I feel the earth move...not!

No, I didn't feel last night's earthquake, although apparently folks in close by towns felt it. Then again, it was of 3.6 magnitude, strong enough for light sleepers to feel it, but not enough for folks that sleep like logs to notice. In other words, your perception and experience may vary, even from the people next door. I'm used to loud noises at night, grew up with them, in fact, living near railroad tracks in DC as a preteen, so I grew accustomed to night noise. That earthquake would have had to be stronger for me to notice, as jets from Andrews fly overhead at times, scaring the daylights out of me as they sound like they might crash into the house. Day or night, especially before the airshow in May.

Sleep researcher Stanley Coren wrote in Sleep Thieves that when he was a grad student at Stanford, he felt he generally didn't get a good night's sleep. One morning, he awoke to the clock radio, which reported that an earthquake took place. In his words, "Although I felt that I had been awake all night, I had actually been so soundly asleep that I had completely missed an earthquake that had brought down a large quantity of plaster from the ceiling of our bedroom onto our bed. In fact, as I got up, two large chunks of plaster, each the size of a tennis ball, rolled off my chest, where they had apparently been resting for the hour or more since the earthquake. So much for my experience of a completely sleepless night!" I don't think I'm that oblivious, as there's nothing out of place at home, thankfully.

Of course, this morning's adventure makes me think of a favorite song by Carole King...

Happy Fourth!

Photo by Kabir Bakie (via wikimedia)

Time to have a happy, sweaty, 4th of July, wherever you celebrate. For me, it's a cookout this year. Can't be bothered with going to see fireworks on the mall, particularly since I can see the Andrews fireworks display from my deck.

OK, I did go to the Mall with friends once to see the fireworks, during the '80s, whichever year Roberta Flack was one of the singers. It was great to hear homegirl's (she got her start in DC) sweet voice floating in the air, as we were walking down the hill toward the grassy area. This after we were unsure that we were going to make it there in one piece, due to some kamikaze driving to Capitol Hill, so it was extra nice to hear her. Well, it's always good to hear Roberta Flack, on the 4th or any day.

Water, water, everywhere?

Just in time for summer vacation comes mandated water restrictions, courtesy of a potential giant water main break in Potomac caught in the nick of time. Sadly, it seems these infrastructure slip-ups are no longer for the winter season only.

These regulations aren't too stringent--basically, no topping off of swimming pools, no watering lawns (I avoid this anyway, as this region is a swamp), or washing cars (another activity I loathe).

Car washing is something I've always seen as a complete waste anyway--of time and water. Maybe it's seeing neighbors spend hours soaping and rinsing their vehicles over the years that totally turned me off from even thinking of washing the electric carriage myself. Honestly, I'm thankful for the local car wash, which is the more environmentally friendly, and efficient, way of taking care of a dirty vehicle. Five minutes to the car wash, ten minutes to get ride clean, five minutes back home, with both vehicle and owner being clean and dry. What's not to like?

If only the folks at Andre's also had these skills:

Keeping it cool...with dessert.

It's that kind of day--while fruit's great as dessert, at times, you want something different, a little extra on a scorcher like today. Particularly if you don't have to make it yourself.

Like, say, ice cream and other ice treats. But you're worried about your waistline. Not to fear, Turtle Mountain's got you covered. Its most recent icy creations are coconut-water based sorbets, so they're low in calories, from 100 to 110 calories per serving. (A serving is half cup. Sure.) I got the 'lemonade' flavor from Giant, and boy, it is good. Smooth, soft, and (if you have any left over), doesn't get lots of ice crystals. Yum!

Double yum if you're out and about is the soft-serve soy ice cream at Everlasting Life (in Capitol Heights, near FedEx Stadium). You have to call to find the flavor of the day, which is strawberry today. Sounds good, although my favorites are the rum raisin and sweet potato. Which might go splendidly with one of the cobblers (pictured above is the peach, which I particularly love). Most recently the cobblers were mixed berry and apple, and I just had to have the berry; turned out to be a good choice, full of sloppy fruity juices and such.

Or the guilty pleasure of the soft-serve ice cream from the Miller Farm store in Clinton. I last had the banana nut in a cone, but the flavor changes daily.

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For a decent, large, fruit pie for those days when there's no time to find a farmer's market, scarily enough, you can find a reasonable one at the grocery store (for some reason, Safeway in particular). That's right, good ol' Sara Lee makes a delish cherry pie from the Signature Selections Deep Dish Gourmet pie line). Made with those tart Montmorency, aka "pie," cherries (which hold their shape better than sweet ones, and have higher levels of antioxidants to boot), they are a revelation; not too sweet, and full of plump cherries, instead of crimson-colored cherry cornstarch.

It's big enough, and rich enough, for company, but not too expensive. And, again, not too sweet. Because it's full of cherries, which are, in fact, the first ingredient, which, sadly, is almost unheard of for storebought frozen fruit desserts. In fact, the ingredients are: cherries, enriched flour, vegetable oil, sugar, water, as well as less than 2% of each of the following--modified corn starch, high fructose corn cyrup, salt, soy flour. Now, this is no natural product, as the vegetable oil may contain cottonseed (?) oil, and there's high fructose corn syrup, but again, this isn't an everyday food (as fatty as this is, it shouldn't be).

This is treat-yourself weather, so go ahead and do as The Jacksons used to sing:

Express yourself!

That's what blogging is all about, self expression at its most basic. At tonight's meetup at Mezza Luna, it was great to encourage folks interested in creating their own electronic megaphones (aka blogs), with good thumping dance music in the background.

For those who have blogs, whether novices or more experienced, and want to exchange specific feedback about their sites in a quieter venue, come to 1410 Q Street, for a "Blogging Buddies" session on Thursday, June 24, from 7 to 9 pm. If you have a laptop, bring it (the building has wi-fi); if not, bring a pen/pencil, paper, and perhaps a printout of at least one page from your site.

Express yourself!

Summer music legends, now silenced...

Whoa--in the space of about a week, two music legends, who both helped set the soundtrack for summer and year round--are now no longer with us. First, it was go-go legend Lil Benny, of Rare Essence fame and later, Lil Benny and the Masters, best known for the catchy hit, Cat in the Hat.

Yesterday we lost Marvin Isley, who was for years the bassist and a songwriter for one of the best music groups EVER, the Isley Brothers.

If you watch tv, you've definitely heard one of their major '70s hits, Who's That Lady, as of late played incessantly via Swiffer commercials. Then again, that's life repeating itself, 'cause when an Isley Brothers song becomes popular, it is played constantly.

This definitely happened in the mid-1970s, especially with the song, For the Love of You, which you couldn't get away from on urban radio. Which was a good thing.

Frankly, there are so many good songs from the Isleys, it's hard to choose a favorite. For instance, there's the dreamy classic that Marvin co-wrote, Voyage to Atlantis:


as well as hits like Footsteps in the Dark (which has been sampled silly by the likes of Ice Cube and others),


and Isley renditions of great songs like Todd Rundgren's Hello It's Me (made even greater with that Isley touch),


and my favorite version of the Seals and Croft hit, Summer Breeze. When I saw the Isleys at the Carter Barron years ago, it was the most requested song. No mystery as to why.


Other great Isley tunes include: Midnight Sky, Brown-eyed Girl (NOT the Van Morrison song), Hope You Feel Better Love, Sensuality, Lover's Eve, Lay Lady Lay (the Bob Dylan tune), Make Me Say It Again.

Mother's Day music mix...

A few classic tunes to enjoy this Mother's Day...and a laugh.

Who can ever forget the Intruders' hit, "I'll Always Love My Mama"?



A close second is Boyz II Men's, "A Song for Mama":



And last, but not least, Tupac's "Dear Mama":



***
A Mother's Day giggle...from a guy who made a video featuring his roommate mom's voicemails. A chuckle for all of us dealing with extremely technologically challenged relatives. (Note: video has a profanity slip-up.)