..."Cat-a-Pan", [CC#1,11/10/07,revised]

Gracie takes her long sharp claws...
and she shreds up everything...



she can create "slaw" from plants...
hee, hee, hee, hee, heeeee...
Sneaky Pie on high...
wants to join...
as she watch-es Gra-cie "slice"...oh,my !



Sneaky stretches out her paw, to join in on the may-ham...



as her claws come out to slash...



hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hisssss...
suddenly a crash...
as they up-end eve-ry-thing...
turn-ing all of my plants to trash...

enter Mom, whose really mad, 'cause the cats have been so bad...
and she's low-er-ing the "boom"...
scram, scram, scram, scram, SCAT !...
you e-vil rot-ten cats !
as they run a-way they laugh...

with a sly cat-ly smirk,... heee, heee...]



[tune : "Pat-a-Pan"]

..."Carol of the Cat" [CC#13,12/20/07, revised]

should I go out, should I stay in ?
the sun is out, but there is wind...
and it is wet, oh, what to do...
it's light right now, but soon that will be through...



the breezes hurry, fallen leaves in flurries...
but I've really got to pee & do my "biz-ness"...
do I, do I, do I, do I go out... ?
do I, do I, do I, do I go out... ?



so I stand here, frozen with fear...that...
if I don't go out now, Mom will close the window...
I do want out, but still there is doubt...
oops, here she comes, I'll close my eyes and"just go"...



oh, boy, it's cold out here...just the way I feared
it would be when I was looking out...
let me, let me, let me, let me, let me back in... !
let me, let me, let me, let me, let me back in... !



now... it's so cold... please... it's so wet...
my paws like ice...it's not so nice....

please... let me in...

now...now, now... NOW... !

[tune : "Carol of the Bells"]
[dedicated to Piglet, Bixby, Minka & all like-minded felines...]

...it's bread, 1.1

it's not pretty...but it smells good...



this was a "baking" picture...notice the same uneven top...



but it did rise...now I have to wait to see...
if it tastes as good as I'm hoping it will...

in the meantime...



some "kicked-up" bean soup...from the red & white can...

I use chix broth instead of water...and only 1.5 cans of liquid...
I add dried minced onion, garlic powder & fresh ground pepper...
it was a great lunch & will be a good supper on this damp & chilly day...

...it's Monday, sigh...

I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat...
and a nasty sinus headache....
the latter got Zyrtec-D & Excedrin...
[which at this point are sort of working...]
the former got a couple of large mugs of Gypsy Cold Cure tea...
[which is, at this point, the more successful remedy of the 2...]



after I took out the trash & discovered that it was "misting"...
I started a pot of pink beans to soak...
I will boil them off later...then throw out the water...
and cook them with a ham hock, garlic & onions in chicken stock...

I also decided to be brave...


and try a light whole wheat bread recipe MM gave me...



of course, I screwed up right off the bat...
when I forgot to add the olive oil in with the water...

the recipe said a "scant" 2 C water...depending on the humidity...
since it was so damp outside, I thought it would be fine...
then I got involved in doing stuff...and forgot to check...

the thudding noises brought me back to check the Zo...
and I found a big lump with a dusting of unincorporated flour...
thudding around with some normal looking stuff on the bottom...
the good news was that everything was in the middle...
nothing was stuck to the sides...

so I added a bit of water...then a few drops more...
the more I added, the less it made that thudding noise...
and all the dry flour incorporated...
leaving me this...



now...well into the 1st rise...I have this...



and that marvelous yeasty smell beginning to permeate the house...
I hope it turns out OK...
but for now... I have stuff to do...

...the Librarian

I like my sci-fi with it's tongue, planted firmly, in it's cheek...

so tonight...I'm watching these...



I just finished watching "Quest for the Spear"...again...



AM watching, "Return to King Solomon's Mines"...again...



and am looking forward to "The Judas Chalice"...[Librarian III]
if I can keep my eyes open...

...it's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas...



my Christmas cacti is starting to bloom...



they "summer" in a shady spot in the back yard...



on Halloween, when I last looked...



the buds were just starting to swell...
now, they are starting to bloom & will move to the front ASAP...



elsewhere in the 'hood...lights are beginning to show up...







although "Frosty" hasn't been inflated yet...



I wrote earlier of my northern neighbor's decorations...



and lights...



as you can see, they haven't "gone seasonal", yet...

the there's UnkelPhil's southern neighbor...



he got his up & "on" before UnklePhil...

here you see UnklePhil, who as the song goes...
was "up on the housetop"... hanging lights...
which he assures me are only "the first wave"...



after it got dark... I got this shot...



he's been threatening to give...offering...
all his unused "decorations" to my northern neighbor...
after I told him, "I'd pass" on the "toy soldiers",etc...
[it's a budding conspiracy...*sigh*...]

I have got my wreath up...[$10.99 at Raleys...]



I have a wreath hanger with "jingle bells"...
I save the big red bow to reuse each year...
along with cat ornament the GT's gave me a couple of years ago...

I love decorated trees...and all the lights...
it's just really hard with the kitties...
who consider a decorated tree a giant play toy/climbing wall...
so I have to get my seasonal fix as a voyeur...

...lasagna, completed

whew... it's been a very long day of cooking & delivering lasagnas...
but it's always worth it...
when I think of people I know and care about...
enjoying food I've made for them...

I made 2 very large lasagnas for the church potluck tomorrow...
as we welcome our new rector to St John's...
they are at the church, in the 'fridge...

I'll put them in the oven around 8:30 AM...
at 350˚F, they'll be ready just before church begins at 10 AM...
so they'll sit, keeping warm until the potluck after church...

I always have extra "lasagna elements"...
so I put together one for the GT's...
and delivered that one too...

after returning home...
I cobbled together a small one for me...
from the rest of the left-overs...
put it in the oven...& went for a walk...



after about 40 mins at 350˚... I had this...
a "just-my-size"ricotta & spinach lasagna...



aka..."dinner"...