What's cookin?

Here's what we had for dinner! That was one big tuna! Over 50lbs..(.scale only went to 50) .Cleaned them and cooked some and bagged up the rest. A friend of Anthiny's (Chris) came over and painted both fish and made prints of them Pretty cool.

P.S. what do you think Brenna? I figured it out!

Tuna!

Okay...they are still about 10 miles off-shore, but on the way in. They got only two fish...one mahi and one approx 60 lb yellowfin tuna. Yum Yum!

Fish for dinner?

The boat is out...and hopefully there are fish in it! Won't know until later....
I really could use some fresh Tuna! It's a beautiful day...a little windy...so I hope they don't have too much trouble getting back in...but they have a plan. we'll see

time

I am trying to figure out how the time is figured out on this blog site. It is 10:37 pm....here...
And I certainly never get up at 5:30 am to write...in case anyone else notices details like that.

Dinner with friends

Just got home from dinner with our friends, we got to eat some of his recently caught 41lb cobia,grilled lobster with butter of course, teriyaki cobia and freshly caught stone crab meat. YUM YUM! We also had homemade guacamole & chips, asparagus, and brussell sprouts(not me!). For dessert....a recipe from my 1974 Pillsbury Bake-off cookbook...Cheesy Dapper Apple Squares. Easy and always good. I bought that cookbook my first year of college. I was waiting in line (a very loooonnnng line at the University of Florida bookstore) to buy my textbooks and happened to be stopped in front of a bookcase that contained this particular cookbook. For whatever reason it caught my eye and I decided to buy it. It has some great dessert recipes. I have made a few things over the years...but my favorites include the apple squares I made tonight and the all time favorite...Peanut Butter Marbleous Dessert. It was a hit the first time I made it...and I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like it.
Anyway we had a nice time eating, drinking (champagne of course!) and telling stories. A fun time was had by all. John, Ron and Charlie are hoping to go out fishing on Monday...so maybe we'll have fresh tuna and mahi Monday night.( The wasabi is ready and waiting...so am I!)

Haze ate the cheese...but who cut the cheese?

Okay...what is it about gas that makes you act like a kid....why is it funny? I don't know...but yesterday at work we were snickering like elementary school kids. I was shelving books and when I went around the corner..BAM it hit me...I wasn't sure where the odor was coming from...but there was either a kid in serious need of a diaper change or someone was having a problem. Being the polite grown-up that I try to be am, I tried not to be too obvious when I looked around for the source. (one man and his daughter(?)sister(?).( Since the little girl was well past diaper stage...I figured he was the culprit)(even though he did a fine job of looking completely innocent Ha ha) Okay..I thought I'll just.leave the area and have the Lysol ready for when they leave the area.I didn't say anything...so I cracked up when Dianne went over to the same place a few minutes later and one look at the look on her face told me the air had not cleared yet. She made some kind of remark and we both laughed. (I know we're bad)(I'm still laughing as I type this)
A few minutes later when the two people left the room...we whipped out the Lysol and went to town.
Ahhhhhhhhhh fresh air!

Fixed it

correction

okay... i did not write the poem...it's by e.e. cummings/ I don't know why
i have my name there...I was in a hurry.
Anne

Know anybody named Asnna?

If you happen to know somebody named Asnna...there's two sets of towels with their name on them! (really!)
I recently decided to buy some cute towels on sale from Pottery Barn Kids. They're white with green alligators(Go Gators) on them and a pretty blue trim at the bottom. Now, I like to order from catalogs (my sisters used to laugh at me...one year I even ordered a Christmas Tree)
anyway..I have companies that I like, they're reliable, good quality, etc. The day I placed the order, the woman did sound a little confused...but not bad...and I didn't think anything of it. She asked me what name I wanted monogrammed on the towels and I told her I wasn't interested in a monogram, thank you. Well fast forward 7-10 days and my package arrived. I open it and noticed right away that there was some sort of name on them...I saw the nna...took the towel out and saw my cute towel with it's cute blue monogram Asnna on it. (if anyone reading this knew my sister Jenifer, all I could think of was Jenifer saying..."What's your name? Ahhhsnnnahh"
I set the towels aside and decided to call Customer Service the next day. John came home and said"Oh you got your towels? he picked one up, looked a little puzzled and said"What the heck does that mean?"All I could do was laugh. when I called Customer Service to explain..the lady started laughing and said "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard' we both started laughing.I was kind of hoping she'd tell me to keep them (after all...what are they going to do with them?)
I figured they'd always be good for a laugh! I didn't take a picture...I should have. Those towels went back and a few days later my new unadorned towels arrived.( Wouldn't it be funny if someone called and requested that name on the towel. Ha ha)
My poem for a beautiful spring day

I thank you God

for most

this amazing day:

for the leaping greenly

spirits of trees and a blue

true dream of sky,

and for everything

which is natural

which is infinite

which is yes

e.e.cummings

Anne

Who moved my cheese?

Who moved my cheese? and I'm not talking about the popular book....I mean my real cheese spread that I leaft out for a few minutes so it would soften up. Truth be told...I kind of forgot about it (surprise , surprise)...because I was doing other things at the time. The sprinklers were on, so I knew the dogs were in...but I realized that I hadn't seen or heard from Brenna's dog Haze in a while. He was way too quiet...which, like kids, usually means he's up to something. Lately that something involves stealing dirty socks out of the hamper and sneaking into his "house" with them. I checked the chairs, no Haze, checked the house, no Haze...now I was puzzled. He hadn't opened the door and gone in the garage (he's got opening the door handles down, sliding doors (wooden) too...he knows just how to get them open.)I couldn't find him, John kept telling me he was outside...but just in case he called out his name...next thing you know here comes Haze from behind the loveseat looking pretty guilty. (he never goes back there) I went over to see what was up and found my empty tub of cheese spread on the floor. Oh well, I probably didn't need the snack anyway.

Librarian Anne

Today I went to read at As We Grow Preschool.....they were having a Dr. Seuss Read-a-Thon. I usually do an outreach there every other week...it's great fun. When I go there the kids are very happy to see me... I'm "Librarian Anne" (or one little girl who didn't quite get it called me "LibraryAnne".) One mom told me her daughter said I come and read stories and sing and dance (Ha ha). (I do fingerplays and we always have an activity/song (on CD) (not me)(unless I tell them the puppet is going to sing). They really do get excited and I enjoy it too. Today I was supposed to read to the 2 yr old class...that was interesting...not many Dr. Seuss stories short enough for that group! But I read and they listened (some of them) but I didn't expect much. Then I got to read to my regular pre-K group. They are always fun. There really is no other place that I go where so many people are that happy and excited to see me..every time......no matter what! It's nice to have a job that is fun. Sharing stories, songs and rhymes and doing crafts with the kiddos. It keeps me young! and remember....

Shout loud I am lucky to be what I am! Thank goodness I'm not just a clam or a ham or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam! I am what I am! That's a great thing to be!
(from Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss)

Springtime

I love poetry and music. Always have. I can't walk around sharing poems with people...but I can put them on my blog! Ha! Here's a good one for today......

The Spring Wind

The summer wind

is soft and sweet

the winter wind is strong

the autumn wind is mischievious

and sweeps the leaves along.

the wind I love the best

comes gently after rain

smelling of spring and growing things

brushing the world with feathery wings

while everything glistens, and everything sings

in the spring wind

after the rain.

Charlotte Zolotow

We finally got some rain last night/this morning. The grass and plants are happy! We are in a drought...and water restrictions only let us water twice a week...so any bit of rain is nice! Even without the rain the oak trees are spring green again and flowers that actually like less water are in full bloom...the bougainvillas are full of flowers. Anyone in Florida for spring break is mighty happy to be here. It's hard to beat spring in FL....it comes early!

The oak leaves are back and so are the snakes....I have had one black snake living along the side?back? fence for a while...lately he's been getting into the screened porch by the pool. Haze and Kiena go nuts when he's there...so I get the pool net and encourage him to go back out. Yesterday he was back...but when I went to get him out... I found out that it was two black snakes...seemed to like each other...so there are probably baby snakes too. One went one way, one went the other...but I got the to safety and I'm sure they were happy to be FREEEEEEE! Brenna tells me she spotted a baby in the pool...it was not happy...but she rescued it and pretty soon I will be on the lookout for more snakes! The birds usually sound the alarm...or the dogs...and as long as they don't chase me....they can stay.

fixed

Thanks to Brenna I believe things are fixed. Can't resist posting this:
What do you call a tiny Irish creature who moves his treasure from town to town?
A schelperchaun!
Happy St' Patrick's Day!
Anne

Okay minor complication Ha! I don't know why I struck out everthing I did...tried to strike out one or two words...and it got carried away! Ha ha. I will have to consult Brenna when I get home (appt) and she gets home (flying to DC) no time now. Maybe I won't have any readers until then. :) :)

vacations and family

Well it's Monday after two weeks off....one because I was sick, last week because we went skiing in Colorado. One last day off today to get organized and then it's "Back on the Chain Gang".
(27 years ago when I was off for my wedding and honeymoon, the day I returned to work my alarm went off playing that song (by the Pretenders). I laughed then and every time I take a vacation I think of that song (still like it) when I get ready to return to work.
During the last two weeks I have been lucky enough to visit with my sister Elizabeth and my niece Meredith when they came to sunny Fl for a few days for some sunshine and shopping and a lot of good laughs. Then the following weekend(7th) John and I flew out to CO to meet up with my sister Martha & Tony (from Hawaii) and Ian (in from NC) and Megan from Pensacola. (haven't seen her since June!) Brenna came home to take a break from winter and job hunting...to work on her tan
watch the dogs; so we got to visit with her for a few days too, Fun!
We went from 70 weather and sea level to freezing (and below) and 9000-12,000 ft in one day!
Skiing was great, we got two days of fresh snow and lots of sunshine. (nicest weather I remember in CO)Skiing with John and Tony...you are guaranteed to be the first ones out...so we always got in 5-6 runs before too many others were on the slopes. No lines at the lifts for the most part and nice groomed conditions. Lots of fun for all of us. On Wed. 11th, it snowed and we had 4-6 inches of fresh powder on Th morning. When we got to the top of Peak 10 (at Breckenridge) it was still snowing a little. I love seeing those perfectly shaped little snowflakes landing on me. It never ceases to amaze amuse me. As I started down from the top, the snow was sparkling like glitter...and the snow that was falling at the time looked like a cloud of glitter. It was so cool! I have never seen anything like it. (If Martha hadn't seen it too...I might have thought I was imaging things.) It was so pretty. Anyway it was a great time with family and some friends we met up with out there. everyone had a great week. No injuries...a few bruises...worst bruise I got was when I fell from a stationary position...Oh well. Ha ha. I'm sure people heading up on the lift enjoyed it. Just took Brenna to the airport...Haze was ready to jump in the car with us (he figured it was time for one of Brenna's road trips!). Hate to have to say goodbye to everyone...but at least I got to see them all. Hope to see Martha and Tony again in Oct., Brenna ? Megan? Ian? Elizabeth? we'll see. I miss them already.

Shuttle Launch

I went for a bike ride around sunset tonight, completely forgetting that there was a launch scheduled. I was riding along saying hello to all the people outside (to watch the launch) thinking how nice it was that everyone was outside on a nice mid March evening. When I got closer to the beach I saw several cars...still didn't remember (sad but true) and thought that the surf must really be good. When I got close to the beach park up the road groups of people were trying to cross A1A and the parking lot at Paradise Beach was FULL. I am happy to report I finally figured it out...although I was a little surprised because there was a pretty good breeze blowing. Well...shortly thereafter I got to see the rocket lift-off into the clear sky and it was quite a sight. You could see the rocket boosters falling because the sun reflected on them in the darkening sky and you could see the shuttle for a long, long time before it finally got out of sight. Even with the wind there was a good sonic boom afterwards.(I love that!) It was nice to see so many people at the beach and pulled over along the road to watch...sometimes it's like no one is paying attention and it really is an incredible thing each time one of those rockets launches. John and I were lucky enough to be on a cruise heading out of Canaveral when the last one went up in November. It was a spectacular sight and fun to watch because we were watching it with many people on board who were seeing a launch for the first time. Like anything.....seeing it live and that close (especially at night) there really is no comparison.

new blog!

Hey,
I recently started reading some blogs and I decided that I wanted to write one too. I figured I was too old for Facebook (even though it looks like fun) (my kids would cringe) but this would be a fun way to share my thoughts. If anyone actually wants to read them. After thinking about it for a few days it just so happened Brenna was home, so I knew I would be able to start one without giving up or going crazy during the set-up process. Brenna helped me set it up and customize it...so here goes.
Enjoy! (I hope)
Anne