The Divine Ms Em

At some point after I started travelling, I realized that Christmas ornaments make wonderful momentos of my trips.  They are generally inexpensive and don't take up a lot of room in a crowded suitcase.....and it always makes me smile as I trim the tree and remember my adventures.



And there certainly were a lot of adventures in 2011 - Arizona with Amy,  my Dream cruise to the Western Caribbean with a visit to Cape Canaveral, Seattle with Lisa and Carol who then showed me a bit of British Columbia, Watkins Glen with my brother, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland with John and Lorel, London and Salisbury with Belinda, and finally the awesome European Magic cruise with Judy. 



Wow - I really did cover a lot of ground this year and enjoyed every moment of it thanks in no small part to my wonderful friends.  I can't wait to see what 2012 brings....

all is groovy.....(thanks to Simon and Garfunkel for that peppy tune).

This is actually last Saturday night's dinner...but it's proof that just because you live alone doesn't mean you can't feed yourself well. The wine that you barely see is Macchia Barbera - Delicious.  Yep - that's the name  -  you might think they are being a bit cocky - but if I had named it - I would have chosen Awesome - its that good.  (And Lisa, its a Lodi).



After a few days of brrrr weather - the temperature warmed up nicely - it made it to 68 on my back porch.  I probably should have taken better advantage of the nice weather with a long walk - but my outdoor adventures were limited to grocery and home improvement store shopping.



That said - I did get my turkey which I'm going to try brining this year.....screws to install the wine glass rack in my new bookcase converted to wine cabinet....and some electrical odds and ends to help with my latest project - improving the horrid lighting in my basement.



Which finally brings me to this point.  Some things you can just do - some things you have to understand first......and electricity falls into the latter catagory.  I generally don't have a problem switching out one light fixture for another - I just pay attention to how the old was hooked up and do the same for the new.  But this time, I chose to boldly put light where there was none before - I added a new fixture next to an existing one.



And it worked.......so on to the next challenge.  I have those stupid pull chain lights all over my basement - in a couple of places, I want a light switch.   This required study - the short version is that power is like water in a hose.  If you want to be able to shut it on and off, you have to put a switch somewhere in the middle....but of course that's probably not where you want the switch so you have to figure out how to run cable etc etc etc.



It took time and and a couple of redos (and much cussing - particularly when I shocked myself).....but it is done.  I now have a light switch controlling the laundry room light.



And as this weekend draws to a close, I remember what my friend Susan said about wringing every second out of every day.  I didn't quite manage all that, but it was a weekend well lived and that makes me happy.



Hope all of you had a great weekend as well.

So, I've been questioning - some vague unanswerable things like how do I deal with the realization that more than half my life is over......and that in getting older the ability to accomplish physical labor isn't what it used to be....and then there's the whole wrinkle/fat thing.



Of course some of this is due to my recent birthday, and some of it is due to the lack of sunlight that comes with winter, and some of it is likely hormonal. 



One song has been running through my head the past few days....

"And I wish I could know if the directions that I take

And all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing

Show me what it's for

Make me understand it

I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer

Is there something more than what i've been handed"



Hoobastank - Crawling in the Dark



Now, don't get me wrong - I'm confident and comfortable with my personal beliefs.....I'm not worried about the hereafter or lack thereof.  I think I just want the fact that I existed at all to have some sort of meaning - and I'm searching for how to assure myself that will happen (short of donating lots of money and getting something named after myself or committing some horrible crime that makes me infamous).



So that's what's been up with me - EXCEPT that I actually came across a wondering that did have an answer....and I thought I would share it with you in case you've ever had the same wondering.



Ready?



How do they know that the stones at Stonehenge were placed there 4500 years ago?  Carbon dating works measures the decay of organic material after death - but rocks are millions if not billions of years old....so how do they know when they were moved from one place to another?



And thanks to archeologist Julian Richards and the wonder of Google - I now know the answer.



 "The evidence for when Stonehenge was built comes from radio carbon dates which have been obtained largely from fragments of the antler picks used to dig the holes for the stones and the ditch."



Very clever, I think.  I found Stonehenge to be quite a magical place and I'm reminded of how fortunate I am to have friends willing to show me wonderful things.

I'm aggravated by the way that people prey on each other and often I wonder how some manage to sleep at night.  Salespeople talking customers into purchases they can't afford - check cashing companies charging to do something that is free at a bank - payday loans at ridiculous interest rates - the list goes on and on and on.



And often, reaction from others is  "well, that's what happens to those who don't think - it's a shame but you can't fix stupid".



I have to tell you that I've heard stories and thought that myself a few times.



But since the internet, email, and more recently Facebook became so popular - a lot of people that I consider to be very smart have clicked on links that gave spammers access to post to their FB, send emails from them without their knowledge, and sometimes even take over their computer systems.



Its not that they aren't smart - they just are a bit too trusting, I think - they actually believe that people are honest and look out for each other.



And I don't have the words to express how angry I am that people can't believe in each other.....and that the "good" ones get screwed over so often.



One of the good ones is my friend and former neighbor - I'll call him "S".  He's a high school graduate, works hard, but barely gets by - partly because he had to refinance his home loan to buy out his now ex.  At the time he had not so great credit and very little equity in the place....so he had a very difficult time finding a lender and ended up with a pretty high interest rate and payments that were close to half his income.   But he saved the house and that's what was important - he figured he'd improve his credit score and refinance once he had a bit more equity back.



Fast forward a couple of years and the market collapses - so even though interest rates are much lower - he can't take advantage because his house is worth less than he owes.  Combine that with the slumping economy reducing the overtime available at his job, and he's struggling to keep afloat.



So, when he gets one of those letters in the mail - the ones that promise to lower your payments and reduce your debt that most of us probably toss - he calls.



He gets assured that he can get a hardship loan modification from his lender that will reduce his payments by about 400 dollars a month which would make all the difference in his life.



And all this will cost him is 3800 dollars - he can pay them by not making his mortgage payments for a few months.....and that's important because he'll be more likely to get his loan modified if he falls behind.



Sounds good?



Well maybe, except that going to his lender's website it seems that they have a tollfree number seven days a week providing information on how he can apply for a hardship loan modification through the government Home Affordable Modification Program and walking him through the process at NO CHARGE.



In other words, he'll be paying someone else 3800 dollars to do exactly the same thing that he can do himself for free. 



Sure sounds like it should be illegal to rip off people like that - and I google a bit more and find out that it actually IS illegal under federal law to require an upfront payment to help negotiate a loan modification - unless you are a lawyer......and I reckon this company is probably using that lawyer loophole for all that it's worth.



So here we have someone with a degree (law in this case) preying on someone who doesn't.  Fortunately my friend was smart enough to know what he didn't know and ask someone else........but judging from the number of phone calls and letters that I get offering to reduce my credit card debt (which, by the way I don't have ANY of in the first place).......there's a lot of people out there getting ripped off.



I agree that it's better to give someone a hand up rather than a hand out....but seems like a lot of these "helpers" are wolves in sheeps clothing.....

The thirteen things I would grab ff my house was on fire  



1 and 2  -  Batcat and Jezebel -  the furkids are at the top of the list - though they'd likely rush out of the house as soon as I opened the door rather than wait for me to be safe too.



3.  My purse - which holds my keys, money, credit cards and phone.....and its automatic that I don't leave the house without it.



4.  My jewelry - at least the stuff I could grab quickly - I wouldn't really sort through it, I'd just dump it in my...



5.  Wooden makeup box - it was my mothers box actually so it has sentimental value  - but its bad enough to be in a crisis - living through it without mascara is unthinkable.



6.  A couple pair of jeans and tops - I'm already in the bedroom grabbing the other stuff - might as well have some extra clothes.



7.  My passport.  I know it can be replaced, but what a pain....and its easier for me to find than my birth certificate or my social security card.



8.  Box of important papers that I "hope" contains the above mentioned documents as well as newspaper articles mentioning some of my son's accomplishment, my mothers obituary, a letter from my grandmother, and a picture of me with Santa (among other things).



9.  My netbook or my laptop, whichever I happen to get my hands on first....I couldn't survive without a computer.



10.  My bowling balls



11.  My portable hard drive that hopefully has been backing up my life for the past year.



12.  My nook to make sure I find out the ending of whatever I am in the middle of reading at the time.



13.  My BOB....not because the idea of destruction turns me on, but because I'd be really embarrassed to have the fire department find it.



So do you think I'm more practical than sentimental?  In any case, what would you save first?









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Because how could I pass up the opportunity to attend the "World Tour of Wine" at my local shop today? And how could I not get my passport stamped at all five tables which got me a free event T-shirt along with a free wine carry bag.



What's that you ask? 



No, the wine wasn't free....but it convinced me to bring it home.  I'd already been to the Friday tasting with Stephanie and replenished my wine supply with an assortment of Italian wines, all under 10 dollars except the Amarone that the salesman convinced me to take.......but still - you can never have too much wine, right?



(Note to self - all that buying and I'm still almost out of rum - bad Em)



So tonight, let me tell you about one of the wines I brought home  - Cruz Alta Reserve Bonarda 2010.  Bonarda is an italian grape brought to Argentina, which is now about the only place you'll find it.  It seems that the Bonarda grape was used for everyday wines in Argentina and only recently have they been putting the effort into making export wines with this grape.  As an aside - when I googled for information, I learned that the average Argentinian drinks a third of a bottle of wine per day.....my kind of folks.



However - the Bonarda grape in Argentina is actually more likely to be a French grape called Charbono which has no relationship to Italy at all.



Confused?  I certainly was.....but even so, I found the wine to be quite delicious and worth bringing home.  It had the cherry flavor that I associate with Pinot Noir, but with a lot more body to it.  Let me give you the official word.



"Ruby color with Bordeaux undertones.  On the nose it offers red fruit aromas and flavors of plums and black cherries.  Fruity, silky and smooth with toasty vanilla and cedar notes on the finish."



At less than 10 dollars its not only something new to show your friends, its also a very good value for an everyday wine.

I see London I see France I see someone’s underpants……with our stop in Marseille, that childhood chant became true. Marseille is the oldest city in France, and is the second largest after Paris.

Had I done a bit more pre-trip research I would have known that it is also the site of an archeological excavation of ruins going back to 6000 BC. and I would have been tempted to try to visit the site as well as the Old Port and Basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde.

But had I gone that route, I would have missed a wonderful visit to Aix-en-Provence, the birthplace of Paul Cezanne and home to an Old Town full of buildings dating back as far as the 1400’s. At different times Aix was inhabited by the Romans, the Visigoths, several Germanic tribes, the Arabians and the Spaniards before becoming “French” in the late 1400s, so the city reflects many different architectural influences – and that was the focus of our walking tour.

Now it is a college town, and a rather expensive one I believe. We walked the Cours Mirabeau, which is the place to see and be seen and checked out a few sidewalk cafes – I found the prices quite shocking, and it really wasn’t a good day for “people watching” as the area was packed with tourists.

I think that the French are not as outwardly warm and friendly as the Spaniards and Italians; at least I didn’t feel as comfortable or at ease as I did in other ports of call. I took French for several years in school, but was too intimidated to try using it – so when we found a place to sit, I used the “point at the menu” method to order my wine, which was delicious.   With my tongue relaxed by the drink, I think I might have managed a "merci" as we left.