this little girl

Wrapped around her paw, I am.  And hooray for the weekend ahead taking care of her.  Conrad and I will be sure to lavish love and treats on her.  And take her for walkies! 

whoa, really?

Yes, really.  Twice in one month!  What amazing miracle is this?

2000 yards this morning.  Great weather for it, too - utter May grey and no worries of sunburn.  If I hadn't had to get myself home and make myself pretty for work, I would have swam a wee bit more.  But only a wee bit.

None of which is to say it was a good swim. 

But it was a swim, so, at least there's that! 

second weekend in May

You know, yesterday was so gosh darn lazy that I really could have sat down after dinner and written a summary of the weekend, and maybe, just maybe, I would have felt as though I had accomplished something.  Yes, it really was that kind of a day, hanging out in comfy sweats for most of it. 

Oh, I didn't do absolutely nothing.  I cooked us dinner, and we finally stumbled out of the condo after 8 for a short walk past restaurants still thronged with Mother's Day diners.  But otherwise, not a heck of a lot.

But we did get up to things the first half of the weekend!  So let me report on that, yes?

Van came by late Friday afternoon, and the three of us headed over to Maestro (with a stop in a new store to check it out - we'll have to pop back in another time to do some actual shopping) for dinner outside. 

It was a nice, leisurely dinner, no rush to it at all.  I had a tasty passionfruit and tequila cocktail to start,

and we all shared queso fundido, a beet salad,

calamari,

and the cochinita pibil. 

Bellies full from that, we wandered home to wind down, Van heading back to feed Olive.  An easy Friday evening where we got to catch up with the folks at Maestro and have some good food and drink.

Saturday was the busy day, but even then it wasn't so bad.  I went out for a walk without Conrad then collected him so that we could enjoy breakfast at Amara as usual. 

From there it was on to a massage session for me, and then Conrad and I did the week's groceries.  Back at home, there was laundry on the go, and while I worked in the kitchen, Conrad de-cluttered a storage closet in the condo.

Van and Olive were due for dinner, and it was nice to cook for all of us at home.  I had made a brown butter blueberry tart earlier in the day for our dessert. 

For dinner, I seared a few petit filets, topped them with caramelized onion and blue cheese, served them on spinach and a roasted slice of Japanese sweet potato, and spooned around a red wine reduction sauce. 

Decent little dinner, I have to say!  By the time we were done, we felt it a little late to start a movie or watch some television, and that was fine, too.

Van is away this coming weekend, and all of us are away together the next.  A few adventures coming up.  This week, however, promises/threatens to be a little dull.  I'll chime in when I can! 

Saturday walk (and drive)

How about some pretty (or pretty enough) pictures on a Sunday morning.  I'll get a weekend report posted tomorrow, I am sure, but for now, whilst I eat my porridge and sip my decaf, here's some photos from a morning walk yesterday plus one from a drive home from getting groceries. 

That last one showcases a jacaranda that is particularly full of blooms - Conrad took us a slightly different route home so that he could show it off to me.

It will be a generally lazy day here, and I best get to my full schedule of relaxing! 

sushi night!

Another short entry in a series of short entries.  Blogging, what a life!

Anyway, Thursday night was sushi night out with Conrad. 

We actually haven't got sushi in a few weeks, so it was nice to do so, and even better to not do takeaway but go sit at the restaurant and have things come out at the right temperatures and freshly made.  We wandered over a while after I got home from work, sat outside to watch the world go by, and had a good meal at Mama M.

No shishito peppers to start with tonight.  Sitting at the restaurant meant we could have agedashi tofu fresh from the kitchen. 

Yum!  From there, we proceeded to some premium sashimi, and they delivered. 

It was especially good, which makes it seem as if there are times when it isn't, but no.  Maybe we were just in a mood and spirit to really enjoy slowly and appreciate.  Maybe the fish was better.  It was excellent, though.

And we had an avocado roll. 

It's not dessert, but the unctuous filling makes it feel that way.

A nice Thursday evening.  What a weird week - I was on campus every day this week.  Pre-pandemic, that was my life:  five days a week at work.  But nowadays?  Ah well.  Onward with the weekend!

Vespers

Boulevardiers with Van on date night with him.  Vespers on Wednesday night at home, a date night in with Conrad. 

He threw a frozen pizza in the oven (a lazy evening, I know), and I made us drinks, and we sat out back with music on and books to read.  It's nice to have these little moments together. 

so, this happened, and yeah, it was gross

Travel plus cold/respiratory infection plus no access to pool at the college plus (and this is most critical) my disinclination to go have added up to two months and a bit spent NOT swimming.  Today, though, I rallied myself to get down to the Rose Bowl

and get my alarming fat butt into the pool.

And yeah, it sucked.  Big time.

I tell myself that it was better than no swim at all, but I also tell myself not to let this be the last time for two months.  We shall see.

Sigh.

Positive thoughts, Peter.  Positive thoughts.

 

Tuesday evening at Van's

The cocktail party is a thing of the past, and it's now the middle of a mild and ordinary week.  In short, not a lot to report about.  Sorry!  And no big plans for the weekend ahead.  Sorry!  Again!

Last night was weekly television date night at Van's.  Happily for him (and for an easy and peaceful rest of the night), his three top picks made it through to the finale of American Idol.  That will be our activity on television date night next week.  So yes, some television for us.  I also made a carrot and saffron risotto and seared some steelhead trout for our dinner. 

Boulevardiers for each of us to drink.

No photos of Olive, alas, but assuredly she was there and enjoyed getting what attention she wanted.

And that, readers, was a Tuesday night. 

what April showers bring

Despite a very very late Saturday night, I was up and out the door yesterday morning,

heading for a walk.  The May Grey was heavy, so heavy that you could see it falling. An hour and a half later, I was back in the door, a little dampened (but not badly so!).  A nice, easy walk after the night that was.  And plenty to see!

Roses (I saw so many different colours and varieties in the yards I passed).

Spiderwort.  My Mum grew what she told me was spiderwort, and I remember it as bluer flowers than these. I'm using the iPhone photos embedded plant identification, so things might be wrong.  Or maybe Mum was.  No, let's not suggest that.

Jacaranda.  It's that time of year.  I always feel that past years had more abundance of purple, but I will happily take what I can lining streets.  Nice to have a cluster so low as to take photos.

Clockweed.  Oenothera lindheimeiri.  This was pretty.

Sweet peas.  Such an old-fashioned flower, I feel.  My Mum had these climbing a fence by the carport.  I haven't seen them in ages.

Stonecrop.  The various succulents and such have such cool blooms.

Blue corn-lily.  I love blue flowers!

Lemon.  OK, not a flower.  I know.  But it was so cool to see this striped fruit.  I couldn't resist.  In further defense of inclusion on this post, there were a number of flower buds on the bush almost ready to pop.

Magnolia.  I love seeing a huge magnolia flower amid large, deep-green leaves in the trees.  It's unusual for there to be branches so low that I can get a good shot.  Nice to have a chance to photograph this bud.

A lovely walk despite the dampness.  And yes, I could still smell jasmine in bloom all about. 

first Saturday in May

Whew!  I am a little drained today.  Quite the Saturday behind us.  I will need a nap this afternoon, I am sure.  And an easy night ahead.  Please!  But first, I sit here sipping decaf, blogging.  Important things first, right?

Conrad and I got ourselves up and moseying in the May Grey yesterday morning.  A longer walk than usual, and down a few blocks that we haven't walked in ages.  Nice to be in a bit of a different part of town.  Our walk ended up being about 4.5 miles, which is longer than we've done together in far too long.  And, to no one's shock, we found ourselves having breakfast at Amara before the final short bit home.

There were a few things to be done at the condo, but not a huge amount.  It's in good shape for the week ahead.  No rush to anything, we wrapped up at the condo and headed to Van's mid-afternoon.  And that's where things got busier.  The cocktail party was set for 7:00, and we had things to do.

I had to set up my bar area in the kitchen. 

Food needed to be plated eventually.  Lights arranged outside. As we got closer to 7, we were in good shape, but still.  Denny showed up at 6:43, and we were off to the races.  And how!  It felt like I was making drinks non-stop for the first hour as people all arrived in quick sequence.  I think I got a short break by 8, and then it eased off after that.  And I'm NOT complaining.  It's better not to have all of us in the kitchen, bartending - the space considerations are one thing, and then there's the need to host people.  If there were 6 of us, no problem.  But we had 30 or so coming.  And I know, we should have had wine only or pre-made batches of cocktails.  Ah well.

The side effect of all of this is that I didn't take photos of the cocktails, sorry.  Not a single one.  And not of the people either, for that matter.  I was busy, and then it was late and I finally had time to socialize, and I didn't even think to pull out the phone to get shots.  I finally did so when it was late and most people had left, and Conrad commented on how the paper bag lanterns lining Van's drive looked lovely.  Then I popped out for a moment, into the welcome cool air, snapping the lanterns leading the way in and out.

The other funny thing is that I didn't drink anything other than water all night.  When I got that first break in making drinks, I was warm and wanted some water to rehydrate and cool off.  Later, I realized I didn't know what I might want, and later still I realized that it was probably too late to drink.  So, I didn't.  Water all night.  Which may be why, despite us going to bed just before 2 (the last people left around 11:45, and then we all did the work of cleaning up everything pretty completely), I was out of bed this morning before 7 and feeling no ill effects.  I type that knowing that I am imminently heading upstairs to nap!

But it was a very good night.  I do wish I'd talked to some of the people there more than I did, but I know that, between them, Conrad and Van were able to chat with folks I missed.  And guests chatted with each other!  We over-bought food, alas, but I'd rather provide plenty than have guests not have a bounty to enjoy.  And now I'm quibbling with myself.  The drinks were good, I did a great job of them, I'm glad we did it, and now I can go grab that nap....