HAPLOGROUP J

The small package arrived in the mail.  Inside was an envelope and a couple of little swabs that looked like tiny bottle brushes – one for each cheek.  The ones in your mouth.  You scrub them around the side of your mouth – one for each side – let them dry for 30 minutes and put them in the mailing envelope.  Off they go to a lab that tests the mitochondrial DNA (from your mom) for thousands of years back and tells you where you came from on your mother’s side, about 50,000 years ago.  Here’s what mine says about my ancient mother:

Time: Emerged approx 50,000 years ago
Place: Near East
Facts: The woman who founded Haplogroup J lived approximately 50,000 years ago in the Near East (Mesopotamia). Descendents of the Haplogroup J line moved north and west into Eastern Europe approximately 10,000 years ago. Today, descendents of this line can be found throughout Europe, but are most commonly associated with individuals from Russia and Eastern Europe.

I knew my father’s ancestry to be primarily English and then more recently, Native American.  His family arrived on the east coast in the early 1800s or late 1700s and settled in Virginia.  Then, 2 brothers and their mother moved south and west and eventually settled in south Texas.  One of the sons had a son he named Napoleon and the other brother had a son he named Bonaparte.  Bonaparte’s brother was a direct descendant of my father’s father.  I would like to know why the brothers named their sons after a French Emperor, but that is a story I may never hear.  From his grandmother, my father inherited the bronze complexion and raven black hair common to the Native Americans.  At that time, however, it was not politically correct to associated with such, and my great grandmother declared herself to be “Black Dutch” rather than the Cherokee that we believe her to have been.  We may never know her actual tribal ancestry, but the photographs are unmistakable in her high cheekbones and blue black hair.  When my father died, I had more gray hair at 55 than he did at 82.

It never occurred to me that I would have any eastern European or Russian ancestry.  I’ll have to quiz my mother when I go to Texas in a few weeks to see what she knows of her mother’s ancestry.  Once when in Texas on a summer visit, I dragged my family to see the Catherine the Great exhibit and was fascinated.  But I tend to be fascinated with art of any ilk, including that of the Northwestern Indian.  I’m not sure what all this new information means to me.  I guess that remains to be seen.

BI RITE CREAMERY

We are off to the City for lunch and dessert here.  It’s going to be hot here today – and in the coming few days. Can’t escape Monday and Tuesday, but today, we can.

Made spiced fig jam this weekend.  Sat down and made menus for the week from the Weight Watchers cookbook.  Hope springs eternal.  So, yeah, today we are driving 120 mi round trip FOR ICE CREAM.  Makes perfect sense, don’t you think?  I thought so, too!

IN THE WEEDS

That’s a really good expression.  Might I add that these particular weeds are taller than I am?  Effectively preventing me from seeing where I am heading.  This, as you might expect, is troublesome.

I’m super busy at work and in my work there are deadlines that are important.  Nobody lives or dies because of them but court deadlines and trial deadlines are serious stuff.  They don’t call the DEADlines for nothing.  So when I’m this busy, I always have a nagging feeling that one of these deadlines is going slip through the cracks (so to speak) but then come back through and bite me in the butt.  It has happened.  It is very unpleasant when it does.

My immediate boss is about to be appointed to the bench.  Great for her, not so great for me.  But, she made some mysterious statement the other day about how I shouldn’t make any decisions right now about my job situation when that happens because, “other things are in the works.”  No explanation.  Right.

I’m thinking about retirement; i.e., whether I can swing it next year or not.  There are so many variables, pieces to the puzzle.  I’m not even sure I have the edge pieces as yet.  Although, a rather important piece may have fallen into place last night.  Husband said a mortgage broker said we could get a reverse mortgage when I turn 62 which would give us a lump sum in cash and relieve us of future mortgage payments until we either die or sell the house.  It’s very complicated in financial terms as to whether we could swing it on Husband’s retirement plus my little Social Security stipend.  At least 3 years until I turn 65 would be close because of medical insurance costs.  Part of me is willing to forego health care for 3 years – I’m disgustingly healthy.  Part of me is more conservative and thinks it wouldn’t be a good idea.  But, at nearly $600 a month right now and a $75 a month increase every year, it casts a huge financial shadow over the decision to be made.  And, there are other obligations that come into play.

The weeds are pretty high.  I wish I had a scythe.

TWEET, TWEET, EAT MY FEET!

OK, not a great title, but I honestly don’ t know how to express my utter disgust and complete horror at the tweets that appearing on the screen in TV shows!  So, insert all the cuss words you can think of and then square that to the nth power (whatever the hell that is), and that’s how pissed I am with these damn things.

STOP IT.  FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY (AND NOT HOLY) STOP IT NOW!

ANTICIPATION………..

We’ve been having the most wonderful weather:  not hot, breezy, with just a hint of autumn in the air.  Although it’s been almost 40 years since I was officially in school, autumn still fills me with anticipation of things to come:  new people, ideas, new challenges and relief from the same old thing of summer.  Only now, there isn’t any change except in the weather.  Every autumn I get antsy for some new course in my life.  This year is no exception, and this year it’s particularly bad.  I want to stop doing what I’m doing and do something else. I want to retire, I want to travel, I want to turn my attentions to something else. Haven’t the foggiest idea what something else might be, but I’m pretty sure the same old thing is what I’m going to be doing: getting up, going to work, coming home, going to the gym and grocery shopping and cooking on the weekend.  This is not to say that I don’t appreciate my life – it’s really pretty darn good.  And, this fall does hold some thing to look forward to:  a weekend get away to Cambria (complete with the night tour of Hearst Castle), a trip to Texas, and a week in Portland over Thanksgiving.  And, with the heat wave that’s expected this weekend, along with the cool weather, I think my antsyness may be replaced by the summer heat coma.

Today, summer’s ennui drove me to the bookstore, looking for the excitement of new textbooks in the form of something new to read, albeit with a sort of nagging sense of guilt because I had to go to Barnes & Noble because there are no independent bookstores left around here.  Anyway, I bought (remember, these titles are underlined) The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Rose Labryinth, 1000 White Women, September’s Vogue, and a copy of the boardbook version of Sheep in a Jeep (for Max!).   Oh!  I saw a title while walking back to the children’s section – Gut Flush.  Ugh.

I used to have the perfect job for me.  I worked in a children’s bookstore for about 3 years.  I was happy to see the old standbys still on display and endulged in a bit of nostaliga for those wonderful stories for the older kids and wishing I was as up to date with the new titles.  Well, not entirely as there was a whole table dedicated to vampire books.  Ugh.  I’ll have to pass on those.  I’m all for fantasy and magical realism, but blood sucking creatures?  No, thanks.  It was fun to see the display of Halloween books for the little ones.  I didn’t see my favorite witch book, tho:  Guess What? by Mem Fox.

Back home, I put on an apron and made 2 batches of ratatouille.  One batch in the 3 qt saute pan and the other in the 3 qt saucier.  I had so many homegrown tomatoes graciously given to me, I had to use them.  And I still have more!  I think roasted tomato soup may be next?  Not sure.  Lots of prep work, but satisfying and yummy and lots of leftovers for the coming week.

Chocolate Decadence Cookies – Gluten Free!  I stumbled – is there a word that means stumbled upon in an internet sense?  You know, when you are idly clicking links you’ve not visited before and you stumble upon something interesting?  Like a recipe for gluten free cookies?  Anyway, these are made with only 1/4 cup of rice flour.  I thought the dough would be runny but the addition of dried cranberries, chocolate chunks and walnuts (I used hazelnuts) made them just right.  I made a batch for Nathan without the cranberries and nuts, just the chocolate chunks, because most 10 yr old boys don’t really like stuff like dried cranberries and nuts in their cookies.  They are delicious and, unlike a lot of GF cookies, the texture is lovely.  I’m quite excited by this find, although I don’t seem to be able to eat just one at a time……2 or 3 seem necessary.  I hope Nathan likes them.

Fall Shoes.  I told Husband that I would be saving a buttload of money this fall because the shoes being shown this fall are so not for me!  Really high heels and heavy and clunky and complicated.  I do sort of like some of the little ankle boots, but not many.  There is an article in Vogue that explains how to get in shape so your poor back might better tolerate the unnatural posture caused by such high heels….that says something.   I mean, if you have to work out to wear stuff that makes you look weird so you don’t actually do harm to your back, do you really want to wear it?  I’m sort of a purist in footwear.  I like my shoes very plain, soft and comfortable.  Like if Eileen Fisher made shoes. And, bold shoulders for fall?  Oh, please.

Yard Recycle Bin 1 – Viellefemme 0.  Yeah, how this exactly happened is sort of a mystery, but I think I figured it out.  I was cutting the roses away (again) because I bought camelias to plant in their place,  this time pouring poison on the roots (and feeling like a murderer) and putting the canes in the yard recycle bin.  So, as I tipped back the bin to roll it to the next bush, the open lid was flopping in the back and I think I tipped it back so far that I stepped on the edge of the lid.  This stopped the forward movement of the bin, which stopped my forward movement causing the side of my head to collide with the top edge of the bin and my right hand to crash against some part of it.  Next thing I knew, both me and the bin were on the ground.  Only I had a bump on my head and a searing pain in my right hand.  I don’t think the bin was any the worse for the collision.  It didn’t say and didn’t call 911.  I haven’t had a bump on my head in over 50 years.  I haven’t missed it.  I thought my hand was going to hurt like hell but it didn’t after the initial OUCH wore off.  Glad of it because I type all day at work.  And, sitting on the ground I was thinking about rethinking the plan to make ratatouille.  As it turned out, it’s just tender to the touch and didn’t bruise like I was sure it would at the time.  Maybe because of the reiki I gave it afterward, but who knows, really?

Tomorrow is Labor Day.  Always grateful for a 3 day weekend.  Really looking forward to Saturday and the bleach/haircut that morning.  I have not been looking like myself lately with all this hair and the decided lack of “attitude” brought on by my usual hairstyle.  White and spikey, I’ve missed you so!  No more 8 weeks between cuts.