A Note Pad or Google Chrome

Posted on February 16, 2016 | Leave a comment

At 3:00 a.m. I awaken to my best ideas for writing, and many other areas such as cooking or how to revitalize a non-profit theater. I’ve always reminded myself to keep a note pad by the bed. I do not. Last night I had three three-fer blog posts based on three single words. After awakening, dressing for the weather, taking out the dog and feeding her I forgot them all.

Perhaps later in the day I’ll remember.

Then there is Google Chrome from which I write this blog. They are discontinuing service for all who do not have the newest OS on their Mac. My Mac is old, my iPhone is brand new and while Google Chrome was good for a while, see ya later.

I believe a car is supposed to get me from point A to point B. I believe a computer is a tool, like pencil and paper, to achieve any means like writing, spreadsheets, internet searching et al. My car is 12 years old. My computer is eight years old. My phone was eight years old. They all worked. OK, when we had friends over for dinner one night they all put their cell phones on the coffee table then asked what I had. Their phones all laughed at mine. But it wasn’t until I couldn’t contact my bank that I got a new phone.

Yes, I’ll need a new computer, but Google Chrome, why are you doing this? My husband has upgraded my OS to the limit and bought more memory. Even a new hard drive and battery. Yes, he’s a software guy.

Google Chrome is supposed to get me internet access and access to this blog. Why are you going to block it? Guess I’ll have to go back to Firefox or Safari. Remember something.

I do not carry a Paris Hilton dog in my handbag. I’ve a 32 lb. rescue dog with no hips. I wear Crocs. I’m not interested in looking good in the neighborhood while I walk the hipless wonder dog. I’m not interested in showing off my new phone or having people see my computer array (yes, wireless keyboard, 24″ flat screen monitor and Bluetooth printer that could flatten a bus if only I could lift it). All the ideas of my better half.

It’s all pencil and paper, point A to point B. They’re tools. My precious objects are here with me, dog Zoe, or a husband away on business for a couple of days.

I just remembered one of my themes. Back after I have breakfast. Dee

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I Missed a Lot

Posted on February 12, 2016 | Leave a comment

I get up in the morning to walk the dog, of course, but before I do that I put down the shades.

Why? To protect art. In our living room I’ve a story that will keep you going for weeks. It is a quilt by my dear mother-in-law. After years we’ve made it into a seasons quilt. I only helped a little bit with the concept as I failed my Girl Scout sewing badge at age seven.

In our “den” we’ve a 100 year-old quilt from my husband’s family with many stories to be told. I close the blinds to prevent the sun from shining too brightly on these cherished works of art.

Don’t worry, I leave them up to the bottom window so our old dog Zoe can watch squirrels out the window. It won’t hurt the quilts, or squirrels.

Our neighbor is a Swedish architect, retired now. He liked one work I picked out at the University of Glasgow. When James McNeill Whistler died he left everything to his sister. When she died, she left everything to the University. I got to see his entire studio as it was the day he died. Going out, I found a print I really liked, a nude (not really because her legs were crossed and she had a book over her upper parts) that was not Whistler’s mother. It’s dainty and I framed it well and not expensively.

I’ve had over thirty years to travel, have not used much of it but Fr. John would be proud. A cook, not an artist, I may make my teachers proud. I did learn history! Dee

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Note: Try Video Later

Posted on February 12, 2016 | Leave a comment

I got a great history in art from Fr. John, then a lesson in Renaissance and Reformation in history from said priest.

When my father turned 80 he took up art. As you walk into our home we’ve a Tuscan landscape on one wall and Maori art on the other. Plus a charcoal drawing of dancers from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, from a student about thirty years ago. Dad painted two, and bought me the drawing.

There is a print to the left and more photos to the right in the kitchen. Not all food-related. Directly in front I framed the Brooklyn Bridge in b/w for my husband. Down the hall there are two framed photos I took on an historic tour, one of a mill in Vermont and another of Concord grapes near where I grew up.

I call these three “the greens” because they each have a different frame and matte color but our focus is on the Creek. I’ve loved that creek for many years and the photographer was much better than I, though I do hope my framing choices do it justice.

In the bedroom the piece de resistance is over our bed, another raw Tuscan countryside. I went to a consignment shop in Houston perhaps ten years ago and was looking for a nice piece to store china. Checking out the drawers I found two Tuscan, signed and numbered lithos and scurried out of the store. Forget the dresser/server, I paid $4 for them and then $150 to double-mat them years later.

There are three Tuscan artist-made paintings of local towns from a guy I really liked. They’re all double or triple-matted in wood frames. My framer also helped me do a tryptich of my long shots of the Greek seas. And, for my husband, a crayon drawing of The Wizard of Oz. It’s his favorite.

I’ve others to put up, but one is newly important. I took care of a dog for a friend and she brought back a Japanese wood block print for me. It is key because in the 1700’s he was the first artist in the world to make full-color  wood prints. It is of a courtesan receiving an invitation and I look forward to meeting with Ms. K. to frame it. Let’s see what shows up below from former work. That’s my Dad’s Tuscan work.

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Too dark to do photos. New phone so no experience except not answering wrong numbers from gang members and just making a few calls. Kindergarten level. Framing art to make it look as good as it can be is fun. Also expensive. As to my mentor’s photo below, I will be buried there. Not there but miles away. She always made my and many others’ days. Cheers! Dee

DSCF0072

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Changing Things Up

Posted on February 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

Yes, we move from time to time. We’ve been married over 13 years now and see things on the horizon.

I get to see the little things. I lived on my own for years so never had to think of these little things, like making dinner for two, feeding and walking a dog and keeping certain things separate. Suitcases. I used to be able to pack for us in less than 12 minutes. After 14 years he packs himself (first time for everything) and I stay out of his way. Of course all his shirts, pants, socks et al are clean and folded in his closet. Magic!

Most dishes go in the dishwasher so that’s all the same. Some things are blue/purple for him and red/pink for me, like toothbrushes. We can tell our glasses apart (I hate Dr. Pepper) and I don’t wear contacts.

Then it comes to cell phones. Mine was eight years old and even my bank would not allow me access. Years ago I got a bright pink case because we had the same phone back then (he drowned one fly-fishing then progressed several times) and I didn’t want him to take mine to work and have my list of contacts instead of who he needed to contact for work.

Now we’ve the newest iPhone on the planet and it’s huge and heavy and I don’t text and don’t know how to use the darn thing. I don’t care. I only call and answer calls. We both got glass and he has a hard case because he keeps his phone in his pocket and drops it on concrete a lot. I got a clear case with a rose gold back on my phone so he’ll never board a flight without his phone or contact list. I keep mine connected in the kitchen (away from water) and in my purse when on the road.

Newlyweds, forget about what the bridal magazines are trying to sell you. You will not be reading the Sunday paper and doing the crossword on the sofa. You will be worrying about where to put Great Aunt Linda’s china and taking care of your husband when his allergies kick in. Then you’ll have kids, at least a dog. Walks, soccer, school, runny noses. Whatever. Just remember when you take out Fido, you pick up and safely transport the poop to an approved receptacle. I am happily married to a very smart man, and am glad that you read this blog. Cheers! Dee

ps Ask me about the one fly-fishing trip another time……

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Sleeper, Keeper, Herder

Posted on February 11, 2016 | Leave a comment

My husband is off on business for a few days so old dog Zoe is following me around. I am the Food Wench, after all. I walked a few feet from bed where she has taken my husband’s side, to the office to write this and in less than two minutes she was at my side.

I got her a small dog bed and placed it on the carpet. A minute later she is sound asleep again. A week ago she turned 84 in people years. She’s gorgeous, vivacious, loves everyone and is kind of a mascot around here. She sleeps probably 20 hours per day, plays, walks, entertains visitors and people think she’s a puppy. She looks for blue pants with a dark stripe (the mail man or her favorite postal worker Lynn who is still in the neighborhood but not here) because she loves them. And neighbors’ grandkids come over and whisper her name hoping she’ll hear and bark once and I’ll open the door. I’m younger in people years and wish I looked as good.

Now she herds me room to room, whatever I’m doing. My Aunt L used to call it “being by.” Make the bed, I have to walk around her at the foot of it. Fold laundry. You get it. But the best place is her Magic Room, the kitchen, where food is unloaded, prepped and served. She has her own menu but will occasionally be slipped (not by me) a sliver of apple or a grape. OK, my husband likes making popcorn and one or two popped kernels may go her way. He’s the fun guy, I’m food wench and disciplinarian.

As she is so old I’ve been thinking dog names and breeds. I don’t really want to get a pup that will drive her crazy but don’t want to get a pup that I’m too old to raise and my husband will not wish to carry on.

All my life I’ve dealt with damaged goods and have made good of two cats and two dogs over 20 years of volunteerism on their behalf. Zoe was our first shot at formative behavior, not a violent environment. Education, not rehabilitation. She and her litter were in a bad home and she needed to be rehabilitated for health reasons but was six weeks old, spayed at the shelter (too early for me) and got out of a filthy environment with her litter mates with severe coccidia and hookworms. That was remediated in two days with fluids, antibiotics and de-worming. I asked the vet if he was going to do sub-Q fluids and he came clean with me on her condition. Thank you, 2,000 feral cats and your ER!

After dealing with thousands of feral and other cats and hundreds of dogs, this shelter pup, now 12, is the happiest I’ve ever met. She’s so friendly to everyone. I must say she doesn’t stand for new pups chewing on her legs but she stands up, doesn’t growl and though my father has never met her, she’ll give the pup the “old eagle eye” stare Dad was famous for with my high school dates! They got me home before 11:00 because my parents said “bad things” happen after eleven. What bad things?

No-one challenges Zoe because, like Dad, she’s got a good heart, is a marshmallow inside, and is persistent to get whatever she wants. I hope he reads this. It is a tribute. Now I’ve gone and married a version of Dad and adopted a dog like him as well. Cheers and have a great day, Dee

 

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Houses

Posted on February 10, 2016 | Leave a comment

We live a block from a large body of water. When the automobile was invented rich people started to build huge vacation homes along the coast. behind them were carriage houses for staff, horses or cars.

I look at these homes from the 15th floor of an apartment overlooking said body of water and wonder about floor plans and rooms. My husband is a physicist and learned to be a software engineer by technical books. I have many cookbooks but he has Numerical Recipes.

When it comes to life, not work, he wants to read about white water rafting, I want to do it in a huge rush of water with a guide and learn in real time. When it comes to a place to live, he needs to see it. I need a floor plan and to find out places and amenities, parking and moving truck and reserving an elevator. He wants to see security (for my and our old dog’s sake) and trim level. He’s a consummate “shopper” researching everything from guitar humidors, headphones to cell providers. He wants to spend time checking them out so we partner as my goal is to weed places out so he has to spend less time looking for a place to live.

So, I look down at these homes by the sea and see two huge places, one French, one English, ten feet away from each other. I imagine 100 years ago that two family members purchased them as beach get-aways. Now, they are student housing.

There’s a place my mother-in-law walked by a few years ago and said “I love this house! It must be 1910.” The owner was mowing the lawn and said, “yes, it’s 1910.” It’s a Tudor with attic space, smaller but gorgeous and beautifully maintained.

I look down and see huge places built like Dutch barns or Colonials or modern condos and wonder why they live here. I figure out in my head the floor plan and how many bedrooms and know where the kitchen, dining and living rooms are, and the master bedroom. Of course the trees have grown over the years so they have proximity to water but not a view.

There’s the “castle” a quarter mile away that must have had some parties back in the day. Round drive, porte cochere, many fireplaces. The top floor has plywood in the windows. The woman who lives there (my husband has met her while walking Zoe) drives an inexpensive car and I opine that she lives on the first floor and keeps the pipes working but was left the place by grandparents and doesn’t have a million dollars to fix it up.

The carriage houses are another thing, built on a back street behind the home. I’ve only been in one. The main floor was gorgeous. Basement tolerable but needed updating. The carriage garage was lovely, big enough for a car and motorcycle.

Since we do and have had new snow I get to notice which homes have snow on the roof and which do not. My mother-in-law, a nurse, home builder and renovator, liked that. If it still has snow it has good insulation and a good roof. One would not wish to purchase the reverse.

We’re having a cold week but it may turn to Spring soon. I’ve got a welcoming sign with bluebirds and leaves on our door. Last week it was warmer and I heard birds chirping and saw squirrels (luckily Zoe didn’t see them, though she’d never catch one).

When I look at a floor plan, I consider if we can live there, if our needs are met and if our furniture fits. Unless we are buying all we can do is set up and put up some artwork. I enjoy a five-piece master en-suite. Spoiled. I know. Two sinks, toilette, shower and tub.

Most 70’s and plans before that have closed off areas where the maid made dinner. I make dinner and we prefer to interact with family and friends. We live in a small, open (2 br) space with floor to ceiling windows in every room. A while ago we had a MYOP (make your own pizza) party for a family with two kids, six and two. I made all the dough and toppings in advance and let them roll out their dough and choose. Then they made dough to take home and let rise. They liked it (except the smoke alarm going off for the pizza) because there were hand prints all over our windows!

That is the kind of home I’d like. View, safe, secure, parking, dog-friendly, friend and family ready with space for guests and an office for me. And no plywood covering the windows. What, is that too much to ask? Dee

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It’s About Everything

Posted on February 9, 2016 | Leave a comment

Yes, that’s life, as Frank Sinatra sang it. Many people concentrate on one facet, whether it be sports, math or English literature.

Youth is, indeed, wasted on the young. Older doesn’t necessarily mean wiser but in my case, it works. I had a great family and was taught so much.

When every experience from being bullied to volunteering for a soup kitchen line to cooking school, helping feral cats and adopting four rescues over the past twenty years, I had an education that rivaled my formal education and career. Yes, I also credit my two favorite priests, Fr. Cap and Fr. John, both gone now.

They wove meaning into the fabric of my life. I learned about how history and traditions make us who we are, to accept people we don’t know and, above all, respect, appreciation and honesty.

Through my parents, relatives, teachers and friends I’ve learned much. And my husband teaches me physics lessons while listening to country music on the car radio on long drives. Do you know what’s coming out of that smokestack? No, dear. I can tell by the color……….

Also, having a pet can make a difference. There’s a real responsibility and I’m shirking mine now as I’ve taken her out for “last chance” and she is not by my side. She wants me to lift her up to the bed for her beauty sleep. She’s gorgeous and just turned 84 in people years. She has no hips so cannot jump up by herself. If I slept 20 hours a day I might look that good.

A pet is a grounding experience, especially without a child. So is music, the written word, writing a blog or Haiku or poems.

My husband’s gone for work but I still read cookbooks and make my own recipes and wish for him to come home soon to try them. Yes, my hobbies are cooking, writing and shelter pets/feral cats (spay/neuter). I have had perhaps my last shelter pet, hopefully not, because a dog gets me out to walk and meet people and other dogs. Zoe is old but fine.

Life is about everything and how playing touch football on a dead-end street or softball in our back yard was so special as a kid. The neighborhood kids called on us early and asked for Dad. Mom said they had to wait until the end of dinner. Dad’s only rule was that everyone got to play and play fair. I remember one kid picking up his little brother and running him from first to second base, a tree, and home (we didn’t have that much space) and everybody won because were all the home team. Even toddlers got to play on Dad’s team.

Honesty, integrity, a sense of fairness for everyone, life is about everything. Cheers to you and your family, Dee

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Posted in animals, Cook Books, Cooking Utensils, dogs, Editorial, Family, Greece, Italy, loving life, Recipe Ideas, Scotland, truth, Zoe

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I’m the Wichita Lineman

Posted on February 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

When I was a kid in the northeast I didn’t understand southern or western music. I was playing classical violin and piano at the time. I was also dancing ballet. I gave everything up. Partly because I was forced to do at least four activities after school and on weekends, partly because we moved to the big city and I wanted to do other things like hang out at the mall. Wouldn’t that be a great choice in life – I could have become a shopper.

As kids we laughed at Glenn Campbell and Johnny Cash because they weren’t top forty when I was twelve. I was listening to other music.

At age fifty I finished our taxes, got a refund and went in to by a guitar. It was the wrong one for me and so were my private teachers. One was a religious zealot and the other a drummer. I quit lessons and we moved around the country but bought a beautiful guitar, a Seagull Artist Folk that I hydrate and take out every once in a while to make up a song.

Today, my husband was in an auto accident after 12 hours of flight due to many flight delays. I hope he is OK, haven’t heard word from a hospital but he’s over 1K miles away and I’ve no contact and am scared.

I would hate for anyone to go through this. I’d write a country song about it but now I’m only concerned about my husband and his life. It was a fender bender and everyone is OK and the incident properly transcribed. Traffic, as he didn’t remember, so goes it and I’m hoping he’s sleeping soundly, after hanging out his clothes. Yes, that’s always what a wife thinks about first. Everyone is OK.

Elton John, 3Dog Night, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Bad Company. Of course then Dave Mason, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, CSNY, Peter Paul and Mary,and Joan Baez. Our songs also come from Pete Seeger, Arlo and his dad Woodie Guthrie and so many others. Oh, Patsy Cline and Walking after Midnight. I haven’t even started on Jazz, that’s because I just look at the lyrics and make up the chords. It’s a challenge and Joan Baez is way out of my league. I can sing, but not play her. Diamonds and Rust.

To the rose and the briar. The rose says he’s OK, the briar begs to differ, from a grateful wife who would wish to be at her husband’s, and her dog’s sides while we share a place together. Someday, Dee

ps The Briar just called her husband halfway across the county and said “being with you is sometimes a pain, but being without you is a loss more than words can say.” I want to tell him something every moment, as he does with me, I miss him so.

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To Non-Boxed Foods

Posted on February 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

This is an editorial to The New Republic for saying what many people who can cook say this is horrible, to those can’t cook say there are terrible instructions.

I’ve never done one of these companies. I chose one in the Rockies for their apple juice, so fresh and tasty. Then I bought the cooler that they would leave at our door at 3 a.m. every week.

I got to choose the bacon, OJ, apple juice, milk and many other ingredients, a lot frozen but I didn’t go that route.

The real reason I chose them was that every week a heavy basket (cooler) was filled at my door and I also asked them for a mystery box and I had to make all those local ingredients no matter the season. No, they didn’t give it to me, they sold it to me but I was in a rut, cooking-wise, and whether it was berries in the summer, chanterelles, butternut squash I was enamored of this mystery box. I’ve always thought out of the box so this was a treat for me to cook for us, family and friends.

If you would like to know of this company please write in. I think they give (sell) local people who actually cook a way to use local, vital ingredients and they don’t give you packets. I believe that when someone one fills my cooler with juices, bacon, milk and perfect lamb et al they do well and it serves my husband and pantry so I can fill it up at the grocery for veg in winter. I can make up my own recipes for whatever I wish to make. That is my challenge.

Yes, if I were back in that town I’d put a call in and place my cooler outside the door and look forward to those weekly deliveries and what are the ingredients in the surprise box I need to use. Kiwis? Spaghetti squash? Pummelo? Bring it on. All the best to your cooking adventures, check out farmers’ markets soon. Dee

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Hail to the Feds

Posted on February 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

In order to allow an employee access to a 401 (k) plan one at the poverty level may contribute up to 75% of earnings. Above that level, it is a maximum of 10%.

The country mouse will deny the family food if s/he contributes to the childrens’ education, and middle class folks or city mice are not able to save for retirement. And then one wonders why MediCare is troubled.

How messed up are our rich senatorial and congressional representatives? They have their own health insurance, security, lifetime pension. Heck, I’d run for office, for that. I can’t buy health insurance because the insurance companies I’m with now do not deal with anything but being subsidized by the Marketplace.

I cannot purchase at cost insurance because no-one will answer the phone. Representatives do not know how to deal with individual clients or small businesses.

My father-in-law doesn’t trust government in any shape or form. We can sit across the dinner table a couple of times a year (yes, MIL and I cook constantly for all) and argue politics and their sons won’t get into the mix. We agree! Government has messed everything up for centuries. I don’t know how to fix it but everyone has to do a little thing every day.

Help an old lady and get the crosswalk she pioneered re-painted this Spring. Call the City or County and stop an after-hours biker bar from being installed a block from our homes. It’s enough that I’m awakened in my bed at 2:00 a.m. from the bars. Enough is enough.

With the so-called founding fathers, were founding mothers who cared for and counseled their spouses. While staff made dinner, I know.

We have to get people to vote, and elect a Congress and President that reflects the people. I don’t care which party, I’m independent. Apathy is not an excuse. Just call the County and have the ice taken off the sidewalks. I just heard our weather and snow gear is outsourced out of state. How many cars are totaled and people killed because we can’t forecast our own weather or plow our roads?

It’s a mystery to me. I’m used to working for government and other entities and getting things done. Apparently our taxes do not pay for that anymore. Dee

 

 

 

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