AliThinks

alison is literally one of utah's finest treasures

Got this from Bonnie, who found Googlism.  Fun stuff! 

alison is on the phone
alison is in the babybedroom
alison is a scary individual
alison is the bomb
alison is a wicked character
alison is first lady of the sky

Three Guys, Three Guitars

Allan has already written about the long trip back to Pittsburgh on Friday.  It was long and hard for me because my kids were being obnoxious.  I decided that Allan and I needed to have a night out after that, so I asked my dad and stepmother to babysit on Saturday night. 

I scanned the Weekend section of the Post-Gazette, especially the rundown of live music.  Under the rubric "Acoustic," a place and a name caught my eye. 

I'd heard of Club Cafe on WYEP, and noticed that there was an early show on Saturday. Mark Dignam was playing.  I had no idea who Mark Dignam was, but saw that Jesse Prentiss was opening for him. 

I know Jesse Prentiss.  Well, sort of.  We went to school together, and I knew who he was.  I remember Jesse as a brooding artist-type, a tall skinny guy with dark bangs covering his eyes.  He was different from the neo-Deadheads and prep school kids you'd see on campus.  And I wanted to see what he was like now.

Allan was game for this acoustic show, so we went to the South Side and found Club Cafe.  The doorman asked if we were there to see Mark Dignam.  Yes, we were, we said.  Mark can't make it; his wife went into labor this afternoon, replied the doorman.

Answers To Your Questions

So I asked you to ask me questions. 

Here are my answers:

Angel said "you steal from other bloggers?" in a wink wink nudge nudge kind of way.  The ants are my friends answer, my friends, is HELL YEAH!  But you knew that already.

Carrie wanted to know if I hate peas, too.  No.  I love any kind of pea, as long as it's not canned.  Canned peas are quite possibly the grossest canned food ever.  Except for canned spinach, maybe.

Patrick must know that I quit math after 11th grade Geometry, so he gave me a story problem: "If a train leaves Cleveland heading west at 35 mph, and a train leaves Denver headed east at 47 mph, when will they pass?"

Patrick.  Patrick, Patrick, Patrick.   You need to visit France, where the trains travel MUCH faster, and not just because a kilometer is shorter than a mile.  Oh, and Patrick?  One more thing:  PINK!

My bald ex-colleague wanted to know if poop meant what he thought it meant.  Dear ex-colleague:  Oui.  Poop = caca.  Ce genre de vocabulaire est essentiel, surtout quand on a des enfants.

Lee, Bonnie, Margaret, and that bald French guy all wanted to see a picture of my new hair.  Silly me, I forgot to take a photo that first day.  My stylist, Ashley, did a great job drying my hair (well, it doesn't take much to do a better job than I do, considering that I NEVER blowdry my hair), and when she was done, she drawled, "Honey, you need to go out on a hot date tonight."  My hair looked awesome.  I think Allan said "Wow!" when I walked out of the salon.
But in all honesty, it's not really a "new" 'do.  It was more of a trim with more layers added in.  It was also my first trip to the salon since December, and back then I posted a photo.  And it's pretty much the same look. Go here if you want to see my hair. 

Finally, Rand and Melanie didn't ask any questions, but they left some nice comments.  Thanks, guys.

Cat Blog Friday (Better Late Than Never Edition)

C and T petting the affectionate kitty that lives in the barn at Allan's uncle's horse farm. 

Pulling This One Out Of My Ass

Since I have absotively nothing to say -- and yet SO much! -- I'm just going to start rambling and see where this goes.

I'm sitting at Allan's kitchen table, about to get that next mug of coffee that I really don't need.  What was that SNL skit?  Coffee Achievers?  The only thing I achieve with my coffee consumption is regular bowel movements. 

...

Okay, I'm back.  Speaking of pooping, I had a dream about Dooce the other night.  She and her husband came to visit me and Allan to talk about blogging.  Okay.  Now tell me, how much of a loser am I for dreaming about star bloggers and blogging?  And this, when I can't even produce a decent blog entry!  There must be SOME correlation. 

It's not as if I don't encounter interesting subject matter these days.  I do.  I could blog about lovely Lexington; the charming Kentucky twang; the horse farm we visited; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory AND Johnny Depp AND his connection to Lexington; my new haircut; the food I've been eating (and pooping; if I talk about poop, maybe my readership will increase); my hair stylist, Ashley; Old Navy; the fact that Allan and I cook so well together, and that is NOT a metaphor; and the list goes on.

Anyone else singing Sonny and Cher in his or her head?

Yeah, the list goes on.

How about this idea that I'm blatantly stealing from other bloggers:  Got any questions for me?  Leave a comment or question, and I'll post answers in a later post.  Maybe it'll help me get my blog mojo back.

*No linkage due to laziness.

Sea Salt, Part II

My Favorite Is The Sea Salt

In blog entries past, I have mentioned my friend Anne, another American transplant on French soil.  Anne used to teach English too, but a couple of years ago she went for a total career change and started a business, Esprit de France.  At first limited to importing French products to upscale American grocery stores, Esprit de France now has an online presence. Anyone can browse the store and order French products, and trust me, there are some good ones on there.  Anne will be adding merchandise and modifying her website in the future, so keep checking back.  You can also sign up for the Esprit de France Gourmet newsletter.

Go check it out at:

www.espritdefrancegourmet.com

And thanks.

Feels Like Home

We are in Lexington.  Allan, me, and my kids.

It ought to be interesting. 

Been A Long Time Since I Blogged

Sort of.

Allan is here visiting, and our days have been busy.  We've seen some cool stuff, eaten lots of great food, and have made the obligatory trip to IKEA.

By the time we get back to my dad's house in the evening, I'm too worn out to blog.  Besides, I'm having a kind of blog dry spell.  I don't know what to say.  Only one thing made me say "I have to blog that" in the past three days.   Here it is:

Last night I watched The Goonies with my kids.  You know, it's a story about finding a pirate's hidden treasure.  The pirate's name?  One-Eyed Willie.  One-eyed.  Willie. 

Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! 

I'm too tired to come up with some witty zingers about phalli in PG movies, so I'll just say that in 1985 I totally wanted to be Martha Plimpton. 

Quote of the Day

from my sister, the Ziploc Queen*.

On George W. Bush: "He doesn't deserve to see my butt!"  This was in response to a comment from her husband that if Air Force One flew over their house, she'd go out in the street and moon the President.   

Okaaaaay, maybe you had to be there.

*She puts everything in ziploc bags.  Snacks for her daughter.  Heads of iceberg lettuce.  Washed grapes and cherries.  Leftover canteloupe.  Honestly, I have never seen anyone use so many ziplocs.

Big City Photo Of The Day

Yesterday we met up with my stepsister and her three kids at Station Square in Pittsburgh.  Our rendezvous point was the fountain at Bessemer Court.  My stepmother, my kids and I got there early, so we watched the fountain and listened to the aural accompaniment to the water.  It was a history of Pittsburgh interspersed with music, good music.  There were a few kids near the fountain.  Mine were hungry and still jetlagged, so they just hung out and watched.  I got my camera out and took pictures of a little boy and girl who had gotten soaked in the spray.   They didn't care.  During the musical bits, the little girl danced and danced.  Here is a picture of her.  As always, click to enlarge.

Now I Just Need That USB Port Behind My Ear

Allan found this meme at Sissy's blog: 

If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Cat Blog Friday

You gotta love Gmail.  I found this picture of Cookie in an e-mail I sent to someone.  Here she is, for the Friday Ark. 

Here

We made it.  Long trip.  Jetlagged.  Happy. 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

Blogging A Broad

I mean, abroad. 

By the time you read this, I'll be on an Airbus 330.  Statesbound. 

Phillip asked what would become of my blog while I was on vacation.  Don't worry folks, I'll be blogging while I'm away.  Most of the time I'll have access to a computer, and I'll be using it for sure.

It's strange to realize just what day it is today.  3.5 decades.  This trip is the best birthday gift I've ever received. 

See you on the flipside. 

No Fireworks Here

This evening I dropped Cookie and Slick off at my friends Pascal and Stephanie's house.  At first the kitties were a little freaked out, but they soon realized that hey! they were in the COUNTRY!  And the country is fun! 
Pascal and Stephanie and their adorable daughter Nina live in an old old house/barn/relic, so there are plenty of nooks and tons of crannies for kitties to explore.  Edging the property is a vineyard where lots of mice and rabbits dwell. 

I watched the kittens playing and exploring, and felt a twinge.  They'll be much happier there than in this old apartment.  They might also wander off, and I'll be out two sweet cats.  It's a risk, but I couldn't leave them here for five weeks while I go off to play in the States.

Oh yeah, the kids and I are leaving for the States early Wednesday morning.  I forgot to mention that part.  Tomorrow I'll give Sumatra to my neighbor Françoise for the duration.  I've got a place to leave my car and a ride to the train station. 

Now I just need to clean this joint.  And pack.  I have to pack.  Oh God, I have to pack. 

Lost In Francelation

Sometimes I feel so out of it.  I'm an American in France, and I've missed out on many things these past 12 and a half years.  The Clinton presidency, dot com and dot bomb, 9/11.  I wasn't there for all that. 

One thing I regularly miss out on is holiday weekends: Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day.   My last Thanksgiving dates back to 1993.  The others?  I can't remember. 

Most of my readers are American; to you all I wish a happy 4th of July.  To the rest of you, happy Monday.  School's out for the summer.  I hope you enjoy it.  I'll write more later.

Some New Stuff

Over on the right ----> I've replaced my photo albums with Flickr's Daily Zeitgeist.  The other day I decided that I needed to save some of my allotted space here, so the plan was to upload my photos to Flickr and delete them from Typepad.

Lo and behold, what do I see?  New news from Typepad about expanded storage and bandwidth limits, plus some other neat stuff that deserves exploration.  Now instead of using up 50% of my storage space, I'm using 10%.  Cool, I say. 

If my blog looks funky right now, it's because Typepad is republishing all blogs after the service upgrade.  It should get back to normal soon. 

I hope you're having a good weekend.  I am. 

Cat Blog Friday

This is Charley, and he hangs out at Peter Evans's house.  He was the biggest, mellowest cat I've seen in a long time. 

Here is another picture, so that you can admire the wall.  I love old French houses.  This is actually a made-over barn.