Monthly Archives: March 2008

Clinton and I discovered Wickles about a year or two ago. It is pretty darned near the best relish on the planet. Basically, it makes any sandwich you put it on ten times better!

Recently though, we scraped out the last bit from the bottom of our very last jar in the refrigerator, and we were unable to find more Wickles at the store!! We looked at Kroger, Food Lion and Whole Foods, but alas no Wickles to be found. We were afraid they had gone out of business.

Thankfully, the search is now over. As of today, we have located the delightful relish at the Harris Teeter on Hwy 54 and Fayetteville St. in Durham, for $4.59 per jar!
Wonderful + pickles = Wickles!!

Next time, we may opt for getting a whole case…

Very soon we will replace Clinton’s older Corolla with something newer. We are looking at a 2006 Scion xA for him – highly rated for dependability and value, per Consumer Reports – which we will test drive on Wednesday.
Ah, but the memories of the Corolla… She was such a good camping companion, grad school mobile, and Hurricane Katrina escape vehicle. It was the first car I bought (sort of) on my own. I won’t forget you, old girl!

Here is a piece of weird news that will make you chuckle. It’s about a man named Kory McFarren whose girlfriend – out of fear of leaving the bathroom – sat on his toilet for two years and got stuck there. The police had to pry the seat off with a crowbar, and then the hospital removed the seat from her butt.
I like the end of the accompanying article:

McFarren said his neighbors don’t realize that there are a lot of people with phobias doing similar things. He said false rumors have been circulating around town that he was somehow keeping her on the toilet against her will.

“Tell people,” he said, “to leave me the hell alone.”

I have been pretty sick for over a week now. This is weird for me, because I so rarely (KNOCK ON WOOD!) get sick. I took a whole week off from exercising, which was doubly weird for me. I tried to get back into running today with the group, but I could only manage two miles, and then I walked the two miles back to the car. In general, I’m still coughing, congested, and a bit tired and headachy. Hope I get over this soon so I can get back to swimming, biking, running and yoga!

I just want to say again how much I love Durham. Let me count the ways…

• the Durham Farmer’s Market (the best farmer’s market in the world)
• the Eno River (including secret swimming holes and associated tales of pirate treasure)
• Duke Forest and its perfect, perfect running trails
• Wafting on the Eno
• Frog Hollow Outdoors – canoes! kayaks! geo-caching adventures!
• Ninth Street
• GREAT restaurants
• the American Tobacco Historic District
• the Durham YMCA and it’s fabulous yoga instruction
• Dancing and Drag Bingo at the Armory
• Downtown Durham and its rich history
• the delightful Unitarian Universalists (hippies!) at ERUUF
• Sarah P. Duke Gardens
• oh so many more reasons

If you want to hear some more reasons why our town is so great, I also found this really awesome collection of thoughts and musings from other Durham-ites who also love Durham.

This is a great 10-minute video from Oprah’s show and is really worth watching. In it, Dr. Randy Pausch pretty much (in my opinion) sums up what the meaning of life is.

Just discovered the music of Clare Fader and the Vaudevillians. I love the description of this album:

The Elephant’s Baby is indescribably witty, urbane, slick and all around unique. Fader has the proverbial way with words and her imagination is a frightfully bizarre living room full of animal noises, weird lovers, threatening furniture, strange childhood stories, and the occasional romantic holiday. It’s all played out as cabaret (she calls her ensemble The Vaudevillains), part New York 1999 and part Berlin 1927. It’s a cabaret act that has gone off its meds.

<a xhref=”http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2008&month=4&date=26&hrs=8&ts=24&min=0&sec=0&tz=-300&lang=en&show=dhms&mode=t&cdir=down&bgcolor=%23CCFFFF&fgcolor=%23000000&title=Countdown%20%27Til%20Crystal%20does%20a%20Triathlon%21%21%21%21%211″ mce_href=”http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html?year=2008&month=4&date=26&hrs=8&ts=24&min=0&sec=0&tz=-300&lang=en&show=dhms&mode=t&cdir=down&bgcolor=%23CCFFFF&fgcolor=%23000000&title=Countdown%20%27Til%20Crystal%20does%20a%20Triathlon%21%21%21%21%211″ >Countdown ‘Til Crystal does a Triathlon!!!!!1</a>