Dear Bloggie is now upgraded!!!

It's a wee bit girly, I know...but I'm having fun with a new layout, cut me some slack...maybe I'll try out a few more before I settle, but this is cool for now...

Three score and seven years ago...

A good man was born... happy birthday to the dearest daddy a girl could ask for - I'll raise a glass (of orange juice, alas, I have no wine in my kitchen at the moment) tonight in your honor! Here's the man himself, sitting in between two of his favorite places on earth - the Pacific Ocean in Cambria, California to the right, The Sea Chest to the left, enjoying a glass of vino, waiting for escargot and calamari steak - cheers to you Chuck!!


And of course I love you more than I could ever say!!!

I have the croup! I am cherry alive!

My mother laughed at me when I said that...she says - knowingly - that only small babies get the croup, but SORRY - the definition of it in my medical book says if you have a low-grade fever, aches, fatigue, and a cough that sounds like a barking seal, then you have the croup...so there!

Okay, maybe I just have bronchitis or some sort of respiratory infection. Fine. I don't feel WELL. And it's cold, oh so cold but it supposed to warm up soon...its getting into my very bones, this winterness. I may crack like a frozen twig if this keeps up...I shivered in anticipation this morning when I awoke to the guy on 1010WINS exclaiming "...with a real-feel factor of 3..."!

Anyway - this poem by Delmore Schwartz ALWAYS makes me feel good...its very ME...hope it makes you feel good too:

I Am Cherry Alive
“I am cherry alive!”the little girl sang.
Each morning I am something new:
I am apple, I am plum, I am just as excited
As the boys who made the Hallowe’en bang:
I am tree, I am cat, I am blossom too:
When I like, if I like, I can be something new,
Someone very old, a witch in a zoo:
I can be someone else whenever I think who,
And I want to be everything sometimes too:
And the peach has a pit and I know that too,
And I put it along with everything
To make the grown-ups laugh whenever I sing:
And I sing: It is true; It is untrue;
I know, I know, the true is untrue,
The peach has a pit, the pit has a peach:
And both may be wrong when I sing my song,
But I don’t tell the grown-ups: because it is sad,
And I want them to laugh just like I do
Because they grew up and forgot what they knew
And they are sure I will forget someday too.
They are wrong. They are wrong. When I sang my song, I knew, I knew!
I am red, I am gold, I am green, I am blue,
I will always be me, I will always be new!”

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!

Someone saw Gran Torino this weekend and absolutely loved it..I wasn't sure I would because since it came out in December, I was constantly making fun of the commercials for it by growling to my dad, "GET OFF MY LAWN!" and telling him to be that kind of grandpa to Allie and Jake by muttering to them in a Clint-ish manner "GO AHEAD-MAKE MY DAY...SIT ON MY LAP AND CUDDLE"! But it did get really good reviews and turns out, I liked it so much, I could have totally walked back in the theater and watched it all over again. I'd like my dad to see it since I think Clint's character could just be his new hero - but with the caveat that he not try to go after the Asian gang members in the same way...I did feel a wee bit guilty laughing at some of the racial slurs, but hey, I never claimed to be morally perfect :-) Plus, the guilt was forgotten soon enough with the BMC (Brooklyn Married Couple) over a glass or 3 of good "mawn-teh-pool-CHAH-noh" and pasta at John's in un paese dell'est - sorry if I'm butchering Italian there, I just looked up East Village on some online translator and this is what I got - hey guys, give me a break, I'm only trying to be cute!

On a side note, BMC invited me to come up to the Bronx with them yesterday to watch the Superbowl at "The Priory" - now I assumed this was some sort of Irish pub and almost said yes but then settled on a no because I had a few chores to take care of. Then I discovered that the Priory is indeed a PRIORY - meaning full of Brothers and Priests and Priests To Be - now wouldn't that have been a riot? Beer-addled Holy Men, full of wings and spewing curse words at the TV! Well, I don't know what really went on there, but it could have been a good tale to tell if I had gone - sounds to me like BMC might have gotten themselves banned from further monastery visits!! (Don't worry, I'm only kidding - they are related to one of the Fathers)!

I did want to share a good recipe with you that I just crafted all on my own yesterday and the taste totally reminded me of my beloved childhood fave Alpine Village soup so I imagine it would taste QUITE yummy with pumpernickel bread and/or oyster crackers - it's easy to make and pretty healthy. I had an extra can of pumpkin puree from December because I thought I had to make another pumpkin pie but I never got around to it - so I decided to turn it into soup. I'm crafty like that. I swear, I can make soup out of anything. It's the Russian-German peasant in me.

So take a 19 oz can, put it in a pot, along with about 4 cups of water and a dash of chili powder - bring to a boil and then simmer until it's all mixed up. I added a packet of powdered chicken bouillon but you could have just started with 4 cups of stock.

In a separate pan, saute 1 yellow onion in a tbp or so of butter or olive oil for about 10 minutes or until translucent, then add 2 garlic cloves minced, a tsp of chili powder, 1/4 tsp of salt. When this started to caramelize, I added it to the pumpkin pot - you want it nice and brown and about to dissolve kind of softness - along with about an inch worth of grated ginger (you could eliminate this if you don't care for the spiciness of ginger but I thought it gave it a nice kick - or add in a smelly sneaker a la Willy Wonka) and about a tsp of lemon juice. Let this simmer for an hour or so to really let all the flavors marry - I began it while I was doing laundry so I tasted some right after I put stuff in the dryer and it tasted more delicate and then ate a REAL bowl after my stuff was out of the dryer and it tasted WOW POW KABLAM! good. And of course, add in more lemon, salt, pepper, as you deem necessary.

Now it's today and it's not so very cold out - it's downright balmy in fact - and I decided to wear a dress and tights while I can since its supposed to snow tonight (yay!) and drop far far down and only be in the 20's and teens all week and the sad thing is, I'm not enjoying the cuteness and sassiness of my dress since my tights seem to have regressed into those of a 7 year old and keep falling down and like a little girl, I keep hiking them up. Good thing I have an office door I can close to adjust them! Since walking to the train this morning, I've been singing in my head:

"My tights are falling down,

My tights are falling down,

High ho the merry oh,

My tights are falling down"

Yes, I really have been singing that to myself. And yes I make myself smile at myself because I realize, once again, it is true: I am a dork.

But oh well...be true to your school...

My Mother, The Rock Star!

Yep, she tore it up this weekend like a mixture of Janis Joplin and Courtney Love - SHE IS THE LIZARD QUEEN SHE CAN DO ANYTHING!!!!

Let me explain. This is actually a post dedictated (a week late) to my parents, Joyce and Charlie. They have been married - as of January 20th - for 40 years.

40 YEARS.

And they seem to still like - even love - each other. They certainly still get a kick out of each other. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? It deserved some sort of special recognition, so Snow White and I decided to treat them to a concert and a hotel room - Willie Nelson in Primm, Nevada, formerly known as "Stateline, Nevada" - its right on the - you guessed it - stateline between Nevada and California and I guess at first they couldn't be bothered to come up with a good name. It used to be just a gas station and a general store and a casino called "Whiskey Pete's" in the middle of the desert, if I remember correctly from all of our road trips as a kid. But there is another "Stateline, Nevada" in the north so you know, it's confusing. There's also a Jackpot, Nevada, right before you cross into Idaho - I always thought that was such a cool name for a town when I was little.

Sidenote - I just wikipediaed Primm and thought this was pretty funny and typical Nevada lore:

In the 1920s Pete MacIntyre owned a gas-station at the stateline. Pete apparently had a difficult time making ends meet selling gas so he resorted to a little bootlegging. Primm history remembers him as "Whiskey Pete". When Whiskey Pete died in 1933, legend has it that he wanted to be buried standing up with a bottle of bootleg in his hands so he could watch over the area. Whiskey Pete was accidentally exhumed while workers were building a connecting bridge from Whiskey Pete's to Buffalo Bills Hotel and Casino (on the other side of I-15). The body was moved and is now said to be buried in one of the caves where Pete cooked up his moonshine.

Excellent! But I digress. So Mom and Dad went out to Primm to see Willie and had a MOST excellent time - and maybe I'll leave it at that and let your imaginations run wild. Lets just say Willie rocked, and then there were 2 more bars, some live music, at least 5 more drinks, my mother made some new barfly BFF's, my dad tried to get lucky (by playing California lotto - get your mind out of the gutter!), and a poor overused wastebasket, followed the next day by a Most Wonderfully Hungover Mommie Dearest. And I'm guessing my dad kept right up with her.

But you know what? GOOD FOR THEM!!! They had a good time and please - 40 years together deserves a good drunken escapade - so cheers to you both!! Without the two of you together, there would be no me, there would be no Snow White, there would be no Allie and Jake Dwarves, and where would the fun in our lives be without a little Joycie and Chuckie to spice it up?

And now, the band shall play a song in their honor - how's about a sweet tune from the 70's?

We've been together since way back when
Sometimes I never want to see you again
But I want you to know, after all these years
You're still the one I want whisperin' in my ear
You're still the one that makes me laugh
Still the one that's my better half
We're still having fun, and you're still the one

You're still the one that makes me strong
Still the one I want to take along
We're still having fun, and you're still the one
You're still the one who can scratch my itch

Still the one and I wouldn't switch
We're still having fun, and you're still the one
You are still the one that makes me shout
Still the one that I dream about
We're still having fun, and you're still the one...

Good Pete Article

In all my election excitement, I forgot to mention how happy I was to find out (while listening to Idiot's Delight on WFUV last Saturday) that Mr. Pete Seeger was going to be one of the participants in the We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial and how fitting it was that he would sing there for Obama after all of his years of activity in the Civil Rights Movement - so I was pleased that amidst the trendy Shakiras and Ushers - there was Pete closing it out with Bruce Springsteen singing This Land is Your Land - and then I read this excellent article on Monday - so here you go, check it out if you so desire:

Welcome back, Pete Seeger, this land is your land too

And you know my other thought in all of this was: PETE SEEGER, PUT ON A DAMN COAT!! He does chop wood every day upstate, so maybe he's used to it, but Bruce, lend him a scarf or something!

Everyone!! Sing out!!!

(Please replace the word The Witch with Bush's Reign of Terror and Stupidity)

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead!

Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!

Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.

Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead.

He's gone where the goblins go,

Below - below - below.

Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out!!

Well, it doesn't really work as a tune, now does it, but the sentiment is what we are going for here, not artistry...oh okay, FINE, I just happen to have another song queued up for the occasion, sung magnificently by Seal, but the real deal is the original Sam Cooke and it's the perfect song to set the mood today...A Change is Gonna Come:

"...It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die

Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please

But he winds up knocking me

Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long

But now I think I'm able to carry on

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will..."

A good day indeed...I really wanted to watch the whole event but as I'm at work and not at home with Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow to guide me, I just figured I'd watch it online at CNN or MSNBC but wasn't that annoying? Stop and start, buffer and reload...so I'm quite thankful to The BB (Bushwick Bird) and her BF (The Boyfriend) for coming by my office to pull me into a conference room they heard had a TV for viewing...so YAY! I didn't miss the actual swearing in or the speech..and so now we get down to business and see what this man will/can actually do, actually change...I have high hopes but I think he does too and it counts for a lot.

What a crazy, odd, and oh so COLD day it has been ... lots of happenings in NYC today ... first, I wake up to the guy on 1010WINS telling me that the "real-feel temperature" is -1 - YIKES! And its snowing, lovely lovely snow, gentle and pretty, fat flakes that fall like powdered sugar, not blowing harsh sharp ice crystals that hurt your cheeks. The kind you want to walk to work in. The kind that makes everything quiet and even the garbage bags on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up are made pretty by being covered in it. So pleasant. Then I get on the E - and it's one of those brand new E's - where did those come from? I was only gone two weeks and all of a sudden, there's brand new shiny silver subway trains - same old smelly druggies and drunks and homeless people, but cleaner and roomier, so I'll take it. Then we had a shakeup here at work...I won't go into it for obvious reasons - but on a side note, Vox should totally call me if I don't call him first (hint hint) - so good things and/or more work/stress for me could be shooting down from up on high. I'm not completely sure I want things to change but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, won't we? I'll speak no more until I know more. Then a plane goes down in the Hudson river near the piers, providing my mother with more meat to her argument against taking planes, pleading with us to revert back to the covered wagon times for cross-country travel.

Now I have a headache, I think from gritting my teeth all day. Ouch. Maybe I should just give up the ghost and head home to watch a brand new Office (finally!) and go to bed early and wait to see what else can go crazy around here tomorrow ... other than the fact its supposed to be 10 degrees . Well I wanted winter, didn't I? And one must be careful for what one wishes for ... in the words of Willy Wonka...

"But Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted ... he lived happily ever after."

But baby it's cold outside...

I've been rereading all the Little House on the Prairie books and I just finished The Long Winter, which makes me appreciate all the modern conveniences of dealing with cold blustery weather. This week has been, for the most part, RAW. Rainy, cold, blowing winds and I've had to do my Aunt Judy's trick of getting into my pj's like lightning and then diving under the covers and counting to 60 and then I'm warm. Despite the fact that it's always about 15 degrees and drafty in my bedroom. I have 4 windows and sucky heat - meaning it goes on for about 45 minutes at 8am but during the night - NADA. Ooooh, how the cold breezes blow! I feel like Laura and Mary and the claim shanty isn't winterized so the snow falls on them in the night and Pa has to come and shovel their quilts. My teeth literally chatter as I get ready for bed. But at least I haven't run out of kerosene and the grocery store is just up the block so I don't have to subsist on potatoes and wheat grain until the trains can get here. But I can copy some of their methods for dealing with the chill - drinking ginger tea to warm up the insides, layer up with long johns and socks, and keeping a hearty bean soup a la Caroline Ingalls simmering on the stove all day. And so I shall, because tomorrow is supposed to be a snow storm so I think I'll just be cozy at home and do some New Year's Cleaning and Decluttering in a Feng Shui sort of way. And I'll think I'll take a walk through the park on Sunday because it will be all winterwonderlandery and happy and you know how much I love that.

And here's a pic or two of New Year's Eve - the theme was Chinese New Year while watching Mamma Mia and being silly. Oh yes, my mother is wearing gold stretch pants...and yes, I am wearing silver ones..aren't we...tacky?! And you aren't drunk, there are 2 of me in the photo...my mother said it's the ghost of my twin that I ate in the womb...

If only I could purchase some of this 1970's shampoo for my mother... then she too could smell as good as me, to the point that complete strangers come up to her and say "GEE YOUR HAIR SMELLS TERRIFIC"!!!!

Inside joke by the way... but my hair does smell really good :-)

Yes, I'm back...for those of you still checking...I had a wonderful, fan-freaking-tastic 16 days with The Mom and The Dad in sunny but chilly Las Vegas where I do believe I regained my vim and vigor so I'm approaching 2009 with some "pow!" and some "wow!", I hope. I vow to try my Girl Scout Best to not be a that blithering, blathering, sometimes sobbing, sometimes whining girl I was from November onward...resolved! Ah lets see how long that lasts, I'm all positivity right now because I'm still on the Christmas Vacation High but still, I'm going to try... and that's all we ever ask of you - is that you TRY. It's your duty.