Turn Back Now!

Arroyo Street, San Carlos

Spooky Hallows

Marie Leveau's tomb at St. Louis Cemetary #1

Mr. Price, I will always love your voice.

Night of the Living Dead by George Romero, 1968

Zombies are relentlessly driven to kill and eat and are far more dangerous in large groups.

Night Falls

Night Falls...

The forest holds its breath
Everything is still...

Witches wail
Witches cackle
A black cat cries at the moon

It is Halloween.


The Golden Arm

"Where is my golden arm? Wherrrre is my golden aarrrmmm!"


My Favorite Halloween Things

* Vincent Price
* Zombies
* Vampires
* New Orleans cemetaries and voodoo
* Scary stories that my dad tells, like The lady with the broken neck
* Horror recordings and sounds
* Scary movies, like Salem's Lot and The Headless Horseman
* Waxed lips

I will leave you with the scene that would force my brother and I to sleep in our parent's room. Yes, it's the scratching the window scene from Salem's Lot. Have a spoohoohoohooooky night!

Happy Birthday Momma!

You are the best Mom in the world.

Willie is back!

Our beloved friend Willie is back. She hasn't been over much, but she was here for a good visit this morning. We thought we hadn't seen her for awhile because naturally she'd be scared of Devo. But Jay said, "Maybe she just didn't come around because it was summer". Of course! Squirrels don't go around hiding peanuts in the summer! They only do that in the Fall, to prepare for Winter. Whatever little buddy, you're here now and we have peanuts for you.

Goin back home to the West Coast

The Vince Vaughn effect

I was talking to a special someone about career stuff and some encouragement was needed. I thought to myself, this career stuff would be easier on the mind if one adopted the ways of Vince Vaughn. So I wrote this.

The Vince Vaughn effect is one that leaves you to be:

Vigorous & determined

Is a gentleman

Not obnoxious but quick to laugh and joke

Confident in himself

Easy to be around

Very positive & very funny

Animated & alive!

Undeterred about his profession!

Gets into a little trouble

Happy but has a dark side

Not afraid to get what he wants, while still being nice

Night driving

Building a building

Ed & Jay, roofing

In this kind of comfy, Bay Area lifestyle, we are collectively known for "working hard and playing hard". So it is very refreshing to know a friend who is building a building. Refreshing also to know that the Bay Area friends want to go and help.

Vegetable madness

eggplant and butternut squash cubed
drizzled with olive oil
sprinkled with salt & pepper
roasted in the oven for 45 minutes
scooped into a bowl with fresh tomatoes on top
heaven

I heart Etsy

Palmeri Sign Earrings by sulu-design

Leilani by BeadGalDesigns

Pineapple handpulled woodcut on rice paper by DCutter

I heart Etsy. This is echoed far and wide, I know! The pictured items are ones that I have purchased. sulu-design is based in Portland (she has a delightful blog!), BeadGalDesigns is in Florida, and DCutter is an artist in Puerto Rico. Such a wonderful community. Thanks to Shari for first telling me about it! And here's to you Miss Rosina Red, who designed all my gorgeous wedding stationary and will have her very own shop there this Fall (OK, it's a double-dare for me to try to do a shop as well...MUST.get.in.the.studio!).

Craving

A week in yearbooks - 10th grade

add-a-bead necklaces were really popular

tennis team!

Spanish club, La Tertulia

Jane Hill, a sweet friend who currently lives in Louisiana and has horses

The Spanish club got to go to the French Quarter for their big field trip. This was because the French Quarter had a couple of huge fires that roared through it in the late 1700's, leaving much of the buildings in ruin. The Spanish rebuilt the Quarter, so what you see when you go there is Spanish architecture. I remember having to explain this to people in the French club at school, because they didn't know why we'd be going there on our field trip. Their big excursion was a trip to the Sacré Coeur in New Orleans - ha ha, boring! I seem to recall the French club were inclined to think they were slightly more dignified than the Spanish club.

Sophomore year was a lot of fun. Going to high school was a fresh start, but being a freshman was so intimidating! The seniors were allowed to make fun of us of course. Wow, they had boyfriends and they could work the sock-hops and mingled at the pep rallies like nobody's business. Getting to 10th grade meant that you built up a little more confidence and basically, you weren't the freshmen anymore. I liked my psychology and english classes, and I liked getting my driver's license!

Back then, you could have your license when you were 15. My mom still made me ride the bus to school or catch a ride with somebody else. A couple of girls got a brand new bimmer and VW rabbit convertibles as their birthday gifts that year (a lot of oil money in the south). As a result, some high-schooly 'what really matters' lessons from Mom.

Mom would let me drive by myself to get her something at the grocery store however, and I loved that freedom and singing along to the radio - songs like True, Wrapped Around Your Finger & Missing You.

This was also the year that I got my braces off and kissed a boy named David Buras. He called one day and romantically told me that the song Hello reminded him of me. The next time I heard it on the radio I thought, that's such a sad song! Melt with You, now THAT was a romantic song!

Apple pies

we each peeled 27 apples, which Mom got from a friend's tree

just stirred with cinnamon & sugar

ready for the oven

50 minutes later & the whole house smelled great

sent home with a People mag and an extra pie for freezing -
hot damn!

Boy am I fortunate. Last weekend I learned how to bake banana bread and this weekend my Mom taught me how to bake apple pies. Someday, when I learn how to make a good gumbo, I'll be a rock star.

Mom had never before baked pies with anyone else at the same time, and we both had a lot of fun.

I thought that making crust was going to be so hard, but it wasn't! Peeling the apples was fun, too. While our first ones were baking, we each made a second one. That one goes in the freezer and when company comes, all we have to do is put it in the oven.

I stopped off at the store for some vanilla ice cream and Jay just loved it. He sure is lucky!

Apple Pie Recipe ala Betty Crocker

¾ c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

6-7 c. apples

1 1/3 tbs. butter cut in sm. pieces.

Mix well. Add 'dots' of butter on top of filled pie.

...and crust recipe here, the way my grandma made hers.