Spinnaker

On Saturday, Andrew fixed the leak in the roof while I watched from below shouting encouragement, picking up debris he tossed from the roof and hoping he wouldn't fall off. He was a little grumpy (see the video) but in the end the job was done. That evening we watched the DVD Aeon Flux. Much better than what we were expecting. We were big fans of the Aeon Flux MTV short animations back when we lived in Texas.

Today we drove up to Greenville to check out the new Whole Foods store. Since it is a grocery store, it is able to open at 9:00am (rather than 1:30pm like all other stores). The selection is great for grocery items. I was slightly disappointed by the fruit and vegetable selection. I needed to purchase a pasillo and an ancho pepper but they didn't carry either. Neither of course does the BiLo, but I was hoping Whole Foods would have it. So I substituted a jalapeno and fresno instead - I will be making a vegetarian chili with corn bread crust later this week. They have an excellent selection of legumes in dry form, and many types of nuts, seeds and dried fruits. I think we will try to come up once a month or so. Of course it is all much more expensive, and (hopefully) due to the novelty it was very crowded, even on a Sunday. The aisles are also very narrow, which means a lot of "I'm sorry" and "Excuse me" as you are reaching for an item or just trying to get your cart by.

When we came home we snacked on baba ghannouj, garlic hummus and pita bread, and prepared to go sailing. We tried out the spinnaker while still under motor and without any other sails up. We figured this was a good way to test and learn since neither of us had flown a spinnaker before. It inflated and Andrew was happy about that. I was manning the tiller while Andrew was busy with the sheets. We tried a gybe to get the sail on the other side of the boat but the lines got caught up, possibly because they were misrouted? We aren't sure, but next time we would like to try it again with main sail hoisted and the engine off. There was an easterly 10 MPH wind, mostly cloudy, and about 60 degrees temp today. We are under a mini cold front right now. Here is the video.

Dinner tonight is a vegetable stir fry over rice with fresh organic strawberries for desert. Andrew is having some flank steak strips with his stir fry. I also made a new muffin recipe, orange-cranberry with almond slivers. They smell great and I'm looking forward to eating them for breakfast. Tonight we will be watching the DVD King Kong. Andrew picked it. I hope it is good - I guess the special effects will be pretty good.

TGIF

Andrew is at a band camp rehearsal in preparation for next weekend's big night. After work I puttered around outside. The side yard is starting to fill in nicely now. I was also watering plants and sorting out garden hoses (or hose pipes as they are called down here). The storage box we bought a couple of years ago has busted so I coiled up the hoses and stored them under the deck for now. I wish they could make things that would last for 10 years. In this disposable world everything is made from cheap plastic.

Andrew and I had a lunch date today and went to a new place called Moe's for burritos. They are just like the ones we used to eat all the time in Bryan, Texas. Love the veggie burrito. Even back in Texas 10 years ago I would only eat the veggie burrito, never the steak burrito like Andrew. Maybe it's a sign.

This weekend I would like to go to the new Whole Foods store that just opened up on Wednesday in Greenville. It is a new healthy grocery store that is supposed to be pretty good, full of organic foods and hopefully it will offer more choices than what I have at the local BiLo. But we also have to fix the leak in the roof, and I am sure Andrew will want to get in a bit of sailing. He is just dying to try out the spinnaker. And of course I always want to do a little yard work. So it should be a good weekend. The forecast earlier this week was for rain on the weekend, but now it has changed to partly cloudy with only a 30% chance of rain on Sunday. I would have liked some rain since we are only about 4" short until we can canoe. Hopefully May will bring more rain.

Walking on Campus

I have been trying to go for a 30-45 minute walk each day at work, and today was a perfect day for it - 71 degrees, breezy and sunny. The image to the left is from around noon today from a campus webcam showing the amphitheater with the reflecting pond behind it. I have lost about 10 pounds in about 3 months. I gained about 5 pounds from quitting smoking and freaked out when the scale said I was weighing the highest I had ever weighed in my life. So I decided I had to do something because I was not going to start smoking! Changing my diet has helped the most. Cutting out the animal products means no fatty and greasy food which saves ton of calories. I fill up instead on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. On this type of eating plan you can eat all day and not gain weight. And I am drinking beer too! I do not miss the greasy animal food at all. Occasionally I will have a latte with Andrew at work. I am not going to deny myself anything so if I am in a situation where eating healthy really isn't possible, I will eat what everyone else is eating. Mindy is wondering if I am getting all my protein and vitamins, etc. and the answer is yes. There is a ton of protein in beans and the fruits and vegs give all the vitamins. I take a multivitamin in the mornings when I remember, and so far I am feeling pretty good! PS: Andrew got home safe and sound around 10:30pm last night but the airline lost his bag! The cats were very happy to see him and instantly wanted to play and run around.

Elis Regina

I found this video on YouTube the other day showing Elis Regina of Brazil singing Aguas De Marco. I really like its simplicity and she has a great voice. A summary of her short life can be found here.

Sidney

Last night after winning my match at the Spot for our APA pool league, I left early at 9:00pm to head home. Right after I parked the truck, the cats both ran into the garage and wanted in the house. Rather strange, since normally a bit of calling their names is involved. It turned out that Sidney had hurt her left front paw and was not putting it down at all. She would 3 legged hop around on the floor and it was really quite sad to watch. She would let me touch her leg, but would not let me press down on her pads to push out the claws. Perhaps it was a claw injury. This morning she was doing better, she would put a little weight on it and limp. Other than that, she seemed to be her normal self so I decided to let them outside for the day like normal while I was at work. After work now she is better and is walking with just a slight limp, but otherwise seems perfectly normal. I took a couple of photos of her. Unlike the very vocal Harley, Sidney is a rather melancholy cat. It must have been her hard life before we adopted her when she was 8 months old.

A Good Gardening Weekend

It was a good weekend for me gardening-wise. I got the side yard cleared of the dead things from winter, and finally clipped back the coralbells azaleas around the air conditioner. In the photo you can see the one remaining rhododendron from a group of six originally purchased. The others died from some type of root rot disease, but this last one is doing great.

We have had lots of thunderstorms lately, and the last one at 2:00am Saturday exposed a leak we have in our roof over the master bedroom which Andrew thought he had previously repaired with caulk. I guess he will have to take off the shingles and install new vent flashing now. Anyways, I went down to the dock this evening to see if the water is back up, but unfortunately we still don't have enough water to canoe. The storms have made a bit of difference, about 6 inches or so, but we are still over 1 foot under full pond. You can view a video clip here of the water from our dock, and Harley the ham managed to get in this video too!

Spring Garden

After work I mowed the grass and then the sun came out. We have had a couple of good thundershowers lately which has been great for the garden. We need that rain. I took a rather long video of the spring garden which you can view here. I still need a ton of plants to fill in all the borders. In 20 years it might be finished! Background noises include our neighbour's diesel engine truck, Harley meowing to go inside, the Canada Goose family fighting off intruders by the lake and lots and lots of chirping birds. If you listen very closely, you can hear a Ken's Owl cooing.

Harley

Andrew left today for a conference in Montreal. He always misses the cats when he's away so here is a little movie of Harley.

Chronicles of Narnia

Yesterday after work I weeded the entire front yard, 3 five gallon buckets worth of weeds! We had a good thunderstorm come during the day and that made weeding much easier. We still are about 8 inches short for rainfall. I made a new dish, Provencal Stew from the Voluptuous Vegan, but I did not use the saffron it called for. The BiLo wanted $18 dollars for saffron and it just didn't seem to be worth that. The dish was still very good - it included portobello mushrooms, califlower, tomato, carrot, celery, leeks and chickpeas. We watched the DVD "Chronicles of Narnia". I had read the books when I was very young but I couldn't remember any of the details. It was an ok movie I guess, definitely a kids movie. The special effects sure are becoming seamless these days.

Thank you for not smoking

Today marks 3 months since I quit smoking after starting about 25 years ago, a pack a day. The time has gone by fast. Andrew quit on January 1 and I quit on January 18. I didn't want to waste a carton of smokes and I wanted to see if Andrew really was going to quit. Andrew used a couple of nicotine gums and lozenges. I did it cold turkey. After reading about quitting smoking I decided that prolonging the nicotine withdrawl was not for me. I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. And just like they say, in 5 days the worst was over.

Some strange things to report though. For example, I have had to switch deodorants. The one I had been using for about 10 years just didn't work for me anymore. For about 6 weeks after the quit day I didn't sleep more than 4 hours per day. I had very bad insomnia and figured it was just my body getting used to the elevated oxygen levels. I am sleeping fine now. I haven't noticed much difference in taste or smell. The only physical thing that has definitely happened is my heart beats about 20 beats less per minute now - I used to be in the mid 80s and now I am in the mid 60s. This is strictly due to quitting smoking and not exercise (because I am too lazy to exercise regularily!) My blood pressure is down about 5 points on top and bottom but it was always good anyways. Other than all that, I feel pretty much the same. Instead of taking smoke breaks at work I go for a walk. I think I was smoking at work partly as an excuse to get away from my computer screen and see the outdoors. I am enjoying the walks right now since spring is here, the temperature is perfect and the campus is blooming.

Now that I am 3 months into this I can finally crack a beer without my first thought being "I wish I could have a smoke with this beer!" So things are getting better with time. I do still think about smoking at least once per day but it takes about 2-3 hours each morning before I remember about it. I am figuring that 1 year from now I might have an entire day go by without thinking about it and that would be great! I am really looking forward to my first plane trip so I only have to go through the security gate once.

No Pool Tonight

We showed up at the City Pool Room around 7:15pm. Allen was in the middle of the first game of the first match of the night. About 10 minutes later when they were just about to rack for the second game, the power went out. Apparently a transformer blew at the substation nearby taking out power to the whole block. After some discussion our team decided to give up 3 points and each pay $7 and take the forfeit. We are in 3rd to last place and even winning all 5 points this late in session wouldn't make a difference. We all didn't want to wait around until the power got back online which could take an hour or more. Next week we play back at the Spot but Andrew will be away at a conference. So Andrew has only one more chance to play on the following week unless we get that wildcard spot!

Is Tomorrow Monday Already?

Sunday's are just too short, in fact the weekends are too short - we should always have 3 day weekends, so we have that extra day to do the errands and stuff. Today we worked in the yard after grocery shopping, doing weeding and watering. Andrew would rather have been sailing. It was a nice day either way - on the water or working in the yard: breezy, no humidity and abnormally warm (high 80's). This morning I made blueberry muffins and for dinner tonight I made a new recipe, Flatbread with Eggplant, Peppers and Olives. It turned out excellent, especially the crust. It was a little tricky to have to roast the eggplant and peppers first, then peel them, and make the dough from scratch, but the end result was great. This one is a keeper. After dinner I made chocolate chip and walnut cookies, one of Andrew's favorites. It is almost time for them to come out of the oven.

Dad called, he and Mary are back from their extended cruise from Chile to the Caribbean. They had a great time but unfortunately Mary came down with bronchitis in the last week. But they are home now and looking forward to the spring and summer of gardening. Dad also reported that Mindy is still in Hawaii! No wonder I haven't heard back from her. I am glad she got to use her whole 10 day holiday at the beach.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Just a typical Saturday yesterday - doing the housework, washing the cars, going to the dump, etc. etc. etc. I also managed to finish Memoirs of a Geisha and so we watched the DVD last night on the big screen. It was a very good adaptation from the novel. They only changed a few things in order to shorten the story line. Andrew really liked it too. We both had a great time in Tokyo last year for Corby and Keiko's wedding, and Japan has left a lasting impression on us.

Water Faucet

After work Andrew finished up with the outdoor water faucet installation, and now I have water where I need it! I spent the time sitting on the deck, drinking a beer, eating organic bean dip with organic chips, and finally starting the book "Memoirs of a Geisha". I want to finish it before watching the DVD. The weather is getting quite hot now, we were at around 86 today and right now at 10:38pm it is still a very warm 76.

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

I have heard of these but have never made them. I got the recipe off the web somewhere. They turned out ok but needed a stiffer texture. I will search for a better recipe. The homemade ovenbaked french fries were excellent. Andrew had 2 helpings.

I finished planting those new plants but everything needs a little tweaking still. I think I will be robbing plants from other places in the yard. I have lots of hostas and moss phlox that could be divided up.

Band Camp

Andrew's band has their first gig! Andrew is second from the left, holding his drum sticks. The music is old-timey blues. I have only heard them on a recording they made of themselves, but never seen them play. Kudos to Andrew for sticking with the drumming and actually playing in a real band. The band practices each Wednesday night. Recently Andrew bought himself a drum mic kit and a set of new drumsticks so he's getting all professional now, ha ha. But I still refer to his practices as "Band Camp" (from the movie American Pie). I can't let this all go to his head.

Dogwoods

The white dogwoods are starting to bloom in our area now, the pinks have been out for awhile now. I wish the water was up to full pond on the lake and then we could canoe around and look at the lake shore foliage. In the picture to the right, you can see the new shed we bought online, assembled onsite, and recently stained. I have my tools in there now and love it.

I moved the 11 daylilies, and also planted some of the pink impatiens with them. Tomorrow I'll be ready to plant the new plants. The weather this week so far is perfect for gardening: low to mid 70's and partly cloudy to sunny.

Waikiki

My brother and sister should be coming home today from a quick trip to Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Here is a couple of webcam shots from the Sheraton Hotel yesterday at 10:00am and 3:00pm. Mindy and Corby should be suntanning in there somewhere. I asked Mindy to take lots of photos and a movie clip of the waves on the beach. I hope they had a great time and didn't fight too much.

Penne

Tonight I made a new dish, penne pasta with pesto, red potatoes and green beans. I tried out an organic flax seed pasta. Having tried whole wheat pasta before and not really liking it, I thought I'd give the flax pasta a try. It was better than whole wheat, but still not as good as regular. This was a quick dish to make, and I like that the beans and potatoes and pasta are all approximately the same size. This was my first time making pesto. Unfortunately I didn't have enough basil as required by the recipe, but made do by adding in some italian parsley. It turned out ok imho.

After work, before dinner, I dug out 11 holes for the stella d'oro daylilies that I must move first before I can plant the new plants I purchased a few days ago. Tomorrow I can move them, and hopefully on Thursday I'll have the new purchases planted. I also mowed the grass which I like doing. I guess that is part of my dad rubbing off. Andrew is working on installing a new outside water faucet beside the crawl space door so I can have water access right where I need it. Once finished, this faucet will be used daily. I am really looking forward to the convenience.

Pool Night turns into Golf Afternoon

Last night we played pool on our regular Monday night league at the Spot, a bar on Ram Cat Alley in downtown Seneca. I won my match but Andrew lost his (it was a close one though!). Andrew and I were thinking of taking the summer off from playing each Monday since we have been doing it for about 5 years now. It turns out that John (the former captain) was forming a new team last night and didn't want me and Andrew on it! So now I am wondering if we can join back up in the fall? I guess we will see. I don't quite know how I feel about this development - I guess my feelings are a little hurt that we weren't included, but at the same time we were just saying earlier in the car ride to the Spot that we should take the summer off. Very strange timing - did we just project these events into fruition, or was it just a coincidence? Anyways, we have 3 more nights to play and then it will be over, unless we draw the wildcard spot for the playoffs.

I think we might try substituting golf for the pool, so each Monday after work we can go to the driving range and the par 3. That will be a nice change of pace and a lot more healthier than hanging out in a bar. I was in a golf tournament on Friday, March 31, 2006 playing with 3 guys from work in best-ball format. I am on the team because I drive from the ladies tees and usually beat the guys, so we end up taking my drive. Obviously we aren't the best golfers! We always come in last place but we have a great time anyways. The last time I hit a ball before this tournament was a year ago. If I could practice once a week my game will be better for the next tournament in May. Maybe we'll shoot par rather than 4 over.

One other thing - we tried out the new Heineken Light beer at the Spot and it was pretty good. Finally they have come out with this. Heineken is my "gardening beer" and I go through quite a bit of it in the summer. With the light version, just think of all the calories I will save!!

Brokeback Mountain

I made a white bean soup for dinner last night after sailing and it was fantastic. I made some modifications to the recipe and added some bowtie pasta as well. That and a couple a beers was all I needed. Andrew made a dessert for himself - lemon bars. I had one bite and they are just way too sweet for me, but he loves them and has a whole pan to eat by himself!

After dinner we watched the DVD "Brokeback Mountain". After all that hype, we didn't find the movie that spectacular. The scenery was nice and the acting (especially Heath) was good, but the story didn't seem that out of the ordinary. Perhaps we just didn't get it.

Sailing Day

This morning we went grocery shopping for the week's supplies. On the menu this week is a white bean soup, a pasta dish with pesto, green beans and new potatoes, portabello mushroom burgers and crispy home fries with red and green bell peppers. Going vegan is definitely cheaper than eating meat products. Even though I am spending more on vegetables by selecting organic over regular, our bill comes to way less than $100. After unloading the groceries I baked up some banana-raisin muffins and some oatmeal-carrot-raisin cookies, both recipes from The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. They taste delicious!

We spent the afternoon sailing for a couple of hours. It wasn't very windy but we still managed to cover quite a bit of ground and there were lots of sailboats out with us (we counted about 9 or so). The plan was to try out the spinnaker sail since we haven't tried that yet, but it turned out the sheets were missing for it. Major drag since the wind speed (5-10 MPH) was perfect for trying it out. We stopped by West Marine on the way home and purchased some line and so hopefully next time we can put up the spinnaker. Here is quicktime movie.

On the gardening front, we stopped by Lowes in Anderson after West Marine so I could check out the plants since I don't come out to Anderson very often. I ended up buying a small grouping which I'll plant out this week. I found 3 variegated dogwoods, 3 heucheras, a tray of pink impatiens, 2 lamiums, 1 itea, and 3 kossa regal hostas. That should keep me busy for awhile!

Orange-Ginger Tofu Triangles

On March 23, 2006 I decided to try eating as a vegan (or as close as possible). This means no animal products, including all dairy and eggs. So far it has been a very tasty experience and not difficult to adapt to. Andrew is still eating as an omnivore so I just try to add in some meat at the end of the dish for his portion only. But mostly he is starting to eat vegan too since it is just simpler that way, and it is better for his heart. Tonight I made Tofu Triangles from The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld and George Minot. I am letting them marinate overnight and will bake them tomorrow morning. The marinade is made with orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, rice vinegar and hot pepper flakes. I did not use cilantro as specified because I don't like it. Didn't use the chipolte chiles either. The marinade tasted excellent and I am expecting the baked results to be terrific. It will be a nice snack for tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was linguine with a homemade tomato sauce (recipe from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis). I put a little leftover hamburger in Andrew's portion and also grated a little parmesan cheese on top. That tomato sauce is so good that just noodles and sauce is all I need.

Today in the garden I planted up 6 small verbenas, 3 purple lantanas and 2 small thyme plants. There are so many weeds to pull. Sometimes it is a little overwhelming! The weather was partly to mostly cloudy in the mid 60s. Around 4:00am we had a big thunderstorm come through, so everything got a nice watering. We signed up for sewer summer use adjustment since NOAA is predicting pretty dry conditions this year. Unlike last year when I didn't have to water the grass once, I think we will be using the sprinklers alot this summer.