I just put on a CD called Zen Reveries and then started some water for a pot of tea. I need some peace and quite. I drove to work last night and as I was walking to the back steps of the building, one of my fellow workers who was out there smoking a cigerette informed me that they had changed the schedual, and I am on swing shift now. They had tried to call me but my cell phone was turned off. He gave me John's phone number so I went home and called him. I will have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off now. It's totally fine with me. I don't think I will mind that shift at all. My pay check will be short this week, but I think I can manage.

I went over to a park called Lincoln Park down by the Puget Sound a little earlier today. Entering the park and into the woods there were birds singing. The sun was out but still a little brisk. Just the way I like spring to be. I took a path that led down to the water. I went passed a mud slide. There were city workers around doing something. I don't know what. The salty smell of the water was the way I always remembered it. A short distance away a ferry pulled into the Fauntleroy dock bringing in passengers from Vashon Island. I found a path that led back to the top of the bluff. It was a picnic area. I sat down in one of the little open building and rested a bit before I continued back to the parking lot where my car was parked.

We've been having some great spring days lately. For the last few weeks early in the morning I could hear birds singing. It reminded me of my childhood. On rainy days the birds didn't sing. They were probably huddled in trees trying to stay dry.

I went down to Wal-Mart yesterday to get some new glasses. I had my eyes tested and picked out the kind of frames I want and everything. They talked me into getting some kind of lens that ultra violet rays can't penetrate. The Vietnamese woman who did the examination wanted to diolate my eyes. I really didn't want that since I had to drive home and didn't want to to have to wait around there for a couple hour waiting for my eyes to get back to normal. Then I asked when my glasses would be ready. I was told in about 2 or 3 weeks. I was given a phone number to call after 2 weeks if I hadn't heard from them. They also charged me 2 times more then I have ever paid for glasses in the past, and I always got same day service. I have always walked out with my new glasses. I think this is a third world business because I only saw Oriental people and other foreigners working there. They may have soaked me this time, but I will never go back there again. I will go back to the place where I usually get glasses, up in the University District. Also I didn't see people flocking in there to get glasses, so it must be well known that they are a rip off.

Tonight for dinner I'll have...

CABBAGE SOUP

1 small or medium head of cabbage chopped up

1 or 2 lbs of Kelbasa chopped into bite sized pieces

2 cans of chicken stock

1 medium onion chopped

1 small containier of cream, milk, creamer or dried milk. Enough to make the soup creamy.

1 or 2 dried red peppers ripped up & tossed in

1 or 2 large potatoes chopped up

1 can of kernal corn, or a small package of frozen

Cornstarch stirred into cold broth to thicken if needed

METHOD:

Boil all the vegatables and kelbasa in the chicken broth in a large pot on the top of your stove. Add another can of broth if needed. After the vegatables and meat are cooked, add the cream, or other milk product. (Before you start the cooking reserve a little of the broth while it is still cold and stir in about a tsp of cornstarch to make a slurry and add it in the soup when the vegatables are cooked, and stir it around. It will give the soup some body.)

Serve this with some kind of crusty French bread.

Most likely I won't have any crusty French bread, but I'll probable have this with crakers or some other bread that I have in my freezer.

I guess today the Chinese president will be coming to our country. He will be stopping over in Redmond and Everett before seeing the president in Washington DC. this is all for now.