Ridiculously productive

I was ridiculously productive today
Consider me mini-mambo

I warned that if you saw nutmeg in an omelette recipe, be wary. I had lime juice in my omelette this morning and the whole thing was quite good. I used a bunch of the thai basil my neighbor gave me, some white onion, some spring onion, a little siracha, a touch of lime juice, and some soy sauce and it was really quite good. 

This morning I got to see a Black Swallowtail butterfly. It even landed on Samuel! I have a picture but not in focus. 

The day included going to the sunflower farm I went to last year, but with a friend this time. This is my silly Saturday post. How amazing that admirer still brings us joy. 

I used it as an opportunity to test my backpack as a camera bag and see what the weight would be like. 

On my way home I stopped at a park that is closed for the moment so the only stuff I learned was from one sign outdoors. Quakers were opposed to slavery and the dissolution of the Union, but they also weren't allowed to fight. They provided support in other, non-lethal ways, for the most part. A small number did fight, and at the end of the war they received a "lenient course" rather than being disowned (!!!) given that the goal was to preserve the Union and end slavery. Alas, what a "lenient course" meant was not explained. 

Given everything we have gone through and still are going through, I thought you'd find this quote interesting. It is from Mary Briggs Brooke's Diary, 1868. Speaking of her former Confederate neighbors:  "I cannot force myself, to feel any unity or desire of intercourse, having no reason to think they do not still cherish their rebel principles and feelings as warmly and strongly as when he (Guy Dorsey) was in the rebel army and piloting them through this very neighborhood, it is very hard to feel charity and love for a traitor, even if we could believe they were under the delusion of honest, conscious convictions...." (Emphasis hers.)

DJI has "dropped" a new drone on the consumer world, one that reviews indicate is much, much easier to use but is still quite expensive once you get everything you would want for it - and they sold out Ukraine. BUT  Boris Johnson let Ukraine know that THEY get something far cooler:  850 Black Hornet micro-drones, which can easily fit into the palm of a human hand. They are designed for scouting and spying. They are a UK-Norway gift with Norway contributing $9 million. They can fly for 25 minutes, they can go as fast as 11 mph. They have night vision equipment. They are supposed to be quiet enough to enter buildings without being heard. The DJI ones are audible. You can't have one, they cost $95k per unit. Sorry.


Ukraine intel says that ~1,000 Russian troops in Kazakhastan are refusing to come home because they don't want to be deployed to Ukraine. 


There was a list of 458 jobs that women in Ukraine were BARRED from holding. It was lifted in 2017. Demining was one of them. As international organizations work on de-mining they are gender mainstreaming work. Denmark contributed $1.6 million to de-mining. The UK Ambassador to Ukraine believes the UK will fund de-mining. The Netherlands is going to release 65 million euro for aid and investment in Ukaine and 10 of it is for demining. 


In 2018 women were given the same legal status as men in the military. Women are increasingly joining the military, including in combat positions, and leading volunteer and fund-raising efforts.