Travels with The Rayman

Now that we are vaccinated, we invited Jim and Mary over for dinner on Saturday.  A menu was planned.  I jumped head long into early today because the chicken needed to marinate.  The potato salad had more than 5 ingredients and as we all know, potato salad tastes much better the longer it can sit unless it is in the Sahara with a mayo dressing and a silver spoon stuck in the middle of the salad..  And the lemon dessert made from Jim and Mary’s lemon tree required an afternoon bake so it was super fresh.

Fine.  

My day was free so I took my time measuring everything ahead of time.  As the potatoes boiled, I prepared the marinate which required fresh squeezed orange juice (is there any other kind?).  Once completed I threw the chicken in and the marinating started.  Then the chopping of veggies for the salad.  Did I mention that the salad recipe included a fresh homemade dressing (is there any other kind?).  Enter the duplicity.  Lime juice was required in two dishes.  Lemon juice was required.  Buttermilk was required in two dishes.  

What could go wrong?  

When the potatoes were done, the recipe instructed me to let them cool.  Boomerang.  This got me out of my zone.  I was ready to complete the dish.  Oh, well, I’l finish the dressing.  Tasting it I thought it was very limey.  Then I went on with cooking.  

When I got around to the lemon cake pudding dessert, or was it lemon pudding cake, I had things pre-measured.  But where was my lemon juice?  OMG.  Where was my lemon juice?  Was I imagining?  So I dug thru the garbage and found the empty lemon skins.  OMG.  Did I throw it away?  Did I put it into another dish?  

As I was fretting aloud, Rayman said I should check the volume of the batter.  Bingo.  After checking and double checking I concluded the batter was missing the 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  So…I got my juicer out and when I juiced the second lemon, the inside of it had black on the peel.  What was that?  Had to throw the juice away.  More juicing commenced.  When done, I threw it in the batter.  

Whipping the whites came next.  No problem there.  That’s a good thing because I was getting ready to throw the whole darn thing out and go by some lemon gelato.  Or throw myself on the floor and kick and scream.  

Here’s the good news.  When it was all assembled there was just exactly the right amount for the 6 ramekins required.  Yippee.  Here is the recipe.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022010-lemon-pudding-cakes-with-sugared-raspberries

But where was the missing lemon juice?  

I started throwing the potato salad together.  That’s when it appeared.  I had exactly 1/2 cup much dressing…I thought it looked like a lot.  

But it doesn’t end here.

Having been in the kitchen for 3 hours, I wanted to sit down and have a glass of water.  Which I did.  That’s when the phone rang.  It was Mary.  I was expecting the call because I had sent her an email checking to see if it was ok to eat indoors maskless and, oh, by the way, did she like margaritas?

Mary Informed me that I had invited them for dinner for TOMORROW night.  They had dinner plans with the Woods tonight.  

Perfect.  Just perfect.  What a screw up I am.  I fell on my sword and told her that was okay.  They should come tomorrow night.  I reminded her that I am a senile old woman and just glad that I had sent that email.  That she had seen the email.   That we would just order in pizza for tonight and let it be good.

Flavors will meld.  And being the busy socialites that we aren’t, we would be here…and anyway, the table was set.  I figured we could handle it.  And we will.  

And then I hung up and screamed!!

 

 

 

First Trip and We’re “Trippin” 

 

  

With two shots into our arms, we decided to get the wood ceilings in our house painted.  And we lucked out because our painter was available during the time we had booked our first vacation in a slightly safer world.  

Borrego Springs was on the docket and we took advantage of a stay and play plan for a room and two rounds of golf at Ram’s Hill, a fabulous course south of Borrego a few miles.  

But how to get there and back safely.  We decided to cut the trip up into pieces because my derriere doesn’t like to be sedentary for too long.  The Princess set down the law.  Truth be known, Rayman is an A-Z man, and ladies, you know what I mean.  

Our first stop was in Los Alamos for Wellbread.  Arriving at 11ish, there was a line as long as a Disney Matterhorn ride.  When the line didn’t budge, we scadaddled and settled for a plan of cupcakes for lunch from Crush Bakery in Santa Barbara.  A good second choice which took us on a sugar high from the moon and back.  Boy, were they good.  Bought two extras for my cousin, Chris and his wife, Nancy since I had arranged to stop in for a one hour visit in Camarillo…his is my rich cousin on the hill, with his own private tennis court in his backyard and an avocado orchard too.  I kid my cousin.  He blushes when I call him the rich relatives on the hill!!  So I say it as much as possible.  Because I am a brat!!

Nancy is Japanese and we were concerned about anti-Asian sentiment creeping into to their world.  They said all was well because their community was very integrated.  Then Nancy gave me some of her family history.  Her mother and father married in 1942 so they could be “imprisoned” with her grandfather whom was ill.  And so it was that their internment began.  It was very ugly on many levels.  Living in barracks with cracks in the wall, uninsulated from the cold and heat in many different “garden spots” of the state.  Man’s inhumanity toward men.  It was a lovely visit with lots of laughter along with the angst of the aforementioned history.  

Then we went shopping at the “short guy shop” in Sherman Oaks.  Jimmy Au’s has been a mainstay in L.A.  Lots of pictures of jockeys and stars adorn the walls of his big store with small sizes.  Check out the window art.

 

Rayman came away with pants and shirts that fit and I love what he got.  It was fun kidding around the guy that helped us.  He was a hoot.  60 something with a groovy haircut the sprouted this way and that.  He had more product in his hair than suspenders in his store!!  I urged Rayman to buy suspenders but he refused.  Heck the guy the came by last week to repair our gas fireplace insert was wearing a pair.  No plumber’s crack visible.  

 

But I digress.

Finally, we drove back the way we came as far as Woodland Hills and stayed the night in a Hilton.  Man, what a situation with covid.  Food could be had by ordering at the bar and retreating to your room or sit in a public space distanced, of course.  The bed was as hard as the floor.  The fan and temp could not be changed…I know, I tried.  You couldn’t open the window.  It reminded me of being on an airplane.  Uncomfortable with the steady noise of the engine (fan).  

The next day, my back was a mess from the hard bed.  Rayman told me to wait with the bags and he would fetch the car.  So, I did.  Where did he go?  I waited and waited and met a couple of long legged, good looking tennis team members from U of Washington…they were very nice but they had lost their match but vowed revenge.  Still, no Rayman.  Then my phone rang.  Rayman was hyperventilating and trying to explain his predicament in which he was presently engaged.  Seems he put the paid ticket for parking into the wrong slot and he couldn’t get out of the gate.  Panic was evident.  So, I ran inside the lobby and asked the guy behind the desk what to do.  He said, “Have him push the HELP button.”  So, I said, “Rayman, just push the HELP button.”   “Where?  Oh, yeah, I see it.”  Then the phone went silent, I went back out to the luggage and he finally arrived with his hair smoldering from the fire that had just been extinguished.  

 

And off we went.  I drove.

 

Toilet Trouble

We stopped in Temecula for gas.  It had a restroom so I went to the door but it was locked.  A man came up and knocked on the door.  “Marcy, hurry up in there.”  Then he turned to me and explained that she had issues with water.  UH???  A few minutes passed.  I heard the water running.  Then she came out with the key to the restroom dangling from her month from the end of a wood block to which  the key was attached.  Oh, and her pants were down around her knees.  OMG.  I was afraid to enter.  Of course, she let the door close necessitating me to touch the key and doorknob.  Good grief.  Her husband (?) approached and asked her what the hell she was doing.  I disappeared into the restroom hoping it wasn’t flooded.  It was dry and so I did my business and opened the door.  Rayman was waiting.  I explained not to touch the bottom of the wood block.  I let him in.  He later told me he never touched the key thingee other than handing it to the guy behind him before he entered.

We went across the parking lot and bought a couple of chicken tacos to go…there was a restroom in the place.  Mexican owned, I’m sure it was squeaky clean and the patrons didn’t seem half crazed.  But, there you go.

 

 

We spent the evening with our friends that live in Borrego, Al and Charlie, while it rained and stormed.  The next day we played golf.  I Facebooked  about it so I won’t bore you with too much of the story other than to say we got paired up with a couple from San Luis Obispo.  And we found out over lunch with them that they were leaving Friday and we were getting the room they were currently staying in.  Seems the guy that booked our reservations messed up and only booked us at Casa Del Zorro for 4 nights instead of 6 and the hotel was completely sold out for the weekend.  So, he called and offer to move us up to Ram’s Hill for the last two nights.  Up there they have a unit named the Nook.  So, the degree of separation between the four of us was tiny.  

Today, it is very windy.  We drove around the valley looking at monsters and animals and  stopped for an ice cream cone that was absolutely delicious…better than last nights meal at the hotel.  

 

The other thing about the virus is that breakfast is a brown paper bag that you pick up and take to your room.  It consists of a bagel, cream cheese, honey, peanut butter, one apple, one OJ (no pulp) and a fruited yogurt, complete with plastic utensils.  It is dreadful.  But it is safe.  Coffee is also available.  

 

Tonight we return to Al and Charlie’s for dinner and we are very much ready for a good meal again!! 

 

Wild borregos couldn’t keep him away!!

 

 

 

 

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention that we are both shot up now with both vaccines and in two weeks we will be available for partying!!  With caution, of course.

And I am making new friends because of my book.  You know.  The booking I’m writing.  So, here’s the deal, now I know why authors thank everyone under the sun for help with their book.  My list is growing exponentially as I write on.  

This week my new friend is Jan at the Paso Robles Historical Society.  She has lived in Paso for about 8 years but she is the glue that helps keep the Society moving forward.  An appointment was made, and I met her at the old Public Library in the park downtown Paso 

Robles.  It is an amazing place, a Carnegie library.  So beautiful and now full of historical treasures.  Jan graduated from William and Clark as a history major and she is using her time to volunteer there.  I grew up in Paso but she knows so much more.  We had a grand time.

And get this…she is reading my blogs (completely unsolicited).  I was, of course, totally impressed.

But, I digress.

Confession time.  I never really liked history as a student.  I took U.S. History, an underclass requirement and got a D- for my efforts.  The only reason I didn’t flunk was because I always came to class and sat in the first two rows.  But I apparently forgot to read the material.  

So, here I am writing a family history… because in the 90’s I popped off in a discussion about Israel and the Palestinians and Rayman told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.  And he was right  I operated in much the same way as I did in college…impressions rather than facts.  

So, I started reading history and now I’m hooked.  I started with From Beirut to Jerusalem, to books about Korea, Russia, and the list goes on.  Lewis and Clark…Undaunted Courage was a great one.  The Caro books on LBJ and on and on.  Okay, so I have been catching up and I now have a deep appreciation of history.  As it does repeat itself, so do I.  I just finished the John Lewis book from Jon Meacham which is a great read about the fight for the vote.  And here we are…the same fight is going on in full swing as I type.  The Jan. 6th insurrection was about the right to vote, as an example.

Anyway, I’m still working on my book and I am on page 135, single spaced.  It’s actually taking shape.  The ladies at the Historical Society said they would put it on display and sell it.  OMG.  This is exciting.  

 

However, it also gives me pause.  How much should I tell?  There is much angst as well as lots of laughs.  Oh, dear.  What to do?  Well, I will just keep writing until I’m done and then I will self publish because I am pretty sure I will be lucky to sell 20 books.  But that’s okay because this is more for the fun of it, for this labor of love.  With the history in my family, I really do have a lot of material.  

This week also found me out at Sculpterra Winery meeting with the daughter of Mr. Thimm, our ranch hand that lived in the house on the ranch and worked the ranch.  It was a hoot to visit with her and I came away with some great stories for the book.  I sent her my write up to see if it was okay and haven’t heard a word…but she did warn me that she didn’t spend much time on the computer…so there is that.  Hopefully she will approve of my rendition of her experiences living out there.  Sculpterra, incidentally, sits on part of the old ranch.    Below is a picture of Ryan and Tamara at Sculpterra.  Notice the CAT!!

 

 

Which brings me to the announcement that Rayman and I are in escrow to sell our parcel out at the ranch.  It is the next to the last parcel.  The very last parcel has several owners and it isn’t worth anything…it is weird and, I think, unbuildable.  So when we close on this parcel that is now in escrow, it will be a sad day.  How I will handle it is anyone’s guess.

The Paso family is all gone except for me.  My brother lives up north as does my nephew, and my long lost son.  My second cousin, Sharon, moved to Montana.  Not sure where her siblings are.  The family has come to an end, in a way.  So the ranch doesn’t carry the same emotional position it once did.  I guess that makes sense.  

In other news, we have been having fun watching programs on TV that are educational.  I’m back in the pool.  My golf still sucks but I must go on.  Same with Rayman.  

We leave for Borrego Springs on the 22nd for a few days of golf and visits with friends.  Our first fun trip since this time last year.  We did go to PDX but it was up in a hurry, a 3 month visit in lockdown and back in a hurry.  So our desert trip is something we are looking forward to with much excitement.

Hope you are all good and vaccinated and getting ready to rejoin life at a higher level!!

Hope to see you all soon!!

Yesterday was the Rayman’s birthday and we have a great way of celebrating birthdays.  When its Rayman’s birthday, he gets to be in charge of he day.   He choses what we’ll do, when we’ll do it, what we’ll eat and when we’ll eat it.  And, that is a vice versa arrangement.  We find it works very well for all parties involved.  Him and moi.

So it was yesterday.  Mr. J decided golf was in order.  And so we teed off at 8:47 at the Morro Bay golf course.   With us was Norm.  We know Norm.  Norm is a great golfer.  I refer to him often as Stormin Norman.   We had no idea we were going to play with him but it was a fun time and a great day of golf…except for the score for me.  Rayman had a good game, Norm had a fabulous day.  My game, not so much.  However, it was a great walk and lots of laughs interspersed with “Fiddlesticks.”  Or “Drats.”  Perhaps something a bit stronger was heard here and there.  But, it was great fun.

And the turkeys came by to wish him happy birthday.  Seems people must be feeding them because when I stopped the cart, these lovely ladies literally ran to the cart and begged for food by sniffing, bobbing, weaving.

 

After golf, we came home, showered, relaxed, and did a bit of this and that before we joined up on a Zoom call with our Sideways wine tasting group that is holding itself together thru the magic of the technology of the day.  This is a weekly event and much fun for all concerned as we share our comings and goings with each other.  And our time of staying home…a daily occurrence now for a year.  

We are getting antsy about liberation.  It’s so close and yet so far…no one yet has had a second shot.   We are also, most of us, thrilled that the Dems are in charge now.  Help is on its way but we are checking our email, our local paper coverage, our local TV news to check for more vaccines.  We want our shots and we want them NOW.   

But I digress.

The Zoom party starts at 4 p.m. and goes for an hour or so.  Given that, Rayman had asked for lamb chops, roasted red potatoes, asparagus for dinner so timing was important to the cook.  Potatoes take a long time so I decided to speed them up by steaming them a bit so cooking in the oven would be shorter.  However, I steamed them too long and they were fully cooked.  So I decided to peel some garlic and poach the garlic in cream so that I could make mashed potatoes. 

As Zoom was proceeding, I smelled garlic.  Long story short,  I burned up the garlic in the cream and may have ruined my pan.  My martini may have contributed to the situation.  

When the Zoom was done, it was time to fire up the grill.  And the dog needed a walk.  In being a good person for Rayman’s birthday, I volunteered to assist.  Great.  However, this new barbecue of ours is ultra-modern and is run by an app.  And somehow, I screwed up the app.  (Remedial training will ensue post haste.)  www.sparkgrills.com      So, I barbecued the meat without the app and it was a bit underdone but we ate it.  And the potatoes.  I threw them in the oven with garlic and re-heated them and roasted the asparagus as well.   We washed it all down with red wine and then we celebrated with chocolate chip cookies, homemade, with a nice glass of port.  

We were in bed by 8:45.  Lights may have been turned off at 9:00.  Birthday boy and his trusty wife hit the wall.

P.S.  It’s tomorrow and the day that the housekeeper comes so we run away from home so we’re not in the way.  This a.m. I was on a hunt for a card table.  “I know, I’ll go to the thrift store and find one.”  So, we went to the thrift store.  I went inside and a young woman asked if she could help.  I said, “Do you have any card tables?”.  She said, “What’s a card table?”.  Well, now, the funny part is that she was serious.  It was a hoot.  Never thought card tables would cease to exist.  So, we drove to Costco.  While waiting at the light, I noticed a nice Mercedes in front of me.  It has a special license plate holder denoting the car was owned by a police person.  OMG.  It was our friend, Tom.  We followed him to Home Depot.  Got a big laugh out of it because we ran into him at Costco two weeks ago.  Then we ran into him at TJs.    We are on the same schedules.  When I honked at him at the light, Rayman and I frantically waved our arms.  He said to himself, “What are those crazy people doing behind me?”. 

So, we had a good outing and found a table at Target.  I opted for a rectangle table.  Going to use it for my scanner and all my old family records which I am trying to scan in the great room but it is too bright there so the new table will go in the den.  Wish me luck.  Scanning can be hard.  And it is hard.  My new scanner is so sophisticated I think I need a PhD in order to use it.   It is taking way to long to do anything on it…but I will persist.  My book needs pictures.  And old letters.

Today is upon us and I started my adventure by donning my clothes, rushing out of the house and driving to the dentist.  Because I broke off a side of big back tooth on the lower right side.  Clear in the back.  This happened last Thursday as I was munching on my cookie on the 14th hole of the golf course.  Or was it the 15th hole?  Who cares?  It was not a good event.  

Going to the dentist these days is not like it used to be.  Now, you have to knock at the front door of the office and someone comes out and takes your temperature and asks you probing questions about your health.  Everyone is wearing a mask as required.  The office takes on a different vibe.  

The office was freezing and boy was I glad to have worn a cashmere turtleneck sweater and my big Pillsbury doughboy jacket.  When led back to “the chair”, I elected to leave my jacket on and I kept my sunglasses on my lap in case the lights were too bright (they were).  Quite a sight.  

It was a very unpleasant experience.  The shot wasn’t too bad at all.  It was the drilling and I’d like to make a case for considering “drilling” as an .  That is the word that sounds like it sounds.  Other words considered onomatopoeias are words like “snap” and “crackle”, even “pop”.  The drilling was very difficult because of the location of my tooth.  At times it sounded like someone moving a grand piano across a wood floor….almost a growling sound.  Then at other times, it was just a sharp shrill (onomatopoeia) sound that was quite loud and extremely annoying.

The sound, however, was nothing compared to the waterboarding I received.  With my tongue depressed, water flooded the tooth scene and I couldn’t breath very well.  I tried to ignore it but, no way.  After the first bout of this, I started gaging.  God, gaging is so darn horrible.  A reflex that is at once life saving and involuntary.  OMG.  Gag upon gag each one postponing  the drilling.  The dentist was so kind.  He stopped again and again to allow me to recompose myself and steady my resolve until then, the next gag happened.  

Coming up for air I said, “This feels like waterboarding”.  A nervous laugh was heard.  Then an explanation of the difficult location of the tooth.  Okay, then.  What else could he say?  It had to be done and we both had to live through it.  At this point I found myself wondering if anyone bites him.  I had my chances.  However, I opted out figuring it wasn’t very lady like.  And so I endured what was necessary.

The option would have been worse.  So there is that.  Extractions are horrid too.  Worse, really.  Especially on those big back teeth.  It makes me wonder…why don’t they knock us out?  Not all the way.  Just enough that if someone cut off our head we wouldn’t care.  

What do you think about under these circumstances?  I really do wonder what other think when in the dentist’s chair.  My grand piano thought lead me down the rabbit trail of thinking about my Great Aunt Rachel, a pianist, who owned a grand piano and played the Turkish March on it…great piece, by the way.  Then the mind flitted away and tried to find Zen-like poise and that lead me to thinking about Buddhists.   I know a few. When the shrill (onomatopoeia) drill started, I was wishing I hadn’t worn my hearing aids.  Being in such close proximity to the ear, hearing became the problem.  Quite a different problem.  

Well, I’m happy to say that I survived but you know that already.  But, really…I am happy that I did survive.  It felt like touch-and-go for a bit.  All this took exactly one hour from knocking on the door to returning to my car.  And the outside temperature rose 4 degrees in that hour.  The little things in life, eh?  

I’m home with a temporary crown in my numb skull.  It may take days to return to normal and for that I am grateful.  Can’t imagine life without numbers.  

In other news, Biden and Harris are on board.  The inauguration was fabulous.  Today an article of impeachment goes from the House to the Senate.  Heady days in the Capitol.  Don’t know how you all feel about it but I am delighted that the Dems are forcing the GOP members to take a side.  Are they with the seditionists or for the Constitution and rule of law.  It’s not a difficult call at all and yet…it is so disappointing to know that the horrible man down in FL now, has them scared.  Too scared, perhaps, to stand up for what is right.  And no, there are no two sides of this.  It is one or the other.  

Moments to remember from Biden-Harris inaugur… – CBS News

In other news, yesterday, I spent the day trying to make an iMovie on my MacBook Pro.  It took forever.  The occasion of the movie is that Feb. 5 is Ryan’s birthday and we are here and he is there.  So his main squeeze asked all his friends and family to do a short video.  After much gnashing of “teeth” (there I go again), I finally put it together.  I’m relatively certain he never reads my blogs so I mention it here.  If I am wrong, I will be considered a toad.  Oh, well, wouldn’t be the first time.

Well, it’s almost noon.  Time to jump in the car and head to Opolo.  They emailed that our shipment is ready for pick up.  And after all that came before this, I definitely need a pick up!!

It began as normal with coffee and reading the news.  We had planned to golf.  With the Georgia election the day before there was plenty to read.  And then we decided to turn on the TV to see if the certification of the Presidential election had commenced.  And then we watched the insurrection.  All day.  

It. Was. Truly. Unbelievable.  In all my years, I never dreamed anything like this would or could happen.

Hour upon hour we watched the Capitol under siege.  At one point, I unfurled myself from my leather chair to pace and scream at the TV.  Was I the only one that imagined dead Senators and Congresspeople spewed around the Chambers?   

Texts flew.  FB posts proliferated.  Telephone calls.  All from my dear friends that share my view that Trump has brought out the worse in us.  It all started with Trump and his racist accusations against President Obama, called birtherism.  He let everyone know that he was a proud racist.  Period.  Full stop.  And there you have it.  From there he gathered up followers that are racists.  Oh, there may be supporters that aren’t full-on racists, but it is my belief that the original sin of slavery was reawakened by this man and his Grand Old Party enablers.  

The embarrassment was staggering.  Our standing in the world has been damaged and I think China is  the most powerful country in the world now.  

But I digress.

An insurrection occurred and not in a vacuum.  The Republicans own this.  For four years they have let him run wild, violating norms, violating laws, lying daily…they looked the other way.  How could that be a thing?  Because of the racist base of supporters.  It is not secret that the Republican Party is populated by bigots, racists, and evangelicals.  It is an unholy alliance that has been cultivated by the GOP ever since Lee Atwood and the Southern strategy came to the fore.  And white people organized within the Republican Party to thwart the rights of people of color along with ripping at the safety net that protects citizens from total ruin while letting corporations and tax dodgers pay zero taxes.  McConnell and McCarthy allowed all this to happen.  Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz aided and abetted this.  They are disgraceful.  When given the chance to hold Trump to account last year during the impeachment trial, the Republicans suppressed the evidence of wrongdoing.  They gave this vile man a pass.  Only Mitt stood up for the Constitution.  The rest of them violated their oaths of office for their own selfish reason of job protection.  

And they repeated the Trump lies about election fraud.  Ironic since they are the frauds.  And it led to what we saw…a Presidential insurrection that the GOP owns.  

So, I blog about this to create a record of our experience on this very sad day, January 6, 2021.

One last thought.  There was exposed yesterday in stark relief the fact that there are two systems of justice in this country.  One for white people and one for people of color.  If those insurrectionists had been Black, they would have been tear gassed, shot, arrested en masse.  We witnessed that when in the Spring, BLM protesters were met with violence on the same streets of the Capitol.  The government flew helicopters, they donned ominous looking riot gear.  Against peaceful protesters.  Yesterday the Capitol Police frolicked with the insurrectionists and arrested almost no one.  The difference was not subtle.  It was outrageous.

My cousin’s own daughter, mother of three, was shot point blank by a rubber bullet from a gun carried by a U.S. official.  In Portland.  Last year as she helped form a wall of Moms to protect the BLM protesters from U.S. officials.  I know of what I speak.

Which again shows to the world and to our own citizenry that we are a sick country.  I can only hope that the young people of this country watched this and were repelled by it and will do all they can to try to fix the problems of racism in the future.  

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