CEDARHILL

Yes Toto you can go Home!

Kansas was predictably windy this week. I'd forgotten the force of the wind where there aren't alot of trees and hills to break the wind. Heading out on I-70, Susan and I found lots of reasons to stop for photo ops.

First Stop: Wamego Kansas, which has ramped up their tourism with the addition of the Oz Museum. 

 Largest collection of Oz memorabilia around, and they now have the Oz Festival, where two of the original Munchkins come and sign autographs, there is the Oz Winery, a fabulous, fun shop where the owners and the barristas make you feel welcome, and entertain you with wines from Kansas with such great names as Witch in a Ditch, and the Lion Courage, and they are selling bricks as a fund raiser for the town which will contribute to the historic district, and create a
yellow brick road which will end at the City Park in a swirl. You can buy bricks and put a name on them, so Susan got one in memory of our Aunt Priscilla, and we spent some time tasting their wines and hearing what creative energy has emerged from the Oz theme. Hmmm - .... inspires one to look at what can be done closer to home.

On another note, we wandered into the local saddle shop and met John, who took us to the back and showed us a manuscript which belong to his great Grandfather who was in the Civil War battle, made famous by the movie, Cold Mountain, and he is in the process of writing a book using his grandfathers original notes.

  Leaving Wamego, we made a quick stop in St. George to see the old house  and it was looking well cared for and loved. Nice.

When we finally made it to Waldo and a visit to Grandma's house, the effect was not so good. The house still elicits warm memories, but the current owner is letting it sit uncared for and lives outside of the area. Still, the house seems to have good bones and the potential to come back to life with the right TLC. 

Check out Photo Album Kansas Road Trip
  End of Part One....

Dippin' Strawberries

  Valentine's weekend and Kip and Molly in true style invited a bunch of folks down to the Depot for a "dipping party." Party may be stretching it a bit. Reminds me of the Mark Twain story about painting the fence. But it drew a small crowd of willing participants who washed, dipped and rolled strawberrys in chocolate and coconut/nuts/sprinkles in preparation for tomorrow nights "Romance on the Rails." I've agreed to be the photographer again, so thought I should get my choc. dipped strawberry early.

I don't know how choc ended up on my face, as well as the fingers and faces of everyone there. Now THAT would have been the shot! Of everyone's face. because they all looked like mine.

The other pleasure of the evening was Kip's new Player Piano. I'm writing about it for gmtnewsnviews.com, but Randy and May bought it for Kip and the Depot when the other piano died. Kip played two songs before he gave me a go on the foot pedals. And when he laughs about the work out and says we need a non-union Russian athlete to volunteer his time - he's really not kidding. It's a workout to play Tijuana Taxi with those foot pedals!

PS: Will try to update this blog, after a long absence where I concentrated on getting out the next paper, and working on some design changes for the website. See: www.gmteconnect.com where you can read the paper on-line. Cheers,L

A cup o' tea

I splurged recently and ordered another package of great teas from Vital Leaf in San Fran. I discovered this shop when I was there last year and their teas are excellent. Especially the oolongs. The jade oolong is sooo smooth. Such a pleasure. At $10 per ounce it is a good thing that a pinch of leaves make 4-5 cups. Drinking tea like this makes you want to savor the moment - both for the flavor as well as the cost. 

Writing Honestly

  It's another week of deadlines for the next edition of Globe Miami Times. So this is a brief post just to let you know - alls well.

I have discovered a new friend/ talent when it comes to writing and he has given me new UMPH! to pull out my notes on the Chinese in Globe and work on a story line.

That led me to re-read a book purchased years ago on writing. 'The Lie that Tells a Truth', by John Dufresne.

My friend and I were talking about a point of view from which to write the book and I mentioned I was thinking of making up a Chinese character which could tell the story.

He, rightly, said something about being "creative, but honest," in my writing and suggested I come up with an Aglo character who comes to know and empathize with the real life Chinese characters in the story.

It is similar to what W.H. Auden said, " Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about."

Currently, I must finish the stories I'm working on for the next GlobeMiamiTimes and wrap up the Winter Edition which goes to press on February 7th.

Know when to stop

Image via Wikipedia

I heard this at bookclub today . It was a memory of a young boy who grew up here. He remembers being in church one Sunday (Catholic) and the Priest was going on and on with the liturgy....and an older woman he knew to be quite sterrn leaned over and said, " It seems he has had several opportunities to stop and hasn't taken them."  OMG yes!

Get More Bait in the Water | | Social Media Consulting - Convince & Convert

Don’t put all your thought leadership eggs in that one, large basket. Like a salad at a fancy restaurant, deconstruct that white paper and instead create an array of info snacks that you can sprinkle across the Web.

via www.convinceandconvert.com

OMG this is worth reading. "...in the 140 characher world, a white paper feels like reading Moby Dic. Backwards."
Yep... communication in 2010 HAS to be more succinct.
I hope I'm up to the task!

New Years Even 2010

Image via Wikipedia

 

 
   New Years Eve Train  2009

OK- so it wasn't quite New Years Eve in Paris..but it was a close second! This was the 2nd year the train hosted New Year's Eve and it was memorable. Again. New Years Even on the Copper Spike has atmosphere, ambience and action . While the Calumet Car is the center of much action, you can get away to the Dome Car where you can watch the night sky in silence or stand in between cars and listen to the rumble of the rails and feel the night air as it whizzes by (at 10mph).   

I found myself amazed that 3 hours had flown by and it was already time to get off the train.

This year there was a surprise 'secret' wedding on board, a proposal, plus Old Man Time and the New Year's Baby showed up in the flesh...

My friends Renee and Dave,  Todd & Cindi came up from the Valley for the occasion and we strolled from the house to the train depot with food and booze in tow to meet up with 140 others.

Chris (in white coat) manned the bar in the Calumet car - a 1940's style club car- where much of the evening's fare was laid out and he was kind enough to watch my camera equipment, drink etc as I floated from one end of the train to the next takin' pics.

  

The Group Shot at the end of the evening is always a challenge to gather people as they come off the train. This year...it was shot in increments... you can see the ALBUM for all "group shots"...

Top ten quotes of the Decade

While I'm loath to write a top-10 list, if only for fear of falling short of Dave Letterman's legendary bit, I'm making an exception in this first week of 2010 -- a moment when we get to not only make New Year's resolutions, but resolutions for the new decade. As we make those prospective pledges, let's take a moment to look back at the top 10 quotations from the last 10 years -- the ones telling us some painful truths about our country, society and worldview; the ones that might inform us of what we need to do as we move forward.

via www.salon.com

As author David Sirota says..."these are telling us some painful truths about our country, society and worldview.
I just hope we can do better than this in 2010

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

It was a quiet day and I thoroughly enjoyed the hours spent with coffee, computer and cats.I love company. And I also appreciate those rare moments when the house is totally quiet...and empty.

Listening to the weather reports elsewhere in country I thank my lucky stars for a few clouds and temperatures above 40deg.

A few highpoints included an amazing Reindeer butler made from scratch- including the painting!- from my life-saver of a handyman-JD. Who Knew the man could paint!

Flowers from brother John

A thoroughly entertaining late lunch at Marianne's and getting to meet Lucille...who I plan to write about in the next GMT.Both of them are women who live outside of the Box...a trait I've always appreciated!

 

The JOY of ...Learning

Spent another 3 hours at the Apple store today learning about all things MAC. The hours seem to fly by as I shared the expertise of a 20-something mac genius with two other people. Today I was trying to clear up some problems I had with upoading MAC iweb pages, and a problem with DVD intros. But like most of my little workshop experiences, it is the sidebars which produce the long ranging additions to my Web saavy. IE: I learned how to take Screen Shots. This is simple for most, but I never knew how to do it...and now that I do, you'll see the result on my blog for local news: www.gmtnewsnviews.com. See Merchant Pages.

I sat next to a woman in her 60's who was doing a website for her family/geneology et all.

We were both jazzed by the things that MAC allows us to do. Part of it is simply learning something new. It is good to challenge the mind and discover you CAN... yes you CAN...And for me, it is a matter of building my professional skills which might be used to progress business in the small rural communities of Globe-Miami. I find that worthwhile. And it is nice to be engaged in things with a "satisfaction-factor".

Beef Bourguignon

Image via Wikipedia

There are some movies that STICK with you and Julie/Julia is one of them for me. Maybe it's the fact that it has blogging as a leading character. Maybe it's because I learned to love Julia Childs- her spirit and verve- for life and a passionate appreciation of food. So...I've been thinking about cooking more and more. Not sure I have the patience of either Julie or Julia...but for a good cause I'd give it a go. And it seems the FIRST dish I should try would be her famous Boeuf Bourguignon. I can see a dinner party- small- on the horizon. Because one cannot cook Boef Bourguignon for one.

Leslie's Apple Pie

  I was reading Leslie's Facebook this morning and she talked about baking some of her infamous Apple pies. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of one of Leslie's pies knows that these are the original-just- like-Grandma G-ross'-southern-baked-apple pie.

You know, the kind where you don't skimp on the butter and sugar. The kind that makes you trade any diet plans you may have just made for the sheer delight of one bite.

Yes- THAT kind of pie.

So I made a comment on her facebook about "lucky,lucky people who get one of those pies." Really, I wasn't angling for one! Just stating fact.

Well- I get a call from Leslie about an hour later and she says she and the girls are running around town dropping off presents and they have something for me.

Yep- you guessed it. It was an apple pie. Leslie says she never read my comment. Had just baked some with the idea that whoever was home FIRST and could take one of the pies...is who got one.

And I was home to receive it! Lucky Me!

Catchin' Up with BJ

  I  had a nice surprise this last weekend when I got call from BJ, an old friend of mine from my Tucson-days. He came up to visit me and we caught up on nearly a ten year hiatus. We had lost touch and like LIFE anywhere when you start recounting the things that had happened in ten years you find out that quite a bit of living went on in those ten years. Who Knew! Anyway- it was good to catch up. 

Part of the Season...you could say. 

OOps... forgot to include the pic of Bryan and I at the new and improved movie theater!

 

The Day After Project

 This was the weekend of the Acers Christmas Party and then the DAY AFTER project. Paula has a very dear friend in Kingman who is a Greek woman with a big heart and little means. Her little trailer was leaking cold air through window frames and her yard had long since  been given over to an accumulation of leaves,weeds and misc.

So, Paula "invites" all the party goers from the night before to ascend on Despina's house with shovels, rakes and caulking guns. And Christmas lights.

There is something about Paula's invitations - she makes them sound fun...and it is a 'club' you just want to hang with...

The group included all the Acer girls of course, plus friends who are fighter pilots out of Luke, some Kingman friends and family - and Neil, Jim's long-time friend from Kansas, who now lives in Colorado. Oh- plus Paula's dad Ed, who is well over 80 and was running a wheelbarrow with the best of them.  The whole thing took about 2 hours and it was a great way to wrap up the Acer weekend. I am hoping Despina can make it to Globe sometime in 2010 to cook for a Greek Night at Cedarhill.The woman has had a fascinating life including the Big Screen in Greece.

 

 

Group Shot of Despina's Crew

The Clean Up Crew in Kingman

    December 20, 2009

Acer's 25th Christmas in Kingman

This was the 25th Acer Christmas Party and it attracts most of Kingman every year.

One of the common denominators seems to be kids. This is a large group of parents who have raised kids together through the years. Swim meets, senior Proms, family outings to cut christmas trees, hike Havasupai, and such.

The other denominator is animals. Paula and her partner, Robin, have treated every furry, scaly, hairless, wooly, and feathered pet in Kingman and that translates into alot of long-standing relationships with the human side of the equation as well.

So an Acer Christmas party includes adults...and lots of kids of all ages- and a variety of dogs. Sarah rented a 15 passenger van to bring a bunch of people from Phoenix to Kingman, along with her fav dog Maverick - which is an Irish Wolfhound. I understand Mav took up the back bench seat in the van . No kidding! 

The Acers house is large and in charge... but you get 300 people, and pets running around the place and it almost seems small. One of the big events leading up to this is selecting & cutting a tree and Jim says that the tree this year isn't as big as last years...but it is more ROBUST. (my word - not his). Anyway..you can see by this pic that it would have been no small feat to get this 25' plus bad boy home and set up...

And- I regret to say I did not get a photo of Santa this year who is a fixture at the Acer's party and has a fabulous Kris Kringle face. Maybe someone will send me one so I can post it. He patiently sits in his throne at the front of the house all night long so kids - big and small...and old...can all get their picture with...Santa.

Truly... a merry Christmas event.

 

#^%* my Dad Says

I discovered this site at the podcamp workshop in November and have enjoyed it since. It reminds me of things my dad would say but I never had the inspiration to write everything down. This is a twitter account, where the author lives with his elderly father and he tweets about the things his dad says. see @shitmydadsays.

The Queens of Freeville

I'm reading The Queens of Freeville now and it makes me look forward to every night I can crawl into bed with the author and share her stories and her reflections. Author, Amy Dickinson is THE person who was chosen among thousands to replace the indomitable Ann Landers. This book is her story of growing up in a family of strong women and learning to be her own self-sufficient-single-mother-unit-of-two when her husband left her with a small child. It offers up many moments of truth which echo through my own experience, my mothers life and that of friends and family.

It is heartwarming, laugh out loud funny and sticky. What she says - sticks with you.

Take this passage where she talks about the immediate aftermath of her own father leaving the house.

"it's an old-fashioned notion to even try to maintain one's dignity in the face of outrage, but I watched my mother do her best. Exercising her only marketable skill, she got a job as a typist in an office. She was forty-two and had been a full-time farm wife and mother for twenty-two years. At night she would come home from work and lie down on her bed still wearing her coat, holding her purse across her stomach.

"I just need twenty minutes," she would say. Then she would hoist herself up, walk into the kitchen and start cooking supper. After years of preparing large meals featuring homegrown produce and homemade breads and preserves- always followed by a baked dessert- my mother stepped down to hot dogs served on buns pulled from plastic sleeves, accompanied by potato chips.

My father had limited interest in his children, so there was no question of custody. My mother never pursued him for any sort of financial support- and he didn't offer it.

She simply prevailed. Prevailing is underrated. People have the idea that unless they win, they lose. But sometimes surviving is enough. My mother knew this, and I learned it by watching her.

Yep- Prevailing seems to be a pretty good term these days.

Pure Smiles

I love the movie julie/Julia!

Muscle mutiny over 50

Recently I've discovered how many muscle groups it takes to make up one rotator cuff. The answer is several. I learned this only after deciding that my increasingly sore and immobile shoulder was not getting any better. And I gave it 2 months to do so before seeking a second opinion. Turns out it was not a matter of having slept on it wrong. Nor was it a matter of spending too many hours on the computer or lifting too many newspapers. 

Nope- it was muscle mutiny.

The whole thing has made me feel old. I don't know how really old people handle their infirmities. Crankiness, I'm sure, helps. Misery loves company.

I must have done it the night I found myself digging a drainage ditch in the back yard as rainwater piled higher and higher and threatened to back up in the laundry room. I must be too old to be swinging a pick-axe. I refuse to believe that - but the recovery time is much longer than I remember and I might reconsider next time.

Anyway, my solution has been to give my shoulder over to my ace massage therapist Deb who works on it  She also explained the many muscles which make up a rotator cuff. I will never take my shoulder for granted again. Deb has been great at finding the sore spots and then applying pressure until the body rushes blood to that area and force feeds circulation. It's working. I'm impressed. The arm is beginning to move again.

And I'm feeling younger.