Weather in the Tries: 

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Our highs for the following week will be high 70s to mid 80s! Sunshine on the menu for Monday and Tuesday, the rest of the week will be clouds (with maybe some sun breaks). Yes, sun breaks are a real thing here in the Pacific Northwest. Honest. Trust me. I do believe it’s safe to say, “Summer is here!”

Our new toy is here!

More news on the submissions. I sent three chapbooks out. All to “local” publishers. One of 18 poems went to a publisher in Portland OR, one of 23 pages of poetry (some poems are longer than one page went to a Seattle publisher, and one of 40 pages of poetry went to a publisher who is in Washington. Unless it’s now Oregon. That one is filled with what I call “loku.” Haiku has its “rules” — 3 lines, of 17 syllables, 5 7 5. Loku is my word (hmmm, should I trademark it? /snark/) and some are 2 lines, some 4 lines. But, generally, any short poem I write. I have Birdku, Catku, Cowku—all Loku. I think Basho would smile.

Our new oven came while I was gone. I actually planned it that way. I hoped Dan would take it out of the box, and use it, so when I got home, he could explain all the directions in English. Alas, the best laid plans… He waited until there was a place to put it, which didn’t happen until after I got home. But OMG!! we learned a new trick. Sear the meat before cooking it sous vide! Using the probe gets it to perfection. The reason I fell in love with this oven is it cooks sous vide without a water bath. It uses steam and takes half the time. The Anova Precision Oven maintains a constant temperature give or take about 2 degrees, unlike most standard ovens which maintain a constant temperature give or take 50 or so degrees.

The only complaint, so far, that I have is it’s controlled by our smart phones. I am a fat fingered luddite. I really, truly, prefer to have a paper book that I can read, mark up, and use, rather than having to dash to the office to google my questions. If that’s the ONLY complaint I have, it’s pretty darn teensy for a fantastic new oven that does everything but make morning coffee!

We spent several minutes last night watching our steaks cook. More fun that TV. 😉 

While I was gone, Dan built some shelves to go above the counter he built to extend our working area in the kitchen. The neat thing about the shelves is they aren’t connected to the wall. We’ve lost a couple feet from the dining area, but we don’t use that so much anyhow. In fact, we haven’t used it yet at all. 

I now have all my art that my neighbor and gal pal had in her spare bedroom. Plus I also now have an 8’ square design wall for quilting. It’s actually a smidge smaller, out of two 4×8 pieces of 2” foam insulation. I need to paint them with primer, so the printing doesn’t show, and cover them with flannel, then I’m good to go. Of course, they are in the office and my sewing machine will be in the dining area, but that’s ok. We’ve put them on two of the long closet doors so they can slide together when needed. Dan is a marvelous housemate!!

Photos of the Week:

Books: Remember, if I finish a book, I review and post it to http://lenoragood.blogspot.com

I have added six reviews to my review blog. Feel free to Follow if you want more timely notifications. Four novels, two poetry. Since I started this blog in 2012, I’ve posted 614 reviews. And I don’t very often post low rated books, because if I don’t like them, I don’t finish them.

Quotes about ovens from inspiring quotes:

“I’m a New Yorker; my oven is used for storage.” — Cheyenne Jackson

“For years, I stored my sweaters in the oven.” — Lesley Visser

And there it is. A slow news week from my wee corner of Kennewick. Lots of news in the outer world, but it’s too depressing to talk about. But, if you’re interested, you might want to check the links below. Sammy says he hopes you do. He’s not at all pleased with everyone packing, unless it’s clothing for a trip. 

Nick Kristof, How to Speak to Gun Enthusiasts (this is from his free Substack.)

Teresa M. Hanafin, Our blood-soaked gun culture (this is her Fast Forward column in the Boston Globe. It’s a free subscription.)