Five On Friday: Where I've Been, What I've Been Doing And Reading, and Always Abraham Lincoln

 

found here

Goodness! June is practically over and I'm just now showing up here. Absolutely ridiculous. Let's jump right in and get caught up.

1. We just returned from a 3.5 day jaunt up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It had been over a year since we had last been, and our wine cellar showed it. The drive up was...difficult. I was in some pain and had had no meaningful sleep the night before. I admit that I was worried about taking the trip and how I'd do on a ride that long. Luckily, we always seemed to find a stop just when I needed one to stretch. As usual, we stayed in the same little inn and visited our favourite winery where we bought So. Much. Wine. I fretted about getting it all across the border--I always worry about being pulled over and put in jail or something--but it was fine. Will we try it with 7 cases again? Probably not. 

Our tasting there with my Canadian husband was, as usual, wonderful. We are wine nerds, and he goes into great depth talking about his wines, how he makes them, how they are aged (in oak [French, American, Slovenian], steel, terracotta, even concrete!), and lots of other oenological tidbits. Nothing makes me happier as I sip than to hear terms like sur lees, malolactic fermentation, terroir, and residual sugar. 

We ended up meeting another couple at the inn who were there during our stay once before, and the wife is an avid reader. We talked books, books, and more books at breakfast every morning. What a delight. And a movie is being filmed in downtown NotL--a screen version of the book Beach Read. It was fascinating to see all the cameras and crew members and to note what locations were being used. I was glad, however, to get back home--to my own bed, my own routine, my porch and patio, my herb garden, and my orange cat. Which leads me to...

2.  Piper, the aforementioned orange cat. He is 16 now, and he has started to show it more and more. He crackles when he stretches; he won't get up onto the couch or anything without help; he is yowling at absolutely nothing, even in the middle of the night. He was never this vocal when Marlowe, his sister, was still with us. I'm pretty sure he's lost some of his hearing as well. We do everything we must to keep him comfortable, including this:

Nothing like a backyard nap beside the pond

"Do NOT mow my spot!"

He loves being outdoors, and he especially likes the pond. Sam took care of him while we were in NotL, and Piper was fine. He continues to eat well and demand ice in his water. I was worried he'd be standoffish or accusatory when I got home, but 

That evening

I was forgiven. Clearly, though, he's letting me know that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

3. And that's very true. Unfortunately, Jared has to have yet another operation on his foot. Back in February he had lisfranc surgery, but now a ruptured tendon has been discovered, one that has made it impossible for him to move his toes or lift his foot while resting on the heel. Surgery is soon, and we will be needed a great deal for childcare. Fingers crossed that this is The Last One and that his recovery is uneventful and speedy. Caring for Theo is always fun, usually very easy, but often very tiring for me. He is a busy, smart, and verbal toddler, and keeping up with him can be a lot. Do I love it? Yes! He recently has taken to calling me My Friend Nana. And hearing him recite passages from his favourite books is almost alarming. His memory is scary. I try to remember that and do what I can to make sure all his memories with me are good ones.

4. Speaking of Good Ones, I just finished reading Here, There, And Everywhere:  My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles by Geoff Emerick. Yes, I was on a bit of a Beatles nostalgia run there for a time. The writer was The Beatles sound engineer for the bulk of their albums and singles. Not only does he provide a great deal of insight into the band's (and its members') personality, creative process, rise and breakup, he also explains the whole inner workings of making recordings--the sound, the special effects they requested, the process, and how he came to be a sound engineer. I love books like this, ones that teach me something I have no idea about. Even the technical stuff was never dry or boring because he always explained it in the context of making The Beatles music their own. (Julie, I think Ted would enjoy this book very much.) I've since gotten three more books, Whistler by Ann Patchett, Land by Maggie O'Farrell, and the one I'm reading now, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout. I think I was sort of warned off of the Strout book by a blogfriend because it wasn't very uplifting or fun and it does deal with our current politics (pre-2024 election); however, I'm enjoying its thoughtful and perceptive tone and story. My Favourites Shelf is two deep with some stacked in front now. 

5. I also have a shelf devoted solely to books about President Lincoln/Mary Lincoln/the Civil War. Recently, Jared recommended a Netflix docu-series to me entitled simply Lincoln. It has three episodes and a cadre of elite historians including Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the excellent Lincoln book Team of Rivals. The actor who plays Pres. Lincoln looks astonishingly like him, and the entire series is superbly acted and presented. Also included are many photos, some of which I hadn't seen before and found extremely moving. (And those of you that have been reading me here forever know how I get about photographs of some people.) Highly recommend.

Okay! I feel like I've caught you up. And on a Lot Of Stuff! But we can always talk some more in Comments.

Brain Broom: Sweeping Out Some Cerebral Such-And-Such

 

It's time to clear out some cranial clutterbits. I had to think about this stuff, and now you do, too. This won't happen too often, so don't be overly concerned. No way do I ever want you to spend a great deal of time inside my head. 

It can be scary in there.

1. Podcasts--As I've said many times before, I am not a fan of podcasts. So many--too many--sound ill-planned, rambling, and boring. They make me impatient and irritated; stop yammering about tangential things and inside jokes and get to the point. It's more tedious than party conversation at a gathering of a bunch of people that I don't know. One exception to this is the podcast Ill-Advised by Bill Nighy. Nighy is a British actor you may have seen in a Pirates of the Caribbean film or the movie Love, Actually, among others. It's delightful. As The Guardian put it, "the questions Nighy tackles range wildly, from how to avoid going to parties to “Why doesn’t my horse like me?” His advice is always conversational, generous and uncertain, with a sprinkling of his trademark self-deprecation. Each episode begins with various reasons why you shouldn’t listen to a word he says." Each installment has predictable segments:  listener questions, banned words, a recommended playlist, and a favourite book he then reads an excerpt from. All of this takes place in nice, 25-30 minute chunks. He has an Instagram, too. Highly recommend.

2. Reading--I just finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, reviewed a few months ago by Engie. I was in the middle of it when I put it down and actually wrote her a thank-you note. It immediately went on my Favourites shelf of my bookcases. One of the things I loved best about it was the main character's (Mme. Michel) devastation and dismay when encountering mistakes in The Language. She describes receiving a note with a misplaced comma as an attack, and she has to sit down immediately to recover. It's a beautiful story about humanity, self-perception, and finding beauty and understanding in a world that may feel unsatisfactory. The ending is cause for a great deal of thought.

3. Birds--We tried our darndest to save a brood of baby robins a few weeks back. It was eerily reminiscent of this episode six years ago. A mother robin built her nest on the crook of the downspout under the eaves of our house. She didn't do a very good job because at one point the nest tipped over and I found two naked, giblet-sized babies in my herb garden. One was still alive; the other one wasn't breathing. I did what I could to revive the unresponsive baby, but my efforts were in vain. Since I am banned from all ladders, I immediately put Rick into service. I put the living baby back into the nest, and Rick replaced it. That didn't last long. It tipped over again, so I again employed Rick, this time to use some zip ties to anchor it in. Mama Robin came back, kept fidgeting around to get comfortable, then abandoned the nest after a day or so. Naturally, I worried and fretted over it until Rick went back up the ladder to check on it. The baby was nowhere to be found, but a new egg was now there. We waited about a week, then removed the nest. She hasn't returned to rebuild, so I am morose. Another sadness is that my blue jays have disappeared, likely because the robins have established my yard as their territory. The two are classic enemies, but I wish the blue jays had prevailed.

4. Basil/Pesto--We had a couple of 90 degree days, so I was finally able to get my 9 basil plants (raised from seed and cuttings) into the ground. Actually, Rick did this; I am unable due to my illness, and I merely supervised and thanked him profusely. Once they were in, I trimmed them up again, made a few cubes of basil with olive oil in my mini-processor to add to pasta/sauce, and stuck them in the freezer. As I was doing this, I remembered that a Comment on a previous post asked for my pesto recipe. All I can do is to give you the basic recipe that I work from but modify, like so many cooks out there. Here it is:

1 C basil leaves

1/2 C parsley (I prefer curly)

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper

1/4 C walnuts or almonds (I avoid pine nuts; they're often not good quality)

Very good extra-virgin olive oil

Place herbs and garlic in food processor; pulse high until all is chopped well. Add cheese, S&P, and nuts. While processing, stream in olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Put into small jars, add a thin layer of olive oil on top (to prevent browning), and add lid. Refrigerate immediately. Lasts 2-3 weeks. Alternatively, put into ice cube tray and freeze, then store cubes in reclosable plastic bag.

5. Rod Stewart--I have been a fan of Rod Stewart forever, but never more than recently when he attended a charity event hosted by King Charles shortly after the monarch's trip to the USA and the state dinner at the White House. In the receiving line, Rod said, "May I say well done, sir, in the Americas. Superb. Put that little rat bag in his place." Here's video of the incident, and I'm even more deeply in love with Rod Stewart now. And rat bag is my new name for the criminal at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. No caps.

Okay! I feel more tidy and less burdened, at least for now. Chat me up in Comments. 

In Which I Am Irritated By The New York Times

 Just a quick morning conversation with Rick at the lakehouse:

Nance: (reading the newspapers online) Rick! The New York Times says it's time to upgrade our cabinet pulls.

Rick:  (lying on the couch, watching the news) Who cares what they say? They also want you to eat salmon all the time.*

Nance:  You're absolutely right. I'm not listening to a single thing they say!

Rick:  Don't let them run your life!

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*I get the NYT Cooking newsletter every single day, and it never fails to irritate me. The people there are constantly shoving recipes for salmon at me. I hate salmon. They also include gochujang or miso or matcha or mochi in almost every recipe, and I don't have those or have any desire to seek them out. Actually, I've never even seen those things at my grocery stores. I also do not like to be Bossed Around by anyone, let alone print journalism. Screw the NYT; I do what I want, damn it.