Switching My Blog

I have a new blog that I will be posting at from today forward.  It's quite new, but as I have things to say, I will be saying them at this link henceforth:  https://dvluvsdogs.wordpress.com/.

Guns

Did you notice that yesterday news of a shooting in Missouri went nearly unnoticed.  Just another shooting.  Eight dead, including the shooter.  Just another mass killing.  Our country has become desensitized to the murder of its citizens.  Guns have taken the place of discourse in settling issues because guns are omnipresent in this allegedly civilized society.  American society is heading in the wrong direction. 

On the day that Leonard Nimoy passed away, it is painfully obvious that Gene Roddenberry's vision in Star Trek of a future where the people of Earth finally are at peace and work peacefully with other civilizations out there in the universe, including Mr. Spock's Vulcan world, is never going to happen when we here in the United States are showing the advanced countries of the world that we cannot even manage our own serious issues.  Guns, racism, political inaction, a financial disconnect between the one percent and all of the rest of us so great that it boggles the mind ... all of these things and many more from the country that many of us thought could lead the way.  Maybe we should step aside and allow some other country to take the lead on these things.  Exceptional?  Maybe once, but not now.  We cannot get to that amazing place that Roddenberry hoped we could if we continue to do nothing to enhance civilization. 

More guns will lead us back to the Old West when everyone had guns.  That was not a good time in our history, despite any romanticized idea that it was.  That was a time when people truly did settle their differences with their guns, men being "called out" by other men, and worse.  The Lincoln County War here in New Mexico is proof of how bad things could get.  Look it up.   

There is a line from the 1998-2000 TV series The Magnificent Seven that is so apropos to what is going on in this country today.  The former notorious gunslinger and now-lawman Chris Larabee tells a young Chinese man whose father and uncle were both murdered, who both admires and fears what he sees in Larabee and wants to learn to shoot in order to take revenge on the evil man who ordered the deaths of Chinese workers on the railroad: "Guns and hate.  It's a bad mix."  How are we in the year 2015 not able to see that for the truth it is and take action to reign in this ongoing domestic terror?  More guns brings more lawlessness.  Fewer guns brings you far closer to domestic tranquility that our founders wrote so eloquently about. 

The very hard work of removing guns as an option for use in any dispute needs to happen.  It requires strength and bravery and fortitude from our elected officials, but that means that we, the citizens of this country, need to make it clear at the ballot box that the future of our country is important, that we think it important to safeguard our citizens from killings due to hate or due to happenstance.  Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a terrible statement of where we stand on guns today in this country.  That children can get hold of a gun and shoot their cousin or sister or mother or themselves and these events be deemed "accidents" shouts to the rest of the world that we do not value human life the way we say we do.  Talk is cheap.  We need action, and we need it now.

Finally Some Snow!

I know, I know.  Where, oh where have I been?  I've been here, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I've been wondering where the winter weather was, because it has been a very mild winter here in Santa Fe.  Because of that, I have been spending a fair amount of time outside, playing with dogs, when not working.  It's nice.  I admit, it has been VERY nice.  But overnight, FINALLY, we got six inches of snow.  It's still snowing a little bit now, though temps are heading up over the course of the next couple of days.  My six plus inches won't likely be around for very long; I'll need to get the boys out in this a couple of times today for some play time.

Here is what it looked like around 7:30 this morning:

Nice!

Telluride and Ouray, Colorado

My sister Dana and I, and my three Beagle-ish boys, spent the Fourth of July weekend in these two mountain towns.  It's so beautiful there.  Yes, it is beautiful in Santa Fe, too, but in a very different way.  Here are some photos to show you how pretty it is and how much fun we had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been MIA

I have no excuse other than, as Roger Ebert said, "Life itself."  My work, my dogs, Facebook, the garden, travel, photography.  I certainly have plenty to say, and I freely admit that I say much of it on Facebook these days.  But my plan is to get back to my blog, I swear. 

Two Friends

I know it's been a while since we lost Tom and Mark. But I feel that I need to put on my blog something about these two men before I use my blog any further. It is definitely the right thing to do, as tribute to two men who are gone too soon. I will say first, before I talk about these two fine and very different men, how much I hate cancer. Good people were taken from us far too soon by this insidious killer. We can do more to find better treatments and even cures for so many cancers, yet we spend money on things, shameful things that serve no benefit to our society. And though I hate the thought of a despot killing his people with chemical weapons, and though ignoring the use of chemical weapons could encourage their use in the future, I am torn about spending more of our money on such an action as has been suggested by the president and endorsed by the Senate panel today. Do I think that this action will be any more than a dent in the ongoing troubles in the Middle East? I think I can honestly say that despite the thousands of people already dead in Syria and the likelihood of more deaths to come, all of the money that we spend on these actions ... on Iraq, Afghanistan ... that money is better spent finding a cure for what killed Tom LaFerla and Mark Melamed. I met Mark throuh my sister Dana. They were theater people, and Mark always seemed to be on, even when he wasn't on stage. It was his natural way of being, it was something expected. It was something that you learned to love about Mark if you wanted to spend time with him, and we always loved spending time with him. If Mark wasn't being Mark, that's when you knew something was wrong. But Mark was almost always up. He was fun, even when he was frustrating. He was a core member of our game playing group. Man did we have fun. We could play games all night long. There were many nights I remember finishing up around three in the morning, having gathered, usually at my house or at Mark's, around 7-ish the night before. The amount of fun we had was probably illegal in some countries. We didn't see much of each other these last few years. My move to New York, and then New Mexico, did what distance often does to relationships. He and I didn't always see eye to eye on the dog thing. But we were like-minded on many topics, on the most important things. His brave stand against his cancers was Mark as we will all likely remember him, on stage, his co-star ... cancer ... making him dig deep for this final role. He played it well. Tom LaFerla became a friend through my work. Mikasa was a special customer for me. I made many friends there. Tom and Dolores were two people who it was so easy to be friends with, so easy to love. Such a gorgeous relationship, such fun people. For me, when I make friends with someone really special, they almost always become friends with my sisters, and that was how it felt with Tom and Dolores. We spent time at each others' homes, in the company of each others' friends and family. We spent time at Grounds For Sculpture and the Shelburne Museum and had many great meals and conversations together. When I moved to the Adirondacks, Tom and Dolores made several trips up to enjoy the area, and to nurture our friendship. I don't know how Dolores goes on, except that she is strong and she is great. Tom was the sweetest, funniest, most compassionate man. I loved him. I would love a Tom LaFerla of my very own. Dolores was lucky to have him. I was so lucky to know him.

Roger Ebert

More than any movie star ever could, Roger Ebert epitomized what the movies mean to me.  He was a great writer, his Pulitzer Prize wonderful proof of that.  But to really understand how great a writer he was, spend some time at this link and read some of his blog posts.  Yes, there are typos, but that is something I can certainly forgive considering the wealth of fantastic subject matter he chose to hold court on.  He was a brave man and a good man, and I will miss him.  I will keep the link to this blog here for a while.  I have quite a backlog of blog posts that I still need to get to.

Rest in Peace, Roger.

And read this post from Roger's wife Chaz.  He lived a long life, and in spite of all his medical difficulties these last ten years, a good life.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/04/a_statement_from_chaz_ebert.html

Habanero Pepper-colored TV Cabinet

Well, it didn't start out that way.  I should have gotten a "before" shot.  Oh well.  I can tell you that it was an extremely dark green, almost black.  No longer:

The cabinet cost me $135 at a consignment shop.  It cost me $65 to get it delivered.  Oy.

Then we add the 30-some bucks in paint and supplies, and then the $20 for the new knobs (from Mexico) ...

... and the price for the cabinet comes out to $250.  Still a really nice price for a uniquely "Denise" cabinet!

I LOVE how it turned out.  Thanks to Dana for her expert painting talent.  We both painted it, but she did all the cutting in.  I think it's beautiful.



The Newtown, CT Murders

If we continue to do nothing about access to guns, does that not make us all complicit in every death past, present and in the future? 


Here is my Facebook post about this horrible mass shooting today:

I keep seeing posts and hearing on the news that this most recent mass shooting is so much worse because children were killed. No it's not. It's exactly the same. Every horrible incident where innocent people are killed by someone with a gun is equally as bad as the next. Or more precisely, the last, as we continue to learn nothing and do nothing about access to guns.


This kind of thinking reminds me of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis a few years back. Someone was quoted as saying something like God must have been looking down on those children in that bus as it hung precariously on the ledge; they all survived, if I remember correctly. Yeah. And those people who perished, falling to their deaths? My takeaway, based on the ignorant Christian who said this, is that apparently God could give a shit about those who did die.

Now, let's go back to today's events. Are the children who survived looked upon by God differently than the children who died? We as a society - of all faiths and no faiths - need to think before we speak. And way more important than that, we need to act on guns and gun violence and stop being stupid, or more likely disgustingly and knowingly disingenuous, about the difference between hunters having a right to their guns and citizens thinking they need guns for protection - which are two very different things - and that that alleged right is more important than the safety of the populace as a whole. My president, who I love, is just as wrong and chicken shit about this issue as every other person has been willingly complicit in perpetrating the lie of exactly what the second amendment to the constitution really means.

Twenty-seven people are dead (last count). Are we really going to sit back and as a society no nothing once more? What the fuck? I know people in the Newtown/Danbury area of Connecticut. Some of these dead could be people I know, or children of people I know. How can we do nothing to stop this from happening again? My heart aches for every person who has died in one of these mass killings, and my heart knows that we need to restrict guns in order to stop this kind of killing. We are always going to have crazy people in our society, there is nothing we can really do about that. And there is no way for us to know when a previously sane person is going to go off the deep end. But there is something we can do to keep guns from people. Is it severe to do it? Yes. Have severe restrictions been successful in lowering the deaths at the hands of gunmen in other countries? Absolutely. What is wrong with this country that we can't take the same brave steps that others have taken?

Maybe it's just not important enough.

Some Photos of my New Digs

It's nice here in Santa Fe, and the house is coming along nicely as well.  We are having a bit of chilly weather right now, so the weekend was spent doing more stuff inside where it is comfortable.  It's a windy day; glad we got one of the big windchimes hung.  Sounds great.

First, here is the living room:

This above shot is from the kitchen looking toward the front door.  This next one is from the hallway.  I love how great my stuff looks in this house:


The next photos are of my kitchen, quite a bit larger than what I had gotten used to in Willsboro.  Biggest adjustment, of course, is the gas range.  It has been MANY years since I had gas in the kitchen.  Not THAT kind of gas!

This next room is nice to have: an actual office.  We'll call it an office/library.

The bathrooms are nice.  The master needs to have the carpet taken out at some point.  I HATE carpet in the bathroom, but it is what it is.  It does have a separate water closet, which is tiled.  The main bath has a nicely tiled shower; we have ordered curtains from JC Penney that will be beautiful in the room.  My curtains from my last bath are perfect for the master.

The yard needs some work.  It has plenty of spaces for the boys to play and do their business, but no grass.  I'll be putting sod in on the side of the house this spring, and probably a patch of grass beside the garage.  We have to clean out behind the garage as there are some grass burrs, which hurt the Beagle boys' pads!  But the mulch we put down on the side of the house for the winter will be moved to behind the garage.  And I'll have to figure out what I want to do about this large raised bed.  Dana and I were thinking maybe putting grass in the center and only using the four corners for actually gardening.  The boys like jumping up there.  But I'd have to figure out how to keep that grass from making its way into the herbs, vegetables and flowers.  More pondering is required.  It is actually larger than it looks in this photo!

The boys are adjusting nicely to their house, as you can see.  Atticus even fell asleep in the middle of playing.  How cute!

I HAVE MOVED!!!

Well, upstate New York didn't turn out how I thought it would.  Too wet.  Too conservative, or is it provincial that is the better descriptive?  More on that later.  Just wanted to let all y'all know that Santa Fe weather, for the less than a month that I have been here, has been ridiculously beautiful.  Really, really nice.   But like I said, more later on all of this.  Fred, Homer and Atticus are adapting well to their new house and yard.  They love the weather, too.

It's election day.  An Obama win would put the icing on the cake of my life right now.

Owls. Yikes!

A story from the weekend: My house butts up against Nature Conservancy land, so we are used to seeing wildlife - deer, fox, raccoons, hawks and other fowl - but mostly we hear the birds. The woodpeckers whacking like crazy on the trees and loads of different birdsound. It's very nice. And we see the woodpeckers a lot when we have the suet feeder filled (note to self: fill suet feeder). Humming...birds abound when the hummingbird feeder is filled (note to my sister Dana: fill hummingbird feeder).

Well, the other night I took Fred, Homer and Atticus out for their last walk of the night. This walk is usually around 11pm, could be earlier, could be a little later. When we went out, there was the sound of an owl. These owls are Snowy owls, the big, impressive white ones. When I purchased my house, the sellers gave me a photo of a Snowy owl sitting on one of the posts on the railing on the front porch of the house. I haven't managed a photo of my own, but it's pretty cool to see them up in a tree.

The noise was crazy and unusual. We had heard them once before, but the dogs were already inside and ready to get in their beds. But that noise while outside got the dogs going but good. I looked up - there was a full moon - and I saw the big owl on a tree branch, way up high. The dogs kept barking because the owl kept hooting, and then another owl on the other side of the property started in. And then the first owl flew over toward that owl. And then it REALLY got crazy because I heard at least four owls going at it. I wonder if it's mating season? It was disconcerting, especially when the sound started moving all around the trees behind and on the sides of the house. My house really is tucked back, completely surrounded by trees, so it was like these predator birds were getting ready to, um, do something. And the Beagles were freaking out. At 11 at night. And though my neighbors aren't real close, there is NO WAY my neighbors didn't hear this. And I am quite sure that my dogs would not have, finally, after MUCH effort, come inside if they, too, weren't feeling a little nervous about the goings-on in their back yard. I shiver just thinking about it. They've been quiet since, probably found a more private section of the woods for their business (wink). It's a good thing my sister Deb's dogs weren't with us; if these owls get hungry after they, you know, do it, little Mikey and Choli could easily have ended up a snack!
 
Choli and Mike, aka owl vittles:

Au Fond du Temple Saint

I first developed a love of opera in 9th grade, when I took my first Italian class at Vineland Senior High School. My 9th grade teacher of Italian was John Mazzotta, but the person who nurtured my love of opera was my teacher from 10th through 12th grades, Cesarina DeCesero. I adored my Italian classes. And I learned to love opera. Italian opera was my favorite, needless to say. And with the Italian Club, I saw my first opera, though my love of it, and the greatest operatic tenor ever - Luciano Pavarotti - continued long after I graduated high school. I saw Pavarotti in concert and in operas many, many times. We were so lucky that he chose Philadelphia as the base for his vocal competition and spent so much time there.

For a long time, I thought all the best operas were in Italian, and some of my absolute favorites still are. Seriously, who doesn't love "La Boheme"? "Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar. Cercar che giova? Al buio non si trova." So many of these lyrics I remember to this day, having learned them singing along to Luciano on album, then cassette, and now CD. I don't listen to as much opera as I used to, and I haven't seen a live opera in many years. But I still love it.

But good opera, and operetta, isn't only in Italian. I have grown to appreciate the power of German, and romance of French. Even opera in English.

So, for the last hour or so I have spent time over at You Tube trying to find a performance of the aria "Au fond du temple saint" from Georges Bizet's opera "The Pearl Fishers" (Les pêcheurs de perles) that is better than the one that I already know to be the best: Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes. It is so beautiful. I recognize that these men sang together a lot, their amazing tenor and baritone voices perfectly suited for duets, so maybe it was too much to ask that there might be a better version out there. There isn't, at least not in my opinion. Here it is, for your enjoyment, the #1 Au fond du temple saint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhG4dPN2Nhs

There are others worth your time. The very close second, for me, is the late, great Jerry Hadley and Thomas Hampson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-6aQ6mxvnM

And my third favorite is this enjoyable performance from Roberto Alagna and Bryn Terfel, which includes the recorded live video at You Tube. I am not a huge fan of Alagna ... he does okay here, but he is no Domingo, Hadley, and he's certainly no Pavarotti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tLrPVkfCIQ


For me, this is one of the most beautiful areas ever written - and it's not in Italian!

There is one more version that is really enjoyable, for two reasons: my first real exposure to Rolando Villazon, who is quite stunning, and Placido Domingo ... singing the baritone part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orbh8MHEhgA

And to show you that German has some great stuff, there's this version of "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from the operetta "Das Land des Lächelns" (The Land of Smiles) by Franz Lehar, Fritz Lohner-Beda and Ludwig Herzer. This link below is the great Placido Domingo once again, from the first Three Tenors concert. This version just gives me goose bumps. I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gSqZRC2dTE

Did I ever mention that I was at the Three Tenors concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Scones: Yum Scrum Double Bubble Gum

Yes, I figured a friend from England's favorite saying seemed appropriate in today's discussion of scones. I just made a batch. Let me tell you about them.

The base of today's scones is this many-times-tested and wonderfully perfect recipe for scones with lemon and ginger. I have used this recipe many, many times. It's easy-peasy, just a little bit of elbow grease needed when blending the butter into the flour mixture - in other words, no need to pull out any kitchen appliances:

http://joyofbaking.com/printpages/SconesLemonGingerprint.html

I don't usually put the sugar on and broil them at the end, as per the recipe (I also don't use cream to brush on them before baking - fat free milk is fine). But today, I added a half a cup of fresh cranberries to the batter(I cut each cranberry in half in order for the heat to get to them and soften them up) and figured it wouldn't hurt to add a little bit of sugar. But you don't have to wait until after they've baked. I just sprinkled a very little bit of regular sugar after I brushed the milk on them and baked them for the recommended time. They are exquisitely scrumptious.

Also, this recipe calls for buttermilk. I don't keep fresh (hee!) buttermilk in the fridge because I just don't use enough of it before it goes bad. Of course, if I followed Dana's philosophy on scones and made a batch a week, this would not be a problem. But, since that has not happened and may never be my scone schedule, I have found a perfectly fine substitute: Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend. It is a powder, made from sweet cream and churned buttermilk. I am convinced this is a major reason why these scones are as great as they are. Everybody loves these scones.

You should try to make them. It really is easy and so, so satisfying!

It's Still Decorated for Christmas Around Here

Yeah, maybe I'll take the decorations down next weekend. But I'm glad that I still have them up. They are beautiful and they make me happy. And I get to snap a shot like this:


Homer just was mesmerized by Scooby Doo singing Christmas songs, but I think he was especially taken with how Scooby danced to the music. You can see Scooby in motion as everything else is in focus. Homer is a curious and very happy dog.

Santorum? Really?

Really? Seriously, it is a sad, sad state of affairs when a man like this can be in competition for the presidential nomination. This man believes that women should no longer have access to birth control. And he said this:

"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality ... "

No need to hear the rest of the quote since the first part is so ripe with ridiculousness.

He later went on to clarify that he did not intend to equate homosexuality with incest (the child reference) or beastiality (man on dog reference), when, of course, that was exactly what he intended. What's more important is that he does not believe that the right to privacy as noted in the Supreme Court ruling Griwold vs. Connecticut prevents the government from regulating consensual acts among adults. He wants to make homosexuals head straight back to the closet and he wants women to have babies. We know where he stands on these social issues, and he will be a fervent advocate for getting legislation passed that would attempt to obliterate the gains women and homosexuals have gained over these many years.

I'm voting for Obama no matter what offering comes our way from the Republicans. But I just find it unbelievable that there is any significant portion of the populace that would be willing to push back advances for these groups.

Guns

http://news.yahoo.com/police-body-found-us-park-gunman-224005459.html

You see, this guy should never have been able to keep his guns. Apparently a whole lot of people knew he was unstable. But because so many stupid people in this country don't get that the 2nd amendment to the constitution - including the idiots on the Supreme Court - was intended to allow freedom to bear arms for a 'militia' (that's a group, not an individual...in other words, the police or mili...tary), and not this guy, he was able to shoot people earlier in the day, and kill this, by all reports, lovely person. I know the paranoid in this country think they have to own a gun to be safe, but this is a complete fallacy. This woman was armed, but she wasn't given a chance because this crazy man was running wild with high-powered weaponry. The citizens of this country, and that includes former members of the military, do not need nor should they have weapons that have only one intent: to kill people. You need a rifle to go hunting and, in a nominally sporting way, shoot a deer, fine. But you don't need fifteen varieties of that weapon...one will do. Or do what my dad did: use a bow and arrow, which is far more sporting. This country needs to start acting like a civilized country and pass laws that will prevent innocents from being victims.

Oh, and I really could give two shits that this guy is a veteran. He should never have been allowed near weapons, and I will eat my nice black cowboy hat if we don't hear right quick about all the failures in the system that allowed this nutjob to become a menace to society. It really is a shame that his delusions didn't just result in his suicide. I have nothing but compassion for the men and women who have suffered in battle and come back changed by what they saw. But the Veterans Administration has excellent resources to help these people, and there is little doubt that the vast majority of them who are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder manage to get enough help that they don't go off and start shooting people.

I refuse to show this asshole's picture. Rather, I leave you with a photo of Margaret Anderson, his victim. Someone who loved her husband and her children and the beauty of this country in her intense love of her job as a national park service employee. Such a shame.