Gov.UK

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smoking-in-vehicles

Is there already a law against smoking while pregnant?

Don't think this will fly over here with the power of the tobacco lobby.

Now I've got to go find this author's work

Biography
Jenny Lawson is a very strange girl who has friends in spite of herself. She is perpetually one cat away from being a crazy cat lady.

A love letter to libraries
http://thebloggess.com/2015/08/a-love-letter-to-libraries/
AUGUST 13, 2015
in FURIOUSLY HAPPY, MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

I just found out that Furiously Happy (tbp in September) was chosen as one of the '10 LibraryReads' for September. That means that librarians around the country nominated it as one of the top books they can’t wait to share with readers. That nod is one of the most poignant honors I have ever received and I cried when I heard it, although not everyone would understand why.

When I was little my favorite places were libraries. You weren’t expected to speak, which was heaven for a shy girl with an anxiety disorder. Thousands of small secret stories were hidden in plain sight all around you, just waiting to be held in your hands and discovered. As a small girl in rural Texas, I knew that the best chance I had of seeing worlds that would never be open to me, and meeting fantastic people I’d never be bold enough to speak to was through books. I was able to see places that exist (or that had existed, and or that would never exist) through the words of the storytellers whose worlds had been bound up and shared and protected through generations of docent-guardians who called themselves “librarians”.( Read more... )

I’ll ask a magician. I’ll ask a librarian.

Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread

http://finesoutherndish.com/2014/06/southern-skillets--buttermilk-cornbread.html
(makes 8-10 servings)

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg plus 1 large yolk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 425F
In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and egg yolk.
Pour the buttermilk mixture in with the cornmeal mixture and stir until well combined.
Add the butter to a cast iron skillet (at least 10 inches wide) and place in the oven until the butter is melted (3 to 5 minutes).
Remove the skillet from the oven, and swirl the butter around to make sure the skillet bottom and sides are well coated.
Pour the batter into the skillet, and smooth out the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Serve warm.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/skillet-cornbread-recipe/ Brown Eyed Baker

Beef Patties In Onion Gravy

Beef Patties In Onion Gravy



Ingredients

Patties
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1⁄2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1⁄2 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1⁄8 teaspoon pepper

Gravy
1⁄2 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 cups water
2 tablespoons flour

DIRECTIONS

Combine all patty ingredients;mix thouroughly with your hands and shape into 4 patties.
Spray a non-stick skillet, and brown patties on both sides.
Add dry onion soup mix and 1 1/2 cup water.
Cover pan tightly and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove patties to a plate.
In a gravy shaker or jar, combine 1/2 cup water with 2 tbs. flour.
Stir flour and water into onion gravy.
Stir constantly with a whisk until it comes to a boil.
Boil 1 minute.
Return patties to pan.
Serve with mashed potatoes or hot cooked noodles.
recipe courtesy of www.food,com

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Samantha Derr pointed the way to this. Beautiful.

Ship on Stormy Seas
http://en.gallerix.ru/album/aivazovsky



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Aivazovsky

Azure Grotto, Naples (1841)




Battle of Çesme at Night (1856)