It Been A While Since I've Posted Anything, And Things Have Changed.

I have a grandson. His name is Oliver (of Ancona) Augustine (of Hippo). Kathleen and I flew to Boston and then drove to Kittery, Maine to meet him. He is beautiful.

While we were in New England we stayed at one of our time shares, The Breakers Resort on Cape Cod. We ate at three good restaurants: Red River BBQ (the best fish I had on the whole trip), The Union Oyster House (freshest and best tasting oysters I've ever had), and Parker's Restaurant in the Omni Parker House Hotel (The perfect early morning breakfast after getting off a red-eye flight from San Jose). We also took a boat out to Nantucket where we had fun, but it was not very much like what I was expecting. Everything I knew about Nantucket I learned from Moby Dick. It's not like that now. We learned that there are now 32 billionaires who have houses on the Island. Among other things we saw there, were Daniel Webster's house, Rowland Macy's house, and the whaling museum. When we first got to the island it was very early in the morning so we played chess outside the Athenaeum. Kathleen won. She played a perfect game.

We attended services at two churches while we were traveling: St. Nicholas in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Holy Trinity in Boston (WOW What a choir! You should hear them.).

I took and passed California's Water Treatment Plant Operator test and got my T-1 licesnse in the mail. I have started applying for water treatment jobs.

I quit my job 5 days ago. I really liked it and the people I was working with but sales really dried up starting in May, and no money coupled with 60 hour work weeks just wasn't cutting it. I don't know what I'll do next but I have some good prospects.

Yesterday, Basil and I went to the county rifle range and he zeroed the .30-'06. Then last night, Kathleen and I made two peanut butter pies. One we took over to Cyndi and Basil last night. Kathleen took the other to her Dad this morning. Right now I am applying for a job with CBP.

Meatfare

I made something new for Meatfare a couple of days ago. The week after Christmas, when all the hams were on sale for a reduced price, I bought a big spiral cut ham, and stuck it in the freezer. A couple of days before Meatfare I took it out of the freezer to thaw. The day before meatfare, Kathleen gathered some rosemary and lemons from outside our front door, and brought them too me in the kitchen. I sliced the lemons while she used a Braun cofee mill to mince the rosemary. Then, between the spiral slices of the ham I stuffed feta chese, lemon slices, rosemary, oregeno, and thyme. Then I put it in the refrigerator until morning. When I woke up early on Sunday morning I put the ham in the oven and cooked it until it was done. Then we loaded it into the car and went to church. When we got to church we put it in the oven in the church kithen to keep it warm. It turned out pretty good. I think I'll do this again next year.

Left Over Ham

A ham is a big piece of meat. After you've cooked it it can last all week in your refrigerator. Yes, of course you took the bone out and made hearty ham and lentil soup but you still have all this ham meat in plastic bags in the fridge. And if your wife is not especially fond of ham, really, what are you going to do with 8 pounds of ham? Well, tonight I made something I haven't made in about 20 years. I made an Easter ham pie. It is the easiest thing.

Ingrediets
About a poud of ham, diced small
1/2 of a diced yellow onion
6 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream
sliced mozzarella chese, enough to make a 1/8"-1/4"layer in a 9 inch pie pan
1 cup ricotta chese
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dried thyme
4 tablespoons grated Parmagiano Regiano.
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 Marie calendars frozen pie crusts
2 cups baby spinich

Directions
1. bake one o the pie crusts at 350F until it is golden brown, about 30 minutes
2. while it is baking put all the onoion, all the mushrooms, 1/2 the thyme and 1/2 the garlic powder, and all of the butter in a pan over bedium heat and cook (stirring occasionally) until the onions are translucent.
3. put the eggs, cream, flour, the rest of the garlic and thyme, the black pepper, the ricotta cheese, and about three tablespoons of grated Paragiano Reggiano into a bowl, mix it up. Pour about 3/4 cup into anouther bowl to use later.
4. When the pie crust in the oven is golden brown (it is okay if it puffs up a little) take it out of the oven and put a then layer of the ham/onion/mushroom mix into the bottom of the pie crust. Make sure the bottom of the pie crust is covered. You will have a lot of ham/onion/mushroom mix left over.
5. add the remaining ham/onion mixture to the large bowl of the egg/cream/flower mixture. Mix in well.
6. the next thing to ad to the pie crust is youor sliced mazzarella cheese. totally cover the ham/mushroom/onion mix in the bottome of the crust.
7. now pour the rest of the egg/cream/ham/mushroom mix on top of that mozzarella
8. Now put the baby spinach on top of that. It will be higher that the top of the pie crust. Don't Worry. 9. Pour the little bowl (from step three) of the egg/cream mixture on top the the spinach. Try to cover all of the spinach. dont just dup it in the middle of the pie.
10. take the remaining pie crust and invet it on top of the pie.
11. sprinkle the rest of the Paragiano Regiano on top for looks more than anything else.
12. Put it in a 350F oven for 10 minutes. Raise tem to 400. Bake for 30 more minutes.
My wife, Kathleen said it is her favorite ham dish.

An Inheritance, Dinner with Family, and a Recipe.

As I mentioned a few months ago in this blog, my oldest brother died. Yesterday, I got a text message saying to go to his widow's house. When I got there my nephew opened a book and said, "My dad wanted you to have these guns." Then he opened a safe and handed me Remington 700 BDL chambered for .300 WinMag, a Stevens double barrel 12 ga shotgun, and an ancient Montgomery Ward bolt-action 20 guage shotgun with an adjustable choke. I now have more guns than can fit in my safe. I'll send my Axis .30-'06 to my son Anselm Samuel in Maine. Maybe he'll get a moose.

I picked up my son Basil and we played games at Starbucks for a few hours then we met my surviving sibliblings, their spouses, my brother's widow, one nephew, and my wife at a pretty good Mexican restaurant in Sunnyvale. It was a good time. I don't see them often enough.

Today I had work to do so I ent into school but the internet was out so I went shopping for the ingredients for the Christmas sausage, and Mama Samberg's Cranberry Relish. Then tonight Basil came over and we played some more games. I think my favorite was Bread and Beer. He won, but he's been beating me at games for about 5 years now.

Update Saturday Dec 21.
Basil came over and we made the Christmas Sausage today. Oh, what goes in our christmas sausage? pork shoulder, lamb, pork belly, garlic, orange zest, salt, black pepper, oregeno, fennel seeds, and white wine. Use about 3 lbs of pork, 1.5 pounds lamb, one pound of pork belly, 3 tablespoons of salt, 1 cup of wine, everything else to taste. grind it up. stuff it in casings, then trhow it in the freezer until Christmas eve. Take it out of the freezer on the way to church in the morning, then eat it after Divine Liturgy.

Summer School, Pentecost, Independence Day, and more.

I finished teaching summer school on July 3. I was mainly working on the period from the War of 1812 through Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomatox. It was much time and many people and events to cover in 4 weeks but we did it. The highest grade in the class was a B- while the lowest grade was a C-. I also supervised some ESL students from Vietnam who had to read They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? and write responsive essays.

On Pentecost Kathleen and I went to the Festal Vigil at the Cathedral in San Francisco. It was good to be in service with Archbishop Benjamin again. Pentecost was his last time to preside at the Divine Liturgy. He is too ill to continue. The next morning Basil and a friend went there for Divine Liturgy. Basil said it was sad to see Archbishop Benjamin, who Baptized Basil, take off his miter and give it to someone else.

On Independence Day, Kathleen, Maximo, Basil, and I were going to go to a minor league baseball game and see fireworks after. When we arrived at the stadium we learned that the baseball game was the day before. It was a good fireworks show though. They set the outfield on fire.

Today, for the shared meal after the Divine Liturgy, I made Texas Caviar but I subtituted one can of corn for one of the cans of black-eyed peas. I thought it would be nice with a little bit of sweetness. It was. I've been a member of the American Legion for years but until today had never been to a local post (my membership was only with the national organization). Today, after church I transfered my membership to the Post in my neighbrhood, Post 791, the oldest American Legion post in the Bay Area. Then, Kathleen and I visited it and really enjoyed meeting all the people there. Kathleen is already calling it "our new hang out."

Preparing the Food For Pascha

Yesterday we made the paskha. One to take to church. One for Kathleen's son. One for my son, Basil (#4), two for Basil's pagan friends he is bringing to church Saturday night.

Tonight we made four pounds of liver pate (I use a lot more congac and add butter to the pate in the blender) to take take to church for the feast.

Tomorrow we shall dye the eggs and make the kulich.

Oktoberfest

One of the fun things I do at work is that I play a little jodel (I know, it's swiss but they wear lederhosen and dirndle. on the screen for my students every morninng in October and give them a few extra credit points if they show me they've learned to jodel by the end of the the month.) Tey seem to enjoy it and some of them desperately need the points by the end of October, when the midterm exams happen.

Today, Kathleen and I shared a guest lecturer from F.E.E.. First he came to my school and spoke to my two classes of economice on business ethics, a lecture I would have titled The Beauty of Profit. It was truely was beautiful. I wish I had recorded it. After the presentation, when the guest lecturer had left to go to Kathleen's school, one of my students said, "It was like having Henry Hazlitt talk to us", and she was right.

At the end of the School day we took the lecturerer from F.E.E. out to dinner at Teske's Germania, a resturaunt in San Jose. (I was there once before, when I was 26 years old, that was more than half my life ago.) Kathleen ordered the Schweinshaxe. I ordered the Jagerschnitzel. When the dishes came to the table she was grossed out and didn't want to eat what she had ordered. So we traded dishes and, wow, I am glad we did! I have a new favorite food. When I came home I looked up the recipe online and it looks pretty easy to make. I am sure I will be able to convince her that it is good.

In other news, Son #3 called me from Peru. His submarine has been at sea for a couple of weeks, and i knew he was headed south, but I didn't know he was going to be stopping in at Peru. It sounds like he is working hard but having fun.

Son #4 is applying to universities. I think the four on his list are Hillsdale College (In America the words University and college are, mostly, interchageable.) California Maritime Academy, Montana State University, and San Jose State University. Personally, I wish he were not considering San Jose State but, I think he wants to live with his mother and save money on room and board. I'm much prefer he go to Hillsdale or Montana state where there are very active OCF chapters, or to Cal Maritime where the gradutes have the highest average starting salaries of any college in California, but I think he just sees the expense of room and board and wants to avoid it.

And finally, the highschool clay target shooting team I coach is in second place in our conference this season. That is much improved from #39 out of 54 that we placed last season. The team is really working hard and it shows.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

This week I gave all my students an extra credit assignment: Read three Thanksgiving Proclamations: George Washington (1789), Abraham Lincoln (1864), and Ronald Reagan (1988) then write a 6-10 page Chicago Style essay comparing and contrasting the proclamations. I gave them until next Monday to turn it in. Some of them have submitted their essays early, and they are beautiful.

Today I expalined to my stuents how NPR broadcasts Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish recipe every year, let them hear some recordings of the broadcast from years past, then let them taste it. I've heard the recipe many times over the last thirty years but this was the first time I ever made it. It tasted good and most of my students liked it.

Now I am baking two cranberry walnut pies. I just put them in the oven. Once I finish writing this post I'll get to work on two peanut butter chocolate pies (recipe below), and then I'll make pheasant pate (we have lots of pheasants in the fridge!) for tomorrow. We are going to be at the cathedral in San Francisco.


Peanutbutter Pie Recipe
Use two Keebler chocolate pie crusts or two Graham cracker pie crusts. The filling is one cup of creamy peanut butter, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar beaten together, then fold in 8 oz of cool whip (refrigerated but not frozen). The filling is enough for two pies. Top with whipped cream. I like to whip 8 oz of heavy cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. That way it doesn't separate as quickly as it would otherwise.

A new high school graduate

Six days ago my youngest son, Basil Wenceslas completed all the requirements to graduate from high school. Two years early. He did it by being co-enrolled in college and transferring the college credits to his high school. He worked hard and I am very proud of him.

To celebrate we got together and made this pork loin recipe. It was amazing.

A Day Off

Until today all I'd been doing since Friday was reading textbooks and preparing for the coming school year. While reading the McClay history textbook (mentioned in my post) I came accross a small error so I looked up McClay's email and sent him the information he needs so he can fix the error in the second edition. He wrote back. It turns out he is a really neat guy. We are getting together later this year.

Today, Kathleen and I went to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Scott Creek Beach. I think it was the first time I've been to that beach since my boys were little. Scott Creek Beach, Waddell Creek Beach, and Bonny Doon Beach were the beaches I used to take them to all the time. It was Kathleen's first time at Scott Creek Beach.

There were lots of kite surfers today. Just before we came home the dog dug up a large crab, shook it ferrociosly, ripped it to pieces, and rolled in it. The smell in the car was horrible. We stopped at dog wash and got him all cleaned up before we let him in the house.

It was fun reading about Righteous Gamaleil today. As I was reading about him today I learned that he was a famous rabbi and the Jews still cite some of his decisions. I wonder how many secret Christians there are today. My guess is many.

This is thesecond day of the Dormition Fast. I am always surpised about hw good the food is. Also, meal prep and clean up is much easier when there is no meat, fish, dairy, or oil. I did make some vegan pesto for Katleen yesterday (Yesterday was an oil day. I don't know why.) I don't like pesto but she does so I made it for her.
A normal pesto recipe has five ingredients: fresh basil, Pamagiano Regiano, olive oil, fresh garlic, and pine nuts. To make it vegan, and thereby fast-friendly, all you have to do is leave out the cheese, add a little salt and, bingo, you have vegan pesto.

Two Days of Greeks and a Chinese Recipe

Kathleen and I went to the Greek Festival in Oakland on Saturday. It was okay. We were there too early in the day (11 a.m.) so there were no singing or dancing acts. But I don't really like street fairs, church festivals, art and wine festivals, and things like that, anyway. The best parts of the trip were talking about the cathedral architecture with with a young priest and praying with some nuns from Calistoga. They were there selling books and honey. The nuns and I prayed for my son, Basil, who is still not recovered from Covid. I spent way too much money on food (Kathleen is always surprised when she likes lamb. She thinks she doesn't like it.), more than I would have paid in a resturaunt but I thought of it as an offering more than paying for lunch: Church festivals are fundraisers. Kathleen bought wedding rings and a prayerbook.

On Sunday morning we went to the Divine Liturgy. We left after the sermon since neither of us could go to Communion; Kathleen because she isn't an Orthodox Christian yet (her Baptism is not for five more days.), I because I wasn't prepared. (Kathleen: "But you went to confession just last week. You haven't done any sins since then." Me: "I can't walk across the living room without sinning.")

The sermon was about St. Photini (AKA the Woman at the Well). In the car afterwards, Kathleen asked me how many sermons I've heard on that text. When I said many she asked if they were all different and if I could remember any of my Dad's sermons on the text. They were all different and I do remember two of my Dad's. In one of them, I remember he was talking about how ignorant the disciples were, how they never understood what God was doing, and that we are all like that because God is infinite and we are not, because his ways are not our ways, and God is always going to know things we do not know and do things we do not understand. The other sermon I remember him preaching on that text was about how we don't get to decide who is in the Church. God chooses whom to include and we have to accept them. The main point of Fr. Basil's sermon yesterday was that Jesus always did the will of his Father, and that it was the Father who wanted him to go through Samaria and meet the woman at the well. If we desire to know the Father we must look at Jesus.

After Church we drove over to Santa Cruz on Hwy 9. We wound trough the hills, hills I've been winding through since the early 1990s, where all my sons and I had many adventures. In Boulder Creek we stopped at my favorite grocery store and got roast beef sandwiches. At the antique store across the street Kathleen found a sealable porcelain jar with a mallard painted on it. We ate the sandwiches at the covered bridge park in Felton. Then we drove on to Santa Cruz.

In Santa Cruz we saw a play, "An Iliad" at the Jewel Theater. (I've known the story, or parts of it for most of my life. As an adult I've read several different translations, in prose and verse, and have even atempted to read it in Homeric Greek but my knowledge of Koine Greek was not up to the task.) I was sobbing at the end of the performance. It was very moving.

We got home and Kathleen took a nap while I did some work, listening to reruns of A Praire Home Companion at the same time. When she woke about 8:30 p.m. I made supper: My Mother's twice cooked pork. She used to make this for the anual dinner for my Dad's colleagues on the board of the Florida District of the PCG. It was such a good dish but she only ever made it for that one event. She, really, did not like cooking.

Recipe
-cooked pork roast. My mom always used boiled loin. I like a mixture of left over oven roasted shoulder and boiled loin. About 1 pound in total, cut into 1 inch cubes.
-one shallot, peeled and minced
-one head of garlic, peeled and minced
- fresh ginger root, about as big as your hand, peeled and minced
-sesame oil, about 3 table spoons
- a head of green cabbage, chopped into long ribbons
- soy sauce, 2 tablespoons is enough for me, but I don't like too much salt. Most people, I've noticed, like to add more soy sauce at the table.
(sometime my Mom would use a yellow onion istead of shallot. Also, she would sometimes shread green bellpepper and add it to the wok at the same time as the cabbage.)
- 1 tablespood sesame seeds.

heat the oil in a wok until crazy hot, but not smoking. Add the the garlic and ginger stir constantly when the garlic turns brown, add the shallots and pork and keep stiring until the pork browns and gets crispy edges. add the cabbage and soy sauce. Keep stiring until the cabbage is soft. Toss in the sesame seeds. Serve.

Vigils, Holy Week, and Cooking

As regular readers of this blog know, I was making a real effort to attend all the vigils of the Great Feasts this year. Sadly, because of the Covid exposure, and not wanting to take a chance on exposing my fellow parishoners, I had to miss the vigil for Palm Sunday. So, I'll try again next year.

I attended Matins of the 12 Gospels last night at my parish in Saratoga. It was beautiful. Fr. John Takahashi was visiting us. (He must be close to 90 years old now. I love him. When my son Basil was in the hospital he visited him and did a complete Divine Liturgy in his hospital room.) I have heard some people criticize him for his halting reading of the Divine texts but, come on, English is his 5th langage and he only learned it when he was in his 40s! Subdeacon Paul and Reader John sang all the hymns and responses as a bass and tenor duet. It was gorgeous. It was a three hour service that seemed like 10 minutes.

As far as cooking goes, I'm trying some new stuff. Of course, I am still making the epicurious Paskha cheese recipe. It's been setting in the fridge since Wednesday. Yesterday, I made three pork turines. They are also in the fridge but I am worried they might be too fatty. I could only find 1/2 of the ham hocks I needed so I substituted pork shoulder.

Right now, I am making a paté de campagne. Finding pink curing salt was a pain. No one has it for sale in San Jose. After a couple of hours looking for it in stores I called a sausage company and asked them if they would sell me some. They said they use pure sodium nitrate, whereas curing salt is less than 7% sodioum nitrate, and they can't sell it to anyone who doesn't have a license to handle it; it is poisonous. But he told me that I don't need curing salt if I keep the paté refrigerated and eat it all within a week. So, I'm on the chilling in the fridge before grinding stage so I thought I would take a break and write a blog post. I' need to start on the kulich soon.

Basil is still sick with covid so he is quaratineing at his mother's house. I am sad that he is missing all the services and the fun of cooking.

Pumpkin and Pistol

 Sunday night the boys came over and we ate a Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good.  Rather my version of it, which is better.  I use croutons made from day old baguette buttered and dusted with powdered sage and thyme, and I use 1/4 pound of bacon, cubes of beef, and slices of bratwurst all fried in bacon grease. And I use more cheese and cream, too.  Oh, and many 12-15 cloves of garlic sliced in half and fried in bacon grease, too.  It's a dish that can be changed many ways and still be amazing.

After the dinner we watched John Wayne in Henry Ford's 1939 film, Stagecoach.  I wanted to take them to see it at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto this year but, because of COVID, the theater is closed.  I took Anselm there to see the movie when he was 5 but he didn't remember it.  He remembered the theater but not the movie.

Yesterday, Kathleen and I worked in the garden.  I think I like the winter garden as much as the summer garden.

Last night I completely disassembled and rebuilt my pistol.  It was the first time I had done it since I bought in 1994.  It was long over due and much needed as the gun would not cycle nor would the magazines eject properly.  I replaced the recoil spring, lubricated the firing pin, cleaned the carbon build up off of every surface (It was carbon on the grip screws that was hindering the magazines.), and greased it up.  Now, it's as good as the day I bought it.  I've very happy about that.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I should become a gunsmith.

Darkess at Noon, Working in the Garden.

I didn't have work for the Census Bureau today and I'm on leave from Bass Pro Shops until Sep  17 so I took advantage of this time to work in the garden,  I took all the tomato vines out of one bed (So, yes, we are having fried green tomatoes at supper tonight.), chopped them up and threw them in the compost pile.  Then I dug up the whole bed to loosen up the soil and and mix straw into it.  About 6 inches down it was very compacted so it really needed to be broken up; and the straw should help with water retention.  Then I transplanted six basil plants from various places in the garden to the north 1/5 of the bed.   In the remaining part of the bed I transplanted onions we started in a 2'x1' pot back in March.   There were hundreds of them in the pot, all totally root bound.  I separated them transplanted the biggest 40, gave some to the Indian woman who showed me how to grow garlic a couple of years ago, and some to the HOA's landscaper to take home and put in his garden.  What was left over went in the compost pile.

There was ash from the fires on the ground this morning.  On cars and on the balcony, too.  One of the fires, a small one was about 1/4 mile from my house but San Jose Fire Department extinguished it in just a few hours.   The smoke is so thick today that I had to turn on the lights in the house and the street lights (they come on automatically when it gets dark outside.) came on about 11 a.m.  The sky is dark orange and even the hummingbirds are confused.  They are acting like it is end-of-day feeding time.  The nice thing about today is that it is cooler than it has been in a week.  

The Garden and How I Cook Eggplant.

Today we lost three red kuri squash vines and all the beet seedlings  to the heat.  I tried picking cherry tomatoes but many of them fell apart in my hand, cooked on the vine.  This heat is brutal.

Gretchen asked me to post an eggplant recipe.  Because eggplant is new to me and I do not understand its properties very well this is all I do:  Slice them thin (1/8 inch - 1/4 inch),  sprinkle with salt pepper, and garlic powder, then lay them in a pan of very hot olive oil.  I fry them about a minute on each side, or until dark brown.  Its simple but it tastes good.

Dinner Last Night, the Garden this Morning, and a Recipe

Preserving Lemons and Oranges

Last night Son #3 came over and we made dinner together.  When Kathleen and her kids got home we served hummus, homemade pita chips, halved pita for stuffing, thin sliced red cabbage, three kinds of olives, greek peppers, my homemade hot sauce, minced radishes, Morrocan rice (flavored with some of the lemons Son #4 and I preserved in salt a back in January 2019.  We also preserved some seville oranges that day.), sardines, and sliced onions, and Son #3's banana bread.  It was a good meal.

I didn't have a sub assignment today so I worked in the garden this morning.  The good news:  Everything seems to be growing, even some of the bulbs are coming up.  We bought some little coconut fiber pots to start more plants in.  Mostly cucumber and tomato; both doing well.  None of the marigolds have sprouted yet but I have hope. 
The bad news: Squirrels.  They keep eating leaves and shoots and digging things up.  Maybe it was a mistake to trap and kill cats.  I don't know.


My Hummus Recipe

Three cans garbanzo beans
One van tahini.
6 clovers garlic finely minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

In a large bowel use a potato masher to mash and mix together the beans and tahini.

Add the salt, garlic, and pepper. Mix well.

Spring Break

The week that is just now ending is my school district's spring break.  So, I took the boys, Anselm and Basil on a road trip to the Grand Canyon.  At 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday we left San Jose, heading south on U.S. Highway 101.  Our first destination was the cemetery in Paso Robles where their oldest brother is buried.  Every time I go to his grave I find flowers, or beer, or a flag someone has left there.  This time was no exception.  There was a flag left by someone.  I don't know who. 

We prayed for Billy and then ate sandwiches I had prepared for the journey. The sandwiches were tri-tip I had grilled with a garlic/salt/black pepper rub on Monday, dijon mustard, blue cheese from Point Reyes, and pickled peppers on an Acme sour baguette.

From Paso Robles we drove east on state road 46.  Its the road James Dean died on. Our destination , on the other side of the San Joaquin Valley, was Bakersfield.

In Bakersfield we stopped at the church my Dad built in 1953.  It was good to tell my boys about their grandfather and show him one of his accomplishments.  I told related to them a sermon I heard him preach in the 1970s in which he told about having a nervous breakdown while pastoring there.  It head to do with a self winding watch.  While he was strapped to the hospital bed he couldn't move and the watch stopped running.  The point he made in the sermon I heard, and what I related to my sons was that the Christian life requires exercise.  If we do not exercise the faith God gives us it won't do what it is supposed to to.

From Bakersfield we drove over Tehachapi Pass  and across the Mojave Desert on 58.  We stopped in Barstow, passed the giant boron mine and 20-Mule Team Road, got stuck in a sand storm and had to pull over at a rest stop, then into Nevada. It was the first time Basil had been out of California.

Just across the state line we took a little detour down a side road, pulled over, took out a rifle, and shot at a red solo cup about 40 yards way.  I  guess we went through about 100 rounds.  It was fun but we had to keep going so we hopped back in the car and headed to Las Vegas.

We checked into our hotel, The Eastside Cannery, dropped of our bags, put the rifle in their safe, then went to the big Bass Pro Shops on Las Vegas Boulevard where we saw a sturgeon leap out of a tank and taxadermied everything, even a giraffe.  We took advantage of the more relaxed legal environment of Nevada and bought a bunch of ammo.  I bought several boxes of buckshot while Anselm bought 1,000 rounds of .22 hollow points.

Then we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I hadn't been to a Cracker Barrel since the mid 1980s.  It was the boy's first time.   Of course, I had chicken livers and I introduced the boys to hashbrown casserole.  I think they fell in love.

The next morning we checked out about 7, went to the Longhorn for a breakfast of pancakes and country fried steak, then on to Hoover Dam.  We wanted to go on the tour but they wouldn't let us park the car because of the rifle in the car. (I called the White house to complain about that.)  So we just went on our way.

In Kingman, Arizona we stopped for a while and went to the Route 66 Museum. (Yes, I know. I've talked about Route 66 before.) and looked at some turquoise jewelry.  I really wanted a Navajo-made bolo tie but I din't want it as much as they wanted to charge for it.

Then we headed to the Grand Canyon.  On the way, as the terrain turned from desert to forest, we hit a hail storm.  The hail was blowing across the highway like snakes. We checked into the Yavapai Lodge, then went a looked at the canyon.  Then it started snowing.  While walking around on the top of the canyon we saw many elk, some were just a few feet away from us, one big cow was close enough to touch, but we were smart enough not to try.  After a looking at the canyon and going to the geological museum we went back to the lodge were we ate elk for supper.  It was good.

The next morning we checked out at 6:30 and began the drive home.  We stopped in Kingman again, but this time to eat breakfast at another Cracker Barrel, where I bought divinity and a pecan log for Kathleen's children.  As we approached the Colorado River we took a little detour up to Golden Shores to buy gasoline before crossing into California and having to pay much higher tax.

One of the fun things about this trip was seeing all the trains.  Some of them had 5 or six engines and a hundred or more cars.  Most of the cars were flatbeds loaded with containers nearing the names of big ship lines such as Cosco and Maersk.  I guess they had been offloaded at the Port of Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles and were bound for all points east.  I encouraged Basil to think about becoming a locomotive engineer since the best training program for that career is right here in California, and it is a perfect job for people who don't enjoy having to interact with a lot of people.  I hope he gives it serious consideration.

We didn't drive all the way over to Hwy 101 but turned north at Interstate 5 (Lots of new orchards have been planted.!) so the boys could see Harris Ranch (aka Cowschwitz) where their food comes from, and then went over the Diablo Mountains at Pacheco Pass.  It was late so we didn't stop at Casa de Fruta.  We were home before midnight.

A little vacation in a free RV

Kathleen, her kids, and I went to Donner lake for a week.  We left San Jose last Sunday after church and drove in a motor home.  Let me tell you about the motor home.  We got it from https://www.freervrental.com/ and it was a dream.  It has less than 60,000 miles on it, everything works, it is super well equipped with everything you can imagine needing on a camping trip, (I especially like the outdoor rug the company provided so we could sit out side and not get dirty.), and it is spotless.  This company is so excellent that Kathleen did a lecture about them in her economics class.  We get one more free week.  I can't wait for Kathleen to tell me where were are going to go next.

We had to pick up the RV in Morgan Hill so, from there we left the bay are via the Pacheco Pass over the Diablo Mountains.  Of course, we stopped at Casa de Fruta.  It was the first time Kathleen and her kids had ever been there.  It was fun to watch them enjoy it for the first time.

Coming down into the San Juaqin Valley I began to feel very nostalgic.  Sometimes, I think California holds too many memories for me and that is why i have to leave.  If there were people in my life to whom I could say, "remember when Uncle Fred burned himself with the pressure cooker?" Or "remember when Bryan and I  went swimming in the pigs' watering hole?"  Or "remember when I taught Billy and Devon to shoot a pistol in the eucalyptus grove?"  "Remember when Ken almost drown in that irrigation canal?" "Remember when the fog was so thick on 99 that everyone had to drive 5 miles per hour?" But my parents are  dead.  I don't see my siblings much.  I'm divorced from the women with whom I made the most memories.  My oldest son is dead.  I haven't seen my second son in years.  So, here in  California there are a thousand things each day that prompt me to ask, "remember when?" but there is no one to answer.  But I still have a couple of decades left, maybe.

Kathleen took me somewhere I have never been; someplace that doesn't make me remember anything.  For this trip we stayed at Tahoe Donner.  Kathleen's dad (He's a real knight.  Not something you come across very often in America.) owns a house there so she is a member and has access to all the amenities. For example, we parked the RV, ate most of our dinners, and played volleyball and table tennis at the campground. We swam, saunaed, jacuzzied, steam roomed, and flopped on super comfy couches at the Trout Creek center.  We swam, and ate pizza (my first pizza in a very long time.  I won't do that again.), played bocce ball, and shot arrows at the Northwoods Clubhouse.   On Independence Day we drove up to the top of the ski slopes at Tahoe Donner and watch the fireworks over the lake.

A friend from Reno came up the mountain and spent one afternoon with us at the Northwoods Clubhouse.  Another day we walked around Truckee.  One morning we went fishing but were not successful.  I am sure our poor angling performance was due more to all the powerboats on the lake than any lack of fishing skill on our part.  Kathleen and I left her kids at the campground and went to Reno for a couple of hours.  We took some pictures under the famous sign on Virginia Street.  Had coffee in one of the casinos but did not gamble.  The best part of Reno was buying old post cards at an antique store to mail to Sons 3 and 4 (Son three is staff at a Boy Scout camp all summer and Son 4 is not well enough to travel.  Although the doctors have him on lithium now and he seems to be doing better.) ,  Kathleen bought a wallet for me there, and I bought her a turquoise necklace.  Oh, I can't forget stopping on a tiny Indian reservation to buy pipe tobacco.  It was 40% less than I would pay in California and the profits went to the descendants of the first people who grew tobacco.  It was a win-win!  We also went to Squaw Valley and listened to a blues band in the little village.  They might have sounded better if we had been drinking.

We cooked out over a fire almost every night.  My food is kind of boring now - just meat and low carb vegetables - so I won't write much about it.  But I did make some desserts for Kathleen's kids.  I showed them how to wrap bananas, marshmallows, and chocolate chips in aluminum foil and set it in the hot coals to cook.  I helped them make s'mores almost every night.  I also tried to make a giant chocolate chip cookie in a skillet over the fire, but I forgot to adjust for altitude.  It came out like a giant souffle!  Everyone said it was amazing good but it wasn't what I was trying to make.  Oh, well.

On the way home from the mountains today I stopped in Roseville to pray at St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church.  It is a beautiful town; clean like San Diego or Disney World.  And the church was super welcoming.  There is something so beautiful and comforting to walk through the doors and instantly be in Heaven.

I finished another chapter of my book: Romancing the Vasilopita

Well, I've never tried to sell a book before. Something I have learned is that books are usually sold before they are written.  So, even though I haven't finished the whole thing, I have begun sending proposals to agents.

I put the first chapter on here a few months ago.  Here is the 16th.  I. don't think I'll put the whole book on here, though.  I hope to sell it and make some money.

Well, here is chapter 16 which I just finished today.

Chapter 16: 

The Eighth Day of Christmas: Romancing the Vasilopita

In which the oldest Wilcox son learns to make vasilopita, and finds a girlfriend he didn't know he was looking for.  Recipe for vasilopita and instructions for playing the coin game included.

Cocktail of the Week: The Stinger

It is a truism that all the best cocktails are variations of the Martini.  That classic mixture of a high-alcohol spirit and a contrasting flavor of low-alcohol spirit is mirrored in the Manhattan, the Rusty Nail, the Black Russian, and a dozen or more others.  This weeks cocktail is part of that family.   No one, to the the best of my knowledge, remembers who first mixed one, but the recipe was included in Ideal Bartender (1917) by Tom Bullock.  Every Christmas I am reminded of this drink's former popularity when I watch Cary Grant order stingers in the classic movie The Bishop's Wife.

The Stinger

1 ounce brandy (I like Christian Brothers)

1/4  white creme de menthe

Shake well with crushed ice.  Strain into a cocktail glass.  Serve.