I'Baaaaack

30.V.07 - MoM

I am going to try to get back to nightly blogging. I have missed it. Finally this afternoon, I began to catch up on reading the ones I have missed. My eyes have been a little slow to recover and I haven't finished a newspaper or a blog since "I went down." I am noticing a slight improvement today. Last night I was about ready to go to bed at about 6:30, bored out of my skull, when I decided I had to snap myself out of it and decided I could sit in my chair and use the bed to sort out the box of note papers. After talking with one of my therapists, I may put together a little packet of the cards and see if they might sell a few in their gift shop. I have never been inside it to see what it is like and if they are suitable. I was surprised at how quickly the evening went by.

Sandy and Charlie were by several times during the day as he was working on things to do with the sale of "Jane's" house. I did a good walking stint in the morning with the PT gal, but with interruptions of her session with me due to some Spital meetings and people coming by to see me the time was "choppy." Ted surprised me bringing by a vase of flowers from my garden: Siberian Iris and deep purple peonies.

I hadn't given much thought to my pain medications and they didn't remind me. During my walk this afternoon, I ended up well down the hall, when I realized I could hardly take a step as it hurt so bad. With great pain, I made it back to my room. That took care of the rest of the afternoon's exercise. I made it back to my bed and had a good wonderful 1 ½ hrs. nap.

Had the power off for the storm. Will try to do better tomorrow with a blog. Sorry to have been such a goof-off. Will need to have some stuff from home to copy,

Adventures in Cobbler

Gainesville

The cobbler was finally made this afternoon. It took a long time. Every time I bake anything, I wonder why I forgot how much I dislike baking. Flour everywhere. Have to be so exact with everything. Weirdness of blending in butter, but not too much! This recipe was more forgiving than most.

It took a couple of hours, which I guess qualifies as "easy" in FC-land. I used 10 peaches, about half over-ripe, half under-ripe, and a pint of blueberries. Flavored the dough with lemon zest (since I had a lemon half-zested from the tomato-cuke salad), and the fruit mixture with vanilla. It came out rather well, I must say. There's a ton of it, though, and since it is the very definition of Low Carb Sin, I can't count on Bill for help finishing it. Looks like I know what my breakfast will be for a week or so.

After cleaning up cobbler mess, time to start dinner, some roasted zucchini, Roma, onion and mushroom slices, finished with Mozzarella and served over spaghetti squash noodles. Not bad. I ate too much.

Listened to '40's radio again while in the kitchen. I have a swing version of "Diane" (i.e., in jaunty 4/4 time) stuck in my brain. Gawd, never realized how much maudlin dreck there was during the war: Dinah Shore singing to "Captain Curly-Head of the High Chair Brigade" praying for his Daddy's safety Over There. Plus a comical one about "After We Take Berlin." (How ya gonna keep em down on the farm after they take Berlin?" How indeed.)

Didn't get anything done on my little To Do list, alas. Didn't even do much Twittering, let alone much reading, although I did find a bit more time for Everything is Misc today. Had hoped to answer a few long overdue emails and do some serious de-duping of the comics list, but cobbler consumed most of the day. Again, lining out things on the morning and evening routines helped me feel less guilty about this.

Hope you are well and continue on the mend, Mom. Miss you.

It's me bedtime now. Nighty-night.

Basics, Again

Gainesville

A back to FL basics sort of day. I actually got out my Control Journal and went through my list of Morning Routines, marking them off one by one. It's amazing what a difference that made. I got calmer, made myself do one thing at a time and finish it before going on to the next. Made myself a short to-do list, and did it all. Now working on the Bedtime Routines-- blogging is one of them.

No way was I going to attempt the fruit cobbler without adequate fruit. I made a quick trip to Publix to pick up some more peaches and Bill's low carb bread that I forgot Saturday. As always, picked up a few more things, but only things on my list. It was too late to start it today, so tomorrow for that.

Realizing I could not pack another single thing into the fridge, I just put out a large selection of leftovers. We ate enough of them that I could downsize some containers and get some breathing room in there. I need to do that more often. The Tomato Cuke salad was not on the table, though, because I wolfed down the rest of it at lunch. Oooo, that's good stuff. Might have to do that one again soon.

I've typed out the recipe for the... we'll call it quiche, which is actually what the original was called... or is Charlie the kind of Real Man who doesn't eat it? Will put it in the email when done here.

Had a jolt today when I realized I didn't really know how our phone contract covers text messages. As far as I can tell, it's 0.15 per "extra" message, but no indication of if there are any included, OR (and this is the important part) whether they charge for incoming as well as outgoing. If both, I'm in deep doodoo this month after two weeks of Twittering. I turned off the phone part until this is settled. Will definitely add a text message component to the contract.

We've been invited to another Honorary Event by the Provost, which will require ANOTHER cocktail dress! (Can't wear the same one to a party at the same house, right?) I have until June 12 to track another one down. Bleaah.

Send pix of the floor installation, Sandy, when you get a chance. Also an update on Mom would be welcome. I'm assuming that no news is good news, and that her recovery proceeds apace.

And here's a Before picture from me: this is what happens when you save an old, dried flower arrangement that includes cattails, and let it sit in the sun. More Before images to follow. They're too disturbing to publish all at once.

Go read book now.

caution

Don't make the cobbler unless you have enough (good) fruit. I made it for Ruth and Dave Wood. I had not enough not very flavorful rhubarb (and had to wing it since the mag had no rhubarb variation), and it was doughy and mediocre. I flavored the biscuit dough with cinnamon, which I didn't really like with rhubarb. Let me know how it goes, but be sure to use lotsa fruit.

Glad I got post #1000! Yes do email the taco pizza recipe. For Charlie I won't call it pizza, though. Maybe hot dish?

The floor's just started. I'll send a photo when there's something to see. Now I need to make pita, which takes about three hours. I go to Baldwin to a school at noon. My last of the school year, though I meet with all of my students on Friday.

Off to bake.

Post 1001

Gainesville

Congrats, Sand-Babe-- your short blog was Post Number 1,000 on Lotsa!! You win fabulous prizes and eternal glory!

Seems I spent most of the day wrestling with tech. My inability to mail pictures from my phone to myself turned out to be a symptom of a larger problem with the library's mail server. Once that was fixed, the pictures started coming in again. They're not very good, mainly due to my inability to be perfectly motionless, some to the limitations of the phone's camera.

But now at least I can show you a very poor image of the famous No Carb Taco Pizza. (Recipe available via email upon request.) Dunno how it will be as a leftover, as we haven't tried it yet. Too many other leftovers demanding attention. Have come to the conclusion I cook too damn much, and need to make fewer new things and serve more frequent reruns or recycles.

Tonight's dinner was something of an ordeal. For some reason I wasn't connecting the dots very well, and it just seemed like it took forever to do anything. Plus, as usual, I started too late. I made the "Chopped Tomato & Cucumber Salad with Mint & Feta" from FC 86 "Grilling for A Crowd" supplement, and it was fabulous. I halved the recipe, since it was for a crowd of two, but now I wish I'd made the whole thing so I could eat it for days. I didn't have enough Kalamatas, and I dressed the whole thing before letting it stand for awhile, to be sure that the scallions would be properly "cooked" for Bill's palate. Fabulous, yes, but quite time consuming.

I'd thawed half a pork tenderloin, but put off looking for a recipe until too late. Had to just wing it, and fully expected to be visited by the Food Police and arrested for cruel treatment of a good cut of meat, but it turned out pretty decent (garlic, fresh rosemary, Kosher salt, pepper, bit of olive oil, under the broiler). But I got the timing all wrong, and we ate at the ungodly hour of 8:15! The horror!

My plans for making a fresh fruit cobbler (from method in same FC 86) got scrapped when I realized 6 peaches weren't going to equal 8 cups, even with the addition of some blueberries. Did not have the mojo to cut the recipe down to fit available fruit. Will see what I can do with six rapidly over-ripening peaches tomorrow.

Found time to read only a few pages of Misc -- quite maddening, as it is so interesting and thought provoking. Need to allocate more time to Ze Life of ze Mind, which means cutting into Ze Life of ze Housekeepery and/or Ze Life of ze Farting Around.

It looked like Bill would actually get a full 3 day weekend until about 5:00, when he got the call. Problems with the automatic door locking. He had to go in and just wait around until after 7:00. Bummer.

The Blog misses you, Mom. Obviously.

very quick update

Mom improves apace. Walking more, looking better. Amazingly sturdy girl.

Not Quite Cinco de Mayo

Gainesville

Took some pictures today of the chaos in the Great Room. Alas, the phone is no longer willing to email pictures. Spent too much time this evening trying to get the phone to talk directly to the computer via USB cable. So far, no go. I fear I'll eventually have to call in the Big Gun for help.

The specific "pizza" Bill requested was Taco -- like they used to make at Godfather's, and for all I know, still do. I had to create this more or less from scratch. While the egg-cheese crust was baking, I made taco meat with a can of tomato sauce. When crust was cooled, spread taco meat on crust, added a thin layer of mozzarella, and baked of 10 minutes. Took it out, added quite a lot of shredded colby-jack and some chipotle cheddar. Let stand for 5 minutes, then added a large finely chopped tomato and some chopped lettuce. Very pretty! (Wish I could show you, but the above mentioned phone problem prevents it. Maybe later.) At the table, I had optional chopped scallions and sliced olives, plus salsa. Bill raved about it. I feel like I've been run over by a cheese truck, however. No want no cheese for awhile. Had Tex-Mex cole slaw with this, which also has cheese in it. Veinticinco de Mayo y dos celebration (with apologies to the Spanish speakers among us).

Got the sheets changed, but not laundered. Tomorrow for that. Had hardly any time to read, which is annoying. Did some Twittering. What's time consuming about it is not the text messaging itself, but tracking down the interesting things that people point to.

I note with regret that I never stuck my nose outside for a single minute today, and it was a fairly nice day, too. I slept til 11:00, but still not enough to make up for Friday night.

Glad to have Sandy's update and know Mom's progress is going well. I'm sure it's no fun for her, but she's a fighter with a proven record in this area. Who else among us can say that?

Probably time to take a shower and get between those clean sheets.

quick update

Nah, it was just getting up early that gave you the extra oomph to write a lot . . . . I know what you mean about being pretty useless at the beginning of the morning. We'll see if I can spell.

Mom's doing o.k. They are really pressing the exercise (that's what swing bed is all about), but they don't make her get up if she doesn't feel like it. Then they come back in an hour. She understands that she needs to keep moving, not just to restore her ability to walk, but also to restore her health. She's complaining about the food, but that's a good sign. Normally the food at RF Hosp is pretty decent anyway, but I think they have a skeleton crew on for the holiday weekend. Hope the food gets better next week. (Gee, I just had the feeling that I had a blister on the bottom of my foot -- no, it was a little "made in China" sticker.) Anyway, we are monitoring the situation carefully.

Beautiful morning after rain yesterday. Major planting slated for next weekend.

I went to Amazon and read reviews of Everything is Misc. Sounds interesting even to a relative non-techie like me. Good that Bill has a long weekend. Wish there was a way to get him to slow down a little at work.

We expect the tiler Monday (if he doesn't care about the holiday) or Tuesday. He'll start with the hardw00d-floor dining area, then do the tile floor and countertop. Expect photos.

Now coffee (yes, I've done this uncranked -- we're back to caff coffee) and the paper, then shower, then to RF to the hospital.

Missing

Gainesville

Saturday, and the start of a three day weekend for Bill-- the end of the long holiday drought. No longer matters to me, except for the pleasure of having him home one more day, and seeing him actually relax a bit. He works much too hard.

Made myself get up at 9:00, after only 6 hours of sleep. Demonstrated again that getting up early is doesn't work if I don't get enough sleep. I was pretty worthless all morning, unable to concentrate on anything. Was a little better after a half hour nap in the afternoon, but that put me behind on getting out to shop, and I skipped lunch. I should have just slept the extra hour in the morning.

Didn't find nearly enough time to read Everything is Misc. Just enough to see why everyone is so fascinated by it. Tomorrow.

Had scallops for dinner, as requested by Bill. Bay scallops for a change, and since the recipe on the tape the Publix fish counter used to seal the package sounded good, I went with it: broiled with spiced garlic butter. The recipe called for "garlic butter," but no instruction how to make it. All I knew to do was make the garlic butter we used to put on french bread growing up. I learned the hard way that it was apparently supposed to be melted, since it was impossible to "brush" it on the teeny scallops. I tossed it in the mike at the last minute, and that helped, but wasn't quite right either. Still it tasted pretty good, and Bill absolutely loved it, likewise the cat. Corn on the cob (Memorial Day is the height of corn season in northern FL) and a rather nice pre-fab Mexican salad rounded out the meal, along with some Publix-baked sourdough.

Too bad Bill doesn't like Soares garlic bread. Making that butter put me in the mood for it. I may just make some and eat it all me-self.

How are you today, Mom? I haven't heard any report, so I'm hoping for the best. Bill's mother is very concerned about you. He calls her every Saturday and talks for an hour or so. She's an MD, and so wants details about how you're doing. I hope having your laptop with you has provided some amusement. Wish there were some way we could set up a web cam so you could watch your bird feeders. I know that was a source of delight. (It certainly would be for me.)

I miss hearing from you just about every day, and I know the other Lotsa lurkers do too. Please get well soon.

Thrilled!

Gainesville

Glad to hear there is encouraging news about Mom's prognosis. Apparently all this experience pays off-- but what a ghastly price to pay for experience! Do keep us informed, Sandy. We'll all look forward to reading Mom's first post-op post.

Planned to Scooba the kitchen floor yesterday, but he suddenly decided it was time to have a 16-hour long slow charge. That put it off until today. The two-part system for doing the kitchen is working well, and it's getting faster as I get practice. The cat hates it, but I'm very pleased to have clean kitchen floors for once in my life. There's effort involved-- moving the furniture and stuff on the floors, sweeping then swiffering pre-Scooba-- but then he does his thing. Fairly minor clean-up after. The floors look better each week.

We are getting some rain, but not nearly enough. We were just getting to sleep last night when we had a 10 minute power outage. Just enough to set all the various UPS's a-peeping, and the digital clocks a-blinking once power returned. The UPS that holds up my computer failed-- not sure why yet. A test on it afterwards showed no problems. Usually the UPS allows plenty of time for an orderly shut-down of the various systems.

Got some bills written tonight. Also a good start on next week's menus. It's a 3-day weekend for Bill, and he needs it. He's working much too hard. I asked him what he'd like for meals over the holiday, and the first thing he asked for was another "pizza" with the cheese-egg crust that I made earlier in the week. I'd say that one was wildly successful! He polished off the last two leftover pieces as we sat down to a smorgasboard of leftovers-- not our usual Friday pattern, but maybe it should be: it served as the hardest part of the weekly fridge purge. He also requested "shellfish," and when pressed for his preference, scallops. Can do.

Looking forward to diving into Everything is Miscellaneous, the hot new book for those of us in the Info field. Bill has been reading it very slowly and carefully, as it is dense with important ideas. The copy I'll read is already well marked up, important points highlighted. The author is on Twitter, which is fun-- he's my "friend," I'm his "follower." Contrast this with: I'm Barack Obama's and John Edwards' friend, and they are MY followers. (The terminology of this interaction is vastly amusing to me.) They don't have much to say, though... Hillary has an account, but no posts. It will be revealing to watch who knows about it, who actually gets it, and how they use it.*

I've been learning lots of interesting things through this supposedly trivial net-thingy. Among them: I probably need a Wordpress blog account. They're pricey, but would allow me to have a web presence unrelated to UF, with a very friendly input interface.

Also: I learned about "WordCrowd," an intensely cool site that creates a word cloud-- a visual representation of word frequency in a document. If I had the above-mentioned Wordpress account, I could demonstrate the cloud it made for the "Learning History From Comics" paper I wrote for the San Diego conference two years ago. Some people use them on resumes to give an instant image of their strengths and interests. Print them up on badges for a conference! Maybe a t-shirt! (This last my own idea, although it is surely not original.)

Think maybe the 140 character limit is making me more verbose here, as a reaction. So I should stop.
---
* Hee hee -- this just in from John Edwards: " Thrilled to be in Iowa with Elizabeth and the kids…working with Iowans to support our troops and bring them home." THRILLED to be in Iowa! As who wouldn't be!

update

Surgery went o.k. The broken bone (upper end of femur, according to Charlie, who was in on everything) was splintered, but the surgeon was surprised to find that the bone quality was better than he'd expected. Metal parts installed. The surgeon said that it would be partially weight bearing, but to what extent we won't know for a couple of days. What this translates to is what her after-care will consist of. Hospital stays don't usually run more than three or four days; the question is whether she'll go to a nursing home to recover for a while or directly to a facility that does intensive therapy. If she goes to a nursing home for a couple of weeks (or more?) we hope they'll have room in Spring Valley, since it's a decent facility and only a mile from us. We could see her a lot more then, though it would be less convenient for other visitors. Still, the drive out here is beautiful this time of year. Anyway, we'll keep everyone up on this via the blog and via telephone.

She came out of the anaesthesia hoping to wake up from the nightmare and then, sadly, realized that it was real. She is not nearly as goofy as last time, though. We've told them to not give her vicadan, which made her insane. We'll be on our way to see her soon, leaving here at 7:00 a.m.

The other major news from this sector is rain. The heavens opened over River Falls during Florence's surgery (all kinds of violent storm and tornado warnings), and the storm moved on to SV soon after that. The trees are battered (lots of small limbs down) but we found no major damage either at her house or here. And it's still raining!! This is very wonderful.

O.K., my turn in the shower. More anon.

The Here and Now

Gainesville

Not even a placeholder for Mom tonight. Lotsa Flies has suddenly become a lonely place.

Good day playing with the comics. Have entered all that I know about, including a new batch of Doom Patrol that appeared out of nowhere this morning. Now begins the less-fun part: the daunting task of de-duping. We will keep 2 copies of any one comic (one being the backup). Any 3rd copy or more will need to find other homes. No way to tell this until I restructured the spreadsheet so it could be sorted. I get to look at each and every line-- 14,000+ in all, to find these. Next step will be pulling them from the 213 boxes where they currently live.

Still learning my phone/PDA thingy. It knows so many cool tricks. Bill is even able to make it take half decent pictures, such as this lovely look at our domestic chaos. I can't hold still long enough to keep things sharp. This nice sharp picture shows my relatively short coffee table stack (Including the cookbook I used today, on top) and my unfinished cup of espresso. Out of the picture on the right is four stacks of Bill's media influx, all higher than mine. Alas, I couldn't do it justice. Yet. At any rate, this is what it looks like in Chez Covey mere hours ago.

The Sweep Steak pot roast I tossed in the crock pot this morning turned out remarkably well. I took the time to make the thick gloppy gravy that Bill likes. Now the fridge overflows with leftovers: besides the roast, there's the last of the sun-dried meatloaf, the fried chicken, a huge chunk of last week's Outback steak (a special that was basted in espresso).

Well, Mom, we are all wishing you well. Bill has all kinds of questions about your condition and your care that it would never occur to me to ask (he's the son of two M.D.'s, of course). We will be keeping a close eye on your treatment and your recovery. When I met Bill in his office this afternoon, his fellow directors had heard about it, and were very concerned. They send you their best wishes too. As usual, when I told them even a little bit about you, they thought you must be one of the most remarkably spunky creatures around. And little do they know!

Get better soon. You're nothing if not a fighter. Fight on-- we're all with you.

Spot of Bother

Gainesville

Well. A call from WIRELESS CUSTOMER this afternoon brought the day to a screeching halt. Of course, that is nothing compared to the halt the event brought Mom's day to. I think we need to get her a NFL-grade football uniform, helmet and all. What team would she prefer?

Pathetic of me, making jokes. It's just to cover how worried I am. The blog just ain't the same without ya', Mom.

Whatever threads I was hoping to pick up yesterday are broken. Along with the streak of salubrious weather-- the Smoke was back this morning. Partly cloudy too, but the smoke makes such a difference-- like a visual representation of global dimming. Smoke wasn't too bad, really, compared to what we've experienced recently, but can't help but take it as a warning that this thing is not over.

Continued playing with my phone's camera, and took some pictures that were bad, but not quite as bad as yesterday's. I learned a few things from TFM, but mostly it's still a mystery. Previous phone had a much friendlier image capturer.

Morning and evening routines completed, and spent 15 minutes working on the decluttering of the study started last week. A ways to go on that project.

Planning to go to the lib tomorrow. Probably the best way to contact me is via Twitter. How strange that this would emerge as such a powerful communication medium after less than a week.

Need to sleep now.

placeholder

Just a fill-in for the Momster, who, we hope, is resting well. A traumatic day. Surgery tomorrow in the early afternoon. When we left tonight she was o.k., feeling a little queasy. Some trouble with the thumb she fell on, swollen and blue. There's a tendency to focus on the major injuries (hip) while ignoring the minor ones (cut finger, possibly busted thumb). We drew their attention to those others, and we'll see how it goes.

We'll keep you up to date in whatever media are availble to us.

Rain Lily

Gainesville

Exhausted, but in a good way. Another splendiferous day, at least in the morning. Another two circuits around the circle. If the weather were always this good, I'd never have any problems exercising. Took the phone with me, played a bit more with the camera. Enough to realize that I need to sit down and RTFM. Part of it is it's not that great of a camera, but most of it is user ignorance. (Sounds like you and I are on the same page with new cameras, Mom, except I've had mine for six months already!)

Coolest thing was while walking around the side of the house to try to photo the blooming mimosa tree, I stumbled on a beautiful little Rain Lily. I was astonished-- I'd thrown out some bulbs there about 8 years ago that I'd never gotten around to planting. One came up a year later, then nothing for at least 5 years-- I'd forgotten all about them. Finding this made me quite unreasonably happy! Here's the blurry picture of took of it.

Did 3 loads of wash (including towels) and folded a load of Bill's stuff. Also carpet-swept, this week's token Blessing (so far).

Made a really strange thing no-carb for dinner: Deep Dish Pizza Quiche. The crust (baked separately first) was mostly a mix of grated Italian cheeses and some eggs. Then topped like a regular pizza and baked again. It was astonishingly good, and Bill absolutely loved it. Pretty good spinach salad as a side. Nice to have a success after the mediocre meal last night. Speaking of which, I was able to correct the faux-spud salad at lunch today with a few splashes of vinegar and some salt.

Twittered away again today. Someone I don't know, a librarian in Santa Fe, NM, actually added me as a "friend." That was exciting. Also, the Library Leader-person disagreed with a comment I tossed off about a slick catalog front-end product. I was thrilled to be noticed!

Of course, I loved hearing Dad's take on that infamous '85 trip. It never occurred to me he would be so chagrined at the various train mix-ups. To me, it seemed what one should expect when traveling abroad. It was fun remembering all those details. Of course, he left out what was my favorite of the Paris leg: Giverny. I loved Burgos too, and remember that evening promenade very fondly. We never would have gone there but for that train mix-up.

More to say... will pick up the thread tomorrow.

A new "toy" to play with!

21.V,07 - MoM

I just copied the first part of DoD's saga of the visit in Europe of Suzy and Chris. I think it is priceless. So glad I came across it.

Not sure I could share my yard with your critters! I don't handle even the occasional garter snake well. A few weeks ago when Sidney and Bennet were here with Chris while he cut the yard she saw one in my fenced "garden." At least, I don't have to weed the flower beds anymore where there was an occasional one.

It was a great day weather-wise. It got up to 79° and I didn't notice any humidity. I'm glad you are having a few bits of good weather, Suzy, before the heat and humidity descends on you. There was a time when I loved both.

I guess I am going eat strangely tonight. (What else is different?) This morning after my tea and cookies, I had a sudden urge for a grilled cheese with halved large olive sandwich for breakfast. It tasted so good that I think I will do it more often. I used the electric grill that we bought early in our days in Shannondale. It was the first thing I ever ordered by mail. It still works great. When I was working at Berkeley Night School, I used to go up to a little sandwich place next door to the movie theater for my "dinner". Every night I had the same thing -- a grilled cheese and olive sandwich and a coke. I know it didn't cost more than a quarter. (Time out to eat.) I guess I have had the rest of my night meal. Ended up eating the bowl of "greens" plain, that I harvested from the AgraGarden, Then I had a half of a large avocado with Mandarin Oranges and French Dressing. Now, I can enjoy my gin.

I didn't get much else done today because my camera came. I thought that by getting another Olympus, I would be taking pictures as soon as I got it. I should have know that things get more complicated every model. It used to never be a problem for me, but as I have grown older I have lost my confidence. I always seem to do dumb things that mess up things.

The action at the patio feeder today was blue jays. I am going to have to have the feed tray lowered an inch or two as when there are little birds eating there, I can just barely see the top of their heads and by the time I make it out of my chair they are gone. There was a pair today that had pale heads with brown streaks. I keep my field glasses beside me, but I could not see enough of them to tell. This morning, I was ready to go out to water the deck plants when the cardinal pair decided to drink from the birdbath there. Again, the female took a good bath while the male just watched. Guess I'll send this, then spend a little more time reading about the camera.
* * * * *

This is part of a letter to Sandy and Bob, written on 22.XI.85 from Saalfelden.

For a report of the trip I will now append what DoD wrote Jim Bensen. I love it when he writes on the Computer as he gets almost as wordy as the rest of us.
"The just completed trip had its ups and downs. After traveling by train for five years in Europe, you would think we would know all the ins and outs, but a few caught up with us this time that we didn't anticipate. we went from here to Salzburg and picked up a through train to Strasbourg, our first nights stop. However, the French railways went on strike about an hour before we got to Strasbourg so we had to get off the train at Kehl, across the river in Germany. We managed to get a taxi to our hotel by carrying out bags to a hotel in Kehl several blocks away and asking them to call us a cab - there was a long line at the station and no cabs. We hoped to resume our trip to Paris the next day by train, as the strike was supposed to be a quickie. No such luck, so we had to taxi to the Airport and fly to Paris, taxi again to our Apartment-Hotel. We couldn't wait for the strike to end as we were meeting our son and oldest daughter the next day. His first trip to Europe and her first to France. We planned to take the RER to the airport but what do you know, as we were on the train platform the RER announced a sympathy strike. Back to the street and a taxi out to the Airport. The planned meeting came off OK although the plane was an hour late. We spent 10 days in Paris, longer than we would normally spend but Chris had to attend and speak at a meeting that took up most of the week. Over the weekend we took a day trip to Versailles and again messed up on the trains, too complex to describe. Florence had a ball cooking for us in the kitchen of our quarters (fresh fishk crabs and other shell fish from a huge Monoprix nearby) while the kids enjoyed eating out in French restaurants almost every night.
From Paris we went to Carcassone and enjoyed the restored medieval city. Then on to Biarritz where we spent a day then left Florence in one of her favorite hotels next day [I added this to his letter to Sandy: "me: Miramar, of course, where the room like we had was double what we had paid for the suite the last time we were there. It was high season, too. The kids stayed at the President."] while the rest of us ventured into Spain. We took the bus to San Sebastian and using a schedule given us by the Biarritz tourist bureau expected to arrive in time to pick up a train to Zaragoza. The bus station proved to be a half a mile from the train station, our Spanish is very limited, everybody said it was "close by", so we ended up hoofing it, carrying our bags, which were too heavy for such stuff. At the station we found out that the timetable given us was out of date and that daylight savings end had overtaken us - the train to Zaragoza had already left. We broke out "the unplanned for contingency plan" and took a train to Burgos instead. Great place -- as it turned out Chris wanted to go there more than Zaragoza. We much enjoyed walking around town on a beautiful fall evening and had a nice dinner. Suzy and Chris decided to take the train the next day to Barcelona while I returned to pick up Florence in Biarritz. The morning we left, the local taxis went on strike, and again a half mile haul to the station with bags. We had planned to check our bags at the station while we looked around town for a couple of more hours. No place to check bags so Suzy sat the bags while Chris and I tried to get to some ruins in the limited time left -- no luck -- ran out of time. Chris and Suzy much enjoyed Barcelona -- both the food and the town. Florence and I had been there last year. They caught the train for Nimes after an overnight stop and had time to look around there at the old Roman ruins before they took a train to Arles, where they met us. Our train was in Nimes on its way from Biarritz to Marseilles, when the kid's train arrived. We saw them get off their trains as ours pulled out so we knew they had completed their Spanish leg on schedule.

Smokeless Splendor

Gainesville

Stunningly beautiful day here: perfectly clear, light breeze, upper 70's, no humidity, and best of all, no smoke. I did the walk around the circle twice, just to breathe it all in. Lovely.

It made the trip I had to make to Publix almost enjoyable, too. I'd forgotten to get Dove Bars for Bill ( a household staple). Of course, the Dove Bars ended up costing $31 -- FL is so right about keeping the shopping to once a week if possible. Just picking up a few extra things really adds up.

Once again, I was able to Twitter while standing in Publix. Also, I took a picture with the phone, and was able to email it to myself, another first. Too bad I didn't figure this out earlier in the day: on the walk, I spotted three tiny armadillos rooting around in a neighbor's lawn. They paid no attention to me at all, and would have been easy to photograph.

Dinner was kind of an ordeal. I made the Spicy Fried Chicken from FC 86 Q&D. Mistakes were made. Had not read the recipe closely enough to realize how much oil I was going to need, and was almost out of canola. Had to use olive, which of course is not good for that kind of thing. Some of my spices were pretty old also, and I had to use skin-on drumsticks. Thought I might be able to skin them myself, but didn't have nearly enough time. A lot of the crust stuck to the pan and not the chicken, at least until I realized I needed to use a spatchala before attempting to turn them over with tongs.

The the real mistake was underestimating the time it was going to take to toss together a "simple potato salad," which I decided I just had to have with fried chicken. Ya gotta hard boil the eggs. Ya gotta steam the spuds (the part of the potato was played tonight by cauliflower). And all that chopping. All that dinking around trying to get it to taste right. I knew I shouldn't have attempted this, but do I listen to myself? Noooo... On top of everything else I had green beans that needed to be snapped. Good think I had some baseball to keep me from going crazy.

Took over three hours to get this on the table (half an hour late), and then there was the heroic mess left behind. That took another two hours. Lousy planning, poor execution. A grade of C- for me.

Good for you having Champagne this morning, Mom-- and especially for persisting even after dumping the first one. I thought you had lost your taste for it, but glad to hear you still find it festive. It sounds like you got through this day in fine style, blown fuse and all.

Need to read some-- no time for this for several days now. I've been re-reading Emma, but think I may be ready for another JA Mystery.

20.V.07 - MoM

For some reason I was more aware of this being an anniversary than usual. Next year, however, will be a milestone -- 70 years. Suddenly, when I think of it, I realize that you three are no longer "kids" although I guess I will always think of you that way.

I decided that it was a good day to go back to at least one tradition -- Champagne for breakfast (without the crab). Last year, I bought Champagne -- 4 single glass bottles. I had one last Christmas morning. I was going to have one on Mother's Day but we were going to Marty's so I decided to go wild and have it today. Each little bottle is just right to one glass. As it put down the bottle after I poured it I accidentally plinked the glass and upset it on the little table in the middle of the kitchen and all over the floor! I hadn't realized how sticky it is. Thank goodness, the glass didn't break, and even better, I still had another bottle in the fridge.

In the afternoon, I turned on the lamp by my chair in the living room and it blew. I was too dumb to realize that I had blown that stupid fuse again. Instead, I thought it was a bad bulb, then that the cheap lamp had given up. First, I tried several bulbs and all bad, then "Duh! after I moved a heavy lamp out of a corner that didn't work either, that it was the breaker. I found a buried step stool so I could reach that breaker and "threw" it. Still nothing. I remembered the last time my neighbor said something about another button to push, but I could not find one. I finally gave up and put in a call to Nate. Of course, he was able to take care of it, and I think I know the one step that I was missing. It isn't a "button" but another switch.

I talked to Kay this afternoon, and she has made a little positive progress.

I made dinner from the rest of the duck and veggies, with an Omaha "Potato au Gratin" ball. At least, I ate something. I am really going to make a super effort to fix things from my overstuffed freezers.

* * * * *

This is continuing a letter from 22.XI.85 to Sandy and Bob, from Saalfelden, Austria.

I was still a little tired from our October travels. As an alternative, I decided to forget Frankfurt, and meet DoD Tues afternoon in Munchen after he had taken Suzy and Chris to the airport, then go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (about an hour away) for a couple of nights. I was sorry that Bob Bailey did not call me during the time I had suggested but instead early Monday morning (the day I was to meet him) so I could tell him that I had had to change my plans. I do hope he will forgive me and plan to come to see us the next time he is in Europe. We have been looking forward to meeting him for several years now. You will be pleased to know that I conceived the idea, figured out train schedules and connections on my own from Cooks, and made hotel reservations for a trip to Garmisch, and traveled on my own to Munchen. (When DoD didn't arrive an the train I expected him to, I got on the one for Garmisch and was going on alone as per plan, then expected him to come later. It turned out that he had taken an earlier train and had been walking around and waiting to catch our Garmisch train. I was really happy to see him get on that train.) I know that kind of planning and travel is old hat to you, but it is progress for me. Really did miss having DoD to rely on, however.
I have not said a lot about my broken toe. It did not seem easy to explain to Bob Bailey on the phone how I really did it so I told him I did it on a chair leg. The truth is that I broke it on the bidet! I was taking off a sock while standing on one leg holding on to the wash basin and I guess I got my foot above the bidet and somehow hit the 4th toe. Not easy to do. Since I have had a number of broken toes, I bandaged it to the other 2 and got along okay but was uncomfortable for a while when I had to put on shoes or boots. Gave me the most trouble at night in bed so finally had to use elastic tape on toes and foot. Healed pretty fast.

[This is a little short, but seems a good place to stop for tonight, as what follows is quoted from a good letter DoD wrote to Jim Benson that I think you (Suzy and Chris) especially will enjoy. Not often you get his "take" on things.]

Can't Sit Down

Gainesville

Got the food thing done: menu plan, fridge purge, shopping, dinner. All went pretty well.

Dinner was a basalmic glazed fish (tilapia), Edamame, and a pineapple/ cantaloupe/ strawberry salad. Now I need something to do with a bunch of fresh strawberries, most not quite ripe. Maybe I can freeze them for smoothies, or make a granita, or something else. Help.

The smoke drifted in and out, but not too bad. They've had to cancel the White Springs Folk Festival for the first time ever, because the big fire (named "Bugaboo") is still threatening the park north of here where it is held. We went once about ten years ago and heard Tony Rice -- had a lovely time. Sad to think that it won't happen this year.

Continued Twittering today, and managed a post from my phone while waiting at the Publix fish counter. A great step forward in bonding with my phone, aka Pocket PC. Whether it is a step forward in retaining sanity in a phone-obsessed culture is another matter.

Nice to hear about your bird sightings, Mom. Once you get your new camera, you can post pictures of them.

Thanks for news of Kay. Hope her recovery is swift and relatively painless. She's had a hard go of it.

It was fun hearing about our last night in Europe 1985. I had forgotten the name of the town we stayed at outside of Frankfort -- Mannheim, of future Steamroller fame! Thanks for doing that logistical stuff for us. As I remember, it was a pleasant hotel and a very painless train ride to the FF airport the next morning.

Spent some time tonight working on a list of favorite rock songs. Stephen King posted a list of his in a recent Entertainment Weekly, and it got me thinking of songs that, when I hear them, I can't sit down-- I have to get up and dance! It was easy to come up with 24 of them. The hard part is dealing with the ones that keep coming to mind since, and deciding which will make the cut. The FUN part is having all these wonderful songs in my head, and planning what it will take to get them all into my iPod.

But now I'll try to banish them all from my head so I can not only sit down, but lie down and sleep, perchance dream, even.

Quite warm and sticky tonight. Summer is here!

19.V.07 - MoM

Took it easy again, today, and now I think I might be ready to get back in the swim again tomorrow.

As Kay got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon, I had ordered flowers delivered to her this morning at home, but before they got to her, I was surprised by two huge, beautiful bouquets from them. One was a belated Mother's Day as our florist doesn't deliver after Saturday morning on weekends when she tried last weekend. The other one was for May 20th. That was really a surprise. I called her but she wasn't up yet, so she called me back mid-day. That was a very long call. It was a rough surgery she has been through and will take a while to recoup.

The call to Thea was good and she heard and understood everything I said. She mentioned phone calls from both of you girls. It is good that she has someone to take some of the care off of Gracie.

I am looking forward to getting my new camera during the coming week -- I hope. They cancelled the case and extra picture "card." It was coming from an outside source. I am going to try to order it online from a amera store in a 'burb' the Cities where I have shopped in the past.

I think I got a flash of an oriole leaving the feeder this morning. Later, the pair of cardinals came by. I was delighted to watch them drink from the bird bath that Charlie had moved for me, and then the female took a serious bath! I also had a hummingbird eating there today. I am not at my desk or in the kitchen enough to progress the original feeders. One of the baskets I bought is supposed to be a great lure for hummers, so I won't try to keep food for them at the deck, as the squirrels, or something, have discovered how to drain it completely in record time.

I harvested some of my "garden greens" this afternoon. I have them "cooling" in the Fridge as that seems to crisp them. I have lots of cherry tomatoes the size of a good sized Blueberry in the AgroGarden. Tumbling Tom is loaded with blooms and little ones should be forming there soon. It is still rather cool for them. It was perfect weather in the mid-70's this evening but it has turned very humid. As dry as it is, I'm glad I have the sprinklers. Rita called today to ask about my sprinkler company. They have had to put in all new grass as the drought has killed theirs. They are going to see if they can get a free estimate. I have a feeling that the cost may cool their interest.

How did I manage to do a whole page and I haven't even started on a letter I found this afternoon.

For some reason, I am exhausted and anxious to get to bed. Loved the take of the problems meeting Bill.

* * * * *

This is a letter from 22.X.85 to Sandy and Bob.

Dear Sandy and Bob,
Hey! Let's us both get better about writing letters. Wrote this yesterday and before I got it in the mail, the letter and most welcome check from you came today! I thank you, and I am sure DoD thanks you. too. He is taking his nap and has not seen it yet.) I have been having a hard time getting back on track since our trip. Chris worked out how to use the language disc they copied for me at Computerland and I want to spend all my time at the computer working on that. I have managed to wipe out my couple of hundred words of vocabulary and the program several times, but still have enough backup copied to be able to start again. It is so much easier on my tired brain than trying to write necessary letters. And now, it is already time to start the Christmas letters! Got up at 2:30 a.m., a couple of nights ago when I could not sleep and got the basic letter started. Having a hard time deciding on what picture to use for the card.
I felt so badly that I could not get together with Bob Bailey. I did not think to invite him for the weekend when he called on Thursday night and with DoD gone it might have been a little strange. Friday morning, I walked down to the train station and made train reservations for Monday morning as I was to meet Bob in Munchen and we were to ride to Frankfort together. That is a busy corridor and I wanted to make sure we could find seats together, I had suggested he call back either Saturday or Sunday night to confirm the plans. Friday afternoon I called the Intercontinental in Frankfurt (800 rooms) for reservations for DoD and I, only to find that they were fully booked. Then I called a more moderate hotel DoD had chosen for Chris and Suzy and found that they were full for theh, too, and they told me there was a big trade fair on. By then I had decided it was not practical to keep phoning places in Frankfurt, especially having to find three rooms in a hotel, so decided to change my plans. I was able book the three of them into a very modest hotel at the train station in Mannheim (about 1 hour away from FF) and decided to skip the long day for me to get there. I would have had to make several train connections. By then, too, I was having 2nd thoughts about our plans to go on to Den Haag for a couple of days after leaving them at the airport. Since it was at the end of our Eurail passes, we would have had to make the complete return trip from there in one long day (To be continued!)

Tersiness

Gainesville

The smoke tried to make a comeback today, but mostly failed. Tolerably breathable air most of the day.

Spent three hours with the comics (my favorite title: "Fish Police"), but didn't quite finish the batch that came in from the church donor earlier this week.

Did not rush to meet Bill before the Witching Hour (5:00) when the elevators no longer will stop at the 5th floor where the Admin offices are. I have to call him, and he has to come fetch me up. I dawdled over a cappuccino while trying to set my phone up to do text. It didn't work. Eventually I realized that nothing requiring the network was working-- including the PHONE! I had no way to contact Bill to tell him where I was. No luck trying to call him from the Circ Desk; just got his voice mail. No luck trying to get the security guard (who knows me) to get me past the elevator security-- he didn't have his card, and the one he borrowed from the Circ Desk didn't work. And his cell phone didn't work right either. I prowled between the first and second floor, connected by an escalator, for over an hour, hoping to catch him when he finally came down.

He confirmed the phone was fubar, then showed me the simple trick of resetting it with the stylus. D'oh! It's easy to get all too reliant on these gizmos, and have no plan B when they get notional. A good object lesson.

I continue to find Twitter fascinating. There is something very Zen about it, the focus on what you are doing NOW. And the limit of 140 characters is a challenge. The very terseness ("tersiness"?) of it draws attention to how many more words I use than are required. It's the length of a haiku with an average of about 8 letters per word. An excellent discipline.

Mom, working several hours in the afternoon sounds like a good plan for you. Spend the morning hours with TV, papers (crosswords, comics, etc.). Nap as needed. Hey, it sounds like a good plan for ME, and in fact, that's approximately what I'm doing most days.

Tomorrow: Well. Not prepared. Saturday is the day to get food for the week planned. The fridge is un-purged, meals are unplanned.

A couple of desperately overdue emails on deck also. Perhaps I should consider getting some sleep.

2nd try to post this

17.V.07 - MoM

Tonight is generally considered the last chance of frost, but it is usually earlier. I was not sorry that I took in the 5 "baskets" (3 new yesterday) and I had a low of 31.5°. They probably would have made it but why take a chance.

Tonight, I had a most excellent dinner from the duck breast, wild rice (with cranberries), and steamed veggies from Lake Elmo lunch yesterday.

I don't seem to accomplish much in the morning what with newspapers, etc. Lately, I seem to finally start working for several hours in the afternoon. Today, I really had to get with it as I had accumulated quite a few plants that were in the sunroom needing planting. It was quite warm in the there so I changed to a very summer dress and got to work. It was bug and beeless on the deck and as the afternoon went on my work area became shady and a perfect temperature. I managed to wrestle a couple of big tubs filled with dry dirt from the sunroom to work on out there. The new coiled hose (a bonus from the sprinkler system) that is always on was a big help. It is buried in a box flush with the deck. I still have some more to plants and also will be buying some more for the many pots I have. I must look for herbs since all of mine died last fall. Some of those pots I had had for as long as 10 years.

I have tried to contact Chris by phone and e-mail every day since Tuesday, but no answer. I am sorry I had not found out where the surgery was to be done. All I can do is hope that it all went well.

A bit tired (or should I say lazy) to look up what to copy next. Will try to get back to it tomorrow.

Weather is conducive to good sleeping and no time for naps today, so hope for another good night. Wish I could send you some of this good air!

Smoke and Mirrors

Gainesville

Apologies in advance for this barely comprehensible post.

Head exploding. Long day of work with the comics. Couple hundred new ones arrived as a gift since I'd last been in. All in mint, some sealed, but many dups. Gift to a church, probably from a comics shop; church was embarassed by them.) Most of the time spent sorting, some with data entry. Saw the new place where comics will be housed-- about the same as now, but more remote from the public reading space. No funds. Ah God, there is so much to be done here. Do I really want to commit so much time and energy to a garden that is mostly weeds?

Lunch with Barbara. Tacos at Ashley's. She is about to go off on yet another cruise, with another subset of her kids/grandkids. Talk of Burger Death vs Micky-Dee breakfasts sets off the Update. The question I should have asked: How is John? was answered in staggering detail. Film at 11.

Continue playing with Twitter. Now have a Friend to help explore. Things keep spinning faster-- have to keep moving closer to the center (where supposedly it is still) just to avoid falling off entirely. Which sometimes seems like a good idea.

Got up in time this am to toss stuff in the crock pot to make Sausage and Cabbage Soup. Nice to come home to food ready to go, and reasonably unladen with industrial waste.

It was smoky again today. The fires are far from out, and the amount of particulate in the air changes by the minute, but mostly... not good. Hate to say this, but breathing all this smoke makes me want to light up a cigarette or two-- I mean as long as I have to breathe smoke, why not add some good stuff to the mix... No! No! Geez, it's true: I'll always be a recovering smoker, never an ex-smoker, let alone a non-smoker.

Glad to hear you northern Flies had such a good day. Nice to know somewhere the air is clear and people are out and about and breathing freely.

Busy and productive day!

16.V.07 - MoM

Looking for forward to bed tonight, as I have had a busy day. Since I was collecting my garbage for Charlie to add to theirs I decided that I had better really do a serious purge of the Fridge. They were due at about 10 or 10:30, and they were going to put the fountain together again to see if I would work correctly. Charlie's dental appt was moved up, so Sandy and we left for the shopping we were going to do. I wanted to make sure I had the garbage ready. The hydrator was a swampy mess that had to put down the disposal, and be scrubbed out. I really "serioused up" with dumping all the old stuff in the rest of the fridge. (Sunday, before leaving for Marty's, I was looking for something on the bottom of my little bag that holds my extras and turned up some Easter candy and the hard boiled egg with my name on it that Ruth Wood used as place cards! Luckily, it was still in tact!! I also got all except the oversized crock pot off the large table in the messy sunroom. After the living room remodel, there was no place for it. It is probably going to be relegated to the "barn" for now. It needs some repairs to do its expanding tricks.

Sandy and Charlie were coming in separate cars, so he had gone to his earlier appointment and we took off for points west. Since it was approaching 11 and to avoid waiting as they can be busy, we headed for Lake Elmo, to a nice restaurant. After a good lunch, it was time to hit Kowalskis. The first thing I spotted was a darling garden birdbath. It was surprising inexpensive and I was looking for one for the patio. I had talked of moving the heated one (unplugged for summer) to the patio for the summer as I have one on a post on the deck. I thought Charlie had gotten the word that I had changed my mind about moving it as it was nailed down. I was going to leave it so I was surprised to find it in the patio when we got home. No problem, as I had been interested in having one in my front yard bird center/large flower bed. The new one looks perfect there -- much better than it would have any place else.

After our grocery shopping, we went by a nursery and I got 3 large planted mixed flower pots and a batch of bedding plants to fill pots for my bedroom deck. I'll be busy planting during the next few days. When the news came on tonight, there was a warning about the chance of frost tonight! So, I lugged the 3 planted pots and my Tumbling Tom into my room for tonight. It is going to warm up tomorrow, but those pots cost money, so I didn't want to take a chance. It was easier than trying to cover them tonight. I didn't even wear a coat today. Strange weather.
I haven't seen as many birds as usual lately. I have huge grackles living up in the woods that have been at the feeders. While I was gone today they ate an entire suet cake. I think they have been raiding nests, too. I see a huge rabbit running around in the patio right now -- it raises its families under my bedroom deck.

With no naps I am looking forward to a good night like I had last night. Haven't heard from Chris yet. I think he is probably staying with her.

* * * * *

Tonight, is the rest of the letter from Chris of 10/6/87. This part was dated: 13/87 to us while we were in Saalfelden.

Garden has been a booming success this year, particularly tomatoes.
Am over the 150 lb mark (it seems). Put up a couple dozen pints of sauce and have dried about a gallon's worth. Fortunately the cucumbers were slow so there wasn't a lot of pickling to do (I did none this year), just gave some away. I still have a lot left from last year which I dump out when I need jars -- they aren't crisp. So, I'll try again next year. Cantaloupes were good as usual, and I even managed one 16 lb watermelon. It was seedless, too, but not as sweet as the regular ones -- I guess that's why they call them "Triple Sweet," etc. I have one more smaller one I haven't tried yet. I trucked it to Hatteras with me, but didn't eat it there, so trucked back home again. I gambled and planted lettuce in August and for once that paid off big so I've got real nice lettuce now and have for several weeks now. I hope it will last into December. Potatoes are ok, not greatly abundant, but good. I've ½ a row left to dig.
I mentioned Hatteras -- I've been down twice this fall, once last month and then again last week (in between dates of this letter) like last year. First time I got 48 fish, but this time 28 blues, mostly in the 2-3 lb range (one over 3 lb, biggest game fish I ever caught). Also, got four 5 lb sharks [did read that correctly ???] which are some of the biggest fish period I've ever caught. Cleaned up they amounted to 25 lbs, so now the freezer is pretty damn full, between tomato stuff and blue fish. And I'd still like to go back over Thanksgiving…. Guess I could use the smoker on the next batch. There was a nice article on the Outer Banks in the Natl. Geographic -- hope you saw it. Doubt if you'd recognize Nags Head. Fortunately Hatteras Island has changed less, and the beach, of course, not at all. I really don't mind reading long letters (I know I sure write them!) Take care, hope you are well, Love, Chris.

Twittering

Gainesville

I broke down and watched Sense & Sensibility on videotape this afternoon. The only working VCR is built in to the little kitchen TV, so I sat in the kitchen and watched it, an odd experience. It was good to see it so soon after reading the book-- easy to compare, and see what a good job Emma Thompson did with the screenplay. Obviously a lot had to be left out to keep it at 2 hours, but I found the only omission I thought seriously damaged the story was Willoughby's explanation of his behavior to Elinor while Marianne was ailing. His character was incomprehensible without that.

Anyway, it was very enjoyable. Took a break about halfway through to swiffer the floors (a token Blessing), but other than the usual daily routines, did not do much.

Made crab cakes for dinner. They turned out well, held together and looked pretty-- they just didn't taste all that good to me. Undoubtedly it had to do with the inferior pasturized crab. I think next time I will try some frozen Dungeness and see if that works better. Steamed Brussels sprouts with pecans was the side. Watched baseball while doing the boring food prep (B. sprouts and fresh bread crumbs, etc.) and ended up watching the Marlins whump the Pirates, which was fun.

Plan is to go into the Lib tomorrow, after having skipped a whole week. Hope I can pick up the threads again. Part of the problem is I'm not sure where we should go from here, and there is a lack of focus and direction at present. Working so little, I'm not in a position to provide it, really. They should have a new Chair of that department soon, and perhaps that will help.

I need to start a crock pot before leaving, so that will make for a hurried morning. If I can just get up at a decent hour, it's entirely do-able. But that's a very big If.

Anyone out there Twitter? I just set up an account today. Not much fun without some Twitter-pals.

Speaking of twittering, seems to me like you see lots of neat birds, Mom. I would love nothing better than to see a real Oriole! We see cardinals frequently (they're hard to miss) but not much else. Of course, we don't put anything out to encourage them, either.

Enjoyed Chris' letter about the bowling statistics. He certainly was/is the Uber-Geek-- all those details for each and every frame! I hope Kay's procedure went okay and has good results.

Gonna read for a bit then bag it.

From summer back to spring overnight

15.V.07 - MoM

We really are having rollercoaster weather. After our 90° yesterday, it barely got to 60° briefly. It was back to slacks, turtleneck and sweatshirt. I even had the fireplace on for a short time mid-day while I took my 2 back to back 15-minute naps in my chair. I had the worst night sleep-wise in a long time. I was not in a lot of pain, but just wide-awake. I put on the summer comforter last night but will be back to the heavier one tonight.

Even though I had read the AeroGarden instructions about "pruning" my tomato plants I misunderstood and trimmed the wrong branches but so far I am keeping them going but I'm not sure for how long. However, some of the many blossoms are now teeny tiny tomatoes. I am going to order a new seed kit to have on hand if these don't work. My Tumbling Tom on the deck is blooming like crazy. I need to look closer to see if any have set yet.

I can hardly wait for my camera to arrive! I haven't had any e-mail progress on it from Amazon since they let me know they had my order. I will be inspired to take pictures again. I am not having flocks of birds but I do not spend a lot of my time intently watching the feeders. This morning, I happened to see an oriole at the grape jelly at the front feeder, and just a little while ago, a humming bird at the patio feeder. Sandy and Charlie have a lot more birds with all of their woods.

I couldn't refer to my washing as Mt Washmore, but decided that I might as well take care of the 2 little "hills" I had. It gave me enough of a push to decide I would start on the 2+ foot collection of stuff on the ironing board in the hall of my bedroom. It is now completely clear, but I do have one grocery sack that I added to the major mess on and around the cocktail table and sofa in there to sort next session.

I expect to sleep tonight. Sandy and Charlie are coming by tomorrow to do some more on my fountain. Charlie has a dental appointment and Sandy and I are going to shop for plants.

I have a call in to Chris to see how Kay did with her surgery. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't spend his night at the hospital.

* * * * *

I am trying to get back to copying stuff from the past as my days, in general, are so dull I need something to spark them. This is a letter from Chris, dated 10/6/87, Tue aft - 13/87

Dear Mom and DoD,

Please accept usual protestations of guilt for not writing sooner. Nothing is really new, so there's been no real urge. Now it's bowling season again and I'm at the before-bowling bar awaiting for the rest of my team. It's a new team only one that I've bowled with before -- they're all associated with the big NBS complex, so we're called the Five Mega Flops (a flop is jargon for floating-point operation). We’re doing really well so far although I have only had one good week so far. What's new this year is that after ignoring them for 10 years, I've gone statistics crazy. I've created two data bases: One with games, dates & lanes only and the other a frame-by-frame record of what I've done this year. This last one is the most interesting -- I keep lane, where I stood on 1st ball, where the ball hit, the pins left, a classification code to identify splits, what 2nd ball I used (I've started using a lighter 2nd ball sometimes -- a house ball!), and what I leave after 2nd ball, and if a miss, what side. This info only takes a few seconds a frame to record, and so far, after 12 games has yielded some interesting results. Can't tell what it's done to my bowling yet. For the 12 games I am averaging what I've averaged over the last 10 years: 175. I've got about all the games I've bowled in that league (over 800) in the first data base I mentioned, and the conclusion I've reached after analyzing it is that there has no general improvement or otherwise. I've bowled as many games over 200 as under 175. A very symmetrical distribution. All this helps me take the long view whenever I do particularly bad. Enough on bowling.

What Is

Gainesville

Love the pictures of Ben's bed (Marty, the only answer to making a bed like that is to get him a sleeping bag) and Sandy's kitchen-- looking good indeed. It always amazes me how people in my own family can make long term remodeling dreams come true. Me, I never acquired the knack. I tend to live with what I'm given, then watch it sink under the inevitable accumulation of clutter.

Thanks for the details of Marty's feast. It sounds fabulous. I've been entranced with that issue of FC . It arrived Saturday, but somehow managed to get water damaged before the rains came-- back cover is ruined. Lots of interesting stuff in there. I wish there had been pictures, but the images in the mag are a pretty good surrogate.

I made a strange meatloaf tonight that included a lot of sun dried tomatoes and their packed-in oil. Very messy prep (and a sloppy mis en place on my part) -- and the recipe didn't include an oven temp, I realized late in the process. I had to drop everything and do a bit of meatloaf research. It came out pretty well, for all of that. Fauxtaytoes were definitely easier with the newnon-leaking Cuisinart right there on the counter.

Many loads of wash (sheets, towels, whites) were accomplished, but not much else. Happily, the smoke was not in evidence here today, and by evening, it was actually quite pleasant outside. However, the fires are not out, and the drought is far from over. Just a brief break, really. The rainstorms were spotty, floods in some areas, nothing but lightning starting still more fires in others.

I did finish Sense and Sensibility, with too much sensibility on my part: many tears in various places toward the end. Happy tears. Now I'm anxious to see the film again, which I only have on videotape. I really should replace it with a DVD.

I really should go to sleep now: it's nearly 2:00 AM.

Warm today cool tomorrow! Crazy

14.V.07 - MoM

I am starting this in the late afternoon as there is a good chance that we may have some rocky weather this evening and again later tonight according to the report so I may have to be unplugged. It is 87° and muggy. My arms are sticking to the computer. I guess I should turn on the AC but I hate the noise the fan makes. The area needs rain, of course, but thank goodness I have sprinklers to protect my yard investment. I going to use my summer comforter tonight. Oops - I was going to cool my bedroom, but the winter covers are still on the window and wall AC units. The local weather report calls for 52° tonight, high tomorrow of 66° and low if 41° so it shouldn't be a problem. It was 91° in The Cities today. Crazy. Just checked your weather and is much like ours today. Is it still smoky?

That picture of 4 generations of females was a spur of the moment quickie. I was sitting too far back and scrunched, no chance to comb my hair (I am way overdue for a haircut) and I don't think I am as fat as I look (I weigh around 140, compared to 165-70 when I was seriously trying to lose during the 1970-1988 period.)

I though I had mentioned Ben's big boy bed, earlier. I had seen them on home TV shows and think it is a neat idea, but I would hate to try to make it as the ladder is fixed near the head of the bed. There is only one bed and up in the air, with open space under for a desk or whatever.

I didn't get a lot done today. However, I did manage to get a note and a card to my cousin Fred for his Thursday birthday. I used to think it was awful that it cost something like 50 cents to mail letters to Europe. A few more years at the rate we are going we are going to get there.

Back to an easy dinner tonight -- Schwan's chicken pie. How lazy can I get. Ordered two more cases of Boost from the drug store today. T'aint cheap -- that will cost me about $85.00 for 48 cans.

Dinner is over and now I can enjoy my gin. Kay goes into the hospital for some serious surgery tomorrow on her spine. She called and has an errand to do in Hagerstown, so is going to call me when she gets back later tonight. She is worried about this one. It will keep her in the hospital for longer than usual. I hope this will finally give her some relief. Tomorrow, I hope to get back to letters or notes. Tired tonight.

rain dance

Water coming from the sky? How can that be? We have had a few episodes of about fifty drops (I woke in the night, ecstatic -- thunder, rain . . . pitty pat pat pat pat, period). We are watering as much as we dare. Early spring crops are suffering in dry August heat. 90 degrees today. High winds, the look of looming storms, but NOAA gives only 50 percent chance, when even 80 per cent has brought us (as Ben would say) nuffing. I hung up clothes this morning, two loads, and it was like putting them in the dryer. The heat and wind dried everything in less than an hour. How wonderful it must have been in Gainesville. Actual rain! Hope you get more.

Anyway, I want to rush into print to give details of Marty's lovely luncheon yesterday. She made the bean/tomato bruschetta from the new FC (26a), as well as the butter lettuce salad on 48. Both were excellent choices, beautifully executed. Both will go straight into my repertoire. She also made an onion tart based on Julia Child, but varying from the recipe: it was made with vidalias (available in town from the shriners -- I hope I run into some, since our onions from last summer have finally bitten the dust) which she caramelized for an hour, cream (and other things, but no cheese, a brilliant choice), and a star pattern of asparagus. It was beautiful, perfect crust, delicious. We should have taken a picture. And dessert was her home-made strawberry-mango sorbet. All washed down with champagne. Brava, Marty!

Here's Ben's bed:

He's very proud of this loft. Marty says it's a bitch to make, though.

The kitchen continues. Here's my bread-making board, now complete (still no drawers):

As you see, it's lower than the rest of the island. Perfect for kneading and rolling out. I am most pleased with it; it was christened with a batch of whole-wheat pita a few days ago. Charlie is working on drawers (still with temporary fronts) as we speak.

One more kitchen image. The goal is to have the counters as clear as possible, so here's the breakfast nook:

This works great! Charlie's idea, and an excellent one.

Quick garden report. What's in: peas, beginning to climb the chicken wire; broccoli, transplants we grew, and very good looking, I might add; garlic planted last fall, now quite large; purchased transplants of cabbage (early and late) and one more attempt at cauliflower (all previous attempts have failed, but we've never tried it in this particular garden); onions; leeks; a few radishes (daikon and French breakfast); seeds for scallions (an experiment); kale (new crop); fennel (just today, some home-made transplants, some seeds). My experimental wild arugula, cilantro, dill bed (meant to reseed itself year after year) , now in its second year, is up, weedy, but has a lot of little plants of all three things. And I guess that's it. We are mulching exclusively with straw (as opposed to plastic or hay), and we'll see how that goes. Much less of a hassle than plastic, we believe.

Anyway, that's it for the moment. Thanks again, Marty!

Mom's Day

Gainesville

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

What a great image! Three Moms and four daughters. I love it! Mom-- look what you started! :-) And I think having this be an annual celebration is a swell idea. Nice of Nate to think of it.

Julia, I have to ask, what's with the Cal sweatshirt? Something Sandy brought you back from a recent visit? I so rarely see anyone besides myself wearing the blue and gold.

Mom, you mentioned Ben's bed-- did I miss something? Do tell.

The strangest thing happened today. Large globules of water fell from the sky! First just a few big ones just kicking up a lot of dust (we've seen these before) but they just kept coming and coming, and ... pretty soon everything was WET outside, and the frogs were screaming in ecstasy, and even some otherwise sedate people were tempted to get out of their cars and dance around in the Home Depot parking lot, had they not been restrained by their more sensible companions.

Yeah, it rained today. Probably enough to wash the soot out of the air locally, possibly enough to at least slow down the fires. But not nearly enough to revive the parched and dying landscape. A number of days like today will be required before things get back to swampy normal here. But it was wonderful. The drive from the Tower/Archer Road Publix home was crazy and scary, but hard not to rejoice at the same time. We need this rain so bad.

We were out in search of filters for the AC, as the smoke has overwhelmed ours, and we're out of backups. Glad he was driving in the driving rain instead of me.

Food shopping with Bill is always such a treat, as we come home with the strangest things: Newman-O's (Paul Newman Oreo cookies) and Natural Cheetos (the very definition of oxymoron). He picked out the sushi, and spotted some frozen bacon wrapped scallops, so the two of them made up tonight's main course. I let him pick out vegetables; he chose carrots and Brussels sprouts. Made Sandy's Carrots as a side, and since I had to have something green, I sliced some tomatoes and sprinkled them with olive oil, Kasseri cheese and parsley. Pretty strange meal! The scallops were fine, although the "fancy wooden picks" burned under the broiler. Now I want to try wrapping scallops in bacon myself and see how that goes.

Clean sheets tonight. Yay, me, getting the routine Sunday Blessing done. Kitchen is at the ready, sink shined. Now to enjoy more of the last 100 pages or so of Sense and Sensibility for the

Very.
First.
Time.

And then to bed. G'nite.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz




And if you are still reading, a bonus track:

The highlight of the trip to the Tower/Archer Publix was finally finding Ben & Jerry's Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream ice cream.

And a confession that Jane Fonda's appearance last week has warped my inner world-- a whole new meaning for the lyric "You known you want to do the Jane Fonda."

Oh, I do.

Good hosting by Nate and Marty!

13.V.07 - MoM

Today was delightful. Marty had a "Mother's Day brunch with very good food, and Champagne. Nate suggested that she should make it an annual happening, and we all agreed.

Ben's bed is great. Nice to have the open space open under it. He goes up and down that ladder full speed. His memory is really something else. I don't remember hearing a little kit who could talk that fast.

When school is out Julia is going to copy my 2500 iPhoto pictures to CDs. I am always afraid my computer will crash and I'll lose all of them. I have lost many from my earlier ones. I should try to edit them, but when I have tried, it has taken me an inordinate amount of time to get rid of just a few. The program is running so slow, it takes forever to do anything with them. My camera is also running very slow. I ordered the new one last Friday and I am sorry now I didn't pay to put it on fast delivery, although they are usually good about getting things out quickly.

Sandy and Charlie came by on the way this morning. They set up the deck fountain. It is going to need a little more work on the top basin that isn't keeping its water regurgitating. Tomorrow, it's back to my bedroom mission, I hope. And, I also want to pot a few of the flowers I bought on my last shopping trip.

I didn't take my walker today and got along fine without it. Even before I broke my hip, I needed an arm to get up their first outdoor step as it is not a normal height. The inside steps I tromped right up like a "normal" person, today.

I haven't had any news on your fires since about 9:30 a.m., so haven't heard the latest about them. I had heard about the closing of a couple of highways in Florida yesterday, but on Sunday afternoon, my usual news programs aren't on. I will catch up again tomorrow.

I am very sleepy and since I was awake a lot during the night. I am going to try to get to bed early tonight. It's time I found a new closing line of my blogs. Tomorrow, I am going to start doing this earlier so I can copy from the Europe letters, or find some more "daily" stuff. Will be turning up more as I continue to work on my bedroom.

I










* * * * *

Bloggus Interruptus

Gainesville

Actually, I got as far as the "Gainesville" above last night. Not sure what happened after that, but I found it on the computer screen this morning.

The smoke continues to be off-and-on dreadful. This morning it was fine when we woke up, but by noon it was horrible, and nauseating to be outside. We have a couple of indoor air filters. Usually Bill cleans them every 3-4 weeks, but lately it's been every day. As for face masks, they just don't work for smoke; the particulate is too small, so they are not recommended unless you are in the immediate area of an active fire with large pieces of ash.

Parts of I-75 (the way outta here north) and I-10 (east-west from Jax to Tallahassee) are closed. This is scary.

I have not wanted to go outside to do anything. Didn't go into the Lib yesterday as planned, didn't go out to shop today. This left me to concoct a Plan B dinner out of nothing at all-- and a very sour one it was. I took the remains of the Chipotle port roast out of the freezer and did it in the Tangy Pork sloppy joe-type recipe we love, a sweet and sour butter sauce. Fine-- but paired up with saurkraut, it was was a bit much. I should have done something with some mushrooms I had on hand, but imagination failed me.

I have been compulsively reading Sense and Sensibility -- realized as soon as I picked it up that I'd never actually read it! After seeing the wonderful movie, I'd bought a used paperback and started it, but was unwilling to invest the time to get past the long exposition. Now I'm about 2/3 through it, and can hardly bear to put it down. There is so much wonderful detail and verbal embroidery that a film could never hope to capture, that it doesn't matter at all that I know how it will all come out. And of course, I have the indelible images of Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant to populate my imagination with how the principals look, and the gorgeous cinematography for the settings, plus the biographical details from the Jane Mysteries to further enhance the "aesthetic bliss" (Nabokov's phrase) of this particular read. And thanks to the film, the cottage at Barton does NOT have to be some variation of the layout of our house on Oregon Avenue, as dwellings in most books do.

Just read what I wrote. Oh. Been wondering what I've been up to these past few days, and now I know. And probably I'll keep reading until my eyes fall out or fall shut with a crash, as they apparently did last night.

How's the fire situation up there? Is there any place that isn't either on fire or under water, or flattened by tornadoes? Probably-- they just don't get the headlines these days.

Broken glass and a stuck mouse on the floor-- eeek! I'll say that was an eventful day yesterday, Mom! I'm proud of you for still getting some decluttering done. I hope your new camera suits your expectations and needs. And that we all get to enjoy your colorful birds. Posting pictures to the blog is really simple, once you have them on your hard drive. My problem? The camera-computer interface.

Back to the Dashwood Saga.

11.V.07 - MoM

My Saturday TV watching does not include as much news as during the week so I am not current on what your smoke conditions are, Suzy. I hope that the worst is over. Our dry weather continues and we were in the low 70s today. Early this morning, with a summer nightgown and the winter down comforter, I was actually cold so put on a flannel granny gown and turned on the mattress pad for a little while. Might just be my old age metabolism acting up.

I managed a token (15 min.) baby step in my bedroom today -- a small box to sort and found a fun DoD picture. I must learn how to add such things to the blog. I also had to take time to do a couple of things that I hate -- cutting my fingernails and the worst -- cutting my toenails. Both are so tough that they are very hard to cut even with the heavy duty toenail snipper. This time, I soaked my feet and hands first (not at the same time) and it was a little easier. Hard to twist my old bones to get them to the proper level to cut. It was time again to put color on my toenails. Will probably have to redo them as the nail polish I came up with was getting thick and dry. I know I am too old to wear thong sandals in summer. However, my feet are not gnarly so I am going to be comfortable. Unless, it gets too hot, I may wear my FL shoes around the house but currently, my feet are so happy to be let out in the open air again.

I am so looking forward to the new camera. When I see something like the indigo bunting at the feeder (as I did today), it is too tiny to see in a picture without a zoom.

With this good sleeping temp, I am looking forward to bed. However, as it is not a good radio night, in case I am not sleeping, I will hope for the best if it is a sleepless night.

* * * * *

This is a continuation of a letter from Saalfelden to Sandy and Bob, on 6.I.07 about the pie crust disaster, etc.

Rosie's pie crust recipe was for 2 cups of flour to ¾ cups of shortening. I researched many cookbooks and thought I was really going to have a winner even tho that was more shortening that the rest called for. What a disaster!!!! There was no way I could get it to roll out without going into a jillion pieces and if it stuck, even the tiniest bit did frequently. Finally pressed the pieces into a pan. The top was made of many slightly larger than dollar sized pieces laid on. However, the taste was good. After we had some, DoD suggested that I servs the rest to the Wontrobas. Perhaps, if I dish it up where they can't see it and cover it with ice cream, I can get by. I have several batches of cookies that I made and decorated a little that I can serve, too, and then perhaps a dish of candy and some nuts will take care of things. I am sure I told you that she never eats anything until Herr Wontroba has tasted it and told her she would like it. She does have some stomach problems and has to watch her diet. It does not extend to sweets, however. I never have good luck with piecrusts unless I make the cream cheese-butter crust and that is not the best for pies. Yesterday, I swore that was going to be my last attempt, but today I am ready to consider trying again, but think I will go back to trying again with the mixer. It could not be a worse mess than this. [I did start making them with my mixer and they were excellent. The mixer I bought there was the Canadian equivalent of the Kitchen Aid, and I loved it. Of course, I had to leave it behind due to the current difference.]

DoD got quite excited about the workbench that Susie's first husband bought for their 14 year old son. It was delivered here by furniture movers and they assembled it after Christmas in the kitchen downstairs. It is really a nice one. They will need the movers to take it back to Salzburg again. Now, DoD wants to rent the garage (Herr Wontroba told him that she is planning to try to lease it this month) so as to have a shop area and a place for the car he keeps telling me he is going to get one of these days. The garage is detached and has heat, too. I think now he will try first renting a car from time to time as there is a place in town. I am still far from thrilled about being in a car over here. When I see the 100 car crashes in fog on TV and hear of 22 people on just an ordinary weekend being killed in Austria alone, I prefer to take my chances on the train. It would not be all that practical to have a car as most people, unless they need them to get to work, leave them in the garage most of the winter and the mountain weather is undependable for travel. To me it is like the burden and expense of having a camper that you only use from time to time. I think he talks a lot about having a car as he knows how against it I am and he would probably not rush out and buy one even if I suggested we do it. We are still in a grey area about our tax liability here and that could be a factor, too.

As soon as we have had the Wontrobas we can take down the tree and undecorated the house. People put their trees up at Christmas and leave them up until after Three King's Day. The tree is still beautiful and has hardly shed a needle. Last year we bought one that was dry to start with and was a real "Charlie Brown Tree" before we took it down. I hope that once I get the Christmas stuff out of the way, I will get back to cleaning house every day like I did for so long. Have really been goofing off with that lately. It does not show that much, but hate to get out of the good habits as I know how fast I can slide back to my sloppy ways. Almost end of page, so happy belated and thanks for sending People. I figure 1 to 2 months depending on the whim of the post office and the slow boat around the world to get here. Keep in touch.

A far from dull day!

11.V.07 - MoM

After the e-mails this morning, I heard more numbers for your fires, today. I was wondering if you had thought of "masks" yet, then I saw some people wearing them.

I wrote to you about how nice the air was around here. I was surprised when Charlie called about noon to see if I smelled the smoke in the air. My worn out old nose isn't as keen as theirs are but I could see some "smaze." It seems that the smoke of the Boundary Waters, near Ely, MN, is drifting this way. (Tonight Sandy said it was really smoky there.)

I started the day on a happy note as I saw a male oriole at the new feeder this morning. However, there weren’t a lot of other birds today.

I was at my computer, sitting in my chair in the living room when I heard a loud crash. It sounded as if it came from the outside wall of the living room. I couldn't find anything amiss on that north wall and decided something had fallen on the roof outside. The path up to a spot where I could check it is not safe for me anymore, so I put it out of my mind. Later, coming back thru the dining room, something looked strange. The noise I had heard was the frame of one of the large pictures of Mystic, CN., hanging on the wall, had come unglued and it had crashed to the floor breaking the glass.

Still later in the afternoon, I got an au gratin potato ball out of the freezer for dinner. Since I had forgotten how long to cook them, I went back to the freezer "room" to get the instructions I hang on the side with a magnet. It wasn't one that was hanging there so I noticed a black square on the floor (I didn't have the light on) reached down to pick it up and my fingers grazed a little fur -- OOPS! that was a piece of sticky stuff that had caught a MOUSE! I think I remember now that Charlie put one there. I put a planter lid over it and I hope my "keepers" will take care of it this when they come by this weekend. I might be able to manage to get it outside and throw it in the woods.

I ate well tonight -- I have had a large lobster tail in the kitchen freezer for a reasonable length of time so I quick thawed it and had it with the potato "ball." I consider the large can of V8 my day's veggie.

With the things weird stuff today, I hope it wasn't a jinxed day -- I finally ordered a new Olympus camera from Amazon. Of course, the last one I bought from a catalog (Herrington). That one was way more expensive. The zoom in my current one has given up and I really miss that.

I still found a little time this afternoon to empty a couple of little boxes of junk in my bedroom and have some more open floor space. I like to go in once in a while to look at it. I just have to remind myself that, even though what is left looks insurmountable, I have made a lot of progress.

It has been a long day with no time for naps. I started the day early, so off to bed.

Birds, Birds, Birds

10.V.07 - MoM

From all I heard on MSNBC all day today, it sounds as if you aren't going to get any relief from that "sub-tropical" disturbance. I hadn't realized how much of Florida was on fire. Really scary. That continued smoky and hot air must really be so distressing. They were threatening us with 90°s for today, but the highest I had as was 83°. This was the warmest day (in The Cities) since last August. It wasn't humid and is supposed to be back to about 51° tonight.

I did a repeat of one of my dumbest tricks this afternoon. I shook the large carton of orange juice then had something else to do for a minute, came back and picked it up a shook it vigorously -- OOPS -- I had forgotten that I had removed the cap in between. I hate it when I do that. And, today was Paige day so I had it on my clean floor.

My new bird complex it a real success. They love it! A hummingbird has discovered the feeder there. But the high point was having an Indigo Bunting, a darling little bright blue bird, at the feeder. I have had them at the front feeder some years, but not the last year or so. While Sandy was picking up a few groceries for this weeks shopping for me, she was near the WB Store, so she went in to get an oriole jelly feeder for the new set up. She also got me another "arm" for the basic set up -- a wrought iron "branch with leaves," something I had always admired and wanted. This really covers all bird possibilities. I will have a picture soon. I have decided on the camera to get and will order it from Amazon tomorrow.

I didn't get around to much FL time in my bedroom. A year or so ago, I had taken my large collection of knitting needles out of a drawer in my closet because I saw mouse droppings and I had put then in a box and added it to the mess. At least, they are now sorted and back the drawer. That was a true, simple FL baby step and one less box.

I did a tiny baby step toward planting the things I bought last week -- I potted 3 little bright red geraniums and put the pot out in the "bog" (the former fish pond) for a little color there. This is the first year of the new lilies of the valley that Ted planted near there. The leaves are huge but no flowers. I seem to remember that they don't always bloom the first year. I have some each year up near the storage barn, but I am not anxious to hobble up there as there is poison ivy in the area. I have only had it once since we lived here with the same serious results that I used to get from poison oak in CA.

I was so sleepy at 5:30 p.m., that I was going to take a timed 15 min nap. I forgot to press the time and woke up at 6:15. Ugh. I guess not to fret as at 9:00, I'm sleepy already, again. Back to Saalfelden addition tomorrow night.