I'm So Excited....

I'm 62, people. What gets me excited these days is spending the entire day getting my studio organized. When we moved into this house a year and a half ago I just sort of unpacked the cardboard boxes in my studio and put stuff . . . where ever. Cuz I was sick to death of looking at cardboard boxes in general (they still make me nervous). I did manage to get my fabric and beads more or less organized since that stuff is all on open shelves and more or less follows the organization of the studio in our old house. But everything else? Including books? Fagetaboutit.

But now?! Ah! MUCH better! Still not finished, but I made major progress today, especially in regards to all things basic equipment, polymer clay, paint/dye, and paper. Threw out a bunch of stuff. Recycled another bunch of stuff. Passed on some plastic containers to someone else since I now have drawers. The end is in sight. All my paper scissors are together. All my paints are together. All my paper is sorted and organized and together. And so on and so forth. As you might expect, I found a lot of stuff I'd been looking for, and even more stuff that I didn't know I had. It was like shopping. It was like Christmas.

I also hung the wonderful Cindy Dubber "believe/love" collage that I "won" from her recently. Cindy thinks I won it. I think that her creative spirit worked through the universe to send me a message.

Speaking of which, today's Devotional project was introspective. I considered the specific, unique DNA that sparks my creativity. Oddly enough, I pretty much know what this is. Let's put it this way: Gee's Bend quilts. Those images sum up my own strand of creative DNA about as well as anything I can think of. It's funny, because I don't live in a mid-century modern type of environment, although as I think of it, this house probably does reflect my creative individuality as well as anything.

Otherwise, Rhonda and Laurie cleaned today. God bless them. I'm so grateful for them and the wonderful way they care for our house. Then Randy and I went out for pizza. And football. On TV, I mean.

Some Surprising Information

I make microloans through Kiva. I started doing this after reading _Half the Sky_. While we were in Peru, our trip leader dug out some interesting information that makes me very glad I loan.

Gross National Income Per Capita in US Dollars:

USA - $33,070

Mexico - $5,778

Peru - $1,898

Guatemala - $1,629

Bolivia - $911

Otherwise, I got 2 classes of supplies cleaned out, sorted and organized in my studio today: coloring agents and paper. Since it's after midnight and I'm tired, you won't get any more information out of me than that. I also got my desk significantly cleaned off of stuff I don't need every day to make stuff. Shasta Sue Latte and Stuart Little provided personal assistance.

We went out for lunch at Fig. They had just made fresh pasta. I had mine "alfredo" with some seriously garlicky garlic bread. Oh yum. Lots of leftovers for dinner. God bless leftovers.

Renewal is On a Roll

Cleaned the kitties' water bowls and food bowls yesterday morning. No small task since it also involves taking apart and thoroughly cleaning their little water fountain. Then I ran a bunch of errands, culminating in a consultation with my new oral surgeon. The Tooth has got to go, we all agree. As we studied the X-ray, he showed me in great detail why. He listened to me, bless his heart. That's the most important thing. The upshot is that the tooth with be removed, in pieces, next Tuesday while I (ta-da!) am totally out cold under general anesthesia. I'm scared to death. Don't know why. I've had teeth removed, while awake, 2 or 3 times. I've been under general anesthsia at least 6 times now. But, I'm scared. Still, I feel somewhat relieved now that the decision is made, the date set, and I've met the dentist and his nurse.

Afterwards I saw Natalie Portman in _Black Swan_. I have a mixed reaction to the movie itself, but I relate to Nina's need to be perfect, which quickly led to her mental breakdown and suicide. I so suffer from that damned perfectionism, too. I'm remembering something Anita Myer, a wonderful weaver, always says -- that if you don't fail at least half the time, you aren't taking enough risks. I like to think of it as, "If I don't f--- up at least once in awhile, I'm not trying hard enough." Which is, of course, a more stressful way to think of it. More perfectionist. Still, it helps.

I'm also doing a little work with _The Crafter's Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit_ by Barbara R. Call. This is cool. It's what prompted me to drag and and re-energize my Big Black Art Journal Monday. I skipped yesterday. Not ready to tackle yesterday's entry and too busy with the dentist anyway. Today I get to drag out my Lion King and Bambi coloring books, my crayons, and just color! Cool. Works right in with continuing studio organization and de-cluttering.

Back to work/play!!

Renewal

I tend to feel quite upbeat once Christmas is over. It's New Year's!! Time for new beginnings, or at least renewals. And Monday, too. I hit the ground running this morning after a good night's sleep.

I did Round One of pantry cleaning and reorganization. Did the laundry. Ordered my/our new Christmas Breville stand mixer. Sent out some thank you cards and emails, and a birthday card to my step-father-in-law. His birthday is January 1 and I usually remember it on January 2.

Drug out my art journal and got it cranked up again. Worked on finishing the bunch of folding origami books I've been making. Did some repairing/reorganizing in my studio. AND, made pumpkin soup. Which was, I must say, incredibly good. Not to mention that it used up a can of pumpkin that has been in the pantry forever. Seriously. It got moved from Los Osos, and I know it had been there for a l-o-n-g time.

Of course I never accomplish as much in a day as I think I should, or as much as I planned, or as much as I would want. But, today wasn't too bad anyway.

Christmas in All Its Consumptive Glory

You can make of that title what you want.

"Whadja git fer Xmas?" A new TV for the kitchen. A 20-incher that mounts on a swing arm on the wall, so you can turn it to face the dining room, too. So I can watch TV while I cook, especially the news. Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera. This was part of the house plan all along, but now, God bless my Dear Husband, it is a done deal. Yeah!!

A new stand mixer which I will order later tonight. A Breville. From Australia. Cupcakes, here I come.

An unbelievable ruana that was actually purchased in Peru. Handspun wool and alpaca. All natural dyes. Woven on a backstrap loom. Hand joined and edged. Unbelievably fine fiber art.

Chocolate. Nuts. Cookies. Fruitcake. A sweater. Some weird stuff, which apparently is part of the Happy Season.

Dear Husband got wine glasses and promises. And homemade granola. And chocolate. Nuts. Cookies. Fruitcake. Socks and a shirt. No weird stuff.

Christmas dinner with friends was a 4-course affair. I took curried couscous and the best lamb tagine I've made to date. After which several of us went to see _True Grit_. An Oscar nomination for Jeff Bridges for sure. I love it. But then again, I love everything the Cohen brothers do.

Did I mention that I saw _127 Hours_ last week?? NEVER go hiking without telling someone where you're going and when you're turning. And if you do, take water and a VERY SHARP KNIFE.

Today?? A lot of pick-up, clean-up, put away. Reading. Petting cats. Making granola for Randy. Turns out that making granola is not as easy as one might at first guess. This will take a number of batches to master. Pity.

Dinner With Wayne & Scott

Pork Shoulder Braised with Dried Chilis - pg. 139

Roasted Root Vegetables - pg. 116

Dear friends Wayne and Scott stopped for dinner Monday night on their way from home base in Berkeley to San Diego where they will spend Christmas with Wayne's mom. Another excuse to cook, and an opportunity to test the "entertain" waters.

Since I still had nearly all the ingredients, I reprised the Ina Garten wild rice salad. Just had to buy some more wild rice which, as things turned out, was on sale at New Frontiers. Being fresher, it cooked up a little better. I also just happened to have exactly 8 stilton and walnut crackers left. So much for the 1st course.

For the second course, I took liberties with 2 Alice recipes. I braised a pork shoulder roast, but used leftover Trader Joe's carrot/ginger soup for most of the braising liquid, adding a little water just at the very end. One of the chilis was the prescribed dried chipotle, but lord knows what the other 2 were. The whole thing was very good in any event. Nice "piquent" sauce to pour over the rather dull (IMHO) meat.

I have become quite a fan of oven roasted vegetables. Very quick. Very easy. Dependably wonderful. At last, I'm checking off "Roasted Root Vegetables" on pg. 116. Alice's offering calls for carrots, celery root, and parsnips. Celery root just can't be found around here. The only ones I've come across were in Berkeley. OTOH I've now made other medleys of oven-roasted veggies at least a dozen times, so I'm going to call the technique mastered. Monday night's offering included carrots, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, golden beets and brussels sprouts. Oh yum!

(I'm becoming so much more confident in my cooking skills. I'm even willing to take some liberties with TAOSF, especially if it involves using leftovers from the frig or ancient things from the pantry.)

Dessert was way too simple-- Tom's wonderful cookies and candies that he sent home with us last Thursday. He did all the work and got all the credit. Oh yum, again.

86 recipes completed; 219 to go

The Latest Neighborhood Dinner Party (s)

We have a core of 3 couples out here at the end of Corona Road who are serious foodies. Tom G. is, without doubt, the best and most enthusiastic cook among us and our unofficial leader. We get together periodically for dinner parties which are evolving into participatory feasts. Sometimes it's just the 6 of us. Sometimes others are invited, too.

Before Randy and I went to South America, I was relating my pitiful attempt to make ravioli to the group. I had tried to roll out the dough by hand. Can't be done, unless you are the Incredible Hulk. Tom immediately offered to hold a ravioli party to teach us all the finer points of pasta making. Thursday night was the night.

Tom made the dough and a 4-cheese filling ahead of our arrival, then got all of us involved. Randy and I rolled out the dough and passed it to Bruce who cut out circles. Pat piped in the filling. Sharon dampened the "outskirts" of the dough rounds so Steve could put on the pasta tops and seal them up. Tom supervised this whole operation while Marie cheered us on. Altogether we made about 3 dozen nice fat round raviolis. All of this hard work was, of course, accompanied by Pat and Bruce's antipasti course and Italian sparkling wine. Did I mention that Tom is also a major wine expert? (I'm not.)

At which point I plated up my salad offering and to the table we went. I made a wild rice salad accompanied by stilton walnut crackers. Both recipes are in Ina Garten's latest cookbook. The cracker recipe is also, I know, on the internet. I was intrigued by the whole notion of a savory shortbread type cracker that was actually "hand crafted." They were pretty easy to make. Everyone liked them. The salad was well received, too. Tom commented favorably on the texture of the wild rice, which I appreciated since Randy just had to tell me when we got home that the rice was undercooked. It wasn't. Tom had a white wine perfectly chilled for the salad course.

Then we had our raviolis, topped with a pork ragout, basil chiffonade, and parmesan. Well, they were absolutely delicious! We were all impressed and inspired. The red wine for this course was something that had been served at the White House recently, although I can't tell you anything more about it. Okay, one thing. It was exceptionally good.

Steve and Sharon, with Tom's assistance, quickly made a zabaglione dessert. Served with perfect fresh raspberries and a chocolate dipped biscotti. And more sparkling wine. O.M.G.

If that wasn't enough, Tom and Marie sent all of us home with huge baskets filled with 8 different kinds of homemade Christmas cookies and candies. This afternoon Randy and I inhaled the brown butter cookies topped with black salt and white sea salt.

Now, if you can imagine it, we went to a Christmas party at Pat and Bruce's home last night, too! This was a party for the people Pat works with, a wonderful group of respiratory therapists and other health care folks, God bless them all. Everyone brought something to add to the buffet spread that Pat and Bruce had prepared. As you might imagine, the offerings were wonderful and we ate like kings and queens for a second night. We won't do too badly tonight at home, either, since the frig is full of leftovers.

So, my most recent cooking adventures have been from Ina Garten. But, do not worry. I haven't abandoned the Alice project. This afternoon I started a braised pork shoulder, coating it with a dry rub I made awhile back for ribs. The roast will just rest in the frig for a day or 2 before I braise it. I have apples and pears for a crisp or cobbler later, too. Leftovers first, I say.

Burp. Excuse me.

How to Avoid a December Resentment

I had to think about this one for 24 hours. Should I blog about this bizarre (IMHO) incident or not? No question that it's a whine, but those who know me well know that I have a lot of trouble limping through Decembers with my sanity more or less intact. I'm the first to admit that the problem is entirely mine. I would love to have a world-class birthday and a world-class Christmas. A merely acceptable New Year's Eve would be nice, too. However, I've never been surrounded by the sorts of people who would be necessary to make this happen. It's hard to celebrate alone. Not impossible, but hard. (Actually, I think the best Christmases I've had were the ones between marriages.)

In reality, I tend to be surrounded by people who cannot see any magic in the events of the season, who would prefer to be insulting, pick fights, and generally who tend to behave quite unmagically. It's a long story that reaches from the beginnings of my memory to the present moment, with some seriously nasty stops in between. So, I have learned to dial down my expectations to near absolute zero. My best defense has become to expect nothing, absolutely nothing. Worse yet, I set it up to be that way. Yessiree, the best offensive is a good defense. Or, the best defense is a good offense. Or something like that.

There IS one thing I shoot for, that I pray for: please don't insult me. Ignore me if you want. Discount me; I can live with that. Just don't be insulting, okay? Is that possible? Apparently not. It's fate.

Here's this year's story, as briefly as I can tell it. Talented craft group has a basically anonymous Christmas gift exchange. Rules are: something handmade or something a fiber artist could use. Value range is about $20, more or less. (One always hopes for more.) The gift I offered, tucked into a tissue-lined gold gift bag, was a handmade origami-style foldout book that can be a journal or scrapbook, and a box of upscale chocolates. What did I get when I selected my anonymous wrapped gift? Oh lord. A fabric gift bag. No gift. A gift bag. A WRAPPED gift bag, no less. Handmade, I'll admit, but nothing special. It took all my graciousness, assisted by a good shot of shock, not to blurt out, "Cool! Where's the gift?!" I didn't do it.

Now, I quickly figured out that to avoid developing a serious resentment against the woman who was so clueless as to offer up a gift bag rather than a gift, I knew I had to get rid of the damned thing ASAP. I had to release it to the universe, like, NOW. Seriously. I was insulted. Thirty five real gifts were exchanged. And a gift bag. Can you just, please, not insult me world? Well, by the time I left the party, I had a plan.

Our local Art Museum annually holds a Holiday Craft Market for its member to sell their wares. I took the gift bag to the Market and gave it to the staff to offer as a freebie to someone buying something from the Market. Good-bye gift bag. I then searched the Market for something for me and found a delightful mixed-media book on the subject of . . . (you can see this one coming, can't you?) . . . cats! Thus, I traded the gift bag for a real and wonderful handmade gift, putting money into the hands of the artist who made it AND the Art Museum in the process.

I've sent the dreaded gift bag off into the universe to find a better home, one where it will be appreciated with the same spirit with which it was made and given. Whatever that is, because I swear I don't get it. Forever after I'll remember this particular gift exchange as the one where I took care of myself, shared a bit of my monetary wealth, and released a potential resentment into the universe. I love the woman who made and gave the gift bag. Seriously. And I kinda like me, too. (A lavender-honey gelato afterwards didn't hurt, either.)

Birthday Thoughts

Yesterday was my 62nd birthday. I'm not fond of getting old. But today I couldn't help but reflect that Elizabeth Edwards will never have a 62nd birthday. She could have done far more good in the world with a 62nd birthday than I will ever be able to do with mine. Life isn't fair. I would gladly have given my birthday to her.

But I did have a lovely birthday yesterday. Randy and I had lunch at McPhee's Grill in Templeton, one of my favorite restaurants and home of the world's best ice cream sundaes. Then we went up to Paso Robles and saw the latest Harry Potter movie. Randy even sprang for popcorn. After that, I lived a fantasy. We went to Pier One where I picked up a few little things that I wanted/needed. And Randy paid for everything! It pained him, but he did it. With only a tiny bit of grumbling. We topped off the festivities with lattes (chai for me) at Starbucks where I also indulged in one of their sinfully iced polar bear sugar cookies. Just a nice, pleasant day.

My Big Cooking Whoop today was to make a lamb tagine with a hunk of lamb I drug out of the freezer. (The freezer is over-full, so there will be a few mystery meat meals coming up.) I sort of followed a Martha Stewart recipe, but I thought the directions in a recent special issue of Fine Cooking, which I'd made a few months ago, were better, so I sorta winged it. Used apricots. I love to cook with fruit. I made couscous (never did that before, either) to go with it, adding raisins, cumin and cinamon. It was all pretty tasty. Wonder what the next mystery meat meal will be?

Why I Bought What I Bought in Peru and Bolivia

I just need to say this. With 28+ of us shopping in Peru, and 20+ continuing to redistribute American wealth in Bolivia, there were a bunch of different shopping strategies and goals at work in our tour group.

Some people espoused trying as often as possible to buy directly from the craftsmen and artisans. There's an argument for this, although too often, I think, tourists are also looking for a "bargain" by shopping this way. I'm kind of over the bargain-hunting and bargaining strategy in developing nations. I'll haggle a little bit, but not much. I do like putting money directly into the hands of the person who made the item in question, but that isn't often possible.

There are the dedicated bargain hunters. Give me a break. Everything our group members bought in Peru and Bolivia was a bargain no matter the price. Same can be said for handmade goods in this country. I weave. I know what's involved and what handwoven and other handmade things should cost. Craft in general is given away, especially since we've grown so used to cheap, cheap, cheap goods "Made in China". Give the weavers and other artisans in Latin America the money, people. We live lives that are so much more privileged than those in most other nations -- the differences are truly staggering. Give 'em the money.

Many of our shoppers collected some or a lot of old, vintage, and antique textiles. This I will not do. Peru and Bolivia have been through some dark economic and political times in recent decades. During those times many important heritage textiles were sold so that people could merely eat. More textiles, many of them pre-conquest and downright ancient, were cut up to use in making items like dolls, again just so that families could eat. I hate to see these people lose their heritage textiles, and it's not my place to guess which ones are important and which ones aren't so that I could buy only the unimportant old pieces. As lovely as they are with that patina of use and age, I couldn't bring myself to buy old textiles.

What I did want to do -- and this was my purchasing strategy -- was support and promote today's weavers and artisans as they work to keep their traditions alive. Often, I bought from cooperatives, museums, and shops because those institutions are the ones that are marketing and promoting traditional weaving. Weaving and other crafts cannot be kept alive by individuals marketing and selling their own work, each individually. They need to band together in cooperatives. They need to have their work actively promoted and sold in markets and shops where the tourists are, since the tourists aren't all going to get out into the countryside to visit individual artisans and obscure markets.

So, yes, I paid more than other shoppers in some cases, but I know I was supporting not only the weavers and artisans, but the institutions that are on the ground working with them to help them keep their crafts alive. Plus, it meant spreading some wealth to those retail workers, too, and supporting the shops and museums. I am delighted to have some traditional works that are also useful and relevant to our modern world and life styles. Sure, I missed out on some bargains, and passed up all those lovely vintage and antique treasures, but I've come home feeling really good about supporting today's weavers in a way that reflects some level of social justice.

Just a Nice Day

Yesterday, Saturday, was gloomy, cold, and a little rainy. In spite of the unseasonably cool, crumby weather (which has been going on for a few weeks now), it was just a nice day.

We skipped Farmers Market since we have plenty of produce in the frig from last weeks trip, and instead headed out to Las Pilitas Nursery which is in the middle of nowhere, but a lovely drive in the backcountry away, even under cloudy skies. Randy bought 50 1-gallon native chaparral plants to continue his restoration project on the west slope just away from the house.

I petted, and provided a warm lap for, the resident Las Pilitas cat, NiNi, who is alleged to be an unpredictable attack cat, but who has never been anything but sweet and gentle with me. Go figure. I always look forward to seeing NiNi. I think she's misunderstood.... By the way, she's a lovely long-haired brown tabby whose coat is in great shape in spite of spending so much time outdoors.

As long as we were halfway there, we continued on to the Pozo Saloon for a lunch of tri-tip sandwiches and chili beans. We hadn't been there for ages, and then only for Sunday breakfast, so we practically had the whole ancient place to ourselves and sat at the antique bar near the fire (a stove, not a fireplace). Kinda swell.

We came home and unloaded plants. Then, while RDK attempted to sell his sailboat to a couple of CalPoly students (I told them I'd let the boat AND trailer go for $50....), I went to Templeton for car juice and a few groceries from Trader Joe's. And it rained a little. Here and there.

Early darkness found us heading to Atascadero Lake, a smarmy fake pond which is nonetheless, a center of community activity, for the 12th Annual Musical Walk Around the Lake, an event we apparently overlooked last year. It really was amusing and entertaining. Even RDK said he had fun.

Many of the homes around the lake decorate rather extensively and host various musical events and/or snacks. One home had Christmas rock tunes and lighting effects with a local restaurant serving up big, saucy meatballs in bowls. Another had a puppet show and cotton candy. The City Council served hot cider, cookies, and candy canes at the half-way point of the walk. There were choirs and popcorn and bonfires dotting the way. The streets were closed off to allow pedestrian-only traffic. Lots of kids and dogs and the Atascadero High School marching band.

The added bonus was having our little Charles Paddock Zoo open and serving roasted marshmallows. (Man, those flamingoes were busy and noisy!)

Best of all, all of this was free to anyone attending. All of it! Other than a bit of the old "Jesus is the reason for the season" pitch, no one was selling anything or promoting anything. No wine or other alcohol. Just a lot of people walking around, frequently in the dark since most of the streets around the lake aren't lighted, enjoying the holiday lights and music and other simple pleasures of the holiday season. It was all quite refreshing!

We came home and watched National Geographic animal shows while munching on yet more minestrone and bread and cheese.

It was just a nice day.

Back to Cooking with Alice Waters!

Fall Minestrone with Kale and Butternut Squash - pg. 73

No, I haven't given up on my cooking/blogging project! I'm in this for the long haul. I'm almost feeling human again today (and somewhat organized), so today it's Fall Minestrone. I've discovered that if I were a good (i.e. brutally honest) person, I would increase the total number of recipes in TAOSF by 3 since Alice offers 4 distinct, seasonal variations for minestrone. Heck with it. I'm too tired. Human, but tired.

Alice's basic minestrone is a summer version. For dinner tonight, I made the fall variation. I now know about soffritto and sweating the Basic Three (carrots, celery & onions) to develop the flavor base for vegetarian dishes like this. (I'm feeling so smug.) I cooked cranberry beans this afternoon after soaking them overnight. (Another smug.)

But, I'm also taking liberties with Alice's recipes these days. (Mea culpa.) I have no idea what type of squash I used. It's not a butternut. It's something we bought early in October from Dragon Springs Farm in Cambria, my favorite local grower of all sorts of wonderful heirloom winter squashes. I'm using dried herbs. I just don't have a total palette of fresh herbs at my disposal all the time. Sorry. Last, I threw in a leftover dried-up bit of parmesan. It adds a bit of flavor to the soup and is a good way to get some use out of those last bits of parmesan. I read that somewhere.

In the bread machine I made a loaf of light rye to go with the soup. Good grief -- I just realized that with the exception of milk on my cereal this morning and the cheese in (and shredded on top of) the soup, I was a bloody vegan today. Oh yes, I did nosh on a small piece of Edam this afternoon. Does that count? Okay, I was a vegetarian today. That alone is big.

On a political note, I'm amused by the uproar over the Wikileaks leaks. Ambassadors acting as spies? I'm shocked!! The Saudis would love to see the USA cut the head off the Iranian snake? What a surprise!! Is there one thing in all those leaked documents that we didn't already know? I doubt it. By the way, I need to tell you that Clay Aiken is gay. Sorry. It's true.

84 recipes down; 221 recipes to go (plus those other 3 minestrone variations)

Vivian Harvey Receives an A+ as a Tour Guide

Before I go on, I must say a word about the wonderful woman who held our 3 weeks in Peru and Bolivia together. She's a champion cat herder: Vivian Harvey. I know that a number of people worked very hard both before and during our trip to make everything run so smoothly. Believe me, there were a LOT of details to attend to. We covered a great deal of ground, including who knows how many different buses and drivers, a cadre of local guides, and 4 internal flights in South America. Not to mention the boat captain on Lake Titicaca and the train trip to Aguas Callientes and Machu Pichu from Cusco and back again. We visited villages, markets, and museums all over the place. A real hacienda, too. Not to mention 3 meals a day (more or less). And more. Lots more.

Through it all, Vivian kept the 28 of us in Peru and the remaining 20 of us in Bolivia, on track. She always gave us exactly enough information about schedules and plans, and never too much information. She kept us on time and counted us over and over and over again. Indeed, she pretty much knew what was going on with each of us most of the time. Which was NOT an easy task. Plus all of our luggage. And there was lots and lots of luggage. She kept us safe and smart and tolerated our unending desires to shop, shop, shop. Vivian has a great sense of humor, a voracious appetite for people and conversation, and a wonderful attitude toward the people we met everywhere we went.

Vivan is as close to a perfect tour leader as anyone will ever be. Indeed, my only sadness about Vivan is that I doubt any other tour leader we ever have will come even close to her. She will forever be one of the best aspects of our trip. I never got tired of her conversation, her enthusiasm for Latin America, and her incredible wealth of knowledge. Perhaps most importantly, she was always there when we needed a little help negotiating some critical aspect of shopping.

P.S. Just so you know, in spite of some genuine South American adventures, there were NO incidents on our trip. No one lost anything. No injuries. We always felt safe and, indeed, were safe. This is to the credit of Peru and Bolivia and its people, and to the leadership we were lucky enough to experience.

P.P.S. Randy took _War and Peace_ with him to read since he was sure he'd have lots of long, dull evenings stuck in some miserable hotel room with, gulp, his wife. Randy never cracked the cover of _War and Peace_. Vivian didn't give him time. Yeah Vivian!!