peter's birthday, river rock's birthday, a new chapeaux, and poems on sticks

I have neglected my blog this week and stuff is backing up in my head.

I worked from 7 a.m. - 11 a.m. this morning and my temptation is to crawl into bed for the afternoon to read and avoid the wind and the housework. I decided to sit down and relax with some words instead of napping and reading.

We went down to Patrick's last night to drop off some wine trip tickets, which was sold out but as of this morning there are two seats available again. People make up your minds.

At Patrick's, I started telling Tom about this show I'm watching, Downtown Abbey, and he corrected me. It's Downton Abbey. Well, I can't help it those Brits can't spell downtown what the hell I thought maybe their abbey was in an urban area. It's interesting and amazing. I keep telling Regis I would love to live like that. They dress fancy, have people to button their cuffs and sweep the crumbs off their laps, and they just get up and walk away from the table without worrying about putting the food away.

My friend, Bob, came to town yesterday. He met another friend of mine, Gil, at River Rock. Bob and Betty both taught in Long Prairie for years and LP is Gil's home town. They had a nice visit about teachers they both knew at the high school. Colleagues and classmates.

Bob brought wonderful gifts, in fact, his arms were loaded when he walked in the door. He does a great job with dramatic tension, telling stories to set up each present.

The first was in a gorgeous, old hat box. It's a vintage (love that word) hat that belonged to his Grandma Anna, who they always called Nana. It's a beautiful chapeaux...in fact, the label says "Christian Dior Chapeaux" I love that. I'm going to wear it with Tom's mom's fur coat and have Regis take a snapshot of me.

The next present was in an L.L. Bean slipper box and also had a great story about stained glass which the present was not but was a set of what they call redneck wineglasses on beautiful Israeli candle holders. The tops, actually Mason jars, have lids which will come in handy when the birch tree starts shedding. The jar lids will be way classier than the Saran wrap I usually use.

And the other present was a set of newly minted Poems on Sticks! I loved the old Poems on Sticks (a joint David Bengtson-Mike Hazard project) and have only three left because when people love them, I have to give them away. So, I was relishing the new Poems on Sticks and thinking how much fun they would be to have at River Rock but thinking, selfishly, that I didn't want to break up MY set, when Bob said he had another complete set in the car that I could use at RRC. Great! They were a hoot this morning and as I said, only a couple people had their anti-poetry deflector shields operational. Anti-poetry deflector shields are typically installed during a person's high school years and it's a difficult process to un-do. Billy Collins says seeing poetry in public helps.

It was like Christmas in April! And Bob, Gil asked me this today: Did he really drive all the way down here from Rockford to see you, Teresa? Then he laughed and said, "Well, you're worth it." And we all laughed. (Gil has a great laugh that I once recognized from across a giant furniture warehouse in Minneapolis.)

Peter, my baby, is 25 years old today. I called and wished him a happy quarter-century. We're meeting for lunch tomorrow at Pappageorge in Mankato.

Regis is a technology lover. He's been playing around with some app that does this:

That's me sitting in my chair (looking a little haggard, I must say) and who in the hell are those tiny people marching around in front of me? Hahaha!

I saw on Facebook that there is an app so you can keep track of the countries you have visited. Really, I don't need an app for that. I don't even need two hands. In fact, I don't even need one hand. How pitiful. Hahaha again! Apps are over-rated.

I have been thinking seriously about the role of technology in our lives. There is a table of regular old farts that come into the coffee shop every day. One fellow always has an iPad open and whatever comes up in the conversation, he rings it right up and shows everyone. Every time his cell phone rings, he answers it. Really, I think unless you are a heart transplant surgeon and you are on call at this very moment, this is unnecessary. 

Next week, this dude will have an ear mullet.

I can hear it now. Yeah, yeah, I'll be home about 11:30. And you need a dozen eggs and a six-pack of Bud?

history of a pie

Boston Cream Pie. Somehow, I manage to bake the cake part, slice it in half, remove it and reassemble it without breaking it into a hundred pieces. Here it is with the custard layer which might have been too thick but a guy can't throw out homemade custard now, right?

Here it is with the chocolate ganache, another miracle. I had to boil cream and dump it over chocolate chips. It seemed way too runny but I stirred and stirred and finally it looked right, although a few chocolate lumps remained. When I started pouring it over the top, I thought it would never work. It pooled up a little on the bottom but hey, not bad, I'd say.

Here's how it looks when it's served. This was the first piece and I had a little trouble getting it to lay down without manhandling it. 

A lot of putzy work but fun. It got good reviews.

It's been an interesting week. We took Gus to daycare on Monday and I did a little shopping. I felt like I needed some spring color. I wanted orange...bright orange. I found a few things but not many. Shoes are awfully dull, aren't they? Why can't grown-up women get shoes in bright colors? I found toddler shoes in bright colors but they must think women want to look like immigrants.

Through a series of interesting coincidences, Peter has a job offer in Slayton. Here's how it happened:

• I happened to be in River Rock one day last week when my friend Liz was in for coffee.
• Liz happened to mention a road trip to Slayton.
• I had time, at that moment, to ask her why she was going there.
• Answer: A potential client. A printing firm.
• I told her to ask if they were hiring because Peter is job hunting. She got a few particulars and down the road she went.
• She came in the next day. Yes, yes, and yes. The owner's name and phone number.
• Peter went to an interview on Monday and they offered him a job. There are some final details to work out but it looks like he might be moving to Slayton. Here's to Peter and to Liz!

On my way to exercise. Some days my butt drags getting there. I appreciate it when it's done and most days I tolerate it fairly well but I wish I got that adrenaline rush like some people do. Rachel is running in the Boston Marathon next week. Running 26 miles...not for me.

Better get going. Happy Wednesday.

brown skirt and easter eggs

I bought the brown skirt. I apologized to the young woman making it and said I promised I wasn't crazy. I said it's like designing a horse by committee...you get a camel in the end! I think I'll be happy with brown.

I'm making Easter dinner for some group of relatives. We're never sure just how many will be here. Somewhere between 8 and 12, I'm thinking. Today I'm making vegan cut-out cookies, Italian country bread, and I'm coloring eggs. I'll get pictures of the process.

We had a busy cooking week. We made flank steak and grilled peppers for two friends from my writing class on Tuesday night. It was delicious and beautiful and we served it simply with tortillas, sour cream, and salsa. Aside from a glass of wine, you don't need much else.

On Thursday night, we had our old friend, Deb, over for dinner. We made lime and chili marinaded chicken breasts, grilled asparagus, roasted sweet potatoes and the best pepper salad. I bastardized a recipe but basically it was sliced up sweet peppers and olives in a balsamic dressing. I loved it. We didn't get photos of either of those meals.

Here's something we made this winter that I just found on the camera:

It's a smorgasbord of stuff we made on the table-top grill we bought for 25 cents at a garage sale in Iowa. We bought the grill for 25 cents...not the food. I think I might have dangled a participle.

Regis bought groceries on Tuesday and when I came home from the gym, I found this note. It says, "I bought this tater because I thought it was a dead ringer for Bob Hope!" I laughed out loud. That's my honey!

I made a from-scratch Boston Cream Pie today. The cake didn't stick in the pan, the custard didn't curdle, and now if I can get the ganache right and get the whole thing assembled, it will be a successful mission. This is the custard on the stove, waiting for the vanilla bean to infuse. I took a picture of the cake, too, but I am a fairly crappy photographer and none of them turned out.

I'm going to stop here. I have a few errands to run downtown and then I might be back to document the rest of my day. What a thrill.

minnie

I posted the picture of my red skirt yesterday, then Deb sent this email:

I just read your blog and squealed when I saw that skirt because I was in the airport last week and a little girl had that very skirt on; she also had red socks with white lace, black mary janes, and a red beanie with mouse ears! It's minnie mouse's skirt! Hahahahha.....

Every time I got to the beanie part, I laughed so hard I cried and couldn't read the rest of her email.

kale and sunshine

Last night for dinner, I made this recipe: Sausage and Kale Mock Lasagna Casserole. Personally, I wouldn't call it mock lasagna, I would call it hotdish. It's a hotdish with kale and sausage, really not like lasagna at all. I like it and Regis said the cheese and sauce did a good job of disguising the flavor of the kale which is a desirable thing for him. I used more cheese than the recipe called for because it seemed like a skimpy amount. Who measures shredded cheese by the tablespoon?

Kale is one of those vegetables I never ate until I bought a share of a CSA. I'm not sure I even noticed it in the store. Now I like it. We usually eat it in salads and once I made chips out of it. That was interesting. It takes about two pounds to make a little bowl of chips. 

I had the nicest surprise last week. Rita, a very sweet woman I met through my job at River Rock, came in carrying this beautiful bulb basket...for me!

These are my daffodils in the front yard. I was worried about them with the hot wind we've had in the past few weeks but they waited until this week to appear so they're safe. Last year, the blooms lasted a month. One of my frequent walking neighbors kept track of it and reminds me often.

I was taking random pictures this morning and took one of these tiny pitchers that I bought about a month ago. They're individual coffee creamers but I use them for sauces. Aren't they cute?

Another picture of blooming sunshine. They smell wonderful, too!

Ella and I went shopping for an Easter dress yesterday. They had quite a crop of dresses at Kohl's and it was a little bit overwhelming. I finally said I would pick three and she could choose from that which worked much better. She also liked the accessories as she calls them...bracelets, sparkly purses, and socks. She takes after this Nana, I think.

I told her I might want to make one more stop and she said, and I quote: "Nana, you don't need to buy any more clothes. Not on my watch, you don't." Haha!

I've been shopping for something to wear to my birthday party. I found this skirt on etsy and I'm negotiating with the maker on length and color. I thought I wanted it in brown but when I showed Ella the red one, she said oh, that's the color, right there. She's a hoot. My cousin thought I could make one like this but in my experience, the way I envision clothing never turns out in the execution. 

I am worrying about this now because I have some obsessive tendencies when it comes to events. We're serving dinner to the band the day of the party because we are responsible for a meal and I would rather cook for them than send them to Arby's. (Ha!) So, in my mind, we make ribs. I want Regis to call them and make sure there are no dietary restrictions but he says that's crazy ten weeks out. What the hell, I said. If it turns out we have three koshers, a vegan, and a cardiac diet, there will be trouble. I'd rather have that information now.

I should list all the things that are "of concern" to me now and maybe the ridiculousness of it will stun me back to reality. Doubtful.

I write the bios for the program for the retiring teachers. I can't remember how I got this job, but I get a kick out of it. This morning, one of the teachers called me to see what kind of information I wanted. I said I didn't want them to be like bad obituaries but something interesting that a person might want to read. If, for example, you have a tattoo, that might make its way into your bio. 

Yesterday, one of our birch limbs went down. I think it had cracked before and just chose that day to fall. I was worried and thought oh, great, now that I have filled my garden with shade plants, I'll lost two trees and all the shade. Not to worry. Karl Struck must have read my mind because he drove by, said it happens to trees, and helped Regis and a neighbor cut it off then he hauled it away. I love small towns.

I have to go in to work this afternoon for a while, so I think I'll take a nap. Life is good.

extraneous crap

I'm on a mission to rid my life of extraneous crap. I spent the last hour looking at my desk and thinking about what I use and don't use and throwing away a lot of stuff I never look at anymore. I used to keep CDs of pictures and music. All of that is stored in the cloud now so there is no need to keep it all in plastic format. Right? It just clutters up your head.

I have a pile of boxes ready for the EP on the 11th, a pile of boxes for the consignment store on May 1st, I've thrown three bags in the trash and there is more to come. What is this urge to acquire junk and then just let it sit around getting in your way?



This is hilarious.

I've been reading a zen blog about simplifying your life be getting rid of the stuff you have to move to clean around, the stuff you have to search through to find the stuff you really want...it just goes on and on. Too much stuff.

Now that I have purged my space of some stuff, I'm getting ready to do something!

trip to the outer reaches of minnesota

Regis, Gus, and I motored to Canby for the weekend to see Mom. We left Saturday morning and anticipated a trip in bright early spring sunshine. Not to be. Some weather man jibberish blamed it on an inversion and the upshot was that instead of 80 and 90 degrees, it was more like a damp 55. My feet froze and I wore a jacket all weekend.

We had a great time with Mom. My mom is something to aspire to...she's active and funny and she has a busy life. We sent Regis to the newly re-modeled liquor store in the afternoon to buy a box of wine. He came back with the report that they had a wine tasting and were serving tator tots as a palate cleanser. Guess that works as well as anything. Well, maybe they were just the snack.

This is a busy week. I've invited friends for dinner two times, I'm taking Ella shopping for an Easter dress, Regis has a meeting, grocery shopping tomorrow, and I have to work. All fun stuff but it will be busy. We're having the off-spring and their families here for Easter dinner so the prep for that will start about Friday.

Things on my list of things to do today:

1. Finish menu and grocery list
2. Pick up house and put out a few Easter decorations
3. Clean out refrigerator
4. Work from 12:00-3:00
5. Pick up Ella at school at 4:00
6. Buy an Easter dress for Ella!

Enjoy the spring day! Happy April!

friday night madness

Let's see. I came home early from work...like noon...because I had an overdose of caffeine. I was shaky and light-headed and tired. I don't sleep well (ever) but especially in the afternoon so I curled up in bed and finished my book. When I got up I was not in the mood to make lasagna with kale so we went to Patrick's and had some chicken wings. They were doing an Oberon tasting so we scored some beer swag and came home early to finish the movie Travels with My Aunt. That's the story of Friday at our house. Good night and see you in a few days.

Gus and the movie

This is the report card Gus got for playing at the Paw yesterday. (Interesting that there are not descriptors that could have been used for our previous dogs: cantankerous and snappish.) Gus loves going to the Paw. This report card is similar to the one Elliot brings home from his daycare.

Regis and I had a nice afternoon although we went to see the movie The Hunger Games. It was way too stimulating for me. I was on high alert for much of the movie and figure I paid 11 dollars for a bag of popcorn because I spent most of the movie with my eyes closed. If you're a fan of the book, you might like it. The people looked like the Whos down in Whoville so it was hard to comprehend the level of violence they were enjoying.

 Mayor of Whoville- Mayor of District 12

See what I mean?

I went to the Pulse this morning at 5 a.m. to open it for Rachel, who is out of town on some errand or other. I was supposed to be relieved at 6:15 but the dude didn't show up and by 7:15 I was freezing and tired and starving. I'm home now, finally, and eating oatmeal while I draw my hot bath!

the wind has blown more than dirt

I think March went with the wind, too. Is it part of getting older that the days don't seem to slow down but to just get faster and faster all the time?

We had all three grandchildren here for dinner and play last night. There was a lot of what you see in the pictures: hugging, hilarity, funny-face making, and doggy dismay. Gus ate a few small toy parts and snatched an unattended bread stick. All in all, it was a fun evening.

We were at the park and Alex and Elliot were on some riding toys. Alex asked me to make an elephant noise and I did my best. He made a face and said his dad's elephant noise is much better. I think I can be glad for that. Or at least not sad.

Ella did a great job of keeping the boys in line. She made announcements like, "We are not crossing the street until you boys hold my hands!" and " I am not pushing the merry-go-round until you boys sit down!" I told her she was a good big sister and cousin to be so attentive to the boys.

I think I learned (or re-learned) a lesson about food when small children are in attendance. The simpler the better and don't go to too much trouble. I made marinara from scratch and Regis made breadsticks...too much fussing and not enough result. Ella enjoyed all of it but the boys were way too busy to eat much. Maybe next time we go to Patrick's for chicken strips and tator tots.

One of the nice things (there are many many many) about being around small children is that they are delighted by everything. These are some of the things that amused and delighted the little ones last night: a jet plane streaking across the sky, a rabbit hopping through the park, a dog name Roger, a dog named Zoey, a dog named Waldo, a dog named Sadie (seeing a pattern?), swinging, the train whistle, a motorcycle passing on the street, strawberry popsicles, each other. It was sweet.

It's been a very busy week for some ordinary reasons. I did some fun things at work...delivered a big lunch order and hosted a senior citizen bank tour luncheon. I wanted to ask when the old people were coming because some of those folks looked about my age. What the hell, I say.

I took Gus out early this morning and the sky was beautiful. Made it worth waking up at 4 a.m. Well, almost. Gus is going to daycare again this afternoon, which will delight him. Regis takes him to the dog park several times a week and he loves that. What's not to love if you are a dog? Regis said all the dogs clump up around the gate whenever a new dog arrives, they sniff each other to say hello, they romp madly together, and they walk in the mud. It's like dog heaven.

There you go. Regis tells me that they have found a way to extend the current sporting tournament into April.   That's a special kind of madness.

the doldrums of winter have passed

It seems I am more productive with the growing light. I'm not cleaning out the garage or anything, but I am making spaghetti sauce and crab cakes (not for the same meal) and a lasagna with kale and hot Italian sausage.

All three of our grandchildren will be here tomorrow night for dinner and they're having spaghetti. Every time one or the other is here, they look for the other one. Where's Elliot? Where's Alex and Ella? Surprise! They're all here!

Ella and I are going shopping for an Easter dress next Tuesday. We love to buy dresses, don't we Ella?

I dislike the wind mightily so I may have to spend the day in the basement. There is also (I can hardly believe this...) a fire warning. What the hell do you do about that? I told Regis to build a raft so we can escape down the river.

It's like when those random shootings were occurring in one of the large cities (Washington, DC?) and they advised that you not walk in a straight line. I practiced that because it was such an outrageous thing to suggest. I could picture all the citizens of Washington, zig-zagging down the street like they'd had too much Chardonnay.

I have a lot of unreasonable fears. Some days I keep them at bay, some days I don't. If I'm not talking about them (because I know they're unreasonable and will make me sound crazy) it doesn't mean they aren't lurking in the back of my mind.

Everybody has them. My cousin won't buy consignment clothes because they could contain dead skin and bugs. A friend of mine won't take baths because she has to scrub the tub so thoroughly that it's a lot of work. (I'll take a bath right after the dog.) I have another friend who worries about the wheels of big trucks coming off as she passes them on the highway. I worry about that but I tend to worry about major disasters more than small ones. It's why I won't watch movies about zombies or earthquakes or asteroids.

I'm reading the funniest book. The title is Travels with My Aunt and it's by Graham Greene. Here's what he says about the book:

Graham Greene on Travels with My Aunt:
If A Burnt-Out Case in 1961 represented the depressive side of a manic-depressive writer, Travels with My Aunt eight years later surely represented the manic at its height—or depth.
… Travels with My Aunt is the only book I have written for the fun of it. Although the subject is old age and death – a suitable subject to tackle at the age of sixty-five – and though an excellent Swedish critic described the novel justly as "laughter in the shadows of the gallows," I experienced more of the laughter and little of the shadow in writing it. When I began with the scene of the cremation of Henry Pulling’s supposed mother and his encounter with Aunt Augusta I didn’t believe for a moment that I would continue the novel for more than a few days. I didn’t even know what the next scene was likely to be – I didn’t know that Augusta was Henry’s mother. Every day when I sat down before the blank sheets of foolscap (for as symbol of my new freedom I had abandoned the single lined variety where the lines seemed to me now like the bars on a prison window) I had no idea what was going to happen to Henry or Augusta next. I felt like a rider who has dropped the reins and left the direction to his horse or like a dreamer who watches his dream unfold without power to alter its course. I felt above all that I had broken for good or ill with the past.
I was even irresponsible enough to include some private jokes which no reader would understand. Why not? I didn’t expect to have any readers. So I christened "Detective-Sergeant Sparrow, John" after that elegant scholar the ex-Warden of All Souls, Augusta’s black lover "Wordsworth" after a villainous District Commissioner whom I had met more than thirty years before in Liberia, Mr. Visconti’s son "Mario" after my friend Mario Soldati who once greeted me and gave me lunch in Milan station with similar flamboyance on my way to Istanbul. I remember I even found room for Kingsley Amis’s surname which I gave to a character on whom I can’t at the moment lay my finger. The name Visconti for Aunt Augusta’s lover was adapted from my favourite character in Marjorie Bowen’s The Viper of Milan which I had loved as a boy, and it gave me an innocent amusement when I heard Detective Sparrow describing him as a viper. Some critics have found in the book a kind of resume of my literary career—a scene in Brighton, the journey on the Orient Express, and perhaps a hint of this did come to my mind by the time Aunt Augusta arrived at the Pera Palace, but what struck me with some uneasiness, when I reread the book the other day, were the suggestions I found in it of where the future was going to take me. The boat which carried Henry Pulling from Buenos Aires to Asuncion stopped for half an hour during the night in the little river harbour of Corrientes in northern Argentina, but I had no idea that I would be landing there from a plane some years later in search of the right setting for The Honorary Consul. Consul.

It's very entertaining. I started reading it to avoid The Hunger Games. (See paragraph about unreasonable fears.) Ha!

Well, off into the day. I have a lot of social calendar planning on my agenda in the next few days: Easter dinner, the wine trip, River Rock's anniversary party, our birthday party in June, and probably a couple other things I have forgotten for the moment. I better get busy!

sharing

Regis played this little video for me on google tv tonight. It's from ted.com and it's Billy Collins reading some of his poems and showing animated shorts made by Sundance from others. It's really wonderful. I love the quote: When you get a poem [in a public place], it happens to you so suddenly that you don't have time to deploy your anti-poetry deflector shields that were installed in high school.


A guy could keep busy for a long time watching stuff on ted.com.


Here's what we had for dinner. Seared scallops and seared tuna with mango salsa. It was delicious.

invention

It's such a pain in the neck to trade winter clothes for summer clothes in my tiny closet that I told Regis I had a great idea for an invention. (I don't think this means I have technically invented it...just imagined it.) I described a closet on a winch system where you could push a button and one closet would travel into a storage space below and the other closet would travel up into the space for current seasonal clothing. It would be like a pair of giant dumb waiters. Good idea, no?

We had this mopish foggy morning that finally broke out into sunshine about the time I retreated to a dark room to read a book on my kindle. Just my luck.

I had lunch with my friend, Joanne, today. We lingered over nachos and wine, walked through the shops downtown, and had a fine time. We should do it more often.

I'm going out for dinner, too, to celebrate the 38th birthday of a coworker and friend at Patrick's. I thought long and hard about what to buy for a little birthday memento and finally settled on a glass Viking ship from the Swedish shop. I told Regis it's because we always talk philosophically about life. He missed the point and maybe she will, too, so I better include a brief note about the meaning of my gift. Uff da and ha!

I realized this morning while making my menu and grocery list for the next few weeks, that Easter is in two weeks. I had to decide if I wanted to do a traditional meal (ham) or a maverick meal (pulled pork sandwiches). Think we're going with the ham.

Regis is cutting coupons out of the paper. On one page, Maxi-pads. On the next page: Depends. He asked if I needed either one and then made the observation that I am right in between. Ha. In the transition phase. Ha.

I always carry a small notepad around with me for my random thoughts and things I want to remember. I had it on my lap as we drove to Mankato on Friday, then left it with Regis in case he thought of something. When I looked at it yesterday, he had written this:

1. Cogito ergo sum
2. String bikinis
3. Bald faced lies

He cracks me up.

Early Sunday morning and I am in the midst of muffin baking, grocery list making, and planning for the day. I'm going out and about on my bicycle but probably need to go to the coop with the car unless I want to pull the wagon behind and that would look a little weird.

Better get on with the day. There may be a report filed later. You just never know.

consignment shopping

I swore a few weeks ago that I was not bringing one more piece of clothing into my house but today, I made a visit to Encore in Mankato where I purchased four skirts, two belts, and two tops for 80 dollars. I also made an appointment to go back with what I clean out of my closet. Ha!

I like to do that thing where you find a look for two hundred dollars and reproduce it with thrift and consignment store purchases for twenty. I'm not sure I did a great job but I did a passable job. What a hoot.

Because I like to shop at this store so much, I brought a birthday party invitation to one of the employees. Another woman (about my age) asked me if this was our 60th wedding anniversary party. WTF lady.

As promised, the revised flashlight collection.

We watched a movie from the 70s last night and ten minutes from the end, I learn that the main character does not make it out of the movie alive. I hate that. I like more redemption in my entertainment, meaning that I like to have things end in a rosy and uplifting manner. Don't give me that shit that real life isn't like that...it is if I believe it is.

So, now Regis wants me to go and see a futuristic  movie where lots of people kill each other and plot to kill the ones who aren't dead yet. Yeah. What a nice way to spend an afternoon. I told him I would give it a whack but I have been known to take long naps in movies like this. I didn't make it through one of the Lord of the Rings movies without a nap. Too many sword fights for my taste.

The weather will be gorgeous tomorrow. My bike is getting tuned up and I am going off on some errands. Look for me pedaling down the street.

dog treats

Regis and I made homemade dog treats this afternoon. It was a rainy day and we felt like puttering in the kitchen. Dog treats are as good as anything. They were easy and the recipe made a lot of treats. Gus had a few of them and now he's taking a nap behind the chair.

middle of the night

In the middle of the night, Regis shouts, "Wake up! Somebody's coming to the door!" I gasp and sit up because I see a flashing light. I look toward the curtained window and see zombies. I realize the light is my cell phone and that Regis is dreaming. With a pounding heart, I spend the next hour waiting for the Ambien to take effect and writing this sentence in my head.

I had my annual check-up with my head doctor yesterday. She's retiring the end of the month so unless I feel myself really whacking out, I'll move on without her. She has helped me sort through a lot of stuff in my life. I hugged her when I left and thanked her for her part in my happiness. I'll miss her as a friend and as a professional therapist.

When we dropped Gus off at Young Regis's house the other day, my husband spotted this flashlight hanging by their door. Regis loves flashlights. Put flashlight in the blog search bar and see what you get. It's a long-standing obsession for him which he compares to my shoes and boots but I said you can only use one flashlight at a time.

So, he had to order this flashlight. I knew he wouldn't be able to resist it.

Rayovac SE4W3C Sportsman Xtreme 3C 4-Watt LED Metal Flashlight

This was his collection in 2007.

I'm going to ask him to photograph the current collection today. (He claims that none of these flashlights in the photo are currently in use.) If any of the other Fritsch men are reading this, here's the challenge. Take a picture of your flashlight collection and email it to me. I'll post them here. It's a flashlight-off!


We watched the episodes of Cheers last night where Woody and Kelly get married. It's about twenty years old but we laughed until we cried, just like we did the first time we watched it. Carla going up and down in that dumb waiter is about the funniest thing ever.

We have a group of thirty people, in the age range of 65-70 coming into the coffee shop today. Of course, the twenty-somethings I work with are ready to get out the wheel chairs and walkers. Ah, to be young and think that everyone older than you is old. I don't think anyone is old anymore.


Going the Pulse this morning, then to work. Hope those old people can make it in the door. Hahaha!

driving and abandoning books

If you put each person's quirky habits on a Venn diagram, would it look like this?

I abandon books rather quickly. Right now, there are about three books that are on the edge for different reasons. Do I have a short attention span?

My driving habits don't fit for someone with SAS (short attention span). I like to pick a lane and a spot (behind a truck) and stay there. I could drive all the way to South America in the same lane, if it were possible. Is it?

Oh, shit. I just read on Facebook that today is Meatless Monday and I just finished putting the biggest meatloaf ever (stuffed with provolone and prosciutto ham) into the oven. It's made from real beef from real cows out by LeCenter so maybe that gives me a few points. Sometimes too much information is too much information, right?

I woke up early and worked out with Rachel. She had me doing some sadistic exercise where I had to drag my whole body across the studio floor with my hands. Am I too old for this?

This is not me. I don't know who this woman is...I just grabbed her picture off the internets so don't write me and complain about it. It looks to me like she's trying to crawl over to that bar which might be a good idea. I think I'll suggest that next time.

I worked all morning on stuff I have been putting on a list of things to do and then forgetting about anyway. Then I tried to take a nap but the wind and the heat are disturbing. My neighbors daffodils came up almost overnight and now they're already almost dead. They lived three days tops. What the hell. Last year, my daffodils lasted almost a month. It was cool and wet, if you recall.

Regis is in the other room watching The Walking Dead. I don't have much of an interest in zombies. Or futuristic things. He asked me if I wanted to go see The Hunger Games. I asked what it was about and I really only wanted a one sentence answer like this: It's about a group of people in the future. I would have said nah, I don't want to see that. I have as narrow a menu of movies that I like as books. No violence, no murder, no mayhem, no futuristic stuff. I like reality and not much of it. Ha!

My cousin is in Florida visiting friends. She sent me a picture of a woman is going to be 104 on Saturday. I won't publish the picture because that might violate her privacy but I will tell you she is gorgeous, dressed in lively colors and a big hat. After she posed for a few pics, she asked Deb to take a picture of a hot guy by the pool in swim trunks. That is some spirit!

I just rediscovered Mark Knopfler. I have several of his CDs but they are buried in a box somewhere I can't find them. I have uploaded a lot of music to the cloud, whatever that means, so I found them there. Thank God for the cloud, whatever that is. Check out this Dilbert cartoon if you have wondered the same thing.

Does anybody else think the birds sound crazy? My theory is that it's early spring so the trees of full of those creepy birds like grackles, starlings, and red winged blackbirds. Usually, it's colder so we have the windows closed but with the weather so unseasonably warm, the doors and windows are open and it sounds like a bird revolution. The grackle is some bad ass bird. This one is giving the evil eye.

Don't make eye contact if you see them outside!

st. patty's day

Here's the Guinness Chocolate Cake. It popped right out of the pan but then I had a little trouble with the ganache. It got good reviews, though, and I took slabs of it to the neighbors in my shamrock apron.

Here we are at the parade. I'm going to write a separate review of the parade which I did not enjoy very much this year and I don't want to cast a pall over a normally cheerful holiday post by being cranky.

Ella and Elliot trying to keep the sand out of their eyes.

The guy in the green top hat had one of the best costumes...green jacket and knee pants, boots, and the giant top hat. It was too windy and too crowded to bother with a better photo. That's Mary's Flowers van in the background. Mary...where fun and flowers meet.

I put corned beef and carrots and onions in the crock pot in the morning, added cabbage about noon and when I came home from the parade, we had this delicious dinner with a nice chunk of soda bread.

On second thought, here is my list of grievances regarding the parade. Please remember that this is not a scientific study and most of this information is presented as exaggeration for effect.

1. First of all, it was very windy and humid. This is a problem for several reasons one of which is my costume. I have green and white striped tights and green and white arm warmers, a red wig, and a felt derby. It was too hot for most of that and a partial costume is just...a partical costume.
2. The heat and the wind made for little gusts of sand blowing down the street. You might expect this if you are at a parade in Saudi Arabia but generally not here and not in March. It was weird.
3. The weather (must mean lack of snow) meant that there were record crowds. Third Street is not made for record crowds so it was nuts to butts making the next few items even more annoying.
4. Of the estimated ten thousand people lining the four block stretch of Third Street, eight thousand were either drunk or had a dog or a bicycle or both. Do dogs really enjoy parades? Really, all they get to see are the butt cracks of the people sitting in front of them and they don't get the marching bands. In my world, the rule is that the dog stays home unless the dog is in the parade.
5. Same with bicycles. If you are riding a bicycle to the parade, chain it to a tree a block away and walk over. Do not attempt to ride a bicycle through a street crowded with drunks, small children, and dogs.
6. Unruly and over-sized children. I'm not sure the age of these children...they were more like teens and pre-teens but they were excited about the smashed tootsie rolls and left-over from the last parade candy being strewn in the street. Ella and Elliot figured out pretty fast that there was a code of conduct: stay in your area, don't get too far out into the street, share with the kids smaller than you. Not these big oafs. They had a grocery bag full and were still cruising the small kids area like land sharks.
7. People who try to drive and park a car as close to the parade route as possible and then try to leave when the streets are still full of dogs, bicycles, drunks, and small children. I'll be amazed if nobody got run over.
8. Drunk college kids who play football on crowded streets. I love dodging a football as I try to make my way home with two small children. (No bicycle or dog.)
9. Gigantic tractors. Somebody drove a tractor the size of our house to town and down a crowded street. It had giant wheels that went practically from curb to curb and were as high as an adult person. Really? You have to drive something this big to a parade? It looked like this:

I have been in a bit of a funk. Funk is not the right word...neurotic, anxious, fearful, blue, agitated. An unpleasant combination of symptoms. There is hope in that I think it's interesting when that happens that all of a sudden, other things start happening that you the way out, maybe a book review, a person you meet, or even a movie. Just now, I read an article and two book reviews that will be helpful. Moving on...always moving on.

Enjoy the day. I'm really not as cranky as I seem. Ha!

trying to get in the mood

I decided that I am going to make the Guinness Chocolate Cake and give it away. I don't want to eat it but I want to make it more. Does that make sense? I am also making Irish soda bread...wearing my shamrock apron. Mary Smith just delivered flowers to Mike Callahan across the street. Mary, her usual festive self, saw me and ran across the street to hug and dance. What a hoot.

Also have an Irish Soda Bread in the oven.

I ran into a crazy friend of mine at the liquor store about 10:30. She was sampling various wines and I asked her if she was having breakfast at MGM this morning. We laughed about that and she wondered if the wine I bought at the wine tasting was gone. Oh, long gone, I said.

Reasons why things suck sometimes in no particular order

I have written several of these kinds of posts over the years. Things that annoy me in no particular order. Things that suck in no particular order. I must have a sort of sarcastic side, eh?

We have decided that we like Gus with longer hair but he's still a handsome dog.

I have some of my St. Patrick's Day gear on but the weather is not conducive to my usual state of preparedness. A wig and a hat and long socks don't wear well when it's over 70 degrees. St. Patrick's Day is usually during the tail end of winter, not the middle of what feels like summer.

I was just reading about a St. Patrick's Day cupcake which got a lot of heat for being too politically incorrect. I'm not even going to name it here since I got spanked for the 80s mullet rock star jacket post. What a chicken. I don't like conflict; what can I say?

The cupcake is a lot like my Guinness cake only it's a cupcake with a ganache filling that's flavored with Irish whiskey. If you put Irish cupcakes in google, you'll probably find it. If you don't and you know me, I'll tell you if you promise not to write me scathing messages about my taste in cupcake names. They sound grand and they make me what to have a party just to try them out.

Well, off to the parade.

elliot, driving, and abandoning books

Elliot came to visit his Nana and PopPop (I never know how to spell that dang word) yesterday. I picked him up at Beans after school and we had spaghetti for dinner (delicious!) and cookies on the patio. He liked to name the animals in the garden (frog and cockadoo) and he liked to spot birds in the sky. He has a three-year old's attention span...would that be about three minutes?...and wanted to do everything and play with everything and eat everything. All of it, right now. He's a good-natured little guy and we had fun.

Driving and abandoning books are probably two subjects to be dealt with at a later time. It's St. Patrick's Day and I have a corned beef to get into the crock pot before long. We're going to the parade and will probably get into some other mischief before the day is done. Here's a picture of Regis and me from last St. Patty's Day. Last year, we got into the spirit of it, as you can see. I'm not sure I'm feeling the same spirit this year but we'll see.

Love the holiday!

Gus goes to the dog park

This dog gets out more than I do. Ha!

Gus goes to daycare

We dropped Gus off at daycare about noon. He did not appear anxious and all and trotted happily off with the woman who would take him to the play area where they were having "quiet time". I inquired, because I pictured thirty dogs lying on little cots while a person in the front reads a book. She said they lower the lights and try to get them to calm down for a while. Good luck with that, I said.

We picked him up at 4:30 and the reports were that he had a wonderful time. He's very playful, she said. They had a little swimming pool in the outdoor area and Gus like to run through the water. Gus was happy to see us and promptly collapsed in the back seat for a nap.

It was like having small children and finally getting a day away and suddenly you don't know what to do. We don't shop much so that was out. Finally, we visited a few coffee shops, Encore in Old Town, Famous Dave's bar, and then had dinner at Pappageorge where our favorite server, Layla, took care of us. What a grand day.

Then we came home to the beautiful patio weather. I love being out and visiting with the neighbors. All winter, you just wave as you pass on the street but you rarely see each other face to face. This is so much fun!

I'm picking Elliot up after school today. Great start to a weekend...and the parade tomorrow! Life is good!

today holds lots of promise

Gus is going to dog daycare today. Regis did a test run yesterday by taking him to the dog park in Mankato to see how he reacted to a large group of dogs. He loved it so we're good to go. He came home a little muddy but a quick bath helped with that.

Gus gets dropped off at The Paw Pet Resort (doesn't it look plush?) at noon and we have about five hours of grown-up time! We're going to visit a couple of coffee shops and then have dinner somewhere. We haven't been to Papageorge in ages. So much good food...so little time.