It's cold and that is so exciting!

It's currently 33 degrees and for a Tucsonan that is so exciting. I'm wearing a sweater! I also made home made vegetable soup and it is currently cooking in the crock pot. When we get home and open the door, the smell will be heavenly! We will be babysitting the girls for a few hours after work, until Jason gets home, so we invited them for soup! It's the little things that excite me.

Shuck beans

I am profoundly, emotionally affected by smells. At the most unexpected time, a smell will instantly take me back to a place, a person, a feeling. The feeling will be like I am right there, swarming around me like a cocoon, feeling just like I did ‘back then’. Fortunately, it mostly happens with pleasant smells.
Every single time, I smell, prepare or eat green beans, I am immediately taken back to my grandma’s (Mama Lottie) kitchen. I am not talking about the healthy, steamed green bean; I am talking about the kind you put ham or bacon in and cook for a long, long time. The smell is heavenly…and the taste is too.
When I was little, Mama would ‘shuck’ her beans. I never knew why she did that; never felt the need to ask. My parents never shucked their green beans. It was just something Mama did. Shucking green beans is a drying process, where you thread a needle with cotton thread, thread the beans on the needle in the center of the bean pod but between the actual beans, pushing to the end of the string. Then you hang them from a hook to dry. I can still see them hanging next to the black telephone on her kitchen wall. My sisters and I would be so impatient, waiting for them to be ready (dry enough) to cook them. Then when it was finally time to cook and eat them, there was never enough…I always wanted more. I never thought about why she prepared beans this way. Now I know Mama got her beans from her garden and it was a way to ‘preserve’ them when you didn’t ‘can’ them. I have included the steps to shucking green beans…in case you ever have too many fresh ones.
Shucked Green BeansInstructions
Things You'll Need:
· Green Beans
· Needle
· Cotton Thread
· Dry, airy area
Step 1: Sort through the green beans and select only the best for drying. Do not try to dry green beans that have rotten, or ones that have holes or other deformations.
Step 2: Do not wash the beans. Take a cloth and wipe off any excess dirt.
Step 3: Thread a needle with cotton thread. Bring the thread through the needle long enough to make a double string about 18 inches to 2 feet long. Tie off the ends.
Step 4: Thread the beans on the needle in the center of the bean pod but between the actual beans. Push to the end of the string.
Step 5: Continue threading the beans until the length is 3/4 full. Either break the tread or cut it off at the end of the needle. Tie off this end.
Step 6: Use the excess thread to make a loop. Hang this loop from a hook or nail in a dry, airy place. The beans are dry when they "crunch" when you try to bend them.

COOKING:

To cook the beans..soak in water overnight in large kettle, pour off the soaking water in the morning and cover the beans w/fresh water, add a couple smoked hocks or what ever smoked meat you have, bring up to boil and then cover and turn down the fire to slow cook about 2 hours, season the way you like them.

'Punkin' Patch

Ken, Bella, Lola and I left Friday after work with the RV, heading to Usery Mountain Park near the Salt River for a 'Fall' weekend...as much as you can experience fall in the desert. I always pack fruit, cheese and juice. The girls truly do not like 'junky' snacks. If you put a piece of cake next to a bowl of grapes in front of them, they will 100% of the time select the grapes.
They both fell asleep on the way. It only takes an hour and 15 minutes to get there from Oro Valley. We arrive and begin to set up camp. It cools off very quickly once the sun goes down, so a fire will be nice tonight. Pops gets the wood ready in the fire ring (but doesn't light it), and we hang up pumpkin lights; the girls are so excited. We are all sitting around the fire, waiting for Pops to light it. He says he has to tell us a story first. He begins telling a story about two Indians-'Running Bear and Geronimo'. It's a long story and the girls are losing interest quickly...until he says if we do a dance, Geronimo will shoot an arrow of fire from the sky to light our campfire. He begins chanting and dancing the toe/heel sequence around the fire. Soon we are all doing it, laughing. Suddenly, (when they weren't looking), he drops a match in the fire ring and the 'poof', the fire practically explodes into flames. Bella is astounded. I'm kind of impressed too. I'll have to find out later how he did that.
Bella tells some cute Halloween jokes, we take turns dancing, Lola mimics everyone...the moon is up, it's a beautiful night, lots of stars. It doesn't get much better than this. It's time to make s'mores. Lola has no interest in making the yummy treats. She wants to eat her chocolate separate and roast the marshmallows until they fall off the roasting stick and then do it again. She is doing some kind of ritual where she places her hand above the fire and moves it back and forth as she says something, and then she raises her arm in the air and yells 'yeah'! We have no idea what she is doing but she does it over and over. See the picture.
After lots of fun, it is time for baths, bed and prayers. It gets cold during the night and Ken has to turn on the heat! How exciting!
We all wake up around 7:30. Lola has a bad case of the 'grumps'...see the picture, it definitely tells a story!


We make bacon, eggs, cheerios, pineapple, hot chocolate and lattes. Bella likes whipped cream on hers. Lola only wants 'cream' so I fill a small bowl with whipped cream...that's her breakfast....that would make any girl happy.
After cleaning up, we head to the river. Bella wants to look for minnows. The river is very low, you can walk across it. Lola and I head for the shade of the bridge, while Pops and Bella look for minnows. Lola enjoys throwing rocks into the river, watching them splash. She sees big black birds and points out which is the mommy, daddy and baby. It is getting warm and after a while we head back to camp for some lunch.

After lunch, we contemplate a nap, but decide against it...we want to go to the 'punkin' patch as Lola says and it would be too late after a nap.
We go to Schnepf's farm in Queen Creek, about 20 minutes away. It is a really neat working farm, with lots to do (maybe a bit too much). Jason meets us there, as he is up in Phoenix visiting a friend. We have fun riding the train, briefly going through a corn maze (so, so dusty!!!), petting the animals and a ride on the merry-go-round. It is getting hot and so the girls pick out their pumpkins and we say goodbye to Jason and head back to camp. Next time I will pick a farm with less 'stuff' to do, and more of just a pumpkin patch.

Back at camp, Pop starts a fire, while I begin dinner. Our plan is to carve the pumpkins before dinner so we can light them for the evening. Bella and Lola draw their faces on the pumpkins and Pops carves them out. He carves them exactly as they drew them. Bella's of course is excellent and Lola's has tons of character! Now it's time for digging out the 'goup' inside. They both do a great job. I put the candles in and we set them on the small tables next to the chairs by the fire. It will be a festive night.




We had lots of fun roasting marshmallows, making s'mores and just enjoying being together.

After bath time, we snuggled up in Bella's and Lola's bed and watched Charlie Brown's 'The Great Pumpkin'. Brings back lots of memories. We were all tired and fell asleep easily.
We all slept a little later...8 am. Bella got up and checked on her minnows and snails to make sure they were ok...they were. Lola was in a good mood. We took our time with breakfast and cleaning up before heading home. I made sure their pumpkins were safe in the back of the truck to make the trip home. We made lots of good memories...a wonderful time!

Time is going too fast

I can't believe it..one year ago tomorrow we left for our European trip. I feel melancholy as I reminisce about how fabulous it was. I thought I would post my blog from Paris....our favorite part of the trip.





Arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport around 7pm Sunday. The plane trip was a 45 minute flight, although 30 of it was on the tarmac waiting to take off. We both dozed off, woke up and thought we had landed in Paris but we were still waiting. No problems getting through customs; one of our bags was the last bag to come through; a little scary! We arrived at our hotel: Relais Bosquet Hotel on a narrow residential street. Like the French, we decided to go to dinner late; a quaint restaurant a few steps away from our hotel. Our waiter was friendly and spoke some English; I tried some of my French. Bottle of Bordeaux, French onion soup, cheese and bread, Bon appetit! After dinner we strolled through the streets, looking at the Eiffel Tower only a few blocks away. Ken was pointing out the different sports cars along the street; he walked up to one to look in and I said, "why are the windows so steamed up?!" He saw passion in Paris. Back to our hotel and to bed. The French like the indoors to be hot, so our radiator heat was on. We had to turn the AC on to be comfortable. Up the next morning after sleeping in; went to a cafe down the street: cafe au lait, ham and cheese omelet, apple tart and freshly squeezed OJ; We enjoyed watching the locals start their day, shopping, etc. We headed to the Metro and headed to Notre Dame. We got stopped by a police along the river Seine: he asked us in French; where we were going; I was so excited I understood him. Apparently there was some police matter, so we had to go another way; Walking along the Seine was beautiful with the leaves changing.

We did not go in Notre Dame, just walked around. We stopped to get coffee so we could go to the bathroom; it's difficult to find them here! Next we headed to the metro and could not find it; had to ask a policeman. We headed to a nice area of town I believe called Marais; not sure; it's east of Notre Dame. Victor Hugo lived in this area; It started to rain; we stopped in a market and picked up a bottle of wine, some cheese, bread and headed to a park.

The rain stopped and we enjoyed our purchase and watched the kids playing, etc. Back on the metro, headed to Jardin des Tuileries. It started raining really hard as we got out of the metro so we went to a cafe. We ordered more wine and Ken decided to smoke a cigar; a group of young Italians noticed his cigar and hollered 'cigar' and were laughing. Ken decided to give them a cigar and they gladly accepted.

Ken had to show them how to bite the end off, light it; We had a good time trying to communicate with them, using English, French; Italian, gestures, drawings; everyone around us was laughing as Ken taught these young people this bad habit! We also met a nice Chinese couple on their honeymoon. We exchanged email addresses, phone numbers and of course Ken invited the Italians to visit us in Tucson; They left and we continued to enjoy our wine. About 20 minutes later, they returned and wanted to meet us for dinner; we picked a place and time for later. See pictures of Ken and the Italians; the new cigar smokers.
Next we headed to Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées, and the Arc de Triomphe; Along the walk, we came upon some Maintenance workers in the park; Ken wanted to get a picture with them, and tried to get them to take off their uniformed vest so he could act like a French park worker. They said 'non, non' and gestured that the police would handcuff them. There was definitely a communication problem since Ken knows no French.
At the Arc de Triomphe we came upon a celebration; A girl told Ken it was a WWII celebration, honoring a survivor of the a Holocaust camp; We got a picture of him and also another picture of Ken trying to explain to one of them that his father helped liberate the French in WWII and that he should be allowed to march with them; again 'non, non'. Perhaps too much wine. Began to rain again, we headed to the metro. We are getting tired but wanted to walk past the Eiffel Tower at night. It was beautiful, but I don't like the blue lights; it was white lights when I was here 35 years ago!
We headed back to our hotel area and went out for a late dinner. Tonight we head to Rome on the overnight train. We did not do much today as I felt a little sick!
Can't wait to meet up with our friends.

Much Better

I had my "rescheduled" appointment with the urologist yesterday.....and what a difference. I felt like all the employees in the office had been 'alerted' that I was coming. Everyone was extra nice and efficient. I was taken right back to a room and the Doctor was in the room about 90 seconds later. Nothing was mentioned about last week, from any parties. She was very professional and all went well. I'm glad I went back because I like her and I feel everyone deserves a chance to 'make it right'.

Speak up!

I had an 8 am appointment with a Urologist for a procedure this morning. I booked the first appointment of the day so I could get in and then go back to work. My Doctors' office is in the Doctors Building next to the hospital where I work, so it is very convenient. I arrive on time, check in and get called back to a room right away. I am told to partially disrobe waist down, put the drape on and sit down; the Doctor will be in shortly. I sit down, take deep breaths to relax. It's freezing in the room and I have this paper drape to cover myself. 45 minutes later, I am still sitting there, freezing! I know my appointment was the first one of the day....what is going on? I wrap myself and open the door....hello...the Medical assistant that barely speaks English..asks what's wrong? I said, where is the Doctor?....I have been sitting here half naked, freezing...do you have a blanket? She says, 'no,,,, no blanket, Doctor busy with other patient, she be there soon.' I say, how many patients did she have at 8 am, I was the first patient of the day? No answer, 'she be there soon.'
I went back in the room. I'll give it 10 more minutes. Ten minutes later, I am still there. I get dressed and go to the receptionist. I ask her what time my appointment was and she says 8 am. I ask her how many patients were scheduled for 8 am and she says 3. I ask her, 'for one doctor' and she says Yes. There are at least 8 people sitting in the waiting room. I say, give me my check back, do not bill my insurance. She asks, 'whats' wrong'? I say, I had an appointment at 8 am and have been sitting half naked in a room, freezing, with no blanket, for 45 minutes, waiting for the doctor. I said, that is absolutely poor service for any patient and I won't be back. OK, I'm out of there.
I'm back at work, at my desk, trying to calm down, analyzing my behavior. I feel good about it. It's ridiculous to subject a patient to this. But I'm all fired up and need to calm down. I very, very rarely get this way. I am usually very calm; but when I get this way, I am very direct.
Ten minutes later, my phone rings...it's the Doctor. She wants to know what happened. I explain the whole story to her....she interrupts and explains about patient emergencies, etc. I say, I understand, patient emergencies, I'm a nurse...she interrupts and says, I am a surgeon! OK, well, you one-upted me there! We argue back and forth about the situation; she tries to tell me my appointment was at 8:15. I tell her, that communication would have helped...blah, blah, blah. She asks me how she can make it right? She knows I work at the hospital and I think that may be why she is making an effort. That may sound negative, but that's where I'm at. I tell her, I would like an appointment at 8 am and would like to be told before I disrobe if there is a delay...I don't have a problem with taking care of more important patient needs..just don't leave me in a cold room for 45 minutes with a paper drape over my bum. She agreed and I will go back for round 2 next week.
Whew! What can I expect in the future when the government gets involved???
Anyway, I was not ashamed for standing up to a Doc; I was right, it felt good! Do the same.. I wasn't mean, just factual.

Sweet Summer Memories

The girls have been coming over almost every Friday night. We try to plan something different each time they come. We are going to go camping the weekend before Halloween to Usery Park in Mesa, AZ. I can't wait. We plan on going to a Pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. Then we will carve them at the campsite and light them near the fire. The girls are so precious and give us so much joy. Here are a few pictures.....

A few weeks ago, I bought some Halloween 'crackers'; the kind you buy at Christmas. I had no idea what would be inside them. The girls 'popped' them open and guess what we found?...whistles!! Bella decided to have races (with Pops). I would keep score and Lola and I would blow the whistles to start the race. Pops got worn out very quickly! I sent the whistles home with the girls....that's one of the benefits of being a grandparent. :)