Saturday, May 23, 2009
I am NOT a stalker!
Y'see, I have a blog list that is LARGELY occupied by ladies. And they ARE ladies. (Well, most of 'em.)
Heh-heh. Now you're all trying to figure out which one of you . . . AREN'T!
Well, for my money, you all are ladies.
But, with the exception of Mike and Colonel and Lynn and Steve and Tombo (not too sure about him .....KIDDING!) and Anaglyph . . .and Warren. They're all girls! And they're really HOT girls.
But..........I am NOT a stalker.
Sure, they're is Dawn (Whew! - Newfoundland is melting), Joanie (South Carolina is hotter than ever), Kitty (HAH! Don't tell me England is cold!), Sweet Lucy (Hey, France, what can I say!), Meggie (Down Under? Need I say more?), Malicious Intent (The title says it all!), Miss Cellania (Have you seen her pictue?), and finally, but not last, Willow (Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, wow!)
And finally, there's Granny J . . . or Julie. She's the only one of the group that I've actually met. And she's a beautiful young lady.
But . . . . . I am NOT a stalker!!!!
Spring blooms
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt & Pepper (optional)
1-1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons dry white wine
3 Tablespoons chopped parsley
2 Tablespoons small capers
8 thin slices fresh lemon
Preparation:
Sear chicken on both sides in mixture of olive oil and butter until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm.
Deglaze pan with mixture of lemon juice and wine. Reduce volume slightly.
Replace chicken in liquid in pan and turn to coat.
Top each piece of chicken with two lemon slices.
Sprinkle capers over all. Add chopped parsley.
Cover pan and let simmer for two minutes.
We love to add some freshly cooked fettucini mixed with heated Alfredo sauce. (The stuff in bottles in the store is fine.) A sliced baguette also helps the meal, along with a nice glass of white wine.
Bon appetit!
p.s. Recipe also works with veal or even turkey.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Oh, y'gotta have friends . . .
But wait! There are rules. Here they are:
The following rules came with this prize: These blogs are exceedingly charming.These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.
So here are my nominees:
Tombo
Granny J
Meggie
Willow
Lucy
Colonel
Mike
Malicious Intent
Go for it, youse guys!
Questions . . . and answers
1. What are your current obsessions?
As always, the computer. And my poor Arizona Diamondbacks, off to a lousy start this year but winners of their last two games!
2. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
Hmmm, well first of all, SWMBO, my most consistent dining companion. And I think Tim and Jeanne and Tom and Lana . . four old friends with whom we shared many a gourmet meal in the past. Famous people would probably awe me too much to enjoy the food.
3. Last dream you had?
What? Anyone can remember dreams? Daydreams, maybe - Having lots of money and living somewhere near the sea and a good, mostly private beach.
4. Last thing you bought?
Other than lunch, a fancy three-foot USB cable to hook up my friend Reed's new DVD player to his HD television set. 28 bucks! Incredible!
5. What are you listening to?
Mostly the sound of silence and an occasional bird tweeting.
6. If you were a god/goddess, who would you be?
Ares, the god of war, so I could take out a noisy neighbor.
7. Favorite holiday spots?
Generally the beach. But that was in the past. Now I spend holidays at home where I am most of the other days of the year.
8. Reading right now?
Nothing, actually. But I just recently finished "Columbine".
9. Four words to describe yourself?
Witty, Handsome, Sensuous, Wise. (You didn't say they had to be true!)
10. Guilty pleasure?
Admiration of the female form. Though the older (and more harmless) I become, the less guilt I feel.
11. Who or what makes you laugh until you're weak?
For some reason having to do with my Norwegian/English ancestry, I'm not a big laugher. I find many things amusing but don't express it that much. However, a standup routine by Eddie Izzard can bring me to rollicking laughter (and tears).
12. Favorite odd thing to do?
Tearing up at some ridiculous movie moment. Well, I guess that's not a favorite because I hate it but it certainly seems odd to me.
13. Planning to travel to next?
Hopefully, Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona, in the autumn.
14. Best thing you ate or drank lately?
Last night's dinner, one of my favorites: Chicken Piccata with Creamy Pasta. I've loved that since we finally found a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine many years ago and realized capers were the ingredient needed to duplicate a wonderful dish I first had in a Georgetown restaurant.
15. When did you last get tipsy?
Perhaps last night but I can't remember!
16. Favorite ever film?
Oh, too many to select but here are some of them: "Casablanca", "Key Largo", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" . . . hmm, those are all old ones. A couple I saw recently that I thought were great were "Frost/Nixon" and "Elegy".
17. Care to share some wisdom?
Ah, a friend e-mailed it to me this morning: "Buddha taught that the desire for pleasure is insatiable. As soon as one desire is satisfied, another arises. Witness the couple who light up a cigarette immediately after sex."
18. What item could you not live without?
Oxygen. (Fooled you, didn't I? You thought I was going to say my computer!)
19. Thing you are looking forward to?
Lunch. Then, dinner. (I'm a simple man.)
20. What's your favorite smell?
Onions cooking on the stove.
21. What food makes you heave?
When I was a child it was parsnips and rutabaga. Since I haven't gone near them in decades, I don't know about them now. But I detest liver and salmon, much to the regret of SWMBO.
22. How many REAL regrets have you got in your life?
Ye-gods, too many to enumerate. I am prone to constantly making mistakes!
Now, I'm supposed to tag 8 people but I think I'll leave it up to you, dear readers, to decide for yourselves.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Not yet
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Name and date, please
Friday, May 15, 2009
Spring flowers
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Balancing rocks
Sunday, May 10, 2009
More Weird Art
But about her taste in art. Here are some photos of her back yard. As you can see, she's fond of "gazing balls". But if you look at the lower part of the first photo, you'll also see some bowling balls. She started buying them at yard sales a few years ago. Some she half-buried in her yard and told people they were growing there. Now, they just lie on the surface.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Mayer Daze
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Surf's down!
The Granite Dells.
Blue sky and a very calm day. Not even a ripple on the water.
Of course, if this boulder rolled down into the water, there might be some waves, for a time.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A visit
While showing them around our area, I got a chance to snap a few pictures. Here are a couple I took on the courthouse square in Prescott of the statue dedicated to the memory of "Bucky" O'Neill. Taking the photos from different sides of the statue shows the different effects one can achieve.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Happy Birthday, Pete!
Friday, May 1, 2009
My Sweet Love
She is my love slut.
Nearly any time I sit down in the chair in my den she is soon in my lap. Especially if I have the Mexican blanket across my legs. It's getting too warm now for the blanket but still she comes.
She is my lover.
She looks at me with her large green eyes, wondering . . . what is he thinking?
Does he love me as I do him?
I wonder, too. What does a cat think? Does it think like we, as humans, do? Does it SEE, as we .. like humans..do. I have heard not. I wonder, as she lies upside down, staring at me, what she sees.
I wonder . . . does she love me as I think she does?
SWMBO brought her home from the animal pound a few years ago. She said Jazz was not pretty, not near as pretty as the other cats. But she seemed so grateful for her attention that she couldn't resist her.I have always defended Jazz. I think she is beautiful. Perhaps she has heard me and appreciates my love for her. She has seemed to me for these few years to have responded with love for me.
My sweet Jazz.
My love.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
A lazy day
Today it's sunny, calm and near 80 degrees here. A perfect day to loaf around by a lake.
This is Willow Lake, one of several lakes in our immediate area.
I saw only one woman heading out from shore in a kayak. If I had a kayak I'd be out on the water too.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Big. Bigger. Biggest!
As I gazed at it with wonder, I couldn't help thinking - - is it
a. Advertising . . a banner designed to lure folks in to the store and gas station,
b. A sign of the patriotic fervor of the store owner,
or
c. A stick it in your eye display that says "Mine's bigger than yours!"
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Life is curious
Friday, April 24, 2009
YeGods, another birthday!
SWMBO and I have just returned from a wonderful Italian repast at a local dining establishment, provided in part by the generosity of a friend who supplied me with a gift card. We both dined on something called Lasagna Rollatini in a sauce . . . mine with Italian sausage, hers with chicken breast. And at my insistence, we topped off the meal with more than enough Zeppoli . . . which SWMBO describes as fried dough. Coated in sugar with a chocolate dipping sauce on the side, I found it quite salutory. My companion complained throughout (while devouring one or two of them!) A too pricey bottle of Kendall Jackson wine completed the feast. And now we're safe home to begin the search for yet another year of survival. So it goes.
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I snapped a photo in our neighborhood the other day of a resident Roadrunner. He was a fair distance away so when the picture was cropped and blown up, he becomes a bit hazy. But for those of you who have never seen one of these strange creatures, here he is.