Friday, November 30, 2007

Soup, Snow and Stuck


I finally found the time to make my winter soup, a "recipe" based on my mom's which is basically throwing all the vegetables from the produce dept into a big pot and simmering for hours.

In this case I used: a turnip, a beet, potatoes, garlic, onions, a jalapeno pepper, carrots, swiss chard, a can of tomatoes, mushrooms and lots of water. It takes a while to chop everything up but I am lazy and leave everything in big chunks.

A glass of wine or two later and you have a tasty broth to chase the winter chills away. I enjoyed my hearty soup with some toasted olive ciabatta bread and brie. Yummmmmy.

Wednesday it snowed! Lucy and I took an early morning jaunt through the woods and it was magical. That first layer of snow sticking to trees and underbrush transforms the woods into an enchanted playground.

Lucy, a dog who has probably never encountered snow before now, was so pleased about an empty snow-covered field that she dashed around in excited loops and made me smile so much my face hurt.

Stuck in VT, the arts & culture video vlog I make for Seven Days has been doing really great recently. It won a couple of awards and I've been getting a lot of helpful feedback. The rest of the year's vlogs are already booked with some interesting stuff I am looking forward to.

And if this article is correct, my job might have some security as newspapers across the country embrace video content. Hell yeah.

And I am getting unstuck from VT for a bit! Upcoming trips to NYC and SF which will entail some work projects and some fun visiting time too. It'll be nice to get a change of perspective so I can come back to VT fresh and ready for another year of Stucks.

2008, are you really only one month away? And what does the future hold? Does Goma have anything to do with it??!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

I Iz Tankful

We wants turkee.

There is a lot to be grateful for this year:

Sachie introduced me to the cute-as-hell I Can Has Cheezburger blog - thus improving my life tenfold.

No more moanin.

Today at the dog park we met a pretty pit bull, a snow white husky and a fast weimaraner who tired Lucy out - now she sleeps peacefully so mom can edit and pay off the mortgage slowly.

I bought a house this year - I have dreamt of this since I was small.
U Give Us Gravee. NOW.

The steaming cup of tea that I spilled all over my desk did not get as far as my three powers strips - I think tea is good for hardwood floors, no?

Emer told me that she wants her super cool daughter to hang out with strong female role models and she meant ME!?!?

I went skinny dipping in the lake at Thanksgiving with Molly - ok, we only went up to our knees but STILL!

A morose cross-dressing frog named Marcel sauntered into my life.PSSST Mutinee when I hiss

I got to meet Goma face to face so as to maul him better.

The tranny, green-haired psychic lady at the Russian tea room in SF was RIGHT!? I did find my dream job by my 30s and I work with people I like and respect. And here I thought she was just yanking my chain!?!? Thank you astute chakra reader!

I made my first meal in my kitchen tonight, 4 months after I moved in - SHUT UP! It involved garlic, caramelized onions and Paul Newman - I love that man.


The ad I was worried about got approved!!!

My mom is alive at 73 years old. My 1st step mother died at 55 last year. I am so lucky to live near my mom. She had better live forever.

It snowed last week. Lucy was enchanted. Crawford was bemused.

Crawford's purr is just about the best thing you have ever heard in your life and I get to hear it every day.

My new heating system works! My new favorite spot is in the kitchen on top of the radiator. Mmmmm, radiator butt!

I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for.

U Iz Not Invited.
Thanksgiving 2006 was hard. My life was a gnarled pattern of dead ends and my confidence sank down deep to the bottom of the toilet. I didn't know how to pull myself out of that pit. I wasn't sure if I could.

And this year, I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. In your darkest ebb, there hides a subtle flow. Patience grasshopper.
take pictur, last longer

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Slacker Kitteh



Victor Es Deadbeet!

Kitteh Mustacchio

I Gotz a Stache!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Happy Music

Salty Miss Jill inspired me, these songs make me glad on a dismal, rainy, pre-holiday day. What music makes you grin?



Monday, November 19, 2007

Love for Old Farts...


....is apparently BETTER than it is for young farts! SNAP! Hell yeah!

And despite the stereotypes, researchers who study emotions across the life span say old love is in many ways more satisfying than young love — even as it is also more complex, as the O’Connors’ example shows. - Kate Zirnike, NY Times, Love in the Time of Dementia

The news wires are alight with the story of former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She left her high powered post to take care of her husband who is suffering from Alzheimer's. 48 hours after he entered his care facility, he fell in love with someone new. Oof, there's the rub, right?

Wrong, Sandy didn't seem to blink, she is completely happy for husband and his new love. She visits them and sits on the porch with them. What is that? According to the New York Times Sunday edition which eats up my weekend, it is plain and simply mature, selfless, old love. Thank god, something to look forward to as our bodies deteriorate.

Young brains tend to go to extremes — the swooning or sobbing so characteristic of young love. Old love puts things in soft focus.

“As you get older you begin to recognize that this isn’t going to last forever, for better or for worse,” said Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and a research counterpart of Dr. Gabrieli’s in the brain imaging research.

“You understand that the bad times pass, and you understand that the good times pass,” Dr. Carstensen said. “As you experience them, they’re more precious, they’re richer.”

- Kate Zirnike, NY Times, Love in the Time of Dementia

Thursday, November 15, 2007

My Old Town

I don't technically live in Winooski but I live close enough to it that almost all my food comes from Tiny Thai and Peking Duck House. With the weather so cold, I am practically living off quarts of Hot and Sour Soup.

Walking across the old bridge to the old Mill Town and staring off at the falls is one of my favorite evening pastimes. I like to think about all the people that have been living and working off of this river for centuries.

The ancient, formidable buildings stand as silent testaments to the people that have passed through Winooski over the years.

My house is so old, it was most likely once housing for workers at one of these old mills which now houses a yoga studio, a hair salon and other independent businesses (but why, WHY no coffee shop!?).

Perhaps young single girls who trekked to this industrious town to make a meager living weaving and stitching once lived in the rooms I now inhabit? What did they think about when work was done? What were they dreaming of?

I have always been fascinated with factory workers and complex, finely-tuned assembly lines. I loved being the man in the booth and projecting 35 mm film, fiddling with all the nuts and bolts and making the parts run smoothly without losing a body part.

When I asked Denise Baker of Cabot Hosiery Mills WHY she had been working there for 20 years, she stared at me, then laughed at me, then thought a bit and then said, "Because I like machines, as long as I am with my machines, I'm happy." I can relate.

Pretty Moon

Ah, moon surfing, better than yoga.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Simpsons R Us

Hmmm...something looks mighty familiar here...
Burns: [admiring Santa's Little Helper]
Why, here's a fellow.
Wiry. Fast. Firm, proud buttocks.
Reminds me of me.

Homer: Oh. Well, I won't be lonely.
I can always cuddle with the dog.
[
cuddles Santa's Little Helper] Mmm.
At least everyone knows I'm smarter than you!


If Lucy is Santa's Little Helper, then that makes Crawford Snowball I.

Homer: Oh, Marge, but...we've needed a new air conditioner for years! And our stop-gap solution is getting cranky!
[Snowball, in the corner, is fanning a giant ice cube with a fan tied to her tail. She meows angrily.]

Let's investigate:

In various episodes, Santa's Little Helper can be seen chewing on the newspaper and other objects in the Simpson's household (sometimes ignored or tolerated by the family), tearing up the furniture, digging holes in the backyard and eating food from the living room table.

That sounds about right....

Snowball, a white female cat who died and only briefly appeared in a flashback in the series, but has been mentioned numerous times.
Like most cats, Snowball enjoyed playing with yarn, petting, and coughing up large chunks of her own fur.

Could be...
Marge: This is the best gift of all, Homer.
Homer
: It is?
Marge
: Yes, something to share our love - and frighten prowlers.
Bart
: And if he runs away, he'll be easy to catch.Yep, it's a match and I getta be Homer and Marge rolled into one. Thanks for the pic and the wedding gown Molly!

Will this blog get renamed The Lucy and Crawford Show?
Chances are good...