Haircut

I got my hair cut yesterday, you can see the before shot taken just a few days ago and the after shot I just took right now. I was trying to grow my hair out really long but it was driving me a little crazy so now it is back to short. Much faster to blow dry this morning. We are off to Greenville to do some shopping and then in the afternoon I hope to get in some yard work. The Tigers play Louisiana tonight, so we will probably watch that. Last night we watched the movie 'The Lakehouse' with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. We both really enjoyed that one - it is a nice love story with a time-displacement twist.

A Little History

Yesterday's dinner was a disaster - the first really bad dish we've made since trying to eat vegetarian. It was a sundried tomato and basil pesto over linguine placed on toasted baguette rounds and baked in the oven for 15 minutes. Perhaps neither of us like pesto (I don't recall having it before - I must try some in a restaurant to see if it is any good). We won't be making that dish again. A funny thing though, on the way home yesterday we needed to stop at the grocery store to get the fresh baguette and we went through the self-checkout. The total came to $2.10 and Andrew asked if I had a dime. I didn't but Andrew said he felt like there was money on the floor so I looked around for a dime. I glanced under the empty checkout stand next to us and sure enough, I found 2 one dollar bills. Weird! So we got the baguette for 10 cents.

Over the last few days I have been email corresponding with a guy named Angus in Scotland who contacted me for his research on my family surname. I sent him what I knew and a few photos, and today he sent me some great photos and quite a bit of history. Very interesting. I have emailed my aunt to see what she knows and I will also ask my dad for information once he returns from his trip to Italy. In the first photo (taken in 1876) you can see my great great great grandfather (the oldest man) and my great great grandfather (standing right behind him). In the second photo (taken in 1896) you can see my great great grandfather (the oldest man) and my great grandfather (standing right behind him). My great grandfather moved the family from Scotland to Canada in 1921. One of his brothers went to the US and another to Australia. The young girl in the center of the second photo is Angus' grandmother. Angus got my email address from a guy in London who has been researching my last name for 30 years!

Washington DC Tour

I have finally finished going through my photos from the Washington DC trip and have made a set of web pages for people to view. Click here to get the tour. Today we got 2 mail deliveries. Love that online ordering, especially since we don't have very good local shopping around here. The first was my new book 'Sargent', which I purchased as my DC souvenir. This is an art book all about the works of painter John Singer Sargent. I am currently reading 'Harvest for Hope' - this book purchase was also inspired by the DC trip. At the Natural History Museum gift shop I bought a copy of her 'The Ten Trusts'. I am starting to get more educated about the way the world currently treats animals and the environment, and it's pretty sick. The second delivery was a new cat carrier. Previously we only had one and we'd shove both cats in it when taking them to Miss Kitty's for their 'vacation'. It was pretty squishy and Harley would hiss at Sidney. So now they both have their own and there'll be no more fighting. Even though these carriers are not airline approved, we like them because they are like camping tents with screen windows and flaps, and they have a nice fluffy bottom for the cats to lay on. Now I'm going outside to do some yard work and Andrew is going to wash the car. He pumped up the front tire on the harley, but he figures the tire is old and he needs to order a new one.

New Jacket

When we got home from work today, Andrew's new jacket that he'd ordered online was waiting on the front porch. In Washington DC we visited the Spy Musuem and in the gift shop there was this jacket that was advertising itself as having an obscene number of pockets. Andrew tried it on but the size was too big. Luckily he found it online (for $50 cheaper) and got it. If you know Andrew you know that he is obsessed about pockets. I think this jacket has 32 pockets or something like that. So Andrew has his DC souvenir now and he is happy. Andrew wore it to dinner tonight - he had a impromptu work dinner to attend and he was going to ride his bike, but the front tire is flat. Perhaps the bike is saying it needs more attention. The weather is perfect and it would have been a great evening for a ride. So me and the cats are at home alone, and I've opened up all the windows in the house to air things out. The cats are inside but enjoying a snooze on the bedroom screened porch. For my dinner I made that italian rice, red bean, onion, carrot and cabbage dish we've had before. Yummy - love that creamy arborio rice.

Tea Olive

The weather is perfect and I am enjoying my lunch hour walks. I took a few photos around campus. The clock tower is called 'Tillman Hall' and is a university landmark. This building was dedicated on July 18, 1891 and the clock chimes every 15 minutes with its 47-bell carillon, the largest in the state. I made it to the botanical garden again and took a look around the pond area where several ducks and geese live. Everywhere is the intense fragrance of the Tea Olive. I just love this scent - so powerful from such a small little flower. The secret is that there are thousands of these little flowers and thus the scent is able to waft for quite aways. I felt like a blood hound tracking down the bushes to take a photo. I have 3 of these plants in my garden but they are no where near the size of the ones in the botanical garden. I might have to resite mine after seeing the conditions of those in the botanical garden - I don't think mine are getting enough sun or water. I am continuing to work on my Washington DC photos a little at a time. Tonight I will also be watching the Marie Antoinette documentary on PBS. Sofia Coppola has a new movie out of the same name. I really liked her 'Lost in Translation' movie and so I would like to know a little about the history of Marie Antoinette before watching the movie.

More Rain Today

Yesterday afternoon we watched the football game and Clemson beat North Carolina 52-7. Then the sun poked its head out so Sidney and I went outside for a garden tour. Harley is turning into a bit of a housecat and so she just wanted to stay inside and sleep. We came across a turtle under the japanese maple. I guess Sidney has seen lots of turtles before since she didn't make a big fuss about it. She was more excited to just keep moving along with the tour. It is great that the cats love keeping me company when I am gardening. My one remaining aster is blooming now - I love the color and I think I will move it to a more sunny location. It should be about 4 feet tall but mine is only about 1 foot tall. I don't think it is getting enough sun. The other two that I planted with it have died, so I would like to save this one if possible. After the tour I stayed outside and did some yard maintenance for a few hours around the side of the house. Morning glory vine had grown up onto (and into!) the vinyl siding so I hacked and pulled that all down. What an obnoxious weed. I also had to prune back the azeleas and rhododendron by the electric metering fixture - I like to have a 1 foot gap between the house foundation and any plantings. Andrew's fix on extending the outlet pipe is working and now the excess water is going onto the plants rather than the foundation. Our heating guy won't be back at work until Oct 2 so we are waiting for him and meanwhile the water is still running - but a few more weeks shouldn't make a big difference. I have finished my first quilt. Sewing up the binding did not take as long as I thought I would. Andrew wants me to make him one next.
There is a large line of thundershowers heading our way so this afternoon will be wet. It also rained in the middle of the night last night. The plants and the lawns are loving it! But no boating this weekend. On the agenda today is meal planning and grocery shopping, housework and workwork (for Andrew), and hopefully an ichat with Charlie in Canada!

Rainy Saturday

It is pouring rain right now and the forecast is for rain today and tomorrow. So although we need the rain it is a drag that it is happening on the weekend. But we need to do some housework and Andrew needs to do some work work so perhaps the rain is coming at a good time. All week the temperatures have been cooler so I have been extending my lunch time walk to include the Botanical Garden. I noticed that they are improving some of the walkways - turning them from gravel to brick pavers - much nicer to walk on. Since I don't have a lot of time I can only walk around the hosta, perennial, and conifer gardens. The conifer garden is overgrown, some of the paths are obscurred by large limbs so it is interesting to know that I am not the only one who has trouble with correct initial planting spacing. This week we made 2 new dishes. The first was called 'Mountain Stew'. It was very good with lots of vegetables, brown rice and kidney beans. The second was 'Indonesian Fried Noodles' which used 'Soba noodles' - a noodle made with ancient kamut wheat grain. I got to use my new wok for the first time and it worked great. However next time we make the noodle dish we need to reduce the amount of cayenne pepper - knowing that Indonesian food is typically very hot, I only used half the amount of cayenne but even that turned out to be too hot. We also will change the way the egg is used. Rather than dump in the raw beaten eggs and then stir to cook and create a creamy texture on the noodles, we will next time just make scrambled eggs in the wok and then hold them aside and combine them at the end. Being so rainy today, maybe we can try out our new pasta maker and have fresh pasta for lunch or dinner. I guess it depends on when Andrew gets out of bed and what he wants to do. He is still sleeping right now! I started work on hand sewing the binding for the quilt last night - being a little tedious I was putting that off. But it is a good activity for a rainy day so I will continue with that this morning.

Healthy Lunches

I just finished making the lunches for today. We pretty much have the same thing everyday for lunch. I make a mixed salad with spinach and several types of lettuces, although this week there is no spinach since all spinach has been pulled from all grocery store shelves across the country due to the E. coli outbreak. The salad dressing is Newman's Own oil and vinegar. We also have red seedless grapes, carrots, and bananas. I put an apple in mine but Andrew doesn't like eating apples, he says they are too messy. He will eat an apple if I slice it for him, but that doesn't work for lunches since it would turn all brown. Dessert is a couple of homemade cookies - this week they are oatmeal raisin. Sometimes I put in something extra, like this morning I put in 2 small slices of baguette with humus spread I made on Saturday. Everything fits nicely into containers and then into our lunch bags, along with a frozen ice pack to keep things cool. If Andrew needs more food he goes to the food court and gets something else, such as sushi.

A Great Margarita

Yesterday we made some progress on the front yard grass. We made the circle smaller and this week we need to add some more mulch and pick out weeds to get ready for reseeding in 3 weeks. Andrew also extended the heating tank overflow pipe so now our foundation will be drier. This morning I made applesauce so I could make this week's muffins and cookies. Making applesauce is very easy using the microwave - peel some 'bargin buy' apples (saving the peels in the compost pail!), slice and cover, microwave for 20 minutes, and then puree in the food processor. Applesauce and a little safflower oil are used in place of eggs and lard, etc., in baking and thus the muffins and cookies are cholesterol-free. Then we went grocery shopping and filled up the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables. On this week's menu is: 1. Penne with Asparagus and Herbs, 2. Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas, 3. Mountain Stew, and 4. Indonesian Fried Noodles. Each dish is really a 2 day meal so that leaves plenty for leftovers. We have been using the Vegetarian Times Cookbook alot recently and so far have not been disappointed. At the BiLo we took our blood pressure - Andrew was at 129/84 and I was at 115/72 - I really believe the lifestyle changes are working, but we should cut back on the beer drinking and we both need to lose a little weight (I could lose about 30 pounds!). We went cruising on the boat today down to Portman Marina where we saw a few sailboats out for a race but there wasn't much wind so they were not moving very fast. We also went for a swim and noticed the water is a little cooler now. The air temps are down too. So definitely fall is on its way. When we got back home, I made myself my first ever home made margarita, using a recipe from "The Great Margarita Book" that I brought home from Key West a few years ago. I swear it was the best margarita I've ever had. It was 100% blue agave tequila (Jose Cuervo 'Tradicional') and Triple Sec, and fresh squeezed lime juice. Shake with ice and pour into a glass with ice and a lime garnish. I didn't know it was so simple and easy! Andrew made himself a 'Ceasar' - one of his favorites with clamato juice and Stolichnaya vodka. Then we made a new dish for dinner: the Penne with Asparagus. It was absolutely delicious. The vegetable broth, garlic, dijon mustard, parsley, chives and tarragon are blended in the food processor to make the sauce, which is poured over steamed carrots and asparagus, and combined with penne pasta. It was very tasty and I am adding this to my favorites list. Andrew felt that the sauce was trying to fake that it was ricotta cheese, but I thought it was a great dairy free pasta sauce. The fresh herbs and lemon really stood out.

Seasoning the Wok

When we came back from DC a package was waiting at our front door. My new carbon steel wok set I'd ordered online had arrived all the way from the Wok Shop in San Francisco. I seasoned it this morning according to their directions: clean the wok with soap and hot water to remove the factory machine oil finish, then place on high heat and burn in 1 teaspoon of peanut oil, rotating the wok around so the oil gets all over the inside. Open up the windows because it is going to smoke. Let it cool back to room temperature and then repeat the heat/oil/cooling treatment about 3 or 4 times. I ended up with a nice shiny brownish-bronzish patina - the more the wok is used the better this patina will become. I asked Andrew to throw away the old and peeling non-stick wok (yeah!) and now I am looking forward to cooking up some more stir-frys. They also sent along a recipe book which has a few vegetarian dishes we can try.

Back to the Grind

We got back from Washington DC on Wednesday night. Andrew had a 2 day business meeting there so we decided I would join him and we'd go a few days early for a monument and Smithsonian tour. I must have taken a gazillion photos and now have to process them all, throwing out the rejects and writing up the good ones. It was a great trip with excellent weather. Only a little drizzle on the last day. Now when I see various monuments in the TV news clips I can say "I know exactly where that is". We also went to lots of art galleries and museums. And the metro is awesome! But now we are back to the grind at work - it's mid September and the semester is settling in now. Today I mowed the grass and took the cats on a garden tour. They were very happy that we picked them up from the boarding house yesterday and are thrilled that once again they have their freedom to run and play outdoors in the garden and forest. The mailbox planting has made a bit of a second showing - the russian sage and spirea are blooming again. We got some good rains while we were away and the temperatures are getting a little cooler. It is time to start working on the lawn - getting rid of weeds and overseeding. Unfortunately the lake still hasn't recovered. The beaver dam is holding, but we need a small hurricane to head our way - just a small one, no high winds please (in 2004 Hurricane Ivan took out all 4 bradford pears at the entrance to our subdivision - even this far inland the winds can really be damaging). Our water heater needs an inspection. During the garden tour I heard a dripping sound on the side of the house - it was the outlet pipe for the water heater. So I took a look at the water heater and sure enough, it seems to be dripping quite a bit of water from the pressure valve, so much that the drip pan is completely full and the extra water is exiting out the pipe to the side of the house. What a waste of water! I think the valve must be corroded. Andrew will be contacting the heating guy to take a look at it. Hopefully it won't be too much hassle to get it fixed up. I don't like that the water from the outlet pipe is dripping right on the house foundation so this weekend Andrew will be extending that outlet pipe to water the plants rather than the foundation. A little PVC pipe and glue should take care of that nicely. For dinner tonight I made a stir fry. Lots of fresh, lightly cooked vegetables over rice with some thai chili sauce on top. Andrew put a little shrimp in his. We just bought the new Bob Dylan CD 'Modern Times' from Apple iTunes and we are listening to it right now. Fantastic CD - highly recommended. This weekend should be filled with yard work and boating - the weather will be great, I love fall weather! Andrew is looking forward to watching the Aggies play Army tomorrow night on ESPN2. Gig 'em Aggies whoop!

Bluegrass

On Tuesday evening we went out for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and I treated myself to a bacon cheeseburger with fries. Yummy. Then we went to the Brooks Center on campus to see the Ricky Scaggs and Kentucky Thunder concert. The Brooks Center seats only 1000 and we had great seats in the front row of the mezzanine level right near the center. Perfect seats with no rows in front of us. It was a sold out show, all the floor level seats had gone to the Brooks Center members so we were lucky to have got our tickets at all. The Center has a new dress policy of 'come as you are' so we didn't need to dress up. People of all ages were there, from blue haired theatre ladies to students in raggy tshirts. The band played lots of bluegrass standards from Monroe, Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and others, including what Ricky called the bluegrass anthem 'Uncle Pen', and lots of songs from his recent and upcoming albums. Ricky has won many Grammys and his band Kentucky Thunder is apparently the best instrumental bands in the country right now - they have won the Grammy 6 of the last 7 years. What a tight group. Ricky sure is picky about his tuning - he had to keep tuning before each song but during it he would be entertaining us in that typical southern way with stories about family, food and good times. We are lucky to have heard them in such a small venue. Although in the video they all look far away, in real life I could see every string on the instruments and every facial expression. Everyone around us was tapping and clapping and hollering. Excellent show!

Gameday Cruising

Friday night Andrew played at the 356 downtown with the Hoodoo Hounds. I watched the early 8:00pm show and met up with Benny and Renee. We stayed until around 10:00pm and they drove me home. Andrew kept playing until 1:30am and didn't get home until 3:30pm - it takes about 1 hour just to take apart his drums. He loves the sound of his new drums and is very thrilled that one of his childhood dreams has come true, to play drums in a rock band in front of an audience!
Saturday I had a craving for egg rolls and so we went to Bloom for the ingredients and cooked about 20 of them for lunch. They turned out great - we hadn't made home made egg rolls since we lived in Texas. The kickoff for Clemson football's season opener against Florida Atlantic was at 3:30pm, so we took the boat out by the stadium after filling up with 10 gallons of gas at the Clemson dock. Driving over to the stadium we could see lots of docks and boats on dry land. There were lots of boats out with us listening to the game on the radio and it was great to see the stadium filled with orange. We could hear the crowd roaring and the cannon firing after each touchdown. By halftime it was clear that Clemson would win this one so we went off for a cruise (this is a long download so be patient). We went up the north arm of the lake that leads to the dam at lake Keowee, but the water started to get shallow so we turned around before grounding out. Along the way we saw some wild turkeys feeding in the grasses by the lake edge. We also lost a fender somewhere because we forgot to bring them in before cruising around. We ended the day with a nice sunset in our little part of the lake. Back at the house, we watched the dvd 'A View From the Top' - it was a nice comedy about flight attendants and the stereotypes, etc.Today we went grocery shopping and I made some banana, raisin, walnut and chocolate chip muffins. Then we went to Walmart and bought a new fender and a new boat cover since the current boat cover has ripped again - it has been repaired too many times and its fabric is shot. So we worked on the boat a little and then relaxed the rest of the day away. Andrew did some programming and I surfed the web and did some laundry. Tonight's dinner was an irish stew made with red wine, lots of fresh vegetables and some chickpeas for protein.

The Week's Update

Well it has been a pretty typical week, not much out of the ordinary happening. So I thought I'd just narrate a few pictures I took over the week. We made a new dish - a gratin of eggplant, zucchini, and chickpeas. It was very nice and easy to make. Lots of yard work to do as usual after work each day. When I was pruning back some shrubs, I noticed a large praying mantis on the very branch I was about to clip back. I guess the babies from earlier this year are growing up!

Andrew ordered a new part for our fridge and installed it. The ice maker still wasn't working properly. So now it is making ice, albeit rather slowly and we hope that it will be fixed permanently now. It is funny how easily we got used to having the ice made automatically for us, and now consider going back to manually filling up ice trays as so primitive and old fashioned. The pink pentas are blooming well, even with all this heat and humidity. Next year I definitely must plant more tropical annuals. They are no care plants and don't wilt in the summer heat. Otherwise, except for the crepe mrytles, the yard is mostly green and brown. I need to make a trip to the South Carolina state botantical garden (which is located right beside campus) and see what they have blooming this time of year for some inspiration and ideas.

The weather is the normal summer pattern: afternoon pop up thunderstorms. You never know if you are going to get one and literally it can be raining in your yard and 5 yards over it is dry. They come in fast and leave fast. All of a sudden the sky gets dark, it rains buckets, and then it is gone. I tried to get a photo of one - you can see that the clouds are very dark, yet the sun is still shining on the house. It makes for very interesting lighting conditions. We didn't see a drop out of Ernesto which is a drag. We are over 5 feet under full pool on the lake and it is very noticeable. We went power boating last Sunday, driving around to see the lake and give the boat a bottom scrubbing. Lots of docks are on dry land, and we saw the odd pontoon boat on dry land as well, I guess the owners didn't get them out before the lake dried up on them. The beaver dam is still holding the water around our dock, and the fish, frogs, and birds must be very happy about that. But I really miss canoeing. It is the perfect after-work/before-dinner activity: getting out there for an hour of quietly observing nature and getting in an upper body workout to build up the appetite for dinner as well. Hopefully next year will be better.