Good morning! (for once)
This morning as I prepared to cook my husband's breakfast, I sliced and consumed the insides of a delicious large navel orange. The way I prepare oranges for quick and easy consumption is: to slice the orange horizontally and then cut the slices in half. The pulp comes out easily as you eat each one, and you have a holder ready made in your hand.
Then you are left with a number of semicircles of orange peel. If you are doing a proper job, you'll toss these into a pan of boiling water three times, like a charm, to take away the bitterness. But I decided to live with the bitterness and just start the real process. As the bacon was a-frying in the pan, I got a saucepan and put in a couple of handfuls of white sugar and a dash of water, and put this on to boil. Which it shortly did, and produced a clear syrup. The orange peel bits, and the trimmings thereof, went into the syrup and boiled away for a bit as I slowly turned the bacon over and over to brown it perfectly. I also ran over with a platter and put some more sugar on the platter and when I thought the orange peels had boiled enough I took them out with a spatula and put them onto the sugar, turning them over and over as they cooled.
What's left after that? Well, you'll have a little syrup left from the peels; can't waste that. I laid out some pecan pieces or halves earlier, and tossed those into the syrup with a tiny (pat-sized) piece of butter, boiled again, and turned them out into the sugar left over from the candied orange peels which were by now reposing on another plate...Toss the pecans and you have a fabulous batch of pecans and you have wasted NOTHING. Not a scrap of the orange was wasted (but the navel itself; it seemed indelicate to eat it.). Not a scrap of sugar or syrup or pecan. All good. All will be consumed in its own good time. I am convinced that the orange peels, even though candied, must have some nutrition in them. And some pectin. That's very good for us. So that the oranges and the pecans and the bacon all got done at the same time, and then I washed out the skillet and scrambled up the eggs and put the syrup saucepan into the sink to soak. Now to go and put up the orange peels and the nuts. (Separately.)
And I shaved my husband this morning, before preparing and giving him his food. It was fun, and he needed it as he's been skipping more and more whiskers lately. I can see why barbers are so happy: they get results every time!!! YAZZYBEL
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Slow Sunday
This is a Slow Sunday!
We had a quiet trip out at lunchtime, down to the water to look at the birds as we ate our sandwiches. A bright, quiet day. I got out the camera to take, did not take it, and was rewarded with the sight of many brown pelicans down at the Sweetwater River Estuary. They were right there in the clatch of ducks, coots, gulls and other shorebirds who always gather there and make a trip worth the effort. The tide was out, and there was a broad swathe of mostly muddy islands in very shallow water which was moving in and out. It was a delight to see the pelicans, because they are rarer than the others who frequent the spot.
So, no pictures of pelicans! What else is there to say? We sat happily in the car in the bright cold noontime, eating the Neff Family Lunch and talking about the birds. What's the Neff Family Lunch? I can hear my readers clamoring. Well, it's white bread and (mostly) cheese, sandwiches. Only now I cannot eat much cheese because of the fat content, and am eating fat free thin sliced ham or turkey instead. Even with diet mayo, there's hardly any fat in such a sandwich. We also had soda pops, apples, and some fat-free ladyfingers for dessert. If you eat that lunch you've ostensibly saved ten dollars which is the minimum for eating at the Jack in the Box or other purveyor of low class foods.
This week we got the news that the new neurologist, a beautiful, witty and funny young lady whom I liked very much, thinks that Theodore DOES have Parkinson's. Groan. We kept thinking that if we stayed in denial, it wouldn't be true. She is going to put the quietus on his driving rights, so guess who gets to take up the slack. Oh well, thank goodness I can still drive.
That being said, I'll just recount my dream of last night, really this morning early. Early morning dreams say Dante and I, and the most likely dreams to be predictive, so here's this one.
We, Theo and I were in "San Francisco" (as in real life we are thinking of moving to the East Bay.) We saw our friends Niki and Jeffrey, and had a pleasant chat with them in their flat. It was a huge place, not like any place I have been with them..then the scene changed, and I was looking for a place to live up there.
Then ensued in the dream a series of goings up and down the streets, viewings and even movings in and out of various apartments we might live in up there. The trouble is, there was never a single part of it all that was familiar or remembered. Just a lot of nice and un-nice places. Some of them seemed to share a lot of space with other people so could have been considered to represent the old folks' residences we're so anxious to avoid.
And there was a trick to "getting there" , to any place I wanted to go (I was doing this searching by myself mostly), that is: there was a pattern or route I had to trace, and if I made a mistake I would get off the track and lose my place, as if going from one place to another were some sort of game plan.
And SF itself was like a toy town, the city itself seemed only to encompass one or two main streets with high buildings, and to get to places I wanted to see I had to go away from that part and go on lonely unfamiliar streets. Odd.
The striking part was that, at one point, Theodore came hurrying in to inform us (someone else was there like maybe Gregory) that something had happened out there in the world and as a result, the value of GOLD and SILVER had skyrocketed overnight. "I TOLD you to buy as much of it as you could!", I was yelling at Theodore. Due to the hugeness of the calamity or whatever historical incident that had taken place, I knew the price would never go down again. The feeling that I had in this part of the dream was absolutely sure, like it had really happened; the time was March or April of this year. Keep an eye on it, folks. I don't like to make predictions, but have been know to be right......YAZZYBEL
We had a quiet trip out at lunchtime, down to the water to look at the birds as we ate our sandwiches. A bright, quiet day. I got out the camera to take, did not take it, and was rewarded with the sight of many brown pelicans down at the Sweetwater River Estuary. They were right there in the clatch of ducks, coots, gulls and other shorebirds who always gather there and make a trip worth the effort. The tide was out, and there was a broad swathe of mostly muddy islands in very shallow water which was moving in and out. It was a delight to see the pelicans, because they are rarer than the others who frequent the spot.
So, no pictures of pelicans! What else is there to say? We sat happily in the car in the bright cold noontime, eating the Neff Family Lunch and talking about the birds. What's the Neff Family Lunch? I can hear my readers clamoring. Well, it's white bread and (mostly) cheese, sandwiches. Only now I cannot eat much cheese because of the fat content, and am eating fat free thin sliced ham or turkey instead. Even with diet mayo, there's hardly any fat in such a sandwich. We also had soda pops, apples, and some fat-free ladyfingers for dessert. If you eat that lunch you've ostensibly saved ten dollars which is the minimum for eating at the Jack in the Box or other purveyor of low class foods.
This week we got the news that the new neurologist, a beautiful, witty and funny young lady whom I liked very much, thinks that Theodore DOES have Parkinson's. Groan. We kept thinking that if we stayed in denial, it wouldn't be true. She is going to put the quietus on his driving rights, so guess who gets to take up the slack. Oh well, thank goodness I can still drive.
That being said, I'll just recount my dream of last night, really this morning early. Early morning dreams say Dante and I, and the most likely dreams to be predictive, so here's this one.
We, Theo and I were in "San Francisco" (as in real life we are thinking of moving to the East Bay.) We saw our friends Niki and Jeffrey, and had a pleasant chat with them in their flat. It was a huge place, not like any place I have been with them..then the scene changed, and I was looking for a place to live up there.
Then ensued in the dream a series of goings up and down the streets, viewings and even movings in and out of various apartments we might live in up there. The trouble is, there was never a single part of it all that was familiar or remembered. Just a lot of nice and un-nice places. Some of them seemed to share a lot of space with other people so could have been considered to represent the old folks' residences we're so anxious to avoid.
And there was a trick to "getting there" , to any place I wanted to go (I was doing this searching by myself mostly), that is: there was a pattern or route I had to trace, and if I made a mistake I would get off the track and lose my place, as if going from one place to another were some sort of game plan.
And SF itself was like a toy town, the city itself seemed only to encompass one or two main streets with high buildings, and to get to places I wanted to see I had to go away from that part and go on lonely unfamiliar streets. Odd.
The striking part was that, at one point, Theodore came hurrying in to inform us (someone else was there like maybe Gregory) that something had happened out there in the world and as a result, the value of GOLD and SILVER had skyrocketed overnight. "I TOLD you to buy as much of it as you could!", I was yelling at Theodore. Due to the hugeness of the calamity or whatever historical incident that had taken place, I knew the price would never go down again. The feeling that I had in this part of the dream was absolutely sure, like it had really happened; the time was March or April of this year. Keep an eye on it, folks. I don't like to make predictions, but have been know to be right......YAZZYBEL
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Again, it's not Monday!!!
Well, the younger folk have all gone back to work, and us oldsters are left to sit around and wonder what day it is... Don't you find it confusing when Christmas and New Year's are so close to midweek? Every day thereafter is a Monday, for a long time...then you realize that it's not! I am disgusted by the fiscal cliff and the nonsense that went on around it. Whenever there 's a flustercluck like that going on in the media, I wonder what's REALLY going on that we may never hear about. No, I'm not paranoid; yes, I really believe that we are sheeple being herded around by the sheepdogs of the powerful. The Natural News Ranger says that Pres. Obama signed another secret law about detention without rightful cause, and so forth, during this time. It's possible. And then, though it's probably true that he did, the fact that it made the news at all may mean that there are other happenin's even more sinister that we didn't hear a word about. OOga Booga. Today we are going to un-ooga booga our living room as best we might, by putting all the Christmas lights and ornaments into the boxes that are open to receive them. Then we shall label everything clearly so that next year, (time out for titters of laughter), SO THAT NEXT YEAR we'll not be so confused on decorating day. YAZZYBEL
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year's Day 2013
Good day.
Twice have I tried to complete a posting for this day, and twice have been cut off, losing what I'd written.
I am superstitious.
So I'll not give prophecies, nor prognostications, nor the I Ching results I got, nor summaries of the year, nor yet resolutions. Well, perhaps I'll try resolutions, as they are not as fraught with portents and changes (except as we don't do them!).
I have made two good resolutions so far, both needed and good.
One: I'll eat a green salad of raw stuff every day at lunch. I almost broke that when I made a sandwich to take down to the water, but I stuffed in a lot of varied leaves from a salad bag so that will do.
Two: I am going to go through all my writings and get them in order. I give myself Jan. and Feb. to get the basics of this done. And I'm going to go to a person who does skillful word processing and get it written up properly. After that I have more ideas but they aren't resolutions yet.
New Year's Day is a time for observances, too. We went to the water, as Greg always like to do on New Year's Day. We discovered how much we've missed going down there as we used to do when we had Birdy and Listy. The little ducks are out just the same, and the bigger shore and sea birds...it is a scene to behold. We ate our humble sandwiches (ham for him, turkey meatloaf for me) and observed the beautiful sky, and the beautiful water and those great birds.
I wish everyone who reads this a very happy new year of 2013!!! YAZZYBEL
Twice have I tried to complete a posting for this day, and twice have been cut off, losing what I'd written.
I am superstitious.
So I'll not give prophecies, nor prognostications, nor the I Ching results I got, nor summaries of the year, nor yet resolutions. Well, perhaps I'll try resolutions, as they are not as fraught with portents and changes (except as we don't do them!).
I have made two good resolutions so far, both needed and good.
One: I'll eat a green salad of raw stuff every day at lunch. I almost broke that when I made a sandwich to take down to the water, but I stuffed in a lot of varied leaves from a salad bag so that will do.
Two: I am going to go through all my writings and get them in order. I give myself Jan. and Feb. to get the basics of this done. And I'm going to go to a person who does skillful word processing and get it written up properly. After that I have more ideas but they aren't resolutions yet.
New Year's Day is a time for observances, too. We went to the water, as Greg always like to do on New Year's Day. We discovered how much we've missed going down there as we used to do when we had Birdy and Listy. The little ducks are out just the same, and the bigger shore and sea birds...it is a scene to behold. We ate our humble sandwiches (ham for him, turkey meatloaf for me) and observed the beautiful sky, and the beautiful water and those great birds.
I wish everyone who reads this a very happy new year of 2013!!! YAZZYBEL
Monday, December 31, 2012
Summations, Prognostications, Summaries, and Resolutions
Good afternoon!
I have been thinking of changing my blog. I'd thought to go back to "The Grasshopper News," which I used to write on my word-processor days, duplicate, and send to my sisters via snail mail.
I thought to change over on January 1, 2013, but I can see by the clock that I am not ready to do it--considering how much maundering and blundering I'd have to do in order to accomplish the change.
Re: the subject of this posting. I can wait till tomorrow to do that. Perhaps I should have put, "Procrastinations" into the subject line as well.
As to big prognostications, I predict that California will have an earthquake of considerable size this year. It will most likely be in Southern California, since it's more our turn.
Perhaps our earthquake, Theo's and mine, will occur as part of a natural happening just on our very small scale. I no longer buy green bananas, as the wits say; logically, I do expect change will be part of our lives this year.
The social worker who came to see us thinks that we should go into a Home, one of those with cycles of care where you start out at the second floor, and gradually progress where you're at the basement where it's a short roll to the driveway door. We have talked about it and we don't want to do that. I am much too fond of eating my own cooking and choosing my own food, and staggering through my own piles of papers and books on the floor, and looking at the right place in the bookshelf and seeing an old friend there. Taterton is the same way; he is much too much of a curmudgeon to be attracted to a "Vegas Night" party at one Home who is trying to get clients in with that enticement.
I'd always thought to end my days in Brownsville, Texas, in a little Mexican house with or without paint on its exterior walls. Eating shrimp and drinking margaritas, as a brother in law once suggested for an ideal Brownsville menu. But we got too soon old and too late prepared, so that kind of move is not likely to happen. We don't know what will happen.
So, on the larger scale or the smaller, we anticipate change, and that reminds me: where's my I Ching? It's time. It's New Year's Eve! YAZZYBEL
Sunday, December 30, 2012
The Music of Love
Good afternoon! It's been and still is a gray, cold Sunday. It's been raining--what a blessing! Right now it's what's called "clearing," which it means it's a little brighter outside.
Off to church betimes this morning, and it was beautiful this morning in church. The light was brighter there because there were not many clouds over downtown San Diego at the time; and it was just light. And cold. And the Christmas wreaths and big red velvet bows were still cheerily up, and all the candles were lit for once.
I am thinking of light because I watched that movie about Vermeer (his maid, rather) as I took my nap. The whole movie is one big Vermeer painting and I love it for that.
I hate to apologize for my work, but this essay about the music of love isn't going to be a good one; that is, it's not going to say what I want to say.
That's because I don't yet know what I want to say, but I've been putting it off for time to think, and that time hasnt showed up yet after two weeks, so I'll just make a stab at it.
I was thinking of the beautiful Nachtmusik II of Mahler's Seventh Concerto, "andante amoroso." The first time I ever heard it, it stopped me in my tracks. I felt it as the most erotic piece of music I'd ever heard. What was it about that composition that captured so well the stirrings of erotic love?
Well, I have thought and listened and the more you listen and the more you think about it, the less you feel capable of describing anything about it. It's so complex and there are so many different feelings and sensations running through the lines.
Yes, at first, I was attracted to the most obvious device--which is like a quiver, a stabbing quiver, like a bee stinging, or like a man when he's at the apex of his climax....It accompanies an almost courtly, lighthearted humorous dance: a courtship dance. Courtship is meant for public consumption, no? It takes place out where society is functioning in its proper way. And then it takes place more privately, where it is called loveplay. And then that little swooning quiver which is at the heart of lovemaking...
But as I've listened more, I have noticed an almost sinister beat underlying the whole movement. Of course! The Creator of the Universe has to keep the whole thing going all the time. He cannot rest a minute. And He is relentless! That is the force that rears the crop of new young males in every generation. They will not be stopped...(for they are the agents of that Creator, though they aren't thinking in those terms.) Interesting. And very scary. Listen to it. Three times at least, and then again tomorrow. You'll get the idea. YAZZYBEL
Off to church betimes this morning, and it was beautiful this morning in church. The light was brighter there because there were not many clouds over downtown San Diego at the time; and it was just light. And cold. And the Christmas wreaths and big red velvet bows were still cheerily up, and all the candles were lit for once.
I am thinking of light because I watched that movie about Vermeer (his maid, rather) as I took my nap. The whole movie is one big Vermeer painting and I love it for that.
I hate to apologize for my work, but this essay about the music of love isn't going to be a good one; that is, it's not going to say what I want to say.
That's because I don't yet know what I want to say, but I've been putting it off for time to think, and that time hasnt showed up yet after two weeks, so I'll just make a stab at it.
I was thinking of the beautiful Nachtmusik II of Mahler's Seventh Concerto, "andante amoroso." The first time I ever heard it, it stopped me in my tracks. I felt it as the most erotic piece of music I'd ever heard. What was it about that composition that captured so well the stirrings of erotic love?
Well, I have thought and listened and the more you listen and the more you think about it, the less you feel capable of describing anything about it. It's so complex and there are so many different feelings and sensations running through the lines.
Yes, at first, I was attracted to the most obvious device--which is like a quiver, a stabbing quiver, like a bee stinging, or like a man when he's at the apex of his climax....It accompanies an almost courtly, lighthearted humorous dance: a courtship dance. Courtship is meant for public consumption, no? It takes place out where society is functioning in its proper way. And then it takes place more privately, where it is called loveplay. And then that little swooning quiver which is at the heart of lovemaking...
But as I've listened more, I have noticed an almost sinister beat underlying the whole movement. Of course! The Creator of the Universe has to keep the whole thing going all the time. He cannot rest a minute. And He is relentless! That is the force that rears the crop of new young males in every generation. They will not be stopped...(for they are the agents of that Creator, though they aren't thinking in those terms.) Interesting. And very scary. Listen to it. Three times at least, and then again tomorrow. You'll get the idea. YAZZYBEL
Saturday, December 22, 2012
How I Make My Bed Now
Good evening!
What a strange caption for a blog posting, no?
But there have been so many different subjects I've been meaning to write about this week....(The Music of Love, More about the Mass Shooting in Connecticut, and the good cookie recipe, amongst others) but it's hard to find the right quiet time in which to write. C'mon, I know, no excuses!
So I'll write about how I make my bed now. Since I am 83, I don't have all the strength in the world that I used to have. So I make the bed up in the easy way. It's quick, it's neat, and I am happy with it.
I don't like contour sheets any more. The mattresses have become so huge and fat that fitted sheets don't really fit them. New sheets are made extra large to fit these mattresses, but they don't really fit either, truth be told.
So, I use only flat sheets. I lay one sheet down for the bottom sheet, and smooth it out. I lay a second flat sheet down for the top sheet, and smooth it out. Blankets, puffers, and quilts go on top of all that. Easy to put on, easy to smooth out and rearrange if it's not wash day, and easy to take off if it is.
It's not too easy to buy just flat sheets unless you are paying top dollar at a good good store...you have to buy the proper 'set'....but too bad; I have foiled them by picking up odd king and queen sized flat sheets over the years, and just use those. Old sheets are smoother and softer, too. Not eerily soft like the new 'sateen' 600 thread count sheets; soft and smooth like cotton that's been washed and washed and washed and is still getting more comfortable.
That's how I make the bed now. No painful lifting of mammoth mattresses, no tucking of corners. No, the bottom sheet doesn't come loose. It was never un-loose to begin with. It was just smooth. And remains that way, in our tranquil elderly bed. Bonne nuit, everybody. YAZZYBEL
What a strange caption for a blog posting, no?
But there have been so many different subjects I've been meaning to write about this week....(The Music of Love, More about the Mass Shooting in Connecticut, and the good cookie recipe, amongst others) but it's hard to find the right quiet time in which to write. C'mon, I know, no excuses!
So I'll write about how I make my bed now. Since I am 83, I don't have all the strength in the world that I used to have. So I make the bed up in the easy way. It's quick, it's neat, and I am happy with it.
I don't like contour sheets any more. The mattresses have become so huge and fat that fitted sheets don't really fit them. New sheets are made extra large to fit these mattresses, but they don't really fit either, truth be told.
So, I use only flat sheets. I lay one sheet down for the bottom sheet, and smooth it out. I lay a second flat sheet down for the top sheet, and smooth it out. Blankets, puffers, and quilts go on top of all that. Easy to put on, easy to smooth out and rearrange if it's not wash day, and easy to take off if it is.
It's not too easy to buy just flat sheets unless you are paying top dollar at a good good store...you have to buy the proper 'set'....but too bad; I have foiled them by picking up odd king and queen sized flat sheets over the years, and just use those. Old sheets are smoother and softer, too. Not eerily soft like the new 'sateen' 600 thread count sheets; soft and smooth like cotton that's been washed and washed and washed and is still getting more comfortable.
That's how I make the bed now. No painful lifting of mammoth mattresses, no tucking of corners. No, the bottom sheet doesn't come loose. It was never un-loose to begin with. It was just smooth. And remains that way, in our tranquil elderly bed. Bonne nuit, everybody. YAZZYBEL
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