skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn."
-Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in, Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I love you!
Happiness comes in a lot of different forms. Earlier this week I wrote an entry about finally finding one of my favorite foods. Olga bread, from Olga's Kitchen. YUM! It was wonderful to find it, but it was even nicer to revisit old memories of gossiping... um... talking with friends over lunch at Olga's. I miss those girls. Some have moved away, I have lost contact with some, and one of those ladies passed away in the 90's. Sigh. Memories are such odd and personal things. Sometimes, even the sad memories can remind us of happier times spent with friends. Just when I really began to miss my friend, I heard a song on the radio she loved, and it was like she was right here with me. Hi old friend!
Ok, on to other things that make me happy! Like a big box of books from Amazon.com. Ok, so it wasn't such a big box, it only held two boxes, but I have been looking forward to reading them for such a long time. Finally I caved in and purchased some spring reading. "The Witches of Eastwick" by John Updike, and "Heat Wave" by Richard Castle. LOL. Yes, I know Richard Castle doesn't really exist, but what can I say? I am hopelessly in love with Nathan Fillion, who plays him on ABC's Castle. So, I will just live the fantasy a little bit. WINK. After I read them, I will share my thoughts about them. :)
I have been happy lately. The spring flowers are kicking up a big noise here in Northern California. Everything is either pink or purple with the occasional splash of yellow coming from daffodils, which seem to be popping up all over. :) I am hoping to get over to San Francisco next week to see what's happening in Golden Gate Park. It's usually amazing this time of year. :) The tulip garden, the Japanese Tea Garden, and the lily pond at the DeYoung museum. I love it there!
Small things make me happy. Dylan's warm little paw pads on my face. Hendrix eating treats out of my hands. Getting a really good photo, despite the arthritis in my shoulder acting up. Reading. Music. Oh, and finally getting a recipe I have worked really hard on, just right. I am working on my Spicy Orange Chicken recipe later today, and crossing my fingers once again! Keep a good thought for me, and Alan, who has to eat it! LOL. Alan makes me happy! But as long as I live, I will never understand what he's doing with me! LOL. Whenever I ask him why he is still with me, he just shrugs his shoulders and says, "I don't know, you just make me happy."
Happiness!
So tell me, what makes you happy? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment thread. :)
-Carly
"If people do not believe mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is."
-John Louis von Neumann
So tell me, do you see the number 3 in the sky? In my house there has been some debate. Is it a 3? Is it a "W"? Is it the head of a pitchfork? You decide. Personally, I see a 3, but a few minutes earlier, I saw a baby bear in the sky, so I could be wrong!
:)
There is plenty of time to play this week's Monday Photo Shoot. You have until next Sunday night at 9:00 PM. If you decide to participate, PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LINK HERE! Please leave it in the comment thread for this week's assignment. You can find it here.
-Carly
"Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed."
-Storm Jameson
I probably should have made this my entry for last week's Monday Photo Shoot assignment, but I was to busy... ahem... eating! Ok, here's what happened. A LONG time ago, way way back in the stone age, known as the 1980's, there was this cute little place to get delicious food, most often on my lunch hour, called Olga's Kitchen. They had these amazing Greek-inspired Gyro type sandwiches on the best tasting flat bread I had ever had. I was instantly hooked on the Ham & Cheese Olga, with Curly fries. It was an obsession. My friends and I ate there probably 3 times a week, because of it's proximity to where I worked, afford ability, and of course... the food!
Well, a few years down the road, the Olga's near my job closed. POUT. God how I missed them, but all was not lost, as they opened a new Olga's in the Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton, a short time later. It was a bit of a jaunt, but because it was one of my favorite places to go on the weekends, and it gave me a nice excuse to walk the mall after lunch, I was happy to do the traveling. Bliss, bliss, bliss, bliss, bliss, bliss! LOL. Life was good, until the day... wait for it... they closed the only Olga's Kitchen in Northern California! OMG... we are talking serious withdrawals!
Ok, time went by, and I healed. But one day, I decided to to see if by any chance there might have been a GRAND OPENING of an Olga's anywhere nearby. No, no re-openings, but there was... SHOCK... an Olga's Kitchen in a mall in Thousand Oak's California. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Ok, it would take a bit of planning, but I could do that. It would be a matter of a simple drive down the coast. Oh, and maybe some gas money. Well, in another move I will never forgive George Bush for, gas prices went up to over $5 a gallon here in California. Thanks a lot, George! It would have meant that it would cost a little over $200 to make the trip to Thousand Oaks, just to have lunch. Sigh.
Ok, so finally gas prices came down to a reasonable rate, and I could make the case to Alan, that we needed a day trip. Things had been rough, Alan's brother had passed away, Elvis had passed away, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Type 2 diabetes. It was a yucky time. Ok, he loved the idea of a long drive, and I went to get the address of the Olga's Kitchen in Thousand Oaks and... wait for it... they had closed down. Now there was NO Olga's Kitchen in California, and the closest one was in Michigan!
Sigh. Weep.
Oh but all was not lost. I googled the restaurant and learned that they sold the Olga bread... on the Internet! Bliss, again!. I wouldn't have the full Olga experience of sitting in the restaurant, but I could do my best to duplicate it at home. I was all set... but wait for it... Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided it would be a good idea to steal 3 days pay from Alan's paycheck each month, equaling a loss of $700 a month! Sheesh... REPUBLICANS! As you might imagine, ordering flat bread was no longer a priority. Getting from paycheck to paycheck was.
Boo Hiss. Schwarzenegger... you THIEF! You FIEND!
Ok, the furloughs go on, but the sun is shining, at least a little. We got a nice tax return, and we have been able to deal with the necessary things, and pick up a few "luxuries" along the way. Like... wait for it... a case of Olga bread! 50 individual breads in all. I have frozen some, and eaten some, no make that, ENJOYED THE HELL OUT OF SOME! Honestly, I can't tell you how nice it's been just having a simple treat like this. I even got creative and made an originial special Greek sauce recipe.Plus, I made a lamb roast the other night, and of course we had it served in a flat bread. I made a version of their Peasant soup, not quite as good as theirs, but close, and we did some reminiscing about friends long gone, and all those lunches at Olga's Kitchen.
Happiness is a case of KICK ASS Greek flat bread from Olga's Kitchen!
Olga's Kitchen (Home of some really delicious flat bread!)
-Carly
PS... Later this week, I will share PT2 of my Happiness Is... series.
"I am writing a book, I've got the page numbers done."
-Steven Wright
EMPS #79: NUMBERS
Do you see a 13 or a 3 in the above photo? Could be either I guess, but one thing is for sure, there is a NUMBER there, and doesn't that make for a great assignment? Let's all show off the NUMBERS in our lives, shall we? As always, it's completely up to you as to how you show us your NUMBERS. It could be candles on a birthday cake, or the NUMBERS on a calculator or even the NUMBERS represented for maximum capacity seating. It's all good.
Extra Credit: Show me a NUMBER that seems to occur naturally, like the one in the tree above.
**PLEASE READ**
This Monday Photo Shoot entry closes next Sunday evening at 9:00 PM ET. Please submit your entry by that time by getting your photo, uploading it to your blog, journal or website, and comeback here with the direct link back to it. Please remember, the link you leave in the comment thread must be a link which goes back to an entry specific to this week's photo shoot assignment. A general link to your site won't do, and NO HYPERLINKS will be accepted. Also, please include a link to the Monday Photo Shoot assignment, so other folks can find us and play along with us.
Linking List for EMPS #78: Still-Life Featuring Food 02/22/10
NOW CLOSED!
Sherrie
Freda
Suzanne
Jama
Martha
Carolyn
Sandy
Mike
Karen
-Carly
Have you heard about my other projects? I hope you will check them out and hopefully, join us!
Weekend Assignment #308: Chick Flicks or Guy Movies?
This meme is open until Wednesday night at 9:00 PM ET. Visit Karen's blog on Thursday to find out what W.A. #309 will be!
Round Robin Challenges: Look Up/Look Down
This meme will be played on Saturday, March 13th
"Nothing would be more tiresome then eating and drinking, had not God also made it a pleasure as well as a necessity."-Voltaire
EMPS #78: Still Life Featuring Food.
Here is my contribution to this week's Monday Photo Shoot assignment. What you see above is a Pink Lady apple. I got it at Whole Foods, so of course, it's organic! :) It does a body good. Now, for something a little evil...
A Red Velvet Cupcake!
I actually posted the cupcake a couple week's ago on my Twitter page. As I said then it's free to a good home." LOL
Go ahead, take a bite!
-Carly
If you haven't joined us for the Monday Photo Shoot, please consider joining in the fun. If you can't make it this time around, no worries, I post a new assignment each Monday at 12:00 midnight.
I am also hosting the Weekend Assignment this week...
Weekend Assignment #308: Chick Flick or Guy Movies?
Round Robin Challenge: Look Up/ Look Down (Saturday, March 13th)
