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Meme Monday – Thanksgiving Edition
I’m taking a break from my alphabet related posts today, to share a couple of Thanksgiving themed memes. I’ll figure something out for the letter V tomorrow. We’re about ready for Thanksgiving. We’re going to Ted’s parents house this year, which is our standard. Last year, of course, was the outlier, and we had a very small Thanksgiving at our house. This year is closer to normal, there will be 10 of us. We divide and conquer when it comes to the cooking, and our menu is pretty standard. I will be making: Shrimp Cocktail (appetizer) – Ina Garten recipe, from Food Network My Grandma’s Fruit Salad – Originally posted…
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U is for Unicorn
I remember reading a book once, that had to do with the famous Unicorn tapestries at the Cloisters in New York. Perhaps it was a mystery, perhaps even a young adult mystery? I’m not sure. When I was a teenager, I loved unicorns, and my mom used to buy me beautiful wall calendars every year that featured pictures of them. We have been to New York a couple of times, but I have never been to see the tapestries there, nor have I been to see the unicorn tapestries in Paris. Both seem like a beautiful way to spend an afternoon. A bit of history that I have discovered this…
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T is for Tree
Our first trip to Hawaii was in 2005, the same year that I started my blog. There are no pictures of that trip here, because we went to Hawaii in June, and I started my blog in November. One thing that amazed me was the Banyan Tree near the Waikiki aquarium. California is not tropical, and I had never seen a Banyan Tree. Banyan trees are not native to Hawaii, they were brought from India, where, according to this site, Banyan is a derivative of the word ‘Banya’, which means merchant in the Gujarati language of India, where Banyan trees provided much needed shade for merchants selling their wares. …
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S is for Smokey
When I was very small, my brother Richard was my hero, and he was my curator for what was good and interesting in the world. What Richard wanted, I wanted. Then my mom and my Great Aunt Flo went to Yosemite for a little vacation, and my mom wanted to bring us gifts home. She saw some tom-toms that would be perfect for Richard, but there was only one set at the gift shop. She looked around, distressed, not sure what to get for me. She settled on a stuffed Smokey Bear. I never looked back. Smokey was my absolute Best Friend. I took him everywhere. I was, however, very…
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R is for Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
This is my favorite tomato basil soup recipe. It is from Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa. Roasting the tomatoes means that you can get a deeper flavor from your tomatoes, which is especially wonderful when tomato season has ended. A bowl of vegetable (fruit?) soup on its own is rarely filling enough for dinner. Around here, I will make it with Grilled Cheese sandwiches for Maya and me, and with some roasted chicken for Ted. He shreds it and puts it in the soup. It calls for a lot of basil, but it’s delicious that way. I don’t think I would EVER put a tablespoon of salt in this…
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Q is for Quote – (Semi) Wordless Wednesday
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P is for Plumeria
I love the plumerias that grow in Hawai’i, though it turns out that they are not native to the Islands. So when we were shopping for a few gifts to bring home, I spied packages of plumeria cuttings, which are just a stick. I thought it would be nice to bring one home for Ted’s mom, who has a beautiful garden, and also one for myself. Once I read the instructions, and that they need full sun, I started to worry about mine. We don’t get a lot of sun, our little yard is mostly shaded. Nevertheless, I potted my plumeria stick in some dirt, and put it in the…
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O is for….
I’m stretching on this one. What the heck should I write about? I’m not going to write about any of the O adjectives above. I’m not going to write about ‘O’, the Oprah Magazine. I’m not going to write about Origami. Maybe a little bit about origami…when I was a baby my mom couldn’t afford a mobile to put over my crib, so she made one of origami cranes, which is an idea that I love. I should have done that for Maya, it would have been much cooler than the cute one we bought for her, but the one we bought would play music and go in circles to…
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N is for No (thank you)
Today’s post is a lazy Sunday post. Not a lot of effort. Here’s some food items that lots of people like, but when offered to me, I will say, “no, thank you.” At least, I’m working on it. I have been known to be rude and make a face and say ‘ewww’, which would be a little more acceptable if I were 5, but at this point, not so much. Nutella Bok Choy Mangoes Chorizo (I’m very guilty of the ‘eww’ on this one. Working on it.) Deep fried gizzards (That’s kind of a joke…I was driving and could not stop to take a picture, but while driving to visit…
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M is for Maid
Have you watched Maid on Netflix? I loved it. Our TV watching schedule is complicated, because Maya and I watch TV while Ted works, and then Ted and I watch TV while Maya gets ready for bed, due to work schedules. So we have the option of watching certain shows only on the weekend, or we can watch things in shifts. So if I can’t wait until the weekend to watch, I have to watch with one of them one day, and then watch with the other the next day. For me, this show was worth it. I really, really enjoyed it. It broke my heart so many times. Maid…
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L is for Lincoln Highway
In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm—the wily, charismatic Duchess and earnest, offbeat Woolly—have stowed away in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future, one…
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K is for Kindred
(Octavia) Butler’s most celebrated, critically acclaimed work tells the story of Dana, a young black woman who is suddenly and inexplicably transported from her home in 1970s California to the pre–Civil War South. As she time-travels between worlds, one in which she is a free woman and one where she is part of her own complicated familial history on a southern plantation, she becomes frighteningly entangled in the lives of Rufus, a conflicted white slaveholder and one of Dana’s own ancestors, and the many people who are enslaved by him. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given: to protect this…
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J is for Joyful (Wordless Wednesday)
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I is for Inspiration
As in, I don’t have any. Posting via the letters of the alphabet is supposed to help, but sometimes even with a prompt, I can’t think of anything. So, let’s see, maybe I can babble my way through enough to count as a blog post. Hmm. Well, we closed on my Grandma’s house, got the money for that, and distributed it to her beneficiaries. I bought myself a new purse with a little bit of mine. Most of it went into savings, we have some expensive home repairs that are going to suck a lot of fun out of life in the next couple of years, but I did want…
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H is for Horses
I’m not sure when my love for horses started. As a small child I loved all animals, but at some point I fell especially in love with horses. Perhaps it was the influence of my friend Aimee, who lived across the street from me in Fairbanks and was a big fan of horses. She lives in California now, and she has horses. Look at that pretty face, the soft gentle eyes. I just want to pet this beautiful horse. Who knows, perhaps this horse is an asshole, but it looks like it would be so very affectionate and loving. My friend Nikki has horses, and when she goes to visit…