Sunday... Another Soup Day

Oh goodie... another dreary, cloudy, damp day. But on the bright side-- it isn't raining, snowing, hailing or storming, so I guess southeast Texas is ahead of the game.

Soup for lunch... leftover crawfish bisque. I told my husband that if we continue to have these soup days, then I need to learn to make more kinds of soup. So far, my soup menu consists of lentil, crawfish bisque, and clam chowder.

Pea soup. I wish I could make split-pea soup the way Lou did. (Lou being the owner of the little restaurant where I went for lunch every day when I was working up in NY, and where my husband and I had our wedding dinner.) Lou made the greatest soups, different ones every day, from Monday through Friday. Thursday was split-pea soup day. Delicous, creamy, thick pea soup with home-made croutons floating on top. I always passed on the croutons, though. I'm not a crouton fan, either in soups or salads. If I want to eat bread, then I want a soft, thick bread, not dried cubes.

But back to the soup. Today would be the perfect day for split-pea soup. I'm sure I could look on the Internet and find dozens of recipes for pea soup. And maybe I will. But not today. I don't have the ingredients I need for that soup anyway. But I will keep it on my to-do list.

I spent this morning fixing the sleeves on a sweater I had bought the last time I went shopping with my sister up in NY. Gorgeous ivory sweater with some beading on the front of it. The sleeves were way too long, and the material is too silky to just roll up the sleeves. I had the sweater hanging on the doorknob in my sitting room, just waiting to be taken for alterations. I never remembered to bring it with me when I was on my way down Highway 3.

I guess I got tired of seeing it just hanging on the doorknob this morning. I looked at the sleeves and thought how hard could it possibly be to cut those sleeves to a good length and make a hem? So that's what I did. I took another sweater with sleeves the perfect length, measured them and figured out how much I needed to cut from the sweater with the too-long sleeves. I cut off the excess, turned up a hem and pinned it... tried it on before I started to sew... and it came out perfectly. Simple as that. Amazing what you can do when you put some Greek music on the CD player. Opa!

Happy Birthday

53 for me. Must be a mistake in those numbers. I think I'll just turn them around and make it 35. Ah... much better.

My husband bought me about a dozen birthday cards and hid them all over the house. I found some of them last night, some of them this morning. Funny cards... mostly with cats on them. He finds the greatest cat cards. I ask him every year where he buys them, but he's not telling.

One of the cards from him had three dogs on the front of the card. Each dog was wearing one of those stickers that they give out at bad parties-- the ones that say "Hello... my name is _____." The dogs, however, had the stickers on their butts, instead of on their chests. (Yet another reason never, ever, ever to have those silly stickers when you give a party. I hate those things. But the card was hysterical.)

I guess my Aunt Dolly knew how much I've been thinking about her lately because she called here tonight to wish me a happy birthday. She sounds wonderful, as usual. Her voice has never changed, and if you didn't know her age, you'd guess you were talking to a much younger woman over the phone. She told me that her legs were hurting her a little bit so she was taking aspirin. Not such a bad complaint for a woman who will be 93 on her next birthday. Unless, of course, we turn those numbers around as well and make her 39.

My cousin R called me this afternoon... to wish me a Happy 35th. (Which is where I got the transposed-numbers idea.) R is the same age as me... but we're four months apart... she was born in May. (May la 3rd, is how she has always referred to her birth date.) My cousin D out in Arizona also called... he is younger than I am by two years, which he'll remind me of from time to time. My husband and I went to our favorite restaurant for dinner tonight. So much like family there, only better. They sang Happy Birthday to me, in Italian, which was nice. The fish special tonight was king salmon from Alaska and sea bass from Hawaii... Stefano cooked mine with white wine, pine nuts, golden raisins, and apple slices... outrageously delicious. My husband ordered the same thing, except his fish was cooked in pesto sauce.

Hardly a drop of sun today, except for a few rays around 4:00 in the afternoon. And if you blinked, you missed it. Not very warm this weekend, which is not good for Galveston, being that Mardi Gras began yesterday. The Mardi Gras festivities will run till the 8th of February, and if the weather between now and then doesn't get warm and sunny, Galveston will be losing money. I never read anything in The Chronicle about New Orleans losing revenue during Mardi Gras if they get bad weather.

We've been to Mardi Gras in Galveston a few times... during the afternoon parades, not the night parades. Too loud at night, too raunchy, too boozy, too everything at night-- not something we want to be part of. I love Galveston when it's sunny and warm and fun... I don't want it spoiled by out-of-control locals and party-hardy tourists.

Speaking of parties.... A few months ago, our neighbor V had told me not to take it personally if she and her husband didn't come to our parties. She said they were the "original party poopers." She suggested that I not even 'waste' an invitation on them. So a couple of weeks ago, when I sent out the invitations for our Valentine's party, I didn't write one out for V and her husband.

Last night while I was walking Gracie, I saw V outside walking her dog. I asked her if she was still in the "party pooper" category.
Why do you ask? said V.
Because we're having a Valentine's party, said I. I told her I had sent out invitations and didn't want her feelings hurt when she saw all our friends coming to our house for the party.
Valentine's party? We didn't get an invitation, said she.
I didn't give you one because you told me you and B were dedicated party-poopers, said I.

Long pause. Oh yeah, that's right, said V.
Then she asked me when the party was going to be.
I told her the date and she said: "Well, I think if you give us an invitation to that, we might be able to make it."

I wrote out an invitation for them as soon as I came into the house last night, and walked next door and gave it to them. I told V to let me know if they're going to come, or if they'll choose to poop out of the party. "And I won't take it personally," I told her.

V is a hard one to figure out. I told my husband that I'm just going to keep on giving her invitations to every party that we have, no matter what she tells me about being party-poopers.

Anyway... that's been the day. A pretty good one for the first day of my 53rd year. Oh.... pardon me... let's make that the first day of my 35th year.

Birthday Eve

One more day till I'm one year older. Oh goodie.

I called my dad today... he said I'm getting to be too old to be his daughter because he's been telling everyone he's only 49. I told him he looks good, but not that good.

My sister called, to remind me that I'll be a year older tomorrow. Oh goodie, said I. Then I told her that I read somewhere that 50 is the new 30. Being that I'll be 53, that makes me 33, according to that "new" way of counting.

My sister told me that a store clerk asked her for ID last week when she went to buy cigarettes. (You're still smoking?! ) She wasn't upset when they asked for her ID... she's 45 and is very young looking, so she was pleased to show her ID and prove that she was old enough to buy the cigarettes. (She's still smoking????) I told her that maybe 40 was the new 20.

I think we both look younger than our ages. And it must be in the genes, because most of our family looks younger than they are. My dad doesn't look 86, and my Aunt Dolly will be 93 this year and she looks about 30 years younger. Aunt Dolly has always stuck to the same rules: "Keep busy. Ask no one to do anything for you unless you cannot physically do it yourself. Sit down as little as possible during the day. Don't turn on the TV unless they're showing a movie produced before 1949. Get a good night's sleep. Take care of your hands."

My aunt will be 93 this summer... she still does everything she's always done, with the exception of driving. And I'll bet that if she didn't live in super-busy NY, she'd be driving still. She is still a size 6 and when she's all dressed up and made-up, she's still a "doll." (Hence, her nick-name.)

Then there's my aunt's food rule--- "Eat real food." She will buy nothing that says low-calorie, low-fat, lite, or low-carb. She will only eat the real stuff. "It's not what you eat, it's how much you eat." Aunt Dolly has been saying that for as long as I can remember. My aunt loves chocolate, and she bakes the world's best chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Her portion-size for chocolate is about the size of a Hershey's Kiss. And my aunt can cut the thinnest slice of chocolate cake for herself and make it last longer than the thick slab she will cut for someone else.

When my dad came down here to visit us a few years back, I cut myself a slice of cake about the size that my Aunt Dolly would cut for herself. Then I cut a 'normal' size slice for my father. He looked at his slice, then looked at my thin slice. He sat there shaking his head and told me that only Aunt Dolly could've taught me to cut a slice of cake that thin.

And what's wrong with that? said I.

That's not a slice of cake... that's a postage stamp, said he.

I got my cake-slicing from my Aunt Dolly, and my sense of humor from my dad.

"I Am the Cat, Don't Forget That: Feline Expressions."

The above is a title of another great book on cats. The text is by Roy Blount Jr., and the photographs were taken by Valerie Shaff. This duo has done other books as well. The dog book is titled: "I Am Puppy Hear Me Yap: The Ages of Dog."

But back to this book. There's a poem that Roy Blount wrote for the book:
"When I purr, don't infer it's because you pat.
No, you pat because I purr.
I am the Cat, don't forget that."

I just love those lines...... and it got me to thinking about my own three. All of which have such different personalities. AngelBoy can be a bit of a snob, ShadowBaby is a friendly "Romeo," and Rusty is the large cowardly lion.

To add to that poem above, AngelBoy's line would be "I am the Cat, and that's that."
ShadowBaby's line would be "I am the cat... let's play and chat."
Rusty's addition would be "I am the cat and I don't care that I'm fat."

There's not a cat that I've met in all these years that didn't have a distinct personality. If you think a cat is "just a cat," then you're so wrong. (And I hope the people who believe that don't have a cat.)

Anyway... this book is filled with glorious photographs of cats and kittens, some cute, some cuddly, some thoughtful, others uppity. One great photo is of a long-haired calico resting on a sofa. The words next to the photo read: "Yes, I knocked over the candelabrum. And now I'm on the sofa. What is the problem?"

Written like a true cat. =^..^=

Clam Chowder

We've been on a homemade soup kick lately in this house... lentil soup and crawfish bisque. Maybe it was the cold weather we had, or maybe it's because we just like soup. Now the temperatures are close to 80 again, and we're still in the mood for soup. ("I'm in the mood for soup... simply because you're near me.... ")

Yesterday, my husband opened up a can of clam chowder. He loves clam chowder and so do I. But I don't really like canned clam chowder because it always tastes too salty to me so I don't eat it. I've never made clam chowder before, but I got to thinking yesterday... how hard could it be?

And today became clam chowder day, so I want to type this down before I forget what I did. I didn't even bother looking into my cookbooks... I just sort of winged it, and it came out delicious.

First... half a large onion, sauted in a little bit of unsalted butter. When it got nice and browned, I added about 3 tblsp. of butter, then added about 1/3 cup flour and mixed it all together to let the flour 'cook' a little. Into that went about 2 1/2 or 3 cups of non-fat milk. Little salt and pepper. I let all of that get good and hot and it started to thicken so I turned the gas down a little so it wouldn't boil.

Into that mixture, I added two cans of whole baby clams, with the juice. I also had one of those "Chicken of The Sea" pouches of baby clams-- I added that also. While that was going on, I put two red-bliss potatoes into the microwave. I chopped up the potatoes, skin & all, and added those into the soup.

I let it all simmer... the soup stayed nice and thick... more salt and pepper. Delicious. That soup was really cooking up nicely. My husband tasted it, and we added a touch more pepper and a dash of Old Bay spice. The clam chowder took way less time than the lentil soup, and was even quicker to make than the crawfish bisque.

So... guess what we're having for dinner tonight?

"Where Cats Meditate"

That's the title of a wonderful little book about cats, compiled by David Baird. Filled with great photographs of cats and kittens, each photo matched with the perfect words, sayings, thoughts.

Just a sampling of the pages:

"To be able to listen to the silence is to be able to hear the infinite." (words by Anne Wilson Schaef). The photo shows an orange/white fluffy cat sitting on a fence post and staring up into the mountains.

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." (Ralph Waldo Emerson). The photo is of a calico kitten perched on a wagon wheel on a tiny street in Greece.

"Those in a hurry do not arrive." (a Zen saying). The photo is a striped tabby cat just sitting on a wooden fence.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." (by Marcel Proust). This photo is a black/white cat sitting on concrete steps overlooking the Mediterranean.

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear." (by Baba Ram Dass). Wonderful photo of a tiny wide-eyed calico kitten trying to hide behind short leaves of grass.

"We must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose." (by Indira Gandhi). This photo shows a striped tabby resting behind a tree in a sunny patch of grass.

"Be vigilant; guard your mind against negative thoughts." (Buddha). Amazing photo of a black/white cat staring at a goldfish in a tank, while the goldfish stares right back at the cat.

"Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue-- to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak." (Socrates). Photograph of an orange cat thoughtfully studying its surroundings.

"Without stirring abroad, one can know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one can see the way of heaven. The further one goes, the less one knows." (Lao-Tzu). This page has a photograph of a striped cat peeking out of a paper bag.

Needless to say, this is a beautiful little book of not just cats and kittens, but words that make you take a deep breath and think. Just think. Anyone who loves cats will love this book. I'd guess that a non-cat person just wouldn't "get it."

Maybe that's the magic of cats... they make you take a deep breath and just think.

Johnny Carson

"The Tonight Show" was never the same after Johnny Carson retired. He left too soon, in the opinion of all of his fans, but Johnny himself said it was the perfect time to go. He said everyone has to know the right time to get off the stage. So he got off. And the stage at NBC was never the same.

I spent many nights in the 1980s watching Johnny Carson. During some very troubling times of my life, The Tonight Show was a soothing way to end the day. Johnny made you laugh because he laughed along with you. When I watched his show, the rest of the world went away for a little while, which is just what I needed at that time. Somehow, having those laughs at the end of those very hard days made the pillow softer and the sleep deeper.

There will be no memorial service for Johnny Carson. He was a private person during his lifetime, and I guess he wanted to remain private in death as well. Or maybe he wanted his family and friends to quietly, privately remember his life instead of trying to glorify his death.

There is a lesson in everything. Today's lesson: glorify life, not death.

Mary Kay Afternoon

My friend S is a Mary Kay lady, and she came over this afternoon with her bag of cosmetic-tricks. Both A and F came over as well, and the four of us sat around my dining room table for a few hours, oohing and aahing over the new colors and new products. I had invited three other friends as well, but they either forgot about the date, or they didn't need anything.

This was our friend F's first trip up this way since she got out of the hospital, so it was good to finally see her on our front porch again. When F signed the guest book this afternoon, she wrote "I'm baaaaaack!" Nice also to see that she hasn't lost an iota of her great sense of humor. F is using one of those aluminum walkers now, till she gets to really feeling better. It has wheels on the front of it, so I told her to stop calling it a walker and start calling it her new set of wheels.

We also decided that her new set of wheels should be decorated, so I'm trying to figure out how to attach some streamers to it--- you know those streamers that you always used to see on little girls' bicycles back in the 1950s and 1960s? I would love to find some bright purple ones. To paraphrase that famous quote: "When I am an old woman, my new set of wheels shall sport purple streamers."

Mary Kay has a great little cosmetic holder now. It looks like a miniature lap-top. Open it up and there's a good-sized mirror in there, plus all these little compartments which hold the powders, blush, eye shadows, mascara, brushes, powder puff. It will be great for traveling, too-- everything is right in the same place, all packed and ready to go.

Still cold outside. It should be warming up nicely tomorrow, if we can believe the weatherman. It's supposed to be up in the high 70s or low 80s. Do they really know that for sure? With all the technologically-advanced equipment they have these days, wouldn't you think the weather-people would never make errors in their forecasts?

Light My Fire

It has been so cold here the past few days that my husband insisted we light a fire last night. We hadn't put logs in that fireplace for the last few years, mainly because I hate the job of cleaning out the fireplace. He cleaned it occasionally, but more often than not, I had that fun job.

Besides that, ever since my friend A arranged candles in her fireplace for Thanksgiving, I've been doing the same thing with candles in our fireplace. And now my husband wanted to burn logs in there? "I promise to clean the fireplace out myself in the morning," said he.

Into the garage my husband walked last night, and out he came with two logs. Two? Wouldn't one be enough? Two will burn till midnight and we hardly ever stay up that late. "Two will be perfect," said he. And two it was. (And we had to stay up till midnight. Note to my husband: One log next time. Just one!)

Anyway... he made a roaring fire and it was very warm and very nice to look at. Okay, okay... the logs were warmer than the candles. And this morning after he walked Gracie, my husband set out to clean the fireplace, just as he promised. He even took out the grate, so he could get every last molecule of ash out of there. When he was done, it looked perfectly clean.

So there he was... getting the grate back into the fireplace... and the tip of the grate touched the little trash-can, tipping it over, and about two cups worth of those ashes spilled out onto the carpeting. We both just stood there looking at the mess. It was a Laurel & Hardy moment.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. So did my husband. We laughed like two fools before he asked me to get him the broom. He lightly swept up most of it, and I got the vacuum and that got up the rest of it. When we were done, you'd never know that ashes had been spilled there. Note to ourselves: when it's time to replace this carpeting, we need to get a dark color just like we have now.

It's a good thing that we can both laugh out loud at ourselves.

Freezing Cold Monday Morning

The cats woke me up early... it was too cold last night to let them sleep on the porch. I just turned on the TV for the news/weather-- only 34 degrees out there right now. Unbelievable. But on the bright side, the temperature will be back up near 80 by Tuesday. Now that's more like it. Honestly... 34 degrees.... the fairy buttercups are going to freeze.

I made a centerpiece yesterday for the dining room table, for our Valentine's party. It looks so cute that I'm just going to leave it all decorated and use it every year. I had a white-tinsel Christmas tree that I bought from a friend who sells Avon. The little tree is only about 14" high, and I have it raised up about 6" higher than that because I stood it on a candle-dish that has a pedestal base.

All around the white tinsel branches of the little tree, I wound a garland of pink and purple hearts. The little hearts are made of shiny foil, and they sparkle really nicely as they peek out from the branches. The garland is stiff enough so it curls into any shape, and I cut two pieces and formed them into heart-shapes to attach near the top of the tree. Near the center of that, I took a bright pink blown-glass Christmas ornament (heart-shaped) and tied that right near the top of the tree, inbetween the two hearts shaped from the garland.

Then on the tips of each of the branches, I used a hot-glue gun to attach small hearts made of shiny silver satin. With all the garland and the little silver hearts, the whole tree looks more like a topiary than a Christmas tree, and that was my idea in the first place. So of course, now I'm thinking that I could probably make one of these little trees with an Easter theme. I'll have to see if they have that curl-y type of garland with little Easter eggs or bunnies on it.

One thing leads to another.... how about a little tree for the 4th of July? Halloween... Thanksgiving... Maybe I should see if the girl who sells Avon can order me a few more of these trees. (I wonder if I can order another storage closet?)

Sunday Breakfast

My husband made breakfast this morning... at six o'clock. I was sound asleep and he came into the bedroom with his gourmet creation. It smelled delicious, so I got out of bed and went to the breakfast room. (I really don't like to eat in bed.)

His breakfast creation is based on our love of Greek food. Our local bagel bakery makes a spinach bagel. Not a green bagel with a tiny bit of spinach thrown into the dough, but a nice soft golden bagel with an indentation in the middle instead of a hole. Into the middle is a generous serving of creamed spinach. Pop that into the microwave for a minute and you have a wonderful spinach-y bagel.

My husband's idea was to slice the spinach bagel and fill it with a cooked egg and a slice of feta cheese. He put the whole thing into the microwave to warm up the feta. Totally delicious. Sort of like spanikopita (Greek spinach pie) without the crispy pastry.

It is freezing outside this morning. Frost on the grass. Frost on the roof. Absolutely freezing. Just when we thought the cold snaps were over, we get a blast from up north. But I saw pictures in this morning's Chronicle and northern cities are knee-deep in snow. So I guess I'll stop complaining right now about frost.

Today's the perfect day to make soup, so I guess that's what I'll do. Lentil soup for me, crawfish bisque for my husband. I've been on a lentil soup kick for the past few months. Which isn't a bad thing... lentils are one of life's perfect foods. But with lentils, you either love them or hate them.

The cats must know how cold it is outside. They all used the litter boxes earlier this morning and now they're all sound asleep again. What a life.

Saturday Stuff

Another cold snap is on its way here. Our nearly 80-degree temperatures will be dropping down towards 45 before the weekend is over. Oh goodie...

But I shouldn't complain. As I type, a blizzard is going on up in the northeast. I keep telling my family and friends up there that they're living in the wrong zip code, but they insist on staying up there. Right now, they already have about two feet of snow.

Last night, my husband and I went to an un-birthday dinner for our friend and neighbor C. Last year, when she turned 70, her family surprised her with a party at one of the local restaurants. This year, the dinner wasn't a surprise, but she insisted it wasn't a birthday dinner, just a "plain dinner." C says she's tired of celebrating birthdays... she has had enough of them and now is just going to stop counting the years and just enjoy them.

The cats are already getting cabin fever, and it isn't even very cold out yet. Rusty and AngelBoy have been enjoying the sunny days in the backyard this week. Just now, Rusty was meowing in the way he does before he pounces on AngelBoy. I've gotten up from my desk three times since I started to type, just to walk into the hallway to tell Rusty not to lay a paw on AngelBoy. Poor AngelBoy... he's no match for Rusty... he just lays there with his big blue eyes staring helplessly when Rusty tries to pin him down. Rusty doesn't really hurt him, he just holds him down to the carpeting. Guess it's Rusty's way of saying he's King of the Jungle for the moment.

Went up to A's today... we were talking about party themes... and maybe the Halloween parties should have a theme to encourage people to dress up in costumes. Like a 50s theme, or a 60's theme, or Mardi Gras... just something to narrow the possibilities and make it easier for everyone to get into the spirit of a costume party. My husband found a web-site with all sorts of party ideas... so we have lots of time to plan for Halloween.

Next party here is for Valentine's Day. I've got mostly all of the decorations out... except for those that I put on the front door... and I still have to make a centerpiece for the dining room table. And the big heart-shaped helium balloons, which I'll get filled up the day before the party.

January is slowly coming to a close. And before the month is over, I'll be having a birthday myself. But unlike my neighbor C, I'm still counting the numbers. Maybe when I get to 70, I'll start having un-birthdays and stop counting numbers.

Friday's Jewelry Show

I think my husband might be composing a letter to The Powers That Be at Reliant Center... asking them not to host any more jewelry shows. Not only once a year... they host this Gem & Jewelry Show four times a year. Every year. Be still my heart.

I usually do a pretty good job of not going overboard. There are so many booths filled with estate jewelry... one-of-a-kind vintage pieces that just take your breath away. They also can take your life savings away, because those huge pieces of jewelry can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. So I just look at those, and say ooh and aah and various sounds of breathless sighs.

Today, however.... one little necklace caught my eye. Not an estate piece (because those are always so huge and over-the-top) but a necklace for an every-day lifestyle. And did I mention that it was diamonds.... from end to glorious end. Not over-the-top. Something you can either wear every day, or wear for extra-special occasions.

Do I or don't I? Should I or shouldn't I? I stood there for half an hour. Trying it on, taking it off. Haggling with the nice man behind the counter. We were $200 away from what I thought was the perfect price. He asked me if I would walk away from the necklace for just $200. I asked him if he would send me away for just $200. In the end, I got the necklace at my price. Glorious diamonds from end to end.

Of course, I thought of using my friend A's cell phone to call my husband and ask his advice about that necklace. But I never do that. I don't know why I thought of doing it this afternoon. I thought of what my husband's mom would tell me: "Buy what you love, honey, and ask questions later." (What a woman.)

When I got home, I told my husband that I just saved him so much time... "You don't have to shop for my birthday... you don't have to shop for Valentine's Day... you don't have to shop for Easter... you don't have to shop for Mother's Day." (I'm not a mom but he always gets me something from the cats and Gracie.) He liked the necklace and seemed impressed with the difference between the retail price and the wholesale price of the jewelry. He asked me if I loved it. I said yes. "Then that's all that matters," he said. (What a guy.)

Other great stuff at the jewelry show... shawls and scarves and wraps of all kinds, all materials, all colors. Crocheted, beaded, ruffled... you name it. A and I bought the ruffled ones... mine in pink, hers in green. I found a crocheted shawl, complete with fringe and beads... had to buy that one also. Wholesale prices.... how can you go wrong....

The next jewelry show is in April. I think I'll leave the checkbook home. Just to be on the safe side.........

Thursday's World for AngelBoy

There we were this morning in my sitting room. My husband and I were talking while I was wrapping up the gift-bags for our Valentine's party. Gracie was sleeping out in the hallway, Rusty was sleeping on my pink velvet sofa in the sitting room, ShadowBaby was on the screen-porch, and AngelBoy was curled up in the closet in my sitting room.

AngelBoy loves to curl up in closets. And he looks so perfectly cute, I must say, but I hardly ever let him into the closets anymore because he gets deep into them and I can't find him. But this morning, as I was taking Valentine gifts out of that closet, he walked in and curled up on top of a plastic shopping bag. You know the kind... the ones with the looped handles from the supermarkets that make a crinkling sound. He was right in the front of the closet, so I let him stay there. Big mistake.

Well, there was AngelBoy, curled up nicely and every once in a while patting the bag so it would make that crinkle-crinkle-crinkle noise. All of a sudden, my husband and I see a streak of white flying out of the closet and running underneath the pink velvet sofa. Crinkle! Crinkle! Crinkle! CRINKLE!

We didn't even have time to say anything to each other, and out comes the CRINKLE! CRINKLE! once again--- it was AngelBoy, of course, with his little head sticking out of one of the looped handles of the plastic bag, with the rest of the bag flying out from the back of him. The faster he ran, the more air streamed into the plastic bag, puffing it up till it looked like a hot-air balloon. He looked like a plastic-covered caped crusader. He ran as fast as I've ever seen that blue-eyed cat move.

He tried to run through the open cat-window between the breakfast room and the screen-porch, but because the plastic bag was flared out behind him, he couldn't fit through it. He bounced backwards into the breakfast room, and landed up against a small table next to the sofa in that room. That resulted in a small glass candleholder falling from that table and shattering on the tile floor.

It sounded like a shotgun blast in there, that heavy glass breaking against the tiles. It was more than AngelBoy could take. He ran underneath the sofa in the breakfast room, forcing his little body and the shopping bag under the barely-four-inch space between the floor and the bottom of the sofa.

We knew he was okay, and we knew we had to get him out of there, but I told my husband to just let him stay there for a few minutes while I swept up the broken glass. I was afraid that if he came racing out from under the sofa, he'd run through the glass pieces or the plastic bag would spread all those pieces all over the breakfast room.

Thankfully, it was a small candleholder and didn't take long to sweep up. Then my husband moved the table in front of the sofa and reached under there to get the looped handle of the grocery bag off of AngelBoy's neck. That took all of ten seconds, because by that time, AngelBoy was too scared to move.

Poor AngelBoy. My most sensitive cat. He was too embarrassed and scared to come out from underneath the sofa right away. We didn't dare laugh at him, because I swear this cat would've known we were laughing at his expense. The new rule in this house is to keep all cats out of the closets and all shopping bags away from the cats. That could've easily happened with a paper shopping bag, because AngelBoy loves to curl up in those also.

You know, they say that if you have a cat in your home, your blood pressure will be lower than someone who doesn't have a cat. I'd like to talk to the person who came up with that theory.

Park This

When my husband left the house this afternoon, he found a parking citation on the windshield of his car. What????!!!!

We live on a cul de sac. Just fifteen houses on this street. My husband's car was in front of our house. Now, it was indeed facing the wrong way, and many of the other home owners on this street park that way and have been for more years than some of those cops have been on the force.

Now wouldn't you think that the courteous thing to do would've been for that cop to get out of his car and come up and ring our bell this morning? He could've asked us if that was our car. He could've told us that they've started to enforce the parking laws and advised us to turn the car around so it was facing the correct way.

But no. He just wrote out the ticket, put it under the windshield wiper, and went on his merry way. Which was probably driving up and down all the streets of this subdivision, looking for parked cars facing in the wrong direction.

$25 for that parking citation. The check is already made out and I'll mail it in the morning. I hope the City of Houston appreciates our "donation," because that's exactly what I plan to tell the next Deputy who calls our house asking for donations to the Deputy Fund.

I also called our friends and told them to make sure their cars were parked the right way. I called our neighbor across the street tonight because when her husband came home from work he parked his car facing the wrong way. Same way he's been parking his car since he moved here. And the people who owned that house before them parked their car facing the wrong way for all the 28 years they lived on this street.

A simple gesture of common courtesy was all that was needed this morning. I'll tell you one thing about Houston police... they give no warnings. Once they see an infraction, the citation book comes out and they start writing.

As I said... I hope they make good use out of our "donation."

My Rusty Cat

The final word from our friend and vet... Rusty doesn't have diabetes. His blood tests were just fine, and so was the urine analysis. Everything is right where it should be in his little cat-body. As for Rusty's eating and drinking problem-- he just likes to eat, which makes him want to drink.

I'm thinking that maybe Rusty was just plain bored because it's been so cold here and he couldn't go out in the yard. So what's left for him to do? Eat.

Or maybe he just needed some extra attention. Being he's the oldest cat in the house, most of the attention here goes to AngelBoy and ShadowBaby. I just always think that Rusty is just fine being Rusty, without needing any extras. Even though he didn't like being closed up in the traveling crate yesterday and taken for a ride in the car, he surely didn't mind being the star of the show at the vet's office.

So we'll just keep taking him for his normal vet visits, but the good doctor has assured us that he's a very healthy cat. Just a tad over-weight, at 20 pounds. He's a Manx, which means he's going to be a sturdy cat anyway, and normal weight for him should be around 16-17 pounds. Maybe I should start walking Rusty around the block when I take Gracie for her walk. Now wouldn't that be a sight?!

Rusty's Visit to The Vet

After talking to the vet this afternoon, he suggested we bring Rusty right in to have a blood test done. Into the crate Rusty went, into the car we all went, and my husband and I listened to Rusty meowing and howling all the way there. He hates, hates, hates the car.

We'll know for certain tomorrow whether or not this poor cat has diabetes. Judging from everything I told the vet, he seems certain that he is diabetic. He'll let us know as soon as the lab sends him the full report, so we'll know if he's Type 1 or Type 2. The vet told us that if a cat is prone to diabetes, it happens between the ages of 8 and 12. (Rusty is 12.)

The symptoms, so you all know... excessive eating and drinking, excessive urination. Plus, this normally mild-mannered cat has become so cranky lately. Right now he's on the screen-porch with a clean litter box, all by himself. I'm waiting to see if I can get a urine sample to bring to the vet tomorrow. He gave me a little vial and a syringe... all I have to do is get a small sample from the litter box.

On the bright side, for Rusty, is that the vet told me to give him all the food and water he wants now, at least for the time being. With the symptoms that Rusty has, his body is always going to be either hungry or thirsty till we get him on some kind of medication. Providing he's at a stage where he'll respond to the medication. But we won't discuss that right now. One day at a time.

So far, Rusty is looking at the litter box, but not wanting to use it. Instead of the box being filled with the usual litter, it just has a bunch of those foam packing-peanuts in it. Needless to say, you just can't change the litter in a cat's box and expect him to be happy. Rusty is about as far from happy as a cat can get right now. But the vet told me that when he really, really, really has to use that box, he won't care what it's filled with. So we'll see.

My other two cats keep looking out the breakfast room door and wondering why I'm not allowing them to go into the screen-porch. I keep getting these little cat-looks that seem to say "Have you lost your mind? Has the cold weather frozen your brain?"

This too shall pass.

It's a Cold, Cold Cat-World

I'm convinced my three cats are affected by the cold temperatures we're having. And they are all coping in their own ways.

First, Rusty, the oldest cat. All he's doing is eating. And eating. And eating. I can't keep dry food in the cats' dishes because he will eat every morsel, then sit there licking the bowl for any miniscule particles that might be clinging to the bowl itself. I'm surprised the bowls don't have skid marks in them from his constant licking.

And don't think he eats just cat food. If Gracie doesn't eat her food, then Rusty's face is in that bowl as well. And how he can crunch down on that dog food is just beyond me. That cat is 12 years old so his teeth can't be as sharp as Gracie's. Right now, I'm waiting for a call-back from our vet. Maybe he can tell me what I can do before Rusty eats his way to beachball-size. Right now, he's about the diameter of a soccer ball.

Then there's AngelBoy. My prissy little blue-eyed cat who isn't happy with the cold because he can't sit out underneath the azaelas and watch the birds. He'll go out in the backyard first thing in the morning and stay there for maybe ten minutes, till his little whiskers feel the frost. (And there has been frost out there on these cold mornings.)

When he gets too cold out there, AngelBoy will mew pitifully by the screen-porch door. When I let him in, he'll run through the porch, then run into the breakfast room. After munching daintily on a few morsels of cat food, he'll walk into the TV room and curl up in the recliner that's closest to the windows. He will rest his chin on the arm of the chair and you'll hear him sigh as he looks out the window. Sometimes there are birds out there in the bushes, but usually, the birds stay in the backyard at the feeders. I'll hear AngelBoy sighing a few times till he realizes that the birds aren't going to sit by that window for him. Pitiful, pitiful sound, that little mew.

Then the youngest cat, ShadowBaby. He hates, hates, hates to be cold. He'll curl up under my chin at night, or curl up next to my back and pin me underneath the blankets so I can't move a muscle. Unless, of course, I get out of the bed by scrunching up to the head of the bed and practically sitting on my pillows to get out. (Which I've done many times, so as not to disturb ShadowBaby.)

No matter how warm we keep the house during the day, ShadowBaby wants it warmer. He'll curl up in the warm corners of furniture, or on top of the dryer when I'm doing laundry. This morning, as I was pulling warm towels out of the dryer, ShadowBaby jumped down from his spot on top of the dryer and landed on the warm door of the appliance. When I got all the towels out of there, ShadowBaby decided that inside the dryer was the place to be, and that's where he curled up. Of course, I left the door open so he could stay in there till it cooled down.

And I knew exactly when it cooled down, because I heard an aggravated mee-ooooow from the laundry room when ShadowBaby jumped out of the dryer. That cat found me in my sitting room and he sat here right in front of me, his eyes wide open with a look that seemed to say "Can't you turn on that dryer again?"

I am praying that our warm weather comes back. These cats need time out on the screen-porch before they drive me nuts. This weather makes me wish we had enclosed that porch with glass and added heat and air-conditioning, instead of just putting up screens. Hmmm..... now that's an idea. No, we're not going to do it. That's all I'd have to do. My neighbor V is convinced that we screened-in the porch for the cats, not for us. No matter how much I tell her that we use the porch, she insists we would've left it all open if we didn't have the cats.

Now honestly... how could she think that my cats are that spoiled.... =^..^=

Is It Soup Yet?

This has been a soup-y weekend. I made crawfish bisque yesterday, and lentil soup today. Plus another small pan of that apple-cranberry dish went into the oven. I'm using just two apples at a time with that... so don't go thinking that I'm drowning in apples here.

While I made the lentil soup, I had the little television on that sits on the kitchen shelf. There was a show called "Clean Sweep." Totally amazing... I'd never seen that show before. Made me wonder how people can live in a house with a couple of rooms that they can't even walk into without falling over something. I mean really... don't they see that something needs to be done? What's also amazing is that they're willing to have these super-cluttered rooms shown on television, for all the world to see.

To each their own, I guess. As our friend B says: "People are going to do what they do just because they're dealing with years of conditioning that got them right where they are." That might not be her exact words, but that's close enough.

Another cold day today. The sun was out for most of it, and it was warm enough for me to go out on the deck and wash out all the cats' litter boxes. ("Warm" meaning the temperature got up to 60 degrees... if you can call that "up.")

But... as friend A up on Long Island reminded me... cold weather is easier to deal with than either a tsunami or a mudslide.

A great quote that I found today: "The smallest feline is a masterpiece." (Said by Leonardo Da Vinci.)

I found a pretty little charm for my Italian charm bracelet this weekend. Red enamel charm, with the word "Believe" written on it in gold script. There are tiny gold dots here and there on the red background... the dots look like teeny stars. The charm reminds me of the movie The Polar Express. Which is a good thing, because it's a movie I don't want to forget.

The movie's theme, "to believe," reminds me of what my husband's mom always used to say--- that no matter what happens in this world, life does go on in a sensible way. With that thought... you just have to believe that no matter what happens, it's happening for a reason.

There are no accidents in this life. There are no coincidences.

Saturday Stuff

Another cold day...... even with the sun out, it felt cold. Will this never end? I've had enough of cold snaps this year, and we're only 15 days into January.

My husband and I are still talking about the clock chimes that we heard early yesterday morning. As much as we try to come up with logical reasons, we just can't. We know what we heard. We were both wide awake. No more chimes since then, however, and we haven't wound up any of the clocks.

I took out my box of Valentine decorations today, and started placing things around the living room and dining room. I still have to decorate the front door. I've got a twirly garland made of sparkling pink and purple hearts..... I'll use that somewhere. My statue of Venus de Milo by the living room fireplace is all decked out in a necklace of plastic hearts. Venus gets "dressed up" for nearly all of the holidays... Christmas and Halloween, Valentine's Day and Easter, and sometimes for the Fourth of July. All dressed up and nowhere to go. Poor Venus.

I have a box of heart-shaped Christmas ornaments... haven't figured out what to do with those yet. They look more like Valentine decorations than Christmas ornaments, so I may just leave them in the Valentine box instead of storing them with the Christmas things. They would look nice as some sort of centerpiece for the dining room table... so I'll have to find something to hang them on.

We went to Babbo Bruno's for lunch yesterday. Delicious fish... Hawaiian red snapper... cooked with a light sauce made from sliced apples, golden raisins, pine nuts and white wine. Absolutely delicious. I'll have to try making that sauce the next time I cook salmon.

Speaking of Hawaii.... I spoke to my sister this afternoon. She heard that it snowed in Hawaii. She didn't know where, but she definitely heard on the news that snow did fall on the Hawaiian islands. Guess southeast Texas isn't the only place on the planet with strange weather.

Aloha, y'all.

Friday Morning Ghosts

In the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," the little girl tells her father that her teacher told her that "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

With that thought in mind.... what happens when a clock chimes?

Early this morning, about 6:30 or so, both my husband and I heard the chime of a clock. Not once, but twice. Two separate chimes, the first louder than the second, as if they were from two different clocks. We were both wide awake and we both heard the sounds. I had just gotten back in bed because the cats had woke me up, and my husband had also just gotten back into bed.

We heard the first chime. Distinct and loud. Definitely a clock chime. Both of us heard it at the same time, and it sounded as if it had come from the other side of the house. I immediately thought that one of the cats had touched one of the clocks. "You want to get up and check on that, or should I?" said my husband. I told him I'd go, since I really thought it was one of the cats.... they all slept inside last night because it was too cold on the screen-porch.

As soon as I left our bedroom, I saw AngelBoy sleeping right outside our door. Both ShadowBaby and Rusty were in the living room, in front of the coffee table. They weren't even near any of the clocks that chime. I got back into bed and my husband and I said "Now we both heard that." Not a minute later, and we heard the second chime... softer than the first, also from the other side of the house. We both got out of bed. My husband checked the clocks. None of the chiming clocks were wound up.

Needless to say, we were both wide awake and not going back to bed. We read the paper and had some breakfast. Just a little while ago, when I came into my sitting room to turn on the computer, I noticed that the door on my little music cabinet was wide open. That cabinet is in the corner of the room, and I use it to hold books that I haven't read yet. I hadn't opened that cabinet since I took out a book to read, and that was about three days ago. The latch on that cabinet closes very tightly. And there's no way not to close it tightly because the door will swing open.

Clocks chiming. Not once but twice. A cabinet door opens. All the clocks in this house belonged to my husband's dad. The music cabinet belonged to my husband's mom.

Of course, we tried to logically explain all of this. The chimes were definitely clock chimes, not wind-chimes from outside. We don't even have wind-chimes outside. The cats were nowhere near any of the clocks when we heard the chimes, and neither was the dog. As for the music cabinet, there's no way that one of the cats could've pried open that door. It closes too tightly and as I said, there's no way to not close it tightly because it just won't stay closed that way.

There were no NASA jets flying overhead early this morning, so there weren't any vibrations to make one of the clocks chime. Not that I think a NASA jet could do that, but we did think of any and all possibilities, even remote ones.

In my husband's words... "sometimes things happen that are just outside of our realm of reality." And we have no logical explanation for this morning's reality.

Thursday... Yet Another Cold Snap

Such stupid, stupid weather. We had days and days of such warm weather, and now it's snapping cold out there again. The weather gods are not being nice, from one end of the planet to the other.

I had a dental appointment today..... for a cleaning. They see me in that dental office every three months for a full cleaning. The only way to keep my teeth as clean as they can be, for the simple reason that I want to keep my own teeth for as long as I can... like forever.

My dad didn't take such good care of his teeth and when he was 78 he had to get a full set of dentures. Needless to say, he wasn't too thrilled about that. And he was down here in Texas when he got all of that dental work done, as opposed to being up in NY where he lives. I had to take him to all the dental appointments and listen to all his complaints as he got used to the dentures. His dentures are great now (8 years later) and he's used to them, but every once in a while he'll tell me "I miss my own teeth." So I keep that thought in mind and make sure I go to the dentist every three months.

Our friends are starting to RSVP for the Valentine's party, and my closet is slowly filling up with the party bags. As each couple tells me they'll be here, I fill up the bags with the favors and put a name-tag on them. By the time party-night rolls around, that little job has been taken care of leisurely.

As I sit typing here, I can hear Rusty (our oldest cat) snoring behind me. He's sleeping on the pink velvet fainting sofa. (These cats always pick out the prettiest furniture in the house for their naps.) Rusty is just snoring away, not a care in the world. I don't think he was feeling too well yesterday. He sort of just sat around (normal for him) and didn't each very much (not normal for him). He also tossed up his cookies yesterday morning... on my clean carpeting, of course. I waited 24 hours to see if he'd improve, which he did, so I won't be taking him to the vet. Poor Rusty gets carsick when I have to drive him to the vet. So it has to be a real emergency for me to force him into my car. Luckily, our vet also makes house-calls, so that was another option. But Rusty is eating just fine today... guess he was a little under-the-weather yesterday. (Maybe he knew there was a cold snap on the way today.)

That's about it....... Not much of a day....... After the dentist, I took care of some errands. Clothes to the cleaners, Christmas film to the drugstore for developing, and I went to Kroger for a few things. And what did I find? Some bags of dried cranberries. I bought all of them... before Kroger pulls them all off the shelves like the other supermarket did. Of course, I had to make another dish of baked apples & cranberries. No butter, no sugar. All is perfect in this little corner of the world. Except for the cold temperatures tonight.

My Little Fruit Cat

You've heard of fruit bats...... well, I have a fruit cat. AngelBoy...... he loves just about any kind of fruit. And he was in his fruity-glory today because I had fresh cherries in the house (he especially loves those) and I also opened up the bag of dried cranberries (Ocean Spray Craisins).
They're fine, but the plain old dried ones in the plain plastic bag were better.

I think AngelBoy can smell the fruit from wherever he is in the house, because no sooner had I opened up the bag of cranberries and there he was, right next to me in the kitchen. He was stretched up against my leg, with his front paw reaching up towards my arms. Now how cute is that...... my little blue-eyed fluffy cat practically begging for fruit. (Definitely an un-cool thing for a cat to do.)

AngelBoy liked the dried cranberries, and loved the cherries. I once asked our vet if it was okay to give fruit to cats. He was surprised to hear that AngelBoy even liked it. He told me as long as I peeled the skin from the fruits, the flesh of the fruit couldn't hurt him. The vet said that cats and dogs would have a hard time digesting the skins of fruits.

Angel Boy has loved fruit since he was a kitten and has always put his little cat-face right in front of me when I'm eating it. When AngelBoy was a kitten, I was on a bran muffin kick.... every morning, I'd have half a bran muffin with a grapefruit or a banana. And there he was, right next to me by my chair. I'd be picking out the raisins from the bran muffin and he'd munch away at them. He'd eat some of the grapefruit as well, as long as it was a sweet red one, not a sour-y yellow one. And there was no ignoring this cat. When I tried to do that, he'd jump right up on the table and look at me.

Just about the only fruit that AngelBoy doesn't like is a banana. Not even if I mash them up for him.... guess it's just not sweet enough for his little sweet-tooth.

Speaking of AngelBoy, he just walked in here, mewing pitifully and dragging his white shoelaces. (He doesn't meow, he mews. Definite difference.) AngelBoy holds the shoelaces in his mouth (two of them tied together) and brings them to me when he wants to play. My father started this game with a white ribbon when he was a kitten. He'd sit and play with this cat for nearly an hour at a time.... till either my dad fell asleep or AngelBoy got tired of the game. AngelBoy had the same white ribbon for a couple of years, till it got raggedly-looking. Then I tied two white shoelaces together, to make the length as long as the ribbon was, and it's worked out better than the ribbon just because it's thicker.

So here I sit.... with one end of the shoelace tied onto my sandal......... and AngelBoy is playing with the other end. As I type, I'm moving my right foot around so the shoelace swirls around like a snake so he can 'capture' it. The things I do for this blue-eyed cat. He has me well-trained, to say the least. But I love this cat, and I know he loves me as well, so it's okay.

If God is a cat, I've got it made.

Stupid Stores

What a day........... we spent seemingly hours looking for what is now called "active wear," which used to be called "sweat suits." My husband did most of the looking... starting with this afternoon, while I was getting my hair color touched up.

Then we both looked around the mall while waiting for my husband's new eyeglasses to be made up. Every store in the mall.... and all of their 'active wear' slacks were at least 6 to 8 inches longer than the average man's leg. And just why is that? For the simple reason that the extra-long length is now in style.

In style? With whom? Seventeen-year-olds who wear bottomless-crotch jeans and tee-shirts down to their knees and sneakers that could serve as flotation devices? Oh, excuse me... I guess they don't call them 'sneakers' anymore. I don't even know what they call them now........

And cranberries........ just because Thanksgiving and Christmas are over, the supermarket has decided to take the dried cranberries out of the store. All those packages of unsweetened dried cranberries have just disappeared. And what did they do with them? "Could be in the warehouse," said one employee. Did they take up that much room in the produce department of that huge store? Couldn't they leave just a few bags in case someone wanted to make a hot pan of chopped apples and cranberries?

I made another apple/cranberry dish the other night-- and chopped up a nectarine in it...... extra sweetness... it was delicious. All my packages of unsweetened cranberries are now gone. The produce man told me to look in the dried fruit aisle, which I did. They had fancy packages of cranberries there...... called "Craisins." These have added sugar, which I didn't want. The packages are smaller, and fancier, and were priced higher.

There ought to be a law. Supermarkets ought to sell dried unsweetened cranberries all year long. Department stores ought to sell sweatpants/active wear/whatever in the same length as men's slacks.

And another one----- stores shouldn't be allowed to play rap music loud enough to wake the dead. "Rap." Know what that stands for?--- "rotten angry pouting."

What a day......... But on the bright side... we get another new one tomorrow.

To Color... or Not to Color...

I contemplated not making an appointment to have my hair touched up again. The problem with coloring your hair is that you're held hostage by the color. You either continue to get it done, or you watch your roots growing out a different color than the rest of your hair.

I didn't think the color-highlights that I had put into my hair were that drastic. And my only intention was to cover up the gray ones that were growing in. Personally, I didn't think there were that many. But my sister and my cousin R thought otherwise. (What's with the silver foxes up there? my cousin wanted to know. And my sister's comment was something like Do you really like the gray hairs? You've got more of them this year than last year, you know.)

So off I went... picked out a nice soft brown color that was close enough to my own, but not as dark. And every few months when I have to go back to get it re-done, I ask myself the same question: Do I really want to continue to do this?

The answer is always yes. So back I'll go.... and I'll sit there while the color gets put on... and sit there while it takes hold... and sit there... and sit there. That's the part I hate. The sitting there. Such a waste of time. I'll have to remember to bring something to read.

Nice and warm today... a bit drippy, but not much. I mailed out some of the Valentine's invitations today...... I'll give out the others to our neighbors during the week. I'll start decorating the living room and dining room next week. I've got so much Valentine's stuff from last year..... I'll have to get to that box and go through it.

I also came across tea party favors in my storage closet. I bought those with good intentions of having tea parties for the neighborhood ladies, but I haven't planned one of those in over a year now. Time to get going with that again. The favors are too cute to keep up in the closet, and I'm always finding more tea party favors in my travels.

Piano practice is falling by the wayside. So many other things just keep popping up during the day. I had two songs to learn this week. I've gotten through just one of them. So many other things to do...... cooking and shopping and exercising and reading and party-planning and housework.... and just where does all this laundry come from???

More hours in a day. I need to find a 'genie' in a bottle so I can wish for more hours in every day. Or more days in a year. More years in a lifetime. I keep thinking of what my husband's mom always used to say: "No matter how long you live, life will always be too short."

Sunny Saturday

Gorgeous day today... lots of sun... warm with blue sky, with still warmer temperatures promised for the rest of the week. Maybe the weather gods will be good to us from now on.

Not much going on today....... we watched the little boy across the street learning how to ride his bike without the training wheels. He did pretty well... got all the way down to the end of the cul de sac without a mishap. And so it begins--- independence.

I made that cranberry/apple dish again... used even less sugar this time (just about one tablespoon for the whole batch). After I chopped up the apples and added the dried cranberries, I sprinkled just one tablespoon of brown sugar over the top, then sprinkled all of that with the oatmeal. On top of that, I spooned crushed pineapple (with its juice)... I didn't measure, but it was enough to give each bite of apple/cranberry a taste of the pineapple also. Came out delicious. Basically, the way I changed the recipe, it's baked fruit with a crusty oatmeal topping. The house smells delicious when it's in the oven.

We went out for dinner tonight... back to Babbo Bruno's. Another great dinner. Salmon tonight... yesterday was swordfish. Wonderful fish dishes, one after the other. I could eat there seven days a week.

The windows of the restaurant are still decorated with the tiny white lights they put up for the holidays. I suggested to the owner's wife that they leave the lights up, and just add some monthly decorations. She doesn't want to take the lights down either. Her husband thinks they should come down, she wants them up. I told her she could add hearts for Valentine's Day, Easter eggs for Spring, flags for the patriotic holidays, pumpkins for Halloween, turkeys for November... and then we'll all be right back to Christmas again.

It's colder tonight than it was during the day. Another night that the cats won't be sleeping out on the screen porch. Which means I'll have another night of one of them waking me up between 4:00 and 6:00 in the morning. Last night it was Rusty... he woke me up twice, just by being a cranky old-man cat. He started to fight with ShadowBaby. Not really fight-- he just put his teeth into ShadowBaby's shoulder. Not enough to hurt him, just enough to make him cry. ("Mom... he's touching me........")

My husband and I played Scrabble tonight. It's been a good long while since that game has been out on the table. My husband had three 7-letter words. Usually, he'll get one. Occasionally, he'll get two in a game. Oh well.... I hardly ever win that game when the two of us play. Still fun, though.

Drippy Friday

Another dreary, cloudy, drippy day. Not a complaint, just a fact. Who can complain about such a trifle when there's such devastation on the other side of the planet....

Went to the mall today because my husband had an eye doctor's appointment. I haven't been to the mall since last summer. Lots of changes there, but I didn't take the time to see it all today. They've put in a Foley's store where Dillard's used to be. I'll get to the mall at some point, to see all the new stores. Not in a rush, though. The mall isn't exactly my favorite place to be, and I go there only when I absolutely have to.

We had lunch with friends K and B today... went to Babbo Bruno's, which is always nice. The fish special today was swordfish. That man does wonders with fresh fish, which is what I always order. K and B gave me an early birthday present... a three-CD set of Barry Manilow music. A set that I didn't have and hadn't ever seen before... so that was a nice surprise. Babbo Bruno and Manilow... the bright spots on an otherwise drippy day.

After that, we went to see our friend F, who's still home resting, and trying to get back to her normal routine after her hospital stay. Her doctor says she can go back to work, but on a limited basis. And she'll have to decide just what 'limited' means. Depends on how many hours her body can take.

I gave F the invitation to the Valentine's party, as long as we were going there. I told her to take good care of herself, so by the time the party rolls around, she'll be in top form for Charades. I was going to tell her that we can't have her gasping for air while she's doing her Charade, because she'll mess up the clues.... but I forgot to say it. I know she would've laughed at that.

Forgot to practice piano today... forgot to exercise. My husband is alternating between reading and taking a nap on the sofa. So I won't go in there and play the piano. But I will exercise... got to keep that going. And going... and going...

Another Cold Snap

Be careful what you wish for..........

A few days ago, we had very warm and muggy weather. I didn't complain about the near-80 temperatures, but I sure did complain about the drippy humidity. Seems that we don't get much humidity in the summer (we just get the heat).... but it sure gets humid in the 'winter' here.

Well, the humidity was replaced with a cold snap. I think the temperature dropped from 80 to 50. And the cloudy weather stayed around, so that makes it feel even colder. We need the sun, if it ever finds its way back to us.

I spent part of this afternoon writing out the invitations for the Valentine's Charades Party. I'll get those out in the mail next week, and start decorating for Valentine's Day. That's always a fun party. We always have a potluck dinner before we play Charades. And because it's a Valentine's party, almost everyone dresses in red. When we first started having the Valentine's party, I asked our friends to wear red or pink for Valentine's Day. Just about everyone did for that first party, and they've been doing it ever since.

At that very first Valentine's party, one friend of ours came in red flannel pajamas, red socks, red suede shoes, and a vintage 1940s red velvet hat. Of course, she wore a red rhinestone necklace and earrings set to complete the ensemble. She said that was as red as she could get. That friend is an antiques dealer, and the red velvet hat came from one of her shop's displays. She didn't take the price tag off of it because she was going to put it back in the shop the next day, so that made it funnier. Every time she got up to act out her Charade, we all just sat there and laughed.

The cats had cabin fever today, and yesterday as well. They don't want to stay out on the screen-porch for too long, since the temperature isn't up to their usual standards. (Not up to mine either.) AngelBoy cries by the back door to go outside, and I let him out..... ten minutes later, he's crying to get back in. ("What's wrong with you, woman... it's cold out there!")

Every once in a while, Rusty is going up to either AngelBoy or ShadowBaby and using his teeth to clamp onto one or the other's shoulder. That prompts a pitiful meow out of the one being bitten, of course. The cats all need a sunny day to just sit out on the deck and relax. Which sounds pretty good to me as well. Another reason to keep hoping for warmer, sunnier weather.

Fairy Buttercups

Oh goodie... it's another cloudy, drippy, dreary, damp, humid, moist, bad-hair day. Not a drop of blue sky in sight.

But on the bright side--- fairy buttercups. My friend F enlightened me to that cute little phrase just last week. Actually, the complete and correct phrase is "sans fairy buttercups," with sans translating in French to without.

Without fairy buttercups? I told F that having fairy buttercups sounded like a good thing, so I voted to drop the sans and turn the phrase to the positive side. She wholeheartedly agreed. F couldn't remember where she even got the phrase, but in all the years I've known her now, last week was the first time she'd ever said it to me. And I can't even remember what we were talking about when she said it.

So there you have it. Fairy buttercups. We don't know what it means or where it comes from, but it sounds like a good thing. To everyone out there... may the day be filled with fairy buttercups for you.

Speaking of our friend F... she's still at home, trying to get back to a normal routine, more or less. Mostly less, at the moment. She can't go back to her job yet, and she's missing that. She has run out of books to read, so I've got to get over there with another supply for her. She reads so quickly that the only way to keep fresh books in her hands would be to have a library truck deliver them to her door every day.

Since she's been ill, F has noticed just how awful television has become. She, like me, watches precious little on television. She had been watching television in her hospital room, and has been watching it at home. Not because she wants to, but just because it's something to focus on when she doesn't have anything to read, or if she's not feeling well enough to concentrate to read. "And heaven knows you don't have to concentrate on television... you just have to mindlessly look at it," said F one day. I forget what show she was watching at the hospital one day and she told me that she wished she had a gun.

I just saw a glimmer of sunlight coming through my sitting room windows. Can it be happening? Can the sun have found its way to us after all these drippy, dreary days? Well... all I can say to that is fairy buttercups!

Hot Cranberry/Apples

Another cloudy, drippy, humid day today. Will the sun ever find us again? The air is so moist outside that you come in with damp hair. The worst of the worst bad-hair days.

I spent part of the afternoon making a large pot of lentil soup. After all the not-so-healthy holiday foods, it's time to get back to a sane and safe diet here. And lentil soup is a good place to start. I went to one of the smaller grocery stores near to us, instead of going to the larger supermarket. As a result, I couldn't get the pre-chopped onions/celery/peppers/carrots.... I had to stand there and wash/peel/slice/chop all of those vegetables. The old-fashioned way, with a knife and a cutting board. Took me longer to get the soup going, so that's the last time I'm going to buy soup-fixings at the smaller stores.

I also made the hot cranberry and apple dish that our friend L brought over for Christmas dinner. Her recipe was delicious, and she gave me a copy of it and I made it before New Year's Eve. I cut back on the butter and the sugar, as she suggested I do, but I still wasn't happy with the result. Not that it wasn't delicious-- it was, and we ate it all. I ate more of it than my husband did... I think I had it for breakfast one day, and for lunch the next.

But this dish is too good to just make once in a while, and I love anything with hot sliced apples. So I set out today to make it a more healthy baked dish. If you love apples, and if you love a hot cranberry sidedish, then you'll like this one:

Into an 8" square pan that you have spritzed with a non-stick cooking spray... sprinkle two tablespoons of brown sugar. Just enough to lightly coat the pan. Then take two large apples (your favorite kind).... wash them, slice them and then chop them up into small bite-sized little chunks--- don't peel the skins off. On top of the chopped apples, add about a cup and a half of dried cranberries. Sprinkle the cranberries all over the apples so every bite of apple will also get a taste of cranberry.

On top of that, sprinkle about 2 tblsp. finely chopped pecans. Then... mix 1 cup of oatmeal (not the instant kind) with 1/2 cup crushed pineapple with juice, 1/4 cup orange juice, and 2 tblsp. of yogurt (any flavor). Mix all of that together, and spread it on top of the cranberry/apple mixture. Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon over the top, then just a smidge more of brown sugar.

Into the oven it goes, at 350 degrees, for about 40 minutes. Serve it warm, with turkey or chicken... last week, I served it with salmon. I also had it for breakfast. Totally delicious, as good as the original recipe, which called for an extraordinary amount of butter and sugar. I love it when I can take an over-the-calorie-top recipe and change it around to make it more healthy.

I had a piano lesson today.... didn't do as badly as I thought I would...... let's see if I can buckle down and get back to practicing every day the way I was doing before the holidays. Pre-holiday time and post-holiday time... that's how life gets measured around here between November and January.

And pretty soon, I'll be deep into the preparations for the Valentine's party.

Busy Monday for The Squirrel

There's an industrious squirrel building a nest in the Live Oak tree in our backyard. My three cats were watching her progress this morning... all three in the screen porch, with their little necks stretched out and up as far as their little cat-muscles would go.

Back and forth went the squirrel, from the nest near the top of the tree, to the fence along the end of our yard. She was collecting small branches from other trees, carrying them along the wood fence, jumping to the tree, traveling up towards her nest to arrange her new home. I'd guess that seven out of every ten of her branches made it to the nest. The others fell to the grass in our yard. As the squirrel went back and forth, all of the cats swiveled their necks from side to side to watch her progress.

The squirrel would watch the little branches fall, then peer down into the yard as they settled on the lawn. There's about 35 of them out there, and I've left them there for her, just in case she wants to try bringing those branches back up into her nest. During her construction, she got smarter... instead of collecting little branches from neighboring trees, she just found tiny branches right near the new nest. Less traveling for her, less of a chance that the branches would end up on the lawn.

The nest looks huge. Condo size. Maybe she's expecting a lot of babies, or a lot of company. AngelBoy is particularly interesting in the squirrel's comings and goings. That cat loves to tease the squirrels in the yard, and he doesn't seem to mind being out-witted by them. He's forever trying to catch one, but I doubt he could be as quick as the squirrels.

I don't think AngelBoy would hurt a squirrel if he were lucky enough to catch one. He has caught countless lizards and frogs, and just sits there with them in his mouth by the screen door till I notice them. Then he drops them on the door-mat for me. Of course, I have to ooh and aah over the gift he's given me. (Oohing an aahing outside, cringing inside.) Hopefully, I won't have to ooh and aah over a squirrel.

Foggy morning today, and so drippy that we could hear the moisture falling from the trees. We got the Christmas lights down, and the reindeer are back in the garage. Sure is more fun putting up the decorations than it is taking them all down.

I raked up some of the leaves from the front yard this morning. One of our neighbors asked if he could have them all. He uses them for mulch in his backyard flowerbeds. Not in the front, since it looks too messy, he said, but they're fine for the backyard. Which got me to thinking... I may just try it with the next batch of leaves that I rake up. Unless, of course, the lawn guys come back and make all the leaves disappear. They always take a few weeks off around the holidays, so I don't know which week they'll be back here. Lawn services here... always a little mystery.

First Sunday of 2005

It is so cloudy and foggy today... a bad hair day for sure. Not a smidge of blue sky in sight, so it may just be cloudy all day long.

Now that the Christmas holidays are over, we're talking about our Valentine's Charades party. We usually have it right on Valentine's Day, but it falls on a Monday this year. Better to have it on the weekend before, so that's what we're planning to do. (My husband and I plan.... then I do. As the party date gets closer, he realizes all I've done to make it happen. But it's fun to me, not work, and I thoroughly enjoy it all--- the planning, the preparations, and the party itself.)

I already have invitations, and I have all the party favors from last year's Valentine's party that we cancelled because my husband's mom passed away a couple of weeks before Valentine's Day. Nearly an entire year now that she's gone. Amazing how time just passes so quickly. Last year, I had the breakfast room, living room and dining room all decorated for our Valentine's party. After we got the call that mom had passed away, I just went from room to room taking down the decorations. I put all the party bags in the closet, and gave all the chocolates I'd bought to the ladies and men at the Senior Center.

No way could I have had that party last year, even though I could hear mom whispering in my ear that "life goes on." Indeed it does, but let's face it... for every person that's no longer here, life goes on differently than it did before. Even though mom was 1500 miles away, she was still "here." So this will be our first Valentine's party without mom calling up the day after to hear all about it...... just as our Christmas party was the first without mom calling to hear all the details about the food and the surprises.

And now that the holidays are over... it's back to piano lessons for me, and back to eBay. I've not been conscientious with either one since the beginning of December. My only excuse-- too much to do with the holidays and the parties. This Tuesday will be my first lesson in weeks, and I guess it will be a surprise to see what I remember from the last lesson.

As for eBay... I've got a closet half-filled with items to sell on eBay. Some of the things are from mom's home, others are from our home that I took away to make room for mom's treasures. ("One thing in, one thing out"-- that was the rule I followed so our own home wouldn't be over-cluttered.) My other rule was not to go to yard sales till I sold all the stuff in this closet. So I've got to get busy with that because I really do miss going to the sales.

That's about the story so far.... It's just about 9:30 in the morning here, so not much has happened. Our friends A & D are away in Florida, and I'm looking after their cat... at their house, not ours. Can't bring the cat here, although I'd like to. My own three cats (all males) might like to have a female cat around for a few days. I can just see them trying to impress her. I'm sure AngelBoy and ShadowBaby would be jealous, though. Rusty probably wouldn't even notice unless A's cat started to eat his food.

I wish the sun would come out. I'd like to get the Christmas lights taken down from the front of the house, and put the lighted deer back into the garage. But I don't want to be out there in this drippy weather doing that job, so I'll just put it off for another day. Maybe the sun will be out tomorrow. ("Tomorrow... tomorrow.... there's always tomorrow.... it's just a day away." -- as that song from Annie goes.)

New Year's Day

First day of the new year... and a little too early to be up and typing after such a late night out, but ShadowBaby woke me up, then AngelBoy woke up. Once the cats are up, the day has begun.

Dinner at Babbo Bruno last night was great... a limited menu because of the crowd but everything was delicious. Every table was filled there ... a mixture of familiar faces and people we'd never seen there before. I'm sure a lot of their customers are 'regulars' who tell everyone they know about this gem of a restaurant.

I brought the favors that I made... small-sized champagne bottle-candles and candy (so the New Year will be bright and sweet)..... I fancied them up with ribbons.... one for each couple, and I made one for the owners of the restaurant. Can't have a party without favors... the unwritten rule.

Warm night last night... so I didn't get to wear my long velvet dress. I've had that dress for over five years now... and it's never been cold enough on a holiday night to wear it. I'll try again next year.

My Aunt Dolly called late yesterday afternoon to wish us a Happy New Year. My aunt will be 93 this year. She's like the little pink Energizer Bunny... she does everything in her house, can't stand people doing things for her unless she truly cannot do them herself. I always thought my Aunt Dolly looked like Loretta Young, and she still does. My dad's sisters all seem to be ageless. When they're all dressed up and made up for a night out, you'd think each one was at least 20 years younger than they really are.

My aunt asked me what I was wearing for New Year's Eve, and I told her I was following her Rule #1 for dress-up: "You can go anywhere in a black skirt, a pretty top, a little jacket, and the best shoes and purse and jewelry you can afford." My Aunt Dolly always said to wear simple, classic clothes and never fall for the 10-minute trends. My husband's mom used to say "Wear the clothes, don't let the clothes wear you." Two very classy, classic ladies.

I called my cousin T out in Arizona yesterday. The 2005 birthday calendar (that he puts together each year) arrived in yesterday's mail. I called to tell him that maybe he shouldn't be listing everyone's ages on the birthday calendar every year. Can all of us cousins really be over 50 now? T said the same thing... and said that "wasn't it just last week when we were all in Grandma's porch playing Monopoly?"

And Grandma's porch is still the same... Aunt Dolly now lives alone in Grandma & Grandpa's house and is preserving the past. Grandpa built that house in 1921 and it's been the family home ever since. No one knows what will happen with the house after Aunt Dolly is no longer there to take care of it. I don't think anyone else will want to live there. The neighborhood certainly isn't what it used to be, and I can't think of anyone in the family who would go there to live. I'm sure the house will be sold to another family... who might have their own children playing Monopoly in the front porch.

Well, let's not get started on a march down Memory Lane. Happy New Year to all....