Category: cocktail

Days 284-312: A Month of Delights

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

This is the longest I have gone without writing in this blog which makes me think it is good that I am only doing it for a year. The biggest delights were having Dean’s sister’s son and his family visit for a few days, hanging out with Alex and Andrew for Dean week, visiting a wedding venue, and preparing for the engagement party. It has been a very busy month, and the summer will be busy as well.

I’ll try to not let a month go by again without documenting my delights.

Delightful wall shadows

While we watch television in the family room this time of year the setting sun shines through the western windows, making patterns on the wall.

Cicada Love

A couple of cicadas doing what they were born to do.

Indoor Cicada

This fella or gal flew in the bedroom window while I was trying to take a nap.

Fairy Garden Flowers Blooming

The fairy garden flowers (from the seed packet Alex gave me) finally began blooming.

  • sweet alyssum
  • California poppy

Nick and Nora Manhattan

I bought a set of two Nick and Nora cocktail glasses and served manhattans one evening

Eggs for Dinner. Eggs for Breakfast.

One night we ate eggs and sausages (and beans, mushrooms and tomatoes) for dinner. I made egg in a hole one morning too.

Sparkly Rain

One morning as the sun came up I caught these rain droplets in the sun.

Visit from C&S and Fam

C&S and Fam were supposed to visit last summer, but we all know why that was not possible. They visited this month and it was delightful.

Great Falls

Since no museums were open during their stay, C&S and Fam and I went to Great Falls National Park.

National Zoo

We needed passes to get in, but we got them and went to the zoo. We even saw the baby panda!

  • There is a baby Panda there somewhere

Baking a Cake with G.

On the way back from Great Falls I asked the kids if anyone wanted to bake a cake with me. Everyone said yes, but only six-year-old G followed through. He wanted to do it all by himself (and he did most of it). He decorated it with flowers.

G’s Cake

Introducing G to Rupert and Chum

The morning the C family was getting ready to leave, G and I played with Rupert and Chum. At one point G decided that Rupert and Chum should bake a cake — Rupert (who G was in charge of) told Chum (my charge) the steps to make a cake that sounded a lot like our day before. It was very sweet.

Father’s Day

Dean wanted to go to Cunningham Falls for Father’s day (the official beginning of Dean week) so we did.

Our 36th Wedding Anniversary

We ate at a local French restaurant. The food was very good, but we felt out of place.

Finally a use for the star and moon light!

I bought this thinking it would be cool — and it is — but how many times can you use it for just a two person party. We’re going to use it for Andrew and Alex’s engagement party. I took a video to show them.

Dean’s Birthday

The official end of Dean Week, his birthday, was nice. We’d made plans to go to an Indian restaurant but the reservations were not correctly made (my fault) so we at at a Laotian restaurant near Andrew and Alex’s apartment. Great food! We had pie and other treats later at their appartment.

Insects and Arachnids

The cicadas may be gone, but I saw some cool critters about the house and yard

  • Bumble Bee — we may have a colony under our deck
  • Larval stage of Hercules Beetle
  • This spider hitched a ride from Virginia on some farm produce from our egg family

Day 281: Southside

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

A rainy Sunday was made delightful with a new cocktail:

Southside

  • 5 mint leaves
  • 1 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 2 ounces gin
  • 1 ounce simple syrup
  • Garnish: mint sprig

Add the mint leaves and lemon juice into a shaker and gently muddle. Add the gin and simple syrup with ice, and shake until well-chilled. Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Day 230: Aviation Cocktails

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

Before I learned about The Last Word cocktails I didn’t know that Luxardo Maraschino existed and that I should have some in my liquor cabinet at all times. Searching for other recipes that called for Luxardo Maraschino I came across the Aviation cocktail, but then had to find Crème de violette as well. Once I did and tried the aviation cocktail, I knew we also needed to always have Crème de violette in our ever growing liquor cabinet as well. I am not sure which of the two is my favorite.

Because today is Friday, cocktail hour day, and because the first news I read this morning was about the death of Prince Philip I decided to make a cocktail in his honor. Apparently he liked beer but we had no Boddingtons (and beer is not a cocktail). I first thought we’d have simple gin and tonics, but then noticed the lonely bottle of Crème de violette and remembered the aviation cocktail. Since Prince Philip was once in the RAF, I decided that is what we’d drink and with what we’d toast to Prince Philip’s long life.

Days 184 – 193: Mostly Plants

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago we met with a landscaper and his partner to discuss some plants for our backyard. It’s pretty much been an eyesore for years and I decided that I didn’t want to just add a few plants, but really re-do the yard. Pull up the ivy and vinca, plant native wildlife-attracting shrubs and perennials. We’ve been throwing ideas back and forth with the landscapers and have settled on some exciting-to-me plants:

  • Skip Laurels along the back to hide our neighbor’s driveway and guesthouse-office
  • Beautyberry bushes along the other neighbor’s fence along with some other, yet to be decided native perennials
  • Native shade-loving plants around the deck:
    • goldenrod
    • bleeding hearts
    • wood asters
    • two types of ferns
  • Woodsy plants in the deep shade such as jack-in-the-pulpit, maybe some trillium
  • I also want to plant a spicebush on the side of the house

The folks have done quite a bit of work — mostly removing invasive ivy and vinca. They also took down a wire fence between our yard and the backdoor neighbor. It looks bare now, but at some point it will be beautiful.

I really love my houseplants. When I look at them my heart soars. I thought I was a houseplant killer, but these are doing well. Of course they are pretty easy to keep alive, but still.

Other delights of the past several days:

  • Snowdrops were discovered under some ivy and pachysandra — a remnant of a fairy garden Clare and I tried to create
  • The juncos are still around and enjoying the thistle seed
  • I’ve figured out where to put the bird feeder when the garden is done
  • I didn’t kill the wintersweet (whew!)

176 – 183 Some Delights, Some Gratitude

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

I feel as if I am not looking hard enough for daily delights. Days and weeks are just the same old, same old.

Let’s see —

New computer

I bought a new-to-me (refurbished) desktop for the attic study mostly because my laptop (which is still great) is very low on storage space. I could have moved things off the laptop to external drives, but this deal came up ($150 for a decent refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre) and I pressed “buy” without out much thought. It arrived and works very well. So what if I cannot use video backgrounds with Zoom.

Vacation planned

Dean’s been wanting to get away so I researched and booked an Airbnb in Savanah. The weather should be nice and maybe I will see Painted Buntings!

Cocktails

Dean and I had Last Word cocktails on Friday (yum but strong!) and less potent champagne (cava actually) cocktails on Saturday.

The Secret History

I started reading The Secret History, Donna Tartt’s first novel since my last post. It was a book group read early on in the history of the book group (pre-1999) and probably before I joined in 1995 (the book group was founded a few years before I joined). Anyway, I wasn’t sure I liked it when I started reading it. The first couple of chapters were a slog, but I am having a hard time putting it down now. I might have given up in the middle of chapter two, but Clare said she loved the book. I assumed she would with the ancient Greek and all. Interestingly it takes place at a fictional college in Vermont that is based on Tartt’s alma mater, Bennington — a school I really wanted Clare to visit on her college tour because it is where Shirley Jackson wrote most of her works.

Letting go

I threw away a 17 year-old can of Bird’s custard yesterday. I kept the 9 year-old one though.

In the more grateful than delightful category:

Electricity, water, heat

As I hear about the power outages in Texas, I should be grateful (if not delighted) I live where a winter storm might cause power outages, but we’d still have water and the power company is prepared for winter weather.

Life and health

As the numbers of people dead from Covid-19 in the United States near half a million, I should be grateful that I am healthy and wealthy enough to be able to stay away from people who might be exposed. I am able to have groceries delivered instead of going to the store. I don’t have to go to a job where I might be exposed.

Days 168 – 176: A Whole Lot of Nothing

~ Dona ~ 8 Comments

I think this covid shit has finally worn me down. I’ve not been visited by many delights — or maybe I have and I have not recognized them. I’ve been sad and angry many of these days, although there have been a few bright spots.

In no particular order some contenders for delights:

  • Andrew and Alex joined us for Superbowl Sunday and a chili dinner (and a Zoom chat with Alex’s folks)
  • I’ve had some nice chats with Clare
  • We met with some friendly folks from a landscaping company about our backyard.
  • The temperature got to 50° one day
  • The snow was pretty one day with 2-inch flakes
  • I think I am starting to like tofu
  • Cocktails:
    • Orange Blossom
    • Old Fashioned
  • Netflix binges:
    • Emily in Paris
    • Firefly Lane
  • Books:

Day 167: Birds and a Rob Roy

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

Today as I closed the side door in the kitchen after dumping the compost in the outside compost bin, I saw a large bird fly towards a tree across the street. I suspected it was a Pileated Woodpecker as it approached the tree and when it landed on the trunk, about 30 feet above the ground my suspicions were confirmed. That was the first Pileated Woodpecker I’ve seen from my house in more than 25 years. There used to be a nesting pair kitty-corner from us, but their home was cut down long ago.

The second bird that delighted me was actually two birds. Two very frisky Tufted Titmouses (Titmice?) were performing a courtship ritual.

Tonight’s cocktail was a Rob Roy. Delightful!