All Things Must End – But, Not This Blog
If you are one of the few people on the planet who does not yet know, I will be leaving the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in December, just in time to be home for Christmas and New Years. My contract is ending, and there is no follow-on work to keep a number of us busy.
It’s sure going to be nice to be home, though I am not sure how we’ll fill the financial coffers. We’ll manage somehow. We always do. But, so far, the timing seems right to end this chapter in our lives. I’ll have more musings on this subject in the future.
The blog will not end. I have a lot more to say on many subjects. I’ll bet you’re shocked by that, huh?
I will be making some more posts in the next few weeks about KSA, including photo links to some cool pictures.
In Memoriam: Evelyn Nash Williams Thom Strohmaier
My mother-in-law, Evie Strohmaier, died today at the age of 96. She died peacefully in her sleep. A person can’t ask for much more than that.
I’d be hard-pressed to name someone I’ve known in my life who was a better person than Evie. I mean that sincerely and not as a platitude. In a world characterized by mother-in-law jokes, harsh depictions of mothers-in-law, and husbands and wives doing anything they can to avoid their mothers-in-law, I was blessed with one of the kindest, warmest, and most genuine women on the planet as my mother-in-law. There are an awful lot of folks who will agree with me, an awful lot of people with empty spots in their hearts right now.
I was doubly blessed in the fact that she liked me…a fact she made clear on more than one occasion, both to me and to her daughter. Before we moved to Oregon so that Cristina could care for her parents, before they hit their 90s and age slowed them down significantly, Ed and Evie often came to San Diego. During those visits, Evie and I often talked about this or that – innocuous conversations. Except, they were never truly innocuous. If you really took a moment to examine what was said, the crafty ol’ gal was checking out just how I was treating her daughter and grandson and great-granddaughter. Apparently, I passed muster.
Evie was born in Blue Hill, Maine on October 31, 1912. She seemed to take special delight in the fact she was born on Halloween. It was so against ‘type,’ and it brought a mischievous twinkle to her eyes each year, matching her very dry razor wit. A very New England wit. She lived in Maine for over 40 years, and it showed, particularly in the way she downplayed a lot of the things she did in her life. She, or my wife, would tell me these stories about things Evie did through the years – things that most people would find kind of exciting. Evie would respond, a little grin on her mouth, “It was fun.” And, we’d move on without much ceremony.
She was an independent woman. According to my wife, this proved the case until close to the end. As such, Evie didn’t much appreciate the realities of aging. When I was home last Christmas, she fell a couple of days prior my having to leave and go back to work in Saudi Arabia. She was still in the hospital when I left, and true to form, she was more concerned that Cristina and I were not able to be alone that last couple of days than with the fact she was in not such good shape. That’s who she was.
The last time I saw her, she was lying in a hospital bed…sort of belying the very vital woman I knew for nearly 20 years. I’ve decided not to remember her that way. Rather, I’m going to remember the woman who offered a quiet, but haughty, little smile whenever she managed to beat my socks off at Scrabble. I’m going to remember the woman who worked in the church serving line at the soup kitchen into her 80s. I am going to remember the woman who would bounce out of her chair and snap into action mode whenever a friend needed her. That’s who I will remember.
I’m burning a candle for you today, Evie…
bright red, with a spicy scent that
fills the room with memories of Halloween and
the Fall season into which you were born.
It’s the only candle I could find,
and some might think it odd
to burn a red candle for a woman
who neared a century of life.
But, I know about you rushing out the
door to meet the ship;
weekends at the Plaza and the party in the Embassy.
Not buried as one – in ignorance – might think,
a little flame flickered safely in a special place,
carefully cultivated like a prized orchid,
ready to burn brightly when the moment,
like a fanning breeze,
brightened everyone’s day.
Copyright 2009, Greg Hubbard
Greg’s Just About Perfect Garam Masala Vegetarian Bean Stew (Corrected Version)
Greg’s Just About Perfect Garam Masala Vegetarian Bean Stew
(not perfect because you’ll eat too much of it, but it IS very healthy)
Corrected Version – I left out one ingredient and one step.
Note: Use fresh ingredients if you prefer, but I have no problem with canned beans/peas/tomatoes. If TV chefs can use them, then so can I.
Vegetarian Note: I recommend S&W canned beans and tomatoes for vegetarians. Their beans are not cooked/packaged with meat products. If you’re not a vegetarian, use your favorite brand
Ingredients:
1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup dry lentils
1 can black-eyed peas
1 can white beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 pkg frozen spinach (chopped is NOT recommended)
2 cups vegetarian broth
2 t basalmic vinegar
2 T of garam masala seasoning
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t cayenne or Asian/Indian chili powder
2 t olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Water note: I use the water from the canned beans and tomatoes. Some people don’t like to do this. If you do not use the water from the canned beans and tomatoes, you need an extra 2 cups of water.
1. Sweat the onions in 2 t of olive oil until transluscent.
2. Add garlic.
3. Season with salt & pepper, to taste.
4. Turn up heat and sautee until just about brown.
5. Add broth.
6. Add lentils
7. Add basalmic vinegar. Stir into liquid.
8. Add garam masala and stir seasoning into liquid
9. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
10. Add tomatoes.
11. Add cayene or Asian/Indian chili powder. Stir seasoning into liquid
12. Bring to a simmer.
13. Add frozen spinach
14. Bring to a simmer. Allow spinach to spread into liquid. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
15. Add black-eyed peas and white beans. If you’ve drained the peas and beans, then add the 2 extra cups of water.
16. Add garlic and onion powder. Stir seasoning into liquid.
17. Bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 25 minutes. Depending on how much liquid you want in your stew, you may need to let it cook down a bit more.
18. Turn off heat and allow stew to cool for about 5 minutes.
You can eat it by itself or spooned over a cup of brown rice.
Enjoy.
Back To KSA
The trip to Oregon was uneventful, and that suited me just fine. A personal video screen in the back of the seat back in front of me, and my iPod, kept me quite busy. So, the time passed pretty quickly. All 22 hours of it.
OTOH, it took me three days to get back to KSA.
The day I had to go back, Cristina dropped me off at the airport. I got the sense that something was amiss by the way the two young women were talking to a couple of other passengers. When I heard the phrases “San Francisco Airport” and “delay,” I got a tad worried.
Sure enough, she asked me if I was flying through San Francisco. I said, “Yes.” She grimaced and said, “Okay, let’s see what we can do. SFO is closed to most incoming traffic due to fog. They only have one runway going. You are probably going to miss your connecting flight.”
I was not amused. Leaving for months at a time is not fun for me on the best of days. Leaving when my mother-in-law was in the hospital, and my wife was completely consumed with assuring her care, trebled the anxiety I felt.
The woman spent quite a few minutes trying to figure out how to get me out and back to Saudi Arabia that day, but she finally looked at me and said, “I am sorry, but the best I can do is get you on a flight out of SFO tomorrow morning. You can either stay here an extra day or you can go to SFO when they open the other runway up at about Noon and try there.” I wavered. It would have been great to spend another day at home. But, goodbyes always suck, and as I said before, Cristina was very busy caring for her mom. If I went to San Francisco, there was an outside chance I might get some sort of connector. If you’re there, in the major airport, they can do a lot more for you than if you’re at a small regional airport, where the weather might delay you even further. As hard as it was to do, I opted to go on to SFO.
My plane took off as I walked from my arrival gate to my original gate. I once had a similar experience back in the mid-80s, when a huge snowstorm delayed planes for hours at Chicago O’Hare. That time, I sat on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open up, while my plane to Syracuse lifted into the air. It’s not a pleasant feeling.
So, I made my way to a ticket booth. Here’s a tip for the inexperienced air traveler. Often, though not always, at the larger airports, airlines have ticket/information counters inside the security area. If you have a connection problem, you often don’t have to exit the security area to make changes. In this case, the United counter inside the security area was empty, and I had to exit to find a ticket clerk.
As it turned out, the first, and only, flight I could book out was early the next morning, to Washington Dulles, where I would have to take a Saudi Airlines plane back to Riyadh. This was a painful blow. I really like flying Lufthansa. They provide excellent service, and unlike some American airlines, everything is included in the price of the ticket – including alcohol. There would be no alcohol on the Saudi flight. Not that I drink that much; but, still…the option was there. And, since it was a weather delay, United would not spring for a hotel room. They would, however, hook me up with a service that specialized in setting up stranded travelers at a discount rate.
I didn’t want to spend a night in SFO, so I booked a room through the discount agency and stayed at one of the nearby airport hotels (the name is escaping me right now, so that is why I am not being specific). The room was nice enough, and it was great to get a good night of sleep; I’d had a very late night the night before – packing. The food was good and EXPENSIVE. And, it was 12 miles from downtown. So, a cab ride would have been prohibitive, and I didn’t feel like navigating BART. I just kicked back, napped, and relaxed.
The trip to Dulles was uneventful. No food, unless I wanted to buy one of a selection of overpriced box lunches/breakfasts. I didn’t. Luckily, I am an early bird, and I actually arrive in time to get through security in a timely fashion. I hate to be rushed. So, I had eaten a good breakfast a diner in the airport.
I wish I had known there were agents manning the counter at the gate from which the Saudia plane would leave. But, I didn’t, and I was very short on time to go exploring. So, I ended up having to leave the security area there, too, in order to find the Saudia ticket counter. When I got there, a very pretty and pleasant lady informed me that, even though I had a ticket in hand, there was no reservation for me in the system. She told me not to worry, that the flight was not full; so it wouldn’t be a problem. But, it did take several minutes to fix this matter. Then, I had to go through Dulles security.
Dulles security is a pain-in-the-tookus. There is a huge volume of people, and the folks who engineered the lines never visited Disneyland to learn how to handle large groups of people queuing up for a ride. It took close to 30 minutes to pass from one side to the other. Then, I had to ride the shuttle from one terminal to another, which took another five or six minutes. I kept looking at my watch, and my plane was scheduled to leave in 10 minutes.
When I got off the shuttle I ran to a store, grabbed a cellophane slop sandwich (I was STARVED at that point) and ran on toward the gate. I should have realized they were on Saudi time. I arrived with literaly 1 minute to spare (according to scheduled time), only to find out they weren’t going to board for 10 minutes…maybe 30. It turned out to be closer to 60 minutes. I almost felt as if I was back in Riyadh.
The Saudia flight was quite pleasant, actually. They treat their customers very well. The food (at least from Dulles) was very good. There were videos in the seat backs, which provided a good selection of entertainment. And, best of all, there were lots of empty seats, which the flight attendants encouraged us to turn into beds. There was a first for me, too. I had never before flown on an airplane with a mosque onboard. I can’t say that now. Back in the tail section, they had an area set aside for prayers. The video screen always showed, if you looked for it, which direction – in relationship to the plane’s orientation – Mecca lay. So, there was never any question about which direction prayer should be directed.
The flight landed first in Jeddah, where we sat on the plane for about an hour. Then, on to Riyadh. After nearly 24 hours of being in an airport or being in-flight, I have to admit that I was quite glad to be back at my apartment.
Isn’t international travel glamorous? 
A White Christmas
The last couple of months have been quite busy.
Things at work are a tad dicey at the moment. We’re having problems getting our project to work in a production environment, which means revenues are tight, which means there is a lot of stress. A lot of stress. Of course, part of my job as a manager is to be positive and sell it to the folks in the trenches. I try to do be as honest as I can with the guys – they deserve that. But, I do try to point out the good things, too. A pessimistic work crew can be a serious problem. Everyone is working so hard; they’re really good guys. Let’s hope we can turn a corner here very soon.
I made the trip home for the Holidays. What a great trip it was, too! I loved being able to spend so much time with Cristina. We had a very low-key Christmas, which was just fine with me. Although, we did make a couple of trips to The Big City for some Christmas purchases, we stayed at home (or over at her parents’ house) for the most part. I have an affection not only for my wife, but for my trees, the cats, and the vicious (not really) little Cairn Terrier who comprise my household.
I arrived to snow. Lots of snow. Well, relatively speaking. We had 9″ of snow on the ground at the house, when I got home – and it kept snowing. We only caught the edge of the huge winter storm that debilitated the State of Washington during the Holidays. Relative to them, we got a dusting. But, still, it was a large amount of snow for us. And, cold. Very, very cold.
When I was growing up in Texas, it only snowed on Christmas in 1963, and I don’t remember that very well. We would always hope for a White Christmas. Instead, there would always be a dump of 1″ – 2″ on December 26th. This happened pretty regularly. Of course, the first Christmas I spent away from home (1983), they had a White Christmas. So, I had just about given up on a White Christmas for myself.
On Christmas Eve, we took the folks to Church for services, and it was frigid but clear when we went inside. But, when we came back out, it was raining. As cold as it was, rain is a pretty good indicator that there will be snow to follow shortly. We took Cristina’s parents home and got them settled in; then, we headed home. Our place is about 600 feet higher than town. The house sits just short of 1,000 feet, while the back part of the property is a bit above 1,000 feet. As we started the ascent to the house, the snow kicked in, and by the time we got to the house, it was snowing pretty good. Then, it died off. Then, it started again. Then, we went to bed.
When we got up the next morning, the place was covered with about 2″ of snow. I had my first ever White Christmas. I was ecstatic. I was ecstatic despite having to get up and drive in to get to our Christmas dinner at my in-laws’ place. It was beautiful!
I know that those who’ve been inundated by snow this year are rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. But, for me it was one of the best things that had ever happened during any Holiday period.
One of the NOT best things came when Cristina’s mom fell, and we had to take her to the hospital, where she stayed for about two weeks past when I had to return back to KSA. She has recovered, now, and she appears to be doing very well. She’s a pretty tough and resilient lady. 
As always, returning was a tough thing to do. But, in this economy, we consider ourselves blessed just to have a job and source of income. I hope all who read this can say the same thing.
