Daytripping - Saturday 5/23/2009

Cornpop has his own ideas about percussion, and he fits in fine. He makes this thing sing! You can catch him at Arnie's Cafe in Tujunga this Friday night, the 29th.

Usually Hydra and I go camping with our Songmakers friends over Memorial Day Weekend, but since Hydra had that knee surgery it just seemed like we'd be pushing our luck to have him going in and out of the travel trailer with it's high steps and his crutches. So we were daytrippers today.

The weather was perfect. We hung out under a big live oak tree most of the day. Broke for ice cream, reconvened for more music. Yes!



I've always been amazed at the way our friend Fireside makes his fingers dance over the strings of his guitar. An amazing talent!

Do You Frittata? - Friday 5/22/2009

I've been making what I called frittatas for a while, but they were just basically open-faced omelets. What's the difference? You actually finish a frittata in the oven.

Wow, was this easy and delicious! Five eggs scrambled in a cast iron skillet started on the stove top and cooked until almost done but still a little runny on top. I had a mixture of tomatoes, artichoke hearts and garlic leftover from last night's pasta, so I topped it with that and some string cheese (the only mild cheese I had on hand) and Parmesan cheese. Popped it under the broiler for a few minutes until the eggs set.

Served with fresh coffee, toast and the rhubarb preserves I made yesterday.

Mmm, it's nice to have time off during the week!

Budgies of the Serengeti - Thursday 5/21/2009

Yeah, we get a kick out of our three little guys grazing in the carpet.

That's Nick in the yellow, Gus on the upper right, and Rocky down front with one of his best friends: one of those little lattice balls with a bell inside of it. He plays with them endlessly.

Rocky has a very rich inner life.

Lunch at Malbec - Wednesday 5/20/2009

What am I doing eating lunch out at a not particularly inexpensive new restaurant near work, you might ask. Well, meeting up with the lovely Chatty, who I met last week at the Got Milk/Estilo Salon event.

It was great having more time to talk, and she's a pretty inspiring entrepreneur. She keeps a couple of blogs, teaches advanced computing at UCLA Extension and does consultations on using social networking to promote one's business.

She's offering a free "Ask the Experts" teleclass through CoachToolsToGo next Tuesday. I can't be on the call, but I signed up to have the recording emailed to me. Sweet! Click on that link and you can too.

Oh, and the food at Malbec? Ah. Only okay. We both had Milanesa sandwiches. I have to say mine was completely underwhelming. The meat was clearly from the freezer...way too uniform to have been made fresh. Why even offer that? Don't they know we watch Gordon Ramsey and we know better?

The fries were perfect. The chimichurra was fine, but not really as good as we used to get at The Gaucho Grill.

Sometimes It Needs To Be Danced To - Tuesday 5/19/2009

I pulled into Lucy's to pick up some ceviche tacos to take to my writing group meeting when this car pulled up next to me with music thumping. Three teens and their parents jumped out and started dancing in the parking lot.

Is Nothing Sacred!? - Monday 5/18/2009

Not when you live with a blogger, no.

Here's Hydra getting ready for knee surgery to repair a meniscus tear. With which apparently a lot of you may be familiar. When I mentioned it to friends, I found out a number of you have had it.

I wouldn't seriously have thought of taking a photograph at such a time, but I was impressed with the high tech hospital gown he's wearing. It's actually a warming system made by Bair Paws, hence the cute logo.

The basic concept is they blow hot air up your skirt-- er into an inflatable lining in the gown--to keep you warm during surgery.

We were feeling a little lucky since Hydra was stopped for driving 66 mph in a 55 mph zone, but the nice officer let us go maybe partly because of the impending surgery and partly because we pulled to a stop beneath the 14 to 5 connector bridge and he couldn't get radio reception there. Whew.



Ooh! It comes with cute socks!? With perks like this, I might just sign up for surgery!



What a good sport. I think I'll keep him.



One of two air ducts available for warm air introduction. Not exactly the Six Million Dollar Man, but close enough.

As the morning wore on from our arrival time at 8:30 past the 10:40 date with the operating table, things became a bit more grim.

Waiting. Why did it have to be waiting?

So we played a question game to pass the time.

Sundry: Would you rather have a lap full of snakes that can bite, but which aren't poisonous, or would you rather wait for an hour?

Hydra: Snakes.

Sundry: Would you rather let a spider crawl slowly up your arm, or would you rather wait for an hour?

Hydra : Wait.

Sundry: Would you rather swim through a lake full of boogers or wait for an hour.

Hydra: That sounds like something from your childhood.

Sundry: Yeah. Swim through a lake of boogers, eat a bowl of boogers, or kiss another girl? What is, How do you create a bunch of little homophobes, Alex?

It went well. Poor Hydra looked like someone had roughed him up a bit when I saw him in the recovery area, but he was too doped up to know.

Your Tax Dollars at Work - Monday 5/18/2009

Thank you, fellow Californians, for the much needed additional lane which is being built onto the 14 where it merges onto the 5. We really need it!



This project can't be finished too soon, as far as I'm concerned.

No kidding, for the first two weeks there was an accident every morning going southbound and every evening going northbound because they took away a lane on each side to make room for construction.

CalTrans really dropped the ball on informing drivers about the new lane configurations. Even though those big programmable message signs are in prime position in both directions to warn about the loss of a lane, I never saw them used to do that. Just messages about high winds all the way to the Antelope Valley, as if that was news to anyone.

So if you're headed up that way and you haven't been in a while, watch out for lane-loss, or for the guy next to you to suddenly realize he's running out of road and opt for a little of yours!