ruby crowned kinglette

it's been kind of a busy summer so far

well, some of the my busy has been sitting outside enjoying the evenings with wine and candlelight.  but that is what summer is about, isn't it?

let me answer that for you.... yes!

for the last many years i have let summers slip by without much care, or involvement.  i am trying harder this year, and i am succeeding in having a lovely time, so my plan seems to be working. 

it's possible i am keeping a bit too busy, with work, work on the side, trying to find a dress to wear for my sister's wedding, and doing what i think is probably not all the much in preparation for her wedding, and then book club, but then not all that much preparation for that either as i only read half the book.... and too, i have to chalk out a big chunk of time for worry - because although it isn't very productive, i do devote quite a bit of time to it - and it's close cousin... guilt.  it all means, of course, that the blog and little things that i want to create and show you are not being created or blogged about. 

oh yeah, i did have to buy a new operating system for the computer - which, in turn, necessitated me buying an upgrade to my photoshop program so i was out of touch there because of the technology change.  i think i might be up to speed now, at least in fiddling a bit with getting the photos to the blog, but i was a tiny bit worried for a while....

see? worry there too.

i think if you met me... you wouldn't think i worry much. you might just think i was the kind of person who just doesn't give a shit - that might be the case too, but i try pretty hard to disguise the former as the latter.... i think people who know me will back me up on that one.

so, then... got to get going, have some worrying to produce this morning before work.  and if i am successful in this posting today you will see the kitty pictures roll to the bottom of the page and my pal, and grace's owner, will not have to read - once again - about how that kitty might have disgraced herself at my home... which, by the way, she didn't... very much...

i might have had some wine {!} when posting about her possible spraying around the house and i might have overstated that particular fear... but not about her approaching me for 'companionship' - that she did at every move i made and every word i spoke.

and then too, to the folks who are concerned that i really just let her loose to fend for herself, eating birds and mice... that really was a joke.  i gave her meat scraps but definitely had her tied up with a string when i left her outside while i was at work.  she seemed fine with it.

ok. so.... cats then? they aren't so great either

so this is where we sit on saturday night, one day before 'kitty', ok - grace, goes home...

this cat? she seems to be in heat.

yeah, i know.

i don't think she is spraying in this photo... dear god, i hope she isn't.  but if she is, it isn't the only place she has left her scent.  and, when you are a dog person, and a male dog person, it is just a little icky to know that every move you make is an invitation, to the cat you are having stay with you, to make some kitties. 
every. single. move.

in the last few hours i have learned a whole lot more than i thought i needed to know about female cats and how soon they 'come into their own'   i first called a friend from work {hi jill} and then consulted the internets.... as the article i read said, 'the signs are unambiguous'.

it's true, there ain't no mistaking this....

my cat sitting duties end tomorrow... apparently one day longer than i bargained for.

 

by the way, stefan.  i have made an appointment with a vet.  it is the same one that i had neuter my chettie... it was cheap.  $35 back in the day.  and, although i thought 'it' was going to be done with a butter knife for that price, it worked like a charm.

wednesday 10 am, you can pick her up at 4:30.

-s

planespotting... or, what do you do if you have seen all the birds in your yard

i spent the better part of my day off yesterday in the back, sitting at my table on my new chairs, drinking water {yeah, not wine - that was the day before}, reading my pile of new yorker's and.... identifying the different airline's planes as they flew overhead.

i don't live very close to the airport - about 20 miles.  but, my house? it is directly under the approach as the planes land from the north.  directly.  it isn't loud so that is good, and in the past when i have been hanging out in the back with my binoculars, looking for birdies - i would occasionally identify the planes too...

well, yesterday i spent quite a bit of time identifying planes, and i have to tell you, there were quite a few flying overhead. it made for many interruptions in my reading and a lot of moving from one chair to another for a better view... but it was fun.

this is what i saw from 3pm to 9pm, with several pauses and trips into the house during that time.  there are a few left to still id - i think a field guide of airline tail logos is in my future. if you know of one already i would much rather buy it than write it so, please, let me know....

it turns out, cats are not so horrible....

ok, so did i mention that i am kitty cat sitting? i am. i am also a dog person; heart and soul.  but this is what i learned in the last few days...

cats aren't half bad.

and this one?  she is almost care free.  if i let her out before work, she will hunt birds and mice {ok, rats} and i end up not having to worry about putting any food out for her at all.  and then, because she is out, i don't have to worry about the cat box either. totally taken care of.  she has a little fountain of water, but i have a bird bath outside and that seems to have kept her pretty busy and quenched, so i am good there too.

i have had to lock her inside overnight though, the first night with all the kitty screams from the alley i had a terrible night's sleep, so she is in for evenings...  that big tom cat she met the first night will just have to come around during the daylight hours... and, soon enough he can come by to visit his offspring - because it turns out - this little kitty is a bit of a slut.

she looks so unassuming, doesn't she?

or does she?

she did tell me that issaquah is a kind of quite and, while she can, she would like to see a bit of the big city.... who am i to deny her that?

love

i love the evenings and the sounds of birds singing with the sun on the trees, the traffic hurrying by, the taste of wine, the smell of summer as it awaits right around the corner, ... it's all so damned good.

i feel the breeze and hear the robins sing fervently their last songs of the night as the sun sets and the traffic grows more muffled in the low light of the setting sun when i look at this... but can you?  if i had chairs enough, i would invite you all over, to share my wine, my fading but still beautiful wisteria, and the songs of the evening.  this feeling of content? it's the same i feel at 4:30 in the morning in the early summer when i wake to hear the birds and the new sun -  and it seems i do hear the sun - as they both greet the new day....

it's lovely, isn't it?

i have a new obsession....

ok, what else is new... i live my life hopping from one obsession to another.

let's see...

genealogy
birding
gocco
embroidery
gardening
photography
dieting (hahahaha, not really)
cooking - well, buying cookbooks anyway
sewing clothes
monitoring spending - but short lived, of course
and now....?
i want a beach cruiser

i won't go near a beach with it - maybe, but i would ride it to work, and back (which is why i need a 3 speed, so i can haul my ass home).  i only have 2 miles to go either way and i think it would be good for me... and the earth.  and! i want it to be orange. not all of the ones i am looking at come in orange, and i suspect that choosing one based on color alone might not be the smartest way to go.  but, my god, a tangerine colored bike with a pink or red basket?  i mean really, why would i consider anything but orange? 

am still considering streamers to fly from the handle bars... but i bet they would be stolen immediately.  streamer stealing bastards....
i have 6 decks of cards and some old clothes pins in the cupboard so i am set there.

this one is the single speed, i would need multiple speeds - you know, so i could make it home without killing myself, or my pride (ha, pride?)

this one, this one is at the tippy top of the list. you can see why, can't you?

this one is pink, i am not sure i can get it in orange, but i can get it in a vanilla color with a saddle brown seat - if i remember correctly. 

and this one is nifty too....

ohhhhhh, man..... thoughts?

book club, mario and advil

last night i hosted book club…  i was going to serve popcorn and beer, and looking back it might have been a better idea, but i would have missed learning a few things, and i always like to learn new things. in fact, sometimes i like to learn things i already know.

or should know.

or thought i knew...

new thing:  if i have read a book in the last year, and it is slated to be read for book club? i have learned that i won't remember to read it again, but do anything else that might look interesting instead. in the end, when there isn't time, wish i had read it... that last little part? i did know that of myself.  i believe that is called regret - i am intimately familiar with regret.

ok, moving on.

learning again thing:  it is very important to read, with some attention being paid to, the entire recipe of an item i am making for the first time...  case in point? mario batali's eggplant caponata.  the picture above are the first several ingredients cooking away in olive oil.  a generous amount of olive oil which is why everything is so shiny and pretty.  so pretty in fact that i became a bit distracted.

i kept adding ingredients, and it was still looking so darned good.  then i added the last three... and although it still looked good, when i tasted it... well, all i could wonder was 'did he really mean to add 3/4 cup of balsamic?', 'maybe it will mellow when it cools', 'maybe it needs to cook off that vinegary taste', and then again, 'did he really mean to add 3/4 cup of balsamic???'.  well, no. actually.  he meant i should add 1/3 cup.  ummmm.  those little eggplant sponges were in no way going to give up all that vinegar. so, i made it again.  it was tasty and really worth making it the second time...

learning again thing:  it is smart for me to make some recipes at least once before serving it to guests.  i didn't have as much success, i didn't think, with the orange tart, capri style.  i had nearly two cups of the custard that didn't fit into the tart shell.  wow!  my eggs were big but not goose eggs for crying out loud.  the custard that did fit to the very tippy top smelled quite good while it burned on the oven floor after slopping over and in between the shell and the pan.... nice.

new thing:  seven advil will make me goofy.  four were not doing the trick, so i took three more.  i seem to have hurt my upper back when i hit some golf balls at the driving range about six weeks ago. i keep waiting for it to get better, it keeps staying really tight.  apparently cooking in the kitchen didn't help so it was bothering me last night.  seven advils and a glass of wine helped... my back, not so much my brain.

thing i already knew:  my book club is full of great, wonderful women.  it was nice to be goofy with them, and have them eat my food and expose myself to the idea that i might be a little bit sylvie and have them still like me anyhow....

new thing:  it seems the recipes from my new mario batali's molto italiano cookbook are available through the food network... i don't know if it is all of them, but i wonder if i would have bought the book knowing that they were there?  probably, i love cookbooks, and the photography is so freaking great it almost makes you think you've eaten the dishes before you have prepared them.

new thing & thing i already knew:  jen wondered if it was strange that she had a little crush on mario batali... i said no. because.... if i could have one on kevin james, she could have one on mario batali...

sunshine and goodness

today is supposed to be real nice... maybe 75 degrees nice. that makes me a happy girl.

this morning i didn't sleep in.  it was too nice.  i did lie in bed and wonder what to wear to work though, and didn't come up with much.  i kind of feel i need to honor this first really nice day of the year with something a little bright and fun, but it turns out... i don't have that in my closet. or my drawers. or hanging on the rack by the washer downstairs.  i feel badly. i am feeling like i am letting this spring day down.

i will get over it.  this day is going to be too pretty to let something like that get in my way. 

so, i am off to see what brightness i can cobble together before i head out the door. 

and speaking of doors... this is mine this morning, with the sun shining through, bouncing off the art opposite and reflecting the tulip design in the leaded glass back onto the inside; sun shining where it was never expected to... pretty great, huh?

have a sun filled day, no matter what your weather.

this is what friendship looks like

it was 7:45{am} and i heard a knock on my door.  not a loud one, and i was asleep, so it took me a few moments to realize what i had heard.  i had to lie there and wonder who would be knocking on my door at 7:45{am}. eventually, i rolled out of bed and went to the door, peeked out and saw no one, so then had to stand there for several seconds wondering if i really did hear a knock at my door at 7:45{am}.  i finally opened the thing and there on my little table was a lovely piece of lemony surprise.  i looked up and down the street, and wrapped my robe a little tighter, thinking that, well.... i shouldn't get arrested this morning if i could help it. i grabbed the still warm plate and went inside to call jen and thank her for breakfast.

of course i ate it for breakfast.  i started at 8:00 exactly and it was gone before 8:04.  that might sound to you like i hardly had time to enjoy it, but you would be wrong... i enjoyed it a lot and am absolutely sure it is exactly what i needed.  it is, i am certain, the start to what is going to be a perfectly great day....  the weather is fantastic, and the dalai lama is in town... i mean, really... lemons, the lama and sunshine - how could you go wrong?

ok then, a few things.  first, i hesitate to let people, (you) know i was sleeping at 7:45{am}, seems a bit decadent to sleep in like that... but i am working tonight and worked last night, so i kind of deserved it? right?  second, i didn't actually call jen, i tried though, but didn't have her cell number and i knew she had to be within a half mile of me at the time, so i emailed her and while doing that she called me....  third, eating a lemon tart should be required every sunny friday morning.  jen?  i will plan to be up and have the tea ready next friday at 7:45{am}... just saying.

thanks ann

these will never see the light of day again.... thank you.

-steph