Recent Watching and Reading

We watched Dr. No — the very first time that Sean Connery played James Bond: 1962.
Better than we remembered it. The script was pretty faithful to the book (unlike some of the later films).

 

I’m still in the middle of reading some of these books, but I hope to finish them soon.

A.S. Byatt, Ragnarok
I expected a better narrative from A.S.Byatt than this book offers.
Not much more than a somewhat tedious retelling of the myths.
This one, I did finish — it’s short.

Edward Berenson, Perfect Communities: Levitt, Levittown, and the Dream of White Sububia.
There’s a lot of good social history in this book, but it’s way too long.
I was very interested in the final years of Levitt and his giant subdivisions of affordable homes.
Speculation: The author never saw a note card that he could bear to omit.

Victoria Redel, I Am You — still reading
A historical novel about a woman artist in the Dutch Golden Age.

Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman: The Stoics
I didn’t read much of this book as it’s really more a reference work,
ho-hum summarizing what’s known of each philosopher.
I hoped for a readable account of these early philosophers’ thoughts.

Eskimo Folk-Tales and Memories

Eskimo Folk-Tales collected by Knud Rasmussen (1879 – 1933), 
a Greenlandic–Danish polar explorer and anthropologist

Small sculpture of a Tupiak, a monster that plays a role
in the Greenlandic Inuit folk tales.
We bought this when we visited Greenland a few years ago.

Inuit art that we saw in the museum in Greenland.

From Eskimo Folk-Tales: “A tupilak frightening a man to death in his kayak.”

Illustration of kayaks from Eskimo Folk Tales.

Caption on above photo: “Hunters encountering Sarqiserasak, a dangerous troll, who rows in a half kayak himself, and upsets all he meets with his paddle.” p. 35

A kayak demonstration that we saw in Greenland.

Blog post and photos © 2026, 2022 by mae sander 

Sunday Potluck

Sunday evening was a potluck at MakerWorks, where Len has been going to work on his woodworking projects and also to take some classes in how to use the equipment. At their annual potluck, we enjoyed the quite-large selection of foods made by the Makers, and also heard a quick review of some of the accomplishments and plans of the board and the staff that manages the large workshops.

Appetizers

FROM THE WEBSITE

Must History be Repeated?

 

”From 1920 to 1938, the NAACP flew a banner outside its New York City office with the words, ‘A Man Was Lynched Yesterday.’ The words would have been jarring to passersby, but that was the point. It was a provocative graphic statement—something to stop the busy onlookers of Fifth Avenue in their tracks. The stark symbol meant to force the viewer into confronting the reality of the racial violence happening in America.” (source)

This week in Minneapolis: Protest and Death

Another death in Minneapolis this week as everyone knows. The provocative agents of our horrendous federal government are assuming more and more power with less and less restraint. Our leaders from Washington are reneging on commitment to the traditional American legal system. The goon squads can go wherever they like and murder whomever they wish, and they wear masks so that they are not held accountable: no masks is the legal norm. Comparisons with historic precedents (especially the early days of Nazi Germany) are too grim to think about.

(source)

Noval Noir’s memorial portrat of Renee Nicole Good

(source)

A Quote from an Interview with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey

I’m sure you’ve heard that a judge has said that ICE has violated nearly 100 court orders since its crackdown began in Minneapolis, which makes me wonder if you think you can enforce any agreement with Homan and the federal government? That’s the most dangerous question that anybody can ask because we are in a world of hurt that goes way beyond any individual safety if we are talking about a federal government completely ignoring court orders. This is a foundational principle of our Republic. The battlefield that we fight on as municipalities and cities around the country isn’t one of warfare. It’s one of the law. The battlefield that we are going to win on is the law, and a precondition of that necessary fight is that once the law has been determined and a court order comes down, it’s going to be followed. This is something that I get really intense and really pissed off about. This is not optional. You follow the law. We should have everybody, Democrats and Republicans, losing it. It should be deeply concerning, not from an ideological perspective but from an American one. (New York Times interview by Lulu Garcia-Navarro)

Previous Outrages, Commemorated in Murals

(source)

Minneapolis, 2020 (source)

January Kitchen Thoughts

What’s New?

New recipe box which I’m starting to populate with other people’s recipes.
Len made me this recipe box. Yes, I mostly keep recipes in a database, but this is a fun retro choice.

New rubber ducky and new tiny cookware. The Ducky is for Eileen’s Critters!

New table caddy: Len also made this.

In My Kitchen In January

It’s been a very quiet month in my kitchen. Few new gadgets, not very adventurous cooking, but lots of good food to enjoy quietly as the snow has been falling. We did try a few ready-made food products. I’ve posted several of these photos during the month, but I wanted to show them again in this wrap-up.

Impulsively at Trader Joe’s we bought two “stirring spoons” with which to make afternoon cocoa.

Zingerman’s Bakehouse features UP style pasties, a flaky pastry with either a diced-potato filling or a
potato-and-beef filling. (UP means Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where the miners once brought these for their lunch) 

Another Trader Joe’s ready made foods: a meatloaf with red sauce. Not bad. 

Impromptu cuisine leads to sort-of-new combinations.
Maybe never to be done again in the exact same way.

Shrimp stew with TJ’s olive bread. 

ABC Stew: Apricots, Beef, Carrots and quite a few other ingredients.

Also Len’s incredible cinnamon rolls.

Pork chops for a simple, classic dinner.

Our neighbor Anne brought us croissants of various shapes.

Mona Lisa is back on the refrigerator this month

Bringing an old cookbook to life again

Meatballs served with mushroom and onion gravy and fresh vegetables.

Alice Cooks

Alice cooked creamy pasta and brought us bread sticks and salad to accompany it.

Alice brought heart-shaped pasta and other anticipations of Valentine Day.

Home made crumpets, fruit, mushrooms, and smoked salmon for brunch at Alice’s apartment

What do I want to cook?

These are the New York Times recipes that I’ve saved in hopes that we will some day cook them.

A toast from Alice

We are so happy that Alice is now living in Ann Arbor as a graduate student
at the University of Michigan.

Outside the Kitchen: Sad Thoughts

Blog post and all photos © 2026 mae sander

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