Sunday, January 06, 2013

Sunday morning breakfast links

Photo upload problems with Blogger remain this morning --- a "known issue" that developed Friday for some of us who use Internet Explorer and hasn't been resolved yet. Even in the digital world, the advice is the same: Don't have a crisis on Friday because no one's going to be that interested in fixing it until Monday. So it seems like a good day to go elsewhere for something to look at and listen to.

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Sac City's Early Mansion. (Still having upload problems, but figured out another (and clumsy) way to accomplish the job.)

I'm an old house junkie, so have been enjoying the photos of Sac City's Early Mansion (Carlson House), available on a Facebook page here. Click on the "Photos" icon to take a look. You'll find a recent Sioux City Journal article about the home's restoration here.

Now 137 years old, the grand Second Empire/Italianate structure is one of Iowa's iconic houses, appearing on nearly every list of the state's architecturally significant structures. But it had fallen on hard times until its rescue four years ago by Paul Smalley, a Portland, Oregon, native. As sometimes happens, Smalley and his husband, Christian, were just driving through Sac City on the way to visit family in Greene County when they spotted the house --- and a "for sale" sign.

Smalley reports that he purchased the house "for the price of a new SUV" and so far has invested about $200,000 --- and countless hours --- in its still-incomplete restoration.

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The best scrambled eggs I've ever eaten were served up during a breakfast for Russell High School seniors by home economics instructor Alice MacDonald in the home ec room during the spring of 1964. Why the heck didn't I get her recipe? Tasty, moist yet well done, glistening --- I can taste them now.

Unfortunately, I've never been any good at matching them, so one day this week I'm going to try Josh Kilmer-Purcell's method --- which you can read about here. According to Kilmer-Purcell, less-is-more is the key. We'll see.

Kilmer-Purcell is half of the dynamic "Fabulous Beekman Boys," so-called because of the big house and small farm called Beekman purchased some years ago in upstate New York that now is their life's work. The other half is Brent Ridge. They recently won $1 million in "Amazing Race" competition and plan to marry after 15 years together in the spring. The recipe is found on their flagship Web site, "Beekman 1802."

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My old friends Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, of Mason City, among others, were featured last week during an Iowa Public Radio "Talk of Iowa" feature about same-sex couples in Iowa. You can still listen in by going here. It's rather long, but Dean and Gary are featured during the final 20 minutes.

You also can see photographs from their May 2009 "Big Fat Gay Wedding" at Music Man Square in Mason City by going here. One of the sorrows of my life is the fact I missed the big event. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of moving from one end of the state to the other at the time, and ended in the wrong end of the state at the appointed time.

One of the first tasks undertaken by Dean and Gary after moving to North Iowa years ago was organizing what remains one of the state's premiere chapters of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). They have since been active in bringing about every positive development affecting our LGBT community.

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Finally, if you need to get your blood circulating this Sunday morning, don't forget Michael Libbie's "Sunday Morning Coffee." I see he still hasn't posted (as of 6 a.m.) this week's installment. But it will be there shortly. And have a great day!

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