a blender of thoughts

Haven’t posted anything of note since the holidays. This is usually the doldrum time of year for us. Having survived the slippery slope from Halloween to New Years day, there is a bit of time to recover, and acclimate to the dreary part of winter.   We veggitate, watch movies, sleep, and just seem to move a little more slowly than the rest of the year.

But that changes now. It’s February, and, for one thing, it’s going to be Valentines’ Day soon. Maggie’s work schedule will crank up to Warp 6 here in a few days. All the hubbub of men rushing in for flowers at the last minute, will take up a large portion of her week.  That… is another story in itself…  We have longer days starting now, so that helps the attitude.  We have jams of various sorts, no, not fruit on toast, to look forward to.   Starting to allow ourselves to think of adventures of summer.

We have hopes and wishes and desires, for the coming year. Don’t we all?  We are hoping for a better year for all of us. We are wishing that things are less stressful, cuz we all have too much of it lately. We desire to have ‘better’ for all us… I think we’re all about ‘due’ for it…

So, here’s to longer days, brighter futures, and happier times…

A blog from an american married to an Irish farmer. Good reading

What One American City Girl Did For Love

via Irishly Ever After….

A wonderful link to a wonderful drink…

Here is a recipe from the Irish Fireside’s post of how to make your own ‘Irish Creme’… Mmm mm…Irish Cream Recipe

1 – 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)

1 cup Irish whiskey

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon Hershey’s chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp instant coffee

1. Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and mix well or shake until sugar is dissolved.
2. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
3. Shake before serving.
4. Recipe makes 3 cups.

Ah, snow…

We finally had a good old winter storm.  It had to come. We knew that. Doesn’t mean we have to like it…

The first real snow like this has a bit of magic.  It also informs you that winter is here. Really here.  Get used to it.  So, we have no choice, but to accept that the earth is asleep for the next couple months. On the bright side, no pun intended, the days will start being brighter, lighter, longer, in a few weeks.  All hail the Holly King.

Make the most of the Yule season, my friends.  It comes but once a year…

“Tis’ Different” (I Married An Irish Farmer)

While listening to the irishfireside podcast, I heard the author interviewed. What a great blog. Thought you may enjoy it!

I married an irish farmer…

“Tis’ Different”.

You never know you affect people …

Hi

So, last Saturday was the monthly bluegrass jam in Poplar Grove.  Not a bad day, all in all. We’ve all played better, and worse. Just an even kinda day.  As we got there, and found a table to have lunch at, and to put our stuff, I saw a couple behind us. They were in the process of ordering off the menu. So, always being the chatty type, I offered some choices to eat.  We talked for a second, then each on to their day in The Grove. Us playing, them, hopefully, enjoying.  We played an hour or so later, then had lunch, and listened to the music too.  We left around 4, and the couple were still there. End of the day at the jam for us.

Flash to the grocery store the next morning… That would be Sunday…  I am picking up some items as Maggie is off somewhere else, getting the things on her part of the list.  A couple comes up to me, and asks if I was at the jam yesterday. Yup, it was the couple behind us, the day before. This time we had a chance to talk for a minute. Turns out, that they had never been to the jam before, and absolutely loved it. The woman was originally from the middle of Ireland, and, the jam totally reminded her of home. Going to the pubs for music and socializing is a big part of Irish life, and she told me that it really was such a touch of home that she had to tell me.  Her brother lives in the USA now too, in the area, and she was going to tell him about it, so he can enjoy the live music. We talked for a couple minutes, about Ireland, live music, and some of this & that.

So… you never know how what you do affects people.  You may think that something doesn’t have repercussions, good or bad, but it does. Hopefully, like this, it’s for the good.  I’m glad she loved the music, and, that she will come back to the jam.

Verizon vs. ATT vs. missed calls

We have Verizon for our cells. Been with them for over 4 yrs now.  In the last week, I have had 3 calls not make it to me, and, the voice mails arrive 10-12 hours later. NOT ACCEPTABLE in this day and age. Plus, we are in an area that isn’t overloaded, like San Francisco, or New York.  The last time this happened, was right after my wife had a heart attack, so, receiving calls was kinda important, you know… Turns out, that during that time, they were updating the system to 3G, so, maybe, this means that 4G is a’comin…

If not, then maybe ATT is looking better here. I am not going to accept missed calls… There is no excuse in the midwest…

Dinner out @ the hip spot

Hi
last night, (Saturday) we took my sister in law, who is in town from the big city, to a hip local restaurant. Called Brio, it’s one of the best places we have to show off, food wise… It’s a ’small plate/tapas’ style establishment, with a great staff.

We each ordered something different from each other… We started with hen of the woods mushrooms on pasta, olive oil, and garlic. A lot of garlic. I had never had that species of mushroom before, but, I will have them again! Mary had in chili sauce. She loved them. Maggie and I don’t like scallops. Yuck… Maggie had a asparagus tempura. The girls loved it. I don’t like asparagus either… Yeah, I know, what a picky eater…
Next, we had spicy asian noodles, but not too spicy. Fresh beans, mushrooms and onions chopped into it. Mmmm mm. Maggie had chicken lemon crepes with a nice reduction on it…. Mary skipped this round… We did share with her… A little.

The last course was a great mini ribs on a chipotle corn cake for me. The girls decided to skip this round, I should have, ‘cuz I was already stuffed, but, they are sooooo good! By the way, these are not ‘full’ plate meals, sort of half size…

For dessert, Mary a blueberry bread pudding. Talk about tasty/sweet. I had the ever popular, traditional creme brulee’. We did share with Maggie, but she was the sensible one, and decided not to order any more…. I did push the sweet meter over the top by ordering a ginger ale. Huh, what you say? A Canada Dry to go with this? Nope… Brio makes their own ginger ale. Not too sweet, but what a bite. Mmm mm.
We stayed for over 2 and a half hours, sipping wine, coffee, and talking about everything under the moon, since it was dark out. Our waiter, Dan, has served us before, and is a great guy, along with being a wonderful waiter. He and his partner had gone to France since the last time we were in, so there were stories to tell and hear.
Mary had a great time! Said it was every bit as good as anything in NYC that she has visited. Cool! Next time, we’ll try somewhere she hasn’t been to.
If you are close to Rockford, and want a really nice dining experience, try Brio. I know, sounds like a Yelp review, but it is a nice place!
Thanks for reading my rambling….

What we did on Halloween…

Here’s what we did on Halloween

What the hell is our govt thinking w/ the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

For some reason that seems to be greed and stupidity, our govt. is in Seoul now, working in closed session, ‘for national security’ (movies, music, disney, and royalties are national security?) to totally snafu the copyright laws, and the way you can end up being permanently booted from the internet w/out proper legal process. That’s what  the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is ALL ABOUT.
Here are two links to stories from the  EFF and BoingBoing about it. Read and contact your congress/senator…