All About the Hats

Yeah, so I just watched Casablanca again and it has a great story and two phenomenal stars. But really? The hats in Casablanca totally make the show. When they ISO Ilse and she wells up with just enough tears in her eyes, she's got that hat to frame her face. That hat that says, yeah, I'm frantically fleeing the Nazis with my husband but I must be crazy because Rick is one hot number in that hat. We should wear more hats.

The Rain Comes Down

This is gonna be a random one. You know why? This is what I got. Barak Obama is left-handed. I dig that. It has finally rained today. Not nearly enough, but I'll take what I can get. Why on Earth would I root for rain? One word: pollen.

Tonight is knit night and I'm looking forward to it even if I have no idea what I am knitting. I finished my latest project - except for weaving in a few ends. I will take a picture of the Va Tech scarf in this lifetime. My friend's baby sweater is moving forward so slowly it's going backwards. I did bring my Debbie Bliss book home though so I can think on it.

Last night Stars Hollow disappeared into the sunset. I'm gonna miss that town. I only knew it for a month, but I fit seven years of love into that month. If Luke & Lorelai hadn't ended up together I just don't know how I could have gotten out of bed, but they did and that's good.

Seduced by Bacon and Girls

I just told my husband that I have watched more than 100 episodes of The Gilmore Girls. But Amazon claims I ordered Season One on April 15th. You do the math. Any way you shake it I have been seriously seeing both Gilmores for quite a while. Thank God there are only 44 more episodes left.

I have watched so much Gilmore Girls that I have not a damn clue what is going on in the world. I have not watched Hardball in weeks. I have not even seen Keith freaking Olbermann. That is evidence of a serious distraction. I have had two new cookbooks by my side for days that I've barely skimmed.

Sweet, Sweet Chloramine

When I started my first post-college job, I discovered the Water Women. This clique of 40, 50-something or other and their 30something hangerons were fanatical about their water. They were women possessed. They hydrated like it was oxygen. I tried to be a joiner, be one of the gang and glugalug with them. It's just hard to catch up. They'd drunk thousands of gallons of water in their centuries on the planet and each molecule I forced down made the singing of "I'd like to buy the world a Coke." in my head all the louder. No matter how much lemon you put in it, water is not Coke.

But oh my God did I get a rude awakening about the most precious resource and the universal solvent for life (according to Nobel Laureate A. Szent-Gyorgy which is what happens when I have to google it because I can't think of a better expression).

NOTE: County Water Supply to Undergo Routine Cleaning. Arlington County’s water supply will undergo a standard cleansing process in April using chlorine that may have a minimal impact on its taste and odor. This common industry practice is safe and residents may continue to drink and use their water as normal. There is no action required by residents. The County’s water supplier, the Washington Aqueduct Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will perform the temporary conversion to free chlorine in order to disinfect the water distribution system between April 7 and May 7, in conjuction with water line flushing to remove sediment from the water mains. During this time crews will be comprehensively flushing the Arlington County water distribution system and you may see hydrants running unattended and may see hydrants flowing full force with employees nearby. View some Frequently Asked Questions about the chlorine conversion.

On April 8th, I turned on the faucet and got a blast of the most odious, noxious, beastly, fugly, gnarly substance that I had to dump out my pan of water and storm out of the house to find something besides mac n' cheese because how the hell am I making anything with that?

For thirty days and thirty nights I wrung water from stones and bathed in condensation just to avoid that vile, vile, whatever that stuff is.

But today, on this glorious, beautiful and exquisite day, the water flowed and it was filled with the non-odius and joyful chemical Chloramine. God bless those scientists wherever they are for not stopping with Chlorine and pushing the envelope to bring us Chloramine. Sweet, sweet chloramine.

Not Enough Knitting

I went to the river with the best of intentions and extra yarn. I even had extra days. But work needed attention, and I needed a rest.

On Saturday we went to the big Grace Episcopal yard sale, a legendary event with heroic tales told about it year round, that I will not be attending again. The place was mobbed, and the one building that had decent stuff in it was obscenely mobbed. I mean if you are in the market for a thoroughly used hot air popper from 1983, this is totally your place. If you want some faded napkins in an odd quantity, head over.

I did however get a legendary like 20 wooden bowls for five bucks.

Then we headed down to the Irvington Farmers' Market which is always a great place to be and where I always wish I'd brought my dog with me. We browsed herbs and sauces and cheesy tchochkes. It was 9:30 and we all could have happily had lunch, but Buenos Nachos doesn't open until 11. So then we wandered around Kilmarnock. I got genuine Grenadine. Good times.

Then we had our McMexican food and headed back to the house. I could have slept for days. I am not an early riser. Instead I watched hella Gilmore Girls... all the weekend long. Finally Luke and Lorelai got together. Finally Rory and Dean did it. And of course the show was officially cancelled. Luscious.

And today there is a crisis at work for a client's printing job and I am powerless to get a human on the telephone. It's um, infuriating.

The Bad Kind of Nature

It is a long weekend in the country. Thursday night I had my own private Lorelai-a-thon, but I was still wired in the middle of the night. I lay in bed thinking about sleep when nature started happening outside my bedroom door. It was a bird and something else and one of them was not going to make it out of the encounter in one piece. Now the theory of nature is soooo beautiful. But sometimes, right up close, when the lion is closing in on the gazelle - not so pretty!

So I opened the door and in my deepest, I could be a man, voice, I bellowed, "Hey, keep it down out there!" And a moment later, the noise stopped. And there was silence. Deafening, brain-paining silence. And then the ticking of the clock in our bedroom was ticking desperately. I threw it in a drawer and rolled over and thought of cities.

Ridiculous Things for Money

LG: Angel face, you are going to have to realize that there will be times in your life when you will have to do ridiculous things for money.

That's Lorelai again. She's talking about planning a Beanie Baby retirement party. But it's just as appropriate as the theme for my evening which is You Have a 10 PM Conference Call.

People are high. They are just generally high and I do not know how they function on a daily basis.

Lady of the Rings

Do we really have to go through this every single week?

Good onion ring:


Bad onion ring:


Very simple principle.