Leo Clement

Do you ever get the feeling that you've been mindlessly shoveling food or gasping down liquids without truly appreciating the tasteful bounty? Like an old professor of mine used to say; eating is something that is done at least three times a day, you may as well do it well. Or one of my all time favorite culinary quotes from food critic Anton Ego: If I don't love it, I don't SWALLOW. (Quote taken from my also all time favorite movie Ratatouille.) Here is Leo, (a true Sommelier of the sippy cup beverages) on a very hot day this past week, showing us how it is done! Oh yeah! First, the bouquet. A long silent pause is required. A thoughtful pause in which the nose can assimilate the slightly pungent smell of a sippy cup that is indeed a rare vintage. The sweet aroma of warmed rubber and of the other random debris which has fused to the outside of the cup during its dark sojourn in the Cellar of La Diaper Bag..  Before that first sip is taken, the...

An oldie but goodie When brainstorming ideas for a blog post, I always start with the impossible. Like a topic that really is way outside my scope; say something about the crazy sadness happening in Ukraine, or the ongoing heartbreak and tragedy of the middle east, to perhaps the political farce in our country and then, just as I sit down at the computer all fired up, cold hard reason sets in and I spend the next twenty minutes browsing FB and looking at all the pictures my friends post of their summer vacays. Cool right? So after exploring both sides of the blogging spectrum; from the way too ambitious - in your dreams post- to the I'm busily doing absolutely nothing post- I tend to drift into the happy medium post land which includes topics that I actually do know something about, and of course the old stand by: Leo. This blog is his after all.  And believe it or not, well actually if you don't believe me the proof is just to the right on the screen in the form of a ...

We just got back from a week long escape to our camp in the Adirondack Park. I know I've written about our camp trips before, but I figure a little refresher and background history never hurts. The cozy camp is tucked into the bay of Eagle Crag lake and truly feels like a different world, something out of a fairytale. The nights are silent, yet full with the sounds of trees rustling, haunting loon calls, and other mysterious wild things that I can't name.  Camp Elzear, owned by my husband's family. Not a "Great" camp, but still fairly historic, and certainly great in every way that matters! The camp tradition on the Adirondack lakes goes way back to nineteenth century when the rich and incredibly prosperous built the so called historic Great Camps of the Park. They would pack up their households including nannies and servants, and spend the summer months relaxing or "camping" by the lake shore. Hmm, looks like they really had to rough it! Our ...

Summer has finally graced us in Vermont with her sunny presence and let me tell you, we are packing in as much outdoor fun as we can here at Chez Little Lion, and so far things have been going wonderfully, with only a minor hiccup here or there. One of such hiccups was a brief seizure episode last week which trapped Leo with a sneaky ambush attack in the early hours of the morning. This was definitely ambush tactics because the opposing forces (me and my handy meds) were sleeping and off duty! When I was finally awoken by the ruckus caused by a full fledge seizure battle, I retaliated immediately with lightning fast reflexes and the enemy was vanquished while I was running around desperately trying to find some clean (ahem..) clothes in which to take the lion to the ER if the enemy persisted in battle. However, as it happened I got to stay in my pjs because the seizure monster slunk off in the face of the majesty of pure chemistry, and Leo was left a bit snowed, but completely happ...