Desert Magnolia

 Getting older seems to require significantly more focus on just general maintenance than earlier life. I make it a point to take pretty good care of myself. I have better years than others, but mostly I stay on top of routine checkups and requisite blood work. I feel like staying on top of things will, hopefully, prevent a big (nasty) surprise at some point.      In the last 60 days I have checked off a bunch of health To Do's:          Mammogram. Check.          Cologard.  Check.          PCP visit. Check.          Gyno visit. Check.     In the next 60 days I will visit the dermatologist for a top to bottom check (s'rsly, she is way thorough...), and an eye exam. I am looking forward to getting new glasses. I am going to try Warby Parker this time. My daughter uses them, and likes them, and they have a store in Albuquerque, so I'm going to give them a ...

     The first blooms of spring are here, and my heart is soooo damned happy to see them! The first daffodils of the year popped open this week. Green hyacinth foliage is looking strong and ready to produce the first truly fragrant blossoms of the season. Tulip leaves are strong...with buds sure to follow in short order.     I go a little nuts in the Spring. I blame the fact that I am a Spring baby, but it could be other stuff too. It could be emerging from dark, cold, windy months feels really good. It could be I feel a connection to the earthiness of emerging green and buds and happy birdsong and a feeling of imminent life...         In any case, we are at the time of year when I look at my heavy sweaters and boots and give them notice - y'all aren't gonna be in my weekly rotation much longer so let's have fun over the next couple of weeks while Winter really releases its grip on us and Spring pops in with warmer, sunnier days and a sense o...

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...

It has been awhile, yes? Why so long? Life, I suppose. Also feeling a little like, 'what the hell do I have to say that either someone else hasn't said well or that anyone cares to read?'. Honestly, it's all been said and done, right? But I am realizing there is a deep compulsion in me to shut that silly voice up, the voice of doubt, the cynical little self saboteur that lurks from time to time. Shut the hell up, doubter. Shut up cynicism. Shut up been there done that thoughts. Ok, now that that's out of the way, hello again! Hello from very very windy New Mexico, where, in the last week we've enjoyed mudstorms, winds gusting to 80 mph, downed power lines, fires in orchards that have destroyed ancient, magical fruit trees and habitat for local birds and bees and humans. I encountered, on my drive home from work last week during 50 mph crosswinds and a mudstorm the like of which I've never encountered, a tumbleweed as large as my car bouncing across the ro...

There are things in the world that should be wet. Water. Aquariums. Showers. The inside of washing machines when they're washing. Gentle spring rain. Not the ceiling above your kitchen sink.  The morning after the plumbers came back to 'correct' some work they'd done that the city inspector didn't like. Now, in all fairness, the acts may be unrelated. But the evidence points to someone NOT CHECKING THEIR FUCKING SEALS BEFORE THEY LEFT FOR THE NIGHT. Goddamnit. Just when it felt like we were about to have a relatively normal New Year's Eve, someone's oversight mistake ensures yet another day of hanging out while large men invade our home, ascend into the attic to troubleshoot the newly laid piping, and then talk a lot about how 'these things happen, we don't spend too much time worrying about them, we just make them right.' Alrighty, then. Knock yourselves out, boys, and know that this menopausal, COVID exhausted woman on the edge is watching and...

We live in a house we bought when our children were young. We scoped out good schools, drove around many neighborhoods, even made an offer on a house down the street (which we backed out of when they countered for a $1500 increase in the asking price - we'd found this one and fallen in.love with it and were happy to have a legal and graceful way out of the other deal), and finally chose the one we're in now.  It's a home. We've celebrated many many family occasions here - a full 23 years of them. We've been here 24, but COVID. Anyway, it was built in 1976. Our city was growing quickly, and demand outpaced supply of single family homes. Subdivisions sprouted where there was land. Our house is on the north side of the city, in a nice, middle class (albeit rather uninspiring, architecturally) neighborhood. The contractor was busy. And from what we've discovered, first hand and often to the tune of thousands of dollars each discovery, he cut corners. Wherever he ...

 Who knew how hard it would be to find Cornish hens this time of year? Apparently we are not alone in scaling back our poultry roast this year. Finally I found some, at Whole Foods. And they are securely nested in the freezer for the moment, to be brought out and thawed on Wednesday. For the last 30+ years, with the exception of one escape to Ruidoso to gorge on a sumptuous buffet away from our local family, we have hosted Turkey Day. It's been a thing. We love to cook, our house is big enough to accommodate everyone, etc. Yes, there's been family drama, and some years we've questioned our decision to host, but that goes with the territory.  Every single year I've wrestled with enormous birds, seasoned and roasted them to perfection, then created many many sides to accompany the roasted beasts. This year, though, no big fat bird, We're scaling down and it's Cornish hen time. We entertained the idea of having MIL over and eating outside, but the weather is foreca...