In keeping with the river theme this week, you can go here to see a short videoscan of the Mississippi. It hit its high for this spring yesterday.

Lyman wanted something to show friends in Ohio and New York.

I guess I could have loosened that creaky tripod.

Major Davis has a fine Southern epitaph.

UPDATE: This stone makes me think of the other song I played on Memorial Day.

This picture was taken farther downstream, a piece down the road from the cemeteries. The river crested last week.

This is one view of the Mississippi River from the new section of the Natchez National Cemetery.

Had Charles not lived last year -- and there were times we thought he might not -- he wanted his ashes buried up here as close to the river as possible. And still does, when his time comes.

Wait a minute. We have a big stainless steel steam pan that Lyman uses for ribs which will work a lot better than those Hefty disposable casserole pans for assembly and transport.

It's Big Daddy's 90th birthday tomorrow. He doesn't like cake, so it's scratch banana pudding for all 25 residents at the assisted living center and whatever guests arrive.

Staff, too. Lyman's brother is bringing some pies.

UPDATE: Kitchen hand, the recipe I'll be using is a lot like this one.

How far ahead can I make banana pudding with baked meringue before serving? I'm serving 20 30 at 3 1 p.m. on Saturday.

It's a shame that I should have to ask this question about a Southern staple.

UPDATE: Vidalia good cook Dot Ware suggests assembling the pudding up to meringue the day before, then whipping up and baking the meringue on top in the morning. That's a plan.

A curried cauliflower side that will go into the "keepers" file:

1 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (10-oz.) packages fresh cauliflower florets
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt

Cook curry powder and red pepper in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring often, 1 minute. Add cauliflower, onion, and salt, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is crisp-tender. Reduce heat to low; add 6 Tbsp. water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes or just until cauliflower is tender.

Just a pretty song for Memorial Day:

I'm willing to eschew disposable shopping bags -- except for the few plastic ones that I reuse as liners in bathroom trash cans, or the big paper bags that we use in the truck for trash.

What I would prefer is the old-style European expanding string bag like, perhaps, these. As a retail clerk in the past, I'd prefer something that makes the management more comfortable than the canvas and other opaque bags that can conceal shoplifting.

I also don't want to pay a premium price for something that's "eco-friendly," or pay shipping for something that should come at the dollar store for about four bucks.

(Thanks, kitchen hand.)

The Internet wouldn't connect this morning, so I took some time to write a short letter to enclose with a card for my niece at Navy boot camp. Last night I couldn't think of a thing to say.

She had a bad go there for a bit when she developed tendonitis in her foot. She tells her mother that running in boots is killing.

Graduation is scheduled for June 5.

UPDATE: Far as I know, she's the first woman in the family to do military service. She's 24.

A vibrating mascara brush?

I rarely make it through a makeup session without having to dab away mistakes with a still one.

Dr. Alice has a fun little exercise up.

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

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Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

All well and good, but there was no question regarding "lead" and "led."

Now there's a new one for me: Oppositional Defiant Disorder

From a Slate article on what successful women wanted to be when they grew up:

Judith Martin, Miss Manners

One day when I was a little girl with blonde ringlets, my father said, "I can picture you as an old lady, wearing high collars and a bun and tyrannizing over future generations."

And I thought to myself, "My daddy understands me."

I lifted this video from Ann Althouse:
Cat and parrot


Not a chance I'd take, but dear all the same.

Weagle.

(I've adopted this from Charlie. He says it out of the blue. It means he's still around but doesn't have much to say.

Oh, excuse me. That's Charles.

He never liked the diminutive.)

Lyman's mother sometimes gets chilly in her new environment where she can't run the thermostat up and down at will.

So I found a soft, pretty throw for Mother's Day in a pearl blue. She likes blues.

And a pretty, girly card.

Happy Mother's Day, Girl.

(Maybe my wicked stepmother's day present can be one in rust. Or that deep, deep red. Yes, the red.)

UPDATE: Had to settle for that cozy rust. Matches our patio table at the beach.

Happy Mother's Day to you moms out there.

And a story to warm you by the fire.

Now then, if you want perfect 4mm beads, the workers at Good Wood have them for you. Buy in lots of 25,000.

How do they do that? Make perfect 4mm beads, I mean.