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When You Are Engulfed in Flames

David Sedaris

Nikki & I went down to Joseph-Beth at Southside Works today for a book reading and signing by David Sedaris. I'm glad we got there as early as we did (arrived at 12:30 for the 2:00 reading), because that allowed us to get a seat even after getting iced coffees and a snack. We decided to buy the book and get it signed, though we hadn't necessarily planned to do that - but it gave Nikki something to read while we waited. I picked a new Dave Barry book off the shelf and read that. It was really crowded, people standing all over the whole store by 2:00, including all around the upstairs, looking down. Just before starting, Mr Sedaris saw an older woman standing, and carried his nice comfy chair over for her.

So Mr Sedaris read one of the stories from his new book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames: he read Of Mice and Men, which was (sort of) about a news item about a flaming mouse. Very funny stuff, and very enjoyable to hear him read it. Then he pulled out a bunch of loose papers which he said was his diary, and read us excerpts from the past year or so. I suspect some of those items might eventually make it into books. Then he took questions, which was fun. In answer to one of the questions, we learned that he doesn't really like his writing that much, which I found interesting. There apparently are only a few of his stories he says he thinks are good. I wondered how he knows when he's done with a story, if he's always unhappy with it. I wish I had thought of that question earlier.

Then they called people up to stand in line by the letter on our tickets (which we received when we bought the book). I suppose that's how it's always done, but I'd never been to a book signing before. We had gotten a "J" ticket, but a woman sitting in front of us before the reading started gave us her "D" ticket because she could stand in line with her friend, who had a "B". So that was nice! Otherwise, we'd probably still be there! The line moved very slowly, because he personalized each autograph, and chatted with each person a bit, which was great. I told Nikki she could have the book, since it was her idea to come, so she now has a personalized copy - it says "To Nikki - I respect your ancestors" - David Sedaris. Not quite sure what that means, but still. An extremely enjoyable afternoon.

Sierra Designs Sirius 2

Then we went to REI (also in Southside Works) and bought this, because we discovered after the downpour on Memorial Day that our old Eureka tent's floor is now pervious - not a good thing. They let me set it up completely in the store, so I could see how it went together and if the size would work. So we're officially a 2-person-tent family [couple] - the kids will have to buy their own gear now.  :-)

Oooh, this Tuesday is the first veggie pickup of the season - time for some gooood eats! I can't wait to see what we get! The only problem is then I never know till Tuesday what to plan for meals for the rest of the week, and today's the only day I have time to grocery-shop. So I have to try to remember what I had gotten in the habit of last year... just stock the fridge and pantry with things that can be combined with whatever yumminess they toss our way. Meaning just keep on hand things like rice, grains (couscous, quinoa, etc), beans, veggie stock, chicken, turkey, cheese (though this year we're getting a local cheese every 2 weeks, and also I signed up for a whole local organic free-range chicken once a month, so that should be fun!)   I especially love the part where they send us things I've never tried before, with some ideas on what to do with them. For example, last year we had quite a lot of radicchio for about a month, which I'd only ever had little bits of in salads before, but I learned how to soak them to remove the bitterness, and then how to use them in various recipes, including grilling them, and also an awesome potato salad. Last summer was also the first time I really ever made fritattas with fresh arugula, oh so yummy! My mouth is watering now. :-)

Show us the loveliest flower in your garden.
Submitted by Allio's blog.

Bleeding Heart

I think my Bleeding Heart plant is very cool looking. This photo was taken over a month ago, so the whole plant is about double this size (it dies back to nothing and re-grows each Spring - another bit of coolness).

Bleeding Heart (noun): 1. any of several dicentras, esp. a common garden perennial (Dicentra spectabilis) with racemes of drooping, deep-pink, heart-shaped flowers

2. a person regarded as too sentimental or too liberal in dealing with social problems

Maybe it's that I feel a kinship with this plant...?  :-)

For the long holiday weekend, we decided (after much internet searching) to go to Mohican State Forest (near Mansfield, OH), since it was the closest thing to where Nikki is, and we thought just in case it was too crowded we wanted to be able to fall back to staying at "her" camp.

Mohican State Forest trail map

Here's my annotated version of the "trail" map provided by the Ohio DNR. We registered at the Forest Office for site #10, but after backpacking for about 3 miles, we never found it, but we did find #8, so we set up camp there.

We were hoping to find a spot near a stream for some water, but what I hadn't realized was that all the winding the trail did was because it was on a ridge, so any stream beds we crossed were dry at that elevation. After we set up camp, we each went out to try to scout out some water, but we all came back empty. I did find a little stream that I thought I could get at least some water from, but when I looked up, I saw it came right out of a cow pasture. We had water purification stuff with us of course, but no sense tempting fate that much! We ended up buying a couple of gallon jugs of water Saturday night when we hiked out to go to the hockey game. I guess we're too used to the places we camp in PA, where there's always plenty of water available to treat and boil.

Pretty flowers around the campsite:

Salmon noodles

Dinner Saturday was ramen noodles with lemon-dill salmon (from a vacuum pack), with garlic crackers and provolone on top. Then we hiked back to the car and drove to a bar to watch the Pens get blown out by Detroit. Boo!

Some camp scenes (pretty typical of our trips):

Sunday hike down to the river:

Foil dinner

Sunday dinner was our favorite camping standby... foil dinner. This one featured small new potatoes, asparagus from the garden, onion, and prosciutto. Was supposed to include green beans and carrots, but I sort of forgot them at home, heh. Oh, and homemade SanGiovese vino in the Sierra cup there.

I ran across this website, which has loads of details about the current state of recovery efforts along the Mississippi Gulf Coast (Biloxi, Gulfport, etc). Also see my "Mississippi" tags.

Gulf Coast News Recovery Report

http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/KATRINA/...

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has announced that their program to provide Mississippi Cottages is nearing an end. This announcement comes as many residents in FEMA trailers and apartments were counting on the cottages to be their next home. According to MEMA, there remain approximately 400 families that have qualified to receive a cottage and have obtained the required permits from local governments. These citizens will be awarded a unit based upon the order that permit was acquired.  This, unfortunately, will mean some qualified families with permits may not receive a cottage due to shrinking inventory. (Much More Here)

I just learned about this site today... it's really cool! Ambient sounds from all around the world...

I'm currently listening to about 10 minutes of a boat trip along a canal in India from the artist's newest album called Turns in the South. All the audio is available as free downloads, and there's a whole series of "one-minute vacations" which take you almost anywhere (but they're sort of hidden on the website under Introduction).

Check it out!

Show us your mother.

A good time was had by all

My mother is the gorgeous one on the right, and my daughter is the gorgeous one on the left - they're beautiful both inside and out... I am one lucky chick!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! (and as my friend Lynn said this morning, to all the fathers who made us that way - LOL!)

One of the benefits of having an artistic daughter is Mother's Day gifts like these hand-painted notecards, which arrived in yesterday's mail:

How many pair of shoes do you have? Out of those pairs, how many do you wear more than a few times a year?
Submitted by fightinggale.

Without going to check, I'm going to say about a dozen total: Teva sport sandals, running shoes (my most recent shoe purchase, last spring), trail shoes (about 15 years old now; they're starting to wear out, and I hope I can find ones just like them), tan mules for summer (currently wearing to work every day), black flat moccasin-type (cooler weather wear, but after several years of constant wear they recently developed cracks in the soles which let the rain in, so I'll have to buy a new pair for next fall), navy Italian pumps (business-me), my wedding shoes (white pumps which I actually do still wear after almost 28 years, but they still hurt...), black zip-up chunky-heeled sandals from the 80's (little black dress type), beige wedge sandals (2nd hand), really chunky clogs Nikki handed "up" to me, cute brown bootlets (2nd hand, don't quite fit but now & then I squeeze into them), plus Nikki's closet full of shoes (nice to wear the same size as one's daughter who loves shoes!). But I generally only wear one pair to work every day, either the cold-weather flats or the warm-weather mules. Sport sandals or trail shoes for running around at home or camping. The rest not very often. Bare feet when possible.