1. if you want to stop getting credit card offers (for 5 years or forever!), check this out from the FTC. there's also a lot of info about stopping other kinds of junk mail here, but i don't know who sponsors this info. seems good though.
2. the usda is accepting public comment about GM alfalfa until this wednesday. here is the USDA email page. here is some wording from credo:
I am writing in regard to Docket APHIS-2007-0044, and I demand that the USDA reject Monsanto's application to market genetically engineered alfalfa. The USDA may not believe it matters if GE alfalfa contaminates organic and other non-GE crops, but I certainly do. Consumers must be able to avoid genetically engineered products. Farmers must be free of the threat of contamination and the USDA must not put organic farmers' livelihoods at risk. The USDA admits that approval of GE alfalfa will make transgenic contamination inevitable. This is unacceptable. Therefore, I urge you to reject Monsanto's application to sell genetically engineered alfalfa.
here is more info from credo on the matter. (you can also send your email through the credo site, but then you get added to email lists.)
having one of those especially clumsy days today. i've tripped twice—once catching myself on the kitchen sink with my elbow. have knocked several things over. gotten scratched by the cat (ok maybe that's not due to my clumsiness, but i did pet his tummy, so partial clumsiness, partial ornery kitty). and i made a bad soup from delicious ingredients. that is hard to do. hrmph.
in the few warm days we had last week, i started daydreaming about outdoor fika and picnics, complete with china and cloth napkins. this weekend i made these pink napkins for myself. the floral side is cut from a thrifted pillowcase. the other side(s) from left-over quilting fabric. i like to mix floral and geometric patterns.
i am not going to tell you where in the flat my cabbage photo was taken though. let's just say the turquoise walls (which are way more blue and bright in person) of a certain room seemed like they'd make a pretty background for the purple. (i hope my housemate and csa box sharer is not reading this.)
today i wrote a letter to one of my favorite authors to request permission to include some words of his in this book i'm compiling. the piece with his words in it is not by me, but the permission request "allowed" me to express my gratitude to him. (of course he is probably not the one reading the letter, but i wrote as though he would be reading it, and that felt quite nice.)
i seem to have done my grocery shopping in twos this week.
the dill and porter beer is for a dill bread i'm going to make right now! i had it at a friend's house and it was delicious. it requires no yeast. you can see the recipe here if you scroll down.
shari recommended the book driftless. i just finished it last night and really enjoyed it. lots of good characters and stories, so i'm passing along the recommendation.
a little over a week ago, i attended a talk about urban homesteading. if you're interested in urban homesteading, there are some good links in this review of the event.
