Life of Wry

I am not sure if these are the exact ginger candies that Ruby Freeman carries in her purse and dispenses to anyone who’s ailing (and has for years, maybe decades, according to everyone who knows her), but close enough. I am honored to eat them. They don’t taste anything like thumb drives full of doctored election results! Rudy Giuliani tried to convince the world that Ruby and her daughter Shaye were up to no good in that Georgia elections office by fabricating a ridiculous story about supposed election tampering, but it was all a big fat (obvious) lie.

I’m very grateful for the verdict handed down to America’s-Mayor-turned-sociopath – so just, and oh so richly deserved. But hoo boy that $148 million in damages was a whopper of a judgment and holy f*ck it’s about f*cking time one of those f*cking slimballs was held accountable. This defamation trial is just one of many. I’ve lost count there are so many charges against him. He’s a piece of work, that Rudy.

I tried one of those recreations of a favorite photo of yesteryear… can’t say it worked too well. I’d have continued to work it, but I was losing (big time) the patience of my subjects. (I found the modern version as I was reviewing 2023 photos for our Christmas card.)

Whattya think?

Favoritest picture ever (I mean EVER!), taken circa winter 2002-ish, when on a trip to Yosemite valley with the Cavins (such fun times). Peter’s about 4, Jim’s about 49.

And here’s the re-enactment, taken this summer, in Yosemite valley.

Sigh. I love this picture too, but I’ll have to do a better job positioning the Frame boyz. 

God, I love these guys.

Four Christmas cards came in the mail today. These are the first two I opened:

Someone out there’s taking quite a bit of artistic license (a couple of someones).

I’m a blood donor. It’s one of the easiest things… and has such amazing, tangible, immediate benefit to people in need, sometimes dire need. That’s cool. I was sort of relieved when they told me my veins were too small to give platelets, only because that’s not as easy. It takes a few hours — nearly two of which are hooked up to a machine — and just seems like a much bigger deal. But a few months ago, one of the techs dispelled the myth of my small veins and thought I’d be a good candidate, so I acquiesced and did a platelets donation. I’ve probably bragged about this before. LOL.

They were so enormously thankful.. onsite as well as in follow up emails and voicemail messages. Really.. it was embarrassing how effusive they were. But it worked! I decided to do it again. My second appointment ever to give platelets was today.

You go through the same rigamarole as when you give blood — a lengthy questionnaire, a pin-prick blood draw to see if your iron is sufficient (ouch), the collection of other vitals, chit chat — then they hook you up, which takes a fair amount of time, as well. Platelet donators get heated blankets for the legs, heating pads for shoulders and forearm, and a heated bean bag to hold. One gets cold donating platelets.

Anyway, we go through all that and about 30 minutes in, the needle site really hurts, but I don’t say anything. The machine alarm goes off a couple of times and they make adjustments, and I just carry on. But on the third alarm, the tech looks under the towel at the needle site and says, “oh dear, it’s bruising,” and discontinues the whole operation. Somewhere along the line — due to small veins, likely — the needle poked the wall and stuff was leaking and this is not a good thing. It’s not earth shattering, but it stops a donation.

The good news: they collected enough platelets for maybe a baby.. so my effort was not for naught. And maybe the other good news — sorta — is I’m not a good candidate for platelets.

This is what platelets look like:

Gross, huh?

What they do is, they drain your blood into some collection vessel, the machine extracts the platelets (right there on the spot), and returns your blood to you. Not really sure how that’s done with a single needle prick… maybe a special needle? In any case, platelets are yellow.

The good part about donating platelets is you leave the center with the same amount of blood you came in with .. which is less a physical drain for people. So they say.

Still: I prefer giving whole blood.. so it’s back to that.

Aren’t these wonderful?

They are sea glass art pieces. I bought the one with the laundry line last year when visiting Lauren and Lucas in Mapleton. They took me to a gallery in the seaside town of Florence and I saw this sweet piece, loved it, and bought it. When Carrie and I drove through Florence a couple weeks ago, also on our way to see Lauren and Lucas, we returned to that gallery and I bought another one… the house under the tree. Almost too cute for me.. but it goes with the other one (which is the perfect level of cuteness for me).

A holiday funny:

Isn’t this just the coolest picture? I could stare at it all day.

:: You can’t even see Alcatraz.. but for a spec.

:: It shows so clearly the slot and why the winds and tides are so consistent (and excellent) for sailing in the bay.. especially the area between the Golden Gate and Berkeley.

:: Golden Gate Park is so big!

It was fun to discover a new open space place to hike.. Jim and I will need a few places to put in some hilly miles before next summer. Not too hilly, not too many miles.. but if we put on packs and take the trails at a good pace, we’ll get some good exercise out there.

Most of all, today was about seeing Carol and Bill. That doesn’t happen very often, so these meet ups are special. (It was especially fun to see her, as I’d spent some time recently with my nose in a journal written during the years we’d spent a lot of time together at UC Davis. Formative, self-absorbed, out-there years.) And here we are today: mature adults with most of a lifetime under our belts… hiking among the cow patties.

Life is beautiful that way.

Some pics:

I can’t place the year. The photo popped up on my phone on one of those photo collages set to music that the Apple universe treats me to, randomly, every day.

What I know is this: I’m grateful for Peter’s affinity for music. For playing music, that is. Self-motivated and self-taught, largely.

Nothing sweeter in the world than listening to Peter and Maya play and sing together. Humble and self-effacing, and utterly unabashed in sharing their latest song.. often something I know, like a Simon and Garfunkel song, or Fleetwood Mac. Their repertoire is growing. Would love to be a fly on their wall as they work out the chords and notes and lyrics, and practice together. It’s gentle. Sometimes funny. Always sweet.

As in… I’m starting to develop a complex.

I’m not a great cook. I’ve learned a lot over the years, especially the last 4 years or so since I started cooking more, motivated during the pandemic to tackle The Great Recipe Project and literally sorting, selecting and trying hundreds of recipes. But I’ve still got so very much to learn.

Lately, I’ve really been messing up. I thoroughly screwed up the dressing on Thanksgiving, I blew the chocolate mousse for my Dining Divas dinner last weekend, and today I scored a 1 1/2 out of 4 on my dishes for our hiking group annual holiday gathering.

As I mentioned yesterday, I tend to try new recipes on guests, which is a gamble. I would guess, overall, I have a more or less decent record of cooking for guests, but again, lately, man… a ton of failures. [Hangs head.]

The plan for today was a midday gathering, but instead of doing a normal sort of lunch, I thought a whole bunch of heavy appetizers would be fun. I had a bunch of unopened cheeses from Thanksgiving that were still good, and our usual marcona almonds, and Jim’s guac. I had nice crackers and a fresh baguette. And then I wanted to try a baked feta cheese with honey. Susan offered to bring a salmon mousse which I thought was a great addition! All that could be munched as we stood around the kitchen with some wine, but then I thought we could sit down and have these other things I wanted to try: an Alsatian cheese tart with bacon and onions, some Brussels sprouts with garlic and that celery-apple-blue cheese salad I wrote about yesterday.. still in the app category, but easier to eat at the table.

Here’s what happened.

:: The baked feta was blah. Absolutely nothing special, lacked flavor, and toughened as the cheese cooled.

:: I’d only done one or two puff pastries before, so thought the Alsatian cheese tart would be a good one to add to the repertoire, but it was a total fail, inedible. The pastry never cooked through, not sure why. Wasted all that good stuff.

:: I’d never cooked Brussels sprouts before but have been loving them, so thought it was time to try a simple implementation. I had no idea they’d brown so quickly, so sorta burned them on the stove (the recipe didn’t address the length of time to brown them). They were then to go into the oven to bake through, which they did, but they were quite burned and a bit soggy, if you ask me. Edible, but only halfway acceptable.

:: That celery-apple-blue cheese salad was well received. So yay.

1 1/2 out of 4. Ugh.

Susan brought bread pudding which was excellent and Jim made peanut butter cookies, which were perfectly wonderful.

And, you know… it’s not just about the food. Right? But I’m a little embarrassed by all my debacles. Gonna need some food successes soon.

Def no pics today.