Thanksgiving review

I loved our Ann Arbor Thanksgiving, even if the dinner tasted like school cafeteria food and the turkey was dry.  The company was GREAT!  We went to Ann Arbor to be with the kids and that was all that was important.  Actually, Thanksgiving was our only bad meal and what can you expect when a restaurant is turning out probably over a thousand meals that day.

We arrived in Ann Arbor and found our lovely little VRBO studio apartment.  It was everything it was advertised to be and had even more charm than I expected.   As we arrived the owner was getting out of her car and had fresh croissants and cookies for us and a bottle of wine in the fridge!  It was lovely to have a place to entertain the children and we actually had dinner with the children there two nights - carryout food but a nice environment to sit and talk.

The girls apartment is fine - your standard 1960's garden apartment.  No charm, no storage, but the price is right.  They have tried to decorate and organize but, as mentioned before, they just don't quite get finished.  As long as they are happy it is fine but I did have to keep myself from digging into the kitchen clutter and reorganizing.

One thing that they love about Ann Arbor is the food.  Thanksgiving dinner notwithstanding all our other meals in AA were fabulous - Barrys Bagel's, the Coney Island Diner, the Middle Eastern gyros, the Detroit dog - you'll never go hungry in that town.  And Ann Arbor has everything you need, including a nice downtown filled with cute shops and a wonderful farmer and craft market (think Portland Saturday Market on a manageable scale).

We did a driving tour of Detroit since I had lived there in 1969 and wanted to see my old  house.  Where I  had lived, near Wayne State University, actually looks better than when I was there and my old house has been turned into a high-end bed and breakfast, but the rest of the city is indescribable devastation.  Really, you think you've seen pictures of what it's like?  No, pictures cannot capture the look of a city of such despair.  And the sheer scope and size of it.  Not just one neighborhood of vacant lots, burned homes, falling down buildings, and the occassional occupied home, but miles and miles and miles.  Whole neighborhoods that now have a handful of occupants.  No people, no cars. But the odd thing was that there wasn't any street trash either.  It looked clean, without litter. I guess there are no people left to litter.   I cannot imagine how it can transform into anything.  It looked like a scene out of the TV show "Life After People" on the History channel.  And then in an hour you are back in Ann Arbor which is a charming, amazing, vibrant place.

So now I need to plan another trip, maybe in the spring or summer when it isn't so cold.  And I'll also hope that Katie gets a good offer from UM after this post-doc and they can stay on forever in The People's Republic of Ann Arbor.

of this and of that

I was so caught up in the election, and so relieved when Obama won, that I find myself rather at loose ends. The "Real Housewives and Generals" show is taking up some of my internet time.  It really does read like a reality TV episode, and since apparently there was no actual crime except terminal stupidity and hubris, is great fun.  I do feel so sorry for Holly Petraeus and hope that she has the good sense to sue his ass for divorce, and that she hires a good shark lawyer.

I've spent the last two weeks in Florida, visited family and friends in South Florida and had a bit of fun at the beach.  I visited with a good friend whose husband has established a medical cycle of "could die tonight" and then bounces back to "when he goes to rehab and returns home".  She has been living this nightmare for months as the cycle apparently goes in two week increments.  She is a wreck and another friend and I did an "intervention" to help her establish some sanity in this insanity.  A person cannot live in "high alert" mode indefinitely.  I think we helped her ask some local friends for help and that we got her to see that she has to accept this craziness as her "new normal" and establish her personal schedule that gives her some time to regroup and refresh.  I think that we did some good but I'm certain she'll need a refresher course before long.

Now back home and getting ready to head to the girls for Thanksgiving.  Although we are staying in a privately owned studio apartment that I found on VRBO they are planning meals (think restaurants, not them cooking), and outings.  I like that they want to show off their new city to us as it means that they are finally settling in to their new life.  And son is joining us there so we will all be together!

It seems odd not to be planning and cooking Thanksgiving although I can't say that I'm disappointed in the least.  I am trying to get everyone to understand the need for new traditions, or at least not holding on hopelessly to old traditions that no longer meet your needs. 

So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. 

We escaped unscathed

Since all the trees fell down last summer during the derecho our neighborhood emerged unscathed from Hurricane Sandy.  Power flickered but never went out, wind blew, rain came down, we slept in basement and woke this morning to a normal rainy day. 

I can't even imagine the devastation in New York City where you could be high in the sky with no power, no water, and no hope.  It really would be like the end of the world.

I just started putting food back into the freezer

After last summer's derecho wind storm when I had to throw out EVERYTHING from my refrigerator and upright freezer, I decided to delay restocking anything until the end of hurricane season.  Although we generally don't get hit by hurricanes we did have one in August 2011 and I decided not to tempt fate for the remainder of this summer.  So only recently I started slowly restocking the freezer.  Safeway had a great sale on shrimp, another sale on steak....  So  the freezer is not too full but it has some high cost items in it.  And now, Hurricane Sandy!   I've moved all the lawn furniture and plants into the porch, put batteries in all theflashlights, checked the oil supply for the oil lamps, pulled out the box of candles, and stocked up on wine.  Now we are eating our way through the freezer before we lose power.   Saturday was steak, last night was shrimp, tonight it will depend on if we have electricity or not. 

And my father!  He refuses to leave his home and stay with us.  So I've put batteries in his radio and flashlights, bought cans of soup in case he loses power and just have to hope for the best.   His basement may flood and there is nothing we can do about that and I hope the 300 year old tree in the yard doesn't fall on the house.

My hope is that since so many trees fell in our neighborhood during the derecho the ones still standing are strong and sturdy and that the power lines that came down and were replaced are also sturdy.  But I know that no power line can hold back a falling tree and in my heavily wooded neighborhood I think we are sunk.

my hope for this election

My hope for this election is that it will re-energize the women's movement.   Hopefully the generations of young women who have benefited from what was accomplished in the 1960's and 70's, will now see how precious these changes are and how quickly they could be taken away.  Many young women today, with some exceptions like Sandra Fluke, have seemed complacent about the short history of the women's movement and the tenuous hold we have on Roe v Wade, contraception, workplace rights, credit rights, etc.  They have never lived under the restrictions both legal and cultural that we faced pre-1970's and so have no context for life without those protections.

A friend sent me this YouTube vide and it made me want to sing along.

Amongst some of my friends I've gotten the reputation of being a picky eater.  This is amusing since 1) I'll eat almost any kind of foodstuff, and 2) it is coming primarily from a friend who has declared herself gluten free and is always on some kind of bizarre diet which generally restricts her food choices to ice cream and Fritos.

What I am picky about is where I eat my food and with whom.  I do not eat at buffets unless it is my only choice and I am quite literally starving to death.  The idea of all the hands on the serving utensils, the utensils falling into the pans, people breathing, coughing, smelling, ....... you get the picture.  We recently went to a 170 item buffet as part of a conference "fun night".  Take it from me, you should never go to a restaurant where you are greeted by a pirate, "Ahoy, matey!   Arggg!"  It met all my expectations and more.  I drank iced tea and ate three fried shrimp taken from the way back of the pan.

Another of my eating issues is going in large groups and having people try to split the check.  Just order modestly along with the rest of the group, restrict your drink order to a glass of wine (and if you have more throw in extra money), and prepare to divide the check equally.  Do not get pissy over not having a cup of coffee at the end of the meal, do not insist that the tip be no more than 15, or 18 or whatever measly percent you allow the server, do not start exclaiming over that outrageous tax rate in whatever city you are in.  Just pay your share of the damn bill.  These large group dinners were common when I was traveling for work and I dreaded them to the point where I once told one of the offenders, when the group was going to a very nice restaurant that I often frequented, that I wasn't going with them because I didn't want to be associated with the group since I wanted to be welcome back to the restaurant when I went there the next time.  They thought it was a joke.  It wasn't.

I also have an issue with restaurants that are so loud you literally cannot hear yourself talk, much less the other guests at the table.  I never thought restaurant reviews would come with decibel ratings but here in DC they do.  It the decibel rating is too high I just don't go there.

So, does this make me a picky eater?  I think not.  I prefer to call it discerning.

DIY project list

Today I happened to glance at the list on my sidebar of the DIY projects that I posted last spring:

• Frame sailing picture
• Frame Sedona poster
• Plant flowers front yard
• Plant shrubs, etc around deck
• Herb garden - where to place?
• Wash windows - after yellow pollen season
• Paint bedroom
• Tile backsplash mudroom - learn to tile project
• Tile backsplash - kitchen

I have only  completed two of the projects - plant flowers in front yard and the herb garden - and even they weren't very successfully completed. For the flowers in the front I was planting perennials as I hate planting things and only wanted to have to do this once but the combination of a drought and heat killed most of what I planted so I'll have to do this again next year.  The herb garden, although in the proper location, was also not a success as the drought and some teeny tiny bugs got into the plants.  Since these were herbs and I didn't want to use any pesticide, the plants were pretty well munched on before I got to use much.

Maybe I can claim that I made progress on the two framing projects as I did get a super catalog from an artist friend where I can get the pre-cut materials for the huge frames I need that will be far cheaper than using a frame shop, and easier than a total frame-it-yourself project.   Now I need to get around to ordering the materials.  The painting/washing/tiling projects are still waiting for some action.  I've found the tile I want and now need the courage to try to put it on the wall.

I should probably revisit my to-do list a little more often if I want to make any progress.