Road Tripping

I got a new camera last week. I've been sitting on buying a new one for over a year now and finally a great deal came along and the timing was right.

 

It's a little scary because the expectation is that I'll take better photos, be able to get out there a little further with a bigger lens, etc.

 

Yesterday I spent a couple hours with a friend, taking a road trip out to Prosser. The wind from the day before was forecasted to be gone but it wasn't. We stopped for coffee at a place on the main drag. My friend showed me her recent photos from her trip to Hawaii while we lounged on the comfy couch in the café. I could tell that those photos will be a comfort to her in the next couple of weeks as winter bears down on us. This time of year we'd all like to be anywhere but here.

 

The thing is, we are here. And for me, it's important to try to find the beauty wherever I am. So we left the warmth and kindness of the friendly barrista and headed back home via Benton City. I don't why but I love driving through that little town. Turns out, my friend wanted to stop and get a closer look at an old abandoned warehouse built of bricks. I whipped out my camera and the photo here was my first shot. I have a long lens on and I had no idea what it would do as I leaned up against the building to get a shot of the texture.  This may not be exciting to anyone else but me. I have not had anything but a point and shoot for so long that it's going to be a blast figuring out what I can do with my new equipment.

 

My friend talked about how she'd love to buy that old building and she painted me a wonderful picture in her mind of how she would convert it. There was an open door and if we weren't such law abiding citizens it wouldn't have taken much for us to duck inside and check the place out. Oh, I can only imagine what my camera would have seen inside.

 

From there, we headed down the road and ended up at another favorite stand-by for stretching my legs, the cemetery.  The swans are always there and good for a photo op. He had his feathers up and I can see that I really need to do some studying on this new camera and get to manual settings quick. I should have had a better shot than this but I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

Turns out my friend has some places to show me where I've never been. I can hardly wait to go!

 

love, susan

 

 

Develop

I can hardly believe there are only 10 days left in this year. Not that it matters much. It sometimes seems odd that so much attention is paid to the calendar, when really we only have today. In its defense, a calendar is a good way to pace the events in one's life and a must-have for busy people like us. Without having something to look forward to, life would seem to drag on and on. My life has been like a runaway train for 12 years now ... no chance of it ever dragging except for maybe those days at work, right before a holiday when you can hear a mouse stir.

 

I recently was reminded that the theme word I chose for 2013 was minimize. It was going to be the year I finally cleaned up the mess in my office/crap room. Near the end of October I was reading a blog post by The Minimalists where they posted a game, ironically called The Minimalist Game. I decided that if I was serious about reducing my stuff in 2013, I'd better get busy. I started on November 1st and each day the object is to recycle, rehome or send to the garbage an item. You increase the number of items by the number of the day and at the end of the month, if you stay true to the game, you will have reduced 465 items from your abode.  I did so well, I decided to carry on into December (496 this month).  I've had no trouble finding things to minimize. Yeah me!

 

While paring down my belongings, I've had the chance to chew on 2014's theme word which has been ringing in my head for a couple of weeks.  Develop.

 

Breaking that down .... I wish to develop, in no certain order:

• more meaningful friendships
• better eating habits
• a solid reading schedule
• my writing skills
• a bigger list of places to go photo walking
• a plan to keep my home decluttered
• .... to be determined

Did you have a theme for 2013?  Do you think you'll have a theme for 2014?  If so, I'd love to hear about it!

 

love, susan

 

 

Try New Places

Go someplace once a year where you've never been before.  That's a quote I saw on a photo recently.  My husband and I live by these words and I want to share just a little of my experience in hopes that you will be inspired to go someplace you've never been.

 

I shot this image one morning right outside our hotel room. What you don't see is the woman in the car closest to the curb started talking to us (in English!) while she was stuck in this very large traffic jam.  Seems the teachers there in Mexico City have been striking a lot and on days when they are protesting it makes the traffic worse than it already is. The driver rolled her eyes when she was explaining it and we laughed. MC is crammed-packed full of friendly people just like her. Who knew?

 

I believe fear is one of the biggest reasons people don't visit new places. It doesn't matter if it is a foreign country or a restaurant. For me, I fear wasting time and money.  We have our same old favorite standbys for eating out. No matter how many times we tell ourselves we've got to try something new, when Friday night rolls around and we decide to eat out, we end up either at one of two places. As far as foreign countries go, fear of a language barrier, fear of danger, and for me fear of bad food may be reasons to not go. I am dying to put more stamps on my visa! I would definitely visit MC again but why? There are so many other places to go.

 

Fear of people is another thing I think a lot of us suffer from. Someone once said to me, "Susan, don't you think everyone has fear of people"?  So it stands to reason, if I am afraid of you, perhaps you are afraid of me. Maybe, just maybe, if I crack a smile and extend a handshake we can find something in common to talk about.  See these dogs? Notice the little white dog trying to get out of his leash? Fear.  Once he did a little sniffing and realized the other dogs weren't going to rough him up, he quit resisting.

 

I'm a big fan of having favorite places to go when I need to just be surrounded by the familiar but I gotta tell you that nothing in the world makes me feel more alive than a little conquered fear of the unknown.

 

love, susan

 



Three Minutes ... GO!

I've got winter brain. So many ideas and things to accomplish and so little focus.

 

Does that ever happen to you?

 

Last year, I took an online writing course. I enjoyed it very much and kept a few takeaways from it that I think are essential for writing  ... one of which is to get some chair glue. It has been difficult time sitting still. I'm restless.  Another great takeaway I've not been able to quite accomplish is making a space for myself that allows me to sit in my chair for any length of time. My office is always a mess.
 

Whenever I need something to write about, I go over to Mama's Losin' It and find a prompt.  I can't tell you how many posts I've written and deleted. I'll try this one and see if it makes the cut.

 

Ten Things I Can Do in 3 Minutes

 

1) Shower.   Yes, I can!! I learned how to take quick showers when I was traveling with my dad back in 2001 in the RV. After that, hubby and I took a long trip across the U.S. and often times showered in campgrounds where you pay for a 5-minute shower.   I'm a bit of a tree hugger so saving water is at the top of my list for reducing my carbon footprint.

 

2) Make a phone call.  Remember the egg timer when you were a kid? Keep it short. Who makes calls these days anyway. Right?

 

3) Throw together lunch. While I try to put more thought into it, if I haven't put 5 lunches together on Sunday night for my work week, I'm grabbing fruit, yogurt and whatever leftover I can scrounge at the last minute.

 

4) Pick up dog poop.  Seriously.  I know exactly where all three of my dogs poo. They are creatures of habit.

 

5) Make a cup of homemade hot cocoa. If you use Nestlé's, you are missing out on one of life's great pleasures. It's so easy to make and so much better when you make it with real milk, cocoa and sweetner. 

 

6) Create a greeting card. I make my own. Sorry Hallmark. Card. Ink. Stamp. Bam!

 

7) Change gears. Actually, I can do this in far less than 3 minutes as evidenced by our getting in the car for a Sunday drive with a destination in mind and change our minds by the time we hit the first stop light.  Love that!

 

8) Type 225 words. That's 75 words per minute. Thank you, Mrs. Pryse, for being the absolute best high school business teacher in the world. I've been able to make a living from this one simple skill.

 

9) Fill the Kong with peanut butter.  For my dogs. They love me for it.

 

10)  Edit a blog post. Save. Preview. Publish.

 

How about you?  What can you do in 3 minutes?

 

love, susan

 

 

Bits and Pieces

Portland traffic on Friday at 5

In the past, winter has always been a time for slowing down for us but that doesn't seem to be the case this season ... so far. We took a nice trip over to Grand Ronde, Oregon last weekend to celebrate one of my favorite cousin's 50th birthday. It was to be a surprise party but he wasn't surprised. I love that about him. He just couldn't feign surprise but he was super happy we all came and that's what counted. I reunited with relatives I haven't seen in 20+ years. A super nice day.

 

All of November I've been playing the Minimize Game. It started on the 1st and the object of the game is to minimize my household belongings by the number of the day. By the end of November, my household will be minimized by 465 items. I've kept up and it has been a blast! No item is too big or too small to count. I imagine by the time I get to November 30, I'll be throwing out recycling rubber bands and paperclips. No matter. It has really opened my eyes to the junk I allow to come through the front door and the stuff I hang onto for no apparent reason.

 

My next project, which I hope to start in December, is to make copies of all important documents and photos to place in a portable file carrier that I can quickly pick up and take in case of an emergency. I also want to put together a box containing non-perishable food items and water for the same purpose. It will likely take me the entire month of December to get it together but these kinds of projects tend to help me focus on something rather than the cold, dark days.

 

What do you do to make the winter days bearable? 

 

love, susan

Two Words

Today's prompt:  If you could write a note to your younger self (as if she would have listened), what would you say in just two words.

HOLD ON

 

Don't settle.

Be happy.

Don't drink.

Drive slower.

Attend college.

Speak up.

Read more.

Sleep less.

Travel often.

Keep friends.

Lose enemies.

Eat well.

Take pictures.

Journal often.

Hold on.

Let go.

Don't quit.

Quit sooner.

Breath slowly.

Listen better.

 

.... you get my drift.

 

It's never too late to start!

 

love, susan

 

Your turn!!!



 



Observer

Second in a series of writing prompts this week:  Hi, my name is Susan and I am (fill in the blank) an observer.

 

I am a lot of things.  I'm a dog lover. An adventurer. A procrastinator. Controller of the social calendar. Lover of people. Under the hood, I'm a little OCD about some things.  I'm a motorcycle rider, mom, wife, friend and like to think of myself as a worker among workers.

 

Truth: I don't really much like writing about myself. I have opinions and beliefs. Strong opinions about a lot of things but I don't really like putting them out there for discussion. I want you to like me and I always carry this great fear that you won't because I don't think or believe the way you do. There. I said it.

 

What I'm not is a great debater. I am not one to stand and argue a point with anyone. If you feel one way about something and I don't, I'll gladly let you have your way of thinking. I think I'm a pretty good listener, which is a skill I started developing a long time ago and still work at.  "Live and Let Live" is a motto that best suits how I feel about most things. 

 

I come from a generation where we sat at the dinner table together for dinner. I was taught to be polite to everyone and to pay my own way. I am my mother's daughter. That's something that is sometimes still a shock to me. Mom and I rarely saw eye to eye on anything but often times I now find myself thinking I am very much like her. Feels so odd. I guess we take what we want and leave the rest. She was a wonderful human being and everyone loved her. Who could ask for a better remembrance?

 

Okay. Whew. This was a hard prompt. Your turn.  What are you?

 

love, susan

Prompting

I receive a weekly email from Mama's Losin' It.  I promptly ignore all the prompts but this week I decided perhaps I might try writing a little every day using her clever ideas.

 

Like everything else, I want to accomplish a lot of things but there never seems to be enough time or energy in a day.

 

The first prompt for this week is to share a tip or trick you recently learned.

 

I couldn't really think of anything I most recently learned ... is that a sign of aging?  However, I wanted to share this very old (1977) photo from my senior year. I don't have a fancy schmancy machine to .pdf it so I just snapped a pic with my cell phone and did very little editing to get it here. 

 

Here's my tip:

 

I use my cell phone camera for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  Some event coming up? I snap a photo of the details.  Parking in a big city? I snap a pic of the cross streets so I can remember how to find my car. I have pictures of my favorite people's addresses from my rolodex so if I'm at work and want to mail a note, I can.

 

We were on a camping trip recently and hubby's daughter had the best bag of grain crackers she had picked up at Costco. I don't shop there but I snapped a pic of it so I could remember to look for it next time I go to the store.

 

There it is.  My great tip.  It's probably old news for many of you but if it helps just one person reading this, my work is done!

 

By the way, I'm the girl with the arm folded across her mid-section. These are my school mates and fellow yearbook editors. Whew, that seems so long ago.

 

love, susan

Home for the Weekend

We actually stayed home this weekend. I enjoyed every single moment of it!  I got my dying tomato plants cut up and placed in the recycle bin, made grape jelly, cleaned up my office and paid some bills. I actually read a chapter in a book before I feel asleep for a Sunday afternoon nap.

 

Today I am up early and trying to get excited about going to work. We're having a late "boss's day" celebration with a food fest all day. I still need to stop at the store on the way to work. Eeeks! 

Saturday night we met friends over at Keiko's for dinner. I love this one-man band who plays there occasionally. I love our friends too!  He sang us a couple of Eagle's tunes .... peaceful, easy feeling is stuck in my head.  Good times!

I took all these pics with my cell phone. I've gotten in a bad habit of not having my other camera handy for photo ops.  My smart phone takes great photos outdoors most of the time but indoors, not so much.

All in all, it was a super good weekend and I look forward to the next one!  Between now and then, I'm starting out with a good attitude and wanna keep it that way!  The color of this grape jelly helps!  love, susan



Muscadine grape jelly.
My first time making it. Tastes fabulous!





Gene picked grapes late in the week, which I made into jelly.



Muscadine grapes from Doug's garden

Food Adventures

 

When it gets right down to it, I love to eat.  This is a bit far removed from how I used to be, say, 30 years ago. My old high school friends and family will tell you that I was as skinny as a rail ... to a fault. Just as much as plump people don't like to be reminded of their body size, it's that way for skinny people. "Oh, you were sooooo skinny!"  Really? Like I've never heard that before?  I'm not sure why people feel they have any business talking about another person's body weight but I can only chalk it up to human nature.  I got over being skinny starting when I was about 30. I've been in love with food ever since I discovered how wonderful it can be.  Prior to that age, I was happy with a can of green beans or box of mac & cheese and a soda for dinner.  I'm not sure what flipped the switch in my mind, but to me food is much like art. There are so many colors and textures and flavors to tried. 

So traveling to Mexico City last week, I knew there was going to be some great food. I was not disappointed. We ate mostly street food. For those who never get out of town, street food is food prepared on the sidewalk right in front of you. There are street vendors everywhere in Mexico City. Surprisingly, we never saw any flies. So weird.

 

We noted that there were very few vegetables to be found in the street food. Onions maybe. Limes don't count at veggies. It was all good but my constitution requires some fiber so I bought a big fruit cup every day to keep things moving, if you know what I mean.

We did stop at McDonald's one day to grab a cup of coffee and use their bathrooms.  Mexico is lacking in their public restrooms. We didn't mind going into Micky D's for coffee because they do serve up a nice joe. It might be the only natural food they serve. I shot a pic of their décor for my son and daughter-in-law as we share a fascination for McDonald's décor. It's different in every region. This McD's was gorgeous!

 

Afterwards, we walked a while and I found these ladies cooking up a little something on the grill and I could have kicked myself for having already eaten. It looks like they have yellow peppers on the tortillas here. It was the one and only time I saw a vegetable on the grill. The tortillas were really thick, just the way I like them and tell me, don't these woman just look like experts in their field? So many places to eat, so little tummy room.

The day before we left, we decided to stroll down a street we hadn't been on.  Oh my gosh, it was like finding pastry heaven. Now, I'm not a great fan of all Mexican pastries, I think sometimes they are dry and tasteless, but this bakery caught my attention with their frosted delights. We bought a bag of goodies and headed home to make some instant Nescafe coffee in our room. If you are a traveler and you love your coffee, you should never go without some instant coffee packs. 

 

I'm so glad it's Friday. I am ready to make some Chicken Tortilla Soup. What's on your menu?  love, susan

  



These had almonds and were as so light and flaky
I could have eaten 3 of them, but I didn't.



Can you see Gene peering in the window?  LOL!

Mexico City

Day 1 ~ Made it! What an interesting trip on the metro from airport to hotel. Rode the metro to the Museum of Anthropology. Nice, helpful people everywhere. Most don't speak English but we got by! One nice lady walked us several blocks to the museum. Another old man explained the peaceful demonstrations that brought thousands to the plaza Sunday morning. Interesting people everywhere! Gene ate a crispy grasshopper while I took a pass on that.

 

Day 2 ~ Up much too early. So glad I tucked a box of instant coffee in my backpack. Museums are closed on Mondays so we took a 3-hour bus trip to Taxco. I had money burning a hole in my pocket for some new silver earrings. Food is constantly on my mind. If ever there was a reason to live here, the food would be at top of the list! Bus ride to Taxco took us through some seriously poor areas. Regardless, there are always food stands. The day was interesting as we visited a historic Catholic church and then walked up a street with open air market where locals buy their food. People were very friendly. I'm stocked up on silver earrings! 

 

In Taxco

 I have never seen so many Volkswagon bugs in one place (Taxco). They use them for taxis. We rode in two of them after I nearly had heart failure walking the steep streets. The cab rides were much like the Indiana Jones ride at Universal Studios. So much fun in a "scary, I may die in a love bug" kind of way.

 

Butterfly exhibit at zoo a must-see

Day 3 ~ No rushing out the door this day. So many choices for what to do so decided over coffee and breakfast of tacos covered in verde salsa. I've decided in my next life I'd like to be a traveling food journalist! Squeezed too much in today. Bad backache. Saw some beautiful buildings, artwork but couldn't get into national palace due to police having it blocked off. Best part of day was sitting at cafe this morn watching people in their suits and ties going to work. Thousands of people. Few people smoke here. Thousands of peeps on metro system and nobody was rude. Some have cell phones, but I'd say less than 25% have their face stuck in them. Nobody we've seen has tattoos.

 

Taxco (silver is their industry here)

Day 4 ~ The Mexico City zoo was AWESOME! This may go down as my favorite day! Because the admission is free I thought it was going to be crappy. I was so wrong! We did have to pay 40 pesos ($3.15) each to enter the Insect Exhibit which has your typical tarantualas and huge cockroaches. BUT it also had a botanical room with butterflies! I woke up today feeling a little panic as I couldn't remember what day it was. After dinner of posole and flan for dessert, we walked outside to a torrential rain complete with thunder and lightening. Hoped it would clear some of the smog. Other observations I've made ... the police are everywhere and they always have their cop lights on. I surmise they want their presence known. I'm getting used to the constant sirens. The other thing I've noticed is drivers honk their horns constantly. Seems rude but I don't believe that is the intention. It's just simply "hey, I'm here!" You get used to it. I've noticed are they don't serve rice with street food. The orange juice included with breakfast is fresh squeezed and it feels like such a luxury. All the bread is sweet. There is never salt and pepper on the table. The people here love their helato (ice cream). Regarding the metro system, the first day I was scared to death but now I see that the subway is how people are able to survive here. For .25 cents a person can get anywhere in Mexico City. The metro is not for those who have social anxiety as during peaks of day you are jammed in shoulder to shoulder. Once on the metro there are always one or two "vendors" who get on and start chanting to sell their wares. Some of them have stereos complete with nice sized speakers in a backpack. They wait until the train starts and then blast the musica! A person might be put off by this but when in Mexico, do as the Mexicans do and just ignore it. The "vendors" only stay on for a stop or two and then depart. It's a hard living, no doubt. I've seen only 1 or 2 sales in the times we've taken the metro. The metro system moves 3 million people every day. Incredible! Today I noticed every time we stopped and looked like we were lost, someone nearby would ask if we needed help. I can't quite get over that. On the other hand, on our way to breakfast this morn, a nice man named Arturo stopped to talk and it turned out he wanted to show us the city ... a private tour, if you will. We were polite and thanked him but kindly said no. Afterwards, i wondered how many people would actually get in the car and go with him? Nuts! Turns out we ran into him every day after this one. So, last night the street vendor where we were going to eat was closing and he waved us across the street to a restaurant. Lesson learned: if the place has table cloths and a door, and you can't see the cook, the price goes up X3 and not nearly as good. In Mexico City stick to the street food ... it's what the locals eat!

 

Day Five ~ Day trip to Puebla. Ran into Arturo (the guy from yesterday who wanted to give us a private tour) this morn on way to breakfast. Decided he is a pretty good scam artist. He even produced a tear for us this morn. I'm cold-hearted at times. Today he was simply cutting into my vacation time. I'm afraid I was less kind today. Got to bus station and actually found a free bathroom. It was filthy. The ride to Puebla took us through the poorest 'hoods I've ever seen. Many abodes are concrete block and lots of tarps. Clothes hanging from place to place ... I'm guessing most don't even have wash machines. I saw lots of dogs in the streets today, some with hair so matted and dirty it made me cringe. In the poor areas there is hardly a wall that isn't tagged with graffiti. I'm glad we went to Puebla. It was very crowded on some streets and at one point we simply sat and watched the crazy bus drivers at one intersection. It seriously looked like a demolition derby! Puebla has several historic Catholic churches. We only entered one today and I think I'm pretty good to go for ever visiting another historic church. Lots of gold and high ceilings. My favorite moments this were looking down allies and finding older women cooking the most wonderful looking food on hot grills. All in all a good day but it paled in comparison to the zoo yesterday. The buses are very comfortable and have bathrooms. Anywhere you go in this city, you'd better have pesos in your pocket because you have to pay 4 pesos to use el banos, if you can find one. And, you may not know that they don't flush t-paper here, it goes in trash. Yes, even the poo paper! Poor, old sewer system.

 

Day 6 ~ Strolled over to the Museo of de Arte Moderno today. Very nice! Took a very long nap, then out for late lunch/early dinner. Walked in a different direction and discovered a beautiful park with one of a very few authorized replicas of the Statue of David which is in the center of a water fountain. And get this, a place where locals take their dogs to play!!! Dogs of every shape and size, off lead, just burning off some energy. Very joyful! Talked to a guy from Spain who has lived here a year. It's Friday night and Mexico City is rocking!

 

We packed a lot of sight-seeing into 6 days but it was fun and if I had to choose my favorite things it would be the food and the people.