Details

Gainesville

Realized today that the foodies on the Blog might appreciate some more detail about last night's repast. Here 'tis:

Dinner Menu

SALAD:

Salad of seasonal local fruits & greens with ciabatta crouton, grilled Georgia peach vinaigrette

PRE-CHOSEN ENTREE:

Duo entree, herb crusted beef medallion with a savory pomegranate sauce and pan seared fresh water prawns with garlic lime buerre blanc

DESSERT

Chocolate mousse crunch torta & fresh fruit coulis

Notes: The salad was a beautiful bunch of arugula banded with a thin lengthwise slice of cucumber, with a couple of cherry tomato halfs on the side. There were also chicken and vegetarian choices of entrees. The mousse was served in a thin cup of sugar stuff, with chunks of darker chocolate, over small pieces of perfect strawberries and a few other fruit morsels I've forgotten. All was yummy and beautiful.

In countdown mode now. Even Bill has taken notice tonight: "What day do you leave?" Followed by "What time?" Shock at both answers. This has been detailed before, and it is written plainly on the calendar in the kitchen. He's finally gotten past denial.

Turned out he didn't have to do the candidate dinner today-- it's next Sunday. (Super Sunday! Poor baby. Already I don't feel so bad about being gone.) I made a large 4-bean salad this afternoon (using last night's string beans as a base) and tonight tossed the sliced mini-ham in the oven per directions.

Got the sheets changed/laundered on schedule, so that was good. Realized I was so involved in the K.S. Robinson book that it would be the airplane companion. However, I needed to STOP reading it, so decided to reread the first of his latest trilogy-- (the third and final volume is due out late February) then had one hellova time finding it. The book collection is so out of control! Yet, a little voice pipes up, yeah, but you DID find it, after only a couple of hours... so there's some control, right? :-)

Tomorrow will be given over to packing, of course. Yes, I realize there will be no First Class between Gainesville and Charlotte-- they don't offer it, though of course you pay for it as part of the ticket. We'll see it a 5 hour coast to coast trip still has any amenities other than a few cubic centimeters of breathing room for double the price. Even simple politeness would be a boon.

Well, not ENTIRELY packing. Also Bill's birthday. What a swell gift from me-- absorbed by packing, demanding an unreasonably early morning ride to the airport in the morning. The timing of all this is a bit awkward, to say the least.

Impending Adventures

Gainesville

Out to dinner two nights in a row, very rare. There was the usual Thursday at Outback, then the formal dinner associated with the dedication of the new Library Friday night.

The latter was Black Tie. Bill was considering buying a tux, but decided he didn't have time to mess with it right now and would rent one at the last minute. But he has the most incredible luck when it comes to shopping. The place he went to rent it had just decided to quit that part of their business, and so offered to sell him the whole outfit for the price of the rental! This was everything: coat, tie, pleated shirt, pants with the stripe, shiny-shiny shoes-- all for $68! He looks very handsome in it. Next time I'll be sure to snap some pictures.

I looked very nice too-- the long dresses I bought for the first cruise, a simple sheath of magenta brocade-like stuff. Quite comfortable, actually. The shoes, however, were instruments of torture. I'd put some gel insoles in them, and while they were more comfortable to walk in, they made the stretchy spaghetti straps (many, crisscrossing ones) cut welts into the top of my feet. D'oh!

It was a nice dinner, though, excellent caterers (fine food, top notch service), held in the newly remodeled first floor reading room in the old building. Everything was lovely. Tables for 8-10, place cards, fabulous floral arrangements, a string duet. Oh, and an open bar, of course. This was put on by the Howe Society, supporters of Special Collections. If Bill continues in upper admin, we will need to join this. If all their dinners are as nice as this, it shouldn't be too painful.

My former boss was there, to my astonishment. We had a chance to chat briefly. She looks great-- apparently San Diego agrees with her-- and why shouldn't it?! As expected, though, the cost of living is killing her. Another instance of The Rule: Great job, great location, great money: Pick two.

Our roof is finished, and it looks very nice. The relentless noise went on for three days. When it was done, the contractor was astonished to learn I'd been in the house the entire time! He told Bill I must have an incredible tolerance for noise. Uh, not really. But it would have been hard to get out past all their trucks and equipment, and I didn't like leaving the cat there alone, terrified. I'm glad it's over, though.

Had really simple stuff for dinner tonight. Bill has to go out to dinner with a candidate to be his new boss tomorrow night, and Monday we will go out for his birthday. I need to do a fridge purge be to sure there is nothing in there that will poison him. Even though everything is dated and labeled, he has no sense of how long leftovers are edible. I bought a small, sliced ham that he should be able to safely eat on the whole time I'm gone. And he has his various coping strategies to keep himself fed.

I'm starting to think about packing. I have my handy "How to Travel at a Moment's Notice" document that I made several years ago. Like you, Mom, I keep revising it for planned travel, but the basic list remains a security blanket of sorts. The kind of thing FL suggests for a Control Journal, and indeed I have a copy in mine, and also one on the project bulletin board by my computer.

Still haven't decided on The Book. I'm about 1/3 through Antarctica. Like all Robinson's stuff, it's not compelling or exciting in normal ways, and the writing is good, not great. But it's his ability to make IDEAS exciting and compelling that grabs me. I've been holding my breath for nearly a year until his next one comes out. (Third of a trilogy.) His best by far is Years of Rice and Salt. Brilliant book. I should look for it on audio.

Geez, you'd think I was packing for a desert island, the way I agonize over books! The worst that could happen in that realm would be being trapped in an airport, where there are news stands every few feet. I assume Alameda has some place to obtain reading material too.

I'm also having trouble reminding myself I do not have to worry about packing a bunch of survival food. Unless the nightmare scenario of being stuck on the plane on the ground for days happens, perhaps I can assume that First Class (oh my!) will take care of most of my food and beverage needs? Really, I don't know. I've been strictly cattle class all my life. Will I know how to behave? {Gnaws briefly on fingers.} I can find reasons for anxiety anywhere!

Still need to put some new stuff on my iPod. I wish that process weren't quite so cumbersome. I picture something like just waving the CD somewhere near the laptop, then telling iPod to go see what's new. I am technologically spoiled.

It has gotten very cold here again, very suddenly. One night, mosquitoes in the house, the next all the heaters going full blast, comforter back on the bed. Now it's back to raining softly, which I'm guessing portends another warm-up. The azaleas in our yard are just starting to bloom, signaling an early spring. Maybe.

Tonight I expanded my bartender skills. When Doug was here, we continued drinking after we got home, and Bill made himself a Jack Daniels Manhattan. I thought, I could do that. And tonight I did. And got it right. I still have a bit of logistics to work out, but I think I've got it. The only tricky part is just ONE drop of Bitters.

Hope you get a good night of sleep tonight, Mom, wherever in the house you land. Adventures ahead, and you need your rest!

Me too.

Bibliographic Try-Outs

Gainesville

It was fun having Doug here. He was on his way to a week-long conference in Clearwater. The place he loved to eat when here, The Sovereign, is no more-- bought out the end of the year, all the staff fired, everything to be different. This is a terrible loss to all of us. What's really annoying is that when Doug was here in October, he and Bill decided for once to eat somewhere else (Outback) and so missed a chance for one last great meal there. Anyway, we couldn't get into Bonefish last night so went to Hops. It's better as a lunch place than a dinner place, though.

Got errands done yesterday, including getting my hair cut, finally. At least it will be decent for the formal dinner Friday night and California next week.

Today they started working on replacing the roof. Was awakened early (for me) by loud banging. It went on all day long along with booming, scraping, crashing, thumping, and sawing. The cat was a nervous wreck, and I wasn't in much better shape. It is supposed to be done by the end of the week, if the weather continues to cooperate. I wish this could have been put off until next week, but it's one of those things you have to do while the doing is good.

Bill was very late getting home, which made dinner later still. I made a sesame turkey cutlet thing that was pretty good. Bill has decided that the tomato dill relish I made for last Saturday's fish is the universal topping for everything-- he had it atop the cutlets as well as the spaghetti squash I'd intended. It was pretty good stuff, I must admit.

The new Fine Cooking came today. Haven't had a chance to even look at it yet, and certainly won't have a chance to cook in it until I get back.

I'm on a Tanq Ten kick. It makes heavenly see-throughs. However, I don't like olives in them-- even the magic olives tend to overwhelm the botanicals, so that should slow down my consumption of them a bit. Good thing, since I'm running low.

Am auditioning books to take on the trip. (B&N was part of yesterday's errands.) Just now it's between Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica and Julian Barnes' Arthur and George. I'll probably bring them both, but need to decide which one to keep with carry-on. If neither has grabbed me by Tuesday, I'll bring Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines, something I've been meaning to get back to for many years, and which just spoke to me again this past week.

But what's really absorbed my interest is Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, a fabulous graphic novel I've been dying to read since it came out, and which Sandy had recommended highly. It was amazing. I was completely drawn into it from the very first page, and immediately started reading it again when I finished. Wow. Just wow.

Not sure I'll be able to help with your email FL list problems, Mom. I'm no good with Yahoo lists. It looks like your Blogger problems are solved now, though.

Here's a thought: Why don't you buy yourself some new clothes instead of thinking you have to sew them? You can order them from catalogs too, although a bit of trial and error is necessary to get the sizes right. I'm always seeing things in catalogs I think would look great on you.

Home Improvement

Gainesville

Happy Birthday, Chris. Wherever you are. Hope you have a good one.

I'm having email problems too-- haven't been able to get to my work email for nearly two weeks, and the way I've been connecting (imap) means I can't open the mail that I seem to have received locally. Very frustrating, as I have many of my contacts only in in that address book.

I belatedly realized that the football festivities didn't start until 3:00, and would extend into the late evening. The second game went so long that I had to miss the first showing of the first new Battlestar Galactica of the new year. Nothing for it but to stay up and watch the second showing, at midnight.

I was happy with the outcome of both games. Bill was hoping the Saints would win, though he would ordinarily back the Bears. And for some reason, during the course of the second game, he decided he didn't like the Colts. I was hoping Peyton would finally get past his jinx, and was bored with Tom Terrific and company so was pleased with that too.

Doug called late during the second game and announced that he would be spending the night with us Tuesday night on his way to some meeting. That jerked around my plans for the week, but not too drastically. The house is in decent shape, and Blessings got done today. Need to dash out tomorrow and get a hair cut and some liquor, though.

So, Marty has a new job? Someone share the details, please. Hope all goes will with it.

We are getting ready to start a major home improvement project: a new roof. Our various repairs over the years have not stopped the seeping into the master bathroom-- no use trying to get rid of mildew and paint in there until that is fixed. Work is scheduled to begin this week, weather permitting. Wouldn't you know, it rained today for the first time in over a week.

Time to start a countdown to liftoff, a week from tomorrow.

Florida Winter

Gainesville

A pleasant Saturday.

Fixed two lovely dishes for dinner: Tuna steaks done on the grill pan topped with a tomato-dill relish (includes cukes, red onions, basalmic, lemon juice and olive oil, chilled for an hour) from Leanne; and from the 15 Min Low Carb book, brussels sprouts sliced in the Cuisinart, added to 1/3 c pecan pieces sauteed briefly in 3 T butter, cooked they get soft and start to brown, then a teaspoon of orange zest and 3 T orange juice added at the end. Fast, easy, and wonderful. Had a side of sushi, but it wasn't necessary. Publix has started making artisanal bread, so I was able to get a kalamata loaf and have it sliced. Very nice.

Tomorrow we will have our traditional Super Bowl feast -- Super Chili, some dips, popcorn, etc. Actually it makes more sense to have a big football celebration on League Championship Sunday-- a full afternoon of meaningful football without all the silly media hoop-la.

Speaking of which, Publix had a shopping basket full of the Sports Illustrated Gator commemorative edition. If either of my UF graduate siblings are interested in having one, they should let me know.

Beautiful weather here-- sunny, bright, no wind-- and temps in the 60's. Very sweet! This is the best part of winter in FL. Keeping an eye on the weather-- glad I don't have any plane changes in the middle of the country. Still, there could be problems in Charlotte. At least the weather in the Bay Area will be predictable. As Sandy says, I will be COLD no matter what it's like there, so it's turtlenecks and sweaters all the way down. Makes packing easy.

Bill is deeply involved with the first major upgrade/expansion of WoW -- apparently, it is not going smoothly. Something like 8 million people world wide play this thing, and there is a staggering amount of real money that gets exchanged for things that only exist in that virtual world. The Matrix is almost here.

Current Events

Gainesville

I did read the comments about the Maas kids. I don't remember anything about a car accident. I only have one clear memory of sitting with them. Once was enough.

Did pretty well with my weekly routines-- not perfect, to be sure, but a good start. And I'm pleased to announce that as of yesterday, Christmas is officially OVER: boxes sealed up and returned to the store room. Big Yip.

I may as well confess my guilty secret: I've been turning the tube on for an hour during the day, having become addicted to the Daily Show/Colbert Report. It's a great way to get a tolerable dose of current events and a few laughs at the same time while eating a late lunch. Of course, I'm watching a re-run from the night before. I'm in love with both of them.

I'm reading the one volume compilation of Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which is most enjoyable, and going way too fast. I'm trying to settle on a book to take along for the trip, mainly in case of airport delays. It has to be a Certain Kind of Book: portable (no hardbacks or even large trade pb's allowed, since they have to be lugged around) and most importantly, highly readable-- a page-turner. Alas, I burned my way through all those I had stockpiled in the first flush of retirement. There are certain authors I know could provide me with a new one, but none of them are cooperating by releasing anything new to suit my timetable.

Next Friday (Thea's birthday) is the formal dedication of the new library. Turns out there is also a formal dinner that night that Bill and Mrs. Director have to attend-- and "formal" in the latter case means black-tie /long-dress formal. I have stuff I got for cruises, but need to get it dry cleaned and make sure it still looks respectable.

Do I Need a Second Life?

Gainesville

Back to using my control journal again, looking at both the daily and weekly routine pages. It really does help.

I'm at about the same stage you are with post-Christmas, Mom. Bill separated the tree parts, and I wrangled them into plastic bags, two out of the three into a larger sack-thing that Amazon used to gift-wrap the Scooba. Still need to seal the remaining boxes, which helps keep the various critters out of the boxes when they're in the store room. The end is in sight.

Was going to do a crock pot thing with chicken pieces, but just wasn't in the mood. With Sandy's online help, I made a wonderful oven roasted dish using just butter, some fresh thyme, dried rosemary, a few garlic cloves and a large quartered shallot. We all loved it. Bill had leftover cauli-rice, and I had leftover Indian potato stir-fry.

Spent too much time today trying to get started on Second Life. This is a project Bill has taken on at work (interesting interface for the library of the future). That graphics card that we removed as the source of all the computer noise -- turns out I needed that to make Second Life possible. Also turned out that they are experiencing severe growing pains and their entire grid was down anyway. Tonight I gave it a try on my laptop, with more modern graphics -- only to find that there were bandwidth issues on both our end and theirs. Especially theirs. Most of the time I was connected I spent trying to fuss with my avatar's appearance. All very slow and clunky. I do want to persevere with it, though, if only as a test dummy. If I can't make the interface work, then our average user will probably have trouble too.

Only remember babysitting once or twice for the Maas kids while they still lived in the Eichler house. (They were wild children, and I'm amazed any of them survived to adulthood.) Don't remember them in the Wilder house. Does Kenny still live in that same house? And of course I remember Beth. She and I were close to the same age, and we spent some time together that year she was living with them and I was working at Westinghouse. A nice girl.

Time to sleep. Time to wake, all too soon.

Doggerel Happens

Gainesville

What a wasted day. Made me realize how much more productive I am at home than I was most days at work, at least in the last few years. The retirement party I went in for was in the late afternoon-- for the Director of Libraries, after 22 years. It was a nice party, and well attended-- large numbers of retirees, all of whom I know, showed up. Many of them did not realize I'm now among their number. It was exhausting, though-- talking to so many people in such a short period of time. By the end of the day I was literally talked out.

The early part of the day I'd planned to do some errands. I did none of them. I sat in Bill's office, using his work laptop, and did nothing but read comics, catch up on blogs (including following links) and play a few games. Having a Starbuck's in the building is just too handy, and Bill and I did lunch at the Copper Monkey. Haircut? Nah. Bank? No way. Credit Union? As if. Get set up to volunteer with the comics collection? Dream on. I will try again next Tuesday.

I hated like hell having to be up before 8:00, though. Horrible, hideous torture. Already dreading having to be up way earlier than that two weeks from today. The upside will be being able to sleep "late" the rest of the week, and still find it is early, local time. A few more other things out there to be enjoyed too, of course.

I remember the infamous pomander, Mom. I can't believe you still have that thing-- you really are a packrat! Those things are good for a year or two at most, and were supposed to freshen up drawers. I should use one of my fading oranges and box of old cloves to make another one-- it would definitely help things in the master bathroom, where ancient leaky plumbing and cheap particle board cabinets have made things unpleasant in there.

Does Kenny live somewhere in Los Altos now, that she can walk to Rancho every day? I remember them living in an Eichler house somewhere down toward the Bay.

Okay, I couldn't help seeing the strange little semi-rhyme in the previous paragraph. My brain couldn't leave it alone, and this resulted:

Does Kenny live somewhere in Los Altos now
Where she walks to the Rancho each day?
I remember they lived in a new Eichler house
That was somewhere down close to the Bay.

Sorry.

Snow, Glorious Snow

Gainesville

Pretty good day. The Tree is now all undecorated, everything packed away. Need only to seal the boxes and get them back to the store room. Will need Bill's help to disassemble the actual tree-- I could assemble it myself, since that just involved dropping the segments into place, but yanking the segments upwards is more strenuous. I could manage it with a step ladder, if necessary. Will be glad to have that space back again.

Spent time revising my weekly routines, and think I have a workable set, or at least a draft. It will take a few weeks to ease into them and see how it goes. Also decluttered the Control Journal while I was at it. Less is more-- it was become unwieldy, so I was using it less.

A triumph at dinner, for a change: needed to use up the rest of the bag of potatoes I bought for NY day's "That Salad," so made the FC #83 Stir Fried Potatoes, another of their Indian veg stir fries. It was AMAZING. Maybe one of the best ways I've had potatoes ever. The mis en place took a lot of time (Sandy's gifts came in very handy here), and turns out I was nearly out of cumin and coriander, but I made do with what I had. Substituted some crushed red pepper flakes for the whole dried pepper. It was so good I was licking up bits that fell on the table, let alone the pans. I recommend this dish most highly!

With it I had a Leanne Asian Salad -- spinach, cubed leftover chicken (last week's Indian Chicken, in this case), diced red bell pepper, peanuts, and some excellent bottled Asian Dressing mixed with chopped cilantro and shredded ginger-- individual servings topped with mango slices. It too was outstanding, so much better than the ad lib spinach salad I did last week.

How interesting that you got to visit Yugoslavia while it still existed as a single country, Mom. I know more about it than most, because of my very first library job at Cal-- student assistant to the Slavic Area Bibliographer. Cal's part in a library cooperative effort to cover global affairs was Yugoslavia, so I got to check in all the various books we got from there by default, and figure out how to dummy up order cards (how quaint) for things we never ordered that were sent to us free. The better I did this job, the easier it was for the catalogers down the line. Of course, I didn't realize this until later, but I did get very good at my job-- which led directly to my next job at UF. The rest is history.

Hey, congrats on some actual SNOW at last. Enjoy. Neil is rejoicing too. It's sad to think that global warning is making snow a scarce commodity, except in sudden blizzard dumps that foul things up, as in Denver recently.

Gotta get up early tomorrow and go in to the frakkin' library, of all places. Spend a whole frakkin' day there. Go to a retirement party, 3-5. Trying to ease myself into a mind set of going in once a week to do work with the comics collection. It's a hard sell. Not going anywhere still seems very sweet.

McNaught

Gainesville

Well, serves me right for waiting until Mom posts to start mine. Now after midnight my time, so if I start it now, it'll still look like a Sunday post. Hope all is alright with you, Mom, and you're taking a well deserved break.

Why didn't anyone tell me there was a comet up there that is clearly visible BY DAY for a short time?? Usually the Dog list (UF geeks past and present) alerts me to such things, but they failed this time. If it's clear tomorrow, I'll certainly give it a shot. By 11 AM, the window will pass.

One answer to the question would be that I was submerged in football all day, starting with the meta-football on ESPN. Glad Da' Bears won. Pissed that the Chargers lost so ingloriously. The Brady Bunch wins again, ho hum. Would have been more fun to see LT again.

Every time there was a commercial (i.e., often), I popped up to do get some bit done of one thing or another: change the sheets; undecorate the tree; start dinner; etc. I got plenty of exercise. Nice fresh bed to crawl into soon, tree about 2/3 done. With any luck, I should be able to finish it tomorrow.

As for dinner: since I can't see network TV in the kitchen, decided it was not a good day to do a prep-intensive meal, so did Monday's dinner: cube steaks with vegetables. The onions, green peppers and yellow squash roasted beautifully, but the cube steaks got way overcooked (used the electric skillet) and were tough and dry. We ate on TV trays for the first time in years in order to watch the end of the game.

Looking at the week ahead. The Big Boss's retirement party is Tuesday afternoon, so it would be a good time for me to go in with Bill in the morning and take care of a number of pending errands: hair cut; name change at credit union; arrange volunteering with comics collection.

Need to re-do weekly routines to fit retirement reality. All the time in the world isn't, really.

Time for a shower and bed.

Football Saturday: Payback

Gainesville (aka "Title Town USA")

Seems like it's football 24/7 here. Much strutting and prancing around in the long (very long) aftermath-- Gator stuff galore. Something of a relief to get back to big boy football.

I must confess much of my mental energy has been been soaked up by reading about what is being called the Foobocolypse -- "Foob" meaning "For Better or For Worse," a strip that has clearly jumped the shark-- the only question remains, when?? (Well, not the only question.) I have spent 5-6 hours in the past two days reading comments about it on the Comics Curmudgeon blog, participating in what could only be called a wake for the death of a once great comic strip. I've been hoping to post to this thread, but I can't catch up! One dare not post without having read everything up until then. Still, the fact that I keep trying, and occasionally crying, signals how much I care about a bloody COMIC STRIP! And it helps to know I'm not alone. This latest plot is just wrong, and is a crime against the characters we've known and loved for so long, and those we've come to respect recently. We wouldn't feel so cheated, except that Johnston seems to have backed off so suddenly from such a long running drama involving characters with individuality, sympathy, and continuity.

When I could tear myself away from the Fooberdammerung, I made a menu plan, shopped, cooked, and watched football.

As to the former, snapper with an artichoke and mushroom sauce (shoulda been better, partly pilot error) and an Every Day Cooking # 38 recipe of a green bean and fennel salad that was rather nice, if I do say so myself.

As to the latter: First game, was glad to see Peyton's team won, even though Peyton himself didn't contribute much. Bout time they payed him back, and helped him break his playoff jinx. As former Baltimoron, I was sympathetic to the Ravens' desire to blast the deserters, but that seems like long ago now.

Second game, after such a struggle of offensive futility in the first game (7 field goals and no TD's!), I started out rooting for "the offense" of either team. They both came seriously through. By the fourth quarter, though, much as I like Jeff Garcia, I had to go with the Saints, and they did come marching in. N.O. deserves some payback from the Fates.

Did I mention what a good job Scooba did on the kitchen floor Thursday? Took a lot of moving/cleaning of stuff on the floor to make it happen, and will take a few more runs, but it's a great start. And I got the house Blessed except for dusting. Not counting the ground floor attic, of course. We'll get there eventually. Many loads of laundry were accomplished-- the hanging stuff.

Lot of this is in form of notes to self. It's still very warm here, for January. Mosquitoes and stuff. Azaleas all confused starting to bloom. They'll be okay as long as we don't have a sudden hard freeze. But this particular year, who knows.

Brief

Gainesville

Once again, too tired to blog. Worked like a demon all day, then got involved in a long online thread about FBoW -- we're all very unhappy about the predictable but annoying plot.

Bill is pissed at me when we realized I will be in Cali for the Super Bowl! This is a major yearly holiday tradition for us, our first apart. Whine, whimper.

Let the brief record show that all signs of the snow scene are now gone. Now about that fully decorated tree in the other room...

More tomorrow.

Afterglow

Gainesville

Happy Birthday Sandy! Your birth was a major life changer for me-- probably annoying at first, but rewarding ever since, more so each and every year.

Lessee, yesterday: Didn't make it out to do errands (last night I was too tired to put an olive in my martini-- now THAT'S tired!) after staying up too late, too wired. Not sure what it was I did yesterday that tired me out so, but I'm sure it was interesting. Right. I got the bloody Xmas cards finished and ready to mail

Oh yeah. I made a crock pot mushroom soup, which was actually rather good, if a bit watery. A pale shadow of Sandy's bravura dish, to be sure. It has turned suddenly cold here, after the heat wave, so soup was a good idea. The spinach salad, not so good. I did all the right things, but it just didn't work.

Tonight I did much better: Leanne's "Indian Chicken" (breasts marinated overnight in a yogurt based thing, then baked for 45 minutes) and the fabulous FC #83 (p.47) Indian Stir Fry (cabbage). I couldn't find cumin seeds, and used Publix's cole slaw mix of shredded cabbage and carrots, but it was still amazing. Bill was ecstatic-- he has long been in search of something called "Indy" which was bar food he had as an exchange student in the Netherlands in the 70's. He says this is the closest to it he has had since. Whoa! Wasn't expecting that. I've searched for Indy in the past without luck.

Had a very traumatic experience today. Ventured out briefly to mail off the last of the holiday cards (yay) and stopped at the Publix to pick up a few things. After being in the store about 10 minutes, I realized my wedding ring was missing! Kee-rist! I abandoned my cart, started retracing my steps through the store, realizing it was probably futile trying to spot it on those damnable terrazzo floors. Tried to keep calm. Back outside, trying to remember my path from through the parking lot, realizing how hopeless it would be to find it out there anyway. By the time I got to Blue I was starting whimper a bit, wondering if I'd accidentally let it drop in the drive-by mailbox at the PO. I opened Blue's door, and... there it was, between the door and the driver's seat, the sweetest sight I've seen in a long long time. I knew when I'd put the two rings on today that they were very loose (cold weather). Once I had it back on my finger, I kept my left hand in a fist the rest of the trip, and took both rings off and put in their safe place as soon as I got home. This has never happened before. Are my fingers shrinking? Must work on this problem.

I'd be happy if I had even started taking my tree down, Mom. Out of sight, not quite out of mind. The snow scene is down and partially packed away, but no progress today. I'm glad to hear you're organizing. If possible, write a few notes on a post-it for the important ones. That's what I'm trying to do this year. The stories slip away faster than the artifacts themselves do. You have things from Kales. Do you have any from Rose?

That was not the greatest story to relate on the day I bit the bullet and made airplane reservations. I will have nightmares from now until I get back, and probably beyond. This situation is the result of the swell deregulation of air travel brought to us by some actor or other and his pals. Lower fares! More competition! Better service! Yeah, right.

Blogger is still acting a bit weird, so let's hope I can post this. If not, well, no great loss.

Anyone want any Gators Rule stuff? We are awash with it. Newspapers dense with full page ads for it. Mostly t-shirts, but other stuff too. Place your orders now, while supplies last!

And some nice local congratulation ads too, especially Publix. I'd post it here if I could, for it was priceless: Full white page in local paper. A small nutcracker in the center, subtly altered to look like gator jaws. Caption: "The Nuts Should Have Seen It coming"

Maybe things will get back to normal tomorrow.

Rah! Rah! Rah

Sis! Boom! Bah!

WA-HOO!!

Gainesville (aka College Football City USA)

Did we have anything special planned? No. Bill came home early tonight with the news that the city police had already confiscated every dumpster on campus, anticipating fans might set them on fire. The library closed at 6:00, even though it was the first day of classes.

In fact, I forgot all about it when I was planning meals. A strange dish of pork chops topped with orange sections, kalamatas, garlic and olive oil briefly sauteed. Was actually good, after you got used to the weirdness of it. And in retrospect, I realize it was orange and... well, kalamatas are sort of bluish, ya know?

We settled down after dinner to watch the game, hoping UF didn't disgrace themselves too badly on national TV. And after the first play, we were expecting the worst. HA! Shows what we know. We sat in slack-jawed amazement, watching every play of the game. The very last thing we expected was a complete rout.

Baby football is such an emotional game, and it was clear that the Gators had the emotion thing all locked up starting with the second play. Not only were they Cinderella, but they had to face controversy that they should even get the shot at the glass slipper.

No more. Cinderella Rules! Urban Renewal, indeed.

We heard all kinds of fireworks at the game's end. We heard yelling and screaming in the neighborhood. But as far as we know so far, happy college kids have not burned down the town. We'll see tomorrow. As of tonight, it feels very sweet.

Mom, glad to hear your part went well, as I guessed it would. I think it's a great tradition, and hope you continue it. Wish I could say I got my cards done by then, but alas. No progress on the banishment of Christmas Just Past on any front. Will try again tomorrow. Will have to settle for basic routines plus sheets and towels done.

Need to run some errands tomorrow, but I expect to encounter happy smiles wherever I go

Stumble Bums

Gainesville

Well, I'm going to assume that the party went well, but that it depleted your energy, Mom, and probably Sandy's too. I hope it was fun and a success. I'm confident it was both.

Another 20 cards are in the mail. I'm over half-way done. Was hoping it would be all over by the 12th day, but no such luck. Still, the end is in sight.

Got out to the P.O. and Publix in early afternoon. Was expecting it to be quiet, but had forgotten that the kids and their parents are back in town for classes starting Monday, and are out re-stocking the kitchens. Slow going.

Made it back in time for the Colts/Chiefs game. Sloppy football! It looked like a contest to see who wanted to lose. Was glad Peyton & Co got a playoff win, but if they don't play better than that, they're once again history. At least the second game had some drama, even if both teams looked like hapless bozos at times. I wanted Seattle to win, but not at the cost of poor Tony Romo losing the game as a holder, fergodssake. And of course afterwards, it was all about Dallas losing (The Tuna, T.O., etc.) rather than Seattle winning. And they did WIN-- they scored more points. Well, let's hope tomorrow's games are better football.

I forgot one point about the playoffs this year: I can't see them in the kitchen. Network TV is available only in the TV room, for reasons too arcane to explain. I can hear it if I listen hard. This is going to figure prominently in my meal planning from here on out, you betcha.

It is still ridiculously warm here. I've packed away most of my summer clothes for the year, and run out of the few in between things. Today I fell back on my airplane strategy: layers. A tight fitting v-neck top topped with a long sleeved blouse, sleeves rolled up or down, etc. To my surprise Bill commented, "That's a nice look for you." Whoa. Note to self: a gray top, a white blouse. Who knew this was a nice look? Study further.

Sleep time.

Damp

Gainesville

Rain, always more rain. Drizzle during the day, thunderstorms by night, for two days in a row. Today it was so muggy that the freshly scrubbed bathroom floors (both bathrooms) refused to dry after nearly an hour. I finally had to put on the AC just to get them dry enough to use.

Turned Scooba loose today in the master bathroom, and he did a very fine job in there. He started right in, and only needed one slight nudge to finish the job. This is very encouraging.

I'm keeping the FL faith with my timer, making slow steady progress with the post-Christmas chaos. Yesterday I reclaimed the entrance area which had been choked with cardboard boxes: flattened them all and got them outside ready for recycling on Monday. Continue slogging away at the cards: adventures with glue sticks! I felt like a little kid, and finally had to put on a smock (well, a denim vest) to help with the glue-mess. It took four 15-minute stints to get it done, with much cursing, to get the evil little hand-cut, hand-gilded slips pasted in about 40 cards. They aren't pretty, but they're done. Now comes the envelope-stuffing and the brief (very brief) personalizations. Mom, yours was the first. I enclosed a sample of what my original idea was. You will wonder WHAT the big deal was... nothing at all, really, just that it was an expansion of Murphy's Law: everything that COULD go wrong, DID go wrong. Ah well, at least I have a few ready to mail.

Have a rough plan for the week, just need to finalize the shopping list and get back before 4:00 tomorrow.

Everyone here is all charged up about the Gators going for it all in the BCS Monday. Every bar and/or grill in town is calculating how many bodies they can cram in and how it will affect their reservation and pricing policies. Every big-screen TV on campus (including the O-Dome) will be showing the game. Of course, the real faithful, kids and Bull Gators alike, won't be around at all-- they'll all be out in Arizona, either at the game, or in some drinking establishment close enough to be able to hear the cheers live. One bar will strive to recreate a local hangout, The Swamp, right down to the same menu! The cops have asked the Library to close at 6:00 Monday for "security reasons" -- and we are only too glad to comply.

We're far more charged up about the most wonderful two weekends of the year: Wild Card and Divisional Playoffs -- yeah, baby, football for grown-ups. Two days, four games each. Bring out the popcorn, crank up the set, and give out with a hip hurray! The Post Season has arrived!!

Good luck with the party tomorrow. (Three Kings Day? The 12th Day of Christmas? I'm not quite sure what the official date is...) I can't believe you still have that silly egg cooker, and yes, I remember it well. I do my HB eggs in the steamer, which is, of course, roughly the same thing. Please give us a full report on the event... as it unfolds.

Many yawns-- Sandman calls me. Hope he'll crank down the dreams a bit so I can get some rest. I mean:

• Sitting in an auditorium audience with Neil's foot in my lap? (He's sitting next to me on the top of his chair.)
• Befriending Stephen King at a party, then watch him fall in love with someone else, then having him give me an elaborate gift of extraterrestrial plants in an ancient Mayan pot...

ENOUGH already, Morpheus!

So Long, Cissy

Gainesville

Mom, if you saved that post, it is still on your hard drive. Your problem is you don't know where to look for it (quite a common problem, actually). Files do not just spontaneously disappear. Maybe we can look into this while we're in Alameda.

Woke up to yet more rain. It was mainly drizzle as I drove to and from the opposite corner of town for the dental visit. Was able to stop for a liquor run and to mail the cute-kitty cards I used to supplement the blank cards from Hell.

It was the very first day in the dentist's new digs, and everyone was stumbling along trying to figure out how to do things, use the new computer systems, etc. Good thing I was just there for a semi-annual cleaning. It was bad enough, as it always stirs up the old TMJ.

Once I got home, though, the clouds burst, the downpour lasting the rest of the day. The cat and I enjoyed some down time, reflecting how nice it was to be inside, warm and on someone's lap (or vice versa) on a day like this.

Got lucky with a Leanne dish tonight: Skillet Chop Suey -- browned ground beef, then chopped celery, green pepper, onion, garlic, and sliced mushrooms, with some soy sauce and bean sprouts added at the end. It was astonishingly good, and took no time at all. We were all but licking the plates and pan by the end of it. How very strange.

I eventually forced myself to go back to the Never Ending Cards. I got the rest of the message pages cut up into the little slips (incredibly nerve-wracking-- I hate paper cutters and the precision required, and there was not much margin for error) that now need to glued into the blank cards. I also printed the canned note for about 15 of my friends that I keep in touch with. I'll only personalize them with brief hand-written notes.

Speaking of keeping in touch, I happened on an obit in the Gainesville Sun for Cissy Arena. I don't know if you ever knew her, Sandy. She taught English at Santa Fe CC and I met her through Norman-- with whom she was, obviously, desperately in love. She was charming, funny, smart, and very sweet. I remember her explaining how, in North Carolina, the word "ham" had at least five syllables (and then going on to demonstrate it). And she maintained that anyone who could spell "prairie" was a better speller than she was, so don't ask her for help with spelling. She was deathly afraid of snakes-- she would not even utter the word-- if she had to use it, she's substitute, "HMMMM!!"

I lost touch with her by the end of 60's -- she was pretty straight, we, not so much. The obit said she left behind a husband, two kids and some grandkids. I was glad to learn she found someone to make a life and family with. I was frustrated to learn she just retired from SFCC in 2003-- she was here all along, and I could have reconnected with her. I wish I had.

Much Angst About Nothing

Gainesville

Bill went back to work today after the long holiday vacation. He quickly discovered his ankle was not properly healed yet, once he had on his big-boy shoes and tried climbing steps. He's a bit gimpy again tonight as a result. The cat is doing her best to keep him resting it properly.

It rained all night New Year's Eve, thunderstorms, etc. Very glad we did not have to go out. After a muggy day yesterday, it finally turned cold again today-- back into the 50's, and cold tonight. Such crazy weather.

This morning I had to face up to all the stuff I'd been putting off while in the cooking frenzy, and general holiday miasma. As I slowly regained consciousness, I kept remembering more and more things, until I started screaming out loud -- the Cathy AACCK! kind of screams. I stopped and listened to my inner FlyLady. She said, just calm down. Take a few deep breaths. Now write down all the things that just have to be done. Then pick one, set the timer, and work on it for 15 minutes. Then pick another, etc. Take a break every hour. I did that, and it was amazing how much I was able to get done, and I got calmer and calmer as I went along.

Made real progress on getting those blankitty-blank blank cards done. Finally decided I could live with the star done with a thin silver pen-- the only shiny thing I had left that reliably works. They look fine-- it's just not what I wanted, and what I got about with about 8 of them. Now I'm working on getting the full pages cut into the right size to glue into the cards. If nothing goes terribly wrong (against all odds, given what's happened so far), I should have them done by the end of the week.

Getting back on track with the weekly Blessings proved easier than expected. While it seemed like forever since I'd done them, I'd actually only missed a week. Got more Christmas garbage removed from the big room. The entrance area is now clogged with boxes, so that is on tap for tomorrow.

Also on tap for tomorrow: a routine dentist appointment. They called today to say they'd moved their office even further away. Well, of course. Getting there on time will dominate the morning.

Got a strategic fridge decluttering done. Made a simple schnitzel with already very thin pork chops, and discovered the secret to keeping the crust on: the huge teflon-coated electric skillet. Had leftover green beans, white gazpacho, and the rest of the shrimp. We were all three pleased with this meal.

Mom, your night-owl schedule was clearly forced by the hours of the job you had. It seems to me that your natural proclivity is to get up with the chickens, as Pa did. At least, that was what you were doing when you were my age-- while writing the Jottings we are now reading. You were getting up before 6:00 AM to do housework, for no other reason than you WANTED to. I got up at the ungodly hour of... 9:30! this morning because I felt I had to. Yesterday I slept til noon, and only got up because I knew I had a whole lot of cooking to do.

Quite a busy day, indeed. What an angel Charlie is!

Let the record show I kept two out of three of my new years resolutions. Not bad. If I could remember what the third one was, I might have kept it too.

Major Meal

Gainesville

Eeek! A whole day of baby football. Just finished watching the Fiesta Bowl (well, it's not over yet, but I'M finished). Way too much adrenalin and angst.

[Break while I watched the truly indredulous-making finish to that game. Holy smokes!]

Feel like I've been in the kitchen for days. Wait a minute-- I have been. Yesterday, trying to figure out what to have for NYD, and getting ready to shop, it occurred to me to ask Bill what HE would like to have for the meal. I'd been considering a prime rib, wondering about spuds vs wild rice. He asked for a main dish salad-- "something you do really well." (Who knew?) It's unseasonably warm here, so it seemed like a good idea. Of course, salad implies soup too, to make a major meal, so I settled on "THAT Salad" (asparagus, red potatoes, papaya slices and kalamatas on a bed of greens, topped with an amazing green onion dressing) and White Gazpacho. These are things I usually make for summer celebrations (though not usually together), and had to start the prep immediately after dinner last night.

Last night's dinner came up a winner too, one of Leanne's salmon treatments, baked, then topped with a dill, mushroom and tomato combo. Good stuff. The downside is, the fridge is bulging with leftovers. The salad feeds four, plus I had a four pound papaya when the recipe called for one pound. The soup feeds eight. You get the idea.

Champagne at midnight, sleep at four. Not a good way to start a new year.