B'fast

Nomnomnom.  One of the nice things about being on vacation...fixing and sharing breakfast with my Mom.   I loved the light and shadows on the fruit.  I also really need to get a camera!

name change...

Decided to change the name of my blog today.  Just because I can (and because my niece Rachel liked the change too).  I live in what this planned community calls a "cottage home" and the street I live on is called Sweet Rain.  That's right.      :)

I do love my little cottage home.  I fell in love with it (her) when I first saw her (for some reason...she seems like a lady).  She had just been put on the market and the real estate agent was showing it for the first day.  I lived in a condo not far away and happened to drive through the neighborhood because I always wanted to live in one of these little cottages.  I took the tour...called my girlfriend Cheri who came to take a look and encouraged me to go for it!  The agent closed up shop, Cheri went with me to sign the papers to get the purchase going and here I am...seven years later.  Whoa...time flies.

I took this week off from work to spend it at home doing all the little things that often get ignored.  Puttin' some love back into my home.  I'm hoping to give her the care and attention she needs this week..kind of a spring cleaning, I guess.  My Mom is coming up to be with me and help; she usually works in the small yard and it always looks well-tended after she clips and trims and turns and weeds.  It makes such a difference when someone else shares the routine chores with you.  It gets old doing it all by yourself.

Anyway, for now 'sweet rain cottage' it is.  :)

earthy lunch...

I've been eating very simply lately for a couple of reasons...to save $$ and to get healthier.  It's working.  It's amazing how little you can spend on food when you aren't buying all the prepackaged meals that we often rely on for convenience.  I have been enjoying making lentil soups, garbanzo bean curry soup and my Mom has supplied me with farm fresh citrus, avocados and now...beets.  They have to be one of my all time favorite root vegetables.  Their earthy flavor is wonderful.  Fresh baby beets, boiled and popped out of their skins are about the best!  So...today I boiled a beet and added just a bit of  butter a touch of salt/pepper/garlic blend.  I sauteed the beet greens with butter and a little  salt.  The potato was boiled with the beet and tossed while hot with olive oil, red wine vinegar, yellow onion, garlic and herbes de provence.  Beautiful.

[Yeah...the photo looks a bit weak, but my camera has been out of commission and I'm reliant on my cell phone for any shots I want to capture!   M u s t   g e t   n e w   c a m e r a   s o o n ! ]

Daniel Boone was a man...

Fess Parker died today.  He was 85 and he died at home with his wife of 50 years...on her 84th birthday. From all that I have read and know about him...he was a good, honorable man.

As soon as I heard the news on the radio, I remembered a trip we made to Utah when I was a little girl.  Travelling across the desert in our 1960-something pale yellow Ford station wagon, we came to some little town where the town folk (hahahaha -- sorry, couldn't help myself) told us they were filming the popular Daniel Boone televison show.   We were on it!  We rambled out to wherever it was across the hot-as-hootsville desert...wearing our swimming suits to keep cool.  (!)  Did air-conditioning in cars even exist in those days?   (Oh, for the days when you weren't self conscious about wearing a swimsuit.)  Anyway...we were able to actually talk to Fess Parker when he was on a break from filming and I just remember that he was genuinely nice to us little kids.  Very cool.  He had starred on the television show Davy Crockett and was now Daniel Boone in the show of the same name.  I can still remember the song and lyrics...[Daniel Boone "original" theme song.]

When I heard that he passed away today, I immediately thought of that trip and these photos (that Sandi had recently scanned)...there is just something that I love about them.  The contradiction...random attire, obscure setting, TV star, pig-tail wearing little kidlets, 1960's...gotta love the whole thing.

Thank you for the memories Mr. Parker.

From left...Joyce, Fess Parker, Sandi on his knee, my mom, and me (look at those knobby knees...loved that red, white & blue suit with a little skirtlet!)  The hair style was three pig tails (braids)...one on each side and one on the top that was swirled and pinned to our head.  Ya' just don't see that style  much these days.  :)  How cute is that though?

Awesome.  One of the other actors, me and Sandi.  (Seems like I remember the other actors kind of teasing /laughing at this guy for having to pose with us.)

cherished memories....

Sometimes....we are fortunate enough to capture not only the moment,  but the mood.  This, for me, is one of those photos.   Emily (my youngest niece) and Zorro (also known as Mr. Cow Kitty---the ranch cat at my parent's ranch) had a special connection.  He was old, independent, scruffy, nearly blind, non-demanding...she was young, reliant, sweet, wide-eyed, and loving.  He melted in her presence...he allowed himself to be pet, brushed, sweet-talked and adored.  I recently resurrected this photo and was touched again by the memories it evokes for me.  Emily is now in high-school...Zorro, true to nature, quietly slipped away and passed away years ago.  The photo is still one of my favorites. 

unabashed "natural" talent

stumbled on this while blog jumping when i couldn't sleep (from Raffaele De Ritis' Novelties and Wonder blog). awesome.

lil' dude.

when i got home from work last night at 8, i fed mokie and tigger.  mokie ate a little and then started sniffing the wall, chair, floor...anything sniffable.   he started trying to maneuver under a bar stool..instead of going under the foot rest, he tried to get his little plump belly over the dowels.   He did this once before about a month and 1/2 ago and i couldn't figure out what was going on.  at first i thought there was someone in the house because he acted like he smelled someone/something different.  then, i thought there might be a rodent in the house because he was going crazy sniffing the walls, floor, baskets, whatever.  after an hour or more of trying to figure it out and not being able to distract him from his sniff quest, i  called  my sister, Joyce (a nurse), she suggested it was hypoglycemia and this was his demonstration of disorientation.  I started giving him honey and corn syrup and eventually took him to the emergency vet hospital after an hour when my care didn't seem to have an effect.   his blood sugar was extremely low and they kept him overnight to continue a glucose drip.  ka-ching. 

so, at least i knew what was going on last night.  i started giving him  slightly diluted corn syrup (which the vet told me today does not need to be diluted at all)and i eventually spoke with the vet (he had given me his cell to call if this happened again after hours) and joyce.  I sat on the kitchen floor and held him while he continued to sniff my arms, the air, my sweater...and kept giving him honey and corn syrup for three hours. (I would let him walk around occasionally to see how he was doing and to make sure he wasn't losing his ability to walk.  another sign of his disorientation is that he gets in a corner or against the wall and can't figure out how to get out...it's like he can't back up.)  anyway, after three hours, we were both a sticky mess from the corn syrup and honey that didn't quite make it to his belly.  he eventually stopped sniffing and started to relax.  i kept giving him honey and corn syrup every 1/2 hour and then every hour until about 3 when he finally fell asleep and was okay.  i checked on him throughout the night and all was good.  took him to the vet today and am starting him on lower doses of insulin.  not sure what happens; maybe he was eating less...maybe his blood sugar levels were normalizing and he no longer needed as much insulin...who knows.  i'm just glad i knew what was going on this time and that all ended okay..oh yeah, and that i didn't have the expense of the emergency room again.  gulp.  between the vet, emergency room, insulin, needles, high protein food...it's spendy.  i hope this doesn't sound like the cost is what matters, but it does add up.  i was just glad i was able to care for him and get his blood sugar levels back up without the additional stress and cost of the emergency room this time.   

perhaps to people who have kids or those who don't have quite the same connection with their little furry family members, this exercise in maintaining his health and the costs associated with it are excessive.  maybe there was a time when i wouldn't have understood it either.  now i do. 

photo meal

since i'm still hungry after the bowl of soup i had for supper, but don't really want to eat more right now, i decided to create another meal from some of the pics of France. hmmm...i think i got all the major food groups...baguette, brie, darling red little currants, almond croissant, espresso, macaroons.  uh-huh.