Dancing girls

Diana is at Mum's house in Montreal, pointing out which stuff goes to Virginia Beach, which stuff goes to the Salvation Army, which stuff stays for the new owner.

Since she's away, I had three dancing girls over. Well, dancing somethings. With the mukluks and parkas and all, it was kind of hard to tell if they were, in fact, girls. They may have been manatees.

Power went out for a couple of hours, and it got down to 54° in the house, which is better than the 16° outside, but still pretty chilly. It was also dark, but you can use a laptop as a substitute flashlight, somewhat awkwardly.

Snow

Cold and snow. Diana is in Montreal, where it's something like -30°, but that's okay, it's supposed to be cold there. It's not supposed to be 13° in Virginia Beach. With three inches of snow. Brr.

Movie Weekend

Diana is out of town this weekend so I've watched a couple of movies:

• Big Trouble in Little China. I was wondering how I missed seeing this when it was originally released, and the answer is that it came out in 1986 when I was in grad school. Kurt Russell and his buddy Wang Chi set off to rescue Wang's girlfriend McGuffin--er, Miao Yin--from the sorceror Lo Pan and his mini-bosses Thunder, Rain and Lightning. The great line, after they slay the villains and rescue the girl (and some other girls they run across along the way), is " We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we, Wang?" This appears to be a reference to Job 26:11: "The pillars of Heaven shake and are amazed at His rebuke."
• The Warrior's Way. A Japanese warrior/assassin refuses to kill the baby who is the last surviving member of the enemy clan; he takes the child, fights his way through his clan's other killers, and goes to the American West. He starts a new life as a laundryman in a small town, taking care of the baby and befriending a young woman. However, outlaws come raiding. The hero must take up his sword again, but once unsheathed, the sword's lament draws the clan assassins who are hunting him. This one didn't have any notable quotes but it did have a good structure, with The Final Battle Against the Outlaws being interrupted by the Final Battle Against the Assassins.

Retirement

I told my boss nearly a month ago that I was ready to leave; today I officially handed in my resignation. Huzzah! I've started training my replacement, telling my customers that I'm going, and cleaning off my desk.

Chayote

Following up on my resolution to try new foods, we made Costa Rican Beef and Chayote, which is not actually a dish I saw in Costa Rica, but we tried it. Mostly ground beef and onions, plus garlic, parsley, curry powder, diced tomatoes, green pepper...and chayote squash. Chayote looks like a pear but tastes more like cucumber, maybe with a taste of celery. If you're out of zucchini, and you happen to have a chayote laying around, you can use it as a substitute. Not the sort of taste explosion that would cause anyone to weep for joy; on the other hand, it isn't a lutefisk-and-kimchee sandwich.

Kukri

With assistance from Mad Mike Williamson, I have obtained a kukri. One more item checked off the bucket list. Nearly ready for the zombie alpaca lips.

Sugar Cane Juice

Available in canned form, from the Asian market. Back 40-some years ago, I could get it straight from the cane, which (according to my 40+-year-old memories) was better than this. But it's something new to try.