Cabin Down Time

Not a whole lot going on in these parts. There's about 2-3" of snow on the ground and we're keeping cozy in the house. Kitty is content and happy. It's amazing how easily she can adapt to new surroundings. However, she was definitely anxious the 2.5 hours in the car but handled it a bit better than I expected because she panted only a couple of times rather than the whole time.

I got a bunch of books for Christmas and I brought them all up to read. I got Impounded a book of Dorothea Lange's photographs from the Japanese American Internment (what I'm currently reading the most), Autumn by Susan Branch, Messy Thrilling Life by Sabrina Ward Harrison, Scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements, How to Make a Journal of Your Life by D. Price, and Warriors Don't Cry an autobiography by one of the students who was integrated into North Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

I also got a couple of DVD's, Pirates 2 and The Lake House. Haven't watched them yet, though. Filling the days with other movies including Raising Helen, House of Sand and Fog, Sweet Home Alabama, Must Love Dogs and lots of miscellaneous tv shows.

We're here till at least the 2nd. Probably won't update much if any before we get back to the bay area since things are slow and there's no way to upload photos with our slow dial-up connection.

But I wanted to wish you all a very safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2007, here we come!

Post Christmas

We didn't get home till midnight Christmas night. A very full day since we left our house at 7:30am. Went to bed tired and happy. Spent the 26th cleaning and preparing for our week at the hideaway, which was postponed for a day. It's all good though because hopefully we'll just extend it another day at the end. All depends on work schedules though. This time we're taking our kitty, who has never been up there because she doesn't seem to like car travel much. She's a very mellow cat though, so hopefully she'll relax soon enough. We're certain that she'll like being with us for the week rather than by herself.

Here are a few pics of our Christmas day:
Jimmy's kitty-brother. He couldn't be left out of the action!

Niece trying her new electric scooter with dad watching nearby. You can imagine the grin on that girl's face. She was so excited riding up and down the cul-de-sac.

I've been enjoying the misc. ornament photos on other people's blogs, esp. Raggeds. Since we didn't put up a tree of our own, I took this photo at the parentals.

Favorite Christmas moment: when above niece climbed on my lap and we looked through the family calendar together. Also, when we first saw them on Saturday, her dad was in front of her to give me a hug. She quickly cut him off and said "I get to be the first one to give Madeline a hug!".

Upsidedown Christmas Tree

Now, I don't normally take photos of the inside of strangers home. But how could I resist a tree hanging upside down from the ceiling? Besides, I bet I'm not the only one who's taken a photo of their tree, afterall, they leave all their blinds open for all to see. Best to enlarge the photo since it's so blurry - hard to capture a detailed photo in the dark from the street in a moving vehicle.

Currently listening to festive Christmas tunes, including ones from Ragged, thanks so much! Oh Holy Night is one of my very favorite Christmas carols and I love both Jim Brickman's instrumental and Bing Crosby's traditional versions.

We're home for the evening after an intimate dinner. Food was fantastic. I don't eat pork tenderloin very often, but tonights may have been the best I've ever had. For dessert, we ordered a chocolate souffle. When the waiter brought it out, he said "I'll be back with some chocolate sauce". When he returned, he smiled, said "Chocolate sauce" then he broke the top of the souffle and poured the chocolate sauce in the steaming middle. It looked delicious. After he finished pouring, he said "I'll leave the rest of this here in case you want more. It's an espresso cabernet sauce." Um. Excuse me? Espresso cabernet is not chocolate sauce. Oh well, we enjoyed it nonetheless, despite the overwhelmingly alcohol flavor. And now we've got another one of those pukey cute couple's secret language sayings. Whenever we'll come across something that isn't what they say it is, we'll call it "chocolate sauce".

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Oh Holy Night.

Christmas Eve

Just finishing up the last family calendars. The printer is smokin' - it's been printing nearly non-stop for 3 days. Jimmy and I make 14 calendars each year, one for each household and one each for any nieces and nephews no longer in the roost. It's a tradition we've done since 1995. Love doing it, it's totally brings together all of my passions: scrapbooking, graphic design, photography and family.

Last night went to the parentals for an Eve before Christmas Eve dinner. Enjoyed the evening with 9 of the clan, playing rummicube, figuring out puzzles and eating Christmas cookies.

Today has been more solitary and surprisingly very enjoyable. I've been wrapping presents and folding and printing calendars all day while watching the Anne of Green Gables series. I haven't watched it in over 5 years and am totally enjoying it just as much as I ever have. It's so ultimately uncool, like Little House on the Prairie (which, incidentally, I loved watching, too - big surprise). Besides, Matthew reminds me of my dad. A sincere man who can pour his heart out without having to say a thing. So there. It also reminds me of my SIL who I just tavelled with and her daughter. 10 years ago we actually made the trek to Prince Edward Island together and saw the Green Gables house.

Our dinner plans with the Chancey's changed so Jimmy and I are off to the Plumed Horse in Saratoga for a romantic dinner alone in about an hour.

I wish you all the merriest of days!

Santa and his 4 hugegantic reindeer

The families in the part of San Jose that I live in do Christmas lights.This particular display required 5 families to work together. Four homes had enormous reindeer in front, and the 5th home (waay in the back, you can barely see) is Santa's sleigh. Enlarge the photo to see the details. You can see how big the reindeer are by comparing it to the car behind the 1st one. The cars drive under the reigns to get into their garages.

I'm sure the family of this house intended the reindeer to appear flying, but Jimmy and I laughed because it actually appears as if they're being lynched.

Another street lined their sidewalk with lumieres. And notice that all the homes have a single tree with colored lights and a single white light atop. Another neighborhood semi-secret tradition.

Slow Down

I was out and about today, scurrying around trying to get last minute errands done. I saw 3 accidents on the roads happen right in front of me. After the first 2, which were w/in a 1/4 mile of each other and near the mall, I realized I just need to take it slow today because it's 3 days before Christmas and no one wants to have an accident now.

So please everyone...while you're out and about the next couple of days, don't get in a tizzy because it's not worth it to save 10 minutes to get in front of the 5 cars ahead of you because an accident will cost you so much more than time.

I know I have a tendency to drive very fast and get frustrated on the freeways, but after seeing what was happening today, I'm certainly stepping back a bit.

Right Now

It's been raining and cold all day till now. Jimmy looked out the office window and noticed different hues of yellow so we stepped outside for a few moments. This is our sky.

No Grace in Graceland

I left Graceland feeling oddly saddened and I'm really not sure why. I expected kitchy and even tacky. And I love nearly all things pop culture. But being in the house that Elvis called his sanctuary was just...odd. It was a testament to his life I suppose, but I think that's what was so sad about it. Maybe I went in thinking the tackiness was just for show, for display only, to bring in the paying tourists. But his house portrayed his life: tacky. It was decorated that way because Elvis' life was bizarre. And being in that space really made me believe he was bizarre, not just a little eccentric. The man did amazing things to change our musical history. I truly enjoy his music. I'm not a superfan or anything, but I like his stuff. There's no doubt that he was a pioneer to "Bridge black music and white music, rhythm and blues and gospel with rockabilly and country". I have to believe that the bizarre Elvis took over when the drugs and alcohol also took over. Sad. A beautiful Georgian Colonial style house. It was built in 1939 by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore. Mrs. Moore named the house "Graceland" after Grace Toof, her aunt. Elvis bought Graceland in 1957 and lived there till he died in 1977.

The living room.

The billiards room. Pleated fabric covered the walls and ceiling.

The jungle room: an odd collection of unusual exotic furnishings and accoutrements. Yes, there was green shag carpet on the ceiling.

With all that said, I'm still really glad that I went. But as I've told nearly everyone who's asked since I've been back, I wouldn't recommend putting it on your top 100 list of things to do unless you are a superfan.

5 days

Time is the craziest thing. I've been home for 5 days, the exact amount of time that I was on the road with my SIL. But those 5 days felt like a month. The past 5 days felt like a day and a half. Why is that?

It's odd to me because I feel like I've been running around with my head chopped off trying to get so many things done for the holidays. But when it comes down to it, I haven't accomplished much. However, looking back at those 5 days on the road, it felt like time was standing still, yet we drove all the way across the country and saw so many things.

In the past 5 days at home, all I've accomplished is getting rid of a cold, restocking the fridge & pantry, going to a Christmas party, going to a fantastic holiday tea party, buying a few more Christmas presents, writing and addressing all my Christmas cards and starting the yearly family calendar. I haven't even blogged much since I've been home because I'm scurrying around doing this and that.

I could really use a big glass of sweet tea right now.

Sunrise leaving Amarillo, TX.

Updated States Visited

create your own personalized map of the USA

I originally posted this map in February, but now that I've added a lot more states to my list, I wanted to create another one.

I added 7 new states: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. If I had gone all the way with my SIL, I could have added the Carolina's.

In total, I've been to 39 states. I'm only missing: Idaho, Louisana, North and South Carolina, North and South Dakota, Michigan, Montana, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Kansas.

Day 5: New Albany, MS to Atlanta, GA then, unexpectedly, home 2 days early

Along the way, I caught a cold. I guess that'll happen when I have a propensity to get sick a lot and I've been traveling hard. So my SIL insisted that I fly home from Atlanta as the cold was just starting to fester, rather than wait 2 more days and have to fly home in full blown cold-mode. I'm so glad I did because I slept 10 hours in my own bed and after a few hours of night sweats, hopefully I've broken the fever. My throat is still scratchy, but I don't feel as congested. I just got off the phone with my SIL and she just crossed the border into Virginia so she'll be at her brother's in less than an hour from now. She did have to spend one night alone in South Carolina, but her drive into Richmond today is short and she dropped me off at the airport at 5 so we were able to spend most of day 5 together.

Mississippi:
We left New Albany around 8 in the pouring rain. We considered stopping in Tupelo, Elvis' birthplace and the Tupelo National Battlefield (continuing our National Historic Site tours) but it was raining so hard we just wanted to continue on. Essentially, Mississippi was just a place to sleep for us. Didn't get the chance to see much of the state, if there is much to see even.

Alabama:
We were driving away from the storm so by the time we got into Alabama, the rain was gone. The landscape was a little bit more interesting, more pine trees and rolling hills along with the barren, leaf-less trees of winter. Did however, see one house with a confederate flag and one truck at WalMart with a confederate sticker, but I still didn't feel uncomfortable being there because I know those people are in the minority, they just like to be outspoken about their beliefs. Birmingham seemed a little gloomy as we drove thru the big city. There was something just a little dismal about it that I can't pinpoint. Maybe because it's winter and everything in general was gloomy, but the city just seemed a little tired. However, we stopped to eat in Moody, Alabama just east of Birmingham and met the coolest lady. We ate at the Cracker Barrel (Yahoo!! Love that restaurant) and our waitress was awesome and so full of character. We started chatting with her about our drive and she asked us where we were from "cuz you don't talk like yur from here." After we told her we were from California, she chatted with us and said "well, you got no winders in California." SIL and I both look at her blankly and just shake our heads. She continues, in her very thick accent speaking very fast "We got a waitress here who's from California. She's been here for a few years now, but she always used to ask to service the window section. Finally, we told her: hon, we don't got a window section. All we got is a winder section." She was hilarious! Whenever she came back to service our table, bring us back some sweet ice tea (there is NOTHING as refreshing as southern sweet tea!) she'd tell us snippets of her life. Her 11 year old son, 22 and 25 year old son and daughter. Her sister, her mother and father and her dawg. Her dawg is a little rascal and chews and bites and her older old son tells her "Maw, you gotta be the alpha. You gotta teach that dawg that yur the alpha and yur in charge". She says to us "Now, I'm just a skinny ol' redneck, so I don't know what no alpha means. And her comes my son tellin' me that I gotta be the alpha." She was so cool, sharp-witted and tough as nails. And, believe it or not, we ate our healthiest meal at the Cracker Barrel: grilled chicken salads. Finally got some greens! Atlanta was still a couple of hours away, but we enjoyed our drive thru Alabama. The roads were good and we watched our speed and the truck drivers because our waitress told us "Them Atlanta truckers'll drive you off the road, an' our state troopers'll putcha in jail fer 10 days if they catchya goin' over ahunnerd so just keep an eye out for 'em". Before leaving Alabama, we saw the big Talladega speedway from the highway. Now I have to watch that movie "Talladega Nights". As well as "Sweet Home Alabama" again. Alabama was good to us.

Georgia:
And so was Atlanta. I only wish we had more time to explore this beautiful city. As we crested a hill from I-20, the beautiful Atlanta skyline appeared. It's a beautiful city. The architecture is amazing. But we only had time to go to the MLK Jr birthplace since we didn't get into the city till close to 4. Spent about an hour there and headed to the airport. I caught a 7pm flight out and my SIL continued on to S. Carolina for the evening. I felt bad leaving her alone, but she's familiar with that area so wasn't driving blind and she had her pup with her. I was home by 11:45 and in bed by 12:30.

Reflecting:
Driving cross country is an amazing experience, especially when you can do it with someone you love and truly enjoy spending the time with. There's a lot to see, but there's also a lot of down time sitting in a car just trying to make it from point A to point B. There are countless times when you're asking "Are we there yet?". But a trip like this really isn't a vacation because the days are long and arduous, trying to drive as many miles as possible yet see a few sights along the way so it doesn't get boring. Luckily, weather was on our side till we left Mississippi. We were glad that we went south rather than north thru Knoxville since that rain storm would have probably been icy or freezing rain. And we wouldn't have met the cool waitress in Moody, Alabama or seen Atlanta, as brief as it was.

I'm just so grateful that I have these amazing relationships with my in-law family. Being an only child and with both of my parents gone, I just feel so blessed that Jimmy's family is a part of my life. His family is my family and no one makes a distinction.

Day 4: Little Rock to ???

A lot happened today without nearly as much driving as the past couple of days.

It literally feels like we've been on the road for a month. When my SIL and I talk about Flagstaff and New Mexico, it feels like a lifetime ago. It was only Saturday, which was only 2 days ago. Insane.

Well, we're now in Mississippi. How'd we end up in Mississippi? Well, we're crazy, absolutely crazy I tell ya. We got a weather report that it was going to snow or icy rain in Virginia so, being Californians, decided to avoid that by adding just a couple hours to our trip. A couple hours is nothing in the grand scheme of this trip. So (Ginnie!) we're going to drive thru Atlanta tomorrow, but barely whiz by on our way to Spartanburg, SC. We will, however, stop at Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthplace, continuing our National Historic Park visits.

Today's National Historic Park was Little Rock Central High School, the first high school in Arkansas to require integration in 1957. Onward to Memphis to visit the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed. I came out of there feeling drained. Extremely moving, sad and poignant. A part of our American history.

Totally on the other side of that spectrum was our visit to Graceland. Well, I'm very glad I did it, really. I love pop culture. But, I'm not anxious to ever go again, nor would I really tell anyone "You HAVE to go to Graceland." Need to think about that more about why I felt that way. I'll let ya know when I post the pics.

As far as food, well, lemme just say that I could go for a big bowl of broccoli now. Had a tasty BBQ Pork sandwich in Memphis (also from the cool Roadfoods book). Gotta have bbq in Memphis, right? But dinner tonigt hit an all time low. Very anxious to just chill at the hotel and not leave the pup in the car by herself any longer, we...gasp...drove thru KFC and ate in the room. Really in desperate need of greens. Tomorrow, as much as we both enjoy trying funky local grub, will eat something green...besides jello. :-)

Day 3: Amarillo to Little Rock, AR

If you had told me 2 weeks ago that I'd spend a night in Little Rock, Arkansas before the end of the year, I'd bet lots and lots of ducats that you had lost my mind. I would have lost big time. I have to admit, I've enjoyed the travels thru "The Natural State" more than I would have ever imagined.

We left Amarillo early, before sunrise. We wanted/needed to get out of Texas. Have to admit, the sunrise was quite beautiful though. Texas is so flat, at least along the I-40, but surprisingly, I think it added to the uniqueness and beauty of the sunrise. (Even though it was about 14 degrees outside).

We ate at another amazing restaurant for brunch in Oklahoma City: Classen Grill. My SIL had this great book called Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern. They have a segment on NPR and a montly column in Gourmet Magazine. And this restaurant, along with where we ate for dinner, was among their favorites and did not disappoint.

After brunch, we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Site. Moving, sad and introspective. I'll write more when I can post my photos. I'm so grateful that I'm on this roadtrip and do these amazing things. We had to leave Oklahoma City relatively soon because our driving distance today was only 10 miles shorter than yesterday's. But happily, Oklahoma and Arkansas were good states for us. The scenery was a lot more interesting than Arizona and New Mexico. Funnily, there was a billboard in Oklahoma advertising wine. The big tag line was: "Like California, but less fruity." I was totally LOL. And, little known fact: Arkansas has had the best paved highways so far.

Weather was decent, 42-46 during the day but very windy. Lots of ominous clouds though. Hopefully, we will continue our good weather. Cold is absolutely acceptable, even sub-20. We do not want precipitation though. Especially icy precipitation.

Tomorrow: GRACELAND!!

Day 2: Flagstaff, AZ to Amarillo, TX

When we woke up this morning, there was frost on the windshield. Haven't had to deal with frost on the windshield since I lived in the desert! It was about 19 degrees when we woke up and left.

This was a very...VERY long driving day. It felt like we were never going to get to destination B. We drove thru the middle of nowhere. I thought I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I had no idea till today what the middle of nowhere really is. Essentially the same environment (desert) but much farther from the coast. When we were in New Mexico, there were a few plateaus that were scenic and certainly quite charming, but mostly, it was brown, flat and barren. I understand there are more beautiful places than the views from I-40, but for the most part, b.a.r.r.e.n. But SIL and I sang along to Justin Timberlake, Johnny Cash and the Dixie Chicks to pass the time. Also stopped at a few National Historic Parks and found an amazing diner/restaurant in Tucumcari, NM, where we originally thought everyone in town had been abducted by aliens because it looked like the town was completely deserted. Finally arrived in Amarillo, TX at 11pm. Tired and oh so very cold.

Tried to get a connector in Albuquerque for the cameras to download pictures but was denied.

Day One: Orange County to Flagstaff, AZ

I'm so mad at myself becuause I forgot my card reader. Might have to pick one up on the road. So for now, no pics. Truthfully though, I took very few photos, because we just drove thru the California and Arizona desert so far and I'm very familiar with how that looks.

Left Orange County a little later than expected, around 11:30, so we didn't get to Flagstaff till after 8pm. Stopped In Barstow for lunch at Del Taco (unknown fact: the Barstow Del Tacos are the best in the world. They started there!). Then got a National Park Passport stamp at the Mojave National Preserve while we were still in Barstow. Another little known fact (except by family) my husband and my SIL's husband (the brothers) were both born in Barstow, so this little stop was essentially a must for the women wed to brothers born in Barstow. Onward to Flagstaff...a good 4.5 hours from Barstow. Pup (to her new home on the east coast, thus the trip) in tow the 3 of us listened to mixed cd's till our next pit stop. After arriving in chilly (28 degrees) Flagstaff, we had dinner at Little America.

Tomorrow's destination: Amarillo, TX.

Amazing

I was reading Cate's blog and she wrote a post about her gdaughter and the fun times they have together.

Jimmy and I live far from our nieces and nephews. So we only see them a few times a year. But, as I said in Cates blog, it never ceases to amaze me how much love kids have to give. How easily our nieces and nephews run up and give us hugs and giggles and grab our hands whenever they need security.

It warms my heart.

I'm Going To Graceland

Im going to Graceland
Graceland
In Memphis, Tennessee
Im going to Graceland
Poorboys and pilgrims with families
And we are going to Graceland

In Graceland, in Graceland
Im going to Graceland
For reasons I cannot explain
-condensed from Paul Simon's Graceland

It's true, I'm going to Graceland. Sometime next week, I'll be traveling through Graceland en route to the eastern coast.

Graceland...Graceland...Graceland. I've never put any thought on Elvis' home but there's that word that always speaks to me: GRACE. Elvis was an icon of flamboyance, grandosity and splendor in the general public eye and it's hard to conceptualize GRACE with rhinestones, blue suede shoes and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Maybe I've missed something. I was only 9 when he died and music to me meant Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb, not the King of Rock and Roll. So while I'm there, I'll see if I can find the gracious Elvis. At the very least, I should get some awesome photos of Graceland at Christmastime! :-)

Image from Doctor Macro embellished with Photoshop brushes.

Turning on Word Verification

I've been blogging for a year and a half and I haven't had the need to turn on Word Verification, until now. I've received over a dozen blogger comment spams in the past week. More than I've had in the whole 16 months that I've been blogging.

So I'm turning on Word Verification.

Bah.

Don't Blink

We're now entering the fastest month of the year.

Blink and Christmas will be here.

We're at the cabin right now. We haven't been up here in 3 months. I think that's the longest we've been away since we bought this place in 1999. There's a little snow on the ground and it's cold, but the forecast for the rest of the weekend is clear. Time slows down when we're up here. Which is normally GREAT. And since we haven't been up here in so long, the cabin needed a bit of attending to so we couldn't put off our visit any longer. I just can't help but think of all the things that need to get done in the next 25 days.

I had hoped to do a bit of knitting for a Christmas present while we were here, but I injured my right arm somehow. So I'll just enjoy sitting by the warm fire and read a bunch of magazines.

Yellow flowers in the high country the last time we were here, early September.