The Nani Gazette

Happy Sunday to all! In Toledo this mid-day, it’s chilly and sunny. You know at this time of year that can change by the first pitch, but right now, chilly and sunny.

David is giving platelets this morning and the kitty-kids have retired for their morning siesta, so I have some quiet time before the baseball day starts!

Kaline has been industrious recently. Last night, while David and I were enjoying a yummy dessert, a chocolate turtle cake for two that we got when we went to the meat market Friday, I heard a shuffling sound. David, who took his dessert into the other room where his computer was, didn’t hear it. Then, the sound again, a shuffling sound coming from the kitchen. When I looked, there was Kaline moving a box with recyclable Styrofoam across the kitchen. She walked up to it, stopped and bowed her head to it and head plowed it across to rest against the cupboards. The box was actually in my walking path and while it’s blocking the drawers, it’s easier to walk through now. When we take the recyclables out, it will be gone, but how’d she know to do that to clear the walkway??

This morning was work of the more typical Kaline variety. I usually wake up before David and I go into the office, where my Mac is, and read email or whatever book I'm reading at the time for a while. Carla visited me for some lovin’ then went back to the bedroom. Kaline is usually the next visitor unless…unless she decides to play with a door and locks herself in the bedroom or bathroom. This morning, she shoved the door closed on both herself and Carla. Luckily, it was the bedroom door and she locked her Daddy in too. Carla, who’d been sitting in the window, meowed at David as if to ask if he knew how to get them out or if they were all trapped. Luckily, David didn’t take his thumbs off before bed last night! ;)

Magic Number

The most irritating thing about the San Diego Padres is their inability to read a script. I plotted out their losses Friday and Saturday and they absolutely ignored me! Bless the Cubbies for taking care of me yesterday with a win over the Cardinals. The Cincinnati Reds magic number is two. A combination of 2 Reds wins and/or Cardinals losses will lock up the NL Central for MY REDS! Today is a good day for that. Just need the Cubs to win again and for San Diego to just do it MY WAY today! Then I can be happy.

I have a little dieting goal, that when I reach it, hopefully sometime this winter, I’m rewarding myself with a Joey Votto jersey with a World Series patch. Do you hear that Padres? Weight-loss is good for my health and my arthritic knee and back. I have a goal that depends on you NOT beating up the Reds! You have some power here. Will you use it for good or evil?

While the Tigers aren’t looking at post season play this year, the Braves are. Right now, every Padres loss is also good for Atlanta in the Wild Card standings, so I really have every reason in the world to want to see the Padres fall.

Actually the game yesterday was very close and see-saw. A good game, both nights actually, just bad results.

Sometimes The Movie is Better…

I usually see the movie first and then read the book, the only exception being Harry Potter. I learned this long ago. I read The Shining when I was in Italy in 1979. I saw the movie after that and was so disappointed. It was a good movie, but the book was better. I was 13 and already disillusioned with the entertainment industry. That was when I began to only read books that were movies after I saw the movie. That goes with the optimist in me. I can see a good movie and then read the book and say “The movie was great and the book is EVEN BETTER,” or I can read the book and then see the movie and say, “It was a good book but the movie was such a disappointment.” That’s an easy choice. I’ll take happy-happy any day!

So, after visiting the Field of Dreams site, site of a movie I truly love, at the beginning of the month, I decided to read Shoeless Joe, the book on which the film is based. I expected the book to be even better, leaving me more tingly and crying even harder when Ray Kinsella plays catch with his young father’s ghost. Notsomuch. In the book, he didn’t even play catch with him.

Shoeless Joe had extra characters that left you wondering why they were even there. Subplots were really not that well developed and didn’t seem to make sense with the story. In the movie things happened fast enough that it was credible. In the book the time frames weren’t believable because it didn’t make sense for the supporting characters to wait as long as they did. Even fantasy has to have some grasp on reality to make it a credible story. I think that’s especially true when you are using lots of real historical references. I loved the fact that after I saw the movie for the first time, I could look up Moonlight Graham and see that he was a completely real baseball character.

So, Shoeless Joe is an okay book that was turned into a great movie. Now I’m thinking it might be okay to rent Angels and Demons. But that was a book I truly enjoyed, so maybe not.

New Camera

The little party camera I got for Christmas has developed a spot in the lens. You don’t see it when it’s zoomed all the way out, but when you zoom it in, it’s a black spot in the middle of the picture. I zoom a lot, especially when we chase trains because I can’t walk in too much on rugged terrain. Rugged terrain for me is the pebbles on the side of the road or through soil and grass on the roadside.

So, a couple weekends ago, I brought my little party camera in to have it looked at. Long story short, it would cast more to have it sent in and looked at than it would to replace it! I’m kinda bummed about that because I wanted to get another camera for trains and other hobby-photos, but I like having a simple to use camera that takes decent pictures to feel confident handing to other people. It wasn’t an expensive camera, took good pictures and is easy to use. I didn’t like that it doesn’t have a viewfinder. If you have good natural lighting for an outdoor photo, the sun obliterates the little screen and you’re shooting blind and praying. Not really what you want for a photography hobby. Still it’s nice to share and actually get photos of David and me together that aren’t self portraits!

I’m not going to get the little camera fixed. It will still take decent pictures, you just can’t zoom in. Maybe sometime in the future, I’ll replace it with another pocket camera, but for now, I’ll keep it with no zoom. David and I looked at some cameras. I eventually want to go SLR. We’ve been thinking of his and hers SLR digitals, him teaching me SLR and me teaching him digital, sharing the special lenses with a decent point and shoot to share for casual photos, so we were looking together. He called to get a suggestion form a friend who we both trust for opinions on cameras. He suggested the Canon G11.

The G11 is like a bridge between a point and shoot and SLR. It doesn’t have changeable lenses, but, while it’s a point and shoot in full auto mode, it gives the photographer a lot of creative options when you turn the auto off! Right now, I’m using it in full auto as I get used to the weight, having my viewfinder again and adjusting to the difference between the viewfinder and actual size of the photo, the photo is a little larger that what you see in the viewfinder, like my Minolta was and the different zoom controller. Then, I’ll start playing with the lighting and focal adjustments. I like my new toy!

Pumpkin Spice Time Again!

There are many things I love about fall, but the one I’m most nutty about is Pumpkin Spice! Last Saturday David and I stopped at iHop for breakfast before going to The Motherland for Games Night. I had my first Pumpkin Spice of the season, Pumpkin Spice pancakes! I think iHop makes the best, but this morning I made some of my own, using the last of my Trader Joes mix from last year. They were very good, but iHop’s are still better, Wonder if that’s just because I don’t have to cook them or clean the dishes?

I made my K-Cup order form 11^th Street Coffee at the beginning of the month, just after we got home form vacation. I was completely out of K-cups, except for 2 Island Coconuts and three French Roast decafs. I ordered 5 boxes; Caribou blend, Butter Toffee, a decaf assortment and two seasonal ones, Harvest Blend and Pumpkin Spice! I would have loved an assortment of flavored decaf, but the flavored ones in decaf aren’t so common. I like a cup of coffee at dessert, but I’ve successfully weaned myself to no more than two cups of regular a day. Thanks to Keurig for helping make that possible! I had Pumpkin Spice this morning with my pancakes. I couldn’t get pumpkin spicier!

The photo is of my own pie pumpkin. I’m going to make my own pumpkin things. I’m thinking pancakes, pumpkin bread and a crustless pumpkin pie. I should be able to try three small cooking projects with that pumpkin, and if they work, I’ll buy more! I don’t think pie pumpkins have seeds. I’ll find out soon. I really like the jack-o-lantern pumpkins for seeds, but we could draw the face, like David dis last year, on a pie pumpkin or two and waste less. Then if I really need the seeds, which I can imagine I probably will, I can get a half off pumpkin on November 1!

Okay, now I have some scrapping want to do before baseball starts. Have a great Sunday!

GO REDS!!!!