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Sometimes Ken Kesey

I recently read a historical biography of Ken Kesey called Its All Kind of Magic, the Young Ken Kesey by Rick Dodgson.  It reminded me of my fondness for Kesey’s writing.

I became interested in Ken Kesey when I read Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test in high school. It was not assigned reading, I think I borrowed it from the cool crunchy girl who lived down the street when I was going through my hippie phase (I had to abandon my goth phase when I got a convertible, it was impossible to stay pale and sullen).

Then in English class senior year, we were asked to pick our favorite writer then the teacher would assign each of us another author based on who we liked.  I picked Ken Kesey.  Then I was assigned Charles Dickens (the guy who loved Kurt Vonnegut was assigned someone comparable to Dickens, the very prim girl was assigned D.H. Lawrence, you get the picture).  So, I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion, then Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. Ok, I really didn’t read very much of the Dickens books, just enough to write the book reports.  Anyways…

Do you like to go back and read books over again?  I don’t tend to re-read books, even books that I really like.  There are just too many books out there and I’m never going to get through all the ones that I want to read anyway.  In spite of that, I have re-read Sometimes a Great Notion several times over the years. It is so richly written, and I get more out of it every time.  The way that the scenes melt into each other is so interesting.

Sometimes a Great Notion would probably still be a good book if it was written in a more linear format, but the structure makes it so fascinating to me. Rick Dodgson talked about the process that Kesey went through when he wrote the book.  It was intense.  He had some sort of notated flowchart pinned up on the walls of the room where he worked. I really can’t imagine writing something with such a complicated structure.  Especially on a typewriter.  I mean, he was literally cutting and pasting sections together.  With scissors and tape, no CTRL X for him.  It’s no wonder that he didn’t write anything after it for a very long time.

As much as I love books, I try very hard to purge my hoard semi-regularly. Every so often I regret that I got rid of something like my collection of Larry McMurtry books, but in general, I try to only hang onto certain books (vintage etiquette books and dance histories are two big categories that get a pass).  For some reason, Sometimes a Great Notion has survived every book purge in the past 25 years.  After reading The Young Ken Kesey, I think that it is probably about time to dig it out and put it back on the “to read”pile.

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Remembering Emma

Many, many years ago, around of this time of year, and pretty much out of nowhere, Mr. Man said to me, “Do you know what you need?  You need a kitten.”  I was a little surprised.  I did? I hadn’t really been thinking about pets.  It had been a long, long time since I had a cat.  But as I thought about it, I realized that he was right, I DID need a kitten!

So, Mr. Man embarked on a quest to bring me a kitten for Christmas.  His first stop was a cat rescue place somewhere in Orange County. He was so upset when he got home, the lady there wouldn’t even TELL him if they had any kittens.  They “prefer if you and your fiancé come in together to meet our cats.”  The quest continued.  One thing we discovered was that December was pretty much the only month of the year that wasn’t “kitten season.”

Finally, we found a nice cat rescue lady who had kittens and would let him come to meet them.  He went to the woman’s house; she went to get the kittens and came back with her arms full.  He picked up this one sweet little brown tabby who was just staring at him, not squirming or crying like the others and the kitten immediately Velcro-ed herself to him.  Since she had attached herself to him, he decided that he may as well take her home. Done deal.

Baby Emma with her flamingo beanie baby

This kitten was a feral rescue, so she hadn’t been socialized to people as a little baby. Even though she was only nine weeks old, the rescue folks had her fixed because they weren’t sure if she would have to be released into a feral cat colony.  He got instructions on keeping her confined because there was a good chance that she would just hide from us and we would never see her again.  Mr. Man brought her home and set up a kitten room in the bathroom where the only place that she could “hide” from us was behind the toilet (of course we already had all the supplies, you know that I went shopping as soon as we decided that we were doing this).  And then I get a call at work. “You aren’t going to believe it! I got you the smartest kitten ever! She went straight to her box and used it!”  He was an instant fan.

When I would go into the bathroom to get her and she would hide behind the toilet and cry and purr simultaneously.  I would grab her and we would go play and snuggle in the other room. She had perfect tabby markings, her stripes were well defined and symmetrical, and she was very photogenic.

Mr. Man and I were loving on her and trying to decide what her name would be.  I suggested maybe something starting with “M” since she had a big “M” on her forehead.  “EMMA!” Um, that doesn’t start with “M”, but hey, why not!  And that was how our first kitten became known as Emma.

After a few weeks, we started letting her roam the house a bit at a time.  She liked to play and hang out with us and was very loveable. She even started sleeping in the bed with us.  One night I woke up and I couldn’t move.  For a split second, I thought that I may have had a stroke!  No.  I had a kitten sleeping on my head who had draped herself across my neck.  She did not appreciate being disturbed but I sure was relieved that once she was relocated I was no longer paralyzed.

Emma was our only kitty for several years.  I’ll tell you about Clementine another day,but suffice it to say, Emma did not love living in a two-cat home.  Even though she was older, she outlived Clementine and had the opportunity to be the only cat that she always wanted to be, at least at the end of her life. 

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Friendly Neighborhood Craft Fair

There was a craft fair in the neighborhood a few weeks ago called the Patchwork Show Long Beach Makers Festival at which my artist friend, MaryBeth Leonard, was hosting a booth.  I generally try to avoid craft fairs.  Mostly because there are too many interesting things that I want to buy.  A secondary problem is that I see all sorts of things that I think I could make myself or that trigger a new project idea and then I get overwhelmed with craftprehension.

*Craftprehension – noun; apprehension brought on by too many craft project ideas; also, a word that I just made up

 

Since MaryBeth was going to be there, I wanted to make a point of showing up so I asked my golf partner if she would be up for a different kind of Sunday walk.  Fortunately, M is generally up for most adventures and away we went!

When we got there, we somehow managed to decide to start at the exact opposite end from where MaryBeth’s booth was.  As we went up and down all the rows looking for her, we found all sorts of other fun treasures.

Sea princess cake pops:

Because, what good is a cake pop without a mermaid tail, really?

Crayon unicorns:

They had these crayon sets in SO MANY fun shapes

A chic bo-ho sundress:

I kind-of want to be the girl on the sailboat in the picture

So many cute plant-themed graphics

I was drawn to the Botanical Bright booth because of the graphic illustrations and t-shirts. My t-shirt drawer is full and really I only ever wear the same few over and over so I’m trying to not buy any more until I can convince myself to get rid of some.  I’ve bookmarked this seller’s website for when I do.  She also had these beautiful succulent arrangements in geodes that the kittens would  be so excited to tear apart, so I abstained from those as well. I did wind up picking up some crystals because you know how I feel about having a little bit of magic in your life.  I think she said the silver one gives you superpowers.

Finally, when we were practically at the end of our adventure, we found MaryBeth!

Isn’t she lovely?

She had a big selection of matted prints from her “A Drawing a Day for a Year” project. But she also had original drawings and paintings.  I found just the perfect thing for someone’s Christmas gift and M found something for her beach-themed room.

Just a smidge of her work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I fortunately managed to not bring home a bunch of new craft ideas, just a reminder about the succulent projects that I haven’t gotten around to and a sweet little handful of magical rocks.

Success!

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Kitten Baby Teeth

Did I tell you that I found kitten baby teeth!

Many years ago, when our very first kitten, Emma was a little baby she was gnawing on my hand (hands are not toys but apparently, they do make good teething tools) when she lost one of her baby teeth.  I put it somewhere safe (so safe that I have no idea where).

This year, in late September, I saw something that looked like a piece of thicker-than-usual kitten nail, like someone had ripped the tip of their claw off.  When I picked it up, I realized that it was a tooth!  I was relieved; it would have been more unusual and a cause for concern if it had been claw.  Since they were still recovering from getting fixed, I didn’t get into their mouths to figure out who it came from, but my guess is Anabel.  I didn’t want to tell Mr. Man because I found it right after the cone freak-out episode but eventually, I did spill the beans because it was too interesting to keep it a secret.

In mid-October I found a second tooth.  I thought that I stepped on a crumb from something (don’t judge) but it was awfully hard.  I had to take a photo of it with my phone so that I could blow it up enough to be sure what it was (old eyes, what can I say).  It is fascinating but sort-of gross so I’m not going to post it here.  This tooth was not a canine (don’t you think that cat’s pointy teeth should be called “felines”?) but the short, jagged teeth that are behind them.  It was interesting because it sort-of looked like a three-in-one tooth, there were three distinct zones on the one tooth.

One day in the beginning of November Sally was really mouthy.  He was trying to chew on my arm, on anything he could get his mouth on.  I went in the other room for a minute and when I came back, I found a tooth on the dining table right where he had been bothering me. Ah ha! No wonder.  A few hours later I went into the office to check up on him and found another one on the floor next to where he was napping.  The mouthy-ness pretty much stopped immediately, go figure.

Turns out that kittens have 26 baby teeth.  With all my hunting, I only managed to collect five of 52.  Good thing that they’re not worth anything or I might be feeling disappointed with my effort.

I quite proud of my collection of kitten baby teeth.  I’m not sure what to do with them now, but I think I’ll hold on to them at least for a little while.

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Pinnacle Peak

Remember how I’ve been working on my walking?  Not walking, but getting my steps in.  Well, it’s a good thing! I was just in Arizona to visit my beautiful and talented friend K who recently relocated there.  Among the many fun shenanigans that we got up to, she took me for a hike at Pinnacle Peak Park in Scottsdale.  Since I’m barely a walker, you can imagine that I’m not much of a hiker at all.

Of course, K happens to be an elite marathoner, so walking (even up and down hills on a rocky trail) is a piece of cake for her.  Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that she is so kind and sweet-hearted because I was certainly not anywhere near being able to keep up with her natural pace.  My accomplishment was that I didn’t hold her back too much for at least part of the trek.

It was an incredible experience.  Shortly after we began our hike, we saw a couple of Blue Angels fly overhead.  Since it was a cool day the beauty of the dessert landscape was easier for me to appreciate.  The trail had great signage identifying the different plants along it.  We took a break to admire this in-between things tree.  It was certainly thriving in the gaps.

There were also fantastic views of gigantic Scottsdale golf course homes.  This one has a bridge to the guest home!  A guest home that is probably at least twice, probably three times the size of my little bungalow.

Once I got home, I looked up Pinnacle Peak Park. I was guessing that we hiked around three miles.  The trail is 1 ¾ miles one way (so 3 ½ miles round trip) which is a do-able walk.  It was all of the up and down hills that got me, especially the last third of the trail (where the “strenuous past this point” sign was) which became a long, steep uphill coming back.  Turns out that the 1,300 feet of elevation change is something that I don’t get in my ambles around town.

It was such a fun excursion.  Even though it was strenuous and pretty challenging for me, I can’t wait to try it again.  We’re already planning my next visit and that will give me a training goal to make sure that at a minimum, I’m getting my steps in every day.

Are you a hiker?  Where do you like to go?

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Thanksgiving recap

A few years ago, Mr. Man and I started a “Thanksgiving for Two” tradition.  I was so busy working so much that it was a special treat to spend some time at home cooking.  I would make all the traditional sides: green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, yams with marshmallows on top, dressing, either pumpkin or apple pie (or both) and then we would get just the turkey breast to roast.  We would have Pillsbury crescent rolls and that delicious cranberry relish from Trader Joes and a nice bottle of wine.  I would set the table with our wedding china and crystal…it was a whole thing.

Now that I’ve been home a lot more and cooking more regularly, spending two days doing all those things lost some of its appeal.

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with our very dear family friends.  They are my second family and it is always fun to get to hang out with them.  Between the cooking and the eating, the catching up and the “remember when”s it was a full evening.

These friends have a lovely hillside house with fantastic views of Los Angeles and Orange County.  It was a beautiful sunset and I spent some time on the deck watching the almost-full moon rising through the trees.

Once the moon was out, the coyotes got to work.  There were a few different packs down the hill a ways braying and howling.  Hopefully all of the neighbors had brought their kitties and little dogs inside.  At one point during the evening, Buddy, their big dog got out.  It certainly wouldn’t be a family get-together without some sort of drama now, would it?  I don’t know if he went out there to run the coyotes off, but it quieted down outside, and he came home before too long.

 

pretty table setting

Dinner was lovely.  The turkey was tender, there were yummy potatoes, two kinds of dressing, brussels sprouts, King’s Hawaiian rolls and of course plenty of good wine.  I made my “famous” spaghetti squash salad. It turned out yummy again which was a relief!

In addition to the usual suspects, a new friend joined us, and it was a treat to get to meet her.  She loves to bake (a good quality to look for in new friends) and brought the pie.  Not just pumpkin pie, it was pumpkin/sweet potato pie.  And it was divine.  She mentioned that in addition to all the meticulous effort she puts into preparing the pumpkin/sweet potato puree, she uses coconut cream instead of dairy cream for the custard.  Ah ha!  Remember when I told you that I thought that my coconut cream came out silkier than regular pastry cream?  It wasn’t just a fluke; other people do the same thing on purpose.  I love spontaneous positive reinforcement!

Almost looks too good to eat

How was your Thanksgiving?  Did you host?  What was your favorite dish?  Was there anything that you didn’t make that you wish you had?

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Redemption of a Dogg

When your friend calls and asks if she should get tickets to the Snoop Dogg musical, you say, “YES!” Then once she’s got the tickets all lined up, you ask, “so what exactly are we going to see?”

Turns out that producer/director/playwright Je’Caryous Johnson has created a musical about Snoop Dogg called, Redemption of a Dogg.  Snoop plays himself and Tamar Braxton plays the angel trying to get her wings by helping the D-O-double G set things right.

I would describe the plot as sort-of A Christmas Carol meets It’s a Wonderful Life. Except that it was set at Easter rather than Christmas.  I kind-of would have loved it if it had been set at Christmastime, it could become another holiday entertainment classic like The Nutcracker or Diehard.  But maybe, because we were seeing it just before Thanksgiving that was probably the holiday that I had on the brain.

The inciting action is that rather than going to church with his family, Snoop books a big show for Easter Sunday.  Which of course means that we got a mini concert.  It was so fun, everyone was on their feet.  Then, when Snoop is leaving the gig, he gets shot by some gang members who have had a beef with him for all these years.  As he lays there dying, an angel appears and offers him a chance of going back to change what brought him to that moment.  The best part of this scene to me was the way that Snoop, as he lay there dramatically suffering from a gunshot, was in a very Martha Graham-style posture.  I like the idea that Snoop may have studied Graham technique (he is very graceful).

So, Snoop thinks he knows what he needs to do, and they go back in time to set young Snoop straight.  From here the show gets funny for me in a Scooby Doo kind-of way.  First the designated moment in time will play out, then they (Snoop and the Angel) will arrive and LITERALLY rewind the scene so that Snoop can make the change.  I’m not kidding, the soundtrack plays that cassette tape rewind sound and all the actors move backwards through the scene to where it began.  It is fantastic.  But when they return to the present, it turns out that whatever the change was had unintended consequences.  Snoop’s reactions when this happens are just priceless.  So, they go back again and try something else!

In the end, the moral of the story (my interpretation) is that if you changed your past, you wouldn’t be the person you are today; all you can do is do your best from this moment forward to be the best you that you can be.  Also, to respect your loved ones and not take them for granted.

And then, everyone lives happily ever after!

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Kitten Sleep Schedule

Cats sleep a lot.  Like up to what, 20 hours a day, right?  Not these kittens.  I’m not sure they are even sleeping 16 hours a day right now.  I don’t know when or why their kitten sleep schedule went berserk. What I do know is that they have many more awake hours every day to get into things.  I can’t even keep up with all of the hijinks.

Sally caught mid-hijinks

When they were little bitty, they would have a morning nap and an afternoon nap with short play break mid-day.  They would be ready for dinner at 7pm, play for a little while, then back to bed.  These days, they are usually awake from early morning until probably 3-4pm with maybe a short nap while I’m at the gym.  They have their breakfast, brawl for a while, and then spend the rest of the morning being VERY interested in what I am doing.  Which means that I am doing much less than I would like to be doing.

Anabel inspecting the cat food delivery

Finally, around 3pm, they will sack out for their afternoon nap.  Their dinner time is supposed to be 7pm but if I can’t get them up, I won’t feed them.  They might not get their dinner until 9pm or even later.  This doesn’t seem to bother them as much as it bothers me.

After dinner is more play time, then they snooze with Mr. Man on the couch for a while.  Sometimes they will come to bed with me, sometimes they come to bed later.  At some point in the night, they will be up again prowling the house.  The other night I caught them both up at 2am.  Anabel was using the potty and Sally had gotten up to keep her company.

Sometimes I catch them spooning together in bed at night.  I have also caught Anabel spooning on Mr. Man with her head on his pillow. It’s the kind of cuteness that just makes my heart explode.

More heart exploding cuteness

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100 Cycle Classes with Rachel in 2018

On Saturday, November 17, I completed my 100th cycle class with my instructor, Rachel.  Not only that, I was the first person to complete the challenge that she set out for us in January.  I don’t know how that happened, but I am basking in a sense of accomplishment over it.

I had only become a Rachel groupie a few months earlier.  There is just something about when she is yelling, “yes, you can!” at you that makes you believe it.

Rachel teaches twice a week, Wednesdays at 5:45am and Saturdays at 8am.  No one goes to spin class at those hours for just for kicks, those are serious, get the grrrr out people. But 100 classes is still a formidable challenge.  I love getting activity credit, checking things off, and discrete goals so I signed up right away.

At first blush, it seemed nearly impossible: Rachel teaches twice a week and there are 52 weeks in a year, so you can only miss four.  All year. Yikes. If she was subbing for another instructor, that would count; also, you could count up to ten classes with other instructors toward your 100 (so really you only need to take 90 Rachel classes). If someone was subbing for her, that counted toward your ten.  Ok, still challenging, but potentially moderately do-able.

I wound up using nine of my ten freebies, so I’ve decided to dedicate the rest of the year to making those up.  My new-improved goal is to have 100% Rachel classes before Christmas.  I’m not a perfectionist, but I do like to go back and fine-tune things when time allows.

Did I mention that there were prizes?  How fun is that?

At 25 classes, you got a certificate.  To me, this is a prized possession.  For so many years a big part of my job was creating and producing recognition certificates and awards but this was the first one that I had received since I was in school.  It makes me so happy to see it on my refrigerator every day.

Best certificate ever

At 50 classes, you got a granola bar.  I somehow neglected photographic evidence of this award, but let me tell you, it was delicious.

At 75 classes, you got a water bottle. A fancy, Lulu Lemon squeezy-style water bottle.  It says, “Your GOALS are showing.”  This treasure spent a few weeks on my desk (aka dinning table) as a trophy before I deigned to put it into action.

Anabel practicing her trophy pose

I had to show up to class number 101 to claim my final prize.  It is  starting to feel like winter in So Cal and as I walked out to my car at 5:30am that morning, I remember thinking that I really should spring for one of those cozy Lulu Lemon snappy scarf things.  Long story short, that was my prize!

Manifesting dreams

Sally and Anabel thought that my accomplishment was great and sure, that was a nice gift, but they really thought that the gift bag was the real prize.

Kitten priorities

I am very grateful to Rachel for all the time and energy and resources that she put into this challenge because she loves her spin tribe.  And I am so honored to have found and been granted membership into this group.

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Coconut Cream Pie

On my Instagram feed the other day, Martha Stewart posted a recipe for coconut cream pie as a great make-ahead Thanksgiving dessert option.  That made me think that this might be the right time for me to share my coconut cream pie recipe with you!

I had been obsessing about coconut cream pie a few months ago and after reading a bunch of different recipes on Pinterest, decided to take matters into my own hands. Now, I am no Martha Stewart, but this did turn out delicious and I’m looking forward to making it again very soon.

For the Filling:

Start with Martha Stewart’s No Fuss Pastry Cream.  BUT, make the following tweaks:

  • Replace 2 cups of whole milk with 1 ½ coconut milk (1 can) and ½ cup whole milk
  • Replace 2 tbsps butter with 2 tbsps coconut oil

This pastry cream recipe comes out extra silky with the coconut milk and coconut oil. I think that I might like the texture more than when I’ve made it with dairy.

After transferring cooked cream to a bowl:

  • Stir in 1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
  • Cover with plastic wrap (press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the cream)
  • Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to overnight

For the crust:

  • 1 box of Trader Joes Cookie Thins in Toasted Coconut flavor
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 6 tbsp butter
  • 6tbsp coconut oil

 

  • Crumble cookies in the food processor
  • Add sugar, pulse to distribute
  • Add the melted butter and coconut oil, pulse to combine
  • Dump into pie plate and use a measuring spoon to pack it down
  • Bake for 7 minutes at 375 degrees

Let cool completely

Assemble the pie:

Fill cooled crust with refrigerated cream filling.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge.  Let it sit there for AT LEAST 24 hours (48 hours is even better).  Top with freshly whipped cream and toasted coconut slivers before serving.

bonus points if you serve it on flamingo-themed plates!
Just a note to let you know that I will be taking next week off from the blog but will be back on November 26!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!