smile!

I love peonies. I've posted pix about them before. I've been loving them down here this past month. Some people remember lots and lots of details from their childhood. They remember specifics. Lots of them. I remember some, too. I remember that Saturday night supper was usually (to me it seems like it was always but there must have been some variation) cornbread and pork-n-beans. I love cornbread and I love pork-n-beans to this day. Tonight I made cornbread and pork-n-beans. Added some spicy salsa to the beans to give them some zip. But it was just like home. Just like Saturday night supper. Yum. 

Anyway- back to the peonies. 

It's been great to watch the peonies pop open. The air along the path to the back fence is heavy with their scent. And here is a link to a pic on my rss feed tonight.. posted because I like the little factoid blurb under the pic. Enjoy! ;)

The botanical gardens post in which I documented seeing this flower that turned out to be a tree peony. 

I want to get pix of the dogs here. There are too many... but I've always loved dogs and these are such little sweethearts. Especially since they wiggle with joy when I go see them. How can you help but love something like that?! 

And there was this flower post the other day. What I meant to say there and forgot: One day, the acacia tree (top pic) bloomed while I was hanging out laundry. The lines are directly underneath the tree- not the greatest arrangement... think BIRDS. But this day- it was a treat- it literally burst into bloom from morning till evening and I watched and smelled it all day long- was great! And then the next day, the peonies on the other side of the path (right beside the laundry lines) did the same thing- I watched them pop open as I hung up the laundry. Now that's a smiler!!! 

For good people everywhere...

But especially for Marv and Minnie and Will and the rest of their family who are bringing up the babies in the good old fashioned chocolate milk way! Needed a little something at the end of the day...and remembered the Nesquik in the cookie box! :-)

Thai Chicken Curry

Someone had a Thai peanut seasoning pack that they sent out awhile ago. I found 500 ml of coconut milk in town and stretched the whole thing to feed 15. It actually turned out pretty well and since I’ve never done a curry dish before (except by relying completely on a seasoning pack), I wanted to write this up while it’s fresh on my mind.

I looked around at various Thai Chicken recipes which seemed to love ginger and garlic so I started by marinating 2 kg of bite-size chicken in about ½ cup oil, ½ cup milk, 3 cloves of finely grated garlic, a chopped onion, about a TBS of finely grated fresh ginger, TBS salt, TBS red pepper and a dab of Worcestershire sauce (since we had no soy sauce- would be ok without this). Cooked the meat in about 2 TBS very hot oil and added 300 g of peanuts (less would be ok) at the very end. Set aside.

Sauce: Sauteed another 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and (a lot of) finely ground fresh ginger in about 2 TBS very hot oil; added the seasoning pack (which was chili, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and onion), liberal amount of basil, liberal amount of red curry powder, coconut milk. To bring the liquid up to what I’d need for 15 people, I added milk and water- about 2 to 1 milk to water. Was aiming for enough liquid to use as sauce over rice. Heated it up well but did not bring to a boil. Poured over the meat. Served over rice with stir fried peppers, onions, carrots. This is mostly for my own purposes… wanted a record of it.

ants

Made a big batch of granola last week. Let it cool and then snapped the lids on, left them on the cabinet top and went off to bed. The next am, chatting to someone by the cabinet and idly glance over at the window... eyes stray to the granola.
...WHOA...
A whole battalion of ants. I mean- the advance guard and scouts have returned and brought in the troops and they're moving out the goods. No joke. Heaps and swarms of tiny black ants.
Now- honey is expensive, nuts are expensive, wheat germ can be next to impossible to find, brown sugar is hauled over from North America.
Are you getting this? This granola is just not on the list to toss without a really REALLY REALLY good reason. I made very quick work of the hordes outside the container that was being raided. Moved the box and made a RAID of my own. Then scooped off the top inch or so of granola.
And then picked individual ants for quite awhile.
A Very Nice Lady walks by. Do I want to know what you're doing? She asks.
I pause and consider (thoughts in head at time: NiceLadyIsFromAmericaProbablyHasReallyNiceVeryCleanHouseWithNaryAMouseNeverAnAntAlwaysHasVeryCleanFoodAndHands)- No I say.
She grins and walks on.
I discovered that if you put the container of granola on a light colored surface and walk away the ants surface on their own. Then you come back every 5 min (at first) and clean up black bodies. And then at 10 min intervals. And then less and less frequently over the next 3 or 4 hours.
And Very Nice Lady was spotted a few times picking ants and unceremoniously and very heartlessly killing them.
And Very Nice Lady had granola for breakfast Sun am. She asked for it. And she fed it to her husband. And her cousin. And his wife.
And I'm eating it, too.
And we haven't seen it move for days.
;)

ps- How would you feel if you were the Ant Commander and had sent out your best battalion on a raid only to have them all wiped out? Half the hill- GONE. How Sad.

Smile!

Awhile ago now, I came down to the far south to help feed and do laundry for a work crew. The laundry part- :). The cook part- well that's ok but a bit more nerve wracking. 

 

Spring was late here and cold so the flowers are a bit behind…which is ok with me. The lady who lives here is an agronomist and loves flowers. She’s had more time this spring to work with her own flowers and gardens, so the place is looking quite nice.

 

Here’s what it looked like tonight! ;)

 

Honey!

We stopped on the way back into town the other day to talk to a bee-keeper. A whole slew of wagons on the edge of a field with a small shack nearby (like a ‘sugar shack’ only with a centrifuge and other honey paraphernalia) and a roadside display. The guy was quite friendly and happy to sell a small jar of honey still in the honey comb. On our way back out to the road, he informed us the display is nothing more than water because people steal those jars… I’ll have to remember that if I ever get the urge to pick it up on the cheap… ;)

Poofy

Once there was a small black and white dog, beloved of all… extra beloved, in fact. She originally belonged to the youngest child, a darling smiling blonde girl-child—since grown up and moved ‘way up north where she’s going to university. The dog, Poofy, has had umpteen litters of pups (don’t ask me what’s happened to them) and seems to be pg again. She’s also developed a cough… like a goose. She sounds like a honking goose. Since consultation with a vet pal in Australia, she’s been on 20mg of prednisolone a day- nothing fancy but no dog on this property has ever gotten daily steroids before! The cough is some better- she only honks about half as often…and now sometimes sounds like a child’s squeak-toy being stepped on! So- Poofy gets a spoonful of butter or lard or some such goody J every day with her magic meds hidden inside. And Poofy has led the kind of life that leads her to quickly swallow- without ever questioning what she’s swallowing- in one gulp AFAP (as fast as possible), wagging her tail and quickly looking up for more. She’s not young anymore- has grey hair possibly the start of a cataract. She gets excited and starts to hack and squeak and carry on… so part of the daily routine is to sit with her and comfort her. Help her calm down and breathe you know.

It’s a tough life, I’ll tell you.

pic catch up

downpour from the inside... 

then there was hail

there's a cat here. Here he is a year ago! :)

someone made bread!

a flock of pelicans flew overhead

the guys removed an old cane roof

Cat's bro

best friends, brothers and Oh So Sweet. Loved by all... at least by the women-type

шашлик or shish kebab. Really- a smashingly-yummy success. Marinaded in: Mayo, wine, lemon juice, onions, salt and pepper. (lots of salt)

super yummy cheesecake!

oooo- babies! Sons and daughter of the 2 dogs in this post. Momma is a bit inexperienced and flighty and it will be a miracle if the babies all survive.

Still- Pretty sweet, eh? ;)

More bread :)

bread and crepes!

the smell of baked beans!

Ah yes- it's a good place to be! :)

DOOM history and a tribute to moms everywhere.

About 15 years (!) ago we visited some friends. Mom was laughing. Told her latest 'my-hubby's-so-cute-and-such-a-goof' story: They were at a restaurant. Seems someone dared Hubby to eat a bunch of something (or they had a X-eating contest or else he was just sick- I'm not remembering that so clearly). Hubby did his part. Later on, Hubby's feeling funny. Sort of wiggly in his chair. Sort of anxious. Sort of 'something's-wrong-here'. Because he doesn't know what's going on, he excuses himself to the men's room and just barely makes it to the nearest sink and tosses his proverbial cookies. What amused Wife was that Hubby was never sick and so didn't even recognize the feeling of impending doom. He very nearly 'doomed' on the table. Would have in another few seconds.
Fast forward 4 years. I've just arrived to Kyiv for the Very First Time. Ever. It was my first international flight, first time to need a passport. We'd had curried carrots on the plane from Amsterdam and they were cold and had just sort of 'SAT' in my stomach. I was exhausted. Nervous. (ME?! Oh come on...) At Julie's. I'm feeling wiggly in my chair, anxious, sort of 'something's-wrong-here'. I go out to J in the living room- J, I say, something's urrrrpppppp.... And the joke was on me- I had no idea what impending DOOM felt like and I totally missed the opportunity to get my doom into a proper receptacle.
Fast forward 11 years (to last night). T is NOT feeling good. Not good at all. She's wanting a little DOOM in her life- she feels it'd make her feel better but her gut is having none of THAT truck. She's in her room tossing and turning and groaning and such. I keep flying in there to make sure she's ok. I was so worried there was no way I could think of sleep. (Never mind the whines and whimpers and groans and moans- who can sleep through that?) At 2 am, though, I knew I'd have to give in and just Let'er Suffer. I go in one last time- same story- toss turn groan. Talk to her. You ok? She sits bolt upright. My dream. Thanks for waking me up. It was so weird. Everybody thought bin Laden was dead but he wasn't- he was still attached to me somehow and they were going to have to cut him off to kill him. It was really important but they didn't know. (If this doesn't remind you of the end of Harry Potter #7, you proly haven't read it.) Well, I've been feeling mom-ish all night so I demand to feel her forehead- no one in their right mind can dream that, right? Sure enough. Burning up. Get out the thermometer. 101. (Why we didn't do anything about the fever, I can't remember just now.) Anyway- she wants to just go back to sleep and try sleeping off the unimpending doom. Fine- good-night. I'm just back in my room when I hear the unmistakable sounds of some real DOOM finding a plastic bucket. Whoa. I fly back in there- T for some reason can't answer my questions- too much DOOM flying around. And I do mean...
ok- I'll grant you, that's enough detail. Here's the tribute to moms bit: I ran for a bucket of water with cleaning solution and a rag. I had every intention of continuing to play mom and do it right... except I wasn't having any of that 'hold the sickie's forehead during the whole bit' part... urp. Well, turns out I couldn't do the clean up, either. I ended up hovering over the sink looking for a little DOOM of my own while Poor Little T cleaned up all of her own DOOM. Not having any kids of my own, I never knew just what it is to have to be involved in that part of kids.
Tonight we had a little chuck conversation that involved a lot of laughs. T said- I've always ALWAYS had to clean up my own DOOM. Well I've never seen any like that- I didn't know.... I manage.
Then I proceed to tell her:
-the memories I have of my mom's hand supporting my forehead as I hovered over the stool as a little kid.
-the time Gina and I were riding rides at the county fair and I got a pistachio ice cream cone and kept riding and then deposited the ice cream (without ever breaking stride, mind you) between rides L and M.
-the time I took erythromycin and found out it didn't agree with me.
-the pancreatitis onset a year and a half ago.
-the 'chickens-cleaned-it-up-after-me' episode last fall. (I forgot the Julie episode.)
And that is the history of me and DOOM. I just don't DOOM.
T looks at me all funny and says- I guess I can't give a [DOOM] history.
that was the last laugh. 

just another one of the tulips. I was showing the pix on my phone to a little 3 1/2 year old tonight (look down a few pix) and she said: Tulips!!! (Can you hear the excitement in her voice? Was sweet.)

May 9th (Victory Day) is just around the corner. This is the equivalent of Memorial Day back in the States. There was a large group of men diligently coating the heavy artillery in the park with a fresh coat of spray paint- covering up the graffiti... 

and they were weed-wacking everything in sight. There was one mower there but it was sitting forlornly in the path all by itself...

oh- have you seen 'my' tulips??? ;)

wearing her mom's 'шуба' (fur jacket)- this is the first time I'd heard something like this called a 'шуба'- I thought those were only the heavy winter fur coats. Anyway- Little Squirt thought she was the cat's meow in this! It only drug the floor all the way around and looked like a royal mantle or something... she's also the one that knows (and loves) tulips!!! ;)

Spring! :)

this was my favorite tree in my favorite park about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Lots of sun and warm temps since then... and rain rain rain 3 of the last 4 days.

'my' park a week ago.

the tulips just starting to bloom on Fri, April 29 

trees beginning to show color and forsythia in a gorgeous state of affairs, Fri, 29th.

village north of us on Sat. Oh do I love this!

view from our kitchen on Mon, 2nd.

ditto the above

and ditto. (You can see the war memorial in 'my' park in the center top of the pic)

yest, 3rd, downtown. This is a chestnut tree in bloom with what looks like its summer leaves nearly... 

yest, 3rd, downtown; Lilacs!! 

Easter and the 1st of May holiday made for a nice long weekend. The city is all dressed up in spring and clean and the streets are nearly empty. It was a great time to go pay the phone bill! (Surprised the office was open...) This city- with its crews of people working to keep it cleaner than I've been used to here plus all the crews of people planting and maintaining flower beds is one of the most up and coming I've lived in here. Downtown is well-maintained and orderly. Clean (mostly). An easy city to love. 

yest, 3rd. It's cooled way off so the tulips should have a long run (barring major wind).

Someone was selling blue pansies a few days ago. Downtown's literally covered in them! Love them!

ahhh- and the tulips in the park today! Gorgeous!!

today; parks crew out planting annuals.

and they turned out to be marigolds! 

this gives you an idea of the private plots of garden down the side of the hill and in the valley beside the park. 

forsythia still going strong today although green leaves starting to poke through. I love forsythia for their early spring punch of color. 

And- just a note. My dad was back in the hosp over the weekend. He likely had another heart attack although not sure when. Heart cath on Mon (same 2 arteries in bad shape again) and 2 stents put in. Mom brought him home late yesterday. I was glad to chat with them tonight via skype with a web cam. He's still tired but a few more days should show a great improvement.