QOTD: how many words did I use in this post? Hmmm…? Care to guess?
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I’m tired.
My home is in chaos with no end in sight for these remodeling projects. The country is going to hell in a handbasket courtesy, most recently, of the Supreme Snort Court. And the world is a dumpster fire thanks to Mr. Putin.
I am almost without words.
Thus I’m going to step away from blogging for the month of July, maybe longer, so that I might REGROUP. Perhaps RECONSIDER what I want to do here. RELAX, even.
But before I go, let me share the following with you. 😋
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AND FINALLY READER COMMENTS IN THE FORM OF A TALLY…
About ice cream flavors. You told me your favorites. Listed below in descending order of preference are the flavors with two or more votes:
• Last Thursday the nurse holding the syringe said “Coming at ‘ya, BOOM!” And with that I received my final booster shot against Covid-19. On July 1 I’ll be VAXXED TO THE MAX at 95% protection. It’ll be my first day of freedom after 28 months of pandemic precautions and awareness. Whatever shall I do with myself?
Mark my words, this won’t be jolly.
• Our favorite DISHWASHERever isn’t working. First we’ll see if it can be repaired, but past experience has taught me probably not. Then if/when that is confirmed we’ll start down the primrose path to getting a new one, meaning we’re heading back into the world of supply chain woes. This does not make me happy.
I think not, my fine fellow!
• I made deviled eggs whilst Z-D lurked around the kitchen looking like a starving puppy. As is my habit after filling each egg half with yummy yolk-y goodness I sprinkled smoked paprika on top of each egg, then placed a pimiento on top because… is it even a real deviled egg without a DECORATIVE PIMIENTO?
Zen-Den, who you’d think would know better, did not comprehend the importance of said decoration and kept trying to eat an undecorated egg, like a prehistoric caveman. Hands were slapped.
What are the odds, I ask sarcastically?
• On the home improvement front I’m sorry to report that not enough TILE has arrived to finish the floor in the powder room. We’re waiting on getting more of it that’ll, God willing the creek don’t rise, match what’s already installed. If it doesn’t match then who knows what happens next. I shudder to think.
It’s gonna be an epic battle.
• The ZINNIA WARS of the Summer of ’22 have begun. Deer [or rabbits?] are gnawing on my zinnias that I’ve nurtured from seed, then planted outside in sunny spots where I can easily see them daily. YET many zinnias have been torn out of the ground, strewn asunder, by nefarious animals intent on stealing my joy. We’ll just see about that.
Now is your chance to share your Tidbits & Trifles. WHAT NOT EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN YOUR WORLD? Spill it in the comments below.
OVER THE WEEKEND I FINISHED WATCHING the last hilarious season of the TV show, Grace and Frankie. One of the episodes* in this season involves Grace [played by Jane Fonda] reconciling with her younger brother [played by Jamey Sheridan] who she hasn’t seen in years.
She invites him to her house on the pretext of familial love, but the truth is she’s feeling unexpectedly nostalgic and wants him to give her the family recipe for chicken paprikash.
He knows this recipe by heart.
In the course of their conversation he figures out the subterfuge and starts to walk out, but Frankie [played by Lily Tomlin] finds a way for the two of them to get along.
He was young when their father died and he wants to know fun little details about the man. So for every chicken paprikash ingredient he says, Grace tells him something personal about their father.
This episode was quintessential Grace and Frankie, funny and poignant.
Absurd, yet believable.
• • •
THIS EPISODE GOT ME THINKING ABOUT fun little details about my father; he died when I was 15 so my memories of him are from a kid’s point of view. The details I remember aren’t about his professions, or his accomplishments, or his character– just idiosyncratic things about an adult.
Thus in honor of this coming weekend’s Father’s Day in the US, and for snorts and giggles, I share a list of some fun quirky details about my dad.
Ostensibly it’s about my father, but perhaps gives a glimpse into who I am as well. I’ve read that the oldest daughter is a female version of her father. Maybe so, maybe not.
All I know is he was character.
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✅ He could wiggle his ears.
✅ His favorite holiday was St. Patrick’s Day. He wore a green necktie and green suspenders, and insisted we have corned beef & cabbage dinner– with a shot of Irish whiskey for the adults.
✅ He collected antique guns.
✅ He was a camera-shy** camera nut, with more brands and lenses and tripods and lights than you can imagine. Equipment everywhere.
✅ He kept bees and we ate honey from the hive.
✅ He had a pair of boxer shorts underwear that had a white background with red ants crawling around. When he wore the underwear he’d say he had “ants in his pants.”
✅ He was ambidextrous.
✅ He didn’t suffer fools easily, nor dawdling little girls, so if I was being pokey and said “I’m coming, I’m coming” he’d yell “SO’S CHRISTMAS.”
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Questions of the Day
If you knew him as a child, what fun and/or quirky little details do you remember about your father?
Are you like him in any ways?
If you watched it, what did you think of Season 7 of Grace and Frankie?
** The best photo of him I have is of him sitting by a cadaver he worked on in med school. While interesting, it is macabre, not suitable for this PG-13 blog.
I was wondering how I was going to introduce these photos then inspiration arrived in the form of a spammer. No doubt he’s a sincere dude, offering me unsolicited advice.
You see, kids, this spammer believes I’m too verbose to create good content, as evidenced by my last wordy post*. He mansplained graciously suggested that by using more photos in my posts, and fewer words, I could become a GREAT blogger.
Thus with a hat tip to this fine fellow, and a hope that this picture-filled post doesn’t burden him with the need to read & comprehend too many words, I give you seven pretty photos that showcase spring colors in the garden.
Also, Zen-Den wants me to wish spammer dude well completing fourth grade. We both think this might be a challenge for him… all. those. words.
BLUE sky smiling above
RED geranium in a terra cotta pot
PINK astilbe in dappled sunlight
GREEN trees as backdrop to screened-in porch
BLACK petunias [that are actually as very dark purple but are sold as black] in a terra cotta pot
“I don’t know this woman but I think you’re protecting your personal boundaries. I think her response to your very thoughtful and honest suggestion speaks volumes. Sure, people can change. But that doesn’t mean they get to be let into your life. No thank you.”
“Boundaries, baby! Yes, Ally, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion/schtick/whatevs, but that doesn’t make them right or smart or even decent people. If there’s anything the I’ve learned since we’ve entered the aughts is that there are a whole lotta people out there I wouldn’t want to have dinner with…”
“Nothing hypocritical about avoiding people who aren’t good energy. I have to say I feel a little bad for Zelda. Not bad enough that I think you should follow her. Just sad for a person who seems to know something of the world, yet remains so self-focused.”
* The analysis of my word to photo ratio on the previous post shows 246 words per 2 photos. On this post, excluding this footnote and the captions on the photos, there are 42 words per 7 photos. Make of this what you will.
“If you have been mixing a dense mixture for several minutes or more, it is possible that the force of the planetary action can over-tighten the bowl.”
Planetary Action is “a double mechanical motion in which a tool is rotated on a center, while that center is revolved in another circle at the same time.”
BLUESY THE MIXING FLOOZY nestled in the corner on the kitchen counter
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This tale involves our KitchenAid Tilt-head Mixer, BLUESY THE MIXING FLOOZY. She’s okay, no need to worry, but there is a casualty in this story.
You see, once upon a time we bought the KitchenAid Tilt-head Mixer Ice Cream Attachment. It’s two parts that involve an insulated freezer bowl and a goofy little paddle thingie.
We did this so we could use BLUESY to make ice cream at home for the heck of it. Thus it came to be that the other day I decided we needed to make ice cream and we did.
But in the process of using the KitchenAid Tilt-head Mixer Ice Cream Attachment, the insulated bowl froze onto BLUESY. Not budging at all.
This did not make us happy.
Following KitchenAid’s “stuck bowl” advice for how to free a stuck bowl, we tried using multiple warm wet kitchen towels wrapped at the juncture where the bowl attaches to the mixer.
Bowl still stuck.
Again following KitchenAid’s advice we put dabs of vegetable oil at the juncture where the bowl attaches to the mixer, then applied brute force.
Bowl still stuck.
Then being innovative little suburban scamps we improvised and tried using WD-40.
Bowl still stuck.
At this point, I’m ashamed to say, I was ready to give up on BLUESY, the old girl. So I went online to see how much a new KitchenAid Tilt-head Mixer would cost. I was shocked. Prices have doubled since we bought her.
So we took extreme measures.
Zen-Den, following the last ditch “stuck bowl” advice, took BLUESY into the basement, placed her on a folded beach towel on the floor, then carefully used a rubber mallet to bash the base of the insulated ice cream freezer bowl, slowly reshaping the base of the bowl.
Then he used a flathead screwdriver to lift, force, cajole the insulated bowl loose, destroying its structural integrity in the process while accidentally leaving a small scratch on BLUESY’S pretty blue finish.
We can live with this.
In fact I feel the scratch, a mere boo-boo, adds character to BLUESY. Not to mention we saved $449.99 by not buying a new Kitchen-Aid Tilt-head Mixer.
Cha-ching!
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Close-up of BLUESY THE MIXING FLOOZY’S boo-boo
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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY
Have you ever wanted to take a mallet to a machine? Did you do it?
If you have a stand mixer [any brand], have you ever gotten the bowl stuck on it? If so, how’d you get the bowl unstuck?
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 