So when does the chit-chat start? Right now!

a reply to: desert

Blast from the past desert...thanks for that. I had to go have myself a listen :-) For some reason, now all I can think about are red Camaros...

I know there was some kind of reaper hiding in one of those 3 Rs - and the devil waiting in the details. Punctuation, grammar and math...oh my! But, most of my teachers were compassionate, all bodhisattva-like, with a sense of humor

So - I lived to tell this tale

I think your cake sounds F #amazing! All my favorite things - in a cake - what's not to love? :-)

So sorry - about the ever so much dry of your days these days...and your state's reprehensible water-thieving commies. I swear - if it weren't for bad liberals there'd be no liberals at all. Or something

It's been mostly cool and rainy here - all summer. No corn, peppers or tomatoes in the garden...an August so mild it could easily be May. Come to think of it, the deity is maybe a bit miffed at us too...

I grew up with a well. At first we had to buy water - a truck brought it up the hill and poured it into a big cistern. Then we dug our very own well - my sisters and I took turns going out in the winter to make sure the light bulb that was keeping the pump from freezing was still on. Haven't thought about that for a very long time :-)

I remember exactly how much it meant to have water - or to go without. People (including myself) forget how much we depend on nature for the things that matter most

Speaking of things that matter right up there with the most - cryin' shame about all that wine. A crying shame. I sent Jeeves out there with a mop and a couple of buckets. Waste not want not

And now - I really need to know - was there an actual taco cake?

:-)

(Rain soon desert...there just has to be)

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

Sorry, Spira, but desert can't reply now. desert is verklempt

a reply to: desert

A proud day desert

:-)

Ok, now I can be here again. Notice the new flag in the corner.

I love your water stories, Spira. And the Taco Cake.....in the works. Maybe this Labor Day weekend. I just know it will be a white cake with taco seasoning, and I will top it with a Mexican chocolate frosting. Everything is from scratch. Hey, my BFF will be over next week, so I will serve her a piece of my Wacko Cake. It won't really match with the theme for this week's dinner, Crush Season, but MrD and I will open a bottle of our homemade wine, so who will care after we drink the nectar of the goddess?

Oh, and how thoughtful of you to volunteer Jeeves for clean up in Napa. We're like that around here. On a serious note, my son emailed me that his aunt's house is structurally ok, but things fell off the wall from the shaking.

Hey, olaru, I tell you, you could be mighty busy around ATS, if you posted everything that makes people go,”Huh??”. For example, take that Pennsylvania Gov who pleaded for relaxed liquor sales laws in his state by appealing to women. "I think a lot of people want to be able to walk into a grocery store," Corbett said. "Particularly, a lot of the women, want to be able to go in and buy a bottle of wine for dinner, go down buy a six pack or two six packs, buy dinner, and go home. Rather than what I just described, is at least three stops, in Pennsylvania."

Well, now, he actually ha a good point. In my state, I've always been able to run in to buy ingredients for dinner AND some alcoholic beverage. Now, here comes the problem. By the time I got home and had a little apertif, I usually either forgot what it was I was going to cook or fell asleep on the sofa, with the family patiently waiting for Mom to wake up and cook. But I did save time getting home!

And don’t send Mom to the drug store for a prescription. Why, the last time I did that for cold medicine, I walked away with both prescription and some rum. But I tell you, once I started in on the rum, I forgot my cold and felt so much better after a long nap.

Having had the unfortunate experience of buying alcohol in that state (jeez, people in Russia at the time were waiting less time in shorter lines for bread), I can attest that people are going to abuse alcohol whether it’s from a package store or Big Box Grocery Mart. I don't know if there was a single car trunk in PA on a Friday after work that didn't hold mucho cases of beer from the package store. Temperance, whether in Pennsylvania or in California, doesn’t depend on where the liquor is bought.

Well, gotta run. See ya'll later!

A favorite movie

And Holy Mole! Mexican Chocolate - a favorite thing

:-)

chocolate...a copper bowl....chocolate in a copper bowl...flowing..... desert is verklempt again .....


....ok..... I think I'm composed enough..... and that is a great film and score..... now onto another like totally different topic

Shared Crossings

The Shared-Death Experience (SDE), a profound spiritual experience whereby a loved one shares a dying person’s initial transition from this world into the afterlife, is at the heart of the Shared Crossing Project. It is this experience—and the practices we recommend for preparing for one—that distinguishes the Shared Crossing Project from other end-of-life organizations. People who have Shared-Death Experiences understand these events as an empathic co-experiencing of the passing away of their beloved. The SDE is a spiritually transformative experience that can have far-reaching and positive implications for the survivor, including peace of mind regarding their beloved’s afterlife, compassion and appreciation for their loved one’s life, and insight for the experiencer into his/her own life purpose.

When I visited my younger sister, she said she was going to attend a presentation. I need to ask her about that. She will be busy out of town for awhile, so it might be awhile before I can share her info.

She wanted to attend the presentation, because she wanted to know more about her shared crossing with our older sister. She said that at the moment our sister died, she was hundreds of miles away in a car (as a passenger) in the middle of the desert on the way to the Colorado River, but all of a sudden in her mind was a vision of a field with flowers so brightly colored in a clarity never before seen, that she wondered what was going on. Then minutes later her cell phone rang, and she learned about our sister's passing.

My sister chuckled when she told me about this organization. She said that Santa Barbara has so many wealthy people with money to burn, that they are able to support many and various interests.

a reply to: desert

My mom died in the morning. Later, that night - I had an extraordinarily vivid dream

She was delirious just before she left - she mistook me for her own mother. She was surprised to see me (her mother) and her face had this happy but astonished look - I'll never forget it

I was trying to tell her I loved her, but she didn't seem to hear me or understand what I was saying

The dream took place in Mexico - a place she loved. She loved it so much that that's where we spread her ashes - out on the ocean just off the coast of Baja. I was wandering around a house - the walls were all corals and pink - her favorite colors. There was a fountain in the courtyard - with a tall stone in the center. Words were starting to appear on that stone - then they'd fade - then appear - as if struggling to get through

Finally the words showed up strong - glowing in pink

Te amo

It's a kind of joke really because my mom couldn't learn a word of Spanish to save her life. It made me laugh - out loud. It woke me up

:-)

I hope your sister finds what she's looking for desert

Thank you, Spira, for sharing your beautiful dream. There truly are senses beyond our five senses, all part of Life. In fact, Life is like a dartboard, with those senses closer to the Middle. We certainly can experience connections to the Center via them. Oh, yes, your mother truly wanted to tell you, Te Amo!

Well, let’s celebrate….with a Taco Cake!!! At first, my BFF emailed, that she was “afraid” to eat it. But once she tasted it, she loved it. In fact, she took two pieces home to give to her sister and a neighbor. She now is awaiting the next creation….a Chinese Dinner Cake.

The Taco Cake consisted of a homemade white cake layer with taco spices thrown in (giving it a spicy orange color), topped with a powdered sugar icing made with a homemade Mexican Chocolate dry mix for flavor and color. The flavor delightfully exploded in your mouth like a Mexican firecracker.

I’m putting ideas together for the Chinese Dinner Cake. Don’t know when I’ll actually get it made.

Oh, my sister had a chance to get back to me re her Shared Crossings workshop. She said that a read of everything on the website would give you all the info; I think for her the workshop was a chance to hear from the researcher directly and be with like minded people. It validated her experience.

The research of end-of-life “babble” is ongoing. What the dying vocalize on their deathbed has meaning to them, even if we who surround them don’t understand.

On to more news from the homefront….cataracts run in MrD’s family, so we are getting his eye taken care of now, and speaking of family and dying…MrD’s Dad is on his deathbed, and my BFF found out her Mom had died. I tell you, my growing up in a fairly non-dysfunctional family certainly didn’t prepare me for hearing about family life in destructively dysfunctional families. The stories MrD and BFF tell are horrible experiences for children, with affects lasting into adulthood; BFF had always said her story was Mommy Dearest on steroids.

Ahhh, amazing how a visit to Lounge Noir can be so enjoyable and cathartic. Jeeves, Mexican ice coffee for everyone, to go with the Taco Cake slices I‘ve set out. Hmmmm, I’ve gotta think up a Lounge Noir Cake. Any ideas, people?

How’s everybody doing today? Jeeves, apple cider with a shot of butterscotch schnapps, por favor.

Well, I haven’t been around here in a while. Been busy. MrD’s eye is just fine now. Hell, that man will have better vision than me when he’s done with his other eye. No hurry on that one, but eventually he’ll have to have cataract surgery on that one, too.

No, something else happened that kept us busy. BFF broke her leg. We ended up in the emergency room with her, and then we had weeks of driving her to doc appointments and just general visits to help keep up her spirits. And she just found out she’s got six more weeks on crutches! She can drive herself to appointments now but walking for long is out. So she’s pretty much housebound, although we did take her out to a restaurant.

With so much happening, we gave up thinking about staying in the desert this Fall. Even the people who love to come out to visit us were faced with a sudden rash of Life’s Cosmic Jokes, including family situations and broken bones, too. Actually, if we had gone out, we would have witnessed the break up of the Virgin galactic space plane, as we camp about 10 miles away and usually see what’s flying around. That is one event I’m glad I missed. So, we’re all looking forward to Spring out there instead.

Finally got some rain. And it was true, when it rains it pours! Enough to wash everything outside we can’t wash because of water restrictions. Yay! A warm rain, though, so can’t expect drought relief.

Jeeves, some apple cider and beer, 4 to 1 ratio. If anyone wants any, just put it on my tab. Speaking of tabs…

I’ve been trying to drum up new business for Lounge Noir. To be honest, I need the income to pay off my tab, but I did some figuring and found out that if we rent out our venue at least once a month, we could all have our tabs paid off. I think I’m going to need help with marketing, though. The first group I approached, The International Association of Exorcists met in Rome instead. The IAE felt there was too much debauchery going on here, more than they could exorcise.


I’ve also been busy starting up a new publication, Mongolian Hoarders. I’ve had to write articles for it.

“When is Having Too Much Yak Butter Around Too Much?”

“When It’s Time to Call Rent-a-Yurt”

“Know How to Hold ‘Em, Know How to Fold ‘Em: How to be an expert with your storage yurts”

“Tasteful Yet Practical Placement of Storage Boxes in Your Yurt”

“10 Tips for Breaking Camp Each Time You’re Ready to Move On”

“The Upsides and Downsides of Hoarding Horses”

“How Your Ancestors Stored all the Spoils They Brought Back from Pillaging Far and Wide”

“How to Entertain Guests Outside When Your Yurt is Too Full”

“The Best Yard Sales and Flea Markets on the Steppes”

“A Review of the latest historical research: Genghis or Mrs. Khan, Who was the greater hoarder?”

“Finding Out the Hard Way…. There IS a Limit to the Number of Throat Singing Songs and Videos You Can Store on One Device”

Jeeves, next rounds on me. I love you both Spira and Desert!!

Hey! Desert! Olaru!

It has been a while...

The round after that is on me - we should all be well on our way by then (and right back atcha compadre)

Much more to say - but it will have to wait until I have time to say it properly

Until then - night all

(Mongolian hoarders...)

:-)

Evening kids - I made it back from the tail end of a whole bunch of tallying - I'll be hearing the happy patter of pachyderm paws in my dreams tonight. I suppose :-)

Good news about the mister's vision desert. And the rain. Tough times for the rest of your crew - hopefully everyone is on the mend, things get back to normal - and the rains return for real so you and yours can all see Spring return to the desert in a big, fat, beautiful way...

Olaru - your post made me realize how much I like it in here. We don't get together nearly often enough. Wish you had brought your guitar so we could have some post election music here at Lounge Noir

This will have to do I guess :-)


One more Campari smoothie and I'm off to bed - night all

Hey, olaru, yes, play some guitar! And, olaru, I love ya back!

Spira, great Led Zep song. Speaking of guitars, a while ago you mentioned that the first song you learned on your guitar was House of the Rising Sun. I, too, spent many a time strumming and singing away with that tune. I favor acoustical, leaning toward Spanish, but I haven’t played in years to be honest. OTOH, MrD loves his electric guitar and plays daily. He’s had his guitar for years and completely rebuilt it himself this year. It’s a nice looking guitar, but, not having quite the perfect musical ear MrD has, I don’t think I appreciate it’s sound as much as he does.


With as many wildfires as there were this summer, we were all thankful that there were not more, what with conditions so dry. Flocks of geese (I estimated 70 in one flight alone) would fly overhead in the morning, but then by the afternoon I would hear the fire spotter planes and retardant aircraft fly over. The day would start clear, then haze from smoke would build up.

One afternoon I happened to look out the balcony slider. My heart sank, as I observed a billowing wildfire smoke cloud in the southern Sierras. That fire quickly grew from 5 acres to 900, then, being temporarily sated, slowed down to eventually devour 4,000 acres. This fire preferred vegetation, marching down steep slopes and back up steep hillsides to get at it, fortunately sparing small historical towns. That fire was the closest at only 30 some air miles away. The worse thing for me was seeing the smoke cloud develop and knowing what was happening on the ground to anything living underneath it. Then the anxious period of not knowing set in, wondering where and how the fire would decide to go. Could this monster be contained within fire breaks laid down by hand by firefighters or dropped from above by aircraft? With no summer rain in sight, this year’s fire monsters put up good fights.

Whenever a wildfire started up here, I would hope that your areas of the West would remain fire-free. I guess it could have been worse for us, so thankful it wasn’t worse.

Talk about how bad drought is. My town had a bear walk into it, only about a mile away from where I live. Actually, I would love to have been out walking and have seen it. What a trip! This bear was returned to the forest, unlike another bear in another town that was euthanized, because it kept returning to the valley floor. In all my years here, I don’t remember bears coming down this close. It’s bad.

Hey, Spira, I see that snow fell in your area. Remember that sweater with the extra arm? Well, I undid the arm and used it to make this cute pair of socks to keep your feet warm. Look, they have toes! It’s like a tiny sock for each of your six… oh, hell… I’ll have them ready by Christmas….

a reply to: desert

House of the RIsing Sun - a nice connection :-)

My first guitar teacher was the best. He loved that song - I did too. Another early one for me was The Boxer. Some Dylan, some Neil Young. I miss my guitar. I used to love to write - but that was so long ago… I remember playing until my fingers bled - and then playing until I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I used to love to write my own songs. I had a guitar just a couple of years ago - but it literally fell apart and I haven’t been in a position to replace it

I think I would have really loved going electric :-)

Rock on Mr. D

About the fires - I’m so glad it wasn’t worse for you too. I understand your worries about all the creatures it affects. It’s heartbreaking even when they’re natural

There was a point in recent years where it felt like my whole state was on fire. It wasn’t of course, but you could always smell the smoke. The light was all over amber - everything had this surreal golden glow - the sun would hang in the sky like an orange ball

Fire feels like a living thing. I once watched a fire crawl up one side of a hill and then down the other - slow and fast at the same time. Beautiful and terrifying

I’m hoping this winter gives you all a real break - and finally some rain. But, not all at once

It is sad about the bears - it’s happening everywhere - here too. Things are shifting, wildlife competing with each other and us - fire, water…

An unusually mild summer followed by a very long warm fall here. Just before that snow, a hummingbird was in my sister’s yard trying to get nectar from a long dead bloom. Early November is too late for them here. A few days later we got the snow and the freezing cold. I’d like to think she beat it, but I don’t know. Everything feels a little off these days

Thank you for the socks desert. How did you know? :-)

Leave the extra toe - maybe I’ll grow into it

If we don’t make it back to Lounge Noir before - have a lovely holiday. That goes for you too Olaru

Night all

Are you both safe and dry Ms. Desert?

I dropped by for a a sherry and a little chat by the fire - something to take my mind off...

I'll just leave it at that - something to take my mind off :-)

We're next in line it seems - snow tomorrow. Thought I would get myself out while the getting was good - thought of you with all that rain in the news

Nature seems to be having some proportional issues, but hopefully some good comes with all that wet

"Leave the extra toe - maybe I’ll grow into it"..... Spira, you are sooooo funny!!!

Jeeves, some sherry for me, too. I need to sit by our fire with Spira. Had a busy day getting ready for Christmas Eve afternoon. I’m setting out a tasting of various honeys and cheeses. Plus tasting of Honey Liqueur. BFF and her sister are dropping by. I also finished making their gifts, some tiny cookie chocolate houses that hang on your coffee cup and four small bottles of my wine. It’s a good thing I assembled their tiny houses before I tasted and bottled their wine.

Thanks for asking, Spira. Yes, we’re fine with all the rain. Where I live in California is often too south for the northern storms and too north for the southern storms. We did have about six hours of high wind and heavy rain, but no power outage or damage. The hills on the eastern edge of town are so green now, beautiful! It was so sad to see all those homes damaged in the mudslide by Camarillo.

Let’s toast to surviving your snow well!

Well, here it is, that time of year again. We do tend to keep Christmas well at LN. Looks like Whoville. And look at that most beautiful tree in the corner! Hey, I think I see a gift under there for me! Feels like a book…..I’ll just peak inside where the tape is loose….hmmmm, How to Knit Socks for Beginners….Wow, I can use that! ….Oh! Here is a small baggie….gift….for olaru….Desert’s Homegrown Herbs.

Merry Christmas to all at LN! You know, I got to thinking recently about a certain part of the story, the part where angels say, “Peace on Earth to men of Goodwill”. I got to pondering that statement. A lot of us put so much interest in the Peace part. Maybe because that word looks nice on Christmas cards or maybe because it is a feel good, warm fuzzy notion that humanity will finally get its act together.

But it dawned on me, that we forget the second part, the men of Goodwill. If we put it all together, the way it should be, what the angels are telling humanity is this, that men of Goodwill will have Peace, and the rest of you suckers can just kiss Peace goodbye. If you want peace, you have to make Goodwill a practice in your Life.

Humanity, being humans, will always have to put up with their crazy ass side and all the evil that humans do to themselves and others. But the part of humans that calls out to be accepted and practiced, the part we call Goodwill, is our choice to make. If we Live centered on Goodwill, we will have Peace. There is no other way.

And so, to all at LN, to all of you who practice Goodwill, I cannot wish you Peace on Earth, because you already have it. My wish for you is that others will recognize your Goodwill and do the same. For there is no better way to Live, no better gift to the world, than to have your Goodwill light up the darkness for others. The world is made brighter because of you.

a reply to: desert

That was beautiful desert

The world is definitively brighter because of you

Early evening on Christmas Eve here...and offline in a minute or two

Hope you're both having a lovely evening and have a wonderful Christmas day

Night Desert, night Olaru - left you both a note on your doorsteps, but in case you don't look:

Peace and Love to both of you!

Happy Valentine's Day!.... and Presidents Day!...Happy Chinese New Year! ...and Mardi Gras! ...oh, and a few birthdays this month! ....

I hope all is fine and well with everyone here. Jeeves, some bubbly all around. Yes, in my vintage crystal coupe champagne glasses ...well, they weren't vintage when my parents got them as wedding gifts. No one else in the family wanted them years ago, so I'm glad I kept them. See, I can use them here and, now that I'm retired, any damn time I want! Feel like champagne Tuesday afternoon at 1:30? Heck yeah! Cheers!

Spira, I notice you've been changing your looks lately. Love the sunset view!

Well, I've managed to finally sort through all the boys' stuff I saved from when they were growing up. So each will now be getting a box in the mail next week. I think they will get a kick out of all their drawings and writings. Plus assorted other items.

Next week is a luncheon on the coast with my sisters. I miss the longer get togethers, but I am glad for whatever time we can spend together. MrD and I will spend the night, however, with one of my sisters and brother-in-law, before we head home the next day.

Looks like we will be back out in the Mojave by the first of March, and then stay as long as we want. Crazy, though, but we could have gone out all of Feb this year, that's how warm it's been, which is scary sad. We did drive over the first of this month to check on the trailer and then out to "our" site to have lunch and walk around. Surprisingly, there was lots of green groundcover.

On the highway we drove past semis hauling bee boxes back to the Central Valley. They're early this year, because the stone fruit trees are already in bloom. Crazy sad, because it's a month early. But, wait, it gets worse. Apparently the bees are arriving but are not able to pollinate as usual because they're still "waking up"! Hold on to your seats, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Crazy sad.

Well, I've set the LN buffet tables with my vintage silver. Glad I saved that, too. A bowl of cereal eaten with a silver spoon is fun. Anyway, ya'll join me for a Celebration Day buffet. My tab. I get a huge senior discount around here now.

Here's a ponderance. Do young people nowadays know how to place flatware on the table correctly? Or does it matter, if most meals now are probably eaten with fingers alone?

Happy Valentines Day everyone.