Desert Magnolia

If you've never been to Taos, you should find a way to go. It's unique in about a million ways, and never disappoints. Case in point, our recent stay. In an historic mansion. With close family and friends.  Said mansion was built in the late 1700's. Yes, 1700's. Of adobe. Thick walls of it that subdue sound and make everyone feel like they are alone in their space, when in fact they are surrounded by others. It's very cool. The house meanders, the older sections have lower ceilings. The newer sections have radiant heat, so your feet are always toasty and you feel comfy warm without the pesky central air blowing noise that most modern houses have. The kitchen, well, it's a chef's wet dream. Really. Viking rules the double ovens and cooktops. Butcher block island in the center provides ample prep space. Multiple sinks make keeping the whole space clean while large meals are prepared easy.  The bedrooms are all cozy, and private. So if one needs some personal t...

Holy shit, I'm about to complete two full sets of thirty, and to begin my third. My son provided the sets of thirty idea, and I like it. It also kind of made me gag a little to think of it that way, my life, broken into not decades, now, but sets of three decades. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little intimidated by the idea of not only completing my 50's but entering my 60's. I want to do it with a bang, not a whimper, and I want to power into the whole next era with a bit of aplomb, some grace, a bit of sass, and a fair amount of deepseated optimism about what's ahead. April 4, 1963. It was a Thursday. 7:30 a.m. And there I came after what my mom says was a fairly short though predictably intense labor. My mom, a progressive, used hypnotherapy to manage her labor and deliver me. 7 lb. 8 oz. of baby girl. I was not a good napper, apparently, though Mom could have used more breaks from my energy, which I'm told was considerable. I was 100% on, or dead to the worl...

Grandma Gin is a force to be reckoned with. She's fierce, rather dark, very curious, an advocate for better food in her retirement home and is generally one of the most informed individuals I know.  She is always abreast of political happenings, seldom tolerant of nonsense in general, and often a person around whom others gather to do good work. She and her cronies have made hundreds of quilts for veterans, have generated thousands of dollars for good causes selling their homecrafted holiday ornaments, and continue to meet every evening after dinner at a cozy little 'Peyton Place' they've appropriated in a quiet corner of their building. Sometimes they work puzzles. Sometimes they just gossip. Mostly they gather to simply be in the same place with those of like mind. I want to be tough like her, but I feel I may not have quite the titanium core she possesses. She grew up during the Depression on a farm in Colorado. Her father was a raging (and mean) alcoholic, so...

Today is my last day of my 40's. My very last day to be 'approaching 50'. The very last time I'll ever be able to say, 'When I begin the next half-century of my life, I'll...' I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything productive. I guess I just don't want to wake up tomorrow morning and go, 'Shit! I should have....yesterday!!!' You know what I mean?

In less than two months I'm turning 50. The big five-oh. Half a century. And just a few weeks after that, so is GG. We've tossed around a lot of ideas for how best to celebrate this rather momentous event. We knew we wanted to get away for a few days. We knew we didn't really want to do the whole party thing. Black balloons, bad cards and terrible jokes about impending death are fun, but we wanted to keep it a little personal this time. First we thought we'd go South, maybe back to Cancun for a few days of R&R, Paamul style. Then we thought we'd head up to Pagosa Springs to enjoy a weekend soaking in hot, steamy pools in the mountain air. But over the weeks we both knew we hadn't yet hit on exactly what we wanted to do. But then we both came to the same conclusion at exactly the same moment - Seattle! Why Seattle? I want to share this event, as it turns out, and my dear friend JL just happens to live there. :-)  When this song came out, the ye...