Travel Tuesday: Wyoming

A few weeks ago, I posted about visiting Montana, and promised in the comments to post photos from that part of the country. Wyoming is directly south of Montana, a very similar landscape. I drove across Wyoming, spending a couple of nights back in August of 2023.

 

Monday Mood: Remembering my Grandmother

My father's mother was born in England and crossed the Atlantic twice in the early years of the last century.  Her second crossing was months after the Titanic disaster.  That experienced stayed with her. The very real fear, and being grateful that she and her family where not on the Titanic.  Thankfulness and gratefulness stuck with her.  

Her family left England just a few years before World War I. She heard about the horrors of war from a safe distance. Her father was working on water and sanitation projects, work that was considered essential and hence not at risk of being drafted.  She was grateful for her nuclear family being spared the horrors of that War.  

She married by grandfather, almost 100 years ago, my father was born little more than a year later, and then the stock market crashed. My grandfather worked for Ford, and at times was down to a couple of days a week, but was never unemployed. They raised a huge garden, my grandfather kept bees. They always had food on the table. They were renting a home from a bank. A good honey crop yielded a couple of hundred dollars for a downpayment, and they bought the house during the depth of the depression, for mortgage payments that were less than they were paying in rent. They took in family members who lost homes in foreclosure. She was forever grateful that they kept a roof over their heads and food on the table and were able to help the extended family.  

During World War II, family from England came to live with them, escaping the bombing.  Sally was school age, Edith (little Aunt Edith - she was about 5 feet tall and never over 100 pounds) was one of her father's sisters, Bob was an uncle, who died of alcoholism before I was born. All three of them stayed. Everyone worked during the war. My grandmother enjoyed her years in an office at a machine shop, and graciously left when the man she had replaced returned from the war. My father was a teenager, he was drafted near the end of the war, and never left the country. If he had been two years older, he would have been cannon fodder, and she knew that. She was proud to be a Blue Star mother, and forever grateful that the were not a Gold Star family.  She was grateful that they contributed their share to the war effort, and that our family was spared the worst of the war.  

All of this reminds me to be grateful, to be thankful for the good fortune of my life. 

The photos above were taken on this spring's cruise, as the ship passed over the wreck of the Titanic. The personal connection - how the disaster shaped my grandmother was on my mind that day. I am glad we visited there. My grandmother considered the site a gravesite, that should be left undisturbed. When the wreck was discovered, she and I talked about this, I think she shared thoughts and feelings she had kept bottled up for decades.  She was right in so many ways.  She was and remains a major influence in my life. 

This Monday finds me thankful and grateful. 

 

The Sunday Five: How Does Your Garden Grow

1: What is your favorite vegetable or fruit, fresh from the garden?

2: Have you ever eaten veggies while in the garden they were grown in? 

3: Describe your current growing situation? 

4: If you push a shovel in the ground where you live, what will you turn up? 

5: Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? 

My Answers: 

1: What is your favorite vegetable or fruit, fresh from the garden? Tomatoes, nicely ripe. 

2: Have you ever eaten veggies while in the garden they were grown? When I was growing up, green beans have a delightful texture, tomatoes taste devine, brush the dirt off on tiny carrots. 

3: Describe your current growing situation? Nada, I am not allowed to keep plants, after the cactus died from neglect. 

4: If you push a shovel in the ground where you live, what will you turn up? Construction debri and history I imagine. 

5: Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?  Ignoring the scientific definitions, a tomato is a vegetable. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning post: 50 States in 52 weeks: Nevada

 When people think of Nevada, they often think of Las Vegas, and Vegas was my first exposure to the Silver State.  A conference I was speaking at had been scheduled for San Francisco, then the hotel workers at the Hilton went on strike, and the conference was moved at the last minute to the old Las Vegas Hilton (now long gone.) 

I rather enjoyed it. Many of the conference attendees were horrified at being in sin city.  I stayed over a couple of days after the conference, and flew on from there to participate in a symposium on post practice careers for lawyers at Stanford Law School.  

The other couple of times I have been to Nevada, I flew into Reno. One trip I spoke at a conference in Reno, the other was a board meeting at Lake Tahoe.  Twice I have driven from Reno to Lake Tahoe. The second time we arrived at Lake Tahoe the day after the first snowfall of the season. A magical place. 

Foodie Friday: What I learned in Italy

Italy in February of 2000, was the first trip to Europe that Sweet Bear and I did together. A week in Rome, and a week in Florence. I hadn't been to Europe in almost a decade, he had been a couple of times for a conferences and research. 

Traveling with Sweet Bear I learned so much, and there is so much to learn in Italy. 

I remember riding the train into Rome from the airport at Fiumicino that first morning, seeing small gardens squeezed into every available space, tomatoes growing in containers on sunny balconies. Italian cooking thrives on fresh, local and seasonal. The closer to the source the better. Thinking back I knew this from sitting in the dirt in my grandmother's garden eating green beans fresh from the plant, they have a furry texture that goes away within minutes of being picked. After time and distance and they are never the same.  A tomato still warm from the sunshine that ripened it, has an intensity of flavor that it will not have once it has left the sun.  Italians would sooner not eat something, than to eat something that is out of season and shipped in from far away. And far away, is defined very narrowly. Kind of like the Appalachian "you are not from around here are you?" 

Italians will never rush you in a restaurant, bar or cafe. There is no rush to turn the table over. At times, especially for an American, the service can become frustratingly slow. The Italians would urge you to slow down, relax, there is seldom a reason to rush away. I remember my father at Red Lobster, pulling out his credit card as soon as the main course was served, asking for the bill, so he could leave as soon as he was finished, to rush home and - and spend the afternoon playing solitaire on the computer in his office. Sit, linger, observe, talk, read, savor the time. 

In Florence I learned about restaurant service. Being a waiter is a dignified and reasonably paid profession in Italy, not something you do to get by, something you can do for a lifetime. The waiters knew the menu, and what was best that day (fresh, local, and in season.) The service added a dignity to the experience. I think back to a restaurant named  Antico Forno, the Ancient Oven, we went twice, the food was amazing and this foreigner with very basic Italian was made to feel so welcome by the staff. 

We went into the Central Market in Florence, it was a short walk from the hotel we were staying in overlooking the Medici Chapel. Three memories stand out there. 

A poultry vendor, I was admiring the chicken and asked if I could take a photograph. He encouraged me to do so.  I remarked about the heads still being on the birds, and he said that is so you can look them in the eye and tell how fresh they are. He went on to explain that he had looked over those birds from the day they hatched, through their life, and on to this morning. His repeat customers would look at the eyes and tell him what time that morning the chickens had been dispatched.   

I was looking for a bottle of Limoncello.  One vendor had a nice selection, as I was trying to decipher the differences in them and the lady who owned the stall came over to help.  She was about 5 feet tall, wearing a mink coat that was about 4 1/2 feet tall, she had a voice cultivated by smoking since she was about 12, at least 60 years before.  She summoned a tray of shot glasses and we started sampling Limoncellos, one after another in mid morning.  After half a dozen shots I made a choice, and then we sampled a couple of olive oils, and I bought the best bottle of olive oil I have ever tasted. She explained that she knew, or was related to all of the producers, that she selected what she would sell, only the best. I will always remember her. 

The last one was a refrigerated case, filled with gelatinous fibrous tentacles, I was thinking it was some kind of exotic seafood. Reading the sign, and talking with the vendor, it was bovine nerves.  I have no idea what you do with them, but enough people in Florence did for there to be a vendor who specialized in them. 

I could go on, but I would sooner go back and learn even more.   

 

 

Thursday Ramble: Sheep

About 20 year ago we spent a week in Yorkshire, we rented a house, Duncan and Stephen rented a car, and we explored and discovered how delightful sheep are. 

The room we stayed in was on the back side of the house, with a Velux Roof Window, overlooking a steep hillside that was home to a flock of sheep.  We would awake in the morning to their gentle bleating. What a beautiful scene to look out and see the green hillside dotted with those gentle fluffy creatures. 

We went to the Wensleydale creamery one day. I really like cheese, and had no idea what Wallace and Gromit was all about. To get from the parking area to the creamery, we crossed a field of sheep. Sheep that were accustomed to hundreds of visitors crossing their meadow every day. Gentle, friendly, fluffy sheep.  It made us wonder if we could keep one as a housepet (not really.) 

Stephen's parents lived in the area.  We stopped by to meet them, and Peggy mother insisted that we take lamb stew back to the house with us for dinner.  I had always turned my nose up at lamb, I was very unsure, but didn't want to insult anyone. Oh my, were we in for a treat.  It was so good. Savory, mild, full of veggies in a thick rich gravy. We had dinner with Peggy and Ralph a few evenings later and I had her describe to me how to make it.  A very simple, low and slow braise.  

The photos above, I was out at Mt Vernon a few weeks ago and they were finishing up the spring shearing. They shear by hand, the way it was done in George Washington's day. This particular lady was not real happy with being on her side, making the shearer's job especially difficult.  Great care was taken to keep the sheep from getting stressed. 

A stressed sheep, is a likely to be a dead sheep.  Many have written that a sheep is an animal that spends its life looking for a hideous an unexpected way to die. When my mother was a child, her father worked on a farm that had sheep, decades later she said, "if you look at sheep cross eyed, they keelover and die." 

If I win the lottery, I will buy a farm, hire a farmer, and raise a flock of black sheep. The farm will be called "Black Sheep Farm."    
 

My World of Wonders, aka, the Wednesday Ws July 9, 2025 edition

Where have I been this week? Close to home, the farmers market, Aldi, Trader Joe's, the liquor store, the pool, the treadmill in the gym, out to lunch and the Fresh Market with the sweet bear. 

What did I learn this week? A gin and tonic, is a drink for people who don't like gin. What a terrible waste of good gin. 

Who have I talked with? Linda, Pratibha, Jon, Ana, Susan, Raphael, Russel, Ruth, the water aerobics gang, John, it was a social week. 

What am I reading? Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, when it is finished I need to head to the library. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Homemade baked beans, potato salad, a hearty soup made with leftovers, guacamole, cheese spread, 

What artsy thing have I done? I framed and hung three more prints. 

What have I written this week (besides blogs)? I finished an article on interviewing for the ABA Voice of Experience, and finished edits on a PowerPoint for a webinar I am co-presenting later this month. 

 

Travel Tuesday: Sir John Soane Museum, London

Sir John Soane was a British architect in late 1700's early 1800', and a boundless collector. His home is preserved as a museum as much like it could be preserved from the time of his death in 1837. I think my space is a little cluttered, this mueseum shows what an amature I am at packing things in, there are over 50,000 cataloged items in this house. It is near Covent Gardens, it is free, and well worth spending an hour or two in.  

Duncan and other artifacts. 

 

Moody Monday: A Good Week

It was a good week, and I continue to do well.  Life is as much about how we respond to what happens, as it is about what happens.  Every day when I wake up, still alive, still able to swing my feet over the side of the bed and rise to my feet is a good day. 

We saw this nice sensible rechargeable hybrid car in the parking garage at our local Aldi.  As a hybrid you don't have range anxiety, and as a rechargeable it uses less gasoline.  As we were admiring it, the owner came out, he owns a coffee shop that was due to open last weekend.  He was proud of his sensible  car.  He said his wife is not so sure, there is only room for one very-small suitcase. The doors are hinged like a Lamborghini Countach to swing up making it easier to deal with tight parking spaces.  Sensible cars, need not be boring cars.  

The longer I am retired, the more I come to be comfortable with being retired. I am losing interest in the issues that filled my days for over 25 years.  I am settling into a relaxed pace, filling my days with good days.  Good days, make good weeks.  

The Sunday Five: Rolls Royce

This Rolls Royce was parked in front of TJ Max (TK Max in GB) at the Potomac Yard shopping plaza in Alexandria a few days ago. 

1: How would you describe the person who is most likely to drive this car?

2: Is there anything you would change about this car, if it was yours? 

3: How would you feel about driving this car for an afternoon? 

4: If you had billions, would you own one of these? 

5: What US state do you imagine this car is registered in? 

My Answers: 

1: How would you describe the person who is most likely to drive this car?  The person has a very big ego and wants to be noticed. 

2: Is there anything you would change about this car, if it was yours? The grill and flying lady, should always be bright shiny chrome on a Rolls, it is a crime to do them in black. 

3: How would you feel about driving this car for an afternoon? I have always wanted to drive or ride in a Rolls, just for an afternoon. 

4: If you had billions, would you own one of these? No, I would own something reliable and unremarkable. 

5: What US state do you imagine this car is registered in?  I know the answer, I was surprised, the car is a very long way from home. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: 50 States in 52 Weeks: Nebraska

 

I co-presented training in Omaha, Nebraska 2-3 years ago, and only took a couple of photos, all of them at the hotel and worksite. I was traveling light and the photos are from my phone. It was my second time in the state, when I was a teenager I crossed the state from east to west and west to east on a bus filled with 4-H members. Most of that I slept through in the middle of the night.  

Nebraska is very much in the center of the United States. It is slightly rolling, rather flat. Mostly agricultural. Those central states are very-very large. 

A dear friend of ours taught at the University of Nebraska for a couple of years.  She is from Canada, and at the time, she needed a full time teaching position or she had to return to Canada, and Nebraska was the only job offer.  As recent Yale graduate, it was a unique experience. She went on to teach at another state University for over 20 years, is now a dual citizen, and is department chair at a University in Canada. She has friends in Nebraska, and talks about retiring there, to be near friends. Friends or family would be a reason to want to be in Nebraska. 

Foody Friday: Independence Day 2025 Edition

When I was a kid, summer, really starting in May and running through September, was when my family earned their living for the entire year on the farm.  Work often went on seven days a week, there were few breaks in the summer season. One big exception was the 4th of July, Independence Day.  The farm would shut down for the day, often for just the one day. The family, and I come from a small family, would gather and from this are fondly held food traditions. 

Often we would go to my Aunt Edith and Uncle Dick's house on Lake Orion. They had a house on Dollar Bay, on the back side of the lake, and a boat, and something my parents never really had, a charcoal grill.  My father found charcoal time consuming and messy, my mother obsessed that the grill was impossible to clean. A summer visit to the lake was always a treat. 

Hamburgers were always on the grill, and hotdogs. 

Hamburgers cooked on a charcoal grill have a flavor that is impossible to replicate without grilling.  I miss them. 

Hotdogs, and other sausages cooked on a charcoal grill char on the outside. My parents would grimace that they were burned, but the flavor that develops in that char is a fond memory of summer. With care, I can duplicate the char on the cooktop or under the broiler.  

There was always potato salad.  Boiled potatoes, hard boiled eggs, chopped onion and celery, Kraft Miracle Whip, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  I sometimes add more things, but I often revert back to that very basic formula. 

My mother would make baked beans. She had a secret for making baked beans, she boiled the beans until soft before putting them in to bake. The boiling yields a softer finished baked bean. Brown sugar, molasses and tomato paste were added and baked until caramelized. People would ask her how she made them, and she never mentioned the boiling part. I didn't realize until much later in life, that the thing that she did differently than most, was the vigorous boiling before baking.  She could turn the hardest bean, into something devine (hot or cold.) 

This year Independance Day is also the First Friday of the month. Our LGBTQ neighbors normally gather on First Friday. The restaurant will be doing a special limited menu and will be packed, the pool will be swamped with neighbors and guests, so we invited our friends to join us at our apartment. 

I am going to make hotdogs and other sausages, charred under the broiler if that is what people like, and potato salad.  Bringing back memories.  

  

Thursday Ramble: Effing Idiots

Noteworthy today, we are closer to the year 2050, than we are to the year 2000. And the millennium bug still has not brought modern civilization to its knees. 

This was written last Friday morning, as the US Supreme Court was closing out the session with the most politically difficult cases, no doubt with armored SUVs waiting in the garage to whisk them away to their summer retreats while the smoke clears and the cries die down. 

The Opinion in the first case came out, the one on Birthright Citizenship and my reaction was what a bunch of effing idiots. Not the Supreme Court Justices, they are being very careful jurists, doing their jobs, and not the lawyers for the Justice Department, they are being very careful in their research, and crafting their appeal. The the lawyers for the immigration advocates who failed to review existing Federal Case Law, on procedural issues. 

The appeal was brought purely on the issue of a Federal District Court, issuing a national injunction.  The case law is clear that this exceeds the authority of the Federal District Courts (or Circuit Courts) under federal law. The District Court should not have issued the sweeping injunction and the lawyers for CASA should have made the case law clear to the Court that the injunction needed to be more limited. 

The Justice Department lawyers, wisely stuck to this procedural issue knowing that they were likely to prevail, and avoided the bigger issue of birthright citizenship. When the opportunity is presented to avoid the third rail issue, the wise lawyers limit the issue to the easy one. 

Effing idiots should go back and take Civ-Pro 1 and Civ-Pro 2, Professor Abramson would have failed them on THE exam for this kind of an effing mistake.  

To fix our messed up immigration system, Congress needs to update our immigration laws, and no one seems to be demanding that be done. 

My World of Wonders, aka the Wednesday Ws, July 2, 2025 edition

Where have I been this week? Close to home for the most part, the weather has been hot. The outdoor pool, the treadmill in the gym, the pharmacy and a shopping center to walk inside air conditioned stores.  I drove friends to the airport on Saturday. The Community Center for an Arts meeting and a gallery opening. Trader Joe's and Aldi for some specialty shopping - we are hosting friends for the 4th of July on Friday.  

Who have a talked with? Pratibha, Linda, Guido, Joan, Jon and Rebecca - the arts group. Giuseppe and Larry from water aerobics. Emily, Kathy, and Sydney an editorial board.   

When was I lazy? Last Friday, it was cooler and drizzling rain and I didn't feel like doing much, I spent four hours laying on my bed watching a marathon of "Waiting for God" (a great older British comedy) on DVD.  No pool, no walk, I didn't leave the house. I hadn't done that in weeks.  

What am I reading? "Humans are Underrated" a book about the role of humans in evolving technology. I have been a little distracted from my reading. Up next is Revenge of the Tipping Point. 

What did I hear while floating in the pool this week? Two mid-20-something dudes talking about what they did when they were young. I wanted to interrupt and point out that they are still young. 

What was the flashback memory of the week? Remembering about 1975, pink mauve corduroy, low-rise bell bottom trousers, my mother let me pick out clothes that made my father shake his head in wonder.  If only I knew then, what I knew later. 

What did I mess up this week? I posted two moody Monday posts. The negative one, was suppose to have been replaced by the happy one. I know how it happened, but it kind of makes me wonder. 

Who died? No one is saying, but Monday afternoon a body was found just off of one the trails here at the Condo. The community sits on 30+ acres on a hilltop, with trails that runs around the property, through the trees, up and down the hills.  Rumor has it that one of the regular trail walkers, was overcome in the 95 degree (f) heat, with humidity to match, collapsed and died.  The police and coroner were onscene and there was a message asking residents to please stay away and respect the privacy of the scene and the family. 

When does the highlight of the sporting year start? Saturday in Lille France, the start of the Tour De France, my favorite sporting event for many reasons. I don't expect others to understand. Cycling is a team sport, through amazing countryside and cities, and it is in France. I will be glued to the television for a couple of hours a day until Paris in about three weeks. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Fried chicken, potato salad, cheese spread, fresh broccoli, and the most surprising - suckling goat ravioli.  Open Hand Pasta sells at the King Street Farmers Market in Alexandria. He always has a featured filled pasta or two.  Two or three weeks ago, I stopped to see what he had. The feature that day was suckling goat, he assured me that it was delightful, mild and flavorful.  I'll try anything once, so I brought it home, dropped it in the freezer - label side down so I didn't have to explain the goat. Friday evening I cooked it per the package direction, made a simple sauce with sauteed onions, mushrooms and a small can of tomato sauce. It was wonderful. Flavorful and mild, just as he told me it would be.  Try it, you will like it! I will buy this again if he ever has it.

What made me smile this week? Reading blogs, framing more photos, relaxing and enjoying life. 

Travel Tuesday: Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens

The Gulf Stream gathers warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and flows as a current north and east, moderating the climate along the way, with some unexpected effects, like palm trees growing along parts of the south coast of England.  The warming effects of the Gulf Stream along with a steep valley made the perfect place for a Florida style garden in the south of England. It was pretty. It was extremely steep. The Map was useless, and the visit felt rushed. Still it was a pretty place. 

Legend has it that praying at this abandoned church, will help loveless ladies find a husband.