Great progress in February!
S did a stellar job building my garden beds (with my expert assistance picking out materials -- which is to say, I followed him around with the lumber cart while he picked stuff out)! I now have four. We figured out where they're going to go, measured the width of the tractor to make sure it can fit between them, and dug them into yard. Only things left to do are fill with dirt and plant!
I've done a bit more research about what I want to plant and where I want the particular plants to go, but nothing is in the ground yet. It's still early.
Pictures to follow!
I also made progress on my overdue January goal -- I bought paint! I went with red. I didn't get a chance to paint last weekend, but at least I have the supplies. It's a step in the right direction.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Telluride
S and I went to Colorado for the annual ski trip recently -- although for the first time in several years, not over Super Bowl weekend. (Not that that means we had a great SB party at home; we did not even watch it.)
Anywho, we had a wonderfully uneventful pair of flights, and even arrived early! It was shocking. There is a first time for everything, I suppose.
We arrived in Telluride on Saturday, rented skis, and got set up for the next day. Saturday was lovely and warm, but the slopes were pretty icy still, so we waited until Sunday to ski. It was supposed to snow overnight on Saturday night, but really nothing of note came down.
We got out to go skiing on Sunday, and we weren't out too long before the snow started coming down. It was heavy and soppy and wet, but nevertheless it added a nice layer of several inches of soft stuff, especially up high on the mountain.
It continued snowing all night and through most of Monday, though it lightened up considerably and there was only a little bit of new snow on Monday. Still, the skiing was good if somewhat disorienting due to the low-hanging fog. If you went up high you could get above it and actually get a view, but then you had to ski back down through it, and skiing in white-out conditions is certainly an interesting endeavor.
For dinner Monday night, we headed to one of Dad's favorite spots in Telluride, La Marmotte. It was a lovely, cozy little spot, French (as you might have guessed). Though they were not on top of their game that night, according to more regular diners than myself, I still had a quite satisfying meal of spinach- and blue cheese-stuffed chicken with roasted purple potatoes. S got the Colorado rabbit, which was pretty tasty, but the turnip puree that it was plated on was the winner.
Except for my cocktail, which I had as an appetizer and dessert: Esprit d'escalier. It consisted of bourbon, Aperol, amaro, bitters, and a lemon twist. And perhaps some other ingredients I am forgetting after two of them, plus a few sips of S's Flatliner, which is apparently the local town drink. Fun fact about my drink though: it's French for "staircase wit," and is used in English to describe the phenomenon of thinking of the perfect reply too late.
We skied one final day on Tuesday. There were some decent runs up high, but down low it was awfully icy. But, to bastardize a quote from S, "a bad day skiing is preferable to a good day at the office." Amen to that.
Dinner on Tuesday night was with A. She and S climbed Mt. Shuksan together a year and a half back. In the intervening time, she had quit her job as a high-paid lawyer in Manhattan and moved into her car. She met a guy who lived about a half hour from Telluride and "moved in" with him (a.k.a. parked her car in his driveway). The four of us had dinner at La Cocina, at which my big disappointment was the lack of any hard liquor besides tequila. Consider yourself warned!
The following day we drove back to Durango and basically chilled for the last 24 hours of the vacation. I did a little bit of work, we ate a lot of food, we drank some drinks, and then it was time to head home.
Anywho, we had a wonderfully uneventful pair of flights, and even arrived early! It was shocking. There is a first time for everything, I suppose.
We arrived in Telluride on Saturday, rented skis, and got set up for the next day. Saturday was lovely and warm, but the slopes were pretty icy still, so we waited until Sunday to ski. It was supposed to snow overnight on Saturday night, but really nothing of note came down.
We got out to go skiing on Sunday, and we weren't out too long before the snow started coming down. It was heavy and soppy and wet, but nevertheless it added a nice layer of several inches of soft stuff, especially up high on the mountain.
It continued snowing all night and through most of Monday, though it lightened up considerably and there was only a little bit of new snow on Monday. Still, the skiing was good if somewhat disorienting due to the low-hanging fog. If you went up high you could get above it and actually get a view, but then you had to ski back down through it, and skiing in white-out conditions is certainly an interesting endeavor.
For dinner Monday night, we headed to one of Dad's favorite spots in Telluride, La Marmotte. It was a lovely, cozy little spot, French (as you might have guessed). Though they were not on top of their game that night, according to more regular diners than myself, I still had a quite satisfying meal of spinach- and blue cheese-stuffed chicken with roasted purple potatoes. S got the Colorado rabbit, which was pretty tasty, but the turnip puree that it was plated on was the winner.
Except for my cocktail, which I had as an appetizer and dessert: Esprit d'escalier. It consisted of bourbon, Aperol, amaro, bitters, and a lemon twist. And perhaps some other ingredients I am forgetting after two of them, plus a few sips of S's Flatliner, which is apparently the local town drink. Fun fact about my drink though: it's French for "staircase wit," and is used in English to describe the phenomenon of thinking of the perfect reply too late.
We skied one final day on Tuesday. There were some decent runs up high, but down low it was awfully icy. But, to bastardize a quote from S, "a bad day skiing is preferable to a good day at the office." Amen to that.
Dinner on Tuesday night was with A. She and S climbed Mt. Shuksan together a year and a half back. In the intervening time, she had quit her job as a high-paid lawyer in Manhattan and moved into her car. She met a guy who lived about a half hour from Telluride and "moved in" with him (a.k.a. parked her car in his driveway). The four of us had dinner at La Cocina, at which my big disappointment was the lack of any hard liquor besides tequila. Consider yourself warned!
The following day we drove back to Durango and basically chilled for the last 24 hours of the vacation. I did a little bit of work, we ate a lot of food, we drank some drinks, and then it was time to head home.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Cartier and the Plant House
I read a story recently in a magazine about Cartier's flagship store in NYC. It's located on 5th Avenue, in the heart of New York City's most expensive shopping district. That's to be expected.
What was interesting about the story was how that house came to be owned by the Cartier family.
According to both the magazine I was reading and Wikipedia (so it must be true), this is how it happened:
The Plant family was a railroad family. By the time of the mansion's completion in 1907, the family was fabulously wealthy. A few years later, Morton Plant found himself interested in a lovely young lady, who herself was interested in a lovely double strand of Cartier pearls, flawless in their natural beauty. They were valued at $1 million. Mr. Plant struck a deal with Mr. Cartier to give him $100 and the 10-year-old mansion in return for the pearls.
Mr. Plant also got the girl -- for a while.
However, the pearls declined in value significantly after the advent of cultured pearls just a few years later. The real estate, on the other hand, is worth more and more as time goes by.
What was interesting about the story was how that house came to be owned by the Cartier family.
According to both the magazine I was reading and Wikipedia (so it must be true), this is how it happened:
The Plant family was a railroad family. By the time of the mansion's completion in 1907, the family was fabulously wealthy. A few years later, Morton Plant found himself interested in a lovely young lady, who herself was interested in a lovely double strand of Cartier pearls, flawless in their natural beauty. They were valued at $1 million. Mr. Plant struck a deal with Mr. Cartier to give him $100 and the 10-year-old mansion in return for the pearls.
Mr. Plant also got the girl -- for a while.
However, the pearls declined in value significantly after the advent of cultured pearls just a few years later. The real estate, on the other hand, is worth more and more as time goes by.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Goals 2017 -- February Edition
For February, I have a carryover goal from January (the notions cabinet), plus a new one: I will build my additional garden beds.
I had just one garden bed this past year. I've decided I need at least two -- the cucumbers will get one of their own. There might be more -- perhaps one for cucumbers, one for herbs, and one for vegetables, one for something else. It's all a work in progress, but now is the time to build them so that they're ready to go in the spring.
S, I'm going to need some help!
I had just one garden bed this past year. I've decided I need at least two -- the cucumbers will get one of their own. There might be more -- perhaps one for cucumbers, one for herbs, and one for vegetables, one for something else. It's all a work in progress, but now is the time to build them so that they're ready to go in the spring.
S, I'm going to need some help!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Goals 2017 -- January Recap
I've started out the year as a failure. My notions cabinet is not finished.
However, I have made excellent progress. It's almost entirely sanded. I need to sand the detail sections of the drawers and the door which have to be done by hand.
And then there's the painting. I haven't bought paint yet. I thought I had decided on red, but now I'm chickening out, and thinking what a pain that will be if I decide to paint it again. So maybe I'll just have to stick with red! Okay, I've committed.
I also need to buy some radiator grate, which I think I'm going to use on the door, since one of the two sections of paneling is missing anyway. I needed to buy radiator grate once before, and I remember that it was impossible to find in the store, and a bunch of the employees didn't even know what I was talking about! Clearly these people have not lived in an old apartment building.
It was super windy this past weekend though, so there was certainly not going to be any painting happening. I'll post a picture of my progress as soon as I remember to take one!
However, I have made excellent progress. It's almost entirely sanded. I need to sand the detail sections of the drawers and the door which have to be done by hand.
And then there's the painting. I haven't bought paint yet. I thought I had decided on red, but now I'm chickening out, and thinking what a pain that will be if I decide to paint it again. So maybe I'll just have to stick with red! Okay, I've committed.
I also need to buy some radiator grate, which I think I'm going to use on the door, since one of the two sections of paneling is missing anyway. I needed to buy radiator grate once before, and I remember that it was impossible to find in the store, and a bunch of the employees didn't even know what I was talking about! Clearly these people have not lived in an old apartment building.
It was super windy this past weekend though, so there was certainly not going to be any painting happening. I'll post a picture of my progress as soon as I remember to take one!
Monday, January 30, 2017
My iPod Lives!
Guys, I had a very scary day yesterday. My laptop has been acting up for some time, and a few months ago it completely stopped recognizing my iPod when I plugged it in to sync with my iTunes.
On Friday, I plugged it in, and got a response! But not a good one. An error message told me that my iPod might be corrupted.
Yikes.
However, I have been dutifully backing up my music in anticipation of my laptop's eminent demise, so this is not the end of the world. What is very difficult, however, is reformatting a corrupted iPod when one's computer won't recognize it. Normally, iTunes gives you the option to reformat, but I was not getting that.
So I threw my hopes onto the Internet. I searched and read and researched and risked a virus or two, but after a long day of staring at progress bars, it appears that we are in good working order again!
This all matters because I love my old iPod classic -- you know the one, with the screen and the scroll wheel. Yes, that one. But they stopped making them a few years ago, so I have to keep this one functional as long as possible.
Thank you, Internet!
On Friday, I plugged it in, and got a response! But not a good one. An error message told me that my iPod might be corrupted.
Yikes.
However, I have been dutifully backing up my music in anticipation of my laptop's eminent demise, so this is not the end of the world. What is very difficult, however, is reformatting a corrupted iPod when one's computer won't recognize it. Normally, iTunes gives you the option to reformat, but I was not getting that.
So I threw my hopes onto the Internet. I searched and read and researched and risked a virus or two, but after a long day of staring at progress bars, it appears that we are in good working order again!
This all matters because I love my old iPod classic -- you know the one, with the screen and the scroll wheel. Yes, that one. But they stopped making them a few years ago, so I have to keep this one functional as long as possible.
Thank you, Internet!
Friday, January 27, 2017
Peppe's Apt. 2
Some months ago, my friend J urged me to go out to dinner at a little place in Kirkwood called Peppe's Apt. 2. I never did get around to it until we were planning a dinner recently, and decided to make it a night out at Peppe's.
J is Sicilian, and Peppe's prides itself on its "Italian cuisine with a Mediterranean flair," so it's perfect for him. And turns out, it's pretty delicious! S got one of the nightly specials, and I had the veal marsala. It's a funky, place, gaudy in the way of old Italian grandmas, but our service was excellent, and this little place is tucked away in residential Kirkwood, far from the South Kirkwood Road strip.
What a delightful find! I'm looking forward to going back in the summer; they apparently have a lovely outdoor garden with tables. Reservations are highly recommended due to its small size.
J is Sicilian, and Peppe's prides itself on its "Italian cuisine with a Mediterranean flair," so it's perfect for him. And turns out, it's pretty delicious! S got one of the nightly specials, and I had the veal marsala. It's a funky, place, gaudy in the way of old Italian grandmas, but our service was excellent, and this little place is tucked away in residential Kirkwood, far from the South Kirkwood Road strip.
What a delightful find! I'm looking forward to going back in the summer; they apparently have a lovely outdoor garden with tables. Reservations are highly recommended due to its small size.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
What I Watched -- Line of Sight
When looking for cycling movies on Netflix, S came across Line of Sight. There is no plot to this movie. There is no story. It is simply video footage of various urban bike messenger races that happen around the world. The stuff these guys (most of them are guys) do is pretty wild, but they're also riding like giant jack asses, and nobody likes that.Bottom line: great and crazy footage, but don't expect any kind of story. Might as well just mute it and watch the video; the music is pretty intense.
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