Just for my good buddy Jeff

six to one, half a dozen to another.....

Coo, coo, ca-choo !

A lovely night spent with many friends at an Evensong downtown, at our pal Michael's church Two Saints., with The Bishop of Vermont, Gene Robinson. This was my first time seeing Bishop Robinson, ever. He is just a lovely , lovely man - who gave a most uplifting homily.
Serious power gays.. you know, one of us. ( and really, the whole point of this photo was a response to THIS - Kyle, is a petty petty Anglican wannabe ) He has Barack and Michelle on speed dial.. He would not call them...
Neil and Dahn bask in the glow of Bishop Robinson. There were lots of people here.
Michael, Prince, Gene,.. If this candle was not in the way, it could easily be the Hopkins-Bradley Christmas card.
Soon to be triple Bishop married Carl, with his husband to be ( after 25 years ) Brad.
Dahn and The Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson.

Brunch, The Verb

It wasn't really brunch, in the classic sense, but in Kyle world, they are all brunch.

Started yesterday when I mowed the entire lawn. Beautiful day, yesterday, and today.

Then took this picture of some pretty tulips on the way to Wegmans.
Fruit Salad, the night before.
As said many times, I love this old range.
See, the secret of a NINE O'CLOCK ( that's AM !! ) breakfast, is planning! everything that could be done , was done, the night before.
Coffee and a little sweet to nosh on pre meal. No one touched the muffins or doughnuts. Swim suit season, I guess....

• really yummy breakfast sausage strata with red peppers. Turns out, I have not been using enough milk in my strata custards! Live and learn. One dozen eggs, a quart of milk!
• "spring vegetable strata, asparagus , spinach, mushroom. I remembered to spray the foil this time, too! Batting 1000.
• Morning Home Fries
• Grits, cheese on the side
• fruit salad
• deviled eggs
• some plain scrambled eggs, my pal John has the celiacs

Sixteen people, they really did not eat that much, at all. I guess at some point I need to realize that everyone is not me.

Where exactly does this end ??

NO IRISH NEED APPLY

First, let's deal with the 800 pound gorilla in the room... Why the f**k are all the drop dead gorgeous politicians this bat shit crazy? Seriously, Alabama, is this the road you want to go down?

YES! Mr. James , this will get you that hooded , standing in the doorway, last vestige of Governor Wallace's Alabama. But guess what you Aryan looking brain dead p.o.s. , NOT everyone is Alabama is like you. If a majority turns out to be.. which I am guessing is very possible, this race is not even close to being on my radar screen. How exactly are you going to govern these ... others ?

THIS IS ALABAMA! WE SPEAK ENGLISH... This is Alabama, only white kids get to go to our flagship university. How far down the road are we willing to take this, which test can YOU pass?

Brown is the new black?

Wait, I have been to his site, and you have got to love this :

Under CORE VALUES :

DEFENDING FAMILY VALUES

"The family is a God-ordained institution of a man and a woman, lawfully married, who may have biological or adopted children, and single parents."

HEDGING YOUR BETS THERE , BUBBA ? Yes, God says " no hanky panky till that opposite sex marriage, for life.." but, since a WHOLE lot of Alabama voters are SINGLE PARENTS... we will toss that in. This man has some steadfast convictions !

oh.. and he and Ronald Reagan demand Christian Prayers in Public Schools.

If only this was from the Onion....

some strange memory.....

DINNER

FIRST BBQ CHICKEN OF THE YEAR !!

I made Burgers and hot dogs last night, but did not take any pics, cause.. well it was burgers, dollar hot dogs and chips for dinner.. and ya'll know, if you don't see dinner on here, it was not healthy!

The snow showers this morning, gave way to a lovely evening. Still a little cool, but bright and sunny.

Mise-En-Place

1. your spray bottle of water
2. Smokey-Sticky- Sweet BBQ Sauce, ( Wegmans, Kansas City )
3. chicken sausage with feta and spinach ( they were on sale )
4. tongs
5. clean well seasoned chickens
6. basting sauce : apple cider vinegar, Texas Pete, lots of black pepper, herbs.
7. red and black silicon brush from Ikea
8. Southern Living/Pottery Barn.... Chicken takes time

Koda chews a stick, while helping me cook. We missed Pookie tonight, she was my grilling buddy...
MMMMMMM
Getting there.. only the marinade...
Close the door of the grill, get it really hot in there, THEN slather the chickens up with the BBQ Sauce.
Sticky , Sweet, so close...
DINNER!!

It's Mr. and Mr. JUST like you would for any other couple... jeez...

From The HUFFPO : "ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Elizabeth Post, an etiquette expert known for writing books and magazine columns on manners, has died. She was 89."

The Rest

After the Snow

It turned into a very nice afternoon, Koda and I went for a nice long walk.

THE question on everybody's mind today ??

Wall street reform ? ho-hum...

Elections in the U.K. ? Meh.....

What the heck did Miss Trya do to her chest ????? ding! ding!! ding!!!

Tiny picture is sort of a before, look here for the after, taken only yesterday . ( from , like everything else, JMG ) A little shocking.. I had to ask Joe if they were " real" or not. He told me last night that it was , as Dan put it: " a little drag magic ". Today he gives us the answer.

Ladies and Gentleman, and those that have yet to make up your minds, I give you,

The Titty Dicky.

Equal Time for Brenda.....

It is a VEGAN " double down "......

The how to ( but not the why's)

HERE

Not only does it look a little bit like play food, it is UN-believably complex to make.

Late April Surprise

OFFSPRING PREFORM!

As much as we all here LOVE the Howell-Horsma's, this is posted just so we could do this

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, BABY!

The April Showers worked early!

MENDON!

In all it's Spring Finest.

A huge tulip tree

The lilacs are about to burst

Even out ancient old bush is weighted down

Bright Yellow

The first tiny iris of the season in Neil's garden

This red bush in our front yard, no idea what it is

more trees.

But the Queen of the whole show is

The PINK tree down the street is in all its annual Kay Thompson glory!

Banish the Black!

Burn the Blue !

Bury the Beige !

There is not the slightest excuse for

plum or puce!

THINK PINK!

Episcabears

In the top secret Episcacave... ready to spring into action, at a moments notice. You do NOT want to goof up your liturgy with this crowd around...WHAM! SPLAT! BOING!

Dinner ( one night last week )

A lovely sort of kitchen sink salad, with meat. Much closer to the way we should be eating, sans the bread and blue cheese that came after the picture. " Nice photo, Kyle, and kudos on branching out of all white china mode! " Relax.. it was over at Dahn's. Her beautiful rainbow plate, I am stuck in my monochromatic mode.
HA!.. see the colored salad plates on the bottom ? The Pride of The Country Place , Circa 1993.. how did they ever get here?

Gwinnett.... no longer Gweat ??

Say it ain't so!

Gwinnett water towers to be dismantled. What's next? The big chicken?

More Fiber ?

Jerry, George, Kelsey, Joe and Ronald Reagan walk into a bar.....

RIGHT AND WRONG

Mr. Pockets-so-deep-they-go-all-the-way-to-China, Kelsey Grammer is staring in the new Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles. RAVE reviews !! The bff Harry said it is all but life changing. I do so hope we can find the time to get down to see it ! ( you know once it hits tkts ) BUT, things are not as they appear at the eponymous club/show - you know, in OTHER ways. There is a deep dark secret about the play : someone is coming out of the closet! The love that dare not speak its name, is being spoken , loud and often, on basic cable tv:

Kelsey Grammer is a Republican!

The horror... the horror. Not only is Mr. Grammer an out and proud member of the GOP, but he has become the spokes person for some sad sack Faux News inspired new " tv network " RIGHTNETWORK. Not going to google or link, but you can if you want. I've seen it, it's pretty innocuous , same ole blah, blah, blah, right wing crap trap, all that all Frasier all the time money , not wanting to go to Washington. Got it.

Which you know, THIS is America, and Mr Grammer has the freedom and the RIGHT to love believe what ever he wants. I don't think anyone , at all, is saying or thinking that Kelsey is anti-gay. BUT - you lie down with elephants..... I am guessing that will not be much man on man lip locking on this new network.

Just odd , that's all. I as thinking about this when I saw the ad, and today, Variety puts in its two cents worth:

The Broadway revival of the 1983 musical "La Cage aux Folles," starring Kelsey Grammer, opened to rave reviews this week, only to encounter what could be a viral storm with news of the star's online promo for the conservative-oriented RightNetwork.
As Grammer puts it in the promo for the website, which launches this summer, "There's wrong and there's right. RightNetwork: All that's right with the world." The website features photos of Newt Gingrich and other Republicans who did not advocate for same-sex marriage and gays in the military.
What's wrong, according to a long chain of comments in the TalkinBroadway.com chat room, is that Grammer plays a gay character in "La Cage," the first Broadway tuner to put a same-sex couple centerstage, while making himself the face of a politically conservative news org, which opposes rights for same-sex unions. ( the rest )

One more Joe..." take your mind back..."

NEW WORD !!! NEW WORD !!!!

AND! It's a good one.

Mrs. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald

CYNOSURE :

Main Entry: cy·no·sure
Pronunciation: \ˈsī-nə-ˌshu̇r, ˈsi-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French & Latin; Middle French, Ursa Minor, guide, from Latin cynosura Ursa Minor, from Greek kynosoura, from kynos oura, literally, dog's tail
Date: 1565
1 capitalized : the northern constellation Ursa Minor; also : north star
2 : one that serves to direct or guide
3 : a center of attraction or attention

Ok, let's start with a little bit of truth here.

I had this picture in a frame for years and years. I am talking on the shelf beside my bed in Russell Hall. Yes, all the other boys had Miss freaking August or what ever.... I had Zelda Fitzgerald. " And oddly, no one was surprised when I came out ".....

Our word du jour comes from this morning's New York Times, used in a review of some brand new , sadly craptastic, off Broadway play. Along with the word we get a pratictally Faulknerian run on sentence:

"Flashbacks fill in the rest of the story: the halcyon days of her girlhood, when the young Zelda (Rachel Moulton) was the madcap cynosure of society in Montgomery, Ala.; the meeting with Fitzgerald (Michael Shawn Lewis), then an Army officer, and their turbulent on-again, off-again courtship; their dizzying rise to rule the New York and Paris glitterati on the heels of Fitzgerald’s literary success; and the long, harrowing decline as their complicated interdependency took an emotional toll on the marriage."

Are you kidding me! MADCAP CYNOSURE !!! Is it too late for me to have a life's goal??? Here is the rest of the review by Mr. Isherwood :

This Side of Paradise.

( if you have to ask....... don't )

Kyle and Zelda, Zelda and Kyle. This was back in the day , pre internets when you had to go to these things called Libraries and use .... books, to be obsessed with people. Not like now, when you can spend hours tracking people on the facebook. ( note to self, despite it all, you are aging WELL....) Little known fact, She and Scott spent the night in Athens, Ga; once, book tour or on the road someplace, the building is still there. I went to the street Scott grew up on, once on a visit St. Paul. There are still Sayre's in Montgomary. Had dinner in Cairo or Bainbridge or Thomasville ( honestly can not remember ..but KNOW it was south GA.. Jenny and Joe's or Lucreita or Lisa..??? ) with some guy who had once danced with Scottie at a party, pretty sure I asked him to dance, so you know, I sort of danced with her....Me and the madcap cynosure ... We go way, way back........

A day late birthday present for Beth

It's a still young and skinny Peter Buck.

ONE degree away

My pals John and Will , all hopped up with Saber pride

find Miss Pandora Boxx!

HAPPY B-DAY, B-DAY !!

A Touchdown Barbie Birthday Cake,

just for you!

Today Nascar.Com.....

Tomorrow the world.

My very good pal Tommy Wofford, executive director of Talladega's The Historic Ritz Theatre, gets a shout out.

From Nascar.Com ( a first for the k+b )

"Quick. Name something in Talladega, Ala., other than a great big superspeedway.

Well, for starters, there's a little bitty dirt track right up the road. Other than that, there's ... hmmm. What else is there in Talladega? For most folks around the country, that's all they know. What a shame, hints Tom Wofford, executive director of Talladega's The Historic Ritz Theatre.
"Talladega is a town that's rich in history," Wofford said. "There's a lot of architectural preservation that's gone on. We have a very large collection of Antebellum homes and Victorian homes, as well as a lot of excellent preservation that's been done on the courthouse square. So we sell history as part of the experience here."
The Historic Ritz Theatre first opened in 1936 as a movie house. Just imagine the immortal flicks that moved across its screen those first few years -- Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca. The theater was and still is easily recognizable on the courthouse square in Talladega, with a facade described on its Web site as "comprised exclusively of opaque structural glass, a common construction material used lavishly during the Deco period." ( THE REST )

And you know, since we are in the RARE Nascar mindset here at the k+b , Googled :

The worst driver in Nascar.

Damn, but that sat my Karma back a few notches......

Reagan on the 50

Hell Yes... as long as this is the new 100....

old times here......a must read.

From Regina Charboneau, writing in THE ATLANTIC :

A TIME TO MOURN , AND A TIME TO COOK

Like I have said before, I wish I had been more on top of things while in Winder. A little bit hard to be a detached anthropologist/blogger when it is your own Dad. But, I would have liked more food posts to have come out of it. Not that, as Ms. Charboneau states, there are not just volumes and tomes written about Southern funeral food.

But since I live in a place, where my next door neighbor died and we did not know it for three months - in my defense, it was Winter, and it is not odd to not see folks for the duration of the ice and snow- the age old ceremonies of a small Southern town were a blessing .

Pork Grillades and Grits

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning, divided
1 pound lean breakfast pork cutlets, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1 (14.5-oz.) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 (14-oz.) can low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
Creamy Grits

1. Combine flour and 1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning in a shallow dish. Dredge pork in flour mixture.

2. Cook pork, in 2 batches, in 1/2 tsp. hot oil per batch in a large skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from skillet, and keep warm.

3. Add remaining 1tsp. oil to skillet. Sauté diced onion, celery, and bell pepper in hot oil 3 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning. Stir in diced tomatoes and chicken broth, and cook 2 minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Simmer 15 to 18 minutes or until liquid reduces to about 2 Tbsp. Serve tomato mixture over Creamy Grits and pork.

This is from Southern Living, they link to a creamy grits recipe that just brings tears to the baby Jesus' eyes so here is mine:

Yall know I cant get real grits up here - there is even the debate among a lot of Southerners as to what REAL grits even are. I mean, I know some very proud mountain folk citizens of Dunwoody, who are just fine with instant grits ( see above: tears of the baby Jesus )

This is a great product, just go to the Goya section of any grocery store.

ONE Cup of these grits

FOUR cups of liquid

salt - a gracious plenty

Here is where things get dicey. What kind of mood are you in? For these savory grits and grillades, I would use 2 cups chicken stock to two cups of whole milk, maybe half and half. Christmas morning at your house and everyone is all festive, don't be afraid to use four cups of heavy cream... you only live once. All water? Only if you really have too, and then, don't kid yourself with the health part, you know you will put half a stick of butter on them to get some flavor. Two parts Chicken Stock, One milk, One Spicy V-8 ? Tailgate grits. Really, almost anything.

This one sounds YUMMY as well :

CORNBREAD PUDDING STUFFED WITH MUSTARD GREENS