Happy New Year!

I'm woefully ignorant about champagne and wine in general. So when a friend sent me the following (to help part the veil of wine ignorance -- sigh, LOL) I thought I'd share it with you folks. I take no credit for the information and certainly don't vouch for its accuracy.

First...the subtle difference between sparkling wine and champagne. There is none. The only difference is that authentic 'champagne' comes from the Champagne region of
France. (Hey, I knew that one!) But as far as alcohol content, production, etc... it's the exact same stuff.

Here's the important part. Do you want a champagne that is more dry or sweet? That all depends on your preference, of course. But after you've polished off a few dozen bottles and you know what you like (but would I be able to remember what it was?)... this is a list of the common names you will find on Champagne labels, from driest to sweetest:

*Extra Brut, Brut Sauvage, Ultra Brut, Brut Integral, Brut Zero
*Brut
*Extra Dry, Extra Sec
*Sec
*Demi-Sec
*Doux

Brut is the most popular style, and often, the best grapes are reserved for Bruts.

And finally...Bottle size!: Because sparkling wine should be consumed when it is opened, size matters. Champagne comes in "splits" -- perfect for one or two -- all the way to the enormous Nebuchadnezzar (508 fluid ounces). If you want more volume than just a single bottle will afford you can get the showy magnums (nearly 51 ounces, or two bottles) Jeroboams (4 bottles) or even a Balthazar (16 bottles). Plus those huge empty bottles make great souvenirs!

So now you know...or maybe you already knew, lol. Just remember to drink responsibly, have a designated driver, and celebrate the New Year with someone you love :D


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Lynda

Plain Janes Rule and killer galaxies may not be so bad after all!

Just read a couple of interesting articles in World Science online zine.

First, it appears that our notion of beauty is based on the average of facial features.

What is phys­i­cal beau­ty, in a per­son?

In re­cent years, much sci­en­tif­ic opin­ion has gath­ered in sup­port of a some­what dreary an­swer: beau­ty is just the av­er­age.

There’s something to that, stud­ies show. Vol­un­teers gen­er­ally rate “av­er­age” faces, crea­ted by com­pu­ters as composites of many others, as bet­ter-look­ing than un­u­sual faces. Blend­ing even just a few faces—even un­at­trac­tive ones—tends to pro­duce sur­pris­ing im­prove­ments.



You can read the rest of the article here. http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/071222_beauty.htm

Second, the giant black hole in the center of one galaxy is spreading a path of destruction in a nearby smaller galaxy but the overall result may create new stars and planets.

In a never-before seen event, a pow­er­ful jet from a gal­ax­y’s gi­ant, cen­tral black hole is pum­mel­ing a near­by gal­axy, ac­cord­ing to as­tro­no­mers. The beam may pro­foundly dis­turb plan­ets in its path and lat­er trig­ger a burst of star forma­t­ion, they said.

You can read the rest of the article here. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/071217_beam.htm

Interesting concepts, huh? And now you can be proud of being a plain Jane :D

Have a Happy New Year (from one beautiful Plain Jane to all the rest of you beautiful Plain Janes)

Lynda

Merry Christmas Everyone!

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I hope Santa brought everyone a special gift, something you wouldn't have bought for yourself but that you a;ways wanted :D

My girls, Wookie and Zuzu, certainly got toys from Santa along with some special treats they enjoy eating (if you haven't seen them, I have pictures of them on my myspace page at myspace.com/lyndakscott I may post pictures of them with their new toys later on. The human members of the family will exchange gifts later at the big family dinner. We're all looking forward to that :D

I know Santa is getting a well deserved rest


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So I'm putting on my Santa hat to offer a surprise gift for the first person who emails me at lyndakscott@gmail.com between now and December 28. Please put Christmas Surprise in the subject heading. (Sorry, due to postal restrictions, this gift can only be offered to those who live in the United States)

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and that you're surrounded by friends, family and love. Merry Christmas!


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-- Lynda

Saturday's Birthday Party

I was so busy yesterday trying to get my house ready for the imminent arrival of guests that I wasn't able to post anything. You see, yesterday was the big entertaining event of our year...a combined Christmas party and birthday for my darling daughter.

In years past, it was a much larger event filled with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, and her friends. But it's grown a little more sedate the last few years. Her grandparents have passed and that's caused a big hole in all our hearts. Some of the aunts, uncles and cousins have their own Christmas parties on the Saturday before Christmas. So we now have a smaller, more intimate gathering which in its own way is much nicer.

This year, we started a new thing, which will hopefully become a new tradition. We began the celebration at my house with a celebratory dinner, then we piled into our vehicles and trundled across town to my daughter's house so everyone could see her new digs and her live Christmas tree.

My daughter, whose decorating mode consisted of piles of clothing in the middle of her floor while she lived here , has turned into quite a decorator since she moved out. She was always a wonderful artist (and I had hoped she'd continue with her artistic skill but she decided that the real money was in...well, money, LOL so she works in financial management) has a keen eye for color and style which is reflected in her home. After letting those who hadn't been there before have the 'grand tour', we sat down and let her open her birthday presents. As usual, she made out like a bandit Then, of course, we had birthday cake which she wasn't expecting -- don't ask me why she wasn't expecting it. She gets one every year! (Strange kid, lol) We spent some time fawning over my 'grandchildren', her pup and her cat, who thought the party was for them. We didn't abuse them of that notion

Afterwards, her godmother, who has been my best friend since high school, her husband and my dh and I returned to my house to chat, play cards and fawn over my two little beasties, Zuzu and Wookie...well, mostly over Zuzu since Wookie is a shy little critter and spent most of her time socializing from under the sofa

We all had a pleasant evening but it brought back memories of her very first Christmas. You see, she came home with me from the hospital on Christmas Day. The hospital had put her in a giant Christmas stocking (no joke, the stocking was nearly big enough for Zuzu! LOL) so she arrived home in grand style. And she was the very best Christmas present I ever had.

We've had our ups and downs over the years which is normal, but ,over all, my daughter has been a joy and a source of pride. I've enjoyed being her mom. So Happy Birthday, sweetie, and may all your birthdays be bright, festive affairs filled with family and friends!

Wrapping Presents With a Cat Around

I received this from a friend and thought those of you who live with cats might enjoy it...or at least nod sadly at its truth :D



1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to wardrobe and collect bag in which present is contained, and close door.
3. Open door and remove cat from wardrobe.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc.
7. Lay out present and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit, and collect string.
9. Remove present from bag.
10. Remove cat from bag.
11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Cut the paper to size, trying to keep the cutting line straight.
14. Throw away first sheet because cat tried to chase the scissors and tore the paper.
15. Cut second sheet of paper to size by putting cat in the bag the present came out of.
16. Place present on cut-to-size paper.
17. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present, wonder why edges now don't reach, and find cat between present and paper. Remove cat and retry.
18. Place object on paper, to hold in place, while cutting transparent sticky tape.
19. Spend next 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
20. Seal paper down with transparent sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
21. Look for roll of ribbon; chase cat down hall and retrieve ribbon.
22. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
23. Re-roll up ribbon and remove paper that is now torn, due to cat's enthusiasm in chasing ribbon end.
24. Repeat steps 12-22 until down to last sheet of paper.
25. Decide to skip steps 12-16 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that you know is right size for sheet of paper.
26. Put present in box, and tie down with string.
27. Remove string, open box and remove cat.
28. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.
29. Once inside room, lock door and start to re-lay out packing materials.
30. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close door and re-lock.
31. Lay out last sheet of paper. (Admittedly this is difficult in the small area of the toilet, but try your best!)
32. Seal box, wrap with paper and start repairs by very carefully sealing down tears with transparent sticky tape. Now tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst affected areas.
33. Label, then sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulating yourself on making good of a bad job.
34. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.
35. Spend next 15 minutes looking for cat, before coming to obvious conclusion.
36. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
37. Retrieve all discarded sheets of wrapping paper, feed cat and retire to lockable room for last attempt, making certain you are alone and the door is locked.
38. At time of handing over present, smile sweetly at receiver's face, as they try and hide their contempt at being handed such a badly wrapped present.
39. Swear to yourself that next year, you will get the store to wrap the darn thing for you


Lynda


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Celebrations

All of us have our time and family honored ways to celebrate the holidays. There's food, of course, and family activities to share. There's gift giving -- do you wait until Christmas morning or indulge yourself by opening them on Christmas Eve? Maybe you put a live tree up and decorate it on Christmas Eve. Or do the neighborhood drive by to check out the outdoor Christmas displays. However you celebrate there's no one right way. There's only...different.

Which made me think of how our heroes and heroines might celebrate a holiday as significant in our culture as Christmas. In my book HEARTSTONE, the hero Eric d'Ebrur would not celebrate Christmas. He's not from Earth after all and different customs form on different planets. But there are a group of people, almost lost in the mists of time, that Eric's people might venerate. Those are the Starfarers who gave Eric's people the ability to shapeshift and who gave them the Stones of Power, including the Heartstone itself. How might they celebrate? I'm sure there would be family gatherings led by the matriarch (Eric's people have an unusual matriarchal family structure even though the political structure is more patriarchal). They'd probably decorate using stars -- I can see them hanging on mobile like devices so they spin and dance in any breeze. These mobiles might even be windchimes (I do love windchimes :D) The star motif would probably be used to decorate holiday clothing but, since these people are for the most part more formal than those of us from Earth, I see it as more subdued but no less glittery (after all, what glitters more than stars in a velvet night sky?) The Feast -- and there's always a feast, lol -- would involve a hunt as part of the celebration of the men's shapeshifting skills. The women, who are empaths, would celebrate their gift by sharing with others, not just their family. Who better than an empath to give you the perfect gift? :D

In my current wip, RIDER, the heroine Tara Rowan comes from a culture of Independent Traders who travel the galaxy and don't call any one place home. Well, except for their ship. Their ships are family ships though some are smaller than others. But even if the family splits going to different ships, there are the Trade Fairs which have a huge influx of Traders every two years. The purpose of the Trade Fair is to exchange different materials for sale but, if the family is all there...why not celebrate too? Would there be a particular symbol, like our Christmas tree or Eric's Star? Probably not...these families come from many different backgrounds. But I'm sure each family would have a motif all their own. For Tara, her family might be symbolized by a rowan tree. Another family might have a racing beast (depicting how speedy they are in making time between deliveries). And, yes, there would be traditional dishes at the Family Feast (you know there's always a feast, lol) but these dishes could be unique for each family based on their taste or even ability to find/purchase/barter for the ingredients. The main thing, I think, would be that the family would be together for this small period of time and that alone is cause for celebration.

As you can see, there are many ways to celebrate a holiday (or to feast it :D) What's important is that we all celebrate using traditions that are significant to us and our families...and that we celebrate the differences between our traditions and those of those around us. There is one right way to celebrate and there's no wrong way to celebrate.

Enjoy your holidays, my friends. May they be filled with love and family, laughter and, of course, good food.


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Merry Christmas!

Lynda