ALICE IN THE FOREST OF FORGETFULNESS by D.L. White

For those of you wondering why I have "Raven's Writing Desk" as my title, and why my theme is always realted to "Alice in Wonderland", it is because of this little story here, writen by D.L. White. This is just a little snipit of the entire thing, and one day we might get to share the rest of the story here, but until then, there is this little window into this world that D. L. White and I share and should also provide a frame of reference to go by. Everyone needs a compass, even if it doesn't point North. The story is about two characters, Luna and Raven Spinner who life in the forgotten forest located somewhere in Wonderland.




The Story begins like this....
"Oh dear me," said Alice, "I do believe I'm quite lost again." She pushed her way through some branches and found herself deep in a moonlit forest.



"I was looking for a...white rabbit...or was it a red queen?" Alice's head was all fluffy and stuffy like it was full of cotton. “What was I searching for?"



"Maybe you were looking for us?" said a voice."Heavens, but you scared me! Where did you come from?" said Alice. There in a small clearing in the forest sat two lovely maidens. They wore dresses of the finest silk. One girl was in all gray and there was a large black raven perched comfortably on her shoulder. Her ink black hair much resembled his shadowy wings. The other girl was in all white and when she glanced up at Alice, she saw that she had the most unusual shade of lavender eyes.



"What's the difference between a raven and a writing desk?" cawed the crow from the maiden’s shoulder."You know, I do believe someone asked me that very same question early in my journeys," replied Alice.



TO BE CONTINUED....

Trasnference June 2009

"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date! Oh my...just look at the time."

Today I spent most of the time setting up this new blog and transferring a few of my old blog articles over to this one. The reason I am switching blogs is because we are shutting down our "madteapartyafternoon.com" web site. It feels like we have gone about as far as we are going to go with that idea. It was a fun creative joint project that my friend D.L White and I had come up with to share ideas and make a themed space to play in. When thinking of what theme we should use for our joint project, we could not resist the theme from "Alice in Wonderland" for our web site because it is something we both enjoyed so much. We had also created an entire mythology to go with our site, an extension into Lewis Carrol's word behind the looking glass. Our idea was a tale of two sisters, Luna and Raven Spinner and the stories they wove in their home of an enchanted, forgotten forest located in Wonderland and every now and then they connected with some of the beloved characters from Wonderland.

If you chose to follow the White Rabbit and accept our little inviation you would have seen this picture:

All you had to do then was click on the tea cups at the Mad Hatter's tea party table to explore our little world.

We are all a bit mad here...

In our newly created space, we had pages for our favorite quotes located in the Red Queen's Garden.

We had a page for books we had read, movies we had seen, poems we loved, art work we had created, games we liked, and concerts we had been to or music we enjoyed. I had a great time learning to write HTML code and do some digital drawing. Most of the art work was done by D.L. White and scanned into a digital format.

Who Are You?

Shall we play?

Through the looking glass.



Alice grows...

Some of the the most enjoyable parts for me was our message board we had set up to share ideas and write articles, but later on it had become over run with spam bots instead of interesting conversations about creating and writing, so we had to take it down. Currently, it seems like our blogs have really taken over what we used to do with the web site. I will probably continue to carry the "Alice in Wonderland" theme and my Raven Spinner character into this new blog, because it is an extension of what we had already created and shared and I think it is a fitting design. I usually only update my blog about once a month or so and will try to find time to do some writing or creative project.

My Alternatives to Plastic.

I have decided to change some things in my life regarding my use of plastic. I don’t want to use plastic around food or store food in plastic anymore if not for the fact that toxins “could” be leaking into our food from these plastics, I think the over consumerism, and waste of all the plastic containers for food is abhorrent. I am 35 and I am just now getting the message. I have a lot to make up for, besides being a good steward of what we have been given. We should take care of this place, because it is our home right now. Look how wasteful our society is, just because they can be. I decided it was important enough to take action for my family. It is my responsibility to protect them from harm and insure their safetly.

1. I will NOT use plastic bags from now on. Not only are plastic bags wasteful, but they are terrible for the environment. To combat this problem, I have a nice collection of canvas and cloth bags to take with me to any store. China has banned them in most areas because of all the problems they are having with their environment. The plastic bags are becoming a type of polution.



I think America could take a lesson from other countries in this issue. Europe charges for each plastic bag, which is a nice way to deter people from using them. Also, I get $0.5 for each cloth bag I use at my grocery store. It is a nice incentive for me. Maybe they should start a tax for plastic bags, and use the money collected to help clean up the plastic bag problem in our country and also deter people from using plastic bags. If you woud like to also begin to limit your use of plastic bags, please check out this site about reusable bags: reusablebags.com

2. I will ONLY store my food in glass jars. Yes, I took all my old Tupperware and put them in a large bag for storage in my garage until all these types of plastic can be recyclable, especially #5, but also #3, #4, #6 and #7. I already recycle #1 and #2 types of plastic, like milk jugs, and water bottles. Plastic items are marked with a “recycling identification code.” If you ever wondered what the numbers stood for here is a list:

1—polyethyelene terephthalate (PETE)
2—high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
3—vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
4—low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
5—polypropylene (PP)
6—polystyrene (PS)
7—other (includes polycarbonate, acrylic, polylactic acid, fiberglass)


The least harmful plastic for food storage are 1, 2, 4 and 5. Avoid numbers 3, 6 and 7. These should never be used for food storage because some of them could have BPA leaching plastics in them. The next thing I did was go to my Bashas store and Walmart and found some really nice Ball Canning Jars and Glass containers like the ones you see blow.



The price couldn’t have been less expensive then if I had bought them online in bulk. I got a case of 1/2 gallon size jars for all my drinks like milk, orange juice and they are great for brewing my favorite beverage, iced tea. I got a case of 6 oz. ball jars for “left over food”. They work great and you can safely warm up your food in them in the microwave without worry. You can just put them in your dish washer with the lids to wash. I can tote them to work in a bag and everything takes up much less room. My fridge looks pristine. Why didn’t I do this sooner? It is so much nicer and I didn’t ever realize it would be. I thought it would be expensive and would be a hard thing to change over to, but it was inexpensive and easy. The only thing you have to remember is to put labels on the jars so you know what is in them, otherwise you are doing smell and taste tests to figure out what is in each jar. I just use sticky notes for labes. It is surprisingly easy.

3. I will make an effort to buy my food in glass containers and re-use them or recycle them. I already buy my peanut butter in glass jars, as well as pickles. In recent shopping I found canned peaches in jars, and apple sauce. Why buy it in plastic when it comes in jars and is just as expensive? Buying butter in sticks wrapped in paper rather then plastic tubs is a good idea as well.

4. I will work on purchasing some stainless steel water jugs, mugs and glass cansisters to use instead of plastic containers. Glass canisters can be used to store some of my dry goods, like flour, sugar, rice and coffee. Right now those items are in plastic Tupperware containers. I also want to get a large stainless steel water dispenser to put all my drinking water in or one of these glass jars like the one at this store: Homecanning.com . They are hard to find and a little pricey, but I hope to find one soon. In the weeks to come I am sure I will find more ways to enhance this project.

Little Things To Make A Difference.

People often feel that what they do doesn't really matter, but it does. Each person does matter and what they do effects everyone around them. I think more and more people are realizing this, and things are changing for the better. Here are some things I do to make a difference for the environment: I don’t do anything radical, expensive or complicated and they end up saving me money:

Drink Tap Water: Having drinking water delivered to you isn't really cost effective, causes polution by having to use gas to deliver the water to the door. I don't like the idea of having water sitting around in plastic bottles and everyone knows how wasteful and expensive botteled water is. Osmosis is better because you don’t have to have a driver deliver water to you and the water is filtered right at your home, however we do not have one of these systems. We drink tap water filtered in a Brita Water Pitcher. I love this because the water is always cold and ready to drink and tastes great and this really saves us money. When my family takes water with us we use only stainless steel water bottles that last forever and are very easy to clean.

Use Real Silverware: I invested $10 on an inexpensive set of stainless steel silverware and tray for my office. They supply everyone with plastic ware in our kitchen, but I feel it is wasteful to use so much that will just be thrown away or break. I put the tray in our kitchen for everyone to use. I was somewhat surprised that some people complained that they would have to wash the silverware off, so therefore they wouldn't even consider using it? Wow, I thought that was incredibly lazy and a poor excuse to keep being wasteful. In fact, no one even said thank you, but when I see employees using the silverware, I am secretly happy, because I know that is one less plastic fork in the garbage.

Use real dishes: Our office also supplies the kitchen with paper plates and bowls. Again, this is very wasteful, so I brought in my own set of dishes that I wasn't using for just my co-worker's to use. There are 6 of us in this office. 3 use the dishes and 3 continue to use the paper dishes because they "don't want to wash any dishes." I was again shocked at the lazyness of this, but at least there are 3 of us who don't use the paper plates anymore.

Use real coffee mugs: The next thing I thought of was all the styrofome cups in our office. Why do people drink their coffe in those when they could just as easily use a mug from home? They also have plenty of mugs in the cubbords of the kitchen, so why not use one of those? I always use my coffe mug or stainless steel coffee cup for beverages at work.

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken: I just adore Indian cuisine. I can’t say I am an expert in perpairing these kind of dishes, but I like the challenge. This particular dish is fantastic, easy, healthy and aromatic.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice (cooked) Basmati is the best for this dish.
3 chicken breasts
1 onion small chopped fine
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tbs flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup yogurt
3 tsp curry powder (Or more if you like it really spicy. I do not use “hot” curry. I make my own curry powder and it really makes a difference, but you can use the store bought kind as well).

Fry the chicken in some olive oil until cooked through. Cut into cubes and set aside.
In the same pan fry the onion and garlic (about 3 min).
Add the flour and cook until it turns brown. (About 1 minute)
Add the chicken stock and wisk together. (simmer for 3 minutes)
Add yogurt and curry powder and mix well.
Add chicken cubes and stir. Allow to simmer on low heat for 3 minutes. Pour mixture over cooked rice and serve.

13 Things I Love About Halloween.

1. Carmel Apples: I just adore carmel apples, but especially the kind you can get at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. My favorite kind is the “apple pie carmel apple”. Other favorites include, the “classic carmel”, peanut covered and “apple pie alamode.” They are worth the price.

2. Fall Weather: I love how the sky looks during the fall when the weather is gradually cooling off. The evenings are so nice you can just sit on your porch and enjoy the outdoors after a very hot summer. We don’t really have the changing of the fall leaves in the dessert of Arizona, but it is still a nice feeling. In New York the leaves are really pretty this time of year. I love this picture I took while visiting Lake George in the fall. The reds and gold hues are so beautiful.

3. Pumpkin Carving: I think there is a rule that says you must do pumpkin carving the night of Halloween. We sart early in the evening so that we will have plenty of time to do the work. The inside of the pumpkin is such a mess, but also fun to stick your hands in and pull out all the insides. Freshly toasted pumpkin seeds with butter and salt fill our house with warmth and wonderful smells. I have an entire array of pumpkin carving tools, some are officially wood working tools, but they are good for pumpkins as well. I think the kits you can buy in the store are really great for carving too, and safer for kids. I like the stencil books you can tape on your pumpkin and use for a guide or design. I love putting out a freshly carved pumpkin for our “trick or teaters” as they walk up to our house.

I am also a big fan of luminaries. I have a set I made last year that spell out “Happy Halloween” and another set that say, “I’d turn back if eye were U”.

4. Trick or Treating: I haven’t gone trick or treating since I was a kid, but now that I have a little one of my own, we are taking him out for the first time this year. I am really looking forward to this new experience though the eyes of my child. I hope he has as much fun as I did.

5. Door bell divergence: I love passing out candy for trick or treaters that come to my door. Sometimes we play scary music up the walk to our front door. We have been known to use a “lightning” machine, which imitates the sound of thunder with the flash of bright light. Sometimes kids will get scared before they make it to ring our door bell. We usually dress up in costume to answer the door. I love looking at all the little kid’s Halloween costumes and see their parents at the end of our walk way winking at us as we pass out candy to their children.

6. Scary movies: There is no better time to watch a scary movie then on Halloween night, late in the evening. It just adds a little spark of magic. Give me some popcorn and candy corns and away we go.

7. Developing a good costume: I think a good costume takes time and money. Sometimes I have been known to work on my costume all year, other times a few months. I don’t sew, so it is expensive and time consuming to find all the necessary items for a costume and make it fit really well. I should learn how to sew, so I can make all my own costumes because I am sure it would save me a lot of money. My favorite costumes have been a skeleton bride, a renaissance queen, a masquerade ball attendee, an “Amy Brown” fairy, and a pirate wench.

8. Decorating the font yard: I think a big part of the holiday is decorating your house. The front yard looks great full of tomb stones similar to the one seen at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.




We hang a black wreath on our front door and cob webs, as well as spiders on the door bell and Halloween lights in the trees because the font yard is the first impression. We even have little purple lights strung on our back porch, which give off a sickly glow. I like to change my outdoor front porch light to a black light for full spooky effect.

9. Decorating the house: Inside our house we have fall leave garland, and candles all around. We put up our “spooky town” which consists of the “Haunted Tower Tours” with encircling gargoyle, the “LaGhosti Movie Theater”, complete with sound effects and marquee. “Grimsly’s House of Oddities” and mausoleum with grave yard and a pumpkin patch.


I have a “Krinkle” Halloween tree with ornaments and a pumpkin witch. I am a big fan of anything from Department 56. The couch and chairs are covered with Halloween themed throws (striped orange and black and black with white skeletons). I think there might even be phantom hands playing on my paino…..



10. Candy: I love how all the candy makers come out with Halloween themed candy. It’s all so creative and fun. I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate? Did I mention candy corn? It’s one of the best little treats around this time of year.

11. Pumpkin Patch: There is nothing quite like picking your pumpkin right from the patch. Traveling to the pumpkin patch at our local farm is a grand adventure. They take you on horse drawn wagons through the patch. You can choose the size, shape and color of your pumpkin, rather then be limited to whatever your grocery store has at the moment. Weaving your way through the vines and up and down the rows of pumpkins is a unique experience and good exercise too.

12. Corn Maze: Traveling through a corn maze is lots of fun, but even better at night with a flash light. Spooky times for sure!

13. The Element of Spooky Fun: Sharing Halloween with friends who also appreciate the holiday is most fun of all, like going to a great Halloween party or just getting together for pumpkin carving or to watch a scary movie. I love to set a great party table full of interesting foods and strange brews.


My friend Davina makes the most wonderful Halloween themed cakes you have ever seen, such as a haunted house complete with black iron fence and ghosts peeking through the windows of the house or a weathered old witches spell book with snakes and skull.

New Indiana Jones Movie Poster

It is finally here, the release of the new “Indiana Jones” Movie Poster: “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. I never thought Spielberg would get around filming another Indiana Jones movie. I am really looking forward to this movie since the 3rd Indiana Jones movie was released when I was in high school. I love the style in the films, the characters, the humor and the action. Harrison Ford is perfect as Indiana Jones and it will be interesting to see an older version of his beloved character in this new film. I once wanted to decorate my den in “Indiana Jones Style”, but eventually gave up the idea after find out how hard it is to collect WWII memorabilia, archeology items and all the antiques you would need. But I still dream about it sometimes. I did manage to pull into my den an Egyptian theme, so the idea is there a little bit. You can imagine how excited I am, so I am posting a copy of one of the new posters here on my blog: