Journey to the Land of Enchantment

It was a winter wonderland!


Kevin and I had a really great trip to NM!

Kevin got to go snowboarding one day. He had great fun, but he decided that the snow wasn't good enough to go a second day.

Kevin, p-doobie and I went to Santa Fe and browsed the New Mexico History Museum. What an interesting history New Mexico has!  There are things to learn there.  Go see!

R2-D2 on the Plaza

Santa Fe p-doobie

BobBIE and I drove up to the Valle to enjoy the views. So pretty! I didn't use image stitching like Chuckbert did so beautifully, but I think the Valle is still stunning in small pieces.

We stopped to visit the Las Conchas trail and one of the Jemez River's tributaries.  This is where Kevin and I fished a couple years ago.  The creek was snowy and frozen over, but at this spot we could hear the gurgle of the water flowing underneath the ice.

Kevin and I enjoyed browsing Otowi Station Bookstore as well as visiting the Bradbury Science Museum. We learned cool stuff at the museum.

Food: Lots! We ate too much! Wait a minute--is there such thing as too much New Mexican food??  Yumminess at De Colores, Plaza Cafe, Rancho De Chimayó....Mmmmmm!

On the last evening, we were treated by RetroMag to the buffet at China Moon (Thanks, RetroMag!). And Kevin got a surprise birthday cake! Fun!

We had a nice time yakking and enjoying each other's company.

 

 

 

 

 

When Kevin and I drove to ABQ, we took the Jemez route, and in the morning hours, the Valle floor was shrouded in a layer of fog. Very cool!

We saw four wild turkeys on the side of the road!  What good camouflage they have!  Click to see a bigger pic!

Thank you to all who made our trip so wonderful! RetroMag, p-doobie, chelbert, Poss, BobBIE and Jack!  You were all the hostesses with the mostesses (except for Jack, he was the host with the most!)

Cocoa Likes to Watch

This is..... Jeopardy!

Christmasy Madras

One of our favorite cocktails is the Madras.

Build over ice:
1 1/2 oz  vodka
3 oz cranberry juice
1 oz orange juice


The cranberries that I love to make at Thanksgiving and Christmas always leave some juice behind.  I used this nice spicy-sweet syrup to make a Madras.  I used less cranberry and more orange, and garnished with cranberries and orange slices.  MMMMmmmmm!

Eye-eye-eye Update

A quick update to my woeful eye story.

I went 72 hours without my contacts, and today, a week after the injury, I wore my contacts for 10 hours, very comfortably!

I will use my years-old spare until May when I am due for a check-up, and I'll get a new contact then.  And to answer RetroMag's question, yes, I got a spiffy new case, courtesy of my lovely daughter!

Whew!

Happy New Year!

Wishing all the best of everything in 2010!

Mark Twain wrote to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise January 1, 1863:

New Year's Day--Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.

Do you have any Humbug Resolutions?

Ai-yai-yai!

Or that should be, "Eye-eye-eye!"

It all started with my eyeglasses case.  I had a spring-loaded glasses case which had somehow broken in the last couple weeks.  It's snap was snap-less, but  it still protected my glasses, and I only opened it twice a day, so it was fine broken in my bathroom drawer.

On Friday night, I dropped my contact into the sink as I cleaned it.  I do that once in a while.  Not too often.  Every other time during the last nearly 30 years, I've gotten it out without any problem.  Not this time!  This time, it cracked.

But I didn't know it!

Saturday morning, I put it in my eye.  Ouch!  I thought it was a hair. I rinsed it and tried again.  Still owie!  When I examined it, I found the darn crack.  My spare contact didn't feel any better.  My eye had been injured a little by the cracked one.

I left my contacts off for a couple days.  On Monday, I tried to wear them.  It felt....ooookayyy.  My vanity told me that I could handle it for my day of work.  After the third hour, I could handle it no more.  I took out the contact on the pained side and drove around to the next couple patients with vision in one eye.

Thank goodness it was a short day!

Yesterday, it felt a little better, so I left them on, but smartly this time I took my contact case and my glasses in their non-snappy case.  As usual, I had an armful to take out to the car in the morning.  I shoved everything onto the passenger seat,  ran around to the driver's seat and took off to start my day.

That day, I tolerated the contact for about five hours, which amounted to my workday.  Yippee!  I ran into the house with my contact case and glasses case to switch out.  Ahhhh...contacts out!  Relief!  Now, put on my glasses.

Opened the case.  No glasses!  What the....?

They must've fallen out of the case on the way in from the car!  But I can't see to find them! 

"Erin!  I need you!  Please help me find my glasses!"

She shot into action and found them right away on the driveway.  In the path to the car, not from.  And they were smashed.  Badly.  They looked like Ralphie's glasses.  Whaaaa-aaaaah!  I started crying.  I needed those glasses!  I dried my sniffles and felt very sorry for myself the rest of the day into the evening.  I took my guide-dogs out for a walk.  I talked on the telephone to my big sister.  Luckily, my wonderful husband heated up some dinner for me.  And, luckily,  I could read.  So, I crawled into bed early and read and read and read.

Today:  A trip to The Eyeglass Factory

Frames:  $59.95.  Lenses:  $89.95.  Being able to see again:  Priceless.

R.I.P

"Lawlessness Knows No Holiday"

As promised, the story of Officer Squid's Christmas morning. 

You can also see the video in full screen by clicking the little "Full Screen" icon to the bottom right of the picture (look for a rectangle-within-a-rectangle).

Watch for a few of my heroes, especially one special hero!

From the Santa Barbara Independent:

Christmas Morning Stabbing on Eastside

Suspect Sergio Quintana, 36, Arrested; Victim Cesar Ortega, 32, Recovering in Hospital

Saturday, December 26, 2009

By MATT KETTMANN

Christmas morning started off on a particularly naughty foot for Sergio Quintana, the 36-year-old resident of Soledad Street on Santa Barbara’s Eastside who allegedly stabbed an acquaintance on Milpas Street near Haley in broad daylight Friday morning. The victim, 32-year-old Cesar Ortega, managed to flee in his vehicle and escape to his neighborhood on the 100 block of South Soledad Street, where he called police at about 10 a.m. from outside his apartment.

Once the police arrived, they found Ortega suffering from “several stab wounds to the chest and abdomen,” said Sgt. John Corre, amounting to what they thought were life-threatening wounds. He told them that he’d been stabbed by Quintana, and pointed up the street, to the 100 block of North Soledad, where the attacker’s car was parked. The police were able to quickly find Quintana, and he was arrested without incident for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

Upon being admitted to the hospital, Ortega was treated and, according to Corre, “his wounds were not as serious as we had anticipated.” He’s now being classified as in “guarded but stable condition.”

Until a more thorough report is issued Monday morning, Corre was unable to go into more details, as there are still a couple witnesses that police are tracking down. “Right now, all we would be giving would be the victim’s account,” said Corre, explaining that accuracy is most important before any public statement. But it sounds as if the motive has already been worked out, and while Corre made it seem that the case was pretty cut and dry, he did say that some of the underlying issues are “interesting.”

Corre could confirm, however, that the victim and suspect did know each other before the attack and that “we’ve seen nothing that shows any gang relationship.”

The Daily Sound's Story:

Man stabbed in Christmas morning altercation

by Colby Frazier • Dec 26 2009

One man spent Christmas in the hospital and another landed in Santa Barbara County Jail after an altercation ended with a vicious stabbing.

Just after 10 a.m. yesterday, authorities were dispatched to the 100 block of south Soledad St. on reports of a medical emergency. Upon arrival, they found 33-year-old Cesar Ortega suffering from multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

Lt. Brent Mandrell, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Police Department, said Ortega identified the stabber as 36-year-old Sergio Osvaldo Quintana.

Investigators began a search for Quintana and located him driving a few blocks away on Ortega Street.

Mandrell said officers conducted a “high risk” traffic stop and arrested the man.

Mandrell did not know if the stabbing took place at one of the men’s homes, or how, if at all, they knew each other. He said investigators were not considering the stabbing gang related.

“It’s all under investigation,” he said.

Quintana was being held in county jail on suspicions of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Mandrell said Ortega was in stable condition.

Merry Christmas!

Highlights of Christmas 2009!

Our day started *yaaaawwwwnnnn* at 4:00am to open presents. The officer had to get to work! He leaves at 5:30am.

We didn't take many pictures. Here are some.

Kevin got a Taun-Taun Sleeping Bag! He didn't know he wanted it, but he thought it was one of the coolest presents. Read the story on ThinkGeek's page.

Erin got her wish: a leopard-print Snuggie, The Blanket With Sleeves!

Cocoa and Kibble got filled rawhide bones in their stocking! Kibble, as usual, sat down and ate hers right away. Cocoa carried hers around, looking for a place to bury it, before she was let outside to bury it proper. Here is Kibble, asking Cocoa to please share cuz her's is all gone.

"Uhh, no I don' shink sho."

Most of the day for us was spent napping (I went back to bed before the sun was up!), playing with our toys, reading our new books, and dreaming of what we were to get with our gift certificates. Kevin didn't nap. He went fishing in the afternoon.

Officer Squid had an exciting morning at work. See separate post.

The cooking didn't start until about 4:00 with the making of the rolls. We roasted a turkey breast, which took just a couple hours. We had mashed potatoes, stove top stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, fresh-baked white rolls, cranberries, champagne and sparkling cider.

Poor Mikey had an incident with the champagne. A mistake was made as to the bottle chosen when the table was set. An unchilled bottle was brought out, and when it popped, it popped hard! The cork got Mikey in the nose! Ouch! We had a bit of clean-up to do before sitting down.

Dinner was served at about 7:30. Traditional turkey dinner for us, with nearly everything still homemade except the stuffing and the gravy. It still felt a little spared-back....maybe because the cooking didn't take all day long. We enjoyed a pumpkin pie and a French silk chocolate pie for dessert. Mmmmm! The Kitchenaid does a superb job whipping up that chocolate silk!

We stayed up to watch the 11:00 news. (See separate post)

We had a nice holiday! Merry Christmas!

♥ 23 ♥

We celebrated our 23rd anniversary last weekend. It was a nice day!

Saturday we went out to Rattlesnake Trail. It opened a couple months ago, after the Jesusita Fire shut it down. The weather felt like spring, and we had flora and fauna to trick us into thinking it was spring, as well!

The trails were in good shape but there was still evidence of the fire.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch, and then we drove down the hill to the Santa Barbara Inn, where it all began 23 years ago. A little champagne at sunset sweetened the evening.

View from our balcony at sunset.

Guess what? There was a phone in the bathroom!

We had a wonderful dinner later. We were treated very fine at Opal Restaurant.

View from our balcony in the morning.

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at Sambo's, on the patio. The weather was so perfect! Sitting outside was perfectly delightful for breakfast.





♥ ♥ ♥ All-in-all, a terrific anniversary celebration! ♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Winter Solstice

Yippee! Winter Solstice! Now the days are getting longer!

Things I like about winter:

• You can still go in shorts and short sleeves on many days in this beautiful place
  
• Christmas!
• New Year's Eve!
• Kevin's birthday celebration!
• Remembering the street singer, on a day about now, 1990, when I was walking down State Street, verrrrry pregnant. He paused when he looked at me and said, "You've been naughty and nice!"
• Having a contest with myself to see if I can write the correct year with 100% accuracy. I write the date a dozen times a day!
• Valentine's Day
• Rainstorms
  
• The days are getting longer!

What is your favorite aspect of Winter?

What Would Jesus Say?

If he saw these...um....creative Nativities?

Click this link. Be sure to see all pages!

Lucid Dream Realized

OK, I'll try not to bore you with dream stories, but this lucid dreaming is fascinating to me. I had another one this morning.

Again, the impetus was not being able to immediately fall back to sleep but noticing when I finally did. The trigger was a dream of holding Doughie in my arms and saying to her, "Oh, Doughie, we've been friends for 40 years!"

....hold on a tick...40 years? That's not a dog's life....! A dream sign! "I'M DREAMING!"

Again, I ran to Kevin to tell him. He was sitting at a big desk and said nothing as I told him I was having a lucid dream. "Look!" I exclaimed as I pinched my cheek. "I can't feel it! I'm dreaming!"

I tried the flips that the real-life Kevin had told me to try. It didn't work very well, though I attempted them a few times.

"I'm just going to fly!" I told him. "I will just flap my arms and try to get off the ground!" I was very excited!

It worked! I floated around and flew around outside. I was in Los Alamos, and I flew all around the street looking at the snow on the ground, sparkling in the moonlight (this came from BobBIE's texts of the previous night about the snowstorm). It was only the second time I remember flying in a dream.

After a while, I flew to the beach with some other flying people and as I sat on the beach in a beach chair, I thought it was about time to stop dreaming and get up. (I could hear Erin up and getting ready for school). I did stop the dream, but I didn't get up.

What a fascinating mental process is a dream in itself, but then to enter this state of lucidity...it is really cool. Brains are awesome! Read more about lucid dreams here. Go try it!

****

Plate o' shrimp! The quote of the day here on my blog is this:

"Let us suppose, then, that we are dreaming, and that all these particulars—namely, the opening of the eyes, the motion of the head, the forth-putting of the hands—are merely illusions; and even that we really possess neither an entire body nor hands such as we see." --Rene Descartes

November Police Blotter

From the Daily Sound

Nov. 28, 12:23 p.m. — Police were called to an apartment complex in the 600 block of Garden Street on reports of a woman refusing to leave a residence. The resident said the 35-year-old woman had come over to visit and take him to lunch, but had disappeared into the bathroom for an extended period of time.

When the resident checked on the woman, he saw her smoking meth from a pipe. The suspect refused to leave and locked the resident out of his apartment. With the help of the apartment manager, however, officers gained entry and found the suspect in the bathroom, naked with her belongings strewn about the room.

The 35-year-old appeared confused, had dilated pupils, complained of being extremely thirst and was constantly twitching. Police recovered a used meth pipe from the room. Authorities booked the woman for being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail was set at $2,500.

From EdHat.com:

On 11/12 at 10:20 a.m., Officer Squid responded to the Brooks Photography campus at 801 Alston Road on a call of suspicious circumstances. A week before, employees discovered a room dead-bolted with a lock that did not belong to the school. They forced entry and discovered evidence of someone living in the room: Clothing, hygiene products, damp washcloths, and other personal items. Today, they found a room normally unlocked that was dead-bolted from the inside. They heard noises, but no one would answer or open the door. When Officer Squid arrived, employees forcibly removed the lock and out came the suspect: Michael Othello Shirley, age 40. Shirley said he has been secretly living at the school for 3 weeks. He was arrested for vandalism and trespass.

Shirley

Protect your Information, People!

My husband is THE most private person I know. He uses fancy encrypted passwords for better computer and internet security. He shreds documents like mad. He never shares his sensitive information, such as social security number. And yet, he was a victim of identity theft.

He found it when he was reviewing credit card bills, which he does every week or so on the internet. The Discover card (# 6011 7394 9811 0474 -- Just kidding!!!) had five--count 'em, FIVE-- cash advances made against it in the last week, to the tune of about $1500.

He immediately called the company and found out that someone had called Discover card asking for an emergency replacement card. They provided his name, secret word, and social security number. Discover card went ahead and sent it to the address they provided. This surprised me, because Discover used to be pretty good about picking up on unusual activity. He has never used the card for a cash advance, and has, of course, lived at the same address for years and years. Discover really blew it, in my opinion, by not calling and confirming this request, and then again by not picking up on the unusual use.

So, now he is in the frightening position of having his information out there. He has taken steps to protect his credit, like freezing his credit report. He'll file a police report, and there are steps to take with the FTC. It isn't a good situation.

Protect your info! Do not give out your information! Check your credit reports often. Buy a cross-cut shredder. Review the guidelines on the FTC identity theft website.

Easy Turkey (or Chicken) Pot Pie

I found this easy recipe from Food & Home magazine, which we get free in our mailbox every once in a while. I've made it a few times, and it is always a hit. The original recipe called for chicken, but it was a perfect use of our leftover dark meat Thanksgiving turkey. The original called for puff pastry from Trader Joe's, as well as one of those whole grilled chickens from TJ's. They've discontinued both of those, so I use "Just Chicken" from TJ's, for ease, and a puff pastry from the regular grocery store.

Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pie

The crust:
1 package frozen puff pastry
Egg Wash (one egg mixed with 1 T. water)

The filling:
1 T. olive oil
1 container of mirepoix (found at Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup fresh, small button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup frozen peas (defrosted)
about 2 cups chopped cooked chicken (or turkey!)
salt and pepper to taste

The gravy:
3 T. butter (the recipe called for clarified butter, but honestly, for gravy? Who'll know?)
3 T. flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
squeeze of a lemon
dash of hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Take puff pastry out of the freezer and let it thaw at room temperature. Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan on medium-high heat. Add the mirepoix and mushrooms and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and peas and cook an additonal 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Prepare the gravy. In a small saucepan over medium heat melt the butter until hot. Add the flour all at once and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, squeeze of lemon and dash of hot sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Mix vegetables, chicken, and gravy together. Spoon into an 8 x 13 pan. Cover the chicken mixture with puff pastry. Brush top with egg wash. Bake in 400º oven for 30-45 minutes, until puff pastry is golden brown.

Note: I did a quick measure of the veggies in the mirepoix, if you want to chop them yourself. It was about 1 1/2 cups diced celery, 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1 cup diced carrots -- I think! I didn't measure them very accurately. The mirepoix is so easy, though!

Enjoy!

Here it is before baking:


And here it is ready to eat!



There is usually a little bit of puff pastry left over. I spread it with butter and sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, baking it until it is cinnamon-y, buttery, puffy, and yummy!

Back from the Big Easy

I had a really good time at the ASHA Convention in New Orleans! My brain got full!

Thursday I concentrated on aphasia during my sessions, while Friday was more of a dysphagia kind of day. I packed the sessions back-to-back and really got a lot of good learning in. I also walked miles and miles! The Ernest M. Morial Convention Center is long. Very long. It seemed that each class was at the opposite end of the facility from the other.

I decided to let Saturday be a little bit lighter, so I only did 3 hours of sessions plus some poster sessions, and I visited the vendor booths. I got to see my favorite grad school professor at her poster. I had prepared myself for an older woman (it's been over 20 years!), but she looked great. It was good to see her; she had really inspired me.

I ate as much Cajun food as I could, and ate some wonderful beignets from Cafe du Monde. Good stuff!

I didn't have a lot of time for sight-seeing. The closing party was held at Mardi Gras World, where they build the floats. Here are some pictures from there. (Note that my pictures are in a different format. Clicking them will enlarge, and clicking that image will enlarge again.)

Between my hotel and the French Quarter there is a nice walkway by the river. Along the way, I got to stop and contemplate with Yaacov Agam's Holocaust Memorial. Mike enjoys his Agam piece that he acquired on one of our cruises. Agam's work is--literally--dynamic. Here are a few photos of the sculpture. You can see more photographs and an explanation here.








On Sunday I had some time before my flight, so I wandered through the French Market and then did a walking tour of the French Quarter. Cool architecture.

The Saint Louis Cathedral

Cornstalk Fence surrounding the Cornstalk Hotel

Someone's balcony decked out for the holidays.

The Eighth District Police Station.

I didn't get a chance to explore the cemeteries, nor did I go to the many museums of the area. The insect museum was tempting. Next time!

Some notes about NOLA:

• Apparently people there drink a lot of soda. Tea, hot and iced, was non-existent. Booze was not non-existent.
  
• The people are friendly, but they seem gruff at first. Then you'll get a joke, a smile, or a big thank you.
• They hose down the streets in the French Quarter every morning. Yuk!
• I saw no evidence of Katrina in the parts I visited and was driven through. I remember the news reports saying that the French Quarter was at higher elevation than most of the city, so I guess that helped to spare it.
• I want to go back, because there is a lot more to see and to do!

Lucid Dream Sabotage

I've told you about Kevin's interest in lucid dreaming. Occasionally I experience one. The other morning, I had a very interesting dream experience.

It all started when I was awakened pre-dawn and couldn't get back to sleep immediately. I finally was able to get to sleep, and it was one of those times that I noticed I was falling asleep. This awareness set the stage for my lucid dream.

I dreamed that I was trying to use an elevator, but it wouldn't go to the floor I wanted. It went to a big science lab. The lab itself was the elevator. This "mechanical failure" is a hallmark of dreaming--how many times are you unable to use the phone or the brakes in a dream?--and I think it was what clued me into my awareness that I was dreaming.

I said to myself, "I'm dreaming! OK, Kevin told me that I need to stay calm. I'm going to be calm. Kevin also said that I have to believe I can do something, and I can do it in my dream. I'm going to believe."

I looked around and saw a man sitting at a desk. I thought, "I'm going to go take off that man's glasses. I know I can do this. I'm going to stay calm and I'm going to be able to take off his glasses."

I walked over and I took his big horn-rimmed glasses off of him and I put them on. My vision suddenly got blurry. It was all dream-vision!

Then cut away to me and Kevin talking. I was telling him all about the lucid dream that I had just experienced. He was listening intently.

I said, "Yeah, and my vision got all blurry. Not like right now. My vision right now is so clear ....I know that right now I'm not dreaming."

I must've had second thoughts about that because then I said, "Look, I'll show you. You always told me to test myself to see if I'm dreaming so that I can control my dream. Look, I'll show you I'm not dreaming."

I began to pinch myself.

Denial is a powerful force.

I didn't feel the pinches. I pinched all along my arms. I didn't feel it. But I said, "Ow! Ow! Ow! See? I'm not dreaming."

Dream Sabotage! Damn!

Since I seem to follow Kevin's instructions very well in my lucid dreams, I asked him for an assignment for my next one. He told me to do a flip in the air. ......Stay tuned.....

The Big Easy

In 10 days I'll be heading to the City of New Orleans for the annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association convention. I'm looking forward to learning a lot and experiencing a new city!

Do you have any recommendation for me while I'm there?