AuntieB

I am headed out to brunch this morning with some friends.
We have decided to go to the Brass Asparagus, a chi-chi little Bistro that has wonderful food and beautiful waiters.
Maybe we'll sit outside under the pergola and sip Mimosas if it seems warm enough.

polenta

Baldur, I have always wanted to ask you out of curiosity. I've seen you writing a lot about food and recipes. Do you work as a professional chef or is it just a hobby?
What do you do for a living then? Is it something connected with restaurants?
Sorry... if you feel this is too intruding.... forget the question.

sheftali52

Polenta, not to butt in to your question to Baldur, but I am aware from way back that he is a trained cook, perhaps a chef, and has done that for a living in the past. I love hearing about what he cooks, too.

belladonnis

Now I wonder to what Baldur does for a living! Funny but I have never wondered that before!lol He never does say......"What a hard day I had at work today".......Hmmmm. Perhaps if Baldur does work what he does on his time off is way more interesting! I know that is the case for me and my work. But I would like to know if you do work Baldur where oh where do you find all your energy to do all the wonderful things you share with us?
If you could bottle that would you send me some!lol

sheftali52

I think Baldur has what's known as joie de vivre, or a hearty enjoyment of life. He finds joy in pleasures both simple and complex, and I for one love hearing of his many endeavors. I remember his tale of cleaning the crud that falls between the stove and counter--it takes an exceptional person to make that interesting!!!

polenta

wow!!! So it was not only me!!
Joie de vivre............yes, that could be!!!!!!!

Dragon

I believe Baldur is between jobs at the moment. I remember him saying he enjoyed jobs where he could do physical labour but that he loathed desk jobs, it seems whenever he gets a lovely job moving boxes or stocking shelves or whatnot his employer eventually finds out what an erudite and intelligent person he is and decides (against all Baldur's protests of being happy in his current position) that Baldur really needs to be doing something that requires him to sit at a desk all day and shuffle papers or something horribly boring which inevitably leads to Baldur leaving in disgust.
I do know that he also works as Santa for kids parties and such durig Christmas but I think everyone knows that already.

Dragon

I thought I'd share a little Red Deer Rambling from my weekend. This past Sat. my sweetie and I went to the Taboo, Naughty but Nice Sex show here in town. It's been running annually for 4 or 5 years but this was the first time I've gotten my nerve up to go to it. It's basically like the Womans show but with less Mary Kay dealers and way more sex toys and lingerie. It was an interesting experience. You must be 18 to enter (sigh, I never get ID'ed anymore) so it's pretty much anything goes in there. They even had a body painting booth so it was not unusual to see woman (and a couple guys) walking around naked above the belt but for some very fancy artwork. I must say the paint did cover them very well but you certainly do find yourself looking to see if you can see anything. We didn't go for anything of the freaky nature but we did get a set of eco-friendly sheets ($45 buck for a full set of Queen sheets, you just can't go wrong with that!). I also got a nice pair of pantyhose with dragons on them, though I haven't a clue where I'll wear them. The very best purchase was a beautiful corset. Somehow I'm always drawn to corset's I just think they're beautiful. These were very high quality and they fit me for it right there over my shirt and every thing. I'd never tried one on and I couldn't believe how comfortable it actually felt once it was on, it sure did wonders for my figure too (Dragon is not precisely hour glass shaped anymore). It was funny when I took it off I felt all wobbly through my back, they really do force you to have great posture. They offered for me to wear it out but as that would entail losing my shirt and bra I decided against and simply went for a bag. I think if I can find the right skirt to wear with it I'd fit right in at one of Baldurs steampunk parties (until I opened my mouth of course when they would all condemn me for a perfectly corseted steampunk fraud and throw me out )

marius

marius has wondered if Baldur has been secretly employed by TD. If not perhpas they should consider it as he has done a great deal to keep us laughing, inspired, uplifted, educated, well-fed, and generally appreciative of the finer things in life ... has raise our sensiblities so to speak. : )

Dragon, that sounds like a fun adventure. A corset? Had the impression they are horrible torture chambers, but you said comfortable! Hmmm. Let us know when you get the skirt to go with it. marius is not particularly stylish, but imagines a lovely, almost gypsy-style skirt, with vivid colors. Also want to know what goes with dragon-pantyhose. Imagine they are NOT cartoonish dragons? (tee hee)

Baldur

(Dragon, try wearing the pantyhose on your legs.....)

Polenta, pretty much what everyone has said here is true. I have been unemployed for almoset 2 years, and surviving on my wits.
I do not collect an unemployment check and have learned to be quite frugal.

Back in my younger days had attended a culinary college and worked as a chef for many years. Eventually it became something I dreaded doing every day so without a backward glance Baldur moved on.
My main job requirement was that it needed to be something with a minimum of amount of paperwork.
Most recently this involved working in a warehouse carry boxes up and down ladders. That was rather enjoyable for the 7 years I spent doing that.
Unfortunately in corporate America you cannot stay in the same position.
Companies hire people who's job it is to know what you want more than you do yourself.
It was decided I needed to do something else and eventually I was pushed around and bullied enough until I had my fill of the drama and left.
It did bring some consolation to know that the area I had worked in for 7 years slowly and completely fell apart in my absence.

Baldur

almoset - e = almost

Baldur

+ Baldur
carry + ing = carrying

Baldur

My absence from ThinkDraw lately is related to the beautiful, warm, Springlike weather we have been having at Boughbreak.
So much gardening needs to be done that I am rather exhausted by the time I come back into the house.

This week Baldur has dug up and separated a large bed of daylilies.
These are quite invasive and have threatened to strangle everything else in their path.
In order to get them out of my garden I systematically transplanted them across the road.
You may be thinking this doesn't sound too difficult but actually this ended up being more than 250 linear feet of daylilies, planted in a slowly rippling line. The line starts across the road from Boughbreak and heads to the corner where I had built a raised, stone wall surrounded flowerbed last Autumn.
The land there is a narrow strip bordered on one side by Primrose Pond and on the other side by my street. There are pine and oak trees but still plenty of sunlight.
Hopefully some of the daylilies will bloom this year, but in the event that they don't next year's display will still be spectacular.

Baldur

The soil across the road was rather poor, and extremely rocky.
Last summer I filled the back of my truck several times with horse manure and shoveled it across the area that I knew would be getting the daylilies.
That will help get them established.
Then they will be on their own.

Baldur is also moving a mountain of stone to the South side of Boughbreak in prepration of building a retaining wall.
Once backfilled, this new terraced area will become the new vegetable garden.
Where the stones are getting piled is awash in honeybees right now as it is in an area surrounded by my peach, pear and plum trees. The trees are in full bloom and are getting lots of attention from the pollinators.
The large plum tree is especially fragrant, it is amazing how sweet it makes the yard smell.
Other flowers are also blooming now. We are just about at the end of daffodil season.
In perhaps 2 more weeks the lilacs will begin, one of my favourite things to wait for in the garden.

Baldur

Another thing coming up right now is our asparagus. We may cut some tomorrow, the first crop of the year.
There is also lettuce, dandelion greens, and of course chives ready for the picking

Baldur

- is + are

sheftali52

Enjoyed Baron Baldur's Boughbreak briefing. Spring is a wonderful time of year to be outdoors. Sigh--Sheftali e-filed her tax forms tonight, and owes Uncle Sam more money. Wah.

Dragon

Dragon is jealous of Baldur's fruit trees. There's nothing more beautiful than flowering fruit trees and I think Plum trees might be my favorite (though Cherry definitly gets in there too.) When I used to live in Kelowna I had to drive by several orchards on my way home, in spring it was just beautiful to see hundreds of blossoming apple and cherry trees. We had 1 apple, 1 cherry and 2 plums in our yard. They were wonderful to have but lots of work to keep healthy.

sheftali, sorry to hear you're on the owing side of taxes this year. I was very pleased to learn I would be getting my largest ever refund this year. I'm planning on going a little crazy with it by paying off my credit card and putting the rest in savings, woohoo!

sheftali52

Yay for Dragon--tax refunds, if not too big, are good. I keep trying to get my withholdings right so that I neither owe nor pay. Haven't hit that mark yet.

polenta

Thanks Baldur for your explanation. I've heard lots of people are unemployed in US but that the economic situation is getting better. Hope you get a job that you like soon.