HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

It's a gray and rainy Valentine's Day in my part of the world.

CATALYST ON THE ROCKS

"Are you shadowing me???"

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.

A MONDAY KIND OF TUESDAY

It was a strange day weather-wise today.

One minute it would be spitting rain, the next the sun would be shining.

The view over toward the city center was pretty bleak with very low clouds drifting around.

By sundown the sun was totally obscured and the view toward the west was dark and stormy.

The top of Glassford Hill was hidden much of the time today though it was at least temporarily in view this evening.

And the cattle didn't seem bothered by the weather at all, as they just kept grazing throughout the day.

SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) said they have thick coats to keep themselves warm.

WAITA (Who Am I To Argue)?

SUPER BOWL MONDAY

SWMBO and I just dined at a gala luncheon celebrating last night's Super Bowl victory by the Los Angeles Rams.

Meantime fans of the Patriots had to put up with New England clam chowder and lobster rolls.

FOOD FUN

SWMBO was busy in the kitchen yesterday preparing repasts for the weekend, especially today since she knows I'll be transfixed by the television, watching the Super Bowl.

But even SWMBO outdid herself.

For example . . .

. . . the initial prep for a wonderful potato salad that we dived into last night.

And (prepare to drool) . . .

. . . a Dutch apple-cranberry pie.

You're right.

It's to die for.

STILL LIFE

Arizona Winter - February 1st

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

The weekend looms.

And it's a celebration weekend!

Yes, it's Super Bowl Sunday, when men sit around the house staring at the television all day, occasionally erupting in loud cheers or sorrowful tears.

Meanwhile, the little woman goes out with "the girls" to a friendly, hidden-away, non-sports-bar for a bit of a tipple.

Okay, I heard the groans on that one, I'll stop now.

Find yourself a place to flop, don't be fickle, let your fanatical fantasies run wild, fire up your freewheeling feuds and ask yourself: are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Have a great weekend, even you Saints fans, and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

CATS - THE NON-MUSICAL

From time to time the neighbors' cat, Mattie, comes by for a visit.

When the weather was warmer . . .yeah, I know, you're gonna give me a lot of static about my 60 degree weather when the rest of you are freezing your bippies off in double digit subzero temperatures.

Incidentally, I saw a brief mention from my niece-in-law in Minneapolis yesterday that said, "Huh.  24 below zero.  That's what it was when we woke up in our tent while camping out in the Boundary Waters region last weekend."

Yes, they did, hauling a tent and a stove and food and presumably some potable to take the bite off the frigid weather, poling along on skis, so they could camp out in snowy weather far away from it all in northern Minnesota.

And she's GRINNING!

Arizona Bruce mutters, "these kids nowadays."

Now where was I.

Oh yeah, cats.

We've had a number of visitors to our back yard over the months.

But the other day as I was out in front chatting with my next door neighbor, Bill, somebody new showed up.

It was a young gray cat that neither of us had recalled seeing before.

It was skittish but was obviously attracted to Bill's area.

Probably because he's been known to put the occasional saucer of milk outside for Mattie.

Meantime, yesterday I got a shot of our Muggles curled up in her cat pedestal.

She had a look on her face that seemed to say, "Oh, no, you're not gonna bring another cat in here, are you?"

No, Muggles, I . . . don't . . . think . . . so.

YARD ART

Now that we've got the monk straightened out and I now know that it's correct name is La Monja, or The Nun, maybe I can explain why we moved her.

This past Christmas we were gifted a totem, designed, created and given to us by the BRD.

That's the beautiful rich daughter, or Gayle, in case you've forgotten.

We decided the perfect place for it was the corner of the yard where La Monja had been before.

So here, with a drum roll for the work of the Beautiful Rich ARTISTIC Daughter, is the totem.

It is a ceramic structure with each object resting on another nestled around a steel rod which goes up through the center.

I think it is perfectly sited at the top of the arc of rocks that Judy and I (mostly Judy) arranged out of a pile that was here when we arrived.

As the sun moves across the sky during the day the light and the shadow are constantly changing to provide a myriad of photo opportunities.

I'm anxious to see what it will look like at night under the light of a full moon.

(SWMBO advised me that I should explain we're aware that it is slightly tilted and a correction will be made in due time.)

AN EMBARRASSING UPDATE

It's about the last post - The Mono.

SWMBO just read it and came in to tell me that's not it's name.

She informed me that it is Monja.

Guess what that translates to in English.

Nun.

SWMBO then said, "You could have asked me."

And that's why she's called She Who Must Be Obeyed.

(I did get her t.v. set running correctly last night, though.)

THE MONO

We (SWMBO and I) have been making some changes in what we laughingly call our "back yard".

We moved the monk to a new location.

It seems like a position of honor and quite by accident I discovered that it is just that.

In the morning, if the sun is shining and it usually is, a beam of light is reflected from my window directly to the monk.

And in the late afternoon he seems to have an unearthly light coming from the setting sun.

Now he (or she) looks like a monk to me.

I bought him, or her, years ago when we were living in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico.

A tag said it was a "mono".

Now the nearest translation from that Spanish word to English comes out as "monkey"!

Now he, or she, is definitely not a monkey but it just occurred to me that the first four letters of that spell "monk".

Which he, or she, looks like, wrapped in that robe with only the face showing.

Incidentally, SWMBO has insisted on keeping he, or she, outside and the elements have had an effect on that face.

From time to time I have suggested touching he, or she, up a bit but SWMBO says she prefers the aging process the weather is providing.

Which doesn't provide a solution to the mystery of the name.

But I've always called it "the monk" and I guess I'll continue with that.

If y'all have any better ideas, the comment section below is wide open.

I always welcome a meeting of the minds.