We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Entry porch of the place where we stayed, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach on the Pacific side. Lots of people with kids, but elegant, beautifully-designed, built for the ages, friendly, simple, and utterly free of any tackiness. I nicknamed the place "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon" because it's built into an oceanside cliff.
A few of my random Cabo notes:
- Baja California Sur is a desert, dominated by cactus forest habitat. There are always rocky mountains in the distance, running north-south down the long peninsula. There are no rainy days and no cloudy days except in August and September. That's what creates the huge arroyos and canyons.
- The weather is said to be similar to that of Palm Springs, but with a constant sea breeze. Cool desert nights. No humidity.
- Besides the place where we stayed, other resort hotels that seemed especially appealing were Hacienda Del Mar and Palmilla (with golf) in San Jose.
- Cabo is famous for its fishing, deep-sea and coastal. Lots of tournaments. I like to know that the Marlin and Sailfish are out there, but I don't feel much of a need to hassle a fish anymore.
- In the winter months, whales are everywhere for calving season. Gray Whales and Humpbacks. Whether you go fishing, whale-watching, or just sit on the beach, they'll be out there. On the morning we left, I watched, from our terrace, a baby Humpback leaping and cavorting like a puppy.
- Our place had seven pools, some with jacuzzi jets in the corners and some with swim-up bars. We swam in a couple of them, but I am not a pool person and did not sit by one for a minute.
- I'm not much of a resort guy either, but I have to admit that they do know how to make a vacation as comfortable, painless, and convenient as this life can be. I am adaptable, and can adjust to that for a while before I feel like chopping some wood or doing something useful.
- Overheard at night in a pool between two Texas guys with drinks in hand (the only time I heard any crude talk at all): "My f-ing wife, her neighbor gets a f-ing 20-foot Christmas tree, and she has to have a 40-foot tree. Where the f-ing f- does she thinks this money comes from?" "My wife, it's the f-ing shoes. Thousand dollar shoes, she wears them once and tells me they pinch." "Yeah, well last week my f-ing wife..."
- Once you get off the main drag, it's dirt roads everywhere. Everything is coated with dust until rain comes in August.
- Odd as it seems, Cabo is only a 2-hr time difference from the East Coast.
- The Cabo area seems to mainly attract wholesome people from the Midwest and the West Coast. I suppose it serves similar purposes to those the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Florida do for Easterners. We met a number of delightful people, and spent a good evening having drinks and learning to play Mexican Train Dominoes with them. It's a good game, and you don't have to think too hard.
- Cabo San Lucas is on the southernmost tip of the long Baja peninsula, 1000 miles south of LA. My lad drove from LA to Cabo once. Mexican roads. I would not drive those highways at night - no guardrails or shoulders, cliffs, constant detours, cattle on the highways, etc.
- The ocean-side beaches, alas, are mostly not swimmable but are surfable. They tend to have a steep drop-off with powerful churning surf, strong currents, whirlpools, and undertows. Easy for a strong swimmer to lose control. The Sea of Cortez is entirely swimmable, and swim in it we did. Mrs. BD and I like cold salt water with waves. Chillier than one might expect down there. Most people use the heated pools, and make like a Manatee.
- The old part of Cabo San Lucas and the marina are predictably touristy and honky-tonk, with some fine, relatively inexpensive restaurants. Lively at night. Almost all of the resort hotels are on the Sea of Cortez side, so if you like lots of activity, guys selling faux-Mexican junk, crowded beaches, water taxis, Sea-Doos, girl-watching, boozed-up college kids, etc., that's your place. You have to go to that side to swim in the sea though, which is what we like to do.
- You get the feeling in Mexico that many jobs are either partly completed, never completed, or just abandoned. The ramshackle, third world look becomes part of the dusty charm after a day or two. On the other hand, the jobs which involve the gringos, like the resorts and vacation homes, are done very well and with fine craftsmanship, especially the stonework.
- We saw little of what we think of as "Mexican food" in the East. Yes, they have taco stands all over for the workmen, but the food we had was excellent with nary a refried bean. Not much guacamole either, but sliced avocado on top of lots of things. Saw no lemons, but those little limes are always sliced on a plate.
Early morning on our Cabo beach last week, with surfcasters. Note the 6-foot berm on the beach; there's a similar one just inside the water's edge such that there is no safe footing in the surf.
We ate very well in Mexico. These were seafood enchiladas with a creamy wine sauce, a relish of chopped raw vegetables marinated in lime juice, and some fried plantain chips. The green salsa with the brown corn chips was tomatillo, cilantro, onion, and chilis.
Also, the necessary daily Marguerita or two, to ward off scurvy and to prevent dehydration.
(This nice lunch was at the Cilantro Restaurant, next to the Pueblo Bonito Rose resort on the Cabo San Lucas harborside beach. That's not the hotel where we stayed but it's a good one if you like to be around a lot of activity.)
We go places and take photos to save our readers the trouble, hassle, and expense of travelling around. We do it for you!
Rolled back home to Maggie's HQ in Yankeeland at 3:15 this morning after several lengthy flight delays, stuck irritably in the Houston airport. I only have time to post one pic now - our hotel suite's terrace overlooking the quiet and peaceful Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas (as opposed to the Sea of Cortez side). Very pleasant to step into your palatial suite (His and Hers bathrooms, daily sheet changes, hot and cold-running help, chilled Pacificos on hand with lime slices, etc) and to see this sight (decadent hot tub out of sight on the left):
I found Baja Sur to be interesting in many ways. I'll get to my many pics and thoughts about it over the next few days. And yes, Capt. Tom and Dr. Merc, I did do a little fishin' - but just coastal fishing for dinner.
Morning links later today, if I can get my brain in order.
Gimme The Axe is one of the kids in Carl Sandburg's remarkable American fairy tales, The Rootabaga Stories. Tales told to his daughters.
Welcome to Rootabaga Country--where the railroad tracks go from straight to zigzag, where the pigs wear bibs, and where the Village of Cream Puffs floats in the wind. You'll meet baby balloon pickers, flummywisters, corn fairies, and blue foxes--and if you're not careful, you may never find your way back home.
That was Publisher's Weekly.
ZIGZAG RAILROAD, THE PIGS WITH BIBS ON, THE CIRCUS CLOWN OVENS, THE VILLAGE OF LIVER AND ONIONS, THE VILLAGE OF CREAM PUFFS, HOW THEY BROK AWAY TO GO TO THE ROOTABAGA COUNTRY, HOW THEY BRING BACK THE VILLAGE OF CREAM PUFFS WHEN THE WIND BLOWS IT AWAY, HOW THE FIVE RUST RATS HELPED FIND A NEW VILLAGE, HOW SIX PIGEONS CAME BACK TO HATRACK THE HORSE AFTER MANY ACCIDENTS AND SIX TELEGRAMS, ....
I hope your kids did not grow up deprived this whimsical Americana. In fact, I think I enjoyed hearing them read outloud more than my kids did.
Instead of reading the books, I'd recommend tracking down the audio versions with Carl Sandburg reading them himself. It's pure delight, and his reading sticks in the mind most pleasantly - unlike most things in life.
"Do you want to buy the ticket with the blue flanch to go all the way and come back, or do you want to buy the ticket with the yellow flanch to go all the way, and never come back?"
Almost finished putting the Christmas stuff away, and amusing myself by refreshing my memory about Henry Hudson's voyages.
Given what a careful exploration he did, I am surprised he never ventured up the St. Lawrence, which Cartier had discovered in 1535 and which Champlain was exploring at the same time as Hudson's trip. Also, I am reminded that the English Jamestown settlement existed a couple of years before his Dutch-sponsored 1609 trip, and that the West Indies, South America, and even Peru had been settled by Spanish long before, in the 1500s.
The Spanish knew where the gold was, and it wasn't in New England.
I didn't realize that Ricky Skaggs wrote this tune. We made friends with Ricky back when he was playing in bars in Kentucky. In fact, Mrs. BD hired him for a few performances. Dylan used a rousing rock version as his opening tune for a year or two, which I have from a bootleg on my iTunes.
17:1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
17:2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.
17:3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
17:4 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
17:5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"
17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.
17:7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid."
17:8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
A reader thought this might be of interest: A City of Neighborhoods. (Adjust the % scale to see it in detail.)
I hate to admit that, while I know my way around Manhattan fairly well, the other boroughs are a mostly mystery and an adventure for me unless we are talking about Peter Lugar's, the BAM, Yankee Stadium, the Tennis Center, Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge - and the airports.
3 cups fresh blueberries 3 cups fresh raspberries Cup of strawberries, cut up 3 cups fresh blackberries or boysenberries peel of a whole lime, cut into strips peel of a whole lemon, cut into strips 1 cup of fresh mint leaves
In a saucepan, combine 3 c. of water with peels and bring to boil. Remove from heat, add mint leaves and steep for 30 minutes.
Strain, then put liquid back in saucepan with the sugar until boiling and sugar is fully dissolved.
Remove from heat again, cool or chill until at least room temp, and add about a tablespoon of juice from your lime and the lemon.
Gently mix liquid with the berries and chill in fridge for a few hours.
I am always behind the curve on gizmos. I was so pleased with the Keurig machine at the inn we stayed at a few weekends ago that Mrs. BD was moved to buy one for us - really for me - with spare miles.
We usually consume only half of each pot of coffee we make, except on weekends. I can drink coffee that has been sitting around for 8 hours, but it isn't my favorite.
My beef with those Keurig cups is that they haven't made a deal yet with Dunkin' for their terrible but comfortably familiar coffee, or with Chock full of Nuts for the same, or with Starbucks, Bustelo, Gorilla, or any of the good Italian brands. Those Green Mountain coffees don't do it for me except in a pinch at a minimart.
A friend reminded me the other day about breakfast at the Regency. That's where he meets with people for business breakfasts when in New York, as do many heavy hitters and financial types who seem to own their regular tables.
He told me that they make an excellent corned beef hash. I love corned beef hash for breakfast.
Pic of breakfast at The Regency from this site (good pics, obnoxious writing).
I'm a bit jealous. I don't own (or need) a suit expensive enough for a Regency breakfast. This is more my speed:
The USA is unusual because wild game meat can not be sold in stores. All "game" meat sold in the US is farm-raised, whether venison, quail, pheasant, duck, or whatever.
That is the correct and righteous legacy of the devastating, 12 month/year market hunting of the past which devastated the seemingly endlessly abundant American wildlife populations.
There is no bird as special for the table as Woodcock, but you have to get out and shoot them yourself. One way to do justice to this diminutive bird (smaller than the European Woodcock) is a ravioli dish I learned from my Cordon Bleu chef friend.
Take a few Woodcock, and cut all of the meat off them - breast, thighs, etc. Chop the meat into roughly 1/2" pieces. Throw in a bowl and mix with a bit of sauteed very finely-chopped shallots and carrots, salt, pepper, a bit of fresh thyme and parsley and a little bit of truffle oil.
Take some wonton squares and brush some whisked egg on the edges as glue. Put a teaspoon or two of the mixture inside, then seal the squares tightly to eliminate any air inside, and place carefully into gently boiling water until done. It only takes a few minutes.
Serve two or three raviolis drizzled with somewhat reduced gibier sauce, with a few shavings of black truffle on top.
If there is any better mental training, or any better test of training and intellect than Chess, I don't know what it is.
(Other than real life, of course. Mastering the vicissitudes, raw deals, unfairnesses, subtleties, luck, and challenges of real life is the real test. Of course, dealing one's own personal limitations is a big part of that game.)
A friend of mine with three young kids recently banned all electronic and computer games from the house. "Enough stupid crap in this house." He announced that they would henceforth play Checkers, Chess, Backgammon, Poker, Mille Bournes, Euchre, or Hearts in the house - and that he would give each kid one game every night.
He's been working on Fritz though, to make sure he can stay ahead of them, and his eldest (9 years old) requested a Chess tutor. But even Fritz is banned for the kids. "I want them to play a real human, to learn to read them and their game."
Krauthammer to Write Magnum Opus on Politics
Almost finished putting the Christmas stuff away, and amusing myself by refreshing my memory about 
"Favorite" is not a helpful word. Let me ask our scientific poll questions a better way:
I am always behind the curve on gizmos. I was so pleased with the Keurig machine at the inn we stayed at a few weekends ago that Mrs. BD was moved to buy one for us - really for me - with spare miles. 
Got any Woodock left in the freezer?
It's the cat's meow: