Well, have finished reading the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer, all three. They’re not Harry Potter but pretty darned good. And those of you who laugh at me for my penchant for reading ‘kids’ books can just bite me because I like ‘kids’ books. (I say that humorously! Please don’t e-mail me with comments about my rudeness, I WAS KIDDING!) The books are fun and funny and imaginative and gross in spots. I think that Danielle G. might like them as would Emily and Peter B. Just a suggestion. Oh, did I ever mention I’d read Eragon by Christopher Paolini? That’s another ‘Young Adult’ book that those three kids might like. I’d be interested to hear what Peter had to say about it. Some people say it’s a LOTR rip off. I found some similarities, but I like the premise and am waiting for the next installment. Let me know Peter what you think if you get a chance to read it.
Also finally finished Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton, it’s a sad story and though it discusses a policy that is no longer in effect, recent conversations with our South African friends have highlighted to me the fact that much work is still needing to be done. It’s a vile legacy that will, unfortunately, take much longer to correct than it did to create. Definitely worth reading but be persistent, it’s tough in places. Also, don’t let the fact that it was an Oprah Book Club selection turn you off; it’s not like her usual selections.
Finished Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. I loved it and I usually can’t read his stuff. I’m a Stephen King fan but Dean Kuntz’s stuff just really creeps me out sometimes. I think it’s just too real or possible for comfort. This book was just as strange but I like the story narrator – Odd Thomas. The story is about a man named Odd Thomas, told in his words. Odd sees dead people and they’re trying to tell him something. Ooohhh, yummy! Definitely not for kids, it gave me a few nightmares, well more like ‘Odd’ dreams. (heh)
My other reading is of my Newsweek International – Europe edition. I have to say that there are stories and points of view expressed in there that you wouldn’t likely see in the US. It’s amazing that even with freedom of speech our country doesn’t always get the whole story or maybe just not exposure to other points of view. I find it fascinating! I’m like a kid waiting for the postman on Monday to get my hands on the next issue. Of course this could just be that I’m starved for any sort of media in English,
Hey, can tea go bad? Does it lose potency with time. I’m trying to have a hot cup of tea, but I can’t get it strong enough no matter how long I steep it. Have had to add a couple more tea bags. Is it the tea or have I just grown so accustomed to the thick syrupy coffee of the area that the tea can’t compete?
We’re on day three of sunshine today. The wind-chill is currently at 27° so it’s not exactly warm, but hey one step at a time. Close inspection of the trees and rose bushes however, points to the arrival of spring. Buds on everything. I think maybe another week or two and we’ll have new leaves. Crocus are up, not flowering but up, and the tulips and hyacinth are peeking out too. Highs are in the mid 40’s during the day but warming slowly.
Well, that’s all for now from this ‘neck of the woods’.
Friday, January 30, 2004
Saturday, January 24, 2004
More Photos
While participating in my new favorite pastime today (reading Newsweek International-Europe cover to cover) I came across an explanation for the 'everything’s on sale in France' phenomena I mentioned on my post of January 19th. According to this article 'it's illegal in France to hold sales except during two months a year: July and January!' So there you have it. According to this article those are the best times to hit Paris for Cacharel, Vanessa Bruno and all things Dolce & Gabbana. Most items are marked down 50% - 75%. So who's coming for some July shopping in Paris?
Alright I am posting some more photos. I apologize for some of the quality of these, I really have to scale them down for upload. Note that a couple of them, however, were actually blurry due to not using the flash in favor of natural light.
This lovely abode recently vacated by 'La famille d'Adams' is available for immediate occupancy. Hmm, wonder where they went in such a hurry.
3 kids at Place Wilson after the movie Lost In Translationand looking for a place to eat. Despite reviews it was a darned good flick.
Wandering past the Place du Capitole and perusing restaurants around its perimeter.
Having dinner at the 'Brasserie les Arcades' down from the Le Hotel de l’Opera. We had great food and a wonderful Champagne and we annoyed our fellow diners by speaking in bizarre accents. Good time was had by all. Dig the architectural details man.
Here is another one of those delightful contraband pics from inside the Guggenheim.
Kids don't try this at home or at your nearby castle. What you can't see is the sign just below Rich that says "Danger - Do not climb". It's basically an invitation.
Alright I am posting some more photos. I apologize for some of the quality of these, I really have to scale them down for upload. Note that a couple of them, however, were actually blurry due to not using the flash in favor of natural light.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Pictures from 'The Visit'
No real post today but just some photos.
'The kids' in the Cite of Carcassone
A umm, sculpture? Inside the Guggenheim.
A spider sculpture outside the museum along the public walkway.
Another view of the Guggenheim.
Monday, January 19, 2004
At Long Last...
Rich, much to his dismay, bought me, among other things, the complete first season of The West Wing on
DVD for a Christmas/Birthday gift (by way of a lovely Amazon.com gift certificate). 22 episodes of some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. I, at first, had intended to be good and ration them out 1 or 2 episodes per day. But everyone knows that I have no willpower whatsoever, so I have watched all 22 episodes plus the lengthy commentary DVD, 3 times in the last week. That is my excuse for not posting sooner, it’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
(So yeah, gifts, for those of you who still, you know, want to send Missy a Xmas/Bday gift, Amazon.com gift certificates [because you can never have too much reading material] are easy to buy and send on-line, just, you know a brief helpful note. Ok then, moving on.)
Ok, in all reality I have to confess to a certain amount of depression after ‘the kids’ left. So I sat in my favorite comfy office chair in front of the TV with a bowl of lemon juice and BBQ potato chips, several six packs of Pepsi and my ‘blankie’ and watched The West Wing continuously for a week. Don’t laugh. You be depressed in any way you choose and I’ll be depressed in my own pathetic way.
The kids visit was so fun and revitalizing. I enjoyed every sleep deprived minute of it. We drove and shopped and behaved like true tourists and it was incredibly fun. J and I had some mother/daughter bonding time while S and Rich chased down piles of rubble across most of Southern France.
(They have photos and video that they would be more than happy to share with you with very little prompting)
In order for ‘the kids’ to check off some more countries on their passport, we went to Andorra and to Bilbao, Spain.
We visited Andorra on a cold, foggy and rainy Friday (1/9). We got a reasonably early start and were fearful that the rain here would be indicative of snow in the mountains, but our fears were unfounded. To be certain, they had received several feet of snow since the last time we were there, but the roads were clear, wet but clear, and five foot piles of snow walled us in on both sides as we climbed the winding mountain road.
The high snow covered peaks were so brilliantly white that they blended in with the high passing clouds. The day was cold and wet but mostly clear by the time we got to Pas de la Casa. After we parked the car we split up. The guys went off in search of sporting goods and liquor, not necessarily in that order. J and I went shopping for shoes, perfume and other girly stuff.
In France, and apparently in Andorra also, this week had been designated as ‘mark everything down and put it on clearance’ week. We had noticed this when we went to the mall a few days previous and the crowds were more like those of pre-Christmas not post-Christmas shopping. Everything everywhere was on sale or clearance.
J found a beautiful pair of red shoes. Not like ‘ruby slippers’ red, more like a deep dark red in smooth leather with a good 2 inch heal. They are so pretty! I wanted a pair too but they didn’t have another pair in the store. The shoes cost her less than 40€. We shopped for purses and found some very lovely ones, we, however, managed to resist the urge.
I for my part managed to purchase a nice scarf and matching gloves. You can never have too many scarves!
(A small delivery van has just parked across the street. The side of the van says ‘I.R.S. Information’. What do you suppose?)
Rich and S meanwhile had purchased some liquor and had moved on to looking for sporting goods by the time we caught up to them. Among Rich’s purchases was a bottle of Absinthe. Absinthe is banned in the US and several other countries. After we read about it we wanted to try some, but Rich had only purchased the one bottle and he wouldn’t share. No, really he wouldn’t have been able to take the open container back with him. He did not, by the way, have any troubles at customs.
(Well, at least I think he didn’t have any trouble, I haven’t however heard from him….hmmm. Wouldn’t he still get his phone call?)
On Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn…no wait crack of dawn would seem to imply that the sun rose shortly after we got on the road when in reality we drove ½ of the six hour drive in rainy darkness. The plan was to visit Frank Gerry’s Guggenheim Museum building. Though we were still undecided as to whether we were going to just see the architecture or actually view the collections inside. It was a subject of some debate on which I will not elaborate.
When by mid morning we reached St. Sebastian, Spain we decided to stop at the beach so we could all touch the Atlantic. Yeah, hard to believe but that was my first dip into Atlantic waters. St. Sebastian is a very picturesque coastal town and we left the highway and drove the coastal road for a while so we could see the vistas. I picked out the perfect cliff on which to build our summer home, it has breathtaking ocean views and lovely vistas of sheep dotted hillsides. Well, then it was on to Bilbao and the Guggenheim.
First I have to say that it eludes me why this beautiful modern building was put in the heart of Bilbao. Bilbao, putting it in as nice a way as possible, is an ugly city. The rain and low clouds trapped the stench of the paper mills near the ground and the smell was incredibly nauseating. Most evident were high rise tenement looking buildings all partly obscured by the paper mill smog. The city was also not very user friendly (typical for Spain?); we drove past the museum at least four times (reminiscent of the Barcelona highway fiasco) and wasted about an hour trying to find a parking structure for the museum. There evidently wasn't one and we were finally able to park on the street about 4 blocks away from the museum.
We decided on the front steps of the museum that we would go ahead and go in, since we had, after all, just driven 6 hours for this. For 10€ a person we got admission, a guide book and a phone-like handset with a recorded guide to the interior and exterior of the museum. The guidebooks were available in English, Spanish, Euskara (the second language of Bilbao), Catalan (the second language of Barcelona), French and Galego. We grabbed one of each just for fun. We all took loads of pictures of the outside and a few of the inside. Where as some museums will allow only non-flash photography inside, the Guggenheim does not allow any photography inside. However the inside of the museum is as architecturally interesting as the outside.
A vast majority of the ‘art’ was, in the very least, bizarre. The kind of stuff that makes people in the US scream about the NEA. It’s true that art is in the eye of the beholder. Anyway, the building is what you really want to explore. We had each taken a few photos of the main central hall, when a proctor (to be referred to as the Camera Gestapo from here forward) in a red blazer came over and told us that photos were not allowed. We covered three floors of exhibits and I, being a disobedient juvenile delinquent, hid in a few corners to take some photos of interior architecture. Well, being sly has never been one of my strong suites and so it was that I got caught. The Camera Gestapo did not however take my camera away from me. Instead it was placed in a sealed clear plastic bag that I was then forced to carry around like a scarlet letter. Not only that, but I’m sure that the Gestapo agent got on her little walkie talkie and warned all the other agents because from that point forward every red blazered employee of the museum seemed to mark my every movement and observe me specifically with particularly scowly looks. I have to confess that this made me a bit uncomfortable though I'm happy to say that the other members of my traveling party seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely at my expense.
We lunched in the museum restaurant that although slightly expensive was quite delicious. With the help of the human vacuum that was traveling with us, we cleared all of our plates of every delectable morsel. The dessert was an especially divine variation on rice pudding.
We visited the museum store and bought our Guggenheim souvenirs and headed home tired and poorer but happy.
On Sunday after a nice lie in and quiet day we went to a movie and dinner in town. We picked a new restaurant to try right off the capital square and had a great time. We spent our dinner conversing in goofy accents. Rich in his very good Irish accent, me in my southern. The other two spoke little and hid their embarrassment at our antics pretty well. We had a wonderful bottle of champagne (that added to the hilarity) and toasted Ardo, who phoned during dinner to inform us that he and Kay Marie are finally engaged. Finally! Congrats again kids!
On Monday S, with much foot dragging, was back at work and we headed back into the city to walk and lunch and see and also to teach J how to flirt. She says we embarrass her, I don’t know why. We had dinner in town that night and were joined by S and some South African co-workers of his who were in town. It was a very lively dinner group and we had a blast at yet another new restaurant off the capital square.
On Tuesday I got the kids to the airport where we tearfully said goodbye. That was one of the loneliest and saddest drives home I’ve ever experienced.
..........
Anyway, last Saturday we bought me a car. It’s a 1994 Mercedes C180 Elegance. It’s in reasonably good shape and rides very smoothly. We hope to pick it up next Saturday at which point I’ll post a picture.
That night (1/17) we attended the AIT New Years party. It was at a Brazilian restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. The food was delicious and abundant. The food, served family style, included bowls of salad with breaded fried bananas on top, black beans, a cheesy green bean casserole, rice, chips (steak fries? fried potato wedges?) apple sauce, bread and wine. There was also more meat than anyone could eat. As the sides were being placed on the long tables, a man came around with skewers of meat from which he served us. The first meat course was chicken, then bratwurst, then pork, then duck, then quail and then beef. A new meat was brought out every 20 minutes or so and then each variety was brought back numerous times for seconds or thirds (it was an Atkins dieter’s dream). By the time dessert and coffee came around we’d had more meat and wine than was strictly necessary.
At 11:30 when the music started we were ready to dance off the meal. We had a great time moving to a ‘get up and dance’ Brazilian beat. The tiny dance floor was packed beyond capacity and S and I made it a game to try and dance our way to the front. This little game got me into some trouble later in the evening.
There were about 60 AIT and ‘France/Etas Unis’ club members only a couple of which we had met before. We met two new couples, both British, who were quite fun. The noise level made conversation darned near impossible and once the music started all conversations were definitely ended.
Of course there are a few AIT club members who I should definitely steer clear of from now on for reasons that I do not care to go into. Let’s just say that there were three women on the dance floor who were very unhappy with me. I believe they were just jealous of my beauty and masterful dancing skills, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. They, however, may have a different view of the events, to which they are absolutely entitled.
Ok, here are three pics from the Guggenheim trip. The first one of three of my favorite people by a cool dog, the next one is an exterior shot of one side of the Museum and the third is one of my contraband pics of one of the interior 'great halls'.
(So yeah, gifts, for those of you who still, you know, want to send Missy a Xmas/Bday gift, Amazon.com gift certificates [because you can never have too much reading material] are easy to buy and send on-line, just, you know a brief helpful note. Ok then, moving on.)
Ok, in all reality I have to confess to a certain amount of depression after ‘the kids’ left. So I sat in my favorite comfy office chair in front of the TV with a bowl of lemon juice and BBQ potato chips, several six packs of Pepsi and my ‘blankie’ and watched The West Wing continuously for a week. Don’t laugh. You be depressed in any way you choose and I’ll be depressed in my own pathetic way.
The kids visit was so fun and revitalizing. I enjoyed every sleep deprived minute of it. We drove and shopped and behaved like true tourists and it was incredibly fun. J and I had some mother/daughter bonding time while S and Rich chased down piles of rubble across most of Southern France.
(They have photos and video that they would be more than happy to share with you with very little prompting)
In order for ‘the kids’ to check off some more countries on their passport, we went to Andorra and to Bilbao, Spain.
We visited Andorra on a cold, foggy and rainy Friday (1/9). We got a reasonably early start and were fearful that the rain here would be indicative of snow in the mountains, but our fears were unfounded. To be certain, they had received several feet of snow since the last time we were there, but the roads were clear, wet but clear, and five foot piles of snow walled us in on both sides as we climbed the winding mountain road.
The high snow covered peaks were so brilliantly white that they blended in with the high passing clouds. The day was cold and wet but mostly clear by the time we got to Pas de la Casa. After we parked the car we split up. The guys went off in search of sporting goods and liquor, not necessarily in that order. J and I went shopping for shoes, perfume and other girly stuff.
In France, and apparently in Andorra also, this week had been designated as ‘mark everything down and put it on clearance’ week. We had noticed this when we went to the mall a few days previous and the crowds were more like those of pre-Christmas not post-Christmas shopping. Everything everywhere was on sale or clearance.
J found a beautiful pair of red shoes. Not like ‘ruby slippers’ red, more like a deep dark red in smooth leather with a good 2 inch heal. They are so pretty! I wanted a pair too but they didn’t have another pair in the store. The shoes cost her less than 40€. We shopped for purses and found some very lovely ones, we, however, managed to resist the urge.
I for my part managed to purchase a nice scarf and matching gloves. You can never have too many scarves!
(A small delivery van has just parked across the street. The side of the van says ‘I.R.S. Information’. What do you suppose?)
Rich and S meanwhile had purchased some liquor and had moved on to looking for sporting goods by the time we caught up to them. Among Rich’s purchases was a bottle of Absinthe. Absinthe is banned in the US and several other countries. After we read about it we wanted to try some, but Rich had only purchased the one bottle and he wouldn’t share. No, really he wouldn’t have been able to take the open container back with him. He did not, by the way, have any troubles at customs.
(Well, at least I think he didn’t have any trouble, I haven’t however heard from him….hmmm. Wouldn’t he still get his phone call?)
On Saturday we got up at the crack of dawn…no wait crack of dawn would seem to imply that the sun rose shortly after we got on the road when in reality we drove ½ of the six hour drive in rainy darkness. The plan was to visit Frank Gerry’s Guggenheim Museum building. Though we were still undecided as to whether we were going to just see the architecture or actually view the collections inside. It was a subject of some debate on which I will not elaborate.
When by mid morning we reached St. Sebastian, Spain we decided to stop at the beach so we could all touch the Atlantic. Yeah, hard to believe but that was my first dip into Atlantic waters. St. Sebastian is a very picturesque coastal town and we left the highway and drove the coastal road for a while so we could see the vistas. I picked out the perfect cliff on which to build our summer home, it has breathtaking ocean views and lovely vistas of sheep dotted hillsides. Well, then it was on to Bilbao and the Guggenheim.
First I have to say that it eludes me why this beautiful modern building was put in the heart of Bilbao. Bilbao, putting it in as nice a way as possible, is an ugly city. The rain and low clouds trapped the stench of the paper mills near the ground and the smell was incredibly nauseating. Most evident were high rise tenement looking buildings all partly obscured by the paper mill smog. The city was also not very user friendly (typical for Spain?); we drove past the museum at least four times (reminiscent of the Barcelona highway fiasco) and wasted about an hour trying to find a parking structure for the museum. There evidently wasn't one and we were finally able to park on the street about 4 blocks away from the museum.
We decided on the front steps of the museum that we would go ahead and go in, since we had, after all, just driven 6 hours for this. For 10€ a person we got admission, a guide book and a phone-like handset with a recorded guide to the interior and exterior of the museum. The guidebooks were available in English, Spanish, Euskara (the second language of Bilbao), Catalan (the second language of Barcelona), French and Galego. We grabbed one of each just for fun. We all took loads of pictures of the outside and a few of the inside. Where as some museums will allow only non-flash photography inside, the Guggenheim does not allow any photography inside. However the inside of the museum is as architecturally interesting as the outside.
A vast majority of the ‘art’ was, in the very least, bizarre. The kind of stuff that makes people in the US scream about the NEA. It’s true that art is in the eye of the beholder. Anyway, the building is what you really want to explore. We had each taken a few photos of the main central hall, when a proctor (to be referred to as the Camera Gestapo from here forward) in a red blazer came over and told us that photos were not allowed. We covered three floors of exhibits and I, being a disobedient juvenile delinquent, hid in a few corners to take some photos of interior architecture. Well, being sly has never been one of my strong suites and so it was that I got caught. The Camera Gestapo did not however take my camera away from me. Instead it was placed in a sealed clear plastic bag that I was then forced to carry around like a scarlet letter. Not only that, but I’m sure that the Gestapo agent got on her little walkie talkie and warned all the other agents because from that point forward every red blazered employee of the museum seemed to mark my every movement and observe me specifically with particularly scowly looks. I have to confess that this made me a bit uncomfortable though I'm happy to say that the other members of my traveling party seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely at my expense.
We lunched in the museum restaurant that although slightly expensive was quite delicious. With the help of the human vacuum that was traveling with us, we cleared all of our plates of every delectable morsel. The dessert was an especially divine variation on rice pudding.
We visited the museum store and bought our Guggenheim souvenirs and headed home tired and poorer but happy.
On Sunday after a nice lie in and quiet day we went to a movie and dinner in town. We picked a new restaurant to try right off the capital square and had a great time. We spent our dinner conversing in goofy accents. Rich in his very good Irish accent, me in my southern. The other two spoke little and hid their embarrassment at our antics pretty well. We had a wonderful bottle of champagne (that added to the hilarity) and toasted Ardo, who phoned during dinner to inform us that he and Kay Marie are finally engaged. Finally! Congrats again kids!
On Monday S, with much foot dragging, was back at work and we headed back into the city to walk and lunch and see and also to teach J how to flirt. She says we embarrass her, I don’t know why. We had dinner in town that night and were joined by S and some South African co-workers of his who were in town. It was a very lively dinner group and we had a blast at yet another new restaurant off the capital square.
On Tuesday I got the kids to the airport where we tearfully said goodbye. That was one of the loneliest and saddest drives home I’ve ever experienced.
..........
Anyway, last Saturday we bought me a car. It’s a 1994 Mercedes C180 Elegance. It’s in reasonably good shape and rides very smoothly. We hope to pick it up next Saturday at which point I’ll post a picture.
That night (1/17) we attended the AIT New Years party. It was at a Brazilian restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. The food was delicious and abundant. The food, served family style, included bowls of salad with breaded fried bananas on top, black beans, a cheesy green bean casserole, rice, chips (steak fries? fried potato wedges?) apple sauce, bread and wine. There was also more meat than anyone could eat. As the sides were being placed on the long tables, a man came around with skewers of meat from which he served us. The first meat course was chicken, then bratwurst, then pork, then duck, then quail and then beef. A new meat was brought out every 20 minutes or so and then each variety was brought back numerous times for seconds or thirds (it was an Atkins dieter’s dream). By the time dessert and coffee came around we’d had more meat and wine than was strictly necessary.
At 11:30 when the music started we were ready to dance off the meal. We had a great time moving to a ‘get up and dance’ Brazilian beat. The tiny dance floor was packed beyond capacity and S and I made it a game to try and dance our way to the front. This little game got me into some trouble later in the evening.
There were about 60 AIT and ‘France/Etas Unis’ club members only a couple of which we had met before. We met two new couples, both British, who were quite fun. The noise level made conversation darned near impossible and once the music started all conversations were definitely ended.
Of course there are a few AIT club members who I should definitely steer clear of from now on for reasons that I do not care to go into. Let’s just say that there were three women on the dance floor who were very unhappy with me. I believe they were just jealous of my beauty and masterful dancing skills, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. They, however, may have a different view of the events, to which they are absolutely entitled.
Ok, here are three pics from the Guggenheim trip. The first one of three of my favorite people by a cool dog, the next one is an exterior shot of one side of the Museum and the third is one of my contraband pics of one of the interior 'great halls'.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Mother French Fry we have the Spuds!
Picked the kids up at the airport. Their flight out of Paris was delayed an hour or so due to fog, but they finally made it. Rich said that J paid him a compliment. (This is noteworthy since the two of them squabble like siblings) When they arrived at Paris CDG, J looked at him wide eyed and said ‘Boy am I glad you came with me, I’d be lost’. It is a pretty daunting airport. It’s gigantic! We got their bags and got them loaded up into the car and on the road. Then Rich asks ‘So what’s on the agenda today?’
I was a bit surprised by this question since you figure they’ve been on a plane all night and both said that they had not been able to sleep. ‘I figured you guys would be pretty tired so I thought I’d get you home and let you take a nap before dinner. I’m making my world famous Hawaiian Chicken. Or would you rather drive into the city for a quick look around now?’
‘Well, I guess we could go dump the baggage first and go from there.’ says Rich optimistically.
Rich says he’s hungry and would like to eat something, J is insistent that they just had 2 meals, but Rich says yeah that was dinner and breakfast and J says that she’s not hungry and Rich…insert squabble here. We hit McDo’s and headed home. J was pretty wound up by the time we got home and she proceeded to unpack all of the goodies I’d asked for in between bites of burgers and fries. One whole suitcase plus half of another of the 3 suitcases and 2 carry-ons they’d brought were full of stuff for me. Then a pile of mail was presented and I began to go through it. They were both looking pretty owl eyed after lunch, but just like petulant 3 year olds they refused to go take a short nap. ‘We’re not tired.’ So I pulled a ‘mom’ on them.
‘Well, at least relax a bit and then we can head out if you want. Let’s put in a movie in my room and we can snuggle up on my bed to watch it.’ This was agreed upon and we put JD and Orlando into the DVD (Pirates of the Caribbean). We watched for a while and then I said I needed to pay some bills that were in the mail that had just come in. J whined a bit for me to come back and I said that I would ‘in a minute’. I returned 20 minutes later and they were both completely out. They are so cute; I took a picture of the two of them snuggled up asleep on my bed. (Gee, I hope they don’t drool on my pillows.) Unfortunately I can only let them sleep a couple of hours or they’ll be up all night and want me to be up with them and I’m pretty tired. Though I supposed I could adopt Rich’s motto of ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ and just suck it up.
I’m pretty tired because my so called friends, my Ya-ya’s called me at 3:20 this morning to ‘chat’. They were all having a belated Ya-ya Christmas dinner together and felt like sharing it with me. Thanks ladies, I appreciate it and don’t worry, you’ll get yours. Tris said that they had set a place for me at dinner with a margarita glass and they put some green beans on a plate for me. Yummy. Really, I’m touched. And I keep thinking about the fun I missed and wish I could have been there.
Anyway, after that I never did get back to sleep, but no way am I taking a nap now, I’M NOT TIRED!
I was a bit surprised by this question since you figure they’ve been on a plane all night and both said that they had not been able to sleep. ‘I figured you guys would be pretty tired so I thought I’d get you home and let you take a nap before dinner. I’m making my world famous Hawaiian Chicken. Or would you rather drive into the city for a quick look around now?’
‘Well, I guess we could go dump the baggage first and go from there.’ says Rich optimistically.
Rich says he’s hungry and would like to eat something, J is insistent that they just had 2 meals, but Rich says yeah that was dinner and breakfast and J says that she’s not hungry and Rich…insert squabble here. We hit McDo’s and headed home. J was pretty wound up by the time we got home and she proceeded to unpack all of the goodies I’d asked for in between bites of burgers and fries. One whole suitcase plus half of another of the 3 suitcases and 2 carry-ons they’d brought were full of stuff for me. Then a pile of mail was presented and I began to go through it. They were both looking pretty owl eyed after lunch, but just like petulant 3 year olds they refused to go take a short nap. ‘We’re not tired.’ So I pulled a ‘mom’ on them.
‘Well, at least relax a bit and then we can head out if you want. Let’s put in a movie in my room and we can snuggle up on my bed to watch it.’ This was agreed upon and we put JD and Orlando into the DVD (Pirates of the Caribbean). We watched for a while and then I said I needed to pay some bills that were in the mail that had just come in. J whined a bit for me to come back and I said that I would ‘in a minute’. I returned 20 minutes later and they were both completely out. They are so cute; I took a picture of the two of them snuggled up asleep on my bed. (Gee, I hope they don’t drool on my pillows.) Unfortunately I can only let them sleep a couple of hours or they’ll be up all night and want me to be up with them and I’m pretty tired. Though I supposed I could adopt Rich’s motto of ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ and just suck it up.
I’m pretty tired because my so called friends, my Ya-ya’s called me at 3:20 this morning to ‘chat’. They were all having a belated Ya-ya Christmas dinner together and felt like sharing it with me. Thanks ladies, I appreciate it and don’t worry, you’ll get yours. Tris said that they had set a place for me at dinner with a margarita glass and they put some green beans on a plate for me. Yummy. Really, I’m touched. And I keep thinking about the fun I missed and wish I could have been there.
Anyway, after that I never did get back to sleep, but no way am I taking a nap now, I’M NOT TIRED!
Friday, January 02, 2004
Rules of Blogging
Ok, rule number 1 of Blogging should be “Never Blog while drunk” though no terrible harm seems to have come from the New Years Eve/New Years episode, it seems a bit slurry to me just the same.
We saw “Calendar Girls” for my birthday, even though S really did not want to see it. It was the only movie currently playing at Gaumont in VO that we hadn’t seen yet. I loved it, I cried, I laughed (still no laughing from the French folk though, humor really loses a great deal in translation) and mostly smiled like an idiot just listening to those accents. Once again completely in love with the Brit accent and vocabulary. Though I have to say that there were many parts of the movie where I was asking ‘huh?’ S will only admit to…
(Hang on a sec, I’m baking a cake and it’s done.
MMmmmmm, will now continue typing with mouthfuls of warm german chocolate cake and cold milk.)
…liking the movie. ‘It was ok’ is the most he will commit to. I don’t think I was so much caught up in the story, though it was good, as I was by the Yorkshire accents and panoramic shots of hill and vale.
Dinner out was at an Italian place called Le Carpaccio. I did not have duck, I had Four Cheese Tortellini that was to die for. S had foi gras ravioli that as I think about it now, I don’t believe I got to even taste for some reason. I think what happened was that I’d had a few drinks and talked non-stop during dinner instead of eating. Hmmm, you’ll have to ask S.
By way of explaining just how ‘happy’ I was, I did the unthinkable. I went down, underground, down three levels of parking structure with S to get the car instead of waiting up top for him like I usually would. Yeah, gives me the complete creeps just thinking it about it now, but didn’t bother me a bit then.
Well, it’s raining here now. (Gasp) (Really!) (No!) (believe it) so I’m going to have more cake and milk. Laundering and cleaning the entire house in preparation for the visit. S and I made out a tentative program of activities. I wanted to include a trip to Barcelona, a quick one-day-hit-the-highlights-whirlwind visit but S has vetoed the idea. He’s been there done that and doesn’t want to go back. I think there’s still some bitterness about the whole highway incident lurking but he won’t admit to it. So instead we think Bilbao. I do so want to go to that awesome Guggenheim so I might be sold on that. Of course final approval depends on how long of a drive it will be and on our guests wishes. I already am feeling bad for them. They’ll be so jet lagged and sleepy and we are going to try and squeeze in as much activity as possible. Looking at the schedule I’ll bet they could squeeze naps in during movies, dinners and driving. It’ll have to hold them, though I bet they’ll need a couple of vacation days to recover from their vacation when they get home.
J and Rich will be here in 4 days. ::dancing happy jig::
Today’s photo is of the ‘Passion Façade’ of the Sagrada Familia Temple.
We saw “Calendar Girls” for my birthday, even though S really did not want to see it. It was the only movie currently playing at Gaumont in VO that we hadn’t seen yet. I loved it, I cried, I laughed (still no laughing from the French folk though, humor really loses a great deal in translation) and mostly smiled like an idiot just listening to those accents. Once again completely in love with the Brit accent and vocabulary. Though I have to say that there were many parts of the movie where I was asking ‘huh?’ S will only admit to…
(Hang on a sec, I’m baking a cake and it’s done.
MMmmmmm, will now continue typing with mouthfuls of warm german chocolate cake and cold milk.)
…liking the movie. ‘It was ok’ is the most he will commit to. I don’t think I was so much caught up in the story, though it was good, as I was by the Yorkshire accents and panoramic shots of hill and vale.
Dinner out was at an Italian place called Le Carpaccio. I did not have duck, I had Four Cheese Tortellini that was to die for. S had foi gras ravioli that as I think about it now, I don’t believe I got to even taste for some reason. I think what happened was that I’d had a few drinks and talked non-stop during dinner instead of eating. Hmmm, you’ll have to ask S.
By way of explaining just how ‘happy’ I was, I did the unthinkable. I went down, underground, down three levels of parking structure with S to get the car instead of waiting up top for him like I usually would. Yeah, gives me the complete creeps just thinking it about it now, but didn’t bother me a bit then.
Well, it’s raining here now. (Gasp) (Really!) (No!) (believe it) so I’m going to have more cake and milk. Laundering and cleaning the entire house in preparation for the visit. S and I made out a tentative program of activities. I wanted to include a trip to Barcelona, a quick one-day-hit-the-highlights-whirlwind visit but S has vetoed the idea. He’s been there done that and doesn’t want to go back. I think there’s still some bitterness about the whole highway incident lurking but he won’t admit to it. So instead we think Bilbao. I do so want to go to that awesome Guggenheim so I might be sold on that. Of course final approval depends on how long of a drive it will be and on our guests wishes. I already am feeling bad for them. They’ll be so jet lagged and sleepy and we are going to try and squeeze in as much activity as possible. Looking at the schedule I’ll bet they could squeeze naps in during movies, dinners and driving. It’ll have to hold them, though I bet they’ll need a couple of vacation days to recover from their vacation when they get home.
J and Rich will be here in 4 days. ::dancing happy jig::
Today’s photo is of the ‘Passion Façade’ of the Sagrada Familia Temple.
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