Archives - Weekly Update

I am a big fan of "The Good Wife," which airs on CBS on Sunday nights. For weeks leading up to last Sunday, they had been touting that “big news” was airing on Sunday night. Since I knew basketball was wreaking the usual sports havoc (it’s always something...football, basketball or golf) with the CBS Sunday night lineup, I logged onto the show’s Facebook page to see what time the show was airing that night and found it was 9:41. At the same time, I spied a post from a viewer in the Atlantic time zone (no delays there) who revealed the big surprise, which was annoying. I watched the show differently as I knew what was going to happen. I saw how the writing was driving the setup. I was sorry not to have the surprise, but it was interesting to see how the scripting and plotting was done. And looking at it that way, the storyline had even more meaning. As soon as the show aired, a major entertainment trade newsletter sent background on the story behind this latest show arc. While I had no issue with their sharing this, I was disappointed that the URL for the piece bore the reveal details.

This year, the arrival of spring means the temperature is above freezing in the morning; today it’s 33. Bring on the flip flops and sandals! Last weekend, I got my car washed and whooshed away the vestiges of winter. I park in a garage in the city where a number of music executives from the Universal and Motown music labels park. Their cars gleam and look like they have never seen snow and road salt. I wondered how this was possible until I learned that the great team who works at the garage also washes cars during the day. I am sure their fees for this are beyond my budget, but at least I know the secret to the shining cars parked there! For weeks, I was dashing to mine, making no eye contact with the other drivers around me.

When temperatures are in the mid-60s and then drop to the mid-20s, one does not need to be a math genius to know this is not a fun weather pattern. The back seat of my car has a collection of coats, jackets and my trusty turquoise vest so I can layer up appropriately according to the weather. This weekend I am determined to get my car washed, but then again I see S-N-O-W in the forecast for Monday. The only consolation is that I finished the winter scarf above last weekend and was able to wear it. In an ode to trying to get weather to be better, I am going to knit lightweight tank tops. Let’s see if it works!

When I was in Seattle a couple of months ago, I drank a fabulous cucumber soda made by DRY Soda, which prides itself on being a less sweet soda with just four all-natural ingredients and a minimal amount of pure cane sugar. I called Wegmans, a store near me that is supposed to stock it (they said they did not have it) --- and even drove out there last weekend to look for it in the artisanal soda area (I picked up a grapefruit soda from another manufacturer instead). Back home I looked up a recipe for how to make it and thus made simple syrup with agave and grated cucumbers that I steeped before putting a few tablespoons of that mixture into a glass of seltzer. It tasted fine, but was still too sweet.