Blogher NaBlo | Perle Champion

Happy 4th of July

For my NaBloPoMo | BlogHer participation I’d planned on making Fridays – Foodie Friday as that’s the day I have traditionally decided what I would eat for the entire weekend so I didn’t
have to bother with cooking and could concentrate on writing and/or painting. I’d put on a crockpot of something deliciously fun: white chili, roast, whole chicken. I’d prepare a triple recipe of tuna salad for lunch and save the rest for later, or a large frittata (quiche w/o the crust) for breakfast and save the rest for the weekend. You get the idea.

This practice began when I worked in that concrete jungle I designated as Dilbertville. I’ve since retired from that jungle to write and paint and collect my ‘entitlement’, but still find it helpful to prepare food I love and can eat for days for the weekend and longer without thought or preparation other than putting it on the plate.

Ah, but this is the 4^th of July, and I will shortly be off to John and Karyn Stalcup’s wonderfully restored Southside house for their annual 4^th of July party, so I will prepare my ‘covered dish (aka ziplock container) to contribute to the feast.

I’ve decided on an orzo pasta salad. I cooked the orzo pasta al dente in salt and a pinch of savory; scalded and shocked a bag of Publix pre-cut bagged stir fry vegetables adding a few of my own (I did chop them into smaller pieces); into the pasta and veggies I mi
xed in a simple vinaigrette I whipped up (white balsamic and malt vinegars, 1 tsp, of honey, extra virgin olive oil, spicy mustard, dash of salt, pepper, cayenne. It’s chilling in the fridge as I sip wine and finish reading a book I started on Thursday.

I’ll be walking the 7-8 blocks to the party. I never un-park my car on the 4^th of July for a number of reasons.

I’ll be drinking there and here and there along the way back home.
I have many friends in the ‘hood, and there are lot of places to stop and visit and sip along the walk back home.
People come in from all over the city to visit and to watch the ‘Thunder on the Mountain’ fireworks show atop Vulcan’s Red Mountain that go off around 9pm tonight, so traffic is the proverbial ‘bitch’.
Walking home is faster and more entertaining that the gridlock of driving with all the suburbanites trying to get back out of town.
Many of the drivers on the road have imbibed far too much to be driving and I’ve no desire to run into them nor have them run into me.
Plus:
I like to walk and enjoy every bit of this unique neighborhood on this my favorite holiday.

Happy 4^th of July y’all.

The Hill & Lister Hill – Walkabout Wednesday

Thanks to the interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. – Charles Kuralt

Hoda and KLG have ‘wines day Wednesday’ and although there will be some wine a little later in my Wednesday, this one is and has been walkabout Wednesday for me for the past few weeks. In my walkabout, I find I’m seeing things I ordinarily miss along my way.

I’ve been parking on Southside by the post office at some of the free curbside spaces and walking the 3-1/2 blocks to the Lister Hill Library for their 2-hour 10-week WriteNow sessions. Lister Hill has no parking lot; the nearest lots are 2 and 3 blocks away and cost $4; the closest meter I found was 2 blocks away and I’d have to dash back before the 2 hours is up or be ticketed.

Free parking is better, but as 18^th Street is one steep hill (feels like 45 degree angle), I don’t walk mindwalking downhill to the sessions, but all the way back up that same hill, in this summer heat, is out of the question. I’ve opted for the local transit trolley which is only a quarter for under 62 and 10 cents for seniors (yay, one more perk of being 65).

I signed up for WriteNow in late May, and I have been merrily walking to every session, and arriving by and usually before noon every Wednesday since, hence walkabout Wednesday. Most of the sessions are on the 4^th floor in the Edge of Chaos. I love that name and the room, which is a huge sprawling space with two walls of soaring almost floor to ceiling windows and murals on all exposed wall space and columns.

With the exception of me and one other participant, the group is comprised of academics from the sciences here at UAB working on various theses, article reviews, and dissertations.

Dr. Jennifer Greer, seen here behind a column helping a student, is available for quick critiques, direction, opinion, help with organizing tools and more. Once each month, she conducts a luncheon lecture with food catered by Newks (pretty good sandwiches). She hands out some rather handy tools to help organize our writing, many of which I’ve revised to suit my non-academic writing projects. One in particular, has helped me immensely to set deadlines for essays that are done on spec and hence have no ‘real’ deadline other than mine

I’m confident, I’ll have most of my essays submitted to various publications by the end of the sessions and hope more than a few of them finds a home.