Easily Tangented

Our favorite bagel spot in Hoboken, used to have ‘Frank’ out in front of the store. Always made me happy to see him. It occurred to me, the last time we were there, that Frank hadn’t been out on the sidewalk, inviting us in, so I asked the owner. He said that Frank had been involved in a drunken brawl, with a couple of inebriated young men, and he came through the plate glass window. The young lady behind the counter was almost sliced in half as the window shattered. Thank you, guys, for almost killing a girl with testosterone, alcohol, and glass. Thank you, too, for making my friend Frank ‘retire’ … I miss seeing him in the neighborhood… Hope you are doing well…

Happy New Year! For some of us, it’s a reason to purchase a new calendar. For others, it’s a renewal, regeneration, rebirth- a time for a new start. For others, it’s not much of anything…

We tried to sing, but every time we reached the chorus, we got teary and couldn’t finish… So, we did the next best thing…

Our small token gift to you….

Auld Lang Syne

Well,

The wreath that Maggie made

Here it is, the 28th already. The rush of the Yule/Christmas holidays starts with Thanksgiving, and, we slide down the hill of celebration til now. We’ve almost reached the bottom of the hill, when January takes over, and we really appreciate the carol, ” In the Bleak Midwinter”, but, for now, we are still basking in the glow of the holiday.

Bill & Mollie, our gracious and good friends

We had, and are still enjoying the holiday. The only downside is that Maggie works most of the two weeks before Christmas, so, she’s pretty worn to a frazzle by Christmas day. Unfortunately, a cold managed to hold her in it’s grasp, but not too tightly to enjoy the day.  We do celebrate in our low key way. Christmas eve, our friends Mollie and Bill are gracious enough to host a small get together at their lovely home. Set against a backdrop of thick woods, and quiet, we had dinner, and an evening of sharing with great friends. Good friends are the most special gift one can have.

Surrounded by Spirits...

We opened our 'poppers'

Christmas day, we rose a little later, than usual, had breakfast, and, with global warming giving us the gift of a warmer day, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Nice, for the Wisconsin/Illinois area. Opened presents, made a lovely dinner, napped, and, Maggie managed to get one last bike ride, short it may be, in for the day. She’s never rode on Christmas before. One more thing to scratch off the list…

The glow of the Season

Back to work, the next day, to receive all the people with returns, is not the best way to spend Boxing day, but, whatcha gonna do?  Part of the job… She has worked this week, but we will hopefully have the rest of the week off. Ikea, Algonquin, and other adventures await… Part of the decompression/recharging of the week.  We will ring in the new calendar, in a very low key way, and wake to the new year…

They were hung by the fire, with care...

Then, next week, the glow of the Season dims, with the boxing up of the decorations, ornaments, lights, trees, and sentiment of this holiday. Packed away but not forgotten. It is our 19th Christmas together, and, they are all boxed up, for remembering, whenever we desire to …

Winterberry

Every  year, friends and family ask me for the recipe for our wonderful, amazing crab puffs appetizer… So, to make it easy on all of us, I thought I would just post it here, for whomever forgot, or wanted it, or, just found it…

So, here it is…

1 stick butter

1 jar Kraft Olde English cheese spread

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1 1/2 tsp Miracle Whip

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 can GOOD crab meat-not the cheap stuff…

6 english muffins- I prefer Thomas…

Soften butter and cheese in a medium to large bowl

Add seasonings and Miracle Whip

Rinse crab meat THOROUGHLY, in a strainer, til you can’ t smell anything.  Squeeze out moisture and pat dry with paper towel

Mix into other ingredients

Spread evenly on english muffins

Place on cookie sheet, and put in freezer for half an hour

Slice into sixths. At this point,  you can either place in a gallon freezer bag and save, or…

Preheat broiler

Place on cookie sheet, and broil til golden brown… 5-10 minutes.  Be careful, HOT!  place on nice plate, and get out of the way!!! They will fly off …

Enjoy!!!!

A view into our small Midwest holiday…

I know, I know… I said I was going to post more, then disappeared… We have been mondo busy getting ready for projects and trips and holiday things and…

Will continue this later…

After a week’s worth of hard work, it’s time for some fun… We’re going to Memorial Hall on Friday evening, to see Red Molly…

If you are in our area, come join us. Should be a fun time!!!

A quote from the Charlotte’s Web site…

“Friday November 4 fulfills a 5 year path of mine. Red Molly captivated my attention like the whippoorwill’s song, dancing on the laughter out of a hotel room hosting a guerrilla showcase at the N.E.R.F.A. (North East Region Folk Alliance), conference in the Berkshires in New York in November 2006. Red Molly is three strikingly beautiful women, each a master of her instrument and whose harmonies carry me away to a parlor decorated in lace at an estate in Boston and then away south to a back porch in the mountains in Appalachian country.”

Advance tickets now available at Rockford Area Arts Council, 713 E. State 815 963-6765; both Postal Shoppe locations:Edgebrook Center, 815 397-7301 and 2205 S. Perryville, 815 484-0940 and JustGoods, 201 7th St, 815 965-8903; and in Beloit: Nikki’s Cafe, 604 Pleasant, 608 207-3101; or by mail: send a check and S.A.S.E. to Charlotte’s Web P.O. Box 765 Rockford, IL 61105-0765. Please indicate artist or performance date on check.

Halloween has come and gone. It’s one of, if not, our favorite holidays. We have friends that have a great party the Saturday before, and it something we look forward to for months.
One of the creative parts of the evening, besides hours of jamming, is pumpkin carving. You bring a prepped pumpkin, and carve it there. This year, they made us bring them home after the party. Otherwise, they end up with 30 jack O’ lanterns on the front porch. Some people would love that, but not this time.
So, we ended up with four, instead of the two we carve the night before Halloween. We were kinda happy about that, as we gazed down the driveway…

Stone Bridge trail, a photo by magtimmag on Flickr.

HI.
After a busy weekend of chores, errands, humdrum, we decided to go for a bike ride this afternoon, to a lovely route. The Stone Bridge Trail is in northern Illinois, and gets it’s name from a massive limestone block bridge, assembled in the late 1800′s… You don’t realize that you are even riding over it, but, there are observation points-not that a bridge needs observing,but- to see the stream going through the area…
A perfect summer day to feel the sun on your back, the smells of dust, foliage, crops, and the wind carrying the sounds of several species of birds… Life is good…..