...and the Beat Goes On...

... the beat of hammers and crowbars and chain saws and stump grinders...and other miscellaneous noisy tools.

The latest episode in this saga has to do with the repair of the spare bedroom. Day before yesterday, Seth tore out the ceiling, and part of a wall came with it. He called me in to see it. "This is major termite damage. It's old damage and the good news is I don't see any evidence of current termite activity" He pointed it out to me, but it was easy to see.

In case you ever wondered what termites do to wood in a house, this is it. This is the section of wall above the window on the back side of the room. If you scratch the wood with a fingernail, it flakes off like dry cereal.

This is the wall next to the door of the bathroom that adjoins the spare bedroom.

When I bought the house 6 years ago, I had it inspected, of course, and old termite damage was found underneath. It had been repaired and there was no sign of active termites. I've had it inspected for termites every year since and no problems. Of course, when the underneath damage was found, they couldn't see into the walls. Apparently the original termite treatment killed all the little buggers, but the damage was done, hiding behind the wall, just waiting to be exposed--which the storm did.

Seth explained he would check all around the room to see how extensive the damage was. It turns out if affects the back and one inside wall--and the adjoining bathroom walls.

This is the gutted bathroom. Walls and flooring will be replaced. Total additional cost, about $2000, and not covered by insurance--I checked.

The roofers are here today too, ripping off the shingles and tarpaper. With the ceiling down and the outer layers removed, the holes show up really well. If I wanted a skylight, this would be the time to tell someone.

This is the view immediately outside my back door--which is obstructed by shingles and tarpaper. They asssure me this will all be removed today.

But then, the tree guys assured me the logs and other debris would all be removed yesterday--and they didn't show up at all!

At least one of the tree guys has a sense of humor. One of them found Madison's stuffed "Tigger" toy, which although now headless, is still recognizable, and placed it on one of the logs.

I stuck my arm outside the door and took this shot of the yard. (Due to falling debris, I was afraid to try to step out onto the back stoop.) The workers are stumbling over one another. The sawhorse is Seth's stuff, the ladder is the roofer's, and the logs....well, I guess until they're hauled off they are technically still mine. Too bad I don't have a really big wood burning stove! Note the huge pile of sawdust to the far left of the picture. That's where the stump of the pine was. The sawdust will make good mulch and cover for the path Madison beats running to the side gate. If I don't keep it covered with some kind of mulch, it becomes a muddy mess.


Right after the storm, people who do have woodburners were driving around with pickup trucks, picking up free firewood. Now they all have enough to last through the next 10 winters and don't want any more.

I called the chief tree guy at 8 am this morning and he "promised" they would get their act together (his words) and get the stuff chopped up and hauled off today. I figure Madison thinks he's been abandoned at the kennel, and I am sick of looking at all the crap in both front and back yards.

Yesterday evening I went online and found a website selling "fast growing trees". I ordered two dogwoods, a pink and a white, which will arrive in 2-3 weeks ready to put in the ground. They will be small saplings, but fast growers, and I already have a plan where to put them in the back and how to protect them until they are big enough to be safe from Madison's romping around. I felt a lot better after I ordered the trees, since I felt as if I had accomplished something positive.

The other day I went to the Neighborhood Co-op, which has a lot of organic stuff, natural remedies, etc., and I bought a defuser, some essential oil (lavender and chamomille) and tea candles. The defuser came with little crystals to put in the top area. You add a few drops of the oil, a couple of teaspoons of water, and then light a tea candle in the compartment at the bottom. Pretty soon the aroma of lavender and chamomille wafts up from the crystals. It really is a very soothing aroma. However, it's so noisy today, with hammering over my head and stuff falling both inside and outside, that I feel like I need to put the oil directly up my nose!

Ah, well, this too shall pass. I just hope we've reached the end of storm-related troubles, since my nerves have just about reached their limit. Tonight is the Small Group Storm Sharing meeting at church, and I know I can dump some of the stress there. So many people are going through this all over the area. You can practically feel the stress oozing out of everyone's pores.

At least my neighbor hasn't raised any complaints today--yet.

Storm Clean Up Continues

(All pictures on this entry were taken early this morning.)

This is what's left of the 115 foot pine tree on the south side of my back yard. The tree guys have been working on it for two days to get to this point and today the rest will come down. For a while I was feeling like a "murderer", having the tree cut down, although I knew it had to be done. Then the chief tree guy told me the tree was essentially dead anyway, and would have come down on its own, sooner or later, and probably on my house, my neighbor's house, or both. So I don't feel like a "murderer" any more.

This truck was left overnight smack in the middle of my back yard. They use it to pull around the lift (pictured below), and the weight of the truck and lift is tearing up the yard something fierce. But again, it can't be helped.

This is the lift that the tree guys use to get up into the tree and attach ropes so they can guide the limbs down as they cut them. It's parked in my south next door neighbor's driveway at present. These neighbors have been super cooperative, since they realized their property was threatened by the tree just as much, if not more, than mine. Some of the limbs had to come down in their yard, but they had no problem with that. (Wish that were the case with the neighbor on the other side.) Notice the fencing on the far right side of the picture--part of my backyard fence that had to be removed to get the equipment in.

This is the maple on the north side of my back yard. While not as tall as the pine, it's badly damaged, and probably would also die--but most likely would come down in pieces with the next storm of any strength. Several large limbs are already severed from the truck and just hanging in the tree. At least one of those is poised to come down on my north next door neighbor's house. As soon as the tree guys finish with the pine, they will start on the maple. But...

...my neighbor is not being cooperative. She called me last night around 8 pm and read me the riot act about the tree, the tree guys, etc. Apparently the chief tree guy made the mistake of talking to her yesterday, trying to explain that at least one limb would need to come down on her side of the fence, but that they would remove it immediately and clean up any debris. She threw a fit and threatened to call the police!!! She raged at me on the phone for 10 minutes and I couldn't get her to accept that it was for her protection as much as my own that the tree had to come down--and it needed to come down in the safest, most efficient way possible. No go. She's still threatening to call the police. The chief tree guy says, "Let her call them. I'll deal with it."

I find it interesting that she is reacting this way in view of the fact that her home was only minimally damaged during the storm--a small section of guttering bent, and her back yard swing slightly damaged. Part of a tree belonging to her other next door neighbor came down in her yard, causing no damage, but she gave them fits until they had it removed. They were dealing with some severe damage to their own home, plus they have three small children, but she pitched such a fit that they had someone get the limbs out of her yard. (Legally, if a tree or other debris fall onto your property during a storm, you are the one who is supposed to deal with and pay for the removal--not the person whose property the tree was on to begin with--unless the tree was clearly already dead and had not been dealt with by the owner. She was the same way with me last year when the ice storm took down part of the maple onto both our fences. I paid for the repair of both fences, because she was going on and on about it, and I just wanted her to get off my case.)

(sigh)

This is my lovely temporary blue roof. So far it's working well keeping out the rain. I've got fans running and several dessicant products in the spare bedroom to keep the moisture level down until Seth can begin repairs. He's coming over this afternoon to give me a quote on the interior work. (I just realized I caught myslef in this picture in the reflection from the diningroom window. I have on a white tee shirt and was holding the camera up high to get the roof.)

This is the front yard, and just a small portion of the pine tree limbs. They have already hauled off two large truck loads of limbs. They use a big scoop-like thing to pick up the big limbs--and it takes a bite of yard along with it. Too bad, but another thing that can't be helped. Grass seed is cheap.

I'm hoping the tree work will be wrapped up by tomorrow afternoon and the fence put back in place so I can bring Madison home. I miss him soooooo much! I talked to the lady at the kennel this morning and she said he's doing fine. It's ME who isn't doing fine without him!

I slept poorly last night, mostly because of my neighbor's phone call. It's one thing to tell myself not to let it upset me, and quite another to act on that thought. Hopefully, after all the tree work is done, she'll settle down and things will get back to normal. I'd prefer to get along with her--but at this point that's pretty much up to her.

Well, there's lots of shouting and vehicle movement outside, so I think they're getting ready to pull the top down. I expect it will shake the ground. Even though I will expect it, I imagine I'll still jump. Been pretty jumpy in general lately. PTSD for sure!!

I survived the "Inland Hurricaine" of '09

I have already emailed and spoken to some of you, but I'm finally together enough to post about last Friday's event.

At around 1:30 pm the tornado siren went off and I grabbed pillows, my emergency kit, and a sweatshirt and headed for my "safe spot" at the end of the hallway. There is a sort of cul de sac where no windows are nearby, if the two bedroom doors are closed off. Madison (my Golden Retriever) and I hunkered down, covering our heads with pillows, and turned on the battery operated storm radio. When I heard the phrase "80 mph winds with gusts to 100" I knew we were in for it. I kept murmuring to Madison, "We'll be OK, we'll be OK", and I figured we would be--until there was a huge crash close by and the house shook. At that point I decided maybe we wouldn't be OK after all, but I just held onto him--it's all I could do. There were several more crashes, and the house shook with each one. I was totally terrified. At one point there was a brief lull in the wind and I stood up, opened the door to the room where I thought the first crash came from, and saw this:

and this....

and this....

and this....

...which used to be a vertical blind on the window above it.

The wind picked up again and I shut the door and sat back down, gathered the pillows and the dog around me, and just sat there, sort of numb. There were several more crashes and some more shaking, but after a total of 45 minutes it got very quiet.

I threw on the sweatshirt and sturdier shoes, and ventured out my front door. All my neighbors were coming out of their homes as well, and little knots of people formed to discuss what had just happened. One neighbor advised, "Take pictures now if you've got a camera handy", so I did.

This portion of a maple tree landed across the fence and gate, taking out the gate and one section of fence. Fortunately the fence is still functional so Madison can't get out of the yard.

Another piece of the tree that hit the fence, but this one landed smack in the middle of the back yard, missing the house, the shed, the birdbath, lawn furniture, bird feeders, and planters--thank goodness.

This is the back of my house, and the tree that came through the roof. I'm lucky it didn't also take out a couple of windows, but just one screen was damaged.

Closer view of the back of the house. Both pine and maple trees tried to get in--only the pine tree was succesful!

Don't know how well you can see it in this picture, but there was a huge limb of this pine tree just dangling by the bark. Fortunately I was able to have it taken down before the next storm came on Tuesday night.

There were hundreds of downed power and phone lines throughout the area. This one is in front of my house. Directly in the center of this picture you will see a tree downed on a van and house. That house is a home for high level developmentally disabled adults, and I expect they were frightened out of their wits when that thing came down on ths house. No one was hurt. In fact, thoughout our area, there was only one fatality, and only a few relatively minior injuries. The same storm system is blamed for three deaths in Missouri, however. I'm sure the early warning of our tornado siren saved many lives.

The rain held off until Tuesday night, but the temporary roof patches didn't hold. A lot of water came into the spare bedrrom, and I lost the mattress and some other items from that room. Also, a couple of light fixtures , one in the hall and one in the diningroom, shorted out due to the water. Could have been worse.

While this storm was technically a tornado or series of tornadoes, it has been referred to in the media as "an inland hurricaine" because it had many similarities to a hurricaine. The sustained high winds--the peak was logged at 106 mph--the duration of the storm, and the wide area affected are all more characteristic of hurricaines than tornadoes. Whatever you call it, it was a devastating storm, the worst I've experienced in my lifetime of living in Southern Illinois, which is part of the midwest's "tornado alley". Seven counties in Southern Illinois have been declared disaster areas, and the cleanup and repairs are estimated to take as long as 6 months. The power and phones are back up in most of the area, but this was the longest--5 days--I've ever been without power and phones. Yay for cell phones and inverter chargers. I will probably blog some more about this tomorrow, but I want to get this post up now.

A Baby in the House

Everyone who has had one knows that a new baby in the house can be fun, interesting, and exhausting, not always in that order. It's been nearly 2 weeks since my new baby, Dusty, entered my life, and as often happens, the new arrival has taken over the household.

This is Dusty the day I brought him home from the shelter, called Rightway Rescue. It's a no-kill shelter located near here, but until 2 weeks ago I'd never heard of it. Two Fridays ago I attended a benefit spaghetti supper, auction and sale at my church, put on by a bunch of high school kids who have formed an organization they call MAD for Animals. They are doing all kinds of things to raise money for Rightway, the county Humane Society, and an area wildlife rescue operation. I think it's a grand idea, and wanted to support them. However, I had no intention of adopting another animal that night, and didn't even know there would be animals present who were up for adoption.

There were several cute dogs, but this little guy was the only kitten. I was told it was a female, and I made the (fatal) mistake of asking to hold it. Adorable doesn't begin to describe this (then) 8 week old Himalayan mix with fluffy fur, huge blue eyes, and a playful disposition. After thinking it over, I decided to adopt, and filled out the application on line that night after I got home.

This shot gives him red eyes, but trust me, they are sky blue.

I had to wait until the following Monday to pick him up at the shelter. When we arrived back at the house, I put him in the back bedroom, which was prepared with food, water, his own personal litter pan, an old bath mat, a pillow and a tee shirt of mine on the floor. After playing for a while, snacking on his kitten kibble, and exploring the room, he curled up on the mat and took a nap. So far, so good.

Like babies sometimes do, he often fights to stay awake, afraid he'll miss something. Here he's just about to plop down with his head on the mouse, a common sleep position for him.

A few days after he came home with me, he was checked out by my vet and pronounced healthy and a fine fellow. By this time, of course, I knew "she" was actually a "he". After a bit of ruminating, I decided on "Dusty" for his name, since he reminded me of my lamb's wool duster. I kept him isolated from the other cats for three days, but he finally wore me down wanting to go out of the bedroom. It took him about 10 minutes to make the rounds of all the rooms, find the "big kids' '" water bowl and litter boxes, and decide he approved of everything. He also demonstrated he was perfectly able to go up and down the steps to the garage, thank you very much!

His favorite place has turned out to be my computer desk, probably because I spend a lot of time sitting in front of it. He's a real "Mama's Boy", and wants to be near me--on me, actually, if he can. I don't mind, except he has one annoying habit--he likes to "nurse" my ear lobe! I'm aware he was separated from his mother and littermates at a very young age, and evidently needs the comfort of "nursing", even if no sustenance is forthcoming. So, even though it tickles, I let him nurse" for a few minutes every day. He purrs loudly into my ear, pumps his little front feet up and down on my neck, and slurps away. This has resulted in Dusty having to spend the night in his own bedroom, where I tuck him in when I'm ready to go to bed. Otherwise, he's up in my bed, slurping away on my ear and purring like a tiny buzz saw! Not conducive to sleep for me!

Dusty is a big fan of Hoyles Card Games, and tries to "catch" the cards as they move around the screen. Here he is "watching" a game of "hearts".

Everyone who has met him has fallen for his sweet face, funny antics, and cheerful disposition. The other cats are doing well with him, and Buttercup, who I thought might present a problem with jealousy, has adopted him as her chief playmate.

I mentioned his "little" feet, but actually they are large for a kitten. The vet tells me he's likely to be a large cat, so I keep warning Buttercup she better take it easy, or one day he'll whip her butt! She gets the upper hand in their play now, and occasionally he squeals when she kicks or nips him, but he shakes it off and dives back in for more, so he must enjoy it. I monitored their play carefully for the first few days until I was certain she wouldn't really injure him.

We go back to the vet next Wednesday for the next baby shots. Just like any baby, he has to be vaccinated and get regular health care. In about three more months, it will be time to have him neutered, but he'll keep his claws intact, since I don't have any of my cats declawed.

Right now he's napping on a dining room chair cushion, another favorite spot. Like all babies he sleeps a lot. It's a dreary, rainy day here, so it's a good day for cat naps. I may take one later myself.

Oil Paintings

Ever since I was a kid I had the notion that since I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler, I would be wasting my time dabbling in any sort of painting as a hobby. In 2002 a friend who is a talented artist was starting a series of lessons in her home, and on a whim I signed up. I found I enjoyed it and actually seemed to have some small talent to put paint on canvas.

For some time I've been meaning to take pictures of the paintings I've done that are hanging in my house. (I've done at least a dozen others and given them away as gifts, donations to charity auctions, etc.) This morning I decided to get the pictures taken, and I thought perhaps they might make an interesting blog entry. So here goes:

Most of the stuff I do are landscapes, painted from snapshots that I've taken various places. However, once in a while I just start painting and see what happens. This is one of those. It's called "Rain At Sea".

The next two are a set, done as sort of an experiment. Remember I said I couldn't draw a straight line? Well, I wanted to see if I could paint a straight line, which is actually rather difficult. Anyway, this pair are called, "Desert Day" and "Desert Night". The idea was to depict the passage of light though the day, beginning at dawn, into the white hot noon and the colors of late afternoon. Then, picking up where "Desert Day" stops, "Desert Night" depicts the colors of the night, passing from twilight, into midnight, dawn and early morning. These are both small paintings, about 9"x12", and hang in my hallway.

I don't think this is one of my better efforts but I keep it for sentimental reasons. It depicts my backyard when I lived in Marion, IL. The yard was landscaped with river rock pebbles and plants around a pool (not in the painting) and I had a platform built for my swing. The yard was finished just before my back surgery in 2000, and I sat in that swing for hours, enjoying the yard and the plants as I recovered from the surgery. Before I moved to Carbondale, I took snapshots of the yard so I could remember it.

This was painted from a snapshot I took in Mexico on a trip touring ancient ruins.

I've also done a few still lifes. This was painted from actual squash and apples posed against a cardboard background on a checkered tablecloth. I was never happy with the tablecloth, but finally said the hell with it.

The picture above and the next two below all are from snapshots I took in Alaska. The above shows the entrance to one of the glacier bays (can't recall which one).

This one is from a snapshot of a glacier cascading into its bay inch by inch. The reflection of the ice in the blue water intrigued me. I tried hard to get it accurately in oil. Several years after I painted this, this glacier began "galloping" into its bay at several feet per minute and eventually disappeared into the water. It doesn't exist anymore!

The picture below is entitled "Tundra and Tiega", and is from a snapshot taken from a window of the train from Denali Park to Fairbanks. Tundra is the flater area at the base of the mountains and tiega refers to the low growth bushes and trees in the foreground.

This was painted from a snapshot taken in 1997, on the Dingle Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. So much of Ireland is green, so the shapshot with all the blues and grays and lavendars made a nice contrast.

I rarely do a painting from another media of any kind, but this is an exception. My friend had an old calendar with a photograph of this beach scene from northern California on it. There was no attribution, so I don't know who the photographer was. Anyway, the scene intrigued me, and since I'm keeping the painting for personal use and not selling it, no sweat.

The painting below was another "start slapping on the paint and see what happens" effort. It's actually sideways, since I forgot to rotate it, but I suppose it really doesn't matter much! (other than my signature at the bottom is off kilter) I call it "Lawrence Welk on LSD".

The painting above is one of my favorites. It's from a snapshot of a castle in Scotland, and I love the lush flowers with the shadowy castle in the background. (I was walking on the tan path shown in the painting when I snapped the photo.) This painting, along with "Tundra and Tiega" and "Rain at Sea" were the three paintings that were juried when I was accepted into the local Associated Artists Gallery several years ago.

This is another favorite. Not painted from another art media exactly, but "copied" nonetheless. I wanted a painting for my bedroom to match the sheets and pillowcases on my bed. I took a pillowcase, folded it in half twice, and used the image on top to paint this rather large canvas, which is indeed hanging in my bedroom. An interesting note is that in China I recently bought silk bed linens--and picked a pattern to match the painting!

The painting below requires some explanation. The church I belong to is part of the Unitarian Universalist Assocation. The UU symbol is a flaming chalice, often shown within two intertwined circles. The flaming chalice represents the spirit of our faith and the intertwining circles represent our heritage of Universalism and Unitarianism. There is a bit of a story behind this painting. In 2003, we were in the process of building a new church building. I got the idea to do a painting of a chalice and donate it to the church for the new building, which I did.

After the new building was completed, I waited to see where the painting would end up. After a year, I found it in a storeroom. This requires some additional explanation. At that time, the church had what was known as the "Arts and Aesthetics Committee", a group of women who basically evaluated items donated or purchased for the decor of the church and decided what would go where. (Can you see what's coming?) When I found the painting in the storeroom, initially I was furious and had my feelings way hurt! I took the painting home in a huff and hung it on my wall. In the coming months several other items donated by members got short shrift from the AAC, and tempers flared. Eventually the AAC was disbanded, and things settled down. There was some discussion about this issue, and the consensus was that the AAC had "new white tennis shoes syndrome". (You know, how when you have a brand new pair of white tennis shoes, you hate to do anything to get them dirty---but eventually they do get soiled and then it's OK if they get dirty and you have to wash them.) With a brand, spanking new church building, the AAC wanted to keep it pristine and dignified! Now this is a church of 200 members, many of them young families with kids, and there's no way a building can be used and stay pristine--and frankly, there is a difference between dignfied and prissy. In good condition and clean, yes, but not pristine--and definitely not prissy!

I'm quite certain I could take the painting back and someone would see that it was hung somewhere in the building. However, it was an early effort and I've decided it's not really that good. But I like keeping it on my wall. It keeps me humble.

So, for now, those are most of the paintings hanging around here. (As I'm typing this I realized I left out three small paintings of flowers. I'll snap them another time.) I'm planning another painting for my bedroom, perhaps from a snapshot taken in China. I'll try to be sure it doesn't clash with the sheets.

Supper Club

One of the many programs in my church, the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, is Supper Club. To participate in Supper Club, you sign up with the coordinator and agree to host or co-host 1 to 3 dinners a year. Then you go on her list, and eventually receive a list of your own for your designated month to host. The list will give you the names and emails or phone numbers of the 6-8 or more people (depending on how many you have said you can handle) You contact these people to set up a date agreeeable to as many as possible, and coordinate what category dish each will bring (appetizer, salad, dessert, etc.). The host generally provides the main dish and drinks, which can include wine or beer, and the rest of the meal is pot luck. It's surprising how well balanced these meals usually turn out, considering no one knows what will be served except the main dish, which the host decides in advance.

Of course, since you are also on the list to be a guest you will receive calls or emails from at least one host a month to attend as a guest at their Supper Club. Sometimes I attend as many as three dinners a month, but generally at least one, and I host at least twice a year. It's a great way to get to know Fellowship members on a more intimate basis than just seeing each other at church on Sundays.

April was my turn to host, and I set the date for yesterday, the 26th at 5:30 pm. Three days before that I went into a cleaning frenzy, wielding Liquid Gold, Enddust, Windex and Clorox spray cleaner all over the household surfaces. I arranged for my cleaning lady to come Saturday instead of Wednesday, so the bathrooms and floors would be as clean as possible. Also on Saturday I made a big bowl of tabouleh from Laura's recipe and but it in the fridge for the flavors to blend overnight.

Sunday Madison was banished to the back yard. (Don't feel sorry for him--the sun was shining and he was busy all day chasing squirrels.) I played hooky from church to have enough time to get everything ready without being exhausted. (I've noticed it's a pretty common occurance when Supper Clubs happen on Sunday evenings for the hosts--at least the hostesses-- to skip Sunday morning services. Everyone wants to put their best foot forward, so to speak.)

I set the table and covered it with a sheet to keep curious kitties at bay. They already knew something was up, and were sniffing around to see if I would drop any tidbits as I prepared the meal.

The sheet was a very effective protective device, keeping my four-footed "children" off the dishes. Foiled by the sheet, they gave up and took catnaps.

This is Buttercup, who, for a few more hours, is still the baby of the house.

Whitey is the senior citizen cat at age 14. She takes lots of naps.

Jennie in her favorite place, a pile of towels on the end of the kitchen counter by the back door. The towels are there to put on the floor on days when Madison would otherwise be tracking in mud on his paws. Jennie lies on top of the stack and leaves the rest of the counter alone, so I let her stay there.

This is Princess Margaret Ann Mouse, aka Meggie (named after Meg Ryan, actually.) She too was in her favorite place on the shelf in the garage. She rarely comes out of the garage, but seems happy as a clam there. Notice the sign warning plumbers, etc. not to open the crawl space door, which is directly under Meggie's shelf, without letting me know so I can herd any and all cats into the house and shut the door leading into the kitchen. Meggie got under there once and I had a devil of a time getting her out.

There really is a cat in the above picture. Charlie's favorite napping spot is under the bedspread on my bed. If you look closely you'll see a small lump on the left center side--that's him. Every now and then I go by and give him a pat and get a muffled "meow" in response.

Shortly before the guests were to arrive I removed the sheet from the table and poured ice water into the glasses. The little green and white striped boxes on the plates are cloisanne' bells from China, which I used as favors. The end plate doesn't have a box, since that's my seat, nearest the kitchen.

I set up the "wine bar" on the oak buffet in my livingroom. (When I took this picture, the white wine was still chilling in the fridge.) The livingroom/diningroom is all one open area, and my house is really not very large. But that makes for "cozy".

Here are some of my eight guests enjoying wine and the raw veggies and dip appetizer that one guest brought. I normally have seating for eight, including myself, but I ended up with nine this time due to a mixup on the part of the coorinator. Thankfully, I have a card table and plenty of plates, tableware, etc., so the more the merrier.

I realize I should have taken a picture of the table once the food was out, but by then I was so busy I forgot. Later I was having such a good time that I continued to forget. Therefore, you must imagine the menu, which included, along with my tabouleh and baked mustard-crusted wild caught salmon, zuccini with garbonzo beans, a mixed green salad, home baked rye bread, and for dessert, fresh strawberries over angelfood cake topped with lite Cool Whip. It was a feast for both the eyes and the palate. The food got raves, and everyone asked for recipes for the tabouleh and salmon.

The conversation was fascinating, as it always is. One of my guests is a transplant from New Orleans to Carbondale, and was a Katrina refugee. His home was destroyed, so he moved here to be closer to family in our area. His tales of the storm and the aftermath were interesting and scarey. Before the hurricane hit he escaped in his truck with two duffel bags of clothes, his computer and two pieces of valuable artwork. (He had a lot of additional art pieces, many of which were destoyed beyond restoration possibility.) He told us he lost so much that it has given him a new viewpoint on life. "If I drop something and break it, " he said, "I just think, 'oh well, it's only a thing.' The importance of 'things' in my life has been reduced to almost nothing."

We also talked about China. One couple had been there 20 years ago and we compared notes and discussed changes in the country.

By 9 pm all the guests had gone. By 10 pm, the candles were extinguished, everything was put back in its place, the dish washer was running, the tablecloths and napkins were churning in the washing machine, and I retired to my bed to stretch out and contemplate my next Supper Club, which will be in June. It's going to be hard to top the salmon, but I'll think of something!