Long Time No Write

As blogging friend Nancy points out, I guess I haven't written in a little bit.  This is because things have been happening too fast.  Not all bad, not all good, but lots of stuff that keeps me busy and off the computer.

For one thing, a very old friend came across the country to visit, and that took up several days.  We drove down the River Road, we went to the Science Museum to see the King Tut exhibit, we caught up on a year's worth of news and many decades of reminiscences.  And we ate and we ate and we ate.  Some restaurants were disappointing - my friend is a Foodie, and was hugely looking forward to eating to the nationally renowned Piccolo, whose food turned out to be largely bland and uninteresting.

On the other hand, we had the

Best.

Meal.

Ever.

We went to La Belle Vie in Minneapolis and indulged in the 8-course Chef's Tasting Menu (plus the Amuse Bouche beforehand and the Petit Fours afterwards), and the guys added to that the matching wine flights (I tasted each wine but did not indulge).  Each plate was a treasure unto itself, the company was more than convivial, and a great time was had by all.

On either side of the visit was your usual family activities, and then an unfortunate necessity - we had to put our poor old kitty down.  Her body had been breaking down for quite a while, but the degeneration had accelerated over the last couple months, and was achieving critical mass by last week.  She was a charming, beautiful, quirky, curmudgeonly personality who added much to our enjoyment of the past 16 years.  She will be greatly missed.

She is also a very good argument for adopting adult animals from your local animal shelter.  If you don't have a need for a pet, please go to your local animal shelter and make a donation.  Even small amounts will keep a number of animals alive long enough to find loving homes.