Winter sunset

After watching the Trumpeters yesterday, I went down to Kitchener Park where I kind of felt the mood from The Kinks:

This song bottles up a fleeting moment of heavenly detachment from reality and suffering. Ray Davies, after jumping off a 12 ft wall at age 6 "trying to fly" was seriously injured and spent quite a long time in a Waterloo hospital where he purportedly had a near-death experience following a botched tracheotomy. His sister bought him a guitar at age 13, then she dies of a heart defect. Young Davies in his hospital room, likely spent many many hours gazing out of his window, which overlooked Waterloo and the river, a rather beautiful spot with many people ("swarming like flies"). When he wrote the song at age 23, I'm sure he drew from those moments when he felt relief from his suffering upon viewing a sunset, and from the times he felt isolated and disconnected from the world buzzing by his window.

Waterloo Sunset

I hope you are watching the following with the audio track.

May 1967 and I am not sure when I heard it.


Wob

Minding Ks, Ps, Rs and Ts

Our old friend, R08, was there to greet us this afternoon:

Vicki does not spot trains, rather ---

There may have been others that did not turn their IDs toward me. So that is it for R08, K75, K96, R89, T12 and P36.

wob

The real question: why did I need advice?

Well, I forgot how to make chili, and I had "signed up" to bring something for the condo pot-luck supper on New Year's Eve, Silvester, "Dinner for One" I am sure you all know it by now, standard staple for December 31 - but it requires chili prepared the day before, i.e., one has to read the ingredients list and do the shopping beforehand, i.e., again, be prepared. Years of baking comets has prepared me for the multi-tasking approach to cooking - like shopping first, preparing second, watching the pot not boil so I can take some photos, and tasting it as I go along.

Some ingredients from Karen's Texas Jailhouse/serves 4 version:

500 gm beef ( in 2-cm cubes)                                               1 teaspoon sugar don't recall this

167 gm minced pork                                                         1 teaspoon salt

167 gm Chorizo sausage cut in slices                                       1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/3 medium or 1 large onion, chopped                                     2 teaspoons oregano

1 clove garlic, chopped                                                    1 tablespoon chili powder

2 Chili peppers                                                            1 tablespoon chopped parsley

83 gm tomato paste - omitted                                                     1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce                                                         

167 gm canned tomatoes, diced      with herbs                                         1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon Kreuzkümmel     forgot                                               50 gm bitter chocolate used 3 pc
½ teaspoon ground estragon  forgot                                             1 can dark beer used about 1/3



Brown beef in fat. Remove from pan and set aside

Brown pork and onion in the same pan.

Add Worcestershire sauce, garlic, parsley and mix.

Add beer

Add rest of ingredients, mix and simmer for about 2 hours

Best cooked the day before

Serve with garlic bread

###################################

However, I did not follow this too closely as noted after the deed.I am eating the sausage in the coming days and the 2kg leftovers, currently frozen will be "wrapped" up for a super bowl or SBLIV or similar in the coming days/weeks/years as the hunger dictates. So some evidence of action:

The chocolate is missing.
Some evidence of meat:

and onions - no tears - I wonder why?
And the proverbial watched pot:

slowly getting there

The other contributors left the lids on their creations -

I wonder why? I served mine on wraps coated with peanut butter. I added sour cream and grated old cheddar cheese and served with a pilsner Urquelle.
 Some people used the white bowls - but spread the peanut butter on white bread! It was one of the more enjoyable party gatherings. I hope it will be repeated and that I will be able to attend.

Wise Old Phoenix rising from the hot stuff

I was seeking advice

Yes, I talk to myself - sometimes I need expert advice!

So to whom does the wise old bird go?

As in:  "A little birdie told me so"?

Or

More or less: 7 swans a-swimming?

Or is this better:

And Trumpeting, too.

Or beak to Bill?

So with that kind of trust, how can anything go wrong in 2020?

All the best to each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Wise Old Bird

I went for an afternoon walk

I was thinking beaver and maybe otter.
However, I saw snow flakes.

Pretty, maybe?

WOB

I have a request, eine Einladung!

As Victor Borge once said "I don't usually do requests - unless I am requested!"

This just an audio track so let it run in the background while you watch the stingray swim in front  of me off the reef.

A past balcony and impressionable youth

Two years ago - and also 2 months ago, scenes from Act I, maybe, although usually between 4 and 5pm when the characters were on stage.

The characters. The plot was unsalted nuts.

A choir of Jays?

WOB