Friday, September 26, 2008
The new replacement mailbox is premium!!!
Posted at 3:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I did go to Stew's (and the gas station) and it was downpouring the entire time, but I wasn't cold because I wore my Kona boots and about ten layers. (Four actually, including my Avon jacket and my Ice Station Zebra jacket at the same time.) I decided the Stew's item only gets to go on the Actual Good Things About Autumn list if it's warm.
So, item #5: Stew's warm, soft, fall-apart-in-your-hand freshly-baked apple cider donuts. Note that they are also available when it's not autumn, but it wouldn't be appropriate to eat them then. They are clearly a what's-good-about-autumn food. Also note, it's just random timing if there will be still-warm ones available, so in the future I will ask if they are warm or not before I get one. Not that the non-warm ones are bad, but warm ones are dramatically superior.
I'm finally all caught up on my Themetime backlog! (I really liked the last song on Cold.) Perfect timing, since the new season starts October 8th.
Posted at 2:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm Not Stepping Foot Outside today, since it's ultra-rainy and cold. Although, maybe I'll go to Stew's to get a coffee and a certain item that I might add to the Actual Good Things About Autumn list.
Since I'm Thursdaying at home, I took the opportunity to do a basement photoshoot of the now-complete Zebra Stand, aka electric tabletop grill stand. The pictures turned out pretty good because I used the Marzi light, but it is the basement, so there's lots of random background stuff. Can't be helped. I'll also show how it looks with the grill on top, when we move it outside. Of course, with the grill in place we won't be able to see the beautiful top boards. Alas. Anyway, here are two photos: 1) front view and B) side view, with the tray drawer partially slid open. That's where I can put a plate/tray when I'm transferring food from the grill to inside. It's super-sturdy and slides really smoooooothly. Pretty insanely nifty, huh? Dean designed and built the whole thing himself. I helped with the gluing, awling, and picking which boards to use where. I love LOVE it.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I got rid of all the books that wouldn't fit on my bookshelves at the Book Barn. Well, all except three, and I donated those to the Russell Library. But now I have tons of Book Barn credit that I don't know how to use up! I only found two little books I wanted: an addition to my Golden Guide collection and a paperback of Tom's Midnight Garden. It's exactly like the old mysterious hardcover one from the library (same illustrations and cover and everything) except it doesn't smell the same. It does smell old, at least, and the pages are all yellowed. The new GG I got is Tropical Fish (they only had about three Golden Guides today, and all the others were ones I already have!), which is really about fishtank fish. I looked through it and picked out which one I want (I don't really want any, but just in theory) and showed Dean, and he said, "It's yucky!" Hee. I picked the loach. (It looks a bit lamprey-esque. I'll have to draw a picture.)
Posted at 8:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We had our last Suder corn feast of the year tonight. The first ear I husked at Suder's looked like this but I bought it anyway and served it to Dean as a joke. (Yes, I got an extra one to make up for it.) I told him it was West Virginian corn. ;-) The rest were really, really good. While eating one of them, I moaned, "This is the best ear all year!"
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Posted at 5:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Actual Good Thing About Autumn #4: getting to wear my Kohala shoes.
Glastonbury is my new West Hartford.
I like the cheese scraps bin at Whole Foods. It has random little end pieces that weren't big enough to put out in the normal fancy cheese piles. They're wrapped up and labelled and everything, so you can figure out what they are, but they're tiny and only cost a couple of dollars, even for very expensive cheeses. It's a cool way to try different cheeses without having to buy a lot, which is great because 1) I don't know that much about cheese, so I wouldn't want to risk buying a big expensive unknown cheese, 2) if I did buy cheese I'd eat it all. If it's small that's okay.
I sat out on the deck this morning, drying my hair in the sun and eating a perfect Lyman's peach + grogurt. It was heavenly. How many more days left?? *hangs onto last dregs of summer with claws*
Going Going Gone is like really messed up P.G. Wodehouse.
Posted at 12:59:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Oh yeah, I got a great card in the mail from my Gs today, with a newspaper clipping about a Raleigh market ("Larry's Super Market") that specializes in "unconventional foods" and weird cuts of meat!! They have stuff like pig ears, pig tails, pig feet, chicken feet, beef feet, goat, catfish nuggets, pork brains, ham skins, and croakers. (I'm not sure what croakers are, but they sound good.) My Gs should massively go there! And bring me!
Posted at 8:41:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
They also asked if I'd heard about the discovery of a whole bunch more marine species. No, I hadn't, but now I have! Cool.
Posted at 5:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm in a great mood today, even though I have a giant headache. It's nice out!! There are a few really bright trees around. Really bright. Most are still green, but then there's these random outstanding ones every here and there. My nails were insanely long (they were nice, but getting dangerous) so after I finished my errands I went to the fingernail place and got them chopped off since I don't trust myself to cut them short without totally wrecking them. I very carefully picked out a color to have them painted. The fingernail guy didn't approve of it (I could tell) but I love it. It's a very bright and cheerful warm rosy pink (brighter than it looks in the photo), so good for cancelling out overcast cool days. When I got home I realised my nails match my bag-in-progress. Heh.
Speaking of which, I sewed the back panel last night. I used my rolly cutter to cut the piece in half the long way, then vertically flipped one side and sewed it back together to make rectangles. I had to tack it in place so it wouldn't squirm and the pieces would line up exactly, but it worked, and it looks like it came that way. Then I sewed on the lines to quilt a piece of Warm & White to the back. Here's the panel, and here's the plan I made. I'm not positive how I'm going to keep everything lined up when I do the zipper side, though.
Oh yeah also, I started reading Going Going Gone this weekend, and stopped my nightly Yes Minister watching after the transition episode and the first one of Yes, Prime Minister. I didn't like Prime as much, but maybe it'll improve. Anyway, I'm over my obsession.
Suder's closes on Sunday. Aaaaah! I told Suder I can't wait for next spring. I also asked him what he does when the farm stand isn't open. We had a corn on the cob, red ripe juicy tomato, basil, and Stew's mozzarella feast tonight. The quintessential summer meal. The corn had really crooked teeth ("British corn") and was unbelievably good.
Kimball Farm's last day is October 19th. When we went to Jaffrey on Saturday, there were 5 planes landing one after another, all lined up at the end of the runway waiting to backtaxi and park!!! It was Oshkosh-esque! We were like a big convoy driving along. When we got to the parking area, there were 10 planes total. It wasn't a fly-in or anything, either; it was just a really nice day. Usually when we go, we're the only ones there! At least there are a few more weeks left for Jaff.
Monday, September 22, 2008
I have pretty amazing luck. My Beetle started trembling at a stoplight today on the way to an appointment at the VW dealership. And then the "check engine" light came on. But I was already on my way to a car appointment! It acted fine on the highway, so I kept going. It turned out that one of my coils had blown, so I was running on only three cylinders. They replaced them all and now the car's perfect, other than the thing I was actually on the way to the appointment for. (They were supposed to replace my worn-out front and rear VW emblems--this is the fourth time I have driven out to see about this--but they couldn't figure out how! Silly. And kind of annoying, but I'm just glad it all worked out so perfectly for the coil thing.)
Posted at 8:21:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Also pretty great is that yesterday I dropped my iPod into the ocean and it was all messed up, but Dean rinsed it with Metromint water, dried it out, and restored the software last night. I hadn't tested it yet and didn't know if it would work or not, but I brought it with me to the VW dealership. It was completely cured, so I was fully entertained listening to Galactica Watercooler while waiting around for hours.
And NO, I didn't drop my Nano in the ocean on purpose because I want the new model. Dean already told me two weeks ago that I should get a new orange one, but I'm waiting for the cases to come out. And I don't even know if I want a new one.
We hounded to Vail yesterday and it was HARD!! The way back was tons easier, but the way there was semi-torture. Lots of hills. We had lunch at Froozie's (it was great), which closes for the season next week. And we had dinner at Harry's (superb lobster roll), because when we pedalled back into town after Vail, everything else was closed, even Bweel's. Block Island was like a ghost town. It's crazy how everything just WHUMPS at the end of the season. I was hot biking to Vail (cloudless sky) but as soon as the sun went down it got cold, and I wore my Oshima beater and my orange bike jacket biking back to the airport.
Cat Report: Total Distance - 10.73 miles; Average speed - 9.5 mph; Maximum Speed - 28.3 mph; Total Time - 1:07'48.
I just went outside on the deck and it was chilly and overcast and I thought, Hmm, I really can't go on pretending it's still summer for one moment longer. Then I came in and found out today's the autumnal equinox.
Posted at 12:53:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
