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

what the...

2012-02-12T08:13:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting in my leopard chair looking bleary-eyed out onto the frozen tundra and feeling glad that I don't have to go out into it. Winter gets long no matter what the conditions, because, as we have discussed before, it's the lack of light.

I had a busy week doing what I am not sure. I think I was grumpy for part of it which takes a bite out of the calendar. Friday night we went to a Winterfest event, a wine tasting at the Ecumen Assisted Living Center. Seems like an odd place to have an event like that but what the hey. It's a lovely building and it was set up nicely for the tasting of all Minnesota wines.

This is a picture of me with John Mayer at the wine event. Regis said we won for Chapeau of the Evening. That means hat in French which Regis knows because the Catholic bishops wore those big hats but you can't call something of that dimension a simple hat so they call them chapeaus.

I am a bit disconcerted by my most recent hair-cut which Patrick tells me is asymmetrical. I feel like it isn't asymmetrical enough for people who look at me to get it. It needs an explanation. Thus, the hat.

Peter has always been one to keep his personal information to himself. When he was in high school, he considered it prying to ask him what he had for lunch. We have never met a girl he dated, barely heard their names. A few weeks ago, he casually told me that he had been spending a lot of time with April. I didn't ask too many questions because that could cause the information door to slam shut.

Then he called this week to ask if I would make the potato dish I made for Christmas dinner because April really liked the left-overs. I said I could do that but why didn't they come for dinner but wondered if they would stay for dinner or was this a take-out request. He said take-out which is what I figured.

So, I prepare the potatoes and have them waiting on the table. Regis and I plan to have ribs for dinner. They are at the mall and it gets later and later...text messages flying...finally, yes, they will stay for dinner.

Much mad scurrying to fill out a meal ensued. She has a baby and I assumed baby was coming. Gathering some toys, bringing in the high chair, finding food a baby can eat (not ribs and salad...ham, corn, apple sauce, cookies) but when Peter and April arrive...no baby. I should have asked.

We had a nice time, good food, and lots of talking. She is a talkative one, which must make Peter nervous. Ha!

I finished The Art of Fielding which I liked very much and then started Some Danger Involved, which is not usually the kind of book I would choose. It's a mystery and one of a series.

Here is the review from Amazon:

An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his apprentice, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar.
When a student bearing a striking resemblance to artists' renderings of Jesus Christ is found murdered -- by crucifixion -- in London's Jewish ghetto, 19th-century private detective Barker must hire an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. Out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved," the eccentric and enigmatic Barker chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man whose murky past includes recent stints at both an Oxford college and an Oxford prison.
As Llewelyn learns the ropes of his position, he is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker's peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the dark heart of London's teeming underworld. Together they pass through chophouses, stables, and clandestine tea rooms, tangling with the early Italian mafia, a mad professor of eugenics, and other shadowy figures, inching ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder.
Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters, and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating page-turner that introduces an equally captivating duo while signaling the start of an exciting career for Will Thomas.

I don't have much planned for the day. Too cold to do anything outside. Maybe some reading, a nap, a movie, and a grocery list.

a book

2012-02-06T18:54:00.002-06:00

I spent all day at home but working. I'm writing a marketing plan, something about which I know very little. The title of it is "A Marketing Plan as Written by a Poet" which I am really not either but I thought it was an apt analogy. Like brain surgery done by an auto mechanic. No offense to auto mechanics...I couldn't do brain surgery either.

I've learned a lot about marketing and promotion but I have experienced brain overload. I have too much information and no framework for it so it's all floating around in the dusty shelves of my head...little parcels of information floating in space, looking for a place to land. Network hubs, anyone?

I took a break mid-afternoon and read some in my book, The Art of Fielding. It's a great book and I love the writing. I have to say that it is what helped me not only endure but maybe enjoy a teeny tiny bit the Super Bowl last night. The book is fiction but it is about a character who plays shortstop as an art. I won't go into all the details of the plot because you should read it but here is what I have learned.

I learned that there is a sense of camaraderie in sports. I learned that sport coaches can be like life coaches. I learned that playing is about way more than the game. Maybe I just like the book. Like I loved oranges after reading John McPhee's book.

I grew up in a family obsessed with sports but I never understood these aspects that might have made it appealing. I don't think it's the kind of thing you can understand unless you play competitive sports and I grew up in the 60s when only boys played. Girls watched. Maybe some girls can get it by watching (heck, I had friends who were cheerleaders) tennis and we worked out to some record called Chicken Fat in one piece navy blue short outfits. The whole thing was hideous.

Sometime, I'll publish the poem here that I wrote about cheerleading try-outs. Not soon, but sometime.

And here, thanks to the internet and some goof ball with a sense of humor:

Meredith Wilson of Music Man fame wrote the song, commissioned by JFK. Tom, burn the photos we took in Mason City, Iowa!

I'm not going to become a true believer or a sports fanatic but I could tolerate the Super Bowl and I guess that's something. Actually we watched it on a live stream (I think that means via the internet.) so there were no commercials and no half-time show and those are the entertaining parts, right?

Regis and I are enjoying a quiet evening at home. We had left-overs for dinner and we gave the dog a bath. No easy task when the dog is as big as Gus. The unseasonably warm winter has made for an ugly scene in our back yard.

Happy Monday!

sunday in pictures

2012-02-05T16:05:00.002-06:00

This is what I do on Sunday morning. I sit in my leopard chair with my faux fur, in front of the faux fireplace, with the Variety section of the paper, a recipe to review for dinner, and my laptop. See the Valentine's Day tree in the background?

When the days and nights are so dark and gloomy, the twinkling red and pink lights cheer me. After Valentine's Day, the tree will be decorated for St. Patrick's Day and then it will retire to the basement for the spring and summer.

This is the Valentine's Day table. I forgot to take a picture of the crow with the red glitter LOVE sign around his neck. Oh, yeah...here it is.

I went to Mary's Flowers yesterday to spend a gift card. I wanted something cheerful for the table. We stopped at River Rock first so I took a couple Hermits to Mary and her colleagues. Mary said she wanted to send something with me so she picked out one of these yellow and red roses at the same time I was picking out two more. Great minds, right, Mary?

These are some tiny pitchers I bought at Cooks & Co. the other day. They're individual coffee creamers but I thought I would use them for sauces. Aren't they cute?

I set up my little coffee cup cupboard today. I wish I knew how to use a camera better than I do. Sorry about the shiny thing going on here.

Regis has some kind of rig-up so we can watch the Super Bowl. Oh, boy. I'm a good sport and I'll sit here but I have a pile of other things to do. I'll look up from time to time and ask who's playing and where and if it's almost over hahahaha.

We skipped the Polar Bear Plunge today. I have no spirit for that kind of thing if I have to slog through mud and watch them run in from the edge of the pond instead of from the ice.

Well, welcome to Sunday psychosis.

on my walk

2012-02-04T10:03:00.001-06:00

I listened to an interview with Bobby McFerrin on my walk this morning. He said many interesting things but there are a couple I am pondering right now...

He talked about the healing power of singing and wondered why we don't do it more often in our culture. I thought the same is probably true of writing and reading poems and making snow angels. So, in the future, I will not hesitate to sing along with Alison Krauss.
He said he makes a mistake in every show he does and he just doesn't worry about it anymore. What a great way to think.

Here's a fun way to start your day!

some weeks fly past

2012-02-04T08:41:00.000-06:00

This week was a busy one but I'm not sure why. Last weekend was pretty calm except for the gambling bash we went to on Saturday night.

Work has been a little crazy. When I started at River Rock, I was trained to do everything from counting the money for the bank deposit to washing dishes. Gradually those things have been deleted from my job description so I can focus on marketing and promotion. I knew practically nothing about those things, having spent my career in education teaching sex offenders: not a thing for which you search for clients. I have had to learn a lot especially since we're not a big corporation and don't have a huge advertising budget. I have learned to look for opportunities to promote River Rock and its mission.

It takes a lot of time...more time than there is in a day. A few days I got up very early and did some work in the dark and quiet. I have books to read and a marketing plan to write. A marketing plan. Right. I entitled it: A Marketing Plan as Written by a Poet. I'm not really a poet but I'm not really a marketing genius either.

Tiffany and Eric went to a holiday gathering for his work last night so I picked Elliot up at his pre-school. He was so excited to see me. He talked all the way home, pointing out American flags and big trucks and Spiderman that he saw in the window of BuyFun. When I said I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, he said, "Wow! Delicious!" We had a fun evening.

I'm taking a class on writing vignettes. One of the other students is a woman (maybe 85?) who ran a restaurant for years in Cleveland. She reminds me of my Aunt Vi. We're a little mutual admiration society...she likes my vignettes and I like hers. We're going to have coffee together before class in two weeks.

I have a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to Mary's Flowers and I think I'll take it down there today and buy some yellow tulips. I hate this gray weather. I know the more I talk about it, the worse it gets and I can say in my head that it just is what it is but I hate it. And I'm still not done with Travels in Siberia. The damn book is as long as the country.

Here is my plan of the day:

Go to the bank
Go to Mary's Flowers
Go for a long walk
Stop at the coop
Pick up the house
Set the table
Buy some wine for dinner (ribs)
Write a couple vignettes

It looks like some of these things that involve moving around town could be done on the walk. There you go.

I have a ton of old vignettes hanging around that I have written over the years but I am resisting the urge to resurrect them. When I mentioned it to Regis, he didn't think it was a bad idea to get out some of the old ones and re-look at them. We read an article last week about geniuses (not that we are one...haha!) but it said that if you are doing something creative, it's a good idea to set it aside from time to time.

Going to take the dog for a walk.

I want a winter like this!

april in january

2012-01-31T17:03:00.002-06:00

It was 40 degrees this morning at 6 a.m. and that's above zero, my friends. What a weird winter. I'm not sure how warm it got but it felt like spring. Nice...but weird.

Regis and I watched Cowboys and Aliens last night. I really loved the cowboy parts and Regis really loved the alien parts which means it was the perfect movie for us. Read Roger Ebert's review. He says it's the most cockamamie plot he's seen in a movie in a long time. Daniel Craig makes a great cowboy, though. I had to cover my eyes a few times during violent scenes but it was way more tolerable than some movies I've seen lately.

Our neighbor, Mike, is an illusionist, magician, and comedian. He's been working on an illusion for three years that he calls Paintball Roulette. Here's his poster. I have a ticket and I'm going. It should be a hoot.

I'm not sure about this blog design. I didn't get much feedback...a couple of positive notes...but I kind of like seeing it all laid out there. Not sure I like having to click on things. I'm learning so much about all of these social media things and I tell you, it makes my head hurt.

I had to go back to the old blog design. All my widgets were gone! Oh, no!

I am a bit vulnerable to sales people especially those with a good line of BS. A very gregarious fellow just came to the door saying he would get a bonus for making a sale to someone with a Christmas tree still up. I said dude, that is a Valentine's Day tree. Anyway, he took a picture of it and I bought was he was selling but I'm not going to say what it was and no, not a Kirby vacuum cleaner. I did that one when I was 21. You'd think I would learn. Anybody want to come for a steak dinner?

I think I have spoken of this before but when I sing on my iPod, I sound just like Alison Krauss. Regis does not exactly concur and usually comes to make sure I'm not wounded when I fire up in song. Last night I was doing my rendition of the Dolly Parton tune Joleen but I called my version Pauline. Unfortunately this song got stuck in my poor husband's head all day and now he has to sing it to someone else to get rid of it. Let's hope it's not you.

I'm taking a community ed class called Writing in Vignette which is a genre I love so I have been busy writing little vinaigrettes. The reason they are so much fun to write is that they're only 200-500 words (some discussion in class related to how many words how many pages...does this sound familiar, Jill?), I don't have to use quotation marks which I loathe, and I can use de-personalized pronouns which could be something I made up. Anyway, it's fun.

I found out why our son, Peter the Illusive has been so...absent lately. I won't say anymore because he hates to divulge personal information (like what he had for lunch) and I don't want to violate his sense of propriety. Don't call and ask me either. I can only say it does not involve us seeing his engagement announcement in the Free Press.

Going to finish up our Sirloin Tip Roast (Emerill's recipe) for dinner and then watching a movie.

poem

2012-01-29T19:00:00.004-06:00

Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”

and “broccoli” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word

is as beautiful, it touches you

as if you had a friend

and sunlight were a present

he had sent you from some place distant

as this morning — to cheer you up,

and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure

is a thing,

that also needs accomplishing.

~ from “The Word,” by Tony Hoagland

oh, my aching head

2012-01-29T13:35:00.000-06:00

I have had a weekend of technology. First, I spent most of yesterday figuring out all that promotion business with qr codes and smart phones, then I have spent today figuring out the new google pathways to my blog. It ain't easy being me.

Regis and I went to a party last night where we played games and gambled. I am notoriously bad at card games but these were easy and a lot of fun. None of them involved holding a card to your forehead which was the game I played last time I was at a party where we played cards. That was probably 1982. I managed to hold my own in the games with only occasional reminders to pay attention or pay my quarter. It was a laugh riot and I came home with five dollars more than I had when I left. So there you go.

I am constantly amazed by the stupid things that get a lot of attention. I wrote a goofy post on FB about qr codes and teaching an old dog new tricks. So far, about ten people have "liked" it. I can write a lovely and lyrical thing about being in the coffee shop in the morning and I don't get squat for feedback. Ha!

This is going to be a short blast because I have to figure out how to put all of my music into the Amazon cloud. Wish me luck.

trying out a new format and looking for feedback

2012-01-28T11:43:00.000-06:00

I decided to give my blog a new look. This is called the dynamic view and since I am most certainly dynamic, we'll give it a shot. Let me know if you love it or hate it. You can change the dynamic view you see by clicking on snapshot, sidebar, magazine, etc. Just trying to get in the modern world.

little vinaigrettes

2012-01-28T10:46:00.000-06:00

This has been a busy week. Lots of activity at work and at home.

Thursday night, I went to my first Writing in Vignette class at the Art Center. It was very interesting and I woke up the next morning at 4, thinking about my homework. I thought that was a good sign so I went into the office and cranked out a few vignettes.

I worked with a woman years ago who told me she was reading a book that was a series of little vinaigrettes. It tickled me so that I can hardly say the word correctly now. I had to tell the instructor the story in case I slipped and used the word vinaigrette in class.

I've been busy writing for the coffee shop blog, too. My job has been in a state of flux for months and it seems like we're finally settling on what my job should and should not be. That would be a relief. I think we're settling on these things: promotion, public relations, and networking. Yes, I can do that.

Peter stopped over the other night, unexpectedly. We didn't have dinner ready which is kind of unusual but I did have some ribs in the freezer that he agreed to consume. Imagine that. He also wanted his car insurance information that had come in the mail here. I rifled through pile after pile of possible piles, looked in every possible drawer and couldn't find it. I did find an article called "How to Control Your Clutter". Hahaha! I thought that was a hoot. I eventually did find the thing he wanted.

The other morning, I was checking my email and looked at one from Amazon. Before I knew it, I had spent thirty minutes looking at One-Hit Wonders for my music cloud. Music cloud. I can hardly get my head around that. I think it means that I store my music somewhere else. Not a real cloud but a big computer somewhere. Amazon is not so fussy about where the music came from so I'm going to use them. I only bought one of the one-hit wonders.

I went to a marketing seminar the other day at a radio station in Mankato. I thought they might have some good coffee and treats (not) and that I might learn something. It was really interesting and I did learn a lot. Some things I had an awareness of already, like the yellow pages are pretty much a thing of the past, people don't advertise on tv much anymore (because of TIVO and dvr), and that social media can be powerful.

The sales rep I was sitting beside told me to check out two things: red line and lazer something or other. One of them will automatically send a text message to people driving by your restaurant. What the hell. How do it know?

Redlaser and Foursquare. I can barely get my head around this.

If you have a scanner thing on your phone, you can focus it on this code and it will take you right to River Rock's blog. What the hell. How do it know?

I have two books to read on social marketing. I better get started.

later on sunday...pictures and such

2012-01-22T16:56:00.004-06:00

I was browsing around Kohl's yesterday and found this red sparkly dress on a clearance rack and knew that Ella would love it. It has glitter all over it and it swirls like a ballroom dance gown. She can also tuck her markers in the neckline which she thinks is a great bonus.

saturday

2012-01-22T09:11:00.001-06:00

Regis and I put Gus in the back seat and motored to Mankato yesterday. We had our usual errands to do and then we stopped at Pet Expo. I wonder why people think your dogs want to visit. Or they stop to compare dog genetics. Our dog is part poodle, too, one guy tells me. I think he should spend his disposable income on dental work and a laundromat instead of dog food.

They also want the dogs to meet each other. I don't really think Gus cares about meeting other dogs in the pet store. What are they going to do...set up a coffee date? My dog does not need to meet every scruffy Shitzu that comes through the door. The whole thing makes me nervous.

I find myself struggling a bit to write here. I think I should avoid politics because you can't write about that without extreme sarcasm, I avoid religion because I don't want to offend people, I should avoid sports. What's left? Do I issue disclaimers at the beginning of each post?

Irony and sarcasm...it's what I do best.

I could be cranky today. It looks like Siberia outside today and it's wearing me out. I'm reading Ian Frazier's book about Siberia which I love but it could be a poor choice for reading material during the drudge of a Minnesota winter. I ordered Mile Marker Zero: The Moveable Fest of Key West. Here's a review from Amazon:

For Hemingway and Fitzgerald, there was Paris in the twenties. For others, later, there was Greenwich Village, Big Sur, and Woodstock. But for an even later generation—one defined by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Tom McGuane, and Hunter S. Thompson—there was another moveable feast: KeyWest, Florida.
The small town on the two-by-four-mile island has long been an artistic haven, a wild refuge for people of all persuasions, and the inspirational home for a league of great American writers. Some of the artists went there to be literary he-men. Some went to re-create themselves. Others just went to disappear—and succeeded. No matter what inspired the trip, Key West in the seventies was the right place at the right time, where and when an astonishing collection of artists wove a web of creative inspiration.
Mile Marker Zero tells the story of how these writers and artists found their identities in Key West and maintained their friendships over the decades, despite oceans of booze and boatloads of pot, through serial marriages and sexual escapades, in that dangerous paradise.
Unlike the “Lost Generation” of Paris in the twenties, we have a generation that invented, reinvented, and found itself at the unending cocktail party at the end—and the beginning—of America’s highway.

Speaking of copying an Amazon review into my blog. Regis and I have been bantering lately about the SOPA legislation. Here's an example of how it might work. Because I have copywrited material here, I am in violation and they could shut me down. Of course, I'm not sure how they'd know or who "they" are but that's the issue.

Another interesting thing. I have a lot of music on my computer. Most of it purchased through iTunes because I thought that was the honest thing to do. I decided to transfer it all to the Google cloud so when my computer goes belly up, as they all eventually do...my music would still be there only in the cloud.

So, as I start to upload it, none of the songs that I purchased would go because they are in an mp4 format which means that iTunes has them encoded with DRM. Digital Registry Management code. iTunes thinks I only rented those songs from them and therefore what I can do with them is limited.

I could copy them onto a CD then load them again and it would work...but doesn't that seem like a lot of work?

Songs I have gotten through less legal means, say someone lets me copy a CD they own onto my computer, belong to me but not something I purchased. Weird.

If these cloud people are going to examine each and every syllable of music that I store in their vaults, they should start examining every syllable of written prose people try to store. How can they ever police this?

And yes, I know this is a rant that most people don't care a fig about.

Yesterday, I wore a bright red sweater and my red Norwegian wrap. I wore my white lambswool scarf. The old dudes in the coffee shop hooted and said I looked like Mrs. Santa. Sure enough, I went into Kohl's and heard several small children asking their moms if I was Mrs. Santa. Even the lady behind the customer service desk said she did a double take. Did she really think I was Mrs. Santa? What a hoot.

Ella is coming over today to decorate the Valentine tree. I bought three strings of red and pink lights, a bunch of shiny hearts, and some other gaudy stuff. She will love it. I found a red sparkly dress on the Christmas clearance rack that will be perfect for Valentine's Day. If it were my size, I'd be wearing it!

All for now. There could be Valentine tree photos later.

tim who?

2012-01-19T20:16:00.002-06:00

At the coffee shop, there was a picture on the kitchen door of some sports figure. I walked by it many times before I bothered to see who it was. Tim Tebow. Who? If he hadn't had a helmet on, I wouldn't have known which sport he played. I mentioned him to my boss today and she said, "Who?"

There are about 30 years between us, me and my current boss. We are alike in some strange ways and our complete and utter disinterest in sports is only one. We laughed and furrowed our brows as we puzzled over the Super Bowl. Which sport is that for again? And isn't it presumptuous to think that everyone wants the sports section in the Sunday paper?

Mom just gave me the low-down on the GOP debate. The moderator asked Mr. Gingrich about an allegation that he asked his ex-wife for a three-way. I am almost falling out of my chair and that's no BS. This is a subject for a presidential debate? I wonder how many people listening to that debate know what a three-way is. OMG WTF ROTFLMAO. It's like a Woody Allen movie.

Regis took Gus to dog obedience school tonight, the special ed version as he gets a little ADHD when he's excited. Apparently there was a registration SNAFU and there were too many dogs at the 6:30 class and not enough dogs at the 7:45 class so they asked Gus to come to the later class so he could get more individual attention. That's the key phrase there, folks. Well, I thought 6:30 was late but I did consider accompanying Regis and Gus from time to time. Not to any 7:45 class, however. I will be in bed shortly.

It's zero degrees here tonight. Probably more like below zero by now.

I'm reading Ian Frazier's book Travels in Siberia which is fascinating but very long. I've been reading it for a long time and I'm only 43% done which is how Kindle Fire tells you where you are in the book. Isn't that sort of relative? I have no idea how many real pages there are...only digital pages. These are some of the things I love about this story:

In Siberia, the mosquitoes are so bad that they wear protective gear to keep them out of their eyes and ears and throats. There is a hilarious passage about this that I tried to highlight and send to myself but my technology skills failed me.
The two guides are never on time, bought a van that on most days, does not work, and seem unconcerned about their lack of maps, clocks, a gas gauge, and indoor plumbing. In fact, in most places there isn't even outdoor plumbing unless you count shrubs as outdoor plumbing. This would not be a trip for me. Even Ian Frazier says usually reading about travel is more fun than actually traveling. I knew it!
There is trash everywhere. Not just McDonald's trash and disposable diapers but industrial trash. Neon green industrial trash. Metal filings and steel barrels.
Suddenly, some of things I learned in history classes along the line, seem real. Exile? Really?

I've read a couple of his other books but when I'm done with this one, I'll check out his whole list. He is a wonderful writer. Akin to John McPhee in the non-fiction department.

Here is my advice: Stay inside tonight. If you go outside, wear mittens. Avoid the television. If you watch television, stick to MTV or Turner Classic Movies.

never let the truth get in the way of a good story

2012-01-18T19:28:00.000-06:00

I can't remember if Mike told me this subject line was a quote or something he made up. Either way is possible. Mike is my neighbor and we like to talk about the creative process, him being a comedian and magician and me being, well...a bullshitter.

There is nothing people like better than a good story and if you aren't out and out telling lies, like you're a millionaire and you aren't, they don't care. They like a good story.

I never tell stories about meeting Elizabeth Taylor or dating Leonardo Di Caprio but I have been known to embellish.

I came home to ask Regis who Tim Tebow is. I saw his picture at River Rock but I had no idea he was a football player. Ha.

The other thing I did not know about is SOPA. Well, there you go. I should watch the news, right?

Gus got slicked up today at Kind's. He loves going there because he loves everybody. He's getting curlier and curlier...hair and tail. Regis and I had a funny conversation about hair versus fur. It is not simple to ascertain the difference.

mid-january and what to write about when the weather is so boring

2012-01-18T06:28:00.004-06:00

I bet they've had to lay off some weather forecasters this year. It's been pretty boring. Mild temperatures, no snow, partly cloudy. They could have phoned it in the first of November and gone off to some more interesting weather locale.

I read an article in a magazine at the Pulse a couple weeks ago. Usually the kind of self-help article I avoid because I've gotten pretty comfortable with my neuroses thanks very much. This one affirmed a trend I have been practicing the last few years. The title is "In Praise of Rose-Colored Glasses". The gist is that the world is a hard, scary place and getting worse. Things are going to hell in a handbasket.

A poet, Jack Gilbert says, "We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world."

Yes. This is how I like to live. If there is some bad thing occurring to someone I know, that's different. I can help that situation. If there is a world problem I can do something about, that's different. I can help, But to pay attention to all the bad things that are way beyond my control and which will never impact me, is silly.Unless the bad guys are coming down my street, I don't want to know.

I don't think the world has gotten better or safer since we got 24 hour news. I think it adds to a sense of doom. The world would be happier all around if CNN and FOX went off the air.

So, bad things happen. For the most part, I ignore them and there is still music and dancing and good books.

I'd put the link here if I could find it...Martha Beck is the author...but it's Oprah, after all, and she probably has it locked up. It was in the September 2011 issue and if you want a copy, let me know. I'll mail it to you.

That's enough pontificating, eh?

Here's another article I enjoyed. Calvin Trillin writes about a new way to measure pretentiousness: the ACI or Asshole Correlation Index. Very funny, very true. We can't wait to try it out in a public place.

Here I am writing about rose-colored glasses and my sweet husband comes out of the bedroom to tell me about one of his post-apocalyptic alien survivalist dreams. I couldn't make that shit up when I was awake much less dream it.

I have dreams that I write books like The Party What Started Out as Jumpin' Around. I think I'll stick with that.

the week starts out with winter's return

2012-01-17T19:04:00.001-06:00

I barely left the house yesterday (Sunday) but I know it was warm outside because I saw people walking with their jackets open and no hats or gloves. I should have taken advantage of that but I didn't.

The wind today was cold and wicked ass bad. Sorry for the cussing.

My friend, Jill, spotted this book title on Amazon this morning: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. She said it sounded like a title that came from one of my dreams and it surely does.

I made cabbage rolls for dinner. I have never eaten cabbage rolls, or even seen them, in my memory anyway, and to make them more palatable I gave them a pizza flavor. I used pizza sauce and added fennel and Italian herbs. Regis calls the hallupke or something and said his mama is rolling in her grave because Polish cabbage rolls do not taste like pizza. I said next time I would skip a step and just chop the cabbage and make it into a hotdish. Hahahahaha. This is how ethnic food transforms.

It's young Regis's birthday today. He is over thirty but I'm not going to figure out by how much because it will make me feel old. I should have invited him down for pizza hallupke but at some point, your kids don't want to celebrate their birthdays with their parents...until they get to be about 50, right Mom?

I have to go and listen to folkmusic etc on KMSU.

road trip

2012-01-14T19:36:00.000-06:00

Road trip today with Gus in the back seat. Many stops (Coop, Friendly Confines, River Rock, Kohls, Aldi's, MGM, Walgreens, Famous Dave's) while Regis either waited with him or we took a seat by a window. He enjoys traveling but doesn't like to be alone. It was a fun day. Now...Delbert McClinton, sauvignon blanc, rib tips, and the fireplace.

Maybe we discovered a way to do some things without hiring a babysitter. We scoped out a few places with windows where we can keep an eye on Gus in the car. We thought we'd tell people that our kids were in the car so they would give us the seats we want. I know...not funny.

Tonight we're going to recreate the great Sideways caper.

I have several funny stories about Sideways. The first we saw it, we invited some friends over to see it, then checked out the reviews where it was called a "horndog road trip". Sound of screaming. These were not the kind of friends who would enjoy that kind of humor, I assumed. I was wrong. They laughed and slapped their knees and we had a wonderful time.

The second time.

Betty: I bought a fifty dollar bottle of wine to see if it's better than cheap wine.

Me: Betty: You don't like wine. (Thinking that I would like to know...)

Betty: Oh, that's right.

Me: Why don't you come down with your wine. I'll buy a bottle of expensive wine and we'll watch Sideways.

So, there we were. Regis and Betty are not fond of wine. Tom and I finished off two bottles of really nice wine and then a bottle of cheap wine. We decided the expensive wine was better but that we would have to get different jobs to support our wine habit.

one more cup of coffee then out the door

2012-01-14T09:38:00.003-06:00

I was sitting in my chair last night about dusk, well, make that 4:30 about dusk and I realized that I had no plans to be out of the house until Monday. Sometimes this is fine but last night with the landscape that resembled Siberia and the falling darkness, it was not fine. I had a mental moment.

Consequently we have plans to head out to do some things today. A stop at the food coop, a stop at Friendly Confines in LeSueur, a stop at Kohls in Mankato and maybe Aldi's for some coffee. Gus will ride along in the back seat.

This morning, I have been sitting in front of the fireplace making my menu and grocery list for the coming weeks. I must be tired of my own cooking, too, because I bookmarked some new recipe websites.

Karen, thanks for the recommendation on the book. I bought it for my Kindle in the middle of the night when I was awake and started reading it this morning. I think I'll like it.

It's cold here again this morning...about ten degrees...with a light snow. The flakes are so small you can barely see them. The ground is not quite covered but it is accumulating. That's all the news from my weather channel.

A friend of mine, a frequent poster on Facebook, shares stories of meals cooked, meals enjoyed at restaurants, books read, trips taken, friends and relatives gathered. Reflecting back, she wondered if she was being too focused on herself and she resolved in 2012 to be less that way. Here is her post:

Around the beginning of the new year, I was reading an article in the New York Times about the self absorption of the younger generation, probably fueled by Facebook, where they write and receive feedback on the trivia of their life. I thought, right, where did they get the idea that that stuff is worth writing about or of interest to anyone. Everything is so overdone I get the idea they might hire a professional photographer to record at their death bed, at least I won't be around to watch that. Then it struck me - that's exactly what you do, Sharon. I write, because I love to write, but it may give people the idea that I think the minutia of where I'm going, what I'm doing, what I'm eating are of major import and interest. It's the kind of thing only my mother would probably want to hear. And maybe not even mom would really care. I remember when Tim's mom would ask what he had been up to, he would say "nothing much." Then I'd try to fill her in, but she would cut me off and wander on to her latest news. As a psychologist he knew that she might consider it bragging and people are really just being polite and waiting for their chance to speak. My New Year's resolution - not to focus on me. This won't be easy, I'm kind of a major player in my life & I enjoy my life & it's the only one I've got. (Now that my children are adults they are entitled to their own lives, so I don't plan on living my life through them.) I won't be telling you about last night's supper, a tomato, garlic tart on puff pastry that I made, and of which Tim ate every last crumb. Or maybe I'll just include a disclaimer, "The following is only the ramblings of the writer and is not necessarily of interest or import to anyone else."

I replied with this:

Like you, I write somewhere about most of the details of my life. I had never given a thought that it might seem vain or self-centered. I love reading about the minutiae of your life and I love writing about mine...so let's not stop. Toss that resolution to the curb. Live a rich full life and tell stories about it!

And she replied:

I'm forgetting my self-effacing, Scandinavian Lutheran guilt and taking Teresa's advice and try to live a rich full life and write about it. Taking pleasure in the little stuff is what I'm all about.

So, there you go. We do reflect and think about all we share and we come to the conclusion that if you don't want to know, don't read it. Haha!

I posted a message to Tom and Betty here the other day. I hope I'm not taking liberties by publishing this update from them as a guest post.

We miss y'all [how's that for Texas]. Since Betty and I have been down on the island we've been doing a lot of walking. We'll walk a couple of miles then stop for a beer at one of the beach bars they have here. We do this a couple times a day. The first four days I was really stiff and sore but have gotten quite good at walking again [the drinking part of the exercise was never in doubt]. I really haven't done this since my letter carrying days. The weather has been great except for a few windy days. We go out to eat every couple days - lots of seafood and mexican. Half a block away is Jake's bar and grill with some pretty good specials. Tomorrow is carnita night so will try it out. We like it here so much that we're thinking of doing three months here next year and bring the dogs. The place we have now is for a month, but we've decided to extend our stay another two weeks at another place that is dog friendly and if we like it we will have first choice for next year. It's half of a duplex and we can let the dogs out in the back yard. It's also cheaper than the place we have now. New years day was the polar bear plunge down here. Tell Hombre I got pictures. It was moving day from the motel right there at Boomerang Billy's across the street to our condo so I couldn't register to do the plunge myself. Anyway, the water temp is 65 degrees [brrrr!]. So long for now.

Off to do the errands and have a little fun.

after two days of wind that would take your head off if you were crazy enough to go outside

2012-01-12T19:49:00.002-06:00

It's a well-known fact that I hate wind. I have always retreated to the basement when the wind blows for extended periods of time. I believe it goes back to my Norwegian immigrant roots. If I had lived in a poorly chinked log cabin in the winter in Minnesota, it would have taken a lot of grapes to make enough wine. That's all I can say about that.

So, Regis just called and said Gus has been invited to disenroll from the class he is currently in and to enroll in a different class where he can.....get more individual attention. I SPENT MY WHOLE CAREER IN SPECIAL ED AND I KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS. Ah, well. In life, you never know what you get.

I continue to be made aware of the bizarre ways in which people believe God communicates with them electronically. I cannot get my head around this. I was raised a Lutheran. I studied the catechism. This much we know is true. No mention was made of God and Facebook.

I have reawakened my reading chi and spent about an hour this afternoon with my kindle, weeding out books I thought I wanted to read but turns out I don't. I have such a narrow band of things I like to read....no crime, no violence, not much suspense, no aliens, no flashbacks, no graphic sex. I pretty much like a linear character driven plot. Ah, well.

untitled

2012-01-12T06:07:00.001-06:00

Regis found a photo booth app for his iPad. We can take pictures like the old photo booths at the fair and the mall. Ha! We want to have a photo booth party where people bring props and we provide costumes and we take pictures. Does that sound like fun?

My hair looks like crap because once you slap a wig on your head, your hair does not recover well. Ah, well. One of life's problems but not a big deal.

I like to wear sunglasses in flash pictures because I always close my eyes.

I think I like the black and white version better...it looks more authentic.

I continue to be amazed by the number (infinity) of apps that seem to be available and I am ever curious about who makes them. Who sits around waiting for an idea to come and then invents an app? Is invent the right word? Probably not...probably develop.

I was sitting at work the other day and heard two people having a conversation about web development. It was like a foreign language.

I feel like in the last month, I entered a new phase at work. It doesn't feel like I have to struggle so much with the basic parts of the job. They're becoming sort of automatic now so my chi can be aware of and concentrate on other things.

And because the basic parts require less brain function, I can have fun with the other parts. I caught one the other day...a friend was speaking about someone she knew who has a huge organic garden. The lightbulb went on way earlier than it would have two months ago. It would have taken a few days to crank that thought out then. I am connecting the dots faster.

Regis and I watched the movie Sweetland again last night. It's based on the short story by Will Weaver called A Gravestone Made of Wheat. I read it for the first time in the Sunday Tribune Picture magazine about 25 years ago. The next day, I took it to school and read it aloud to twenty high school boys. I cried when I read it at home so I thought the tears were done but I cried like a baby when I got to the end and they were mesmerized. It was one of the great truths of my teaching career: Kids learn as much from your reaction to things as they do from the thing itself, maybe more. They talked for a long time about how moved I had been by that story.

The movie is wonderful, for the story, for the setting, and for the harshness of the times. They changed the plot which is an irritant to me...the plot was the magical thing about the story but I guess they had to add that modern element of real estate sale in the end. Ah, well. No less magical. I love the movie.

Here is a link to a Word document with the story. And the movie.

It's a sweet read and a great movie.

I hate the wind. I really hate it. It's been howling all night and I can't stand it. I think I'll work in the basement today.

another dream book

2012-01-11T08:21:00.001-06:00

From time to time, I dream a book title like: The Party What Started Out as Jumpin' Around. They are never fully developed concepts and so far, no books have been written based on a dreamed title. Last night I had another book title dream and I had to get up in the middle of the night to email it to myself.

It's a memoir. I just finished Roger Ebert's memoir so I suppose memoir is on my mind. I am also well-known for my love of cooking and my affection for flamboyant costume jewelry. The title of my book was this, written exactly like this:

NIB

BLING

Nibbling. Get it? Hahahaha!

A message to Betty and Tom. We miss you. Your house seems empty when we drive by even though we know your pets are there and someone is taking care of them. Your bar stool at Patrick's has cob webs on it, Tom. Your end of town is just a little bit darker than it used to be. Come home soon.

stuff i've noticed...my sarcastic side

2012-01-10T07:24:00.000-06:00

I've been a little disturbed lately about the parking wars going on around town. This is not a new thing, nor is it unique to St. Peter.

The gym where we go is next door to a building that was recently purchased by a pizza restaurant. There is a parking lot between the two buildings. One of the owners of the pizza place came over a while back and asked the owner of the gym to let patrons know that they were not allowed to park in the parking lot anymore as it is part of their lease, they keep it clean, their customers need it, etc.

The owner of the gym sends an email and posts signs reminding us not to park in the parking lot. Yeah, we get it.

Then comes an officious, rude, and threatening letter (written on pink and blue paper) saying that people who do park there will be fined and have their cars towed at their own expense yada yada yada.

So, the owner of the gym posts her own signs that there is no parking in front of her business from 5:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. At least she didn't mention towing.

Can't we all just get along?

I'm thinking that I go there for exercise. If I have to park a half block away so some dude can get right in front of the pizza joint, I can deal with that. His heart attack, I figure.

I see this all over in Mankato. No parking. Parking for customers of this store only.

We have certainly become uncivilized.

I noticed something weird in the paper Sunday. I like to read the obits and noticed a section called In Memory (or the Latin equivalent). There were prayers there, written to God, about people who have died. God reads the classifieds?

This is like some of the posts I see on Facebook: Dad, it's been two years since you passed. We miss you! Dead people have Facebook accounts?

Yesterday as I got ready to go to work, I heard a huge noise in the street. It was a giant gas-powered digger picking up Mike's tiny Christmas tree. It had the tiny tree pinched between the giant claws and it motored down the street to drop the tree into a giant dump truck.

I have been walking around town so I know. There are about a dozen of those discarded trees on the north side of St. Peter. I'm thinking a dude in a pick-up and a dude jumping out every six blocks or so could pick them all up in an afternoon. What about our carbon footprint? Besides...it looked ridiculous.

Regis and I have been watching Woody Allen movies because for some reason, I missed them in the 70's and 80's when they were fresh. Last night we finished Small Time Crooks. I love the part where Frenchie's taste is criticized as "low rent" by her hoity toity friends...they say it looked like a leopard exploded in her living room. There I sit...on a leopard chair, in a leopard scarf, wearing a leopard bracelet and a leopard belt. The irony did not escape me.

sunday

2012-01-08T11:40:00.001-06:00

Regis and I get our beef from Mike out by LeCenter so we sometimes get cuts of meat we aren't sure how to cook. I looked at some recipes yesterday but most had gravy and I didn't want gravy so I invented this recipe. It was delicious and we will make it again!

Round Steak Zapata

2 pound (?) round steak, seasoned liberally with something spicy. We used Penzey's Southwest
Brown steak in vegetable oil on both sides.
Slice up two red peppers and two white onions. Toss them in the frying pan aside the meat. Stir them a bit so they get some of the spice and the oil, add about a 1/4 cup of salsa, then cover.
I cooked the meat for an hour, turning once, and stirring the vegetables from time to time.
At the end, I took the meat out and sliced it into about half an inch thick. Return meat to pan.
I shredded a circle of Cacique Manchego (Mexican melting cheese) and covered the meat and vegetables with the cheese. Recover until the cheese melts...just a few minutes.
Dump the whole business on a platter. Serve with your favorite hot sauce or salsa and sour cream.

We had a family of five cardinals in our feeders this morning. They sort of jockeyed for positions with the white-eared squirrels.

I took all the ornaments off the tree today and packed them up. Ella wants to come over and decorate the tree for Valentine's Day. If you see Valentine's Day tree decorations somewhere, let me know.

As a reward, I'm going for a walk. I like to take my iPod on Sunday and listen to either the Moth or the radio. I like Car Talk & Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, or Prairie Home Companion.

Pictures from last night.

Gus was playing with a leather football on a rope, swinging it around in the air, whacking himself in the head, and occasionally losing control of it. I predicted disaster and sure enough, the football got away, hit my wine glass, dumped it on the floor and ice went skittering in every direction. The glass didn't break and the wine was gone...only things that kept it from being labeled a catastrophe.

Doesn't he have the cutest face?

Thanks to my friend, Jill, I have a subscription to Bookmarks magazine and now have a notebook with a list of books I want to read. I add to it with every issue of Bookmarks and every Sunday when I read the Variety section of the paper.

Well, off for my walk. I might take my little camera and take a few photos to document the day.

weekend in winter

2012-01-07T16:39:00.000-06:00

It doesn't seem like a weekend in winter. It's brown, it's warm, and there are no predictions of the blizzard of the century bearing down on us. It's very boring.

I have been spending more time at my desk this week...sorting junk mail, writing down addresses, getting organized. I dug out an old address book because I can't seem to manage keeping track of them electronically. Now, I'm on the hunt for my really old address book that I've had since the 70's. Once in a while, I like to count how many times different people have moved. Ha! I know...strange. It's interesting to go through an old book like that and see how many people have just dropped out of your life.

Ah, well. I'm tired of digging around in the archaeological dig of my life. I think I'll move into the future and write the first paragraph of next year's Christmas letter.

The things I did today going backwards:

Put a well-seasoned round steak on the stove with lots of peppers and onions and a little hot salsa.
Ordered invitations for our 60th birthday party in June.
Took Gus for a three-mile hike.
Cleaned up around my desk.
Took a tub of pictures and memorabilia to the basement.
Took a bag of paper trash to the recycler.
Wrote the first paragraph or two of next year's Christmas letter.
Did the dishes and picked up the house.
Designed a badge for some friends at the coffee shop.

All in all, a productive and fun day.

don't sleep and eat

2012-01-04T08:48:00.001-06:00

When I was at the Pulse this morning, I remembered a dream.

I was running and running and running and I thought, "Wow. I can't believe how easy this is!"

Well, yeah. In a dream.

I woke up at one point in the night and was hungry so I ventured out to the kitchen for a Clementine orange and a handful of dry roasted peanuts. I started reading...and then fell asleep. A while later, I woke up surrounded by orange pieces and peanuts. Don't sleep and eat. It's like drinking and driving. Mutually exclusive activities.

early morning

2012-01-04T06:25:00.001-06:00

Sitting in the living room with the Christmas tree lights on and drinking coffee...looking out into the dark morning...reading a little...writing a little. Yesterday, I packed up the second third of the Christmas decorations. Why do they look so pitiful when they're piled up on a chair, waiting to go back into boxes?

I'll keep the tree up for a long time but will change out the Christmas ornaments for Valentine's Day, then St. Patrick's Day. I need the light.

Ella wants to come and help with the Valentine's Day tree. She was disappointed that I had done the Christmas tree without her. Who knew that she would remember that and look forward to it. We'll make an occasion of the next tree trimming.

Last year was a Christmas card winter. We had beautiful fluffy snow all winter and it never got brown and slushy until it was ready to melt in the spring. I know it made travel, by foot and by car, difficult but it was so much more aesthetically pleasing. This winter, you just put your head down into the wind and shuffle like a penguin on the ice covered walks. This is a Siberia winter...without the cool fur hats.

I didn't read much at all in the last three years. My theory was that since I hadn't ever exercised, all of my energy (my chi?) was going to my muscles instead of to my head. I went along with this theory thinking it was wacky and something I made up but now that I read about chi, I might be right. It's my life force, diverted to my quads and triceps.

Now, I'm back to reading. I haven't given up exercise, in fact, increased time and intensity in the last month. Maybe my chi has learned to do both. I think I'll read up on inner alchemy.

it doesn't get much better than this...

2012-01-02T06:25:00.000-06:00

A birthday party when you're six years old...

An uncle who will wear a tiara because you ask him to is a pretty special uncle.

Ella and her Nana

Blowing out the candles

Alex wanted it to be his birthday, too.

Ella and Halley

We traveled to the other side of town in the icy wind to celebrate Ella's birthday. There was lots of excitement in the air.

Saturday when Ella was at our house, we sorted through my jewelry box and junk drawer. She went home with an old purse full of discarded plastic cards, bits of bracelets, charms, a single earring, and some stories we wrote on little pieces of paper. Her mom told me she was more excited about the purse full of junk than she was about the presents. Ha!

I thought the weather man said the wind would go down by midnight. If it did, it returned with a vengeance. Ugh. I don't even want to go outside. Wind is my least favorite weather event.

I have a full day. The Pulse from 7-8:30. Coffee with Joanne at 8:45. Work as soon as I can get there.

Keep your hood up and your head down today, friends.

the new year dawns windy

2012-01-01T14:24:00.000-06:00

Regis got some kind of electronic message this morning regarding a high wind alert. You know how those things come out of nowhere...the messages, I mean. I have no idea, most days, how information gets into my head because there are too many sources. Way too many sources. And really? Someone had to send a message that it's windy? I knew that in the middle of the night when I was half asleep with my eyes closed.

I bought myself a present for the new year, a Kindle Fire. I was resistant at first, then came to the conclusion that at the rate I am reading right now, I will fill the house with books again shortly and we don't have room. So, if I wanted to attempt a conversion to electronic reading, I had to get something friendlier than the Kindle I was using, an older model black and white job. I was not a fan of that Kindle. I didn't like that I never got to see the cover of the book. I couldn't remember titles of authors because I didn't have any visual framework. I missed seeing the back cover and the short reviews.

I spotted this on Amazon the other day and bought it kind of impulsively. I love it, though. It's got vibrant colors, it's easy to use, and the writing looks like a real book. It's backlit so I can read in bed without a light on and I like that. It does email and the web and all of that which wasn't a big selling point for me, but what the hell.

It has pretty much rendered my phone useless because it does everything my phone does except make calls. Hey, that's funny. I think I'll go back to something that just makes calls. That would be....a telephone!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home. We are not apt to partake of the NYE frivolity anyway, both of us having an aversion to loud and crowded bars but our dog prevents some of the socialization we used to get as he's a fifty-pound furry infant.

He's a character and we enjoy him immensely. Regis has taught him several great tricks which we intend to film and publish on Youtube. He can count to three, do a couple of easy math problems like two plus two and the square root of nine. He can answer a couple of easy questions. It's very amusing.

A cardinal in the bird feeder with his tail pointing into the wind almost was up-ended. Poor thing.

I'm working on my menu and grocery list for the next few weeks. It's a little hard to think of going back to normal cooking instead of big meals and left-overs.

I just got done with my major art project for River Rock. I have been dragging my feet on this for a long time because I feel inadequate about my artistic ability. I had the brain storm to do a collage instead of some fancy and elegant looking thing. Collage is probably more in keeping with our style anyway. It was fun and I think they look great. I did three for the staff and one for the farmers.

Moving on. Going to a birthday party for Ella at 5:00.

early winter morning

2011-12-31T08:40:00.000-06:00

It's almost 8 o'clock and barely light outside. I don't like this about winter. I need more light. I wanted to go for a walk this weekend but I don't think I want to battle 60 mph gusts. A guy has to put rocks in his pockets in that kind of weather lest you blow away!

I called River Rock and talked to Katie, the baker, about what she is making today so I can report via Twitter and Facebook. The longer I work there, the more it seems like a miraculous little place, that kitchen. I'm learning how their recipes are born and how they morph to fit a flavor profile. The other day I met the young woman who, with her husband, grows the organic wheat that they mill into our whole wheat flour. It's so nice to know where you food comes from.

Regis and I watched the movie Fresh last week. It's another one of those movies that you don't want to watch if you can't conceive of changing the way you eat. I bought Joel Salatin's book, Folks, This Ain't Normal...same message.

Tomorrow is Ella's 6th birthday so we're taking her out for lunch to Patrick's because it's her favorite place to eat. They have a chicken strip basket called the Cha Cha and it's what she always gets...with pink lemonade. I think I'll stop and get a few flowers from Mary for the table and maybe a balloon.

Here she is six years ago. We were in the hallway at the hospital when she was born and I wept when I heard her first cry. She has been such a miracle in our lives. (Of course, the other two...the little boys are too but I'll get emotional about them on their birthdays.)

It looks like the wind has already started. Just saw a very tall man running down the street...on the ice...looking very precarious.

I have to watch a Youtube video to learn how to operate my Kindle Fire. Ironic. I need one electronic device to learn how to operate another one.

Here's a link to a company that recycles electronic crap.

Gotta go. Happy New Year!

snow, new books, and leopard print chair

2011-12-30T10:07:00.000-06:00

Regis and I went to the Pulse this morning. I thought about packing a snack but didn't and should have. I was tired and hungry by the time I got home.

I'm sitting in my new leopard print chair as I write this. The snow is coming gently down. It's beautiful outside.
It was nice to move around on dry ground the last few weeks but really what is winter without snow? Three months of brown cold.

I'm reading three books: Stone Arabia, Folks, This Ain't Normal, and Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. They are all very good but I love Stone Arabia. I could underline something on every page. I feel like, in many cases, she read my mind. I wish I could write like that.

Ok, I am off to work. Hello, Friday! So glad for a weekend!

where'd this week go?

2011-12-29T17:59:00.000-06:00

One thing that has been difficult about retirement is that my routine keeps changing. Not in a bad way but in a way that makes it hard to have habits. I usually write on my blog in the morning but now I get up later, go to the Pulse later, go to work later....and suddenly the morning is gone.

We went to Mankato last night and I bought a bunch of throw rugs because our fifty-pound infant slides around on our new and quite expensive laminate floors. So, the lovely floors are covered up by cheap rugs. Holy crap. This morning I walked in the living room and Gus has managed to pull the threads on one of the rugs. The others of its ilk are going back to the store and we'll opt for something with a closer nap.

Funny, this dog does not chew things but he like loopy rugs. This is the third rug upon which he has pulled threads. What gives? Not a good dog to have if you are into shag carpet.

Reg watched the dog last night so we actually got to go to a restaurant for dinner. We picked a place whose food we like but...and this is a big but...there is a picture of John Belushi over the fireplace and there are a million large screen televisions. Yeah, too loud and too stimulating.

I usually have a rule that I will not eat in a place with more than one television but I can be over-ruled by good chicken wings.

I just heard on the radio that Adele is the hottest singer in the world. I have never heard her sing. I read a while back that Radiohead (also no clue) is the future of the world. Man, if they ever got Adele and Radiohead in the same room it would be cataclysmic.

We made a vigil to Schmidt's Meat Market after work today. I wanted a prime rib roast for New Year's Eve and maybe a lobster tail. I walk out with those plus cheese curds, beef stick ends, rib-eye steaks, and a New York strip steak....oh, and bacon. I need to refinance the house again.

We're doing a Woody Allen marathon this week. Tuesday night we watched Annie Hall and last night Hannah and Her Sisters. I liked Annie Hall but the other one not so much. Tonight we're going to watch The Purple Rose of Cairo. Regis says it's a comedy.

My new chair arrives tomorrow. And my new Kindle Fire. Livin' like a rich person lately.

I've resolved to read more on the Kindle. I need to get into the current century and since I don't know how to watch tv independently anymore, this is how I will accomplish that. I've been reading like crazy lately and I can't afford the money or the space to keep buying books at this rate.

We watched Fresh this week. Don't watch it if you don't want to change the way you eat.

boxing day on the patio and it's 45 degrees

2011-12-26T16:49:00.000-06:00

We had a fire in the chimnea this afternoon then cooked steaks on the grill. What a beautiful day even though it was windy. Very different from last year.Here's what the grill looked like last year...

to do list for today

2011-12-26T10:44:00.000-06:00

list of nice things from christmas eve

2011-12-25T11:04:00.001-06:00

We had help in the form of Reg and Amber and Ella who all arrived about noon to put the finishing touches on the day. Ella even filled the bird feeder! Regis brought in the big table, Amber frosted cookies, and everyone pitched in to set up the table.
Regis and Amber had great Christmas sweaters. They were a hoot....complete with ruffly collars, shoulder pads, and glitter.
The two little boys played so nice together and shared their toys.
Nobody had to battle icy roads or snow drifts to get here.
Little boys like to lick things to see if they like the taste (cookies and vegetables) and if they don't...back on the plate it goes. It took a team effort to keep an eye on the table and remove the licked items! Ha!
Ella decorated the rest of the gingerbread cookies with lots of sprinkles. She was content with the Christmas colors I picked even though she saw pink and purple in the drawer.
I set off more than one smoke detector in the making of the meal but we didn't have to evacuate. Nice to wake up this morning to the smell of chicken fat.
The food was delicious but we got a few reviews that the chicken wings were too spicy. This is a mostly Scandinavian crowd with no acquired taste for spice that burns the lips.
There was a minimum of tears. One adult and one child which isn't bad for an emotion-packed day at the end of a busy season.
When three-year old children open presents, they are just amazed by each one. They tear the paper and stare with big eyes. It makes your heart ache to watch. I'm so glad they were here so I could see it. There were lots of trains and trucks and cars and books.
One nice thing about Google tv (yes, I know....rant rant rant) is that we watched Santa cross the globe in his sleigh with Rudolph in the lead. The little ones were amazed and asked, "Where is Santa now? Where is Santa now?" There were some funny moments like when one of the adults said he's in Africa and Ella announced that Africa is south of Madelia.
Toward the end of the evening, Bob and Reg were wrestling. Our fifty pound furry infant was so dismayed he jumped into my lap. Gus is not exactly a lap-fitting dog. He was so tired when everyone left that we could barely get him up to go outside.
The pictures are a continuing source of amusement. I just looked at them again and noticed Reggie's happy face in this shot. Must be the Christmas sweater or a taste of pickled herring. ( That's our giant tv in the background with a yule log dvd playing. )

Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy last week of 2011!

some favorite pictures from christmas eve

2011-12-25T08:24:00.000-06:00

Alex

Amber helps Elliot open a present.

Three boys and Gus (see Elliot's head?)

Alex says cheese

Elliot looks askance

Peter and Elliot

Peter, Elliot, me, and Tiffany

Ella, Emily, and Bob

Regis and Amber in their ugly Christmas sweaters

Bob and Ella

Peter and Tiffany

Almost the whole gang...missing Elliot and Regis, the photographer.

Elliot

We had a wonderful Christmas. Lots of cooking decorating, present wrapping, eating, sipping wine, and laughing.

As always, the holiday was not without problems. I ran out of butter and blamed it on the shortage in Norway. Thank God, my daughter-in-law who lives three blocks away had butter at her house. As always, someone got sick, someone cried, toy pieces got lost, and the house is a complete disaster. It will take three hours to do the dishes again.

Such fun. Merry Christmas, everyone!

my nice and nasty list

2011-12-21T09:37:00.000-06:00

I like to make a list from time to time of things that have occurred so I can keep a perspective. Otherwise it is too easy to think that everything sucks or everything is wonderful. Basically, life is made up of both and if we just accept that, we are happier.

Nice. I've been searching the archives of my blog for a few pictures that seem to have drifted into the ether so I've been reading some of my old posts. There is some seriously funny shit here and someone should hire me to write a book. Hahaha! I crack myself up. Check out some of the Blasts from the Past on the right...or the popular posts.
Nice. Regis and I are making a Christmas card for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. He's a real character we met through our KMSU listening experience. We went to see him in concert because truly I could not imagine his fan base after hearing this. We have since become fans.

Nice. He has another song called My Underwear Froze to the Clothesline. It's one of my favorites but I'll let you search that out yourself on youtube. I love the internet.
Nasty. I love the internet unless some weird idea gets into my consciousness and won't get out. I won't say what it was because the person who said it probably believes that this weird idea is true. When you buy a ticket to the circus, don't be surprised by the clowns. It's my life's philosophy.
Nasty. Sometimes I feel like people would rather look at their iPads or their phones than talk to me and that hurts my feelings. Here is a bit of news. No, you can not talk to someone very well while you are sending a text message or reading some piece of crap on the internet. You will not be sucked into an alien universe if you stop looking at your phone for five minutes. The world will go on if you don't respond to a text message immediately. I hate text messages anyway. I can read, or write that small. On second thought, this is a TWICE Nasty.
Nice. Today is the Winter Solstice. Actually it's at 11:30 p.m. and I think we should stay awake, have a fire in the chimnea, and toast the return of the sun. I love the solstice. Regis is not sure about this as a plan as we rarely stay up that late. I would have to take three naps.

Nice. City Mouse is playing at Patrick's on Friday night. It's the celebration of their 40th anniversary of the band of my youth. I'm not sure that we'll make this happen either.

Nice. I went for a long walk in the sunshine yesterday afternoon. I listened to the Moth podcasts and some of them are so good they make me cry or laugh out loud which probably looks a little strange to people on the street.
Nice. We got a lovely Christmas card from the guy who did our floors for us. He and his wife are coming over after Christmas to see the finished product. The fact that he was such a nice (and funny) guy was part of the reason we decided to go with him instead of the cheaper bids. Well, that and the fact that he seemed to know what he was talking about which was not always apparent with the other folks.
Nice. Regis and I are enjoying our three times/week workouts at the Pulse. It feels good that we go regularly and it feels good to exercise. We don't talk much while we're there because we are doing our own things, but it's nice. Monday we went out for breakfast after our workout. It's 9 o'clock, we're sitting there watching the birds and drinking coffee, and I said, "What a nice life we have." This is TWICE Nice.

There you go. Out of all those things, only two nasty things and the one barely counts. I would recommend this as a writing or thinking exercise if you think your life sucks. It probably really doesn't....it just seems like it. The nasty things have more power if we dwell on them.

I hope my dreamy little philosophical meandering doesn't end up on your nasty list. That would be ironic. Hahahaha!

blues monday

2011-12-20T09:54:00.000-06:00

Regis took some more bird photos today. Aren't they beautiful? Amazing and beautiful little creatures.

We got a package in the mail today. Birds on stamps. We didn't know who they were from and the invoice didn't say. Turns out they came from my Cousin Deb. They have the red-bellied woodpecker picture Regis took so we were curious about how someone got it. Ha! Now we know...

I love this cardinal. Look at the detail in his feathers and in his comb. There were five in the apple tree this afternoon and Regis managed to capture three of them in one photo.

We're headed to the grocery store this morning as soon as it's light. I don't like going places in the dark of morning.

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. We'll have just a tiny bit over 8 hours of daylight assuming we have any daylight. It's been gloomy lately. If the sun is out today, I'm going for a walk.

Later.

Grocery store not too busy at 7:30 a.m. Just the stock folks running here and there. We're ready for our Christmas cooking now but I might need a nap before I get started.

sunday mid-december

2011-12-18T08:50:00.000-06:00

We had the nicest day yesterday. It started slowly and didn't pick up much speed as it went along.

We had a nice cheese and olive plate for lunch with a glass of wine. Regis put in It's a Wonderful Life and we watched it over the course of the afternoon. I took a short dozy nap. We made luscious steaks and grilled peppers for dinner. It was a great way to spend the day.

In order that I would be in the proper holiday spirit, I put on sparkly leggings and a sparkly dress that I bought at the consignment store. I didn't wear reindeer antlers but in retrospect, I should have.

I did a little internet shopping for the grandchildren. This is my dilemma of the season. Do I want to contribute to the crazy consumerism that Christmas has become or do I want to disappoint the little ones who come here on Christmas Eve? Bad Grandma. They should make a movie.

The good thing is that each of them has a birthday in the next two months so I can buy some things and divvy them up for Christmas and birthdays.

Sometime in the fall, a woman came into River Rock and started asking me questions about the River Rock garden. She wanted to see it. I said we could arrange that. Well, she didn't really want to see it, just wanted to know that we really had one. (We do.) Yesterday, she posted this very nice review. She's only reviewed three restaurants but one of them was Wise Acre in Minneapolis which has a wonderful reputation for serving local and seasonal food. Ta da! Our cooks (I like to call them culinarians.) should be very proud.

I'm going for a walk in the sunshine today, then to lunch and the Muppet Movie with a friend. Regis and I are making chicken with a big green salad for dinner. Maybe it will be a Sunday in pictures post tonight.

christmas light extravaganza

2011-12-17T06:19:00.000-06:00

Regis and I stopped at Patricks to have some wings and a beer with my old school pals, then drove around to look at Christmas lights. We like to pretend we're Christmas Light Display Critics and we give scores based on things like aesthetics, balance, mixing of light colors, theme, and overall appeal.

We didn't see too much that thrilled us although there is a house down by South that did a nice job of blending colors and light types. It got our highest score.

We're not fans of the mixing of rope lighting with big bulbs or the mixing of colored bulbs with plain white. We take a lot of points off for mixing themes...Baby Jesus with Santa, for example. That's just gross.

A cardinal sin in holiday decorating is to throw a net of lights over a bush. You might as well just leave the lights in the bag and toss the bag in the yard. Another faux pas is to hang the lights vertically or to just wrap the trunk. Light critics avert their eyes when they see that coming down the street.

Our neighbors, Mike and Erin, have one of the best trees in town. It's a huge tree and it takes Mike all day to hang those lights but they go horizontally around the tree all the way to the top, the strands of lights are close together, and all the multi-colored light strands are the same. This picture was taken last winter when we had a ton of snow but you can see it's a beautiful tree. Lots of Christmas tree cred there, Michael.

I did a Youtube search for holiday lights and found a lot of stuff like this. Don't play it if you have had any abnormal neurological brain activity because this will certainly trigger an episode. It's a bit much and I hate to think of the time some dude put in planning and executing this thing that must brown-out his entire neighborhood. Be sure to hit the play button because the lights go on and off to the music.

We don't have anything outside and hell I haven't even moved the plants that croaked when they froze. There is still a dead geranium sitting at the edge of my patio so we really aren't qualified to be critics.

It's going to be a quiet weekend at our house.Nothing to do today and I'm going to the Muppet Movie with Joanne tomorrow. A good weekend for bird watching and navel gazing.

ho ho ho

2011-12-16T06:33:00.000-06:00

I must say, everyone is willing to appease me at Christmas time by wearing silly hats. Thanks, Bob.

Gus didn't want to actually be in the picture, he just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Alex agreed to wear the hat after the group photo was done. Aren't they cute?

Working on the Christmas Eve menu. I don't feel quite the pressure to come up with a menu for this holiday like I do for Thanksgiving. We're making chicken wings and ribs and will supplement with offerings from the kids. Cowboy beans? Wild rice soup? Tiffany has requested Emerill's Twice Baked Potato Casserole so I can do that.

Ella is coming to do some cooking next week. Not sure yet what we'll make but it can't have dairy or eggs. Hmmm...vegan. Here's a recipe for gingerbread cookies. Do I have the gumption for this project?

party at our house!

2011-12-15T07:23:00.000-06:00

Regis and I had a little holiday celebration for our River Rock friends last night. Regis made spicy chicken wings and I put out a spread of cheeses, olive spreads, bread and crackers, and nuts. We had a good time...lots of laughing and story telling. Gus was confined to the kitchen for a while then he settled down and was allowed to join the guests. He's a very sociable dog so he enjoyed all the attention.

Tonight we're having Bob and Emily, Ella and Alex for a spaghetti and meatball dinner. We've only had 50% response rate to our invitation which is disappointing but we're encouraged by our 75% rate on the "your own cell phone plan" which is our new standard of independence. You can't have everything.

There won't be much creativity in the cooking tonight except I might try to make a loaf of bread before I go to work. I don't bake much anymore. They make such great breads at work so if I want bread, I get it there.

I better stop sitting here and get moving.

if you get a christmas letter from me

2011-12-14T06:37:00.000-06:00

You better frame it and hang it in a place of glory.

Remember the other day when I said my printer was acting up and I was just going to take my letter to the local print shop to have it printed?

I did that yesterday. Fifty copies. Two-sided. Color. Didn't bother to ask how much it cost.

So, when I go to pick them up, I get two reams of paper, a bunch of envelopes, and some stickers.

Drum roll.

$175.00

I almost had a heart attack. I shrieked. I asked why so much. Two-sided color copies he said. I said HOLY SHIT.

I wanted to ask if we could soak the ink off the paper and suck it back into the machine.

There is a lesson in this.

I could have bought three new printers for the price of that copy job.

last year: snow and sunshine

2011-12-13T05:42:00.000-06:00

This is what it looked like last year on this date. I want this weather instead of the forty degree gray soup that we have. I walked past a woman yesterday who said brightly, "Isn't it a nice day?" Holy shit. What is she thinking? I said if I wanted weather like this I'd move to Seattle.

rambling and ranting about technology

2011-12-13T05:16:00.000-06:00

I can be forgiven for rambling thoughts when it's 4:30 a.m., right?

Here I am. It's dark, it's cold, and the stores don't open for at least 4 more hours. I have things to do!

Yesterday, I did my walking errands. Today, I do the driving errands. My printer always craps out at Christmas time. It's amazing that an inanimate object has such a great sense of timing. This time, it won't recognize the black ink cartridge even though we've cleaned the jets, replaced the cartridge, rebooted the whole printer, and done all the other easy fixes.

And like most things, you can probably buy a 40 dollar part or replace the printer for about 75 dollars. Shit.

I'm going to take my Christmas letter to the print shop down the street. I'm not fighting with the printer anymore.

Tiffany was over the other day and she spent some time reading through the old Christmas letters which live in the back of the Christmas recipe binder. She thought they were hilarious. I said they got less funny as our kids grew up and we didn't have as much to be sarcastic about. Ha! That is absolutely true. Teenagers make great writing material.

I've been thinking about Google tv. If you don't know what it is, I'm not going to be a very good source of information. I put it in google (heh) and found this http://www.google.com/tv/. But of course, it's all in video and such. No printed information. I'd check it out. Apparently, it's the future of the world.

I'm not even crying about the demise of letter writing, although I am, but this seems to be a way to spend your life sitting in front of the television. It's all there...movies, sit coms, Youtube, the web, email, apps, and probably even Angry Birds.

I wish people would stop inventing stuff because I can feel myself getting behind and I can feel myself getting a bad attitude. I used to worry about it and the fear of suddenly refusing to do things like set a digital clock forced me to learn about computers and cell phones and such.

But I've realized, that for me, technology is just a means to an end. I like the way it makes a lot of things easier. I like being able to shop for things world-wide, I like being in touch with people I don't see very often (or never), I like being able to publish my blog and pictures and I like reading newspapers and daily poems and blogs of friends.

I am complaining vociferously about the time and brain energy it seems to suck and about the social dysfunction it seems to create. Seriously, I had a young woman at my Thanksgiving table sending text messages beneath the table cloth.

I can't complain out loud about this at home too much because Regis is a fan of technology for it's own sake. He loves gadgets. Loves, loves, loves gadgets.

In our house (where two people live) we have these things by which one could access the internet: two cell phones, two desk top computers, a laptop computer, an iPad and probably a thing or two I have forgotten. News flash: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH WORTHWHILE SHIT ON THE INTERNET TO MAKE THIS MUCH CRAP NECESSARY.

We were talking about it last night and he said Google tv is kind of like your first Commodore computer. What??? I had to google that to see what it was. Or, he said, it's like when you used to wonder when phones would become cordless. These are thoughts I never had.

My old friend, Steve Schipp, used to say that the world is made up of two kinds of people: Those who know how to drive fork lifts and those who do not. Maybe it's that kind of thing. Maybe the world is made up of two kinds of people: Those who get Google tv and those who do not. Put me in the latter.

birds for mom

2011-12-11T11:47:00.002-06:00

the first dinner

2011-12-10T19:08:00.001-06:00

Well, here it is. Evidence of the first family dinner. Tiff and Elliot came over tonight for a spaghetti and meatball feed. Elliot dragged out every toy for forty miles and ransacked the house. He sat on Pop-pop's lap and watched Thomas movies. He ate candy canes and ginger cookies and petted Gus. We had a wonderful time.

We didn't eat all of these tonight but in true Teresa fashion, I had too many meatballs. In the words of my ex mother-in-law Edna, you would hate to run out so you have extra, just in case.

Elliot enjoyed his spaghetti, his green beans, his clementine oranges, and just about everything but the ginger cookies which he proclaimed "too spicy".

Elliot likes to say "bummer" when he senses that things are not right. But he says "bummer-t". Tiffany corrected him and he said yup and the next time he said, "Bummer-t" and we would laugh. He did it to amuse us. Ha! Little kids. It's what they do.

birds and saturday

2011-12-10T09:20:00.000-06:00

We've had quite a flock of birds at our feeder this year. A family of cardinals, mom and dad and two juvenile males, come regularly. Since Regis has a new camera, he likes taking pictures of them. He gets frustrated with the focus through the front window but I think they're gorgeous. So real you could almost reach out and pet their feathers.

We have a haltered gray cat who comes to the bird feeder. This is not good. I don't know if there is a cat leash law in St. Peter but there should be. Who wants a cat stalking their bird feeder?

Tiffany and Elliot are coming for dinner tonight. We invite the kids for a meal each in the month of December...probably said that before...and this is their day. We're making spaghetti and meatballs (Elliot's favorite meal) with a salad, green beans, and bread. I bought a box of cookies for dessert since I don't bake anymore.

One of the things we do is take a family picture of all of us wearing funny hats. I seem to have a thing for funny hats. I bought three snowman hats when we went to Canby a few weeks ago so there will be photos in funny hats.

Regis has me convinced that we should make one batch of cookies for Christmas Eve. Yeah, maybe. We'll have to ration them out like gold.

We're doing a meatball making marathon today. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Happy Saturday!

cold

2011-12-08T06:13:00.000-06:00

I'm having trouble with the cold weather. I have plenty of warm clothes but when I go to work, it's hard to judge just how warm or cold it will be inside the building. Monday I froze all day so Tuesday I dressed in several layers and wore a pair of warm boots. By noon, I was in the bathroom stripping off the layers. Good grief.

I have some kind of respiratory thing. In the night, I was sure I had strep throat but turns out, I don't think I do. I have been up drinking tea since 4 and I feel better.

I am stumped by something. When I send an email, there is a picture of me attached to it that I can't find. It's a picture of me taken Saturday but how did it get to attach itself to my gmail messages? Very strange. I have checked all the settings and profiles and harrumph. No idea.

In the middle of last night, Regis forgot to close the bedroom door so Gus woke up and wandered out. I stumbled out of bed to retrieve him and close the door. He darted past me back into the bedroom, leaped onto the bed and took my spot on the heated mattress pad with his big head on my pillow. We laughed and laughed. He is a hoot. He comes out in the morning to see what I'm doing, then goes right back to bed. Gus that is.

Here is the book I just finished reading on my Kindle: Great House by Nichole Kraus. I loved the book but I wish I had read the real book and not the electronic version. It's structure is that it's 4 stories told over 8 chapters over a long period of time. I have trouble following that many stories without the actual pages to serve as the framework.

I've purchased every book that Howard Norman wrote...at least the ones I can find...and I'm reading them, too. What is Left the Daughter and The Bird Artist are my favorites so far but they're the only two I've read. I started reading Devotion the other night.

I got the annual Whitaker Christmas letter yesterday. I look forward to it and it never disappoints. Linda's husband Allen writes it and he's very funny. It's the perfect Christmas letter because it tells about their home and their lives and their adventures. Not just their kids or their ailments. Life does go on after your kids grow up and it's nice to be reminded of that.

Regis just went off to buy groceries at 6 a.m. We'll do anything to avoid crowds. I'm going back to bed for a while.

a little christmas fun on saturday

2011-12-04T13:08:00.000-06:00

I love this picture. Regis looks like the thought bubble would say: We're gonna make the dog wear what? And you're gonna wear what???

Yes, the plan was to have Gus wear a string of battery-operated lights and a set of antlers. He would sit up nice and tall like this dog.

It didn't turn out that way at all. Gus required treats to keep the antlers on and he didn't mind the lights but it was all a lot to manage. Mostly we just laughed.

So, here is Gus wolfing dog treats, antlers slipping off his head, and lights disappearing into his considerable fur.

He's so darn cute. You just have to imagine what they might have looked like had it turned out.

So, I got dressed up in my holiday finery, including a Marilyn Monroe wig, a velvet scarf, red and white tights, and Bob Dylan glasses. Gus is the most dignified thing in this photo.

Regis and I in our Wayfarer sunglasses, me in my cashmere scarf, and Regis in a Christmas tie. What a hoot.

I think Regis bears a striking resemblance to the Reverend Raven in this picture. Maybe I can get him to dress like this from time to time.

Here is the photo of Gus that got so much attention on Facebook this morning. Last time I checked, he had 17 comments and more than a dozen likes. He's some dog. People suggested he be on a Christmas card, a calendar, and a couple other things I can't recall. He does look regal.

Isn't Gus pretty on the red rug? He always wants to be where the action is and apparently he thinks I got some.

We took Gus with us to do some errands on Friday. He sure gets attention in the car. Sandy, was that you who said hello to him at the Post Office as you walked by?

I haven't spent the whole weekend in crazy fits of vanity. I have gotten a lot of things done...the autumn things stashed away, the winter things assembled in the living room, the dishes swapped out for Christmas dishes, the winter wine glasses gotten out of the top cupboard, and the sheets on the bed changed along with the electric mattress pad. Yeah, now I can have a warm bed at night!

I told Gus I would put on my faux beaver coat and take him into the back yard for a romp in the snow. It's beautiful out there. If it's going to be thirty degrees, we may as well have snow.

Next thing to do today (I don't have a list, believe me.) is to work on my menu and grocery list and to decide about a Christmas card or letter. Hmmm.

end o' the week

2011-12-02T07:37:00.000-06:00

Waiting to go to yoga this morning. I took Gus out into the yard at 6 o'clock and it's cold, baby. Very cold. Time to get out the serious winter coat and mittens and stop messing around with fall attire.

*-*+ Gus just wrote this by tapping his monster paw on the keyboard. He wants to go on a stick run and Regis said no. Ha!

I feel restless.

thursday, december 1

2011-12-01T07:03:00.000-06:00

Gus went into the vet's office yesterday to be neutered. I saw one of the vets at the bank and he said Gus was so happy to be there and just wagged his tail and smiled at everyone. Little did he know, but that's how this dog is...he never expresses any cranky thoughts. We're getting paid back for housing Bert all those years.

And if you don't recall the stories about Bert, check the side bar to the right for the Blasts from the Past. There are a few tales there. He was some dog.

Since we had the night off because our furry infant was in convalescent care, we went to Mankato for dinner. Had the usual great meal at Mazatlan, Regis got some sweat pants for our new Pulse adventure which starts Monday, and I got a very short haircut. I had to make two confessions to Patrick: Forgive me hairstylist, for I have sinned. I used cheap hairspray for the last week and I cut my hair myself on two occasions.

There's a little bit of snow on the ground this morning. I was thinking yesterday that if it's going to be thirty degrees, we might as well have some snow. It's so gray outside which does not contribute to a guy's good mental health. I took my laptop to work yesterday and spent the day working in the front of the coffee shop to take advantage of the sunlight and the socialization.

It was a fun day, actually. I got to work on some projects that have been languishing in a pile on my desk and I got a chance to visit with some of the baristas who I supervise but rarely see for more than a few minutes at a time.

This is a rant about Christmas music so don't read this paragraph if you're a fan. I don't really hate Christmas music but I object to it being blasted out of every electronic orifice from Menard's parking lot to the bathrooms at MSU starting about mid-September and going for the next four months. It's too much. We have some favorites that we play at home but I really don't want to hear some nasty ass version of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer as I'm pumping gas into my car. It's about enough to make you take a luger to the speakers.

Regis and I made a big purchase last night: Our first new furniture in years. He bought the Santa Fe chair that he has admired for years. It's a recliner but not as butt ugly as a recliner. It's a comfortable chair with lots of room on those wide arms for your stuff...beer cans and pizza and a magazine.

This is my chair. First I picked out a little red barrel chair but then I sat in this chair. I wasn't really fond of the pattern or the color but spotted a leopard print in the custom fabric pack. So I paid more and will wait six weeks for my chair to come in a leopard print. It's exactly what I wanted.

So Regis and I will look like 4th Street royalty sitting on our new thrones.

We're not so good at house redecorating. We finally (read the stories) replaced our floors and painted but the furniture we have has been here for ten years. We don't mind and in fact, like it. Our current furniture is leather for which we paid an unreasonably good price. The new faux leather chair was at the sacrifice of at least a few Nauga hides.

Thursday and on to the weekend.

books and the end of november

2011-11-29T07:13:00.001-06:00

I just finished two books by Howard Norman. I have been in a reading slump for some reason...could not find anything I wanted to read, much less finish. Here they are if you missed their mention earlier:

What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman
The Bird Artist by Howard Norman

I also started White Truffles in Winter by N.M. Kelby and really like that a lot, too. Here's a bit of the review from Amazon:

White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz. A man of contradictions—kind yet imperious, food-obsessed yet rarely hungry—Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis, who refused ever to leave Monte Carlo. In the last year of Escoffier's life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honored Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others. How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? N. M. Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.

I had to force myself to go to work yesterday...I wanted to stay home and find out how The Bird Artist ended. I thought about it all day and that means it was a good book.

My damn phone, for which I paid a fortune, isn't working. It won't mount the SD card, whatever in hell that means. I think it's outrageous that a phone that costs that much works so poorly. It's like going back to the age of the tin can and a piece of string.

My Android Phone Sucks

I suggested we go back to the place that sold us this POS but Regis said that would likely involve buying a new phone. Seriously? This is quite a racket these cell phone folks have. They are the new credit card companies, I swear. Sharks in blood-infested water.

To be fair, these are the things that are wrong with it:

It often won't respond. You can push the phone icon until your face turns blue and it won't make a call. I have said if anybody depends on my to make a 911 call, they're dead.
It won't scroll up or down most days unless I reboot and even then, it's a temporary fix.
My pictures are gone. Some feature. Take a bunch of pictures (really bad ones...) with your phone and then they mysteriously disappear. This entailed the purchase of a new SD card which also does not work.
Sometimes it won't ring when I have a call but the message appears later. Another nice feature.

I think I have to face the fact that cell phones are disposable and I mean after about a year. Those old phones lasted for decades so I'm going back to this:

Regis tells me I can continue to use my phone as a phone which is what I'll do since I don't care about apps and that crap anyway. God, I sound like an old crank, don't I?

We're up early to listen to Tim and Shelley talk about zombies on the radio. I don't care about (or even know about) zombies but Regis likes them.

Here's my list of favorite Christmas movies:

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
A Christmas Story (1983)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Frosty the Snowman (1969)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
The Nutcracker (Baryshnikov)
A Christmas Carol (1999, Patrick Stewart)
A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott)
The Nutcracker (George Ballanchine)
A Christmas Carol (1951, Alastair Sim)
A Christmas Carol (1962, Mr. Magoo)
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Carol (1972, Albert Finney)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

We better get busy.

After listing those movies and making a visit to old friends on a message board I belong to, I am feeling in a much more positive mood. I'm not going to let a cell phone debacle pull me down. Ha!

2011-11-28T07:35:00.001-06:00

sunday, sigh

2011-11-27T08:31:00.000-06:00

When I was a young teacher, I had a friend who always talked about Sunday Psychosis. It's the feeling you get at the end of a nice weekend, a mild dread at going back to work, a tiny resentment about giving up your life of freedom. Mike said he saw amoebas in the midst of his Sunday Psychosis.

I could be feeling this today. I avoid talking about my despair at the lack of sunlight in Minnesota in the winter because maybe acknowledging it makes it worse. I'm taking extra Vitamin D, hoping that will help. I don't think it's anything serious enough to see a doctor about or engage in any serious light ray box therapy...just a general malaise regarding the weather. Even a raging blizzard would help.

I have enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend to the fullest extent possible and now I am ready to move on to December meaning that it may be time to get out the Christmas lights. I'm not sure about the rest of that junk yet as it starts to feel like it's choking me after a while, but the lights, I can live with them.

Gus is going to be neutered on Wednesday. We don't think he'll care.

I'm going to change my haircut appointment to Wednesday from Thursday so we can enjoy a dinner out which is hard to do with a forty pound furry infant at home whining in his crate. I have a hankering for Mazatlan food so maybe that can work unless they're playing Christmas music. No shopping. I have an aversion to stores this time of year.

Regis and I have committed to going to the Pulse between 7:00 and 8:00 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week. Curves is closing and some of the women there want to come to the Pulse at 7:30. Right now they aren't open between those hours. We think it might help us with our exercise plans. We'll see if it feels like a major pain in the ass after a few weeks.

I finished reading Everything Beautiful Began After yesterday. Not the best book I ever read, but not bad. Beautiful writing which makes it worth the read.

Here's the day's plan: Exercise (yoga?) at 10:00, Christmas lights at 1:00, bird-watching and cooking at 4:00. Maybe some reading, some writing, and some paperwork. There you go.

observations

2011-11-25T16:53:00.001-06:00

We are going for a ride this afternoon. To Cleveland or LeSueur, some place not Mankato where the shoppers are converged. He says we shouldn't wait too long because the traffic gets bad. In Cleveland?

It took more than two hours to do the dishes this morning. I had offers of help last night but just didn't want to bother with it then. No regrets. It was sort of a zen moment (many of them...) as the sun came up red as fire in the eastern sky. Beautiful.

All the dishes are done and organized on the table waiting to be put away. I think I will take that job on tomorrow.

I'm not decorating for Christmas or even thinking about Christmas until December. I averted my eyes at the bank this morning when I saw they had Christmas stockings hung already. Can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving through the weekend?

Regis made this youtube video of an accidental series of pictures we took on the patio yesterday. It's a hoot.

We took some left-over pumpkin cheesecake to our friends, Jill and Larry. You can only deal with so many desserts and we had enough yesterday that each guest needed to eat an entire pie. Needless to day, the did not so hence, the massive amounts of left-over pie.

We took a drive out past the Greenlawn Cemetery, the Crystal Farms cheese factory, and Cleveland. We did not encounter any bad traffic. The skies sure look like November.

Regis is reading What is Left the Daughter and likes it, too. It makes him wonder about any anti-German sentiments his dad may have experienced during the war. Too bad we think of those things when it's too late to ask.

Gus slips around on our floors so today he has a set of slippers with gripping bottoms. I can't see this lasting too long because it takes a while to get them on...and they have to be removed when he goes outside...and then put back on. Ugh.

When we went to visit my mom a few weeks ago, Gus left a "calling card" behind one of the beds in the basement. My brother, Pat, discovered it and had to send a picture of it as proof. We are all dismayed and ashamed. This is why people don't like you to bring your pets to their homes.

Regis and I decided, on our drive, that we really don't like turkey. He did as good a job as could be done with a quality, farm raised turkey, but it's kind of dry and bland meat. There's a reason why we don't cook turkey all year round. Next year, I might be able to convince him to do a less traditional meat.

I think we're going to do our separate family meals this year where each of our off-spring will get a dinner invitation during the month of December. We did it last year and it was fun.

Regis just showed me a video of a melee in a WalMart where unruly mobs of people were trying to buy a two dollar waffle maker. Are they crazy? And there was more than one butt crack in the video, too, let me tell you.

I heard that there was a traffic jam in Mankato last night at 10:00 as people converged on the mall area. I don't think WalMart has anything I need that badly and I'd rather pay more if I did need a damn waffle maker.

That's all of my observations for the day. Going into the kitchen to make something easy for dinner. Maybe some of that left-over turkey. Oh, boy.

we made it through the day but left a mess

2011-11-25T07:03:00.002-06:00

Here you go. All here. We had a great time, good food, and left a big mess to be cleaned up this morning. Better get at it.

the mystery movie

2011-11-23T09:32:00.000-06:00

My friend, Karen, currently of Lake Tahoe and formerly of Atlanta, Georgia, wants to know about the mystery movie. She says she likes puzzles like this one. So, for Karen, I will describe everything I recall about this movie. But first, does anybody think it's ironic that a person like me, who has not been out of the state of Minnesota in the last five years except for twice and once was to Iowa and the other to South Dakota and barely over the border at that, has friends in far flung places? Ah, the internets are great.

So, here is the list of things I think I remember:

I think I saw it in the 80s.
It took place in the South.
There were dark scenes (black and white?).
There was a scene where women were putting pillows into pillow cases in the bedroom of an old house...lace curtains and flowery wallpaper kind of house.
There was a scene where some people were sitting under a weeping willow kind of tree.
A man gets shot for infidelity. I think by his wife. He had a name like Teddy Jay or something similar. He was a politician.
There were several strong women actors in the movie and one of them may have been that dark-haired, squinty-eyed woman.

I wonder what it is about this movie that I liked since I remember so little of it. I may have several movies mushed together in my head. The 80s was not a good decade for me in terms of remembering movies and such. I was raising little kids and getting by on very little sleep and was consumed with things like picture books and potty training. Not much intellectual capital.

ella spends the night at nana and pop pops

2011-11-23T06:16:00.001-06:00

The last few years, since she has been old enough to spend the night with us, Ella comes for an overnight before Thanksgiving to make a pumpkin pie. I picked her up at school yesterday and she came for our annual event.

Ella lost her first tooth a while back so she had to show the Paparazzo where the tooth used to be.

Ella is always nervous around Gus at first, then decides she loves him. He drapes himself over her like a big, furry blanket. He weighs almost as much as she does.

Ella has animal allergies but Gus is hypoallergenic so it's a good match. Our back yard is a mess with the melting snow so he practically needs a bath every time he goes out there. Regis ordered him some boots so we'll see how that goes.

Ella and I pose for some pictures with Gus. Ella gave me the low-down on school yesterday. She likes recess when she has snow pants and can go on the playground. She doesn't like it if she has to stay on the parking lot. She hates making letters and dislikes exercise, which, she reports, is not real school. She is learning to spell and demonstrated by spelling Gus and Peter...only missing a vowel here and there. Close enough!

Regis made a yipping noise to get Gus's attention and it cracked Ella up. She laughed and laughed but it worked every time. Notice who is paying attention.

Gus is almost too long for the love seat. Ella and I fit just fine. After the photo shoot, we watched some Roy Rogers and Dale Evans movies and then read books in bed.

Gus putting on his cutest dog face. He met Roger, the doodle from down the street yesterday. Roger is a year and half old and weighs 75 pounds. Regis says he doesn't look all that much bigger than Gus so maybe he will just fill out and not get taller.

Ella with her pumpkin pie. She wanted to cut into it last night so we made a little extra pumpkin stuff so she could eat it like pudding. With some autumn sprinkles on it, she pronounced it delicious.

Here's what I have done so far: pie (thanks to Ella!), Intense Chocolate Brownies (of which I am quite proud...recipe from the Flour Cafe in Boston), chocolate pumpkin truffles, cornbread for dressing, and spicy cranberry chutney. Ta da!

Peter is coming over tonight to spend the night and help with the Thanksgiving preparations. He likes to cook so I think I'll turn him loose with the dressing prep and the salad makings. Regis is making the ribs we had the other night that were so good.

We have busy mornings out and about but then will be home for more cookin'!

i have much for which to be thankful

2011-11-22T07:55:00.000-06:00

Without being too sappy and going on about family and friends and good health...here is my list for 2011.

1. I am thankful that I can get out of the bathtub without help. I was headed in a direction where that might have been possible for long. I am thankful for Rachel kicking my sorry ass on a regular basis and increasing the chances that I will be mobile into old age. Here's hopin', anyway.

2. I am thankful for a husband who appreciates good food and doesn't mind a hot pepper now and then. I have been in the presence of people who refuse to eat onions or garlic, for God's sake. I was married to a man who, seriously, would ask a waiter, if onions had been cooked on the same grill as his hamburger. Do these folks have abnormal taste buds? Does all their food taste like Wonder Bread?

3. I am thankful for a temperament that allows messiness in my life: trees that shed sticks, a huge dog who brings untold amounts of dirt and detritus into our house, books and papers that look like clutter but aren't. There are probably more things but I can't think of them right now, the result of a slightly messy brain.

4. I am thankful for Google. I have a good memory but it's short and all the things I can't recall quickly can be retrieved by Google in an instant...names of movies (well, some), titles of books, the years that things happened. It's amazing what that thing can find. It is a bit of a mystery to me, how Google works, same as how planes fly and why birds legs don't freeze off in the winter but you can't explain everything and for that I am also thankful.

5. I am thankful for the moments in my life when I don't feel like I have to do anything. For the most part, I have given up on lists. I have an extensive Thanksgiving list but on a daily basis, I don't make lists of things to do. It disturbs my zen existence to think that I have to be productive every minute. Yesterday, we sat at the table with a candle lit watching the birds. It was sweet.

6. I am thankful for Jan, the lady who comes to clean our house. Bless her heart. I have never been an even mediocre cleaner. I am too easily distracted and I have pretty low standards for cleanliness. Well, that's not true but I don't care enough to do it myself. Jan comes every two weeks and spiffs things up for us. She likes our junk so if I have a thrift store box, she totes it away. She takes our cans and our cardboard boxes. She is a saint and we are lucky to have her.

7. I am thankful that Regis is the person he is. That we both got to this particular moment in our lives at the same time is some kind of miracle, really. We have a wonderful life together and we know it. He cares as much about my welfare as does his own which is a valuable quality in a companion.

8. I am thankful for my funny friends, quite a cast of characters they are. Friends that go back almost fifty years, to my elementary school years and new, young friends who were born after I had already been teaching a few years. Quite a life when you can have people like this in it.

9. I'm thankful for my mom who has taught me many things in my life: how to crochet, how to take care of babies, how to throw a meal for a lot of people together, how to laugh at adversity, and how to love your stuff. My mom is a hoot even though she thinks she looks old and wrinkly.

I didn't say when I started how many things were going to be on my list so I'm going to stop there. There could be more. Today, while I'm making pumpkin truffles, something may come to mind....

the days never go as planned

2011-11-22T07:22:00.000-06:00

So, I planned to be out of work by 12 and it was more like 1:00. I planned to drop the turkey off at the food shelf at 10 but they weren't open so it was 1:30. I planned to cook in the afternoon but I went to Pet Expo with Regis and Gus. I planned to have left over pot roast for dinner but we had stuffed peppers instead. It all works out...just not like I planned.

Today I don't work at all so there will be plenty of time to get things done. I was going to work out but we'll see. I may have to vacate the kitchen while Regis makes another batch of apple pie.

We watched the movie that I thought I remembered...Crimes of the Heart...last night. Turns out it was not the movie I remembered which is going to make me crazy, again. Regis said it was one of the top five worst movies he has ever seen. Two plot elements, grand-daddy dying and mama hanging herself, he attributes solely to the wretched awfulness of this movie. It wasn't that bad, really.

I have such clear visions of this movie in my memory, the other movie that is. I have searched and searched but I can't find it and I can only remember bits of it. Maybe it was a dream.

thanksgiving preparations have begun in earnest

2011-11-20T17:19:00.000-06:00

I have been working on my recipe binder and my menu for a few days. Most of the list-making is done so today I started on the gathering of dishes and silver and table linens. In the midst of it, I pulled a drawer of the refrigerator out to wash it and found a mess in the back like someone had slaughtered a cow in there when we weren't looking. An hour later, all is well.

I don't like to take everything out of the refrigerator to clean it so I do it one drawer or shelf at a time. This experience demonstrates why a person should take everything out from time to time...just to discover the evils lurking in the back. I told Regis if anything ever happens to me, he should make sure to hire someone to do that periodically because if not, the botulism will surely get him.

We had our fist snow of the season yesterday. It was inconvenient but beautiful. It's sticking around today but I hear it might be 50 degrees on Thanksgiving Day which is not convenient either as I like to use the outdoors as cold storage this time of year. Where are we supposed to put the pies and the beer if not in the back porch?

I need to get up on a stool and dig some more dishes out of the cupboard over the refrigerator. I have fourteen plates and 18 guests. Not enough. Also need some plates for the dessert table.

Our friends in warmer climes get a kick out of seeing the snow pile on the cement bunny in the garden. He has barely a dusting right now. Last spring got to be a drag for him because for a while, His ears were completely covered. Then they would appear as dark circles in the snow...then disappear again as more snow piled up. We'll see how he does this year.

Sunday's almost over. On to the week.

cardinals!

2011-11-19T15:52:00.000-06:00

recipe

2011-11-19T08:08:00.001-06:00

Spicy Cranberry Chutney
3 to 4 jalapenos, finely chopped
8 cups cranberries
2 limes, zested and juiced
2 oranges, zested and juiced
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions:
Put all of the ingredients in sauce pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until desired consistency, about 40 to 50 minutes.

friday afternoon

2011-11-19T06:37:00.000-06:00

I got home from work about five o'clock. The traffic downtown was wicked ass bad and it was chilly in the house so I turned on the fireplace, lit some candles, turned on World Cafe, and we sat at the front window and watched the birds. Ah, the peace of the home fires. It was a good week but I am looking forward to the next one.

Regis kept an eye out for the birds. This is a red bellied woodpecker. I don't know why they call his belly red when it's his head that is most clearly red. Maybe to distinguish him from all the other so-called red headed woodpeckers. We do have a pair of those that flit about the yard, too.

Here is one of the fat cardinals that frequents our feeder. There is this adult male, a female, and two juvenile males. This guy gets to eat first.

I love getting up early on Saturday. Gus and I went out in the yard for a while. It's cold enough now that I wear my goose down coat and gloves. I love picking up dog poop with my red velvet gloves. I use a bag, of course, but the irony does not escape me. He's some dog.

Gus goes back to bed when we come in the house. He and Regis are later sleepers than I am. I love the early morning.

Today, I have my Thanksgiving binder of recipes out and I am planning my meal. For being the random person that I typically am, I can organize the shit out of a holiday meal. I make a list of the serving dishes I will use, I make notes on where the tables should be and what should be on them, I have a to do list down to the half hour (at the end) and will start today. I love it.

I checked with all our young baristas to make sure that they had a place to go. Only one young woman was away from home so she's coming.

Regis is whipping up another batch of apple pie. It's a perennial favorite, as they say. I'm going to make a batch of chocolate pumpkin truffles. I'm not sure if anybody eats them because I usually have to put them in the freezer and haul them out a few at a time for months but I love the idea of them.

The menu should be finalized today so I can cross-check the ingredients and the grocery list. I hate making more than one trip to the store. I think we're doing the big shopping trip on Monday morning. Very early.

Next week, I have an almost-vacation! I am going to work very limited hours (like 2) on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's the most time I've had off since last Christmas and I'm really looking forward to it.

Time to go mess around with recipes and planning!

ah, friday finally

2011-11-18T07:29:00.002-06:00

I'm on the sofa and it's Friday morning. Waiting for the coffee to finish. Started the fireplace and Shuffle Function. Gus came out to take a look then went back to bed. I'm feeling a little bit like that myself. My plan is to go to the Pulse at 8:00 to run my mile challenge and go to yogalates but I can't see that happening right now.

I finished What is Left the Daughter yesterday. I loved it. I loved the story and I loved the writing. Somewhere toward the end I read a sentence (while riding an exercise bike) that made me close my eyes and hold the book to my chest. As I wrote the other day, much heartbreak but also sweet redemption.

I ordered another book by the same author. I reminded me of the experience of reading Out Stealing Horses when I finished the last page and went right back to page one to read it again.

We went to the Beaujolais Nouveau party at Patrick's last night. Here's a little video of what the whole thing is about...mostly a great marketing scheme for substandard wine.

But hey, like anything else, it's a reason to get together with people for some conviviality on a cold and dark November night. Some dude tapped a small cask of wine, we each got a hand-painted glass, the food was great: Korean style ribs, sliced pears, grapes, wonderful cheese, and a warm cheese dip. All in all, a lot of fun.

We had a chuckle about what kind of grass you feed gouda. And what's a gouda anyway? Is that like a cashmere?

Betty and Tom are coming for dinner and drinks tomorrow night. I am struggling with the menu. We're stuck on the grilling concept and can't remember what we eat in the fall and winter, apparently. Think I need to spend some time perusing cookbooks for inspiration.

I'm tired today. I know some days my job is too intense for the energy I want to expend at a job at this point in my life. I like my job a lot. I love the people. I have learned to enjoy all the things I do...or most of them. But I want to enjoy it about 20 hours a week and not be resentful of more than that.

I'm checking in with all the young people at work to make sure they have plans to go somewhere for Thanksgiving. I used to get nervous about extra people..worried about my housekeeping standards and such...but now I like it. It adds to the fun to have people bring food and wine and visit about different things.

Having a forty pound furry infant wandering around during the party might prove a challenge so thank God we have the bear fence.

Time to get moving. On to the weekend.

business as usual

2011-11-16T06:32:00.001-06:00

I was awake early this morning thinking of weird things. As usual.

One of the things I pondered was the difference between my blog and Facebook. Regis told me on Sunday, on our drive back from Canby, that I put too much out there. What? I didn't really understand because I think I am discrete on Facebook and nearly as discrete on my blog. I don't think I feel like writing all the rules I have but just know that even though I process and eventually write about almost every thought I have, written versions of those thoughts differ depending on the medium.

So, I wake up thinking I will ditch Facebook because I waste some of my best lines there. Last night I wrote that one of the good things about getting old is that you can enjoy a glass of very expensive birthday wine while you hem a pair of flannel pajama pants. I meant that I don't have to wait for a special occasion to make the wine worthy. Being home with Regis in front of the fireplace, hemming pajama pants, listening to big bands on the radio...made the wine worthy and I enjoyed it immensely.

I read in the paper this morning that Facebook has been plagued by hackers who post violent and disturbing images on profile pages. This is not something I want. I have an aversion to violent and disturbing images. I'm reading a very good book but it is way darker than I usually appreciate. It's called What Is Left the Daughter. It's disturbing with two suicides, a murder, a ferry sinking, and a war so far and I'm only half done. I am sure there is redemption in the end because the narrator is telling the story to his daughter so I'll keep going.

My point about Facebook is that maybe I will abandon it and come back to the blog exclusively.

But first, here is a review written by Howard Frank Mosher:

As my sainted grandmother used to say, with a hard look right straight at 12-year-old, misbehaving me, let's not mince words here. Okay, let's not: Howard Norman's new novel, What Is Left the Daughter, is the best story of love in the time of war I've ever read. And yes, that includes Cold Mountain and A Farewell To Arms.
It's the early 1940s in Halifax, Nova Scotia. World War II, in all its fury, has come to Canada, as the dreaded German U-boats are sinking ferries and passenger ships just off the coast. In the meantime, 17-year-old Wyatt Hillyer's parents, caught up in a love triangle in which they've both fallen for a local switchboard operator and aspiring actress, have without warning leapt to their deaths "from separate bridges in Halifax on the same evening." Bereft and adrift, Wyatt soon moves to the tiny Bay of Fundy outport of Middle Economy, to work in his uncle's sled and toboggan shop.
It will come as no surprise to Norman's readers to learn that, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's jungle-village of Macondo, Middle Economy is a universe unto itself. What's more, its residents are every bit as strange and wondrous. For starters, there's kindly, plain-spoken Cornelia Tell, a one-woman Greek chorus of information and assessments. The town's aspiring stenographer, Lenore Teachout, takes down every conversation she overhears, and even transcribes the most awful war news over the radio. The casualty reports so distress Wyatt's eccentric uncle that he's papered the side of his toboggan shop with newspaper accounts of ships sunk by U-boats. Wyatt's beautiful, adopted cousin, Tilda, is obsessed by obituaries. Her dream in life is to become a "professional mourner" at the funerals of people who die without family or friends.
When Hans Mohring, a likable young refugee from Hitler's Germany, visits Middle Economy and falls in love with Tilda, all hell breaks loose in the village, including the bloodiest and most shocking murder in recent fiction, the strangest (and, in places, funniest) courtroom sequence I've ever read, and the unspeakably sorrowful, total dissolution of the Hillyer family.
Or does Wyatt's beloved family come totally unraveled in the onslaught of the war and its madness? Suffice it to say that What Is Left the Daughter, which is structured as a long letter from Wyatt, written in 1967 to his 21-year-old daughter, just may hold out the prospect of a transcendent love so powerful and enduring that it affirms the value and meaning of our lives even in the worst of times and despite all of our tragic flaws.
What Is Left the Daughter affirms what many of Howard Norman's readers have known since he published his magical first novel, The Northern Lights. Norman is most certainly one of America's three or four best novelists, with a uniquely wise and tolerant vision of his characters and all human beings everywhere. So let's not mince words. What Is Left the Daughter is a literary masterpiece that will, I guarantee it, live on in your heart, and mine, forever.

So, there you go.

I took yesterday off, for the most part. I woke up weary and it didn't get better. I went in to do the necessary banking then I came home to take a long nap. I woke up and tackled the back porch which has been a mess since we did our floors. There is a big pile by the door that is going out, a pile was hauled to the basement, and a pile was discarded in the trash. Whew. Big job.

Regis and I were looking at crazy pictures on the internet the other day when we decided to do our own crazy Christmas card and picture. I'm sure it will end up being posted here so don't go out and buy an extra stamp to send us a card. The PO is about 5 billion in the hole anyway and it will be amazing if they can hang on that long.

I can tell you one of the reasons the PO is in trouble. We drive through a tiny town called Porter on our way to Canby to visit Mom. Porter has about 700 hearty souls who live there and they have their own PO. Seriously. How often in a week do you get mail that is worth anything? Maybe one time. So, they support a building and at least one employee for a PO in a town that size. Crazy. They don't have a liquor store or a grocery store and I bet more people drink beer and eat frozen pizza than mail letters. Now, that's funny.

I was perusing the coupons in the Sunday paper and found that were appalling: a coupon for a "pumpkin bread kit" and a coupon for a "turkey wrap kit". What the hell, I say. And what the hell again. A kit? Grocery stores have become places to buy food products and packaged dinners and sandwich kits. Those things are edging out the real produce. It's revolting.

Yesterday, one of our customers who is a little kooky came in and asked the sweet, young barista what she would call that hair-do she was wearing. A messy bun, she said. Hmmm, it looks like a bird's nest, he said. I'll take that as a compliment, she said. Yup, I like birds, he said. It was very funny when I heard it.

My Thanksgiving menu and grocery list are finalized for the most part. No big surprises so we can all relax. No roasted root vegetables or venison puree. The usual old standards and some new twists on old things. Some catered things from River Rock: a pumpkin cheesecake, a loaf of Buckwheat bread, and a loaf of Country Wheat, maybe some herbed cream cheese to have with jalapeno jelly.

Here's how it looks right now:

Appetizers
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Deviled Eggs
Antipasto Plate

Main Course
Turkey with Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Side Dishes
Traditional Bread Stuffing
Cornbread Andouille Sausage Stuffing
Emerill’s Sweet Potato and Corn Pudding
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Buckwheat Bread
Country Wheat Bread
Lefse
Hope Creamery Butter

Salads
Apple and Cranberry Salad
Spinach and Bacon Salad
Dessert
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ella’s Pumpkin Pie
Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake
Pumpkin Truffles

Things to do before work so I am tearing myself away from the sofa and the fireplace. On to Wednesday!

gus graduates from dog school

2011-11-15T11:53:00.000-06:00

We had a little ceremony. Gus and Regis had their picture taken together and I marched around the living room singing Pomp and Circumstance with a dog bone in my hand. Well done, both of you!

radio and venn diagrams

2011-11-15T07:39:00.000-06:00

Most of you know Regis and I have eschewed television in the past few years and have learned to love the radio. Last night was a new experience as we listened to Miss Lona's show on KMSU. She usually plays jazz but last night she played old cowboy songs like Sons of the Pioneers and Roy Rogers. She does some trivia questions and we each won once so we can't wait to see the prizes. It was a hoot. The Venn diagram for people who are interested in cowboy songs and know how to use google would be something, eh?

A is people old enough to be interested in cowboy songs. B is people who can use google fast enough to be the first called on a trivia question. C is where the two groups intersect. I am really bad at math so this rudimentary/complex explanation is fascinating to me. Yes, that's it. Right there we are...in C.

Gus graduates from dog obedience classes today. When we talked to Ella about dog school, she hooted, and said, "Who's his teacher, a dog?" She thought it was hilarious. Actually a great question.

Yesterday morning, I lingered at home. Regis and I sat in the living room and watched the birds hold a massive reunion at our feeders. We had these birds: two male cardinals, one female cardinal, two blue jays, a bunch of sparrows, juncos, finches, nuthatches, chickadees, and a pair of downy woodpeckers. We found a bag of seed at Pet Expo called Cardinal Mix that seems to draw the cardinals. The thistle seed that was a favorite of the finches in the spring sits untouched and they go for the black sunflower seeds. The fall menu, I guess.

The cardinals can be a little cranky and chase off the sparrows. Some of the birds are messy...the blue jays are fussy and will only eat one kind of seed so they toss everything else over the side.

My Thanksgiving guest list is growing so I better start thinking about how to accommodate these folks in our small house. The back porch, weather permitting, will be where the kids and toys are. Right? I have a draft of a menu and grocery list but it needs work. It's always a balance between traditional and new recipes.

My brain feels tired. I am planning to take next week off from work and feel like I really need it. I could have put that in capital letters but that would be dramatic. Maybe overly so. I haven't had more than a day off here and there (and not many) since last Christmas. I know some people work that all the time but I'm old and I learned a new job in the last six months. That's hard on a gal.

I'm going to work out and then I'll wander in to work. Ah, Tuesday.

weekend in pictures: canby and river rock

2011-11-14T07:06:00.000-06:00

These are backwards but I don't have the mental capacity to change it this morning. I'll start at the end and go in reverse.

We had our event at River Rock last night. A Farm to Table dinner and a comedy show by Mike Callahan and Paul Strickland. It was a phenomenal night. I got to work at 2:00 to set up tables and candles and the bar.

We had 30 paying guests which makes a crowd in the front of the shop. I knew almost everyone there so it was fun and didn't really seem like work.

My job was seating people and pouring water...and visiting with people about the food. I get paid for doing this?

People started showing up before I was done setting up the tables which got a little crazy but everyone was seated and in the process of being fed by 6:15.

Oh, here is the menu! It's hard to read here but if you click on it, it will get bigger. Regis even complimented the kale.

This is the stage Michael set up for the comedy. It looks great and worked really well. Every seat in the house had a good view.

Here I am with my mom, having a glass of wine on Saturday afternoon. We had good food...an antipasto plate on Friday night and we cooked on the table top grill on Saturday night: shrimp, sirloin, mushrooms, onions.

So, here we are at Monday. I didn't get home until 11:00 last night which is really late for me. And of course, I wake up at 5:30 just like every other day except for the days when I wake up at 4:00. I would love to sleep in one day.

A reasonably busy week. Make it a good one. Have some fun and stop making those to-do lists.

thursday

2011-11-10T19:13:00.000-06:00

Here's my short (or maybe long) list of happenings for the week.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. My dad was a veteran and there he is in the picture. I would not make a good soldier so I appreciate anyone who can do that. Bless their hearts.
It's been a crazy week at work and at home.
Regis, bless his heart, has toted me to Mankato two times. Once on a purely personal mission and today on a work mission.
Personal mission: Great fall sweaters in autumnal colors. Also an amazing scarf made of some kind of goat fur. Would that be hair...or fur?
Work mission: Picked up checks and paper and stuff at thrift stores. Silverware, extra plates, ice cream dishes.
Wine elfed (blogspot does not recognize the past tense of elf...what the hell) a colleague who has done the same for me.
Sold a bunch of tickets to the comedy event Sunday night at River Rock.
Listening to Shuffle Function and the theory that Paul McCartney died in 1963 and was replaced by a Canadian. Gads. Crackpots, the lot of them.
Regis made wonderful chicken wings for dinner. Better than anything we have ever had out and about in a restaurant.
Went to a great party last night at Annie and Kyle's apartment. So funny how little things have changed in the years since Regis and I were young and in college. Lots of talk of keg stands, beer die, and fun. Tommy gave us the lowdown on the rules for beer die. Crazy. I think he had a moment of nostalgia. Hahaha!
Several of the folks at the party had lived in that very same apartment. What a history and if those walls could talk. Quite a hoot.
Bought a gorgeous cashmere scarf at TJ Maxx that looks like it was made from the coat of golden doodle. I love cashmere. I love it. I wish I were rich so I could afford lots of it. I mentioned this before but it's worthy of another mention. Actually, I admired it the other day and lusted after it for three days before going back to buy it. That's a good test.
We have been planning our first, in quite a while, event at River Rock. it's been fun and I hope it goes over well. I'm nervous but well-prepared. The accountant told me today to get used to the last minute planning. I said hmmmmm...school districts are not like that. Ha!
Going to see my mom this weekend. Hope there are no ill-intentioned folks reading this who will break into my house and read my recipes and steal our crappy music collection while we're gone. Ha!

Ah, that's all the energy I have. Drinking some really cheap wine tonight...Flip Flop? Regis is out taking pictures of the stars and the passing meteors and space ships with his paparazzi equipment. Thanks to our oil well money. Ha!

2011-11-09T07:16:00.000-06:00

I've been up since 5 o'clock looking at recipes in my Thanksgiving binder and on the web and in my google docs file. I always feel like I want to try something new or at least a new twist on an old favorite. These experiments are not usually popular although now Peter requests the cornbread Andouille sausage dressing every year.

This is an antipasto plate and I think it will be my appetizer du jour this season. Instead of making three appetizers that will either go unconsumed or will be eaten wholly to ruin the appetite for the meal, this will be perfect for the cheese/meat/egg/vegetable/bread eaters among us. Something for everyone.

I was hoping to take the week before Thanksgiving off but we had an unexpected resignation at the coffee shop and it might not be possible now. I am hoping at least to work limited hours.

We had a staff meeting last night with a coffee guru from Minneapolis. I want to learn to pull shots of espresso! What a hoot! She was fascinating and I was amazed at all the connections between coffee, food, and wine in terms of flavor. I was mortified to be drinking gas station coffee from a to-go cup which I almost never do but I was desperate before the meeting started and the shop was closing. I did not reveal the source of my beverage. I have become a coffee snob.

I'm going to prepare for the day and go to the coop for the fixin's for my first antipasto plate. We're going to a fall festival at the home of one of our young bakers. Should be a good time.

a solution

2011-11-08T05:52:00.002-06:00

Wrap yourself in LED lights and put on a pair of reindeer antlers.

The rest of my mental health action plan:

Vitamin D supplements.
Be warm. Wear long underwear to work. Wear warm socks and mittens.
Work in the front of the shop rather than the dark office.
Take a longer walk when I go to the bank. Sunshine is good.
Talk to people instead of hunching over paperwork all day.
Turn lights on in the house.
Light candles.
More LED lights.
Write more.
Exercise outside. Would this be helpful?

Readers. Send other ideas.

light, or lack thereof

2011-11-08T05:49:00.000-06:00

I can already feel the lack of light. I wake up at 5 and it's as dark as the middle of the night. Gus walks around the kitchen and goes back to sleep. I drink coffee and feel a little blue. The sky gets light so slowly and seems to go black so fast at the other end of the day. Would Vitamin D help? Should I linger on my walks to the bank at mid-day?

I'd like to stay in my lounging clothes and wooly socks all day and look at recipes for Thanksgiving instead of going out into the cold and dark and doing what I have to do.

I just read back over my posts from previous Novembers and I feel this every year...a sense of dread about the loss of light. General malaise and crankiness.

As if you needed further proof, here, also written in November, is a blast from the past: things that annoy me in no particular order.

now, for a commercial message

2011-11-07T20:00:00.000-06:00

On Sunday night, River Rock and Mike Callahan will present Paul Strickland, the cranky comic. There will be a wonderful seasonal and organic dinner served beginning at 6 o'clock. Mike Callahan will perform at 7:00 and Paul will begin at 7:30. Tickets are 35 dollars each. Where else can you get a great meal and a show for a price like that for 35 bucks?

I feel like my ass is on the line for this one since I have promoted it for months. I should have kept this idea to myself, maybe?

Regis and I have been looking at the strangest website called Awkward Family Pet Photos. Under the photo menu, check out the Hall of Fame. It is a strange experience and you will not be able to look away. Like Walmartians. I think my retinas are burned.

sometimes i get mixed up

2011-11-07T07:37:00.000-06:00

With so many ways to receive input and to generate output of information, I get mixed up sometimes. I can't remember what I posted where and sometimes I can't remember from where things came. Did I get that by email...text...blog...it's hard getting old. Or maybe the world is just getting more complicated.

In any case, this is the picture of Regis and me when we did our Shuffle Function gig which was a total hoot. We got there at 5:30 a.m. and spent two hours live on the air with Tim and Shelley, playing our music that we had thoughtfully chosen over the last two weeks. Here is our playlist if you want to see what we like. You have to scroll down a ways. We were on November 2nd. We love independent radio.

I have been enamored of etsy lately. I can spend hours shopping for this and that...handmade and vintage. What a hoot. Vintage clothes are really tempting because they look so cool but it's hard to know what they look like in real life. All the stuff coming out of China and Indonesia are a little scary, too. Really? I send a paypal payment to someone in China and they ship me a dress? I like local better.

Regis is on his way home with our groceries for the next two weeks. We like to go to the store twice a month and can usually manage that pretty well. Our next big trip will be the Monday before Thanksgiving. He called, disappointed, because the pepper selection was pitiful. We love stuffed peppers on the grill and were hoping for one more meal of them before it gets too cold.

Gus is agitated when Regis is gone. Heck, he doesn't even like it when Regis closes the bathroom door. He sits and scratches at the door. Good grief.

Here is a perfect poem for this time of year:

Praise Song by Barbara Crooker.

Praise the light of late November,

the thin sunlight that goes deep in the bones.

Praise the crows chattering in the oak trees;

though they are clothed in night, they do not

despair. Praise what little there's left:

the small boats of milkweed pods, husks, hulls,

shells, the architecture of trees. Praise the meadow

of dried weeds: yarrow, goldenrod, chicory,

the remains of summer. Praise the blue sky

that hasn't cracked yet. Praise the sun slipping down

behind the beechnuts, praise the quilt of leaves

that covers the grass: Scarlet Oak, Sweet Gum,

Sugar Maple. Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy

fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough.

I was making Thanksgiving cards today (thanks, Mom) and was digging through some old files. It's one of the things I love about my blog...I have a lot of crap archived and it's a hoot to read later. Yes, I realize I have used the word hoot three times in this post. Anyway, here is a list of things for which I was grateful in 2008. I think it needs to be revised:

(I copied this list and I know that the formatting is messed up but I have better things to do than try to fix it right now. One of the things that irritates me...)

What I’m thankful for as 2008 rolls around

1. iTunes, Barnes and Noble online, and Netflix. I used to spend a lot of time looking for books, music and movies with no idea what I wanted. I made a lot of mistakes. Now with modern technology, my tastes can be compared to others and recommendations made for me based on our similarities. I may never have to watch a movie like Joe Versus the Volcano again, read a book like Echoes by Danielle Steele or buy a CD that ends up being a coaster. I’m not saying it’s never going to happen, just that the risk is minimized.

2. The realization that I’m not going to have a clean and organized house. It’s really taken a burden off to know this and to say it out loud. Kathy’s tried to help and we did make some progress but the stress is overwhelming. Regis and I are not good at getting all like things in one place. Say socks, for example. It’s really not a bad thing to be disorganized and I think we’ll live a rich and happy life in our slovenly ways.

3.
3. The Minnesota Board of Teaching. I forget about my anger over the inequity of the secondary principal job market and stop ranting about it toward the end of every year, then I get the letter from the BOT reminding me that I haven’t paid the 75 dollar licensing fee (authorized by the MN legislature and in addition to the regular license fee) since I hold a principal’s license BUT NOT A JOB. I read the letter and it starts the fire all over again: 70% of high school teachers are women, more than 50% of students in ed leadership programs are women, and yet only 10% of secondary principals are women. Some dude at the school board association tells me that by law, school boards are required to hire the most qualified candidate and therefore it must be true. No need to say more.

4. Technology. I love podcasts, my blog, digital photos, Picassa, and the Google/Picassa website. Think of what the internet will do for human intelligence. Ten years ago, if you had an idea, you could tell a few friends or write an article for a newspaper but very few people had much of an audience. Now I can send pictures or rants clear across the country in a matter of seconds. Even goofballs can have a national audience.

5. Babies. Just when you think you’re too cynical to live, someone you know has a baby and adults who used to be reasonable sit around for hours and stare at it and think that everything it does is fascinating. We’re in the grandbaby age now and not only are these grandbabies, ours and those of our friends, the smartest and the cutest but we don’t have to be awake all night when they’re teething. All the joy and none of the responsibility.

6. Sleep. I listen to people who talk with a sense of shame about sleeping in until ten, or better yet noon. If I sleep until 5 o’clock, I’m grateful. Most nights I wake up at 3 and have trouble going back to sleep. I’ve always been a champion napper, but now I get my best sleep during the day. Not at work, of course.

7.
5. Brain development. I read an article in Newsweek about how the human brain develops slower than what was previously assumed to be true. Right about that time, my son who had given me fits through his teen years, expressed a desire to go to school, moved in with his grandma, got a job where he is admired and respected, and became helpful and social. Yes! If that ain’t proof…

I might come back occasionally and add to my list but that’s enough for now. Of course, I’m also thankful for the usual things: my mom, my kids, my husband, friends, my dog, a warm place to live, enough to eat, enough to drink, and pants with elastic waists.

That's how I felt about it in 2008. Some of those things make me glad that a few years have passed and I don't have to spend time being thankful for that bit of stuff anymore. (BOT)

See ya. Happy Monday.

what happened to the pictures?

2011-11-06T17:14:00.001-06:00

Regis is my paparazzi. I give him photo assignments and he takes care of it. But, yesterday he took pictures of the dismantling of the Halloween decor and such but the pictures have disappeared. Ah, well.

We had a meat marathon for dinner. We had taken out of the freezer, over the last few days: two pork chops, a bag of scallops, a whole chicken, and a piece of tuna. It all had to be cooked today so we seasoned it up and grilled it. Now, it's in the refrigerator in meal-size containers for lunch and dinner. Hah!

I have probably talked about this before but Regis refuses to eat tuna based on his Catholic upbringing but I tell him if he ever tasted it, we'd have to arm wrestle for it. Seared ahi tuna marinaded in soy sauce and toasted sesame oil? Oh, my.

We went on a shopping spree this morning. We needed coffee from Aldi, bird seed from Pet Expo, and I needed a few new sweaters from TJ Maxx, my favorite store. What do you know, I found some in great fall colors: sage green, aubergine, pumpkin, heather gray, and black. Regis and Gus sit in the car and attract chicks (women) like a magnet. Advice from Regis to all young men: Get a cute dog.

I passed up a great scarf that the label said was cashmere. It looked like Gus's coat, I swear. Long and crimpy...gorgeous. I have some restraint...but, I might have to go back. Cashmere comes from goats, did you know?

We have our Thanksgiving music on the thing that plays music....Ostroushko, Ungar and Mason, and some other nice violin music of which I cannot recall the names. Regis asked me to delete some of the crazier stuff like Nancy Whiskey. What the hell.

Gus got a new water bowl from Pet Expo. It has to be plugged in and it guarantees that he always has fresh water. Are you kidding me? Every dog we've owned has not been averse to drinking from the toilet and puddles. What the hell.

Busy week on tap. Coffee shop staff meeting on Tuesday night. Trip to Canby to see Mom. Grocery shopping, working out at the Pulse, general monkey business. Here we go.

worst night of sleep in a long time

2011-11-04T06:11:00.001-05:00

I was awake every hour during this past night, I swear. Even with my friend, Ambien, I could not stay asleep. I read several chapters in my book several times. Finally got up at 5 and took Gus out in the yard. The sky is gorgeous which is a sight I would not see if I were a late sleeper. Of course, the stars probably make an appearance on the other end of night, too.

I scanned two papers, make that three...two electronic and one real... this morning but it was dismal work. Most of the stuff in there is not really anything I need to know or care to know.

I'm thinking I will transition to walking to work today. Last week, I was riding my bike but there is something about riding a bike in a parka that is unappealing to me. When it's 35 degrees in the morning, bike riding is a cold business.

It's even less appealing to get into a cold car and besides I like visiting with folks I see on the street. I had been trying to contact an egg source for River Rock for a few weeks, finally saw him delivering eggs to Patrick's one day so I camped outside the door until he came out. I was in a costume which may have made him more or less inclined to talk business with me but we got it done.

I'm going to order a French press when I get to work today. It looks like this:

As we wondered one day why customers don't order them even though it makes the richest coffee, I laughed and said who would even know what it is. If people start seeing it out and about on tables, they'll ask and they'll try it. I've been trying different coffee drinks and now I know my favorite is a two shot short latte.

It's amazing what some folks order. A friend of mine comes in and orders a wake-up call which is two shots of espresso with the cup filled with dark roast. And he gets a double shot of espresso on the side. If you're curious about the caffeine, I found this in wikipedia:

While espresso has more caffeine per unit volume than most beverages, compared on the basis of usual serving sizes, a 30 mL (1 US fluid ounce) shot of espresso has about one third the caffeine of a standard 180 mL (6 US fluid ounces) cup of drip-brewed coffee, which varies from 80 to 130 mg.

So, Mathias isn't getting all that much caffeine but he is sure getting a jolt of coffee flavor. I love the little espresso cups so I might just switch to espresso.

I spent some time this morning cruising my favorite blogs. I have trouble if I check two or three times and there is nothing new. I lose interest and move on, probably missing some good stuff. Come on, people. We need to be more prolific.

This Goat's Life is one of my favorites and I am willing to cut them some slack if they miss a few weeks. I like goats but this blog is so clever, that even if you don't, you might like it. It's written in the voice of a goat which usually does not appeal to me (Christmas letters in the voice of your dog? Ugh.) but this is hilarious. Check out the little video in the middle of the page about goats being in heat. It's a riot.

I could probably get a lot of things done if I didn't spend so much time sitting here in the semi-dark documenting my every vapid thought. Ah, well.

how did thursday come around so dang fast?

2011-11-03T20:06:00.001-05:00

Well, here is a fast re-cap on the week:

We celebrated Halloween in fine fashion. I think I did write about that.
Peter came to take me out to lunch for my birthday. It's a sign of maturity, I think, right? Like getting your own cell phone plan.
Regis and I were programmers for the day on Wednesday at Shuffle Function (Pop Music as Pornography) on KMSU in Mankato. If you don't know this radio station or these folks, you really should check it out. They are a dang hoot. We controlled the musical destiny of Southern Minnesota, Northern Iowa, and the World that day for two hours. They give great swag and it is a ton of fun. they will eventually publish our playlist and our photo. Tim said we were telegenic. Ha!
We came home Wednesday to find a check from my mom.We've had great fun today thinking of ways to spend it while having fun. Mom insists that we don't replace the bathroom plumbing or anything so pedestrian as that. We're happy to oblige.
Work has been a handful this week. Not a bad handful but a handful.
Saturday, we are making the transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving. We are very seasonal people in our cooking, decorating, and even in our music. We have plans to get out the Thanksgiving playlist that includes a lot of Peter Ostroushko, Molly Mason and Jay Unger, and some Lehto and Wright (They play all the hits of the 15th and 16th centuries.).
I wear a lot of orange and aubergine in the fall but not in the other parts of the year. I have some earrings and bracelets I only wear in the fall.
We have outdoor work that still needs to be done. The plants are still in their pots, there is a flag sticking out of a geranium pot (ugh), and a few lawn chairs need to go away. Decision: Do we let Howard's rosemary tree freeze or try to nurse it through one more year?
We found out that our neighbor is not moving away. Whew. We thought it might have been something we did.
I got out the Thanksgiving binder and have started collecting recipes for some changes. Regis insists we do not serve oysters and roasted root vegetables. No sense of fun, that guy.
I ordered up a pair of sturdy but not too ugly winter boots. I have lots of boots and most of them are probably what could be called fashion boots. They are not practical for the sorts of trudging about town that I do in a day at work. Here's what I bought:

Regis saw a red-headed woodpecker in our yard today. Here's a picture in case you are bird-knowledge-impaired. I had another word there but Regis thought it would be offensive so he sanitized my word choice. This is not the actual bird but a google representation.

I also bought a new hat and a pair of mittens. A guy has to be ready for bad weather before it appears which could be momentarily.
We do not have huge plans for the weekend. It's hard to have huge (read: any) plans when you have a 45 pound furry infant who has tantrums living in your house.
Regis was so frustrated with Gus after dog school the other day that he bought a gentle leader collar for Gus. He will get a tutoring session (Gus, not Regis. I think.) after class next week. I made excuses for him...he was over-stimulated from the weekend...he was off his schedule...he was teething.
Mom, if you are reading this, I bet you are anxious to have our dog visit next weekend. He really isn't this bad. I exaggerate for effect.

Well, there you go. Off to bed. I'm reading a book called Corvus. I love it. Regis thinks crows are creepy but I love them. Shelley said they seem to know something about you so you don't want to make eye contact with them. She could be right.

Good night and have a great Friday.

it's not easy being green

2011-11-01T07:45:00.000-05:00

I was kind of exhausted by Halloween by the time it arrived officially. I was tempted to not costume-up at all but then the mood came over me again. I wore this into River Rock in the morning and thought I would fool a few people. Josh looked up as I walked in, said, "Hello, Teresa" and went back to counting change. The 9:30 coffee group said, "Who else?" Well.

Elliot and Tiffany came over for dinner and trick or treating. We had an early dinner then walked around the neighborhood a bit. He got the hang of that real fast...say trick or treat...people throw candy in your bag. I think his favorite was the gold fish crackers.

Bob and Emily went to a party before they came over so they were all in costumes.

Betty gave the little boys each a truck that made spectacular noises so they were busy all night on hands and knees, pushing trucks around the living room.

As always, Halloween was frenetic and went way too fast. By 8 o'clock, the trick or treaters were gone, the street was dark, and we were alone. It was a great holiday but it can wear an old gal out. Back to normal life today.

I'm making meatloaf for dinner tonight. I have to publish the recipe here because this blog is like the archive of my life. Some day if I can't remember where that meatloaf recipe is, I can find it here. I't called Low-Carb Beefed-Up Meatloaf. It has a layer of prosciutto and provolone in the middle and we like to add some roasted hot peppers.

I ordered tickets this morning for The Nutcracker in Mankato. I have taken Tiffany and Ella for the last few years. We like to have lunch before and make it a special day. I ordered tickets online here. At least I didn't have to buy them through ticketmaster which I loathe. I still had to pay two dollars each for a "convenience fee" for ordering them online. Whose convenience? Heck, they don't have to print them or hire a person to sell them to me.

I'm sitting here in front of the fireplace worrying about my feet being cold this winter. Time to get out the warm socks and boots, I guess.

Happy November!

fun run fun weekend fun birthday

2011-10-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

Joanne and I ran in the Halloween Fun Run. Regis took a ton of pictures from Tom's front yard...here are a few.

Joanne and I ran this 5K in 39 minutes and 20 seconds. We walk a little run a little walk a little...and don't really care about time. The last time we ran together, we did it more than 45 minutes so our improvement is impressive, no?

Tom and Betty host a little gathering on their front yard. Minnow is there to watch Emily, Tom makes a big pot of coffee, and everybody hoots and hollers and bangs on drums when we go past.

Joanne...power woman according to her daughter! Cool!

There we go!

This was a great costume. Not sure how the people in the middle knew where to go.

Rasta man, Tom.

Dave and Doreen with the little Grimius boys, Weston and Miles.

Emily...great shot!

Our old friends, Jane and Dick, came for the weekend from Iowa. We did most of the things we do every time they come: we met at Patrick's for drinks and appetizers on Friday. We went downtown and looked in a few shops, we went to Schmidt's Meat Market in Nicollet, we cooked steaks on the grill, we drank wine and spent hours at the table telling stories and laughing. Regis made a batch of Apple Pie (not the kind your mama makes) and some at the table enjoyed a sip of that.

I spent a couple hours after they left, putting my house back together and getting Halloween stuff tucked away. I have celebrated Halloween for the last two weeks and I'm kind of ready for it to be over and how pitiful is that? I am costumed out.

I'm sure tomorrow, I will be fine. I'll put on some crazy tights and a wild hat and go out as myself. Tiffany and Elliot are coming over for dinner and trick or treating, Ella and Alex are stopping by some time for a treat, and we're passing out candy. How much fun is that?

I just went through the last two boxes of stuff from my school office. Most of it was left behind but what I did bring home has been dispersed. Now, it's all been shelved, boxed, or tossed. Whew.

I can feel a nap coming on....

my colleagues at river rock celebrate pirate day!

2011-10-28T15:45:00.000-05:00

What a hoot of a day! More later. It's been a story-worthy week!

ah, well, the perfect kind of mistake to experience

2011-10-27T15:53:00.000-05:00

I rode my bike to work today. Streamers from my witch hat flying behind me, a purple broom and a fake raven in my bike basket, and my fuschia gloves. I saw several people reaching for cell phones. Maybe they were going to call the cops.

The hospital x-ray department called me this afternoon and apologized profusely for their mistake. The radiologist had not read my comparison images until the letter had gone out and the appointments for follow-up had been made. I don't need any further images. I told her not to feel bad. If a guy has to experience a medical mistake, this is the right kind.

So, off to get a haircut and meet Peter for dinner.

bookmarks and early bird risin'

2011-10-27T05:38:00.000-05:00

I made the decision to go to work a little later in the morning which for the most part, has worked out fine except that I continue to wake up at 4 most days, spend a half day before I even go to work, and come home when I'm tired and a little cranky from the long day. Damn.

Here I am at 4 a.m. Do I start DOING something like the day is beginning or do I hover between sleep and wake for a while?

I woke up thinking about my Halloween costume. In the middle of the night I asked Regis his opinion about which skirt and which tights. Such a dilemma.

My friend, Jill, gave me a subscription to Bookmarks as a retirement gift. It comes bi-monthly and has a ton of reviews of all different kinds of books. I had been through it several times and yellow-tagged quite a few I thought I might want to read. Yesterday I checked some more on-line reviews and ordered some books...some kindle versions and some paperback versions.

This is one I am most interested in reading. Corvus: A Life with Birds.

Here's something I snagged from the Amazon review:
Ever since her daughter rescued a fledgling rook years ago, Esther Woolfson has been fascinated with corvids, the bird group that includes crows, rooks, magpies, and ravens. Today, the rook, named Chicken, is a member of the Woolfson family, along with a talking magpie named Spike, a baby crow named Ziki, a starling, a parrot, and others. From their elaborate bathing rituals to their springtime broodiness and tendency to cache food in the most unlikely places, these corvids share a bond with humans that one might never have imagined before reading this book.

Letting her experience speak for itself, Woolfson likens the fears and foibles of corvids to those of humans, taking into account the science of bird intelligence, evolution, song, and flight. She highlights their big personalities and capacity for affection: Chicken hates computers and machines, while she loves evening neck scratches on Woolfson’s knee. It is through this intimate lens that Woolfson invites us to reconsider the kind of creature capable of being man’s best friend.

I bought this in paperback because I think it will be like Oranges by John MCPhee, a fixation. If you don't remember Oranges, just ask me.

So, I love Bookmarks. My reading mojo was limp for a while and I just couldn't find anything that called me. I reread a lot of old favorites but new things were not interesting. I think this is going to be just the thing. Check it out.

I just can't get excited about my kindle. I can read a certain type of book on it but I can't get any framework...no cover, no summary, no author information. I started reading a book the other night and realized last night, that I have missed something. I read the reviews on Amazon and the book is called non-linear. Oh, yeah. I hate that.

Not my favorite type of book to begin with and now I have no way to check back and figure out who the hell Uri is. This book is a series of short stories loosely tied together and I am incapable of figuring that our in my random reading. Arrghgghg, I say. I like to read the old-fashioned way, I guess.

Today is Witch Day at work so I better get moving and figure out my costume. I have a small black cauldron full of eyeball gum and rubber duck witches. Ha!

Gus is giving me the signal that something needs to happen...so on with the day.

t-bones on the grill

2011-10-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

This is what I wore to work today as it was River Rock Colors Day. Tomorrow is Witch Day, which I reported as Pirate Day. Ah, well. An old gal must be excused for getting things mixed up, right Mom?

My neighbor dogs are barking so much (all day and incessantly) that I am invoking the Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House Billy Collins rule. Holy crap.

grilling in the dark

2011-10-26T06:45:00.001-05:00

We like to squeeze every possible grilling date out of the season. I know lots of people grill all winter with gas but we use charcoal and it gets hard to keep the temperature up enough when the temperature gets down below 50 degrees. So, here we are in the dark, with the charcoal glowing red. It looks like the blaster on a rocket ship.

Big steaks were worth standing in the cold and dark. We got a split side of beef from Mike last week so these are delicious and not from some factory farm which gives me the creeps. We get out chickens from Mary and from Mike. If I could only find a local source for tuna.

I chase the dark away with lights. Halloween spider lights, hula girls (thanks to Bob and Betty!) and turkeys at Thanksgiving, lots and lots of lights in the month of December. I have been known to wrap myself in lights.

I don't believe I published this photo before but it's from last year. Apparently I felt the need to go incognito in my own home. You never know when you might be put on the witness protection program and not notified of it. In case a bad guy were to look in our windows, I would not be recognized which is a good thing, You can't be too careful.

Regis just went off to the store to buy a long list of groceries. I used to accompany him but Gus is not feeling favorable toward being left alone in a big, metal crate these days so he goes and I stay. We don't buy groceries often and this will probably be our last trip until the big Thanksgiving trip.

I suggested going off the beaten path and serving something other than turkey this year. That went over about as well as the time I served roasted root vegetables instead of mashed potatoes. Damn traditions. I'm going to buy a turkey from a real farm, though, and not one of those poor poor pitiful things I see drive through town squashed in the back of a giant truck. Ack.

I started my Thanksgiving planning because I had a nightmare that I forgot and when people showed up, I had no turkey and had to go all over town looking for one that wasn't frozen. It was a good lesson.

Regis had a dream last night that we went to England with our friend, Sam Kelly. Somehow we hooked up with the Queen of England who feigned interest in Sam's new discovery about gasoline. The dream was not specific about what that discovery was but it intrigued the Queen enough that she traveled back to America with us, to Sam's delight. Turns out she only wanted to come here to get drunk which distressed Sam no end. In Regis's dreams the people in England do not drink apparently.

I think I mentioned before that we are going to be programmers for the day on Shuffle Function, a radio show we listen to on KMSU. We have had to develop a play list of about 30 songs for the two-hour show. That has involved sitting at the table, shuffling through all of our CDs and negotiating about which CD, which cut, which version, how many by which artist. Here's our draft list:

Play List for Shuffle Function

1. Sons of the Pioneers

2. Buddy and Julie Miller Dang Me Track 5

3. Decades Neil Young Needle and the Damage Done Track 17 (Disk 2)

4. Leo Kottke Embryonic Journey Track 12 (Disk 2)

5. Sinatra Summer Wine Track 13

6. Dylan Things Have Changed Track 11 (Disk 3)

7. Buffalo Springfield Mr. Soul Track 2

8. Greg Brown Good Morning Coffee Track 6

9. Willie Nelson I Never Cared for You Track 2

10. Reverend Raven The Woman I Love Track 8

11. City Mouse Moonlight Baby Track 7

12. Becky Thompson Carryin’ Fire Track 9

13. Warren Zevon Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Track 4

14. Delbert McClinton Tell Me About It Track 2

15. Trampled by Turtles Codeine Track 3

16. Lyle Lovett She’s No Lady She’s My Wife Track 7

17. James Taylor Bartender’s Blues Track 5

18. Peter Ostroushko The Whalebone Feather Track 1

19. Dire Straits Money for Nothin’ Track 2

20. Dylan Farewell Angelina Track 5 (Disk 2)

21. Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter Track 1

22. Stevie Ray Vaughn Little Wing Track 4

23. John Gorka People My Age Track 14

24. Johnny Cash Bonny Prince Billy Track 6

25. Tom Waits Long Way Home Track 3 (Disk Bawlers)

26. Loudon Wainwright White Winos Track 3

27. Lucinda Williams Concrete and Barbed Wire Track 5

28. Dave Carter and Tracy Gramm Crocodile Man Track 6

29. k.d. lang Trail of Broken Hearts Track 3

30. Buddy and Julie Miller

I'd say that is the play list of folks who have been around the musical block once or twice meaning old but not too old. There's no Elvis on there, notice that.

It was an interesting exercise. Kind of like choosing five favorite books to take to a deserted island. Or writing a letter to the editor with only 300 words. The list might be different if Regis were doing it alone but he wasn't. I can get a favorite CD and listen to it over and over for months like I did with Wonder Boys and Crazy Heart.

Our show is on from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. We get a CD of it so if you are even slightly curious, don't feel compelled to get out of bed before the crack of dawn to hear it.

Have a great Wednesday!

And a comment from my husband will follow. He is such a character and writes such funny stuff. Didn't want anyone to miss this:
First off the Queen would come to America to get drunk for the same reason that teachers used to go go out of town to drink. You just don't want the locals to know. Secondly, I don't want some lame ass scrawny bird on the table for Thanksgiving. Tom, the butcher at Hy-Vee told me that their turkeys are massaged nightly and, when their time comes, are given a ride to Mankato in a seed filled stretch limo. Obviously it is ok to buy one at the Hy-Vee.

ah, well and I seem to say that a lot

2011-10-25T19:39:00.001-05:00

Saturday, I got a letter from the clinic about my recent mammogram. It seems there were some irregularities that require more imagine. Hmmm. I didn't really panic about this until yesterday when I called and the receptionist/appointment person told me that the letter (not one I saw) said that I need "spot compression" and possible ultrasound. WTF. She asked if I had an ultrasound anywhere prior to this. I don't think so WTF. This is a nasty process.

Of course, in my usual calm fashion, I wig out and spend a horrible day weeping and carrying on and sending emails to friends. (I didn't tell any kids....don't be offended. Who wants to talk about this to their kids?) It was awful. It involved a lot of wine. A lot of wine.

Today, I am better. I have heard from many people who have been through the same thing but didn't talk about it. Holy shit, people. I would feel better if I knew that 8 out of 10 friends had been through this before, and lived to tell about it.

Things always look better in the light of day and with the love and support of friends.

But, I have to wait until Friday to have the next imaging (sounds a little sci-fi, huh?) when the radiologist is there. Yeah, he can be there but I am not letting anybody in this town cut on me, no offense. Don't you love it when people say no offense and of course, they know what they just said is offensive?

Enough about that. Friday I could be celebrating. Here's hopin'.

I have been wearing costumes or at least, crazy clothes, to work every day. Yesterday, I had on a bright green sweater and neon orange tights. I ran into a friend of mine on my way to work. She said she forgot it was dress-up day at River Rock. I said it wasn't and this is the way I always dress. Ha!

Today, I was walking to the bank and I wondered about a lot of things. Like hippies.

Yesterday, when I was riding my bike down the street, Reggie happened past in his Ameripride truck. He hung his head out the window and sang the Elvira Gulch song. Hahahaa! He called to ask if Ella had dressed me. Hey, I have a lot of years to dress like an old lady and not very many to dress like a kook. Well, maybe they can overlap a little.

Well, on my way to the evening.

this weekend passed quickly, as most do

2011-10-24T06:44:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend. Lots of cooking on the grill, lots of squandering time being lazy, and a busy Sunday getting things done.

I had tubs of stuff belonging to Tiffany and Peter in the basement, some of it worth keeping (dolls and action figures and first clothes) but much of it was stuff that could be thrown away. Did I really need to keep that deflated balloon that I got when I was in the hospital when Peter was born?

It's been consolidated to one tub per kid to keep, a box to go to the thrift store, and a box of junk. They aren't sentimental at this point in their lives but I hope some day those things will be important to them. Tiffany has a few beautiful dolls, because I loved dolls, but she was kind of uninterested in them. One she thought was creepy and asked for it to be re-boxed and put in the closet.

I started going through stuff in what used to be my office. I cleaned out about a dozen binders full of writing stuff (this made me a little sad) and boxed up a lot of books. Almost everything is on a shelf now.

We've given away a lot of furniture in the last few weeks. We have had two easy chairs and an ottoman for more than ten years and we got it used. Last week, we asked Jan, the woman who cleans for us, if she wanted them. Before we could blink an eye, she had muscled those chairs out the back door and they were on the way to her truck. It feels good to have less crap and more space.

That's enough about my cleaning binge. We have run out of recycle and garbage room this week. If you have any to spare, let me know.

Last night we cooked a mega pile of stuffed peppers on the grill thinking that it might be the last time we get to do it. Now we have peppers for the week to eat with our left-overs and in omelets. We have enjoyed those this summer.

This week I get to start wearing costumes. Wednesday is River Rock Colors Day which is not really a costume but still has potential for fun. I have crazy brown and orange tights that Regis found in a free box at the evil costume company where he worked. I think the bad mojo is gone from them by now.

Thursday is Pirate Day so I better start brushing up on my pirate speak. I have a great costume but whether I dare wear it on the street in broad daylight is a good question. Oh, yeah, I think I do. Friday is Witch Day. Some of the young people I work with are nervous because they apparently don't have a lot of costumery in their closets. Hey, I can help.

This is me in my pirate costume. The cutlass is not real, neither is the parrot. I am peering at you through a telescope which I also use to spot rum runners. Hahaha! I'm hoping the weather is pleasant enough that I can ride my bike. Be sure to stop in the coffee shop this week to share in the fun.

Gus likes to go out a lot in the morning. He goes out right away when he wakes up but as soon as he eats, he starts ringing the bells to go out again. We're on to his game and know that usually it's what we call a stick run (he likes to chew sticks) or he just wants to patrol the perimeter of the yard, keeping us safe from bunny rabbits, I guess.

Well, on to Monday and work and the rest of the foolishness. Jane and Dick are coming next weekend so there are preparations to be made. Stories will be told and more created, no doubt.

that is EXACTLY the reason

2011-10-22T20:29:00.001-05:00

I read Jill's comment. That is exactly why I didn't run. I would hate to qualify for Boston and have to travel out there. Loud groan....

true confessions

2011-10-22T07:29:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday I went to pick up my race packet and the whole experience was so daunting and unpleasant that I decided to forego this experience. I decided that going down the road at 7:30 a.m. with 4,000 other people was not my idea of a good time. Here I sit. Drinking coffee. Contemplating a shopping trip. Thinking about breakfast. Ah, life is good.

ah, yes. what was i thinking?

2011-10-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

I registered for the 10K at the Mankato Marathon. What was I thinking?

Last year, I ran, using the term loosely, the Half Marathon which is 13 miles. I bolted out of the gate from excitement then crashed about 3 miles into it and walked the rest of the way, munching a peanut butter sandwich, waving at people and petting dogs.

I crossed the finish line after 13 miles about the same time as the marathoners who had run 26 miles. In fact, some of them passed me.

Regis dropped me off and picked me up so he simplified the process for me. The whole process was oppressive but exhilarating. It gave me stories for months.

So, I guess I signed up again but decided to run the 10k instead. That's only six miles and I figure with my run/walk combo it will not be too hard. What I dread is the getting there. 3500 people are registered so traffic and parking will be a major nightmare. Blah.

Next weekend is the Halloween Fun Run in St. Peter. 3 miles in a Halloween costume. That can be fun.

Three of my more intense friends are injured and can't run at all which indicates to me that my slovenly ways are being rewarded. I am injury free to this point and intend to keep it that way. My personal best is to remain vertical and mobile. Some athlete.

We've had two good frosts. I had two big plants that I was considering hauling into the house. I guess my benign neglect made the decision for me. I don't like house plants because I forget to water them and we don't have enough sunlight so they look like hell by the end of the winter.

We've had a cardinal convention in our bird feeder the past few days. Right at dusk, there were four males and a female. I think it might have been one adult male and some juveniles because some of them are rustier red than the others. A beautiful site at the bird feeder.

We could get two or three in the photo, but never four.

I've started celebrating Halloween early. Yesterday, I wore black tights with purple and green stars and a splotch of purple in my hair. My friend, Amanda, said she read this in a book: I don't believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be the same person every day.

I told a woman at River Rock that my husband bought the tights for me and she was astonished. "Your husband?" she said...then "He rocks!" I agree.

I'm going to Yogilates this morning at the Pulse, then to work. Happy weekend!

the nicest kind of surprise

2011-10-18T19:09:00.000-05:00

I was walking back into the house after exercising this morning when I spotted this in my garden. It's an impatiens and it's growing in an area that has seen major disruption this summer with a patio expansion, then hosta and perennial planting, let alone the fact that I didn't plant any impatiens this summer. Where did this little thing come from? Quite a survivor, I'd say. What a nice surprise in the late fall garden.

I also found this lovely plant that I don't believe has ever bloomed before and used to be in a different place. I think it's a variety of joe pye weed, but I can't be sure.

Regis is really into zombies this year. He wrote a story for a writing challenge they had on our favorite morning radio show. This is the show for which we will be the programmers for a day the 2nd of November. Put that on your calendars! I don't really understand a fascination with zombies as I have never read about them and have never seen a movie with a zoombie in it. Ella knows more about zombies than I do. I'm not a fan of anything scarier than....can't even think of an example. Regis says the lion in the Wizard of Oz. Yeah, that's about it.

It was cold here today. I talked to a fellow at the shop who was in the process (packed car) of moving from Utah to Minnesota and he was not in favor of this cold weather. I would have no clue about the weather in Utah but he says it's much milder than here. We are a hearty lot in Minnesota.

Two days in a row, my new schedule has worked. I exercise at 8:00, go to work at 10:30, and come home at 4:00. That's a great string!

I'm reading a very good book that everyone else has probably read long ago: The Thirteenth Tale. Just now checking the reviews, I see it came out in 2006. I wonder how long it's been on the shelf. I like it anyway. I have been reading a lot in the middle of the night which is fine but I often wake myself up when the book falls to the floor.

We're getting our beef from Meat Mike tomorrow. That's what I call him in my phone. Damn android phone collects every phone number for anybody who crosses your path in any of the social media so there is a list a mile long. I can't remember who all these people are so I call them things like Meat Mike and Patrick Hair.

If you recall, when we first started doing business with Mike, he offered to have me come out to his farm to see that his cows had great pasture-fed lives. No, thanks, I said. I'll take your word for it. I don't need to look into the big brown eyes of anything today that I will be eating next week.

We're celebrating Halloween at River Rock with a series of dress-up days and some of my coworkers don't have adequate costume supplies so I am gathering some things to take to work so they can be appropriately clothed. Let's see....pirate day, witch day, River Rock colors day, dress like a biker day, crazy hat day, and costume of your choice day. I've already been doing WILD TIGHTS DAY every day but I felt that might be an imposition for the men on our staff.

Regis and Gus went to dog obedience class this morning and Regis reports that Gus did very well oh thank goodness he did not get kicked out of school. He and the dingo are still like bad magnets but at least they don't fly around the room like crazy kites at the ends of their leashes. That was embarrassing.

Gus weighs 35 pounds and is about the size of a small pony. Hard to believe he could be 70 pounds. We had visitors last night and he was well-behaved what a relief. Today, the assessor for our home refinancing came around and took about 5 pictures of our house and about 20 pictures of Gus. Ha!

I saw a friend of mine today, who in the last three months has had pneumonia, bronchitis, a house fire, and a bad case of tendinitis. I said she should probably walk away real fast because she's a lightening rod for bad luck. No, I didn't. That would be kind of mean, now wouldn't it? hahaha! On my walk to the bank, I saw a woman sleeping behind the wheel of her car. (It was parked.) I had the worst urge to pound on the hood. That would wake her up. Some people don't admit to these kinds of thoughts, I know that.

Well, that's probably enough of my random thoughts for one night.

a new week

2011-10-17T07:17:00.000-05:00

I got home from work on Friday about 4. Regis and I wandered down to the bar about 5 and had a drink and a bite to eat. We were home by 8:00 after visiting with lots of people, hearing the news about the Oktoberfest, and seeing the Govies parade off down the alley. That was the last time we left the house all weekend except for a brief trip by bicycle to the bank on Saturday morning.

We're ready for a new week. We got some piddly chores done that we have been putting off for a few weeks and we had a day of complete decadence. It was a good weekend.

There are a few things we need to get done before winter. Organize the garage a little bit for one. You couldn't get a snowblower out of there for anything at this point. We tend to just drop things as we go in the door. Never a good policy but it's the way we are.

I've been working more hours than I want to work at River Rock. Every week, I think I have a handle on it and turns out, I don't. My exercise has suffered and I feel unbalanced many days. I made a schedule Friday that says I will go to the Pulse every day at 8:00, some days I will take a class and some days I'll just walk or run. I'll go to work at 10:30 and work until 4:00. Many good things about this schedule and I'm going to try and stick to it.

We didn't partake of any of the Oktoberfest. It might have been a happening but we don't drink real beer anymore, don't really enjoy polka music, and it was cold. Ah, well. It looked like a good time...all but the sauerkraut eating contest. I can eat a bite of sauerkraut about one time a year. Ack.

Regis and listened to a two-disk set of songs from the 60s yesterday while we finished out DIY projects. Ha! Pretty funny. He grew up in a big city and was a little more savvy regarding the 60s than I was. I said growing up in SW Minnesota, I didn't experience the 60s until the 70s. Always a decade behind. Of course, I missed the 80s completely because I had two babies. No wonder my sense of recent music history is so messed up.

The radio station we listen to in the morning is crazy. They play independent stuff which we appreciate. (We're going to be programmers for a day on November 2nd.) This morning, they announced that Sonic Youth is splitting up. Who? Never heard of them. Like the time I read (on the cover of the Rolling Stone) that Radiohead is the Future. I wondered how this could be when I had never heard of Radiohead and had no idea if this was a person or a band or some kind of small kitchen appliance. Maybe I should be more careful about expressing my ignorance.

Well, this was pretty much a random and weird post. It's Monday morning so what can you expect?

sunday in pictures and aunt margarette

2011-10-16T13:19:00.000-05:00

Regis and I roasted and froze more than 300 Hungarian hot wax, cayenne, and jalapeno peppers this morning. We have learned to love hot peppers and eat them in almost everything, even our omelets. We got them from Adam and Lupita at Living Land Farm. Here they are in their raw state:

And here they are after being roasted in the oven. We froze them in small vacuum sealed bags so we should have a good supply for the long winter.

They're so colorful and so rich in flavor. Aren't they beautiful?

Regis got a new camera a week or so ago. He sold his old camera on eBay (with a great made-up story) and had some cash from a few projects so it didn't really cost him much. It's an upgrade from the other camera so we're having fun with it. He loves to take pictures and I love to dress up in costumes. We're a great pair.

So, here's what we did yesterday. I tried on all configurations of my costumes and Regis took pictures of me. As I looked them over later it occurred to me that it might be considered weird by some people after all to dress up and spend the day having your picture taken. I know many people who dodge the camera. More thoughts on that later. Here are the pictures.

My Halloween tights.

Parts of my witch costume. Love the purple glitter broom. Oh, and the red wig. I always wanted to be a redhead and this works out better than the hair dye I tried in my youth.

More of the witch costume. I am not completely brainless during this session...I was party planning and have two great ideas for fall and winter parties. I should do this for a living.

Cool shoes with my Halloween tights. I think Regis bought both of these for me.

I'm looking pensive in my devil horns and neon orange tights.

Gus participated in some of the photos. Here he is looking pensively out the window.

Beautiful dog.

This is my leopard director's chair that I inherited from Rachel when she left the district. It's a hoot of a chair but you have to know how to sit in it. It's not a chair for amateurs.

Another goofy hat thing and I guess I haven't even mentioned the wig. This is my Marilyn Monroe wig. It's a tiny bit more expensive and whole more comfortable than a Halloween wig.

Love these tights.

These tights have little flying witches on them.

Black and white Harlequin tights. I'm not sure there are enough days in October for me to wear all my tights.

This morning, as I was roasting peppers and musing about my picture taking propensities, it occurred to me that this might be a genetic thing. I dragged out a couple of old photo albums I inherited from my Grandma Elsie. Here is a small sample:

This is my Grandma Elsie, my dad's mother. Notice in these pictures of her, she strikes the same pose. I'm assuming it's the same picket fence, too. You wouldn't go out looking for a picket fence to be photographed in front of, now would you?

Grandma Else

Grandma Elsie

Grandma Elsie. I never knew my grandma to wear pants until maybe the early 80s. She also would not take a nap during the day if it meant lying down. She would sleep sitting up on a kitchen chair but would not lie on the couch or God forbid, a bed.

Now, this is my Aunt Margarette. I spelled her name Margaret at first, then saw on the back of some of the photos that she had signed it Margarette. She was my dad's father's sister, if I remember right. Do not use this information for any genealogical research as it is only accurate as far as my memory goes which is not far.

Margarette likes to dress up and have her picture taken. Some of these are from the 1930s when I imagine film and film developing were not cheap.

When I was growing up, we got holiday cards from Margaret. I remember we kind of snickered at her posing and fancy ways. Hmmm.

Margarette lived somewhere in St. Paul when I was working in White Bear Lake. I spoke to her on the phone only one time and never met her.

This is a great pose and not the only photo I have of Margarette perched on the fender of a car.

Margarette looking pensive.

Wish I knew where this was taken.

They hauled the piano bench to the yard for a photo session. Good idea.

I have on a pair of shoes similar to this in the photo with the witch tights.

Maybe I could get my picture taken on the counter at River Rock.

Margarette might have been a character, I'm thinking.

She looks a little innocent here. Maybe it was in her younger days.

Love the signature.

Funny that I don't have any pictures of her with another hair do. I suppose the albums I have only span a certain number of years.

So, that's it. This is the German-Irish side of my family gene pool and I am quite sure there is a similar cast of characters on the Norwegian side. I'll do a little research and report back. Just wanted you to know that none of this is my fault...the costumes, the photo sessions, the love of cool shoes. It's my gene pool...that's my story.

saturday in october

2011-10-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

I have been outside a lot already today. Gus and I got up at 6:00 and he likes to go out right away. It was such a beautiful morning with an almost full moon, lots of stars, and brisk fall air that I didn't mind standing around for a while with my coffee. Since then, he has been out to play, to zoom around the yard, and to chase sticks. Some dog.

I have a sketchy plan for today. I made an eggbake and we ate some of it. That's it. That is the extent of my plan.

Actually, I think I will ride my bike to the bank or see if Regis and Gus want to walk to the bank with me.

It's a good day for not doing much. Every day doesn't have to be full of stuff to do. Relax and enjoy the day.

gourds for change

2011-10-14T05:48:00.000-05:00

I have no idea what this means. It's the title from a post I started a few weeks ago but never went beyond the title. So, happy Friday...gourds for change.

Today has been a week of ...not sure how to say it. Just when you think things are bleak and people are butt heads, you are renewed and the world is redeemed. That sounds a lot more serious than the whole thing was but it was a good feeling anyway. A series of small things can beat you up just as fast as a big thing.

Gus is restless this morning. He likes it when Regis and I are both up and he's nervous if one person is still in bed. He keeps running into the bedroom and leaping on the bed. He lies flat and looks at me without moving, as if I would miss his huge dog self on the bed. Then I see his tail wag a little. Regis says I can leave him there but if I do, he just follows me out, then goes back in two minutes later.

I finally bring him out and close the door. Now he's pacing and whining.

We have no plans for the weekend except to finish up the home improvement projects we started in September. I have some painting to do with an old-base paint which I loathe. I have curtains yet to wash and re-hang. Ugh. This gets old fast, this redecorating.

I'm working out with Rachel again this morning to make up for the day we missed last week when she had bronchitis. I have a busy Friday at work and then we're going to meet some friends for a drink and a bite to eat. Sounds like a nice way to end the week.

later today

2011-10-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

I lied about the sandwiches...MOST are on homemade bread, not all. Ah, yes.

I had to come home and have a glass of wine to unwind. I have a staff meeting at 7:15 (almost my bedtime) so that's the limit. A glass of wine to unwind.

I heard sirens all day today and what the hell is up with that? Are we on a path to the ER or something?

It was a beautiful bike riding day and I think I saw the Blues Brothers driving down 3rd Street. That always makes for an interesting ride.

Gus has been playing like crazy since I got home. He launches himself from the back porch and lands on the love seat beside me. I swear. He's a damn hoot. We took him into the back yard where Regis throws a toy for him, He can catch it in mid-air with a half somersault. Some dog.

Good meeting at work tonight but I'm tired and ready for bed. See you tomorrow.

morning

2011-10-11T08:21:00.000-05:00

There was a full moon last night but I didn't see it. By morning, it was gone.

We had a tiny bit of rain yesterday, just enough to wet the grass and consequently, Gus's feet. We wipe his paws off but he still manages to bring in a load of leaves stuck all over in his fur (hair?) and dirt all over his paws. He's also learned to jump on the bed in a single leap. He doesn't sleep up there if we're both in bed because there isn't enough room but he does like to jump up to check it out. It's one big step for him which gives you an idea how big he is and he's only half grown. I think we're raising a bear.

River Rock reached a huge milestone yesterday. They are now serving all of their sandwiches on homemade bread which is major league in the restaurant business. They developed the recipes and a schedule so this is not just a "now and then" thing...or when they get around to it. It's a commitment and they are amazing.

I ordered flowers for Annie to celebrate. Mary Smith from Mary's Flowers said she would deliver them with style and she never disappoints. She came in and performed "We're Going to Breadland" to the tune of the Paul Simon song Graceland. It was a damn hoot.

I was surprised to hear how many people (young, old, and in-between) did not know much about Bob Dylan. But then, I don't know much about the bands in the 80s so what the hell. Bob Dylan seems like more of a cultural icon. Heck, he almost won a Nobel Prize.

I better get moving here this morning. Just one more thing. I love looking through my downloads file because all the pictures and crap I have posted on Facebook and my blog over the years are archived there. Like this:

I don't remember anymore why I used this picture but it must have had significance at the time. Or maybe not.

bob dylan day

2011-10-10T18:58:00.000-05:00

Riding my bike to work with a pocket watch and a parrot. I'm illustrating the line "he hears the ticking of the clock and walks along with a parrot that talks" from Simple Twist of Fate. Bob Dylan Day at River Rock Coffee.

writer's notebook

2011-10-10T08:03:00.001-05:00

These are my new Halloween aprons, made by my friend, Katy, in Georgia. I can't wait for them to arrive.

I realized a few weeks ago while talking to a friend about writing, that I use my blog like Jill and I used to use a writer's notebook when we were teachers. It's like an artist's sketchbook or what I heard someone call a morning journal. Here's a website that I would love if I were still a teacher. It's called Writing Fix.

Teaching writing was one of the things I loved most about teaching and it's one of the things I miss. It makes me a little sad that it's not taught much anymore, or at least not well. Too many people are afraid of writing and have a deadly fear of the red pen. My dad once wrote stories from his life, then gave it to an English teacher to edit. She marked it up with a red pen and he was so discouraged he threw it in the trash. What a pity.

I think if you like stories and writing, your head is always doing it. Tamika said she thinks in recipes...always inventing and reworking recipes. I think in stories. Some days I have to email myself lines or words so I don't forget to tell a story. You'd think this blog would be richer than it is for all of that, eh?

I got up early today to exercise. The rest of my life has been a disruptive influence in my exercise routine and I just realized that I signed up for the Mankato Marathon 10K (6 miles) on the 22nd and the Fun Run on the 29th. I better start training! Some of the Pulse women have run marathons almost every weekend and then they rode in the Bike Ramble yesterday...45 miles. I am a lazy athlete.

Regis went to the store to buy groceries before his medical appointment. Gus is so attached to him that he suffers terrible separation anxiety when he leaves. He runs into the bedroom and vaults up onto the bed to see out the window. Now, he's pacing around the house and whining. Good grief.

We sat on the patio yesterday but were disturbed by the tiny biting insects that Regis believes are biting midges. They were at the wedding on Saturday and were awful to contend with. They're smaller than gnats, bite harder, but don't leave a mark. We finally went back inside but we went out to grill a few hours later, they had disappeared. Who knows.

It's a dog revolution in our neighborhood today.

We made a giant chicken on the grill last night. We get chickens from our meat man and they are almost the size of small turkey. Regis cuts them up and we grill them with Old Bay Seasoning. Delicious. I've never been a big chicken on the grill fan because it gets so dry but not this way. We also cooked a batch of hot peppers with Prairie Pried sausage and mozzarella. Good eating night.

It's Bob Dylan Day at River Rock so I have to get my costume ready. Better pop down to see it.