Tuesday Thrills Addition

Tonight I got to hear Chris Lee and Colleen O'Brien from the Seattle area. They played jazz and Colleen sang the words to many poems. They added some of Emily Dickinson's poems to their typical repetoire of Wadsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare and others. Each poem had an appropriate picture with the words projected on a screen behind them. Colleen played her cello as if it were a bass, mostly plucking the strings with a minimal amount of bowing. It was very relaxing and unusual.

Chris played the vibraphone and percussion. At one point, he played a slit box which was most unusual in that it was a wooden box with slits in the top!

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But the very best and most exciting news is that YaoYao had her baby Zachary! He was 9 pounds 2 ounces! Happy birthday, Zachary!

Sunday Second Post of this Weekend

I feel that I have spent far too much time on the weekends doing nothing (such as a whole day in pajamas) and Sunday night I say, "What have I done today?" So while what is about to come, may be exceedingly boring to you, this is my free therapy (and a push to keep going).

I was very proud of myself to have finished laundry by Friday night (having started on Thursday), and as you know, I was pretty busy yesterday. That left preparing food for the week.

Did I every tell you that eating healthy is quite a chore? (Yeah, yeah, I know that should be eating "healthfully," but it has been a long time since Mrs. Burns' grammar lessons in the sixth grade and I speak more in vernacular now.) Since I'm usually too tired after work to cook, I cook on the weekends for lunches and suppers. [A good part of healthy eating is not eating in restaurants.]

So now, at Noon time, after a breakfast of sausage and eggs, I have accomplished this:

Watched CBS Sunday Morning *
Baked boneless pork ribs with tomato and onion, baked hot Italian sausage with sweet red peppers, made pesto with mushrooms and Miracle Noodles ziti, baked an eggplant casserole, baked many chicken thighs with different dry rubs, cooked green beans, cooked broccoli. 

A while ago, I had bought reusable plastic containers (from Groupon) with two separate compartments. So far, I have filled five of them for lunches. I have to wait for the food to cool before I cover and refrigerate them.

I have cleaned out the fridge, which has let me know that I should either make meatballs or hamburgers. Part of this exercise is to get the packaging into the trash for tomorrow's pick up. 

I have knit (and purled) a couple of inches of knitting on an 8" x 8" square for the afghan at work. Several of us are knitting squares of different colors and the blanket will 'live' in the staff break room. This knitting is quite an accomplishment for me because I have never before been successful with knitting. :)  More later.

* CBS Sunday Morning was a farewell to Charles Osgood who had the position of host for 22 years. At first I thought I didn't want to watch it, but it was pretty interesting to see some of his old clips. I am especially envious of his vacation home in the south of France -- with grapes in the back yard. He and his wife have the blue and yellow French dishes that match my kitchen curtains. I never thought about their being French when I bought the fabric many years ago and I just happened to put a lace valence over the cafe style curtains. It's weird the things one does unconsciously.

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Well, ya, it's Monday. But I did vacuum, wash a zillion dishes and pots and pans. I knit a few more inches, recycled and shredded papers, played some video games and ended up with Poldark on PBS. So while I did stay in my jammies all day, I was fairly productive!

Of course, after all of that cooking and washing up, I see a winter squash (the size of a small child) uncooked on the counter. It will become squash soup, probably on Tuesday. Tonight (Monday) is my Bible as Literature class and I have no time for soup! :)

Sublime Saturday

We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was sunny and breezy and in the high 70's -- fabulous for going to the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, Massachusetts.

Ann and I were eager for our next "Ann and Tina Excellent Adventure" as I carefully put in the location on my GPS. I knew vaguely that we would be heading up Pelham Hill to Route 202 (near Route 2). So I was very surprised when the GPS lady said, "Turn left here" about a half mile before I was expecting it. I made one of those on two wheels lefts and Ann didn't wet her pants, but I think she came close.

We chugged merrily along for awhile and both of us had thought bubbles over our heads which read, "Is this really the right way?" I looked at the GPS and it said only 4 and a half miles to go.

I remarked, "I hope it's not 4 miles of bad road!" Blam! It became a dirt road. I kid you not. Ann says, "This reminds me of when you were in Vermont, on the hill, in the snow, sliding backwards because of your GPS. I hope you have a lot of gas!" 

At this point, I'm hearing my mother's voice in my head, saying, "I've got plenty of gas and I speak English."  Besides, I wasn't hearing any dueling banjos yet. 

At this point, the road a wide single lane. Two cars can pass each other, but it's a bit tight due to overgrowth on each side. There are no houses to be seen. We round a corner and there is a car stopped smack in the middle of the road. I couldn't go around on either side. So I use my light horn. You know, you flip your headlights on and off. That didn't work. (I don't think it has ever worked now that I think about it.) So I'm wondering if they have the same GPS as I do and they are just sitting there flummoxed, or are they dead?

Eventually, the car moved. And in another 4 miles we came out at the Garlic Festival! The parking attendants were a trip, but I'll just leave it with: the woman said, "Good going!" to me because I managed to turn the car around when I realized they were directing me to the wrong spot. Apparently, it's a great feat for her to turn her car around ...

Dancing Lasses

You got to vote where you wanted the community compost to become a garden.

Gorgeous soft scarves with shiny bits

Garlic

More garlic -- decorative

 Ann, deciding on a glass bauble.

Electric cars, including a Tesla

They were really interested in solar power

Munch, munch, munch

He tried to eat our purses.

In case you want to grow your own (mushrooms).

Baby bull

I apologize for the quality (or lack thereof) of the pictures -- I still can't get them out of the camera into Irfanview (which I use for editing such as color corrections and cropping). My friend, Al, sent me a link, but I have just been too busy to pursue it.

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I got back in time to gulp some pre-cooked chicken and then go to the Jones Library to hear the East Haddam Rep Company (from CT) do a radio play of Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band. It was great fun. Here they are:

Kandie Carle (on the right) is the founding genius of the troup. She also did "The Victorian Lady" and her other performance showed us Victorian clothing. She researches all of her performances.

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After that, it was off to the supermarket and to the ATM and finally home. Longmire and I have been having a good time, thanks to Netflix! Ciao!

Impressionist Impressions

The phone rang at 8:10 a.m.
"Are you up for an adventure?"

An hour later, Cyndi and I were motoring to the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut. It was their last weekend of The Artist's Garden and exhibit of American impressionist paintings and gardens. 

This image is from the Florence Griswold web site.

I have a whole bunch of pictures, but my camera is refusing to connect to the computer. It says it is, but it's not. I'll check it out at work during lunch.

After touring the museum and before going to the boarding house that Ms. Griswold ran, we had a lovely time sitting in Adirondack chairs just watching the river. The weather on Saturday was fantastic and much cooler than today.

Below is an enlargement of the center of the picture above. I wanted you to see the family of swans.

Not bad for a camera phone, huh? Now, if my phone would only make phone calls, I'd be happy. 

[Here are some of the Griswold boarding house pics -- more after work. I had to eat lunch, ya know!]

 The dining room. The artists painted the panels on the doors and when they ran out of doors, they painted panels in the dining room.

 Above is Ms. Griswold's bedroom. The ship in the picture over the fireplace is the one her father captained.

Above is the door to Ms. G's bedroom -- painted by the only female artist in the bunch!

More dining room art above.

After the Griswold boarding house, it was time for a late lunch and we had a seafood feast at Abbots.

 We ate outside at a picnic table.

What could be better? Eating yummy seafood dreaming about being on one of those sailboats was just lovely. Thanks, Cyndi! (By the way, you forgot to get your money from me for lunch!)

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Did I tell you I went to the Amherst Block Party last Thursday? It was fun to stroll down a closed-to-cars street. There were lots of circus performers from the circus school in Easthampton. 

 This woman did a long routine high above the street with a purple scarf.


As we left work to go to the block party, there was a driveway full of electric cars presented by the Pioneer Valley Electric Auto Club. I posed with the Tesla, which is Lisa's favorite. Its sticker price is around $142,000.

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And ...

Last weekend I took a Senior Center bus trip to the NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. It was a wonderful trip, but beastly hot. Consequently, what pictures I got are mostly from the open air tram. Their impressionist exhibit of New York painters was very small and no photos were allowed. (The tram pictures are in my camera which won't connect to the pc ...) I was surprised to see a couple of John Singer Sargent paintings -- he's one of my favorites. But his paintings didn't impress me -- they were of a fountain on the grounds.

We had a very lovely luncheon in the restaurant on the grounds. Of course, I'm a sucker for cloth napkins! They had huge photos of gardens and a stream on the wall so you felt as if you were outdoors, but it was mercifully air conditioned.


On the way home, the bus stopped at a diner in CT that also had great food and the biggest pastries I've even seen in my life. I brought Lisa an apple turnover (triangular shaped) and the long side must have been over 8 inches! The form that we use to give the fine money to the Town is called a "turnover" and I always joke, asking Lisa if she wants and apple or cherry turnover. That Monday, she got apple!

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Today, Sunday, was my day to "get things done." It was nothing spectacular -- cooking, wash, etc. And the weather has gone from pleasantly cool and dry to hotter and very very humid. I could hardly breathe when I went to the store.

I did manage to make a tasty vegetarian soup with pre-made veggie broth, zucchini, onions, mushrooms and some seasonings.The mini crustless quiche are for breakfast and I haven't tried the veggie (no cheese) eggplant casserole yet. Lisa is bringing me more eggplant from her garden so I figured I should make a casserole she can eat -- no cheese for her!

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I was happy that Netflix sent me an email telling me that there is more Luther to watch. I had, however, forgotten how brutal the murders are. 

Previously, I have been watching 30 in February which is a Swedish series. That's when I found out that I can't knit and read subtitles at the same time. It's about the adventures of some Swedes in Thailand. As with most things Swedish, it has some dark sides to the drama, but I'm enjoying it. You have to get to about the third episode for it to lighten up consistently. 

So Far, It Has Been a Fantastic Labor Day Weekend

Yesterday, Naomi and I decided to go to see the Smith College Museum of Art. Not only did I have a free pass for both of us from the Friends of the Jones Library (thank you very much!), we found a parking space right in front of the museum!

Since you have already been there with me, faithful reader, this will start with a very truncated version of the artist-commissioned women's bathroom. Naomi seemed a little uncomfortable when I walked into the men's room, so I figured she wouldn't want to wait for me to take pictures of that.

Yup, this is one of the sinks -- all were different, but using the same colors.

 Below is the wall as you enter. The sinks are on the right.

Below is the wall all the way at the back.

Needless to say, this is one of the toilets. All are different. Yes, this is after I used it.

 What follows is a random selection of items that I liked. The sculpture above is thought to be a base for a table.

This is one of my favorite benches. It is inlaid and carved.

The box above shows Solomon with the two mothers who were fighting over a baby. The other side does not have a story. This is a reliquary which was used to hold bones of a saint. So I'm wondering if it was empty? Or did they just dump the bones?

Naomi and I rounded off the afternoon with a lovely lunch on the open air covered patio at Esselen. It was a fine time.
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Another fine time today was a wonderful feast at Jon and Farah's house next door. I got to meet some lovely people and we all sat on their patio and ate. The weather couldn't have been better -- it was about 78 F. with a breeze. I feel very pampered (and full!). The conversation was great.

I noted that I have until tomorrow to wear white pants and a young woman from India couldn't believe that I was serious when I said, "No white after Labor Day." I did explain that modern women don't go by that any more. I proceeded to reminisce about when I was young and went to church wearing white gloves and a hat. John remembers his mother wearing that ... boy, do I feel old!

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I have a new Netflix obsession: Crossing Lines. The only actor's name that I can remember is Donald Sutherland (he's the big boss). It's a group of crime fighters who traverse Europe and the Netherlands catching bad guys who commit their crimes (usually serial types of killers) in many countries. The theory is that they go undetected because none of the police forces in the various countries share their information with one another. The personalities that they have given the various characters are interesting.

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You know ... I went to look back at the pictures of the bathroom and I have been puzzling about the fish hooks and sea theme. Then it dawned on me. "Give a woman a fish and you have fed her. Teach her to fish and she is set for life." I guess Smith College has taught a lot of women to fish!