Heretofore

Since January, I have anticipated a trip to New Mexico. Now, that trip has been completed...a great trip. I felt like I was AWAY. I love New Mexico. There have been many wonderful, memorable trips to the Land of Enchantment.

Once, when I was about five, my grandmother (Pete) took me to Albuquerque on a Greyhound bus. We went to see her sister Madge and her family. It seemed like we were on that bus forever, it seemed like all day and night. I remember that she told me to go to the bathroom when the bus stopped for a break at a terminal. She said the bus driver makes us go to the bathroom. That didn't make sense to me---he wasn't my parent.

I went to NM with my parents a couple of years before. We went to the horse races in Ruidoso. My mother bet on a horse named "Lisa Belle." My baby sister, Lisa was staying with my aunt and uncle. Daddy and I rode the ski lift in the Sandia Mountains. It was summertime. I will never forget the clean smell of the air in those mountains. We had chili dogs at the Sandia Peak restaurant. They put beans on the chili dogs!
Once, we took a family trip and spent the night in a cabin in Red River. There was a trout farm where one could fish for trout. Daddy said we each had to catch two trout for supper. I hooked myself in the seat of my shorts, then hooked a trout in the middle of its spine. I also thoroughly despised fish...this was so memorable.
A year after college, I visited a classmate in Dumas, Tx and we made a quick trip out there with her Mom so Gail could apply for her first nursing job in Albuquerque. At that time, Taos was just a small bump in the road---very few restaurants, a town square, and regular businesses required for the residents to tend to their lives.
Clu Flu and I took the kids on a summertime vacation---White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Alamogordo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos.
And we made three other trips to Taos for Christmas skiing. We would leave after midnight church on Christmas Eve...get to Taos about 12 noon or so. Of course the kids slept during the night in the car and were wild and crazy when we could hardly hold our heads up!
Taos tripled or quadrupled in size during ski seasons--the townspeople were very disgruntled with anyone with Texas plates on their car. Our ski trips were great--in addition to family bonding there was also some family bondage. Brooke fractured a tibia or fibula one year (I forget which). Zack took to skiing like a duck to water. He made it to black trails very quickly.
I made a trip out to SF/Taos/Albuquerque/Alamogordo with a friend about 1996. Bought my first (probably only) Navajo rug--an exquisite Two Grey Hills rug...so finely woven and with the sharpest natural dyes you can imagine. Even though it's wrong to covet a possession, I do covet this rug. Each time I study it, I think about the work involved, raising the sheep, shearing, carding the wool, spinning it, dying the yarn, then weaving the rug in a very intricate pattern. I know a little about the woman who made my rug. I respect her so much---what a gift and talent to have!
This most recent trip was with a very close friend. It was so good experiencing the different landscapes, groups of people, and other wonderful things associated with NM.
Of course, I'm ready to go again soon...maybe I will go by myself in two or three years, spend a month or six weeks out there from Autumn through Winter.
Will I ever lose my attraction to this spiritful place?

"My Happy Place"

When Callie was very small and sometimes fretful, Ruth would stand in the middle of the living room, holding Callie, and slowly sway back and forth as a pendulum might. Callie's eyes were fixed on the ceiling fan...she studied it intently. Ruth called it Callie's "happy place." The rhythmic movement of the ceiling fan and the rocking motion supplied by Ruth would mostly give her peace and contentment. It was hypnotic.

Everyone should have a happy place where they can retreat, feel peace, and actively de-stress. I don't propose that one should stand in place with eyes cast upward and rock and moan. That could cause other problems. But I'd wager that most everyone has a day-dream location or situation for a respite from the cruel, loud, obnoxious world.

Lately, my happy place has been thoughts of New Mexico---this is comforting because I have spent quite a bit of travel time in the "Land of Enchantment".....may be corny to you, but NM suits me. The air, the people, colors, geographic properties----it's just plain damn great.

I will be out there later this summer, soak it up, and come back to Tejas, just a little transfixed. What could be better than that?

Whatcha Thinkin' About?

Things that occupy my mind lately:

1. Large bur oak tree in backyard needs to be cut down. (DEAD)

2. New Mexico trip later this summer.

3. The plumber wants to perform a colonoscopy (with camera) through the bowels of my house.

4. I must shop for new clothes. (yech!)

5. I wonder if I could sell this home without too much fretting and worrying.

6. Where would I like to relocate?

7. I desperately want a large glass of sweet iced tea.

8. I also want about three fresh mojitos, made with crushed ice.

9. Taking my sister's cremains to scatter over special places back home.

10. Why is it so difficult and painfully slow to order medications from mail-order programs?

11. Has Jay Leno REALLY been the host for "The Tonight Show" that long?

12. What is the total average weight of waste produced by one American citizen over 70 years?

13. What is the real value of Facebook to all of humanity?

These Feet Were Made For Talking

Today, I was talking to Ruth on the phone and I could hear "GaGa, GaGa, GaGa???" in the background. I told Ruth that I could talk to Callie over the phone. Ruth told me it wasn't necessary as Callie had her left foot held up to her left ear and was talking to me with her foot. Little Tootie!

Baltimore Trip

My trip to Baltimore was good. Drove around the B'more, Annapolis, Chesapeake, D. C. areas to see as much as time allowed. Took a 3 hour night tour of D. C. landmarks. Spent most of one day in Annapolis, drove the Bay Bridge (Chesapeake) 3 different times. Visited Fells Point, Little Italy, Camden, Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, and downtown Baltimore. Drove through some magnificently beautiful coastal farm land NW of Baltimore and stopped in old, tiny bayside townships. Also drove through the north Baltimore residential area around Charles Street---gorgeous old homes, located in wooded areas, winding roads, hills, many private schools, and old churches. Visited the Johns Hopkins complex, old cobblestone streets engineered for horses and buggies.

The D. C. tour was great...I realized that one could spend a month in D. C. and still not see everything the city has to offer. The Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean War Memorial were humbling experiences as well as a visit to the Iwo Jima statue.

All people I encountered were polite and helpful and everyone was interested in conversation. My hotel (within walking distance of Camden Yards and Inner Harbor) was just across the street from Baltimore Firehouse 1. Downtown Baltimore was constantly singing the siren song.

It was crowded, but people took obstacles in stride. It was commonplace to find cars parked in a traffic lane---no one objected...just drove around the car in due time. Traffic flow was great in Baltimore...probably because everyone is not dependent on driving---bus lines, light rail, taxis, and walking all made up transportation.

I ate crab cakes in an Annapolis tavern (circa 1700's), visited Edgar A. Poe's burial site, ate and drank at the Annabel Lee Tavern (a mandatory stop for a meal if you are in Baltimore).

A downtown water-main broke and shut down lots of Inner Harbor including the National Aquarium, Maritime Museum (Taney), so I was unable to visit on-board the USCG Cutter Taney.

San Jacinto Day

A day that changed the landscape for two nations
Today is San Jacinto Day, marking the end of Mexican rule of Texas.Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Even those who understand that April 21 is not just another day in Texas sometimes fail to see its full significance.
In Texas, April 21 is known as San Jacinto Day, the day Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna — known in his day as the Napoleon of the West — met defeat at the hands of the Texian Army commanded by Gen. Sam Houston. The surrender not only ended Mexican rule of Texas but opened the door to ending Mexican domain over most of what is today the Southwestern United States.
When Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase from French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803, the dream of Manifest Destiny moved a step closer to becoming reality. Spain controlled the west until 1821, when Mexico — which then included the modern states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Colorado and California — won its independence.
Had Santa Anna been able to quell the rebellion of Texas secessionists in 1836, Mexico would have continued to block U.S. expansion westward. For how long is a matter of conjecture because Mexico didn't have the people or the resources to occupy territory that stretched from what is now Texas to California in the West to the Canadian border to the North. Losing Texas in 1836 set in motion events that would lead to the Mexican-American War 10 years later.
When that war was over, Mexico was cut in half and the United States expanded its borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, from the Rio Grande to Canada.
Houston's victory at San Jacinto wasn't a universal cause for celebration, however. Slavery, outlawed by the Mexicans, was allowed in Texas in its days as an independent republic and later as a state. Whether slavery would be allowed in the territory Jefferson purchased was a bedeviling and hotly debated topic at the time until the debate exploded in the U.S. Civil War in 1861.
Tejanos — Texans with Mexican roots — were subject to legal and social discrimination that is still being sorted out 173 years after Santa Anna surrendered.
History and its impact are never one-dimensional. One person's notion of glory is another's notion of gloom. Like all anniversaries, April 21 is a multi-dimensional one loaded with significance for the U.S. and the people who inhabited it then as well as now.
It's not just another day.

Simple Joys & Self-Awareness

I am amazed that everything is so green. In my backyard, the canopy of tree leaves is complete. There is shade. Lawns are greening up, there is a constant whir of lawnmowers, blowers, and edgers in my neighborhood.

I don't remember acknowledging Spring's entry last year, I must have been oblivious to the changing season. This year, there is a newness, and I enjoy the feeling.

Yesterday, I received some nursing continuing education courses in the mail---thumbing through one, I noticed the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Scale. The scale allows one to score their (or their client's) stressors according to significant life-altering changes. The higher the score, the higher one's risk for depression, anxiety, and decrease in overall health.
This scale has been used for YEARS, and is an accurate measure for the probability of illness based on stressors. As I read through the items on the scale, I was aware that so many of us have greater stressors now as compared to 30 years ago. The changes that people go through now happen at an increased and sustained pace as compared to years past.
If you are curious...see below.
Peace,
Diane


SCORING FOR THE HOLMES-RAHE SOCIAL READJUSTMENT SCALE
Less than 150 life change units
=
30% chance of developing a stress-related illness
150 - 299 life change units
=
50% chance of illness
Over 300 life change units
=
80% chance of illness
Life Events
Score
Death of spouse
100
Divorce
73
Marital separation from mate
65
Detention in jail, other institution
63
Death of a close family member
63
Major personal injury or illness
53
Marriage
50
Fired from work
47
Marital reconciliation
45
Retirement
45
Major change in the health or behavior of a family member
44
Pregnancy
40
Sexual difficulties
39
Gaining a new family member (e.g., through birth, adoption, oldster moving, etc.)
39
Major business re-adjustment (e.g., merger, reorganization, bankruptcy)
39
Major change in financial status
38
Death of close friend
37
Change to different line of work
36
Major change in the number of arguments with spouse
35
Taking out a mortgage or loan for a major purchase
31
Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan
30
Major change in responsibilities at work
29
Son or daughter leaving home (e.g., marriage, attending college)
29
Trouble with In-laws
29
Outstanding personal achievement
28
Spouse beginning or ceasing to work outside the home
26
Beginning or ceasing formal schooling
26
Major change in living conditions
25
Revision of personal habits (dress, manners, associations, etc.)
24
Trouble with boss
23
Major change in working hours or conditions
20
Change in residence
20
Change to a new school
20
Major change in usual type and/oramount of recreation
19
Major change in church activities (a lot more or less than usual)
19
Major change in social activities (clubs, dancing, movies, visiting)
18
Taking out a mortgage or loan for a lesserpurchase (e.g., for a car, TV, freezer, etc.)
17
Major change in sleeping habits
16
Major change in the number offamily get-togethers
15
Major change in eating habits
15
Vacation
13
Christmas season
12
Minor violations of the law(e.g., traffic tickets, etc. )
11
TOTAL
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