Heat it up!

“Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor”. ~ William Cowper, English poet and hymnodist (1731-1800) Just a stylized photo of the spice cart from the Thai restaurant.  Other versions, including the original, below.        

Red, yellow, and green curries

“Where life is colorful and varied, religion can be austere or unimportant. Where life is appallingly monotonous, religion must be emotional, dramatic and intense. Without the curry, boiled rice can be very dull.” ~ C. Northcote Parkinson, British Naval Historian (1909-1993) Mine is the red curry tofu.  Mmm.

A universe in the table

To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. ~ William Blake from his poem Auguries of Innocence This is just the granite tabletop at the local Thai restaurant, with a couple of fun filters applied.

Just what typa tracks was you followin’?

So, for his birthday, my boy got more Thomas the Train stuff, and I got to be creative with the tracks.  What’ I’ve found is that you have to be very specific with how you use the switch tracks in order to get a loop that does’t keep the train stuck on one side of…

Happy 4th birthday my boy!

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” ~ Abraham Lincoln  The birthday cake, a cool train made with cookies, graham crackers, icing, and cupcakes, is now decimated. My boy looks sad here, but he's just squinting and trying to smile on queue.  A perfect weekend!   …

Nobody makes salsa like mi suegra

La mejor salsa del mundo es el hambre. (Hunger is the best sauce in the world.) ~ Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote My mother-in-law lives with us, and she cooks some amazing foods.  Her salsas are fantastic.  This one was special, made for my boy's 4th birthday (for the adults ;).  She roasted some chilies I hadn't…

It was a hat day

The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does. ~ Phil Woosnam, Welsh soccer player and manager. When I was in college, we used to roll out of bed, put on a painter's hat (they were stylish, believe it…

My beautiful commute

“Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.” ~  George Washington Carver One thing that makes my commute home bearable is the scenery out here in the country. This is…

The clouds, the sky, the sun

“To pay homage to beauty is to admire Nature; to admire Nature is to worship God” ~ Anonymous I know that the sun is blown out in these pano’s, but it’s still  a really nice view.  Here’s some other versions.

Almonds in full swing

Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds. ~ Numbers 17:7-9, God confirming Aaron’s call to Moses by blossoming an almond branch. Almonds…

Fuzzy almonds

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” ~ Jeremiah 1:11, God confirms Jeremiah's call by showing him a blossoming almond branch. Here's what the almonds look like early in the season.  I estimate about 100-150 per…

Vista Point with beauty

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~ Stacia Tausche? Yesterday, we saw the plaque at this Vista Point along Hyw 5.  Here’s my lovely 6 year old posing at that location, in front of the fields and aqueduct.

Vista Point

Take the back roads instead of the highways. ~ Minnie Pearl I stopped at this Vista Point on the way home, and took a picture of the placard describing its humble view.  This is a portion, showing the local aqueducts (shown here).  I just find these details interesting, kind of a forgotten, unremarkable stop on…

Laptops ready for shipping

I have never done this before with any Apple product I have ever owned. I actually went to the Apple Web site to look up the return policy! That’s like dating a swimsuit model that you have been admiring for years only to dump her after a few days when you realize she’s not really…

Getting rid of old laptops

“E-waste in our country is being increased by 10 per cent every year and only five per cent of urban e-waste are recycled in India” ~ Abdul Kalam Here I am wiping and installing windows on the four or so laptops I’m getting rid of.  The rest should become ewaste.

Trying to get an iPad – ouch!

Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.  ~ Andy Rooney So I've decided to sell the old Thinkpads around my house that no one uses – turns out, if I keep our best T41, I can…

Boy with trains

“When I was a kid, I went to the store and asked the guy, Do you have any toy train schedules?” ~  Stephen Wright, Comedian My kid loves his Thomas the Train tracks, and I like putting together various configurations.  In fact, I keep buying more tracks so we can go bigger!  I never had…

Home made pigs in a blanket

“Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs” ~  Dwight David Eisenhower To add to our fun weekend while Mama was gone, I purchased some little smokies and two rolls of Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough.  Using the pizza cutter, I cut each triangle of dough into three smaller…