Uncategorized
Border Poet has me Tongue-tied
Yesterday while at the UUCEP Holiday Bazaar, I picked up a copy of an acquaintance’s newest book, Tongue-tied to the Border. The author, Gene Keller, is a wonderful, likeable and fluffy bearded man with an ever present twinkle in his eye. Yes, it’s getting very close to Christmas and, no, I’m sorry to say he is not Santa! Though reading his work made me feel as though my Christmas had come early.
Gene’s book reminds me of how I love the smell of the desert with a summer’s rain freshly upon it, the splash of the dust and the crack of the electric permeating the sky with a monsoon just arrived. This is what Tongue-tied brings to thoughts and senses.
If you have never lived in the desert, this book is a must. And if you have, this book is an ethereal fantasy of childhood memories as well as a social commentary on the shared lives of our sister cities, Juarez and El Paso.
Now I must begin from page one again. I have to relish in the poems, reading them slowly and examining the contextual meanings as I feel, contemplate and digest the words of this borderlander.
“Gene Keller is a full-spectrum poet: a maker of word artifacts, a singer, a storyteller.” (From back book jacket.)
A performance by Gene at our sanctuary in April 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXHheDHdok
Copies of Tongue-tied to the Border are available for purchase on Amazon.com, or at the Hal Marcus Gallery in El Paso.
Tongue-tied to the Border, by Gene Keller, Copyright 2012 by Gene Keller, Street of Trees Projects (SOTP 1112), 225 Arboles, El Paso TX 79932.
My desert home
It’s been wonderful being back in El Paso for the last year and more. I’ve been so used to traveling and moving that our little six-week trip in September and October back East just wasn’t enough to cure my bug, but at the same time, I’m home.
I graduated from Socorro High School here in El Paso back in the 80’s and then went straight 
into the Marine Corps as a 17-year-old. My friends and I were so hurried to get out on our own. Of my two best friends, one graduated mid-term and married the day after our last class. I graduated mid-term also and left for boot camp in January. While my friends were enjoying the prom I was on bivouac in Parris Island and by the time they were graduating, I was at my first duty station in North Carolina. At age 21, when many young adults are moving out of their parents’ homes, I was completing a four-year tour of duty.
Although I have a lot of pride associated with my service (even my youngest daughter became a Marine) I recently have had reminders of the unique experiences that I lost in all my ambition. I followed the military for 25 years and it was only my position with the American Red Cross that brought me back home to Texas, serving as the Station Manager at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
Within a year of leaving El Paso so long ago I lost touch with my first love. The last I heard from my best friends was about ten years ago. We’re now in our 40s, married, divorced, children. Although we’ve all gone in different directions, we will never lose our common denominator. And maybe I’m a sentimental fool now, but I’d love to see them all, hear their voices, cry with them, laugh with them, and heal their wounds.
In January I leave El Paso, but in December I’ll be back, back to my favorite place, my desert home.
Anticipation
Remember that old song by Carly Simon? It’s been ringing in my ears these days. Just the thought of being back on the road, staying in a new city most every night and a new state every week. It brings me butterflies and wracks my organizational Type A brain all at one time.
Unfortunately, I’ve found myself turning into a procrastinator. I keep asking myself, “Where is this coming from?” I’ve done all the tests that prove just how anal I am, I have ALWAYS been the one early, ready, and obnoxiously on point and on schedule. But now? I’m lost in a sea of, *eh* … really!
Is it age that makes me realize that some things are more important? When did sitting outside under the awning become more important than planning my trip, emailing contacts at my upcoming locations, looking up campgrounds, …
Okay, so the list could go on forever. I just want to be out there. I want to be on the road with, “Yeah, we’ll be there by Sunday but until then, we have six days to travel all of 250 miles and nothing else on the schedule.” I want to hit the parks, the zoos, the museums, and take time to just sit by the side of the road and enjoy the view of the skyline or the mountains, or whatever happens to be in my back yard that night. Think about it, in just a few weeks, the entire country will be my personal backyard!
Why did he want two?
Last year at UUCEP we had a big box in the back for people to bring in gifts to donate and we had a good response but the varieties of gifts were pretty wide-ranged. This year we decided on a Giving Tree for foster children through CASA El Paso. As many know, this is when you set up a Christmas tree in a hall, or in our case in the sanctuary, with tags hung on it describing various children and their gift wishes for Christmas.
Before the tree was even set up Austin and I spied the envelope with tags in it in the office while we were putting together our travel poster. We looked through the many cards and Austin clued in on some boys close to his age and wanting gifts that he would love himself. I told him that we had to choose just one and put the others back for the giving tree but Austin didn’t like this. He asked why he couldn’t choose two and I explained that there were other people in the church that would want to donate also.
I decided to ask him why, why did he want two? It’s not like he’s getting the gifts himself (as many young children would feel) and he wouldn’t even get to meet the children. But Austin said decisively, “Because I feel so bad for them. They don’t have as much as I have.” And there it was, the growth, the maturity, and my parental pride all balled up inside of him and me.
So I promised him that we would check the tree in a couple weeks and see if any tags were missed. If so, we would take them and go straight to the store for more gifts for the children.
You see, my son Austin is adopted. A beautiful soul that was a gift to me and is now a gift to the world.
CASA of El Paso trains and supports volunteers from the community to advocate for abused and neglected children who need representation in the family court system, striving to provide them a safe and permanent home.
For more information, visit www.casaofelpaso.com.
Karma didn’t smile on me yesterday!
What a way to start my day! I got up and started the usual routine, taking the dog out, making my morning tea, and getting Austin up for breakfast. The day was warming fast (in a vehicle that happens even at 50 degrees outside) so I decided to open the front door and dinette window to allow some cool air in. And this is where it hit, as I started to open the dinette window, it shattered! Really! I got it open maybe three inches and then that horrible, disconcerting quiet little ‘clink‘ that brought the window to pieces and me standing there holding the metal frame that was supposed to be attached to the glass.
Now if my rig was a bit older I might expect the occasional mishap, but this had to have been karma because it bit me again later in the day in a few ways. After taking two hours to clean up the glass from on, under and inside my dinette, I realized that the time I had spent was supposed to have been used typing my already late submission to the UUCEP newsletter, sorry Sonia! It was also Wednesday, and Wednesdays are laundry days so that means schlepping everything to the laundry facility and giving up a couple hours of my life that I’ll never get back. After all of this I had 60 sweet minutes to sit back and enjoy the quiet (or type like I should) before heading to the USO for my weekly volunteer shift.
So, I sat back, plugged in and turned on my laptop and put the boob tube to something meaningless while I heated some water for tea. But no, not to be. Within ten minutes the lights went out, not just in my camper but in the entire park. And they stayed out.
I finally gave up and gave in, leaned back, closed my eyes and rested for about ten minutes, thinking of how wonderful tomorrow just had to be as Austin ran outside and hopped on his bike along with all of the other kids in the park. Then I mustered my energy, got the lantern from it’s hiding hole, got ready for my USO shift and spent a wonderful evening with some of America’s finest.
And today? Today is a great day. In fact, every day is a great day!
To find out more about the USO, visit www.USO.org.
Cooking a Thanksgiving feast for two in an RV
Cooking a multi-course meal in a 2′ x 4′ kitchen can be a bit daunting, but this year our meal was a success. With only two of us and a tiny oven, I wanted to make just the right serving sizes to have for our dinner and few leftovers.
My first plan was for the turkey. I decided on crockpot cooking and a 3# Butterball turkey breast. The breast comes in a plastic bag with the turkey wrapped in a string net along with a bag of gravy starter.
I started by taking the turkey out of the string net. There were two large pieces and a few small chunks. After cleaning the pieces, I set them aside and cut a red onion into 8 chunks and readied two garlic gloves. I layered the ingredients in the crock pot as such: 1/3 stick butter, 1/2 of the onion chunks, 1 diced garlic 
clove, 1/2 the turkey, spices, 1/3 stick butter, 1/2 bag baby carrots, the second 1/2 of the onion, second clove of garlic, all topped with the second 1/2 of turkey, skin side up. At the very top I added the last 1/3 stick butter and spices and 1/2 cup water. I cooked this overnight (about 8 hours) on low, then changed the crockpot to the “warm” setting from morning until time to serve.
Next I went about making the side dishes. With only two saucepans, I had to cook, clean, and cook and clean again. I first made the cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries (the only way to have it!) Easy to make for two in a small pan with 1/2 bag fresh cranberries and 1 cup sugar boiled with 1/2 cup water until the berries open and the sauce thickens just a bit. I then put the sauce in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool and thicken, washed the pan and started on the gravy.
At first I tried the gravy that came with the turkey but my son and I both agreed that the gravy just did not meet up to our standards. I then tasted the au jus and it was perfect as-is so we decided on using it. The last two dishes to be made were the stuffing and mashed potatoes just before ready to serve.
And although in a tiny space, we had a delicious homestyle Thanksgiving dinner made just for two!
2013 Schedule
Austin and I spent the afternoon Wednesday mapping and tweaking our route for next year. After getting a few spots on the map we could see some better patterns and it changed all of our dates for the year! It was very exciting to see the locations in a concrete form, knowing we’ll be starting out in just one more month. Amazing to have this opportunity!
This map will stay at the UU Community of El Paso (UUCEP) in the Children and Youth Religious Education (CYRE) department. UUCEP is our starting point on January 1st and our ending point on December 31st.
I’ll be posting the entire year’s schedule this weekend. Hope to see many of you as we reach your locale!
*You can also find us on Facebook as “traveling tUUsome”
Welcome!
Thank you for visiting our site! We are now in preparation for our January 1st launch on a year long journey to every state, Washington D.C. and Ottawa, Canada, in search for the true identity of modern Unitarian Universalism.
We hope to see you in our travels!
- ← Previous
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
traveling tUUsome 