American Melting Pot: Headed Toward the New Year with a Little New Orleans

 

The worst part about this pandemic has been...well, you could start this sentence multiple ways and still be spot on, couldn't you?  This past year, we had several trips planned to some really cool places:  

Spring break in Florida, with trips to Disney World and Universal on the agenda.  When I was planning the trip, which took forever, by the way, because we had to work around sports and academic schedules and work-related hiccups, and more things to name just to get away, we actually got a Fast Pass for every major ride in the parks, including the Avatar ride, the new Star Wars rides and several other impossible ones.  Had to cancel the entire trip.  I actually burst into tears after cancelling the perfect fast passes (the Disney people will understand - you never get everything you want, and this time I did, and had to wipe out the entire thing.  SIGH)  Thanks, Covid!

We were going to a Niall Horan concert in Columbus in May, where we had scored floor seats to see The Peanut's all time favorite music crush.  We were right by the aisle stage that he would walk by to get to the center stage in the stadium, and Niall would be close enough to almost touch but definitely close enough to make eye contact with, except...tour cancelled -- thanks, Covid!  

During the summer, The Peanut and I were going to Europe on a whirlwind grand tour of London, Paris and Rome, with a school tour group that included a special extended tour at the Vatican for Catholic schools that I was particularly excited about...until it was cancelled, due to Covid.  

Mr. Smith had gotten me a particularly awesome Mother's Day gift -- tickets to see Sting in in Law Vegas at Caesar's Palace, with a backstage pass to actually meet Sting in person.   (OMG!!  I Know!  I nearly exploded with joy on the spot.  Sting!  Holy cow!)  

Did that happen?  Nope.  Cancelled due to Covid.

You see where this is going, don't you?

The funny thing is that we haven't been big on planning travel the last few years, because The Peanut's sports practice schedule tends to be year round and our planning for any trip has thus tended to be spur of the moment.  We've also been saving for college and retirement and not particularly huge spenders on luxury travel and events.  Not last year.  Last year we were going big.  It was our last shot at big travel with The Peanut before college takes over her schedule next year, and we thought we'd add in a lot of fun things.  Last year, we decided you can't take it with you and let's have a great summer before her senior year in high school.  

Covid had other ideas.

After months of trying to be super careful, gallons of hand sanitizer, always wearing my mask, and staying home whenever possible, I am jonesing for some travel.  For some reason, as we edge toward ringing in the new year, New Orleans is calling my name.  

Couldn't we all use a little more laissez le bon temps rouler in our day to day weary trudge at this point in the pandemic?  

More than anything, I'd like to be strolling in the humid heat down by the delta of the Mississippi River, brushing off some powdered sugar from a fresh plate of beignets and a large cup of chicory-laced cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde.  Or planning a meal at Arnaud's, in the heart of the French Quarter, with a stop at their fabulous French 75 bar for a cocktail or three before dinner.  

Dipping In to the Great American Melting Pot

It's funny how so many of our family memories, our ways of coping with stress, heartbreak and tragedy, and every single moment of celebration all revolve around food. At least at our house, whenever things go well or very, very awry, my response begins and ends in the kitchen, making something special for my family to bring us all back together again.  I feel like that is true for a lot of us.

Jonathan Gold got that fundamental truth: food is what knits the family together.

If you haven't watched the brilliant documentary -- City of Gold -- about Gold's work as a food critic at the LA Weekly and the LA Times, you should make the time to fix that right now.  Seriously, I'm not kidding, make time to watch it today.  His quirky, unapologetic love of good food is far away from the Anton Ego critic in Ratatouille, because he genuinely cares about the well-being of the people whose craft of food genius draws him into the restaurants he loves.

I've been thinking a lot about Jonathan Gold's work as I've made meal after meal for my family at home during this pandemic shut down, because I've been seriously contemplating how our food choices knit us together in a giant, patchwork tapestry here in America.

For example:  Why is there such a disconnect between people who love to eat out at a Mexican restaurant and those same people discriminating against hispanic folks in their neighborhood?  How much of our food tastes are cultural remnants, woven into the fibers of our DNA like some ancestral calling card, the nature outside of whatever food nurture you have built up from years of family meals?   How can our love of pure, ethnic goodness in our food choices not translate to a "love thy neighbor" feeling about people who are different from us -- if by "different" you mean skin tone or language, which we celebrate if it is our own or denigrate if it is not far too often these days.

One of the things that I love most about living in small town West Virginia is that because we are small in population but big in heart, we all begin to feel like family.  We care for one another, we reach out, and we check on those who are a little older and frail -- that's an important thing to do in a pandemic, and a lot easier when you already know and like your neighbors.

Teaching History Through The National Parks

As a year-end, wrap-up social studies unit, my class is about to embark on an exploration of America's National Park system. 

My plan is to use this to talk about the expansion westward before and after the Civil War, a bit of Native American history, immigration, the Industrial Revolution and the environmental movement that grew in response to it.  It is a LOT of ground to cover for an end of the year discussion, so I'm trying to wrap it in the cloak of something really interesting for the kids by using the National Parks as my bait on the history and geography hooks.

After scouring the internet, I have found some lesson plans and materials available online through the Library of Congress, PBS and the Ken Burns' National Parks documentary series, and on the National Geographic website as well.

Most of the material, however, is not quite what I wanted.  So I'm having to cobble together an entire unit plan, pulling all the disparate pieces together into a more coherent whole, and adding my own material to them as I go along. 

Why, oh why, do I get these ideas and then do this to myself every single time? 

It's a gift and a curse, I suppose, but I do think the kids will learn a lot about American geography and history and even get to see a bit of beautiful scenery and wildlife (on film and in photos, at least) in the process. 

Armchair Travel Ideas For The Sick Or Shut-In

Wishing I were here...

It has finally arrived.  That point in all of this treatment where I want to run away  on some marvelously relaxing trip to an island or a beach or something completely out of my ordinary day to day survival right now.

But I can't, because such a trip would be wasted on me at the moment.

That is just the truth of it:  any big trip would be useless for me just now.  I barely had the energy to sit at the bookstore yesterday and browse for books with my family for an hour or so, just to get us out of the house.  Pathetic.  I know it will get better over time, but still...it grates on me to be this blah.

It occurred to me yesterday, though, that other folks might have family or friends who are in similar situations.  So I thought I would pass along some suggestions for good books or DVDs that have worked well for me under these trying circumstances.

When Mr. ReddHedd's father moved in with us, he was very ill and not able to get out and about as much as he might have liked, and he was desperately grieving the loss of his wife of over 50 years (my much-loved mother-in-law).  I discovered one evening, quite by accident, that one of the things he loved was watching shows about animals or travel in exotic places.  Because I love that sort of show, too, we all watched one together on coral sea islands, and I watched his face light up as the show transported him away from his grief and physical infirmity into a lovely world of wonder.

It was such a fun moment.

The trick, I think, is to tailor the show or the book toward the interests of the person to whom they will be given.

Dreaming Of Travel

It's probably the impending surgery and lord knows what else that comes after that, but I'm having this insane urge to run away to some exotic locale.  Funny how that tends to be my stress response:   

"Crappy health news?  Maybe I can travel to Paris..."

Escapism, thy name is travel. Or, in my case anyway, reading about it.

There is a bucket list of sorts in my head that has been percolating there for years, mostly fed through reading novels and travel articles and books from my childhood all the way through to the present day.   Through the years I have devoured books by Colin Thubron, his beautiful prose filled with nuggets of history blended with human failings and challenges and hope. His book, Shadow of the Silk Road is absolute travel reading perfection. Despite his earlier streak of orneriness, Paul Theroux is a favorite, too -- his Riding the Iron Rooster still sends me into fits of giggles.

There are too many others to name all at once (although for a more thorough listing, try this post's attempt), but my search for another great travel read continues, because my yearning to travel in times of stress is my coping mechanism.  And there have been far too many times like that the last few years.

But getting to some of those places that I have only read about?  That is a worthy goal once we get past this latest round of storms.  I mean to make it happen.

Some, like the Minaret of Djam, I am confident that I will not likely ever see, despite Freya Stark's wonderful prose on the subject that still speaks poetically out of the past and calls to my love of all things Silk Road.  But others?  That's where the fun begins.

Paris is still at the top of my list, although Yellowstone National Park is right up there as well.  We have made it to New Orleans several times, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't go again in a heartbeat.  How can you not love a town that pulses with jazz and wonderful food and a culture that reveres all things relaxation and the good life?

French Quarter Hitching Post

Thought I'd share a vacation shot with everyone.

This hitching post was a French Quarter find.

I was strolling around one morning after grabbing some beignets and cafe au lait with Mr. ReddHedd at Cafe du Monde.  Delicious way to start the day, I have to say -- even if it means having powdered sugar all over your clothes for the rest of the day!

It was a hot, sweaty morning, but I wanted to grab some shots around the French Quarter while the sunshine held -- it looked a little gray further out from town.  I went down a side street to shoot some pictures of this balcony that had wonderfully trailing baskets of ferns hanging down and blowing in the breeze.

When I spotted this weathered hitching post across the street, I knew I had to try and grab a shot.

Bon Voyage?

Next year will be our 20th wedding anniversary.  (I know.  Where did the time go?!?)

In anticipation of this, Mr. ReddHedd asked if I'd like to celebrate our anniversary by taking an extended trip to Paris, France, a city I have always wanted to visit but have never quite gotten to as yet.

Crazy to have been to Moscow in the Soviet days, but never haven gotten to Paris yet, but there you are.

My mother's day gift this year was a Rosetta Stone course on French to brush up my rusty college skills and so everyone else in the family could learn at least how to ask for the restroom and directions if lost.

Thus far, I've wasted away a number of hours browsing rental apartments in Paris and am having a blast just taking a little mental vacation here and there by dreaming about an apartment with a lovely view of Notre Dame or a terrace that peeks out at the city lights...but magically fits within our budget and also has some air conditioning, since we plan on going in the summer once The Peanut is out of school.

This is proving a little more complicated than I initially hoped.  But I will persevere, gazing longingly at luxury apartment rental listings and then moving on to more realistic ones that may or may not have all the amenities a soon-to-be-10-year-old girlie might want as well.

If anyone has some travel experience to share about Paris or a month-long vacation apartment rental, I would love to hear your advice!  Especially if there are rental agencies and/or neighborhoods you think we should avoid like the plague -- or ones that were so wonderful you would recommend them highly.

Whatever we end up doing, just the early planning stages alone have been really, really fun. Nothing like a little mental vacation to give you a much needed break, even if you've only travelled as far as your desktop computer with a cuppa French Roast and a day-old croissant.

Calgon, Take Me Away: Travel Reading, Anyone?

This morning has dawned cool and clear, that crisp spring feeling is back in the air.  Last night's light frost has begun to melt into mist on the ground.

And the travel itch is calling to me.  At least, the armchair travel itch is calling, anyway.

Life is not cooperating for any lengthy travel right now -- between scheduling and assorted life craziness at the moment, it would not be advisable. 

But an armchair journey, transported on the pages of a book filled with the imagery of sights and sounds and smells of lands far away from my cozy home?  Now that would be heavenly and perfect.

I could use a little diversionary travel reading at the moment.  Especially with some meaty bits of history and intrigue mixed into the fray.

My favorite travel writers tend to have a lyric writing style that draws the reader in as a passenger alongside their adventures.  The ones where you feel like you've been served a cuppa hot tea in the train compartment right along with the writer as he inks the next page in his travel journal and tries to keep his temper at repeated interruptions from the drunk in the compartment next door.

If it includes some classical or ancient history along the road?  So much the better.  Humor and ancient history mixed together in a travel book is an intoxicating, heady mix for me as a reader.

Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road is an exceptional example of the sort of work that draws me in, beckoning and beguiling with its ancient turrets and secrets that emerge along the the way of a modern day Marco Polo's journey from the present in search of the lessons of the past.

The same is true for his Lost Heart of Asia, which goes right past the meat and into the gristle of a region we in the West tend to have no picture of at all. Which is a shame given its strategic importance over the centuries and our dabbling in its politics in the present day.

I love a book that teaches me while it draws me in with imagery so vivid that I feel as though I am almost there.

One of my all-time favorites for sheer snarky attitude and travel wonkery is Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China.  I have always had a fascination with a train journey, ever since I was a wee child, and his description of the insanity and amazement that comes along with his journey is divine.

I once read the entire book while taking the train to Manhattan's Penn Station from Pittsburgh and back again -- it was heaven.

Taking A Mental Vacay Every Day

I stumbled across this photo of Santorini the other day, and immediately pulled it onto my desktop to soak in the gorgeousness of the view.  The color of the sea below is breathtaking, isn't it?

Just beautiful.

There are so many places in the world that I have not yet been.  But I've decided that pining for what might someday be isn't the way that I want to go.  It's a waste of the time I have right now to be constantly wishing I could go somewhere else, have something different, see something constantly new.

Instead?  I'm going to enjoy what is right in front of me and, occasionally, bring something new right here to all of us.  Maybe have a Greek food night, or wear more silk scarves a la Grace Kelly, or learn about masterworks of art whether or not I ever see the originals.

Life is just too short to be living for "someday."  So I'm going to bring the "someday" to my "here and now" every single day.  That sounds a lot more fun to me.

Climbing The Mountains

It's probably the barrage of devastating losses we've experienced of late, but I've been having this overwhelming desire to travel.

Pretty much anywhere, really, but just somewhere that I could dump my troubles out of my rucksack and get my mind off the rest of the world for a while.

Alas, that sort of travel doesn't happen easily.  Nor does it happen without fundage, time and planning, all of which I'm not willing to expend at the moment under the present circumstances.

So I've been making do -- rather well, actually, because it includes laughs and gorgeous scenery -- with the Michael Palin BBC travel series "Himalaya."

As you might expect from a former member of Monty Python, the wit peeks through regularly. But with Palin, so does his humanity, and his cheeky curiosity that pulls you along for the ride with him.

The fact that he's a train lover doesn't hurt, either.  I love his travel shows for that reason alone.

But I'm feeling the need for more escapism, so I'm asking all of you:  what are your comfort shows?  Any particular travel shows or reading that you love?  Do tell...

Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

As long-time readers know, we have been planning a big family driving vacation to national parks -- Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Dinosaur National Monument -- and also assorted Laura Ingalls Wilder spots as well.

Alas, that trip is no longer happening this year.

sniffle loudly here

I just spent the last 20 minutes or so canceling all of our reservations.  Boy, that was painful.  It honestly made me physically ache to make those calls, that's how much fun I was having with the vacation planning for this trip.

But it cannot be helped, because canceling this is the right thing to do. 

After we lost our sister-in-law Amy unexpectedly last fall, Mr. ReddHedd and I decided that we needed to spend summer vacation with family instead of driving hither, thither and yon.  Which makes total sense for all of us, and is emotionally the right thing to do for all three of us this year, no question whatsoever.

But hear me now, Universe:  I am saving my ginormous notebook filled with trip research, activity pages, scientific information and assorted other trip goodies.

A Taste Of Spring

Every year, the Lyman Conservatory at Smith College hosts a Spring Bulb Show.

When I was a student at Smith, I used to go every year because the bulb show falls precisely at the point where I could not stand having to trudge over one more mound of sand-filthed snow pile another day.  It offers the campus and surrounding community a sort of refuge from the gray and dingy, which I would grab onto like a drowning person would grab for a life preserver in the middle of the choppy ocean.

While I was in Northampton last week, I got to re-visit this old friend and took in the bulb show again at a point in my life where I needed a little bit of refreshment.

I took the above photo while I was there, along with a lot of other pictures that I'll share with you.

Exploring The Wonders In Our Own Back Yard

I have a goal for my family in the coming weeks and months:  this year, we will explore the wonders in our own back yard a little more, and learn to appreciate nature and quiet pleasures.

Because vacations and down time cannot always be about spending scads of money on a huge trip to some distant place, now can it?

And nature?  That can be enjoyed pretty much any time, anywhere, for not very much moolah where we live in WV.  That's a valuable lesson to teach The Peanut.

Plus, it's far more relaxing on so many levels to just enjoy a nice walk in the country not too far from home than it is to have to drive or fly forever to rush to a destination, only to have to rush right back home again after another long, stress-filled, tiring drive or flight. 

I could use a little more of the former this year, frankly, after the insanity of the last year or so in our family.

So, I have started compiling a list of a few things we can do within a few hours drive of our house.  And, lo and behold, it's not only fun-filled, but it is also pretty substantial.  Near us, we have several state parks with some lovely trail areas, a national forest area, a really cool mountain ecosystem area that is packed with unique flora and fauna, lots of "rails to trails" hiking opportunities, and lots, lots more for us to do within a very easy drive of our house.

Odds And Ends

Today is errand day for me -- lots to do, drop off, sort out and such that I put off over the weekend while we were doing family stuff together.  Funny how things pile up when you aren't actively tending them, isn't it?

In any case, here are a few odds and ends that have been occupying me of late:

-- New favorite breakfast:  a whole wheat bagel thin (Have you discovered these yet?  I love them!), toasted and topped with a 1 oz., single-serving container of Weight Watchers lowfat cream cheese and some smoked salmon.  Delicious, easy and not so calorie-filled and awful that I feel sluggish after eating it.  Yay!

--  Funds for school lunch programs for the poor are getting cut here, there and everywhere.  As I've said before many times, childhood nutrition is essential to developing brains and these kids did not ask to be born into poor and struggling families.  If they aren't being fed at school, most of them are going hungry, and where does that leave them in the long run?  Even further behind.  Desperation is not exactly an excellent start for a lifetime, now is it?

-- I do not understand these Real Housewives people.  Superficiality mystifies me, always has.  But what I really don't understand?  Is why anyone would watch them and want to be like them. Plasticity and shallowness?  Not something to aspire to in my book, but maybe that's just me. 

-- Oooh, Tosca Reno has a couple of new books coming out this year -- yay, more yummy, healthy recipes!

The Eat-Clean Diet Stripped: Peel Off Those Last 10 Pounds!, and

The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook 2: More Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean

Can't wait!

Woo Hoo! It's Seed Catalog Season!

We got snow again overnight here.

The roads are slushy, and the myriad of local birdies are camping out in the ornamental plum branches by our sunroom window awaiting their turn at the newly-filled feeder, chirping and squawking and fluffing themselves out to double in size. 

In short, it is a day for hunkering down indoors with a mug of hot coffee and a good book.

Or, in my case, something even more exciting:  the first of the seed catalogs started arriving in the mail the last week or so, and today is the perfect day to start browsing.

Ahhhhhh...it's the first day of seed catalog dreaming at my house.  And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

Every year, during this brief, fleeting garden planning season, I begin to plan and dream that somehow, by some gardening miracle, this is the year that my flowers turn out like Gertrude Jekyll's most beautiful landscapes.

Alas, the reality generally turns out to be something less than that, but a girl can dream.

Unravelling The Dragon: Books On China

For reasons I've never been able to fully understand, I'm a bit obsessed with China.

The country, not the place setting.

This weekend, after reading this article on Chongqing in the NYTimes, I was perusing our bookshelves looking for a good China tome to read next, and realized in a not-very-shocked-at-all way that I have somehow amassed a shelf of travel- and history-related books about China and the Silk Road, some of which are outstanding reads.

It occurred to me that some of you might be the same sort of armchair travel and history readers and might like a review of a few of these.  So here goes:

Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road -- This one is a superb read, full of the sorts of intimate details on visuals and smells and tastes that you want from a travel book, with just enough historical references and philosophical arguments to keep it interesting.  Thubron is erudite, if not a bit full of his own intellectual heft, but not so much that it grates.  This one is definitely a keeper.

Paul Theroux's Riding The Iron Rooster: By Train Through China --This is one of the first travel books about China I ever read, and I have since gone back to re-read this more than once just for the sheer hilarity of Theroux's crabby snarkiness.  He goes everywhere, criss-crossing the country by train and spending inordinate amounts of time being both irritated and bemused by the tourists and Chinese alike.  I love this book.  If you like gritty, sarcastic wit, Theroux is fantastic, especially if you are reading him on a long train ride yourself.

I Wish I Were Here...

After several days in a row of frigid temperatures, and skies that alternate dumping sleet, freezing mist and snow?

I am seriously ready for a little daydreaming about the beach.

Which led me to think about so many of the great trips our family has taken through the years for vacations.  One of our favorite spots on the planet thus far has been Hilton Head Island, as much for the nod to nature that a lot of development has taken there as anything else.

Carlsbad Caverns Questions

Wow, there seem to be a lot of different options if you visit Carlsbad Caverns in terms of what to see. 

Anyone have opinions on the various self-guided tour entrances -- the Big Room route versus the Natural Entrance route?  Or the King's Palace guided tour, which seems the most likely one of the guided tours that we could do with an 8 year old who doesn't like getting dirty in tow?

Also, has anyone been to either White Sands or Guadalupe Mountains National Parks?   Both are fairly close to Carlsbad, and look like they'd make for some fun exploring.

While I'm at it:  Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest are must do's for us at some point, most likely on the next trip out to AZ.  Thoughts on those as well would be great. 

Especially if you have thoughts on any surrounding attractions, ruins, natural wonders, fossil sites (The Peanut says thanks in advance for hints on those!) or best pie in the universe diner recommendations.  Locals always know the scoop on that sort of thing -- and I've been known to detour for some really good pie or ice cream.

Things We Won't Be Doing At A National Park

Let's just put this on our list of "Things We Won't Try To Do While On Our National Parks Family Vacation," shall we?

Pretty sure this may be photoshopped, but we still won't be doing this.

Darwin in action, boys and girls.

Speaking of the national parks family driving vacation:  we may be changing our trip around a bit due to our family's recent loss. 

I've started planning an alternate route for us that would take us closer to Arizona so we can plan in family time with folks out there -- but still give us a driving vacation to see some national parks and other lovely things.  We're talking heading west from West Virginia, allowing for a stop or two in Missouri, Kansas (gotta get a little Laura Ingalls Wilder into the mix, right?), then into Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona...and maybe a little of California.  Or thereabouts -- am just beginning to research the possibilities this morning.

If anyone has done Carlsbad Caverns, Grand Canyon and/or any other treasures along the southern/western route that they want to share, chime in, please.  I'm in the early planning stages and would love to hear suggestions about things to see between WV and AZ (and maybe Disneyland in CA, too, if we can manage it).

Bits And Pieces

It's been a busy weekend, so I thought I'd share some things I've found intriguing or fun lately:

-- This sesame noodles recipe is at once really simple, and incredibly yummy looking.  So much so that I want to have it for breakfast because I'm not certain that I can wait until later to try it.  (Found this via the NYTimes' Reader Recipe contest.)

-- Through the same NYTimes recipe contest, I found a new (to me!) food blog that I really like:  Opera Girl Cooks.  Huzzah -- it has clean eating recipes that are full of veggies and whole foods. 

-- Speaking of clean eating, I just finished reading Tosca Reno's new book and there was information in there that was incredibly helpful and encouraging.  Especially for someone who is on the front end of her weight loss and fitness journey (and still trying to figure out who she wants to be when she grows up, frankly, if we're being totally honest).  It's comprehensive, dealing not just with eating and exercise, but also the mental changes needed to sustain a healthier lifestyle and the support you need to give yourself to find the courage to take the steps to get healthy.  Well done book and well worth a read: Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way.

-- The high temperature average for Yellowstone in June?  68.5 F.  The low average?  36.6.  We'll be packing lots of layers.  LOTS of layers, because sometimes they still get a blizzard in June.  It's going to be such a great trip.