getting ready for may flowers!
the garden is getting ready to produce some food :-) but the plants have to survive ... May HAIL! and at the same time Craig was in the house watching this in the backyard, I was driving in it, with the lightning and thunder crashing and booming all around me! a little snowman was collecting on my hood and windshield.
first Saturday in May - a coronation and horse racing! I woke at 1:30 to get ready for the two a.m. pre-festivity telly coverage. I brewed a cuppa - my Buckingham Palace Jubilee tea - and drank it in my souvenir pictures mug from the 2019 trip to Europe :-P
I bought this hat years ago, for Mothers Day I believe, or Easter, and now I'm wearing it for a coronation! luckily I also had a matching shrug, so I didn't need to go out shopping ... austerity measures sharing along with the people of the UK.
I've watched every single wedding, funeral and jubilee televised event since 1981. since it is unlikely I'll get to see the next one, there was no way I was going to miss this coronation. I like this picture because it shows three generations, three monarchs.
after the balcony and fly-over, it was essentially over, so I took a nap for three hours, knowing I wanted to watch the preliminary races and special segments before the Big Race! they will be honoring the Big Red horse today! you can see I accessorized my coronation chapeau with a peacock ornament (with a long black feather tail) and making it my Derby hat!
fifty years ago the legend of Secretariat began, and it has not faded one iota in all these years. there are several descendants of Big Red racing even today! it's on my bucket list to get to Churchill Downs and to this museum. some day.
and after 'the most exciting two minutes in sports' the winner was Mage, not even one of the favorites! that is what makes it so exciting!
the following day I drove to Davis to see Newsies, which was directed and choreo'd by one of the kids that came up in our junior productions in Sunnyvale! I was going to watch it with our friend Barbara, but she was hit on the freeway (she's okay!) on her way up and wasn't able to make it. I then had dinner with Kyle and Sofia his fiancé. it was so wonderful to catch up with Kyle, whom I first performed with in 2004 when he was only nine years old. we were in Merrily We Roll Along, and then Mame. and he also did the junior production Seussical when Joyce also performed, and The Wiz, which she unofficially co-produced with me. by day he is some kind of doctor or scientist, in genomics!
drove down to the bay area and had a whirlwind day running all over the place. and if that wasn't enough to wear me down, the drive home was three and a half hours! the next day I worked from the Folsom office, because I had to make sure I could run the equipment in the room for a meeting the following week, and to pick up food for another cooking class led by our café chef. by afternoon, I felt flu-ish, so headed home early to finish out the workday there. by dinnertime I was sick as a dog ... no dinner for this sick puppy. no cooking class either. I couldn't even lift my head from my pillow for two days. at least I tested negative for covid.
I wanted to attend this event, but thought it would be a rough week to drive to Santa Clara one day, and then SF two days later, so I didn't opt in. good thing too, since I was sick, so I watched from home with my head in my pillow. Janet did go up there, and saw the happy event live. our fave truffle chef is officially a next level chef!
Janet's view at the watch party!
being ill also put a damper on my mother's day. I got up and cooked the blueberry blintzes according to chef's instructions but didn't have much energy for anything else. Craig made leg of lamb for dinner.
this is such a beautiful venue, and made me think of our Frank Lloyd Wright designed center for performing arts in San Jose (but it had different designers). I sat in the top section, in the last row, in hopes of avoiding the perfume people ... but no, he sat down right beside me :-(
I also spent a couple days in the bay area, first going to see the new adaptation of one of my favorites, 1776, at my theatre where I've performing in Nutcracker so many times. this is the broadway touring company and it was awe-inspiring to see the changes made and watch these young people bring new life to this 50 year old production! the next evening, after work at headquarters, I stayed to watch Janet play first with her string symphony and then with our band. I miss playing with these people!!
every day we go out in the garden and see new things. our snow peas are growing faster than the sunflowers, which I hoped would be good "poles" for the vines to grow up! hopefully they catch up with each other.
the purple shamrocks, while they're inside, still seem to be growing at the pace of their outdoor cousins. they really look pretty in this purple mosaic pot.
when the Disneyland rose bloomed, I couldn't help but go out every day and take pictures ... these are only a few. it was fun to see them as buds, then as opening blossoms, then in full and aged blooms.
these are the okra plants popping up!
my team gave me a gift certificate to a local restaurant as an admins day gift. I made reservations at this modern comfort food fusion restaurant, named for the chef and his birthday. we were treated like special family members, and had the best table in the house! we had an excellent view of the chef's prep station where he made sure each meal was finished to his high standards.
I forgot to take pics of the appetizers, but they were delish - artichoke beignet in roasted heirloom tomato sauce, and Ahi tuna nachos drenched in soy lime vinaigrette. Craig had jambalaya with lots of seafood and saffron rice; and I had the seared scallops on a crab hash cake with sautéed spinach all swimming in a garlic beurre blanc; and a sharable Szechwan okra for our main course. there were so many amazing items on the menu it was really hard to choose!
our view
Chef Q creating a masterpiece
all in all it was a most excellent second-first anniversary dinner! we had crème Brulee and chef's Bourbon St. bread pudding for our desserts.
the birds have gotten used to our presence in the yard, and have started eating the seed from the bird tray. one of them is messy, and tosses some of it off the tray and onto the patio!
this is a panorama of the yard, edge to edge, which explains the curves ... the walls don't curve like that in reality.
the first plant that produced an edible product was the golden raspberry plant. these were delicious, but I believe the birds ate more than we did!
I hope the gardenia blooms soon ... can't wait for their special fragrance!
the pea pods are still growing faster than the sunflowers. Craig had to get temporary bracing to hold up the vines since they've more than doubled in size in just a few days!
and he has a jalapeno now too!
zucchini squash blossoms in front, okra in the back.
