Sidetracked Charley

Petrified Forest Let me take this opportunity to express what a huge mistake the old white men of the United States are making. The Millennials cannot even cook their own breakfasts. Or cut their own hair. But that is a cheap line. I participated in a web conference yesterday about developing plans to open up the economy. First just because we open the doors does not mean they will come. Sixty-six days of staying to ourselves has taught us things. Gray hair is not such a bad thing for one. And it is possible to assemble your own Reuben sandwich. But the people in a row at the top of the webinar page were not young. And it occurs to me the same can be said for those of us on the board of an arts organization or the library board. In point of fact us long term volunteers have long realized that the young are not moving up into vacated positions on the village committees to support events and organizations which depend on volunteers. As as we cancel one event after another whic...

Maybe two months ago I decided to make my own Greek style yogurt. And at the same time I ordered the starter for yogurt I ordered starter to make sourdough bread. I used to make my own sourdough in the 70's. Never have made my own yogurt but had purchased my Instant Pot because it bragged it could make it easy. Greek yogurt is simple but perhaps not that easy, if easy is defined as within 30 minutes. It takes 24 hours. Sourdough is very difficult especially at my attitude. Today as I took more Greek yogurt out of the strainers and put in containers for refrigeration I decided to not attempt the sourdough any further and washed the attempt down the drain. It seems, per a quick research on whey, a byproduct of making Greek Yogurt, that I can make bread which tastes just like sourdough by using the whey as a substitute for liquids in a bread recipe.  I have doubled my yogurt production from a half gallon at a time to a gallon. And my sister has joined in with recipes for frozen...

When I first moved back to New Mexico I lived in the small town of Questa. It was on a state highway from Taos to Colorado but if tourists stopped it was just for lunch at the Seville Restaurant or gas at one of three stations. It had no visible means of support beyond the Moly mine, some small town ranchers, and a barely under the radar drug trade. When I had lived in New Mexico before it was mostly in Albuquerque which was on Route 66, which became interstate 40. It had two bases, a major federal laboratory, and the University of New Mexico. And sure, some tourists. But they were under the radar like Questa's drug trade. In short I was totally unprepared for Angel Fire, New Mexico, especially since I had not moved to that town but a small rural backwater five miles south. I was looking to hide out in Black Lake. Silly girl. Income depended to some degree on Angel Fire. I taught skiing there. In Black Lake I made Mardi Gras masks which I shipped around the country at the A...

I am an artist and a poet. I know how to manage impressions. I have also, in my somewhat checkered career, worked in advertising as a copy writer, been a free lance writer, a theatrical set and costume designer, and acted. You could say I have an advanced degree in impression management. But I seek to be very honest and up front in my personal life. Poetry, not so much. And while I am at times a real sucker for the narcissistic personality disorder in friends (more and more briefly friends) I am also really good at spotting bullshit. I am sure I could have put that more poetically.   There is currently a lot of impression management going on in my little town. And today that means you take it to the ethernet. Let me say that just because it was posted on Facebook does not make it gospel. It does not even have to make it close to the truth. Generally I just read these little mini-dramas and not like or comment. FB does not have a button for Liar or even Dislike so not likin...