Peggy's Place

Poplar Forest Dreaming of Dixie

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Dixie on her blind retrieve.

That's the registered name of our beloved gun dog, Dixie. She's is a medium-sized working Labrador Retriever, and in the middle of her second full hunting season with Tom, our resident protein-provider.

Dixie retrieves to Jan's hand.

Dixie, now age four, has been shining this year. Tom's duck blind buddies have been amazed at her development, she seems to be learning all the time.Tom swears she gets it now that she is supposed to hide in the camouflage cover, but if she hears him take the safety off his gun she is up looking for the incoming, and ready to mark the outgoing. Her whole body seems to vibrate with still energy after the gun sounds. "Will there be a retrieve for me? Where's the bird?"

She is well-bred and was well-trained before we ever met her. We have someone in Texas to thank for that, and Hightest Kennels for finishing her. We have kept her whole, dealing with the heat cycles about every 7 months, because we wanted to see if she would be exemplary, and worthy of carrying on her line. Twice now, I have had to get her tested to see if she was pregnant. (Once a Rottweiler broke into our fenced backyard. The gate, which this dog just crashed right through, has since been fortified!)

Dixie hides under the cammo.

We have been doing our homework, learning how to read a pedigree, about the importance of titles, hip and eye clearances. Our girl passed those important physical tests, and has a wonderful demeanor. She is really a loving companion as well as an outstanding hunter who does blind retrieves, and delivers birds to the hand. She hunts ducks and pheasant with equal relish.

Yesterday, I drove our girl up to Lodi, California to get a second opinion on our charge. We realized that our opinion, and that of our hunting friends may be slightly biased, and so we sought the advise of Jan Burkholder of Stonewall Retrievers. In addition to having 20 years of experience training dogs, Jan writes a regular column on the subject for California Waterfowl magazine. We knew her opinion would count for a lot, and after exchanging a few emails, she invited us over to have a look at Dixie.

I arrived at Stonewall at 11:00 a.m., just before the shooter arrived. Rick has a dog named Red (a yellow lab, go figure!) in training with Jan and he was on the truck, along with seven other labs and a German Shorthair Pointer, all younger than 9 months, and in various stages of training. We loaded Dixie up and set out for the training pond that Jan leases from a neighbor who has land to spare. This neighbor also has a dog in Jan's care. One at a time she brought the dogs out, gave them a chance at one live bird, of the pigeon variety. Rick only missed one, and she made sure to give each dog a chance at a bird. None of these dogs minded the loud bang of the gun. What was even louder was our Dixie barking and demanding her turn. She was so keyed up, I could not quiet her and I could see saliva dribbling down the kennel vents. Dixie was last to come out.

Jan allowed me to take still photos, but the light was not favorable at this time of day for that kind of shooting. I was amazed at her patience, even with the young chocolate lab that did not want to give up the birdy. Second to last dog to work was the pointer, and Jan set up an upland game scenario for her, hiding a bird under a bush then asking her to find and point to it. Though eager, this dog overshot the mark and I heard Jan say something about not using her nose and relying too much on her eyes. On the second pass the bird was flushed and it flew straight over the pond. Rick got off a very difficult long shot and it dropped on the far side, beyond a thatched knoll in the middle of the pond, just a barely visible black speck floating on the surface. I told Jan Dixie would get that bird for her. We had inadvertently set up a very difficult blind retrieve.

Poplar Forest Dreaming of Dixie

I invited Jan to handle Dixie. It took about six casts, which is directing the dog to go in a particular direction, bird unseen. As I watched Dixie worked her way zigzagging the shallows, looking for what Jan was sending her towards, I thought Jan couldn't see the bird, because she did not send Dixie directly towards it. Finally on the fifth or so cast, she got Dixie swimming deep enough, and as I later learned, downwind of the bird, and it was amazing to see Dixie smell it and make a 90 degree turn to swim directly for it. Nothing wrong with her nose. I was certainly a proud dog mom at that moment. I heard Jan say, "Wow, look at her, she swims as fast coming back as she does going out!" But, the highest compliment she paid her was, "Yeah, she's got enough to share."

We'd like to thank Jan Burkholder for being so generous with her knowledge and time. The next steps are to acquire a copy of "How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With" and see if we can make an appointment for the stud dog Jan has recommended. This adventure is only beginning!

Non-Shooter

2011-10-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

I’ll never forget last year’s duck hunt with my husband. The strange 4th of July sound, only without the fireworks. The wind was so vicious that day, I thought I was going to be pushed into the water and drown as my waders filled up. Instead, I only got stuck in the mud, and had to be rescued to my great embarrassment. I disobeyed my husband’s specific order not to help pick up decoys from the refuge pond when we were done with the hunt. He must know some trick for walking in the mud that he has not shared with me. No limit on ducks that day, just one small Teal to show for all the effort.

I am a once-a-year annual duck hunt observer. My husband has not missed a season in 40+ years. As my huband’s hunting buddy and good friend, Pete, points out, “you go through all that and you’re not even shooting?!” Boy, and people think duck hunters are crazy. What does that make me?

That was the old way to hunt, on a refuge by lottery, where you have to get up an extra hour early just to have time to set out your decoys, not to mention drive to whatever refuge you'd drawn and stand in line at “oh dark thirty” to hear which blind you get.

This marked my third duck hunt, on the second weekend of duck hunting on October 26th, 2011. I was accompanying my husband as a non-shooter at the Kerry Duck Club off Highway 5 at Santa Nella exit, nestled right in between some nice dairy farms adjacent to the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge.

Duck club hunting is the gentlemen’s way to go if you can afford the membership fee. Don’t start envisioning fancy clubhouses, there’s just a sign up board, and a few trailers parked on the property, which is specifically maintained for duck habitat. The best part is, you get to sleep in an extra hour because the decoys are all set out two weeks prior to Opening Weekend.

We arose together at 4:30 a.m., donned our clothes, carefully laid out the night before -- I had even patched the two-inch hole in my waders. The truck was already packed. The only thing we forgot (only discovered once in the field) was a whistle for handling the dog. The drive was just one cup of coffee away. This club selects a blind based on a pre-determined order, and I watched my husband wait patiently as the members came forward and place their game piece on a peg, indicating blind location, on a specially designed board to indicate where they would hunt and how many hunters. My plan was just to take pictures, so no game piece for me. We had faxed in my signed club liability waiver and a copy of the rules and regulations the day before.

Waders and headlamps on, we marched, with the dog at our heels, in the dark to the blind location. Always a little tricky finding this in the dark. What creeps me out is when we turn off the dry path to walk across the pond to a point I cannot see. When the mud got particularly sticky, I had to grab my waders and lift my feet with each step to keep from getting stuck. When the water raised to knee level, I had to repeat the “fear is the mind-killer” matra from the Bene Gesserite. (Only Dune fans will get that reference.)

I was never so happy to find two cement holes in the ground, when my husband announced we had arrived, just 20 minutes until shoot time. We quickly got the covers off and put the dog in position, jumped in our dry holes, outfitted with seats, and put out the dry palm fronds, stored conveniently in the blinds, for some extra cover from ducks in flight.

Even though it was the second weekend of the season, the birds, including coots and snipes, which nobody wants, were flying thick as thieves. I donned ear plugs quickly after I learned how a cement hole magnifies the boom of a shotgun. You’re not supposed to talk a lot anyway, and my husband only had to shush me once.

Armed only with a camera, I was able to capture a few worthy pictures, but the greatest moments can only be witnessed. I witnessed my husband shoot a double with the 20-gage over under he bought for me last Christmas, and admired him for his patience as he passed up winged Teal to reach his limit with two Pintail, taken one at a time. (They are known to be the best for eating.) We departed at 10:30 a.m. and headed for home, a meal, and a shower. Even the dog seemed satisfied.

Past Meets Present

2011-09-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

My nephew Christopher, incoming freshman at UCSB.

As I drove down Highway 101 my past intersected with my present. The bend at Gaviota revealed oil rigs off the shore, the smell of the sea and eucalyptus, then Refufio, El Capitan. A pelican making his survey. Shock of hot pink boganvilla.

Brian finds Chris the right board.

I passed Winchester Canyon Road -- a place I must not return to emotionally, physically forbidden. It was an orange cone zone, detour available on the next exit. I decided to pass on that trip down memory lane.

The ugly building that used to hail passers by, formerly The Ruby Begonia, a restaurant that more resembled a prostitute, still stands at the last exit out of town. A new name, a new owner, but the same old place. Someone should really burn the place down and put up somthing grand in its place.

The Funk Zone east of Anacapa St.

I am here for a happier purpose than a trip down memory lane. My nephew will start his Freshman year at UC Santa Barbara next week. I am to acquire a surfboard for his graduation present, a promise of fun in the sun. The experience a pardise such as this should offer.

Let Freedom Ring

2011-06-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Old Wine

2011-05-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

Guest post by Tom Concannon

It is always fun and enlightening to taste older vintage wines with a group of appreciative friends. Part of the allure is the near adventure-like quality of tasting wine of sufficient age as to make it a once in a lifetime experience. Like any adventure, the outcome that each bottle will produce is uncertain and for this reason I prefer to open a number of bottles with the idea that one or some of them might be an exceptional wine, (still.)

On May 23 we will gather with some good friends at our house in Livermore to open the last bottles of old California Cabernet that we have in the house. The vintages span 24 years from the 1961 vintage to 1985. We will have two wines representing each of the decades and we hope that each wine will teach us something. Here are a few comments about the bottles to be opened.

1961 BV George de la Tour Private Reserve: The vintage 1961 was considered to be excellent in France but in California this vineyard experienced spring frost and then some rain at harvest. This wine was made by Andre Tchelistcheff who was one of the most influential winemakers in California history.

1964 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Bottling: This wine was the last vintage made from the old Cabernet vineyard that produced the Concannon Clones 7 and 8. These two clones that UC Davis took from this vineyard have become some of the most widely planted Cabernet Sauvignon varieties in California today. This wine was produced in the manner proscribed by Katherine Vajda, the California wine industry’s original female professional winemaker.

1974 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon Limited Bottling: This vintage shows Concannon Vineyard adapting to a new decade with some new ideas. Although the labeling style was short lived, this wine also demonstrates the talents of a new winemaker, Bob Broman, that joined the winery in 1973, (I think). 1974 was a very ripe vintage in Livermore and the reds from that year have generally held up well. We have two bottles and one of them has a low fill point.

1978 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon: This vintage was the first one made after the death of my father in May 1978. It was released in 1983 when the winery was purchased by its second owner after initially being sold in 1980. Tthe “Celebrating 100 years” sticker acknowledges the first vintage at Concannon, the 1883 vintage. 1978 followed two severe drought years in 1976 and 1977 and so the vines were probably not producing a large crop. This wine tasted good last year.

1985 Concannon Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled: To my palate the 1985 vintage was the best vintage of my lifetime. Every producer that I tasted made good red wine in 1985 and I went to several tastings in Los Angeles that showcased this vintage. Concannon had winemaker Sergio Traverso in this year and, working in the prime of his career, and he made some absolutely exceptional wines that year. At fifteen years of age this wine bested every other producer’s 1985 vintage that we were able to taste it against and it will be really special to find out if it still has the chops at the ripe old age of 26.

1985 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon: This wine will offer a Napa Valley example from the 1985 vintage. While Cabernet styles and makers are a matter of personal taste and preference, there is no doubt that Silver Oak has a huge number of fans. This was particularly true back in the early 1990’s when this wine was released. Again, it should be fun to tasted two wines from “Tom’s favorite vintage” to see which one we still like today, (hopefully a beauty contest and not the opposite)

I will post another entry after our tasting with some results from our evening.

May Day

2011-05-01T20:58:00.000-07:00


Teri Tith at her first Met performance.

It was a "four egg day". That's the most we can expect since we lost one of our hens to a predator while I was in New York last week. The remaining girls are 3 years old and still producing well, mostly confined to their coup and the enclosed, secure adjacent run. The climbing rose is recovering from the severe cut back we had to do to install this enclosure. They really miss the free ranging. I toss them treats and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, but it's not the same. Now we are leaning how to manage the flies the build up of droppings bring.

I was able to take in two operas while in New York with my friend Lauren. It was fun to have Easter Dinner with her parents and sleep in her childhood bedroom. It's not every day you wake to a unicorn and song birds. (Lauren's twin bed had a satin, stuffed unicorn hanging directly over it, and her Dad has several bird feeders set up along the front of their home.)


Central Park on Easter Sunday

Home again, home again...after a long-planned trip East. We have a garden to plant. A cat, a dog and chickens to tend. We had dinner with my Mom, our first at her new apartment. I even got to go in the spa before dinner.

What a beautiful day it was!

Spring Fever

2011-04-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Dixie and Tom at Lake Del Valle.

Our dog has come up lame, right as she is about to go into heat. She sprained her toe on the right paw playing frizbee fetch in the nearby creek last week. I feel pretty guilty for letting her do this. I guess even river rocks are not good to run and rough house on. She'll be doing no retrieves or swimming for the next 10 days. Glad that's all it was, and very pleased that Dr. Bains was able to diagnose the problem right away. He prescribed anti-inflamatory pain meds to be given 2 times a day with orders to keep her on slow walks only.

We've had frosty mornings and cool north winds, which makes me think it is too early to plant outdoors, but we are getting the ground and compost heap ready. Tom is going to help me plant and install a watering system that will make it easier to keep up with the garden this year. We are also installing the fixtures for hanging lanterns from the canopy of the Mulberry trees in the backyard. We want to add a bit of light so we can hang out outdoors longer into the balmy summer evenings that we know are ahead.

The wysteria is in full bloom. Tom taught me to prune them for blooming, and it turned out very well. We hope to keep up with it for blooms all summer. New crape myrtles, with deep burgundy colored flowers, were planted along side the long driveway and the dead pine and two others were removed. You can almost tell there's a house from the street now.

I was thrilled to see the first heirloom tomatoes heirloom tomato seedling poking up through the soil when I poured my first cup of coffee this morning. Hope at least some of them survive to planting time.

The Perfect Cup

2011-01-12T05:12:00.000-08:00

I still don't have it right, my first cup of Joe that is. Mom indulged us with a new Delonghi cappuccino/coffee maker for Christmas. I am still learning how to use it. This unit is so different than the little single cup Krups we'd been using, it's back to square one in the prep.

I decided to take this photo before the assembly step on my cup of cap because it struck me how fussy I am getting about it and how many things were out on the counter just so I could get the task done. Let's go through it, shall we?

Can of regular grind coffee from Trader Joes
Milk carton
Hazelnut creamer (just in case I wanted to try it)
Cappuccino mug (with hot water to warm it)
Electric Coffee Mill (because a cappuccino needs a finer grind)
Liquid Stevia natural sweetener
2 Small glass measuring cups (the drip and steamed milk)
Teaspoon to fold the frothed milk before pouring

You're wondering what the spray bottle of water is for. That's to keep my kitten off the counter while I am fussing with my first cup of coffee. Grounds all over the counter is okay, but no animals please. Not depicted above are the whole nutmeg nut and grater I use to get some on the top of the frothed milk.

[Special note to friends and family: You do NOT have to serve coffee to me this way when I am an overnight guest!]

Day 2 at Sea

2010-12-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

The 7:30 knock came too early, or so it seemed. I had not told my husband that I ordered in room coffee set up. We woke to glassy seas and dolphins, and sighting of land...an island to be more accurate.

Upon a Clear Night and a Poem to Match

2010-12-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

I wrote this poem while I was working backstage at the performing arts center located in our downtown. This show was sold out, and I got to watch the first part of it from the sound booth since there was not a seat available for me in the audience. Our patrons love this choral group. Although the men were exhausted from a busy singing season, they did one encore for us and were rewarded with a full house standing ovation. It was their last show of the season. There was just enough light in the booth for me to jot down my rhyming ideas.

A Chanticleer Night

"The house doors are open," said Ed Estrada.

"30 minutes folks to the top of the show."

The patrons are milling and spreading their cheer.

Their voices are floating from front to the rear.

Meanwhile....

Steaming tuxedos and bow ties made straight,

Men's voices a'tuning back stage as they wait.

"Five minutes" still waiting, "to top of the show.

Will someone please let the singing men know?"

They enter in darkness with candles alit.

The mesmerized patrons spellbound where they sit.

Singing in half-round, their fine voices blending,

The "peace and the warmth" of the season they're sending.

The language may be different, but it doesn't matter,

We follow the Spirit, regardless of letter.

Our hearts are uplifted -- outlooks are more bright.

Halleluiahs were met with hurrahs and applause on this Christmas-y night.

Random Wreaths of Kindness

2010-12-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll. What did you do to get in the spirit of Christmas and spread some cheer this year? We made wreaths and gave them away. My niece and nephew visited over the weekend and helped us decorate our tree (it's always fun to play with someone else's ornaments), and make a wreath or two.

I served Minestrone soup made from scratch, with grilled cheese = "yum-o" as Rachel Ray of 30-Minute Meal fame would say!

I have my dear friend Rebecca to thank for the instruction she provided last holiday season on how to make a fresh Christmas wreath. You can get free pine cuttings from any Christmas tree lot. Now I will be on the look out for the post-holiday sales for cheap items to decorate wreaths with next year.

The Story of the Nativity in the Social Media Realm

2010-12-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

This has received more than 1,800,000 views on YouTube.

How to Train A Kitten

2010-12-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

I have no clue. It's been a long time since I had one, almost an entire decade ago. This new kitten is slowly training us. Maybe it's the cool weather, but I am beginning to suspect that Scout wants to be an indoor cat. Hold that thought. Not what Tom and I agreed to for this new cat.

I have been trying to introduce her to the backyard this week. Even though our furnace protests, I left the sliding glass door open for a bit in the morning once everyone went to work. The finches were attacking the sock filled with Nyer Thistle seed. Their happy feeding sounds were too much for her to resist. I caught this image of her peeking out the door to see what was making all that noise, right before she retired for the day.

She has decided that the very best place to sleep all day is underneath my Mom's bed. Mom has the bed located directly over the furnace, so it's nice and cozy, and cave-like. She likes to usurp Baxter's toys and explore all the nooks and crannies. Mom packs a lot into a small room and thus has lots of good hidy places for her.

Scout is very bold. Today, she surprised me whilst I was innocently trying to do house chores (how dare I ignore her?!!!) she took a running head start and tried to climb up my leg...up into my arms I assume. Well, I was sure surprised to say the least. She has also taken to swatting Dixie's tail when she can't find a good toy to chase, and she and Baxter are very close to cuddling up on, you guessed it, Mom's bed.

Dixie is writing our holiday letter this year. She insists that the house has gone to the dogs and she intends to keep it that way.

Need a New Run

2010-11-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

Gotta get a new run designed and built before we depart for our New Year's trip. The coyotes got one of my hens the day before Thanksgiving. They were free ranging on our back lot near the garden boxes. I just can't let them out any more. The coyotes are too wiley. The same coyote came back for secons the next day. We had them safely within the chain link fenced in back yard. Tom got to practice his marksmanship; gave the scruffy wild thing a taste of discouragement.

It will be difficult to draft a plan and get this done by Christmas, but it has to be done. I want something with an arbor for the top so the trailing rose vine has a place to go. I need to be able to walk in without ducking so I can clean and lay hay down. The floor needs to be dirt so they can take a dust bath, and I'd like a small door installed in the chain link so I can release them directly into the backyard. The perimeter needs to be secure from burrowing, digging predators. The arbor top will discourage hawks. The outer walls must be completely covered with 2x4 welded wire, top to bottom or they'll just fly right over. I am thinking that we need my friend's back hoe to dig down deep enough to bury cinder blocks along the edge, two blocks high and one block burried, stacked and cemented, but I am open to better ideas.

The chickens will be locked securely in their coop at night. The run is for daytime use only.

It's a Girl!

2010-11-27T10:56:00.001-08:00

So, I had a household full of people for Thanksgiving this year, eight around the table. It was fun, and the turkey turned out great. We had a 15.75 lb. free range bird and I have never seen breast meat so juicy!

Apparently, my kitten is a girl, not a boy, so she has been renamed Scout, after the youthful Tomboy character in the famous book and movie starring Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird).

Two days later, I am still doing dishes and trying to get everything put back in proper order, but it was worth all the work and we'd do it again!

In the photo at right, my dear friend Miss Yuka is getting cozy with Scout and Baxter before he went to San Diego with my Mom for their Turkey Day feast with her best friend. Looking forward to having her here for Christmas.

And so we go from "Gobble, gobble, gobble" to "Ho, ho, ho!"

Meet Marco

2010-11-24T04:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, I finally battered Tom into letting me have another cat. This one is a Manx, indoor-outdoor variety. A bit small right now, but getting along well with the dogs and looks to be a good mouser.

Water Polo Booster

2010-11-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's me, a.k.a. Autie Teri. I love to watch my uber-athletic second cousins do their thing in the pool. Water polo is very big in California, and the rest of the country is catching on. Let's face it. We really do have the weather for it. The kids go from swim lessons, to swim team, to polo if they want to. They are excellent swimmers and my nephew just finished his high school career. I still remember my last high school match. We lost in the CIF quarter finals to Mira Costa. There were tears. It truly marked the end of an era.

The large photo was take at one of the final high school tournaments at a Monta Vista High School in Cupertino. Newport did very well, but did not take home the top prize. My nephew has attracted the attention of coaches at some of the top polo schools and we hope he can keep his grades at a level where all options will be open to him. He is applying to colleges now. He will join the National team, and continue to play on club teams to keep his game up to par.

His sister is also making waves, not even in high school yet. She has finally grown into her body, always one of the tallest young ladies in her class, she is really finding her stroke (couldn't resist that one!). Her "14-year-olds" team was ranked 8th in a recent tournament, and they placed third. Recently, she was selected for the honor of participating in a special camp for water polo athletes in Texas. I guess the extra training made a difference. Photo at right is their little bro John, my youngest nephew.

My Trifle Recipe

2010-10-28T17:01:00.001-07:00

Here it is folks! I've made this twice now. I never ate a trifle before I became a recipe tester for the Holm Family Cookbook in 2008. It was a treasure of a book, part family history, part just darn good recipes, published by one of Livermore's oldest rancher families. I had to buy a trifle bowl to be a participant. Now I use it any time I am called to bring a dessert to a pot luck. The Holm recipe was a raspberry trifle with cooked vanilla custard and whipped cream.

I adapted recipe to be even faster, no baking required. You just buy the cake at your local grocery store, and stop by Trader Joe's for a few key items. Good luck with substitutions if they ever stop carrying these items!

Slightly Drunken Cherries & Lemon Trifle

Ingredients

2 Trader Joe's brand Dark Morello Cherries (in light syrup) 24.7 oz. jars
2 jars Lemon Curd
1 Trader Joe's brand Fresh Cherry Preserves (jam like) 17.5 oz. jar
2 tsp. each of Brandy, Triple Sec and Cream Sherry (or an interesting combination from your liquor cabinet!)
1 Pint Heavy Cream
Zest of 1 Lemon
2 Tblsp. or less of Sugar
1/2 Bundt Cake, either yellow cake or pound cake or the equivalent

Instructions

Take a heavy saucepan out and scoop out all the cherry preserves into the pan and heat over medium heat. Heat just until the jam is melted and add the liquers to incoporate and dissapate the alcohol. Do not boil, as you really want the ingredients room temperature or cooler when you assemble. While that is on the stove, drain most of the liquid from the cherries in liquid and set aside in a bowl. Once the other cherries are liquored up, add them to this batch and toss a bit to incorporate.

If you are really on top of things you can carve up the cake while that's on the stovetop. Trim off all the brown outer bits, and cube up the cake into even sized pieces for the layers of trifle. It doesn't matter it is is a triangle or square, just nice bite-sized pieces is fine.

If you have a stand alone mixer, now is a good time to get your cream whipped. Don't forget to add lemon zest and sugar to taste while it is in the mixer. By now your family members are hovering around the kitchen sneaking cake bits. When you have it whipped to soft peaks, fold in one of the jars of lemon curd. Yum. Be sure to let someone you love lick the bowl once you have the trifle assembled (see below).

Get your trifle, or other tall-sided clear bowl ready by smearing the lemon curd in the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of the bowl. For my bowl, it only takes 1/2 the jar, but you can decide for yourself what amount is right and looks pretty (good to eat).

Place a layer of cake cubes, followed by 1/2 the drunken cherries, being sure to use a ladel to get some of the liquer onto the cake. Keep in mind you want it wet but not too soggy. Just moistened nicely. On top of the cake and cherries goes a layer of whipped cream mixture. Repeat and make the whipped cream pretty on top, by saving one nice cherry for the middle!

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy.

[PHOTO: I didn't have a photo of the lemon-cherry trifle, so I posted the berry one I did last summer.]

What Happened Last Summer

2010-10-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

The start of Duck Hunting season marks fall at my house, a date of much anticipation and focused preparation, especially when you own a black lab specifically trained for the task. As I was reflecting on the fact that summer is truly over and this is "opening weekend", I feel compelled to share that I have had a really lousy summer. Let's go there first...

The highlights always include the 4th of July, without family this year, but our annual backyard party is always a fun mix. We were all worried this would be the last year of the city's firework's show due to budget constraints they are facing. I also saw my first Wagnerian opera, took a 10-day a trip to Honolulu with my niece, Rachel, and got to visit much renown NoCal coastal town, Mendocino, for my birthday. The downers were being responsible for the opera's annual fundraiser, running for president of the board and losing, and knee surgery. Yep, that pretty much sums it up my summer. Not so bad in retrospect.

Now, the silver lining is that I raised $7,000 for opera (net, and that was 2K more than this event had ever done previously), I am now vice president (next in line Baby!) with much less responsibility, and I am looking forward to regaining my strength and balance so I can play some golf and be able go hiking with my dog and husband again. In my recovery from the surgery, I was telling anyone who would listen that "I don't just want to walk again, I want to tango!" I even got my husband to agree to take lessons with me. This really helped motivate me to do my therapies and exercises. Now, I am dreaming that we can both be free of our work obligations and join his siblings on a Mexican cruise for New Year's Eve. That would be a nice way to end the year. Last year, I worked a show and didn't get a break the entire evening (poor planning on my part).

Tom and I are looking forward to a visit from pretend sister Yuka, who will be joining us for Thanksgiving all the way from Palm Beach (well, Japan really).

How was your summer?

I Love My Dog

2010-07-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

As if you couldn't tell by looking at my garden. I had such ambitious plans for heirloom tomatoes, carrots, radishes, lettuce, etc. I even bragged about them right here on this blog.

Dixie, our 2 1/2 year old female black lab, has only been in our lives eight months, and I am in love with her already. She is well documented in photos on this blog and on Facebook. My garden suffers, because of the space she now occupies in our lives. Better that she not suffer.

She is really our dog, and loves nothing more than to go hunting with Tom. Doesn't matter if it's gophers in the yard or pheasants afield, but but she is also a "momma's girl."

She watches my every move; likes to be in the room with me or have me within eye sight at all times. It is my job to exercise her Monday through Friday. We do more than just walk. I make a point to take her to off-leash areas to she can range, hunter style, responding to verbal commands only. She is very obedient. We do T-drills, which emphasizes blind retrieves in partnership with the handler, and marked (visually sighted by the dog) water retrieves. I even developed a new drill for her, that I call the Y-drill, for water retrieves which emphasizes the trainer's directional command to retrieve the bumper (think: duck), going after the one he or she commands first, not the one she just happens to be fixated on.

As one friend put it to me, "you can always recover your garden." If I keep my priorities straight, I think everyone will thrive and be happy. Keeping the house clean helps too.

Today is My Birthday

2010-07-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

We are in Mendocino staying at the dog-friendly Stanford Inn by the Sea.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

Patriotic

2010-07-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Our friend Michelle offered to mend our weather-worn U.S. flag on the 4th of July. Can't get more patriotic than that! It will have to be retired soon, but has a new lease on life thanks to her skill. They don't sell flags like that at the local hardware store. This one is woven and embroidered, and has not faded a lick since it was purchased. The ends are getting tattered as flags do after time and time of use.

My First Live Wagnerian Opera

2010-06-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

I was late for SF Opera's Die Walkure at last Sunday's matinee. I had a good excuse. My dear nephew called me to ask if I wouldn't please take him birding at Shadow Cliffs before they had to return home to Sacramento. So, my plan to be early was altered.

Being late was not so bad. A very helpful volunteer usher suggested the very best place to view the first act was on the Mezzanine level, near the North Box Bar. I enjoyed the opening scenes with a vodka tonic in the good company of a dozen others, some ushers, some late comers. It was very pleasant to view it with closeups and wide angles only afforded by the recording devices of our times. I could view the supertitles very clearly, and I could see well enough to take my notes as the opera unfolded.

Since, I missed the free pre-performance lecture, I had to pay close attention. I was delighted that the opening act took place in a very comfortable, recognizable Huntsman's lodge. I picked up on the long lost "twin" theme right away. A wandering stranger, a loveless marriage, a rake, a captive woman, and best of all a magically appearing sword!

"Spring has flown to his sister, lured by love!"

-- Poignant supertitle from ACT I, "Die Walkure", SF Opera 2010

When I finally got to take my seat, I had a much longer view of things from the front row of the Balcony Circle (ahem, 4th floor sniff...!).

The second ACT delighted me in that it was also as recognizable as the downtown L.A. skyscrapers. This is how SF Opera depicted Valhalla. Brunhilde (lead role, as the warrior maiden and daughter of Wotan the god of Valhalla), and her Valkyrie minions were portrayed as female aviators. All heck breaks loose when Wotan's wife appears and forces him to kill his half-mortal son (one of the twins, the one in love with his sister -- don't get me started).

Now, I don't want to give too much away in case you go to see (endure) this opera yourself. It is a very long opera -- four hours and forty minutes in all. By the end of the second ACT, the line at the bar and the Women's Restrooms were prohibitively long, and I knew I was not going to make the third ACT. In fact, the second ACT was so long, my eyes were playing tricks on me with the supertitles, making me giggle out loud. This may have been a little disconcerting for my seat neighbors.

"Oh Sweetest rapture, Heavy Woman!"

-- Mistaken supertitle in ACT II, Die Walkure, SF Opera 2010 (substitute the word "Heavenly")

I really knew I had to leave, and the long lines merely gave me an excuse, when it was revealed that the bridal gift would be a sword. I couldn't help but think of SNL's infamous skit which was also about the gift of a "sword" in a box, performed by SNL regulars and guest artist Justin Timberlake. I think the creative minds at SNL had seen this opera, probably at The Met. Of course, the SNL version was a Christmas gift, not bridal. The YouTube video stream of the skit went viral instantly. I wish opera were that popular.

Richard Wagner's opera is no less potent thematically. In fact, as if the opera itself was not long enough (and I missed the lecture before hand), the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis was hosting a post-performance discussion of the Die Walkure for "inquiring minds". The event was free and open to the public. My stomach was grumbling for dinner and I still had an hour BART ride home. I think I missed a great final ACT, but there will be a next time. I have simply left myself something more to discover. I hope to view the final ACT the way SF Opera Artists envisioned it on KQED some time.

For a true critical review, not just my mind's ramblings, go to : San Francisco Chronicle's online content: SFSGate.com

Lapdog?

2010-06-14T08:18:00.001-07:00

Mom and Dixie.

Spilt Coffee

2010-06-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

We have changed our coffee ritual in the mornings here at Peggy's Place -- permanently. It only took one week with my Dad and his wife to convince me our old way was inferior. I stayed long enough to cook them a few meals for a change, and they taught me how to make my own cappuccino in the morning.

"Are you going to let a few coffee grinds on the counter ruin your day?"

Just like when my husband taught me how to use a pressure cooker for the first time, at first the contents under pressure were a little intimidating, but the intense flavor of coffee and the rich, frothy head of cream won me over. The first thing I did when I got home was to go online and search for a good deal on a used one. I bought the same model as theirs for about $40. Granted, you can only make one at a time, but you only need one. I figured since there are only three adults, and we usually get up a different times, it would work -- and it does. I kept the coffee maker for larger gatherings.

Now, each time I use it, I try to improve my technique with the milk steamer. I was so pleased with this frothy cup pictured above I had to take a photo.

I was also impressed with how messy the whole process is. You have to clean out the grinds on each use, and they tend to get everywhere. The carafe that the finished product drips into takes a certain technique to pour, and prior to actually drinking your first cup in the morning. Some of that gets on the counter too. The whole process is a bit fussy really. You have carefully watch the level in the carafe, so that you there is enough water under pressure in the system to steam the milk to a heady froth. Oh, and if you don't clean that right away, big hard to clean mess, and it's not ready to use by the next person. When you are done pouring your cappuccino, and spooning (not pouring, or you don't get a pretty peak) the steamed milk on top, it is proper etiquette to remove the grinds from the machine to cool, and of course turn the machine off.

I was thinking as I finally got to enjoy my first cup, how like life making a double cup of cappuccino is. You cannot worry too much about the little messes. What you have to ask yourself is, "Are you going to let a few coffee grinds on the counter ruin your day?"

Only if you let it.

It is good to have comforting rituals, and a clean counter. You just have to work at it.

Not Every Day

2010-05-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

The cyclists racing in the Amgen-sponsored race across California went right past our property midday on Wednesday. Now, it's not every day that Lance Armstrong goes riding by. All the kids form the private school nearby were out lining the street, making a lot of noise for encouragement. Folks were lining the street with cameras in hand, including me and Mom. We even got a couple of souvenirs. As the largest group swarmed by us, to our surprise they discarded their water bottles. One nearly hit me in the leg. I resisted the urge to yell, "litterbug!"

The Way of Art

2010-05-15T04:31:00.001-07:00

How to follow the path of an artist? How to inspire that creative hemisphere? How to create space and time in your life for such pursuits?

I value art and creativity, but so far I have been mostly a spectator.

Artists need an art studio. As a budding glass artist, I need a place to score, grind, assemble, solder, and finish my work. The small space I had allotted in my garage to finished the last piece I produced last summer is now piled high with boxes from the house. I face hours of work, trying to decided what to do with the contents to reclaim that space.

Time is another matter. I am confident that there will be no lack of creativity if I can just create the space and make the time. Not so easy to do, but it begins this weekend. And on Sunday, I am making a pilgrimage to my favorite glass art store in Berkeley.

Photo Says it All

2010-05-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Living History

2010-05-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Chocolate burro I fell in love (left) with and pregnant jenny on the right.

These mustangs were very small, maybe only 12-13 hands at the shoulders (above).
The horses in the pen next door had the two tallest horses at perhaps 15 hands (below).

It would be redundant to say wild mustangs, for the name itself implies wild. So does the word burro. Donkey is the same animal, but a tamer version. Donkey is to horse as burro is to mustang. Mules are a cross between a horse and a donkey and they cannot reproduce. For a long time, I have been teasing my husband that I want a miniature donkey, but now that I've seen the full-sized version in person, really they are so small anyway, a burro would be just fine.

I have been aware for a few years now that Livermore is one stop on the circuit that BLM takes as they go from Northern to Southern California to sell by auction or lottery the mustangs and burros they have captured on the open ranges of Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Oregon. The wild horses are animals descended from of the horses brought over to our country by the Spaniards, before it was our country. The Kiger Mustangs from Steens Mountain area in Oregon are particularly known for their distinct coloration and resemblance to the original line of Spanish horses. The burros were introduced to California during the Gold rush era, and when a prospector's luck washed up and perhaps the hope of gold, they let their pack animals go to fend for themselves. They have done that very nicely, but not without some human help.

Congress declared these creatures, worthy of protection, and that they are "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" in 1971. The Bureau of Land Management has the responsibility for their oversight and protection with the National Wild Horse & Burro Adoption program. This includes annual round ups, done by helicoptor, and adoption operations. If you cannot attend an auction event in person, you can even adopt online.

Not everyone is prepared to take on a wild animal and gentle it. You must prove you have proper facilities for your animal, including a minimum of 400 square feet of space. Fencing must be sturdy and at least 6 feet high. You cannot use barbed wire as a fence. You must also provide shelter for your mustang, such as a loafing shed. No tarps or canvas materials for shelter are acceptable. I'll never forget the time I was taking a riding lesson in a ring and my horse spooked because someone out in the parking lot shook out a towel. I am lucky I was not tossed to the ground, or worse.

My husband threatened to hide my credit card, when he learned I would be going over to Robertson Park to view the wild animals. He need not have worried though, because you must also be able to trailer your burro or mustang, and it must have a swing door, not a ramp-style for loading and unloading. Your trailer must be able to back up directly to the enclosure or pastures gate. These equines are not halter trained. Yes, it is okay to borrow a trailer for the big day. I had not thought that far in advance, so this is not a spur of the moment purchase like a pair of earrings.

If you can comply with all that, you must still pass a probationary period of one year, before BLM will grant you title, or official ownership of the horse or donkey. I like this feature very much. It ensures that the animal is not being abused, or worse, that the owner has given up and turned it into pet food or a rodeo bronc. The potential mustang owner must prove that they have provided humane care for one year. This documentation must be accompanied by a letter from a veterinarian or other appropriate individual who can attest to how the animal has been cared for. One good tip on the wikihow on adopting a wild horse or burro, is to find a veterinarian who is willing to work with an animal that is not tame.

The bureau brands each mustang and burro they capture, not in the usual way with a red hot poker. I was pleased to learn that they use a new technique, a freeze brand turns the hair white, permanently. Details such as age and registration number can be deciphered from the brand. Each brand is unique, so each animal can be identified positively if you can read the brand. The BLM brand looks at first glance like a barbed wire scrape, always placed along the left side of the neck, the proper side for mounting your steed.

I was fortunately in town last weekend, and got to see my first mustangs and burros. I had only read stories about them as a young girl. They were a scraggly bunch. My heart went out to one chocolate colored burro in particular (top photo on left). Not sure if it was a jenny (female) or a jack (male), but this creature had the longest fur, it almost looked like it had bangs the hair was so long. I found a wonderful resource page in the Wild Horse & Burro News online, and enjoyed the story posted by the owners of burro #6936 and #6937 (their BLM assigned designations).

Another important thing I learned was that a non-native invasive plant called the Yellow Star Thistle, which is out of control in many parts of California, is very toxic to horses and donkeys. Last year, we had to hand pull a lot of it in our front lot, which I had thought up to now would make a good pasture. Grazing on this plant damages the area of their brain that controls fine motor control, and symptoms take a while to appear, in quivering lips, tongue flicking and sagging mouth. The animal cannot dispel the build up of toxicity, and will eventually lose the ability to eat and drink. The thistle has a bitter taste, but if a pasture is infested and no other suitable green forage is present, they may consume it anyway. It would be nice if our local feed stores would post this on the bulletin board.

Call of the Garden

2010-04-29T17:48:00.001-07:00

A bachelor button (blue flower) makes friends with a yellow button (have no clue what this one is!). I can't wait to get out there and dig in the dirt.

The seedlings started indoors on top of my washing machine are ready for transplanting, except for the heirloom strawberries. The package directions indicate that they take the longest to germinate and that one must be patient. Not my strong suit. If I can get them to grow, I will plant them in the old red Weber bbq that lost its legs long ago.

The weather patterns are warming, and now is the time to plant the red leaf and butter lettuce, carrots and white radish in the ground. I also have three variety of tomatoes, store-bought, to go in. The challenge this year is to keep the dogs and the chickens out of the garden. A labor of love.

The Pattypan squash, zuchinni and Japanese cucumbers, that I will to buy this weekend, will go in the ground plot. The spent compost heaps that we have developed the last few months have been partially spent ammending the raised garden boxes. The rest will be worked evenly into the ground plot with a rototiller. I hope my husband will do this part, because I am not sure my arms are up to it. Maybe it won't be so bad. I know for certain that hoeing is the worst thing I can do to them. Triggers the ol' tendinitis after a few whacks.

Already the Swiss Chard, planted more evenly spaced and in the deepest garden box, looks much better. Not sure how these will hold up, as they are rescued from last year's garden. Just could not throw them out. I will also plant Heirloom Kale, which we recently discovered in the organic section of our local market. No corn this year. I've had dismal results the past two years, plus they sell it across the street at the fruit/veggie stand!

Photo of the Week

2010-04-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Nation's Capitol

2010-04-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Inclement weather only limits the outdoor activities in the nation's capitol. We managed two rounds of golf (18 + 9 holes so far). Hail is predicted for today.

I cannot believe the lush beltways and parks that grace this well-planned city. I have seen a Bald Eagle flying over the Potomac on our way to the Bretton Woods course. Have also seen the Pilated Woodpecker, the largest of them all twice in the heavily wooded areas, once on the golf course. I first heard the loud knocking. I actually thought it was someone using a hammer, it was so loud.

I would like to visit Roosevelt Island, having passed it many times. This is a bird preserve located in the middle of the Potomac River, the lush area you can see from the back deck of the Kennedy Center.

Since I am here for a week, I am been practicing the culinary arts. Made pan poached fish and Meyer Lemon Risotto one night, and steaks with Roqufort sauce on another. Dad cooked up a baker's dozen Blue Crabs for us last night, and made Chai Gio, a Vietnamese fried egg roll, served with all the fresh trimmings and special Nuoc Mam sauce. I have only ever had this in a restaurant before, and would like to be able to learn how to handle the delicate rice paper thin wrapping. Too bad I wasn't paying closer attention when the chef was in the kitchen. I will have to do a look up on the Food Network. I am sure teh special Asian Basil can be sourced locally, maybe I can even try growing some.

Weirdest Nest Location

2010-04-14T10:15:00.001-07:00

This little hummingbird nest has been in our garage for years. I remember the year that the hopeful little pair built it. My mother-in-law, Peggy, so this blog's namesake, was perturbed about it. She of course had to close the garage door at night. I have never had the heart to get out the ladder and look inside to see if any eggs had been abandoned. As you can see there are two. So sad. I hope they selected a better nest location the following season. I entered these photos in a contest for the Weirdest Nest Location that a local pets and wildlife columnist is running.

Time to Garden

2010-03-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

This year, I had friends helping, plus my Mom helping. Many weeds were pulled, box garden soild turned and ammended. Lot of earth worms were dislodges, which bodes well for a successful garden and good soil. I just bought a soild tesing kit, which will help me measure PH balance, nitrogen, potasium and potash (whatever that is -- sounds like something you smoke or that has been burned...!)

I have laid an ambitious plan for a "salad bar" garden, and twice a big an "in ground" plot as the year before. Due to my dismal results my first two years, everyone has convinced me NOT to try corn again! We were only able to work the soil in the two deepest boxes. Only seeds for sugar snap peas were planted, and a trellis erected. We also salvaged and transplanted a bunch of rainbow chard left over from last year's garden -- all started from seed. Call it an experiment.

The boxes will be as follows, once fully planted, mostly from seed:

Box #1 -- butter lettuce, red leaf lettuce, rainbow chard, tomato variety 4" plant and basil

Box #2 -- red and green scallions, carrots, white radish, garlic and different tomato variety 4" plants

Box #3 -- herb garden with chives, thym, oregano, tarragon and Italian parsley

Box #4 -- wild flowers to attract the polentators, and a watering station for them, sugar snap peas

Box #5 -- different tomato variety 4" plants, marigolds to ward off pests

In the ground, all from seed, hierloom tomatoes, zucchini, pattypan squash, rainbow chard and heirloom kale. Also, a French strawberry to be planted in a container, so as to keep it away from the mischievious chickens!

Dixie Was Here

2010-03-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

This is where she likes to "lord" over the place when we let her run loose and we are out on the property with her, gardening and the like. We are expecting rain for the next four or five days. Exercising her will be quite a challenge. But, hey, I am a duck hunter's wife, and I have all the gear, so it should be no problem, just wet!

Good Dog Dixie!

2010-03-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

My Volunteer Work

2010-03-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

Photo caption: Canvass being stretched on a key set piece by my friend Sue. It will be painted to look like marble steps in a ballroom for Die Fledermaus.

I take behind the scenes photos of our volunteers in action. These images are used on the Livermore Valley Opera blog and Facebook page that I manage. I also coordinate website updates, which is carefully timed with the email marketing campaigns. I am a member of the LVO board of directors, in my third year of service, a term which concludes end of September. Before I get to consider my next move, I will chair the annual summer fundraiser, Opera in the Vineyard on August 1st. It will be held at Retzlaff Winery.

The fundraising will help directly fund the next performance. We are opening Die Fledermaus, a great big romp on stage, resplendent with Viennese waltz music by Johann Strauss. In the fall, we will present Don Giovanni, the bad boy who takes advantage of young women. Yeah, he goes down in flames in the end!

Livermore Valley Opera official website

I Wish

2010-02-10T09:17:00.001-08:00

...that we had one of these in our backyard! Here we are last weekend soaking up at the Sycamore Hot Springs Resort. You can rent a tub for $17.50 per person for an hour. You don't need more time than that due to the prune factor. You can take wine up if you use plastic cups. This place was discovered by gold prospectors. No gold, just sulfur. It is in Central California, just ten minutes to downtown San Luis Obispo, and five to Avila Beach, 10 to Moro Bay. Well worth the 4 hour drive to get there and through one of the prettiest valleys I've ever seen. Green vistas of grazing cattle along a stretch of highway most know because a famous person once died in a spectacular car crash there: James Dean.

Sunday Hike

2010-01-31T21:50:00.000-08:00

The rains have subsided and we were both looking for excuses to be outdoors this weekend. I spent all day Saturday re-potting and tidying up my geraniums, started from cuttings from a neighbor's amazing collection. She used to grow them commercially. I was envisioning blossoms of spring as I worked.

On Sunday, we went to Nicassio, and visited the ranch were Tom is invited to hunt deer every year. We helped the owners clear a stream and had a good uphill hike. The views were more than worth it. Dixie had a great time too!

Got Cammo?

2010-01-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

Tom is taking me hunting for only the second time in our decade of association. I got all the right equipment to be in the weather and the marches this time because I want to see Dixie in action. I will be the dog handler. Tom will handle the shotgun, etc. I went to Dom's and got the total cammoflage weatherproof outfit, complete with neoprene Oak Woodland cammo waders, and gloves that work with hand-warmer inserts. Of course, I'll bring my camera!

What I did Last Night

2010-01-16T07:59:00.001-08:00

I attended an open-to-the public reception at the Bankhead Theater. The lobby serves as a gallery and the art on display changes often. The Marcelo Fuentes Photography studio has an installation right now. The images are all taken in downtown Livermore. First Street was closed and individuals who inhabit downtown were photographed standing in the middle of the street. In a small town like this, it is fun to see how many people you know and recognize!

The people in the photos were in attendance, along with five of the ladies from my Poppy Ridge golf club. Local restaurants were pouring wine and serving cotton candy and beer from a keg. This is a venue that has transformed the downtown, attracted visitors and new business. The community is very proud of this performance hall run by Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center, affectionately known to locals involved in the arts as "LVPAC". The night before, the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy had a sold out show there, on a Thursday night no less!

Some day, I'd like to see an al fresco "Opera in the Plaza", free to the public, take place. Lot's of hurdles, but everyone I mention it to thinks it's a great idea. Picking a weekend in the lovely (no rain) summer months can be tricky. There's always something going on in the area, and it's hard not to pick a competing weekend. Better to collaborate, incorporate.

I love living in a town than has both a annual professional circuit rodeo, and an opera company.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T08:28:00.000-08:00

I guess I'd be showing my age if I admit right up front that I don't think 2010 just rolls off the tongue. It has been a most auspicious decade for me personally. Married, happy, loved, challenged just enough by life's little ups and downs, and yes, some sadness too.

As my grandmother would say, "you must find the silver lining" no matter what, and following her advice, I will always choose to look at the bright side. I heard a wise quote recently and someone smart said, "You cannot always choose what happens, but you can always choose how you react."

Some people make lists. I admit to being one of those people. I make them every day. when I don't, I cannot remember what I got done in a day, and I am not sure if I focused on the most important things. I make simple grocery lists too. When I forget to bring it to the store, just the act of writing one helps me remember what to buy -- with about 90% accuracy, and there's always the next shopping run.

My attention will be divided many times with competing priorities in the new year about to begin. My daily lists will always include our new Dog, Dixie. Her happiness is my happiness. If she is miserable, and needing love or a walk or a long hike she will be pulling at my heart strings. I have house and home (read: chores), Tom, a part-time job that I love, and my volunteer board service with the local arts group to keep me plenty busy and challenged. There will always be the unexpected ones that life throws in. I hope with all the busy, I can find the time to pursue stained glass as a craft and art form.

This was a strange, yet wonderful Christmas holiday. We never could find the stockings to "hang", so red and green t-shirts were used instead. Alas, the beautiful 8-foot tree you see in the top photo was not decorated until December 28th because we had buried the stand in the far recesses of the storage shed. I gave myself permission not to use lights, since I took on the job of decorating it at 3:30 a.m. all by myself. I rather like the results. It has a very country look to it, and I do regret that I have to take it down in 24 hours.

I only put out simple decorations this year as we had much anticipated chaos leading right up to it. My niece, Rachel, took the wonderful photo of us with Dixie in front of the tree and I think all the effort was worth the resulting photo. Having family here were highlights of the season for sure, as it fills the house with love. We have much of it here, of the two-legged and four-legged variety now (yes, I am counting my chickens because they still adore me, their Chicken Mom, and let me hold them on my lap in a quiet moment -- which pleases me very much).

My Mom's dog Baxter is having a hard time adjusting to the new girl in his life. He is used to having all our attention and all the toys in the house (including all the cat toys he hoarded since my aging cats were really done with their playing years). Now he is learning how to live with a 58-pound black lab in the mix. Dixie is learning that she cannot play with him in the usual way. She is way too athletic for him. Baxter does not like it when big dog's try to hurdle him. Post-surgery, that freaks him out a bit. Dixie is learning to be gentle. We hope they will be good friends in another week or so.

I would be remiss if I did not report that Tom has already taken Dixie duck hunting three times, in an effort to let her retrieve her first bird in the field for him. She accomplished that on Wednesday, bringing home two Teal, one blind retrieve and one marked. We think she is perfect! Tom could not be more pleased with our new family member. She is a smart girl and watches Tom's every move. She is a working dog breed and always wants to help or figure out what is going on. She even tries to help him find the duck decoys when the hunt is over.

Well, it is time to make my list for the day. I have will update my Wish List in the sidebar of this blog later. I don't think I really wanted a mini donkey, anyway. Dixie is way better and she give affection back ten fold.

Wishing All a Happy New Year, and keep on making those lists, they really work!

[Photos: TOP - Tom, Teri and Dixie; TOP LEFT - Joe and Emma opening their gifts; TOP RIGHT - Teri's Mom and Rachel in the kitchen; BOTTOM LEFT- Dixie Love's Tom; BOTTOM RIGHT - Mom helping Dixie and Baxter get comfortable with each other.]

Happy Holidaze

2009-12-18T16:06:00.001-08:00

How are your holidays going so far?

Wreath-making with my Mom and my friend Rebecca got me into the spirit.

We also found an interesting way to use all the Meyer Lemons from our tree. Depicted here are the base elements for Limencello, a home brew liqueur made from the zest of 20 lemons and vodka. You let is sit for a week then add simple syrup to taste!

Today was our biggest day, and Tom brought Dixie, our new Labrador Retriever to her forever home.

What She Didn't Say

2009-12-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

What she didn't say

was "Help me."

She asked, "What day is it?"

interrupting donuts and coffee.

"Is it day, or is it night?"

She was bleeding in the middle of her forehead.

"Do you work here?"

"Yes but not 'til tomorrow. Wrong day.

My husband confused me, he said 'Why did you wake me?'

What she meant was he beats me.

What she needed was kindness,

just a normal conversation.

"My husband confused me."

[Tim Horton's on Bloor Street , Saturday 12/5/2009, 10:50 p.m.]
Flickr Photo credit: by Roochster. CC

Thank our Soldiers

2009-11-26T09:09:00.001-08:00

Let's Say Thanks

Thanks to Xerox for coming up with this free and easy program to send a soldier a thank you card on Thanksgiving.

Give Thanks

2009-11-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

The arts have always provided inspiration during our darkest moments; let us all give thanks that even in this difficult period we have great art to give us solace.

-- Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Dixie

2009-11-21T21:06:00.001-08:00

Full AKC name: Poplar Forest Dreaming of Dixie.

She will be known as "Dixie" to us. What does the word bring to mind? Well, to shortcut that we Googled the word and this is what we pulled up:

Dixie Chicks, popular country group, made infamous for their politically controversial criticism of George W. Bush.

Paper cup manufacturer.

Popular song of the South "I Wish I was in Dixie" - click to listen!

Dixie Highway in Boca Raton, Florida

The Mason-Dixon line, dividing north and south, slave-owning vs. non-slave states.

Dixie College in Utah of all places!

Wikipedia also has some interesting content on the word "dixie" including this:

Abraham Lincoln, upon hearing of the confederate surrender at Appomattox, asked the military band to play Dixie.^[7]^[8]

What a gracious move, by a great man.

Quote of the Day

2009-11-17T03:48:00.001-08:00

The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."

~ John D. Rockefeller III

Outlet Shopping

2009-11-15T18:03:00.001-08:00

Just stimulated the local economy at Sears Outlet in Hayward. Great service, and a 50% savings over list price.

I just love how it is hovering just above the copy here. It looks just like a control panel on an Galaxy Class starship. Beam me up Scotty! "Wait, don't burn the gravy!"

This was not on my Wish List, but this ol' house had been telling us what it needs next.

Check-out our new stove, yet to be installed which could be a whole 'nother adventure: Kenmore 30" Cooktop

Wish List 2009

2009-11-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

As 2009 winds down for me, I'd like to check in on my wish list. Not exactly sure when I decided to pull that one together, but sub-consciously, I must be singularly driven to these tasks. Certainly, it is not conscious, because I rarely blog any more. And I certainly don't read my own side bar stuff. The automatically refreshed chicken photos (which sometimes includes things other than chickens thanks to the randomness of some anonymous algorithm created by the coders at Flickr) are quite fun for me personally.

Earlier this year, one of Tom's co-workers inquired as to whether or not I "had the miniature donkey yet." Just for the record, I do not. I hear they can be very needy.

It surprises me how many things I have accomplished on the list. I am further surprised at things I seem to spend most of my time on that are not on the list. It was never on my list to be a leader in my community on matters of cultural arts. Life has its little surprises. I follow my passions most times, and good things usually result. I prefer always to see the silver lining.

When I landed my local, part-time job, someone asked me how I got it.

Answer:

"I had to volunteer two years to get this job."

Perhaps I should have a naming contest for my new donkey?

Almost time for a new list!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

Played in our first every round of golf in the dark, a Halloween fun tournament organized by the club our friends belong too. It included a prime rib dinner after the first nine, and glow-in-the-dark balls for the back nine. My friend sported skeleton make-up. The glowing golf ball eyes add to the overall creepy effect.

I decorated the front or our property with pumpkins grown from our own patch this year.
My Mom found another use for giant zucchini, also from our summer garden. I prefer the stuffed and bake use -- just delicious with a mix of sweet and hot Italian sausages in the mix. All you need is a fish poaching pan and 10 minutes in boiling water for a large zucchinni with the ends cut off. Cut in half when cool and scrape hollow out. You can really get creative with the stuffing. I like to use left-over riced, then add what ever I have on hand, such as olives, capers, canned or fresh tomatoes, Italian parsley, oregano, your favorite cheese, etc. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees and one dish meal.On the Day of the Dead, Tom and I spent the evening with friends, helping them pass out candy to kids as per our tradition. We don't get any trick-or-treaters in our neck of the woods. Tom and Puccini (dog in his lap) had matching necklaces. We stayed up late and watched Brahms Stoker's Dracula. We may have stayed too long, but with coffee we made it home safely!

Boundaries

2009-10-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Opera Opening Weekend

2009-10-13T07:53:00.001-07:00

Photo caption: Rebecca Ferris and Teri at ArtWalk 2009.

This is how my day started on Saturday, as volunteer block captain on J Street for the ArtWalk Art Activities and Artist's booths along this street. The kids had a blast painting their own canvasses at the booth sponsored by Aaron Brothers and the Livermore Mom's Club. My dear friend Rebecca took over for me in the afternoon, so I could close the day with opera festivities.Photo caption: Linda King (Teri's Mom), Teri and Tom at the Opera Opening Night Gala Reception.

Mom earned her own comp ticket at the opera this time. She has put in several hours of work using her graphic artist talents. It was nice to have a dress up night, and some sparkling wine to celebrate all our efforts to bring this production to the stage. As one tenor put it at the Sunday night cast party, "opera is a team sport!" He is right. We have board members on stage crew, on the stage as supernumeraries (the term for "extras", or non-singing, non-speaking roles in opera), and putting makeup on singers.

Photo caption: Roberto Perlas Gomez and Teri at the Artist's Reception that follows each performance.

I get to do the baritone's clown makeup on stage left. It is a quick change in the middle of the Act, and I think I am getting better at it each time. The professional Makeup Artist has to do three clowns in the same time frame that I am doing one. Their entrance is on stage right. I don't know how she does it!

Lincoln Park Golf Course

2009-10-07T07:39:00.001-07:00

Had the day off last Thursday and I joined a friend in the City (SF) for a round of golf at the historic Lincoln Park Golf Course, which I believe is the only muni course in the city, and a bargain. It was built on top of graveyards, which also makes it the only know graves sites located within the city limits now. It is a little know fact about San Francisco, that burials are prohibited due to space limitations. When you drive south on the Peninsula, you see evidence of this decision along the highway. The City of Colma is all grave, a kind of creepy suburban experience.

My friend Laura Scott is in the photo with me. She was in town for her book signing. She just published: "Two is Enough: A Couple's Guide to Living Childfree by Choice." Congratulations Laura!

The Highlights

2009-09-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Where has September gone? I've not been very good at keeping up with my posts here. I apologize to all three of my avid readers!

I have been taking some great photos with my new Cannon CoolPix. It would be hard to decide on just one image for this post. Here are some September highlights:

Teri got a new part-time job.
Teri is raising 5 new pullets for the chicken coop.
Teri is a volunteer committee member for Livermore ArtWalk on October 10th.
Teri is working several irons in the fire as a board member for Livermore Valley Opera, with opening night also on October 10th.
Teri is starting a home-based business as a Constant Contact Business Parter doing email marketing.
Teri and Tom took a one-week holiday in SoCal with Teri's Mom, Linda.

Our wonderful box garden is in its final phase. The zucchini have done rather well, and the late summer heat has produced some enormous fruit. The plants are so big we can't see them to pick them, then all of a sudden we have a 5-7 pounds zucchini. That's a lot of zucchini bread, as the recipe only takes 1 cup per loaf. They freeze well though and now that the weather is cooling off, my plan is to bake a dozen and give some as gifts.

I sometimes wonder if I will be able to get back to my glass art again. I have purchased the glass for the next project, but the garage workspace is a mess and I have no time for it right now.

Faheys Visit Livermore

2009-09-06T08:08:00.001-07:00

It was a big deal that a family elder made time, en route to a wedding in Monterrey, to drive out to our neck of the woods for lunch on the ol' homestead. Uncle Eddie is my maternal grandmother's youngest brother. He is the youngest of all 10 siblings that grew up on a farm in the Panhandle of Texas. Everyone calls him "The Colonel" he loves golf, family and telling a good story.

His son David feels just like a brother, and was poking around in our refrigerator like he visits every week. We had a great time together, even though all we did was share a meal and let the chickens amuse us. One of the little hens was quite comfortable with David, and even perched on his knee for a while. He has quite a way with the chicks!

2 Weeks Old

2009-08-31T05:58:00.001-07:00

The chicks are two weeks old now and have quite a few feathers. They can fly, or at least I assume so, because they really cannot practice the art much in their current enclosure.

I drafted some plans to build a brooder, which is just a fancy name for a cage that will house them next. They require more space now that they are growing so fast. You can see them looking at it from the side view below. I had to learn how to use a circular saw to do this project. It is almost done. Just need to add the welded wire to the two open sides and fashion a door and ramp for them to come and go.

The brooder will do double duty as a mobile "coop" for the chickens, providing them with shelter in an open area, such as our garden, which will protect them from predators above. I will also use it to acclimatize the two adult chickens I have to the new chicks. At 20 days old, I will move them outside to the chicken coop, but they will live in the brooder for the first week before I release them into the coop on their own.
I made the bottom of the brooder out of 1/4 inch wire, and this is very unfamiliar to them. They don't like walking on it at all! Tom and I took them out on the law on Sunday and let them experience grass for the first time. They got to see their next home, the brooder up close. It took a lot of convincing to get them in to it. I had to put their food and water in it, and a piece of cardboard to cover the wire mesh floor. They are so new to the world and timid, they much prefer their nursery, which is made out of an old dresser drawer, but are fast out-growing it. They can't live on top of our washer and dryer forever. What is nice about the brooder I designed, is that I was able to use all the left-over lumber and wire from the outdoor cat enclosure that was on our patio. I just had to buy some handles and screws, and rent a saw.

SF Bay Cruise

2009-08-31T05:47:00.001-07:00

This is the view of Alcratraz Island, a former penitentiary located on a sacred native American site, that we were treated to last week. Tom's boss invited us and some other team members and spouses to cruise the San Francisco Bay on his father's boat. I got my new camera the day before and the sunset cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge was wonderful, but my images were so-so. I am still getting used to it. I really like the larger 3-inch LCD display on it.

I thought we were going sailing, but instead it was this huge white monstrosity of a boat. Very luxurious. Glad not to have missed it. I was so busy taking photos, I did not visit with hardly anyone at the floating party. I did enjoy talking to the caption quite a bit. He and his fiance take care of and live on the boat for its owners. It must be an interesting life.

Speaking of Cute...

2009-08-21T22:11:00.001-07:00

My day-old chicks arrived one day later on Tuesday of this week. Aren't they cute?! They are comfortable at 95 degrees F in the nursery that I made from an old dresser drawer. They waste a lot of food and it comes out the other end pretty quickly as you can see. The water is supplemented with vitamins for the first week or so, as it will help them recover from the stress of travel and being motherless. I am their chicken mom. I ordered all hens, in the New Hampshire Red variety, a very hearty breed, but I said it was okay if they needed to do last minute subs with a Buff Orpington. After seeing their first feathers come in after only three days, I suspect we have another Buttercup in the midst. Only time will tell. It will be fun to watch them grow. Rosie died in her sleep last week. She had not laid an egg for months. I think the others will look like her. The company we ordered them from guarantees 90% success rate in sexing. We have to do better than last year, where four out of five where roosters!

Who's Cuter?

2009-08-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dancing Cranes

2009-07-31T10:13:00.001-07:00

This is the stained glass piece, an original work of my own design, based on my love for birds and birding, that I have donated as a silent auction item for an opera fundraiser this weekend. It took me 15 hours to complete, all hand cut, leaded, puttied, and soldered and then cleaned. I even put the hooks on myself. You really cannot appreciate this asymmetrical design lying on the work table. You have to appreciate the glass with light coming through it.

I am very pleased and I can always make another one, because I made the pattern, but I can never make an identical one because every piece of glass is unique.

Best Birthday Ever

2009-07-30T08:12:00.001-07:00

I got two text messages from my two "pretend" sisters, lots of cards, and took a trip East to visit family on my birthday. I got to travel first class on Tom's points and had champagne for breakfast! The gal sitting next to me insisted. This same gal, a beautiful white-haired lady wearing purple proceeded to give me my birthday wish of "learning to draw". Turns out she is a celebrated abstract artist living in Soquel.

We had such a grand time, I missed my connection in Chicago. We were very drawn (no pun intended) together, both traveling to the same destination, in the same class and our families living only a couple of blocks from each other. I luckily, got a seat (not first class) on her plane which departed a full two hours later than my original one. Whew!

She and I met again two days later to sit in Rock Creek Park and paint the beautiful, 20-foot tall Ginko trees that are just on the edge of Georgetown. How many times have I been by that place and not noticed those amazing trees? I made a new friend and had a grand time in DC, playing golf three days in a row with my Dad. I think that is a first for me!

How to Water a Cat

2009-07-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

His gift was love. He gave affection lavishly and held me in his heart above all other humans. This is what I miss the most. This is a tribute article to my beloved, now departed, cat Vladimir. He marked a whole era for me, almost two decades. Everyone he met was quite taken with him. He was an extremely well-adjusted, social animal, and very, very handsome with his pink nose and blue eyes, and Prussian Blue silver tips. His ailment was kidney failure, and I put him down on March 30, 2009. He was with me half of my life, he being 19, and I, 43 years of age.

Just about every cat lover has seen the whimsical article written about “How to Give a Cat a Pill” [http://www.nanceestar.com/CatPill.html]. The owner ends up applying first aide to themselves and the cat is sent out for adoption. This article is less humorous than that and I hope practical. A high percentage of adult cats will suffer from kidney failure. It is a disease that follows a progression, to an inevitable end. All you can do is slow it down. Watering your cat is one way to do that. Here is our story and perhaps some helpful information.

Our Story

The One Whom I Did Not Marry (OWDNM) decided he wanted a cat when we were living together in Manhattan Beach, California. Being able to say I used to sleep hearing the crashing of the waves at night, and having Vladimir come into my life are the two best things I can say about this period in my life. I was okay with the idea of having a cat, though I had only had dogs growing up.

Although OWDNM, brought this tiny kitty home, along with his sibling, Vladimir later chose me when we split. How he indicated that is the subject for another story. Vlad and I went on together and moved to San Francisco. Fast forward 15 years, and I am married and living abroad Canada on a work assignment with my husband, when now “our cat” was diagnosed with early stage kidney failure. If you have a really good vet, like we did up north, they will take a set of routine blood tests for an elderly cat and uncover it early, before you notice any outward signs or discomfort. Cats hide their pain well, and the changes may be there, but so subtle you would not detect them.

We changed him slowly to the new prescription diet for renal failure and were told that applying subcutaneous infusions of IV fluid, called Lactated Ringers by vet techs, we could extend his lifetime and make him more comfortable. In short, the cat will begin to drink more water and urinate more frequently. Their stomach may be unsettled and as the disease progresses, vomit and constipation become more extreme and more frequent. In the end he was missing the box on both ends, and a lot. I knew it was a sign that things were not going well, and that the difficult decision to put him down was getting closer every time I got on my hands and knees to clean up the messes. He was never scolded for these episodes, because being sick was just not his fault.

How to Water A Cat

Gravity is needed to activate the flow of liquid. The technique of sticking your cat with a needle is harder on the human than the cat, and I found that using a smaller needle gauge made it easier, though the flow is of course slower. The key, I found was to make the experience as positive for my pet as possible. This included a loving brushing session at the start and his favorite treat at the end. I would give a half inch squeeze of malt hairball treatment and a few crunchy treats. I would also use the same cozy fleece for the patient’s station. I chose the top of my washing machine, because there was a convenient pulley window knob from which to hand the fluid bag.

Another thing I did to make the experience of being stuck with a needle and pumped with an ounce or two of fluids nicer, was to heat up the IV bag to a lukewarm temperature. Imagine cold water under your skin vs. water the same temperature as your body. The technique was to take a pitcher from my kitchen and put hot tap water in it and soak the bag in it for about 15 minutes. When the temperature is right, it was time to get kitty, or when the cat got much more comfortable, and even looked forward to our routines, I would brush him while the bag was warming. He was a very calm cat and you can adjust the routine to suit your pet’s nature and sensitivities.

Combining the warming period with the brushing also saved me some time. In the end, I could tell Vladimir was worsening because we had to increase from one ounce, once a week waterings to two ounces, once a week, and eventually twice a week applications. This was often difficult to do while working full-time with a commute, and sometimes I would miss a day or two. As the disease progressed it became more critical not to miss the session, even by a day, or my carpet would pay.

Vladimir really responded to this treatment. He really craved any kind of attention from me. Of course, at first he did not like it, but he would feel so much better afterward and he would walk back to the laundry room and beg for his sessions in the last year of his life. In the end, he told me, by vocalizing his pain, when it was time for him to go. I had already researched a local veterinarian who performed euthanasia in-home and I made the appointment. Today I buried his ashes in my garden beneath the stepping stone I made to mark the spot. I have a locket of his hair and tons of pictures to remember him by. I hope this article will help another cat lover ease their pets last years.

About those Beans

2009-07-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hummmmmmm. Well, they didn't turn out to my satisfaction for the party, and even still, as one guest pointed out, all the beans I served did disappear.

Here is my full report on how Peggy's 4th of July beans turned out. I had to contact two family members to get a complete picture of this family recipe. You see, she never really wrote it down. This did not intimidate me too much because I have cooked beans many times without a recipe before, and so I merely consulted Fanny Farmer for a reminder of a few rules of thumb, such as the amount of liquid, cook time and temperature etc. Usually beans recipes call for a ham hock, and this recipe was no different.

So glad I checked both family sources (thanks Bro Joe and Sister Les), because doing so revealed a really cool technique of incorporate the whole cloves by cutting a large onion in half and poking it with the cloves. This allows for the infusion of flavor and the later extraction of all of the cloves. Always nice to learn a new cooking technique.

This year, the beans were fully cooked at least to tender, and they were served HOT, but the flavor was off because I did not add the beef broth to the recipe and I did not have enough ketchup in it. Now, I have a "little 'splaining to do" (as Ricky Ricardo would say). We do not use a lot of ketchup in the kid-free household. I have had a bottle of the stuff in my fridge taking up space for months now and did not want another bottle of it in my life, so I just used the little bit that was left. No biggee, I thought, I can always add brown sugar, a very common bean recipe ingredient. Well, things got busy and I forgot to add the brown sugar too! So, naturally the flavor was a little flat.

The other problem I had was in that I tripled the recipe in stead of doubling it, and I had to use both my large bean pot and a smaller one. The first pot was so heavy, I could not lift it on my own to drain the liquor and thus measure and incorporate the stock, the only other liquid. By my judgment, all the liquid it was cooking in was all it needed, but the pot was so full of beans, I had no room in it to add the store bought beef broth. So I didn't. Thus the mixed results.

I was able to correct the beans a couple of days later by adding all of the drippings from the carved beef and a touch of brown sugar, and cooking the beans for another 2 full hours with just a little added water. They turned out great, creamy with a thick flavorful stickyness, and very moist, just like Tom remembered.

That's my story on the beans. The amended, final recipe still needs testing to be sure it is right. It will follow in a post next week.

We Went to the Beach

2009-07-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Every time I drive to Southern California for just a night or two, I swear I will never do it again. It's just too long a drive for such a short visit, even if it is a wonderful visit. I cannot believe that life is so full that I cannot break off more time to be with family of the Southland.

No complaints. Life is good. Here are some photos of our visit to Costa Mesa kin.

Mom and I got to be with Rachel and her little brother, who needs to know his aunties a bit better being the tender age of two. My favorite part was the walk on the beach with Baxter the pooch. Watching water polo matches is pretty fun too!

As you can see from the photo, John was very taken the dog on this visit. He was trying to give him "kisses".

A Day in the City

2009-07-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Aunt Teri and Uncle Joe took their niece (Emma with brown hair) and her little friend Drew to San Francisco for the day last weekend.

Uncle Joe treated us all to lunch at Top of the Mark, and then we explored Union Square. The girls managed to spend less than $30 each and we finished off our lovely day with tea at the Samovar Tea House at the top of Yerba Buena Center, adjacent to SF MOMA.

I had fun with the girls and my dear brother-in-law. Kudos to him for organizing the whole outing!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Our collection of 4th of July decor is almost as big as the Christmas one. It has been so nice to have Tom working from home the last three days of this week. I am also home a lot more now and it has been much easier to get the yard and house ready this year. I know that this special holiday will not always fall conveniently on a Saturday, but we acknowledge that factor too.

We've had a wave of very hot dry weather and the wild grasses that grow have all been cleared by hand and hauled away. The green grass on the back lawn provide a nice fire break in case of errant sparks and embers that drift over from the park where the city does their fireworks show. We will host the traditional family BBQ with Peggy's famous 4th of July beans. I had to speak to two siblings to get the recipe and the final baking will be done today at 3:00 p.m. sharp, 350 degrees for about 2 hours. I hope the results are somewhat like the original. I am told that it was "Grandmother Ganahl's recipe". I have promised to post my results and an amended recipe for the family afterward.

The badminton net is in place and we've tested it so much we broke strings on the older raquets and had to buy more. Baxter the pup, now 8 months and 15 lbs., loves to chew up the shuttlecocks. He thinks it is great fun when we miss our serve or hit the birdie to the ground for him. This should be highly entertaining to watch with more people involved today.

The garden is not supplying corn for the party, but it is just around the corner. The herb garden will provide a few items for the marinade and we've eaten zucchinis already. Tomatoes are coming slowly but surely, and I have no idea when we'll harvest potatoes. That is a total experiment from the ones that were sprouting in my kitchen last spring. I just cut them up and stuck them in the ground. The composting has been a good thing. We reuse all the leaves from the two large fruitless mulberry trees in the yard, and all the grass clippings from the lawn.

My crazy Japanese Bantam Red Lace rooster that we acquired at the County Fair a year ago this weekend, is requesting a release from the coop in the background of my consciousness. I hear starlings shirring their greetings to each other in the trees. The hum of the refrigerator is tolerated and I wish it were more silent. I can hear the goldfinches taking their morning snack from the sock feeder hanging from our tree. There is another mockingbird singing a crazy song in the background. Cars drive by, and slowly the inland marine layer peels itself back to reveal the day. Time to get out in the yard to accomplish our final tasks before the sun is too high.

Dog Days and Cat Nights

2009-06-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what that title means, but it's all I could think of. This is how my summer is going so far!

I joined a ladies NCGA golf club at our PGA local course, Poppy Ridge. Every time I drive up there I feel so lucky. It's just a 10 minute drive from our house.
This is miss Lucy, my friend's cat who we took care of for two weeks. She is very mischievous and liked to leap up to high places.

Here's proof that Baxter the dog and Sausage Kitty the cat get along. I swear we did not pose them for this picture. They got up on the couch on their own just to hang out together.

Ready to Rodeo?

2009-06-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am! Got these boots today for $5.00 at the 4 Paws Rescue Bargain Boutique in Youngtown, AZ. Out here for a few days of respite from the daily routine and to visit a childhood friend who lives in Surprise! Yep, that's the name of the city.

Cannot believe my luck that, even though my friend was prepared for our mission (to find me a good used pair of cowboy boots) with a list of at least a dozen thrift shops with a 15 mile radius, the first place we went to had the right pair. Now we can have some fun doing other stuff!

What made me even feel better about the purchase is the this thrift store supports a no kill cat shelter. Just my luck that the store, which was normally closed on Sundays, was open today because they are having a "cat adoption" day!

The 91st Annual Livermore Rodeo is next week and I am feelin' mighty prepared! Now, if I could just learn to two-step properly...in my new "gently used" Sheplers.

Magster

2009-05-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Maggie. She is an outside the box kind of thinker and artist. She came over to my house to paint old Concannon wine bottles for a show she is putting on on June 20 at Fine Fretted Friends. Yes, my dining room wall really is that color. She has developed her own style of paining on canvas and on glass, called Magsterville. She also is a photographer: Magstories.com.

A Poem for Every Day

2009-05-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

A friend shared this beautiful poem with me because she knew I needed to hear them. They are words for every day, written by Maya Angelou. I will not re-type the whole thing because that may require her permission or that of her publisher, just the last stanza, which was why Emily selected it for me and read it aloud to me:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Sometimes words are better than a bouquet of flowers.

Dog or Cat?

2009-05-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

My Mother's dog, my little brother Baxter, is very cat-like. He likes to curl up in your lap at night when we are watching TV. He even plays with cat toys (very gently). He walks better on a leash though!

Ranch Party & Blues Concert

2009-05-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

Yep, that title above pretty much describes our long holiday weekend. No need to go anywhere. It's all happening right here. The Baird's hosted two or three bands which began after dark, but since I had to work the Wine & Wind Festival (Tom informs me that all really good festivals in the area have to have the word "wine" in it now) with the Art Glass Studio. So, Tom stayed to catch the first set and got home just before midnight. I went to work at 5:30 p.m., but not before a hike to one of the most beautiful settings in our hills: known to us all as The Falls. It is an easy 15-minute hike from base camp at the ranch. That's once you drive 12.5 miles up Mines Road from Livermore city proper. I was only making an appearance. I wanted to see our good friends and see the place. I took a lot of pictures for only being up there for an hour or so.

On Sunday, Tom and I went to the Santa Cruz Blues Festival. Normally, I am not a concert goer. I dislike crowds and crowd mentality imensely. Tom is just the oposite, but on this occasion friends invited us and so we joined them. I love the blues and that helped. I particularly enjoyed Keb Mo, and Joe Cocker wasn't bat either.

Working the booth at the festival all day today. It makes for a full weekend!

Makin' Wine!

2009-05-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

When our neighboring wine-maker asked if I wanted to help bottle wine, I just couldn't resist to be a part of what makes this valley "wine country". As it turns out, I was much better at "casing" than foiling. You would not believe the dexterity required to place a very malleable little piece of precision molded foil on a moving object (the wine bottle). The right hand it busy gently cradle the row of 50 foils while the right forefinger and middle finger gently loosen the next foil at the end of the row as you are placing the liberated foil on the bottle neck with the left. This requires quite a bit of ambidextrousness on the fly!

Mom and I were only there for three hours, but we helped bottle 2,500 bottles of Sauvingon Blanc, my favorite grape varietal! I started out casing, which is simply putting finished, filled, corked, labeled and foiled bottles in the box. Someone else sealed it and turned it bottle neck down and slapped labels on the case. I was able to be very chatty at that station, and I worked out the best ergonomics very quickly so as to last the duration. When Mom and I switched and I had to try the foil application, I had a total "Lucy" (referencing the hit comedy series I Love Lucy episode where she is working an assembly line and everything goes wrong...for you young readers who have not had the pleasure) moment and crunched a whole bunch of foils before I got the hang of it. The conversing was over and I really had to focus!

I must say the equipment we were interfacing with was very impressive. We were bottling Page Mill Winery using the Cedar Mountain equipment, made in Italy. Apparently they have cornered the market on wine-making equipment. Same for olive oil production as I understand. Davinci would be proud. That's Gary standing in the background. He's a partner in the winery.

Puppy's First Walk on the Beach

2009-05-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

We Traveled to a Wedding

2009-04-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

...last weekend. We took the long road south, which is I-5. It only seems like the longest road because it is so boring a drive. Don't get me wrong, I think an almond orchard is lovely, but one can only look at so much agriculture. It is always a special thrill when the the jagged peaks of the Tejon Ranch mark the end of the San Joaquin Valley, even though it means L.A. traffic is just beyond. We broke up the monotony further by staying in our favorite watering hole, The Harris Ranch. Were able to fit in a swim in that Olympic size swimming pool and nine holes of golf at Lemoore Municipal Golf Course before jetting to the church.
We were traveling south to witness the nuptials for Tom's first cousin's youngest daughter Ali and her fiance Alex. We almost missed the nuptials because of that over-confident plan, but we made it to the church in time! It was standing room only and a lively ceremony. The priest noted fact that the couple's initials, AU for Alex and AG for Ali would represent the symbols for Gold and Silver respectively and that Ali was in fact upgrading from silver to gold in her marriage. You had to be there,,,, but the spirit of the ceremony and celebration were infectious and carried over into a fantastic party.

Hot pink were the bride's colors, fuchsia, I think. One of my favorites. It was the nicest weather for beach-going that the Southland had seen all year, and people were in grand moods. We saw hoards of scantily clad people crossing PCH (Highway 1) to get to the beach on our way from the catholic church in Seal Beach to the reception site.
We were then reminded how big just this side of the family is and how nice it is to be with them. So many cousins, so little time. Sometimes you need a quiet moment after all the noise, to have a bit of clarity. At one point the music was so loud, half the party migrated to the balcony of the hotel to watch the remnants of the setting sun and the bonfires ablaze over Huntington Beach shoreline.
We walked with our Starbucks in hand barefoot on the beach the next morning. Clean up crews had already been hard at work for hours. The surfers were out in force. The air smelled of ocean and there's nothing like breathing it in deep, even though you can see the ever present haze of smog off the horizon. A swim in the salt-water filtered pool and a quick dip in the spa and we joined the family for brunch before heading down the long road again. We've decided we are going to visit as many of Tom's cousins, in their own homes, as possible in the next year. These are people we can talk to for hours and there are none more gracious or loving at heart. I know at least a few of us are already connected virtually via Facebook. We realize if we make the effort to plan a visit, there will be reciprocation. It was a happy vision that came to us as we sat side-by-side, in the coolest part of the evening, on the new glider bench we've installed just beyond the back fence in our yard. I hope we can make it a reality.

We did stay one more night and friends entertained us with good conversation and an al fresco meal in the mecca of liberal decadence that is Venice, California. You don't have to walk The Strand to see evidence of it.
More wedding photos of here...(they are so bad only family will be interested, some good cousin's photos!): Teri's Flickr Account.

Got Peeps?

2009-04-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Bye Bye Vlady

2009-03-31T06:54:00.001-07:00

How was Your Weekend?

2009-03-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I am so glad you asked!

Saturday night was Opening Night for The Marriage of Figaro and it was fabulous, complete with a dress up gala attended by those willing to fork our $40 for a modest food and wine offering at the Bankhead Theater. We had a nice foursome of musicians playing chamber style music in the background. A good warm up to the 3.5 hour performance. Oh yes, there were two intermissions!

The bar was hopping, and we did a good business selling raffle tickets for a geraboum-sized bottle of cabernet sauvingnon with a label featuring our poster art, donated by Nancy Tenuta of Tenuta Winery, and signed by all the performers and directors. I had fun working the table in the lobby in the front of the house this time. I've been back stage in various roles previously. Best yet, I got to go on stage when our Managing Director was giving the welcome and housekeeping speech -- um, holding the bottle of course.

I even stayed up really late and went to the afterglow party at Anita's Mexican Restaurant, located just a short two block walk from the back door to the theater. They stay open late just for us so we can party with the performers and any audienced members who just want to grab a late night bite (no charge) or a margarita (no host). Hey, we try to have a social life here in Livermore.

I don't mean to brag, but the quality of our performances at the new theater is something we are proud of. At the matinee on Sunday, I had people telling me how good it was as they were leaving! One more weeknd to go folks. Get your tickets before they sell-out!!!

Bankhead Theater Box Office

Tickets Online

Olives

2009-03-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

I wish I could eat these juicy olives that our two trees are producing on the front part of our property. The opossums and birds just love them! Pressing it into olive oil just doesn't seem an efficient use of my time, but I wish I knew how to cure them. I bet they'd be good. Makes me wonder what other orchard style trees this land would support? I'd like a plum and a fig tree and maybe a berry patch, and more time for all my interests and hobbies. Ahhh, such is life!

I Love Opera

2009-03-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Yippee!

It's Tech Week for Livermore Valley Opera (LVO) here in the lovely little valley and I for one have put in more hours this week than any in the past year or so I have been a board member. Opening Night is this Saturday and I can now turn to the simple task of fretting about what to wear.

I have been heavily involved in doing cross-promotional email marketing with other performing art groups in addition to our own and launching a blog for our company. I get to be Blog Mistress and it will be my second team blog to manage. (Hey, some day I may actually get paid to do this!)

In a world where traditional print newspapers are dying a slow painful (to read) death and the shrinking news hole that these local papers have, we are fighting a losing battle for critical reviews. Our opera company has relied heavily in the past on critical reviews from Opening Night to sell tickets in the second weekend. There are simply less reviewers on staff now. The local arts section (if you can call it that) in one local paper only has room for one review. With so many arts groups vying for the honor, we just can't count on them.

The fastest growing age group on Facebook is the 35-49 year old segment.

They simply don't have time or the news hole to cater to the local groups. That trend does not bode well for our economy, nor our opera company. It doesn't matter how good our production is. If we continue to rely on traditional media, no one will know about us. We simply do not control it.

We can, however, cross over to the "dark side" and start creating our own buzz on the Internet using Web 2.0 practices such as social and business networking sites, blogging and email marketing. We will tie it all together with a revamped website, stand back and see what happens (track the metrics and read the comments). The fastest growing age group on Facebook is the 35-49 year old segment.

Now is the right time to do this because opera companies traditional have a gray audience. It seems only "old folks" appreciate this art form. (Oops, I am probably in trouble with a lot of my friends right now for typing that!) Obviously, that is not true, but we must continually build awareness of opera and work to expand our audience base, else we will not survive another decade. Nielsen Media Research recently reported that social networks and blogs have become the fourth most popular online destinations, after Internet searches, general interest and community portals, and online software providers.

Yep, folks LVO is entering the new millennium. Boldly we go forward. Okay, enough of the science fiction quips.

Sustainable Teri

2009-03-07T02:39:00.000-08:00

This is what's next for our house. Retrofitting the gutters. It is more important than new carpet and flooring, though not as impressive to guests. Tom and I separately attended town hall meetings in our un-annexed part of Livermore. Water was a key issue raised in both meetings, yet rainwater capture systems were not mentioned in either.

In Australia, drought is almost a way of life in some states, and they are ahead of us in terms of the availability of systems on the market and government incentives for adoption. With wells being drilled to a depth of 600-feet, as one neighbor informed us, we know for a fact that aquifers are dropping. The rain we have had in the last couple of weeks doesn't cover the shortfall, but if we had had a collection system in place, we could have harvested more than 4,000 gallons of water from our roof in the last couple of weeks. That's enough for my box garden all summer, maybe more.

Not too far away in the liberal land of San Francisco, the city is implementing education and incentives for early adoption of rainwater capture systems. Fairly uncommon in urban areas. Why aren't officials talking about that here? Instead they are talking about larger, more political issues such as building the "peripheral canal", the solution to the fish vs. human consumption paradigm. The Delta Smelt is the fish, and they are the bottom of the food chain, but if you eliminate this one fish, it effects this entire life cycle in the Bay Area. Ah, ecology. Not something that was considered when they built damps and pumping stations. Now, we must pay for the canal because people are not going to stop coming to California.

Time to write my congresswoman. And, it's time to hop on board the proverbial rain barrel!

[FLICKR PHOTO courtesy gclenaghan, (CC)]

Australia

2009-02-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

As soon as I left Australia, I wanted to go back. While in the state of Victoria the country is reeling from the massive destruction of the Bush Fires, still burning, the state of Queensland has come up with an ingenious Web 2.0 way to promote tourism revenue to their region.

A childfree woman who I met two years ago at a book publishing conference sent me an email out of the blue this week. She is one of 34,000 people who have applied for The Best Job in the Word, a 6-month caretaker position located at a luxurious property located on a knoll overlooking the Great Barrier Reef. Her video is terrific as she is a journalist, as well as an adventurous, watersport enthusiast. I really hope she gets the job!

The Toursim Queensland website is translated into several different languages and they have had applications from 200 countries.

The Best Job in the World

You can sign up for email updates on this amazing promotional, job hunt phenomenon. You will qualify for a drawing to win an all expenses paid trip to visit Queensland, Australia. Why not! I wish you could vote for my friend Kelly Hammet, but you can check back to see who makes the cut on March 2nd. View her video application here.

Flickr Photos: Courtesy of Cindy Andrie (CC)

First Installment

2009-02-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

I am entering an unknown realm -- that of a stained glass art apprentice, four days a week. No out of town commute, yeah! I will do production work for the owner and work on my own projects, with lots of learning along the way.

I plan to log drawings, hours, lessons learned, "to do" lists, progress reports, and project notes in my Engineering notebook, given to me by a former coworker (now a friend).

This is the piece I am currently working on that will fit in a window frame in my custom chicken coop. Almost done. I just need to buy a piece of this colored mirror glass for the double-glazed yolk I want to add as a finishing touch. It will be soldered on at three points, giving the piece some dimension. As you can see the penny is used to lift it to the proper height while working on it.

This represents the first fitted window I've done. That makes the measurements of the final piece very important, forcing me to be very precise, as this is one that will not simply hang in a window, but is built in.

The new soldering iron is working great.

Fast Action

2009-02-22T07:05:00.001-08:00

It is nice to start your day with puppy kisses. Sometimes I don't mind a blurry photo. It can help to tell the story, describe an action without words, capture the a feeling. It's nice to be home. I lost my job right before we left on the trip to Sydney. The work assignment lasted 1 year and 6 months, which is about 15 months longer that I was expecting when I started the temp assignment.

[Photo above: Mom and 4-month old Baxter.]

Here are some highlights of my second week of freedom. (The first week was spent in Sydney!):

Arranged to enter into a structured apprenticeship at the Art Glass Studio. In addition to helping run the business, I will be learning the business and developing my skill level. I will be helping to finish custom work, repairs and create speculative glass for sale in the windows of the store. I will also get to spend more time on my own glass art projects. I put in just 10 hours this week, but that will double.

Volunteered 2.0 hours for Livermore Valley Opera and we had our first rehearsal for The Marriage of Figaro on Saturday. The performance run is less than one month away and our posters are getting put up all over town. We open at the wonderful Bankhead Theater March 14th.

Prepared our favorite Japanese breakfast foods, something I had not had time for since I started working full-time and commuting out of the area.

Attending a Gardening class at Alden Lane Nursery

Helped Tom celebrate birthday #51 and his new promotion with a special dinner of Bongo Bongo soup with champagne. This blended soup is made of spinach, cream and oysters. Main course was a mustard-pepper dry rubbed elk loin cut flash grilled, served with rustic scalloped potatoes gratin and a salad. We had mini cheesecakes for dessert. He got to open presents between courses!

[Photo (R): Tom striking a pose in front of the Museum of Sydney, where they have a display of "talking" pylons. When you walk among them voices are activated. It's kind of a cool idea for an interactive display, but the traffic of the downtown corridor was so bad that you cannot make out any of the words. We snapped this photo by a stone pylon with the inscription "The Point" which is also the name of the band Tom was involved in in the early 80s. You have to look close to read it.]

Darwin's Take

2009-02-17T07:44:00.001-08:00

Walking across the Cahill Walk which give one a bird's eye view of the Circular Quay (pronounced "key"), we stopped to read the interpretive plaques. Darwin's words about Australia really say it all:

"On the whole as a place of punishment the object is scarcely gained; as a real system of reform it has failed, as perhaps would every other plan: but as a means of making men outwardly honest -- of converting vagabonds most useless in one hemisphere into active citizens of another, and thus giving birth to a new and splendid country -- a grand centre of civilisation -- it has succeeded to a degree perhaps unparalleled in history."

-- Charles Darwin, 1836

Performing Arts Center

2009-02-13T12:40:00.001-08:00

The Sydney Performing Arts Center would have been more accurate a name. I wonder why they called it by the other name? One of the first things the tour guide informed us was all the trouble they have with the perception people have, in thinking the only thing they do here is opera!

The ballet comes in twice a year and stays for three months. The opera has two seasons and they do four or five over-lapping productions during that time. So if you were here in the summer season and stayed a week, you could potentially see three or so operas.

Alas, I will not see an opera here this time, but we do have tickets to a performance in the symphony hall tonight, Valentine's Day (it is already Saturday 2/14 at the time of this posting). Roberta Flack is performing with the Sydney Symphony.

I got to stand inside the orchestra pit, we walked by all the props, The Magic Flute, Madama Butterfly, and Cavalieri Rustica are being staged now. I saw the multiple spike marks on the main stage and had breakfast in the Green Room, which actually has beautiful blue carpet, which was most comfortable and is used by stage crew and artists alike. They have a nice view of the harbor, a pool table, a cafeteria, lounging couches and a full bar.

Behind the scenes in the opera hall they have two Suicide Doors for quick entrances, a huge lift which comes from below the stage level, used to bring entire choruses to the stage in quick time, and no less than 68 Fly Lines to create magnificent sets from above. They can even make people fly. Something we cannot do at the Bankhead Theater. We can only fly scenery! We all got a silly picture of ourselves holding a baton and standing on the conductor's stand.

It was interesting to me that even the Sydney Opera House has had major issues with their Orchestra Pit. It took someone falling off stage and fracturing an appendage to get a netting put across it. Their pit has a lift and had to be altered toward the back to add more musicians, the tympany section. The story was really amazing, as told by our lovely and prim sounding tour guide, because the dancer athletically climbed back on stage, finished the scene and danced off stage, then was taken right to emergency. She had lots of good stories like that.

Then on to the other hall, the symphony hall we viewed up close the World's Largest Pipe Organ, apparently you can only see a small few of the pipes as they recede deep into the roof beyond view. I'd like to hear The Messiah in this hall! Interestingly there is seating all around the centrally located symphony stage. The rear seating is mostly used for various sizes of choruses, and when there is no chorus, the music students prefer them for the intimate proximity to view the musicians on stage. The addition of the Acoustical Donuts were added to help the musicians hear the music they are playing, it acoustically lowers the ceiling so they can hear how they sound as a group. They can be raised up to the ceiling when not needed.

Breakfast in Sydney

2009-02-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

Pretty long-hairs, scurrying

cacophony, clash of dishes.

Blend on George

knowing I don't blend in.

Purple napkin makes me smile.

Sourdough, wild.

City by the Bay

189 years a prison,

now a prism.

2009-02-11T13:40:00.001-08:00

I can count on one hand the number of times I have openly wept after reading the headlines or watching a news cast. The Bush Fires have caused massive destruction. Names go from missing to the "other" list, as evidence is discovered. The loss of entire towns, the impact on the helpless wildlife, all heart wrenching. I wonder if it is even making the news back home?

In other news, it is interesting to read about Obama from a foreign land. The most uplifting thing I've read is that the Australian dollar was bouyed by his presence in office and his bold first actions. A real economic impact, based on hope alone. There's proof that even the world economy is equal measure transactions and psychology.

The legs were tired but I forced myself into tennis shoes and set out after breakfast with Tom. I still have not been to the famed beaches in the area, but the weather just doesn't inspire it.

I was diverted from a straight path to pick up the Monorail because Martin Place in the downtown corridor caught my eye. I walked all the way up this pedestrian breezeway to where it ended at Il Porcellino, (The Pig) guarding the front of Australia's first hospital.

His inscription reads,

"When you rub my nose and make a wish your donation supports research, education and development at Sydney Hospital."

Of course I dropped a coin in and people watching gave me a smile. Perhaps not the best fundraiser I've ever seen, but certainly a unique one!

I was lucky enough to be traversing through Hyde Park when the sun came for a brief wink. I just happened to be taking a photo of Captain James T. Kirk, oops, I mean Captain Cook, who discovered this land in 1770. I engaged a nice South African man to take my photo at the fountain and strolled along the central path lined with enormous trees.

Finding the entrance to the monorial was like a needle in a haystack. I even asked a local where it was and she couldn't tell me. A sure sign that it is more used by tourists than commuters. It traverses a loop that hops to major points such as the aquarium, an IMAX theater, the convention center and the National Maritime Museum, which was the only thing that looked mildly interesting to me, other than the Raspberry Gelato that I enjoyed there. The area was a total turn off to me, but it was fun to ride the entire circuit on the Monorail. I thought of Walt Disney.

On the walk back my legs were so tired I had to sit down more than once. Managed not to spend any money at this swank shopping area, Australia's version of The Strand. The clothes looked so pretty it made me feel like such a tomboy walking around in sneakers and pants. I resolved right there to wear a dress to dinner.

The sun came out only once more as I was sitting at my computer, typing up a storm. Got the camera out just in time to prove to you we can see the opera house from our room!

2009-02-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

The story of this Harbour Bridge is amazing. I strolled around The Rocks neighborhood a bit more yesterday, wanting to get a better flavor of the area. The greatest find was The Rocks Museum, a historical gem and absolutely free! I watched a short flick on how the bridge was built, against all odds. The competition for the design was intense, and the first officially approved design is not what they ended up with. A war got in the way and when the project was resurrected years later, post-war, the design firm that did end up getting to build it went about $10.0 million over budget and were bankrupted at the end. Upon completion, the entire city celebrated it nonetheless; songs were written about her, and a grand parade transpired -- all caught on film. They had interviews with some of the surviving bridge workers. You can take a guided tour to walk along the top. Only for the hardy. The photo above is my preferred way to admire her. Tom's office is just across the bridge, 10 minutes taxi away.

This is how we ended our evening. A blurry photo, (are you sure you have not been drinking wine?), elbow to elbow with foreigners, small plate tapas style dining at its best. We waited 1/2 and hour for the privilege. Can you make out Tom on the right? Pony is located just down the cobble stone alley from The Rocks Museum. The sun is popping out briefly today, but monsoon conditions prevail. More windy today. Arranging my behind the scenes tour at 7:00 a.m. at the Sydney Opera House. Not sure how I'll spend today, but I've got lots of ideas!

Sydney Day One

2009-02-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

I don't expect I'll have this much to share every day on our trip Down Under, but here are my first impressions. The senses are on overload!
This is one of the most photographed buildings in the world.

Q does it right. Quantas Airways is the longest operating airline in the world. The flight was as good as it could be, and so was the service. Now we find ourselves at Sydney Harbour, staying at a hotel in The Rocks district. The rocks which are a native feature of this land, are what the early settlers made their important government buildings out of and you can see them still standing, some have been turned into museums, but have been careful to preserve the original architecture and rock carvings.I just realized this morning that I can have dim sum for breakfast every day if we dine in. I don't think I have ever had a better room with a view, as we can see the Sydney Opera House from it. Planning to take a 1-hour tour, which they run every 30-minutes, every day. No excuse if I miss that one.
Yesterday, Tom went off to meet the Australian team at the office and I headed off to explore the Royal Botanical Gardens. My only strategy was to get outside and stay awake to help myself adjust to the new time zone. We are lucky to be experiencing a cooling weather trend. The weather has been unusually hot in the Down Under summer season. They must have invested a fortune in water to keep their heritage gardens looking so good. Only the grasses were a bit brown, but being from California that seemed only natural to me.

I heard languages from all around the world on my walk about, a few I could not make out at all on my silent journey. It was odd and nice to spend an entire day with just myself. The only person I spoke to was another tourist, a young woman from Auburn, California. What are the chances of flying half-way around the world and meeting someone from Northern California? She asked me to taker her picture with one of the enormous trees. Never did what kind of trees they are, but they looked just like the Morton Bay Fig Tree that my home town of Santa Barbara is so proud of. There were at least 5 or 6 them in this very sprawling preserve, tucked in right against the harbor.

It was an unexpected pleasure to see all the exotic birds as well. Flocks of Mina Birds were very much at home in the gardens, a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets and the Australian Magpie. The magpies look like black and white crows, and although they can cackle aggressively at times, their love call is the most beautiful melodic sound. I stood below a tree listening, completely entranced. It sounded like a someone playing a wood flute, such as surprise to me that this relatively plain-looking bird had the most enchanting song paired with it. If they had more color on them, I am sure people would put them in a cage and call them pets. There was a flock of 20 or 30 Sulpher-Crested Cockatoos just foraging on the grass below a big Eucalyptus. I was reminded that this is where that tree comes from and I've seen quite a variety already.

The most amazing flyer I saw was not flying at all and it was not a bird. I probably spend a good half an hour trying to photograph the Gray-faced Flying Foxes that were trying to nap hanging upside down in the canopy of several trees. Apparently the gi-normous (yes, that word is a Teri-ism) bats are now permanent residents of the park and the keepers are worried that they will have a negative impact on their horticultural national heritage. These creatures from a distance look with some sort of wicked fruit hanging from the upper tree limbs. Luckily, they are nocturnal and eat fruit. They are important pollinators, but I couldn't help wonder who their natural predators are. Nature is always in such a delicate balance. These creatures reminded me of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that the flags are flying at half mast in Sydney, in mourning of the suspected arson-set fires engulfing entire towns in the state of Victoria. The Bush Fires of 2009 will take a long time to recover from. More than 130 people have been killed and 750 homes utterly destroyed. Many people are still missing. The stories on the front page this morning are heart-wrenching. Funds to the tune of $12 million AUD have already been raised for the recovery. The fires still rage. They do not have 100% containment. There's a reason you don't burn eucalyptus logs in the fireplace. The oil-rich wood burns at a 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Entire towns have been vanquished.

Spice of Life

2009-02-05T06:36:00.001-08:00

Here I am with Monika, an opera gal pal, funnin' around with a prop one of our singers used to play Suzanna when singing a duet with Figaro at a very well-attended house party fundraiser a couple of weekends ago. It is just what we needed to fortify our bank balances before The Marriage of Figaro which opens on March 14.

Let the ticket sales ensue!
You can't beat the prices, ranging from $19 to 59, depending on what night you attend. There's free parking and shops and dining within walking distance. Our wonderful Bankhead Theater is right smack in the middle of downtown. Oh, and there's free covered parking adjacent. You won't find me on stage, but I'll be there every night in support of my company, and as a "working" board member. Click here for full details: Tickets.
Mom would not be able to fit Baxter in this fanny pack anymore. He has grown so much. He'll soon outgrow the confines of the bedroom/backyard routing. One more round of shots and he'll be taking real walks. We now have more than 40 wineries in the Tri-Valley. As you can see we fast outgrew this sign post that folks like to photograph so much!
Vladimir found his Christmas stocking most appealing. He loved the catnip-stuffed cigar, began chomping on it right away.

Pets add so much to our lives.

Weekend Update

2009-02-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

Every week I struggle to make time for my art. It makes me feel complete. Life cannot be all about a 45-minute one-way commute, work, dinner, TV and go to bed with chores on the weekend. This weekend, I only had 1 1/2 hours to spare, but I took out my glass art project, just to review my work and next steps. I quite like the glass I have chosen. It was very difficult to cut. I will also experiment with a double-glaze technique for the "yolk" on the egg for a 3D effect. We made time to be with Tom's coworkers as the annual holiday party was delayed to Super Bowl weekend. We were in good company at the new Golden Gate location of the Academy of Sciences. We are pictured above in the rainforest in a dome exhibit. It was a little warm as you can see from my cheeks! A butterfly the size of my hand landed on a woman and everyone took pictures. I had to settle for a photo with the giant sea bass. He was making eyes at me. Probably wanted to eat my finger!

Tea Bags

2009-01-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

My friend probably thought I was kidding when I said that his hot tip, shared with me at breakfast last weekend, was blog worthy. I ask all three of my gentle readers if they know that it is a good idea to keep a tea bag in a first aid kit? Yes, apparently, and this is confirmed by a man standing behind me in a grocery check-out line, (he was an Eagle Scout), it helps with clotting blood on a minor cuts.

I have taken CPR and first aid at least twice in my adult life and never heard that one! I was about to throw out two entire boxes of Lipton ice tea bags because I don't drink the brand, nor the cold version. Now I am thinking I should give one to all my friends and pass along the wealth. Else, I will have on hand a lifetime supply of first aide tea bags.

Honestly, how many times do I figure I will put a sharp paring knife in soapy water and forget it's there?

Maybe four or five Band-Aids worth at the most! I blame my Mom for not teaching me this, absolutely. And, I thank her for letting me take a picture of her finger. It was her turn to cook tonight. I applied first aid.

New Stuff

2009-01-17T11:19:00.000-08:00

This is the new soldering iron and soldering station I got for Christmas. It has a place to hold my flux and a the solder, adjustable temperature dial, and an LED indicator for the on/off. This is the place I will keep the hot iron while I am doing my stained glass work. Over the holiday break, I finished off a glass piece that a friend of mine cut out and has kept carefully in a box under her bed for 20 years. She was overjoyed when I offered to finish her "California Poppy" in exchange for all the tools and glass she gave me. She now has it hanging in the front window of her home!

Teri at Work

2009-01-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post this photo, not because it is such a good picture of me, but because my husband sent me flowers for no reason. My curious coworkers inquired as to the occasion and I replied, "I don't know, maybe I'm pregnant!" Then they started teasing me that his was "feeling guilty". Well, I do enjoy a good camaraderie at the office, so we all had a good laugh. I was more than thrilled to receive flowers for no reason at all, however, the note did say "miss you". He returns from the overseas trip tonight. I have some surprises for him too...

Warmest Greetings

2009-01-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

This post is my answer to the holiday greeting dilemma. The guilt of not sending a Christmas card was weighing heavily on me. The burden of doing this mailing, and maintaining the ever-growing list always fell to me. It had become a huge task. No more. I put my foot down this year, for many good reasons. More importantly, I wanted out of the mainstream, to drift aside and let the fast moving current charge by me. To wait it out in a calm eddy. Focus. Clarity. Donate to charity. Ah, ha! I'll do a blog post instead!

Living inland has had an unanticipated effect on me. It makes me miss water. One of the first things I did when we bought this house, in the land-locked locale as far east as you can get in the San Francisco Bay Area, was to add a wine barrell water feature. If the TV is off, and I am sitting in my living room I can hear the quiet, calming trickle of water from the fountain. It is also quite pretty to look at. Beauty and harmony are two ideals I strive for in our living space, thus my life.

As I reflect on myself and my life at the start of this new and challenging year, I can appreciate how much has changed since we moved back to California and bought a house. The changes are more than a new venue and a new circle of friends. There are new demands on my time. I am volunteering for the local opera company, learning the art of stained glass, and working full-time. I look in the mirror and try my clothes on and all that's different too. I no longer wear my hair long. I have smile lines. Some of my clothes no longer suit me. I remember in college, I went to a seminar on how to "dress for success". Now I need a class on how to dress "age appropirate."

My mother, Linda, is living with us, temporarily while she job hunts. She got a Christmas puppy, so our family has happily grown. We still have a guest bedroom available for friends and family, so get in touch if you want to book it. Yes, the backyard is dog-friendly. The indoors still has two cats.

These are trying economic times. As Americans, as friends and family, and members of our respective communities, we will need to stand strong and help each other. We will be watching our new president carefully, hopefully. Remember, no matter what happens, keep your chin up, so you can see where you are going.

Love, Peace, Beauty & Harmony in 2009,

Teri & Tom

Christmas Puppy

2008-12-25T18:54:00.001-08:00

Meet the new member of our family. His name is Baxter. He is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. My Mom's dog, all of 9 weeks old and started on his crate and potty training already. Such a little love! I can't wait to take walks with him and see him romp around our fenced back yard.