Category Archives: Travel

Instruments

Posted on April 9, 2013 | 1 Comment

I had a revelation today. As the lightning, thunder, wind, rain, snow and sleet came down around me I realize I have a voice.

When I was young, it was channeled into violin, piano and ballet. Then my parents got me a cheap guitar and I started up a mainly tone-deaf band at age 12.

I gave it all up. Singing a solo and being second then first chair violin was stressful. I was very shy and one parent told me I could do anything or be anything, and the other said I was worthless. That guitar was stolen.

A few years ago after I filed our taxes (which I’ve yet to do this year) I went in and bought a starter guitar and signed up for lessons. I took private lessons from  a gospel singer, then a drummer. I bought a fancy guitar and the only thing I do for it now is keep it hydrated.

I wondered why I couldn’t keep up the music, then just figured it out in this storm. I’ve found a voice. Some folks around me don’t like it, but for the past 15 years I have a voice. I called both my US Senators today. My voice and my pen (keyboard now) are my instruments for now.

Yes, every once in a while I lay back, close my eyes, tune my guitar and play Bye Bye Miss American Pie, or Teach Your Children, or even 500 Miles. Perhaps I’ll do that now.

My voice needs to be my voice and words until they are no longer needed, then I can play another instrument. I am a multi-tasker but with everything else… Think about it, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Education, Music, Pet, Recipe Ideas, The Ranch, Travel

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Travels With Ghirlandaio

Posted on April 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

I was first introduced to Domenico Ghirlandaio by Fr. Murphy. Art history in college. This Franciscan priest (R.I.P. Fr. John) made me want to learn, as have others, don’t be jealous Fr. Cap.

Slides were not enough. When I walked up the mountain from Sta. Croce to San Miniato al Monte I saw the chapel. I can’t really see it right now because the glare is bad even through shades but just google Ghirlandiao.

Please do take the time to see Sta. Croce and the Pazzi Chapel, then cross the bridge behind it and make the walk. Stop at the church halfway up and give some money to the lady who takes care of the feral cats there. Make sure she knows the money is for the gatti, or cats, otherwise she’ll be insulted as if you called her a beggar. She used to bring them great trays of pasta from a local restaurant.

Then I went to cooking school in Tuscany for my birthday one year and went to San Gimignano for an afternoon. 18 of us were on a custom bus and we had one hour to see the town. Two of us ran 20 minutes to Sta. Fina, with earlier Ghirlandiao fresci. Spent 20 minutes there then ran back and made it just in time.

If you don’t have the resources for an art tour of Italy right now (I don’t) please check out Tea With Mussolini, a film with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Cher. If you’ve been to Florence or San Gimignano you may even recognize the streets as it was filmed beautifully. Yes, Cher, and brilliant as a newly rich American with a heart of gold.

Take care and think about how art changes lives. Then remember that art was all people had before Guttenberg and reading. Think of your reading skills and your children’s and have them appreciate art as well. There is a reason for all those religious stories in painting and sculpture, no matter what religion you follow of if you follow none at all.

I started with my nephew at age nine and tried two different lessons: Medieval vs Renaissance and the lesson was perspective and realism; and ancient vs modern, Renaissance as opposed to Liechtenstein or Tara Donovan clouds with drinking straws.

All he said to his dad later that evening, after seeing a Gaston Lachaise nude with huge breasts. was that it “was not entirely age-appropriate.” And I kept him out of the room with French nude paintings. Oh, well. I tried. Please do so! Dee

 

 

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Posted in Italy, Travel

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Blackbird, Bye Bye

Posted on March 18, 2013 | 4 Comments

Pack up all your cares and woes,

Here I go, singing low, bye bye blackbird

…… blackbird, bye bye.

Last post, they’re selling my posts. I never wanted or got a nickel from them, I will be removing them from WordPress.

I don’t know how to do this as I’m a writer and not a techie, that’s probably why they allow people to steal my words and sell them.

To my readers, I salute you and will be back on other than WordPress. Thank you for being with me and inspiring me these few years. The grandmother who died before I was a year old sang that song to me, to get me to go to sleep. It’s that time. Dee

 

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Posted in Cook Books, Cooking Utensils, Editorial, Education, Friend Alert, Greece, haiku, Home Improvement, Italy, Music, Pet, Recipe Ideas, Recipes, Recommended Pantry Contents, Scotland, The Ranch, Travel, Uncategorized, Utah

The Room Picnic

Posted on July 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s funny that as I write about cooking and quilts and such, that my families (mine and my husband’s) have at least one thing in common, a passion for fabric, linen, tea towels, serviettes.

Here I am showcasing their works and am proud to do so. A few weeks ago I found my great-grandmother’s linen-embroidered scalloped tablecloth that had yellowed. I washed it and hung it to dry and it looks great, just needs ironing.

Jim’s mother has gifted us with quilts and other linens over the years, that are treasured.

But more about room picnics. As a kid, we had four maternal cousins and three aunts and Papa. When 14 of us met every summer (we lived about 8 hours away) we always had one meal in the room.

My aunts would cook for days and bring coolers with food and beverages and we always had “serviettes,” cloth napkins, even though we might be at the local Holiday Inn or some variety thereof with a pool so we could swim ourselves silly.

My father hated room picnics. He’d rather have waitress service downstairs. I have fond memories of them. We were usually in our swimsuits, toweled dry and came to eat a few morsels before going back to the pool.

Sorry, Dad, you once said that all we talked about was food. What was for lunch, where are we eating dinner? Now you cook. You know your favorite restaurants in every city and you eat well. Your eldest daughter (moi) trained as a chef.

What is life if one doesn’t look forward to eating the next meal? And what else is there to talk about with 14 for dinner, on vacation?

It’s a joy to talk about recipes et al with family and friends, and to prepare meals that delight guests. It’s wonderful to have an arsenal of serviettes and torchons and tea towels and tablecloths. And quilts as conversation pieces and prized art.

When we look for hotels, depends with/without dog, but we like a place with a safe for our laptops, a real 1/2 frig for breakfast items, and choosing a pillow is a good thing. Thanks, Martha, for your birdcage curtain/quilt rods. Cheers, Dee

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No Electronics Today

Posted on September 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

I think I’m safe now. Don’t know. We started the morning with getting our Thanksgiving flights home to Jim’s family. Last night he tried to book from a seminar he was attending and American Airlines only allowed him to pay in Pounds Sterling. This is an AMERICAN airline and Jim thought perhaps the IP address he was linked to wirelessly was running through the UK.

This morning I tried again, they gave him another 24 hours to hold the flights. Went through the entire thing (and our addresses and phones are all from the USA and we’re here in the USA) and it only allowed us to pay in pounds.

He called, and spent 45 precious minutes (that he’s working now to make up for it) talking with a US representative, then an international airline representative. The website is messed up. Then, when updating the profile the new address “didn’t register.”

I went to the grocery store and did self check-out and it scanned three small on-the-vine tomatoes as endive and tried to charge me $7.17 for them instead of $1.41 for our cold dinner tonight. Then it wouldn’t let me check out so I needed the attendant for four items to see me twice.

From then on I restricted myself from electronic devices. This one seems to be working. Let’s hope for an enjoyable weekend for all! The trees are about at their peak here and I’d like to take a few photos over the weekend. There are also other things going on that will keep us busy but relaxed as well. I guard my husband’s down time very carefully. Cheers, Dee

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Vacation

Posted on July 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

There’s no possible way we can ever use the vacation days Jim has accrued. He’s just started a new job at work and once he gets into it, there’s no way to get him to go on vacation and November and December are pretty verboten for time off.

So where do we go? He may have a week off mid-August but I don’t want to travel to somewhere like Europe then when all the kiddos are still out of school and it’s a backpacker’s heyday.

So I’m looking into driving vacations and short, inexpensive flights, trying to stay away from triple digit heat and deserts. I’ll work on it over the weekend as I also have to make plans for the dog because she’s a pain to travel with. Even when hotels will take her, we get a crummy room, can’t have her stay there alone, so our meals are compromised as we can’t take her there either. A week driving into Sonic, forget it. That’s no vacation, eating with the engine running in an air-conditioned car with the dog in the back. And even if Sonic’s burgers are OK, their bathrooms are horrendous.

If you’ve any suggestions for the trip, probably in the Western states or Pacific NW, just comment right here. Thanks! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Italy, Scotland, Travel

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Smart Kids

Posted on June 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

A seven year-old I know has found an adult’s iPhone and is transfixed by an age-appropriate game.

We were flying to a city he’s going to for the first time so I asked him to check the weather on a one-click program. Without taking a beat from the game he said “It won’t be raining.”

I asked how he knew that without checking the weather. Then I asked how cold it would be and if we’d need a coat. He said “only a light jacket.” All without checking the weather.

So in the end I checked the weather, ascertained that it would be 45 degrees cooler than the departure city and we did, indeed need warmer clothing. When I mentioned that he asked me about frostbite. The lesson to this camper and cub scout is that you always have to pack for any contingency, as frostbite happens when you don’t have the right plan and/or the right clothing and gear.

Today, my dear nephew, you get an F for helping an old lady across the street, or checking the weather at her final destination. Let’s hope you do better meeting your oaths to family and scouts when you fly out to visit. You know we love you and look forward to seeing you.

Ah, the benefit of school, paying attention and staying in it long enough to learn how to earn a living and live a life. When we adults meet we always have such different stories about where we came from, where we went to college, different cities and countries in which we’ve lived.

Jim and I both grew up in small towns that we visit on a regular basis, even though they are far from each other. Both were farming communities. We left. I left because I was 12 and my family moved to the city. He left for college and another world.

We were both smart kids, but he’s brilliant and I’m smart in different ways. We play off each other and that makes a lifetime together. So, he introduced our nephew to a computer game and created a monster. We look forward to hosting him and his grandmother next week and seeing real mountains, museums and nature. Yes, he’ll still want the computer games but there’s a lot to offer here and I hope he takes advantage of it. Cheers! Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Travel

Home + Delivery

Posted on June 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

We’re home after only a long weekend and so much has changed! The grasses are taller, the trees budding and flowers starting to bloom. It says something about where we live that we don’t leave often and when we do, no matter the adventure, we are always glad to get home.

The weather is beautiful. It rained last night and threatened today but we awakened to blue skies and an absolutely gorgeous morning. It was probably in the 60′s today.

The fish was back on our counter when we arrived, having been taken care of by a kind neighbor. He’s a betta with a coffee theme, after the language my husband often codes in, Java. He’s in a coffee pot and is named Mocha Joe, or MoJo for short. He was meant for the office but Jim doesn’t want to clean the water at work so he’s my fish, so much for the surprise for the new office!

The dog, Zoe, was very well-adjusted after her sojourn with a colleague of Jim’s for the weekend. She had human companionship that is so important to her and to us for her. She was happy to see us but not freaky happy like after being at the kennel or a vet.

We had to get the dog 25 miles from home, drop off Jim to drive his car home from work and then when Zoe and I started up the mountain I was thinking of what to make for dinner (it was 6:00 p.m.) and what I needed for breakfast this morning. I ended up buying a crusty loaf of rosemary bread, sliced emmenthaler cheese and herbed roasted and sliced turkey. Plus kettle chips. Then I remembered: DELIVERY!

Yesterday morning I finalized my order so first thing today I had fresh juice, milk, bread, bacon, sausage and eggs. So when you arrive home tired from a trip, it pays to have a weekly food delivery in place. Today all I did was several loads of laundry and unpacking.

There’s much more to do tomorrow as we have a work function on Friday and I need to plan for guests for a week beginning a week from today. Menus, cooking, cleaning, snow tire removal, and much more. Back to the daily grind and more! It’s Spring. Time to plant herbs and tomatoes. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Travel, Utah

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Menus et al

Posted on May 29, 2010 | 3 Comments

Jim’s mother and I sat down yesterday and worked out menus for the weekend. Then the guest lists changed for the weekend and for memorial day so they’re being revised. I’m making a chimichurri sauce for steak tonight, corn on the cob and roasted potatoes. Sunday I’m marinating a pork roast in Don’s (my butcher) maple/rosemary marinade/glaze. Then we’ll figure out what we’re missing for Memorial Day and fill in with salads and such.

Yesterday we went to lunch with Jim’s grandmother and uncle, good Mexican food off the main square in their town. Then Jim’s grandmother took us on a tour of area prisons. For such a small county, it seems as if the first County Jail was too crowded so within the last ten years they built another, then yet another that would place some Federal institutions to shame. Then there’s a larger facility operated by the state or feds right next door.

The lesson was a waste of taxpayer dollars. This is a small farming community that is being taken over by the Dallas Metroplex. There is already no industry left, farming is rarely a viable way of life, and eminent domain is going to flood people’s farms and homes in the next few years.

On the wild side, I saw a cardinal on the fence about 20 feet away this morning. This is a sight I’ve seen before but they really are majestic birds so I had to comment. Yesterday I saw a Great Blue heron flying overhead, looked like our cranes “back home.” Then right in front of the car ran a road runner. We watched it in a neighboring field. This was my first sighting of the heron and road runner.

The heat is wilting and it’s not really “hot” yet! We both prefer our dry mountain climate to Texas heat and humidity, but it is good to see family and more are arriving in a couple of hours so I better get a move on. Cheers! Dee

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Mooooo

Posted on May 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Long day yesterday. We finally got to Jim’s parents’ house at midnight. Jim turned on the bathroom light and saw a bunch of eyes about 20 feet away, yes, made him feel right at home. Ten pair of juvenile bull eyes glowing in the dark. I haven’t had a chance to really see the farm yet. I went out to check on the tomato plants and herbs around nine and it was already hot and humid.

It’s nice to see leaves on the trees and flowers a-bloom. At home we barely have daffodils and tulips. On one side of the street are bare branches and on the sunny side, tiny buds promising Spring one of these days. One thing we do have out here in the country is atmosphere and oxygen, along with humidity that’s coming back to me.

We’re off to lunch with Jim’s grandmother and uncle. It was nice to sleep in until 9:00 local time (8:00 back home) and to know that Zoe (the dog) is in good hands and I don’t have to worry about her for a few days. As Jim’s mother and I cook for family over the weekend, we will have to clean the kitchen floor more often because Zoe won’t be “Hoovering” up the crumbs!

We have the house to ourselves for an hour or so and Jim’s in the shower while I finish dishes and catch up on the blog and emails. It is so quiet here. Tough to know that the home Jim’s folks built by hand over 30 years ago will be torn down and the land flooded for a lake to serve the water needs of the Big City.

Well, all for now. I’m just going to set a spell and see what reading material my mother-in-law left me. Cheers! Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Travel