Musings

Getting clean…a fine idea for beginning the new year.

Traditional Southern New Year’s meal, also a fine idea.

As to the title, we were driving back to ATL from our tasty luncheon in the late afternoon. It turned out that we were driving into the sun, which on several stretches was directly in our eyes. This was additionally tricky because we were on a two-lane relatively rural road with no extra space between the pavement and the ditch. Tricky. The technical term is a sunshine slow-down.

A bit further along, we happened on lines of cars pulled off the road (just barely: narrow road, remember) and parked almost in the ditch, with people standing next to road or walking in the lanes to join clusters of loiterers. Very strange. We eased our way along, passing dozens more vehicles. Increasingly strange. Then, coming at us, driving slowly, we encountered a police car with flashing lights. And around another curve, we found a line of walking Buddhist monks, maybe a dozen, with a dog on a leash, following the police car.

I’m taking all this as good omens for our 2026.

Posted at 9:03 PM | 1 Comment »

We had a potluck dinner this evening, and these sage leaves were part of a fabulous salad that others contributed. I brought a big pot of veggie bean stew that some people might call chili, and many others would never call chili.

Posted at 10:00 PM | No Comments »

Once again I began the day enjoying the early-day sky.

We jaunted to a nearby neighborhood to partake of a small family brunch that ended with an offering of an assortment of kooooo-keys. Throughout we laughed and laughed.

Posted at 9:13 PM | No Comments »

Saw cranberries; had to buy them, then sauce them. Mmmmm.

Posted at 9:58 PM | Comments Off on Selfish?

Grocery shopping almost always tops the chore list after a trip, as it did this morning. I looked in the fruit fridge display and thought, hmm, blueberry prices are cheaper, just a bit, but cheaper. Then, it hit me: the packages are the same, but now they have 11 oz, not 12. I’m still hot about it. [I tried to include the “flames” emoji, but my software won’t post it.]

Posted at 8:34 PM | Comments Off on Short-changed again

We motored east sometimes close to Lake Erie, sometimes a few miles inland, and finally saw Cleveland in the distance.

Over on the east side, we met up with a college buddy of The Guru at a lovely Thai restaurant. My dish: Siam salmon…salmon wrapped in a napa cabbage leaf with veg and a rich yellow curry sauce. Oh, just yum. Perfect. Thanks, FK.

We continued east, still under the lake effect smear, and, while in Amish territory dodging horse-drawn buggies, spotted this pair of planes that looked to me as if they were slowly degrading. I did not see a for-sale sign.

Then we turned south, and outran the snow-smear, and are now on the PA side of the OH/PA line, enjoying temps just a smidge above freezing. We understand that a winter storm is headed this way tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll be out of here before it ramps up.

Posted at 9:38 PM | Comments Off on Lake Erie environs

Our evening began with this platter, and the yumminess continued. Mmmmm.

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments Off on We gave thanks

On today’s grocery expedition, we found autumnal antioxidants, the red and blue flavors. I was particularly excited by the early cranberries, early meaning before T-giving week.

Posted at 7:11 PM | Comments Off on Toothsome fruitiness

Our morning began west of Traverse City, and therefore off our typical I-75 axis. Pleasantly. So, we stayed west of I-75 all through Michigan, where farm stands selling pumpkins and big pots of mums were abundant. Look for mums on the far left between the arch-roofed structure and the RR tracks.

Our trajectory took us through the “heart of Amish country,” Shipshewana, Indiana. Hence: buggies and many farms with paddocks of horses. We even saw a four-horse team on the road, but pulling no farm equipment, only the driver’s platform with an empty hitch-bar.

We decided on a buffet dinner (a vast improvment over Arbys and the like). The offerings of course included red jello. [Not sampled.]

And here’s today’s sunset, complete with windshield flares. No Great Lake in Southern Indiana, even a bay of a smallish lake, although we did pass by Big Lake at some point.

Posted at 7:03 PM | Comments Off on Ah, the Midwest

I know you’re supposed to eat more protein as you get older, and I’m surely more elderly, in fact elderly enough to eat more protein. The latest numbers I’ve read are that I should bump it up from my “adult” days on the order of 20% to something like 70 grams or more (probably more). I need to consult nutrition tables to figure out how to do that.

Posted at 9:11 PM | Comments Off on Protein consult