Almost.....

My birthday!  I'll be 76 tomorrow.  That's a lot of years!  I've been thinking of them all in groups of 10.  Such a variety of events and people and experiences.  Maybe I'll get Le Singe Orange to demonstrate....

Meanwhile, this is what I saw from the bus stop and a poster on the bus.  I adore the clouds!!

14th Street near Whole Foods

More 14th Street--across from the bus stop

I agree!

Another one!

Sean and Laura are having a baby, too.  Here are Laura's recent bump photos.

Laura: Week 19

Laura: Week 20

Laura, like her sister-in-law Medea two weeks ago, looks very healthy and happy.  So....two great-grandchildren in the offing!!  Late winter, early spring.....Holding everyone in the light!

End of November

Walt Whitman on Dupont Circle metro

"Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,	60
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad...."      --from The Wound Dresser

"Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,

Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,

        60

The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,

I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,

Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad...."
     --from The Wound Dresser

Gingko leaves on Corcoran St.

One more photo--Halloween, 1991, storm in Minneapolis

This is the view that sent me out walking around Lake Harriet on Halloween afternoon in 1991. Rabbi Cathy, my gracious and generous hostess while I searched for work, had this big red BBQ in her back yard, and the snow on top was impressive.  So I thought I'd go take a look at the lake, which was just a couple of blocks away.  Perhaps the most wonderful things about Minneapolis are the lakes in town, and all of them have walking/running/biking/rollerblading paths around them.  The walking trail around Harriet is 2.75 miles, which makes it a perfect workout.

I do have more photos of that afternoon's walk in the snow, but I need to do more digging to find them.  Stay tuned....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a good quote a friend posted this morning:

Forget who you thought you were and accept who you are. --the Dalai Lama

To my wonderful family and friends:

Thank you for everything you are and have been.

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Walking in the Sunshine, Looking at the Trees

This past week I've gone out walking for at least two miles every day and brought my cell phone camera along. It's time to renew my cell phone contract, and they've offered me several free new phones, but none of them has a camera in it! Whoa. Since I rarely go out without my cell phone, I always have a camera with me, and it's always CHARGED! Now what?

Anyway, today, as I hoofed it past the L of C, I noticed there are still some autumn crocus blooming! Naturally, the L of C, like the other public buildings here, has gardeners. I would assume this is why these little plants are still going. My previous sightings of autumn crocus last month were in the metro parking lot. There, with no gardeners to speak of, it's every flower for herself!!

Also, I do have to get serious about identifying trees at all seasons. I like to know what I'm looking at.

Autumn crocus ringing a tree by the Library of Congress

Looks like holly, but which variety? English? Chinese?

Narrow-leafed Ash? Ailanthus?

Same tree as above?

22 Weeks!

Medea & Lennox, 22 weeks....

Here's my gorgeous granddaughter-in-law at 22 weeks.  My grandson made the sign!

A Gift from the Netherlands....

Via Open Culture, the Rijksmuseum has put 125,000 Dutch masterpieces online.  I'm visiting this later today to get a fuller picture of the opportunities.  The Rijksmuseum will allow you to remix the
art, also.  You can create your own slide shows (I think)!!  Dank u!  Dank u!!

In watching the first video, I'm noticing many women visiting the museum have hair like my mother's--and mine.  Over here, people sometimes call it "strawberry blonde." In our youth, it was thick and naturally a bit wavy.  In college, one of mom's history teachers told her that her last name was Dutch.  She was born in Germany of German parents, but her area is very close to the Netherlands.

Speaking of Weather Past....

Halloween afternoon 1991, Lake Harriet

The Halloween blizzard of 1991 that dropped more than 28" of snow on the Twin Cities before it was done 3 days later was one of the top 5 snowfalls of the 20th century in Mpls.  I took this photo of Lake Harriet in mid-afternoon of October 31 after the snow had been falling for a while.  You can see the faint streaks as the big heavy flakes fell on the water.  The ducks were huddled out away from shore, who knows why.  The willow tree, partially fallen in the lake, has a thick, frosty coating.  What I remember most was the sound (or the lack of it).  The snow muffled other sounds on this wintry (though strictly still autumn) afternoon, yet I could still hear well enough to catch the hiss as the flakes struck the water.

I have been looking for the first photo I took on this afternoon more than 20 years ago:  Rabbi Cathy's bright red barbeque in her back yard with about six inches of snow accumulated.  Can't find it, though I've seen it recently here in one of my cleaning-decluttering exercises.  It'll show up.

Naming our worst weather experiences.....

We've got another big, scary storm heading right toward us.  They're calling this one Frankenstorm. (Thanks be, we've moved on from the obnoxious  "(insert weather word)-pocalypse.")  It's part Hurricane Sandy, part Nor'easter, and part Jet Stream.  A PERFECT bad storm. No snow yet (we hope), just high winds and 12-15 inches of rain.  Trees & branches downed, flooding, power outages....the usual. I'm boiling all my eggs today in case we have another 6 or so days without power as we did the last time.  I have a gas stove, but it's modern in the sense that it makes a bunch of sparks to light itself--requiring electricity.  Can't just swipe a farmer match on the seat of my jeans to get this one going. 

Having grown up in Fargo, North Dakota, my one reaction to Fargo's most severe weather, a blizzard--buckets of snow accompanied by howling wind as it blasted through the weather stripping upstairs--was "Goody! No school!!"  After breakfast (usually oatmeal or, bliss! cream of wheat--there also was chocolate-flavored malt-o-meal, but mom wouldn't spring for that), we kids all struggled into layers of our warmest clothing: underwear, long brown cotton stockings, long pants, long-sleeved t-shirts, a sweater or two, shoes, heavy wool socks over our shoes, topped off by a snowsuit (jacket & pants), rubber boots, gloves, mittens over the gloves, a woolen hat (usually knitted, but sometimes a matching hat sold with the snowsuit, and long wool scarves wrapped around our necks and faces (below & above the eyes).  And then we went outside to play in the raging storm.  We dug forts in the piles of snow lining the sidewalks, made snow angels.  The snow was too cold and dry to stick together, so we usually didn't try to make snowmen or snowballs.

Need I say this was before television came to Fargo.  After TV arrived, when I was in the middle of high school, we went skating on bad weather days.  Digging in the snow was for little kids, not us.

I don't know what kids do now during bad weather days, but I suspect it's what they do most of the time anyway--call their pals on their cell phones.  But if the power is out, how do they charge them?  And how will the networks work?  What I'll have to do is take my laptop downtown, where all the power lines are buried,  sign on at some free WIFI place, like Starbutts, and charge my cell from the laptop. 

Weather still has the upper hand, no matter what the season.

Sky Tracker:

Look at all the water and wind in the sky at 10:30 a.m.! It feels muggy outside, too.

Same views, 3 p.m.

Fall weekend and chicken marinade.....

On Saturday I took the bus to Georgetown, then walked down to Trader Joe's at 25th & L Sts.  Bought a bunch of greens, some lovely fat blueberries from Argentina, and a wee pumpkin to spruce up the joint.  I got off the bus on 27th and walked down past Rose Park, where Cathy and I used to take Squeak to run and chase squirrels.  After shopping, I hopped the Circulator bus back to the red line and home.  I LOVE where I live, and the great beauty I pass wherever I go.

Rose Park (or part of it)

Where we used to walk Squeak  

Squeak's former play area on the bluff above Rock Creek

Beloved brick sidewalks of Georgetown

Goodies from Trader Joe's

Riding home on the Circulator!

As "Halloweeny as it gets in my house" (thanks to ChezLarsson.com)

*****

P.S.  Chicken Marinade

I bought some organic chicken at TJ's and was looking for marinades.  The best one I found today:

1/4 cup lime juice

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Pour this over the chicken  and let it sit for maybe 20-30 mins.  Then drain it and

grill or saute the chicken.

Sorry this was too late for me to test--already ate the chicken.  But lime juice and garlic!!  What's not to love?

Trip to the Arboretum....

HenCam has a wonderful post today:  "Peak foliage and rose hips".  In it, she mentions her Nikon Coolpix P500 camera, and I realized that...hey!....I have a Nikon Coolpix camera--somewhere.  So I dug around in my desk, found it, inserted NEW batteries, and downloaded the instruction manual.  I have never been big on instruction manuals, preferring to fly by the seat of my pants on such (most) things.  But there comes a time when you DO need to know what all the little buttons are for.  Cathy called and asked if I wanted to go for a walk in the Arboretum today.  I said "Yes!" and hopped to it.  I started taking photos by the back gate and ended when I got back to Takoma Station.

Magnolia by the back gate

Near the bus stops at Takoma Station

From the Metro

At the Arboretum

More at the Arboretum

Library of Congress in the distance from the Arboretum

"Frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills"

The Metro parking lot

It was a lovely day, and I learned the basic operations of the little Coolpix L11.  Many thanks to Cathy for her supreme patience and great good will.  What a blessed friend!!

Part 2....

Yesterday I posted my opinion about the recent events at Gallaudet University.  And this morning, I took the post down.  Then I got an email from a good, thoughtful friend about my opinion.  So here's my reply to that. 

Yes, thanks, Linda....you're right.  I'm relating this to my own experience--though not solely my own.  This kind of thing has happened to many deaf/hard of hearing persons.  But I took down the post because I decided not to say that. 

I am disappointed in Dr. McCaskill for what seems to me to be the disingenuous claim of wanting to be "pro-democracy" and not anti-gay marriage. 

Was democracy the topic of the sermon in church that day and not gay marriage in Maryland? 

Has concern for democracy ever been a major consideration for those of us who have voted for and supported civil rights for nonwhite persons over many years?  I really don't read the constitution much or feel it has all of the answers to every civic issue in the country.  The constitution has never moved me to tears when I've read stories about the brutal injustices done to my non-Caucasian brothers and sisters. 

Nor do I consider the bible a resource for every single issue.  I do eat shellfish and pork, after all.  And I've never stoned anyone for adultery.  (Yet.)

And I am not impressed with Gallaudet's track record on justice for all.  Its actions rather frequently belie its words. 

I'm sorry Dr. McCaskill can't find it in herself to see where she has caused unnecessary pain to her GLBT brothers and sisters--and to apologize from the heart rather than
try to "explain" her position.  I rather doubt the GLBT members of the Gallaudet Community need to have anything explained.  She made her position quite clear. 

And I think the president of Gallaudet was right to suspend her.  The position of Director of Diversity has many responsibilities--one of which must certainly be foreseeing the result of her action in signing a petition that puts added pressure and opprobrium on GLBT persons who are seeking a simple human right.

World Egg Day

Or something. A bunch of my "blogs I love" have come out with posts honoring the Egg today: Chezlarsson.com and Semi-swede.com . I asked HenCam what she thought, and she replied that World Egg Day, October 12, is sponsored by big egg companies, and that she spotted the message "factory farms are ok." Great. Nothing is sacred, not even the egg. Or the work of the chickens and those who lovingly tend them.....

HenCam has a lovely post "Let's Take a Walk" that shows the woods in New England autumn at their most relaxing and fetching.  A happy antidote to the debates raging in my head over eggs and politicians.

Know what I'd like??

I have been a registered voter since I was old enough to vote, and that's more than 50 years. I do not remember an election where everything depended on us CONTRIBUTING MONEY, practically HOURLY, to get our candidate elected. This is just nonsense! Who gets that money, anyway? The media!! They're getting fat & rich, while the rest of us scrape to buy beans & rice! I'd like to see TV & radio spots be FREE and equally available to all candidates/parties.

Dominic and the Dandelion....

Here's Cathy's grandson investigating a dandelion....

Autumn crocus, end of September

Not a perfect photo, but these are autumn crocuses....back again. They grow over by the Metro parking lot.  There were some fabulous mushrooms with them, but somebody mowed the lawn yesterday, and the mushrooms are gone.  That's what happens with nature around here:  lawnmowers!  What a plague.

Green Eggs & Ham?

My brilliant friend & former coworker Linda found HenCam, a blog on chicken keeping (well, hen keeping) when she was investigating yesterday's green egg discussion here. Whoa! What a fabulous resource! I'm adding HenCam to XE's list of "blogs I love." And HenCam's post on shell color was fascinating. She also mentions how commercial chicken keepers sometimes give marigold flowers to their hens so that the yolks will be yellower (something like that). Perhaps the particular chicken that laid my chartreuse egg went hog wild on the marigolds! HenCam, or one of HenCam's commenters, mentioned another colorful item besides marigolds that chicken keepers add as a dietary supplement, but I have to go back and look for that.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the chickens' art. I'm almost out of eggs, so I'll get some more. One of the stores where I buy eggs (Giant?) sells local Maryland eggs. I'm thinking Whole Foods may have these, too. And of course, there are local (well, West Virginia is considered local hereabouts when it comes to produce) farmers selling their eggs at the weekend markets in Takoma Park and Dupont Circle.

Thanks for this great info, Linda. You've elevated my egg buying to new aesthetic heights!!

And welcome to the XtremeEnglish family pages, HenCam!

Feliz Lunes-y! (with addendum)

Monday again in Snoozeville. 

Highlights so far:

Broke open two eggs this a.m., and one of them was chartreuse!  It smelled ok, and the two bites I could force myself to eat TASTED ok, but huh?  I remember the days when the egg yolks turned from pale yellow to almost chromium orange and tasted stronger, too, as soon as the hens could get outside and start eating grass and bugs.  My childish palate didn't like this stronger flavor much, but that was explicable.  Where did the chartreuse color inside my egg this morning come from?  What are they feeding laying hens in Texas these days?  (I assume this is where the eggs came from--most of them do, no matter the brand name).

Found half a shell in the garbage grinder, and was pleased to see a bit of "egg white" attached but still glowing GREEN.  So sorry I did not photograph the entire green egg.  I am such a newbie at this.  But you see the ominous bright green/chartreuse color here.  Imagine trying to eat a whole fried egg of this color?  WTF???!!!

I always buy brown eggs, but often I've noticed some wee speckles here and there to make me wonder if they are not white eggs that have been sprayed!  Maybe this could account for the color inside the shell??

Rearranging the furniture:

I kind of like shifting the space in here a bit.  I may move the little desk from the den to the living room.  It's from that wonderful stationery shop on CT ave just south of Dupont Circle.  The shop went out of business maybe 5-10 years ago and sold the fixtures.  The desk was sitting on the sidewalk one day with a sign:  "For sale: $10."  I bought it and carried it home.  The desk itself is no beauty, but I loved that store.  Still think of it when I walk that way.  They had the funniest little lapel buttons!  Mostly very clever, snarky slogans against housework, the right wing, and other oppressive realities!

The clutter will stay in the den until I figure out what to do with it.  But maybe some of it will transfer to the l.r.

The desk will go against the wall ahead, in front of the outlet!

Anyway, stay tuned! These are sort of interim photos between "before" and "after."

Photos along my path this week

Seeing-eye Dog on the Bus

Butterfly on Four O' Clocks

 

Dinner at Roscoe's

Well, the dog on the bus photo is from this afternoon.  The bus was very crowded,  and I got up to let the dog's owner sit down in the double seat so there'd be room for her dog.  The dog was totally wonderful.  She licked my hand (which recently had been holding a fried egg sandwich), and then lay down next to my foot.  I don't know if she's allowed to do this, but it seemed heartfelt.

The butterflies, so familiar in autumn, have been here and gone in the past week.  I don't know the real name of these flowers, but I have always called them "four o' clocks."  They look a bit like the flowers my mother used to plant that would not fully blossom until about 4 p.m., Fargo time.  There are genuine flowers with this name and this habit, but I don't know if these are they.

Roscoe's down on Carroll Avenue is one of those fancy restaurants whose pizza is CERTIFIED to be just like they make in Italy.  Further, it's named after the famous rooster who used to walk around our town and wake people up in the morning.  When he finally died, some people were late for work!  The salad is called "root slaw" on the menu.  It's made from carrots of two colors:  orange and yellow.  The deviled eggs are to die for!

new office, August 2012

Sally & Jay's Affinity Resource Group has a sparkling new office in a big old house in Montclair.  Love the kitchen area on the ground floor.  Now that Sam's away at college, they've commandeered his rug.  The fireplace is in the conference room, which is on the first floor.

Beach in September 2012