One of these leaves is not like the others...

I posted this photo in my last post. It contains a (devious) frog which has (deviously) disguised itself as a leaf. Okay, look closely. See it? No? Look really closely. Come on, get closer. Nose to monitor. See it?



Give up?

Okay look again.



There it is! Slimy little punk.

Que Sarah Sarah: home to games like find the frog since 2008.

Upon my death...

I'm a little torn about how I should dispose of my body upon my death. I would like to donate my body to science. I'm also an organ and tissue donor and so I'm hoping there won't be much left to donate. Whatever little blobs of me are left should be cremated and then tossed in a compost heap somewhere.

It all depends, of course, on the manner of my death.

If I am killed by a heart attack brought on by my stepping on a frog and having it's guts squish between my toes, it's a whole 'nother story. My feet would have to be cut off, sealed into a bucket of hand sanitizer and then dropped into a cement mixer which will then be driven into the Pacific Ocean and never recovered. So sorry to the person waiting on a foot transplant.

What is up with these suicidal frogs, anyway? They lay in wait, disguised as leaves and leap out just as I'm walking past. They wait til my cars headlights are bright as the sun and then hop into the middle of the street to await their fate.

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Oh and also? Paper clips. Do the ones on the bottom get upset since they rarely get used? Or maybe the ones on the top feel they need a break. No really. This is something I really think about. So I vote that once a month we all do Paperclip Rotation Day and just mix things up a little. That way everybody's happy. Or at least I am.

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Picture stolen from Wikimedia...there's a frog hiding in there. Really, there is! Find it!!!

Wii Tennis Tournament

This has been a long time coming.

In case you've been living in a hole or something, my dad and I have an ongoing air hockey tournament. We were supposed to play during my last trip to Michigan, but were unable to find a table. So we settled on Wii Tennis. Which is just the same, dontchaknow.

Just so you know, the air hockey thing is going to last forever. Whoever the current "loser" is is always going to want a rematch, so look forward to hearing about air hockey adventures for a good long while.

Ahem.

Here are some photos from MY RECENT VICTORY! Woot! I kicked his butt from Michigan to Timbuktu! Oh, um what I meant to say was: we had a jolly time of good competition and mutual respect. A grand old time was had by all persons involved.

Ok, so here are the pics.



Pic # 1 shows us just getting started. See how nicely we're smiling? Notice my "team-player" behavior? Yes, pic # 2 is my victory dance, how could you tell? He didn't cry. Too loudly. In pic # 3 I believe I was accused of cheating. Pic # 4 shows my reaction to said accusation.

Christmas is coming soon, Dad. Bring on the air hockey!!!

...and the angels sang...

So I'm very interested in "old-fashioned" recipes lately. A few weeks ago I overheard a fella talking about his grandmas "Burnt Caramel" cake and was instantly intrigued. A little research led me here, where Suzanne creates lovely recipes, including this one (and she loves church ladies, too!):

This, my dears, is sugar in a skillet. Such a simple thing and yet somehow yields a flavor so incredibly indescribably delicious that your taste buds will leap for joy.

It's melting...melting, oh, what a world...

Now the sugar's completely melted and dancing a jig in the skillet with the water. This is the really yummy part.

Flash forward a little and you get this:

and then you get a full belly and an empty plate, but those are things better left unseen.

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Suzanne McMinn's Burnt Sugar Cake
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup hot water
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites, beaten until fluffy (soft peaks)
1/2 c burnt sugar syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 c water (minus 1 tsp)
3/4 c milk

Melt sugar over medium-low heat. Add hot water and stir. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add egg yolks and stir. Add syrup, vanilla, water and milk and stir. Gently fold in egg whites.

Pour batter into 2 greased 9-inch round cake pans. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. Frost with burnt sugar icing:

16 oz powdered sugar
2/3 - 3/4 c burnt sugar syrup (whatever you've got left)
1/4 c butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth.

Share completed cake at church potluck and watch all those lovely church ladies (and church fellas) instantly transported back to days of their grandmas...

The Run

Me and my ten year old shoes. Broke in, broke down, falling apart.

Me and Bill* walkjogrun, leaving behind ringing telephones, piles of dishes, dirty laundry, questions and demands of a busy day.

Copper beetles congregate under the lampposts at each corner. I crush them, oblivious til their little bodies crunch under my feet. Stray cats run for their lives and tremble in my wake.

She, the germaphobe, sweats to the oldies and sometimes Roald Dahl comes along for a quick constitutional. James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox: the gang's all here.

Just me and the harvest moon and constellations I can't name but I still know like long lost friends.

Breathless, wheezing, exhausted but somehow rejuvenated.

----*Bill Withers, that is, cause ain't no sunshine when I'm gone.