Picture Sunday

Hello, end of weekenders, and welcome to the latest round of Picture Sunday.

This weekend was more of the same. Not that that's bad, but no new stories to tell. Had a nice Friday in, after a good walk. Took a bath with a pitcher of martinis (no, not in a pitcher of martinis), watched a little TV, hung at the computer, and finally hit the living room for an autoharp lesson. This was a good one. Learned a new finger style, in a song that used four chords, that would be "Goodnight Irene," and was so satisfied from that I didn't even go all loopy when Mr Sebastian started talking about the diatonic scale, which I know nothing about. I left it there and went to bed, happy in the knowledge that if I ever meet anyone named Irene, and I have my autoharp with me, I can sing her a song.

Then it was to B'burg and Mr M's, where I got a by-God clarinet lesson. It was kind of a shock. I was expecting a lesson on how to play the piece I'll be duetting with him on at his upcoming recital. Instead, it turned into one of those lessons where he decided he's going to completely change the way I play the clarinet. Which I'm not saying is a bad thing, my style could use some changing. But in that one lesson I went from how I normally play to how someone who's never held a horn before plays. I'm worried about the recital now. I wasn't before. I mean, my sound after that lesson sucks.

He grilled us steaks, and we had a nice dinner, watched a couple of movies, and that was about that. Then it was home today, some catch-up laundry, and dinner at the folks' house. Dad's still in good spirits, and his chemo starts May 7th.

A few Random Thoughts © (used without permission from LilyG, but copyrighted, so I hope she won't kill me):

- Over the weekend, Stennie sent me the greatest link. And here it is. You can go there and make your own 45! Well, now, wait - I don't mean you can record it, I mean you can make it to see what it'll look like. And when you sing like me, well, that's the best kind of record to make. The possibilities are endless, and I made this little number.

























I encourage everyone to go there and play around. Hey, maybe that's a Picture Sunday in the making, like the Kim Jong Il fashion show. Everyone go there and make a record, send it to me, and we'll have a record show. Leave comments if you may be interested, and if we have enough takers we'll proceed.

- I realized today that I don't drive with my hands in the 10 and 2 position. I drive with them in the 5 and 7 position. I'm supposing this is what allowed me to lift my steering wheel over my head the night it came off.

- I think there should be a national law that frees up one point on the FM dial for radio transmitting iPods. Pick any spot, 88.1, 87.9, and it should be illegal for any radio station to have its signal there. That way there could be a universal spot for iPod listening, and one would never have to change stations. And there would always be a free station in the Big City, where there's a radio station at every point on the dial.

- This weekend Stennie also announced the 4th (four, can you believe it?) Great CD Mix Exchange. Yes, it's that time again, time to scour your music collection for songs and make CDs for the participants. And if you've never participated, what are you waiting for? Go to Stennie's site right here, read all the rules, and sign up. It doesn't matter if you've never done one before, or if you think your tastes in music are different from everyone else's. That's what makes it fun. Go on, you know you want to.

And now it's time for that very special point in the proceedings, the recipe du jour.

You know, I'm from the South. Not only am I from there, but I live there to this day. And we in the South sure do love us some biscuits and gravy. Now, I can tell you something, and it's the God's honest truth. My mother makes the best biscuits and gravy in the Free Fucking World. And yes, I know some of you may be from the South, and may have mothers, and therefore think your mothers make the best biscuits and gravy in the Free Fucking World, but guess what. You're wrong. I'm sure your mothers are all wonderful people, but their biscuits and gravy would pale in comparison. People come from all over just to plop themselves down at my mom's breakfast table and eat biscuits and gravy.

But I don't make biscuits. Never have, which is good, because now I don't even eat them anymore. However, they figure in this week's recipe du jour. It's from the "Dubious Southern Dishes" file at cardland, which is scary, because, let's face it, there are a lot of dubious Southern dishes, but this one may take the cake. Say hello to it if you dare, Biscuits and Gravy Train.






















Ahhhh, what says "Good Morning" like waking up to a big plate of biscuits topped with that most wondrous of doggie dishes, Gravy Train. All you need for this one are some biscuits, and yes, don't tell Mom, but I bought canned biscuits, and a bag of Gravy Train. I even found a little bottle of - and I swear I'm not making this up - doggie gravy, so my Gravy Train would be even gravier. Spread the Gravy Train over the biscuits, and you'll have a dish that - well, I wasn't so keen, but all the dogs at the Poderosa sure look interested.

Unlike recipes of late, this one was not cost effective. Can of biscuits, small bag of dog food, doggie gravy - $7.00. But you're worth it, dear readers.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Remember the blog I did a while back about how I hate how everything in this country is so overpackaged? You unseal a bag, and inside the sealed bag is another sealed bag? When I tore the plastic sealing off that bottle of doggie gravy, and opened up the cap - there was a sealing piece of plastic over the top of the bottle. Because God forbid someone should spit into a bottle of doggie gravy on the store shelf.