College Field Trip: UNM

 A beautiful New Mexico Day at UNM

Going back to college was easy last week.  I went to UNM to see a presentation in the Biology Department by my future daughter-in-law.  She had prepared a presentation of fruit fly research they were doing in her lab.  She's a beautiful and brilliant "creature" (as my son fondly calls her).  Frankly, I understood little of what she said.  I tried to follow her poster (below), but knew little of the terms she framed it in.  I was proud, none the less of her hard work and determination.

Last weekend while I was frolicking in Durango Colorado, she was presenting in Washington DC at an annual Drosophila Melanoganster conference.  In layman's terms...a Fruit Fly conference.  I didn't realize that for over 100 years scientists from all over the world have been having this conference. Her lab is studying muscle involvement and genetics (I think I have it right), that will hopefully help, some day,  people with Parkinson's Disease and other similar diseases. 

Fruit Fly Genetics

is sort of Scientific Porn! 

Afterward I went to see my "nephew by marriage" as I fondly call him, Darrell.  I passed this sign on my way...the Potters are everywhere, I tell you! An entire wing in the Potter name.

 Who knew?  See, everyone loves those Potters!

Darrell is an employee at UNM Art Department, and teaches a "Metals 1" course.  I entered a land I knew something about.  I was really impressed by the size of some of the machines.  When entering the wood shop I came across a sign that I feel should be made into t-shirts.

Beautifully Macabre!

Darrell in a student installation in the hall.

Darrell introduced me to Chris, one of his art colleagues who also teaches art and "shop safety" at UNM.  When I went to school there were no "safety" classes.  We weren't the litigious society we have become now.  Professors just said wear goggles when using power tools and don't put your fingers near the blades.  That was my safety class...I have all 10 fingers I am typing with.  These days we are a helmet wearing, knee pad wearing people.  I am still not convinced we are better off with all these precautions.  But no one asked me, did they?

Below are Darrell's students final projects in Metals 1.  I think the assignment was brilliant, and I was impressed with these tiny Henry Mooreish silver and copper pieces.   Each is a masterpiece in it's own right.  They were photographed with my iPhone through glass... but you get the idea.

Of course I had to be ridiculously silly and asked Darrell to take a photo of my putting my head in the giant band saw.  Chris was there, and I asked him permission to do this.  He asked me to wait a minute while he turned off all power to that part of the shop.  The antlers on my head are actually "pushers" to guide pieces through the saw instead of using your fingers. 

Look at the size of this saw...and the blade!  

That was my UNM field trip.  Chris shook his head as Darrell snapped the photo.  He said: "I see you two have a similar sense of humor."  Mmmmhhhmmmm.  

Thanks for reading.  I'm still amazed that you do.  

xo

Suz

15 Pounds of Potatoes !!

 An Easter Tree tradition started by my German friend Regi years ago.

This year we had Easter at our house.  I didn't know how many people we would have exactly.  I know that my own children were not going to be present, or my grandson.  I was delighted that Abby would be here.  The kid in me needs another kid to play with.  The number of guests went up and down the week before because of the flu bug going around.

As I made the shopping list, I asked Bob to help me and he gladly offered to peel potatoes for the potato salad.  For some reason I thought my recipe that uses 5 pounds of potatoes served 4-6. So I tripled the recipe for our 10-12 number of guests.  That's 15 pounds of potatoes.  Bob, trying hard to be the dutiful husband did not question the amount.  So when I put the bags of potatoes on the counter for him to peel, he took a quick look and asked: "can I use the grinder to peel these?"  lol, right?

Our Peach tree bloomed the day before Easter providing us

with lovely smelling pink flowered branches I put in $1 pails

I bought at Target.

Sugar cookies baked and they change shape as they 

bake.  The goofy rabbit faces make me laugh!

Lisa and I made a fun shadow while watching Abby 

hunt for eggs!

John Paul played the roll of the Easter Bunny and hid eggs in the yard.  He did an excellent job at placing them where a 3 year old could see them.  I wish I had a picture of JP carrying the basket full of eggs in the yard.  It was cute!   Lisa and I wore our festive head bands of purple flower petals and white bunny ears.  Abby was not interested in the Easter headbands as she had a beautiful white chiffon flower that matched her dress and flowered sandals.  

What a beauty Abby is!

I wish I had taken more photos.  But I was busy with my 12 guests.  The centerpiece of the table was a paper mache bunny bought at Kelley Miller's new shop in Nob Hill: "Sole."  I had colorful garden gloves for each guest with seed packets wrapped in rafia placed on their napkins.  The table looked very festive, and I felt it was a celebration of spring and my new garden.  I made coconut cupcakes to serve with the sugar cookies for desert.  15 pounds of potato salad was MORE than we needed.  I have been giving it out by the bucket full!  

A photo taken after dinner of the garden glove/seed favors and my

vintage bunny from "Sole" in Albuquerque.

The time flew by last Sunday.  At 4pm the first guest arrived, and at midnight, the last left.  It was a lesson in "life is what you make it."  I was wallowing in self pity the night before because  my children would not be with me, and I have no other family (mostly because my grandson Ethan was not going to be here).  Sunday night I was so warmed by those who came for dinner.  It was a Happy Easter.

Abby and I planted pansies the week before. Sweet Pea seeds

also, to crawl up the yucca seed pod trellis. 

Thanks for reading.  I'm still amazed that you do!

xo 

Suz

Happy Flippin' Easter

Kent Allen Parker
"probably the coolest guy you know"

What the...????  Who is that man in the pink bunny suit?  Is he standing among bodies...strewn on the ground?  Yep.  He is.  If you look at his face, you can tell he's loving it too.  What kind of Easter wish is this?  This was taken on the set of "In Plain Site" on the USA network.  Kent is the personal dresser for Mary McCormick who is the star of "IPS." It's a show about the Witness Protection Plan set in Albuquerque.

Happy Flippin' Easter!!!!

(no actual people were hurt in the taking of this picture

....but candy is missing.)

When I first saw these photos on Nathan Davis and Kent Parker's Face Book pages, I couldn't stop laughing.  It's people like Nathan and Kent who made my working in the tv/movie biz fun.  I don't know what exactly tickles me so much. Kent's goatee with the pink bunny suit, glasses, the prop gun, the look on his face, or the dead calm of Nathan. 

I hope you're eating tons of candy.  And I wish you a wonderful spring day.  I am  having 12 friends for dinner.  An Easter Egg hunt for Abby.  I'll post more tomorrow. For me who has no real family to spend holidays with, I keep the following saying in mind:

Friends are the family you choose.  

Thanks for reading.  I'm still amazed that you do!

xo,

Suz

Special thanks to Nathan and Kent for sharing their photos with me (us).

"Johnny Pinstripe" Lives On

Where I grew up in lilly white waspy suburbia: no one hung out on street corners.  No one had nick names.  Frankly, it was pretty dull.  I guess if you're going to raise small children-- dull is okay.  So whenever Bob makes a knife with a "pinstripe" I smile.  He pinstripes his knives??  Well, sort of.  Bob likes cars with pinstripes too.  He has put pinstripes on his last two cars.  Red.  Mmmm hhhmmm, I can see my mother and brother rolling their eyes.  But I dig it.  Not pinstripes, but the fact that my husband HAS to put them on his cars. The only pinstripes we agree on are on suits...Bob tends to lean toward the chalk stripe old school gangster type.  I like the courtroom razor stripe myself.  Neither to be found on one of his knives. 

Bob grew up in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood in Brooklyn New York.  He tells stories of working at "Sammy Honda's," who sold motorcycles.  There he met "Johnny Pinstripe" and "Frankie Wheelchair."  "Johnny could paint a straight thin line like nobody else," Bob recants.   "Frankie Wheelchair" was in a motorcycle accident and hung out in his wheelchair at Sammy's.  Oh, and there was "Slow Charlie" who was mentally challenged and was a genius at welding.  He would come and go.  When he returned, he'd sweep Sammy's floor.  Sounds like a scene out of Larry McMurtry's "Last Picture Show."    Frequently I hear someone call my husband with a New York accent: "Bobby T!" Today when I saw the knife on Bob's bench with a wide red pinstripe--I said: "Johnny Pinstripe" lives on!

For you knife nuts here are the specs.  It's an "Eagle Rock", cermat bolsters, black G-10 with a red G-10 pinstripe. 4" black coated blade, and black clip, thumb disc, and spacer.  It's going out to BladeArt in Miami. It's a beauty!

Thanks for reading.  I'm still amazed that you do.

xo

Susie Skulls  :-D

The Bunny Gets A Star

 Bob with the knife he made for 

Dennis' character on "Crash."

They were having a good time together.

The knife is even upside down in this photo!

Today marks Hollywood's Walk of Fame with Dennis Hopper's Star.
I wanted to post the link, and say it's bittersweet for me.  I really can't gather my words after
seeing him today.  I prefer to remember him like this.

I found out through email this morning that my "Bunny" pendant made Etsy's front page.  Some of you know Dennis was lovingly nicknamed by me "The Bunny" when working on Crash.  So when I saw the email, I burst into tears.  I believe he gave that to me.

So for now here's the link: http://cbs2.com/local/star.on.walk.2.1591418.html

Dennis, you are so loved and so admired by cast and crew who have worked with you. 
XOXOOXXOO  to you. 




Thanks for reading. I'm still amazed that you do. 

xo
Suz

Black Dirt--The final Frontier

 Waiting for dirt!

Weeks ago I called a very local landscaping company and asked for prices on dirt for the raised beds.  Our problem is that our property is fenced, and there is no easy way to get the the beds.  But a pickup truck fits just fine. I have driven many a load around to the back of our house.  I know a 350 size truck will work.  They said "Tom" would be out to see what truck of theirs would work.  The landscaping company has no idea the woman they be "dealin' wit."  :-}   I drive by their place at least 10 times a week. I know all of their trucks.  That's why I called them.  Tom never showed.

So I called again, and they said "James" would be out.  I know James, he's a native Californian and landscape designer.  I also knew he would be here on time, and give me the price per wheelbarrow.
And he did!   James is a treasure trove on information.  As much as I like him, we can't afford a thousand dollars to put dirt in.   Yikes.  That makes a tomato about 5 bucks a pop.  On to plan B.

2 at a time for each load

I called back and asked Mike for a "Firewood Truck Load" and his estimate with delivery of 3 cu.yd. was in our raised bed ball park.  So, here we go!  Like the boards  I hauled 8 at a time...I'll do dirt 3 cubic yards at a time.  Before I know it--they will be filled.



Now I have to go water the peas and the trees.  I hope your garden is springing to life. 


Thanks for reading. I'm still amazed that you do.

xo
Suz

The Apple Pie Tree

The Apple Pie Tree

Granny Smith, Winesap, and Gala arrived today.  Osuna Nursery sent a lovely young man out and he planted our new trio. Ross had shovels, ground cloth and soil amendments and the 3 trees I picked out last Saturday.  He lovingly planted the trees along the fence line.  Berms around each hole.   He was a far cry from the "surly Lowes guy."  Delightful, interested, neat, organized and I really couldn't have asked for a better experience. 

 

Anyone who knows Bob very well, knows he loves Apple Pie. Every time we are out to dinner he always asks if they have apple pie.  I have baked many an apple pie for him.  Hopefully one day I will be able to walk out of the door and pick apples for his pie.  That is why I planted Granny Smith.  Winesap for applesauce and apple butter.  Gala, just for munching. 

Last years peach blueberry from our tree!

Ross got a full tour of the shop.  Buddy decided Ross was his new best friend.  I decided Ross and Osuna Nursery would be our new friends.  I've lived in NM for 9 years.  This was clearly one of the best transactions I've had since I got here.  I scheduled the delivery and planting for this morning.  He called to say he was leaving the Nursery.  Arrived ready to work.  Did the job as promised.  Done.   For a moment I thought I was back in the Midwest where "Let's do lunch" meant you were going out to lunch in the future.

I had an idea while  Ross  was planting.  This Easter Abby Kronberg and family are coming to our house.  I will take a picture of her and the tree that is just about Abby's age.  Oh, wait...we were having dinner tonight.  I'll do it then, and on Easter. I can't wait.  It's so fun to have kids around.  I must go look for bunny ears or something springy for the kids to wear, and maybe one for me. :-)  So below is Miss Abby Kate posing with the sun blinding her for the photo.  She said she'd grow the tallest.  I said we'd see.  We'll document their growth together.

 Abby (3)

I will have to water every day now.  A drip line with emitters, chicken wire to keep the jack rabbits from gnawing on the trunks, and ground cloth and mulch to be added within the week.  

Orders to fill in the shop and setting up Danny's new Etsy shop this week will keep me from blogging for a few days.  There are little buds on these trees.  If the temperature doesn't fry or freeze, and transplanting them now doesn't shock their roots to pieces...we will have apples next year, and lots of apples the year after that.  I continue with my quest for dirt for the raised beds.  I keep visualizing dirt and trellis' and rows of vegetables.  They will come. 

It's beginning to feel like spring.  When I wake up in the morning I will have to water every day now.  The excitement to see what's grown in 24 hours propels me out of bed every morning.  On our farm I could go out in wellies and my nightshirt.  But on Eagle Rock I'll have to be a bit more dressed.  Coffee in garden gloved hand, Buddy and I will make the morning rounds.  I can't wait to wake up everyday.    Hey Ross, how's your newly sharpened knife?  

Thanks for reading.  I'm still amazed that you do.

xo
Suz