So...whats for dinner?

I have Hawaii on the mind in the middle of the night (actually, morning now) and just booked the flights for our planned September trip to Kauai.

Back in the sixties/seventies Elizabeth Taylor's brother, Howard Taylor, set up a camp on the beach in Haena (the Tunnels Beach area).  It was called Taylor Camp.  

By 1972 there were 21 permanent houses at Taylor Camp. All of them were tree houses since local authorities would not issue them permits for ground dwellings. Some of these structures were quite elaborate indeed, with large bamboo pole foundations, clapboard siding, and windows facing the sea. In addition to the houses in the camp there was a communal shower, an open air toilet, a small church, and even a cooperative store which operated on and off until the camp's closing

Full article: http://www.pacificworlds.com/haena/memories/memory5.cfm

LeeA - I've been to Kauai twice and both times were magical.  Where are you staying?

If health care is poor in the northeast, just imagine how bad it is in the south in general and in Louisiana in particular.  Our politically ambitious Repub. governor, Jindal, has been busy cutting education and health care to balance the state budget.  He just tried to close a mental hospital for juveniles in my parish (county) that has been open for many years.  Somehow our parish president (a woman) managed to keep the hospital open.  My niece (30 yrs w/3 children) has had mental problems since her teens.  So I've seen the difficulties a low-income person experiences.  The rest of the world who are supposedly mentally well-adjusted take the attitude:  Just straighten up and become "normal."  Psychiatric services are very expensive.  Sorry for venting but this is a long-term frustration.

Michelle, I read about your treatment on your blog.  As others have said, I'm very glad you have a treatment plan and hope it's effective and gentle.

Susan, same hope for your treatment.

I can't/don't want to imagine what it must be like to be present in a big public location when a shooter starts firing a gun.  Awful.  Horrible.  What unimaginable anger and hatred must be behind such action.

On a happier topic, I took my mother shopping yesterday.  She's handicapped and rides in one of those shopping scooters at the store.  A couple of weeks shy of 90, she never drove a car and never rode a bicycle.  It's stressful to take her out because she doesn't maneuver the scooter well and I try not to appear worried that she'll run into people and displays.  She had a successful shopping outing and we picked up roast beef poboys for lunch from our favorite hole-in-the-wall poboy place.  The owners cook the roast beef and pile way too much meat on the sandwich.  We order ours "dressed," which means lots of mayo and tomatoes and lettuce. 

Veggies are piling up in the refrigerator from the CSA.  I MUST cook veggies tonight.  The latest bag is sitting outside the carport door because it was cold outside and I didn't feel like dealing with them.  Thank goodness we have only one more week of this membership!  I'm ready to select my own veggies from produce depts.  Sometimes a CSA can be too much of a good thing.

Most of the Christmas shopping is done thanks to online shopping.

Carole  Before cancer I worked as a nurse for a non-profit rehab center for adolescents.  these kids stayed in-patient for a least a year and sometimes more.  the services they got were amazing, they would go to school every day, get counseling on a daily basis and learned skills that would help them deal in the real world.  this org is always struggling to stay open. Most of these kids were getting health care for the first time in their lives...we had a lot of catching up to do with immun. etc.  The theory was to identify problems early in a childs life to prevent future incidences. these kids lives were filled with so much abuse and turmoil I dont know how they put one foot in front of another to survive.

Ok  done also:)

Auntinance  I applaud you for the work that you did....I am sure you saw the worst of the worst.

Oh what to have for dinner?

Ok, gonna try to post the pics. first my family photo

Moonflwr - are you posting from an iPad...posting pictures seems to be impossible using Safari.  If you are using a PC with Internet Explorer, make sure you photo is hosted somewhere on the internet - Facebook or one of the photo sites like Flickr, Shutterfly, Picasaweb.  You can click on the inside of the picture, then right click your mouse and select "copy" from the drop down menu.  Then come back here, click inside the text box, right click your mouse and select "paste" from the drop down menu. 

Michelle, in September, just before I was diagnosed, we rented the most reasonably priced house we could find right on Tunnels Beach (north shore).  This property stays booked up year round but we were able to get another week in late September of 2013.  

My husband re-booked it when they called from the rental agency during my very first breast surgeon appointment.  At the time I thought he was nuts for committing to it but he thought it would give us something to look forward to (and it has).  

The first time we went we rented a condominium at Pali Ke Kua (Princeville) with a great view and then stayed in Poipu the latter part of the week but we loved Tunnels Beach/Haena so much that we kept driving back up there (even from the south shore) every single day.  

Do you prefer the north shore or the south shore?  

Nancy and Debbie, after we sold our house in 2004 we rented a loft in downtown Los Angeles for a year and half so we could be close to my husband's office and decide what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives .  

It was the longest year and a half of my life!  

The parking structure was across the street and I developed such anxiety about that parking garage that I got to the point that I never wanted to leave the loft (which was a really depressing place in and of itself).  

At that particular time there were some pretty aggressive people out and about and my heart would  race like crazy - getting in and out of there - especially carrying bags of groceries.  Ugh.  

I'm not much for crowded places either.  Going to Times Square would be hell for me but I know it's great fun for a lot of people...

Michelle, wonderful picture!

Thank you for the applause folks, but I don't know how much of that I deserve.  Although we did a lot of work trying to prepare inmates for release into the real world, an appalling number of people are "frequent flyers".  It's not uncommon to see generations of inmates.  Unfortunately, the real work needs to be done before an individual ever gets to prison, but as with mental health, limited funds and resources make it difficult to effect real change.  I really don't know what the answer is.  That's why I retired!

All in all, I'd rather go to Hawaii.  Except for that flying thing . . .

Had such fun at Trader Joe's.  Got a nice assortment of cheeses and Belgian chocolate (for stockings), a pannetone, lots of wine and dried fruits for some baking.  Somebody highly recommended the windmill cookies, so I got some of those too.  Hey, I'm ready to party!

We were at Trader Joe's last night.  Actually, we're there about every two or three days (they recently opened one within walking distance of our house but we've only walked there once).  

Last night we bought some dark chocolate covered espresso beans (soooo good) and pomegranate arils (I'm addicted to those things this time of year).  We also like their fresh-squeezed orange juice and DH stocked up on Pinot Noir (lol, no wonder we need the car to get to and from there!).  We also love their Himalayan pink salt in the grinder bottle.  I resisted the overwhelming urge to get a tin of peppermint bark.  

Bedo- Thanks it was my nephew not son but thankful he is safe. I have never tired cream of mushroom soup on fish before it never hurts to try new things sometimes they work and somtimes they dont ;-( Your soup sounds good though

Moon- I still havn't fiqured out how to post pictures I'm going to have to commit to one whole day of practicing. I have copy/pasted Michelle's help on how to do it in previous post.

Lee-We live in a fairly small town but 2 hours away is a busy city (Portland) I had to learn to drive in that traffic when I had to start driving since DH can't Im getting to be a pro at it, but do not like it, I would never want to live in a big city again. Although I lived in Hawaii for 10 years, that I can do again. lol!

Michelle-That is such a cute picture!

Luvmygoats- Yum on the chocolate covered ginger never had the combo together before!

Dinner tonight is Pork chops and brussel sprouts

Lee - that is a beautiful view!  Tunnels Beach is fantastic!

Trader Joe's is about 30 minutes from us.  So far I haven't discovered anything worth driving the extra distance.  It's in a busy part of south Nashua and I rarely head in that direction.  We have a new Tuscan grocery store for fabulous bread and the great farm stand.  And there's a really good market with a complete butcher shop.  So I don't have to go more than 15 minutes and all these places are on the same path.

I got a call from the imaging center this afternoon and my PET/CT has been moved up to next Wednesday at 12:30.  I'm good with the change - the sooner the better.

JoyceK and her DH left a few minutes ago - we had great pizza and ricotta pie with raspberries, wine and great conversation.   Not exactly diet-friendly but delicious! 

You guys are killing me with the Hawaii stories and pictures.  sure could use one of those beaches right now.Havent been to Hawaii since 1986  YIKES  time for a re-visit

LeeA great score on all the goodies...no guilt its Christmas time!

Ended up making a pizza last night  I have not had an appetite so just doing easy meals for now, did stock up on stuff at store to make some heartier meals like lasagna when the kids come home next week.  Need to get my prime rib for Christmas eve.

Oh Dear God! Just saw on the TV that there has been another mass shooting this time in an elementary school in Connecticut... Most of the victims are young children... I feel sick to my stomach... What in the heck is with these people?!! There is a special place in hell reserved for someone who could do this....



My heart breaks for these families....

Babies, kindergarteners. How tragic. Prayers and tears.