Hi John 1931, I am a quilter too, so laying out blocks is a nice puzzle. A picture is worth a thousand words, But here's a try. Maybe some index cards or dominoes, Lego bricks, etc would be helpful to fidget with (I used index cards). Lay out a square pattern to show the corners of the first tier, with the blocks making a kind of circle, like this. N N N D B O O D B O O D B H H H (3 letters make a block, the O's are just dirt.) If you now flip that layer over D N N N D O O B D O O B K K K B it will sit on top of the first layer perfectly, and stagger all the joints. Of course you can stretch the sides by adding blocks, but with this corner pattern reversed for each layer, you should need no partial blocks and the joints would always stagger. Just avoid the symmetrical layout: N N N H O H H O H H O H N N N That gets you in trouble on the next tier. Hope this made sense!

Hubby and I came together late in life (in our early/mid 40's). Due to that and a huge host of other reasons, we will never have children of our own. We talked seriously about adopting an older child or two, to the point where I was looking at the sites and contacting some of the local adoption groups. Unfortunately, our life has taken on other responsibilities that make this an impossibility. Hubby's Mom has (probably terminal) metastatic thyroid cancer. Hubby's Dad is incapable of managing things on his own. Hubby's brother (who currently lives with Mom and Dad) is seriously mentally ill and has physical disabilities as well. He requires pretty much round the clock supervision. As their culture is to take care of everything at home and only with family, our lives will be spent "parenting" them. It breaks my heart to know that Hubby and I will never get to be parents, that we will never get to see a child grow and thrive under our care. But this is the hand we've been dealt so we just have to do the best we can. On a practical note, at least out here in CA there are special programs for adopting older/special needs children. You get a lot more support and there is actually a mandatory "trial period".

I did some volunteer work in Haiti one summer. Goat was by far more available than other meats, and I developed a taste for it. Good stuff. I once cooked some goat without any recipe, but it came out great: parboil the pieces in some water in which I added lemon juice and onion for about a half hour, then grill over charcoal with barbecue sauce. It was to be an appetizer for a large crowd waiting for a pig to be roasted, and the goat was devoured completely with great approval. That may have been due to my culinary skills, or it just may have been proof of the adage that 'hunger is the best sauce'.

My Murgh Makhani is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's recipe in her Indian Cookery book. It starts with freshly made tandoori chicken, which I kind of cheat when making, starting with a ready-made masala I buy at my local Indian grocer. Tandoori Chicken: Combine 2 tbsp tandoori masala with 2 tbsp plain (really plain - no gelatins or other weird ingredients) yogurt, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and 2 tbsp veg oil and marinate 1 kg skinless chicken parts for at least 6-8 hours. Cut gashes into the chicken flest and rub in the marinate for maximum infused flavour. Grill over hot coals until done OR bake on a rack in a 450F oven for about 30 minutes. Murgh Makhani: 1 recipe freshly made tandoori chicken 4 tbsp tomato paste + enough water make 1 c. 1 cubic inch of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated 1 1/4 c. 10% cream 1 tsp garam masala 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp sugar 1 fresh hot green chili, finely chopped 1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste 1 tbsp chopped cilantro 4 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds Combine these ingredients and mix well. This can be prepared in advance and refrigerated until needed. When chicken is ready, heat 1/2 c unsalted butter in a saute pan. Once melted, add the combined liquid ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook on med heat for a minute or so, whisking in the butter. Add the still-warm chicken pieces, and serve as soon as everything is heated through.