Gyngerbrede

Today is wall to wall sports day. College football - three games - and then the Tampa Bay Rays play game 5 tonight. They could have been done with it in 4, but they snatched defeat out of the mouth of victory on Thursday.
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I have been amusing myself with other activities; staring at the ceiling, counting cobwebs, twirling my hair around my finger. Stuff like that. The Mister is glued to the sofa and the TV and loving every minute of the day. His chosen apparel for the day is a pair of gray knit shorts with black stripes on the side and a blue and beige floral print shirt. As a result, I've been doing everything that requires going out in public today.
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The drone of crowds cheering has addled my brain. My mind is cluttered in one syllable words and cow bells ringing. I was able to rouse myself long enough to make gingerbread. M-m-m-m. The scent fills the house and love is in the air. It seemed to be the thing to do, as a cold front came through and it's been a crisp 79 degrees all day.

We'll have it for dessert tonight with some rum raisin ice cream. It may cause The Mister to speak a few words. We'll see.
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Did you know Gingerbread has been around since the end of the 11th century! I found a medieval recipe that you might like to try if you can figure out what it says.
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"Gyngerbrede.--Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & throw ther-on; take grayted Bred, & make it so chargeaunt that it wol be y-lechyd; then take pouder Canelle, & straw ther-on y-now; then make yt square, lyke as thou wolt leche yt; take when thou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leves a-bouyn, y-stykyd ther-on, on clowys. And if thou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now."
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The spelling looks quite a bit like mine before I click on spell check, so I've had no trouble figuring it out. I didn't happen to have any leves a bouyn handy so I used a recipe from one of my cookbooks.
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It smells like autumn in my house now and sounds like we have 35,000 crazed football fans for dinner. All I know is I'm not feeding them. It will be dinner for two with a sentence or two of good conversation. Plus dessert.

By the way - If you need a hug today - go over and see Devoted

Lucy - the Real One- Not the Facsimile

I finally managed a few shots of Lucy! She is constantly on the move. Here's Lucy on the move:

Lucy with Layla's gingerbread man. It's in her mouth constantly. We call it her woobie. Layla calls it a problem. She's tried to get it back a few times, but I think she finally understands there is pain and some hair loss involved in the retrieval process.

"Here's lookin' at you, kid. Wanna touch my woobie?"

A rare shot - she's actually lying down and she's giving her woobie a rest.

Trying out her new bed for size.

"I think I like it here. Where's the treat jar?"

What do you mean, these apples fake?

Layla and Lucy went to the beauty shop today and are both sporting new bandannas. Layla loves her bandannas. She has a wardrobe for all seasons and holidays. If her's falls off she brings it to us so we can put it back on her. Lucy seems to think her very first bandanna is stylin'.

Layla was napping on the Mister's pillow during pictures and couldn't be bothered to come out to pose with her new sister. After I feel there won't be any fur flying I'll get a few pictures of the two of them together - well at least in the same room.

Layla still won't let her in my office or our in bedroom. Other than that, Lucy has the run of the place. As long as she doesn't try to take anything else that belongs to Layla. Or get to close to Layla with the woobie. Or try to be the first one out of the front door. Or be the first one out the back door.

She's made herself at home with us and continues to be one of the quietest most well behaved dogs I have ever seen. She loves swimming in our pool and has spent some time in there catching her ball. If we are not up to having a wet dog in the house we'll just tell her "no" and she'll stay out of the pool. Cool. We taught her the most important swimming lessons a dog needs to know: Where the steps are, so she can get out of the pool, and how to "dry" on the towel.

So that's Lucy. We love her! See you tomorrow. Thank's for taking time to visit.

A New Family Member - and Chocolate!

The dog picture is just a facsimile of our new pet, Lucy, the chocolate lab. Lucy has not stood still long enough to take anything but a fuzzy picture. I'll work on that today so I can post one of the real Lucy. We brought her home on Saturday. She's a four year old "rescued lab" who needed a good home and lots of attention. She'll get some of each. She is very quiet and extremely well behaved and most importantly, housebroken. She's a bit thin at about 60 lbs, but that may just be how she is. She needs her shots and she has not been neutered, so we'll be making some appointments with the vet. She looks healthy, has a good shiny coat and a very sweet nature. She may be the proud owner of a flea or two, but we are treating her with Advantage.

Lucy already has a favorite toy - much to Layla the dog's distress. It's a little stuffed gingerbread boy "woobie" that Layla has had since Christmas. Lucy has it in her mouth all of the time except when she is eating. If I give her a treat she takes the treat in her mouth without letting the woobie go. Layla has tried taking her toy back several times. She did not ask politely. She became air born in her attempt and quickly found out that was not a safe or painless thing to do with a dog 3 times her size. She nursed her wounds (very minor) and her pride(very major) and decided to let Lucy keep it for the time being. Layla wants to be the only dog in the house. She also wants her woobie back. She was used to getting her way with our Carley, the chocolate lab, who died in 2004. Lucy prefers not to be trifled with, and Layla is starting to see that. At least until she completes the Woobie Retrieval plan she has mapped out:

She asked if we could go to the Army Surplus store today. I think not.