A Reunion....Begins.

It's been a long time since Rachel has seen many of her relatives. This past weekend WE flew to Houston for a family reunion. Ahhhh, Houston. Rachel was born in Galveston, a quick 30 minutes away. Many of her family members, on her mother's side, reside in Texas in the Houston area. It's a land that Rachel has a love hate relationship with: love = aunts, uncles, cousins, fond memories, Gulf waters of Mexico; hate = hot, humid, mosquitoes, roaches, and a bit too conservative.

The reunion was to reminisce and bring together a family that began it's most recent roots in the turn of the 20th century. It is a family where the children, sifting through the realities of life, were left with great love, pride, and admiration for their parents. Each child passed on their love for family to their children. Rachel's grandparent's union led to the creation of many new lives...Peeking into their family history and Bible, I have learned:

MURILLO, JESÚS (1895-1971). Jesús Murillo (aka "Grand Pa"), photographer and artist, one of six children of Ambrosio and Antonia (Urbina) Murillo, was born in 1895 in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. His father was a leatherworker, and his mother came from a family of renowned local artists. Jesús learned to sketch as a young boy and at age twelve was apprenticed to a local architect, from whom he learned drafting.

We leave Seattle, toward an adventure.

At eighteen Jesus went to work for a local photographer, who taught him the skills that became his trade. In 1916, because of revolutionary turmoil in Mexico and in search of greater economic opportunities, Grand Pa moved to Laredo and worked for several different photography studios in the city. Beginning in 1917 he worked as a retoucher for Fox Studios in both San Antonio and Waco and earned additional income as a portrait painter.

While living in Waco, he met and married Jesusita Casárez (aka "Granny") in 1918. Rachel's grand mother also went by the name of Rita Morris and spent much of her childhood in a Galveston orphanage. Her origins and real name are unclear. They had six boys and five girls (one of whom was Rachel's mother, Ofelia, the others very dear aunts and uncles). In 1920 (the year Ofelia was born) the family moved to Houston, where Murillo worked at the Shirley Studio for a few months, until the family saved enough money to return to Morelia. They maintained correspondence with Frank Shirley over the next two years, and upon Shirley's insistence (and due to continued political turmoil in Mexico) Grand Pa and Granny Murillo, with daughters in tow, moved back to Houston in 1923.

Up, up, we flew with Rachel pondering the coming weekend.

After Shirley's death in 1927 Murillo opened his own studio, Murillo Studio, in downtown Houston. He also did film retouching and portrait oil painting for the Gray Studio.

We flew southeast over many majestic mountains.

As a hobby, he took his camera outdoors and photographed the growing city. His architectural training probably influenced him to document the construction of new office and commercial buildings. He also painted in his free time, mostly in watercolor and ink, and drew portraits of his children or familiar scenes from the community. Some of his paintings depicted the Madonna and Christ Child. He also painted Gulf Coast landscapes.

In 1930 the family moved to Galveston, where Murillo operated his studio at various locations. He continued photographing people and cityscapes as well as painting until his death. During his lifetime Murillo sold only his commercial work, the photographs taken in his studio or commissioned by patrons. His documentary photographs of Houston and Galveston and his paintings remained within the family or were given to friends.

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Granny was a woman of strength who was raised in an orphanage being cared for by nuns. She worked in the kitchen and learned to cook and bake like a master. They also taught her amazing sewing and needle work skills; she sewed and tailored many of her children's clothes (and wedding gowns) over the many years. All of these skills she brought to their union and influenced the lives of the eleven children she and Grand Pa raised.

Jesus and Jesse Murillo had eleven children, 26 grand children and many more great grandchildren. Many lives with twists and turns; and yet, a strong desire to come together and connect.

Jesus, Grand Pa is on the far left; Granny, Jesse, holds her youngest daughter, Lucretia.
Rachel's mother, Ofelia is the beautiful young woman with the legs in the front row.(Another of life's mysteries: How did Rachel miss out on so many of her mother's genes...Wonder, wonder, ponder, ponder).

Here's one grand daughter, Kim Murillo with her partner Deb. Kim and Deb also live in Seattle. Rachel and I were so surprised when we learned that we were all on the same airplane! Ohhh, the mysteries of the Universe--it gives me chills!

Welcome to Houston. We have landed. Stay tuned.

Enjoying The Festival of Sukkot....

Wikepedia tells us:
"A sukkah (Hebrew: סוכה‎, plural, סוכות, sukkot, often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes. The Book of Vayyiqra (Leviticus) describes it as a symbolic wilderness shelter, commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness they inhabited after they were freed from slavery in Egypt. It is common for Jews to eat, sleep and otherwise spend time in the sukkah. While Sukkot is a joyous occasion and is referred to in Hebrew as Yom Simchateinu (the day of our rejoicing) or Z'man Simchateinu (the time of our rejoicing), the sukkah itself symbolizes the frailty and transience of life and our dependence on God".

Our friend, Bernice, built this sukkah and invited us for a wonderful evening dinner.
The night was crisp and cool but the conversation and company was warm and nurturing. Friend Jill is not seen because she was our photographer.

That's Bernice on the left; too humble & shy to look at the camera.
Did I mention that she's a great cook and baker??
In Bernice's day life, she is a librarian; in her other life, a fantastic artist.

Thanks Bernice!!

Life's Majesty....

My friend Jill recently was in the Detroit area visiting her father. They have a home by a lake and before she flew back to Seattle, she took a walk.

From Michigan to northern New Mexico. I am in the process of selling our family home in Los Alamos. Our Realtor sent me these pictures of recent backyard visitors....

My sister Gloria was also visiting and her visit coincided with this beauty...

The selling of my parent's home has evoked many feelings and memories in me. Many years ago when I was in high school, I awoke in the middle of the night to a "clomp, clomp, clomp sound". I moved the curtain on my back door window and found myself face to face with a very grand buck. It was knocking his hooves against the cement step, knocking away the snow. We had eye contact for about 1o seconds before he turned and sauntered away. What a memory!

It's been difficult for me to go through this process of selling my family home; we already have a solid offer....I'm thinking that these majestic beauties are here to tell me that they'll keep an eye on things....

A Long Work Week....

This past week, I worked 12 days straight. Poor, poor me; there has been no decent rest for me since we returned from Alessandria! Do I expect you to feels sorry for me? No. The Pisces in me says no, no, no.

So, what was I doing that took so many days in a row? I was teaching mostly young, bright, energetic acupuncture students about an acupuncture technique that we use in substance abuse settings. In addition to the acupuncture, the course (30 hours) has a heavy emphasis upon issues and neuro-brain chemistry related to drug abuse. I really enjoy teaching and this was a particularly good class of 15 students. So, actually, even though I was working, I really enjoyed myself.

Ear anatomy and point location.

Look at those notes my students take! It's like they are listening and find some important things to write down.

Here's the protocol. Ah, but does it CURE addiction? Nope. No one individual treatment approach cures addiction. No one stand alone treatment "cures" addiction for all people; addiction is a illness of which the phenomena of relapse is a major symptom. It takes multiple treatment options to give an individual a fighting chance--ie AA, support groups, counseling, anger management, housing, money, jobs, acupuncture.... Auricular acupuncture is a supportive, adjunct treatment that is a "slice of the pie"; it's not the whole "treatment pie". No one approach makes up the entire treatment pie.

It really doesn't hurt; it's a small pinch in the ears and usually quite tolerable for most people (except maybe my girlfriend). The treatment is very relaxing and calming.

I was tired at the end of four days. It's a challenge to talk 7 hours a day and keep one's audience interested and attentive. I need acupuncture.

So, the next day, right after the class was finished, I resumed my "new job" activities,
walking the halls of the various buildings and knocking on doors.

Stairs, stairs, stairs are everywhere...I have to say, walking these halls and stairs gave me a few anecdotal tidbits for my class...

And as my long two weeks began to wind down, I realized and saw that things could be worse.

More shoes lost....

Not much to count on when one is homeless, addicted and mentally ill. My new world where I straddle many conflicting feelings and thoughts. I'm guessing my students picked up on that.

I'm quite thankful for what I have--it's way more than I really need.
Please be well, happy, and generous.

Rita Gave Me Courage...

Every day on my way from work, I walk by a fantastic kitchen store in downtown Seattle. This past month, they have been having their annual month long sale. One my third trip in, I bought a pasta maker. While in Alessandria, I spent many hours watching Rita make pasta and I decided it was time for me to take the plunge. Of course, I bought one just like hers.

Where Rita and I differ is that she did the traditional moat with eggs and then mixed the pasta by hand with a knife (here's a memory lane reminder).

I, however, used...

my Cuisinart! It took about 40 seconds.
Ahhhh, Americans!

For my first pasta creation I decided to make two types: tagliatelle and ravioli. How would it turn out? Good I hope because we invited close friends for dinner and this is truly
an experiment for me....Yikes!

For the ravioli, I made a filling of cannelini beans, prosciutto,
goat cheese, scallion and fresh basil.

Of course I used the Cuisinart!

I'm not a totally lazy person. Here is traditional kneading of the dough.
I love the feel and contact.

The maiden voyage of the ATLAS 150!

Whoaaaaaa!!! Nellie.....

Putting in the filling....

The cover up.

My first ever made ravioli....

Meanwhile, the real Miss Lazy Bones enjoys a beautiful day out doors.....

For the tagliatelle, I tossed it with garlic and olive oil and topped
with freshly made bread crumbs.

I made a mushroom sauce for the ravioli.

I also grilled a pork tenderloin.

Our good sport dinner guests--Peter, Toni, Deb, Amanda, and of course, Kim.

And little Miss Hermione just kept being herself all the many hours.

Thank you Italian Atlas Company.
Thank you Cuisinart Company.
Thank you good friends.
AND, Thank you Rita for all you taught me!

Alley's of Seattle...

Walking the alley's of Seattle I have no worries...These gentlemen as well as the horses were really big...