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Don't know much about this. A friend got me some bud wood after describing a Hass seedling planted by a friend. The tree is now 10 years old and bears heavily, large pound size fruit, with Hass like taste. I don't even have a picture but this friend is a reliable source of information. If I'm not mistaken it matures around March in California.
I Just hope one of these seedlings may like our So. Florida weather. I have top worked a tree in the grove on February 14. I also I have a back up in 3 gal. which seems to be doing well. In 3 years we may have a fruit to taste. In the mean time we'll see how it likes it here.
May 18, 2013. Top worked tree is doing well, also 2 potted grafts doing well.
November 1, 2013: The tree survived the heat and rain this summer. Seems to be growing well.
December 31, 2013: The tree is looking good, building flower buds. See today's pictures. Curiously this tree is ahead of the Hass in the Flowering process.
February 27, 2014: Expanding inflorescence, should have open flowers in 3-4 days ans we will see flower type. The tree is only one year post grafting. The top of the tree has no flowers because I pruned it a few months ago and is just pushing vegetation with force. Some location on the side only pushing vegetation. Typical first year, with some luck we could see fruit.
April 4, 2014: I see a couple of very small fruit. Let's hope they set and grow. Does not seem likely.
November 8, 2014: Seems like the few fruit it set still is hanging in, a little larger than Hass. Not sure when to pick this. In Cal. the fruit stays in the tree over 12 months. I don't know if it would do that here.
December 26, 2014: Picked one of the two fruit on the tree. They seemed to be getting dull. It came in at 8.5 oz. Nice size for a Hass growing in Florida. Let see how it ripens.
January 13, 2015: The two fruits did not ripened properly. The tree is building flower buds will give it one more year.
February 3, 2015: The tree has a few open flowers.
March 3, 2015: Has a lot of open flowers seems to be going slow at it. I see fruit set in the top flowers.
May 21, 2015: The tree has set quite a bit of fruit and its growing it well, seem to be ahead than regular Hass. No fruit drop.
June 14, 2015: The tree is holding the fruit well, good fruit set for its second flowering. Seems to be earlier than Hass sightly bigger.
September 19, 2015: The fruit does not seem to be growing a lot from the observation in June. Rare, because the heat is up and has rained a lot in the last 6 weeks. Some fruit is small others larger....Dwarfism ? Like Hass?
October 18, 2015: A lot of small fruit has dropped. What is in the tree seem to be growing very little. I picked the fruit in today's picture, came in at 7.8 oz this is like a larger supermarket Hass. It does have larger fruit than my regular Hass, but the Hass is more prolific.
October 26, 2015: The fruit picked did not ripen well, typical problems of small Guatemalan fruit in this area. All sorts of flesh deterioration, uneven ripening, watery, sub cutaneous watery spots or rot. Reminds me of the Florida Hass problems, See today's pictures.
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The idea of Wign is inspired from a post by Kenneth Andersen in a blog of Danish Deaf Youth Association (DDU). Wign is a is about a sign language encyclopedia (not to be confused with dictionary!), which everyone can contribute and share with signs for rarely used terms. A social danish sign language platform very alike Wikipedia.
The milestones for the process is at our To-do.
The project was run by DDU and 12K, but failed due to complicated setup and communication issues with the website provider. Now we releases the code behind the project open source and collaboration-based, as Wign self.
The project is run by Wign IVS, to contribute to a richer sign language sharing among us danish deaf.
It always surprised me to find that some of the cops I worked with did not wear body armor, aka bullet proof vests, while on duty. One of my good friends was recalcitrant in wearing his armor. It was not a cost issue, the police department provided perfectly serviceable armor for free. He claimed it was uncomfortable, too hot, and “if it was his time, body armor wasn’t going to help.” The last excuse was the one I scratched my head about. Tying your risk of injury or death to fate, with no reasonable interventions, seems fatalistic and foolish. As to his other complaints, those are rubbish as well.
Let’s take a look at some of the body armor available and why it makes sense to use it. Security Pro offers both external carriers and concealable body armor. External carriers are designed to be worn over your clothing, with no concern for concealment. The world can see you are wearing armor. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. If you are in a permissive environment, where body armor is desired, and not shocking to those around you, I would encourage the use of an external carrier. A product, such as GH Armor Tactical Outer Carrier, for example, allows you to add the ballistic panels that best address your suspect threat. These are great for Law Enforcement, high visibility operations, such as warrant service, and the like. You can add both soft panels and hard panels to the carrier for protection that will stop even rifle rounds. The pockets allow for equipment such as handcuffs, non-lethal tools like pepper spray, and the all-important pen and notebook.
Concealable vests, while they are not as convenient as the external, tactical outer carrier, are actually more functional in many cases. Many police agencies still insist their officers wear concealable body armor so as to not worry the citizens or give the wrong impression. In this day and age, how cops appear to the public is an important part of the general perception of their effectiveness. For that reason, concealable body armor makes sense. Officers can still appear friendly, and approachable, without making the neighborhoods feel like a war zone, and still have excellent ballistic threat protection. Personally, I always wanted the best body armor available. For that I look to level IIIA armor. Quality body armor is tested and rated by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). If you are looking at body armor, and it is not rated by NIJ look elsewhere. There is no guarantee of its abilities or protection level unless it’s tested and certified by NIJ. One of the stand out products offered by Security Pro is their SecPro T-Armor Concealable Vest. Here is a vest which you can wear all day, under your uniform, in comfort. The level of protection runs from level II to IIIA, which is rated to stop handgun rounds all the way up to the .44 magnum, which is an impressive feat for something concealable, comfortable and all-day wearable. While lower levels are available, I personally always opt for the most protection I can afford. The price difference is negligible and I think my life is worth the extra cost.
But what about civilians? Is there a need for the average citizen to own and use body armor? I think the answer is a clear “yes”. I see more and more citizens moving to concealed carry as a means of protection. I support the lawful use and carriage of guns by private citizens. I also feel that if someone carries a gun, for fear of a gunfight, they should also consider using a concealable vest as additional insurance. Take for example, the jeweler who got a concealed carry permit because they transport expensive gems from shop to shop. If they are in a neighborhood, with a high crime rate and a significant probability of robbery or armed assault, they should strongly consider a concealable body armor vest for such errands. An excellent example of such a vest is the SecPro CVIIIA Concealable Vest. Because of the Velcro side release, this vest is easy to don and remove by simply loosening one side of the Velcro, slipping it over the head, then fastening the Velcro. A jacket, light sweater, or even a tee shirt will now conceal the vest while you go about your tasks. This vest is also rated to stop .44 magnum rounds. It offers excellent protection and the price is very affordable.
How does one become a truly good person?
None of these questions Dallas Willard posed in his life are about the “most sacred contemporary idol, feelings.” It is about the realm of knowledge. Knowledge was what Dallas was after.
Business Tianjin Magazine - News Noetic & Untitled Black. Nov 7. Buy tickets!
Noetic & Untitled Black. Nov 7. Buy tickets!
Multiple award winning and constantly topical Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui created Noetic, along with a distinguished team comprising sculptor Antony Gormley, fashion designer duo Les Hommes, and composer Szymon Brzóska.
The creation explores man's instinctive need to structure every detail of our existence, and our longing to break free of the rules and discover what lies beyond them. With at times mechanical, at times flowing, classical movements, the dancers construct, change and deconstruct reality.
Untitled Black by Sharon Eyal/Gai Behar is pure, multi-layered, emotional choreography. Through its atmospheric and futuristic movement, embedded in a structure of strong composition, it takes us into a fantastic parallel universe. Live music by DJ Ori Lichtik plays an important role. Untitled Black has been created specifically for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and eight dancers from Batsheva Dance Company.
Hoop earrings are a jewelry wardrobe staple, and every woman should have at least one terrific pair in her jewelry box. While there’s no single hoop design that’s right for every occasion, I want to show you a few that I love – each one is great for wherever you’re headed next!
When you need to communicate success, when every aspect of your appearance is under scrutiny, when you have to look pulled together without drawing too much attention to yourself, simple hoop earrings in 14 karat yellow gold will do the trick.
The new “hot profile” of big, open hoops, here with a flash of color in open hoops from Judith Jack.
Whether your plans include must-do errands or a beachfront lunch with friends, our colorful hoops will fit the mood. We stock them in several juicy summer colors, to complement your every outfit.
Opening night or a charity gala — our in-and-out hoops in diamond or silver and CZ make an entrance.
No matter what the occasion or outfit, choose from our vast selection and feel confident that you are getting the best quality for your dollar. Now, doesn’t that make sense?
The Broadway musicals of Cole Porter – from “Kiss Me Kate” and “Anything Goes” to “Silk Stockings” and “Can Can” – set the standards of style and wit to which today’s composers and lyricists aspire. He also penned some of the cleverest, funniest, and most romantic songs ever written.
In The songs of Cole Porter, Dominic gives a fascinating insight into Porter’s turbulent life and performs many of his most enduring songs.
The playwright, songwriter and actor Noël Coward personified English elegance and wit.
The versatile French composer Michel Legrand has produced an impressively broad range of music in his long and illustrious career, ranging from film soundtracks and French 'chansons' to jazz and classical music.
When Jerome Kern died in 1945, America lost one of its greatest and most beloved composers.
The songs of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart have long been favourites of cabaret singers and jazz artists.
Sven-Ivan Mella, who grows shiitake mushrooms in a disused office in an iron ore mine in Kiruna, Sweden, harvests fresh fungi off a log of alder wood. I visited the mine in May 2007.
© 2016 text and photos, except where noted. All rights reserved.
Reading “Deep Down Dark,” about the rescue of the 33 miners in the Chilean desert in 2010 (see August 29 post), got me thinking about the mines that I’ve visited on my travels, one in particular.
In May 2007, I flew from Stockholm to Kiruna, Sweden, to visit the LKAB mine, the largest underground iron ore mine in the world. It’s owned by the Swedish government. Much of the Kiruna mine’s high-grade processed iron ore is used in steelmaking, and is exported to markets in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
In reality, the Swedish and Chilean mines don’t have much in common other than the obvious: They both are sources of a metal. In the San José Mine in the Atacama desert, copper and some gold were extracted. The San José Mine has been closed since the 33 miners were rescued and it is unlikely to ever open again.
The LKAB mine in far north Sweden has a good safety record and it’s expected to continue producing for several more decades.
My trip to Sweden started with several days spent visiting friends who live in a Stockholm suburb. But when I planned my itinerary, I knew I also wanted to go north, about 90 miles above the Arctic Circle, to see the area that is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Sami people, to check out the mine and learn more about why the central section of Kiruna was being relocated.
This two-week trip also included several days on the gorgeous island of Gotland, to walk along the medieval walls that encompass Visby, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and undertake a lengthy self-guided ramble.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where I worked at the time, ran my extensive stories and photos in the June 17, 2007, Travel section.
When I arrived, spring hadn’t, as the temperature was hovering in the 30s during the day and snow was scattered on the ground in many places. The sun did eventually come out, but not for long, and I remember more overcast sky and cold than anything approaching a change of season.
There is an official LKAB mine tour, which can be booked through Kiruna’s tourism office. But I sought out a more informal, three-hour one, led by a retired electrician and software writer, Sven-Ivan Mella, who had worked at the mine for decades. I’d come across his name in several guidebooks, noting that his current specialty was growing shiitake mushrooms in a disused office in the mine.
He picked me up at my hotel in a minivan and provided a lot of background information about Kiruna, the Sami, and the mine’s founding before we actually drove in.
At the time of my visit, the mine had 248 miles of paved road. That number has likely increased as the downward digging into the magnetite ore has continued.
The company’s website says the Kiruna “ore body” is about 2.5 miles long and about 1.25 miles deep. More than 1 billion tons have been mined since the late 19th century. Twenty-first century drilling has reached a level of about 4,478 feet, and LKAB officials expect the ore body to hold out for another 20 to 30 years of excavation.
Not surprisingly, the roads in the mine were pitch black. The only illumination was the reflectors on the walls, and vehicle headlights. Fresh water is brought in via pipes, air is circulated by fans, and cables run for miles allowing all interior functions to be executed from banks of computers in state-of-the-art control rooms.
Mella drove me to what looked like a workshop, where an enormous three-hole borer took up a great deal of space — and dwarfed everything around it. I even had a chance to climb into the cab and have Mella snap a photo of me in a white hard hat, with my hands on the controls. He said that this machine, too, was run by remote control, though a driver positioned it before someone pushing buttons from a distance took over.
So how did the idea of growing shiitake mushrooms in the mine blossom?
In 1988, Mella was part of a group at a symposium in Takikawa, Japan, on the island of Hokkaido. The topic of discussion was how LKAB and Kiruna’s workers had dealt with a round of wide-ranging job loss.
His hosts showed Mella their shiitake mushroom farm, and a scheme was born.
Back in Kiruna, it didn’t take much to persuade mine officials that a shiitake farm could be a success. Darkness: check. Water source: check. Surplus manpower: check. Secure the necessary start-up components: check.
Using alder wood from a Finnish source, spawn and technical advice, Mella was on his way. In about six months he had his first crop, and at one point was harvesting more than 220 pounds of mushrooms a week.
He said one of his proudest moments was having his shiitakes served as part of the 1992 Nobel Prize banquet in Stockholm.
Since my visit, Kiruna’s railway has been rerouted and a new main sewer line is now operating. New apartment construction is under way, with some families already in residence.
In 2001, Kiruna’s church was voted as Sweden’s most beautiful building. The red wooden exterior is in stark contrast to the overcast sky in May 2007 . The architect was Gustav Wickman. Completed in 1912, it was donated to the people of Kiruna by LKAB Mining.
Over the next 20 years, about 6,000 people in Kiruna (current population is about 23,000) will relocate as a total of 3,000 new housing units are constructed, in addition to a commercial center and new public buildings. Historic buildings, such as the church that resembles a Sami hut and which dates to 1912, will be disassembled and reconstructed.
The target date for completion is 2035.
Souvenir iron ore pellets from the mine in Kiruna are smaller than the average marble.
I came away from Kiruna with three unusual souvenirs: 3.5 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, a recipe for cream of shiitake mushroom soup and seven gray-blue pellets of iron ore. My friends and I enjoyed the soup on my last night with them in Stockholm.
The pellets sit in a small porcelain dish I bought at a market in Tokyo, on the same sideboard as my amezaiku bunny (see August 22 post).
If you’re going all the way to Kiruna, check out the many seasonal outdoor activities available listed on the tourism website: http://www.kirunalapland.se. I wasn’t able to find any current contact information on Mella’s mushrooms, but check with tourism officials to see if he’s still growing them and if his tour is available.
The tourism site also has links to dozens of beautiful photographs. Click on “press” at the bottom of the page.
I make Holiday Apple Cake in the early fall, but it’s delicious any time of year.
Every year at about this time, I make a gorgeous apple cake. The apple harvest, usually beginning in September, helps to signal that the hot and humid days of summer are nearly over, and that the beautiful colors of fall are on the way.
The recipe itself isn’t difficult, but there are several steps and the prep is lengthy. Read through the recipe twice to make sure you understand the assembly. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the original source of the recipe, except that I photocopied it out of a book.
I always use Granny Smith apples because their tartness offsets the sweet batter, and their firm flesh doesn’t turn to mush during baking. Making the cake a day or two in advance allows time for the flavors to mingle, while the crumb stays moist. You’ll also need the advance time to let the cake cool completely. If you get impatient and accelerate this step, the glaze won’t cascade down the sides properly.
For presentation, choose a wide plate, platter or platform that will support the weight of this dense cake. Use both hands to carry the plate when bringing it to the table to serve.
It is also important to have a well-constructed bundt pan. This is one of those instances where spending the money for the best equipment pays off. My sister bought me a fluted bundt pan more than 25 years ago. It’s the one I still use. It’s also splendid for pound cakes.
Below is the Nordic Ware link to the cast-aluminum pan that is closest to the pan that I have. This cake makes a lot of batter, so make sure the pan accommodates 10 to 15 cups. It’s sometimes referred to as a 10-inch pan. You may be able to find it cheaper on another site, but make sure what you purchase is a heavy-duty pan, not a lightweight one. The heavier weight helps the cake to bake uniformly.
The Nordic Ware site also shows other bundt-pan shapes and includes recipes.
This cake is guaranteed to bring compliments, and likely a request for the recipe.
An assembly line is an efficient way to construct the layers. The first layer of batter and the first layer of apples are in the fluted bundt pan.
Wrapped tightly, the cake will keep for four to five days. Leftovers can also be frozen. Wrap individual pieces in plastic wrap, then encase in aluminum foil. That said, the cake is best when fresh.
To prep the apples: Peel and core apples. Cut apples into quarters and then slice apples into pieces about 1/2-inch thick. In a large mixing bowl, combine apple slices, cinnamon and 5 tablespoons granulated sugar. Mix well; set aside. The apples will give up some of their juice while resting.
To make the batter: In a very large mixing bowl (or the large bowl of a stand mixer), combine margarine or butter and 2 cups granulated sugar. Cream at medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to batter about 1 cup at a time and mix until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add orange juice and vanilla and almond extracts. Continue mixing until batter is smooth (it will be thick).
This is the third and last layer of apples.
Grease and flour a 10- to 15-cup bundt or tube pan. Shake out extra flour. Place a small amount of batter in the prepared pan. Arrange a layer of apple slices in a circle on top of the batter. Repeat layers until you have 7 total (batter, apples, batter, apples, batter, apples, batter). The bundt pan will be about three-fourths full. When it bakes, cake will rise almost to the top. If you’re worried about it overflowing, place bundt pan on a rimmed baking sheet before putting it in the oven.
This is the fourth and last layer of batter, and the cake is ready for the oven.
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack 15-30 minutes, then carefully invert on a large plate or serving dish. Cool completely before drizzling with White Glaze.
Notes: You will have leftover apples. After making this cake for many years, I’ve cut back to 4 the number that I prep, and I still have leftovers. So enjoy eating them later.
It will take some practice to get the ratio correct when layering the batter over the apples. Cover the apples completely on each batter layer, but not overly thick or you’ll run out of batter for the last layer. If this happens, don’t panic or give up. Remember that you’ll be inverting the cake and may be able to disguise the shortcoming.
The most important step: Grease and flour the pan well. If not, it won’t come out in one beautiful piece. The glaze isn’t thick enough to disguise where you’ve tried to put it back together. That said, I’ve never had that happen. I repeat: Grease and flour the pan well.
The fully cooled cake is ready for glazing.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar and dash of salt. Add enough liquid to form an icing of spreading consistency. Liquid choices can include water, milk, nondairy creamer, orange juice, lemon juice, brandy or liqueur. Add vanilla extract.

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