I Heart The Mudflats

From Moderator Pacos Gal:

Brian enjoyed a laid back Valentine’s Day this year. The snow and cold kept him inside, dreaming of warmer days and sunny road trips with his travel buddy Irishgirl. There was a particularly funny bumper sticker incident, which caused laughter after an initial brief recoil of horror.

(The Escape just makes it so much better, and as Boodog is quoted as saying “Glad it wasn’t a Triumph”!)

Not to say that Brian isn’t a romantic soul. No indeed. In fact, being inside gave him plenty of time to plan out a romantic evening with his lady love Pacos Gal. He went all out this year, with candles, candies, and of course, himself just bursting with romantic happiness.

Being a moose who loves to spread the warmth of a Valentine hug to all of his nearest and dearest, Brian made his way to Kentucky to spend some special time with Justafarmer. His visit included sharing a drink and admiring some lovely tulips. Because he wanted so badly to nibble on the tulips, he tried very hard not to do so and thought it was only a testament to his true loving nature that when he left, the tulips were still looking lovely. What a guy, huh?

And finally, Brian decided to just stop and smell the roses at Erin’s house up in Alaska.

(Some day we’ll have to learn the secret of how he is able to be here, there, and everywhere all at once. Santa has nothing on this moose!)

Brian’s adventures can be found along with photos on The Mudflats Forum.

I wonder where Brian will turn up on St. Patrick’s Day?

An ode to AKM, from Mudpuppy LettersfromEurope:

One more for AKM

before I bow before the night

and sleep takes worries from me and fright

a song I send to a friend far away

whose freedom was threatened on this day.

Mean the man, his vengeance seeking

his angry wish to see the Angel bleeding.

He gave what was not his to give

and will have to try to live

with words that turn to ashes in his mouth

and masses wishing that he go South.

The Angel wings so hurt by slime

will heal soon and in good time

as friends and friends reach out to hold

the spirit, which they know is bold,

so while Wings can´t reach the sky

that heart and spirit on love will fly.

From Jamie and A Brit Abroad:

And thank you, Mudflats! This is Clare’s last day in Nantes, packing up her bags to scoot off to Switzerland on her way back to the frozen tundra of the north. Clare, better known to you as Brit Abroad, is the first Mudpuppy to come and visit me in France, and it has been one amazing week. On her last day here, we decided to send AKM and Mudflats a thank you note for bringing us together. At the last moment, ink drying on the page, we knew that we just had to add a small p.s. on the bottom of the card for Sarah Palin for, little does she know, she is the reason that we flocked as one towards Alaska and the wonderful blog that is Mudflats and, but for her, we may not have found each other.

A Brit Abroad and Jamie, Floridian in France, began bumping into each other over on the blog early mornings, European time, drinking coffee as we either gasped in horror at Sarah’s doings, or just her being, or chuckled over AKM’s ironic reporting of Caribou Barbie and her latest shenanigans. The possibility that one day this woman could actually become VP of the United States was so terrifying and astonishing that nary a day passed without groups of us hovering around AKM’s “livingroom” waiting for analysis and further posts, all of us quickly becoming regulars. And through it all, friendships were born and networks created, growing out of mutual concerns, common passions, shared hopes. Heaving a huge, international, communal sigh of relief, Mudflatters everywhere rejoiced as our candidates were elected and Scary Sary and her old man running mate were sent on the first train home. Yet we all hung around, basking in the comfort of AKM’s hospitality and witty, informative blogging.

We had become a circle of friends, sending each other gifts and cards, meeting up with each other when we could, living and watching the on-going Palin Family Saga as others sit on their sofas and watch The Guiding Light or listen to The Archers. Sarah and gang have become our Soap Opera, entertaining us, enthralling us with a kind of morbid fascination that just won’t quit. Now we say good bye to Sarah as Governor, yet we truly want her to know that she has played an important role in our lives, for without her, would we have ever all shown up at the same party? She stayed long enough to bring us together, get to know each other and become friends, knowing, strangely enough, just when to bow out and go home. She served her purpose, quitting after having given us the right amount of time to fulfill our destinies and so now it is Bye-Bye Birdie.

Clare and I wanted to bring a special treat to the Going Away Party. We racked our brains for many hours, deliberating between Eggs On Your Face Word Salad, Half-Baked Alaska and Pork Pie Lies, yet we finally decided on these gooey treats. Thank you, Sarah, for everything you have done for us and we’ve packed you up a tin of Nutty Moose Droppings to take home with you.

NUTTY MOOSE DROP(PINGS) COOKIES Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

6 oz (180 g) semi-sweet chocolate, either chips or chopped (we used Lindt Dessert 70%)
1 oz (30 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped (we used Lindt Dessert 85%)
2 Tbs (30 g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup (135 g) sugar
¼ cup (30 g) flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 cup (100 g) coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or oven paper. Place the chopped chocolates in a medium-sized bowl in the microwave (or over a pan of simmering but not boiling water) and heat gently until almost melted. Add the softened butter and stir vigorously until all the remaining bits of chocolate and the butter is thoroughly melted, combined and smooth. Add the vanilla and the two eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk or beat together (by hand) until smooth. Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir until completely combined and smooth. Fold in the chopped nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake (I bake one batch at a time in my tiny French oven) for 8 to 10 minutes until just barely set in the center but no longer gooey. Remove from the oven and carefully lift off and remove to a metal cooling rack to cool.

These rich, dark, fudgy cookies with the crunch of nuts are the perfect treat to have with a cold glass of milk or a hot coffee as you are sitting in your jammies in front of your computer savoring Mudflats.

For detailed photo instructions for the recipe link to http://lifesafeast.blogspot.com.

Mudpuppy LettersFromEurope sent this guest post in for Father’s Day, but it’s still a wonderful piece to read. Enjoy!

I met my Dad coming out of a lift. I didn´t give him a chance of nervously pacing around a waiting room, sitting down and jumping up again. I was there when he arrived at the hospital, being carried around on the arm of a nurse. I don´t remember this momentous meeting, but my father does. What I remember are the times he took me to the printshops. I felt privileged to sneak a look at the enormous machines, smell the ink and see the huge paper rolls that were used to create the newspaper, which my father worked on. It was also very noisy, but I didn´t mind because that was part of the magic.

My Dad the journalist and I took it for granted that we lived in Europe, my father came from the States and had married an Italian lady. Until recently I did not appreciate where he came from. In the course of this year we have spent many hours chatting about his childhood in a cozy midwestern town called Oak Harbor. We talked about the accident, which nearly killed him when he was seven and left him with one eye. We talked about him leaving his town and beginning life on his own at the University of Notre Dame (while still sending home all his wash ) and how he tried to get a foothold as cartoonist and journalist in the States after graduation. He went to Europe as a tourist and decided to look for a job while there. He got lucky in Rome, where the “Daily American” was being published. A paper where, while it still existed, I also was able to visit the printshop.

This is where he met a girl called Maria. He went off to Paris to work for the Herald Tribune, but found that he really missed the lady that became my Mother - Mummy - Mum. She joined him, while mastering climbing mountains of bureaucracy that were not used to dealing with an American and an Italian that wanted to get married in Paris in the year of 1957. I discovered in our chats that he had saved every letter my mother and he wrote in this time of their long distance courtship. He saved every letter his mother sent him. He saved his lists of wash sent home from University. He saved every cartoon and copies of many of the articles he wrote. We decided to go through all his material to organize it.

For me it was like walking through time, discovering what was on my father´s mind and happening in his life at the time and with him there to explain and elaborate on pictures, drawings, stories and letters it all became real. Sometimes things happen for a reason. I had just finished compiling an anthology for an adult learning course. It was a lot of work and of course I was doing it for free (which is something I cannot really afford, but who can nowadays). While we sorted through my Dad´s work I came upon familiar drawings of a pirate. He was called Captain Bucky and the drawings showed him golfing or skiing, things we normally don´t associate with pirates. But to my great surprise there were a lot more drawings of Bucky, which I had never seen and a story my father had written about the pirate. That´s when the pieces of the puzzle fell in place. I had drawings. I had a story. I had an author and I had just learned how to create books. The idea was born and my father liked it. What a way to celebrate being over 80. Pirate Bucky knows what to do with Cannon Balls @John C. Krueger.

Soon the first print of “The Jolly Roger Twins - Pirates who fly Kites” will be produced. Little did I know there was a lot more learning to do, but throughout it all my Dad and I had a wonderful time creating his first book. And being 80 and suffering from macular degeneration, doesn´t stop him from making plans for the next one. It will be called Roma Oma and Europa Opa.

@Francesca http://lettersfromgermany.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/father-daddy-dad/

Here is a sample of my Dad´s professional writing from the sixties: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=140&article=13333