Tourists and Travelers

I like to think I'm a traveler, not a tourist. Something that a fellow travelling companion once said drew the line very clearly between a tourist and a traveler for me. Tourist's say things like. "I'm not eating at another restaurant unless the menu is in English." Why even bother leaving the country if everywhere you go you expect it to be just like the U.S.?

A traveler once said, "If you find something is not to your liking, change your liking." Travelers immerse themselves in the unfamiliar and relish the differences. I wouldn't say anyplace is bad, just different. And I wouldn't think of potentially offending someone with some thoughtless comment about their customs, their lifestyle, their country.

When travelling you just have to roll with it. There are going to be crowds (of tourists) who areloud and obnoxious, and who don't respect the land they are visiting, who are inconsiderate of those around them, and who think they are somehow more important than everyone else on the planet. I have little tolerance for these people, but I try not to let it affect me and my enjoyment of the experience I am their to have.

I'm sure what I am about to embark upon will not disappoint. It will be a highfalutin sojourn around Italy's boot complete with a fancy schmancy boat and a Captain's Black & White Ball. Sweetie's got his black tux ready and I've got my little black dress. We'll be excursioning at all the wonderful ports o' call all along the Tres Rivieras. Book-ended with a couple of enchanting days exploring Venice and a few magical days basking in Paris, the city of lights.

Now, I have to go learn some Croatian phrases.

Klunkerz Rulez

Me and my baby stepped out this afternoon to go see our friend Billy's installation in the Newport Beach Film Festival's documentary category. Klunkers takes place in Marin County, Billy's old stompin' grounds, and the birth place of the mountain bike phenom.

But first up was a stop at a favorite Dim Sum restaurant of Will's (Sea Food Paradise) for some of their signature mayonnaise encrusted shrimp, along with other delectables.And yes that is a chicken foot in my sweetie's paws. (He's an adventurous eater).

Now, with some people you get a good sense of what kind of person they are real quick. And with Billy, my first impression was that this is a real down to earth guy with a real enthusiasm for life, and that his passions run deep. He's a straight up guy with open arms. And that enthusiasm and passion shines through in the movie. It really captured the spirit of the time and what it was like to be young when you've got the mountains as your backyard. It made me think of when I was growing up and we moved to Northern California's Shasta County. There, Lake Shasta was my backyard. We knew our way around the back country trails and the cool streams and swimmin' holes and coves along the lakes. Good times. Good movie.

Rome in a Day

Can Rome be done in a day. I say yes, yes it can. On a Saturday in May we've opted to go off on our own rather then do a group tour of Rome.

I've been plotting out our course with the help of Rick Steve's Rome 2007. We'll start our walking tour (or Vespas if we can swing it in the allotted time) from the Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Then a cab ride to Capitol Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum then over the Tiber river to Trasteveri and back to Piazza Navona where we'll meet up with our group for a private tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.

And today I put on my new strapy sandals and I tried on all of my formal options for the Black and White Ball on board ship. I can't believe it's only three weeks away. And I can't believe we'll be in Venice. I'm so excited. We've seen the sun rise on the Indian Ocean and the shores of Zanzibar, and now from the canals of Venice we'll enter the Adriatic Sea and be off on our Riviera adventure.

Another journey to far away places where we can bask in the cultures of other lands and experience different ways of life. To live a life fully. Me and my sweetie pie.

Blessed are the Animals

Buster, our Russian tortoise, is the honorary blessee for all of our animals. She takes the drenching year after year on their behalf. This year she donned a pretty sombrero trimmed in orange and two spring flowers. As always she was a big hit.

More photos here on Flickr
Will posted a little video here on You-Tube

And blessed are they all, so dear to our hearts and loved as our family.

This Day in April

I was born this day in April 1959, in Redding California, in the United States of America.

Busy Birds

While playing with Ranger in the backyard yesterday, I heard a rustling from behind me. I looked around and finally saw a sparrow in the paper lantern hanging from the corner of the roof. I watched as two small sparrows alternately fluttered around inside the paper orb then pop out of the top and fly off. Beneath the paper lantern I saw a little piece of fluff, and my first thought was that they were building a nest inside the lantern. Tricky place to nest with the hole at the bottom and its sloping sides. But they seem to have deemed this unlikely vessel as their own and this morning they are busy at it again and more little pieces of fluff and twig and palm frond fibers are settling in the bottom of the lantern.

A Welcome Reconnection

After my husband, Will, has been filling me in on the lives he has reconnected with over the past few weeks, I find myself in the midst of a reconnection myself. Cari, my best friend from Reno, emailed me with a link to a short film "In Light of Nothing" that she has up on "The Lot".

Her kids have roles in her film "In Light of Nothing" and I've seen a wonderful Happy Birthday video message from them to their good friend Buzz. Plus photos of them on what appears to be a warm summer day, shirtless and gleefully smeared in something paint-like in all colors of the rainbow.

Cari and I have kept in distant touch by email for many years, and a couple may go by before one of us reaches out across the internet to the other. And that is always a welcome reconnection.

One of those times Cari sent me a photo, I sketched it in pencil and my Mom framed it and it hung in her house. I found a photo I took of the sketch, but where is that sketch now?
The Marvelli's were a second family to me when I was newly relocated from Redding, away from my Mom, to live with my Dad in Reno. He was never a meaningful force in my life and didn't seem to have any interest in me or what I was doing. Fresh out of highschool I was still young and when I started working at McDonald's and met and became friends with a very cool lady, Bobbi Marvelli, I then met her kids, Kevin, Cari and Stevie, and they became my family there.

Now, somehow we are all in our 40s (even Steve I think), and I think happy with our lives past and present. I think of them always and with a very special love. I was fortunate to have been welcome into their home and their lives.

A Day on the (Down)Town

This morning we were going to walk to downtown to attend the Los Angeles Concervancy's Saving Los Angeles Conference being held in the Los Angeles Theatre on Broadway, but being as it's Sunday, we thought it better to lollygag and rather than stroll out on to the road and trek downtown, we drove there.

The Los Angeles Theatre is wonderful. Man they built 'em grand back in the day. I liked that there weren't any apparent areas that were off limits, so we nosed behind curtains and through doorways, and onto balconies oohing and aahing and snapping away. Will even made his way to the rooftop.

After we had our fill there and enjoyed an exhibitor's extensive collection of vintage postcards and other printed gems, we wound our way down the block to Clifton's for lunch. The we traversed several blocks making our way to the Central Library enjoyed the art installation there and then meandered through the Biltmore and back to Pershing Square, below which the car was parked.There continues to be some very exciting things going on downtown. It's so walkable and there are so many beautiful buildings, and I wonder how long it will be before downtown really comes alive.

Soot Bull Jeep

For some reason I've had a strong desire for Korean BBQ. When Will and I decided to go see 300 last weekend we thought we'd wrap up the evening with some Korean BBQ. I googled Korean BBQ and decided that we would go to Soot Bull Jeep. It's very well known and the only remaining Korean BBQ that uses charcoal. All the others have converted to gas grills. Unfortunately we had a rather filling and late lunch so we rain-checked the Korean BBQ after the movie, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Now, my office building is right in the center of Korea Town on Wilshire Boulevard. And this past week as I get out and take a walk at lunch all of a sudden I'm noticing nothing but Korean BBQ restaurants. Of course, they're everywhere. And Soot Bull Jeep is only about 3 long blocks away.

So this weekend we ate very light and went for an early dinner at Soot Bull Jeep. We scored a parking spot in the tiny adjacent lot and are seated quickly at a table by the window. The old diner style formica tables have been outfitted with a center grill flush mounted with the metal housing underneath. All of the tables are topped by some pretty heavy duty vents dropping from the ceiling to control the smoke. Our server/waitress takes our order and returns to toss in some charcoal briquettes and set the grill on top.

She then promptly returns with our beers and a plate of whole leafy lettuce leaves and plates of raw beef (we ordered the marinated short ribs and the marinated rib eye). With that she very unceremoniously unstacks a variety of small dishes (what I believe are called banchan). The dishes contain several types of pickles, kimchee, and spinach as well as a clear broth soup with slices of turnip and scallion, a small green lettuce salad with a flavorful sesame dressing, and a pot of steamed rice. These were all fresh and crsip and perfectly seasoned. All of these things are good to either dip or top or roll up in a lettuce leaf with your beef and eat.

The waitress lays the first batch of sliced and marinated meat on the grill and with very utilitarian tongs we then turn them as they sizzle and spit on the grill. Ooooh, and there was a dish of garlic cloves that we tossed on the grill as well and the bean paste was excellent. It was all extremely delish-a-lishus. I'm glad I was wearing an inexpensive skirt because I sustained a couple of tiny singed holes from bits of flying hot coal.

I'd definitely like to return and maybe try some shrimp or squid on the grill...

Gimme an A

Since I bought and moved in to my house in the summer of 1999 I have seen many tenants move in and out of the rental house next door. And since the summer of 1999 I've long admired and coveted the large graphic A propped up against the run down shed in the back corner of the lot. And I've often been somewhat surprised that a tenant hasn't taken it with them when they've moved on. But there it stands still. And I hope it remains.

Funny/odd things sometimes come with rental houses. When I moved in to a rental house, once upon a time, and met the previous tenants who were moving out, they told me there was a cat, Minnie, that came with the house, and each tenant before me had fed her and taken care of her, though none ever let her in. Well, it wasn't long before I was letting her in and when I moved on she was coming with me. And she was with me until the day she died. Sweet Minnie.

Bink on the Mend

Bink hasn't been feeling well. We took him in for a check up last weekend and (besides the BB in his flank) found out that his liver isn't healthy. The first treatment: force feed him so he gets the nutrients he needs. The goal being that he doesn't throw it up and that in a couple of days he starts eating on his own. Well, he didn't throw it up and on Thursday he began eating on his own. He seems to be feeling much better. I got him some kitty grass to help with his digestion. The other cats don't want much to do with it, but when I put it under Bink's nose he nuzzled it and chomped away. Good kitty.

My Dog Ate Your Rent Check

Joe rents the attic apartment of my house. He's very prompt in delivering his rent check to my door on the 1st of the month. So this morning when I was preparing the bank deposit I realized that I didn't have Joe's rent. Being the 3rd of the month I gave Joe a call. "Joe, while I was preparing the bank deposit I realized I don't have your rent check for the month." Joe says "I slid it under the door on the 1st. Maybe the dog ate it". I told Joe that I did remember coming home one evening and seeing chewed up paper on the floor. It was nothing discernible but it was white and envelope-like. Ranger has been known to chew up papers. I thought it was something she pulled out of the trash can in the library or something. I just picked up the scraps without thinking about it and threw them away.

Joe promptly wrote another check for the rent and brought it down.

Before I left to run my errands I found a scrap of the paper on the floor near the piano in the living room. I pulled the little corner and there it was, the remnants of a check, just three of the pre-printed numbers along the bottom of the check, but definitely a check.

Spa Treatment

After Ranger got skunked this morning before the sun was even up , Will made a trip to the market to get de-skunking ingredients and rubber gloves. Ranger getting scrubbed down in a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and Dish Soap. She sat perfectly still and trusting as we drenched her and rubbed her and dried her off. She was quarantined to the kitchen until her coat dried and is now happily, if not somewhat warily, romping in the back yard in the sunshine. Just another day at the spa for her.

Feels Like Kirurumu

All of the windows and doors in the house are open and the breeze is blowing in. The weekend has been warm and sunny and we walked to Cliff's Edge for dinner last night for our belated Valentine's date. Walking off of Sunset into a rustic outdoor dining hall straight out of Africa. I don't know if that's what they were going for, but that's what it evokes for me. Feels like the Kirurumu tented camp on the ridge of the Great Rift Valley and the Serengeti. We started with a couple of Mojitos and French Fries with a gorgonzola dipping sauce. My warm seafood salad was wonderful. A mound of fresh mussels, clams, calamari and shrimp with red peppers, olive oil and lemon on a bed of peppery arugula. For desert, Red Velvet Cake and Espresso. Then the nice walk home wrapped in the warmth of a balmy evening.

Breakfast & Muddy Dogs

After driving downtown with Will early Saturday morning for breakfast at Phillipe's, a pre-Sunset Boulevard 24 miler for him, I came back home and did some stuff around the house, booked a hotel in Paris, went to the salon, then to the market. I took some snaps of Ranger, cutie-pie.
We woke up Sunday morning to some pretty heavy rain. Which meant we had a muddy dog running into the house throughout the day. She got to where she would sit still and let me wipe the mud off of her feet without getting all squirmy.

Shoes Past and Present

I wouldn't say that I love shoes. But I've always liked shoes. I have plenty of them. And usually when I find a pair that I really do love, I wear them constantly and hate to throw them out when I've worn them out. Then wish that I had ordered two or three pair when I got them. But you never know which shoes are going to turn out to be your favorite shoes. I have recently bought a few new pairs of shoes. Although I'm a very economical shopper, you get what you pay for in a shoe. And quality and comfort cost more. I like the Merrell Performance Footwear and recently bought Sketchers that are super cushiony and comfy. So in an effort to find space for my new shoes, I decided to purge my closet of my old shoes. Yes, I actually used to wear these platform crazy-ass healed pumps. How long ago? A long, long time ago. Those are getting tossed in the yard-sale bin to make room for my new Sketchers.

Winter Greens & Chickpea Soup

It's raining today and a perfect day for making soup. I tore out a soup recipe from last week's Food Section of the Los Angeles Times and asked the dogs if they wanted to go to the kitchen. They followed me there flopping on the floor. Will strolled in a few minutes later and then went and cozied up to the window seat listening to the rain and reading a book. I poured a glass of wine and sipped it as I diced and minced and rinsed.
Soup with winter greens and chickpeas:1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 onion, diced
1 turnip, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chopped mixed greens (mustard, kale, turnip, etc)
1/2 teaspoon minced rosemary
1 16oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano
1 baguette sliced and toasted

In heavy soup pot, warm the olive oil and add the carrots, celery, onion and turnip. Cover and cook until softened, about 20 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 or 3 minute.
Add the mixed greens a handful at a time, stirring and giving them time to soften and shrink before adding the next handful. When all the greens have cooked, add 8 cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the rosemary and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer , cover and maintain a simmer. Cook until the broth is deeply flavored, 45 minutes to 1 hour.When ready to serve, stir in 1/3 cup Parmigiano cheese and season to taste with pepper. Arrange two toasted slices of baguette in the bottom of each warm soup bowl and ladle the soup over the top. Sprinkle with more cheese to taste.

Serves 8
235 calories

We're going to head downtown to see Pan's Labyrinth and we'll come home to the soup for dinner.

Getting Outdoors

It's certainly been a while since I've been outdoors. Not that I haven't gone outside. That I do every day. But "outdoors" is different. It's really getting outdoors, out in the fresh air and in a pair of good walking shoes, on a trail up a mountain. It's been soooo chilly lately and I've just had other things to do post-holidays. But this afternoon we got our gear on and hit the trail at Ferndell and trekked on up to the Observatory. My lungs were telling me that I needed to do this more often. And man I wish I could. Oh well, I'll do it when I can.Because the renovations are done and the trail is open clear up to the observatory we exited the trail onto the front lawn of the observatory and at the top of the trail was this sign directing us to additional parking. Funny. Will says "You mean we coulda brought the car?"We walked up around the top deck and then went inside. When we came during it's grand re-opening weekend it was much much more crowded, and so it was nice to be able to get to some of the exhibits that we couldn't get to the first time. We went down to the sub-level and weighed ourselves on all the planets and created our own earthquake at the display with its seismic roll and the little red pen making great jiggly lines as we laugh and jump up and down enthusiastically in front of it.

Ranger and Jiggimus

Best buds sitting at the window, watching the world go by.

* * *

* * ** * ** * *