Musings
-
Life is Hard
Life is hard right now. To be very clear, it is not currently hard for me personally. We are all working, we are all privileged and safe and healthy. Since Ted and Maya are working from home, so there are no commuting costs, we’re probably coming out a little ahead, financially. At least for now. But my heart is broken. The murder of George Floyd, on top of everything else, on top of the pandemic and a tanked economy and our shit for brains asshole President, it’s too much. I talked to my sister last week, before the news of Mr. Floyd’s murder, and she said, if we can only…
-
Pandemic Potpourri
These are the beautiful hand made masks, sent to us by some good friends, for when we go to the grocery store and so on. I cannot sew, and have no idea how to follow a pattern, and don’t have (and have never used) a sewing machine. And I’m the one Ted and Maya come to when they need a button sewn on or something, so of course this task was a lot more than I could handle. Aren’t they lovely? I like how the patterns are all different so we can tell which belongs to who, and that they are hand made by friends. How are you all doing?…
-
Sign of the Times
I hate this meme, with the missing apostrophe (wont) and the extras (in Alien’s and UFO’s), but it is, indeed, a sign of our times. I’m trying not to let the world stress me out, partially because I need a crown, but I ignored it and put it off and now I am afraid to go to the dentist, so I worry that if I grind my teeth too much, I will crack my tooth and make it worse. Me me me. We’re all working from home now. Maya and I are more introverted, and of course we are set up right next to each other in my bedroom. Ted…
-
Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
Is it late winter, or early spring? Grapefruits are a winter fruit, so we’ll go with late winter. Yesterday I decided that I wanted this salad for dinner, along with some chicken Milanese. The recipe is Ina Garten, but I have made a few modifications. I always forget how good this is, which is REALLY good, and perfect with crispy fried chicken breasts, with arugula on top, lightly dressed in the same vinaigrette, with shaved Parmesan on top. I liked dinner so much, I think I may make it again next week. In case you’re interested, here is my version of the salad recipe. Ina’s is here. I’ve made a…
-
Thursday Thirteen, Los Angeles version
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia – there was a TINY bit of snow on the tip of the mountains, nothing like this. I don’t think I realized before that there are mountains RIGHT THERE, but I’ve not really paid much attention to LA in the past.) My BFF Rosemary lives in Pennsylvania. She and I met in High School in 1982, and after HS she moved around a bit for a few years, ending up in PA a few months before we moved back to California. She has two boys in college, one is graduating from Clemson in May, the other is a Freshman at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR.…
-
Good Intentions
My main gift to Maya this Christmas was some closet organization. Her room has been a disaster for awhile now, and between trying to get to the closet through all of the shoes on the floor, and not being able to put anything in the closet due to NO ROOM in there, it’s a death trap. Years ago, my local office moved from our town to Chicago (and then to Georgia a few years later), and rather than asking us to move, sent us all home to work remotely. I had a bunch of binders full of information that I used quite often for my work, so I brought them…
-
Monday Meme
50 Things You’ve Never Been Asked…. I saw this on FB and thought I’d bring it to you. 1. What is the color of your hairbrush? Blonde wood colored? 2. Name someone who made you smile today? Ted, Maya, Mulder, friend Neva, friend Rosemary, friend Marilee 3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Returning from my morning walk with Mulder, ready to start the work day. 4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Watching ‘The Crown’ 5. What is your favorite candy bar? Varies. I especially like Baby Ruth, Snickers, M & M (Peanut), Take 5, and Pepperment Patty. 6. Have you ever been to a…
-
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the…
-
Winter Solstice
I can’t remember if I’ve shared this with you before. This is a time lapse photo of the arc of the sun on the Winter Solstice, at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is just outside of the arctic circle, so you do get a glimpse of the sun for an hour or two, but it never really gets light. Pretty cool photo.
-
Open That Bottle
The last Saturday in February is ‘Open That Bottle Night’, a night when wine lovers are encouraged to open a special bottle and share with loved ones, rather than leaving it to age in the cellar. Sort of a ‘Seize the Day’ attitude, along the lines of ‘Use the Good China’. We don’t have a wine cellar, and we generally buy wine and then drink it, and then buy more wine. There’s not a lot of room for storing wine in condo living, and I fear that if I had a constant supply, I might drink every night, which while good for relaxing the muscles is not so good for…
-
My Trip to Washington D.C., Day 3
Saturday my BFF Rosemary, who lives in Pennsylvania, down near the Delaware border, drove down to D.C. to spend the day with us. We started out at the National Portrait Gallery, and ended up getting separated from the rest of my family there. It was OK with everyone that we did so…Rosemary and I wanted to go slowly and read the blurbs about all of the Presidents, and my sister wanted to take her kids to the Air and Space Museum, which I didn’t care about. So they ended up seeing more pictures than we did, but we went more slowly at our own pace. It was interesting to us…
-
My Trip to Washington D.C., Day 2
As if it weren’t emotional enough to honor my dad at the Grant Writers’ Association conference, we also honored my step-mom’s first husband, Bruce, who died early in the Vietnam War. She was married while in college, and he left soon after their wedding to go to Vietnam, so they did not have a lot of time together. They did spend some time in Hawaii once when he was on leave. His death broke her heart and changed her life. She left college and travelled in Europe for awhile, and when she came home, discovered she could not bear to live in California anymore, there were too many memories. So…
-
My Trip to Washington D.C., Day 1, Part 2
After spending the morning at the Grant Writers’ Association Conference, we walked over to the National Mall and went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was amazing and overwhelming and so emotional. We only had the fortitude to visit the History section, and at that point were worn out and ready to head home for the day, which is too bad in a way because I think the Culture section would have been well worth seeing as well. The museum is part of the Smithsonian, which means that it is free, and I think a person could spend a month or two in D.C. and…
-
Rocking Good News!
Not a recent picture, but one I like a lot…anyway, my darling sister, Melissa (on the right up there, black dress), got the news today that her cancer is in FULL REMISSION! YAY! What a relief, I feel like we can finally exhale. Thank you for your kind thoughts her way. I am so very happy for her, for our sister, for her husband and kids, for myself, for all of us. Very good news. I’ll tell you more about the DC trip soon, it was great.
-
My Trip to Washington D.C. – Day 1, Part 1
My dad was honored posthumously at the National Conference of the Grant Professionals Association in Washington DC last week with about 900 members in attendance. My stepmom, one of my sisters and her kids, and I traveled to DC to accept the award on his behalf. It was amazing to hear the presentation, and to have so many people tell us what a difference he made to them through his work, his guidance, his stewardship, his books and classes that he taught, his career. As is the case with so many of us, we didn’t really know a lot about his professional life. This was the side that we didn’t…