It's FINALLY Spring!

Well, the weather has finally gotten to Spring...maybe. Around here you never are really sure. May 4th was supposed to be the "freeze-free" date, meaning there shouldn't be any more freezing temps. Yeah...right. We'll see. This IS Chicago, after all.

Anyway, yesterday the beautiful wife and I went to the Wheaton French Market. The Farmers and French Markets are starting up...a sure sign of Spring. The one at Wheaton is really nice. It's a French Market, as opposed to a Farmers Market, because they sell more than farm-grown produce; they also sell bakery goods, cosmetics, jewelry, etc, and prepared foods. I always visit The Pickle Guy...the BEST pickles, olive salad and mufulatta around. (I got a tub or "Original" and a tub of "Garlic Crunch." Yum - as Rachel would say)

Tonight I'm preparing some of the vegetables we got yesterday as a "red sauce" to go over Parmesan polenta. Eggpland and zucchini in a home-made tomato sauce. Should be good...lots of onions and garlic and cheese. How bad can that be? (Yup, that's an Ina Gartin-ism - can you say too much Food Network?)

This afternoon, after I fixed barbequed hot dogs for my wonderful wife for Mother's Day - hey, we (my boys and I) used to take her to McDonald's for Mother's Day...but we always Super-Sized her order - we put in our container garden on the patio.

Herbs, flowers, shrubs and, of course, tomatoes...cherry and pear this year. Last year we had cherry tomatoes until September.

Work is, well, work. It pays the bills, and that's the most important thing right now. Don't know how long this contract will last, maybe two years. Then...what? Retirement? I don't know if I can retire. I think I need to continue to find some writing jobs to do maybe until the mind really goes and I just don't care anymore. But til then, I'm just going to plug along.

Hey, a comment on TV: one of my favorite shows, or at least it used to be until last Friday, was Numbers on CBS. I liked the puzzle-solving aspects and the familial relationships. Jeez, Don FINALLY got a real girlfriend...although she's been absent for a couple of episodes. Then this last episode's ending. Had to set up the "Season Finale" with the usual..."who will survive and who will not and will Charlie and Amita's relationship be changed forever???????" Oh, bull----!

Here's my rant: "Hollywood" just CANNOT write a decent relationship. Are all the writers divorced or gay? Do they HATE marriage? Oh, well, I know it's just me. Just ONCE, I'd like to see a TV show with a married couple that is truly in love with one another, where BOTH are smart, sexy and funny. I guess it's the "James T. Kirk syndrome", named after the legenday StarTrek captain who had to be able to have a new relationship with the hot female guest star each week...tired, trite and unbelievable.

But, I guess nothing's changed. It's either the "will they or won't they" relationship (Bones, Castle, etc.) or the "they really don't get along because they're married" relationship (all the sitcoms and most dramas). This is perhaps the primary reason I record most of the shows I care to watch. It eliminates the commercials (yeaa) and I can fast forward through the really cliched and trite parts. I guess I've watched toooo much TV in my life, and can really see the "same old, same old" situations coming along. I had so much hope for Castle, but I guess it's gone after 10 episodes. Too smart, literate, funny, warm, familial and not "dark and edgy." Bull----! And the TV execs wonder why we are watching less and less TV?

OK, done with rant.

Blackhawks up 3 games to 2 and play at home tomorrow night. GO HAWKS!! Bulls eliminated in 7 games by Celtics...next year!! Cubs and Sox playing well. A good Spring in Chicago sports.

Oh, and Fly-In season is starting up. Wooo hooo.

Happy Mother's Day to all those fantastic women we know and love. You're the best!

A hui hou...