What Lauri is thinking about

more politics, I'm sorry. A couple of days ago it became clear to me that we (Massachusetts residents) are really in peril regarding this senatorial race! I keep hearing that the fascist Scott Brown is ahead, that we may actually end up with a republican filling Ed Kennedy's spot, which is repugnant to me and i say this with no apologies whatsoever. If my state ends up with a republican senator who hates gays, is against women and who wants us to torture and debase the beliefs that I love this state for, then I am going to do something about it.

But what? I left the state today! I will not be back to vote on Tuesday! Filled with this knowledge and horror, I thought long and hard about my options. At the Sierra Grille Thursday night, I forced myself to go from table to table reminding these 30 somethings to vote Tuesday and for all that is holy's sake, vote demo.
-- I don't love Coakley, she's a putz but what can you do? At least she loves the gays and cares about the poor! --
and around the room I went. Don't you hate it when people try to get you to sign a petition or impede your life's natural flow with their needs, beliefs, politics? I do but I became one of them last night!! People were nice, I mean, I was basically preaching to the converted, it was more of a gentle wake up call "You need to go vote if you can on Tuesday" Can, meaning, registered. Someone told me that I should vote absentee ballot which I haven't done since I voted for Walter Mondale in 1984, my first election. I was at college but was registered in Syracuse, NY and I voted absentee ballot. And we did it. I dragged Husbear to the Greenfield Town Hall at 10 am Friday morning, the last day of absentee ballots (because Monday is MLK, jr day and the town hall is closed?) and we voted for Martha.

Then we drove to Wytheville, VA with the dogs. We gave Pickles some benedryl and he looked at me all day with the accusing eyes and we stopped for dinner in Stoughton, meeting up with Conan, who is very nice to see. Now we have the dogs in a king sized bed in a La Quinta and continue our big adventure tomorrow.

I will continue to berate my Massachusetts friends to vote on Tuesday.

Rogue Brutal Bitter

Today is my last day at work before vacation. I almost don't want to leave Greenfield. There is a part of me that wants to stay home and work on my three zines, all at once. Just take a week and take my 3 ideas and stay at home from Friday Jan 15-Sunday Jan 24 and create all 3 zines at once. Every day at 5 oclock I would leave the house and go down to the Hope and Olive, drink 2 pints of Rogue Brutal Bitter Beer and then come back home to the Bricker and work for another 4-5 hours on the zines, drop to sleep at midnight and then start up again the next morning around 10-11 am.
That would be a perfect vacation.

I think I just realized why I didn't want to leave Greenfield. I'm afraid that I won't be able to find and drink my favorite beer of all time, The Rogue Brutal Bitter. I am seriously obsessed with the flavor of that beer and I don't want to waste my time, the calories or the dough on any other beer. I resent all establishments who do not offer that beer to me. I'm really on a kick.

I am excited to see Shirley, though. She's better than the Rogue. I will work on the zines, too, in my way, while we vacation. It'll be alright.

politics

I listen to a lot of news on the radio, npr,bbc, etc and I think hard about it. Over the weekend I heard a debate between the three candidates for Edward Kennedy's MA senatorial seat and I was really on overdrive in my brain because I found myself agreeing a little bit with each candidate, the republican, the democrat and the nutty "independent". Each one of them had an argument I agreed with a little bit. Of course when the candidate running "as an independent" made a case for cutting the budget, I knew he was talking about cutting aid to poor and disabled folks and I am strongly against that but then when he was making a case for retracting the USA's fussy tentacles from other country's business, I was completely on board. When the democrat lady spoke about the Health care bill I could agree with what she was saying but then when she was talking about the xmas terrorist being tried by the attorney general as opposed to a military tribunal, I wasn't so supportive. The republican guy supported "interrogating" this terrorist for information about what was next for the US which I don't agree with (who really supports such "interrogation"? and, what would this guy know anyway? He's just a tool) but on the other hand I do agree with not necessarily paying for this guy's legal representation and maybe a military tribunal is the place for him.

I think very hard also about the whole war on Afghanistan, which I've discussed on this blog before. Have we ("we" being the USA) really killed more than 1000 innocent bystanders with our drones, as they sought terrorists and Taliban leaders in that country (and Pakistan)? If so, that is not okay. The only reason I support this war (and I want to write "support" in strong quotation marks) is because of the way women are treated by that political system. If we are killing women, then fuck the whole thing! I rescind my support.

Right now I am listening to the radio and there is an interview about the Tea Party and there are folks on the radio who are teabaggers and I have to say that I haven't heard one thing from them that I do support. I feel pretty firm in my total dislike and repugnance of this organization.

I love this, I love that

So I watched Neil Patrick Harris doing his thing in that 2 and a half minute musical number during tonight's episode of the best sitcom currently airing on blah blah tv right now. I had no idea that there would be a big song and dance number until it started playing on the tv this monday night.

The song was about suits and there is a huge group of people dancing and doing an elaborate choreographed routine. Toward the end there is a brace of people, all holding suits and swinging them around which tickled my fancy. "Hey, that looks like that scene during the Buffy musical." I pointed out to DbR. He agreed. There is one scene during "Once More, With Feeling" where people out on the street are dancing with their laundry while the lead guy sings, "They got the mustard out!" Those laundry folks are doing the same moves as the suit people did.

I started searching around the internet and found the name of the choreographer was Zach Woodlee who hit the big time. Right now he is doing the dance design for GLEE. I looked him up on IMDB and guess what? Yeah, he choreographed "Once More, With Feeling". I glanced through a few tv blogs and briefly read over them and no one mentioned this interesting fact. Maybe only I find it interesting.

grand ole opry

We're going to Nashville next week for the wonderful Shirley's Seventieth. I had no idea what we could get Shirley, she has almost everything she needs. If she does need and want something, we would never be able to figure out what it was. I am a little bit obsessed with Nashville in a funny way and did a little research and I find that the Grand Ole Opry is performing at the old Ryman theatre while we are visiting.

I'm not super crazy about country music -I like old time music and bluegrass, generally and whenever we go to Nashville, I try to find fun and interesting places to go and music to see. Last time we saw this hella great band, Aquavelvet, which is a Burt Bacharach cover band. They were great. The time before I found a weird wayside bar where there were people doing that bluegrass jam thing. David was offered some moonshine by the proprietor (He didn't give me any!)

I've always been told about the OLD, original Grand Ole Opry and how the new one doesn't have the history of the old one blah blah blah and sure enough, I don't need to be told which one is in the movie NASHVILLE or COAL MINERS DAUGHTER. I would like to go to the original one and when I saw that the yearly stint in the old Opry was during our visit there I immediately wanted to go and it wasn't hard to convince David that it would be the perfect thing to gift Shirley. No one else would ever take her to a scene like that. I wish I could take her to see Aquavelvet, though. After we went last year I raved about it so hard that she almost wanted to go see them.

Laughing out loud a cheesy Dick Van Dyke Show jokes.
Go get a goo goo-it's gooooooood

boring

hanging around the couch with DbR and the dogs. No news on the refi yet, working on it. Meanwhile, he is enjoying Dr Who and I am enjoying my laptop. Its amusing to be exposed to this show but not really understanding all of its ins and outs. On this episode people's fat is sloughing off of their frames and becoming little white poptart creatures. Oh, dear, poor Stacy.

A more interesting thing to write about is my date last night with M. We went out to the H+O and drank Brutal Bitter Beer. It was a lively night, Jim and Val were at the bar being friendly. Val mentioned Howard Stern and I expressed my sympathy regarding Artie Shaw and she hadn't known about it. Little Maggie's moms were there and I told them about my new favorite tv show-The Wanda Sykes Show. At one point a crowd came in, Veronica and her two boyfriends and the bar became delightfully filled with the familiar. At one point Ms. Riley came in to greetings of joy them very soon afterwards she wasn't there anymore and someone told me she had lost her phone and was overly distracted. I just texted her on the phone and she didn't respond so I guess it is still lost. As we crawled our way through three beers each, I felt like I couldn't talk to M enough-we both had interesting things to say to each other and although I liked the other people hanging around I almost resented their interference. She told me about some family moments recently and encouraged me to do a comic strip of "Hangover Mom" and she and I came up with two strip plots and then Jim came over and after we told him about "Hangover Mom" he helped come up with an idea for a third strip. funny. He and M spent sometime discussing the Rufus vs. Henry saga which is fairly entertaining. We each were given a sip of Crème de Violette which smelled like an old bath but tasted like sweet yummy but that wasn't as yummy as when Lori and M both agreed that my hair was beautiful and indeed looked lovely at present.

I got some nice news at work today and I am having a nice Friday. I am happy about the whole weekend thing. We will be going on a drive south soon with the dogs. It should be very interesting.

refinance remortgage, etc

for the last few days, since Monday, I have been exchanging emails and doing online research regarding obtaining a better interest rate for the Bricker's mortgage. I also have a home improvement loan i would love to smush in and just pay less. Of course I have held onto the mindset that paying less per month is what is desired, for a shorter period of time. after a discussion with that smart guy, my husband, i see that a 15 year for only a tad more a month is actually a great option. im getting it through my head. the math, the math hold onto the basics.

i guess i always imagine the eventuality of being alone and how a lower payment is always a better payment. What if we decide we don't want to work any more and figure we can get by with the $789/month mortgage just by collecting returnables? We'll never be able to do that if the mortgage was $989, right? Husbear explained that I would never be alone again to pay that monthly mortgage and it is a given that we are way too mainstream to quit our jobs so, paying more for less time is a good option. Ok, let me at those closing costs!!

Dick Van Dyke and the JFK assassination

happy new year and such. Opted for an eve in Northampton with friends instead of the planned eve in Greenfield with other friends. It was a nice change. Happy to have Br + Ka all to myself and David. I successfully bullied people once again into a late night game of marticelli. David and I won. Turns out we are a good famous persons game team.

Last night I downloaded new movies, etc into our roku list and after Husbear went to sleep indulged in the documentary made in the late '80s about the Kennedy coup d'etat and sitting alone watching two pieces out of the four got me totally spooked and freaked out. I adjusted my curtains and turned off lights to call less attention to the house and huddled under a blanket with Peretz. I was as scared as a stripper whore who shared a table with Lee and Jack high on phenmetrazine in one of those Dallas "dance clubs". Before I went to bed I had to break the mood by watching an episode of The Dick Van Dyke show.

I really love the DVD show. I always have loved Mary and Rose Marie is a study in alternative womanhood, circa 1961. Fascinating. Another fascinating coincidence is that this show was popular and in its heyday when Kennedy was assassinated! Of course the season I am watching is the first one. The humor is so old and outdated, I smile bemusedly. Even Dick's physical humor isn't as funny as it was back then, I think, and it isn't even as good as Donald O'Connor in Singing in the Rain but all is forgiven, especially when a dose of corn is needed to dispel the fear of my gov't and its evil trappings.

This morning I vacuumed up the pine needles after the ousting of xmas tree. I had named the tree but I forget the name now, unfortunately. After cleaning up as many bits of debris from my living room as possible with David's old shopvac, I rewarded myself by watching the second half of the documentary. I now want to revisit JFK and check out RUBY. I again followed up the viewing with a DVD episode or two. During the episode where Mary and Dick set up Rose Marie and Mary's Lab Technician cousin, well, first of all, Jamie Farr has his first appearance (awesome) and secondly I became interested in the side dish of the meatloaf meal which Mary is serving. It seems to be a poached something or other which they lift carefully from some serving dish unlike any I see these days.

I had the idea that someone could write a book with interesting illustrations (photos) of food served on popular tv shows and the book would feature interviews with prop people who talk about what the characters are supposed to be eating and what the "food" actually ended up consisting of (I'm sure different types of filler and whatnot.) I think that would be fascinating. Has anyone written such a book yet?

I was inspired enough by this white people food to make meatloaf for Husbear and myself tonight with a side dish of macaroni salad and another side dish of garlic'd broccoli-rabe. This vegetable was available and eaten in the early 60's and on Long Island, I know for a fact, but I bet not by the NYC writers and their wives in the whitest neighborhood of New Rochelle.

ooooh, she knows me

I just noticed that Sarah Riley, yes, the Sarah Riley has a link to my humble, blog on her blog page!
Yesterday i was thinking of many things I wanted to write about on my blog but was more interested in picking up a book and reading it that I overlooked the urge. But now I am inspired because that hella chick reinforced my existence.

Yesterday I realized that all my blogs on myspace are disappeared forever because I deleted my myspace profile without even thinking of the blogs associated with that site. Some of them were written well. Ah, they are gone.

I have three ideas for my next zine and I slowly lumber in their direction. One theme is of Crushes and the quickness or origin of the emotion. I wrote out/planned the 16 pages and roughly wrote it out. The copy is drab and listless but I think once I start drawing the scenes, the wording will be quickly and effectively edited to be more worthy of a piece of art. The second idea is a series of reviews of a double handful of shows I've seen around the area. I know, writing about music is like petting a whirring engine but some people may be interested. I am less inclined to consider that art, though. Interesting. The third idea is my confused feelings regarding the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan. I wanted to write about Obama's nobel piece prize speech and how it made me feel (I guess I have to check it out from start to finish-I've only heard bits), I could write about how even though I hate the Taliban (riling against the taliban and its antiwomen philosophy could def take up many pages) I don't trust the united states military. I remember just after 911 I recalled many news reports leading up to that time period telling of the betrodden and bedeviled women of the taliban governments and I have wanted to kick the taliban's ass for a long time. I would research and write about the drones and how they may kill some taliban men but at what cost? what non-istan assholes get the drop on them because they happen to be in the line of fire.I don't know how close I would get to art with that one.

I want to mention there is a large murder of crows in my neighborhood. It is killing cold outside and for some reason they have decided to batten down in the double trees over in the next yard. Before sunset they were scattering, flying overhead, landing in assorted trees and on houses but then as the sun went down and it became colder, they assembled in those trees. I took Pickles out for a short cold walk and we went by the trees and in the moonlight I could see the large dark clumps of them among the wide branches and we both heard them whirr and berate. Just now, I heard a number of them start to crow and sing. They have returned to quiet now.

After the busy-ness the last two weeks I don't want to do anything really. maybe start a jigsaw puzzle, maybe read Washington, D.C. by Gore Vidal. In Hollywood, he featured his maternal grandfather, the blind senator from Oklahoma, Thomas Gore, which I find amusing.

fuzzy and wuzzy

I have high hopes

DbR took this photo.

Vixen says hi

monday morning

my three weekends in a row with Kid are now over.
time to put nose to grindstone.
Birthday month is coming to a close.

enjoying the Krakauer book on mormonism. that religion isn't much for women power, is it?

on vacation

i rented a biggish house on the cape for me, the husband and the dogs and whomever else wants to come hang out-there are 5 bedrooms and more couches as well.
sal came for the first day and 1/2 and it was great. He and I shopped for him at Macys and the Gap and Staples. Perfect birthday for me. Yesterday I found a pair of his socks from way back that he left here at the rental. they have large holes in each of them, above the red tipping where the ankle should sit. i called him to ask if i should bring them to him on friday, when i go to the island to check out his bands' cd release show.

yeah, if its not any trouble. he answered. "really?" i asked, explaining about the two holes and reminding him that i can buy him more pairs, if he wanted. "i want to use them to make a hat for Mr. Pat." i told him. "that's cool," he said, "I'm in sock heaven right now."

Sock Heaven.

dogs in the rain

So, Sal's other Grandma died. I feel sad because my mom is dead. I liked Millie also, back when I used to hang out with her. She was funny and quirky and a pretty good cook. She sired some sensitive boys and they seem to have done the same. Now the only grandparent Sal has, besides step-types, is my dad. An amusing and annoying fact. I miss my mom, its strange how life goes on without people even though you may not want it to be all regular.

So last night there was a zine/printed works fair over at the Northampton town. Actually, I may have been the only one with "zines". There were people with gorgeous printed art work and one annoying lady with bad teeth who had a "literary quarterly". Whatev. It was kind of neat to see my work all laid out there. I didn't have every single issue of Who Is Johnny Cash? (there were 45 of them spanning from 1995-2000) But a fellow bought every issue I had with turned out to be 36. Then the same fellow (a collector of cool things, I guess) wanted one of all the others. I had all the issues of The Observation Deck with me and he bought the 15 of those (spanning from 02-07) and he wanted all 6 of this year's Pawl Bitt. His request was a little mindblowing and I was perfectly straight when he asked for one of each but I was so flabbergasted at the request that David had to help me put them together for the guy. We gave him a deal, 56 zines for $50.

On Wednesday I finished issue 6 of Pawl Bitt, specifically to have for the event, and I was so happy and excited that I put it up on Etsy with the other five issues and before I was able to push "refresh" so I could see all the issues lined up pretty I noticed that iss 6 was gone! Some nut had purchased it within the 3 minutes I was loading the thing. I had to relist it and then I noticed, 12 hours later, some wacky lady from Cedar Rapids bought the entire catalog of Pawl Bitt. So now I have to mail her the things and relist again! I actually never imagined selling the things on Etsy, truth be told, I only print the things to keep the US postal service in business, ha ha. So it has been a busy and exciting zine week. I took #6 to the H+O to hand out to the stars of the issue and I was amused to overhear Jim say to some employee who works there as he showed it to her, "guess who that person is?" "guess who that is?" I think I am going to do one more bug and restaurant issue to make it a set of three and then do a different type of theme. We'll see.

David bought a butcher block table for the kitchen and I am getting used to it slowly. We've been hanging around drinking coffee on it and it is beautiful. I can't wait to roll out some dough on it. It's almost cool enough to bake today.

so! flowers lovers and plant observers, pay heed:

Hey!

remember a couple blogs ago when I wrote about those darn morning glories?
well, they are a-bloomin' now! check out the ones on the back porch:
This is today when I counted 13 flowers. There were two clusters of five and then three more scattered along the vine.




This is the vine I began at home and brought to work.



Sometimes the flowers don't pop first thing in the morning, sometimes they need a second cup of coffee,



and sometimes, most of the time, they are just perfectly lovely.



The plants have been very thirsty this year. Maybe we should all water our plants now. Don't forget!!

I love Pickles

For the last week or so (since Wed Aug 5) I have had something in my eye and went to various eye doctor appt and put loads of drops and unguent in my right eye until yesterday I achieved healthiness. I only felt sorry for myself 2% of the time between Aug 5 and 17th.

Monday I felt worse than ever because my dog Pickles was acting funny. Every day I take him for at least 2 walks and before we go and after we come back I make him sit on the top stair to get his leash put on and taken off. He was very reluctant to do so monday morning and then on monday night when he did the same I pointed it out to DbR who surmised that he was sick, constipated or the like. I immediately feared the worst because that dog eats a lot of crap, pieces of balls, plastic, rubber and the like. Luckily, he has somewhat of a cast iron belly and everything has passed through but he has never acted like he did Monday night after I put his leash on him (without really making him sit) and taking him out.

He walked willingly but with his tail down, tucked between his legs in a most disconcerting way. I realized it was a very uncommon sight and worried very ardently. He did have a bm and picked up his pace a little but not his tail. He continued to haunt the Bricker with his listlessness the next day when I took him out for his morning walk. DbR mentioned he had a morning success in the yard but his tail wasn't too perky and neither was he.

I came home for lunch and he didn't greet me at the door like Peretz did but did get off his bed for an outdoor visit and a treat. I gave him a biscuit with a little peanut butter. I thought about him all afternoon and decided I would give him a treat that night. On the way home I bought a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone from the Pete's Fried Fish Restaurant and when I arrived home Pickles greeted me at the door with a ball in his mouth and his tail up! The three of us went out on the back porch where I ate my third of the treat and gave him the rest. I watched him lick it and thought of the ice cream cone dog and master story shared by DbR's parents and smiled a little at Pickles crunching into the cone. The rest of the night passed with Pickles acting completely normal! He chewed on the bone, loitered in the kitchen while David cooked, begged under the dinner table as we ate our corn on the cob and barked out the window at KiKi the neighborhood calico.

I'm so happy to have a healthy pup!

Three different Groups

It is interesting, the three different groups of morning glory plants that I have growing right now are all very different. There is bunch I brought to work which is growing profusely. It is in the full sun for most of the day. The leaves and vines are very rich and strong but no flowers.










Then there is another plant in my back yard which is in the full morning sun and it growing very tall. Toward the bottom where it comes out of the planter it is more spindly with stems and branches than full of leaves. There are no flowers or any evidence of oncoming blooms.










The third plant is the shortest and has the least amount of foliage but there have been two to three flowers a day for the past week. This plant is in shade until the middle of the day and has full sun until sunset (around 12-8 pm). Is this plant going to die soon and has to throw out its flowers in an attempt to procreate? Perhaps the other plants are robust and healthy and feel no stress nor need to bloom?








The blooms are lovely on that front porch plant. Deep rich purple.

Dog Day FOUR sure

Always the entrepeneurs, Pickles and Peretz borrowed Roddy the rotweiler's truck to make a firecracker (and I do
mean "cracker") run into NH this morning. For some reason they felt they needed to go undercover so they referred to each other as "Coldcut" and "Toothpick" during the run. I don't know how they made out financially, they never talk about those affairs to me or DbR, but I noticed they brought back a bicycle horn, a scooter, a shiny MyMelody bracelet and an eyepatch. I guess the Greenfield town kids are equipped for today's holiday. Pickles keeps calling Peretz "Coldcut", still, and they both giggle nervously when he do.

today is thursday

just a few updates.
Pickles wormed out of his collar today. I was walking him around our backyard after the regular walk and he smelled something he wanted to investigate very badly out in the shrubby overgrowth. I couldn't see what it was and I didn't want him to roll in shit or a dead thing so I resisted him. He did not comply, which is odd. Usually he will resist but easily relent when I make my will known with conviction. We pulled in different directions resulting with him squeezing his head out and he was gone. I followed him around for a while, got sweaty in the humidity. I despaired at catching him because what am I going to grab? No collar. DbR did not run around, he stood in front of the Bricker smoking and keeping watch. I followed Pickles down the block to the weird apartments/crappy condo strip which reaches between Wells and Conway and he led me to the backyard of a family which spoke a slavish language between the children and mother. The father was nearby doing work on their humble sedan while she bbq'd a load of chicken on their hibachi. the chicken wasn't in pieces but a big piece which wasn't actually bbq'd but cooked in a big piece ( i know i repeat ) wrapped in foil. I tell ya, I wasn't staring and investigating this woman's cooking because remember Pickles was loose. They had two boys under 6 or 7 and a little girl younger than that. The little girl stayed on her swingset's teeter totter while her brothers and I tried to trap that dog. It was hard but I showed them my empty collar and they understood. It was the kind of family where the boys spoke English to me but their parents spoke Polish ? to them. They were white. One of the boys offered me a piece of --maybe it was pork, not chicken-- to lure Pickles who had squeezed out into the next yard which was spacious and depressing, given my trial. The three of us also squeezed into the yard and looked over at dog and I despaired continuously. Pickles rounded the big yard and started headed back toward us. I called to him knowing that never worked and held out the meat. He came. He must have been tired enough to be curious about me and the kids. I gave him a morsel of the meat while I leaned over him as securely as possible, still not believing, still expecting him to wiggle away and bolt. I got the collar on him and put it on the tightest setting. I called David who was holding the leash.

When I pulled out my iPhone and started to dial the older kid asked, "Is that your phone?" and I explained about my husband coming with the leash. I said thank you and headed out, leaning uncomfortably over the collared dog away from the back line of the yards, toward the pavement. They didn't ask me to dinner.

I am 71% ready to complete my next Pawl Bitt but I am lured by the second season of Veronica Mars, I love it so.

Last week the washing machine coughed and we had to call a repairman. He came and took out the offending piece of machinery and voila! Because I live in the same town as the Bricker, it was my task to meet repairman and let him in to do his $65 task. After he left, I started a load of DbR's clothes which had been sitting around the cellar since the machine paused. I eagerly started to do my own laundry directly afterwards which created a situation where I was doing everyone's laundry. His shirts have buttons and collars and a very nice cottony broadcloth kind of material which wrinkles. He tries to hang up his shirts directly after the dryer ends. Because I didn't want to throw them haphazardly into the bin, I gave them a little bit of a one two fold to keep them somewhat neat until he could hang them. He was pleased.

Tonight we were in his room talking about Tanya's bro doing computer programming when I noticed the bin of shirts still folded in a pile somewhat neatly but the pile was 66% depleted. "Are those the same shirts I folded?" I asked
"Yeah."
"You never hung them up?"
"No."
"Do you dig through them to find the one you want or are you just using them as they come up in the pile?"
"Just using them."
I think that is so funny.

we went to the Famous Grille's on its opening day. I got us seated in a booth in the bar which was well lit and somewhat pleasant. The bar now wraps all the way around into the next room, dining room. I liked the way that looks, feels in the place. Our waitress seemed nice and eager to tell me about all their beers. I made her tell me the names of all the tap beer and they were all the most dull, dislikeable beers you can imagine. No "hot rod rye" or "hop devil" certainly no "beer of the gods." I asked her about the bottles which I guess were many because she paused. "what kind are you looking for?" she asked. "any IPAs" I plunged in, narrowing her list. "Oh, we have Harpoon IPA." which, if we are ever on the matchgame you can answer "Her least favorite IPA from the United States." when asked. I gave up and got a scotch and soda which was made strong and somewhat interesting in a dull way. We got through the greek-diner sized menu and were ignored by the waitress in favor of the folks sitting in the next booth who came after us. After another 5 minutes she came over and offered to take our menus, "get them out of the way". "Oh, I wanted to refer to it when I ordered." I informed. "Oh, I haven't taken your order." she realized verbally and walked away for another five or more minutes before coming back and taking the order! oy!
I ordered the gargonzola dip/garlic bread app and it was good. While eating it DbR and I realized that the people at the bar nearby were getting drunk and they were being "VERY LOUD" I said loudly. Loud enough for them to hear. They hushed and muttered amongst themselves until one lady (the loud one) said, "we better go, since we're getting so loud." more mutters "we don't want to (something) pipsqueak over there."
yes, I was called "Pipsqueak". I really thought they were being too loud to hear me complain loudly but they did hear me. It was an odd situation. Our food came and we were ignored some more by the waitress and then it seemed like another lady was helping her with busing and other tables and even though we sat there with empty plates and they cleaned off the table right next to us, neither one of them checked in to see if we wanted dessert or the check. They walked away, one even asking the next table over, "Do you have everything?" I was kind of grumpy about it. The lady who wasn't our waitress finally wandered back toward us and I leaned toward her, "Can you get our bill? Our waitress hasn't ..." I forget what I said here. Something more forceful than "checked in with us." and it wasn't "brought it" but it was definitely along the lines of "hasn't cared to ask if we want it." And she hustled away to come back (without the check) to tell us "she'll be right over with it." and she was right behind with it. The bill was $40 for the burger and three apps, two cokes and my drink. We gave at least $20 and decided not to go back any time soon.

The hail yesterday damaged 17% of my zinnias.

oh my

There was all this hail. I've seen hail before but not so much that I could go up and gather a bunch and take pictures. But today I could go in the backyards wearing my flipflaps and while they soaked up the new standing rain, I could goggle at the nuggets. What a strange weather event. I felt like I was in one of the Little House books. Later, I finished watching the first season of Veronica Mars and we walked dogs in the wet wet world. The rain had eased and lightning still flashed occasionally toward Poets Seat. Looking across the factory yard toward the train tracks there was more light to be seen. A carpet of fireflies had awoken and were flashing their little selves into a storm of their own.

future plans

its nice to think of taking a vacation in September, nice to think of having a summer. sometimes i think of taking all my blogs and ditching them. when's the last time i even dialed up my livejournal? i remember once i was going to download it all to pieces of paper and then put them in a ring binder, etc etc. but i never did. what's the point? and i think, what's the point of doing a blog anyway? so many times i think of something i want to share but don't because it is too depressing.

i think i'll keep the blog up on the internet because i might fall down and break my neck tomorrow and maybe people will have that morbid curiosity about me, that lady they knew peripherally or however and want to take a peek at my personality as displayed by the blog writing. maybe i'll go back and read my blogs and try to imagine being a stranger who heard i was dead and saw the blog link in the obit and decided to spend some time reading it. what would they think? would they be bored? would they be curious? i'm curious. i wish i would spend more time drawing dogs, like i did today, even though P & P would not pose very well, goofballs. i decided to follow this lady who tweets for Ashmont records and on her background there is a drawing, a really nice comic drawing of the pitbull, Charlie, who is the mascot, i think. i'd like very much to draw such things. i think i've drawn something cool once.

Do I Love You?

Yes.





Yes



Yes

another Easter pic

I just looked at DbR's upload from the past week or so and I saw this one of me and the pups on Easter Sunday and I had to include here on my blog. It's Wednesday, 2 am and I still have much I'd like to do in Nashville, we leave Saturday morning. I started reading Team of Rivals which is just an enjoyable history about Lincoln and his cabinet. There is a yukky bug flying around and Peretz is dreaming. David may be too but he's snoring so loudly I can't hear the dream. I had a fun time today making a cake for father in law. It is nice to be on vacation.

Translucent Easter Bonnet

Leaving him at home with Peretz tonight while we go to the Station Inn.

So, about Pickles

Since my mom died last month DbR and I started planning a trip down to Nashville with the dogs to visit his parents and their dogs on his dad's 70th birthday week. Pickles hasn't had a face to face with Pepper or Berkeley and I was nervous about it. Pickles is generally a big dick and wants to always be the alpha and happily Peretz has come to grips with that from the get go. Meanwhile, Peretz has always known and been accepted into the Russell family of dogs, in fact, he came first and is sort of P + B's foster uncle.
So, in preparation I sent two of Pickles' blankets to Nashville along with a bone and a ball he had chewed and drooled on, believing in the experts who say that the scent of the strange dog will become familiar to the home dogs and he'll be more easily accepted, etc etc.
I was still very nervous the whole drive down from Massachusetts and the overnight in the Wytheville hotel didn't calm me. It didn't seem like either dogs are hotel dogs and they both (mostly Pickles, of course) were crazily preoccupied with the smells out in the hall (Pickles had his nose pasted to the doorcrack and spent most the night lying in the mini-vestibule) and wouldn't calm down. They relaxed for most the drive yesterday, however.
We got to Currywood Drive and let them run around the fenced in yard, without P + B at first. Pickles was in heaven. That dog loves to run run run and in the yard full of tennis balls he was pretty happy. Then we let Berkeley into the yard. Berkeley is a shaggy mutt, about 25 % larger than Pickles, same age. They scrapped pretty hard at first and no amount of yelling ceased that action. I was very upset, almost crying at the violence. The fighting continued and began to ebb. I was reassured by the Russells that that was what usually occurred, alpha was made clear and dog fighting ended. I was still worried, as Pickles still hadn't met Pepper and I was afraid the Peanut Butter gang would gang up on him and although Pickles kind of deserved it, he was definitely the aggressor, I was worried someone would get hurt, even a human when dogs were attempted to be split up.

"What if one dog bites the other dog's eye out?" I fretted, imagining the worst scenario.
"That wouldn't happen." I was reassured.
"I just don't want anyone to get hurt, get taken to the hospital."
"They usually yelp or tell us if they are hurt."

Pepper was introduced and Pickles attacked but when she backed down, peace haphazardly reigned. David wanted to nap after a while and so the four of us hunkered down in the bedroom and although at first the dogs napped for a minute, after a while longer they were anxious to go out and party some more. I grudgingly rose and feeling like showering but needing some product, I let the dogs out in the yard and asked Mr and Mrs if they would watch the four hounds while I went shopping real quick. They assented.

As I was leaving the store with my bag of hair stuff, toothbrush and new bag of balls, I received a call from David.

"You're up!" I declared.
"Yeah, my mom just woke me and told me she wanted to take Pickles to the vet because I guess the dogs got into a fight and his eyelid was tore."


We went to the emergency clinic and $450 and seven stitches later I have a dog on vacation who pushes against stuff with his lampshade hat as if it weren't there.
He definitely needs to be separated from the Peanut Butter gang. He seems happy enough, still chasing balls around the yard like mad. This morning he woke me up at 7 am and we went outside in the most gorgeous pink light and when I saw him running at full tilt I knew he was going to be okay.

Pickles was hurt in a Fight

Easter Sunday

where is my one day old spotted tiger?

Today after work I walked Pickles after getting totally bundled up. It was kind of raw outside. I was happy with the walk, though, after putting on the heavy sweater and heavy LL Bean jacket. Recently I was looking through my mother's pics and there is a pic of me with a less than one year old Sal on my back in one of those baby back packs and I was wearing that ol' green jacket, the same ol' green jacket from LL Bean. The thing works hard and now it's older than 15 yrs old. Good ol' jacket.

After the walk I went upstairs to put on play clothes and take off the stiff school clothes (i.e. brassiere) and after pulling on jeans and my new tee shirt I landed in bed. It was pretty nice and as I drifted off I heard Peretz down on the first floor bark bark barking and I could hear Pickles tearing around the house like a maniac which he often does after coming in from a walk. He'll start in the living room by the wood stove and run across the room to the hallway and run up the three steps to the first stairway landing and pant there for a few beats and then take off, running back the same way, at his top speed for inside the house and I could hear his feet on the floor scratching and scraping and running across the wood floor and it sounded very particular and idiosyncratic and meanwhile Peretz was bark bark bark. If someone was illustrating a dog barking, as a demonstration of the form of dog barking the picture would show Peretz with a word balloon which reads "bark" and that would be exactly him.

I heard all of this so loud and clear from the comfort of my bed and I heard Pickles take off again on his running route and I laughed out loud. I did not LOL but I did lay there in my jeans and comfortable tee shirt on my bed and I laughed out loud at the noise the dogs were making in the Bricker downstairs and at the dependability of them and their antics and their noises. Then I fell asleep.

One Step Forward is all that is expected

Sometimes Puppies Seem To Have Big Paws

People Make Me Laugh

Big Pink Pillow
Sunsets with Flower Buds
Dread, Resignations and
Other People's Triple Word Scores


On Facebook I read two comments tonight from women I know-well, one I know well and one I know peripherally. The woman I know well I love but sometimes do not like and the woman I know peripherally I find grotesque -on the inside and on the outside- and their comments I found completely superficial and self important. They dropped names and told stories which does nothing but seem to enhance their coolness- except to people like me who see through the guise keenly and skeptically and now I feel supercilious and resultingly self debasing because I would even have those judgmental thoughts flit through my mind.

"Are there any windows in here?"

the assessor from my mortgage company came and looked through the house, taking pictures! and making notes so that she can go back and (hopefully) tell the company the house is worth more than 90$ thou so that I can get that pmi (private mortgage insurance) taken off my monthly mortgage payment. it actually adds up to 50$ a month that I pay for that shit!!!
i think my house is well worth more than 90$ at least the other bank thought so when they gave me a home equity loan. i told the (nice) lady that i had all new replacement windows (even in the basement!), a new boiler (well, from 2002 anyway) a new roof, new bathroom tile, etc etc. i forgot to tell her about the new chimney (argh!)

She was nice, thank goodness, because she and i travelled around the Bricker for twenty minutes, her making drawings of the floor plan and hopefully taking pictures which show how lovely the house is, me being charming as can be. She was nonplussed by the room on the second floor which was soundproofed but enthusiastic about the pantry, even in its current state of chaos. "that's ok, though, it's a pantry!" "yeah, but I can't find my muffin pan!" I complained.

There is a cellphone on the Bricker's front lawn, thrown there by some errant knave.

blurb...up to minute news from Greenfield, MA

there was a cat-a dead cat in front of the elks club, lying on the grass between the sidewalk and the street. I could only see his large furry gray and white legs and some tail because the top 2/3rds of its body was covered with a nice quilted blanket. It was a large cat, at first glance i thought it was a small terrier-type dog but then i realized it was lying still, under the blanket and then I realized it was a dead cat. It was kind of strange.

distraction

When i was on the vineyard getting over a bad date or whatever, i often watched ww2 movies or that south park movie to distract me from the pain. After I became the only one living in the Bricker, I watched a lot of Buffy to dull that experience. Now I distract myself again with amusing stories up on the screen. This time it is Battlestar Galactica. It's pretty interesting.



My mother
His mother




mother mother blah blah mother

Happy, sad, okay, sad, not bad, sad...

When I was a kid and I was up and about, doing stuff around the house or whatever, and my mom was in bed sleeping while I was up, always made me feel funny. It was never right when she was sleeping (during the day) and I was awake. Of course this changed as I got into my teens and stayed up late watching tv. That was different. But when I was a kid during the few times she slept in or took a nap not on the couch I was always a little weirded out.

Education Reform

Just in time for Kid-say, "oh yeah!"

Klingon this.

'nuff said

new year, new voice

This morning I am amused at the thought that for this year I will post in my husband's manner:
Woke up hard this morning after long night. Loud snoring downstairs punctuated dripping from roof/ceiling along with throbbing of old wound renewed: bulging disc.
Need more weekend. Fingers are numb.

yay

yay! got a gyro for lunch from the greek place
yay! sunset is two minutes later tonight

Brunch is good

Brunch was great today. it was super pleasant and exciting to sit at the bar with regulars and family and watch other regulars, family and neighbors come stomping in from the snowy snow snow, draw up at the bar as well or join x's birthday party and start enjoying spicy bloody marys, risotto, great coffee and tasty everything else. There was at least seven kinds of meat at the party and just as many different cakes and the raucous partygoers (singing was often and gusty) were eagerly (and besottedly) offering platefuls to everyone. Lingering lasted until the cooks were free to amble from the kitchen and goggle at the snow while chatting us all up. Yay for Hope and Olive!

there were 74 views on my flickr yesterday. many people liked to look at this picture.



It is a picture of my husband in the park next to the Diamond Head park in Waikiki taking a picture of a kite. It was before we were totally swept up in a tropical storm which blew and drenched us. During the storm we were walking around a residential area and there were no businesses to duck into to stay out of the wet so we just slogged along and got totally drenched. Every once in a while a big gust of wind would whoosh us and I would be so surprised and helpless at the rainstorm all around us I would let out a yell or mini-screech. After a while DbR looked at me and joked, "nice bra". Sure enough I was a sight for a fatty wet tshirt convention! What had started as a nice walk around Waikiki in cloudy warm weather had turned into an unfortunate and slightly obscene event! I was embarrassed, to say the least. The bra I was wearing was perfectly serviceable and actually a nice support under a very thin summer shirt. Not to be worn fully drenched!
This is a pic of both of us before the storm:


see the nice light blue shirt? I looked awright. So we got drenched and then found the store we had headed out to find and in that store I bought a ten dollar dress. DbR continued wet. I felt sorry for the guy. This is a pic of us after I had changed. I had taken off my undies but was still wearing the wet bra, socks and vans.



I like my new ten dollar dress. I wonder if I can still wear it, in Massachusetts, in winter. Maybe I'll put on a sassy cardigan and wear the dress with knit thigh highs on new years eve at the hope and olive. It's a thought. I did walk around Waikiki in a wet tshirt. Why not wear an aloha dress in winter? No one tells me what I can do!

Feels like Honeymoon has just begun

View from Lanai:



We're ensconced in a super lovely hotel in Waikiki, a place I've never been. DbR has stayed in this hotel before and has fond memories which include a Japanese Restaurant and Honolulu marathon, both of which he will get a taste of on this trip as well. Sitting on the hotel room's balcony overlooking park doings and ocean to my left. It is a busy place even though it continues overcast. The sun may be breaking through, though, I am beginning to see people's shadows on the grass. I would like to go swimming, but not in the gloom.

Here is a picture of some of the food we ate at the fancy Japanese restaurant in this hotel. Delicious and beautiful.



Here are some pics I have just taken from where I am sitting right now.




The sun really wants to come out. Everyone concentrate.

lovely Kauai

THis is where we stayed in Kauai. We've checked out already today and are now just lally-gagging around loafing until our 6 pm flight to Honolulu. It was actually a very lovely cottage even though it had no to little internet. It stood near other cottages owned by a nice family. Also nearby was the Wailua River which became very muddy and full after monstrous rains wedn night/thurs morning. Our sneakers were out on the porch (we werent' allowed to wear shoes inside) during the storm and got wet. They've dried since. The cottage was lovely and we slept much better there than in Hauula.

claustrophobic

I hate seeing the husband all sweatly and disrupted in his peacefulness. Today was a helluva day. The flight from CT to TX was in someways worse than the twice as long of a one from TX to HI. I felt so hot and aggravated while waiting my turn to squeeze out of the plane -- it seemed to take so long and I had a hard time keeping calm and really felt like crap from the time we landed until I was in the airport, putting down my broken bag which was soon discarded. I expected the worse for the next leg-an eight and a half hour long jaunt to Honolulu airport. But I psyched myself up during the two hour layover in Dallas and I did some walking about, some stretching and really sorted myself out for a long long scene.

And it was long but I handled it okay. There was a hella cute baby boy two seats in front of us, he was about 8-9 months and just watching him cry and smile was a nice distraction. I slept a lot, I read Hollywood by A Burr. I tickled and tortured the husband, and when I was really really bored and grumpy I went to the bathroom and just stayed in the room by myself for a few minutes which was a relief. So I got through it and we got the car and luggage and the sun was setting just as we were figuring out how to go north on 63 and the condo isn't what I hoped but its not terrible and tomorrow should be lovely. hurray! my first honeymoon in hawaii has begun.

We Drove To CT

Sitting up in the Bricker watching an absurd show on the netflix instant download. Husband snores downstairs alone. Dog aren't home. The old lady in charge of the kennel (spa) where we left the dogs said she'd bring them a blanket. They have adjoining cells which each have a plastic pedestal where the dogs can lie instead of the stall's hard concrete floor. The cells have individual doorways which allow the dogs to go outside into their outdoor stall area from where they can see each other through the chain link fence. They can also look across to the pens of the other dogs which are kennelled there and they can also look up the nearby hill to see goats hanging in the yard and above that, a large fenced in area, also filled with individual kennels, all inhabited with st bernards, one after each gigantic other, all living to breed, all barking their heads off. Behind them is the farmhouse, the barnhouse and the cat=smelly shed room where the mistress of the kennel sells her wares and keeps her books.




This show is so sleazy and horrible great. It is touted by netflix as the Male Sex in the City and Anthony Head is superb, once more with feeling. I want to watch more but I should sleep and there doesn't seem to be more than one episode offered on the streaming netflix. I just heard a loud firetruck-like siren off in the distance of Greenfield.

I was told about this dog spa from my boss who leaves her dogs there. I guess it is fine and it's not super pricey and what I love is that it is five minutes away from the Hartford airport so we can pick them up super quick instead of driving all the way to Greenfield before seeing them. It is weird right now because since I am not on the plane travelling, I have this time to muse about the dogs and what they are doing instead of dealing with airports and airplane neighbors, crying babies and dry skin and rental cars. I am looking forward to picking up the dogs and bringing them home more than I am looking forward to getting on the plane and travelling to Hawaii. Please note: I didn't state "more than I am looking forward to vacationing in Hawaii." But I do have the time to wish we could have brought scraps of carpet to put down under their plastic pedestals and perhaps big fluffy dog beds to put on top of the pedestals and maybe some Indian



tapestries to hang about, I wish we could have tacked some photos up and perhaps we might have plugged in a radio they could listen to, although you know Pickles and Peretz would be arguing about the station choice constantly. Peretz will finally have his dominant will heard and classical or jazz music will waft about the closed in barn with all the empty stalls except those two over on the right, close to the front door, where our dogs from the cozy beds of Greenfield shiver the night away with the paltry heat promised to be bestowed upon the dogs after all the doors have been closed and the lights have been turned off. Cats and kittens will be the sole prowlers and the only sound heard is the very seldom yelp from that one cranky goat who sleeps on a sore buttock.

If our plane crashes, please go pick up the dogs at Meadowrock Kennels, rt 75, Suffield, CT and find them good homes amongst our friends and families.

last day of NOvember

So the husband and I got into a spat over leftovers. I find it somewhat humorous. We almost didn't have any leftovers and then it seems like there are so many leftovers but then the last of the dark meat, dressing and gravy was all heated up and piled on a plate and it didn't seem like enough for us both. Good thing I was generous with the last big wedge of Rum Cake (oh, that was so good...)!

Penultimate post of November

I do wish I were eating this right now.

dog threw up

Poor Peretz. Poor us humans, cleaning that crap up.

ate too much yesterday. halfway through the preparations DbR said that Neil and Fafnir might come over for dinner. He showed me how all of our dishes were vegetarian except the bird itself, the dressing which was now stuffing and gravy. I was wowed. DbR then pointed out the paltry five potatoes I had gotten, more than enough for us two but now we were four, maybe even six because Cooper and Jess were possibly coming as well. I was a little nervous and when we took out the turkey I had misgivings as did he, that it was too dry. He knifed out a bit on top of the white meat and it was actually very good as was the skin which he had rubbed with some nice spicy maple spicy stuff. it was spicy.

so it did become the six of us and Cooper brought over all this fancy scotch which was nice to taste and we downloaded star trek onto the magic netflix box and I fell in love with Bill all over again. I wish he was in the movie which is coming in May. boo hoo.

Did you know that I didn't like racism?

But I do love a big sweater and a funny winter toque.

I like Alex Baldwin

I'm sitting down watching Rosie Live and it's schmaltzy but awesome. Alex is on right now and seeing him makes me want to watch Outside Providence again. I'm kind of t'red 'cause when I came home I launched into constant kitchen motion for the last 3 hours. I wasn't even making anything for tomorrow. The last few nights DbR and I have been looking at each other at dinner time and wondering what the heck to eat because all the food in the house is generally earmarked for the thanksgiving meal. Sunday we had frozen pizzas, monday we had...oh, some curry rice thing he whipped up with all the extra stuff he could find and last nght we ate chinese (I had ginger milk bubble tea-yum!) but tonight I knew what was going to happen and I went to Fosters before coming home even though I had promised myself I wouldn't go to the store today. But I went because I wanted to get cake stuff and then while I was there I thought, "I should get dinner stuff." I thought, hamburgers! but since we split a meatloaf club earlier I thought there must be another meat we could enjoy and I contemplated the chicken for a while and while I was I thought "enchiladas" and then forwent the chicken for ground pork. So I came home and while DbR made filling for sweet potato pies and squash stuff I made enchiladas and then baked off the yummy chocolate cookies, pictures to follow.

I really like that Kathy Griffith.

Love is hiding who you are at all times, even when you're asleep

Watching 50 Rock, it's so great. This one actually stars Tim Conway who is pretty funny. It's a good show. Haven't watched any of the new ones, though. "My genius has come alive, like toys when your back is turned." Tracy Jordan

This evening since it wasn't colder than hell or raining like crazy so I decided I would take Pickles on a longer walk than usual. Since it has been dark before I even get home from work I lack the get up and go to go very far with him so I usually just saunter around the quick block. Now I actually know what I was missing and like I said, since it wasn't torture tonight, Pickles and I walked up to the flashing light and the Husband and Peretz tagged along. Just about at the corner Pickles and I saw a cute and curious shih tzu who crossed the street to see us. Pickles sniffed and didn't get too alarming but acted affronting enough to get Ms. Shih to walk back across. But then Cutie acted upsettingly, going over to the corner and crossing the street at the blinking light and then she wavered about the street as if to cross again and cars starting coming along at a quick rate and DbR and I were both very anxious about her. I left Pickles with his pals and crossed over to check out where Ms. Shih lived which hopefully was on her tags. She saw me coming and trotted away, away from Allen, up Beech and happily on her way home. Why was she allowed to wander about freely? Dangerous.



I miss days/walks like this.



Last night I was watching the third episode of the fifth season of Buffy and Giles was standing next to a bookcase and was looking at a certain book and I saw that on the same shelf as the book he had taken out and was looking at was the book LINCOLN by Gore Vidal. I think that's pretty cool because that book is great. (As is BURR) I also just enjoy episodes which focus on Xander.

Yay, worlds collide

I know stuff about my neighborhood

As I write this, I am choking a little on some particles which have been stirred up in my cellar by some blowing/vacuuming device which has been used by the guy from Deerfield Valley Heating and Cooling. We paid to have him come in and give the boiler a once over to make sure it is in adequate shape for this cold winter and he cleaned something or something with some tool which blew all sorts of debris dust smoke particles into the air, which have travelled upstairs to where I and the dogs are and it's making it hard to breathe and smells yukky. I also am disturbed by the cloudy quality of the air in the kitchen. Yuck. I did open the back door for a couple minutes but that action did not take much edge off the infusion. Poor Lauri. I feel sympathy for the slobs who live in Beijing and other polluted towns where poor air quality is an everyday thing. yuck.
The guy just came upstairs with a steaming bucket which I assume is filled with hot water from the boiler. I have the dogs on leashes in the kitchen and they are excited and interested in his comings and goings.

Big week has begun. DbR and I, "the newlyweds" are gearing up for our first Thanksgiving. I have never cooked the grand turkey dinner before, I have only made pies and cleaned up while boyfriends and others have cooked and done the dealio which is fine with me. But this year we have no where else really to go and I would very much like some turkey and stuffing so I've convinced Husband to come along with me on the Thanksgiving ride. He seems up for it. We went to Atkins and bought our 9.7 lb Plainville Farms turkey and some cranberries and potatoes and squash and mushrooms. Last week DbR made a super great spicy maple squash dish so I asked him to repeat that and I asked him if he could make a pumpkin pie and he opted for a sweet potato pie-yum. I think I am going to try to make those cookies again and I am going to follow the directions perfectly this time (see yesterday's blog for reference) and see if they can be moister. Although last night people did eat the cookies with gusto and when I complained that I wished they were more moist one guy said, "so they would be liquid" so who knows, maybe I am hypercritical about my cookies. I used white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chocolate chips and that may have been the trouble.

I have been looking through the November 08 issue of Gourmet and there are two main articles about Thanksgiving. One is the huge deluxe thanksgiving meal and the other is, "thanksgiving in four hours!" In the deluxe article there is a recipe for chipotle meatballs which I'd like to try sometime-not for Thanksgiving-and there is this other fancy recipe for wild mushroom bundles which look hella good and I asked the husband to take them on. We need something green at the table, right? So I'm nervous-I want everything to be yummy and I don't want us to argue and get aggravated in the kitchen together but we'll be okay. Yesterday while I made cookies and he the banana pudding, all was well. I wish we had more counter space though!!

Recipes always crap out

Lately I have been making cookies and cakes, etc. using recipes I find in Gourmet or on line. They are not Gourmet recipes, they are usually recipes found on the sides of pages, in the butter ad or the Ghirardelli chocolate ad. They've been turning out not exactly right-today I made these chocolate cookies and they don't look like the cookies in the ad, boo hoo, and they are kind of dry-not sweet and gushy, even though they have plenty of butter and choc. chips in them. I did make some alterations in the recipe which may have caused the imperfect result and it is not like the cookies are crap or anything. They are very chocolatey-just not super soup-y and moist. oh well.

DbR made a big batch of banana pudding, I have to laugh, it is pretty huge. DbR makes the pudding as a bunch of layers: cookie, pudding (made from scratch), bananas, cookie, pudding, bananas, etc and then on top a layer of whipped cream, yum. The thing fills up a large turkey roasting pan-it is fairly momentous. I think the cookies will go hella well with the puddin'. I kind of don't really like the cookies all that much. Anyway, we are bringing those desserts to the Hope + Olive tonight along with our Singstar game to celebrate 2 out of 3 of the proprietors of that restaurant and it should be good. I hope people like my cookies even though they are dry and tasteless.

I hope the stuff I make for Thanksgiving turns out tastier.

Saturday

"notify Agent Zarkov"

watching that Flash Gordon movie from the 80's. Its funny. Seems like Agent Zarkov is a little spaced out in this scene. What's going to happen? Been trying to keep the house warm with the woodstove. It's going okay. I wanted to take the edge off the third floor and warm the kid's room up a little. It just seems so cold cold cold.

wow, it's later than i thought

lately it has been hard keeping track of time. it's dark, it's light, now it's dark again. ok, it's dark but it's still early. no, it's late.
I did all the dishes and some laundry but there are so many plastic and paper bags strewn about the pantry it's disgusting and i wish i knew where my magic wand was put.

bedroom is also a mess. trying to heat the house with the woodstove. doing okay.

I will survive

First otter reaches Farne Islands

An otter has survived a "perilous" three-mile sea crossing to the Farne Islands for the first time, the National Trust has said.

The animal, more commonly found in rivers, has swum from the coast of Northumberland despite rough seas.

Head warden David Steel said he was stunned to find 60 yards of otter tracks on Brownsman Island, which is famed for its bird colonies.

The mammal has not yet been sighted, but it is thought to be still there.

Agitated behaviour by the island's gulls and puffins suggest the new predator has settled in.

Force nine gales

While otters in Scotland do live in coastal areas, Mr Steel said it was "a rare event" to see them by the sea in England.

For one to reach an island three miles offshore was, he said, "incredible".

"It is staggering that an otter could survive the perilous journey out to the Farne Islands, especially Brownsman, which is a long way from the mainland," he said.

"We almost had to rub our eyes with disbelief when we discovered the tracks," he told the BBC.

"We've recently had force nine gales and it can be tricky to reach the islands even on a relatively calm day, which makes this otter's journey a little bit special."

Mr Steel said the otter may be a young animal, fresh from leaving the family fold and seeking its own territory.

"It might be a lonely animal, but it will hopefully survive," he said.

"There'll certainly be plenty of food, plenty of crustaceans and fish to feed upon, but unfortunately, unless another animal swims out here, it might have a lonely existence.

"But there's no reason why we can't get a second or third animal. They are obviously exploring this area so, who knows, maybe in the future might have a small breeding population."

The only worry, Mr Steel said, was about the impact the otter might have on nesting birds next summer.

"Unfortunately, otters are carnivores. They will feast upon bird eggs and small chicks so at that moment it may be a slight concern."

In the late 1950s and early 60s, otters underwent a sudden and catastrophic decline throughout much of Britain and Europe, probably due to the combined effects of pollution and habitat destruction.

home with the guys

I blew off yoga. I'm just lazy. Came home after running a few errands and made a fire while husband made a pretty great dinner-tortellini with gorgonzola and a squashy side dish. Looks like us newlyweds are going to have to put a thanksgiving meal together at home. Might actually be fun, right?

Looking forward to watching an instant download of dirty harry. I used to watch that fairly frequently and I'm psyched to see it again. First, however, a dog walk. Feeling lazy about that as well.