Updates

Oak Park, MI has withdrawn the suit against the homeowner who dares to grow her own vegetables. But they apparently are leaving the case open. Now they are going after her for licensing her 2 dogs; her lawyer says he has the documentation showing she licensed them in June 2011. Bureaucrats, what else need be said.

D.W. has posted pictures that he took at the Guest Chef event on his blog, ClueMeter.blogspot.com.

Yum, Yum! and for a Good Cause

On Wednesday, July 13th, D.W. and I went to dinner.

So what?, you ask. Everybody does that at some time or other.

This dinner was the "2011 Guest Chef On The Waterfront" event to celebrate Washington Chefs and for the purpose of raising money for FareStart, http://farestart.org. More later.

There were 23 restaurants or caterers, 17 wineries, 4 breweries, and 6 other vendors (coffee, water, soda, produce) represented. Everything from appetizers to desserts. All presented in a "taste of" style, and a pretty even distribution of meat, seafood, cheeses and desserts [the cutest dessert were the thumb sized ice cream cones]. It started at 6PM and went until 9PM.

Several tables ran out of their goodies before time as word of mouth spread the "that was S-O good", i.e. Starry Nights "Irish Cake Bombs: Chocolate Cake Balls with Guinness and Jameson Caramel (I know, how not?!) They still had their Cherry Cake Bombs with Brandied Cherries to tide them through the evening.
The gentlemen at Roxy's Diner/The Backdoor at Roxy's told me that they FORGOT to bring the Kale Chips which were to accompany their Hot Pastrami on Rye. The pastrami was quite good.

I think my personal favorites were: the Cold Smoked Columbia River Sturgeon, on Yakima Corn Pancake, with Horseradish-Lemon Cream Cheese, and Caviar Creme Fraiche presented by Chef Jay Bartleson and the catering department of the Bell Harbor Int'l. Conference Center, and the Fess Parker Winery 2008 red blend Big Easy [who me prejudiced? just because I'm a member of their wine club?] They grow good grapes in Santa Barbara County.

D.W. didn't say what his favorites were. I'm thinking the Irish Cake Bombs or the Barking Frog at Willows Lodge offering of Jivara Cremeux, Peanut Butter Powder, Caramel Mousse, Fleur De Sel had to be up there at the top someplace.

Back to THE CAUSE

FareStart has been around for nearly 2 decades but they are not nearly well enough known outside of the food industry environs. [I learned about them first through a women's help shelter that my company works with.]

Their missions statement is to "provide a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry."

They have provided millions of meals to those in need. So we went out and spent more than we would have at Shari's but less than we would have at Palisades and supported a good work in the process. Do we pat our backs or rub our tummies?

Where do you grow YOUR vegetables?

Last week, July 8th, D.W. had a blog link regarding Oak Park, MI and their response to a citizen turning their front yard into a raised bed vegetable garden. That city says it is going to sue for "unsuitable use" of the front yard.

Here I am going to ignore my own rule about not talking politics.

Today I emailed the named councilcritter a piece of information about an event planned for Seattle.

The event is called "Grow Veggies In Your Parking Strip".

Think he will read it?

Editorial note about what I will write

I grew up being told "do not talk politics or religion"; and that meant everyone, most especially family and friends.

So I am going to let my XY-half (the Song in my Heart) deal with those issues. Besides which he is SO much better with a quip and/or caustic remark than I am.

From me you will hear about goings on in & about the house: if a recipe comes out particularly well, how the 4-leggeds (meow) are doing, if I have managed to grow something.

You will also hear about beauty discovered on vacation, social outings, probably a bit about crafty stuff. Life. Just me sending memories into the vapor.

I hope you enjoy it.

Bearcat rejoins the world

Hello!

On my last post I said that I would be gone for a few days.
That obviously stretched into a l-o-n-g time. Over a year.
But I have rejoined the world at large and am slowly becoming a social creature once more.

I dealt with settling my Dad's estate.
We remodeled the house that I inherited - new doors, windows, updated/upgraded kitchen and bathrooms. We moved in. Still need to buy new draperies.
I learned a new commuting routine. Y-a-w-n, it starts way early.

The cats like the new yard, but are not so sure about the traffic. They are used to a street running in front of the house. Now they have a corner lot with 2 streets; one of which leads directly to a school so we get buses. Big noise.

I'll be talking to you. :)

You won't be hearing from me for a few days as I scream. I had the misfortune to be the one to find my father's body today. I am trying to deal and cope.

the BIG Move

A little over a week ago Dad finally said things that let me know that he is now ready to actually make the move out of his house and into a retirement apartment.

We agreed on a schedule of visitations to places he had already looked at to determine which one he really wanted to live in. Made appointments for visits. Three, 3, of them.

Saturday morning we went to the first one, nice, not overly impressed by food (they gave us lunch), small but adequate apartments, no balconies, rather sparse grounds. The company rep said that they didn't expect people to spend much time in their rooms, they should be out "socializing" in common areas. They were giving veteran's discounts; still kind of pricey but possibly acceptable for what was offered in program. Took notes, "thanks for the tour." Left.

2nd visit was back to Village Green. I think I have mentioned them before as they offer several programs for seniors that you don't have to be a resident to attend. And they encourage seniors to attend social functions so that they can "sample the experience" without a lot of sales hype. I digress, we walked in and told them what we wanted to look at. A number of apartments were available as several residents had moved from the "independent living" building down to the "assisted living" building very recently. We looked at 5, all with a bit of view, 3 with balconies. (Dad has always liked to take his coffee and often his lunch on his deck in nice weather.) All these apts were in close proximity to areas of interest to Dad. Seems the sales rep had not only listened to what Dad said as we toured, he heard. A humorous note: it seems that on a prior visit Dad had become a "teaching moment" for reps. He had headed for a staircase, notice staircase not stairs, to descent from 2nd to 1st floor; the then tour guide directed us away and toward an elevator. As we talked to a (resident) friend later we wondered why. Apparently the staff to do tours are now taught to pay attention to such actions and not redirect visitors. David was laughing that he got to "meet the legend" as he hadn't really known if it had happened or was a story. Anyway, I am away from the point again. We sat down to talk numbers and what was included.

Then Dad surprised me, asking when he could put reservation on one of the apartments we'd seen. The 1st one actually. A 1 bedroom 719 sq.ft. with a generously sized walk in 2nd closet off the bedroom which will provide storage room for the things he wants but doesn't want out. So much for visitation #3.

We went back the next morning (before my visit to museum), made the deposit and started the ball rolling. The apartment went to head of clean/refurbish list. By the end of this week they are up to painting the walls. Next week they will reinstall appliances and lay carpet. We are going in on Monday to do measurements on everything, locate all outlets and phone, and cable connections.

Now that the decision is made he is looking at the houseful of 49 years worth of accumulations. It is daunting, I have to admit. He is feeling a bit overwhelmed. We have mapped out a strategy to determine what is there and how to decide what to take/what to delete. Some things will stay in the house with me. I have contacted property managers to meet as we (D.W. and I) will also have to decide who will handle our house after we relocate to his. Yes, we are moving over so that we have a somewhat larger, rambler style, home. The 2 car garage will be nice. My schedule for the next month (at least) will be 2 days moving activities, 4 days in office [boss approved] 1 day with D.W. doing whatever we need to do. Hectic much? Yikes.