Bazaar Bizaare

My beautiful friend Xan shows off her mad skilz on the the stilts.

It was wicked crowded, and she was not only sure-footed amidst the crowd, she held a baby AND leant over to exchange kisses with me. She is so awesome!

Everyone needs a Xan in their life, if not the original!

 

Life-sized, no less.

Wow. Giant portait of all the living founders of the hospital. Including several we know and one to whom we are... Shall we say, very close geneologically. It's a really big photo.

 

Glad tidings of great joy!

Sandy's brain surgery was a great success. We have seen her. She can move all of her extremities. She can communicate just fine. She makes Garcia-worthy jokes! We are deeply appreciate the very fine care she has been receiving. We are grateful for all of the support from friends and family. She is, too!

We are truly blessed.

 

Bearer of good news!

Sandy's out of surgery and groggy. But all went well. We will wait some more to be sure to spend time with her. Whether she remembers it or not!

Waiting. Room. View. (Sigh.)

So. Hospital waiting rooms. They are not outrageously cushy. This one has no windows. BUT! We are surrounded by family and friends. That alone makes this room instantly warm.

We are watching The Day the Earth Stood Still while we wait for the doc to bring us word about Sandy's surgery. She's done, just needing to be closed. Of course we are right on the edges of our seats!!

 

Outside the elevator

I'll come up for a wisecrack for this...

...How 'bout: "In case of Pentecost, take the stairs"?

Still have to edit the photo.

 

At the Colectivo Holiday Party

My cookies were disappearing! :-)

 

Colectivo Holiday Party!

Celebrating the season with fellow altruists.

 

Ornament of Cheerfulness!

The lab at St. John West Shore made this fetching choir of caroling test tubes. So CUTE!

 

Beautiful Ohio

A view to be thankful for.

We are en route to Bill and Louise's farm for Rick's side of the family's Thanksgiving celebration. It's always a good day when we get to go to the farm. It's a double-whammy of good when it's a holiday at the farm.

 

Yowza.

Slivovitz. Yikes.

This was opened after dinner at a friend's home. The dinner was a "Thanksgiving Leftovers Dinner" theme, and we were encouraged to bring whatever was left over from the previous day's meal, including any nearly-empty bottles of [name any beverage] that were really just taking up space. This bottle of Slivovitz was clearly NOT nearly empty, but Paul and Carolyn assured us all that it was most certainly just taking up space.

Slivovitz is a traditional Slovenian liquor. It's important to have it at every special occasion. This is what Paul shared with us on this occasion. Rick had a good story to share, too.

The bottle label says that the contents are 8 years old. I'm sure they were, way back when they were bottled... The problem that compounded the problem of the flavor (ugh... flavor??? Not in this bottle, all you taste is chemical...) was that this bottle was purchased on the occasion of Paul's brother's wedding, something on the order of over 20 years ago. Maybe he said something closer to 30 years ago. I don't remember. I was distracted by the bottle... It's pretty!

The bottle is molded with the name, "Beograd, Yugoslavia." That's not something we're likely to see again. It was worth the distraction.

Some of the guests had a full shot. I was curious, but didn't really want a full shot, so I waited til one of the shot glasses was empty. I asked for the bottom of the shotglass to be "wetted" and drank that: not even a thimble-full.

The verdict? Blech.

I'll ask for it the next time I need to clean oil paint off of brushes.

Which might be never.

 

Thanks-Giving Us This Bread

Well, I did it. I got it ALL done, and it's even on time. THANK GOD.

 

Thanksgiving Focaccia.

Rolls are for wusses.

 

Rats. Nuts. Criminy. And all sorts of other PG-rated ephithets...

My cellphone screen is broken.

I have no idea how it happened. It was in a pocket -- not a tight pocket, nor an overly loose and floppy pocket, where it would bang against things easily -- and I was indoors (by which I mean it didn't freeze). I had just posted during the Colectivo Forum, so I knew the phone was perfectly find just moments before I discovered the damage.

There is a crack in the liquid crystal display screen. (I know, right? What the frack??!?) If it weren't such an annoyance and inconvenience, I'd be completely fascinated!

The crack is beneath the thick, clear, protective cover (perhaps a type of plexiglass; it scratches easily, so it's definitely not glass) and the liquid has spread laterally to form a dark, rounded, aspen-leaf-shaped pattern towards the lower right-hand corner of the display. Again: sort of cool, if it weren't so blasted irritatingly inconvenient. Sadly, while that sounds like it may not be that bad, it in fact takes up a little over half the display.

I find this very aggravating. It doesn't affect the operations otherwise, however I can't read the display when I dial a number to call someone. I can place and receive calls, but can't see who is calling when a call comes in. I can't read the display when I open the phonebook to place a call. (Important, as it's been years since I've memorized ANY number, having had a cell phone to perform that function for me!!) I can't see whether things are properly framed or not when I take a picture. When I text, I can only see part of what I'm thumb-typing in.

Aaaaccckk! I prefer to text than to interrupt someone's day with a phone call!! I know I'd rather *GET* a text!!!! OH!! My lifestyle is COMPLETELY CRAMPED.

The net result is miserably misspelled posts with errant letters here and there.

Picky, picky, right?

I was raised better than to resign myself to permitting poor spelling, and one of my spelling and grammar teachers reads this blog. (Hi, Daddy!!)

Here's hoping my phone can be replaced very inexpensively and hopefully quickly, so all the typos that cause me grief can be eliminated.

 

Foodfetchers em rte 2 Browns s Stadium

So.

That post title.

My cellphone display is broken, and I can only see a very little bit of what is typed into my phone at a given time. I have to count clicks (it's not a QWERTY keyboard, just a simple phonepad with numbers and multiple letters sharing the keys), and as I was walking to the stadium as I typed, I lost count a couple of times.

The temptation is there to correct my work, but I think I will leave it as is. It will serve as a reminder -- a PAINFUL reminder!!! -- for me of what it's like to have a phone suddenly go out of commission.

On a sidenote, it was disappointing early in the day that this was the only picture I got to take of our day at the Browns game. My battery ran out as soon as I took and posted it. I'm not sure if that was actually related to the damaged display. In retrospect, however, it may have been a mercy I was denied my chance to take more pictures. The Browns made some really dumb plays. (Who throws to a receiver *already on the ground*???)

We did have fun, though. And it was yet another visit to Cleveland Browns Stadium during which we did not, nor were we remotely tempted to go to any concession stand.

 

I dislike that I rejoice in this sign.

It's been a dog's age since I've seen gas prices like this. I have very mixed feelings!

Garcia WINS!!

Beautiful. Just fantastic performance. Well done, Leonor!!

 

Final Battle!

 

Garcia v Steinway: advantage Garcia!!!!

In this shot Leonor is playing a piece that is entirely playful and completely wacky. It is thus far my favorite of the evening. There are many yet to come, though, and I fully intend to be just as delighted with the rest of them!

 

Garcia v Steinway: point, Leonor