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Craig
Firefly
Kyrgyzstan
3793 Posts |
 Posted - 05/18/2009 : 19:09:58
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Blackened Talapia tonight...day off on the bike.
3 TBS paprika
2 TBS garlic powder
2 TBS onion powder
1 TBS cayenne pepper (or to taste, depending on what latitude you live)
1 TBS course salt
1 TBS course ground black pepper
1 TBS dried oregano
1 TBS dried thyme
2 TBS olive oil
5-6 Talapia fillets
Mix the spices in a shallow dish. Coat the fillets with the seasoning mix. Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add the olive oil. Add fish and cook 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until white and the spices are toasted. Transfer to plates and serve.
Serve with rice pilaf and fresh greens. Chardonney or Pinot Griggio is a plus.
(30 minute total prep time to serve)
~ Craig |
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bobaz
Sitter
United Kingdom
50 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2009 : 18:01:33
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AND SHE'S SICK AND TIED OF WALKING INTO DOORS
BobbyBlueBoy Bazley |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2009 : 21:59:37
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He ran inside. "Pa!!! Paaaaa!!!" Only eight,
Ryan was staying with his Nanu and Pa for two weeks.
His Pa came running down the stairs to see what
he was so excited about, worrying a little with
each step. Ryan took his Pa's hand and led him
out on the porch. Lying there, muddy from the
day's showers, was the mangiest and thinnest
old dog he had ever seen.
It was really hard to tell what breed the
dog was, but he would guess it was a Cocker
Spaniel. He knew that no one he had ever known
loved dogs quite like Ryan did.
"Pa? Pa, can we do anything for her?".
The old man took a long look at the dog,
and waited a longer time before he answered the
boy. He wondered how he, himself, had made
the trip down the stairs as fast as he had.
His arthritis had been acting up like crazy
with the moisture in the air. Just about
then, his wife came up beside him. She
took in the whole scene with a learned wisdom
in her eyes. She stopped, but for only a second
or two.
Sitting down beside her grandson, she pulled
him close and spoke love and only love to
him. There was no hopelessness and no giving
up in her voice.
"Ryan, son. The only thing we can do is try.
That's the best we can do for her at this point.
She's had a long life, I think. But, that
doesn't mean that she is doomed to die in the
state that she is in. She walked up onto this
porch of her own free will and under her own
power. So, she's here for a reason. I don't
know what that is, but there's a lesson to be
learned. We'll just have to see what it is."
His Nanu went inside and brought back out with
her a big washpan full of warm water and lots
of big washcloths.
"The first thing we have to do is get her warmed
up, and I want you to help me do that."
Ryan picked up a soaked, warm cloth and began
to rub it all over the dog's face and chest.
He thought to rub her feet, especially, for some
unknown reason. He began to talk softly to her,
and hum a little tune that he knew. She began
to respond to his touch, and looked into his
eyes that were filled with tears. But, he
kept on humming.
His Nanu and Pa stood back, observing. Pa
said, "Let him do it. Look at her, honey.
She's coming around. It's for Ryan that she's
come."
Ryan had been so unhappy for so long, it seemed.
His Cocker Spaniel, Goldie, had been taken
from him when she was six years old, after having
slept in his bed from the time she was a puppy.
But, his baby sister was allergic to Goldie.
For the sake of his sister and her horrible
rashes and breathing problems, it was the
only answer. Goldie had to go. His heart
had been broken ever since that terrible day.
As he began to wash the dog, they could see
that she was, indeed, a Cocker Spaniel, with
the biggest brown eyes that locked with Ryan's
while he worked. He lay down beside her, and
held her close against the warmth of his body.
Nanu and Pa were taken aback at the scene
unfolding in front of them.
Ryan began to talk to her again..."Goldie,
my wonderful Goldie. You've come home,
haven't you? It's so good to see you. I've
missed you so much...I've looked for you on
every corner since you left. What took you
so long to find me?"
Things like this seem to happen only in the
movies, or in a storybook. But, suddenly,
the dog got up and stood on her own and began
to wag her tail. What little strength she
had arrived with had returned to her. It
was clear to them that she was a survivor,
sent from Heaven, even, to this little
boy.
And, the wonder of it all was that Ryan's
little sister had been tested and she wasn't
allergic to dogs anymore.
Ryan looked up in the sky to see the biggest
rainbow he had ever seen in his young life.
It was like a sign. He didn't know how long
the dog would be around, but he knew he
would be with her, however long.
It was a good day to be alive.
BarbraG
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Edited by - BarbraG on 05/31/2009 11:43:45 |
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Doug L
Firefly
Canada
5446 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 04:57:32
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when they close down the last shopping mall / crickets will sing through crumbling walls / termites will eat through the doors / as rabbits hop round the shop floors / empty shelves will swarm with bees / cash machines will sprout weeds / lizards will crawl across the parking lot / as birds fly around the empty shops / there will be peace in the valley once again / wild flowers will grow up the mannequins / painting them with a leafy skin / their plastic eyes will fall to the floor / to be gathered by wild boar / mirrors will crack in half / as wild horses gallop past / wild doves will build their nests / on the escalator steps / there will be peace in the valley once again
the handsome family |
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Ailinn
Windchimer
2174 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 15:47:33
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| We talk through the dirt when our shoes and wings are broken. |
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Ailinn
Windchimer
2174 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 16:04:43
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| Sticky web-lace in a corner of the screen where a spider spins silk through the jasmine. There's a house on Poe Street at the edge of North America in Point Loma, California where the sun is setting beyond the beautiful Coronado Bridge. Two hundred feet high with a ninety degree curve and two hundred and thirty-six suicides. (Demons in the mirage.) The view of San Diego's skyline is bathed in ambient light. Blinking aircraft are stair-stepped over the fault-fitted high-rises. A fugue of words skim the star-scarred tarmac at Lindbergh Field. Variations on hello and goodbye. Planes rattling in and out of the sky. Blue hearts and contagious candles. Much silk underneath. Hear the rustle. |
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Doug L
Firefly
Canada
5446 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 12:20:11
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The birds began at 4:22 a.m. One piper, then the band.
Saying here is the day, here is the day.
You worry, you die. You don't worry, you die.
Why worry? Why worry?
All those songs... |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 13:15:25
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Doug,
Love the stories you write about your trip.
When you take a notion to write more, I'm
ready to read. Touched me about the beautiful
woman that crossed your path.
Barb |
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Ailinn
Windchimer
2174 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 16:03:16
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"...to days gone by..."
It's a few minutes to midnight. We've staked out
the best spot in the Park. Between the Grandstand
and the Porta-Potty corral. The cops are on one side
of the barricade and we're on the other. We've been
settin' up since noon and now we get the OK. The trucks
are loaded but not iced down. That won't happen 'til
morning. Crash nods to the greasy sleeping bag. "Roll
'er out, kid," he says, "you're on the grill." |
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Doug L
Firefly
Canada
5446 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 20:13:40
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"I sit in the dark in the back of the saloon..."
It will be five years come September, Henry. Five.
As many detours as leaps forward, but a vigil all the same,
for night, the moving shades, for those who are pulled
from the line, for those who sleep, when they sleep,
in the bed below the bed, intimate with dust, tasting
the crumbs of pollen bees are too few or dutiful to find.
Here's something I didn't write...
Facing It (Yusef Komunyakaa) read by Michael Lythgoe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaeNQC7PWK4 |
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buckman
Firefly
USA
2820 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 14:29:15
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Too many times I thought I saw the light and walked away.
Well, most of the time I crawled.
It never gets easier on your knees,
but you do get used to it
after awhile
and think that's
the way it's always been and always will be.
Until you stand up.
The view is so much better from here.
I think I see something off in the distance.... |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 15:56:28
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It's your heart, Hank. Go and get it,
and keep it safe.
BarbraG |
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rodeo
Swinger
USA
733 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 16:14:37
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| .....I thought I saw angels....but I could have been wrong"... |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2009 : 19:44:54
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Being a little girl, then a teenager,
then a woman .... Wow. I would love to
be able to explain to a man what that
feels like. Longing for that first
kiss, and then the second ... and
then, finding that a kiss can often
be just a kiss ... without the meaning
that a young girl wants it to be.
Looking at every male I was attracted
to with the question .... can it be him?..
Can he be the one? Could I spend my
life with him ? Could he spend his life
with me? Enchanted with the very idea
of the word .. love.. But, with all of
that wonder and hope also came the
heartbreak that I managed to live through.
My wedding day ... oh, my gosh ...
the dreams and schemes and plans were
once laid to waste even before I
walked down the aisle. But, one day --
I was granted my hopes and dreams ..
...and the life that I dared to
take a chance on .. came true.
The man I gave my heart to is a good and
decent man, who lives for no other reason
than to love and be loved by .... me.
BarbraG
(Yes, I plegiarized(?) a line from ....
Annabelle Lee..)
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Edited by - BarbraG on 06/04/2009 19:48:43 |
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Doug L
Firefly
Canada
5446 Posts |
Posted - 06/06/2009 : 22:54:58
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In a gust of wind the white dew
On the autumn grass
Scatters like a broken necklace.
—Bunya No Asayasu (1760-1849) |
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San Diego
Swinger
508 Posts |
Posted - 06/07/2009 : 08:47:53
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| They're building a resort on a bluff above the beach with several tiered sets of pyramid stairs. The physical fitness people continually run up and down the posted WORK IN PROGRESS areas which piss the construction crews off enough to pitch their lunch trash down the hill. The architectural renderings show a Moorish facade with diaphanous draperies floating out through gracefully arched windows. There are also balconied minarets for "Assignations and Candlelight Wine Tastings." They're training the hotel staff to put guests at ease as the adjacent cliffs are clearly marked in orange Day-Glo, DANGER * KEEP BACK * UNSTABLE CLIFFS * SLIDE AREA. The cliff also has as much up-draft as the Gliderport down the road. Until they find a way to anchor the tables and chairs to the ground the "Assignations and Candlelight Wine Tastings" are off limits. The local rehab people have met on this site Sunday mornings since 1979. Twenty-five to thirty of them in a circle from dawn until noon. They've been moved to a sandy crown down the beach. "We're just waiting for the first flyby," Reverend Scrap Iron said this morning. Air 62 Water 66. Partly cloudy. |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 18:06:19
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Black glass was stretched out in front of him
with a white line streaking down the middle of
it. The rain was relentless, seemingly
neverending. He wanted to pull over at
the next truck stop and wait it out. If
it weren't for the white lines, he wouldn't
have any visibility at all. His hands were
on the wheel, and mercy was his cargo. The
call had come in just hours ago. Help was
needed in New Orleans. His wife had begged
him not to go.
"Please", she cried. "Let someone else go
this time."
He kissed her and said, "Honey, I AM that
someone else..".
BarbraG
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San Diego
Swinger
508 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 19:26:24
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Sign at Santa Monica State Beach:
Free Lunch.
Love gets messy sometimes.
No default emotion. |
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BarbraG
Windchimer
1824 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2009 : 21:06:09
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Outside the window, the storm was raging. Lightning
flashing wildly and thunder roaring was really scaring
my little dog, not to mention me. Picking her up,
I comforted her at the same time I was thinking we
should get into the shelter. The wind was screaming
around the porch and in my brain. At the beginning
of a hard rain, I had put a Mickey Newbury CD into
the player and, just as the lightning cracked
and the thunder rolled to start his song, I realized
that the noise wasn't just coming from the stereo.
The blackest cloud I had ever seen had appeared
from out of nowhere and was headed straight for
the house. "Tornado Alley" crossed my mind. I
had kept saying I was moving to a place where
there were no nightmare storms and no reason to
have this much fear inside my heart. It was
impossible to look forward to what might appear to
be a wonderful, soft rain. In my mind,
there was no such thing. Death traveled in these
whirling clouds of blackness that swooped down and took
everything and left nothing. It was that time of
year again. If we made it to the shelter, we would
live .... to run another day.
BGee
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Ailinn
Windchimer
2174 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2009 : 17:53:58
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| "Guard this fire..." he says, candles in his hands. His soot-smudged palms still smoldering. |
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Topic |
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The Nightly Vigil