Buttercream or Creamcheese

The other night we had our first icing.  There was an ice storm through the night and we woke up to discover everything was covered in ice; the grass, plants, trees, sidewalks, cars.  Our car was completely encased in a 1/4 inch layer of ice.  We've never seen anything like this.
The 2009 Ice Storm of Louisville (before we lived here) produced a 2 inch layer of ice encasing everything.  The weight of the ice snapped tree branches and downed power lines.  People were without electricity for a week.  I hope this does not repeat itself; a 1/4 inch ice layer is enough to deal with.  But just in case I've got our large flannel comforter reading to keep us warm.

I took some photos of the grass and plants to try to show the layer of ice; if you look closely you will see that the plants are totally encased in ice.

What To Do When the Weather is Dreary

Celebrating winter storms with some Muppet Show.
Here are a few of my favorites.  (scroll down for more)

Gargeling With Mark Hamill

Koozebanian Mating Ritual

Alan Arkin Drinks the Jekyl-Hyde Potion

First of December Brings Snow

Time Marches On

Typically we do something fun for our anniversary.  Last year we went to Lover's Leap Winery and the year before was Disneyland.  This year work schedules and homework got in the way, so we celebrated with cleaning, laundry, a flu shot and pizza.  Time does not stop for anniversaries.

Last night was our first snow fall of the year.  With the everlasting heat wave that started in May and lasted through October we didn't have much of Spring and now only a few weeks in, Fall is officially over.  Hello Winter and welcome!

Happy Halloween

Museums

Even though I could never spell museum as a child (I still have trouble with it; thank you spell checker), I have been going to art museums since I could walk (maybe before, but I can't remember that far back).  Museums are my mom's passion and in every city we traveled to museums would be a must do activity.  Sometimes we would go to science museums or natural history museums (both great fun for children), or we might go to a historical home like the Vanderbilt Estate, but it was art museums that were most visited.  I have vast memories of following my mom through hallways of art, stopping to stare at each piece for a very long time. (It was probably only five minutes, but to a small child it felt like forever.)  We would walk around these giant pieces of art for hours until I started complaining a little too loudly that my feet hurt, my legs hurt and I was tired.  Then my mom would find a comfortable bench for me to sit on and wait.  Many times when she returned I was asleep (you'd be surprised how many little kids used to take naps on art museum benches in the early 80's).  But other times I was plopped in front of a painting that piqued my interest.  I would stare at it intently only stopping to occasionally people watch or to talk to the guard who was making sure I wasn't putting my sticky child fingers on the art. 

Those years of childhood art torment have somehow glued themselves into my psyche because now I love going to art museums and galleries.  Lucky for me, Louisville has a very strong art scene and has an abundence of art shows at galleries, coffee houses and even tattoo parlors.  If I catch myself with free time (or needing some free time) there is always an art show I can go to.  It is a great outing (that is usually free).  I am so glad to be living in a city with such a robust and thriving art community, because with my art loving brainwashing childhood, I'd be stuck looking at blank walls and feeling a little empty.

P.S. It is still a daunting task keeping up with my mom's fervor for art museums.  I am able to last a little longer than I used to, but I still have to complain a little to remind my mom that I need lunch at some point. But I am very glad that I now enjoy going to museums with my mom; it is a special time for me.

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Can you spot what is odd about this shelf of mayo?

Filler

It has been above 100 this whole week, so I have not done anything.  To make up for the lack of writing, I am posting pictures from my Florida trip.

Random Thoughts

It has been a very dry summer for a subtropical climate, which is the climate I am now supposedly living in.  It has been very bizarre watching the radar.  A giant storm will be approaching from the west and as it is approaching Louisville, the storm will diverge resulting in rain to the north and the south, but clear skies in Louisville.  (I think I am living in the continental US version of the Bermuda Triangle, a place where storms disappear.)  After two storms past by us this way yesterday, we finally got rain last night.  It was a major thunderstorm that started while I was sleeping and didn't end till late morning.  The sound of thunder and pouring rain is very relaxing to me.  I had a very refreshing sleep last night.

Walking around the complex a few days ago I saw a baby bunny eating some fresh green leafy sprouts.  It was the tiniest bunny I have ever seen and hadn't developed a fear of humans yet.  I was able to observe the baby bunny for a few minutes.  These few minutes filled me with joy for the rest of the day and refills me with joy as I write about it now.

Last week I found a bunch of insect exoskeletons on the ground surrounding the trunk of our birch tree.  It was a definite sign of molting.  And I thought it was cicadas because we have an abundance of them.  But a few days ago there was a cicada by our front door.  It stayed there for a long time and I was able to take a lot of pictures of it.  It had very cool markings and looked nothing like the exoskeletons I had found.  I was at a lost as to what insects my cool preserved skins formally belonged to.  Then tonight, I finally looked up cicada on Wiki and it has this very cool video of a cicada molting.  This confirmed my initial belief that what I had collected were cicadas.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicadas  Scroll down to 'Life Cycle.'

P.S.  It was brought to my attention that more pictures would be appreciated.  So here is our friendly cicada.

P.S.S.  Park visit has been delayed due to a major histamine reaction to an unknown diabolical Kentucky insect who bit me.  It will happen soon.

Ten Degrees Above Average

This June has been incredibly hot and humid.  By 10am every day the head index has already climbed into the high 90s.  And with our very loud and robust cicada population the feeling of humidity is enhanced by the jungle-like sounds.

Today we are having normal temperatures for the first-time this month; mid-80s, about 40% humidity.  It is a lovely day.  I was able to accomplish so much today without the excessive heat tiring me out by noon.  I went to lunch with my husband, went to two coffee houses to see local art shows, explored some new shops and discovered a new gallery which I plan to visit on Friday (when open).  And now, usually the hottest time of day, I am able to sit outside with my dog in the shade with a cool breeze and a cold drink.  Today has been delightful. 

Tomorrow I am going to explore a nearby park that looks magical from the road; big trees and a winding creek.  The weather should be just as beautiful tomorrow as it is today, which makes it the ideal time for city park exploration.  Louisville has 18 Olmsted Parks, the same architect who designed New York's Central Park.  I am excited for the new exploration and will give a vivid description of the adventure.

Lights in the Trees

There are so many fireflies tonight lighting up the grass to the tops of trees that it looked like Christmas in June with birds and ACs providing the carols.

The Sad Life of a Bird

Everyday I see at least one bunny and one cardinal.  And every day it is amazing.  With all the open space I have seen birds (that I can't identify), squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks, hedgehogs, deer, geese, butterflies, dragonflies and big hairy bees.  For me it is very serene not to be surrounded by concrete.  But being close to nature reminds me of animal hardships.

In early Spring a song bird made a nest in my neighbors flower box.  She sat on her eggs diligently through huge thunderstorms and winds.  A couple days before the eggs were ready to hatch, a crow flew in and ate them.  The song bird was so sad and searched every where for her babies but she could not find them.  Eventually she had to give up and flew away alone.

Today I saw a beautifully constructed nest on the ground under a big tree.  There were three small bright blue eggs lying next to the nest, two of which were cracked with insects crawling inside.  It must have fallen during a strong wind that have been common lately.  I felt so sorry for the mama bird that had to fly away without her babies.  It is a hard life to be a mama bird.

Update:  Yesterday I saw a nest with four hungry baby birds chirping loudly for food that two adult birds collected nearby.

Give Me Colour

I love strolling through antique stores; a habit I picked up from my mom.  I can spend hours looking at all the neat objects of the past.  Sometimes I see stuff that triggers memories.  I saw a copper pot exactly like one my mom has that she kept by the fireplace when I was little.  My mom kept pine cones in it and the one in the store had pine cones too.  A coincidence like that makes me start to wonder, why pine cones?  My mom thought they were pretty.  Did the former owner the the other copper pot think pine cones are pretty too?

Yesterday I was wandering through one of Louisville's very large antique stores and I got a little sad.  Antique stores are very bright and colourful because they are filled with colourful objects.  Items in antique stores have a lot of flare.  Clothes, furniture and kitchen ware from the past came in every colour you can think of (and some you didn't even know existed).  They have patterns, designs and a lot of flamboyance.  A soup tureen was once a giant colourful tomato.  A modern store is so dull in comparison.  Where did all our colour and flare go?  And who decided it should leave?  Why do we settle for khaki pants, clear vases and eggshell walls?  I want the zane and pop found in antique stores.  I want flare back in my life.

Louisville Insights

One advantage of living in a city surrounded by farmland is being able to participate in community supported agriculture (CSA).  It was too late to sign-up for a meat CSA but I was able to join a veggie CSA.  CSAs are great because you get whatever the farmer is currently harvesting; it is fresh and local food directly from the farm.  I thought I knew a lot about vegetables but with my first pick-up from the farmer I was given something that had to be explained to me; green garlic.  It looks like a gigantic scallion, but it is unripened garlic.  You slice-up the white soft part and add it to a recipe for (what the farmer said) a really great rich garlic flavour.  I am looking forward to experimenting with my green garlic and all the other veggies that I will be getting throughout the growing season.


Political signs are everywhere in Louisville.  The majority of lawns I drive past have at least one political sign.  Some of these signs are very large and they are for every office.  I even saw a sign for district judge.  It would take me hours of online research to find out anything about the judges on San Diego's ballots.  With elections several months away, I can't wait to see how "colorful" Louisville lawns get.

Can You See Thunder?

Thunder Over Louisville is the kick-off event for the Derby festivities. Thunder consists of an air show that starts at 3:00pm and a 30 minute fireworks display that starts at 9:30pm. It is a huge event that Kentuckianas crowd along the Ohio River to watch. People stake out spots early in the morning and picnic all day long. To avoid the huge crowds along the river, we opted to go to Iroquois Park; a park in the southern part of Louisville that is on a very high hill. From the top of Iroquois Park you can see downtown Louisville, the location of the fireworks. We joined a couple hundred people at the top of this park to watch the fireworks. To get to the top we had to hike up a switch-back trail that was not in the best of repair. Everyone hiking up this trail were so well prepared for night hiking that everyone was using their cellphones as a light on this dark and somewhat dangerous trail. We looked like a long line of eerily lit ghosts slowly climbing a hill through a very dark forest. Once on top we all patiently waited for the fireworks to start fifteen minutes late. When we finally heard the booms, we stopped our conversations and turned to look at the fireworks. However, due to annual tree growth, only half of the people had a good view. The other half who couldn't see through the trees (including us) turned back to hike down the dark dangerous muddy trail. But after all that effort we did not miss the awesome fireworks display; we saw them from the couch on NBC's re-broadcast.

Unexpected Adventures

The trees have bloomed in Louisville and the wildflowers are everywhere.  To fully absorb all this beauty I went to Bernheim Research Forest on Friday morning.  My intention was to walk around on the trails then find a nice quiet spot to sit and draw Spring blooms.  On the trail that I was walking I encountered a woman who was so excited to see a rare wildflower that she had to show the first person to walk by.  She was a naturalist who volunteers at Bernheim.  And since I love to learn about plants I spent the next two hours walking with her while she pointed out all the different wild flowers and butterflies.  Some of the wildflowers were so small and hidden that I would not have seen them on my own.  I had a wonderful time.  I never did find a spot to draw, but I had a great unexpected adventure.

Louisville Tidbits

Our winter is now changing over into Spring. And from what we hear from locals, Louisville has very wet Springs. After three very nice sunny days the six day forecast is 70-90% chance of rain every day. We have already had two tornado warnings and our first ever tornado sirens. When I lived in Miami, we had tornado drills at school but I never heard a tornado siren before; and in San Diego there are not even tornado drills. Hearing the tornado siren reminded me of movies and TV shows about the London air raids in WWII or the nuclear fall out adds from the 70's; it made me want to duck and cover. If we do get a tornado, it will be our first tornado, but we are not hoping to have this new experience.

We went to Tom Sawyer State Park on one of the sunny days. This park is only ten minutes from us. It has a lot of walking paths, but I did not enjoy my time there because of excessive dog poop dodging. I don't enjoy walking with my head down trying to avoid stepping on dog poop. I have a poop bag dispenser attached to my dog's leash and I always pick up my dog's poop. I do this out of a consideration for others. When I am walking in areas that are littered with dog poop I get a little sad because as a society we do not show enough consideration for others. It is this lack of consideration for others when you have been signalling to merge into the exit lane and the cars purposefully speed up and won't let you into their lane; or leaving your shopping cart in the middle of the aisle so that no one can get around; or changing your mind about a box of Popsicles and leaving it in the chip aisle instead of returning it to the freezer section. I see this lack of consideration in my classes too; some of the kids do not even think about how there actions affect others. Children are really good learners and they learn by watching grown-ups.

Today is one of our cloudy, rainy days, so I am staying inside to get chores done. But prior to starting the laundry, I began my morning by enjoying some time to myself. I made a pot of Persian tea, turned on bagpipe music and worked on a jigsaw puzzle. It was very relaxing to take a few hours to do something that I enjoy and it put me in a great mood to tackle my to-do list for the weekend.

Winter Wonderland

Wishes really do come true. Louisville has snow. We had a six inch snowfall last week and another one this week, which is just enough to have some fun. Last week I built a three foot mushroom man out of snow. He had a huge round mushroom cap that laughed in the face of gravity. But the sun eventually took him down after two days. Today I built my interpretation of the killer rabbit. It is not as big and mushroom man, but it has sharp pointy teeth made from icicles.

Some of the icicles on the building have grown longer than me. They are over ten feet long. Their size is amazing to look at.

A very beautiful scene occurs in Louisville when it snows. If the winter storm reaches us during the day time, it is just warm enough in this southern city to be rain or melt on contact leaving all the trees very wet. Then during the night the fluffy snow falls and attaches to the wet-icy surfaces creating a majestic flocking of all the deciduous and evergreen trees. It is striking to see and something I never saw is Pennsylvania.

Another majestic sight is seeing our local Cardinals emerging on a sunny day. Their brilliant red feathers set against a sparkling white background is breathtaking.

For those of you that get a little sad in Winter, take the time to observe all the beauty Winter has to offer from the delicate lace of a snowflake to sparkling icicles to the beauty of all the different patterns of tree branches. Take a moment to enjoy winter before it is gone.

Recycling

So far I have not been able to go on an outdoor activity due to many days of rain. I don't mind being cold, but cold and wet will always keep me inside under a blanket. One thing I have been able to accomplish though is to figure out where to recycle. Our apartment complex does not offer recycling, and just because I do not live in California anymore does not mean that I should clog up landfills with recyclables.

We had been dropping off our recyclables at my brother-in-law's house for city pick-up, but it was not a convenient solution. But I have just found two nearby recycling drop-off centers that take paper, plastic, glass and metal. Plus, the City of Louisville recycles plastic up to #6, so I can recycle even more than I did in San Diego. Also, right next to the store where I buy my dog food is a shop called Earthenirvana, which is owned by a San Diego native. There I am able to drop-off used batteries, burnt-out light bulbs (though I have yet to have a compact fluorescent light bulb burn out in the eight years I have been using them) and electrical cords; all of which are illegal to through out in California but legal in Kentucky, but just because it is legal does not mean that it is right. I prefer not to through hazardous waste into public landfills that could potentially leach into local aquifers contaminating my drinking water. All of this information seeking took me no more than ten minutes. It just goes to show that it takes very little effort to recycle. And remember this, if your local landfill reaches capacity and closes, where is the new one going to go? Maybe just down the street, and they do not smell very good.

The Great Flan Experiment

Trial 1: I bought a Wilton cake pan to caramelize sugar, just like my mother-in-law showed me. My only concern was that it was a non-stick pan (all the pans in the stores were non-stick) and my mother-in-law's pans predate the non-stick craze. My concerns were not unfounded. After a couple of minutes heating on the burner, the non-stick coating was bubbling and encasing the whole apartment in noxious smoke. Doors were opened and fans turned on. The pan was put into a garbage bag and thrown onto the patio.

Trial 2: I took out one of my stainless steel cake pans and placed in on the burner on medium heat. After letting it heat up, I poured sugar into the pan which resulted in instantaneous flames. (And I thought only marshmallows on a stick caught fire that quickly.) I stayed calm, reached for the flour, thought for a second, then grabbed the box of baking soda and dumped half of its contents on the fire and placed a lid on it. Once again the doors were opened and the fans turned on. Now I had a pan of burnt sugar tar.

Trial 3: With the help of the Internet, hydrogen peroxide and a wooden spoon, I was able to clean my pan and start again. I placed the pan on the stove top set to low heat and poured in the sugar. This time the sugar turned into a liquid with no giant smoke plumes. Success! I was so excited; I actually made a flan. It came out of the oven looking like it should, my knife came out clean after a night of refrigeration, it slipped easily out of the pan and looked perfect on the plate. Best of all, it tasted good and we all had seconds.

There Was Snow

Last Thursday we had our first snowfall. It was only three inches, but it was beautiful. We went walking as a family, but our little hairy one went back inside after five minutes to get warm. Though he did have a lot of fun plowing through the snow. Gabe and I continued on out first walk in the snow together. We attempted to through snowballs, but it wasn't packing snow. As the snow fell on us, an occasional snow flake would lad on our gloves and against the dark background we could see the pattern of the individual snowflake. It was Gabe's fist time seen snow fall. It was magical for both of us; a cherished memory.

No the temperatures are going into the 40's and the weather prediction is supposed to stay that way. Our weather forecast is for rain, but no more snow. The average temperature of January is supposed to be in the low 30's for Louisville and we ought to have more snow. But with the climbing temperatures, the little snow we had is melting rapidly and there looks to be no chance to build a snowman this year.

A First New Year's Resolution

I typically do not make a New Year's Resolution because I know I will not keep it. But this year I want to make one. My resolution is to go on a nature outing once a week. I was inspired by going to Butterfly World while I was in Florida for holiday. Butterfly World is an amazing place where hundreds of butterflies fly around you and land on you. It also has beautiful exotic plants, and humming birds too. A couple of the birds flew so close to me that I felt there wings brush against my head. I had been there once before about four years ago. If I lived there I would go there every week to sit and observe. It lifted my spirits spending the morning there.

Now there is nothing like Butterfly World in Louisville, but there is plenty of nature. There are a lot of parks, the Falls of Ohio and caves. Even walking around my street is pretty with many types of trees and birds to see. I know that there will be many nature outings for me to discover. I am going to try really hard to keep my first resolution because not only does in provide spiritual fulfillment, but it will also give me interesting topics to write about for this blog.