Today was a pretty uneventful day. Del worked, and I did laundry and walked to the open air market, the Humana, and Iki. It was relatively warmer today, felt like 14 most of the day. My first stop was at the Humana, where I bought a muffler that is twice as long as I am tall. I figured it might shrink, but I threw it into the wash as soon as I got home, and it didn't. I figure it will keep me warm about the head and shoulders. When it gets past muffler weather, I will unravel it and turn it into something. Then on to the open air market where I bought a beautiful pair of hand knit mittens to wear over my leather gloves. The lady at the stall thought that was really strange. She kept shaking her head and demonstrating taking off the gloves and putting the mittens on. I kept saying the Lithuanian word for "cold" and shivering dramatically in hopes that she would understand. 16 lita later, I was off to the meat market, waving at her with happy hands. I also stopped by to say laba diena to the suspender man.
I bought bacon, a sausage recommended by the bacon man's stall neighbor and a small piece of fresh ham. I also bought a small piece of sause - the pig parts jello I talked about before. It was quite tasty with vinegar and saltine crackers. It tasted very much like it did when I was a child, except that there was neither red nor black pepper involved. This is not a very peppery country. I may start carrying a shaker of black and a shaker of red pepper in my day pack for emergencies. The food is delicious, but when you eat pepper on everything, including watermelon and cantelope, pepper is not optional. I heard Cokie Roberts, say on tv that she carries a small bottle of tabasco in her purse for bland food emergencies. I was told that saltines are a rather new thing here. These taste just like Premium saltines, and each large package is made up of little packages of 4 cracker rectangles. It's like those expensive forced moderation packages of various snacks in the US. Because there are only four crackers in the package, I can be quite satisfied with four crackers, and they stay really fresh. I stopped at the Iki for milk and toilet paper, etc. and then home.
Thank goodness we have the new Iki, because when I turned on the gas to light the eyes of the stove to make dinner, the Bic stove lighter was empty. I had seen a box of matches in a drawer, so I thought it was no problem, but there was only one left in the box. I used it to light one eye and a twist of paper to light the others. Del went out to take the trash- about 2 blocks- and then ran into Iki to get matches to hold us over until we get back to Hyper Maxima for a replacement lighter thingy. By the time he got home, dinner was ready - chicken breast, broccoli, beet salad and potatoes.
We Skyped with Daryl Lyn and Tommy, with a brief appearance from the bride to be. They have had the stomach flu from guess where, but are all better now.
Give us a Skype if you get a chance. bettymae62 We would love to hear your news.
In case you forgot, my spell checker still speaks only Lithuanian, so I'm relying on my own spelling and proof reading skills, or actually lack of them. Sorry.
Enjoy your Sunday!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day 32 Unexpected Fun!
Today was a busy day for Del. We both suffered through Lithuanian class, and it's hard - so many words, so many endings, so little memory. I was ready to put a straw in the bottle by the time we got home, but Del had a speech to give to the Young Scientists after lunch, so sobriety seemed wise. I planned to wander through the shops in the area during the serious part and show up for coffee, so we both put on appropriate clothes and shoes instead of clodhoppers and headed out. Del said the afternoon went well, and they were all still talking when I got there a little after 6. We took the bus back to Old Town and went to a restaurant we like for dinner. We each had a calamari dish and shared a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert. Del hadn't eaten since oatmeal at breakfast, and he was starving. Little did we know that we should have saved room for more food two doors down the street.
As we left the restaurant, we walked past a group of families out in the street laughing, talking and launching heart shaped hot air balloons. I had never seen anything like them. They were about the size of garbage bags with a metal frame in them and some sort of wick. I happened (yes, I know you can hardly believe it) to have the camera and snapped some pictures. After a bit, Del suggested we head home and started to head toward a side street that was sheer ice all the way down it.. I said that we needed to find another way, because it was not safe going that way in the dark without boots. It never crossed our minds that anyone was paying any attention to us. One of the men in the group laughed and said that going that way without insurance was not a good idea. I also laughed and replied that at my age, it wasn't a good idea with insurance. I asked what occasion they were celebrating. It was a fund raiser for children with heart disease. We had a nice conversation and he insisted we come into the restaurant to have some of the special cake from the party. It was really good cake - sort of like a meringue tort with nuts. They are going to have to roll me out of this country.
Turns out Ramunas was a policeman for 13 years and is now a Met Life representative. His English is amazing. We tried to give him a donation for the fund, but he suggested that if we really wanted to do that, it would be better if we put the money directly into the organization's bank account and gave us the printed brochure with the account on it. I guess he wanted us to know that they were on the up and up. He then went upstairs where the art auction for the event had been held and came down with one of the pictures as a gift for us. We all exchanged cards, and he assured us that he and his family would love to give us a tour of Vilnius, where they live. It was an unexpected treat that will be one of the highlights of our trip. My cousin Marsha and her husband Bill have had wonderful encounters quite frequently in their travels, but I never thought it would happen to us.
Del looked up the organization on the web and learned that one of the income tax provisions here allows one to designate up to 2% of the tax owed to a favorite charity. I thought that was kind of interesting.
I'll take a picture of the picture once we get it unwrapped. We met the artist, and he wrapped it before we left the restaurant. It's framed, by the way, and I'm not sure how it will get to VR, but it will.
Be sure to check out the pictures. Have a great week end!
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/DinnerAndHeartEvent02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPe3zfjTguWQ_QE
As we left the restaurant, we walked past a group of families out in the street laughing, talking and launching heart shaped hot air balloons. I had never seen anything like them. They were about the size of garbage bags with a metal frame in them and some sort of wick. I happened (yes, I know you can hardly believe it) to have the camera and snapped some pictures. After a bit, Del suggested we head home and started to head toward a side street that was sheer ice all the way down it.. I said that we needed to find another way, because it was not safe going that way in the dark without boots. It never crossed our minds that anyone was paying any attention to us. One of the men in the group laughed and said that going that way without insurance was not a good idea. I also laughed and replied that at my age, it wasn't a good idea with insurance. I asked what occasion they were celebrating. It was a fund raiser for children with heart disease. We had a nice conversation and he insisted we come into the restaurant to have some of the special cake from the party. It was really good cake - sort of like a meringue tort with nuts. They are going to have to roll me out of this country.
Turns out Ramunas was a policeman for 13 years and is now a Met Life representative. His English is amazing. We tried to give him a donation for the fund, but he suggested that if we really wanted to do that, it would be better if we put the money directly into the organization's bank account and gave us the printed brochure with the account on it. I guess he wanted us to know that they were on the up and up. He then went upstairs where the art auction for the event had been held and came down with one of the pictures as a gift for us. We all exchanged cards, and he assured us that he and his family would love to give us a tour of Vilnius, where they live. It was an unexpected treat that will be one of the highlights of our trip. My cousin Marsha and her husband Bill have had wonderful encounters quite frequently in their travels, but I never thought it would happen to us.
Del looked up the organization on the web and learned that one of the income tax provisions here allows one to designate up to 2% of the tax owed to a favorite charity. I thought that was kind of interesting.
I'll take a picture of the picture once we get it unwrapped. We met the artist, and he wrapped it before we left the restaurant. It's framed, by the way, and I'm not sure how it will get to VR, but it will.
Be sure to check out the pictures. Have a great week end!
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/DinnerAndHeartEvent02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPe3zfjTguWQ_QE
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Day 31 Slow Day For Me
I stayed home today to do some laundry, do some cleaning, work on my classes and study for Lithuanian class tomorrow. The last is not coming easily. I was not a good language student in the 60's, and things have not improved in the years since. Del did read the other day that learning a language is supposed to help one avoid getting dotie, but I am afraid you have to actually learn more than I have so far. Del had a double lecture today, so he was gone most of the afternoon and until 6:30. We brought our computers but not a printer, so they have set up a little office with a laptop and printer for us to use, and he goes in early to print his materials. I confess to emailing mine to the department assistant and asking her to scan or print what I need.
I forgot to tell you that one of the phrases my advanced English class learned yesterday was "made from scratch." During our discussion time, I mentioned that I had found puff pastry in the frozen foods section and made pastries for the neighbors, and Del, for Valentines Day. One of the young women said she had made a puff pastry dessert for her husband to celebrate Independence Day. I said something to the effect that it is wonderful to have that frozen, ready to use. She said she had never tried that. I said, without thinking, "You mean you made it from scratch?" After I explained the term, and inquired about cake mixes, the cooks in the group explained that they never use mixes. It reminded me of when my mother used to come to visit and make little rounds of pie dough to put in the freezer. She just did not hold with the idea of bought pie crust, and "You never know when you might strike a notion to make a pie." Since the notion did not strike me all that often, some of that pie dough died of freezer burn.
Now, proving that BIL Tommy's philosophy that while in every family, a word in a conversation will remind someone of something and the topic will change, in our family the word is often "the", I am about to jump another rabbit. Freezer burn reminds me of a discovery Del and I made when defrosting Mother's freezer when visiting her the summer before she went to assisted living. Down at the bottom, we found and pulled out a tupperware cake saver. I asked her what it was, and she told us that it was the layer from our wedding cake that she had saved for our first anniversary. You should know that we had been married for more than 20 years at that point, but we had never been home for an anniversary, and she never thought about it when we were home. She had kept it every time she had defrosted the freezer over those years and had even moved it from the country to the Jarratt house because "I just didn't have the heart to throw it away.". We opened it and the icing didn't look as bad as you would think, but the whole thing sort of crumbled to crumbs when we touched it. We didn't have the courage to taste it, but it was really hard to pitch it. Would it be bad luck? Was it what was holding us together? Maybe I am more superstitious than I like to admit.
Something is going on in the neighborhood tonight. We can hear a drum and lots of cheering from a distance, but we can't see anything from the windows, and it is too cold at 0 degrees F. wind chill to go out at nearly midnight to check it out.
I forgot to tell you that one of the phrases my advanced English class learned yesterday was "made from scratch." During our discussion time, I mentioned that I had found puff pastry in the frozen foods section and made pastries for the neighbors, and Del, for Valentines Day. One of the young women said she had made a puff pastry dessert for her husband to celebrate Independence Day. I said something to the effect that it is wonderful to have that frozen, ready to use. She said she had never tried that. I said, without thinking, "You mean you made it from scratch?" After I explained the term, and inquired about cake mixes, the cooks in the group explained that they never use mixes. It reminded me of when my mother used to come to visit and make little rounds of pie dough to put in the freezer. She just did not hold with the idea of bought pie crust, and "You never know when you might strike a notion to make a pie." Since the notion did not strike me all that often, some of that pie dough died of freezer burn.
Now, proving that BIL Tommy's philosophy that while in every family, a word in a conversation will remind someone of something and the topic will change, in our family the word is often "the", I am about to jump another rabbit. Freezer burn reminds me of a discovery Del and I made when defrosting Mother's freezer when visiting her the summer before she went to assisted living. Down at the bottom, we found and pulled out a tupperware cake saver. I asked her what it was, and she told us that it was the layer from our wedding cake that she had saved for our first anniversary. You should know that we had been married for more than 20 years at that point, but we had never been home for an anniversary, and she never thought about it when we were home. She had kept it every time she had defrosted the freezer over those years and had even moved it from the country to the Jarratt house because "I just didn't have the heart to throw it away.". We opened it and the icing didn't look as bad as you would think, but the whole thing sort of crumbled to crumbs when we touched it. We didn't have the courage to taste it, but it was really hard to pitch it. Would it be bad luck? Was it what was holding us together? Maybe I am more superstitious than I like to admit.
Something is going on in the neighborhood tonight. We can hear a drum and lots of cheering from a distance, but we can't see anything from the windows, and it is too cold at 0 degrees F. wind chill to go out at nearly midnight to check it out.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day 30 - A Whole Month Since We Locked the Door in Villa Rica!
The sound you are hearing is that of our cholesterol levels smashing through the roof like a rocket. Daiva, the chair of the department, and our host for the month invited us to lunch after my classes today. She wanted us to try a famous Lithuanian dish called cepelinai ( zeppelin), and she wanted to be sure we had it in a restaurant that does it well. She also believes it to be strictly a cold weather dish, and today fit that criteria quite adequately. Everyone we meet asks if we have had zeppelin yet and what we thought of them - the Americans with knowing smiles on their faces. Daiva told us that they are not healthy, and Americans usually don't care for them all that much, but everyone should try once. So it was zeppelin all around, preceeded by a delicious hot cucumber, broth based soup. Well, when the awaited dish arrived, it smelled wonderful, but the portion was clearly from the For Those Planning an Afternoon of Grueling Labor section of the menu. We each were served a casserole dish with two dumplings the size and shape of those little footballs they throw out at football games - the size of my fist, but tapered at each end - with a large amount of sauce. The dumpling part of the dumpling was made of potato - a mixture of grated raw potato and riced boiled potato moistened with potato starch water. This created a sort of shiny dough, with a texture similar to tapioca, if I remember tapioca correctly. The only person I ever knew who made it was my aunt, Stella, and that means it is close to 50 years since I ate any. They form this dough around ground pork and boil the dumplings in water. The sauce is made of smoky bacon and onion that seem almost ground up, bacon grease and sour cream. Sort of like doctored up red eye gravy, but creamy instead of runny.
I have to tell you, they were delicious, and the sauce - yum. Unfortunately, about half a dumpling would have been just the right size. This is not a country where people subscribe to my theory that half of most restuarant meals should be taken home for another meal, and leaving it might have implied that we didn't care for the national dish. Let's just say there has been no dinner at our house tonight. It is such fun to watch Del broaden his food repertoire, by the way. Speaking of broadening repertoires..... Oh, dear.
My classes went pretty well I think. In the advanced class, we were learning some general pronunciation rules for plurals and past tenses based on the spelling of words, voicing, etc., which led to defining some words. Why didn't I just say, "The meaning in this sentence is ..." and suggest they write it down to look up at home for discussion next week? Have you considered how many meanings "date" has? Too many! You teachers would have known to do that, but it took me until 9 o'clock tonight to figure it out. Fortunately, the other examples were more straight forward.
We also worked on /r/ as a vowel. (/ ɝ/). It has so many spellings - work, burn, learn, bird, etc., and your eyes would make you think you should pronounce each differently.
The beginners worked on pronouns and "be" in present, past and present progressive ("ing"). They call it present continuous. We also worked on forming and answering yes/no questions and greetings. Okay, I'm sensing glazed over eyes.
Well, folks, tomorrow is another day, and I get to sleep late, which for me usually means 7. I guess I need time to work up to my nap.
Oh, Oh! I almost forgot - I got to see the everyone drink at the same time dance at lunch today. Fortunately, Del was sitting to my left, so I could pretend I was listening to him when he and Daiva were talking library evaluation while actually watching people at other tables. So, here's the deal. One person lifts his/her glass, looks expectantly at the dining partner and waits until the partner notices and lifts his/her glass. Then they clink, take a drink and set the glasses down. I did observe that at one table the level of wine in the woman's glass lowered faster than that in the man's glass. (Just like home, Tommy.) I am hoping people who might have been observing me thought I was gazing adoringly at Del, hanging on his every word, instead of being my nosy self. Thank goodness we were drinking water. I would have perished if I had to wait for the librarians to notice my raised glass. To be fair, the same would be true if Del went to eat with the lunch bunch or the hall ladies.
I have to tell you, they were delicious, and the sauce - yum. Unfortunately, about half a dumpling would have been just the right size. This is not a country where people subscribe to my theory that half of most restuarant meals should be taken home for another meal, and leaving it might have implied that we didn't care for the national dish. Let's just say there has been no dinner at our house tonight. It is such fun to watch Del broaden his food repertoire, by the way. Speaking of broadening repertoires..... Oh, dear.
My classes went pretty well I think. In the advanced class, we were learning some general pronunciation rules for plurals and past tenses based on the spelling of words, voicing, etc., which led to defining some words. Why didn't I just say, "The meaning in this sentence is ..." and suggest they write it down to look up at home for discussion next week? Have you considered how many meanings "date" has? Too many! You teachers would have known to do that, but it took me until 9 o'clock tonight to figure it out. Fortunately, the other examples were more straight forward.
We also worked on /r/ as a vowel. (/ ɝ/). It has so many spellings - work, burn, learn, bird, etc., and your eyes would make you think you should pronounce each differently.
The beginners worked on pronouns and "be" in present, past and present progressive ("ing"). They call it present continuous. We also worked on forming and answering yes/no questions and greetings. Okay, I'm sensing glazed over eyes.
Well, folks, tomorrow is another day, and I get to sleep late, which for me usually means 7. I guess I need time to work up to my nap.
Oh, Oh! I almost forgot - I got to see the everyone drink at the same time dance at lunch today. Fortunately, Del was sitting to my left, so I could pretend I was listening to him when he and Daiva were talking library evaluation while actually watching people at other tables. So, here's the deal. One person lifts his/her glass, looks expectantly at the dining partner and waits until the partner notices and lifts his/her glass. Then they clink, take a drink and set the glasses down. I did observe that at one table the level of wine in the woman's glass lowered faster than that in the man's glass. (Just like home, Tommy.) I am hoping people who might have been observing me thought I was gazing adoringly at Del, hanging on his every word, instead of being my nosy self. Thank goodness we were drinking water. I would have perished if I had to wait for the librarians to notice my raised glass. To be fair, the same would be true if Del went to eat with the lunch bunch or the hall ladies.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day 29 Probably Gave the Wrong Impression Yesterday
I want to be sure I explain that despite the fancy door locks, Lithuania has almost no crime, and we feel quite safe. I just like the key. Betsy from Harrisonburg was not at all apprehensive about walking to the bus stop and from the bus stop home by herself after dinner on Sunday night. Her husband was home sick, not homesick. Del and I offered to go with her since it was dark, but she pooh poohed the idea. This is her 9th year here, and she feels at ease.
This is also the cleanest place I have ever seen. We've seen the rare beer bottle or can on a wall or on the ice on the river, and I do mean rare, but no papers or bags or other litter. Del accidently dropped a campaign paper he was too polite to refuse from a person on the street while getting his bus pass out of his pocket, and I had to go running after it. The wind just seemed to delight in letting me get almost to it before sweeping it away. I finally caught up with it, thank goodness. Those Americans, don't you know. Reminds me of Mr. Silk, the black and tan dachshund (sp?) who owned us for 14 years. He would sneak out, wait until we were almost up on him and then run like a bat, over and over again. Difference being, he could not be dropped into the nearest trash can.
I studied Lithuanian this morning and then out to class. We got home about 6, after the obligatory stop at the Iki, and I started the spaghetti sauce for dinner. No Mids, here, Ohio people, so I concocted my own. The tomatoes here are sweetened, or something, so it wasn't as good as Mema's special sauce, but it was something different, and I had leftovers to put in the freezer. I made a lettuce, pear and mould (blue) cheese salad to go with it. The lettuce was a small head of leaf lettuce with the roots still attached in a little pot with potting soil. It was so tender, it had to be just a baby.
Time for last minute review of teaching materials for tomorrow. Five o'clock will be here way too soon.
This is also the cleanest place I have ever seen. We've seen the rare beer bottle or can on a wall or on the ice on the river, and I do mean rare, but no papers or bags or other litter. Del accidently dropped a campaign paper he was too polite to refuse from a person on the street while getting his bus pass out of his pocket, and I had to go running after it. The wind just seemed to delight in letting me get almost to it before sweeping it away. I finally caught up with it, thank goodness. Those Americans, don't you know. Reminds me of Mr. Silk, the black and tan dachshund (sp?) who owned us for 14 years. He would sneak out, wait until we were almost up on him and then run like a bat, over and over again. Difference being, he could not be dropped into the nearest trash can.
I studied Lithuanian this morning and then out to class. We got home about 6, after the obligatory stop at the Iki, and I started the spaghetti sauce for dinner. No Mids, here, Ohio people, so I concocted my own. The tomatoes here are sweetened, or something, so it wasn't as good as Mema's special sauce, but it was something different, and I had leftovers to put in the freezer. I made a lettuce, pear and mould (blue) cheese salad to go with it. The lettuce was a small head of leaf lettuce with the roots still attached in a little pot with potting soil. It was so tender, it had to be just a baby.
Time for last minute review of teaching materials for tomorrow. Five o'clock will be here way too soon.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day 28 Safety In the Old City
https://picasaweb.google.com/118279613107347865536/SafetyInTheOldCity?
=Gv1sRgCJqwldKvg7z7_gE
It was colder than blue blazes today - never got above negative wind chill-, and I didn't have any outside obligations, so I've been hold up here doing laundry and reading Anne of Green Gables. I should have been studying Lithuanian, but I'll have until about 2:30 tomorrow. I also decided to start my exercise program with Lesley Sansone. It's one of those walking dvds. I did the first day mile walk today, and if I can figure out how to charge the battery on the portable dvd player, I'll do the second day activity tomorrow. Somehow the charger light never came on. I'm wondering if it only needed the adaptor plug instead of the voltage changer, but I'm afraid to try that. I read the manual, but charging it in a European country did not come up. I'll try again when I finish visiting. Of course, I could have brought the wrong charger cord. Wouldn't put it past me.
Del walked over to the University library to go through the books he sent over through the diplomatic pouches. They will all stay here after we leave, but about a dozen were books he needed for preparing his lectures. The State Department gave him a certain amount of money to buy materials to use and leave. Someone from the library went to Vilnius the other day and picked the boxes up at the Embassy. We eventually have to go and make a courtesy call at the Embassy, but I hope we can put it off until better weather. It's several hours by bus. We would like to go up on the week end and do the proticol stuff on Monday so we can spend some time in the city. It is supposedly quite wonderful.
I thought you might like to see the key to one of the locks on our door, and the locking mechanism that goes with it. I've never seen such a key, and the lock reminds me of a less serious version of the locks on the bank vaults at the bank where I worked for six months in Richmond. We use it when we go out, but to tell the truth, I can't stand to be in here when it is locked. Del locked it the first night we were here, and I nearly had a spell before I got it unlocked to let the neighbor in. I feel pretty sure that in an emergency I would not be able to get out if I had to operate that lock. You have to sort of wind the key into the lock and then know which way to turn it and then remember that the door opens out. Left handed person that I am, I don't think so. We live on the first level, but that is not ground level and means our windows are further from the cobbled street than I would want to jump. We just use the typical dead bolt when we're home.
I tried a zuchinni one more time, one more way expreient tonight. I cooked up a mixture of onion, garlic, zuchinni innards, crumbs from a leftover slice of rye toast, oregano, thyme, splash of tomato juice and lemon juice, cooled it and added feta cheese and stuffed it all into the zuchinni shells. I baked it at some degree or other until tender crisp. It tasted sort of Greek and was a nice change.
Time to get myself off to bed. I'm still loving my plug in toothbrush. Happy teeth and gums!
=Gv1sRgCJqwldKvg7z7_gE
It was colder than blue blazes today - never got above negative wind chill-, and I didn't have any outside obligations, so I've been hold up here doing laundry and reading Anne of Green Gables. I should have been studying Lithuanian, but I'll have until about 2:30 tomorrow. I also decided to start my exercise program with Lesley Sansone. It's one of those walking dvds. I did the first day mile walk today, and if I can figure out how to charge the battery on the portable dvd player, I'll do the second day activity tomorrow. Somehow the charger light never came on. I'm wondering if it only needed the adaptor plug instead of the voltage changer, but I'm afraid to try that. I read the manual, but charging it in a European country did not come up. I'll try again when I finish visiting. Of course, I could have brought the wrong charger cord. Wouldn't put it past me.
Del walked over to the University library to go through the books he sent over through the diplomatic pouches. They will all stay here after we leave, but about a dozen were books he needed for preparing his lectures. The State Department gave him a certain amount of money to buy materials to use and leave. Someone from the library went to Vilnius the other day and picked the boxes up at the Embassy. We eventually have to go and make a courtesy call at the Embassy, but I hope we can put it off until better weather. It's several hours by bus. We would like to go up on the week end and do the proticol stuff on Monday so we can spend some time in the city. It is supposedly quite wonderful.
I thought you might like to see the key to one of the locks on our door, and the locking mechanism that goes with it. I've never seen such a key, and the lock reminds me of a less serious version of the locks on the bank vaults at the bank where I worked for six months in Richmond. We use it when we go out, but to tell the truth, I can't stand to be in here when it is locked. Del locked it the first night we were here, and I nearly had a spell before I got it unlocked to let the neighbor in. I feel pretty sure that in an emergency I would not be able to get out if I had to operate that lock. You have to sort of wind the key into the lock and then know which way to turn it and then remember that the door opens out. Left handed person that I am, I don't think so. We live on the first level, but that is not ground level and means our windows are further from the cobbled street than I would want to jump. We just use the typical dead bolt when we're home.
I tried a zuchinni one more time, one more way expreient tonight. I cooked up a mixture of onion, garlic, zuchinni innards, crumbs from a leftover slice of rye toast, oregano, thyme, splash of tomato juice and lemon juice, cooled it and added feta cheese and stuffed it all into the zuchinni shells. I baked it at some degree or other until tender crisp. It tasted sort of Greek and was a nice change.
Time to get myself off to bed. I'm still loving my plug in toothbrush. Happy teeth and gums!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day 27 Cluelessness Is More Widespread Than You Would Think
It felt like -8 degrees F. this morning, so we settled in at home until time for church at 5. We didn't sleep late, but decided to work and drink coffee and then have brunch - bacon, eggs and light rye toast. Even after having it twice, I'm not sure how to describe the taste of the bacon. It isn't as salty or peppery as old fashioned bacon at home, and there is a flavor that seems familiar, maybe allspice - something I associate with German food, maybe, not that I have eaten much of that in the past.
I began reading, or rereading, Anne of Green Gables. It was a free book and I remember loving it as a girl. It made for a cozy morning.
This afternoon we bundled up and walked to church where we discovered that there is quite a bit of cluelessness going around. You know the experiment that may or may not have really taken place where one person was assigned to stand on the sidewalk and look up to see how many people would join him/her? Well, as we walked up, there were about 10 people standing around waiting and wondering why the person with the key was late. We stood around in the cold chatting and waiting patiently for 5-10 minutes before the woman who is interim president of LCC walked up and asked if anyone had called whoever was set-up person of the day. Then she just pulled on the door and it opened. That's probably why she is the interim president. I assume the first person in the group pushed instead of pulled or something. When we got upstairs, there were quite a few people wondering where the rest of the crowd had gotten to.
After church, we went out to eat with a couple from Ohio and Betsy from Virginia. Her husband is working on his second week of having flu. Apparently it's really going around. People here don't seem to get flu shots, but I am trying to think positively. We got ours this fall as usual. People here put a lot of faith in thyme tea as a preventative. I haven't tried it, but smelling it sure makes me hungry for turkey dressing.
Stopped at Iki to replenish essential beverages and fruit. They had one beautiful little basket of mandarin oranges, and I snapped them up-tiny little things, but they tasted wonderful and smelled better. The leaves were attached, and I was amazed that they even smelled good.
We Skyped with the kids today. Sunday's seem to work best. Rosa modeled the pajama pants she made at sewing class. I'm so glad she has enjoyed the sewing machine while we are away. I bought it to sew for her when she ws born, but haven't really done much since she was a toddler, now she is using to sew for herself. How did that happen so fast? Her first 2 lessons were at Jo-Ann's, but she is going to start taking lessons from a lady who has a child at her school. She is a seamstress and will be teaching her daughter and Rosa together. Sounds like fun.
We have loved getting emails and comments from you all. We love to hear what's going on with you.
Hugs!
I began reading, or rereading, Anne of Green Gables. It was a free book and I remember loving it as a girl. It made for a cozy morning.
This afternoon we bundled up and walked to church where we discovered that there is quite a bit of cluelessness going around. You know the experiment that may or may not have really taken place where one person was assigned to stand on the sidewalk and look up to see how many people would join him/her? Well, as we walked up, there were about 10 people standing around waiting and wondering why the person with the key was late. We stood around in the cold chatting and waiting patiently for 5-10 minutes before the woman who is interim president of LCC walked up and asked if anyone had called whoever was set-up person of the day. Then she just pulled on the door and it opened. That's probably why she is the interim president. I assume the first person in the group pushed instead of pulled or something. When we got upstairs, there were quite a few people wondering where the rest of the crowd had gotten to.
After church, we went out to eat with a couple from Ohio and Betsy from Virginia. Her husband is working on his second week of having flu. Apparently it's really going around. People here don't seem to get flu shots, but I am trying to think positively. We got ours this fall as usual. People here put a lot of faith in thyme tea as a preventative. I haven't tried it, but smelling it sure makes me hungry for turkey dressing.
Stopped at Iki to replenish essential beverages and fruit. They had one beautiful little basket of mandarin oranges, and I snapped them up-tiny little things, but they tasted wonderful and smelled better. The leaves were attached, and I was amazed that they even smelled good.
We Skyped with the kids today. Sunday's seem to work best. Rosa modeled the pajama pants she made at sewing class. I'm so glad she has enjoyed the sewing machine while we are away. I bought it to sew for her when she ws born, but haven't really done much since she was a toddler, now she is using to sew for herself. How did that happen so fast? Her first 2 lessons were at Jo-Ann's, but she is going to start taking lessons from a lady who has a child at her school. She is a seamstress and will be teaching her daughter and Rosa together. Sounds like fun.
We have loved getting emails and comments from you all. We love to hear what's going on with you.
Hugs!
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