Lazy Sunday

6-23-13

I just looked at the outdoor temp. and it reads 107.6 F.  I KNOW that is not right, it's hot alright, but not that hot.  And I may never know the correct outside temp. until Fall ... I have hooked up my stand-alone air conditioner and the exhaust, you guessed it, is right over the thermometer sensor.  Considering the trouble I had with the "easy installation," I'm not likely to start over. (Yesterday it was 87 F. and it feels hotter today.)

Indoors (in the kitchen and dining area), it's a comfy 79 F.  I have installed my new utilitarian, if not weird, room dividers.  I have two shower curtain rods each with its own see-through plastic shower curtain.  One makes the living room separate (with its own stand-alone a.c.) and the other cuts off the kitchen/dining area from the hall (and bath and bedrooms).  So while it looks like a mad scientist's lair, I can be comfortable in the living room AND at my computer in the dining room.

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Did you ever have iced coffee and it tasted so good, you were sorry that it's gone? Yeah. I'll have to brew more coffee -- but it has to be decaf.  I'd rather not be up until 3 a.m. on a night before work.

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I went to church today which is air conditioned (thank you, Jesus!) and we are all still congratulating ourselves on being the first solar church in Amherst. (I don't think we'll beat the last electric bill of 8 cents for the month, because of the a.c.)  Some of us were sitting in the pews, chatting amicably when the lights went off.  Now, they weren't really necessary, because it was daylight and we were only chatting.  But I knew instantly who had done that.  It was Alan who is rapidly approaching his mid 80's if he's not already there.  He's of my grandmother and grandfather's ilk: waste not want not.  They recycled before it had the cutesy name of recycling.  Swill became compost, you used tea bags more than once, you washed dishes, diapers, and 'tin foil' (although that was rarely used).  Scrap lumber became beautiful furniture or (heaven forbid!) a carton-of-cigarettes-holder made out of wood scraps.  Appliances were repaired -- over and over again.

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During the service, they pass the collection plate and I never put anything in it.  That's because I send an online check every week.  And that is not because I'm so virtuous, it's because I have no memory.  This way, I don't have to remember -- I tell my banking program how much to send and when to send it and I set it for one year at a time.  (It also gives me an instant check on my donations for taxes.)  Anyway ... after they collect the money, the Pastor says words over it and we all sing thanks.  So after church, being the smart Alec that I am, I asked, "Do you pray over the online checks that come in the mail?"  And she replied that very thing had come up at some church meeting last week.  I got the feeling that she does not and someone thought there should be a way 'to honor' those gifts.  Interesting.  The Treasurer's statement (for my taxes) is fine with me.  I've always found it to be a very odd part of church, beginning when I went from the Catholic church to the Episcopalian church.  To me, it was as if they were praying to the money, but that's not it.  I still find it weird to bring the money up front and pray.

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I went to see the movie, "Much Ado About Nothing," directed by Josh Whedon last night.  WOW! It is great!  I have always loved Shakespeare and knew that he was funny, but this production is REALLY funny -- and sexy.  Not bawdy, sexy.  They kept the original dialogue, but it's set in modern times. Everything is just perfect and I don't want to give away the best parts, so I'll leave it at that.  There are many very recognizable actors, but of course, I can't remember their names.  The one that I can put with a show is that the guy who plays Castle is in it.  The movie is so good, I wish Whedon would do all of Shakespeare's plays -- well, maybe not the Henrys -- nobody likes those!

My mother was chuckling over the fact that I now qualify for the senior citizen rate.  Hey! The ticket was $7, not $9.  I'll take it.  Of course, add popcorn and a small drink and my total tab was $16.  I'm going to have to get more editing jobs to support my movie going habit!

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Yes, as you can see, this is really a blog about nothing.  If I think of something else to ramble about, I'll be back.

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I was stood up by the people who might buy my used furniture, so I thought about supper.  I am one who needs color and loves the summer colors.

Here's a totally veggie casserole that I made.

The sauce on the right is some I made a while ago. I actually thought to defrost it in the fridge! Of course, the strawberries are for dessert.

Hot Italian (chicken) sausage cooking merrily while waiting for the ravioli water to boil. (Store bought fresh ravioli.)

O.k., it's 5 to 7 minutes for the ravioli ... I'm starting to peter out after two loads of laundry, changing the bed, cleaning the grease filter on the stove fan hood.  (Who knew those got so yucky?  Well, I did, but I forgot to clean it sooner rather than later.)  I have washed half of the kitchen floor. I stopped thinking I'd have a visitor.  Maybe I'll get back to it after putting out the trash and recycling.  I don't think I can stand any more excitement -- 60 Minutes on TV might do me in!

The Bridge of Flowers

Today, after two days of rain and about 4 inches of rain, the sun came out! Yay!  So Ann and her husband, Rod, and I decided to motor to Shelburne Falls.  They were celebrating Riverfest and there were bands, roving troubadors, vendors, and many many visitors.  We decided to go to the Bridge of Flowers first.

So guess what? Next are pictures of lots of flowers!

As we approached the bridge, I could see giant alium across the street.  Since I still miss mine, here are some more shots ...

So then we walked to the Bridge of Flowers.  It is completely maintained by volunteers and I think each must have their own space because the groupings are so different.  Look at that donation box that someone sculpted -- it's all metal.

Neat, huh?  I wish I could say the following are in walking order, but they aren't.  Sorry about that. I'm guessing these are called blue bells ...

This clematis (below) was really pretty!

Below are the back of the stores. I thought they looked particularly well kept.

Apparently, some of the Bridge of Flowers gardeners like alium as much as I do.

More clematis.

One of the other tourists (from Fitchburg) noticed this. I do not know if it's a moth or a butterfly, but it sure was big!  He never moved.

I thought this was so delicate and beautiful.

I am also a BIG fan of iris as you can see below.

This lilac was so fragrant! I couldn't figure out why it is still blooming -- all of ours are done.

Yes, that's camera shy Ann above.  I had my desert hat on. It's not pretty but it keeps the sun off.

Poppies!

The convoluted tree trunk below belongs to a wisteria tree.

The darker iris is actually grape popsicle color.

More views from the Bridge of Flowers.

From there, we walked to see The Glacial Potholes.  They are at the bottom of the waterfall.  The river was ROARING.  Guess it was all of the rain ...

 On the way back, we into some shops. Of course, I was intrigued by the glass. One fellow had made a tiny glass pendant with a jelly fish inside.  I loved it! (I have always been a fan of the ethereal beauty of jellyfish.)

Below is a detail of the Colrain mosaic.  I don't know if you can read it, but the artist wrote captions with tiny beads that one might use for a baby's name bracelet.  The artist was not credited.  I think I saw three different mosaics, but sometimes they were on the other side of a crowd and we didn't get close enough to shoot.

The detail above is from the lower left of the mosaic below. (I believe it says the first flag raised at a public school was in Colrain, Mass.)

Before we returned home, we had lunch at a slice of Americana -- the Fox Diner.  It was a luncheonette in my opinion. Anyway, the grilled cheese and tomato sandwich was to die for!

Wednesday, June ? 2013

So it's Wednesday and when I'm not working, I have no idea what the date is.  Or the time.  Or the reason for my existence ...

Actually, while it has been fun being a care giver for a relatively good patient, it is a bit wearing. I cannot imagine how the super heroes who take care of loved ones for years do it.  My hat is off to them!

Yesterday, I thoroughly tired Emily out.  I started off determined to make her an excellent egg sandwich.  I even brought my egg corrals with me.  However, I learned one important lesson: The egg corrals must have more room than just fit into the pan because if they are not flat ...

you get leakage.  By the way, if you buy egg corrals, be sure they have the handy dandy handles!

After only a minimal amount of bad language, I managed to come up with:

Linda at work gave me the chick after  she realized that I'm heading into my End of Fiscal Year Crazy Time.  It cheeps if you push its feet.  The cats were first afraid, then amused, now couldn't care less.  (I think it's a function of their having every cat toy known to western civilization.  And many from Asia too.)

After breakfast, lunch out (woohoo!) and then much needed pedicures.

I don't know when it happened, but some evil fairy swapped my toes for these stubby ones.  Only a photo can make you truly aware of your failings.  I had a manicure too, having broken a nail really low.  They put crazy glue on it, but it's already not holding.  Anyway, since the woman spoke very little English, I probably shouldn't have said, "This nail is too long and it interferes with my typing."  My nails are the shortest they have ever been since I stopped biting them.  Oh well. They will grow.

But the combination of stubby toes and short nails is driving me to the tequila bottle.  Which is not here.  Not even any whiskey.  All Emily has is fruity rum type of things.  Ick.  I was remiss. I should have taught her how to drink.  My Momma knew what was good and told me.  Uncle Jack and I had a working relationship for many years.

Then it was off to the supermarket so I could do some of my "I'll cook it now so I just have to reheat later."  By the time we got home, Emily was thoroughly pooped and her sister, Deb, was due to arrive in a half hour.  What a treat to have both girls and cook for them!

I made home made pasta sauce (double batch), meat balls (double batch), pasta, and Italian bread (1/2 garlic bread) for supper.  For other times, I also cooked two chicken breasts roasted, plain, and two roasted with Italian dressing on them.  Emily ended going up to bed around 8:30 p.m.  There are veggies and salad makings in the fridge.  After I'm gone, Emily will have minimal heating and chopping to do.

Today, as always began slowly -- in fact, it's Noon as I'm typing this.  Breakfast was Emily's favorite of French toast.  It has never been my favorite, but I figured I'd treat her.  Luckily, she had real maple syrup which I used.  She, however, used the faux maple syrup that her father and stepmother had given her in a "pancake basket."

Yes, that is half a banana. I ate the other half.

Today we have to plant the purple salvia that we bought while grocery shopping.  Deb arrived with a hanging plant, but I didn't really get to see it because she had to bring it outside quickly because the cats started gnawing on it.  When Jackson (the white and grey cat) jumped on the back of Deb's easy chair, scaring the stuffing out of her, I thought she might go outside and harvest some blossoms to feed to him.  But she didn't.

It was really nice of Deb to stop by -- she had been in Spencer, Mass. getting trained.  She is going for another certification in soils.  It has to do with how porous (or not) the soil is.  I think she spent much of her day standing in a pit.  She's so cute in her 'in the field' work clothes of jeans, tee shirt, ball cap, and work boots.  I'll bet most of the other guys had difficulty concentrating.

Both of my daughters are blessed with high intelligence and good looks.  I hope they continue to use their gifts not only for themselves but others as well.  Both volunteer and make the world a little better.  Life is good.

Now it's time to do the breakfast dishes.  Maybe I should wait until after lunch ... the laundry is done.  The lawn has been weed whacked.  Maybe she wants her bedroom painted ...

Rain, Rain, It's O.k.

So it's Monday (June 3? Who knows when you're not working?) and it's raining like crazy. It has eased up a bit since the deluge at 5:30 a.m.  The farmers need it.  Heck, my new guinea impatiens need it.

I get bored when I'm up and everyone else is sleeping.  I did manage to wake Lola, who has come out of hiding.

Then I washed a bucket load of dishes.  I had forgotten how many dishes three people can make.  Last night's dinner put me back in the BF's good graces.  I made pork chops, stuffing, fresh green beans, and broccoli.  I had been watching "Chopped" on TV where they give them weird things to cook, so I was inspired.  The stuffing was made from tiny potatoes (chopped!), whole grain bread, orange juice ... well, you get the idea.  I liked it a lot.  The BF did too.  Emily -- not so much.

That dinner was preceded by my weed whacking Emily's grass.  I know, I know, it's only about a 10 foot by 5 foot triangle (picture it, you can do it).  However, when the grass is 8 to 10 inches tall, it takes a bit of doing.  Then a bit of trimming around the door.  Did I tell you Emily lives in a jungle?  Actually, her house is flanked by bamboo -- but it's only invasive, not usable.  I got excited thinking I could make trellises for my garden, but this bamboo is limpish.

After watching some of the Today show I was hungry.  Pictured below are corn-strawberry muffins.  They are great when hot with a little faux butter!  I mashed up the strawberries and put some batter in the muffin cup, then strawberries, then batter ... very simple, very easy (as Chef Tell used to say).  No, I did not eat  half a pan -- these are double sized muffin tins.  I had never seen such a thing, but Emily had one with the wrapper still on.. 

As you can probably tell from a previous post, I'm not used to dealing with a guy around all of the time.  He wants what's best for Emily, but ... anyway, I felt the need to go to church.  The Hadwen Park Congregational Church's web site sucked me in.  They proclaimed themselves "open and affirming" so I figured they would welcome me.  And they did.

This is the back of the church (below) and behind me is where I parked on the street.  It's in a regular neighborhood.  In fact, I saw a woman walking home from church.  It was not air conditioned, but the fans were great and it wasn't bad even though the temp. was in the high 80's.  When I walked in, the greeters at the door were startled and pleased when I said, "I bring you greetings from the South Congregational Church in Amherst, Massachusetts!"

Of course, I couldn't help but notice my favorite blue iris on the side of the church.

And here's the inside which was bright and cheery and airy.

The youth group is raising funds to go to Elmira, NY to do "Elderly Home Repair."  I wonder how 'the Elderly' feel about THAT appellation, lol.

All in all, I found it to be an uplifting, calming experience even though it was totally different from my church.  Their pastor wore a brightly colored sun dress (no vestments) and I had done communion by intincture before.  (That's when you walk up and get it rather than having it brought to you.)  But I had not dipped the bread in wine (I think it was grape juice which is fine with me) in the chalice at a Congregational church before.

I had praised the web site (and had gotten to tell the web master how impressed I was) so when Pastor Judy introduced me as a visitor, she added my comments.  It was a bit embarassing, but I lived.