Shells on Driftwood - a watercolor

This came out much better than I expected, so I've been trying to do a little more without much luck. I will try again this weekend and hopfully will have something to post.

Meet the Kitties

Hello there, meet Hugo and Katrina, they are litter mates.

This is Katrina all sprawled out and daring me to come rub her belly. Katrina tends to be a happy-go-lucky social cat.

Here is Hugo, and if he could give my his little kitty middle finger, I bet he would. Hugo is our resident grouch. But I'm grouchy too, most days, so I'm forgiving.

We travel most weekends with Hugo and Katrina (See all the stuff we pack up and lug with us?) and for some reason they're still not sold on the crate.

Hugo is acting like an inmate here and rattleing the bars..."Let me outa here!"

A very enjoyable read

This was a lovely weekend spent at the beach. After my work was done, I kicked back and started reading this book, which just happens to have been written by my friend Leslie.

When lo and behold this is what I saw! I screamed at my unbelieving husband, "Oh my God, my name is in this book!" He said, "Get out." So I shoved this in his face!

What a sweet surprise! And man oh man, do I have a hankering for CAKE!

Thanks Leslie, you gave me a thrill!

Mass Ave.

Here are a few pictures I took while walking around Harvard Square this past Friday, when we had a rare, warm, sunny day.

Mark always complains that I don't put people in my pictures, so honey, this ones for you. Look! People!

We ate here, it's a Cambridge institution after all.

Then we walked around the square and came upon this really old cemetery, which I was suppose to Google and find out the name.

Then we sat and listened to a street performer singing Simon and Garfunkel songs. And the man sitting next to me was wearing these cool shoes. So cool in fact, that I had to take a picture without him knowing (not so easy with my big SLR) and post for you to see, cause really, aren't they great?

Pizza Gana - Our First Attempt

Ah, look, our first attempt at making pizza gana, using Mark's mother's secret recipe. I gotta say, we're damn proud of our first attempt - it tasted just like the real thing. Plus, it was a really fun way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon with Mark...cooking and chopping, listening to nice music (Irma Thomas), drinking some wine. Nice.

Here is a picture of the dough I made in my bread machine. (I don't think I've ever made bread in that bread machine, just pizza dough...lots and lots of pizza dough.

Here is a shot of Mark spreading the meat and cheese filling on the dough.

Ta-da! The finished product which Mark & I, along with our friends, Jen & John, gobbled up quickly.

a slab of sweet bread slathered with soft butter

Today at work they are selling some baked goods from a local bakery. When I heard this, I said to myself, Michele, the last thing you need is another cupcake, cookie, or cake, even if it is in the shape of an Easter bunny. So I made the decision not to buy anything unless by chance they have…Portuguese sweet bread. And they did! And I am all over that like white on rice. Cause there is nothing like a slab of sweet bread slathered with soft butter with a nice cup of coffee. It brings me back to my childhood, when my grandparents would visit from New Bedford and bring with them fresh loaves of Portuguese bread and Portuguese sweet bread. Ah, Nana and Charlie, it’s nice to reminisce about the both of you, before old age became your enemy and forced you to a life inside your tiny home crabbing at each other.

So, tomorrow morning as I savor my sweet bread, I will think fondly of my grandparents. Nana with her beautiful white hair and blue/gray eyes, used to call me witty and thought I was just the funniest thing. And Charlie, who always, always called me beautiful and sometimes even Crabby Dabby, on the days I was in a mood, which was roughly from 1973 - 1976.

It's a start

I've tried Facebook, Sparkpeople, and Classmates. Right now I've been Facebooking and I just don't have anything exciting to share. Some of my "friends" have been traveling to tropical beaches, having beautiful babies, partaking in fun hobbies or working on their books! What can I add to that? Let's see, yesterday I was so hungover from the wine tasting I went to on Saturday night that spent the first really gorgeous day of the year inside under a blanket watching a Giada marathon on the Food network. The only productive thing I did yesterday was to brush my teeth and get dressed after a lunch of reheated tuna-noodle casserole. Seriously, nobody wants to read about that on Facebooks.


So I'd like a place to come and write about stuff that's happening in my world and I'll try not to fixate on the fact that I just turned 50 and now have peach fuzz developing on my face. I'll try not to fixate on that, but it's freaking me out so it's bound to get discussed a bit from time to time...or that my weight is once again the bain of my existance, or that I have this weird rash thingy on the back of my hands and three quarters up my arm, and I swear all the weird and freaky things are the result of me turning 50! So since the world doesn't need another Fear after Fifty, Fat after Fifty, Fuzzy after Fifty blog...I will attempt to keep that to a minimum. But I can't promise anything, since I am all of the above. Maybe a better name would have been Freakin out after Fifty!