I walked out to my car this morning and saw almost nothing:
You can barely tell that there's a church beyond that stop sign. I think the closest thing I've seen to this was
during a snowstorm while driving through West Virginia on the way to Ohio. Cool. Perhaps it's a sign that it will
be nice and cool for the roasted chestnuts I want to eat at La Mesa's annual Christmas in the Village.
Tuesday night we had to put our cat Micky to sleep. It's the first time I've ever had to make this decision, but
unfortunately, the efforts that were made to manage his severe kidney failure were not enough.
Micky was pretty well traveled cat. He found him as a baby the summer of 1992 when I worked at a garden
center back home in Maryland. He spent a year in Virginia with me during my last year in college, moved with
me to Denver, went back to Maryland with me, and a couple of years ago, came out to California to live with us. Micky
was fond of what I call the "smackdown"; He would roll on his side and then on his back and I would rub his chin at which
point he would stretch his front legs straight back like he was being held up. He would lay contentedly like this while
I rubbed his belly. He often stared at his food with a look of dissapointment but still wanted to cuddle.
It's strange not seeing him at the door when we come home. I think even Luna senses he is gone and has been more
mellow. At least he was with me on my birthday on Saturday.
Micky in pictures:
After he snuck out and got in the crawl space under the house:
The only time he slept in the Noro Kureyon kitty bed that I made for him (yes, I put him in there):
Despite a lack of knitting posts, I have actually been working on some things. While I was on my way to Portugal,
I started the Backyard Leaves scarf from Scarf Style in Elsbeth Lavold's Angora. I'm not sure that the fuzziness of the yarn is going to be the best choice, but I love the
color:
I've also been working on Halfdome from Knitty.com for Peter. I'm using some black yarn that I had been using for my brother's Alien Illusion scarf from
Stitch 'n Bitch that I don't know that I'll ever finish. It seems like the timing of this request was right on, since it's about 55
degrees in our house :(
I'm also working on a baby project using one of Debbie Bliss's patterns in her Cotton Angora yarn, but that one must
remain under wraps for now.
I've begun swatching for A Cardigan for Arwen from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits. I had ordered this Elann Sierra Aran for something else, but the color, which is called Lichen and despite appearances is in fact green, seemed perfect for this
sweater. Very LOTR.
I don't bake much, but at Thanksgiving I always make at least one pie. I also love to come up with the Thanksgiving
menu. I'm a sucker for anything that involves shallots or leeks, pine nuts or anything with herbs that I have in my
garden. I'm intrigued by this trio from Saveur magazine: Turkey with Madeira–Truffle Butter, Multicultural Stuffing, and Rich Gravy. I think finding that truffle may pose a bit of a problem, and I think it's a bit much.
I called Henry's to find out if they carry a turkey that has never been frozen. They do, but their smallest size
is 16 lbs! There are only 4 of us, so I think it would be a bit much. Trader Joe's has smaller ones but they've
been frozen. I suspect Vons won't have any fresh turkey. What to do...
This year I'd like to put that my KitchenAid mixer to use, but don't know that I have anything that requires it.
Actually, I do intend on making much more bread in the near future. At a recent movie night at Heidi's I made some Beer Batter Bread to go with her delicious homemade soup. It actually turned out really well, and the recipe is worth sharing because
it's so damn easy.
I've updated my Flickr account with the rest of my Portugal pix--there are a lot of them! I kept a travel journal while I was there and hope to post some of it, but meanwhile, I'm
trying to add some captions to all those pix.
Oh, and if you're local and like Jimmy Buffett I have 2 lawn tickets I'm selling at less than what I
paid for ($43 each) for the concert at Coors Ampitheatre in Chula Vista this Thurs. at 8pm. Off to find my Hawaiian
shirt...
I have been having fun and eating a lot of good food, especially cheese. It's just so damn good. And it actually
rained here the other day which is exciting, because it's been a while since I've seen a good rain shower.
Hope to post something more detailed after I get back on Saturday.
