-’ll take a Zed and head to bed…
Hi Suz

hey nahant — a driveby zed?

Hi, Suz!

hey funny — how’s seattle tonight?

Why NOT??

lol g’nite nahant

Hey, Suzanne! What a few days, huh? I wonder if everyone is as mentally exhausted as I am. To see the House of Reps agree to a bill that strips women of rights is just so disheartening. But at least it’s beautiful on the Central Coast……….happy for small blessings.

hey dearie — i feel like i’ve been a wringer washer of emotions. i’m going for small blessings myself — the eagles are back. its only gonna be bands of showers instead of lotsa rain this week.

Nice! Lovely about the eagles…..

And to think I stopped listening to Jascha Heifitz play Bach to watch that youtube.

It’s Great! I’m gonna post it at my place, under its dedication – to 64 D’s and Stupak.

hey et — glad ya like it. how’s alaska tonight?

You know, Suzanne, another blessing is that there are some fine men who congregate here….which helps a lot when having to listen to the congressional thugs. The men my daughters’ ages seem to be much more enlightened than a big chunk of us older baby boomers/transitionals, but if it weren’t for the good men who share on this site, I’d probably think all old white guys are jerks. I’m glad to get to see the good guys!

Hey suz, pups. I’m dragging, so it’s a drive by.

In the mid-20s F. Calm. It has been an autumn to remember.

hey sunny — beep beep back actcha

fdl is a pretty special place dearie. i’m glad i found it oh so long ago. before fdl i didn’t realize there were so many good folks out there

dock all situated now? i’ve been enjoying fall here on the coast — are you talking fall political fallout or falling leaves?

hugs to all, i fell asleep after one comment last night so I’ll say goodnight just in case.

Wonderful video, Suzanne — those kids are adorable.

hey margot and g’nite just in case :)

thanks teddy — i love this video

And, Teddy, thanks for all your informative and well written posts over the past few days. You are very much appreciated!

HI Suz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3BDY3tfs8M

hey emerson — hahahaha i remember this

To the beauty of the weather and fall changes. 2008′s weather sucked. 2009 has been a blessing: warm from May into mid-October, and the best winter storage vegetables in seven or eight years.

sweet. i’ve been following the pictures of your greenhouse over at your place. wow

We moved a big pepper plant inside this winter. We didn’t know that you can do that. We just let them die, even when they were beautiful.

Apparently, they just keep growing bigger for the next year. We’ll see.

Sweet video.

when the hired girls come next weekend, they are gonna move some of my more tender plants indoors. the pots on the ones still outside are too heavy for me.

hey tbsa — how ya doing?

I’m good. A bit tired but good. How bout you?

tired myself. been enjoying life on the coast — storms and all.

Can’t wait for a storm to arrive here. We got some rain a few weeks ago but nothing since.

i’ve gotten 8.96 inches since october 1st. when that series of storms started last week, i was sitting exactly at 7 inches. supposed to have another one coming from the south tomorrow. any chance for rain in your forecast?

At the ripe old age of 49 I am thinking of retiring to Costa Rica which has healthcare and low cost of living and low real estate prices and earthquakes, but also no army or hurricanes. Maybe quite soon. Partly because I am not sure the US is going to get better any time soon. Stupak has about done my enthusiasm for Democratic process in.

Not that I’ve heard as of yet. Some high pressure pushing things well south of us. It’s been dry here for a few years. Could really use the rain.

hey hmmm — i totally understand that feeling. i’ve thought of canada and new zealand.

where is your here?

Hey Suz. Good places both. Personally I wilt in cold, and have a Hobbit allergy…

I hope the backlash against Stupak and the 64 reps in general is swift and severe.

Central California (Also known as the wingnut capital of California)

bc is a less than a day’s drive for me — and as good a place as any to figure out where the next where is if i find it too cold.

i am so sorry.

The people here are SOOOOO stupid, you can still drive around and see the W, and McCrazy Palin stickers on cars.

I thought that was La Jolla? *g* Turned down a good job there five years ago and nobody could figure out why.

Thanks, Dearie, it means a lot when you say that.

all on gas guzzling suv’s and hummers usually (blerg). there are a lot of things about california that i do not miss.

I am pretty sick of this place for sure. It takes all the self control I have not to run around with a sharpie “fixing” all the stickers I see in parking lots. On a more serious note, Fresno county is the poorest county per capita in the united states. It never ceases to amaze me how many stupid people will continually vote against their own interests.

that whole i5 corridor is in a world of hurt.

i don’t understand it either.

Yup, water has alot to do with it. Or the lack there of.

California is an interesting place. When I go out to Bakersfield, it’s like being back in Ohio. And Ventura is affectionately referred to as Bakersfield by the Sea. I think I need to re-read What’s the Matter With Kansas. But I often wonder what California will be like when the WWII re-locators die out. Right now I’m living in North Mexico by the Sea. It’s all just so fascinating. Grew up in San Jose just after the war when the move from the midwest was in high gear. The state is in a state of change, for sure.

my folks moved to ca because it had the best public education system and there were jobs. sure as hell aint that way any more.

I live in Fresno County little Mexico. The agriculture feeds a large part of the country so there are lots of undocumented here. Certain parts of town you would swear were in mexico.

It just started snowing. Our first snow of the year that’s going to be real. Two or more inches expected overnight.

I’m watching Leonard Bernstein conduct his performance of Beethoven’s 9th in Berlin, right after the wall came down 20 years ago Monday (still Sunday here).

my former dept’s diversity training said there were 92 different languages and dialects spoken in our town at that time.

sure a lot less up here in cow country. but not as borglike as i feared.

oh yay for the first snow! how wonderful to be listening to the 9th while watching the snow fall.

All sides of my family had been here since the late 1800′s, but the influx in the late 1940′s-50′s was a jump start — and education was great! I went to wonderful elementary schools before my dad moved us off to Texas for business. When I came back in the late 1960′s to teach high school it was really an eye-opener! I had classes of 39 students and six classes a day. I taught English and couldn’t bother with the perfect essay; I was lucky if I had time to grade the well-written paragraph….and considered settling for a well-written sentence! Education is nothing in California anymore. Glad I didn’t raise my own kids here.

I actually dig the diversity. The stupidity not so much.

same here. the closer one gets to portland the more diverse it becomes seems to be the way it works up here. i love portland’s diversity but there are no ocean views there and i’m not the city gal i used to be.

I’m staring at a computer. The snow is falling, nevertheless.

I guess I should get some sleep. Peaceful dreams Suz…

still… :) i got as excited as a little kid when i had my first snowfall here. i’m looking forward to this year’s first — albeit only if i have sufficient warning to stock up … just in case.

I love the diversity, too, but I gotta say that I’ve been all over Mexico and love Mexican food, and I can’t get good stuff where I live. It is interesting….seems that the immigrants in my community are here because of the poverty in Mexico and they didn’t eat well there and don’t have much in the way of recipes. Whereas, actually, when I lived in Tucson there were Mexicans with a long history of great Sonoran food and amazing Mexican restaurants both simple and fancy.

g’nite tbsa — thanks and wishing yours are peaceful also.

CA native here, raised in Lafayette and here in Oakland for the past 25 years. Just amazing how we could take the world’s very best public education system and run it straight into the ground in such a short timespan.

we’ve got pretty good mexican food up here — everything from taco trucks at permanent locations to restaurants.

i lived in pleasant hill from 64 through 1973 when i moved to sf. my mom moved to lafayette after us kids were grown and lived there for almost 20 years before retiring first to palm springs and now to the phoenix area.

when i was a kid folks were moving into california. now, only my brother still lives there — only because he lost a bunch in investments and had to postpone his early retirement.

Oh yeah, I forgot we had that overlap. (Getting old is great, everything’s new all the time…) You guys probably ate at my Grandparents’ Mexican restaurant on Mount Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette a time or two.

It’s funny….I’ve been making my own Mexican food (based on an old Sunset cookbook and recollection of some delicious Mexican food over the years) for years. Really ticked off the girls who worked where I worked when I made stacked enchiladas and later when I made my own tamales. They were Mexican/first generation Americans but they didn’t cook — their mothers did all the cooking and also raised their kids. I’m not sure what the next generation of kids will be like…..but if they are like my immigrant family, they will adapt and blend in. Just wish the Mexican culture admired education as much as other immigrants.

what was it called? was it near the theater?

i think having strong educational goals in a family is because ya have hope for a better future for your child. when one sees no hope…

El Charro. Down at the Walnut Creek end, before the cemetery hill. Next to Foster’s Freeze, across from the fire station. Still there.

Hmmm, what style of Mexican food did they serve? I love Sonoran from my years in south Arizona. Most of the families in my area now are from Michoacan. I didn’t even know what international food was until a trip to Mexico City in 1968 — just incredible! I was also pretty fond of food I had in Baja and also in Cozumel (though I could have done without the feathers in the enchiladas :) )

hot dayam you betcha i have eaten there. used to drive by it on the way to the cape cod house where we turned to go up the hill to my mom’s. great forking food and liberal applications of sour cream :)

Yeah, it’s more New Mexico style, not so much the Mexico City Suiza style. Soul food for me since I grew up half in the kitchen.. very funny since I’ve been called the whitest man in the history of ever. Step Grandpa was from Mexico.

my mom would try to cook mexican food but… my dad loved real spicy food so we always had a fav mexican restaurant to visit. that’s one style of cooking i’ve not had much success at myself. and it is hard to find recipes for solos like me.

So happy to have you as a satisfied customer! That makes me quite happy, in fact.

The Cape Cod House, I can remember the taste of their swordfish. Which Mom eventually ordered me to stop eating ‘cuz of mercury worries.

The recipes are key and sometimes closely held. Ours came from Grandpa and his chef Charlie. Dad had ‘em for a while too.

after i moved out of the house i loved going to mom’s for her cooking — not to end up at a restaurant (laughing). my mom is an excellent cook and i quickly got tired of the taste of my own cooking.

my stepdad loved going to the cape cod but i usually voted with mom to eat at their place instead.

I know….cooking solo also. But I make enchiladas 8 to 12 at a time….freeze in doubles. Tamales are a big deal… but also freezable. I’m particularly fond of chiles rellenos, and those can be done for one without much trouble. And tacos….well, that’s a specialty. I like cooking a brisket and breaking it down for lots of uses. Delicious with tortillas heated over the gas stove, onions, avocado, tomato, cabbage (something I learned from my Michoacan friends), cheese and lots of hot sauce.

not to say that is the only reason i love visiting my mom.

although her cooking is pretty darn special…

Yum.

Well, thanks Suz and Hmmm. I think I’ll be cooking something Mexican tomorrow. I also lived in Texas, and I’m pretty fond of Tex/Mex, too. It’s been fun to share……and a good come down from the stresses of the political this week. It can’t be politics all the time……I don’t have the stamina for that! Night folks.

g’nite dearie

Sweet dreams to you, Dearie. Been fun talking Mex food with ya.

my dad used to say that every town required a good mexican restaurant and a good chinese restaurant.

Not sure we ever had a great Chinese restaurant in Lafayette, sorry to say. You know of one?

not that i can recall. trying to remember the name of that place in walnut creek…. but got sidetracked by the thoughts of greek food in walnut creek. remember that zorba’s place on north main by what i think is the intersection with ygnacio valley road? i think it was called zorbas…

Sounds vaguely familiar. I worked at Banana Records at that intersection one summer. (The Store With A Peel.)

*laughing* iirc it was just north of the intersection on the west side of main. that sounds so walnut creek *more laughing*

i’m tired and caught up in memories of times gone past. guess it is time for me to head off for the evening.

g’nite all and thanks for all the conversations.

Yeah, Primo Music (rock instruments & amps) was in the same building facing Ygnacio, and Banana Records was across North Main from Zorba’s.

I can’t believe I can still remember this… I was 18.

Sweet dreams to you, Suz, and thanks for the good memories. Since it’s prob’ly just me now, I”ll head out too… but sweet dreams to anyone else still around!

oh thank you!