A good rule of thumb is never to leave the house.

But if you must leave to run some errands, another good rule is to remember everything you need to bring along before you've left.

If, however, you're rolling out the driveway and remember something you forgot, always, always, ALWAYS remember to put your car back in park before you dash into the house.  Don't forget.  Ever.

The previous rule of thumb is very important.

If you ever do forget to park your car before exiting it (not that you, or anyone you know, would do that), at least don't leave it steered toward another car innocently parked a few feet in front of you.  Especially if that other car belongs to someone else.

These are only rules of thumb, not laws of nature.  They don't apply if, for example, you have an alert spouse in the passenger seat.  Thanks to my wife, I can break any of these rules -- even the one about not leaving the house -- in complete safety.

When I have no intelligent material to blog, I write about whatever I happen to be cooking at the moment.  Fortunately for my readers, it's not Ramen noodles today.  Actually, I'm cooking this, an old Gambian favorite:



You are feasting your eyes (and I shall feast my actual self) on domoda or, as the Mandinkas call it, tiya duurango -- which translates to "peanut stew."

Also on the menu are chicken yassa, wonjo juice, and cassava (sold in the U.S. as yuca root). Ever had cassava?  It's a delicious tuber . . . out of which tapioca is derived.  I just learned that on the world's most reliable source of knowledge, Wikipedia.

Cannot wait for suppertime!

... the Northern Lights were shining.  Green, gorgeous, and, from what I hear, not very commonly seen from this latitude.
My job gets me up at 2:30 a.m. every night -- not usually something I look forward to, but the heavens made it worth my while last night.  (and the night before, when the Pleids were shooting across the sky!)