Beginnin' to Look a Lot like Winter

Clear and cold last night.  Mostly clear today with some snow blowin' around the tops of the mountains.  SERIOUS wind tonight and tomorrow - gusts to 75 mph downtown.  And getting colder the next few days - down to the teens in sheltered areas.  A rumor of snow early next week.  I'm actually looking forward to the winter wonderland gig...although in moderation, of course.

I have been devoting many waking hours to my 2011 calendar...and I am frustrated.  I've done a number of fairly elaborate cut-and-paste collages and whatnot and am in most instances not pleased with the results.  Back to the drawing board - I think I will go to Plan B - the simple and straightforward approach.  Stay tuned.

I've also been doing a fair amount of cooking - mostly baking.  And tomorrow is mom's 84th birthday when I will be the guest chef.  I have already made her the promised Peanut Butter Pie which she really likes.  The rest of the tribe aren't crazy about it, however, so there is a Chunky Apple Cake in the oven right now.  The meal will be of the meat and potatoes variety.  Fillets as the protein, a potato and leek puree for the starch, and candied carrots with apricots for the veggie.  And there may or may not be a fruit salad.  I can't seem to find the recipe that I thought I had saved...  Busy day tomorrow.

In other news, I spoke to a very excited and happy Leah on Saturday evening.  She had just finished her first day at Sokol-Blosser Vineyards.  Tough duty.  Spent half the day tasting wine and learning the pitch they use in the tasting room.  Sounds like she'll be helping with lots of tastings at hotels and restaurants.  Way cool.

The weekend was quite sedate.  Cocktails on Friday followed by supper with Joan at the Island Pub and a delicious braised short-ribs supper at Alison's and Doug's on Sunday.  Dougie and I enjoyed a fire under alternating moonlight and rain.  The last pit o' the year, I expect....

Finally, I note that the Murkowski/Miller vote count appears to be nearing the end (or at least the end of the beginning).  I was hugely amused by the story in the Juneau Empire today where the local press folks interviewed the national and international press folks who were in town for the show including the English language channel of Al-Jazeera.  I was much taken with the cogent and succinct summation the Al-Jazeera correspondent gave of our current national political situation.

"What is going on in Alaska is reflective of the national mood and the national conversation, in so far as you have the tea party and the anti-government movement, and the exasperation on the right with government spending that doesn't really correspond with the people's requests in terms of entitlements, Medicare and government services," said Nick Spicer, a correspondent for the network's English language channel.

Spicer said the trip to Juneau by the team was prompted by a column Washington Post's Anne Applebaum about the Alaska Senate race.

"There's a hypocrisy in the tea party that she sees reflected in the Alaska debate, and in this particular race," Spicer said.

The Al-Jazeera team, which includes an American correspondent, a Canadian producer and a Danish photographer, is based in Washington, D.C. It's on the lookout for stories that will be of interest all over the world, and found it especially compelling in Sarah Palin's home state.

"Every country has that kind of hypocrisy, but because Sarah has become the leader of the tea-party movement it adds a little extra spice to the story," he said.

Or putting it even more succinctly, to misquote good ol' P J O'Rourke, "...the conflict between what the American people want in terms of government services - which is everything; and what the American people want to pay for those services - which is nothing."

Later gang!