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Who Put the Labor in Labor Day?
We did, that’s who. When I think of labor day, my mind first thinks of the end of summer…the crisp fall weather on the horizon, the cool weather clothes, school starting up again, the return of the good TV shows… Then there are the Labor Day celebrations…one last bbq of summer, maybe a trip to the beach, the lake, or the shore… For some people it is a chance to get caught up with some chores around the house, to enjoy a 3-day weekend by sleeping in one extra day, maybe see some friends. I agree with all of these things. Not a thing wrong with any of them. But…
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The Other Wes Moore
When I was in college, there was another woman with my name (Julie Ward (click to read the story of her murder, the mystery of it, and the obstruction of justice at the hands of the British police)), who was murdered in Africa. I remember seeing an article in the paper about it, and clipping it out and hanging it on my bathroom wall, with a certain degree of gallows humor. I wrote on the clipping, “One Down…”, because it reminded me of The Terminator, when Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to the front door, says “Sarah Conner”, and then kills the poor woman. I know, it’s sick. I was young. But…
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One Day
At twenty-three, Dexter Mayhew’s vision of his future was no clearer than Emma Morley’s. He hoped to be successful, to make his parents proud and to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, but how to make these all compatible? He wanted to feature in magazine articles, and hoped one day for a retrospective of his work, without having any clear notion of what that work might be. He wanted to live life to the extreme, but without any mess or complications. He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random, it would be a cool photograph. Things should…
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Update from Genevieve
Hi Everyone, this is Genevieve! Guess what I figured out? After all of these years with my pack, eating that stupid kibble they give me, being grateful for every day, I finally decided I had had enough. I just couldn’t take it anymore! I mean, they make all of this delicious smelling shash (J’s note…Gen calls food ‘shash’), and the best I can hope for is to smell it, and once in awhile I get a bite, and one scoop of stupid kibble in my dish. Not fair! So I went on a hunger strike. Oh my goodness, did I scare the bosses! They would coax and beg me to…
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Baked Shrimp Scampi
(I found this photo on this blog. She gives credit to FoodNetwork, but when I go there, I get a video.) The other day I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and decided I wanted to make something with shrimp, since I had some in the freezer. (The folks at America’s Test Kitchen say to buy your shrimp peel on, frozen, because what you get at the store in the fish aisle is thawed anyway, and the longer it sits there thawed, the more flavor it loses. As to the peel on, they use some kind of chemical to get the peel off, so if you…
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Movies
One thing we did on our little ‘staycation’ was to go to movies. Our first pick was Another Earth, which wasn’t playing out in our neighborhood (though it is now), so we went into the city and stopped and had a drink and an appetizer beforehand. Nice way to start a movie, no? Especially on a weekday, when your coworkers are covering for you because you’re on vacation. I didn’t know what to expect with this film. I thought it was going to be a big sci-fi film, with mysterious aliens maybe and certainly some shoot-em-up violence. Instead, it’s a film about very human trauma. Rhoda (Brit Marling, who co-wrote…
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Bodega Bay
We decided not to take a regular vacation this year, partly because money is kinda tight, and also because Genevieve isn’t thriving, and we would feel weird asking anyone to take care of her for several days. Blind, kinda confused, not a lot of appetite, questionable tummy issues, etc. And since we live in a beautiful part of the country, we have been mostly staying close to home, and adding in a few day trips. Monday we went to San Francisco to see Another Earth, which was really good. Wednesday, we drove to Bodega Bay. I’d never been before, and Ted hadn’t been since he was 5 or 6. Bodega…
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Artisan Bistro
(photo found here) Saturday morning, Ted and I were downstairs, looking at the newspaper and wondering what the hell is going on in the world, when we received a phone call from our friend Marilee, with whom I have been friends since our days in graduate school together, many years ago. She was in our little town on the wrong side of the tunnel, and had unexpectedly been released from her duties of the day. Would we like to go for coffee or breakfast, she asked. Indeed, we would! We considered IHOP, but decided to go to the other end of the spectrum and try the Michelin recommended Artisan Bistro,…
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Bruschetta (aka, Crostini), Three Ways
This weekend, in addition to attending Maya’s swim meet one day, and working the meet the following day, we found time to celebrate two birthdays, those of Ted’s mom and Ted’s uncle. Our family get-togethers are generally pot-luck, with the host telling everyone what to bring, so that the menu has some sort of cohesion, and we don’t end up with 5 plates of chicken and nothing else. I was asked to bring corn and bruschetta. Yay, bruschetta! I love my standard, go to bruschetta recipe, which I have posted about before, but I also like to try something new from time to time. Happily enough, a recent Bon Appetit…
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The Tree of Life
In the first moments of Terrance Malick’s new film, The Tree of Life, we are presented with two competing and supposedly alternate approaches to facing life and its beauties and hardships. There is nature, and there is grace. Nature is difficult and tries to find the worst in the world, Grace is generous and tries to find the best. I think this is disingenuous, and that the truth lies in the middle. Nature gives and takes, it doesn’t try to find the worst, but it doesn’t look for the best either. Rather, it is indifferent. Grace wishes to find the best and forgive the worst, but sometimes ignores the reality.…
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I want a petite lap giraffe, don’t you?
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Mix Tape
(awesome mix-tape picture found here) A couple of people commented on my anniversary post about the beauty of mix tapes, and Dad Who Writes even requested to know what might be on some of the ones that Ted made me back in the day. So I dug out what’s left of our tape collection, then sorted through to find any that might still have their cases intact. I found just a few. There are a lot of tapes, but many are unmarked, and we no longer have a tape deck. Not even in our cars. OK, I think I still have a walkman somewhere, which I kept JUST in case…
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Morimoto Napa
For our anniversary dinner, Ted and I decided to try something new, rather than our traditional Rivoli dinner. I wanted to go to a place in San Francisco that is supposed to be wonderful, Aquarello, but they’re not open on Sundays, so that was out. Maybe for our 20th anniversary, we’ll go there. Anyway, I remembered reading that Iron Chef Morimoto had opened a restaurant in Napa, so we decided to see if we could get a reservation there. Happily, we were able to get a table, even though it wasn’t until 9:30. So we got dressed up a bit (we were overdressed, the place is pretty casual…but I wanted…
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Happy Anniversary!
18 years already? I’m not sure exactly how that can be, since it feels like we’re still in our 20s…. Thank you for being my husband, my best friend, such a wonderful father to our child, and for always being on my side. It’s you and me against the world, honey. I’m looking forward to the next 18 years of happy marriage to you, though not so excited to think about the wrinkles I’ll have at that point! HA! OK, here’s another anniversary video for you… I remember when you used to make me mix tapes, and this song was on one of them…the next song was ‘Legal Tender’ by…
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Wordless Wednesday