Sunday Salon, August 13

Weather: Finally relief from the heat and the smoke. It rained last night and today was cool and clear. Whew.

"It's a Jedi"

"It's a Jedi": Today our church hosted a baby shower for our daughter and son-in-law who are expecting our first grandchild very soon. The theme of the baby's nursery is Star Wars. The organizers of the event picked up on that theme and all the decorations were related to Star Wars, including the event banner which announced: "It's a Jedi!" In addition a clothes line full of onesies had Star Wars themed slogans including my personal favorite: "Storm Pooper" (front) with "Dark Side" (back). Ha! We are on the countdown. Three weeks to go.

String of onesies

May the forks be with you!

My daughters with a gift helper

"Hey Jude": When I was young I would attempt to wash dishes within the time period of The Beatles song, "Hey Jude" (7:11 min.) My family even teased me about it when we were together earlier this month. Well, on Friday I finally was presented with another timed activity set to "Hey Jude". This one in water aerobics. We formed a line of participants holding onto the ends of the float-noodle of the woman in front of her and another woman hung onto my noodle ends behind me and so on. Then we snaked around the pool for the whole song. Hilarious. I couldn't believe it was happening and it made me so happy. Ha!

Charlottesville: My heart is breaking for our country where white supremacists think they have a President who supports their cause, and it appears that he does. Yesterday was a disaster. I get chills every time I look at this picture taken the moment that the white terrorist drove his car into a crowd  sending people flying and killing one person. Susan Bro, the mother of the 32-year-old victim, Heather Heyer's mother said today of her daughter: "she was about bringing and end to injustice. Heather was not about hate, Heather was about stopping hate," Bro said through her tears. "Heather was about bringing an end to injustice. I don't want her death to be a focus for more hatred, I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion." ---The Huffington Post.

Book completed this week:

• Longbourn by Jo Baker...for an upcoming book club meeting; please read my review by clicking the link here. It is the Pride and Prejudice story from the point-of-view of the servants. It filled out the original story.

Currently reading:

• Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kruger---an award-winning mystery and coming-of-age story. I am enjoying the writing. Progress: 43%
• The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins---what can I say? I love poetry! Progress: 25%
• Five Days in Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink...another book club selection, this one is nonfiction. Audio. 5%.

18 pairs of shoes: I have started the process of de-teacherfying my closet. I started with shoes. I got rid of 18+ pairs and then attacked my clothes and my initial swing through the closet net three bags of sweaters, blouses, and tops which I never want to see again! Next up my drawers.

From the kitchen: It felt like Girl Scout Camp around here for a few days while we experimented with meat packages wrapped in foil and cooked on the BBQ. Delicious. Here is how we made them: Into a large bowl cut up one turkey kielbasa sausage. Slice up one new-potato per person (I par cook them so they cook fully in the packet.) Slice up a half sweet onion. Add 1/2 pound of snapped green beans. Peel and cut into bite sized pieced of carrots. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1-2 tsp of your favorite seasoning salt, black pepper to taste. Stir to combine the spices. Divide onto foil  pieces. Be sure to seal the foil packets carefully so they won't leak. Cook on medium heat (400 degrees) on the BBQ for 15-20 minutes, turning once. This reminded my girls and I of the days we spent cooking over a fire during Girl Scout activities. You can play around with your favorite vegetables and meats. It is a very versatile recipe. Have fun.