Lonely On The Homefront

Well, as many of you know my dear hubby has been out of town for ten days living the teacher-on-summer-vacation camper/hiker dream that is Glacier National Park. At first the little bit of freedom was refreshing, time to see friends and family, time to do what I want, exclusively. So, I took some long bike rides. I made a couple of dinner dates with lady friends to catch up. I saw a movie on a whim and a caffeine buzz at 9:45pm on a school night. I went to a baby shower. I watched a former colleague try out for women's USA sled hockey. I got a discount pedicure at the beauty school in a bright shade of mandarin orange. I spent hours upon hours at the house of our dear friends, ate dinner, tickled their baby and generally just chilled like I lived there. I read books. I journaled. I roasted red peppers. I swept the floors and mopped the kitchen. I even hit up the Renaissance Faire for the first time ever.

But now I'm officially over "alone time" and I'm ready for Ry to return. It's lonely and boring here, especially the three days I went without a computer or internet contact because I didn't know our own password and hubby man was out of cell phone land. If you can believe it, even I got sick of reading.

The other compounding factor is that I'm in my new job and on information overload. I've also learned just enough that I feel I really need to sink my teeth into some projects, but I feel paralyzed. So many choices, so many directions I could go, but really, so much I still need to learn. I'm trying to tell myself its exhilarating but it feels scary. I'm also trying to tell myself, you can do this starting-from-scratch-thing again, this is how it works. But without my rock here next to me at night, I feel less secure.

Finally, I have been null and void in the kitchen without him home. It's just not that inspiring to cook for one. I've made one real bonafide meal in the last ten days and the rest has been sandwiches and take out (ahem - not vegan takeout either). In this regard I keep telling myself, you're being a great vegetarian and that counts for something. However, I'm not deluding myself that the two slices of Whole Foods pizza, a Heath bar and a ginger ale I consumed count for a healthy supper. Luckily, food was scant for the rest of the day. I was crabby and drank too much coffee and got all riled up and my hubby is still gone, so I probably could have convinced myself it was okay to eat a cute little baby animal and felt justified.

Any who, enough complaining. I learned today at the chiropractor's office that Jonathan Franzen is coming out with a new novel, like now. Maybe I need to jump into his world and forget mine for a while. Yeah, that's it, a good book, some tea, a long shower and day dreams of Oaxaca - any of those things could keep me sane for the last 24-36 hours of Ry Ry's hiatus.

Since I haven't showcased photos in a while, I'm just gonna put up some random newbies from the last few weeks.


Farmers market bounty. Notice the garlic braid.

Ry's first attempt at pickled beets.

Pickled beets with sunshine coming through.

Peppers stuffed with quinoa, pinto beans, carrots and green chiles.

First day of work picture. Like first day of school picture minus the backpack.

Karen kicks tooshie at sled hockey.

This girl already loves the camera.

Maypole.

Turkey legs, you tempt me.

The State Fair Has Been Reformed

Let's start this by saying I don't think I've actually even been to the Wisconsin State Fair in seven years. The last summer I went, I worked eight hours in the cream puff tent, decided it was a disgusting sticky mess and promptly quit. As mean as it sounds, I have always had this prejudice against the fair thinking that it's full of trashy, drunk biker people stumbling through the Midway looking to get in a brawl or at least ride The Zipper. My good friend Alicia from grad school has just moved back home to Milwaukee. She loves the fair, so I thought it would be good to give it another try with a true fan. Before she even moved back we made the plan to hit the fair on the first day and have the "full" fair experience.

Lately I've been geeked about farm animals and home grown produce, so I was feeling very excited to see all of it. We arrived in the morning with our two cans of food for Milwaukee's Hunger Task Force and got in for $2 each, which I thought was a pretty swell deal. It was $1 ride day in the Midway, also an excellent deal. We spent about five hours total at The Fair and tried just about everything we could.

We saw the horses, cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and bunnies. The piggy place was closed unfortunately, must have been piggy prep time or something. We saw the bread, pies, cookies, quilting, embroidery, vegetables, vegetable basket arrangements, flowers, flower arrangements and all kinds of artifacts from State Fair's past. We visited the Expo building to peruse all the Sham-Wow-type products (sham is an appropriate name, isn't it?). We sat for a long while in a booth with swingy porch chairs and spun around in circles 'til we giggled. We visited the Midway where we rode the Giant Slide, Ferris Wheel and Tilt-A-Whirl. We ate fair food, including a giant pickle, fresh fried cheese curds and chive fries (not a very good vegan day at all, but I just haaaaaad too). Alicia even picked up a cream puff tote to go.

Overall, my favorite part was seeing all of the animals and watching their handlers groom them. It was teen showcase day and there were lots of young kids taking great pride in getting their animals ready. I saw several pairs of handlers blow drying and brushing their cows' fluffed up patch of hair along the spine or spraying them with some kind of bovine hairspray. Two girls were feeding their cows a special mix of fattening-up food for the day of the show. They told me it was pureed beets and molasses, which the cows love! We also got to meet several county Dairy Queens (I didn't know the namesake of the ice cream shop actually existed, call me a city kid through and through). The Brodhead County Dairy Queen explained how a cow's stomaches work on a real-life model that had been preserved by the UW-Madison Veterinary School.

Overall, the fair has been truly reformed for me! I loved it and it was one of the best summer days I've had yet this year. I'm excited to go back next year and to bring little kiddies in the future. Long live Wisconsin agriculture!

Rhubarb Torte

Enjoyed lunch with friends and an afternoon at the West Allis Farmer's Market today. The most entertaining part of the trip was when an elderly produce selling man decided to hit on me. I bought something from one of his neighboring vendors and started walking by when he very loudly said, "hi, how are you doing today?". I responded with a cheery good and returned his greeting. He said he was good. I flashed a big smile and started on my way. I heard him shout back at me "you're looking good today too". That made me laugh a little and my friend Kev said that Ryan better watch out!

I was surprised to see how much the market variety had increased in just a few short weeks. I purchased an eggplant ($1), two broccoli stalks ($1), four large sunflowers ($3), a cantaloupe ($3), a pound of green beans ($3) and a basket of heirloom dark cherry tomatoes ($4) which I forgot to take with me. Blast! I'm consistently amazed at how much healthy food I can get for so little cash. West Allis really has the most spectacular Farmer's Market I've attended outside of Madison and it's considerably less annoying than that one with designated wide aisles and a better overall sense of order.

Visiting the market has started to get me pumped up for the idea of a front yard garden - a project we hope to embark on next spring. I was still skeptical when we talked about starting it this year, thinking our neighbors might decide we're crazy freaks for wanting to rip up our lawn. I also wondered how it would look and whether it would be ugly. But when we were visiting our friend Kathleen in Durango, CO she inspired me by telling us how she killed her lawn right off the bat determined not to waste water on something of no use. The endless vegetable bounty of the Farmer's Market makes me think about what we could grow at home on our small, small plot of land and how gratifying that could be.

With a day off I decided to surprise Ry by making his favorite Rhubarb Torte that comes from a special family recipe. Last year I made it for his birthday, but I didn't get the recipe quite right. It calls for corn starch and I subbed tapioca flour hoping it would work. Needless to say, it was good but didn't pass the Mom Test of Approval (aka as good as mom makes). Since we were away for his birthday, I wanted to surprise him with it sometime this week. I had a couple of bags of garden fresh rhubarb stored in the freezer courtesy of Josh and Brenda (Ry's cousin & wife). With all the right ingredients this time and beautiful red rhubarb chunks, I tried it again!

Murray Rhubarb Torte
* Disclaimer...Ry assures me since I'm family now it's okay to share the recipe. If it's not okay, then it's on him!

Oatmeal Topping
2C brown sugar
2t cinnamon
1.5C oatmeal
1C melted butter (vegan margarine for us)
2C flour
Mix with hands until crumbly.

Rhubarb
4 C rhubarb
Chop into inch wide pieces. Pour boiling water over fruit. Let stand five minutes. Drain.

Syrup
2C water
2C sugar
4T cornstarch
2t vanilla
Combine in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until clear. Be careful, once boiling it can quickly run over the top of your pot. Best to lower the temp once it's boiling. It's no fun to clean up off the stove top.

Put 1/2 the oatmeal topping in the bottom of a 9 x13" pain greased with Pam. Cover with rhubarb. Pour syrup over rhubarb. Top with remaining oatmeal mix. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Okay to serve when hot, but should be stored in the fridge thereafter.

Flag, Sedona, Phx AZ And The Long Ride Home

We spent a total of three full days in Flag before heading down to Sedona for a stint in Red Rock Country. I'm proud to say that we hiked Mount Humphrey's up to the saddle, but couldn't summit the peak because of thunderstorms up top. Ry was very bummed about this because we'd started out sufficiently early at 8am. We surmised that even if we'd come earlier we might have actually been up on exposed rock when the storms started, so it was better that we only made it to the saddle. Not willing to risk a lightening strike, we decided to head down and hiked the rest of the trip in the rain. Every time Ry saw Humphrey's or Agassiz from town, which is almost everywhere by the way, he said the peak was taunting him. Next time, next time.











Otherwise, we mostly spent most of our time visiting with old friends and trying to take in some of the mountain splendor. We tried to hike into the Lava Tubes - a cave carved out by a river of molten lava (the peaks in the area are all volcanic) - but two of our light sources died as we were entering the cave. I also pretty much had a full on panic attack descending the craggy rocks into the cave. I don't think Ry has ever seen me as freaked out. I climbed out hyperventilating, did some deep breathing and then decided to try again. I was calmer when we went down the second time but the two light sources failed and we decided it wasn't safe to keep going on slick rock in total darkness. I guess safety issues bogged us down in our Flag physical endeavors twice!

We tooled around the NAU campus, which boasted many exciting new changes including a Union addition, a new conference center and a new residence hall. We visited with folks in the Office of Residence Life (ORL) and my favorite Student Affairs faculty member, Dr. Susan Longerbeam, housed in the College of Education.




















The best part of our trip to Flag was visiting with old friends and co-workers. We dined with my old supervisor Matt (a multi-talented, super-witty Student Affairs professional, pilot and meteorologist) and a former co-worker Veronica, who actually interviewed me and offered me my grad position which helped me launch my illustrious career in Student Affairs! We visited with another old supervisor Gretchen in her office. She has been promoted to a new position, managed to open her own Jazzercise studio and is currently pregnant with her first child...exciting! She was one of my absolute favorites in Flag who provided me with much caring support. We visited a former grad colleague, Mellissa, her husband Trevor and their sweet two-year old daughter Violet in their home and got to catch up on most everything that'd happened in the last few years. Finally, we were able to visit my former co-worker and close friend, Scott when we made a side trip to Phoenix to visit Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wright's second home in Scottsdale, AZ).

After Flag we jetted down to Sedona where we stayed in the Baby Quail Inn. Apparently there are many quail in Sedona, but we didn't actually see any (especially not any babies) until we were on the Taliesin West grounds in Phx. For Ry's 36th birthday, we did a lovely, but easy hike on the Little Horse Trail that ended in an ascension of "Chicken Point" where we had great views of Bell Rock and The Courthouse red rock formations. We dined at Elote Cafe, a Mexican fusion place and celebrated quietly with delicious grapefruit margaritas.

































We headed for home last Friday via I-40 with stops overnight stops in Amarillo and Springfield, MO. For our last real tourist attraction we visited the Cadillac Ranch and along the way home we listened to a book on CD called, The Women by T.C. Boyle about Frank Lloyd Wright's four significant wives and mistresses. I'd read the book before, but Ry hadn't and I thought it would be fitting with our visit to Taliesin West. I've actually read a couple of books about FLW and was geeking a bit about seeing Taliesin West (TW). TW was interesting, but I wasn't wowed per say. I also liked the book less than when I initially read it, which I think was thanks to the highly emotive male reader that insisted on doing an intense woman's Southern accent for one of the characters.
















After we finished The Women, we started another TC Boyle book, Talk Talk for the remainder of the trip, but didn't make it through. This is a book about a deaf woman whose identity is stolen. Ironically enough, we returned to find out today that someone got a hold of our credit card number and attempted to use it at a tourist attraction in England of all places. Weird coincidence. I'm pretty in love with TC Boyle as an author (Ry turned me on to him after much insistence). I've read about five of his books, but if I had to recommend just one it would be Drop City. If you are looking for a smart, engaging novel with a highly evolved vocabulary that explores hippie commune life, this one's for you. Besides that, it was a National Book Award finalist in 2003.

Any who, enough about literature, though I have been thinking about incorporating book reviews into my writing here (keep your eyes peeled). We arrived home about 10pm this past Sunday and I was happy, happy, happy to sleep in my own bed. Ry and I have decided definitively that there is no hotel bed in the world as comfortable as our own. Everything was just where is should be. Thanks again to Kevan and Alicia for tending to our home while we were away. Except...the huge tree in front of our house was unexpectedly chopped down by the Milwaukee Forest Service. They cut off of the entire crown, so all that's left is a big trunk with nubs on it and it's slated for de-trunking later this summer. Big bummer. Big, big bummer. I guess it was pretty sick and new tree will be planted in its place, but it changes the whole feel of our abode.

In summary, this third annual road trip was awesome but different. It didn't have all the surprises of somewhere I'd never been before (like the Pacific Northwest) and we weren't able to camp at all due to extreme heat. But we were able to see dear friends, hike over 26 miles in mountain terrain and I was able to share a recent chapter of my life with Ry Ry. I struggled when I lived in Flag but that's only natural being far from home, working on a graduate degree and doing a tough, specific job I'd never even thought about doing before then. I've made peace with all of that. And I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to live in such a majestic place and get to know quality folks.

I can see clearly how that path led me directly to my present endeavors. It's funny that when things seem to make the least sense they can suddenly come into focus and be clear as day. It was wonderful to experience Flag with new eyes, not to mention a nostalgic nose for all of that fresh Ponderosa Pine scent.

So, today as I bought groceries on a leisurely day behind a woman with only $50 in food stamps to feed her family, I had to count my blessings that I just took a two week road trip with my wonderful husband, that I'm enjoying my fourth week off of work and that I was returning home to our lovely new house. I'm pretty lucky and for that it's important to give thanks.

Finally, I'm thankful for garlic sauteed kale and lentil soup. There's nothing like home cooking after a long sojourn.