Welcome & Weather Report

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We would like to make the site and the newsletter as interesting as possible!

(We've extended this to be the summer contest, rather than just May,
to give more people a chance to consider entering!)

Our current contest is

Name the 'Nasty Lawyer' in the second Ariel Quigley mystery,
"The Lawyer Who Died Trying"!
(This is NOT the lawyer who dies in this novel!)

Check it out on the Contest page.

Buy The Books!

If you don't yet have a copy of  The Chef Who Died Sautéing, or the Companion Cookbook,
and would like one:

Click here for Purchase Options

A Variety of Links

Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily are the proud "parents"
of several other webs and subwebs.
Click below to visit these sites.

A Chance of a Ghost

Ariel Quigley - the heroine of the Ariel Quigley Mystery Series -
talks to ghosts, and she’d like to meet yours!

New-Wisdom

This is a site developed to accompany Honora's college level classes
in World Cultures and Humanities.

ScienceWorks

Elementary Science Units
& Instructional Resources for Teachers and Parents

Hemi-Sync Products and Programs

Hemi-Sync is a state-of-the-art audio technology
that enables us to mobilize and direct the power of our mind.

Visit these authors' websites!

Just For Fun...

Of Interest...

What We've Been Up To (Our Madcap Adventures) ...

Home Again (for a time!)

Susan - News from the Garden

 (click to see larger image)

What a delight it was to come home to a display of irises! I was afraid we'd missed them all while we were traveling. The roses are doing pretty well, too, and the weeds haven't taken over the world - yet!

Also waiting for me was a box from the National Arbor Day Society - with 6 fruit trees, 5 Rose of Sharon, 5 boxwood, 1 Rhododendron and 6 azaleas, which have to be put into the ground, along with a crepe myrtle that I have been growing in a pot since the fall, and a variety of shrubs that I bought before the trip, but didn't get a chance to plant - 2 holly, 2 juniper, and 2 heather.

Now, if you met me at Malice, you know that I'm no spring chicken. But it seems that spring does something strange to me - it makes me think that I'm 16 and on the track team again. So I go out into the back yard and dig holes, or build flat sculptures with bricks, or plant way too many vegetables.

The current project is to rescue the back yard from the weeds. Last fall I covered the entire area with black plastic (2 rolls of 100' x 10'.) Last month, I took it up section by section, cleared the ground and laid it down again. Now I'm planting trees and shrubs, in an attempt to beautify the space. The moles are doing their thing down below, so I never know what the surface will be like when I wander around, and there's one area that is covered with poison ivy - to which I am EXTREMELY allergic.

Anyway, I have been hard at work planting and putting down brick rings and mulch, when it isn't raining (which it's been doing a lot of this week!)

I will post pictures when I have the current planting project finished!

Susan - Garden Maven

Honora—News From My Recliner

For those who saw me hobbling around on crutches at the “Malice Domestic” conference, please send me good vibes as I've had to go under the knife again. My knee operation last Nov. was only moderately successful, leaving me with no cartilage (I will probably need a knee replacement, and thanks to at least five people at the conference who encouraged me to get it, I'm thinking I can probably work it in next August), and the foot operation in Dec. was likewise only partially a success, leaving me with a crossover toe—that's a second toe that climbs obscenely over the big toe and refuses to budge. I had the toe operated on last Thursday to get it to mind its manners, and I am back to limping with a walker when I have to move and sitting around with my foot up above my heart the rest of the time. Bummer! (Plus, it's rather silly looking.) Mostly, I’m sitting here feeling very spacey because I’m on Vicodin every four hours—whee for the space cadet! 

The good news is that being confined to my chair this week is giving me some time to read mysteries (I’m a little too spaced out to write any at the moment). So here’s the most interesting piece of information we’ve stumbled across in the last few days. And it’s in the category of, “Just deserts.”

During the Middle Ages the wise women, midwives, herbalists, and healers of the medieval villages were often persecuted as witches (modern researchers say they were persecuted because they were smart females during a time when the church was into diabolizing women in general and smart women in particular). When there were outbreaks of plague (of which there were three deadly kinds in the Middle Ages), these wise women usually ended up being blamed and put to death. And the authorities of those times also caught and killed the “witches” familiars, which were usually cats. And as the cats died, so the rat population increased, and the plagues worsened. (Of course, the only people who had any knowledge about what to do to treat the plagues were the wise women and herbalists.)

Where We're Going...

On the Road

Book Talks & Book Signings

(We have sent out 80 postcards this week!)

And yes, we do put on our chefs' costumes for book talks!

• Carnegie Library, Grayville, IL - Thurs., May 18th, 7 pm

• Barnes & Noble, Green River Road, Evansville, IN - Sat., May 20th, 2-4 pm

• Carmi Library, Carmi, IL - Saturday, June 3rd, 2-4 pm

• Borders, Lloyd Expressway, Evansville, IN - Sun. June 4th, 1-3 pm

Check our Tour and Events pages to see where we're heading for the rest of the year - we will update it regularly as we figure out just where we're going to be. And if you'd like us to head to your area, let us know where you live, and what bookstores or libraries we could do a signing in, and we'll try to get there at some point. Nowhere on the continent is totally out of the realm of possibility, even though some places may be a bit hard to reach!

Words of Wisdom from Bernice

A relationship is a bit like a teeter-totter. The question is, how to balance it. It’s all negotiation - slow, steady communication, constant little adjustments.

On the teeter-totter you may be in control - if you have the weight and strength to keep your feet on the ground. The other is stuck up in the air, unbalanced, unsure, dependent upon your whim. And if you feel angry, or feel you are being forced to carry the weight, or blame the person on the other end for whatever is keeping you unbalanced, then you might decide to get off in a huff, leaving the other to crash. 

And when we do this, we expect them to be right behind us, not bruised or covered in dirt, but willing to follow right along, and to apologize for being up in the air.

How much better to share the ride, taking turns supporting the other person, and being supported!

What are we here for?

To err,
To fail and attempt as terribly as possible.

To try stunts of such magnitude that they will lead
To disasters of such magnitude that they will lead
To learnings of such magnitude that they will lead

Back in enterprise to substance and Grace.

Josephine Miles

A Recipe from Bernice's Kitchen

STUFFED CABBAGE
borrowed from Jay Finkelstein

This a variation on the European dish called Stuffed Cabbage in this country and by various names in Europe (such as Kulupchas in Polish). This version replaces some or all of the heavy pork or other high chloresterol laden meat with soy vegetable protein for a healthy food with all of the original taste.

There are probably as many variations on stuffed cabbage as there are countries in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The flavor in this one is more or less that of the area around Hungary or that of the area around Latvia and Lithuania. It is mildly sweet and sour, though that can be adjusted for individual preference.

1/2 lb   lean hamburger
1 cup   soy vegetable protein
1 cup   hot water (approximate)

Follow directions on the package of soy, and reconstitute the soy with the water.

1 head  cabbage (or substitute several green peppers cut in half and seeded for some of the cabbage)
water to cover

Coarsely chop remaining cabbage and add onion. Place mixture in bottom of a large dutch oven. Add cabbage rolls seam side down. (If using peppers, place upright on mixture. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, pepper, paprika, until smooth and pour over cabbage. Add water if necessary to cover. Preheat oven to 375 F, and put the dutch oven in for about 1/2 hour. Then add sugar, lemon juice and raisons and cook another 15 minutes. Taste and adjust as necessary.

The traditional way to serve stuffed cabbage (or a similar dish called cabbage soup) in Russian prisons was with black bread (pumpernickel), or so the story goes. In Bernice's family a more common method is with boiled potatoes, even though the twins sometime claim they are being held prisoner.

For either approach, a green salad would complete the meal from a nutritional standpoint. This recipe will probably produce enough for several meals unless, like Bernice, you are really a gourmand--but remember its really a healthy meal, low in fat and chloresterol.

Easter Egg (A Hidden Surprise or Reference)

In our Malice Go Round presentation (see the introductory slide show) we had one card that said that our psychologist was sold for 42 camels. This refers to a conversation in the book, where Reggie, the maitre d' of the restaurant is teasing Bernice.

At exactly that moment, Reggie arrived with the bouillabaisse. He looked at Bernice in her head wrap, and as he gently placed the aromatic stew on the table he said, “I’m sorry to inform you of this, my dear, but I have just sold you to a passing caravan driver for 42 camels. As soon as you’re finished with dinner, you’ll need to pack your things.”

This actually refers back to a poem Honora wrote on a trip to Egypt. in 1988.

Ariel's Metaphysics Corner

Tarot

Part 2 - The Fool
© 2006 Honora Finkelstein

      The Fool, the first card of the Tarot deck, is a card many people are embarrassed to draw in a reading because they’re afraid it means they’re going to be laughed at. But the Fool card is really about limitless potential, incomparable freedom, and ineffable joy. Add to this the historic tradition that the fool of the medieval royal courts was the only person who was ever allowed to tell the king the truth without getting axed. These things have prompted me to want to look at the Fool card from a perspective of its symbolic, psychological, and literary significance.

      The Tarot card of the Fool represents unlimited potential before it has manifested into physical form. Its number is zero, the big “0”, the Cosmic Egg before it cracks. In this aspect, it represents the part of each of us that is linked to the Divine Source, unknown and unknowable except in its creative expressions. This is really why the Joker of the modern playing card deck is “wild,” since he can’t be pinned down to any numerical value and, depending on the game you’re playing, can fill in or substitute for any card you may need.

The Fool is the also the first stage on the journey of the hero, who finds joy in all experience. He is the innocent who thinks, no matter what happens: “If this is happening to me, it must be wonderful!” So the Fool makes life lighter and problems easier to solve. He’s the clown, whose role is to make everybody laugh. In fairy tales, it’s often the goodhearted “fool” who solves the community’s problems and marries the princess.

      It’s not by accident that Shakespeare used the wise fool figure in so many of his plays. Acting as counterpoint to the kings and princes who lived by the world’s “smart” standards, the Fool speaks from a higher vision or consciousness. He knows the comic perspective is far better than the tragic, that merriment is healing, and that being able to provoke laughter is power. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,” says the Book of Proverbs, and this is the healing the Fool card brings.

      In the traditional Ryder deck, a little dog is yapping at the heels of the Fool as the innocent young man, who carries all his treasure in a knapsack on a stick over his shoulder, looks joyfully up at the sky. The sun is shining behind him, and his face is radiant with joy. And . . . he’s about to step off a precipice. This is the moment before “the fall” into three dimensional experience. He lives blissfully unaware of the misfortune about to befall him.

Or does he? Perhaps he knows that without “the fall,” which each human must undergo, there is no life, no experience, no meaning, no striving—and hence no progress. As an archetype, the Fool is polarized with the Magician, the second card of the Tarot deck, who represents mind, the transforming mechanism that takes the power/energy/potential of the Fool and makes choices to bring about all of material reality. But in real life, one cannot become a Magician without first having been the Fool.

      So, what is foolishness? It’s the Divine Force in each of us. It’s unlimited potential. It’s a higher vision. It’s a countermeasure to the world’s stress and “smart” ideas. It’s a healing approach to all problems. And it’s the power to make a difference while making people laugh.

Fan Corner

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