Slow News Day

Summer is really slowing down. Not much to report, but a few little things:

• The new sign is working well - had two civilized calls about the cottage today.
• My ob-gyn is on maternity leave and I found out that she had a baby girl. She named the baby the same as me...
• The cottage is nearly finished being painted.
• I see tomatoes on my vines, but they are still green. Not enough sun, I guess.

Training People

This weekend I put up the old House for Rent sign that H dug out of the garage rafters. I put up fliers that people can take with them with all kinds of pertinent info about the cottage. The old sign had our phone number in big print. Well, now that cell phones are so common (more common than 9 years ago when we last did this), people sit in their cars and just dial the phone to ask about the rental. I got tired of that, so I got a new sign today (looks better anyway) and all it says is "For Rent: Back House, Shown by appt. only." Now people will have to actually get out of their cars and read the info on the flier and then decide if they need to actually bother me.

Now if I could train people to show up when they say they will, or at least call to cancel or reschedule.....

Quick and Easy Samosas

Tonight at book club we'll be discussing Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'm hoping there will be good Indian food. I am bringing Quick and Easy Samosas from Real Simple. Recipe here. I made them last year for our other Indian book by Lahiri - The Namesake - and found them pretty good (and pretty easy, too).

Squeakin' Wheels

I've heard about this Bluegrass group, but tonight was the first time I heard them play. Thanks to Lynn for alerting me to this and getting me out of the house tonight. It was great!

TV Coverage

Yes, I do remember JFK's assassination, even though I was only 3 1/2 years old. This is what I remember. Television had only three or four channels (did we have PBS then?) and every single channel ran coverage of this news story for what seemed like a month. I couldn't watch Bozo's Circus, Garfield Goose, or any cartoons. I had to entertain myself.

With the Michael Jackson coverage yesterday and today, I have to get my other news from other sources. Thank goodness for the internet!

Book From Blog

I saw an ad on Facebook that gave me an idea. There's a company called Blog 2 Print, and it will make a book from your blog with a nice cover and all for a nice price. I decided I could make my own book, so in the past two days I have made a .pdf file of my blog from sabbatical. I designed a cover, and now I'll take it to Staples and have a copy made - a momento of our year in Evanston.

A Classic Read

So. Oldest children are the experimental children. I am an oldest. When I was about 4 or 5, my dad decided to read Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea to me. Perhaps it was because he had had some success in getting me to enjoy some Blake and Wordsworth. (I had parts of "The Tyger" and all of "The Daffodils" memorized early on.) I know that he read this book to me. Did he read the whole thing? I can't recall. I know that I loved listening to his deep voice, so I probably sat still for periods of time.

Dad gave me this copy of the book, and I finally read it this week. Our book club read it in March this year, but we missed the meeting while we were visiting Claire in Italy. I'll have to have a mini-discussion with some at Sunday's book club meeting.

From the Land of Sky Blue Waters

Ahhhh. A good baseball game on tv tonight. Dodgers v. White Sox. While I am pulling for the Dodgers, the White Sox were my first baseball team. I would watch the Sox on black and white tv with my dad. I especially enjoyed the Hamms Bear in the Hamms Bear commericals - as seen here.

Long Summer Evening

Father's Day

A very low-key Father's Day included a trip to Costco, Lowe's (while Jiffy Lube changed the oil), a lovely chat with Liesl, and reading the NY Times. We took Hal out to dinner at Aladdin Jr. Restaurant. We tried to go to the new Korean tofu place, but it was closed. Then we tried Los Jarritos. Closed. However, we were not disappointed with falafel and lentil soup and pita bread.