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!

 

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.

 

At the Colectivo Holiday Party

My cookies were disappearing! :-)

 

Colectivo Holiday Party!

Celebrating the season with fellow altruists.

 

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.

 

Top Cat and Obliviousboy

Our cats have their own many versions of the "cat & mouse game". There usually are no mice involved... Sometimes they even get the dog in on their schemes!

 

Thirty (more or less...) Days of Thanks!!

Every day this month, I am going to try to be mindful about expressing thankfulness about something. I usually have many, many things for which I am thankful, so really, the only challenge ought to be the exercize in mindfulness.

I'm thankful right now for several things, so I'll make a list:

1.) for this opportunity to take the time to slow down and consider my blessings;
2.) for moments of self-editing and grammar-mindfulness (because I almost used a period instead of a semi-colon in that first line);
3.) for how joyful the whole world is, and universally embracing of our President-Elect;
4.) that yesterday's election resulted in a decisive victory, as opposed to a close battle requiring recounts and lawsuits and raw, bitter emotions;
5.) that I am free to write whatever I please in this forum, with no fear of repercussions.

I will save some thanks for another day.

Hmm. Perhaps I ought to add that I am grateful also for this challenge in mindfulness!!

 

Coming! Needles, Hooks, or Loom?

>SNERK< As if I need to be asked twice. "Yarn" is the new "shiny".

Garfield Minus Garfield publishes daily. It was my sister-in-law Leonor who introduced me to this very zen webcomic.

Of course, this particular strip was sent (rather pointedly) to me by My Beloved, who is still waiting for his first sweater and the half-finished half pair of socks I still have on the needles.

 

Glad to be inside! (Thankful Thursday)

Rick brought in the last blooming gladiolus after digging all the glad bulbs. There *was* frost this morning, after all.

I'm very thankful for my husband's thoughtfulness. He never stops making me smile.

 

Zelda at the Euc! Such memories.

Zelda at the Euc! Such memories.
Originally uploaded by sunspotting.

Grafitti on the wall in the historic Euclid Tavern. Gorgeous, plus it makes me remember a classmate at CIA named Zelda, and IT'S THE EUC, for crying out loud!!!! It's open again!

The only thing wrong was that the floors weren't sticky. But that's not terrible.

Just different.

Fresh from the backyard!

Mmmmm. This is when "summer" becomes "yummer".

Hot August Night

Sitting on Daddy's deck after dinner, enjoying conversation and the summer.

Mission accomplished!

L to R: Tony's, mine, Rick's. All empty. Lunch was also delicious! So excellent to get caught up with friends, friends we see with unacceptable infrequency.

I'm telling you, everybody needs scooters.

Veggie Tales sez "everybody has a water buffalo," but that's only true in the Philippines. Here, we all need scooters. SCOOTERS. Just get one. Or TWO!!

Fer cryin' out loud, just get a scooter.

 

Grape Bomb

This is a potent glass full of YUM.

Scooters. Everybody needs a scooter. 'Nuff sed.

 

Tracery from Days Past

It's a bit cooler than usual for 08.08.08, but DEFINITELY HOT compared to the day I took this.

I like to revisit these images on days like today. I never want to take for granted how comfortable I am *right now*, temperature-wise.

I appreciate the delicate beauty of days like the one pictured, and I know it's no joke when snow is called 'the poor man's fertilizer'. My gargantuan tomatoes ripening in the backyard bear powerful testimony to that!

Unbelievable but true.

Tonight Rick and I had dinner with Bob Feller.

Hot & Tasty

...and so easy.

This is a variant of a thing my mom used to make when I was a kid and the weather was too hot for cooking.

It's easy. Here's how.

Boil pasta. Drain canned meat: tuna, salmon, chicken, whatever. Probably not Spam, though if you like it, I'm not gonna knock it. Put the drained meat in the bottom of your serving bowl. If you have leftover veggies from another meal, dump those on top. (In this case, I had baby peas.) They'll warm through just right (and they're already cooked, anyway!!) once the rest of the concoction is added.

At about 5 minutes left of the pasta cooking time, add frozen vegetables to the pasta and pasta cooking water. Make sure to add some extra time -- 2-3 minutes -- because the cold of the frozen stuff will lower the temp of the boiling pasta. *Note*: don't put it in earlier than 5 minutes. It'll mess up the pasta cooking time. When it's all done, drain. Drain it well!!! Shake the collander, let it sit for a bit, even.

Dump all of that on top of the meat and leftover vegetables in the bowl. Add whatever seasoning you like: salt, pepper, fresh cilantro, dill, chervil, fresh onion or chives, celery leaves, garam masala, like that. Mix it a little.

Dress it!! What my mom used was simply mayonnaise. That was fine, but I prefer light Caesar or a raspberry vinaigrette or some sort of oil+vinegar+garlicky thing. Something with some bite to it. If I'm seasoning with garam masala, though, I'll stick to the mayo.

Mmmm. It's yummy. Good served warm or cold. Fresh or leftover.

Try it!!

 

August: "...gosh, it's hot..."

NaBloPoMo (dumb VOLUNTARY thing that makes me post every day) (I'm so biddable) has set the theme for August: HOT. Entirely appropriate, as I am melting from heat and humidity as I type.


via videosift.com

So I got this award...

...but it was from months ago.

I didn't know how to post it on my blog. Even after I was handed a clue. A clue on a silver platter. With gilt (NOT a misspelling). And rubies. I'm saying it was a good clue.

Sometimes technical stuff really clicks into place for me, and others? I do better with cuneiform.

Today things clicked.

Thanks again, Melissa! You still make my day.