It's just a moo point...

It's been a while! I don't think I've ever gone this long without posting. I've had other things going on, and I haven't had much progress to post.

Anyway, the cows have come to Madison. Not *those* cows--the artsy ones. If you have no idea what this means, click here.


Perhaps my enthusiasm is dampened because I lived in Chicago during their cow parade thing, so I've already seen this. Or perhaps it's that they installed them at TWO IN THE MORNING across the street with what may be some of the loudest equipment and most annoying flashing lights ever created. It's hard to tell. I actually quite like driving past grazing cows, and in general, I have nothing against cows. I'm just ambivalent about their man-made cousins. When I was in Chicago, I walked past them, thinking, "Um...okay. So, anyway..." I don't know. Some of them are very creative. Apparently, it's quite good for tourism and charity, so I'll try not to be too crotchety about them :)

Knitting: No knitting updates :( It's been really warm, and I haven't felt like knitting (!) much.

Writing: Still at the same spot :( 25,000 words.

Reading: Now, this, I've been doing. Mysteries, mostly. A couple of Georgette Heyer mysteries--Footsteps in the Dark and Why Shoot a Butler? These are amateur detective novels from the 1930s. She wrote a ton of them, but I hadn't tried her before. Overall, they're great. The writing quality is excellent, and the suspense is well done. There are occasional disturbing sexist or racist comments, but it was a different time, I suppose. I also read Down the Garden Path by Dorothy Cannell. This one is not an Ellie Haskell mystery (though I enjoy those as well), but focuses on the Tramwell sisters who are minor characters in the Haskell mysteries. It was fun, as Cannell usually is. I also read A Dose of Murder by Lori Avocato. It was cute, but a total ripoff of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. Instead of Ranger, her mentor is the mysterious Jagger, and the respectable yet attractive Nick is Morelli. Instead of nutty Grandma Mazur, there's kooky Uncle Walt. Instead of the Hungarian housewife putting dinner on the table at 6 every evening, it's a Polish housewife putting dinner on the table at 6 every evening, and, like Stephanie, Pauline hates going there for dinner, but she does anyway. Pauline quits her job as a nurse, while Stephanie loses her job as a lingerie buyer. Instead of Lula, the plus-size black sidekick, Pauline has Goldie, the Creole transvestite. You get the idea. But fun and diverting, anyway. Enjay, I have read Tamar Myers before, but it's been a long time!

Cooking: I made Cavatappi With Arugula Pesto and Tomatoes last night. The recipe is at Cooking Light. It was fantastic. Incidentally, Stephaneener, that's where my ricotta cheese recipe is! I've never made chevre before, though. Yum. Despite the warm weather, I continue to crave soup. Weird. Today I made Shrimp and Egg Flower Soup from (guess where?) Cooking Light. Except with snow peas instead of shrimp. It was quite good.

More kitty pictures later in the week :) Marie, if it's cold, Mirando will stay tucked in for ages. It's pretty darn cute. And Rachel, we're not quite to laughing about the camping trip yet, but we're at the point where we can imagine laughing about it someday :) Oh, and for people who didn't watch Friends, here's the dialogue that the title of this post is from:

Joey: All right, Rach. The big question is, "does he like you?" All right? Because if he doesn't like you, this is all a moo point.
Rachel: Huh. A moo point?
Joey: Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.
Rachel: Have I been living with him for too long, or did that all just make sense?