Dining Out

June 9, 2007

Wow, it's Saturday and an "open" day. Nothing on the calendar!

Thursday evening we met the Cowleys at the Magnolia restaurant
in Lafayette. It is not Robert's favorite place, but Martha
and I really like it and since it was her birthday it was a
no-brainer. Martha and I had the chef's special. There are
5 courses and each has its own wine. Each dinner is
different so we taste each others, too. I attach the menu
and my best guess at spelling some of the items,
particularly the wines.

Dinner at Magnolia, June 7, 2007

Appetizer was cucumber with salmon roe












Avocado & corn salsa, shrimp mojo
Martha had this one with Matva Sauvignon Blanc


Organic spinach salad, pistachio vinaigrette with Chateau St. Jean Fume(?) Blanc











Quinoa crusted salmon with Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages
Martha had this one


Alaskan Halibut with seared greens Schmiff Sohne SpatleseRiesling















Cocoa and espresso rubbed beef sirloin with Cellar 8 cabernet Sauvignon
Martha had this one

Spice brined pork loin withCh. St. Jean Gewurzframiher(?)


dessert tray we both had desserts

I had Fonsela bin 27 (ruby)

Martha had this port Taylor Pladgate 10 year
(tawny)

Yesterday was the first day of summer vacation for Ariel. I
met Ariel and Martha at the YMCA and Martha signed Ariel up
for swimming lessons, starting this coming Monday. It
turned out the Y was having a grand opening of their newly
restored building. It's all very POSH. We skipped the
speeches and cut right to the area set aside to entertain
kids. Since Ariel was the only kid in eveidence at 10:30
AM, the 30 or so teenagers who were there to "entertain"
gave her the royal reception. She had a great time bouncing
in an bounce cage, won a prize throwing a ball through a
hole in a board, and many other activities. By the time I
caught up with her an hour or so later she was making a mask
for herself out of skinny balloons. And by that time the
place was full of kids, including Julien and Andre from
Salina.

From there Ariel and I went to the library where she played
a computer game while the librarian and I picked out some
books for her. The libraian suggested I note which books
she preferred and that way she, the librarian, would be able
to better pick books for her.

By the time we got home for a late lunch we were both
starving.

After lunch she played by herself for a while and then we
took a walk around the place. Checked the fish then visited
Robert at the Solar Hut and from there went on up the
mountain to the "playhouse."

When Martha arrived, about 3:30 we were playing a game we
had made up last year. Since we couldn't remember all the
rules we made them up all over again.

In the evening we went to Jo's and Alf's home for a
delightful dinner with a lively discussion about afirmative
action, it's pluses and minuses.

Today, I have planted the geraniums that Martha picked up
for me at the Lafayette Florist. They are lovely and at
$5.00 each seem a good bargain.

News from Keating

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Robert has been busy, as usual. When is Robert not busy?
He has the box with switches completed in the guest room.
These switches allow us to turn individual circuits on/off
from the batteries which get their power from solar or
the grid. Right now they are still being charged by the
grid. Basically, we have a giant UPS sitting in the hut to
supply us with emergency power. Once the solar is hooked up
we'll be using it whenever we can for as much of our power
as we can. Which means, we really need to replace our
antique freezer which is a power hog.

An e-mail yesterday from Keating. She's doing well and has
a new boyfriend, Lee. She says, "I think the newest
development in my life is a new guy. I was in Charleston for St. Patty's Day and while there I met a wonderful man. His name is Lee Garth. Lee is an aircraft engineer in the Royal
Navy. Yep..I went to Charleston and some how fell for a Brit. I am not sure how I fell for another man in the military considering my rather liberal views, but Lee isn't the typical navy guy. Our views on politics and values seem to be pretty equal."

She recently spent 9 days in the UK getting to know him better and clearly enjoyed the visit. She sounds quite smitten and I am really happy for her!

This morning after checking on the fish I started walking to
the barn along the path and came across a milk snake
(Lampropelties triangulum, isn't the Internet wonderful?) They are common in Boulder, but not above 6000 feet which is probably why neither Robert nor I have ever seen one here
before.

Robert and I met Alice and Gerard Ochs at the St. Julien
hotel for lunch today. They have a fabulous buffet lunch which we thoroughly enjoyed and we always enjoy time with the Ochs.

Sunday Morning Conversation

Sunday, June 3, 2007

This morning we went to Superior to attend the Sunday Morning
Morning Conversation group. We haven't been in a long time
and were pleased to see three new faces. The topic this
week were two Executive Proclamations by Bush giving the
President unlimited powers in "times of Emergency." There
are a number of laws on the book giving the President such
powers, but all of the others are under the oversight of the
Congress. I think the Supreme Court may have something to
say about these latest, but there has been little to know
comment in the press?

The conversation, as usual, wandered but it was interesting
and fun. The new additions were Kevin, a teacher; Glenn a
former engineer at Ball brothers and another fellow whose
name I have lost. I hope they all come again.

the Cowleys come for dinner

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Carl, Martha and Ariel came for dinner. They arrived at
4:45 and Robert latched on to Carl to get help with his
computer which has running too slowly.

Martha, Ariel and I talked about the summer program for
Ariel. I am taking her 3 days a week, most of the time
that'll be Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but may be changed
for swim lessons or other issues that may arise. I'll drive
to Erie in the morning, arriving about 7:30 AM. Ariel may
get up later that way, and have breakfast either there or
after we get to Salina.

I'm looking forward to having her around that much. I'll
get tired, but she is pretty easy now that she reads and
isn't quite as demanding as a younger Ariel was. Because of
the lions I'll still want to be outside with her, although
we haven't seen lion-signs in quite a while nor have we any
deer. I'm hoping the lions have followed the deer to town.

I mentioned to Carl that I might volunteer to put on a pancake
for Polis who is running for Congress in the 2nd district
and would Carl do the cooking with his propane-powered
portable grill. He said he would and Martha said she'd
help, too.