Poor Sassy

The girls got into a fight last Friday and we didn't provide the proper first aid to poor Sassy's leg, Rosie's usually biting spot. By Monday, it was quite swollen and required a trip to the vet. She was given antibiotic pills and shots and the vet said to put hot packs on it so it would drain (yuk!) Sassy has a heart murmur and the doctor felt uncomfortable anesthetizing her for surgery. Well, no sooner did we put on the hot pack than a bunch of icky fluid drained out and a huge crater opened. A call to the vet told us to leave it alone, they would look at it again on Thursday. In the meantime, the swelling went down and the redness went away, but the gaping hole in Sassy's leg remained. Back to the vet on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. Poor girl has to have it bandaged every day to every 2 days until it heals.

Joel's birthday

We had a nice birthday dinner for Joel a few weeks ago, where we served the yummy lasagna I showed on an earlier post. Here are a few pictures from the event.

Spring Has Sprung!!!

Daffodil in the backyard.

Family Photos

My parents shortly after they were married.


My older brother and sister.


Me

Roasted-Vegetable Lasagne Recipe at Epicurious.com

Great recipe. We had our usual family dinner on Saturday and Pat and I made this luscious lasagna and a traditional meat one too. Highly recommend this recipe, but add mushrooms. Also, awesome using no-boil noodles. So much easier

Wild Fire - Nelson DeMille

I've always enjoyed Nelson DeMille's books, but this was lame. Don't bother unless you don't have anything else to read.

To Do List

To do list:
Coat closet
Taxes
Hem mom's pants
Make Vet appointment
Call mom's health insurance re Dental
Polish/refinish double bed, dresser
Replace lightbulb in kitchen
Clean out closet under staircase
Reshelf books
Go to brew supply shop: sanitizer, beer kit
Clean out closet in bonus room
Box up Jill’s stuff
Joel’s address to mom
Plan family dinner
Look for mom’s recipe books
Paint, etc bathroom
Mail Nike watch
Mammogram appointment
Unplug back up power box in 3rd car garage

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott & March - Geraldine Brooks

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

March - Geraldine Brooks

I've been wanting to read March for a long time and started it a couple weeks ago. It's the story of the father of the Little Women. As I read the first few pages, I realized that I should probably to back and read Little Women first. Luckily, we had a copy of Little Women and I got right to work.

I'd highly recommend it to adolescent girls and newlywed women. It is such a sweet story full of excellent advice on how to get along in a family and with a spouse. Such a sweet story.

I was disappointed with March; the author represented the father much differently than Louisa May Alcott did. It was Brooks' intention to 'humanize' him and show his flaws (and his wife's), but the original author chose not to show that side of him. For me, it took away from the sweet lessons in Little Women. Yes, people are complex and we don't always show what we are thinking, but I didn't want to know about that side of the Marches. Read this review.

Well written, but Little Women was tarnished.

Painting weekend

I visited Jill & Nathan last weekend. We had a fantastic time, as usual...eating, visiting, talking Jackie for walks, golfing, and an all day painting adventure. Wish I'd taken some pictures, but we painted the kitchen yellow, bathroom a retro blue-green, and a nice tan for the bedroom.


I can't believe I encouraged Jill to marry this guy.

Where's Sassy....Where's Rosie

Can you find the 'real' dog.

January Family Dinner

It's been awhile since I posted any pictures. Early in January, Lois had a dinner for the family. All the Brown siblings except Randy came.

What's So Amazing About Grace - Philip Yancey

This is my third time reading this book. It changed my life the first time I read it and rereading just reinforced those lessons.

Everyone should read it. It describes what a Christian should be, not how most Christians really behave.

Be the Pack Leader - Cesar Millan

Darla gave this book to Pat for Christmas and we read it together. Great book, makes me consider getting a puppy and being a better dog parent. Realized that Pat and I are not our pack leaders, the dogs think they are, but we're working on it.

The Collectors - David Baldacci

I bought this book for Jill for Christmas, but she'd already read (listened) to it, so I kept if for myself. It was a very mediocre read.

Vacation's over

I didn't get online the last couple days...too lazy. Last couple days of vacation were spent enjoying the fire and the snow falling heavily outside. Of course, we did make it outside to eat lunch and take a couple walks. Wednesday, we walked to the mall and ate at the Village Bar & Grill. It was ok, but probably wouldn't go out of our way to eat there again. A pleasant surprise was RJB's Restaurant and Sports Lounge across the street from Sunriver. We shared Fish & Chips. The portion was huge; more than enough to share.

As we headed home from vacation, we stopped at Greg's Grill in Bend. We had a lovely table with a view of the river and shared a bowl of chowder and fish and chips (again).

The drive home was uneventful, although quite snowy over Mt. Hood. The Santiam Pass was closed. I'll post our last pictures a little later.

The Waxwings - Jonathan Raban

We visited the Sunriver Bookstore when we first got to town and the owner recommended this book. She has a book club called Carole's Surprise. Each month she mails participants a book of her choice. It can not be a famous book, but can be a famous author's unknown book.

We both enjoyed this and look forward to the next one.

Smothered Steak Recipe at Epicurious.com

This was so, so delicious! And Easy!! Very few ingredients. We followed the recipe exactly and wouldn't change a thing.

Snowshoe adventure

We planned to hit the mountain for a little snowboarding, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was SCARY driving there, could hardly see a thing, and the parking lot had about a foot of snow. The lifts were hidden behind the heavy blowing snow and we figured that even though the snow would be fantastic, the visibility was way too poor.

So instead, we decided to go snowshoeing. After eating a spicy Chipotle Burger at BaseCamp Grill, we rented snowshoes, drove the a parking spot by the river and headed out. I thought we'd go for an hour or so, but we got a little carried away and hiked all the way to the stable through deep unpacked snow. Then we had to get back...cut across the airport runway to the lodge...and still about a mile to go, phew! At that point, we took off the snowshoes and stuck to the plowed path. 4 hours later we got back to the car, just as it was getting dark.

Then, back to the dinner for the fantastic dinner...see next post.

Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant-Tomato Ragu

Found this recipe in the February 2008 issue of Gourmet Magazine and knew we had to make it. We made a few changes; added crimini mushrooms and substituted regular mozzarella for the smoked mozzarella in the recipe. The only thing we would do different is not bother with the long instructions for making the cakes. I think we could just fry the cooked quinoa without taking the time to pre-form it into rounds and chill.

Very yummy!

...and the snow continues to pile up

Monday was spent reading, exercising, and going to town.

Our first stop was at the Old Mill District to see Cloverfield. What a surprising, intense movie. I was amused at the warnings that one might become nauseous. What the heck?!

Then we met our friends David and Lisa for a great dinner at Anthony's. The food was fantastic, but the company was better. The 3+ hours we inhabited the riverfront table flew by and it was soon time to say goodnight. Looking forward to a little travel in the late fall, Lisa??

This morning woke up to even more snow. At least 6 more inches fell overnight and it's still coming down. I know snowboarding was on the agenda for later today....we'll see.

Tender at the Bone

Darla gave this to me for Christmas. Gotta love a book with travel, fun stories about strange people and RECIPES!!

Sunday at Mt Bachelor

Sunday was the day for skiing. The ski report showed 6 inches of new snow, 23 degrees and only moderate (20 mph) wind. We started the day with a nutritious breakfast of Noah's bagels (brought from home) and Borgia (orange mocha) from the local coffee shop, Bella Tazza.

The drive to the mountain was a little snowy. After renting short shapely skis, we hit the slopes to find that the visibility was just ok and the snow was deep and chopped up by the early bird skiers. But never fear, our rental skis were just the thing, in fact, snow that would have sent us running for home with our old skis was exactly what the skis liked.

Every run was spent seeking out the least tracked, deepest powder and it only took about 2 hours of that kind of fun to wear us out. The last two runs.... Canyon and Tippy Toe. Black diamond, completely ungroomed powdery moguls....way, way too much fun. Guess we're converts of the short fat skis.

Headed home for a quick lunch of quesadilla, guacamole and chips and a nice hot bath. We had another dinner and a movie night. Wonderful chopped salad: lettuce, tomato, avocado, green onion, cucumber, Mrs. Mays Naturals Fruit & Nut Crunch (from Costco, chopped up), beef summer sausage, and goat cheese. Accompanied by crusty italian bread with goat cheese spread.

Movie: Spiderman 3. Not as good as the first two, but ok.




Pretty snow-covered tree in front of our condo.

Walking in Circles Before Lying Down

Ok, so I never read the back cover of books that are given to me as gifts. It came back to bite me. Read 1/3 of the book before I realized this was not a non-fiction dog lover memior. Nope, it was a fine weekend read of a chick novel. Wouldn't really recommend it if you have anything else to read.

A lazy day in Sunriver

Saturday turned out to be so lazy. After reading, we walked over to Cafe Sintra and had a semi nice lunch. We usually really enjoy it, but after a frosty greeting, a spilled drink and soup that tasted like dish soap, we left feeling a bit disappointed. The nice part was the sandwich. As usual, they used a nice aioli and the bread was scrumptios.

Is snowed a bit, so Pat shoveled our sidewalk. Otherwise, we hardly moved. Late we took in dinner (leftover Garlic Jim's pizza that we brought from home) and a movie (Borat, kinda funny but too long).

From Sunriver Vaca...

Sunriver Vacation

First day of vacation was spent on a leisurely drive to Bend, a little shopping at the outlet mall and a nice lunch at the Bend Brewing Company. For lunch we split a bowl of Chipotle Potato Soup and a Spinach Salad with Tri-tip steak, crumbled bleu cheese and dried cranberries, accompanied by their Pinnacle Porter. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a nice view of the park (covered in snow).

The lunch discussion centered around our meal plans for the rest of the week. First decision was something we'd made before; Balsamic Glazed Chop a recipe for pork, but great with lamb or beef. Nice salad of avocado, goat cheese and tomato. We have a pile of recipes for the rest of the week, too.

Got to the condo around 4:00, read little, ate, and watched a little TV. When we woke up Saturday morning to light snow, spent a few hours reading, each completing an entire book.

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

Wow, what a quick read. Another interesting book set in Afghanistan by the author of The Kite Runner.

Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson

I really, really enjoyed this book even though it was over 1100 pages long!!! The writing was better than the story, but the story was entertaining too. Lots of history and math. There was one annoying thing...two story lines with characters with the same last names. It was obvious that there was a relationship between then, but it wasn't really revealed until the last 100-150 pages.

Even more Wedding pictures

Marnellie took lots of great pics, check out her blog.

More Wedding Pictures