Where the Heck Is Spring?

One thing about owning a restaurant… I get to meet a lot of people, share cooking tips, gossips, and get up to date weather report. The other day when someone told me that we were going to get snow, I didn’t want to believe it. After all, it was 70 degrees and sunny outside. Besides, I’m eagerly awaiting for the cactus flowers to bloom. I’ve never seen cactus blooms in the wild and there are quite a few cactus bushes around my wilderness backyard with buds — ready to bloom in a couple of weeks. Well… one thing I am learning about the weather report here… they are very accurate. I woke up yesterday to snow — as they have predicted.

Great… I thought… just what I need when I am trying to get my restaurant going. Anyway, I took the opportunity to use my camera. As I was shooting, the sun came out. I’ve never been in a snow situation where it’s snowing and sunny at the same time. And the thought of perhaps seeing a rainbow came to my mind. I wasn’t sure if snow works the same way as rain and would create a rainbow. Maybe they taught this in my science class and I was daydreaming… which I did a lot when I was in school. Well… I looked and didn’t see any rainbow. But it was still a very pretty experience.

Ask And You Shall Receive

It has been exactly two months since I left my hometown of twenty years behind… to move to a completely new place to start my life over. I didn’t have any ideas or plans on what I was going to do, other than to seek peaceful life and hope that I would find a job before I run out of money in a few months. During the first couple of weeks in town, everyone I met kept telling me how bad the economy is and that there are hardly any jobs. While I was optimistic about my ability to find work — I thought if I ended up homeless, I could always pretend to play my guitar; Max can hold a “Please Help” sign, and Evie knows how sit up on her hind legs and look pretty. People would take pity seeing my furry kids or either that give money just to keep me from playing my awful guitar noise  music.

Luckily, the furry kids and I didn’t have to go that route. When I met my roommate, she told me that our neighbor next door owns a restaurant. I thought… great! Maybe I can talk him into giving me a job. About a couple of weeks after I arrived to my new home, I finally met my neighbor. We went for a hike. During the hike, I told him about my 20 something years of restaurant and cooking experience. Blah.. Blah… Blah… I went on. Shamelessly selling myself, hoping to get a job. Well… to make the long story short. I didn’t talk him into giving me a job that day, instead a week later, I end up talking him into giving me the whole restaurant. He had purchased the restaurant six months before and by the time we met, he realized that owning a restaurant was more work than he had thought. He was at the point where he wanted to give the restaurant back to the previous owner. So during one of our daily hikes, I simply asked him to give me the restaurant. Ask and you shall receive. Well… this is one of those times where that statement came true. I didn’t have much money, but somehow I knew this cute little place was going to be mine. Well… after a month of paper work, dealing with the government,  jumping through many other hoops, and most of all; the help of some guardian angels — my dream came true. I am now the proud owner of a Hawaiian style restaurant — Aloha Grille, located in the beautiful town of Prescott, Arizona.

This is one of those opportunities in life when it hits you in the face and you are actually ready to receive it kind of moment. I had owned a small cafe many years ago but at the time, my kids were very young — among other challenges of life, the cafe didn’t make it. Anyway, I told myself someday I would have another one when the opportunity is right. And when I made my New Year wish, I didn’t know that I put in motion for me to find my opportunity. When I look back at my New Year’s post, A New Journey Begins. I am amazed by my predictions. If you read what I wrote, you will see that my journey for the last couple of months have been exactly as I have written.

My little herbal garden. I hope to harvest the mint for the noodle salad dish.

Nope, I didn’t paint the mural. It came with the restaurant. Although, at the end of a hard day; I love to sit and stare at it. If I close my eyes, I can almost hear the waves crashing on to the beach.

It is a small place… but just right for me. People commented on how comforting they feel when they eat there. So far, all the orders come back with empty plates. It’s a good sign that my food is tasty. One good thing about being a food photographer, I will be able take photos of my cooking. Which I hope to do when I get more settled with running the restaurant. So far, I’ve been running around none-stop. And yes, I feel sleep deprived but at least I finally lost the 15 lbs that I’ve been trying to get rid of for the past few years.

I have to admit, it has been a crazy last few weeks. I changed the menu, did a lot of cleaning, bought supplies and even sewed the table clothes. The biggest challenge I discovered was the difficulty of getting the ingredients I need living in a small town. I had to drive all over town and search four different stores just for coconut milk, bean sprouts and snow peas. I couldn’t order from the food service companies because of the small quantity I need. On top of that, I have to learn how to bake at high altitude. I thought it only affects baked goods, but I spent all day today, trying to modify my Easy Breezy pancake mix recipe without success. And I’m suppose to open for breakfast tomorrow. So… I cheated. I went and bought pancake mix. Until I can figure out this high altitude problem, I have to cheat and use store-bought. Yikes!

I know there will be more challenges ahead… especially, the cash flow issue. However, all is good. I have my excellent cooking skills, experience and determination to make this place a success. And this time around, no kids, no husband, and other family obligations to distract me from my goal. This time, I have only me, myself and I to deal with.  ALOHA!  :)

Desert Snow Storm

The temperature last Thursday was sunny and around 74 degrees. I awoke on Sunday morning to find over a foot of snow have fallen and it is still snowing outside as I sit here typing…   looks like the weatherman was spot on about the snow prediction. There’s at least two feet of snow accumulated. Normally, I would be very excited about the snow but… I am right in the middle of a very exciting and important project with tight deadlines. It is a project of my dream come true… and that also explains my lack of activity visiting and commenting on your blogs. I haven’t been able to do much photography and finally the snow forced me to take out my camera so that I can capture the snowy moment forever.

Ah… I’m sure I got you wondering what my dream project is. I will reveal it in the next post. Hopefully everything will go according to plan and will workout without delay. You will probably be as surprised as I am on how I found the opportunity to make my dream come true.

Okay… back to my snow storm rambling… it had snowed a couple of times since I’ve moved here but it was only a couple of inches. At first I was really surprised to see snow but then again, the town is located over 5,000 feet above sea level. I am learning the temperature here can go from one extreme to another in a very short time. From the looks of the amount out there, it’s likely the snow will probably stay around — at least until Thursday when the temperature suppose be around the 70′s again… in the mean time, the furry kids and I are trying to make the best of the snowy event. As usual, they enjoy running around like wild, crazy, pups and of course; I enjoy (sort of) hiking through knee-deep snow, at 7:00 a.m., on the back trails of my home with the camera on a tripod — looking for that spectacular shot. While I didn’t find that spectacular shot, here are snap shots of the desert snow storm. My first time seeing a cactus covered with snow.

This is a tree located in front of my house. Not sure what kind of evergreen this is but its bright color bark and interesting branches caught my attention.

As I continued the hike up the now — very familiar trail in the back of my house, I felt as if I’ve been transported to a winter wonderland.

And of course… the furry kids. Max is starting to show his age with little white hairs showing up around his face. Someday he will sport the familiar white face mask that all golden retrievers get…

Evie  loves to plow through the snow…

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments and I apologize for my lack of response. The last month has been a life changing experience for me. I am beyond amazed by the events that’s changing my life for the better… better than I have ever anticipated. While I will still fit blogging into my life, right now with my limited time — I will not be able to post regularly. Thanks, everyone!

Thirty Days of Changes…

It’s hard to believe that it has only been thirty days since I left my old life behind to seek a new one… facing the unknown head on. I didn’t really know what life was going to be like in my new home. While I am very happy with my new hometown, I certainly wasn’t expecting the emotional adjustments I went through in the last month.  I have to admit… for the first couple of weeks, I felt like a fish out of water. All of a sudden, I went from the fast pace, urban life full of glass tower buildings, congested cars and people to a small town life that is much slower, no traffic jam to speak of and at least half million fewer people to deal with.  I find myself having to readjust my speed constantly both on the road and with the residents. And what really surprised me was that; I never thought that giving up my Washington State driver’s license and the plates on my car would bring tears of sadness and abandonment.  I think the reason being that it really represented the end of my old life… the familiarity of what I had known for the last 21 years. I guess that’s what they mean by being stuck in your comfort zone… you just get used to it, even if the zone isn’t exactly comforting. After taking some time to readjust myself, I finally took out my camera yesterday and went for a walk at a lake about 10 minutes from home. Here are some shots I took of the lake and its surrounding trails.

The rock formation in my hometown is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Most of  the lake is surrounded by these giant boulder hills, with various type of trees and vegetation.

As I was exploring around the lake, I came upon an area where I could hear the loud singing of birds. I followed the wonderful sounds to a patch of dried grass and to my amazement, there were a large flock of birds. It was a fantastic sight to see so many birds all in one place. Of course, they were all hanging out on the other side, just out of my lens range for a closer shot. As quietly as I could, I tried to sneak closer…

Of course, the birds knew what I was up to and before I could even get half away… they all took off at once. But… at least I was quick enough with my camera to capture their take off.

This is definitely going to be a wonderful new playground for me. It will be interesting to see what changes each new season will bring…

Home Sweet Home

After more than three days and 1400 miles later, the furry kids and I finally arrived to our new home. This is the view of our new back yard  playground. I took this shot from the side deck of the house.

It was an incredible journey for my mind, body and soul. During my journey of escape to freedom, I went through a roller coaster ride of emotions. It’s amazing what your mind will think about when you have nothing to entertain you but a long and winding — mostly uninhabited road through some of the most amazing landscapes in North America. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos. Not that I didn’t want to… there were so many breath-taking sights. But with a heavy eight-foot trailer towed behind my SUV, made it difficult to just stop and park anywhere. The most difficult part about the trip was traveling with the furry kids. While they were the most well-behaved traveling companions, finding a place to stay with them was not easy.

On our first night, I couldn’t find a motel that would take the furry kids. Since it was freezing cold out, I couldn’t leave them out in the truck on their own; we ended up sleeping in a motel parking lot. Yes, at least they were kind enough to let us use the parking lot. Needless to say, it wasn’t very comfortable sleeping with the steering wheel and it was so cold. I didn’t get very much sleep that night. Our luck was much better the second night. We stopped at a very small town. And there were two restaurants to choose from. One was part of a casino. I was surprised to see a large casino out in the middle of nowhere. So, my instinct told me to choose the small family restaurant instead. And it was the right choice. After subsisting on Subway sandwiches, beef jerky, and water for two days, I was ready for some really good home cooked meal. As I waited for my food, I started to chat with the owners. They were a very nice couple who had been through some hardship themselves. After learning about my plight, the owners were very generous and didn’t charge me for dinner and they also offered free breakfast the next morning. They also directed me to a motel where the nice owner decided to let slide the “NO DOG” rule for us. I was very touched by their kindness and generosity. I felt as if these people were like my guardian angels. They gave me more than just food and shelter; they gave me HOPE and COURAGE to continue on my journey.

On the third night, I thought about staying in Las Vegas. It has been over twenty years since the last time I’ve been to Las Vegas and if I had thought it was an ugly city before, it’s even more ugly now than I had thought. Looking around the environment, I can see why it’s nick named — Sin City. I decided to skip the city and thought maybe a motel outside the city limit would be better. However, the motel I came to would not take Max because he was 10 pounds over the weight limit. It was really late and I was very tired. I pleaded with the clerk to let us stay but he wouldn’t. The clerk refused to budge from the rule that they will only accept dogs less than 45 pounds. Guess I wasn’t surprise by the clerk’s lack of compassion. After all, it was Las Vegas. So, I drove on for another few hours while trying to stay awake… finally just when I thought about sleeping in the SUV again, we found a place that took the pups and without extra pet fee.

The next day, we arrived to our new home around noon. I met my new roommate Shannon and instantly; I knew we would get along just fine. Her home is on the end of a street, surrounded by the beautiful wilderness. The back yard is part of the national forest with hiking trails that go for miles.

And for the first time in my life, I was able to wake up every morning and look outside my bedroom window to witness beautiful sunrise.

For the last few days, the furry kids and I have been getting up every morning to hike up to the top of the hill to see the gorgeous sunrise. As I sit on top of the boulder looking at the brightly lit sky, casting a warm glow to the valley below — I knew I found the place that I can finally have the quality of life I’ve been looking for. While I know there will be challenges ahead, but for the first time in years; I truly feel happy and free. And it looks like the furry kids feel the same way…

Thank you everyone for all your support. And for those of you who’ve donated money or bought prints, I can’t tell you how much your contribution means to me. All I can say is — THANK YOU!! I will never forget the favor and will find ways to pay it forward when I am back on my feet.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Escape to Freedom

I’m trying to raise money to move out of Washington State and go some place completely new to start over. Besides selling what few valuable possessions I have, I came up with the idea that I would sell my prints. And that’s what I’m hoping you will help me. I have some prints of my best work uploaded on Zenfolio for sale. This is difficult for me to ask… and I don’t want to sound desperate or make you feel obligated but I would really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart if you could buy a print to help me raise the funds I need to get my freedom back. Also, if you know anyone who might like to have a nice print, it would be great if you could pass this post on.

Here is the link the Zenfolio page.

Click here to buy — Escape to Freedom Prints

If you would like to help without buying prints, you can donate at my PayPal account. Thank you so much!

This will be my last post for now. I hope to be back posting as an independent, free woman as soon I am settled in my new home. I’m not exactly sure where I’ll end up but I’m sure my instinct will show me the way. I know everything will eventually workout for the best. However, I certainly could use and appreciate any prayers and good wishes you can send my way… Thank you everyone for all your kindness, support and comments about my work. You have been a great source of comfort and encouragement for me during this difficult time. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at emilygoochphotos@yahoo.com however, with limited Internet access; it might take me a while to get back to you. Take care…

Make a Great Day!

Emily

Snow Wimps In Action

I woke up this morning expecting the rain to come and wash away all the snow but since I live in the convergence zone, we got more snow instead — while the rest of the greater Seattle area got freezing rain on top of the snow from yesterday’s storm. Needless to say, the city pretty much came to a standstill from layers of ice. While I do agree, Seattleites are terrible drivers in snow but was it really necessary for the L.A. Times newspaper to insult us? Yesterday, the L.A. Times did a report about our snowstorm and called us snow wimps. The reporter was very condescending about our reactions to small amount of snow. I mean really… of all places, L.A.? They don’t even know how to drive in the rain and I doubt they would know how to drive in the snow at all — yet the reporter has the audacity to lecture us about our snow driving ability? I don’t like it when people make judgments without knowing how it really is. Does the reporter even know what the Seattle streets look like? I find the reporting really rude and not to mention bad journalism.  I know when I first moved down from Alaska, I had no problem driving in the snow but over the years, my ability becomes more cautious because of lack of practice. It’s hard to practice when it snows maybe a few times a year if even that. And that’s part of life… when you don’t continue to practice, you are not going to be good at it and eventually you might even forget how to do it. So… Take that L.A. Times… we are snow wimps and proud of it!

And speaking of practice. It has been a while since I shot my furry kids in action and with all the thick, fluffy snow; I thought it would be a good opportunity to practice my action shots. By afternoon, the snow fall had lighten up enough that I thought it would be okay to take my camera out in it. And of course, the furry kids love any opportunity to play in the snow.

One great thing about shooting Max in snow is his golden red fur. It creates nice contrast and makes it easier for me to get the correct exposure. Unlike Ms. Evie whose creamy white fur blends in too much with the snow. I tend to shoot her a little underexposed so that I can capture the details of her better.

Max is quite an athlete. He can catch Frisbees, knows how to play basketball, and he loves soccer. Nothing like a fun game of soccer in the snow. This was his first time playing soccer in the snow and as you can see, he was pretty good at it.

Winter Wonderland

Saturday was the first snowfall of the season and it has been snowing intermittently since. From the weather forecast, it looks like there will be a big snowstorm tomorrow. They are forecasting 4 to 6 inches. Yes, I know… for a lot of places — these measurements would be considered more like flurries than a storm. However here in the Pacific Northwest, anything over a few inches and they call it a storm. We don’t get snow here very often except up in the mountains — so having snow a few days straight is not a common sight. Unfortunately, this also means a lot of people are terrible drivers in snow. On the news, I saw Metro buses and cars sliding down hills, slamming into each other. It doesn’t take much snow for the roads to become chaotic. So I hope the snow doesn’t stay around too long. In the mean time, I’m glad to have snow. It’s definitely better than rain.  At least I can finally go outside with my camera. I took these photos late today. The sun came out long enough to cast a nice glow on the snow-covered landscape around my neighborhood. These shots were taken at the golf course field. It’s amazing to see the transformation a little snow can make.  It transformed the golf course into a winter wonderland.