Great Summer Road Trip!

The story of my camper-van road trip from CA to FL in my last free summer before I have to focus on my dissertation.

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Crockpot Chili — yum!

Well! I am both startled and pleased — I’ve had a crockpot dish that every single person enthusiastically told me I should definitely make again! That’s always a lovely feeling. :) Strangely enough, this is about the simplest recipe I’ve tried in a while, and I don’t recall where I got it from — it…

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The Campbell “Boogie on the Bayou!” street fair

I love being able to stack up automatic posts ahead of time! :) Had a really fun time at the “Boogie on the Bayou” festival in Campbell: got a beautiful new Venetian-style mask (that’s it to the immediate left); got to listen to some Cajun music; and got to eat crawfish etoufee, alligator kebab, and…

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The Amazing Lovecraftian Jellyfish-Cloud!

Blerg. Upcoming school weirdness is distracting. That plus some unpleasant news sort of ate the creative part of my brain for a bit. Back now, however, and feeling much better after a good night’s sleep and a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs with blue cheese — rather tasty and interesting flavor from that! It’s a…

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What is community? part 1: Arcosanti

Photos are at the end of this article; all are clickable for larger versions. You will need to use the Back button on your browser to return to this page. Enjoy! :) Arcosanti was designed in the 70’s by Paolo Soleri, who dreamed of ecologically friendly cities. His soaring design precludes cars, integrates multiple levels…

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New Mexico: very weird! part 2

I stumbled across this today while writing down my memories of further proof of New Mexico’s inherent weirdness: Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official. Yep… that’s about par for the course for New Mexico. :) So on the way home I was planning on driving through Texas in…

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Laissez les bons temps rouler! part 3

(Continuing from the earlier part 2) That was not the end of that exceptionally pleasant day. I went down several streets in the French Quarter in my wanderings, and was amused at the strong (and unsurprising) French theme for the street names: Burgundy (pronounced bur-GUN-dee), Dauphine, Decatur, Dumaine, Royal, Conti… but most of all I…

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Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…!

Now I’m safe home, I’m having occasional amusing muscle-memory lapses. Driving my housemates’ cars, for example (both of which are significantly smaller than Dark Star), I find myself reaching to the wrong place for the gear shift — or I wonder with some alarm how someone can drive with their butt so close to the…

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Laissez les bons temps rouler! part 2

As several folks know by now, I’m home again — yay! Home is wonderful; I think it’s truly where those you love are, rather than any particular geographical location. I’m writing as swiftly as I can — whilst also unpacking, relaxing, greeting old friends, and otherwise enjoying myself — since I want to get down…

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New Mexico: very weird! part 1

New Mexico is a very strange place! It has been consistently so through the years, as far as I know. Many years ago, when I was just out of college for the first time, I and Guthrum (my then-boyfriend) drove my parents’ horse van, complete with their horses, from Texas to Colorado for them, since…