Sunday, July 12, 2009

Seeing (Simply) Red, Leo and Thunder

The Coincidence Queen strikes again (I'm sorry, I can't help myself.)

Last night, I was listening to a local radio station that plays 80's music from 6 pm-midnight on Saturday. I love 80's music so I was listening with my oldest son. Lately, he's been asking me who the singers are whenever I listen to the radio. Anyway, on this Saturday 80's program, they feature something called Back-To-Back, where they play 3 songs in a row and the listener is to try and guess the name of the song and the singer/group. The songs are often something that wasn't played a lot so this can be a challenge. And they don't tell you the answers until all 3 songs have been played. Song #1: I couldn't think of the singer's name but I knew the song. Song #2: I guessed the group Simply Red but didn't know the title. Song #3 was unremarkable and I didn't have a clue. Then they gave the answers. Song #1 was a surprise (it was U2). Song #2 was a group I had never heard of. Song #3 - you guessed it - the group Simply Red. Is that weird or what? I guessed the name of the group during the 2nd song and it turned out to be the group for the 3rd song! Weird. So today, I turned on the radio (to a different local station) and it was just finishing up a song. The very next song was Simply Red (I Keep Holding On)! I shouted to my son, "Hey, Chad, this is Simply Red, you know, the group from last night!" He just rolled his eyes and shook his head. He's used to his eccentric mother getting excited about obscure things.

On to more important things. Like fish. Todd was not content with just Chad's fish in Todd's new tank. He bought a few more. One, a butterfly fish, he allowed me to help with naming: I said "Flutter" so he changed it to "Flutterbudget" after the nickname Pa gave to Laura Ingalls when she was a tyke. Alec, for reasons unknown I think even to himself, decided he just had to have a lionhead goldfish. Named Leo. (A $7 goldfish - yikes!) He put it in with his female betta. Within a few hours, she nipped a hole in the new guy's tail. Out she went, banished to her former and much smaller home. Leo 1, betta 0. (Her name escapes me at the moment - we are so overrun with fish there's NO WAY I can remember who is who.) Leo appears to have a grin when you look at him just right - I think he's feeling smug 'cause he's got the place to himself now.

Ever heard of MaryJanesFarm magazine? It's really cool. It's for chic farmgirls, in the city or country. Or for those of us who aspire to be farmgirl-like but don't have a clue and hate to get our nails dirty. I just subscribed mainly because of an amazing biscuit recipe in it. My husband declared they were the best biscuits I had ever made. If you knew my miserable history with biscuit making (no Bisquick here folks), you'd understand just how awesome it felt to hear him make that statement. Let me know if you are interested - there's nothing in it for me, I'm just excited about it and want to spread the joy.

I must go - my oldest son is asleep on the couch because Alec's new pump in Leo's tank is too loud for Chad to sleep in the same room with. But we can't let Chad continue to sleep in the livingroom. Maybe we could set him up with a sleeping bag in the dining room. Or pitch a tent on the deck - oh, wait, it's raining. We had a remarkable day of thunder and lightning today. It went from about 4:00 a.m. until nearly lunchtime, I think. Just yesterday, we went for a walk in the warmth of the sun and stopped to talk to the owner of a beautiful hidden garden in our neighborhood. We both agreed that July is the time of year when you could almost count on sunny weather here. Apparently, we were wrong.

5 comments:

jugglingpaynes said...

Seeing Red, Leo and Thunder would make a good name for a band. :o)

Sorry about your fish problems. Bettas do tend to be a bit territorial, especially to fish with fancy tails. Maybe they think the other fish are huge bettas?

Peace and Laughter,
Cristina

call*me*kate said...

Kate here ... I was surprised to read Cristina's comment. I do not remember giving this post a title last night - I must have been pretty tired. So I added the (Simply) after her comment.

Leingang Family said...

I love Mary Jane's Farm magazine! I just wish I could afford to subscribe or that our library did. :o(

Paula Vince said...

That's good music you're talking about. I loved Simply Red. I think the music from the 70s and 80s is better than anything that came before or after.
About that biscuit recipe, I've got feeling that our name for your biscuits is scones. Because I know that what you call cookies, we call biscuits. So when you use the word 'biscuit' are you talking about something soft and hot that you serve with jam and cream? I'm interested to know.
BTW, I have an award for you over at my blog. It's a very elegant, feminine looking one.
Blessings,
Paula

Paula Vince said...

Hey Kate, it's me again! You've stimulated my appetite with your comment. Would you be able to send me a recipe for some of those biscuits? I'd love to try them and tell the family I'm baking American biscuits.
And those Aplets and Cotlets that Carrie mentioned once, one day I'll have to arrange a swap of kind. We love our Turkish Delight over here but I've never come across anything so delicious as they sound.
Oh BTW, do you have self-raising flour? I've heard that there's no SR flour over in the States so just thought I'd ask.
Blessings,
Paula