TGIF

Friends, what a week we've had, yes?  I'm trying to balance staying informed with staying sane.  It's quite a trick.  Back from some heavenly days on the island of Kauai.  We stepped off the plane into the chill that is now central California.  I love autumn: the turning leaves and crisp air and white light.  But Jaysus, who ordered up Thanksgiving for next week?  Seriously.  Time is going at warp speed.

This was an unusal week of doctor visits: dentist for a deep cleaning behind my last molar, dermatogolgist for a little cryotherapy on my dark spots, and my GP for a pain I've had in my right arm for at least 2 months now.  I can't go out in sunlight for a week because of the cryo, can't eat food easily for my injured mouth, and there is no help in sight for arm and shoulder pain that is just getting more intense by the day.

Bright spot: got my flu shot.  Husband got his flu shot.  Small things in the giant picture, I know, but I take the positive wherever and whenever I can.

Some call it resilience.  I call it essential.  In dark days, it's what allows me to move forward with hope.  In Paris, strangers are hugging strangers (Muslims, no less!) in their grief and hope.  It's been a beautiful sight to behold. 


I hope you choose love and compassion this weekend. It feels so good.

Wordless Wednesday

Tara Crowley/all rights reserved

TGIF

Peace. Love. Kindness.

What the world needs now.

A sad Friday indeed.

And surreal. We heard about the Paris attacks while lounging by the pool in Kauai.  I had a glass of wine, followed by an afternoon wine headache. Nothing a couple of aspirin couldn't fix.

Had to turn off the news and get off Facebook.

Wishing you peace.

Monday Musings

Several people we met in Cuba are returning soon to attend the opening of Peter Turnley's retrospective exhibit in Havana.  I would love to join their company, but, alas, we are headed out on our own for a week.  I find that as their trip gets closer, I am becoming quite nostalgic about my time in Cuba.  And missing my friends, who are an exceptional group of people.

Eight months have passed since our trip, and I am still processing the experience.  We saw so much, learned to improve our craft, practice our Spanish speaking skills, met lovely locals every day who seem to care about us and celebrated that we were visiting their country.  A gracious population, for sure.  They didn't laugh at my broken Spanish.  Being an Abuela (grandmother), I found common ground with all the Abuelas that I met, and an instant bond was formed.  Nuestros nietos (our grandchildren), we could go on and on about them.  They are our pride and joy.  They are the future.

Someday we hope to return to Cuba, to explore some of the other ancient towns, and the countryside.  If you haven't seen the slideshow of photos taken from the air in Cuba, you must.  Spectacular landscapes.

from "Unseen Cuba"

Vaya con Dios, mis amigos.

Wordless Wednesday

Tara Crowley, All Rights Reserved

Monday Musings

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.
 

--Mary Oliver

TGIF

Peace reigns once again in my little queen-dome.  After some intense discussion, dad will be returning his handgun.  I am so very relieved, and grateful that he was willing to change his mind.  I had feared he would dig in his heels.  So, thank you, powers that be, for returning sanity to my dear old father.  And thank you, Dad, for listening to your children's concerns.

The winds are up, mightily, in our little burg. We tend to be a wind tunnel here, but today is simply beyond the pale.  The sounds of branches hitting the house and gusts rattling the denuded branches has been nearly constant.  Despite the atmospheric chaos, I got in a little hammock time with my book and chihuahua before surrendering to the elements.  I'm reading a memoir about the Paris neighborhood, the Marais.  We are staying there in a rented apartment next spring.  For an entire week.  Yes.

We've been eating Blue Apron meals for a week now.  Tonight was Catfish Piccata and Fettuccine.

The fish was super fresh -- no stink whatsoever, even while frying it.  That, my friends, is f-r-e-s-h.  The addition of a whole lemon, and capers, and red pepper, perked up this dish tremendously.

Next on the menu we have Korean BBQ chicken wings.  Yum.

I'm happy with the service, and will be happy to stick with it for awhile to get the full range of dishes.  The cool thing is, after trying the dish, you can shop for the ingredients yourself and just make the foods that you really liked.  A great way for me to get out of my food rut.

Tomorrow I'm off to visit 'the kids' for a couple of nights.  Our dog/house sitter cancelled on us, so dearest will be staying home with the beasts.  Not happy.  We. Are. Not. Happy.  First world problems, as they say.  It'll be fun to watch my grandson parade around in his Halloween costume.  Fun fact:  one-quarter of all the candy sold in the U.S. annually is for Halloween. 

Most years I hide on Halloween.  This year, not so much.  It's for the lil' kid, doncha know.  He's expecting his Bubbe to show, and show I will.

Happy Halloween!  Have a great weekend.   I'll leave you with this wonderful quote:

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Musings

Last week a catalog arrived from the "Vermont Country Store."  What an eclectic bunch of stuff you get purchase there!  They stock a lot of retro 1950s toys, home furnishings and gadgets.  I found myself awash in nostalgia:  chenille bed spreads, spinning tops, tinker toys, pink princess telephones, flannel house dresses and corduroy jumpers.  I began to fantasize about turning the guest bedroom into a shrine to the 1950s.  I became oddly comforted by the idea. 

Then, a few days later,  I discovered that my dad has purchased a handgun. Screech!  Warm, fuzzy nostalgia be gone.

He has finally gone completely off the rails. He has swallowed the Kool Aid of Rush Limbaugh and FOX "News" and believes that this gun will protect him from the bad guys.  He gave a very cogent response when I asked him "why?"  He is doing everything right, from taking classes to keeping the gun in a lock box separate from the ammo. 

Why, then, am I so unglued?

Because I can see no scenario, none, zip, nada, where having a gun makes him safer.  Indeed, it only endangers his life and the life of my mother.

My weekend was spent on the Internet looking up statistics for gun accidents, and gun regulations in our state, and investigating legal avenues for removing the gun from his possession.  He is a mentally competent adult and in this foolish and dangerous country, is allowed to possess a firearm.

Let's explore the term "mentally competent," shall we?  Does it cover diminished sight, hearing or reflexes?  No, it does not.  Does it include Tea Party paranoia?  Nope.  Does it address the loss of power and control an elderly white man feels when sees the world changing dramatically around him?  Can it begin to take into account the idolatry of the military and the machismo of being a man with a gun?

I donate to several causes devoted to gun regulation in this country.  Have been for awhile.  I, personally, wish that all guns were completely illegal.  But I realize that is a tall order, and so I will settle for gun regulation that makes it more difficult for citizens to acquire firearms.  I know that after a mass shooting the sales of firearms increases.  I just never thought my own dad, paranoid as he is, would be one of those people.

It scares the hell out of me.

TGIF

What a week.  Momentous moments momentarily, but first, take a look at our first dinner made from Blue Apron recipes:

Shrimp Perloo.  I've never had this dish before, and with Blue Apron it's easy to do because they send ALL the ingredients (with the exception of the olive oil).  The ingredients are measured out and the recipe is printed on a 81/2 x 11" cardstock, along with photos.  The hardest part (if you can call it that) was dicing the garlic, onion, celery, green pepper, scallions and parsley.  The dish was a success, and made twice as much as we can eat, so we've got leftovers.  I'm going to buy more shrimp and some sausages to add to the leftovers.  And maybe a bit more rice to tone down the hot spice a bit.

All the packaging is fully recyclable, which is a relief because it is heavy on the packaging.  It has to be. They are shipping food that must remain refrigerated!

Now for the momentous:  2 friends made it through surgeries this week with flying colors.  Oddly enough, the one who had brain surgery is more comfortable and more mobile that the one who had sinus surgery.  I visited our shaved friend this morning, made her some coffee and tuna salad and brought her favorite chocolate pudding.  I'm impressed, to say the least, that docs were poking around inside her brain just a few days ago.  She has a wicked incision line, all neatly stapled.  And she is home.  Unbelieveable.

Now for the news that has us over the moon:  my daughter and her husband are expecting another baby next summer.  She called me, and from just her "hello, mom...." I knew and I blurted it out, "You're pregnant!"  I really rained on her surprise parade.   Can I just say that a mama knows?  My grandson is not sure he wants to be a big brother, but he's got time to work on that.

Here's to a grand weekend (not for the folks in western Mexico, sadly) and a news blackout (because I'm sick of those damned Bengazi hearings).  Hope you get to do exactly whatever it is you would like to do!

Wordless Wednesday