A little thing called Bob Seger

Don't know what you did two nights ago, but I was in Saginaw at a concert. Oh yeah, baby...a Bob Seger concert!

Rock-n-roll!

Just want to extend my thanks (one more time) to: Don Brewer (the Silver Bullet Band Drummer) for providing the V.I.P. SAG passes; to Sandy (Don's sister) for sharing them; and to Jean, for sharing hers with me!

The last time I saw Mr. Seger perform was in the "D" at Cobo Hall....about this time of year 1987 - the "American Storm Tour." Brian was not even a toddler at that time, and I felt guilty as all get-out leaving him with friends to go. We had cheap nose-bleed seats that time (the boy's father was not known for parting with a dollar, unless it was for beer) - who knew that you could get that far off the floor in Cobo?!? In fact, the seats were so far from the stage, I believe we were paid for climbing into the arena to fill the chairs! ;)

I was only just beginning to like his music in the mid-eighties - I was a bit of a rock-n-roll late bloomer. All through high school I thought his music (along with Rod Stewart and many others) was too raunchy and inappropriate. But now, it's great, classic rock - the way rock was meant to be!

This experience was phenomenal, and the complete extreme from my last Seger sighting. So, thank you Jean, Sandy and Don!

Just wondering

Had a small (very small) portion of a rather large (and I mean monstrously large) Rice Krispy's treat with a glass of milk. That's breakfast.

Can that be considered breakfast?

I mean, legally?

Breakfast....right?

Good day, sunshine

Today was especially sunny. Blue skies, chirpy birds, not a cloud.....sunny, sunny, sunny.

Colder than it should have been, but sunny.

The tulips and daffodils push on; they seem completely un-phased by the ping-pong effect of the weather. And I see my poppies are still their brilliant ever-green selves...amazing plants. Can't wait, can't wait!

I will be relocating the peonies as soon as the ground thaws enough to get them out and in again safely. Everything (except the poppies) will move away from the wall for some work on the foundation and drainage. I would dearly love to move the poppies as well, but as the tap roots could easily be damaged, I am afraid to take the chance with my beautiful darlings.

Our last crusty snow/rainfall has nearly melted into oblivion, and the photo above shows pretty much all that remains.

P.S. Happy birthday, Nathan Fillion! Mmmmmm-Canadian meat!

Fun and collateral damage

Have you ever watched a cat get into playing with a toy? I mean really get in to knocking it around, tearing at it and 'ripping it a new one?'

We have three girls who love their little mice. Just little nothing dollar apiece toys...and I don't even think there is any catnip employed in the process of making them.

They are fairly realistic in the size and shape - right down to the little leather tail and felt ears sticking out from the head...but they are not catnip toys. Yet, Beana, Flop and Cleo could care less about anything except getting their paws (and jaws) on one and batting the daylights out of it all around the house. Usually one of the girls will romp around while the other two watch in delight. So we bought three mice, just to keep it fair (and fun).

One day we realized a mouse or two had gone missing, so several more specimens were purchased and added to the lot.

I should mention we also have a fairly large jar of catnip, and we try to keep the stock of mice 'steeping' in the jar when not in use. Makes the cat-n-mouse games so much more interesting for us, and delicious for the girls.

Something to admire

I admire and appreciate a great sense of humor...and Elizabeth Taylor seems to have had one of those.

I never would have thought so; I always figured she was one of those stuffy, uppity, full-of-herself people of film. The sort who thought acting with certain people was beneath her, and she was far superior in her acting skills than she actually was, but it turns out she at least had a sense of humor to go with those acting chops. Example:

Her funeral began fifteen minutes late.

As it turned out, one of her last requests was to be fashionably late for her own funeral...so she ordered the funeral to begin fifteen minutes behind schedule - just because!

Moxie! Brilliant! Cheers, Miss Taylor. Rest in peace.

To our friends and fellow human beings

Dear People of Japan:

With your usual grace and resolve, and your wonderful sense of community, we watch you from thousands of miles away and pray for your health and well-being.

We pray for the souls you lost, and for those who have been found. We pray for your strong and your weak, for your young and old and for everyone in between. We pray for the men and women coming to your aide. We pray for miracles and comfort, and for an easy route through the obstacle course which lies ahead for your beautiful country.

In Jesus' name.

Soooo... yeah

This is for Karl.

We made smoothies yesterday (which we do a lot), and this gargantuan strawberry (found in our grocer's produce aisle) made him think of his favorite motivational posters. The line is his; the five-headed strawberry was enjoyed by all of us.

Amazing what a little PS knowledge and 10 minutes of time at the keyboard can do.

One sure way to tell that spring has arrived

Besides the fifty-degree temps, the lack of snow, the extra birds now singing in the trees daily, the proliferation of neighborhood joggers, the glee-filled shrieks of children on the playground heard from over half a mile away, and the existence of catastrophic potholes all up and down the street, there is one sure way to tell spring has arrived.

My mother takes advantage of her UP reprieve; a furlough from the moose and tundra.

She travels south of the bridge. Are you with me there, Sparky?

Mom is one of the contingent of relatives and hire-ees that stays with Gram - one relieving another in an endless stream of caretakers.

Gram is 99 - mere months away from turning 100 - and requires supervision with meals and medications, and trips to the doctor, etc. (as you would expect for anyone of such an advanced age). She's also fallen numerous times and requires help to get up (obviously), assistance with the housework....you know, the normal routines of life. Gram likes to think she can get around in the kitchen, making coffee and such, but I have been there too many times when she has turned on the wrong burner and leaned on the hot one, or let her robe rest on it without thinking (or knowing). Yikes!

At any rate, mom stopped by this morning just around half-past six, bringing us a freshly baked turkey breast. Yup....meat presents! It was like finding out the Easter Bunny is really your mom, and instead of colored eggs under your furniture, she's hiding roasted fowl in your fridge!

It was surreal, seeing mom standing just inside the door with her arms full of yummy smelling turkey carcass.

What's next? Santa slinking down my chimney with a pork loin slung under one arm and a pot roast in his sack?

We didn't talk very long, mom was anxious to get on the road - it's a long drive to the Superior side of the UP. Normally she takes a drink of our delicious water when she is here, but I could tell she was really eager to move along because she skipped that part of her routine.

Within minutes she was hopping back into her car and making for the expressway.

The boys and I made it to the city to visit with the grandmas earlier in the week, and for dinner we had a delicious roast and lots of veggies. We were sent home with an array of baked sweet (and white) potatoes and carrots, and some of the leftover roast. Mmmmmm, yummy. I was hoping mom would stay long enough to have breakfast (so I could sort of return the favor), but it was apparent she was in her UP-hurry mode.

It's only been half an hour since she left, but I would liked to have visited a little while longer. Maybe next time.

I love you, mom. Thank you for everything....EVERY-thing.

In honor of St. Patty's Day

I was saving this photo for something special - I think today is that day.

When Floppish eyes are smilin'.... (which almost never happens. Usually, her eyes are glarin'.)

I had so much more, but Blogger is acting up, and I am not in the mood to play with it any longer to make to right.

And another thing

As long as silliness seems to be the order of the day........

I was cleaning and found this article in a pile of things I grabbed to sort through.

Ironic, right?

Sorry, humping squirrel fans...I couldn't get a photo of the rodents in flagrante delicto. You'll just have to use your imaginations.

Holy humping squirrels, Batman!

I guess "...it's that time of the season for loving."

[Thank you, rock-n-roll universe]

Nuff said.

Fat, fat, fat

That's all I'll say 'bout that.

Has everybody figured out what time it is? Have you run around the house resetting the clocks on your walls and on all of your appliances yet?

If not...don't worry about it. Give it six months and everything will right itself once again.

(Psssst! That method worked for me. I'm just sayin'.) And if you're gonna sit and stew about it....well, then get off your blog-reading butt and get busy! I'll be here when you get back.

I finally have the Ohio Star quilt stretched and pin-basted. Wahoo, what a chore!! I am fairly certain I will not ever make a quilt that size ever again - at least, not without sending it away for the stretching and basting portion. Holy cow, what an ordeal! I do not have the room or proper tools for that task; but thank goodness it is now at the quilting phase - and that is a tremendous relief. For more info go to http://www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com/.

I spent a lot of time sorting through (and tossing) old paperwork, receipts, notes, correspondence, etc., and pretty well balanced my bankbook (for the first time in a long time).

I used to zealously sit with my bank statement as it arrived each month and meticulously balance to the penny. Somewhere along the line, over the last three years, my enthusiasm wained (beginning shortly after I lost my job). I stopped caring to see what was happening with the bottom line because it made me feel even more depressed than I needed to be.

I kept a nodding acquaintance with the total, just so I wouldn't dip into the red, but never felt compelled to keep an eagle eye on it because it was just too sad to see what had become of my nest egg.

Anyhow, over the last week I managed to sort most of the past two years out, and while not happy, I am comfortable (almost) with looking at the bottom line again (quickly and without concentrating).

With recent developments in Japan over the weekend - the earthquake and tsunami, and the subsquent aftermath - Brian is pouring over all stories and images on the internet. He is most worried over the fate of the host family he stayed with 6 years ago.

Brian was part of a very small group from his Japanese language class that went overseas as exchange students, and he stayed with a family in Chiba. The oil refinery that turned into a raging inferno is very near Chiba, and those first images of soy fields overtaken by the advancing waves were also from very near his host family's home.

We pray that his friends in Japan are all alright and escaped serious harm and loss.

The gig in Muncie for the end of March through April 21st has been pushed to August, and two big movies have been chased out of state by the new gov's asinine cuts to the incentive program. Bye-bye work. It's hard finding anything (job-wise) in the administrative field, close enough to home to make the meager $10 per hour count after putting gas in the car and trying to cover insurance. There aren't many positions any more that don't (ignorantly) require a bachelor's degree, either. For ten dollars an hour...are you freaking kidding me!

OK, I am sufficiently bummed. I am going to wash the dishes now, since the sink is full and we've run out of forks.

One more day of rain

Rain and then falling temperatures. Falling temps and then ice.

So not cool.

And you know what comes next...........snow!

Well, Saturday is just around the corner, right? Hey....don't make me come over there - we've already had this discussion. The natural order will not be denied. ;)

[smirk]

Yesterday was a beautifully sunny day; sunny and gorgeous, and I heard that we hit the forty+ degree mark! Wonderful. Those warmer temps and this rain equal melting snow. Lots of melting snow. Inches and inches of melting drifts and plowed embankments. Bucketfuls (or is it 'buckets full') of wilting snowmen and withering snowforts, all now creating flooded ditches and swollen creeks and rivers.

To me, though, s'ok. I don't mind because this shift in weather habits only means the season is coming to an end. Tah-daahhhh!

It deepens my belief in the end of winter (snow storms) by the end of next week. Oh, sure, temps may continue to be in the thirties, perhaps dipping into the twenties at night, but be patient and keep in mind it is still only March. I mean, jeez....this stuff doesn't happen over night, ya know.

Be happy for the lack of sub-zero's and single digits. Rain can't be rain in those temps.

All my quilt blogging updates and photos are now at www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com .

Kitty humor, cute bird stuff

The elusive Flop finds - and smothers - an elusive winter ray of sunshine.

Meanwhile, the birds have figured out to come to the door for bird seed.

Please remember, all quilt blogging and photos are now at: www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com

Cravings II

Hmmm...

Seems odd that we have fallen into a weather pattern of snow storms on Saturdays, yet, if you review the tapes I think you will find we do have some sort of snowy-Saturday-weather-anomaly trending.

However, I think I can safely predict that it should be ending within the next two weekends.

That's right! You read it here first, and you can quote me if you would like.

If that prognosticating ground hog was correct, the six "more" weeks of winter he jinxed us with will have run their course by next Wednesday (March 16th) - but being the magnanimous human being that I am, I am allowing for inclusion of the weekend in that time span. I mean, let's face it, varmints (i.e.; ground-dwelling rodents) are not necessarily known for their time telling acumen (and I am fairly certain Punxsutawney Phil hasn't got a calendar or a Timex).

You are welcome, faithful ground hog lovers.

So, as of March 20/21, prepare yourselves for an end to these freakish, neverending, horrifying, tiring, snowy onslaughts. I am craving green grass, budding trees and pretty, pretty flowers poking their way up through the ground.

Craving! Do you hear me?!!?

And while I'm at it, I am also craving a GB & NF sandwich.....but I think I have a better chance of getting this whole winter's-over-in-a-short-two-weeks-thing right more so than my meatwich thing coming true.

So there.

I'm just sayin'.

Amen and pass the bisquits.

Cravings

Cravings are curious things. I can understand them as a once-pregnant woman...and I can even remember having a few here and there during my time in college (and later, though my time at an eight-month vocational institution).

Well, today I began to crave pasta, smothered in a tangy tomato sauce. No meat, no cheese...just veggies and pasta, and a smooth sauce.

I knew how I would accomplish the sauce, that was easy.

Cook your favorite pasta while you prepare the sauce.

Heat a tablespoon or two of good olive oil in a pan over a medium (to low-medium) heat.

Toss in shaved or well chopped fennel - oh, about an eighth to a quarter cup. As the fennel releases it's lovely aroma and begins to wilt a little, add the tomato paste to the oil and stir to incorporate them.

As the tomato paste heats up (being careful not to let it scorch), gradually add a can of evaporated milk (NOTE: NOT "condensed milk") - stirring them together to make a smooth, creamy mixture.

Add a jar of quartered and marinated artichoke hearts - and the liquid they're packed in. Stir it all together and allow the artichoke pieces to warm through.

I salted very lightly and peppered liberally (we like freshly cracked pepper in this house). Added about a tablespoon of basil (maybe a bit less) and half a tablespoon of oregano (or maybe a little more).

At some point the sauce looked a little 'dry' (i.e; thick), so I spooned in half a cup or so of the pasta water and stirred that in thoroughly.

Once the pasta was cooked, it was drained and added to the sauce and stirred about until coated.

You can choose to add mushrooms (which I think would have been delicious) and possibly a light grating of fresh asiago or mozzarella to it before serving, but I kept this dish very simple, and man - was it ever tasty!!!

Goodbye, craving!

Remember, all quilt blogging and photos now at www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com

Lots of everything

Yesterday was a busy day. Busy, busy, busy. What with appointments for Karl, Brian working, a run to the bank and the insurance office, and then preparing for the concert....holy cow!

Capped it off with a visit to Maria's while the boys were at the Fillmore (from 6:45pm on), and I had as good a time as they! Thank you, Maria, for opening your home and allowing me to stay for so long. We chatted and laughed, shared quilting projects, adjusted her machine tension and figured out some threading foibles. As usual, machine manuals are woefully inadequate when it comes to using them (for troubleshooting, maintenance, actual basic use of the machine, etc.), but I think we made some good fixes.

A-n-d, she gave me the most wonderful material sample books to pick through, as well as some really fun yardage for future projects! You are always so generous, Maria, what a gift you are. Thank you!

In my brain, I began scheming and conjuring up how to use these new bits and pieces, but have promised myself I would continue on my path of finishing what's already begun before creating a new pile. (Quite honestly, my poor house has no more corner space for 'hiding' new project piles!) But I am quite eager to use these lovely new materials, and I will let you know when it happens.

The night ended when the concert did. Bud called right around 11:35 to say they were waiting for a ride, and despite the fact he was/is still recovering from his creeping crud - and he was wearing a kilt - they were standing outside in the freezing temps waiting for me to arrive. Argh!

Kids, right? And these are man-kids...the worst sort. ;)

We wearily reached home by ten to one in the morning, and man, I was tired! The boys were jazzed from the concert and talked about the two opening bands and Flogging Molly from the time they sat down in the car to the time lights went out; but Brian was coughing again and Karl was complaining of a sore throat, so I ordered up OTC meds for each of them - Brian got Zicam and Karl the Airborn. Karl even made himself a cup of tea (very unusual). Not long after, we all crawled into our beds, turned out the lights, and fell off to sleep like boulders over the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Here we are this morning - Karl is still sleeping hard, Brian's up and out the door to work, and me....well, I will be quilting again soon. There are dishes to do and jobs to look for first, but it should be a pretty good day, there's lots of everything to do.

Awe..............poo!

Now Brian has some sort of bug! Sounds like a head cold or sinus infection...so here comes the Zicam.

He dislikes Airborn - it makes him gag (rather, he gags when he drinks it), so the only alternative is the Z (along with plenty of fluids and cranberry tablets).

As long as he is healthy enough for the concert this week...that is all I ask.

Now to give Karl his first dose of Airborn, before whatever it is decides to 'travel'.

First day of a new month, first illness of a new year.

Please remember, all quilt blogging and photos are now at: www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com