A FASHION GENE?

This photo took me hours to find - not too many photos of 1969 fashions out there! This is Maria Shriver!

Ally and I were hitting the sale at soon to be defunct Mervyns. She needed khakis for a drama thing, and since she swears she will never wear them again - I wanted to get them as on-sale as possible. She feels that she has a certain style reputation to uphold - skinny jeans work, khaki's don't.

I would react negatively to this concern for her daily look, except that I was similarly obsessed at her age. There were no skinny jeans for us, though, no pants at all for most of my high school years. We wore tights, pantyhose or, I can't believe I am saying this, knee socks with our short, short skirts and Mary Jane flats.

I read the fashion magazines and tried to add the little touches to make myself look with it, though my budget was pretty far out of it. I learned to sew and spent many hours at the fabric store and sewing machine to recreate the right look. I was lucky because I had straight, straight long hair. The one natural thing about me that fit in. The glasses and curvy figure were not in style, but the hair was perfection. It was Cher hair.

I realize that I am a bit indulgent of Ally's interest in her look because I know how much I would have enjoyed being able to have more fun clothes at her age. When she picked out zebra print shoes for the Homecoming Dance, I was so pround.

SUNDAY SUPPER

CHICKEN MILANESE

1 T minced shallot

2 t red wine vinegar

1/2 t dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic (mash to a paste with 1/4 t kosher salt with side of chef's knife)

salt and pepper

2 T plus 2 t extra virgin olive oil

1 medium tomato sliced in 8 wedges

3-4 boneless chicken breast halves

1 large egg

1 cup plain breadcrumbs ( fresh if you want to go to the trouble)

2 T unsalted butter

4-6 oz fresh baby arugula or mache

In large bowl whisk the shallot, vinegar,garlic paste, mustard and a large pinch of pepper. Add 2 T olive oil in steady stream while whisking. Add the tomatoes to the vinegrette and set aside up to 2 hours.

Pound chicken between sheets of wax paper to about 3/8 inch thick, Season with salt and pepper. Beat the egg in a shallow bowl, spread crumbs on a plate. Dip chicken in egg and then crumbs, shake off excess. Heat pan with 2 T butter and 2 t olive oil until hot, add chicken and cook until golden brown, shaking pan and keeping breast separate. Turn and cook on other side, Season. Drain for a moment on paper towel.

To serve, add the arugla to the vinegrette and toss. Arrange cutlets on warm plate and top with a tall pile of salad.

SOCCER FULL CIRCLE

I first experienced soccer in the cold and wet Pacific Northwest. My twins both decided they wanted to play this somewhat suspect European game. I, up to that point, was a baseball mom - for both my girl and boy. That's the way we rolled in Cali.

Soccer was immediately incomprehensible to me. It looked like they just bunched up kicking at the ball and making good use out of the shin guards we bought. Games involved running around, kicking the ball. Then there were oranges, then running around some more. This was done on a hard sand and dirt packed field in all weather. The parents roamed up and down the sidelines following the play - (actually, trying to keep warm.)

Zac figured out pretty quickly that it wasn't for him and we let him drop out. Maggie stuck with it for YEARS, rain, cold, snow - she played. Then Ally took it up, too. At least by that time we were back in California and it was warm and they played on grass. Here the parents line up down the sidelines in folding chairs with umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun.

So I have been going to soccer games for 13 years. I hate soccer. I have never understood the rules, stategies or undying love people have for this game. Including Ally. She LOVES to play, but today may have been her last game. She is not playing for the school team, and the rec teams sort of peter out after this year.

So today, in the unseasonable rain, wrapped in a blanket and under an umbrella, I may have attended my last soccer game.

THIS WILL BE OVERCOME

Every work day for over 5 years I have enjoyed the company of our parcel delivery service driver. We have talked about our kids, families, neighbors, politics and sometimes shared a little gossip. She is a great person and we have become friends.

During the summer she told us that she was going to get married. We were all so happy for her. She was getting married on the 10th anniversary of her commitment ceremony to her partner. They are lesbians. They have 2 wonderful children, a boy and a girl. I attended their reception and met other friends and neighbors, some gay, some straight all thrilled that our friends could be married.

The day after the election, and the passing of Prop 8, all of us at work were very sick at heart, very down. When our friend came in, we commiserated a bit.

But the next morning, she came in and said she was feeling good about things. A couple of lawsuits have been filed and, more importantly, the area where we live had not passed the proposition, in fact, almost the entire Bay Area had defeated it. She said it made her feel so much better knowing that the place that she lived and worked was supportive of her marriage. She said they have been through so much over the years, it was nice to have that.

Her positive take on what feels like such a soul crushing outcome made me even more determined to do whatever I could to help her and others who just want the same rights that I have.

BOOK CLUB MEETING

I love to read. I always have. As a kid when the bookmobile came around and they would only let you check out 2 books, I made the other kids check out books for me.

I am the newest member of a book club made up of 12 women. I have been a member for about 18 months, some members have known each other for years, we all have kids and most of us work outside the home.

We meet once a month, usually at the home of the member hosting. The host chooses the book and then leads the discussion. We usually arrive and visit and eat for a while before we sit down to talk about the book. I really enjoy our discussions because we come from so many backgrounds and points of view. It is always lively, usually we are talking over each other.

There is a lot of laughter - like about the time D bought a selection at the used bookstore, started reading, thought it sounded familiar, looked in the back of the book and found her name. She bought back the book she had sold to the bookstore! Then there was the time K couldn't quite follow the discussion and finally realized she had read the wrong book - right author, but a sequel with a similar name and cover.

At the end of the discussion we rank the book by writing style, character development, research, degree of involvement and ending. It is interesting that even the books we dislike, after the talk we find things we actually did appreciate.

Last night we had fun picking a name - forced upon us by the local bookstore in order to get a discount. Once we dismissed the theme of moms, housewives, and boobs - we came up with "books, friends, discussion" - discussion was changed to dessert. Great! The BFD. Uh, oh. Some of the ladies in the group didn't like the idea of presenting themselves as members of the BFD club. Those of us not ladies thought it was a hoot.

The next round was all W's. Women, Wednesdays, Words, Wine, Whine and Whatever. So it was decided that mathematically that was 6 degrees of W. Or W6. Which I can't type properly here, but you get the idea.

This month we read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I'll review it when I am done. January is my month - let me know if you have any book suggestions!

NO MORE EQUALITY

I am so sad and disappointed by the voters in California. A majority of votes have been cast for Proposition 8 which removed the right to marry for same sex couples.

The Christians did an excellent job of spreading lies, hate and fear through the state. Their relentless attack fueled by the Mormon church, abetted by the Catholic church and others. They have removed civil rights from residents of California.

Who will they go after next?

I WAS THERE FOR MANY THINGS PROMPT

History’s being made, can you feel it? The bubbles in the atmosphere? The sense that when they pop, the air around them will change? Or else the they’ll float into space, bouncing like sound waves, carrying the news of today into tomorrow?

So where were you when history was laid down? Was the TV playing Nixon in the background while you ate an innocuous chicken dinner? Were you born the day Kennedy was shot? Did you watch the falling Challenger from a classroom full of fifth grade students like you?

This PROMPTuesday, share where you were when. Tell the story any way you want.

This prompt makes me feel so old. I was 33 and at work when the Challenger went down. Someone had the radio on and turned it up so we could all hear. There was no TV in the office, so I didn't see the images until I was home that evening.


I was in the third grade when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. We heard about it at school and I remember being out on the playground and wondering if that meant the Russians were going to come get us. Those were paranoid times - our neighbor had a bomb shelter dug into his back yard. We were allowed to go down to see it. There were cots and canned food and it smelled of the damp.

I was in junior high when Bobby Kennedy was killed. That is the most stinging memory for me. I was at an age when I understood the enormity of his promise and loss to our country. Coming so soon after Dr. King it made me wonder if the world was going mad. I had recently moved and didn't have any friends except for the librarian. She comforted me and lead me to books to read to revive my faith in humanity! That's when I fell in love with Eleanor Roosevelt.

I continued to high school as the Vietnam war raged. I was babysitting for a neighbor when the Chicago police were shown on TV beating protesters outside the 1968 convention. When the shooting of students at Kent State by the National Guard occurred, we asked the principal to move the flag to half staff, and to his credit, he did.

I was so looking forward to the opportunity to vote,to have my point of view represented. I registered the year the 26th Amendment was passed granting 18 year old's the vote.

And this morning I voted for a black man for president and this evening, I heard him speak about the future of this country and I had tears in my eyes. My sister called because she was crying, too, and she knew I would understand. And I do.

VOTING

The 26th amendment, changing the voting age from 21 to 18 passed the year I turned 18. I went to school early on my birthday and registered as a democrat. My parents were staunch republicans. I can't remember if they had a reaction to my party affiliation - but the political fights at the dinner table definitely gave them a clue it was coming.

In 1972, I voted in my first election. I voted for George McGovern. He was the anti-war candidate. Richard Nixon won that election in a landslide - that was the election year of dirty tricks and the Watergate break-in. Interesting times. My best friend revealed to me over a year later that she had voted for Nixon. I was shocked. I could not understand how anyone of our generation could vote for Nixon.

This feels like a similar election year. Emotions are high. Points of view are running to extremes. I was so disheartened to see McCain signs on so many of my neighbors yards that I was in a funk for days. I know that the opportunity to disagree is what makes democracy work (ahem, Bush administration) but I still feel as I did when I was 18 - "How could they?"

I am off to vote as soon as the polls open at 7am. I want that little "I voted" sticker and I am willing to get up early and stand in line to get it!

RAINY WEEKEND

It finally rained. Friday we had the door open at work and the smell came before I saw or heard it. That smell of asphalt getting drenched - so distinctive after a long time with no rain. Big fat drops came down and we walked out under our awning to take deep breaths of the freshening air.

It took a break for the kids on Halloween night, then it rained all night. It was so odd to get up to grey skies. It was kind of exciting. The house felt a little cave like. I noticed that Tom and I were not up and out so quickly, we sat and talked and watched a little TV and had breakfast together.

I went up to our deck which is home to my little mosaic work area. I wanted to get a project done and tarps up before it really started to blow as the news indicated it would later in the day. It seems that the moment I climbed up on a stool to hoist my tarps - the storm hit. I was blown around and got soppy wet and eventually I got things covered up.

The rest of the day I puttered around doing housework and goofing off intermittently. The movie The Shining came on and since Ally had never seen it - we watched together. We lit a fire.

Then Sunday morning, the sun was shining bright, the soccer tournament was on and the spell of the rainy weekend was broken.

SUNDAY SUPPER

The cool weather inspired me to make some soup for dinner. We all like salmon and I don't grill in the rain - so I made

SALMON CHOWDER

3/4 - 1 lb Salmon (fillet or stew pieces from the butcher)

3 pieces bacon

1 T butter

1/4 c diced onion

2 celery ribs, diced

1 bay leaf

2 medium Yukon potatoes, diced

1 T chopped parsley

1/2 c white wine

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

salt, pepper, tarragon

Poach salmon in salted water (start in cold water just covering salmon, simmer until opaque and flesh flakes with a fork, drain, cool and cut into bite size pieces. You should have about 1 1/2 cups.

Place bacon in heavy bottomed pot on medium heat to render the fat. Remove the bacon and save for another use. Add 1T butter to pot and when it is melted, add onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes.. Add the celery, potatoes, parsley and bay leaf and cook until celery is soft, about 4 minutes. Increase heat to high and add the wine, scraping the sides and bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits. Pour in milk and cream and reduce heat to simmer, place lid on pot and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes, depending on size of diced potatoes.

With the back of a fork or immersible blender, crush some of the potatoes to help thicken the soup. Add salmon and gently stir. Allow to heat through. Add salt and pepper and tarragon to taste.

Serve with crackers or bread and a green salad.