Not Better

In fact, the cough arrived this morning and made my day more, um, interesting.  Fortunately I had some cough gels left from my bout with pleurisy last fall so I took a couple and will take more before bed with a Robitussin chaser.  So that I had something to eat that wouldn't irritate my throat I whipped up a batch of Easy Egg Drop Soup.  Man, am I glad that I found that recipe.  It's fast to make, can be as simple or as souped up as you want (get it?  souped up), and tastes great.  I diced up a square of teriyaki tofu I bought last week and tossed that in along with some mushrooms that I chopped (not that I can taste anything, my tongue is fuzzy from Zycam and Halls drops).  Add a handful of goldfish crackers and a clementine and I'm happy.



The chickadees swarmed the feeders this morning.  I'm surprised that there're seeds left in the platform feeder.  LC and I filled it on Sunday and usually by now the chipmunks would have cleaned it out but I'm not complaining.





Speaking of chipmunks, this one has resumed its lookout post.  It scampers up to survey its domain just about every day.


At lunchtime CG, the landscaper I went to school with, stopped by to see where the buried lines are and to check that the ground is soft enough to be dug.  He said they'll be here next week or the week after to build the wall.  Can't wait.


30 April--Camille Pissarro, Women Planting Peasticks.

Lean hard
on the thin bamboo rod,
push the end
into unyielding earth.
Lash the tops together
for a tepee
that curly pea vines can climb,
making shady havens
for hiding in.
~~~~~

Okey-dokey.  That's it for April Poetry Month so you won't have to endure any more of my lame poems.  I blame the head cold.  I had nothing on my calendar today so I spent most of it on the couch knitting and watching things I had DRV'd.  I might do the same tomorrow if the cough maintains its current level of frequency and irritation.  And I still sound like Grover.
--Barbara

Despite a Head Full of Snot

I managed to make it to Grandparents' Day at 4K this morning.  I had almost completely lost my voice by morning so I sounded a lot like Grover from the Muppets but I managed to squeak out what I wanted to say.  I doped up so that I didn't cough or sneeze on anyone and I kept my hands to myself.  LC was excited to have all 3 of her grandparents there to do projects and show us her classroom.  I can't believe that she's going off to big kid Kindergarten in the fall.

We nabbed her away and took ourselves to lunch at 1919, the restaurant in the Lambeau Atrium.  I threw caution (and WW) to the winds and ordered the Green and Gold Flatbread Pizza.  It had bacon and chicken and cheese curds and onions and I don't know what kind of sauce but there was some pale green aoli squirted over the top.  It was soooo good.  I had half of it for lunch and brought the rest home to have for supper.  That way I can get back on WW tomorrow without the temptation of it lurking in a takeout box in the fridge.


I had my last session with M the trainer this afternoon.  She was at the front desk when I got to the Y and when I said hi to her she cocked her head like there was something wrong with her ears.  Nope, I just can't talk out loud so she scaled back my workout, she said.  I still have some achy spots but I wasn't all wrung out and drenched with sweat after a half hour.  A week from Thursday I have my first session with T, the guy she recommended to replace her.  I think I'll like him.



After a shower and supper, I knitted on the Triangle Shawl for some charity the guild is supporting, finishing the second triangle and picking up stitches for the third one.  I hadn't taken any of the kits and felt a little guilty so I took this one but I hated the pattern included so I branched out with one I found online that's a whole lot simpler.  Simple is about my speed lately.


29 April--Greek, Mithradates VI, Enpator Dionysus, King of Pontus.

He's wearing a cat on his head,
a puma, a mountain lion,
severed, skinned, tanned.
It must have been hot and smelly,
but all that's left is his head
carved in marble, so I guess
turn-about is fair play.
~~~~~ 

It was so chilly and so drizzly today that it felt like March or October and here it is the second-last day of April.  Does this mean that it'll be balmy in October since April was so cold?  Are the seasons just shifting a month?  I don't know, it kind of seems like something's happening.  There's nothing on my calendar tomorrow.  I intend to see if I can't evict this @$#%& cold.  Time for Zycam and Robitussin and bed.
--Barbara

Dagnabbit!

Yesterday afternoon my throat felt a little sore.  By bedtime my sinuses were having a party and my throat hurt.  Today I'm stuffed up, my eyes feel swollen, and I feel like crap.  I love a spring cold, don't you?  Bah.

Lots of things are sprouting, even with the chilly nights.  There are leaves sprouting on the honeysuckle,

the bleeding hearts are up a couple inches,





 
and the mint on the edge of the garden is poking through last fall's leaves.  DS and I agree that mint is the cockroach of the plant family.  Mint and roaches are probably the only things that will survive in nuclear winter.  People warned me that mint is invasive and will worm its way all around my garden plot and into the yard. I don't really care, it smells great when you step on it and mow it.  What's not to love?  I yank it out when it gets unruly.


28 April--Frederick Carl Frieseke, Girl in Blue.

she lay
like a pool of moonlight
milky skin
cheeks tinged with pink
slow breaths
afternoon nap
~~~~~

I know I'm here early but my head is full of snot and my eyelids are at half-mast.  I'm going to finish this, drink some orange juice, and see if I can't sleep this cold into submission.  Wish me luck.
--Barbara

Frozen Birdbath

I'm not kidding, the birdbath was frozen when I opened the drapes this morning.  It's April 27th and the birdbath was frozen!  Ack!

The day lilies against the house and the rhubarb by the hose are doing just fine but it was cold enough to freeze that water overnight.  I took the heater out of the birdbath on Easter just before I rammed a scrub brush bristle under my fingernail.  It was over 60 degrees that day; I thought it was safe.  Evidently not.




This morning KW, AP, and I went down to the KI Center to hear William Kent Krueger, the author of a series of books we like, speak at the Untitled Town book festival.  It was great to listen to him talk about writing and, even better, we were very early and wandered into the room to get good seats and got to talk to him for a few minutes.  I have to say that we resisted going fan-girl all over him, but it was a near thing.  Authors and publishers were selling books and one of them had copies of a collection of short stories by a woman I met at The Clearing years ago.  I bought one.  She's a good writer.







When I got home I sliced and sauteed a pound of mushrooms to put into the freezer.  Then I made chicken salad with a chicken breast leftover from my cooking frenzy last week.  I had some for supper, it was deeeeelicious.








I finished the April Preemie Hat #4 and played yarn chicken toward the end.  Good thing I decided to make the micro preemie hat because you can see that I had just a touch over 6" of yarn left.  Whew.




This evening I went downstairs and ironed all of DD's doll clothes so that LC can play with them when she comes to visit.  That's a lot of ironing.





27 April--Charles Frederick Worth, Bertha Palmer's evening dress.

She wore the dress like a shield.
A famous surname is
no prop
to a girl's self-confidence
when Mama was a famous beauty
but she looked like Papa,
right down to
the whiskers.
~~~~~ 

My sinuses decided to start draining this morning.  I'm hoping that it's because of the huge weather system that's barreled through the region today, snowing on Northern Illinois and Milwaukee but missing us altogether.  Thank god.  I think I might have run screaming into the street if snow had started falling today.  Or moved into the basement so I didn't have to look at it.
--Barbara

Snowshoes & Cookbooks

In yesterday's blog post I mentioned how I think that I control the weather by putting winter things away too soon thereby bringing cold air, wind, and rain (or snow, ack!) down upon us.  So I wrote that I planned to leave my snowshoes leaning by the cookbooks which was a picture that Aunt B couldn't conjure up.  I have enough cookbooks that they have their own bookshelf in the corner of the dinette and between the side of the shelf and the wall my snowshoes lean.  See?


This morning I went over to the community room at Goodwill to knit on my sock with the Guild-ers and found a floor stand of seed packets.  I was happy to see zinnia seeds.  I bought some because I planted them in a couple planters last summer and was thrilled to see that butterflies and goldfinches like them.  A lot.  So I'm planting them again this year.



As I was leaving to go sock knitting a Downy Woodpecker showed up on the tattered seed wreath and gave me such a look when I snapped her picture.  Excuse me!


DS made ham spread with part of his Easter ham with Harbin dill pickles (they have tiny hot peppers in them, yum), Dijon mustard, and mayo.  He toasted slices of homemade whole wheat bread to spread it on.  I had mine open-face.  My Great-grandpa Gerst ate open-face sandwiches so I called them "Grandpa Gerst sandwiches" when I was little.  I forget how much I like sandwiches with no lid.  I took along some of my lemon-beet hummus with a bag of jicama sticks, cauliflower florets, and mini cucumber spears for dipping.  It was an excellent repast.

After lunch I went over to CS's garage sale because she'd texted me pictures of the die-cast cars, etc. that she had for sale.  She's a manufacturer's rep and has samples to sell at her neighborhood's annual sale weekend.  See what I got!  Lots of fun to play with, lots of "just because" presents for not a lot of money.  She didn't have any girly stuff but LC likes to play with trucks and diggers too so it's all good.




Tomorrow KW and I are going to hear author William Kent Krueger speak so I cast on April Preemie Hat #4 tonight when I got home from Friday Night Knitting because I'm certain that we'll get to the venue with plenty of knitting time before he speaks.  Besides I've only got 5 days of April left to finish the last of the four hats I like to knit in a month.  Our friend AP will be there too but she's got tickets to the next speaker so she's not riding with us.  Krueger writes a series of thrillers about Cork O'Connor who starts as the sheriff of a small, northern Minnesota town and ends up as a private detective.  The scenery is excellent, the relationships are mostly normal seeming, and, well, I find them engrossing.  I'm really looking forward to hearing him speak.  We're going out to breakfast first.  Because we want to.

26 April--Juan Gris, Landscape and Houses at Ceret.

Sunlight slams down
stark colors rage
houses fry
fields simmer
black holes of shadow
midsummer
midday
sizzles
~~~~~

I could have looked at that painting for hours.  It's very Cubist in style painted in colors not found in nature, not my usual type of art, but that one caught my interest and won't let go.  Too bad it's in a private collection or I'd think about going to see it in person.  Time to hit the sack.
--Barbara

Better Outlook

I started today in the same funk that has weighed me down for the last couple weeks (except for the few sunny days) but my 30 minutes with M the trainer made a bit of a change.  While I walked on the treadmill to warm up, listening to a podcast, I entertained the thought that I'd just flake out, skip the workout, and go home.  But I didn't, and I'm glad.  She had me doing mostly strength work--presses, squats, and throwing down and picking up a medicine ball, which was oddly satisfying.  (Did you know that medicine balls don't bounce?  Well, this one didn't anyway.)  When I was on the third and last cycle I commented that I feel stronger but I didn't think that my breathing had improved.  She shook her head and said, "Are you kidding?  Most people would be gasping and slumping, you're breathing much better than when we started."  Thanks, M, those few words really made my day.










 

This morning there were rotating pairs of goldfinches at the thistle feeder.  The first pair hadn't finished molting into their summer plumage but the last pair that came had.  The male had, that's for sure, females don't really change much.








I've been knitting on the Triangle Wrap.  My crummy mood the last couple months has really affected my knitting enthusiasm.  I realized that most times I'm sitting on the couch my hands are in my lap, not knitting.  NOT knitting.  I can't believe it either.  We're having a sock knit-along at Guild and even though I'm not using the pattern that was suggested I'll go sit and knit on my sock(s) just for the inspiration and motivation.


DS invited me to lunch tomorrow.  I'm hoping to get to taste some of the rum and cola glazed ham that he grilled for their Easter dinner.  Hint, hint.  They put the fence up around the brewery site so they have to start doing something soon.  I'm so impatient for things to get rolling; I can't imagine how agonizing this has been for DS and DIL1.

25 April--Anonymous, A Flapper in Her Bathing Suit.

Wet and joyous
wool suit sags 
knee-high stockings and shoes
perched on a rock
above the foam
like a Rolls Royce
hood ornament
she poses.
~~~~~ 

I think I changed the weather.  I put my winter coats away and carried up my spring coat and jacket.  It started raining this afternoon and lows the next week are supposed to sink into the 40s.  I always suspected that I was in charge of everything but here's proof.  I'll keep the snow boots in the closet for now and the snowshoes can lean alongside the cookbooks for a while yet.  Just in case.
--Barbara

Better Food

Even after spending so many hours over so many days last week cooking all of that delicious and healthy food, until today I was eating like ice cream, sweet rolls, and chocolate were about to disappear from the world forever.  I went to bed last night so tired of myself and my lack of resistance but woke up resolved to wade back into the fray.  So today you get pictures of my meals.



 First was my usual breakfast--fresh pineapple, strawberries, and blueberries with 1/2 cup of non-fat Greek yogurt, 2 Tablespoons of homemade WW granola, 1 prune (what? they cost a point each!), and a banana.

 



Lunch was a cup of lentil soup, 30 goldfish crackers, baby carrots, and a clementine.






For supper I finished the rest of that little NY Strip steak I grilled on Sunday.  I sliced it thin and warmed it up just a tad, then made a salad with butter lettuce, a bit of chopped salad, a Roma tomato, a mini cuke, with homemade Green Goddess dressing, then I put the pieces of steak on top.  Tasty and filling.

That left me with enough points to have a small scoop of ice cream and a few M&Ms.  I promise that I won't inflict pictures of all of my meals on you from now on but it felt important to put them on today.  I've decided that I will eat better food for one more day tomorrow.



And I ate lunch on the patio in the sunshine.  Because I could.  Right next to the patio the rhubarb plant that Dad dug up out of his mom's garden when we moved up here from Evansville, IN in 1962 is looking good.  I like that my rhubarb is an heirloom.  It's the last plant alive from that move.  Dad's rose is still going strong but I'm not sure that it's a plant from Grandma, it might be but I'm not certain.

 


On either side of Dad's rose (which hasn't awakened for the season yet; it's a late sleeper) the daffodils are blooming.  They're so cheerful and bright, they just glow.

The Easter Bunny left baskets, well, buckets of spring toys and a few treats for LC and OJ.  I told them on Saturday that if the EB left anything I'd bring it over later in the week.  I figured with OJ's birthday and Easter the next day, they could stand a couple days of no new candy.  I will confess that I added a few Dum Dum suckers to each basket because the EB didn't put in much candy, only a few M&Ms, besides I have a bag of 500 of the darned suckers from Sam's Club because no other store that I went in last fall had any smaller bags.



I finished the April Preemie Hat #3 this evening.  I do love that little cord tied in a knot on top.  I think it makes babies look like elves.


24 April--Raphael, St. George Struggling with the Dragon.

dragon claws
draw blood
broken lance
slashing sword
knight protector
astride his white horse
battles to save fair maiden
~~~~~

Meh.  But they can't all be worth the paper they're scribbled on.  I've got my second to last training session with M tomorrow afternoon.  I'll miss her, she makes me work hard but I kind of like it.
--Barbara

I Shoulda Made a List

If I'd made a list of the things I had to do today I might not feel like I frittered half of the day away.  I didn't fritter, not much anyway.  And I'm considering this blog post my day's to-do list.  This morning the cleaning lady came and I got the laundry sorted and started.

After lunch I met a knitting guild friend down at the church where we meet to sort the guild library into alphabetical order (I used to work in a library, I know my ABCs really well) because I'm trying to make the inventory list match what's on the cart.  Foolish, I know, but it has been nagging at me so BB and I got the books done today.  I'll go down there again maybe next week to sort through the booklets, etc.


Then I (finally) took the small pile of old family photos TW and AJ and I sorted out that we all wanted copies of down to Walgreens and got a lesson in using their scanner and editing machine.  I think I'll go redo a couple of them so that the copies are closer to the size of the originals but it was easy and fairly inexpensive.



The April Preemie Hat #3 is knitted to the point of the crown decreases and do you think I can find the pattern?  No, of course I can't.  Not to worry, I'll just print out another copy but I spent quite a bit of time grumbling as I searched through various knitting bags this evening.






The other day I went to Dollar Tree to replenish my supply of birthday cards and look what else I got.  Seeds!  I need to get some bales and get them started.  Maybe later this week. 


 
I want to show you the care instructions I got from the (Not So) Urgent Care Clinic yesterday.  It says to soak my hand in warm, soapy water multiple times a day... so do dishes?



That's about it.  I watched this little chipmunk survey the feeding birds as I finished doing yoga this morning.  It looks too small and innocent to scamper up the crook, jump across to the platform feeder, and systematically strip it clean of seeds, pellets, and mealworms, doesn't it?  But that's exactly what it does.  It cleans off the cobs of dried squirrel corn too.  Little glutton.


23 April--Armand Guillaumin, The Seine at Samois.

Sunset river
pink and gold
hums between banks
of verdant green.
Fish rise
in spreading circles
to snatch
tiptoeing dragonflies.
~~~~~

It's late.  I'm tired.  Nighty-night.
--Barbara 

Not According to Plan

My day, that is, it didn't go according to my plan.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have an inner-dictator who is very firm about what needs to be done each day and is slightly cranky when circumstances don't cooperate.  First thing I composed an alluring post for NextDoor.com offering the Weber Smoker and the hammock and frame (I know I was thinking of keeping it but it takes up a lot of room and if I left it up it'd be an attractive nuisance so out it went) to the first person who drove over, then I took the hammock down, bagged it and its parts, hauled it and the smoker to the curb, and left.


First stop was to the clinic to remind the doc to call in one Rx that he or his nurse forgot last Friday and to ask if there wasn't a free nurse with a tweezers who could remove the scrub brush bristle from under my fingernail.  Nope.  Seems I had to have a doctor do that and the doc didn't have any openings today.  Next I drove to the Walgreen's kitty-corner from the Y because there's a clinic in there.  Could they remove the bristle?  Nope.  Gotta have a doctor.  Grr.

Then I went to the Y where I took my Kindle in with me, used one of their mats, and did the longer yoga routine there in front of the big windows (because I'd been too busy to yog at home) then I did 15 minutes on the elliptical.  It felt great.  As a bonus my trainer came in to meet a victim, uh, client and came over to comment that I was doing yoga and to peer at the Kindle.  Visible proof that I actually work out when she's not around.  And when I was on the elliptical, T, the guy who she chose to replace her as my trainer when she goes off in a week to be an adult, stopped to say hi during his workout.

That took me to about 11:15 so I drove over to the Urgent Care Clinic near Walmart to get the danged bristle removed.  I had a coffee date with a friend that I met at the caregivers group at 1 o'clock so I figured that I had plenty of time.  Nope.  The waiting room wasn't full, in fact there was one guy who came in when I did and he went in ahead of me, but once the nurse took my BP and filled out the forms I waited for at least half an hour for the doc who breezed in, looked at my finger, went out for numbing juice (which took at least 15 minutes), injected my finger (which hurt like the dickens), left to wait for it to take effect (about 20 more minutes, during which time I called my friend to push our meeting time back half an hour).  He came zooming in, unwrapped the instrument pack, chose a scissors/tweezer thing, teased out the bristle, and said I was done.  It took a further 10 minutes for a different nurse to bring in my discharge instructions (basically come back if it gets infected--duh) and I was out of there in just under 2 hours.  Urgent it ain't.  Maybe I wasn't sick or hurt enough.  Or maybe they had a hot poker game going in the break room.  At least I got to keep the instruments (I was needing a clamp, those suckers are hard to find and they're so handy) and the bristle.  See?

My friend and I had a nice visit.  There were a few raindrops on the windshield when I left the coffee shop and by the time I got to DS's to duck into the backyard to feed the chickens all the carrot and pineapple peels, beet greens, shriveled grapes, strawberry hulls, and avocado skins and pits from my cooking marathon it was pouring.  Of course.  It rained all the way home, sometimes just a little and sometimes it was a downpour.  The hammock was gone when I got here and the smoker was tipped over.  I righted it and came in to check NextDoor.  Two people asked about the hammock and one about the smoker.  I replied that the smoker was still here and invited her to come on down.  She came in about half an hour (in between rain squalls) and I poked my head out to thank her for taking it.  She said her husband had seen it and been so excited that she had to come right over.  Why he didn't come get it I don't know but she thought they'd have smoked something for supper tonight.  I'm glad it went to a good home.

22 April--Frederick Morgan, Feeding the Rabbits.

They come from near and far,
bundles of white fur
bounding through the springtime grass
to feast on lettuce
or maybe cabbage
carried by the girl
in the pink dress.
She speaks softly to them,
they listen,
pink ears twitching,
listening for the hawk's cry. 
~~~~~

Well, it sounds like it's finally stopped raining and I can't hear any more thunder.  I came home to find that someone had been here and painted red stripes on the lawn behind the house, they poked in red flags too.  I wonder if that means that the retaining wall guy, Clarence, sent them so that he and his crew don't dig up anything important.  There was no note or call.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, and I drove by the brewery site but no digging happened today.  Dang it.
--Barbara

Done!

For now, anyway.  The only cooking I did today was to peel and cut up 2# of carrots, dice 2 yellow onions, and peel 2 heads of garlic.  I tossed it all with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, S&P, and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes, stirring a couple times.  While that was in the oven I fired up the grill, then when the carrots were done, I slapped a little NY strip steak on there for a few minutes.  Mm, what a delicious supper.  Oh, and I made myself a little salad first with some butter lettuce, a bit of chopped salad, a Roma tomato, a pinch of radish sprouts, and Green Goddess dressing.  I am ready to start reaping the Investment Cooking benefits.



 



The weather was gorgeous today so I went outside and got the patio table, chairs, and umbrella set up. (I don't know what possessed me to buy a white plastic table. I can't get it clean. Wonder if I can find a brown one somewhere...) Then I pulled the old Weber smoker out of the shed, texted DS asking if he wanted it, and he doesn't so I took its picture and will put it on Nextdoor.  I also pulled the hammock and frame out of the shed, put it together to take its picture for giving away but then I made the mistake of laying down on it.  Very comfy.  I think I might keep it.  The only problem is I can't figure out how I can knit while lying there.








 
As I unlocked the lower padlock on the shed doors I saw something shiny in the grass.  There was the owl earring I lost way back in September or October.  Naturally I threw the other one away because I was confident that I'd never find the mate.  *sigh*  Another one into the trash, especially since it's the one that couldn't stay connected to the back.  Sheesh.





I hauled the birdie tree to the curb, trimmed the roses, and cut down the pampas grass.







When I walked around the yard picking up trash that blows in I saw that there's just one raspberry cane left.  It's a good thing Durwood isn't here, he'd have me out there amending the soil and planting more.  Speaking of planting, it's time to move last year's bales, get 6 more, and start conditioning.  I've got a list of what I'm thinking of planting but probably will have to winnow it down.  I'm only one person, after all.

These little blue squills live under the lilac in back.  I keep hoping that they'll spread but they're taking their own sweet time since I planted them about 24 years ago and they haven't spread yet.  Hope springs eternal.







Remember I said that I got guilt-ed into taking a charity knitting kit at Guild last Thursday?  Well I started knitting the included pattern on Friday.  It isn't a difficult pattern but I got 2 repeats completed (of the required 41) and my hands were aching and I was already tired of it.  I found a different pattern for a prayer shawl, ripped out what I had knitted and this morning cast on the Triangles shawl.  It's just garter stitch (knit every row) and starts with 47 stitches and decreases 2 stitches in 4 rows until there's only one stitch left.  I got the first one knitted today, next you turn the triangle, pick up stitches along one side, and knit another triangle.  The pattern shows 7 triangles but I read notes from people who've made it before and many of them stopped after 5.  I'll see how things are when I get there.  Funny how it's easier on my hands even though I'm using the same needles and the same (yucky) yarn.  This pattern requires less thinking, maybe that's the secret.

When I was scrubbing out the birdbath I reached for the scrub brush and managed to jam a bristle under my pointer fingernail.  Ouch!  Of course it broke when I tried to pull it out.  Guess I'll be stopping by the clinic on my way to the Y tomorrow to see if someone can remove it for me.  It kind of hurts.  Plus that bristle was not clean.

21 April--Henri Matisse, Dance (1).

Sky-clad, they dance
holding hands,
circle on the lawn.
Music of the universe
their only song.
Five women,
lovers, friends,
rejoice in each other,
rejoice in the day.
~~~~~ 

Today sure was a day for rejoicing.  The weather was perfect, partly sunny, and mild.  I had the house open and played outside all afternoon.  Happy Easter to all!  I hope your day was filled with sunshine and joy.
--Barbara

Still Cooking

I can't seem to stop.  Today I made 63 Fast & Friendly meatballs (1 WW point/meatball) with 3# of ground turkey, bread crumbs, a few eggs, some onions, garlic, and bell peppers minced and sauteed, S&P, and Italian herbs.  The first time I made them they were kind of gray looking after being baked so I turned on the broiler for 5 minutes to give them a little color and crisp the outside just a bit.  Perfect.  I keep notes on the recipe sheet and this is the third time I've made them.  They're so good, LC and OJ like them too, and they'll be just great with the marinara sauce I made on Monday.  I froze them, portioned them out three to a sandwich bag, and now they're in the freezer ready to be supper.  Or lunch.  Or a snack.

I went to the last Market on Military indoor farmer's market in the neighborhood for some farm fresh eggs, some radish sprouts, yellow onions, and some carrots.  I was too late for the carrots, he'd just sold out, but I got some lovely onions and button mushrooms.  Luisa was there so I treated myself to a couple tamales for lunch.  Yum.  They are so good.  Thanks, DS and DIL1 for telling me about her at the summer farmer's market downtown.  On my way home I swung by Pick 'n Save for an Rx and picked up a big bag of carrots.  I'll clean and cut them up tomorrow and roast them with onions, garlic cloves, in a little olive oil and have a nice big bock of veggies to eat next week.  Don't you just love roasted veggies?  I roasted the beets for my lemony beet hummus and the flavor is really good.


Today is OJ's third birthday so there was cake after naptime, a whole family trip to the zoo, and then supper at Culver's.  The Mickey hat and Tonka construction toys from Meemaw were a big hit.  That digger, front end loader, and dump truck will get a real workout.

It was the perfect time to be at the zoo.  It wasn't at all crowded and many of the animals that we usually don't see or barely get a glimpse of were out and about in their enclosures.  DS was thrilled to see the lynx and the bobcat both out and pacing.  JZ stood in front of the red pandas for a long time.  LC liked the deer.  HZ said her favorite was the peacock that greeted us as we arrived. DIL1 said she liked the otter.  OJ liked the snow leopard. My favorites are the giraffes; I could spend all the money in my wallet on leaves to feed them if people would tolerate it.  They have a new exhibit that lets kids duck through a tunnel and pop up like a prairie dog and when LC and OJ went through there was one little prairie dog right by them.  OJ kept running back to look again and again.  It's a wonderful zoo, we got through in about an hour, and the weather was perfect.  What a fun afternoon.  I hope we do it again.  Or I could just nab the kids and take them myself.

This evening I cut up the pineapple I got at ALDI yesterday and the strawberries and blueberries I got at Pick 'n Save earlier today for a nice big bowl of fruit.  I'm a huge fan of fruit, can you tell?


I picked up a clearance bag of three avocados at Walmart last week meaning to make Green Goddess dressing but they got shoved under a bag of lettuce so when I pulled them out this evening one of them was beyond hope and I managed to salvage enough usable from the other two to make dressing.  Whew.  It's so good.  I never would have predicted that I'd like something with tarragon and anchovy paste but I do, I really do.  Think how good a sprinkling of radish sprouts will be on my salads this week too.  

You totally wish you ate here.  Now if I can only curb my tendency to eat ALL of the ice cream...
 
I went out to get the mail after the sun went down but before full dark.  I thought the sky was particularly pretty.  Funny how I don't notice the power lines and the used cars at the end of the block.





20 April--Paul Gauguin, The Agony in the Garden of Olives.

Skeletal trees contort
moonlight
ancient olives shelter
suffering
man praying at
their feet
lurking friends
support
can't console his
anguish 
~~~~~

I saw the doc yesterday and got something to help with depression.  Just talking to him and him saying that he was expecting me to come in, that he would be worried if I didn't, helped me start to feel better.  Sunny days help a lot too.  So does spending time with those two small people.  I'll be keeping on keeping on.
--Barbara