garden things

I picked my first zucchini last evening. I also picked some radishes still tasty inspite of the heat. It has been hotter than hell and the garden still seems to be doing well. Hopefully, all this nice hot weathe will translate into lovely tomatoes. We have a number of them on the vine. So far only the cherries are starting to ripen. The beans, cucumbers, dill, fennel, and basil are doing fantastic. We already made some fresh pesto one day.

The flowers are looking well. The ladyslippers seem to do doing well. The zinnias, nasturtiums, and marigolds haven't blossomed yet but soon. The rudbekia that the old woman in the Farmer's Market told me to buy is beautiful. I bought three plants from her as she said they were her last and she said they would be beautiful and they are with more red in the center and and orange on the fringe. The black blue salvia is still attracting hummingbirds and I have seen several butterflies and bees in the garden. Lucky us.

Cuzco pic

This pic was taken outside a roadside cafe where they serve chicha de jora (fermented beverage made with maize) and frutillada (chicha with strawberries added). Note the red flag, that tells the passerby that this place sells chicha de jora. (There is another chicha, chicha morada, which is made with blue corn and is very refreshing). You see them everywhere in Peru in the countryside. I had a frutillada and found it very refreshing and tasty. I was cautioned to drink not all of it as it may have an adverse effect on my bowels. This stand is an example of a tradition that is thousands of years old. An elderly woman was the proprietor. She made the food, fermented the beverages chicha de jora and frutillada. This is how women survived for thousands of years if they had been widowed or lived alone. There are no pensions for elderly in the third world. They survive by being part of the economy and providing a service. Women have brewed since the beginning of time. They cooked and the brewed. At this point in time, we reap the benefits of thousands of years of fermentation and cooking. Here's to women, God bless them all!

weekend things

I had a pretty good weekend. I met with friends on Friday night. Saturday, we went to dinner at a friend's home and they had made a lovely meal of spring rolls with plum sauce, hoisin sauce, peanut sauce, and hot chili sauce. White and rose wine was served as well as tea. The main entree was a lovely pasta salad with pesto, dried tomatoes, and pine nuts and fresh baked bread. Dessert was home made frozen yogurt strawberry, blueberry and berries with blueberries on top. We saw their collection bonsai trees and they talked about all the travails they have with keeping them watered and in good form. We listened to bagpipe music and showed off our pictures from Scotland and Portland. My friends had gone to Scotland in June. Specifically, they went to the Outer Hebrides, Harris and Lewis, England, and Peebles. I had gone to Scotland at the end of May and beginning of June and visited Islay, Jura, Kintyre Peninsula, Speyside, and Glen Clova. We also showed our pictures from Portland. Listening to music from the Western Isles is always so much fun and they enjoy it as much as we do.

Sunday, I had brunch with my son and his family. They have been hosting an exchange student from Grenoble France for the last three weeks. It was very nice to meet him. I also weeded and watered my butterfly garden. Yesterday, I sighted hummingbirds and butterflies in the garden.

My granddaughter is in the state girls soccer tournament. I went to act as a supporter and cheerleader. Unfortunately, I did not add any luck as they lost a close one 3 -2. After, the tournament it was upstairs and looking at rss feeds, social networks, and loading pictures from out trips to Picasa (that was a bloody long slog). Tonight, I am hoping this will be far easier.

Cuzco 2007

 

Beer things

Last night I gave two brewery tours at Summit Brewery St. Paul, MN to the folks visiting there to participate in the Lighting Run. Lots of bike or hogs, young and old, tattooed or not, and in leathers or not, and all of them enjoying a perfect evening as the humidity had dissapated and there was a gentle breeze. The tours were smaller, 12-24 people. I gave them an abbreviated tour which still took around 40 minutes. When I wasn't talking about Summit I was pouring it for people, a lot of them had never had Summit and never had a full bodied craft beer. It was fun.

After the tours, I went to Barley John's brew pub and met Molly and Doug. We sat outside enjoying the perfect Minnesota summer evening. I had two beers their Wild Brunette and the Old 8 Porter. I hadn't had any beers at Summit as I don't like to give tours and drink beer. We talked of many things. Doug has been going crazy with geneology and has discovered all sorts of links to his family. I told them of my adventures in Portland and all beers that were sampled for research purposes. I also told them about the exciting and fun seminars I had taken at the AALL Convention. Great evening talking beer, computer and Internet technology, and whatever else was interesting under the evening sky.

RSS Things

Adding these RSS links was rather difficult and yet easy once I actually did it. I probably spent more time than I should have, however, I've read a number of articles and saw explanations of what RSS is on YouTube. Learning all this new material is mind blowing. I hope to spend part of the weekend working on my RSS links, feeds, and sharing it all with friends and colleagues.

Playing with things in my and for my blog

I have had a long and interesting morning setting up this blog. It has been fun and with some timely questions to staff that have more experience and expertise I have finally started my blog. Now I am adding content and things i.e. avatar, rss, and favorite things.I may actually get something going here.

On Tuesday evening, after band practice and needing some neck oil to relieve a parched throat and a dry tongue. My friend Thom and I went to the Muddy Pig and we had a couple of glasses. Thom had a beer called Rogue Latona and Cain & Ebel. I had a Domain du page and a Matilda from Goose Island . It was a nice, pleasant way to finish off a Tuesday of bagpipes and drums.

My first post to my blog

The setting up of the blog was relatively painless. I took a walk this morning to clear my head and thought about blogging and rss feeds. So I thought I would just jump in and do it. It has been interesting to see over the last few days since I came back from Portland all the various blogs I've been looking at. It has really gotten me excited to the point where I am emailing to colleagues about various blogs and what we like about them or don't like about them. This is all in preparation for creating our own. By generating enough enthusiasm I hope to get all the staff involved with adding to our own library blog.