Author JT Twissel

Mudluscious

JT Twissel 35 Comments

This time of year, when the rains give way to sunny days, in my mind I  always hear e.e. cumming’s poem  in just spring. Those of you who’ve studied poetry remember cummings. He never capitalized his name or the titles of his poems which I could never get away with in English class! Here he is reading the poem:

In California a break in the rain this time of year brings this urgency to all gardeners: Quick: Pull the weeds while they’re young and tender and the ground is mudluscious!!!  

weedsSure they’re cute in their infancy.  So many brilliant shades of green particularly after four years of drought, it seems a shame to try to uproot them but if you don’t, they will grow like – well – weeds.  And once the ground starts to dry your best chance to get rid of weeds is with a jack hammer.

Which brings me back to mud.  I don’t view mud as icky. Especially when my mud is rife with worms.

mud

 

Isn’t this a lovely shot of mud?

It will dry out quickly if the California sun continues to shine.

And then my battle will be hard. But today was a mudluscious day.
i wore my garden hat.
i listened
to the birds

and the boy practicing basketball
thump… thump… thump

hat

and the creek, dry for years roaring to life.

and i said oh what the heck and started my day
in the lower case.
with the worms and the mud.

oh please wordpress – don’t ruin my mudlicious day by insisting i capitalize everything!

(although clearly I’m no e.e. cummings)

Now, the theory of proper blogging etiquette dictates that I end this blog with a question, thus encouraging comments, but the question “what do you think about mud?” really seems a bit daft, don’t you think?

#ThursdayDoors: Chocolate Haupia Pie

JT Twissel 22 Comments

Beyond this unassuming door is one of the Must Visit places on the island of Oahu.

Teds

Believe it or not hundreds of people visit Ted’s Bakery every day, often arriving on tourist buses from resorts on the leeward side of the island.

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Ted’s Bakery

The buses park at Sunset Beach, which is about a half-block away, and tourists stumble out to gawk at the view before wandering across the street to willingly stand in long lines in the hot sun just for a taste of Ted’s famous Chocolate Haupia Pie. Haupia is coconut cream pudding.

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Sunset Beach. It was also hit by monster waves – only experienced surfers were allowed in the water.

As the saying goes: “Happiness is sharing a slice of Ted’s Chocolate Haupia Pie while sitting on Sunset Beach.” I must admit it was a little too sweet and rich for my tastes!

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Hawaiian Chocolate Haupia Pie

Ted’s story is emblematic of Hawaii.  The original Ted, Torojiro Nakamura, arrived from Japan in 1906 under contract to a sugar cane company on Maui. After his contract was over, he worked as a farmer until the 1950s when he and his son bought a piece of land across from Sunset Beach and set up a convenience shop.

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The original Ted from the Ted’s Bakery web site.

When the surfing world discovered the North Shore Torojiro’s grandson recognized a golden opportunity and began selling donuts, pastries and cornbread. Today the menu includes pies (if you don’t like coconut you can pig out on Macadamia Nut, Peach Bavarian Cream, Lilikoi Cheese Pie or Pineapple Macadamia Nut), and healthier options such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner “plates,” all served with plenty of rice.  In the laid back tradition which is the North Shore, be prepared for a long wait for the lunch plates.

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Mural on the side of Ted’s Bakery

The other Must Visit eating joints on the North Shore are the shrimp trucks.

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One of the fancier shrimp trucks!

You can’t beat the garlic shrimp you get from these trucks.  The smell, the taste!

Please check out other ThursdayDoors at Norm’s place.

 

The Hukilau

JT Twissel 28 Comments

Ever since we left Hawaii I’ve had this song stuck in my head:

And so I thought I’d share the joy! Now you can spend all day singing “Are you going to the Hukilau, the huki, huki, huki, lau?”  Even my cat has gone somewhere to hide.

Hawaii is one of the many places I’ve been to that I really didn’t want to leave. However, at times the angry sea didn’t seem to want us to stay.

WildSea
Thirty to forty-five foot waves which during high tide on a full moon night literally came knocking at our back door!
geyser

We stayed on the North Shore of Oahu, a laid back haven for surfers from all over the planet. Aside from the Turtle Bay resort, this area has strongly resisted over-development and prides itself on retaining some of the old Hawaii feel. 

Sometimes the monster waves would collide far off shore and spout into the air like a geyser.  A surge this large hasn’t happened for decades and so you can imagine the excitement it caused, particularly as the timing coincided with one of the North Shore’s most beloved events: The Eddie Aikau Quiksilver Invitational.

From the Eddie Aikau Website
From the Eddie Aikau Foundation web site

“Eddie” was one of the first lifeguards at arguably the most beautiful surf spot in Hawaii, Waimea Bay.  He gained fame not only for rescuing people from the deadly surf but also for his skill on the long board. However it was his final, selfless act that gained him the most fame.

In 1978 Eddie joined the Polynesian Voyaging Society on a second migration attempt from the Hawaiian to Tahitian Islands in a traditional voyaging canoe.  Twelve miles south of the island of Molokai the canoe capsized and it was Eddie with his long board who volunteered to paddle ashore for help.  He was never seen again.  Today it’s quite common to see people with teeshirts and bumper stickers reading “Eddie would go” on the North Shore – a testament to this amazing and charismatic guy.

Waimea
Waimea Bay when the waves are gentle (well, relatively).
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Waimea Bay during the storm surge – it looked like a washing machine with too many suds!
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Debris washed ashore. Who knows what it was!

So many people decided to take the trek out to the North Shore to witness the monster waves that they had to close Kamehameha Highway.  If the two lane road wasn’t flooded, it was jammed with slow driving lookie-loos!

CastleAudrey1
Since we couldn’t go out in the waves, we built a sand castle.
th

#ThursdayDoors: My Rap Sheet

JT Twissel 34 Comments

Warning!  ThursdayDooring leads to subversive and deviant crimes such as trespassing. You could wind up in the slammer with a long rap sheet.

MrToadVehicleJan: “But, but Officer.  You don’t understand. It’s an addiction. I really, really have to get a picture of a door and since all the public doors in town are so boring, well…”

Officer Gumbo: “Ma’am.  We keep getting complaints from your neighbors. We have no alternative other than to take you in for a 24F infraction. Just be happy they didn’t accuse you of being a Peeping Jan. That’s a sex crime!”

In my neighborhood, houses tend to be set back from the street, thus their gates are the doors to their kingdom. IMG_1295 These people really don't want to be bothered by door-to-door salespeople!

In my neighborhood, houses tend to be set back from the street, thus their gates are the doors to their kingdom.

IMG_1295

These people really don’t want to be bothered by door-to-door salespeople!

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“I wonder why we don’t get any Trick or Treaters!”

Thankfully I avoided arrest this time.

Check out other trespassers at Norm Frampton’s ThursdayDoors Event. 

Blasts from the Past

JT Twissel 21 Comments

For the next week my publisher is having a Valentine’s Day giveaway.  At first I didn’t think I should participate.  My characters are generally in such desperate plights that romance is the last thing on their mind.  However,  they are all young women and thus it is impossible to avoid clumsy flirtations, heart palpitations, despondency and yes, sex.  Particularly for my youngest, Riley O’Tannen of the Graduation Present, a self-proclaimed klutz who misinterprets a young man’s interest until it’s almost too late.

Riley’s exploits are very loosely based on my own goof-ball  adventures europe5dollars1in Europe 40 years ago. In 2014 I came clean in a series of posts listed here:

MamanDeux

Three cute French guys and my traveling companion Carolyn from “Oeufs in a Van”

Fortunately I saved many of the letters and pictures from that time.

Barcelona3

Carolyn gets carried out to sea by cute German guy in “The Samwitch Stand.”

Yes, as you can probably tell most of our time was spent hanging out with “cute” guys and trying not to get carried out to sea.

Letter-Massimo

Letter from cute Italian guy in “Pierre Andrei Makes His Move”

Sigh. Do you have any embarrassing travel stories?  Fess up!

BTW:  Two other authors I’ve introduced you to on this blog are having give-aways:

Dogs

Duke Miller’s unforgettable and poetic memoir of twenty-five years as a relief worker

Walking Home Front

Arleen William’s compelling glimpse into the lives of emigres in America

 

ThursdayDoors: The Basilica

JT Twissel 43 Comments

HudsonDoorsGoing back in time again, this time to a wedding in an abandoned factory in Hudson New York. The Basilica – once a forge and foundry for steel railways, then briefly a glue factory – now spends its semi-retirement as an events venue.

Factory

 

 

Founded in 1662, the town of Hudson thrived as a whaling and then manufacturing town for well over a hundred years until the late 19th century.  Once the manufacturers disappeared the town slipped into “the unlikely setting for a world of prostitution, gambling, murder, and government corruption—with more than a touch of the Keystone Kops thrown in.” This according to Bruce Edwards Hall, the author of Diamond Street, The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District.

Apparently he wasn’t exaggerating because in 1951 then Governor Dewey had to send in troops to run the varmints out of town or lock them up.  Old West shenanigans in an otherwise quaint dairyland – gotta love it!

Before

The inside of the factory the day before the wedding (trees had just been delivered)

After

The inside during the wedding – quite magical isn’t it?  During the reception a thunderstorm rumbled and flashed overhead and the roof leaked!

In the mid-eighties the town began to revive, thanks to an unlikely group of modern day pioneers.  Antiques dealers.  They were followed by artists and nouveau cuisine restaurant owners.  Today many urban couples have summer homes either in Hudson or the surrounding area which they rent via Airbnb. But we stayed outside of town on an organic farm.  I’ve always been a sucker for cows, chickens and pigs.

What’s the most unusual destination wedding you’ve been to?

This post was inspired by Norm Frampton’s #ThursdayDoors event.  Check out other doors here.

#ThursdayDoors: Wismar Germany

JT Twissel 35 Comments

This week I’m going back in time to 1995, the year we went to Wismar, Germany.

MapWismar

The dotted red line between Schwerin and Wismar marks the autobahn Germany was building to connect the coastal towns to Berlin.

From the end of WWII until 1989, Wismar was behind the Iron Curtain, making travel there almost impossible. Even six years after the Berlin Wall had fallen, the rustic two lane road from Lubeck to Wismar catered more to donkey carts and tractors than cars and thus resulted in a frustrating three hour drive.  Before the war, the towns along the southern Baltic were popular vacation destinations and the thought is evidently to revive them. However, in 1995 Germany still had a long way to go.DoorWismar

Aside from the lack of easy access, many of the coastal towns were heavily bombed by the Allies in 1945. Instead of rebuilding them, the Soviets simply moved the residents to cheaply-built, concrete-block apartments outside the city walls leaving their centers to sit in ruins for decades. When we were there construction cranes hung over the town as buildings that could not be renovated were destroyed.

Wismar4

Our bed and breakfast was one of the more modern buildings.

Another challenge for Germany, the locals seemed to think making money off tourism was a tawdry business indeed. Certainly anyone caught speaking English on the streets was given the evil eye.

WIsmar2

The town center – note the Hanseatic design of the building facades.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.  We didn’t have the best camera and it rained the whole time we were there.Wismar1

I believe this is St. Nicholas Cathedral but, because it was under repair, we couldn’t get near.

In case you’re wondering why we made a difficult journey to an obscure town on the Baltic, well, here goes: In 1663 (or around that time) a Swedish general conquered this important trade route and until 1717 it remained under Swedish rule.  In return the general attained the noble title “Conqueror of Wismar.”  According to a bit of family lore spawned by a Mormon missionary’s trip to the Swedish History Museum, my husband is one of his descendants.  Didn’t know I was married to royalty, did you?

Check out other doors at Norm Frampton’s fun (and often challenging) #ThursdayDoors event.

#ThursdayDoors: Swami’s Beach

JT Twissel 29 Comments

Swamis

These are the “doors” to Swami’s Beach, an international surf spot near my daughter’s house in Southern California.  Beyond these doors is this view:

Swamis2

It was cloudy the day we were there so I didn’t get the best shots of the sunset. The beach is named after Swami Paramahansa Yogananda whose ashram (the Self-Realization Fellowship) sits on a cliff high above.

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From Wikipedia – nice digs, hey?

There’s also a funky cafe serving only organic, sugar-free, gluten- free, non-GMO, locally grown, lacto-ovo-vegetarian meals. To my husband’s undisguised glee, we’ve never been able to get a table at Swami’s.

In my clamorous youth I dreamt of achieving inner peace but – unable to afford self-actualization classes, a personalized chant, or weekends at a retreat (like the one above) – I had to settle with sitting Indian-style on the basement floor and murmuring “Omm” while fingering chant beads which were actually lug nuts strung together by my fellow impoverished seekers of the light and truth. I guess that’s why my sense of inner peace is often rusty.

th-3 This bit of silliness was inspired by Norm Frampton’s always entertaining and educational #ThursdayDoors event.  Have you ever tried to accomplish inner peace on the cheap with rusty lug nuts?