I love basil, and other randomness

I’m taking a break from all the Maine vacation photos I’ve been forcing on you to bring you random thoughts about the universe. Or rather, my universe – which exists in this little section of Maryland on the top of a hill surrounded on all sides by Surburbia.

Long post alert for those in a hurry.

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When I arrived home from work today, I made a salad that I’ve have been having nearly every day at about the same time. The counter in our kitchen always seems to have freshly picked tomatoes on it, and by the sink, I usually keep a vase full of basil from the garden. When my eyes see the both of them together, I will not be satisified until I have a caprese salad.

Today, after arranging everything on the plate, I suddenly decided that it looked nice enough to photograph, so I took the plate into the breakfast nook, adjusted the camera and was almost ready to take a shot when my cell phone rang.

I put the camera down and answered the phone. When I was finished, I sat down to eat my salad and it wasn’t until I was half-way through when I realized that I hadn’t even taken the photos yet. I had the camera sitting right there and had completely forgotten what I was doing.

So I took the pictures anyway.

And I think the half-finished plate look is working well here. At least, that’s my story. And I’m sticking to it.

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Last year, I bought some Celestial Seasonings ‘Cold-Brew’ teabags in the peach flavor and had forgotten that that it was in my tea cabinet until my husband pointed it out to me today when I was jonesing for some iced tea quick. I’ll be the first to admit that I have issues with tea, specifically for the apparent massive collection that I have of it. I just wanted to say that CS Cold-Brew in Peach tastes really really good.

So I thought I’d try it with a little vodka in it.

I don’t know, it was cocktail time and I felt like being wild and crazy. But oh, it was bad. Oh, not good at all.

And then I took a second sip. Ugh. Not good still but I wanted to be sure.

By the third sip, it was actually tasting a little better.

And by the tenth, I wondered why I hated it so much in the first place.

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Last night, I watched a movie on Netflix that I can’t stop thinking about. I’d originally seen Life As A House at a theatre when it first came out ten years ago and was moved by it then but had forgotten much and was wanting to see it again.

The movie stars Kevin Kline in one of his best roles, in my opinion. He plays a man who’s keeping the shattering news of his terminal illness to himself while at the same time trying to build the house that he’d been dreaming of for years. Hayden Christensen delivers a stunning performance with his portrayal of the estranged son whose entire being is transformed by the end of the film. Kristin Scott Thomas, Mary Steenburgen, and Jena Malone round out the casts’ core characters. It’s a little bit of a tear-jerker, but a telling look into the fragility of the human condition. But the star of the film for me is the location, breathtakingly set on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. My favorite scene involved a sunset and that's all I'll tell you about it, other than how good I felt after having viewed this little gem of a film.

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My cat thinks she is the Queen of Sheba. And it makes it very difficult to go up and down the steps.

I’m just sayin’.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .