Dirtshoe Blog

If you follow me on here at all, you may have noticed that I have taken some time off from blogging. I’m not sure why, but I’m calling it a sabbatical. Let’s just say I was doing research. Actually, I’ve been trying to figure out how to go in a different direction on this here blog of mine, so I have been doing some research. You’ll be the first to know if I make any major changes.

And, to be honest, somewhere around July, it was so hot and dry in Oklahoma that I simply did not have the will to write. A few times I tried and the only thing that came out was venomous words about the heat. But hope springs eternal and it’s 75 degrees and raining tonight … and I think I can write again.

So, let’s catch up, shall we?

The summer was hot. Yes. I know I’ve already mentioned this.

Christi, Nathan’s mom, came to stay with us for a month or two while she relocated back to Oklahoma. I really enjoyed having her around though I’m certain that she was ready to move out on her own. Annie was not the perfect hostess. Plus, Nathan and I are quite messy. I must admit that I’m more messy than Nathan, but I’m including him because he’s in charge of the garage and it’s VERY messy.

Our garden burned up this summer.

Here’s a photo of just a sampling of what we harvested from our back yard last year.

Here’s about the sum total of our garden this year … nary a tomato.

Annie is bigger now. And, she’s still a handful. Though, if it’s just me and Nathan, she is totally tolerable most of the time. She is very bossy and is not easy to control around visitors, but she’s no longer chewing our fingers and arms off.

Nathan has been playing shows with Evin Brady. It’s great music and we’ve had a lot of fun and met lots of new people. It’s always interesting because they seem to play a wide range of venues. Some are quiet lounge-type places and some are pretty rowdy. Here’s a link to a video of them.

Here’s an outdoor gig that’s quite civilized.

Then, we went to Woody’s in Altus, Oklahoma and I’m not sure what happened.

We met some great folks — the bar owner and staff were a lot of fun. We also found out that Nathan’s first cousin is a drummer in a band that also plays this venue and they have one of his broken cymbals on the wall.

And, sometime around 3 a.m., Evin was invited to mix drinks for everyone.

There’s no really easy way to transition from one thing to another in this case.

Most recently, my Nanny had a stroke. She’s doing pretty well now, but watching her struggle to move, walk and talk has really been difficult. She’s still not able to live independently, but we are hopeful that she will again someday.

Here she is years ago working cattle.

And, here she is more recently …

Through it all, her sense of humor has prevailed. The first morning at the hospital in OKC (where she had been flown the night before) she told me this, “I can’t believe you guys have me in a hospital where none of the doctors and nurses even know what month it is or day it is.”

It took me a minute, but then I realized … she had a stroke … they are asking her basic questions to see if her memory is okay. Then she giggled. She has the keenest sense of humor I’ve ever known.

I’ve got some new recipes in the works and some guests lined up for some recipes too. So, I hope to see you all here now that the weather is a little better … does that make me a fair-weather blogger? Don’t answer that.

This weekend, my college roommates descended upon OKC for a long-overdue visit. There are four of us. However, Monica did not make it because of some prior commitment like a wedding anniversary or something. So, it was just me, Heather and Lisa. Monica started calling our group “The Chickens” way back when we were in college and it stuck.

I’m kicking myself because I didn’t take more pictures.

On Friday night Heather arrived at our house. She drove from Dallas. We were talking on the phone on her way up and I was giving her a hard time about driving here instead of flying. She said, “I flew the last time and you and Lisa made fun of me!”

I answered back with, “And now we are making fun of you for driving. Either way, we are making fun of you. Get used to it”

That’s just the kind of friends we are.

Lisa couldn’t join us until Saturday morning, so Nathan cooked dinner for Heather and I. He grilled steak, shrimp, and all sorts of vegetables. It was delish! He also roasted sliced plum tomatoes in the oven at 200 degrees for about eight hours. He used them to make a vinaigrette to dip our veggies into.

We ended up staying up until 3 a.m., and laughing until our sides hurt. The shrimp was also missing in my photos because we almost forgot to put them on the plate.

Then, Lisa arrived Saturday morning all sunny and cheerful to find two slightly-grumpy-from-too-much-wine-and-not -enough-sleep friends. We went to breakfast and then did a “house tour” which means we drove around and looked at pretty houses just like we did in back in college. And, we laughed and ate cookies. We may be older, but nothing much has changed. Lisa is the friendliest person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She meets and talks to almost everyone we see. It’s so fun to watch her win people over immediately.

We ended up going to dinner at a raw food restaurant that used to be called 105 Degrees. I guess it had an identity crisis and now the name is Matthew Kenney. Here is the website. It was one of the best meals I’ve had at a restaurant in a long time. This was the Classic Summer Tomato Lasagna. It was amazing. Sorry for the Iphone pic. I’m so timid about using my big camera in a restaurant.

We ordered too many dishes, but thankfully, Lisa had a Groupon — so we got a pretty good deal!

We also ate the Tiramisu so quickly that I didn’t even get a picture! Now, I’m obsessed with raw food and Nathan is just shaking his head.

After dinner, we took our box of wine and headed to one of my favorite places — The Blue Door.

It’s a great listening room for live music. They were screening a film about Red Dirt Music so we thought it would be a pretty good show. We got to see Oklahoma artist Greg Jacobs sing about needing a little rain — and had to smile at just how true it really is in Oklahoma right now. We also enjoyed listening to Lata Gouveia who was joined by Rocky Frisco (J. J. Cale band) and Dustin Pittsley from Tulsa. In the end, we watched a screening of the film, Red Dirt … Songs from the Dust. We really enjoyed it. Made us feel pretty proud to be Okies.

Here are Heather and Lisa during one of the breaks.

We stayed up too late again — and The Chickens got  up early this morning … and Heather headed to Dallas and Lisa made her  way back to Tulsa. We had a great visit.

Me, I’m sad the Chicken Reunion Weekend is over, but at least I have 100+ degree weather and a very mis-behaved dog to keep my mind off of the sadness.

I should mention that we spent a large part of the weekend saying, “Annie, get down!” We also laughed uncontrollably as we watched her spin out on the wood floors. Poor thing can’t get much traction when she’s excited. Nathan was our dog-handler this weekend and thankfully I can report no blood was shed.

Many of my pictures of Annie look like this:

She is airborne A LOT of the time.

She enjoys playing MOST of the time.

She loves her man ALL of the time.

And, I don’t blame her one bit.

Confession: I post dog photos when I’m too lazy to post a recipe.

Oh well.

One of the nicest things you can do for a salad is add some roasted pecans and grilled pears. I swear by it! It takes a simple salad to a new level and it looks pretty too!

You will fall in love.

And, since you love your salad and you already have the grill going … go ahead and top it with a grilled steak. All that salad and fruit underneath will make you feel a lot better about eating red meat. Trust me.

I know what you are expecting. A blog about delicious noodle soup. But, you’re not gonna get it here.

We spent the weekend with Evin and Chantel – the lead singer of the band Nathan has been working with and his girlfriend. I promised them delicious noodle soup on Saturday and a tour of our local Asian Market. We took the tour and then went for a bowl of Pho. They didn’t like it much. Pho is kind of like a religion to my group of friends, but I understand it’s not for everyone.

This post is actually going to be more about delicious Mexican food. We started Friday night with a trip to the local Mexican Market where I was confronted with my age. I ran into one of my parents from school who promptly asked me if Chantel was my daughter. We were both a little offended. When the parent walked off Chantel said, “What, do I look ten years old?” and I said, “What, do I look sixty years old.” Don’t answer that please.

Then we made salsa and fajita tacos.

On Saturday night, Nathan and Evin played an acoustic show. There was also some delicious Mexican food there and some good beers.

We had a rain delay, but most of the storms missed us.

I met some of Chantel’s friends and family and enjoyed the music. Thankfully, the weather cooled off quite a bit.

I also got to meet a girl from my tiny hometown. That’s a rarity in a big ole city. We traded stories about deer camp and family members.

This was a multi-cultural weekend for everyone involved and I still stand behind my opinion that Pho is delicious. But, so is Mexican food.

My friend Elesha scolded me a little bit yesterday because I haven’t been posting lately. The truth is work has been so difficult that I haven’t been able to focus on anything more. However, summer has started and I’m hopeful that things will slow down a bit and I can start writing a little more. Especially since I now realize I have TWO regular readers.

So, first of all … it’s Memorial Day. My PaPa (PawPaw) was in the Korean War in the 50s. This photo was taken while he was in the service. My PaPa is the one who is holding the mandolin. I have a feeling that at this young age, he never dreamed he would become someone’s PaPa.

So, pause today and say thanks to those who have served.

To recap our weekend a bit, we had a cookout with friends yesterday. Warren smoked a big bologna. I’ve never had such a thing, but it was good.

Then it was placed on the grill with some amazing sauce.

And Danny and Shayla brought jalapeno poppers. Yes, this was a cookout for carnivores in case you were wondering. Vegetarians would have weeped.

And Evin and Chantel spent all morning preparing their chips and dip.

We listened to the boys play some tunes.

And, I had to edit Chris’ shirt because this is a family-friendly site after all. Though, there is all the profanity and violence that comes with blogging about our new puppy … but I digress.

Evin sang. We listened. Then we ate more meat.

We then took our clogged arteries home. And, if you measure a good day by laughs and music and good food, and conversation and cholesterol — yesterday, was a pretty good day.

Happy Mother’s Day to all. I thought I would share photos of my mom, my aunt and my nanny — the mother figures in my life.

This is one of my favorite photos of me and my mom. It was my first day of school. Looks like I was well prepared with a shoulder bag and a Trapper Keeper.

Later, my mom became Princess Leia and my Aunt Gail wore a red dress. LOL.

And, finally… the matriarch of our family … Sue.

I think this was on a trail ride when I was in high school. I like it because she has on a cute cowgirl hat.

Hats off to all fabulous mothers!

It seems like summer today. I couldn’t resist sharing Annie’s newest love — the water hose.

Can’t you just feel the excitement?