West Coast Adventure

I'm in the Clark County Library in southwest Las Vegas. We just had lunch at a wonderful Hawaiian restaurant named Kona Grill. My son had sushi and calamari! Who knew! He's branching out in his older age. :)
I'll be posting pics taken at Red Rock Canyon and San Diego (ocean and seals and such) next week. We had a wonderful time together and even though I'm returning to the East with no money (that's right, Mom, I didn't win at the slot machines), it was a great trip with good weather, good food and good company. Now that I've driven from Vegas to the Pacific Coast, I can say that I've driven from Tennessee to the west coast. I suppose, since I've driven to Myrtle Beach a couple of times, as well as Hilton Head, I can say that I've driven from coast to coast (although not in one trip). I like driving. Driving through desert country, however, is completely uninteresting. Sorry, desert citizens.
See you next week! LB

Happy Ho Ho Ho!

This is a hectic week for everyone. What I’ve discovered is that it’s a crazy week even if you don’t do any Christmas shopping. I do bake, however. This year I will bake over 20 loaves of pumpkin bread. Last night I put three pans of batter in the oven and began washing the dishes. Suddenly my thumb felt strange. I noticed that my long, long thumbnail on my left hand was missing. Oh my gosh! No worries. :) It broke off as I was washing the beaters!
I’ll be flying to Las Vegas wearing my "ho" earrings on Christmas Eve to spend a week with my son. He has decided to move back to Knoxville at the end of February. He came to this wise decision on his own. Las Vegas didn’t turn out to be the beat all/end all of cities to live in. However, I am extremely proud of him. He drove out there, found a safe place to live, and obtained a great job working at a vet hospital. He has gained a lot of experience as he is paying his own way completely for the first time in his life. It’s time, however, to throw in the towel and he realized that he needs to get back in school before he’s a 30 year old undergraduate. :) He’ll "bunk" with me for a while and begin classes at UT next fall. With a great reference from his employer in Vegas, he hopes to work at UT’s Vet Hospital. I’m not thrilled about becoming a "mother worrier" again but I’m glad he’s coming home. Since he’ll have to sell his car (I don't think it'd make it 50 miles outside of Vegas), I suppose I won’t have to worry too much. He’s going to learn the art of riding the bus and that you really can get from Point A to Point B with just your God-given legs. :) So my son will leave behind his car, his TV, his stereo, and most of his disposable income (which he has graciously spread out to different casinos for the good of all Las Vegans) and fly home with his head high, knowing that he went after a dream and made it happen.
Last year on Christmas Day I flew to Beijing and spent 2 weeks in China. It was the trip of a lifetime. Since that trip I really haven’t traveled anywhere but for the drive west to Las Vegas with my son at the end of May. My son and I will have a little adventure the day after Christmas by renting a car and driving to San Diego to see the sights. We’ll drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and most likely take a little jaunt into Tijuana. I’d also like to see a couple of the new casinos that I didn’t get to last time. The Valley of Fire State Park and Mt. Charleston are also on our list of places to visit in and around Vegas. I really wanted to go see Barry Manilow but the tickets were all sold out. I really love his music. Seriously.
This may be my last entry until the first of January. Tune in then for photos from NV and CA.
To all my family and friends, and anyone who may be reading this, have a wonderful holiday season!
Lucy Blue

Surprise, Surprise.......

When I arrived home from work Wednesday there was a DHL form plastered to my front door. Apparently, there was a package to be delivered to my address (no name as to who it belonged to) and it required a signature. How odd, I thought. I figured it was either being sent to the wrong address or it was something being sent to Tracy and Hua, who use my mailing address for their mail. I signed the form allowing the package to be left the next morning and didn’t think much more about it. When I got home yesterday there was a big box sitting right in front of my front door.....in PLAIN VIEW. The delivery person didn’t even attempt to put the box further down the front porch where it would be obscured by the railing and columns. No, it was sitting on a chair next to my front door and could easily have been stolen. When I looked, I saw the word "CHINA" on the shipping label and thought it must be for Tracy. Inside my house I put on my reading glasses (yeah....it totally sucks, older age) so I could read the label. The package was addressed merely to my street address no name. Then I saw where it was from. Hangzhou, where my young friend, Carrie, lives. She is the young 17-year-old Chinese girl that spent a couple of months at the English Language Institute. I drove her to Nashville and she spent a night and day with my family and friends before leaving to return to China in early August. She did much shopping and I learned that her parents own an exporting business. They export furs. Carrie sent me the most gorgeous brown cashmere cape that is outlined in fur. It’s beautiful. She also sent several cashmere scarves for me, my mother and cousins and a package for Tracy (whom she met through me here in Knoxville) that includes a beautiful knitted pink dress for Tracy’s baby. She wrote a letter to me in English and one to Tracy in Chinese. I haven’t had time yet but will take pictures over the weekend and post them on Monday. While I am in awe over owning such a beautiful cape, I am also amazed that it sat on my porch the better part of a day in full view of anyone walking by my house (I’d say an average of 50-70 people per day, 10-15 of which are homeless).
Have a wonderful weekend!

Ahhhhhh, the smell.......

I love the smell of cut wood. When I was young, my parents would sometimes drive to new neighborhoods and we would walk through houses under construction. They smelled so good to me, especially the ones that were framed but had no drywall in place; when you could really smell the wood. My brother and I would run through the house and lay claim to "our" bedroom. We would get excited at the possibility of moving to a new house. We never did move to a new house and that was okay with us. It was fun, however, to pretend.
I stopped and breathed in deep when I came upon this pile of lumber on my walk yesterday evening.
The memories that smells evoke for me are sometimes odd. Many people will say they love the smell of cut grass, pine trees, clothesline-dried sheets, and a new car. But I also like the smell of hotel rooms, diesel fuel, burning coal, empty basements. They all trigger good memories.



I few more pics from last night's walk. I found these dead/dried flowers very interesting.

Conversation and Communication

Esther, Juya and Kayo (Costa Rica, South Korea, Japan)
Kayo and Renato (Peru)
Cool New Orleans Christmas card!
Last night I enjoyed a little meeting (yeah, that's what we call it) with students from UT's English Language Institute where I am a volunteer. They are so much fun. We spent a good 20 minutes talking about the different cuisine in our very different five countries. I learned that in Peru, Inca Cola is much more popular than Coca Cola and that they also eat an animal that was described by Renato as "kinda like a big rat." Well, alrighty then. There was the usual discussion of the consumption of dog in Asian countries (sorry, but I believe that when in Rome....so if it had been offered to me in China.....well, I wouldn't have insulted my host) and the consumption of not only octopus, but live octopus. We had lots of laughs and will do it one more time next week before Renato heads back to Peru.
I received a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday. My first official Christmas card of the season from my cruisin' buddies. Two years ago my son and I went on a cruise to the western caribbean and met some wonderful folks who were assigned to the same dinner table. Joan, Bill and their beautiful daughter, Mary, all living in New Orleans. We had wonderful meals and laughter every evening for seven nights. At the end of the cruise we exchanged emails and said we'd keep in touch. We have. I've enjoyed a wonderful King cake (pre-Katrina) from New Orleans and they have been introduced to the gooey goodness of Goo Goo bars. When Katrina struck I didn't hear from them for months. Finally, an email. They live in New Orleans but also have a rental property in Slidell, I believe. That home suffered greatly. They tried to "stick it out" like many residents but ended up wading out with just about everyone else. It was a very trying and sad time as they, like everyone else, lost many sentimental belongings.
It's good to hear from them!

Sheena E!

My son sent me a text message this past Saturday:

Son: Remember a singer in the 80's named Sheena Easton?
Me: Of course! Just how young do you think I am? :)
Son: I met her this morning when she picked up her cat.
Me: Cool. She had a hit song about a train.
Son: Yeah, apparently she won a grammy for something.
Me: Was she nice?
Son: Yes.

My son’s first brush with fame at the emergency vet hospital where he works in Las Vegas is with Sheena Easton! :) So then I had to google her (she also did "For Your Eyes Only" in the James Bond film of the same name and the famous "We've got tonight" duet with Kenny Rogers) and found her utube performance of "Morning Train."

My baby takes the morning train
He works from 9 to 5 and then
He takes another home again
To find me waiting for him

You can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg2IA2UYQCA

Suddenly, a memory of me singing this song in my car, driving down Lebanon Rd. in Nashville, circa 1980, pops into my brain. Geez.

"Not For All the Tea in China!"

This is the little tea shop in Beijing where I purchased some tea as gifts. Being illiterate, Li-yin ordered the tea for me and I chose the containers from the shelf of containers you see in the photo above. The nice tea shop ladies gave me several beautiful papercuts (apparently a bonus for purchasing tea) and I also took my picture with them behind the counter. Those shots were taken by Li-yin on her digital. I really need to get copies of her China photo CD's and glean off the shots she took of me. I thought the Chinese drink lots of tea. Maybe it's the older generation because I did see a lot of tea drinking in China. However, none of my Chinese friends drink tea on a regular basis.
I miss being in China. I know I only spent 15 days there. Still.

Ho Hum Weekend......

These are the cats and kittens that live under the house across the street from mine. The house is inhabited by college students. Sometimes I notice that someone has put out some food. Mostly, they depend on me. I return home from work anywhere from 5:15 to 6:00. They are sitting at the bottom of some steps on "their side of the street" and when they hear my keys jangling they begin their choruses of "I'm hungry, I'm hungry." I can pet the two kittens while they are eating but big daddy (the gray and white) isn't too fond of my actions. Once, as I was scratching the tops of the kittens head, he reached up and swatted the back of my hand with his paw. Amusing.
This past weekend was spent reading and raking. The two ultra-large trees in the yards of the two homes next to mine are beautiful and majestic. I love them. They keep my home cool in the summer and provide days and days of beauty in the Fall. When winter comes, however, it's simply no fun. The well-meaning citizens of the two homes next to mine decided they would rake and power blow the leaves into the street. Yes, into the street; where people park; WHERE I PARK! The second time I caught them engaging in this annoying practice, I informed them that local ordinances dictate you must rake the leaves to the curb, not into the street where cars are parked, and suggested they rake them to the end of the block, onto the part of the street where parking is prohibited. They were very nice about it and did so. However, they left the leaves that were already in the street to get rained upon and trampled down by cars and eventually they harden into lumpy rock-like bumps we must park on. On Sunday I raked all those leaves down to the end of the block. A young guy who was picking up litter around the block came over and helped me and we raked leaves onto a small tarp and dragged them down the street. The kindness of strangers. Love it.

A Little Lore From 1984

There are lots of "lists" posted on websites and blogs. One is "List 100 Likes." Could you do that? I could, but it would take some time. I came across this one today on another blog and it "got me ta thinkin'." (the pic, btw, is from around 1989)

List Five Events from 1984:
1. Hooked a U-haul to my ‘83 Mercury Lynx, put my sleeper sofa in it along with my clothes and dishes, and drove to Atlanta, Georgia, where I would live for the next four years.
2. Obtained my first "real" job as an admin. assistant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, working in Peachtree Center in downtown Atlanta.
3. Drove back to Knoxville one life-changing weekend in August to attend the Michael Jackson & Family concert at Neyland Stadium.
4. My dog Angie got loose and ran onto Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. Though pregnant, I ran out into six lanes of traffic, motioning for cars to stop so she wouldn’t get hit. She didn’t. Neither did I.
5. Spent my first Christmas away from home so my neighbor, Susan, an aspiring chef, prepared lobster for us on Christmas Eve. My first experience eating lobster. I was 23 years old.