Monday, July 1, 2024

Good things happening anyway

 Here's some excellent legislation for my state, which has a long history of failing to fund the transportation sector. In fact previous governors raided the trust fund to finance their own pet projects. This changes now.

Notice where the funding is coming from. Take that, Amazon!

And I wrote a line of encouragement and support to Biden and Harris, and the office acknowledged it


We're good.

On the home front, I was out briefly early morning, and met a baby praying mantis. He must be very young, still transparent. I like having them around to help with mosquitoes. And he's on the hibiscus, so that's welcome in case any insects are planning to eat the new leaves.


Too humid and hot to venture out yesterday, so I set up an afternoon of Lucia, with a glass of rooibos and chamomile sun tea.


Supper was pancakes and plum sauce, the pancakes made with AP and chickpea flour. 



This cooking didn't heat the kitchen up, and there's batter to make more today. 

Happy day, everyone, I'm trying to shed more light than heat today.

Photo AC


29 comments:

  1. My husband had a 'pet' praying mantis in Simla when he was a child.

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    1. I love the way they calmly watch while I watch them. I can see developing a friendship.

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  2. Good move for the NJ legislature!
    The plum sauce looks divine.

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    1. I think Murphy is trying to make up for his huge missteps in promoting his wife as senator and signing OPRA, which makes it harder to access public documents. Probably hoping not to crater his legacy.
      The sauce was good, simple stuff.

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  3. It is good to see increased school funding too! Always good to invest in the children, from a house with two retired teachers. Stay cool, Boud.

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    1. Yes, it's good stuff. And they're billing the right people.

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  4. A friend used to have a praying mantis in a tank. It was fascinating to watch him feed it. Our summer has been cold and wet so far this year. Please send us some of your heat.

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    1. You might not want our tropical heat and humidity, maybe.

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  5. We are having some pleasant weather, finally. Dinner looks good to me and good on your legislature for writing such a bill.

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  6. I didn't know that young praying mantises are transparent! Learn something new every day!

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    1. He was very pale, you could see the leaf round his edges.

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  7. I was out looking around in the yard one day years ago and spotted about 50 just hatched praying mantises. they were tiny, about 1/4".

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    1. One year I got a praying mantis egg case and set it in the vegetables to hatch. Many babies, all over the screen door. They grow quickly, and eventually get the green coats.

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  8. Thanks for sharing some of your light. We need it. Those healthy pancakes are making my mouther water. I’ve never seen a baby praying mantis. I wish we had some here on our terrace. We’d treat them (and feed them) well! Oh, never mind. Damned cats!

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    1. The mantis bite! Not teeth, more like grinding jaws that pinch. Kitty would leap away, leaving mantis with a mouthful of fur. After that, detente.

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  9. The smaller the settlement, the more difficult transportation seems to be. Our town now hare more than 11 000 people, but no public transport as such. And how do you run it for the few who need it? It also applies to getting in and out of town and not just within town.

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    1. We have almost no local public transportation. But the main funding is for NJ Amtrak, the main north south artery in the northeast corridor, which is falling apart, and desperately needs upgrades. Millions of commuters use it daily. Which is why it's wearing out!

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    2. That's the railroad, I should explain. There's also work on the Turnpike, highway.

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  10. A big problem here is outer suburban property developers not being made to contribute enough to infrastructure to support their developments. They scream they will have to increase house and land packages by thousands. Yeah, of course they would say that.

    I'm pleased you received a polite response from the President's office.

    I'll have to take your word for the praying mantis. You didn't just post a photo of a leaf did you?

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    1. Would I do that to you?? If you squint in the middle, that whitish feller has his eyes up top.
      Yes, that same fight goes on here, often about overloading schools by developing formerly fairly deserted land.

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  11. That looks like an appropriate redistribution of wealth. I hope your public transport develops 'apace' from this point on. (Look up info on public transport in Luxembourg - I think you would be amazed.)

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    1. Read my response to AC. You'll see the destination for the funds.

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  12. I struggle to read Mapp and Lucia but enjoyed the television series.

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    1. That's funny, because the series hews so faithfully to the dialogue in the books. I love both. There was a later tv series with different actors, a shadow of this classic one.

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  13. Public transpo, particularly for the ageing population, is vitally important. We don't have rail lines locally (they took them out years ago and one now wonders if they rue the day) but are hoping for bus hook-ups to the closest one that runs along Lake Ontario and connects several cities, mainly Toronto. Now that our 'town' is seeing incredible housing growth the need for a good transit option is getting more dire. Of course the town has approved all the new housing but neglected to take into consideration that we don't have the services in place to deal with all the additional people. Our hospital is overrun now and attracting new doctors to the area is pretty much a no-go. There aren't enough schools and driving here is getting more hectic even without all the new housing. If it weren't for having good friends here, we would happily move.

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    1. Yes, that shortsighted approach, attracting new residents without spending on infrastructure. I'm horrified by the healthcare situation I hear about in Ontario.

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