Vacation is coming!

We are getting ready to go on vacation:  a 15 day cruise from San Diego to Miami, through the Panama Canal.  Looking forward to it... hoping to get some posts in on the way.  For now, we are packing and getting things organized. 

We have found a sitter for our beloved Mo. This was probably the biggest hurdle since we didn't want to board her.  Our friend Ev had graciously promised to watch her at their house, but she does already have two cats who own the house and she would be defending Mo constantly. 

Adding a new layer of adventure, we plan to take the bus from the Downtown Transit Center to the airport instead of parking there.  This saves about $90 in parking fees.  The bus runs non-stop from downtown to Terminal C  and costs only $1.50 each way!  We will leave the car at my office and take a taxi from the nearby Renaissance Hotel to the transit center.  I will check it out tomorrow but believe that the taxi will be about $10. 

I am looking forward to getting on the "road" and seeing new things. 

More to come!

One-day turnaround

Tomorrow I am off to San Diego for a deposition.  And I'm doing it the hard way - leaving early in the morning, and coming back in the afternoon.  I think it is amazing that this is even possible... to fly halfway across the country and back in one (long) day.  Of course the weather has to cooperate, but it appears to be reasonably calm along my route.  More amazing is how easy it is to take this incredible feat for granted. 

Hopefully all will go as planned.  I'll let you know! 

hi there!

hi there!, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

Playing around with the new camera... while I was wandering around the garden, the local boss hummingbird stopped by to see what I was doing. He didn't sit still so the shot is not great. But I'm happy to have it anyway!

sunset in San Diego

sunset in San Diego, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

I am privileged to be able to travel for my work. This week I spent just a couple days in San Diego. Took a walk along the waterfront last night, from the hotel on Broadway to the SeaPort Village. It was a warm, humid evening and pretty miserable actually. The shops were only mildly interesting. The best part of the walk was listening to a pair of musicians play near the Village. They were probably Mexican, playing guitars, pipes, flutes, the harp... it echoed out over the still water and the dark.

my dad

laughing, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

I love this photo of my dad. It embodies so many memories. I am thinking of him this evening, because in searching for something else, I ran across a list that we made together at the kitchen table, in September 2004. Somehow the conversation came around to the various jobs that his father, my Grandpap, had done during his life. Grandpap died when I was about 6, but I remember a tall man with huge hands, who seemed a bit grim. Photographs show broad shoulders, large features, strong-looking. He died young, in his early 70's I think, in about 1961. Here is list of the jobs that his father had, in the order that his son remembered them:

• farmer (this would be in rural Pennsylvania, in a narrow valley near Tussey Mountain)
• road builder
• coal miner at age 12, in Elizabeth
• carpenter at the power plant in Saxton
• timber hauler
• tunnel and bridge builder
• led a rigging gang in a steel mill in Monassan (not sure I got that right, sometimes my writing is hard to read!)
• coke screener in Johnstown
• railroad bridges
• constable
• treasurer of the school board, Hopewell Township
• state inspector for highway construction on Highway 70, from about Town Hill to Breezewood

I also know that Grandpap was a devout Democrat - one time we found the precinct lists. He was away from home a lot, which left my Grandma to raise her five sons mostly on her own. The farm provided most of the food they needed, but cash was needed too. Grandpap's jobs brought in enough! Interesting how many of them are in the construction/engineering area.

my assistant

my assistant, originally uploaded by AmyEmilia.

Whenever I cook or bake Mo wants to be involved. She carefully smells everything but rarely actually tastes.

By the way - the Vanilla Dinner Rolls were really excellent! I highly recommend the cookbook, The Bountiful Kitchen by Barry Bluestein & Kevin Morrissey. This book is a staple in my kitchen and a source of inspiration.