November 29, 2008

pinch of this, dash of that



Some recent discoveries and delights - just saw this movie and loved it. A big fan of Amy Adams and Frances McDormand already and they are just terrific together. On a different film note, these little films (click on the various ones) are wonders - I especially loved the octopus. This history lesson seems to go with it (sort of) - I especially love Alexander's reaction to going underwater..."Alexander is quoted as observing, from what he had seen underwater, that "...the world is damned and lost. The large and powerful fish devour the small fry." Sort of surprised that upset him, considering the whole conquering the world career thing he had going on. This blog just wowed me - I took a book binding course years ago in New Haven and have always been smitten - one of those "when I get some time" things I would like to do again. There's a great place in NYC for it but the classes and I never have the same dance card free. Finally, this artist's work are so compelling - really like Time Horizon and Waste Man.

November 28, 2008

They're thankful they aren't turkeys


The husband was in his cooking glory, the house was perfumed with turkey, the waiting was intolerable, what to do?
Ride, baby, ride.
Cruising with the daughter down to the park where we froze to pieces not wearing warm enough jackets, but it was gorgeous out and the geese were tolerant.
And back home, like a good fairy tale ending, a feast and loved ones awaited :)
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, too.







November 25, 2008

Just try and get this tiger, grrrrrrr.


Came home to find a box , inside a book, a reprinted essay in there, a nice surprise actually since I hadn't realized they were reprinting it. It's on Amazon but I think it's way more fun this way. Now if I could just get the YA back on track. Okay, onto more important things like the older son is home for the holiday, that I am declaring Thanksgiving to be a calorie free day - in fact mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy may actually help a person lose weight according to my calculations. Have a happy Thanksgiving one and all.

November 23, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like...


Well, maybe just because I just came back from a bit of Christmas shopping - what a sense of satisfied hunter when you find just the right thing, huh? Anyway, I am jumping the gun, not even Thanksgiving yet, but I want the star twinkle lights hung, a wreath, and our tree dressed in our years of collected ornaments and that lovely pine smell, and the Christmas music on 24/7. We don't break out the Christmas cds until Thanksgiving Day, one of our family traditions, but here's a few for the blog (love that movie) and the lovely early gift of the son who will be home soon from college for a few days for Turkey Feasting and for that Dickens Bless us all everyone vibe. And on the shelf, a tiny year round tree.

November 18, 2008

Tadpole no longer


A Mr. Grimshaw update for those who remember when he was a brown blob resentfully growing legs. He has grown into a strapping bullfrog with a yen for privacy and a look of contempt for his human keepers. He never did figure out that the many little fish in his tank are edible (very Dory "fish are friends, not food"). However he does seem to enjoy his crickets which keep escaping and are all over the house (speaking as one who was under her desk yesterday with flashlight, tissue, and a sense of trepidation as I followed the elusive and greatly annoying chirrups).
The daughter says he is going to get much larger. Much larger?

What's rather lovely is that he is not altogether "right" as one of his feet are not good. Which makes me feel good that he was rescued by us (found at bottom of large goldfish delivery bag at a petstore) as he would not fare well in the wild or with other critters...still, he does not care for us. Ah, well. We live but to serve.

November 16, 2008

Young at Heart




Watched that amazing documentary, Young at Heart, Saturday night and I had to post this.

November 15, 2008

A tick-lish subject

I hear the groans. Oh, pooh, I like a bad pun. Anyhoo, a spate of warmish rainy weather has brought the bugs back just when I thought the near frost had done them in - in the living room, a surprise mosquito trying to bite me, a tick finding its way onto the youngest one's back after a hike through the woods...and so because I feel like a nice practical and sturdy post, I will be offering advice on something on which I excel (thanks to my dogs) - tick removal.
Do not pour on gasoline. Do not use a spent match. Do not cover it in gels and goop to smother it. All of this is not useful and potentially harmful. Instead, take a tweezer (and this is where you should have invested in a decent tweezer for the house), grasp it firmly at the entry spot, and pull in a firm, steady motion. Don't freak out if you don't get the total head - don't believe me? Get Dr. Oz's take on the subject.

To get rid of the tick, I have found the best solution (since they seem notoriously hard to kill) is to drop the critter in a little bit of nail polish remover. That seems to do them in entirely. However, if you are concerned about saving it in case of Lyme disease or some other tick-related disease, just put the tick in a jar with a tight lid.

November 13, 2008

Dear Prudence


A song for the pudding queen, prayers and thoughts, it's a rainy night and I am thinking of you and that conversation you had on the phone with someone about a scary cat. Wish I had a phoneline tonight to you.

The daughter wants me to give a shout-out for "To Write Love on Her Arms" so here is their website, do read about it. A lot of heart and compassion.

A really lovely website for calligraphy and quote fans alike.

Personal religion.

Peace out, you know?

November 9, 2008

Food Nirvana











My daughter and I hit up Trader Joe's this afternoon and discovered serendipity. Slice and warm thin rounds of their garlic parmesan (Italian) bread. Spread on hummus. Top with olive tapenade. Oh, bliss. Really, bliss. I mean, we were moaning. She, like me, would rather eat this stuff than cake. Although I found her addition of feta overkill, she liked it (note her fab dark nail polish - silly fun doing the "food shoot"). Another fan of this tapenade was found on this blog as well as the great links to other veg blogs. Munch well!

November 6, 2008

Aliens among us


Our Halloween owl attracted a visitor. What you can't really tell is how absolutely ENORMOUS this Praying Mantis was...he later moved on to sitting (or was he merely biding his time, waiting for some innocent two-legged prey unaware of what lurked nearby?) by the front door forcing my nature-loving-except-bugs daughter to go out the garage door instead. Considering I only recently learned that they can fly really really fast, had I known what was by the front door, I may have opted for an alternate escape route as well....

November 5, 2008

Yes!

"Yes, we can!"
-Barack Obama in his acceptance speech

Amen to that. I am so proud of my country tonight.

November 4, 2008

four different votes cast in all probability


























My vote is probably different from my husband's and probably different from my son's and probably different from my daughter's obscure choices, but how absolutely amazing that we get to do this - choose to vote for someone who means something to us.

It's enough to barack my world :)