yesterday, today, tomorrow

the pea was in augusta yesterday. when i got home from work, we chatted and walked to the bistro, met david there, had a little wine and walked to tako sushi where we had a really delightful dinner consisting of tuna carpaccio, several sushi rolls, and then came home to watch "the devil wears prada" which i'd seen but david ordered from netflix.

today i'm hurrying to the office to get some work done before we head to FILM FEST, a la pomme.

soffrito simmering

with brown rice to make a risotto as dv watches hardball : cheney warns pakistan.

dearest daughters, david and i got our visa pictures made after lunch at summerville photo.

he investigated the innoculation connection and to our surprise, united healthcare says that they won't cover us. i'll be getting on that case next. we hope to get shots started this week.

david talked to the pea twice today, and we are going to atlanta to the campusfilmfest on wednesday in support of her.

i'm tired. gotta check the rice.

ciao bella

oh yeah

blood diamond.

outside

so today i walked to church.

the daffodils are blooming, and the narcissus too. azaleas are budding, and the citrus trees are too.

so if we get a snow, or ice storm, or just plain cold assed freeze: what will happen to the flora in this town?

little miss sunshine

is giving nominees for
best live action short

we went to see babel at five ish today at the dollar theatre. slightly scary venue and interesting movie.

not as good as little miss sunshine, saith david.

saturday at lunch

we had half a burger at the sports bar. after i went to the y and cycled, yogaed and swam.

we went to nick's for a drink, then to luigis for dinner, back to nick's when my cell was rung up by diana. at karen's. we spoke. karen's wedding anniversary is this month.

troubling

is what the ease of lying is, per Geffen.

anyway. i'm thinking of the y in a few minutes. we're going to nick's tonight, then to luigi's, then to the imperial for "the odd couple."

we are soooooooooooooooo happy about the upcoming trip to ethiopia. lots to do in prep. checked out the cdc website for suggested innoculations. dv was told yellow fever and malaria. the website lists far more. we are going to the richmond county health department next week to start the process.

i also read that a prescription antibiotic is a good thing. i called david's doc yesterday (before i saw the site) and the receptionist suggested we go to the health department so we'll need to talk to the doc....

he will NOT VOTE for Hillary Clinton. Ever.

the rest of the story

so it snowed when we got there, and it snowed when we went to hickory falls, and it snowed on the way home. dv navigated us safely home, over the river and through the woods, and on sunday....

it was a country ham extravaganza, complete with angel biscuits to die for, fried eggs, and something else i now forget. then we waited for the other family to congregate. oh wait, i think it was SUNDAY that we played rook. in any case, around five, we were joined by steve and terri, andrew (his jessica was at mardi gras, being a tulane grad), melanie and her betrothed, scott, and...ta dum....the second coming of X, aka Christ, the first baby in the vantrease family since andrew was a tender sprout. that would be cooper bussell, steve's daughter allison and her husband jeremy bussell's first, and likely only, child.

oh! the entire congregation was enraptured. all eyes were on the infant seat positioned judiciously in the center of the living room. every smile, every sound was noticed with alacrity. forsooth! a baby of three months, 2 weeks early borne, who is a child with a new moniker to mine ears: what is the term? it's not colic....it's not upchuck...or spit up....oh! it's reflux! who knew babies are now on reflux med? cooper is, and that's all good.

so when all were assembled, we feasted on all sorts of yummy fixins, like baked beans, assemble-your-own sammich, turkey cheese rollups on a tray from costco, dips and chips and vegetables and numerous home baked desserts, to include a beautiful red velvet cake, iced and under glass, a pee can pie and ... uh....oh yeah, fruit cake and orange slice cake.

can you blame me for gaining a few L.B.s that i now must force off using lenten tactics?

allison reminds me of me, when elizabeth was in the infant seat. e had "colic," and cooper has "reflux." they both apparently were prodigious screamers early on, enough to make a logical, young, and methodical mother try to fit this problem with a solution. our solutions were similar, at least from my observations. love the hell out of the child, and get 'em on a damned schedule, and don't let THEM IN CONTROL!

en e way. wish you were there. i grilled andrew, not unlike david grilling diana not 48 hours earlier, about his dreams and aspirations. we watched the 5 pm news on channel 4 every day, because he produces that. he doesn't want to be producing the rest of his near future, not in nashburg anywho. mebbe in ... iran? iraq? africa?

so we'll definitely stayed tuned to that channel.

melanie showed us her wedding dress. said she wanted one child, scott said none. (scott's surreptitious thumb and forefinger response in an O when I asked the question of them both)

kath brought pics from germany and wow, was the house enchanting, the visit enthralling, the time too short.

terri said to me "next time you come, we'll have to take you to the cajun place near hickory falls" and steve said to her "you paying????" which I had to appreciate. being married to his brother and all...........................

we had more wonderful country ham, the requisite water all day long to accompany said salt lick, some ab fab banana bread, and were on our way to augusta at 10 am on monday.

oh i forgot: on saturday, methinks, instead of the rook i mentioned, we found starbucks within the nearest 10 miles and i got online, hoping for a glimmer of news from addis ababa. to no avail. ah well, another hour wasted on technology, or lack thereof.

so as we left, i entertained the idea of going home through athens to see the pea.

which we did. we took her to sushi at 3:30 pm on monday, and were home by 6 ish. went DIRECTLY to bistro, all that country ham made us naturally thirsty, but bistro was closed. so we hied direckly to the nearly creole establishment for rb's and r's. that would be french market grill. came home. watched "l'enfant" in french with no subtitles and did fairly well. went to bed round 10:30.

are you bored yet? (of course you are)

yesterday i was working and got two cell phone calls from an unidentified number and ignored them. then while on the phone got an email from erin: clark collins is holding.

naturally, i hung up faster than a rocket, afraid for the chilren in africa, but clark and marth were an hour away from augusta and wanted to have dinner together.

so we went to bistro. oh no, after that is when we watched l'enfant, after bidding adieu to the collinses. a good time indeed.

whew. i'm done. david just came home with chinese and we must view jeopardy and another movie.

xxoo

play a little travellin band

one day soon, we're going to stay in aug for the weekend.

maybe this one.

friday we did the bistro thang, ending up at dinner with mary and tim and david h and linda.

saturday morning: on the road again, packing some whole wheat bread, peanut butter, blackberry jam from kathleen's kitchen, a bottle of pellagrino, an orange and the leftover t bone david made for valentine's dinner. vituals handy, we stopped for gas and personal hygiene twice.

i had lots to catch up on for efm, finishing the corinthians text and reading the paul saga by en wilson. i read aloud to david and he got so interested he read a few chapters sunday morning when he awoke earlier than the household.

we arrived at his parents' saturday at one, in time for lunch. it was snowing lightly. we visited and then played rook! kathleen and i managed to win two sets, despite my getting set once. kathy and melanie came for dinner, and we visited with lucy as well, melanie's miniature somekinda special dachsund. we caught up on kathy's visit to germany - she is so ready to return and is already planning that trip since her david and his wife cindy are there for another four years.

kathy and andrew had predators tickets saturday, so kath left by six and melanie shortly thereafter to fix dinner. it was still lightly snowing, and just barely stayed freezing so nothing melted. david's parents wanted to take us to a restaurant they like in smyrna called hickory falls, and david drove us all in the element, using the 4 wheel drive once in a while.

can't do all this now causa work...more later.

q's little big movie

last night, apres diner, dv started an interesting conversation with diana. we learned her goals and dreams, to the extent that she could (or would) explain, to the extent of the questions.

then q showed up after his 7 to 9 class, and we pulled the chicken out of the fridge to reheat, fixed him some jam up garlic bread and augmented with a salad and some red wine.

so then: we all trudged downstairs to join dv who had just moved to the bed for a change of position, and we watched diana the documentary star, as filmed by jamie q. he apologized for the length (it was 30 minutes), warning us that those he's shown have exhibited boredom.

ye of little faith! this is THE PEA awork, and we are her humble and ardent fans, so it wasn't, really, long enough. but it was fun for us to watch. i, for one, am glad to know "slothdom: uncut."

so now i must to work meself.

but first, as aside: i got an email from elizabeth, the african ferenge, in response to my notification to her that i transferred a small tzotchki to her bank account, a token of my valentine's day esteem. here's what she said:

...fyi i will use it to give away coins to street kids, per your post...

God is so good to us ferengi.

efm holiday

diana showed up at my office around 4 pm and helped herself to leftover catered lunch from bobby's barbeque in the office fridge. she watched cnn while i took phone calls and read the efm lesson on 1 and 2 corinthians.

at our exit, i realized she was free for the evening and wanted to spend time with us! amazing! so...who needs to go to bible study anyway? (i know. i do.) so here i am, chicken in the oven, sitting on the bottom dweller's bed, diana nearby, david in the ubiquitous recliner, listening to them and happy to be home instead of on the 3rd floor of the parish hall.

diana just headed upstairs to open a bottle of chard, and asked if we still had laurie's chips. meaning, poker c/b in our future. i personally favor something else...netflix? something else on the tube?

david and i are headed to nashville saturday early, to leave on monday. we found out today that the las palomas digs are estimated to be delivered around oct/nov, so we can do the hippy replacement in the head of the summer...or not.

anyway.

took mom her valentine yesterday and visited an hour or so. she was in good spirits.

david and i discussed ethiopia last night well into the 2nd bottle of wine with tbone/pasta/crab cake dinner we had for v celebration. so. that's good.

my valentine

actually, i have several. numerous. tomorrow is the red letter day. xxoo

slammin down

some cheerios and strawberries before going to a meeting at 8:30 and then to atl for two other meetings, wont be home till late tonight

we had teri, donna and mom over for dinner last night, braised balsamic chicken with bacon

tata

speedy pin!

yahoo, when i posted and got back to gmail inbox, there was the mia email with pin so i'se can call the little fairy.

which i will do when the wheels are in the well so that david can participate.

and we've both tried to reach diana to discuss the finer points of her upcoming award for "of sloth and men" but she isn't answering much. at all. quelle surprise!

a bientot

early valentine

i have an early valentine today. as he is getting ready, i anxiously look for the email that gives me the password to make a call to e's new ethiopian cell phone.

to no avail.

and i can't remember what the provider she directed me to is. ahhhhhh dern.

we need to get hold of diana to see her on the way to or fro atlanta. i have three pairs of her shoes and two tops, and she, or actually the hampton inn, has two fine pillows that we miss.

so we will be headed for parts west of augusta in a shake.

i see that e is on errands, with jodi i presume.

we went to bistro at our usual five ish gathering, and ended up having dinner that david n prepared at their house. yum: steak on cheese grits and spinach. i brought a quickie dessert: cherry chocolate ice cream with candied orange peel and pistachios. and a biscotti.

they are friends and we are lucky.

so a-shopping we will go, to lenox/phipps and then dining out. meeting angie and teri (maybe) for lunch. we gotta get outta here!

melissa fay greene

was good indeed. however. how dismaying to see the turnout on a cold winter's night. such apathy. or nonpromotion.

i wonder if elizabeth is reading?

diana's big little movie

diana is quite the moviestress.

she has worked hard on the apple competition at uga, creating a claymation comedy about, as i understand it, the foibles of e friendship, the emptyheaded coeds one sometimes encounters, and the coolness of polar bears.

she also hopes to cash in some money. diana, you'd better share that love.

ps

"i want you to like it" : me to david when he suggested i hold back some food for monday.

bl tomatoes: cored cherry tomatoes, stuffed with crumbled bacon, shredded romaine, chopped scallions, mayonnaise, the ubiquitous s&p.

she says "you won't miss the toast."

i want you to like it

okay, so now i'm downstairs with dv, the former bottom dweller.

decided to make some devilled eggs....and oh, some brownies....when oops. there on the devilled egg page was bl tomatoes.

and i just so happen to have the ingredients just wishing i'd do something with them.

now you know, dear reader, that i already know devilled egg in my bones. so why was the page involved?

aha. well. i just thought i'd see about how she boils her eggs. i have a process. she does too. and she makes the same eggs as me! OHO, mercutio!

anyhow. dv says to keep some food back, don't take it all to david's. wba will benefit.

i married this guy who honestly NEVER watched football when we dated. ever. well, maybe a stray superbowl. no college.

till that fateful season when elizabeth went to bulldog nation.

mind you, and i know you know this, he didn't care for the dogs. an understatement! he despised them. elizabeth and david and i were in the lr at bransford watching him dance in excitement right before UGA kicked a little vol ass.

ahem.

i'm guessing that this is completely inane to my lovies in africa. or distant, anyway.

or maybe they are paying attention.

i'm for the colts, because david likes payton (peyton?) manning. this, till e and d go to chicago anyway.

(e, i decided to do eggs and brownies when i was viewing one of the food blogs you hooked me up with, and i saw answers to "what are you eating during the superbowl?" and kept viewing: devilled eggs and brownies.

so.

xxoo
mom

here ju go

my cell phone clanged LOUDLY in church, the volume escalating as i anxiously tried to fish my purse from under the pew and my husband and mother furtively glared at me. as i grabbed it and turned it off, i saw "addis" and said "shit!" right in the middle of a quiet moment in the transcept.

rats. why couldn't i have said "rats?"

so then it rings again, and i rush out the door. or try. the small foyer between the transcept and the parish hall was no place to holler "CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?" and the door was stuck so i couldn't even get outside. i kept repeating "hello?" and finally, crashing my shoulder in the door, banging up a finger in the meantime, got a baby heather elizabeth syllable or two from the receiver.

she was calling to let me know that they were trying to post, without success. this, a response to my whiny email entitled, "what? no post?"

knowing how difficult getting through from mexico and italy, why wouldn't ethiopia be even more challenging, sporadic, maddening?

lessee, now that she tells me she loves to read and keep us via this inane blog, i'd best get to brass tacks (as colonel klink/aka dad would have said).

i ended up preparing a few fairly simple dishes for dinner. here:

salmon rillettes on toast and on cucumber slices for an appetizer (ruth riechel's: smoked salmon, fresh poached salmon, capers, lemon juice, butter (yes, butter), lemon zest, shallots, mustard, s&p, flat leafed parsley, cognac, maybe that's a complete list of ingredients)

milanese salad (romaine substituted for arugula since that wasn't in the grocery, some baby greens to make up for the lack of arugula, radiccio, both of which sliced in ribbons, tossed with grated carrots in a white wine-olive oil dressing)

roasted pork stuffed with and rubbed with garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper

boneless chicken breasts marinated in equal parts of dijon mustard and lemon juice, then rolled in equal parts of shredded parmesean and whole wheat bread crumbs, placed on parchment paper and baked)

green beans sauteed in butter, s&p, and shallots that had first been carmelized in aforementioned butter

and -

this is soooo good -

peeled and sliced navel oranges (they are in season and very sweet right now) served on a dessert plate, topped with candied orange peel (matchsticked peel from two oranges, NO pith, boiled for ten minutes, drained, then cooked with 1/3 c sugar and 2/3 cup water till peel is translucent and liquid is syrupy, then 1/4 cup grand marnier is added and boiled for 1 minute) and chopped pistachios.

oh and i added a small dollop of GREEK yogurt. (not dannon or publix. big diff.)

this was a nice meal. everyone came over at seven and left at ten. david went to bed. i read "paul" for almost two hours, drinking one glass of the wine that was purchased to go with the chicken.

some damned yummy white stuff that really tastes like grapes that aren't sweet or purple. wine world recommended david get it. i'll share the name but am too comfy on the couch in the lr to go look at the label this mo.

and we are taking some of the salmon to david's party. i'll try to take less than half so that i have some for wba tomorrow, before melissa faye green's showdown at the uga corral.

i love you, gurley girls.

weekend

first: thursday didn't work out as i had planned exactly. well, close. i did manage to take spaghetti to efm, but i dropped it and returned to the dinner. just in time to do almost nothing because it had broken up and the last of the chairs were being put back up on the tables. quite exhausting, but mary's efforts (as the chair) garnered over $2000.

at five yesterday, we started with two glasses of wine at the bar at the bistro with mary and tim, and then travelled downtown to telfair to an intimate first friday gathering of mary ann and david penix. their offices are downstairs and their home is upstairs in a building that has surely been there over 120 years.

we wandered around the rooms and david settled in the living room as i was chatting with someone in the dining room. soon i wandered in to join david and realized erick montgomery (historic augusta exec) was there. i foggily remembered when i moved to augusta that someone...perhaps bryan haltermann...had introduced me to him regarding the crawfords. indeed, his wife is a direct descendant of george crawford, and my great great grandmother's father Captain Joel was George's uncle. so we resolved to have lunch with mom who is the keeper on our family recollections.

after a single glass of wine there we went to french market grill for dinner. our true aim was to garner passes to the fmg mardi gras party. which we obtained!

and today we're having two couples for dinner, tomorrow we're going to david and karin's for a super bowl pah-tay.

daniel collins is online as i write, hopefully blogging his pea picking heart out. as he said: tee hee.

so much

to do today.

led morning prayer at seven, going to Hillcrest Baptist church after lunch with fellow Rotarians at Villa Europa to work the spaghetti supper to give a graduate of youth challenge academy in augusta as big a check as we can scrounge.

then i'll hie meself to education for ministry class, takeout spaghetti dinners in hand since i have snack duty today.

my chapter is abt paul, overview of the letters and the man. harriet deas gave me a book on paul by en wilson which is fascinating and gives a really good historical perspective. started with nero, and the first chapter was not one to speed read.

went to a funeral at the church yesterday for a retired priest. he died the same day that the former mayor died. former mayor's funeral is friday.

this weekend, we're having two couples over for dinner saturday, going to another couple's friday night for a drink before first friday which we are unlikely to attend, i have duty at church saturday afternoon to help with interfaith hospitality, and sunday is...........superbowl somewhere.

i wish elizabeth and daniel could email or post. i miss hearing from them. not a complaint, just a comment. i wonder. i pray for them.