Goodbye Hugh and Erica

Things were weird in June. Some pretty big things happened, not happy things though. First off, Hannah had a horrible gallbladder attack. I've never seen her eyes roll back in her head like that before - it was actually pretty scary. So the family ushered her out the door and to the ER we went. This, in and of itself, was pretty upsetting for the Hannah, but shortly after that her grandfather, Hugh, went downhill. He passed on Monday June 25th. Her grandmother bought plane tickets for Hannah and I to come down for the funeral on that Friday. It all happened so fast! 

The funeral was kind of amazing, filled with 1930's charm and home-cooking. Everyone was beautifully polite and gentle and supportive. At the grave site Hannah felt her grandfather's presence. A bugler played taps. A very handsome and somber member of the US Military knelt before Hannah's grandmother and presented her with the flag as a sign of respect to the years grandpa had served. It was all so beautiful and perfect. And sad. Click here to see the obituary.

While we were still in Kansas, my best friend from college called me to let me know something awful. Something that is still hitting me in a hard, weird way. Friend Erica passed away. I graduated from Mesa State College with Erica. I helped her flunk statistics because I always managed to seduce her to come with me to Johnny Carino's for Happy Hour Bellinis instead of attending class. I was in a one-act play with her where we got into a crazy food fight and had ketchup in our ears for days after the show. We used to take naps together between studies and play rehearsals and she used my boobs as pillows.

I went to Germany twice with her. At Camp Lachenwald, her camp counselor name was Eeek. Three 'e's. My name was Quetzal. I remember one time she called me to her tent in the middle of the night for spider relocation (so many spiders!) and I was Quetzal the Hero. And there was another time when we were both so homesick we slept together on a cot at camp. A small cot. But we made it work and neither of us fell off. One of my favorite memories of Germany: the first night we arrived there I drank the hotel bar dry of Gin and then Erica and I skinny dipped in the Main river with a Marine named Wu. The next day he sang to us, "I wish they all could be Colorado girls."

She was a sweet, sassy, crazy woman who liked things like Modest Mouse, Dashboard Confessional, luscious lipsticks, and shoes. Never did I know anyone who had quite so many shoes. But the things I think about with Erica are the little conversations we had. We said 'I know friends drift and I don't want us to drift apart' and we swore up and down we wouldn't. But we did. We drifted for a while until my college bff said I should add Erica to my super secret Facebook that only has (right at this moment) 21 friends. So I sent the invite and Erica accepted immediately. That was on June 12th. Eighteen days later my friend calls to tell me she's gone.

Nothing I could write here will really do her justice. She was surprising and wonderful and I have so many amazing memories because of her. I found her obituary online. It's too simple in my opinion. Erica's obituary should be like a Music Video from the early 90's. Fashionable girl in amazing shoes follows David Bowie into a painting and proceeds to dance through a variety of artistic renaissances until she ends up drunk on Bellinis and napping on my boobs again. 

Because I don't have instagram...

I've been working very hard in the backyard. These are some of the 'in progress' shots. I will do a final fancy picture blog of the finished and growing products sometime next week (or whenever!) but I did want to share a few pretty things and also some video. All of this is from my phone which means, yes, I'm glad to to have upgraded from my old faithful Blackberry. Hello, world, I've finally arrived in the 21st Century!

The above video is from May 12th when we went to the SCC campus for the Garden Expo - I sent the video to my friend who 'loves' garden gnomes.

Not my tree - this belongs to the person at the end of the street near my bus stop, but it's the same kind of tree in my backyard and I used this picture to help me identify it later as a Paul's Scarlet Hawthorne

Hannah's Japanese Maple - we were hoping for more red but Seiren is turning out to be a very vibrant little boy and we're excited to watch him grow!

Hannah made this shabby-chic herb wall!

The herb wall is up against the house overlooking our two veg patches. Well... one of those veg patches is actually a strawberry patch, as seen above.

I felt silly talking to no one - but I'm trying to get comfy doing small 'vlog' type video. My friend Dani did some awesome vlogs a couple of Octobers ago and I really loved getting to see her and hear her as she talked about things in her life. 

This is Django! He is one of the resident store kitties at the Northwest Seed and Pet on division. He did an excellent job holding down those pesky soft pots.

Our strawberry patch is starting to produce! And they taste wonderful <3

My favorite pair - lavender and sage - the lavender plants are from the Garden Expo and the large sage plant is one that I planted myself from seed about two years ago.

This is Scarlet, our enormous Paul's Scarlet Hawthorne. This picture hardly does her justice.

Here we have Sigurd (right) and Yukiko (left). Sigurd is the tree that was at our wedding and represented laying down roots to our new life. It's a Dwarf Norwegian Evergreen. Yukiko is a Japanese Snowbell tree that I got free from the Arbor Day Foundation as part of a community outreach program.

A close up of some lovely sage buds.

This azalea plant was here when we moved in. There are two of these in the front yard under the pine trees. We've since added two more azaleas and a coral bell to enhance our curbside appeal.

Miss Kim Lilacs in soft pots. They are done flowering for the season but they smelled so good! Also please note the lovely brace we've had to put up against the fence to keep it from leaning into our yard. Aint being a homeowner fun?!

Ostara Top 12

We have moved past Ostara and are headed like a comet toward Beltane/Walpugisnacht. During my Ostara celebration at the end of last month I composed a list of ways that we can enjoy the gifts of the goddess this spring. I'm going to try to take pictures of me performing each item of the list but we'll have to see. 

1. Meditate on something you want to do this spring. Maybe you want to plant something, maybe you want to visit a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Meditate on the joyful results you wish to manifest.

2. Spend some time organizing a room in your home. Make sure it works for your needs. If you are always ramming your knee into a table, try moving it. If you can never find the remotes, try making a small space just for them.

3. Eat something you enjoy very slowly and meditate on the way it makes you feel and imagine it becoming fuel for your body and thank the Goddess for the gift of the food.

4. Spend some time being creative in nature. Draw a picture, write a poem, or take a picture (or do all three) of something beautiful that the Goddess has given you.

5. Wake up at dawn and greet the morning. You might light incense or read a poem to the Sun. Let the Sun and the Goddess know that you are thankful for the lengthening days.

6. Go outside at sunset and greet the Night. Cherish it, for it grows shorter each day until Midsummer. Ask the darkness to watch over you as you sleep.

7. Play in the mud.

8. On a windy day, go outside and dance. Observe the way everything moves around you and let nature teach you the moves.

9. Open up all the windows of your house to let in the fresh spring air! Let the Goddess’s breath flow through the rooms and renew the life force of your home.

10. Put a flower in your hair, or behind your ear. Wear it all day to remind you of your connection to the growing earth around you.

11. Spend time with a tree. Read to it or play it music. Hug it and thank it for being part of an ecosystem that keeps you alive.

12. Lay on the ground and stare up at the sky. Let the clouds tell you a story with their shapes and, if there are no clouds, get lost in the hues of blue and understand that the universe is open before you and you are indeed a part of it.

 

LaFrittata

My LaFrittata was partly inspired by hunger, a surplus of egg and also a Pioneer Woman recipe.  

So here's what I used:

Cheese - 1.5 cups of mozzarella also a bit of feta for the top
Eggs - 12
Asparagus - 2 cups, cut up and frozen
Onions - 2 cups, cut up and frozen
Baked potatoes - 3 whole ones to be cut up
Hot Sauce - 1 tablespoon
Garlic Pepper - lots
Salt - lots and lots
Olive Oil - several drizzles
Butter - a small hunk

And here's what I did:

First I had Dad microwave-bake three potatoes (one at a time). Once nuked, I put them in the freezer to cool them down. Next, I sauteed the asparagus and onions with the olive oil and butter in a large stove top skillet. I seasoned these with garlic-pepper and salt. 

While letting that cook on a pretty high setting, I beat up a dozen eggs and stole their lunch money! To the egg stuffs I added the mozzarella and also some fiesta blend cheeses as well as the hot sauce. Then I set that shit aside. I grabbed the potatoes from the freezer (they were still hot!) and used a knife and potholder to manhandle the little fuckers until they were cut into smaller chunks. I added those to the asparagus and onions and added a little more seasoning. 

I poured the egg mixture slowly into the pan until it covered all the fixings. Using a giant ass lid, I covered the skillet and let it cook for... I think about 20 minutes. I'm a very exact chef as you can tell. When the egg stuff looked almost completely firm I sprinkled feta cheese all over the top, put the lid back on, and then moved the skillet off the hot burner and let it cook with its residual heat for another ten minutes. 

The result:

So. Fucking. Good. 

I'm a real grownup! Maybe?

This is going to be a sort of a list update. Firstly I want to say that I did get a new phone with new phone number. So if you don't hear from me, or you've texted me with no reply, that's most likely why. Send me a message or email me with your number and we'll get all square. In addition to a new phone I now use apps! Shocking. Scary. I know. I was even able to upload my Starbuck's gift cards to the Starbuck's app so that I can use my phone to get coffee. Mind. Blown.

Speaking of adulting, last week I went to the Pin for Goth Night. It was a bit dead. Which is funny because it was Goth Night, hurrhurr. But it was kind of neat. Hannah and I and one of our witchy friends went out to unleash our inner macabre. It was interesting. And it was free. That's the big key here, it was free and it was an excuse to go all out with black lipstick, dark eyes, frizzy hair, black clothes, and awkward swaying. I actually had a very good time. I had to work the next day so we ended the evening at 10:30PM. 

In other news, I finished the first book of the Seventh Tower series and am now working on number two. This weekend we are celebrating Hannah's birthday. The plan so far is for her and I to go on a writing date at Barnes and Noble starting as soon as we get our butts out the door. And then about 6 or so that night we'll meet people at Peking North for dinner. I'm excited for this as I've been yearning to get back to work on some Death Man. I've been a terrible person - or actually - you know what - I haven't been a terrible person. I've simply not been actively writing. Which doesn't make me terrible. Damn inner critics and mentor's echoes in my head have convinced me that I must be terrible if I went to school for writing and am not currently writing. But that's bullshit. I'm not terrible.

Last news: I'm playing DnD with some friends. I'm going to play a straight & narrow Paladin. He's the babysitter type who doesn't cuss, doesn't drink, doesn't do anything improper. He abides by a strict moral code and is generally not very fun at a party. This should be fun considering he's teaming up with a succubussy tiefling, a rogue, and a clumsy monk. And then another character who I don't know yet. Anyway, it's interesting. I think this is what he's going to look like - see below!