STAYCATION....How To Have A Great One!

Karen's Staycation Oasis

Pet says: You Can't Start A Staycation Without One!

Pet

Poor Karen! No more Pet’s peeves, you say. So I promise, this is the very last one. I hate, detest and despise standing in lines of any kind. Always avoiding them I utilize a Motor Vehicles Office thirty some miles into the country bypassing the busy city one. But now school is out, leaves are prevalent, and vacation time is in full swing. That means crowds everywhere. The original party pooper…amusement and theme parks are out for me; forget first run movies and latest popular eateries, even fire works and the ever present crowds fill me with fear. THEY ALL HAVE LINES! While some of the lines are in nearby cities, even in the beautiful Smokey Mountains lines abound. The eleven mile loop known as Cades Cove becomes jammed with rubber neckers peering into the past during the vacation season. And then there are the fireflies. They mate by blinking their lights in sinc. But to see the show you have to stand on line to catch a bus to a campground, then wait for a ranger to lead the line to watch the romantic fireflies. Doesn’t that make you want to flop into a comfy recliner and watch a Lifetime Movie?

Karen

I couldn’t agree more! This year I’ve decided the whole idea of a Staycation is brilliant. After being stuck in traffic for almost four hours the other day, the thought of having to suffer more traffic just to get away seems impossible. So this year I’ve started to turn my backyard into a tropical retreat. I’m lining the walls of my gazebo with palm trees and fixing the wall fountain so I have two sources of the relaxing sounds of trickling water. I’m also contemplating putting in a misting system so when summer really kicks in and it hits 100 I can still enjoy my little tropical oasis. What’s better then walking out your back door and straight into another world!

Pet

Wow! I’d love a Staycation at your house! Here in the Southland 100 degrees came early, May to be exact. So we use our rationed $4.00 plus gas to visit nearby parks for more shade, cool breezes and maybe one of our man-made lakes which abound thanks to TVA. When outside steams more than we can tolerate …we stay home in the air conditioning and even grill on our electric grill in stead of firing up the out door charcoal one. With a little imagination like spreading a blanket on the living room floor for a picnic, we’re all set. Only one item I yearn for…Saw it on TV. A Michael Phelps hot tub while compact and handy is shaped for short swims.

Karen

Sign me up for one too! One of his pools would fit in perfectly next to the gazebo. I could plant a bunch of palms and birds of paradise around it and pretend it’s a tropical lagoon. Then I can make a CD of exotic bird calls and blast them from my hidden fake rock speakers. : ) This weekend I’m breaking in my new and improved backyard tropical oasis even though I’m not quite done yet. I’ve planned a friend get together party. I think it’s always a good idea to preview a project to get reactions and find out what I need to improve. If my jaded friends walk into my backyard and I don’t hear a few ohhs and ahhs I know I need to step it up a notch. Have to keep up with my Martha Stewart reputation. : )

Pet

I haven’t looked up the cost of the swim/spa but I figure two of them would be about the same as a kidney shaped pool with a water fall. Problem here is season is so short, but in year round sunny California go for it! Wouldn’t that seal your rep as the hostess with the mostest? I can almost feel that float drifting and taste that mojito. But for now, short day trips sound good to me. Even here in the country we don’t have to go far to find scenic train and boat rides, parks with beaches, Restaurants with a view, gorgeous gardens, all kinds of festivals and world renowned amusement parks. No matter how delightful your backyard getting away brings a break and fun, especially if you go off-hours to avoid those lines.

Karen

I’ll have to win the Lotto to afford one of those spas. They start at 30,000! Can almost put in a real pool for that! Think I’ll just run down to Target and get a big kiddy wadding pool and pretend. : ) Here in Southern Cal we have a ton of things to do. And in Pasadena in the summer we have free concerts in the big city park. They are super popular and can be quite crowded. So I prefer to crank up my iTunes and just hang out in my little oasis. We have a ping-pong table to get in some exercise. Paddling those little balls is the new city sport believe it or not. Some clubs are taking out their pool tables and putting in ping-pong if they have the space. You know the saying, everything old is new again. : )

Pet

Yeah, old stuff coming back except for the ever present iPods and smart phones. Can’t do ping-pong without them. I’m in the mood for the ageless so how about some classic summer time recipes. Can you believe zucchini and yellow summer squash still cost almost $2.00 a pound in the supermarket? Meantime my neighbors with the huge veggie garden are gifting me with bags full. I have a file of recipes but kind of like my original ones best such as:

STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Ingredients: 2 medium to large zucchini; 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni; half pound lean ground beef; half pound bulk Italian sweet sausage; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; large onion; 2 large green peppers; 4 cloves garlic; one stem each of fresh Italian herbs: basil, parsley, oregano, thyme; one cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese; one quart prepared tomato sauce. One cup parmesan.

Spray roast pan with olive oil spray. Cut clean squash in half lengthwise and spray with oil. Cook half hour in 350 degree oven. Cook elbows according to package directions. Meanwhile sauté meat in large frying pan or soup pot; add onion, garlic, peppers and chopped herbs. Scoop zucchini meat from shells and add to pot. When vegetables are cooked add pasta and cheddar cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Fill shells, top with parmesan, and tomato sauce. Bake half hour. YUM!!!

Karen

Sounds good enough to eat. : ) Here in the city we don’t have a ton of room for a big veggie garden. Especially big space hogs like squash. But my husband is a big zucchini fan so every summer he sneaks two plants into a section of the front yard where I have my wild flower cutting garden. I love to have fresh flowers in the house so my husband knows I’m not going to be a happy camper when the zucchini really get going and choke off my flowers. He usually makes up for it with at least ten nice sized zucchini that he turns into some yummy ratatouille. Here’s his recipe:

Ratatouille Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt to taste
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Sauté until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
3. Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Pet

Wonderful hubby and fantastic recipes. My oven is great; never heats up the kitchen. Zucchini chips are easy to make and sooo much better than a bag of potato chips: cut the zukes into ¼ inch slices, dip into egg whites, then seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan mix. Line up on cookie sheet; bake 5 minutes in 475 degree oven. Turn and bake another 5 minutes. You’ll never fry again. Want to stay outside and cook those zukes? No problem! Spray ¼ inch slices with olive oil, sprinkle with a little garlic pepper and pop onto the grill for a few minutes on each side. Works cut horizontally too. What a great food!!! Sweet or savory the green and yellow squash could feed the whole world. At least in the good old summer time.

Karen

Jeeze, now you make me want to throw some boaster fertilizer on my husband’s zucchini plants. Those chips sound yummy! I think the best Staycation is one that’s right in your own backyard and shared with friends, family, and great food! Oh and a terrific cocktail! Here’s one of my favorite summer drinks because I can pretend I’m actually sitting on a beach in Waikiki.

Blue Hawaii

1 1/2 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
1/4 oz. Crème de Coconut
3 - 4 oz. Pineapple Juice

On the Rocks - Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Mix well and strain into a collins or small hurricane glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and an umbrella!

Blended - Combine with a scoop of ice in an electric mixer. Mix well (15 - 20 sec). Pour into Collin or small hurricane glass. Be sure to garnish with a slice of pineapple and an umbrella.

Happy Staycation fellow Transplants!

Spring Has Sprung And The Pests Are Back!!

Lucky for Pet the rabbits don't like her irises.

These guys better find someone else's porch to chew or Karen's got a nahpalm bomb waiting for their dinner!

Pet

Easter 2011 is history so now I can share my persistent dream (nightmare). Has to do with darling fuzzy tailed bundles of adorable cuteness. Bunny Wabits abound around here. We see them hip hopping through the grass with plentiful patches of clover into the woods to join their burgeoning families. Do they stop and munch, oh maybe a little bit, but mostly they are making a beeline to my lilies. Yes, the very same lilies planted last fall, watered, fertilized and mulched, ready to bloom in to spring glory. And now munched down to a pulp by hungry cotton tails. In other years we like to say “Poor little fellas. They need water, so dry so why begrudge them a few juicy plants?” But this year we have had enough rain for each bunny to have his own lake. And the clover crop is outstanding. So why are those fiends devouring my lilies ready to bloom? Rabbit stew anyone? Or should I say delicious pest stew.

Karen

LOL Pet! Don’t you know rabbits are very discriminating creatures? Why eat clover when you can have a luscious lily that some human slaved over! As I’ve said in the past, Pasadena is like a visit to foraging critter land. Although rabbits are not as plentiful here, we are over run by raccoons, skunks and opossums. Not to mention the forager that Pasadena is famous for because of all the trees…the squirrel! I’m telling you the city of roses is Heaven for the bushy tailed little critters. And boy do they drive me crazy!!!! Why is it that the perfect place to hide the hundreds of nuts they’ve gathered is all over my pretty green lawn? And even though they live in sunny all the time Southern California they act like it’s Fall year round. They never stop gathering acorns from Pasadena’s stately oak tress. And of course my yard is the hot spot for storing a lifetime of food!

Pet

Down south we call that pest dish Brunswick stew. All those nuts make the bushy tailed critters mighty tasty. Only fair since they eat our goodies we eat them! Matter of fact, since reading your blog (info) about the delicious insects served in fine Japanese restaurants, I’ve been thinking about serving the family bug pasta starring many legged super critters. You guessed right! Those little SOBs eating my darling pansies are destined for the dinner plate. Talk about discriminating: the pansy eating pests prefer the yummy flowers to the spinach like leaves. While mulling over recipes I’m dumping granular insecticide circling each little plant so some colors are finally emerging. One way or the other, we exterminate garden pests if we can, something we can’t do to the human ones. But that’s a topic for another blog.

Karen

Gee Pet did you wake up on the mean side of the bed? : ) What a way to talk about our helpless little fluffy tailed friends! Now bugs are another matter. As you know when I was in Japan I partook of some yummy insect friends. And they taste like chicken. Not! Roasted beetles taste a bit like popcorn. If you put on a blindfold you’d swear they were a very tasty snack. Here in Pasadena we are pretty lucky when it comes to bugs. We have as many friendly bugs as enemies to our gardens. Lot’s of ladybugs and praying mantis to take care of most of the aphids that love to chomp on my lovely roses. But there is one pest that has shown up on the scene that I’d gladly hit with a nhapalm bomb…. termites!!!!!! They are chewing on my beautiful front porch! The one I labored over last year doing a four color Painted Lady paint job! Now I have to go back and redo whole sections!!!!! Die termites die!!!!!!!

Pet

Hey city girl…I’m not about to call you a meanie for sending interesting scientific termites to bug heaven. So lay off me and my desire to rid the world of cotton-tales. I always root for the weaker one. So when the coyotes attack I’ll root for the rabbits and my 11 pound dachsaranian (mom dachshund, dad Pomeranian), all tasty morsels for the coyotes. But in the battle between warm blooded critters and helpless plants, no matter the sentiments from songs and books, I’m behind the plants. So there PETA! Ah, but sometimes we come across a most beautiful plant which can only be labeled as pest. Even if you could possibly forget the pollen floating through the air and which tree they come from you’ll always recall the horrible itch coming from the red gold leaves of that awful plant pest POISEN IVY. Unfortunately abundance grows at the edge of our woods, home of the cotton tails who are completely unaffected. I see a raging example of no justice!

Karen

I say power to the bunnies!!!!!! : ) I have friend you should meet. She has a thing for bushwhacking Bambi. Her amazing garden in the Hollywood Hills is over run by deer. She has tried everything to keep them at bay. The go-to repellant is Cougar pee. No, not the pee from over 40 year-old women trolling for 20-year-old boys. : ) We are talking Mountain Lion pee. They sell it for big bucks at the local nursery. I’d like to meet the guy who collects that for a living! Probably doesn’t have a whole lot of job security. : ) Out of desperation and a dwindling pocket book she tried a bunch of other things. Dog pee, cat pee, she even tried her boyfriend peeing on the bushes. Nothing worked. But one day she got a brilliant idea. If fake owls can keep crows away, something might work for deer too. So on a beautiful sunny day she called me up with triumph in her voice, “The deer are gone!! You have to come see what finally worked.” So I took the trek over to her house. She gleefully led me to her backyard and pointed to the top of the hillside. “Look isn’t he gorgeous!” I had to stuff back a laugh when I saw who “He” was. A giant life sized Grizzly Bear!

Pet

Actually any urine from warm blooded animals is supposed to keep the pests away. That’s why we welcome cats and dogs to our flower beds. Since we’re close to the road the neighbors demur but I must admit in the wee hours of very dark nights yours truly sneaks out and…take that you blasted cotton-tailed rodents. The best tactic still is plant something they don’t care for. The irises are blooming unscathed right next to the chomped down lilies. Somewhere I picked up the fact, or notion, that rows of marigolds would turn the stomachs of rabbits, squirrels, even those grubs and grasshoppers. WRONG! The distinct aroma of the orange and gold beauties attracted pests from fields and stream to stop by for a gourmet treat…baby marigolds. Wonder they didn’t order fries with that.

Karen

LOL Pet! The termites must think my beautiful gingerbread front porch is the real thing by the way they are munching down! I know there is always a balance to nature and you have to take the good with the bad but it would be nice if the nasty pest would just go extinct. I mean would really be devastated if black widows suddenly bit the dust? Or how about scorpions? Would the desert just collapse if they all just vanished into thin air? And I’m not saying this lightly as my astrological sign is Scorpio! But in the end we are pretty powerless when it comes to Mother Nature. She’s got her reasons for subjecting us to pests. So to make my peace with her I try to let the good bugs fight it out with the bad and cross my fingers my roses will survive Spring aphid season. But shush………don’t tell Mother Nature I stack the deck by buying tons of ladybugs from the local garden store. : )

Pet: All I can say at this point is phooey on pests. Happy gardening everyone!

Spring Where For Art Thou?

When the magnolia blooms by her front porch Karen know Spring is near.

Early blooming azaleas show their pretty pink faces in April and May

Karen

To say the weather has been a bit crazy lately is beyond an understatement. Here in not so sunny Southern California, one week it’s 80 and spring has vanished and Summer has settled in. Next week we have rain and the daytime temperature is 54. Hello winter. Yikes I need my wool coat! I no longer have faith the normal changing of the seasons will happen. So for now my winter clothes are still the main focus of my closet. I have a drawer full of short sleeve tops that sit at the ready in case another surprise couple of 80 degree days decide to keep me on my toes. Funny, the fruit trees are the only things that seem to know that spring is on the way. When I walk the Rose Bowl the plum and cherry trees are in full bloom and look so lovely. But instead of wearing short sleeves and temperatures in the 70’s, I’m wearing my winter workout sweats and my face feels like I’ve put on an ice mask. Spring….where oh wherefore art though?

Pet

One thing you can count on in this world is that spring will come. Spring arrives every year about half way through the 21^st of March. Wouldn’t we all be delighted out of our minds if on that day the pear trees burst into bloom, the robins laid all those pretty blue eggs, we plop those tank tops into the drawer and kiss winter good bye? But Madam Spring doesn’t work that way. She’s a fickle wench, maybe the most capricious of all her fellow seasons. Oh Old Man Winter might make an appearance when he should be sleeping. We know he’ll be brief and his signature snow very sloppy. Miss Spring on the other hand hangs on with her whims. Ten days of 80+ weather, followed by days with brisk winds from the southwest shifting to the northeast dropping temps twenty degrees. Where are those sweaters? Enough of this weather report. Tell me what exactly do you like about Spring?

Karen

Well, I like it when Spring shows up! : ) I think my favorite thing is the flowering trees. Such a dramatic change from bare branches to color everywhere. My next favorite thing about Spring is the air actually smells different: fresh, clean and crisp. Of course it also can bring on an allergy attack but totally worth the price. My closet gets to turn from black and grey, to black, white and navy. Okay, I admit I’m not a big color person. : ) I also have a bit more bounce in my step on a beautiful Spring day. Of course that could be because I always bake up a storm as soon as the weather gets better. So all the extra sugar coursing through my veins could be the reason. : )

Pet

Ha! And I’m thinking of putting away all that black and getting out the pinks. To match my flowers. Last fall I planted shocking pink tulips along with more daffodils, hardy little suckers; don’t mind sticking their heads through the snow. Actually the first flowers up, right after the crocus, are pink hyacinths, old and feeble but still notably colorful. Any way I do have at least half dozen pink tee shirts to go along with my gardening blue jeans. I own and wear, though it’s falling apart, a pink hoodie, pink sneakers, and pink gardening gloves. Looks like some of my pink snap dragons wintered over and wow…you should see my rhododendron putting out buds all winter. Take my word for many pink petals on perennials, flowering shrubs and trees! Oh I just know you’re going to make a crack about old ladies and their pinks. I even have pink knives and forks. Would love to be poking them into some of your spring baking delights.

Karen

Pet and pink where made for each other. : ) Personally pink and I don’t get along. Instead of making me look cheery and fun it clashes with my skin tone and I look like I’m having a jaundice attack. My problem with bright colors is I like to blend in. I love to observe the people around me without being noticed so wearing a bright orange T-shirt is out of the question. Black is my undercover color of choice. When it comes to my garden I like to keep it subtle too. My flowers are all shades of purple and white. I do have an occasional volunteer turn up in shocking red. But I let it be. I figure if it went to all the trouble of finding my garden to grow in, I should welcome the occasion break from my calm color scheme. I like the occasional rebel. : )

Pet

Scenery around here improves every day. The yellow brown is greening up. Blue jays and blue birds colorfully flit by and the robins and cardinals seem redder than ever. The tree toads are finally speaking up and while the little darlings are never seen they herald what’s happening outside of their trees. Color, color, color, Karen Anne. Boo on black and gray. White in winter makes kind of a pretty background but now even that’s gone in most places and underneath the white stuff lays the dreary dregs of last summer. That’s why the new grass popping up along with early spring bulbs cheer the soul. And you’re cheering non color? How about your delicious home baked goodies. Do you keep the pinks and yellows away or are you getting ready for Easter with yummy toppings alight with spring shades?

Karen

Okay, you twisted my arm. : ) One of my favorite things to bake to get me in a Spring mood is lemon meringue pie. Nothing celebrates the warming temperatures and sunny skies better! It’s always a bit of a challenge to get the meringue browned perfectly but there is nothing more like eating sun shine then a piece of lemon pie! Here’s my big tip. Be sure to use Myer lemons. They have a nice sweet taste and a beautiful color!

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar 2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons unbleached flour 4 egg yokes, beaten

3 tablespoons cornstarch 1 9” pie crust baked

1 ½ cups water 4 egg whites

2 Myer lemons, juiced & zested 6 tablespoons white sugar

(for the meringue)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. For the filing: In medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat stirring until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in ½ cup of hot mixture. Whisk egg mixture back into sugar mixture and bring to a boil. Continue to cook until thick. Remove from heat and pour into baked pie shell.
3. To make meringue: In a large chilled glass bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread over pie, sealing all edges.
4. Bake in preheated oven until meringue is golden brown. Be sure to watch the pie like a hawk!

Pet

Lemon meringue pie. The first thing I ever cooked. My dad didn’t like the crust on my Aunt’s pies; my mom didn’t bake, so he asked me, an adventurous ten-year-old, to make him one. Long time ago but I distinctly remember using a Jell-O mix. He approved of my crust anyway and this led to a long career of chocolate cookies and the best brownies ever. Nothing beats that yellow and white pie around Easter time. Guess I’m getting ahead of myself since we still have to get through March. True to its rep, March arrived here in Eastern Tennessee with vicious winds. Got to keep thinking they’ll bring the April showers soon to give way to May flowers. So we say goodbye like we said hello, with a weather report. Happy springtime everyone.

Another Year Another Headache

One of Pet's Nemisis

Karen's Best Friends

Pet

I’m a bit worried that the New Year might not be as happy as years past. My qualms arise from the unseen custodian’s of my welfare and well being stalking me every day in every way. Gives me a headache so I need an aspirin. Uh oh…the protectors got to the aspirin before me. First a blasted twisty top to keep kiddies out, keeps me out. After searching for a band aid to place over spurting bloody wound from cutting off that strapping plastic wrap I twist and turn a couple of hundred times and finally get it off but a burly foil top won’t let me in. Says pull here but all that does is destroy the tab so the bloody knife is the only answer. So now all I have to do is pull out half a bottle of cotton batting to get at the pills. Think I’ll pop four instead of the advised two.

Karen

I’m always so hopeful when a new year starts. I’m going to actually make some resolutions and keep them. I’m going to make time to see my friends. I really have the best of intentions but once I’m done writing everything down all I’m left with is a big headache. The pesky bottle is just one more thing I can’t control. But once I pop the pill and calm down I realize that I have a whole year to get my resolutions done. And even if I only accomplish half of them because city life can be even more distracting than the internet, I know that I’ve made an effort. Will I ever work myself up again and get another headache? Probably.

Pet

New Year’s resolutions will not deter me from my rant. Here in the country the UPS truck is a frequent traveler up and down our road. Two of the girls even married two of the UPS guys. Love that truck but hate the packages they bring. Oh the goodies within are great it’s the wrapping that gets me. Popcorn and foam and tape…takes hours to get through them, just like that aspirin bottle. And the trash these over wrapped monsters generate!!! Two or three packages a week means an extra trip to the dump. Gas used, wear and tear on the mini-van not to mention my tired body from removing and disposing of the “protective” wrapping. Didn’t all of this start when someone popped poison pills into a bottle of Tylenol?

Karen

I can feel your packaging frustration all the way to tinsel town!!!! Yesterday I had to get out the industrial strength scissors to cut open a battery package. Then as soon as I cut it the package exploded and all the batteries rolled all over the floor! A migraine was instantly in my future. Do the people that design packaging have a deal with all the pain reliever companies? No… you can’t open their bottles either! I do have to admit I have a love hate relationship with packaging. I hate things that are packed in vacuum-sealed plastic. I almost mutilated my wonderful Christmas present, an Ipod, trying to remove it from its plastic tomb just so I could play the darn thing! But I actually love bubble wrap. Not only does it protect my wonderful eBay antiques, but once it has done its job I can have hours of fun popping all the bubbles! Free entertainment. What’s not to love? : )

Pet

I guess popping bubble wrap beats popping aspirin. Something else making me pop something, like maybe a bottle of Tennessee sipping whiskey-- all those machines beeping at me, built in by our unseen guardians. I never get to open the door of the microwave soon enough, my computer revels in beeping out my mistakes, the dryer screeches when done, and don’t even mention my mini-van. That blasted GM product never gives me a chance to buckle my seat belt seat belt before throwing a beeping fit. Walking the dog outside in the crisp country air brings no relief from the bossy machines. The silo on the farm next door makes dumb noises and you should hear the ding-a-ling-ing when those trucks back up. Sometimes the farm noise beat out the sirens in the city.

Karen

One benefit of living in the city is it’s so darn noisy you become numb to it all. In fact all my appliances have a complex. My dryer can ding for hours and I totally ignore it. The microwave screams for my attention but I didn’t even notice. The trash trucks clang up and down the street at 7:00 in the morning and I sleep blissfully. Of course I cheat and wear earplugs. : ) Yes, earplugs and nose canceling head phones are a city girls best friends. Not to mention the general deafness that happens when you are subjected to endless noises 24-7. But I do empathize having been a country girl. Loud noises reach supersonic levels in the peaceful countryside. Can I suggest a lovely pair of blue earplugs? We could be twins. : )

Pet

Once again we find the similarities between country and city life. One sound you won't have invading your sanctuary is the one that comes from the pasture next door where all the cows about to be mamas live. The heifers delivering their first born really howl. Pathetic, but then happy when they again become super milk producers. This leads to my next rant about us becoming a nanny society. The farmers next door are livid about all those people watching our collective health who spout out about the evils of ingesting dairy. When we were kids a glass of milk at each meal was a necessity. Now “those people” are pushing soy “milk”. Of course healthy eating went west years ago. But in Tennessee, the land of biscuits and sausage gravy? Too much.

Karen

Don't get me started on milk! I'm one of those people that needs a nanny! I'm lactose intolerant. No stomach issues for me. What happens when I have a yummy cheese lasagna like I had last night? I can't breathe! Woke up this morning with half a nostril and a sinus headache. Why did I order the lasagna you might ask? Because I wanted it no matter what the price! Until lactose free milk and ice cream came along I was totally deprived. Yes, soy milk was one the alternatives. Not the same taste at all. But thankfully living in the city we have all kinds of alternatives to milk and cheese products. Are they as yummy as the ones made with real milk? No. But at least I can indulge and still breathe!

Pet

You don’t need a nanny. Soy milk is your choice. If I were the nanny I’d say everyone must drink milk and eat lots of beef, lean kind of course. That’s my choice and given time I’d spout off all the health advantages of these locally grown products and the reasons I’m outlawing soy products and poor Karen Anne would have to choke. Fortunately soy beans grow in abundance here in the valley. Get the point of my rant? I vote for a few less layers of package wrap, shutting up those noisy, nosey machines and for heaven’s sake stay away from my food. I have a few more, okay a bunch more, but I’ll save them for a future blog. Of course if the snow and cold clear up I won’t be nearly so mean. A hunk of the year is now gone but never too late to wish one and all a Happy 2011.

Hold Your Breath, It’s the Holiday Season!

Karen's little fur bunny maker GT enjoying the holiday season

The newest member of Pet's family, Chase Wyatt, bundled up and ready for his first holiday season.

Karen

Well Pet, the holiday season is once again upon us. Its time to get out the recipe books and clean the house like mad. Cleaning my house has become a real core with two long hair cats in the house. I don’t have dust bunnies I have fur bunnies in every corner! Just bought a new vacuum to tackle the problem. Has a special pet fur attachment. I never thought a household appliance could give me such joy. It was love after first use!

Pet

Slowly, but surely I’ve begun a necessary task before holiday planning begins – transforming the wardrobe from summer to winter. You might do a little bit of this yearly chore but it’s much more of a necessity in the country where the temps swings from 105 degrees Fahrenheit to just plain 5. So whenever there’s a break from the huge job of cleaning up the garden I’m toting sweaters and sweat pants from closet A and replacing the tank tops and shorts in closet B while the B stuff goes to A. Only when done will I check the calendar.

Karen

Well, that’s one advantage to living in sunny Southern California. We don’t have to trot out winter clothes and totally change over the closet. Just throw on a jacket and maybe a scarf and we can transition pretty easily. The closet I dread this time of year is my decorating closet, which is huge! I have to haul all my spooky stuff out for Halloween and then shift everything around so that I can get to my Christmas bins. As I’m a Christmas fanatic we are talking about 8 large bins stuffed with greenery and cheer. And of course several are filled to the brim with my well over 300 ornaments. Poor Thanksgiving gets short shift. All I have is a small wreath made up of fall flowers and very tried out old stuffed turkey that looks like he’s been shot twenty times. : )

Pet

I’d love to spend the holiday season with you in the city. Never mind that over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go stuff. Goodbye wild turkeys and venison on the hoof, autumn leaves still pretty, and clear crisp days. Hello city life with closets full of decorations and all those pretty store fronts. I’m not much for decorating but love to see the fruits of others. If it weren’t for getting x-rayed and frisked I’d be checking the plane schedules and over the Mississippi and mountains to Karen Anne’s house we go.

Karen

LOL Pet. Yes, traveling ain’t what it used to be. Now not only do you have to start a diet to lose 10 pounds so you can indulge in all the wonderful holiday goodies, you have to lose another 10 so you look good going through the body scanners at the airport to get to the holiday goodies! I swear isn’t there enough pressure on women to look good? Don’t get me started. : ) I do think the city does have a lot to offer during the holidays. Why we have some killer sales already going on. And the store windows are such a nice diversion from my massive gift list. But my favorite part of being in the Pasadena during the holidays is the pre-Rose Parade excitement. Nothing like looking out a store window and seeing a giant parrot cruising down Colorado Boulevard. : )

Pet

Thanksgiving starts the celebration in the country. Each little town has a parade with Santa (that guy does get around this time of year) and a couple of hours of Christmas in Olde (you name the town). The lights go on and do look pretty though the small towns can’t compete with the tourist towns of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (think Dollywood) where they boast one million lights. But then, not even Karen Anne with her humongous decorating closet can compete with that! She tries though…Pasadena’s answer to our Tennessee diva, Dolly Parton.

Karen

Wow Pet, and I thought living up to my Martha Stewart reputation was a burden. I think the thing about the holidays in the city that really burns me up is the fact that some stores start putting out their Christmas merchandise before Halloween! By the time Christmas rolls around I’ve been so over saturated with Santa’s and reindeer I’m looking forward to pink bunnies. On the upside the sales start almost as early and you can get your gift shopping done months in advance. Of course do I take advantage of the fact, no. I’m one of those people that searches high and low for the perfect gift. My friends are an eclectic bunch. And like me they are crazy for antiques. The funkier the better. One year I spent four months trying to track down an 1880’s silver-plated pickle fork!

Pet

Nothing echoes the true spirit of Christmas like giving the perfect gift. Accomplishing this last year, I am now faced with what to get her this year. No such problem with the perfect gifts I receive every holiday season. Seems Hubby detests shopping. An hour in a department store is like a week in hell for him. So I told him not to worry. “I’ll buy all the presents, even the one for me.” Now you’ll find two happy campers at our house during the holidays. For 2010 hubby is generously gifting me with two presents since the ones I now own recently self-destructed. A lovely watch and a camera for dummies under the tree will insure I have a merry and a happy!

Karen

Oh, crafty Pet! You’ve come up with the perfect solution for all husbands gift-giving woes, hand over the chore to the wives!!!!! My hubby asks me for a five item wish list. He also gives me 50 bucks worth of eBay mad money. I’m an eBay master. 50 bucks in my hands is like 200 in someone else’s. When someone raves over one of my antiques I can blow their mind and say I snapped it for 20 bucks. Because of my auction prowess I score the best presents. This year one of my friends wants a Victorian era asparagus server. Where will I get one of those? eBay of course! And the perfect gift will be at her door just in time for Christmas! Love that Internet!

Pet & Karen wish you all the best of luck finding the perfect gift for that special person and the greatest holiday season ever!

Country Girl Goes to the City and Visa Versa

Pet spent much of her childhood at her grandparent's house in Uptown Manhattan

Ah...A wonderful garden in Provence. Karen can't wait to smell the flowers!

Dear faithful Transplant readers, sorry we’ve been MIA for so long but family health woes have had us both sidelined. But we’re back!!!!! And writing about Country Girl Visiting the city and vice versa

Pet

Do you ever leave your comfort zone of bright lights, public transportation and smog and take a trip to clean air, fields of flowers and pure lakes? On occasion, only because my nearest and dearest live in heavy traffic zones I do venture into a city. Not with my dear hubby though, as he’s a confirmed city-phobic. And he defines a city as any named place of 25,000 souls. I’m not in a mood to bash the places where my darling friends and relatives live. So for starters I’ll tell what I love about cities: food and shopping!

Karen

YES!!!! I’ve been dreaming of my vacation that’s coming up to the South of France! I’ve been missing my country roots and can’t wait to spend some down time in the beautiful countryside of Province. I’ve never been before but from what my friends say it will be just what I need: a breather from city life! Although I love what tinsel town has to offer the pace can be beyond crazy. So spending some time lounging with friends in a chateau in Province sounds pretty darn good right now.

Pet

LOL! My hilarity comes from a recent visit from my city slicker brother. He looked out the window in our sunroom and said, “This looks like the south of France. Tell everyone they don’t have to go overseas to see the quaint country sights. Just visit East Tennessee.” Tell you what. After your France trip y’all come and tell us if he’s right. Country scenes might look the same, but cities are even worse. Same stores, same restaurants, inside and outside malls look like twins, very often we have to stop and think, “What city are we in anyway?”

Karen

Some places do look alike especially with the mallization of downtown main streets. Take Pasadena for instance. The quaint historic section built in the late 1800’s called Old Town, was once run down and full of interesting art shops, funky boutiques and even an adult book store. Now it’s all dolled up with foundation and lipstick and filled with chain stores like The Gap and Crate and Barrel. But it’s nice to see some towns still leave a bit of the seedy side as well as the new improved version like Hollywood. Can’t mistake tinsel town for any other city. Where else can you see stars on the sidewalk and Spiderman posing for pictures in front of the Graumans Chinese Theater!

Pet

Now I’m getting home sick to visit tinsel town. I once went every year to celebrate the holidays with the family. Mom and Dad would travel in from New York and my brood and I would bop in from various rural settlements. Brother, sis and families lived there so we would have great times. Loved the celebrities. Once we caught a filming of PERRY MASON at the Ambassador Hotel where we were staying. Daddy, the joker, greeted Raymond Burr and said, “How come you win every case you try and I lose all of mine?” RB got huge kick from this. I also love the food and abundance of things to do. Bro, in the film biz, used to

take me to screenings at the Academy Award Theater. But I have to point out…the sunsets suck!

Karen

Ah Pet….the good old days. The Ambassador Hotel in no more. Most of it has been torn down and a huge school has been built on the site. The most expensive school in America at a cost of 578 million bucks!!!!! What other inner city school has it’s own park and a state of the art swimming pool any Olympic venue would envy. No wonder the state is on the verge of bankruptcy!! Also, the Academy Awards Theater has been replaced by the much more showy Kodak Theater. The red carpet is covered by a long series of suspended glass panels. The world would end if a celebrity got one drop on their fancy designer gown! : ) And a funny thing about the sunsets, since they cleaned up the air in LA, the sunsets have gone from dark burnt orange to pale sherbet colors. They actually look good enough to eat!

Pet

Wow! I have to catch up on the all new Los Angeles. I haven’t visited since Mom, who lived there for 15 years, passed. That’s about seven years ago, before we became internet buddies. My problem is only my brother still lives there, in West Hollywood part of LA metroplex. Sis moved to Berkley, niece to Napa and nephew and his darling brand new baby girl live in San Diego. Big state, big spread. How can I visit them all and still have time to tour your famous Victorian showplace? This country girl will be undergoing major big city trepidation. And a trip to the big apple is due; not only to visit my birthplace but also to meet another new family member, my grand-nephew, baby Louis living in Brooklyn. How did you fare when you visited your ex roommate in a tiny New Mexico town?

Karen

Well, the town isn’t as tiny as mine in upstate where the one and only traffic light changes to flashing caution at sundown, but it’s not much bigger. You can drive down Main Street in one minute! It’s still a town driven by agriculture. Oh and the occasional donkey farm. LOL. On my recent visit they added one more choice to the dinning possibilities, right next to the Sonic Bugger is a brand spanking new Taco Bell! I had to pinch myself. LOL! My friend lives on an acre that she has turned into a bird sanctuary. The yard is full of beautiful native bushes and trees and she has a small pond. Her little piece of heaven in the desert.

Pet

I’m sure I’d love your friend’s little acre, but I don’t know about that town! Why do so many rural hideaways have those fast food places? I guess because the residents would go to the next town to get their fix. Since our home city…yes it’s a designated city…has nothing except half a dozen churches, two gas stations (one with a lunch counter), a small library with a mostly m.i.a. librarian and a spanking new post office, 500 people and 5,000 cows, we go to larger nearby town with half dozen stoplights for amenities like banks. There you’ll find abundant fast food places, and a genuine Mexican restaurant owned and operated by real Mexicans. But where does the Hispanic population go to eat? You guessed it. Taco Bell of course.

Karen

They don’t pay for all those commercials for nothing. LOL! We are all creatures of habit. I’m gearing up for my big trip to France where I hope to dine on anything BUT fast food. Have fingers crossed no more family issues will keep me from Paris. I’m looking forward to seeing if the fields of grape vines in Province are similar to the ones in Napa and Sonoma. If the lovely hill towns are similar to the hills in upstate. I’ve been pining for a little time in the countryside. The saying is true: You can take the country girl away from the farm but you can’t keep her away from the hay. : )

Pet

Have a wonderful time hoping from famous city to famous country place while we do the same stateside. So many cities, so many country places…and we’ll all try to visit as many as we can.