The Last Laugh

Remember how last week I was getting all high and mighty, in particular warning you against believing everything you read online? I told you this was our 38th wedding anniversary, and by golly, it was our 39th!!! Furthermore, Miss, trying to act like a kid again, now has water in her left ear from her handstands! I laughed at myself, but I'm ceding the last laugh to you dear readers. :-)

Things have been busy, busy, around here, some of which happened last week, but I never got around to telling you about it. On facebook I saw someone post that a curator needed some work for the monthly Third Thursday because their artist canceled at the last minute. Well now. I sent him a message telling him I had some pieces that were just hanging around after coming home from the Church Street gallery--we agreed to meet to see if they would work for his space. They did. I drug myself downtown to show support on Thursday night ,and fortunately I ran into some friends who accompanied me to the space. (they will hang there for a month--a blessing because I won't have to store them myself!)
Lots of color right? I did a little gallery hopping, however, it's really not my thing, so I didn't stay too long. Heading back to my car, I came across these guys setting up for the evening along Orange Avenue in front of a way-too-long, vacant lot.

I suppose every city has their own version of both the drummers, and vacant lots but I wish that weren't so. I'm all for the drummers, in fact, they were making great sounds, however I wish the city would just go ahead and turn this space into an impromptu park until the economy improves, and a tenant is found. We can dream can't we?

Walking up to my parking space, I saw this terrific cloud formation as the sun was setting:

 I told you I've been obsessed with the sky of late!

What I really wanted to be doing was reading my novel which I finally finished this afternoon. Stones from the River by Ursala Hegi, a book I got from Bev, was yet another in a long line that I've read about the Holocaust, however this one was very unique. Told from the perspective of a young woman, beginning in early childhood, who just so happens to be a Zwerg, the German word for dwarf. Set in a small town in Germany, she relates the lives of her fellow townsfolk, and how Hitler's rise to power affected everything and everyone. Because I've spent some time reading this, last week at bridge I asked Willie, our Dutch friend, when she came to America. As it turns out, the beautiful woman I've now known for a year, was deeply affected by the war because she is way older than we all thought. Living in Amsterdam as a young girl, she can still recall the German troops coming onto her street with machine guns, taking her Mother's best friend away. Incredible to imagine isn't it? Sadly, my innocent question brought her to tears, and needless to say, that was the end of our bridge game for the day.

Because something work related came up late Friday evening we never made plans for our anniversary. Between Bruce having to sleep off his red-eye flight, and the work problems, the timing wasn't great for a celebration. Instead we took it easy, meaning Bruce did NO work on Saturday which is really a celebration in and of itself. We moseyed. The weather was dreary. Our plans to purchase a new garden bench to replace the rotting one I have in the yard didn't work out either. Although we tried both garden centers in College Park, neither one had anything suitable.

So we went to Dubsdread. What's that Gail?

Here's the scoop: 14 years ago, Bruce's parents threw a 25th wedding anniversary party for us at Dubsdread without consulting us. I pouted. I ranted. I was ridiculously ungrateful! "Why didn't they ask us where we wanted a party?" "What were they thinking???"  They were thinking that special occasions are meant to be celebrated, that's what they were thinking. The older I get, the clearer I see that they were right. Year after year they wanted to take us out to dinner, and there were many times that I just didn't want to. Shame on me! The party turned out to be fun, and for years and years, I couldn't bring myself to give away the shoes I bought for the occasion. Ladies amongst you will surely understand.

Anyway, Dubsdread is our city golf course, and back then, it needed some revitalizing. It now has it. We had lunch and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

I knew that this photo with Bruce sitting by the window would be difficult, but I still like it. He's sporting his anniversary gift around his neck. We then came home and napped for two hours which is pretty much unheard of around these parts. Nice. As we played canasta through the evening and night, we ate pretzels with ranch dip and popcorn. That was dinner. We were acting like we were kids again. Actually, when you've been dating since you were 13, in some respects, we will always be kids in each others eyes, no matter how old we become!

We skipped the market on Sunday! I cleaned! Bruce worked! I had a nice chat with Matt except for the internet connection was spotty because while moving furniture around I knocked the extender off. Duh!

Sunday night I got a little more creative with dinner, making the above. What the heck is it Gail? Well, the skillet holds corn, scraped from the cob, poblano peppers, charred in the oven, three kinds of diced tomatoes, red onion, garlic, and cilantro. The tray behind holds some spiced pumpkin seeds and honey, do I mean spiced! The recipe is from the Flying Biscuit Cafe cookbook from Atlanta. Somehow I got some of the cayenne pepper on my hands causing some serious burning all through the evening. Oftentimes I've read to wear gloves while chopping peppers, which I never do, but that advice came to mind as my hands felt like they were on fire! Pasta in the last pot. Very tasty concoction.

So, I spotted a new bird in the jatropha tree, and despite poring over the Audubon guide, I can't figure out what kind it is.

Right profile and here's the left. Don't get upset with me for posting two, they will probably never appear again in "Camera Crazy."

We've discussed how birds are molting so perhaps there's some of that going on? Mrs. Cardinal is looking pretty spiffy these days as she sits on the fence:

Much improved appearance, don't you agree? This morning as I was hanging the sheets on the line, a hawk flew overhead, landing on the same post as the Osprey from a few weeks ago. Those mocking birds are fearless, antagonizing the larger birds.

How about that for a size difference?

While I was on Facetime with Matt, I told him that while cleaning I decided to do something different with the coffee table. I turned the camera around so he could see what I'd done. He wasn't impressed. Eventually we settled on this arrangement:

Okay, I admit, I'm including the above to show off Baxie. Let's get a closer look shall we?

With Bruce's help I took this glass top off, cleaned both sides and rotated the rug. What you are seeing is the cleanest the living room has been since Nancy visited last summer. Obviously, cleaning is not my thing. You and I both know I'd much rather be writing and taking photographs. Nancy will surely call me tomorrow to get more details as she loves cleaning.

As we sat in Dubsdread and I told Bruce I'd written the story about his pool cleaning days,  I realized the error of my dates. I laughed and laughed and I hope you will too.