have some oatmeal

and start your day braced for the aforementioned nasty elemental forces. You have time for breakfast, really, you do. It helps bucking up for the day to be much easier. After years of avoiding the oats cuz instant is like cardboard porridge and not so good for you with the artificial 'flavorings' included. Tom has decided to be good to his heart and circulatory system with this yummy meal. It takes even less time than eggs 'n' toast. My hippie 'whole-y-er than thou' self suggests to use organic ingredients if possible, to look after our planet's health in the process. And they taste better too - you get what you pay for in both ways.

Tom's Oatmeal with Nuts and Fruit

I like these:















..any whole grain raw oats would be fine.
Measure out the oats, 1/2 to 3/4 cup is plenty, then pour into the bowl you will use to eat them.
Measure out double that volume of water, bring to a boil in a medium size pan.
While the water is coming to a boil, gather the following:
5 or 6 walnut halves
1/4 cup raisins
small ripe banana
honey
1/4 cup milk
Getting out the milk early and letting it equalize to room temp is also recommended.
Add oats to boiling water, lower heat to keep it boiling but not boiling over.
Stir occasionally while you separate raisins, break walnut pieces into quarters or kernels and slice up the banana.
When the the water has boiled away and the oats are fluffy (usually 10-12 minutes), cover the pan and remove from the burner to let sit for a minute.
Finally, scoop oats into your bowl, add nuts/fruit/milk and drizzle some honey:














































Enjoy with your bevvie of choice. Been trying to switch over to breakfast tea. Stash's English Breakfast or Earl Grey. Still, it's hard to resist that morning coffee since Madison has an abundance of great roasts. Here's one:






















A fitting way to close this post might be to quote my old pal Dmitri:
"Never regret the extra expense and trouble of having high quality food."
Over the years I have found this to be very good advice.

listen:
Ornette Coleman - To Whom Who Keeps a Record, The Shape of Jazz to Come
T-bone Burnette
David Bowie - Outside

read:
Andy Summers - One Train Later

view:
Terry Gilliam's latest, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassis (!)
Spalding Gray - Gray's Anatomy
Coen Bros' Oh Brother Where Art Thou

more snow and ice for the holidays

blizzard

We've had a foot and a half of snow here, Madison was specifically mentioned on CNN. I guess we are in the thick of it.

















































Dug a path to the street and cleared the sidewalk this morning.

Just got a call from the boss: tonight's show is cancelled..yay!
Only wish planning had transpired to be snowbound with my sweetie.
Hope we can still have our dinner date tomorrow..

Arboretum

Last Saturday Hannah and I with Tim and Bess hiked our beautiful nature preserve for a nice sunny jaunt around the marsh in our lovely Arboretum here. Ahh, sunshine, fresh air and good company.

and Sunday a return to Cherokee Marsh

H and I visited again for the second time since we've been seeing each other. These hikes in the wilds of Wisconsin are very nice and relaxing, can't get enough.

view:
The Commitments

listen:
Rasputina

A visit with Dr. Evermor / Eleanor & Natural Bridge

It was a very nice weekend to be out and about, temps in the high 60s all weekend. Saturday had to be the bluest sky ever. Hannah and I journeyed out at noon and headed up Hwy 12 to Dr. Evermor's sculpture park
PBS story on the Forevertron and Dr. Tom Evermor
















The pics above are from the net, I neglected to bring my camera.

We lingered until about 4PM, chatting breifly with the Doctor and Eleanor. Then doubled back on Hwy 12 a bit and west on County C to Natural Bridge State Park. It was great to be out in the woods on such a gorgeous day. A nice little hike around the perimeter and a visit to one of the oldest firepits on this continent at the foot of the formation.

H1N1

or some other flavor of virus has laid low my sweetie and I this week. She started coming down with it on Wed and my distress began early Thursday. Particularly sad for dear Hannah as All Hallows Eve is her most favorite and celebrated of holidays. Here's H getting into the spirit of the holiday a week ago.

Seems contradictory tho to refer to it as a Holi-day per-se, being a celebration of darkness and evil hauntings and such. I was reading the Catholics Church's rant the other day warning of too much celebrating with Satan. Now that was scary.
My cohorts are mostly in favor of partying with Beelzebub. Not really in my nature, but who am I to decline a good party. Tho I have passed on the downtown celebration for over 10 years now mainly cuz it used to be more fun in the 80s. All moot point as I recover from this devil bug. Fever broke yesterday (!) and is settling into a simple head cold today. Will call H in a minute and see how she's faring. Hoping she is up to carving a few more pumpkins today. Some of her work at chez Hamer:























listen:
The Mic
WORT

view:
so much dumb broadcast TV
my head could explode