recycled thoughts in sagamore hills

PPK at Ohiopyle & Fallingwater

Jeff and Mitchell playing mancala at the PPK campsite on Sunday night...

The PPK gathering at Fallingwater, after the tour...

posted by nikitee @ 8:13 AM 0 Comments

RIP Emmy Cat

This is Emmy cat, adopted in 1991 in Newberry, Ohio... my parents stole her in 1995 and took her to central PA. She passed away yesterday at the age of 19. She loved rubber bands and sleeping...

posted by nikitee @ 7:19 AM 0 Comments

Store Wars

posted by nikitee @ 2:18 PM 0 Comments

PPK Care Package

Here's a photo of the goodies I got from Joan (gwgredux) in my PPK care package for October... it actually arrived a couple of weeks ago, and has now been largely devoured, but hey... I lost the camera-cordy thing. Note the VEGAN MARSHMALLOWS, and real vegan sprinkles in two flavors. Obviously, those didn't make it past the first day...


...and here's a bonus pic of my Tiger Cub, Mitchell, and his super-cool pirate ship at the raingutter regatta last week.

Labels: Boy Scouts, PPK friends, son

posted by nikitee @ 9:38 AM 0 Comments

Pumpkins!

Mitchell was our official pumpkin dude this year... he designed and sketeched the pumpkin faces, and Bill wielded the knife...


These are the finished pumpkins on the front porch. Boo!

Labels: Halloween, pumpkins, son

posted by nikitee @ 9:31 AM 0 Comments

Some of My Baking...

Sweet potato pastie, scalloped CSA apples, CSA green beans, spicy oven-roasted potatoes... this was DD's dinner.


VWAV pancakes with bananas & chopped pecans... this was my breakfast.


My first attempt at veganizing a chipotle, corn & cheddar muffin recipe from Mark Miller... they were a bit dry/crumbly, but not bad. Spicy!


PPK recipe db "crazy quilt" muffins... banana, coconut, oatmeal, dried blueberries... these were awesome!


VCTOTW coconut-lime cupcakes... made for our POA's Halloween party... these are the ones that wouldn't fit on the platter. They came out PERFECT. None that went to the party returned...

Labels: muffins, organic food, pancakes, pasties

posted by nikitee @ 9:19 AM 0 Comments

Organic Confusion

Since I've become more organically-minded, I've been avoiding the "big brands" in favor of organic brands I hadn't heard of before, thinking I was supporting new organic suppliers. Annie's Naturals! Newman's Own Organics! Yay!

But it turns out that some of my grocery money is going into the same old pockets: Hershey owns Dagoba Chocolates... General Mills owns Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen... and Kraft Foods owns Back to Nature and Boca. Aaaargh!

But I guess the news isn't all bad. The big brands are really changing, and beginning to market organic products under their main brand names: Post Organic cereals are on the shelves in both boutique groceries and supermarkets, Kraft Organic Mac-n-Cheese is guaranteed to be a kid favorite (tho I've only seen it on amazon.com Grocery so far), and Hershey's Organic Dark Chocolate is already a fixture on my grocery list.

If we support the big brands' organic labels, perhaps in time, they will become the rule rather than the segregated & overpriced exception in our local grocery stores.

Labels: organic food

posted by nikitee @ 2:20 PM 0 Comments

One more reason to adore Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt aims to keep focus on Katrina recovery
By Russell McCulley

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Calling Hurricane Katrina a "man-made disaster," actor Brad Pitt said on Tuesday he remains committed to helping the city recover from the storm. Nearly two years after the August 29, 2005 hurricane, the "Ocean's Thirteen" star said he was at times dismayed by the pace of recovery in New Orleans, where he and partner Angelina Jolie own an elegant townhouse in the historic French Quarter.

Pitt was in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood to tour an ecologically sustainable single-family home being built by Global Green USA, an environmental group he backs.

The actor praised the house in the Holy Cross area of the ward as a "small victory" for efforts to rebuild the city, but said, "it's hard to find an overall victory when you see how slowly everything is still moving. And Katrina was a man-made disaster. This house is a man-made solution."

Pitt said the city's flood-protection defenses must be restored before displaced residents feel confident enough to rebuild.

"We've got to push to get these levees taken care of in the correct fashion," he told reporters at a news conference in the hurricane-ravaged working class neighborhood.

The house that Pitt toured, loosely modeled on the distinctive New Orleans "shotgun" style of long, narrow homes, will generate almost all its electricity from 28 roof-mounted solar panels, said Global Green USA president Matt Petersen.

Global Green hopes to use the house, which should be completed this fall, as a prototype for the neighborhood. Built not far from the banks of the Mississippi River and raised by three feet on concrete pilings, it is above sea level.

Some in the area, which was not as badly flooded as others in the city, are rebuilding. But a lack of funds have kept most from starting fresh.

Levee repairs are ongoing and engineers differ over how the new levees will fare in a major storm.

The environmental group has pledged to create a residential community of "green" structures, including an 18-unit, low-income apartment building near the Mississippi.

Pitt, 43, said the redevelopment project could help encourage people whose homes were destroyed in the storm to return and rebuild in a more environmentally conscious fashion.

"We knew we couldn't bring back the families and friends that were lost, bring back the heirlooms, the pictures," Pitt said. "But maybe, in the process of rebuilding, we could build something smarter, and create a better way of life for those people who live here."

Labels: Brad Pitt, green building

posted by nikitee @ 7:44 AM 0 Comments

A Rare Personality

Evidently, I am well-suited for my current job as a systems analyst/applications developer:



Does this mean I can't be an artist or a chef? It seems I'm doomed to be organizing and streamlining things for the rest of my life... which is good since I'm going to library school to become an archivist. Thank goodness, no poetry.

Labels: Personality Test

posted by nikitee @ 2:27 PM 0 Comments