This cover reminds me of the quaint Sag Harbor High School front yard hill where the kids sled in the wintertime

Current obsession

I'm currently reading the best book, "City of Fire" by Garth Risk Hallberg. I'm about two thirds finished and am breezing through it despite the fact that it's 940 pages long! Multiple characters in a sprawling overlapping story that takes place in the dirty, crime-filled New York of the mid 1970's. 

Excellent writing and interesting characters...think of it as a cross between Thom Wolfe and Jonathan Franzen (but with characters you actually care about, not loathe).

My Valentine, Mrs. Butterworth

I had a nice hearty breakfast this morning, strawberry pancakes, turkey sausage, and coffee. What could be better on the coldest morning of the year?
I thought it would be festive to serve it in a heart shaped dish my friend Jan gave me a few years ago.



I think it's really a dish for tarts but every St. Valentine's Day I find some way to use it...a serving dish, a brownie pan, and today a regular plate. And whenever I eat pancakes I love to bring out my vintage Mrs. Butterworth's bottle that my sister gave me for my birthday years ago. It's just like the ones we'd buy when we were kids.



And like the old TV commercials where she would come to life and talk to you, like this one.



If you don't have a real Valentine to share pancakes with, this old gal is good enough substitute!

Cops in the night

Yesterday was the coldest day of the year so far.
I had a made a nice comfort food dinner, a 'tamale pie' from my favorite cookbook "Dinners in a Dish or a Dash". It was bitterly cold outside but nice 'n toasty inside.
I was watching a new DVD, "The Fugitive Kind" with Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani, and was in under my big wool blanket on the sofa when I saw a flurry of lights passing all around the front yard through the front windows. At first I thought it was just headlights from a car, but then I noticed a figure of a man with a flashlight aiming it into my front yard! Then he came INTO the yard moving the light all around. I wasn't nervous and didn't think he was a burger or anything, that's just not Sag Harbor. I thought he must be a neighbor looking for a stray dog or cat. Then I noticed there were other men with him and before I knew it they were coming onto the porch and knocking on my door. I turned on the TV light that's in the window and went to open the front door. It was three Sag Harbor Policemen!

Cop cars in the night!

All 3 cops were young & good looking

They were looking for a Jesse (or Jerry?) Castillo, an underage kid who was missing. They confirmed my address. I said yes, you're correct, but no one lives here by that name. They asked if I was alone and I said yes. They admitted it could just be a coincidence since the names were the same, they were just checking all leads. Only after they left did I realize I had come to the door wearing only my red thermal underwear and socks! LOL.

What to wear when the cops come calling

I think they must've thought they woke me up When you knock on someone's door at 11:00 at night I guess you have to be ready for anything.