‘evening.

Zeddie Twozie?

Good evening Sunny

With Grouper, I thought you were starting us off with a scene from The Ring.
hey ES

Slow loading here.

Same. I think they were doing maintenance over there tonight.

Hi newtonusr, Never saw the Ring… I generally don’t watch horror flicks… Though the buzz the ring created tempted me a little.

On second thought.. maybe I am thinking of SAW

I got roped into seeing The Ring (which is comparatively mild by horror standards) without knowing the premise.
I’m with you – buckets’o'blood isn’t my thing.

Did you see Saw?

Hey ES.

-G

The corporation is watching you…I hope they have learned something constructive now that they have destruction domn pat. How are everyone tonight. Here is to your health. Had a harvest today…got to keep planting those seeds of good fortune.

What’s da ring?

Dis harvest, does one drink it, smoke it or eat it?

On my mind is …. still…. the lack of coverage of the gang-rape diss by the DirtyThirty. I have been shocked and amazed by the fact that none of my family or friends heard anything about this. So I facebooked it for my varied group of friends. I refuse to join the Palin facebook group even though I would love to try to educate them.

Why it’s the infamous GregB. I may have watched some of it on HBO.. if so, not much.

I have a seesaw in my yard…)

Planting in October. You Californians. Hey bigbrother.

A movie.

Seasaws!!!!

Agreed.. two moments shocked me recently.. The dirty thirty vote, and when the President promised not to fund any sort of health care for working visitors in his speech to both houses.

And, I think someone mentioned ‘harvest.’ So I’m thinking of a great pea soup. Trader Joe’s has something called Harvest Grains Blend. I make a split pea soup with green peas and yellow peas and harvest grains, celery, onions, garlic, beef broth (or beef bouillion cubes — that takes care of the salt), parsely, and any other vegetables that you love with a few cups of water. Cook down the peas for an hour with the vegies, add the mixed grains for 10 minutes or more, mash with a potato masher. I add a tablespoon of white vermouth early to soften the peas and a tablespoon of brandy at the end for flavor. Top with a dollop of sour cream. Bring on the cool weather!

Medical no share of cost covers my $8,000.00 emergency and ancllary bills. Recycled my old Volvo got the check today. Made tuna salad from scratch from 10 pound fish. Took some seed planting in a manner of speaking. My chakra yoga is training/practice is giving me promised energy. How’s things Larue?

Sometimes I just really despair. That’s when I make soup!

Vermouth goes well in anything. Will have to try brandy in pea soup sometime.

I like an old recipe for split-pea soup .. I think I found it in an old addition of the NYT Cookbook.

For the most part it’s: split-peas, carrots, onion, salt, white pepper, cubed ham… after cooking add whole milk or half and half… puree in blender.

The southern part which tops it all off is serving it with homemade cornbread..)

Hope all is well.

-G

…and when the President promised not to fund any sort of health care for working visitors…

We are farther away than we thought. The nativist pricks are in the drivers seat.

Vermouth softens peas? Interesting.

I recently had an interesting experience: broken heart syndrome. Thought I was having an asthma attack, or maybe I lifted something too heavy. I drove myself to hospital and found that I was ‘at risk.’ After 24 hours, I had a $50,000.00 bill. My roommate was an old lady being prepared for colonoscopy, so there was … well…shit all over the room…. But, hey, I got to watch my own angiogram….and that was a wow! My insurance company (thank you … spirit whoever…that I have insurance) paid maybe $6,000 total. My co-pay was $100.00 and then a couple of $20.00 copays to physicians. I’d probably be homeless now if I didn’t have insurance. What is it about this that ‘regular’ Americans do not get?

Just fine, thank you. You still out there making folks laugh? I figured you had a new sitcom in the fall lineup since we haven’t seen you in a while. *s*

What does a 50k bill even mean when they will take 6k?

i learned from the Farmers Market fish monger today that you can boil raw tuna and make tuna salad…very cool make from fresh fish. Ah the simple joys in life that come from good breathing. Happiness breathing in all the air my lungs can manage. Try it!

Oh, yeah, I forgot….I start out with some chopped salt pork. One can use smoked ham hocks, but I’m a singlular person and can’t find them one at a time and cannot imagine what I’d do with four of ‘em (as they come packaged at my grocer.) The salt pork works fine….and serves as the oil for the onion, celery, garlic, et al. I’m thinking that split pea soup is a real elixer. Yes, I think so. And it’s got lots of fiber. :)

Vermouth and brandy are wonderful in onion soup. May have learned that from Julia. The scent alone…. mmmmmmm

Dearie, I’m so glad you’re OK. Please next time don’t drive yourself, what if you had a flat AND a heart attack? Call the squad.

I know! Isn’t that just stunning! My neo-con twin brother blames the insurance companies for not demanding more. I say, “Hey, why can’t they just be fair and come to reasonable costs?” But the shocking part, for me, was that I had to fight to get a read out of the bill. My doctor said to call the insurance company; the insurance company said to call the hospital; the hospital said “We don’t send that out.” Finally, they said, “We don’t send it out unless someone asks.” I said, “damn it, I’m asking.” They sent it out. I have 11 years of college — and a doctorate. I could spend months figuring out the bill. A pox on all of them.

If I could buy fresh raw tuna.. I don’t think I would ever eat it cooked again.

I am off to meditate. My new color aroma yoga teacher instructed us to go spread joy after the first class. So here ya go.
“Joy to the world, Joy to all the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.” after 40 years it is still fresh.

Love it!

I have a funny and inappropriate story. I am going to tell it anyway. We have a neighbor who is a friend. He is 54. He came over for dinner night before last. As we ate and drank a little (bad) wine he started to talk about his sex life. He spoke of light bondage and how much fun it was.He dates women much younger, too. I guess he is big daddy. Ron and I were intrigued and slightly uncomfortable. We have spent the last two days making bondage jokes. When Bob comes back over and asks were Ron is I will say he is tied up in front of the computer. And as soon as I have the opportunity I will tell Bob to restrain himself. etc, etc. Ron came into my office today with rope all around his body. He said Bob had just been here and had borrowed a cup of sugar. Sometimes we just crackup out of the blue. I have no idea how we are going to act when we do see him again. Probably melt with laughter.

Question. Is it unusual that in my town when one calls for an ambulance one gets an ambulance, 2 sheriff’s cars, and a fire truck as SOP?

I know. But I knoiw my body/my self. When the doctors thought heart attack, I thought they were maybe missing something. But ‘broken heart syndrome’ is fascinating. Typical: 63 year old white woman. Weird. Result of virus or shock. My neo-con brother had given me a shock the day before……gave me an adrenalin rush that my body processes poorly. My daughter said, “Okay, can I now ask Uncle why he was trying to kill you?” We are spicey dames.

I was on the phone a lot today did you call about the website?

LOL
…”Ties that bind…”
Oh, you could go on forever!

Sounds heavenly… with fresh french bread.

No. I had a huge job to try and finish. They hit me with pages of revisions this evening. Call me tomorrow, ok?

And if you weren’t insured.. they would probably be demanding 50k from you today.

I think that a healthy sense of humor is what keeps many of us going in these trying times. Hugs to you and Ron.

Sorry Dearie, you of course know your body best.

Sunny, I don’t know why they do that, they don’t here but I’ve heard it is SOP in other places.

ROFL.

When Ron needs medical attention he goes to the E.R. We don’t have the money to pay it but, lately, I don’t much care about paying into that bastardized system. I am on medi-cal still and have my fingers crossed that they are going to let me keep it another year.

We got some nice sprinkles today…I smell skunk perfume coming in the door I will make a note to do so. Good nite.

had just been here and had borrowed a cup of sugar

rotfl!

In an wapo article last night I discovered a wild real name of a person.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup

You just can’t make that up.

Absolutely. That is the evilness of this system. And my own primary physician said, “Jeez, you must keep your coverage…. you will never be able to get coverage again….pre-existing conditions and all.” All I can say is …. well… you know. And my son got testicular cancer at 18 years old….. think he would ever get coverage again? I look around and say, “Who are these people running this show?”

Outstanding, upstanding dood. Strong in the jaw and tight in the butt.

I wish it were something that big. I’m being a haunter at Spooky World for October.

Boo!

-G

They are evil, truly evil bastards who care not for their fellow humans. We will eventually take them down. It might be years but it will happen.

Oh, I see . . . never saw that one . . .

Larue,

Look at this youtube. Listen to the people speaking in the beginning and you will hear a classic New Orleans accent.

How fun.. I may be a zombie this year. Halloween is on a Saturday!

Yer as good evading a Q as a politician . . .*G*

Be well, hoss . . . ;-)

But, yes, SunnyN has it right….you get the fire trucks and the ambulance when you call…..and I so do not like drama!

You didn’t miss much
In the realm of film, it’s no Prizzi’s Honor… But in the horror genre, it’s very good. Less guts and brains, decent plot.

It won’t be many years.. economics are on our side.

I agree. Sooner better than later. They should be in jail for murder.

Wow, I’m only up to this post, as usual late, but given your history, this is why so many of us, and so many folks that you will never know or never meet, are pulling so hard for you.

Thanks for sharing. You guys are awesome. Life can be so fucking hard….. and so fucking funny… and so…. fucked. all. at. the. same. time.

Keep living it Mary.

That’s as simple and good as it gets, for split pea with ham.

Use chicken stock for the base liquid.

Add extra garlic, maybe saute the onions and ham in some EVOO or bake it/roast it at high heat to carmelize it all.

Depends on what you want for the end product.

And if possible, use a hand held blender, rather than pouring hot liqids into a blender, that might blow up.

But yer spot on, ES, for a basic split pea and ham soup.

Nicely put.

*G*

thank you. That is very nice.

Wait and see. This ain’t over yet.

And yes, we take care of citizens, first.

Immigration is NOT on the table yet.

One battle, at a time.

We MAKE him do it.

He’s doin it.

Everything you mention I do or don’t from time to time… though if I am adding ham.. I don’t worry about additional meat stock.

Every time I make it.. I do something a little different…. can’t remember the lat time I actually made split pea soup from a recipe…)

And Dearie.. you can freeze extra ham hocks in individual wrappers… That’s what I do since I generally need one at a time.

For god’s sake don’t boil raw tuna!

Season it with some salt, pepper, soy sauce, fresh garlic and ginger.

Let it sit for an hour, then grill it over coals to rare.

Slice it to fit on TOP of your salad, and use some sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, sugar, coconut milk and lemongrass to make your salad dresssing.

Good lord, BOIL good tuna?!?!?!?!?!?

A TRAVESTY!!!!!!

;-)

I’ve never been particularly religious — raised Catholic but disabused of that early on by the nonsense. But now, though I feel some sense of ‘cosmic consciousness’ (last gasp/grasp?) — what is going on in America almost proves for me that there cannot be a ‘God’ —- how, for god’s sake, could there be a god that would allow some folks to have 7 or more houses while others sleep in their cars or on the street?

indeed.

fire and ambulance tend to respond together in most areas. firefighters are at a minimum EMT’s and a lotta departments have paramedics on their rigs. fire can usually get to a scene before ambulance. in rural areas it is not unusual for sheriff to also respond since police are also first aid trained and in many departments are EMT’s. again it is a matter of trying to get a trained responder there in the shortest amount of time from time of call.

also, if the medical call is an unknown what the problem is, police tend to show up since the cause of the medical could be a crime — i.e. a gunshot wound.

Freeze the others, Dearie.

I’ve done it, works fine.

Just wrap them good so freezer burn don’t happen.

NOTHING like split pea with ham hocks (roasted in oven or saute’d to seal them) in a good soup.

That is one of the big reasons I voted for Kucinich in the primary last year… he and a bunch of his siblings slept in a car as children. ANd he still made the football team, etc.

Can you imagine what a man who genuinely remembers that.. would be like as president?

I love not believing in god. It makes the universe seem more than huge. It is unfathomable and I like it that way. I don’t want other people’s answers to my creation dilemmas.

And, really, consider adding some of that Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain……it just adds such a silken and delicous twist…..my twin grandbabies just love it!

spent the day doing girlie shopping with my oldest in celebration of my birthday last week.

i’m headed into the kitchen to snag some of that chocolate mousse she sent home with me for my midnight snack and am off to cuddle with a feeling quite neglected since mom was gone all day token.

*poof*

i’m headed into the kitchen to snag some of that chocolate mousse…

Grrrrr

Uh, uh, uh . . .

Well now.

What an interesting neighbor.

I’m too tongue tied to reply effectively.

Bet he knows the ropes for kinky love . . .

Does he want you two tied into it all?

*G*

Nite Suz!

We sincerely hope not.

I love that YouTube. I remember the first time I heard a New Orleans accent (or one of them anyway). It was some TV interview, don’t remember who it was. The guy said “woik” and I think “youse” and it just intrigued me.
And where I am in Ohio they say “youse.”

Mmmmmm Mousse. Enjoy Suz!

Yes….a hugeness and unknowableness. I found that what I was being forced to memorize had no meaning to me. When I was in a church with candles and incense and such….I could feel spirit. When I had to follow silly rules, that spirit was ripped away. We are all going to die anyway…..let us live with kindness. That’s enough.

Thanks. I’ve been wondering about it for a while.

My chimney sweep (a fireman in real life) said it’s because ambulances aren’t reliable and the fire dept is trained and mins away from all residences. Ditto the sheriffs.

Hard to be critical of backup, just seems a bit excessive, particularly the deputies. In my former city, you couldn’t even get a police officer to come for a burglary, they just wanted a telephone report.

True.

I grew up in a liberal southern baptist church in New Orleans. There was a convent across the street. I secretly wanted to be Catholic like all of my friends. I could see the nums walking to church from the sunday school window. I thought it was cool to be catholic.

Are you sure you wouldn’t rather let someone like the paragon of love and peace, the warm and gently spirit, the cool competence embodied by, say, Jerry Falwell guide you through the waters of who and how to hate?
I’m with you, sister.

Good night all. See you tomorrow. I have go find Ron and some rope.

Suz is cuddling with moose’s?

I swear, this is a DIVERSE group of folks at Da Lake . . ;-)

I think the most spiritually powerful church I ever walked into was a catholic church in Mexico… it was built on top of a buried pyramid.

It was a regular afternoon.. no services were being held.

The spirits knocked me flat on the ground for a few hours that day. I kept listening intensely.. hearing much more than seemed relevant to the several hundred year old setting. Only later did i find out about the pyramid… which explained so much.

WHy do i have the Grateful Dead’s Unbroken Chain playing in my head? /s

nite mary

Niters Mary Mac.

Don’t forget to use some padding on them restraints.

Just an off the cuff thought.

;-)

Isn’t life a stitch! You gotta laugh.

Well, they COULD be runnin in the rushes down by the river side.

Them wonders of nature, and all that.

After all, they’s now livin in SIN, I say, SIN!!

*G*

Ok, I’m outta here . . . nice chattin witch all y’all . . .

You Pups are too much fun . . .*smile*

When I was a young Catholic girl, I was surrounded by the scents of the burning candles, the lights that seemed to emanate off certain congregants, the real joy of spirit. Organized religion cured me of that. But I can still get a sense of connectedness just by being. Y’know?

Did you see Saw?

no, but I teeter taught her.

we could have used your skills in watertiger’s thread. the Jewish puns were a’runnin deep

nite larue

This is going to be so missed……but if any consolation, I loved it!

I was late to the party.

thought about lobbing in a late Creme DeMint or DeMint Jewlips but thought better of it.

west coast late late night is just kicking in!

Yes, I know..)

Was it the church that everyone makes pilgrimages to, in Mexico City?

And because everyone is safely tucked in and no one will be upset, I just want to say that when I had my interesting ‘broken heart syndrome’ that if I didn’t have insurance, I certainly would NOT have gone to the hospital …. and if it had been a heart attack instead of a bizarre incident, then I would have been among the 45,000 or so poor schmucks who died just because. I used to be proud (silly, I now think) to be an American…. I’m not proud anymore, and that makes me sad. I want my children and their children to have a chance, and I don’t trust …………..

Ah, the expert has weighed in! Makes sense. Thanks suz.

New to me and never ceases to amaze. Happened in my neighborhood about 4 am today – the place looked and sounded like a major crime scene.

I grew up with catholic envy too. Mostly the first communion dresses I think ;-)

One year I went to a girls school where weekly church attendance was mandatory. We had to turn in IBM cards to prove we’d attended. The churches sent them to the school and the price of missing was a counseling session :-( Didn’t take long to figure out the Catholic church was the most fluid/easiest in and out place. That year I was a catholic *g*

About 5 and 6 photos (scroll) down basillica. It’s right next to the oldest university in the west.

Edit.. photo 7 and 8 (down)

Margot.. actually 7th and 8th photos down.. are the basillica I mentioned earlier.

To tired to count correctly… I better turn in.

Good night firedogs.

Wow! Where is Patzucaro?

Most beautiful & elaborate cathedral I’ve been in was in MX also. Santa Prisca in Taxco, the silver city. Didn’t have the extraordinary effect you described, but it knocked me out. Built by the silver baron, Jose Borda. “What God gave to Borda, Borda gives to God” Lemme see if I can find a pic – looks like a silver wedding cake ;-) back in a sec.

ES is gone. Sweet dreams. Santa Prisca pix, but don’t really do it justice.

Need an ‘end of page’ link at the top of the page :o

I think so, too. That “End” button on my keyboard is a stretch.