tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190536702024-03-06T20:01:20.411-08:00Letters from a broad...The Adventures of a Friendly French-American <a href="http://ex-mormon.net/">ExMormon</a> Atheist Mom Living in Switzerland!!!C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.comBlogger872125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-73518301596909628252023-12-25T05:10:00.000-08:002023-12-25T22:30:19.822-08:00State of the Me: 2023-2024<p>I guess my overview for this year is that I've made good progress, but long-term goals remain... long-term goals!</p><p>So let's dig into my usual set of goals and where I'm at with them!</p><p><b>Job and Career-Related Projects:</b></p><p>Regarding my job, the company I work for has had some significant issues over the past year that have shown up in the news! The CEO/founder actually resigned after <i>The New Yorker</i> wrote a (rather negative) profile of him!!</p><p>So, since this blog is technically public, I don't want to say anything at all about it. Anyway, there are a lot of things still up in the air -- hopefully there will be some positive resolutions to write about in next year's state-of-the-me!</p><p>That said, I'm proud of my progress in career development projects outside of my immediate job:<br /></p><p>I'm in the process of upgrading my hobby-server projects!! I have some virtual machines in the cloud that I set up years ago with a bunch of fun applications: blogs, minecraft, version-control, etc. And this past fall I <i>finally</i> started upgrading them to running on kubernetes!!</p><p>I hadn't started on this upgrade earlier because there were a handful of issues that I needed to resolve in order to make them work. The good news is that the solutions I've found will provide some new content for my professional blog!! Getting everything up and running on kubernetes -- and reviving my tech blog with this new material -- is my big career goal for 2024.</p><p><b>Creative Projects and Processes:</b></p><p>I got a Windows laptop as one of my two big birthday presents (along with an awesome trip to London for me & Léo in which we finally got to attend an in-person Pokémon event -- so much fun!!!)</p><p>If you know me, you know I'm a server-side engineer and hard-core command-line Linux user, so Windows is naturally an anathema to me! <i>But</i>... my kids are both programming video games, so if I want to be able to collaborate with them, I needed a Windows machine.</p><p>Some game and content-creation software can technically be installed on Linux but doesn't really work on Linux, in particular: Unity and DaVinci Resolve. Installing them on my Windows machine made all the difference.<br /></p><p>Regarding Unity, my kids and I were all able to install the Unity version control system, and hence I was able to run one of Nico's projects on my own machine! so we're set up to collaborate, and I look forward to some collaborative projects in 2024. Naturally, I'm hoping we'll make some sort of multi-player project so that I can focus on the server-side myself. :D</p><p>Regarding DaVinci Resolve, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm finally learning to edit videos!! This has been on my list of goals for some time. I'm really glad Nico has taken the initiative to direct some more Totally Normal Town videos so we can practice and improve our craft. Here's the latest -- and, yes, <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2023/11/goodbye-again-totally-normal-town.html" target="_blank">we demolished our Lego town</a> again!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2KShOCfuIrI" width="320" youtube-src-id="2KShOCfuIrI"></iframe></div><p>For our next incarnation of Totally Normal Town, I've already set up the street layout, and -- as I'd been planning for some time -- I've narrowed the roads make this a walking-biking-public-transit urban paradise!!!<br /></p><p>So, in 2024, I'm planning to sink my teeth into some great video and video game projects with my kids!!<br /></p><p>One final project wrap-up from 2023: I finally did a complete print run of my comic book in both English
and French. As I mentioned last year, I had completed the illustrations
(and did one small English-language print run), but there were some
non-trivial corrections and improvements to do before doing the real
print run. And I didn't get started until Summer -- for reasons I'll
describe below. Now I have a beautiful set of complete
prints of the first volume that I'm very proud of.</p><p><b>Creative + Social:</b></p><p>Remember last year when I said I was planning to join <a href="https://www.thezest.ch/" target="_blank">the local English-speaking theater club</a>? Well, that has turned out to be everything I was hoping for and more!! Nico and I have been participating actively, and it has been a fantastic framework for meeting and spending time with fun, creative people -- locally, in person!</p><p>In the beginning of the year, I volunteered to be head of costumes for the production of <i>"Steel Magnolias"</i>. The production was a huge success!! For me, it was a lot of stress and responsibility which ate up essentially all of my free time for the first half of the year -- but it was absolutely worth it!!</p><p>We've also been regularly participating in the monthly improv, and Nico and I also volunteered to be on the stage crew for their November production of <i>"The Lieutenant of Inishmore"</i>. Léo and Emmanuel also joined the club and have participated a bit, but not as much as Nico and I have.</p><p>Now that my kids are in their early 20's, I'm just so pleased with how all of our family relationships have developed and deepened. I'm glad that I have fun leisure activities that I share with each of them so that I get to spend extensive one-on-one time with each of them. Léo plays along with me and my Pokémon Go addiction -- we have so much fun going all over town together curating our awesome collections of rare Pokémons! Sharing the theater club activities with Nico has been equally fantastic, and all three of us have had a great time working together on Totally Normal Town!!</p><p>With my adorable husband Emmanuel, I have various shared interests, especially travel and entertaining. We love <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-mathematically-optimised-party.html" target="_blank">throwing parties</a> for our friends, with all of the entertaining conversation that entails! Currently we're getting ready for our big family trip to Japan that is planned for spring of 2025. This trip is something Emmanuel has been talking about for years, and we're all psyched to make it a reality!</p><p>This is the thing I've been most grateful for in 2023: my wonderful family!</p><p>The four of us have shared fantastic projects and adventures, and I feel like our mutual bonds of love and respect have only gotten deeper. I feel lucky to have this family because these types of bonds are the most important things in life. And I'm looking forward to things just getting better in the years to come!<br /></p><p><b>Other Odds and Ends:</b></p><p>Since I had so much <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2023/06/gardening-survival-of-fittest.html" target="_blank">fun with my garden</a> this past Summer, I'm planning to grow some seedlings this year starting in February. I haven't done indoor seedlings in a while -- in 2023 in particular, my Spring was entirely taken up by <i>"Steel Magnolias"</i> -- but I'm ready to try again!</p><p>Regarding Schweizerdeutsch, I really like the book I mentioned last year (<i>"Züritüütsch isch aifach schön"</i>), and I'm slowly learning from it, but with all my other projects, I haven't really had time to focus on it as much as I'd like...</p><p><b>Conclusion:</b></p><p>There's never enough time to do everything I want to do, but I will continue plugging along for as long as I can -- and enjoying the journey with loved ones all the way!!<br /></p><p></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-50749871268993107252023-11-12T23:41:00.000-08:002023-11-12T23:41:19.086-08:00Goodbye again, Totally Normal Town!!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZh99XdGnve0RbDtJKUKh5MVO4kPZGv34JQjXk8OWL2zNKXVfu1DVbMEhXQXGnNFvSKTOwO6uC0KZ-wZS1dwUA4PxDnoCH91lpb_lGAGiN4QvmOlZHhX4PUz6mbYIoXR3QBTpqrLZk8JLXvjWU-gwmg2bGWUEwJPSYKHCWV_r8XJTNKFyQLtRlw/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_14-19-47.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZh99XdGnve0RbDtJKUKh5MVO4kPZGv34JQjXk8OWL2zNKXVfu1DVbMEhXQXGnNFvSKTOwO6uC0KZ-wZS1dwUA4PxDnoCH91lpb_lGAGiN4QvmOlZHhX4PUz6mbYIoXR3QBTpqrLZk8JLXvjWU-gwmg2bGWUEwJPSYKHCWV_r8XJTNKFyQLtRlw/s320/photo_2023-11-08_14-19-47.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Sorry for the lack of "spoiler alert", but -- as you might guess! -- in the next episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYB8uLMEv9QrcHFAxVCpFoER24xBXeKoe" target="_blank">Totally Normal Town</a>, the town gets demolished again!!!<p></p><p>(You'll have to watch "A Totally Normal Christmas Carol" to find out how and by whom.)</p><p>But, before destroying the town, as usual, I took some pictures so that I could tell the tales of the various builds in the city.</p><p>In its most recent incarnation, Totally Normal Town has been a Christmas village for about a year. Last year we re-built all of our Christmas sets and then made last year's Christmas special: "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1J0c2yGYm8&list=PLYB8uLMEv9QrcHFAxVCpFoER24xBXeKoe&index=3&t=43s" target="_blank">A Very Special Totally Normal Christmas... Special</a>"</p><p>(We're not planning any more Christmas specials after this year's -- since Totally Normal Town isn't a Christmas village anymore...)</p><p><i>But why did we build it as a Christmas village in the first place?</i></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25WFIxK4HKLdrNqMx-cj2uxwI7gJSY1A1iq_0QPX_iSQWeidCZIXgrFBhYdABXrffUpB03cZLIVczCige7-GW6lgzUzZ-0wGbvf7MIBWRTWPipWV7VzuoOJuG0BVcpAwd6OYTqKOOSPyAHA1Tpn8BElHmrOH4XrtJO6QDi53iDmgk6hjF6DSQSg/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25WFIxK4HKLdrNqMx-cj2uxwI7gJSY1A1iq_0QPX_iSQWeidCZIXgrFBhYdABXrffUpB03cZLIVczCige7-GW6lgzUzZ-0wGbvf7MIBWRTWPipWV7VzuoOJuG0BVcpAwd6OYTqKOOSPyAHA1Tpn8BElHmrOH4XrtJO6QDi53iDmgk6hjF6DSQSg/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There's a simple reason for this choice: Lego's <a href="https://www.thebrickland.com/lego-winter-village-sets-all-13/" target="_blank">"Creator: Winter Village"</a> set is the best set of the year every year.<p></p><p>You're probably aware that Lego makes various series marketed to adults that aren't compatible with their iconic mini-figures and cities: huge, elaborate models of various things done in Legos. Those series don't interest me in the slightest.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSsp8S5EA6BW9mcwlCLs997Q9KzzRF9lLb4hdSVmoeaViEZyoLetGyMK1gV5EqfhCmCRmWlXBgMBbp7X2jGR43Zam8TkdcKjg1xw3hW8ZgxA7wUNOaD0Az9RgoHJYXOGWyMCOMnyrwbwG7ToGmGAEo6UEZ-aQpBuXt-2oxXQIZWDWKnQBAdurew/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLSsp8S5EA6BW9mcwlCLs997Q9KzzRF9lLb4hdSVmoeaViEZyoLetGyMK1gV5EqfhCmCRmWlXBgMBbp7X2jGR43Zam8TkdcKjg1xw3hW8ZgxA7wUNOaD0Az9RgoHJYXOGWyMCOMnyrwbwG7ToGmGAEo6UEZ-aQpBuXt-2oxXQIZWDWKnQBAdurew/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>When I make things out of Legos, I want to build a city with lots of interesting buildings -- using their various little pieces in creative ways to build all of the miniature details. That's why all of my favorite sets are from the "Creator" series.</p><p>(Note: this is not a paid ad for Lego, I'm just a fan.)</p><p>The "Winter Village" sub-series is the best "Creator" category because it's clearly designed for my exact demographic: families where the parents and (older) kids build cities together.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyfHpYAyYAsyNPVGw_BvN4KnsgltEr5SesS9usjhgusSMiS7FQwxgH_fNQc1vrpn6VhVj5Hv5_ERxGZVir7s4SLFeVeKZ5Fxpdr6ASqXdQqhCgi2AhEtLGFysMwy9GEZuoqCEnVDkK38dinNZvQbIJBUI92o1roV7EJs4ATbBG3i352eED1WL1A/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(4).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKyfHpYAyYAsyNPVGw_BvN4KnsgltEr5SesS9usjhgusSMiS7FQwxgH_fNQc1vrpn6VhVj5Hv5_ERxGZVir7s4SLFeVeKZ5Fxpdr6ASqXdQqhCgi2AhEtLGFysMwy9GEZuoqCEnVDkK38dinNZvQbIJBUI92o1roV7EJs4ATbBG3i352eED1WL1A/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(4).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The intention is clearly that the set either appeals to the parent, so they buy it for the kids for Christmas, or the kids (probably with the help of the other parent) buy the set as a fun Christmas gift for their Lego-loving parent(s).</p><p>The latter is essentially the situation at my house. Naturally, I'm hesitant about so much plastic being created, but I do love these little cities as a guilty pleasure! <br /></p><p>The designers pull out all the stops to make a clever set full of interesting design ideas for this special yearly gift.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjizrgQqbBmzjfKvIoMst8uGXskh4yiMKXyeJSrkR6ytdUNRJ-res5kCraWTB1tEu851DBoYLeyrF6fgh9Nxw927D-xvuB4HpdHCNs0UVFKF0fG56AUq2KVl20v_om1_DYLcuqn3dLbiAQQ6WscEZGdw1hdwdIdTgVQRce4e7TQAU6G29BNHvOWA/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(5).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjizrgQqbBmzjfKvIoMst8uGXskh4yiMKXyeJSrkR6ytdUNRJ-res5kCraWTB1tEu851DBoYLeyrF6fgh9Nxw927D-xvuB4HpdHCNs0UVFKF0fG56AUq2KVl20v_om1_DYLcuqn3dLbiAQQ6WscEZGdw1hdwdIdTgVQRce4e7TQAU6G29BNHvOWA/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-29%20(5).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>So this Christmas village is an incarnation of Totally Normal Town in which <i>everything</i> is a purchased set, and (almost) nothing is an original build. Contrast this with <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/welcome-to-totally-normal-town.html" target="_blank">Totally Normal Town of 2022</a> which was almost entirely original builds. That's what I'm planning for the next one.<br /></p><p>And now that this one is destroyed, I'll tell you a bit about all of the various buildings.</p><p>The one pictured here is the 2022 "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/holiday-main-street-10308" target="_blank">Holiday Main Street</a>." This one has some great details -- I love the irregular patterns of the collected snow on the roofs.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQBW5C66gyt_QF6_fKmyyMEvbNhp66j56QTk7T6kXIccGouUgV-pMhO7p3qViNaFmpOFJe8JWpsxHnxA8gGIvBbP17oGgVgtmXqgkdTa0YvjhbhM8DFnnMt2WtIPokIg7OdKYHn98Z1sYSec7XhIWKO8ade0zaX3HQQ0q1R3M57-HdCJLqgFTcDw/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQBW5C66gyt_QF6_fKmyyMEvbNhp66j56QTk7T6kXIccGouUgV-pMhO7p3qViNaFmpOFJe8JWpsxHnxA8gGIvBbP17oGgVgtmXqgkdTa0YvjhbhM8DFnnMt2WtIPokIg7OdKYHn98Z1sYSec7XhIWKO8ade0zaX3HQQ0q1R3M57-HdCJLqgFTcDw/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />(Note that my kids added a bunch of characters and items that are not part of the original set.)<p></p><p>As you can see from the little trolley in front, this is one of the few Lego sets that includes urban public transit. As a passionate urbanist, I was thrilled when my kids got me this one.</p><p>In the next incarnation of Totally Normal Town, I'm planning to narrow the streets and have them be exclusively bike, pedestrian, and public transit (plus some emergency and delivery vehicles) because I want my little city-under-the-stairs to be a wonderful place to live.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrWubGVUdvE9kdZFZIZDR_P282sSNse8dbK143Y9NPpXCbm0hQ8TmkLf0Vds7HPtWYglugDn8WlsAVoRSY_uKf1DjE2GYGuDvXoIfepRGEMBOEq2RSrn23ZuBlVwy6nWEUuBjUD9Z7s6bscY4XTiFnpypGrahy_cM9Dh3aUkwPuWzaglSQuj3cg/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrWubGVUdvE9kdZFZIZDR_P282sSNse8dbK143Y9NPpXCbm0hQ8TmkLf0Vds7HPtWYglugDn8WlsAVoRSY_uKf1DjE2GYGuDvXoIfepRGEMBOEq2RSrn23ZuBlVwy6nWEUuBjUD9Z7s6bscY4XTiFnpypGrahy_cM9Dh3aUkwPuWzaglSQuj3cg/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This little blue house is my newest set. It's the 2021 "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/santa-s-visit-10293" target="_blank">Santa's Visit</a>" set. My kids got it for me for my birthday this year because they saw it in the store, and we didn't have it yet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeIHbcEwpoa9UlEYjKl01O9st1Z0D5nP9YYVgdLyZuyLjXeCANi_onamtqpNCZ4sqw16q4nfJYjb9dO_l4Xa80ynnSAKRuzcDI_6XV6mqRFuKWvKWUObjiNzozbs-KGZLa_P8KGApExDesehV7jIcEp1TiGJ0uq2ix2Zoe2xzoRyTJuE72euUlQ/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkeIHbcEwpoa9UlEYjKl01O9st1Z0D5nP9YYVgdLyZuyLjXeCANi_onamtqpNCZ4sqw16q4nfJYjb9dO_l4Xa80ynnSAKRuzcDI_6XV6mqRFuKWvKWUObjiNzozbs-KGZLa_P8KGApExDesehV7jIcEp1TiGJ0uq2ix2Zoe2xzoRyTJuE72euUlQ/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This set is a fun one because it's got some really nice interior details like the open-plan house with a long dining table set with a red tablecloth for Christmas dinner.</p><p>Since it's "Santa's Visit" the chimney is designed to be wide enough for the Santa mini-fig to slide down.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfcRKa62W4dUJDpt8_A897y-l87gzzFyaccmhWcwTbjlJqi0LXm5RJ5LUuO9_16_R7SLTzZasmw_hjb96q1w1UHuZlz-jkNR8kz0D6Shta6rCYLICoEsHIYpyEB9QiLqJIiQoF4rHheF0KcPJlwyl4AvuWa4DCI7s34etaZoPMf7lPDexmuEbhg/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(4).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsfcRKa62W4dUJDpt8_A897y-l87gzzFyaccmhWcwTbjlJqi0LXm5RJ5LUuO9_16_R7SLTzZasmw_hjb96q1w1UHuZlz-jkNR8kz0D6Shta6rCYLICoEsHIYpyEB9QiLqJIiQoF4rHheF0KcPJlwyl4AvuWa4DCI7s34etaZoPMf7lPDexmuEbhg/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(4).jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>This one is the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/winter-village-fire-station-10263" target="_blank">Winter Village Fire Station</a>" from 2018. It has some very nice design elements such as the irregular grey brick on the lower level as well as the decorative windows and trim.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jFS52npAiYtcC1W7VTvuiuCF-07gQhwCvZ4TllhdtJXLJ8XnBu4tzupk_Ozxj-Y37s1tq-MsypBfy0jP_qMdyVD8KiRE_44LGXRDIBrpHD-d31UAhsDxog6umNZNKAzAHcXkXjdEssTZkKP7t11WXD3upb6Q11AFzNUic9UR6MNR3ToNTIJp5A/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(5).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jFS52npAiYtcC1W7VTvuiuCF-07gQhwCvZ4TllhdtJXLJ8XnBu4tzupk_Ozxj-Y37s1tq-MsypBfy0jP_qMdyVD8KiRE_44LGXRDIBrpHD-d31UAhsDxog6umNZNKAzAHcXkXjdEssTZkKP7t11WXD3upb6Q11AFzNUic9UR6MNR3ToNTIJp5A/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-30%20(5).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This one is the absolutely adorable "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/gingerbread-house-10267" target="_blank">Gingerbread House</a>" from 2019. <br /><p>I love how they took simple pieces and put them together to look like gingerbread decorated with candy and frosting!<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKKAi15FwXrpUtpzdG9eJbgXfbkyiYtgXPivlBVwEIkQ8Oa5goO13fJfzXmNzCWu0B4H6m09N0lgEM5tmYyPMdKCskJbhFQdH3_z2Cz9VUwum1l4l_Mvl5_EvjkkZnQom-CXS-Y2ocEhyphenhyphen2Hae6YwoMdruwlU0nwPKtgTYS6szC7i7vmTJT6MVlg/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-33%20(4).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKKAi15FwXrpUtpzdG9eJbgXfbkyiYtgXPivlBVwEIkQ8Oa5goO13fJfzXmNzCWu0B4H6m09N0lgEM5tmYyPMdKCskJbhFQdH3_z2Cz9VUwum1l4l_Mvl5_EvjkkZnQom-CXS-Y2ocEhyphenhyphen2Hae6YwoMdruwlU0nwPKtgTYS6szC7i7vmTJT6MVlg/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-33%20(4).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Even the interior is candy -- you can see that the bed appears to be a bar of white chocolate!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTTtluMs8ECLPzS5_KUcDoB9nI3syyN7nAqVGJ8ZQ5xudjQfEmPJ0hU5Pit5tHuU1tBnPIPVQmf1CwSWgHDkjFcPj68r_Y21TslSfs35N4QZ8ijPTUsvzkkoA5BoXTQ1tz8bV0QfzYnn4AkVYQBpe0Glr83_sCaSm63Wt2NaDurf-u0BM7CCP-Q/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(12).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTTtluMs8ECLPzS5_KUcDoB9nI3syyN7nAqVGJ8ZQ5xudjQfEmPJ0hU5Pit5tHuU1tBnPIPVQmf1CwSWgHDkjFcPj68r_Y21TslSfs35N4QZ8ijPTUsvzkkoA5BoXTQ1tz8bV0QfzYnn4AkVYQBpe0Glr83_sCaSm63Wt2NaDurf-u0BM7CCP-Q/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(12).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Next we have "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/santa-s-workshop-10245" target="_blank">Santa's Workshop</a>" (2014) and the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/elf-club-house-10275" target="_blank">Elf Clubhouse</a>" (2020). I love how both of these use ordinary Lego pieces to create the illusion of strings of Christmas lights (they don't light up, of course).</p><p>Also pictured we have the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/christmas-tree-40573" target="_blank">Christmas Tree</a>" -- which is not a "Creator" set, but it fits. The funny thing is that I told my son that we need a big Christmas tree as a centerpiece of our Christmas village, and there just happened to be one at the Lego store that was the perfect size!</p><p>The other builds here are a set of the book <i>"A Christmas Carol"</i> -- which is such a specialty set that I can't even find it on the Lego website to link to -- and "the gates of heaven" with Jesus. The latter is an original build by my kids because Jesus was a character in our Christmas special.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_RnBExcdkntbvHjAdWb6IIKL2-C64sSIDK6hnjUnZ30YitnMEWX6lAncP6CZXTj_dDfQAVZ3YFPYJHeLML5lkMsQ6kBT1mY9tKcE8zdNOCi6XfJdITLqtKvP19qDGqt1DJDqJu6dvLlkn3Khk2vYMH7htBU8IL-BjeRvZPeoZJJ4t-tnga1gXA/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_RnBExcdkntbvHjAdWb6IIKL2-C64sSIDK6hnjUnZ30YitnMEWX6lAncP6CZXTj_dDfQAVZ3YFPYJHeLML5lkMsQ6kBT1mY9tKcE8zdNOCi6XfJdITLqtKvP19qDGqt1DJDqJu6dvLlkn3Khk2vYMH7htBU8IL-BjeRvZPeoZJJ4t-tnga1gXA/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>"Santa's Workshop" has some really fun interior details like a workbench, a toy-manufacturing machine with a conveyor belt, and a 80's/90's computer.</p><p>Please note that all three of these are constructed from generic pieces. I sometimes hear people complain that Lego used to be for imaginative building, but now they just make complete molded-plastic toys like Playmobile.</p><p>I would argue that Lego has simply expanded its collection in both directions: The "snap-together toys" exist (witness the reindeer in the foreground of this photo), but the range of possibilities for making anything you can imagine out of generic tiny pieces has also expanded dramatically. If the latter is what you're looking for, then stick to the "Creator" sets.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbJsnoySCVT6tzYlsBYB9wRwy0ajWngZLPj4EaGUnvcwySuV_5hHXLcRcmN6TVz_gCIhuoP_HxAWcJmMn4iPsyJqk57lg8-ixpJjYGv-s-SaW3jbXv3pxDVruI_mxLHrltSC_qecTcdIq7_2woi97sdtTGkfn2MRe3Nm4BnYG1wnEOI_nLHg1WQ/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-03.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbJsnoySCVT6tzYlsBYB9wRwy0ajWngZLPj4EaGUnvcwySuV_5hHXLcRcmN6TVz_gCIhuoP_HxAWcJmMn4iPsyJqk57lg8-ixpJjYGv-s-SaW3jbXv3pxDVruI_mxLHrltSC_qecTcdIq7_2woi97sdtTGkfn2MRe3Nm4BnYG1wnEOI_nLHg1WQ/s320/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-03.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>It's a similar story for the interior of the "Elf Clubhouse". This one features some clever mechanical builds like the cute mechanism that drops waffles into a pan and a clock that (when turned) makes the elves drop out of their bunk beds and get to work!</p><p>(I guess the fact that the elves are slaves and/or in a cult is part of the clubhouse fun...)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyzShDUbR3Vjvw6KGfH_1gHjpZiW8sO3CZTdC4IS7thD_-N5Z9kpKxizD72Lq_3jdT2gbld1f9F5aVhC87py7dMZBMpG62tA69xXX4R1c85v1s1MSRinbwxSfzGnsfdhFFIubep-YHBFcDlqHfmXvOXAPygUi1-MeeFqgYk284Do2TL4xaUu-GQ/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(9).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyzShDUbR3Vjvw6KGfH_1gHjpZiW8sO3CZTdC4IS7thD_-N5Z9kpKxizD72Lq_3jdT2gbld1f9F5aVhC87py7dMZBMpG62tA69xXX4R1c85v1s1MSRinbwxSfzGnsfdhFFIubep-YHBFcDlqHfmXvOXAPygUi1-MeeFqgYk284Do2TL4xaUu-GQ/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(9).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Next we have Hogwarts! This set is the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/hogwarts-clock-tower-75948" target="_blank">Hogwarts Clock Tower</a>" from a number of years ago. It's not a "Creator" set, but it includes a mechanism for the Yule Ball, so -- with some additional Christmas decorations -- it fits into our Christmas village.</p><p>Hogwarts has been an important component of the story of Totally Normal Town from the beginning -- it's where the kids go to school, and it was Professor Trelawney who saw "the Grim" and thus predicted the first destruction of the town.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GnyjGyy1STlyJzinEqP6544ZgiPJOaL_sHeu089pYZxsEFn3v5DswgUq7HEP_OyIdbfY3dyVOdQvAiUV2kH6LvA2imiatYgxUidUf0pUMH-Bg0iTO0wqZo-bRTfkXyoqLHJANWUuJrZuYxWaan6-j2MKfPi5mdPRY7Bsy3Rv1P0o_Jw6l11B-Q/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(7).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GnyjGyy1STlyJzinEqP6544ZgiPJOaL_sHeu089pYZxsEFn3v5DswgUq7HEP_OyIdbfY3dyVOdQvAiUV2kH6LvA2imiatYgxUidUf0pUMH-Bg0iTO0wqZo-bRTfkXyoqLHJANWUuJrZuYxWaan6-j2MKfPi5mdPRY7Bsy3Rv1P0o_Jw6l11B-Q/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(7).jpg" width="240" /></a></div>So, while Hogwarts is grandfathered-in as a permanent fixture of Totally Normal Town, it's with my apologies to the trans community. I'm absolutely disgusted that the author of the series has chosen to use her gigantic platform to act as the world's spokesperson for anti-trans hate.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZ4avsUwtQfty4fCit3W0OuLfjVk-YDDgGmRiEFHh0Bu6VKoW5BGMuLOXvZLtgHWWu9wsCdEpJRMafCIPJl3r_iBKVvYroUajqgBNm9_6KmI1cQoiWZUJ6SL1eFMqaN2trBbcj47e53eltx-_yFxoq4UuAmIz9Y3Dv5MgG4DWlHjWYhUlaU60nQ/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-41.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZ4avsUwtQfty4fCit3W0OuLfjVk-YDDgGmRiEFHh0Bu6VKoW5BGMuLOXvZLtgHWWu9wsCdEpJRMafCIPJl3r_iBKVvYroUajqgBNm9_6KmI1cQoiWZUJ6SL1eFMqaN2trBbcj47e53eltx-_yFxoq4UuAmIz9Y3Dv5MgG4DWlHjWYhUlaU60nQ/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-41.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>This little Hogwarts annex includes the only original architectural build in the Christmas village.</p><p>The lower floor is the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/hogwarts-polyjuice-potion-mistake-76386" target="_blank">Hogwarts Polyjuice Potion Mistake</a>" set, which is a very simple rectangular room that looks like it's designed to be modular -- that is, you could combine a bunch of similar rooms by stacking them or connecting them alongside one another. I guess it's an expander set for <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/hogwarts-chamber-of-secrets-76389" target="_blank">some other</a> <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/hogwarts-fluffy-encounter-76387">Hogwarts sets</a>.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXgDV_4UCaCIUOtPEvitPx936YJ-MpR1gghYopY8sLcI-TPPYRvVvnsEgl8J6Y_I_pf9ukbDYA-iJe9rnpMl-gqSZ615UBs4FvN5CjJxRtAGOOU5U5z4YIUMkb9GRRwDeATBl0f9xH0J_7fiNsRRyz6xp2MCn_lUIR2SBKv83MOKjuFl9V73cJVA/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-41%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXgDV_4UCaCIUOtPEvitPx936YJ-MpR1gghYopY8sLcI-TPPYRvVvnsEgl8J6Y_I_pf9ukbDYA-iJe9rnpMl-gqSZ615UBs4FvN5CjJxRtAGOOU5U5z4YIUMkb9GRRwDeATBl0f9xH0J_7fiNsRRyz6xp2MCn_lUIR2SBKv83MOKjuFl9V73cJVA/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-41%20(2).jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Since the little polyjuice bathroom is in the same style as our other
Hogwarts set, I wanted to include it as part of the Hogwarts castle. But
it looked weird without a roof, so I threw together a little under-roof room in a similar style to serve as as a topper.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnf3k6AHfMut70qjrG5EMAscZrhhUij8PIHGV4I9afNtjWo-l_5L8H5CLNMJd5AHuAqY8alqN_NzcthxjgUwQuUHQjnhK93-rIIFTDpcJgVlMCYx0CS73yl2vrg-KxM_N6oDxp_ZIV4wHKxHjioIbyVwtvckYJt8qd3JYkysN-ZwirwIJGkK6KAg/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-03%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnf3k6AHfMut70qjrG5EMAscZrhhUij8PIHGV4I9afNtjWo-l_5L8H5CLNMJd5AHuAqY8alqN_NzcthxjgUwQuUHQjnhK93-rIIFTDpcJgVlMCYx0CS73yl2vrg-KxM_N6oDxp_ZIV4wHKxHjioIbyVwtvckYJt8qd3JYkysN-ZwirwIJGkK6KAg/s320/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-03%20(3).jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Next we have Elsa's castle. This was another present to me from my kids from a few years ago. This set is more for little kids than the others -- yet it still contains interesting mechanics like the way to open the big doors. It's a fun set, and it naturally fits the winter theme of the town.<br /></p><p>I think it may be our only set that includes the "mini-dolls" from the Lego "Friends" series in place of the standard mini-figures. (We have a few others from the Lego Movie 2 sets.)<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMhyphenhyphenPybBDjLSA4VE0C3HHYBRs3J_F9E0SDghoAORGa4w2Lc3McMRZaapUO4U2zfa8mYvenmah5GpBW508sdbFNfBJMU8AZrpGX7ub_fihcmLOu99Ncp_4Jzc_Bt01pm9dsiJuEWKHrEr6wRcA9Ol7DhJosJoKqyGVEh2XPDxT_iX3BHtdK3NIeA/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-04%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMhyphenhyphenPybBDjLSA4VE0C3HHYBRs3J_F9E0SDghoAORGa4w2Lc3McMRZaapUO4U2zfa8mYvenmah5GpBW508sdbFNfBJMU8AZrpGX7ub_fihcmLOu99Ncp_4Jzc_Bt01pm9dsiJuEWKHrEr6wRcA9Ol7DhJosJoKqyGVEh2XPDxT_iX3BHtdK3NIeA/s320/photo_2023-11-08_11-16-04%20(3).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Then we're back to some more "Creator: Winter Village" sets: The "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/winter-village-station-10259" target="_blank">Winter Village Station</a>" from 2017 and the "<a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/winter-holiday-train-10254" target="_blank">Winter Holiday Train</a>" from 2016.<p></p><p>As I mentioned <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/a-totally-normal-train-station.html" target="_blank">in an earlier post</a>, I didn't actually buy the "Winter Holiday Train" -- I just happened to have all of the pieces from other train sets, and I built it from the instructions that I found online.<br /></p><p>The acronym you see on our train system is <i>"Société municipale des chemins de plastique de Totally Normal Town."</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOT1Sft22RrfSOBOA4F9F_f8Y8lee1mRStwDwmmeogByfEfdwvmnCgmbmLsMoCm_G3tHIhcAsoG8Kq9nFihlW-fJa-LO38sEA00iYXfabLpKndsnEpPx9pVPk_y5hXDOAdEhyWXbzG8wqLE3aPZYW28stbZoYIF6sdnqQxXzSm1Pyu7AKtCOqJQ/s1280/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(16).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOT1Sft22RrfSOBOA4F9F_f8Y8lee1mRStwDwmmeogByfEfdwvmnCgmbmLsMoCm_G3tHIhcAsoG8Kq9nFihlW-fJa-LO38sEA00iYXfabLpKndsnEpPx9pVPk_y5hXDOAdEhyWXbzG8wqLE3aPZYW28stbZoYIF6sdnqQxXzSm1Pyu7AKtCOqJQ/s320/photo_2023-11-08_08-55-39%20(16).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And that's it for our adorable little Christmas village-under-the-stairs! Be sure to tune in for our Christmas special in which it gets demolished and stay tuned for the next incarnation of Totally Normal Town!!<br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-59218977837549176742023-06-28T05:09:00.000-07:002023-06-28T05:09:07.344-07:00Gardening Survival of the Fittest!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Udans4GCtgTunM5_Eigg5dZJALkNFD-yDdUqTn4FQPiaIsK2cP1OhDaFyFEtApo08zChHJEhNJ-kAXlfgf4Jj5XdzILdRooAlC5B66xXlQV49_wVf1RRMSdf_VXsTh2IPtlbEhTDxMEzJ6DcmzHsRmPlHzUBdbd2cIDeKuqb9aJUtAVT803ggA/s1280/gardening_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Udans4GCtgTunM5_Eigg5dZJALkNFD-yDdUqTn4FQPiaIsK2cP1OhDaFyFEtApo08zChHJEhNJ-kAXlfgf4Jj5XdzILdRooAlC5B66xXlQV49_wVf1RRMSdf_VXsTh2IPtlbEhTDxMEzJ6DcmzHsRmPlHzUBdbd2cIDeKuqb9aJUtAVT803ggA/w200-h150/gardening_01.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>This year I was feeling lazy with respect to gardening, so I didn't plant any seedlings indoors in February to prepare for my garden.<p></p><p>Then, when mid-May rolled around (time to plant stuff outside!), I was still feeling a little lazy. So -- aside from my usual ten tomato plants for the year -- I didn't buy any new plants.</p><p>Instead I thought it would be fun to play "survival of the fittest"!!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKETqjN9Zu3Me5RSsw-xShBMCpTgY1Qp8O-HRWBYIeTRN9Y_6pVntiIpwe1jDFDy2kToNmFbLgfwf_kth5pmNtMeWv28ytbncfXo7pumUwyiijbsLcv1fXs5oPhx5VXM3qoqF-YfW01hwW2NxTRfzDqmSiEsf97pQMgtAPMwXVcR-xQIqT7sjJQ/s1280/gardening_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKETqjN9Zu3Me5RSsw-xShBMCpTgY1Qp8O-HRWBYIeTRN9Y_6pVntiIpwe1jDFDy2kToNmFbLgfwf_kth5pmNtMeWv28ytbncfXo7pumUwyiijbsLcv1fXs5oPhx5VXM3qoqF-YfW01hwW2NxTRfzDqmSiEsf97pQMgtAPMwXVcR-xQIqT7sjJQ/w200-h150/gardening_02.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>Basically, I decided to just plant all of my expired seeds -- <i>without any regard for following the planting instructions</i> -- and see who wins!</p><p>And I learned a number of interesting lessons that I will apply to next year's garden!</p><p>I'll go through them pot-by-pot, starting from the shady side of the garden. This balcony faces due west, so the shady side is to the south. As you can see from the photo above, the wall of the neighbor's apartment casts a shadow on the south side of the balcony whenever the sun appears to the south of us (which is most of the time).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzm7cOJx2BIFgi-guptYwnGNedZ-d_sTUWAQTlnlidLNtdQeaioJobXCdzvxx-oKihv3UO7b2pGKjZuXyB9xHKhtORUcoTrOlAZxjs1Y1gq8q-PbEJ1eEVqHdwPzcQ92NWEAHjsGjaNbU8lWR-PrhC5RVusk7a_lgP5BkbV15z0KotaGXfBC_kOQ/s1280/gardening_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzm7cOJx2BIFgi-guptYwnGNedZ-d_sTUWAQTlnlidLNtdQeaioJobXCdzvxx-oKihv3UO7b2pGKjZuXyB9xHKhtORUcoTrOlAZxjs1Y1gq8q-PbEJ1eEVqHdwPzcQ92NWEAHjsGjaNbU8lWR-PrhC5RVusk7a_lgP5BkbV15z0KotaGXfBC_kOQ/w200-h150/gardening_03.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>Against the south wall, we have the mints. The mints have already won the "survival of the fittest" challenge years ago, so nothing new was added to that pot this round.</p><p>This pot is the only one of the long trough pots that I haven't ever dumped to chop up and rotate the dirt. I just planted some mint plants once, and they thrive every year. I just remove the old stalks, occasionally add some more dirt and fertilizer, and they're good to go.</p><p>I feel like I might need to change their dirt at some point or maybe add some worms since the soil must be really compacted by now. But the plants are still thriving, and I'm not planning any intervention until they show signs of distress.</p><p>The small pots in the foreground are various herbs (mostly perennials) that I've bought over the past few weeks.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AQfr9LCrRcNBewXM3iAQwk9mwidxCv8t0bpAvr-ZC3ur2-aQVC_mI1JHbRJYvIVLdgI1hQCrzTCNKVlbvzluzzsrY08dkkKzoEuAeMAeFJDGcLfcUzszSHPzVio0RrrsrLLfViPAVWAwhffwJuyqSNsYlgWSHpC2egHvN3vszQJcUbyPXiMliQ/s1280/gardening_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AQfr9LCrRcNBewXM3iAQwk9mwidxCv8t0bpAvr-ZC3ur2-aQVC_mI1JHbRJYvIVLdgI1hQCrzTCNKVlbvzluzzsrY08dkkKzoEuAeMAeFJDGcLfcUzszSHPzVio0RrrsrLLfViPAVWAwhffwJuyqSNsYlgWSHpC2egHvN3vszQJcUbyPXiMliQ/w200-h150/gardening_04.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>The first pot in the row of pots was also excluded from the "survival of the fittest" experiment. This pot had been used for raspberries since the beginning of this garden.</p><p>My parents had a shady raspberry patch for the 25-or-so years that they owned their house in Edina (and it was probably there long before and after), so I decided to plant raspberries in this shady pot.</p><p>The raspberries were very successful for many years. I had a number of real bumper crops, and they reseeded themselves for years (they're biennials).</p><p>But the past few years they'd been doing increasingly poorly. I bought supplemental raspberry plants and added them to the pot for the past two years, but they all died out. This year, no new plants grew, and the ones from last year (that are supposed to grow the berries) were all dead.</p><p>I just left the pot alone in mid-May to see if anything would recover, but they didn't. I figured that probably this dirt is just done growing raspberries, and I'm kind of bored of them as well. So last week I dumped out the dirt and chopped it up and put it back to start over.</p><p>I looked up possible shade plants to put in this pot, and I hit upon "Alpine Strawberries". Since we're near the Alps, that seemed like a good, local choice. So I bought some strawberry plants that I think are Alpine strawberries (I didn't really check), and planted them in this pot. So far they are doing well.</p><p>I finished off the pot with basil and cilantro/coriander (purchased plants) because those also like shade.</p><p>My plans for this pot for next year: Fill it completely with Alpine strawberries. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB5N-jXm0auT9MsRhwZfaSwUylMN4Z53hb8P8kl9A6rMUy9SPEP__EhAhTS364viVO_MHZhuECm3XoH3JOFTq9qfYDtTQJQ2XPZTz1km-lxraI3ffC8zDB8yzUQQAjtGfhT9AMRrweK_S1-6PizTSAo1P6zQGgAtrCndPfhQLujyUM3bGVLPkuQ/s1280/gardening_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB5N-jXm0auT9MsRhwZfaSwUylMN4Z53hb8P8kl9A6rMUy9SPEP__EhAhTS364viVO_MHZhuECm3XoH3JOFTq9qfYDtTQJQ2XPZTz1km-lxraI3ffC8zDB8yzUQQAjtGfhT9AMRrweK_S1-6PizTSAo1P6zQGgAtrCndPfhQLujyUM3bGVLPkuQ/w200-h150/gardening_05.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The next pot was the first one to get random seeds.<br /><p>In this one I planted seeds of tomatoes and parsley. And what came up?</p><p>Mostly weeds. There's one particular plant that is very aggressive and ugly and unuseful. I don't think it's a native plant, but either way, it's not welcome in my garden because it keeps crowding out all the other plants.</p><p>I waited until the plants had all grown a number of leaves to confirm that it wasn't the parsley before pulling up the weeds, and I think some of the plants I planted got off to a slow start due to competition with these weeds. But after weeding, the plants have been fairly successful. Here's what grew:</p><p>Of the five tall plants against the railing, three of them are tomatoes. This impressed me because these started from seeds on May 15th, and they're already growing flowers. They won't grow as many tomatoes as the tomato plants in the other pot, but we'll see some.</p><p>Additionally some parsley grew (I've never had a lot of luck with parsley), plus a lot of clover (not sure what to do with that), and a single stray basil plant. I later added two (purchased) hot-pepper plants (they're plants #1 and #4 from the left), and bunch of dill because there were some yellow swallowtail caterpillars in this pot. One of them is currently a pupa attached to the left side of this pot (not visible in the photo).</p><p>My plans for this pot for next year: I would like this pot to be my caterpillar sanctuary. So this pot will be full of parsley and dill. I'll try again to grow them from seeds. Plus I'll put a row of hot pepper plants (the caterpillars don't eat them, but the caterpillars do like the shade). But for the hot-pepper plants, I'll grow some from seedlings starting in February because the shops didn't have a good selection of hot-pepper plants this year.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlfhz6ZCvOzMjfnXS3neda9BEwfmrVbr1UCek9Zomtl-dSdpCYEjZYSst_ZH7mjhQAo4iwtVcIomx_RsqXGn5c5HQL1-HoWCVuVa95Uxxs5hL6G0iM9xce8oSL_tYm_uK8UAu1yhg7d9rv8vM3gmxUwkK7Na9lJKGbW2Qfhfi9btAYtpxWuKqnA/s1280/gardening_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLlfhz6ZCvOzMjfnXS3neda9BEwfmrVbr1UCek9Zomtl-dSdpCYEjZYSst_ZH7mjhQAo4iwtVcIomx_RsqXGn5c5HQL1-HoWCVuVa95Uxxs5hL6G0iM9xce8oSL_tYm_uK8UAu1yhg7d9rv8vM3gmxUwkK7Na9lJKGbW2Qfhfi9btAYtpxWuKqnA/w200-h150/gardening_06.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>In this pot, I planted lettuce and pumpkins and tomatoes. The lettuce came up immediately and drowned out everything else.</p><p>Two pumpkin plants have bravely poked up leaves in this sea of lettuce, but I don't have much hope for them. (I think you can't even see them in the picture.)</p><p>What I learned from this is the following: Don't try to plant any other seeds at the same time as lettuce. The lettuce will win. There were probably some of those weeds trying to grow in this pot, but the lettuce grew thick and fast and drowned almost everything else out.</p><p>The most surprising thing is that I've seen pots of this same lettuce for sale at the plant nursery. Considering how fast this stuff grows from seeds, I'm not sure why one would buy it already grown.</p><p>The other lesson I learned was to only grow one pot of lettuce. Even eating salads as often as we can, this pot is growing way more lettuce than we can possibly eat. I don't know if you can see from the picture, but we've already chopped bunches and bunches of the lettuce out to eat.</p><p>(Also note that there's a butterfly pupa on this pot as well. You can kind of see it in the photo -- it's the dark spot on the right-hand side near the bottom.)</p><p>My plans for this pot for next year: Plant all of the different varieties of lettuce seeds and let them duke it out amongst themselves.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCSC-vqLxbBFNRXiTkLeuWwj--3DHP3Q-CV0BMwXZbin3kOYbNLSmizN-zkaIHd74p3mZInJm3ZRYcNFHAe32ZMhIZhNoSxTidtqtnNGnVDzU8RAgnYE4AGvvdx-BZsUu0IbkOigLTKiBnXjCjRA7fqmCL6mgqZABlEH0D19I1gIXztNJvP4EUA/s1280/gardening_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCSC-vqLxbBFNRXiTkLeuWwj--3DHP3Q-CV0BMwXZbin3kOYbNLSmizN-zkaIHd74p3mZInJm3ZRYcNFHAe32ZMhIZhNoSxTidtqtnNGnVDzU8RAgnYE4AGvvdx-BZsUu0IbkOigLTKiBnXjCjRA7fqmCL6mgqZABlEH0D19I1gIXztNJvP4EUA/w150-h200/gardening_07.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><p>On either side of the lettuce pot are my two apple trees. This year has been their worst year yet as they did not even begin to grow a single apple between the two of them. Usually they grow at least a few, and one time they grew enough to make an apple pie without any supplemental purchased apples.</p><p>I'm not sure what went wrong this year. They only grew a few flowers -- which were covered with ants -- and didn't produce any fruits.</p><p>Maybe I need to fertilize them more or add some worms to break up the soil in their pots. Maybe the marjoram that has decided to grow as a ground-cover in their pots is taking up resources...? Maybe I should poison the ants...?</p><p>Or maybe it's just a fluke and they'll be fine next year...?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tmJ27hPVU-Wo64ZZkKr7yEvgG30Lk_SeAgLKwLIsXzHFvvfslYmrB70Q5FqjUItAgz42YrijwMnWSyvasE0hU4KzBDIC8v63HMprdKjzR6Mr6PdavB2ozDkO7vBYm02aY4FbrKklt6a6OaTwtjlAmR1EcMXvs0Qt3f5wCRW1xFu8rlV895z9EA/s1280/gardening_08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tmJ27hPVU-Wo64ZZkKr7yEvgG30Lk_SeAgLKwLIsXzHFvvfslYmrB70Q5FqjUItAgz42YrijwMnWSyvasE0hU4KzBDIC8v63HMprdKjzR6Mr6PdavB2ozDkO7vBYm02aY4FbrKklt6a6OaTwtjlAmR1EcMXvs0Qt3f5wCRW1xFu8rlV895z9EA/w200-h150/gardening_08.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>Next we have my prized tomatoes! Growing beautifully as always! Covered with flowers and ripening tomatoes.</p><p>I bought these 10 plants from Migros. They had a good selection this year, so I actually got 6 different varieties.</p><p>I planted some basil seeds in the pots with them, but the basil hasn't done great. I think planting basil seeds in the pots with already-mature tomato plants blocked the basil's sunlight too much.</p><p>My plans for these pots for next year: Plant the basil seeds earlier so they have a bit of a head start. Plant tomato seedlings in February instead of buying the plants in May.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVjfsYfCLqnvBd1QJpPnhYAXHU7pvfFJK4W1k_gEzmD4L22lsFEpH4zGAQ8RM_wbfZ9bPhobBD49ItHqZIuJXNVfouslwBxHFOEwfDZUJbtuC-wEYFm872WYxosBQPBwbHutzkawzFu76AjU3i2VZDDAjgDUCIomeURc9qaQ9o6HAv6noNyljqw/s1280/gardening_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVjfsYfCLqnvBd1QJpPnhYAXHU7pvfFJK4W1k_gEzmD4L22lsFEpH4zGAQ8RM_wbfZ9bPhobBD49ItHqZIuJXNVfouslwBxHFOEwfDZUJbtuC-wEYFm872WYxosBQPBwbHutzkawzFu76AjU3i2VZDDAjgDUCIomeURc9qaQ9o6HAv6noNyljqw/w200-h150/gardening_10.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>In this pot we have the star winner of the "survival of the fittest" challenge: the peas!</p><p>I had planted peas earlier (last year?) according to the instructions and got only one or two sad little pea stalks. So I intended to give up on peas. But I still had the rest of the packet of pea seeds, so I thought I'd give them another shot.</p><p>This time I dug a trench along the west side of the pot and just poured the whole packet of pea seeds in. And boy did they grow! And they're covered with pods of delicious, sweet peas! (I harvested them a few days ago, so you might get a wrong impression from the photo of how many peas there are.)</p><p>The peas were the only seeds that were able to hold their own against the lettuce seeds. They had a bit of an advantage since they had the whole row along the sunny side of the pot.</p><p>As you can see, I also planted lettuce in this pot -- a different kind than in the other pot -- but it also came in thick and fast!</p><p>The other plants you see pictured are ones that I purchased and added later. The one with a little vine growing along the ground is a plant of mini-cucumbers and the one with the larger leaves is some kind of round, yellow zucchini. They're both making some progress towards growing some fruits. (or vegetables, I guess...? But I think that botanically it's the fruit of the plant...?)<br /></p><p>I wanted to grow some ground-vine plants in the two northern-most pots because I had good luck with that strategy last year, growing some melons. There's more room and more sun in that part of the balcony, so one way to take advantage of it is to grow plants that will grow vines along the floor of the balcony.</p><p>The yellow zucchinis are not making any such vines, so I'll probably skip them for next year. We'll see how the mini-cucumbers do.</p><p>My plans for this pot for next year: Peas again!! Plus I'll grow some melon plants from seeds in February since I couldn't find any melon plants for purchase this year. Maybe also mini-cucumbers, depending on how they do.</p><p>Then, as a ground-cover for the rest of the pot, maybe some annual herbs like cilantro and basil.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXC-gcU7Bsh7siZYwGdMLmkb8avNeT1P9nLcZdz2d8EuIp-9oip4M7N_1TFVXnoH8oLt2_BplqP68zv-DJsN2jR43UviY8WT-64yTWKFG41qMINHuH7TvUBXWoPBvh742SlKiOgGAAuKsOnVztmNJe8qI-Te6063jAu1o657B7XRIJWGUh4ulThA/s1280/gardening_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXC-gcU7Bsh7siZYwGdMLmkb8avNeT1P9nLcZdz2d8EuIp-9oip4M7N_1TFVXnoH8oLt2_BplqP68zv-DJsN2jR43UviY8WT-64yTWKFG41qMINHuH7TvUBXWoPBvh742SlKiOgGAAuKsOnVztmNJe8qI-Te6063jAu1o657B7XRIJWGUh4ulThA/w200-h150/gardening_12.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p>The last pot is the pot that had the most adventures.</p><p>I filled it with seeds of dill and hot-pepper plants. The problem is that I didn't know what the hot-pepper plants were supposed to look like when they're small, so a whole field of this one week grew thick and fast -- and I assumed it was the peppers, so I let it grow.</p><p>This weed is very similar to the weed in the other pot (identical tiny flowers), but it has a different leaf configuration than the other one, so I didn't recognize it until the mass of weeds was practically a bush. (I later also planted the same cucumber and zucchini plants in this pot as in the adjacent pot.)</p><p>So I had a bush of this weed battling it out with some brave dill. Then a yellow swallowtail butterfly (at least one) spotted the dill and decided that it was a good place to lay her eggs. At least 5 eggs were laid (one of them was probably laid in another pot).</p><p>The caterpillars hatched and made short work of the dill. I recognized them as butterfly caterpillars (we'd caught one on our dill a few years ago and brought it in), so I bought a butterfly/caterpillar cage and another pot of dill to put in the cage and brought three caterpillars inside.</p><p>While the three caterpillars in the cage were busy eating and sleeping and digesting and pooping and growing, etc., I noticed there were two more caterpillars still outside. I decided to just leave those two outside and see what happens. (They both successfully transformed into pupae, as mentioned above -- the first three are currently pupae in the cage on my shelf.)</p><p>Anyway, around this same time, I wised up and figured out that the bushy plants weren't hot-chili plants, and were, in fact, a variety of the same weed that had been choking out my parsley in the other pot. So I yanked them all out. There were two tiny hot-pepper plants, but I don't think they'll grow big enough to grow any chilis this year.<br /></p><p>Once I noticed the remaining caterpillar, I planted another few pots of dill in the pot for it, but without the weeds, the pot was too sunny. So the caterpillar made a long trek along the edge of the balcony and joined its sibling in the second pot from the end. (These two became the outdoor pupae.)<br /></p><p>Since I was at the plant store, I also bought a pot plant out of curiosity and planted it in the right-hand corner. Now I'm regretting it a bit, though, because I have a strict policy against planting perennials (other than mints) in these long trough planters because it's a huge pain to dig them out if they get big and don't work out. I think I will dig this plant back out while it's still small and plant it in an individual pot. I think I'll need to buy a new pot for it. </p><p>My plans for this pot for next year: Along the west side, I'll probably grow either peas or hot peppers or maybe something else. I'll probably fill it with ground vines and some small herbal ground-cover plant like the adjacent pot.</p><p>In conclusion: my early-year laziness inspired an experiment that was interesting enough to re-energize my interest in my garden! I'm looking forward to some beautiful fruits, vegetables, herbs, and butterflies this year and next!!<br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-1570118086727713372023-01-11T09:12:00.005-08:002023-01-11T11:24:01.204-08:00The best "use-stuff-up" recipe ever: Knödel (dumplings) in veggie-cream-stew!!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0zUdNcAJ4-sy_VTBDAm1kMYzzxPjKUh-ByP7BC7vhJto5fbNlp0SFC3mxKjpr2Bi4BN5pG-I3b2drkBiUlab9sKQ4-Ppq2pjbRDblTxajCjyqkXI3mWhCV2VWO4VjXWXnLMLeIB7bHX0OJ8FCIqOaPpHFPkBiNyF_mL-QRTGExyRmnfX3e4/s4000/IMG_20230108_191220.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0zUdNcAJ4-sy_VTBDAm1kMYzzxPjKUh-ByP7BC7vhJto5fbNlp0SFC3mxKjpr2Bi4BN5pG-I3b2drkBiUlab9sKQ4-Ppq2pjbRDblTxajCjyqkXI3mWhCV2VWO4VjXWXnLMLeIB7bHX0OJ8FCIqOaPpHFPkBiNyF_mL-QRTGExyRmnfX3e4/s320/IMG_20230108_191220.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is my favorite recipe, mostly just because it's delicious -- but it's also great for fighting food waste!<p></p><p>This recipe is especially for using up bread that has gone stale, and it's also a delicious way to use fresh vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms that maybe you don't have a specific use for.</p><p>I will start by writing out the complete recipe, then follow with tips, explanations, and variations.</p><p><b>Knödel (dumplings) in veggie-cream-stew</b></p><p><i>Ingredients for the Knödel:</i></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>250 g. stale bread</li><li>1 onion, chopped</li><li>1 garlic clove, chopped</li><li>some chopped fresh herbs (e.g. parsley, rosemary)</li><li>oil for cooking<br /></li><li>1 teaspoon ground nutmeg</li><li>2 eggs</li><li>1 dl. milk or beer</li><li>80-160 g. lardons (Speckwürfeli) (optional)</li></ul><p><i>Ingredients for the veggie-cream stew:</i></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1 onion (or bunch of green onions), chopped</li><li>1 small hot chili pepper, chopped very small (optional)</li><li>500 g. chopped vegetables and mushrooms</li><li>some chopped fresh herbs (e.g. thyme, wild garlic)</li><li>oil for cooking <br /></li><li>1 dl. broth</li><li>200 g. crème fraîche</li></ul><p>In a large pot, cook the onion, garlic, lardons, & herbs in a bit of cooking oil until the onion bits are translucent. Set this aside to cool a bit while you slice the stale bread very thin and put the slices in a large mixing bowl. Mix together the eggs, milk or beer, and nutmeg, then pour this mixture over the bread. Then add the earlier cooked ingredients (including the oil).</p><p>Knead the mixture thoroughly with your hands until there are no dry bread chunks left, and then form the mixture into 6-8 balls.</p><p><i>In the same pot as before, cook the second set of ingredients as follows:</i></p><p>Add some more cooking oil and cook the onion, hot pepper, and herbs until the onion bits are translucent. Then add the vegetables, mushrooms, and broth, starting with whichever vegetables need to be cooked the longest. Bring it to a boil, then add the crème fraîche and bring it to a boil again, then reduce the heat to a simmer.</p><p>Place the dumplings on top of the vegetable stew and cover the pot. Simmer covered for 20 minutes.</p><p><i>Serve and enjoy!</i></p><p>This recipe is a combination of two different recipes I found in some local cookbooks -- with my own modifications based on the experience of making it all the time. The recipes are <i>"Semmelknödel auf Rahm-Kürbis"</i>, p.25 of Martina Kittler's <i>"Kürbis: Das Best vom Herbst"</i> (GU Küchenratgeber, 2013), and <i>"Brot-Knödel auf Rahm-Gemüse"</i>, p. 68 of <i>"Resten Los Geniessen"</i> (Betty Bossi, 2018).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9pbQF8BMncNx8CAS7Lvgv8SBdK4XV6oUbLJjaqW4hLwj6GxvCJ-sx7NsZRaNkcuMtSGp72enlVDzLbfgZeFxqBpp-uM09zTJQOIVd5X5_DMIFwYTAj-qXbeCnqdzScRxILhBcUugHCau7sU9Uj_nDOdJ0mAcmBYuPzorQ6YXxgQh-QCstsM/s4000/IMG_20230108_182010.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC9pbQF8BMncNx8CAS7Lvgv8SBdK4XV6oUbLJjaqW4hLwj6GxvCJ-sx7NsZRaNkcuMtSGp72enlVDzLbfgZeFxqBpp-uM09zTJQOIVd5X5_DMIFwYTAj-qXbeCnqdzScRxILhBcUugHCau7sU9Uj_nDOdJ0mAcmBYuPzorQ6YXxgQh-QCstsM/s320/IMG_20230108_182010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I love making this recipe because I love to mix-and-match flavors! And I love to try out different seasonal vegetables! You can use essentially any vegetable that you might normally use in a soup or stir-fry.<p></p><p>Naturally you can use "Kürbis" (pumpkin/squash), broccoli, spinach, zucchini (though that one gets a little mushy), bok choi, green beans, snap peas, etc., etc. In this instance I used carrots, brussel sprouts, and kale.</p><p>You can even use protein chunks such as meat or tempeh in place of part of the vegetables.</p><p>Ideally, you can make this recipe with just ingredients that you already have in your kitchen -- so it's cozy comfort food for a lazy day when you weren't planning to go out. And since you can substitute your own favorite ingredients at every step, your version will taste better <i>to you</i> than mine would!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuT1UnPOy1Azk-UbKKixyUrUM5NvfgM4xs8LnQWLgTLxPEItFHhLl58JwtASrTCkielRPxg3zzGqZ2l3zp9ZEmiVvz6cApBztwoK71ZXou6jL_FSSZArzU_-HSgecOI0g6LATG4_dRKz3HIWkxqlbKMa4KWrYuBN9rokbQdrhM9UzGoo41aA/s4000/IMG_20230108_175055.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAuT1UnPOy1Azk-UbKKixyUrUM5NvfgM4xs8LnQWLgTLxPEItFHhLl58JwtASrTCkielRPxg3zzGqZ2l3zp9ZEmiVvz6cApBztwoK71ZXou6jL_FSSZArzU_-HSgecOI0g6LATG4_dRKz3HIWkxqlbKMa4KWrYuBN9rokbQdrhM9UzGoo41aA/s320/IMG_20230108_175055.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unless you specifically dislike mushrooms, I would recommend not skipping the mushrooms as part of your 500 grams of vegetables and mushrooms. They really affect the flavor.<p></p><p>This time there were some fresh local mushrooms in the shop, so I bought them specifically for this recipe.</p><p>However, even when I use fresh mushrooms (and especially when I don't have any on hand), I generally add some dried mushrooms as well. They impact the flavor even more than the fresh ones do, so it's a good idea to keep some dried mushrooms in your cupboard for such occasions.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3o8gwEqK-jpPwZjHU4V_RwoQsADe2AmhMNVl0V25ULADhFyOuWnSXwN220UtRBVUczW4cNbzNgl6jQx4iZDPD2HRPRFEXmq2hpv0Z2TGD4vK6EaP36cWq9bJf_kwsSGgRYGqfITpkHILROy9gsfZOHejMoZJIcUbndbwzXNUABDUATwMXXk/s4000/IMG_20230108_173432.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3o8gwEqK-jpPwZjHU4V_RwoQsADe2AmhMNVl0V25ULADhFyOuWnSXwN220UtRBVUczW4cNbzNgl6jQx4iZDPD2HRPRFEXmq2hpv0Z2TGD4vK6EaP36cWq9bJf_kwsSGgRYGqfITpkHILROy9gsfZOHejMoZJIcUbndbwzXNUABDUATwMXXk/s320/IMG_20230108_173432.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>If you're using dried mushrooms, start by re-hydrating them since it takes about 20 minutes. They'll be ready by the time you need them.</p><p>In this picture you can also see the fresh herbs I picked from my balcony garden (thyme, rosemary, and sage). This January heat wave we're having is kinda scary, but I guess I have fresh herbs year-round, so yay...?</p><p>You can use your own favorite herbs from your own garden -- or maybe you or someone else in your household bought some fresh herbs for a recipe and didn't use them up -- feel free to try them out in this!</p><p>If you don't have any fresh herbs, naturally you can use dried herbs instead.</p><p>I normally divide the herbs so that I'm using some for the knödel and then different ones for the stew so that the components will have different flavors.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSg3GCrN6QyIS77e-WReICUS4hk0Um7PV_H7wm9HRWN62ogdMaiEpZR-UwaJWIpkl0m6A28M_Ky4cCcRVt1gyQ9baV1xK2yeM0QW2BMh7-fXPovlJCLTlehqIkbQCcku8DXVHyCgTPdUhL0xMgLgIdhS6GGdq-LdmQ0uNLf-wYqUD-qf1j_Zw/s4000/IMG_20230108_182519.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSg3GCrN6QyIS77e-WReICUS4hk0Um7PV_H7wm9HRWN62ogdMaiEpZR-UwaJWIpkl0m6A28M_Ky4cCcRVt1gyQ9baV1xK2yeM0QW2BMh7-fXPovlJCLTlehqIkbQCcku8DXVHyCgTPdUhL0xMgLgIdhS6GGdq-LdmQ0uNLf-wYqUD-qf1j_Zw/s320/IMG_20230108_182519.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>When sautéing the onions for the dumplings, I generally use the same pan I'm planning to cook the whole lot in later. Naturally you can use a different pan if you like, but then you have to wash two pans.<p></p><p>I had thought that pine nuts might make a good vegetarian alternative to using lardons in the dumplings, but they didn't really work because the flavor was too subtle.</p><p>So in this picture I'm using vegan faux-lardons from <a href="https://outlawz-food.ch/" target="_blank">Outlawz Food</a>. These worked really well and were quite delicious, so I'm definitely using them again.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgvRCOEZdmpljGtfe_uLL6Yp_3Fp_kTSNT7LYwGtwM1IvY9yqG5OXzy3UdT4It51Ela9B8sUg34SQscnWBbqLC3UQg2DJdfmhcsDAkQcBBa-qoAly8OeTbu_0OlJP0Bxj_vpT1F41vTr8VNmi1l58CPgIHkkxlwdIy823feowzihn53lQK3w/s4000/IMG_20230108_182918.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgvRCOEZdmpljGtfe_uLL6Yp_3Fp_kTSNT7LYwGtwM1IvY9yqG5OXzy3UdT4It51Ela9B8sUg34SQscnWBbqLC3UQg2DJdfmhcsDAkQcBBa-qoAly8OeTbu_0OlJP0Bxj_vpT1F41vTr8VNmi1l58CPgIHkkxlwdIy823feowzihn53lQK3w/s320/IMG_20230108_182918.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For the bread, one recipe recommends Ciabatta (which works well), and the other lists various breads. I usually use butterzopf (which is like brioche) because my kids like it for sandwiches, and (if not eaten) it gets hard/stale by the next day.<p></p><p>More or less any bread will work as long as it's at least a bit stale/hard so that the liquid of the recipe can penetrate it. Both recipes say to use bread from the previous day, but I've found that bread that's up to 4 days old works just fine. Just keep in mind that the harder it is, the smaller the pieces you need to cut it into (and obviously don't use bread that's moldy, etc.).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCY7US-tlFr89dpxA3YY3ZcRqGML0KXRz8NMztIxXLUQgHYMzBBTR96lIWN1U0SNTKPN0iWwkVlxzqfG711K-Jdpexkg8Y29O3unNsTEapfsosHubk2RfjEiDQJHYyaUAxRIV6p18UNKGrh12zoVAB-cr7IFeW8fqVArE3LvHRpn8dBFXcQPc/s4000/IMG_20230108_174416.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCY7US-tlFr89dpxA3YY3ZcRqGML0KXRz8NMztIxXLUQgHYMzBBTR96lIWN1U0SNTKPN0iWwkVlxzqfG711K-Jdpexkg8Y29O3unNsTEapfsosHubk2RfjEiDQJHYyaUAxRIV6p18UNKGrh12zoVAB-cr7IFeW8fqVArE3LvHRpn8dBFXcQPc/s320/IMG_20230108_174416.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>For the liquid, both recipes say to use milk (one says milk or water), but I like to use beer instead.</p><p>This is because one time I started making this recipe and realized that we didn't have any milk (since we don't use milk that often), so I had to find a substitute. I'd heard that beer can sometimes be used as a substitute for milk in recipes (and we definitely have that), so I decided to try it out -- and it works great!</p><p>An extra advantage of using beer is that it's not sold in 1 dl portions (that's just a 10th of a liter), so you can open a bottle, set aside 1 dl of beer, and drink the rest while making this recipe!<br /></p><p>Naturally the eggs can also be replaced with vegan egg-substitutes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmQdVt9XKF4oph5m6BbQlFSMV9rUnWpOPHuDSPgR1xOvG2Bp7kLjmaeOMbNAE83VY2FHenPOesGX2vJnVny6sUXB7lqSYQKIUNUncLMrbfReSejchRicpWpscfullYOYEuSQJmnDgtphkdvxbp55_mvcMZH6BGqdqFUR9i6tMBg8zJtnqccw/s4000/IMG_20230108_183428.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmQdVt9XKF4oph5m6BbQlFSMV9rUnWpOPHuDSPgR1xOvG2Bp7kLjmaeOMbNAE83VY2FHenPOesGX2vJnVny6sUXB7lqSYQKIUNUncLMrbfReSejchRicpWpscfullYOYEuSQJmnDgtphkdvxbp55_mvcMZH6BGqdqFUR9i6tMBg8zJtnqccw/s320/IMG_20230108_183428.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Forming the dumplings is quite simple. Just squeeze everything together with your hands until everything is mixed and there are no lumps of dry bread. Then form the balls with your hands.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAYi3TkPpqyEDJIv4XBwbmVz6DIj7StzeYqSr_qBWwf2txDrOns0tdRBhOPIZ4XXQhZkJX2tScPQZwlULuP-zd363gL_002RFbzXQSRAUQXCN8PHn9a61uHLiWvkDglfiuPhAUXfVhX9ApQBA1TvLw5Ld92EDq7Bjpy4w_aub-LWXDTegIfw/s4000/IMG_20230108_183527.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAYi3TkPpqyEDJIv4XBwbmVz6DIj7StzeYqSr_qBWwf2txDrOns0tdRBhOPIZ4XXQhZkJX2tScPQZwlULuP-zd363gL_002RFbzXQSRAUQXCN8PHn9a61uHLiWvkDglfiuPhAUXfVhX9ApQBA1TvLw5Ld92EDq7Bjpy4w_aub-LWXDTegIfw/s320/IMG_20230108_183527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdMdeF0Njveo1adKormA0Y-Umm08Fw7FHwtcgjwLpdAxGHlz2weTvWYSgt_DxEEThZYdy-5s-4JicEfQ-C48DW3jeZzSrtVhVd3nCYoSUK2K8z983E58Ql9pp9qwXyJIrnz2to2E8emA8dq98B3awDYemdw00CANM1LBCrO3JCnaSsaiDGNE/s4000/IMG_20230108_184122.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdMdeF0Njveo1adKormA0Y-Umm08Fw7FHwtcgjwLpdAxGHlz2weTvWYSgt_DxEEThZYdy-5s-4JicEfQ-C48DW3jeZzSrtVhVd3nCYoSUK2K8z983E58Ql9pp9qwXyJIrnz2to2E8emA8dq98B3awDYemdw00CANM1LBCrO3JCnaSsaiDGNE/s320/IMG_20230108_184122.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I usually make six of them to make it easy to divide this into three portions, but you can also make eight for four portions.<br /><p>Then set this aside and start on the vegetables.</p><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOl-k_Dnq0HQ_RFptgF5_5pLmoKyMvJ5Ge5W985N1wxRky8ll1EsKQMCQStQoxbbMcEx4UsBqiLB-UVtU1qD6kx39ZaqpsKbIZilgOnGGk7c7NxVOydOGPQat32A0l9q2f6PwAS7T8qYipXj3CDMYt9NdYMqKXSu33_8ahWQrULTU7cgEwqow/s4000/IMG_20230108_184539.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOl-k_Dnq0HQ_RFptgF5_5pLmoKyMvJ5Ge5W985N1wxRky8ll1EsKQMCQStQoxbbMcEx4UsBqiLB-UVtU1qD6kx39ZaqpsKbIZilgOnGGk7c7NxVOydOGPQat32A0l9q2f6PwAS7T8qYipXj3CDMYt9NdYMqKXSu33_8ahWQrULTU7cgEwqow/s320/IMG_20230108_184539.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I usually add a hot pepper here because I like the flavor combination of spicy and creamy. Neither recipe includes this (not even as a suggestion), so feel free to leave it out if you don't like spicy food.<br /><br />In this case, I had preserved some hot chilis from my balcony garden in olive oil, so I used some of that for both the chili and part of the cooking oil.<br /><br />(You can see my little jar of hot chilis on the right-had side of the picture of bowls of ingredients above.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-2BYojxPp-Z-aDAI1Z0bQNSSfcHYSATSo47qC_CjI3mKUo23_4bTmDWyIHn5xDTaQnP6Xjaufvic27jc23EemnsqMPRHFbsXPgAa4x7NJmxH2S19rOvK3hWGDgBddfuGRV0E2i58Q0TIj1WPPO43f6qbJ3uuetGLMf9VkZxBFYdy-ozSCHo/s4000/IMG_20230108_184801.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0-2BYojxPp-Z-aDAI1Z0bQNSSfcHYSATSo47qC_CjI3mKUo23_4bTmDWyIHn5xDTaQnP6Xjaufvic27jc23EemnsqMPRHFbsXPgAa4x7NJmxH2S19rOvK3hWGDgBddfuGRV0E2i58Q0TIj1WPPO43f6qbJ3uuetGLMf9VkZxBFYdy-ozSCHo/s320/IMG_20230108_184801.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The biggest difference between my recipe and the ones in the books is the amount of broth. One calls for adding 1 dl of broth, and the other none at all. So why do I recommend half a liter of broth?</p><p>Since a bouillon cube makes half a liter of broth, I initially used to make the 5 dl and then only use 1 dl. But I found that -- depending on the vegetables you're using -- it's easier to cook them down without burning them (and simmer 20 minutes!) if you use more liquid. And since I already had more broth right there, I started using more and more of it until I ended up using all of it every time.</p><p>As you might guess, this changes the character of the recipe entirely. Both of the initial recipes are for dumplings that can be served on a plate with a vegetable cream sauce over them. My version is more of a soup or stew (hence the title) that's served in a bowl.</p><p>If you'd prefer a creamy sauce rather than a creamy stew, you can easily achieve this by using 1 dl of broth rather than 5. But, personally, I love soups and stews! So that's how I make this recipe.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRxp72xPTo_pW4TEfy9ooliqMqBlfGKR-ToptLnRvilOdx-nhEI3NPg9KqvGt0BT9so_X4cWdYbSXm3AbsGB1VbXx1y1chBSAY7ZuBycG5ZsPPZ1_MaajuuP-fNNHAVvqhSzilJI1O0pD34NxLF2BJ3vu8NRe0UO_mWYkBUYOQFyJ5Vlaux0/s4000/IMG_20230108_184910.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRxp72xPTo_pW4TEfy9ooliqMqBlfGKR-ToptLnRvilOdx-nhEI3NPg9KqvGt0BT9so_X4cWdYbSXm3AbsGB1VbXx1y1chBSAY7ZuBycG5ZsPPZ1_MaajuuP-fNNHAVvqhSzilJI1O0pD34NxLF2BJ3vu8NRe0UO_mWYkBUYOQFyJ5Vlaux0/s320/IMG_20230108_184910.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>If you make it as a stew, the cream actually becomes optional. If you prefer a transparent brothy soup rather than a creamy soup, you can leave out the cream entirely.</p><p>If you don't have any crème fraîche, you can substitute heavy cream. I've done this, and it works fine.</p><p>If you'd like to substitute lower-fat dairy products (like yoghurt or sour cream), the one thing to be aware of is that they can curdle when cooking them. So if you're using a substitute here, just be sure to pick something that is made to be cooked.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwkjgVTEeaH9H7s32E69BGa1Zk6_B_FFBdtUDtNo4gUxsZS7UrSnqtXrAZ7XM3stCSh266xzDQil9hQIN-LYDVdvOHUYpTP_6HqEKXWFHkZrAbINelYYuCNhPoU0OrzYthTutIjjhjDMW_Yuh2H-_c4zJQQA76gBhXOJlfzaam4E5nM14b1M/s4000/IMG_20230108_185051.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwkjgVTEeaH9H7s32E69BGa1Zk6_B_FFBdtUDtNo4gUxsZS7UrSnqtXrAZ7XM3stCSh266xzDQil9hQIN-LYDVdvOHUYpTP_6HqEKXWFHkZrAbINelYYuCNhPoU0OrzYthTutIjjhjDMW_Yuh2H-_c4zJQQA76gBhXOJlfzaam4E5nM14b1M/s320/IMG_20230108_185051.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Then -- after a quick 20-minute simmer in their own soup or sauce -- you have delicious knödels! Made with your own favorite ingredients!</p><p>Enjoy!<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncqdVzAjHi6ZS-IVqNiFFrZv6mvCVL5Pdob-YD9Kn_H7nM0PRD_2KpNJvvWiobUK0HjMQsxwbMB47xV1cUL14j_qqE1P8cqz7RLzqoVZLpg4-NEM7YSQ4YCj-TcQ46TJJZlXsplsJ9wrFNGEFSvvLJ9tx7tLz8ZLb7xm_xSzg7JWEd3cK35U/s4000/IMG_20230108_191046.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjncqdVzAjHi6ZS-IVqNiFFrZv6mvCVL5Pdob-YD9Kn_H7nM0PRD_2KpNJvvWiobUK0HjMQsxwbMB47xV1cUL14j_qqE1P8cqz7RLzqoVZLpg4-NEM7YSQ4YCj-TcQ46TJJZlXsplsJ9wrFNGEFSvvLJ9tx7tLz8ZLb7xm_xSzg7JWEd3cK35U/s320/IMG_20230108_191046.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj56ny1PyTRebM8vTcbJWZqJjVucAr0EOmSazecMk27R7ApLSVd2LxeFzMHnnEryZDla2t0SFJ8Dor028foQ4Ur60pP9HS7ktn7F5VgL7Ctd4wXWSuhIrVYSGzog9QzVJ45YNBcS-T9AX4IT8stJyAEQvTl1ilG_M0b-ahGhGMPMABK6f2_NQ/s4000/IMG_20230108_191220.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj56ny1PyTRebM8vTcbJWZqJjVucAr0EOmSazecMk27R7ApLSVd2LxeFzMHnnEryZDla2t0SFJ8Dor028foQ4Ur60pP9HS7ktn7F5VgL7Ctd4wXWSuhIrVYSGzog9QzVJ45YNBcS-T9AX4IT8stJyAEQvTl1ilG_M0b-ahGhGMPMABK6f2_NQ/s320/IMG_20230108_191220.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-75746305101390541852022-12-24T07:15:00.002-08:002022-12-24T07:15:31.316-08:00A Very Special Totally Normal Christmas... Special!!!<p> My kids and I finished up our latest Totally Normal Town episode -- our Christmas Special -- just in time for Christmas Eve!!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R1J0c2yGYm8" width="320" youtube-src-id="R1J0c2yGYm8"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-21096180308808150062022-12-21T09:00:00.001-08:002022-12-21T09:00:51.098-08:00State of the Me: 2022-2023<p>This year's "State of the Me" is probably going to be the most positive one so far in this whole series! I'd just like to remind readers that I <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-just-like-starting-over.html" target="_blank">started this series in January 2010</a> because I was depressed about moving from France to Switzerland and really needed to make some long-term changes to get my life in order. So if this post looks at all like a brag-fest, it's that a <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/search/label/goals" target="_blank">bunch of goals I've been chipping away at</a> for the past decade or two have actually wrapped up successfully in 2022!!</p><p>First and foremost: <b>I actually finished illustrating book 1 of my comic book!!!</b></p><p>To recap: I wrote the script for the 3-book series during a fantastic vacation in Paris <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2014/12/state-of-me-2014-2015.html" target="_blank">in 2014</a>. By the <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2016/01/state-of-me-20152016.html" target="_blank">end of 2015</a>, I had the main concept art done. By mid-2016, I had finished illustrating part 2 of book 1. By mid-2017, I had <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2017/12/state-of-me-2017-2018.html" target="_blank">finished illustrating part 1 of book 1</a>. And then part 3 of book 1 -- which was supposed to be easy because it took place in mostly the same places as parts 1 & 2 -- took me until midway through 2022.</p><p>I need to do a bit of last-minute cleanup/corrections before printing a batch of copies of the comic book, but I expect to have it ready to go before the end of my Christmas vacation.</p><p>My plan had always been that I'd look for a publisher once book 1 was done, but I feel like I'm not quite ready to do that yet. Since it took me about five years just to draw these last 16 pages, I need to ensure that if & when I find a publisher, I'll be in a position where I can reduce my work hours and do whatever else it takes to draw the other two books as quickly as possible.</p><p>This leads into <b>my main goals for the upcoming year</b>:</p><p><b>1. Improve my skills at tools for creative processes.</b> Specifically, I'd like to get better at creating music with the computer and at creating (2d) animations (probably with Unity). Plus I bought a green screen -- and my kids and I tried it out and found that it's quite easy to swap out the green background using ordinary editing software.</p><p>I'd like to be able to create at least reasonably professional-looking videos. I have no intention of doing it professionally, but I love storytelling through various media (amateur theater, comic books, puppet shows), and I feel like if I put in just a bit of effort on learning the tools better, I could make stuff that would be cool and that I could be proud of.</p><p>Additionally, it's fun doing collaborations with my two (now adult) kids, like our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVBEF4os7K4&list=PLYB8uLMEv9QrcHFAxVCpFoER24xBXeKoe" target="_blank">Totally Normal Town series</a>, and I'd just like to get myself into a position where I feel like I have the skills to create a good video whenever inspiration hits.</p><p>I'd like to be in that position before I lock myself into another who-knows-how-many years of focusing on drawing the other two books of my comic book trilogy (hence wouldn't have the time to build these background skills) which is why I'd like to do this before doing a serious search for a publisher.</p><p><b>2. Improve my tool set for drawing my comic book.</b> When I first started drawing it, I developed some simple tools in Python for some image correction tasks, and I've stuck with the same toolset and techniques for the whole eight years or so that I've been working on it. Now that I'm at a good breaking point, I think I can use that experience to evaluate how I can improve my techniques in order to create my drawings faster as well as better.</p><p>Once I've accomplished those two goals (hopefully by the end of 2023!) I think I will finally be ready to start looking for a publisher for my comic book.</p><p>Another related goal I've set for 2023 is that I'd like to join the local English-speaking community theater group (along with my kids). This so completely nails what we need in our lives right now that I'm kind of afraid to get my hopes up too high with respect to this working out. But here's the situation:</p><p>My kids attended the French school (Lycée Français de Zürich), so they never learned German quite as well as they should have, and they speak almost no Switzerdutsch. Since they have always been close with each other (plus they're not neurotypical), they didn't really even make a lot of lasting friendships among their French-speaking classmates. And English is the language they're most comfortable in by far.</p><p>A few months ago my older son Nico was feeling stressed about various aspects of his life -- including his lack of socializing outside the family. So I made some suggestions: (1) that we take a Switzerdutsch class together, and (2) I recommended joining an English-speaking community theater group I had heard about.</p><p>So we took the Switzerdutsch class together (the last class was this past Monday), and we're planning to sign up for the English theater club in January. The Switzerdutsch class was not great for socializing (it was a tiny class), but it was a good opportunity to get out and interact with other people (the institute that Nico is attending to learn video game programming/design is mostly online).</p><p>I think the theater club will be better because it will give an opportunity to interact with all sorts of people in real life -- in English -- doing something fun and creative together. I'll try to get my younger son Léo to join as well since improv theater was one of his favorite after-school activities. And we could all use some new friends -- especially locals who might be interested in collaborating with us on our other creative projects. (My husband might also participate a bit, but maybe not since he has his own separate interests.)</p><p>Naturally I'm always grateful for my more distant friends and creative collaborators! Here are some who've been keeping <a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/" target="_blank">Main Street Plaza</a> lively as we enter into <a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/tag/awards/" target="_blank">awards season</a> again:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Donna Banta just put out a fantastic murder mystery: <i><a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/2022/10/16/mysterious-mormon-magic-donna-bantas-seer-stone/" target="_blank">Seer Stone</a></i></li><li>I really enjoyed Johnny Townsend's recent novel: <a href="https://johnnytownsend.com/orgy-at-the-std-clinic/" target="_blank"><i>Orgy at the STD Clinic</i></a><i> </i>(which made the <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2022/indie/books/" target="_blank">Kirkus Best Indie Books of the Year</a> list)</li><li>Holly Welker edited another fantastic collection of LDS-interest essays earlier this year: <i><a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=36gxw3ww9780252044359" target="_blank">Revising Eternity</a></i></li><li><i> </i>And I think Monya's book will be released soon!</li></ul><p>I have a list of good ideas for more blog posts, but somehow I've been doing a bad job of buckling down and writing them. Maybe this will change now that I've discovered Mastodon (where I post as <a href="https://social.linux.pizza/@chanson">@chanson@social.linux.pizza</a>). I always liked the decentralized landscape of the blogging world, and I'd been long hoping that a communication network like the #fediverse would come along and replace the for-profit social media platforms. Now I find I'm energized about connecting with people online again!</p><div><p>And now for the latest status on my other long-running goals:</p><p><b>1. Learning German and Integrating:</b></p><p>We're officially Swiss!! My husband and I and our two children now all have Swiss passports!</p><p>To some degree I feel like I will always be a foreigner wherever I go, but this step has had a huge impact on my outlook. Now I feel like I belong here -- like I'm a part of this place and a part of this culture. <br /></p><p>I'm also happy that I was able to get my name change recognized. When I became French, I changed my first name from Carol to Carole, but I had to jump through some additional hoops to get this name change legally recognized in Switzerland (since my birth certificate says "Carol"). It's a silly little thing, but it's part of my chosen identity as a European.</p>My German is pretty fluent, but I've been wanting to at least understand Swiss German for a long time -- ever since I noticed that hearing it made me feel excluded. But it's really hard to find any reasonable materials for learning it!! The course I took with Nico was somewhat helpful, but not as helpful as I would have liked.</div><div><br /></div><div>My new plan/hope/goal is to use the book <i><a href="https://www.orellfuessli.ch/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1000577985" target="_blank">Züritüütsch isch aifach schön</a></i> -- which contains the lyrics to 5 CDs worth of clever Züritüütsch songs with transcripts and translations into high German and English. I like it so far -- I just need to set up a schedule to learn new songs from it regularly.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>2. Freeing my apartment of clutter:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I've been talking about this one for years, and I think it's finally in a good state. It's not perfect, but I've managed to donate (online) some of the larger items that were still good, and I've recycled and reorganized and thrown away so many things that I now have space to breathe. I no longer feel like I'm drowning in junk!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>3. My job:</b></div><div><br /></div><div>My career is going <i>amazingly well</i>. Since I've been at my current company, I've had a vision of building a centralized DevOps/Cloud Infrastructure team that meets each tech team where they're at -- providing as much or as little setup/training/support as they need to deploy their projects to the cloud infrastructure (which we maintain) in a scalable and automated way. And I've made it so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Looking at my team now, this positioning seems expected and inevitable -- but in reality, it took some work to convince various teams across the company to trust us with this responsibility rather than fragmenting the DevOps tasks.</div><div> </div><div>I've had the pleasure and privilege of training and collaborating with some fantastic colleagues. My boss has done a fantastic job of helping us prioritize a new roadmap of system-wide upgrades. And the icing on the cake is that I earned a big raise and promotion -- I've been the tech lead of my team for months!</div><div><br /></div><div>My only goal on this one is to update my CV and my linked-in profile with all of the fantastic successes in this job!!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>4. Anything else...?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I've gotten all recommended vaccines and boosters, and we're still masking in the public transport and while shopping. So far none of us has gotten Covid at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>The protection provided by the vaccines has allowed me and my husband to resume some of our favorite leisure activities, especially travel and <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-mathematically-optimised-party.html" target="_blank">throwing parties</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the very bad side, the world's response to climate change is still nowhere near where it needs to be. But at least in my little micro corner of the world 2022 was a good year. Let's hope 2023 will be even better!!<br /></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-31572949080368481452022-10-05T00:50:00.005-07:002022-10-05T00:50:45.392-07:00The Grim Strikes Again!!!<p> If you watched my previous video, you probably saw this coming!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yaO0vsW0zJk" width="320" youtube-src-id="yaO0vsW0zJk"></iframe></div><br /><p>Our town has been great fun, but part of the fun of Legos is that your creations aren't meant to be permanent. They're built, then demolished, and then the parts find new uses in other builds -- it's the Lego "circle of life"!</p><p>A new "Totally Normal Christmas Town" has already started to spring up in the place of the old "Totally Normal Town". And, yes, you can look forward to a "Totally Normal Christmas Special" coming this season!<br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-27162932960089535912022-09-16T00:28:00.000-07:002022-09-16T00:28:09.748-07:00One last video documenting Totally Normal Town<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZ-gOGrSEH8" width="320" youtube-src-id="FZ-gOGrSEH8"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-44953080050796889252022-09-11T04:21:00.003-07:002022-09-11T08:26:13.594-07:00And in the industrial corner...<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio64RnPeLZlU0sBpnVwXPM7StZZgZCsnBe_hn0Poek9WMWPYl24eifUHGoVHVGPBjN28yzL8nqQxk3W4jVNixYD_cc8Z9qmMK7mLZmT8SA1VMKiOiq_lP0pCEzlGVK304SmV0Kv9owI8qU_CCWDRxHpXM7txdVqXH-ia_Tfdt4ur_jMe-YOpA/s4000/IMG_20220907_171104.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio64RnPeLZlU0sBpnVwXPM7StZZgZCsnBe_hn0Poek9WMWPYl24eifUHGoVHVGPBjN28yzL8nqQxk3W4jVNixYD_cc8Z9qmMK7mLZmT8SA1VMKiOiq_lP0pCEzlGVK304SmV0Kv9owI8qU_CCWDRxHpXM7txdVqXH-ia_Tfdt4ur_jMe-YOpA/s320/IMG_20220907_171104.jpg" width="240" /></a></p>Last -- and certainly not least -- we have Totally Normal Town's factory.<p></p><p>This factory is another one of the few buildings in Totally Normal Town that is wholly original and not inspired at all by any set.</p><p>Basically, I wanted to try my hand at a bit of engineering, so I built a working factory in which you can pour a bunch of studs from one of the four bins into the windowed tower, and then when you turn the gear on the back, the studs will ride along the two conveyor belts and into the bins on the ends.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJkJJDLF8ENYdzu32Au_PG8Qy9UuIyYS9PrG6y1lTLr1zZawojVTLV-4LgfxyIMBKKHhSl-6IZuLispihYolfm8YqawGhCF6SmIbg5YAp8mhW8iTyWbQYEBLWgW4MKSdMmftwFAwWYkk2jOnrVNoQRPXlIlL7OnIxsBHEhyIokEEwFZTIg_I/s4000/IMG_20220907_171200.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJkJJDLF8ENYdzu32Au_PG8Qy9UuIyYS9PrG6y1lTLr1zZawojVTLV-4LgfxyIMBKKHhSl-6IZuLispihYolfm8YqawGhCF6SmIbg5YAp8mhW8iTyWbQYEBLWgW4MKSdMmftwFAwWYkk2jOnrVNoQRPXlIlL7OnIxsBHEhyIokEEwFZTIg_I/s320/IMG_20220907_171200.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>One of the conveyor belts also has a mechanism that moves up and down as if to stamp or press the studs as they go by. All of these mechanisms run simultaneously when you turn the large black gear on the back.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLE7ZFBFe9VTiqKyLf-vLYRM6ddKpelrQDdb4TKU1ZWh0wjODj_6BI7AC3e2R5hJCTEXsZstRyyJxojL1liOWbls6e-VYVS3tWexCYkuN_FsFXPBFijyLHuILhoAP6Q1s2xMnGgTa6O5UJI7ZL63GIon8-RswTtxtAquu5Q7HeuODCzknNp_E/s4000/IMG_20220907_170836.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLE7ZFBFe9VTiqKyLf-vLYRM6ddKpelrQDdb4TKU1ZWh0wjODj_6BI7AC3e2R5hJCTEXsZstRyyJxojL1liOWbls6e-VYVS3tWexCYkuN_FsFXPBFijyLHuILhoAP6Q1s2xMnGgTa6O5UJI7ZL63GIon8-RswTtxtAquu5Q7HeuODCzknNp_E/s320/IMG_20220907_170836.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The mechanism isn't perfect, but it works surprisingly well considering how complex it is.</p><p>I think if I make another similar factory in the future, I'll probably try to make some kind of drive train rather than making a long chain of gears in which each one drives the next one.</p><p>Overall it's a fun build though.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwlvbSg1a1IybV8UAs6Bxjtlz5KldzrHWsETtWZiJf6luy8lGsjx8SkSaMFCwAuNpEmkt9K723pAzMUsQtVg8JRw4LjBQL0hYvsTSXOq--xshtbCoOjEOqTVlFBtlTkP8YXRwRub78H6TsNeeTvMa0R9rNu5FoI6cslwfL2QoPw3rXkzSq-NI/s4000/IMG_20220907_170858.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwlvbSg1a1IybV8UAs6Bxjtlz5KldzrHWsETtWZiJf6luy8lGsjx8SkSaMFCwAuNpEmkt9K723pAzMUsQtVg8JRw4LjBQL0hYvsTSXOq--xshtbCoOjEOqTVlFBtlTkP8YXRwRub78H6TsNeeTvMa0R9rNu5FoI6cslwfL2QoPw3rXkzSq-NI/s320/IMG_20220907_170858.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlSVTFQg4iPcX12xFf0DbhhXKPYd64gmYv7x0ILoQW645C_UUgPotbsCS9ptkDVng5KNcNlfhGJlZEMdk3OlRu6KUSfhV4vAhWLgKcWywdxtlWh19ZfQYuivkbYEMG3Y2s4iZgMmfaBBU0Na6ST4yc_TcrdliqlJVS3HCn_KOK2qrXW_X_hZ8/s4000/IMG_20220907_170909.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlSVTFQg4iPcX12xFf0DbhhXKPYd64gmYv7x0ILoQW645C_UUgPotbsCS9ptkDVng5KNcNlfhGJlZEMdk3OlRu6KUSfhV4vAhWLgKcWywdxtlWh19ZfQYuivkbYEMG3Y2s4iZgMmfaBBU0Na6ST4yc_TcrdliqlJVS3HCn_KOK2qrXW_X_hZ8/s320/IMG_20220907_170909.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqq17-c0Pqki-f-YccmdJqcDwBOzVLame9mUqSJpeS7zRgJfIAdNRSaYZ3V5h0YjS8yVXBDDR1fNK48gs-Xjz7bGfIk3h1jufeOFnAISy9_zPFGGckT9WUy-ts3QdBLiP3Zb5Ra_T-9n46x3y1rk8bDCytpGmAhlzyXKGajD24RKCE8iPYY1A/s4000/IMG_20220907_170917.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqq17-c0Pqki-f-YccmdJqcDwBOzVLame9mUqSJpeS7zRgJfIAdNRSaYZ3V5h0YjS8yVXBDDR1fNK48gs-Xjz7bGfIk3h1jufeOFnAISy9_zPFGGckT9WUy-ts3QdBLiP3Zb5Ra_T-9n46x3y1rk8bDCytpGmAhlzyXKGajD24RKCE8iPYY1A/s320/IMG_20220907_170917.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3MyIHgYX7giJcTg638Ygi4AhtsYm-23rEL-hhOIM9M_43nM0hyxynVBkSZ2QVBkIaX-CfKTHNwSMvqN7qXkylVh3sbtak_LMWYH6vE70PGn01fqHbDwfuglQBF1Vq1ZgHfhqzcgkuHtLWmJwCoRyfXQb6E5lZwvmPPOSt0ZgdQuHkMWshXI/s320/IMG_20220907_171020.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGLmauhg897SUDXNdo5eV5CFgVq_w6_OTP2ENezS_3EcOoElcD8xiEn9mw4ShFzjAdMhu8qsLNNeOhTxssVs5DOBaF2j1CkChorTMOibyuzqLb3zf1JdECAJkpuvf-rG-l1bm0pw0TdTEBQVtjZeypt5wCivZknibCOhB7p7IFkZlTZQD1Pw/s4000/IMG_20220907_171048.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGLmauhg897SUDXNdo5eV5CFgVq_w6_OTP2ENezS_3EcOoElcD8xiEn9mw4ShFzjAdMhu8qsLNNeOhTxssVs5DOBaF2j1CkChorTMOibyuzqLb3zf1JdECAJkpuvf-rG-l1bm0pw0TdTEBQVtjZeypt5wCivZknibCOhB7p7IFkZlTZQD1Pw/s320/IMG_20220907_171048.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rLkHVqvCIyMJBt2aapA-oQVWdmY9ea0CtsB8QbtNc831h2xydgQsj_0s3RBZBT7FEgvZ4hU9jLtV9v_UJ4dXDWL4LmnBLOXfeRRGXHRrN8zc5BCl7CrYQTpGvXqj376gRVkXOQP2gkO6OyZIm1tNKIKrHAbp1Y1NN2jZqLWBq_r9N2NyMoE/s4000/IMG_20220907_171151.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4rLkHVqvCIyMJBt2aapA-oQVWdmY9ea0CtsB8QbtNc831h2xydgQsj_0s3RBZBT7FEgvZ4hU9jLtV9v_UJ4dXDWL4LmnBLOXfeRRGXHRrN8zc5BCl7CrYQTpGvXqj376gRVkXOQP2gkO6OyZIm1tNKIKrHAbp1Y1NN2jZqLWBq_r9N2NyMoE/s320/IMG_20220907_171151.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-37238232745028058222022-09-11T03:57:00.003-07:002022-09-11T08:37:32.404-07:00And once you graduate from Hogwarts, you can go to Space College!<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28YpKZNLtS7j_2WqB8iALuCxZCEU7RZX7sqWOR016qy4VJcf-LoPYHBb9rnHHuxSzWSAmd0a15b1QteHhfW6st0mVoBnZAYS5iJuF_FN58LwI4e0G5rofNxpiQq6hWCk_yxLFP5MOJZKumEbz7t3O4NmgrGuSP7vzClFlizsNAPAlpFSawBo/s4000/IMG_20220907_170245.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28YpKZNLtS7j_2WqB8iALuCxZCEU7RZX7sqWOR016qy4VJcf-LoPYHBb9rnHHuxSzWSAmd0a15b1QteHhfW6st0mVoBnZAYS5iJuF_FN58LwI4e0G5rofNxpiQq6hWCk_yxLFP5MOJZKumEbz7t3O4NmgrGuSP7vzClFlizsNAPAlpFSawBo/s320/IMG_20220907_170245.jpg" width="320" /></a>This incarnation of Totally Normal Town has one more school: Leo Deblin's Space College and Institute of Barbering!<br /></p><p></p><p>This building is a reference to the very funny <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB-ceRj1lkE&t=54s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Leo Deblin" series</a> that Roy Wood Jr. did for the Daily Show. We even put a Little Caesars Pizza next door because in some of the sketches he says that it's right next to the Little Caesars.</p><p>I got the space college logo by taking a screenshot of the video.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFHbmAKp5iyrd2kFCEvkWPcIj3RR2ka493CDsUZOwY4T5Gsq8JDhgYVfiaNhn6Lxr1o48FaoDYoV2maZq25dZIzCsjpfSnOWCSGVf1pSfl0Y7gww3F_zB1cf1BqHCgMdHX69K9dstCZN-n0LgYW6cswGW7WMm4rPNjRcOePMKWRxF_Hc9ud4/s4000/IMG_20220907_170301.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdFHbmAKp5iyrd2kFCEvkWPcIj3RR2ka493CDsUZOwY4T5Gsq8JDhgYVfiaNhn6Lxr1o48FaoDYoV2maZq25dZIzCsjpfSnOWCSGVf1pSfl0Y7gww3F_zB1cf1BqHCgMdHX69K9dstCZN-n0LgYW6cswGW7WMm4rPNjRcOePMKWRxF_Hc9ud4/s320/IMG_20220907_170301.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>This pair of buildings is based on the <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/31026" target="_blank">Bike Shop and Café set #31026</a> I <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/our-totally-normal-apartment-building.html" target="_blank">mentioned earlier</a>.</p><p>Since there's an ATM machine on one side, you can see Scrooge McDuck there getting some money with his 3 nephews -- plus lots of other entertaining characters inside and out!<br /></p><p>Both of these buildings hinge open so you can see the interiors. Leo Deblin is in his space college wearing a blue space suit.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNONuKXwfCrmjngmMg9pF5UEDqkizKb2_1SJS4nLYyak2w1STmewVG2Kkgd1KA936n-4wY_tWPiQpMVoAe65k1owpddTSl1MqvfW4VLRjLHMmEKjKR7vNeqXuIqP1GBegnOJ0mMQNYeS8bJYHpat4ncm8_vDqDR_YOvpHBGms_lvYNjNsVos/s4000/IMG_20220907_170313.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRNONuKXwfCrmjngmMg9pF5UEDqkizKb2_1SJS4nLYyak2w1STmewVG2Kkgd1KA936n-4wY_tWPiQpMVoAe65k1owpddTSl1MqvfW4VLRjLHMmEKjKR7vNeqXuIqP1GBegnOJ0mMQNYeS8bJYHpat4ncm8_vDqDR_YOvpHBGms_lvYNjNsVos/s320/IMG_20220907_170313.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Z1P1NDGzPv35Sc9BQZ44ypnG8miisCX4I26PwelMDDLybr4HY-wFQ0Tn9Vyml1tnWii1x44CfZ4kSPbCjciJzPmtV8xz1j1QhvP9JQAiT6np_M9gvx65PpVjlyQz4c-6EwbY_jTgkRJ5CD9Hkgc9NwqYRkOoKjcTJRu7FiIauJsLCyX7lhg/s4000/IMG_20220907_170411.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Z1P1NDGzPv35Sc9BQZ44ypnG8miisCX4I26PwelMDDLybr4HY-wFQ0Tn9Vyml1tnWii1x44CfZ4kSPbCjciJzPmtV8xz1j1QhvP9JQAiT6np_M9gvx65PpVjlyQz4c-6EwbY_jTgkRJ5CD9Hkgc9NwqYRkOoKjcTJRu7FiIauJsLCyX7lhg/s320/IMG_20220907_170411.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFD4r8OHorhUWysvwPrDhv7m_fHTsH7zvJ_nvxeE-9BcLxF7JIQH8Quv53o1K09tXPgffA6aF0P-IKiWnSIqQfbiB8ai7m9TQgjlRvQYO1htSxqOmIUJmhSoUbwwvh_vU38GlKSA5TKnZuuwl_J51gId2wA5km77TssqBJoU14Z2QV9KEcPSs/s4000/IMG_20220907_170422.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFD4r8OHorhUWysvwPrDhv7m_fHTsH7zvJ_nvxeE-9BcLxF7JIQH8Quv53o1K09tXPgffA6aF0P-IKiWnSIqQfbiB8ai7m9TQgjlRvQYO1htSxqOmIUJmhSoUbwwvh_vU38GlKSA5TKnZuuwl_J51gId2wA5km77TssqBJoU14Z2QV9KEcPSs/s320/IMG_20220907_170422.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_jkgzMNQVnwrRasKjHvDabtNRdH66UO3jsOQ25pzyDFyl7JQbO8r9Ajc8jV3HuNGws6hoXP05g8kQhcor8MnTCvuCbaYENUmTkweD6rJraPDGarWr7CEDs7yUrMSbeSgtRECWOhAEIZYJXWga-urWtS5wC6OPnpCSFBzvlavEUCSB5jTMWiQ/s320/IMG_20220907_170528.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioya_9g879vqRMSckE4_K92R2sc1S86XYx2d2TF1zOChwZ1az-y91d21q7eliSKgt88se4SyYFuxsfeDcjuSuulF7deNpj_k7jG0ChaWyF4eXiKQOLx5Z0gOE4BFDarUvv2c7LKhwKEj11eMLRLhYyQPgEBCzczQJ8dqFZp0IqfWtQbwtuJTM/s4000/IMG_20220907_170535.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioya_9g879vqRMSckE4_K92R2sc1S86XYx2d2TF1zOChwZ1az-y91d21q7eliSKgt88se4SyYFuxsfeDcjuSuulF7deNpj_k7jG0ChaWyF4eXiKQOLx5Z0gOE4BFDarUvv2c7LKhwKEj11eMLRLhYyQPgEBCzczQJ8dqFZp0IqfWtQbwtuJTM/s320/IMG_20220907_170535.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQNhq6XCWvr1wc_GN-4TMt7XV99pxWn_f0MVSlUKEc39Ls07-e37LPytB_nVZpxSozuhwD0SndLNVfVXTHMgGwJ6fLg0zdWT1p9IBhKLwa7QaOyxM1kNJPw3djiAOH2vSMOMA7UqULXIO9KoQnfM9CjqlADx4rJAPS9D9DMZlEO8W5feIlt0/s4000/IMG_20220907_170555.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQNhq6XCWvr1wc_GN-4TMt7XV99pxWn_f0MVSlUKEc39Ls07-e37LPytB_nVZpxSozuhwD0SndLNVfVXTHMgGwJ6fLg0zdWT1p9IBhKLwa7QaOyxM1kNJPw3djiAOH2vSMOMA7UqULXIO9KoQnfM9CjqlADx4rJAPS9D9DMZlEO8W5feIlt0/s320/IMG_20220907_170555.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-56998508514527775922022-09-11T03:31:00.001-07:002022-09-11T08:37:47.249-07:00Hogwarts? But, of course!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPMF1hSVaw9kk51K8KgKAmrYXxXfy3HeKUxWoFapOEttvm7ww5P6g9IruHdmnde90To6sRlMthLQzPld6fH3HAc3rRMFhv00YMhVvUgt9F1I26USFX412v2sBLJCaiCLYAB6Wf38q5jVODuxy9_DaojWSufKILIjpLOYt1QdTxVgUWtL6cGw/s4000/IMG_20220907_165612.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPMF1hSVaw9kk51K8KgKAmrYXxXfy3HeKUxWoFapOEttvm7ww5P6g9IruHdmnde90To6sRlMthLQzPld6fH3HAc3rRMFhv00YMhVvUgt9F1I26USFX412v2sBLJCaiCLYAB6Wf38q5jVODuxy9_DaojWSufKILIjpLOYt1QdTxVgUWtL6cGw/s320/IMG_20220907_165612.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>No Totally Normal Town is complete without Hogwarts!</p><p>This Hogwarts building is an original design that includes some pieces from an actual Hogwarts set.</p><p>When I made it, I wanted to use these tall dark-blue columns for some reason, so I ended up with a color scheme that includes the normal Hogwarts color scheme plus some deep blues and light greys.</p><p>Ultimately, I think the chaotic color scheme in this case doesn't work, so I won't be too sad when "the Grim" takes this building.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLjg1xSzHMnTOCt2dOmZ0feBuy5eRaSeRTj-lREpW2xGGzaPDLs3eHvX7_KBohbrw7L7wLbpGvZ-2pqXQpRtYFe2pD5cukzd-RfzIcUX3aFjgERz1gYLLNyx-NLvOm8K5Kqo0sBzyJh6gAOi9M0zioFFzcRvdwfFbRwchX1m4i6JCd8s37FE/s4000/IMG_20220907_165805.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLjg1xSzHMnTOCt2dOmZ0feBuy5eRaSeRTj-lREpW2xGGzaPDLs3eHvX7_KBohbrw7L7wLbpGvZ-2pqXQpRtYFe2pD5cukzd-RfzIcUX3aFjgERz1gYLLNyx-NLvOm8K5Kqo0sBzyJh6gAOi9M0zioFFzcRvdwfFbRwchX1m4i6JCd8s37FE/s320/IMG_20220907_165805.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>We've gotten some more Hogwarts sets since this one was constructed, so I think we can make a better Hogwarts next time.</p><p>This building hinges open so that you can see the interior.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoDHf6ShQhLOu8e7QZ-kDWCGIyvjSC64jTqcfH80KJxsBFJn72ArGmBuDturqBOQJ6--9v0dSGuqxy_Rdbvj9Y8Dm4_CrPuIq4qCXtt868mWJ3bUCdaLyuFv4LMQ6H7vpUQsuR7jVfA7OcnIhkCauEQdBh98xQXfe2cQEqJ7SMh1PlY_l-mo/s4000/IMG_20220907_165757.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLoDHf6ShQhLOu8e7QZ-kDWCGIyvjSC64jTqcfH80KJxsBFJn72ArGmBuDturqBOQJ6--9v0dSGuqxy_Rdbvj9Y8Dm4_CrPuIq4qCXtt868mWJ3bUCdaLyuFv4LMQ6H7vpUQsuR7jVfA7OcnIhkCauEQdBh98xQXfe2cQEqJ7SMh1PlY_l-mo/s320/IMG_20220907_165757.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmwvfYGpRIHz3fHYzcy0JkNFrymcUwmSXMjBEFP51DrfCmQaXbnbxise8kOZVziKjHPFD9b-aBZD9JnjZRwSzLuApcuog6RHvJriXlprOe6MHlD1BM_qThqRXxqGtXarZu63BnohpJXPI_0fD8GsLvfeGdn3yC3f52eiD8np2w8n5QA4O-oY/s4000/IMG_20220907_165735.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmwvfYGpRIHz3fHYzcy0JkNFrymcUwmSXMjBEFP51DrfCmQaXbnbxise8kOZVziKjHPFD9b-aBZD9JnjZRwSzLuApcuog6RHvJriXlprOe6MHlD1BM_qThqRXxqGtXarZu63BnohpJXPI_0fD8GsLvfeGdn3yC3f52eiD8np2w8n5QA4O-oY/s320/IMG_20220907_165735.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfdqXrAepqqKHNnFxQ1_ijZT0d2WZj4Qc77ctHOislhuHF_73mhGZAFBH5YaTV00MU18RShApypcOtB-8mhhcpvn60upPqWDPpTJIxCBCm88q9Bcb7sTlX3wknBeRwLLrdDksIWf7ByXBvQIqy-BRWH3v1D42FsZ6ieSMVsY6jvYneHaVDUo/s320/IMG_20220907_165714.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZuFDsCuKeRFWZdNA1X7ysJmNmWESrZVigPeAQyRCKLoyJ0887vx12VeHzbaDQX2EzXjiwdnHoTsrMMlXOdhYBGFGTUBWLGeKiyHTA4q3pNdjTkucNeBB8hU0HC4iYfuPPorPsszyomRG5wY6s98oggZODrAKSLRCgu_RFKu1cx3PQYssI4k/s4000/IMG_20220907_165624.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ZuFDsCuKeRFWZdNA1X7ysJmNmWESrZVigPeAQyRCKLoyJ0887vx12VeHzbaDQX2EzXjiwdnHoTsrMMlXOdhYBGFGTUBWLGeKiyHTA4q3pNdjTkucNeBB8hU0HC4iYfuPPorPsszyomRG5wY6s98oggZODrAKSLRCgu_RFKu1cx3PQYssI4k/s320/IMG_20220907_165624.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-44736739180531239722022-09-11T03:12:00.003-07:002022-09-11T08:39:05.780-07:00A Totally Normal Dojo!<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c4ZB-Aw2mv4qKQNY_jZONglMPg_iB8K3_Cpju0VtzM-UbMfiGJ2GdOiD4fEGhM7PlA5jWy7lAqiwRqTtXFMAs9STqlDnc16E4W_YHpEAI3x9lTuRrnO9i-xMyRs7iu7tIWtq6kxt4pntN5huCty-xPl-GP-Qt_GiT0BHGwFIqHBvZr_Mthk/s4000/IMG_20220907_164842.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c4ZB-Aw2mv4qKQNY_jZONglMPg_iB8K3_Cpju0VtzM-UbMfiGJ2GdOiD4fEGhM7PlA5jWy7lAqiwRqTtXFMAs9STqlDnc16E4W_YHpEAI3x9lTuRrnO9i-xMyRs7iu7tIWtq6kxt4pntN5huCty-xPl-GP-Qt_GiT0BHGwFIqHBvZr_Mthk/s320/IMG_20220907_164842.jpg" width="240" /></a>The dojo where my minifigure takes her Spinjitsu lessons is an original building, but it is (obviously) Ninjago-based.</p><p></p><p>In the very top section lives a lava-monster. The lava-monster is from the "Power Miners" series from the 2000's. Sadly, I think we lost most of our lava-monsters, but I thought it would be fun to put this one in a little lava pool at the top of the dojo.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8MoQVJfyuQ87-AtkS7H0i5DFBQcsb9nwHVjs_QTGfmmIvY0rlh1wWQFnJ-qzbazyrSD6uam9OT58Yws-Wv8otg2K3vEc2e1uQCfNP2xNVuzmKUJzjfLqqaemWefROHkyi544CLvvzjJg6qYHldOyazu4wSEub0ysbyJGXTwANIsoW6ALEOA/s4000/IMG_20220907_164927.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8MoQVJfyuQ87-AtkS7H0i5DFBQcsb9nwHVjs_QTGfmmIvY0rlh1wWQFnJ-qzbazyrSD6uam9OT58Yws-Wv8otg2K3vEc2e1uQCfNP2xNVuzmKUJzjfLqqaemWefROHkyi544CLvvzjJg6qYHldOyazu4wSEub0ysbyJGXTwANIsoW6ALEOA/s320/IMG_20220907_164927.jpg" width="240" /></a></div> The lower two sections have screens that slide open, revealing secrets in the interior.<p>It looks like part of the left side of the dojo has been taken over by the "upside-down" from "Stranger Things."</p><p>In fact the whole dojo has been taken over by various monsters including an alien on the ground floor and Slenderman in the garden. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fsrQnan47QGUULh_D2Jpz8NbxkGKGC2MEssk8M-PCT2KobgV3qbS1vT_7kMq4tRotmqUsw9SZHM6Yqxpqs2_p36wRPXOtxH7D8PpP_3lKZYrD2Jw9_sDWOJHVcSL3BpVSjDtHMtIrmsg71kda6v96TOwAe_-KfiDDM3a-lZSBBY4NDLl1-Q/s4000/IMG_20220907_164859.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fsrQnan47QGUULh_D2Jpz8NbxkGKGC2MEssk8M-PCT2KobgV3qbS1vT_7kMq4tRotmqUsw9SZHM6Yqxpqs2_p36wRPXOtxH7D8PpP_3lKZYrD2Jw9_sDWOJHVcSL3BpVSjDtHMtIrmsg71kda6v96TOwAe_-KfiDDM3a-lZSBBY4NDLl1-Q/s320/IMG_20220907_164859.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>The back is similar to the front except that the panels don't slide open.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnQZlx5j0qL83eRKA-Hd7xKjRSD_4TXhdhMJ1wCWRDwoHMM0VjmOeIQ8xwthw0qrbcHnriMa0v0asHmvW1zwFmkfU-hSXhHcD5J7C1zu8zC-K1Sro4HYl32sdodk-20cJ6vA0H-2CGnz185NJEFP3B2eQad8VsVkDndSrA_RYRXcye1wJFBQ/s4000/IMG_20220907_165100.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtnQZlx5j0qL83eRKA-Hd7xKjRSD_4TXhdhMJ1wCWRDwoHMM0VjmOeIQ8xwthw0qrbcHnriMa0v0asHmvW1zwFmkfU-hSXhHcD5J7C1zu8zC-K1Sro4HYl32sdodk-20cJ6vA0H-2CGnz185NJEFP3B2eQad8VsVkDndSrA_RYRXcye1wJFBQ/s320/IMG_20220907_165100.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>And there's a little garden on the side with a Ninjago-inspired tree. I'm including various photos below:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRO18JbtyMua-rHOITTjHSjHQzymByxCdYnYO_d9onubyWGozge9IoGnnKw1JrNDJZ_h019FTguFkiUvBW1B_TTgNqb0s23Lwl5kPdGlxD1yB3pQgEFny6Ks6ivqpFcc7sjgTmqcnH6tHE2u0NNXnaZ895uqSWa679ZwdsIzTw8DaouQzFDRE/s4000/IMG_20220907_165154.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRO18JbtyMua-rHOITTjHSjHQzymByxCdYnYO_d9onubyWGozge9IoGnnKw1JrNDJZ_h019FTguFkiUvBW1B_TTgNqb0s23Lwl5kPdGlxD1yB3pQgEFny6Ks6ivqpFcc7sjgTmqcnH6tHE2u0NNXnaZ895uqSWa679ZwdsIzTw8DaouQzFDRE/s320/IMG_20220907_165154.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7qJuGMl1ula3moIcSc_3onClS3c8-PnUavPO1fyE2XGnVJ0-_VzvNZQUem9JA7m9RPVLvHtHL-LhVNi68CmQZSZ4L2dMRkA63WnpnhDI892SsL3ld8rkwKcnbU7rBzG4ao92arAb4_-D9R1Q_JewLLeXDdux8_2e9C9su56vMa5elDSfz8M/s4000/IMG_20220907_164953.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7qJuGMl1ula3moIcSc_3onClS3c8-PnUavPO1fyE2XGnVJ0-_VzvNZQUem9JA7m9RPVLvHtHL-LhVNi68CmQZSZ4L2dMRkA63WnpnhDI892SsL3ld8rkwKcnbU7rBzG4ao92arAb4_-D9R1Q_JewLLeXDdux8_2e9C9su56vMa5elDSfz8M/s320/IMG_20220907_164953.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaLvWGHIZKiVgsqeMITnZ8vPN5TH0y4o6Vs3cBn6QDyBDvyHQAkEBMQhN8tHmMsWuxWCLracbZaf7T2BpRN2XEcryUCYhjXaKbuM4wnDY4cS1ZA-G_zHfpsiODQCiuFH3SZYsoN7V5xb0hCj8O59KKLB3bGRLoxjA9BX_zvOO6KKvBzLnzYTI/s4000/IMG_20220907_165132.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaLvWGHIZKiVgsqeMITnZ8vPN5TH0y4o6Vs3cBn6QDyBDvyHQAkEBMQhN8tHmMsWuxWCLracbZaf7T2BpRN2XEcryUCYhjXaKbuM4wnDY4cS1ZA-G_zHfpsiODQCiuFH3SZYsoN7V5xb0hCj8O59KKLB3bGRLoxjA9BX_zvOO6KKvBzLnzYTI/s320/IMG_20220907_165132.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-21759788544244692522022-09-11T02:23:00.001-07:002022-09-11T08:41:16.652-07:00Surfin' the web in Totally Normal Town<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE5YiyHPbpnB5KW4AGCjTBYgC5njdUO6-_hhnT9KihIVGc7Bq2TVltpMwT0zhcV5tvYC79aiOK0pQKhHQ46p_qV7b49d6wb9o6zvrqPsztFqhhHNiUVVTcEtwNKUJnAj3VlF6XKcahlz3sRURj8JhxovOIR835koM0UkSDgsPp0dcwBWatNs/s4000/IMG_20220907_164246.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZE5YiyHPbpnB5KW4AGCjTBYgC5njdUO6-_hhnT9KihIVGc7Bq2TVltpMwT0zhcV5tvYC79aiOK0pQKhHQ46p_qV7b49d6wb9o6zvrqPsztFqhhHNiUVVTcEtwNKUJnAj3VlF6XKcahlz3sRURj8JhxovOIR835koM0UkSDgsPp0dcwBWatNs/s320/IMG_20220907_164246.jpg" width="320" /></a>The Internet Café and co-working space is one of my favorite buildings in Totally Normal Town because it's one of the few buildings that is completely original and not at all inspired by commercially-available sets.</p><p></p><p>It has a lot of really cool details and design elements that work -- making it a fun building unlike anything you'll see in a typical Lego city.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpy70nueBt-pcTISLhFaYo-Eh5SPC1mZNPwBXUo4AEem0N5JOBvhH_5MHvHyCQn42Mdlyle60Rmb3NHPh8EWJAfkB4ClzUUhTCxGvJ9_XStTuX9PijWQhh4vIFwINlKAsNKGR64OJ3d1XOERjapMtm-6gNxy8k9e1as2auTMeRl0uBZfLwgZQ/s4000/IMG_20220907_164212.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpy70nueBt-pcTISLhFaYo-Eh5SPC1mZNPwBXUo4AEem0N5JOBvhH_5MHvHyCQn42Mdlyle60Rmb3NHPh8EWJAfkB4ClzUUhTCxGvJ9_XStTuX9PijWQhh4vIFwINlKAsNKGR64OJ3d1XOERjapMtm-6gNxy8k9e1as2auTMeRl0uBZfLwgZQ/s320/IMG_20220907_164212.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>When we first started rebuilding the city, we decided that we needed a nice place for our minifigures to surf the Internet (since that's what people do all day), so we set down a bunch of desks and computers (plus a coffee machine). Then Nico started building a wall all the way around the outside.</p><p>I really didn't want to have such a big building surrounded by a solid brick wall, though, so I gathered up a bunch of arches to make the outer walls entirely open windows.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaWPJ2d_hvlyW-Bi6p9dZm867rgwC7pmpYRHLnQciN8T6r2SwjvfC4kW-bEm_uCCWYNwBiQpW0PnlJWU5FQ-E0WLGIiI8SZbrrWz2bQ-xeRyi8IE874uOjWGaPF7ijkBvob83TTJQ_Wbsopq0eEQGdA1ARIpIhFtjHi1Cko4gJtjjgHVPUK4/s4000/IMG_20220907_164232.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWaWPJ2d_hvlyW-Bi6p9dZm867rgwC7pmpYRHLnQciN8T6r2SwjvfC4kW-bEm_uCCWYNwBiQpW0PnlJWU5FQ-E0WLGIiI8SZbrrWz2bQ-xeRyi8IE874uOjWGaPF7ijkBvob83TTJQ_Wbsopq0eEQGdA1ARIpIhFtjHi1Cko4gJtjjgHVPUK4/s320/IMG_20220907_164232.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Then, to make the wall/windows more interesting, I attached a bunch of neon-orange claw-like pieces kind of represent lights.</p><p>Since the building has such a large footprint, and since the interior is fun and interesting, I wanted to ensure that it stayed visible by keeping everything open. So, as with the walls, I created the suggestion of a glass roof by putting beams across the top, aligned with the irregular corners in the original footprint that Nico put down.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0gLjuQ8vyV7UWWw2QXn8nthieKhfV0C3ffTo9ltHKyC07FkW7AUoRsCQ-ks2WWcLBaft_IPHG9wAhvbv9VVsHp_P_opSnWQM3bNhCXbO2c2ku8mJN4HDwaE7BtQ4fUzPCNxaTeDM3YstJLA_wiJTPftKp3vciDODKsjcwEvWRBJyW_UROUc/s4000/IMG_20220907_164119.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0gLjuQ8vyV7UWWw2QXn8nthieKhfV0C3ffTo9ltHKyC07FkW7AUoRsCQ-ks2WWcLBaft_IPHG9wAhvbv9VVsHp_P_opSnWQM3bNhCXbO2c2ku8mJN4HDwaE7BtQ4fUzPCNxaTeDM3YstJLA_wiJTPftKp3vciDODKsjcwEvWRBJyW_UROUc/s320/IMG_20220907_164119.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And I had some of the beams go up into a pyramid shape to give the impression of a dome, plus I added more little neon orange lights along the top.</p><p>(To be precise, the coffee machine is from a set, but the building is not.)</p><p>The building has three doorways and lots of minifigures busily working inside, including some friends from the Muppets and Harry Potter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOhlgUBzrFluxndPn_TiKDAtSlAsGCGVBkxTjcoKB492M6Q1_iIIPRi9FmP4cy-6am7hGfCkQdwf7CxWQWeHwFWR5ytSfdl41ti1UmyqIDJYREIKKQMw_YGvfiVGMkJOWWXFIJFKbGpRlcfyCuPaY1oKWv82oDMWDVJBD1GoSze2KKeS_4wg/s4000/IMG_20220907_164128.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOhlgUBzrFluxndPn_TiKDAtSlAsGCGVBkxTjcoKB492M6Q1_iIIPRi9FmP4cy-6am7hGfCkQdwf7CxWQWeHwFWR5ytSfdl41ti1UmyqIDJYREIKKQMw_YGvfiVGMkJOWWXFIJFKbGpRlcfyCuPaY1oKWv82oDMWDVJBD1GoSze2KKeS_4wg/s320/IMG_20220907_164128.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI0JznW-Lg6JEXUnV11UxRj8aGsre9u04hAQID3Ng2qvXo2y39gr9lK1pb7HXxesOCk95fEKPP7k2mp5OmQ0RLDZx5r6Suq2hG06qBjm9iA5ouZ6pNq2FC5twGnNq88Q6haAyTora6VAKSMmNbeR9r6qcmaJkqegSuSjw3btaP4dGLU3ZQl8/s4000/IMG_20220907_164200.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitI0JznW-Lg6JEXUnV11UxRj8aGsre9u04hAQID3Ng2qvXo2y39gr9lK1pb7HXxesOCk95fEKPP7k2mp5OmQ0RLDZx5r6Suq2hG06qBjm9iA5ouZ6pNq2FC5twGnNq88Q6haAyTora6VAKSMmNbeR9r6qcmaJkqegSuSjw3btaP4dGLU3ZQl8/s320/IMG_20220907_164200.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmHsRmcIoF-_p4-U4oSjhGMnmNoImsFezaFg983Z7pXb79nSrhYnlkOwmEmqAnpfx405-SET-JVFxk77XuqUWu-f7bs4bhVUG-_Cb_M8GMfUdOb3d5BB_y99AVsuoRmFiZ8A1bMjH7e93BGhCsxJ-dE3mcEwIVo2em6FlUix-t19sSLULFls/s4000/IMG_20220907_164307.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmHsRmcIoF-_p4-U4oSjhGMnmNoImsFezaFg983Z7pXb79nSrhYnlkOwmEmqAnpfx405-SET-JVFxk77XuqUWu-f7bs4bhVUG-_Cb_M8GMfUdOb3d5BB_y99AVsuoRmFiZ8A1bMjH7e93BGhCsxJ-dE3mcEwIVo2em6FlUix-t19sSLULFls/s320/IMG_20220907_164307.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-87282565849601681962022-09-11T01:10:00.003-07:002022-09-11T08:44:22.168-07:00A couple of little buildings<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqws7sJYLAPBe0owchRwUw6Tgy5J_L8reDxt8oKOtAiMlNZX3J-Zjyv3zRZYlv6hdh5U2vqvkFEoqV0Z6XOOoF_7qUqM2jGee5PEmUhS2-gkbxzT93hLe-JZbO0mJtyq_idAkAoIehWj5b53W5zGxZv921uYuZ8JHwcWborZTQXhgcaWBAvU/s4000/IMG_20220907_162230.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqws7sJYLAPBe0owchRwUw6Tgy5J_L8reDxt8oKOtAiMlNZX3J-Zjyv3zRZYlv6hdh5U2vqvkFEoqV0Z6XOOoF_7qUqM2jGee5PEmUhS2-gkbxzT93hLe-JZbO0mJtyq_idAkAoIehWj5b53W5zGxZv921uYuZ8JHwcWborZTQXhgcaWBAvU/s320/IMG_20220907_162230.jpg" width="240" /></a>This tiny post office booth was loosely based on the ticket counter of the <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/a-totally-normal-train-station.html" target="_blank">Totally Normal train station</a>. </p><p></p><p>I added our local Zürich post office logo as the sign.</p><p>There seems to be something growing on the roof -- it may be related to the fact that there's a Demogorgon working there.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aYxJL2ZazM5nSSc3Ydx88ra2v5f-DUsaaRvazKgRKWtfvRefAWqv1S0kx_OUE0crZRFr04Tb2jS64GUPyxxULO0_oiC9kk-Bm1Q76IMvcOtNffVhh6sUPVKjZab-EtlgTrTxY_5S8wuUnL9qmaDDyj_Dzipa_57rxdV8ZcAmDNol1tN26KY/s4000/IMG_20220907_162204.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aYxJL2ZazM5nSSc3Ydx88ra2v5f-DUsaaRvazKgRKWtfvRefAWqv1S0kx_OUE0crZRFr04Tb2jS64GUPyxxULO0_oiC9kk-Bm1Q76IMvcOtNffVhh6sUPVKjZab-EtlgTrTxY_5S8wuUnL9qmaDDyj_Dzipa_57rxdV8ZcAmDNol1tN26KY/s320/IMG_20220907_162204.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Then there's a small recreation center that is inspired by <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/31081" target="_blank">set #31081: the Modular Skate House</a>.</p><p>I thought it would be fun to have a place where all the kids could go to play ping-pong or basketball or do some climbing or skateboarding.</p><p>Lego towns seem to be very police-heavy, and I didn't really want that for my town. I wanted to focus on buildings that would make Totally Normal Town a fun place to live.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN0_v3ImZhS0lZCKIGYMI3nvfBktGnBOW_DOm2ZHpn7ObrUuNwW8jR417iG7ECOffGVOBe2ttV9ucQsHLFM0-7II3JfMg1Bkk9rb7GyYPylSNNedV7Rof0rjP9j34x_5DxhqFhqWiCopA1r7EdKWHouYlYna5PPdxGFNWqRU4oOxqTdw5_S0/s4000/IMG_20220907_170028.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN0_v3ImZhS0lZCKIGYMI3nvfBktGnBOW_DOm2ZHpn7ObrUuNwW8jR417iG7ECOffGVOBe2ttV9ucQsHLFM0-7II3JfMg1Bkk9rb7GyYPylSNNedV7Rof0rjP9j34x_5DxhqFhqWiCopA1r7EdKWHouYlYna5PPdxGFNWqRU4oOxqTdw5_S0/s320/IMG_20220907_170028.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOxiv8C3NUxAfeobgN3I_ToTzbOD3UYKfuRrTrJLilbYhbazzqjBf5iyvhvOwP13mPN1R1yIhATQHqUzGRHwRTAMVwlRxwXISxDpB5EevLcC7QNsGq7W4kC31ec8nxtCO-1rumChc5XQiDMwWYqYZVvd_6Wy1PcdJmadIPZr9WjHzpGFqaD0/s4000/IMG_20220907_170057.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOxiv8C3NUxAfeobgN3I_ToTzbOD3UYKfuRrTrJLilbYhbazzqjBf5iyvhvOwP13mPN1R1yIhATQHqUzGRHwRTAMVwlRxwXISxDpB5EevLcC7QNsGq7W4kC31ec8nxtCO-1rumChc5XQiDMwWYqYZVvd_6Wy1PcdJmadIPZr9WjHzpGFqaD0/s320/IMG_20220907_170057.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-39150520312614005802022-09-10T09:23:00.005-07:002022-09-11T08:48:44.213-07:00Straddling the Tectonic Plates<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYxqoNvZMtJC0HSVunTOjQZPpi-Ouu6Mp17-7c9oLxvug8OpK4BuLakwhVUkV01EmaMLUx_A4YNFLlfuqls0b-U2FKuPp9Hx30nGlAMSClW6oiBxMqtaFCA2dimWC1FmlNTD9EcuEGRtM2pM4OwWrKqPIAljgrn3_hOYp2P4eIjDeNM7feS6I/s4000/IMG_20220907_163204.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYxqoNvZMtJC0HSVunTOjQZPpi-Ouu6Mp17-7c9oLxvug8OpK4BuLakwhVUkV01EmaMLUx_A4YNFLlfuqls0b-U2FKuPp9Hx30nGlAMSClW6oiBxMqtaFCA2dimWC1FmlNTD9EcuEGRtM2pM4OwWrKqPIAljgrn3_hOYp2P4eIjDeNM7feS6I/s320/IMG_20220907_163204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There are two buildings in Totally Normal Town that are built across the "tectonic plates". In other words, half of the building is built on one table and the other half is built on another.<p></p><p>These two buildings are the fire department and a building which contains a fancy restaurant above and a grocery store below.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1RpIEoYi-p5D10yhW_I39QdxY5brVN2xvzyUm0yR9UieGzPjJ65t4Dld45JnzDfGV2wcUW7uvFZwmCjCAWSRKJ1SkTNr9UmNT3Gk4nxVNZZOnyhFulodh3nwwTFYfNwnAOwlmxWS_OyUzkkRTB7ZePAWc5tNO_nmJC2EnJ2DjCo1yCB7bbY/s4000/IMG_20220907_163159.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1RpIEoYi-p5D10yhW_I39QdxY5brVN2xvzyUm0yR9UieGzPjJ65t4Dld45JnzDfGV2wcUW7uvFZwmCjCAWSRKJ1SkTNr9UmNT3Gk4nxVNZZOnyhFulodh3nwwTFYfNwnAOwlmxWS_OyUzkkRTB7ZePAWc5tNO_nmJC2EnJ2DjCo1yCB7bbY/s320/IMG_20220907_163159.jpg" width="320" /></a> I don't have all that much to say about the fire department because that one is essentially just the <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/10263" target="_blank">Creator set #10263, the "Winter Village Fire Station"</a>. </div><p>I modified it a bit because the back component was originally two wings off to the sides and the back was open. To fit the lot, I made it into a square building sliced in half. This modification was trickier than I expected, but not too difficult.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3gxubeZ7MJYd-nHrhJvv5fg2OKZ7TLSx7IbXhvBImUDZCZSwMgaFY0dMFvXEqja0wTM2uXBOOkjrRm7h2qy8k6yZZLDAH2yBxFH2n5dhJcH5ttasKgSPX9HZ_N6Nz6xhsBXcfaAsDBYo2434fGiarat9kEXWAiRlpu46G2Hrvg1v8aXJPXs/s4000/IMG_20220907_163039.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3gxubeZ7MJYd-nHrhJvv5fg2OKZ7TLSx7IbXhvBImUDZCZSwMgaFY0dMFvXEqja0wTM2uXBOOkjrRm7h2qy8k6yZZLDAH2yBxFH2n5dhJcH5ttasKgSPX9HZ_N6Nz6xhsBXcfaAsDBYo2434fGiarat9kEXWAiRlpu46G2Hrvg1v8aXJPXs/s320/IMG_20220907_163039.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Unlike the <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/a-totally-normal-train-station.html" target="_blank">"Winter Village Train Station"</a> I didn't bother to remove the Winter/Christmas elements from this set, so this one building exists in a Winter/Christmas climate bubble, but, hey, that's totally normal, isn't it?<p></p><p>The other building is the one that's my own design, and I'm really pleased with it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxdAg_YFk5JKLHYnJFhPAD1DB0SnL_Dl9NYadHPikJ50Q2JCjE-l0ynHItcKauDWu2awm5TwGLafafyR8qUSbio8WGdxhRLxBdjR-oW-OZMUp7gsmK1ImLt4td_0pj9JJozPJ5K9groA71KTy9_8OHW_fxwdlUFnl7mN3GB6col2rgUOInAw/s4000/IMG_20220907_163711.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxdAg_YFk5JKLHYnJFhPAD1DB0SnL_Dl9NYadHPikJ50Q2JCjE-l0ynHItcKauDWu2awm5TwGLafafyR8qUSbio8WGdxhRLxBdjR-oW-OZMUp7gsmK1ImLt4td_0pj9JJozPJ5K9groA71KTy9_8OHW_fxwdlUFnl7mN3GB6col2rgUOInAw/s320/IMG_20220907_163711.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The striped roof is a serendipitous little design element. I wanted to make a roof with these steeply-sloped roof pieces, but I didn't have enough of any one color. If I had, I'd have done the whole roof in one color. <p></p><p>As it is, I used all of the pieces I had, and just alternated them as best I could -- and I think it turned out nicer than it would have as a solid color.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7zofi52xGxUvk9jAxEBfVQjt_HyJve6KAf_DGd7ZKu5rP_V2irdR4yFFQjhCZuw6X8KdoOekSIsUTri0w20nV8F16iBFTOBPtklDk1FNDkkKM7g0MOoQt2SuapoHQkXDW8GBsvfW2bfA0HBKOrhMxGIyMlrpQLqCdNDZxUkiP8N0f1hY1cA/s4000/IMG_20220907_163748.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7zofi52xGxUvk9jAxEBfVQjt_HyJve6KAf_DGd7ZKu5rP_V2irdR4yFFQjhCZuw6X8KdoOekSIsUTri0w20nV8F16iBFTOBPtklDk1FNDkkKM7g0MOoQt2SuapoHQkXDW8GBsvfW2bfA0HBKOrhMxGIyMlrpQLqCdNDZxUkiP8N0f1hY1cA/s320/IMG_20220907_163748.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>You can see that people enter the restaurant by going up the stairs on the side -- where the menu is posted. This is very theoretical since it's not actually possible to open the restaurant door on the narrow balcony...<p></p><p>The restaurant is named "Chez François". This is a reference to an old Bugs Bunny cartoon in which two French Chefs are fighting over who gets to cook and serve Bugs Bunny.</p><p>If you separate the tables and look inside, you can see François cooking -- as well as the cashier in the grocery store below (who is Joyce from "Stranger Things"):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguG9KRJyTtZ0kZCD81n5cYxsJtstkhUtftqddjtt906mhjQYzKuZSGEyluqkimVgI31ubp6KLMM5FEgJHTGHKaXMRNm5p6XcabasNyMy9zFFN0Smm1bR8GWl1TxdtXUu-cz1lpmolRQ9USR5CT0w-zsqfMU_t2-ITUnKcPETAV0-QTIqau-TA/s4000/IMG_20220907_163608.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguG9KRJyTtZ0kZCD81n5cYxsJtstkhUtftqddjtt906mhjQYzKuZSGEyluqkimVgI31ubp6KLMM5FEgJHTGHKaXMRNm5p6XcabasNyMy9zFFN0Smm1bR8GWl1TxdtXUu-cz1lpmolRQ9USR5CT0w-zsqfMU_t2-ITUnKcPETAV0-QTIqau-TA/s320/IMG_20220907_163608.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>On the other side you can see shelves of products on the ground floor as well as the restaurant host and some guests.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvM0e6IqJky0E9PU2KHVLgdrYiLB3-JSld3b9iGxQVrsVbC2jUBqEdzRgwtQ4ldwiuOR4p6OGbPL9KvFrlv76uHDB4FX1_P49zYEvL8wcNdKjIAtIlS0MJw7QV49KTH-7Qa5pGVSO1JLz3FhQNTnZb_V5pjEvUSuk6GEnzYv0pTagUIXdeQs/s4000/IMG_20220907_163236.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvM0e6IqJky0E9PU2KHVLgdrYiLB3-JSld3b9iGxQVrsVbC2jUBqEdzRgwtQ4ldwiuOR4p6OGbPL9KvFrlv76uHDB4FX1_P49zYEvL8wcNdKjIAtIlS0MJw7QV49KTH-7Qa5pGVSO1JLz3FhQNTnZb_V5pjEvUSuk6GEnzYv0pTagUIXdeQs/s320/IMG_20220907_163236.jpg" width="240" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z1D54V4mrXzGbjpylbmmDMEGqMqz8qBdUQmcCsVRq2-5luUQ-6pkX8mvDobjR3yFlTJNJIxlc8EKoO748ZBOQ_Fgu1G9tHzSDyP8CcWyKQFLek61cENICBbmbGnbR2yVaoGqNbEd8lz-8tPni7ybWDORxjqErXUb_riViAiSwyNb-zohOxc/s4000/IMG_20220907_163810.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z1D54V4mrXzGbjpylbmmDMEGqMqz8qBdUQmcCsVRq2-5luUQ-6pkX8mvDobjR3yFlTJNJIxlc8EKoO748ZBOQ_Fgu1G9tHzSDyP8CcWyKQFLek61cENICBbmbGnbR2yVaoGqNbEd8lz-8tPni7ybWDORxjqErXUb_riViAiSwyNb-zohOxc/s320/IMG_20220907_163810.jpg" width="240" /></a></div></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-73336195511532639352022-09-10T08:42:00.004-07:002022-09-11T08:50:56.129-07:00Just your ordinary haunted pizza parlor...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lOo3Z-4PSRXxHIpUHTQr9Zh50cgg3Py6acQMv-xBcx1D1-Rp61F2wI6SOgILxYn35ObTzeLJNaRU_PsCfktHYdbHVpXfEzCJ1J6MSthdd_WQdvPW8U82Mftoa46nrROVWnuxwtk4wU7-02j3BWyubNfBq5q8hGJNtHERClN9Vf9Pu2LbVxw/s4000/IMG_20220907_162012.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lOo3Z-4PSRXxHIpUHTQr9Zh50cgg3Py6acQMv-xBcx1D1-Rp61F2wI6SOgILxYn35ObTzeLJNaRU_PsCfktHYdbHVpXfEzCJ1J6MSthdd_WQdvPW8U82Mftoa46nrROVWnuxwtk4wU7-02j3BWyubNfBq5q8hGJNtHERClN9Vf9Pu2LbVxw/s320/IMG_20220907_162012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This is the only building in Totally Normal Town that I did not build. It's "Freddy Fazbear's Pizza" -- designed and built by Nico using elements from FNAF-themed sets.<p></p><p>(The Five Nights at Freddy's sets are not Lego brand, but they're mostly compatible.)</p><p>I think the blocky style with irregular grey stripes and black trim really capture the creepy atmosphere of the FNAF franchise.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxl7-6LBa99T8PnJZtrhJIEMKk_GY6Vki8aLAXQ3xe3xNZefb2MpaUk6X4WVVZ245NPBCiK7C368lMQESnRHpW5a4gI6ryUXvo_-aAtrbxw-0eaPe1eTMmcHU_JmcgbMzGTU0_d_31HWa2LgdrdcNFFY2NxakRnpF9TKoylVUR4jYsNRHPaw/s4000/IMG_20220907_162106.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxl7-6LBa99T8PnJZtrhJIEMKk_GY6Vki8aLAXQ3xe3xNZefb2MpaUk6X4WVVZ245NPBCiK7C368lMQESnRHpW5a4gI6ryUXvo_-aAtrbxw-0eaPe1eTMmcHU_JmcgbMzGTU0_d_31HWa2LgdrdcNFFY2NxakRnpF9TKoylVUR4jYsNRHPaw/s320/IMG_20220907_162106.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The building opens to reveal a two-story interior featuring haunted party elements. You can see it has been abandoned for some time. (The animatronics are being stored separately by Nico.)<br /><p></p><p>All-in-all, it's a fun component of our Totally Normal Town, as you can see from the photos below:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aHDN3iEIV_YPathBUJ2SKPsj80k69ea9bRTgXQE552fXc9phJtIgpjOUwQGTMz3hftnvw3zETipiTkS0kZuWvPHDuDSPQTGTP5KktTPjQs8GhdPmny9j-yPmRqWgFARDFQ6ojqsweFTD--WL_4VYhVgYMcOIubIQUkxYVamBJU98IvVM5Yk/s4000/IMG_20220907_161937.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aHDN3iEIV_YPathBUJ2SKPsj80k69ea9bRTgXQE552fXc9phJtIgpjOUwQGTMz3hftnvw3zETipiTkS0kZuWvPHDuDSPQTGTP5KktTPjQs8GhdPmny9j-yPmRqWgFARDFQ6ojqsweFTD--WL_4VYhVgYMcOIubIQUkxYVamBJU98IvVM5Yk/s320/IMG_20220907_161937.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNLs7UFNMbsyDZlZoPaoirKWMo_R6eErXgIo104pzs4tTbkTUwTjvvSrSZnDyBmMP83J0LvvTP7_kcE8-68nA-foq2T7LGtTCW8Ow_gjLtIjJAWQViyvYlv5U0cFTg6Tee05L0uFNMKv3VtDc8KYKRQ4-8qZ9ZR18v-zLY7BdJz5UDEI-Rrw/s4000/IMG_20220907_162001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNLs7UFNMbsyDZlZoPaoirKWMo_R6eErXgIo104pzs4tTbkTUwTjvvSrSZnDyBmMP83J0LvvTP7_kcE8-68nA-foq2T7LGtTCW8Ow_gjLtIjJAWQViyvYlv5U0cFTg6Tee05L0uFNMKv3VtDc8KYKRQ4-8qZ9ZR18v-zLY7BdJz5UDEI-Rrw/s320/IMG_20220907_162001.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtev1Ma0HtkhAOdGF6ekiYnX_3UM51lsiiYLf7JuJhZWiZ_KhvitaLFHGhZHHKVMYhnTSmyaUbvzNdmTNo0nemz1_NsnEwvk_0irWwtCwGFLqogNF4Qcu2H6xNXuK8RfW00MoWJiWaIlXTv2gfF7qzBT4kkAlA2nD9kOk1rn0glm2s10PnaI/s4000/IMG_20220907_162025.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtev1Ma0HtkhAOdGF6ekiYnX_3UM51lsiiYLf7JuJhZWiZ_KhvitaLFHGhZHHKVMYhnTSmyaUbvzNdmTNo0nemz1_NsnEwvk_0irWwtCwGFLqogNF4Qcu2H6xNXuK8RfW00MoWJiWaIlXTv2gfF7qzBT4kkAlA2nD9kOk1rn0glm2s10PnaI/s320/IMG_20220907_162025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3G-aJ46_Dh6DoydHkSYGxw0S6OSctTcOrFIVjZY3kXIlBml4In50s4I4zeWrRQLSlMIruAwUwocj33QxeI-LXoepf-4Xc9S9pZVROjbYRq6BsB_u8Ujc4qXDWWLnPSfaXJwWWUXHxvhlAPLHGrU5G_IsZHlgwytTqJ3E2E6D6wNuQ2u-oN4/s4000/IMG_20220907_162120.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3G-aJ46_Dh6DoydHkSYGxw0S6OSctTcOrFIVjZY3kXIlBml4In50s4I4zeWrRQLSlMIruAwUwocj33QxeI-LXoepf-4Xc9S9pZVROjbYRq6BsB_u8Ujc4qXDWWLnPSfaXJwWWUXHxvhlAPLHGrU5G_IsZHlgwytTqJ3E2E6D6wNuQ2u-oN4/s320/IMG_20220907_162120.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-11470905440920948662022-09-10T08:23:00.002-07:002022-09-11T08:52:02.911-07:00A walk in the park<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyf5hWMC_M_o8NRN5P-rx_ZCJ8co15DMNAayded5rpwPhPlMyLrHUi0K1erUPMERPeuo2Xe3vzyNLptN46FwzllgwlhiTDndXquaUC1b5rM2943lYCCWN88GL0_TiMst1Y-sT_tFXv7FmqzJuM-5yazzEGomdGQYnoPDH-RRC8k6aYSZl4PSA/s4000/IMG_20220907_161844.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyf5hWMC_M_o8NRN5P-rx_ZCJ8co15DMNAayded5rpwPhPlMyLrHUi0K1erUPMERPeuo2Xe3vzyNLptN46FwzllgwlhiTDndXquaUC1b5rM2943lYCCWN88GL0_TiMst1Y-sT_tFXv7FmqzJuM-5yazzEGomdGQYnoPDH-RRC8k6aYSZl4PSA/s320/IMG_20220907_161844.jpg" width="320" /></a>When you think of Lego, you probably think of buildings (or vehicles), but a good city design has green space, and Totally Normal Town is no exception to this rule.</p><p></p><p>I'm quite pleased with how our central park turned out even though it's super simple -- full of trees and bushes and benches and paths that are all based on ones found in sets.</p><p>The one element that is my own original design is the fountain, which I'm quite proud of.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgssbRVguxYoAJ5RS3V79kG67pgy1YT2kmnlD_1TfEZe5FL4RIP3z_ht_f3UdhCPPrZr5XMjxnrfQ24rJt7veSvAUSk3vPEAA_KGB4syydESTjWKqvbn9KTOf0baB1WyAe_rjy6F3F5VeSvLw9ks-TQR2OBb0o5iLn39B-f7kZwbhJ4FiW9qQ0/s4000/IMG_20220907_161852.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgssbRVguxYoAJ5RS3V79kG67pgy1YT2kmnlD_1TfEZe5FL4RIP3z_ht_f3UdhCPPrZr5XMjxnrfQ24rJt7veSvAUSk3vPEAA_KGB4syydESTjWKqvbn9KTOf0baB1WyAe_rjy6F3F5VeSvLw9ks-TQR2OBb0o5iLn39B-f7kZwbhJ4FiW9qQ0/s320/IMG_20220907_161852.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I think the carousel may have been inspired by a carousel from a set, but not a set that I bought. I don't remember how much of it is my own original design -- I just remember that I googled for ideas of small animals to make out of Legos for the kids to ride on.</p><p>It has a flamingo, a zebra, a sheep, and possibly a duck.</p><p>I'll include a few more pictures of the park below:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEwkArXn6Y7JZVPkwPxbw-iVeffHTnFXyox5f70TVeVT3ipIs1eZtP_KTtWl8eL77Y8PyDRIZRqwfet80y7UOZwL6v-M6tLYePpsxUGfLALbFrBVRvfkWtKaxR4TvTeNy1hzJx2DummQ2SS3JYT4PJo1NLCwqKxmoSpFjAK6lzCa5lwuzlMI/s4000/IMG_20220907_161652.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEwkArXn6Y7JZVPkwPxbw-iVeffHTnFXyox5f70TVeVT3ipIs1eZtP_KTtWl8eL77Y8PyDRIZRqwfet80y7UOZwL6v-M6tLYePpsxUGfLALbFrBVRvfkWtKaxR4TvTeNy1hzJx2DummQ2SS3JYT4PJo1NLCwqKxmoSpFjAK6lzCa5lwuzlMI/s320/IMG_20220907_161652.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWbnjZ_Tt0uIKRXrCYiSA0BaMXT-R0Rz1Q0TZa2lNoF2FuEmdT6cUavrhDOsxw7Ii_GXlGOeZsbDT0zt7ENcV0YCLH92jPaw6rHX8zzlZMhimAK3VvW-dd71UcIOEpl3w5P-6v3ALOpoQqJJV8U8DOTj7BOVwCJGcXnBrUC-pzOoYBf3mYs4/s4000/IMG_20220907_161720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWWbnjZ_Tt0uIKRXrCYiSA0BaMXT-R0Rz1Q0TZa2lNoF2FuEmdT6cUavrhDOsxw7Ii_GXlGOeZsbDT0zt7ENcV0YCLH92jPaw6rHX8zzlZMhimAK3VvW-dd71UcIOEpl3w5P-6v3ALOpoQqJJV8U8DOTj7BOVwCJGcXnBrUC-pzOoYBf3mYs4/s320/IMG_20220907_161720.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInnEEqWN6ucdnYoiroxRkpWOYVCP4duDpuLq_9iOeLCWJ8SDY2C6MBm_Imp-FPOiCJ0Z8LnxFzJtJO2Tqk5VyhzCCwhslz1CmkwsZ1m5nN2D6kR1zoeGrUtcKw8-Kuv1TWt1IsW0rHs5bojWI4b-Ej0aCwB_thpwSQ1wwVH4EYu1vv5theBU/s4000/IMG_20220907_161814.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInnEEqWN6ucdnYoiroxRkpWOYVCP4duDpuLq_9iOeLCWJ8SDY2C6MBm_Imp-FPOiCJ0Z8LnxFzJtJO2Tqk5VyhzCCwhslz1CmkwsZ1m5nN2D6kR1zoeGrUtcKw8-Kuv1TWt1IsW0rHs5bojWI4b-Ej0aCwB_thpwSQ1wwVH4EYu1vv5theBU/s320/IMG_20220907_161814.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5WvArh_b4AsXat5yv7hnayv_kn-F_H6a7rnz1ItkV_N_yBuVcnoLbM0rtEr7H5wNNX4SPizuUX0JLOvpD2ZX9gN0HsQnX8mJFBmkjv6EQsQCgaLrKaM-FQ8E4WXebPawYEbxJSb7kmB3fHNORuwSUsvvBO3mEKe_r0-TmzHU-pkv4I1Tnfo/s4000/IMG_20220907_161828.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5WvArh_b4AsXat5yv7hnayv_kn-F_H6a7rnz1ItkV_N_yBuVcnoLbM0rtEr7H5wNNX4SPizuUX0JLOvpD2ZX9gN0HsQnX8mJFBmkjv6EQsQCgaLrKaM-FQ8E4WXebPawYEbxJSb7kmB3fHNORuwSUsvvBO3mEKe_r0-TmzHU-pkv4I1Tnfo/s320/IMG_20220907_161828.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-48771236230585507602022-09-10T07:56:00.002-07:002022-09-11T08:56:27.140-07:00Our Totally Normal Apartment Building!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginHjDjmblk_s676k0JAErHKGpKHBJ2jMOsBwlmOoMcpGE41kumL-HcLIa-U-occOUCdLj_cl0o1kVhOVFRUfpacXt7wZXgbMaISp1NpOJOQkDNxiDl77Zn4AWjxNxyDSe385dgjRMUogOtZu1era-OG_JWWjw1h8mOoT-XZh8WacS7Fw4ZtM/s4000/IMG_20220907_155753.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginHjDjmblk_s676k0JAErHKGpKHBJ2jMOsBwlmOoMcpGE41kumL-HcLIa-U-occOUCdLj_cl0o1kVhOVFRUfpacXt7wZXgbMaISp1NpOJOQkDNxiDl77Zn4AWjxNxyDSe385dgjRMUogOtZu1era-OG_JWWjw1h8mOoT-XZh8WacS7Fw4ZtM/s320/IMG_20220907_155753.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>This apartment building is essentially my own design, but it was strongly inspired by a few different Creator sets.<p></p><p>The original inspiration was one of the b-side designs from <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/5891">set #5891</a> in which a square house has a top floor and a roof module that each lift off.</p><p>If you look at our apartment building in the original (pre-Grim) version of Totally Normal Town, you can see that it's just that set with one additional floor added.</p><p>For the 2019 build, I started with the same idea, but decided to make it look more like an apartment building than a weird, tall house. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqpdUQ--OEqGFfMtpptcUjE-ja8-tRbP1drie0Txjt3HTN7mlmitCGapFokL7YdIsn3i938RFtkslz0SMz_Cs0Wi0JQHWoRiHqJI_ZSfaPGu6dV7RlK3KTFicdckZzCTU7oiD8su5tXVoa_cHLQFieQ2S8HdB2CZ4U7ww1vpST5Ka55F4STw/s4000/IMG_20220907_155719.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqpdUQ--OEqGFfMtpptcUjE-ja8-tRbP1drie0Txjt3HTN7mlmitCGapFokL7YdIsn3i938RFtkslz0SMz_Cs0Wi0JQHWoRiHqJI_ZSfaPGu6dV7RlK3KTFicdckZzCTU7oiD8su5tXVoa_cHLQFieQ2S8HdB2CZ4U7ww1vpST5Ka55F4STw/s320/IMG_20220907_155719.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>The window trim and other decorative elements are largely inspired by the <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/31026">bike shop and café set #31026</a> (which you'll see more of <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2022/09/and-once-you-graduate-from-hogwarts-you.html" target="_blank">later in this series</a>).</p><p>I'll include some more pictures below so you can see the whole building, plus some pictures of a fruit and vegetable stand of my own design (which was also partially inspired by a tiny vegetable plot in the same bike shop and café set).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlIQNuAj-P73qdWGenLzFrczVMqEl_kay647cRenael9pF69XhMynScWpOnJhAd6pLHQ1PffJFGWJIO3WBR78zFvXRmVyvoxNssGoJfk9pHcKvqnXaqpEGrcOG02KpXY4mDsRj3DFHDpPdD_cOysUq8laMit2bfdrUuqqbn7xBa7ItkFZ9Ug/s4000/IMG_20220907_155615.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLlIQNuAj-P73qdWGenLzFrczVMqEl_kay647cRenael9pF69XhMynScWpOnJhAd6pLHQ1PffJFGWJIO3WBR78zFvXRmVyvoxNssGoJfk9pHcKvqnXaqpEGrcOG02KpXY4mDsRj3DFHDpPdD_cOysUq8laMit2bfdrUuqqbn7xBa7ItkFZ9Ug/s320/IMG_20220907_155615.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTF5X2CsqutLPWTlcDXcwZ-UY1ra2rZszXBhuks0L5siGJ7SJ-ykf-lEBM4ae1gqIIq2D2vZp8DkJPamg5g44Pq6MAipHVSkT-wR5DxUjGMZ1pSampIOiDJ3MUAxIvkGVQeKc2ly6Tnk2wgVBfUTfj-l4g8mZW9yiiZL2YVTrhqwcMvzPtBO8/s4000/IMG_20220907_155641.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTF5X2CsqutLPWTlcDXcwZ-UY1ra2rZszXBhuks0L5siGJ7SJ-ykf-lEBM4ae1gqIIq2D2vZp8DkJPamg5g44Pq6MAipHVSkT-wR5DxUjGMZ1pSampIOiDJ3MUAxIvkGVQeKc2ly6Tnk2wgVBfUTfj-l4g8mZW9yiiZL2YVTrhqwcMvzPtBO8/s320/IMG_20220907_155641.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrNJ11iPgZnQF3MNOETtyZrKzw8epLqhlfvrDTjkf2SZV6aaCfL2YmCZeHgkPM_PHwz7dCnfqTj8qzhr8G3hCT2xdBjygKCyrsD9crfoM8pCUJn6hstBSt7lgmR3C5o1_ha43JXoTNiS9Xvd8R5ZR3UUNH2hpdFtl1czmgF_MdSA6k7FfOPU/s4000/IMG_20220907_155653.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXrNJ11iPgZnQF3MNOETtyZrKzw8epLqhlfvrDTjkf2SZV6aaCfL2YmCZeHgkPM_PHwz7dCnfqTj8qzhr8G3hCT2xdBjygKCyrsD9crfoM8pCUJn6hstBSt7lgmR3C5o1_ha43JXoTNiS9Xvd8R5ZR3UUNH2hpdFtl1czmgF_MdSA6k7FfOPU/s320/IMG_20220907_155653.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc24TxnCtQ3Wt8afOYWUB2AMBbTngtF0BmGa2eAqWZuRUvooTRZRjsUWzHE7eQuUQMnFIBb0AX9LjwAB7ZzRcFiQ00pHrntY7uSXe1kaJDpqCWLB-qoEmxh2LsfWRFtM5GTRjHcdxX0xIYs31J1sls_e-lyBEW_dIn1oaQIlf8MISJrZWhgE/s4000/IMG_20220907_155857.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLc24TxnCtQ3Wt8afOYWUB2AMBbTngtF0BmGa2eAqWZuRUvooTRZRjsUWzHE7eQuUQMnFIBb0AX9LjwAB7ZzRcFiQ00pHrntY7uSXe1kaJDpqCWLB-qoEmxh2LsfWRFtM5GTRjHcdxX0xIYs31J1sls_e-lyBEW_dIn1oaQIlf8MISJrZWhgE/s320/IMG_20220907_155857.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Xmpew4RKo9ok7jsN84w8ke-KNKaqFhL82lY1Mg3WfnsRcHBl5-vZU59PRfAnUeZQDmZojSTBLOjvaJ7T-6UXZFX9JvvO7HQCri0N9XxNFR9E9bXDKaNFoorftIfI5Zt_V7bPzfVzsYmIKpVydeUzDMKbBXiNZbn6inoUw4WmhDq93xIFTOE/s4000/IMG_20220907_155437.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Xmpew4RKo9ok7jsN84w8ke-KNKaqFhL82lY1Mg3WfnsRcHBl5-vZU59PRfAnUeZQDmZojSTBLOjvaJ7T-6UXZFX9JvvO7HQCri0N9XxNFR9E9bXDKaNFoorftIfI5Zt_V7bPzfVzsYmIKpVydeUzDMKbBXiNZbn6inoUw4WmhDq93xIFTOE/s320/IMG_20220907_155437.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTi72nuH7kqYhlpvSeTmu1-7lnrPRSEokzrXe6pCZawA0vPc3P6KtU2V1IPBNO8ahVtwF8nTGXz1x0a8qiIeDceyOsNIdz08seO4Jd48w-xeleKPvQoUrHI54wf1Ewuk8eU4LVqI-oXGdBVIDceIy2vE_23NNPJ3kOlGzuFrHj0OAWNDnCxzU/s4000/IMG_20220907_155340.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTi72nuH7kqYhlpvSeTmu1-7lnrPRSEokzrXe6pCZawA0vPc3P6KtU2V1IPBNO8ahVtwF8nTGXz1x0a8qiIeDceyOsNIdz08seO4Jd48w-xeleKPvQoUrHI54wf1Ewuk8eU4LVqI-oXGdBVIDceIy2vE_23NNPJ3kOlGzuFrHj0OAWNDnCxzU/s320/IMG_20220907_155340.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSw3vqQ-7TkMQdNWiQnLnqht7aIsKsYlrRR3beGo33f4K0PIUbrBvMkg3bG9-sbnKPhLnNEnAPD0G5qRNHAX4J9y-QylYiUy33SS6rnx18FyHreBpZU6LjE_HcNPWakgIqVS68m_QBZ1PLTV7iLi2lhh3ooU9nxIL9dHd5drwgdTs7JmC8XIk/s4000/IMG_20220907_155452.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSw3vqQ-7TkMQdNWiQnLnqht7aIsKsYlrRR3beGo33f4K0PIUbrBvMkg3bG9-sbnKPhLnNEnAPD0G5qRNHAX4J9y-QylYiUy33SS6rnx18FyHreBpZU6LjE_HcNPWakgIqVS68m_QBZ1PLTV7iLi2lhh3ooU9nxIL9dHd5drwgdTs7JmC8XIk/s320/IMG_20220907_155452.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-22426725392656216882022-09-10T07:26:00.003-07:002022-09-11T00:47:26.284-07:00A Totally Normal Train Station<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQr5oIFJeHF4M-04Axfq4_ZZUwGMEpEtBvsmS9wG5ahWDHUK-KC0MM-y9VqLX2S9V-s2vX7_kIkTgALpQUAYZQ4Kzeg7Ds9XDEKqErFm93BSvxRR2uQ-GW9ut3-TwS9f2a-3UqZ-k2bj-zuSOZaaan6BHZ0bnluQjqZX9Y1avt0_zdyY509Jw/s4000/IMG_20220907_160028.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQr5oIFJeHF4M-04Axfq4_ZZUwGMEpEtBvsmS9wG5ahWDHUK-KC0MM-y9VqLX2S9V-s2vX7_kIkTgALpQUAYZQ4Kzeg7Ds9XDEKqErFm93BSvxRR2uQ-GW9ut3-TwS9f2a-3UqZ-k2bj-zuSOZaaan6BHZ0bnluQjqZX9Y1avt0_zdyY509Jw/s320/IMG_20220907_160028.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Train station in Totally Normal Town isn't much to write home about. It's just the <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/10259" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Winter Village train station set #10259</a> with some minor alterations:<p></p><p>1. I removed all of the snow and Christmas decorations to make it a Summer train station.</p><p>2. I changed the orientation of the tracks to make it fit better in its lot in Totally Normal Town.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHE5UWxgJmGn6HNP5q_1Cl9wmiKKa5qVIkGOAWEhlJ-_6FVUTSmKN6tT5aTrDe22uFY2oGyNA1QJd7fav4FaYuGoO2Y9TUtAQI0OizxhZ9j5CkcgAyRv5-c1Np9f9iV4wyI6gzkvm7P07HNfn4NBsSyq0fi7leirdrw4Tev-NqOVq93MC9So4/s4000/IMG_20220907_160333.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHE5UWxgJmGn6HNP5q_1Cl9wmiKKa5qVIkGOAWEhlJ-_6FVUTSmKN6tT5aTrDe22uFY2oGyNA1QJd7fav4FaYuGoO2Y9TUtAQI0OizxhZ9j5CkcgAyRv5-c1Np9f9iV4wyI6gzkvm7P07HNfn4NBsSyq0fi7leirdrw4Tev-NqOVq93MC9So4/s320/IMG_20220907_160333.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>3. I changed the names of the railway company and the destinations.<p></p><p>You can see that we used the acronym "SMCPTNT" throughout our railway system. This is a riff on the acronym of the French national railway system "SNCF" (la Société nationale des chemins de fer). Ours is "la Société municipale des chemins de plastique de Totally Normal Town."</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd27xCWTi3ta-01L-dPF8AP6D4PnVJDzUnqdoht5fxFkf2zuz6NjM80Xu7MKw-NU9gA5bXqEqebajuUtvp1kOssGg1I8L5m2qd0jqP1DovFNSh-ava2f2dPevB1H7akGyZgwq7rNYFLK0bHbseKyKr5Ug-P-ROJdUfNKr_Mqme2XZ0uFnrR8/s4000/IMG_20220907_155159.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEd27xCWTi3ta-01L-dPF8AP6D4PnVJDzUnqdoht5fxFkf2zuz6NjM80Xu7MKw-NU9gA5bXqEqebajuUtvp1kOssGg1I8L5m2qd0jqP1DovFNSh-ava2f2dPevB1H7akGyZgwq7rNYFLK0bHbseKyKr5Ug-P-ROJdUfNKr_Mqme2XZ0uFnrR8/s320/IMG_20220907_155159.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The train is also a set: it's <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/10254" target="_blank">set #10254, the Winter Holiday Train</a>. I think I did not buy this set (just built it from existing pieces from my collection) since there are a lot of substitutions -- notably I made the locomotive yellow instead of green.</p><p>I love trains and train travel, so I'm not super thrilled with how car-centric Lego cities tend to be. I only managed to include this one little train line to the magic portal in this incarnation of Totally Normal Town. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Hlzmjh6tm5kfc1ZqjrXO5tY1bMTs7heSkGQnWmXybMe_vwV_fR4CVHqTmRvd9HN3Os2miac97j-L0ltjfSlNcXEXEeG3kzeZ5uYXtNg8mHthez2zXO3ou2LqUSfNCA-vF4391l4tExJ7Y-4dZnJtIhKp3FHSOsJmBMJW_tdirV6dalLXMI4/s4000/IMG_20220907_155154.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Hlzmjh6tm5kfc1ZqjrXO5tY1bMTs7heSkGQnWmXybMe_vwV_fR4CVHqTmRvd9HN3Os2miac97j-L0ltjfSlNcXEXEeG3kzeZ5uYXtNg8mHthez2zXO3ou2LqUSfNCA-vF4391l4tExJ7Y-4dZnJtIhKp3FHSOsJmBMJW_tdirV6dalLXMI4/s320/IMG_20220907_155154.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Maybe I'll succeed in integrating better public transit in the next round.<p></p><p>The candy shop is even less interesting -- it's just <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/31077" target="_blank">set #31077</a> with no alterations at all.<br /></p><p>When I show this town to guests, I usually ask them which buildings they think are sets and which are my original designs. They rarely guess correctly.</p><p>As fun as that game is, though, I think I'll try to avoid including buildings that are just purchased sets in future iterations of this town. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mWffDofDpOoO3YOq2HplaCm9IAszAWEZPyAmDrRD4awCzR-LDn_FkuLcdnhqz8hDkpvHFYR8lfJs30y4Cv9q3nQcM7uOl7aiCnv-1IjFPTWv82Gdo3rZTgrMdPouqL7LsaIvbERpZcVcp_KCxc3ZiRwj8B_zlqAxTn9aqV_E2-F4LcWbU_Y/s4000/IMG_20220907_160143.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mWffDofDpOoO3YOq2HplaCm9IAszAWEZPyAmDrRD4awCzR-LDn_FkuLcdnhqz8hDkpvHFYR8lfJs30y4Cv9q3nQcM7uOl7aiCnv-1IjFPTWv82Gdo3rZTgrMdPouqL7LsaIvbERpZcVcp_KCxc3ZiRwj8B_zlqAxTn9aqV_E2-F4LcWbU_Y/s320/IMG_20220907_160143.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-43682463846092503002022-09-10T06:25:00.002-07:002022-09-11T08:59:23.195-07:00A Tower with a Magic Train Portal!<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hkeNn1oVjmNGSZ2cheUN_k67mMdNPosgiIQKtPRJKorwOAafTOiddn2zTE1YEaU9ksILWRidCvUMAucBg_z01UuHKvE-Oyx9kvIdi5PDm1QWWC7mYkOyQQd2epIYrf2uy5gDR5KARiLGqg2jAEI6DhTLQKUgLhrDczMgIihgRpJrLKjy2uk/s4000/IMG_20220907_154925.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hkeNn1oVjmNGSZ2cheUN_k67mMdNPosgiIQKtPRJKorwOAafTOiddn2zTE1YEaU9ksILWRidCvUMAucBg_z01UuHKvE-Oyx9kvIdi5PDm1QWWC7mYkOyQQd2epIYrf2uy5gDR5KARiLGqg2jAEI6DhTLQKUgLhrDczMgIihgRpJrLKjy2uk/s320/IMG_20220907_154925.jpg" width="240" /></a>This is probably my favorite building that I designed and built for Totally Normal Town. As you can see, it's a castle tower that is built into a rugged rock formation with a waterfall trickling down the side into a stream or small lake with a cave and a little foot-bridge (with a little frog habitat on the other side).</p><p></p><p>The waterfall was originally inspired by a waterfall in the <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/31025" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Mountain Hut" 3-in-1 constructor set</a> which I'd already improved on in <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/2014/11/first-catch-wild-mommy.html" target="_blank">my custom version from 2014</a>.</p><p>Here's a more detailed view where you can see the entrance to the cave:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqrnddq6sxANaQsl-O_bN17_Wmjur-VLTO4qHH9wNKFVjZWadgdA2IhqDneoGdFzXJK8IQC2XN-o44LSEvXbjJ4x_hbu6lmrSqSLq79w75CIeMJQZvsIGKI5kLu-a-vlZjHq5ZMOBlrWGX9Rs2rM0y9jY13qV6IUdRf7_8jeW_iqYdrgTjao/s4000/IMG_20220907_154934.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqrnddq6sxANaQsl-O_bN17_Wmjur-VLTO4qHH9wNKFVjZWadgdA2IhqDneoGdFzXJK8IQC2XN-o44LSEvXbjJ4x_hbu6lmrSqSLq79w75CIeMJQZvsIGKI5kLu-a-vlZjHq5ZMOBlrWGX9Rs2rM0y9jY13qV6IUdRf7_8jeW_iqYdrgTjao/s320/IMG_20220907_154934.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>A few cool things about this design:</p><p>1. The train tracks go into a cave that contains a magic portal (that was designed and built by Nico). He also made some additional matching magic portals so that we can play that the train goes into the portal and comes out in other places where we've built Legos in our apartment.</p><p>2. The top two segments of the tower can be removed so that you can look into the rooms inside.</p><p>3. The top cone of the tower looks like a specialized piece that would only make sense as a tower-topper -- at least I like to joke that it is. Most people correctly guess that it's the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.</p><p>Here are some more pictures that showcase the complete build:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOETjL5a6NRsThbFxrTarov9op4s_rdEll3PZtAJ7hKZmN80ZpNlfCSU4iux99d2eQ-zMdR0yB7CeTD2CDowCr_tTKp79u6cQGs6rwv8nrjInJVuXsIhIdGhfSdC2Vp_kaWUnOdbvlZIIu3wKsGW3_FfYF9bB-dIrVR05wYIvMyoNRnv4Abro/s4000/IMG_20220907_154525.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOETjL5a6NRsThbFxrTarov9op4s_rdEll3PZtAJ7hKZmN80ZpNlfCSU4iux99d2eQ-zMdR0yB7CeTD2CDowCr_tTKp79u6cQGs6rwv8nrjInJVuXsIhIdGhfSdC2Vp_kaWUnOdbvlZIIu3wKsGW3_FfYF9bB-dIrVR05wYIvMyoNRnv4Abro/s320/IMG_20220907_154525.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqHFoEUpM9uvAHHhjuKPMiM_AWGOuYHUoFvMkv9K-2lOtZobmcyjm4rYZoftrBKPNdzEnKtuxM5gZbbZUABi8h8rK_jI-Eunmppw8OIxlkApR2jzHzXHGGtfz0hpZg4j3v3ByvsSEapCIkhldHiRXz-ZGlcZxsfiHm8HolPez2dyunZzXDYI/s4000/IMG_20220907_154549.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqHFoEUpM9uvAHHhjuKPMiM_AWGOuYHUoFvMkv9K-2lOtZobmcyjm4rYZoftrBKPNdzEnKtuxM5gZbbZUABi8h8rK_jI-Eunmppw8OIxlkApR2jzHzXHGGtfz0hpZg4j3v3ByvsSEapCIkhldHiRXz-ZGlcZxsfiHm8HolPez2dyunZzXDYI/s320/IMG_20220907_154549.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP8tYWGJz7Aa3tSIjWrCJkxrPqdbgQ_x8PymQc04TlQIkQfk7nCq-18EKivXkb3scO6X3g1Sy9VJARy4wum4atcxWyqA0_5VdmUSi_i4MUgmMyJ6Bg4sbh1dZ4HLvPO3n2z5u69ckP8kFhjhnMkyWBXdWR8Q8sa4vbj4zchlg-1IKKX9O4KI/s4000/IMG_20220907_154801.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP8tYWGJz7Aa3tSIjWrCJkxrPqdbgQ_x8PymQc04TlQIkQfk7nCq-18EKivXkb3scO6X3g1Sy9VJARy4wum4atcxWyqA0_5VdmUSi_i4MUgmMyJ6Bg4sbh1dZ4HLvPO3n2z5u69ckP8kFhjhnMkyWBXdWR8Q8sa4vbj4zchlg-1IKKX9O4KI/s320/IMG_20220907_154801.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZkOe8tk11vPeOUrM_akfFSS72v3jWdetP619PV3wZwupNleNB0y2MIWfCVRKBSZqWsWG0yHijyKARyWeaa8uDoZq4h3JmrTZfRuOvW7E4g_k2I752ysTQA_MHq4If_tBXZLKb50pSfWVyIqmVGqW-AbwnDHR_NSsZsVQAB6WQaE_FKdlYww/s4000/IMG_20220907_154822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZkOe8tk11vPeOUrM_akfFSS72v3jWdetP619PV3wZwupNleNB0y2MIWfCVRKBSZqWsWG0yHijyKARyWeaa8uDoZq4h3JmrTZfRuOvW7E4g_k2I752ysTQA_MHq4If_tBXZLKb50pSfWVyIqmVGqW-AbwnDHR_NSsZsVQAB6WQaE_FKdlYww/s320/IMG_20220907_154822.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcw-DhWSyJciFBUBCDnCzqSBBkjvpjq7JQob2-gGqE5xCF61IiE8pKIEjRWgQnOQgX3qD0GI3RLHjPyMeNGkAKp77POzINqqre3juxxi7_7l10ykpo6UGVyyjSa9k79MBzdJI8OeCrPWtplKgAlFWcskALWsXLhLHUDuEDJ4ZmfpDreRd-9Ts/s4000/IMG_20220907_154832.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcw-DhWSyJciFBUBCDnCzqSBBkjvpjq7JQob2-gGqE5xCF61IiE8pKIEjRWgQnOQgX3qD0GI3RLHjPyMeNGkAKp77POzINqqre3juxxi7_7l10ykpo6UGVyyjSa9k79MBzdJI8OeCrPWtplKgAlFWcskALWsXLhLHUDuEDJ4ZmfpDreRd-9Ts/s320/IMG_20220907_154832.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZo3eiA0KFxkO3-3VdaRXAZiry52fsZExVB7mzRY9XvQ3i7FcMmGx-G5U_JX0YzVolUU5FNIabDk_K5p0RnEmKUZtx4GMoawCJSMOg_IoYI6B8f_NvmENPfeiDuq6PkK1Uzwn8riZPtl_ZtcB_hR7p2wWKdf4k-griAdxcA0CgL9vXJmF-_4/s4000/IMG_20220907_154940.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNZo3eiA0KFxkO3-3VdaRXAZiry52fsZExVB7mzRY9XvQ3i7FcMmGx-G5U_JX0YzVolUU5FNIabDk_K5p0RnEmKUZtx4GMoawCJSMOg_IoYI6B8f_NvmENPfeiDuq6PkK1Uzwn8riZPtl_ZtcB_hR7p2wWKdf4k-griAdxcA0CgL9vXJmF-_4/s320/IMG_20220907_154940.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaI_25S0dUw9MbrYpfppRJt1e5cAqwr4AheOdbJQqKNmmf5CS2crCjz48uYeBOmYoXYkunSjo-66HggZrwrYfNeOWngC37JQNXHuSKtOd4XwhCGJvTL9ZmqexEMknUzRNyOTL_h3gfVP5Wv7SGpiwwq_BaaHTiS7SOUkF3jMMtWQBPOswbv-8/s4000/IMG_20220907_155007.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaI_25S0dUw9MbrYpfppRJt1e5cAqwr4AheOdbJQqKNmmf5CS2crCjz48uYeBOmYoXYkunSjo-66HggZrwrYfNeOWngC37JQNXHuSKtOd4XwhCGJvTL9ZmqexEMknUzRNyOTL_h3gfVP5Wv7SGpiwwq_BaaHTiS7SOUkF3jMMtWQBPOswbv-8/s320/IMG_20220907_155007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBJdB9YOQWcQ39CRttA56h1GcZ3VuTKv8fC7sPZ1ijYgBcNeAGtE5u22qs29WSNXZ8Z2p7ytWcVnVfK_wgehmll79jQfphQrnKxonrIRtJiJOTE8L6UbkNq5UC40aMkeH1HzOuEODHSwUjiCXTI2NVeq4R67BY6_aWt2LyQkdGIu-_OSU8vQ/s4000/IMG_20220907_155012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZBJdB9YOQWcQ39CRttA56h1GcZ3VuTKv8fC7sPZ1ijYgBcNeAGtE5u22qs29WSNXZ8Z2p7ytWcVnVfK_wgehmll79jQfphQrnKxonrIRtJiJOTE8L6UbkNq5UC40aMkeH1HzOuEODHSwUjiCXTI2NVeq4R67BY6_aWt2LyQkdGIu-_OSU8vQ/s320/IMG_20220907_155012.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nLLYGxyX8MiGprKUOaGd9kNhC75ofRZNUUwUmxoLl-JaLBUVcxvyrOqnKw5n6PLAhkBpSYzvxLwQMCNuNO9IGUIAtTqCnrfVYQ7uPqhWvnQ7TXr8xh31qMiZjR682dQ2eqBdTTRqARM_63SNQTMkMm-xkHF-bkLrUVc3VNeCs7OXV5v8FFA/s4000/IMG_20220907_155037.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nLLYGxyX8MiGprKUOaGd9kNhC75ofRZNUUwUmxoLl-JaLBUVcxvyrOqnKw5n6PLAhkBpSYzvxLwQMCNuNO9IGUIAtTqCnrfVYQ7uPqhWvnQ7TXr8xh31qMiZjR682dQ2eqBdTTRqARM_63SNQTMkMm-xkHF-bkLrUVc3VNeCs7OXV5v8FFA/s320/IMG_20220907_155037.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiFf_4GCuC8Pi0gWlOi6eimSw_LmVMDf76tm0-BAUXFBb67h0E0CnWVhVBJcuwDl_Fuy12GqKD7QYMmDiJlJefdHg1jR-Go08Vz2wO_bp8XGEbG1XqgBRFq9gnMBfFBfq7wX0IrqYJMzKMBEOrzWaYBwZvUoMtMi9wd2vn9uyCQ9LH7a56K0o/s320/IMG_20220907_155133.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDoM9msUtRpey_QX_D7yWqoWnMwIiw3Gskn4YKJpZ5kxslA5lz9FCOFvRKv2fQilLNcxebBkHSFJpuydQJgluyluV81CUTxhX3oGltu-w_KkNCl3wUiU017VMKyHP93Z2ZqmQVUpav72vKzkbkcKTrDQhLRUOFeUo8nZFzn0RoS1h99aUGoZQ/s4000/IMG_20220907_155139.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDoM9msUtRpey_QX_D7yWqoWnMwIiw3Gskn4YKJpZ5kxslA5lz9FCOFvRKv2fQilLNcxebBkHSFJpuydQJgluyluV81CUTxhX3oGltu-w_KkNCl3wUiU017VMKyHP93Z2ZqmQVUpav72vKzkbkcKTrDQhLRUOFeUo8nZFzn0RoS1h99aUGoZQ/s320/IMG_20220907_155139.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-89913561572644867872022-09-10T05:49:00.004-07:002022-09-11T09:12:49.848-07:00Welcome to Totally Normal Town!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7Obo4uB-911Z66FPX_QteZmWPDFMPKdPVEcxLrCaHvtAkE74SmALbpzgQOYTJstDSAPCPMoLWw-ontWn6fo4rkDkayPsjfu7Z-VQu4JM4S1KhaJDuWZ8fUk1PgGTKK8BOiw1oIBFXFVvrsQbs08FgINjhXToq-R9wgWH2096garpzRn9iqg/s1600/IMG_20220907_154046.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7Obo4uB-911Z66FPX_QteZmWPDFMPKdPVEcxLrCaHvtAkE74SmALbpzgQOYTJstDSAPCPMoLWw-ontWn6fo4rkDkayPsjfu7Z-VQu4JM4S1KhaJDuWZ8fUk1PgGTKK8BOiw1oIBFXFVvrsQbs08FgINjhXToq-R9wgWH2096garpzRn9iqg/s320/IMG_20220907_154046.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It's finally time to document Totally Normal Town because it looks like our little town "has the Grim" again...<p></p><p>Totally Normal Town was founded in 2018 when I bought a set of three serving tables to place under the stairs and build Legos on.</p><p>In the town's first incarnation, we simply gathered up all of the built Lego sets that we had on shelves and dressers around our apartment and placed them together on this table. The town got its name because it's so totally normal to have such an eclectic collection of buildings such as our apartment building, two castles (one medieval, one ice), a chunk of Atlantis, a snake-head building, Hogwarts, etc.</p><p>The town was named (and destroyed) in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVBEF4os7K4" target="_blank">a 2018 video</a> in which the kids' Divination teacher Professor Trelawney predicted that "the whole town has the Grim"! (Yes, the kids were attending Hogwarts since it was the only school in Totally Normal Town.)</p><p>Immediately after this tea-leaf divination, the entire town was totally destroyed by a series of attacks from different vehicles -- beginning with Daisy Duck in a construct-o-mec and ending with the Millennium Falcon.</p><p>Yet Totally Normal Town is made of magical Christmas Legos -- hence can never truly stay destroyed. Over the rubble of the first version, a new Totally Normal Town was built (mostly by me, mostly in 2019).</p><p>Of course we always knew that (as is totally normal) our town would one day have the Grim again. It seems Professor Trelawney is projecting the next total town annihilation for October or November of this year. If it happens early enough, the town will rise again as a Christmas village before morphing into its third incarnation.</p><p>But I'm really proud of many of the buildings I designed and built, so I'd like to do a series of posts about them <a href="https://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com/search/label/TotallyNormalTown" target="_blank">here with the label TotallyNormalTown</a>.</p><p>And here are various views of the town as a whole:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSihdM_XSwqAlFJNaaELBcvyFxQ3O_KCElXX4pi30T2qnvb2xmhrO9YvLd8j14w89uQdZxoAYRnuWU31KNcK7rA7E84xxFuZpKWU1wzxoFO0wop_W-STwsMwf_fGPdif0UgMrg7Xd-f7-dys1KTOAu7ZFmEueWrP1gxVqQV75M1gACxYdueA/s4000/IMG_20220907_154000.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHSihdM_XSwqAlFJNaaELBcvyFxQ3O_KCElXX4pi30T2qnvb2xmhrO9YvLd8j14w89uQdZxoAYRnuWU31KNcK7rA7E84xxFuZpKWU1wzxoFO0wop_W-STwsMwf_fGPdif0UgMrg7Xd-f7-dys1KTOAu7ZFmEueWrP1gxVqQV75M1gACxYdueA/s320/IMG_20220907_154000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-TtzXRslPuPnVxIUqklPlmRom8GD8s6lBPbF-1x0mB6MyFnxHbbFsfMlEqeDJolXko-s0fnNtdoHiOenSxenO4UUYkkABPZAyOia7MLEA_kZdU1AMNfsAZZvw5c-9JYLUlqZ94xqJvOjf_HZX1QLbhMdziGRUE-2dexJ9k667CO1sHmBAh0/s320/IMG_20220907_154216.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-25475604510636711662022-07-24T08:09:00.000-07:002022-07-24T08:09:16.577-07:00A Mathematically-Optimised Party!<p>When throwing a great party, it's important to provide goodies that all of the guests will enjoy. If you know all of the guests and their tastes, then it's pretty easy to tailor your offerings accordingly. But throwing a larger party presents a fun challenge in terms of making sure there's at least a little something good for everyone.</p><p>Since I'm trained as a mathematician and tend to throw parties for mathematicians, naturally I can't help but approach this challenge in a mathematical way.</p><p>Specifically, I set out to throw a party in which half of the finger-foods have dairy and half don't, half of the finger-foods have meat and half don't, and half of the finger-foods have gluten and half don't. Thus I prepared 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 different recipes!</p><p>Starting from the recipe with none of the above, let's review all of the options I prepared:<br /></p><p><b>Tortilla Chips and Guacamole</b><br /></p><p>❌ Gluten, ❌ Dairy, ❌ Meat</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5n92eMvgpoTaQFws9bFe4R-OU7rfX-tHDx8sOo0H7pKBRJZQ2vtAzFuAxTKIedVJrOYoxll0J06xgQnaMZDw1HttiJkAzRHUznJG4-u2T9GTKhOctwQyH0ljoqKuZLkbbLyl8awfPi0JZupIvvXMpKz747qIcxkJryNUmat_HetSsMZVntM/s4000/IMG_20220714_180943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5n92eMvgpoTaQFws9bFe4R-OU7rfX-tHDx8sOo0H7pKBRJZQ2vtAzFuAxTKIedVJrOYoxll0J06xgQnaMZDw1HttiJkAzRHUznJG4-u2T9GTKhOctwQyH0ljoqKuZLkbbLyl8awfPi0JZupIvvXMpKz747qIcxkJryNUmat_HetSsMZVntM/s320/IMG_20220714_180943.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This is a perennial favorite and quite easy to make.</p><p>Sometimes I make guacamole from scratch, but for this party -- since I was preparing so many items -- I didn't want to deal with the additional cleanup of the food processor, so I just bought some guacamole and mixed it with salsa, plus some hot peppers from the garden for one of the portions of dip.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Bruschetta Toasts with Balsamic Vinegar Pearls</b></p><p> ✅ Gluten, ❌ Dairy, ❌ Meat<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjclZarf5u9CumczXbY2FtFZFiXWmfV3cbegegOkeoQGWQ5DwW17cFnZFDZiM0ktYTc_43QGxW5g6E6vxs2RBqIeUdybD21ghLXh30Mb7-YIgfyaIuKr8dokzCvWIQTSXkOpY633g9uElhkLPvylbOMWPE7ot0xuyrGc6IZbIlHCzZbNdnVJ18/s4000/IMG_20220714_201557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjclZarf5u9CumczXbY2FtFZFiXWmfV3cbegegOkeoQGWQ5DwW17cFnZFDZiM0ktYTc_43QGxW5g6E6vxs2RBqIeUdybD21ghLXh30Mb7-YIgfyaIuKr8dokzCvWIQTSXkOpY633g9uElhkLPvylbOMWPE7ot0xuyrGc6IZbIlHCzZbNdnVJ18/s320/IMG_20220714_201557.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Again I went the lazy route and bought the bruschetta in a jar. Since it can be prepared in advance, I could have prepared it myself -- and maybe I should have since I ended up not having quite as much as I wanted. The toasts should generally have a bit more bruschetta on them than you see in this picture.</p><p>All you need is some leftover bread (baguette works especially well). Wait until your guests arrive before toasting it because the toasts with bruschetta on them can get soggy fairly quickly -- but they're quite delicious right when they're prepared.</p><p>(Toast the bread slices by themselves and add the bruschetta and garnish after toasting.)<br /></p><p>I've found that balsamic vinegar pearls are a nice garnish for bruschetta toast. They're a good compliment in terms of flavor as well as color and texture.</p><p>My apologies in advance to all of my vegan friends for the rest of this article... you can stop reading now. 😀 <br /></p><p><b>Caprese Bites </b><br /></p><p>❌ Gluten, ✅ Dairy, ❌ Meat</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIKHPhOb0i_kPG3vasBRN8CXpkikqk_v_WfiJGHy6NQPzi-DZQd8fFSdN4M4JKRfJtyO--AY9P6ozflXHSz40Y6EtMEnAFPCWqP073FOLl-aTZHx6HLH5TjwFh06Hd4s4qdzfD2TGsDfJmvVKXSarZvTjB1kOHSQeyiW_GOPTht44TuVQmCQ/s4000/IMG_20220714_152550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhIKHPhOb0i_kPG3vasBRN8CXpkikqk_v_WfiJGHy6NQPzi-DZQd8fFSdN4M4JKRfJtyO--AY9P6ozflXHSz40Y6EtMEnAFPCWqP073FOLl-aTZHx6HLH5TjwFh06Hd4s4qdzfD2TGsDfJmvVKXSarZvTjB1kOHSQeyiW_GOPTht44TuVQmCQ/s320/IMG_20220714_152550.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This is one of those finger-foods that I would call "canonical" -- it's such a standard, obvious, perfect combination that it's generally pictured on the package of the mozzarella balls. (Indeed, I'm not sure that mozzarella balls the size of cherry tomatoes exist for any other purpose.)</p><p>Caprese bites are delicious, easy-to-make, and can be made early in the day (so they're not taking up that precious hour just before the guests arrive).</p><p>Just get a bunch of cherry tomatoes and an equal amount of mozzarella balls. Wash the cherry tomatoes and slice them all in half and add salt and olive oil. Then slice all of the mozzarella balls in half, and pair each one with a half-tomato -- placing a fresh basil leaf in between -- and attach them with a toothpick.</p><p><b>Sashimi Crunch</b></p><p>❌ Gluten, ❌ Dairy, ✅ Meat</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtnGBXC60Niosf49dH18iGVBN84UVlAohj2mW_Zq575ViyicYjXNnY3azDmgEtFDuta-CRNn0Ka-APb3_G3qZjJbXkqlAnr4fW7mnfrvwecbogoHT9d-GDMMCq2DjyHsp-vvhJmW1aC-k9dOCzdT6nevBuNcUwYd4MWG9nHVI3ElLKC1OSmNE/s4000/IMG_20220714_183034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtnGBXC60Niosf49dH18iGVBN84UVlAohj2mW_Zq575ViyicYjXNnY3azDmgEtFDuta-CRNn0Ka-APb3_G3qZjJbXkqlAnr4fW7mnfrvwecbogoHT9d-GDMMCq2DjyHsp-vvhJmW1aC-k9dOCzdT6nevBuNcUwYd4MWG9nHVI3ElLKC1OSmNE/s320/IMG_20220714_183034.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>This is a recipe I invented myself.</p><p>Basically, I like sushi, I like sushi flavors, and I like making sushi for dinner parties. The problem is that getting the rice just right is a time-critical operation, and I don't want to deal with that while trying to coordinate the scheduling of all of the other food preparation.</p><p>My solution? Skip the rice.</p><p>So it's not actually "sushi", but the preparation of this dish is very similar to preparing maki.</p><p>I happen to have a number of these little ceramic/earthenware bowls (?) that some French cheeses are sold in, and I figured I could use them for finger-foods.</p><p>The ingredients you need to make 8 of these are the following:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs7fE0ix-aFsh8--SdJFKHwVe7fsrzNTxe6f-8oqFdIgSXkmw-B7FdWzD0SLiS7a5VpJbIeR1KJLrFwPJX8ey2-WDShav_pUMVyvdR6l52MaQDCw46V0ysZwSUKjKuQBl3bfPiFaUP9QcI8ELXOTBAz92HiNLqLlajraAb4qEyGb60TnXvBc/s4000/IMG_20220714_160416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizs7fE0ix-aFsh8--SdJFKHwVe7fsrzNTxe6f-8oqFdIgSXkmw-B7FdWzD0SLiS7a5VpJbIeR1KJLrFwPJX8ey2-WDShav_pUMVyvdR6l52MaQDCw46V0ysZwSUKjKuQBl3bfPiFaUP9QcI8ELXOTBAz92HiNLqLlajraAb4qEyGb60TnXvBc/w240-h320/IMG_20220714_160416.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>1 long cucumber</p><p>~ 120 grams smoked salmon, sliced thin</p><p>Sushi nori sheets (about 2 or 3)</p><p>Soy sauce</p><p>Wasabi</p><p>It is very important that the cucumber remain as fresh and crisp as possible, so this recipe should be one of the last things you prepare before the guests arrive.</p><p>Peel the cucumber and cut it in half, and cut each half into four sticks:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDfObLSmwYTDmr2XjVi4p_TEbvxwnao0Xik8_lGpcqfC9X6bg_MXWxbPtnQkWiYi1XcmPFutXWYSdJi9SbapA93TDvkC6LplwLR5arhPgM_1HlCppEZsPzNVXCQCf9iMTwYPKe_RxPH_xwCuDhd81hHaXYSmULwI0kIEf7w8-KY3S4vQTp9k/s4000/IMG_20220714_160812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDfObLSmwYTDmr2XjVi4p_TEbvxwnao0Xik8_lGpcqfC9X6bg_MXWxbPtnQkWiYi1XcmPFutXWYSdJi9SbapA93TDvkC6LplwLR5arhPgM_1HlCppEZsPzNVXCQCf9iMTwYPKe_RxPH_xwCuDhd81hHaXYSmULwI0kIEf7w8-KY3S4vQTp9k/s320/IMG_20220714_160812.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Then carefully divide the smoked salmon into either 16 or 24 thin strips:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmCrfGJNvwHztZoNlUoUHH6En0PueV23ZjVY_ZG14fT9QQJVkPgTHARTasEUsIAjOz9ZWKH7wl0JvaXnXuNKLTsffXDwM4ywd9ip5u7y9YdmRE9IMLjIhViLbkzOY3h0JVXF8B90tYbSPSg2kzeRamEmSgcVfOXpxsP302MDWDktdhEDLM_40/s4000/IMG_20220714_162414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmCrfGJNvwHztZoNlUoUHH6En0PueV23ZjVY_ZG14fT9QQJVkPgTHARTasEUsIAjOz9ZWKH7wl0JvaXnXuNKLTsffXDwM4ywd9ip5u7y9YdmRE9IMLjIhViLbkzOY3h0JVXF8B90tYbSPSg2kzeRamEmSgcVfOXpxsP302MDWDktdhEDLM_40/s320/IMG_20220714_162414.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>I sliced it into 24 strips in this case because the slices of salmon I bought were fairly small, so I couldn't make 16 long ones, just 24 short ones.</p><p>Note that it's OK to kind of piece together some partial pieces -- they don't really need to be perfect.</p><p>Then, if you're a mathematician following along, you can probably guess that we'll be adding 3 pieces of salmon to each of the 8 cucumber sticks.</p><p>Prepare a bowl of water so that you can get the nori wet with your fingers to make it sticky (as you would do for making maki).</p><p>Slice three strips of nori and place them (shiny side down) on the first three strips of salmon in such a way that the bottom of each nori strip aligns with the bottom of each salmon strip, and the top extends beyond the salmon:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIr6nWX5zUD2c_meVw5gFRUtD6HOxiwAIYFjrXntbwHJ4Q7MDy1H9dIE3G1mqjr4PXn6OoTQIL8BGJCj4OSLHLv8HxCQ3KGdmlVLy8EtSb7myu-t0_R5q-O2zplY7wpH6u2ppliNWHxXQGWXP8iKYjG70TytJ-CWvwKMMrqsfZ4uk4TCOL36g/s4000/IMG_20220714_162623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIr6nWX5zUD2c_meVw5gFRUtD6HOxiwAIYFjrXntbwHJ4Q7MDy1H9dIE3G1mqjr4PXn6OoTQIL8BGJCj4OSLHLv8HxCQ3KGdmlVLy8EtSb7myu-t0_R5q-O2zplY7wpH6u2ppliNWHxXQGWXP8iKYjG70TytJ-CWvwKMMrqsfZ4uk4TCOL36g/s320/IMG_20220714_162623.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>Then get the nori a bit wet with your fingers and place a stick of cucumber across the top ends of the three strips and roll the three strips of nori (along with the salmon) onto the cucumber.</p><p>Note that it is very important for the nori to be sliced like this so that each cucumber stick has 2 or 3 separate bands of nori/salmon on it. This is because it is impossible to bite through the nori. The objective is to allow the guest to dip the cucumber in the soy sauce & wasabi and eat it in multiple bites. The bites of nori need to be separate for this to work. <br /></p><p>Once you have prepared all 8 cucumber sticks in the same way, you can put them in the fridge for a little while -- just be sure to separate them from each other using cellophane or equivalent.</p><p>I generally mix some soy sauce with wasabi in advance of the party so that it is very easy to assemble these appetizers just before the first guests arrive. Just pour a bit of soy sauce & wasabi in each bowl and place the cucumber stick across the small bowl as pictured above.</p><p>These have gotten rave reviews, which makes up for the fact that they're a little more labor intensive that some of the other items in this collection.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrSMKvhK0xVMdD9a-2NifIo_6_qgGlTeRDdJiUKy16bmmk4SSrwUCEJ70aNJ1OrNliwENsDEKShZZoHxzG6LY2yIt7xdu6z3zidFitWdD1fi1PnmEHxS1JAdsEQeU9ocahNSR5kP0zIbNql6_XuztLnzcOIm5exSh2-s-4otAxQDy_wSJa8M/s4000/IMG_20220710_121908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwrSMKvhK0xVMdD9a-2NifIo_6_qgGlTeRDdJiUKy16bmmk4SSrwUCEJ70aNJ1OrNliwENsDEKShZZoHxzG6LY2yIt7xdu6z3zidFitWdD1fi1PnmEHxS1JAdsEQeU9ocahNSR5kP0zIbNql6_XuztLnzcOIm5exSh2-s-4otAxQDy_wSJa8M/s320/IMG_20220710_121908.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Of course if you would like to spend more effort on a different finger-food and you'd like something super simple for the "meat-but-no-dairy-or-gluten" category, the "canonical" choice is, naturally, <b>prosciutto e melone</b>:<p></p><p>I did not actually make this for the same party as all of the other recipes, and I assume I don't need to explain how it's done since it's pretty self-explanatory. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jNVZGcJuZ_Cfh054Tgm73MDWDP4Jz3H5iHhupKR0jgCJUOwWxMaMb6M0IKU33zrADSdXlHL3gTLdf58gyFRP6wmJDhFuWWZHH1HOvD2glo3ImDqZHOYjG-JHMpJ7MKRiMX1OxYX_p5qPOS9k_TtCtYASlADU30wHlGfgiSFsdM9DVD_MlGM/s4000/IMG_20220714_204558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jNVZGcJuZ_Cfh054Tgm73MDWDP4Jz3H5iHhupKR0jgCJUOwWxMaMb6M0IKU33zrADSdXlHL3gTLdf58gyFRP6wmJDhFuWWZHH1HOvD2glo3ImDqZHOYjG-JHMpJ7MKRiMX1OxYX_p5qPOS9k_TtCtYASlADU30wHlGfgiSFsdM9DVD_MlGM/s320/IMG_20220714_204558.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></div><p><b>Filled Mini-Pastetlis</b> <br /></p><p>✅ Gluten, ✅ Dairy, ❌ Meat</p><p>These little pastetlis can be purchased pre-made. Then, when the guests arrive, you just need to warm them briefly in the oven and fill them.</p><p>There are tons of different options for fillings. Typically one would use a soft cheese as a base (gorgonzola, mascarpone, or ricotta) and maybe add another food to stuff them with such as a half walnut (the suggestion on the package), or something like I've done here, stuffing some with artichoke hearts and others with stuffed olives.</p><p>I feel like this was probably the least-successful item I made for this party because I didn't really test and come up with a good flavor combination in advance. So I used mascarpone mixed with garden herbs (especially sage) and then the stuffing items you see above. This flavor combination did not work.</p><p>First of all, I found ricotta was better than mascarpone with the olives & artichokes, and the sage was just really wrong, so it's better to leave it out entirely. But when using ricotta alone with the olives and artichokes, they result is too bland. Maybe mixing the ricotta with a bit of tomato paste and chopped basil would be better...? Anyway there are a lot of possibilities, so this dish is still a work-in-progress.</p><p><b>Salami & Sbrinz</b></p><p>❌ Gluten, ✅ Dairy, ✅ Meat</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWqx4FyXVTZi6NTXYxkcnkJAxs05OUm84e9dY_JCt4CLMW4dCzlpD6bopR_Gfge2LULdUvajbgbM0BRFJ28tiAFSDRmEdXf2UQxeeBIGr9sp8b_INQgDZzS-ZW1_VbfK3mIJBUMoFRz0rU6Z9x3BcHgBukh8l0we1oxZBUYjXdmwYxZLjMEI/s4000/IMG_20220714_130912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWqx4FyXVTZi6NTXYxkcnkJAxs05OUm84e9dY_JCt4CLMW4dCzlpD6bopR_Gfge2LULdUvajbgbM0BRFJ28tiAFSDRmEdXf2UQxeeBIGr9sp8b_INQgDZzS-ZW1_VbfK3mIJBUMoFRz0rU6Z9x3BcHgBukh8l0we1oxZBUYjXdmwYxZLjMEI/s320/IMG_20220714_130912.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This is another "canonical" one: It's really easy to make because the flavors of a couple of simple ingredients complement each other so perfectly.</p><p>Basically just get a whole Salami Milano and cut it into cubes, and get a block of Sbrinz and cut it into cubes of about the same size as the salami cubes. Then stick them together, two to a toothpick.</p><p>I always put the salami cube on top because Sbrinz is a hard, crumbly cheese, which will crack in half if you try to stick a toothpick all the way through it.<br /></p><p>You can potentially use a different cheese -- indeed, a less-crumbly one might be easier to work with -- but I think for the flavor combination you can't beat Sbrinz.</p><p><b>Tortilla roll-ups</b></p><p>✅ Gluten, ❌ Dairy, ✅ Meat</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaU3vap7vWKM3o9Y9kP13FOfjbLQp0ivjltdUAyBB-yxma2OqvZoL-nFVSkdD64zhcBR5R6RA_np8qEq6jJObAil5BqKzuPXCZRS7Tohial7EQJX1Vwl0pI3o7ZWwYiFBZP37Sn_R72W-2e_oDbBU3Dbeo8uyaxJhy0mBolgijqOtb6PUTlG4/s4000/IMG_20220714_135218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaU3vap7vWKM3o9Y9kP13FOfjbLQp0ivjltdUAyBB-yxma2OqvZoL-nFVSkdD64zhcBR5R6RA_np8qEq6jJObAil5BqKzuPXCZRS7Tohial7EQJX1Vwl0pI3o7ZWwYiFBZP37Sn_R72W-2e_oDbBU3Dbeo8uyaxJhy0mBolgijqOtb6PUTlG4/s320/IMG_20220714_135218.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>These are quite easy to make, they can be made a bit in advance (earlier in the day), and they are surprisingly tasty.</p><p>Basically, I just take some soft, wheat tortillas and spread each one with some sauce. I found that (Thomy) Truffle dip works really well for this recipe, but there are lots of other possible sauces or condiments that would work as well.</p><p>Then, on each one, I put two slices of prosciutto across the middle and place some fresh lettuce.</p><p>Ideally the lettuce should be crispy and crinkly. For this party, I used lettuce that I grew in my garden.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNO7zzG1h26PE1rrGci4-491qrXh_zg9W7JguDd3bh8mklu5dXOBXH4qWxl4xNbBGU8tG55YmNBupOHA-es06Ovj7kWp7yhSOiL_ZBSdnjVG__DpQn_U40n9jnloRBlnAnd-UhJ0MoadT9_lEPVzdYnx4TaZyn6Ta7QQ7RU8dEhul5jNtInM/s4000/IMG_20220714_135047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNO7zzG1h26PE1rrGci4-491qrXh_zg9W7JguDd3bh8mklu5dXOBXH4qWxl4xNbBGU8tG55YmNBupOHA-es06Ovj7kWp7yhSOiL_ZBSdnjVG__DpQn_U40n9jnloRBlnAnd-UhJ0MoadT9_lEPVzdYnx4TaZyn6Ta7QQ7RU8dEhul5jNtInM/s320/IMG_20220714_135047.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>After placing the lettuce, fold one flap over the lettuce, but don't align the two edges (otherwise the inner lip will extend beyond the outer one when you roll it).</p><p>Then roll it into a somewhat-tight roll starting from the fold. Once it is rolled, insert 4 toothpicks to hold it closed, and slice it into 4 sections, as pictured above.</p><p>For presentation, naturally, it's nicest to stand up the segments on the plate:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-cp9FnNJoenj4XYA_k-JY8l_xCDuhpx3LYjPzAmV1M1SmtjZmTEbKfh0z7mbz_3lDGc-CJLlrerzVOhW_DGSTxbxRsusoZo8CS12AXXjVGyLVkcsbOIfWI5gijswTp_ByGJoATeH9v8_EcGihUkBiObtx60qqD-dLWTR4jEj8NhrNV99ZfE/s4000/IMG_20220714_202204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF-cp9FnNJoenj4XYA_k-JY8l_xCDuhpx3LYjPzAmV1M1SmtjZmTEbKfh0z7mbz_3lDGc-CJLlrerzVOhW_DGSTxbxRsusoZo8CS12AXXjVGyLVkcsbOIfWI5gijswTp_ByGJoATeH9v8_EcGihUkBiObtx60qqD-dLWTR4jEj8NhrNV99ZfE/s320/IMG_20220714_202204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>For the final category -- the one that combines all three restricted items -- I used a very unusual and imaginative recipe that I got from the Betty Bossi <i>"Apéro & Fingerfood"</i> cookbook, p. 20:</p><p><b>Cervelat-Tortellini-Spiessli</b></p><p>✅ Gluten, ✅ Dairy, ✅ Meat</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGHK4Pz_XLKC7MP-h-qsUliXfi7HmhMXs8et-d35YDA9lVioboN0s4Ir-kpTQojSSy-r1WUDlMJG7NlJUQgXkJZdrnWecZ8YlzA4wrLQIqLzH1-iBUojLkNH57HqVRKLnKrq-1O6t3eTvpzk_4QpH8s4xNwPg1iYyulVsN8nUc9VVJEdGnxk/s4000/IMG_20220714_144025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGHK4Pz_XLKC7MP-h-qsUliXfi7HmhMXs8et-d35YDA9lVioboN0s4Ir-kpTQojSSy-r1WUDlMJG7NlJUQgXkJZdrnWecZ8YlzA4wrLQIqLzH1-iBUojLkNH57HqVRKLnKrq-1O6t3eTvpzk_4QpH8s4xNwPg1iYyulVsN8nUc9VVJEdGnxk/s320/IMG_20220714_144025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This picture is from the preparation stage. The picture after it's cooked is below.<p></p><p>Here's how you make it:</p><p>Get a pack of 2 cervelats. If you do not have cervelat in your country, you might be able to substitute bratwurst or some other sausage, but I doubt it will be as good.</p><p>Peel the casing off the cervelats. In the picture in the cookbook they actually look like they're not peeled (though the instructions say to do it), but if you don't peel them, this snack is very difficult to eat (I made this mistake the first time I made this).</p><p>Take a package of fresh tortellini. In this party I used the recipe's recommended tortellini (filled with spinach and ricotta) -- which worked very well in terms of flavor combination. The cookbook seems to imply that other fresh pasta could be used in place of tortellini, but I tried it with ravioli, and the edges burned. Use tortellini.</p><p>Take 100 grams of Gruyère or Emmentaler and cut it into cubes, and slice the cervelats into rounds. The objective is to have essentially equal numbers of cheese cubes, tortellinis, and cervelat slices so that they can be stacked and attached (with a toothpick) as shown in the above image.</p><p>These can be prepared early in the day and stored in the fridge, and then they can be cooked after the guests arrive. Add some paprika and olive oil to each one and cook them for about 10 minutes in a 180C oven.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZxsI2JGbYTyYiJgd4OeiyZSIXUcOR2FVOeIBQdHY9u8cwvduIlmdgllkLXZDDm2OalpCXjGwVT1rnZW3BHR4VNF39GyIS-9Ks9CEF298Nq_8Vi4p2KcFwYOz6ozfRt2ReFKpRaOy8jlYUzyykbpq1WYRcezFjglET80IV2IFV3fYqDnT2js/s4000/IMG_20220714_201602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZxsI2JGbYTyYiJgd4OeiyZSIXUcOR2FVOeIBQdHY9u8cwvduIlmdgllkLXZDDm2OalpCXjGwVT1rnZW3BHR4VNF39GyIS-9Ks9CEF298Nq_8Vi4p2KcFwYOz6ozfRt2ReFKpRaOy8jlYUzyykbpq1WYRcezFjglET80IV2IFV3fYqDnT2js/s320/IMG_20220714_201602.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p>I unfortunately didn't get a good picture of these after they were cooked -- I guess I was busy throwing a party or something -- so my one photo kind of looks like those "nailed it" images of attempts to make beautiful foods found on Instagram. 😂😂😂</p><p>But another problem was that I used a somewhat larger/cheaper bag of tortellini, and most of the tortellini were kind of misshapen and didn't sit nicely on the cervelat slices.</p><p>The next time I make this recipe, I'll make sure to get the highest-quality fresh tortellini.<br /></p><p>And I will definitely make it again, because this always gets lots of compliments. It's very rich, though, so be sure to serve lighter fare alongside it, as I've done in this mathematically-optimised collection!</p><p>And I'll close with a couple of pictures of my garden (before I harvested the lettuce and basil and sage and mint (for the Hugos)), plus a photo of preparing for the party:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyLf9nGNqct4Fo3uO5c0K3QHBeH17C9xgKamFnwwzH8qSZaIdFtDSVKsahx74XJFOwV8lJowVIWQTS3RRxV6wBas-G5eGJgTSnvvYDYgSsVbWjdPYyTE_eY9j6qlHglWOESNTIJkmHAV7Zjx3EIAfTe1BeWdbAlQHeJas4URbX5yuMcdeap0/s4000/IMG_20220703_104534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyLf9nGNqct4Fo3uO5c0K3QHBeH17C9xgKamFnwwzH8qSZaIdFtDSVKsahx74XJFOwV8lJowVIWQTS3RRxV6wBas-G5eGJgTSnvvYDYgSsVbWjdPYyTE_eY9j6qlHglWOESNTIJkmHAV7Zjx3EIAfTe1BeWdbAlQHeJas4URbX5yuMcdeap0/s320/IMG_20220703_104534.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCkmLaGDAKK2gy8wk3Tq9YRSAUgDZOPZ73vDtg2MTiDVtecZy-LyWllO79ANAgdZbP_vvILoNh8VtjRaSqZ_6_OJ90PEEvJzNSIVFHcActg7ZF-ebKdpiFMk5Qq9Ts_RDk6K7IX3ioKeGybmZ4mWDeGQOwJmT3bQDKHO5Jq9_8HYWRrxE7m4/s4000/IMG_20220703_104918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCkmLaGDAKK2gy8wk3Tq9YRSAUgDZOPZ73vDtg2MTiDVtecZy-LyWllO79ANAgdZbP_vvILoNh8VtjRaSqZ_6_OJ90PEEvJzNSIVFHcActg7ZF-ebKdpiFMk5Qq9Ts_RDk6K7IX3ioKeGybmZ4mWDeGQOwJmT3bQDKHO5Jq9_8HYWRrxE7m4/s320/IMG_20220703_104918.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2pzFllfJPFD4Tw0nUC2Fk_C37OYM_cp1aG4WN-khTWLu-aeDyL-kXeN_beIzJzNVKWN6J6je_dHO6IZNuAXwYXCSqYY-BvlY9DntvdLdBc6hQZBA96jcI-B-3FVs0y2TOaFbe-lHQA_KBOxT_Fv8xb_ZNdiSiQsrLeARriKhhRVGo12-1Elo/s4000/IMG_20220703_105000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2pzFllfJPFD4Tw0nUC2Fk_C37OYM_cp1aG4WN-khTWLu-aeDyL-kXeN_beIzJzNVKWN6J6je_dHO6IZNuAXwYXCSqYY-BvlY9DntvdLdBc6hQZBA96jcI-B-3FVs0y2TOaFbe-lHQA_KBOxT_Fv8xb_ZNdiSiQsrLeARriKhhRVGo12-1Elo/s320/IMG_20220703_105000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqV0ejNZTXiPZlMLw9fpUc8Xt2O34LkN5O9NmqZFx4Bwk0Yl_sEfTjDY4UKnUbOkEPkGIYKWoyhhMuE2ZCWTb0VE4UrM9-xAwXmFqjA_rFiyRnYUZeLEGc086BU9FyhK-0z8adFMijk_x83vVy3lsC2kDQjIDjkVyWg6YaaXXVgaGwdg4y2Hs/s4000/IMG_20220714_171355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqV0ejNZTXiPZlMLw9fpUc8Xt2O34LkN5O9NmqZFx4Bwk0Yl_sEfTjDY4UKnUbOkEPkGIYKWoyhhMuE2ZCWTb0VE4UrM9-xAwXmFqjA_rFiyRnYUZeLEGc086BU9FyhK-0z8adFMijk_x83vVy3lsC2kDQjIDjkVyWg6YaaXXVgaGwdg4y2Hs/s320/IMG_20220714_171355.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>As you might have guessed, the party was a big success, and we'll be sure to be throwing more soon!!<br /><p><br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-47273335877102334482022-01-02T03:49:00.002-08:002022-12-21T00:19:36.856-08:00State of the Me: 2021-2022<p>This blog is essentially defunct, yet somehow I like to continue using it to keep track of my goals and aspirations from one year to the next...</p><p>As usual, I'll divide this into a few major categories: Job, Projects, and Family/Home.</p><p><b>Job</b></p><p>I've passed so many years in which my job has been a constant and massive source of stress that I hardly imagined I would ever get it into a good state. But, amazingly enough, I feel like I've finally settled into the job I want: (1) I'm working of a company that is entirely focused on combating climate change, and (2) I have an expert-level position with a lot of responsibility and corresponding autonomy.</p><p>Plus I'm really lucky to be reporting to someone who is great at both tech and management. As I've said before, the #1 factor that distinguishes a fantastic job from a living hell is your immediate supervisor -- and my current supervisor is one of the best (if not the very best) I've had.<br /></p><p>I am currently working as a DevOps Engineer and Cloud Administrator with a major focus on Kubernetes. After working in every part of IT, I feel like this is the part of the stack where I most want to be: helping multiple teams get their projects deployed and keeping everything running smoothly.</p><p>The Kubernetes certification I worked hard on last year was hugely stressful but it has really paid off: I feel like I know Kubernetes well, I know how to get it to do what I want, and I enjoy working with it. And now in the spring I'll be giving a couple of workshops on it for the women-in-tech club I'm in.</p><p>If things continue to go well, I could absolutely see myself staying with this job for the rest of my career. It has been less than a year so far, though, so I don't want to speak too soon.</p><p><b>Family/Home</b></p><p>This has been a pretty good year for my little family. Léo passed the Bac, so we're done with school. Nico and Léo have both moved on to an institute where they're studying video game programming -- which is nice because now they can focus on what they want to do and are good at.</p><p>The other bit of good news is that our Swiss citizenship is in the final stages of being secured. Nico has already gotten a letter confirming that he is now Swiss (his application was processed separately as he was already over 18 when we started this process), and the rest of us are almost there.</p><p>Personally I have been spending time trying to learn Swiss German, but it's tough going. It is weirdly difficult to find the one simple best thing I've found for learning a language: a series of audio dialogs with a transcription and translation into some other language that I understand.</p><p>The boys have their own projects that they're working on: stories, video games (developing as well as playing), and video story series (for private home screening only, so far). Nico even organized a new Halloween tradition for us -- having each person tell a scary story -- and the first iteration of it went great!<br /></p><p>All of the isolation surrounding Covid has been a breeze for us -- we've been so happy in our little pod watching films together, playing games, and traveling when possible. I almost worry that we're too comfortable in our isolation, but I think it's better than the alternative in which we're dying to get away from each other.</p><p>And, unfortunately, we're still drowning in clutter. I've marked all of the days of the cargo tram and electro tram on my calendar, though (this is the opportunity to dispose of large objects), and I've set a goal to try to dispose of at least a bag or two of the long-term clutter every week this year. <br /></p><p><b>Projects</b></p><p>The third section of book 1of my comic book is still not done!! But it's close. I basically just need to draw some fantasy machinery and wrap up a little more than a page. Then I want to clean everything up and make a proper publisher-pitch-portfolio for it. <br /></p><p>I don't want to rush this (as much as it sounds crazy to say that after all of the years this has taken), but I would like to be sure that -- if and when this gets picked up by a publisher -- I would be in a position to focus on this project and get the other two books done.</p><p>Regarding other projects, I worked on a mini-project of writing a python program that would generate music in XML format to be played by the linux program lmms. I think it turned out pretty well, but could have been better -- in part because the free instruments that are included with lmms are not that great. I might try to search for more instruments for it online.</p><p>Otherwise, I'm leaning towards maybe taking some online courses on using software for drawing, animations, and music. Naturally, I only want to use tools that save projects in a parsable, text-based format (like xml or json) so I can do my own custom manipulations, but it's likely that I can make more progress if I don't always assume that I have to program all of my tools myself from scratch.</p><p>Of course the project I'm most excited about is -- a new comic book script! I honed the idea for it during our pleasant family weekend in Scuol, and I finished writing it last week. It's not related to my current comic book, so I lean towards using what I learned from drawing my current comic book to try to start from the beginning with better tools and improve my style. I think this new one might work better distributed online rather than through a publisher, and I'm really pleased with it, so I'm looking forward to drawing it when I have time.</p><p>Also, Main Street Plaza is alive again. We're actually doing the <a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/2021/12/30/last-call-for-nominations-x-mooty-brodies/">Brodie Awards</a> again, which is cool. I find it increasingly challenging to write about Mormonism, though. This is for two main reasons:</p><p>Firstly, while it was great fun working on Main Street Plaza while it was relatively popular, it was also a huge amount of work to build up even a small amount of interest, community, and name recognition. Blogging about Mormonism was basically my main hobby for about a decade, and -- while I did get some traction (I'm pleased with some personal essays I got published in a book and a magazine) -- it never really took off to the point of being properly famous even in the tiny pond of online discussion of Mormonism. It's exhausting just thinking about it.</p><p>I feel like I've said essentially all I have to say about Mormonism. I came up with <a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/2017/09/18/what-does-the-cojcol-ds-offer-me-the-wrap-up/">some really good analysis</a> of various aspects of the religion and culture -- and I tossed it into the grand chasm of the Internet where it was read a bit and then forgotten...<br /></p><p>Secondly, I've lost patience with Mormonism. And, yes, <a href="https://mainstreetplaza.com/2021/07/25/should-i-respect-the-way-the-church-wants-to-identify/">I will continue to call it "Mormonism" rather than whatever euphemism the current CoJCoL-dS would prefer us to use</a>, because this movement is bigger than and not wholly owned by the corporation of the president. (Also because they didn't even try to provide a workable alternative.)</p><p>Anyway, about my patience, or loss thereof. Over the years that I was writing about Mormonism, I actually had a rather upbeat attitude to the whole thing despite being a non-believer. I felt like it was actually kind of cool to have been a part of this unique movement. And, even more, I felt like the church was more of an obstacle that I'd climbed over -- getting stronger in the process. So I saw it as, on balance, something interesting that we learned from and gained wisdom to pass along to our community.</p><p>Now, for reasons I can't state on a public blog, I feel like a key part of that progress and good will has been erased, at least for me. And it makes me feel sad and tired. I'm glad there are people still talking about it and helping the people who are currently hurting from their connection to Mormonism, whatever it may be. But one can hardly blame me for feeling more drawn to the positive items on the list above.</p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p>On balance, I'm making slow but steady progress in the direction I'd like to go. I hope to have many years ahead in which to accomplish my goals -- and I plan to enjoy those years along the way with my one true love and our two adorable sons.<br /></p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-39572394836186213942020-12-25T21:30:00.000-08:002020-12-25T21:30:46.883-08:00State of the Me: 2020-2021<p>Hello 2021! I've got to admit it's getting better... but I'm not quite where I want to be just yet.</p><p>Let's start with my career since that's the facet of my life I've focused the most effort on lately. </p><p>In August, I passed my Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam. I'm proud of this accomplishment because I haven't taken a timed exam this difficult since graduate school, so I was stepping outside of my comfort zone a bit. But I worked hard at preparing myself, and it was a lot of stress, but I succeeded.</p><p>It turns out that I was absolutely right to prioritize passing this exam. Engineers with this certification are the hottest, most sought-after group in IT at the moment. Kubernetes is already on its way to becoming the industry standard for running software in the cloud -- so every company wants to move in that direction. But it's so new that very few people have any significant experience with it. Hence this certification takes the place of years of experience when finding professionals with real Kubernetes expertise.</p><p>Armed with this credential, I finally landed a new job back in the climate change / carbon reduction sector! I'll be starting on the first of February. Everything about it seems to align perfectly with what I've been looking for in a job, in terms of the type of company it is and the types of projects. I'll even be back to working at Zürich's startup central -- Technopark -- which should be fun!</p><p>I just hesitate to take a victory lap before I've gotten a chance to see how it will go. When I accepted my current job (the one I'm leaving), I figured it would be less stressful than my last one since the management and business strategy are someone else's problem. Management can do any crazy thing they want -- as long as I can carve out a comfortable little niche for myself, I'm fine. Yet somehow I wasn't quite able to do even that, for various reasons that I will analyze at length once I have the luxury of viewing it in hindsight.</p><p>So, yeah, another year, another job. I guess that's the worry -- if I couldn't make things work out the way I wanted in these last two jobs, will I ever succeed? OTOH, I have high hopes that this time I've triangulated in on the job I had wanted from the beginning, one where I can do work that I'm proud of and feel good about. To be really useful, as all the good little engines want to be.</p><p>Then, of course, since all of these career challenges have eaten up all of my attention and more over the past few years, I still haven't been able to get where I want to be with my creative projects. My comic book was supposed to be done by the first half of 2020, and it's still not done. I'm happy with the parts I did this year, but the process is just too slow. I think I can speed it up by addressing some technological challenges. (My tablet is too small and has some problems with responsiveness.)</p><p>I think if I can just get to the point where I'm not constantly stressing out about my job, then I can finally enjoy working on my comic book and get energized about some fun, new creative projects that I'd really like to get to work on. And if that succeeds, maybe I'll even have some time to declutter my apartment.</p><p>Regarding the world at large, I'm happy that Trump will finally be leaving the White House. As I've said before, I don't agree with the people who said that voting him out is the "right" way to get him out -- he should have been impeached and convicted within the first year of his presidency. Whether the president is above the law is not a question that should be up for popular vote (or some weirdly-derived subset of the popular vote). If the US system can't eject a president for constantly and openly breaking the law, then the system is broken. But this band-aid is better than nothing. The bare last line of defense has held firm against the deadly march of fascism -- when there was no guarantee that it would. Hopefully this victory will help turn the tide and encourage the people to make serious changes and fix things for real.</p><p>In my own little family, things are basically on track. The four of us are closer than perhaps we've ever been. Now that the kids are adults, or nearly, we can share ideas and have conversations where we're on essentially the same level. Nico is doing well in his game development studies, and Léo is planning to apply to go to the same school as Nico next fall. Hopefully by then they'll be able to attend their classes in person and have more opportunity to meet other people their own age, but I think it has actually been helpful for Nico to start his studies without the extra pressure of socializing.</p><p>And we're all on track to become citizens of Switzerland soon!</p><p>So I guess I don't have a lot to complain about this time. It's good to take the time to write it all down and remind myself of the big picture while I'm stuck sitting around the house feeing annoyed about getting older (and all that entails) as I approach 50. But I'm far from done with what I plan to do in life -- and if I've succeeded in getting my career back on track and if I can finally dig into my creative projects productively in 2021, I do believe I'll be OK.</p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19053670.post-37055536254025216902020-11-08T02:52:00.004-08:002020-11-08T03:46:05.491-08:00Through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched...<p>Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I spontaneously felt like singing that song.</p><p>Sure, I've sung the song before, but had never felt any connection with it. It's a war song about fighting for a symbol, and all too often fighting for the symbol itself means fighting against the principles the symbol is supposed to represent.</p><p>Like when I was a teenager and people tried to deface the US Constitution with an ironic amendment to ban burning the flag. Or more recently as fascism has come marching in, dripping in stars and stripes.</p><p>But after we'd held our collective breath waiting for the results to come in, I felt I could see the last shreds of democracy still waving gallantly in the dawn's early light.</p><p>Democracy. It's such an easy thing to lose. When a president can openly line his pockets with foreign contributions and face no consequences. When he can brag about breaking the law, and the government is unable to remove him from office for it. When he can shrug at the murder of a journalist for a US newspaper. And then openly plan to use a stacked court in order to overturn an election. That's all it takes. That's all it takes to go from a government of the people to a government of the people <i>in name only</i>.</p><p>Naturally this victory doesn't mark the end of our problems, rather the beginning of a long, hard process of making things better. It's the foot shoved into the door of democracy that a would-be dictator and his cronies were trying to slam shut for good. And now it will take tremendous strength and perseverance to pry the door open.</p><p>The Unites States of America is a country built on conflicting foundations. One foundation is made of the enlightenment ideals of liberty, justice, and universal human rights. The other part is built on the polar opposite of those values: slavery and genocide. These two motifs have continued to shape the country throughout its history. Naturally I hope the good will one day defeat the evil. And, although I guess we can't be certain to have defeated the current threat until January 19th, I think we've taken a small but critical step in the right direction.</p><p>I'm especially happy for the young Americans coming of age at this moment in history. They might have learned the lesson that there is no hope; that they simply live in a country where the president is above the law and journalists mysteriously disappear -- so they might as well give up and just try to scrape by as best they can as individuals. Instead they learned that they can work together and push back -- and they can keep pushing farther, towards liberty and justice for all.</p>C. L. Hansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698855413639518095noreply@blogger.com0