wither the garden

While I have been lollygagging all weekend in Milwaukee and Chicago, TH has been busting her keester keeping the boy amused with kong, sticks and numerous celebrity death matches with buster the cat. Buster keeps on beating Ernest, so I don't know why he even tries. We have had numerous conversations about the garden, our water bill (higher than ever), our ppatch (pathetic this year), the weather too hot to do anything.

I feel bad for her, but I really can't do anything from 1601 miles away.

So, I listen sympathetically and on occasion am secretly glad to not be home.

The garden is really in bad shape this year. Most years, it takes care of itself if we have put a good amount of structure into it. Rain, work and Ernest all came at the same time and this year, we just don't have it together. We will not get the yields we usually do, but the saddest thing is that even going to do the smallest thing - watering and picking isn't even any fun right now.

What is more important right now? Getting a tiny puppy trained or growing basil? I think the pup comes first and the basil second. Next year, things will be different. We may build a small basset holding pen or just learn that it is okay for bassets to be left at home while their people mulch.

Right now, all we're able to do is triage. TH watered and picked some stuff, our tomatoes look terrible and thankfully, we don't depend on much to make it through the fall. Trying to balance a busy life with a garden, a puppy and travel this summer has been a experience that at times has challenging to say the least, but nothing can beat watching a small basset eat his first raspberry.

nm

really I must be going

However, this little gem has come my way and I must determine whether or not my cetaphil would qualify.

Please read along with us: TSA changes to personal lubricants.

Daydreaming in Japan

Check out my pal, J's blog. He's visited us in Seattle for a brief few hours, but his pictures of life in Japan just make me want to fly there right now. Well, okay, maybe when the persimmons are ready for the picking.

Z world.

Sometimes I wish they would bring back the simpler versions of things, my Volvo 245 wagon with its boxy look, the ability to load a washier and dryer in the back and no bells and whistles. I wish I could use cold cream as moisturizer and not worry about sunscreen.

I wish ESRI would bring back ArcView 3.2 so that I could create fast and easy files that didn't require rocket science and a overblown application to create.

Sigh.

touch not my monkey

Scroll down to the bottom of this TSA directive.

Other than that, same old shit, different day.

blogging in two places

I'm testing out blogging for the world's largest frequent flyer message board right now. It's sapping up my brain power. That and Ernest and work and my weight and my lack of motivation to do something about my weight and the fact that I am surrounded by inertia.

So, excuse my lame post. I may just end up meme-ing for a while.

I'm having fun thinking about approaching the world of points and miles from the non-traditional view - I'm not a middle aged business man, a young go getting female consultant or the leisure hardcore mileage accumulator that will route themselves through Bali to get from Boise to Boston.

I'm just me, 30% of my travel is work related, the rest is fun. I buy a mixture of full fare and discount tickets, I am doomed to coach on occasion and more often than not, I don't travel with my laptop.

It has been fun.

Right now, I'm waiting for my dermatologist to give me a Rx for my moisturizer. I can't check this all the time.

Sigh.

nm

Home again

For the rest of the week. Okay, until Friday.

What can I say, my cousin N. married the beautiful Miss S. on Saturday and it was one of the best weddings I had been to in years. They are on their way to Bali tomorrow and I am looking forward to seeing them down in the Bay Area when they return.

The only damper on the festivities was R's flight from London was cancelled, so he didn't make the wedding. Well, next year in Greece it'll be his big fat Greek/Iranian/German wedding - that I can't wait for.

Neither can TH, I think.

I have lots to rant about re: TSA, airlines, mascara and the state of the world, but it can wait.

After this weekend, I am happy that my parents are still alive, healthy, happily married and hanging with their friends of 50 years that are the same. I am happy that my mom summoned up the emotional strength to make it to N's wedding and that Khaleh M. was their as her support system.

I'm happy that though life at home can be hectic, I wouldn't trade it for anything and underneath all the glitz, glamour and diamonds, money cannot buy you happiness.

Night all.

nm

eyebrows

DSC_1666, originally uploaded by flora and flying.

I miss my dog. TH is picking him up tomorrow and as far as we can tell, he may not want to come back. All that running around, sheep poop and cat chasing is more fun than hanging out at the village getting petted by overfed children.

It seems that our brave new world has hit nightmare proportions.

personal shopper

Okay, here's one you are not going to believe. I loathe shopping for myself if it involves dresses, floofy things and anything that will bring out some of my worst features - my arms, my thickened waste, my porn star boobages and my uneven tan line.

Yes, it is wedding time and I have dutifully avoided looking for a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding on Saturday.

Good thing my mom was free today. She was on a mission and she did well.

I have a dress that just needs me to haul my keester over to the Nordstrom lingerie department at lunch and get a new bra.

Thanks mom.

nm

I miss my boy

DSC_1673, originally uploaded by flora and flying.

Kisses on your big nose tiny puppy.

you know, it just never stops

Who is to think that just because you are going to a meeting, your work doesn't stop? No, in fact, in my case, things just start piling up.

Case in point, its nearly 1 am and I just finished submitting an abstract for a meeting in January.

I totally envy people that can go to conferences and not have to do anything when they get back to their rooms.

Bastards.

Just kidding.

nm

invisible girlfriend

What is with men and their need to drive with one hand up on the passenger's headrest like they are caressing their invisible girlfriend?

Trust me buddy, you could merge in traffic much better if you used both hands.

Sigh.

I could bore you with the details of my life, but today has been quite fun one, stupid dongle issues (no, it is not a dirty word), a heap of unspecified work to be heaped upon me and other things that some of you had to hear via email. Thank you for listening to me rant.

When I went downtown today to see Katrina at Red, I was lucky enough to score a great parking place and unlucky enough to see touristas in minimal dress. Try harder will ya? Its Seattle, not Orlando.

Oh, E.dd is doing just fine.

smooches from the Board Room near Gate D1 at Seatac,

nm

fish tacos galore

Off to SD tomorrow for a few days of overwhelming maphead love.

I can not even begin to tell you what is like. Glitzy, provoking, frustrating and very exhausting.

For some really good analysis, you can visit James Fee and see what I'll be doing on Wednesday morning at 8:30 am.

Now, I must swap the dongle from Thor to Magpie.

Does that sound strange or what?

nm

all is quiet on the western front

E. dd has been delivered to Goldendale and it is quiet here. It feels funny to have the house to ourselves. We have removed chairs from the couch and we can go in and out as we please without shutting the doors tight.

I think I would rather have him here, but my guess is he's having a blast with Phracey.

Sleep tight tiny dog.

nm

Um, how can I say this?

Or, can I ask for y'alls advice?

Does anyone know how to clean the carcasses of mosquitos off of their semi-flat high hide white walls? Our bedroom looks like a murder scene occured there and yes, we have screens.

It is just that TH is tasty to those nasty critters and we both spend time each night before bed performing the mosquito reconnaissance and on my low bedroom ceiling are the remnants of kamakaze mosquitos who did not return from their missions. It is sort of gross and short of painting, I can't imagine what to do to make it look better. When she gets bitten during the night, we get up to find the bastard that did her wrong, because he's going to come back for more. So my short nights are broken down into even shorter segments.

Me? I don't seem to be tasty fodder.

I'm not complaining, I'm just thinking painting the ceilings chinese red and the walls sort of moth brown all in satin would hide a myriad of sins.

Other than that, TGIF. It has a been a bitch of a week.

nm

Thursdays make me happy these days. I guess mostly its because I leave in the mornings and when I come home, my house is clean. I will admit to the outsourcing of my life. I am not proud, I am just pratical. There is no way in heck I have time to clean, mow, iron and wash my windows and do them all well.

Can I also say that I watch not one smidgen of TV or DVDs or anything entertaining and spend absolutely the minimum amount of time that I can get away with online?

Really.

Where the hell does all the time go? I get up at 6:30, am at work by 9, work until 6 and don't go to bed until 10:30. I do not stop.

How can people spend the time that I don't have watching tv and feel like they can get their house cleaned, their lawns mowed and their shirts ironed? I know you can clean while watching tv and iron shirts, but lawn mowing, that I have to see.

I'm not saying what I do is right, but right now, it is thing that is keeping me or us, sane. It means that NM does not buy shoes for the next three months (really, Ms. C) and that we cut back on eating out, but I am not sitting in my living room looking at piles of tiny dog fur building up on my floors and having it drive me crazy.

Okay, back to watering my droopy plants and molesting my dog.

nm

beset by wednesday

Almost ripe. Peaches chez nm, July 2006.

I have had a not very good day. Work was okay, it was work. I had a good one hour acupuncture appointment which was followed by more work and the realization that I had 1. misplaced or lost my moleskine calendar 2. my driver's license 3. forgotten to ticket my parent's tickets to antayla 4. book a car reservation for San Jose 5. call about transitional housing for my friend.

I hate that, I hate losing control of these things by taking shortcuts to getting things done. If I had put my liscense back into my wallet, put my calendar back in my bookbag, made a to do list and crossed off these things, they would be done.

I did find my calendar, my liscense and manged to make my car reservation. My parent's reservation requires more dedication and I must call about transitional housing tomorrow. Options are running out for our friend and our first line of defense fell through this afternoon. We're not giving up, he'll find shelter soon.

It's just frustrating.

Oh, my acupuncturist worked on my hips and tonight, while walking/running ernest, I managed to trip over him and pull something and now I'm in pain again.

Sigh.

Thorny, yet attractive

Rosa sericea pteracantha, The Edgewood Garden, July 2006.

Happy August Peeps. I'm happy the month of July is over, it sort of sucked in my opinion and many others around me. So bring on August with meetings, puppies, weddings, tomatoes, blackberries, peaches, drunken croquet and the Campari Open if I can ever get my act together.

Question of the day: A new month begins, do you ever think of it as a fresh start?

Discuss and post.

That means all of you.

Come out and even be anonymous.

smooches,

nm

licking the beater

Last night, the weather was perfect for a long putter with one's basset to pick blackberries and to make brownies for the Chocolate in the garden event at The Edgewood Garden to benefit Northwest Harvest. TH requested my chocolate polenta brownies and I made a batch of brownies with small dillentante semisweet chips and cocao nibs. They were both delicious and honestly, had I realized how great they were, I wouldn't have saved any.

If you know what I mean.

I used the back of the box one bowl brownie recipe that lends itself to quick execution and quick clean up, but other than a whisk, no beaters. TH and I discussed the lack of beaters and who would get to lick the bowl. Growing up, I had to share the beaters with my brother as my mother had a Sunbeam mixer with two beaters- one curved and one sort of rectangular. TH said she shared with her father or mother depending on who was doing the baking. For this recipe we use a whisk, which has its own issues.

My mother has graduated to a Kitchenaid and TH and I have a Kitchenaid pro, butcher than my mom's but with a beater alignment issue that nags me to this day. The Kitchenaid has only on beater, so we have to toss a coin to see who is going to lick that beater.

When you have a moment, some unsweetened chocolate, and a hankering for rich and chewy brownies, give these a whirl.

Baker's One bowl Brownies.

Be creative, don't use your microwave -ugh, I use a double boiler. Add cocao nibs, dried cherries, polenta, orange extract, dried cranberries, dark chocolate pieces, almond extract, more vanilla, let your imagination run wild.

Oh, the brownies were a success, but honestly, the number of chocolate desserts was astounding and the garden is looking amazing.

nm