Travels with The Rayman

Yesterday was an awful day.  But let me back up.  The pic above was taken on Sunday when Mr. Rayman did a tumble into an oncoming small wave while trying to avoid getting wet from the wave.   What a drip!!  Okay, so on with my blog.

I’ve been blogging since 2010, I think.  And I have had three software changes during that time along with three different domain providers.  Blogging is easy.  Getting the software and domain not so much.  And that is what ruined my day yesterday.

On Monday, I told one of my friends that I was going to send her one of my blogs that I thought she would enjoy.  When I went looking for it, I couldn’t find it.  My current domain provider, GoDaddy erased it.  All of it.  Apparently I had been notified that my credit card had been rejected because of the expiration date.  They emailed me.  Only I didn’t get it because it was in my junk mail.  And there is no way to get my blogs that were posted under adventureswiththerayman.com back.  OMG.  OMG.  GoDaddy should be avoided at all costs.  What a horrible outfit.  Oh, I know.  It is ultimately my responsibility but why beat myself up when I can beat them about?

This picture hints at the blog I was trying to find.

Rayman had gone golfing.  When he returned, i burst into tears,  My life was in tatters.  All those travel blogs.  OMG.  So, after the trauma wore off, I started thinking.  Did I have a copy?  How would I know?  People, I am telling you, even though I know a lot about computers, I hardly know anything.  Did I have a copy?  I couldn’t answer that question.  So, I decided to call Joseph.  Joseph helped me initially set up travelswiththerayman.com  I already had the domain name thru GoDaddy but I was struggling with the software, WordPress, so I did what many do, I googled for help.  Ever notice that Google can be a noun or a verb?  Cool, uh?  That’s how I found Joseph who owns a company named ShiloRune.  He was able to set me up.  Quickly.  Easily.  And
at a reasonable price.  I love Joseph.  He lives in Portland and I hope to actually meet him in Portland this summer.  Never have met him.

So.

When I called him he was at Ikea, shopping.  He said he would call me when he returned to the office.  That left me dead in the water.  That’s when racking my brain began.  Sometimes racking one’s brain can have positive results.  And so it did.  I went to the den and found my old MacBook computer.  And I charged it up.  It still had the software, Sandbox, that I had used early on to compose my blogs.  Maybe, just maybe some blogs were there.  And so they were.  To make a long story longer, Joseph created a temporary website and I transferred all the data to him.  He will, for a price, manipulate the data and then post it all on the last remaining domain, travelswiththerayman.  And I am going to pay him to maintain everything going forward thereby eliminating GoDaddy from my life…except for the domain name.  Do I have all my blogs back?  I’m not sure and I’m afraid to look.  You know how that is?  You expect the worst and so avoid verifying your worst fears.  Well, that’s me right now.

The other news in my life is that Claudia (URs) caretaker had her knee surgery and is back at his house.  She was able to walk up all the stairs.  So, we came home at her suggestion.  I am now making food for us all since she is very limited in what she can do.  We are so hoping that her recovery will go smoothly so that we can take off for The Badlands in mid-May.

Tonight we are having grilled swordfish, thai noodle pasta, and a tossed salad for dinner.  No dessert.  But plenty wine.

Right now I’m having a hard time typing because I sliced off the upper corner of my left index finger and it is in a bandage and a rubber glove.  Can’t use it so I’m hunting and pecking.  Drats.  Cooking is a full contact sport.  However, I expect to make a full recovery.

Margaret, my good friend and aqua kinetics bud/Winers and Diners/Sideway member, suggested that I print out all my blogs and do a book so that I can preserve what I have in hard copy form.  Bon idee.  I plan to stART WORKING (OOPS) on that project this week.  Love the idea.  So I just ordered more ink for my inkjet printer,  Yahoo!!

So, this past week has very busy, indeed.  It all started with a gourmet Xmas party with our gourmet club. Our friend, Jo, puts together a schedule and we abide by it.  The schedule lists each host couple and three other couples that the host invites for the party.  Further, the format is designed so that the host couple prepares the main dish and the other couples volunteer to bring whatever the host needs.  Usually this translates into appetizers, veggie and/or salad, dessert. The framework is extremely flexible.  All rules may be broken…however, the aren’t usually. As a matter of history, this group has been doing this for several years.  And we’ve had some great parties.

I digress.  Okay, so we had the party to schedule.  It went something like this:  I emailed all the couples and we settled on a date.  Then about 4 or 5 days before the party, one of the couples cancelled.  Had to go south for some medical tests. So, I called a substitute (the group has a sub list of one).  They agreed to come.  Then a few days later, the second couple cancelled because her stepdad had died.  So, I invited one of the regulars off the list.  The a day later, the third original couple called with regrets because a relative was going to be in town that day.  EEEEEEEKKKKK.

In our years of doing this, this has never happened. Okay. Life happens.  Roll with the punches.  So, I invited another regular couple from the dinner group.  Then on the day before the party, I was returning from yoga and called home only to talk with Ray (my husband) and found out the subs cancelled because he had a cold!  Holy moley.  At this point,it was hilarious.

Now, you probably wonder why I didn’t cancel.  Well, first, I like a good party.  And secondly, I had already bought the standing rib roast of pork and had it “curing” in the frig.  So, I called around and couldn’t find anyone so I called a couple from my other gourmet group and they agreed to come.  Since it was so late (the night before), I didn’t ask them to bring anything but wine and I made the dessert, which turned out to be a fabulous apple galette.  However, I’m getting ahead of myself…again.

So, the party was held and it was a fabulous one according to the participants.  Here’s the menu: Butternut squash soup with creme freiche and fried onions, salad of winter greens, standing rib roast of pork, braised fennel, and apple galette. Yummy.

Okay, so one of the things I struggle with is remembering where I get recipes. In this case, and one reason I decided to journal my escapades is to record the origins of the things I cooked.  So, I gleamed the rib roast recipe from Zuni Cafe cookbook by Judy Rodgers. This is a cookbook every serious cook should have in their library.  It is fabulous.  In this case she instructed me to buy the roast way ahead and salt it (1 tsp. per pound of meat).  Then rub it with garlic and fennel and coriander.  It was the best pork roast I have ever cooked.  Hands down.

The braised fennel was just okay so I’m not recording it because it’s not a keeper.

The apple galette, I’ve done before.  It is delicious and easy to make.  Jacques Pepin, from his cookbook Everyday Cooking.

Only mistake I made was warming the bread and forgetting to serve it.  Oh, well.

The next great adventure was a dessert I made to take to a dinner, not a sanctioned gourmet group dinner, just a few friends getting together.  As luck would have it, the L.A. Times did an article about a French dessert that looked fabulous.  It was called a Croustade with apples and prunes in Armagnac.  It appeared in the Dec. 12 food section.  So, I made it.  What a hoot.  As experienced as I am in the kitchen, I have had limited exposure to filo.  The recipe calls for filo.  You buy it in the frozen food section of your market.  The recipe specified the size which I could not find but I did find something slightly smaller.  Also, the recipe did not mention the dough should be thawed!!!  All this with an additional complication of time made for a frantic frenzy in the kitchen.  You see, we were invited to an open house the same day of the dinner party.  So, my plan was to prepare the apples and prunes in advance, go to the open house, and return home to compose the dessert and bake it.  Which I did.  Except the dough was frozen and when I tried to use it, it shattered into pieces.  In a complete panic, I read the side panel of the filo package and deduced that it should have been thawed.  So I nuked it for a few seconds and then proceeded.  My creation was an ugly duckling (compared to the picture in the L.A. Times) but man, was it delicious.  An overall success and another definite keeper.

So, tonight we go to a wine tasting groups’ annual Xmas party.  I was given salad as an assignment.  So, I’m going to bring a warm cabbage salad with chestnuts.  I’ll report back on the results.

The results were great.  The salad was a hit.  The recipe came from Alice Waters Vegetables cookbook.  It was red cabbage with chestnuts.  Simple  Elegant.  Easy to cook.  Easy to transport if you have a bowl that fits inside a carrier that can accommodate a space age device that you put in the microwave to warm up.  Sounds complex but these contraptions are on the market.  I think my was made by Pyrex.  Very handy to have if you attend parties away from home.  Now, I must admit that I didn’tthink the dish was good.  However, it sparkled with the barbecued turkey.  It is amazing how important it is to pair things appropriately.

Which leads me to my next thought.  Last night we cooked with friends.  Beet and tangerine salad, rack of lamb, roasted raddiccho, flageolet gratin (French green kidney beans),  and a gateau cake with cream and prunes.  All these recipes reside in the cookbook, Lacques by Suzanne Goin.  The dishes were so right together.  And sharing the cooking made this ambitious menu doable.  The bean gratin was the hit of the party.  I way over bought on the meat.  Most only had three small chops.  A criticism of this book is that it is written for 6 diners.  My experience is that it could feed 10-12.  The portions are enormous.

To digress, we had Christmas eve dinner and went back to my tride and true  recipe of spicy baked crab ala Alice Waters.  paper/plastic crab bibs were provided, the table was set with newspaper and all was great.  Oh, except for my bagettes.  I made them from scratch using an old recipe and they just didn’t cut the mustard.  I let them rise  3 times and followed the directions…but to no avail.  Guess I’ll have to try them again. They were rising too fast so I put the dough in the refrigeration for a couple of hours.  Perhaps that caused the problem. Oh,well.  Oh, and did a new cake…a brown butter hazelnut cake with sauteed pears.  Yummy.  From Suzanne Goin again.  My only criticism of the meal is that it had too much butter.  Way too rich for me.  Each part was great but the cummulative effect was…just too much of a good thing.

Well, we’re well on our way in 2008.  It’s January 9th and I’m almost fully recovered from a nasty cold that attacked my nasal passages and throat.  Ugh.  Couldn’t taste much which is fate worse than death for a foodie such as myself.

Anyway,  I did cook a shrimp dish off the back cover of the latest Fine Cooking magazine.  Ray reports that he was good.  How would I know?  with a taster on the fritz.

So, I have a rack of lamb which I salted last evening waiting for the marinate that I intend to use on it today.  Then we’ll barbecue it tonite if the weather holds.  It’s sunny at the moment but clouds are appearing over the hills south east of us.  The lamb recipe is from John Ash’s book, Cooking One on One.  I made a rub for the meat and will apply it this a.m.  Should be yummy.  I intend to serve it with broccoli and some steamed red potatoes.

Now I’m also busy planning the next dinner party.  I’ve decided on paella.  I’m still developing the menu.  That is something that is very important.  It takes hours of planning to pull together a good menu.  And this is also what I struggle with…what goes with what.  For instance, broccoli may not be the best veggie to serve, however, I bought some good looking stuff at farmer’s market and I need to use it.  So.  I will.

We made it back from our desert sojourn last Friday afternoon.  So glad to be out from behind that sound wall, I’ll tell ya.

 

And I’ve been on a merry-go-round ever since.  Does your life go like that every now and then?  I bet it does.  The idea that I”m not like everyone else, disturbs me at times.  Other times, I am happy to be unique.  Of course, if you consider it, we are all unique.  Perhaps the word I was looking for was “similar”.  Okay.  I’m sometimes happy to be similar.

Saturday and Sunday was comprised of things we all do.  Washing clothes.  Hanging the clothes on the line (this is not done by too many people, but in my defense, there are some).  Sorting through the mail that had accumulated and I don’t think I am exaggerating when I report that there was about 50 pounds of mail.  For two weeks, plus a day or two.  Really, people, we do need to stop wasting trees and go digital.  We don’t need hard copies of everything anymore because we have the cloud.  We have zip drives.  We have external hard drives (that does sound suggestive, doesn’t it?).  There all types of ways to preserve and recapture and I’m not talking about food here.  Data.  Datum.  Datuss (a new word not yet invented).

When one is busy, one depends on their calendar to keep them straight.  Up-to-date.  Organized.  And so it is for me and the Rayman.  ECal is more than a phrase.  It’s our tether to the world.  We have all things planned recorded on our electronic calendars, don’t we?  Really smart people keep a paper calendar.  We don’t qualify for that category.  So thoroughly modern are we.  It’s on the computer, the phone, the iPad.  No paper in our world.

But I digress.

The phone rang.  It was my cousin, Chris.  He wanted to come up to visit Uncle Ralph. Chris reported that UR sounded confused.  So, I invited Chris up to visit (he lives in Camarillo).  Great.  They would come on Monday.  Except that the Rayman and I were scheduled for our monthly or bi-monthly card game.  “No problem.” Chris retorted.  He and his wife, Nancy didn’t want to disrupt anything.   So, we agreed they would come here to stay on Monday.

Back up for a minute.  I baked a cake on Sunday for Easter dinner at our place.  A chocolate, banana swirl cake.  Yum.  And while I was at it, I made panna cotta for the dessert on Monday.  Our card group does a potluck and then we play cards.  I volunteered to bring dessert.  And I have never made panna cotta before so I gave it a whirl.  A sour cream panna cotta.  With a rhubard compote.  Double yum.

Chris and Nancy arrived on Monday about noon.  We visited.  Then we all went to UR’s house and visited.  And then we came home and visited.  Lots of visiting occurred.  This is principally because we don’t see each other that often and there is always lots to talk about when we do get together.  All of a sudden it was 5:45 p.m.  The card game was at 6.  Chris and Nancy were going to take UR to dinner and they were picking him up about 6.

I felt terrible.  Not cooking dinner for everyone was not setting well with me but what could I do?  What we did was grab the dessert and that is when I discovered that the dessert had not “set up”.  It was runny.  OMG.  Well, I grabbed the cake, grabbed the sour cream “soup”, the rhubarb compote and off we went to the card game.

Rayman drove really, really slow because he didn’t want the “soup” to spill.  And as luck would have it, the host’s home sits on a steep hill.  We were late.  When we arrived, there were no cars there.  OMG.  Where was everyone?  I called.  No answer.  This was not a good sign.  I called Laurie, one half of one of the other couples in our card group.  She said that the card game was scheduled for Thursday, not Monday.  OMG.  Really?  Really?  What to do?

Well, we drove home slowly, put the “sour cream soup” in the refrigerator, the cake in the microwave (doggy tactic), the rhubarb compote in the refrigerator.  And we drove to the Great American Fish Company where we met up with the UR and cousin Chris and his wife Nancy.  They were as surprised as we were!!  Had dinner.  Came home.  Visited some more and fell into bed.

Today, we got up and I made cornmeal pancakes, Rayman squeezed oranges for fresh orange juice.  We had a great breakfast.  As Rayman was starting to load the dishwasher, he said, “Is Bertha coming today?”  Bertha is our housekeeper.  OMG.  We had completely forgotten.  Bertha’s day was today.  How embarrassing this was becoming.  Our eCal struck again.  But in the calendar’s defense, it was us.  We had not entered Bertha’s visit.  We never do.  Because we were gone for over two weeks, we got confused about which Tuesday she was due.  So, at Rayman’s suggestion, I went out and asked Bertha if she could do another job before ours since we had company.  She said okay, threw the vacuum back into her SUV and drove away.   Another crisis averted.

The other thing is that  Rayman had signed up for golf today but cancelled because of the 1.  the wind  2.  I had to go with UR to his Dr. appointment at 9:00 a.m. today.  Rayman reasoned that he should stay home with the company.  I agreed. About this time as Bertha is in retreat, UR and Claudia show up to pick me up for the Doc appointment.  We visited a few minutes.  Then UR, Claudia and I jumped into the car and headed for San Luis.  Rayman stayed with Chris and Nancy.

Confused yet?  Well, if you aren’t you should be.  We certainly were.
So, tonight, all is quiet on the Western front.  I I’m finishing this blog, Rayman is walking the dog.  The fire is blazing in the fireplace (it’s cold outside tonight).  And I’m getting ready to head to bed to read and relax.  Tomorrow I’m to be at the golf course at 7:45 to play golf.  Then at 4 p.m., Claudia and UR are picking us up to drive south to Casmalia for dinner at the Hitching Post.  It’s about 2 1/2 hours total windshield time.  However, the ribs are fabulous.  So there you have it.

 

 

 

Some times a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll give you that.  In this case, perhaps my way to describing events will be more interesting than a picture.  I’ll give it a try.

This a.m.  (Mar. 22) we packed up and left the desert oasis of BS.  And we headed up Montezuma Grade.  From the desert floor, the old Dog House lumbered turn after turn up the switchback mountain road.  Rayman was at the helm.  Moi was following in the toad since towing seemed a bit extravagant for the occasion.  Since we do not possess an altimeter, we are clueless how high the grade is at it’s peak.  Suffice it to say that it was about 12 miles from bottom to top.  And I’m not sure I could have walked it let alone sit on a pointy little bicycle seat and peddle all the way up.  Which is what our friends do.

The ride up is a study of California geology and flora.  Did not see a borrego, a snake, or a skunk, hence no fauna.  The huge rocks on either side of the road look like someone had tossed them willy nilly across the landscape.  The cacti soon gave way to trees.  First mesquite and then gradually to pine as we traversed country roads that were at an elevation of 3000 feet more or less.  Then as we dropped down from the summit, the trees most prevalent were the mighty oaks.  California is an amazing place and easy on the eyes.

These wandering roads we took lead us all the way to the 15.  In California-ese, we took the 15, to the 215, to the 118, to DeSoto Road.  Sounds innocuous enough, doesn’t it?  However, what that entails is more or less taking one’s RV life in one’s hands.  OMG.  The trucks.  The cars.  The buses.  And us.  Oh, and don’t let me forget to inform the casual reader that it was extremely windy.  When on the two lane roads, it was hard to keep the monster on the road.  I know.  I was driving part of it.  For all you non-drivers of RVs, you owe a debt of deep gratitude to the driver.  It isn’t always easy.  If the lanes are generous, the traffic light, and the wind isn’t blowing, that’s one thing.  If, on the other hand, the wind is howling, the lanes are narrow (think LA freeways), and the freeways packed with cars, trucks, buses…it is hell on wheels to borrow that handy expression.

Life is full of trade offs.  So is driving an RV.  My preference is two lane roads.  Yes, we trap traffic behind us but it is just easier to navigate because of light traffic.  And it is always prettier.  The freeways of LA are a scourge.  LA.  The land of the strip malls.  What have we become?  This is what all that stolen water from Owens Valley and places north have wrought us?  A wall to wall group of strip malls.  All the names are the same.  Corporations have driven out the small business owners.  When politicians talk about creating jobs for the small business owner, I think that is pretty much a myth.  Restaurants and nail parlors and gyms and tire stores.  Perhaps those qualify.  However, most malls have McDonalds, Toys R Us, PetsMart, Best Buys, For all the traffic, where are the gas stations?  They aren’t easy to find.  OH, we long for France where each town is unique, with a core center where the boulangerie, the patisserie, the wine merchant that has a collection of wine bottles with dust on them.  The highway interchanges in France have cafes were a weary traveler can get a good meal for a reasonable price that has been cooked by people that make a living wage.

But I digress.

So, where did these roads lead?  To the Elks Lodge in Canoga Park which is right in the middle of the San Fernando Valley.  This place is beyond dense.  DeSoto, the main drag was three lanes wide in both directions.  Speed bumps are in every strip mall, or so it seems.  A far cry from the beginning.  See link below about Canoga Park.  The history is so much more interesting than the place now.

History of Canoga Park

The Elks Lodge has 8 spaces.  Us and one other couple with a mighty RV diesel pusher are sharing the area.  And we had the good fortune, to park directly under the street light that illuminates the parking lot here.  They have a huge parking lot.  They also have a grassy area with barbecue pits, tables and benches and misters hanging from the ceilings of the arbors that cover the patios.  It’s far from lovely but it is only $18/day and we didn’t want to drive all the way to wherever.  So, here we are.

Oh, and laws.  Southern California did not get the memo about the drought.  The average house here has a fine looking, green lawn.  There are lawns everywhere.  It is disgusting.  The way I see it, there would be an armed insurrection if the state split in two.  And it would be about the water.  These people live in a desert and they have made it green with water from the north.  For those so inclined, read Cadillac Desert.  One of the best books I’ve ever read about the water of California.

Anyway, back to the subject again.

This morning, we woke up  to  the sounds of trains, planes and garbage trucks.  Wednesday is garbage day in Canoga Park.  And the rule is, get the garbage picked up as early as possible, apparently.  Ah, the vagaries of RV living.  So, we will lift the levelers and move on.  We are hoping we can get a spot in Goleta for tonight.  If that doesn’t work out, it’s up to Lake Cachuma for two nights.

You’re probably wondering about the Rayman.  He was on his way to beating again last night (at Scrabble, you silly person) so we shook hands and called it a tie because we had fenced ourselves in so thoroughly that there was no where to go and about 50 tiles remained.  He also barbecued some lamb loin chops last night that were to die for.  For my part, I had defrosted some wonderful beans, or so I thought.  When I placed them in the pan to heat them up, I was completely taken back.  They were pearl onions with corn and cream and, apparently jalapeños.  Left over from Thanksgiving of this year or last!!  We looked askance at them and ate them anyway.  Not bad but not beans either.  Rayman was gracious.  He didn’t even mutter the obvious, “Why don’t you label things?”.  He just sat there and ate them like a man!!!

 

 

It’s been two weeks in Borrego Springs and tomorrow we head north.  It has been rather warm.  Warm enough for the chocolate that we spent a small fortune on to melt.  Melted chocolate means ruined chocolate.  Forget eating it.  Forget cooking with it.  Just throw it away.  It is ruined.  Good grief.  New rule.  When camped in the desert, leave the chocolate at home.

Consider jelly beans.  Or try lollipops.  We were at the ice cream store day before yesterday and they were playing that song.  Lollipop, lollipop. Oh, lolli, lolli, lollipop.  I know you can hear it in your brain.  Go ahead.  Sing it.  We all the know the words.  It’s as if no time has elapsed between high school and now.  I know every single word.  Still.  The mind is an amazing tool.

Unless you are working a crossword puzzle.  On Sunday, I print out the puzzles from the NYTimes and the LATimes.  And then I drive myself crazy trying to remember synonyms for clues like “sole food” or “angry”  or “maliciously snide”.  Really, people, in what universe does a crossword editor live?  They get paid to drive me mad.  So, I work until something like my leg starts twitching and then I put down the puzzle and let the clues work in my subconscious.  Sometime I actually solve some of them in the middle of the night.  Mostly, I still don’t have a clue what the answer to the clue is.  Oh, well.

Tonight we have a very pink sky in the east.  Wind blew some clouds in and the results are spectacular.  Set against the swaying palm trees, it looks beautiful…almost like Hawaii without the ocean.  Although, the Salton Sea isn’t that far away….

But I digress.

 

Rayman and I played golf today.  So, on the first hole, I noticed that the cart had an ice chest.  When I peered in, it was full of tepid water.  “Where’s the ice?”  At that question, Rayman became uncool.  He got snippy.  This was not a good idea on his part, may I suggest.  It got me upset (read mad).  So, the next couple of holes, I screwed up some shots.  And, as I think back on it, I was completely justified in blaming him for my less than desirable shots.  That kept on until I realized what I was doing wrong (it involved the wrists).  My swing improved and so did my forgiveness of his transgressions.  Lesson learned.  If you snip at your spouse, all swings will be blamed on the snipper until the snippee works out all swing problems.  Just a snippet for all you golfers.

We had leftovers tonight.  Rack of lamb, green salad adorned with tomatoes (I buy those cherry tomatoes and keep them at room temp until they start shriveling), avocado and homemade shallot dressing, and a few spears of barbecued asparagus.  Opened up some Graveyard Cab and a fine meal it was.  We ate in for the first time (inside the dog house).  It has cooled considerable this p.m.  Wind has brought forth some cool temps so inside seemed appropriate.

Beau was not on his best behavior today.  I walked him to the dog run which is comprised of a chain-linked fence that surrounded a dirt lot that is home to three little spindly trees.  Inside the fence were numerous “used” tennis balls.  He preferred them to his rubber ball.  So he refused to fetch his ball.  He kept trying to bury the old slobbered up ball (the lot is sandy).  And then he just sat in the shade of the 4 foot high tree and panted.  No fetching today.  Guess he didn’t like being left alone while we frolicking on the golf course.

Borrego Springs is very unique.  A desert town in the middle of the desert.  Serpents and dinosaurs grace the desert floor.  A local artist makes the sculptures.  There are few lawns but  several golf courses.  The pro at the private country club where we played today has worked at the course for 17 years.  He is used to the heat, he reports.  While I looked at all the golf clothes he explained to me that the course is open almost all year.  He seemed a bit fuzzy about the water although.  He told me not to drink it unless it came out of a fountain.  Once, the town lost power for a whole week when it was 120.  Everyone had to leave town.  In the summer, I’m guessing that might be about 100 people.  Just saying.

Well, it’s time for a rousing game of scrabble.  We play with great vigor and usually tie or almost tie every game.  It’s a hoot under the influence.  And I’ll leave it at that.

Okay, I take that back.  The Rayman and I just concluded a game of scrabble and he is a son-of-a-biscuit ball player.  That man drew all the s’s and one of the blanks.  I did not stand a chance.  He whopped meand I am beside myself alone on the dining room bench.  Listening to the most fabulous music.  Carolina Samba.  Quite lively.  It sounds so good because we had some port and the maryjane and a gin martini.  What could go wrong?

You know he also got the X so of course, sex was one of his words on a triple letter score.  Of course, he is a male.  Anyway, now Cielo sin Nubes  is now playing.  I think that translates to either sky without clouds or possibly rain without hail.  What’s your take?

 

Buenos noches, mi amigos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As some of you may have noticed (or not), my blogging has slowed.  And I’m not sure why except that I’ve gotten lazy.  This my be true.  It may also be true that I attended a Writer’s Workshop last fall and discovered,  to my utter amazement, that in order to write a book, you have to actually write it.  And I’m stuck in the middle with 13 chapters done and 13 to go.  A faint depression has set in.  Who knew it would be so much work?

And last night we went to Al and Charlie’s for dinner and I was amazed to find out that our friends are missing my blog.  Either that, or they are extremely thoughtful.  Or just being nice.  But they brought me to my senses.  I have returned!!

 

 

As I compose this epistle, I as sitting in The Dog House (TDH) which is currently parked in space 38 of the Holiday Homes RV Park in Borrego Springs (BS), California.  This is our third March here.  Our bicycle friends live here and a bunch of other bicycle friends come here every March to ride their bikes up and down the huge mountains that surround this oasis.

The Rayman and I played golf today but we did not post our scores because a few holes made us cheat.  That is largely because I was on the phone trying to cancel an order for Starbucks Kenyan Espresso pods.  And the reason I was doing that was because when I ordered them on line this a.m., I messed up the order and had them going to our house instead of BS.  So between shots, Rayman and I were trying to get the coffee order cancelled.  This caused a certain amount of angst which is why I am sure that the shot that resulted in my ball lodged under a bush…occurred. Golf takes a great deal of concentration and I am now in awe of our friends that get calls while golfing and still manage to whip my derriere!!

Things have been okay of recent.  We left home last Tuesday after canceling a Monday departure because of rain and high winds at home.  So, we drove all the way from home to here in one day.  10 hours total.  I’m too old for that.  Several funny things happened along the way but the heck if I can remember any of them.  We were tired when we got here and set up TDH in the fading light of day.  So, we walked the dog, locked him in, and went down to Carmelita’s for long wait at the bar.  The bartender was very busy making mammoth margaritas for the clientele.  While waiting, I talked with the three guys to my left.  I talked their ears off.  Don’t know what got into me.  Yak, yak, yak.  The good news is that they didn’t like Trump either so we all got along just fine.  Yes, politics were discussed.  Anyway, I’m sure they were glad to leave because I was making a pest of myself and I couldn’t stop it.  Must have been all those hours of captivity in TDH.

Since that day, it took until yesterday to fully recover.  Bouncing back is not as easy as it once was.

We did a nature walk with some of our friends.  Flowers are plentiful this year because of the rain but the locals explain that they aren’t as tall as usual.  We also observed Swainsons hawks  who show up when the caterpillars appear.  They love those caterpillars which are black and show up quite nicely for those hawks.  Their underbellies are yellow and if you flip them over, they immediately right themselves.

Bird brains

Our friend, Elizabeth, biker extraordinaire, brought with her to the nature walk, a chart with pictures of flowers normally found in the Borrego-Anza State Park.  Only we only saw about 2 of them.  So, where were all the other flowers?  And why weren’t the flowers that we were viewing not on the very colorful, slick papered brochure?  A total mystery now surrounds our adventure.   Guess we will have to do it again next year to see if things change.

Since we have arrived, I made a batch of yogurt, some sourdough pancakes (yes, I brought my started from home) and a pork tenderloin with trimmings.  While doing all this I managed to burn my hand and drop the stove top cover on my big toe which made me drop straight to the floor.  The good news is that I have not yet cut myself and the food has been tasty except for the burnt yams.  It was raining and windy that night and I had to do the whole meal in that tiny oven and so I burnt some of it.  Barbecuing is a much better way to cook when one is RVing.  We plan to grill scallops tonight and have them with salad and some pasta that I will dress with olive oil, garlic and some parmaigiano reggianno.  (spelling is butchered, I sure).  That is unless the scallops don’t thaw enough, in which case, we’ll just go back to Carmelita’s and have another chicken enchilada and a small bowl of black beans with fresh pico de gallo.   Ole.

Oh, I just remembered when I forgot.  When leaving the RV parking lot where TDH leaves in San Luis, I wanted to look at Rayman’s ipad.  But it wasn’t on board.  We left it at home.  OMG.  What to do?  The car was hitched up to TDH.  Drive home and get it?  or have Claudia send it to us.  We took door number 2.  That error cost $61  because Rayman had to have it ASAP.  And it arrived the next day about noon.  Amazing but expensive.  Glad we didn’t leave the vacuum cleaner!!  That would have cost a fortune.

The weather here has been really interesting.  Wind blowing so hard we thought the RV was going to topple over.  Rain.  Who knew it rained here in the desert.  More wind.  And the wind starts suddenly and then it stops suddenly.  It’s been in the low 80s.  But that’s about to stop.  The temp is heading into the 90s and will remain there for the rest of the stay.  Think we will head up the mountain to Julian.  It’s in the low 50s there.  Just 30 miles away straight up the hill.  California is so varied and interesting.  Glad we get to experience it like we do.

And as a final note for today, we have made some of our reservations for our trip to the Badlands this May.  More fun and games to come.  Our friend, Diane Wyatt, found an RV place to stay in Gillette, Wyoming called Green Trees Crazy Woman RV Park.  Sounds perfect to me!!