I've Been To The Hodgepodge on A Horse With No Name

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered the questions, please share by adding your link at the end of my post. Be sure to leave a comment for the blogger linking before you because comments beget comments. Also I'm posting this from a hotel computer and the spacing looks wonky to me. If it looks wonky to you that's why. 

1. Have you ever been to and/or lived near the desert? What did you think? Travel and Leisure lists the 'coolest' American desert towns as-

Palm Springs CA, Virgina City NE, Bend OR, Winslow AZ, Marfa TX, Grand Junction CO, Silver City NM, Moab UT, Taos NM, Yakima WA, Borrego Springs CA, Terlingua TX, and St. George UT, and Tubac AZ

Have you been to any of these? Would you like to visit a desert town? Which on the list would you most like to see?

I've been to the desert a few times...my grandparents lived in New Mexico and Colorado and us East Coasters always enjoyed visiting and the change in topography. 

I love the beauty of the red rock formations around Sedona Arizona and I've also been to Dubai which was a desert of a different sort, and really interesting. 

Of the cities listed I choose Bend OR because I've heard it's super cute and it's also within driving distance of my Daughter1. Moab is another one on my list because the pictures people post from out there are stunning. I'd like to see Arches National Park.

2. What's a plan or project you've deserted in the past year?

Blogging-ha! Not really, but it kind of feels like it. I am missing it in the worst way, but I know I need to muddle on through this season we're in and eventually I'll get back to writing about something more than house building and hodgepodging. Not that those things aren't fun, but I need more. I'd explain further, but I can't now. I need to muddle. 

3. Desert-dessert? Share two or three words you find yourself having to think twice about when it comes to spelling.

Necessity and cinnamon are two that popped into my head. I'm a pretty good speller, but those words sometimes trip me up. 

4. High and dry, like watching paint dry, dry run, dry as dust, not a dry eye in the house...which phrase can you relate to currently? Explain.

How about watching paint dry? Because we are literally watching paint dry. 

5. How often do you frequent the dry cleaners? Starch or no starch?

We have always frequented the dry cleaners frequently. So much so that on a visit to Maryland two years after we'd moved to England we dropped something off at our old dry cleaners and he remembered our phone number. 

Yes, we send stuff to the cleaners even when we're traveling. Doesn't everyone? 

When hubs was briefly retired I enjoyed a break from the weekly run to the cleaners, but now that he's once again wearing dress shirts we're back at it. What can I say...hubs loves a good starched shirt and I love a man in a good starched shirt. I could never reproduce with my iron at home what the dry cleaners does so well. 

6. What's a food or beverage you enjoy that's named for a place?

Far too many to name so let's go with a Cornish pasty, a Bakewell tart, and a Yorkshire pudding. My love affair with England definitely extends to the foods named for her beautiful countryside and coast.

7. Do you need solitude?

Yes! I'd put that in all caps, but shouting would ruin the word. 
You should know I'm whisper shouting it though. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I've been traveling, helping my mom with a family member's difficult health situation so haven't blogged since last week's Hodgepodge. It's been a tough week and I have some thoughts about it all, but those thoughts will have to keep. For now here's a snapshot of the lovely scenery surrounding us in desert town-

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well."

Antoine deSaint-Exupery

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 282

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the roundup.  See you there!

1. Have you ever been to and/or lived near the desert? What did you think? Travel and Leisure lists the 'coolest' American desert towns as-

Palm Springs CA, Virgina City NE, Bend OR, Winslow AZ, Marfa TX, Grand Junction CO, Silver City NM, Moab UT, Taos NM, Yakima WA, Borrego Springs CA, Terlingua TX, and St. George UT, and Tubac AZ

Have you been to any of these? Would you like to visit a desert town? Which on the list would you most like to see?

2. What's a plan or project you've deserted in the past year? 

3. Desert-dessert? Share two or three words you find yourself having to think twice about when it comes to spelling.  

4. High and dry, like watching paint dry, dry run, dry as dust, not a dry eye in the house...which phrase can you relate to currently? Explain. 

5. How often do you frequent the dry cleaners? Starch or no starch?  

6. What's a food or beverage you enjoy that's named for a place? 

7. Do you need solitude? 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Been to the Desert on a Horse with No Name

Actually, it wasn't a horse.

It was an airplane.

Horse just made for a better title.

Last week I wrote a post about summer trips we made out west to see my grandparents when I was growing up. As is always often the case, that post started to run a little long so I decided to make it a two-parter.

You're welcome.

I mentioned in the Colorado portion of my stroll down memory lane that after we'd had our fill of the Rocky Mountains (is that even possible???) my grandparents would drive us over to New Mexico to spend time with my mom's parents and family. Essentially we exchanged the Rockies for the desert and Sandias.

I still remember riding the tram across Sandia crest. It was terrifying mostly because some of the crew rode outside ON TOP of the tram. You can tell my love of riding in a confined cable car high above the earth goes waaaay back.

My mom grew up in Albuquerque and we loved going to our grandparent's home there. It was a small house, about a block from a park, and we'd actually spent a year living in that house with my grandparents when I was a tiny tot. My dad was in Okinawa the year my sister was born so we moved in with my grandparents. I guess it was crowded but it's funny how I don't remember feeling that way. A kid's perception of space and time is a funny thing. My grandparents raised five children in that tiny house and we loved visiting the place my mom called home.

One of my most vivid memories of our summertime trips is the screen door. Do people still have screen doors? I remember my sister and I running in and out and my grandpa telling us not to slam the door. We couldn't help it...screen doors were made to be slammed, right?

When we visited Albuquerque we always made a day trip out to Santa Fe. I loved to see the Indian women sitting along the sidewalk with all their handmade turquoise jewelry for sale. My parents always let us buy something from the crafters and yes, we called them Indians back then. We certainly meant no offense and I loved their brightly colored blankets spread with all that gorgeous silver and blue. My love of jewelry apparently goes way back too.

I remember visiting some Indian ruins and I know they were near a place called Bandaleir because my mother very kindly noted that in a scrapbook she made for me.

That's my grandma in the back right beside my older sister with her blonde hair. In some pictures her hair is dark brown but this was taken in her blonde phase. I was totally enamored of my older sister. She is still pretty great.

My younger sister is in front of my grandma and she and I were like two peas in a pod. A pod that occasionally bickered, but still a pod. That's me with the pig tails and that lime green circle on my shirt was actually a giant smiley face pin. I loved that pin and my younger sister had one in hot pink. My grandma bought them for us because we begged and because smiley faces were all the rage back in 1971.

My mama birthed some skinny legged girls didn't she? You could actually climb inside a pueblo in New Mexico and you can see that my little sister is lovin' life. I appear to be very, very nervous and that's because I was. Ha-God laughs. It's kind of amazing to know I've traveled all over the world. If I could have seen the future my ten year old self would have collapsed into a puddle of her own tears. Thankfully life comes one day at a time.

Another special treat I recall about visiting my grandparents was the food. My grandma made the worlds best roast beef, mashed potatoes, and string beans. We still refer to that in our family as the 'grandma dinner'. She made your iced tea by the glass, ever so carefully sweetening each serving and stirring it with a long iced tea spoon. Remember those?

We also considered it a huge treat to go out for some authentic Mexican food. We had a favorite spot and my sister and I loved to watch them make the sopapillas behind the glass booth inside the restaurant. Sopapillas were nowhere to be found in South Jersey in the 1970's.

This is the only picture my mom has of all the kids with both sets of grandparents. It was taken in the summer of 1969 after my dad's parents drove us from Colorado to New Mexico. I'm dressed in orange which will make my girls smile, and my younger sister had a matching dress in lime green. Neon colors were big that year too which only goes to prove that fashion is cyclical.

The lighting is terrible and the photo somewhat faded but still, it makes me happy. I look at this picture and see a Colorado stream and a cactus in the desert. I smell bacon frying and the fresh squeeze of a lemon. I hear a barn cat's meow and the slamming of a screen door. I feel safe in the warm embrace of family.