This past weekend and Seth's face

So, just so's everyone knows...I made cheese. That's right- my first real cheese. It was super easy too; Ricotta. In South Philly they always pronounce it "Ra-gute". They also call spaghetti sauce "gravy". Back on subject though, my ricotta is creamy and delicious. It turned out just right. I have to say the best part was watching my thermometer and waiting for the point when I'd see curds. Then of course I felt like an old Italian lady, hanging up my cheese over the sink, wrapped in cheese cloth of course, letting the whey drip out of it. But you know, a sea slug could make ricotta if it had hands. I need more of a challenge now. On to Mozzarella! Since I still don't have a cheese mold, I'll have to settle for mozzarella since it doesn't require one. My next adventures in cheese making will definitely involve a camera so that you can see the process. I also learned that the whey produced from hard cheeses is used to make ricotta and the whey from the ricotta can be used as plant food or mixed with the girls homemade dog food.

Which brings me to this; I have yet to post pictures of our lovely girls.

this would be the lovely Uvy. AKA Black bean, stinkfest, purple potato, Uvy Goovy, etc. She can sit, shake, lay down, do your taxes and make you pancakes...all at the same time. Well, maybe not. But she will walk right next to you, wherever you go, without a leash on. She can also be pretty expressive too. You definitely know when she's pissed at you or if you hurt her feelings. She's 4 and part lab/pit.


This is Madi. I keep trying to talk her into getting a job but all she wants to do is paint her nails and hunt cats. Lazy. She is trouble, but she's also a super model and a huge lover. Most people take her the wrong way but she is all licks and no bite. She's 4 and a Catahoula Leopard Dog.

Alright, enough with the corny puppy loving stuff. I don't want anyone to think I'm a sap- Both those beasts up there are ferocious and drink at least 4 quarts of blood a day...easy.

On to the rest of the weekend. Besides taking the girls out for a nice jaunt yesterday I also happened to purchase what was needed to make homemade wine. So, pictures of that soon. Aaron has already started the process of making rice wine while I will begin the fruit (grape probably) when he finishes up.

And last but certainly not least, Seth's face. Seth is my neighbor, friend and surrogate younger brother, whom I adore picking on- oi...and hanging out with. Yes, I know, he's a sweet guy, I shouldn't pick on him, but hey, I have no one to call ass-knob. I need to let it out somewhere. Besides, Seth is a great sport and I think he's even starting to dish it out back at me. Coming from my family where most conversations are battles of drunken wit it certainly doesn't hurt to practice the sport sober. I think I'll have the upper hand at that next family reunion. Anyway...am I rambling?....Seth's face. For some reason or another, Seth inspired me. For weeks I ribbed him about his always coming over to my house and saying at some point that he was going to eat dinner. When I asked him what he would be eating that night, he always said " a sandwich". So, I made a collage for Seth. there are other things that are funny to me, or us but the sandwich one is the only thing I feel like explaining here. Some things are better left unsaid...in writing...you know? Enter Seth (aka Ass-Knob):









If you didn't notice, there are flying sandwiches in the sky. Crappy photo of this. It's 36x24 on canvas though. Also with some mixed media oil paint and pastels.

next collage project is Aaron. He will be a ringmaster at a circus. I just need to take a picture like the one below but with his whole body in it. I already have some awesome pics cut out...like a lady dancing with a dog...and men flying in the air with propellers strapped to their backs. Should be fun.

Il n'est pas froid

Well, it's not cold now. But it was cold enough to give me a nice little sinus problem. Now I feel like crappity crap. I'm about to fix a nice hot cup of thera-flu and then curl into bed to watch some old movies. But for the moment, I have been thinking of days to come. Today I planned the garden, granted, I have to see if Bob wants to add anything specific since it's his yard, but pretty much this is what I think it should look like:



Then I have this lovely idea for a potted herb garden that will look like this:



Yeah, maybe it's a little too OCD, but I enjoy planning things. Besides, it takes a lot to get everything together and I really only have...less to 2 months!! Anyway, less talk, more thera-flu mucinex mixture. yum yum. Oh yeah, the pictures are probably too small, so you can click on them to make them bigger.

Frozen- the new will power.

Main Entry: frozen
Part of Speech: adjective
Synonyms: arctic, chilled, cold, coldhearted, congealed, cooled, fixed, frappe, frigid, frostbitten, frosted, gelid, hardened, iced, immobile, numb, refrigerated, stiff, stopped, suspended































That was the beautiful part of frozen. Denton still has it's charms in January.

This week I got to see the nastier side of frozen as well.
Due to my lack of will power regarding my credit card usage, taking the suggestion from Aaron, I have taken frozen into my own hands.





I am the ice queen! Ha! Ha!

Why is it cold in Texas???!!!

Aaron had read an article or watched a documentary or heard from someone who heard from someone else or something, that eventually the climate in Texas would be like that of a rain forest. This of course would be thanks to global warming. I don't know when this is projected to happen or even if it will happen. Point being, I don't mean to sound anti-environmental but I want to grow bananas in my yard. I only want to wear coats when I visit other places. I would like to live in a sauna.

Granted, living in that atmosphere has it's pitfalls. There was a time when I lived in Florida and went to the Y to workout everyday during...my extended lunch break. I never saw the need to take a shower right after since I was going back to work to do an outside walking/jogging class or get covered in slip for ceramics or hell, it's Florida, you can sweat just standing there. After a couple weeks of this during the summer I developed a rash right below my bottom (keeping it pg) and on the inside of my thighs. Of course every time I walked the rash hurt, it spread, and it weeped a watery blistery ooze that soaked my pants. I was pretty miserable with it for a while. If this ever happens to you I highly recommend wearing men's boxer briefs.

So yes, I understand why some people don't like the heat. This does not deter me though. When the temperature starts to go up in Texas I open my windows and pretend I am in South America with wind blowing through my house. Often you may hear Buena Vista Social Club coming from the stereo. I find the heat romantic and dreamy.

Much to my dislike right now, Denton is a lovely 29 degrees. This is after yesterday afternoon's high of 79. I know, it's craziness. I have to say it's also a little endearing though. You never know what to expect. I actually never put my winter or summer clothes away anymore. I have also become one of those people that can comfortably where a sweatshirt in 80 degree weather because well, you never know it could be 50 in 2 hours when the sun goes down and 50 is freezing to me. This coming from a person who in college would barely wear a jacket, much less a coat (that's ridiculous!) during the winter months in Philadephia. I have never lived any place that can be so surprising weather-wise. As I said, it's endearing. Not necessarily wanted though. But with lemons, you make lemonade. With colder weather in Texas you do something else.

Add a pinch of this:


To a larger potion of this:


And Voila!


Hot Chocolate with Cayenne.
This is a great winter treat. I am generally not that fond of chocolate (unless it's in cookies!) but every once in a while I get a craving for a nice piping hot cup. This time I made the hot chocolate- just with milk, cocoa and sugar, then sprinkled in a bit of cayenne pepper and nutmeg to taste. Go make yourself some. Now!

Nina, you little minx

Now it's time to talk about love affairs. My love affair with Nina Simone has been thriving for about 10 years now. In retrospect this really isn't a long time but it has been a good 10 years. At first I was attracted to her for the "grate-y-ness" of her voice. But that was before I learned to hear, I think. Now I listen to her and I cannot see how in the world I ever thought she sounded like an old man who smoked too many cigarettes. I had to have been naive or just plain deaf. How could I mistake a voice that has such an emotional range for just one thing? Let me interrupt myself here by stating that in all honestly, I know nothing about music. Well, virtually nothing. My boyfriend plays bass and I still have a hard time hearing a bass line. I have always been more visual. I still don't know the difference between melody, harmony, rhythm, chords, etc. I know, it's pretty pathetic, I'll work on it someday. But, I do know what I like. I do know what moves me. And Nina has me in the palm of her hand with every song.

So, since I am thinking of her, singing her songs in my head, imagining her version of Pirate Jenny and Mood Indigo on stage, I am brought back to one of my favorites: Ne Me Quitte Pas.

Which brings me to my other dream of Paris and a warm baguette that is screaming, literally screaming to be dipped in a butter garlic sauce that is the remains of an escargot plate. None of my friends have had escargot before and as for myself, I haven't had it since I was a teenager but the memory is a fond one. Escargot pictures are to come in the future.

For now, here is a link for a video of "Ne me quitte pas" performed by the one only Nina Simone (lyrics listed below in francais et anglais):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI8F6DbB2cE&feature=related

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le coeur du bonheur

Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Oÿ il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D'or et de lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Oÿ l'amour sera roi
Oÿ l'amour sera loi
Oÿ tu seras reine

Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants-là
Qui ont vu deux fois
Leurs coeurs s'embraser
Je te raconterai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer

Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
De l'ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraät-il
Des terres brulées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir
Ne s'épousent-ils pas

Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
A te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et à t'écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien

Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Don't leave me
We must forget
All we can forget all we did till now
Let's forget the cost of the breath
We've spent saying words unmeant
And the times we've lost hours that must destroy
Never knowing why everything must die at the heart of joy
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

I'll bring back to you the pearls of rain
From a distant domain where rain never fell
And though I grow old I'll keep mining the ground
To deck you around in gold and light
I'll build you a domain where love's everything
Where love is king and you are queen
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

Don't leave me
For you I'll invent
Words and what they meant only you will know
Tales of lovers who fell apart and then fell in love again
There's a story too that I can confide
Of that king who died from not meeting you
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

And often it's true that flames spill anew
From ancient volcano's we thought were too old
When all's said and done scorched fields of defeat
Could give us more wheat than the fine April sun
And when evening is nigh with flames overhead
The black and the red aren't they joined in the sky
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

Don't leave me
I will cry no more
I will talk no more hide myself
To look at you and see you dance and smile
And hear you sing and laugh
Let me be for you the shadow of your shadow
The shadow of your hand the shadow of your dog
Don't leave me don't leave me
Don't leave me don't leave me

Goals

Since the new year has just happened upon us, I thought it was important to sit down and seriously think about what I wanted in to do in the next year. I wanted to think about how I could improve my life as well as the lives of others. My boyfriend, Aaron, and I had this discussion about what is so special about New Years and all of those resolutions. Well, I don't really think there is anything particularly special but the best I can do is compare it to a Monday. You know, last week sucked. All of these things went wrong and now it's Monday. It's a new, fresh start. You haven't screwed anything up yet. So, even though I don't believe in resolutions, because well, they are so...resolute I guess, here are the ones I made this year. But for the sake of me not wanting to join the millions of people who feel like they are failing at something in life and need to make a change, these will not be called resolutions. They are goals. I like that word better. It seems to be able to morph into something else easier; this goal changed and then became this new goal. I enjoy myself the way that I am, but if I was perfect, all I would do all day would be to masturbate to my own reflection. It's much more interesting and fun and challenging and truthful to be a work in progress. So, as a work in progress, here is my list, in no particular order:

1. Learn to make cheese, soap and bath products
2. Make 4 more tobacco pipes
3. Exercise for at least 4 hours a week
4. Be more frugal
5. Be more thankful
6. See more beauty in everyday things
7. Spend more time outside
8. Be a better farmer
9. Smile, laugh and be more aware of my mood/feelings and how they affect others
10. Go on a vacation with Aaron
11. Be nicer than I think I should be
12. Drink more water
13. Write, read, react, record.

Up to lucky number 13. I know, it's an omen for success.


this is a pic that Aaron took of my with my hair fluffed out. A friend of mine says, "the higher the hair, the closer to Jesus". I'm thinking this is a southern saying. Well, I'm not southern and I'm not religious but I'd like to think, "the higher the hair, the closer to enlightenment"...or something like that.

Testing...

testing....one....two....three....



lets make counterfeit money and rule the world!!