Behold

Our first brisket. Mmmm. Mason tended the fire and I am proud to say I carved it. The house still smells like smoke.

Random video I love

Aretha Franklin sings "Nessun Dorma"

So, the backstory is that Pavarotti was supposed to sing "Nessun Dorma," from Puccini's Turandot at the 1998 Grammys. It's apparently his signature song. But at the last minute, as in, the day of the Grammys, he comes down with something and can't sing. Of course, this sends the producers into a frenzy and they have to scramble for a last-minute replacement. So they show up at Aretha's dressing room hours before the show, hand her a tape and ask her to sing it.

She brings the house down. I seriously get goosebumps when I listen to it.

Finally!

Sanjaya's out!

And all God's people said AMEN.

There but for the grace of God I go

Virginia Tech Web site
Official memorial Web site
Friday, April 20, is Hokie Hope day, during which people around the country will wear orange and maroon.

When I heard about the shootings yesterday I was reminded of the Columbine shootings, of course, which happened during my senior year in high school. I re-read this column I wrote about it (scroll down to the April 17 entry) four years later in college. Writing it was a blessing.

Wines I Like

Last weekend, we enjoyed Geyser Peak Winery's 2006 Sauvignon Blanc with our Sunday dinner (sun-dried tomato/mascarpone stuffed chicken, basmati rice) and it was divine. I tend to like red wines more than whites, as I feel that most reds go with more types of food and can be enjoyed on their own. I don't expect a lot from wines whose grapes are harvested the same year they are bottled; this wine, however, was pleasantly tart (I don't like overly sweet wines) and went extremely well with the meal. Sauvignon blanc is probably the most tart wine you'll drink, and I love it. This one isn't too Sweet-Tarty, and complemented the chicken's lemon hints. I tasted it at the Grapevine Market on Anderson Lane if you'd like to pick up a bottle.

Tonight, Mason was reliving his college days at Crown and Anchor with a friend, so I reheated some stuffed chicken, steamed some green peas and made a bulgur risotto with lemon, Parmigiano-Reggiano and mascarpone cheeses. With this meal, I enjoyed a bottle of 2005 Cooper's Creek Marlborough Reisling, an excellent New Zealand wine. If you're familiar with Rieslings you'd expect it to be sweet, but this one is more tart, which made me love it as I don't like overly sweet wines. It has lemon and citrus hints that went beautifully with the meal, and once I was finished eating it stood on its own. I highly recommend it.

Some outside house pics

This is Mister Lincoln. That's the official name of this rose variety. It's doing the best of the six roses I have right now and produces big, bright red blooms that smell wonderful.








This is Moon Shadow. Again, the official name. It produces more blooms than Mister Lincoln although it has more fungus, which I'm working on getting rid of. That's what happens when you abandon a plant in January and new owners don't move in till March. At any rate, the flowers are really pretty and every time I spot this bush I get that Cat Stevens song in my head.





This is the front of the house, minus most of the garage since Mason's truck is parked out front and blocks most of it. Sorry about the spot in the bottom corner; my Photoshop skills aren't advanced enough to get rid of it. I love having a front porch. It's something I always wanted and didn't think I'd get since not many houses in Austin have them. I got lucky.





Today I bought a nectarine tree and a lemon tree, fulfilling my dream of having fruit trees in the backyard. As I dug the hole to plant the nectarine tree, I hit several large rocks (up to 12 inches long -- huge!) and was reminded why lots of plants don't grow well here. Let's hope my fruit trees do well.

If you don't come across I'm gonna be down

Tonight we watched Wordplay, a magnificent, and magnificently nerdy documentary about the NY Times crossword puzzles and a national crossword puzzle contest. If you're not into this sort of thing there's nothing I can say to convince you to watch it. However, if you are, you know it. It reminds me why I love Netflix. You can't find this kind of movie in video stores.

Internet 1.0

Check out this video from a Canadian TV report in 1993 about the Internet. Wow. My favorite part is when he explains emoticons.

Since I might wake up and think it was all a dream

I took pictures to document this snowy day in April. I hope I never have to say "snowy day in April" again.

My car. The roofs of the houses across the street are white.

Snow collected in the patches of dead grass in the back yard.

The flower bed in back and Atticus, who thought he made his grand escape into the back yard.

Atticus realizing he made a terrible, terrible mistake and walking quite prissily through the snowy dirt back inside.

Well, I was going to take pictures of the outside of the house today

But I can't because IT'S 35 DEGREES AND SLEETING OUTSIDE. No, I haven't moved to Siberia. I'm still in Austin. No, I didn't warm up the ol' flux capacitor and travel back to January. It's still April. And it's officially colder here than in parts of ALASKA.

I'm going to be really upset if my plants die. The ones I JUST PLANTED BECAUSE IT'S APRIL IN TEXAS.

Sorry

Long day at work today and I didn't take any house pics. They'll come soon, I promise.

Since you asked -- house pics

Several people have asked me to send pictures of the new house, so I took some of the inside. I'll add more of the exterior tomorrow. Here goes.

Guest bedroom #1. We haven't quite gotten around to decorating it yet. It's been two weeks so I don't feel bad about that.

Upstairs bathroom. It's hard to take a flattering picture of a bathroom.


Loft, with some of the balcony that overlooks the living room. It's hard to tell, but the walls are LSU purple. We think we're going to make this into an exercise room and are looking for an elliptical machine to put here. Sadly it's too small to put a pool/ping pong table and still have enough elbow room to get your game on.


Atticus in the pappasan -- I'm looking down from the loft into the living room. Atticus is getting fat but he is still a useful exterminator, having taken out several bugs that have flown into the house.

Living room, looking down from the loft. I know it's messy.

Our new toy, a 50 in. Samsung HD tv. Oh, the joy of having room for a nice tv. Note the lovely green in the background, a product of our wonderful painting skills.

Messy kitchen. I got home late from work today. Sue me. Anywho, it's hard to tell here but all the appliances are stainless steel, and the fridge (out of view, to the right) has the freezer on the bottom, which gives the foodie in me a lot of joy. The new dining room table is so messy you can't see it in all it's glory, so I'll take a pic of that another time. Probably right after we clean it because we have guests coming over.

Sink in the half bath downstairs. I only took a picture because I wanted to point out the cute pedestal sink. All the sinks in the house are like this.

Other guest bedroom, which will be painted soon (as evidenced by the blue tape you see) and is being used for storage at the moment (as evidenced by the vacuum in the corner of the pic) and was apparently once inhabited by pets or small dirty children who liked to rub against walls (as evidenced by the dirty spot you can see near the floor, which is one of many dirty spots in the room). I call it the dirty room and will continue to do so till it's painted.

I didn't take pics of the master bedroom or bath yet but will do tomorrow. I know you'll all be waiting anxiously.

Keith Richards snorts blow, ashes

I knew the man was a loon but he actually mixed his father's ashes with some blow and snorted it.

UT police officers can be quite funny

So, I subscribe to Campus Watch, which is a daily e-mailed account of all the crime University of Texas police officers report. Most of it is stuff like -- you guessed it -- public intoxication. In the midst of the boring stuff the author(s) sometimes throw something that makes me laugh and make the report worth subscribing to. Like this:

Two UT students were staggering. One student was observed leaning to the left and the other to the right, not in their political views but in an effort to support each other as they attempted to maintain their navigational beacons back to Jester Dormitory.

You can subscribe here.

A very active hurricane season? I'm shocked, just shocked!

As my astute hubby pointed out this morning, a breaking news headline announcing a weather forecaster's prediction of a very active hurricane season is not news. Apparently, CNN even recognizes this -- in the highlight box above the story, one bullet says "Last year, [this forecaster's] forecast, like others, overestimated storms."

Bigger news would be "Forecaster Predicts Hurricane Season Will be So-So."

Back to blogging!

After a long break from my blogging days at World Magazine, I've decided to re-enter the blogosphere. This blog will be much less formal than my World blog, so get ready for house pics and cat pics mixed in with the occasional serious post. Let the blogging begin!