kochleffel

I would look even sillier with a beard, and bacon doesn't figure in my world view. I thought first of bad driving, not stadium parties. I tend to drive exactly at the speed limit, so I have a lot of experience with that. Souvlaki would be fine with me, but actual dinner was cheese and wine, followed by green beans from the farmers' market. No on the cocktail. OK on the wine, but the Finger Lakes climate is perfect for Cabernet Franc, so I'll suggest this one from Lakewood Vineyards. I haven't been to Belem. My only project today was unpacking two boxes that were in the garage because they were too heavy and awkward to carry up the stairs. Some water got into the garage this week and the unpacking had become urgent. None of the items in the boxes is heavy or awkward by itself, but I haven't found instructions and a packet of screws that ought to be there.

I started mowing the lawn after 4:00 p.m. It is always a question whether the mower batteries will run out of energy first, or I will. It didn't get to that. Before the second battery ran out, my blood sugar plummeted, and I had to stop, eat, and rest a little. But when I resumed, battery #2 gave out after just a few seconds of mowing. By that time, battery #1 was charged. In other news, a friend who recently moved to another city told me that he had spent most of the day fighting with the electric company here, because his final bill was $13,000. They agreed that it was ridiculous, but now they want $1,956.

I retired from a nonprofit organization in June. I had been the executive director for 16 years. The volunteers wanted to throw a party. If it were just my own feelings, I would have begged them not to, but the community needed to do it. I stipulated no speeches and no gifts. They ignored both and now I have even more stuff that I didn't want.

I like ginger cats, but the actual cats here are black. I'd like a cherry popover, and I wouldn't confine tofu to the UK. BTW, in the 44 Scotland Street novels, there is a boy named Tofu. Fish with curry butter might be OK, but I think I would prefer some other seasoning. No on the cocktail. Yes on the wine, or perhaps 2015 Osmote Seneca Lake Chardonnay. Most Finger Lakes wineries grow Chardonnay, but the overall character is very different from California versions, and also quite different from one winery to another. I haven't been to Nagasaki.

A TV weatherwoman tonight had the sheer, unmitigated gall to apologize for this, and then cheerfully promised that the temperature would return to the 90s for the weekend and all of next week. It was on regional cable, and I hope she puts in for transfer to another of the cable company's operating areas where it's hot enough to suit her.

It's a beautiful day, sunny and 68°, and eating outside would be attractive, but I don't think I will. Trail mix is OK where it belongs. I like some memoirs but not all. Corn salad would be OK with me as a side dish. Yet another pseudotini, although this one sounds better than most. Nebbiolo isn't grown here, although I think it could be; Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir seems to be somewhat similar in character to today's wine. I haven't been to Manaus. I needed to go to Target this morning, both to pick up a prescription that I will need tomorrow morning, and to deal with a shopping list that has accumulated while I was waiting for the prescription to be ready for refill. I took the scenic route, which is the shortest but not most fuel-efficient: over the top of the highest hill in the county, past a nature center, an equestrian center, and a small forest preserve, then through a county park at the peak. The forest preserve has hiking trails, along with a sign warning about timber rattlers. I was surprised and irked a day or two ago when the local news media made a hue and cry about a timber rattler seen in a place where it wasn't welcome, in a neighboring county; the DEC relocated it to state land. What was irksome is that timber rattlers are native here, although not common, and sooner or later you're likely to see one. Meal Suggestion for today - Summer Corn Salad Drink of the Day - Peachtree Martini Wine of the Day - 2017 Fratelli Antonio & Raimondo Langhe Nebbiolo Destination of the Day - Manaus, Brazil Amazon

It is hard not to be aware of grief in the short term, but we need to remember that it affects people for a long, sometimes very long, time. No beach here, just a rocky riverbank. It seems to me that today is Wednesday. OK on the fish tacos, but I'd like the lime crema to be lactose-free. No, no, no on the pseudotini. The wine would be OK, or maybe Atwater Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, which is almost sold out. It bothers me when cruise lines list a port with the name of someplace that is not really very near. Haifa for Tel Aviv or Nazareth is not as bad as Ashdod for Jerusalem, but the worst that I can think of right now are Warnemünde for Berlin or Le Havre for Paris where you'd spend half the time in port merely traveling back and forth. The injured places hurt less today.

"Mouse that flew" seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable way to describe a bat; Fledermaus is the term in German. But I gather that chauve-souris is proper French. For a change, the meal, drink, and wine would all be OK with me. For a Finger Lakes sauvignon blanc, maybe this one from Hazlitt 1852. I have been to San Pedro because a friend lived and worked there, but not experienced it as a cruise port. My shoulder and arm don't feel too bad, and there is full, if uncomfortable, range of motion. Today lots of other body parts also hurt, and I rested nearly all day.

My cruise on the Norwegian Getaway last year skipped Bermuda and made only a tech stop at Nassau. That was in the middle of the night and I doubt that anyone went ashore, making it a (lawful) cruise to nowhere. It was later in the season; the problem, which I also encountered the year before on the Breakaway, was that wind made it impossible for a large ship to enter the harbor.

Well, they told me that they tried to discourage that. Where I really should have gotten some reward was physical therapy, because between the two injuries, I was there twice a week for eight consecutive months.

I have better things to do than race a mouse. DaVinci and Mona Lisa probably have better things, too. OTOH, every day is Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day here. In honor of the day, I have opened a box of Pinot Noir. No and no on the meal and the drink. Maybe on the wine, or I could have the 2021 Hilda Chardonnay from Dr. Frank's, named after his daughter. I haven't been to the Azores, again not for lack of trying. I slept poorly Saturday night and was a wreck yesterday. Last night I slept better but it rained hard all morning and all I wanted to do was sleep. Because of the lightning, it was 11:00 before I showered and dressed. The monsoon -- we have considerable street flooding, including a stretch of interstate highway -- stopped after 2:00 and I went to the farmers' market and "Wegners." Unfortunately, I fell inside the store (tripped over my own feet) and hurt my shoulder a little. It's the one that I dislocated in 2018 right before my first cruise; the cruise was to replace a winter vacation cancelled because I was having physical therapy after breaking the other arm. I asked the ER doc if they had a frequent-patient rewards program.

Speaking kind words is usually a good idea, but playing music on the porch, not necessarily. OK on the wine but NOK on the meal and the cocktail. Dinner tonight will probably be salad and tuna. Blending some Viognier into Syrah (Shiraz) is characteristic of the Côte Rôtie in France, the "roasted slope" at the northern end of the Rhone valley, and has also caught on in other hot regions, especially Australia where there is so much Shiraz. It has been done in the Finger Lakes, but because Syrah grown here is lighter than in warmer regions anyway, it's not obviously a good idea. I'll suggest Red Newt 2019 Glacier Ridge Syrah. Of course I haven't been to Pago Pago. When it's mentioned I always think of Margaret Mead.

I've heard that every dog has its day, but do all dogs have the same day?

No shrimp for me. I like Laphroaig but don't see the point of floating a small amount of it on other whiskies. To some people it tastes like medicine, and why would they want to add that flavor to whisky that they might otherwise like? I'll take a dry Semillon from Washington anytime, and while Semillon is grown in the Finger Lakes, dry Rieslings such as Fulkerson Dry Riesling are more characteristic. I was in Copenhagen exactly a year ago. Pictures are from this day in 2022; on the Saturday, I was having a dental implant removed. Ludvig Holberg Hans Christian Andersen Søren Kiergegaard. The dentist was also named Søren. Magpie in a park I'm old enough to remember when Bill Haley and the Comets were (slightly) popular.

I remember your posts from last year!

Is that the one with all caps in the title? I tend to skip such threads. BTW, I have a booking on the Oosterdam, but I already know from other posts that the ship is a decrepit rustbucket, barely seaworthy, with terrible service and worse food....

I'm familiar with Inherit the Wind but not Ride the Wind. I think it is the wrong season, in the northern hemisphere, for Daffodil Day. I wouldn't mind the meal, but chicken doesn't lend itself to classic shawarma technique. Around here we would probably make spiedies instead; chicken isn't traditional for those, either. I'll pass on the drink. I would probably like the wine, although I'm running out of Finger Lakes alternatives to Spanish and Portuguese varieties. I'll offer J. R. Dill De Chaunac 2018. I haven't been to Qaqortoq but it's not for lack of trying. I received notice today that my last blood donation was sent to Oswego Hospital, which is outside our blood center's region but only slightly; Oswego is on Lake Ontario, northwest of Syracuse. I rented a lake cottage there in 2020. There is going to be an "Extreme Pogo Stunt Show" here soon. I don't even want to think about it.

I don't think that I'd heard of Hoodie Hoo Day, even the northern hemisphere version. Definite no on the meal suggestion, probably no on the drink. Maybe on the wine. Parker says that it's made from a blend of 30 different grapes, predominantly varieties that don't grow here. I'll counter with Salmon Run Coho Red from Dr. Frank's. I don't think I've been to Halibut Point, unless we passed it on a whale-and-otter tour from Sitka, but I wouldn't mind some halibut instead of shrimp, shrimp, and more shrimp. The drink of the day often sounds like nothing I would like, but here is a review of possibly the worst alcoholic concoction ever invented: Eggo Brunch in a Jar. It's supposed to taste like waffles and syrup with a hint of bacon, and 20% alcohol, but the reviewer says: How, I wondered, could something be both acridly bitter and simultaneously tooth-achingly sweet? I detected all of the promised food groups: faux buttery notes with a bit of smoke (the bacon, I suspected) and a kind of toasted-bread-like quality, all punched in the gut by an overwhelming dose of sharp imitation maple, as if Mrs. Butterworth was getting the better of everyone in a barroom brawl. The texture was viscous and mouth-coating, and I couldn’t imagine anyone drinking more than a sip they’d come to regret. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/08/22/eggo-brunch-in-a-jar-alcohol/ Maybe inspired by the thrift-shop discussion last week, I've been taking advantage of a spell of mild weather to check my clothes for fall and winter, thinking not only about whether I could wear them, but also about whether there is any chance that I ever would. Some going into the thrift-shop bag are in colors so unflattering to me that I can't imagine why I ever bought them.

I've had two falls at home in which I was injured. One, in 2012, was a freak accident in which I broke my nose. It was late at night and I drove myself to the hospital. It was during a snowstorm, which made it difficult to persuade them that the accident had taken place indoors. When I got back, the upstairs looked like a crime scene. The other was in 2017, in circumstances that make me wonder whether anything like a Life Alert or an Apple Watch would have helped: I was getting ready for a shower, still clothed but I wouldn't have been wearing the device, if I had had one. I was able to get up, and called 9-1-1, then went downstairs to unlock the door. That time, I had broken my left arm and probably could have driven myself, but I was glad that I didn't try, because a bit later the fainting-goat syndrome kicked in.

Regular programming will now resume. I used to play Winnie the Pooh in puppet theater, so I'm very aware of "hunny." I have also worked in radio. I'm not sure why there should be a mosquito day. No shrimp for me. Peach sangria?? My alternative for the wine is 2019 Maximilien from Ravines Wine Cellars. I haven't been to Kralendijk; I have a booking next year that calls at A and C but not at B, iirc.

A benefit of living in a small town with very little crime is that the police, when dispatched to your house on a report of someone threatening someone else with a knife, don't burst through the door shooting. However, it was providential that, although I was almost asleep, I had the presence of mind to put something on over the T-shirt that I was wearing.

It is getting harder and harder to like commercial flying, but I've also flown some in private planes, in particular Beech Barons owned by a former employer. You get into a Baron by climbing over the wing. The pilots refused to fly a Baron into O'Hare or Midway, so for trips to Chicago we used a King Air. I did get them to fly a Baron into Palwaukee once. And like many who travel to Alaska, I've flown in a DeHavilland Beaver. (My friends here tried to persuade me not to do that. I didn't tell them about the raft trip I had also booked, but it never took place.) Another fun trip was a sightseeing flight from our local airport where the really important sight was the plane itself, a Ford TriMotor. The town next to one where I lived in the 1980s decided to hold a Potato Festival, leading the farm columnist in a local newspaper to mention that there was not even one commercial grower of potatoes in the township. Perhaps all the other vegetables were taken. Not sure about the chow mein. Actual dinner tonight was ratatouille and a cheese omelette. No on the drink, whether with or without jalapeno. For the wine, I'll suggest Thirsty Owl 2021 Riesling from Cayuga Lake, which is said to have some peach character. I haven't been to Broome in Australia, but there is a Broome County near here in New York. I should have mentioned last night that the downstairs light is a pendant that hangs beside the staircase, so it lights the stairs quite well. The drawback is that I can't turn it off from upstairs.

I misunderestimated the amount of eggplant that is in an eggplant, if you know what I mean, but the ratatouille is cooking. The eggplants are a variety with skin that is nearer to cerise than purple.

The light fixture at the top of the stairs in my house is kaput. I had already planned to replace it for style reasons, but the one I want isn't in stock locally and will take several days to get. Not needed during the day, but starting around now it is. So I'll be leaving the light at the bottom of the stairs on, and carrying a flashlight.

Please don't talk to me about bad poetry. I used to teach creative writing. Grilled halibut with tomatoes and hearts of palm would be fine with me, but what I am actually having this evening is haddock with ratatouille. No, no, no on the pseudotini. For the wine, I'll suggest Fulkerson Red Blend from Seneca Lake, "A smooth wine made with the Noiret grape (Developed by Cornell University) and Cabernet Franc. Aromas of white pepper, black cherry, and spice." I last had it undr its old name, Burntray. I posted photos from Charlotte Amalie in July: I expect to be there again in January, this time on the Anthem of the Seas, so will likely be docking at Crown Bay instead of Havensight. Picking up on the cartoon I posted yesterday: Art Linkletter had a segment on his TV show called "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Some of them stemmed from Sunday School. Once a child told him that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 porcupines.