It is officially summertime. Know what I need in my life? Campari.
Not only because I could make a light fixture like this:
... but because a Negroni is one excellent summertime cocktail.
What else is excellent in the summertime?
Friday: Jackson, WY
Saturday: Yellowstone
Sunday: Grand Teton
Monday: Craters of the Moon
Tuesday: work by day, Boise by night
Wednesday: work by morning, parents + thrift shopping by day, skinnydipper hot springs by moonlight
It's been a busy week.
State license plates spotted over the course of two days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (in red, that is):
MIA: Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, DC, Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.
NIXON: Hello, I see you're smoking a cigar and wearing a large hat.CHURCHILL: So I am, young chap. Could I interest you in a cigar?
NIXON: Sure, I think I smoke cigars ... maybe ... I don't know.
(CHURCHILL hands a cigar to NIXON, who bites off the tip and lights it.)
NIXON: We were probably alive at the same time.
CHURCHILL: Indeed, my boy, indeed. I had something to do with World War II and I think maybe you fought in it.
NIXON: I'm not sure if I did.
CHURCHILL: There's not that much more about me that everyone knows.
NIXON: I once held up my hands and formed two peace signs. I was either about to get onto a plane or get off of one.
CHURCHILL: I have seen the photo, because I think there were cameras when I was alive.
NIXON: And what about Watergate? I did that.
CHURCHILL: Margaret Thatcher is someone else from England. She was leader after me.
NIXON: People can buy masks of my face.
I don't usually do these things, but this morning I accidentally hit the 'shuffle' button in iTunes. So here's the first random 10 songs that I heard this lovely Friday morning:
1. Rahzel f. Erykah Badu - Southern Girl
(LOLOLOL) 2. Dr. Dre - Forgot About Dre
3. Matt Pond PA - No More (Again)
4. Devendra Banhart - We All Know
5. Robert Pollard - The Right Thing
6. The Fratellis - Flathead
7. Van Morrison - Rave On, John Donne
8. The Apples in Stereo - Go
9. The Jayhawks - Come to the River
10. The Rolling Stones - High and Dry
I'm gonna go ahead and jump onto this bandwagon, k?
Yeasayer - 2080 (link coming when I get home from work)
(Said the Gramophone)
(Myspace)
Thx to Seal for the tip.
So, uh, I think Megz and I are gonna drive to Jackson, WY this weekend. And on to Yellowstone. And across the mountain spine of Idaho. And through Hells Canyon. Spontaneous road trips! YES!
Some miscellaneous good stuff, 'cause there's no point in me linking to the Goodling testimony or the other stuff you'll to hear on NPR at 5 o'clock.
“I always make the business case for sustainability,” he said. “It’s so compelling. Our costs are down, not up. Our products are the best they have ever been. Our people are motivated by a shared higher purpose — esprit de corps to die for. And the goodwill in the marketplace — it’s just been astonishing.”
When's the last time you stayed up all night for fun? Good friends good times good drinks and a quiet grey dawn in the foothills and one very tired post-weekend Sarah. Stories comin' soon.
Every time I think I'll get to sit down and do some writin' I end up going off to do stuff. I guess this isn't such a bad thing. Anyway, Boise tonight with Z and a 3-legged husky, then THE FAMILY, INCLUDING MY NEWLY-MINTED COLLEGE GRAD BABY BROTHER, arrive and we will spend the day frolicking in Boise and doing fun stuff. Then bro and I get to go out drinking and stuff. Since he for once will not be rollin 10 deep with his redneck posse (I love em, I swear, just not all the time). And Sunday is kind of a blank page but the pile of clean clothes in my room is no shit 2.5 feet high and I really ought to deal with that. You should see the wrinkles. Mmm, the casual life. Speaking of casual, you should see the hideous shoes I'm wearing. Florida Gator CROCS. Ha!
p.s. I have the greatest idea for a Darjeeling tea blend with herbal/citrus elements for iced tea (sweet). I'ma try it next week. Results forthcoming.
p.p.s. Those of you who owe me emails best send them. Punks.
p.p.s. HEY GUESS WHAT I LOVE SUMMER
Cali, officially my favorite dog ever.
Here's a fun little 1-hour invite I did tonight. Makes me wish I had a place to do letterpress out here.
Overheard in the Planning Department offices today, from a customer:
"He sure was a talented athlete. Could jump like a giraffe!"
I meant to post this weeks ago when it first made the blog rounds. But then I forgot. Today I remembered. By now most of you have probably already seen it, but just in case, holy crap I love this map. Having, uh, traveled through most of those continents, I can vouch for its accuracy. Sea of Memes! Isle of Slash! Google's Volcano Fortress!
(via kottke)
So I know I graduated almost a year ago already but I still do graphic design for the Farm to Dartmouth project 'cause I'm cool like that - and they're havin' this kickass local foods expo today and I made the poster and it's way sweet so you should totally check it out.
So I went on this float trip last weekend. It was epic in that "you had to be there" way - I mean, I could say WHISKEY TRAAAAAAIN! and it wouldn't make you laugh, would it?
At one point John got the zipper stuck on Megan's jacket and we tried to get it off, and this was just about the funniest thing ever, but I dunno if it'd make you laugh either. But really, it should, because man was that jacket stuck!
So I'll say this: the John Day River in Central Oregon is gorgeous and perfect for a long weekend float trip with 11 friends, 2 cases of beer, a gallon of whiskey, a jug of wine, a fully loaded oatmeal breakfast bar, a bag of Ring Pops, 2 oar rig rafts, an inflatable kayak, and a capsizing-prone canoe. It was good to get outside, good to sleep under the stars, good to laugh with friends, good to get some sun, good to smell burning sage around the campfire, good to forget everything but the good times for a weekend.
You can check out my favorite pictures here.
Alright everybody, I'ma be gone all weekend on the John Day River. Have good weekends, k?
p.s. The thing about living alone and cooking alone most of the time is that when you DO have a chance to see people you go berserk baking cooking preparing things that you want to share. See: attemping puff pastry asparagus scallion pie between leaving work and packing and driving to Baker City. See also: 2 types cookies, 1 type brownies made last night. See also: pitcher of sweet tea and trying to find a way to pack it.
Things that are awesome that I had forgotten are awesome:
throwing a frisbee
shootin some hoops
OK, so I've been a little neglectful around here for a while. That's mostly because I somehow managed to commit to several major work deadlines within days of one another and have had to severely curtail my leisure time.
By that I mean I only basked/read in the park today for one hour instead of two.
But for real, after all these months of having time, time, massive quantities of sweet sweet time, it sucks to be back under the gun - though it's nothing like those Dartmouth days.
On tap within the next week:
- Draft city addendums for the hazard plan
- Draft action items for the county and all 5 cities
- Updated/revised/presentation-ready risk assessment
- Final Farm to D marketing/advertising materials
- Seasons fundraising invitations for VC
- Final round of logo revisions for the local food bank
- L's pig roast invites
Oh, and then there's that float trip this weekend.
And did I mention my parents will be in town next weekend? And that the weekend after that is Sasquatch?
--
Rambling on...
Yesterday the clock was ticking toward the golden five o'clock hour and I was cleaning off my desk and rattling my keys when the phone rang. 4:50 PM. "Sarah? This is M, the city police chief. This is a terrible way to introduce myself, but..."
After I picked up my stomach from the floor and rid my mind of images of my apartment engulfed in flames and let him finish, it turned out he wanted me to speak to the local Lions Club, of which he is a member, the next day. You don't say no to the police chief even if he calls at 4:50 PM, so this morning I freshened up my canned presentation and talked for 30 minutes in front of a room full of people in yellow satin vests festooned with small bright pins.
It's hard to tell if people like these talks - they don't really respond much, and believe me, I'm pulling out all my tricks - talkin' slow with a little drawl, using hand gestures, making jokes about the police chief, cracking on Salem/the West side of the state, etc. It's kind of one of those dancing monkey moments. You just want to get a belly laugh out of those old men, because if you do, you know they'll love you.
But then afterward one man took my arm and pulled me aside and said, "I want to talk to you about joining the Lions Club." I must have looked startled because he gestured to the emptying room and said, "You saw, there's women in the club!" I tactfully gave him my card and told him to call me. This could be interesting.
--
In unrelated news, I got to hear some stellar music on Sunday at Z's last real performance in Boise. It was a trio for piano, oboe, and horn.
Classic Z:
S: (on the phone with Z) Hey man, it's 2:45, I just got off the interstate, you still home?
Z: Yup! I was about to take Cali for a walk.
S: Uh, isn't the show at 3?
Z: Uh-huh. I'm not going on til 3:30 though. Why show up early?
(We ended up pulling in about 5 minutes before Z was due to perform. I can't tell you how many times we've blasted through town, on a hurry to something or other, arriving by the skin of our teeth. I will miss this kid.)
Other good Boise things:
+ Hanging out with Cali dog. Officially my favorite dog ever. Nothing like pulling up to your friends' place and having the dog gleefully bound over to say HI HELLO HOW ARE YOU I MISSED YOU LOVE LOVE LOVE.
+ Makin' breakfast for dinner, complete with fancy cheese grits and fresh-made strawberry syrup.
+ Walking by the river on a gorgeous afternoon.
+ Catching flirty vibes from another Boisean, a cute one, getting his number.
--
Also good: the various things I made with the catfish I bought last week. Yep, catfish. More on that later.
Late afternoon work break, chatting idly with some co-workers, the conversation takes on a new tone:
A: Yeah, I broke my back when I was 9.
S: Ooh, that sucks.
A: Uh-huh. Then I broke my neck when I was 25.
S: Boy, between you and J y'all sure are a healthy office! Both diabetic to boot!
J: My brain aneurysm... they don't have any record of what they put into my head. Can't have an MRI.
A: Then there was that time I broke both my feet.
J: Once I accidentally put eight holes in my stomach with a shotgun.
S: ...
Standing outside the county library, unlocking my bike. Another patron, owner of the only other bike on the rack, comes out and starts putting his helmet on.
Bike Man: Hey, uh, I was wondering, I have a question for you.
Me: Ya?
Bike Man: Do you own a tape player?
Me: Not anymore.
Bike Man: Oh. OK. I've got this tape I'm looking to sell, see...
Me: Oh?
Bike Man: Phil Collins. Genesis. You know him? He's real good.
Me: (speechless) Uh, yeah...
Bike Man: I'm looking to get a CD player. But what I really need is one of those boom boxes.
Me: And then you could play tapes AND CDs!
Bike Man: Yeah!!!
So many links, so little time.
Guess who's on cook duty for next weekend's float trip down the John Day River?
I'll get to inaugurate my new (v. old, has great backstory) 15-inch mega camp iron skillet, too, since there'll be 13 friends to feed! But before all the fun stuff happens, I've got to do the food shopping. Some collaborative menu planning with the other hazards girls has given us a (mostly) awesome plan for the weekend. Though let me tell you that I miss Cabot cheese something terrible. This Tillamook business just. does. not. cut. it. (ha)
But.
Why do people insist on putting peanut butter into all kinds of dishes into which it is not welcome? For that matter, who needs it at all? Jelly and cheese sandwiches for all! Curry without that heavy peanutty underbelly! Trail mix without all those dang peanuts!
That aside, i'm getting excited for this trip. This coming weekend is pretty slow, which may in fact be a good thing, given the pending Big Awesome that will the the John Day.
True that.
It’s come to my attention that some people believe martinis are made with vodka. I hate to get snobbish about it, but a martini should be made with gin or it’s not a martini. Call it a vodkatini if you must, but not a martini. Gin and vodka have as much in common hierarchically as a president and a vice president. Vodka can fill in for gin from time to time and might even be given certain ceremonial duties of its own, but at important moments you need the real thing. Vodka generally makes a poor substitute for gin in a martini or any other gin cocktail.The panel found common ground here. Each of us is partial to the classic martini made with gin, although Audrey was sensitive to the desires of her clientele.
“You have to revisit which generation is drinking the martini,” she said. “We might be classicists, but is the newer generation?”
Still, after perhaps 8 or 10 martinis, Audrey fessed up, referring at one point to “a generation lobotomized by vodka.”
Since I'm, uh, pretty much livin' the Food Stamp Challenge every week out here in the poorest county in Oregon, I was glad to see some NYTimes coverage yesterday on Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's participation in the Oregon Food Bank's Food Stamp Challenge - he and his wife ate for a week on $21 each, the average amount an individual receives in federal food stamp benefits. That's $3 a day.
Mr. Kulongoski has made hunger an issue since he was first elected in 2002. That fall, he said in an interview, he was surprised to learn that Oregon ranked high on the list of what the Department of Agriculture used to call hunger and now calls “food insecurity.” Oregon’s timber and agricultural industries had long been struggling, driving up unemployment, and the high-tech boom that had benefited places like Portland had started to unravel.
I've been very impressed with the Oregon Food Bank and the food security work that's being done on a state and local level, and there is indeed a real need for programs like food stamps and food pantries: in Ontario, a town of only 11,000 residents, one food pantry alone serves over 1,000 residents a month. That's not even counting several smaller pantries and partnerships for distribution through human services nonprofits.
Which reminds me - if any of y'all have any super-easy, super-cheap tofu recipes, drop me a line. I'm working with the local food bank to develop some easy, cheap, kid-friendly ways to use tofu that we can demo at the food pantries using products available there; the warehouse frequently gets donated tofu and many people are leery of eating it. (in development currently: tofu lasagna, tofu chocolate mousse, tofu smoothies, and a few others)
There's a foreclosed property auction going on today in the county. My desk is in the tax office, so I hear about these things. People have been coming in this afternoon to put down payments.
Cash Man: (looking at other guy) You must be from the new school.
Other Guy: Huh?
Cash Man: (points to the pile of cash he's placed on the counter) I'm from the old school myself.
Other Guy: (sheepish) Oh, yeah, my wife won't let me carry that much cash around!
Cash Man: (riffling bills) Mine wouldn't either, but she's dead!
Other Guy: Heh... heh.
Cash Man: (adjusts cowboy hat, goes on to riff about how his kids want him dead so's they can take his money to pay off their cars and RVs)
