On a limb with Claudia

“Ma’am, we are going house to house today to offer our security systems. You realize that as one of the only houses without a security system, you are at risk of assault, theft and injury?”

I raised my eyebrows.? The young salesman stopped talking at my response.

“We’ve never had a problem,” I said.

“Lived here long?” He asked.? “A lot of your neighbors have just moved to the area. They are concerned with the crime in this neighborhood.”

“Maybe they should have moved somewhere else,” I said.

My neighborhood has “transitioned” from lower income to professionals and families.? We moved here because it was close to the park. We liked the large lots, hundred year old houses, and ‘live and let live attitude’ of the neighborhood.? After all, we keep four beehives and a little urban garden in our backyard.

When we moved here, the businesses were boarded up.? Now, a block from our house is the “hot” area of town with bars, great restaurants, a music venue, and even a burlesque venue.? The abandoned hospital has been turned into luxury condominiums.? Our little neighborhood is booming.

So fear comes a knocking.

The security system people didn’t visit us when there was a serial rapist living in an abandoned building a block away.? They didn’t come when someone was beaten in front of our house.? I didn’t receive a visit when the crack whore worked next door.?? The security people didn’t visit our block when the young man was shot or the meth lab was raided or the cab driver was attacked only to be rescued by an ex-Green Beret neighbor.

The security system people came when wealth moved into the neighborhood.

“I have this visicious dog,” I said.

He looked at Rose.? She wagged her whole body at him.? She also carried her beloved handkerchief in her mouth.

“Ma’am, you can never be too careful.”

“You’re right.”

I closed the door on his face.? He can peddle his fear somewhere else.

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If you are a published author, I need your help – please help with my new project. Click here for details.

I love baking bread. I have since I was a little girl. I like the feeling of holding an entire universe in my hands. I thought I’d share my love of bread making with you!

Thursday Thirteen #30

Sourdough bread that is!

Facts

1. All bread was made with “wild yeast” prior to 1950s. In the 1950′s brewers yeast became commercially available as bread yeast. Of course, brewer’s yeast was never intended to rise bread.

2. People coveted their yeast. They bought their yeast when they emigrated to the United States. Sourdough arrived in the West via wagon train.

3. Every line of sourdough is different, and depending on how it’s treated, changes as it lives in your home.

What is sourdough?

4. Wild yeast is naturally occurring yeast. When people say, “wild yeast” they mean “not brewer’s yeast”.

5. Sourdough starter is a mixture of yeast and bacteria cultures (similar to those in yogurt).

How does it work?

6. I received a starter for free in the mail. (It looks like powdered milk!) I reconsituted the starter and let it grow.

7. I keep the starter in a pyrex dish in the refrigerator. When I am going to use it, I take out a 1/4 cup, add water and flour, and leave it over night. If I don’t bake one week, I just feed the starter.

8. Because I like to make a lot of bread at once, I usually create starter over the course of a number of days.

9. Almost any bread recipe can be converted to sourdough. There’s a million great recipes at Sourdough Home.

Why make bread?

10. There is a large body of research that suggests that food changes properties depending on how it’s created and who creates it. For example, blessed wine actually tastes better. I create the bread with love – I think you can taste it.

11. Sourdough is easier on the human body than brewer’s yeast.

12. I can control the ingredients in my bread – I use organic flour from an employee owned mill. I use sea salt and olive oil. I also filter the water. These high quality ingredients create a high quality product.

13. Now it’s your turn. What do you love to bake? Leave your favorites in the comments and I’ll add them to this post.

• Michelle at My Crazy Life with a Toddler bakes bread when she makes homemade soup – usually in the fall and winter.
• Miss Sarah at Puss Reboots bakes “soda breads, biscuits and pies mostly.”
• Sandy Carlson “love(s) to bake cookies–any kind at all.”
• FuriousBall baked himself in college.
• Shaunesay bakes break in her bread machine.
• Briggie says, “When I got married (many many many years ago) my Mom gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook and there is a recipe for Casserole Bread. I love making it because it?s so easy, lots of variations and everyone loves it.”
• Colleen “used to bake my son a blueberry pie for his birthday each year.”
• Jameil “can bake anything following a recipe. If peach cobbler is considered baking but i make mine with crust from scratch and people always rave over it. it?s sooo easy, though.”
• Popping Bubbles says, “Cookies and cupcakes are my usuals, but lately I have been baking these fantastic loaves of Artisan bread.”
• Grace in Dubai “love(s) to bake chiffon cake because it?s easy and my husband loves it.”
• Winter “make(s) Irish soda bread and baking powder biscuits. Sometimes cookies and brownies.”
• Odat makes ?no bake? cheesecake.
• Adelle Lauden “make(s) my own bread as well, but I mix and rise in the bread maker. Much easier on the hands. I bake it in the oven thought”
• Alice Audrey has “a bread machine and just toss(es) things in willy-nilly.”
• Sassy Mama Bear says, “Actually my husband is the big baker in the family and I am going to share this with him as he has wanted to start baking sourdough. He makes the best cinnamon rolls ever.
  I bake mainly cookies and cakes.”
• Darla “love(s) baking bread?kneading is a great stress reliever?and experimenting with changing the recipes.”
• Jennifer McKenzie “love(s) making my own bread. I have dinner rolls I?ve started making with whole wheat flour and sea salt. They?re awesome!!!!”
• Hazelnut says, “Being Scottish, I really do bake oat scones, lots of butter, eat warm with a drizzle of honey, great with a pot of tea.”
• Los Angelista says, “I know how to bake a fabulous apple crisp and I also can bake a delicious coffee cake.”
• When CEO baked, “my favorite was baking an old fashioned sour cream chocolate cake with old fashioned sour cream chocolate icing, just like the turn of the 20th Century.”
• Mary Alice says, “I bake bread as well, but not as often as my mother did. I like to make my own dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, cakes and pies.”
• Heart in SF says, “I bake pies, quick breads and cookies all the time but would love to begin making my own bread again. I?ve made French baguette and also honey whole wheat bread, but not for a long time.”
• Melanie “love(s) to bake cookies.”
• Michelle says, “I am on a mission to become the mom who makes the best chocolate cookies in the neighborhood. Practicing is fun.”

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After posting about some interesting movements in the music industry, Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes asked me to look into book publishing.

Inspired, I set out to answer her question.

At little background first.? Book publicity has changed drastically in the last seven years. When we started the Open Grove in January, 2001:

• In-house publicists from hundreds of publishers sent dozens of copies of books. I received 12+ books a day.? I heard that Oprah received over 50 books a day.? Yikes!
• Almost every author went on some form of a multi-city book tour.
• I received telephone calls, letters, and a few emails (2001) from publicists hungry to get their clients on the Open Grove.

Within two years:

• publishers began to merge into multinational conglomerates,
• the tide of books became a trickle, (Thank God)
• authors financed their own book tours,
• some savvy best selling authors began publishing their own books, and
• small book presses were growing.

By 2007:

• many of the major book publishers had closed their publicity departments,
• authors whispered that they spent their entire advance on a publicist – some where helpful, most were not, and
• the publishing industry lost 17%!? Book publishers closed left and right.

Walt Whitman sold his book door to door. What’s an author in 2008 supposed to do to sell his or her book??

• What works?
• What doesn’t work?
• What are people doing to promote themselves?
• What was the data? Which marketing endeavors increased sales? What had no effect at all?
• Self publishing? Big New York Publisher? No advance publishing? E-book publishing?

I asked my favorite Marketing forum and came up with some good ideas, but no data. I sat through ridiculous seminars run by sharks and charlatans. (No, Janet, I didn’t kill them, I only WANTED to kill them.)

What sells books in 2008?

No one knows.

I mean, I have some ideas? But I’ve already written about them.

Unsure of what to do, I did nothing. Then I noticed a little project of Brad Feld’s (Liz, he’s the venture capitalist I was talking about).? I decided to steal his idea.

I’m sending out an SOS.

Let’s collect our information and experience. We don’t have to toil alone. Together, we can create a resource for authors. With information, we wrestle our creative efforts from the mouth’s of sharks.

(100% of these proceeds will go to Wounded Warriors. )

What I’m looking for:

• Direct experience marketing a book, selling a book or even getting a book published.
• What is working for you?
• What hasn’t worked for you?
• What do you believe is the single most important factor in selling your book?
• You book can be a self-published book, an e-book, a New York publisher.
• Did your book tour work?
• How much publicity help did you get from your publisher?
• What sells your book?

I’m thinking a short (100 – 300 words) this worked, this didn’t.

In return for participating, you will receive a free copy of the book. I’m hoping to collect 100 authors to participate in this project. If you are interested, please send me an email at: opengrove@gmail.com or leave a comment at On a Limb with Claudia.? If you know a published author, please let them know about this project.

Help an author out.? Please repost this call for entry.

In exchange for re-posting this on your blog, I will enter you in a contest for either a honey lover’s package – 2006 (dark brown spicy), 2007 (minty, light colored) honey and 2008 honey (yet to be determined) – or a $25 gift certificate to Amazon, Starbucks, Target or whatever – or a cool seed kit like I made for my friend Van.? Hell, if you want some tomatoes I can send those along too! Make sure to leave a link to the post in the comments. I’ll draw a winner from the comments to this post.

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Forgetful One tagged me for this meme. Since I’ve had deadly blog back up, I’m a bit behind on my meme’s.

3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy? (In no specific order)

• Popcorn
• Organic baby carrots
• Plain yogurt with berries and almonds
• Apple and peanut butter
• Protein, milk, wheat germ

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.

Exactly what I am doing right now.

5. Name some places where you’ve lived.

Pacific Palisades, California
Reno, Nevada
Claremont, California
Eagle Rock, California
Berkeley, California
Alameda, California
Oakland, California
Venice Beach, California
Denver, Colorado

That’s all of them, folks.

6. Name some bad habits you have.

• I diminish my accomplishments
• I don’t get around to cleaning the house as often as I would like
• I get bored easily
• I am too accepting of people

7. Name some jobs you’ve had.

• Cleaned houses
• Waited tables including cocktail waitressing
• Worked at the Berkeley Housing Office
• Staff photographer, Daily Californian
• Typesetter, typist, word processor, etc.
• Laboratory research assistant, Hepatitis, HIV, Herpes viruses
• Market Research Computer Programmer
• Wilderness outfitter (sales, cashier, manager)
• Alcohol and Drug rehabilitation counselor and DUI school teacher
• Psychotherapist, Private Practice, specializing in severe trauma, PTSD and addiction related disorders
• Author

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Some things just make sense. One day. One post. Give Peace a Chance.

**start copy**

Here are the rules and the story.

Copy this into a post, ADD YOUR NAME to the bottom of the tag list and tag as many people as you’d like.

The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from one blog, Mimi Writes. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement. It amazingly traveled from blog to blog to blog across the globe. Bloggers wrote passionate articles on what peace means to them, along with the promise of three Latin words scribbled on a globe – Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) - branded with the integrity of their names or blog names. It was positively inspiring to watch. And it began to happen all over the world – from Singapore to China to Afghanistan to Brooklyn.

It was simple. And powerful.

In less than two weeks bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace.
We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.

Won’t you join us?
June 4, 2008

How To Get Your Peace Globe In 4 easy steps!
1. Choose one of the four Peace Globe designs in this post. Right CLICK and SAVE in JPG format.
2. Sign the globe using Paint, Photoshop or a similar graphics tool. Decorate the globe anyway you wish. You can even include the name of your blog. Click here for hundreds of inspiring examples from previous BlogBlasts.
3. Return the peace globe to me via email ~ mimiwrites2005 at yahoo.com – Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving a comment here and signing the Mr. Linky. Your submission will be numbered and dated in the official gallery . Your globe and post will be listed on the Official BlogBlast For Peace website and The Peace Globe Posts page.

Here’s the most important part.
4. On June 4, 2008 DISPLAY YOUR GLOBE IN A POST. Title your post “Dona Nobis Pacem”. This is important. The goal is for all blog post titles to say the same thing on the same day. Write about peace that day or simply fly your globe. Click here for examples of peace globe posts from previous BlogBlasts.

If you need help making your globe, I (Claudia) will help and Sanni from Germany has volunteered to make globes for FREE. Just visit her and request one!

If you’d like to help spread the word, take this button to your site.

I, Mimi Queen of Memes, hereby royally tag the following…….

When Silence Speaks, Scribbit, Flashing Yellow Lights, Whynotblogitout, Rocks In My Dryer, Sprittibee, Embracing Momminess, Izzy Mom, Shadowscope, Fussy, Live Granades, Message In a Bottle Write From Karen, MotherBumper, The Musings of Yet Another Working Mom, TricycleBlog john k stuff MC Hammer Brazilian XC Skier Process Recess Ear Farm Rick Mercer Not Martha Vegan Lunch Box You Ain’t No Picasso Motel de Moka Guyana amond Geezer Vitriolica Webb Sleepless in Sudan India Uncut Kieden What Up Willy! UUUHHHGGG-rrrrRRR! The Lonely Island ScuBlog Treo 650 Tips Lovento My Life on a Plate Little John PalmOS Finding Lisp The Splintered Mind Under Aged RVers Casa del Ionesco HorsePigCow Xooglers Lou Romano Pimpwiz Getting a Leg Up Coffee House to Go OK Go Doob LaVey Nickels for Katrina Boy Who Heard Music Arthur’s Many Steps One Movie a Day California Eating Movie Watcher’s Diary Lucky Cracker This Is Not Art Operation Eden Night Stalker Blog Ah Yes, Medical School Dean Alfar Dean the Teen Diesel East Coast Dweller Frank Sirianni Gumby Henry Bateman Houseband00 Justin Mahida Kiyotoe Marky Matt-man Michael C Migs Bassig MorgenPenfold Prometheus Robert Wright Scott SilverSabre Travis Yaxlich5 Amanda UnBoomed GSO blogcon Hooked on Heat Mini-Microsoft The Language Guy No Rock&Roll un Writely Las Fashionistas WoJeani’s Blog Blog from Bolivia Ottmar Liebert Am I Bugging You Yet? 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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE TAGGED TO PLAY.

Please consider passing this meme through the blogosphere.
This is Mimi Pencil Skirt reporting from the lovely land of the Peace Globes.
Memeing the Movement.
**End Copy**

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“The people, who were trying to make this world worse…
are not taking a day off.? How can I?
Light up the darkness.”
–attributed to Bob Marley

Happy Memorial Day!

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Hurray for working Internet servers! Hurray for Unconscious Mutterings. You know how we do – You write whatever pops into your head in response to these words (created by LunaNina)

Please do play! I love to see what’s in your unconscious week after week!? This weeks words:

1. Referral ::
2. Indiana ::
3. Foil ::
4. Horizon ::
5. Event ::
6. Sailing ::
7. Footage ::
8. Sunday ::
9. Breathtaking ::
10. Dude! ::

My response:

1. Referral :: assistance
2. Indiana :: Cows, Meg Cabot (moved back 2 years ago)
3. Foil :: ed again!
4. Horizon :: On the
5. Event :: Planning
6. Sailing ::? Smooth
7. Footage :: of Cormorants (We have a huge flock in our park, very rare.? They are filming them.)
8. Sunday :: morning quiet
9. Breathtaking :: view
10. Dude! :: Dude!

Now it’s your turn!

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While sitting on my neighbor’s deck, I overheard this conversation:

“Can you believe it? She actually keeps bees?” The woman said.? “She even said that she wanted to GROW her food this year.”

Was she talking about me?? I don’t know her.

“Oh, she’s ridiculous,” the other woman said.? “What does she thinks she has?? An urban farm?”

They laughed.

My neighbor whispered, “That’s not you.? They are talking about someone in Boulder.? They don’t need to know about your backyard.”

Now at least I know what to call our little project.

Here’s a little update.

Beehives:

• We have four beehives.
• One with a beautiful Zia Queenbee.
• Another that is in the process of requeening itself.
• And two swarms. The third swarm did not stay.

Gardens:

• Everything survived the last snow storm and is beginning to grow!
• We’ve planted almost everything.
• We are starting new beds because order 3 get 3 free raspberries plants meant 18 plants and not 6 as I thought.? I’d complain but come on. Who wouldn’t eat more raspberries if given the chance??
• We are still waiting for a blueberry and strawberries.? Our squash and watermelons have not come up yet but we are optimistic.

Bed 1

Bed 2

Bed 3

Hope your weekend is going well!

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Hey folks!

I’m completely wrapped up with the bees, the swarms, the garden, the husband’s comprehensive exams, and every other non-computer time thing.? I’ll return next week with something brilliant – promise!

In the meantime, TT-on!

Claudia

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I arrived precisely five minutes late to find only Brother Lawrence. He said that the rest of the IMLBMC claimed “ambivalence” and refused to attend.? Those OTHER middle children are so impolite!

Refusing to give them the upper hand, Brother Lawrence and I went lunch.

What was at stake?

The declaration of the Ultimate Middle Child including photo and bio.

I did my best to defend my title. I went on and on about bees, crazy clients, mistreatment by my oldest sister, and how my little sister “gets every single thing she could possibly want then wants more!” I rambled on through numerous margaritas about all of my peacemaking efforts.

Brother Lawrence listened patiently.

Then he pulled his trump card.

He was not only the middle child for his primary family, he was the middle child for his entire brotherhood. Worldwide, Capuchins Franciscan Friars rely on his middle childness every single day.

I was beat.

While I wept into my cheese enchiladas, Brother Lawrence danced on the table to the mariachi band.

That is, he danced on the table until the photographer for the Catholic News Today entered the restaurant.

Oops.

I think the photographer believed us when we told him that Brother Lawrence was changing a light bulb.? And that the twelve people who drank all those margaritas just left.

But if you see BroLo’s photo and he happens to be gyrating on top of a table?? You know the truth.

And I have been dethroned. You will have to seek Brother Lawrence for all your Ultimate Middle Child services.

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