. Hope your Halloween has been Fun! We don't get any Trick-or-Treaters here unfortunately. It's probably a good thing because Ralph would think they were all burglars!
What does your Halloween pumpkin look like? A couple of triangle eyes? A mouth with a couple of teeth?
For your consideration gaze upon this...
No it's not mine. It's from England where apparently they take this art form seriously! Here's another punkin'.
Our PC was feeling a little under the weather last month. Now after some minor surgery we are computin' better than ever.
It seems that Windows got a little frazzled after an Apple iTunes up date and didn't want to play well with Norton anti virus. Several attempts to resolve the problem resulted in a badly running system.
The solution: a new hard drive and a reinstall of Windows and all my programs.
Not once, but twice!
That's right. I started down this path then hit a speed bump and I had to reformat and start all over again.
Here's the happy computer after the new drive install and getting everything back into it's place. For those who can recognize some of the parts and pieces of a computer, there are three other drives installed so I have plenty of room for my photos and tunes! The fourth drive is the old C drive just hanging out in case I need to still retrieve something off it.
Cathy has been studying for several months now so she can sit for a national certification examination next Saturday. Some of her coworkers are also taking the test and she has studied with them on the weekends. Today, Samantha came over and they were going over the study materials.
Here they are studying in the back living room.
Before Sam got here we started lunch. Cathy made Herbed Cheese Straws and I made Tomato Basil Bisque.
These are the Cheese Straws ready to go into the oven.
The soup is simmering on the stove with the basil ready to add at the end.
Cheese straws are out of the oven. That's Apple Cake in the lower right, but I'm not talking about that today!
Squish tomatoes between fingers or process in food processor about 5 seconds and add to onion and garlic mixture.Add heavy cream.Bring to a simmer.Simmer for 1 hour.
Fold in basil, salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with Herbed Cheese Straws.
Actually, rather than squishing the tomatoes between your fingers, I used an immersion blender, just like Emeril would!!
Albeit, today is Wednesday, it gives me pause to remember that it is a day or two past one year since our kitty cat, Wednesday, last graced us with her meows.
A cat was Joy's birthday wish for her 13th birthday. What was that??? 1991?
Joy anointed her new kitty with the name Wednesday. Although I believe it was a Sunday when we all went to pick up her gift, the name Wednesday (I think) comes from the Adams Family movie that was also out that same year.
The above picture is actually one of my first test photos of my new Canon digital camera in February 2005. Wednesday was sitting on the back of the sofa in the front living room looking out the window watching the snow fall.
(Cira Sept 2005)
Wednesday loved to sit at the back door looking outside. Although she was strictly an indoor cat, when she was younger she always wanted to go outside and often tried to dart out whenever the door was opened. As she grew older, she was content to sit and watch the events happening outside.
In the above photo, Wednesday is watching through the back screen door screen as Cathy and I are getting ready to enjoy snacks and a glass of wine on the back porch.
(Cira Nov 2005)
Wednesday lying on the rug in front of the fireplace in the front living room enjoying the warmth from the fire.
One of her favorite pastimes.
(Cira July 2007)
Wednesday lived with us for almost 16 years.
As an older pet she presented us with some problems and challenges in her final months, but her personality, spunk and presence in our lives will always be remembered as pawprints left on our heart.
Uma seems to like her food whole at times. Not that she eats the food in one whole bite, but she would prefer you not cut it up for her.
Here is a photo of her eating half of a bagel with cream cheese spread over the part you can't see.
Bite out of the bagel, cream cheese on the lips.
Uma and Chris. No snack items to view here (they are already gone), but darn cute dimples!
Plums are sooooo good. And you've got to eat it whole!
Suresh and Uma talking about the size of the pear she wants to eat and why it would be a good idea of to cut it up. Suresh wants to cut the pear up and Uma does not want to.
Ralph is probably a little sad tonight. She went on "Vacation" today.... to the boarding kennel, some would say "Doggie Prison". We like to call it Vacation so she will anticipate a fun time. I hope it's fun.
Here's Ralph in the car, not looking really happy. She's actually quite happy to be in the car and going for a ride. She just doesn't like to have her picture taken. She's such a shy girl sometimes.
She boards at our Vet. They only board a few at a time, so it's not likes she's there with lots of barking dogs. All the people at the Vet seem to like her a lot so we're sure she gets good care.
I'm sure it's harder on me than her. It's a little quiet here tonight as I pack and get ready to head off to Minnesota to join everybody and see the newest member of the family. I'm looking forward to it a lot.
Here's a happier picture of Ralph, laying outside by the door last week enjoying the sunshine.
