. Seriously, a popsicle.

So, speaking of heat I just bought myself an SPF 85, yeah, 85! The sun hurts when it shines on me, feels like it's seering my organs and this sunblock is supposed to protect up to three layers of skin. Hey, whatever, sounds good to me. I also got a hat for the brief but mandatory walks in the sun.

Speaking of walks in the sun I heard that Austin's metro rail will not have a park and drive in one of it's central locations. That was disappointing to hear. Um, how is this supposed to succeed? I mean you have to live a block or three away to use it. Walking in this town during the summer (May-November) after 11am and before the sun goes down is hell because it's humid and 97 degrees (if you are lucky) or more. This is not California. Austin keeps forgetting that. There were some big, older trees lining the sidewalk to the station and when the area began development,they were destroyed. Great, smart move. A walk without shade to and from this train. What else is going to be done to make this first attempt at "efficient" public transportation a sure failure? Line the sidewalks with angry pitbulls on chains? I kept hearing that this wasn't a good deal but didn't know why other than those living in the hood will have a train go by more frequently.

A Face in the Crowd: we saw this movie again and it's one of those that share my #1 fave along with like sixty other titles. If you haven't seen it you must. This movie really was ahead of it's time and stands as a poignant comment on society right now.

My neighbor was so right! Central Market cupcakes are tres better than Hey Cupcake's. FER SURE! I mean, gobs of frosting, then this light, airy, oh so perfect and yummy little cake. We just went crazy for them and uh....yeah, no time for even a photo of how cute they are because they were eaten so fast. We have fulfilled our cupcake craving for the rest of the year. In fact this along with the soiree at the biggianthouse, I have completely satisfied my sweet tooth for several lifetimes over.

Minutiae here, minutiae there

Hearing all the news about air travel makes me just not want to fly. I love trains though.

Neckties and pantyhose are becoming extinct I heard. The problem here is comfort and aesthetics. Those thin, silk mid-century neckties are awesome. I think they look great on a man and personally, I can't trust a man who doesn't own at least five neckties. They make a guy look dashing. Whenever I come across a thin, vintage necktie, I buy it, take it to the cleaners then give it to my husband. My Sweetie wears them well. Because they are thin and made from silk he says they are not uncomfortable.

Pantyhose, what a disgusting image that conjures up, seamed stockings or nylons are much better. To see women wearing pumps without anything between their feet and the closed toe shoe looks icky to me. Flats are different but I find it unappealing when I think of those closed toe shoes on a 2 inch heel. At the same time, pantyhose (YUK) have become such unattractive contraptions. Totally not sexy. Hanging out of their packaging at the store they look so gross, then advertise having tummy control and binding stuff like that. I can't imagine how anyone can feel normal wearing them. I still have a need for them so I wear seamed nylons and hope they make a huge comeback. Nylons are not the same as those icky pantyhose. The Cuban is especially cool, has a heel seam.. Nylons and garters
Vintage Nylons

Minutiae
1. Swingtown is a fun show
2. Flying sux right now
3. RSL is getting married in August

What is IN in my world:
Pavement's early tunes
Butterscotch Custard: Yummmm
Silkies: Six of them I joined the urban hen movement
A 1970's childhood
Writing
The Paramount


The OUT:
Driving before 8pm
Driving.

Todays Walk to the Car

Something about the above 95 degree temperatures. Walking to the car is enough to make my head feel dizzy and a bit tight. It a few blocks away from my office.  Something triggers memories and then all of a sudden it seems that everything I listened to from 1989 up until 1996 swirls around and the car starts and out from radio comes that song that would have me swooning when I was 18. It was loud and distorted before I fixed the volume. Then it began to rain outside. As the heavy raindrops fell on my windshield so did the feelings I used to get when I'd hear Camper Van Beethoven play Eye of Fatima. They just poured.