My parents’ birthdays are both in September. Dad’s was back on the 11th, and today (Monday) is Mom’s! I believe you’re 29 today, correct? The above photo was taken when she was just a tyke with an attitude. That’s Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Norie.   Have a great day, Mom! (Her name is Nancy if you’d like to leave birthday greetings, everyone. 🙂 ) She hardly ever makes that face now!
Archives for September 2007
Song exorcism
Dang it, NPR. I’ve got songs stuck in my head. On Sundays I take Lloyd into choir rehearsal, do my errands, then sit in the church parking lot for a bit while I wait for him to come out. I usually listen to NPR because they have stories (and Grandma loves her stories). Last week there was an interview with Sylvie Lewis, a singer who has a beautiful voice and several different styles of songs. They played two melancholy ones, which are my downfall. I love melancholy songs. I bought them on iTunes when I got home, and have been suffering Tormenting Song Syndrome since. I’m sure you’re familiar with it – the song that plays over and over and over and over and over in your head so you can’t sleep or think straight. I think I’ve come up with the solution, though. I used to lie awake at night with just one or two lines playing over and over and driving me insane, but now I just load the song on the Shuffle and let it play until I fall asleep. You wouldn’t think that it works, but it does!
Anyway, here are the lyrics of ‘Of course, Isabelle’. She said she read an article that said as men grow older they grow more sentimental about the past, while women can easily let go. This is about a man remembering a past love, or perhaps his mistress. She sings both the man’s and the woman’s part. If I knew how to include a snippet I would. Or, you could click here and click on it over toward the right under the picture (Be warned that there are swear words in the article on the left Not my fault.)
Isabelle, are you well? Do you miss me at all?
Are you sleeping right through the night in spite of it all?
Isabelle, what the hell? You don’t write, you don’t call.
I miss you, can’t you tell? Isabelle
There have been three women in my life I have loved well, well, well.
My mother, my wife – and of course, Isabelle.
I met an old friend I hadn’t seen for half my life.
We talked and laughed as if no time had gone by.
Now it’s like someone put a spoon in my memory and gave it a stir.
Thoughts are floating around of where you went, where are you now
After how we were….
Isabelle, are you well? Do you miss me at all?
Are you sleeping right through the night in spite of it all?
Isabelle, what the hell? You don’t write, you don’t call.
I miss you, can’t you tell? Isabelle
****
Me and the girls are stories to you.
You read us and tell us when you are through.
How will you tell me? (Lauren here. That’s a GREAT line.)
Will you be honest if you find
You’re having trouble making everything rhyme?
Depending on who’s listening will you lie
And make yourself look more noble than you did at the time?
When I tell my side – you made a plaything of my heart.
You make love ‘entertainment’, but to me – love is art.
I wonder – how will you tell me? How will you tell me?
****
Three women in my life I have loved true, it’s true.
My mother, my wife, and of course, Isabelle – you.
Out of character…
As some of you know, I’m not exactly what you would call a wine connaisseur. I can’t even spell “connaisseur” without help. The official Sommerer Family Wine is Mogen David Grape Concord (Which is produced by the company that makes Franzia and Corbett Canyon and that was formerly part of Coca-Cola). Usually it is consumed in a sprite/wine mixture. So you can see that my wine background has been a little lacking.
But the occational situation arises where I have a glass of wine, so I’ve had enough wine that I know when I like something, but I wouldn’t necessarily know ahead of time from reading that, “This exquisite, well balanced Riesling with its fruity, flowery bouquet is the perfect accompaniment to light meals, dessert, or deliciously on its own.” Much less by knowing that it was a desert wine, a red/white wine, a dry/wet wine, usw.
But the wine I’ve liked the best is the bottle that Joe Hurl dropped off on our doorstep about a month ago. And, of course, I haven’t seen it anywhere. I also haven’t seen Joe since then. So if you’ve seen this wine, or if you’ve seen Joe, could you let me know? I tried looking on some wine websites (for the wine, not for Joe) but I can’t really make sense of all that wine stuff.
The bottle has words like: “Sommerau Castle Reisling 2005 Qualitatswein germany Mosel ~ Saar ~ Ruwer” on the front and “imported by prestige wine group, princeton, mn” on the back if that help any of you wine buffs out there. I assure you, it was scant help to me.
Not up to snuff
I started feeling a little achy around 5 today, came home and sacked out on the couch around 6 and woke up at 8. It’s 9:30 now and I’m headed for bed. (Annette, if you read this, I don’t need a day off.) Anyway, after I checked the weather just now I followed a link to www.notmartha.org and it frightened me. With the exception of her knitting, I think I’m living this woman’s life – Envirosax, Baker’s Edge brownie pan, stemless wineglasses, Breyer’s ice cream. Spooky.
Good night.
What the?
In the alley by the CDC there are two strange tufts of something. We noticed them in the summer, when the strange green circles painted around them were much more prominent. I’m just now getting around to posting about them, but they’re quite a mystery. Fake grass? Really bad fiber-optic cable? Alien foliage?
Cooking with Lauren
I can cook. I’m not a great cook, but I’ve kept us alive for fifteen years, and that’s saying something. In my arsenal are a few tried-and true meals, but I’m not a recipe person. I love, love, love watching cooking shows because they’re always just throwing stuff together and viola! – greatness. (Except for Alton Brown. I adore the man, but he’s getting way too anal about measuring and having the ‘exactly-right’ ingredient.) So I’m a throw-together cook, and nothing is ever the same twice. If the meal actual turns out well I tell Lloyd, “Enjoy it, because you’ll never have it again.” So here’s tonight’s dinner: Fake-out Runzas. We happen to have the stuff for it, and I made this once about five years ago, so I’m sure I can make it tonight.
1. Thaw the hamburger. I don’t know how much – it’s an eighth of the big thing I got at Sam’s.
2. Start cooking the hamburger. Cut up the rest of the onion from Sunday’s fajittas, throw it in.
3. Cut a chunk of cabbage up into tiny bits. I don’t know how much – this is probably too much.
4. Oh wait – salt and pepper…. and what else? Oh yeah, garlic!! This might be a little dry, so let’s see what’s in the fridge. Hummus? Why not? How bad could it be? Plop some in. (Note to self: Maybe wash your hands before taking pictures while cooking. Camera now smells like garlic.)
5. Realize that the pan you wanted to use is holding stale cookies. Being too lazy to wash out the pan, use an inappropriate pan. Line with crescent roll dough. Dump in the hamburger mixture. Taste. Seriously re-think adding that hummus. Too late now. Hide strange taste with more salt and pepper. Top with cheese. We had swiss. Lloyd hates swiss.
6. Put the rest of the dough on top and put in 350 degree oven for….. 30 minutes? We’ll see. If you smell smoke, take it out sooner.
Final result: Edible. Lloyd liked it, and I always eat regular Runzas with ketchup, so it was just fine. Serve with a vegetable – another meal down!