FEELING: organized. centered. jovial. ready to have a productive and fun weekend. nice weather predicted. a neglected garden to weed. a new vegetarian recipe to try.
HEARING: with the windows open, traffic from the interstate. going fast. no sirens. just a nice lull in the background.
TASTING: water. cold. fresh. keeping me hydrated as I seat here typing. adding vitality to my life.
SEEING: trees with red leaves on a few of the branches. green grass tinged with a bit of gold. blue skies with white clouds. a relaxing natural color palette indicative of change.
SMELLING: a new parfum called fresh life. its scent has lingered in the air after I applied a dab of it from a sample card onto my wrist. light floral. citrus-ish. clean.
[This meme, which I think is a wonderful idea, originated a long time ago on a blog that is now defunct. If you wish, you may play along in the comment section below or on your own blog.]
I happened to be walking through the back of our house when I glanced out the patio door onto the deck and noticed that our Weber grill had grown a tail overnight.
Upon closer examination I noticed that there seemed to be a certain critter hiding behind the grill. So I bided my time to see if, by chance, this critter was our good old friend, Fuzzy. It didn’t take long for me to confirm that Fuzzy the Squirrel was back to his annoying tricks.
From my vantage point inside the house I could see that our friend was using his backside to try to nudge the top off the grill, presumably to get to the hamburger grease + burnt nibbles that were left inside the grill from the night before.
Naturally when I inquired about his sneaky-looking behavior Fuzzy ignored me. He is a master of indifference, so when he turned his back on me I wasn’t all that surprised. Instead, I just waited to see what he’d do next, knowing that he can never stay still very long.
And true to form, with one wistful sideways glance toward the grill, Fuzzy ran away from me along the top of the deck railing toward his home in Tree #3479 in the forest primeval. It is there, I presume, he found something else to do with his time besides making himself a nuisance on our deck.
But he also left me wondering if squirrels eat hamburgers. So I did a quick Google search after which I realized that this question has no reliable answer, but does lead one to an unexpected link to an abstract of an academic paper. Of course.
Yesterday morning I awakened with the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious song from Mary Poppins floating through my head. In fact, as I walked downstairs from the bedroom to the kitchen I was singing it out loud.
I am such a dork!!!
Because I was feeling English suddenly I decided to have a proper pot of tea with milk and sugar. I got out my little blue 2-cup tea-pot, added some Taylors of Harrogate Irish Breakfast Tea [which I admit is not English at all, but is the only kind of strong black tea that we have in the house] and brewed myself a lovely beverage.
Jolly good, I tell you.
Did I mention to you, Dear Diary, that Z-D took a day off from work yesterday? Well, he did. And because the weather was so mild and the skies were so clear, we decided to skip yard work and drive over the river to the next state to have lunch on the patio of an English Pub.
Yes, my morning theme continued. Isn’t that cool?
At the Pub, I had my favorite unhealthy appetizer, curry and chips. I washed it down with a Belhaven Scottish Lager [which I admit is not from England either, but I like it– probably my ancestry coming through]. I also had healthy fish tacos with a side salad to balance out my first course.
Then, fortified with alcohol and calories, we decided to go exploring.
We drove back over the river into our state and went to a crowded, fussy, older part of the city where we found the bestest place yet. Yes, we went to Penzeys Spices, a place I’ve longed to go to for years, but only just discovered has a retail store in our city. You’d be proud of us, Dear Diary, we showed admirable restraint and only bought 6 small jars of spice, 2 small bottles of extract and 1 bag of herbs.
My inner foodie was in heaven.
Then we drove back home to the ‘burbs where we collapsed on our screened-in porch. One of us played Candy Crush [Level 205, be impressed] while the other one, exhausted by the day’s excitement, napped while pretending to read a book set in London [because once you have a theme day, you have to go with it].
This is middle age fun. Such as it is.
The rest of the day was the usual hum-drum of laundry, dishes, bills, planning, what have you. But that was okay, Dear Diary, because we had such a good time goofing off earlier in the day.
NOT MUCH GOING ON HERE TO TELL you about, my gentle readers. It’s that time in August when everyone who I know is:
preparing for back-to-school; &/OR
taking a last-minute vacay before Labor Day; &/OR
hiding inside an air-conditioned building in a futile attempt to avoid ragweed, chenopods and nettle pollen*.
SO INSTEAD OF TWISTING MYSELF INTO KNOTS about not having anything to write about [or anyone around to read what I write], I’m going to share the following fun + informative links with you.
LIKE PIGS WHO FLY I SHALL RETURN in a week or two, presuming something blog-worthy happens in my life. Until then, enjoy!
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:: Wishing you knew a way to open that darned wine bottle when you are without a corkscrew, but have your shoes? Go here.
Filed under: “Things To Try… Maybe.”
:: Ever think that there might be a better, more scientific, way to go about cutting a birthday cake? Go here.
I’m telling ‘ya, you’re doing it wrong.
:: Do you dislike pitchers of warm beer yet lack a simple way to keep the pitcher cold? Go here.
Now this one seems useful.
:: Looking for ways to make all your pie crusts look pretty? Go here.
Loving every one of them.
:: Thinking that an expertly mixed martini is what you need right now? Go here.
Not bad: handsome man, perfect drink.
:: In the mood for a Jell-O ice cream pie prepared by Johnny Carson in 1957? Go here.
None for me, thanks.
:: Ever wonder if there’s a more difficult, yet mathematically equal, way to slice a bagel in two? Go here.
Cute, but too tricky for me.
* Find out what pollen is ruining your summer fun at Pollen.com.
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 