Saturday in the Garden | Possum!

 

OUTSIDE

So where do you fall on Didelphis virginiana - the Virginia Opossum?  I know a lot of people that are freaked and/or grossed out by them, including one of my co-workers who is a wildlife technician.  I kind of like them. They're North America's only marsupial, have fifty freakin' teeth (more than any other mammal hereabouts), opposable thumbs on their back feet, a prehensile tail and are obviously very adaptable.  I have a soft spot for the opportunists in the animal kingdom. They're survivors.

And the fact that these critters survive is kind of amazing because their defense behavior is just odd. They are famous of course for playing dead when really frightened but the two I have had close encounters with lately didn't even bother with that.  Apparently, I'm not very scary?  They just freeze, open their mouth wide and maybe hiss, which you can see below:

They must be the easiest prey on the planet.  Though there are the 50 teeth to contend with, I suppose.  I think the gentleman above was not in great shape.  He was skinny and wandered right in front of our office in the middle of the afternoon (they're generally nocturnal).  He didn't even notice me walk out the front door and up to him until I was two feet away.  Then he just froze and let me have my mini photo shoot.  He was missing part of his tail and you can see his ears were nicked and torn. He's probably an elder. I hope he's still doing okay and I enjoyed his visit though I am sure he could have done without my attention.

SOOOOOOOO....the garden plan. YIKES!  It is February 11th and I have yet to do anything garden-related nor ordered the first seed packet. Priority for tomorrow!  How about y'all?  Are you rarin' to go for the garden season?

Update on the indoor bulb forcing for grape hyacinth? LOTS of growth as you can see!

Last Week

This Week

GAK

So I just want to point out two things.  

One, I have found an overnight oats recipe that is TO DIE FOR.  I am not so sure it is the healthiest but it's at least not a doughnut or a pop tart?  It has chia seeds? And oats? And only a small amount of unrefined sugar (maple syrup)? The key I think is the chia seeds and coconut milk which solidify overnight to make a kind of chocolate mousse. Because, yeah it's got cocoa powder in it.  The below picture doesn't make it look really tasty and I forgot the frozen cherries and toasted sliced almonds I'd been topping it with but hopefully the texture comes through.  Yum!  Do you have any overnight oats recipes you love?

Overnight Chia Oat Pudding. Recipe

Second I wanted to shout out a list of Modern Classics on Book Riot that I particularly like.  I may have loved it because the very first book listed is a Barbara Pym, and one of my favorites of hers, but also all the books on the list I have read, I really agree with.  That doesn't happen often and it definitely makes me want to read others on the list!

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching 

I finished the K Drama City Hunter and while overall I did think it was pretty great, the ending really drove me up a wall:(.  It was bad enough that it bumped this drama from top-of-the-heap stellar to middle-of-the-pack good.

I caught up with the recently released season two of Voltron on Netflix - It was a lot of fun. I ADORE Hunk and Pidge especially.

I watched the final 2.5 episodes of Arrow season 4.  I got irritated with the show during this season, when after a really strong start they threw one of my favorite characters under the bus.  The last couple eps were good and they left me curious to watch season 5 once it makes its way to Netflix.

I also started watching The Flash again which I had stalled on about halfway through season 1.  Barry Allan/Grant Gustin could literally not be more charming and adorable and awesome but the rest of the cast bores me.

Reading 

Finished Since the Last Time I Posted

• Memories of Ash (Sunbolt #2) by Intisar Khanani: I loved book 1 so much, I immediately had to jump into book 2!  Not quite Sunbolt levels of awesome but still good!
• Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee:  WHOA.  This book is going to be impossible to review...

Currently Reading:

• Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: A book about how to improve your relationship with food.
• Mr Impossible (Carsington Brothers #2) by Loretta Chase:  Regency romance set in Egypt.  It's okay.
• Lady Cop Makes Trouble (Kopp Sisters #2) by Amy Stewart: I am so happy to be hanging out with Constance, Norma and Fleurette Kopp again!

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week.  It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

I added some books this week but don't have time to make the list.  I'll include on nest week's.

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:

TUESDAY: TOP TEN TUESDAY | Books that Could Use More Ladies

THURSDAY: REVIEW | Please Look After Mom by Kyung Sook Shin, translated by Chi Young Kim 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Pile-o-Dogs

Have a Great Week!

Top Ten Albums From My Youth | OH the 1980s

A high school friend of mine posted a list of her favorite albums from her childhood on Facebook and it sent me into a frenzy of nostalgia!  I decided to attempt to make a list of my own.  It was hard but fun!

This list will certainly emphasize my age but I know there are some other folks out their that will jam to this music.  Most of these I still recognize as really really great albums and they are in no particular order.  Join me on this musical trip to the 1980s...

1) Duran Duran  - Rio (1982)

I was a HUGE Duranie as a kid (if you're wondering I was a Simon LeBon devotee) and a big fan of British musicians in general (you'll probably pick up on that in the list).  In fact, all these British musicians that made it huge in the U.S. were referred to as the Second British Invasion (the first being led by The Beatles).  My favorite song from this album was probably Save a Prayer and the video typifies their early videos which were famously set in gorgeous locales (Sri Lanka I believe in this one).

 2) Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983)

As I said. Duranie.  My favorite from this album was New Moon on Monday and it featured probably my favorite video of theirs as well (though Wild Boys was pretty out there and cool).  I mean, of COURSE freedom fighters would have such brilliantly coiffed hair, right?  At one point there are even light sabers.

3) The Police  - Synchronicity (1983)

Second only to Duran Duran was The Police and Sting so they get two spots as well.  Their music is great because it's so straight forward - bass, guitar, drum maybe a keyboard.  My favorite from this album is probably Wrapped Around Your Finger  - I love when, briefly, 2/3rds through the song, it briefly loses the dreamy quality and gets fierce and then fades back down. "I will turn your face to alabaster....when you find your servant is your master." This is a great one but I love so many songs from this album!  

4) Sting  - Nothing Like The Sun (1987)

Honestly, The Dream of the Blue Turtles should be on here as well but I'm trying to keep Sting and Duran Duran from completely taking over the list.  These were the first two of Sting's solo albums and while I've loved all of his newer stuff too, these are still my favorites. Fragile has to be my favorite song from this album.

And because I can't help it, I must include the video of Moon Over Bourbon Street from The Dream of the Blue Turtles.  I was a huge Anne Rice fan at the time and went GAGA over this song.  It is a song from the perspective of Louis from Interview with a Vampire.

5) Dexy's Midnight Runners - Too Rye Ay (1982)

Everybody knows the song Come On Eileen - It was Dexy's only big U.S. hit and boy was it a hit.  While, I do love that song and its probably my favorite from this album, I actually really LOVE the rest of the album too.  It's got so many great songs.  To feature one of the other excellent songs here's Plan B.  Kevin Rowlnad stirred up such complicated and passionate feelings in my pre-adolescent heart.

6) The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come (1987)

Oh Morrissey.  Such angst.  Such peppy beats.  I love, truly love every song on this album.  How could you not want to bop along to Girlfriend in a Coma or gleefully sing along to Unhappy Birthday. Most people think The Queen is Dead is the best Smiths album but I don't know if it's when it came out or what, this album just spoke to my angsty, snarky teenaged heart.  "I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday, 'cause you're evil and you lied. And if you should die...I may feel slightly sad but I won't cry."  Don't ever hold back M.

7) Madonna - Like a Virgin (1984)

I'm finally leaving the U.K.!  I was such a huge fan of Madonna as a young 'un.  My love for this album has perhaps not persisted as much as the albums above but boy did I listen to it nonstop as a 12 year old. I think Dress You Up is probably my favorite song from the album.

8) Michael Jackson  - Thriller (1982)

Best pop album of all time?  I think it may be.  At least 6 of the 9 songs on the album were HUGEMONGOUS hits.  Of course the featured song and video has to be Thriller.  Michael does a pretty great acting job actually!

9) Crowded House - Temple of the Low Men (1988)

You don't still hear much from this Aussie group anymore but I loved them and this album is one of my favorites of all time, not just from my youth.  I love every track but I think Better Be Home Soon is my favorite. 

But I also have to feature Love This Life because its pretty perfect too.

10) INXS - Kick (1987)

My friends and I were so completely obsessed with this album and INXS.  The song I have to feature from it is Never Tear Us Apart which we sang, very melodramatically, at the top of our lungs every time it came on.  Good times.

*******

Okay, that was super fun for me!  So fun I may do Albums 11-20 next week.  So how about you?  Do you love or loathe the 80s? What's a few of your favorite albums from your youth?  

R.I.P. Morrissey

Don’t Panic! Morrissey is in no way deceased.  As far as I know he is still utterly, fabulously alive.  What are dead are my hopes of seeing him play live.  A couple of friends and I had tickets to see him play last month at the Surf Ballroom. The Surf Ballroom is a fifties style ballroom that is famous for being the last place that Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper played before losing their lives in a plane crash.  Despite, or perhaps partially because, of this macabre claim to fame it would, I think, be one of the most perfect venues to play host to Morrissey’s particular charms.  

Unfortunately, a few days before the show, it was announced that his mum was sick and that the show was to be postponed.   We got word a couple weeks ago that it was re-scheduled….for the night of an annual mandatory work event.  Since the three of us that were going all work together there’s no chance of creatively excusing ourselves from said event.  So no Morrissey for us L How does this make me feel?  “Last night I dreamt….That somebody loved me…No Hope, No Harm, just another false alarm…” 

R.I.P. Morrissey.   I hope the Surf treats you well.