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azbrit
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Name: azbrit
Gender: Male
Expertise: Still working at anything and everything......and apparently flitting from country to country......
Occupation: Retired
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
3/16/2001
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| So, at last, we are done with that. C'est fini! Having been at home for the last 3 1/2 months, it just seems incredible that one can exist by going to work and keeping up with the enumerable number of tasks that a homeowner has on an ongoing basis. In fact, it cannot be done. C'est impossible! Alors, time to get organized. I've got my Qigong exercises evaluated and set. The canine ( my daughter's dog), is scheduled for a walk of at least one hour's duration each morning. My self study of the Chinese language is set with more instructional books, cds and flash cards than you can posssibly imagine staring me in the face. My plan to begin TEFL courses is tugging at my psyche. The progress of the landscape project is, no, has evolved to the point that I'm satisfied that progress has been made but not completed, as yet. Work is in an ongoing state - as I stated, I'm satisfied but will be even more so, when it's 90% complete. I never plan to be 100% complete - it's a huge project - constantly in a state of flux. Jeez, I even feel better having written the above. It's just a constant turmoil in the mind trying to accomplish all of the above. But, what's the rush? I've got the rest of my life - just do a little bit at a time. Gardening! Of course, how could I forget. It takes a couple of days to water every plant, bush and flower we have by hand. Winter is not yet past and we dare not run the sprinkler and drip system yet - tonight's temperature is to be about 28 degrees Fahrenheit so frost is imminent. How does one fit gardening into the equation? I guess it's just an extension of feeding the birds, which I do on a regular basis what with filling bird seed feeders and filling all nine bird watering dishes on a daily basis. Hey, I even just dug out the hummingbird feeders and set those up! Slow and steady wins the race. Thinking of which, I need to fit in kayaking a couple of mornings each week, whaddya think? GOODBYE "Métro, boulot, dodo" - it's been fun - no, it hasn't - good riddance! | | |
| I made sausage rolls a couple of weeks ago. My daughter, Samantha, said tasted just like Nana's ( my Mum) so was all puffed up with pride. Had used the ready made pie crusts you can buy at the market except pretty hard to get a long 3" strip of pastry out of a circle. Still, made about 10. Also used skinless pork sausages from a package. Well, that wasn't good enough for me so went back to the market and bought regular pork sausage. Dug around in the storage room and found couple of old cookbooks that were Nana's; one from 1947 and one from 1970. The oldest one referred to "steak and sausage rolls". Well, in 1947 there was precious little "steak" laying around in British butcher shops, I can assure you. So, looked at the front of the book again and it said "Reprinted in 1947", so it must be from the 1930s when steak was plentiful - at least for the rich or wannabe rich at least. Moved on to the 1970 cookbook which was printed for Bero, a brand of British flour. Sure enough, recipe for sausage rolls with a picture to boot. Made pastry from scratch, with wife's supervision of course. Seems two most crucial steps in making pastry from scratch are that everything be cold, including the chef's hands, and that care be taken to not add too much (cold)water. Follow those two guidelines and you are guaranteed of success. Result was miraculous. Tasted great and the rolls looked exactly like the picture. Now, roiling with success, made second batch last night only this time decided to spice those rolls up. To the sausage was added, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic salt and half a can of chopped green chilies. Yessir - we have a winner!!! Except wife and I could only taste one each since they are not on our diet - lucky Sam! Probably will not appreciate the only difficult step in the whole process - rolling out the sausage in to a long thin roll. So, all in all, it was a great way to spend an evening after such an extraordinary day for the USA. President Obama is now ensconced in the seat of power, so to speak. I wish him well. A definite change for the better in many people's eyes, mine included. There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
Oscar Wilde | | |
| Earthquakes can be unsettling. I used to live in Southern California and became quite blasé about the occasional tremor. However, the quake in Costa Rica some eleven days ago resulted in a considerable death count and that is disturbing. Loopdeloup's blog (http://www.xanga.com/loopdeloup) about the experience is worth a read. It also shattered plans that I've been working on for some time. Costa Rica has been a favourite spot for tourists and expats for some time and my wife has just come around to hearing about it from others - that would be people other than me! Since she now has that country in her vision, I was hoping that I could persuade her to go just a little further afield; say to Panama and investigate Boquete. Or perhaps just a "little" bit further south to Ecuador and check out Cotacachi. You see the problems are: Volcanoes and Earthquakes. And what do Panama and Ecuador both have? You guessed it the dreaded "Vs" and "Es". Still, since Costa Rica is on the spouse's radar, it's not such a long shot to forsee Panama and Ecuador in our future. My fingers are crossed. | | |
| And the answer is almost 10 months. Tibet has faded from the news headlines as has Myanmar. Olympics came and went. Scenes and venues were spectacular but I guess I just remember and crave those old time Olympics when everything seemed to appear in black and white. How about the 3,000 m. steeplechase in Melbourne in 1956? Now that was a long time ago and was a great and interesting Olympics For good reason, the sky has fallen not only here in the U.S. but also around the world. The economists, politicians and other n'ere do wells have really screwed the whole thing up. I'm heading for tranquility, having been the victim of "auction securities", my former company having become penniless by reason of their investments, filing bankruptcy, selling assets (my particular company) and the resultant purchaser of the company downsizing in a spectacular way, starting with all the fancy executives and working their way down culminating in massive layoffs. But what a relief. No more two hour commute each way each day. I feel as if I've attained enlightenment - just kidding! Now I have time to work on the landscaping at home and perhaps acquire a TEFL certificate and begin teaching. It just feels like its time for a second career. At least one that I might enjoy.... | | |
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