Camping!
Hey! I'm going camping! At Plaskett Creek! Right now! It's a little south of Big Sur, and I'm going with a bunch of friends from my surf club. I was going last night but I had a couple of work related delays, so I couldn't leave till after 7:30, and I didn't want to do that 2 hour drive down highway 1 in the dark (I sound like an old lady saying that). It's 6:24am now, and I am going to leave in another half-cup of coffee.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Wheels and deals
In the last three weeks I've had to take both my cars to the shop. One
of them twice for two separate major operations, and is currently still
at the shop. The other one just needed new tires and it was a freaking
fortune. Goddamn sports cars. Today, my bike is at the shop for an
assortment of ailments that have rendered it inoperable in the last
week. That's just crazy. What is going on in the universe that this is
all happening at the same time?
dog on the train
On the way home on Caltrain tonight there was a gorgeous police dog
running up and down the aisles checking for something. Dunno what, but
that sweet shepherd sure does love her job!
Easter Food
I made a carrot and parsnip soup last night. Partially in honor of the Easter Bunny, and partially in honor of the fact that I had those two main ingredients in the house. I used
this recipe as a base, plus I added garlic, an onion, cumin, garam masala, paprika, parsley, and white wine. It came out pretty well, and it's one of those dishes that somehow manages to taste even better the second day. Hopefully it will taste even better on the 3rd and possibly 4th day as well, since I had a whole lot of carrots and parsnips from this weeks veggie box and they made a ginormous pot of soup.
The Easter Bunny Came Early
My mom, dad, and nephew Dillon sent me flowers for Easter! That was just the sweetest thing, and aren't the gorgeous?
Chico, the shithead who barked and shrieked at every dog out in public today in that operatic way that only little dogs can, got his comeuppance just now. This is what happens to yappy dogs:
I spent all day today out along the cliff, working on anthropologie capelet 2.0. I ditched the previous wool after I tried it on and it itched the crap out of my neck. Now I am reworking it in off-white Crystal Palace Iceland, purchased July 6th, 2005 in the Knitting Arts sale. I have two balls of it- if it isn't enough, I have two balls of the same yarn in bright pink, and it will become a two color garment.
What IS it?
There is something funky in my kitchen. And I cannot figure out what it is. It is not: the sink, the drain, the trash, behind the trash, under the trash, the dishwasher, the recycling bin, the oven, the stove, behind the oven or stove, the fridge, the freezer, the dogs, the floor, me, the cabinets, the coffeepot, or the basket of onions on the counter. It is...the air? I have no clue. None at all. I'm guessing it will leave as mysteriously as it arrived, but I sure hope it does it soon.
It's spring!
So today is the first day of spring? Or was it yesterday? I hear conflicting stories about this, and I am too lazy to google it. I think I am leaning towards today being official. It's a gorgeous day over here in Santa Cruz. I'm about to go take a lunch time run somewhere around here. If it isn't too windy, I'll run on the beach from New Brighton to Seacliff or Rio Del Mar, depending on how much my ass gets kicked from running on sand. If it is really windy I'll do my usual Nisene Marks thing. Just based on the view from my window, I think Nisene Marks is going to win.
I've got a work project wrapping up today, and when I am done with it (which will happen after I finish my run), I am going to crank out the rest of the
anthropologie capelet in the rusty colored wool I'm using, and start another one in this pastel pink fluffy wool from SP7 that falls somewhere between fun fur and angora in terms of texture.
Yummy food
I ate Sri Lankan food for dinner, and it was great. I tried this coconut and kale dish that was awesome, and I'm going to have to make it at home. Kale, especially Italian Kale, is one of my favorite vegetables. I grew it in my garden last year, and I've started it from seed again this year (along with Okra, another fave, and thank you Dave for importing it from Denver. Mahalo nui loa!).
So this week's veggie box has garlic, carrots, parsnips, escarole, butternut squash, cabbage, radishes, and celery. There is a whole lot of soup coming up: carrot and parsnip with ginger and cumin; squash and cheese; and wilted escarole. I'm probably going to chop and freeze the celery for future use, and I'll turn the cabbage into slaw. Radishes will be a snack. Guess what I am going to be doing tomorrow night? That's right- cooking!
Chico is a goofball. He's frantically digging in his bed and he's squeaking constantly like something is hurting him. If I stop what I am doing to watch, he stops and just sits and looks at me with this "what are you looking at?" expression. As soon as I turn my head back to work, he starts right back up. Crazy dog. Bella, on the other hand, is sound asleep on her back on the loveseat and is just cranking out the ZZZZs.
Three things about today
1) I got to pet a 10-week old golden retriever puppy. She was so mellow I thought she was stoned. My own puppy has not had a mellow moment in his life, even when he is asleep.
2) I found a place that will try to fix my new boots to make them look less like galoshes.
3) This year's
veggie box starts today and I am going to pick it up right now. There will be plenty of good things to eat in my fridge for the next 36 weeks.
On top of all that, it was generally a good day. Woohoo!
Where does the tooth fairy go on vacation?
There is a pre-schoo/ day care center in the building where I work. I
overheard one of the kids asking where the tooth fairy goes on
vacation. I didn't hear the answer, but I've been giving it some
thought myself, and I think that place has to be Waikiki.
I started that anthropologie capelet that's been floating around for
eons, and I'm about halfway done. I'd love to finish it tonight, but I
have some taxes and other work that needs to be sorted out. Maybe
tomorrow it will happen.
People are rude
I am in the cab with the rudest old lady in the world. I sincerely hate
people who have no consideration for the folks who were already in line
ahead of them.
I'm an old lady
Betty and Ryan brought over Betty's bulldogs for brunch. Yoshi and Elvis have been to the house before and my little dog Chico had no problem with that in the past, but today he was 5 pounds of pissed. He has a very operatic way of expressing his rage and I had to go stash him in the bathroom so we could hear each other talking over brunch. Sheesh, I have no idea what got into him since normally he's a sweet little angel that wants to visit with everyone. Today was definitely not a shining example of that behavior.
After they all left and Chico was freed from the bathroom, I went for a run. I've been feeling really beat up after running and jumping rope for the last few weeks, and I thought it was just my shoes. Um, no. As it turns out, I am just getting old and my body is starting to strenuously object to me banging around on my knees and feet.
I don't remember getting old. It must have happened when I wasn't looking.
Feeding Frenzy
I had my surf club over for a meeting and dinner last night. I cooked up a whole mess of shrimp and andouille jambalaya and a pumpkin cake. The jambalaya was a little on the hot side, but after a couple of glasses of wine I don't think anyone noticed it as much.
I just finished making a quiche and sausages for brunch with my friends Betty and Ryan who are just this instant pulling up in the driveway. Which means I need to scoot. Later y'all!
Slow getting home from SLO
I worked in San Luis Obispo today, and I just got home. It took 20 minutes longer than it usually does. I don't know why- there wasn't a lot of traffic and I didn't stop. Just one of those mysteries of life I guess.
I ate dinner and read the paper at the Madonna Inn before I headed back home.
Y'all, they've got pink sugar on the table and my iced tea came with a swizzle stick of rock candy to stir it with. It's so completely over the top in sort of a Dollywood way, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. I love this place!!!
Speaking of sore...
My prediction of soreness was correct. Ya'll, that hill yesterday left a mark. My hips are thrashed.
Last night I went to The Royal Tenenbaums at the midnight movie with a girlfriend. People, I am old. This midnight movie thing is invented for people half my age. Midnight is soo far past my bedtime that I had to take a nap before I went, and upon arrival, I discovered that I was old enough to have finished most- if not all- of college and still been the mother of most of the people there. The movie was good though. I hadn't seen it before, but I will probably add it to my Netflix list to watch again.
In other news, I dug up my garden last weekend and it's all ready to go for this year's veggies. I'm going to do eggplant, two kinds of peppers, okra, and italian kale. I started the okra seed this morning, and made my daily rounds of the nurseries looking for the rest of these plants, but it's still a little early for them to have appeared. I'd start the rest of them from seed too, but I'm hoping that I can find some plants that are already 30 days or so along, so that I'm able to harvest something before the 4th of July. Speaking of veggies, my
CSA veggie box starts in less than two weeks. Hooray!
I'm going to run along now and see if I can't do something fun and outdoorsy for the rest of the afternoon (which is exceptionally long now, thank you Daylight Saving Time). Before I go, here is a picture of my new little dog Chico. He weighs all of five pounds, and is all firecracker.
Hiking up a big hill
I did a big hike up a
big hill today. I'm one tired gal, I can tell you. Tomorrow I reckon I'm going to be one sore gal too...
Happy Friday
Yep, it's been a while, but here I am again. Joy to the world. All the boys and girls. A lot's happened since the last time I was here in June of last year. In July I moved from my cozy studio moved all the way across the patio and into the Big House. In August I adopted a black lab named Bella. In September I went to Malibu. In October I turned 40 and went to New Orleans. In November my sweet little dog Turbo passed away. In December I adopted a chihuahua puppy named Chico. In January I had Jury Duty for 2 weeks. In February I had a dinner party at my house for 9 friends. Now it is March, and thanks to the Google I've tracked down my dear-darling-girlfriend-since-8th-grade-Nancy and I'm positively thrilled about it.
That pretty much summarizes everything I've been up to. Not a whole lot of excitement, no drama, and other than Turbo passing away, there's not been anything really bad either. Everything's just been nice and easy. Hopefully I'll be much more regular about posting stuff here now. I don't have much to say today, and because I am dog-tired, I'm going to bed. I'll be back tomorrow, although I can't guarantee things will have much more sparkle than the do right now. I suspect it will take me a while to get my "voice" back...
g'night y'all!
