The Thursday Ramble: Milestones of Life

 

After a wonderful dinner at a northern Italian restaurant on Michigan Avenue in Chicago we stopped to see the "Bean" on the way back to the hotel. We came across this young woman having photos taken for her quinceañera. AI tells me: 

"Quinceañera is a traditional Latin American celebration marking a young woman's 15th birthday. It signifies her transition from childhood to young womanhood and combines deep religious gratitude with family and social festivities."

A major milestone in her life. This gets me to thinking about the major milestones in my life. 

I really didn't care if I had a drivers license or not, but my father insisted that I do so the year I turned 16.  I had missed the regular drivers education class at High School. The instructor took me on as an independent study, I finished the 12 week curriculum in about three weeks, he signed me off on the driving part after about half of the recorded hours, I passed the written and road test on the first try. And dad handed me keys to the pickup trucks in the driveway and a key to the gas pump on the farm, and said take care of yourself. 

I turned 18 about the same time I started my last year of high school. That meant two things, I could buy alcohol and I could vote.  My sister took me out for a drink, I bought a bottle of scotch on the way home. I remember voting in the national election that fall, standing in line, using the old fashioned mechanical machines (the only time I ever voted on those.) The candidate I voted for lost, but I had done my part. 

My graduation from High School was overshadowed my sisters wedding a few days later.  It was a milestone for me, and for my parents, the last of their children was finished with school. 

It was 16 years later when I graduated from college. I did a four year degree on the ten year plan, working full time and taking classes part time. It was a big milestone for me. I was the first one in the family to finish a college degree. (None of my grandparents finished high school, my father passed the GED after I graduated from high school.) 

Law school came faster, starting just three years after I finished at Rollins. The start and finishing my law degree were major milestones. Then there was taking and passing the bar exam. I did that once, on the first try, and I never want to do that again. 

Ten years later I took the bold plunge to take a job in DC. This put us in two homes, in two states.  The job worked out, we have stayed here. 

In 2015, while I was recovering from major surgery, the Supreme Court ruled that if we married all states and the federal government would recognize the marriage. Plans were made and we married that fall, a major milestone. 

Driving into Idaho in 2023 to complete my quest to visit all 50 states.  That one really made me smile. 

The next one would be in January of 2024. I went to lunch with my staff and my boss, they went back to the office, and I walked to the subway and went home to start retirement. 

My World of Wonders: August 12, 2026

The CTA Blue Line has some new rail cars. 

Should I do more paintings in this style? 

 Who have I talked with this week? Kevin, Amy, Joe, Joan, Pratibha, Ana, Susan, Rebecca, Gail, Rachel, Jose, my sweet bear, Tom, Dian, Grace, Warren. 

What have I been up to this week? I came down with a cold just after the last WW-Wednesday, so I had a couple of quiet days, but there was an art show installation last Friday, and the show opener on Saturday afternoon. I did a grocery store run last Wednesday - we had been out of town for a few days and it was time to refresh. 

Where have I been this week? The Community center, the grocery store and Trader Joe's. The pool, the treadmill. Aldi, the Library. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  Roast beef, Pizza, simmered sausage sauce and pasta. 

How am I feeling? I am getting over a head cold and cough that we brought home from Chicago. 

What is on the easel? A painting of a giant cock (chicken.) 

What have I learned this week? The difference between a genetic test and a bio marker test.

 

Travel Tuesday: Indianapolis Motor Speeday

The Museum at the Speedway - It has finished a massive update

The Pagoda

Jim Rathmann was the Chevrolet dealer to the stars, he leased cars to astronauts for $1 a month, most of them selected Corvettes. 

Drivers Start your engines

 

Monday Moods: A Quite Life

Is it a quiet life, or a dull life? Maybe both. And that is fine. While in Chicago I talked with several people who are still doing the work that I used to do. To say they are stressed is an understatement. And looking back, the cause of the stress changed from time to time, with the perceived threats being stronger at some times, but there was always pressure to find funding, and deliver results. I feel for them, and I am so glad I am no longer a part of that. 

I can start a painting whenever I want, and work on it when I feel like it. When it is finished it does not matter if it is good or not, as one comment put it this past week, "it is a good thing I am not reliant on this to make a living." Oh so true, if anyone wants to buy my paintings I will gladly part with them, but I have never had a buyer. And I really don't care. I do them for the pleasure of doing them. 

I travel, because I like to and I can. But travel is no longer tied to making a living.  I have done over a 100 trips as a paid speaker or trainer, this brings with it a special stress. Like the time I arrived in Alabama for dinner with the state attorney general, and my bag missed the connection in Atlanta.  It was August in the south, I had dressed to be cool and comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt for the flight, and that is what I wore to a nice formal dinner that someone was paying me to be at.  Today I fly in for my pleasure. Even the volunteer association duties are not tied to earning a living.  It changes the dynamic. 

Life is much quieter, maybe even a little dull at times, and that is a good thing. Try it. 

Sunday Five: Edible Origins

1: Where do "baby carrots" come from? 

2: When was the last time you cut up a whole chicken? 

3: Have you ever cleaned a fish? 

4: When was the last time you baked a cake and did you use a mix? 

5: Butter or Margarine and why? 

My Answers: 

1: Where do "baby carrots" come from? You see the oddly shaped carrots in the bunches above? Stores didn't want them, so a machine was developed to carve round carrot sticks out of them and that is what is bagged and sold as "baby carrots." Those are not babies, they will not grow into adult carrots, they are rejects reshaped and sold at a premium price. 

2: When was the last time you cut up a whole chicken? About a month ago. I am surprised at the number of people who have never done this.  

3: Have you ever cleaned a fish? It has been a very long time, but yes, and I had to get to them before my Aunt's cat. He was faster at catching and cleaning than I was. 

4: When was the last time you baked a cake and did you use a mix? It has been three or four months, and no mix was involved.  

5: Butter or Margarine and why? Butter. I took a university lab science class in human nutrition. The professor explained it this way, "we know what is in butter and what the body does with it, we have no clear idea what mystical chemicals are in margarine and really don't know what happens to them in the body long term. Stick with the devil we know, over the one we don't. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Getting Unstuck

I was stuck, I needed a painting for "Explosion of Color" and I kept drawing a blank. I had started a couple of times, and the color just was not there. How to get unstuck? 

I was soaking in the Jacuzzi, talking with Rachel Bright a neighbor who is a professional artist. I mentioned to her that I was blocked. She said go home, start fresh, open your favorite paint color, thin it if you need to and pour it onto the canvas, just play with it, then pour a second color, and another, and another. Freestyle. The critical step in getting unstuck, is to start. You don't need a plan. You don't need to know where you are going.  Act like you are 5 years old turned lose with paint for the first time. 

The show opens today, The piece is titled "Bright Idea." 

I added some glitter and sequins. 

Foodie Friday: Martinis

Back in 2020, we met John Grey from Going Gently for dinner near where he lives in Wales. I ordered a dry gin martini, and the waiter came back a few minutes later with a troubled look on his face and asked, "how do you make that?" John had a good laugh, he had lived and worked in New York and knew what I was asking for, a rarity in small town Wales. 

To make a dry Gin Martini start with good Gin, add a splash of white vermouth, shake with ice, and strain into a frozen glass, the proper garnish is an olive. It really is that simple. Be very sparing with the vermouth, the flavor should be the herbals in the gin. 

Some people make Martinis with Vodka. I am in the camp that thinks a dry martini needs to be made with gin. A flavored martini is best made with vodka, as the flavor comes from the added flavor, not the clear liqueur. 

I recently made a coffee cordial to be used to make Espresso martinis. It is fairly easy to make. Start with ground coffee, you need about half a pound of good dark roast and about 700 ML of vodka. Buy a vodka you would drink. Combine the coffee and the vodka in a tightly sealed container, shake, and let sit. Shake it a couple of times a day, for a couple of days.  In essence you are making a vodka based cold brew coffee. Strain it, I used a fine mesh strainer for the first pass, then re-strained through a coffee filter (if you don't do this the final produce will be gritty.) Combine  1 1/2 cups of sugar, with 1/2 cup of water and a squirt of corn syrup in a small sauce pan, heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it is mostly clear. You don't want to boil this, probably 165-170 degrees F. Let this cool. 

Combine the strained coffee with the sugar syrip, and bottle. 

To make a coffee or expresso martini, 

1 part coffee cordial, two parts vodka over ice, shake, strain into a frozen glass. Enjoy!