Desert Magnolia

You skip making the bed in the first time in ..forever...to enjoy another 2 minutes under a hot shower on a frigid morning. You contemplate not shaving legs, then decide no matter what, those bad boys need it. Ahem. You grab an old favorite shirt with a long, emotional history to it, throw it on, then realize (after you've put your boots on and are grabbing for your jacket, that it might be little too short to wear with those jeans. But you suck your gut in, and try to remember to hunch over for the rest of the day lest colleagues or fellow students might think you're going for a much younger, cooler, bolder look than usual. You manage to drop hubby off so he can help manage a cross country ski weekend with a bunch of his students and the outdoor club at school, think you have time to stop and get a chai...which, technically you have time for, but then you realize doing so has significantly lessened the review time you desperately need for yet another quiz today. You

It's Friday, and on the way into work I stopped at the Grove for a Vanilla steamer with a shot. Which is really a vanilla latte with only one shot, I'm told. Either way, it's delicious, and I'm glad I treated myself! This week has been a humdinger, as weeks go, and I am most delighted that the end of the business/school week is very, very near. About the rain, then. Living in the high desert requires a tolerance for very little moisture - ever - in the form that falls from the sky. We get occasional snow, and even less occasional rain. Usually what we get is extreme, like during our summer monsoon season which fills arroyos and removes topsoil from the base of the mountain all the way down the river valley. Or the bi-annual snow fall of 6-10" that shuts down the city for days. This lack of moisture makes us lust after raindrops like parched desert wanderers yearn for a cool, clear, drop of water to slake their thirst. Which is why, when we see a weather fore

If you bring forth the genius within you, it will free you. If you do not bring forth the genius within you, it will destroy you.   -Gnostic Gospel of Thomas

After weeks and weeks of nonstop coming and going and friends and children and childrens' friends and nonstop comings and goings? It's quiet. Very, very quiet. The Boy is back in the Middle East. The Girl is back at school. And GG and I are here to guard the fort. Which is quiet, and now stays clean for days on end, and feels big and lonely and in need of color and energy and stuff that apparently GG and I don't bring to it. I guess this is really the calm after the storm, huh? Turns out I miss the storm. Even if it was unpredictable and a little harrowing at times.

Happy New Year! My how the time has flown. First there was the week from some conjured Hell aka finals week, and then we were gone...to the Yucatan, where we were greeted by sun, sand, quiet, lovely people, and time together as a family. We spent a week being bored, by design. Decisions were easy, and usually involved either what to wear, if it was time to reapply sunscreen, if snorkeling was next or would a nap really be more the ticket... In short, it was Heaven on Earth, and we were absolutely charmed by the experience. The food, fresh, delicious, Yucatan style. Fish, avocado, fruit..and pico de gallo, and habanero sauce to spice things up. Fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. Mmmm...lots of fresh corn tortillas, which were completely and totally habit forming and absolutely yummy. Drinks were also very good, and Enrique liked to pour a particularly potent margarita for his American guests. Ahem. His guests appreciated his work. I am not usually a marg lover, but pu