FranIAm (that "liberal little minx" as one of her commenters wrote) took the Political Compass Test after seeing that Grandmère Mimi had done so and, good lemming that I am, I took it this morning too. I think I've done this before, but I need some silliness this weekend!I keep the best of company, of course.
Just in case anyone wondered why we get along so well.Be sure to check out the comments threads at the ladies' establishments to see who else took this and how they scored.
Speaking of in the neighborhood... Though I am home in ABQ this weekend (hooray!), I will be back in NOLA Monday evening. Where are the better places to savor beignets? I have not yet done that and I daren't spend all this time in NOLA without that pleasure. [Though, if any of you expect me to suck crawdad heads you don't know me. I eat very little that comes out of the water.]
It was very comforting to look out the airplane window yesterday as sunset approached and see mesas and a rippled, mountainous landscape (and lots of dirt, as the passenger next to me noted). I think the encapsulation of sense of place may be that I would rather desiccate than rot.
It is rather fun to compare our sense of where we feel at home and why we enjoy it, so long as it doesn't put other places down and get mean-spirited. I know that Mimi and I love our "home" regions and feel that the other's turf is quite alien. Nothing wrong with that. I don't think humid places are bad places, for instance; I just know they are not where I feel at home. I've certainly acclimatized enough that I don't face flying back with dread and look forward to some more exploring.
Happy weekend, everybody!
[Does giddy "I'm back in the West" dance.]
--the BB
21 comments:
Cafe du Monde. People-watching, music, piles of powdered sugar. Yum.
Kirstin comes through. I walked past it last Sunday.
(and lots of dirt, as the passenger next to me noted)
Exactly. Green! Give me green! I'm not saying this in a mean-spirited way, Paul. Hear it in a kind, gentle tone of voice.
Yes, you're giddy. I suspect it's more than the West. What are you smoking?
LOL. Nor are my comments about the swamps mean-spirited.
I don't smoke anything. Just high on low humidity.
Yay! Welcome back West. (From the Southeast... missing the West... but loving my wonderful diocese here, just got out of my bimonthly diocesan committee meeting and I love, love, love these folks. So dedicated and thoughtful and justice-seeking. Chairing is tiring, though, and the meeting is a bunch of miles away, so a nap is in order.)
And I've heard about Café du Monde. Yum, indeed! At least one reason to look forward to going back. Beignets with NOLA coffee made w/chicory, right?
Yes, Jane, there is coffee with chicory (though I don't drink coffee of any kind). You really do need to visit NOLA. Grandmère is great company!
Paul, Paul, Paul... we were doing so well there. The lefty tendencies, the spiritual links, the love of New Mexico open spaces, our shared admiration (ahem, throat clearing) of Georg Ganschwein, not eating too much that comes out of the water, and then you drop this no coffee bomb on me?
Sheesh. I thought we were friends.
(FranIam shakes her head...)
(teeeeeheeee!!!! me so funny!!)
Welcome home.
My poliltical compass:
Economic Left/Right -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritorian -6.99
Cafe du Monde, definitely. And I took the political compass test. Turns out my self-description of "very liberal" is absolutely true.
NO Coffee??? (picture Andrea Martin in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" saying "You don't eat no meat???) Next you'll tell me you favor Pepsi over Coke... Sheesh.
Utter reprobate, earthbound. I have a 12-can-a-day Diet Pepsi habit. But I am not one of those with hidebound preference here. If Coke is on sale for less, I drink that. But, given the choice.... yes.
The coffee issue is perhaps worse because I am half-Swedish. In my dad's family 4 o'clock coffee was like British tea. You always did it. But I did not drink the coffee. I actively hate the taste and won't eat mocha either. So leave my chocolate alone, y'all!
Fortunately, I am off an age and, as I asserted in a recent comment thread, sufficiently eccentric, that I don't really give a damn what people think. Even my dearest friends may be appalled and it is they who have to deal with it.
I do eat meat, though I could probably eat vegetarian if done well 13 days in a fortnight.
Paul, did you ever try tea? Not Lipton, but a good brand.
Yeah, what kinda Swede doesn't drink cafe? My Swedish grandma started everyone of us kids on glasses of milk with some coffee and lots of sugar. Everybody drinks coffee now, just like Swedish Jesus.
Mimi, yes. Absolutely. I have a cupboard full of teas. I rarely bother to heat water and have some but I do like tea. It's just coffee I don't care for.
"Fortunately, I am off an age and, as I asserted in a recent comment thread, sufficiently eccentric, that I don't really give a damn what people think. Even my dearest friends may be appalled and it is they who have to deal with it."
Oh Paul. As if it is possible to do anything but love you...
We started early as children with coffee milk made for us by my Spanish-German grandfather. Actually it was the same strong coffee with chicory that the adults drank, but with a good bit of milk in the mix.
Paul, heat the damned water. Drink the damned tea, instead of the rotgut (sorry) that you're drinking. I'm an old lady. I'm allowed to give out a bit of free advice. And yes, I'm one of your appalled friends who has to deal with it. But I love you anyway. Christianity in action!
Ah, Fran, you started my morning with a great laugh.
I think I could find testimonials that it is possible not to love me. My blog friends, however, seem to have me on a rather frightening pedestal, yet I feel secure in these online friendships.
Btw, since tone of voice and expression of face do not come through in typing...
The sentence you cite had, on the surface, a feisty defiant tone, but it was actually written amid much amusement on my part. I assumed all the joshing here was written in humor and love and was responding with humor and love and tongue firmly planted in cheek. Teasing each other, and being amused at ourselves, for our thoroughly arbitrary likes and dislikes seems fair game.
Indeed, Mimi, we do grow to love folks, foibles and flaws and all.
I have friends in California who who will not give up muttering about the evils of diet sodas. In terms of health I have no doubt they are right. I still love them and they still love me. They have not, however, made a dent in my preference. One would think that after all these decades they would drop this one. Articles forwarded in e-mail get deleted unread. I accept teasing and I listen to advice but I don't take nagging very well. I am a Taurus, after all.
Your championing of tea is fair game. Indians assure me that drinking hot tea is actually a cooling thing to do on a hot day. I am disinclined to consume hot beverages, however, and usually let it cool down to merely warm before drinking it. That should appall some more friends.
"Drink the damned tea."
I love that. Paul--iced tea works too. Jar. Water. Teabags. Sun. Bring it in when you feel like it.
:-)
Yes, I love iced tea. Not sweetened and not flavored. I don't like the cold teas that come in cans and bottles much but make-your-own is lovely.
I've been making iced herbal tea, usually peppermint. Very nice in the heat and no calories :-).
As for the political grid, I am, not surprisingly, way down on the lower left side...
We are a boring lot. ;-)
"We are a boring lot." Finally, someone who speaks the obvious and uncomfortable truth. Brava, Jane.
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