desertoliveraiThe desert olive I watch for the way it catches the eastern light wants to turn yellow for fall but seems to be staying green with drenchings from fast-moving storms. But it’s been warm, too. Cold will likely turn the trick.

cheers3“There is no evidence of cancer.”

Those were the heartening words yesterday from the doctor who informed me of much darker-sounding biopsy results almost 10 months ago.

More tests down the road, of course.  But it looks like the chemo and radiation administered at The Cancer Center at Presbyterian in Albuquerque have worked. And, this morning, the sky looks pretty clear.

I never meant my blog to be a personal health newsletter, but I know some far-away friends with big hearts have been following things here. So, here I share a good cup of coffee and a morning view. Thanks to all.

imageThis probably spells trouble: Made spaghetti carbonara for breakfast for the third time this week, although Day 2 was with smoked salmon instead of bacon.

Heavenly is the word that comes to mind, partly because it goes down so easy. The eggs, bacon fat, parmesan and pasta water make for the creaminess. And because it is creamy, you need to be careful to keep the pasta firm.

I console myself with the fact that it is a “peasant dish.” The ingredients are common and cheap. I suppose I could improve by using pancetta, but a little plain old American bacon works fine for me. As with pinto beans, the trick is to not use too much. I use thick-cut  bacon, and just a little of the fat and smokiness go a long way.

Even so, when craving pasta, I probably should switch to my other favorite — primavera — soon. The fat and calorie count would be much lower, I’m sure. It’s just not as good for breakfast.

Meanwhile, as the carbs soothe my brain, I wonder if a chuckwagon cook could get away with whipping up pasta carbonara in the morning instead of the usual biscuits and stuff?

hopeflower

Came across so much good stuff lately, including:

  • Flower photo from my sister, Hope Harper, in Helena, Montana. (I mean to ask: chocolate flower, golden aster, golden eye?) (And I hate to tell my New Mexico brethren, but that’s the irrigation ditch running behind her house).
  • The several things in The New Yorker explaining Trump and populism.
  • The spaghetti carbonara I made for brunch on Sunday, even though I slept through most of the afternoon. carbonara
  • The three Season 4 episodes of Longmire I have watched so far, although the New Mexico scenery is so vivid it drives me a little nuts when they refer to Wyoming. The dialogue writing is exceptional and the performances of the subordinate characters — Vic, Ferg, Nighthorse, Ruby, Barlow and Barnes — are at least equaling Walt.
  • Discovering, thanks to @jfleck on Twitter, this new “non-profit news” site from southwestern Colorado: http://sjindependent.org/
  • The Thomas Friedman column “Walls, Borders, a Dome and Refugees” in the New York Times.
  • Any of Maureen Dowd’s columns on Donald J. Trump.
  • The New York Times coverage of Syrian refugees.
  • This Georgia O’Keeffe quote I came across on the blog RaShOmoN: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
  • Melissa Clark recipes via The New York Times.
  • The tremendous eyes, deep cognizance and deft writing of T.C. Boyle in the Tortilla Curtain, which I am only now catching up with but seems particularly timely.tortillacurtain
  • I thought this was a good and useful NYT op-ed about cancer. “Was it cancer? Getting the diagnosis.”
  • I should note that I’ve read a lot of good stuff in The Atlantic lately and have appreciate it’s renewed blogging effort. I sent them money for a subscription.
  • I also enjoyed reading reports on the Telluride Film Festival and experiences in Buddhism by my friend Larry Calloway on his Crestone, Colorado, website.
  • saraandstarI came across one of my favorite pictures of Sara, Cooper’s best friend, here nuzzling another kind of neighbor.
  • Cooper is fine, too, still living, I hope, the life of Riley and still contemplating, along with me, the meanings of life.Copp contemplates the day ahead.
  • I almost forgot today’s unusual rock or fossil. Don’t know whether it is a mollusk footprint, something chasing its tail in primordial mud or just a particularly neat biosignature, but it stared up at me from the dust this morning. .
  • rock