Travels with The Rayman

OMG.  Where do I start?  Let me think.  Does 3-ring circus mean anything to ya’ll?  That is southern for “you all”.   It has been so crazy that I have been remiss in writing on this blog.  Let’s see.  Okay, so here goes.

Sometimes going backwards makes perfect sense and this is one of those times.  It is Friday morning.  I’m sitting in the family room at the Tibbett’s watching Carol Ann and Patsy make a coat for Patsy.  She intends to wear it tonight to her tap dancing dress rehearsal that we will all attend after dinner at Bernie’s house which is just down the street.   Where is Ray?  He is out looking for brother Billy who just called from somewhere because his hose (on his truck) broke.  We’re using his other truck so Ray had to go off to look for him and help him get the thing running again.

Billy has a lot of trucks.  A collection of sorts.  The third truck is parked in his driveway with a flat front tire.  Looks like it’s been there for awhile.

But I digress.  Everyone got up late this morning.  We had a very exciting time the day before which really began on Wednesday night when Carol Ann’s heart started racing.  Now, Carol Ann looks very healthy but looks can be deceiving.  She has 5 stents, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and something else.  So, when her heart started racing, the scene became very scary.  She gobbled up two nitro pills and another big white pill and things started settling down.  About two hours later, the heart started racing again.  This time it was time to call 911.  (I think we were watching my France DVD and it must have frightened her.  Who knew?)  Before you knew it (though at the time it felt like forever, a whole gaggle of good looking fire department guys took over the family room.  Why do they where all those clothes that look like they came to put out an actually fire?  But I digress.  They were followed by a very tall drink of water of a woman who was the paramedic.  They hooked Carol Ann up to a variety of equipment and as it was explained to everyone, they slowed her heart down to almost nothing (eek) and then let it resume it’s function.  This did slow her heart down.  They had a machine that monitored her and printed a variety of information out.  It was terrifying and interesting all at the same time.  Then they carted her off to the hospital.  Paula rode in the ambulance and Ray and I followed in the truck that Billy had lent us that he is now in trying to find Billy whose other truck gave out somewhere near a Seven-Eleven store on some big street.

Paula, and Ray and I sat in the hospital waiting room for an hour to see Carol Ann.  While we were there, cousin Bernie showed up.  We took turns visiting Carol Ann until it was determined that they were admitting her for observation overnight.  Then we came back to the house about 10:30 p.m. and drank heavily.

Yesterday we hung around the house waiting to hear from Carol Ann.  We didn’t want to call her and disturb her.  Finally about noon Ray and I went to the hospital and as luck would have it they had just given Carol Ann permission to leave.  So we brought her home and tried to keep things quiet (almost an impossibility).  Patsy and Bernie, Sr., decided to return from their timeshare in North Carolina because so much as happening.  So they  were home when we returned from the hospital.

Have I mentioned that everyone in this family loves to talk.  There is never a dull moment.  Conversation is riveting.  Everyone talks all the time either to each other or to some other family member on the phone.  And let me tell you about phones.  Everyone owns a cell phone.  So that means that everyone can call one another.  And they do it all the time.  If they aren’t here talking to each other, they are on the phone talking to someone.  So, phones are ringing constantly.  “I’ll get it”, or “Who’s phone is that?” are common refrains. Also, where is my phone?  In Billy’s case, that was an every day event.  He may set a world record driving back and forth to his house to find his phone.  It is just a hoot.

But I digress.  Ray had arranged a conversation with his brother, Mark, to discuss the probate issues and the will.  And that was a whole other story which out of privacy for the innocent and guilty I will not discuss…other than to say this might not have been exactly what Carol Ann needed for her heart.  Oh, well.  Before the meeting, Ray and I went out to get a copy of a letter that I had written re: the tree in the neighbor’s back yard.

The tree?  Yes, that was the opening (blog) picture.  This big tree is on the move and they are afraid it will fall on to their house or in their yard.  So, I helped them write a letter to the neighbors asking them to deal with their tree.  Seems in VA,  if a tree from the neighbor falls on your house, you’re liable.  Cousin Freddie said that if you write a letter and notarize it and send it to the neighbor, you might not be so liable.  So, a letter was written.  But we couldn’t print it out here because Bernie, Sr.’s printer doesn’t work and no one could get it to work.  Much time was spent on it by his son, Tim.  This meant we needed to figure out another way.  And I did.  But this involved finding the place and we ended up in a residential neighborhood when we went to the address for a Fed/Ex office.  It turns out that we went to the address in Norfolk but the office was in Virginia Beach.  Opps.  Shades of France come to mind!!

So, where am I?  Ray has returned.  He rented a car (very good idea).  I found a UPS office that I could download the letter to via the internet and we will go pick it up assuming we can find this place!!  And maybe we can go shopping just to get out and walk without getting lost!!   We did and it was great stretching the legs plus I got a vexing Apple issue resolved at the Apple store.  There were more people in the Apple store than any other store at the mall.  It was a mob scene.  Very fun.

Oh, last night of our visit (Friday) the family got together at a local restaurant for dinner.  First there were 11, then 13, people.  Trish was still in town.  Trish is Billy’s daughter that lives in Florida near Ft. Lauderdale.  She’s 22 and trying to return home.  The thing is, she bought a one way ticket to Norfolk.  So, she was on a mission from god to get back home.  Now, Bernie knows the ins and outs of airline travel.  So he volunteered to help her fly standby, thereby reducing the cost of the trip for her.  Long story short…she booked a flight from Norfolk to Charlotte to Palm Beach.  She missed that flight because she overslept…by about 3 hours.   So then Bernie helped book her later the same day from Norfolk to Philly to Palm Beach.  But when she went to check in they told her there was a 90% chance she’d be stuck in Philly overnite so she didn’t fly.  Then Bernie booked her on the original itinerary for the following morning.  As far as we know she made it!  All of this caused many phone calls and conversations.  We didn’t know that she didn’t make the second flight until she showed up for dinner thus expanding the group for dinner.  You can’t make this stuff up.

We picked up the tab and everyone appreciated it and they all went home quite full.  When we left, the plan was that Trish was flying out in the morning, We were flying out at 1 p.m., Paula was flying out at 1:45 p.m.  Mark was fling back from a college game in North Carolina on Sunday.  Carol Ann was flying to Jacksonville on Sunday.  And then things would return to normal for the Tibbetts family in Norfolk.  They will need to rest but won’t be able to because the phones will still be ringing, I’ll bet!!!

Made it home with fond memories and some pictures which I include here at the end because it is easier to do it that way (translation, I don’t the easy way to inject them after the prose is written).

Busy day.  Hung out with family and visited.  Caught up with everything…sort of.  Met new relatives.  All in all, a fabulous day.

Billy, Ray’s brother that took care of their dad, was putting a roof on a cousin’s house.  He was in and out.  Somewhere there was a Costco run where much wine was purchased.

We all jumped in and cooked dinner together.  Just like Thanksgiving!!

Bernie and Patsy (the aunt and uncle extraordinaire) put us up (as in gave us a place to stay) along with others and then they left for North Carolina.  Seems that they had a timeshare to go to.  They plan to return for the service.  Their kids, Bernie, Jr., Tim (and wife Deb), Paula, were here.  Carol Ann from Florida (Ray’s step sis) were here.    Ray’s brother, Mark and his significant other came over from Chesapeake.  Paula and Tim became the leaders of the group and organized dinner.  Stuffed peppers, fruit etc.  It was quite an evening.  And all the wine was consumed.  We missed Bernie Sr. and Patsy.  We all jumped in cars and went to a multiplex for a movie.  Some of us saw Burlesque ad others went to 11 loves or something like that.  Most did not like it.  We liked Burlesque.  Came home talked some more then retired.

In the middle of the night, Ray got up to go to the bathroom.  A loud crash ensued.  This began a wild goose chase.  It seems that he leaned against the wall in the bathroom where a wall hanging was located.  It crashed, not to the ground, but to the top of a white ceramic toilet paper holder (the arm of said holder), and cracked it to smithereens.  EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK.

In the morning it was obvious he had broken a antique holder and would need to replace it.  We had the day to find a replacement.   It didn’t happen.  Ray and I moved over to Freddie’s (Ray’s first cousin) .  Our plan to was to stay two nights.  We had a great visit and the phones stopped ringing.  Much more subdued.  Ray and Freddie got to talk to each other for the first time since all their parents have died  Stayed up to the wee hours comparing notes.  They remembered they played a lot together growing up.   A lot happened that neither was privy too.  Those “adult” secrets, you know.

Ceramic toilet paper holders did not present themselves at Lowe’s or Home Depot or Dale’s Plumbing.  We found one at Morris’s that seemed alike but when we took it home, it did not fit.  We kept looking and found a second TP holder at this store.

One of the good outcomes from chasing down a TP holder is that the whole family went along the second time just so we could all eat lunch together, which we did in a Mexican restaurant in a strip mall in Virginia Beach.  Good stuff and we all had a great time yakking and munching chips and salsa and all the other goodies!!

The viewing was held on Monday night and we went to it with Freddie after going to an early dinner of fried green tonatoes and crab cakes.   I don’t like viewings.  Rather remember the person as alive.  But I did it.

We left and went back to Freddie”s and I retired early.  The funeral was the next day.

We were lucky it didn’t rain.  It had been forecasted.  Everyone met at the Tibbett’s for a ride in the limo…except Billy because he forgot his reading for the mass so he rushed home, didn’t find it, and rushed back to the church where he found it.  It was a full R.C. service complete with communion.  Then is was followed by a police escorted limo ride to the cemetery which seemed to be located 20 miles away.  There was an Army contingent of young men at the cemetery and did the flag folding ceremony and presented the flag to Ray.  His father saw action in WW11 in Italy.  It was very touching.

That was followed by pictures galore.  Everyone had a camera and everyone wanted their own special pictures on their camera of the family.  I felt like a movie star with paparazzi talking hundreds of shots.  Hope I receive some of the pictures.

Food is never far from anyone’s mind.  We were hungry.  So we “yelped” a restaurant in the Ghent neighborhood (upscale) and found a Wine bar with food named 626.  The food took forever but it was very good and we left satisfied…though the cell phones kept ringing and a dish  of mayo hit the floor.  Having Patsy Tibbetts in the group kept it sane!!!

And Ray and I returned to Freddie’s for a quiet evening and good fish dinner.

 

 

It came on me like a storm.  Let’s do thanksgiving at home this year.  And let’s invite the Aron/DeVico bicycle built for two people for come because they will be in their trailer in Morro Bay for the holiday.  And from that idea, we discovered that K.C. and Jake, another bicycling couple were going to be in Morro Bay at the same time…so certainly they had to come.  From there we learned that their daughter, Katy, was traveling from Sacramento for the occasion and so we insisted she come.  Then Charlie’s bro, Bub, was coming so we insisted he come!!!

Then, at a dinner party a couple of weeks ago, we found that two couples had no plans exactly, so we invited them (The Bucks and the Neils).  From all that the Neils could not make it after all.  And the Bucks had their daughter traveling up from Carlsbad (Kelly was her name) so the three of them joined in!!!

The invitees now secured, I declared that we would do a Mexican thanksgiving and that we would all cook.  And that’s exactly what we did!!

Thursday morning, everyone arrived at 9:00 a.m.  K.C. brought a dessert.  I had made a dessert the day before.  I also made the chili rub for the turkey and put it on so it would marinate overnight.  Oh, and Ray baked the bread to be used in the stuffing.  Other than that, everything was to cook that day.  Right there.  Right then!!!

Xeroxed recipes were made available.  I make cooking assignments which were partially ignored, which made it all the more fun.  People just jumped in and did stuff.  Katy and Kelly separated cilantro leaves from their stems, Ray overflowed the first pot of coffee.  Allan got so into to making fresh orange juice that he used every orange in the house…much to the consternation of said cooks that need orange zest or oranges for other things.  Not to worry.  Ray just kept going to the garbage can to look for more orange peels!!!  No one wanted to go to the store.  It made a much better story to talk about grubbing about for oranges in the garbage can.

Jake and K.C. brought Richard’s bread from 3rd st. Bakery.  Cranberry and walnut/ and raisin and walnut.  Yummy toasted!!

Scones were cooked and devoured.  Ginger scones.  Here’s the recipe:

2 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. finely chopped lemon zest (1/2 lemon approx.)

1 1/2 (6 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into 1-in. cubes and frozen

4 1/2 oz. candied ginger, finely chopped to equal 2/3 cup

3/4 heavy cream, plus extra for brushing the tops of the scones

Move oven rack to the middle.  Preheat to 400.

In the food processor bowl, fitted with the steel blade, or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder, and pulse or mix on low to incorporate.  Add the lemon zest and butter, and pulse on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is pale yellow and the consistency of a fine meal.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the ginger.  Make a well in the center and pour in the cream.  Using one hand, draw in the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times to gather it into a ball.  Add more cream is it doesn’t stick together.  Roll or pat the dough into a circle about 3/4 in. thick.  Cut out he circles, cutting as closely together as possible and keeping the trimmings intact.

Gather the scraps, pat and press the pieces back together, and cut out the remaining dough.  Place the scones 1 in. apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brush the tops with the remaining cream.

Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, until the surface cracks and they are slightly browned.

You can find candied ginger in asian markets and sometimes Trader Joe’s.

So, what was the menu?

Chili-rubbed Turkey

Oaxacan stuffing

Roasted jalapeno cranberries (pictured above)

Orange cinnamon cranberries

Jicama and watercress salad with lime vinaigrette

String beans topped with roasted pumpkin seeds

Sweet potato and guavas with picondillo and sugar cane

Pumpkin butter

Mexican creamed onions

Guacamole and tortillas

Orange/Amaretto flan

Pumpkin Torte

OH, what a day.  It is like were all long lost friends that had been cooking together for years.  Everyone just jumped in and did stuff.  It could have not have been more fun.  As we went, people did dishes.  Mimosas got the day going.  Presecco kept things lively.  And that was at 9.  By noon, we were on to white wine.  Red wine.  Whatever worked.  Just enough to wet our whistles.

There was chopping and mincing, and alligatoring, and cuisinarting, and steaming, and barbecuing, frying, mixing, sauteing, … in short, cooking!!

You might imagine chaos…but I prefer to think of organized chaos.  It was not herding cats.  Not at all.  Way more fun that that!!!  Things were in full swing around 9:30 and went full blast until dinner was served (except for about a 20 minute sit down break to start looking at the France DVD).

One glass was broken when it fell in the cilantro (had to throw those cilantro leaves away).   Other than that, no problemos.

4 a.m. came early.  After our day of cooking and partying, we had to get up to make a plane out of San Francisco at 12:02 p.m.  And we were still home.

So…up we jumped.  Being remarkably organized, the only thing we really had to do is father ourselves, shower/wash hair, throw the toilet items together, make a turkey sandwich for each, and get our stuff into the car.  And 5:09 we were backing out of the garage.  Uhm, Ray, did you remember to cover the barbecue?  No, so back in the garage, lid on the barbecue and off we went.  It is quite dark at the time of the morning…and cold, about 38 degrees.  As we headed up Old Creek Road, the temperature kept dropping and it was 24 in Paso Robles.  We didn’t stop.  Up 101 to Soledad to get some coffee at Starbucks and money at the bank machine.  Burrrrrrr.

Next stop, Sunnyvale.  Cousin Susie, called on thanksgiving to say she was going to leave her noise cancelling (and to hear her tell it) turbulence canceling Bose earphones in her back yard so that if I wish to use them on our trip, I could stop by.

Because we made good time, we decided to stop by and pick them up.  Well, after visiting a few minutes, Kristen (Susie’s darling daughter) volunteered to drive us to the airport.  OH, could we impose?  However, they did not see it as an imposition and they would also pick us up when we return.  Wow!!!  Was that fabulous or what?  We went for it.  And before you knew it, Kristen and Larry (Sue’s fabulous hubby), were headed to the airport with us.  It was so much fun!!

Door to door service unplanned.  How fabulous is that?

We found a place to eat our turkey sandwiches and when we were done there was a lull at the “let’s find a bomb” screening station and we zipped right thru…well, Ray did.  They found something in my bag that necessitated a 1/2 hour search…for a wine opener.  Color it gone.

Soon we were jetting thru the friendly skies of United toward Washington, D.C.  I took a valium and that allowed me a small snooze.  There was no turbulence because of the turbulence-canceling earphones!!!   So, we were preparing to land about 30 minutes from the airport, I took them off and put them away.  Then all hell broke…the plane bounced around like it a toy boat in a tital wave.  The kid next to me turned green around the gills.  But it finally stopped and the landing was great.  But, I do think Susie is right.  The earphones are good for warding off turbulence.  I’m buy me some of those!!

At Wash., D.C. we had a couple of hours to kill.  We found a wine bar that sold little sandwiches that were very good.  The rest of the time, I tried to work a NYTimes puzzle and managed to just stare at it for a hour or so.  Couldn’t get anything to work.  Ray wandered around and came back with pair of day of the dead socks.  Too cute!!!  He is such a love.

Then it was off to Norfolk.  We flew over the Washington Monument and Lincoln memorial, but Ray and I couldn’t see it as we were on the wrong side of the flipping plane.  It was clear and cold.  Oh, well.

In Norfolk at 11:30 p.m.  Went to the home of the Tibbetts.  Carol Ann (Ray’s step sister was there) along with her aunt and uncle, the Tibbetts.  Talked about a hour then I threw myself into bed after taking an ambien and didn’t even move until 10:30 a.m. today.

 

We traveled to Palm Desert with 6 friends to play golf, eat, drink and be merry.  The games began on Friday as soon as we all arrived.  Pat and Richard were our hosts at the Marriott Shadows Ridge timeshare condos.  We had a great place to stay and a table big enough to handle all us chow hounds.

The first night we had  Mexican food.  Muy Bueno!!  Chili verde and enchiladas.  What’s not to like!!!  Ray made margaritas and they got slurped right up!!  Such fun.  So much fun that I forgot to take but one picture.

The next day we went golfing at 11 ish.  But before we teed off, we attended a Taylor Made golf club demo event.  For doing so, we got a free lunch, entered into a contest that none of us won, and the opportunity to try out clubs.  Richard bought a new set to clubs and then set off to the course to shoot a shattering 72.  OMG.

Things didn’t go quite as swimmingly for the rest of us.  However, we had a great time.  Ruthie bought a new driver at the end of the round.  And we had a choice of a hamburger or hotdog.  Tom asked for two dogs and he was accommodated.  Tom also asked for two hats since Ruthie was buying a club.  He was accommodated.  You go Tom.  Richard, who bought a set, only received one hat.  Much moaning and groaning ensued!!

Did I mention that Ruth had a cold?  She was quite sick but she never complained.  I felt so sorry for her.  If it were me, I might have stayed in bed the whole time.  Ruthie is a great party animal…no matter what!!

We played Shadow Ridge and it was beautiful.  All I could see was sand.  There were what seemed like hundreds of bunkers.  And I found most of them…just kidding.  But I did take about 8 or 9 swings in the sand.  As most golfers can attest, that does not enhance your score.

After we finished golf, we headed back to the condo and jumped in the pool/hot tub.  The highlight of that adventure was the hawk that sat on the fence hawking.    He was a cool cucumber.  Didn’t seem to mind all the commotion at the pool.  It was focused on finding dinner.  And after a while, so were we.  We left to get ready for happy hour which started at 5 for everyone except us.  Ray and I split a gin and tonic at the pool!!  Yum.

Dinner was salmon done on the grill with all the trimmings including a homemade apple cake.  What a treat!!!

After dinner we played Apples to Apples.  What a hoot!!  Wine was spilled, carpets and walls were cleaned. (genesis of the opening picture).  And there were many expletives deleteds.  We were sure the neighbors were astonished.  And I’m glad we were not the neighbors.

The next day was an “off day”.  No golf.  So we went shopping.  Nothing more than going broke saving money!!  Got a new pair of black golf pantss, a new pair of black shoes, a blouse and some socks…all at Pete Carlson’s.  Then some of us went to the factory outlet stores.  That a was bad idea because it was Sunday and everyone in the southland was there.  Wall to wall people shopping.  Parking was hard to find but the bargains were there.  Managed to find a Cabi jacket and white blouse ($53)!!  Ray bought a LaCoste shirt.  Pat bought two belts at Brighton.  Productive and fun!!!

Returned to the condo just in time for happy hour!!!  And while we were drinking we found out that one of our couples was oversexed.  That led to much hilarity and general incredulous reactions.  And, of course, sympathy for his woman!!

We had pork ribs, rum barbecued beans, apple pie, wine, homemade apple pie, more wine, salad, wine, bread and wine.  A religious experience so we decided to talk of religion(s).  Uhmmmmm.  Was it a come to Jesus meeting?  Not even!!  It must have been boring…I clicked this picture.

The next day we were up and at ‘em and hit the links.  Desert Springs to be precise.  Another beautiful course.  The Palms course.  Water, sand.  Water, sand.  Quite an adventure.  After the game, we headed by to the Ridge and soaked our weary bones.  Some of us.  So, dinner followed as the dark follows the sunset.  We had rib eyes steaks with garlic mashed potatoes, haricot verts, Caesar’s salad with toast points.  Yummy.  Tom cooked the meat perfectly which was an act of amazing agility because he singed his arm hairs and burned his hands because someone put the pan inside the barbecue (brilliant).  It was almost as brilliant as the unknown person who put muscat wine in the freezer.  No one owned up to it but the wine froze nevertheless.  Who was that?  I have my suspicions.

Today was our “just say no” seminar.  That is where you go to the sales pitch for the time share business.  Before the seminar we lunched at Tommy Bahama’s.  And Capt. King gave us the lowdown on the boat trip we have planned.  Rule number one, don’t talk when the Capt. speaks.  You can imagine how that went over with our crowd.  We all laughed and tried to act like we weren’t ignoring him completely!!!    We eventually had to resort to a “talking knife”!!  I was a bit concerned about going out in public with the group as we are not shy and retiring…any of us.  It was with great relief that we were not given the boot.  We all attended a just say no seminar and came away with our finances in tact.  Where we didn’t say no was in the eating and drinking department…lasagna, asparagus, salad, bread, ice cream.  Yummy to the last bite.  Did I mention the wine?

The toothpicks were a big hit…as you can see!!!

The guys were a big hit too around the “pit”.  They cooked the meat, fish and chicken on the grills.  And it did not happen without incident.  There was the missing fork caper.  OMG.  Someone stole the fork out at the barbecue…only they didn’t.  And then there was the tongs dilemma.  No tongs to flip the food with.  OMG.  All week we had to resort to primitive flipping…then we found tongs on the last day!!  Then there was the story of the quarter brain men.  With all four of them huddled around the fire, a neighbor referred to one of them as a quarter brainer.  Too funny.  Perhaps it was the rivoting conversations emminating from the condos…at high Db levels.  Opinions expressed forcefully, you might say.  We were pretty sure everyone in our wing heard our musings.

But I digress.  On Wednesday we played our least favorite course, Cathedral Canyons.  It had two sides.  The lakes side and the mountain side.  Only the mountain side had almost as many lakes as the lakes side.  And many of us landed in water and gravelly sand.  But we played and had a great time anyway.  Then it was like horses back to the barn.  We landed back the the Ridge and cooking began.  There was chicken to barbecue, salad to toss, veggies to cook, and did I mention…wine to drink?

Our host in repose.  He should have been the least tired as he took about half as many swings as the rest of us.  But there he was, resting or collapsing.  Not sure which!!

In the meantime, Tom was getting sicker and Ruth was feeling better…they were really troopers.  I would have stayed in bed and slept or rested.  Not them.  They are made of sterner stuff.

Some of us watched Bush  (43) hawking his book with Matt Lauer (my opinion).  OH, I guess this whole thing is my opinion.  Well, there you go.  But I digress.

Then the party died and everyone hit the hay, sort of.

The last full day was comprised of golf at Rancho Mirage.  We loved this course.  It was in beautiful shape and a good layout.  And the homes around it each had it’s own pool.  We decided we could live there…all of us.  This day the game pitted the men against the women and the women kicked the men’s butts by 3 strokes!!!  Yippee and OMG.  The men were gracious in defeat.

Then it was back to the Ridge to have lamb chops, haricots vert, Greek salad, bean gratin, lasagna and wine.  Did I mention wine?  Oh, and the conversation.  Michel entranced the crowd with her, uhm, stories.   She was, well, forthcoming!!

Of course all this would have been fabulous enough…but we were also wowed by Pat two mornings when she served up chili verde /scrambled eggs burritos with coffee, orange juice, mimosas, bloody Mary’s etc.  What can you say.  MUY BUENO!!  We felt like we were luckiest people in the world.

There were a few hiccups.  Wine glasses were broken.  Ray spilled wine on Dianna’s pants that were hanging up to dry because she had washed them to wear the last day.  That went over big.  Two plates were broken when they fell out of the cupboard and hit Michel on the nose.   And tongs were found.

And then there were the conversations.  Politics, religion, boating, blue pills, over-sexed over-the-hillers, golf, the economy, the stock market.  All expressed with great enthusiasm and little knowledge (in some cases)!!!  I found it funny as heck when Bush confirmed to all that TARP was under his leadership…this followed our earlier conversation where several argued that it was done under Obama.  Of course, being left and right always feels good!!  But I digress.

Alas, it was time to depart on Friday morning.  Bummer with the exception of the Donnollys.  I’m sure they were happy to head home and get well.  So, we all packed up and left.  Here’s some pictures of our lunch at La Super-Rica in Santa Barbara…possibly the best Mexican food in the entire world!!!

And this is the little itty bitty kitchen that knocks out this food.  Notice the woman hand making tortillas!!!  And finally, a picture of the line outside waiting to get in.

A fabulous ending to a fabulous week!!!  Thank you all and thanks especially to Pat and Richard!!!

Next up?  Mexico!!!

Well, that was it.  We flew home yesterday as the weather went crazy.   Extreme perhaps.  I was scared.  But we made it out alive, I’m happy to report.

The game plan was interrupted because of the weather.  We were late taking off and so missed our connection in Phoenix.  Southwest was going to route us to San Diego and then to San Jose.  Susie and I had a different idea.  When we arrived in Phoenix, we persuaded them to put us on a flight to San Francisco and it left almost immediately.  The only problem was that our suitcases were not rerouted.

That necessitated us going to the San Jose airport last night to pick them up.  Oh, well.

I fell asleep on the couch watching Sherlock Holmes on the new Masterpiece.  It was good…really.  I was just dog tired.

Go up this a.m. and came home.  Oh, home sweet home!!

One last story.  Above, you see a picture of the pit master at the Loveless Cafe.  He let us come into his workplace and he showed us the pork that he had smoking.  He had never heard of Santa Maria barbecue.  So, I’m going to send him something to introduce him to it.  Of course, he will not steal the idea.  Hickory is indigenous to Tennessee and that is the wood of choice for smoking.  Still, it was fun to get to talk with him about food.  He also made the house meatloaf.  Said he didn’t have to go to the gym.  Slinging pounds and pounds of meat around provided all the exercise he needed, thank you very much.

Oh, and when I ate at Puckett’s the day before, I ordered a piece of chess pie, a southern favorite.  So sweet it made my teeth ache.  But it was good.

So that’s the deal.  Had a great time and glad to be home!!