The previous night’s storm brought the humidity & temps down a bit and as I was in desperate need of  a break from work yesterday, one of my teammates joined me for a walk through the cemetery close by.  I’ve written about this beautiful place in an earlier post.  As we headed down the hill on the backside, we approached the next hill at the edge of the lake; we pass a wonderful stand of bamboo and, lo and behold, there lay some fallen canes.  There is a lot of it in NC and on our last trip, the son mentioned he’d like a piece to make a didgeridoo.  We didn’t score any due to constraints of available space and private property restrictions.  You can’t take anything from the cemetery as it is a nature preserve but I knew they would just mulch it like they do with all the other dead wood so we dragged it up the hill and continued on our path.  We nonchalantly walked by the guards on our way out, hauling our booty, waving as usual.  By the time they thought of something to say, we were thru the gates and headed down Broadway with our 15 foot log.  We carried it into work and set it in the hall so I could wipe it off before I put it in my car.  Lots of smiles along the way, especially as we went through the emergency entrance (the revolving door wasn’t an option – in younger years I might have tried it).  Come time to leave, one of my other mates helped me shove it into my ride – we attached this garish red bow leftover from some 60’s Christmas display to the end of it as it hung out at least a car length and off I went.  I laughed at my own stupid ass all the way home (as did everyone else I passed – especially the group outside the bar in Germantown enjoying happy hour).  The traffic gods were on my side as I encountered very little traffic driving in the left lane with the festive pole hanging out there in the right.  One tense moment as I passed a cyclist but I cleared him.  This picture doesn’t really depict how dorky this looks.

Our son, the didgeridoo-maker, is a luthier – he’s been back with us after spending 6 years in Phoenix getting educated and experienced.  At an early age he witnessed the joys of junk picking and creating using found objects.  Some people call this hoarding, we call it repurposing.  He has set up shop at the Mellwood Arts Center http://www.mellwoodartcenter.com/

The dream, of course, is to build custom guitars – bass being his forte.  As mentioned earlier, he plays with a group currently meandering around the eastern part of the country; he is also an accomplished sax player and his mother would like to hear him play once again.  Repair work sustains life while he works on his current project(s);   Please visit his site and place an order. http://www.scottguitarworks.com/

During down times at work, our discussions often revolve around food.  One of the kids is going away next week and has booked accommodations with a kitchen.  My family does this almost exclusively as most of our trips involve enjoying the benefits of my brother’s timeshares.  She has successfully tried a number of my slow cooker recipes at the holidays and was going to use them on her trip.  This gal, by the way, does not appreciate my decorative office gnomes and was kind enough to forward me this super picture – I’m surprised she wasn’t afraid to let them into her phone!

We got to talking about Thanksgiving food as one of the recipes is for boneless turkey breast in the s-cooker.  I’ve been halfheartedly trying to empty my freezers and today I hit my stride.  This was so I could put off working on the porch sealer project.  I made the week’s fiber-load muffins (recipe back there somewhere) with dried blueberries past the ‘best if used by’ date.  Getting a jump on Sunday dinner (I always think I am but I’m actually just cooking more stuff) I found two bags of last year’s frozen cranberries so I made my sis’s cranberry pie – also used up really outdated-but-not-rancid organic shortening (just 2 Tbsp and it really makes the topping crunchy!) and dinner will be an impossible pie made with frozen Christmas turkey & dressing with Trader Joe’s baking mix about to expire.  Maybe this should be a new theme – Stale but not Dangerous?  Not as Tasty as it Used to Be?

Oh I do need to promote another product I like a lot – Gleen Green Cleaning Cloths http://gleencloth.com/– picked one up at Kroger awhile back.  Not cheap, almost $5 but the first time I used it to wash my full-glass front door I was hooked.  Proceeded to do all my windows, blinds, shutters, wood surfaces (including furniture), stainless, leather, tchotchkes, dog, (don’t have a dog) and anything else in the path.  I usually use a vinegar- water mix on the windows but it says you can just use plain water.  I had to constantly rinse the cloth – didn’t think the place was THAT dirty. The best part is no streaks or lint left behind!  Yay!

At this time I’m mentally up to date.  Later taters. (someone else made that up)

Impossible Turkey and Stuffing Pie

Cranberry Pie