Category Archives: personal

Love that Sausage Gravy

Mohawk Diner recently moved to new digs (I thought I wrote a blog post about it, but now I can’t find it. Oops). I noticed that their old digs, on Main Street in Mohawk, NY, is now Liz’s Mohawk Diner. Saturday morning I checked it out.

We know Liz from other diners.

“Is Steve on his way?” she asked me as I sat down.

“No, he has to work,” I said sadly. I’m going to suggest he go there on a day off soon, even if it has to be without me.

The place looks spiffy and bright. I admired the chicken-themed decor and perused the specials board. I decided to get eggs over medium and home fries with sausage gravy. The special included coffee and toast made with Heidelberg bread. Yum!

I really enjoyed the home fries with sausage gravy. The gravy was made with lots of sausage, and the potatoes were cooked to perfection.

The place has the kind of hometown diner atmosphere I love. The patrons and Liz were cracking jokes back and forth.

“Pay the waitress,” Liz told one.

“You know she’s a pain,” he answered.

Liz did know. “That’s why I hired her.”

She wasn’t a pain; she was a good waitress. And Liz is an excellent cook. It was a fine breakfast. Liz’s is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch.

New Year, New Shoes

Saturday I made my yearly visit to Melfe’s Shoes in Ilion, NY, for steel-toed work shoes.

The store is located at 64 Central Ave. I parked in Sorrento Pizzeria and Restaurant lot (hmmm, haven’t eaten there in a while; that would make a good blog post) (preview of coming attractions).

I felt fortunate to arrive at a time when the store was not too busy. However, I have also been there at busy times. The staff is very good at getting everybody taken care of.

A nice lady named Vicki took care of me. While she brought out 7 1/2 Wides and I walked around in them, we chatted about the weather and the great outdoors. She likes to go fishing. That’s a sport I think I tried once in junior high. Might be time to try it again (I won’t say “preview of coming attractions,” because it might be a while) (unless I try ice fishing. Hmm…).

I was very happy with the shoes I picked and with the service I recieved. I also got a pink Melfe’s t-shirt. I will probably wear it to work. Melfe’s carries other foot gear than work boots. I may return soon to check out some of their other ware (ah, yet another preview of coming attractions).

For more information on Melfe’s Shoes, call 315-894-4049.

Back on the Tabby Track

It has been too cold for the last few days to take Tabby for a walk. This is not my selfish, wimpy decision: I saw on the news that you should not have your dogs out in the cold for more than five minutes or so. We do not want a case of doggy hypothermia or doggy frost bite to deal with (yes, I KNOW those are the same thing as regular hypothermia and frost bite; I like to put “doggy” in front of these things).

Today the my thermostat told me it was 21 degrees out, so we ventured on a short stroll. To celebrate, I thought I’d write a pedestrian post about it.

I put Tabby’s coat on her. She is good-natured about letting me maneuver her paws through the sleeves. I wore my warmest coat, hat, scarf and mittens (the ones that are beginning to wear out; they’re still pretty warm). I wish I had little doggy boots for Tabby’s paws but am doubtful about her continuing good-nature if I attempted such a thing.

At the last minute I thought of my prescription sunglasses. The sun was high in the sky and bright. Let’s hear it for polarization!

We set off down the sidewalk, thankful for the neighbors who had shoveled or snow-blowed their sidewalks (Steven did ours). I had forgotten how much snow had fallen since our last stroll. That’s right, I reminded myself, the first day it was too cold for a walk there was also a blizzard. It had not snowed since, so unshoveled stretches of sidewalk usually had a path worn by several pairs of boots.

We also came to parts the sidewalk plow had gone through. While I am grateful for the sidewalk plow, it often leaves a layer of snow. Then again, maybe there was still ice at the bottom and the layer of snow protected me from it. In any case, it takes more effort to walk through, so I burned a few more calories. Bonus!

I sadly noticed the lack of Christmas decorations on many houses I had admired last month. There were two white metal deer with wreaths around their necks. I liked them but was soon depressed at the sight of Christmas trees at the curb. Oh well, life does go on. I must get over my post-Christmas letdown and on with January.

It was only a short walk, because 21 degrees is really only comparatively warm. Of course there is the possibility for another stroll before the freezing rain is predicted to start (really, never a dull moment). I was glad I had walked. Tabby seemed pleased, too.

Well, I Tried

It was SUPPOSED to be warmer today. I had all kinds of Mohawk Valley adventures planned. Oh well, I guess it was warmer. The temperature reached double digits, in fact, it was 17 degrees the last time I looked. Heat wave!

I did venture out this morning, when it was still single digits. I had a bit of what I thought was a sinus headache but as usual hoped for the best. After all, the sun was out; that made everything better. Or did it? The bright sun reflecting off all the snow put my headache in high gear. At the first STOP sign I dug my prescription sunglasses out of my purse. They are polarized. Phew!

My most pressing task was to put air in my tires, because the tire pressure indicator light was on. Isn’t it the damnedest thing that just when you want to put air in your tires, so does everybody else? I did my other stuff first.

I patronized two local businesses and had a lovely visit to a library. That should be good for at least three blog posts, right? Well, the headache only got worse. I blamed the frigid temperatures (and, please, anybody who is experiencing sub-zero temperatures, do NOT tell me I don’t know what cold temperatures are)(that’s a good topic for some half-baked philosophy next Lame Post Friday: perspective and the advice to quit whining). Where was I? Soon I had a full-blown migraine with nausea.

Naturally I did what any self-respecting 21st century woman does: I went home and posted on Facebook about my misery. And distracted myself by seeing other people’s problems, political opinions, kids’ pictures and jokes. I love Facebook. And yes, I know, I am not a real 21st century woman. For one thing, I’ve never used the word “hashtag” in my life, except to say, “Why are you calling a pound sign a hashtag? What’s that all about?”

And now I’m getting all distracted by nonsense. My headache is better, but my head is still kind of vague. I put some peppermint oil on my temples, which is supposed to provide intellectual stimulation. Perhaps I have nothing up there left to stimulate.

In my defense, by some calculations the Christmas season lasts until January 6th. Let’s pretend I’m still on vacation.

Drat those Self-Satisfied Sorts

Well, once again it is Lame Post Friday, my day for random observations and half-baked philosophy, and, what a surprise, I got nuthin’. Today at work I told a friend I had not written anything yet, that I was going to sit at my computer and type, “I got nuthin’.”

“But then you think of other stuff to put,” she said.

“Yes.”

And usually I do. Today, it seems, not so much. Perhaps it is time to do the dreaded half-baked philosophy on New Year’s Resolutions. I haven’t started working on any of mine yet. All I’ve done is get a little defensive about those self-satisfied sorts who say THEY don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I believe I have inveighed against those sorts recently.

But here is a half-baked philosophical question for me: why do I get so defensive against people who seem pretty happy with themselves? Could it be related to low self-esteem? Hmm… that sounds less like philosophy and more like therapy. I’m not qualified to do therapy, although I do indulge in table-top psychology on occasion.

Table-top psychology, in case I have not mentioned it before, is an expression I got from a friend, who was quoting her mother. She would use it when she was giving a lay person’s opinion (her own). She would qualify it with, “Table-top psychology,” and rap on the table. Of course, this lady was highly intelligent and insightful. Her opinions were probably based on experience and common sense. Me, I just talk.

So, I guess this was my random observation: I get defensive against self-satisfied sorts. And my half-baked philosophy was: why is that? Could be a job for a therapist.

I must, I positively must get back to having Mohawk Valley adventures and writing about them. We’ve been snowed and frozen in for the past two days, but there may be a break in the weather tomorrow. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Cold New Year’s Walk

This New Year’s I learned a valuable lesson: Party anyways. I have spent the day feeling as tired and useless as if I had tied one on last night, and I really did not. Then again, I didn’t have a headache or upset stomach, so perhaps I am onto something with this moderation and early bedtime. Still, I thought some people would like it if I began my post with “party anyways.”

I deem it acceptable to do one more vacationish post (I am, after all, the arbiter of these things in my own blog). I could wax philosophical about New Years, as many people do (half-baked for me, of course) (I’ll save it for Lame Post Friday). Instead, I offer another pedestrian post.

The cold snap continues in the Mohawk Valley. The next two days are going to be even worse, so we were determined to take our beloved schnoodle, Tabby, for at least a short walk today. We bundled up. Scarves, hats, mittens. I did not put Tabby’s coat on her. I thought to save it for the even colder days to come.

It had snowed. Snow has the advantage of offering some traction, so I thought it would be a less dangerous walk. Then again, it was so cold the snow didn’t pack down at all, and ice lurked treacherously underneath. I kept warning Steven to be careful. Then I worried a little about myself, because just about the time I’m warning somebody else is when I get into difficulties.

The sun was still up, but behind rather extensive cloud cover. We admired the eerie grey light which bathed the neighborhood. I especially enjoyed the sight of bare trees against the sky. I pointed out that if we had waited till after dark for our walk, we could have noticed who still had their Christmas lights on and been disappointed at those who did not.

I don’t understand this passion for taking decorations down so soon after the celebration. Traditionally aren’t we supposed to leave them up till January 6th? The sight of a few lights still up helps ease my post-Christmas letdown. We saw one tree still lit in somebody’s window, and a fox lawn ornament with a New Year’s hat and Santa socks.

Some Christmas trees were already out by the curb. One had almost no needles left on it.

“Didn’t they water it?” I asked in a disapproving tone of voice.

We did not go for a long walk. I was grateful when we were almost home, because my nose was running. I had provided myself with scarf, hat, mittens and poop bags, but had neglected a handkerchief. Then I noticed my mittens were beginning to wear out. Oh dear. I called Steven’s attention to this, but pointed out that as I had stolen them from my sister sometime in the late ’80s, I really had no room for complaint.

Well, that seems to me not too bad a post for a tired New Year’s Day (on Wuss-out Wednesday, I might add). Or do I flatter myself? No matter. It is time to get on with 2014. Happy New Year, everybody.

At Least I Have Clean Socks

I thought laundromats were supposed to be good places to write. For me they usually are. Well, it has been a bad writing vacation for me. I admit it.

I have read many times and in fact I knew it without reading it, that it is a fallacy to tell yourself, “Just wait until vacation; then I can write ALL DAY LONG.” You won’t, especially if you are out of the habit of writing.

In this instance, I am quite justified in arguing, “But I’m NOT out of the habit of writing!” I write a blog post every day, I work on my novel almost every day, I write letters, post cards, the TV Journal and miscellaneous other crap as the opportunity arises.

I feel quite misused by my own brain.

Those who love to give superior advice (you know who you are), say with a sniff, “If you WANT to write, you’ll write.” Thank you for your input. If I want to run a marathon, I’ll run a marathon. If I want to flap my arms and fly to the moon, I may have a problem. I could compare writing a novel to either of those desires, but I am really not up to metaphor today.

I fall back on what I have always said, one does one’s poor best.

And every day is an opportunity to do better. What an appropriate thought for New Year’s Eve (which is today). I can work on that novel as soon as I’m done typing this in. Or I can write a better blog post and leave this one in the wings for future use (in case of emergency, hit “publish”).

In the meantime, at least I got my pen moving.

As a side note: after I wrote the above, I turned a page in my notebook and wrote a post about a horror movie I watched yesterday. I think it is a good post and I will probably publish it soon. Waste not, want not.

Can’t Walk Away from the Letdown

So it got nice and warm, then it rained, then it got cold again. Oh, I’m not complaining about the return of winter temperatures; that is to be expected. But did it have to freeze so quickly after the rain? Now the sidewalks are covered with ice. It makes an attempt at a pedestrian post interesting to say the least (and when have you ever known me to say the least?).

Here I am, in the middle of my post-Christmas letdown, not inclined to do anything, let alone seek out Mohawk Valley adventures. When I got dressed I realized most of my clothes are dirty. I finally put on a rather nice-looking skirt. You would think dressing up a little would make me more inclined to leave the house, but not so much. Still, dogs like to take walks. Perhaps a little fresh air and exertion would cheer me up.

I most recently fell on the ice Christmas Eve. You would think that with my fat butt, falling on the ice would hold no terrors. Well let me tell you, all that padding does not necessarily help. But I thought, I was unprepared for that particular patch of ice at the time. I would be careful. This would work. After all, ALL the sidewalks couldn’t be bad.

Yes they could. At least they weren’t all smooth. Most of them, in fact, were pretty rough, with ripples or footprints. However, I soon found the best place to walk was in the crunchy snow beside the sidewalk. Tabby got a little confused, thinking I wanted to cross the street, but she is very adaptable and we went on.

We had a bad moment crossing the street at a four-way stop when some lady in a car did not want to come to a complete stop. It looked like she was wearing a fur coat, which kind of gave me an oh-no-wonder feeling about it. We were in the road well before she had reached the intersection. I tried giving her the thank-you wave, but I have a bad feeling that if I would have fallen on the ice just then, I would be roadkill instead of writing a blog post right now.

Tabby became a little indecisive after that.

“Do you just want to go home?” I asked her. It seems she did, and she began pulling me that way.

Then we heard a guy yell and saw a dog bounding across a lawn, making right for Tabby. Luckily, it seemed she only wanted to sniff (I think it was a girl name the guy called her). He hollered for her till she went back to him.

“Sorry about that,” he called.

“That’s all right; it just startled me.” We went back home, sticking to the crunchy snow as much as possible. A nice lady paused before entering a driveway we were about to cross. She waved us on before pulling in. That is what polite motorists do.

The whole walk did not take very long, but I felt it had been more effort than many shorter walks. The cold air did not freeze out my letdown, unfortunately, but I do not repine. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, sometimes you just have to feel a way till you don’t feel that way any more.

Wrist to Resolutions

So there I was, ready to enjoy a Sunday of doing nothing when I remembered I had rashly promised my blog readers I would do SOMETHING blogworthy today. Of course nothing came to mind.

I took a walk with Tabby, making careful note of every step. It might have worked if I had sat down and written it immediately on returning, but, well, I did not do so.

I cooked a rather effortful dinner, suitable for a cooking post. But I just don’t feel up to describing my tribulations with pizza dough. It was fortunately not a wrist-to-forehead situation, since my hands were covered with flour at the time. By the way, the pizza turned out pretty good.

That leaves me with the threatened post about New Year’s Resolutions, which I believe I also mentioned yesterday. Have any of my delightful readers made New Year’s Resolutions? Some people don’t. Some people brag about how they don’t, implication being that they are perfect as they stand. Or at least above doing what everybody else does. I’m not judging.

I have not made any New Year’s Resolutions yet. I intend to do a few things: lose weight, start running again, exercise more, finish my novel… and I plan to do these things after January 1st. But I can’t say they are really New Year’s Resolutions, because I was working on them prior to this. I plan on working on them more betterly after January 1st, because the holidays will be over.

Hmmm, that doesn’t make a really scintillating post about New Year’s Resolutions. I guess I can’t give up Wrist to Forehead Sunday after all. Hope to see you all on Middle=aged Musings Monday.

Walking toward 2014

When I took my schnoodle Tabby for a walk earlier, I vaguely hoped for enough material for a Pedestrian Post. The main reason for the walk was not to blog, but because dogs like to go for walks. I had to leave for a few hours and I hoped she might like to nap after a stroll.

I was happy to be wearing my insulated sweatshirt instead of warmer, bulkier wear. I found the fancy not-supposed-to-mess-up-your-hair earmuffs I had given Steven some years ago. He almost never wears them. I don’t either, because in avoiding your ‘do, they tend to push dangly earrings right into your neck. Ouch! So I left off the earrings and saved the coif.

Some of the sidewalks were bare due to the recent warmer temperatures, but it was not warm enough to make a lot of messy mud. In other words, almost perfect winter walking temperature. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the walk, which is good for me, but there isn’t really a whole lot else to say about it.

I did warn you people that I might be posting nothing but foolishness until 2014. At least, I think I said something like “all downhill from here” but that was what I meant. On the brighter side, that’s only four more posts. On the duller side, why do I think things are going to get better just because the calendar changes? I remind myself, it will be Wuss-out Wednesday on January 1st.

Take heart, gentle reader, I promise to do SOMETHING blogworthy tomorrow. And if I don’t write about it right away, I can always philosophize half-bakedly on New Year’s Resolutions. What’s that? You think mine should be to do fewer foolish posts? Say it ain’t so!