"Cajuns" Are Gathering

I just heard from my dear friend Brenda asking me to help her promote the upcoming official launch of Louisiana’s effort to host the Fifth Congrès Mondial Acadien (CMA). What is CMA? Not the Country Music Awards. It is a world-wide meeting of Acadians—those people of French origin from the Acadian region in Canada who were expelled by the British. Many of them migrated to Louisiana and settled in the Lafayette area where I lived for fourteen years before retiring to Illinois. The name “Acadian” was eventually shortened to “Cajun.” When I taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the team was called the “Ragin’ Cajuns.” The Cajun people are extremely warm and friendly and wonderful cooks! They work hard to maintain their French language and culture. The beautiful lilt of their dialect can be heard throughout the area.

If Louisiana were to be selected to host the CMA it would be a big deal for the city of Lafayette and Louisiana. The CMA is the world’s largest gathering of Acadians and is held in a different Acadian heartland every five years. Louisiana, although a major center of Acadians, has never hosted this festival. The launch will take place on February 4, 2009 at 11:00 a. m. in Lafayette Louisiana’s LITE Center. If you can’t be there in person, you can watch online at www.cma2014.com.

Let me tell you, if anyone can make such a major event happen, it would be my friend Brenda. As the present director of the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville, Louisiana, she is responsible for promoting Acadian history and culture in the area. A “Cajun” herself, Brenda is a mover and a shaker. Since she took over this organization, it has grown and thrived. I have no doubt that with her at the helm, this Congrès can be an event to remember.

If any of you have Acadian ancestors or are planning to travel to the “Cajun” parts of Louisiana in the near future, please keep this event in mind. Also, stop by the Acadian Memorial in St. Martinville. When you see Brenda, tell her Pat says “hi!”

It's a Date!

I have a date tonight! With my husband! We're not going to dinner or the movies or even out of the house. We have a date to watch television. You might think that's unusual and unnecessary, but in our house it's not.



Typically in the evening my husband goes into his basement hideaway to read and watch old movies and his favorite television shows. I typically remain on the second floor where I work on the computer, read, and sometimes watch television. We seem miles apart. I miss him. I have suggested that he come upstairs and watch television with me, but he prefers his private den where he can zoom back and forth between channels and watch his "man" shows.

Well, tonight there are two shows on that we both like--Lie to Me and Life on Mars. I suggested that he might come upstairs and we could watch them together--like a date! He hemmed and hawed and picked up the television remote and checked out the competing shows (CSI or SVU something, I think) on other channels. Discovering that they were all repeats, he agreed to join me tonight upstairs to watch television--something we haven't done in months!

Yeah! I have a date! I am a happy camper!

(photos by macbebekin, monikale142, and The TV Observer @ www.flickr.com)

I Love Wisp

This is not a paid post. This is a totally spontaneous, voluntary tribute to a favorite product of mine--the Glade Flameless Candle called a Wisp.

I purchased my Wisp almost a year ago and it is still going strong. It looks exactly like a candle flickering away in a jar and if you like, you can have it scented. As much as I like real scented candles and would burn them frequently, I fear the fire hazard they create, and also the risk of burning myself. The Glade Wisp solves those problems. You can let the Wisp run as long as you like with no fear of catching anything (including yourself) on fire.

I took some photographs of my Wisp. In the first photograph, you can see the three different parts--first, the decorative cover, then the base cover, then the base that includes the batteries and the fragrance unit. In the second photograph, you see the decorative cover next to the covered base unit. In the third photograph, I show how they look all together when the unit is on. You can't really get the total flickering effect in a still picture (nor can you get the fragrance).

My favorite place to use my Wisp is my bathroom. Whenever I take a nice, luxurious bubble bath, my Wisp helps create the perfect relaxing mood.

Glade has a great website that has a video that explains how the Wisp works. The only thing missing is smell-o-vision!

"Lie to Me"

Fox's new drama Lie to Me (Wednesdays at 9 P.M. Eastern) from the brains of the producers of 24 debuted this week. I caught the first episode and was pleasantly surprised. Given that I had done a large portion of my graduate work on a Defense Department team grant studying deception and have focused a lot of my own research on deception, I felt an obligation to see if this show would present the science of human deception detection accurately (check out my recent guest post How to Spot a Liar).

The basics of how humans reveal their lies through various verbal and nonverbal means is quite accurately portrayed in the drama. The show covers facial expression, body movement, language cues, body temperature, and micro-momentary movements, among other well documented cues of deceit. I was a bit troubled that the most informative clue--vocal behavior--was not mentioned. I hope that will come into play in future episodes. I particularly liked how the show presents photographs of well known people when the various cues are mentioned. For example, when one suspect put his hand to his forehead in a gesture of shame, the screen fills with numerous shots of celebrities making exactly the same movement.

I was bothered by how quickly the detectives could nail the culprit from just a quick glance at a deception clue. Generally, it requires an extended observation of a pattern of such clues exhibited by a person before any one would even attempt to suggest that they were lying. Deception research is primarily about general features of deceptive behavior, and the performance of one movement does not a liar make. Even so, the show moved fast and was intriguing along the same lines as CSI or Law and Order.

If you are interested in this show and/or deception research, you might want to check out the Lie to Me website. It includes information about and links to the work of Dr. Paul Ekman, the grandfather of research on nonverbal deception clues. It also has interactive tests that you can do to see if you can spot liars from their nonverbal cues. Fun!

(photo from AOL Television)

Girl Chat

Yesterday, a few gals from my gym Curves invited me out for coffee after our work-out. There I met even more ladies who work out at various Curves locations. It really felt good to have some nice girl chat. Thanks, Marilyn, Marsha, Della, and Claire, for including me in your circle of friends.

I never knew how much I missed female camaraderie. When I lived in Louisiana my female friends and I would go out to lunch regularly and discuss everything and anything. There is something uplifting and cheerful about the banter of women that I find lacking in marital communication. Yes, I can discuss anything with my husband and he has a great sense of humor. However, it's just not the same as talking to another woman--especially a group of women!

What do you think?

(photo by torontochub27 @ www.flickr.com)

Another Meme For Me

Well, I'm just killing some time here while I wait for the inauguration to start (I will post about the inaugural address tomorrow on my other blog Communication Exchange, so check it out!). My new blogger friend Lin at Duck and Wheel With String has tagged me with a meme that has some strange questions that I will try to answer. Thanks, Lin!

1. Have you ever been on TV? I believe so, probably advertising some theatrical production I was in. It would have been a local morning show or something like that many years ago. I can't really remember.

2. Have you ever sung in public? Oh, yes. I have belonged to many choral groups over the years. My favorite was the Lafayette Symphony Choir, the choral arm of the Lafayette, Louisiana Symphony Orchestra. One year we were invited to sing at Carnegie Hall in NYC. We did Mozart's Requiem. I have photographs of me (and hundreds of other singers) on stage.

3. Have you ever dyed your hair blonde? No, I am a natural blonde, although when I was in my twenties I did dye it red once just to see. Not such great results.

4. Have you ever eaten frogs' legs? No, and I never intend to. I did try snail once (awful!) and when I interviewed for my teaching position at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, they made me eat a crawfish. That was the only time I ever ate one of those. I would never make it on Survivor.

5. Have you ever received a present you really hated? Yes, but I can't really say what it was because the person or persons who gave it to me might read this. But, after considering various ways to rid myself of it, I found a secondary use for it and I still have it.

6. Have you ever walked into a lamp post? Not that I remember. I have my clumsy moments, but I am certain my children could immediately provide me with several embarrassing examples for this question.

7. Have you ever cooked a meal by yourself for more than 15 people? Not really a meal, but once I did throw a party for a large group of friends and made quite a few appetizers. I remember because I had a migraine headache during the whole thing and I thought I was quite a trooper to carry it off when I was in pain.

8. Have you ever fallen or stumbled in front of others? Oh, my goodness. Here again, I am sure I have fallen down and embarrassed myself many times. I tend to forget these moments. See answer to #6.

9. Have you ever done volunteer work? I presently volunteer for Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic, a group that records textbooks and other books for students. Up until quite recently I was checking previously recorded tapes for errors (that's where beginners start), but they have moved me up and I have started to actually record now.

Well, there you have it---some vignettes from the life of Patricia. I'd like to hear answers to these same questions from: Carol at A Second Cup, The Fearless Blog, John at Epicurean Health, Clara at Coming Back to Life, and Poontater at Poontater.

But, of course, only if you like. And, if any others out there wish to participate, this meme is for you too! I am happy to share it!

(photos by JauraDeArdilla and philipbouchard @ www.flickr.com)

I'm Too Selfish to Make Money Blogging

Theresa at Theresa Sez posted recently about the difficulties of making money from blogging (as have quite a few other bloggers). I’d love to make money blogging and when I first started blogging I studied several “how-to” books and other material that I hoped would steer me towards producing a financially successful blog. Well, I’ve been blogging now for almost a year, and I don’t see any likelihood that my blogs will make any money for me either now or in the future.

Here are the statistics: Google Adsense produces a few cents a day for me and Project Wonderful ads add maybe five or six cents a day. I don’t think I’m going to get rich that way. I tried doing some of those Pay per Post sites but simply couldn’t make myself write glowingly about some product I had never used or didn’t like.

What am I doing wrong? Well, it’s obvious that I’m just too selfish to make money at blogging. I want to blog about things that interest me and that I have knowledge about. Unfortunately, most of those things are of no interest to the vast majority of people. If I were truly unselfish I would be more interested in what interests the majority. I would write about the issues that concern them the most--such as how to make money. I would give them advice about how to make money blogging even though I don’t have a clue myself how to do it (although being clueless about making money doesn’t seem to stop a lot of people from writing about it).

Well, nobody said blogging would be fair. Do you want fair and lucrative too? Really, Patricia, how selfish can you be?

(photo by Rich Seattle @ www.flickr.com)

I Love Interviews!

My fellow blogger Ivanhoe, over at From Ohio With Love, introduced me to this new blogging activity (phenomenon?) and I want to share it with you. It's interviewing--blogger style! Being a retired Communication teacher, you can well imagine that I love interviewing. I used to have my students interview each other as a classroom exercise. The "rules" of the blogger interview are that if I wanted to be interviewed by Ivanhoe I sent her my willingness via a comment on her blog (which I did). She, then, sent me the five interview questions she designed specifically for me! I answer the questions and then I get the honor of choosing interview questions for you! All you have to do is be willing to answer whatever I ask you (I'm really very discrete) and let me know in a comment to this post.

Anyway, here are my answers to Ivanhoe's five questions:

1. You are a retired teacher. What subjects and grades did you teach? I mostly always taught in colleges and universities, but I did a four-year stint in a high school. I have taught almost any Communication class you can name (public speaking, communication theory, debate, interpersonal, group, organizational, etc.) and early on I taught theater courses--acting, directing, stage production, voice training, and the like.

2. What book are you currently reading? Can you tell us a little about it? I just last night finished Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. He is a new author to me who was recommended by a favorite blogger of mine Flit at Flitting on Fiction. He is a Canadian science fiction writer. This story supposes what might happen if our universe split about the time of the Neanderthal man. One universe developed with homo sapiens dominant and the other with Neanderthal dominant. In the story, through some quirk of quantum physics, a Neanderthal man is transported to our universe and the tale concerns how he adjusts and eventually how he manages to return to his universe.

3. What was the last Broadway-style musical you saw? Did you enjoy it? Invanhoe must really know me. The last I saw was Wicked--once in New York and three times here in Chicago. Enjoyed it is mild. Totally wrapped up in it is more like it, as you can imagine, given the number of times I've seen it.

4. If you won a round trip ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Now, Ivanhoe I think this is a trick question. You must know that I have major fear of flying and would never go anywhere on a plane. However, your question didn't say what mode of transportation, so if my round trip ticket could be a combination train and ship, I would take the train from Chicago to Vancouver, then take a cruise to Alaska and back.

5. What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? I trudge downstairs and make a pot of coffee and a half a bagel and then trudge back upstairs and sip and nibble while I watch the morning news.

This was fun, Ivanhoe! Thanks for interviewing me! Now, who wants to undergo my Barbara Walters impersonation?

P. S. Please check out the blog Mysterious Matters where you can read a guest post I did on spotting liars.

(photo by mint tea @ www.flickr.com)

Men and Personal Diary Blogs

Kriscell at Boleh Boleh has graciously awarded me a Three in One award which denotes "blogs of attitude and gratitude, a member of a proud sisterhood, and a best friend of all blogs." Thanks, Kriscell. I follow Kriscell's blog and I think it's really neat that he, a married guy who by his own account is "neither rich nor sexy" is apparently proud to be a member of the sisterhood of personal bloggers.

When I discovered that Kriscell was a male personal diary blogger, I decided to pass this award on to other male personal diary bloggers---a relatively small group. Although personal diary is the largest category on Entrecard (with over 3,000 blogs), most of these blogs are obviously penned by women. I wonder why men don't seem to radiate to this type of writing or blogging. Historically, men developed the concept of the personal essay and diary writing. However, in the blogging world today, it is women who tend to record their daily experiences and feelings in this manner.

I have found five excellent personal diary blogs written by men and have sent the Three in One award to them according to the following rules:

1.) Put the logo on your blog or post, 2.) Nominate at least 10 (sorry, about that) blogs which show great attitude and or gratitude, 3.) Link to your nominees within your post, 4.) Let winners know they have received award, and 5.) Link to this post and the person from whom you received the award.

Here are the five male personal diary bloggers I have honored. Please check out their blogs:

1. David's Musings

2. Breathing In

3. Zed Sez

4. Parisukat.com

5. Shakespeare wuz ere

Performing Oldies

In today's post I’m talking about old (or rather older) people performing. I stopped by Sherry’s blog (Ex Marks the Spot) the other day and discovered that she is the director of the St. Luke’s Steppers, a group of lady dancers from St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Summerville, South Carolina. Sherry’s group recently performed for a Miss America preliminary competition. Wow! That’s impressive for a bunch of gals who obviously are not of your typical chorus girl age. Sherry, I bet your readers would love to see some video of your troupe dancing! I know I would!

Seeing Sherry’s group reminded me instantly of the nationally acclaimed chorus called Young at Heart. This senior group, memorialized in a recent award-winning documentary film, is comprised of vocalists ranging in age from 73 to 88! They have had members up to 100 years old from time to time. The group performs their own unique renditions of classic and contemporary rock and roll songs. I saw a segment about Young at Heart on CBS’s Sunday Morning several months ago and they were amazing.

Thinking about older people performing also made me remember a small group I organized and belonged to when I lived in Louisiana. We called ourselves the Owl Players and we performed skits, songs, dances, and audience participation numbers at nursing homes, churches, clubs, and other organizations in the area. Being an Owl was a joyous experience for those of us who were members as well as for those in the audience. We Owls bonded thoroughly during our rehearsals and are still like sisters to this day. Greetings to Jeanne, Brenda, and Shanna if you are reading!

As people get older, they often lose opportunities to perform—to sing, dance, or act. Yet, older people often love to participate in such groups, and doing so helps them stay healthy—both mentally and physically. I notice when I go to visit my my Mom in her assisted living facility that groups often come to entertain the residents, but most of these groups are comprised of young people. We need more groups like Sherry’s and Young at Heart—where older women (or men) can experience the pleasure of performing and bringing pleasure to others.

(photos from Ex Marks the Spot and Young at Heart Chorus --Paul Shoul)

"A Watched Pot Never Boils"

My recent post about my troubles with my gas stove drew many helpful comments. Clara, Susan, Jennifer, Wendy, and Sherry all believe there is something wrong with my stove. Lola spoke of super burners. Two men even chimed in: PurpleGreenPops noted that his wife prefers gas as does daOldMan. Jena and Sue both advise patience (Sue provided my title). I decided, given the number of people who seem to favor gas over electric, to give old Nelly another try. So, I am in the process of conducting an experiment.

9:30 a.m. I just put a pot of water (slightly more than half full, about what I would use to cook pasta) on the stove and turned on the gas burner on. The flame is high and a nice blue color. I will not watch it.

9:45 a.m. Steam is pouring out and the water is warm to the touch, but no sign of even a slight boil (my old electric burner would have this sucker bubbling like crazy by now). I’m going back to my computer and leave it alone.

10:00 a.m. About the same. Still steaming. Water surface is flat. Water is too hot to touch. No sign of boiling.

10:30 a.m. Same.

11:00 a.m. After an hour and a half on this burner with no sign of boiling, I try switching to a different burner, just in case Lola might be right and I might have one burner that is a “super” burner. If there is, I don’t know which one it is as the flames appear the same height on all the burners.

11:15 a.m. Oh, my gosh, it’s actually boiling on this second burner! Not a good rolling boil, but definitely a boil. I notice that the water level is down about an inch, so that may be why. However, I think the drop in water level has happened since I changed burners. I’m going to let it continue on this burner to see if the boil gets any stronger and then I’m going to check the other two burners.

11:30 a.m. I’ve placed the pot on the third burner and replaced the water to the original level. I’m getting the same moderate boil here too. Will try the fourth burner next.

11:45 a.m. The fourth burner responds as the first burner. No boil. The first and fourth burners are the back burners and the second and third burners two are the front burners. So, apparently, even though all four burners look the same and have flames of the same height, only the front burners produce sufficient heat to give moderately boiling water.

I’d rather boil pasta on a back burner, but at least I now know I can cook it on this stove. Thanks for the suggestions you all sent me!

(photo by ilmungo @ www.flickr.com)

Electric Versus Gas

Please help! I am a lifelong electric range user and now I am living with a gas stove. I have tried to adjust to it, but I just can't. Any advice (particularly from those domestic goddesses out there in blogoland who know all about kitchen equipment) would be appreciated.

When we first came to Illinois from Louisiana over a year ago, we tried to find a house with an electric range, but all the homes here have gas ranges it seems. I will admit that the oven part of the range works much the same as all my electric ovens did, but the gas stovetop burners! They are awful!

For one thing, I find it is virtually impossible to boil water on the gas burner. I am used to making pasta by placing it in rapidly boiling water on my old electric stove burner. Not on a gas stove! Water simply doesn't boil no matter how high the flame is or how long you wait. My pasta is always hard.

Last night I tried to make fried potatoes and onions (one of my hubby's favorites). On my old electric stove, I simply put in a few spoonfuls of olive oil, a couple of potatoes (chopped and thinly sliced), and some chopped onion and then fried it over a medium high heat until it was tasty and crisp. Well, I tried the same routine last night on the gas flame burner and nothing! After twice the amount of time I would normally spend cooking this dish, the potatoes were still hard as rocks and all I had was a layer of black crust embedded seemingly permanently on the bottom of the pan.

For now, I have given up cooking anything on my gas stove top. If it can't be done in the microwave or the oven, I'm not making it. Any suggestions you kitchen wizards?

(photo by Jim in Times Square @ www.flickr.com)

Tops in December

Here is a report of all of my "tops" for December for Subjective Soup. I reported my "tops" for my other blog Communication Exchange yesterday.

My Top Dropper (as indicated by the widget on my sidebar) is Susan at My Life. Thanks, Susan, for visiting so often! It's like having a friendly neighbor. I am sending you 100 EC credits in gratitude.

My Top Commenter (also as indicated by my widget) is Flit at several different sites I visit, particularly Flitting on Fiction. Flit is working on a graduate degree and she records her travails and successes on her sites as well as her thoughts about school, students, education, and a host of other interesting topics. I will be sending Flit 100 EC credits too. Thanks, Flit, for contributing so much to this site!

I should also note that during December, 42 of you who visited Subjective Soup actually left comments. The most comments were left on December 31 for my post entitled "Old Fogies." I love your comments and read and savor each one (just like I savor my favorite soup). Please don't stop!

(photo by bene @ www.flickr.com)

Sophisticated Doggie

Do our pets morph into the roles we create for them? Somehow, our little Pom Coquette seems to be becoming a true sophisticate. She so thoroughly enjoyed getting all dolled up for Christmas and, of course, appears to love being photographed (notice how she likes to pose for the camera).

Now, I have discovered a new penchant of hers--lattes. I have posted on my blog before about my constant craving for Caribou Coffee lattes and my struggle to create a comparable sensation at home. I am becoming fairly successful using a hand milk foamer and now each morning I create a lovely latte with foam towering sky high.

Well, it turns out, I'm not the only one in the family who loves latte foam. Coquette whimpers whenever she sees my cup with the froth on top. I gave her a taste of it and she was hooked (no actual coffee--just milk foam, for those of you concerned that I might be caffeinating my pooch). Unfortunately, she cannot lick the foam without making a mess on her face, as you can see in this photograph.

My, oh my, how sophisticated can one animal get? My little latte doggie.

I Have Doubt

I have doubt about many things, but not about the amazing new movie Doubt, starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. My husband and I had seen Valkyrie, Benjamin Button, and Slumdog Millionaire (all excellent flicks), but Doubt is, without doubt, the best of the lot.

Of course, if you attend movies to witness mass murders, wild chase scenes, explosions, and hordes of disgusting-looking aliens invading the planet, then Doubt is not for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy movies that make you think, feel, and wonder--this is the one.

Is this the same Meryl Streep who was singing and dancing with such wild abandon just a few months ago in Mama Mia? I would never guess. In Doubt, she is a martinet Catholic school principal, driven to ousting the parish priest from his post because she suspects he might be abusing a student. Keep in mind, this is only a suspicion. The audience is never certain. We are never told. All we can do is suspect, just as she does.

We also see the situation from the eyes of the priest, eloquently played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He experiences true agony and we in the audience recognize this; we are simply not certain of its cause. My husband and I argued about this for hours after the movie.

Add to this mix, the sublime naivete of a principled young nun who teaches at the school. Amy Adams enlivens this simple role (much differently than how she enlivened Enchanted) and allows us to experience her doubt as she vacillates from believing in first the principal and then the priest.

Other wonderful performances abound. My absolute favorite (and I typically do not remember cameo roles) is Viola Davis, who portrays the mother of the student in question. Her scene with Streep has to go down has one of the most thoroughly engrossing moments in film. I don't know if her role is large enough to qualify her for a supporting actress award, but she should win something!

All in all, a thought-provoking script with stunning directing and cinematography. You will love this movie; I have no doubt.

(photos from the Doubt website)