Wednesday: Inventory
Seasonal shifts, accommodated and accounted for
Happy June, everyone!
It is getting close to Summer’s official start, and I have been busy. Honestly once DST hits, I take advantage of the additional daylight—it’s like having an extra day. (Though admittedly there are times when I curse it, waiting not-so-patiently for darkness to fall so I can go up to bed, as was the case on Monday, but anyway…)
I’ve been behind schedule on getting the yard in order, namely getting the veggies and flowers procured and planted so I worked hard Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. The flowers are set, the beds are ready, and 1/4 of the veggie beds are planted. Plan is to finish up today after which we will be well on our way to what we call the $500 batch of salsa—a few tomatoes, maybe a bell pepper, and a few jalapeños which inevitably combine for one lonely but delicious batch of salsa sometime in August. This year I’m doing tomatoes, eggplant, and an assortment of peppers—bell of various colors, hot, and sweet. This year I ditched cucumbers because they need more tending than we are willing to tend. I also did a few basil plants, some mint, and some lemon balm (whatever TF that is, bought in error, thought it was a second mint plant, didn’t check the plastic stake carefully, lesson learned). I’ll Google it before I plant it to make sure it can co-exist in the same tub as the mint, and while I am at it I will research exactly what its purpose is.
I jokeplain (part joke, part complain) about “prairie life” annually but honestly the gardens are a labor of love. They are not at all about the outcome (or lack thereof, yield-wise). I built and planted my first raised bed with my dad, with advice on where to put it from his hardcore gardening friend Bill (aka Vegeta-Bill). They’re both long gone now, having died within weeks of each other, approaching 10 years ago, so when I “garden” it’s all about connection, and very little about gardening at all. I can only recall a single robust harvest, and that was over 10 years ago. I had an inexplicable explosion of tomatoes and peppers, such that I learned to make and like gazpacho—which I was eating by what seemed like the gallon—and when I hosted brunch almost every weekend to serve Bloody Marys with hot-pepper infused vodka (jalapeños and/or habaneros). 🤦🏼♀️
My stoop pots also are a labor of love, a tradition started some 20+ years ago by my dearly departed Uncle Bob. He sold his house around the same time I bought this one. He was an extreme gardener and asked if it was ok for him to work on the yard here. It was more than ok—he got the place looking beautiful. After he died, not long before my dad, everything kind of went to seed—but I kept up the stoop pots going.
While I want a nice-looking yard, I have neither the skill nor the patience to do it myself, so it’s a good system we have now. I do the gardens and the annuals, Rothwell Landscaping takes care of the lawn and the shrubbery, and Kerri oversees the pool and its chemistry. Everything is nicely in order now, thanks to some money (time for a money tree!), a good landscaper, and a bit of homeowner muscle.
(Side story…a few years back a stranger came to the house to invite me to some sort of new age meeting at her house to get to know the neighbors. I politely declined but welcomed her to the neighborhood. She said she had lived there for years and had come to welcome me. 20+ years in the house at that point, I guess the landscaping was tired, so when it got an upgrade she assumed it would have only been due to a change in ownership. 😂😂😂 In all seriousness, the “before” wasn’t bad—but the change was much (MUCH!) better.)
In any case, my love-hate relationship with prairie life does something good for my soul so I persist. Nevertheless.
These should give you a flavor of what I’m up to…not the most skilled or skillful situation but it’s something:
This time of year and the additional daylight always causes a slight shift in how my free time is distributed. Still there is lots going on, so let’s get to it:
What I’ve been watching…
North West’s recent “performance” in the 30th anniversary live-action Lion King show at the Hollywood Bowl. This one was all over the “news” and by “news” I mean the socials. Apparently, talented kids, actual singers and dancers with some experience in the biz, were passed over in favor of Ms. North West. The nepo baby brouhaha is what it is—the kids have a leg up, and there’s no sense arguing about it. Joe Buck defended his “celebrity” saying that it’s what you do with your chance. And while I agree with that it part, there are a lot of connected people getting chances because of those connections while far more talented people work at grocery stores and salons and car washes. That’s why shows like American Idol and The Voice and America’s Got Talent coexist and are still on air. I could go on and on and on. But I won’t. As far as the Kardashian offspring, you be the judge.
If you watch RHONY, this kid is an up-and-coming Countess Luann De Lesseps…can’t sing or dance yet is a “famous” performer.
I’ve also been following three legal matters with interest—those involving Scott Peterson, the Cheeto, and Karen Read.
I’ve been confident all these years that SP did it, until I was tipped off a few years ago to a podcast that I was assured was worth a listen. So I listened…and some seeds of doubt were sown. But now after revisiting it and seeing that only one of his DNA requests or whatever was granted, and it wasn’t DNA from the burned-out van, well, I’m back to believing the right guy is behind bars.
Regarding the Cheeto…I don’t know where to start, but need to find a starting point now, one that allows me to finish in time to ship this newsletter this morning (walks to take, beds to plant, trials to follow). So here I go. He was convicted, and this is how the justice system, the one set in motion by the very same Constitution that he alleges to be so enamored of, works. An impartial jury of peers that is approved by both sides listens to evidence and reaches a conclusion. Some people don’t like the outcome, so they blame the system and not the defendant. Then those people and the defendant go off the rails—America is falling and the system is rigged and some spewing of lies that can be validated (like he never said Hillary should go to jail 🤦♀️) but none of his supporters seem to care about the truth because the patron saint of white collar crime has been wronged and America will not be their America again until that wrong is righted. Whatever it takes, justice will be served. (They all seem to very quickly have forgotten that justice already was served…they just don’t like it.) In any case, this convicted felon has options, just like other convicted felons. But make no mistake, even in the face of this grave injustice, he is still tremendously advantaged—he has better options. He has resources, a support system (for better or for worse). Maybe this will make people rethink ridiculous jail terms for low-level crimes. Maybe people will revisit the whole matter of mass incarceration. I mean, why are financial crimes somehow “better” than other crimes? I thought a felony was a felony, but apparently, this one is frivolous. Huh? Anyhow, question for those who are so adamant that the trial was rigged—how are you so sure? Show me receipts. My mind is open, but the evidence is leading me elsewhere. If it were so blatantly rigged, there’s got to be a paper trail, no? All this notwithstanding, the more the facts seemingly pile up against this pile of orange diarrhea, the more people swoon over the stench. It calls to mind the corpse flower that blooms every seven to nine years; people find beauty in its vile stench, that of rotting flesh. I think of Gilda Radner and Bill Murray (I think that’s who was in the old SNL skit…“he who smelt it dealt it.” This convenient/selective love of the constitution is hypocrisy at its finest. I would love more people to familiarize themselves with the facts before running their mouths off, which is why I pick at the edges…I’m not in all in the know when it comes to the details, so I stay away from opining on things I’m uninformed about, and will listen to reason. The only thing I agree with about this cray-cray response is that this is going to help his campaign. Though I bristle every time I hear that clown say, essentially, that “someone has to do this” to save America, and he’s proud to do it. Enough of the martyr narrative. He’s no modern-day Jesus. If you’re so willing to stand up for America, well, uh, what was up with the bone spurs? It also has come to my attention that the same steamy pile of very unhealthy looking sh-t once said that Hillary winning would have been a real problem because she’s a felon (except she isn’t). How do you walk that back, Donny Drumpf? And why are your supporters ok with these lies? Is this the covfefe you once warned us about? Also, is it true that he has an account with the TikTok? He must be worried about getting you COVID through the app. Apparently China is only bad sometimes. 🤷🏼♀️ I’m so confused. And don’t even get me started on how it’s possible to be a convicted felon and get a job as the President of the US aka Commander-in-Chief but not get other federal jobs (let alone menial non-government ones). I’ll rein it in and close with two points. 1) For those of you saying that “the liberals” did nothing when JFK snuck around on Jackie or when Bill Clinton couldn’t keep his little willie in his pants, I say “educate yourself.” This isn’t about sex—it’s about hush money and illegal payments. I don’t care about the philandering as much as I care about fiscal responsibility and abiding the law when it comes to the nation’s President. 2) The Hunter Biden trial is NOT on par with the Trump trial. Hunter Biden is not a former president. Apples and oranges. Full stop.
The Karen Read trial, which I first mentioned here and then here, is really captivating, on so many levels. Long story short, if a smoking gun isn’t coming, I'll be shocked. The evidence is a mess, most of the prosecution witnesses to date have had gaping holes and contradictions and blatant lies in their testimony, and I’m surprised it is still going on. But if what one of the defense attorneys says is true—that they can present their case in 4 days (we’re in week 6 or 7 I think and none of the investigators have been called by the prosecution yet)—they have got to have a gotcha. Right? There is no way John O’Keefe died being hit by a car (backed into on a side street) with those injuries…I’m still open to evidence, but the prosecution hasn’t presented anything compelling yet. This case has been the talk of the town, and it’s only slightly less divisive than the Trump situation, though I suspect it’s more divisive in Canton (where this happened and where all the players live). Testimony resumes today…can’t wait.
The recent blow of a bout of insomnia was softened tremendously by this segment on Jimmy Kimmel. What is not to love about this kid?
This other kid was all over the news yesterday, which was funny at first but TBH when I heard him interviewed after the fact, he kind of seemed like a brat.
Watched some golf on Sunday and the story about Robbie MacIntyre winning the RBC with his dad caddying and then skipping the next tourney he was scheduled to play in to go back to Scotland to party and pay off his parents’ mortgage was a feel-good tale for the ages.
Been watching the Celtics and can’t wait to watch them play for a title starting tomorrow. Recently learned this and am sharing in case it’s news to you too. The original parquet floor was not the result of innovative design; rather it was the product of a lumber shortage. In 1946, after the war, long pieces of lumber were hard to come by as they were put to use building homes for returning service members and their families) so they used short pieces to build 250 5’x5’ patches that were held together by 988 screws and installed originally in Northeastern University’s Boston Arena (now Matthews Arena, where the Celts (and Bruins) originally played) and then moved to the original Boston Garden. They got a new floor when they moved to the new gahden, and the screws are gone, replaced by snaps. (Related note, Matthews Arena (go Huskies) is slated to be torn down and replaced with a more modern facility; this news broke recently and was a sad blow to local sports history).
Everyone watches women’s sports, and everyone keeps watching.
In its inaugural season the PWHL did a great job and delivered a very exciting championship series which saw Minnesota beating Boston for the Walter Cup. It’s great hockey and the league has solid backing. The Boston team plays in Lowell (not Boston) so we didn’t get to any games IRL. But the competition was solid, teams were evenly matched, and I hope the league takes off.
The WNBA is all over the TV and the news lately, thanks to/in part due to Caitlin Clark. In her rookie season, it seems to be a bit of a Caitlin Clark vs Everyone story, which is unfortunate. I know it’s a complex dynamic, as this article addresses, but you can’t blame her for her notoriety. She shattered scoring records. Vied for national titles. Attracted attention to the game, whether she wanted to or not. Yes, the WNBA wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for founding investors, teams, and players, many of whom were great. But for whatever reason(s), rightly or wrongly, they didn’t get attention like this, and not everyone watched women’s sports. But the whole drama with Chennedy (Kennedy?) Carter (had anyone ever heard of her before she assaulted CC and started mouthing off?) is taking away from how great this with. People are screaming for attention, shrieking for credit. (And with all due respect to Angel Reese…I don’t think they are watching because of her…she’s a good player, and competition does draw interest—it’s a complex equation, but what isn’t?) The WNBA (and women’s sports) are surging because of her. And I worry it’s going to turn into a race issue or “girl drama” and set everything back. Caitlin Clark stands on the shoulders of giants but facts are facts. You don’t have to like them. And sadly you can’t retroactively get glory. ICYMI:
Both seasons of Survivor and Amazing Race wrapped, and it took us a while to get caught up but we did, so…spoiler alert
Regarding Survivor, Kenzie and Charlie played great games and deserveD to be in the final four. I know Ben was in the background but I think if you hang in there until the end, you’ve done something right, even if that something isn’t to be a villain or make big bold moves. I’m still laughing thinking that Liz believed she was voted out because she was a threat, and I lost all respect for Maria, who breathed new life into the old line “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Kenzie deserved to win, but Charlie earned Maria’s vote, which he did not get.
Regarding Amazing Race, for one, if you think you’d do a good job at the roadblock, do the roadblock. Don’t not do the roadblock and then talk about how you would have been better at it. Teamwork already. Kerri and I are self aware enough to know we would never make it on the show. 😂 I didn’t care who won of the top 3…though there was one team I liked less (Juan and Shane) and one I liked much more…and the team I loved more won! I am also so glad that condescending, mansplaining, gaslighting, man-bun wearing Vinnie finally got knocked out. His GF (Amber) needed to dump his controlling, insulting ass when the race ended for them and instead she accepted his marriage proposal. 🤦🏼♀️ I have to say the fact that the boyfriends Ricky and Cesar won (won 7 legs along the way and only finished below second once) goes very far in debunking stereotypes. They crushed both the performance tasks and the sporty ones. They handled the memory games and puzzles. They treated each other with respect. I’m so happy they won. I think some of the teams think they should have been able to beat Ricky and Cesar because…why exactly? They didn’t fit the perception of who should win? Because you’re rugged and strong and no way gonna get beat by the gay boys? Seriously. (Rod and Letitia placed 3rd and they also were a great team.)
Station 19, the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff that I got sucked into on account of crossover plots recently aired its series finale. I’m kind of bummed that it ended, but it also kind of ran its course. I just hope the characters who crossed over cross back over.
Before I finish up on what I am watching I want to call attention to a news story I saw yesterday about “streamflation,” which is exactly what it sounds like. I have an issue with paying for cable and then paying for streaming services and then having to pay for content on streaming services—it’s a racket and a ripoff. I think it’s time for an audit.
What I’ve been listening to…
Mostly been enjoying the premade Spotify playlists but still am also enjoying a good Spotify “bump and run” where I play one song and let it roll. It led me to the song “Inner Smile” by Texas and as I enjoyed it, I thought, “that Texas, like from the late 1980s?” And sure as shooting it is the same Scottish band named Texas whose Ricks Road album was popular for a short time in early 90s. So I’ve been enjoying them lately. Here’s their Greatest Hits album from 2000…and they are still releasing music. Who knew?
What I’ve been Reading…
Not much, TBH. That’s part of how things have shifted as I have been busy doing other stuff. The bruises and scratches on my legs will tell you I’ve been spending much more time on manual labor and much less time on these more worldly pursuits, but anyway…
A while ago I talked about writing more and “studying the craft” and that currently involves reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It’s repeatedly on the “must-read” lists of books about writing and has sat untouched on my bookshelf for years. But it’s time. The only problem is her writing is so exquisite I’m tending to lose the lessons in the words. I need to focus to sift them out. She’s amazing
I’m also getting sucked into Jeanine Cummings’ American Dirt. I’m riveted by the story of a mother and son on the run from a Mexican cartel. Having been in a seedier area in Mexico last Fall makes this one hit different. Maybe 1/3 of the way through so will report back next time I report on my reads.
What I’ve been eating and washing it down with…
A few weeks ago I mentioned hosting Mother’s Day Brunch, and so I am sharing some of the new recipes I tried, namely these two baked goods.
Coconut Lime Scones. When I was moving my niece out of her dorm in April we went to Pavement for coffee. They had Lemon Coconut Scones which were delicious, even though my sis and I both thought that lime seemed more obvious with coconut. In any case I had scones on the brain, found this recipe, and they were a massive hit. True to what we experienced at Pavement, only with lime. Now that I’ve made them once, lemon would be an easy swap.
Cinnamon Roll Cake. This was great, but my sis recently made it and only liked not loved it. She found it was great on day 1, but there was something about the glaze on day 2. I liked it on day 2 (and 3 and 4 and 5) but I found the glaze a bit thin…so I might suggest thickening it up and making it more of a frosting than a glaze. But I’m no Julia Child so take my word for it at your own peril!
I enjoyed this Bourbon Espresso Martini at the brunch because espresso drinks at night don’t work for me. It was an unexpected combo and very tasty but I think my fave espresso drink is the espresso martini with tequila and Licor 43 which I first tried and reported on here.
Despite the fact that my mom has yet to go back to Tai Chi, I did have her for dinner last Thursday, and served this orzo carbonara with a mixed-berry crisp for dessert that I kind of freestyled on. (If you make the orzo it needs more cooking water than the recipe calls for.)
I’m also traveling to/from MI for my youngest niece’s HS graduation on Thursday/Monday with my mom, so I picked up something to kick things off on a festive note. And maybe it’s a necessary medicine…😂😂😂. FWIW these Bailey’s Minis are bigger than a typical nip but still meet TSA requirements and are perfect in a DD large black coffee, added very discreetly and enjoyed before boarding.
And some random things…
I’ve been lightly following the Bennifer Part Deux Marriage Collapse. I really thought this one would stick, unlike the 2002 engagement. I realize this fact: my brain is atrophying as I type this.
I’m also still looking for work, hard, albeit without much (any) traction. But I’m remaining upbeat and optimistic because…what’s the alternative? My focus now remains on connecting (more authentic than networking IMO), acting with intent about pursuing opportunities, and doing some outreach to try to create other opportunities. If you know of anything of any type where I can leverage my diverse experience, skill set, and interests, please hit me up. I’d really appreciate it—thanks! Ideally I’m looking for something that helps an org understand customer needs to elevate conversations, improve efficiencies, and achieve better and more sustainable outcomes.
So that’s what I’ve been up to and I hope you’ve been busy being happy. Thanks for continuing to spend time with me and read/skim/ignore this week after week. It makes me happy that you’re here.
Love you too.