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Xmas in Las Vegas 2007

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Spent last weekend with son #1 in Las Vegas. (He shines so bright I call him son. Sorry, my mother used to say that to the kids all the time.) Great time with sushi and a Lynard Skynard concert. It was my xmas since the kids are scattered from hell to breakfast….”kids” being 34 (Beijing), 38 (Thailand) and 40 years old (Las Vegas)!

Disneyland For Adults I call it. Many go there to let their freak flag fly. The brand message is “Whatever happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.” This includes your money. No other city like it unless it’s Macau China. Unless you live there. Most locals ignore the strip. The morning after is referred to as the double hangover…one for money and the other for alcohol.

It so happened that my visit there overlapped with an Aussie friend that I met and traveled with in Laos and Thailand. Such excitement because we thought we would never see each other again! Greg took me to the hotel she was staying in. As I walked down a hall to the elevators I’ll never forget seeing her running toward me with her arms outstretched!

My Day

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Well, I had quite a day yesterday. My son Doug, visiting me for the last three weeks from Thailand where he lives, woke me at 1 am. We finished getting his banking set up on the internet. Wrote up the family info and took it to Kinkos to get it plastisized. Told him to give a copy to his wife in Thailand and that if anything happened to him that she was to show it to someone who reads English so we could be contacted. Got him set up with frequent flyers..and printed out his boarding pass.

I dropped him off at the curb for his flight back to Thailand, kissed him goodbye, and drove off elatedly. Free as a bird! Went to downtown Portland for a coffee. Then to shop for some clothes at Nordstroms. Everything made in China with crappy fabric and horrible prices. It was either that or high-end designer clothes with even more atrocious prices.

So I went to a movie…”The Darjeeling Limited.” Sneaky good…touching story about three brothers…set on a train in India…and their mother, played by Angelica Huston, who had become a nun in a Himalayan monastery. (This I totally understood!!!) The twenty something boys were whining about her taking off and leaving them and not even going to their father’s funeral. Ha! She finally told them to forget about it and get on with their lives. In other words, grow up. Very instructive for me, I tell you!!!

Then I bought some shoes and went to another store where I had a great conversation with an older woman who waited on me….me laughing at the prices…me telling her the cost of one piece was the price of a plane ticket to BKK…she telling me about living in Singapore when she was young and how she was so shocked by the ostentatiousness of America when she returned…we agreeing that Americans should travel to a third world country at least once in their lives. We ended up laughing about most of the women’s pants out now were low-cut… just the thing for women with poom pooey tummies!

Then I went to another movie ($8.00 tickets) called “I’m Not There,” the creatively constructed story about shape-shifter Bob Dylan amid the insanity of celebrity. Unconventional filmmaker, Todd Haynes, (who wrote the story while living in Portland BTW) cast 6 or 7 different actors (the best one a woman played by Cate Blanchette) who all played the changing personas of Dylan. The very young Dylan was played by a very young black kid (Dylan was supposed to be 11 years old) who claimed to be Woodie Guthrie. Dylan’s name was never mentioned and names were all changed but you knew who the characters were…Joan Baez played by Julianne Moore. If you are familiar with Dylan you will be intrigued by it…much of it ironic…tongue in cheek. Rolling Stone says that Dylan surprisingly gave his permission, through a third party, to use his songs both his own recordings and those performed by others. We are left with no better understanding of Dylan than we had before seeing the movie. That’s as Dylan would want it, I think…he hated being corralled…defined by others…especially by the niggard media. You’d have to see it 50 times to catch all the references of the times and then, unless you were a Dylan freak and were alive in the 60’s, you’d miss. If you are interested, musician/songwriter Peter Stone Brown chronicles the historical packaging of Dylan in a Counterpunch article.

Then I had sushi for dinner…including wonderful ice-cold Uni (sea urchin) from the California coast . Finally paid $16 to get my car out of the parking garage! I’m still in sticker shock after not living in the States for most of the last 6 years!

So that was my splurge. I am new again.

Happy Thanksgiving From Beijing

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
Email from my son who is chef de cuisine in one of the restaurants in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing...to his friends and family: On Nov 19, 2007, at 5:24 PM, Ryan Goetz wrote: Happy Thanksgiving! I write this now because in two ... [Continue reading this entry]

Visit From Son Doug

Saturday, November 17th, 2007
My son Doug arrived in Salem from Thailand on Friday November 9th and hit the ground running...cleaning up the farm for the sale and tying up his loose ends in the area before he goes back to his wife on ... [Continue reading this entry]

Contemplating Leaving

Sunday, July 8th, 2007
My one year visa in Mexico expires August 8. After visiting my son Greg in Las Vegas I should be back in Oregon by the middle of August...driving from Oaxaca to Queretaro to pick up my friend Patty who ... [Continue reading this entry]

Family In Thailand

Friday, May 11th, 2007
My sons and daughters-in-law, Luk, Doug, Josh and Amy on Koh Samui in Thailand for a week. Bob, their dad, took the picture. Doug and Luk live on Koh Samui. Greg, in Las Vegas, and I, of course, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bob, Josh and Luk In Bangkok

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
My son Josh is Chef de Cuisine of "One East On Third" in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing. He was sent by the Executive Chef to Bangkok last week to check out some restaurants there. Luk, a delightful Thai ... [Continue reading this entry]

Chef Joshua Goetz

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
Amy's (son Josh's wife) last blog post: "For the new edition of Timeout Beijing they listed the top 50 restaurants in the city. And, yes, you guessed it - One East on Third was on the list!! It was ... [Continue reading this entry]

New Year’s In Las Vegas

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
Went to Las Vegas to spend a week with my son Greg over New Year's. Greg and I went to bed New Years Eve at 10:30...he got called in at 1:30am for an emergency...a four year old had gotten ... [Continue reading this entry]

About Me

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
Backpacked The Hippie Trail In The 60's? If Not It's Not Too Late! DSC00083.JPG Taking the kids to Mexico, the grandparents to Hawaii and ourselves to Central Asia in the mid 1990's on an 18 day ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Best Of Amy’s Blog

Monday, December 4th, 2006
My youngest son, Josh and his wife Amy are living in Beijing. Her entries are best read from the bottom up. Nov 25, 01:45 AM The first week I was here Josh had a huge dinner to put on for the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Driving From Oregon To Oaxaca

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
After finally getting the title and registration to the Toyota, I drove down to Klamath Falls Oregon from Salem to see my second family Bea and Sal Florez who are being well-taken care of by a couple in their home. ... [Continue reading this entry]

One East On Third

Saturday, August 5th, 2006
On the e-hotelier.com web site a friend found this description of son Josh's restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing where he is the Chef de Cuisine: Hilton Beijing stars as Lord of The 3rd Ring Jul 31, 06 | 1:57 am Catch ... [Continue reading this entry]

Update on Living In Oaxaca

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
I have almost finished my application for a Mexican FM3 year-long visa. Forms have to be filled out exactly right...with copies...and money paid to a bank. About $200 for the visa and another $40 for them to examine ... [Continue reading this entry]

Marriage Blessing

Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
My sons Josh and Greg have flown onto the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands from Beijing and Las Vegas respectively. Josh and Amy will have Malcolm Miner, a close friend and retired Episcopalian minister bless their civil ... [Continue reading this entry]

House Cats In Las Vegas

Sunday, May 28th, 2006
Flew From Thailand to Las Vegas the end of April. Then flew youngest son, Josh, who is between jobs, in from NYC to spend a week with oldest son Greg and I. After Bangkok and NYC, we just ... [Continue reading this entry]

Visa Run Misery

Wednesday, March 8th, 2006
Burma.gif Every month my son Doug has to cross into Burma and come back into Thailand to get another 30 day stay in the country. If you are late it's a $12 fine per day. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Good-bye To Samui

Saturday, March 4th, 2006
On 1 March I said good-bye to my son Doug and his wife Luk and Ting Tong...their little Shimizu...and caught a Bangkok Air flight back to Bangkok (Bangkok Air built the airport on Samui so they won't let any other ... [Continue reading this entry]

Visiting Doug & Luk

Friday, February 3rd, 2006
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171154009258.gif Arrived on Koh Samui a couple days ago on Bangkok Air to the smiling faces of Doug and Luk at the small open-air airport on Koh Samui. (Koh means island.) While waiting for ... [Continue reading this entry]

Shower Lay Down

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006
Doug and Luk call me every morning. Sometimes I am awake and sometimes not. This morning Luk says "Good morning mom!" "I love mom!" "I miss mom!" "One more day!" Doug gets on the phone ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lucky Luk!

Friday, January 20th, 2006
I called my son Doug yesterday morning. He had just returned from the fish market on Koh Samui with a salad bowl of large fresh gung (shrimp) with heads still on for $1.60 and had cooked up a traditional ... [Continue reading this entry]

Familiar Bangkok

Saturday, January 7th, 2006
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171154009258.gif Arrived in Bangkok on Jan 3rd on China Air after 17 hours and stops in Anchorage and Taiwan. There has been a cooling in Asia (northern India actually falling below freezing) and it has ... [Continue reading this entry]

New Years Eve in NY

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006
Bob left for Thailand on the 29th. Josh had to work at the restaurant so Amy and I spent New Years Eve drinking wine and champagne...good conversation with my daughter-in-law...and watching "Wedding Crashers." She spent the night and ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Christmas Gift Brooklyn 2005

Monday, December 26th, 2005
After rack of lamb marinated with fresh oregano, thyme, garlic and olive oil; tender gratin of baby spinach in a bechamel sauce with snow crab and east coast clams; brussel sprouts braised with bacon and deglazed with cream sherry; ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thirty-Something Night

Sunday, November 27th, 2005
Our son, Greg, flew in from Las Vegas for a long weekend last weekend. It is the first time we have been with more than one of the progeny since I can remember...and was great fun...out to dinner at the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Our Brooklyn Neighborhood

Sunday, October 23rd, 2005
Video We are sub letting a pleasant newly refurbished two bedroom apartment on Pacific St in a multi-ethnic, gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood called Boerum Hill. Bob and I enjoy exploring New York opportunities and other sites via the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Three Minute Wedding

Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
On a lovely Sunday, September 4, 2005, Bob and I followed Josh and Amy to a specialty jewelry store in our gentrified Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn to pick up their hand-crafted rings. Amy's mother, Debbie, works at a ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wedding Announcement

Monday, October 17th, 2005
A few days before we left Portland for New York City, our son Josh, who is currently a chef at the Tocqueville Restaurant near Union Square in Manhattan, asked us to keep the following weekend open...giving us no idea what ... [Continue reading this entry]

Back To The West

Monday, October 17th, 2005
In mid-July, a year after leaving the States to travel through Eastern Europe, taking the Trans Siberian Train through Russia, Mongolia and China and then to Thailand Vietnam and Laos, I arrived back in LA on China Air...then Portland on ... [Continue reading this entry]

Keeping Body and Soul Together

Friday, April 1st, 2005
In Bangkok we got a good deal for a month in a beautiful completely furnished apartment on a dead-end street in the upscale Saladaeng area...close to the Skytrain and the new subway that is running again after a recent accident. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Stamp-Out to Burma

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171164904627.gif "Stamping out" consists of leaving Krabi Thailand at a border crossing...in the case of Ranong the border is with Burma...and then "stamping" back into Thailand. To do this they went to the Thai immigration ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ao Nang Beach Krabi Thailand

Sunday, January 23rd, 2005
1wXSp3CkNsDoJl3s0SgHmw-2006171164904627.gif Bob and I have been here in Krabi Province of Thailand with Doug and Luk for three weeks now...a welcome respite after a month in smoggy noisy Bangkok where I had some dental work ... [Continue reading this entry]

Serendipity Florence

Friday, April 5th, 2002
Well, we are in Florence, by serendipity, on April 5, 2002. By that I mean that we were on the train from Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera headed to Siena when we realized we would be going through Florence ... [Continue reading this entry]

Na Pali Trail Kauai Hawaii

Wednesday, December 16th, 1992
After our son Josh graduated from Whitman College, he joined his former roommate and friend, Phil, in Kauai where they were to spend a couple years working and repairing some cottages that belonged to Phil's dad near Poipu Beach that ... [Continue reading this entry]