marge schott

her sale was yesterday -- a complete marathon, from getting her stuff organized to the sale itself - which started at 1:00 pm and ended sometime around 9pm? here are some photos of the place - before and after the sale.

and this was on the front page of the enquirer this morning...

Fans Snap Up Memories of Marge

and from the cincinnati post...

Auction nets $207,805








(and here's our website... Cowan's Auctions)

This is Father Smith talking about his poetry...

http://www.jcu.edu/news/05_fall_readings.htm#smith

My Newest Invention...

This is so Henry does not eat Benji-cat's food. Very ingenious, I must say...

These were from Thanksgiving - Me, Becky, and Jane

Maple-Mustard Glazed Salmon

yummy :)

1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tbsp. coarse-grain mustard
2 tbsp light brown sugar
4 (6oz) salmon fillets


1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly coat shallow baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Place fillets skin side down.

2. Whisk together maple syrup, mustard, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Pour over salmon.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

thanksgiving part II

in my grandma and grandpa's basement, the clans gathered...

thanksgiving part I

i didn't lie...



the lovely melissa correcting papers



go BENGALS!

and i am off - to brave the land of snow and ice... i am off to the lands of no sun...

the wi-fi chastity belt...

so today i took on the task of making my wee little apartment go wireless - just because. it so far has been a huge challenge b/c although i can see the oh so powerful strong signal - my browser refuses to recognize the flood of energy - the packets of power - coming its way... the damn thing is locked - and although i should have the secret password to open the gate - i cannot figure where the keyhole is to unleash its energy...

i shall prevail...

George Inness, Spirit of Autumn
1891, Oil on canvas

Molly Bloom

...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

-from Ulysses

peanut butter sandwiches

I found a cookbook published in 1953 entitled "The Modern Family Cookbook." In it, under Miscellaneous are recipes for "Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches." My favorite is entry number 895: Peanut Butter Sandwiches.

"Plain peanut butter is a sandwich spread in great favor with children and most grown-ups. To make it spread more easily, it may be mixed with milk, cream, mayonnaise or water as desired. Use as a filling between slices of buttered bread. A leaf of lettuce in the sandwich adds fresh crispness.

Variation: Thin slices of banana may be arranged over the peanut butter spread on the bread. A blend of 4 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons peanut butter, and 2 to 3 tablespoons strained honey is also a delicious spread."

I guess there needed to be a recipe for this at some time...

november morning

this morning i went outside and the wind was blowing, the clouds hung heavy in the sky, the trees were naked, and it was warm. i love november days like this - because in a few hours, it will be cold. there is a smell in the air that says - "have a little warmth and a hugging breeze - soon i will set true fall on you." and with that comes the fires - so elequently written about in Too Far Gone.

Jeff Buckley - Hallelujuh

i just heard this song again for the first time in a while. this song gives me goose bumps every time i listen to it. "hallelujah" means "i believe," a word of celebration. this song takes that and although, in a way it is celebratory, it is painful - ironic... and the way this fella sings is -it is absolutely beautiful. beautiful.

Now, I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah

Well baby, I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Well, there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do ya?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Maybe there is a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah ... hallelujah.

yeah - i guess they didn't like it - no radio on when i came home... and no clean apartment. damn it.

soothing the savage beast...

i am giving dogcat radio a try today... maybe it will inspire them to clean up my apartment.

so i am sitting here with кішка (benji-cat) on my lap. he is playing with the strings on my shirt which i had gotten as a christmas present a couple years back - henry dog is eating his bone. all's well.

i went to dinner tonight with ted and pat and frank and wes and another lady i did not know - ted always asks me every week to go to dinner with them - and i always have some reason not to go - but this week i didn't and so i went and it was nice. fun. - to allyn's cafe -- WOAH!! Wait -- I was going to check to see if they had a website (allyn's) - and on the NY times there was an article about an online radio station for dogs and cats...

Jumpy Enough to Chew a Chair? Try DogCatRadio

-- the radio station

DogCatRadio.com

Well, anything I had totally pales in comparison to this.... oh dear. I'm not entirely sure about this DJ...

bummed

so i put a bid on another house - vastly different than the first villita - and the stupid realitor of the house -- not mine -- never told anyone that it is under contract - like last week. i am so bummed. i really dug this place.

Somewhere Only We Know - by Keane

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete

Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?

Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

So if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
So why don't we go

This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?

-------- i like this one alot. i'd love to post the tune... but i can't figure that out. and i don't feel like it.

vacation

at least my little guys are sitting at the door waiting for me... (pee me! feed us! we're hungry! oops. i gotta poop now. poop me!)

The Frog's Fireworks - from the bridge

quizzes

How evil are you?
take the antisocial test.

what decade does your personality live in?

What Video Game Character Are You?

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?
What Kind of Kisser Are You?

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

the catalogue has gone to the printer

the gods are happy, at least for the moment. the little peasants return to their homes, their village left unscathed by the torrent created by the angry beings. they will eat until their bellies are full and dance until they grow tired. this however, will last only a short while. more storms are on the horizon. distruction is eminent. but it is these few days that they savor and rejoice in.

it's funny how you lose sight of the earth - well, nature i guess. i was sitting outside and looked at the clouds and watched the sun light the edges. and i listened. an alarm was methodically beeping, a car alarm went off, a paper blew off the table, the birds started chirping, and the wind rustled through the leaves. you forget that kinda of shit when the phone is ringing, people are whining, keyboards are clicking. i though of walking in the Upper Basin and the wind blowing through those trees and those birds flying what seemed to be inches above me head. i thought about peaceful and lonley the land was. how beautiful it was and how, if everything came to an end, i might feel safe there. in part it was the company too, but what if the electric stopped in the city, the water stopped. people would be fucked. i would be fucked, but i think, if everything was to be flattened, that is when people would truly rise to be real humans. convienences just makes you forget how small you really are and makes you forget how truely beautiful everything is that you are not seeing becuase you are too busy.

simma dawn naw...

I look about; and should the chosen guide
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way. I breathe again;
Trances of thought and mountings of the heart
Come fast upon me; it is shaken off...

Content, and not unwilling now to give
A respite to this passion, I pace on
With brisk and eager steps, and came at length
To a green shady place where down I sate
Beneath a tree, slakening my thoughts by choice,
And settling into a gentler happieness.

'Twas Autumn, and a clear placid day,
With warmth much needed, from a sun
Two hours declined towards the west, a day,
With silver clouds, and sunshine on the grass,
And, in the sheltered and the sheltering grove
A perfect stillness...

The poet, gentle creature as he is,
Hath, like the Lover, his unruly times,
His fits when he is neither sick nor well
Though no distress be near him but his own
Unmanageable thoughts; his mind, best pleas'd
While she, as duteous as the Mother Dove,
Sits brooding, lives not always to that end,
But, like the innocent Bird, hath goadings on
That drive her, as in trouble, through the groves;
With me is now such passion, to be blamed
No otherwise than as it lasts too long...

-Wordsworth, from Growth of a Poet's Mind

she is so cute :)

http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/shakira/audvid.jhtml

the 4th

Happy Fourth o' JULY!! What would a holiday be unless somebody had to work? Yes, yes. I get to log in an hour or so by being taxicab to a Canadian consultant. Pick-up at airport around 1-ish -- and drive to the stupid little town of mariemont and drop him off - and then pick him up before work tomorrow. I can never fully get away from this stupid job. I would love a whole weekend where I did not have to even think about it. But if I don't take care of things, it won't get done, and if it doesn't get done, it's my fault.

Oh but yesterday, I went canoeing on the Little Miami with Linda. Once I find my adapter - I'll put a couple pictures up. It was a lot of fun - rowed 9 miles, drank beer with a pile of people I didn't know - (but what else is new) - but it was a ton of fun - I would love to do that again with people I did know.

Well, I probably should take my weekly bath as not to totally upset the rest of the human population...

"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati"

When all else fails, play dead.

"Te Aviso, Te Anuncia"ByShakira

"La Tortura (Remix)"ByShakira

me and Father Smith at Arlin's

me and Father Smith at Arlin's
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

lunch today :)

dinner for me
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

...and when i got home today, the little guys were getting dinner ready for me. that was so nice of them.

My Romas and Habaneros

My Romas and Habaneros
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

matt and jane

matt and jane
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

becky and jane

becky and jane
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

becky, matt, and jane

i just received an e-mail from becky with pictures of the little one. i'm so happy for her and matt. it's really amazing. i'm so happy for her.

backwards

these stupid things are all backwards... it's like a "white hole." what's a white hole? the opposite of a black hole, it spews time, instead of sucking it in... and i know, a black hole has extreme gravitational pull that sucks things in - yadda blah blah - - who knows if it sucks time... but god bless red dwarf.

if you are interested in making this rant form some sort of sense, back up - do not pass go, do not collect $100 - go past the pictures, back up to "the villita" and start there.

AND REALLY, WHAT AM I LOOKING AT??

AND REALLY, WHAT AM I LOOKING AT??
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

THESE THINGS ARE ALL BACKWARDS - AHHH!

where is the rest of the kitchen?

where is the rest of the kitchen?
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

This is taken from the dining room but again, WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?

This is taken from the dining room but again, WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

this, from the first landing of the stairs...

this, from the first landing of the stairs...
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

the villita II

oh yeah - and this amazes me a lot - so, these idiots are trying to sell a place, a house. they cannot take a good picture to save their fucking lives. i mean, there are so many cool things to look at in many of these places and they take stupid pictures that are absolutely meaningless. for example, take my villita, there is a picture of the bathroom (which i will show in a moment) and they show the fucking floor. the fixtures in the tub are pretty neat - it's a decent little bathroom - why not show the damn room - not the base boards, or the kitchen... the kitchen has two sinks - a bar sink and a real sink. it also has a little cutout/ pass through spot - where you can catch that it has the two sinks and a slate floor... show that. so many of these houses have cool little things going for them and the sellers picture the oddest parts. i don't get it. they all seem to do that. i'd think someone in real estate would be minorly interested in architecture, floor plans... blah blah blah... apparently not - because i have seen very few pictures that accentuate those details - and it is the details that makes the place. god, i'm ranting tonight.

the villita

i went back to it yesterday and there were a couple of boys looking at it. that did not make me happy. if i get the place i will have to de-cootify it... ha aa - shit. sandy is has been sick so she has not told the real estate guys to re-counter their offer. they have been calling me and calling me - they should be calling her. i think they are greedy bastards. but apparently they are ready to deal... i think. what i've gathered, they are asking too much for the house - compared to what the other places on the street have sold for in the last few years. but what i have seen, the breaking point for a house you don't have to fuck with too much is $225k. my folks thought it would be around $150 - not here - rochester, yes. here - they are shit holes - daylight through baseboards, gunshot neighborhoods... no thanks. a couple weekends ago i looked at houses in the $200 and they were okay, but weird. for example, second floors that were equivalent to the 7 1/2 floor on being john malcovich, bathrooms that looked like i put them in, kitchens that are about the size of what i have already. it's terribly interesting to see the variation in prices and what you get with them. i did look at an adorable house in oakley $230ish - it was a little cabin, so cute - not fucked in any real way - it sold the next day. i'm not interested in moving to the west side. i know nothing of it and whenever i drive there i feel uncomfortable - there's no personality - or i should say, i'm not sure what it is yet. at least here, i'm starting to get a feel of the areas, the yuppie places, the hippy places, the ghetto-ey places, the young family places. i ain't ready to suburbia yet... i don't know that i ever will be - ultimately, i want a secret little place with a gravel driveway, with trees hiding the house, my garden, my fella, my stupid dog and cat... quiet. the wind rustling the trees, no screaming children - unless their mine - and then still - no screaming kids... no sirens, the smell of wood fire, good food, my night flowers that bloom at dusk... that's what i want. i don't think that's much to ask.

Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

missing hollie...

so hollie is now gone. peace has come over cowan's once again. still crazy, but now there is no conniving person creating havoc on the land. i never really understood why she was there in the first place except to keep a watchful eye on andy. hiring hollie was no good for the company, and was no good for andy. i'm trying to give andy another shot. he's starting to talk more - and even though he still isn't my favorite person - he is more tolerable now that she is gone. i don't think it is a good idea that people who are seeing each other should work together. i'd think people would get tired of each other, if after an 8 hour day they then have to sleep together. there would be no new stories, no down time, no time to miss the other person. there is something to be said about people who can be there own person and then come home to their guy, who is his own person, and they are both okay with that. and because they are doing different things there is variety. i think people have to understand that everyone grows and they should allow the other to grow. that's a mature relationship. having the inbreeding of hollie and andy at work was just a bad thing all around - bad for them and bad for us. i'm so glad she found work elsewhere, and i bet, because she is such a "hard worker," that she lasts about 2 months.

William Blake: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun

William Blake: The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun
Originally uploaded by Danica Marie.

it's been awhile...

it has. actually, i forgot all about this. i'm watching the Indy 500 - only because there's a girl - danica patrick - racing. interesting combination of names. i had actually heard of her months ago - during the winter - another active saturday evening... googling my name in the "image" catagory. (she's in 4th now - up a spot...) And today, I have my tomato and peppers in their respective paint cans. They are turning out really neat.

Tomatos

So I'm gunna grow tomato and pepper and a strawberry plant this summer. I started tomato and pepper seeds in little containers. The tomatos already have leaves - and I repotted them today. This is usually when I kill them. All of the ones I planted have grown. :) So after they get a bit bigger I am going to put a couple in paint cans, hang them upside down - and let 'em rip -- I'm so excited! I also planted some forget-me-nots and alyssum in the front porch - Oh and a couple Moon Flowers. They are supposed to have a white bloom that opens at night time... I think I will have a nice summer.