Lofty literature

Even though I often laugh at the same things as adolescent boys, I thought these two books were a bit much:

And if I weren't such an upstanding patron of libraries, I might have been tempted to damage this one to the point that no one would know what happened at the Bratz dolls' all-night mall party:

Halloween 2015

It wasn't the most idyllic setting, but the kids sure enjoyed going to a "pumpkin patch" in a tarped-over parking lot that included a dozen bounce houses and inflatable slides:

Here are this year's jack-o-lanterns, with pumpkins from the parking-lot patch.  It was 2nd Brother's idea to mush squishy eyeballs into the sockets of his.  We may have to do that for all five carved faces next year:

Even though she wanted to be a princess, I had to follow through on my sister's brilliant idea to dress Sister up as Kurt Cobain from Nirvana.  It doesn't show up well in the picture, but she does have light brown and yellow marker stubble on her face.  She did the scowl all on her own.  2nd Brother was a very convincing Dash from The Incredibles:

1st Brother was Percy Jackson from the book series he likes so much.  We made his hair dark with a spray that washed out (and then I bribed him to buzz his hair for good measure after that; I was tired of fighting with his thick mane in the mornings): 

Dublin

I've been one lucky lady this year with travel opportunities!  My husband flew out to visit his company's offices in 3 countries in Europe, and I was able to join him Sept. 8-16 on the middle leg in Dublin, Ireland.  

We spent the first couple days in Killarney in the southwest corner of Ireland.  We stayed at the wonderful Loch Lein Country House and enjoyed the grounds of nearby Muckross House, which had the Torc waterfall on the property along with the lake seen behind us and lots of walking paths: 

There's the house way back on the expansive lawn.  I didn't get to see inside as the last tour of the day had already left when I got in there.

From Muckross, we proceeded to drive a portion of the Ring of Kerry that was scenic but alarmingly narrow.  (I say "we," but all credit goes to my husband, who drove a stick-shift rental car the whole time.  He had to shift with his left hand as the steering wheel was on the right while remembering to keep left and not get in a head-on collision--nuts!).

After mistaking a hiking trail for the continuation of our path, we took some pictures at the beautiful Gap of Dunloe (below), then relaxed with a nice meal in Killarney and slept in till 11:30 the next morning, partly from jet lag I'm sure--Ireland is 8 hours ahead of Pacific Time--and partly from the harrowing drive.

It was nothing but heavy rain the next day, but we did stumble upon the best pastries either of us had eaten in our lives at Petit Delice in Killarney.  He had a superb chocolate croissant, and I had this flat sugar donut thing with what tasted like homemade strawberry freezer jam inside--nom nom nom!

The event of that day was touring Ross Castle, which is actually a kind of mini castle called a tower house.  It was likely built in the 1400s and had some interesting history and design features:

I was very amused by the super short tunic this soldier wore; I saw his picture in the small museum and waiting area before our tour began: 

The next morning was sunny, so we planned on playing a short par 3 golf course, but it was raining again by the time we were ready.  We decided to drive on to Dingle, a charming small village I'd read good things about.  On our way, we stopped at Inch Beach, which may have been my favorite single spot if I was forced to pick.  The sand was super compact, the water was shallow for many yards out, and the water was surprisingly warm: 

The surrounding scenery was decent too:

Here's The Bravest Guy Around in our rental car.  He figured out we were covered for car insurance in Ireland through a Chase credit card we have--who knew?  

From the beach we followed signs for Slea Head drive, a half day excursion that wasn't as crowded as I'd read it might be.  We lucked out with the weather as you can see:

There were several points of interest we stopped at along the way.  The most memorable were the Famine Cottages, where we read details of the Potato Famine of the 1840s that killed about 1 million people and caused 1 million more to emigrate.  It was some of the most desperately terrible history I've ever come across.  The current owners of the spot had placed some creepy, life-like peasant mannequins around the property for effect, which I found disturbing and funny.

We attended church on Sunday in a small Mormon branch in Tralee with maybe 40 people in attendance.  They do have their own multi-floor building, which was nice to see, as opposed to renting a spot.  Their dedication in a heavily Catholic country was inspiring.

On our drive back to Dublin, we stopped at the Rock of Cashel, a castle and cathedral where we again felt the impact of how old everything is in Ireland and learned more about what jerks the English were, Oliver Cromwell in particular.

There were crowds of people lining the road almost all the way back to Dublin for some sort of rally car race.  The road wasn't shut down or anything, we just kept getting passed by very speedy, expensive cars.  We started waving to the spectators from our Ford Fiesta.  This was more entertaining to us than to most of them, but we did get several waves back.

It was fortunate that my husband got to have 4 days off to visit the countryside, but he didn't have any time for sight-seeing in Dublin as he was working.  I kept busy by riding a hop-on, hop-off bus for two days.  It was a great way to learn TONS of history and not get lost.

My favorite site in Dublin was the library at Trinity College.  I originally went to Trinity to see the famous Book of Kells, a beautifully impressive book of the four gospels of the New Testament that was created by monks around the year 800.  After I saw it, I didn't know I'd be treated to this:  

It was two stories of shelves filled with books that looked so old and magical they could have been props for a movie.  Busts of famous authors and philosophers lined the sections of the lower level with a barrel vaulted ceiling above:

I found my artwork souvenir in the library gift shop.  It's the Trinity College library done in the style of the Book of Kells:

I also visited Marsh's library, which was smaller and even older than Trinity; it was established in the early 1700s.  People were originally shut up in these cages and chained to the desk while they read so they wouldn't steal the valuable books:

The lovely St. Patrick's Cathedral was also a stop that day.  Did you know Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels, etc.) was the head (a.k.a Dean) of this cathedral for more than 30 years and is buried in the floor?  I didn't think he was particularly religious, let alone a clergyman.

The very colorfully patterned floor was installed in the mid 1800s when local businessman Benjamin Guinness spent major money to restore the cathedral:

Dublin Castle had many beautiful rooms, but this navy and gold one where formal government events are still held was a stand out: 

On the second day of my bus touring, I went to Kilmainham Gaol.  This section of the former prison reflects the new-fangled thinking that prisoners should spend most of their time alone in separate cells, hopefully looking heavenward to the light and contemplating their crimes:

Fourteen men who participated in the 1916 Rising that eventually led to Ireland's independence were executed by firing squad in this  yard:

Although I really liked the Green Bus tour, in hindsight I would have done the red hop-on, hop-off bus as its route included a stop at Glasnevin Cemetery.  As it was, I had to figure out a leg on the regular city bus to get there, but it was worth it for the informative walking tour and very well done exhibits, not to mention the beauty of the grounds:   

A few random tidbits: the buildings near our hotel in Dublin had brightly colored doors in a variety of colors:

This pot of beans was part of the hotel's breakfast--I never tried them--along with more meat and veggies than we usually serve in the U.S. for a morning meal:

  

The Dingle Skellig hotel was just okay overall, but they did have a mini pancake machine!  It made adorable, delicious pancakes and was the first I'd ever seen: 

Despite the rainy, cold climate, the Irish seem to like their ice cream.  It was readily available: 

I ate so many candy bars!  I love trying ones I've never seen before. Cadbury Dairy Milk was my favorite, the honeycomb and mint crisp varieties in particular: 

We brought "edible paper" home for the kids, which tasted like an ice cream cone.  A couple sheets of the paper had "tongue tattoos" that were pretty cool: 

Some other observations: signs that warned of "traffic calming;" "sale agreed" instead of "sale pending" on a property; there was a bottle opener attached to the side of the bathroom counter in our Hilton Dublin hotel; we saw a man with "Social Welfare Inspector" on the back of his fluorescent yellow vest talking to someone who got pulled over in a car--the name seemed straight out of a George Orwell book; I sampled the brown bread ice cream at Murphy's, which was kind of like ice cream with Grape Nuts and was strangely good, but I never got a chance for a full serving as the shop was closed for the night when we went back.

My mother-in-law should really never give us a Christmas or birthday present ever again as she single-handedly cared for our kids while we were away.  Temperatures reached 100 degrees for the first 3 days we were gone...and we don't have air conditioning in our house.  She faced the uncertainties of getting around based on my written instructions and a hard copy map as she doesn't use a computer or have a cell phone.  It was not an easy task, and we are forever grateful to her!

Caramel Frosting

My grandma on my mom's side is known in our family for making a yellow cake (from a box) with caramel frosting that is REALLY, really good, especially with some quality vanilla ice cream on the side.  Here's the recipe for the frosting:

-1/2 stick butter or margarine
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar
-3 Tablespoons milk
-3 oz. plain cream cheese (whipped works fine)
-3 cups powdered sugar

-Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the brown sugar.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in the milk.  Put the pan back on the heat and boil for another minute, then cool.

-Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese with 2 cups of the powdered sugar and add the cooled caramel sauce.  Add the other cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

I made yellow cupcakes when I hosted a book club this week.  To make them easy to eat, I carved a small portion out of the middle of each one with a paring knife, then filled the hole with the frosting and made a plop on the top. (I put the frosting in a ziploc bag and cut the corner off to do this).  They turned out great!

Sweet zombie daughter

I'm going to recommend that Toys R Us consider having a separate section for The Walking Dead building sets. ("Light Up Fish Tanks!")

Chuck and 1st Brother

I took the kids on an outing to the wonderful Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa the Saturday before Father's Day. My husband and I have an understanding that the best gift either of us could get on these days is some time alone. In this case, he was able to watch hours of U.S. Open golf without interruption or feeling like he should help with something.  

We all had a great time at the museum, cafe/ice rink, and at the gift shop.  I'd been once before with my mom and 1st Brother in the spring of 2007 when he 1st Brother was around 1 1/2 years old. I remembered the picture I took and got a 2015 version. Look at my grown up baby!:

I'm so vein

My pregnancy with Sister didn't do great things for my body. I somehow escaped major stretch marks with the boys, but after Sister, I have quite a few on my belly and more of a muffin top than before. I don't mind too much--those things are physical evidence that I've lived and sacrificed for my babies--but I was feeling less charitable about the varicose veins in my legs that didn't go away. This was the status of my lower legs in early spring 2015:

Besides looking bad, the veins made my legs feel heavy and tired after short periods of standing, and they were sometimes crazy itchy after exercising. Since my mom and grandma have them, I thought I'd have to resign myself to dealing with these annoyances, but my husband encouraged me to look into treatment options through Kaiser, our medical insurance. I found out I was a good candidate for sclerotherapy, and went in for a 30-minute office procedure where the veins were injected with a solution that made them collapse and disintegrate. It was a little painful, and I had to wear compression stockings during the day for 6 weeks. I was so amused at the way I looked in them that I texted this picture to my mom and sisters after my appointment:

Here are my legs 2 months after the procedure:

Some bruising remains, but they look better, and I felt relief from the heaviness and aching almost immediately.  It was considered a cosmetic procedure and cost $600 out of pocket, but that's well worth it, and I'll do it again if/when I have problems in the future.

Weird celebrity photos

How great/strange is this picture of Michael Jackson at James Brown's funeral from December 2006?:

I've thought of framing favorite weird photos of celebrities and hanging them somewhere in my house.  This one of Elvis and Nixon would definitely make the cut (reading the backstory on this picture makes it even better):

LDS church president David O. Mckay and film director Cecil B. DeMille were apparently friends, which explains this awesome picture with the two of them, Sister Mckay, and Charlton Heston dressed as Moses:

New Orleans

My husband accepted an invitation to speak at a professional conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in May.  It was over our 14th wedding anniversary, and we hadn't been away together in about 4 years, so I worked it out to tag along. (Thanks Mom and two sisters for watching the kids!  Nana was a genius and bribed Sister with cat videos to help things go smoothly). 

New Orleans had never been on my radar, but I found SO many interesting things to do as I researched, and it ended up being one of my favorite places ever. 

We agreed the best thing we ate was the bread pudding at Oak Alley Plantation.  My husband usually isn't a fan and wasn't even going to try it!  Good thing he did.

The plantation was beautiful.  It was surreal being in a place where slavery was a way of life at one time:

The roast beef po boy from Mother's was another favorite food.  We went back a second time later in the week:  

The beignets at Cafe du Monde weren't too shabby either.  We shared a plate of these after midnight two nights in a row:

We Googled our own walking tours, which worked great for the French Quarter.  Tons of interesting history, and I was frequently reminded of Disneyland's New Orleans Square:  

The one we did for the Garden District was a little confusing, but walking in circles in a neighborhood full of houses like these was fine with me:

This house was used in the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

The nearby cemetery closed ridiculously early, around 4:00!  I got about 10 minutes to explore and never made it back there or to any of the other options in the area.  And I call myself a lover of graveyards!

When I read the popular jazz club Preservation Hall didn't have air conditioning--even in mid-May the weather was very hot and humid--we opted to catch some music at Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse.  It was two older black guys on saxophone and guitar and a middle-aged Asian man and woman on keyboard and drums, respectively.  They were really great.

We went to the World War II Museum on our last day in town.  Historian and writer Stephen Ambrose helped found it, and it was extremely well done. 

They even had a picture of a young Kurt Vonnegut with a short explanation of his terrible experiences:

I saw these gas light fixtures on a lot of buildings.  This one was outside the Place d'Armes hotel, my favorite of the three places we stayed.  Staying in the French Quarter is a must!

Another thing I noticed, this time in the delightful Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art: they use dry pine needles in their landscape design.  They were purposefully placed all over as ground cover and around trees:

The oak trees with resurrection fern and Spanish moss on them were gorgeous:

Here I am standing on the levee built to keep the Mississippi River out.  Behind me is Jackson Square with St. Louis Cathedral in the center, and to either side, the Cabildo and Presbytere buildings that now house museums that I really enjoyed going through. The exhibit on Hurricane Katrina, which hit 10 years ago, was especially intriguing.

This print by a local artist entitled, "Godzilla vs. The Big Easy" was a perfectly quirky souvenir that I had to get.  I'm going to start looking for art to remember my trips by:  

I was so happy to get a second chance to buy an alligator head after I didn't bring one home from Florida several years ago.  This guy is on my family room mantle now: