Happy Easter!

The sun has just come out, making me very happy. When I went to church, it was only 45 degrees and with no sun, and it was chilly. I didn't want to wear a coat because I already had a suit jacket on. (It's now almost 50 degrees!)

And, yes, my sandals do match my jacket!

The color that you see of the sandals is the actual color of the jacket. I don't think there was enough light in the picture of me in the mirror.


I have just finished washing a zillion dishes. They aren't all from the carrot cake filled with cream cheese, but they are clean now! It's almost done baking and I can't wait to try it!


This afternoon, Therese is hosting an Easter dinner party for several of us ladies, all of whom are alone today. I'm bringing asparagus!

Oh, yes. I'm bringing the carrot cake with the cream cheese filling (below)!

Yes, those are carrot curls and walnuts on the top!

I had fun making the carrot curls with my spiralizer. Thanks, Deb and Paul! Now I'm going to have a cup of tea in my Red Pony mug -- thanks Emily! (Then I pick up Phyllis for our jaunt to Therese's house.) Sigh. Life is good.

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I'm back (7:30 p.m.). It turns out that the carrot and cheese cake is yummy! We had lamb and all kinds of sides. Therese sets the best table ever!

One of our first temptations was seeing her hand made mosaic table with starters:

It's in the conservatory surrounded by many many plants. Our next temptation came in the form of deviled eggs.

After that it was eat, eat, eat! We had 4 desserts! (I only ate some of mine and I didn't eat my jelly bean and cholate flower cup.)

I'm going to have to remember Therese's method for making napkin rings. I'll just get my glue gun out ... she is so talented artistically, I am always amazed to look around at her place.

And that's it! I have to get ready for work now. I hope you all had a great day too!

What the Heck?

So I'm driving back from Northampton after picking up (and paying for) my taxes. When I turn onto the road in Hadley with the big field (where Cyndi and I saw the goats grazing one day), I see a guy with a big round metal thing. I think, 'Oh, they must be waiting for a hot air balloon.'

But as I draw closer, I see that the round metal frame is attached to a giant fan -- much like the ones you see on the swamp boats in Florida. And there's another guy strapping one on to his back. There is a giant engine with downward thrust attached to the "fan" which is attached to a harness on the guy's back.

Three of these intrepid "pilots" are about to take off, hopefully in a controlled flight. There were quite a few cars and pickup trucks, but I thought it would be rude of me to just yank the wheel and pull over to watch. Also, I don't want to think about any crash landings. But they must know what they are doing, right?

And a Great Time Was Had by All

Cyndi and I went to the Amherst Club Cabaret tonight. The food was wonderful and the Gypsy Wranglers plus Lynne Ransome (jazz singer) were fabulous. I am sad to report that I did not win the 300 lottery tickets. My money went for a good cause, though. The Amherst Club supports half a dozen or more local charities.

Cyndi and I congratulated ourselves on "cleaning up nice."

We were sitting next to the Drs. Freed (Barbara and Gordon who are dentists) and Cyndi found out that she had gone to the same elementary school in Connecticut as Barbara. In fact, Barbara had known the woman whom it had been named for, saying the woman was really old -- at least 50! We all had a good laugh at that (Barbara is a year younger than I). After they left the table to dance, I said to Cyndi, "It's odd to realize that they both have had their hands in my mouth." (I go to another dentist now.)

So here it is 9:30 p.m. and I'm bushed. I did vacuum and some laundry before I left, but that sure isn't much. Maybe I'll throw something into the crockpot.  Oh, yes, I did make "mac" and cheese using shiratake ziti noodles. Those are the Miracle Noodles. It's not pasta, but only pasta is pasta. It was quite passable. That's a lot of pas ...

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It's Sunday Now

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So I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and a commercial came on for a blood clot decreasing medicine. It was a really lovely stream of very orange goldfish, much prettier than in real life, swimming through an artery and ending up in a glass heart. They exited in an orderly fashion, but jammed up in a "clot." Then some dropped off through the artery and all was well. What puzzled me is that at the beginning, it said on screen, "For illustrative purposes only."  My question is why did they tell me that? Are they afraid that I would think I have very orange goldfish swimming in my arteries? But then I thought, I guess that's better than saying, 'No goldfish have been harmed in the making of this.' And that notion was confirmed when, horror of horrors, some goldfish 'died' and fell out of the clot in the artery. 

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Also on CBS Sunday Morning was an interview with Gwen Stefani who was radiant in her golden pony tail, signature cherry red lips with a skirt to match. Her opaque white blouse with a tiny bit of red and blue accents was a brilliant combination. But, as much as I admire and envy her perfect figure, I was a bit nonplussed to see that her cute skirt barely covered her hoo ha as she walked along while being interviewed. Why? She's 46 freakin' years old! Now, granted, I am envious of her figure and her age, HOWEVER, that's almost 50 and she's the mother of 3 boys. Couldn't she add 4 inches of length to her hem?

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I used to get really mad when my mother said I was too old for long hair. One time I snapped, "Should I dye it grey and cut it short?!" Well, I did cut it short but I'm not coloring my hair -- it's too much work. I guess we all have a way that we see ourselves.

I'm with Mom in that the women I see who are 50's, 60s, 70s and beyond who need to do something with their hair! Sure, if you want it long -- comb it! What used to look cute and sexy and wind tossed while in your 20s now looks like you forgot where you left your comb and brush.

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So by now you must have figured out that I missed Palm Sunday services at church. I woke up at 9:45 a.m. and church starts at 10 a.m. That's cutting it a bit too close for me. Our sanctuary is up stairs with groaning, creaking stairs. It's pretty embarrassing to show up late because everyone can hear you climbing the stairs. 

Today is the first day of spring and it's 35 degrees. That's o.k. The weather service is now saying that we probably won't get the northeaster storm that they were making dire predictions about two days ago. That's fine with me. My daffodils don't need snow! They haven't popped yet, that I know of, but they are close to blooming.

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More Sunday

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Ann and I decided to go on an excellent adventure and went to the Ocean State Job Lots in Palmer. It's about a 40 minute ride and we had fun looking and doing a bit of shopping. How could I pass up a jar of cinnamon for $1? Ann got a mini rake for her garden and some decorative fencing. We were hungry then but there was nowhere (except fast food) to eat. So I just started driving thinking that we might come to the center of Palmer and we came upon this.

It's called the Steaming Tender and it has active railroad tracks on either side. It's quite a large restaurant since it is the original train depot (no passenger trains stop there). The red locomotive that you can barely see on the left is used for private parties.

This was outside:

And here's what we saw inside.

And across the street:

All in all, it was an excellent adventure. I have just finished making a bunch of food for the week. Now I have a mountain of dishes (pots and pans) to wash. I really wish they would wash themselves!

Have a great week!

Re-Run from 7-29-12

  

I went to see the Marigold Hotel last night.  I know there’s more to the name of the movie, but I can’t remember it.  I’m old.  And that’s the whole point of the movie.  I guess “aging” is the new thing.  We recently had the Ko Festial here and the whole theme was aging and the process.  (My coworker, Ralph, won a prize for best story in a story telling workshop.  His story talked about his becoming of age, when he first got heartburn at age 16 after eating gefiltefish for breakfast. He knew he was a man like his father then.)

Now that all of us Babyboomers are aging out, I guess we’ll see more of this treacle.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie. However, some of the endings (which I won’t reveal in case you haven’t seen it) are a bit far-fetched.  The movie is basically about a bunch of English senior citizens who just can’t make it financially in jolly old England and they decide to go to the Marigold Hotel in India which is to be a spa for the old folks. 

I can see myself going to India – with a tour group with an air conditioned bus, air conditioned hotel, and lots of antacids in my suitcase for a week.  But I can’t see myself going to LIVE there!  I thought about retiring to Honduras for about 30 seconds when I was there.  After all, for about $350 a month, I could live well and have a maid!  Then I remembered the policia with machine guns at the exit of the airport and how it’s a game of chicken at high speed with trucks and buses on the windy mountain roads.  And I realized that there I would be wealthy compared to most and the best bet for thieves.  So, no thank you, I’ll stay in the good ole’ USA.  (The Christian hospital would be close by, but most of their equipment is as old as I am.)

But coping with this aging thing is beginning to be a pain.  Mentally, I’m stuck in my undergraduate years.  Physically, I should be dead.  Well, o.k., that’s a bit of hyperbole.  And maybe I’m just emotionally stunted.  But I do still like rock music and Janis Joplin and James Taylor.  I like really witty repartee on the radio (think: NPR).  And I still like to dress a bit outrageously.  (The other day, when I wore my red spangled blouse to work, someone said I looked like Christmas. That may have been the day I had a gold lame rose in my hair. I didn’t look up and said, “I’m channeling Palm Springs.”  It was true.)  I still have a sense of wonder at something new, I love learning, and I want to keep experiencing new things as long as my body will let me. 

Every time someone sends me one of those ‘You Know You’re Old When ….’ I pretty much ignore them. After all, I’m not old – I’m piling up wisdom.  Yup, that’s the ticket: Wisdom.  I think that’s why we laughed at Lucy so much.  We all thought she was old enough to know better – she lacked wisdom.  It’s a concept that we do not revere in this country as they do in other countries.  But it is true that most of us, as we age, gather wisdom as part of our personalities.

Let me share some of my wisdom:

·         If you wake up at 3 in the morning and can’t go back to sleep – chuck it! Go play a computer game.  Coffee will keep you awake at work.

·         Only do housework when you have to. If you haven’t had to do it for more than two months, invite someone to dinner to give you a reason to clean.

·         Be sure to fertilize your weeds well. When they are as tall as you, they have become decorative landscaping.  Name their flowers something exotic and soon your neighbors will want transplants.

·         Don’t empty your mailbox every evening.  That way you’ll get more exercise in the morning because you can’t remember when you last emptied it.

That’s it. I’m tapped out of wisdom.  Guess I have to age some more. 

(Oh, by the way. I think my hearing’s going with age.  I sit at the computer here with the TV on in the living room. When I thought I heard “This Old House” talk about asshole driveway, I knew something was up.  They said, “asphalt driveway.”  Phew.)

I Went to Church Tonight

No, I'm not a religious fanatic. Picture this: arroz con pollo that I don't have to cook, good company (Phyllis plus a bunch of others), and a program -- with slides -- about Ecuador. It sounded like a nice relaxing evening.

But God laughs and we become confounded. The cooks had called in sick. The new cooking crew couldn't get the chicken and rice cooked. (It had to do with the stove not cooking very well and they had been told how to wrap the pans for cooking and one old time gent vetoed it ... well, you get the idea.) So there were 40 or so people chomping at the bit -- most of them in their 80s if not 90s. Finally, I said to one of the women, 'We ought to at least put the salad out. These people are used to eating at 4:59 p.m.!' They did manage to get all of the food out by 6 p.m.

Thank heavens, there was salad. On my low carb, high fat diet, I can't eat rice and sugar. The salad, however, was booby trapped with craisins (cranberries sprayed with sugar) and mandarin oranges which are full of natural sugar. The chicken was delicious and I left the sugar parts of the salad.

But dessert was out of the question: pineapple upside down cake with (unsweetened) home made whipped cream.  So I meandered into the kitchen to help with clean up. Wow, am I tired! There is a commercial dishwasher, but you have to wash the silverware twice. And put away the plates (dinner and dessert). The glasses go into a different case from the glass coffee mugs. Luckily, Gena was the captain of the dishwasher and she was sliding tray after tray through and I would put the dishes away. I finally had to quit, though, because my back started hurting.

But ... I got to take leftover whipped cream home! And I am having the tastiest, luxurious drink ever! I made decaf coffee, added a couple of spoons of unsweetened cocoa, about 3 drops of liquid stevia, and bunches of the whipped cream. Yum!! 

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Last weekend, I went to hear a program in Special Collections about David Grayson. His real name was Ray Stannard Baker and his pen name was kept secret for ten years. His David Grayson writings about being a rural farmer/philosophe became so popular that clubs devoted to David Grayson popped up all over the country. As Baker, he was a hard hitting journalist for Colliers magazine out of NYC. He didn't want people to confuse fact with fiction, so he used the pen name.

The program was excellent with Nick Grabbe (a former reporter) giving us the background and some of the comments about his work in the 1930s. Then we saw a "What's My Line" with 3 people, two of whom were imposters. We were supposed to figure out who was the real David Grayson. Apparently, at the time, there were real imposters and one guy convinced a woman to marry him -- all the while he was pretending to be David Grayson!

Cyndi Harbeson, Curator, introduces Nick Grabbe, Narrator

Talk about well attended: some people had to stand because there were 67 people in the research room of Special Collections! I doubt that they had ever had that many people there at one time for any program.

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Yes, a dozen eggs was still $1.55 at Aldis last Saturday. There, in order to get a shopping cart, you put a quarter in a slot and it becomes unlocked. When you return the cart and click in the chain, your quarter pops out. Clever, huh? It keeps their parking lot free of carts that blow into your car. Oh, and you have to bring your own bags but they provide a nice shelf to rest your bags while you load them inside. 
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Another petty annoyance. It's bad enough that I get automated calls trying to sell me something but when it leaves a message on my phone, it starts in the middle of the message. I don't even know what I'm angrily deleting!

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Today was nice and warm and sunny. This is after a couple of dank, cold rainy days. My purple crocus has bloomed and the daffodils are very happy with fat buds. I think they liked the rain because they were thirsty. 

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Last night, two separate TV shows ended with old guys -- as in 60s with white hair -- getting married. Yup, they married younger women. They were super younger, but they weren't in their 60s. I think I'm going to start lying about my age. Although ... both of the guys had been married multiple times. That's how I know it's fiction. Why would you want to marry someone and be wife number 4?

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This coming weekend both the Smith College and the Mt. Holyoke spring flower bulb shows end. I think I'm going to try to go to the Smith College one which has the theme of "The Evil Garden" by Edward Gorey.  He's the illustrator that made the long thin damsel in distress (animated) before the beginning of Masterpiece Mystery! Theatre on public television. Some of my friends said they didn't like it as much as last year's Monet themed show. We shall see. 

And Saturday night it's the Amherst Club cabaret. I can't wait to go!

My Weekend Began on Thursday!

That's when Emily joined us at the Jones Library for our monthly Trivia Night with Harpo. Twenty of us had a great time trying to figure out the answers to Harpo's questions. Our team, The Fantastic Five, came in second. We do, however, excel at being humble.

Do you know who was the first President of the US to make a radio broadcast? What European country had the first college?

I always get the barbarian question wrong. I am now more than ever convinced that I should memorize the periodic table and my barbarian hordes.

Cyndi, very nicely, had brought a birthday cake for Emily who shared it with everyone there. It was lovely chocolate and (from all accounts) tasted just great. It was another stellar offering from Atkins Fruit Bowl.

Emily stayed overnight at my house which is why, on Friday, we both went to see Dead Pool at the movies. I only had to close my eyes to the violence a few times because it's from a comic, you know? It's not real. I especially enjoyed the wise cracking and I was very proud of myself that I spotted Stan Lee in his ritual cameo. All in all, if you can stand the unmitigated violence, it was a good time at the movies.

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Yesterday was a busy day of dropping off my taxes (Northampton), picking up my newly repaired 1940 Featherweight sewing machine (West Springfield), the Old Deerfield Craft Fair at the Big E (Springfield), and then to Aldi's (Hadley).

The Craft Fair was great, but the organizers made one very big mistake: there was only one (count 'em, one) ladies' room open. The line was ridiculous. Those of us who have been to that building before know that there are two (and the other one is bigger), so I have no idea why there was only one open yesterday.

I only took a few pictures ...

These are lights made of recycled milk cartons. The light bulb is energy saving and does not get hot. You can have any color combination because the people at the booth put it together for you.

These were very soft toys! They had bunnies and duckies and all kinds of cute animals.

And, of course, I couldn't resist buying something. 

It's a pen and ink by Gene Matras called "Three Cows."  Moo.

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Mom just sent me this (it's 11:30 a.m. here which means it's 8:30 a.m. there):

See the rainbow? This is the view from her front door. Sigh. California dreaming here. Granted, it's 37.3 F. here, but I'm envious of the view and the hot tub (outside).

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I have made a double batch of homemade spaghetti sauce. How could I not? The crushed tomatoes at Aldi's were 99 cents per can and the tomato paste was only 39 cents per can. (I used two cans of each.)  I put some on Miracle Noodles (konjac) for two meals. Currently, I have a crustless quiche in the oven with ham pieces in it plus some small tomato slices. The quiche will be for breakfast and I'll be making some meatballs to go with my noodles and sauce for lunch. I made a batch of "mashed potatoes" made out of cauliflower for lunch today so I can bring some of that to work also. 

Meatballs are in the oven. I'm in the home stretch! Just have some brussels sprouts to roast. Maybe I should just boil them -- don't want to leave the oven on longer. I roasted some for the first time last week and they were great!

I still have shrimp to make scampi, but that makes up quickly. I do all of this cooking on the weekend because I'm too tired after work to do anything but heat up. And sometimes I'm editing, so I don't eat until 7 p.m. Then I fall asleep, lol. 

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Emily and I were watching the Food Channel and a preview for a new show came on. It's called "Pros and Cons" and you have to decide who the professional chef is. I said to Emily, "Wouldn't that be ex-cons if they are on TV?"  She laughed at me and said, "That's as in con man!" I really thought they were talking about ex-offenders and I couldn't figure out why they had come up with that concept. Reality TV has ruined me for reality.

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By the way: Emily pushed one button on the remote and Netflix came on.  One button. I have gotten it to work since -- I think I wasn't holding it high enough for the signal to reach its target. I have watched two of the new "House of Cards" episodes and it's pretty ho hum. Maybe I built it up too much in my mind. But I do like watching Kevin Spacey.