Monsoon

Unlike last July, the monsoon cycle is happening in Albuquerque this summer. Not every day but often, there are afternoon thunderheads and then winds and sometimes rain. It cools things down and is such a relief. We even have some highs in the 80s coming up over the weekend. 

I went to the conference in Las Vegas for work. It had some good conent but overall was not much fun: temps in the 110s every day, casino cigarette smoke and I managed to give myself food poisoning. Luckily my gelato illness was brief if unpleasant. It was nice to have a big room to myself but the longer I stayed there the dirtier I realized it was. Flights delayed out of  Vegas and Phoenix, sitting on the HOT tarmac and waiting to take off was not something I want to repeat. Quite hellish in fact. So. Glad. to get home. I won't do that again. Maybe a conference in another city, maybe at a different time of year. Or maybe I'll just stick with remote attendance.     

The Danish has arrived! She's plunged into her new music-related job and busy house hunting. It looks like they've found a winner and now working on loans and so on before making an offer. What a gorgeous development for me personally. One of the people that makes me feel most myself and is full of ideas and beauty. Calloo! Callay!

Finished the 3rd season of The Bear and wonder if they've done all they can do there. I didn't like all the real-life chef cameos. Keep it fiction-y thank you very much. There were a couple of other cameos that stuck out too. I still love the cast and the emotional content and apparently I'm a sucker for a melancholy cooking montage. 

My midwest trip was good, and also awkward in spots. But we're all in touch and looking forward to the future, so it was worth doing. Went with Drummer to the naked swimming pond on a perfect summer day. I felt extremely pleased to have brought him out there for the first time. Collectively there was much gratitude for my spouse's drive to make social connections and love of naked swimming. Nod and I may try to visit together if they have a stray weekend to themselves ever again. 

 

Hot Food

Quiche with a potato crust, how did I miss that? King Arthur Flour recipe. Maybe thaw some frozen spinach and cook with onion instead of leek/mushrooms. And hell, here's the whole whole Metafilter thread I found this in.

Posting so I can find again in September or October when it will be possible to turn the oven on again. June has attacked, we hit 99F today. And it's early and bad like in so many places. We're lucky not to have the humidity here. Got to get rid of the fossil fuels. 

Heading to Evanston IL for oldest's graduation this weekend. It won't be hot there. 70s and we'll see about the wind. 

I had a moment yesterday when I remembered how many books I have access to that I'm looking forward to reading. It's a good world with a lot of good art in it. And it's a terrible place with death and pain and injustice every day. So relish what you can and try to help one person or fix one problem.  

Amidst May

    My favorite month is unrolling at the normal pace and I want to at least wave as it goes by. The irises are done, the grass in back is mostly green. Nod cut down the dead bush by the driveway and put something else there. (It is not on the drip system so this seems unlikely to thrive.) He also replaced one of the hot poker plants with a chamisa, that one does have water. Many yard chores exist and may get done in the future. I just joined the FB Buy Nothing group for our neighborhood with the intent to give away the backyard bed. The weather keeps warming then cooling, we haven't begun to bake yet. 

The fever has gone down, not because my attention has shifted, but rather because concrete plans have been made. I'm midwest bound in the first week of July to see my little friends. Smug, why yes, I am. There is some emotional adjustment happening here at home which I think will turn out okay. Some pretty fundamental assumptions are changing and that's causing some feelings. 

L is back from college and visiting us, nice to have her around. She's just got a few days before catching the train to see her KS friends. She'll be back here in time for us all to go see her sister graduate in June. I'm still a bit queasy about the Chicago trip. I'm worried about managing my mom's expectations and both grandmas' capacities and... But it'll happen and we'll all be happy to see each other and it's just a long weekend. More appealing: I want to go back in the fall and see Katy and do theater-y things.    

We're celebrating being here for a whole year. Some annual things have come around again. We still haven't made it to the Turkish Festival - next year! I feel more at home in the neighborhood but we'll see how the summer goes. My London friend is here to visit his mom but illness has struck. I hope he'll be well enough to go to Santa Fe tomorrow. 

May the May be well with you. 

Careening

 Enchilada Rankings

I have a new sample to report on for my new year's resolution. El Patio, the classic one near UNM, was delightful on an April evening. This was my first visit, Nod's been a bunch of times. Things started auspiciously with a parking meter just a few spots from the restaurant. Too much glary sun when we arrived but 15 minutes took care of that. The host is a stickler and we were not allowed to be 3 at a 5 top table in the shade. In fact nobody got to sit at that table all evening. Rousse pointed that out at the end - he said "consistency is very important in the restaurant business" - true nuff. But our corner under the mulberry tree (just starting leaves) was great. And the enchiladas? Very good! Green chile was spicy but not painful, everything tasted good. We couldn't do much with the sopapillas which was sad because they were well fried. 

After dinner we went to a free belly dance performance by a group Nod had seen before. It was a treat, campy and the dancers looked like they were having fun. Clearly a school, the first couple of numbers had the students participating, the rest was numbers by the four advanced dancers in various combinations. It was 70s themed and that was a fun combo. Next month they're doing a Star Wars theme, I admire the whimsy but think I'll skip. Nod reminded me of going to a Turkish coffee house in San Francisco in the 90s to see belly dance with D. His comment - after all the strong coffee, tobacco and belly dancing - no wonder they had to go out and capture an empire. 

Wild Cat

I think I saw Freddie on Friday evening. At least, it was some tabby that meowed at me from the rosemary bushes and wouldn't approach. But Nod says the cat he's seen eating food on the front porch is a different tabby (longer white stockings). Argh. I Can Haz Resolution?

Done with Chorus?  

I went to a performance at an assisted living center yesterday. And cried all the way home. The center was fine, the audience was sweet and enthusiastic. My singing was not good, I was in the back, couldn't always find our notes, entirely for some songs. And we ended with You Will Be Found which makes me cry anyway. I didn't feel like anyone was glad I was there and I didn't do a good job. I'm not going to GALA. In addition I have to sing masked in order not to worry about singing indoors / covid transmission. So what's the point? Rehearsal tonight, maybe I'll tell the section about my feelings. I'd like to say that I will find a way to turn this around and make it fun for our section. Not sure I have the inspiration. 

After my spring fever and the fun Saturday night I was surprised at how sad and lonely I felt. I guess it's time for some More Emotions, throw 'em on the pile. 

Art House FOMO

'Problemista' is at the Guild but tonight's the last night and I have rehearsal. Darn, I wish I had gone yesterday. Checked the Santa Fe art house and they don't have it listed but I need to check back. They are playing 'La chimera' and I want to see that too! after hearing a great review on the radio.  

Spring fevering

I'm all a-tremble at the moment, through a combination of spring,  hormonal changes, sweet humans, the cold breath of Death on the back of my neck and my periodically sentimental temperament. I have memories to enjoy and some summer hijinks to look forward to. I could hardly be luckier. 

Today I've spent quite a lot of time singing along with these songs. Only the first two are new to me and the blog. 

Sam Phillips, Reflecting Light. I never did get on the Gilmore Girls train, this song was featured there. I like how she's still dancing with her faith in lyrics.  

Robbie Foulks, Let's Kill Saturday Night. Change of mood. Described as a perfect song and I see it.

Eleni Mandell, Moonglow Lamp Low. Back to sultry. Mmmmm. 

Lavern Baker, Tweedle Dee. 

Sara MacLaughlan, Wear Your Love Like Heaven (by Donovan). Like all of these songs, a prayer.

You won the lottery kid, what's wrong with you?

Over a year ago, we adopted a cat who had an undisclosed but clearly rough start. Freddie is in a weird spot between feral and pet-like: will occasionally let me pick him up, never sits with us on furniture, sometimes sleeps at our feet, doesn't want to be pet except in passing, head butts our shins. 

I can't put him in a carrier unless I throw a sheet over him and put the whole bundle in the box. I got pretty good at that during our move to New Mexico last spring. Since then he's had the run of a slightly larger house with windows to watch from and cuss out of. 

But there has been no softening of his personal space issues. Then we offended him by moving the cat box into the garage. Nod cut the door between the kitchen and garage and installed a pet door. I made sure cat could navigate through. It was all very promising in the opinion of the humans. But when I put down the flappy door, that was too much to be borne. The cat used the door successfully, I made sure. But then pooped on the couch to register his complaint.   

I cleaned up the couch and taped the flappy door up out of the way. Cat went back to using the litter box. Mostly. He peed on the couch right before we had houseguests. And he's done it several times since. The circa 1970s cushions all smell terrible now and are propped up so there is no flat surface available. 

And that's it. I feel the compact is ruptured. I could live with a cat who is weird and unaffectionate. But I can't live with that type of cat who also pees on my couch. We're considering several not-good options. The most appealing one is a friend who farms and keeps barn cats. Freddie probably won't have a long life but hopefully it's better than the pound. 

I've never gotten rid of a pet before and it feels pretty bad. And yet I am committed to a Freddie-less future. With new couch cushions. 

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Surprise update - cat has run away. Sunday morning before I left for a classical guitar concert, I couldn't find the cat. And we haven't seen him since. We guess that he ran out of the garage when a car was going in or out. 

Uncooperative to the last, he's taking his own form of exit from this household. It's the worst option - I would never turn a pet out on the streets of ABQ. I have put food on the back porch and I go out and call a few times a day. He could still turn up, cats have been known to do so. It was raining when I woke up this morning. I'm sad for him but there's not a lot I can do.

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But wait, there's more. Freddie was on the back porch eating the food I put out, two days after disappearing. When I opened the door to see if he'd come in - Panic! and he hopped over the wall. This means that we now have an outdoor cat, against my wishes. That little gremlin continues to provoke me. 

Plotting against skeeters

I love this idea for targeting only mosquito larvae, and not killing other insects. The graphic that I found on bluesky says:

1. Get a bucket. [all good plans start like this]

2. Add straw and water to the bucket, at a ratio of about 4 water : 1 straw.

3. Let it ferment and get gross for 3 days. Mosquitoes like gross.

4. On day 4, add 1/4 of a Mosquito Dunk to the bucket.

5. Set your bucket in a sunny or part shade location. Make sure it doesn't dry out. [This will be more challenging in Albuquerque than in Virginia.]

6. Add a new chunk of Mosquito Dunk after 30 days.

More info here: How to Set up a Mosquito Larva Trap. That page says to put chicken wire on top of the bucket to keep animals out. It says that a mosquito dunk works for about 30 days and the whole bucket of sludge should be changed then. 

This will be an excellent spring experiment as we spend more time on the back patio.