Thankful, again.

I have to first say that I am not that into Thanksgiving. It was a day that we celebrated growing up, but our hearts were never really in it. An excuse for turkey. However, these days my Mother usually works, my Sis has in-laws to celebrate with, the fella goes to see his family and I usually only have that one day off so I stay put.

The last two years I have done nothing for Thanksgiving. This year I had no plans (other than laundry) and it turns out neither did my friend Tron. So we decided to get together and cook whatever the hell we had. He rode over with his fixins and fried himself some chicken and made brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes and I made the pasta with spinach and tuna I was planning on. I made some rice pudding and he brought himself a pumpkin pie. We opened some wine and cooked and talked and ate and talked and he even did the dishes!

Then Tron headed out and I got a call from Starrhillgirl that she was home safe and sound from her T-day trek and heading over for a drink. She is on vactation don’t ya know? We jabbered into the wee hours and then everyone went to bed. I enjoy my no plan Thanksgivings. Though, this year I wound up doing quite a bit I just didn’t have any plans. I am also very grateful and maybe it is easier to remember when you aren’t whizzing around trying to make a feast happen, I don’t know. I know  I have a warm home and lovely food, not to mention coffee! I have a fabulous family and super-human friends and my fella is better than any other fella. It was a nice day.

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Fall

Really it is beautiful.

The LB’s Wild Kingdom

Today* was a day of critters. I didn’t really notice as the day was unfolding but it was.

First, this morning as I was having coffee and e-mails on the porch I was visited by a humming bird. I have had at least one all summer buzzing in the bushes ten feet from my tree porch but this morning the thing came onto the porch and spent a few whole moments with me. It buzzed just inside the doorway to the porch in an odd mix of hummingbird frenzy and total stillness. Weird. Just looking at me as I looked at it.

Then, this evening my fella and I had a chimney swift date.We have been planning this one for quite a while. Since we first met. I had noticed in 2005 when I went for an evening tea with two of the members from the Serbian theatre company, that a place downtown had great view of the swifts in action. I had told the fella about this memory pretty early on and we talked about going to see it. It took us a while, but we got there.

We got a pot of tea and headed to the back porch with a great view of an unused brick chimney. Just before dusk the birds start to arrive a few at a time. By the time the sky is starting to turn pink it is filled with hundreds of chimney swifts making big loops just overhead. It is really amazing. You don’t often so many at once. They loop and show of for at least 30 mins until someone calls it bedtime and, a few at a time, as they circle the chimney, they drop straight down to roost. It is really cool, must say.

Later in the night I did some skunk watching. A big chubby guy strolled around at the foot of my stairs. Then he squished himself, including his fat butt, through the fence to the neighbors yard.

* this was actually a couple days ago.

xo,

LB

Get A Friend With A Pool

So, Starrhillgirl and I invited ourselves over to C&W’s place. #1 I haven’t seen C in a long time, to talk at at least. #2 C was chomping at the bit to make a little fun of Starrhillgirl. #3 there was swimming to be done!

So SHG and I headed on over with wine (from me) and food (from her) to have a little early evening/early week fun and food and booze and gossip. We all settled the food in to cook and settled ourselves in at the pool with drinks in hand. I can’t cover everything but we sipped and ate. We hooped and swam. We giggled and joked. We also said some very off colour things about porn. I guess I mean me. I said those things. No one complained! Except C, a little…. a lot. I think she will invite me back, though. We finished the night with one last dip in the pool as the bats dive bombed the bugs just above our heads. I have a bit of a bat theme these days. They are now almost constant companions on the porch in the evenings.

Things I have eaten: The cilantro needed to be used up and I had green beans that were begging for mercy so I made salsa and green bean salad: beans, toms,onion, wine vinegar, olive oil.

Tonight I made an attempt to use as much veggies as I could. They are are making babies and none shall go to waste! So dinner was a stir fry of onion, green pepper, yellow squash and red cabbage.

While I was writing I was graced with a late evening visit from S. We had to sit on the porch. It is important work. She has lots of bats too. 

xo,

LB

Things That Are Mostly Food

Well friends, it has been too long. You may wonder why you haven’t heard from the Kingpin in a while…….couldn’t tell ya.

Anyhooters, not too much to report round this little town. Had a nice chat with my farmer last Saturday while we were picking up our veggies. The IC lounged among the old gum splotches on the red hot sidewalk while the KP and I took in the coarse language and bold statements of our favorite farmer. Pretty soon I had to roll on to work and the IC wanted her friggin lemonade already so we went our separate ways. We got potatoes, tomatoes,zukes, cukes, onions, cabbage and yellow squash. Yum. Haven’t put much away. I find I have enough to eat but not much extra. Next year I will have to up the ante. I did make veggie stock and froze that in cubes. I am eye balling the cabbage in the fridge trying to figure out how to freeze it. Thoughts?

Starrhillgirl and I had dinner at a friend’s place and I force fed her some of the bread pudding I had made that day. It turned out well considering I refused to do a water bath and just packed more bread in to make up for my laziness. I also used less sugar. Our friend, who I won’t name, thinks bread pudding is gross……We had a wonderful time eating delicious food we didn’t have to cook. I even liked the the slaw that had some mayonnaise in it. Usually I won’t go near that stuff but I was a brave girl and reaped the benefits!

A week ago I made my first ever Johnnycakes from local cornmeal but I’m not sure how I feel about them. I will have to continue that experiment to see if they get any better. Dense would be a generous description. The search for the perfect ice tea continues. So far Stank votes for the apricot flavoured black tea over the orange spiced white tea.

A man finally came to look at my oven to see why it wouldn’t light on it’s own. He says it isn’t supposed to and there is no pilot for the oven, only the stove top. He thinks this is because “It came over on the Mayflower.”

Critter Alert: something woke me up the other night by skittering around on my porch. Please don’t be a rat.

Question: I recently got to know (again) Laughing Cow. You know that weird “cheese” that comes in triangle shape, wrapped in foil? I don’t think it is actual food but man it was tasty! So, what gross non-food food do you think is delicious?

xo,

LB

Tidbit speaks

This happened today:

IC: Mommy, I want a frisbee.

KP: Why do you want a frisbee?

IC: I want to frizz.

Uncomfortable Moments with The Kingpin

At approximately the same time as LB was hosting a cross-burning in my front yard, the IC and I were eating at a local noodle shop. We were immediately joined by another solo mom and her two young girls. There was a lot of staring and observing betwixt the IC and the other girls and soon the little ones were talking about each other in front of each other, you know the way they do. Our dinner-mates asked their mom, “Where’s Daddy?” She said, “At work.” They said, “Where’s that little girl’s daddy?” I gulped… Uh oh here we go. Then the mom says, “He’s probably at another work, but not your daddy’s work place.” So the curious girls turn to the IC and say, “Where’s your daddy?”

The IC says completely matter-of-factly, “My daddy’s dead. He took too much pills.”

Bagonk. That’s the sound of the jukebox dramatically stopping.

There’s just no way to describe the pall that fell over the sesame noodles and dumplings. I mean, what do you say? Do I jump in and explain that he wasn’t a drug addict, that he was very sick and frail and a slight and accidental increase in his dosage of painkillers caused his body to shut down? No, of course not. I sat there staring at my oily styrofoam container until the mom said to her daughter, “Now’s when you say, ‘I’m sorry,” which I appreciated. That poor woman! I bet she’s wishing she’d never sat down next to us.

Oh, okay. Mystery solved.

This afternoon, I had to send the IC to her room for some infraction. There were so many today I can’t remember which one. She must be over that cold. While she was upstairs doing time, I was sitting downstairs and heard all kinds of banging and thuds. Sounded like toppling furniture, an axe being employed, pianos being dropped. I call up, “Hey–what’s going on up there??” My three-year-old teenager yells down, “Nothing!” Because I am not stupid, I rephrase it: “What’s with all the noise?” She yells back, “I was just picking my nose, Mama.”

What Would You Spend Your Money on?

I’m interested. I think it is really interesting what people spend their money on. Some people are extreme they will buy anything in sight and others will buy nothing. Most of us fall somewhere in between. Their are certain types of things I find it very easy to spend money on. Coffee, wine, food. I find it hard to part with my cash when it comes to anything else. I like to buy local more than not but I’m not militant. There are certain stores I choose not to go into unless I’m REALLY desperate. Kmart, Wal*Mart, Starbucks.

So, What will you buy and who will you buy it from. What makes you feel guilty?