Dogs and Cats and Kids... oh my!

This is my handsome cat, Tiger. He is one of the strays who adopted us when we moved here. If you have been around my blog for a while, you have seen him before. He definitely lives a life of luxury now.


Last week, Katie was sick and had to go to the vet. We had her in her carrier, ready to go. Tiger came over to check on her. He looked very concerned for Katie. (She's doing better now.)


My three nieces had their first day of school this week. I picked them up from school and took them home, then took this photo. You can see how happy they were to see Sammy after a long day at school! Sarah (in the middle) got her braces about two months ago. At first she was too self-conscious to smile, but you can see she has overcome that now.

Ever Heard of Lithotripsy?

Well, I had a CT scan of my kidney stone yesterday. Today I showed it to the urologist. He says I have to have lithotripsy. They don't do it in Kentucky, so I have to go up to Ohio.

When the kidney stone is too big to come out... uh... naturally, they have to break it up into little pieces. That's what lithotripsy is. They hit it with shock waves until it breaks apart. You have to be asleep, because I guess it would be painful if you were awake. Oh, great!

My sister has had it done, and says it isn't too bad unless they have to put a stent in... then it hurts every time you move for the next few days, or however long they want to leave it in... Ouch!

I am not usually such a coward, but this has me cringing. I don't have an appointment yet... they will be letting me know. Yuck!

I'm Out of Commission Today

I am dealing with a kidney stone at the moment. I will write more later. My nieces had their first day of school yesterday. I picked them up and they were all excited. I have a cute photo to show you... as soon as I get this kidney stone over with.

The Morning After the Party

At my house last night... fifteen people gathered for the evening to taste wine and nibble on cheese, fruit, veggies and scallops wrapped in bacon. Old friends got together. New friends were made. There was much talk and laughter. We tasted a variety of wines from Italy, brought by the "wine lady" who was both knowledgeable and fun. We also tasted wines that each guest brought to the party.

The evening started out with wine and a table full of colorful food. (I wish I had taken some photos to show you, but I just got swept up in greeting guests and there really wasn't a chance.) Then we moved to the dining room for a selection of desserts. There was candlelight and conversation. Then we went outside to talk some more, on the deck lighted with candles and lanterns, under the gazebo and surrounded by hanging ferns. Enjoying a perfect late summer evening.

It was a nice party. This morning I am washing wine glasses and enjoying some leftover cheese. Tonight, it's on to a minor league baseball game with my sister, brother-in-law and three nieces. I think it's the last game of the season, and the girls go back to school next week.

My Big Fat Saturday Night

We are hosting a wine tasting party at our house Saturday night. The wine expert brings all the wine so we don't have to worry about that. We are serving cheese, crackers, fruit and other light snacks with the wine, then coffee and desserts at the end. I have the wine tasting area set up in the kitchen/hearth room and the desserts in the dining room.

Last night we bought cheese... all kinds of cheese. Now I have to figure out how to serve them. I don't even own cheese knives. I saw them in a Williams Sonoma catalog... one kind for soft cheese and another kind for hard cheese, but it didn't specify which goes with which... I wonder, do they come with instructions? I don't have cheese boards either, or those little signs on which you write the type of cheese. Oh dear!

I will have to find some good produce. My local grocery never has ripe pears. Also, I would like to have crudites. I will have to cut them myself because the ones in the store never look really fresh.

I have made a cheesecake and some brownies, and plan to make some key lime squares with a macadamia crust. The cashier at Kroger's suggested I just buy them at Sam's Club... are they as good as home made? I didn't want to take the chance.

Oh, and wine glasses... we have twelve for red and twelve for white. Should be enough for twelve people, right? What if someone wants to start over with a new glass? My sister suggested we need buckets to pour the wine into if they don't want to drink it all. And little pitchers for water to rinse the glasses?

Will people expect more than cheese, crackers and fruit? Am I making this too complicated? Am I obsessing about this too much? Have any of you ever hosted such a thing?

Update: I'm not going to worry about cheese knives. I'm going to use these cute spreaders I already have. They are inspired by my love of the beach, as you may notice!

Kentucky Life, etc.

Did you see Barney Frank on the news last night? He's my hero. If you saw him you will know why.

Can someone tell me why, every time I go into a waiting room, doctor's or dentist's office around here, they have a big television on the wall broadcasting Fox News?

Why did I ever move away from Philadelphia?

Another Movie I Loved

Cassandra Mortmain is a seventeen-year old girl living in an old, ramshackle castle in the English countryside. She lives with her family, eccentric and irrepressible characters all. They are penniless but it doesn't seem to cramp their wit or their style. The good-natured but rather befuddled father is struggling to be a writer. The much younger stepmother is his "muse". Formerly an artist's model, she inhabits the castle with dramatic flair, dressed in an ancient tea gown. Cassandra's older sister is a beauty, dreaming of love. Cassandra writes in her journal... thus, the narration of the story.


The movie was based on the book by the same name. It was written by Dodie Smith, a British writer. She has written a number of other novels, but I had never heard of them except for The Hundred and One Dalmations, which of course, was made into a movie too. When I read the book I Capture the Castle I loved it. When I heard a movie was being made (in 2003), of course I had to see it. I loved it, too. The movie captured the book perfectly for me. No book made into a movie had made me feel that way since "To Kill A Mockingbird".


Some of the adjectives used to describe this movie in reviews are: effervescent, winsome, and irrepressible. I agree. I love all these qualities in a movie.