Fishies!

I was outside shoveling snow this morning while the neighbor was loading his car to go fishing.  Fishing in February?  We talked a while and I went inside and he packed his car and headed for West Virginia.  Later that evening I heard my doorbell ringing and there he was with a cooler.  He handed over twelve beautiful fish!  I couldn't believe it!  They'd had so much success pulling fish out of the river that instead of releasing them all he brought some to me.  I've never dressed a fish before, so of course I had to google it to figure out what needed to be done.  Before long I got the hang of it and now they are all dressed and waiting for me to find a sharp enough knife to skin and bone them.  Lunch at my place = fish!  And now I have lemons and butter, all the ingredients for fresh bread and cookies and some produce.  I suppose I'm ready for the snow.

I have decided that fish are beautiful, who wouldn't want to be dressed in their finery?  Shimmering reflective  scales and a body that moves with liquid grace.  Sadly, this one just wasn't very photogenic, you don't get to see all the fancy colors on this one's skin.  But very beautiful in person! 

Though seriously, how many record breaking snows does one need in one winter?  Maybe we could call this one "Injury" and then the storm coming through next Tuesday we could call "Insult."  And the snow hasn't melted from the last storm.  And I LOVE snow.  I suppose I have some cabin fever, I've been cold and feeling cooped up for too long.   I could use a good run on the golf course.  I could use a change of scenery.

The first of my models for the project was by for her fitting today.  She's a tiny little slip of a thing, very beautiful and energetic.  She asked me what I had in mind for her and I quickly gave her the synopsis.  She literally jumped up and down and squealed!  I was so TICKLED by her response!  She went on to tell me how this was perfect for her and gave some examples.  I was a little stunned by all that, but it was what came to me for her and I now know that it's really right for her.  I was going to get started on her costume today but some stuff came up.  And I curled up on the sofa to get some work done and fell right asleep.  I didn't wake up for quite some time and when I did, I felt pretty rough around the edges. 

I finally mustered enough energy to make soup and so I made cream of spinach tofu noodle soup.  Now that may sound a little gross but when I feel sick I go for food that is packed with all kinds of helpful mojo.  The flavors were good and the tofu was pureed into the soup so if you didn't know the tofu was there you'd just think it was a thick creamy soup.

That's when the neighbor showed up with the fish, they were in a cooler packed in snow.  By that time I had kind of passed my second wind and was on to my forth or fifth.  I got all twelve best dressed and tomorrow I'll try my hand at skinning and boning them, I don't have the right knife but hopefully I can find something that will work.  And I'm not sure how I'll cook them yet, but figuring it out will be fun.  Food Network will help me.

Loves and best fishes to you,
-Carmen Rose