Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I heart flowers

Monday, December 29, 2008

Elias and His Malady

So imagine my surprise when Elias was playing with Garvin last Tuesday and Bill's father informed me there was a large lump. Like the size of an egg on the skin under his jaw line. Apparently they had been playing and Garvin snagged Elias along the inside of his lower gum creating a puncture wound that went through the main vein in those parts. This promptly had a balloon like effect filling the skin in his lower jaw with dirty blood. We had a drain put in on Saturday but because it is staying in until this coming Saturday I will not be traveling to Short Mountain.

Elias is in good spirits and has enough antibiotics to stop the plague. As you can see the area effected was quite large and it gave me quite a scare but the vet says he is doing fine.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas a bit early


Micheal and I did Christmas on Monday as we both spent the actual holiday with our families. I roasted a chicken and made miscellaneous side dishes. Micheal who is much classier about such things then I am made cute little rice domes and threw together a really tasty pan sauce. We opened presents; though I had spent much of the week trying to get him to open things under the tree. He got me some lovely books and a camera (hence my ability to blog again) and Elias got a nice bed so he can stop taking over our bed.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Holiday party


Michael and I (he's my new and lovable man) decided to throw a small holiday party where we invited numerous friends.

Most everyone had a wonderful time . Michael arranged this table and tossed together some amazing home made ice cream and I made boilo, apple dumplings, and questionably shaped crepes.

Alex made pouty faces in response to my taking pictures of him. Poor Elias was banished from the party but seemed very happy to be back today when we picked him up from my house. As usual he cuddles with everyone else instead of me.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Taken in the shrub nect to the Teaism Statue on R ST NW where the little guys wait for salty oat cookie crumbs.

Adams Express

This glorious broiled eel roll was 6.50. I was perusing yelp and was amused to find a description of a hole in the wall Korean restaurant that served sushi. I was walking by and so stopped in and was greeted by an old Korean couple the gentleman was in the back cutting up leeks and while the old lady took my order and happily made my sushi softly singing to herself the whole time.

The entire restaurant has something like 8 very rickety stools placed at a bar that is slightly to high for them looking out onto Mt. Pleasant street. I was very happy and am looking forward to getting acquainted with actual Korean food there.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Chocolate rat pastries

Friday, December 12, 2008

We came home to find Elias perched in the window like an overgrown cat awaiting our late night arrival.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008

Books I am Reading at the Moment

So I've been really enjoying a few books at the moment. First on my list is The Brothers by Lesley Downer about the Tsutsumi Family of Japan who have the infamy of being among the wealthiest of that countries families. I unfortunately can not find a cover image for it but here is an amazon link.

Two Brothers

I am also reading a book on the American Chestnut Tree that has proven to be informative more about the sociological niche that tree held in the Appalachian South than about the tree itself.

I finished reading a book on Mule logging a few weeks ago that was intriguing because of the series of interviews that the author held with loggers. Sustainable forestry is one of my interests and I am currently waiting to get in two books about forest agriculture using perennials that require very little maintenance. This is all part of my long term of goal of having a few acres of forest with a cottage in the future.


Finally there is this delightful little volume on the history and uses for clay. I try to use illustrative examples for my students about different technologies and this book has given me a number of ideas. Last year i did a project for my Sumerian unit where the students wrote cuneiform on clay tablets; this spring I'm goign to attempt to make a bake oven on the grounds at Ballou.

Saturday, December 6, 2008