Today was a lovely day. We got lots of things done around the house and yard.
I was walking around at the end of the day and took a couple shots of the sky. I caught a bird in this one.
I’ll leave you with this.
Feb 26, 2011
Feb 25, 2011
Tee-gee-eye-eff! I am looking forward to a break this weekend. The weather has been fantastic. Maybe we’ll get some time in the yard and in the shop varnishing. Most of all I look forward to spending time with the people I enjoy so much.
The trees out back are starting to show their colors. It won’t be long until everything is green again. can’t wait!
Feb 24, 2011
This evening was a clear, crisp one, after a brief downpour this afternoon. I took a walk out back looking for any signs of flowers. A couple of bright yellow dandelions were the only blooms to be seen. Usually I kick the tops off of these when I walk by, until I can spend an entire Saturday morning digging each one up by the roots.
This time I stopped a moment to see one. I guess I’ve never really looked at a dandelion before. The little curly stamens in the middle were a surprise.
Feb 23, 2011
Happy Day After National Margarita Day!!
Yes, that’s right. I missed the opportunity yesterday to post a margarita moment on a day set aside to honor margaritas of all shapes and sizes.
Not a problem. We made sure to grab a couple of margs at Chuy’s tonight to make up for it.
Yes. That’s my frozen mango margarita on the left. I’m sort of a margarita wimp. It has to do with some harrowing experiences from my early college days. Long story. Suffice to say, I still enjoy a taste of tequila, but I need to disguise it as a fruity and icy beverage.
That’s Monte’s Texas Martini on the right — complete with jalapeno-stuffed olives.
Cheers!
Feb 22, 2011
My sister-in-law Susanne gave us a basket of amaryllis bulbs in December of 2009. They bloomed beautifully last year — with gorgeous red flowers. Last spring after the blooms had faded I cut the spent blooms and put the basket outside to let the foliage feed the bulbs over the summer. And last fall I dutifully cut the leaves off each bulb and put the basket in a cool dark place in the garage to start their dormant cycle.
I’ve been meaning to pull them out to start the cycle all over again. I should have done it closer to the holidays but didn’t. Well, last Sunday I finally dusted off the basket, watered and brought it back inside.
Just 2 days later little tips of green have already started showing on each bulb. Pretty cool, i must say. I can’t wait to watch them bloom over the next few weeks.
Feb 21, 2011
Nobody really likes Mondays. But, today was especially unpleasant for me as I seem to have gotten some kind of stomach bug in the morning that laid me low all day.
Later in the evening we had a light dinner with some rose’ wine — not something we typically drink. This is an inexpensive rose’ cabernet savingnon from South Africa called Mulderbosch. We tried it once at a wine tasting at a nearby wine store and liked it. So, it has stayed on our list.
Just what I needed to end a yucky day.
Feb 20, 2011
I set out to weed the flower beds today to get them ready for planting. We have a bed about 4 feet deep that runs along our fence for about 30 feet, and several other beds scattered throughout the back yard.
The image on top is what greeted me in the wasteland left over from the basil and zinnias last fall. The image on the bottom shows the bed after weeding, rototilling and fertilizing.
I finished up right at noon. We came in and had lunch — leftover vegetable soup that monte made last night. I have to say this is the Best Vegetable Soup Ever. I should have taken a picture of it last night, but I didn’t. It’s chock full of carrots, turnips, celery, leeks and cannelloni beans — delicious. The least I can do is post the recipe, which we once again lifted from our bon ami Jacques Pepin (recipe and video from the episode here) – Happy Cooking!
Feb 19, 2011
I’ve been walking around the yard looking for the first signs of life — but, no flowers or bud yet.
So, in lieu of a shot from outside, this is a closeup of the tiny baby’s breath that came with the Valentine’s day roses.
I leave you with a haiku for the weekend:
Saturday is here.
Do, Relax, Enjoy, Explore.
Best day of the week.
🙂
Feb 18, 2011
Monte has been getting the boat stripped to bare wood and prepped for a new set of varnish coats. Progress has been slow due to him being laid low by the cold/flu/fung that’s been going around — that, and the fact that I haven’t been much help lately. Seems like my time has been sucked up with other things.
This is a shot from tonight – the wood is ready for varnish, taped and prepped. We’re looking forward to making progress this weekend. The mahogany brightwork looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see it with its first coats of new varnish.
I’m having withdrawals from not getting to play with our B-dock friends. I can feel the anticipation of the first raftup awaiting us in the next month or so!
Feb 17, 2011
Here it ’tis, folks. The (pretty darn near) Full Snow Moon.
A few days ago there was a huge solar flare that erupted, which was supposed to make conditions favorable for viewing of the aurora borealis as far south as Texas. I’ve seen them before, but only up in the Pacific Northwest.
Well, we went out after sunset tonight to see if we would be so lucky, but we were greeted by an overcast sky.
The moon will be full shortly, so I tried to get a shot of it between passing holes in the clouds.
This is one good shot that opened up for me.
TGtiF.
Feb 16, 2011
For dinner we made a mad dash for our local Chuy’s — before the thundering hoards arrived.
The walls in much of the restaurant are covered in the art of Ralfka Gonzalez, an artist from nearby San Antonio.
This is just a sampling.
I like the painting with the phases of the moon at the bottom; especially because tonight the moon is about 98% full. Friday at 2:30 AM Central time it will be the Full Snow Moon.
I’ll just pretend it wasn’t 72 degrees here today 🙂
Feb 15, 2011
Ok, well, not really movie night.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow is a 3-day special version of Jeopardy (the game show) featuring an IBM computer called Watson playing against 2 former Jeopardy champs.
So we sat down with a bowl of popcorn to watch. Watson kicked butt tonight. Amazing.
Feb 14, 2011
Happy Valentine’s Day!! ♥
My valentine gave me beautiful roses, and chocolate covered strawberries which we shared this afternoon. I took a few pics of them. But when I saw the shape of the baguette slices that we ate with lunch, I couldn’t resist posting this shot of one of them.
A perfect moment for a day celebrating love and those you love. 🙂
Feb 13, 2011
Monte brought home some snow crab leg clusters from the grocery this morning. We just had them for lunch and they were delicious.
He learned an easy, excellent way to re-heat already cooked and previously frozen crab legs from an Alton Brown episode. They turn out moist and warm, and did I say it was easy? If you like crablegs too, you should try it:
EZ Snowcrab legs for 2
– 2 clusters of unfrozen snowcrab legs (about 8 ounces each)
– Wrap clusters completely in damp paper towels
– Cook on high in microwave for 3 mins
– Dump out on butcher paper (careful, it’s HOT)
– Crack open and dip in whatever floats your boat
Enjoy!
Sheila365 
