Momentarily Lost

We got all cocky and thought we knew how to take the back way, through the alley, back to Dunshee's. But we overshot and ended up walking an extra mile or so up and down a hill (at unfamiliar altitude.)



I didn't mind too much. I like to walk, and it was interesting to see more of the twists and turns of this Santa Fe neighborhood.


It was on this walk that it sunk in that one of the things I really like about the city is that they treasure their history even as it applies to their neighborhoods. They let desert scrub grow beside the streets. They let their wood age and their paint cure in the sun. When an adobe wall cracks, it's not instantly patched.

They must only stock one or two colors of exterior wall paint down at the Sherwin Williams, but the divine is in the detail in Santa Fe. It's in the old carved doors, the painted window frames and the bits of rusted metal.

Santa Fe - Canyon Road Arts

We got up bright and early on Friday morning and, after breakfasting on muffins and fresh fruit in our casita, walked down to the Canyon Road arts district which started just a few blocks away.

The B&B is off of Acequia Madre, which means Mother Ditch. This is the mother ditch, an irrigation channel that was built 400 years ago, around the time of the founding of Santa Fe.



I liked this stuff. Giant seed pods, and roaming moose.


I felt a great affinity for this guy, clutching his creation to him. Artist's dilemma: the best work is closest to the bone. Now you're supposed to share it with the world.


Nice, colorful sign.


Lovely and simple.


Diver and I both found this one a little disturbing.



Even more disturbing: the submerged woman.


One of the many fabulous doors of Santa Fe. I love how the colors of the houses and businesses are all very similar, but the buildings vary marvelously in the details. Doors, windows, hinges, all provide opportunities to make the place one's own.


Great spot for this statue!

A little wild art, Banksy-style!


My foot in Santa Fe.

We walked back part of the way on another street, with a sidewalk that wound along next to a creek. If you're not into buying really high end art--like I'm not--this is an excellent way to visit Canyon Road. We did the whole walk before 9 a.m., and had the sidewalk and road to ourselves...well, plus a few friendly joggers and dog-walkers.

Getting There is Half the Fun

Even though I sat up till after midnight talking with the woman from Santa Fe, I woke up in time to see the blood red sunrise. Had breakfast with fellow travelers in the dining car and then settled into the observation car to watch the scenery roll by. Called Hydra and Kitty from here. The train tracks parallel highway 40 most of the way through Arizona and New Mexico, so there's cell reception. (Better than at my house!)



Roadside attraction, some where between Flagstaff and Albuquerque.


Some people like to live in really remote places!



I split a cab to the Albuquerque airport with the Sound Healing conventioneer. She was catching a shuttle to Santa Fe. I was meeting Diver at the rental car place.

She arrived soon after I did and we headed for Santa Fe. Funny, our hair is about the same length, and we have jackets that look so much alike that I grabbed hers one day by accident.

Click on the photo for my TripAdvisor review
(I'm CoyoteCousin over there.)

Our home away from home for three nights: Dunshee's B&B. Very well located near Canyon Road art galleries in one direction and Museum Hill in the other direction. Finding it the first time was a bit of a challenge, but it's well worth it to stay in a residential neighborhood.

I love the way the houses are all basically the same color and style, but are adorned with painted flourishes, metal details and lovely unique doors. I took lots of pictures of doors.

We took Susan's (the B&B operator) advise and went to the nearby El Farol for dinner. What a great way to start our Santa Fe experience. We indulged in a meal of tapas, trying 8 different small dishes. Yum. I think our favorite was the parmesan encrusted roasted artichoke hearts that came on the ceasar salad. Mmmm.


My lovely room! There's a sink in the corner and a skylight overhead. I wonder if this was used as an artist's studio at some point. There was a nearly full moon, and a shaft of moonlight stretched across the bed in the middle of the night.


Diver's room. The door leads out to an enclosed patio. It was a bit too cool to sit and enjoy that, but it looks lovely for another time of year.

We hit the hay fairly early. Yay, we're on the same internal clock!

My Turn!

This time it's my turn to take the train!

I'm headed for Albuquerque on the Southwest Chief. Same route Kitty took home a few weeks ago. I'll get off at Albuquerque, though, and meet up with my friend, Diver.

She and I took one look at each other in kindergarten, decided we were the cutest kids we'd ever seen--we looked so much alike that our teachers mixed us up--and became best friends. We were very close all the way past high school, and then our paths diverged. She became a nurse and moved to Cleveland, then Florida. I became a theater person and minor league vagabond and moved to California.

We kept in touch. She came for a visit 13 years ago and we drove up the coast to San Francisco together. This year we decided it had been long enough, so we planned to meet up in New Mexico and explore it together.

I was so excited that I hardly slept on the train. Amongst the people in my car were a kooky guy that rambled in two different voices, a couple of brothers on their way to Chicago to get their mother to move to L.A. to be near them, and a woman on her way to a Sound Healing convention in Santa Fe.

I spent quite a bit of the evening in the observation car writing, and then talking with a woman who had lived in L.A. for 30 years and now lives north of Santa Fe. She and I both worked at Skylight theater in the 80s. She as a lighting designer, I as a lightboard operator. Not the same show, but that's pretty close! We had a great time watching the desert go by, glowing under a full moon, and chatting.

I think I'm in love with the train.

Men in Shirt Sleeves, with Guns

A big black Lincoln Towncar parked on the far side of the Starbuck's lot and three men got out. Men with well-maintained haircuts and unconcealed weapons, chatting amiably as they crossed the asphalt.

The guns were attached to their bodies via various bits of leather. The biggest gun was in a classic black hip holster. There was one on a belt clip, reminiscent of a cell phone case--but the wrong shape. The third guy used a criss-crossed rig that allowed a firearm to dangle underneath each armpit.

Probably FBI.

Yikes, it's weird to have people strolling around with any kind of obvious firepower.

Nothing happened, of course.

They ordered their coffee and were gone like the scent of freshly ground beans out the side door.

Are you kidding? You expected a photo of the men with guns? It was spooky enough just to have my little pocket Canon out in the same room with them! (This ain't no Mervyn's lingerie department, after all.)

The Aliens Are Watching

I know because I saw them outside the Studio City Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library this afternoon.

I walked softly, but I was too intimidated to pick up a big stick.

I just tucked my books under my arm and kept walking. It seemed the best course of action at the time.

Parrots Rights

No, he's not supposed to get into the kitchen drawers. Yet for some inexplicable reason he has been obsessed with just this act of defiance for a few weeks now.

Must enter drawer. Must remove random lids and toss them to the floor!



Must defend rights of myself and all parrots everywhere to ransack kitchens, via terrifying display of ruffled neck and back feathers.

You may well quiver, humans!

Dots!

See, there's this photo contest group over at Facebook, and this week's theme is circles. So I whipped out my camera in the middle of the lingerie department at Mervyn's and took this shot. It's amazing how you can take pictures just about anywhere and no one will protest.

These are possibly the softest most cushy pajamas in the history of civilization. But they are also probably a little too warm for the likes of me. Flannel's about as heavy as I'm able to sleep in.

Sadly, all the Mervyn's stores are shutting down. This department store probably falls between Sears and Penney's, quality wise. A good place to buy trendy stuff and basic jeans.

This economic crisis thing is getting scary.

Random Cuteness

And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

This was posted on the telephone pole next to where I park my car at work. It's a nice welcome back!

I Voted

And it seems to have made a difference!

I had a fever of 102 on election night, but I stayed up to watch the win announced, and McCain's concession speech, and the president elect's first speech as such, and the amazingly beautiful sight of the Obama family taking the world stage.

I'd expected to be elated. I hadn't expected to be quite so moved. Tears rolled down my cheeks through it all.

And they continue to come as I read about an impact I didn't even realize I could hope for: a renewed sense of positive proud national unity--one that we have probably never shared in the scope and depth that we have in the past few days.

And, too, a degree of redemption in the eyes of the world that I am so moved by and grateful for. As much as I have never been a knee-jerk nationalist--I think I'm a realist/optimist/some-time cynic--I really do want the U.S. to earn the respect of our fellows on this planet. I want us to be the sibling you can count on.

This morning I had the longest conversation ever with Carlos from the coffee house downstairs from my office that I've had in the past 10 years of saying hello nearly every day. He noticed that I've been out most of the week. He's going on vacation tomorrow, to see his son in El Salvador. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but maybe he believes my friendliness a little more today than he did last week.

Here are some other stories that have touched me recently. I know that this euphoria will fade like the Christmas season always does, but I hope we have more and more reasons to celebrate our enviable diversity in this country.

Los Angelista's blog is worth reading all the time, but be sure not to miss her November 5th entry, "Hugging Random Strangers."

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again" , William J. Kole's update from Vienna is good news.

And methinks Jon Stewart doth protest too much. Witness his show opener for November 5th: Happy New York.

Thank You, USA!

[Image from www.barackobama.com]

Thanks for choosing hope and possibility.

Thanks for seeing clearly and doing the right thing.

Thanks for coming out in record numbers, and giving Barack Obama a true mandate for change.

Thanks for having faith in our ability to unify and make things happen.

Thanks especially to Indiana for going BLUE for the first time in my memory. (Thanks to my niece, Megan, for helping make that happen!!)

Baracking the Vote

Today I went down to Obama/Biden Headquarters in Van Nuys and volunteered for a couple of hours. I've made some calls from home, but I wanted to help do data entry at the HQ. As it turned out, I became part of the phone bank, but that's okay.

This year is the first time I've volunteered on a political campaign, and I wish I'd started earlier. I made a couple of dozen phone calls a few weeks ago, got sick, and didn't start up again until yesterday.

Going to the HQ was really worth it. It was amazing to see a couple of hundred people sitting on chairs, on the floor, on window sills inside and outside, all making calls on their own cell phones. I was in a room with three other people, two of whom didn't have cell phones and didn't have any work to do, but were nice. The other woman was an incredible caller. It was fun to hear her talk to one woman in Indiana who really wanted to converse.

I left a lot of messages, racked up some wrong numbers, talked to a few undecideds and a couple of McCain supporters. I thanked them for participating in the process.

Most of the people I actually spoke with are planning to vote for Obama.

My favorite call was a guy in Ohio. The purpose of the calling today was to make sure voters know where their polling places are, and let them know if they aren't aware. Offer rides if they need them. And find out if they're planning to vote for Obama or McCain.

My guy said, "I want Bush to stay in office."

"Oh! Then.... I guess you'll be voting for McCain?"

"No, no. I'm just pulling your leg!" he laughed.

"Ha, well, you had me there for a minute!"

"Don't worry, baby. We're gonna make it happen. It's gonna be all right."

"We just don't want people to think it's in the bag."

"Don't you worry, baby. It's going to happen. You have a good night."

All in all, it was a really good experience.



And if I hadn't driven down to the valley, I would have missed the amazing colors on the drive home.



Trust me, this is way easier than dialing your cell phone.

Really Rain!

Just in case you don't believe me!
(Can you hear Dodger in the background?)

Bwaaa-ha-ha-ha-Halloween!

Our first Trick or Treater is Dodger.

Once again, he dresses as a thief.

He destroys a green Skittle, a yellow one and an orange one before I stop him. Yipes, he only weighs about 9 ounces. I think he just ate 1% of his body weight in fruit flavored sugar.

The first costumed kid arrives at 6:25. It's a little later than usual and I am a little concerned that we might get stuck with 10 pounds of Starbursts, Skittles and assorted fun-sized chocolates. (I'm not kidding!)

She's wearing a homemade bee costume. The pipe cleaner wings are already bent. I adore her. She gets a Snickers.

I admit it, when I have the time--and sometimes I don't because they arrive in rushes of ten or twelve a time--I rate the costumes and give accordingly. Handmade ones get the good stuff. Skittles are mid-range and Starburst packets are the norm. Back when I bought the candy, I got nothing but chocolate. It's cheaper when I let Hydra do the shopping.

The official greeter at Chez Sundry.

There's a great little cowgirl around 7:00. With just the most wonderful smile, dark hair in pigtails descending from her hat, holster angled across her hip, real cowboy boots.

Two packs of M&Ms!

7:15 : A teeny-tiny Sleeping Beauty just barely understandably asks, "Where is your puppy?"

I have to tell her we don't have one.

"Okay!" She turns away, completely satisfied. Her mom takes the candy and thanks me, shaking her head and smiling.

7:20 : I eat a packet of Peanut M&Ms.

Hydra checks the body count. We've jumped from 13 to 52 since the last time he asked.

7:30 : Dodger's sitting calmly on his travel cage in the kitchen, saying "Helloooo--- Hellooo---" He is not sure why we are handing all our candy to these vagabonds. Just because they asked?

We get a lot of tweens and teens in our neighborhood. Maybe it's because Acton's a small town and there's not a lot to do. Most of them make an effort to dress up. No one has seemed happier than the boy in a skirt, tube top and heavy glam make-up.

7:50 : A batch of high school students shows up, not really in costume.

"What are you dressed as?" I ask with a chuckle, "Bums?" (Oh god, when did I get so old?)

"No!" says one.

"We're from the local rehab," says the another with a smirk.

"I'm a cripple," says the girl, holding up her wrist, which is in a cast.

"Very convincing," I say, handing over the Skittles.

"Ohhhh!" says Dodger in the background, "Heh-heh-heh."

8:05 : "Wow, your window is so clear!" a little lady bug says. Cute. A Twix arcs into her pillowcase.

8:57 : Time to turn out the porch light.

Total for the night: 131 critters!

The really scary thing is, I didn't open the second 4 pound bag of Skittles and Starburts, and I barely put a dent in the chocolate!

It's Raining!

I love it when it rains in L.A. Well, it's best when I'm snuggled up at home on a weekend morning, but it was so wonderful to smell the freshness pouring down from the sky!


Made for a pretty dawn in Burbank, too.


It was still all weathery when I got home to Acton.

Our house is within sight of our polling place, which is in our homeowner's association clubhouse. Probably outside the legal limit, but up in our neighborhood which doesn't have much traffic.

I planted the Obama '08 yard sign that Tomasina gave me on busier Santiago Road.

I know, it doesn't look busy, but a lot of people leave the freeway to go into Acton this way. And it'll still be on the way to the polling place for some people.

Good Night, Sweet Quince

Here's the end result of the quince experiment!

The syrup is very lightly flavored and thick. I think it would be great over finely crushed ice, like in a Sno-Cone.

I pureed the fruit with my handy hand-blender. It's such a pretty color! And it tastes great on a La Brea Bakery bread roll with a little bit of butter.

Fondest of Farewells

This is the Post Office annex, glowing in the evening light.

Shortly after sampling the quince, which we both liked, we headed once again for downtown Los Angeles. The drive was smooth, especially since Google Maps showed me a new way--taking the 5 all the way to Mission and entering downtown away from the madhouse tangle of freeways that I used to tackle every time.

[Ooh, speaking of Google Maps! Click here and when you get to the site, click on Barack Obama's Journey and John McCain's Journey. Really interesting tour of the important places in their lives.]


Oui! Kitty began her California visit with a trip to Phillippe's and ended it there, too. She likes the turkey dip, I like the beef. We split potato salad again.

I picked up a pork dip to take home to Hydra, who has never actually set foot on this hallowed ground. (Does anyone smell a field trip!?)


I had to run back to my car--parked in the passenger loading zone--to grab my camera and get this shot. Union Station is just too beautiful! (And Kitty ain't bad, either!)

She won't get home to Indiana until late Friday night. Hope it's a smooth trip.

Her visits always refresh my spirit. I'm a lucky, lucky kid.

Quince-tessential Fall Fruit

Consider the humble quince. Not really edible in it's natural state. It won't actually harm you, it just doesn't taste nice.

On the way home from the doctor's office on Saturday (allergies became a sinus infection, hence the long absence from Any Given Sundry,) Kitty and I stopped at Sanchez Produce and I saw these. I'd read about them in How to Pick a Peach.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I can't stop talking about that book!



By Wednesday I was beginning to feel human again... You know, that sense of life being worth living you sometimes get when emerging from a bad cold or flu? That was me.

It was Kitty's last day in California, so I wanted to get around to cooking this up. I may have become a bit over-excited. Russ Parson's recipe for poaching quince was so simple that I thought he hadn't given me the proportions for simple syrup.

So I went online and the first one I found recommended 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. I was thinking I was going to try to poach the quince whole, so I used two cups of water and four of sugar.

Then Kitty pointed out that the instructions said to slice the quince. Well, shoot. Of course.

We dropped the slices in with the seeds still intact, just to see what would happen. The seeds contain a lot of natural pectin, which is what helps fruit jelly become jellified.

At some point I noticed--or Kitty read--that Parsons actually said 1 part sugar to 1 part water. Too late, buster. You have to get my attention and you have to hold it.




It took a lot longer than 45 minutes for the quince slices to turn rosy and look really cooked. But oh my, what a delicate and lovely flavor.


Serving recommendation is with a couple of vanilla cookies on the side.

I think there was so much sugar, though, that I more or less candied the quince rather than poaching it.

I'll try this again using the correct recipe with less sugar. Also will probably try this recipe found online, which looks spicy and wonderful. Ooh, or this one for membrillo.

Fall Colors

The apricot tree seems to have been bisected by a cold wind that left behind a smattering of yellow leaves.

Clafoutis II - The Prequel

Started feeling a bit better by Sunday (thanks to antibiotics and anti-allergy meds) and of course that means cooking again. Wanted Kitty to see how easy it is to make and how yummy.

I'm calling this a prequel because it's the actual recipe that Russ Parsons suggested in How to Pick a Peach. It uses pears and pistachios rather than the plums and almonds I tried first.