Word and Picture Update

Pretty soon Trevor will just be saying everything, so many words I won't be able to list them all, but for now it is limited enough to brag. He says ball, blanket, banana, Una and Boa (the cats' names), mama and dada of course, dadee, and his favorite, NO!
I don't have any new pictures to add, since the camera seems to be on the fritz.

Clarification of previous post

In case you're wondering who this Meghan is that I'm not afraid to make fun of, she is the studliest ultra runner around, with course records for everything. So I think her ego can take it.

My Lame-O Blog

Whew. I just read Meghan Arbogast's blog which chronicles her ultrarunning in lengthy detail and I realized how lame my blog is. Maybe I'll start making stuff up because i'm sure not running 31 miles. However, if I were to Arbogast-esquely chronicle my two-mile jog of this morning (6:20 am, mind you), it would go something like this:
I woke at 4 a.m. in the excitement of the run ahead of me. I lay in bed for 45 minutes, unable to sleep with images of Willamette Park flashing through my mind's eye. Finally I fell back asleep until Trevor woke up moments later. I went into the guest room and donned my lucky running shoes and favorite black hoody, then paced around outside waiting for my inspiring running partner, Betsy, to show up. She finally flew around the corner, and we settled into a determined pace towards Willamette Park. We ran uneventfully towards the trail, and I focused on not sounding like I was breathing as hard as I actually was.
As we turned the corner, the unmistakable scent of skunk slapped our lungs and made our eyes water. It was almost too much, but it motivated me to keep going just to get out of the odor before it permeated my hair and clothes. Once we got past that, it was a challenge to keep going, since there really seemed to be no reason to continue. Walking seemed a much saner activity at the time. (Oh, and any other time unless one of the crazy mean guys comes out of the bushes and is chasing you with a knife.) I pretended I was going to be late for work for the third time if I didn't go faster, and I visualized the slip in my box that says, you were late three times, don't think we didn't notice. This positive imagery carried me through the next 50 yards of trail, and soon we were turning back towards the river trail. (I can't believe you're still reading this! But you see what I mean, now...I couldn't stop reading hers either, but it was a THIRTY ONE mile run! I don't think I could make it through the Western States 100 miler report.)
Next installment: Joggers decide to jog downtown and eat croissants at the French bakery twice a week and actually end up gaining weight from a regular exercise program.

Wine, Blood, Corn Fritters and Maple Bars

The other day in a late afternoon, what-do-we-do-now moment, I left some cut up cabbage and potatoes in the steamer and dragged Trevor down to Karen Mayo's for some wine-drinking, garden-admiring, and grape-foraging. Her garden is the best! When we got home after a couple hours, Todd had returned home from work and pulled lots of weeds and there was an amazing dinner that went beyond just the paltry potatoes and cabbage. He even fired up the grill to cook some zucchini! Kind of makes me think I ought to drink more...
Karen gave us a bunch of ears of corn and the idea to make corn fritters. We made some the next evening and ate them with honey mustard. That was after I donated my blood (that's right, be nice to me, I gave blood) for the last time ever in my life. I will give up my kidney or anything else, but my veins were not created to give blood. I was sitting there for 20 minutes while the phlebotomist jiggled the needle around as my blood dripped out. The worst part was that I was the last donor of the day and the red cross workers just wanted me gone. To their credit, they were very nice and gave me a bunch of snacks to take with me, cheezits and oreos and such.
If anyone has a favorite recipe for corn fritters, let me know what it is! I still have corn left and, while the ones I made were good, it seemed like they could have been better.
Along the same lines (food as usual), Tonya gave us a ride down to root for our insane ultra-running husbands (oh, only a short run of 31 miles) doing the Mckenzie River Trail Run and we stopped at the Mennonite bakery on Peoria road. Holy Maple Bar. We have a new Friday morning eating activity. Don't tell anyone else about the place or there may be too much competition for the donuts.

Here's a recipe, Tonya

Too much zucchini, of course! And you're sick of zucchini bread. Here's an approximate recipe for zucchini pancakes:
2-3 medium zucchini, shredded and liquid slightly squeezed out
2-3 eggs or more
about 1/2 cup flour
minced green onions or scallions
fresh basil and/or mint (really good with both!)
OR any herbs you have around, like rosemary & thyme
chunk (about 1/2 lb.) feta cheese, crumbled
dash tabasco, or Frank's, or Crystal
Salt & Pepper to taste

Stir everything together then fry in oil. Serve with a big cucumber salad (since you have too many of those too) or some sliced fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and salt, or maybe some stewed pears or applesauce. Also a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt. They are addictive.