Five on Friday: October 4, 2013

Nice to start off the month with some things I like. It's always easy to find the things that irritate but it's also better to find the things that bring a smile to the face and to the heart.

1. When I read recipes from Jamie Oliver, I often wonder why we in the US don't use these phrases a bit more - a lug of oil or a knob of butter. Unless you're baking, recipes aren't stodgy formulas. I had a friend whose on-line recipe for chimichurri sauce called for several glugs of olive oil.  Someone asked him how much a glug was.  Just listen he said... Pull all the senses in when you cook. Glug, glug, glug. Doesn't that appeal more than three tablespoons or so? Give me a knob of butter, salted or unsalted, and I'm content.

2.Who can resist the first sighting of a batch of pumpkins? Yes, it means peaches are now almost a memory but even if the weather is still hot, those pumpkins bring out the child in all of us.

3. I was fortunate enough to spend a week at the ocean. I don't go in the water any more, no reason in particular, just don't and this time I didn't even bother to walk along the shore. I just looked and listened. The sound of the ocean is about the best sound in the world in my opinion. I wonder, if like having the weather in Southern California, I'd be spoiled if I had that ocean sound all the time. Would I still appreciate it so much?

4. Thinking of peaches, this is one image we didn't see on our trip but I've seen many a time myself driving down south. The Gaffney SC peach. Most of the photos you'll see on line look like they were taken while driving. It IS one of the best ways to get an idea of the size of that peach. And yes, that peach does look like a giant peach colored butt. Totally smile inducing.

5. Finally, the feeling I get when I return home from anywhere. Even if it's been the best of trips, home always gives me that ....well, comforting home feel. Everything fits me just right when I'm home. Clothes sometimes excluded.

Shingles on my Mind - Project Life Week 38

Fortunately, the shingles I'm talking about are just about gone. But week 38 was colored by this unexpected and truly unwanted arrival. My dh believed that they would be gone in about 4 days. He never did have blisters but the pains in his head, not exactly what you'd call a headache, lingered and lingered and lingered. My good friend Judy has had shingles attacks over the years I've known her and sadly Dick, I believe, thought his case would be different as we've both had the shingles vaccine. I don't think he knew how much of a mild case he did have until a full two weeks passed. Please God this will not be a recurring event for him. Sick men are not my strength - yet. Perhaps that will change in the upcoming years. We shall see. In any case, Project Life and I are back to being nearly in synch which is good, because I sure do have a batch of projects I'm itching to get into!

I made Week 38 simple and to the point. The story is told, the images are shown and it's a done deal.

It was a week filled with a lot of unexpected events. Big events and small events. I finally got a new cotton bathmat after a lot, a lot, of looking. I’d still like the old fashioned kind. Judy came over for catchup & we shared our dismay at our studio clutter. She felt better seeing mine. The joy of having the housecleaners come. After seeing last week’s car fire, ambulances on our street took our breath away. They also took someone away on a stretcher. I got my flu shot at the Senior Center & came home with a packet of Twizzlers! A beautiful full moon in a pastel sky. I wanted to get the pigeon on the wires also but I was still learning IOS7. I voted but Dick did not make his election judge position because he came down with shingles. The antibiotics would be a part of his life for two weeks. We did have a good dinner at Chris’s and I made Dick a batch of kedgeree. It didn’t help with the shingles pain but at least his belly was happy. It was rather a stressful week but at least the clean house and the visit from Judy made it bearable for me. Unfortunately, neither of those helped Dick much.

Wordless Wednesday: October 2, 2013

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