On the cover...

It was rather alarming to pick up a copy of this week's North Coast Journal and discover a picture of me naked on the front cover.

Fondue Feast

I brought The Goddess over to my super-groovy love pad last night for a fondue feast. It was decadent and delicious.

The fondue was made with swiss and gruyeye cheese, mixed with white wine and tarragon. A simple rue was used as a thickener.

Dipping items included chunks of fresh Brio bread, pretzels, sautéed mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, apples, green beans and strips of steak.

In addition we had jumbo prawns with cocktail sauce. I washed it all down with Anderson Valley Brewing Co. Brother David’s Abby Style Ale, while Kim drank something even better – Lost Coast Brewery Tangerine Wheat Beer.

Fondue is fun.

And the winner is...

for creative local band name:

The Exorcism of Wilfred Brimley

I'm a millionaire!

From Prof. Bill Modise.
Consultant, South Africa Reserve Bank.
Pretoria, South Africa.
Email: bmodise@live.com
Phone: +27-761-929-229

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Prof. Bill Modise former Director of international remittance Department of South Africa Reserve Bank now Retired. I am still a consultant attached to South African Reserve Bank.
I am contacting you because before my Retirement from the bank,
We transfer the sum of Nine Million, Five Hundred Thousand USD (USD$9.5M) to our client, but the said money is still with our corresponding Bank London.

Due to the Fact that the real client/beneficiary supplied the bank with Incorrect (mistake) account information before he died in a Car accident. The London Bank Attorney contacted me to supply them with correct banking details to enable them release the USD$9.5M.
I will appreciate it; if you can email me your Banking information, to enable me present you as the rightful beneficiary of the said sum to the bank attorney. This is a solid transaction; please do not see it as a fantasy.

I am very serious and we will share the USD$9.5M 50/50. Finally, please email me with your private fax and phone numbers and banking information to enable me prepare all the Documentation to back up the claim before forwarding the claim to London Bank .

I am waiting for your urgent reply. For urgent and Privacy of this transaction please contact me on my private e-mail address.

Yours faithfully,
Prof. Bill Modise
(Consultant SARB)

Mele Kalikimaka from the Laboratory

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!

We all need someone we can dream on...

At the beach

From Kim's house we can walk out the back door, down a path and end up atop these dunes overlooking the beach. If you stand in the right spot, you can look west and see the ocean, then turn your head east and see the bay.



The recent frost made the dune vegetation even more colorful. You can see the snow on the distant mountains.



The crabbers are out in force.



Here's another crabber. Speaking of crab, on Monday and Tuesday we consumed crab enchiladas!



Birds

Mystery solved!

Thanks to Kym for quickly solving this mystery. The mystery man in the photo below is James Vincent Forrestal, former Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense,

It's interesting to note that he was repeatedly attacked by newspaper columnists Walter Winchell and Drew Pearson.

He oppossed the partition of Palestine on the grounds that it would infuriate Arab neighbors – a noteworthy stand if you're prone to conspiracy theories and wonder whether he jumped to his death or was pushed in 1949!

I say this little bit of intrigue is well worth $1.

Mystery Man – Who Is This Guy?

Today I bought this framed photo in a thrift store for $1. It appears to be a gift presented to a fellow who did work for the guy in the photo.




It reads "In appreciation of work well done, to Floyd A. Morrison, from James (?)" I can't quite make out the last name. Is it "Lovestaf" or "Loustaf" or is it "Goustaf"??? Click on the photo to see a larger version.



Here's a close-up of the mystery man. I suspect that he was a somewhat famous politician, writer, actor or head of a company. Otherwise, why would he give someone his photo as a gift?

I took the photo out of the frame, and it appears to be printed on very thin paper, as if these photos were printed in large numbers, rather than just a few black and white prints at a time.


What do you make of it?

Year's End

Year's End

Now the seasons are closing their files
on each of us, the heavy drawers
full of certificates rolling back
into the tree trunks, a few old papers
flocking away. Someone we loved
has fallen from our thoughts,
making a little, glittering splash
like a bicycle pushed by a breeze.
Otherwise, not much has happened;
we fell in love again, finding
that one red feather on the wind.

– by Ted Kooser

She's wild

Kim is wild, or so I'm told.



And this song pretty much sums up my current situation. I'm giddy as hell, and that's not just last night's Lord Calvert talking!

The best steak?

I nominate the AA Bar & Grill, located across the street from the courthouse in Eureka. Order a medium-rare ribeye, and you receive a perfectly cooked medium-rare ribeye.

Seems like a simple concept – take a good piece of meat and cook it right. But that doesn't happen at a lot of places.

Prediction

On Saturday, we'll build snowmen on the beach.

Oh Christmas tree, Much pleasure dost thou bring me!

Kim was brave enough to come over to my love pad last night and consume a meal I cooked for her. She did so stoically.



We also decorated my plastic Christmas tree! This is kind of a big deal for me after a two-year hiatus from holiday decorating.

My apartment has a warm, fuzzy, homey feel to it – even more so with the tree.



I even got some battery powered Christmas lights for my bike!

Mad River Bridge at sunset

Off North Bank Road, just east of U.S. Highway 101, there's a little turnout near a pathway that leads down to the Mad River. Down by the river, there's a gravel bar with plenty of room to explore and let a dog play. It's an ideal place to rendezvous with a super-hot, tattooed hippie chick after work before an evening of festivities.

Henny Youngman

Henny Youngman was hilarious, don't you think?