Purple Rain, and a Beautiful Lesson

My favorite time of year is when the wisteria blooms. I know I post about this every year but it's my happy time. This year, I was a little late taking the pictures. A small rain caused what last year I called wisteria snow. This year I am calling it purple rain for princely reasons.

There are still many blooms showing off their beauty.

One morning last week, as I was on the phone with someone, I saw a small white pickup truck pull up in front of the house. A woman got out and approached the house. This is most unusual. I finished up the call and answered the door with some trepidation.

Not to worry! She lives in the neighborhood and loves driving by our house. She thinks it's so cute and charming. And she loves my wisteria! She had bought a flowering vine but it hadn't flowered yet. She thought it was wisteria. What did the wisteria leaves look like? Well, mine didn't have leaves yet. So maybe she has something else? I politely suggested she ask at a nursery, since I am no plant expert. But oh I was happy that she took the time to stop by. 

It was a beautiful lesson. This experience, plus the compliments I have received on the caterpillar and butterfly windows, really lifted my spirits and pulled me out of the doldrums, so much that I began blogging again. 

If you love and appreciate something or someone, let the person know. I've been working on reciprocating that this week. There was a customer with a gorgeous purple (I KNOW!) knit purse. It turns out her mother made it! And I had a lovely chat about British TV series with a founder of the Betsy-Tacy Society.

Poached, Both The Egg and the Idea

Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.

I finally learned how to poach an egg.

I'm letting a co-worker take credit for giving me the tip. He saw it on a YouTube video. I didn't tell him that I had already read about it in the Food Lab cookbook. Let him think he taught me something. I intimidate him enough with my crossword puzzle skills.

Anyway, you crack the egg into a sieve and drain off the runny part of the white, then drop it into simmering water. Voila!

Hmmm. That looks a bit skimpy. I think I need another egg.

Better!

That was one of the best breakfasts I've made in a long time.

I sent the coworker a picture and he responded:

We talk about food a lot.

Narwhals

I run across the cutest things at the bookstore. 

I think narwhals deserve some added attention.

And this beautiful art print from annibetts' etsy shop.

This made me want to doodle.

Remember when I doodled?

Late addition, from Joy of Socks .com

Fallingwater

I saw this 3-D recreation of Fallingwater, which reminded me of our visit there in 2014. Which reminded me that I had not shared anything of that trip, let alone last year's road trip. And now we are planning another road trip this fall. I am a terrible travel correspondent.

Oh well, I'm just going to enjoy this. I hope you do too.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Window

When I worked at the school, one of my personal delights was helping the kids with art projects. I miss that. I'm in a wistful mood lately, missing a lot of things. Happily, new things do appear: book store windows!

Our manager had the brilliant idea of doing a Very Hungry Caterpillar window, since the publisher had declared March to be Hungry Caterpillar Month and the store had somehow gotten a double order of books.

Here was opportunity! Bear in mind I am no Eric Carle. I am using my tried and true newspaper technique. (christmas) (valentine) (halloween) (valentine window)

Caterpillar begins to take shape. We can never get a good photo of the window in the day time so there you see my reflection and a nice view of the bike shop across the street.

I went back at night for the final photo. The general consensus is that Caterpillar is adorable. 

We decided to metamorphose him. 

But don't worry. Caterpillar miraculously survived the metamorphosis and got a new life, pointing the way to the restroom! The top of the book case got a good cleaning, so it's a win/win all around.

Well, that was fun!

Weekly Drive

I really miss the daily drive, taking Ernest to school. He was so excited when he got his driver's license because he thought he was imposing on me when I drove him somewhere. It wasn't an imposition; I loved it. We had some great adventures.

I enjoy heading in a new direction on the way to visit the lovely M-I-L once a week.

A few weeks ago we drove from the ocean...

to the forest...

No, not really the forest. Just a driveway through a vineyard. We were on the hunt for the Cuban food truck! Success! The most delicious Cuban sandwich and yuca fries.

Last weekend was not so exciting. Just an expedition to Costco and a hot dog.

Deja Vu

I saw this photo on line (source unknown) and thought it looked a bit familiar. 

I did a bit of digging and came up with this, which I painted in my teens. 

Pretty close. 

A Strange Reflection

Ernest had a snowy day this week. 

Something about his eyes behind his snow goggles freaked me out. 

It looked like his right eye was swollen shut, like Rocky Balboa.

I stewed about this for 24 hours, and finally worked up the nerve to ask

Thank goodness. I bet he was laughing at me!

5 minutes in the life of a cat

First he's a mighty hunter on patrol.

Then he's scared by a little noise.

And rushes to get in.

Stress eating.

Lately

Bloggy silence here. Blogging is not what it used to be. Other social media has replaced the blogging cameraderie. Still, I know I have a few friends that check here to see what's up. I'm just not sure where I want to go. The blog has had a good 10 years.

On one hand, most of what I post is drivel.

On the other hand, it's a little more creative than posting the drivel on facebook.

I might make it private, invitation only. It unnerves me to see 400 views of my drivel.

I am undecided. Until then I will carry on.

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