Bullet Post

• I like the past to stay past.


• The overall instability in the market is really wearing on me. But I'm happy I only have one credit card. I've done that for years.


• Humidity makes me cranky.


• Taking the dogs out of 3 day a week daycare can be draining while you are re-establishing an appropriate exercise schedule for them.


• I keep forgetting to make an appointment with the dermatologist.


• I used to have a dream where I stood in front of a bathroom mirror and my teeth fell into the sink one by one, plink...plink...plink, in a slow, graceful arc (how can losing teeth be graceful?). When I looked it up, it meant I was suppressing something I needed to say.


• The best joke about the south I ever heard, I got from Mr. Berry: "How do you know if a young man in the south is married?" "I don't know" "look for tobacco stains on both sides of the pickup truck".


• SEC football is the best.


• Gus and Cotton have the best vet ever. And he lives in my neighborhood.


• If your vet lives in your neighborhood, and your dogs think he's a deity, don't be surprised if they drag you across the road and through his flower bed to see him.


• There are at least 5 eggplant on my eggplant plant. When is eggplant ready to be picked?

Clematis

I felt like sharing something beautiful today. Hope you have something beautiful in your life!

If It's Not One Thing

...It's another.


See the large tree that curves from right to left (base to top)? I have often wondered how long it could hold on during the drought given it's angle.
I know the answer now.

Until August 2, 2009 at approximately 8:30am.

[No fences were lost to the falling of the tree.]

Positively Headless!

I've had one of those weeks where I feel like I'm running around without my head glued on. And unlike the headless horseman above I'm not successfully carrying it around either!

When I saw this guy I almost purchased him because this is one of my favorite stories in literature. But then I recalled my plight of not enough table space for the stuff I do have. And I was strong.

Hope you're having a good Monday!

Friday Night Lites

Last night I had the time to make a salad I'd been thinking about for a week. Fresh tomato, fresh cucumber, basil and oregano from my yard...and that magical elixir, balsamic vinegar with olive oil. It turned out to be delicious, and when I added the small mozzarella balls (bocconcini, I think they're called, meaning small mouthfulls) it was a perfect Friday night lite meal.

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3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt

10 fresh basil leaves

5 fresh oregano leaves

3 small fresh cucumbers

2 large beefsteak tomatoes, vine ripened

Optional: red onion, mozzarella

Mince garlic (or take it out of a jar, like I did) and let it stand in the balsamic and red wine vinegars. By the way - I doubled the balsamic vinegar. It makes my skirt fly up.

Wash basil and oregano, roll up leaves and slice into little strips. Chop and put in your best olive oil (extra virgin light is what I used).

Wash and peel cucumbers, slice thinly into 1/4" coins. Remove stem and blossom end from tomatoes (really very little is removed). Cut into wedges being careful not to crush and lose any juice from the tomatoes.

Place the tomatoes and cucumbers in the salad bowl and sprinkle with salt.

Whisk together the vinegars and olive oil and pour over tomatoes and cucumbers. Toss gently and serve.

Note: I added some thinly sliced red onion, less than a quarter of the onion. And I added some mozzarella because I wanted this to be a meal. I added both before tossing with the dressing.

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I loved this salad! I used to make one when I lived in Montgomery that had cucumber, tomato, bow tie pasta (farfalle) oil and vinegar, dill and basil. It's very much like that, but I wanted a version without the pasta. That said, you could add pasta to this and it would probably be wonderful (might have to increase the dressing).

[there's some kind of weird spacing funk going on with this post that I can't fix - sorry!]