Taking the Pulse

The sun is shining, the suddenly warm wind is lightly jollying the green out of every dormant thing. The neighborhood is filled with sounds that make me pause and consider the silent, other-worldly fastness of the winters here when windows are closed and layered over with storm windows and heavy drapes, and when we forget how green the world can be.

Barking dogs, blurred discussions, laughing children, squealing brakes of busses and the rumble of passing cars with thier snatches of radio noise froms the seasonal pulse of the district.
SPM

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

We had Chris Marcott, Fran, Jacki, MaryLynn, Elizabeth & Floyd, Nick Piotrowski, Self, Roderick and his sister, Jenny (who, in passing, is *such* an odd creature) to our place on the corner of Warren and Thompson. . . With soup one can always have company because soup feeds an army. This is my version of a British classic, and is a crowd pleaser. . . I decided the name was enough reason to work with this recipe and the test-group liked it.


3 Strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 whole chicken, quartered and skinned
3 leeks, sliced on the diagonal
1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
3 cloved garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
2 fists full button mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 stick butter
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 c. white wine, (Louis Jadot 2001 chardonnay preferred)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 soup cans of chicken stock
1 soup can of beef stock
4 medium parsnips, scrubbed and thinly sliced

Simmer all in a pot for the afternoon on low flame, pull and bone chicken when tender, discard bones, return meat to pot and serve.
SPM

Walls

He laughed and said he loved her because she was off the wall and she looked past him and said reflectively that she didn't think she'd ever seen the wall, and he said me niether and that's when they knew they could be friends.
SPM

645 S. Weadock

Interesting note: Until yesterday there was snow in the attic of the house and a sheet of ice you could've skated on in the dining room . . .
SPM



(Photo by Tyler Griffis)

Arson Patrol and Chili

All Hallow's Eve and Halloween night were, last year, very exciting in our district because there were something like 40 arsons on those two nights alone . . . we made national news.

This year it was decided we would have no repeat of the previous year's events, so a 48-hour, city-wide arson watch was put into effect that included extra police coverage, helecopters over our historic districts, local businesses and about 1,000 volunteers to patrol the neighborhoods in police-issued orange T-shirts using orange flashing lights on our vehivles to identify our patrols as well as alert anyone in the area that we were present.

Our nieghborhood hadn't a single arson this year as a result . . . kinda cool to see what motivated people can achieve.

Our house was headquarter's for two days of all-night patrol volunteers . . . there was food, drink, homework, board games, Will & Grace. Lots of fun with some great people.

Favorite Moment: Jayke Pena shows up on our front porch in sandals, a toga, big jewelry and perfectly guilded laurel leaves, quoth he, "Don't *tell* me I'm the only one who dressed up!!?" Yup. He was. And it was a brisk night to be flapping about in a toga, no matter how authentic. . .


Here's the chili served at our house that night (you'll need a bigger-than-usual kettle to accomodate):

Caffienated Chicken Chili

8 cans navy beans
24oz. Corona (yeah, the beer)
1 large white onion, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 T minced fresh garlic
2 fist fulls of chopped celery
3 bunches of cilantro, chopped
3 fresh poblano peppers chopped, seeds included
2 bunches green onions, chopped
6-8 grilled chicken breasts, chopped (I always say go for more meat)
1 pound fried bacon, chopped fine (throw the grease into the pot for flavor)
1/2 c., heaping, dark roast coffee run through the coffee grinder until powdered
1 Lime, juice only
1/8 c. chili powder
2 - 3 T cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt (may need more, taste as you go)

Set aside your cilantro, lime juice and chopped green onions until 30 minutes before serving to keep flavor and color at peak. Pour your beer and chicken broth into you kettle on medieum flame. Add bacon, beans, spices and vegtables; sautee about half an hour. Add remaining ingredients and serve with Frito's, shredded cheese and sour cream.
My own recipe. Serves at least 12. Freezes and cans well.
SPM

Random Morning

It was a short night following a mellow evening the likes of which we have not had in some time. Things have been too busy. Things have been too stressed. Things have been too damn pinched; you can hardly be expected to pinch pennies you haven't got, now, can you?

It was a special kind of luxury to sit in the Mixx over dinner – waiting for laundry – and spending five solid hours visiting, texting, thumbing through Vanity Fair with no need to worry about needing to be someplace else or how many dollars the bill might run to.

We hauled laundry up the stairs of home around midnight and – all our favorite shirts and underwear fresh and clean – headed out on a late night excursion before returning to adjust the thermostat and settle in for the night . . .

I wake at five in the morning to the alarm not even remembering when I dropped off and begin getting ready for the day only to find when looking out the window that the bulk of the fall color on our street has been whisked away past peeling houses in the hours before dawn and is hurriedly rattling down the street to the place bright colors go to hide until spring.

Our apartment, even in it's current state of utter chaos, is homey and welcoming. Light filters through the linen panels in the bedroom and falls across Roderick's face as he breathes softly in his sleep and the only sound otherwise is the ticking of our clocks each busily keeping time in their own efficient way that only makes sense to them and keeps us compnay more than providing the expected service.

I seldom see, but like, this time of day; there is a quality about it that almost makes up for the loss of sleep the sight of such early light costs. It is possible in the early morning – before even the street is awake – to walk through the house and look at it as if I do not exist, as if I had stumbled upon a way to absent myself from my own life and to, then, turn and look over my shoulder at it without feeling entirely connected to it.

Leaving the bedroom, I look to the right through the pumpkin-colored hall into our plum-tinted study with it's cast-off sleigh sofa and its fragments of creamy porch column and banister neatly stacked with random books. . . Into the bathroom to assess the damage of the night before . . . Not bad. . . . Nothing a little gel and a comb won't fix. . . out into the dining room with its theatre seats, filled bookcases, and the table with its arrangement of pebbles in a green metal tray that supports delicate twigs wandering between the arms of the light fixture above . . . through the disaster breeding in our kitchen (we both hate doing dishes) to grab a cup of tea . . . back to the bathroom where I hang up Roderick's towel from the night before.

Hanging up towels isn't one of his virtues. But he has many others. . . I find myself tempted to nudge under the covers and will the day to wait for me a little longer. But I don't. Because it won't. So I grin and grab my coat, instead, and head down the stairs to the front door.

Winter's first wind began in the night and has been steadily, efficiently whipping away the leaves until it appears the maples and horse chestnuts are clinging to shreds of red and gold fabric with tired, bony fingers. And on the wind along the River from across the Lake came the first frost: The air has the nip of good cognac, my breath hangs in the quiet morning and the grass crunched under foot as I cross the lawn on my way to work.

Officially or not, Winter is digging in for a long stay.
SPM

Important Stuff

So she turned to me and said, "Now that we've covered things like souls and dreams and the value of emotions, I have to ask you: How are my boobs?"
SPM