Category: Uncategorized

Pom Love

 I’m not talking about the much hyped pomegranate and it’s known health benefits. No, I’m loving the pomelo.. have you ever heard of it?  I just discovered them last year, where have I been?  They are awesome if you are a citrus lover.  I’m not crazy about a regular grapefruit,which my grandmother used to serve at breakfast faithfully with a spoon full of sugar sprinkled on top and a cherry sliced in half for good measure…and bribery perhaps.    Ruby reds are pretty good… but a pomelo is divine.

According to citrus growers – The pomelo pronounced [pom-EH-loh] is also found spelled pommelo. Thought to be the ancestor of the grapefruit. This giant citrus (citrus grandus) fruit is native to Malaysia (where it still grows abundantly). It is also cultivated in California and Israel. Most of the varieties found today have been bred and grown.  The rind is very thick but soft and easy to peel away. The resulting fruit is light yellow to coral-pink flesh and can vary from juicy to slightly dry and from seductively spicy-sweet to tangy and tart.

I got this recipe from http://www.foodandwine.com/   Today is a miserable rainy dreary day… what better to chase it away than a tropical drink that reminds you of the islands…

Pomelo Mojito

Ingredients

4 peeled sections of pomelo or grapefruit, chopped
6 mint leaves
2 tablespoons Roba Dolce blood orange sorbetto
1 1/2 ounces white rum
Ice
Club soda
1 lime wedge

Directions

1.In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pomelo with the mint and sorbetto Add the rum and ice and shake well. Pour into a highball glass. Top with club soda and garnish with the lime wedge.

Light the Night

 Last night was a little test for This Old House.  500 feet of  old fashioned christmas lights were strung on the pine tree we planted for this very purpose earlier in the year. We even installed an outdoor power switch for the task at hand.     When daylight waned I could barely contain my excitement. I ran outside and flicked the switch.  Alas, the tree was a vision of colored light beauty, just as I had hoped.

 And then it wasn’t. 
And then it was…..
and wasn’t.   

  Our neighbor across the street, a lovely young woman of 80-something years,  has the same love for christmas lights as I, so I told her we’de be lighting it up, keep an eye out,  beware the glare.   After the fourth or fifth black out,  I’m sure she thought we were nutz.  Turns out those old fashioned bulbs can only be strung four strands to a power cord, or the whole thing burns out.  You also need a power cord that can deal with all that wattage.

 It was remedied today, and I’m happy to report a constant glow in that general vicinity as of 5pm.

One Small Gesture Can Mean The World

 I’ve been following this blog for a month now… words fail me in trying to describe the courage and love and determination I witness within this family when I read their story.  I’ve posted about this  young man before, but this morning there was a simple request and I’m passing it along with the hope that some of you will join in. Many of you are so creative, and I’m thinking if we each just make or find one simple ornament to hang on his tree, what a gift it would be to let him know there are people all over who are thinking of him as he fights for his life in a hospital room far from home.  

Black Friday, Cyber Monday… that’s so NOT how I want to kick off this holiday season.  Let’s help decorate this soldier’s tree…. Click on the link below to read the post… there is an address to send your ornament if you care to join in.

It’s a Pisces thing

 I was born in the sign of water
and it’s there that I feel my best
The albatross and the whale
 they are my brothers. 
(one of my favorite songs ever)
 I have always been drawn to the water, perhaps having been born on an island under the Pisces sign has something to do with it. This Old House has certainly fulfilled a dream of mine, but I have yet another…a little bungalow on the edge of the water somewhere warm.  One of these days…. if the right fixer upper comes along…..  
 My dad had fish tanks years ago and for a while raised his own stock. One of my favorite tag-along errands with him   (besides the gas station to suck in all those awesome fumes)  were trips to the fish store for supplies.  He almost always let me bring home a new fish for his finned community.  He used nautical navigation maps for the backgrounds of the tanks with rocks, plants and driftwood for decoration.  Most people have seen those aerated treasure chests you can still find today… he had one of those sitting among the rocks and for a brief while I believed they were our cleverly disquised  “family jewels”.  
 Over the years I have had several  tropical fish tanks, gold fish bowls, betta tanks, and for a very very brief time, a salt water tank that, quite frankly, tanked.    A word of advice for those who are contemplating a salt water aquarium…  DON’T DO IT!   They are surely the most beautiful of aquarium environments and the array of  fish are stunning – HOWEVER… Unless you are truly committed to one whopping responsibility consisting of near constant temperature checks, salt level checks, alchalinity, ph-balance, a back-up generator in case your power goes out,  and just in general real-cramp-in-the-a** upkeep…  it ain’t worth it.
 So… when we moved to This Old House we had one remaining tropical tank in my sons old room. He no longer wanted the responsibility of taking care of it and I felt the same way. The tank was dismantled and the fish moved to my husband’s big tank at his office.  We’ve been here almost six months now and I’ve been missing the fins.  There may have been an impulsive stop at Petco last week and I found the missing link.   
Meet Henry. 
He sits on my plant shelf over the kitchen sink.
Why “Henry” ?  I have no idea…
He is what is referred to as a Crown Fin Betta
Bettas are a relatively easy fish as long as you give them what they need.  It breaks my heart to see them in those tiny little containers at the pet stores. Sadly, more often than not customers are told and truly  believe all they need are those tiny little bowls. While it’s true they can survive for years in that condition,  so can a prisoner in a 10 x 10 cell,  to make a fair comparison.   
Henry’s home is just a small goldfish bowl with gravel and a live plant. It’s not the tank I’de prefer to see him in, but for now it’s five times the little plastic container he came in and already he’s livelier and spreading his fins like he’s courting the ceramic chicken sitting next to him.  I’ll be sure to keep the water temp around 75 degrees away from draft and I’ll do a partial water change with distilled water every five days or so to keep the ammonia level down.  A water change in this type of bowl is simple with a  filled gallon water jug  kept under the sink. It will be room temperature and distilled when I’m ready to use it.  Betta food is easy too, just don’t pollute the tank with too much of it by following feeding instructions on the container.  I also like to buy brine shrimp and blood worms on occassion to supplement their diet.  
Bettas come in all colors and a variety of fin shapes…
These are called  half-moon Betta
These are the more common Betta Splendins

More Crown Fin in beautiful  cobalt and purple hues…

This is what I hate to see….
And wouldn’t THIS… be awesome?
hmmm….. 
  

Thankful Turkeys

We get our turkey at the same farm in Guilford, CT every year.

These Turkeys are very Thankful.
They were dyed for the occasion
and so the Big Day will pass
 and they’ll be thrown back into the flock.

ThisTurkey?
Not so much.
He’s coming home with me.
This year there is much to be thankful for.
We are finally living in This Old House, the house of my dreams.
We are all here, all relatively healthy
Our Bailey dog is still among us despite the odds
and I have what I consider a blog family.
All of you who comment on my blog
whether it’s frequent or occasional,
I have so enjoyed getting to know you
and your corners of the earth.
I’m Thankful for you too.
And Aleve..I’m very thankful for Aleve,
cause without it this sciatica would drive me nutz.

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Village People

 My grandmother did it, my Aunt Virginia did it,  my mother sort of does it, and my sister’s husband does it too (lucky her).  This year me and the kid did it and it didn’t turn out half bad.

Now if this idea came to your mind instantly as you saw the blog post….

well then you’re atleast as old as me.
Now go ahead,  knock these guys all you want..
but they knew how to entertain!
The Proof? ….
 I’m willing to bet you can sing along to more than one of their songs
and you’ve probably done the YMCA full body sign language more than once. 
Am I right or am I right? 
You at least tried it in the privacy of your own room, didn’t ya.
ANYWAY… that’s not what I’m posting about.
Snow Village, Department 56 in particular.
Here’s a peek at ours…

And if anyone knows where I might be able to find the
retired Village greenhouse, let me know.

It’s illuminating

 Something about them brings out the inner child in us all,
don’t you think?
 I don’t care what kind of a crappy mood you might be in
and it doesn’t matter the reason… 
If you’re out on a winters eve and you come across
a holiday light display, most often your spirits are lifted.
 Like the moment when Kris Kringle hands the Winter Warlock
 a toy choo choo, melting the ice around his heart…. 
..or when Linus wraps his beloved blanket around Charlie Browns
sad little tree and friends who shunned him earlier
gather round to sing.
The tree (and Charlie) flourishes in this act of love.
When I see a light display or holiday decorations,
I think of the people who live inside the house.
Clearly, such an outward expression of joy means
 there is joy within, and it’s meant to be shared.
When there is no sign of celebration,
 no wreath on the door or holiday lights or candles
 in the window, I get the feeling there is sadness.
Now THESE folks must be oozing  joy….(or booze, could be that)

This is my favorite…
I’de love to recreate it but can you imagine the work?
The expense! 
My grandmother had a white christmas tree for years.
Sometimes it was decorated with all red ornaments
 and tinsel and poinsettia
and once  it was an ocean of blue.
Sounds tacky but let me tell you…
it was beautiful.
These trees aren’t exactly traditional, but they are extraordinary.
If I could only find those STARS….
 Today we’re planning what kind of joy we’ll be spreading around outside
 This Old House.
At the moment you can’t appreciate the irony of that statement
 because you’re not here.  
The teen and I are setting up the snow village.
This post is my coffee break, because I needed one badly.
 Apparently I have forgotten everything I ever knew
and he has found what I must have dropped on the floor
and multiplied it by all the smarts any adult has ever accumulated.
 Quick, ask him something, whatever it is,
while he still knows everything! 
Just for gawds sake don’t give your own opinion
 because I’ll warn you now
 you’re already wrong.
 I’m  off  to the hardware store
 to order 10,000 more sets of lights,
cause that’s what it’s gonna take.
*sigh*