My good friend

My pal Drew said on his blog ,in response to my suggesting that he clear his dates with me first that : " (I had not)  Provided me with the documentation of my prowess at datable choices". How is this, Drew, old buddy ??

Welcome Home Redwings!!!

Welcome home Red Wings!

1) Howie Clark and Neil swap balls

2) Jack, Linda and "our player"

3) dinner

4) the room, before dinner

5) the owner of the team and her Leiber Baseball bag

The local American Legion Chapter here has been throwing the Annual Welcome Home Red Wings Dinner for EIGHTY years. That is something , in a world with so much change. It really is a high light of the spring season. And as a plus for the first year in many, it did not snow during the dinner. All ages, families, people who have just come for years and years. Its very nice of the McKelveys to include us every year. The WINGS open Thursday in Richmond , and the home opener is Friday April 11th. Trust me, the later it can be put off , the better. I have a 50 degree temperature limit, other than opening day. 

Spring at last, re-dux

Y'all play nice ....

The baseball season started last night, with the Braves losing to the Washington Nationals, with a bottom of the Ninth home run. It was the inaugural game for the new -soon to be re-named- Nationals Park. From what I could tell this new park looks a lot like Turner Field , BUT it turns out that Stan Kasten had a big role in that. ( his kids went to the Epstein School- I had such a crush on him) It was also my first game on the new high def TV that I bitched about Neil buying. I take it ALL back, Im in love!, baseball in high def and a big screen. 

 Zippy threw out the first pitch... it was not a pretty site. Watch and Listen here. ( I have got to learn how to post directly from youtube to here!)

28 years and counting.

In the past, I have been a snob about this. I would make up my own rules in my head. At one point thinking the boys really should pack it in, rather than risk some sort of "oldies band" status, I declared that they should have one last four man concert, in Atlanta/Athens AND the only way you could attend was to prove you were at one ( or both) of the free Legion Field shows -from what ever beer soaked early 80's year the shows were.  I got over it. 

Here is the story from yesterdays NYT, all about how this is not a come-back, and how magical and mystical Athens is. " the wuxtry is STILL there!". Athens is always this magnolia laced punk rock town to New Yorkers.

 I love the fact that they got 80 million bucks in 1996," the last of the mega-deals".  Good for them for getting on that band wagon . A great big OUCH, though,  to the thought that REM is " your dads band" , even if it is true.

I am the rare fan that bought and LOVED the last three "records" { UP, REVEAL and AROUND THE SUN, for those who stopped at AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE }, and Ill download Accelerate the first chance I get.  Damn, 28 years- some of you people are getting old.

Dinner at Laurier

• Dinner with friends at this little place in MENDON! right across the frozen field where the kiddies skate. Its really a catering company that just serves dinner once a month. Its pre-fix meal, and you have to pic before you go. I had the Salmon, it was yummy, everyone else had the filet.
  
• Shrimp and crab claw cocktail
• petite penne pasta martini
• wilted spinach salad /warm bacon vinaigrette
• sesame seed crusted salmon filet /ginger lime beurre blanc
• black pepper crusted beef tenderloin/trufffled potato puree and fine herb demi glace
• belgian chocolate mousee /bailey's creme anglaise

Ok, now here is the deal. They do not have a pouring license, so they can't sell wine: they GIVE it away... so you get all that food, plus , really, all the wine you can drink ( and its good wine too, not the cheap big Georgia College bottles)  for 45$. We had a very nice time.I forgot the camera so you don't get pics of the food, but it was very nice.  

We are in the photo having drinks here , before going over.

" I don't think anyone understands my commitment to excellence"

" jager bomb !?!?!!"   ( war eagle)

Mendon, N.Y. 1:00 pm

nail in coffin....

It's getting closer and closer.

All of us over 40 , once hip types ( well, not me.. since I'm neither of those things) have to line up and drink the damn kool-aid. Bob Casey, Junior Senator from Pennsylvania, is going to endorse Senator Obama.  He is the man that dropped a house on the evil that is Ricky "man-on-dog" Santorum ( google him... just for the fun of it) and a his family is a force within Pennsylvania. I don't know how much good it will do, but its a sign. 

President Obama, President Obama.....

Mendon, N.Y. 8:00am

almost 80 degrees in Atlanta today...

premature Spring-ulation

ice free, at last

bitter isn't pretty

Not to say , " I told you so"... but, I told you so. 

This is going to be a real problem in November. Older people ( hello! Florida..) are not, for the most part going to vote for Senator Obama. Post 40 white women for the most part are not going to vote for Senator Obama. Twenty something Barackheads who spent the Winter all fired up for their candidate have moved on to the American Idol.

I have talked with several hard core ,yellowist of yellow dog, Democrats who just will not vote in the Fall, if Obama is the nominee. Now these folks are in Georgia and New York , so their votes won't matter, BUT these same people , or folks just like them, are in OHIO as well.... 

If there is a way to blow this, the Democrats will find a way. John Paul Stevens is EIGHTY SEVEN YEARS OLD! Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75.....( cue Jaws theme)

dance this mess around

ok, I can stop playing the song over and over now. It was sweet of them to write a song JUST for me! The funniest part of the whole thing was Angela saying: " I don't think there is a bus from Winder to Athens".... Once a finance major, always a finance major. Good for Keith, Fred, Cindy and Kate for rolling out some darn good party music, 400 years after they started. Now if only there was a TACO STAND across the street......

The Most Important Event in the History of Recorded Time

"-I-I'm lookin' for some fun
Waitin' for the bus from Winder to come
I-I-I'm lookin' for my hon
Waitin' for that bus to come"

Lyrics from the new B-52's song HOT CORNER.

BUY THIS RECORD!

"He's a mess , but he's Really pretty".... Come on...

I must be a little home sick

Ham with brown sugar and whole grain mustard glaze, Collard Greens, Sweet Potatoes and Rice. I did burn the Banana Bread, I used the wrong pan trying to make too much.

Bip, Kip, Bobeye, Bubba and Tuna.

4000

Last night FRONTLINE aired the first of two parts of BUSH'S WAR. It was an amazing piece of journalism . The kind of dig till you get the story, old fashioned, grown up, logical reporting that has LONG since gone out of fashion. It is free and available on PBS.org. Please, watch it , if you can download it. If you can not download or watch the entire thing, the website has TONS of information as well.

The things that happened in 2002/2003 were just shocking. Yes, we were all in a daze from 9-11, but to slip that fast into complete compliance is... shocking. For example, Secretary Powell , the one rational voice in the entire White House, could ONLY get to the President by going through Dr. Rice , and even then they had to slip around Cheney.

The second part is tonight. Four and a half hours on stories that the networks, cnn, faux, et al give , well , almost none now. Try and watch this show. There were a couple of times when my mouth was hanging open. Watch it, and try to understand why Dick Cheney is NOT in jail. ( and just for no other reason than my pinko commie-fag left wing leanings, keep waaay in the back of your head that oil was 20$ a barrel when the Bush II administration came in.. and over a hundred, with no end in sight, now..."oil men")

If anyone did see it, or watches it , I'd love to know what you think.

when you get down to Athens Ga.......

you wont get very far till you hear someone shouting out:  TAKE THE QUIZ! 

I got a 100%... a dead beat youth...

Dirt Stuff

Monday Morning Musical!

now and forever.....

busy day!

Dahn and David leave for Palau. Bon Voyage!

Lemon Meringue Pie

I used Alton Browns recipe. Was very easy and turned out really well, the curd is not super sweet. Lets hope for the best when it comes to cutting.

UPDATE:  this is a darn good recipe, cut very easy and the filling stayed very firm. Its going to be my new go to lemon meringue pie!

I ❤ Mamie Eisenhower

As much as the next guy, really. All that PINK ,how could I not. 

BUT:

George " older than baseball" Will this morning on George Stephanopoulos: " If being First Lady is enough to make Hillary Clinton President, why didn't Mamie Eisenhower run for the office"  Big ole turd in the Easter Basket for George, and his oh so sprayed hair, ( something he got from Mamie)

I have no problem wrapping my mind around the fact that from 92-2000 we had CO-Presidents. For some unknown reason that just freaks people out. Guess it has something to do with the longing for he daddy/big brother to watch over them. OR, my guess is,  its just plain old misogyny rearing his cro-magnon head. Senator Clinton has been planning to be President since she gave the commencement speech at Wellesley in 1969. Even if you want to disavow a lifetime of work and service, then she has had double the time of Senator Obama in the Senate, ( but you know, he is a man and all.. must be something like dog years) I read the "what the hell does a First Lady have to offer" argument all over the internets, well, nothing, if you are a carpet enabler like the current one. ( really, Laura, I'm sure you are a lovely person, but dose down on the xanax a little bit, three or four a day should be enough).

All the talking heads were all about how Hillary CAN NOT get the delegates to win the convention, with out the superdelegates. True, BUT ! Neither can Senator Obama... yes, he is very much in the lead, but Neither can get to the finish. Why are we not hearing the choirs of " HE CAN'T WIN" like we are from her? 

An interesting piece in the NYT this morning, on race and Obama. What is "black", how black is black , etc... ( Tiger Woods is like as black as I am.. intresting...). The article asks " how much having an  african american wife helps him identify to the general population as black" I wonder how different it would be if is white Kansasian mother were still alive and at his side?

One more  thing from Georgie Boy this morning. HE made the rare admission that he was , of course, so much more than the detached reporter (!) during the Clinton years in the White House, coming to Hillarys defense over nafta. Just a rare thing these days, I do believe there are still lots of ill feelings between them. I had such a crush on him, and now I have a HUGE one on his wife.

HAPPY EASTER!

wonderful light

We went to a funeral this morning for , I found out, a very intresting, cool and impressive guy: Bishop Robert Spears. Marched with Dr. King across the Pettus Bridge in 1965. Started what was the first Gay and Lesbian ministry  anywhere with in the Anglican Communion. Was an important part in getting the first women ordained in the church. Big in the anti war movement, on an on. Standing on the shoulders of giants indeed.

I snapped this pic ( no one saw me) before the funeral started. AND, very rare for a yankee funeral, there was yummy food at the reception, including some killer rosemary and pine nut short bread things that the organist had made. I will have to get the recipe. 

There is no joy in Mudville

DAMN! LOPEZ to RETIRE.

I was SO looking forward to seeing Javy's ass-ets, close up and personal, the way one does in triple A. 

That which does not kill us....

These are 81/2's, I wear a 9 or 91/2... BUT come on..... the things we do for beauty....

an amazing pic

Supposedly this is the exact moment, or darn close to it, when the big tornado hit downtown Atlanta. It was taken by a guy who lives in a condo up on Howell Mill Road, went up on the roof and snapped the pic. Which, by the way ,  seems like a very Southern thing to do. Midwesterners rush to their storm shelters ( smart) , as a rule, Southerners grab a beer and go out to look for it ( not so smart)... but a cool picture.

Mendon, naturally

( beaver update )

HAPPY PURIM!

What jolly fun, Jewish folk all over the world , rolling in the aisles dresses as Santa and the Easter Bunny! A holiday where you are forced to drink! Here is a recipe for Hamantaschen. I'm crazy about the prune ones. Its just old home week today, first a wonderful african american grocery store and now a minor Jewish holiday.. its 1996 all over again .

Good Friday Road Trip

Not unlike Stanley and Livingston , we set off, from the deepest whitest part of Mendon to head into downtown Rochester to go the the new Grocery Store , in search of Easter bargains.We picked up our urban guide and off we went! Low and behold, walking through the doors , the well policed doors (???), I was instantly transported back to Virginia Ave in College Park! 

So! many more pork products than at the Wegmans, SUCH friendly people. " Have you ever seen such big sweet potatoes?"  " What! a good price in these fresh hams!" A lovely trip!

I took that fresh ham ( four dollars!!) stuck it in the crock pot, with onions/garlic/carrots and a bunch of greek seasoning , per Dahn... I'll let yall know how it comes out!

Goooooo Daw.....

damn, that was fast. Georgia got beat in basketball by Xavier in the first round - first game of the ncaa's. Number one, where in the heck is Xavier ? Number two, did they HAVE to put in on the cover of the New York Times ?

vernal equinox

 It's Spring in upstate New York. We can tell because we are only going to get 2-4 inches of snow today. YEAH!

2024 delegates

That is how many delegates any Democratic candidate must get, in the primaries to win the nomination. Neither Senator Clinton or Obama will end up with that many. Yes, its going to be a big ole hot tranny mess in Denver. 

  The Clinton campaign knows this and is working the system to win with the super delegates. Its the reason that the damn super delegates exist. Yes, the Democrats shot themselves in the foot by having this facocta system to get the nomination, so complex, so diluted, but it is what it is. The Obama campaign, not so much. The Obama-manics just want Hillary to drop out, quit, give it to Barack, or by goodness they WILL pitch that fit right there in the produce isle of the Piggly Wiggly. She is just being mean.

"If we lose the election in the fall, it will be all Hillary's fault. It's time for Howard Dean and the party leader to step in and stop Hillary before she starts a civil war ( and one is coming) and destroys our party"- John Aravosis.  ( AMERICABLOG ) I love him . Americablog is one of the first things i read every morning. He is a brilliant man, who is 110% blinded by the media created klieg light that is Senator Obama. Imagine the ripping of cloths and gnashing of teeth if someone were to suggest that Senator Obama drop out to just let Hillary have it.

 Can we just all close our eyes and think of a Bizzaro world where Hillary Clintons lovely methodist minister is all over the you tube going off on black people, just saying horrible things, using the word watermelon. The woman who married her and Bill, christened Chelsea and was her spiritual mentor and a member of her campaign saying "nappy". There are not enough tv cameras  to cover the media firestorm that it would have triggerd. It would have been a sensible tar and feather pant suit on day one. 

It happened to Senator Obama, and what he got  was " the greatest speech of this or any generation". Backwards and in high heels..... backwards and in high heels.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

   To kyle+blog novice, but old time moopah: JEFF BURNHAM.... who once, a long time ago - in the very early morning - had this pressure on his head....

                                                        Irish boys drinking ➔

 

                                                           

Mendon, naturally 2 ( and two!)

death clock

"A clock , by artist Bertrand Planes, that's been slowed down 61320 times, so that each line represents a year in the average human life, It's set to 84 years"

This one is easy,.... just UNPLUG the damn thing for a few years... duh.  

(stolen from Joemygod.)

head... exploding

Senator Obama gave a speech on race today.

His pastor, who may have retired, the media calls him his ex pastor, is a fiery, fiery black preacher. People , white people , who have never seen a fired up black preacher were shocked! OMG, black people talk back at church!  Their preachers move around, they shout, they emote! RUN away, run away! He said some very controversial things. ( I had known about him saying such things for a long long time , but its all of a sudden NEWS) They had to be addressed in order  fpr Obama to keep some of his white support. So, todays speech.

An announcement went out. Gather the tribes... He will speak! Those bushes will burst into flame just any minute now. Barack Obama has a completely unique take on race relations in America. Well, Barack Obama and every other mixed race person in America! AND race is SO the giant elephant in American politics. RACE RELATIONS are never spoken of in Adult tones, never in the beige tones of Barack Obama. One side gets up and yells at the other, same, same, same.

It was a good speech. He addressed the issue of his pastor " he is crazy but i love him" ( ALL Southerners know this feeling) He addressed his white grandmother, who said raciest things. He addressed Geraldine Ferraro. He presented the issue in an overall Christian tone that also rarely gets addressed  in an adult way. AGAIN, a nice , lovely speech. BUT: It was from Barack Obama

Andrew Sullivan. " I did want to say that this searing , nuanced , gut -wrenching , loyal, and deeply, deeply Christian speech is the MOST HONEST SPEECH ON RACE IN AMERICA in my adult lifetime. (sigh:)  IT IS THE SPEECH WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR FOR A GENERATION. Fuck you, John Lewis, fuck you Harold Ford, jr, Fuck you Gov. Patterson. ONLY Barack can save us from us. Just stop. Before the speech the talking head talking points were all over tv CALLING it " most important".

Those that love him will see this as so much more than this was. Those that do not see a man with very good "preachin' skills" who is drowning in his own hype. There are just GUSHING reviews all over the net. I'm not going to link to them. This time I do not feel its just me not getting it. 

Movie Monday!

Dahn and Kyle are back at the Pittsford Cinema! They had missed us!  A lovely lunch of fresh fish tacos at the Cheesecake Factory ( there was lots of cheesecake, didnt eat any, but it was there..). Then we saw Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I loved it, sort of mad-cap thirties inspired "Bringing Up Baby/Born Yesterday-ish"romp.

Go, if only to see the wallpaper in the bedroom!

banana pudding?

Yes, that was an odd post. ( even though its true it's the best ever) BUT, it was inspired by the baking bloggings of ALEXIS STEWART. This is the LINK to the blog from her , somewhat goofy ass radio show. ( but, does YOUR mother have a sirius channel?....) Just read her part, look at back dates at the INSANE amount of off the charts quality baking she does. These are pics of her on the market apt in NYC, just a LITTLE bit anal...

Cold and Snowy

Winter hangs on well past March 20 th this far north. Its snowing to beat the band , as I type. BUT , it is the time of year when a young (!) mans fancy turns to other matters: 26 days till the Redwings home opener! Which, lets face it, is not a whole lot of fun, till at least mid May. This is just no way to watch a baseball game!

BUT, there are the Hot dogs and beer (and it stays VERY cold)

                                                 

Pookie gets a MUCH needed pedicure

Seriously....

I do make the best Banana Pudding on the planet.

Yes, its my Mothers recipe, but I am claiming it. Basic ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2tbl flour
• 3 cups milk
• stick of butter
• vanilla 

mix sugar and flour well. Freta uses a double boiler, I just use a heavy Le Creuset pot. Add eggs, mix well, on LOW heat, start to stir in milk. This takes a while... you can turn the heat up a little but you have to keep stiring ( or use the double boiler) . It will start to thicken, slowly. Be careful when it does start to bubble, its HOT. Once it coats the back of the spoon well ( ten-ish min) turn off the heat. Add your stick of butter and vanilla. Let it cool a little.

Layer with Vanilla wafers and bananas, use a pretty glass bowl or trifle dish.  Mine is for a lot of people, so i used a roasting pan. ( which was not, really, was not , taken from Paul Spencer, it just LOOKS just like one that was.. and anyway it was a long time ago.. and.. well, thats all I'm saying)

Top with whipped cream/meringue/cool whip.