It's that time again!

It's never too early to start yard haunt prep.

I'm mainly posting this to provide the link to The Gate, which is Dale's haunt page. He's been in the "paper and pencil" planning stage for a few weeks now. Last weekend we got some grapevines and spiderwebs. No successful haunt can be without spiderwebs!

This is Dale's baby, he has all the ideas and does all the work. I'll carve a few pumpkins, make a scarecrow, and provide a ride to the ER as needed.

Whooooooohoooooooo

When-a the moon-a hits your eye, like-a bigg-a pizza pie-a

We were driving home from an errand tonight and WOW! the moon was friggin' HUGE!
Since time was of the essence, we weren't able to drive somewhere more picturesque..we just drove down past the dirtbagger apartments and took the shot there, crap billboard and all.

I think there is supposed to be some sort of lunar eclipse tonight too...in the wee wee hours when I'm sleeping.




This is my first installment in the "Sunday's Supper" project. Red Lentil and Vegetable Curry with Roasted Cauliflower. I'm too lazy to html the link.....it's from Epicurious. The dish was very tasty and pretty easy to make. Not food porn quality, just a record.

Oh My God! It's Raining!

What a pleasant surprise!

It has been a little humid and overcast the last day or two--the after effects of Hurricane Dean that passed across the mid-section of Mexico last week. I heard there might be storms in the mountains. The desert in SanBernardino and places like that do get summer monsoon weather this time of year.

I was outside trying to rescue my succulent garden, Dale was surveying the yard as he begins planning this year's haunt (more on that tomorrow!) We both were joking that the skies were looking rather ominous....."grab the radio and get in the basement, Ma" sort of jokes.

First, a few low rumbles of thunder, then about a half hour of a drizzly rain. We moved to the patio to enjoy the experience...Dale got his laptop and I got my latest New Yorker (i am soooooo far behind on that it isn't funny). Even HellCat was enjoying himself.



Last year about this time, we were having lunch at a local restaurant that has a somewhat "open air patio" with a louvered roof. It had been overcast and humid when we entered...but about 15 minutes after we sat down, huge booms of thunder and then the skies just opened up! It was like a good ol' Wisconsin thunderstorm. People were just scrambling and freaking out, the waitstaff was trying to get the louvers closed....it was pretty hilarious. And we are like.....COOL!

this means YOU

Polka Party with Brave Combo!

At last....Brave Combo! I've been waiting a long time for this show and last night was the night. I last saw the band in Dallas in May 2005. They don't get to SoCal that often, so I was pretty excited when I saw they were coming. Initially, they were just booked for a free show at MacArthur Park in downtown LosAngeles, but this show was added at Safari Sam's in Hollywood.

First up was DJ Bonebrake's band Orchestra Superstring. He's switched from drums to vibes. The music was jazzy, beatnik sounding. I felt I needed to have a beret and black turtleneck. I enjoyed it.

I was so excited to hear the band and was periodically dancing so I did not make a set list or write anything down, I'm just going to go from memory here.
The biggest thing was that Bubba the bassist, isn't in the band any longer. He left to do some different music and in his place is AnnMarie.
They played a couple rocking polkas right off to get everyone moving. Everyone got out to "twist" to a mashup of "Ein Prosit" and "Hava Nagila". That was pretty wacky. They do a lot of these medleys. Another was a blend of "Peter Gunn", "Pink Panther", "Get Smart" and "Batman".
The band also just released a new album "Polka's Revenge", so they did a few songs from that which sounded great. I purchased the CD, so I'll give a review once I've had a chance to digest it.
Other songs included some Nortena songs, Hosa Dyna, Bumble Bee polka, At the Friendly Tavern, Behind Closed Doors, to name a few.

The venue was pretty nice, I think it is a rather new enterprise and the staff was friendly. There might have been a max of 150 people in there. We were all a little worried at first, since they had long tables set up for dining on what would be the dance floor. Thankfully they were removed before Brave Combo started. Some of the audience were pretty good dancers. There was even some old codger out there shaking a leg.

I brought my new camera in hopes I could get some good shots, but between the low battery and my inexperience with the camera...none really turned out. Oh well.

The surrounding neighborhood is a mix of Thai Town and Little Armenia, so we went to Jitlada Thai Restaurant that is located across the street. Yummy food!

We had a great time. Even though I was tired all day today, it was totally worth it. I hope I don't have to wait another two years to see them again.



Check out the Brave Combo website!

My First Food Porn

Nothing like some Caprese Salad on a warm day.
I'm really impressed with the images I'm getting from the new camera.

Shutterbuggery

I finally got a camera. A nice, little Canon PowerShot A570. My blogs will never be boring again.

I haven't taken many photos yet--that darn working for a living thing is taking up all my free time! But here is a nice shot of one of my lil cacti.

I'm going to ba taking some photo classes just so I can figure out all these bells and whistles.