The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

I searched for two days for my calendar. I had almost given up when I walked to the patio this morning and there it was on the lawn chair. I must have thrown it down in my haste to get to the housewarming party Thursday night. It spent two nights on the lawn chair and was right under the hinder of the baby bird in my previous post. So, I'm sure you can imagine. You know how much baby birds eat? Well, they pretty much poop all day. Cleaning that calendar up will be a project.

When I opened the front door this morning, this fat baby was sitting on the back of the lawn chair. He looked a little grumpy...probably waiting for mama to bring breakfast. I went out the back door so I didn't disturb him. I love his baby feathers sticking out on his head...they make him look kind of punk.

So, this is a first. We went to Mankato after school so I could get a hair cut. Patrick was a hoot as usual. He told me with great excitement that the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and the Fleshtones were coming to Mankato. Exclamation point. I said honey you missed it they were here Friday so that should be past tense as in they came to Mankato. He was seriously disappointed that he missed them. Ah, well. I told the stories. Regis and I visited a new restaurant, the Plaza Garibaldi on Commerce Drive. I didn't like it as much I like Mazatlan but the food was good and the service was prompt and friendly. What the hell. That's about all you can ask. The skies were black when we came out so we made a beeline for home. About halfway home on 169 there was a near pile-up of abut six cars when a white van veered to the left sending the rest of the cars behind it, one of them ours, it into tail spins. Turns out it was a muskrat carrying a baby across the highway that caused the panic...

Hey, it's Bob Dylan's birthday today. They're having an All-Bob day on Shufflefunction...and they're waxing poetic about the Legendary Stardust Cowboy concert Friday night. They say it's a show that will go down in history. Maybe. We had a nice weekend, a good mix of busy and lazy, but I swear those two days go by a lot faster than than two days during the week. Saturday night we went downtown to hear a band that we'd been wanting to hear. Oh, man. We're either too old to appreciate that kind of music or they're just plain bad and trying to cover it up by being loud. We had to leave to find a quiet place where we could cower in the dark with our hands over our ears. Last night we went down to Patrick's to put the finishing touches on a bus tour we're planning to the local vineyards. It sounds like it's going to be a fun day. So far, we have no plans for the holiday weekend coming up. I told Regis I would take it easy as I'm usuall...

Regis, Vickie, and I went to the Red Sky lounge at 6:00 to get a good table and have a bite to eat. The food was delicious and we had a lot of time to laugh and tell stories because the Legendary Stardust Cowboy didn't get to the stage until 9:30. We were about out of gas by that time. As soon as he started, people piled into the area in front of the stage so we almost had to stand on our bar stools to see him. Here are some pictures. At one point, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy took off his shirt and whipped it around the stage. I think hence the name of his music genre, psychobilly. Well, the shirt, the lyrics, the shouting, and probably a lot of other things I am not musically sophisticated enough to recognize, I guess. We didn't see the whole show as the crowd, the loud music, and the late hours were starting to affect us in a negative way. We wandered back to the quiet streets of St. Peter to end the evening. It was a damn hoot.

For some reason, I have been waking up at the crack of dawn again. I'm talking 3:00 a.m. some days. It makes for a long day and I feel like I need a nap about 8. This is why people retire, I bet. I made coffee and I'm waiting to go to the Pulse. I'm glad, at least, that it's Friday. We're going to the Red Sky Lounge tonight to see the Legendary Stardust Cowboy . I have to admit that our interest is, in part, the crowd. We want to know who the hell would go some place to listen to music like this. This dude invented the music genre called psychobilly. Hmmmm. Psychobilly. Well, you never know. You just never know. We figure it will be a happening and we like to be in on those. I'm trying to reorganize my electronic life. I have too many devices and way too much paper and it is unmanageable. I'm investigating an iPad but I don't want that unless it can function as a phone, too. I don't figure I'm gaining much if I just have another thing to tote...

Regis and I motored off to Rochester on Monday night. My annual appointments at Mayo were Tuesday and we decided to make it a vacation of our favorite variety...close to home and short. We were gone about 28 hours door to door. We had lunch at the Canadian Honker on Tuesday and when we came out, there it was, the icon from our youth: the Wienermobile. Amazing. We had a wonderful time. When we got to Rochester and pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, I knew something was wrong. We wanted to stay at the same place we stayed last summer but this was a beaten down Comfort Inn. I looked over the hill and there it was, the very new Hampton Inn. We went down there and got a room, then called and canceled the reservation we didn't want. Cousin Steve and daughter Catie picked us up shortly after and we went to the Redwood Room for dinner. What a fun place. Regis wants to move to Rochester just to hang out at that restaurant. We had a glass of wine and a wonderful pizza in a dark ...

Tomorrow is Norwegian Independence Day, or Syttende Mai. In its honor, I am only going to cuss in Norwegian for the day. I remember, as a child, quizzing my mom about how to swear in Norwegian and she passed on a few nuggets. If you're sensitive about swearing, don't watch the youtube video below. I don't know why anyone would be, however. When I studied linguistics in college, I had a professor (Harry Foster)who used to rant about how swear words were just words and a good dictionary should contain them. It was a way to tell a good dictionary from a mediocre one, he said. I don't cuss at school board meetings or in church, but a good F bomb can be like a balm some days. It's not good to have crap in your head and a good cuss will help scare away those skeletons. So, here you go. Happy Norwegian Independence Day tomorrow. Lutefisk and lefse!

I thought I had posted about Peter's graduation but I didn't. I get mixed up about which social media I am engaged in, apparently. I know I posted the photo on Facebook. Graduation was very nice. I was happy that Peter agreed to participate and I think even he enjoyed it. It's uplifting to hear all those people talk about a guy's wonderful accomplishment in graduating from college. I started weeping when I saw Peter's name in the program and wept through the processional. It was very, very sweet. Regis and I are having coffee at the dining table, which in our house, is in the living room. I don't care so much for the traditional arrangement of furniture and if I could I would move the bed in here, too. What I like is the big window. We usually sit in the dining room which is where the love seat and easy chair are, but we want to watch the birds. We made a trip to Pet Expo yesterday and stocked up on bird food. Word is spreading around the neighborhood amo...

Regis bought banana peppers today instead of min-sweet peppers but we have a plan for the banana peppers now. These little beauties are stuffed with a mixture of cheese and chorizo sausage. Here's the recipe: Grilled Stuffed Peppers 18 plump, short peppers to fit the roasting rack as best as possible 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 T white wine vinegar 1/3 c olive oil 8 oz cream cheese, softened 3/4 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese 2 T chopped cilantro leaves Salt and pepper to taste Cut tops from peppers and hollow out interiors removing membranes and seeds. In a small bowl, whisk together minced garlic and vinegar, slowly add olive oil while whisking, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place hollowed peppers in a glass bowl and pour marinade over them and refrigerate for two hours; to evenly distribute.  Stir peppers and marinade twice during the two hours. In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, and salt and pepper ...

I made a roasted chicken for dinner. When I looked back at the recipe , I saw it was called Mon Poulet Roti . Isn't that a nice name for chicken? We had a glass of Morgan Creek's Redtail Ridge with it. Such a nice red wine for a cold day and it brought back nice memories of our trips to the vineyard. I ordered Ted Kooser's new book called Lights on a Ground of Darkness and it came in the mail today. It isn't poetry but his family stories. I'm anxious to read it. Peter brought his graduation gown in to be ironed. His reception and ceremony are tomorrow night. He's being such a good sport about going to all of it. Off to pick up the left-overs and dirty dishes. More later...or tomorrow.

The Herald chopped three paragraphs off my guest column but they started the hack job right in the middle of a sentence. I finally contacted the editor and asked if they could run a correction. He apologized and said they would. I've shamelessly carried copies around for a couple weeks since it first ran but that was getting old. I took a short nap after work today. It's so cold and dark and gloomy outside that I couldn't help myself. If you aren't a napper, you don't know the pleasure of crawling into bed when it's still light outside to read for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep. I think I could have slept all night. The city came and picked up our excess sticks and garden waste today. I had quite a pile out there on Saturday and by gosh, yesterday, it disappeared. Every single stick. Like aliens had vacuumed them up from the mother ship. What the hell. We had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. The off-spring showed up about 2:30 and stayed...

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and decided to get up and start the day. It's 32 degrees outside this morning so I'm glad I brought in the blooms from the fern-leaf peony. I had some coffee and a piece of toast with peanut butter, then spent some time writing. If I could find a way to make money doing this. I've been puttering around the kitchen since I got up. I have a couple big loaves of bread in the oven, a trifle chilling in the refrigerator, and the vegetables cut up for roasting. Regis has the rub on the ribs. I think we're set. My favorite part of serving dinner is deciding on the serving dishes. I have all my big plates and platters piled up on the counter and I'll sort through them as the day goes on. I have a couple interesting dishes to use for the pico and the guacamole. I wish I had a big salad bowl. I see a shopping trip in my future. Just what I need...more dishes. Too bad it's so dang cold out this morning. It would be nice to sit on the pa...

We're having a lovely weekend. We made a trip by the watering hole last night and talked to lots of people. Nice way to start a weekend. We're trying to organize a trip in late June to the two vineyards in the area and maybe an end-of-day trip to Cambria to the burger joint. There's a big green bus that might be available and Al just got his license so he needs the practice. Yesterday, we went to Ella's last day of pre-school program. Here are a few pictures: Ella and her best pal. Ella and her mom. Performing girls! Tomorrow, the off-spring and their families are coming for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day. Amber and Emily both have to work which seems unfair. If there are ribs left at the end of the feast, we'll send some home for them. I'm making roasted red potatoes, roasted cauliflower (our current favorite), and a triple berry trifle. Regis is making his famous ribs at Ella's request. Happy Mother's Day to my mom. I've published thi...

We had a grand time last night. We went to the Donahower House for a Firefly Theater performance. Our neighbor Mike brings in comedians from around the country and last night we saw Paul Strickland . Very funny guy who is more storyteller than one-line comic. When I complimented him on three exquisite lines in one of his stories, he actually went upstairs and brought back his "script" of the show so I could find them. Patrick's served wine and margaritas and tacos. I sat in an antique chair that looked like a throne. The minutes I spotted it, I knew it was mine. We met so many nice people during the evening...a woman who helped me with our medical insurance dilemma, a young man who details cars, and a wood floor guy who wants Regis to help with his website. It was a bonanza, I tell you. We stopped at Patrick's on the way home because there was a nice bus parked in front and I had the notion it might be Willie Nelson's bus. It was not Willie Nelson, but a bu...

Regis and I left the house about 2:00 yesterday and made a road trip west. We made our way (no thanks to the GPS) to Morgan Creek where they were celebrating the start of the wine season. Even though it was cool and windy, by the time we got into the ravine and sat in the shelter of the main building, it was beautiful and we enjoyed the setting. Ben Marti played some accordion, there was a fire in the pit, we had some good wine with friends, and we had some laughs. All good for the senses. Note re: the pictures. They were giving away the straw hats with a purchase. Good thing they didn't award a hat for each glass of wine. Ha! Next stop was the Grand Kabaret in New Ulm. Lovely place with some bad music. It might have been good jazz but it wasn't my style and resonated more like elevator music which starts to feel like a pin in the eye after a while. Note that this might be my unsophisticated taste in music and have nothing to do with the actual quality of the music. Th...