Sunday Sundry - Vol. 38

Yay, it's raining!!  That means I won't have to stand outside and water the ding-dong new plants and grass seed for an hour this evening...maybe.

I'm not complaining, really.  The landscaping got done this week by Larry the Landscaper (LtL) and his sidekick.  When I wrote that last blog post about two young men, I must have been hallucinating, because apparently there was only one, and he was a baby!  Well, not a real baby, of course, but barely out of his teens.  Still, he did become shirtless in short order, and yes I did open some window shades at that point and offer him a cold bottle of water because I felt sorry for his hardworking, sweaty young self.  And he was so polite and such a babe (in a pale blue blanket kind of way) that I almost wanted to adopt a son right then and there.  Hello, and welcome to my fluctuating midlife hormones.

And that boy worked 10 hours straight.  I didn't even see him take a lunch break, although I did ask at one point and he told me he had some sandwiches in the car.  LtL had to leave for a few hours and do some estimates or something, but Boy Wonder just kept on going by himself with the paving stones and sand and rocks and dirt and landscape fabric.  And then I bet he went home and fell fast asleep in his crib for the night.

(In the time it took to write those couple paragraphs, the rain has stopped and the sun is now shining.  I may have to water again later anyway.)

Other Good Things This Week
- Since my little herb garden is growing like crazy, I made salmon with homemade basil and parsley pesto.  Oh, it was so good.  Norm will eat one piece of salmon and then he's done with salmon for the next two months, thank-you-very-much.  I conveniently forget this every time I make it, so I had a lot left over to eat cold the next day (and the next), which was even better!

- Also made spareribs with homemade BBQ sauce, which I tweaked by adding about a cup of sweet cherries (pitted, cooked down and pureed) to the sauce.  Yum.

- Movie recommendation (now on DVD):  Source Code.  I love a good mind-bender.  Plus? Jake Gyllenhaal.

- Elizabeth sent me an early birthday present, bless her heart, along with some fabulous machine quilting thread (above) that I had bought from her.  Isn't this little notebook sweet?  

And she's having a giveaway on her blog for one, in honor of her 500th blog post, so be sure to check that out before the Tuesday 8/9 deadline!

A Legend in His Own Mind
We went to see my brother's band play last Saturday night at an establishment in the lower Fox Valley, an area of the state where one can still occasionally spot a more primitive type man, identifiable by his endangered 'do known as the Wisconsin Waterfall, and where listening to The House of Hair on Saturdays is de rigueur.

The band was good (and loud, holy crap), and the crowd seemed to respond well to the energy, especially one well-lubricated fellow.  I mean, this guy was really into it, head-bobbing and weaving his way around the crowd while generally trying not to spill his beverage.  

He disappeared between sets, only to return some 30 minutes later—get this—wearing a long, curly, platinum blonde mullet wig.  We wondered whether he had ventured up the road to procure the piece, or whether it came from his private collection at home.  At any rate, he bops back in, grinning from ear to ear, and proceeds to stand about six feet from the band and play air guitar to Every. Single. Song.  After a particularly rousing version of Crazy Train or some such homage to '80s metal, he high-fives my brother (the lead guitar player), as if to say, "DUDE, WE ARE SO AWESOME!!"  Highly entertaining, indeed.

Hope you have the kind of day that rocks your world!