In the Service of Her Majesty The Queen

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.

The moon waxes close to full, either tomorrow or Saturday
depending on what calendar you use.

And I work tomorrow night. The phones will probably be
flying off the hook.

Funny how we still use that term...phones haven't had a
'hook' for a long time. Cradle. That's what it should be,
flying off the cradle. Doesn't even sound right.

I ate a BLT tonight. I haven't eaten one for a looong
time. It was so good I ate another one. Yum and yum.

Chased down with good ole Southern Sweet Tea. My
senses are darn near sated.

But not quite. Later on tonight, I will follow it up
with the last of my favorite ice cream...Maple Nut.
If that doesn't load me up with cholesterol, I don't
know what would.

The cats want bacon, they were frantically swirling
around my feet when I was cooking it. They'll get
some bacon grease in their last meal tonight. Might
as well load them up too.


To all who will sleep tonight on this side of the earth,

The Nightly (as is normal of late) Abbreviated Mission:

Sleep well sated
and you will sleep
like a rock.

Wake up and
stretch your
bones in the
morning.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night!

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.

Full moon tonight and/or tomorrow night. About 13 hours or so from now.
More or less.

Along with this full moon, there will be a partial eclipse which can be seen in most of the US (except the eastern part), Australia, and the Pacific Islands. I don't klnow about Europe. Because of the ash from the volcano, the eclipse may appear red. Check your local information for the time to see this eclipse, I read that it will be around dawn for the US pacific coast.

Everything has been remarkably quiet at work tonight, then it all exploded like firecrackers. Interesting how that happens.

I have a friend who has quite a lot of property right in the middle of a city. She has turned it into a squirrel sanctuary. She recently posted some pictures of her squirrels. They are not at all like the grey zombie squirrels around my house. The are a lot larger, reddish brown and cute. They have big pink noses. Not at all zombie-ish.

That's it for me tonight.

To all who will sleep on this side of the earth tonight, eventually,

The Nightly Mission:

Sleep in the quiet
of the night and
breathe in the silence,
let it soak into your
pores, settle into
your bones, spread
through the farthest
reaches of your head.

Wake up in the morning, calm.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night!

 

Yeah but the zombie squirrels want only squirrel brains to eat. So they perform a valuable service. If they don't starve first.

 

No, if you recall, the one I saw was eating the brains of a mockingbird. Could be why there aren't many of them here this year, maybe the squirrels ate their eggs, or the baby birds.

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.

One the way to a friend's house (for dinner), while starting across the overpass, I watched a little black car hit the center divider, almost flip over, then almost flip over again when the driver over corrected, then literally hop 4 or 5 times down the road, rocking from side to side before the driver got the car fully under control. Why the car didn't roll at least twice, I don't know. It was on 2 wheels after rebounding from the divider. The car was about 4, maybe 6 car lengths ahead of me, in the lane next to me. Very very scary.

Shortly after, about 3 miles down the road, I ran into the tail end of one of our summer storms. They are fairly brief, but furious. It's actually better to be at the front of the storm, even though the wind is much stronger and the lightning is striking everywhere. At the tail end, the steam rising from the road makes viability vanish and the truck ruts are awash with water, not to speak of the water running across the road and making mini floods where the road is low.

By the time I realized I was in trouble, I couldn't pull over because many of the cars on the road didn't have their lights on and I couldn't tell where they were until I was right on them. Here in this part of Florida, there are no breakdown lanes, you have to pull off onto the grass and unless you have a big rig, you can't do that without slowing down. And when you can't see the cars, you can't slow down.

So I white-knuckled it and managed to keep my car from hydroplaning but the engine had trouble when the front wheels repeatedly hit areas of road that had running or standing water across them. I had water wings on both sides of the car several times.

I hate driving in our storms. Whenever there is a storm, some drivers speed up trying to get ahead of it, and some slow down because they can't see, and they aren't maniacs. When people have their lights off, I don't know which type of driver is more dangerous.

Dinner at my friend's was good. We had fried plantains with 2 sauces to dip the slices in, chicken, salad and a Latin type rice with a yellow rice base, pigeon peas (or beans), onions, and red bell pepper in it. I've never eaten fried plantains before or that kind of rice. Both were really good. Yum.

Saturday night, a full moon and where the heck are my dancing shoes.


To all who will sleep tonight on this side of the earth,

The Nightly Mission:

Sleep, dream,
wake up the next morning.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.

 

The rice sounds like the Puerto Rican dish Arroz con Gandules. Damn good stuff, especially when homemade. The friend plantains are very Carribean too.

Lucky! We had sandwiches last night.

 

In '97, when I was in NYC to join the GA for the Puerto Rican Day Parade, we went to some projects in the Bronx to help with a summer youth program. As is common when we are in a 'bad' neighborhood, we were invited in for dinner. The dish was sausage, fried plantains and onions. It was SO good. And it was SO bad for me. :no:

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.

The plantains we ate were still green. You slice them at an angle, fry them, then squash them flat (not too flat, though, about 1/3 an inch) and fry them again. They come out sort of like very thick potato chips. Another way is to use ripe plantains. Do the same thing. I don't think you dip those. They are very sweet, very good all by themselves.

The 2 sauces we dipped the potato chip-like slices in were a medium salsa and I think an Adobo sauce. Not sure on the latter. It was green and wasn't hot. I'll have to ask what it was. Edit: It was a mojo sauce.

I had a flat tire today. Didn't realize it until I was a couple blocks from my house. The car was making so much nose, that at first I thought the engine finally went out. Then I thought well maybe the muffler is dragging. I pulled over and saw it was the tire. I wasn't far from a tire shop so I crawled along until I got there, another 3 or 4 blocks. They were closed, so I just left the car there. Hopefully, it won't get towed before I get a chance to call them tomorrow morning.

So I took a short cut through the woods, rather risky since I've never been in those woods, but it had a well established trail and appeared to be headed in the right direction. Aside from watching for giant spiders and poisonous snake, it was a really nice walk. I keep forgetting how much I like to be outside. Fortunately, the sky was overcast and fairly cool for Florida, with a nice breeze. By the time I got home, the clouds had scattered, the breeze died and it was hot again.

So this one goes to bed early so I can get to the tire shop while it is still fairly cool. And I'll take the path through the woods again.


To all who will sleep tonight on this side of the still bright earth,

The Nightly Mission:

Darken the room,
make your nest,
sleep well.

Wake up and get
going before it is
hot enough out to
make popcorn pop
on the street.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.

 

I think plantains are always eaten green.
There is afro caribbeian joke over here about a white partner waiting for the bananas to ripen.

 

Not always. A friend who also came to dinner and got there a bit late, was a little irked that we had eaten the sweet ones, as they are one of her favs. She is latino btw, but maybe not from Puerto Rico. Never asked her.

 

Haven't done them for awhile (probably long overdue if you asked J) but when I do fried plantains, I use them ripe, ie: mostly black with only a little yellow showing through.

Just a few careful minutes in corn oil, for flavour, and a light dash of salt. A dusting of chili powder adds a nice touch as well.

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.

I got up early (for me) and managed to get to the tire shop before it was too hot outside. I feel very sorry for those who have to work out of doors in Florida. Two tires replaced and an oil change later for too much money, I return home.

The walk through the woods was nice, though. Shady and quiet. No birds or squirrels or anything I could hear or see. They must hide when they hear you passing by. I have always been surprised at how quiet the woods are, since they are full of so many creatures. The first time I was in the woods I was very disappointed because I didn't see any animals. I guess my only reference really was Bambi and some of the major parks where the animals are quite tame. Wild animals I guess wouldn't last very long if they advertised their presence (a really duh remark, no?). So much for Bambi and all the cartoon animals dancing and singing, lol.


To all who will sleep tonight on this side of the earth,

The Nightly Mission:

Sleep, using your dreams
as a guide; see where they
take you.

Wake up in the morning
pondering.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.

 

I hope you had a good day and the night went well.

Very quiet at work tonight. We had a full crew on and I think that makes a big difference.

Just to throw it out there, tonight at dinner (remember we always have dinner together when there is a full crew) the subject was er hyenas. Now by itself, this is an interesting subject. I suggest you google it. How the subject arose was probably of more interest, but that I will not disclose.


To all who sleep tonight on this side of the earth,

The Abbreviated Nightly Mission:

Sleep.
Dream.
Wake.
Smile.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.


To all who sleep on this side of the earth,

The Very Short Nightly Mission:

Cast yourself into
the dark tides of
sleep and drown
there for awhile.

Wake up in the
morning and
maybe things
will be different
in the light.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.

 

I hope you had a good day and the night goes well.


The Short Nightly Mission:

Cover up, hunker down,
sleep.

Wake up, uncover,
get up.

May the Lady smile
on you and me too.

G'Night.