Last Week

• My whole house is newly recarpeted and I have a new roof and gutters. Trixie and I have had enough of hammering for a while.
  
• Trixie LOVES the carpet. She likes the springy plushiness beneath her tummy. So do I. It's like walking on a mossy forest floor. Except that the moss is pumpkin spice-colored and there aren't any trees.
• I recently saw the movie An Education. Great movie. It's so rare for me to embrace any films nowadays, in this post-LOTR era. Immediately upon viewing the movie I started over again and watched it with the director's commentary. Well, I usually watch the commentary version (I like to be thorough), but not immediately after. Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay, so I guess it's obvious that I was going to like it.
• Oh, OK. I have watched another good movie. Finished that Anna Karenina miniseries; a good way to distract from roof-installing. It was only 10 hours long, not 30. I was confused. Loved it. The costumes were fabulous. Even the winter coats were amazing. Levin had a fuzzy knobbly white hat that I couldn't take my eyes off of. The actresses who played Dolly and Kitty actually looked like sisters. The actors who played Nikolai and Constantine actually looked like brothers. My only complaint was Vronsky's hair--I had envisioned it as having more volume. It reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the low-flow shower heads.
• As mentioned before, I am spending as little as possible on food this month. I made it through the first 16 days with only one grocery shopping trip and very little hardship. Food just seems to be multiplying in the cupboards without any effort from me.
• For example, I used up a package of tempeh that had been stashed in the fridge for a while. I hadn't tried tempeh before. I tasted a bit before throwing it in a stir fry and thought, meh, I don't understand this. But somehow, after it was browned and crunchy and tossed with veggies and a sauce of my own creation (tamari, sherry, fresh ginger, hot sauce, garlic, honey), a change came over me. Tempeh is MEATY. Richly fermented and chewy. I am now evangelized. Must pursue more tempeh opportunities.
  
• Trixie had her dental cleaning under anesthesia. She had a huge cavity and the tooth had to be pulled. Her recovery was odd and troubling. Trixie might not always understand what I say, but she's generally delighted to hear my voice. For several hours after the procedure, she just stared at me when I talked to her. Glassy-eyed, like she had no idea who I was. But now she's much better. She's got her sparkle back.