elkit in wonderland

Postcards for Marta

Two entries down, the following comment:
Hello! My name is Marta Bielecka. I live in Poland, in a small city Zielona ra. I'm 20 and I collect postal cards. I think your country very beautyful. Can you send me post card from your city?
I know, that it costs, but when you write me your address, I will send you post card from my city too:)
Please, it make amenity it me!
It my address:
Marta Bielecka
ul. Zielonogorska 31
66-016 Czerwiensk
Poland

Sure Marta, I'll send you a post card! Anybody else?

Salmon for Zel

Hey Zel - you know, it's been a long time since I prepared my own salmon. Nothing fancy there - just set it on a piece of aluminum foil, added a few drops of olive oil, a few herbs, wrapped up the foil, and let it bake in the oven.
I forget the exact details. But to make it up to you, I found you some recipes.

Sweet Seventeen

So I finally went to the ocean today. Drove across the hill on Highway 17, and loved every minute of it like I almost always do (except when I sit in traffic, then it's just boring).
A lot of people hate 17 - actually, I think mostly they're afraid. Rightly so, it's a tricky road. A dozen miles up the hill past Los Gatos, another dozen miles back down on the other side, and lots of twists and turns. Two lanes each way, separated by a cement divider.
The divider reminds you to be eternally vigilant; it has scuffmarks (paint and rubber) all over, and there are scars in the asphalt in all of the major turns, reminders of lots of accidents. And whenever there is an accident or a stalled car, traffic piles up because there's nowhere else to go. (Not since they closed down Old San Jose-Santa Cruz Road years and years ago when a piece of it crumbled away after a winter storm. Now it's only open for residential traffic.)

No matter. I still love it. Had a good time, and I think Peggy's Mazda enjoyed it too.

Time lies heavy on my wrist

Aaaah, time flies when you're having fun ... I'm busy shopping and cooking for my friend. She had surgery recently, and while she is recovering nicely, she still gets tired quickly. Plus, she doesn't care very much for cooking, so I get to pamper the heck out of her, and we both enjoy it. And the kitties haven't complained either.

Tomorrow is Lasagne Dinner. Thanks to Gaetano for showing me how to make the perfect lasagne. :-)
Next week we'll do something vegetarian (a stuffed squash, billed as a Thanksgiving recipe, but I'm sure it'll taste just as wonderful next week. And we'll find something to give thanks for too.)

And next Friday we'll do the pork roast ... oh boy! My friend Robert, who is of German heritage, and in all other respects a great guy too, sent me to this German deli and meat store ... oh boy. (Yes, I said that already. But it bears repeating.) The man behind the counter said whatever cut of meat I wanted, he could take care of it, cut it just the way I want, dress it up any way ... and no, no need to order. Not even for a party of 10? Naaahhh, he says, he can easily feed a hundred with what's in store.

Now you see me ... now you don't

Didn't blog yesterday because I was in transit ... now I'm at Cheryl's house (she says hello and thank you for all the greetings, virtual hugs, and well-wishes). I'm off to go shopping so I can cook dinner - will check in with you later with the menu. And I have a menu question for Gaetano, but I'll email him that.

I geek therefore I am

All done with my homework. Did it yesterday, slept over it like I usually do, looked at it again this morning, and turned it in. And onwards to the next week's topics ... a woman's work is never done. Neither is a geek's.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it ...

Jesse from the German media-digest blog points me to the iPod Lounge and the iPods Around The World Gallery. I think I know what I need to do ...

Me, myself, and I

Well, nobody came over, so I sat in the jacuzzi by myself. Which was just as well - I flipped the cover back, so half the jacuzzi was open, and it was nice and toasty in the water, and wonderful and cool outside. A couple of low lights illuminated the garden just enough to see, and the neighborhood was all quiet. I stayed in the hot water for fifteen minutes, took a shower to rinse off, fell into bed, and slept like a baby.
I woke up to Jake's polite suggestion that now would be the perfect time for a milkbone and his meds, and so we had breakfast together. For Jake, milkbones and pills (chewing tablets, which he ate sweetly out of my hand), and for me, a chocolate chip cookie and coffee. I was thinking about doing my homework now, but it's such a lovely day, and such a pretty garden, I think I'll take my book and a bottle of water and go sit outside for a while.
[Saturday, 2:30pm PDT]

California Dreaming

Life is good in California. I'm spending this weekend at Peggy's house, dogsitting her grey-muzzled greyhound Jake until she returns on Monday. Jake and I share the run of the house and garage and garden, but I have a feeling he won't join me in the jacuzzi tonight. 9pm if you want to come over. (Why 9pm? Because the jacuzzi is on a timer. Starts up at 7:30pm, and is nice and toasty by 9pm. Or so Peggy said. I'll find out for myself in a little over an hour.)
[Friday. 7:47pm PDT]

Next Blog, Please ...

While surfing the blogs in my roll last night, somebody or other (sorry, I forget who) reminded me to use the "Next Blog" tool. I had actually dragged it to my Toolbar, and then forgot about it. Did two clicks, and came across the SubLunar Orbit, which I liked on reading the first sentence ("... enjoying the coolth ..."), liked even more on reading the whole story, and on checking out the links, I am certain it'll be a winner.
One more for my blogroll. Coolth indeed. Now the only problem will be to keep my blogroll and blogreading to a manageable size. The blogroll will scale, but my day still only has 24 hours. Drats.