Best Friends

Forty-four or forty-five years ago, sometime around when I was in 6th or 7th grade I met the person who would be my best friend for life. Sara's family had moved to the hell hole which was the small town where I had grown up during those times and at some point in time in high school, the two of us clicked. I'm not sure why. In many ways we are two very different people. But I've been grateful for years that we did indeed click. Because in many ways she has shaped the woman I have become.

When Sara met me back in junior high, I was basically like most young girls of my age who were growing up in small towns in South Texas. In other words, I was an idiot. I cared way too much what other people thought of me. I was obsessed with being considered popular or cool, something I was not in any way, shape, or form. And I didn't understand at all what real friendship was about. Basically, all I wanted back then was to fit in with people who were, to be honest, not worth fitting in with. It was pretty much what every other girl in that school cared about too. So Sara was a revelation to me. She didn't give a damn what people thought of her and being 'popular' was, to her, the definition of hell on earth. If she did actually care, she hid it well. Her philosophy was, if you don't treat me well, I don't need you in my life and if you want my respect, you have to earn it. Thankfully, she saw something worthwhile in me and we became friends, never dreaming that we would still be friends all these years later.

As it turned out, Sara had a lot to teach me. Such as how to be a real friend. And that I was more than what people, who did not know me, thought of me. She truly opened my eyes to the fact that there was a world outside of the small town we lived in and that the people who really cared about you were what mattered, not the superficial idiocies of adolescence that seemed so incredibly important at the time. She taught me to laugh at myself and, ultimately, that high school was not the high point of our lives. Real life was what was going to happen when we left that little South Texas town. Looking back, it took an impossibly long time for me to learn what she had to teach me. But she was right and I'm grateful she didn't give up on me.

Through the years we may not have been in constant contact, but we both know that the other one is there if needed. We have other friends, and what Sara taught me about friendship enabled me to make friendships that are based on respect and caring.

But Sara is a friend like no other because she is the one person who knows, not just who I am, but who I was. She knows me as no one else will ever know me because she's known me the longest. I hold that same knowledge about her. And I know, that if I ever need to, I can call her up and pour my heart out to her, just as I did all those years ago when all I was pouring out was the dregs of teen angst. And I hope she knows that I will always do the same for her.

Today is her birthday, a fact she will not thank me for pointing out to the world. Sara does not like being the center of attention. But I'll risk her displeasure because today I want to make sure she knows how happy I am she is here and that the world is truly a better place because she is here: caring about what is real and what is important.

Happy birthday Sara. Love always.

Show and Tell

I was uploading some photos from the camera and realized that there are a few things I've done over the past few months that I haven't shared here. And since I'm a little bit proud of my efforts, you'll all just have to put up with my little show and tell exercise here.

First up is the portrait I did of my sister Julia and her dog Pirate. This was done for a Prismacolor drawing class I took last fall from Rice University's Glasscock School of Continuing Education. It's been decades literally since I drew like this. As in since I graduated from UT. So, I wasn't sure if I could draw anymore. I am extremely grateful to Kathryn Klauber, the instructor, for showing me that I could indeed still draw. And I intend to keep on drawing.

Next is the baby blanket I wove for my first grandchild, Luci. Luci arrived on April 5 and I will be talking about her a bit more in future posts (consider this your official warning that I will be gushing about her).  This blanket was my first project on my restored loom and I loved making it.

Finally, we've been working quite a bit on our yard, planting lots and lots of flowers. Among which are these lovely little geraniums which are creating a very nice ombre effect when they are in bloom.

 

Aren't they pretty?

In between these projects, I also taught my daughter-in-law to sew and helped her make items for Luci's nursery, completely redid my daughter Sara's room, which involved a lot of paint and some sewing, and did a few other things.

Currently I'm winding a warp that I hope will result in three shawls, the beginning of my inventory for an Etsy shop! I'll post photos of that project in process on the loom once I get that far.

More Pie!

I think Maria Antoinette really should have said, "Let them eat pie." I like cake, but I love pie.  This past weekend, I finally made a pie recipe I found last August in Bon Appetit. This pie spoke to me. Basically, it said, "Make me and your friends will LOVE you." It was right.

I mean, wouldn't you love me if I sat this in front of you and said, "This is dessert."? A lime blackberry Italian meringue pie?

You can find the recipe here:  Be forewarned that this is a labor of love. One doesn't make something that takes the time this takes if you don't love the people you are making it for. Or need them to do you a very, very big favor. I did, as usual for me, pushed this one to the limit. Which is why my dinner guests ate grilled eggplant and zucchini, rather than the eggplant, zucchini and tomato stacks I had originally planned. Something had to give and it wasn't going to be this pie. (For the record, I made the right choice.)

One tip: Since I was running a bit short on time, I opted to toast the meringue by using a butane torch instead of putting it under the broiler. It was an interesting choice since I don't possess a fancy butane torch of the type sold by Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table. Nope, I just grabbed a basic long handled lighter and used that. It worked perfectly. Oh, and I didn't use the pie crust recipe given in the magazine with the pie. I opted to use my tried and true pie crust recipe that comes from the Woman's Day Desserts cookbook. (Came out several years ago and worth looking for just for that pie crust recipe.)

Miscellaneous Mischief

For my dear conservative or apolitical friends, you might want to skip this one. Yes, I'm going on a tear. A long overdue tear. So, following my tradition of giving you something to read that won't offend you, I offer up tonight Emotions with Jon Hamm. A brilliant bit of online craziness created by Tricia, who is a rising creative marvel. Loads of people love this blog (well, maybe not Jon Hamm, but hey, his loss). So enjoy and come back to me soon.

Now, on with my rants...er points of view...

Bye bye Rick: Act II.  Rick Sanctimonious – er Santorum, finally saw the writing on the wall and bowed out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Which leaves only three options: The Newt, Ron Paul, or Mitt. Given that Mitt has about ten million more delegates than The Newt or Ron Paul, it's pretty obvious that in November, republican voters are going to have a the choice of a man half of them are convinced either isn't a US citizen or a Christian (Muslim being the predominant thought if you can say these people are thinking) or both or Mitt who is a Morman. Depending on just how desperate they are, they may just go for the Morman.

Disclaimer: I personally don't care if our president is a Christian, Jew, Morman, Hindu, Muslim or atheist as long as he does have the ability to lead our country, which I really don't think any of the current crop of Republicans do, except for maybe Ron Paul. And I feel obligated to point out here for the uneducated that technically, there is absolutely NO requirement that an American president be a Christian (aka a member of a Protestant or if no attractive Protestant is a viable choice, then a Catholic). It's called freedom of religion people. We can worship as we please. And that right to worship as we please extends to the President of our country.

Speaking of Ricks, it seems that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided that Texas legislators should be required to take an oath of loyalty to his policies. Or some such nonsense. Since I just love it when the governor of our state makes us look like a bunch of idiots for electing him over and over again, I want to thank all those who continue to make His Holy Hairness' reign possible. Do us all a favor during the next election y'all: Forget to renew your voter registration cards and stay home so we can finally vote this bozo out of office. Oh, and also any bozo in the Texas legislature who is stupid enough to vote for this stupid loyalty oath of Ricky's.

Next up, our intrepid secret service agents, who seem to have forgotten that scouting out the local prostitution options in preparation for a presidential visit to a foreign country stopped being necessary after Clinton left the White House. What truly amazes me is how these guys got caught: by being so cheap that they 'shared' a prostitute thinking that they were going to get the two for one deal. So, the prostitute called the police, who then called the US embassy on these bozos. So, not only were these guys stupid enough to actually hire prostitutes and take them back to their hotel rooms where they had classified info laying around, but they were cheap stupid bozos.

Finally, no rant on the idiocies of the week would be complete without the ultimate idiot of the week: Ted Nugent. I just don't know what to say here. The mind boggles at how Nugent's mind works, or rather, doesn't work. I'd advise Mr. Nugent to stick to music, but based on what I know about his musical skills, I'm not sure that's a viable option. I certainly don't have any of his music (if you can call it that) on my iPod. So, maybe the best advice I can give him is to crawl under a rock and hope that his most recent outburst will be taken for the random ravings of a lunatic. Because I'm betting that the secret service would love to have a reason to take Ted into custody and look like the good guys bringing a gun-toting, serious threat-making lunatic to justice right now in order to detract people's attention from that little problem in Columbia.