Clever doc

Thursday I almost included a bit of fingertip among the dinner ingredients. The doc who steri-stripped it told me I'd have to keep it clean & dry for 5 days. In addition to more steri-strips, he gave me a few exam gloves, with instructions to cut off a finger and slide it over the "patient". So far it works just fine - I waited until after showering to change the "glove" and was surprised to see how well it worked. And it's so easy - no trying to juggle ointment & bandaids w/ one hand.

Yes, it's too early to think of Christmas but...

The leader of my church choir has been soliciting music suggestions for the Advent & Christmas seasons. One of our members, after protesting that it's still August, still summer - too soon! went on to suggest a parish Christmas carol party. Any interested parties could just show up in the church social hall, free to bring instruments, voices and perhaps snacks, and we could sing ourselves hoarse. I think that sounds like a WONDERFUL idea! I sure hope it happens.

I don't know if the Chief would come - he's not much for singing. However, if I can assure him that some of the parishioners will be bringing their babies and toddlers, I'm sure I'd have NO trouble persuading him to attend with me.

Is Facebook "ruining" blogs?

Have you noticed that some of your favorite blogs aren't being maintained as they once were? Ever wonder if perhaps the writer is posting status updates to Facebook instead?

When I go days (or a week or more) without a blog post, it's usually due to one of these reasons: 1) nothing new to write about ("geez, again with the plants!"); 2) too busy, or busy recovering from being busy, to write. I don't have internet access at work (Uncle Sam doesn't want us checking Facebook or shopping on line on the taxpayer's time), but obviously lots and lots of my FB friends do, or are still on summer break or otherwise have more time for FB than I do. Seeing how often some of them update their status makes me wonder if that's taking the time they used to spend blogging...

Another FB phenomenon I'm sure you've noticed along with me is the number of FB "friends" who are people you don't know all that well, if at all. Sure, we all have someone we can call in the wee hours in a crisis, but how many of your hundreds of FB friends fall into that category? Some of my FB friends are people I did a single show with, X years ago. That's OK, as long as they don't mind that I've blocked all the quizzes and nearly all the apps. But I do wonder sometimes why someone I haven't heard from or laid eyes on in a number of years wants to "friend" me - (brings back of hand to forehead with a melodramatic flourish) am I nothing more than a notch on their FB belt? :-)

Rearranging the furnit-, um, flora

Chief mowed the front lawn today, decided it was too humid to do the back. Instead, he decided this would be a good day to plant the hellebores we bought a coupla weeks ago. (North side of the house, so at least we were working in shade.) He dumped in a big bucket of compost and 2 bags of real topsoil (the stuff we'd bought at the exchange was mostly clay!), mixed it all up, then dug holes so I could install the hellebores. I also moved another one over from another bed. One of the new hellebores was looking awfully sickly; we're hoping it'll revive now that it's properly planted.

The Chief had dug up what's probably lilies of the valley and moved them to build the bed we just populated. I took the displaced plants and put them in the hole left by the hellebore I moved, then dug up a fern that was hanging in from last year and put it in the bed along the driveway. Assuming it continues to hang in there, it'll be the first of a variety of ferns I want to plant in that bed. Ferns will certainly be an improvement over the weeds that occupy most of that bed, along with some vinca and a few daylilies.

Where did the evening go?!?

Came home from work and started right into food prep: Brownies for work, salsa for the weekend, veggie lasagne ditto, involving lots of chopping, shredding, grating and other mutilation of vegetables. More friends at the cabin this weekend, need to make sure we can feed the vegetarian as well as the carnivores. But why did I think it would be no big deal doing all this in one night?

Doing our part for the local economy

The Chief and I are planning to put some new windows in the kitchen and went out Friday after I got home from work to see the finalists. We're getting casements! Only "lunch money" more than double-hungs, which surprised me. From there, we went for dinner at my favorite Italian place, where I had the fettucine verde. Spinach noodles, big chunks of eggplant, plenty of ricotta - I love it so much, I almost always order it when we go there. Last stop Ikea, where we got a heapie-cheapie bookcase to use as shelving in our bathroom at the cabin, some $10 folding chairs that we'll use for the open house in a few weeks, and a throw rug to put by the back door to catch the worst of the dirt we track in.

Yesterday we stopped by Borders on the way to E's birthday party because I had several gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. I ended up with 4 CD's (2 musicals, 2 Ella Fitzgeralds) and 6 or 7 books. It was FUN walking outta there with a big bag of goodies, nearly all of them for me! (I did get a few books for friends' new baby.) And I still have one more untouched gift card...

This afternoon, the Chief decided on the spur of the moment that it was time to restock our wine supply, so off we went to buy for ourselves and for the open house. We also stopped in at the Base Exchange to look for a few things. We ended up with a bright yellow metal colander (my grandmother's has long since earned its retirement), a few kitchen gadgets for the cabin, and 3 more CDs, including a 3-disc Dorsey Bros. set. The Chief then wanted to check out Barnes & Noble, where I bought yet another CD and a book for myself and one for a gift. We also stopped into Williams-Sonoma and found tattersall tablecloths on a HUGE sale - nearly 80% off! We took our half-price tablecloth to the register and learned that it was further reduced, so we went back & grabbed the other size and ended up getting both for less than the marked-down price on the larger one. (This is where the textile junkie does her "got a HUGE deal!" dance.)

The things for the cabin are in their "staging area", the books are shelved, the CDs have all been loaded on my iPod, and I can't wait to finish my library books so I can dig into these new ones.

Happy Birthday, both of you

The Chief & I went to a 50th-birthday party Saturday for a friend I've known since we were in our 20s, and I've known E's wife almost as long. Some of the other guests were people they've known even longer. They were smart and ordered in BBQ, then supplemented w/ add'l sides and a wonderful carrot cake from a bakery. (We contributed a home-made peach pie.)

Today I went to a 60th-birthday brunch a former colleague threw for herself. I was a little apprehensive about going when I realized I wouldn't know anyone but the birthday girl (the Chief didn't even know her, so he opted to stay home), but I needn't have worried. I ended up having a nice chat with one woman who promised to e-mail me her pie crust recipe (calls for vegetable oil for the shortening, and soy milk), and a friend or cousin of the birthday girl who teaches "everything!" music at the elementary school level but is also interested in language. Talking food, music, language - lovely! M decided to do this at her synagogue to accommodate the crowd of 40 or so, and they put on a nice little brunch spread - bagels, cream cheese, lox, hummus, some wonderful baba ghanouj, a mixed-greens salad w/ strawberries in it, then an excellent sheet cake & make-your-own sundaes. M's 2 sisters presented a slide show of old family photos starring M - I think we all loved seeing her in ringlets, Mary Janes, and party dresses.

It was fun seeing the similarities & contrasts in the 2 parties and their honorees, and I'm glad I was able to attend both. Happy birthday, both of you.

Touch of theatrical withdrawal

I gotta get to a show soon. I haven't seen anything since my Fringe show closed a couple of weeks ago, and because of planned travel there's no point in my auditioning for anything yet, which makes it a bit sad to have to delete all the audition notices that have started hitting my Inbox. :( A local company is doing Gypsy - maybe the Chief & I will go see it so I can get a theater fix.

Peachy

The Chief bought more peaches this week; a LOT more peaches (3 quarts). Not as ripe as the last batch, but now that I'm once more in possession of the "good" peach pie recipe, I'm sure they'll bake up just fine. Though I still can't find my pastry cloth and rolling pin sock...

Come by the house in a few hours - it'll smell wonderful!

Parties and perambulations

All of a sudden we're looking at a nice string of parties and travel. This past weekend was the block party with our cabin neighbors. This coming weekend brings a 50th and a 60th birthday party, we're planning an open house out at the cabin for Labor Day weekend, and hoping to host my parents there the following weekend.

Travel includes a long weekend trip to Williamsburg, another long weekend at the Outer Banks, and our week-and-a-bit vacation in England, which takes us within shouting distance of holiday trips to NYC and KC.

I don't see how I'll be able to do any shows that open before December at the earliest, which means the Chief won't become a Theater Widower again for a couple of months.

Flora & fauna

The Chief & I spent the weekend at the cabin, the highlight of which was the 4th annual block party. The hostesses managed to get the one nice day of the weekend, and temps barely in the 80s - perfect for lounging around under the trees and visiting with part-time neighbors. We also met a couple who own a place a block or two over and who sided their home with log siding a few years ago. The Chief was very interested in hearing about how they did it and took the husband back to our place to get his opinion on our doing the same. After they'd been gone a while, the wife & I went back to find them. I ended up giving her a tour of the place. She admired the quilt I'd found for the upstairs guest room (see below); turns out she does a lot of needlework. I'm hoping to get a chance to see her wares; might be suitable for Christmas presents.


We saw a lot of deer this weekend, several hummingbirds (makes me want to load up our feeder), and even some wild turkeys wandering across the road as I was heading home. No woodpeckers this weekend, but that was my first turkey sighting in 2 years, so that makes up for it, I guess.

We went over to the nursery again and left with 4 more hellebores and a walnut sapling. The walnut is only a couple of feet tall; a "volunteer" the squirrels planted in one of the pots meant for sale. The nurseryman got it for free, so he gave it to us as a "free to good home". Now to find out what we need to do to make sure it doesn't up & die on us (like the parsley plant I bought and managed to kill).