sweets for the sweet

Today, I shared more of the delectables purchased on Friday! These are three of the chocolate-clad, pecan-drizzled, toffees, made with that fabulous sourwood honey- smoky, tangy, anchoring the sweet to this realm. Fabulous, I do declare!
I had purchased a small bag of these treats, taste unknown, but knowing my love of caramels in all of their incarnations. I treated myself to one as a post-brunch dessert on Sunday, after dining sumptuously on a bratwurst and leftover kale from the night before. The toffee hit just the right note, singing a delicious melody to my eager palate. MmmmMmmmmMmmmmmmmm!
I celebrated my first day of Spring Break by having lunch and a movie with my step-mom in Bluffton. Before leaving home, I placed three of the toffees into this little plastic Chocolat sleeve, especially for her, to share the goodness with another who would truly appreciate the quality and nuances of the tastes. I waited until our time together was nearing its close, so she would have a treat to enjoy when she returned to Beaufort and got settled in for the evening. A sweet before-bed "hug" to remind her that I love her.
Later that evening, after the first part of the ODDitions at Muse Arts had successfully hit my laugh button for two hours, I headed over to the Crystal Beer Parlor where the Liquor Posse was holding court. Monday is team trivia night and the LP, in various configurations, can be found there reliably, usually winning. This night, some folks from Philo Cafe were there, as were some from Drinking Liberally, but to no avail. The team was losing. Losing badly, too. But the contestants were still in a wonderfully happy mood! Definitely a good place to be for the tail end of my evening!
Sometimes, even my scant knowledge of Trivia lends an occasional correct answer, generally in the sphere of the sciences, but tonight I was of help on the movie trivia. The question was a bonus question with ten parts. I helped on three of the questions of linking movie stars to the movies for which they received Oscar nominations. Not enough of a help, but we had fun together in the attempt. I need to make sure I do this more often!
A woman was there celebrating her birthday, which is actually March 17th. That's right, Saint Patrick's Day. She had decided that she should celebrate HER special day ahead of time, to make sure it didn't get lost in the backwash of green flowing over this town next weekend. Good idea! At the end of the party, she had extra green armbands and was generously passing them out to folks in the Parlor. How very nice! These elastic bands sported little filigree shamrocks chasing each other along the expanse of green. Even nicer! We each received one, and one of the folks gave me theirs for my house-mate. What a pleasant surprise for the peace guy!
What a wonderful day for me!
And tomorrow I shall feed stale popcorn to ducks and geese and gulls!

sugar pie honey bunch

The morning was spent grading tests. At home. And my mood was much better without that extra added stress of going to a place where I dearly want to stay, a place where my time may be up. I do believe that stress has been noticed by my students, as I have shown up worn out emotionally and sometimes with red-rimmed eyes.
Today, though, I resolved to not go out there, as I have no classes on Friday. I gave tests to both lectures and decided to grade those instead of making the trip southside. Then, because I knew the students would fret about the grades, I taught myself to use the gradebook function on the new Learning Management System (seriously, this is how academics talk). I taught myself how to use it. I had attended a live webinar, hosted by the folks on campus, late on a Monday evening, hoping to glean knowledge on that particular topic. No. The webinar was to have been an hour, but was barely thirty minutes and was split over two online systems.
So, I taught myself to create the gradebook and the categories and the items. Then I entered the grades into the LMS, even entering the grades for the previous two exams, and setting it up so the students get an updated standing as future grades are entered.
I must say, I was quite proud of myself at the tail end of the working day! I had graded the tests of both lectures, created the gradebooks for each group, entered all of the grades currently attained, and notified the students. A very good day's work!
Then it was off to the No Kidding! gathering downtown! The baseball girl was there, as was her mom later. The Eagle had already landed, as had the chemyst, encouraging me to try a new drink... which I did! I even liked it so much that I treated him to the next round. I don't usually like the pale wheat, but add some orange juice to that Shocktop and it's more than palatable - it's tasty! The math teacher was there for a while, and the bird formerly of Charleston, as well as the tall economist, and we all had quite a lovely time together! In fact, after two hours, some split off to other parts, but the Eagle and the economist joined me for dinner at Taco Abajo, lured by my descriptions of the bread pudding fashioned into french toast triangles. So very good!!
But firt things first: dessert! Off to search for Chocolat, a place boasting sourwood honey caramels. And we found it - and, amazingly, it was OPEN!!! Very nice! So after the shop mistress regaled us with the tantalizing descriptions, I bought some of the chocolate-covered, sea-salted caramels - one for each of the fellows, one for the fellow at home, one for me, and two for my bff and her honey. After all, chocolate is best when shared with friends, n'est-ce pas?
So, after loading up with sweet morsels for now and later, we bopped on down to fire up our taste buds on spiced meat. Yum! And as we were leaving, a band was rehearsing for their midnight gig, and their sound was so unique that I had to find out more. Plus, this was the first trip to the basement eatery for my the fellows, so I took them on the grand tour, as it were.
Ambassadors was the name of the band and you can enjoy their two-drummer sounds here. That first cut is the one that snagged my ear. I may go back at midnight to hear them, but probably not, as it is a bit too cool out for my sensitive self. I just may buy their album, though!
After we came back up streetside, we parted company at our cars. After all, it WAS a bit cold out!
And as I was driving home, I thought I might as well check out the free concert at Forsyth and see if the music was still flowing. It was! So, even though it was cold, the tunes were hot, so I parked and hustled up to get warm. I am so very glad I did! of Montreal (yes, the "of" is NOT capitalized) put on a very nicely theatrical show to accompany their overhead screen scenes and alt-poppy sounds. Scantily-clad, long-legged nymphs in sparkly blue capes, a huge moth man, pirate-clad bassists - oh, yes, my dears, all that and more! I managed to stay over an hour before the cold started to invade my bones and I was forced to leave... but that wasn't until the last song, which then regaled me to the edge of the park and beyond, all the way to my car.
Such a lovely Friday evening!