Saturday, August 23, 2008

Our First Batch of Wine

Had some issues with the corks (I think they were too big, they were WEIRD) and we got 28 bottles (fewer than we should have lol) but it tastes pretty good. I forgot what we made but I think its a Chardonnay. We're going to give red a try next!


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I Can't Wait

Rings Screenwriters Back For Hobbit

UK, August 20, 2008 - The Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings screenplays will officially reunite for the Hobbit films.

Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who successfully completed the massive job of adapting Tolkien's epic tome for the big screen and won an Oscar for their work on The Return of the King, are set to turn their talents to the author's more modestly-sized prequel - and a sequel which will bridge the two projects.

Variety reports that production on the Guillermo Del Toro-directed efforts is set to begin in late 2009, with release dates of 2011 and 2012 set for the films.

Oooh am I excited, The Hobbit is one of my favorite books ever, and I can't WAIT to see these!! What is really scary is that 2011 isn't that far off really..it will be here before we know it.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Edible Garden Tour

Saturday was the Edible Garden tour, put on by the Urban Farmer . It was an incredibly great 6.5 hours (10-4:30, ran half an hour late) and even tho I had my doubts about being entertained by gardening and gardeners for that long, it went SO fast, and was SO interesting! We visited 7 yards officially, then peeked into backyards on an alley tour as well LOL.

I hardly took any pictures! I was honestly listening so hard and trying to absorb everything that was being said, that I took maybe 9 pictures the whole time! Whooops.

These were plums grown by a gentleman who had many plum,apple, and Evans cherries in his yard.

The Evans cherries, which tasted pretty good, not as good as the normal cherries, but a unique flavor for sure. I am pondering planting one of these in the front now....they are a beautiful looking tree as well as bearing lots of fruit.

One of the front yards turned into a garden, she had said she had a few failures this year so it doesn't look like she wants, but she had all sorts of veggies, including the yellow flowering Jerusalem Artichoke in the middle, which I guess you can eat the tuberous roots like potatoes. It was taller than I am.


I would love now to attend some of his workshops, there aren't many left this year, but I definitely plan on keeping eye on his website for next year!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Summer Reading

I really haven't had time to update since I tend to plow through books in the summer while the kids are playing outside, so here's a list of most of what I've read, and most I bought so they are up for lending if you want to read them.

The Road - by Cormac McCarthy (excellent)

The Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters- by Elisabeth Robinson (entertaining)

Goodnight Nobody (belongs to Amanda) & Little Earthquakes-both by Jennifer Weiner (really wry, entertaining chick lit, two thumbs up!)

Here On Earth -by Alice Hoffman (excellent)

The Secret River - by Kate Greenville (a topic I have never read about, convict colonists in Australia, fascinating fiction book)

Spinning Around - by Catherine Jinks (chick lit)

I also finished that tome that Beckie lent me, Pillars of the Earth and its a fabulous read. Add in of course, my Iris Johanson's, my JD Robb's, and I got addicted to Fern Micheal's series about women vigilantes, they captured my interest when they Bobbitt'ed some men for revenge in the first one LOL! I would like to read them all.

And I hit VV the past week, so I have now to read Love In The Time of Cholera, The Rapture of Canaan, and I am going to try out a Joy Fielding finally, Don't Cry Now. I see her books eveywhere and thought I may as well check them out.

Just Some Celeb Quotes That Made Me Laugh

"It's the most fun I have ever had and. also the biggest pain in the ass I have ever experienced."
–Brad Pitt, on fatherhood

"I can honestly say all the bad things that ever happened to me were directly attributed to drugs and alcohol. I mean, I would never urinate at the Alamo at nine o'clock in the morning dressed in a woman's evening dress sober. "
Ozzy Osbourne

I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
Miss Alabama at the 1994 Miss Universe pageant, when asked "If you could live forever, would you and why?"


When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire.
Angelina Jolie

"I phoned my grandparents and my grandfather said, 'We saw your movie.' 'Which one?' I said. He shouted, 'Betty, what was the name of that movie I didn't like?'"
Brad Pitt

I don’t really think. I just walk.
Paris Hilton