Friday, March 09, 2007

...something for you....OOOHHHH.

OK so I was just over at Mons Flumen and I can't leave her a comment. So here it is...
I like your new template except that I can't leave you a comment.
If you don't post pictures of the totally awesome worm cake I will have a hissy fit.
And....the cupcakes look good. As soon as I can get home for more than two days at a time I will bake something for you.....OOOHHHH.

I'll let you know.

I am living through the experience of my mother having a "sort of" boyfriend. On Wednesday I took the train to MA from NY so that I could be with my Mom while she is recovering from her adolescence...no, no I mean that she is recovering from a stent being put into her heart.
My brother and his family took the first week. My sister-in-law and niece lasted 5 days and my brother lasted 7. I am the next wave of family support. My Mom is being a bit (I am understating) hard to deal with. Her inner teenage is on a rampage and we can only stand back and observe. She wants everyone out of her house and she wants to drive her big ol' Crown Victoria honkin' Ford. Instead I get to chaufer her around and try and remain calm during her bad direction giving.
That was my yesterday.
Today I am at the library goofing around while Mom is off playing bridge and later I have to meet her in some obscure town where she will be at some restaurant that she goes to after she plays bridge. I suffered through her trying to give me directions this morning and after I am done blogging I will Mapquest away. I am hoping that in about a half hour I can call my niece and get her to come with me. I don't relish the thought of having dinner with my Mom and her "sort of" boy friend. I met him over Christmas and frankly I think that he is a pompous lout. I just know that if I go out to eat with them alone that I will be the third wheel. Mom gets all doe eyed and would let the dog catch on fire in the presence of said "sort of" boy friend. Just picture the elder aged couple, myself, and one disgruntled with life only wears black teenager. Doesn't that sound fun? I'll let you know.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

...a girl after my own heart.

I don't know about you but I've got a list of people in heart. Some of them are people I know well and see often, some of them are people that I know well and don't see so often, and some of them are people that I don't know well and never see. There is a list of people in my heart that makes my world better just by knowing that these people occupy space on this planet. I draw great comfort in knowing that they are out there walking this earth and living in this same time frame as I am.
Jessica Shuman is on the list. I experience great joy and comfort in her being her at the same time that I am being me in this lifetime. She is a ham (of the vegetarian kind). Jess was our neighbor when we lived in Tucson. She was a student at the U of A. She's still the same vibrant woman now as she was then. We all got together one night for dinner and we had the opportunity to meet her boyfriend, Marco. As Jess would say he's...good people of the earth.
We met Jess at her "new to us" home. Jess bought a place near 4th Ave. a few years ago. She wanted to get a place in the Barrio but Tucosn real estate went through the roof about 4 yrs. ago and her home now was a good compromise. It's a sweet adobe style bungalow. This is her kitchen.
She did all the counter tile work herself. Wow...it's beautiful.
Jess is an artist, activist, and kindergarten teacher. She has 21 cats at her home. 6 of them are hers and the rest are up for adoption. This is Xan and Artie with just the tip of the iceberg.Jess traps feral cats (of which there are a huge amount in Tucson) and takes them to be spayed or neutered and then releases them to where she got them from. Artie spent the night with her and went on some midnight cat reconnaissance. I have a feeling that it was a true adventure for her.
These are pictures of all of us having cake over at a place on 4th Avenue (our old stomping grounds). The cake was enormous!!
As were eating Jess said that she remembered all the cakes we used to make for the "Taste of Chocolate" event that was put on to raise money for the Arizona Right To Choose. What memories...that was when I had my baking business and I baked for restaurants in town. We used to make these enormous cakes and displays for this event and for every entry we did we had to provide 500 samples for people to try. We made chocolate bread, white chocolate prickly pear cake, brownies with green chilies and all sorts of other stuff. No wonder Jess hung out at our house...a girl after my own heart.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Jane, Jane, beautiful Jane.

And now for the day that all my blogger friends have been waiting for. I got to see Jane's socks up close and personal. We borrowed our friends car and drove up to Phoenix to check out an art show that we are thinking about participating in. It was a nice show and we got a brief visit with two artist friends from Utah that do that show. But....
The most important part of that trip was being able to visit with Jane. Jane and her girl tribe met us at the art show and we hung out there for a few hours. We then went to the Willow House for coffee and chai. Then we all headed over to Bookmans. Bookmans is a great used bookstore that we used to shop at often when we lived in Tucson. It was fun to be around all the books but the prices are much pricier than 15 yrs. ago and I didn't buy anything. Sad to say that I buy most of books at half.com these days. Jane uses Bookmans like a lending library. She will buy her books than trade them back in for store credit to get more books. If I lived near a Bookmans I would do the same.
Then we got to drive to Jane's and see where the family is living these days and to see the place of many blog stories. It's a sweet house. It was funny that at the time that we were there the fence had been pulled up all around the house and there were lot's of guys outside working. Apparently Jane had an oleander hedge that had that day disappeared and YES we got to meet Bob. We were all feeling pooped so we ordered Chinese and we let Jane's husband pick it up on the way home from work. We loved the timing in all this. We all ate and chatted, the girls played. Jane's girl #3 told Artie that she remembers her from when they lived in NY and Artie babysit for them Apparently she played spiders. Girl #3 was hoping that they could play spiders again.
In the living room Jane's house is this very sweet alter...so very Jane.And, also, in the living room is this very big fish tank. Michael and I think that maybe it is 120ish gallons. Wow, huh? Jane's husband is really into it. So very him.
We exhausted ourselves with talk and catching up and we all staggered off to bed. The next morning I got to spend a few moments with Jane's husband before he had to take off for work. Poor husband having to leave us vacationers behind. In his absence we had a rousing game of Snorta.
I love being associated with people that are doing their bliss. I find it a true honor to witness people that are doing exactly what they arrived on the planet to do. Jane arrived on the planet to be a midwife. Oh, you should have seen her face when she brought out her photo album out of all the births that she has attended. She was so sweet when she asked me if I was OK with blood. I am...the photo album is quite moving and stunning. Jane glowed and her aura grew ten fold when she talked about each woman and their baby. What a joyous time it was I had being with Jane in her dining room watching her become one of the most beautiful parts of herself. On the wall by the stairs that goes up to her room are all these pictures of women. She calls it her wall of women...it's pretty spectacular.
We got to have a moment together on the couch.
We had to leave all to soon to go and have lunch with some Ren Fair friends before we went back to Tucson. We left with promises that we'll see the Jane clan again.
Jane, Jane, beautiful Jane.