Christmas Cookies

 

I did make cookies this year. It took me hours and three days. It is my one concession to Christmas. No tree. No gifts. No cards this year. Leon put up lights in the front yard. That's about it. Except for the cookies.

But no one is coming to visit. 

No coffee and cookies with friends or neighbors. It is too cold to be sitting on the deck trying to enjoy a cup of hot coffee or tea. It was 17 degrees F. this morning when I went for a walk with Benni and it is 39 now as I write this. 

So no breakfast or afternoon tea on the back deck. No gathering for Christmas Eve or Christmas Dinner. New Year's Day will be a bust.

What to do with all those cookies?

 

Ah!

We have a social media site called NextDoor which serves our small town of 500+/- residents. So I put out an ad:

Donate to Food Bank/Shelter ....Get Cookies

Italian Christmas Cookies — A 1-pound assortment of Cucidatti (Sicilian Fig Cookies)*, Biscotti** and Chocolate Totos*** (Did I mention Homemade?) 

Here's the catch: $20 for the one pound assortment — $15 of each 1 pound purchase will go to a local Food Bank or Shelter. ($5 of the 1 pound purchase will help to defray part of the cost of ingredients and containers.) 

If you choose, you can make the donation portion of the price payable by check directly to one of the charities listed below. Please feel free to donate more than $15. I will forward your check or cash as soon as possible after sales are done. Message me via NextDoor to reserve your 1-pound of cookies packaged in tins or plastic containers -- WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! 

The Charities I am working for are: 

Roadrunner Food Bank Albuquerque, 

St Elizabeth Shelter Santa Fe

The Food Depot Santa Fe, 

Allergy - Ingredient information: 

*Cuccidati - Sicilian Fig Cookies: figs, dates, raisins, orange, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, flour, eggs, sugar, vegetable shortening, milk, natural flavorings, salt, BP.                                                                                                             **Biscotti: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, hazelnuts OR almonds OR anise seed, natural flavorings, salt, BP.                 ***Aunt Stella’s Chocolate Toto: flour, cocoa powder, sugar, raisins, vegetable shortening, butter, coffee, spices, natural flavorings, salt, BP, walnuts or almonds on top of some.

So that was the ad.

I got replies. 

So far, I've sold 10 pounds of cookies (out of 11, not counting what I set aside for Leon and me and a few special friends)

Several of our neighbors were very generous and donated more than the $15 requested. 

Donations received: $190

Cookie revenue: $50

You know, my take of $50 is not going to cover the cost for flour, eggs, sugar, figs, vanilla extract, cocoa, butter, raisins, nuts, cookie tins, etc. 

But those things are already paid for. So I decided to donate the extra $50 and divvy up the $240 for the three charities. It's not much, but maybe it will help.

Charming Horse Manure

We had been talking gardens and compost and fertilizer and manure with Sylvie, a neighbor of ours who it so happens volunteers at the local horse rescue organization on Sundays...cleaning up the barn yard of manure. 

She suggested I come with her on Sunday last and I could help her shovel manure and then get some manure for my garden. Sounded like a good idea.

The Barn Yard

 

I took the truck, anticipating a large haul even though Leon said that horse manure will likely be full of hay seeds and the garden will then be full of weeds. Sylvie said there was lots of well composted stuff to take.

But there wasn't a lot of well composted stuff and what there was, was rather difficult to dig up as it was all around the perimeter of the stables and very compacted. Most of the barn yard was covered in fresh manure. 

Which we shoveled, and shoveled and shoveled...into one wheelbarrow which we had to wheel to a manure pile on the far side of the barn. And we shoveled and shoveled and shoveled...for two hours.

I am not one of those people who love animals. Like they are nice creatures, they are large, they are quite pretty. I'm not sure "pretty" is a good word to describe them, but you get the idea.

I will use a stereotype: it seems that horse-lovers, the ones that have to save the planet one horse at a time, are usually women. Leon's two sisters both have/had horses. The woman who runs the horse rescue fits the look. There were at least four or five other women who were either boarding their horses at the farm or who just came to "visit" the horses.

Several of them walked down the dirt road to see the herd  of "wild horses" that were also being cared for by the rescue woman. Actually they are probably "feral" rather than wild, but what do I know. 

Wild or Feral Horses

I do know that I see wild or feral horses whenever I drive along Rt. 16. I've taken pictures on occasion. Really no big deal - unless you are a horse-lover I guess.

For my part, I couldn't get out of there soon enough. Like zoos, this farm with all the penned-in horses and mules and donkeys kind of made me sad. They had no real life. They just stand around all day and munch on hay, looking bored. 

Two of them were very curious and were snooping in the bed of the pick-up truck. I think that was their thrill for the day.

Anyhow, the dirt, the dust, the manure, the fallen and deteriorating Cottonwood tree in the barnyard, the rusted fences, the adobe barn, the metal gates, piles of junk along the road...were just so depressing. But that's me.

I guess if you're a horse-lover you might find it all charming and quaint.

I didn't get much horse manure for the garden. I think I'll just stick to buying compost in 40 lb bags at Lowes.

Looking Back...for no particular reason

Just got to wondering...whatever happened to the Age of Aquarius?

 

The whole Hippy-Love-Peace-Thing was a world-wide phenomena that took place before Social Media, before cell phones or Zuckerborg, or TicTock. We were intent on saving the world from destruction and we were going to do it with Love and a good amount of marijuana and other mind-altering substances.

 It might be nice if today's young folk could promote harmony and understanding, love and peace....

  

  

  

Perhaps Woodstock was the beginning of the end of the Age of Aquarius.

Thanksgiving Humor

I "borrowed" some of these from Debra "She Who Seeks" .  

 

 

 

I despise the "new" Blogger! Had the most difficult time doing this simple post...and I still don't know whether the video will play after converting it from mp3 to mov.

 

Seems it will play on Safari but not on Firefox.????

My Excitement for THIS Week

 I've never been crazy about Jello. Grandma would make it occasionally in the summer and freeze it in old jelly glasses. It was a treat on a hot day.

But now I never make Jello. Except on special occasions every three to seven years. And then, it must never be red Jello. Has to be yellow or green. 

Had to make some for dinner on Sunday. Because today I had my colonoscopy. If anything has ruined Jello (and it wasn't that great to begin with) is its association with a colonoscopy prep. 

Just the thought of Jello makes me gag.

.

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Another thing I haven't had in two or three years is a Dunkin' Donut. Not that I don't like them, but they are pretty pricey for about a million calories of pure sugar and carbs.

But, hey, I got through the colonoscopy this morning and told Leon that because we could not go to a restaurant for breakfast, I wanted a breakfast sandwich and a couple of donuts.

Oh, the bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant was good, but devouring that jelly donut and the apple fritter was almost orgasmic.

 

At the Office

My hubby, Park Ranger Leon is assigned to Kasha-Katuwe/Tent Rocks National Monument near where we live, just a few miles down the road. In most seasons hundreds of visitors to Tent Rocks can hike the narrow trail up to the mesa. Because it is a terminal trail, people must come back the way they went up, sometimes passing others in the very narrow canyon.

The Monument has been closed since mid-March, because of the COVID pandemic, not only because of the close quarters on the trail but because visitors must go through a part of Cochiti Pueblo land to get there and the Pueblos have all been closed to non-residents as a precaution against COVID.

Because his work station has been closed, Leon has been reassigned to more remote areas under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. These are wilderness areas set aside as wilderness study areas or for hiking, biking, hunting, camping and shooting. Leon patrols the trails, does trail maintenance, removes trash (he can't believe the amount of garbage people dump in these remote locations) repairs/replaces signage, repairs barbed wire fences, and generally does a lot of traveling on dirt roads.

So Leon wanted me to see one of the area where he's been patrolling and yesterday took me to "the office" where he works. Here are a few photos of the views from his window.

Cabezon on the left

 

 Hike to the Guadalupe Ruins, an outlying Chaco culture structure.

View from the Ruins

Benni inspecting the stonework

Kiva

A piece of Chacoan pottery

Along one of the roads...on the way to an old Stagecoach way-station.

Another view of Cabezon

Cool rock formations are common in New Mexico

 

 

The people who build this old Stagecoach structure were not quite as precise or adept with stonework as the Anasazi/Chacoan peoples whose structures lasted thousands of years longer. This structure is caving in in several places.

Alex Trebek...in Memorium

I've watched Jeopardy for years, not that I've learned much, but it was always fun to guess and more fun to know for certain.

Alex Trebek was the epitome of class and scholarship. And his stoic battle with cancer was a model of grace and bravery. He was a role model neither I, nor many others, could possibly live up to.

So, with that little eulogy having been given, I can say I was delighted to see this video clip making the rounds today.

Alex, you made my day!

Some Things to watch on Netflix

We haven't been watching a lot of Netflix lately but here are some picks:

The Queen's Gambit

The mini-series starts out slow and, well it's about as exciting as watching two people play chess. But it is both a pleasant change from murder mysteries and cop shows and a well written, well acted drama. 

It does draw you into the story after a few episodes and there is enough suspense in who will win the next Chess Tournament to keep you tuning in. The acting (and the relatively unknown-to-me actors) is really quite good. 

Ratched

A take-off from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The series focuses on Nurse Ratched, a new employee of a luxurious, mid-century Asylum for the mentally ill in a sea-side California locale. The doctor who runs the place is an egomaniac who imagines he has the miracle cure for every patient. This macabre series does get a bit beyond believable, and I found that I lost interest in both the characters and the plot after six  or seven episodes. For those who like bizarre stories and classic insanity.

 

 

Someone Has to Die

A Spanish series with dubbed English dialogue. Gay characters; nineteenth century Spain. We haven't gotten into this one far enough to give a review. But here's the trailer:

 

My Insomnia, Dale Carnegie and Dad

I was probably in junior high when my dad, Dominic, and my Uncle Tony, decided to take a Dale Carnegie course, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." 

I'm not sure how they heard about it or what exactly motivated them to take the course. Maybe they wanted to win friends and influence people. They practiced saying/shouting things like "MAN! AM I ENTHUSIASTIC!"

I remember dad and Uncle Tony both becoming more outgoing and feeling a little bit embarrassed by dad's new self-confident attitude and sometimes loud expressiveness. It seemed phony. 

I thought, "What has Dale Carnegie done to my father?"

Fast forward to shortly after dad's funeral when my brother, my sister and I were going through his things and getting ready for an "estate" sale. There wasn't much of an "estate." More like what we refer to back East as a "tag sale" or what others call a yard sale or a garage sale. 

In one of the dresser drawers I found the little booklet of Dale Carnegie's Little Golden Book of Rules. I have a lot of Mom's kitchen pots, pans, and gadgets, some linens and other items but of dad's belongings I have mostly tools and the like. Except I saved the Dale Carnegie Little Golden Book of Rules.

Maybe because it was instrumental in making over my dad into someone I didn't know.

Fast forward to sometime in my late thirties. I must have mentioned to my doctor some issue with sleep. Off to the sleep clinic to get wired up and try to sleep. Well I didn't sleep and they seemed to blame me for wasting their time.

A few years later my brief experience with Ambien was a nightmare.

Over the years I've continued to have sleep issues. I've mentioned it on this blog on several occasions. I've known people who use a CPAP. One stayed with us in a motel room once and the contraption kept ME awake all night and I wasn't the one wearing it. 

The thought of strapping that thing on my face terrifies me. 

Maybe it's a throwback to when I was 5 years old and had my tonsils out. The anesthesia back then was ether and they administered it by holding a kid down and putting this gas mask over his nose and mouth and making him breath in the noxious gas. It was Torture.

So my next sleep study was at 60. Didn't sleep much.

After the 2016 election I kept waking up in a panic, thinking, "It can't be. He can't be our president," and then being unable to go back to sleep. Four years of that.

This past summer I've been a chronic insomniac at least 5 nights a week and the other two nights I might sleep four hours give or take. Often it is one or another ache or pain or other proprioceptive stimuli keeping me awake. Once in a while it is Leon's snoring, but that is rare.

We, the medical profession, have tried gabapentin thinking perhaps it's restless leg syndrome. No, it didn't help.  

Not sleeping much has made me quite anxious. I don't have many worries except not sleeping. Not sleeping and the thought of not sleeping keeps me up at night.

So I just had another in-home sleep study a couple of weeks ago. I worried about it all day. Didn't sleep AT ALL.

The sleep hygiene routine the doc gave me required me to get out of bed if not asleep in 10 to 15 minutes, engage in a quiet activity like reading till drowsy and return to bed; repeat as necessary.

Well, feeling under pressure to fall asleep in 15 minutes just made things worse.

Especially because I don't want to get out of bed and engage in any activity. I don't WANT to read, or watch TV, or twiddle my thumbs. I just WANT TO SLEEP!

I finally just said to hell with it and went with the old Italian saying, Che sera, sera. Whatever will be will be. That actually helped some. I was getting a few hours sleep most nights.

Then, a week or so ago I was going through a box of mementos and came across Dale Carnegie's Little Golden Book of Rules. 

I flipped through it. Lots of basic do unto others type stuff. Be a good listener. Become genuinely interested in other people. Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, courage, health and hope. Count your blessings. You get the picture.

And then there on the last page, the very last bit of advice from old Dale was this:

6. Don't worry about insomnia.

Good night.

A Reality I Can Deal With: Food

 I spent a good number of hours in the kitchen today (but that is my normal, not an exception) making my own "Italian" version of moussaka. 

Made some breaded eggplant layered in a backing dish with a ground beef and tomato sauce (chopped onion, celery and carrots, garlic, diced garden tomatoes and canned tomatoes, basil and parsley).

Put a light layer of mozzarella cheese between the two layers of eggplant and then topped the casserole with parmegiano-bechamel sauce and bread crumbs. 

Baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes. Served with a hot Italian sausage and a loaf of homemade bread.

Leon and I ate half the casserole...had to stop, but could have eaten more.

The photos don't do it justice.

Are we Now Being Asked to Feel for the GOP and the Rabid Supporters of 45?

I am by nature an empathetic person. 

But forgive me if I don't empathize with the supporters and enablers of evil and one so-called-president of the USA who nearly destroyed our democracy and every facet of our government. (And godforbid he may not be done with that yet.)

There is a qualitative, substantial, moral difference between us Biden/Harris supporters and those who supported this sorry excuse for a 45th president. The current occupant of the Oval Office has abused the country, the constitution and the citizens of the USA. And when I say abused, I mean that I, and many others, have experienced what can only be described as emotional and psychological abuse by virtue of his behavior and policies. Some have been victims of physical violence as well - assault, police brutality, children in cages.

Yes, we were devastated by Clinton's loss in 2016 after playing by all the rules and having an agenda that put people first. But the GOP has employed deception, dirty tricks, intimidation, power wielding, and other underhanded methods to advance an agenda of racism, plutocracy, religious fundamentalism, anti-LGBTQ activities, and outright hate. 

The rabid, in-your-face Cultists have intimidated voters, threatened peaceful protestors, ambushed a Biden/Harris campaign bus, and committed atrocities on an almost daily basis. Their acts have been documented and many are on video. In contrast their many allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Democrats are made-up internet conspiracy theories without foundation in fact. 

To all the republican "nice guys" I say: "These are your compatriots, the GOP platform and agenda is your dogma. You cannot support a man, an agenda, a party that is so thoroughly racist, anti-LGBT, theocratic and plutocratic and at the same time ask for empathy from your progressive, "socialist" and liberal neighbors."

And now the petty "leader" and his GOP congresspersons are doing everything they can get away with to undermine further the faith in the democratic system, delay funding for a peaceful transition, and vowing to thwart the Biden/Harris Administration.

Empathy is for those without culpability.

So NO, I cannot empathize.

Indigenous New Mexican Man Does Dance on Central Ave, Albuquerque

Celebrating a Biden/Harris WIN in New Mexico!

Van Jones fights back tears: Result shows character matters

Yes, I too can feel the relief. It is palatable. I definitely understand the emotional abuse we've all suffered under the fascist would-be dictator. When he won in 2016 it was the beginning of panic attacks in the middle of the night ("No, it can't be, no not him"). And then the constant monitoring of the news blogs to see what his atrocities of the day would be. I dread the next two months. Can't wait until Biden/Harris take the oath. The first two minutes are worth watching:

PARIS: Celebration on BIDEN victory Bells are ringing in whole city, Fra...

Finally! Relief! Dance! Shout!

 I don't even like Seinfeld!

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An Early Taste of Winter

Actually it's more like a full course meal. Ice, snow, wind, shoveling, scraping, hats, gloves, coats and boots. This is why we left Connecticut. The State of New Mexico had us believe that this wintery stuff stays in the mountains and ski areas. Major deception. We thought last winter was a fluke. Apparently not. And it's only October.

Our first year here we had Thanksgiving dinner outdoors in the sunshine and warmth and I picked tomatoes for the salad. We thought that would be the norm...

Global warming? Climate change? The Weather Jokester? 

Hopefully we'll be in shorts and t-shirts next week.

But Benni just loves it! (click on "YouTube" to view full screen)

(I don't know if it's blogger or YouTube but you can't open the video to full screen. Anyone know how to fix that? Also Blogger is VERY quirky on Safari, I now have to use Firefox to do anything right)

32nd/6th Anniversary

We spent most of the day getting ready for a winter storm. We are expecting freezing temperatures along with rain and snow. So we had to take in the potted plants, take down the sun shade over the deck, clean the gutters (Leon’s job) and clean up. 

Not how we planned to spend our Anniversary. 

But after all the chores were done I picked up on plan one: a nice dinner for two. 

Restaurants are out of bounds of course so I cooked all day Thursday and Saturday. 

Made homemade ravioli and tomato sauce with meatballs, sausages, roasted pork. A little antipasto, bread, cheese and wine. 

We are talking a break right now before going for dessert - almond biscotti and decaf.

Beats the Olive Garden by a mile. 

The thing is that after thirty-two years Leon just expects nothing less. 

  

 

A Different Kind of October Suprise

 Francesco....

 

 

 

Autumn in New Mexico 2020

Took a walk down in the Bosque along the Rio Grande this afternoon. What a perfectly glorious day.

Despite the fact that I live with chronic insomnia and fight depression often, today I was in an exceptionally good mood. I made banana-blueberry muffins this morning and to hell with insomnia, I had a cappuccino to go with one for my coffee break.

The most excitement we've had during the pandemic occurred this past Wednesday.  

Our dog Benni went out the garage door on Wednesday morning around 6:00am when Leon pulled out to go to work. 

He just never does that so when I smelled a skunk I announced to Benni who is usually sleeping in the bedroom at that hour, "Benni, don't go outside there's a skunk." 

I got no response and went through the house, bedroom, guest room, kitchen, garage and back deck looking for Benni. Then I opened the front door and there he was, standing there. 

But I was still in denial, thinking perhaps someone had run over Pepé Le Pew whose body was oozing skunk smell out in the street. 

So I let Benni in. The skunk smell was still lingering so I went outside. It was strong. I came in and it seemed like it was stronger in the living room…and the bedroom...

 

To make a long story longer...it FINALLY dawned on me that Benni got skunked. Amazing what living in denial can do.

Well everything came to halt while I got the peroxide, baking soda and dish soap to treat the problem. It did some good but Benni was moping around all day feeling defeated. 

 

I told him that that was a lesson he was supposed to learn as a young dog, not now in his senior years. 

Three, four, five days later the odor lingers slightly on his head and neck but is gone for the most part.

Photos: Down in the Bosque near the Rio Grande in Pena Blanca (near Cochiti) this afternoon. Cottonwood trees. Benni went in the water and the skunk smell seemed to get worse. Oh well.

The Maple leaves were at 4th of July Canyon State Park in Cibiloa National Forest, NM.

 

Michelle Obama's "Closing Argument"