My main complaint is the utter inability to know what day it is – I missed Wednesday somehow.

Got back late Monday night to kitty-trampled kitchen counters, and stacks of mail. Today was trash and recycle day, so the kitchen’s looking more normal – I even dumped the compost twice – one advantage of the warmer winter – the compost bin doesn’t freeze closed – but I could do without there still being alive, flying bugs in there in NOVEMBER.

Tonight there’s noodle casseroles for dinner at the supper club – turkey and broccoli-mushroom – spinach salad and fruit salad and cookies. Both recipes made vats – I had to do overflow small pans, beyond the 13 x 9 x 2 I had planned for each. Maybe I’ll get a few pix, but given my usual habits, would that be a sign of normalcy, or ab-?

Half bagel on messy desk atop teetering pile of grad school applications I need to read

PS, as per usual, I guess – even though it was an exceptionally nice dinner group, pleasant conversation, several new members – only one picture from the dinner, and it’s of leftovers the next day:

Ginger cookies & chocolate chip - there were some rugelach too, but we ate 'em before they could get leftover

It just creeps me out. I feel like  it means us humans have ruined the climate. And it’s depressing – white snow would be prettier than brown matted grass. One of my facebook friends said she went to a solstice bonfire last week (on 12/21) and wondered if it was some kind of commentary on the state of our civilization – she found herself standing in a large group of people huddled around a fire in the mud.

The other thing that worries me is that because so many municipalities are saving money by not plowing, our governor (image from Michael Duffy) will be able to say that the anti-collective bargaining legislation he passed is working – obviously since us expensive, overpaid, lazy public employees are not doing the work, all these local governments are saving beaucoup bucks. I hope the private businesses who are losing money raise holy hell.

Open Lake Mendota, 12/27/2011

I had a meeting at an office that’s almost exactly half way between home and work, and when I left there about 10:00, it was sleeting – one of the guys coming in for the next meeting after ours had ice chips in his bohawk.

By the time I was coming home, at 5:00ish, it was thunder hail – too windy to put up my umbrella in some places, sand I didn’t have a hat, so little icey bits were whacking me in the ears and face.

That rumbling in the background is the thunder.

When I came in, hail dropped off my coat and book bag.

Hail (melting) on the kitchen counter

And the Republicans want to give back the high speed rail money, and build more roads. Gov-elect Walker’s even talking to US Dept. of Transportation to try to re-purpose the $$ earmarked for rail – personally I think he’s an idiot – but it’s starting to seem like he’s going to get his way. I feel like they’re a bunch of spoiled brats, and us liberals/Dems are like parents – we’ve been trying to say there will be consequences, but they’re getting away with it for now. 60-degrees in November may be lovely, but New York & San Francisco are going to be underwater any minute now.

Forecast for WI

Little rocking horses from the baby shower cake.

I was late, every street in Madison is dug up right now, the weather was bad, and the traffic was really heavy – I was creeping around on side streets to avoid the congestion at major intersections that are full of orange barrels, workers, sewer pipes, and big holes in the ground. I got a few blocks into the drive, and realized I had forgotten the chips – and the menu kind of revolved around chips & dip – so I had to go back for them. When we were planning, I asked what the mom-to-be was craving and the word was potato chips and meat. So the menu was:

Asian flavors marinated beef lettuce wraps – sirloin steak strips on wooden skewers, served with lettuce leaves and  a couple of dipping sauces – I used this Korean beef recipe from the NYT, but I did not put the Asian pear in the marinade; and I made this peanut sauce from Gourmet that was utterly delicious

Gourmet potato chips with several dips -  caramelized onion dip (a la 101 Cookbooks, but I don’t save out the onions for topping, I just mix them all in), dill dip -

Lots of  veggies to go with the dips: carrots, Romano green beans & broccoli, lightly blanched, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, and peppers

Warm pita wedges, grilled on my Mario Batalli paninni press – with sets of toppings:  Cafe Flora curried  lentil spread, & chutney – that was the last of some homemade apricot chutney mixed into Patak’s sweet mango – the ladies loved the ginger sauce; and tomato bruschetta topping – good farmers market tomatoes with basil from the back porch, garlic, Balsamic & olive oil, with Trader Joe’s olivada, too

Potato salad with celery from my CSA box, and egg, and radishes sliced on top for garnish

Chunks of cantaloupe and watermelon

Iced tea/juice blends  (black tea-lemonade & berry-white grape)

When I finally got there, they’d been let in, and good caring professions workers that they all are, were adaptable and ready to help. We got the tablecloths under the decorations they’d brought & laid out on the tables, and I had them help me set out plates and glasses and napkins, and make water pitchers, so I could dump dips & chips into bowls and broil the beef and cut the fruit and ice the tea.

They’d come prepared with some good ice breakers like making everyone cut a piece of string they thought would fit around mom-to-be’s belly – with prizes for the best guess. Pretty soon they were all laughing so hard I could barely hear the hurricane sirens going off. I had to go upstairs to consult with my renter’s boyfriend who had a computer on, to see if we should head for the basement – we decided we’d be OK above ground.

While I was cleaning up, John texted me the picture of the Escalade going into a sinkhole in Milwaukee – they got hit harder than us – but I still had to sop up water in the basement when I got home. I tried using mom’s old wet & dry shop vac, and it worked pretty well – the biggest downside is that it’s old and dirty, so once the water goes through the filter to the inside, it’s filthy. I think I’ll get a new filter for it tomorrow – seems a good Saturday kind of thing to do.

After drying the basement up, time to change the sheets on my bed, so Eric, our friend in from Notre Dame to give a talk at WiLSWorld, who couldn’t fly out in all the weather, could sleep in it. No time to have a glass of white wine and some stinky cheese and remember mom – the airlines got Eric on a flight leaving at 5:30 Friday morning, so he couldn’t stay up and toast her with me. I ended up having a glass f red, but too close to bedtime for me, too, and I felt it in the a.m.

It was funny, or ironic, or something,  to be around the Hospice workers when mom died on the same day 6 years ago under their care – but I think these were all paid types, and the woman who was with us that morning was a volunteer – she wasn’t in attendance at the shower, anyhow.

Today I stopped by the house, and there are still bedraggled pink baby shower bows tied to the front banisters – it was raining too hard to take them off last night, and no one’s got around to it yet today.

Esacalde in a sinkhole in Milwaukee

But now it’s cooled off, 30s & 40s at night, 60s in the day time. It’s really, really dry though – I miss last year’s cold wet spring even though my CSA box was delayed. I guess I really should just give up and move to Seattle, where as my sister in law says, spring lasts from February to June, and something’s always blooming.

Purple plaid bells in my neighbor's garden, Saturday April 17