Pages

zwischen den Bäumen



Eine kleine Maus hat den großen Dekoaufbau fast verschlafen.

Sie hatte zwar mitbekommen, dass der Zinkkübel mit Grünzeug 
kurz vor dem Mittag ins Haus gekommen war. Aber nach dem 
morgendlichen Stress mit dem Eindringling Cäsar, knallte sie sich 
bald nach dem Fressen frustriert ins Körbchen. Außerdem war es 
einer kleinen Maus heute viel zu windig im Garten. Doch nun, war 
sie fit für den Tag, und fand ihren Raum ziemlich verändert vor. 
Zumindest ihre Kratzmatte lag noch am alten vertrauten Platz!

Und auch ihr Bett war unverändert.

Doch etwas merkwürdig war es schon, als sie um die Ecke 
zur Futterbar schaute: Wo waren Wassernapf, Katzengras 
und vor allem die Futterschälchen hin?

Die Seite war plötzlich ganz leer!

Ziemlich unbeeindruckt vom Bärenbaum mit 
den ganzen Geschenkpaketen trottete sie in die Küche
 und fand dort ihre Näpfe vor. Dann wurde gesnackt und 
trotz des recht stürmischen Wetters war es jetzt Zeit 
für eine längere Nachtwanderung. Zum Glück brachte sie 
uns kein Geschenk bzw. sich selbst ein Spielzeug mit ...

Fotos: S.Schneider


reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Wie man eine Katze zu Weihnachten einpackt

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Weihnachtsgrüße


Liebe LeserInnen, liebe KatzenfreundInnen

Ihnen allen wünsche ich eine fröhliche Weihnacht und einen guten Rutsch ins nächste Jahr. Und bleiben Sie der Katzen-Kultur auch im nächsten Jahr gewogen.
Ihr

Wolfgang Schwerdt


Und nun übergebe ich an unsere Dreierbande, die noch ein paar Hinweise in Katzenangelegenheiten loswerden möchte. 

Hallo, Liebe Leute!

Erst mal zu Weihnachten und für alle, die es immer noch nicht begriffen haben: Katzen sind keine Weihnachtsgeschenke!
 
Und nun zu Silvester

Für Katzen ist die Silvesterknallerei eine echte Qual. Die Knallerei macht ihnen meist nicht nur Angst, sie tut auch weh, denn Katzen haben ein sehr viel empfindlicheres Gehör als Menschen. 
Gruß Benno
 
Sorgt also dafür, dass Eure Fellnasen eine auch akustisch ruhige Rückzugsmöglichkeit haben und das nicht erst zum Jahreswechsel selbst. Gruß Tinka

 Und denkt daran, dass Katzen in der Regel nicht gestreichelt und behuddelt sondern einfach in Ruhe gelassen werden wollen, wenn sie Angst haben. Gruß Sally 

Da wir auch mal einen tollen alten Hund als Freund hatten, solltet Ihr auch an die etwas anderen Vierbeiner denken. Auch für Hunde, Pferde und na ja, eigentlich so ziemlich alle Tiere kann der Silvesterspektakel ziemlichen Stress bedeuten.

Also, habt Spaß, aber denkt auch an uns.
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Heart of the Plate by Mollie Katzen

The Heart of the PlateHoughton Mifflin Harcourt deserves much credit for making this book as beautiful as it is. They have really made it the standard to reach. Katzen has done her cool line drawings--now in color!--on the endpages so with her tasty, (can I say thoughtful?), modern recipes her unique talents are again on display.

Now that I have had a chance to work with it a bit, I decided Katzen has chosen some real winners here. Her soups and salads are lovely to look at and probably worth the price of the book alone. She guides the beginner through the steps so that success can be yours right from the start.

I will say that she picked already favorites of mine, e.g., I cook greens almost every night and I often use the onion, garlic, red pepper combination that she recommends. I don't know if it is really appropriate to complain that some of the dishes are so simple as to make the cookbook shortly irrelevant. Most people are actively looking for simple and memorable and so great we can eat it again and again without dragging the cookbook out each time. She gets that and delivers.

But Mashed Parsnips? Hmmm. She has a whole section about mashing things up...cauliflower, broccoli, peas. Maybe she's trying to make it palatable for kids? If it is fresh, it seems a sin to mash it up but she makes it look very pretty. Perhaps it is a little like a mystery: one is so intrigued when one sees it on the plate one opens one's mind to the possibilities. Maybe I should just try it and see if it does something for me?

She has an interesting sauces and dressings section which is useful for folks on the go. You can dip crudités or drizzle over roasted veggies...(what is better tasting and easier to cook than roasted veggies?) I like her use of pomegranate molasses. What else I like: sometimes folks have difficulty figuring out what vegans eat. She very naturally makes meals of vegetables and grains that do not include cheese or dairy and reminds us that, by the way, this is vegan. It is a very unobtrusive way to introduce vegan entrees to the mainstream and show everyone how really very simple it can be to cook for vegans.

I also like the "light" quality of the recipes. There were one or two recipes that gave me pause: Bulgur with Spaghetti, and Banana Cheese Empanadas. I think she is just daring us to try them. She also has one that sounds kind of intriguing: Toasted Barley Dumplings. As a side, it can take care of the carb portion of a vegetable meal.

Truth is, The Moosewood Cookbook: Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, Ithaca, New York was something like the second cookbook I ever owned. Katzen therefore had an outsized influence on my eating habits. I still admire what she can do. What she has produced here is remarkably like what I eat already.

You can buy this book here: Shop Indie Bookstores
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

Let's Explore Diabetes with OwlsDavid Sedaris just keeps on bringing the ridiculousness of our lives to the fore, forcing us to look, really look at some of our less heroic moments...and laugh. What a (sometimes hysterical) relief it is to know that our own stupidity or failures are not unique to ourselves. He also tells us what we look like to others when we are less than our better selves. I often wonder what it would be like to be laughing along with his listening crowd, only to come to recognize some of the stories he is relating. "I was there!" would certainly better than "That was me!"

My favorite Sedaris bits come when he is talking about his experiences travelling or learning a new language. In this new book he has a section about taking planes that had me shaking with laughter…how people, especially Americans, put on their most ragged clothes to travel across the world or across the country mystifies both him and me. “I want to be comfortable,” I have heard travelers wearing worn sweat pants explain, as though wearing silks and cashmere is not comfortable. Cost is not really an issue: anyone flying to China or Australia can certainly spring for a new sweater.

But I was also surprised this time how some of Sedaris’ jokes felt edgy, jagged, and hurtful. I realize that beating up on his Dad is one of his schticks. And if what he says in the beginning of this series of routines were true, about his Dad beating him and blaspheming him as a kid, then I guess his Dad is getting off easy by being the brunt of his jokes as Sedaris travels around the world broadcasting to everyone who will listen. But I long ago learned that hurtful things said “in jest” are not really funny to anyone but the jester.

Sedaris talks a little about how he makes up his routines by keeping a journal as he travels. He spends time taking brief notes when something strikes him as remarkable, and then he spends a lot of time typing it up into what was so remarkable about it so that he can remember it clearly. His endless stories are not things “that just come to mind:” he really works at it, even if it means he doesn’t have time to see all the sights in those great places he visits on his speaking tours.

My least favorite part of this book was a special section he created because he discovered that young people liked to use his work as dramatic monologues. He didn’t think his previous work had enough of the elements that would make a dramatic monologue successful, so he set about making something new just for those folks interested to try it themselves. I thought perhaps these would be better with someone else doing the reading…a droll young woman, perhaps, or a dull young boy.

Anyway, Sedaris is always interesting for what he sees about the world and dares to speak.


You can buy this book here: Shop Indie Bookstores
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson

Spirit of Steamboat: A Walt Longmire Story (Walt Longmire #9.1)
Johnson has gifted us a short, white-knuckled Christmas story that is likely to become a classic. We all know Sheriff Longmire and how he took over the chief law enforcement job in Absaroka County from old Lucian Connally. This story brings them back working together again on a cold and stormy night--Christmas Eve in Montana back in 1988.

This mad twosome seems to go out of its way to test the edges of possibility. In this story, they are doing it for all the right reasons, and at a time when most folks want to be cuddling at home with their families. Central to the action is an old copy of A Christmas Carol which you might want to glance at before or after this slim 100-page novella, just to put you in the mood. This story is just long enough to read after you have laid out gifts “from Santa” under the tree and before heading up to bed.

Bourbon is Connally’s drink of choice…you may want to salute him with a glass after reading this little act of crazy heroism. It does make a good story, a nice little gift for Santa to enjoy, just as though he/she were sitting around with his/her ‘buds’ telling tall tales late into the night…

Merry Christmas, one and all! Hope your year was a great one, but if it wasn’t, 2014 is just around the corner and you can begin again. This little novella is a gift you give yourself. It can be downloaded instantly or ordered in paper from the retailer or your choice using those percentage-off coupons you must be getting in your mailbox. Treat yourself!


You can buy this book here: Shop Indie Bookstores
reade more... Résuméabuiyad