Part one, "DISGUSTING THINGS YOU'D NEVER ANTICIPATE", or the rest areas of New York....

Oh, disgusting things? ***** Let me explain..the wife and I packed the car with CDs and food and a beagle Saturday and:

-drove almost 500 miles to western New York and back

-in 11 hours

-I will tell you why Monday

-but it had a lot to do with the 2 different state parks we visited

-so we hiked about 6 miles total

-played 6 CDs

-visited four NY state rest areas and

-got about 32 miles per gallon and

-between the 2 of us took about 100 photos and

-split 8 slices of my pizza for lunch and dinner plus 4 apples and 7 oranges and 2 cookies and 2 thermoses of coffee and 2 bottles of water and exactly ONE tank of gas...roughly....

(I remember reading once that people who hike or X country ski bring their own food when they travel and stores hate that...whereas snowmobilers spend a lot of money on beef jerky and BUD and BBQ chips... I swear! I read it in the paper! And for us its true, there is no way I am wasting money on road food when I am a superb cook)

A point: many of the NY state highway rest stops are clean and functional and about as old as me...46ish...cinderblock huts.

BUT, 10 or 15 years ago, when the state was flush with money they went bananas and started building PALACES and temples along the highways..where you can also go potty and get tourist maps etc --I was telling the wife

"I bet this place is so amazing because if you live in Ohio? Its just over there, and New York wants all those people to come HERE for vacation...and spend money..."....and the wife is like

"Good theory, because all of the cars here in the lot have OHIO PLATES".

The rest stop outside Chautaqua Lake NY is unflippingbelieveable, the prettiest MOST BEAUTIFUL temple of toilets on earth, as you see. And as if the building is not gorgeous enough, it sits on a huge hillside overlooking Chautaqua Lake below...wow....

The wife agreed: even in spring, hilly lakefronts can be amazingly windy and cold, but we are ever prepared....

BEFORE I knew Chautaqua Lake had the best rest stop on earth, I had thought that the new one outside of Salamanca, NY was the most amazing...turtle and beaver sculptures out front!

Penny drives short trips with me all the time. But never more than 2 hours before. Holy cats, 11 hours in the car (and as I say, nearly 6 miles hiking for the day) and she rides like a CHAMP. My gosh I love my dog so much, what a good girl...did not barf in the car, did not whine, did not bark, just rode quietly and hiked happily......

Part 2 Monday!

Got our mail before we left....kate and Jim are so awesome, they sent me a pig watering can for my birthday! Spike had a quiet and sleepy and lonely day at home without all of us...but was delighted to open this box and kick the pig's azz......

*****

OH? Disgusting things you'd never anticipate? One CD we were singing along to (I get the Fred parts, the wife gets the Kate parts) was B52s...awesome road music...favorite line in the song below:

"Disgusting things you'd never anticipate!!!"

fierce creatures

I know, how much fun can you have making a bowl??????? Shark chasing croc chasing shark bowl, by Gary Rith....



This is so fantastic. I draw crocs too as uou see way below, but this guy makes a really sweet and cheerful croc! AWESOME video!


Like I say, I can draw a croc or alligator too.... mug below for sale at my etsy gallery, actually...have a great weekend!

we have a WINNER! and s3xyhawt oatmeal scones...

Groovy teapot eh? I was messing around with different ideas, and also remembered "Oh yeah, I like elephants, been making so many monsters and such lately!"

Do I have to say it? If you read comments in yesterday's prize post, you would guess that Joe blew all of you away, babies or no babies, PLUS he said "fart" which is always a winner. I mean, the sheer number of limericks and haikus is staggering :) Joe, email me garyrith at yahoo dot com with your mailing address and I will draw by hand and STAMP by hand a real live Easter card....

Joe was asking for my oatmeal scones recipe....it and my applesauce recipes follow the pics....

that is my version of multitasking, stirring the pot with one hand, baking the scones with the other...

Cranberry apple sauce!

Core and chop 7-9 apples. I use organic and do not peel them. Toss them in a large cook pot, set on high. Add one cup water, one tbs lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, 3/4-1 cup cranberries and shakes of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. When it is boiling quite violently, stir frequently, reduce heat and simmer covered about 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time, until it looks very mushy. Take it off the heat and blenderize 90 percent of of it. I like some lumps remaining. Put it into tupperware when it cools, keep in the fridge.

DELISH!

oatmeal scones, wicked easy!

1 cup flour, 3 tbs sugar, 2 teas bake powder, 6 tbs margarine, 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup golden raisins or whatever, 1/3 cup chopped nuts, 2 eggs, spoonful of sugar mixed with cinnamon ( I LOVE CINNAMON)

Preheat oven to 400

Stir in large bowl the flour, sugar, bake powder. Use a pastry blender or fork or knife and cut in and stir to mix the margarine until crumbly. Stir in oats, raisins and nuts. Use another bowl, whisk the eggs then pour them into flour mixture and stir it all together nicely. The dough is very sticky, but grab it in your hands and set it on a plate or something, patting it into a nice blob, or if you are exacting like my wife, form a disk about 7 inches wide and 1.25 inches thick. You can cut the disk into 8 wedges and place onto a baking sheet. I don't make wedges, but just form 8 rough little hockey pucks. Back about 9-12 minutes, until they look BEAUTIFUL and golden brown, but careful they could burn quickly, so check progress at 9 mins.....

when done, sprinkle with a little of that cinnamon sugar and place them onto a cooling rack, YUMMO!

SLACKER EDITION: one fact and one dream.... WIN A PRIZE!!!!!

WE NEED YOU to go to comments and add your one fact and one dream! THERE IS A PRIZE* for the best fact and dream of the day! Don't think about it too hard, just whatever pops into your head, BONUS for haiku, triple bonus for limericks.

Here is mine:

My life is a small

Fantasy camp every day,

Still, I want a vacation.

Sure, I ruin the haiku form in the last line, it should be break instead of vacation, ha! SUE ME!

It is true though: every day I make and do what I damn well please, lucky me! I mean, yesterday, Penny and I took the excuse of an errand to go to a wildflower garden...and saw our first red trillium of the year. But still....spring fever has got ahold of me. We are taking a wee vacation indeed soon....very small....don't get your hopes up...... NOW GO POST YOUR FACT AND DREAM!

(speaking of slackers and fantasy camp, some of you may have recognized my haiku's reference......)

*prize winner will be selected Friday morning and there BETTER BE a lot of good entries! I get to choose, although your votes for best in comments also count, if there is one you like, say so! PRIZE is pathetic...OK, maybe not pathetic: the winner can send me their mailing address and I will

ARTISTICALLY make an EASTER CARD for them! And mail it even....can you imagine, a handmade EASTER CARD? Don't worry, it will be secular, all about bunnies and such....and I have to admit, US only, OK? 45 cents is the total budget, sorry!

(new pottery by Gary Rith) Awesome eh???????

Monet down the river from our place.....

(new pottery by Gary Rith...sharks chasing crocs chasing sharks!)

I was done with the work Tuesday and totally had cabin fever. It is not as hot as last week, but just beautifully sunny, so Penny and left for the hike and to pick up the wife at her office....

Cornell has thousands of acres (I have heard that the largest landowner in NY state is NY state, and the second largest is Cornell University...we are surrounded by Cornell woods, gardens, farms, forests......)....and we went to a pathway I had not been on before, down the river from our house. We ended up by the Monet bridge...well, I think they call it a suspension bridge, but it is this pretty curved wooden thing over Fall Creek that looks like a Monet painting......soooo pretty, soooo lucky to be able to do this.....

StevO makes it happen

You will recall my best pal StevO the photographer....Sunday he helped me get the shots at his studio.....and they look fantastic...twould be nice if they were published indeed!

primitive pursuits: ONE FACT and one dream Monday! we need you!

All my delightful friends, please share your personal fact and dream in comments, we want to hear from you!!!!!

My fact and dream? Can I try a haiku here at 6am?

Do bears sh!t in the
Woods? Dunno, but fact is, our
Weather? Cold again.

Speaking of sh!tting
In the woods: Septic guy comes
Today to pump ours.

So I dream of a
Routine visit from the man
With the magic suction....

Me and the wife had the big hike Sunday with the pup, in the woods...... glorious! Go to comments NOW!

TT lust....

TT
You will have noticed that me and the wife had the super big date Saturday morning, we went to the laundermat! I havn't been in so long it seems like a fun outing, especially when you go to a favorite cafe during the spin cycle for brunch....I mean, when we were young and poor, we HAD to go to the laundermat, and it was never really fun, but it is now! The fact is, those big quilts and blankets don't fit in our machine. I spent 14 bucks having a dry cleaner do one quilt last season, which is OK....but times 4, for all the quilts and blankets? I mean, 14 is more than we spent to wash and dry all of them, allowing plenty for brunch....anyway....on the way in, we go past all these women on bikes in a store window....bikes with one wheel....and a lot of music...and they are zipping away, to nowhere....and they are all quite trim and pretty and sweaty, and I say to the wife, puzzled, "all these people sit on exercise bikes together for an aerobics class?" And the wife tells me "it is called SPINNING" and I am like "but its beautiful outside, WTF are they doing inside pedaling away? Plus they drove here????". America = CRAZY.

Anyway, you will see below me and the junky old printer that has been riding around in our trunk for awhile (finally donated) in front of 2 Audi TTs....can you believe 2 of the ladies sweating in the window drive Audi TTs? (you KNOW the 2004-5 convertible TT is my favorite car on earth). These are more recent, and NOT convertible, so as I tell the wife "these are awesome, but why would you bother NOT getting the convertible?" and the wife says wisely "better than NO TT".

Give me a few million and you KNOW I will be getting that 2004 TT convertible...

You will notice in the video below that the 2004 is the cutest and most curvaceous thing you have ever seen in your life....

speaking of sharks and alligators....

I was getting the work done Friday morning but with continued hot weather...which is predicted to end this weekend...and I was like
"Penny, LET'S GO" and so we went out for the hike on Ithaca East Hill Rail Trail, a huge town park many miles long on an old rail bed, with rivers, hills, a coffee shop, whatever. You can make it a long walk or bike ride, or shorter, and you may recall, it is my favorite. (I have a lot of favorite hikes and rides I think) Anyway, it looks so strange, seeing it for the first time since fall, so naked! But the green is coming....picture down there of our house too with the neighbor's big yellow bush, and also of Penny when we got HOME AGAIN, exhausted little pup after 4 miles walking.....



Tee hee! Got this cartoon from RDM, suits my work lately....



Like I say, you probably need some coolio bowls that I decorated with sharks chasing crocs chasing sharks...fab deal on a set now at my etsy gallery!

"why do bloggers always have to ruin a picnic?????"

Well, the wife did not say, as I pulled out the camera, "why do bloggers always have to ruin a picnic???" because she is too nice, but I said it for her. Some bloggers (ME!) are always taking pictures, and well, the wife is patient....Luckily Penny, who you see here with a cunning look in her eye, did NOT succeed in scoring our lunch...

OK, so Thursday was as spectacular as Weds. Maybe more spectacular. I went back over to Cornell to the wife's office for the noontime picnic. Holy cats, the apple blossoms and magnolias have popped out in full pink bloom on campus! SOOOoooo early! But so much to enjoy.

Below, i had to tie Penny to uncle Ezra....