Just a quick note —

Does anyone else think that Alistair and Morrigan should be a couple?

Also, I saw this post on ohdeedoh about "How To Make a Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich" without any scorch marks, and I reflected that I don't actually grill my cheese sandwiches. My method is as follows:

1. Toast the bread.
   
2. Apply margarine if desired.
   
3. Assemble toast and cheese into sandwich.
   
4. Microwave for ten seconds.
   
5. Flip over and microwave for ten more seconds, or more if cheese is not soft enough.
   

Admittedly, the microwaving can make it a little soggy sometimes if the cheese is straight out of the refrigerator and takes longer to melt, but this way is so easy and there's no pan to wash afterward.

This entry was originally posted at http://serenissima.dreamwidth.org/256353.html.

In response to faeri's question to the general public, "When did you start reading? What were your favourite books when you were a kid?"

My mother tells me I first started reading when I was three and a half. I can't remember not being able to read. And I read so many books that it's very hard to pick favorites. During recess in elementary school, I'd bring a book out to the playground, sit in a quiet corner and read.

My parents read to me, and I can remember their selections a little more distinctly than all the books I read on my own. Our favorites include Russell and Lillian Hoban's books about Frances the badger and Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series as well as his book Owl at Home. We also had Tibor Gergely's Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories, with the red cover with the lion shown in Amazon's first photograph — I think it's still at my parents' house.

We borrowed most books from the library, and that has been always my habit: to borrow books, not own them. But a few are so special to me that I do want to have my own copy. D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths is one. We used to have a paperback copy, which was read enough times that the pages fell out. Last year I bought myself a hardcover copy, as well as their Book of Norse Myths and Book of Trolls. I also love the Chronicles of Narnia and have a boxed set.

Other books I remember fondly, although I don't feel the need to keep them, include Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, Eleanor Cameron's Mushroom Planet books, Half Magic and other novels by Edward Eager, the Danny Dunn series by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, and a whole lot of books by the prolific Jane Yolen. You can see I developed my taste for fantasy and science fiction pretty early.

Children's books have become more relevant to me now that I have my own little person to read to. I'd like to build a small collection for him. I hope he will love reading as much as his parents do.

This entry was originally posted at http://serenissima.dreamwidth.org/256156.html.

I saw a weird new product at the supermarket yesterday: Wateroos, laminated 8-oz. juice boxes of water. Apparently, some people think that not only are drinking fountains not good enough, but water filtered at home and brought in a reusable bottle and even pre-packaged bottled water won't do, either. Juice boxes aren't recyclable.

I also saw disposable slow cooker liners. Those I would probably use. I feel guilty about generating garbage, but I think the time saved by not having to wash the slow cooker crock would be worth it.

This entry was originally posted at http://serenissima.dreamwidth.org/255957.html.

Back from the holiday trip to visit relatives, more tired than before. The next task is to reconstruct our home from the hundred-some-odd boxes it was packed into.

In other news, the hubby got me a Dreamwidth invite code, and I'm going to try moving to Dreamwidth. The new year seems like a good time for this.

This entry was originally posted at http://serenissima.dreamwidth.org/362.html.

I was going to fill out the Year In Review meme, but as I looked over last year's edition to copy and paste the questions, I realized that most of my answers are the same. The biggest thing by far to happen to me this year was having a child; getting a dog and moving house twice were also pretty significant. I feel like the first half of the year, during which I went to school, was very much split from the second half of the year, when we lived in a different place and when my life was much more baby-centered. Almost like different lives really. It may be petty of me, but at this moment my biggest regret for the year is that I never took cuttings from that rose bush outside our house, which will probably be bulldozed in a month or two.

Anyhow... Year In Review 2008, Y.I.R. 2006, Y.I.R. 2005, and Y.I.R. 2003, for reference.

We made it back from Edge-Of-Nowhere to Somewhere. We have a key to the house (they only gave us one, we'll have to make copies), and we even have our furniture & goods. Next challenge: the annual journey to see relatives for the holidays.

The wind rattles our windows and sometimes blows open our front door. Other times it makes some part of the front doorway buzz like a clarinet. We move in two weeks, to a house much like the one we had previously. I'm really looking forward to the next house: prettier, more space, and better weatherstripping — although it still won't be sealed as tightly as I'd like, from what I remember of the last place.

(cross-posting to urban_nature)
We didn't get any trick-or-treaters at all this Halloween... but we did get a javelina. It came to eat our jack o'lantern.

( More pictures )



Eventually we threw the pumpkin into the vacant area at the end of the street, so we could all get on with our respective evenings without bothering each other.

Got this link from one of my relatives.

New York Times: The Saturday Profile
Party Elder Still Jousts With China’s Censors
By Sharon LaFraniere and Jonathan Ansfield
Published: October 17, 2009
"Du Daozheng, 86, the former head of the Chinese government’s censorship efforts, now spends his days pushing shunned topics into the public domain."

Mungo is doing fine. In fact, I wasn't going to make an update for him this month, as there's not much to tell. His seasonal shed seems to have tapered off, thank goodness. He has started marking almost like a normal dog — I say almost because at least once I've seen him lift his leg against a tree and nothing came out, and then he put his leg down and leaned forward to empty his bladder in the way he has done previously. Not trying to be crude, but he still has his quirks.

There's a dog park about ten minutes' drive from our house that he enjoys visiting. He doesn't necessarily play with other dogs there. He does sometimes, but he seems to like just sniffing around the large enclosure even more. We've also taken him to "doggy day care" at a popular kennel, but we aren't sure how much he likes that, since he always acts scared when we drop him off with the staff, and we don't stick around to watch how he behaves when released into the enclosure. The kennel was recommended to us by staff at the vet clinic, and I'm sure they take proper care of the animals, but I suspect he's simply happier in our company any time.

What really prompted me to make this post was an article in this month's electronic newsletter from the microchip company. It talked about how black dogs often get passed over at shelters. The day we adopted Mungo, one of the shelter staff there remarked on this same tendency. I did a Google search just now and turned up more links than I expected: here's a whole website devoted to getting dark-colored dogs adopted, and here's a recent New York Times opinion piece defining "black dog syndrome." Apparently, despite not being documented in any statistical study, it has been noticed by a lot of people, and it applies to black cats, too.

Any acquisition of a pet should of course be thought through very carefully, but if you are planning to adopt an animal, please consider getting a dark-colored one, or at least don't rule them out!

Been meaning to post something cooking-related for quite some time now, hence this very long post.

I came across this suggestion several weeks ago: pureed frozen banana as an ice cream substitute. I figured mashed banana would be lower in carbohydrates than the equivalent amount of ice cream, plus it's definitely fat free. So I tried it. I wouldn't call the texture creamy exactly, but it's pleasantly smooth. It tastes like banana, of course. I think it might be good with a little cinnamon mixed in, or maybe chocolate chips, although then you start to take away from the "healthy" aspect. The downside for me is that a whole banana counts as 2 carbohydrate choices, and half a banana looks even smaller pureed than left intact. It really doesn't go very far. I expect I'll enjoy this more when my dietary restrictions are lifted; meanwhile, I've found that Edy's Slow-Churned and Bryer's Double-Churned are options for me if I have just half a cup.

We received a mini food processor last year as a wedding gift, but I only tried it out recently. I used it to mash the aforementioned banana; otherwise I've used it mainly for mincing garlic and ginger. I was impressed by the speed with which it renders a thumb-length piece of fresh ginger root into tiny bits. What would take me several minutes with a sharp chef's knife and chopping board takes it about ten seconds of "whiz-whiz-whiz." However, when I'm cooking with ginger, I'm nearly always also cooking with garlic, and fresh garlic is sticky, and it's a little more involved to wash off the food processor assembly than to wash off a knife and chopping board. So, whether I choose to use the machine or the knife depends partly on the amounts I'm working with and partly on my mood.

( actual cooking )

Fall is here. Equinox was yesterday. The nights are cool now.

aristeros and I were heading out shopping last week when we saw two deer, a mother and fawn, run away from somebody's front lawn. This morning while walking the dog, I saw a [presumably wild] pig in the grassy area beyond the houses. The dog didn't seem to notice. Maybe I should bring a camera on these walks.

Our hummingbird feeder is visited by finches and woodpeckers. I don't think the finches can get anything out of it, but the woodpeckers certainly can. I bought a pound of sugar at the grocery last week; we'll see how fast that gets used up between woodpeckers, bats and hummingbirds!

Also, last Sunday aristeros and I watched people catch, take measurements of, and band hummingbirds. We each got to hold one when it was time to release it. I could feel its pulse against the palm of my hand.

Must be done today:

• wash dishes


• cook the chicken that's been thawed for several days


• refill hummingbird feeder


• water houseplants

( Later this week )

What I feel like doing now:

• take a nap

I've been a bit groggy since last weekend, when we stayed up til midnight Saturday night.

On Monday night we saw a bat coming to the hummingbird feeder. Or rather, I saw a flying thing, about finch-sized, that repeatedly approached from below. It was too fast for me to get a good look, but aristeros identified it as a bat. At first he thought it was hunting bugs attracted by the back door light, but it turns out nectar-feeding bats sometimes visit hummingbird feeders in this region during this season. Check out these photos, which I would never be able to match without better equipment and practice.

This week we may find out what will happen to us next year — where we move next and so on — so we are a little anxious.

We finally received our missing armchair and CDs yesterday.

On the house-tidying arena, I've found two thrift shops and at least one of them had Gladware for sale, so I expect to be able to donate most anything I care to.

I'm making another attempt at crocheting an afghan. With the boucle yarn, it was just too hard to count stitches, so I gave up on any pattern that requires me to make rows all the way across. I'm making granny squares instead, for the first time, with much better success. So far I have two and a half squares. I think I have 186 to go. I may not finish by the new year, but I will try.   :)

Twice in the past three days I've been unreasonably grumpy. Once was less than an hour ago, but after some idle websurfing, I'm getting my equilibrium back. The other time was at 3 AM a couple nights ago: I couldn't sleep, and my mind kept going over and over things that were bothering me. Part of the insomnia was hunger, so I got up and ate a yogurt, but I still couldn't sleep afterward. And I don't think I can blame low blood sugar, because I checked and it was in the low 90s on both occasions, which I think is smack in the middle of normal.

One thing that's bothering me is the damage to our dining table. The moving company won't reimburse us for the damage, and I can't decide whether paying for professional repair is worth the cost, which is half what we paid for the whole table in the first place. On the one hand, I want it to look beautiful and be sturdy. On the other hand, the damage is mostly out of view, it's just a table, aristeros could make it hold together, and we have lots of other uses to which we could put that amount of money. I thought I had already gotten over this issue and contented myself with home repair, but receiving the letter from the moving company in which they make their excuses upsets me again. Maybe it's hormones.

At least the weather is starting to cool off. We haven't needed to put the swamp cooler on for the past couple nights, and high temperatures for this week don't exceed 90°F. That makes going out during the day much more bearable.

We passed a pleasant Labor Day weekend, the last weekend I'm permitted to travel far from home for a few months. We drove up to the second closest major city (I'm still allowed to visit the closest), went to a couple of museums, visited friends and ate good food. We boarded the dog for the first time, for four days, and he seems fine.

The next thing I'm trying to do is organize our belongings properly and get rid of some of them. As I'm sure I've noted before, I have a tendency to keep stuff I don't really need. This house is small, and we don't have a spare room we can devote to storage the way we did in the last house. My parents will be coming for a multi-week visit later this fall, and I need to make sure we have space for them. The hard parts are, first, determining that it's all right to let go of an item, and second, figuring out what to do with it, since I hate throwing away anything that can still be used by someone for some purpose. For examples: purses that I don't like enough to use; an old pair of jeans with holes and torn cuffs; an old bathroom scale that's not very accurate; melamine serving dishes that we've used perhaps twice in five years; reusable plastic food containers saved from Chinese takeout.

When I exited the house this morning to begin walking the dog, I was excited to find a sphinx moth or hawk moth taking breakfast from the lobelias or whatever those red flowers are in our back yard border.

I can see how these insects would be mistaken for hummingbirds. The size and general body shape are about the same, they hover to feed rather than perching, and their wings move so fast they're a blur. The eyes looked small, not like huge bug eyes, although that may just have been some kind of weird pale and dark color pattern. I had to watch for several seconds to assure myself that it was not in fact a hummingbird, but the antennae and the fact that it curled its proboscis when it paused feeding were giveaways. I could kind of see the pattern on the wings, striped forewings and pinkish hindwings, and I think it may have been the same kind of moth that I noticed on the outside wall of our hotel at the last place, right before we moved:
(picture taken with crappy phone camera)

After staring for a minute, I moved toward the door to get a camera from inside, but the moth flew away. Still, that was a cool way to start the day!

About the hummingbirds: they've been at the feeder all morning. At one point, one was perched and feeding while a second one chased away a third. There has been much squabbling. An angry hummingbird is one of the funnier, and cuter, animals I've witnessed.

I filled and hung up the hummingbird feeder two days ago, as I had contemplated, and lo, they come! We've observed several hummingbird visitors today. Actually, the first hummingbird that I saw approach the feeder this morning was chased away by a second bird, with angry squeaking, but the second hummingbird did not partake at that time. I think it's been back since, though. I can't really tell individuals apart, so I don't know if we have several birds in the area or just two repeat customers. They have green backs and pale bellies, and at least one of them has a patch under the chin that sometimes looks red and sometimes black, depending on how he's facing the light. I hope I can take a picture of one, but the birds are fast and my camera is a tad slow, plus there's a glass window between us, so I don't know how well it will work.
(Our feeder is this model, btw.)

One of the two yellow lantana plants in the front border has grown quite sprawling and is a big draw for black swallowtail butterflies. I saw at least a dozen black butterflies on it while I was pulling out of the driveway on Monday, and that's part of what prompted me to put up the hummingbird feeder. I frequently see hawks circling over the area south of our neighborhood where there are no buildings. aristeros is not impressed by seeing hawks, as they were common where he grew up, but I always like watching them.

While walking the dog in the mornings, I often see rabbits — the dog usually notices them after I do, if at all. A couple of weeks ago, I took him out for an evening walk, a rare treat for him, and we startled what was probably a deer. All I saw in the darkness was a patch of fluffy white at about shoulder level that quickly ran away. aristeros and I saw a young deer out in daytime several days ago. The playground at the loop end of our U-shaped road has a length of chain-link fence backing it, perhaps fifty yards long to judge from my memories of long-ago PE class. As we drove past, heading out to lunch, we saw a deer running back and forth along the fence on the playground side. It didn't seem to realize that it needed to run only a little farther to get away.

My mindset has been very home-centric lately. I don't have much to draw my attention past the reach of my own arms.

I am trying to follow a low-carb diet. I am already tired of salads — and I've had only two in the past week — and I want bread, especially in the mornings. Skipping my usual rice at suppertime isn't so bad.

We've noticed hummingbirds in the yard. Perhaps today I will hang up the hummingbird feeder that we bought a month ago.

It's hard to believe we've had Mungo for only half a year. It feels like longer, now. I considered moving to bi-monthly doggy status updates rather than monthly, but it turns out I do have something to say: he is no longer a silent dog by any means. He is still a fairly quiet dog, most of the time, but he whines when he wants our attention, and sometimes when he's excited he makes other conversational-type sounds somewhere between a whine and a growl. And just now he barked at me, apparently because he thinks 9 o'clock at night is a great time to play and he wants me to run around with him. I did walk him around the block earlier this evening, and that seemed to help with the restlessness a little.

Also, he seems to be blowing his coat again. We vacuumed less than a week ago, and we could stand to do it again, even after I used the Furminator on our dog a few days ago. When I scritch his chest, hairs come off with each motion of my hand. I hope this lasts no longer than the last time (which was around six to eight weeks, IIRC), preferably shorter.

We just watched the G.I. Joe movie.
It was flashier but stupider than last year's "Eagle Eye."
aristeros apologized for taking me to see it, but really it was about what I expected.