Signs of Christmas

My Christmassy small town goes all out every year, but me?

Every year it becomes more of a struggle.

I asked Handy about getting a tree. He was non-committal.

I did get a wreath from Costco.

And a plane ticket.

I am going to visit ERNEST!  WHOO_HOO!!! And his new KITTEN!

Merry Christmas!

CrazyHair

One night I went to bed with wet hair, wondering what would happen.

In the morning, it turned out to be medium hair???

It didn't last very long.  

I showed my big-haired co-workers the after photo. They were very polite. Just a few giggles, like "oh you sweet naive small-haired wistful dear...."

Well, big hair, small hair, no hair, we all do the best we can.

Hair's to you.

Happy Thanksgiving

I think I liked sitting with my kids. Now they are grown, and besting me in the pie department. 

My pie:

On the opposite coast, Ernest's pie:

I think Ernest wins that round. 

Happy Thanksgiving. 

The Toe Bone Connected to the Hip Bone

That title spells out my month. Five weeks ago, I "stubbed" my left pinkie toe on the one-brick high hearth in our living room. I think the quote unquote stubbing may have bent it 45°. It was quite painful. I know! It's only a toe! But it serves a purpose in walking and balance. I tried to womanfully soldier on.  

There was an interesting bruise progression the first week. 

Re-stubbing it a couple times didn't help. Finally, after much ice and elevation, it is feeling better. But in the process I somehow tweaked my hip. If it's not one thing, it's another. 

Now I can wiggle it and put a sock on again without agony.

Hooray!

Signs of Fall

Fall in my 'hood is mostly hot, gradually cooling off to more reasonable temps.

So we've ranged from 105 down to 70.

Minor hopes for rain did not pan out.

This colorful dragonfly graces the back fence at my M-I-L's residence.

The coffee house's scarecrow looks suspiciously like the Frank we know and love.

These didn't last long.

Tasty fall food. The classic scalloped potatoes. Still using the recipe from my childhood cookbook. 

Open Face

Visitors think that we at the book store know everything! Mostly we do! But here's a little secret. Sometimes we don't! One thing we are a little iffy on is where is the best local "ethnic" food. To be completely honest, since we live here we don't go to the tourist spots!

I decided I should get some first hand knowledge so I have been gallivanting about town ordering open face sandwiches. That is the only item I am surveying at this point, so I plan to visit the four Danish restaurants which serve them. There are two others which are Danish/Mexican (you think it's crazy but it works) but they do not have open face sandwiches so they are off my list for now. 

This is roast beef, horseradish, cucumber salad, crispy onions and tomato. It was delicious. This restaurant has a traditional scandinavian country home feel, also it is around the corner from the book store, so I recommend it often. It was clean and had a nice looking smorgasbord. 

At the next restaurant, this is Danish meatball, cucumber salad, and red cabbage, which was a tasty combination. The potato salad here was a little undercooked. This restaurant is in a greenhouse building with a spacious patio. 

I was on a roll. The next week I checked out the third spot. This restaurant had the most varied selection of open faced sandwiches. It was hard to decide. They even had an Italian version.  I ended up ordering a sampler. I had to get it to go, so after I replated it at home it might not look as pretty as it did originally. This was enough for 2 people. Potato salad too, but I did not replate that!

From the top, clockwise: roast pork with red cabbage, pickled cucumbers and a prune garnish; havarti cheese with bell pepper and radish; shrimp and mayonnaise; and liver pate with the cucumbers again. I am normally not a fan of liver, so I was surprised that the pate was my favorite. Its umaminess combined nicely with the sweet and sour of the cucumbers. Havarti cheese is one of my favorites. I saved most of the pork for another meal. But the shrimp. Ugh. Too much mayo.

The fourth restaurant only has a combo plate, so I need to wait for a day I'm really hungry.

The weird problem I have with these open-faced sandwiches is how do you eat them? They are top heavy and almost impossible to pick up.  I cut them with knife and fork. The bread underneath is a small square or rectangle of pumpernickel (except for the shrimp, which was on white bread). I told one customer, who was concerned with eating too much, "there's only half the bread!"  The bread is just a tiny little platter underneath the tastiness on top.  If you are gluten free, ask for no bread. No problem. Then you get tiny meaty salads.

I think I've done my job, as far as open-face sandwiches are concerned.

My next local quest: who sells souvenir magnets.

Chance of Rain

A small percentage chance of rain was predicted this weekend. We were doubtful. We headed north on Saturday morning to visit Handy's mom. The fog grew rapidly thicker as we neared the coast.

Was this rain or just heavy mist?

This was definitely rain on the way back. 

Now that I see the bad cell phone photos enlarged on the computer screen, they look almost identical, but trust me, there was a difference. First rain of the season, the road is slick, folks. We passed a rollover accident. 

When we got home... ugh, it was partially cloudy and humid. I don't do humid very well. But by dinner time there was a slight pooling of liquid on the driveway.  I didn't notice other rain activity until 2:30 a.m. when there was a drip from the eaves at 3 second intervals. I kid you not. I mentally timed that drip for over an hour.

Humidly and exhaustedly yours,

Me

Snails

Handy's friend in Taiwan sent a picture of a snail crawling on the curb. I'll show you that later. 

Handy happened upon a snail this morning, so he sent a picture in return:

...

...

Here's his friend's snail:

Oh my. 

Plush and Fluffy

I laughed when this postcard came in the mail at work. This will be my political slogan. Make America plush again. A plushie in every house. Two plushies in every bed!

I fell so much in love with this fluffy kitty, Papillon. This is my #1 Christmas pick. 

And here's our own plush and fluffy baby.

UPDATED with better pictures of the plush and fluffy youngster.

I Was a Feminist at 5

I just realized. 

Recently, my friends shared some kindergarten reminicences on Facebook.

I said:

"I was annoyed because there were no books to read and girls had to play in the toy kitchen."

I must have taught myself to read. I can't even remember not being able to read. I have vivid memories of looking at the kindergarten book rack and being disappointed because there were no books with real words in them. In my spare time I read everything I could. 

And I excavated in our unused carport. There was some brownish sand on top but underneath was a beautiful white layer. I carefully scraped out the white layer, mixed in some water, and made beautiful cement highways. 

A Week in Cat Photos

The best wrapping paper. Gift to Frank from Grandma and Aunt. 

SRSLY,  someone dropped a digit here. 

There was thunderous noise on that upstairs deck, but all I found was the Gigantor Kitten. 

Yep, the cats and I are in sync here. 

I seem to have two minions on my left. 

Oh my, I love this series but to have a cat in the title just tops it! 

September

Try to remember the kind of September

When life was slow and oh, so mellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

When grass was green and grain was yellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

When you were a tender and callow fellow.

Try to remember, and if you remember,

Then follow.

I, the Juror

Yes, for the third time I have been selected to participate in one of the most important roles a U.S. Citizen has. Two of my co-jurors are also on trial number 3. We wonder if we have gold stars by our names in the juror database.

Well, just like Fight Club, I can't talk about it.

I can say that there was an atrocity in the juror's restroom.

The toilet paper was under.

The Sandman Hotel Group has prepared an analysis of the issue, which includes the cute kitten picture I borrowed above.

So much more interesting than what I'm doing.

Another week

This was lunch one day. 

The UPS trucks looked like mating insects. 

Handy and I went to the movies - it was almost a private showing. 

My sons kept each other company

And I had company too!

Proper Supervision

We got a load of firewood. We have some doubts that it will ever be cold enough to have a fire, but we were almost out of wood for the barbecue. 

I told Handy I would help him stack it, but only in the morning when it was cool and cloudy. 

So he wheelbarrowed about half to the woodpile and in the morning I set to work. 

You can see I was quite well supervised. 

And the supervisor was closely watched by upper management. 

The next morning I was allowed to stack the other half with only minimal supervision from a distance.