José González at the Fox

I don't go to concerts very often, so it's funny that the two I've been to in the last six months have both been José González. Last October he was at the Bluebird. But my friend Jenny called me up yesterday and said, "Let's go!" So we cruised up to Boulder and had a very nice dinner (more on that later) and took in the show.

Mia Doi Todd was the opener. She has a lovely voice and some amazing guitar skills.
We stood in the front for a while (hence the wobbly photo – nothing to brace the camera on for a long exposure), but then moved back to where we could lean on a railing. It's tiring to stand on a concrete floor for so long! Or maybe we're just getting old.

As they were setting up for José González, the room began to fill with fake smoke, which I thought was odd. Maybe they were trying to invoke the nostalgia of the days when you could smoke during shows? (Not that long ago.)

But once the music started, the reason became apparent.
He had some pretty dramatic lighting effects going on, with whole arrays of lights in back that changed colors and rotated, sending striated beams across the audience. They must have hired a really good lighting designer. It was impressive without being overdone.

However, I have to wonder about being exposed to that smoke stuff night after night. It's got to be hell on your lungs and vocal cords even if you're not singing.

But the music, of course, was brilliant.

Here's José González's website. Warning: It's all Flash, which is obnoxious to me, but you can listen to some of his songs there.

Ready for the concert to start

What can't you put in this bread?

I had some thin-sliced Italian dry salami, so chopped some up and threw it in with grated cheddar to make a small round loaf just for me.

The cow-orkers want to know when I'll make it for them.

Now appearing ...

Irises!
In my yard!

Must plant more of these for next year.

It was in the mid-60s today. Will we get more snow? Of course! It's forecast for Saturday.

Tangerine treat

You may recall the lovely flowering tea I received from Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple.

Well, today, there was a package waiting for me on my porch. Inside, this note:
And some California sunshine!
What a beautiful cluster of tangerines, straight from Diane and Todd's tree. Thanks, you guys! You rock!

I would send you some snow, but I suspect your traffic is bad enough without it. I'll have to see if I can find a shippable equivalent that will wreak less havoc.

Tending the flock

I took these photos last summer. I used to know a woman who lived a couple doors down. She built her dream home there, specifically designed for "single woman with dogs and occasionally visiting mom."

That house has wide stairs with deep treads, a plunge tub, passive solar heating, and a kitchen cupboard that is really a tunnel with a dog door at the end. And bowling balls for decorations on the garden wall.

This is not a photo of that house. This is a house down the block.
I asked her about this place, which looked much the same back then. "What's up with that?" I asked. An old guy lives there, she said. He's harmless.

I should say that was 10 years ago.

Fast forward to last summer, when I've moved closer to this street, and I see the guy sometimes. He walks to the store, or he works in his yard. He looks like he's in his 80s, with a long white beard. He's tall and stooped. He looks like he should live on a Swiss mountain and have goats.

But he doesn't have goats. He has ideas.

Like goats, his ideas are unruly and a bit scattered. They don't follow the rules. Not the usual rules, anyway.
When I pass him out walking, or go by his yard, he says hello. He asks how I am. He remarks on the weather and my nice dog. He's very pleasant. He doesn't try to tell me anything out of the ordinary.

His house says it for him.
Fast forward again, to a couple of months ago. I walk by the house. There's a dumpster in the yard. A man is there, not the old man, throwing stuff in it.

"What happened to the old man?" "He died." Oh.

This guy doesn't know anything else. He's just doing a job.

More butterflies

This is the last batch of butterfly photos. The Butterfly Pavilion has a constant supply from all over the world. Every day more emerge and are released to flutter around the conservatory.
Such as this newly hatched one, which obligingly posed for photos on a curator's sleeve.
Here's another, fanned out on a leaf. I'm sorry I didn't get their names. I'll call this one Bob.
Bob decided to move to another leaf, invoking the wrath of ... George? Well, I don't know if was wrath, but George seemed pretty agitated, furiously fluttering as close as he could get without making contact. Or maybe Bob is really Roberta and George was making moves on her. Who knows?
Then there was this one, who seemed quite feminine. I'll call her Lucy. Pretty girl!
Finally, a butterfly whose motto is "Leaf me alone!" I'll call her Greta. She had the most impressive camouflage of all.
I guess this is a good post for the first day of spring, which here in the Mountain time zone starts at 11:48 tonight.

Happy spring!

On a roll

I'm getting the hang of this Nutella loaf thing. Spreading the dough out into a bigger rectangle and using about half a small jar of Nutella gets it closer to what I envisioned.

Cow-orkers, of course, say Thumbs Up!

Last week it was teddy bears

Someone really likes to dress up their steps.
I don't know if the bunnies and whatnot got brought inside before it rained, sleeted and snowed.

(Sorry for the crummy angle on the photo. I should go back and shoot it properly. Or maybe just split up the stitched photo. It's making me a little seasick. Er, seesick? )

Snowphie

The cellphone camera does some weird things sometimes when you're trying to capture a moving target:

But it does OK on video, if you keep it small.
Whenever it snows, Sophie is full of energy that belies her 13 years.

(Though you can tell on that last jump she's all, "Would you stop with the allez-oups already!")

Butterfly on pavement

This unassuming fellow was hanging out on the walkway, with parents trying to steer their grasping toddlers around him. "No honey, don't touch!" (Toddler's typical response: "Squeeeeeeee!!!!!" Lunge.)
His predator-startling flash of brilliance wasn't very effective in such a situation, but it was pretty, if a little tattered.

Click the following photo to make it larger. I really like the sharpness of detail on the body contrasted with the blurred wings.

Stout-hearted

Inspired by doggybloggy, here's a joke in honor of St. Patrick's Day:

An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman walk into a bar, and each orders a pint of Guinness. Just as the barkeep sets their glasses down, three flies just happen to land in the men's drinks, one per pint.

The Englishman makes a moue of distaste and pushes his glass away. "I can't drink this! Bring me a fresh glass."

The Scotsman, being a frugal sort, simply flicks the fly out of his drink and proceeds to enjoy his beer.

The Irishman, outraged, reaches into his drink, grabs the fly by the wings and shakes it, yelling, "Spit it out, ya little bugger!"

Mondayamino

In honor of El Camino day over at Jalopnik.com, I present one rare model from my 'hood. Most likely a '65 (or therabouts), it's got a 396 Turbo-Jet engine. Rrrrrrooowrrrr.

Maybe I'll go take another shot of it later, covered with snow. I doubt it'll be going anywhere today.

Spring proceeds

From my walk yesterday:
And you know what this means, don't you? Yes ... it's snowing again.

Phnomenal

My friend Beeb went to Cambodia, and brought me back something much nicer than a lousy t-shirt:
A jar of cardamom pods and a container of palm sugar that she watched being made.

The cardamom has many uses, from a coffee flavoring to spicing up curries and pilafs, and even some Scandinavian pastries.

Palm sugar I've seen in solid form (usually sold in bricks, discs or cones in Asian groceries), but I've not encountered the honey-like version before. It makes sense, though, as it is prepared just like maple sugar, by boiling the sap down. First it's a syrup, and then solid.

I have some ideas for using the cardamom, but what's the bext way to use the sugar? Anyone have any ideas?

The backdrop for the photo above is the longer-lasting portion of Beeb's gift: a messenger bag made from Cambodian newspapers! I love it.
Sophie just wants to know if there are treats in it.

I wonder what articles they used? (I'll have to get a scan later of a Korean Christmas card I got that uses an English-language newspaper page as a backdrop. It's very festive until you look at the stories, and they're all about murders and tornadoes.)