Patrisha

January 17, 2007

A Nasty Cold Day*

EDITED for something that really amused me this morning; Well, you remember Pasta per due, the little book we will will be reading in Italian? It is the story of Minni from Thailand and Libero from Italy who meet on line? {"C’è posta per te! You’ve got mail!} So,Capitolo Due {Chapter Two} starts off with Minni sending Libero an email before she gets on the plane to come to Rome to see him. She asks him how she will recognize him because the photo she has of him is an old one and "Voi italiani sembrate tutti uguali" If I am translating that correctly, she is telling him "You Italians all look the same!" That was where I laughed aloud. Librero tells her it will be easy to recognize him because he will be wearing yellow and red! The mind boggles! But, remember, this is the man who went to work wearing one brown and one blue shoe because his mind was on seeing Minni…
Italian Phrase of the Day: Questo anno ha iniziato bene. This year is off to a great start

My comment on this: No, questo anno non ha iniziato bene perchè detesto questo tempo. Che tempo fa? Il tempo fa freddo, molto freddo e gelido! Brrr! No, this year is not off to a good start because I hate this weather. And what is the weather doing? The weather is cold, very cold and frosty. Brrr!

This morning my walking buddy called and I told her I thought the roads and the sidewalks were too dangerous to go out walking. She will call me tomorrow at the usual time when she gets off work but I have a feeling it will be the same tomorrow. I was really hoping the snow plow would come down our road and get the icy slush removed so we could, at least, walk up and down on the road, but it looks the same this morning as it did yesterday so I decided it wasn’t safe.

After my sister died, my brother-in-law saved a lot of her sweaters for me if I wanted them. Well, of course I did. This is, after all, Vermont, one of the prime sweater-wearing lands! So this morning I am wearing this big heavy one and, to my surprise, I felt elastic around the bottom of the sleeves. When I looked, there was a rubber band under each wrist turn-back. And then, of course, I remember my sister couldn’t stand to have long sleeves she couldn’t push up on her arms! Very ingenious! This is a very good sweater for the weather we are having now.
Today we have a friend of Fred’s coming to eat with us and on the way out here, he is going to stop by the grocery store and get things we are running out of. I have just put the ingredients for a loaf of bread into the machine. One thing we were out of was yeast but I did have some fast-acting in the refrigerator. Apparently one and a half teaspoons of fast-acting is the equivalent of two teaspoons of the ordinary yeast. So, I used half a teaspoon less and we shall see how it turns out. Fred has already made the basics of a good stew. All he has to do now is the add the veggies. This is one of his loaves-and-fishes recipes in that every time he warms it up it keeps getting bigger because he adds stuff!

Now I need to do some Italian. I have already cleared off the table so we have somewhere to eat and I just need to dry-mop and wet mop the dining room floor, and of course, the kitchen floor which is a never-ending job! But all this can be done after Italian!

QUOTATION FOR THIS MONTH: If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. — Marcus Aurelius

Until later….

Mmm…Looking forward to cold weather so I can have some stew now…

Pat

January 18, 2007

That was ingenious of her! A sweater definitely will help guard against the cutting winds of January! Mmmm…homemade stew and homemade bread! That sounds delicious!

goodbye bleeder

I hate the cold weather too. I am just miserable in it and unfortunately I cannot stay out of it. Some stew and bread sounds really delightful, yummy. You’re making me hungry so maybe I shall go and find a chicken recipe for my crock pot… LOL.

Violet

Tell the above noter she can have MY cold weather because I don’t care for stew. LOL! I like your loaves-and-fishes comment.

I have yet to wear any of my big, heavy sweaters this season. I kind of miss them, but I have liked the 70* weather we’ve been having around here. Well, up until this week, that is 🙂

Happy Trails

I will have to send Fred a recipe where you freeze all your left overs and then make soup out of them.

momof2boys2

I am going to remember the idea of the rubber bands. That is a great idea.

BedlamHillFarm

NC is getting a taste of winter as well! Low 40’s today, according to Lady Wife. Back to the 50’s tomorrow, but maybe we’re finally getting some winter.

And now I can’t wait to see what happens to Minni and Libero next!!

That sounds like a very fun book!

lisyl

Great quote. And how dear to find those rubber bands. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

oh good luck with your cleaning. Thank you so much for your notes yesterday. They helped and yes I know you are right. Giving up will only make things worse. I also checked out the TES website here and saw that a lot of other teachers are having exactly the same problem. I know it is a problem, and I have heard it before, but not quite a aggressively as this time. thank you.

oh and yes, homemade stew and bread does sound very delicious. just perfect for the cold weather you are having. i’m convinced its heading this way.

Alis Volat_Propriis

Hope you have a good visit and meal with Freds friend!!! Stew and Bread is just the thing to warm up a cold day! <3 Annie-Rae

I’ll be the one wearing red and yellow! 🙂 It’s cold down here, too, but not Vermont cold. Fred’s stew and your bread sounds like the perfect dinner.

MMMMM! Stew and homemade bread. That DOES sound delicious!!! Enjoy your company and you meal. Hugs, M

greeneyes&sunflowers

: ) *huggs*

raeven

You are really loving this Italian aren’t you? :- ) I can feel your enthusiasm through the computer screen.. ryn, some of my fav things to add are: scallions, roasted red peppers, garlic and green olives.. it is like a spicy, veggie cream cheese that way.. you can also add toasted caraway seeds and caramelized onions.. just plain scallions is good too.. paprika gives it a nice, red peppery taste.. oh and black pepper. another nice and very summery combo is cucumbers and dill.. I would add some onion powder or caramelized onions to that one as well.. Yogurt cheese is so good!

Ahem

Your Italian is really coming along. I’m tremendously impressed. ryn: I’m excited to be in class again even though it is only about a five week community education course. I know I’ll learn a lot, so I’m really excited to get started. I think classes start the first week of February, so stay tuned!

short n sweet

ryn: Ok…now I really know I have to watch out for those sweet, innocent looking older ladies. One accuses me of stealing her socks and another admits she did it. :o) you’re note gave me quite a chuckle…thanks

Dangnabbit

RYN: I simply cannot imagine anyone of any background not wishing to be in any class where you are teaching. I always told Emmy to choose the best teacher regardless of the subject taught. It is their loss, dear lady.

Mezzo

I love that! “Loaves and Fishes recipe”. How very cool, and utterly Fred! Love ya! ~M

Shi

ryn: a paraeducator is support staff in the classroom. I’ll be giving extra help to kids who, while still able to succeed in a mainsteam classroom, struggle because of disabilities.

Telynor

We got a faint dusting of snow today, but not much else. It is bitter cold right now, or at least it feels that way because it’s been so warm.

TheWoodsprite

There is three or four inches of snow on the ground here in Augusta, Maine, too….and supposed to get more today! I was so happy to see snow! hugs, Weesprite

gray tabby

January 19, 2007

i need some good warm sweaters. i’ve only got sweatshirts and sometimes they aren’t really warm. it got above freezing today and melted the half inch of snow we got overnight. take care,