Not really enjoying my time off tbh. For reasons I’d not rather go into here.
Sometimes work is a safe escape from other things. Or at least fills my time
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Sometimes work is a safe escape from other things. Or at least fills my time
Fair enough.
When my mother was still alive but descending - deeply - into dementia, I must say that this was how I sometimes felt, even though, during those years, I was working in two of the very worst places on the planet.
I hear you.
Good luck.
Just back from the city, where fresh bread (from the French bakery), some cheese, wine, organic milk, organic cream, French butter, coffee, and some books (that I had ordered ages ago) were all bought.
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Enjoy that fresh French bread. I’ll pick some up in October when I’m most likely in Paris (for work).
Thank you.
The fact that I had fresh French bread to hand - a sourdough loaf, and a sourdough baguette which was winking at me - was what prompted my trip to the cheesemonger's; usually, I would call by to replenish bread and cheese supplies on a Saturday.
Well, that, plus the fact that I have been out of both bread and cheese for the past few days.
No bread? No cheese? What did you eat!
I don’t eat much bread. Doesn’t really agree with me.
Eggs.
Pasta.
And potatoes - I hadn't had potatoes in ages, and realised that I really craved them. Thus, a few dishes of potatoes (mashed, anointed with abundant quantities of butter; roasted, sautéed, or served in simmered a casserole - such as in a vegetable stew loosely based on both ratatouille and a Greek vegetable dish, and Navarin of lamb) - all featured recently.
Plus, pasta prepared with my own homemade sauces (Carbonara, or Al'Amatriciana - a tomato sauce, both with prepared with guanciale).
However, as I haven't had bread (or cheese) for the best part of a week, today, it seemed appropriate to remedy that deficiency.
Brioche is also on my list - a grilled brioche cheese sandwich struck me as a good idea, but I shall add brioche the next time I am in the city.
Until I discovered French bread (real French bread, on a lengthy visit to France where I stayed with a wonderful family) as a teenager, I had never liked bread at all.
That trip to France was both an epiphany and a revelation.
Some of the continental breads - German and Scandinavian rye-bread, sourdough, real baguettes, Italian breads - among others - are just amazing.
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Wonderful to see you back with us.
I fully understand the need to take a step back, and to give some serious thought to both personal (and, possibly professional, priorities).
Do take very good care and try to be kind to yourself.
Oh I enjoy all bread. Just doesn’t sit well with me.
I rarely eat potatoes. Mrs AFB can’t eat them, so I only have them when I’m away.
Rice and pasta are the main things we eat.
Fair enough.
My mother used to love them - she was especially enamoured of roast potatoes, which she feasted on most days during her decline, whereas she loathed rice, and tolerated pasta.
Personally, I love pasta, and am very partial to rice, especially with a good curry - and eat both regularly - particularly pasta, which I will sometimes have a few times a week - but I realised over the past fortnight firstly, that I hadn't eaten potatoes, quite literally, in months, secondly, that the new potato season is upon us (and who doesn't love new potatoes), and thirdly, that (inexplicably) I was browsing French recipes for bistro style roasted - or sautéed - potatoes (always a very bad sign), which meant that I was suddenly craving them.
A small amount of new potatoes were purchased last week; I think that I shall add to them when I pay a fleeting visit to the farmers' market over the coming days.
The BigM is back! Nice to 'see' you buddy! I was shocked when I heard you had canceled your account. Not the same without you around here. Hope your journey back 'on track' was fruitful. Looking forward to having you around.
Renewing my driver's license... don't know why it has to be so hard. It'll expire when I'm in WI--I just went to the New Mexico MVD to ask about this. These are my options:
- Get a plane ticket home for a day to renew it
- Get a Wisconsin license (since I'm not a permanent resident of WI, probably impossible)
That's crazy. We only have to renew ours every 10 years.
Huh..... In Virginia most drivers can renew our license online, but periodically do have to also take the vision exam again as well, in which case then we do need to go to the DMV in person.
However: up to a certain age, I think it's 75, one only has to renew the license every eight years. At or after age 75 and up, one has to renew it every five years and have the vision exam each time. I'm in that category. It's understandable, of course, as they want to be sure older drivers are still safe to be driving a motor vehicle on the roads, but still....Sigh....
Oh, and, oops, now there's that "REAL ID" thing which comes into play if one's current license does not already have it, and so this definitely requires an in-person visit to the DMV, with the appropriate documents to prove one is the person the applicant says he or she is. I don't think someone can renew or get a new driver's license now in any state in the US without the "REAL ID." I'd almost forgotten about that.
ETA: Just checked, and yes, people can still get a driver's license without that "REAL ID". Whew! Many people won't really even need "REAL ID" for the specific situations described in the newly implemented law, but still will want and need to be able to drive a car for their everyday life and responsibilities.
Basically this is what the "Real ID" is about:
Effective May 7, 2025, the federal government will require you to present a REAL ID compliant driver's license or ID card, or another federally approved form of ID, in order to board a domestic flight or enter a secure federal facility or military base (some military bases may already require REAL ID or a federally approved form of ID*).
If someone already has a current US passport, then that will permit them to board a domestic flight within the US, which is the most common situation that many US citizens would find themselves in.
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Wife is preparing some grilled beef sirloin and some calabacitas for dinner while I pick up the kiddos from summer program.
Can’t wait for that.
Can’t wait for that.
Midge bite? Mosquito bite? Horsefly bite? Dog bite? Snake bite? Crocodile bite? Shark bite?
Having had all of the above (except the shark bite (well, a baby epaulette shark did try to gum me to death once...)),
inquiring minds need to know.
Well, I think that @Apple fanboy is safe from the unwelcome attentions of crocodiles and sharks, given that he inhabits an area that is safely inland in the UK.
With the possible (rather rare) exception of adders/vipers, - or its harmless kin - I cannot imagine that snakes were culpable, either.
Now, winged insects, on the other hand........some of us are - rather unfortunately - rather attractive to these airborne menaces, but, in general, I have only ever (touching every piece of wood that lies within immediate reach) been bitten when abroad, including in some southern parts of Europe, such as Italy and the Balkans.
Mine is already "REAL ID" compliant. It's just that I am 20, not 21. I have to get a new license as soon as I turn 21, which will be when I'm out-of-state. That's why they make me go in to do it. Subsequent license renewals can be done online, I just have to be 21. There will be a period when this license expires and I'm still up in WI, in which case I'll need to travel on a passport. I usually present my driver's license at security.
Oh, that is really interesting that you have to get a new license as soon as (or shortly before or after)you turn 21! Hm..... OK, I am guessing that this means that when you got your license initially at (presumably) age 16, that the license was good for only four years anyway..... That clarifies things somewhat.
At any rate, yes, that definitely will be a pain for you to have to deal with when you're at school in Wisconsin and yet need to renew the license in your home state of New Mexico and be physically present to do so..... Ugh!
Yes, thankfully at least people who are traveling, even within US borders, can still at least use their US passport to expedite matters if need be. Not exactly the reason most of us have obtained a passport in the first place (the usual reason being that one is intending to use it for foreign travel, rather than domestic), but well, at times we do what we need to do.
I just want to add that a Passport Card is indeed equivalent to a REAL ID driver’s license at airport security (TSA inspections) but is insufficient for boarding flights (airline check-ins) that exit the USA. And if I recall correctly, reentering the USA at an airport also requires a Passport book.
That's right. That's why I have a regular passport, not the card. I don't plan on getting the card, either way. I don't think it makes a ton of sense in my case.
Everybody has a unique situation, of course, but I get the card because I like having a universally accepted ID (since it's issued by the federal government, pretty much all federal, state, and local agencies have to recognize it, as well as businesses and other private organizations) that doesn't have my address printed on the face and has a number that is reset every 10 years, unlike driver's licenses. I'm not a cruise person and rarely drive over the border so I don't really use the card the way many other people do.
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