jumping the queue

rob typically runs the show when it comes to our netflix queue, but i'm taking over--at least for the summer. we've cut back our plan to one DVD at a time, so every selection counts (we've been sitting on "the reader" for weeks because...well...it's not exactly fun summer viewing).

there are plenty of newer movies that we've missed over the past two years, for obvious reasons, but what i'd really like to do this summer is catch up on some classics and older films (many that i've heard about through the filmspotting podcast). here's what's been added to the queue so far:

bonnie & clyde (1967)
midnight cowboy (1969)
le cercle rouge (1970)
rififi (1955)
the seventh seal (1957)
fanny and alexander (1982)
smiles of a summer night (1955)
harold and maude (1971)
fitzcarraldo (1982)
the long goodbye (1973)
the 400 blows (1959)
jules and jim (1962)
who's afraid of virginia woolf? (1966)
cool hand luke (1967)
grey gardens (1975)
the apartment (1960)

other suggestions?

strawberries

on our way back from wisconsin at the beginning of the month, we drove through strawberry point, iowa, which is home of the world's largest strawberry.

berries are on major sale right now, so here are a few of my favorite non-dessert-y strawberry recipes...
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we're going to a party tonight and i'm bringing a green salad with this moosewood strawberry vinaigrette dressing:

1 cup strawberries, rinsed with stems removed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp balsamic or cider vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp water
pinch of ground black pepper

combine all ingredients in a blender and puree till smooth. refrigerate in a sealed container.
will keep for up to a week.
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for dinner a few weeks ago i made a composed salad based on a recipe in the may issue of cooking light with stuff we already had in the fridge and it was delicious. it was just:

salad greens (spinach or baby lettuces would work especially well, i think)
a handful of quartered strawberries
chopped rotisserie chicken breast
some chopped unsalted cashews
crumbled blue cheese

dress with red wine vinaigrette (1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp water, pinch of salt and black pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil).

a perennial mystery

exhibit A.
here's a bellflower, planted next to the garage. i'm excited that it will be blooming soon. i got it from jean, my department's administrative assistant, along with a bunch of other shade-loving perennials...
exhibit B.
jean also thought this was a bellflower. but now i'm not so sure...
exhibit C.
jean wasn't sure about this one. but maybe it's the same as B? could both of them also be bellflower? neither is tall or sprouting like A.
here's A up close again. the bigger leaves at the base look a lot like B and C's leaves, but B and C don't have any of the thinner, pointier ones that A has higher up, close to the buds.

i'm looking for some input from you seasoned gardeners. at least, those of you more seasoned than me.

okay, this pretty much means all of you.

any ideas about exhibits B and C?

wednesday in the park with eleanor

solo on the big curvy slide!

story time has moved to willow creek park (in samantha and ernie's old neighborhood) for the summer. for as reticent E was to romp on the playground equipment outside of the library last week, she was excited to get down the slide...

give flatty a ride on the zebra...

and get a little dizzy on the merry-go-round this week. oddly, these photos make it seem like we had the park to ourselves. really, there were plenty of storytimers running around.

i had my first working afternoon of the summer today. sarah, a former augie student who's starting a master's program at UI, came over just before naptime and dug up some weeds with eleanor in the yard when she woke up. it was a productive three and a half hours!