No more cooking for me this week

Last night I made a mega-batch of meat-free minestrone. And I can't even give the recipe, because I just winged it, and besides, no one wants a recipe for an 8-liter (2 gallon) batch of soup. After seven of us ate supper (dinner) last night, these two jars were left over (about 5 liters, or 1 gallon and 1 quart. The Campells soup can is just there for scale). This soup plus the leftovers already in the fridge should hold us the rest of the week. I plan to do some Easter baking later this week (sticky cinnamon rolls, poppyseed loaf--a Slavic thing, potato buns) so I'll be busy enough in the kitchen without having to worry about my daily nemesis (cooking dinner/supper).

Happy Lady Day!

Or, "Feast of the Annunciation", as some have it.

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Happy Flannery Day!

"In Her Own Words" (and voice).

Those writers who speak for and with their age are able to do so with a great deal more ease and grace than those who speak counter to prevailing attitudes. I once received a letter from an old lady in California who informed me that when the tired reader comes home at night, he wishes to read something that will lift up his heart. And it seems her heart had not been lifted up by anything of mine she had read. I think that if her heart had been in the right place, it would have been lifted up.

You may say that the serious writer doesn't have to bother about the tired reader, but he does, because they are all tired. One old lady who wants her heart lifted up wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club. I used to think it should be possible to write for some supposed elite, for the people who attend universities and sometimes know how to read, but I have since found that though you may publish your stories in Botteghe Oscure, they are any good at all, you are eventually going to get a letter from some old lady in California, or some inmate of the Federal Penitentiary or the state insane asylum or the local poorhouse, telling you where you have failed to meet his needs.

And his need, of course, is to be lifted up. There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. The reader of today looks for this motion, and rightly so, but what he has forgotten is the cost of it. His sense of evil is diluted or lacking altogether, and so he has forgotten the price of restoration. When he reads a novel, he wants either his senses tormented or his spirits raised. He wants to be transported, instantly, either to mock damnation or a mock innocence.

Thank you: CBW III, feminism, and the Spirit of Vatican II

Because of you, people are all confused about hymns. (Lots more than that, actually, but we can talk about hymns for now). In the old days, people used to memorize hymns. We could sing them without books. The words never changed. Now, thanks to the Spirit of Vatican II, we don't memorize anything, because that's bad. Memorization means your faith is empty. It's all about love and God meeting us where we're at. So now we love hymns, especially anything with a polka beat written by Carey Haugenhaaschutte, but we can't sing them without books. (Photocopying and overhead projection are illegal.)

Many parishes have hymn books of course, but they can be difficult to manage during processions, especially when you are also holding palms and/or children's hands. And furthermore, many parishes now have several different hymn books, with different versions of the same hymn in different books, because the exclusive patriarchal hateful lyrics had to be expunged in favour of the ones with rainbows and unicorns in them. Thanks, feminism and CBW III.

Let us take, for example, the hymn "All Glory, Laud and Honor," which is traditionally sung on Palm Sunday. The CBW III got rid of the word "laud" because it's, like, so Latin and everything. And what is Latin good for anyway (liturgy aside) except every academic subject under the sun, plus spelling. We had to get rid of "thee" and "thou" "thy" and "didst" because that's just archaic language, and it makes the hymn sound all old and horrible, like you're saying a poem or something equally as gross and irrelevant! "Mortal men" had to go for sure, because they're all sexist and dying and everything. (Who wants to think about death? At a happy time like Easter? Bunnies! Candy!) The phrase "mortal men" was replaced with the much more inclusive, modern, relevant and melodic-sounding pronoun "we".

So anyway, the long and the short of it is that thanks to all the forces conspiring to make our liturgy more relevant, more inclusive, more loving and easier for the lay people to be empowered to participate... the end result is that in our parish, on Palm Sunday, no one knew the words to the hymn. No one. And can you blame us? Cuz it really was two different hymns, and frankly, no one knew whether we were supposed to be singing the patriarchal or the unicorn verson.

So instead of re-enacting Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, our Palm Sunday Procession was more like the Awkard and Silent Shuffle into Jerusalem.

Holy Week has begun, and I continue to learn: there is more than one way to live the Passion.
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How to smell like booze, without touching a drop

Wear this.

Secret "Scent Expressions" vanilla. I don't usually buy scented products of this nature, but Mr. P and I were stranded overnight (by a snowstorm) some weeks back and I had to dash into the pharmacy and get some supplies. I couldn't find my regular stuff, so I thought, "You know, I really like vanilla." Bad move. To me, it smells exactly like a whiskey-based liqueur (such as Bailey's Irish Cream). Not really the scent you want to exude, say, at work or school, at a job interview, in the grocery lineup (especially if you have several small children screaming in your cart, and people come up to you and say, "Are they all yours?"), or (best of all) in the confessional. Father will say, "And is there anything else you'd like to confess?" And you may not know what he's getting at.

So if you ever plan on purchasing this product, you can't say you weren't warned.
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Earth Hour

Is over now for you folks in the Eastern Time Zones. I hope you did it up right. It won't start here in SK for another hour, but I plan to have all my lights on, as well as my big screen TV, my home theatre system, my outdoor Christmas lights, and probably (for movie treats) my blender, my popcorn maker, and maybe my oven. Too bad I can't run the treadmill as well, but I did that this morning.

Oh, and I've renamed the event at my house: it's now "Christ, Lord of Heaven and Earth Hour."

I enjoyed this NatPo column, which explains how Earth Hour (besides being stupid and pointless) is also wasteful of energy, and ADDS to carbon emissions (candles pollute! Duh).
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Time for my post-blizzard photos

Mr. P and the kids and I went out today to play in the snow.

This used to be a street, but now it is, shall we say, closed until further notice. 

The same street, but facing the opposite direction. 

Then, it was off to the research farm, where Mr. P. works. These were all taken in a large parking area.

This brings back memories of snowstorms in the 70s, when we used to walk up the snowdrifts and onto the roof of the chicken coop. No chicken coops here, unfortunately. 

I wish our cousins from Australia were here right now, so they could play with us in the snow! (and our Ottawa cousins too, of course, but snow is much less of a novelty for them...)

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Funny, yet pathetic

Well, the blizzard ended last night at 8pm (more than 12 hours later than the weather guys forecast), and we are digging out.

Driveway belonging to a friend of a friend

Photo from Facebook

Road crews have been going great guns trying to get the highways cleared. Until the roads are ship-shape, however, we are still stuck at home. 

Facebook photo

A funny (yet pathetic) thought occured to me: we are such an "advanced" civilization, yet right now --because of our dependence on the car-- we are more incapacitated than our forefathers were more than half a century ago. They had all kinds of ways of getting around in conditions like this, and here we are in the 21st century unable to get across our own backyards (some of us don't even own a pair of heavy-duty winter boots). When hubby gets home, I'm going to scold him for not getting me the snowshoes I asked for last Christmas. 

The Bombardier! Invented and built in Canada.

The 'caboose'--it was heated with a tiny coal or wood stove. 

Mr. P's grandmother gave birth prematurely to her youngest child in one of these 

(she was enroute to hospital, suffering from pneumonia. Everyone survived).

And of course, rural folks were great for improvising. If you needed something, but didn't have it and couldn't afford it, you built it. 

"When I look at all of these beautiful young ladies, I am filled with hope for the Church."

When I saw the photo of the postulants, among whom is included the daughter of a dear friend, I had that exact same thought, except in my mind, it came out sort of more like, gasp--sob! Because my heart felt like it had just got caught in my throat. In a good way.

 She Answers is a beautiful blog. If you've ever wanted to see inside a religious vocation, or how a mom might feel when her daughter enters religious life, this is the place for you.

Here is just a taste, from last July (cuz I just found out about this blog recently, and so I'm going back and reading all the archives...)

I am discovering something very sad.  Some people (even Catholics) don't get religious vocations.  They are more negative than I could have ever imagined. Some find Maria's entering the convent as "scary", bizarre, cultish, too extreme, embarrassing or a sign of some kind of tragedy.  Someone compared it to a death in the family. One person asked how old Maria was and then exclaimed that she shouldn't give up on marriage at such a young age...surely someone would come along.  As if Maria's desire for religious life is really a reaction to not having a boyfriend! Are we in a world that people cease to believe that God is calling young people to serve Him in a radical way?

Well, yes.

If this is not science fiction from The Onion

Then I want one. Wrist MP3 player. But I'm wondering how you'd keep from losing those earbuds. Or what kind of crazy, brain-tumor inducing batteries they contain. I guess you wouldn't wear them whilst strolling through an alfalfa field.

Ten bucks says

She parlays this into a book or movie or cold hard cash of some kind. And secondly, why do other people always get all the good ideas first?

For cryin out loud, even Simcha has merchandise!

Maybe if I spent more time thinking, and less time blogging...

... naw.

Some of us were just never meant to be famous or rich.
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100 sent to hospital

People! Stay off the highways in storm-affected regions of SK and AB until the weather cooperates, and road crews get a chance to clean up the mess. There is a REASON why police say "travel not recommended." You risk your life as well as the lives of police, tow truck drivers, ambulance personnel, and other rescue-type folk. Nothing could be worth this; no, not even your job.

Huge accident outside Edmonton this morning. 

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More blizzard photos

Here's a photo someone posted on Facebook. Imagine coming upon that while driving down the highway.

The picture below looks like it was taken from an airplane window. It wasn't. It's another highway shot, take from a vehicle. Stay home and stay alive, folks!

The blizzard was supposed to end this morning...

But... It's noon, and we are still experiencing high winds and blowing snow. I'm beginning to feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder in The Long Winter.  Good thing our cold storage room and pantry are well stocked with food and supplies. Not that I'm in any danger of starving (*cough*). 

Here's the update from the highway report. It doesn't sound good at all. I truly feel for people who have to drive in order to make a living. I'm staying put. 

Strong winds giving poor visibilities in blowing snow today.

Southeast winds of 40-50 km/h with gusts as high as 70 to 75 km/h continue to affect much of Southern and Western Saskatchewan this morning, resulting in poor visibility in snow and blowing snow, as well as treacherous driving conditions due to severe drifting and ice-covered roads. Saskatchewan Highways is reporting many roads are closed in the warning area this morning, with travel not recommended on the remaining routes. The storm let up in some regions overnight, however radar shows a fresh shot of precipitation moving into the warning area from the west. The public should be prepared for rapidly deteriorating conditions again this morning with near zero visibilities at times.

Gradually diminishing winds over the course of the day into this evening should improve conditions somewhat, at least as far as blowing snow is concerned...But periods of snow can be expected to continue throughout much of Southern Saskatchewan over the next 36 hours. 

It's that last part that bothers me. My husband is due home in "the next 36 hours" from his week-long business trip. That's IF his plane isn't delayed by bad conditions where he is (he reported a lot of snow the last time I talked to him). Once his flight arrives safely, he still faces a two-hour drive on the roads described above. In other words, he's gonna be stranded for as long as conditions remain so bad.

Folks, THIS is why the police tell people to stay home...

Taken yesterday near Webb, SK (found on Facebook)

Happy Second Day of Spring.
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Even though I am not a boy

I still feel like an Eavesdropper on this site, because I don't *really* belong there, because I am an Old Married Lady. It is called Seraphic Singles, and it has lots of good (and clever and funny and wise) dating advice for young Catholic women (and the Men Who Eavesdrop, for as Seraphic has pointed out on countless occasions, it is a GIRL BLOG).

But I am, to paraphrase Silas Wegg (at least the film version), "flush with girls," especially young Catholic single ones, so I feel it incumbent to read this blog on their behalf, and pass on any great tidbits.

Other Catholic moms with Single Daughters of courtship dating age may wish to do the same.

Yesterday (in honour of St. Joseph), it was Gentlemen's Day, on which Seraphic graciously allowed boys to have their say.  Here is what one young man (who signed himself "It's Just Coffee") wrote. It will resonate.

“Why does it seem so much harder for Catholic/Christian women to accept date invitations than for secular women”? There have been a couple instances when I asked out a Catholic woman and she anxiously mulled it over for days before saying “we don’t know each other well enough to date” or something to that effect. Other Catholic/Christian men have made similar observations, and have noted that secular women accept invitations more readily.

 [...]

This all might have something to do with the fact that, in [American] Catholic circles, everyone knows you don’t date unless you’re planning to marry and you don’t date anyone you wouldn’t marry… therefore, nobody will date unless they’re sure that they’re ready to marry that person RIGHT NOW… I think both men and women have seen how this logic seems sound but leads to absurd outcomes.

Of course, you will have to hop on over  to SS to see how Auntie Seraphic (and the combox boys) respond to his question. 
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Since it's still soup season

I'm going to give this a try: Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup. Image and recipe from Oh So Lovely.

It's spring, dammit!

And yet, it is SO not. Here is the weather for my region today (but I see they forgot to mention the part about -25 C wind chill, which is also in the forecast). Oh, and the "afternoon" part is also a little off; the wind started howling here about 8:00 a.m.

3:46 AM CST Wednesday 20 March 2013 Winter storm warning 

 Snow, very strong winds and blowing snow late afternoon and tonight.

This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions...Listen for updated statements.A powerful storm forecast to develop in Alberta today and will lead to deteriorating weather conditions throughout the day in Western Saskatchewan. Southeast winds are forecast to gradually strengthen over all of Western Saskatchewan today, with winds 40 km/h gusting to 80 km/h by late afternoon. Visibility will deteriorate throughout the day as blowing snow becomes more prevalent, with hazardous driving conditions due to poor visibility and slippery roads expected to be widespread throughout the area. As snow pushes into West-Central Saskatchewan towards evening near blizzard conditions with near-zero visibility will develop.

 Conditions will improve Thursday morning. 

Yeah, thanks a heap, Mother Nature! Today is music lesson day, not tomorrow (we're supposed to drive a 40 mile round trip, but I'm not driving* in ANY more blizzards. Cheating death once per season is enough for me). Where is that darn global warming we keep hearing about? I declare, some of the snow in our yard will not melt till June.

Here is a picture of my driveway.

Here are three photos of the rose bush outside my living room window (note for scale: the hedge in the background is up to my chest in height, and I am 5' 3").

October, 2012

December, 2012

March 19, 2013 (yesterday)

And now, back to checking the hot water heater, which has died TWICE three times in the last 24 hours (once before the plumber came, and once twice after). How can you tell Mr. Pinkerton is gone on a week-long business trip?

*Update: vindicated. At the exact time at which I would have been returning home from music lessons, I checked the highway hotline for my route: Travel Not Recommended, Icy or Slippery Sections, Snow Drifts, Drifting Snow, Reduced visibility.

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God bless David Warren

This is one of the most beautiful things I have read in a very long time. I'm not going to quote from it, because I want you to go read it for yourself. You will feel blessed if you do.
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I think I love pictures like this

...because the rooms look so clean and clutter-free.

My weekly dose of loveliness and art-induced relaxation courtesy of Nordic Thoughts (well, it's relaxing as long as you avoid the Munch paintings and the biographies of bohemian artists).
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Mark Steyn, honorary Catholic

And I mean that in a GOOD way. You can also tell he's still Canadian, because he has heard of Peter Mansbridge (and understands him completely). Some great comments (on Hugh Hewitt) on the MSM's handling of the papal conclave/election. 

Well, you know, I think the papal coverage in the so-called serious media, particularly in the United States but elsewhere, too, has been completely ridiculous. [...] I mean, this idea, the parochialism of it, the idea that somehow the American media’s preoccupations – gay marriage and abortion, should also be the preoccupations of the oldest continuously functioning entity in the world. [...] and the fact that these guys have to go to Columbia Journalism School to talk this kind of ignorant codswallop to the world, is amazing to me.

[...] 

I saw Canada’s most famous newsreader, a man who’s like the Peter Jennings and Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw rolled into one, a guy called Peter Mansbridge. He interviewed Cardinal Ouelette, the former archbishop of Quebec, who was in the running to become the first Canadian pope at this conclave. And you could, and again, he was asking these shallow, secular…the questioning from a shallow, secular perspective. And Cardinal Ouelette is far too polite a man to say to him this is the dumbest bunch of questions I’ve ever had to sit through...

I will never forget Peter Mansbridge's coverage of Mother Teresa's funeral. He turned to his colleague and said, in his serious, sonorous, time-filling, journalist-guy voice. "You have to wonder now, whether her order will continue into the future..." or something equally preposterous and ignorant. Canada's "most trusted news anchor" probably thought Mother Teresa had, like six old nuns working alonside her in the slums of India. He did not know that the Missionaries of Charity had gone worldwide and had thousands of members. Did. Not. Know. 

h/t Pundette
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He had me at "direct line to the soul"

In fact, he had me at "Man, I gotta have my music," because I feel that way too sometimes. Though, unlike some, I do not have (or require) constant background humming at all times. I do realize the value of silence and contemplation. Interesting piece at Mercator about the commodification of music, with a good conclusion. Totalitarians and technocrats can no more 'control' music than they can control the movement of the Holy Spirit.
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I love him already

"reform of the...Vatican’s bureaucratic arm is high on the agenda." 

Some good articles about Pope Francis at MercatorNet. 

Maybe Pope Francis's reform will have  a trickle-down effect. It is scandelous how various dioceses with their multi-million dollar office complexes spend so much time, energy and money on useless programs, promoting  speakers and workshops that embrace heresy or nonsense, and (my favourite) more and more and  more forever and ever, amen: fundraising. (Because, as you know, it's impossible to evangelize without money, just being holy where you are.) 

You wonder how the great saints and martyrs of the past ever managed to found charities, schools, hospitals, and evangelize thousands without being backed by a multi-million dollar bureaucratic structure. It's interesting to note that most (if not all) the 'successful' (ie, actually bringing souls to Christ) apostolates around these days started out as an idea that some nobody layperson had, and not as the result of a diocesan initiative. 

"The Church needs saints, not bureaucrats" (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 1995)

And this just discovered (by me) from a book by the former Cardinal Borgoglio:

In the history of the Catholic Church, the true renovators are the saints. They are true reformers, the ones who change, transform, lead and revive spiritual paths. Another example: Francis of Assisi, who introduced a new attitude towards poverty in Christianity when faced with the luxury, pride and vanity of the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the time. He introduced a mysticism of poverty, of detachment, and he changed history.

I pray that we have such a saint in the Chair of Peter right now.

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HABEMUS PAPAM!!

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"A dietary desert of drifting sans"

I don't know about you, but during Lenten fasting (or deprivation), my thoughts sometimes turn to food. Leave it to post-modern, organic, vegan, sheister America to find a way to eat but not gain any pleasure from it (and pick your pocket) at the same time.

Free at last, free at last... A hilarious little read* from American Digest:

On the other hand it would seem that the same wan affluent are lining up to buy food that is so refined and uptight that it has been entirely stripped of what any other culture, any other era, would recognize as... well... food itself. So deep is the affluent American's longing for thin that we have now arrived at "food free food."

h/t Sultan Knish a.k.a. Daniel Greenfield

*mild language warning.
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Character home--and then some

When one has a roof over one's head, one shouldn't complain about the aesthetics of one's home, but I often lament having to live in a split level designed and built in the mid-70s. When it comes to residential architecture, I think the 1970s was the single most UN-inspiring decade in the history of the universe. But when you move to an area with a limited real estate market (and only have, like two weeks to buy a house), you can't be too choosey. Other bonus: when we bought, housing prices were (I kid you not) in the five-digit range. So we paid off our mortgage in five years.  And yet, I have always wanted to live in a character home. And believe me, some homes have more character than others.

h/t Nordic Thoughts
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The Hound Dog Kind

March Break is here at last!

Have a good time, everyone, and don't forget to park your dog in a designated area while you sample the puddles.


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Behold, I make all things new.

A few weeks ago, in sorting through the belongings of a relative who has gone into a care home, my mom and dad came across a time capsule treasure: an undeveloped roll of film that was nearly forty years old. I love old family pictures; as the youngest of thirteen I wasn't around for, or don't remember, a good part of our family history. By this time I was sure I had seen all the family pictures there were to see, so these photographs were a delightful surprise.

All of us "kids" are over forty now, and our parents are in their eighties. A few months ago, during a conversation about family members growing older, one of my sisters mentioned that as we age we are actually growing younger, because we are (hopefully) nearing the ageless joy of eternity with God. When I look at the photograph below, in which my father was only about 7 or 8 years older than I am now, I am reminded that old age, infirmity, and sorrow do not have the last word. As long as we are growing closer to Christ, we are growing closer to beauty, innocence, strength and youth. These are not merely images of old times past - they are also an image and foretaste of Heaven.
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And speaking of old photographs...

Hearing about my parents' find, I feel a little like researchers must have felt when they came across vintage Disfarmer portraits. Disfarmer was a small-town Arkansas photographer whose work has become widely admired and also quite valuable. Given his birth name, I wonder if he's related to Mr. B. And given that he was an eccentric who lacked basic social skills and was rumored to live on chocolate ice cream, I wonder if he's related to me, too. His is an interesting story - you can watch it here or read about him here. I'm not sure why it is so fascinating to look at portraits of strangers - I guess it's because every face tells a story. Some of which probably began, "It was the night before Fred was shipping out. We grabbed our fedoras and headed on down to the abandoned cigarette factory where the jazz was hot and the chicks were cool...."

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More IWD fun

This just in, via email. Not sure why I received it, because I am not a member of the CWL, but that's a story for another day. You know what? I'm not even going to fisk this, because you gals are all smart enough to do it yourselves.

And I'm tired. I have some dishes to wash, and a school day/week to finish (a.k.a. "mentoring my children in their Education Story") and a long article to write, due Monday. And later I'm going to "take a baby step towards food sovereignty" by cooking dinner, using some veggies I grew last summer in my garden--and I didn't even need a workshop or small group sharing to accomplish any of it!

In short, I'm going to observe International Women's Day by being a MOM, in the Mom Arena. (BTW, the "Food Arena" sounds like MY kind of sports facility. I wonder if that's where they stage The Hunger Games...)

I just have this to add: "Unrecognized leadership roles"??? Has this lady never heard of, oh... women PIONEERS? This is the part that really burns: my TAX dollars are funding this detritus.

Just think on this for a moment: to observe International Women's Day (a feminist feast day), the government (run by feminists) is using confiscated tax dollars to teach women how to cook and raise gardens. Do you know why women lost these skills? Feminism. Head exploding now.

Warrior babes, free speech and the CBC

In honour of International Women's Day, that celebration of feminism, empowerment and above all, political correctness. 

I don’t work for the CBC, but if I did, this would be a serious new story, and it would be titled: “CBC Host Sexist Misogynist Warmonger!” Except that the CBC, like most left-of-centre media outlets, never reports on its own incongruities.

Beautiful

The one and only David Warren, who waxes eloquently on a young Korean singer, Little Dorrit and eternity. I am not intelligent enough to understand 90% of what he writes, but this is one of those 10% moments, and I am grateful for it. 

Salvation comes not through “programmes” but through persons: a teacher, a food vendor, a nightclub singer.

If you plan to read Mr. Warren's essay, you might as well watch this first, so you know who he's talking about. 

Quotation of the day

 If spiritual pastors are to refrain from saying anything that might ever, by any possibility, be misunderstood by anybody, they will end—as in fact many of them do—by never saying anything worth hearing.

Dorothy L. Sayers
The Greatest Drama Ever Staged


In my view, DLS is right up there with Flannery in the pantheon of wise and witty Christian writers. She is as much to be admired for her fiction (Lord Peter) as for her work on art, culture, philosophy, theology. If by chance, the Paschal Mystery has become "dull" to you over the years, then hop on over and peruse this short essay by Miss Sayers. Good Lenten reading.

Just one more snippet (on repentance):

All of us, perhaps, are too ready, when our behaviour turns out to have appalling consequences, to rush out and hang ourselves. Sometimes we do worse, and show an inclination to go and hang other people. Judas, at least, seems to have blamed nobody but himself, and St. Peter, who had a minor betrayal of his own to weep for, made his act of contrition and waited to see what came next. 

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One more sign that you're getting old

When the Tupperware you bought as a young bride is now being sold on ebay as "vintage".

Going back further yet, Tupperware ads from the 1960s. Love.

Chocolate layer cake: the ultimate culinary expression of love for your family.

I totally want those yellow pumps, and maybe the wooden spoon magic wand too.

Caramba! THE COOKIE CUTTERS!
 (Also note: layer cake, pie, pie, pie, pie, layer cake. Nuff said) 

h/t for ads Oh So Lovely vintage/retro blog (Mrs. B, finish your housework before you click this link!)

Lenten resolution: cut snarky political blogs from reading list; replace with sites that bring you joy.
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