The other week, I said to the mama and the husband that I would make an apricot pie for dinner. Then added, "Maybe." Just in case I couldn't. "Where are you going to get the apricots?" the husband asked. "I took a bag out of the freezer yesterday." I was sure they were apricots and not persimmon. We still have a few bags left of last year's harvest in the freezer. Of course, none of the bags have labels. Like almost everything, baking can become an adventure for me. Ingredients Flour. I had less than a cup of unbleached white flour. At least I thought it was wheat flour. For good measure, I threw in a handful of garbanzo flour and another handful or so of brown rice flour to make 2 cups. Two-crusted pie was what I wanted to bake. Shortening. I used coconut oil. I cut it into the flour until everything was nice and crumbly. Then I added 1/4 cup of ice cold water. Dry. I added another quarter cup. Dry. Another quarter. Still dry. By then I suspected

How come running errands is more fun when you ride bicycles? At least it is for the husband and me.   Swoooosh! Even riding against the wind is fun. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Hope you can get out and cruise about on your bicycle soon. Until then, enjoy yourself some Queen.

That's right, I admit it. I'm a craftsgal wanna be. When I was younger and lived in San Francisco, I thought it would be so cool to sell my handcrafted wares on the sidewalks. It didn't matter that I had no wares or skills.  I've been daydreaming again about selling my handcrafted wares, but this time at farmers markets and online at etsy.com.  Still, no wares and no skills. When I get tired of writing, I visit crafts blogs. Sewing, knitting, beading, whatever. I especially like the blogs by crafts ladies who repurpose old stuff into fantastic things that I want to make, such as clutch purses out of used skirts. Last fall, I finally had the space and time to try my hand at crafting. My first attempt was a hedgehog. That's it in the photo. It only has one eye. Next, I made was a pinwheel. I go gaga over pinwheels. They're what I associate with Fourth of July and family picnics. One day, I would like to learn to weld so that I can create one crazy gigantic pinwhee

Senryu, what?  It's a type of Japanese poem that is similar in format as the haiku. Haiku, huh? Okay, this is not English class, but I know you wish to be enlightened. If not, you will, by golly. Or, you can simply scroll down to the poems.  My education of all things haiku came last night when I finally wrote the last line to my haiku-in-progress. I felt that it wasn't really a haiku. So, off to Google my questioning mind and tippity-tap fingers went. In short, the haiku and senryu are three-line poems composed of 17 syllables. The pattern is five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. Haiku poems are about nature; no mention of human foibles allowed. Senryu poems  are about  human nature; no reference to the natural world at all. Now, you know. It didn't hurt, did it? Here's a true haiku by Basho Matsuo, who is said to be the first great haiku poet. He lived during the 17th century. An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, sp

Back on the first of May , I wrote: "Can I think up something to post everyday for the next 30 days?  Will I miss a day or two because I've forgotten? Shall my slacker self balk at the discipline? Stay tuned." So, here we are, dear readers. Thirty-one days later. To sum up: I wrote a post a day in May. I  almost forgot to write something for the 30th. The slacker self would've probably balked if the anal-retentive self hadn't written two or three posts at a time to stay ahead of the game. Now comes the big question: Shall I continue writing and posting daily? Here's my roundabout answer. Once upon a time I used to jog regularly and got to the point where I entered fun runs for the t-shirts. The longest run I did was the crazy Bay to Breakers. I ran, well jogged, all  8+ miles. It took me about 50 minutes, I'll have you know. Pretty good for a fat chick. When I crossed the finish line, I was exhilarated and numb. I just had enough energy to walk another mil