bits and pieces of today

Here are some pics to illustrate this evening's activities, followed by a bit of randomness thrown in for good measure!

Exhibit A: Greek Birthday Follies

Okay, so Karen's birthday was several weeks ago. However, we losers had left her to her own devices (we'd all temporarily departed the country, if not the whole continent), so we "nachgefeiert" this evening. That means we made up for it by celebrating late, but the single German word is just so much clearer than the long English explanation! ;o) Anyway, that's Pam, Karen, and April up there. As is our Chem-merican tradition, we went to Palas Athen, our favorite Greek restaurant, to celebrate. Ed is good pals with the owner, who served us himself! And he gave Karen a free gift, but I won't tell what it was. ;o)

I had yummy ground beef steak called "suzukakia." Mock the name if you will, but I brought home the leftovers to enjoy thoroughly tomorrow evening!

Secondly: The Furry Houseguest:

This is Felix. While Guido and Silke are on vacation with their family, Ed and I are cat-sitting at our house for two weeks. So far, Felix has been a lot of fun. He engages in random, mad dashes through the house and insists on being petted at least every five minutes. He greets with a happy "Mrow?" every human he sees. Though he has already tried to ingest several of my houseplants, I can't really blame him for it--I think he thinks they're grass.
On a slightly less jovial note.....I have to say that having him here isn't necessarily easy. Since he's a cat, everything he does reminds me of Ripley, and I've found myself with tears in my eyes several times since Felix arrived. I know it's good for me, his being here.....but it's hard. I don't blame Felix at all--he's one of the sweetest cats I've ever met, and he and I like each other very much. I just still miss my kitty.
A lot.

Finally, I bring thee tidings of great joy: Courtney In The Kitchen!

Here, I offer you documentation to show that in spite of my recent mishap with kitchen instruments, I still have the courage to face the dreaded culinary domain and attempt to produce something edible therein. Tomorrow is "gemeinsames Essen," i.e. "communal eating," i.e. potluck after worship, so I decided to bring something. Since I need to get rid of all the sugar and chocolate chips in the pantry, thereby eliminating these items from my realm of temptation, I chose to bake some cookies this evening, so as to foist this sweet, delicious poison off on unsuspecting church members. I figure they're all adults, they can decide if they need to be eating said cookies or not. ;o)

And, last but not least: