Look again!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Believe you me, each time I look at the lovely bulbs I apologize to them for putting them in such crappy soil (too much clay, not loose at all).
Still, look at the fleurs to come down in the middle there!
Musings
Good livin’
Sunday, 10 January 2010
We’re working our way through the Oaxaca leftovers. From left, tomatillo salsa, black beans, nopal salad. (Not pictured: maize tortillas, Oaxacan cheese—it’s a string cheese.)
As I understand it, we humans do very well on a diet with lots of different plant foods. This is an example thereof! Each of these three dishes has at least six different plants in it….
Look closely
Saturday, 9 January 2010
I’m so glad I planted these bulbs; their burgeoning counterbalances the cold outdoors. If you look closely in the middle, you can see the flower bud parts.
Cold. Did I mention cold?
Friday, 8 January 2010
Early post today, and the topic must be the weather.
Cold. Sunny. Cold. Dusting of snow. Cold. Windy, too.
In some shady places, the snow was driven on when it was still slushy and has now become icy. Actually, some not-shady places, too.
As I strolled, my body immediately remembered the waddle-walk, with baby steps to keep your center of gravity over your feet.
The sun makes some places rather pretty, like this scenic neighborhood landscaping wall.
White and black (snow and beans)
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Flurries by late this afternoon. White stuff accumulating on the car roof, sidewalk now. Road, thankfully, is just wet. Let’s hope it doesn’t freeze.
Thinking ahead, about 2:30 I visited the market and stocked up for Oaxacan-themed meals, enough for all weekend. I should have gotten a bunch of huazontle, but was focused on epazote*, and forgot…. Lightly battered and fried, the huazontle buds are wonderful.
The epazote? That goes in the black beans—and quesadillas—to make them taste just like they do in Oaxaca.
Oh, and watched Julie and Julia and quite enjoyed it; good think I was full of Mexican food or I might have developed a craving for some French food….
* Epazote has carminative properties, according to WikiPee, meaning it helps, ahem, the human digestive system…do things, ahem, more productively, ahem, in a quiet and proper way (I think).
Cheeseman cometh!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
I like that Trader Joes uses local ar-teests for their signage. Our nearest store has new banner art along the tops of displays.
The Cheeseman there in the middle is quite the hunk….
Love that: “need energy that lasts.”
Aside: this new iSlate/iTablet thing—key design issue: how do you hold it?—so that it is something you want to keep around your person. And, when not using it, where do you stash it? It’s either pocket material, like a phone, or it needs a purse, backpack, or briefcase. This is the solution I’ll be interested in….
Football…to…complex systems
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Sunny. Cold. Still, we snuck out for a walk in the mid-day sunshine.
I couldn’t tell if this was intentional, in the sense of making a statement, or to merely keep the football from rolling away….
Perhaps the more important question is: does it make any difference?
Leaving that aside, this cold, because of the looping jet stream, gives just too much darned ammunition to the simplistic types: how can there be Global Warming when we’re having an extended cold snap?
The answer: “complex systems.” Systems in that changes in one part affect other parts. Always. And sometimes in ways that are difficult to predict using models that have a simplified variable list (the complex part).
But you know that!
Party stash?
Monday, 4 January 2010
We first spotted this critter starting to cross the path in front of us. S/he looked at our feet and apparently rethought that plan, and reversed to climb this not-particularly-large tree.
The exceptional element to this story is just to the left of the squirrel in this photo, and a bit down.
That funny beige thing is a crustless piece of bread that the squirrel had in his/her mouth from when we first spotted her/him, and decided to stash where you see it while s/he descended.
I guess s/he wasn’t worried about crows or other airborne marauders.
This was yesterday, I admit. I was overcome by laziness* today and stayed indoors where it is warm (awakened to 17.3°F temp outdoors)—brrr.
* There has been some discussion around here about whether this should be considered as true laziness. I say yes. Comment?
On ice…
Sunday, 3 January 2010
As near as I can tell, it is darned cold across most of eastern North America. Including good ol’ ATL.
18°F this morning when I got up (yeah, it was early, BUT). TV meteorologist said it’d been above freezing for one hour only since 10pm on Friday.
And mentioned the potential for a bit of white stuff later this week….
The picture? That’s a spent magnolia* bud. On ice**.
* Apparently, they’re named for the French botanist Pierre Magnol (June 8, 1638–May 21, 1715), who was first to publish the idea of plant families as we know them today. Says the Wikipee.
** As my SIL wrote from her perch in her San Diego backyard in shorts(!) regarding the weather situation: wrong wrong wrong!
IKEA idea
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Yeah, that says BUMERANG. Get one and watch that it doesn’t clip your chin when you nab your jacket!
Crazy idea to visit IKEA today. The parking lot was packed. The aisles were packed. Saw no excessive grumpiness, however—oh, happy day!
Still, we escaped with our usual: candles and party napkins.
Plus two picture frames and incredibly inexpensive steak knives (like we have steak very often! ha!).
Since KW and GG have been talking kitchen plans, I’ve been thinking ours needs help; liked some of the real wood door/drawer fronts* I saw.
Note: two super-easy appetizer recipes added recently—feta-red pepper dip (gorgeous photo courtesy spouse) and blue cheese-pecan cheese “ball.”
* Example here. Different size than our existing cabinets, though. It’d be cheaper just to add fronts and a countertop, as insides of cabinets are “okay.”