SInce I'm at the beach...here are some photos

This is one of the last times I went diving. We were in Florida for a MONTH... little 50's style motel right on the beach in Key Largo. Our flight got in before the rooms were ready, so we just got into our suits, found a hammock and went to sleep in the shade. Right next door to Neptune's Hideaway, there was a fish place (great food)...down the road was the Fish House (WOW!!), Crabby's and a Publix mercado, so I actually could cook. Which I did. I reallyit was just the most romantic little trip. We stayed in this like to cook when we go on vacation. Grill some fish, grill some onions and fennel, have some cheese...how can life get any better?

We're on the boat and I'm grilling some oysters (for me) and some salmon for Mike (trying to steam wrap it with parchment, some butter, a little fresh dill, some salt and then wrap the whole thing in foil. Some fresh bread and a simple little apple and pear tart with table cream. All on the grill. Yum.

It isn't dark yet and I can see a couple of other boats with people on them. I'm just waiting for the coals to get hot enough to cook. I love it out here. The boats are all bobbing and it is still light enough to see the ripples in the water. I bet there are seals cruising under the water because it looks like something big is under there.






I bought some big chilies, so I'm doing Chile rellanos in the morning...here is my recipe:

4 whole poblano pepper, charred and seeded..you can cool of the heat by starting the cooking process in a George Foreman Grill and then charring it right on the burners of the stove. (That's how I do my tortillas, too. Flip them right on the burner)
1 cup cotija cheese, grated
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup crema Mexican (or sour cream, thinned with milk)
2 Tbsp. chipotle chile canned in adobo, pureed
salt and pepper

In a large mixing bowl, gently combine onion, the chipotle chiles, half the cheese, half the crema, salt and pepper. Stuff each chile with about a quarter of the mixture and place the stuffed chiles on an ungreased baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle the remaining crema over the chiles and top with the remaining cheese. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.

Takes no time at all and we get up so early anyway. This morning the dogs went crazy at four in the morning...I thought I heard Lisi holler "Mama!"..so naturally, I ran headlong down the stairs to see who was kindnapping my baby. Mike has a cooler head, and checked to see if she was still in bed. She was.

SO it was either a dream that the dogs and I were having together or Lisi called out in her sleep.

Mothering. It just never stops.

I am SO ready for the weekend

Long, long, very long week. I have the car already packed and I think we're going to sleep on the boat tomorrow night. Saturday, I'm going out in the kayak and go look at the tidepools on the bayside. No ocean going for me...and no blisters, either. I just need so REALLY quiet time to my own self. Too many people this week.

I did it! I did it!

I managed to cast on AND knit..well, it is sort of conceptual knitting..an entire swatch. Sort of roughly 5 x 5. Is that something or what? And yes, I can clearly see the multiple problems it has ( even when it is such a teeny tiny photo) but I'm going to pretend that this is just a SPED case and it simply needs some help. Since that is what I DO in real life, I bet I can help this little miserable thing along, too.

Plus, it is not my REAL yarn. It is just junk yarn. No need to torture my nice stuff. Notice the metal needles. I'm trying to save my bamboos for the nice stuff or they will refuse to work. Here is my nice stuff for my baby surprise sweater...which will be a BIG surprise if I manage to get it done without shredding the wool. Baby Jack will be talking in whole sentences by the time this gets done.

And keep in mind I am a ZEN knitter. I like knitting. I do not like a rompecabeza pattern that makes me want to bang my head. When I knit, I prefer not to think about much of anything. I like the sound of the air in my head, whooshing around.

I actually DO have legs

When I taught high school, I always wore either dresses or skirts beacause...well, because it sowas so LONG ago, we all wore skirts. When I was in college, we couldn;t even WEAR slacks on campus. WHich means if I ran to the bookstore for paper, they couldn't CHECK ME OUT. If I went to the ice cream parlor wearing slacks, they COULDN'T SERVE ME. And forget about wearing jeans. We couldn;t wear jeans on campus until the 80's. BYU. What can I say?

When I taught little kids, I always wore slacks because I was always on the floor.
Then when I went to the prison, I just always wore pants, too, because skirts were too provacative. (I work with violent perverts). But now, I'm not always in the classroom.

Sometimes I'm in front in meetings with the super duper top secret crypto Nato guys. I can wear skirts there. Sometimes, I'm doing program review or training or classification. I can wear skirts there...because I AM SICK of wearing pants everywhere.

But this weekend, I did some shopping and found THIS cutest gored skirt. Right length, modest, enough flare to cover up for those perverted peepers. But it was $395. That is three HUNDRED dollars and ninety five dollars. And it wasn;t made of anything special AND I wasn't impressed with the finishing or the hem.
So, here's the pattern. I'm going to make them my own self. Easy as pie. Really., I've made a gazillion skirts. Wore them all the time.
THEN I found this cardi/tank at a consignment shop. $12. CASHMERE AnnTaylor...$12...can you imagine? I can't even buy the yarn for that.

So I'm doing a black wool and the prettiest dark fog gray skirt, with a subtle cross hatching of grays in it...cutting them out tonight. I stopped at this great fabric store in SLO...I don't even know the name...but I can find it again! They have really lovely stuff and it is always a pleasure to work with quality fabrics.

Speaking of yarn, my quest for knitting is still on going. I can't cast on YET but I'm getting closer to figuring it out. It's two sticks and a string..how flipping hard can it be? I figured out my PCR reports for SacCity..okay, 19 days late..but they were right at the end and they're as square as a box with four corners, right this minute. So I know I can re-learn this.

And I have a feminine gun belt to wear with this, so don't think I'm going to wreck the lines with my gear. (Ha! feminine gun belt. Sorta an oxymoron).

I'm doing program reviews all this week. These dudes are seriously scary. Scary enough to be shackled and have somewhere between 2 and six escorts. When the only prison/bad guy experience you have is CSI, L&O and The Closer, it is hard to even imagine what it is like.

Take the scariest thing they can come up with on tv? No comparison. If they made a tv series about the reality, you wouldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Even Oz doesn't come close. And forget about Prison Break. Compared to reality, it is a comedy. WAY off the reality grid.

It wasn't all about headaches

I actually did get out and about this weekend! I usually just hermit up...read, knit, cook. We met friends out at the Marina and had dinner on Friday night, as a storm was blowing in. (First day of fall).

After all of the summer heat, it was sort of nice to see the clouds. As storms go, it wasn't much---just enough to rock the boat and make you feel all safe inside. This morning, we went out to shoot...it was wet and miserable, but I managed (yay for me!!) to keep my spot (3rd) on the team. AND IT IS NOT AN OLD LADY TEAM. It is a real team. And it's not that I'm really any good, it is that I don't really care and I have no testosterone on the line. I think that helps my aim. Plus they have really good coffee. REALLY good. But that's why we want to come over to the coast to shoot. All we have in the Central Valley is dirt.

Then, because the weather was nice today, I went for a walk down from the hill, along the shoreline. (Tide was out. Lots of mud. Not overly picturesque.) Next week, though, I think I'm going to go to the tide pools and take photos. Unless the weather is really miserable. I've noticed a lot of sponges down at the dock, so I think maybe I can find some in the tide pools. I might go out in the kayak, unless it is rough..because there is a whole lot that you can't see from this side. Lots of stuff to dig around in from the water side. And yes, I do wear my life jacket, even though it looks stupid. And no, I'm not paddling OUT past the rock...I'd get blisters. I'm doing the nice little floaty, look at the birds and think my own quiet private thoughts little outing.

I did see the turkeys out on the golf course...they run wild on this side of town. We had turkey's when I was a kid...they are mean tempered, territorial, pecky and not at all entertaining up close. But across the road, they were sort of fun.

Then I spent MOST of the day trying to get my knitting to work. I'm re-learning. It is REALLY harder now but I have great hopes that it will one day just bingo! in my head. I also spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get my Palm Pilot to work. I think it will be easier to just write stuff on my hand in the long run....but I might be able to figure it out. It's the SAVING part I'm having problems with.

I need to go inside the perimeter with as little personal stuff with me as possible. That means no ID, no credit cards, no business cards, no planner, no phone numbers. Too easy for them to get lifted or lost. NOT that it has happened to me (yet). I'm doing a week (A WEEK) rotation with mental health. We do some serious program review and I'm the educator who can actually translate scores into English. So far, I can chat with the borderline psychos, sociopaths, the 1-60's and the firestarters (you don't want to know). Just by looking at their scores, I usually can tell about when they went off course. Well, at least in school. The rest of their twisted little life...I have NO idea.

Last week, I thought I was going to Pelican-canceled; then Q-canceled; then Sac-canceled. Obviously, I am a minor little player and if the big guns have something else to do, they certainly don't need me hanging around. As you can imagine, I keep a carry bag packed all the time so I at least have something to sleep in, my own soap and my favorite snackies.

This is it exactly....inside my head with the speakers on REALLY LOUD

Crazy, wild week with the ferals

I have never had so much confusion and yelling go on in my life. Every time I turned around, some big drama was going on..alarms, sirens...along with the general clamour and bedlam that makes up my day. I did some training this week...and I LOVE it but it totally throws me off my game.

Then,I was held over for AN HOUR---for what, I don't know. Don;t ev

I really thought I would be redirected (let loose) around one but I didn't get home until almost four, which made it six-thirty by the time we got to the boat...and the second I got out of the car, I could just feel myself melt. Boy, do I need this!

Our marina is very secluded, private and quiet. Out of maybe 200 boats, I can see lights on just two others...so it is like being on a private island. It is dark outside but the moon is bright enough to see the ripples in the water. It is just overwhelmingly peaceful. There is just the lightest mist of rain and it is just the exact kind of weather I really love...not so cold you are freezing, but cold enough to cuddle up against the chill.

The cabin is tiny, so it only takes a little while for it to warm up....and at the far end of the marina is a restaurant...great fish and chips, great clam chowder and really great desserts, so of course, no cooking tonight. I'll go to the market tomorrow and maybe even do some baking for next week. Banana bread and blueberry muffins. And lots of decent coffee.

I think that if it is stormy tomorrow, I'll go over to the house and knit but if it sunny, I'll just sit on the deck and read. I just need to unwind myself from this bundle of knots. It has been a very long week.

It is so odd that I can run 100 miles an hour all week and it is only now, at the end of it even realize how much I crave this peace? I work with a very needy and demanding feral population and at the end of the week, I am surprised that there is anything left of me at all.

Just knowing that I can sleep on the boat tonight and then have coffee on the deck...beyond tranquil.

Oh, I am so in love with myself!

First name? Lately, I've been calling myself "Winter" since my last name is unpronounceable by inmates.

Were you named after anyone? If you are referring to my real name, I was named after 19% of all Irish girl babies. The others are named either Mary, Margaret, Mary Margaret or Margaret Mary.

When did you last cry? I think crying is good for you. I especially like crying over country western songs on the way to work.

When did you last get mad? I spend a lot of time forcing people to bend to my will, so I don't get mad--too much effort if you do it every day! I do get miffed and there is a lot of throwing up my hands and sending men home to cool off. I have gotten it down to the poimt where if I call them "my friend", the guys know that I have been pushed as far as I intend to be pushed. I have learned a lot of people skills here and have learned that (surprise) it's not always about me. Well, it's MAINLY about me.

I did get really mad about a 22 days ago, RAISED my voice THREE times and then tossed the whole bunch out. Now, when I get a new guy in and he hasn't realized that I really mean it when I say he can't swear in front of me that I really mean it. So that part of it is fixable.

But day to day? I have a lot of guys mad at ME. Whole bunches of them.


Do you have a journal? My blog and a hard copy one (since I was 8. Pretty boring) But I sort of like the person I see evolving..and I have led such an amusing life. And yeah-you ARE probably in it.

Would you bungee jump? I would and I have.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Rocky road, but the marshmallows have to be real.

Shoe size? Size 7, almost.

Red or pink? Red and spiked

What is the least favorite thing about yourself? I'm a cynic. And because of my work, I think everyone is lying to me, getting ready to lie to me or have lied to me but I don't know it yet. We call it "getting up on your leg". Then there is the flip side, where I just trust people to be real and true and trust-worthy.

Who do you miss the most? I miss Marji (whom I talk to every day), Pat and Alicia. And Marnie. And me, sometimes.

What color pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing? Black, white, barefoot. I sort of had an explosion in my closet so there isn't a whole lot left.

Last thing you ate?? A raspberry truffle...someone delivered it to me at work, so I figure somebody wants something that they are pretty sure I don't want to do

What are you listening to right now? "Cocaine Blues"

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle

Favorite scents? Roses. Coconut. Cotton in a trailer. The way a walnut orchard smells in November. A haystack. The smell of a tractor...sort of oily and dirty and green, all at once. The top of a baby's head. The way the morning smells out on the ocean. The rain on parched ground. Tule fog.

The first thing you notice when you are attracted to someone? Eyes. I liked to know if someone is at home. And the smile wrinkles..it is important to know that he's had something to smile about..because I have

Favorite drink? Coffee. with cream. In the morning on the front porch.

Favorite sport?

Scuba diving...and I love the planet that I see there. Once, I saw thousands of flat sand dollars, laid out like coins spilled from a pirate ship.

Another time, I saw thousands of strawberry starfish. I've seen sharks (yikes), barracudas (double yikes), sea turtles and the first free dive I made, I found a sea urchin the size of my fist. Cold water, warm water, storm or calm sea...it is always an amazement

I love the trip out in the early morning and the way we all are busy getting our gear organized and on. Divers are incredibly giving, so there is always someone to help yank your gear around for you. And while I'm not diving to kill something, I love it when I'm out with a bunch of Japanese divers, because I know lunch is going to be fabulous.

Eye color? Knock out blue

Movies? Any IRA movies where stuff blows up. The bigger the better. Bruce Willis and Steven Segall, because you always know what you are going to get. Oh, and any of those football/baseball/basketball/swimteam ones. I love those, too.

Hugs or kisses? Hugs. I don't like too much invasion of my personal space. Unless of course, I'm kissing. Then I like that best. Nothing that invades me too fast. I'm a slow gal.

What books are you reading? Right now, I'm reading Where The Red Fern Grows to my students. I think I've read it out loud maybe 30 times. I'm not at the crying part yet and every time I read it, I think "this time I can get through it". Never happens. When I read to the guys I work with now, they are touched and embarrassed and worried because by the end, I am sobbing. They don't get a lot of enotion in prison, unless it is just testosteroni anger, so I just flip them out.

Favorite sounds? Running water. The hay truck. Trace Adkins. Opening doors. Slamming gates. The sound of the very quite and sneaky dogs trying to get up on the bed. (It used to be the very quiet and sneaky babies...so I guess things never change

Furthest you've been from home? Ireland and Columbia. (I drove to Columbia and turned around when there were guys with machine guns at the border. It was sort of a spur of the moment trip).

What's your special talent? I have a really good imagination

Attached or single? Very muchly attached

Best Friend- Marji and Pat...I talk to them every day

Cake or Pie- neither one blows my dress up. Too much sugar

Essential Items- Moisturizer, eyelash curler, lip gloss and some sun. I can get ready and out the door as soon as I find my shoes

Favorite color- turquoise

Gummi Bears or Worms- Can I just choose licorice?

Hometown- Porterville, CA

Indulgence- Facials and pedicures

January or February?- February....closer to spring

Kids- 4: Keri, Julie, Ben and Lisi

Life is incomplete without- the dogs laying around

Number of Siblings- Two sisters and a brother we adopted cause he fits so well with our family. When my husband dies, he and I are going to take a cruise down the Amazon. We used to live two blocks from each other and worked at the same school, right next door to each other. Besides my kids, he is the easiest person to say "I love you" to....and we have never had a fight. At least not with each other. He is my flip side.

Oranges or Apples?- man-eating oranges

Phobias/Fears- creepy crawlies

Favorite Quote- "It's not good, it's not bad, it just is"

Reason to Smile- when my kids descend on me with the mess and the noise and the babies and the dogs

Unknown fact about me- My life is an open book..no secrets here! (Easier that way).

Worse Habit- worrying. No, fretting.

Your Favorite Food- sushi AND sashimi

Zodiac- What sign was I born under? "Closed"

Ever have a near-death experience?
I saw the Angel of Death once. He didn't look like John Travolta, so I didn't go.

What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?


Any celeb you would marry?
Nope. Too much drama and bad photos.

Name someone with the same birthday as you:
Jimi Hendrix.

Do you have a crush on someone?
Yep. Always

Have you ever been in a fight?
Does a riot count?

Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?
Who hasn't?

Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Yep...Ann Jillian.

Do you wear a watch?
I don't ever need to know what time it is.

Do you have anything pierced?
Just my ears...double pierced.

Do you have any tattoos?
I have one planned...

Do you like pain?
I just had a new shoulder put in. Pain, I am well acquainted with. IT HURTS.

Do you like to shop?
My idea of torture. I wish I could just think of something and have it teleported in.

What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
I bought some lipstick...

What was the last thing you paid for with a credit card?
I've sworn off credit cards.

Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
Elyce

What is on your desktop background?
Beautiful blossoms from my garden

What is the background on your cell phone?
Background? You can have a background?.

Do you have any weird relatives?
Isn't that the way they come?

What was the last movie you watched?
Oh, Rescue Me!! I love the whole firefighter/high drama/craziness of it

Did you or are you planning to go to college?
I did. Have an MA in Math from UCLA and another one in Spanish from USC. That's enough chair sitting for me. I have an accounting degree, too. I still can;t find my shoes in the morning

What is your favorite pair of pants that you own?
I have a pair from college that are so worn and so soft and still fit. Well, if I stand on my head.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Idaho, maybe. Or on Santibel, on the water. Or maybe Morro Bay. They have the best clam chowder.

Okay..running is not for me

Gravity is so not my friend. I haven't done all those push ups so that I can jog everything down...so the running is totally out. I did the stair climber last night and this morning (I am focused when it comes to my vanity) and then climbed the teirs at lunch. Nothing like trotting up and down metal steps to make lunch look like too much trouble.

I'm taking my bike to the coast and plan to bike to the grocery store, down to the Marina and over to friends. We live on a hill over by the golf course, so at least half of the trip will be uphill. Of course, the other half will be me careening wildly down the hills. When I first started teaching, back when Mick Jagger was young, I rode my bike to work until it snowed. I don;t remember it being a big huge deal. I lived in a fifth floor walkup, too...and I remember trotting up and down those stairs to visit friends all the time....and I bet I can do it again.

You know what they say; we can have it all, just not at the same time. Well, I REFUSE to trun into a dumpy little old lady. And forget about me thinking I'm middle aged....I passed that day a long time ago, unless I am going to live until I am 150. See that back? That's gonna be MY back. (Poor little thing proably only has enough energy to sit in that little ribbon thing, lol)

I wore my favorite capris today..the ones that make me feel like Audry Hepburn. Unfortunately the pharmacy now has security camera where you can watch yourself? These are going straight into the trash. Why I thought they were so cute, I do not know. I DO have a mirror in my room...I guess I just am looking at myself selectively and only seeing the selective parts I like!!



So envision the sweater in cashmere (I'm almost done with it..I didn't knit it; got the knitted fabric at Sawyer Brooke and am doing the handwork on it now...easy peasy pattern. I couldn't find one I really liked, so I sort of made it up, using one of my gardening sweaters for the pattern. Sorta.) It is longer and the tank is shorter...and the jeans are actually tailored pants...BUT LOOK AT THOSE SHOES! Aren't they the cutest? These are not walking around shoes. They are barely even walk into a meeting shoes but gosh! aren't they the cutest? They are more like toss them off at the door shoes, in my opinion. I'm treating myself to shoes and pocketbooks as I drag myself back to unfrumpyland.

I think I'll get a tattoo when I get my ass back where it belongs.

It just sucks getting older!

Tripping down my staircase today I noticed that my heretofor perky ass was at least an inch to the south.

Mike had taking some auction photos and instead of taking the photos of lovely wife holding on the top piece, he just caught me from my upper lip to my collarbone. Wake up number two.

Then suddenly the pants I always were to work, were snug and just a tag wrinkly AND the white shirts I always wear, with a tank or a t-shirt underneath just looked grimy today., I had nice jewelry on,,,but even that didn't help.

SO..and this might sound a tad crazy, I went through my entire closet and If I DIDN'T just love it, off it would go,. Same with the shoes and the scarves. If I'm not having a Christie Brinkley moment, I'm not hanging it back up.

At least I have good nails and skin still....but my clothes just were not operating for me.

I just need Black/white/maybe a little yellow or red/ some gray.

And I have to exercise even even more , Because I am not going to turn in to one of those middle aged women who just look sort of solid and square. I just hope I have enough time on the planet to fix myself!

So now I am on the lookout for great pocketbooks and quirky shoes that don't hurt my feet.

And adult jewelry...or at least stuff that is pretty.

Baby surprises

I ordered yarn for this Baby Surprise for Ruthie's baby...and the video, too. I KNOW I can figure this out. I had made a different little sweater (my cuff to cuff one) in a variegated stripe...cute but so, so wrong for rugged little Jack. So this "Ranier Mountaintop" will have to fit a bigger-than-newborn baby...because my speed leaves something to be desired!

I'm working on a baby sampler for my friend Cher...she is expecting her first girly grandbaby and is over the moon. I am almost done...had to rip part of it out because I didn't like the "I" in Iliana. Picky, I know. But this is the one and only Iliana, so it has to be right.

I did manage to finish the baby seat cover for MY new grandbaby, Davis. So of course, I had to find a book to send to Brandon, so he wouldn't feel left out. Boy-o gave to book a once over and approved--I guess I can still pick out okay books for little boys!

Our contract has not been ratified yet and it looks like we're going to get another two weeks of "surprise!" days off. The only downside is that we only get a three day lead time; too short to plan to go anywhere.

We want to go to Florida for the time we have at Christmas..not Christmas Day, but during that two weeks, for my birthday. I'd like to go out in the kayak in the Everglades, since that is about the only thing I can do right now. Dr. Migraine told me yesterday that I am grounded from diving until he gets my head fixed. I guess he doesn;t want me to have a stroke at 90 feet. Given a little thought (after all the swearing), I agree with him. Grudgingly.
I gave it up for my shoulder for an entire year and had really thought I would be AT LEAST doing weekend dives in Catalina. Instead, I am stuck on the deck with my knitting. Okay, but not what I had planned.

Two training sessions planned for me; well, maybe. A week in Sac City (too long, too much sitting and too lonely) for curricula writing...exactly as boring as it sounds. A week in Pismo (again, too long, too much sitting and too lonely). There are more that look promising...Bakersfield for a week.and another at Delaney in San Francisco (the Fairmont) and a week in Monterey (I hope I get that one. I love the hotel they put us up at...and I love eating out every night....EVEN by myself. The balcony looks out over an cemetery where a herd of deer live..so in the morning, I can sit out in my robe, sip my coffee and watch the deer and the humming birds.) Lucky for me, I have friends in all these places, so I can look forward getting together with someone besides Munch and Eliot.

Right now, we are signing up for every kind of training possible--the window is open and the money is available. Of course, it sort of depends on when the DOE GETS the applications. We are all in competition with all of the other institutions and all the other teachers....and I know that new teachers need a shot at training more than I do. I just need to get away. As much as my students entertain me, I do get really tired of the amount of cajoling I have to do. They are as demanding as feral kinders.

Well, that is it for me tonight. Back to my cross stitch. Tomorrow, I have to fix a program on my computer. It is either corrupted or has two teeny bugs and I got an email from HQ with a big fit. I don't know why they bother. Just make up something. It's not like it's going to make any difference.

Oh, I'm chairing a WASC committee. It is a big professional deal. It is really a thankless projects, consisting of addressing pointy-eared blow hards...but it gets me out of the classroom. It is a thousand hour project and I get to travel...ON A PLANE. They are serious about accreditation and I have to go to the Feds in San Diego. I love going to the Feds; they have great meetings, cool stuff to take home and sweatshirts. I want one that says Federal Agent or Forensics. Shoot, I want to wear the FBI one on the plane.

Widgets

I wanted to join a couple of blog rings...I have the code but have not idea of how to stick the code into this blog so that it shows up. I feel like a total idiot. I can;t get my Palm Pilot to work, either, so I am still writing stuff on my hand. At least I can't lose it.

No rest for the wicked and I have been bad bad Very Bad

No headache yesterday...and it was marvelous! Freeing! Glorious! Far better than fabulous., I felt like Brittney on the top of her game.

Got up this morning at 5, filled with love for my fellow man...early morning for me is just the best. The sky, the air--all so fragrant. Another chance to get it right, since the day isn't old enough to have me foul it up yest. Little sewing projects all organized and ready to go for when I get home.

Obviously the universe had other plans for me.

Giant 0-60 migraine at 5:14. I took my 'rescue" medicines which I could have stuck in my eyelid and done as much. I didn't cry, since I was so past that. Went to the clinic and shot up with some new stuff, with a warning that I was NOT to drive. (very little persuasion there. No desire to go anyway but home).

Took a nap most of the day, when I woke up with the worst of all headache. Puking, not crying, so it is a step down from the famous Migraine of last week. However this one was pretty intense, like the last moments of childbirth.

I call and BEGGED for another shot., "What would you like" Rat poison sounds good. Ground glass. Whack me on the head with something heavy, there in the exam room.

Go shop up again with I'm not sure what, no do I care. Arsenic sounded good to me.

So now I have blessed relief. My eyes are crossing but so far no hallucinations.I feel much better. If I was a surgeon, I would specialize in Migraine and I'd be called Dr. Migraine. I would be one kick ass diagnostician.

On the flip side, I've started Cher's baby sampler. After this, I'm starting a Baby Surprise sweater for baby Jack, I had the yard specially dyed for him and it is verigated, just for him.

Ruth and Evan have the best "theme"names for those kids and I just love them to bits! I am very close to Ruthies' mom...but Ruthie and her perfect babies just strike a chord with me. She is giving them strong names that might not be au currant but these are passionate, meaningful..always a good thing in life.

Then in two weeks, Inky and I are hitting Yanology in Arroyo Grande. Inky is a totally unique person. She has honed her skills so they actually work out for here and dresses like Whoopie Goldberg--totally true to herself. Another dear, dear friend. The first time I ran into her was in Yarnology...and THERE she was.

Well, I learned something last night

All you people who "party hard"?
I know what that means now.
It is a secret code phrase for "I puked all night".

I don't drink. Well, I drink so seldom that it can be considered almost never. I had A peach cooler the day after I had my daughter, almost 20 years ago. I had a glass of champagne when Natalie got married, 9 years ago. So while I do drink on occasion, it has usually got to BE an occasion.

So yesterday, I thought maybe, instead of drugging myself out of headache, I thought maybe I would just have a glass of wine. I'm in the middle of California wine country...surely it comes with the territory. I checked all my pill bottles and made sure that I was outside of my dosage times. Then I had a dinky little bottle (from one of those four packs) of some kind of apple margarita kind of thing. Tasted like zippy apple juice. I didn't even FINISH the bottle before I started the worship of the porcelain.

Party hearty, indeed.

48 things that make a difference only to my friends

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Chloe

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? If you are referring to my real name, I was named after 99% of all Irish girl babies. My middle name rhymes with my older sisters middle name.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last Thursday. I had a really bad headache

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I have very lady like handwriting and the grocery clerks always comment on how pretty it is.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Tuna

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Indeed...and I have friends that I've had for 40 years.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?My blog and a hard copy one (since I was 8. Pretty boring)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Nope, removed at age 17.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I would and I have.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Fruit Loops

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I don't think I own shoes with ties anymore.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? On occasions. Stubborn is more like it.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Rocky road, but the marshmallows have to be real.

14. SHOE SIZE? Size 7, almost.

5. RED OR PINK? Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm a cynic. And because of my work, I think everyone is lying to me, getting ready to lie to me or have lied to me but I don't know it yet. Then there is the flip side, where I do believe the good in everyonel

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I miss my friends Marji (whom I talk to every day), Pat and Alicia.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yes, hold on while I get you my "special" e-mail address....

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black, turquoise, barefoot

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Crab salad

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? ER Season 1

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blueberry

23. FAVORITE SMELL?Roses

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My daughter.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yep. I ran into her at YARNOLOGY and recognized her from her blog.

27. FAVORITE DRINK?Coffee.

28. FAVORITE SPORT Scuba diving...and I love the planet that I see there. Once, I saw thousands of flat sand dollars, laid out like coins. Another time, I saw thousands of strawberry starfish. I've seen sharks (yikes), barracudas (double yikes), sea turtles and the first free dive I made, I found a sea urchin the size of my fist. Cold water, warm water, storm or calm sea...it is always an amazement

29. EYE COLOR? Knock out blue

30. HAT SIZE? Medium, I guess.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Sushi!

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Mystery for me. I like to figure out whoduit. And kooky movies. And any IRA movies. Oh, and any of those football/baseball/basketball/swimteam ones. I love those, too.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? In the winter in my home town, it is foggy. In the summer, it is 117. So I like the 2 weeks of summer and the 3 weeks in November

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs. I don't like too much invasion of my personal space.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Rocky road ice cream.


40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I am in love with Henry the VIII's wives. Can't get enough of them. I did all the Phillippa Gregory's and am now into Norah Loft. I don't care if they are real or not.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? Wireless

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Wind That Shakes the Barley. (Mi Da was in the IRA in 1920).

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Running water

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Ireland and Columbia. (I drove to Columbia and turned around when there were guys with machine guns at the border.)

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Organizational skills.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Porterville, CA

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Found at Inky Knits


And from "Today's Funny Work Lines" file:

What would you book a defendant whose nickname is "Satan" with?

wait for it....


COUNT 2: 666 PENAL CODE (PETTY THEFT WITH PRIOR JAIL TERM), FELONY

Morro Bay

I downloaded photos today...the horses and the birds are from today. Truly, it is almost impossible to take a bad photo here. The morning fog softens all the hard edges and every sunset is different. The marina one is taken from the spit, across from the boat. And of course, since this is a bird sanctuary, there are no end of bird photos...having a digital camera makes it so easy to delete the (many) bad ones!

I know how lucky I am--a boat and my teeny beach house with such wonderful views. The Central Coast is by no stretch of the imagination the Caribbean or the Gulf or Baja, but it has it's own lure...mainly the weather is always better here than at home.

It is so much more mild and beach-y than the weather at home-which hits 113-117 in a heartbeat. Unless you water A LOT, everything turns brown.

Now, brown is not terrible...it is just hot and dried up looking up close. Far away, like on the hills, it is actually quite lovely and looks like a wheat colored velveteen, stretching for miles on the undulating hills. But in real life, it is hot, itchy and weedy!


Next week, we are going to the air show in Paso and I'm taking the very end part of my cross stitch..super simple gift for a new baby (for a dear friend). And a fold out chair. I haven't been to an air show since I discovered I was pregnant with Girlie.


I really love cross stitch, almost as much as knitting. My friend Inky is going to help me with my knitzheimer's issues. I haven't given up...not quite. I'm going to start on Zimmerman's Baby Surprise to start with. Here is a photo of said project I swiped off the internet...it is all garter stitch, with just a teeny bit of seaming for Jack Ranier. I'm thinking some kind of variegated green or blue. since just plain blue or green won;t show off the unique pattern. For his sister, I did a soft as a cloud pale green, for her middle name, Sequoia. I wanted to do something that reminded me of early spring in the mountains and was quite happy with the outcome. Jack, however, had a rainbow striped sweater waiting for him that was wrong, wrong, all wrong for him. So the Baby Surprise. Cross your fingers that I'm smart enough to do it!

Visit to mi cudendero

I went to my cudendero, who is trained in hueseros and sabaderos...sort of a holistic massage therapist/chiropractor. I really feel much better. Now, while I HAVE gone to a bruja blanca at a botanica when my children were little, this guy is not a bruja.

He just gave me a deep muscle massage and managed to get my hips level, my jaw fixed (TMJ) and yanked my head around. I feel so much better....and I got an unexpected shot today.

Dr. Migraine explained to me that my headaches are so severe (wow! what a surprise!!) that the pain scale doesn't work for me. He took my pain assessment and is going to do an overlay to see if he (well, probably someone who works there who knows how to program this) can see how the blood pressure (which is the only thing I am personally worried about) correlates with how bad I hurt. And a 1-10 scale falls far short of my own personal headaches.

However, I am sure that either Dr. Migraine or mi cudendero or a combination of the two can fix me. I have a LOT of things planned and a stroke isn't one of them.

On the up side, the kitchen cupboards have all be scrubbed and reorganized (Boy-o's doing). The whole house has bee vacuumed and dusted. I have bookcase almost done...it is a LOT more involved that I thought it was...I have LOT of books! Even by bagging up my 'not best" books...I want to keep them but they just fall short of my display books, I have a ton.

And I still have the office.....and the tax paperwork....and my closet.....all for another day.




I have a cross stitch for a new baby for a dear friend to finish this weekend at the beach. Sitting on the patio with the humming birds and the ocean...can it get any better?

Those trees are on the edge of the golf course and is where we can see the fog creeping up to our end of town. The Rock is just a never ending panorama...the sky is a thousand shades of blue every day.

And the hummers are no end of entertainment.

Early Morning here

Darling couldn't sleep, so we have been up for hours. Both little dogs need to be clipped, so I hauled out the scissors to attack the worst bits. They now look as if I held them in the garbage disposal in a fit of pique. Rocket will go in in a week or two once the rawness of the raggedy cut grows out. Matt...well, we'll see. He hates getting his hair cut and the whimpering and howling (ooooooo00000) would really get on my nerves. Maybe I can give him a doggie tranq so he won;t mind it so much. They both look like they have joined the Marines.

I am vacuuming with my Dyson today, upstairs and down. It is so efficient that while it doesn't put hoovering in to the fun category is certainly amusing. Nothing like dumping the dirt from the floor into the trash to make you feel as if you HAVE DONE SOMETHING.

I did the OCD-tiny-bit-anal cleaning of the downstairs yesterday....vacuum, sweep, vacuum, mop, vacuum and the mop again with a totally different mop and boiling water. The bathroom even got doused with boiling water and all rampant cooties are dead.

Boy-o is coming over tomorrow to clean and tidy up my kitchen cupboards, since I am of the close your eyes and put it away ilk. He will take everything out, wipe off the shelves and then tidily stack it all up. Every time he does this, he tells me that when he is into his own little house, he is raiding my cookware, since 8 little soup pots are too many for one person who doesn't cook. He might be right.

Lunch out with my friend Val at Panera's...so I have to get going...finish the dogs and take photos, since the fun of blogging is looking at the photos of other people's lives.

Happy Birthday, Boy-o!

We finished the first season of RESCUE ME and then Girlie drove over to pick him up...they were going to the early movie. He came over to visit, since they had, oh, NINETY MINUTES and when she said she was coming back with KFC, he said he was having lunch here.

Then he rented HEROES, which I never even started....and he's come over tomorrow to give us the rest of our fix. Not all, mind you, since the first season has 26 hours and I think we can cram in MAYBE 5.

I have an appointment with my cudandera, who is sort of a Mexican witchdoctor kind of massage therapist/chiropractor/bone crusher kind of healer. I'm trying him out for my migraines. I am pretending that the migraines are independent of ME. I am sick of defining myself via these headaches. They have just too much power over my life, so I am done with talking abut them. There is only so much whining even I can stand to listen to.

So today, I listed 14 16mm movies and tomorrow, I am going to list a bunch other other junk. There is just only so much stuff I can keep dusting here!

I have also decided that if Neanderthals could figure out HOW to knit, I certainly figure out how to knit again. And that is that with that. There is a navy blue baby sweater in my future. His name is Jack Ranier and the little rainbow strips just aren't right. Trust me. Totally wrong.