The other side of the river...

This afternoon, we went to visit friends who live about 25 miles outside the Laramie city limits.

What a beautiful place!

Thought I’d share some photos of what we saw on the way to and from their house and then the scenery when we got there.

A lot of these guys were hanging along side the road.



They were kind enough to poise for a photo shoot.



The beautiful vistas to and from their house.






The view from their house, looking up from the "road" they live on and what we drove down. You can't tell, but there are a few houses up the road.



A view from their deck. She hunts, but only for what they eat.



Another view from their deck. The red house is a vacation home. The Laramie River is back there, with two black bears, elk, moose and some say a mountain lion or two.




Heading back up the the road towards home.



I can certainly see why they live out there. It's gorgeous!

What’s wrong with this Picture?

[Articles to be read, summarized and critiqued for class.]

Cinnamon toast, with a twist….

This cinnamon/sugar mix sprinkled on the rugelach before baking, reminded me of something that happened to the Older Bro, the “one who was ever so mean to me,” when I was a child.

He stopped being mean long ago and “claims” he doesn’t remember being that way.

I remember enough for the both of us.

Anyway, mom used to make orange pomanders for Christmas.

One year, a mixture of cloves, ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and orris root powder was sitting in a bowl on the kitchen counter.

Older Bro came in, decided to make some toast and topped it with the “cinnamon/sugar” mix before going along his merry way.

He made a mess, spilling some of the mixture on the counter so mom immediately knew someone had been into it.

I can laugh now, at the look on his face, while mom called the pharmacist to see if there were any adverse affects from ingesting orris root powder, which is typically used in making potpourri, to preserve dried flowers and in making perfumery.

If you see him, ask him about it.

But don’t tell him you heard it from me.

Who says you can’t live to see revenge?!

Ina Garten’s Rugelach Recipe

I love Ina Garten’s rugelach recipe, which can be found here at Foodnetwork.com.



Her recipe is so very easy to make, and really delicious.

The dough includes cream cheese, so it’s not Parve, which means you can’t eat them after a meat meal if you keep kosher.

The first time I made them, back in VA, the Legal Dude didn’t like them.

I had baked them according to the recipe and w/ the cream cheese he found them too soft and rich for his taste.

So now I let them bake longer and he likes them, except that the preserves ooze out and they get all dark on the bottom, which he calls burnt and I call caramel like.

Anyway, thought I’d share some photos from a recent Saturday afternoon of baking.


What Ina's rugelach looks like.


I can never roll a true circle.


After chilling and adding the egg wash and cinnamon/sugar mixture.


My end product...yum!

Sometimes…

There are times when I am able to take deep breaths, and not let it get to me.

There are times I’m even able to laugh at the absurd comments, most definitely meant to get under my skin.

There are times when I can close my eyes, shake my head and know that one day, this all will pass.

There are times I’m able to leave the room and count to ten, or if need be, to one hundred.

But sometimes...

Sometimes, I find it hard to be the adult, the parent.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe he’s my child, someone I carried and borne and who has half of my genes.

Sometimes, I find it difficult to walk away and not send him off to military, or boarding, school.

Sometimes, I just want to sit and cry and ask G-d, “where did I go wrong” or “what did I do to deserve someone so….ugh!”

Tonight has been one of those times.

It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last.

So tonight, I’m taking deep breaths and waiting.

Waiting for that other time…I hope it gets here soon.

Wyoming…Woot! Woot!

Yesterday the Legal Dude returned home from a 5 day stint in White Plains, New York where his team of three participated in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at the PACE Law School.

Wyoming was one of three teams, down from eighty-five, to make it to the finals, against Houston and Lewis & Clark (Oregon).

I believe, going this far in the competition is a first in the history of the University of Wyoming’s College of Law.

The team of three, all women I might add, came “this” close to winning, losing to Lewis & Clark, which has a special school that trains for these moot court competitions.

The Legal Dude is beyond happy and so proud of his team.

He goes on and on about how hard they worked, how well they work together and just how much fun they had during the competition and back again to just how hard they work and how they like each other and work so well together.

Getting the picture? He just can’t say enough about them.

Anyway, the judges said all three teams were pretty much equal and that it was a tough decision.

Such high praise!

The Legal Dude worked hard too.

He’s been coaching them for some time and during the past several weeks he’s put in numerous hours late into the evening and on Saturday and Sundays.

It paid off, though. Big time!

Sure, it would have been nice if they had won, but landing where they did is totally and completely awesome!

It was also great to hear:“Wyoming! I don’t even know where Wyoming is!” or to have one of the judges say, “You really need to send some of your students out this way to work,” and to receive kudos from colleagues and friends who were there with their teams and surprised to see small town Wyoming go so far.

I hope the three ladies get their just rewards and acknowledgements here from the school and local news. They certainly deserve it.

Who knew I would feel so proud and proprietary of the University/College of Law?

Of course, it probably helps a tiny bit that the Legal Dude was part of it.

Thanks for listening…

The Long and winding highway…

The Legal Dude flew back to DIA yesterday afternoon after his trip to White Plains, NY and the moot court competition.

This is what his car looked like when he pulled into the garage after the two hour trip home…

Those are icicles running all along the sides.

It had been precipitating on and off since Wednesday.

A few inches here and a few inches there, nothing unusual for this time of year.

The precipitation was at times, this icy and glassy looking stuff.

I’m reminded of this little snippet the teenager wrote about the wonders of reading a good book back when he was in the 3rd grade...“A good book is like a sweet mom or like sheared glass.”

I still have that little note as proof that he once thought of me as “sweet.”

I tried to take photos of the sparkly, “like sheared glass” stuff but not surprisingly, they didn't turn out.

One of these days though…

Where’d the heck they go…

Tracks

They obviously walked towards the house.

But where are the tracks walking away from the house?

Do doubt about it.

Ghost tracks. Or...

do animals walk backwards, in their own tracks?

Andi? I know. Your rotflyao!

Guess I’m going to have to read this book.

Got it for the teenager at a closing down the house sale---it's always very sad when a book store closes but especially so in small town Laramie---but he’s “so over” ghost town stories.

Sniff…

Wheatland, Wy

Remember this map?

The teenager is once again traveling with his bb team.

This time to Wheatland, which is just south of Douglas.

They leave school at 2:00 p.m. and won't get back until after 7:30 p.m.

Travel bb here is not always conducive to parent participation.

Although, I did attend his game at his school yesterday afternoon.

I REALLY should be studying.

But...with the Legal Dude in White Plains, NY with a team of law students and and the teenager gone this evening, I'll have some time tonight.

I am not alone...

I wasn’t the only one employing my camera this morning.

Laramie was blanketed in a dense fog early this morning.

TWC touted it as a “Freezing Fog,” whatever the heck that means.

When I drove the teenager to school, the sun was starting to peek through the cloud cover and visibility was about ½ a football field.

It was beautiful.

I took these at 6:30 while waiting for the teenager to roust himself.



















Snow and frost came so early (don't know if remember all the dead leaves that died, right on the branch) it made it impossible

















to pull these out. Now I have to wait for the first thaw.
















After dropping the teenager, I hurried back home to get my camera, trying to beat the full force of the sun.

These are shots I really wanted to get. By the time I got back, however, the sun was too strong to capture the full effect.

















The icicles were so very cool looking...

















that I wasn't the only one trying to capature the shot.

















The guy was worried his battery had run out so I told him I’d send him copies of mine.

He told me he took a bunch of photos during his walk to the university.

I saw a woman out with her camera, while I was trying to get this shot.

















The following are me trying to be ‘artsy fartsy,’ which I fail miserably at.

Though I hear tell, practice makes perfect.

I sure hope that’s true!









































































The huge spider I hung at Halloween, which I keep forgetting to take down.

Thanks for peeking...

Tweet - Grady Kirkpatrick on WPR Morning Music…

is featuring Canadian musicians in honor of the Olympics.

Fun!

I LOVE “The Band,” and the music video, “The Last Waltz.”

Also loved Grady’s Valentine’s Day play list, “Spreading the Love…”

Who needs Kojo Nanmdi or Diane Rehm when you have Grady?

Okay. Well, I would still love to have Diane Rehm…

Little snow tykes...

This evening I went to a meeting at the teenager’s school.

When I left at 7:45, it was probably 10 degrees with the wind chill and there was a clean, white fresh layer of slick snow on the ground.

I walked out with a mom and her two little ones…a five- and a three-year old.

We chatted while the three of them got all bundled up to head to their home, approximately 7 blocks from the University.

We said goodnight and off they went into the night, the mom pushing the three-year old in a jogging stroller and the five-year old on his tricycle.

Such sturdy little tykes that live here…

When no news is "not" good news...

Ugh!

I got a call this morning from our renters.

Two branches fell on the roof sometime during the storm, but they don’t think they did any damage.

More serious though, is a damp spot between the living and the dinning rooms where a teeny tiny bit of drippage lasted about 15 minutes.

But that was 2 days ago!

So why am I just getting a call this morning?

I made arrangements for our contractor guy to take a look see. He told me they would probably have to remove the snow from the roof.

I checked in on our renters twice during the storm to make sure everything was okay. I told them to call if there were any problems.

Earlier this week I’d been feeling the pull to contact them again, but told the Legal Dude, “No news is good news.”

Besides, I don't want to hound them.

Now I know better. I need to listen to my gut.

Gad…there’s always something.

Post Script: During the teenager’s bb game this afternoon, the Director was telling me how their house was pretty much destroyed during the rare tornado that came through two years ago.

Kind of puts things in perspective, a bit.

Lessons learned…

[Clipart]

So…I got my exam results back yesterday.

I knew I wasn’t going to get a 100%, nor even in the 90% range, but a girl can dream.

Instead, I got an 83%: 4-5 points less than what I had expected, or hoped for.

Bummer!

But now that I know what her exams are like I’ll do better next time, in a few weeks.

The teenager asked how I did on my exam.

When I told him my score, he said: “What! That’s just not acceptable! That’s barely a B. In fact, it’s almost a C! I’m sorry, but that’s just not good enough!”

Words, verbatim, that he’s heard from me now and again over the years.

So there you go, out of the mouths of babes and all that.

Just when you think they’re not listening or learning, they turn around and surprise you with what they HAVE learned, and it sure ain’t the manners you’ve been hoping for!

A lesson learned mama, a lesson learned...

I may be a pain in the neck…

but this time, it’s for a darn good reason.

The teenager just left to meet the school bus for the long trip to Douglas.

He asked that just one of us drive him to the school. His obvious preference was for his dad to take him.

If he’d had his druthers, he’d have gone on his own.

But since he’s too young to drive, and it’s too cold and too early (6:30 am) to make the long trek to his school, he was stuck with his dad taking him.

I insisted that he take an extra jacket, and tried to add some gloves and a hat to his bundle.

I know I’m not the only mom who thinks “just in case,” i.e., just in case the bus breaks down, gets stuck in snow or gets stranded for some reason or another.

The teenager hissed at me and said: “See! This is just one of the reasons I don’t want you to go along!”

One day he’ll realize: the only reason I’m a pain in the neck is because I love him.

Well, that and because, sometimes, I just can’t seem to help myself.

Douglas, Wyoming...

Saturday's weather forecast

Cloudy, with a 50 percent chance of snow.

Who's worried now.

Winter Olympics...

Just finished watching the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics.

Wonderful!

I can’t remember the last time I watched the opening ceremonies. My boys aren’t really into the ceremonial part of the games.

I was moved, by the sound of sheer silence, during the moment to honor young Nodar Kumaritashvili.

How very, very sad. My heart goes out to his family and to his teammates.

Let’s hope that the rest of the two weeks bring joy, to both the winners and the losers.

Enjoy...

How long is too long…

to wait to be seated for a table at a local restaurant in small town Laramie?

Well, after dropping the teenager at the dance, we decided to hit the new sushi restaurant.

It was just after 7, which is never a good time to go.

We were told it’d “just” be a 30 minute wait.

We decided to wait. The last time we were there, the 30 minute wait actually turned out to be less than 20 minutes.

Well. That 30 minutes turned into 40 and then 50 and then…

We figured the teenager would be ready to leave the dance by 8:30ish, so at 8:10, we said sayonara, without having been seated or getting any sushi!

I was bummed, and a bit miffed.

Later arrivals were seated before us, because they were asked if they would like to sit at the sushi bar. Someone forgot to ask us.

Oh well.

Now I know.

Next time, we go at the geriatric hour.

Dance…

The teenager went to his first dance this evening.

He didn’t dance though. He said he just hung out and talked with his buddies.

At least he went.

It was his bb coach’s doing.

He told the team they really needed to go since a lot of people had spent time pulling it all together.

He didn’t “make” them go, just said that they should.

Nice lesson, and a nice and surprising response from the teenager…he does that sometimes.

Have basketball, will travel…

The teenager is playing basketball with the 6th/7th grade team at his school.

With only the one Junior High School in town (besides the K-9 school where the teenager attends), there aren’t any other teams to play.

So the kids travel. It’s pretty much that way for all of Wyoming.

Last week the teams traveled to Cheyenne, twice.

On Saturday, they travel to Douglas, Wyoming, which is almost due North of Laramie.

It’s approximately a 3 hour drive to Douglas.

The bus will leave at 6:45 am and return after 3 pm.

We won’t be going, and I won’t be worrying…much.

Semantics and second-guessing…

5 Chapters, 221 pages = 80 multiple choice questions.

Grades won’t be posted until next Tuesday, but I passed.

Actually, I was feeling pretty good about how well I might have passed.

Not a 100% passing, which is what I was (am) aiming for, but it is after all the first exam I've taken in three decades.

My fear had been that I would sit down, look at the exam and completely and totally blank out and then go running (and sobbing) from the room.

That didn’t happen, but now I’m beginning to second-guess myself.

Did I really know as many correct answers as I thought I did?

I think I did, but I’m pretty certain I got the ‘clinical interview’ question wrong, even though I knew the material.

I found I had a problem with the “semantics” of several of the questions. I guess that will change over time as my brain readjusts.

Thought I would share a clinical interview exchange, from my textbook, between Piaget and a 3 year old…

Where does the dream come from?---I think you sleep so well that you dream.---Does it come from us or from outside?---From outside.---When you are in bed and you dream, where is the dream?---In my bed, under the blanket. I don’t really know. If it was in my stomach, the bones would be in the way and I shouldn’t see it.---Is the dream there when you sleep?---Yes. It is in the bed beside me. (Piaget, 1926/1930, pp. 97-98)

Aww...

Tomorrow...

First time in 33 years.

Need I say more?

Yeah...nuff goofing off.

Who’s laughing now…

Before we moved, several of the Legal Dude’s colleagues tried to scare me about living in Wyoming.

They sent me articles and accounts of snow blizzards and frigid below-zero temperatures.

This past Saturday, the Legal Dude asked me to take photos.

He plans to share these photos of "our day" with his colleagues back in D.C.---on the very day they were being pummeled with the worst snow storm in 80 some years.

View from the Little Tykes Street, which is just up the street from our house.

View as I walk back down to our house.

Notice the snow-free streets.


How I dressed for the walk up to the Little Tyke's house, which is pretty much how

I walk about all the time.

So who’s laughing now?

Ignorance...

I initially stayed away from these when we first moved here.

Just didn’t seem right. Puffed bags and raised, puffed lids on yogurt containers, etc.

Figured something had to be wrong--spoiled rotten wrong.

It took awhile to realize, “it’s the altitude, silly!”

UWYO...

I managed some quick shots of campus while classes were in session



Not sure who this guy is...

Walkways criss-cross campus

Art work made from Aspen trees, I think.

Places to sit and relax...

with lots of boulders placed around the campus

to reflect

Small but pretty