what mrs foley ate today

espresso with hot milk
rice edamame corn with maple syrup bacon bits and splashes of thick cream and butter
a grain and seed breakie, that

chocolateorange bread with whipped cream

this is the cream diet

roast beef hash with Fancy Ketchup

not done yet / the day is young

Rudolph and Frosty

these fatuous tunes have been planted in my brain pan

when i was a kid Christmas music was Silent Night / O Come All Ye Faithful / Hark the Herald Angels Sing

oh where are they now ?

not in the shifty markup

Passport Picture

we decided we were having a good hair day so we went to the post office to have our picture taken for our new passport

we were wrong about the hair

and then when La Senora della Vanita looked at our pictures she pointed to our rosy cheeks

hmmmm ? she murmured

have you been drinking wee drams of port in the afternoon ?

oh no we said

our cheeks are rosy from walking in the sunshine on the desert

that's our story and we are sticking to it

we are reeling . . . . .

. . . . . .

from all the turning points and tipping points we are experiencing lately

we dont know which end is up

we run around in circles so we dont careen off the walls

worst of all we cant find the exit

surely an escapade is in the offing

now ? yes, NOW

being lazy today

so lazy i cannot describe thanksgiving again so this is what i wrote to the NewsBlog

i was prepared to give thanks that i was not cooking anything at all for the dinner bc my grandson and his girlfriend and friends from back east were putting on the ritz / they had two turkeys one for her to roast and one for him to deep fry / the guests cranked out a phalanx of pies / but somehow the gf's turkey ended up in my oven and so i made the gravy too / for which i was thankful after all / that all of them pitched in was wonderful and heartwarming / but of course, as Jane Smiley wrote on huffington post there is always someone who cries over the food / in my case it was the sheer volume of food that i fear will go to waste / whilst cleaning up i heard my daughter saying Save the Bones, Save the Bones / why, whatever for / oh we make broth and so on

it was a nice day / ironically we have a spare turkey here at my daughter's house / she lives next door to me / as luck wd have it the NYT showed how to make a turkey confit with thighs, wings, legs, garlic, herbs, salt and two quarts of olive oil

i have never made a confit before so that is how i will spend the day

btw, as i wrote on the foodblog about mash taters with cream cheese the grandkid did 'em up to our highest standard of mash taters / yay
Katherine Hunter | 11.24.06 - 9:27 am | #

Miss Tickle is making us lose our killer belly fat

she says to keep our heart drumming along nicely it is essential to dump the killer belly fat

she makes Caterina, our Cugina della Cucina, promise to stop doubling the amount of butter in every recipe

Caterina has to make a lot of stuff with fiber like Humdingers, her tasty fiber cookies

and we have to eat hot cereal with hemp seed meal thrown in

and cut down on godblossom as it makes us indiscriminately munch

like, you know, the blind munchies

pasta only every ten days

mezzo porzione / that's half a portion of pasta

we feel better already

can you pee a pound ?

<<>>

we weigh ourselves in the morning when we get out of bed in our night clothes

night clothes are usually lightweight linen

later when we get dressed we become naked and then we weigh a pound less than with the night clothes on

one morning we got naked and weighed ourselves and then we peed and then we weighed ourselves again / just curious, you know

we weighed another pound less

did we really pee a pound ?

son.out.law sez just because a scale is digital doesnt mean it is accurate


note : we is the royal we / or maybe the royal weewee

iWeb urls

we are practicing using iWeb, the .mac webpage application

our first pages are here :

you will have to cut and paste as several attempts at the linkage code is failing / doan no why

http://web.mac.com/skaterina/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

http://web.mac.com/skaterina/iWeb/skaterina/patio.html

stuck stumped stupified stymied

?????????????????????????????????????

lather rinse repeat

?????????????????????????????????????

arriving at old ladyness

you know you have arrived when you have whiskers on your chinny chin chin

smile

just two or three

i stroke lovingly

(now i know why men have beards)

(whiskers are like having a beloved pet on your chin)

life by numbers

change the clock
turn it back
now it is no longer dark at seven in the morning
and it will be very very dark at seven in the evening

this number change rearranges all ones routines if one wants

Mrs Foley looks in the mirror . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .

oh
i see i was right
i said when
i was younger

i am too vain to be vain

now i look like i have been dragged through a knothole backwards

hmmm / smile

yet somehow comforting to be all let gone and growing old as ungracefully as possible

(yet all those other parts of me / especially Miss Tickle with her heart-healthy ways / are calling in
la donna della vanita*



* put a little accent mark over the second a in vanita / thatta girl)

Feeding Mrs Foley

Caterina la cugina italiana anche dalla cucina

well she is learning how to cook for one

the one and only

Mrs Foley

tonite she wants potatoe chips with sourcream onionsoup dip

Mrs Foley Flirts . . .

> > > > > >

. . . . . . . . . .


with dementia
? dimentia ?

in other words (IOW)

further adventures in the art of Controlled Schizophrenia

Mrs Foley promises to herself that she will refrain from
walking around the neighborhood without clothes on

she will always go as someone else

doing something different

constant change is here to stay

all i needs is one reader / smile

~~~~~~~~~~~~~@@@@@@@@@@@@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thanks, kate

inventory . . tomatoes . . 2006

7 quarts red ripe tomatoes of all varieties grown this summer / with a layer of golden strawberry topping three of the quarts / gorgeous / no garlic

4 pints golden toms and one additional 4 oz jar

3 pints tomatoes with tomatillos and garlic

7 halfpint jars Fancy Ketchup / Catsup

9 halfpint jars tomato garlic jam

7 pints tomato garlic jam

2 pints plum toms with cherry toms and garlic and 1 halfpint

5 pints spicey and a little hot

5 halfpints cherry toms with garlic and one small sample jar

4 pints whole roasted genovese with garlic

1 pint whole roasted marvella (so beautifullymelony)

5 half pints pickled onion relish in chutney syrup

2 halfpints (the flat jars with platinum lids) special relish (onion.peppers)

3 flatpints of green zebra

3 flatpints of golden strawberry

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

one quart spiceyhot tomato juice in the reefer

hmmmm . for virgin merries ?

godmother

a young man ambles up the driveway
have i a surprise for you, he says

i am B.... M.... and you are my godmother, he announces

ooops / my last known memory of this young man he is 16 and i am 40something living the get away from it all life on a mesa in se Utah / no water, no electricity, no clocks, mirrors, tv

what do you DO there ? he asked

i see a spectacular sunset every evening

he says he'd rather watch Starsky and Hutch

that was then and this is now

^^^^^

indeed he is the son of best friends during the young married phase of my life when, yes, skaterina participated in such events as bridal showers, baby showers, christenings, and general allround comaraderie with former highschool and college pals, hanging out at home and abroad, sharing beach cottages, ski trips, and supporting each other through mental breakdowns and what not

we were all growing up together

this godson's parents died youngish (under 50) and that was a while ago / we would all be 70somethings now / and so close contact went down the drain

now said godson lives in the same state but up north and has brought his two sons down to our mtn bike, jeep loving town to partake of the local recreation and he acquired my address from another old pal

well......

at this point i wish to revise history and tell what i would have liked to happen next for example we planned a get together for later that day / say 5:30 and a picnic supper on my new tumble rock patio where the dining table now resides

how charming and bucolic with the two boys, 8 and 10, having a merry time on our property with the dogs and so on while we got reacquainted and all of this out of doors

for, you see, my house is a jumble with my bedroom now in the living room so the bedroom can be replastered / all is awry and i am not as flexible as i used to be with my routines / i like to go to bed early, yeah, like 8 o'clock

so when he calls and sez we got lost on the trail we cant be there until 7 / i go along / daughter
now sez it is too cold to eat outside and she willy nilly hauls the table back inside necessitating further rearrangements of furniture

i drink some gin and mineral water and then i drink some more while waiting for them to arrive to we can eat the rather divine chicken wings and assorted salads

drink some more gin n min

whew well at last they arrive, the boys too tired to participate with the adults, boring as we must be, and shucks there are no toys and they are too picky to eat the wings and salad and a pizza must be ordered in a town with no delivery

sonoutlaw volunteers to go get the pizza which upon inspection hardly seems the kind of rubbish one would eat if one were truly "picky"

nevermind

canning by colour

red tomatoes / genovese / big beef / early girl / julliettes

green tomatoes / green zebras

golden strawberry tomatoes

yellow pears

sugar snack

to layer in a quart jar

or

to can separate small jars / each a different colour and colour combination / for instance yellow pears and golden strawberry and little sugar snacks / and another that is just golden / just marvella / just green zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

to make colourful wintertime pizze

yow

Palm grease

(((((((**********)))))))

palm grease is the oil that comes off your hand onto
the buttons of your remote control

skaterina noticed that many of the buttons on the remote were dingy grungy despite them not being punched often or not at all

she wd expect the most punched buttons to be dimmed with grey but not all the buttons for the vcr which she does not use with this television

allora cosi :

as she handles the remote and positions it in the palm for rapid execution and response (quick hit the mute) the hand just naturally emits some of its essence

we now address the issue of how to clean the remote

marvellas

marvellas are heirloom tomatoes
coral red with delicate pale golden streaks
they are pretty and sweet / thin skinned &
not too many seeds

the marvella plant immediately produced two big green tomatoes
big like big as a softball / green as the green giant with no sign of red

hmmm i thought the plant would not produce any other tomatoes until the first two big ones were picked and / yes / eaten

Fried Green Tomatoes :

tomatoes need to be firm and crisp / slice into 1/4 or even 1/2 inch slices

dip in flour / dip in egg/water or egg/milk bath / dip in panko crumms

heat peanut oil hot not smoking / i like a large iron frying pan for fried green tomatoes

fry til crisp and golden on one side / turn and do the other

season with salt and pepper / whatever

our neighbors had never had a fried green tomato before

didnt know what he was missing

and yes after i picked the two big green ones the plant put out dozens more and they turned out to be these pretty pastel coloured Marvellas

how marvelous

tanka time for tomato world

(tanka : five lines with 5,7,5,7.7 syllables)

Tomatoes 2006 Part One

(5) tomato fatigue
(7) flourishing beyond belief
(5) can you name them all ?
(7) sun gold, thessalonika
(7) marvella, genovese*


Tomatoes 2006 Part Two

(5) big beef, early girl
(7) sugar snap, sweet one hundreds
(5) golden strawberry
(7) the neighbors' and the grandkid's
(7) green zebra, wait, that's only

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*genovese in italian pronounciation : gen O vay zay

the authentic apology

not politician speak :

so sorry You were offended

(not my fault, bub, if you were offended)

authentic :

i was rude
i was an efn asshole
i dont expect you to forgive me

so dont make me feel worse by being gracious and understanding

heh

the Telephone Jones

a phonejones person
will answer the phone
no matter what
will jump out of a tub
or shower or put down
fork with luscious morsel
even interrupt love making
(yes, i have seen it happen_)


thank goodness for cell phones


phonejones person can be in touch every moment / hands free / ear piece firmly planted

and will call with every momentous bit of trivial minutiae / whether you are interested or not

but of course you are interested because you are the enabler and so you answer the phonejones summons because now it is your habit too / your addiction too / and because you have discovered that even when you dont answer and the phonejoneser leaves a message on your machine that the phonejoneser will just keep calling and leaving more messages and cannot wait for you to return its call so then your machine is all loaded up with messages / usually the same one "we havent talked for a while"

subtlety doesnt curb the onslaught / changing your number or heaving the answer machine out the window not appropriate at this time / time for the enabler to crack / lose her cool / lose her
control / hit the wall and turn into a raging a.....e

there

i said it and i am glad

and

that's my story and i'm sticking to it

PEACHES

peach season in se utah

breakfast :

handful grape nuts
handful homemade granola
(rather seedy and nutty)

a fresh peach

her skin slipped off and her seed removed
(she is a freestone)

she is golden rich juicy in a word PEACHY

with sunshine

skim milk or 2% milk or whole milk or soy milk or half n half to moisten the cereals and to

adorn the peach : un po di creme fraiche or a dab of sour cream or a drool of heavy cream

whew

one more thing to do before i die

make shrimp scallop bisque with the stuff in the freezer

oh yeah oh sure oh okay

any minute now

KitterZ the Perfect Cat, Part Two

kitterz the guest kitty settles in
she has climbed every tree
sat on every roof
(buildings and cars)
crouches in the open windows
at night keeping an eye on the locals

some of the locals are designated pets
others are feral who have been kindly
trapped and neutered and returned to
the neighborhood that trapped them
who are committed to continuing care
if needed

our community is a no kill zone for any animals that can be adopted, fostered, or returned to the wild (yeah, like deer and bears)

so ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KitterZ "dad" came to get her the other day as he is in town for the week / she came when she heard his voice call her name / she headed for a door / one of the things she likes about my house are all the exits / one from every room / i like this too / smile

he took her away anyway / backing up to her travel cage so she wdnt see / hah

a couple of days later he called / she was relentlessly clamoring at him / demanding ! he said

she wont leave him alone ~ ~~ !!

next morning he brought her back

~~~~~~~~~


for "KitterZ the Perfect Cat" click on June 2006 in the Archive on the left / June 29

it's well, well water

our new water feature

~~~~~~gurgle~~~~~~~

we now have a livestock water trough

in the orchard

filled with well water

nice clean oasis water

warmed by the desert sun

it is so big / i dont know how many gallons / many many gallons

deep

when you sit on the bottom the water is up to your neck

you cd drown in this trough

but that wd be icky for whomever found you


(Mrs. Foley is standing by with a towel)

the 3 R's of self-torture

Regrets
Recriminations
Remorse

wallow wallow wallow

regret / oh i wish i hadnt done it / thought it / said it

recriminations / well you did / so whine and cry and boo freaking hoo

remorse / see how long you can indulge in feeling bad about yourself and then do it some more

summer hibernation

we are limp overcooked noodles
in the triple digit temperatures

snooze

we've been Googled

we received this e-mail :

Hello Katherine,
A very synchronistic turn of events had me smilling ear to ear this morning to find myself looking at your blog. This is _______ I came through Moab a couple of years ago now with _______ and her daughter...our VW had broken down and we were fortunate enough to be in the best of all possible places to break down. a magical place.

I've been living in South Korea for the past year and a half teaching English and trying myself on in a new and so very different culture.
My time here is winding down. In three weeks I'll go back to Canada to study for my bachelor of education. I've been waking up sweating at night at the thought of returning to school....formality vs. freedom.... ouch!
I know I want education part of my future in some capacity but I am certain it will have nothing to do with the public school system...so it will be a year of jumping through the hoops to get the credentials I need to open up more doors.
I'm interested in alternative school systems/workshop style learning environments, outdoor environmental education, and any kind of arts based learning.

Anyhow, I've been racked with indecision about this. I feel pulls in other directions...specifically toward India to persue yoga teacher training...but then there's this voice that says " just do this first"
So, sitting here behind a desk at my school in Jeollanamdo, South Korea, bored out of my skull because my classes are finished but I'm expected to stay until "clock out time",
I type " boredom indecision" into google.

Viola! up comes a link to your blog from november 29th 2004. I read and enjoyed for an hour and remembered what a fun time I had with you and Kaki and Doni. thank you again.

Just what I needed to hear.
I'm WILL celebrate my indecision! while I scoop up, gather in, slid through and spin around in this mad dance of an existence.
The path I choose is the path that chooses me!
Thank you skaterina!So much playful wisdom in one blog washes over me.
Made my day!
Bright Blessings,
_______________



--

we all had fun today

mrs foley got up at five and took the dogs out
skaterina fooled around at home / decided what to do today
like turn on the water for the vegetable garden

caterina made scrambled eggs with slightly carmelized vidalia onions in butter with an ample halping of colby/jack cheese

we were all set for the moab farmers market

we all together knew we wanted corn and carrots but no dont get anymore squash

our tomatoes are coming in now but oh well lets get a basket of sungold / a bunch of golden beets / a locally grown finocchio otherwise known as sweet anise or fennel

fancy that / the youth garden project is growing finocchio

i took some hot plum sauce and some pickled beets to the triassic stone people, scott and katy, and so later they brought me a frozen elk rump

that's all folks

i cant wait to read this ten years from now

Mrs Foley is in charge of burning bridges ~

~

she will also dispense with excess luggage

BAGGAGE

gin

a friend of mine calls gin "mothers milk"

hmmm

i like gin (Bombay and/or Bombay Sapphire) bc it is distilled from tasty aromatic botanicals

like coriander / lemon peel / angelica / licorice / juniper berries / and so on

it is a sugar free alcohol and does not set up sugar cravings like wine / beer / bourbon / tequila / and so on

i pay attention to sugar intake to avoid insulin rebounds that cause three day hangovers

i drink gin with sparkling mineral water and a tsp of frozen lime juice / plenty of ice cubes / big ones / like six of them in a low ball glass / short and wide

keep the gin in the freezer / gin drinks must be very very cold

(once in the winter i told someone i didnt drink gin in cold weather / he was so surprised / he never met anyone before who didnt drink something because it was winter / i said gin drinks have to be cold and icy and that is why they are so refreshing in hot weather and rather debilitating in cold weather)

you dont get that sticky in the mouth feeling when you wake up after a gin binge from the mineral water as you do with tonic / even the best tonic

tonic is afloat with sugars and fake flavors

now the curious thing is that one consumes a great deal of mineral water in relation to the amount of gin / say one ounce of gin to six ounces of water and melting ice

that old saying that if you drink as much water as you did alcohol before going to sleep you wont wake up dehydrated

so the gin and mineral water really is quite a bit like a purification or what i like to call a mental health drink

it is possible however to get a bit blitzed when overdoing the mental health part

and so i must report that i ordered a book of nine radio plays by an australian woman writer whose work fascinated me when i first discovered her twenty years ago / her name is elizabeth jolley / her work is surreal / exploring amazon.com while sipping mother's milk and mineral water i saw that she had written some radio plays and they are apparently a collectors' item for they are priced at $119.00

and yeah, i ordered them

dont know what i was thinking

curious i guess / in a mentally healthy way, of course

you can tell who the locals are ~~~

~~~
when it rains in the desert
the locals stand in the rain

fifth of july / an old memory

when i was a little girl i loved the books about The Bobbsey Twins

one year Nan and Bert and Freddie and Flossie were at the seashore for the 4th of July / they loved the fireworks

the next day it rained

Mr Bobbsey told them it always rains on the day after the fireworks because the fireworks shake up the sky / the clouds / the heavens

so, yeah, today it is raining in beautiful downtown Moab

every 4th of July i expect rain the next day and / guess what / i am seldom disappointed

the Dot watch

Dot is built like a dachshund / low slung on short little legs / pointy nose / ears that flop

but she is wearing a poodle suit

take off the curly black dreds and she would look like a dachshund or / yes / with the pointy nose /

a Weasel

smile

Dot is getting old / her vision is dim / her ears fade / she is not so quick to run after something or anything or for the sheer fun of it / trying to keep up with Bullet back in the day / trying to keep up with Dought / until lately

she is content to trot at my heels or close by my side or even in front a little

the two mile walk in the early morning / ah yes / she is still up for that / rolling out of her basket some mornings before i call her / a little slowed down and tired on the last stretch

to be cont.. . . . . ..... . . . ..... ..... . .. . . . .

Tomatoes 2006

every winter i say to destiny's tot

one more tomato season

please

2006 may be the One

wherein everything i have learned about growing tomatoes comes to full bloom / comes to fruition / comes to

Amazing Mojo for this year in tomato jam potential

details forthcoming

KitterZ the Perfect Cat*

when i was looking for a mouser someone was looking for a temporary home for his beloved

pearl grey with light markings / she has big eyes

how can i count the ways ?

she only eats kibble
only kibble / no other
human food item / oh
maybe a 1/4 sq of bacon
or ham / tempted by pork
products / but nothing else

my former cats never ate cat food / they ate raw meat
chicken livers greasy roasted chicken backs and necks

mice
rats

they loved warm cream on cool mornings / salmon / tuna / trout heads

KitterZ will have none of it
kibble makes her purr :
pricey wild caught salmon
"treat" turned up her nose

stinky she sez












*tempted by Purr.fect Kat / resisting

Skaterina ponders what to do with all the gin bottles

VVVVVVV

other topics include "

Caterina perfects her personal method of making ricotta

with a test run of ricotta made from half and half

thick rich creamy

we are having a cake of half and half ricotta set on a slosh of olive oil / this ricotta cake is about the size of a tennis ball squashed down a bit / strew with chopped fresh herbs like lemon thyme / sage / rosemany / chives

drizzle more olive oil

surround the mound of ricotta with variously sliced fresh zucchine / green and yello and a red pepper to boot / season with more drizzles of olive oil / sea salt and coarse ground black pepper

warm in oven to the degree of cookness or warmness or brownedness or overdoneness

feeling cheezy

in the box

cheddar / colbyJack

wedge of parmigiano

gob of port salut

amish blue cheeze crumbles

lurking about down below / not in the box

available at all times

a creamy mozzarrelllllllloooobufalo cheese

oh some mascarpone

homemade ricotta / made with half n half

Mrs Foley considers her future

when you no longer remember the past

everything else is the future

Caterina thinks we are not eating enough butter

she sees a recipe for an Indonesian spice cake that has 3 and 1/2 sticks of butter plus 3 more tablespoons of butter which is essentially nearly a half another stick

there goes your pound of butter

here's the curiosity : the batter is built of butter and flower and sugar and 7 eggs / 4 large and 3 large yolks

this is an eggy projcect but see here we have a lot of extra eggs this week and two of them are mighty duck eggs

and then the cake is baked in layers but not in different pans / first you pour a layer in a pan and bake for 20 minutes and when that is done slather on a TB of butter / pour in the next layer of batter and so on

cool a little before turning the pan over to let it out onto a plate then turn it over again after cooling so more so that the first layer you poured is on the bottom at serving time / cant wait to see what the texture of the different layers is like

oh first you must butter of course the pan and sprinkle a little flour on it so the cake wont stick

sooooo

we are curious to see the tekneek of making this cake / how it works out

stay tuned

mrs foley sez its fun getting old

its the other side of puberty, she sez

like you can feel it coming but you dont know what it gonna be like <.>

go
for
it

this blog needs a new theme

maybe like this :

A.J. Jacobs decided to read all of the Encylopedia Britannica in a quest to Know-It-All

he then wrote a book called The Know-it-All (of course) One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World

(it would be more interesting to actually read the Britannica oneself than read about someone else reading it so, no, i have not read his book, only skimmed)

this would be more like it : a young woman named Julie decided to work her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe by recipe one day at a time

she blogged the experience to the great delight of cooks and foodies everywhere / me one of her readers and admirers and oh shoot envied her for thinking of it first

so what will be our new theme ?

stay tuned

another blog ?

skaterina has a new blog somewhere else
there is a general hubub hubbubb ?
over who is going to be in charge of it ?

Mrs Foley reminds me that she is in charge of wardrobe as well as in charge of dementia

and that if she can go off by herself to another blog venue it would be good for her development / she has lots to report on walks about town dressed right / you know ? / not naked or in a bath robe / she doesnt own a bath robe / plus compressing or dissolving time is in harmony with .......

sunset collecting
view inspecting
cloud surveying
food purveying

but wait :

Caterina della Cucina is in charge of the kitchen / the purveying (smile) the foodiness and the EAT ART

now that Miss Tickle / she stays close to my heart

PEAS

i never grew peas before / kay planted them / two kinds / one with white flowers and one kind with cute little purple flowers / will the peas be purple ? asks the son.out.law

they are green / i harvested them all / shelled them as i did when i was a kid in the forties and sat on the stoop shelling big fat pea pods

cooked them quick / one minute / blanched in icecube water / dry on towel / pop into vacuum bag and seal 'em up

we only eat peas in my famly when we have Special Ocasion Mashed Potatoes / this will be some organzied (sic) holiday involving Big Meat

turkey / duck / roast pork / beef / you knowb
so we have enough peas put by for 5 Special Potato event

kay did the planting this year / although taken aback at first / bc i thought i was going to be in charge of the planting this year again / i restrained the snark

heh

well i never would have planted peas so i am glad kay did / reminded me of when alison came down from up north and planted the fava beans in the Happy Trail garden

those were my first homegrown fava beans / now, see, had i been planting this year we would have fava beans / oh yeah ?

at first i just picked a few tender young peas to have piselli funghi with linguini and cream and parmesan and pancetta / a dish i loved when i lived in Rome

so day by day i harvested the peas / they are a variety of sizes / i ponder sorting them by size / are you kidding / you did that once with little pearl buttons and then when your daughter was getting rid of stuff in your happy trail house she dumped ALL the jars / hundreds of buttons in each jar / five jars / each jar carefully and obsessively sorted by size from tiny to little to small to not so small and the

nevermind

Miss Tickle

~~~~~~~~~~

"~" is ethereal
without substance
a flicker of form to attract
the eye of the visionary
and that is all

"~" beyond imagination

"~" the UnKnowable

introducing MRS FOLEY

mrs foley is in charge of dementia

she knows how to dissolve time

she'll be here any now

you cant miss her

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this is an excerpt from an Adventure in Controlled Schizophrenia

what began as a vision quest became a way of life

write something write anything

i was on an email list / one of the members wrote

write anything if you dont have anything to say

just write something

any.old.thing.........................................................

who cares

when i first read personal journals on the internet i thought
who cares if you are still in your pajamas and on your second cup of coffee

the minutiae of trivialitea

yeah who cares if i decide to rough chop the vidalias in the food processor
instead of chop by hand for the chutney syrup that awaits impatiently ????

killer belly fat / update

the trick with killer belly fat if you are not prepared to walk five miles a day or forgo 500 calories of something to get rid of it is to keep it from working its way up to your neck and strangling you in your sleep

you need to keep it in the Life Preserver area

hint

not a killer / a floater

heh indeedy

but i digress

is that

-but i digress-

one of the most overworked cliches in the universe ?

if you will (a Cheney-ism currently picked up by Wolf Blitzer)

blogger hAs been on a n d off and so have we

hence fragments from other potential posts / yet to be

there is a little flurry of interest in the blog among the girls / skaterina / caterina / miss tickle and mrs foley

some competition over who is gonna pick up the slack and furthe the blog

stayed tuned

spinach/spinaci

this is a first for me :
harvest the rest of the spinach before it bolts
i did five sinkfuls of spinach / wash take off the stem / check for sluggettos / lightly steam / drain / squeeze dry / put in vacuum bag and into the freezer

emerald green jewels / treasure in the deep freeze

one package will be spinach bisque
spinach cream sauce for cappellini
spinach pillows (ravioli)
spanakopita
spinach pie !

and i will actually be using MY Spinach grown in MY garden / whew

will wondrs never cease

orange peel and rosemary butter cookies

i took these to the Library Parade (see below)

1/2 lb unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten
grated zest of one orange
1 TB minced fresh rosemary
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt

preheat oven 375'

cream the butter and vanilla, then add the sugar, eggs, orange zest, and rosemary
blend well
sift the flour and salt together then add to the creamed ingredients
combine well

butter a baking sheet or two
drop by tspoonfulls onto the cookie sheet / they will flatten out so give them space
bake for 15 - 18 minutes or when the edges are slightly browned along the edges

not too sweet they cant be beat

let cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before sliding them off with a spatula to continue to cool on a rack

store in a tin / can be frozen / yeah

enthusiasmic

I'LL DO IT
i'll do it lemme do it
i want to do it
i can do it

? can I do it ?

yes i can

so
Do it
Do it All Ways
Do it All All Ways

and sometimes never

meanwhile Full Tilt Lolly Gag continues to exert her charms

each day

each day

i feel older

and younger

too

let me entertain you

this is for loyal reader Kate
aint she great
she clamors for an update

smile

hope this entertains you, Katie, my friend

yesterday afternoon we had a LIbrary Parade here in beautiful downtown Moab

pushing shopping carts loaded with books and sporting balloons dedicated library patrons moved the old library to the new library a block and a half away

breezy and fun we were cheered on by our friends and neighbors

then we ate cookies

ah the simple pleasures of life in a remote desert town

get this : we are only 5,000 residents and we raised $2.2 million for a new library with stunning architecture that mirrors our canyons and red rock cliffs surrounded by xeriscape desert plantings

i am a happy girl

May I ?

!@#$%^&*()_+

yes, you may

May Day

from Wikipedia :

"Mayday is an emergency code word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure communications, derived from the French m'aider. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency by many groups, such as police forces, pilots, the fire brigade, and transportation organizations. The call given three times (mayday, mayday, mayday...) in a row indicates significant danger (for example, a threat to life)."

April Fool / update

thinking about doing ?

try doing without thinking

skaterina will catch up with herself any day now

smile

Kick Glide Smile

April Fool

%%%%%%%%%%

skaterina congratulations herself

whey to go

mmmmmmmmm

a family of mice moved into the stove

teeny disney mice

cavorting on the counters in the night

we caught five of them :

the son-out-law caught one but all he really did was hear the trap close / it was not a killer trap the mouse was released in the back yard

the grandson caught two mice with dish towel weaponry that gave colourful battle ground noises

they were released to the ball field across the street

see, i didnt want to kill them

the fourth mouse was trapped by a broom / by me / and i stood there holding him down to think what to do

oh ugh i stomped on the broom

the fifth mouse drowned in a pitcher of whey left from draining ricotta and saved for the rose bush

the rose bush likes the whey and appreciates the morsel of mouse

okay so we got busted by the Dog Catcher

first i fret

the morning walk on Mill Creek Parkway / the bike path parallels the creek / leads us to Rotary Park where of course dogs are not allowed but it is too early for anyone else but a few other walkers / and this is where we fetch up and turn around

the turning point is The Xylophones / outsized custom made each with two or more drummer sticks or whatever they are called / their tones are coordinated with each other / some of them are horizontal and some are vertical / they were built and given to the town by a former resident/musician

the walk first thing in the morning is the best thing i do for myself / the consistency since the days of anemia has really paid off / my legs feel strong / I am Strong !

i can .rink and .moke and eat ice cream but as long as i make the morning walk i am ship shape
and ready to carpe diem

i dont want to give this up for some leash law so what shall we do ? we could go by car up to the Slick Rock but not driving a car first thing in the morning has contributed greatly to lowered blood pressure

soooo / i rise to the challenge at 4:30 am leap out of bed / throw on clothes / have baby barley grass water and skip the coffee until we come back

we're out at five and back by six

i like it

so do Dought and Dot

nabbed

the Dog Catcher got us yesterday morning / i knew it was coming / as we walked up to 4 East from the bike path This Could Be The Day crossed my mind

the dogs have gotten to like coming homeward overstreet which now, with lighter, brighter mornings makes us vulnerable to being nabbed by the Dog Catcher

sure enough / the Animal Control truck pulled up alongside us as we ambled home / both dogs walking with me as if they were on invisible leashes

DC didnt buy the invisible leashes bit / smile

it was still before 7 am / who knew he got up so early ? i didnt / getting up at five for six o'clock departure time is to be out before the DC is out of bed / guess he fooled me

we are an affable town and so was the DC / i pointed out that Dought the white dog is young and tall and Dot the black scruffy mop is old and small / on leashes it is a ........ i demonstrated keeping stable between the two

i understand, he said, but Mayor Dave gets more complaints about dogs off leashes than any thing else

hmmm / how nice to live in a town where the most complaints are so essentially Not So / heh

Missing Entry #1

^^^^^^^^

mercury retrograde

e d a r g o r t e r

~~~YAW SIHT~~~~

slap dash and laissez faire

************

yuup, that's me

skaterina is in a transition zone

shedding old skin and growing new tale

(sic)

&&&

missing posts to follow

here's how to get your Vitamin D

DDDDDDDDD

sit in the sun for 5 to 15 minutes

with your face arms and hands exposed

that's it

your skin will make your Vitamin D which

as you know

is crucial for the absorption of calcium into the bones

teeth hair whatever all parts of the body need calcium

sooo / after a number of years staying Out of the Sun so as not to get skin cancer i am rediscovering the joys of sun bathing / lucky me i live in the high desert south west mountains where even today still a winter one by the calendar i can sit outside

reveling in the sun

feeling skin sizzle with D

DDDDDDDDZZZZZZZZZZ

Curiosity Furthers

hmmmmmmm

what if

I do what i think

instead of think what i do ?

ooooooooooooooooooooo

duly noted :

you dont need strength / you need

agility and balance / to live in harmony

0h is it february already ?

skaterina will be back real soon

tension holds me up

notes from the diary

of

a Hypertensive

or i would be a Puddle

anniversary

the other day was the first anniversary of my mother's death

years ago a friend told me that when her mother died she became young again / i thought a lot about what that might mean so when my mother died last year at the age of 94 i was able to rouse myself from a self-imposed curse that she would outlive me but i only saw myself as not becoming young but really really Being Old

well thats over

i dedicated a year of mourning to the acknowledgement of the loss of my mother and to allow myself to feel the loss and gradually the gain of the loss / the freedom from worry about her

a lifelong entanglement grounded in chronic illness and burdened by personality disorder

she is at peace at last and so am i

and, yeah, i am young again

kick glide smile

watch out for throw rugs

heh

that was the advice from the bone density doctor / dont get thrown by a rug / pick up your feet and watch your step

so i dont fall down and crack a bone

guess i wont mention ice skating

smile

the moon is full and i am on top of the world

the walk

walking
the face
of the
planet

this is all that matters

flurries

the apparent senseless flurries

are

conceptual illustrations of

control and choice

killer belly fat

i am quite taken with this concept

of killer belly fat

heh

shrink shrank shrunked

shrink shrank shrunked

one day i was 5'6" tall and weighed 140 lbs

then i went away and had a bone density test

i came home three inches shorter and six pounds heavier

AARP bulletin sez i must rid myself of belly fat in order to protect my heart

"To lose one pound per week, forgo or burn 500 calories per day. And to battle that killer belly fat, you'll need regular aerobic exercise. You can burn 500 calories and get your aerobic workout done by walking five miles a day."

do the five miles have to be sequential ?

i walk several miles every morning / well there are frequent stops to wait for the little elderly dog

it's all about me yes indeed

resolutions

in the past i have made new years resolutions that were so good i stil keep them

one is always hanging up my coat and the other is always coming to a full stop at a stop sign

heh

this year i resolve to truly and completely let myself go

(in all its glorious ramifications)