Thankful for Thanksgiving Pt III - Franti

Oh my goodness!!  What a caper to a great Thanksgiving Break!  I purchased two tickets each for both nights of Michael Franti and Spearhead's Harvest Ball.  Jennifer and I dodged wet snowflakes as we hurried over to the Fillmore Friday night.  This was my first concert sans crutches....and it has been a while.  My physical therapist forbade me from jumping and doubted I could make it two nights.  Well - I did not jump Friday night.  I danced and danced and danced some more.  I bumped into Nikki's friend Greg, and it was fun to catch up with him before it all started.  This guy Mike Relm opened with a really awesome video/musical performance of spinning records and audio/video feed.  Then for the next two and a half hours straight, Spearhead rocked the Fillmore!  Almost all the songs were from Yell Fire or All Rebel Rockers; the ones that weren't were Peter Tosh's, the Beatles', or Gerry's (Long Distance Runner).  Jennifer and I were pretty close to the stage, and the energy was amazing!  After the show he stepped down to the floor.  I made my way up and got to squeeze his hand - wow!  I was so thrilled with the night.    After slushing our way back to JD's apartment, we ate pumpkin empenadas, re-hydrated, and said good night.  I didn't want to deal with snow in the morning, since it was still just wet.  Saturday I slept so late!  Mary woke me up to tell me she had gotten a ticket.  She and Tom came over before the show, and we all went to church before grabbing a bite and heading over.  Tom and I stuffed ourselves for the second time in the week.  We found spots on the floor, and unfortunately none of us were impressed with the "rappers" that opened.  Finally they finished, and again Spearhead rocked for about two and a half hours straight.  They played a few older songs, fewer from Yell Fire, and new covers (including a poorly executed Casey Jones).  I didn't notice so much on Friday that Michael had the lyrics in front of him for the other songs, but he had a hard time Friday with the lyrics.  Casey Jones got all goofed up, and Mary and I were both suspicious.  The shows were pretty similar set lists, though a totally different audience and feel.  I certainly didn't mind dancing around to the same awesome tunes.    I was beat when the show was finished, though equally elated.  We walked back to Mary's car and ate pumpkin pie.  I was already starting to feel the awful stuffiness and soreness in my sinuses and throat.  After two late nights in a row, I slept in really late, but still my body felt blah.  I am not sure what I have, but eating six cuties (the little tangerines) and drinking hot tea hasn't really relieved anything.  The ibuprofen helped reduce any temperature I was feeling, and the salt water rinse helped drain my sinuses temporarily.  Now I need to try it again and tuck myself back in.  This is a horrible week to start off sick!  But hopefully, Wednesday at 3 pm, the grant will be finished, turned in, and I will be home in bed!  If I can only keep it together until Wednesday at 3 pm....   I gave all my energy to the music...it was so good...I can still hear it...it was so good....<snore>

Thankful for Thanksgiving Pt II - The feast

Thursday: Straight to the kitchen!  The potatoes and gravy were ready, but I still had a huge green salad to prepare and then biscuits to roll and bake.  It was a fun day, though.  Everyone converged back on Tom's apartment, where two folding tables had been assembled with chairs for the four o'clock feast.  Tom was babying his 12 pound slab of beef, and everyone else was nursing a whiskey or cocktail of some kind.  Daniel, Tom's brother, and I took on Tom and Julie, Daniel's wife, in a couple games of dominoes.  We left it a tie because the kids and food were both needing attention.  Tom's friends Forrest and Karen arrived with little Will and two more dishes.  Wow - once all the food was on the table, there were steaks, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, biscuits, corn casserole, gravy, green salad, fruit salad, and green chilies.  Ooof!  I ate stuffing, both potatoes, corn, and a biscuit, and I thought I was finished.  I did try some fruit salad, but only a little.  When the pumpkin pie was served, only half of one of the two pies got eaten!  I took the three kids for a walk to stretch my legs a little, but to no avail.  I would have to wait for a piece of pie for breakfast.  I guess all the snacking that started at noon did me in.  Especially those pumpkin empenadas!    More games and playing ensued after dinner, but by 8 pm I think everyone had headed out.  We were all so pooped from eating.  I made it up only a little bit later.  I kept thinking about how a year ago I celebrated Thanksgiving in Argentina on the farm before embarking into Patagonia.  Crazy how time flies!!!   My favorite part of the feast was a really nice grace that Daniel offered.  I felt honored, so far from my own family, to be with such a great family.  My heart was really filled with an awareness of how blessed I am.  I am blessed!

Thankful for Thanksgiving Pt I - Casa Bonita

Sadly, the days off from work are nearly over.  It was a nice break after some really long days.  I still have a couple long days ahead, but at least I got to enjoy being thankful with Tom's family.   Wednesday: I cooked up a storm!  Tom was hosting his family from New Mexico, and he enlisted me to help with a few dishes.  I left work early to make mashed potato casserole, gravy, and the biscuit mix.  It took a lot longer than I expected, so I got stuck in horrendous traffic on the way to dinner.  Ahhh DINNER!  I finally got to find out what everyone was talking about when they said the food at Casa Bonita is awful.  The menu offered nothing vegetarian, though a few combo plates had single meatless items.  Lucky me, they offer a "cheese deluxe", similar to the chicken and beef "deluxes", which are all you can eat and come with sopapillas.  The "cheese deluxe" was three cheese enchiladas smothered in fake cheese.  There was guac and lettuce on one side and beans and rice on the other.  Since it was all you can eat, I asked for more...of the guac and lettuce.  Tom's brother and sister-in-law had also never been, so we reveled in the newness, and quickly learned to hope not to come back.  Well, maybe they liked it.    I took off with the kids to wander around, watch the "cliff divers", and head into the arcade (the kids got tokens free, I think).  I was ready to head back to the table, as the game room was too much excitement for me, but then it occurred to me that left at the table was Tom, his siblings, and his parents.  No spouses, girlfriends, kids...  I had no idea when the last time they were all together was, and I could only imagine what they might be talking about, so I let it alone.  Gratefully, we made our way back to Tom's for more merriment sooner than later, all the kids with their new prizes from the arcade.   What a full day!

That whole quote about...

how you should believe in the power of a small group of people....   Denver Urban Gardens (my employer) sponsored a movie at the Starz Denver Film Festival today.  The Garden was the movie, and the film maker spoke afterwards - all very inspiring.  I don't want to give away the ending, but it was national news two years ago that the country's largest community garden, 14 acres in South Central Los Angeles, was bulldozed.  The documentary about it follows the legal proceedings and fight of a committed community to preserve the garden, their agricultural way of life, and a sense of justice.  Despite ultimately raising the money to outright buy the land, the owner would not sell.  It was also questionable how the owner came by the land.  The story was well told through the lens of the people - on both sides of the argument.  It reflected that at all levels of power, it is difficult to stay the course or right and good.  And while the bulldozers knocking over papaya and apple and banana trees was horrific to watch, not all stories get to have the happy ending we want to see.  The real thing to celebrate is how people can come together and raise their voice as one, how people have power collectively to stand for something.  I give it 5 stars, and if you can find it, encourage all to watch it.   peace out - tori

Nothing exciting...

Well that is not exactly true. But over the last four days I have worked forty-one hours, and tomorrow I expect to put in another ten or so. I shouldn't complain because plenty of professionals work eleven hour days regularly, but it just doesn't feel right to my tight shoulders and computer eyes. I am working on a monstrous grant. Unfortunately the level of evaluation expected is beyond anything I have done before and anything I have a passion to do ever again. And while it is an important funding source, it was down graded in what we can ask for (by 100Gs), so that I am putting in hours and hours and hours makes it feel like a lot of work for a diminished pot o' gold. It isn't due until December, but I really want to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday and to be thankful for a solid four days away from work! The exciting news is that Mary may Thomas is back in town. Jennifer helped her surprise me by keeping a secret that Mary and her dad would join us for drinks and eats after church last Saturday. What a great surprise!! And more exciting news is that my tickets arrived for Michael Franti and Spearhead!! I am going to both Friday and Saturday shows with Jennifer and Tom respectively. My physical therapist said no jumping and be careful, and she predicts I will be unable to do more than stand on Saturday night. My friend Jessica from DUG will be there, and hopefully Mary is going to get tickets, too. And extra exciting are the plans for next week when Tom's family arrives from New Mexico on Tuesday and Wednesday. I look forward to helping prepare Thanksgiving dinner with Tom, though there will be no turkey for anyone. He is making prime rib, and I don't have to help with that one. I will be making the Ford Family Mashed Potatoes, though I think I will try Colorado red potatoes in the recipe. I am looking forward to the fun - eye on the prize....get through a few more long days and then be thankful! Be thankful!

FIRST SNOW!!

Shoot, I still haven't uploaded a photo of my new helmet, though it has nothing to do with snow.   Yes-- the snow has finally arrived.  After a balmy Halloween and a rather dry first half of Autumn, the snow came only one week before the record for the latest snow fall in Denver (Nov 21).  Crazy!!  It was quite pretty to look at, and even handier, I stepped out at lunch time and used a rag and the snow to "clean" my car.  Evidently some birds missed their cue to fly south, and I happened to park under their toilet branch - gross!  So the sun has been flashing on and off as the clouds blow by, and everything is drying back out.  But I think at Tom's house he got an inch.  We don't ever get that much in my 'hood.  Supposedly some mountain elevations will see 6 - 12 inches.  Oh...if only I was a skier this year.  tori

Helmets!!!!

I am a big fan of helmets - not helmet hair, but the safety accessory for your head. I now own three. A friend joked that if you're lucky, you only get one brain in life. So why wouldn't you protect it? Of course I own a bike helmet. I bought a new one after my accident long before I even bought a new bike.

When my first ski season post-accident came around a year and a half later, I went out and bought a helmet - powder blue. Some say people do more reckless things when they're wearing a helmet because of a notion that the helmet will keep them safer. I didn't get it to start playing in the terrain park, but as in biking, helmets protect my noggin from other people. It's a little banged up, but will have to sit on the shelf this year as I sit out another ski season (boo hoo!).

My newest helmet - pictures to come shortly, I hope - is a motorcycle helmet!!! Tom got me a stand-in for my birthday, so I could start riding with him. It wasn't "the" one, but was my first. We've checked out helmets here and there. I want a brown and orange one, which isn't a likely find, so he got some paint and started planning a design. Then the fun began. Saturday we found a used helmet in sparkly blue with some airbrushed streaks. Tom loved the paint job, but the helmet fit me. He hated the thought of painting over it, so when we found - get this - a SPARKLY ORANGE MOTORCYCLE HELMET, he considered it an act of God to save the blue helmet from being painted over. All in a day, we bought this orange helmet, Tom polished it up, and then he added his artistic touch with some coppery brown zig-zags (think ZZ Top) that wrap around the sides. It's way cool! And he resized the liner of the blue helmet, so we will be sparkly together!

I know...rididuclous! It's the little things that make me smile. I'm sure my little brother won't even be excited for me. Alas...

fall is here

Again - no pics, but just imagine tearing a dark grey-blue strip of construction paper with all its jaggedy edges and laying it across the bottom of a pale blue sheet of paper that has been streaked with darker cottony shapes of chalk, and then gluing on the chunk of cotton in the top of a vitamin bottle after you fringe it in pink and stretch it out a bit...the view outside looks sort of like that.  The leaves are rustling in the wind, and every now and again one lets go of the branch and blow up into the last patches of luminescent sunlight before falling out of the sky and into a corner of curb where damp and decaying leaves have already fallen.  Some still crackle and crunch under foot, and some scape along the ground in the wind before you can step on them.  

Tis the season for tea and squash and soup!  And drippy noses and watery eyes!  And piling on blankets and lots of warm layers!  I may be grumpy at the loss of the long days and the warm bike rides, but I do love this season, too!  peace to you...and many crunchy leaves under foot!  tori