Official

Gainesville

Tonight, at midnight EDT (less than an hour from now) I become officially retired. I will take the shrinkwrap off my So Many Splendid Sundays book to celebrate. I won't take a close look at it til tomorrow, though, when there is good light.

I unloaded the boxes from Blue's bed today, and they all stacked nicely underneath one small section of the big table in the Great Room. Not so bad! I'm hoping the books we pick up tomorrow morning will fit in one or two rows on the floor in front of the windows, leaving at least a small amount of floor space in there. Enough for a very small, single square dance, with room to spare for the cat to yark (her favorite spot, alas). Then begins the journey of a thousand 15-minute segments to recover the real estate. How handy that next week is the Entrance/Dining Room area-- that's how I've always defined the Great Room. It's also the perpetual candidate for the 5 Minute Room Rescue. I've rescued it before, I can do it again.

As previously noted, today's Gator game started at 3:30. I didn't make it out during the prescribed window to shop. Not to worry: I had a ham slice and some frozen corn in the freezer, and a European cuke in the fridge-- the latter I sliced thinly unpeeled, soaked in brine, drained most of brine, added rice vinegar til it was right, then added minced scallion and fresh dill. Came out pretty good for a change. A simple but fine meal.

A few snippits from yesterday that got lost:

The Systems gang gave me a gift of a fleece throw with the most garish gator emblem imaginable. I love it! The cat and I had a glorious late afternoon couch-nap under it today.

Walking back from lunch, Bill fell into a conversation with one of our young programmers about World of Warcraft, the current hot game they're both involved in. Sounds like complete gibberish to the uninitiated, and even I had trouble following it. There was a student walking in front of us, who kept turning around to look at them, and each time he did, his smile got wider, as did is eyes. He finally said something to them in the same lingo, and gave them an awe-struck thumbs-up gesture. Probably took Bill for a prof, and wished he had this incredibly cool guy for a class.

Ah. According to my computer, it's now October 1, 2006. I'm a free man in Paris. (Okay, so it's a free woman in Gainesville, but close enough.) Let Little Nemo loose!

Anytime

Gainesville

All over but the shouting, that is, another truckload of stuff to bring home, some clean-up to do on my computer. Sunday morning for that. Also a few last bits of paperwork didn't get done. despite my efforts.

Yesterday I spent nearly three hours walking my legs off on a very hot day in a great circle around campus; only got one of the three errands done. Will try to do one of them by mail; the other one is not urgent (bringing in marriage license in order to change my name on a savings account).

We didn't take Blue in to work yesterday because Bill was in a hurry and didn't want to take time to switch the parking gizmos. When we got home, there were the 17 boxes of books from Beckley, as promised, piled up in the carport. Oh me oh my. Bill brought them in this morning, a small mountain in the Great Room (looking less Great all the time).

We were both more than ready for our Thursday night visit to Mel. She was all a-twitter, in the afterglow of last week's wonderful Tom Petty concert, but also because Bill had sent a glowing letter to Outback corporate praising this particular outlet for the amazing private party the manager had for us Regulars last month, but also for the general goodness of the place, and mentioning Mel and her crew in particular. This rippled back down to the manager, and put a few more stars in Mel's crown.

Today we did take Blue in. I wore jeans and worked like a stevadore all day, loading my borrowed book truck and trekking it down the elevator in the north tower, along the looooong east-west arcade, to the Systems loading dock area in the south tower. Sometimes I had to heave my entire weight against it to get the thing moving, especially over carpet, but I got it done. All except the last load of the six, which Bill pushed for me. We loaded Blue's bed with all the boxes and the posters, and the misc stuff (clothes, food, survival gear, etc.). This leaves just the unboxed books.

Systems is empty right now, as they've been installing new carpet for the past six weeks or so. Very handy, as there are miles of empty book shelves, some of which are housing the Covey Collection-- overflow from when I still lived in the little house on NW 11th St. -- all my music books and scores, science, philosophy, language, social sciences, library science. Plus all the various computer-related crap I've acquired meantime. All unboxed. I'm so sick of putting books into boxes, taking them out, over and over, just decided this time I'll just toss them in the truck bed, then put them in heaps on the floor along with the rest of the books. Probably the best thing to do would be just put compact storage in that big room at home and give up on having it be a big, gracious space. It was always just a silly pipedream.

Nice lunch with Systems people at a little Vietnamese place within walking distance. Not a nice walk, though, as it traverses University and 13th St, and it's still quite hot here. They had to have fans on in the room we were in. The sound system was playing a weird assortment of classical music: Schubert's Ave Maria, followed by the Bach/Gounod version, and on from there. No one but me knew what they were hearing.

Grrrr. The barmaid (me) just made a big mistake-- pouring a perfectly good drink down the drain because she thought she'd messed it up-- only to realize, too late, that she had done it right in the first place. The perils of being a barmaid who serves herself at the end of a very long week.

Sandy, I'd never heard of "Sweep Steak," although I knew about the oven pot roast recipe because it is among the print-outs of Mom's recipes, which I treasure. I've made it a number of times, always to good result.

Need to try and wind down now. The game tomorrow starts at 3:30. Bill asked me what time I was planning to shop, so as to avoid the game, knowing that Sunday morning was spoken for, and afternoon was football and ".... wait a minute. You can shop anytime!"

Oh, yeah.

Like Mike

Gainesville

Well, what an unexpected treat-- a blog from Mom! Was not expecting you back in the online saddle so soon. I'll bet the hospital staff are slack-jawed at not only your recovery speed, but your techno-savvy! And it's good that you are complaining about the food (and rightly so-- no salt or butter? That's not living...). Bill's dad (like his mom, an MD) always said he was glad when his patients started griping because that meant they were getting better. It's good that you're on schedule to go home Monday.

Countdown continues here. I started taking booktruck loads of stuff down to the Systems loading dock today. We will drive Blue tomorrow and fill up the bed. And again Friday night. Will come in Sunday morning to finish up. Bringing this stuff in is going to be a clutter catastrophe. Not sure if I mentioned the 17 boxes of Yogi's Heritage books that will be arriving within the next week also. I predict we will NOT have Christmas in the Great Room this year... sigh.

The crock pot thing I did today was the best (and easiest) ever-- apparently the ur crock recipe: put in 8 oz sliced mushrooms, 2-3 pounds of chuck roast, an envelope of onion soup mix, and half a cup of red wine. Turn on crock in the morning. At night, remove meat, thicken gravy, enjoy. I will chop up and freeze the leftovers in Beef Stuff-sized packages for future quick meals. Forgot to buy cauliflower this week, so frozen mixed veg was the only side. It was enough.

Sink is shined, and all the stuff that goes with that, but I have not laid out my clothes. Really, really hard to care about it at this point-- just grab whatever's to hand and appropriate to the weather conditions. Hey, I bet this is the way men do it all the time! :-) So that's what I'll do.

Ah god, more stuff about and by John M (Mike) Ford keeps pouring into the online communities I frequent, and I know it is going to continue for awhile. It really pisses me off to discover someone shortly before or just after they've died. I feel personally cheated. The good part is there is a huge vein of buried treasure there that suddenly is coming to light, and will take me and other newbies a while to discover and digest. But still. Dammit. This is someone I needed to shake hands and share a smile with, at the very least. His mind worked all the time a lot like mine sometimes does, in its best moments. Guess I should be glad I got to know him at all.

Okay. Two more days. I can do this. Really. I can.

T Minus Tuesday

Gainesville

This is the last wasted Tuesday / That you'll have to spend...

However, I did not accomplish the day's mission; walking that far was not an option. Hope this gets easier soon, as I have at least one other long cross-campus trek I need to do this week, or else have to come in one day next week.

Bill did his waltz with the UF elephant today, trying to get our health coverage changed over from spouse to family. We are advised that making this change is routinely fumbled by the system, so the best thing to do is not file any kind of a claim for the entire month of October. Ooooo-kay... Think maybe we'll spend the month close to home. Being very careful. Maybe not even getting out of bed... Nah-- as Bill reminds me, that has its own problems, plus, he still has to report to work.

I had my exit interview with our very new, very green, but smart and funny HR guy. I hope my random ravings didn't traumatize him too much. I wish I'd had the questions in advance, as I'd have given more measured, considered, and politically correct responses. Oh well.

My "boss" stopped by the first time ever today, to ask if October 11 was okay for the official kiss-off party. Seems they are going to honor my wishes and have it in the morning, which is great! How much humiliation can be dished out over bagels and juice? Guess I'll find out.

The hornets in my computer are very very angry tonight-- they seem to be having smack-down matches in there, along with ringside commentary, in morse code. Very distracting.

No report from Alameda yet tonight. We think about you Flies out there, yes we do. I am going with the assumption that no news is good news, which is cold comfort at best.

Got home at quarter to seven. Good that I had a plan: lamb chops to be thawed and broiled, plus a 15-min LC recipe of mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes (Sandy's, of course), garlic, cream and parmesan. Some leftover cole slaw and sliced Campari tomatoes with.

AAArrrgh! The hornets are making me crazy. Gotta hang it up. But of course I'll wake up instantly for any West Coast report. Nighty-Nite for now.

Making Light (R)

Gainesville

Monday down. Four days to go. I got my hair cut in the morning-- even shorter than last time, just above my shoulders. I really like it this length, and it is so much easier to wash. Looks more like hair, less like feathers.

My meeting with the financial guy went well. He praised my fiscal responsibility, and opined that I must be a very conservative person. (I inwardly smirked, but he's welcome to think that.) Got my sick leave payout and the DROP funds sheltered in that 403-whatever-it-is, and we worked out a sensible retiree plan. So that's out of the way. Tomorrow my mission is to go the Credit Union and change my name on that account (it's still under Shaw) and see what needs to be done there, since I'll no longer be adding to that savings account via payroll deduction. I'll not starve, whatever happens: should always be able to afford a nice little bed-sit and all the plain, simple librarian's victuals I need.

Looks like I'll get my wish of putting off the Retirement gathering til later after all-- Winston, the organizer in Systems, called to tell me that he and Michele (my putative boss) had not been able to get their act together for having it this week. I suspect part of it is they rejected my idea of a low-key brunch thing-- but I will be much better able to handle something more elaborate if it is later, and I can come back for it. Winston also wanted to schedule a lunch with Systems, which is what I wanted the most. I've been in that deparment for nearly 20 years, and most of the friends I have left are there, even though I have not had an office on their premesis for a long time. He has set it all up for Friday noon, at a Vietnamese place that's new to me. Looking forward to that.

Ah good. Sandy just called with a report. Sounds like Mom is recovering on schedule and should be good to fly home a week from today. Wish I'd remembered to ask which leg it was-- tonight I'm having trouble walking around due to pain in upper left hip. I suspect it was a result of two long walking ventures today in un-sensible shoes on a hot day, but who knows? Could be sympathetic pain for the Momster...

We didn't watch Monday Night Football for once-- neither of us were up for wallowing in the media circus soap opera they were sure to make of an Actual Game in Actual N.O. It's FOOTBALL I want, dammit. Enough's enough.

I leave you tonight with a wonderful recipe. Alas, the man who wrote it (John M. Ford) as a comment to a blog entry (!) died suddenly yesterday. I knew him only through occasional quotes on Neil's blog, but the outpouring of emotion and praise today at his passing has me ready to seek out his science fiction writing-- a cult favorite, by all accounts. Anyway, for your gastronomic and reading pleasure, I present:

Hot Gingered Pygmy Mammoth & Jumbo Shrimp Salad

Feeds your whole tribe.

1 pygmy mammoth, boned and cubed (about ½ ton)
½ ton jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (many many ordinary shrimps, or one Ebirah claw)
10 buckets sesame seeds
60 pounds bean thread noodles if you are an Eastern tribe, whatever your tribe uses for noodles otherwise. If you have not yet invented the noodle, this might be a good time to do so.
1 bucket vegetable oil
1 bucket sesame oil
Salt
10 buckets minced fresh ginger
6 buckets minced garlic
15 buckets dry Sherry
15 buckets rice wine vinegar
60 pounds sugar
60 buckets diced fresh mangoes
15 buckets chopped green onions
Big Snorgul’s helmet full of red pepper flakes
10 buckets chopped fresh cilantro, plus 5 Big Snorgul’s helmets fresh cilantro, garnish
1000 large heads lettuce, cored and leaves separated (a raid on the People Who Grow Stuff may be necessary)
30 buckets thinly sliced, peeled, seeded, drained cucumbers, or just chop up the damn cucumbers and say "Fie to thee!" a lot
All the chives you got

Preheat a giant turtle shell over a fumarole. A big giant turtle. Put some oil in there. Make sure no other giant turtles are around to see you do this.

On a flat rock, stirring with your Stick of the Dining God, dry cook the sesame seeds over medium heat until they are brown and smell good. Remove from the heat. Add the noodles to the turtle shell and fry fast until puffy and the color of sunrise. Remove from the oil and drain on non-itchy leaves. Throw salt. Set aside.

Sear the mammoth meat on the flat rock. Salt but don’t overdo it, you remember what happened to the Chest-Clutching Tribe of the Plains. Drain.

Get a less giant turtle shell. Okay, think of this as a celebration dish for a good turtle hunt and shrimp catch. Make the vegetable oil and most of the sesame oil dance. Add the shrimp, mammoth, ginger, and garlic, and cook fast, stirring, until the shrimp are just pink and firm. Doom of Ten Thousand Wretched Canapés awaits those who overcook shrimp. Remove from the shell with pole weapons. Add the sherry and vinegar, and sing the Song of Deglazing over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until it is one with the sauce. Cook until half the fluid is gone. Feed anybody who thinks this is waste to the giant turtles. Add the rest of the sesame oil, mangoes, green onions, and pepper flakes, and stir to warm through and wilt. No, this wilt is good. Tell the people it is the wilt of the Wilt God. You need all the mojo you can get. Remove from the heat and add the shrimp and ginger, and the cilantro. Stir to warm through and do the Highly Dramatic Ritual of Adjusting the Seasoning to Taste.

Now your tribal status is on the thin edge of the cleaver. Have everybody bring what they eat off of. You know your tribe. Put lettuce on whatever they hold out and spread the hot stuff on it. Those who have no eating platters should be used to the drill by now. Arrange cucumber slices on top in whatever symbolic pattern seems propitious to you and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. If you have a really tough tribe, yell “Bam!” until they get a groove going. Add fried noodles, cilantro sprigs, and chives, and watch for any signs of people keeling over that can’t be blamed on strong drink.

John M. Ford
October 29, 2005
Making Light

stalled

Sad to see the blog come to a standstill on 22 September. I'll try to pick it up again tomorrow, even though the Main Character will be away from it for a while. Life goes on, and I'll try to continue to record it. After all I'm still in Alameda, and now Charlie's here.

She'll enjoy having something to read when she comes back. After all, it's the historic Suzy's Last Week!

Words Fail

Gainesville

An attempt to get back into the blogging habit-- nothing I have to say seems to matter that much, given Mom's travail. Words fail me, I'm afraid. Since I'm so far away from the scene, we'll have to wait for Sandy and/or Mom to supply the definitive account.

I've been plugging away at my various routines, and all is on track for One More Week. Have a couple of exit and financial meetings scheduled, but the main order of business will be cleaning out my office. Can't do it on the weekend because Saturday is a home game, and Sunday is Football Day. Will try to take home a load each night this week.

I've scheduled easy things to cook. I hope. I did buy an actual head of loose-leaf lettuce this week instead of the bagged stuff I usually get. Call it a head start on getting back to REAL salads again on days when time is not so critical. Bill went shopping with me yesterday, a rare treat-- we always end up with such interesting things when he's along. He wanted to try pluots, which have all but driven real plums off the shelf. They seem to be plums only sweeter, which in my book does not equal better. They also were dead ripe, so I used them sliced with cottage cheese for a side tonight. Had some wild salmon roasted at high heat in butter & olive oil topped with chopped onion and thyme. Used the LeCr pan, but made sure it was hot before putting it in the oven. Surprisingly good. Simple cole slaw too. Had leftover pasta and 4-bean salad last night with sushi, since we got back quite late.

Good that the Gators won yesterday after a shakey start. Not sure why we've taken to watching their games this year-- usually we couldn't care less. Football today was not so much fun. The Jags beat themselves (although Peyton and company had a little something to do with it), after which I watched the hapless Niners suffer a fairly honorable defeat. Last time I looked, the hated Broncos were beating the Pats. Bleaah.

Get better soon, Mom. Needless to say, I'm thinking of you constantly. If anyone knows how to do this, you do! I'm looking forward to the day you feel like posting again.

And hang in there, Sandy. Post when you can. If this had to happen, you must admit it's a very nice place to be marooned...

but a grand day out

quite a bad day

I shan't really blog tonight, except to say that there are indeed some glorious photos of our trip across the Bay which I will post at a different time.

Mom is resting nicely (I hope) in the hospital, and I have packed up her stuff, since I have to move out of this motel for one night tomorrow, back here on Sunday night.

Are we downhearted? Yes, yes, yes.

quite a good day

Another gorgeous morning in Alameda. Today we're crossing the Bay, so I'll send some photos from the ferry.

We shopped some in the morning yesterday. Pagano's Hardware, Charlie's and my favorite hardware store, has become a necessary Alameda stop. They have a fascinating variety of housewares and miscellaneous junk. The light switch cover I have in my kitchen (a kind of southwest motif) which I truly love comes from there. Anyway, Mom's become a fan of it, so we spent about 45 minutes there. I got a set of Mario Batali's prep/measuring bowls. I've been wanting them for a long time and was unwilling to pay postage for them. Also got a small stuffed red-headed woodpecker which when squeezed makes a quite authentic call. It'll go on the dashboard of my car. It'll be good to have a car companion that comes from Alameda.

We also went to my favorite cheese and wine store and got some extreme Oregon blue, which will lend a nice whiff to our suitcases on the way home. I always go to this store to buy wine to take home; this time I can't, since they won't let you carry on any kind of liquid. Dumb!

Then on to Safeway, where we shopped for dinner at Thea's. The new Safeway in the Alameda shopping center is huge and very wonderful. I then nipped over to See's to get a box of chocolates to take home. We'd already been there to get some for Mom and Thea (a few days ago). I was chagrined last night to discover that I had all milk chocolate when I'd asked for all dark. Mom gets an extra box, and I'll have to go back this afternoon.

Anyway, we got up to Thea's at about noon, as we'd said we would. Almost as soon as we got there the doorbell rang. It was Penny, her sister, and a man named Tuat Vo. Hurrah for Penny. She solved two problems at once. We need a handyman there, and she "suddenly" remembered the other day that her family all use the same fellow, so she brought him over. He is very nice, speaks sufficient English to understand what one wants, and will do some little things around the house. I've come up with a house repair mantra that I am driving into the brains of all: repair only for comfort and safety.

And then there's Penny's sister (Sandra's mom -- Sandra worked for Thea while she was in nursing school, but now she's a nurse). Thea was frantically feeling the need for a third person, and voilà, here she is! Part of the family, even, and very nice. She'll come when Gracie or Penny can't. I suspect she'll become part of the regular rotation, particularly because Gracie's health is not great. Mom has more details on Gracie's situation.

So, Penny had all this up her sleeve (explanation of the quotation marks around suddenly) and was waiting until I was there. She didn't want the responsibility of hiring on extra help without my personal approval. Anyway, that's a tremendous relief. My main goal is to keep Thea from worrying too much about things. I told her, and she agreed, that most things don't really matter very much. She's trying to keep that in mind. Glenn made a big effort in that direction toward the end of his life, and Thea appreciated that.

So when the extras cleared out, I sat in the breakfast room and talked to Thea, while Mom and Gracie talked in the dining room. Then Thea moved to the dining room, Gracie left, and we ate cheese and drank wine for about an hour. At 2:00 I put the ladies down for their naps, and I butterflied a beautiful chicken (so fresh it was ridiculously easy to cut), brushed it with butter, and put it in the oven, along with a couple of nice russets. I snapped the tops of a bunch of asparagus, then sat on the patio and read for most of an hour. Very pleasant!

I roused the girls at about 3:15, and we ate at 3:30, Thea's scheduled time. The chicken was delicious! I'd been going to look for a free-range or a kosher chicken, but we were running out of time at Safeway. Their house brand was what I ended up buying, and it was amazing. Good luck with ingredients both days I cooked up there.

I cleaned the kitchen as Mom and Thea ate ice cream, then I tucked Thea into bed. Quite a good day.

We were tired, though, and once we got back here, a little before six, we hung it up for the day. I'm sleeping ten hours a night here; it's wonderful!

Oh, What a View!

Gainvesille

More nice pix-- thanks Sandy! And I make your link to the Oakland Song clickable.

Busy day for you yesterday. Hope today went equally well.

I spent time on the phone, auto tags renewed, getting more details taken care of, appointments made for next week etc. The final countdown.

Dinner at Outback, but no Mel-- she went to the Tom Petty concert in town, as apparently did many of the regular customers. I'd thought about going, but when the tickets sold out in 30 minutes, I gave up on making it happen. I've seen him in Gainesville (his home town) a couple of times before, and the O'Dome is not a great place for a rock show. I'm sure he was good though.

Addendum to last night's post: the pasta I made was "Fettuccine with Tuna, Lemon & Fried Capers." I used a couple of cans of the tuna Sandy recommended, even though the recipe called for packed in water-- there is so much olive oil in the recipe I was sure it wouldn't hurt. Bill loved it, and the Cat (whose nickname is "Tuna Breath") pronounced it her favorite pasta treatment ever.

Just got the towels folded and put away. Today was lovely-- high in upper 70's and mostly sunny. Spozed to get warm again this weekend, though. The season hasn't quite changed yet-- too soon for sweatshirts, though a mock t-neck felt good tonight when we drove home with the moon roof open for the first time (not counting brief spells to exhaust hot air). Glorious!

addendum, thanks to Suzy

Those in the dark should try this link. Click on the top record album. If you are properly equipped, you'll get the message.

http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/AboutOakland/songs.htm

don't forget the tube to Ala-MEEda!

A familiar view!
Angel Island from the backyard
And the GG bridge from the front porch.

Yeah, I get all my mail at the P.O. and about 95% of it stays right there in the big recycle tubs they have. I have to be alert for the damned checks the credit card companies send, though. They have to go home to the shredder. Our former helper Curtis said that the criminal element (of which he was a part for a long time) routinely fishes them out of P.O. wastebaskets. It is alarming to think of the volume of that stuff. Some days I get a dozen or more catalogues. Add to that the daily Wall Street Journal, and it's terrible. Small box, too. We subscribed to the Friday-only WSJ for years (good crossword puzzle, nice wine, book and movie reviews, and a weekly dose of serious news), but they've discontinued that. Now you have to get it every day. But they've graciously extended our subscription until January 2008 (that's as long as we'd paid for the Friday-only), daily at no extra cost. We don't want it every day. The postmaster will be happy when it's over, too. Sometimes (remember this is a tiny P.O.) when I'm taking out the mail from a stuffed box, it suddenly fills up again, because he's noticed I'm there and put in the overflow.

There's a little rant about nothing at all. The heart of blogging.

So yesterday went well, but it was hectic. I went up at 10:30, after a flying trip to Trader Joe's to pick up a couple of bottles of reisling that she wanted ($2.99 a pop, and not at all bad). Then to Piedmont Ace Hardware for some chair slides, then by the Village to see if they had crab (they didn't). I talked to her for an hour, got some papers signed, this to straighten out her accounts at Cal bank -- I finally found someone who understood that a) under no circumstances was Thea able to come to the bank in person and b) never in this or any other lifetime was she going to grant me or anyone else power of attorney. So it was all able to be done on paper. Anyway the nice bank lady was at lunch. I did pop into Albertson's there in Montclair, and they had just gotten a big box of fresh crabs. I don't even think they'd ever been frozen. I bought two, and then motored down to Alameda. Chinatown at noon is terrible; streets jammed with people, cars, and double-parked trucks. I was at full speed by the time I got back to the motel, and rudely rousted Mom out. (Hurry! We're running late!). We went back up the hill, stopped at the Village Market to finish the lunch shop (cole slaw, potato salad, tomatoes, avocadoes), and went to Thea's. I left right away to go to the bank (I left so fast that Thea became confused and a little cross) and got it all straightened out. Also got a big floodlight for the back corner of the patio. That goes out regularly because the fixture is not waterproof. Charlie's worked on it for years, but the bulbs still have a very short life expectancy. Penny left, and Thea was mad about that; I thought Penny'd discussed it with Thea (leaving early), but I guess not. Thea does not like the idea that I, instead of she, might give instructions to one of her helpers. Mea culpa.

I picked crab while Thea slept and Mom blogged. It was nice to stand still and focus on one thing for an hour. I always feel better in the kitchen. The crab was truly wonderful, among the best we've had here. Served with tartar sauce for Thea, melted butter and cocktail sauce for Florence, melted butter for me. Really a nice meal. Awfully white, though; Thea has a hard time seeing what's what when the food is pale. The ladies topped off their dinner with ice cream while I did the dishes. I never mind washing dishes there, but then I've never cooked so elaborately that there's much of a mess.

By this time it was 5:00, so I helped Thea get to bed. You know, there's really not much difference in her condition in the last year. She sees a little less well, and the stairs get harder and harder for her, but really there's not much change. Her mind is still quite sharp, and since Ella has left, she is more cheerful. When she feels frustrated about things she can't do, she's making an effort to just accept what she can't change. This is very helpful (and not easy for her, you can imagine). She seems a bit less paranoid, but I believe that a lot of that was caused by her mistrust of Ella. And I must say, I believe that the mistrust was pretty well founded. Certainly the safe deposit box key trick, which Suzy was in on, was a prime example of Ella's ways.

I'll have to check on that FC pasta. I've barely had time to delve into that issue. When I return most of the garden stuff will be over (Charlie has torn more stuff out), and I'll have a little more time to cook.

Anyway, it's another fine morning in Alameda. The weather shows no sign of changing. As soon as my hair's dry I'll take my morning stroll. Today I'll take some pictures up at Thea's and post them in the late afternoon. I'll cook up there again today, so we won't be back here until nearly six. Tune back in here for photos.

They All Went to...

Gainesville

Already tomorrow here-- very glad I do not have to make the work scene tomorrow.

Welcome back to the blogosphere, Mom! Glad you were able to find time, in three different spaces, to make a post. Your voice was missed. And please: doing crossword puzzles is not a bad habit! It's a GOOD brain exercise, and you should spend as much time as feels right doing them, or solitaire too, for that matter. Think of it as Nordic for the mind. At least, that's what I tell myself as I enjoy a daily Sudoku.

Thanks to both of you for filling all of us in on the Bay Area adventure. More beautiful pictures, Sandy-- they bring back the wonderful early morning walk to place-with-good-coffee. Wonderful California time-- the RIGHT time-- feels like 10:00 AM, clock and sun say 7:00 -- perfect! Plus, images of the idylic Alameda.

Made a wonderful pasta from FC #81 tonight: the one with fried capers and lemon. Surprise! It took less time than I expected, and I had it on the table on time in less than an hour (along with a 4-bean salad I made earlier in the day). The Dreamfield low-carb pasta has been a god-send-- hadn't realized how much I missed it until recently.

Only watched one episode of BG today-- it was so dark and violent I needed a break. I finished up The Persistence of Vision collection tonight, and the final story, of the same name, knocked my sox off. The whole collection is, among other things, a sharp, startling evocation of the late 60's-early 70's ethos. But that particular story burrows deeply into issues of a more basic nature: what the senses are all about, what it means to be human. I hope the reprints of Varley's Titan trilogy point more people back to this early stuff.

Bill brought home a huge tub (too heavy for me to lift) of mail-- the last two weeks worth. Took me over an hour to get it sorted out, most of it directly to recycle. Talk about meaningless paper-shuffling. Think of all the people that had to handle this clutter, only to have it end up in the landfill unread. Madness.

Time to sleep.

Where did all the people go . . . .

. . . when Frisco burned?
Here's a view of the walkway to cappucino.And some of the fancy houses built along it.

Love your French title, Suzy.

There's nothing like rain so hard it soaks the undos. I never really appreciate that. But maybe it will indeed augur a change in your weather. Guess the WI weather is changing, too. Charlie brought things in or covered them in both SV and RF. We'll come back to a different season.

Here, the weather continues glorious. No love bugs, either. God, they are awful. In WI we have the asian beetle, though (somewhere known as ladybugs), and some places in MN are plagued by clouds of box elder bugs.

So! Yesterday was Chez Panisse day. I picked Mom up at Thea's at three; they'd worn each other (and Gracie!) out with photos and chat. A fine time was had by all. We left and did the Kales/Rose Street drive. Meandered around Berkeley until it was reasonable to park. This time I was better prepared with a fistful of quarters I'd gotten at the Bank of America. Last year we bought stamps and other small things we didn't need to get meter money. Anyway, the meters stop at six, and our reservation was for 5:15, so I was able to stuff one sufficiently to not worry.

Dinner was gorgeous, as it was before. I had: appetizer of black mission figs, two slices of dense ricotta, and a large slice of prosciutto, all sprinkled with fresh mint, black pepper, and drizzled with olive oil; main course of lamb leg, perfectly medium rare, thinly sliced, crisp little squares of potatoes (obviously cooked in duck fat), and a mix of peppers & okra, with black olives; dessert peach & blackberry tart with vanilla ice cream. All was wonderful, except for the tart which was just so-so. I've got to remember that my tarts are a lot better than Alice's and not order them any more. Mom had: appetizer of baked goat cheese (this covered with crumbs, the crumbs also fried in duck fat) with little lettuces (I ate most of one of the two little cheeses, and she polished off every leaf of the greens. I forgot to taste them.); local king salmon baked in the wood oven with eggplant (tiny ones!), cucumbers (lemon cucumbers, actually), purslane (a nice green which grows as a weed in our garden), and yogurt (seasoned with lemon and dill, I believe); dessert of pluot sherbet with gingersnaps. All of that was wonderful, too. The sherbet was amazing. And served with dried orange peel, which gave it a nice tartness and texture. I had one glass of Oregon pinot noir and one glass of a French Bourgueil (which I'll have to look up). Mom had a glass of Oregon pinot blanc. All of the wines were excellent!

A very satisfying dining experience, I can tell you. Everything is served beautifully, exquisitely flavored, and not too overwhelmingly large. It was a pretty big piece of salmon, though, and that we brought back here.

Returned to Alameda by coming down Shattuck to Telegraph, then across 40th St. to Broadway. Very direct. And of course it wasn't dark yet, one of many advantages of eating on the early shift. We were very tired, especially Mom, so we pretty much hung it up before 8 p.m. I read for a couple of hours, though. Very gripped by the Forsytes, perfect for this trip.

Another beautiful day has dawned, and the above photos were taken an hour or so ago, on the little path that joins the MVI to an area where there's a little café and newspapers. It certainly is nice here.

J'existe!

Gainesville

Ah good-- your pictures finally posted, Sandy. Was going to suggest you send them to me in email and I could upload them. Nice, and a great colorful image of Mom enjoying the view. Love the bare legs and sandals!

If the crab fest and light bulb changes are at the top of Thea's list, I'd say things are fairly well under control. No doubt other issues will surface over the next few days. Do keep the reports coming! Very glad to hear that Angela's is still as wonderful as I remember from last year.

Made my pilgrimage to the Social Security office to prove that yes indeed, I WAS actually born when and where I said I was. The photostat image with the pressed-on seal is looking mighty yellow and faded these days.

Later in the afternoon I went out again in quest of the last half of season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, released today. Hoo ha, they had it! Like all quests, though, there were problems. Like rain. Like torrential rain. Like tornado-warning- type rain. I got drenched twice, the second time trying to get back into Blue in the Publix parking lot with an umbrella that suddenly refused to close. After hilarious struggles, I finally had to stash it in the truck bed, still open. Then spent another 15 minutes, shivering and soaked, sitting there in the cab, waiting until I could see anything at all out the windshield, other than the terrifying lightning striking the ground nearby. When it became merely Very Scary, Blue and I crawled home. I had to change all my clothes, including underwear. (My hair, however, looks mah-velous-- nothing like a rainwater soak, left to dry in warm humid air. It's all cute and wiggly.)

Well, of course, nothing would do but a BG marathon-- watched four episodes, including an expanded version of the mid-season cliff-hanger, featuring a wonderful guest apprearance by Michelle Forbes (Ensign Ro, for you Trekkies out there). And I have to admit, my inclination is to watch the other seven eps tonight! But no: Four tomorrow and three the next day (then the Extras on Friday) sounds about right. Love this show! It's violent, excruciating, depressing, maddening, yet relentlessly fascinating. At some point in each episode, I ask myself, why am I watching this? But by the end, I know: it's just so gosh-darn good.

Picked up some fish while I was at Publix. They had neither halibut nor grouper, so I settled for flounder, since the fish guy said it was fresh today. The filets were so thin I decided to do it like their label recipe suggested, (as opposed to the baked Spanish-style treatment I had planned) baked in foil with lemon juice and seasonings -- alas, substituting Lowry's for Mrs. Dash one for one was probably a mistake, as it was way too salty. But mixing each bite with an unsalted side (cauli-rice and fresh snapped green beans) made it edible.

Wondering if today's weather extravaganza might portend a seasonal change. They've been promising a break in the temps for days. One sure sign that October is nearly here: the semi-annual infestation of ... The Love Bugs! They are at the worst between 10 and 4, which is of course exactly when I was out and about twice today. Had them all over Blue, inside and outside of the windows. They don't plague you like mosquitos do-- they are totally rapt into what they're doing, and don't care what you do to them-- just annoying, especially when their Liebestod happens on the windshield or the nose of your vehicle. Very hard to clean off. Life in Florida marches to its own seasonal beat.

Alameda 2

Here's mom on the balcony. Thea wanted to see what the balconies here are like. Not impressive, but the view, of course, is.

This is the egret that hangs around here fishing. This is the first time I've ever seen one here. Must be seasonal.


It's Tuesday afternoon, and I have twelve minutes before I have to leave here (Alameda) to pick up Florence up at Thea's. Wasted all my blogging time this morning trying to post images. (Blogger finally accepted them at 8 p.m.)

So yesterday went fine. I spent from 10:30 until 2:30 up there, talking to Thea and finding out what she wants and needs out of our visit here. A meal of crab is her highest priority item, it seems. I was at least able to replace the light bulb in her shower, which no one else had figured out how to do. It involved standing on a stool in there and unscrewing the cover over the bulb. Not too hard, but in an awkward position. Penny watched me do it, so she says she can do it next time. Thea was most grateful.

I'm also to buy her a clock and do a couple of other small errands like that.

Anyway, she was cheerful and much less edgy yesterday, and that was good.

Flo and I ate at Angela's last night, and it was even better than before. I had positively wonderful soup, a spinach and corn clam chowder, very light. No spinach, though, arugula and a a little lettuce. Spinach is out for the time being. Then I had a hangar steak in a wonderful wine sauce, and Mom had a dijon chicken breast. Dessert was crème brulée for her, panna cotta for me. Both excellent. She had a glass of a very good viognier. I had pinot noir; when the waiter found out we live in Wisconsin -- he used to live in Madison, though he's from Afghanistan, as is the chef/owner -- he poured me a second huge glass. More wine than I needed.

Anyway, I'm glad that it's still such a good restaurant.

Otherwise no big news from here. This morning we went to Trader Joe's for a couple of things, then on to See's for some particular chocolates that Thea wanted.

Morning began slightly cloudy, but is now extremely beautiful, warm, clear, sunny.

Off I go. More tomorrow.

The Wrong Strip

Gainesville

Up and out of anywhere after a leisurely breakfast by 9:00?? ERROR. Sorry, does not compute. Who are you people, and why are you pretending to be related to me?

Another gorgous picture, Sandy. And another wonderful post detailing yesterday's adventures. Of course, the traffic you encountered yesterday was from the Raiders game. But it would have done you no good to go via the Bridge, as you'd have had to pass the 'Niners home game I watched them win yesterday.

The reason I'm posting so late tonight is watching a rare Jax appearance on Monday Night Football, and (also rare) watching every single play of this nail-biter-- the ultimate defensive struggle, 0-0 at the half, going on to be the lowest scoring game in Monday Night history-- 9-0 Jax. How sweet it is-- beating the Super Bowl champs before a national audience (something the Jags almost never get). People forget their win over the Steelers in their very first Monday Night game-- which we attended, and have the t-shirts to prove it.

Glad to hear you are settled into the Alameda digs and your first meeting with Thea went well. Keep those cards and letters coming!

I recycled about 30 pounds worth of magazines/catalogs today, and folded a load of Bill's big whites while watching a bit of live TV-- chanced on an episolde of FIREFLY, and one of the best ones-- though I thought it was going to be a NIGHT STALKER episode.

Did the chicken stroganoff thing from FC #81 Q&D-- it was not Q, but it was D indeed, and probably worth the extra time with the mis en place, most taken up by cutting up nasty, gristly chicken thighs and trying to trim the fat from them. Had it timed right, except for the extra 1/2 hour it took to do that. Over cauli-rice instead of noodles, and tried the new steam-in-bag frozen peas-- very easy and good.

Got a call from Social Security today-- need to take them my birth certificate tomorrow at 11:00. Before that, I need to call my poor interim boss about the farewell party. Turns out Bill did not believe I was serious about my plan, and thinks it totally daft. Sigh. Back to square one: I will ask for the minimal event, the morning of the last day: a drop-by reception. At this point, I'll be happy just to not offend anyone. As long as I don't have to face Green Goo (the ever-popular punch of gingerale with mint sherbert floating in it... bleaah!!) and other silliness. Maybe sometime next month I can quietly arrange a lunch with Systems. Sometimes I think I'm in the wrong comic strip.

Two weeks from now, I will look back on this and it will all seem funny. I hope.

(Happy Birthday, Billy, wherever you are.)

Alameda I

Thought I'd go for the Big Picture and see how it works. This was at Pescadero yesterday; I got lucky with the wave.

So we were up and out of the SFO motel at about 9 am, after a leisurely buffet breakfast. We headed west on San Bruno avenue, partly because it's more fun than 380 and partly because we wanted to stop to buy an ice chest. Made a foray into Long Drug, where we found everything we were looking for and more, including some knee sox in a type and colors that Mom had given up trying to find. Hope they will fit o.k. Our main acquisition (besides gin) was an ice chest to get our leftovers safely to Alameda. (We were later too tired to eat them, but they'll last a while.)

We went on west up over the top. Of course it takes no time at all now on 92 to go from San Bruno to Half Moon Bay. There was a lot of traffic, but no snarl-ups. A beautiful September Sunday had a lot of people out on the road. When we got to HMB, our restaurant was 20 minutes from opening (it was ten after ten), so Mom snoozed in the car while I took a walk along the beachfront road at Miramar. At 10:30 I went into the restaurant, the Miramar, and made a reservation for lunch at 11:30. Then we drove south for half an hour, turned around at Pescadero, and drove back to HMB. Lovely drive, as always.

Lunch was oysters followed by crab Louis. Very good indeed. I like the Miramar's crab L. because they serve the dressing on the side, so one can eat straight crab if so inclined (I usually am). Excellent crab. We split a tiramisu for dessert, also very good. Nice restaurant, beautiful ocean view.

We left there at a quarter of one and headed back over the mountain. Took the San Mateo bridge to the Nimitz (I've gotten more brave as I drive here more, but I still hate driving the Bay Bridge, alas, alas, since I love the Bridge so) and on into Alameda. There's a wonderful moment after crossing one of the two bridges onto the south end of the island when one is suddenly away from the chaos of everywhere else and into the peace of Alameda (I'll bet this post is a duplicate of one I made in March). I love Alameda for about fifty reasons; one is that one cannot get lost here. Funny, though, the first time Charlie and I were here we got terribly lost because we turned north when we came out of the tube . . . .

The motel rooms were ready, upstairs waterside but on the other side of the motel (right side facing the pool from the office). I like this side better because I can see a bottle-brush plant from my window, and it is frequented by hummingbirds, of which there are several species here.

We sort of moved in and then went up to Thea's. She was impatiently awaiting our arrival, which was at three, as I'd said it would be. She seems sharp, but is a little edgy, too. She doesn't really know how much she wants me to try to do (at least I'll get her a new upstairs phone and take care of the rollover of her CD to get her better interest). I'll go up there this morning to try to get a feel for it, and then Florence and I can plan the week around her wishes. We don't plan to be up there all day every day; it's too tiring for Thea, not to mention for us. There are certain things that must be gotten in, though, including our crabfest with her, and a ferry trip to SF for us. It's five whole days, but they'll go fast!

We were up there for about 45 minutes, then came back here really tired. We had a drink, and I had bread, butter and cheese for dinner. Mom didn't really eat (I don't think), except for a pile of salt bombs. Nice sitting on the deck and watching boats go by. An egret (I don't usually see them here) did some fishing in the water at our feet. If he comes back, I'll get a photo of him.

It's pretty light now, so I'll be heading out for a walk soon. One of the things I love about being here is the nice trail along the marina.

So what I did to those photos was to press the "enhance" button in iPhoto. I hadn't thought of it before I first posted the blog. I'm glad you went back again, Suze, and saw them in their better state. Ain't technology grand!

How thrilling that you are now at two weeks and counting! Nice time to have a vacation, too, but I wish you were here.

I didn't watch any football yesterday, but it sounds like it was exciting. Since we came up the East Bay, we ran into no FB traffic, but there was a big southbound jam on the Nimitz just before we got to Alameda. Don't know what that was about, but we weren't in it. We have to see what Stanford's up to next weekend, since we plan to be in Palo Alto on Saturday in the middle of the day. Mom tells me they finally have a new stadium; if they're playing there next week, our plans will be tricky. We plan to eat at The Fish Market, which is cheek by jowl to Stanford. Last time after seeing Aunt Dotty we went up El Camino to the airport area. This time I'm thinking of Alameda de las Pulgas. Avoiding traffic is pretty easy around the Bay Area (except for bridges), but Aunt Dotty's place and our restaurant are both in the belly of the Stanford beast.

Time to start the day!

Bay Area From Above

Gainesville

OMG! The pictures are totally awesome!! And I have to ask, what did you do to them between when you first posted them and the way they look now? I was enthralled with them this morning, spent a long time looking at them, but tonight when I refreshed the page in case Mom had posted, it was like they suddenly came alive-- the colors enhanced, the blur of haze and window gone. I audibly gasped at the difference. Felt like I was hang gliding over the Bay Area on a perfect day.

That was news about them confiscating WATER of all things. Where will it end? At the very least, they need to pass out the little water bottles as soon as you get on. I'm about to conclude that we need a RecVec and a whole lot of time to do any long distance travel from now on.

Thanks for the clarification about staying in SSF last night-- I got confused imagining Mom off by herself on a motel shuttle to Alameda, and you picking up the car and joining later. Of course, I should have realized, and not worried over questions like, "The Marina Inn has a restaurant?!" All is clear now.

Please keep the daily posts coming, if at all possible. It's fascinating as well as useful info for future trips. Wonderful, wonderful!

Football Sunday, and for once I picked the right early game to watch: Eagles/Giants. Unfortunately, I had to go out shopping, which I did during the third quarter, when it looked like the Eagles had it all sewn up. When I got home, it was still going on in O/T! I got to watch the unbelievable ending while unpacking and putting away stuff. Then I got to watch the 49ers score an upset, all the time looking around and thinking-- that's where Sandy and Mom are! Hope you didn't run into game traffic making your way across the Bay today.

Fixed one of our favorites, Unstuffed Cabbage. A great success, as always, and so easy. Have some slack this week, so will put off the weekly fish dish until I can shop again, probably Tuesday, as that's when Battlestar Galactica 2.5 comes out, but at least the outline of the week's menus are in place.

Tomorrow starts my last week of vacation. The week after will be the last week of work. After that...

Free-fallin'!

on the road

Well, I never take photos from planes, but . . . . when we were over Nevada, Mom suggested that I take the window for the rest of the flight. It was glorious! Talk about the ultimate map! The Humboldt Sink, Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento (a quick glimpse of Shasta out the other side of the plane, Lassen in the foreground), Diabolo looming, then over Sonoma and Napa, out to turn south at Point Reyes, then these spectacular views of the city. I have more, if anyone wants them. I liked the centered view of the Golden Gate, but I also like the one that shows everything, including Diabolo. Nice landing, too, from the south. It's funny to fly all the way to San José to land at SFO.

The flight itself was pretty bumpy for the first hour or so, and the airlines' promise to keep us hydrated (our dangerous bottles of water having been confiscated at the gate -- for the second time, of course, the previous ones having been confiscated at security) was an empty one. We got a little glass of water (wine in my case) before the plane took off, and it was over an hour before we had a chance at more. Very irritating. On the way back I'm going to tell the stewardii that my Aged Parent needs constant hydration. Hmph. The food on the flight was good, and once the liquids started to flow they kept coming. As on my last first-class flight, the attendant topped up my wine glass every time she walked by. An hour before the end of the flight I told her to stop, since I needed to drive later in the day. Let me mention here that the airports at both end charge usurious prices for bottled water all of a sudden, very much not appreciated!!

I needn't have worried about driving very soon, since the baggage carousel malfunctioned halfway through the offload, and it took the brilliant airport people 45 minutes to decide to move the luggage to the adjoining carousel. All this time we had a very nice, gracious wheelchair attendant, who never complained about the delay. A good fellow; we gave him $30, since he was with us for almost an hour.

I realized after we got on the hotel shuttle that Mom was probably in very good hands, so I got off it before we left the airport and let her go on to the motel. I'd planned to get her settled and then shuttle back to the airport to get the car, but due to the massive delay in the airport (and over half an hour waiting for the shuttle), I wanted to get the car renting over with. A good choice, since there was a half hour wait there, too. Adding to that the 45 minutes to get checked in and get a wheelchair when we first entered the MSP airport, it was a day filled with waiting and delays.

Anyway, I got the car. No red PT for us this time; it's a Dodge Grand Caravan, bigger than I like to drive in a city, but so what. By the time we got all of this together, it was time to eat -- and drink, since we were not equipped with our normal little plastic bottle of gin. We went to the hotel restaurant, had a couple of drinks, picked at a couple of steaks (today we'll get a small ice chest to save this food for tonight's supper, since we'll eat lunch out today), crashed.

I was very tired, as was maman. I should have at least sent an email, but I just couldn't stay awake.

Here's a funny note from the flight. As we have bulkhead seats (always), there's really no place to put stuff. I put my book under my seat before takeoff, and when I looked for it, it was gone. The guys behind us hadn't seen it, and the stewardess gave a desultory look around for it (but she was really too busy pouring wine and drinks for everyone), so I hoped to find it when we landed. As people were getting off, I looked back, and there was a woman with my book. She was asking a guy near her if it was his. "No." he said. "That's far too intellectual for me!" It was The Forsyte Saga, so I claimed my "intellectual" book.

Nearly breakfast time, and I realize that although I've showered, I have not yet made coffee. Where's Charlie, my coffee steward?

Looks like the weather will be great.

Kick Back

Gainesville

Hey! No "arrived safely" post? I can only assume that you landed in some of those marginally wired rooms in that fine Alameda motel, and since it is still locally early there, you are seeking food and relaxing. I will try not to worry.

A day of kick-back here-- did plenty of nothin' other than the mere basics, and read about half of a collection of John Varley stories, The Persistence of Vision, dated the late 70's. One of Bill's books that my eye happened to fall on today, and I just knew I needed to read now. Very strange, as I usually do not like short stories, but many of these hang together, especially given all I know of what he's written in the next 30 years.

Perfect for a Pizza Night. The Florida/Tennessee game was midway through the first quarter around the time the pizza arrived. I continued to semi-watch the game while I read, and was rewarded by seeing them squeek out a 21-20 victory at Rocky Top; Bill returned to WoW.

That was one daunting list you make for yourself, Sandy! I can see how it might be theoretically possible to cram that all into one day, but you'd have to put on your superheroine costume to manage it.

Any and all comics related topics are always welcome at the UF conference, no matter what the ostensible theme-- non-Pogo Kelly would be wonderful. No idea yet what I might do.

And let's hear it for your goal of a daily blog with photos! Something none of us have been able to pull off with text, let alone photos. Hip hip hooray!

Uh oh, the wasps in the computer are stirring-- snorring loudly. Time to do likewise.

waiting

So we leave the hotel in 55 minutes. All that's left to do is pack up the computers, always the last thing. We have done a good thing on this trip, combining our two carry-ons into one. This will be very helpful for me, so I appreciate Mom's great packing effort, making room for my computer and a fat book (The Forsyte Saga; thought I'd read it, for only the second time, after having watched the series during my tomato charette). Way to go, Mom.

I have before me the list I made on Thursday. Here it is, with commentary:

finish leeks (this was the cleaning and editing of the last of them, a little red wagonful)
carrots (harvest, remove tops, clean and pack in perforated plastic bags -- a total of approx 165 carrots)
freeze spaghetti sauce (14 packages)
make apple galette (crust already made, frozen since previous galette)
check fridge (make sure no toxic leftovers to poison Charlie)
freeze the dried Romas
2 loads laundry (wash, line-dry, take down, put away)
make chilis relleños and rice/cheese/corn/chili casserole (this last a recipe from the new Bon Appetit
go to RF:
apples, tomato, leek, carrots and big onion to the Woods
stop Mom's mail
go to Mom's: stop paper and pick up her small computer for Charlie
go to Marty's and find my copy of Forsyte Saga
return to SV and set up computer for Charlie

I did all of those things, but since we'd had a big lunch, we snacked for dinner, I can tell you. I was tired.

Yesterday we played nine holes of golf (done at 9:30 -- we can't start as early as we do midsummer, since it gets light so much later); I shot 53 again, but did take a couple of mulligans. I seem to be doing a lot better at the par 5s. I got sevens on both of them; used to be that I could just automatically chalk up a ten before I even teed off. Bogied both of the par 3s, and got six on three of the par fours, and 7 on the first one. A nice round. Mary Malmquist (my former golf partner) used to talk about the game of sixes and the game of fives. I seem to have gotten to the game of sixes; now I have to work on getting closer to the game of fives.

After golf, I made an 8x8 pan of lasagne, partly for Charlie's lunch and mostly for him to eat during my absence. First time I've used no-boil noodles, and he said it was fine. Sure makes it easier. Of course I prefer to make the noodles myself, but I really did not have the time. Then I packed, and we left the house a little after one.

I do like going to the airport hotel the day before. Removes a lot of pressure. Charlie and I ate in the hotel restaurant, which, at last, is really good. It started to be good the last time we were here (in March). Before that it was horrible. I had pork loin with butternut squash puree. It was excellent. Charlie had tuna, and that was good, too.

Your retirement is much more complicated than mine was, Suze, mainly because of the DROP deal, I guess. I don't remember any complications with Social Security; I signed up to have my pension anticipate it until I was 62 and it kicked in. Then when I was eligible I had to go through a certain amount of song and dance because they still had my name as Donnelly on some of their official records. I suppose I'll have to do some things in January about getting on Medicare.

I would like to go to the comix conference, but I can't think about it now, not when I am about to get on a plane. I'll think about it in two weeks. If I come I'll want to present, of course. Let me know when the website goes up. I'm still thinking about Walt Kelly, but not Pogo. "The Brownies" and "Fairy Tale Parade" are more on my mind. I'm lagging by one conference, of course, since both would have been perfect for Comics and Childhood. Ah, me.

Chris Ware! You'll be amused to know that among my English department friends I'm seen as an expert on the graphic novel. Ho ho.

Well, I guess I'll start to get packed up. My goal on this jaunt is to blog daily and post at least one photo. I didn't bring a camera (what's to photograph?), but Mom's got hers.

We're none of us stupid idiots, no matter what they may say.

Watch Closely

Gainesville

What a day. I worked harder today on vacation than I have during many a recent work day-- trying to get myself in the slot to be fully retired. On the phone (DROP rollover), filling out forms online that took literally hours (Social Security), asking questions via email (various), on and on. Of course it's not nearly done yet, but it's a start, and I think I have a good grasp of what's involved and what still needs to be done. And a sense that once this particular transition has been passed, that I need to talk to an expert about a reasonable plan to coordinate the pieces. It all makes my poor head ache, but that's what aspirin is for.

Also, another good therapy was thoroughly cleaning both bathrooms and their floors.

So: Mom and Sandy are in the Twin Cities, ready for the start of a new adventure tomorrow. Good luck, and bon voyage. Are you flying to San Fran or Oakland? I'm already looking ahead to January, considering options.

Speaking of looking ahead, I hope you two have already mapped out, at least mentally, coming to Florida at the end of February for the Comics Conference. No exact dates yet, and it will be combined with an online gaming conference, which will interest Bill. Sandy, I spoke with John Ronan recently, and he says Chris Ware (whom he knows personally) would love to come to it; we just need to scratch up minimal funds to bring him. The problem is, the CLAS (Liberal Arts and Sciences) is in a very public period of financial embarrassment, so we can't expect much help from them. I suggested a bake sale. Hell, I'd be willing to contribute to a private "fellowship" if it would help getting him here... But the conference will happen, and after your triumph last year, Sandy, everyone will know you: you just have to show up to have fun. Even more fun if you present again, but that's up to you.

Spinach, well. I think there is a bit of journalistic hype/hysteria going on here. "Fecal matter" is around us all the time, and most of it is okay. Yeah, a small amount of it might be host to e coli, but not necessarily a given. And let's not just blame the cows. Watch closely how this plays out.

As for the picture mentioned in the Saalfelden entry, I'll bet anything that the remark provoked by the photos Sandy mentioned in her comment ("Fifi and her two worst girls") was from Dad-- what a sweet fellow he could be, given that he was unfairly photogenic. It would be great fun to see that photo, if only to capture his snarky caption. The man never listened to himself. The one time he was forced to, when somehow a recording was made of him raving "You stupid idiot!" was made into a sound file and used as an alert on Mom's Mac --( anyone remember when this was?), he demanded it be removed. Maybe he was embarrassed?

Let the record show: I am not a stupid idiot, nor is anyone who posts to this blog.

And now I think I'll shut down the bar and go to bed.

Lotsa Lore

Gainesville

The new Fine Cooking arrived today-- I only had to flip through it, not knowing the page, to spot Sandy's "C'est moi!" reference. That's quite a striking picture, and certainy captures the essence of what you've been doing. Enjoyed today's post too, with the daily details of the final push. And you've been teaching me new words: guanciale and buccatini. Italian is so lovely.

Thanks for the additional baseball lore, Mom. It really must be in the blood-- both of your grandfathers. If I remember correctly, Grandma used to listen to baseball on the radio too. And no wonder you were always cold; I remember the weather always being cold and damp in Berkeley and Oakland when we were growing up, much colder than it was in Los Altos.

Not much of a day, working at home. Did some studying and list making about what needs to be done for retirement. The hard deadlines for most of it aren't until the end of October, but I'd like to get it squared away before then.

Managed to get the Blessings and the towels squeezed in this afternoon. Then Outback tonight, which is why my brain isn't all here. Vacation tomorrow and all next week. How handy that FL has just started a new Super Fling Boogie-- Bill is psyched up about it, and wants to see how many pounds of stuff we can get rid of. I think a ton would be a nice goal...

tomatoes forever

Well, I wish you were going, too, Suze. We decided on this trip right after we committed ourselves to five days in Michigan, and I can't be gone any more in October. Let's try for January for the three of us.

Your retirement party plan is a good one. I hope that the other retiree agrees to it. One must do something. I didn't want a banquet, which is what most faculty have, so I had a cocktail party at the RF golf course. It was very nice. Mom and Dad were there, too.

Thanks for your baseball memories, Mom. I remember the Oaks and the Seals, of course. All that's left now is one bar on San Pablo in Emeryville, the Oaks something, I forget what. But it's clearly left over from when the stadium was down there.

My life continues to be dominated by vegetables. Even though I was determined to be done with tomatoes, I spent the day on Tuesday peeling, dicing, etc., to make six quarts of my concentrated tomato stuff. That took a good part of the day. Then yesterday I made it all into Mario's tomato sauce. That's pretty easy, but making it in quantity made me have to peel a lot of garlic, chop a lot of onions, and labor to extract enough thyme leaves to make half a cup of chopped thyme. That was a lot of work. Then we pulled the leeks, and I spent much of the afternoon cleaning and editing them. I'm almost done, will finish this morning. I'll have more than will fit in the downstairs fridge, though. Don't quite know what to do with the extras. Guess I'll put them in the root cellar until I have a chance to freeze or dry them. Last year I tried to sell some at the grocery store in SV. I gave them a dozen, they sold four, so I made two dollars (they sold them for $1 each, gave me half). Just before that, they'd sold some dill for me, and from that I made $6. Big profit from the garden. I should see if the Whole Earth in RF is interested in selling some.

When I came in the house, before I could cook dinner I had to cut up a sinkful of Romas and get them in the dryer, where they are right now. Nice smell in the house. Then I washed a pile of spinach (the fall crop is small, but nice, and I hope the rest holds in the garden until I get back), some of which we ate for dinner, along with buccatini with Mario's sauce & the last of the guanciale. Good.

One more day of this push. When I finish the leeks, I'll pull most of the carrots and get them cleaned up. They, too, go in the downstairs fridge. Cans of pop will have be moved out to make room for them. Also have to freeze the tomato sauce and make another apple galette.

Charlie has spent all this time sanding siding (Tuesday) and painting boards for trim. He's working towards finishing the outside of the garage, hurrah!

We finally saw the sun again yesterday, and it'll be sunny today. I've got laundry started, will hang it out.

As far as adventures in the fried chicken trade go, I did fry up four thighs last weekend, but they came out too greasy. I had them in the fridge up until the last minute, so I think they were too cold (I'm usually careful about that). I had to turn the heat way down to keep them from burning before they were cooked through, and they absorbed too much grease. I used butter and oil, and the butter wanted to burn; next time I'll try Crisco. I should also use cast iron, I guess. The Le Creuset's big advantage is the nice fond it makes in the bottom of the pan, good for sauces. But frying for that long overdoes the browning. Anyway, the fried chicken was not really a total success. My Sunday pot roast was good, but Mark Bittman wants too many onions to start with, and the gravy was too sweet. I also deglazed with wine, optional, an option I won't take again. All cooking can't be perfect.

I shall now begin my day.

A Plan

Gainesville

Think I've figured out what to do about the retirement party thing. Before bed last night, I willed myself to dream up an answer. Was disappointed this morning to realize I remembered no dreams at all. During the day I kept mulling it over (giving it what Mom calls "prayerful thought") and tonight, while swiping the drainboards and shining the sink in the kitchen, it came to me-- a compromise.

I know what I want: a nice lunch with my department (Systems); and what is expected when a long-term geezer retires: a library-wide excuse to eat, waste time, and embarrass the hell out of the retiree. (As our HR guy Brian says, the funeral is not for the benefit of the corpse, after all.)

I will propose a joint library-wide celebration for me and Betty Mitchell, a dear sweet woman in the Accounting Office I've known forever who is almost exactly my age and retires in December. She'll get a Librarian-type send-off, and I'll get... company! I'm so happy with this idea. I just hope she will go along with it. It will be fun to have the big party be in December, when I'll already be gone and glad to see people, again, and instead of "What will you do?" the question will be "What are you doing?" Much easier to answer.

And sometime during the week after next, a low-key lunch with Systems and a very few close friends. This just feels so right, what FlyLady calls a God Breeze. Wish me luck in making this happen.

We got home at a quarter to seven. I had to go ahead with the BBQ Confetti Meatloaf recipe, as I'd started thawing a pound of ground beef last night. Before even changing out of work clothes I started pre-heating the oven, chopping, mixing, and all that stuff-- and dividing it all into muffin tins so it would cook faster. It worked quite well, though greasy, since there was no place for the fat to drain off. A bit of slightly charred stir-fried cabbage and a salad to go with.

It rained all day. Maybe the season really is changing.

Hope the California trip goes well! Wish it were just a few weeks later, and I'd go too. Maybe next time we can all be out there together. How long has it been since THAT happened?

Crawling s-l-o-w-l-y

Gainesville

Time's fleeting for you, Mom? Lucky you. It couldn't possibly crawl any slower for me. Twenty days seems like an eternity. And every minute is exhausting.

Hope you have a fun trip west. You'll be back before the snow flies-- or do you care about that anymore? I'll bet you do...

Snail mail service down here on the sand bar is slow, so I haven't gotten FC 81 yet. Especially since this will be the first one that I can look at and think, "I can do that" for anything that takes longer than an hour to make happen. Cooking might just become fun again.

Sandy, I remember hearing Dan's radio playing baseball games too. That would have been the Pacific Coast League, the Oaks and the Seals. A kinder, gentler kind of baseball, kind of what spring training is like now. The Gi'nts (remember Don Sherwood telling us we should pronounce it like that so they'd feel at home?) arrival changed all that-- not sure it was for the better, with benefit of hindsight.

More to say, but something is wrong with my eyes: the shades keep coming down and blocking vision. Will try again tomorrow.

slice of life

All you FCers, please look at the ad facing page 32 in FC 81. C'est moi!

rainy morning ruminations

Couldn't agree more about 9/11 overkill (oops). We watched the 'Skins game, of course, and were very put off by the flag waving. Puke. I agree; sports do not need to be politicized. There's already enough of a B.S. aura around them without adding that.

Anyway, we were glad to see the Vikes win, though I like the 'Skins, too. We, of course, watched only the first game, and even that had us up past our bedtime.

An earthquake!! How strange that I dreamed last night of an earthquake, before I read your blog. Too bad you didn't feel it. I hate to think of the reaction of those responsible for the new building: "Is it falling down?"

Mom's slicer is a Chef's Choice International 632. I know this because it lives at our house. Their old one required two people to run (it was coming apart), and when she got a new one she was not really comfortable using it. We slice stuff for her here (e.g., salami) and bring it over. The amazing thing is that with this slicer here I have actually overcome my fear of them. I used to have to leave the room when anyone was using one (this due to an accident I witnessed in Naperville, details furnished upon request), but now, with great caution, I can actually use it. It's nice for cutting up leftover meat thin enough to be able to heat it quickly.

It also works nicely for slicing guanciale. This is something we got from Mario's cookbook. It's a hog jowl (cheek, really), cured in salt in the fridge for a week, then hung in the fridge--this works nicely in the little upstairs fridge in Ben's (formerly Julia's, formerly Charlie's) room -- for three weeks or so. It's positively delicious, and cooks up better when thinly sliced. Goes in a couple of very good pasta dishes in Molto Italiano, a cookbook that we find ourselves using a lot.

I don't have a mandoline, but some day will get one.

Your chicken breast thing sounds good, Suzy. I truly believe your oven is slow; the chicken I cooked at your house took longer (as you remember) and did not come out crisp. As far as TV in the kitchen, I wish I had one, to monitor sports while cooking. It's in the plans, but not actualized yet. I can look at the TV in the dining room, but if I'm running water or the exhaust fan, I can't hear it, and it's pretty far away. When I'm doing tomatoes or some such thing, I watch CDs on my little player. I used to use my computer for that, but I hate having it in the kitchen when food is flying. One year I watched 15 episodes of the World at War while editing and trimming brussels sprouts. This year it was the Forsyte Saga while working on tomatoes. Plan one more tomato push (how can I let them go to waste?) to make a barrel of Mario's basic tomato sauce before I go to CA. That will give Charlie something to work with while I'm gone, and we can freeze what's left.

In Naperville, I used to watch baseball while ironing. I used the radio narration, though, because it furnished a little more detail and I liked the announcers better. Now we watch a lot of sports on mute because we become so annoyed with the drivel. Golf is quite irritating in this way, since the announcers want to tell you what each golfer is thinking. How do they know? Grrrrr. But football's bad, too. I remember that in the olden days baseball, even on the radio, was filled with silence. A memory of the Farm in Los Altos is being in bed, reading (on the porch by the garage) and hearing Dan's radio from her bed as she listened to baseball. And the sound I remember is the sound of the crowd talking; all of those people, outside in a summer night, and the radio transmitting that hum, interrupted by words describing the plays as they happened. None of this constant filler (color, ish). They shouldn't have access to computers; I'm amazed at the weird and irrelevant statistics they keep pulling up. Grumble, gripe (I hope some of you recognize this as a quote from Donald Duck).

Yesterday I made pita in the morning, before picking up Florence and later, Ben. It's easy, a little picky (the rolling out of the individual blobs of dough), and fun. It balloons up nicely in the oven. The day before I made the first apple galette of the season; the apples are just getting ripe. A nice crop this year; I thinned them mercilessly, and they're much larger and nicer than usual.

Rain here this morning, a fire in the fireplace. Charlie thinks it's not raining too hard to pick tomatoes; I disagree. He's gone to the chiropractor (left at 6:30), so we can further discuss this upon his return. In the meantime I shall continue with Queen Victoria, once I oust La Puss from La Fuma. I do grab a little leisure here and there.

Nine-Twelve

Gainesville

Watching football again-- the Monday night double-header. Wretched excess! Sorry that the Skins couldn't pull it out at the end, but still a great game. In the current game, I find myself rooting for San Diego, where usually I'd be for Oakland. I just think the Chargers are long overdue, and I like LT.

Marty, you're doing Fantasy Football?! Do tell all! What venue? Who is on your team? About 15 years ago I did a fantasy baseball team-- back in the days of 2400 bps modems and Genie. Baseball is so relentless, playing almost every day, and I spent an ungodly amount of time reading Baseball Weekly, The Sporting News, and following minor league teams so I'd know who I could bring up when my guys got injured. I could still tell you nearly every member of The Twisters (named after my dog Twist), and followed all of their careers ever after. I won my division, but never again. Football might be less time consuming, but on the other hand, I understand how baseball works, what all the stats mean; football, much as I love it, is mysterious to me when it comes to the details.

Should mention that we were also unhappy to see the Bucs blanked in Tampa yesterday in an otherwise good day.

Also forgot to mention yesterday that we had a measurable earthquake yesterday. Say what? We didn't feel it here at the house, but apparently people on the upper floors of both Library East and West were scared out of their wits as the buildings shook, rattled and rolled. Whoa! I doubt building codes here are very strict about earthquake-proofing. Local experts speculate that this may be an after effect of Katrina-- dramatic increase of silt runoff overloading plates in the Gulf-- but will take more research to know.

Mom, your mention of getting a new slicer in Saalfelden reminded me I wanted to ask what's a good slicer now? I have one I inherited from Dan, but it's got broken parts-- I have to hold it together to use it, which is scary, and it's nearly impossible to clean. I hardly every use it, but there are times when a good slicer would come in handy. I'm still too terrified by the mandoline I got several years ago to get it out of the box.

Got through a Monday at work. One more to go (next week off). Days are dwindling down. Did a nice thing with frozen chicken breasts tonight: dipped in melted butter/olive oil combo, then a lot of parmesan and a little oregano, paparika, salt and pepper, then baked at 350 for half an hour. I've decided my oven is on the low side, so I cranked it up to 365 after about 10 minutes. Seemed to work well. Bill and Carrot were both effusive in their approval, and I liked it too.

Geez, enough of the 9/11 stuff. It's over already, at least on this coast. I tuned in to watch a football game, not a political rally. The event itself it still a raw wound I do not appreciate having opened, let alone poked and prodded for fun and profit. Feh. This is just one of my growing discontents with the way football is being presented these days. More to follow, no doubt.

Ah well. We're all too well connected tonight, as some replacement hardware arrived today and we once again have TV in the kitchen-- i.e., the TV is a slave to the master in the TV room. This means I can listen/watch to football or baseball while cooking. Sports are perfect cooking noise, as I can follow it, and turn around to watch anything that's crucial. Makes the drudgery part of cooking a lot more tolerable.

Ready? Oh Yeah

Gainesville

Manning vs Manning is coming to an end as I type on my laptop. Looks like big brother will win, but little brother made it a good fight. Also looks like Ma Manning is comfortably numb on some excellent meds. (Aw. Poor ending, mistakes. Too bad. But still a good game.)

Thanks for the wonderful garden pics, Sandy. The tomato-deprived among us can only look and weep at your glut.

I'm also envious of Mom and Sandy both having the first fires of the season. Sigh! The best we can say here is that it wasn't brutally hot today-- overcast until late, then a long hard rainstorm. Good thing, as I was using the oven for a pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables (onions, mushrooms, turnips and garlic) at 450. As usual, the tenderloin was raw for way too long compared to the other stuff, then suddenly overcooked. I tied the two pieces together, but now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to just leave the pieces separate, for a recipe like this.

Rest of the day was football, of course. (Discovered that TiVo works fine with satellite channels-- just can't cope with lower level cable! If only I'd known that, I could have watched "Mermaid Chair" last night via satellite. But that's another story) We were of course delighted to watch the Jags ruin T.O.'s Cowboys debut. Poor Bill-- as soon as he quite watching, they caught fire. Hope this is not a jinx in the making. Overall, we were happy with the outcomes of opening Sunday: Evil was thwarted (Tennessee, Carolina). Only real bummer was Green Bay being blanked-- but how bad can you feel when it's Da Bears that administered the spanking?

School day tomorrow. As soon as Berman and Jackson finish their thing, time to hit the showers and the rack.

winding down

Well, now there are fifty tomato bags in the freezer, and the onions are in the root cellar. I've roasted, peeled and frozen all of the anaheim and ancho peppers, a small crop of them this year, on purpose, since we are still loaded with them from last year. Other things have been done in the last week, but mainly I spent hours and hours peeling tomatoes and processing them for the freezer. It's great to have them done. In the photos I'll attach you'll see that there are more tomatoes, and more, and more, but they will have to go to other houses (Marty's done her bit) or to tomato heaven, plowed under. Next year we'll plant half as many. We seem to have gotten the knack of tomato production, so we can cut back on the number of plants. And if we have a failure next year, we'll live through it. (Oh God! perhaps I should put in another 50 packages! Never mind, the freezers are stuffed.)

Dinner tonight is pie. Apple, from the first ones of the year (actually a galette), and chicken pot, from the store. I could not cook another thing today, after spending a huge part of the day peeling peppers (roasted yesterday afternoon) and making a complex pot roast noon Sunday dinner.

Ben and Marty came out today, and I attach photos.



You can see that we are in tomato glut. We've been eating them day and night, and they are wonderful, but what to do with all these romas??

I am fascinated by the way football has taken over Gvlle. It makes me realize that dirtballism (not football, but tailgating and all the other stuff) has really taken over. As far as football goes, we are delighted to have the real thing back, but had to keep flipping back & forth between the Bears/Packers game and tennis.

Our departure date is Friday, Fri night in Mpls near the airport. We fly out Sat 16th, return Sun 24th. Will be just like last year's trip and we assume as successful.

First fires in the fireplace the last two mornings. I can't express how wonderful it was yesterday to come downstairs to hot coffee and a fire! Charlie went to play golf (it was cold!) and I settled down in La Fuma in front of the fire for two hours with a bio of Q. Victoria (I've been reading it off and on for a year) and total bliss. I wanted to play golf, but not enough to leave the fire!

Chick Flick

Gainesville

The wasp nest in my computer is active tonight-- apparently the wasps are sleeping, but some of them are softly , rhythmically snoring. Not loud enough to be truly annoying, but worrisome nonetheless. I should be making major backup efforts, but somehow, I don't really care that much about anything recent on this hard drive. If it fails, I'll doubtless learn otherwise.

I got out to shop by early afternoon. It was a zoo when I entered-- people from the visiting team (having driven all the way from Central Florida!) were greeting each other in the parking lot, making it an almost tailgate atmosphere. However, once in the store, they seemed to vanish without a trace, and by the time I got to checkout, no lines at all. Such a strange pattern. I took Moonbeam today, which was fun. Great to drive-- the hardest part is getting out of the driveway. First there is the business of setting the seat and all the mirrors, then snaking out of the carport and into the center of the driveway-- completely backwards from the routine Blue and I can do in our sleep. I guess with enough practice, I can learn the new routine.

Did salmon briefly marinated in a pineapple juice/ginger mixture. Okay, but not sure I'd go there again. I needed a lot of salt to make mine palatable. Bill and Carrot thought it was fine. Having a pineapple-based fruit salad with it was probably ill-advised. The edamame, from the sushi counter, was fine.

Tonight I did something I haven't done in many years: watched a movie on (gasp!) live, un-mediated (by TiVo) cable TV. It was a chick-flick, "The Mermaid Chair." I was curious about it because it starred Kim Basinger, and because I wondered if the book it's based on was worth a look. Probably will take a look at the book, if only to figure out if it is as disjointed and lame as the movie-- I suspect that much essential plot detail was left out in order to include seascape atmospherics or buried by the loud music during annoying voice-over narration. As for Kim, well. I thought she was convincing in "A Hole in the Floor" (an adaptation of the first third of the wonderful A Widow for One Year) as the emotionally frozen Marion. However, she seemed similarly frozen here, when it was not appropriate. She's beautiful, but I have to think that the poor dear is a victim of botox overdose. Her range is limited to hurt, stunned, and/or confused. When she tried to smile, it looked like it hurt. Too bad.

Anyway, it was interesting to actually have to deal with commercials-- run off to the kitchen and slice a few more celery sticks, make a drink, or a pit stop, and still get back in time to continue the plot. Cable TV (Livetime, in this case) knows well, and so helpfully shows you a SPOILER scene from the next act so you'll be sure to come back. Awful. I remember now why I watch almost no TV anymore. With any luck, we will get TiVo back in action in the next week or two.

So Chris and Kay are headed to Pocatello in October? Doug will be gone to his new job in Atlanta by then, but Renee and the kids are staying behind for fall semester. Renee has a teaching job, and Megan wants to spend at least one semester of her senior year in her current highschool. Their house sold immediately, so they'll be in temporary lodgings. Just a warning, Chris-- it may not be the ideal time to connect with them.

Mom, what the heck is a "shingle?" I thought for a minute you'd come down with a dread disease! I'm pretty clueless when it comes to hair styles.

Walk Tall

Gainesville

Here I am. It's Friday. I have worked my last Friday, so it was vacation. I slept late. I did my morning routines. Bill called proposing lunch at a nearby place we'd not tried: Merlion (Singapore cuisine -- enjoyable). Read. Napped. Read some more. Espresso. Lot more reading. Drinks. Hmmm... evening routines would be a good idea about now.

Reading is Strange/Norrell, which has now cranked up to the point of can't-put-down. Still, I managed to put it down long enough to write a long email (to Carolyn Burke Herb) and gather recent email to/from Mike Peak to frame one to him.

Highlight of the the day was arrival Mom's anniversary card: the beautiful pink bleeding heart scan note. These beautiful compositions of yours do take my breath away, and Bill's too. It's just too bad you don't have a real entrepreneur among your progeny, as you could make a bundle with these. You probably don't need a bundle at this point in your life, but still, the resulting adulation would be nice!

Thanks for the pictures too, Mom. Most I recognize, but don't remember ever seeing that one with Grandpa Soares, Dad and me.

Le'see. What happened in the interim? A wonderful dish of Garlicky Seared Scallops on Greens from Leanne-- helped greatly by some wonderful fresh scallops from NW Seafood-- on Wednesday. Last night, Outback, plus the first REAL (NFL) football game of the season.

When is the actual departure date?

Might be a good time to finish those evening routines, plus shopping/menu plans. Another Gator Football day tomorrow, so it's important to get out early and Walk Tall, or Baby don't get out at all.

Here and Now

Gainesville

Back into the Tank after over a week on dry land. Always a rude awakening. Good thing I had a meeting of sorts to go to: "Tuesdays with Tom," a newly established weekly session with the Library's webmaster. (I brokered the deal to get him to take the job when I was chair of a search committee that struck out after two rounds.) It was the first event ever held in one of the new training rooms in the new Library West. Of course, despite the extreme high tech, there were glitches, and lots of running around at the start. But Tom, a movie fan, rose to the occasion and put on an amazing show of ad libs, patter, banter with the programmers in the audience, impressions (this tiny room that seats 24 at best has a microphone!) and still managed to convey a whole lot of information. It was an exciting bravura performance, and made my day.

Since I was over in the Palace anyway, I paid a visit to Bill's new office-- the first time I'd seen it with him in it. One of the other Dirs came in and pointed at me, saying "Short! There she is, she's SHORT!" Well, yeah. But he was doing the military thing where whenever anyone has their date to get the hell out, they become SHORT! as in short-timer, and there is a number tha goes with it. The number, in my case (in case you were wondering, and of course you were) is 25:23:30 and change, according to the Tank web page.

We got home around 6:45, Bill offered to call for pizza, I refused. Started thawing a pound of ground lamb, took a 10 minute nap, then made some completely amazing lamburgers that included red onion, cumin, orange juice and zest, soy sauce and cilantro. Broiled them. Two thumbs and a claw way up. Steamed some pre-sliced zucchini and yellow squash with mint, and had a mixed butter lettuce salad. By 7:45. Not bad.

Nice that things are getting done in your space, Mom. It's good you have such good friends and relatives to help. I'm trying to picture which part of your yard the new stuff is happening.

And I'm glad you found more of late 1984 to continue that saga. I picked up on that at once. The day-to-day stuff really does create a sense of what it was like being there, then. Let that be a lesson to all of us to keep on blogging, to leave a trace of what it's like being here, now.

Here and now, it's time to sleep.