From John to Kathe, With Love

Irresistible Igor

John, David and Tom absolutely adored the character roles of Dwight Frye such as Fritz, assistant to Dr. Frankenstein (and yes it was Fritz, not "Igor" -- that was another assistant to another Frankenstein) and Renfield, servant of Dracula. We impersonated Frye so often that when Tom was cast as Renfield in a high school production of Dracula, it must have been the easiest part he ever had to rehearse for.

For the Lego fans

Brickipedia!

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/LEGO_Wiki

Actually, we were looking for information about a Lego beetle we saw on Shakesville*, but it looks like that was a new creation by some Lego fanatic, and not available as a kit.

*http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/12/open-thread_19.html

We Can't Find Our Christmas Card List

So if you are expecting (or would like to get) a card from us, please e-mail us at burtfamily@live.com and give us your current address.

Peas of the Pharaohs

The other day, while looking for something entirely other among the foodstuffs in the back hall, John accidentally spilled a #10 can of dried peas. As he struggled to pick them up, Kathe observed that they were the remnants of a 50-pound bag she had been given in the early 1960s, when she had been running a free-food program rather like Food Not Bombs.

We picked up as many of the peas as we could find and shook the dust off them in a collander before putting them back in. Another quantity were swept up with a dustpan and then thoroughly washed, after which we put them to soak. We plan on having some ancient peas tomorrow or the next night.

But that still left peas to turn up in all manner of places over the rest of the day -- in the kitchen, in the living room, in the car while we were out (they must have been in the folds of John's clothes -- somehow).

Later. Kathe challenged John to guess what interesting object she had found on the stairway. He got it in one.

And just now, as we lay in bed, a dried pea crept out of the covers and leapt onto the floor -- we're pretty sure it wasn't under the mattress....

Is this the last? Watch this space for further developments.

We Want a Sewing Group

Kathe and John would like to join a stitch & bitch group or the like where we could sit and socialize while we work on our respective sweaters. Does anyone have a group they'd like to suggest to us? Does anyone want to join us in forming one?

http://dianabazpottery.blogspot.com/

http://dianabazpottery.blogspot.com/

Very pretty pottery.

Periodic Table of Oregon

Just something funny I stumbled across while looking for something entirely other.

Been There*, Done That**, Didn't Do The Other***

* Portland, where we stayed overnight at the Montavilla Motel.
** Visit with Ash and Tesfaye, and with John's cousin Jean, and go to Excalibur Comics to redeem some credit John had acquired earlier.
*** Visit various other people we would have liked to, only we didn't bring along their phone numbers to let them know we were in town, and get Tes a new Oregon ID card, only we didn't remember to bring the necessary documents (originals only!) to the DMV.
Oh, well, so we're a trifle scatterbrained at times. We still had a good time, and now we have an excuse to go next weekend.

The Case of the Kidnapped Corpse

Good to hear that Rumanians are keeping up with the old traditions, like bodysnatching.