Patterns

I enjoy myself a good pattern. And nothing beats a good pattern like an animated pattern. Check out Aaron Koblin’s animated Flight Patterns. You should be able to click the play button on the second image down. Seeing how the country wakes up and gets to work is very dynamic in this 57 second bit. I wonder what the different colors represent? Different airline carriers?

Dawn

This morning I was coming into work earlier than normal. I emerged from the subway station to that moment when dawn is about to pass on to morning. It had an element of the surreal. At first I didn’t know if it was because of the shift of daylight from the time I got onto the subway twenty minutes earlier. Or if it was a different sound level – the hustle and bustle of the morning commuters just starting to ramp up, but not yet there. Or if it was because the streets were a bit more vacant than usual. All this went through my head in the few seconds I entered the street. And then a white flash shot in front of me. That was the surreal part. The seagulls had not vanished yet. Had not retreated to higher ground as the homo-sapiens took over. And they were huge. Nothing like the little pigeons that are everywhere during the day. These guys were beasts. Big breasted with a wing span of three feet, they were big enough to feed a family of four on Thanksgiving. Or perhaps two of them could. And they were owning the street and the sidewalks and the skies. I had a flash of the lead into the climax of Alfred Hitchcock’s famous Birds. I got a little nervous.





They were soaring above the street, skimming the tops of parked cars. During the day they are around, but occupy the higher flight paths. I know this because of the bones. I had forgotten I was going to post all this today, until just now. When all of a sudden I hear the clatter on the roof above me. The seagulls fly by and drop the bones of their meals. The roof is littered with bones. Don’t mess with the seagulls, especially in the early hours. They own the dawn.

Happy stomach and lips

For me cooking comes in waves. Sometimes I wish I could eat more – there’s so much to taste and enjoy. Other times I wish I didn’t always need to figure out what to eat and we could just pop a pill (not that I’m a pill popping type of gal). Well, the tide is in (ok the analogy is now officially dead).


Some context. Here is my place. And over here on the left is my local Trader Joes. And over here on the right, about the same distance away, is my Whole Foods. And around the corner is my local run of the mill grocery store. Pretty nice set up but they each have their pros and cons and none of them can stand on their own. Love Whole Foods, but the prices. Still the best place for local produce, and if I buy meat (which I rarely do) and any other specialty food/indulgence. Trader Joes is a staple being a cheese lover. And then the local places sells my baking goods (flour, sugar) and other particular brands I prefer such as Grape-Nuts, Hood Cottage Cheese – best taste hands down, Cabot’s Wicked Sharp Cheddar – I’m not kidding, that’s what’s it’s called and for me, the sharper the better.



Well I noticed the other day that they had opened up a new Trader Joes… right across the street from my Whole Foods. Sweet! So at the end of Sunday, I make it over there to get my grocery shopping done. I figure I’d go to Whole Foods first and buy the remaining items I need at Trader Joes. Great plan except for three things – I’m tired, hungry, and by the time I get done with Whole Food’s I realize, that to get to the Trader Joes (yes, the one across the street), I have to drive a quarter mile, over the railroad tracks over to the next light to turn around and reverse directions. There’s a light between the two stores – but only for turning, not for going straight (there’s a barricade too that prevents folks like me from attempting it). So I didn’t make it to the new Trader Joes yet. I wonder if this one sells wine and beer (there’s something about MA puritan roots and limited alcohol licenses).



But the good news, I got some good meals for this week.

Sunday night: Cheese fondue (from previous TJs visit) and fresh french baguette. When I say fresh, I mean I was in the bakery at WFs and followed the baker dude with his armful of loafs he was putting out. They were still steaming! And because I wanted to I had some of the Salami I had bought and half a fresh avocado lightly salted. Mmmm good and easy.



Monday night: I tried my hand at mussels Provincial. They’re my favorite and I always order them when I’m out. At WFs they had a new shipment fresh from Maine. I used the remaining baguette from the previous night to sop up the creamy goodness. I used some simple white serving dishes and it was beautifully presented with the mussels and bread and steamed asparagus. I realized I didn’t know what to do with leftover mussels, so being on my own ate them all. I didn’t know how to de-beard them and most of them didn’t need it. I was confused at first when I was prepping them if they were alive or “harvested” (aka dead). They were still alive. So I ended up periodically jostling the bowl they were resting in so they would close up and stop staring at me before I killed them. I was happy to learn they don’t scream like other crustaceans.



Tonight: WFs had a sale on fresh pasta so I bought the fixings to make a cream based gorgonzola sauce with mint and toasted pecans. And pears! I forgot the pears. Hopefully I can pick some up on my way home tonight. I love this dish. I discovered it at a restaurant in San Francisco and would order it every time we went. I kind of made it up and was able to pull it off at home. I might do a kale salad – doesn’t really go but it’s the greens I have.


The other thing I picked up at WFs was my “chapstick”. I discovered this un-petroleum lip balm that I love. My mom set me up with some a few years ago.
And just last month they all decided to be used up at the same time. There’s nothing worse than having chapped lips and rubbing an empty tube over your lips trying to get the last bits out. I was worried the brand would have disappeared – nope just new packaging. I like this brand because I don’t feel like it strips my lips from producing the balm naturally so you’re not as addicted to it (hence why it’s lasted so long – 5 years I think).
Conclusion: my stomach is happy and my lips are happy – a great winter combo!

Raining Suzanne's

Every now and then at work, I’ll end up sending an email to myself. Usually when I’m “replying all” from an email I sent. Nothing unusual here and this is why I sometimes see my name when I glance through emails. But I did a double take this time round when gearing up for another week of work, I see my name there. And when it rains it pours. There was correspondence from two different Suzanne’s in the mix. I’ve never known a Suzanne before. Suzanna’s and Susanne’s but not Suzanne. And now two! At first I thought it was a spam trick. But it’s from a committee I’m on. They’re real people.




Apparently there was a little tiff with Suzanne and Whoopi, hence the picture. It looks like it was cleared up so you can rest easy now.



On a side note, trying to find a picture of a Suzanne, I remembered a sandwich joint in San Francisco. You put your first name in with your order and waited briefly. The guy handing out the finished product would yell your famous celebrity name. He’d mix it up some, so sometimes it would be David Letterman other times David Carey. Mine was always Suzanne Somers.

Car Keys and cell phones

There goes the pattern. Should have known better than to point it out – murphy’s law. So the latest thing gone missing is my car keys. I was running a little late Saturday morning. Threw some clothes into my bag and went to head out the door and my car keys were MIA. I thought they were on the table which means that probably one of the guys (i.e. walter, but there’s no proof) knocked them off and played soccer with them until they got stuck behind something. Hunted high and low and no luck. I’m convinced they’re now hanging out with my watch which I’m certain is somewhere in my apartment. Luckily I have a spare – but just one so am trying extra hard not to misplace this set.



On a different note, I did discover there is a pass through in my car so traveling with skis was a piece of cake. Unfortunately there was no snow this weekend. A beautiful snow on Tuesday evening. I watched the big snowflakes fall but not stick while sitting in my office in the city. When I got home I had the pleasant surprise that the snow was sticking to the ground and folks were out shoveling. It was a gorgeous evening with the heavy snow on the tree branches and that strange back light of the night sky from the snow storm.





Unfortunately, I realize I’m not being entirely upfront here. The latest thing to go missing is not my keys but my cell phone. I’m hoping it’s not on silent but it went missing last night. Don’t quite know where the silver lining is in all this but while I was surfing to nab a picture of keys, I found this brief article stating that “Cell Phones Can Disable Nissan Car Keys”. Particularly the 2007 Altima and the Infiniti G35 Sedans. Nice! I guess it doesn’t really matter since they’re both missing. Here’s hoping they both turn up, along with the other stuff, and that Nissan’s fixed the problem since the article came out in May 2007.

Notice a pattern?

I wanted to wait and see if it stuck, but it looks like I'm doing well. I've started posting something every day (weekday at least). Apologies for missing yesterday, but was on the road which made my computer time squished.



This comes from me appreciating it when folks post often and silently cursing folks when I have no new posts to read for the day. And then I realized I was being a "little" hypocritical. Hopefully I haven't jinxed things, but wanted to also give myself a free pass for Monday as it's a holiday so most likely won't be online. So until Tuesday!

I was lost but now I’m found

I found my water bottle! It didn’t make it into my bag apparently when I was leaving work the other day. It inspired me to see what I could do about the other favs missing. I know when everything went missing – within a few hour window.

- Sunglasses: I emailed the church today, where my sunglasses were last seen asking them to check their lost and found. The only other place is Cece’s. Nothing’s turned up right?

- Watch: I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in my house. I had it the Saturday I got back from the middle east and took it off after I went grocery shopping, before I started cooking. So it’s got to be in my place somewhere. I’m going to try to do a quick spring cleaning Monday (I have president’s day off)

- Winter hat: This one I retraced my steps and checked the lost and founds so it’s gone. But I’ve got a sister hat in cream – doesn’t look as good, but am going to bring it into the yarn store and find the right yarn to recreate a new version. Either in the dark gray of the original or maybe a nice dark red or purple that goes well with my complexion. This will be my first wearable item in crochet. I have a feeling it will take quite a few tries. I’ll keep you posted.

- Gold earrings: This one I retraced my steps too and it is gone. I’m going to search online to find replacements – I think I know the name of the designer and maybe it’s in some overstock website. I did get them at TJ Maxx after all.

- Winter gloves: Again, I retraced my steps and it’s gone. But I’ve been meaning to replace these anyways. I started looking the other month at Macy’s so will start looking online too. My wee hands have been particularly cold these last couple of weeks on my way into work.



Hopefully I can soon report on some more items “found” and this is the end of the losing streak!



In other news, I was pleasantly surprised by the recent Fresh Air on Temple Grandin. I had picked up her book last year and started reading it but had put it down for some reason. I’ll have to pick it up again. She’s a remarkable woman who took her acute autism and used it as a strength to revolutionize the way we slaughter cattle. Apparently there’s a new HBO series about to start starring Claire Danes.


And finally, I have to jot down what I saw yesterday on my way down to CT for a project meeting. It’s about a two hour drive and I had just gotten onto I-84. The traffic was pretty light and I was enjoying the drive in my wonderful car. It was supposed to be a zipcar, but I won’t get into that. I do have to be more conscious of speed in this car – you don’t notice it at all. Actually on the way back, I kept passing cars pulled over by the police and had to slow down and it seemed like I was barely moving. Not that I was speeding before – don’t want to self-incriminate here. But if I had to choose, I’d prefer to be in a fast car rather than a slow car – if I’m on my own. Slow cars drive me bonkers. Anyways, that’s not the point. I was driving along – good site lines up ahead and I notice a spray of snow shoot up from where there was an on ramp. As I approach, in the far left lane I realize the spray was from a semi-truck that had taken the on ramp curve too quickly. It was one of those trucks that carry about a half dozen cars. Except it was empty. And now it was facing perpendicular to the road – both the on-ramp and highway – partly on each and the expanse of grass in between. Luckily, as we all come up to it, being the first wave of vehicles to approach, there was another semi in the far right lane, who slowed down and stopped, blocking the lane and letting approaching cars now there was an incident here with his flashers. It was all very peaceful – the beauty of the green frame of the truck against the white snow and the backdrop of evergreens. Very quaint and no one harmed. Although I’m not sure how easy it was to get the truck repositioned again. And I saw it all happen, except the magnitude of what happened didn’t register until I was closer. There’s something about things being in the distance and much tinier seem much less significant.