The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow....

The week is halfway over. So far, since Saturday, we've seen the sun for about 30 minutes. That was this evening. It was gloomy up until about 7:15 p.m. and then, miraculously, the sun shone. It shone for about 30 minutes and the gloom took over again but 30 minutes is...30 minutes and that's something. Tomorrow, we're supposed to have a fully sunny day which will be most welcome after the gloom.

I've always loved rain as I've mentioned in my blog before. I like contrasts and one of the reasons I left Los Angeles is because I needed variatal weather. So, I'm not complaining that it's been raining. No, I'm actually complaining because it hasn't really been raining. It's just been...cloudy...gloomy...dreary. Pick any word you like.

However, the sun can do a lot to brighten up the gloom. I took the puppies for their first walk in a week tonight. Fortunately, we didn't run into Larry, the potential-serial-killer. I was quite glad about that. His human hair is now even thicker around his bushes. My mother informs me that it's also an excellent rabbit deterrant which might be why Larry actually uses it. Nevertheless, I still find it slightly creepy and vile.

The pups are finally learning to walk in a civilized manner. Sookie only laid down once and I didn't even accidentally drag her as I've done in the past before I realized that she's actually lying on her tummy rather than standing up. Dachshunds have short little legs. In longish grass, it's a little hard to tell sometimes if they're standing or lying down.

When we got home, I made chicken tortilla soup. I used a recipe from Food Network Magazine as a guide to make the broth but I veered from the recipe when it came to the actual soup. It's actually a recipe from Eva Longoria Parker, she of Desperate Housewives. I have to say, her broth was fabulous. I added some stewed chicken which picked up the spice nicely as well as some chayote squash. It was very, very delicious and actually took me back to my days in L.A. I'd go to lunch with a friend to a local 'mercado' where the was a food court of different international foods. One of them was a little Mexican place that had the best chicken soup. I always loved the broth and I have to say, Eva Longoria Parker's recipe came ridiculously close in taste.

I've started to realize that cooking is definitely my new favourite way of relaxing. Now it's spring, I have fresh herbs ready for the picking and there's absolutely nothing better than going outside, plucking a handful of sage or some springs of thyme and using them in a recipe. Hopefully I'll have some vegetables in the garden by mid-summer but time will tell if rabbits will eat them or bugs will blight them. I'm already losing some basil to invisible beetles. I get up in the morning and my basil leaves are full of tiny holes but there's no sign of the culprit. According to my internet research, they're little tiny nocturnal beetles. Theoretically using cayenne pepper and a solution of soapy water should deter them.

It's amazing what you can find on the internet. There's always someone out there that knows the answer to something. It's quite nice. I've started doing a wee bit more surfing at work merely because the project that I'm plodding away on is so tedious that I HAVE to do something else for a few minutes every so often. My trick is to always go from Google so that while the powers-that-be can still pull up my history from the server, on my computer, there's never any hyperlinks in my history bar except Google. Of course, today, I accidentally types Gooke.com which instantly gave me the "THIS SITE HAS BEEN BLOCKED BECAUSE IT CONTAINS PORNOGRAPHIC CONTENT!!!!" message. Naturally, the first thing I did after I closed the window was glance around guiltily to see if someone was watching. Our handbook clearly states no pornography in the office. I'm sure I'm not the only violator and, also, it wasn't like I did it on purpose.

Of course, our handbook also says no gambling and, call me crazy, but, technically speaking, a basketball pool is considered gambling of a sort. Still, I won a nice clean $50 from that so it's not like I'm going to complain.

Now our Wednesday is winding down and I have two sleepy puppies drowsing at my feet. I'm tempted to wake them up. They're falling asleep too early which means they need to get up too early in the morning. I've now had a 5 a.m. wake-up call from Rory every day for a week. Her wake up calls are a bit of a shock in the middle of the night because they consist of a sudden weight on my head, a wet sensation in the ear and, if I still don't respond, a gentle nip at my nose. It's not exactly subtle.

Still, we're closer to the weekend and with sunny weather on the way, things are looking up. Thursday is almost as good as Friday because it's almost the weekend. It's got a brightness of hope about it and that...is never a bad thing.

Happy Thursday.