Cold and windy here and I have been doing grunge stuff all day. Changing sheets, dusting, vacuuming, all those things one would love to put off forever. With Katrina's help, I put all the meds in see through containers and slapped labels on them. Now they are easy to reach, for an adult, and are organized. I've ordered some gas fire logs for the fireplace in the living room. I hope they work out okay. I got one with a remote control because I don't like having to get down on my hands and knees to light a fire. Also ordered some cabinet knobs for the bathroom. Lord only knows if they will match anything else in there. If not, then I'll start over. It is supposed to snow on Monday but I doubt if it will amount to anything. I've been to the store and I have bread and milk. Let it snow.!! Michael, I'm sorry about your dog, let us know if you get another one. Sorry about the furnace going out, it's a bummer to have to spend so much money for a replacement. I'm keeping my fingers crossed with ours. We have three of the darned things. One is bound to bite the dust sooner or later. Getting ready to call it a day. My electric blanket and my book awaits me.

Michael, A good friend of ours is "The Mule Man." He's pulling in three parades Saturday. His two mules, Gus and Biscuit, will be pulling the green buckboard wagon with Indian Chief Slacabamorinico in the Joe Cain Parade. He also pulls the OOM head float "Folly chasing Death." Folly chases Death around the column while banging pig bladders against the column. "The Mule Man" starts getting Gus and Biscuit ready about a month before the OOM by putting rocks in plastic milk jugs and shaking them around the mules to get them used to the noise. That's Biscuit in the pic.

Steve and I were up at 4:00 am yesterday (ouch!) to catch our flights to Montreal. He's got a conference here all week, and I'm sticking around until Tuesday night just to play. We got to the hotel a little after 1:00 yesterday and asked for a recommendation for a neighborhood in which to find a good restaurant. A five minute walk later, we found a great little restaurant specializing in charcuterie. We settled in with a couple of charcuterie sampler plates, a great bottle of wine, and watched the World Cup with the locals. My French is still a little rusty, but clumsy as I am, we're able to joke, communicate and carry on just fine. We came back for a nap, and then joined another couple we know to walk to the huge international jazz festival that's going on. After dancing around in the audience for a couple of acts, we found an outdoor restaurant with great views of two stages, found a table where we could watch both while enjoying an excellent bottle of Cotes du Rhone, a cheese plate, and followed it up with some good port. We enjoyed one act in particular, and I intend to buy their music when I get a chance. They're called "Caravan Palace" and I think they're from Paris. High energy and a great sound... couldn't ask for any more! This morning Steve and I figured out the metro (which is clean and does NOT smell like pee, as does every other I've ever been on). We took it (with some help from the very friendly locals) to a huge farmers market (Marche Jean-Talon) where we wandered around enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and tastes after starting out with some well-made espresso and chocolate/banana crepes. As cool as it is to have food from around the world at a farmers market, I fell in love with our little Madison farmer's market even more for the fact that our 300-some vendors sell entirely and only locally-produced foods. Steve had to run to a meeting, and I'm contemplating a nap. We might try to see Cindy Lauper tomorrow night. She's singing the blues as part of the jazz festival. I've always enjoyed both her voice and personality. Or maybe we'll see if we can get tickets to the Cirque du Soleil... There's no shortage of stuff going on here. I think I could live here. It's an interesting combination of big city, midwestern-style politeness, diversity, and French flavor. This is a great start to a most excellent adventure. :o)

I was too busy to ramble much Friday, so I'll do a Saturday ramble. The DH is off on one of his little excursions today, so my doggie, the cats and I are holding the house down. The sky is darkening, and I hear a boom of thunder now and again on the horizon. At times like this, I think of blue body paint, and old times at the GW and the rain dance. We need it badly. I just finished off a leisurely brunch. The simple repast as John used to say. I cracked an egg I gathered yesterday into a ten inch cast iron griddle, and it filled the whole bottom. I had to fold it over to fit the spatula under it and put it on the plate. Doubtless left by one of the old biddie hens, who is smart enough to know that the pullet's legs are banded this year. That means it's culling time at the henhouse and she's smart enough to know an egg the size of a tennis ball buys her a presidential pardon. LOL. I made a potato pattie to go with the egg, and toasted a couple of slices of the bread I baked yesterday, sopped them in real butter, and drowned them in homemade strawberry jam. It doesn't get much simpler than that, but it also doesn't get much better. Last night, we had the first veggie soup from the garden. Cabbage, green beans, celery, baby carrots, tomatoes and probably a few things I've forgotten, simmered all day in the broth from a big beef knuckle and served with a loaf of bread so hot from the oven, you couldn't even slice it. The DH and I had a ceremony early last week, honoring the first ripe tomato. It was cleaved in half, still warm, and served up with the salt shaker. You have to grow tomatoes to appreciate what I mean. I still haven't been fishing or swimming yet. It's coming down the pike. Hopefully I can scoop up a g'kid or two for the occasion. I asked myself last night is my vanity worth giving up swimming? I said no. I hope that never changes as when I was a young woman, I used to really feel sorry for the older crowd who sat by the beaches, never bringing their swim gear, and having that 'look' in their eyes. It's a positively wonderful experience for an older person. Such gentle exercise, almost weightless. I starting to see some butterflies, finally......but not the wild orgy of them I used to see before the industrial park went in nearby. The dragonflies are abundant and venture away from the pond regularly. The crawdads are burrowed deep into the stream bed and the first good rain in months should bring them back out. Summer.