Miscellany

 

Hamster's Household Hints: In a Jam

For quite some time now, I've been exclusively using only one brand of jam, because of it's supreme quality:  Rigoni di Asiago's Fior di Frutta.  It is organic, produced with much less sugar (especially compared with American brands), and has the most incredibly intense and delicious fruit flavor I've ever tasted.  The raspberry is positively angelic, in the strawberry & wild strawberry you can actually taste the wild strawberry - a flavor I have not tasted since I was a kid.   Flavors that are rare in the US are available, like lingonberry, wild blueberry, cranberry, pear, and black currant.  Really, I can't say enough about this stuff; divine is too weak a description.

 

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find it in an Italian grocery.  I mail-order it online, several jars at a time.  You're more likely to get the full panoply of flavors online.  They also have an incredible cocoa/hazelnut spread called Nocciolata, which puts Nutella to shame, as well as Italian varietal honeys (Oh Honey!) 

An Early Spring Walk

 The weather yesterday was just gorgeous.

 

Hamster Physiology

Over time, I have learned that my superior hamster physiology makes me susceptible to various conditions that do not occur amongst the general population. Happily, when I am concerned about this, I always have David as a reality check. For example, the other evening:

Hamster: Do your cuticles itch when they get dry?

David: No

Hamster: Probably nobody's do; it’s one of those hamster things isn’t it?

David: Yeah…

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

created by GOTTE (https://www.hamgotte.com)

 

With best wishes to our neighbors to the north, strong and free. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Ides (lest we forget)

 

Scenes from Domestic Bliss

David and I will mark 33 wonderful years together this year.  We are in many ways compatible, which contributes to longevity, but our brainworks and habitual behaviors are often quite the opposite--which frequently makes for amusement (and bewilderment).  I was reminded of this the other morning.  David usually gets up before I do (indeed, most of the universe wakes up before I do).  So he gets the coffee working and often has a toasted item of some sort. Now here's the point. Sweetie that he is, he leaves the butter out so it will be soft for me when I get there since I loathe tearing toast with hard butter.  I like to smooth the butter evenly and to the very edges of the bread.  David, on the other hand, prefers to carve slabs of cold butter and lay them atop the bread in a form resembling rustic tile.  For this, he requires a sharp knife, which he leaves by the butter.  For me, at least, sharp knives are rubbish for applying soft butter smoothly and evenly, so I put the sharp knife in the sink and get a dinner knife to slather the butter appropriately.  I am convinced that this operation holds the secret of how we've lasted this long.

 

I think I Might Be Short on Interesting Blog Material Today

1965 GM Frigidaire Rollermatic washer 

 

Misc. (very)

I don't believe that you would be surprised to learn that if I put on a pair of socks with a logo on them, the logos ALWAYS have to face OUTWARD. I'd feel very uncomfortable otherwise. 

Ads on the DC Metro can often be entirely enigmatic.

 

Now here's something to ponder...

Some Reflections or Where Am I Now?

Well, I've been retired for 7 years now. It feels longer than that, which is probably good since the next major life event is my inevitable demise. I started off in 2019 busily exploring DC, sorting out the public transportation, getting a feel for various parts of the city, etc. I also set all sorts of self-improving goals for myself, which only served as an exciting new way of beating myself up for not accomplishing them. I wrote about this in a previous post, but I'll be darned if I can find it. 

 

Then came Covid, and the lock-down. We only went out to go food shopping or taking a walk outside where there weren't many people. This served to take the wind out of my sails. Once the pandemic died down, I lost the energy and interest to go out out and explore and do and all. I don't fully understand why; perhaps the homebody part of me took over. In either case, I found myself always busy with housework or some household improvement project (David trembles in terror when I say the word "improvement"). I then started to beat myself up for not going out while at the same time feeling trapped in endless things that "needed" to be done.. 

 

It took me what, like 3-4 years to finally shake that off and start doing things again. Much to my suprise, it simply became a matter of resolving to get out and do this or that and not allowing myself any excuses. It was extremely effective to ask David when he wanted to go out for lunch this week. A commitment made like that is very difficult for me not to honor. And so, with not much effort as it turns out, I started to go out.

 

If someone out there finds this helpful in some way, I'd be delirious.

 

Speaking of going out, cherry blossom peak is supposed toi be March 25-31.