Potatoes in the Mist

The moon and the star are my favorite tarot cards.

I think I want to come back as a koala (if reincarnation is a thing). But I’d want to live in an area where there are no bush fires.

Zoe and I just had a yummy healthy dinner of watermelon and Doritos :)

I just saw Knives Out. I’m not sure why they gave Daniel Craig a southern accent. But it was a good movie.

I got a 97 in one of my library courses. Still waiting for the final grade in the other course. I turned in a monster project that hasn't been graded yet.

I really like the show Virgin River on Netflix. It's already been renewed for a second season. 

Eric and I made cookies from a mix in a Mason jar (sold by Trader Joe's). They were delicious. The ingredients included brown sugar, oats, M&Ms, peanut butter chips, and coffee.

I woke up too early on a Saturday. I guess I’ll make French toast.

I realized I don't hate public speaking as much as I thought I did. Especially if you know the audience. My trick is to focus on speaking slowly and clearly. Then I forget to be nervous.

I read that a Dutch knitting group made 400 mittens for koalas who were injured in the Australian bush fires.

I really like the show "Happy Merry Whatever" on Netflix. Unfortunately, there's only one season. There might be more later.

I made potato leek soup from a random internet recipe today. It was delicious.

New Elin Hilderbrand book out today! What Happens in Paradise.

I just made apple bread and put it in the oven. Almond extract smells wonderful.

I only recently got into coffee, but I only like Dunkin Donuts French vanilla iced coffee. That stuff is fabulous.

I think I want a pet koala. I read once about a man who left his car door open in Australia. When he got back, there was a koala sitting in his car, enjoying the air conditioning.

I love it when Trader Joe’s has pumpkin everything - pumpkin pecan oatmeal, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pancakes. I’m making the muffins now. They smell heavenly.

I revisited an old recipe tonight. You roast acorn squash and some cloves of garlic (in olive oil), then you mash up the squash and mix it with the garlic, olive oil, some sweet white wine, some reserved pasta water, boil it a few minutes, and pour it over rigatoni. Then you add salt, pepper and Parmesan. It was fabulous.

On Instagram, someone posted a picture of her grandmother. The grandmother had just turned 100 and attributed her long life to "Tums smoothies." This sounded like something you'd whip up in the blender, so people asked her for the recipe. "It's just a varietal of Tums," she explained. So I got some tonight, since I like Tums anyway. I actually like other varieties better, but the longevity is worth it :)

I can’t help noticing that the last three UK prime ministers have been hated. David Cameron. Theresa May, and Boris Johnson. A thankless job.

I was sad to hear that Dorothea Benton Frank died. One of my favorite authors. She was only 68.

I just finished Pumpkin Heads by Rainbow Rowell. What a fun book. It brought back memories of Topsfield Fair as a kid.

I can't believe the homework they give to a rising third grader over the summer. "What was the Seven Years War and what was its significance to the thirteen colonies?"

They're doing a bug bomb in my kitchen. Watching Hannah and Her Sisters, a perennial favorite.

I don't like our current government at all. ICE has separated a 4-month baby girl from her mother. (I know they have separated many others, too.) I hope everyone has a brain and votes against Donald Trump in 2020, even if the Democratic candidate isn't perfect.

Zoe woke me up at 4 am to ask if she could watch videos in the living room. So I'm tired. Iced coffee helps.

The piano player upstairs seems to be gone. Hopefully he or she is just on vacation.

The maps dreamt on like moondust. Nothing stirred. The future was a verb in hibernation. -Seamus Heaney

Zoe just ordered French fries from a sushi place.

I got really involved in the 2016 election. This one, I'm not. I like Amy Klobuchar the best. But I'll vote for any Democrat running against Trump. It's that simple.

I just had chocolate covered strawberries. The kids learned how to make them at camp. You melt some chocolate chips in the microwave, then stir and dip the strawberries in.

My babies are back. I’m so happy. (They were in the Poconos over the weekend.)

I'm reading Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand. I love it. It's about 3 sisters, one in Martha's Vineyard, one in Nantucket, and one in Boston (although she has just gone to Nantucket). Their brother is off fighting in Vietnam. It's not depressing though. She's really good at writing juicy beach books.

I finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. It got mixed reviews, but I really liked it. Apparently Gilbert read a lot of Dickens when she was young, and it shows.

For some reason I'm still getting pimples (age 43). Most of them are docile and fade away, but one of them really has staying power. They don't even make Oxy-10 anymore, so I bought the Neutrogena equivalent and slathered it on. Hopefully that will nuke the thing.

I like the piano music upstairs. It’s so peaceful and just washes over me.

Hawaii is so relaxing. I don’t want to leave.

Now Beto is in play. It’s definitely a very full ticket.

There's a piano upstairs that plays music almost every night. I really like it. I kind of wish I played piano instead of clarinet as a child.

Alexander McCall Smith has started a new series, about a Swedish detective. The full-length book isn’t out yet, but a Kindle single is. It seems pretty good. And I won a Susan Mallery book (also not out yet) in a Goodreads giveaway.

So I'm applying to library school. It will take 18 months, starting in October. I felt weird contacting professors from 20 years ago for recommendations. They did write recommendations for me before, back in 2000, for law school. So hopefully they will remember me and be willing to write again. I mentioned what classes I took with them and when, and my honors thesis (one of them was my thesis advisor). So I'm slightly anxious about that (but who knows, maybe they still have the old recommendations on file) and I have to write a personal statement (500 words, and my notes are 154 words). But these are all surmountable problems. I'm mostly excited - a job I won't hate! P.S. Both professors got back to me on the same day. So I was worried about nothing.

I’m not sure how I feel about Bernie running again. I want Amy Klobuchar to win. (As a fun aside, she follows me on Twitter.)

I finished I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella and now I have nothing good to read :(