The Flowers Of Costa Rica

Parts of this country get 150 inches of rain a year. That means lots of moisture for some pretty spectacular flowers to grow. These are the flowers you pay big bucks for at the florist. So here they are in all their glory.

Hello From San Jose, Costa Rica

We are heading across the street in a few minutes to do a little gambling. We have a few colones left so will see if we can lose a few. Our flight leaves Wednesday at 7:25 a.m. We have to leave for the airport at 5 a.m. Luckily we are right across the street from the airport and we've already paid our airport tax. It's been a great trip. I'll start blogging about it tomorrow. We get home about 4:30 p.m. I can hardly wait to catch up on everyone's lives.

Hasta La Vista

Gone to Costa Rica; back on April 12. See you then. I'm off to meet a fellow blogger, The Baking Fairy who lives in Montezuma and operates a vegan restaurant called "Organico."

Another Tale From Costa Rica Ten Years Ago

All the prepartion for this trip to Costa Rica has brought back a flood of memories of my first trip. The one I thought of today was about the post office in Cahuita. I had postcards to mail back to the U.S. I went to the post office, asked in Spanish about buying stamps for them and was told he didn't have any stamps. I asked if I was in the post office. He assured me I was. I asked when he thought he might have stamps; he said maybe on Wednesday. This was Friday. I told him I would be gone by then; he smiled and said that perhaps the next city I visited would have stamps. We could learn a lot from this gentleman. He had a job but nothing to sell and he was very polite about how he couldn't help me. I left smiling and mailed the postcards when I got back to the U.S. Great country; great people.

Getting Ready For Our Trip

Well, I've had my typhoid shot. My arm hurt like hell for a couple of days. I've started taking my anti-malarial drug (no side effects) and I'm slowly gathering all those things we can't forget...like passports and plane tickets, etc. And I got my cortisone shot for my rotator cuff. It already feels better.

Our friends Einar and Susan are leaving tomorrow and will meet us in Montezuma. We don't fly until Sunday. They just couldn't wait to get there. We have rented the car so they are taking the bus to Montezuma from the airport. That will be quite a ride. I wonder how many chickens and other creatures will accompany them. The bus will take them across on the ferry at Puntarenas. Montezuma is down near the tip of the Nicoyo Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean. It's orange on this map. They are splurging and staying at an expensive resort called Ylang Ylang for a couple of nights. Then they will move into the modestly priced rooms we will stay in for the rest of the trip.

After a couple of days there, we will head back across on the ferry to the main part of Costa Rica and slowly wend our way to Cahuita, which is on the Carribean coast and is in the malarial zone (green on the map). It's about five miles from the Panama border. Hope fully we can stay at Atlantida which is where I stayed last time. Lots of Rastafarians there. I remember having dinner one night in "downtown" Cahuita when the lights went out. No one even missed a beat; the lanterns were lit and life went on. I did notice baby caimans (like crocodiles) in the water behind the restaurants hoping for some scraps from the kitchen. We have rats, they have caimans.

After Cahuita we will wander back into the central part of the country, maybe go to the Cloud Forest to get away from the heat or to a jungle lodge on the Sarapiqui River. This is supposed to be a relaxing vacation so we are going to do just that.

Sir Lawrence And Dame Olivia Are Back

They have become so tame that they like to nap on our front porch. Larry has his head tucked in and Olivia is ever vigilant. Some of you may remember last year's trials with nesting. Olivia decided our roof was a good spot. It was in the spring when the weather was mild. She hatched out about 10 chicks who were gobbled up by various creatures. She then went back to the roof to lay a second group of eggs. The temperature was probably 120 F. up there. She got so hot she would leave the eggs to swim in the pond. This year the gutter cleaners found a nest, the skeleton of one chick and lots of broken eggs. They clean it out thoroughly in hopes that she wouldn't go back.

I've seen her on the roof once; I clapped and yelled at her and she took flight. I'm still not convinced she hasn't laid her eggs up there. When I stop seeing her completely I'll know she is nesting somewhere. They are a cute couple. Larry usually watches over her while she eats; I guess it's her turn when they are sleeping. We can tell it's Olivia because she is so light colored. We are assuming that he's Larry unless the little girl is out and about with more than one drake. More power to her. That nearly dead plant in the background is a hibiscus that almost died over the winter. I'm nursing it back to health. It had a whopping case of aphids at the end of the season and then got hit by frost one night when I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been. I may have to take it out of the pot and cut some of its roots to get it going again. They don't like to be repotted but do like to have the roots cut away. Sort of like people.

A Food Hangover

Yes, that's how I feel. The dinner last night was wonderful as was the company...Kerry and the other couple we dined with. But there was so much of it; the food that is. We started with a white bean salad with arugula plus a bit of zip from some kind of pepper. Then on to the very light lemon fettuccine with some wonderful mushrooms. Then came the main course: braised lamb shank from a local ranch that doesn't add any bad stuff to the feed. Of course the poor little lambs don't live long enough to acquite any bad habits. The entree included tiny potatoes, carrots and turnips. Then dessert: flourless chocolate cake with all that frou-frou stuff around it. Sort of like the picture here. The lack of flour just means there is even more chocolate, which in my food-soaked mind didn't register as caffeine.

Kerry and I went to bed quite uncomfortable and quite on edge thanks to the dessert. We re-learned an important lesson; eat half of what is on your plate and bring the rest home. We did bring home quite a bit of lamb. I can't even look at it now. I had edamame for lunch. Don't know about dinner yet.

I woke up determined to exercise but only got as far as walking to the road for the Sunday paper. That's a half mile roundtrip. I was going to get on the treadmill too but never got there. My thinking was that a good sweat would really help the healing process. It probably would but I just couldn't get there.


Tomorrow is platelet day. Just before that I am driving to nearby Yuba City to purchase a portable crib for Francesca, the young woman who takes care of our house. She has a baby who is rapidly getting tired of being in her car seat when mom is here working. The portable crib will give her a place to squirm, learn how to roll over and other delightful things that little ones learn.


Back to the food; I'm going to talk to the Lincoln Produce Market owners and tell them that they should shrink the portions but not the price or let folks know that doggie bags are plentiful so we won't all stuff ourselves. I did love every bite but it's just the accumulation of all those bites that is a bit uncomfortable.

Typhoid Shots, Rotator Cuffs And Costa Rica

On Thursday I had an x-ray of my left shoulder to see if I had any bone problems because it hurts like hell. Yesterday I had a typhoid shot in my right arm. Now both my arms hurt and I feel rather wiped out by the vaccination. It's for our trip to Costa Rica. On Monday I'm going to get a cortisone shot for my rotator cuff injury. So I guess this means my pitching days are over. Right now I can't swing a golf club, lift anything heavier than a coffee cup and sometimes can't lift my left arm at all. Hopefully the cortisone shot will help. I think the villain in all of this is yoga. I was having pain in my left shoulder during some poses but just kept on doing them. I think the "no pain, no gain" way of exercising is seriously outdated. I don't want to be miserable in Costa Rica.

I had to visit International Travel at Kaiser to get the vaccination. They also gave me pages and pages of all the terrible things that can happen to one in Costa Rica. I also got malaria pills and Cipro, an antibiotic for bacterial diarrhea. I also bought a time release mosquito repellent and sun screen. I told the nurse that I had been to Costa Rica ten years earlier and had not taken any of these precautions. She smiled and said, "You were lucky." I'm ten years older than I was on that last trip so I guess that's why I'm taking more precautions. I have to start the malaria pills one week before I will enter a malaria zone; it's primarily along the Caribbean side of the country (we are going there) and in the northwest in Guanacaste. So I will take my first pill on Wednesday. I have to take them for four weeks after I get back to make sure I didn't get bitten. I'm hoping this means that I will be able to donate platelets. I got there on Monday so will ask.

We are having a very lazy day. Kerry just went to take a nap and I'm headed there as soon as I finish this post. We are going to a wine dinner tonight at our favorite place in Lincoln, Lafayette Produce Market. About once a month they do these dinners for members of their wine club. We belong; the wine club membership was free. So tonight we will have some wonderful food paired with interesting local wines. I need to nap so I feel up to going.

The Turtle Has Left The Property

Doug and Katie pulled out late yesterday afternoon. The turtle rumbled slowly down our dirt driveway, made a right at the road and disappeared. I told Doug I wasn't going to really believe he was gone until I got an e-mail from him that showed he was at least 20 miles away.

I got one from him last night. He was maybe 10 miles away. That didn't count. He says he's going to San Diego slowly just like a turtle. He has to be back here in about six weeks for more blood tests. Somehow I doubt that he can drive to San Diego and back in that time. Then he wants to go to Alaska. He won some lottery that allows him into an area where very few people are allowed. But then he has to be back in Lincoln by late August to leave Katie with us and go to Burning Man in Nevada. That's a lot of travel for a turtle and its owner.

Today the folks with whom we are going to Costa Rica are coming over for some trip planning and a barbecue. They are good travelers and we travel well with them. Susan and Einar were on the China trip last year.

Changing subjects: my neighbor down the road always has great tomatoes which he sells at a roadside stand. I usually watch for him to plant and then I plant. Well he planted sometime last week when I wasn't watching. I'm stunned; it's still March. So I have to get busy next week and get mine in the ground. It's been in the low to mid-80s every day for a week; all my winter vegetables have begun to flower, which is not good. I think I'm going to give up on winter vegetables that grow above the ground.

Health Update and "Borat"

Turtle Doug is doing well. The urologist wants to see him in two months and do another blood test. I could see that he was as relieved as I was. He's heading for San Diego and Baja tomorrow. He'll be back in 8 weeks for more tests.

Now for "Borat." Kerry subscribes to Netflix. He had been waiting for "Borat" and today it arrived. This is Turtle Doug's last night so the two men are bonding by watching this horrible movie. Don't send me comments that you loved it. I find it loud and repulsive. Tomorrow night we are watching "Little Miss Sunshine." I can hear their laughter all the way in my office even with the fan on. Actually I'm glad Kerry has someone with whom he can watch it. We have very different tastes in movies. He watches his Netflix movies alone much of the time. That's why I finally got a Blockbuster card. Yesterday I rented the "Miss Sunshine" movie and "Memoirs of a Geisha." I read the book and want to see what I think of the movie.

So I'm hiding out until the movie ends. I'm glad they are having fun.

The Turtle Is Back and A Curly Willow Update

Turtle Doug arrived a short time ago. He has his urology appointment tomorrow in the nearby town of Rocklin. I just hope he gets good news. We figured out a better spot for his turtle in the driveway so it will be easier to get my car in and out of the garage. His wife has decided she wants a divorce. Her lawyer in Kentucky contacted him today. I guess when it rains it pours. Poor guy.

I gave platelets yesterday, which really wiped me out more than usual. I didn't get a chance to eat lunch before I went so was pretty low on energy. About half way through the 113-minute donation time I started having muscle cramps from the anti-coagulant they drip into me. I had 8 Tums which usually wipe out the cramps almost immediately. It's pretty amazing how fast they work. This time they did nothing. So they brought me string cheese to eat. I downed two of them as fast as possible and the cramping subsided. I got a kind lecture from the nurse about the importance of lunch before my next donation. I've donated 87 pints which is nearly 11 gallons.

So I vegged most of today, except for a trip to the grocery store. I'm cooking healthy foods tonight so Doug will get a good meal before his exam tomorrow. We are having chicken breasts sauteed in a mushroom/olive oil/balsamic vinegar sauce and oven roasted tomatoes with a bit of feta cheese to top them off when they come out of the oven.

I've really been into veggies lately. Sunday night I had a big bowl of oven roasted cauliflower and broccoli sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I had the same thing for lunch today. At the store today I bought lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and avocados (I know they are a fruit). A woman in the produce department saw all of my veggies and asked my advice on what veggie to serve with chicken Parmesan. I recommended the asparagus either oven roasted or steamed. She bought asparagus. I wish I felt the same way about fruit. It's just not my thing; except bananas and berries of any kind. Apples smeared with extra crunchy peanut butter are okay too.

I have a client meeting tomorrow; something I've not had in quite a while. I have to be on the road by 7:30 a.m. to get to Santa Rosa in time. My client, a water agency in Sonoma County, wants to build several reservoirs around the county to store tertiarily treated wastewater in the winter for use in the summer to irrigate vineyards. Sounds simple, but we have a former Dow Chemical scientist who has been quite successful recently in the courts. Tomorrow's meeting should be interesting.

And the curly willows...they are thriving. Dykewife asked why I didn't just leave them in the water until they had roots and then plant them. They had been in water for two months and had very few roots but were sprouting leaves. My friend who gave them to us recommended potting and then putting them in the soil. Our soil here is clay, which gets rock hard in the summer. We are going to start digging the holes now even though the trees aren't ready to go in the ground. If we don't get more rain it will take a jackhammer to get through the clay and then it will be hard on the trees. The clay is lovely for the potters in the area but hell for gardeners. The holes will have to be larger than needed so we can add lots of good soil, compost and other good things.

On the way to Santa Rosa tomorrow I'm listening to "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress." It's what we are reading for bookgroup next week. It's about 2.5 hours each way so I should just about finish it.

Green Dimes, A Terrapass and Climate Change

No it's not a song title. Behind those words are companies helping to clean up the environment. My brother, http://openwindowyoga.blogspot.com told me about both of them. I signed up today

Green Dimes will help you get rid of junk mail including catalogues; they also plant trees when you join; we all know we need more trees. Go to http://www.greendimes.com for more information.

The purpose of Terrapass is to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere thus reducing climate change. They do it by funding clean energy and efficiency projects. The money to do that comes from people who buy "Terrapasses." Go to http://www.terrapass.com for more information.

I bought an "Around Town Terrapass" for my Prius. I paid $29.95 to remove the 6,000 pounds of CO2 that my car produces each year. I want to get one for our house too, but I need to discuss it with Kerry first. You can also buy them for flights. I'm going to get one for our trip to Costa Rica. It's called the "Puddle Jumper Pass" and it's only $9.95.

Al Gore (An Inconvenient Truth) has terrapasses for his home, cars and flights. Some of you may have read newspaper reports about the energy bill for his very large home. The right wing media have called him a hypocrite for creating all that CO2 at his home. But his terrapasses will help plant trees and cover landfills to prevent methane getting into the air. Methane is worse than CO2.

I'll get down off my soapbox now; but it did feel good to buy a terrapass for my car.

The Tale Of The Curly Willow

With two ponds on our property, we can grow lots of willow trees because they need lots of water and you can plant the willows close to the water. A good friend of ours gave us some curly willow branches (tree shown here). We put them in water as directed and waited for them to leaf out. With leaves on them we put them in a big pot to develop stronger roots. And then they died; we didn't water them enough. So she gave us some more branches. We managed to kill them too.

Everything I read on Google said that anybody can grow these things. Well, not us.

But our friend did not give up on us; that's why she's a friend. A few months ago she and her husband arrived with a large load of very tall (many over 6 feet) curly willow branches; seventeen branches in all. We were determined to get these puppies to leaf out. We filled a large plastic garbage can with water and stuck all 17 in there.

About a week ago I noticed that all of them were leafing out. No cheering yet; we still had to get them into pots and get them to grow more roots. Well, they have been in pots for two days and they are still leafing out. I'm watching them like a hawk.

We are going to give them a month in the pots and then plant them at various places around the ponds. I want to get them in the ground long before our first heatwave hits. Now would be a good time to pray to the curly willow goddess.

A Little Bit of Ranting And Compassion

First the ranting; Scooter Libby was found guilty by a jury of his peers. That's the American way of justice. The discussion now that he might be pardoned sickens me. To quote the New York Times editorial: "It (the verdict) was another reminder of how precious the American judicial system is, at a time when it is under serious attack from the same administration Mr. Libby served. That administration is systematically denying the right of counsel, the right to evidence and even the right to be tried to scores of prisoners who may have committed no crimes at all."

I've dealt with the Bush administration by being a turtle; I've pulled into my shell and ignored it because it was too painful to hear. We all teach our children that lying is wrong; no matter what you want to accomplish it is just dead wrong (still into semicolons). Apparently the current administration didn't get that memo; lying is a way of life. I hope that Libby goes to jail for a very long time just like the folks at Enron who lied and stole the lives right out from under their employees. How many people have had their lives stolen by dying in an unjustified war? Too many to count.

What gets me most is the arrogance; they think they have the right to lie based on whatever misguided objectives they have. Anyway, I'm pissed and not about to forget it. My turtle shell has cracked; my neck is out.

Now for the compassion; this involves a turtle as well. Turtle Doug saw his new doctor today to get his blood test results. Not good. Most of all his PSA (prostate problems) was way to high. His doctor referred him to a urologist nearby. Plus his liver enzymes are way too high and his doctor doesn't know if it's the Lipitor or his penchant for good whiskey. His cholesterol, which the Lipitor is supposed to handle, is too high also. I don't think the doctor scored a lot of points when he told Doug he should stop "galavanting around the country" and settle down. That has nothing to do with his blood results. The only good news is that he doesn't have diabetes. So tonight I made big salads for the two men in my life; Doug drank water and Kerry had a beer. Getting old really sucks. Tomorrow he calls the urologist.

The other point of compasion is for a fellow blogger; creamy silver.blogspot.com.
She and her husband have been trying to have a baby for a long time. She got to seven weeks this time, and then the baby died. Tomorrow she has a D&C. The outpouring of support and compassion for this woman who lives with her husband, Bob, in southern Indiana has been
wonderful. Blogging may feel anonymous, but when it comes down to it, we live together as a community and support our fellow bloggers.

So that's all tonight. I want Libby in prison, I want Doug to be healthy and I want Creamy Silver (Jen) and her husband to have a baby. It doesn't sound like too much to ask.

Freckles And Food

One of the things I like best about Kate are her freckles. I've had freckles my whole life so I can easily bond with someone who has her own brand of freckles. Here she is in an alert pose either listening or sniffing for something on our property or maybe staring down the marauding Jack Russell Terriers who live next door.

Not much excitment this weekend. Friday night we went to Lincoln Produce Market for their monthly wine tasting. Kerry belongs to the wine club. We tasted five Pinot Noirs and had a few appetizers. Then Turtle Doug, Kerry and I went to Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ. I had the beef ribs which were yummy. I forgot to take my Zantac before going to bed so about 3 a.m. I had a reminder of just how delicious they were. Once the Zantac kicked in I dozed off until around 9.

Yesterday Doug and I ran errands. Kerry was at his photo class. Kate was in the hatchback part of my Prius. We bought lottery tickets. Our mega lottery will be $243 million on Tuesday night. If I don't write anything for a while you will know why.

Last night I cooked this delicious risotto with cauliflower. The cauliflower pretty much disappears into the risotto because it cooks so long in the chicken brother that it turns to mush. I love eating risotto but it can be a pain to make because you have to keep stirring and adding more liquid. The topping for it was something called "panagrattato." Basically it's bread crumbs that have been browned with a bit of olive oil. This recipe first called for mixing the bread crumbs in the cuisinart with a small can of anchovies including the oil and some red pepper flakes. It turns out very crunchy and brown with hardly a bit of anchovy flavor and just a bit of a kick from the red pepper flakes. Doug wrinkled his nose when I bought the anchovies, but after dinner he admitted he couldn't even taste them. Panagrattato would be good on lots of things like tuna casserole and macaroni and cheese (made from scratch). I put a small piece of steamed salmon on top of the panagrattato. Leftovers for dinner tonight along with roasted asparagus.

We shopped at a new grocery store yesterday: Nuggets. I felt like I was in a Whole Foods store. The place was jammed with customers. The checkout clerk said that they ran out of shopping carts on the first day it opened, which was Feb. 28. They had staff on patrol in the parking lot to retrieve carts the minute they were emptied. Doug enjoyed the store as much as I did only he watched all the young mothers in tight jeans while I checked out the food. We are both good at what we do.

Today I'm going to fertilize the fruit trees, red maples, bulbs and vines. For those of you in the frozen part of this earth, March is a big month for gardeners in California. You fertilize stuff to give it a boost when things start to leaf out and bloom. Our miniature peach tree is already blooming.

Time to get on the treadmill and do my 30 minutes of fast walking. I've been quite religious about this; five times a week for now. I feel better for doing it.

The Joy Of Having A Photographer Visit Us

Doug, owner of the turtle and Miss kate, is a professional photographer. He sends me all kinds of pictures he's taken on our property; for which I'm very grateful. The photo on the left is our upper pond. His talent made our ugly, rickety dock look good, well maybe quaint. Even the parrot feather growing on top of the water looks nice. Don't believe it for a minute. It's nasty stuff. The weeping willow by the pond is just starting to leaf out.

Here are some very ugly drainage pipes; Doug has managed to make them look wonderful.

And here's a picture of Jerome at sunset. Bertie is also there.

Busted By The Constitution Cops!

My brother and son both pointed out to me that Nancy Pelosi would not assume the VP mantle if Cheney died or was incapacitated. Sigh.... My son reminded me of the Nixon VP thing where he appointed Ford after Agnew got into some serious trouble with the law. I should have remembered that because Ford died recently and there was a lot written about the fact that he was the only U.S. president never elected to office.

Oh well, you can't be right all the time. I stand corrected.

Welcome To The Extended Stay Inn

That's what we are calling ourselves now.

Well, the turtle is still in our driveway, and last night Kerry's sister and brother-in-law arrived. Doug got to meet more of the family. If he stays long enough he'll meet everyone. I'm really glad that he feels so comfortable here; it means that this is a warm and loving home. I knew Susan and Gary were coming so on Sunday night I made dinner for both Sunday and Monday night. I know, this cooking thing is getting a bit old; but not for me, I'm still on a roll.

We had garlic mashed potatoes, meat loaf and roasted brussel sprouts on Sunday night. I made Monday's dinner early because I was making a platelet donation on Monday afternoon and that always wipes me out. I made my pasta shells stuffed with spinach, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, garlic and onions and smothered in tomato sauce. You can refrigerate it overnight and heat it up the next day. We had garlic bread (I believe in real garlic bread which means lots of butter and a ton of garlic) and salad with blueberries and tomatoes to keep with the 12 best foods concept. We also had edamame (soy beans) for an appetizer. I love them. Doug introduced us to them in the frozen food section of Safeway. Just a bit of time in the microwave and they are ready to eat. Delicious, filling and healthy; can't beat that. I'm really into semi-colons at the moment.

Gary and Susan wanted to go to Reno this morning. As Gary put it, he left some money there last time so wanted to recover it (and he didn't leave it in a safe deposit box). Well, the weather gods said no. It was snowing like crazy on Interstate 80 and people were driving quite crazily so there was an accident and the whole road came to a halt. They finally turned around and headed for Interstate 5 and home to Washington. I wish they had come back to stay with us for another night rather than brave the bad weather in northern California and on into Oregon. They live in Washington about an hour north of Seattle so have quite a trip ahead of them.

I spent most of today working on my taxes. When you are self-employed this is never a fun time of year. I'm determined to get them done before we leave for Costa Rica so I can go and have fun without thinking about returning to finish my taxes. I wish I felt better about how my taxes are being spent.

It's still raining here. We even had some thunder today. Our duck friends Dame Olivia and Sir Laurence have returned from wherever they spend the winter. For those of you who are new to my blog, Olivia decided to lay her eggs on our roof last spring. The first batch hatched out, got down from the roof (I have no idea how) and promptly were eaten by cats, possums, raccoons and bass on our pond. She laid another batch of eggs in the hundred plus degree heat of July. The eggs cooked and so did she. We were really worried that she would die up there when it got to 115 F. We cleaned all her nesting material off the roof so hopefully she won't try again this year.

Something to ponder; if Cheney had been killed in the bomb explosion today, Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House of Representatives, would have become Vice President. I certainly don't want anyone dead but I do enjoy the thought of Nancy and George working together. She would whip his Texas ass. Has anyone noticed how Laura Bush has disappeared from the news? Enough for now; time for leftovers.

One Of My Favorite Men

This is my cousin Dennis. In the winter he and his wife Carole live in Florida and in the summer they can be found in Minneapolis. Not a bad life you say. Well, they worked really hard so they could have one.

Right now he's in Colorado skiing with my brother. This photo arrived today via my brother's cell phone. My brother is another one of my favorite men. Looks like they are at A-Basin, which is closest to my brother's house in Evergreen. I think they are going to Vail over the weekend. Happy Powder!

The Red Hat Society And a Funeral

Sort of an odd juxtaposition; a society of older women devoted to having fun and the death of one of our members. I didn't know Eva McGuire that well. She didn't come to a lot of functions but when she did she always had fun and she was fun to be around. I didn't know that she had diabetes; I just remember her saying to me that her doctor wanted her to lose weight. Her family found her on the floor of her house. She had been dead for two days. I thought she was probably in her 80s. She was 70; would have been 71 next month. It's a terrible disease.

Our debate among the Red Hatters today was do we wear our hats to a memorial service or not. In the end we decided not to but we did deck ourselves out in our finest Red Hat Society jewelry. I have earrings, bracelet and pin which I work on my sleeve.

This group teaches all of us that it's never too late to have fun. My first lunch with them was at the Olive Garden in Roseville. I ordered a salad with dressing on the side and a diet coke. The woman next to me ordered tiramisu and a glass of cabernet. She looked at me and said, "at a certain point in your life it is good to break the rules." I called the waitress back and changed my order to Tiramisu and a glass of chardonnay.

The hats we wear are outrageous like the ones pictured here. I made mine because my head is so large, plus I have a lot of hair. I'm thinking about remodeling it to make it even more out there. Dykewife's posting today got me thinking about all of this. Women have so many images that we are told to live up to; none of them necessarily good for us as human beings. With the Red Hat ladies I can be as outrageous as I want. The opposite of conforming is acting out. Well, I've done my share of conforming; now I like to act out.

I also thought today about my mother's birth date. She was born exactly one day after women in the United States got the right to vote (Aug. 28, 1920). She was born to it; my grandmother was not. It's truly amazing to me how long women have been subjugated to the society of men. We have much more to offer to the world. Well, I'll get down off my soapbox now. The turtle is returning to our driveway in a little while. He's bringing sushi. He got as far as the Walmart parking lot last night. He left the USB cable for his Trio on my desk. I sent him an e-mail about it; that's when I learned that he was only 10 miles away. But I do get to see Katie again.

A Picture of Pure Joy

Here's Katie racing with her tennis ball in her mouth. It captures what makes Katie the happiest. She waits patiently for someone to pick up her ball and fling it as far as he or she can. Doug is talking about leaving tomorrow. I will miss them both.

My Weariness Is Lifting....

This morning I'm finally feeling like my old self, sort of. Yesterday I took Kerry to the airport early in the morning. He's in Palm Desert with his sisters and brother-in-law. I couldn't go due to commitments here. All I did on Sunday was sleep, stare at the television and walk around my garden. I was bone-tired. I told Kerry on the way to the airport that being this popular is really hard on my body. Doug came in from his turtle for some dinner last night. I think he realized how tired I was so didn't stay long. This morning I slept until 9:30. I woke up earlier but decided not to get up and promptly went back to sleep. One more good night sleep should do it. An aerobic walk on the treadmill will help too.

Doug took the picture to the left and below. It's an Annas Hummingbird. They don't migrate so spend a lot of time at my feeders (I have two) all year. Those little tiny black dots on the red feeder are ants. I don't seem to be able to keep them out of the feeders, but the hummers and ants co-exist nicely. I need to make more nectar today. Both feeders are empty plus they have emptied the one for Orioles.

In the photo on the right you can see the iridescent patch of red under the chin. Iridescent feathers mean that you can only see the color when the light strikes those feathers. That's why many people think the hummers are not very colorful.

That's enough bird information for the day. Happy Birthday George Washington. He's 275 years old today.

First Blooming Bulb Of 2007

It's a daffodil that showed its beautiful face yesterday. My guest who lives in the turtle, Doug, took the picture so it's much better than my attempt last year. This year my first bloom occurred just six days later than last year. I attribute that to the frosts we had in January. The nice thing about this bloom is I had forgotten where I'd planted it. I like that about bulbs; they are full of surprises. Last year there was a bush hiding it so it didn't get much attention; it bloomed much later in the spring. Thanks to a family of voles who came through my garden last summer that bush and several others whose roots were eaten, I was left with a barren planting area. I guess there is always a good side to losing plants. Why the vole didn't eat this bulb, is a mystery.

Health Update

Nancy called me last night to say that she and her husband were home. He had a TIA or small stroke. They were having a glass of wine and chatting. Her stress level is way over the top so I suggested a massage. She seemed amenable so hopefully she will have one. A good massage can just make your stress melt away. I'm just glad he's okay for now. The doctor said he would probably have more and added another medication in addition to the aspirin he was taking. Dick is a wonderful, lovable man.

Another lesson in enjoying every day.

Happy Valentines Day

The turtle is still in the driveway. He's now estimating Friday for departure. Tonight he's taking us out for sushi, which we all love. Tomorrow night my nephew and his wife and son will be with us for dinner. Doug wants to meet them.

Tonight I was going to do a slow cooker recipe for beef short ribs. I was actually disappointed when Doug wanted to take us out for dinner. That sure is a switch. It used to be that I would do anything to eat out. But I know Doug's heart is in the right place. He appreciates our hospitality.

Last night we watched the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The poor poodles looked so weird. I definitely don't want to come back as one. Tonight we are going to watch a hilarious movie, "Best In Show." It's a spoof on the dog show we saw last night. If you can find it, rent it. The cast had a rough outline for the movie but not much script. It's a lot of hilarious ad-libbing.

I just don't feel like writing much because I'm terribly worried about the husband of a good friend of mine. Nancy had trouble waking Richard up this morning. That's what I heard when I was at Lincoln Arts for a meeting. Nancy is president of our board and I'm her VP and her friend. She called early today to cancel a meeting. Richard has been having problems with remembering things. I've called her home several times and left messages. I don't want to call her cell phone. That just seems too intrusive. So I will worry. Both are seniors in their 70s.

When I'm feeling more up beat I will do a blog on Lincoln Arts. This little town NE of Sacramento has quite an art history. Here's a photo to make you a bit curious about Lincoln Arts. It's a clay sculpture that won a prize in the show last year. We get hundreds of entries from the U.S. and Canada.

I think I'll sign off now and try to occupy my brain with something besides worrying. His bear hugs are one thing I really like about Richard. I hope I get to have another one.

The Nest Is Emptying

My brother left this morning for the last day of depositions in Stockton. He flies out of Sacramento around 5 tonight. The turtle is still in the driveway. Doug says he's leaving tomorrow...but Doug is not really into specificity. Knowing Doug, he will leave when he leaves. Sort of the Zen approach to life. Seems to work for him. Meanwhile Kate is trying to look her meanest to deal with the two marauding Jack Russell terriers who live next door. (Yes, I liked Eddie on "Frasier" but Eddie is not like the two who live next door.) The two next door live on ten acres and they still come to poop in our front yard. That's enough about Jack Russell terriers.

Why is it that when men use my computer they feel compelled to change things. My brother added the "seti" site where they are searching for ET. None found so far, plus he added an icon that is quite large that shows the current temperature in Lincoln, the weather forecast for the next few days, the moon phase and the time in analog. I didn't ask for any of these things. Women use my computer and never change a thing. Oh well, maybe men just can't help themselves. My son does the same thing when he's here. He also likes to adjust the color on our TV.

Lots of laundry to do today now that folks are leaving. Our refrigerator has so many leftovers that we won't have to cook for a week.

Today I'm going to do some experimenting with breakfast foods for Kerry. He needs a bit more protein in the morning than he's currently getting. I found a blog with low glycemic recipes. She had a few for breakfast that can be made in larger batches and then frozen. He could take one out the night before and by morning it would be thawed. Bacon and cheese breakfast casserole, broccoli cheese breakfast casserole, egg burritos made with low carb tortillas, and egg muffin sans the muffin are just a few of them. I'm going to try one today and see if he likes them. His diabetes is under control, but he's getting tired of the breakfast he's eating. It's his least favorite meal of the day so I'd like to try to make it interesting and tasty. I'll let you know how they turn out. That way I might not have to nag him about eating breakfast, which he would skip if he could.

No rain in the last 24 hours. The sun is peaking through the clouds. I have one daffodil that I'm sure will open today. It's later than last year, but that's probably due to the cold weather we had in January.

The Guy Next Door Is Building An Ark

Yes, it's still raining. We got 1.5 inches of rain yesterday. Who knows what we will get today. My plants look drowned but that's better than parched.

Our visitors are still here. Doug has spent most of the day in his turtle shell (his camper shell is his home and he carries it on the back of his pick up truck like a turtle). Kerry went off to buy more pellets for the pellet stove. For some reason they are in short supply this year. Kerry suspects a conspiracy; I'm not worried. We do have a furnace and a propane tank. Then he went to a photo class.

Richard and Charlotte went out to mail valentine gifts/cards and my MasterCard bill and to shop. We all took turns on the treadmill; well not Doug, Kate or Kerry. Charlotte and Richard are asleep now.

Turns out my brother does not do well in this gray, rainy weather. He's down so not really happy. To help cheer him up we are going to Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ in nearby Rocklin. It's great funky place with wonderful food. The first thing they serve are biscuits with apple butter. Yum. I had ribs last time and will probably do the same this time.

No cooking for me tonight. Last night I made crispy salmon with risotto and oven roasted tomatoes. This time of year you have to pay a lot for good tomatoes. On the list of 12 Best Foods, we had four last night: salmon, spinach that was in the risotto, tomatoes and soy. We had edamame as a snack.

So tonight we are going to the other end of the food spectrum; pork, beef, potatoes, sugar and butter. It's the yin and yang of life.

It's been a wonderfully boring day. Charlotte leaves tomorrow morning. My brother leaves on Monday. Don't know when Doug and Kate leave and don't care if they ever leave.

It's Raining...Thank Goodness

I live in northern California where we count on the winter rains to get us through the dry summers. The last time it rained this winter was January 7. It started raining during the night on Tuesday and has been raining off and on since then. I can almost hear my plants sighing. We still need a lot more to catch up for the season.

We have a house full of people; my brother and his wife arrived about 8:30 last night and my friend Doug rolled into the driveway in his truck/camper about 4 in the afternoon. The pace here has quickened, to say the least. Last night we had pasta shells stuffed with ricotta and mozarrella cheeses, spinach and garlic. I drenched them in marinara sauce and baked them for about 45 minutes. Very delicious. Also made garlic bread. This time I roasted the garlic so I could squeeze each clove into the melted butter before I poured it on the bread. Topped it off with parmesan cheese. We also had a salad with watermelon radish slices on it. Weird looking radish. When you cut it open the inside looks just like a watermelon. All the bread was eaten last night. We finished off the pasta shells at lunch.

Tonight we are having pot roast cooked in the crock pot. This is my first crock pot experience. It's the perfect dinner for a rainy night.

Right now Doug is napping in his camper, Katie is asleep on the rug in my office, Charlotte is napping in her room and Kerry is on his computer. My brother is on his way back from Tracy where he had a deposition for a lawsuit in which his company is involved. He's general counsel to the largest maker of mozzarella cheese in the world. No sales to folks like us; just to huge pizza chains, frozen food makers, etc. Unless you need a 5,000 pound bag of cheese, don't call Leprino Foods.

That's all for now. I'm going to knit while the house is still quiet.

Super Bowl Aftermath

Our Super Bowl party was a success once again. Kerry's chili got rave reviews and everyone loved the nuts I had made from recipes on http://28cooks.blogspot.com


The last couple left about 11 p.m. I crawled into bed soon after feeling bone-tired. On Monday I never got out of my nightgown. It was a bit chilly in the house so I put on my long-sleeved burnt-orange fleece. I was quite a fashion statement. Pink flowered flannel night gown with lace trimmed sleeves, burnt-orange fleece, my pink and green turtle socks (the turtles are green) and my fuzzy slippers.

Kerry left for school as I was sipping coffee and looking at my computer screen. When he got home I still was not dressed and still looking at my computer screen, although I did put in my contact lenses and brush my teeth. I can't stand my bifocal glasses. It was easy to go to bed Monday night when I had never gotten dressed. Took my lenses out, brushed my teeth, moisturized a bit (that's another whole story) and fell asleep.


I've been reading a lot of blogs lately and find that I am approaching my blog much differently than most. I started my career as a newspaper reporter so tend to look at a blog as a publishing opportunity rather than a diary. I'm going to try to change that a bit. This is my first try.


We are finally supposed to get rain tomorrow and for the next seven days. We really need it. Our place is called "Foxtail Farm" because we usually grow so many of them. Without rain the little buggers are not even peaking above the ground. For those of you not familiar with this flora, it's not a nice plant. I have paid many a vet bill to get the thistles out of various parts of dogs' bodies, both front and back. Don't ask.


My brother and his wife arrive tomorrow for five days. This is a real treat. I haven't spent this much time with him since he was...well I don't know when. He's the one who had the cochlear implant last August. I really like his wife, Charlotte.


My friend Doug with dog Miss Kate (pictured below; what a profile) should arrive tomorrow as well. He doesn't know about the other guests. They will all do fine together. Both have heard about the other for probably 30 years.

The other thing I've noticed in reading so food blogs is "vegans". They are everywhere. I don't object but would like to see equal representation by the meat and potatoes crowd. I'm waiting to find a cook who extols the virtue of steak and baked potatoes with sour cream and butter. I remember many years ago hearing a talk by Narsai David (if you live in the Bay Area you know the name). At the end of his talk, folks were askedquestions. One woman asked for his advice on how to make a low cal, low fat cheesecake. He turned to the woman and said, "Madame, the cheesecake you would like to make is an abomination. Just eat a small piece of the real thing. Don't ever bastardize the beauty of a real cheesecake." Good advice.

That's all for now. I'm going to go knit thanks to patterns supplied by http://smariek.blogspot.com

Another View Of Costa Rica

Well, it turns out that the Center for Disease Control views Costa Rica as a haven for the malaria mosquito (shown here).

I learned this yesterday at Bloodsource when I went to give platelets. The woman checking my vitals asked if I had any vacation plans this year. I replied, Costa Rica in April. She proceeded to get her book down that lists every country in the world and the CDC assessment of its health risk factors. The only place in Costa Rica that doesn't have a risk is San Jose, the capitol. However, to get to Costa Rica you fly in to the main airport which is in Alajuela; Alajuela is first on the CDC list of places that are considered malarial.

What this all means is that I can't give platelets or whole blood for one year after I return from our trip there. I'm not changing my plans, but it did bum me out. I like the idea of helping someone by donating my platelets. I have enough for several so why not share. But for one year I won't be able to do that. Someone mentioned that I could still volunteer in other capacities. So I took home a sign-up form to be a volunteer. They especially need people to work the bloodmobiles. Once I get accepted as a volunteer then I will have to go through training.

The odd thing is that last time I was in Costa Rica I didn't have any mosquito problems; never even put on my DEET. Oh well, you can't fight the CDC. Besides I would never want to give platelets that could harm someone who is already being harmed by some horrible disease or accident.

Costa Rica Here We Come

On April 1 we will fly to San Jose, Costa Rica to spend 10 wonderful days in this beautiful country. I've been there before but Kerry has not. Originally our friends Einar and Susan were going to go but there schedules are a lot more hectic than ours. They simply couldn't get away. I had enough miles on United for both of us to fly First Classs. That will be fun. We land at 7:25 p.m. so will stay at the Hampton Inn right across the street for the first night. Next day we pick up our Suzuki Vitara and head out for adventures. One place we want to make sure we go is Montezuma. It's located near the tip of Peninsula de Nicoya on the west coast. I didn't get there when I went ten years ago. We discovered Montezuma thanks to a blogger: http://doyouknowthebakingfairy.blogspot.com She owns and operates a cafe called "Organico." Montezuma sounds pretty funky and bohemian, which is fine by us. Lots of birdwatching opportunities in the area. I have 395 birds on my life list. About half of those were seen on my first trip to Costa Rica in 1997. The bird on the left is the Resplendent Quetzal. It lives in the cloud forest near Monteverde. I saw it on my first visit. I think it's the national bird of Costa Rica. It lives on avocados, small ones. The bird swallows the avocado whole, digests everthing but the pit, which is regurgitated all warm and wet; the perfect beginning for a new avocado tree.

The bird on the right is one of many Hummingbirds that make their homes in Costa Rica. I've been close enough to hummers in Costa Rica to actually feel their wings beat against my face. Amazing creatures. This is a violet-winged Hummingbird. The one below is a Snowcap Hummingbird.

Costa Rica is definitely a place to go when you are not in a hurry. Besides the roads are so bad that you really can't get around very fast. If you think you've seen potholes, then I invite you to visit Costa Rica. I think they invented the pothole.

We are very excited. Too bad it's two months away.

My Favorite Dog Comes To Visit

This is Miss Kate; Katie to her best friends. Katie is a border collie. She and her owner, Doug, are coming for a visit sometime in the next week. He's up on the Oregon coast right now taking pictures of fishermen, their boats and their catches. It may take him a while to get here because he gets caught up in taking pictures and then doesn't travel very far each day. Katie visits every year in late summer when Doug goes to "Burning Man." He's a nomad who has been traveling around the country in his truck camper for several years now. He has a satellite for internet and tv connection.

Not much new here. We continue to be without rain. Looks like the entire month of January will be dry. This isn't good for California for lots of reasons. I watered yesterday. This is not supposed to be watering season.

The other big news is that we got a treadmill. We went to Reno on Saturday to pick it up from a friend of the guy in Mammoth Lakes who sold it to us. Mammoth Lakes is a long drive from Lincoln so it was great that the owner brought it to Reno. Kerry found it on Craig's List. We are the new temporary owner. All sports equipment has temporary owners. I did 30 minutes on it last night at a pretty good pace while listening to a book on tape. Not bad.

Getting ready for our Super Bowl party this Sunday. I'm not a fan but I do like to throw parties and people come every year. Einar is bringing his chocolate martinis again. I've started making some special nuts. They are from a recipe I found on a blog called http://28cooks.blogspot.com. Yesterday I made the lemon/pepper/sugar cashews. Just cook the raw cashews in a lot of sugar until the sugar melts and the nuts are covered with it, then stir in the zest of one lemon and a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. They are very tasty. I'm going to make the jasmine tea/glazed ginger/sugar almonds today. They will keep until Sunday. My goal this year is to have tasty treats that are also healthy. The final nut recipe is chili/chai/sugar walnuts. Walnuts are one of the twelve best foods for you. That's all for now.

Today Is My Birthday

Updated: Actually I'm not a year older yet. I was born at 8:20 CST (Minneapolis) so technically I don't get a year older until then, which is 6:20 PST. No need to dwell on the number of years I've lived, but suffice to say I have tried to live them to the fullest and I think I've succeeded.

I have a wonderful son who is in Baltimore right now auditioning for a trumpet position with the symphony there (He didn't get the job: bummer). Kerry, the wonderful man in my life, just left for his aerobics and yoga classes. He's taking me to a Vietnamese restaurant tonight for dinner. I've already gotten greetings from my brother in Evergreen, Colorado; my nephew, his wife and son in Minneapolis; my cousin Greg and his family in Minneapolis and my cousin in Naples, Florida. We are a spread out group. And the DHL delivery person was just here with a gift from my brother. It's the latest Harry Potter book on CD. There are 17 CDs so that will keep me happy for quite a while. I love listening to books when I drive.

And messages from friends are coming in too. I'm having lunch tomorrow with a friend I have known since kindergarten.

So getting a year older is a wonderful opportunity to think about all my family and friends and reflect on how loved I am by all of them.

New topic: I've decided to add an oriole and a bluebird feeder to my collection of feeder stations. Both birds live around here so hopefully they will come when I put out treats for them. The orange feeder below is for orioles and the other one is for bluebirds. I won't, however, be added orange coloring to the sugar water they like. The bluebirds like mealy worms. I'm off to the bird store today. The best one is an hour away but it's a beautiful drive.

For those of you still covered in snow, I spotted the first blooming bulb today. It's not in my yard but it still counts as the first one of the year. Nice of it to show up on my birthday.

Game Night

We've joined a game night group in Lincoln. It's just four couples who get together once a month to play a game and eat good food. Everyone brings something to share. We played Scattergories at Jan and Doug's house last Saturday. I had forgotten how much fun games can be. They certainly are icebreakers. Kerry and I knew the host and hostess but not the other folks. We quickly got to know the other couples as we laughed and teased each other about the game and our answers.

Scattergories is a word game of categories where all your answers have to begin with the same letter. For instance, you roll the big twenty-sided die and it comes up with "R." Then fill in a word beginning with the letter "R" for each of the 12 categories like: An ice cream flavor. A president. A thing you find in the refrigerator. And so on until the buzzer sounds after 3 minutes. Your answers might be Rocky Road, Ronald Reagan, and raspberries. Compare your answers to the group's. Duplications score nothing, but original answers will get you a point.

The host couple determine which game to play. Kerry and I have already begun to think about which game we will have when we host.

I love puzzles, especially crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Lots of crossword puzzles on line, but I've only found one good jigsaw puzzle site: www.jigzone.com The AARP web site has a jigsaw puzzle but it's pretty simple. Oh, and I hate sudoku. Can't do it to save my life. My brain just doesn't work that way.

Anybody know of any others?

This and That

Pretty quiet weekend, which was wonderful. It's Kerry's last one before school starts so he's busy doing stuff around the property. It's still really cold. Our upper pond has been frozen for three days and this morning the lower one was about one-third iced over. We are hoping that the freeze in the upper pond will kill the parrot feather. It generally grows in aquariums but someone many years ago dumped their aquarium, plants and all, into the irrigation ditch. We are at the end of the ditch so we get lots of things we don't necessarily want. Parrot feather is nearly impossible to kill. Here's a picture of it. It slowly eats up your pond until all you have left are these green things.

Went to see "The Queen" last night. Great movie. Helen Mirren is wonderfully stoic as Elizabeth II. It's takes place around the time when Princess Diana died. It shows how the royal family behaved or rather misbehaved badly in dealing with her death. Well worth seeing. There is a new biography out on QEII which I've ordered from the library. She became queen when she was only 27 and now she is 80. Her husband, Prince Phillip, comes across as especially obnoxious.

I'm struggling with slugs in my raised flower bed, particularly where the ranunculus are starting to come up. The tender little shoots get eaten before they can emerge from the ground. The nursery today had some copper tape that they said would get rid of them. I rigged up an area around the ranunculus where I could put the adhesive copper tape. If it weren't so damn cold at night I'd go out and pour salt on the little buggers. We don't seem to get snails. We just get slugs. Apparently they get a mild electric shock when their slime touches the copper. I hope I find lots of dazed slugs in the morning. I can't use the snail poison. We have too many cats roaming around here at night. We already killed a possum with rat poison.

We had 55 Canada geese and one Grebe on the lower pond today. Grebes are small and the geese are huge. They were actually bullying the poor little thing. They kept trying to take away the fish he had in his beak. They don't even eat fish. Here's a picture of the Grebe (stolen from Google). For some reason it got posted first. Go figure. That's all for now.

A Wonderful Surprise From A Wonderful Man

 Kerry once again surprised me in the way he delivered my birthday present. I picked him up at the bank in town and was giving him a ride home. His truck was being serviced at Big O. He came around to my side of the car and said, let's go down the street to our favorite jeweler; he's open today. Then he said, it's time to get your birthday present. My birthday isn't until Jan. 24th. We went to the shop. The jeweler announced he was closing up shop in two weeks and everything in the store was 70% off. The first ring he showed me was a plain band with three large Debeers diamonds. The original price was $10,000 but with 70% off it would cost a mere $3,200. Kerry gulped and I said, let's keep looking. I tried on the ring pictured here and fell in love with it. The price was right so we took it home. It's 14kwG with 4 diamonds; the large stone is blue zircon. It's not that man-made stuff zirconia, but is actually a gemstone on its own. Anyway, I love it and I love Kerry. This is my third piece of jewelry from the same store. It's very nice to be loved 

A Visit From A River Otter

 This photo was taken by Thomas Roach. He lives in the Lincoln area and is very good at taking photos of all kinds of critters. On the day he took this photo of a river otter at Ferrari Pond, we also had a river otter in our lower pond. They are just as cute as the sea otters; they just travel around rivers, lakes and creeks eating whatever they find swimming with them. Kerry tried to get a photo of one but they are so quick and we don't have a place for them to get out of the water. So when I got Tom's photo I asked him if I could put it on my blog as long as I gave him credit. He said yes. This is the third time we've seen them on the property. I've never seen them enter the pond or leave it, but I know they do. The one on our pond did not make our Grebe very happy. He/she hangs out on the lower pond most of the day and sleeps, eats and bathes. As soon as the otter showed up he/she fled. 

Still On The Trail Of Good Food

 This is the second Ruth Reichl book that I'm reading. The first few chapters had me thinking about an herb garden. The secret to wonderful food is the freshness of the ingredients. This book starts out with a trip to Chez Panisse, one of the finest restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alice Waters, founder and chef, really believes in ingredients grown by people who care about what they grow. She really led others down the path of good food grown on small farms where animals and food get to do what they do best: grow without artificial enhancements.

Unfortunately my raised-bed vegetable garden was invaded last summer by Bermuda Grass. You can kill it with Round-Up, but that would be introducing herbicides into our diet. So I will spend the next several weeks rooting this stuff out. I will, however, pour Round-Up on the Bermuda Grass that has enveloped our Honeysuckle and rose bushes. We don't eat them.

Last night we had spaghetti carbonara, which is amazingly simple to make. Restaurants often add cream for the sauce; Ruth Reichl taught me not to do that. Just put two eggs in the pasta bowl, beat them vigorously, add ground pepper and then had the cooked pasta. Toss it briskly. The egg cooks while you toss it with the hot pasta. Pour the bacon and its fat over the pasta (I didn't say that this was on the Pritikin Diet), mix thorougly and add parmesan cheese. There were also two cloves of garlic in with the bacon. They got all mushy which was wonderful. Yummy. We are having leftovers tonight. Drink red wine with the pasta to overcome the bacon and its grease.

Enuf on food; it's dinner time. 

Meet Carina Michelle

 Francesca is the young woman who cleans for us every two weeks. We've been following her pregnancy and now have the result, a beautiful little girl who is two weeks old in this picture. I'll take grandchildren any way I can get them. I got to hold her today. Francesca and her family are going through the 12-year process to become citizens. They don't make it easy. For this family I wish it was shorter. She has not seen her mother in five years. This little baby, however, is a U.S. citizen. I love babies.