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The Garden Party

Friday's Musin'

endorphinjunkie

15 years ago

A gentle rain is falling this morning, muting all other sounds of nature. It's washing the leaves from the trees. Bare skeletons are beginning to show where the leaves are no more. There may be storms this afternoon; there may not be storms this afternoon. So the weather prognosticators say; place your bets.

Some music for a rainy day, that precludes winter coming on.

La Loupe Garou.

The sun room is gloomy and gray with the cloud cover and the aroma of wet dogs pervades the senses.

Color my world....

Elia

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Comments (3)

rob333 (zone 7b)
15 years ago
Getting ready to head to lunch with my best workmate lunch buddy. Her mom died (97 years old and she'd spent at least 6 weeks with her in the past three months. so she was ok with it), and its the first time I've seen her since. The funeral was three states away and she just called me before she hit the road. I'm taking her earrings. I know that sounds a little odd, but I've always thought plants seem a strange thing to do at funerals. And I just couldn't see her dragging home a plant from three states away, along with, her husband, child, dog, hamster, and a van full of clothes. Seemed more like adding a burden. A very dear friend of mine gave me a string of pearls when my grandmother died, and every time I wear them, I feel that twinge of her saying, "Oh just let me look at you" happiness, and that a piece of her is with me. I really liked the idea. A piece of her with me. So that's what I am doing.

I'm off the diet too. Which sucks and is great. 18 pounds down, 32 to go still... still. And I savored every single bite of the chocolate cake last night, sips of champagne, and the pizza we'll indulge in together. I still have 5 months left (to my birthday) to lose 32 pounds. That's only 7 pounds per month. Heck, I can do that in a week and then just stay in a holding pattern the rest of the month.
Janis_G
15 years ago
I'm getting ready for a girl trip to the beach.
My step daughter is coming to stay here next week
and take care of Neil for me.
Her boss said she could work from here so she will be here tomorrow.
Pretty darn nice of him to do that.

I'm taking some books, suntan lotion, sunglasses and
margarita mix. I plan on doing some serious relaxing.

Tomorrow it's the grocery store and the last of the laundry.
I'll do Katrina's leg wraps just before I leave and get all Neil's meds fixed for him.

A vacation for me, I'm so excited I can't stand myself. ;0)
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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)
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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.
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Frozen concoction machine? I thought you meant an ice cream maker, but the more I think about smoothies and woozies being drinks, you mean the one that swirls and has a handle that releases the goodness? Happy vacating! I'm soaked, the remainder of Hermine's eye got me good. I had to walk to the car to get my name badge so that I could withdraw money from the credit union, and the downpour came inbetween the building and the car. I have to replace the heater core on my car and it needs hoses to go with it. So I got out enough money for labor and the hoses. I already bought the heater core a couple of months ago. It's starting to get cold though and I need for the boy to be warm. My shoes are squishing and my hair looks funky. Hurricane season, harumph. I'm looking forward to Sunday when the weather will have passed, my remaining boxes will get moved to storage and my new chair (new to me, mom is giving me her's) goes in. I'm funky too. I am irritable and so is the LF. Don't know if we're doing it to each other or just happened at the same time. Hope we get a new attitude on this, the last weekend of the pool until next May. If we don't get to swim, it'll be too sad. We can go if it rains, but doesn't have thunderstorms. And, less other people will be there. We may be cold, but we'll swim. I wrote on my Facebook account that I can't tell what day of the week it is. Doesn't feel like Friday. The nandinas are turning red, the trees are turning yellow and orange. It's here!
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It was about the same here. Temperature at 8 a.m. was 70, but it warmed up quick, especially on the run. It's 92 right now. I just missed the time I was shooting for. That's inconsequential to the fact that when I took my blood pressure after the race it was 125/75. If I keep up with the exercising and weight loss I should soon not need any pharmaceuticals for the bp. One takes life's little victories where one can..
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calliope
15 years ago
This is one of those days I feel more in harmony with the universe. I can almost feel the biorhythm chart changing. It was one of those genuine autumn days, starting off warmish and smelling of leaves, then going grey and a wonderful and much needed rain came down until after dark.

My primal nesting urge overtook me, and I scurried through one of my pantries, picking each tin up like Silas Marner and stacking it neatly in its own little section. I got tired of feeling the need to wear steel toed boots to fix supper and also made up my list of need to buy vs. need to eat foods. I am becoming my mother, I think, as I must have been fixated on mandarin oranges, and obviously partook of several sales on tomatoes and green chilies. Mama's fixation was on large black garbage bags. LOL.

Supper was your standard stick to the ribs meal, and after we foundered ourselves on beef and homemade noodles, tried to demolish some pies still hot from the oven. The dishwasher is running now, and the house is quiet. The dh is already sleeping off the carb load.

I shan't go up and quilt tonight, and I sat myself down and wrote two personal letters today, so have that done for awhile. I had Allison Kraus on the CD player and it was just the perfect day for Country Western. I don't play it often, but some days are just made for it.

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