You can't go back

My man and I like music... a lot. Last week while he was on a long drive he heard that the Steve Miller Band would be coming to Durham. Now I love 70's music and could sing "The Joker" and "Big Old Jet Airliner" for you, but I won't. My man was excited; he loved them while he was in college and so I said ok, let's go. I had more than a small feeling it wasn't going to be great because a.) the band hasn't released an album in a very long time and b.) once they played their five hits, how exciting could it be? Bob Dylan? STILL puts out albums and plays old and new stuff whenever he tours. Willie Nelson? Same thing, only Willie has some Vegas cheese moves - he winks and points at people while he plays - I never would have guessed, he looks so mellow and all. Anyhoo, after a long workday we headed out to the Piedmont Restaurant where I had some fresh tagliatelle with ragù bolognese & parmesan and my man had choucroute garnie: housemade sauerkraut, potatoes, boudin blanc, pork belly, smoked pork loin & mustard jus. Both were very good but we were kind of hurried since we needed to get to the show at 8 pm. I will say that starting a concert at 8 pm on a Friday night without any opening band makes me feel old. I appreciated it, but I'll tell you why in a minute.

We had seats in the third level balcony (a.k.a. The Jane Fonda Workout Section - you wouldn't believe the burn!). The crowd was multi-generational, as they say nowadays, there were some high school kids mixed in with the predominantly 50 and 60 year old crowd. I only saw two people I knew in the entire crowd: my old vet (before we moved to Hillsborough) and a bag guy from the Food Lion by my house. For me, at an event in Durham that is rare. The Steve Miller Band came out and the crowd at the DPAC was standing up and screaming for joy. I was not. One guy, the back-up singer danced the whole time (he's almost 70 and he's got some moves, but that is not cool for rock. KC & the Sunshine Band? Definitely. Steve Miller Band? Not so much) and the band had no passion for the music. They were definitely going through the motions. We left after six songs. It was nice that since the band went on early, we could come home watch some tv and get to bed at a decent hour! Heh.

For today's fun, raking one of the many layers of leaves of the season. I have two fairly willing helpers and one that is purposely not helping in hopes I will let him out of the job. He is sorely mistaken.

Here's the fun we're having:





The leafy hell is over for now. I've not got the chutzpah for flogging the peeps and doing the backyard - which is twice the size of the front.

I was inspired to make pork empanadas with thyme from Everyday Food. It was good, but dry. I didn't add the raisins because I figured the peeps would be less likely to eat the finished product if they knew they were in there (and they would ask believe me. They were all over the pine nuts, "What is this?"). I used fresh sage and thyme from the garden in the dough and filling as the recipe instructs and the peeps liked them.

In knitting news I'm working on the Mushroom Hat which is large enough to accommodate a bun. I have long hair that I usually wear up and I love wearing hats, but it's an issue. This hat will hopefully solve that. I'm using some yarn I dyed a long time ago and it is dyed in colors I wouldn't normally choose for myself. If I end up not liking it Chicky can have it.

I'm headed to DC for the National Association of Young Children conference this Wednesday, so I should be able to get lots of knitting done while I'm sitting in sessions. The line-up is not very exciting, many people I look forward to seeing when I go aren't presenting this year. I've got multiple classes high-lighted for each time slot in case they're full (or suck). I sit in the back so as not to disturb people if I leave. The number of people there tends to overwhelm me a bit, so I'm planning on reading and relaxing in my hotel room at night. I've got a book, a couple knitting projects and my iPod ready to go.