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Election Day is Finally Here

I am really, really, REALLY glad November 4 has finally arrived. Not because I’ve been chomping at the bit to cast my vote, but because I am so sick of reading about it in the paper/on the Web, hearing about it on the radio, seeing billboards, etc.

I couldn’t resist posting this video, though. My Mom sent it to me. It’s cute. And timely. And is great fodder for my Blog.

I just haven’t had much to say since my last post on Halloween. Not that a lot hasn’t happened. Just not a lot of Blogworthy stuff.

Although I guess I could mention that autumn has finally arrived in my backyard. Saturday, despite the fact that it was oddly warm outside (about 75), I took some pictures. I’ll share a few here.

At left is the “bigger picture” view.

Nice, but not overly dramatic.

You have to get out there. Look closely. Stop and appreciate the spectacular color while you can.

My yard really isn’t all that big. Just under 1/3 acre, I think. But by actually going outside, looking closely and from different angles, I got some pretty cool images.

Like this one…

This is a close-up of a beautyberry bush. From afar, it is quite unremarkable.

I like all the greens in the image below.

And here’s a close-up of a dwarf burning bush.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of Saturday’s photos.

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Trick or Treat

Last night, Hubby and I made the trek north to hang out with Amy and kids while they did the trick or treat thing.

We can never seem to time our arrivals properly. Amy doesn’t live too far away, but to get there, we need to drive through the Harbor Tunnel and up I-95 during rush hour. The drive that should take 35-40 minutes, took us about an hour and 10 minutes. Because of traffic.

So, while we’d really, really hoped to get there in time to help get the kids suited up and get some decent photos in the daylight before they were exhausted, we didn’t make it.

That’s why they look a bit disheveled in the picture below.

But we still got to help out while they trick or treated. We actually went to Amy’s church where they had a huge outdoor “trick or trunk” party for the kids. People came, decorated their cars, and kids walked around the parking lot to get candy.

Amy’s church is HUGE. There were tons of people. I was amazed at how into it the people with the cars were. Cars were really decorated, people were dressed up and role-playing. It was cool. Some woman even brought her goats for the farm scene she had going.

She had baby goats with her that were really cute. This little one was smaller than my smallest cat.

We didn’t stay at the church long. Amy, who inherited her father’s “love” of large, noisy, chaotic masses of people, was getting a bit claustrophobic. So we headed back to her neighborhood for some good, old-fashioned, door-to-door trick or treating.

Even little Joey (a dinosaur), who is just under sixteen months old, was getting into it.

Hubby carried Joey from house to house, then handed him off to Amy to take him to the door.

You wouldn’t think a kid that small would trick or treat. But he’s got terrific older siblings as role models.

Speaking of older siblings, here are Brianna and Gaige back at the house, waiting for Amy to finish inspecting their goodies.


Joey, meanwhile, was helping with the inspection…

…and loving every minute of it.


I hope you had a fun night, too!

Oh yeah, if you’d like to see the rest of the pictures, you have to go to my Picasa album.

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My World, For Better or Worse

Yesterday I took the easy way out. I grabbed someone else’s photo and just admitted that not much had happened to me on Monday.

Well, I later realized that was pretty lame. I mean, stuff happens every day, right? The question is, is the stuff interesting?

You be the judge.

As I sat at my desk, eating but not enjoying my Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Pop Tarts straight from the package, I was feeling a bit, well, confused. I usually love this particular flavor Pop Tart. Hot or cold. But they totally were not hitting the spot.

I pulled the remaining pastry from the package and saw this (photo at left). I think it is Kellogg’s way of sucking people in to buy more pastries. I wonder how well it works. What is “BG” anyway? And really, it looks ugly. And because it looks ugly, it tastes ugly. After I took this lovely photo, I re-wrapped the second Pop Tart. If I get desperate later, I might eat it. Or feed it to the dogs. Or toss it in the trash.

Speaking of the dogs…

I noticed Meg (above) was looking a bit melancholy.

So was C.

I couldn’t figure out why. Not that I wasted a ton of brain energy trying to figure it out. I was working after all. That requires lots of focus.

But I was having a hard time focusing. Maybe it was my lame-ass, half-eaten breakfast?

Perhaps it was the fact that C, who prefers hanging out under my desk while I work, had gas. (I was even feeling a bit dizzy.)

So I decided to take the dogs outside to cheer them up. And hopefully give C the opportunity to air out.

But, it was raining. And we were confronted with this, which I think you might agree is not very cheery.

Doesn’t this shot below make you shiver?

That’s when I realized it was darn cold out there. Wanna know how cold?

Yep, not only was it wet, it was a mere 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. But, what was worse, was the inside temperature. Did you happen to notice that in the handy photo posted above? It was 59.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Inside.

Hmmm. I think that means it is time to switch on the heat, don’t you?

Maybe that will cheer ole C up. I’ll let you know later if it worked.

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Glad I’m Not a "Cool" Parent

When you were a kid, did you ever wish that your parents were cool? You know, the kind of parents that didn’t care if you stayed out all night even if you were only 12? The kind that let your boyfriend have sleepovers, and stay in your room because you swore he’d be on the floor? The kind that said, “Hey if you’re going to get drunk, I’d rather you do it here. What kind of beer do your friends like?”

I think lots of kids feel that way. Then they grow up, become parents themselves, and realize being that kind of “cool parent” is just stupid.

Like this woman. Check this note out. It’s from PassiveAggressiveNotes.com, one of the more amusing Blogs I read.

I don’t know the whole story. Hopefully there is one. Maybe the “kid” is 25 or something. If that’s the case, then “Yo, Hemphead” is pretty darn funny.

Anyway… did you read the note?

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Rainy Days and Mondays



Originally uploaded by BrutalGoddess

Yesterday was a typical Monday. Not a lot happened. I didn’t take one single picture.

But, thanks to Flickr, I’ve met some cool people that take really neat photos, which I can use at will for my Blog (using Flickr’s “blog this” feature).

The image shown here is one from BrutalGoddess (Chris) in Colorado.

Then there’s Michelle in NY who takes really cool macro shots.

And we can’t forget my new friend Dave in Alaska or his wife Songwoman (Pam).

Check them out when you get time. They all have some pretty cool images.

Happy Tuesday! Hopefully it isn’t cold and rainy where you are, too.

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Swamp Dogs + Made-from-Scratch Clam Chowder = Sunday Culinary Adventure

I knew Hubby would be leaving me today. So I had a plan. He doesn’t like clam chowder. I ate some in Maine that was REALLY good. So I decided to experiment on myself.

That was the plan.

The execution of said plan meant going to Costco for some fresh clams. They didn’t have any. So I had to go to the local seafood place. It’s the sort of place that sells all sorts of fresh seafood. They sell cooked seafood, too.

That’s where I got into trouble. Not trouble really, unless Hubby digs backwards in my posts when he gets home on Thursday and reads this! Let’s just say that’s where my plan changed.

This is a swamp dog. It is a really big, blue crab, steamed Maryland style. This one is sitting on a platter.

It was big.

The plan was to have clam chowder for lunch. But the crabs smelled so good, I decided to buy a couple. Here’s the swamp dog from another angle.

I didn’t go completely astray. I bought clams, too. About 50 little-neck clams (they’re small ones). I’d never bought clams before. Or prepared fresh ones. It was an adventure.

After lunching on the swamp dogs and watching the second half of the football game (the Ravens kick Oakland’s butt) while I quilted, I prepared the clam chowder for dinner.

I soaked the clams in clean, clear water for a while, swooshed them around, changed the water, soaked them some more. Repeated. Then I had to scrub them. They have sand on their shells and inside their shells, too. And they’re still alive. So they peek out of their shell while you aren’t looking at or touching them and then “clam up” when they’re disturbed.

Here they are all cleaned and ready to cook. If you look closely, you can see a couple of them are hanging open.

And here they are in the pot.


I totally felt like the Pioneer Woman as I was doing this, by the way. Don’t worry, though. I won’t make a habit of it.

The clams only had to steam for about 10 minutes until they all opened and I could remove the innards from the shells. Some of those innards, fully cooked, are pictured below.

The small bowl in the following photo contains the meat (the cooked innards). The big bowl contains the leftover shells.

It doesn’t look like much, does it? Once I minced them, it was actually a good bit.

I couldn’t resist presenting the bowl of shells to Moses, my 18+, pain-in-the-ass cat. She just kept sniffing and meowing. Sniffing and meowing. I think she was saying, “WTF? What’d you do with the meat!?!”

The picture above is the finished product. I served it (to myself) with sourdough garlic bread.

Oh. My. God.

The chowder really was quite tasty. It was totally worth the effort.

I forgot to mention the sangria. I make killer sangria, so I had some of that, too. While I was cooking.

That was my day.

That and I finished quilting my quilt between lunch and dinner. Now I just have to bind it. That’s fodder for another post though.

Right now, I am in serious need of a nap.