The Way We Were

While in Texas I went to my 60th class reunion at Charles H. Milby High School. Actually it was the 59th for my class but we joined the class of '54 in celebrating. I was able to make arrangements to go photograph in the school one day after the close of classes. I'm glad I did because the school is about to undergo a major renovation. The good thing about the renovation is that they are going to save the "old" original building from the 1920's.

This is still the main entry of the school. Behind the door on the right wall was the principal's office. The principal's office was never a threat but on the left wall was Mrs. McClendon's office (or was it Miss? I don't remember) but I was afraid of her. She was the Dean and she knew everything that went on in the school. One Friday for some reason I was going to skip school but I needed a book so I could study for a test on Monday. I thought I would be able to just slip into school get the book and slip out again while every one else was coming into school in the morning. Wrong! She saw me leave and I had to bring my Dad to school to meet with Mrs. McClendon to get back into school on Monday.

There were a lot of memories in those halls and they go back more than 60 years. Ned's Dad and Aunts graduated from Milby. One of Ned's Dad's best friends from Milby had a son, Jack, who was in our class. I met Jack in Junior High School and Jack was also one of Ned's best friends. In fact he was in our wedding and it was great to spend some time with him. My best friend was Margery, also in our wedding, and she was at the reunion. We had a great visit.

One of the surprises in the building was the old auditorium which has been made into the library. I was told that the facade to the stage had been saved so when I looked into the old auditorium, now library, I thought that the facade had been moved forward because the space seemed so small. Wrong again! It was exactly where it had always been. How could that be. The auditorium had seemed so big. I was in Drama and in a number of plays so I wanted to see the stage. It was still there although now being used for storage. It too seemed so much smaller than I remembered it.

Another surprise in the school was the number of administrative offices. Sixty years ago there was a Principal, an Assistant-Principal and a Dean of Students and the people who worked in the small office. Most of the original building now houses administrative offices. I'm not sure that the kids today are getting a better education but there are lots of people working on it. We never had police officers in the school but they were in the halls. That they are needed is a sad commentary on society today.

The reunion was a great celebration. There were lots of people I haven't seen since 1955 but members of our class have achieved a lot and traveled far. It was great visiting with them. One sad note was the memory board of those who had passed on. We have lost almost one-half of the class. The Memorabilia Room was wonderful. So many people have saved newspaper clippings, programs and pictures. I spent a long time in there remembering "The Way We Were." Back in the Ballroom, The Way We Are today…..We are still making the most of life and we are still dancing.

A Creative Shot in the Arm

Have you ever done something that energized you, replenished your soul, made you want to create more and better art? That is what I've been doing.

I went to NYC for a few days and walked and walked and walked. Rode the subway a bit as well. I had not been to NYC since Grandson #1 was born and he is graduating from high school this week. It had been a long time. I hit some museums and galleries, saw two plays but mostly I walked and just took in the city. I love NYC. In most ways it was the same but the parks and squares were glorious in Spring green and blossoms. Central Park was especially wonderful.

I was going from NYC to Boston. I checked the train and the buses. The buses didn't take that much longer but were a lot cheaper. I bought a ticket for the bus. It was a cultural experience. The taxi driver from the hotel to the address where the bus was to leave, kept asking me where I was going and he had never had a passenger to that location. It was a street corner on the lower east side. Let's just say that there was a diversity of people taking this bus. I got in line on the street corner and at the appointed time the bus pulled up. We loaded our bags into the bottom of the bus and off we went and we arrived in Boston on time at the South Street Terminal. So there was no problem. But it was an interesting experience.

I spent a couple of days in Boston with a friend from San Miguel and then I was picked up by my long time friend Frank. Frank and I were trying to remember when we met on the internet and the only thing we know for sure is that we knew each other for a while before 1991. Frank is an amazing photographer. He has been my teacher, mentor but most of all my friend for all of these years. Over the years we have visited in each others homes and he and Ellen have even come to see me in San Miguel.

Being with him and Ellen for a few days has been the highlight of my trip. First of all, I saw so many prints and we talked photography for hours. He gave a dinner party and John and Marilyn came down from the cape. John is another photography friend. Stephen, another friend who teaches photography at Clark University along with Frank, was also there. It was a marvelous night. Frank and Stephen are going to have a show in November and they are starting to get ready for that so I saw Frank's 42 inch by ??? maybe 60 inch proof prints. Can you imagine photographs that big made with large format cameras. The details are amazing. There were some gallery visits. Lunches. More talk about the process of making art. Yes! I am energized and inspired.

Now I'm in Houston for some family time.

I'm Back

Just in case you wondered what happened. Why no blogging? I've been to Texas and back. It has been an interesting month. Not like most of my Christmas Past but that is okay. Things change. The worst thing about the trip was the weather. It was dreary, windy, rainy and cold most days. Then I come back to San Miguel and it has been dreary, windy, rainy and cold. What's up with the drizzly rain in December in San Miguel?

I had planned to spend five days in Port Aransas working on my Mercer Log project and some friends were going to be there as well so I was really looking forward to it. With a weather forecast of 12 to 20 mile an hour wind and some rain, the friends backed out. I backed out except for two days when I had some appointments that would keep me inside.

I shopped, had lunches and dinners with friends and saw as many movies as I could. At this point I think the best movie I saw was Nebraska but I also like Dallas Buyers Club. American Hustle was a good movie. Twelve Years a Slave was ten years too long. Judith Dench in Philomena gave another one of her great performances. The Coen Brothers latest movie, Inside Llewyn Davis was a downer. The Book Thief followed the book and looked like it was made on a theater set. I still have a lot more movies I want to see before the Academy Awards ceremony.

I went to Austin and saw my grandsons and I planned to go back for Christmas Eve until I came down with a cold/sinus thing. I wasn't bedridden but I couldn't expose my Daughter-in-Law who is in the middle of chemo for breast cancer. I really, really missed being with them. Well, there is always next year.

Mike and family went skiing for the holidays so Christmas Dinner was at my Sister-in-law's house. It was so wonderful to be with them.

Now I'm home. Celebrated another birthday last night with friends who arranged a special dinner at Frienze's. Wow! We had oysters prepared two ways, a pumpkin ginger soup, watercress salad, seared scallops on a bed of pecan rice and a lovely chocolate dessert. The dinner was special and so are the friends. That is Sam and me in the photo but Bob, Tom and Linda were there as well.

The Lunch for the Ladies

It was time for a Ladies Luncheon at my house. I had a menu in mind so I invited The Ladies.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Bacon and Leek Tart
Grilled Asparagus
Roasted Tomatoes
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce

The menu wasn't a difficult menu. It was recipes I had cooked before but the preparation turned out to be a little difficult.

I've written before about how the best laid plans can go awry when you have a menu in mind here in SMA but you can't find the ingredients when you need them. That happened. I started gathering supplies early so that I could readjust if I needed to. I bought the cheese, tomatoes and the stuff for the ice cream early in the week. And while I was shopping I stopped at the oil and vinegar store to buy a wedding gift. I found a raspberry balsamic vinegar and the information about it said it was great drizzled over premium ice cream. Well, my homemade ice cream is definitely premium...at least in my opinion. So I decided to use it instead of the Hot Fudge Sauce.

It was the end of asparagus season. Actually past the end. I knew that, so my fall back plan for the asparagus was a salad. Two of the ladies said they would shop for asparagus for me since I was having a hard time finding any that looked okay. I told one of them if they saw haricot verts at Costco I could use them. So I ended up with asparagus and haricot verts and dumped the idea of the salad. I substituted the haricot verts for asparagus and split the asparagus with my friend who bought it.

Every time I pass by the veggie man at Espinos he has leeks. He had leeks on Tuesday but when I wanted to buy them on Wednesday, he didn't have leeks. He assured me he would have them Thursday. He did not have them Thursday although he assured me that they would be there soon, like 15 minutes. Mmmm....my inner voice was saying don't wait. I hopped into a taxi and headed to Mega. Thank goodness they had some great looking leeks.

Now it is time to cook. I've made the bacon and leek tart a number of times and although I'm not good with crusts that savory tart crust recipe has always worked so well. Not this time. It was a mess with cracks across the bottom. But at this point I had to go with it. Then I made the filling. I'm making two tarts so I need to double the filling. I doubled the bacon, leeks and cheese but with the custard I only made one recipe. This didn't dawn on me until it was already in the oven cooking.

Well, the bottom line is the Tart was okay. The Ladies liked the lunch. They thought it was colorful on the plate. And the ice cream with the raspberry balsamic vinegar drizzled on top was a big hit.

The best thing about the luncheon was the conversation. Mexican politics. US politics. Real Estate...you always talk about real estate in SMA. Health and Medical Care. Travel. Yes, we covered some of the same subjects we would have at a dinner party with the husbands present but there was a difference and I can't exactly find the words to describe that difference but it was good conversation.

In spite of all my trouble putting this luncheon together, I want to do it again. Soon.

Pickles

This post isn't just about pickles. It is about living in San Miguel.

But I will tell you about the pickles because they made me very happy today. Eleven years ago I couldn't find a pickle in any store in this town and if I went to Costco in Celaya or Queretaro I could find one gallon jars of sliced dill pickles but that was it. I used to bring pickles back to San Miguel when we drove back from Texas. Actually I brought back sacks and sacks of grocery items that I couldn't find around here. Here is what I wrote back in 2007 on Billieblog about bringing groceries down from Texas.

I have used up my stash of pickles and when I went into Bonanza today I found pickles. Pickle relish, Sweet Gherkins, Dill and Bread and Butter Chips in regular household sizes. They were a little pricey but since I'm not driving back and forth anymore and I want pickles and I don't want to can my own pickles, I'll just have to pay the price.

When I look back at the things I listed on the Grocery List in the link above, I realized that I can find most of those things here now or I've found some substitute. Feeling like I can cook American or Mexican with the products I can find in a store is a nice feeling.

But living in San Miguel is more than just being able to cook anything I want.

Today I was talking with my financial advisor who has vacationed in San Miguel. He was asking if I still felt safe. I told him that not only do I feel safe but I find that my life is very rich and rewarding. I told him about some of the cultural things going on here. If you don't read Babsblog, click on her post about all the things that are going on here in the next few weeks.

Besides the cultural events, I have lunch or dinner with friends several times a week. I'm in a drawing group and I'm about to start a drawing class. I'm learning to play Mah Jongg. I go to Yoga and to a cardio/weight class a couple of times a week. I'm working with a personal trainer one day a week as well as doing some cardio walking three or four days a week. I'm in an investment/social club. I have my photography and I meet up  with some other photographers about once a month just to talk about what we are doing. Yes, my life is full of activities but most of all is the blessing of having so many friends here.

When I try to think about going back to Houston I can imagine buying a high-rise condo and getting it furnished. I think about seeing my Houston friends and family more often but then my imagination runs out. What after that? Could I find things to replace the activities in San Miguel? And if I did, could I afford them? Would it be as easy to keep meeting new people and making new friends? I don't think so.

And so, with each day that passes, I become more sure of my decision to stay in San Miguel. Although I do realize that there are things that could change that decision, they are just too terrible for me to worry about. I'll just stay in the moment and keep on being excited about pickles showing up on the grocery shelves. Now if Bonanza could just get in refrigerated horseradish.....that would be another red letter day.