Check out the free download for a live Pixies EP. Sure it is only four songs, but it is free and it is the Pixies.
http://www.pixiesmusic.com/splash.html
May 30, 2009
We all remember our first kiss. It is a very special moment in our lives. It is when innocence meets maturity. For me this occasion was no different. I was five years old and I had a best friend who was a girl of the same age. I won’t mention her name for I don’t know if she would want me to tell this story to the world, nor do I know if we have the same memories of the event.
This young girl and I spent all our spare time playing together; and five year olds have a surprising amount of free time. Needless to say, we were together a lot. Every day I would walk home with her from school often hand in hand. On one special day, being the affectionate young lad I was, I thought I would show her my appreciation of her as my best friend by giving her a kiss. Now, I was five, so this was not a premeditated move just a gesture of friendship. So I kissed her and her reaction was what one would expect . . . she hit me up the side of my head. A big old slap.
This summer I am planning on getting married and it is funny that this is going through my head. I guess I am afraid that my second kiss will be as successful as my first.
January 28, 2009
Baked Beans
My friend Ben asked me for my baked bean recipe the other day. I really couldn’t believe how selfish he was being, wanting to keep my recipe all to himself. I decided that I would not let him keep it to himself, but share it instead with all of you. Keep in mind the recipe is in my head, so I hope it works. If it doesn’t, blame Ben.
Ingredients
Navy beans- now I try to use canned navy beans (2 cans), because it saves hours of bean soaking. Some see this as cheating, but I think of it more as good time management.
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tbsp of prepared mustard
1 large onion
1 cup of molasses (I like the molasses)
A several strips of bacon
1 tbsp of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to about 300°
Butter the inside of a casserole dish (ideally a bean crock would be used, but what can you do). Chop the onion and spread it around the bottom of the dish.
In a separate bowl mix the drained and rinsed beans, tomatoes (no need to drain), the mustard, salt, pepper and molasses. Mix it up good and proper. Don’t be lazy.
Gently pour the bean mixture over the onions in the casserole dish and spread evenly. Let the beans gently caress the onions before they make love in the oven. Then if you like you can cut the bacon in to about inch long pieces and place them on top of the beans.
The only thing left to do is bake them in the oven for about three hours. After the first hour or so check the bacon to see if it is somewhat crisp. If it is, give the beans a nice stir to mix the bacon in to the beans. It is important that the bacon doesn’t feel like an outsider the whole baking time. It will put up a really hard front but it will be crying on the inside if it isn’t included. Put the beans back in the oven and check them occasionally until they reach a consistency you like. Any remember to play with the quantities of the ingredients until they match your taste. I like more molasses and less mustard, but who the hell am I?
Enjoy.
January 28, 2009
I was just thinking about my childhood and realized that I had an unusual presence in my life when I was a child. It was the old mom and pop corner store that was down the street from my house. It was the popular hang out for the kids. It was where parents would send their children to buy the staples of milk and bread when they ran out. The store had a wide variety of penny candies (for anyone born in the last decade or two penny candy would be the equivalent of nickel or dime candy or is it quarter candy now) and many a child’s allowance was spent on sugar highs there. The bad kids could even go in with a fist full of cash and buy as many cigarettes as they wanted. Keep in mind this was in a time before cigarettes became truly evil . . . they were only mildly evil with a smooth flavour back then. This store was definitely a part of the community, but it was also like part of the family.
I know what you are probably thinking right now. Lots of people had the corner store experience. In any village, town or city a person could have had this experience. Well, the store I am referring to was called Fin, Fur and Feather/Forbes’ Variety. The name may throw one off, but it was quite normal to us. Like any convenience store it had all the basics and ¾ of the store was dedicated to selling the bread, potato chips, magazines, etc. You know the variety. Everything one would expect. The other ¼ focused on guns. Well, not just guns. The Fin, Fur and Feather part was a hunting and fishing store. Right beside where the little chubby fingered little children were looking with nose pressed against the glass display at candy, fat fingered bearded men were looking around the store with nose pressed up against the barrel of a rifle.
If I grew up in the country, this would probably be normal but I grew up in a medium sized town that had no particular connection to hunting or fishing. In fact, my hometown is one of the few in Nova Scotia that has no real connection to fishing. And if a deer were found with in the city limits, it would have been shot (but only by a camera) and placed on the front page of our town newspaper.
In all our families we have that strange uncle/aunt/cousin/brother/sister/etc. character. I like to think of the old corner store as one of those characters. It helped to shape the person I have become and for that I will always be bitter.
Ps. The store eventually closed down over a decade ago due to competition from a chain store. Nobody was shot.
January 23, 2009
I kind of forget how this whole blog thing works.
I type in the words at home, click publish, and then everyone can see it. . .or is it the other way around?
Wait that doesn’t make sense because then people could read my thoughts.
I guess people can read my thoughts either way.
Sorry these thoughts are not that exciting.
April 30, 2008
Just because I said I would start writing on the blog again, it didn’t mean I would be writing everyday. Just when I feel like it. You know. . .like a causal blogger. We don’t want to take things too fast. It could ruin the magic.
April 26, 2008
Today I decided to log on to my blog. I have to admit that I haven’t even looked at this site in months, but according to the site others have been continuing to check it out. We are talking several hits per day. I can’t really say I understand why. The last few entries were pure drivel. Anyway, this lead me to the big question. . .should I continue with the earletown blog? There are basically two options: 1) Quit (this is the option that requires the least amount of work and therefore more suited to my style) or 2) Start writing posts for the blog again (this requires some effort and therefore not really my style). In the end I decided to combine the two options. I am going to post the occasional blog entry and take periodic breaks. So hold on to your hats kids because here we go again.
Your old friend,
-e.
October 26, 2007
At work I am often visited by squirrels. I do not mean that they come by to chat, have a coffee or anything like that. They just come up to the window by my desk to stare at me and then scurry away.
I am never quite sure why they are looking at me, but when they do I often wonder what they are thinking. Do I look like a giant animated nut that they long to sink their teeth in? Maybe they pity me. You know like a person may pity an animal at the zoo. A poor creature trapped in a cage with no freedom. Like the mighty lion that has been robbed of his kingdom, and now can only lounge about and occasionally lick himself.
I will never know what the squirrels are actually thinking, but I know what I would be thinking if I were one of them. I would wonder why this guy is staring at me. Does he think I am some kind of furry sandwich?
I will not lie and say that I have formed some kind of a connection with the squirrels. I am by no means a squirrel whisperer. I just find it interesting. I believe I will miss the little guys when the weather turns colder and they settle down for their winter naps. I hope that they too will miss me. I often envision them dreaming of me; their human nut friend.
I should probably stop thinking of this human-animal connection. I am in the middle of teaching a class and the students are starting to wonder why I am quietly staring out of the window in the middle of a lecture.
October 26, 2007
Today I saw both the robin and the squirrel. Oh joyous day.
October 2, 2007
I have been thinking lately that maybe it is time to change the name of this site. A few ideas have come across my mind; let me know what you think.
-PROCRAST-O-BLOG
-EARLE DOWN
-MAYBE TOMORROW
-100 WORDS/MONTH
Let me know if you have a preference.
I apologize for not keeping you updated in my goings on as of late. I have been having amazing insights about the world around us, meeting a wide array of interesting people, traveling all over the place and entertaining the masses. I really have robbed you all of a tremendous pleasure.
OK, I can’t lie to you. Not only do I have a huge conscience but my philosophy has always been don’t lie to someone unless you do it to their face.
In reality my only ‘great’ insight about the world was when you drop a coin by accident sometimes it is just best if you accept your losses and walk away. It wasn’t really an insight. It was what I did.
The ‘interesting’ people (apart from Shannon) I have been conversing with would be my two doormen (the week guy and the weekend guy) and we only discuss the weather.
The traveling I have done would be the three branches of public transportation I take each day to work. TTC, GO Transit and Mississauga Transit. Yes, it is a long commute.
As for entertaining the masses, well, the other day in my classroom I banged my head on a cabinet and my students seemed to be entertained. They laughed and laughed.
At my age I should realize that telling lies will not make you cool. I am sorry.
PS- A while back I mentioned that I would post pictures of the trip Shannon and I took to the east coast. That doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. If you are reading this you probably know what we look like and you have more than likely have been to NS, PEI and/or NB. Get an image of one of those places in your mind and then picture us standing there and you basically have and idea of what would have been posted. Looks like it was a good trip doesn’t it?
