post Thankgiving morning

I was dreaming of being in New York City with Lou Reed making art and watching music art video displays that were actually on entire wall of his living room. The color were very un-NYC to me: Copper, browns, golds, like a steam-punk kinda aesthetic. There were large photos I was working on that had cool palettes with blood red and wine highlight to images that had the hues tweaked down to almost monotones.

Then I woke up to the smashing sound of a car wreck on Pleasantdale Road.

Last week, I was house & cat sitting for the beloved B&G, who finally came home last night. I always enjoy my stays at their house - it's like a mini vacation from reality for me. It changes my perspective just enough to be in new surroundings for a while and I sleep like a baby there.
MonsterMustDie complains when I stay there but he knows it makes me happy. Don't deprive me of my bits of happy or karma payment will be long and drawn out.

Thanksgiving was spent with old friends at RRE who were deep-frying turkeys, pickles, etc. There was a great formal dinner in the main room, where tables were set formally and dinner was called to start by Neil, who made a toast of sorts before we ate, surrounded by music and art. We contributed a roast duck to the mix. That was the first duck either of us had roasted and it came out quite good, thanks to the instructions in our favorite cook book by Mark Bittman, How To Cook Everything.

My family holiday gathering was Sunday evening at my brother's house, where he and my mother prepared the dinner, which included the last marinated tomatoes of this year. The frost on Sunday night means tomato season is officially over. A lot of people I know were pulling whatever they could from their gardens on Saturday and Sunday before the frost. I picked all the green tomatoes that were on the vines at home and clipped as much basil as I could find. Most of the tomatoes are probably too green to ripen properly so I plan to fry them later this week.

Thanksgiving Duckling

Roasting one up according Mark Bittman's instructions.

About to start a week of Cat-House sitting over the holiday. Getting my suitcase packed and looking forward to little change in my life for a few days.

In other news, I am also going to be working with a friend at a 12-hour catering gig today. I don't know how long a shift of this kind will work because I've never done it for this company before but I think this might me a very good investment of my time if it works out well. It actually pays better than the part-time temp job I have now, which is kinda sad because my temping requires skills that I've spent years building. I am hopeful all will go well today and I can get more work days like this in the future.

Now that everyone is getting in the holiday mood:

A disturbance in the force

I have an unexplainable feeling of melancholy this morning.