10 very small apples
1 large orange stuck with whole cloves
10 teaspoons brown sugar
2 bottles dry sherry or dry Madeira
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cloves
3 allspice berries
2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
2 cups castor sugar
12 to 20 pints of cider according to the number of guests
1 cup (or as much as you like) brandy

Core the apples and fill each with a teaspoon of brown sugar. Place in a baking pan and cover the bottom with 1/8-inch of water.

Insert cloves into the orange about 1/2" apart.
Bake the orange with the apples in a 350° oven.
After about 30 minutes, remove the orange and puncture it in several places with a fork or an ice pick.

Combine the sherry or Madeira, cider, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon, sugar, apple and orange juice and water in a large, heavy saucepan and heat slowly without letting the mixture come to a boil.
Leave on very low heat.
Strain the wine mixture and add the brandy.

Pour into a metal punch bowl, float the apples and orange on top and ladle hot into punch cups.

Makes enough for 15-20 people

Woo-hoo! If that doesn't warm you up, then you probably need to check into the nearsest morgue post haste. I'm making a much smaller batch to have after my Yule ritual at sundown this evening while I toast my toes before the fire and count my many blessings. And I wish you all an equally jolly Yule filled with family and love. Blessed be!

I've heard a lot recently about renewable resources, recycling, conservation--in short, "going green". What really cracks me up is that everyone seems to treat the subject as if it's some bright new shiny idea or something. Uh, hello......that's one of those "crazy" ideas all the much-maligned hippies, tree huggers and eco-freaks were trying to promote lo these many years ago back in the 60s and 70s. And they were sneered at as weirdos and written off as soon as the oil cartels of the mid 70s broke down and gasoline prices dropped. The "energy crisis" was declared over and Americans got back down to doing what they do best: buying more stuff and driving bigger vehicles. Woo-hoo, let's hear it for capitalism.

So here we are, stuck with SUVs the size of tiger tanks and gas prices over $4 per gallon, and all those eco nut cases are beginning to take on the air of a modern day Cassandra (the prophetess in Greek mythology who was doomed to always be right but never believed....until it was too late). Now all of a sudden teensy little hybrids cars are in such demand there are waiting lists to (over) pay for them. Big Oil is making commercials that promise  "Gee folks, we REALLY are putting oodles of dough into solar, wind and geothermal energy development, just be patient a while longer, so we can figure out how to properly monopolize them". Number one: is 30 freakin' years enough? I mean, think of where we would be now if the USA had led the charge into alternative energy back when the first alarm bells were sounded. Number two: the one thing that Americans hate is being told they must cut back on anything. We HATE to conserve. Left to ourselves we would use, spend, buy, and eat like drunken sailors.

I have to say, however, that attitudes are ever so slowly coming around to a more rational approach. All it took was the price of fuel to skyrocket over the magical 4 dollar mark. It's good to see stepped up recycling programs for everything from plastic bottles to cell phones. I'm glad that so many animal species like the Mexican gray wolf, the California condor and the bald eagle have been saved from the brink of extinction and even reintroduced into the wild. This is a good thing. But I keep asking myself: is it too little, too late? And here's the really big question, the one question no one is asking, the one I am most assuredly going to be skewered over: why in the hell aren't we taking steps to lower human population? Because let's face it, THAT is at the heart of all the ecology problems we are now facing: there are simply too many of us. 6 BILLION and growing. And now all the developing nations want all the goodies the US and all the other industrial nations have been taking for granted, and rightly so. Why should they not want central AC, running water, good roads and vehicles to drive on them. Not to mention cell phones, TV, and Internet access.

Here is an ugly truth. When the Black Death ravaged Europe in the 14th century, nearly a third of the population was wiped out in little more than a year. And as horrific as that was, the truth is that life for those who survived improved immensely. Because of labor shortages, wages rose  and created the first faint stirrings of what we call the middle class today. Since there were fewer mouths to feed, food was more abundant and people became healthier and life span increased while infant mortality decreased. Fewer people mean the whole group lives better in higher standards of living.

OK, I am certainly NOT advocating mass murder or genocide or even the very scary radical tactics used by China to reign in their billion-plus population. But what the heck is wrong with making part of "living green" a serious commitment to having no more than two children. Or even making it socially OK to have one or even none. To adopt or foster children to meet the need to nurture. Granted this is unlikely because: a) People seem to have this overwhelming urge to add their "special" genes to the pool (never asking whether or not they should  be added) and b)  our economy has been built on having a ready supply of cheap labor. But when will we see this as a sort of Ponzi scheme that is allowing us to live high off the hog at the expense of our descendants? That the concept of some sort of "steady state" economy as opposed to one being based on *GROWTH*  needs to be developed?

The truth is, no matter how much we conserve and cut back, it won't matter one bit if we don't roll back the human population. We will still use up and destroy faster than the Earth can heal. And folks, there is nowhere else to go. I think living lightly on the planet is great and only makes sense. Living green isn't just a cool "now" sort thing, it is the only moral way to live. But, I wonder if we are ready to follow that concept all the way. And, will it be in time? File this one under "things to ponder". Blessed be one and all.

Nothing much shaking on my end of the space-time continuum these days. I start training at my new job on Monday, which has left me with the very conflicted emotions of "hey that's really cool and I'm all raring to go" and "oh crap, I dread going back to the dreary grind". Of course, the desire for food and living indoors under the blessings of central AC will win out, but still, why waste the opportunity for a good whine.  But I still have the weekend to laze around and hang out by the pool half the day. I have been reading a book my Mum sent me for my birthday called "The Time Traveler's Wife" and it's perfect pool reading material: a rather unusual romance about a man who jumps forward in time at random intervals and his relationship with the woman who loves him. Talk about your long-distance romances! It's rather like the marriages between old time sailors and their wives; a whole lot of waiting around for hubby to return. I really enjoy it so far; I'll update later.

Anyway, I'm still puttering around with various home projects. I have started growing some herbs in pots indoors; it's just too bloody hot outside, even in the shade on the patio. I've got some oregano, cilantro, basil, rosemary and cayenne peppers so far. I'm looking forward to cooking with them. Well, maybe not the cooking part, but most definitely the eating part for sure. I have been doing some grilling and trying out new marinades nd rubs for chicken and pork ribs and such. I found that I can cook up a big batch of chicken thighs or chops or burgers and freeze some for later when I'm too whacked to cook. I've also found that I'm getting picky about stuff I eat: fast food and pre-packaged crap is not only too damn expensive, it tastes like cardboard at best and cat-box droppings  mostly. Not that my own cooking is that great. If some one were to cook for  me I would be in heaven, but Ginger absolutely refuses to do anything remotely resembling work, the little diva. And since my Mum lives in Kansas with my sister and would rather be staked over an anthill than cook anyway, I guess what I need is a wife, ha ha! I've had  a husband, not to mention numerous informal liaisons, and I'm here to tell you, as far as cooking and housework goes:  forget about it! Utterly worthless. So I need a wife. But I guess that's not happening, so I'm stuck fending for myself.

But still, I find doing some small project gives a certain satisfaction that is hard to quantify. I reorganized some shelves with CDs and DVDs and dusted and weeded out my collection of audio/visual goodies and set aside a fair amount for donation or trade. That was so much fun, I did a book shelf too. OK, so three shelves isn't much, but it sure felt good. Looks a lot less cluttered too. And I find I'm beginning to hate clutter: clutter means more dusting, dammit! Minimalism is my new mantra. Less clutter, less mess, less STUFF. Goddess, am I sounding like an old fuddy or what?   I find I prefer gifts that involve services or practical things like a gift card to Lowes and the like. It's official. I have well and truly entered, well, maybe not my dotage, but at least a rather cranky and settled third quarter-century.   Oh, dear....I have turned into my parents! SIGH!