Waterfalls and Honey Days
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time
I don't even entirely know what these new iTouch phone things are, but I know I must have one. I'm not usually like this with new technology. My phone is not bluetooth-enabled, a blackberry, or camera phone, or even a flip phone. It's a phone that's just a phone. I'm not usually tempted by new stuff at all.
At first, that's how it was with the iphones. I ignored them. Then last week, I was sitting next to a Jewish granny on the airplane, and she had an iphone. I kept looking at it. I had no idea what it was but I WANTED IT. The only thing that alarmed me was that she was reading a manual for it that was the size of a dictionary.
Last night Mike and I went to the Arclight to see Iron Man. Excellent movie, I'm so proud of Jon Favreau! And before the film started we saw a girl in the row in front of us showing pictures to someone on her iphone. Again, the envy! So, she's showing pictures, so what?!? I should have been thinking. But instead I was just wondering how soon it will be before I have one of those things!
After the movie ended, Mike got out his Razr phone to turn it back on. "Put that thing away!" I hissed at him. "Aren't you embarrassed of it?"
Friday, May 09, 2008
Mike's been working a graveyard shift 3 nights a week, so lately life is not as regimented as I like it to be. It's hard to do chores when you have to be quiet during the day, and actually, since Mike only works the graveyard shift 3 nights, his sleep schedule is not normal either. I mean, he doesn't quite commit to sleeping during the day so he just naps whenever he feels like it at any time during the 24 hours. We never fold clothes anymore because the only flat surface to fold clothes on is the bed, and it seems that there is always someone in the bed since he sleeps at day and I sleep at night. He has to do 7 more shifts like this before he graduates. Since that will have to be over the next 3 weeks it seems like forever that this annoying schedule will continue.
We're getting a new dishwasher. Ours broke, it only fills with water for a few cycles, but not all of them. It broke a few weeks ago but the landlord isn't bringing a new one til tomorrow. That is also in part due to Mike's schedule. We had to have them only come when it wouldn't interrupt his sleep, so apparently it took several days before he and the landlord could even connect on the phone. I'm happy to get a new dishwasher. I hope it is quieter and faster than our current one.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Boston
Friday, May 02, 2008
I found my Teague ancestors in Maine today. There is very little about them to be found on the web, so I'm lucky that I had the clues that I did. My ancestors came from a small town that now has only 1500 families. But the town is dotted with cemeteries everywhere. It is quite lucky that I had the name of the one that 2 of my ancestors were buried in. It was much more difficult to find an address so I could figure out how to drive there from my hotel. Something about Maine is that they still don't have things like addresses or street names. The Yahoo map was backward, at least 3 times, and sometimes looked like this.
1. turn right, 3 miles
2. turn left, 2 miles
3. 4 miles
Do WHAT for 4 miles? But that's how it is in Maine.
I'm also lucky that I knew which cemetery to go to, because surprisingly, not all of the cemeteries seem to have been indexed. Though to be fair, it's only been 2 centuries, and I guess no one in Maine has time. I know not all of them are indexed because after I visted the cemetery in Turner, I drove to the Maine State Library and looked at their genealogy books. They had several volumes of cemetery indexes completed by the Maine Old Cemetery Association in the last few decades. The one my ancestors are buried in was not listed.
I was very happy because at the State library I found the evidence that I needed to prove a new DAR Revolutionary War ancestor. Unfortunately I am still lacking some evidence that proves my relationship to him, but it will come.
I'll post photos later.
I think tomorrow I will go to Boston.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Greetings from Maine
Wow, so long since my last post. I've been working in Maine for the last few days and will be here for a few more. Before that I guess I was preparing to leave. I work a lot but I also have gotten out to see a few things in town. I don't eat lobster, so I have to entertain myself with other Maine activities, which so far seems to be eating blueberries and wishing I had listened to Mike and brought a scarf.
More later!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
No-chocolate recipe: coconut butterscotch bars
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
In search of the fragrance of peace
I started researching perfumery at the start of this year. Around Christmastime, I guess, I had learned that my favorite scent, Tova, had changed its formula. Maybe it had changed a year ago. I knew something was wrong. But then the QVC message boards confirmed it, and I was quite disappointed because I thought Tova was the scent that could bring world peace.
Let me back up. After high school, I read Tom Robbins's book Jitterbug Perfume, which, among other things, is about such a perfume. A perfume that brings about world peace.
When I first smelled Tova a few years back, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to have it. And I gradually learned that every other wearer of Tova felt the same way. Wherever I went, people followed me to ask me what my perfume was. Total strangers. People who couldn't speak English. Everyone. And when Tova Borgnine got on TV to sell her fragrance, all the ladies called in with stories just like mine.
Then, I thought my chemistry changed. It didn't smell as good, or last as long. I found out later that it was the perfume that had changed, not me. Tova went on TV and denied it. (My research later found that it is unfortunately extremely common for a) a perfume to have its formula changed, and b) for the manufacturer to lie about it, in spite of the fact that anyone with a gas chromatograph can prove both a) and b).)
So I was quite disappointed and didn't exactly know what to do without the fragrance that could potentially bring about world peace. I decided to do research so I could find out exactly what was so magic about Tova. But then I read something on one of the message boards. Let's stop trying to re-create Tova, and go find something better.
Something better? Surely you jest.
...could there be?
So for the last 4 months or so I have read a large volume of information about where perfume comes from, how it is made, why it is expensive or not.
In my first attempt at replacing Tova I got quite lucky. I selected, from a random review, a sample of Fracas. Fracas turns out to be known in the industry as a masterpiece, and I love it, as does Mike.
But it was too easy, and I wanted to try more.
I tried Caleche (HATED it, smells like an old lady, in the worst way), all the Philosophy Graces (some are good, but don't last very long), and the whole Lili Bermuda line, which I had to import all the way from Bermuda since no one even had it on ebay. (Too flowery, by the way.)
But I'm learning quality, choosing better, and still reading everything I can about perfume.
Perfumes: The Guide was just released a few days ago. It's a review of about a zillion perfumes on the market, though interestingly, the Grace line and Lili Bermuda line are not in the book. Nor is Tova. Perhaps my focus is not mainstream enough.
But one of the authors mentioned that he added one fragrance that is no longer on the market. He thought it was such a masterpiece that it must be mentioned anyway, in the hope that the manufacturers will bring it back or so that readers will have a chance to get it secondhand. It's called Yohji Homme, and the review made me think that perhaps this is the next scent to bring world peace. I don't know. They stopped making it, so how can I take a risk and fall in love with it? But the author was so convincing in his love. I have never smelled it, but just bought an ounce on ebay for $75. My biggest perfume risk to-date. If it smells anything like Caleche, that guy has some hate mail coming his way.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Poppies 2008!
We stopped at many different locations to take in the sights and try to capture them with photos. Mike's favorite place was an area full of sagebrush and poppies. The jarring differences in color made the scene even more amazing.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Feline Pine is awesome
We've been using a new kitty litter called Feline Pine. It's little pellets made of pine, and when they get wet they disintegrate into sawdust. I've been hesitant to use any kind of kitty litter that doesn't clump. Many years ago I tried that Yesterday's News litter, which is pellets of newspaper, and it was awful! Feline Pine is not like that. You just pour about half an inch of pellets into the box. Just a small amount. Our cat Miss Jack did not mind it at all. When all the pellets dissolve into sawdust, you just dump out the box and start over. In the meantime there is NO SMELL at all, except for the occasional smell of pine. I don't know how it works, but it's amazing and I highly recommend Feline Pine!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
Potatoes
A couple weekends ago I was visiting my sister in Dallas and she took me to Cracker Barrel for dinner. She let me try her hashbrown casserole and it was delicious! I tried a copycat recipe from Recipezaar but it didn't taste quite right. Next time I'll decrease the sour cream and add more cheese, and cook it longer.
Add sour cream, cheese, pepper, and cream of chicken soup. I might try substituting cheese soup next time.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Not an organic gardener
I know "organic" is trendy right now, but I don't think I'll be using organic potting soil again. And my experience with patio gardening has brought out the pesticides and fungicides to fight the battles that I think I would otherwise lose.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
The trouble with eating at odd hours
is that you tend to get poor service at takeout counters.
I am on the west coast, but I work for people on the east coast. So, as a courtesy to them, I do not take lunch until after they have gone for the day, which is as early as 2:00. But sometimes I am getting lunch as late as 3 or 4pm. This is normal for me and I don't get hungry until that time anyway. But I get looked at funny at the takeout counter, even if I have called my order in ahead of time.
I know I should just start bringing my own lunch. But I'm lazy.
Another problem with eating at odd hours is having to explain yourself to everyone around you. People have always seemed obsessed with my eating habits, and eating lunch at 2:00 or later always elicits an incredulous "you're eating lunch NOW???" or "late lunch?" or "is that your dinner?" pretty much every day.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Cold night
The bad luck was that after the sun went down, we nearly froze. When we left our house it was 90 degrees out, and the campsite really isn't that far away. But the snow at 6000 feet should have been a warning to us. Our summer tent and bedroll did not cut it and we had a very long sleepless night. So we cut our trip short and packed up at first light and came home. I had imagined myself this weekend to be sunning in camp chair and reading a magazine. I set up my chair on our patio and did just that.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Before it was the dream suite
Now that Disneyland has turned the Gallery into the Dream Suite, there's been a lot of talk in my circle about the Gallery it used to be. The Dream Suite does sound pretty cool now that I have seen pictures and read about it a little. But this is not about the Dream Suite.
Before it was the Dream Suite, it was an art gallery. Before it was the art gallery, it was meant to be Walt and Roy Disney's private apartment. So, there is a patio overlooking the park and the Rivers of America.
At one time, Disneyland sold tickets for seats on the patio to view Fantasmic! at night. I think they were $40 each and they tried to sweeten the deal by serving a catered dessert that you couldn't get anywhere else in the park.
But before that, patio seating for Fantasmic! was by park invitation only. And my sister and I got an invitation.
It was sometime in the 90s and we had annual passes and visited the park once a month or so. We liked to visit the gallery because at that time it had cool exhibits (the quality of the exhibits declined later). There was a lady who worked there who treated us (and everyone else, I assume) like we were her dear friends. I think her name was Julia.
We had seen people sitting on the patio at night, watching Fantasmic. So we asked Julia about it one day. What do you have to do to get to sit on the patio to watch the show? She told us that the patio was reserved for guests of the park, like members of the fire department or city council. But, come back tonight, she said.
So we did, somewhat shyly, climb back up to the gallery after dark. And she opened up the patio doors and let us out. Another family joined us, a party of 3 or 4. So that was it, just us, in the dark, enjoying the show from our private balcony.
We wrote a thank you letter to the park, and Julia told us later that our commendation earned her a prestigious award. We saw her a year or so later and her name tag had the word "Ambassador" on it. She was now a Disney ambassador, traveling around the world doing publicity for the parks.
My sister said she doesn't remember the patio viewing, but her husband remembers her telling him about it. Now I don't feel so bad about all the things I have no memory of, all the things I have to rely on Shannon to remember for me.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Coming down with the Dow Jones
I love umbrellas!
You can get some beautiful ones at these sites:
rainorshine.biz
pareumbrella.com
tray6.com
Here are some pictures of umbrellas I like!

Sunday, March 16, 2008
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet
...but you knew that already, right? Several times, I have read stories on the web that seemed legit and were even sourced, and when I was curious and went to check the source, found that the source had been mis-quoted.
So I have an ancestor that had a ship. His name was a common name at the time, and lots of men by his name lived in his colony and also had ships. Someone by that name is associated with the slave trade and other rebellious acts. I am trying to determine whether the infamous guy is my ancestor or not.
In my research, I found a post on a genealogy message board that listed many slave traders, as reported in so-and-so's doctoral dissertation. Two names that matched my ancestors' names were on that list.
I wanted to see the book with my own eyes, and find the source documents for that book.
I found the dissertation at Los Angeles Central Library. The dissertation was indexed and many names listed on the message board were not in the dissertation at all. Other names were found but with no evidence they were actually slave traders. I had gone to the library with a heavy heart, thinking that I was going to find the book that confirmed I am descended from two slave traders. Instead I only confirmed that you can't believe everything you read on the Internet. My mystery is still unsolved.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Today I agreed to remain an officer on the executive board of my DAR chapter for the next 2 years, so that pretty much cements the need for me to return to LA regularly to visit. I had looked at a couple of chapters in the Portland area and wasn't too excited by what I had seen. My chapter is coming along pretty well and I like it and want to stay and see it get even better.
In other news, Mike and are going camping next weekend on just the motorcyle. We packed up the saddlebags today as a dry run to see if everything would fit. That's when we found out that we lost our tent. We looked in every closet, under the bed, and in our storage unit. Even in my car. Could not find the tent. We did find a suitcase that is total garbage and I thought we threw it away a long time ago. I finally guessed that Mike must have planned to throw away the suitcase and then picked up the tent and threw it away instead, or we actually did throw away the suitcase, and the tent and the suitcase found a way to switch or morph.
So we decided to drive all the way to Rancho Cucamonga which is where they have a Bass Pro store, the only reason to go to Rancho Cucamonga as otherwise it is a horrible place to visit, on par with Irvine. They had a tent that must have been a special purchase because it was only $50, and all the other tents were over $100. We got the $50 tent and felt lucky. Not as lucky as if we had not lost our tent to begin with, but still.
Then we ate at a restaurant called Richie's Diner. They told us it would be a 20-minute wait, so we went and sat at the bar. Someone came out and gave us a free hot fudge sundae, and then the hostess called my name to say our table was ready. It had only been about 20 seconds, not 20 minutes. I liked Richie's Diner!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
FAQ about moving to Portland
I was telling Mike and my sister that as people find out that the move has been pretty much confirmed, that I keep answering the same questions over and over again until I feel like making a recording so I can just hit "play" whenever it comes up. Shannon suggested that I post a FAQ here.
When are you moving?
Sometime this summer, probably in July.
Why Portland?
Mike and I want to buy some land, and we know we want to buy in the Pacific Northwest. We chose Portland to be a home base to operate from while we shop for real estate.
Why can't you buy in California?
We want some acreage with trees on it.
Why the Pacific Northwest?
Because I said that I have to live in a blue state, and New York is too cold for me.
What will you do for work?
I'm keeping the same job I have now.
Are you going to pursue a career in politics or public administration?
Probably not.
Do you have any friends or family in Portland?
No.
What does your family think about you moving away?
My family is excited because they would like to come and visit.
I have a friend in Portland. Would you like me to introduce you?
Yes, that would be lovely.
Are you going to admit to the locals that you're from LA/California?
Yes. I've heard that everyone hates Californians, but I'm proud of where I come from. I'll just have to work harder to make everyone like me. And if it's true that all the Oregonians are nervous because all the Californians are moving in, that means that half the people there are from CA already. (See question above for proof.)
Will you come back to CA to visit?
Of course, because that's where Disneyland is.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
This summer, we are moving to Portland, OR. It's just a few months away, but it seems like such a long a time to wait.
In spite of the fact that we are leaving in a few months, Mike and I went to the garden center today to pick up some more things to plant in our patio garden. I got strawberries and he got thyme, peppers, and cat grass. We (and Jack) should be able to enjoy all of those things before we leave.
I nixed the tomato plants.
Monday, February 25, 2008
I love Legacy family tree software
I've been using Legacy for several years now. When people think of family tree software, I think most people think of Family Tree Maker, it's easy to find at Best Buy. Legacy is one of the competing software packages. It's the only one I've ever used and I love it. Several genealogy packages were recently reviewed by Family Tree Magazine, and Legacy got the best review.
Legacy is cool because they have a free version. And it's not like it's free for 30 days or free with popup ads, it's just free, and fully operational for your family tree needs. I used the free version for years. I just upgraded to the paid version a few months ago. The pay version is only $30. I upgraded because I wanted to create some more complex reports than the free version allowed.
I don't like Cyndi's List. That's a website that is a list of genealogy resources. All genealogists seem to love it; I hate it. Cyndi started the list before Google existed. Now that we have Google, I don't see why we need her list. And a huge number of the links on her list are outdated or broken. I know this because I decided to put my family tree on the web.
But first, let me back up. Before I was browsing other people's genealogy sites, I bought a book called Planting Your Family Tree Online. Incidentally, it happens to be written by Cyndi of Cyndi's List. I wanted to know the best way to use the web to organize my small tree of 600 or so names. The book sucks. She just kept saying things like don't use turquoise font, which is true of any site, not just a genealogy site. The best advice I got from the book was that one should look at other people's genealogy sites and copy one that I liked.
So I was at Cyndi's List taking her advice and trying to find someone else's genealogy site that would give me some inspiration for an appropriate layout. That's how I learned that a huge number of her links are broken. I got bored after about 30 minutes of looking at broken links or people's sites from 1993. I did not find a site worth copying and gave up pretty quickly.
I remembered that Legacy could create web pages. I guess I just didn't think they would be anything any better than the junk that's already out there. But I tried it. You just click on Create Web Pages and it brings up a short wizard. After filling it out you can choose from 5 different templates. It takes only a few seconds to export your web pages and you can view them immediately exactly how they would look on the web.
If you like them, then you just use a FTP utility to copy them to your website. I use a utility called 3D-FTP and it takes 2 minutes to copy.
Feel free to comment or contact me if you need more guidance on how to do this.
Check out my site! http://honeydays-ancestry.com/
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Rainbow
I took this picture from the window of my office building on Wednesday. If you look closely, you can see it's a double rainbow.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Liberty Cart Dedication
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Yosemite in winter
We spent a third night at the Lodge and drove home the next day. My car was muddy from snow, and when I went to work on Thursday, the car wash guy literally chased me down.
To see a slide show of all the photos from our trip, click here!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Well, I'm not paralyzed, but
I seem to be struck by a cold/flu thing which is not so much the wet, snotty kind but rather the dry seize-up-your-organs-including-your-brain kind. The kind that makes you want to sit on the couch and stare at the wall and feel perfectly content doing so. When you try to have a thought that considers getting up and doing something, your brain does its best to squash the thought immediately.
Alas, I must overpower these urges to stay still since we are going on vacation tomorrow and I have to pack and print maps and things like that. We are going to Yosemite for the first time. Yes, it's freezing there. But it should be very beautiful and I have invested in lots of warm clothes from head to toe. Ski mask, ski pants, hunter's electric vest which I will be testing out today. I ordered it three weeks ago and due to a back order situation it only arrived yesterday. And it was even quite lucky that I was able to get it yesterday since it is rather expensive and was sent via insured mail, which means having to pick it up at the post office, and in a town like mine, the P.O. is closed on Saturday.
I got water resistant hiking boots so we can hike in the snow and I have been breaking them in for the last 3 weeks so I know they are warm and comfortable.
It should be very fun, so long as I can get my brain and muscles to cooperate.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Today I am very sad because one of my friends has a kidney stone and she is having a difficult time. She is far away and so I can not go to her, but I wish I could.
But then I come home, and there is a pile of presents for me from Mike. He even wrapped them. And for no reason, it's not like it's my birthday or anything. So I smiled and felt happy for the first time today.







