Scallops and other things

This was a quite weekend and honestly, I did little or nothing.  Both, I think.  Something is on my mind, I think, though I have not narrowed it down beyond that.  I hope that I figure it before I make it through all 167 episodes of MacGyver.  I only have about 100 left to figure it out.

I did cook a few times.  I made ribs for the very first time, from scratch, and I was pretty pleased.  Not quite falling-off-the-bones tender, but very good.  I had always thought this culinary feat was was too complicated and required a "man-grill" or something.  Actually it was pretty easy.  I marinated them for three hours, then baked them for 2 1/2 hours.  MMM, MMM, messy.  But good.

Today was a little simpler.  I bought scallops, the little kind.  If I happened to be near water, I guess they would be called bay scallops.  I sautéed them in butter, garlic, a little white wine and lemon juice, and then tossed them with pasta.  Not bad, and it took less then 10 minutes.

School is done for this term.  Thank heavens.  It was a long semester and it lasted as long as anyone could stand it, maybe just a tiny bit too long.  There is a three week break, and then summer session.  No planned breaks, though I am willing enough.  I am getting restless...I have to many days of vacation--my checkbook is a bit thin, but when you have the time, it makes you think.  In the fall, I guess.  Maybe Portugal.  I guess I will think more about that.  I will have around 40 days by then...who knows where I could go with that.

By any name...

In some ways this is silly.  I have a ton of work to do, my office is  barely an office but a cube with a sort of door, And,  I am getting tagged for not having things done, things that I can't even find.  I got home at 6, went for a run of sorts, ate leftover fried rice, and began to look at my disaster of a house.  I honestly don't know where to start.  As my friend often says, "living the dream, eh?"  Who knew or would suspect that I live such a life of glamour?

So I picked up a camera, mostly to avoid doing anything else.  And you know, once you have a camera in your hands, you have to take a photo or two.  I know I mentioned about taking pictures of actual people type things, but there weren't any of those things around my castle.  There were flowers, however.  Still.  Again.

So roses, take two.

I had a few moments

Really, I just had a few moments.  My plan was and I guess is to try out some of my new cameras (OK, does that statement indicate a problem?) on these roses but my work to do list topped my artistic (whatever) to do list.  They will be fine for a few days but their smell caused me to pause for a few minutes to take a photo or two.

More to come...

Farm life

I went to an end-of-the-year party and observed the gentleman farmer/host as he fed his flock.  And checked out his flock and billy goat gruff.  I have been longing to do some portraits, and while I might have preferred subjects with less hair/feathers, these are kind of fun.  Hey, these are different than those dame flowers!

SCTCC

I went to college softball and baseball games today--it was fun to see some students I recognized play, and while the day was a bit cold, I still had fun.  There are more photos, but these at least prove that I was there.

Going south

You know, that phrase has quite a few connotations.  In this reference, I just mean that I went south to South Dakota.  It was short trip in every way, but it was a good trip.  Overall the conference was good, and despite my general belief that everyone in SD wears them, there were no overalls.  I do have to point out that we were only 18 miles into the state--there is plenty of state for plenty of overalls so I am not giving up on my ideas of SD fashion.

Sioux Falls is bigger than I thought--considering the whole state only has about 650,000 people, I was surprised that 160,000 or so of SD live in SF.  It isn't a bad city.  We found a great Thai place that we really liked.  I think at one time it was a 7-11 and it still had all that ambience, but the food was very good and it was inexpensive.  Three of us ate there for dinner for $45, and two of us had wine and none of us left hungry.  It was so good that we ate lunch there before we left town and we even asked the owners to open a second place in St Cloud.

Gee, go figure, but Sioux Falls is named after a water fall!  It wasn't quite Victoria Falls, but it is right in the city and I am sure that it would packed with people and picnickers on a hot summer day.  It was pretty on a cold windy afternoon,

Two funny little things. When I travel,  I always check for camera stores (of course).  My GPS found one nearby called Dakota Drain Cleaning and Camera.  I can't even imagine...

Best was when were coming back I detoured the mini-van (yes, I was a driving a mini-van.  Yes, I know that it was hard on my street cred) into Pipestone, MN.  The local beauty salon is called "Curl Up and Dye."  At least I think it was a beauty salon.  I am not sure I would let them cut my hair, but it was a great business name.

One of the photos is of course Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls.  The other is just a recent photo that I like