Humor – Page 9 – branching out… on a limb

March Read: Abby Picks Historical Fiction…. “The Mistaken Wife” or “Hild”

It is time to choose a new Book of the Month! Today, Abby the Labby gets to pick, and she’s quite excited… because we are bribing her with a treat to keep her sitting down and posing for this photo. What’s it gonna be? She knows I don’t want another edjoo-ma-cative read after January’s “The Happiness Project” and February’s “Nikon D3300 for Dummies.” She also knows that I am fond of historical fiction, and have picked up two recently.

“Hild,” is book number one by Nicola Griffith, who, through much research created a novel about what 7th century Britain would be like for the woman who would be later known as Saint Hilda. This book came highly recommended by staff at a favorite small bookstore. Book number two is “The Mistaken Wife,” third in a series including “The Blackstone Key” and “The Counterfeit Guest,” all by Rose Melikan.

Abby during the discernment process:

Sure looks like she is leaning toward "Hild," and check out all the wine we won at the school's raffle! We've NEVER won anything like that, WOO HOO!!! — Sure looks like she is leaning toward “Hild,” and check out all the wine we won at the school’s raffle! We’ve NEVER won anything like that, WOO HOO!!

Is Abby choosing "Hild?" Is she in a 7th century Britain mood? Hmmm... — Is Abby choosing “Hild?” Is she in a 7th century Britain mood? Hmmm…

So what is Abby going to choose for me? It’s…

IT’S “THE MISTAKEN WIFE!” But, how do we know which one Abby chose? It came down to which book she drooled on, honestly. Remember, we had treats for her, and she was quite aware of it. Maybe she also knew that I already read Melikan’s first two stories about Mary Finch, reluctant heiress and even more reluctant spy during the close of the 1700’s. Either book presented a win-win situation for me- I’m a sucker for well researched historical fiction, And Harry Potter. If you ever feel like discussing the minutiae of that universe, I’m your Potterverse Pal.

The Upshot: Half the Family = Half the Bill

Plans for a nice family dinner at a favorite Japanese restaurant just didn’t materialize in the way I had hoped for. I haven’t seen the teens much lately, which sometimes is NOT a bad thing- am I right, fellow moms of teens??? However, I do enjoy these people an overwhelming majority of the time. There are subjects to cover, jokes to hear, stories to catch up on that you can’t hear in the fifteen minutes you see them in the morning before they dash out the door, or pry out of them as they are poring over their studies.

We try really hard to sit down together at dinner every day of the week… by “we try,” it’s really “I try.” All this effort results in maybe three family dinners per week. With fencing, guitar, theater, church leadership, Academic Decathlon, and sneaky Netflix binging, (and this is just The Teens) I feel like I have to out-plan everyone in order to bring us together on a regular basis. That should be a college course for parents! “Family Togetherness 101: Stealthy and Inconspicuous Planning and Gathering- Techniques and Practices Explained.”

No le gusta el atún. Pobrecito. Part of the the catch of the day last July. It was Poke City here. Click the pic for a recipe similar to ours

Further evidence of how deep his distaste for fish runs.. — Further evidence of how deep his distaste for tuna runs…

It is probably a good thing that The Teens stayed home… one doesn’t like sushi or any fish for that matter, the other racks up quite a bill. We had half the usual bill by leaving half the family at home. Look at The Boy. He’s not kidding. This is the poster child for Mac N Cheese. And fillet mignon. His tastes run amok.

Hamachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi, caught that morning- click for a great poke recipe — Hamachi (Yellowtail) Sashimi, caught that morning

My favorite selections for sushi are always salmon and yellowtail nigiri. Tuna used to be a top choice, but we are extremely fortunate to catch our own on a friend’s boat or receive some of his haul and we have a freezer full of ahi. It. Is. HEAVEN!!

Tobiko and Scallop... — Tobiko and Scallop…

So, we lost the teens and instead were able to have a nice dinner date with just the two of us. Not a bad consolation prize, huh?! Where The Girl was going to have carte blanche with the sushi menu and do the choosing for me, in hindsight, maybe it is a good thing that she wasn’t there? Hmmm… hadn’t thought of that. Who knows what she would have tried to get me to eat? (*shudder*)

The Husband got to choose instead, and we ended up splitting orders of scallop nigiri and tobiko. Holy Yum. The scallops, especially, they were so sweet! I thought that shellfish would be on the tough side if prepared raw, since I’ve only had giant clam sushi… I don’t recommend it. Our favorite little neighborhood sushi joint prepares the scallops with a very light dressing, probably mayo based- I loved it, and so did the mayonnaise-hating husband. And I really did like the tobiko, too. Fresh and ocean-y tasting, lots of fun, salty popping going on, and very yummy.

Peñasquitos Preserve, Waterfall to the West End

I have hiked in the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, but always approaching from the east and hiking to the waterfall. By “hike,” I mean easy walk. I knew that the preserve trails continued all the way into Sorrento Vally, just east of the 5 and 805 freeways… by the way, you know how to peg a Native Californian? By how they refer to all highways and freeways as “The + Number,” no matter where they live. My Indiana friends always thought I was nuts to say “The 465,” or “Remember that 4th of July weekend when Bryan’s accident shut down The 65 North to Chicago?” If you would like an easy, but long-ish hike, I recommend this walk. And it was a beautiful day for this beautiful walk.

Looking north, towards Del Mar and Rancho Penasquitos

These two photos are taken from the same spot, I just turned 180 degrees. The south slopes of the canyon received more rain this winter, maybe?

One of the sages that grows in California. Smells soooo good!

This is one of the native sages that grows in California. I mentioned the chaparral in this earlier post- Two Mile Monkey is Off My Back.

Purple Nightshade... don't eat it. — Purple Nightshade… don’t eat it.

Wildflowers, trees and scrub were blooming everywhere thanks to the earlier rains. We passed bunches of Purple Nightshade and Blue-Eyed Grass… fortunately, we didn’t cross paths with any rattlesnakes.

The Headache-Preventing Nice Guy Award goes to.... — The Headache-Preventing Nice Guy Award goes to….

And all of these photos? Taken with my iPhone 5s. Because when I went to take the first picture of the waterfall, with my Christmas Nikon D3300… that’s when I figured out that the battery was dead. Duh. But what a nice guy is The Husband? He carried the dead weight the whole three hours so I didn’t get a headache from having it hang around my neck. What a guy!

View of Sycamore Crossing, looking west toward La Jolla and Sorrento Valley

The walk we took was about four miles starting at the western entrance of the Peñasquitos Preserve accessed on Park Village Road, and ending all the way west on Sorrento Valley Blvd.

West end of the walk. There is parking somewhere around here... look it up. — West end of the walk. There is parking somewhere around here… go look it up yourself. Just kidding. Click on this photo and it will link you to a map of this area, parking, and trails.

The weather was perfect- lots of clouds, some sun and a nice onshore breeze. From the start of our walk to the end the paths were hopping with mountain bikers and other walkers, dogs and horses. It was a beautiful day! The round trip 8.2 mile walk totaled just over three hours. Did I mention what a beautiful day it was? Gorgeous.

Eleanor Roosevelt and another Eleanor

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Today, I think I cannot fix the Facebook links on this blog. The problem isn’t the problem. It’s the environment.

Mrs. Roosevelt did not know my Eleanor. Sometimes nothing from my To Do list gets checked off when she is around. It’s not that I don’t want her around, quite the contrary… just that it is hard to do what I had intended. Entertaining is her forte.

It’s really hard to fix a blog when The Girl sits down next to you and challenges you to sing along to the Avett Brothers’ “In the Curve” while she plucks out the chords on her ukulele.

Enjoy the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qfAEfBSwJI

Boring Post Alert! Learning Camera Controls (Unless You Dig Photos of Shrimp Salad and Freshly Baked Bread)

I played around with my Christmas camera tonight, trying to make some headway into my February project- learn how to operate my Nikon 3300. I swear, I’m going to figure out this piece of technology and I am paging my way through my “Nikon D3300 For Dummies” book to help. Tonight I learned about several different auto and semi-automatic controls, and that I can type the word “exposure” twenty-five times in 30 minutes, and spell it wrong each time. I’m pretty proud of the fact that I can’t spell in three- count ’em- THREE different languages. Go me.

First shot is in Manual Exposure Mode, and I have no idea what I am doing. This proves that the camera is way smarter than I am.

Shrimp Salad... better shot... — Shrimp Salad ingredients… decent shot…

This next one is too bright, but I think I am figuring out how to use the Exposure Compensation button:

Shrimp Salad ingredients, monkeying with the Exposure Compensation button.

Hey, now it is getting better! I think I need a different lens for close up shots, yes?

Manual setting, Exposure Compensation brightening up things

This one I knocked the exposure down a tic or two. Next thing to learn is how to correctly use the technical language of photography… The daylight really looks nice here as opposed to the next few pictures of the bread.

Manual, less exposed with using the Exposure Compensation button... — Manual, less exposed with using the Exposure Compensation button…

On to the bread ingredients. OK, it’s even obvious to ME that the flash should not be used in this type of lighting (kitchen table overhead lighting, after sunset)

Flash with bread ingredients... — Flash with bread ingredients… bad.

All righty then! Not enough light in this, but not too shabby, either. I can’t seem to get the little stuff in focus- like the millet and bulgur wheat (two of the ingredients in the small bowl).

Fully auto focus. Pretty good! But it needs to be focused differently, maybe on the millet and bulgur?

Switching back to the simple auto focus-

Auto Focus... (it smells as good as it looks) — Auto Focus… (it smells as good as it looks)

And with Aperture I got what I expected- better light but lost focus. Guess I need to learn how to compensate for this.

Aperture Priority auto-exposure- good lighting but bad focus?

OK- if I use a better light source, is this the shot I wanted?

Shutter Priority auto-exposure. Too dark, good focus.

And here we have my standard favorite, my iPhone 5s. Notice the lighting is fine, the focus is fine… good depth of field, too, huh? You can clearly see the dirty napkins from tonight’s dinner:

Side by side- Nikon and iPhone:

So, there you have it. My iPhone and I have been doing a great job all along. I can really make it sing. This just makes me want to understand how to use the Big Person’s camera even more. I’m not (too) discouraged. Yet.

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