success

ok, so my middle child is now a legal driver....................i am so proud.............

surprise

ok, so my nephew, my only blood nephew, just called amd said that he will be arriving tonight at about 2:00 am.....driving in from columbus.....and was that too late? at first i thought it was my brother on the phone, because the caller id said suburban virginia..............at my age 2:00 am is too late and too early............i told him to leave in the morning and plan on eating supper with us tomorrow night.................

still sick

ok, so mm finally broke down and sought medical treatment on day 7 of her illness. her temperature in the doctor's office was 102, which meant that the dayquill had worn off......i am taking a z-pack of 3 antibioitic pills that will last 10 days...i had heard about those, but have never yet taken them before......lucky me...............the doctor recommended 2-3 days of bedrest, but i am going to work today for awhile anyway because i have to go.......

so old

ok, so mm is still sick, and feels so old with body aches and such...............i have to go to work today, but i will try to come home very early to go back to bed..........there is irony in a holiday illness.....i fantasized about doing nothing except lay about, and now that i have layed on the couch with fever and chills for hours on end, i feel like i have been robbed of my precious time..............i did watch pirates of carribean again...johnny depp was born to play a pirate..........real pirates would have been lucky to resemble johnny depp............

sanguine

ok, so mm is sitting at the new family computer, with features that i do not understand other than it is faster and has more storage than anything we could possibily need in the next week or two, when all computers become obsolete...........the techie from dell was able to transfer data....by taking out the harddrive and hooking it up to the new screen, rather than using a non-existent usb port........i did not mention the lack of windows 98 or usb port until he was done....turns out he is not supposed to transfer data in that manner, it is simply quicker use of his time and he is glad he was unaware that we had no usb at the time..................sweeet........now i can blog and listen to music...........the only fly int he ointment is the cd-rw/dvd drive which may not be able to make copiues of our video camera as it doesn't have dvd rewrite...............................but right non mm is having fever and chills, and will sign off until she is in her right mind......................

sound of music

ok, so we sat and watched the first part of the sound of music last night, despite the fact that we have watched it dozens of times before and we had no intention of staying up to watch it til it's conclusion. we did debate the oscar wins for this fine film....for the record.......it won best picture and best director and best sound and a few other techie types, but lost for best actress and best supporting actress and best song.............julie andrews was robbed, i say.............earlier in the evening we watched u of l beat u of k..............such a sad game that started well and went to hell.....we did enjoy the short uk player from the bench named stockton.....he showed great grit for a guy 5 foot 9 inches........our new computer will be installed this afternoon............alas.......the data transfer will be brief, as our old computer has no usb port, and with windows 95 as its operating system cannot support a usb port..........at least according to my brother.........so all of my personal downloads are now stuck in scw's room......you never know...he may enjoy listening to guster sing mrs. robinson or sarah mchlauchlan and jewel singing closer to fine with the inigo girls.................

smith

ok, so our dinner discussion downgraded into whether sylvia plath went to vassar or smith, and i could not locate my weathered copy of the bell jar anywhere.............which led to a further discussion of another child's interest in selling off our excess books on ebay, and exactly what consititutes an excess book.......and most of us are unwilling to part with any books........mostly...i want to locate the bell jar...............

sinus infection

ok, so mm has not actually gone to the doctor for a definitive diagnosis...i am simply operating under that assumption for self-treatment of my congestion and drainage......both the misery and the cure are annoying.......i feel dried up like a prune from the antihistamine and the other active ingredients create a dizziness that resembles an out-of-body experience...............the opened presents are slowly migrating from under the tree to bedrooms or have been added to the piles of dvd cases atop the television............the dvd storage problem will have to be solved soon, before the tv-top is full................we will have to move the vhs tapes out of the tv cabinet drawer into another location to make room for the dvd's..cayle has probably 'grown out' of most of the vhs tapes anyway..............yet another cleaning project for mm's time off in january..........add that to the ultimate project- the sorting and albuming of potographs from the past 3-4 years.............we now have a basket full of un-sorted photos.............all i need do is to divide them into cayle's album, scw's album, acws album and the family album.....i have continued individual albums for each child so that they can be taken to new homes at some future date, whilst still leaving a family album here at home...........sounded good for the first 15 years or so, but i have fallen behind..........

sloth

ok, so mm slept in to the late hour of 7:55 am, and has lounged about in her jammies ever since....i may just continue to do nothing until i have to go to work today to help get supper ready...maybe about 1:30 pm or so........i could clean out some of the kitchen cupboards that have become mired in clutter......like the plastic container cupboard, where one can no longer find a lid that matches a bottom, or the lazy susan which has several partially used bags of powdered sugar, and no powdered sugar in the designated powdered sugar storage container...........i have already read as much of the paper as i care to read........maybe i will watch a movie...or maybe i will just go back to bed................the only problem with sloth is that it is such a waste of one's precious time.............

shrimp spread

ok, so even though i cannot really smell anything, nor taste anything, i have made myself sick eating my mother's shrimp spread on party rye bread........our refrigerator is still packed with much goodness......celeriac salad......pickled red cabbage.......honeybaked ham...........i can pass on the cookies and such that have been sent by or brought down the street, but shrimp spread really hits the spot...my dad once called it musty, as in 'i must have some more'.........trust me, it's flavor is not enhanced by a $6.99 bottle of sauvingnon blanc.............i have a pineapple kuchen in the oven.....it is a traditional breakfast pastry in our family...........and it is going on 9:00 at night....but i do not feel well, and the dough has been rising all day so i finally had to rise to the occassion and roll it out and bake it...........my grandmother would roll over in her grave to know that i left that dough in a bowl in the refrigerator all day........

seasons greetings

ok, so mmm says noel to all on this low-key christmas day...............despite taking time out for a nap, many in this family have watched a pink panther movie, a james bond movie, pirates of the carribean with johhny depp, and the sun is not yet down...cayle received a box set of bond films, so we could have a veritable festival before the day is over.......i still feel miserable with a cold/sinus infection.....take your pick at this point..........i cannot smell anything because my head is so stopped up...........i have to work a few hours on friday, and most of saturday.......and then a few more days after that before i have 2 full weeks off.........my trip looms big on the horizon, with air france cancelling a few flights yesterday because of terrorist threats.......i will worry about the worst-case scenario until i am back safe and sound......

shopping

ok, so mm got up early, met the food delivery truck, put stock away, then drove to lexington for last-minute shopping..........by herself...........life is never so good as when one can be in stores for precisely as much time as desired.....and go to as many stores as one wishes........i bought some vintage clothing for myself and my family..........vintage is my new word for the goodwill, which sounds so declasse.....whereas vintage sounds hip and savvy........i remind myself at every visit that every dime i do not spend on full-price clothing can be diverted to travel.........anyway, i walked out with 4 bags of absolute treasures, then on to liqueur barn ,where i indulged in some nice sauvignon blanc to go with dinner tomorrow, as well as some spaetzle and pickled red cabbage and celeriac salad for supper tonight.......they go so well with roast pork.......then on to disc jockey, for the actual grail of the entire trip......a cat stevens cd that scw wanted to buy for his dad, but could not because he is so sick.........then to wild oats, where i purchased some of my spouse's favorite treats...........whole wheat fig bars, and dried figs from both turkey and california...his mother used to buy him dried figs as gifts.........then on to tuesday morning where i looked but did not buy, then to marshall's, where i spent too much money.......ah well........i did not make it back in time to attend the staff luncheon arranged by my partner at the very last minute.....by that time i had a fever, and could not breathe, and opted for a nap with a shot of nyquil.........it just doesn't get better than this...............

stuart

ok, so my brother is in town for the week for christmas........it is so good to see him, as he has not come home for the past few years...opting to stay in d.c. and work instead. now that dad is gone, i sense that he wants to make sure that we do not drift too far afield. for starters, he has given the c-w family a new dell super-duper computer, with flat screen...yada, yada, yada..........we will be having a professional come to install it, and transfer 'data' which hopefully can include all of my favorite songs that are on the computer now in scw's room........anyway, last night my spouse actually took on my brother regarding a statement he made about education in america......that the fact the our daughter does not read well at age 10 is because of things that hillary clinton did in the 90's when bill was president......i was so proud of my spouse, who was like our wired hair terrier.....biting in and holding on for dear life........this exchange did not last too long, blessedly......but it was entertaining and revealing in the best sense.......i so love my husband, not only for his character, but also for his politics.................i could never be married to a conservative, or a republican...................

sickness

ok, so mm is miserable with a cold/sinus infection/sore throat/aches/pains......so much so that she skipped the alias rerun last night to go to bed at 8:30 pm..............too bad i have to go to work the next 2 days anyway.................in fact, i have to cater a breakfast on tuesday that will require getting to work at 6:30 am............i may just show up in my pajamas................

singing praises

ok, so mm lived through one of her biggest catering jobs of the year- a dinner/dance for 300 at the new convention center......the convention center is a very nice place......huge if left 'open', but convertible into smaller spaces with movable partitions......i do not think that 300 actually showed up, as there were lots of preplated salads and desserts left over........we have catered this party before, for fewer people.........at the convention center the task was made easier by the catering kitchen, to which a van laden with food may be backed up right to the door for unloading...........and the non-smoking status of the facility.............we have done this party at bright leaf in mercer county, which allows smoking..............the room was unventilated, and a cloud of smoke soon hovered over everyone after an hour or two of chainsmoking madness.....the convention center allows parties to bring in alcohol, and but does not allow people who step outside to smoke to bring their beer along......they even hired a security guard to make sure that this did not happen...........this group became incredibly trashed despite their alcohol-free smoke breaks.......i have not seen bottles of herve quervo passed around since my college days.........oh my.............i still have a few catering jobs before we close on wednesday evening for a few days, but nothing terribly complicated...............maybe now i can start christmas shopping............

sauron

ok, so rotk was an amazing piece of cinema, in the true epic tradition.........i was glad to see the eowyn's role in the battle was spotlighted......the film was much longer than it had to be for the 'non-extended' version.........if i were queen of the world, instead of just this house, i would have transfered some of the slower or redundant parts to the extended-play dvd.....the conflict between sam, frodo and gollum was important to the story, but the sight of each trying to strangle the other became tiresome rather than enlightening......also....the reunion of the remaining fellowship in frodo's bedchamber was long when you add in the overly long parting scene at the elven ship....on the other hand, i was grateful that jackson boiled down the coronation and the reunion with arwen into one big scene........the book had too many trips back and forth..........overall, i was most impressed by the battle scenes...they were true to form- incredibly brutal and yet the bravery of those fighting was palpable........the touches that jackson added...like the trolls pushing the battlement storming towers, and the wildboar-shaped battering ram that glowed with fire.....really added to the overall effect.......i am not much for battle scenes, and i will confess to turning away several times......but they were well-done just the same.........and the special effects when the eye of sauron is extinguished and the land of mordor caves in.......whoooooooo.........that was much more impressive visually than it was in the book........i must give permenent record-credit to those who lasted through the marathon viewing of all three installments..........

score!

ok, so mm and unnamed family members (they appear to be publicity-shy) have scored 3 tickets to see rotk tonight at the danville cinema...for the total price of $5.....you read me correctly.........they were bought during the matinee time frame...........even though the tickets are for the 8:00 showing......sweet...........

simple life

ok, so paris hilton, with her clothes on, got a larger tv viewing audience than pres. bush's interview with diane sawyer.......................some things in life make complete sense.......................

sense and sensibility

ok, so today would have been jane austin's birthday, were she hundreds of years old.........whenever life gets too crazy, i can always count on a video of a jane austin masterpiece to help me sort out the necessary and discard the chaff (sp?) we have taken on far too much work at trc.........and this doesn't even count a reception thursday for 175 and a dinner saturday for 300............we had 3 carryout lunches today before we even opened, and i was so far behind, thanks to my assistant who is yet out with his gallbladder.....that my food salesperson sliced turkey for me and broke down boxes while i made chicken salad, and pimento cheese, and sauce for the chicken special............now it is times like these, when time is of the essence, that jane austin speaks to me.....none of jane's heroines would have cried at such stressful moments.....so neither can i...........i just think about making it home finally to a glass or 3 of a nice white..............today was supposed to be the day when my nutrition 201 students turned in their take-home finals......i am still missing 9 tests......i have personally called each and every student asking about said tests...they have 24 hours to turn them in so i can register a grade by 1:00 am thursday morning..........one girl told me she thougth she had turned it in until she found it in her book bag while i was on the phone.......this is so humerous, as no professor i had in college would have called me to ask about any assignment let alone a final exam............but this is danville, and i am only mean to selected individuals...............

seeking seasonal serenity

ok, so mm is tiring of her all 's' month.......in january she will pick another letter.........i thought of calling this installment 'shit happens', as i just spent the past 45 minutes trying to string some 'swag' twinkle lights i found in the restaurant stockroom along our bushes out front.....only to have them short out the entire garage where i plugged them in......after figuring out how to reset the fuse box, the lights will not come back on.......the darkness has called me inside...the damned lights can wait til another day........maybe i will luck out and receive a chanukkah miracle of some sort...there is probably enough jewish blood flowing through my northern european body to qualify for some sort of holiday blessing...........so much for my holiday spirit...............which will be tested yet again this friday when my daughter's birth mother makes her annual visit..........i will be working through most of it, but the event is stressful on all involved..........luckily my brother will arrive from washington just after she leaves............now i want to talk of my upcoming trip to paris, which is growing more expensive with every dip in the dollar...the itinerary is as follows:Sat- January 10- arrive in paris, metro to Hotel Leveque (1 transfer) or shuttle....check-in if room is available; leave baggage if not...walk to Napolean's Tomb, then to Rodin Museum, then to Musee D'Orsay for lunch in grand ballroom(nice salad bar/buffet in grand surroundings); tour Musee D'Orsay; walk across river to L'Orangerie for a brief visit on our way back to hotel; Supper in hotel neighborhood; consider Chinese take-out place across the street from hotel.
Sunday- January 11- breakfast at cafe in neighborhood; metro to Eglise St.
Sulpice for service and organ recital that follows Sunday service; metro to Louvre; lunch at Cafe Marly in courtyard by pyramid; tour Louvre and underground shopping plaza in Louvre complex; supper in hotel neighborhood or Nicole's for supper in Montmatre? Monday- January 12- breakfast in neighborhood; shopping on Left Bank- Bon Marche Tati, and
Bon Point outlet if we can find it; drop bags back at hotel; lunch at Bookiniste in Seine; walk to St. Chapelle, then to Notre Dame; then to DeHillirin, the housewares mecca near Les Halles, ? metro to Sacre Coeuer and Nicole's for supper Tuesday- January 13- breakfast in neighborhood; metro to Champs Ellysee; shopping in area; lunch at Musee Jaquemart-Andre (in elegant room with frescoed ceiling-quiche, side salad and dessert for 13 euro) tour museum; metro to Marais; walk around
Place des Vodges; look for secondhand silverware and dinnerware; metro back to neighborhood- supper near hotel Wednesday- January 14- taxi or shuttle to airport; fly home............ Hopefully this agenda will be challenging to those in my group who have been to paris before, and fulfilling to those who have not............gentle readers who have read the davinci code will notice some of my sangreal sites right away............

snl

ok, so mm watched snl last night....hosted by e. woods of lotr........several brilliant sketches....the one with dubya was the best.......he is shown speaking to the troups, dressed like he is in the army, then addressing the elderly sick in a hospital gown while dragging an iv pole, then addressing environmentalists dressed as a tree, on and on, then finally addressing a church group dressed as jesus christ.....that was pretty funny......even funnier of dubya takes the bait and actually does dress up as jesus christ.......his ego seems large enough to encompass himself as diety......the musical guest, jet, reminded me of 80's bands.....kind of like cheap trick or something similar.....quite retro.....like they could launch into highway to hell at any moment.....woods was not particularly funny, though the sketch they did about the new sitcom starring frodo and gollum as two crazy guys who move to denver and live in a quaint apartment building was humorous.......the countdown to return of the king is making me crazy.....i want to see it now, not wednesday........assuming we can get tickets on wednesday, or even thursday..................

in other news, mm has renegoiated her cellular contract, added another family talk line, and obtained gsm phones with nationwide long distance......at a lower rate than she was paying before...........the cell companies must be in a price/services war, as it is now cheaper for us to use our cell phones to call long distance than it is to use our home phone..................and all of the features are included, not extra...........ironically we have rollover.....and we are not talkers.......i wonder if there is a limit to our minutes.......maybe we will have quite a cushion by the time scw goes to college...............

so i am a little behind.........

ok, so mm is a little behind in putting photos in albums..............like from 1999...........so there is a large basket up under my desk with photos that are in order, yet not in any album...............once a mamma gets behind on an album, it just goes downhill from there, i suppose......forgive me, loving family..................

setting the stage

ok, so mm and her kin have just watched the entire extended version of lotr/the two towers.........hours and hours of extra footage( or it just seemed so) with many moments that we could not believe were left out............of course.....the extended version is so long that the theatres could have only one sitting an evening, unless they did an all-nighter of some kind for the stalwart fans........speaking of fans...at the end of the extended version of the two towers, the producers thanked all of the charter members of the lotr fan club............endless names in alphabetical order....i gave up and quit watching after it was clear that there were many crowleys but no crowns or c-w's................i cannot wait to see the final installment of this marvelous epic...........

southern exposure

ok, so it is days like this...dreary, cold,endless......that i think that i may have been mistaken in taking up residence in the northern south rather than the southern south...for the record...anything south of the mason dixon line and/or the ohio river is south........not that i have spent many pleasant hours in the southern south......i can remember one extra cold february when i was in orlando for a diabetes workshop, in a coldsnap, in an unheated hotel room, sleeping with my trenchcoat over the bedspread for an extra layer of warmth...............2 years ago when we went to northern europe in a coldsnap, i was prepared..........pajamas, extra blanket, socks......but in fla. i expected warmth.....on the other hand, i have known people who went further south looking for heat, and found food poisoning instead........a 4 day weekend in cancun with intestinal distress is not my idea of a vacation...however,if i concentrate, i can recall a spring break...maybe 1977.....when i went to clearwater beach with cindy wildman, and we played backgammon on the beach for 7 solid days, and got terribly sunburnt, and did not go out with creepy-looking types who claimed that they played baseball for the reds farm team........i could handle a bit of that warm, laying on the beach in a 2-piece that fit kind of experience right now.....with someone who likes to play backgammon...........

satiety

ok, so mm has delivered meals of late to friends/neighbors who have either had babies or surgery...........so many babies, so many surgeries it would appear.........surgery is something i fear on an undercurrent level.........now that having babies is a non-issue...........anyway, back to the food............people must not bring food when crisis hits anymore, because my offering of supper was met with sheer surprise in most cases.......like bringing supper was strange or otherwise deviant..............who knew...............

solemn

ok, so mm is solemn with disappointment that led zeppelin is not going to be any of the sound tracks for the lotr trilogy....i read several years ago that jimmy page and robert plant had been approached for this purpose, as their songs like the battle of nevermore, ramble on, misty mountain hop, etc were based on lotr............but their songs were not used, for whatever reason.........

salute

ok, so mm wants to salute the l.o. for her kind words of support....................

scarlett

ok, so mm anticipates the opening of the girl with the pearl earring, a new movie with scarlett johannson and colin firth...............it will open in our neck of the woods sometime in january 2004.......even though it opens in nyc this weekend.....yet another reason to live in nyc...........i read this book 2 years ago, prior to our trip to northern europe, which included amsterdam...i actually saw this picture in the hague in 1976, when i was traveling with my parents and we went to the art museum in the hague, with the name i cannot pronounce..........anyway.........the book is stellar, with a luminescence (sp) that is palpable.........i can picture scarlett johannson in this role, though i thought she was wasted in lost in translation........i am a colin firth fan, of course, given that i have watched pride and prejudice on vhs...all 6 installments........at least 12 times.........i went to the authors web site.......to read what she has to say about her book turned movie.........the bottomline.......she sold the rights before the book hit it big.....which is means that she got next to nothing for a film that will be both visually beautiful and emotionally stirring.......the book is about passion that goes beyond the casual sex pandered in most films........it is about an artist who understood true beauty, and about the girl/scullery maid he chanced to paint who understood art/lighting/texture/placement/color etc........the result is a compelling study in both innocence and guile.....like mona lisa with a turban..........there is a chance that i could see the movie in paris, as it may hit that market before it makes it to the kentucky....alas, this is not a movie that will play danville............

sounds of silence

ok, so mm lasted til monday without public blogging.................but she must lament that a) she does not live in nyc and b) she did not have tickets to see the simon and garfunkel concerts staged there last week, that were easily accessible to those who live in nyc.............an older new yorker issue, perched on the bathtub, is open to the ad for the concert, the reunion cd boxed set, and the entire s&g catalog, just in case anyone wanted to delight a loved one with the entire s&g recorded works................i would like to hear them in concert, however......their sound and their lyrics go through my brain from time to time.............at least i can understand them when they sing..............paul simon's wife, natalie merchant, has a lovely voice, but i cannot make out much that she sings...............must be my early-onset deafness/general agedness...................

so long

ok, so mm has created a private blog.....on which (in which?) she can speak her mind without guilt, record her life without fear of offending, and give commentary on the world around her that only she would probably care to read anyway.............so will she blog in this space again?

so close to christmas

ok, so mm has a short list for christmas, should anybody on her list read this blog..........the first 2 seasons of alias on dvd......the life of pi.........beth orton's cd that has ooh child on it..........perlier bath products made with honey...........thanks so much.........

so tired

ok, so i went to bed last night by 9:15 am, and i am so tired this morning as to be immobile......well, maybe not quite that bad, but i am incredibly fatigued........and feeling quite sorry for myself....................

straight edge

ok, so mm is going through withdrawal....from the good omens blog.......pretty please put the links back...............................

seritonin

ok, so the dim days of winter make mm into meaner mamma...i need sunshine to be at my happiest........so why is my upcoming trip to a place not likely to be sunny? because culture, food, and shopping trump the sun, in suppose........and i intend to be happy for the full 4 days that i am in paris..........

set things on fire......

ok, so my daughter has got a problem with pyromania.........she was busted for trying to light candles after breakfast on monday.........we have no idea what made her think that monday morning just before we leave the house was a good time to light a candle.....well, today she lighted some candles at grandma's house, and she actually set some things on fire.......luckily grandma was quick to put out the fire............this is scary...the impulsivity involved......it kind of reminds me of my dad, who once tried to set our family portrait aflame while my mom was in the basement trying to organize things to move south to ky........she put it put before the house caught on fire...........but the whole thing....the fire, my dad with alzheimers....the family portrait.....seems too freudian........quite unsettling.........

seive

ok, so ma tete et an seive pour les mots francais...............i am rereading my french phrase book, in an attempt to be prepared for my trip, and i cannot remember simple words from day to day.....obviously the talent for languages was an all or nothing thing in my personal gene pool.......

strange dreams

ok, so last night i had this crazy dream that friends with a daughter in college are expecting a baby.....i noticed this blessed development while we were at a theatre like the ky in lex, but not that theatre for some reason....and after the announcement, i lost my right shoe..........no news if i found it or not because the dream kind of segued into getting my children into a water park to hear a concert, and it went on to me looking for them when i was wet, tired, and ready to go home.......so strange............

Scheduling

ok, so now mm is trying to schedule the driving test for the almost 17 year-old.......not so easily accomplished.....i called this morning at 8:23 am, and was informed that all of the appointments for today were taken, as i had called so late......next time i must call right at 8:00 am........it is kind of like a game of chance.....getting the appointment.....

Sickness

ok, so mm had to get up out of church because she was suddenly sick to her stomach and......well.....i needn't bore you with the gruesome details.................but a person has to be pretty miserable to get up out of church.......must have been something i ate............

Smoke

ok, so mm and ecw went to a party last night....3 doors down, at the shack in the bend in the circle......22 years we have lived here, and this was the first time we had ever been inside this particular place.......the new owners plan to tear it down and build again sometime next year........which is just as well now that we have seen it up close........they plan to reposition the house for better views of the creek and sunsets, etc.........one note of circle trivia.......their place is right on the wagon trail going into the creek bottom that we see going up out of the creek across from our house.......(when the lake was not here, wagons had to ford the creek ) .......they had a bonfire at the spot where the old trail meets the new lake.............we used to have bonfires with and without our neighbors when we were still cleaning up our property........it was always a cold weather event.........as the foilage had died down and the snakes were burrowed in for the winter..........anyway, we enjoyed the bonfire last night, except for the smoke........this morning my eyes are almost swollen shut and are red/itchy from the smoke.......my hair smells like smoke........my clothes on the closet floor smell like smoke.................ah well.........the price of a good time

salmonids

ok, so mm had to look up in the s-section of the dictionary for this title.........she has gone beyond her knowledge of s-words and is taking advantage of the websters..........but this is ok, because it might expand my meagre vocabulary.....anyway, salmonids are a family of fishes that include salmon and trout........we are having trout for supper, along with potatoes and creamed spinach and leftover sweet and sour red cabbage...............ooh, ooh..........i was unaware that trout and salmon were related at all....in fact, trout are sometimes called salmon trout...............now you know...........

Song and Dance

ok, so last night the c-w's finally rented chicago, the academyawardwinning musical......we had no idea what to expect, other than catherine zeta-jones performed well enough for a supporting actress oscar, and neither renee nor richard nor queen latifah managed the same feat.....my, but they could sing and dance...........i enjoyed those parts even though i didn't quite get whether they were really happening or imagined on everyone's part as the reality of the murder, incarceration, and trial played out.............regardless, i thought it was nicely done, and was pleased that it won best picture......this year i have hopes that best picture will be the return of the king, as a reward for the triliogy's outstanding everything.......cinematography, costumes, script, storyline, soundtrack, casting ...............peter jackson's vision has been gloriously filmed.........the good news about this group of movies is that we know how it will end.............and this frees jackson to devote his time and talent to putting together a movie that plays that out, rather than figuring out where his movie is going and how it should end.....so many movies end pitifully...............i am so looking forward to watching sam gamgee throw the ring into the flames, and frodo defeating the spider, and the rest of the cast waging the war for middle earth.............so grand an epic deserves ultimate recognition............

Socks

ok, so mm spent a bit of time sorting through her laundry, so far as to match socks........this is a task far down on mm's list of things to do with her spare time, ..........this round did not go well...there were no fewer than 3 remaining socks when the others had been put in the drawer............so where are the mates?..........mm did look about to no avail.......the location of the 3 lost socks may consume the rest of my free time this weekend.........maybe i will find the pair of khaki's that i have not seen in weeks.....i suspect they are in someone else's closet.........

sauvignon blanc

ok, so mm is running out of s-words...........she has also run out of sauvignon blanc and is forced to drink pinot grigio, though a very good bottle i must say.............we have just finished watching legally blonde 2:red, white and blonde............which we enjoyed (we being those over 40 and those under 11)..........the others left after a few moments.........but there is something about an insipiod feel-good movie......these folks had the saaavvvy to include a few clips from mr. smith goes to washington, which means that they realize that jimmy stewart and reese witherspoon have a lot in common......or reese wants to have a lot in common with jimmy .............and that is ok...we do need our buttondown, non-cutting edge people.......in the public eye.....those people who are NOT WEIRD, OR WIRED, OR PHYSICALLY DEFORMED..................i guess that elle woods is the anti-michael...and that is also good.........

Singer Beth Orton

ok, so on the way home one day this week mm heard an interview with beth orton, a british folkie with a sultry voice.......of all the cuts to include on air, the producers chose the one i would most want to hear, her cover of ooh, child........a 60's piece that had been played at the end of a recent episode of alias.........the lyrics and the soulfulness of the song were perfect for the alias storyline.......and the 60's flashback was also welcome....i cannot connect myself to any particularly memory with this song, i only know that i remember it from the radio............anyway, it is recorded on her album called ________ ________Daybreak....i cannot quite remember the name, but daybreak is included in the album title and as a song.........it is in my head today, this song.................

Ooh Child by Five Stairsteps
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Some day, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get be brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get be brighter
Some day, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter
Some day, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Some day
When your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day
When the world is much brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Right now, right now
(you just wait and see how things are gonna be)

Salute

ok, so mm needs to give kudos to her marvelous spouse who cleaned up after yesterday's dinner, as well as to the single child who helped clear the table..........when i say cleaned up i mean did the dishes and put things away....things like the silverplate that hides deep inside a cabinet, and the crystal waterglasses that also have an out of the way place to be between infreuqent uses..........i did not get out my grandmother's china, mostly because i do not like it and also because it did not 'go' with the tablecloth.....these are granny art deco/floral and mm prefers plain white plates that do not interfere with the food on them.........artistically or spiritually................i still have 12 water goblets presented by my mother when we got married, as well as 12 champagne flutes......and 12 sherbert/ice cream stems.......but only 3 wine goblets remain..............they were used much more often so the chance of breakage of increased dramatically............those who drink wine are much more likely to break the glass than people who drink water...........since our guests stayed only a short while, there was little of anything consumed yesterday..............the 3 wine goblets survived for another day................

Serita

ok, so just before the guests came, serita figueroa, esq. a friend of ecw's mother called...to wish us well on thanksgiving...........now serita is quite a person, a lawyer from chile, who worked for chiquita banana out of cincinnati......she met my mother-in-law at a catholic senior citizen function of some sort, and they traveled some together........ecw's sisters always seemed somewhat jealous, and there was some talk of not inviting her to the wake after my mother-in-law's funeral....in fact, when i told my sister-in-law that serita had called, she laughed and asked 'what for?' i was taken aback by that comment, as i always thought that she was a breath of fresh air on the scene......always trying to get my mother-in-law out of the house and into something interesting...............she once brought my mother-in-law to danville for the band festival, and they stayed with us for a few days..............to the last she was trying to get my mother-in-law to commit to a cruise of some sort..............it was this decisive nature that my spouse's family had a hard time accepting.........they were suspicious of it, which was laughable, as serita had education and income far above that of my mother-in-law.....but she saw in my mother-in-law the desire to see the world and experience more than the television set had to offer.....i was really happy to talk to her today...when she asked about recent trips, i told her about spain, and then about my upcoming trip to paris....she said ' you always liked paris the best'.......you have to love a woman who knows that paris is your favorite place..........i am not sure that my own family quite understands that.............

Satiety

ok, so mm ate far too much dressing, turkey, potatoes, red cabbage, et al...........so much food...............

Sister Lisa

ok, so ecw's sister lisa, and her husband, and her 3 children and her mother-in-law will be here for lunch in approximately 4.5 hours........i have yet to set up the table, or put away strewn magazines and books, but we are far from panic-time as i sit and blog..........they will stay only 3-4 hours, as they are on their way to ecw's brother james place near gatlinburg for the weekend...........brother james is in upstate ny at sister marilynn's house.................you get the picture........to my recollection, my brother has never been to ky for thanksgiving.............in my youth my family went to my grandmother's house in cleveland (of the million dollar houses........)......when i met up with my spouse-to-be i started to go to their thanksgiving in cincinnatti, which was held at either sister elaines or brother james or sister lisa's house......never at my mother-in-law's house...............we will have a bit of traditional fare from my side of the family.....relish tray that includes pickled beets, pickled onions, several kinds of pickled cucumbers and olives as well as our new southern fave- pickled okra.........the legacy of ecw's family to this year's thanksgiving? the sweet and sour red cabbage and the creamed spinach.........i had never tasted either until i became a hyphenated weber............so i am glad that sister lisa is coming, even if for a short while.................thanksgiving is a family event, and i am grateful to have family, both the crowns and the webers...........

Sister Schubert

ok, so this thanksgiving, mm is having sister schubert make the yeast rolls..........she does such a nice job, and mm is not in the mood........having already cooked most of thursday's dinner....i am down to the creamed spinach and the mashed potatoes at this point.........my goal is to lounge around in my jammies thursday morning, drinking coffee, reading the paper, and playing solitaire for awhile rather than cooking........about 11:00 am i will spring into action.....set the table, and warm up everything that i have previously prepared in the microwaves.........not like your grannie (greasy or otherwise) would have done it, but....................

Series Finale-The Next Joe Millionaire

ok, so mm loved watching that cheesy show.......especially the romantic finale last night whereupon david picked linda rather than the evil caterina (cat), and though she initially rejected him because he lied to her about his money, she was waiting for him on his new 90 acre texas 'ranch'......of course, she pocketed $250,000 for accepting, but she does seem pure of heart, and david is so pure of heart as well..........i know, i know....it could be so cheesy, but i did so enjoy every cheesy minute of it,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Snow

ok, so it only snowed for the briefest of moments yesterday, but i saw it, and it is now officially winter...at least in my standard for such..........i do not seem to have a winter 'jacket' that suits me...i may have to start scouting out the one that i would wear in a perfect world........

More S-words

ok, so mm has figured out how to make her descriptives 'stick'..........but at a price......in a template called green pea soup...........this is so silly, to publish in green pea soup..........i rarely make green pea soup because it does not sell........which brings me to what seems to sell.........kentucky burgoo.....which i made over the weekend as a special request.....this a roadkill special.....with lamb, beef and chicken.....i leave out the squirrel................ just because..................i had a food flashback today..........someone asked for a tomato stuffed with chicken salad.......a simple request except i started to tear-up......... i can recall a special day in which my dad took me to work with him, and we went shopping, and he bought me a yellow easter dress (longwaisted, sleeveless, with a flounce........) and took me to lunch in portsmouth, ohio...we had chicken salad stuffed tomatoes..............my dad only bought me one dress in my lifetime...and that was the dress........no need, as my mother sewed, and i sewed.........but that day he bought me a dress.....i could not have been over the age of 10............i really miss my dad..............

S-words

mm has spent an insane amount of time trying to modify the templet to this blog....which has changed dramatically without my knowledge........so the s-words come to mind...those words which we tell our children not to say............

Shortage

ok, so mm is suffering a serious fiction shortage........i even stopped by the library today to troll the book sale remainders, to no avail.........i even snuck down to scw's room to see if there were any books on his numerous shelves that i cared to read......to no avail......acw has the life of samuel pepys, for which i am not in the mood.....i have read all of the book club books......i am almost to the point of rereading jane austin....this is serious................

Survival

ok, so mm has survived the annual church dinner, having cooked and carved 14 turkeys for the event.....next year, gentle readers, help me remember that the throng can be fed with only 12...................

Surprise

ok, so when mm got home from work last night, she was delighted to find her oldest's car in the drive....having one's family together under one roof is fast becoming a rare occurrence.......i will enjoy thanksgiving all the more because we will be together yet again

Success

ok, so mm has finally figured out how to edit user profile (under the topic of how to keep your mamma from reading your blog......) i had the option of making up an alias, or inserting my initials rather than a last name.........just using my first name was not an option, for some reason...........now i will republish all of my archives to remove my last name.......

To Kill A Mockingbird

ok, so last night we watched a video of the classic film, one that has been passed around book club since we discussed the book.........as a 60's film it is interesting that it was shot in black and white, rather than color........and the story is so compelling that i am surprised that no one has remade it as a blockbuster with an all-star cast...........i was in error when i looked up the oscars for the film.....without my glasses i did not see that gregory peck won for best actor in 1962 for this film, which also won for best director and best set decoration..........the little guy who played Dill was a hoot........... the actress who played Scout did ok, but she got on my nerves after a while.........

ok, so mm had a good laugh when she read the newest new yorker....an ad for tiffany's elsa peretti sterling silver 3x handheld magnifying glass.......the price of $175 cannot be discerned by semi-blind people like me without their glasses on...........

ok, so mm is not surprised about michael jackson's latest legal woes............anybody foolish enough to admit that they still sleep with little boys after paying out a financial settlement to a boy's family who cried molestation......is just plain stupid, or believes himself to be above the law......at this point it would be hard for a jury to separate m's crazy behavior from immoral behavior, because he crossed that line years ago.....cnn.com described his fan base as 'dwindling'...........i cannot imagine that he has any fans under the age of 25 or 30, who were young when thriller came out.......and the plastic surgury.........my gracious sakes......what has he done to himself........baby dangling? .............shopping frenzies followed by returns or lawsuit for nonpayment when the cameras are switched off.........sounds like m. has a whole lot of 'splaining' to do........

ok, so mm's back feels so much better these days.....in fact, last night was the best night's sleep i have had in some time..........strange dreams, but a good sleep.............i am worried about my spouse.......who disclosed that he almost choked yesterday at work eating an english muffin with peanut butter without a glass of something to drink...his throat was a bit too dry, and a bite got caught, and he said that he was worried that the end was near...........this is scary stuff..............

ok, so mm has had a marvelous nap this afternoon....rainy days were made for naps...............

ok, so something has happened to our computor........the newer version of blogger is on my screen as we speak..........the version where i can read most of my last post without having to switch screens.........this has been a particularly confounding week, both at work and at home.........most of which isn't worth discussing............i do have a few bones to pick on certain issues......for starters, i was appauled to see a god-awful yellow humvee picking up a student at dhs this week.....a student who lives right across the street from bchs, by the way.....such an embrassment for the poor child......the ultimate in fuel-wasteful suv's in the worst possible color...whatever happened to buying a sporty bmw or mercedes as a way of bragging about disposabe income?............mm did not bother watching any of the heavily promoted interviews this week.......britney, tom cruise, jessica lynch......there is little they have to say that i care to hear about....i am sorry that i missed the special that dealt with the davinci code content......that would have been interesting.....mm is irritated that her sunday evening routine (alias at 9:00) has been pre-empted by yet another awards show.......i did get into watching the ohio state/purdue football game yesterday after work......i was overcome with memories of attending games with my dad in the horseshoe stadium.........osu/big ten footbal is an experience unlike any other..........i really missed him yesterday...luckily osu won despite looking quite amatuerish.....yeah.....college sports are supposed to be amatuerish, but they should not look quite so inept.........

ok, so mm enjoyed a lovely, unexpected evening last night.....for starts....a couple of good friends were sharing a bottle of wine at trc as i was trying to sneak away about 5:45 pm......i joined them with the intention of staying for just a bit....then another couple arrived, and we changed to a bigger table, then it got to be 6:00 when the bike shop closes, so they called my spouse on a cell phone, and he joined us for a beer.....they ate supper while we sat and chatted........and we took home carryout, with the intention of sharing with our beloved live-at-home children.........but who should be at grandma's....but our darling college-age child.........grandma had ordered a pizza...so they brought the pizza back to our house, and we had basil-crusted veal chops, trout almondine, and a large papa john's as dinner choices.........after grandma went home we watched whale rider on dvd.......such a plesant evening...........

ok, so mm enjoyed the onion article about your mamma finding out about your blog.......i would be horrified if my mamma read my blog, and yet i read scw's blog.............such a conundrum........

did mm mention that she is going to paris? yes, for the 1th time......there are some places that deserve another look-see and paris is the ultimate place for a repeat visit........there will be three of us now, all of us wine-drinkers......which is a relief.....a long weekend with someone who was opposed to drinking would be dismal, to say the least............so now to devise the perfect itinterary......for the uniniated..mm lives to devise timeframes.......in that way i am like my dad, who planned out vacations down to the nanosecond......he hated to be late, and he wanted to know where he would be at any givien moment, so.........i was in paris with my dad for a few days in 1972....though not really out on the street with him, as he had broken his leg in switzerland, and he basically joined us for meals.......i recall seeing the louvre with my cousin nancy and my mother and brother, particularly the big iranian stone gates that are in the basement somewhere...as well as eating at a vietnamese restaurant with cellophane noodles.....i only remember my dad in the car, as my mother stopped the rental car somewhere near the arch of triumph....when my mother exclaimed that she was not driving 'another damn foot'.......there was complete silence in the car, as my mother does not swear.........but my dad could not drive, and i could not drive, and so my mother finally found the hotel,and got my dad up 6 flights of steps.................somewhere in france my dad and my cousin nancy debated about who should get the last order of 'brains'....i think my dad go them.....quite ironic for a man who would be senile by age 65........

i am printing out a list of paris restaurants as we speak....ones with views, and i have neglected to cut and paste this list, which is wasting valuable printer's ink, according to those who are concerned about waste..........for that i am sorry..............

ok, so mm has now 2 traveling companions for paris...............i think three will work out well...more to talk about

tomorrow appears to be 1 year since my dad died.......so fast this year has gone.......

ok, so mm was a bit nostalgic about paris today, veteran's day........one of my trips to paris was in november, and i went to a memorial service at notre dame on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.......it was put on by the british embassy, but no matter.........i reread the ending of the de vinci code last night, just to make sure i got it right before i reread the whole thing.......i can't wait to see the movie....which i hope is faithful to the story line.............again, mm is waiting inpatiently (impatiently?) for december 17........for the return fo the king.........just cannot wait........

ok, so mm is still fixated on the da vinci code.........and cannot wait to see the paintings in question in the louvre...or the other paris sites mentioned..........i have had a back-flash that is relevant....i once went with my aunt and uncle in cleveland to an 'installation' of someone in a top-rank in eastern star...it was held in a church...and the place was packed, including the balconies...like this was some sort of big deal........it seems from this book that eastern star is the female version of the knights templar, which are centrally featured in this book as the guardians of the holy grail......who knew? my grandfather broughton was alo a mason....and the masons replaced the knights templar when the pope at the time inthe 1500's decided that the knights templar were too powerful, and accused them all of sodomy and had them basically burned out.........supposedly the knights templar were blackmailing the pope over their 'secret' and he was tired of paying........so many possibilities.......what is clear from this book, despite it's nature as a novel rather than non-fiction....is that it is entirely possible.....that jesus was married, just like all the other male jews of his age...and that he procreated....and that the line of jesus can be traced back................just like the c-w's to charlemagne....maybe we are also related to jesus..........nice thought, i suppose. to be related to a radically-thinking 1st century jew........anyway.....i may have to make a pilgrimage to see the original last supper fresco by davinci...also a centerpeice in this book.......to see the things i had not noticed before.............. in a world of predictable fiction, this book was a blessed releif......

ok, so mm read the devinci code yesterday.......the entire book...because it really was a can't put it down thriller..........i even sat with it on my lap during supper, looking for the mannerly moment when i could commence to open it back up.......the premise is an interesting one........what if the holy grail was more than just the cup of christ...what if it were a person rather than a thing........and what if there were people who were pledged to protect this secret...for the past 2000 years.......and what a secret it turned out to be.........i can't wait to reread it to pick p what i missed the first go-round.........

ok, so mm hears that the latest flack in d.c. over the recently signed/surely to be overturned abortion bill has to do with the signing photo-op......where gw was pictured signing, backed by white men in suits......no women, no ethnic minorities.....nobody except white males.........the image will be perfect for the opposition's fund raising...........'do you want your reproductive decisions to be made by white men in suits in washington?'.........which is kind of like ellen goodman's article today about the schiavo right to die case in fla........do you want jeb to make your end-of-life decisions? her article made good points......a spouse is much more likely to choose her spouse over her parents to disclose her wishes on end-of-life matters, and choose this spouse to make these decisions when the time comes.........yes, the parents bore her, but when a child grows up and chooses a mate, the parental relationship is replaced by the spousal relationship......in fla, the shiavos cannot let go of their daughter, and desire to make decisions for her like she was still a child at home.........after the daughter's years of marriage prior to her accident, plus the 13 years in this vegetative state......they need to let her go......

ok, so the mm reserved herself a plane ticket to paris for a long january weekend........3.5 days of parisian goodness............something fine to loom forward to.........

ok, so mm went to hear the jane austin talk last night at centre.......the jane austin's mafia talk, rather.........making connections between characters in emma with mafia 'text' in 4 media venues...the godfather, goodfellows, you have got mail, and the sopranos........relationship between emma and harriet was discussed as being similar to a godfather relationship......emma called the shots, but made it look like harriet made her own decisions.......also emma's relationship with her father, Mr. Woodhouse, was similar to tony sooprano's relationship with his uncle junior........emma is reallyn in charge, but makes it look like her father is in charge.......as does tony make it look like uncle junior is in charge.......both mr woodhouse and uncle junior are addled enough to think that they really are in charge......issues about manners in both the mafia 'text' and in austen's novels were pointed out..........as well as the knowing what should be done and will be done versus not knowing on the part of the players was observed........the you've got mail part revolved around quotes by the tom hanks character from the godfather, which other males in the movie understood but that were not understood by ryan.....conversely, ryan's jane austin references were meant to be understood only by women, yet hanks was familiar with them and used that preknowledge to his advantage.......ah well......i had a good time, despiute the fact that i could find no working water fountain in the rac.........

ok, so i am over the election and onto other things.........like answering 'no' when people ask me if i am going to open a restaurant in harrodsburg now that it is wet.........this is all i can handle, unless someone offers real 'incentives'...................

ok, so mm has just returned from the perpetutal election eve party at the neighbors....and after 3 beers she can tell you that the best man lost............we have been going to this same party for the past 20 years of elections............and rarely have the dems done well..............the more beer to cry into......................

ok, so mm is going to vote on her way to work.....no point in tellin' who (whom?) i will vote for.........if you don't know by now ...............

ok, so mm has a potential co-traveler for early january to paris......paris is always a good place to go....the part i like about paris in this situation is the freedom to see things at leisure...i have been to paris 10 times.......three times with family on a schedule......3 times with school children, and 4 times with full-freedom but meager funding.........this time i will have meager funding but a more mature use for that funding...........i cannot wait.........

ok, so mm is not working today.....i repeat....not working today........

ok, so mm is proud mamma for the day.........her boy placed third in the regional cross-country meet...and will compete next saturday at the horse park at the state meet......

ok, so mm had an unexpected happy hour today, when the l.o.'s parents...free spirits both...came my way......i enjoyed the ends of 3 bottles of wine....a sauvigon blanc and 2 chardonays.......such is the plight of an owner.....one hates to drink anything people would pay for..........so i drank what was unsellable unless another bottle was opened.......i was reminded of how much i enjoyed happy hour in cincinnati at the blind lemon...5 to 7 pm, drinking 2 beers and playing backgammon with friends.........with good conversation........mostly we talked about children, and getting children into college....but that is our lot in life at this point.........thanks......to the l.o.'s loyal parents for a lovely diversion................

ok, so one of my many junk emails was from heidi, telling me she was frightened to the belly.........now that is a new one on me..........what could she mean........sick to her stomach?

ok, so mm wants to talk painkillers, or lack thereof.......i have managed this entire week of pain on a bit of ibuprofin and aspirin, rather than prescription meds, because they representr a place i do not care to go...the rush limbaugh place of woe, as an example.......though i have been quite uncomfortable, i fear that i may get to like these painkillers...and tragedy would surely follow.........i suppose that is also the point, if i still have pain, i know to be careful...with painkillers i would not feel the need to be watchful of my posture, my lifting, my 'position' in doing anything....and i might end up more injured than i already am........this position seems strange to others, especially to the workmate who offered his prescription pain meds to me just yesterday..........who seemed quite confused that i would refuse........i pointed out the warning about drowsiness........anyway, it is friday morning, and aspirin isn't quite enough, but it will have to do.......

ok, so mm was delighted yesterday when someone she knew brought by a bag of halloween 'buckeyes'..........for non-buckeyes (anyone unluckily enough to be been in any state other than ohio) 'buckeyes' are peanut butter balls dipped partially in chocolate stabilized with wax to make them resemble real buckeyes..........i was quite touched, as i had not had a peanut butter/chocolate buckeye in years.....and only managed to eat part of one because they are soooooooosweeeeeeeet.......it was the thought that counted........i have in my pocket right now a real buckeye......one from my grandpa's tree in independence, ohio........i have at home a buckeye given to me by my grandpa on the way to the cleveland airport in september 1981 (we were going on our european honeymoon......) i carry my buckeye for good luck..........

ok, so my mom and i had a pretty good conversation tonight, after she brought cayle home.....cayle, who was too sick to go trick-or-treating........who started in moaning on the coach when asked to start her homework....she who had been quiet all day until homeowrk was brought up...............anyway, my mom and i got to talking about the florida right-to-die case that republican jeb bush has 'championed'.........my mother, who is a life-long republican, is totally against the re-instatement of the tube in this woman who has been in a vegetative state for 13 years.....'your father would have been horrified if i had insisted on a tube',.......she recalled......yes, he would have been.....and though it was pitiful to watch him slowly starve to death (nov 18, 2002) it was much better than to watch him linger for years..........none of this playing god business.....it would have been playing god to put a tube in, not the other way around..............to our family, we let him go to his maker in a serene, positive way....not grasping for life that was no longer there..............hard to believe that a whole year has passed..........

ok, so today, mm has the back of a woman aged 100, and she would use a cane if the bending over to grasp it wasn't so painful.........

ok, so mm cannot remember is she has mentioned her aching back.......which she strained sunday whilst catering lunch at her church..............i was in such pain yesterday that i called the chiropractor across the street and got an early afternoon appt............say what you will abouth this potentially dubious group of practitioners.....i do feel better after having seen my xrays- which showed my pelvis twisted to the point that one hip was 1.5 inches higher on one side and rotated to the point that a nerve was pinched........after some 'adjustment' i did feel better.....and slept some better, but i have a long way to go before i can say that i am 'back' to normal......

ok, so when mm runs out of new literature to read, she always goes back to the best of the classics.....madame colette has such a way with words, with sentiment, with life's rough patches, with guarded optimism.....the book i chose at random....the blue lantern, is one of her last published works.....the blue lantern refers to the blue light she kept on in her palais royale apartment when she wrote....on her blue paper.....the book reads like a blog............a freely written memoir of the end of her life......the part i have re-enjoyed so far remembers her last trip to a spa in switzerland for treatment of her arthritis and to 'reduce'....she asks for cheese a nd butter to go along with her bread at breakfast, and she is told that there is none...........'what? in the land of gruyere you have no cheese?'.....she admonishes...........i suppose it if ever win the lottery...like the minnesota lunch ladies..........i will buy a paris apartment in palais royale.............and blog on a blue-screened laptop...........

ok, so i visited a blog called bigwhiteguy.com, which was featured on cnn.com this morning as a blog of note..........this guy has t-shirts, books, the whole nine yards for sale......all as a spinoff of his blog from hong kong...............he allows no comments.....so i could not comment on the banality of what i had read.........maybe i am just jealous of the cnn coverage......mm is no blog of note, by any means...........more of a whine of note.........

ok, so mm has had a moment of confusion today.......i was sitting reading the paper(s) after work, and i though to myself, 'gosh, you need a vacation...you haven't gone anywhere....' and then i was reminded of my own reality......since january i have been to spain, to washington dc twice, to williamsburg, to monticello, to mammath caves, to graceland, to yellowstone/grand tetons.................three plane trips............not babd for not having gone anywhere..........

ok, so mm is about done with this tooth whitening torture.......my teeth may be getting whiter, but my gums are in deep distress.......much too sensitive from the acid that bleaches the teeth............still, i am supposed to use the product 7 more days.......

ok, so this is sunday and the only good reason for sunday is alias at 9:00 pm....if not for that show i would have already gone to bed.........i am thinking about fixing supper.....which seems silly, as cayle has eaten continuously throughout the day........popcorn, 2 bananas, an apple, hot cocoa, cheese melted on crackers.......on and on.......we are all edgy until scw comes home from campaigning...in jessamine county....by himself.....or so it seems.........

ok, so mm is enjoying crab cakes for breakfast.....freshly fried crabcakes no less.........i popped into the restaurant this morning at 7:00 am to put a few things in the oven....i am catering a luncheon......and said crab cakes were in the fridge leftover from last night.......i fried up the lot of them for my family to have for lunch.....i was afraid that if left to my family to cook...they would be baked or microwaved or worse......crab cakes are certainly not at the top of the decadence scale........that slot is reserved for smoked lox salmon and caper/sour cream/cucumber sauce..........oh my.......

ok, so mm registered to vote in ohio at age 18, with her parents present, as a republican........that was the year that nixon resigned over watergate......then promptly changed parties when she moved to ky in 1982...........i lived through the reagen years, thrived during the clinton years despite the blue dress and cigars.....and live vicariously through the bush fiasco years.............knowing he will go the way of his father 1 term and out..............

ok, so mm is getting sentimental, and it is all jeb's fault.................my dad died almost a year ago, from the starvation and dehydration that comes when loving family members say 'we want no heroics, or machines, or tubes'....he could no longer take food from a spoon or liquid from a cup.......and sometime in the 1st few weeks of november he drifted off to be with his god .........his choice.....having coached us all to his wishes....none of this 'i know that he heard me when i was close to his face because he grunted...........that is pure shit as far as i am concerned.....if these florida parents truly believe in heaven, they will let their child float there peacefully............rather than post her image on their website in her peculiar state of vegetation...............a fate worse than death......to be posted on a web site with one's mouth open and one's brain vacant.................which brings me to another fate worse than death........pregnancy against one's will........i have mentioned in this blog that my children share a greatgrandparent who died from complications of a backstreet ilegal abortion,....none of this partial-birth crap.....there is no such procedure.............the circumstances mentioned are those of a woman fighting for life.....her life before an infants life.........no more, no less.............this bill passed with much fanfare will surely be struick down by the supremes because it makes no provision for saving the mm's life.......duh...that is the only reason why the circumstances exist.............by the time pregnancy reaches this state, it is either delivery or death for the mother or the baby...............i would hope that my spouse chose me over the unborn........not some nitwit senator or governer, or c-average republican president..............

ok, so mm admits that she is competitive......and when a parent of a senior came into trc today, and spoke of a school in ohio close to her family's heart, where her boy had visited, and lowrated it because they only would promise tuition and not room and board to her child, she had to bite her tongue when the subject of test scores came up.....this child had taken the plan test, and only came up with a composite 28..................well, mm could have launched into a diatribe about superior test scores............but she chose to just stand and smile.............

ok, so mm had a marvelous visit with her friend jane...over lunch and champagne, after her dad finally got her electronic wheelchair hoist that is fitted inside her van to retract........that took phone calls to the manufacturer, no less........we needed bubbly after that ordeal.........the first thing her mom told me was about her sister whose husband left her after nearly 25 years of marriage just about the time her job was 'downsized' out of her company........so sad......we did have a good visit, and jane looks great.......

the teeth whitening torture continues......i am able to wear these devices 4 hours total a day, though not in one single stretch.......i can see results, but these results have not translated into a desire to put up with discomfort for any longer than necessary..............

ok, so mm's friend jane is coming to eat lunch with me tomorrow......i have known jane...aka as mommy's friend jane, longer than i have known my spouse..........in fatc, i can honestly say that every memorable hangover i can recall involved jane in the preamble....she was with me, along with our mutual friend beth.....the very last time, in 1981, that i ever drank tequilla..............she had a boyfriend who owned a bar in mt adams (where i lived before i met ecw) who gave her 1 bottle of t. and a bottle of triple sec, and we made margueritas and watched beth's slides of luxembourg until we could drink and watch no more........we were trying to plan my honeymoon (three weeks of camping in europe), but mostly we drank and had a great time............jane has been to the continent more times than i have been, though not as many times to france.......she is much more diversified............anyway, i could tell(blog) jane stories ad infinitum............jane is one of the reasons why i live to travel on a regular basis........you just never know when the other shoe will fall........jane was diagnosed with m.s. several years ago, and is basically wheelchair-bound........she continues to travel agressively nevertheless, but not without difficulty.........tomorrow we will have champagne, even though i will be at work.....because i always have champagne when i am with jane.........even on the marguirita night........we had a bottle of champagne...........you gotta love a woman who loves champagne.......

ok, so mm is now undergoing the teeth-whitening torture............this has involved a trip to the dentist.....impressions made of both upper and lower teeth (the gagging involved with the making of the impressions should have tipped me off to the pain and discomfort ahead.......) the impressions are turned into custom-fitted clear plastic plates that are to be worn with the chemical bleaching gel at least 4-6 hours daily for 2 weeks...............so far i have been able to tolerate 1 hour on the top and 1 hour on the bottom, never both plates at the same time......because all i can think about is how i am choking and soon to die......i cough, i gag, and i tear up.....it is totally awful, and i would quit if i hadn't already paid for it..........i lasted an hour this morning because i resorted to lamaze breathing................i will try sleeping with these things this evening....maybe unconciousness is the only answer.........

ok, so mm got a 'personal' letter from glenna fletcher today in the mail, along with 2 'personal' snapshots of herself and ernie graduating from lafayette hs in 1970, and another one of their children taken in 1982............she, was of course, asking me to send a financial contribution to ernie's gov campaign...........let me tell you, glenna, why the check will not be in the mail.......1&2) you misspelled my name and left out the hyphen.....an unforgivable fauxpaus....if you know me so well, you would know how to spell my name..........3) i am a DEMOCRAT.........my finger has never touched the repulbican part of the screen.........4) i have seen ernie in person, long ago at constitution square festival...........he reminded me of a suspicious jockey......short and creepy.......5) i do not like those digging dog ads aimed at chandler.............6) i hear tell that e.f. might have himself a ladyfriend..........one that is not his wife.......but maybe glenna has chosen not to notice...in the fine tradition of politician's wives.............

ok, so break is over and everybody is back to school...........i already miss my extra 20 minutes in bed and my supplemental 15 minutes or so playing solitaire before driving to work......solotaire is such a mindless, soothing game.........well, maybe i would win more often if i did not play it mindlessly........................

ok, so my entire family was home last night.............acw popped in for the evening, cayle got a bit out of sorts because no one would play her horse game with her......alas........grandma and scw have returned from ohio........we got to hear tidbits of info about each school toured, and about relatives visited, and clothing purchased at outlet malls......

ok, so the word of the day is vicarious...............so many ways that one can be vicarious....let me count the ways........1) down-and-out drunkedness......one of my coworkers drank 8 shots of bourbon this week in less than 1 hour....or so witnesses said...........2) adulterous behavior...........one of my married coworkers went out with another unmarried coworker after work.........3)foodstamps.....most of my coworkers receive public assistance of some sort......4)alternative lifestyles.......most of my coworkers enjoy at least one run-of-the-mill alternative enjoyment.........5)childish pranks.....one of my coworkers 'saran-wrapped' another's car after work............6)t.v.addicts.......need i say more...........7)convuluted family relationships...........again, there isnothing much more one can say about that.......8)creditor calls......ditto............9)tattoos/personal piercings.....................double ditto..........10)lexington bars.............i need never show my face at any.......i have heard enough already...................i am so tired from a full day at work, not only from labor, but also from the vicarious experiences that i glean from others.................it is a heavy burden on the worst days.............

ok, so the red sox are out, the cubs are out, and mm is out of the baseball-watching mode..........now is the season for long hot baths............and early to bed

ok, so i catered the centre trustees dinner tonight,.....but this pales by comparison to serving lunch to the mother of one of scw's old montesorri 'chums', who went on to private school in a southern state after bate........his mum contends that he turned down the parson school of design because there is no green space in ny...(how can one turndown a school one visited as a sophomore?)...........he will surely attend the design school in savannah.......he is such a flw afficinado, though he has not been to fallingwater,.......his mum has purchased him a secular book on that very place/subject for xmas.....by the way........she seemed cunfused about its exact location, and seemed ultimately annoyed that scw had actually been there.........she did make comment on the reality that her boy will have to pay full price for college because of their income.......i had to pinch myself to stop from a true guffaw......the poverty we chose after i quit the hospital has allowed quite a financial aid windfall...........when both of the boys are in school we should make out like bandits.........we hope...........

ok, so i decided after work yesterday to drive to lex. and take acw out to supper...........after a few goodwill stops of course, and marshalls......where i found some nice french bath products made with honey that were mentioned in my born to shop book on paris.....i would have rather bought them at monoprix, but this may be as close as i get this year........anyway, we met acw at jbeth and had a nice supper.....cayle was delighted to see him, and tell him about her horseback riding lesson this week.........and about soccer, and about school...........he was pleasantly interested in what she had to say............so idyllic i bought them both books on the way out..........

ok, so there are potentially 2 more days of baseball in my future....should the cubs and red sox be elliminated, i will not bother to stay up to watch the stinking yankees or the marlins...........i went to bed last after after the cub fans interfered with the catching of a foul ball, and the cubs shortstop messed up on fielding a short hop.......the cubs fell apart after that.................

ok, so i have been watching baseball since i got home from work......boston is losing to yankees..............a revelation......yankees pitcher david wells is a leftee- pitches with his left hand......and he has pitched to several left-handed batters...........this is inconceivable to me...a leftee.......as i can neither throw nor bat left-handed.......i eat left handed....i write left handed........but i do everything else with my right hand..........i may have blogged/ranted on this topic previously.......i apologize.........i put keys in locks with my right hand........i knock on doors with my right hand........so troubling.......so sinister.................

ok, so scw visited oberlin yesterday.........and saw at least 2 people from danville (elizabeth morrison and someone from boyle county....)while he was there......wonder if he will see the same folks at wooster today..............

ok, so gwbush is no upsetting his own party members over his handling of iraq.........sen lugar of indiana has broken ranks and openly cirticized bush's recent pr push , with all of his mignons out on the dinner/speech trail....lugar said it is clear that bush's people are not speaking off of the same page.......

ok, so today is the first day of fall break, and though i have to work every day and several evenings, i am thoroughly enjoying my slowed down morning routine with an extra cup of coffee and a blog before i take a shower and get dressed...........i spent yesterday doing continuing education articles and posttests..........when i mail in the paperwork i should be near to the 15 hours of required cont. ed required by the state of ky.......ironically, i reattainment of my certified diabetes educator credential was worth a full 5 years of cont ed according to the american dietetics assn, but the state of ky does not see things that way.........ah well, this ordeal is nearly over...........i enjoyed alias last night......the only reason to wish for sunday evening is alias.........as we began this season, sydney's boyfriend vaughn has gotten married, because he thought she was dead these past 2 years.....the 2 years that sydney was thought to be dead after the fire at her apartment and the positive dna match from remains found.......well, it wasn't sydney, and now she is trying to find out just where she was and what she did during the past 2 years......lots of drama, suspense, and intrigue....i may ask for the first season on dvd for xmas.......

ok, so mm's mamma has left the state of kentucky, with my precious boy scw, bound for ohio to visit colleges...........oberlin, kenyon, wooster, dennison, and miami of ohio..........mm's mamma offered to run him by osu and ou, as well (my alma mater is osu and hers is ou) but scw graciously declined.........for my part, i have no need for my son to attend my alma mater, especially when its campus hosts 48,000 students and his chosen major us available at much smaller venues...........i fear for them both on the road.......grandma is getting to be a careless driver and scw is a novice driver............i will pray hourly until they return.........

ecw went on a 'century' ride today, so he was not at church..............cayle and i decided to go to wah mei in harrodsburg, since there were only 2 of us........i had almost forgotten how people behave at buffets......we each made just one trip, and filled just one plate.............and i still feel overful from that one plate......but others who we were there when we arrived were still there when we left........still eating...........

i am blogging prior to my daring daytime assault upon my mother's house...........now that she is away, i am going in with trash bags to tidy up...........she is not one who keeps up with newspapers, catalogs, junk mail, recycling, and over time this clutter gets out of control...........she appears not to notice...........when i try to clean up when she is home, she finds reasons why she must keep every scrap that i am trying to throw away............and nothing really gets accomplished...........so i swoop in when she is gone.........and added bonus....i get to watch cable tv for a brief fix.........

ok, so tonight i met the nationally known radio guy who owns a big piece of property out on bluegrass pike........the gut who hosted fletcher's fundraiser and never asked us to bid on the event..........the guy who orders 'old' wine with corks that tend to crumble...............the guy who seemed intrigued about someone whose entire family has a hypenated last name....he said he could arrange for arnold to visit........i said as a closet liberal i had no need.........bad choice of words......there is nothing cloistered about my politics.......................

ok, so tonight the newest hewlett-packard ad featured images from parc guell(sp...) one of my favorite spots in barcelona.........the view was from the undulating wall/bench that forms the bounderies of the terrace covering the cool cavernous space below...where flutists play eeeire melodies.........the bench is covered in broken bits of crockery that are harmonious in color, texture and form..........a really remarkable place to visit........

ok, so mm neglected to mention the painful 40 minutes spent at cayle's soccer team picture gathering.........cayle promptly got out of the car and went directly to the play area at millenium, rather than to the picture area as per instruction..........i marched over there when others from her team began to gather there, rather than in the desginated picture area...........and attempted to redirect the throng toward their goal..........on the way over someone's dog took over cayle's short-term memory slots.........and another march over became necessary............at this point, even the photographer got out of her truck and tried to round up these girls so that pictures could proceed.........of course, the individual pictures were done first, with the remaining team trying to kick each other over with a soccer ball on the nearest field...... it became apparant that no one was driving this bus, when we were all standing around, even the photographer waiting for something to happen..........i suggested to the photographer that now might be a good time to round up everybodyt for the group shot....she said she was waiting ont he coach to say so.......the coach that was shooting soccer balls with the team in the field......paying not the least attention to the photo-session..............ergo, 40 minutes in- a picture was taken, and we drove frantically to anderson-dean to watch scw run cross-country............need not have rushed, as the meet was behind, and his race was over 30 minutes delayed...........he did well, by the way...a strong second place........

ok, so mm and md went to see porgy and bess last night..........with tickets given by a student....we sat up next to god, just a few rows from the top........lts of empty student seats, by the way........we appreciated the subtitles flashed on the screen above the stage.......else we would not have understood what was going on, even when sung in english....or gullah as it were.........beyond the songs like summertime, and i got plenty of nothin...........the songs were rather boring and contrived............so much for opera........i need never attend one again.........

ok, so i heard most of the terry gross/bill o'reilly interview on fresh air last night.........o'reilly is evil.............and mean............so so nastily right wing......i beleive that when america comes to blows again it will not be north and south....or black/white....it will be left/right wing...........those right-wingers can make me so angry...........

ok, so i have watched 3 baseball games this week......stayed up til 11:45 last night watching the end of the cubs/marlin game.........why?.................

ok, so mm has new glasses....which look vaguely like her old glasses.....except these are no-line trifocals.......which curiously give one a feeling of sea-sickness if one rotates the head from side to side too quickly.......happily, mm does not reside in california, the state of fools in my opinion...somehow they think that this man can balance the budget while preserving schools, after-school programs, and social services..........arnold has no clue, possibly because he does not manage his own checkbook....he pays others to do that, and he has millions of dollars of his own to toy with............as does his wife..........now there is a couple who live in the real world.............well, california will certainly get what they deserve.........

ok, so i watched the boston redsox beat the oakland athletics last night.........why? i have no idea....i just felt like watching baseball.........

ok, so mm made cobbler for supper, but is that not reason to be suspicious?...........i am especially suspicious of anything said by arnold......w ehave emailed our california friends of our concerns........

ok, so i blogged numerous times on friday, then nothing...........acw came home for a few quality hours on saturday night.......he did his laundry, we ate chinese take-out, and we bought groceries to keep him going another 2 weeks..........he looks great, he is in upbeat spirits, and he seems appears to be enjoying his classes.....sunday's nhs induction was short but sweet...........

ok, so just one more blog....about arnold.....and his gropes and his admiration for hitler.................if california voters elect this man, knowing that he is such a man......then they get what they deserve...................i will pray privately for maria shriver who is presumably happily married to him...............

ok, so i am still reading the laurie colwin book,......we are in 1968 when she dropped back into columbia just before the students for a democratic society (sds) staged a strike and took over the food service in which her apron read food/colwin.........at that time, her best friends name was reis (last name)....and the chapter is studded with reis this and reis that.............sounds very comforting.......columbis, and reis, and food, and laurie colwin..............

ok, so it is nearly 6:00 pm on a friday evening, and i am home alone with no clue where everybody else is (except for ecw who is at work....) my mother picked up everybody else ages ago...who knows..........i have gone through the papers, and started in on a reread of an old favorite....laurie colwin's home cooking......laurie used to write regular columns in gourmet magazine until her untimely death in a traffic accident.......although her column ran 1 full year after the accident because she had turned in 12 columns at once just before her demise......she also writes/wrote novels.....i have 2 of them......anyway.....she writes like i think.........so it is a pleasure to reread her first book about cooking..........at the point where she recalled that she no longer keeps kosher, i was prompted to blog.........because this revelation about someone already dead and with god met with profound sadness.........if laurie colwin, who lived for food no longer kept kosher, then who IS still keeping kosher? .......as a sunday school teacher as well as a foodie, i am intrigued by the notion of foods deemed acceptable or unacceptable by god.......of course, in the new testament, peter has a vision that is interpreted as all foods being clean...so i do not feel obligated to be kosher...but still, it does my heart good to know that someone is still following the genesis and exodus and numbers rules for food.........as i understand it, Joe Lieberman keeps kosher.......i may have to vote for hime based on that quality along...though i would rather vote for either howard dean or wesley clark.....maybe they could form a triumverate...like in ancient rome..........clark could be pompey...........

ah well,..........today ms. dickey ate at trc, and took time to express her sadness that she will not be at dhs to teach scw in ap english next year.......she went on to say that she enjoyed having andrew, and sensed that neither he nor rowan appreciated praise in class, as it made them appear to be smart kids/nerds....a quality that both despised...........that is an observation that i have made myself.....that acw was never comfortable with his brilliance...........rather, he was embarassed by it........of course, now that his ap english exam score of 5 allowed him great latitude when it came to dropping calculus twice..........he may be glad that he paid attention at some point when english was being discussed at dhs........

back to laurie colwin, whose prose reminds me of a cozy blog.....she is someone that i wish i had met, and someone whose kitchen i regretfully have never seen.......well, i have seen it as it is mine.... neither of us have a food processor, or any other gadgets that require storage..........

ok, so mm is so old that she could barely focus her elderly eyes on needlepoint today.....this is tragic........i have needlework projects that i must finish before i leave this earth.........i did order my new glasses today...hopefully they will have better resolution for that up-close work........

ok, so mm bounces between being hot and cold.........last night i woke up freezing.....forgot that in the winter socks really make a difference......i also tossed a light blanket over the comforter...........the next time i woke up i was beastly hot.....go figure...........i must make time after work to bring in the plants from porch.....freeze warning for tonight........

ok, so i am catering supper for my church tomorrow evening, and my family, who agreed to help, is falling away..........i can do it without help...but this is not how i planned it to be.....

i went to watch scw run tonight at the stadium...he did quite well.........i go to these events to talk to the other mothers just as much as to watch my son......i spoke more to the boyle mothers, for some strange reason..........one woman, who i have always envisioned as a latent hippy, is finally divorcing the husband that left her several years ago and MOVED AWAY.........because she finally figured out that he came back to danville not to the see the children but to visit his girlfriend.......she has lost weight, and could really end up with the last laugh in this whole affair...........of course, i may just be a latent hippy....but that is another story.............

ok, so i did not get the movie lost in translation, but i did enjoy the reviews that popped up on google when scarlett johansonn's name is typed in............obviously i am not existential.....gentle readers...there have been many clues to this reality, and while i am lonely, i did not 'click' with their version of loneliness.............

ok, so the pope name a slew of new cardinals last week, including one 'unnamed'..........for reasons known only to the pope...the theory is that it is someone in hong kong/china, which allows no religion let alone catholocism...but i am wondering about other possibilities.....is it me? I would make a great cardinal, despite being baptist and feminist, and somewhat disrespectful of most public shows of religious fervor.......maybe the unnamed post is reserved for the pope's 'secret friend'.....is is old and somewhat senile....maybe his childhood secret friend has returned..........

ok, so george w may have really done it this time.........when his white house leaks the name of an undercover cia operative, who happens to be the wife of the former ambassador who publically disagreed with your wof massdestruction theory that started the war...then things may get ugly for the white house..........breaking the cover of a cia operative is a felony......which puts w in a real pickle if the buck stops with him......this may be better than nixon's watergate..............

ok, so we went to all of my intended destinations except the last 2.........the yale thing was interesting, and the movie was also 'interesting'....which is shorthand for mm did not understand it......there were many funny parts, but i clearly missed the point...........bill murray was good in playing an aging actor whose best work seems to have been behind him......i did like the part where scarlet johannson says that she is mean.........ah well............

ok, so mm is looking forward to alias, tonight at 9:00...........one of the few shows that i watch faithfully..........which means that we must make it back from lex by then after all of the stops.........at least 1 goodwill, the yale recruiter at the downtown library, the kentucky theatre to see lost in translation, wild oats and joseph-beth.........that's all i have in mind.......

this morning cayle and i waited in line to go through the light at 3rd and lexington....right in front of the older rodes' new driveway....there were 2 snakes crossing their driveway..........we became concerned that they would try to cross traffic, and that we would run them over.........much as i do not like snakes i do not want them to die under my tires........thankfully, they both vered (veared,viered,veered?) off into the grass going toward the large, lovely rodes house on the corner..........

last night after work, the old-enough and the almost old-enough c-w's lined up the beers from the friday night octoberfest beertasting for our own tasting........well.........i have never tasted such things before...even when traveling in germany during octoberfest (on our honeymoon)....there was one beer that scw described as a 'belly-beer', which turned out to not be half as dark and thick as the one we finally called the 'gravy' beer...........there was one the color of pumpkin juice that had a strange, un-identifiable aftertaste that was unpleasing, another that was the color of dark urine......we did not like that one either..........there was a smooth-ish one that was semi-dark that was at least drinkable.........the kentucky light ale...not even from germany.......was the easiest to drink........i guess we of germanic origin lack the dark beer gene.....or at least it is severely suppressed.......i am reminded of our trip to lambsheim, and how cousin edwin was so pleased that our whole group liked their beer.......but i remember that beer as much lighter and smoother than any we tasted last night...........

my spouse thinks that my plan to spend a long weekend in paris in january is craziness, which means that i will probably figure out how to make it work.......i want to go to the smaller 'house' museums, and eat well both lunch and supper, and buy lots of french literature for scw's ap test/sat II test, and drink cafe au lait in cafes warmed by open fires, and order sancerre by the bottle of the wine list, and maybe find another neat needlepoint pillow kit.........that's all i want out of this potential trip........