And We Start Anew....

If you remember last year, I took up the blog a day, every day for a month.  It's the national NaBloPoMo month of November, and I am again rising up to the challenge.  I was able to do it for my birthday month, and it was a lot of fun.  I hope it will be easier this go-round.

I think I am definitely in a different place from where I was a year ago.  Now instead of only having my job to write about... and there's a lot there I wish I could say but can't (small town and all)... I now have the new house, and all of my experience of learning about country-fried life.  Of course, I am still bummed to not be able to do the NaNoWriMo, but alas I do not have the time... not this year anyway.

So, this will be the easiest post, cause it's the introduction.  We'll see how well I do... how about you... are you up to the challenge?  Also, the new change this year is that I am posting to the BlogHer website... there's a link on my site... some interesting writers you should read... and, thanks for taking the time to read my little corner of the web...

City Living

A couple of weeks ago, my mother was reminding me that I am a city girl.  I shouldn't be thinking about cows and trucks and whether or not to get a 4x4 with a hemi engine.  She reminded me that I like small sports cars, good restaurants, and the hustle and bustle of city life.  That was tested this weekend as I went to San Francisco for our annual conference.

 I mean, what's not to miss about the glitz of the city... and don't even get me going on the food... Love, love, love the food, the variety, the preparation...

Hubert Keller, I love you and Fleur de Lys even though you've ruined me for regular food forever...

But, despite it all, I love my little cowtown.  I find I am missing my chickens and guinea fowl.  I had a dream about cows last night... seriously.  Although... I have to admit, it's been fun shopping at the Crate and Barrel store and seeing things out of the catalog.  It's been fun finding tile and fixture stores and being able to touch things before ordering them.  Ok, ok... so we'll have to still come to the city to get my fix every now and then... but I am still buying that truck...!

Laying a Dream to Rest

There's a great episode of "Friends" where Ross makes a list of 5 famous people he's "allowed" to sleep with.  He bumps Isabella Rossellini (btw, one of the most beautiful women ever) for Wynona Ryder on his list and then runs into Isabella when she comes into the coffee house.  To see that scene watch here.

Almost 4 years ago, I wrote a blog post about Paul Kariya.  He was definitely always on my list, and, as I said then, my now husband knew that he was the only man I would ever leave him for.  One of my goals in the blog post was to one day have one of my hockey sweaters signed by him.  Now, I guess that dream won't come true.

I found out this week that Paul Kariya has retired from the NHL.  I knew that he was still suffering the effects of post-concussion syndrome, and that is why he sat out the entire last season.  I thought that with time he would be able to come back.  He had in the past with neck-strengthening exercises and physical therapy, but I guess now the risk was too great.  While I am happy that he won an olympic gold medal for Canada, I am sad he never won the ultimate prize in hockey, the Stanley Cup.

I haven't followed hockey in about 3 years, and I was really hoping this would be the year I would start again.  I looked up his name to see what team he had ended up signing on with only to find he had retired.  So there it is.  Without a local hockey team (at least not one where I can drive less than 6 hours to see), I have no impetus to even follow the sport.  Maybe one day I will again... but, I don't think there'll be another player I find as dynamic and exciting, who was always a great ambassador for the sport (two-time Lady Byng recipient).

I will miss you, Paul, but I think my husband might be sleeping a little easier... :-)

Ten Years Ago...

I got caught up in all the news shows and documentaries over the course of the last several days, and many focus on the fact that all of us can remember where we were that morning.

My aunt had died on that prior Thursday, and I had rushed home to California from Wisconsin to be with my mother.  I was a medical student on my Family Medicine rotation, so I only could miss a few days.  The funeral ended up being scheduled for later in the week, so I caught the Red Eye from Los Angeles back to Wisconsin on Monday night.  I arrived for my connecting flight in Chicago about 6:30 a.m. CDT, and we took off about 7 a.m.

I landed in Milwaukee about 7:45, and by the time I got to my car and the radio came on, my usual morning show was talking about smoke from the World Trade Center.  If you remember, there was a light plane that flew into a building in New York just a couple of months earlier, so I didn't really think anything about it.  I got home and turned on the news, just in time to see the results of the second plane having hit the second tower.

I called my mom to let her know I had made it home safely, but the phone just beeped with an "All Circuits are busy" message.  I remember listening to Peter Jennings on ABC reporting, and I wondered what was going on in the world.  I thought of friends I knew in New York, and something made me think of a jewelry vendor where I had bought a silver ring who had his stand just at the foot of the WTC steps.  I wondered if he had escaped or was injured.  I know, random thought.

Over the next several hours I attempted to get a hold of any family member, but the phone lines were out.  I watched and listened as the Pentagon was attacked, and I thought of military friends I knew stationed in the D.C. area.  I heard about the downed plane in Pennsylvania.  And, I watched in disbelief as the first then the second tower collapsed.

I went to the clinic at noon as scheduled.  I think we saw all of three patients even though the clinic had been booked solid.  A portable television was playing in the office, and would continued to play non-stop over the next 2 weeks.  I got sent home early since there weren't any patients, and my TV at home was on the news non-stop.

I finally got a hold of my mom later that evening, and she told me that family members had been calling her about me because they knew I was traveling cross country.  Had I made it home?  Had I been diverted?  Had she heard anything from me because there were plenty of rumors about other missing planes?

In the weeks that followed, friends and I had philosophical discussions about the choices people made on that day.  Would I have jumped from the burning towers?  Would I have voted yes to try to retake a plane held by terrorists?  Would I have run up the stairs to help others inside while everyone else was running down the stairs?

I know that ten years later I still have a kind of combination of morbid curiosity and PTSD surrounding the events of that day.  I cringe watching the video knowing what the outcome will be, but yet I want to hear the survivor stories, the "I could have been on the plane" stories, all the stories.  Because in a special way, we have all been affected and united by this event.  And those are stories that are going to be told over and over again for a very long time.

Welcome to the Jungle

On days when I am not working, I am spending time at the house we bought.  One of the hardest parts of fixing up the house has been the landscaping.  The prior owners didn't do much yard work, so I am learning how to work new pieces of equipment like weed-eaters, chainsaws and tractors.  Today I decided to tackle this front part of the yard where an overgrown rhododendron was surrounded by ferns, blackberry bushes and overgrown grass.

No sooner did I start to trim around the rhododendron when I found a fountain... kinda simple, and I haven't lifted it to see if there's a pump or plumbing, but still a nice find.

Then I slowly started working my way through the brambles behind the rhododendron, and I found what I thought was a piece of plywood.  But, then it got bigger and bigger.  Then it seemed like two pieces.  And this is what I found...

It's a bench, and it seems to be from the root base of a redwood.  It's lovely and subtle in its design.  It's also very well preserved for having been buried in brambles.  That's what makes me think it's made out of redwood.  And then there's this...

Did you see the face in the above picture?  Look again, you'll see it this time.  I didn't even know it was there until I cleared more of the vegetation.  I can't wait to completely clean this bench and plant some flowers and put a border around it.  It's on a small hill overlooking the house and has a great view.

I also found this.  Another fountain.  Will have to see if there is any plumbing connected to this one.

Despite being totally exhausted from the work-out I got with the weed-eater, I am totally excited by the finds today... and even more excited to make this house more of a home that I can be proud of...

Nice and cleaned up... 

Playing Indiana Jones

So it's been almost a month since my last post, and we have been spending most of our free time at our new house.  The home was originally built in 1980, and the previous owners had it for the last 16 years.  No real clean-up or landscaping has been done over the last 10 years, so there's been a lot of work to be done.

My hubby and I have spent a lot of time with the weed-eater.  In some ways, it's been like an archeological dig.  It's interesting to find little things here and there....

Like this kerosene lamp we found under the outside front stairs... the mechanism works, it seems to be aluminum or some other light metal, with a glass lantern, and the base is heavy and painted.  Going to clean it up and hang it outside.

We've been collecting the things we've found in the overgrowth surrounding the barn:  some old cutters, a weathervane, and a bird house.

We also found an old pan... maybe something to feed the chickens with once we get some...

We also found a ton of oyster shells... archeologists in another time will wonder what feasts were held here involving all these oysters shells.... I think they just used to give them to the chickens... 

and then, there's this lovely collection of objects d'art that I've been finding here and there... 

myPod Shuffle #31 - California Dreamin'

How could I possibly end this month of songs without putting on the basis for the title of this blog?

I had heard this song many times before, but I never thought much of it until I went to medical school in Wisconsin and experienced my first winter.  I was fascinated by the change in seasons to fall.  I loved fall.  So different from Southern California.  Then the first snowfall.  It was so exciting.  About a month into winter having to dig out of the snow and sliding all over the road I was over it.  Then came spring.

No one prepared me for how depressing spring could be.  All of the leftover snow is dirty brown or grey.  The trees are brown.  The muddy patches are brown.  All the leaves are.... well, you get the gist of it.

I hope you enjoyed this month... I enjoyed shuffling the iPod each day to see what song would come next and what memories the song would bring.  As my birthday month comes to a close, a new chapter starts in my life as we begin the move and remodel on our new home... so many stories still to be told.  Thank you for reading and coming along with me on this wondrous journey.