MOUE

"Yes, I am more than a little cold.

True, I do have this heavy cloak but still.

You mock me by putting that circle of ice down next to me.

You leave me standing out here on a snowy morning.

Am I not expected to pout?"

But it's warmer today.

The snow and ice are gone.

And La Monja may just be doing an impersonation of a certain president.

What do you think?

SNOW DAY

"MAN THE SNOW PLOWS!"

JUST A TE(E)ASE

From time to time a blogger friend in London, Steve, has posted on his blog photos of some of his tee-shirts.

He has quite a collection but then, so do I.

So today I thought I'd post a photo of one of my favorites.

(Photo by SWMBO)

Before you grow too worried about me let me assure you that the Yuma Territorial Prison, which opened in 1876, was closed as a prison in 1910.

Since then it has served a number of purposes but has been a museum since 1940 and a State Park since 1961.

My tour of the prison included a visit to the notorious solitary confinement cell which I seem to remember had no windows and was a dark and scary hole.

It was known as "the dark cell".

Imagine being locked in there during an Arizona summer when Yuma is one of the hottest places in the state.

I hasten to add that the cell doors remained unlocked during my visit.

THE JINGLE TREE

If you have your sound on you'll hear what sounds a little like faint thunder.

It isn't.

It's just the wind blowing.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hey there lords and ladies, lads and lassies and all the rest of you Gentle Readers . . . Happy Friday!

As always, it's time for The Friday Funnies so without further ado . . .

All right that's enough for this week.

I'm exhausted, how about you?

But gather up your energy, this is not an era for enervation, get excited, eager to embark on an expedition to enormous erudition, replete and complete with exotic and emotional endings.

In other words, have a great weekend!

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(ohhhhhh)

KITCHEN FROLICS CONTINUED

Being the continued adventures of a baking novice . . .

Today I tried to create a Sour-Cream Coffeecake.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

Well, except for the so-called Strudle topping.  

That called for sugar, flour, cinnamon and chopped nuts.

Do you bakers out there notice anything missing?

Well, my roommate did but she DIDN'T TELL ME!

She said, after the fact, that she was concerned that there was no fat in that topping, i.e. NO BUTTER!

I was concerned about it, too, because the sugar didn't stick to the walnuts but I figured maybe the cake batter would provide the necessary moisture.

When the cake was done and the sugar part of the so-called Strudle topping just lay there, looking pale and pallid and un-melded, THEN, AND ONLY THEN, did SWMBO say "Well, I thought it should have had some butter in it."

Gadfrey!

I read these recipes to her, I show them to her.

Doesn't it seem that I am begging for help from her decades of experience?

Oh, well, it smelled terrific and I'm thinking it will taste terrific, once I get past that dry taste of the so-called Strudle topping.

One other thing, since this is a Throwback Thursday.

I received this photo from one of my classmates of many decades ago.

It shows Lenora, Carolle and Ona . . . three young ladies from my high school graduating class.

They still look like the cheerleaders of my past young dreams to me.

A COLD AND LOVELY DAY

I awoke this morning to find a very thin layer of snow on the ground.

And it was c-c-c-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-l-l-l-l-d-d-d-d outside.

As the sun rose over the yardarm the snow quickly disappeared but the temperature never really rose all that much.

It says the forecast high was 37 for the day and that's exactly what it rose to.

Now as you may recall I was born and raised in North Dakota so I'm familiar with cold weather.

But I've been gone from that dismal climate since 1969, which I calculate to be exactly 50 years ago.

And most of that time has been spent in either Arizona or Mexico or Texas.

So I'M NOT USED TO THIS!

Fortunately the BRD . . . . and may I just say she's as beautiful as ever . . . had invited us for brunch at our favorite restaurant, the vaunted Iron Springs Cafe.

They feature a menu of Mexican and Cajun recipes and I ate heartily of a cup of Gumbo, followed by the speciality of the house, Blackened Catfish.

And of course I had to have one of their very special Bloody Caesar's.

(In case you're not familiar with this it's about the same as a Bloody Mary but made with Clamato juice.)

So I was feeling no pain as we departed and made our way to a couple of grocery stops, at Trader Joe's and Sprout's.

But damn!

The wind in those parking lots was brutal and we were mighty glad to get home.

I think I'll stay inside until about May.