AliThinks

Revisiting Old Friends

Writers need to read. Every writer knows it. I've been absorbing books lately. I'd say I was devouring them, but that seems like a cliché, doesn't it? It's apt, however. I'm ravenous for stories.

I'm in the middle of rereading the Austin Family Chronicles by Madeleine L'Engle, who's one of my favorite authors. I loved her Wrinkle In Time books as a teen, and was comforted by The Summer of The Great-Grandmother when I was a new mother. That sweet child of mine is now fourteen, and the Austin Family books are hers; they were a Christmas gift, and she left them here.

It's been 25 years since I've read these books, and they're still relevant. In fact, these books are 40+ years old, but it doesn't matter. Only a few things seem dated. The interactions and relationships are still fresh, but human nature doesn't change much, does it?

I remember the characters well, and I'm pleased to be spending time with them again. 

Who are you spending time with these days?

I've Let Myself Get Behind

When I last blogged, I was still all high from the English Beat concert (and no, I don't mean that kind of high).

This past Thursday night, I said to Allan, "I feel fortunate to live here." We were driving back to Lexington from Berea, where we'd just seen Habib Koité and Bamada perform. Allan replied "It's amazing how much great music we've heard in the past week." And he was right. It was a banner week for Lexingtonians Who Love Music. Here's a recap of what we saw:

Friday, April 17: Ellee Ven and Big Fresh at Give Into The Groove.

Saturday, April 18: Robert Schneider, Chico Fellini, Ben Sollee, The Sundresses, and Attempt (a Trevor Tremaine creation, and I can't find a specific link for Attempt), all at CD Central for Record Store Day.

Sunday, April 19: The (English) Beat at The Dame.

Thursday, April 23: Habib Koité (link in French) and Bamada at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.

I've got photos of all the events, but most of them are just hanging out on my hard drive. I did make a Flickr set for Record Store Day. Here's a photo I've posted of Habib Koité.

Allan was right: we've seen an amazing amount of music in the past week.

Music is a balm to my soul; it soothes this savage breast (apologies to William Congreve).

I feel fortunate to live here.

Edit: April 26 also marks the day in 2003 when I decided to stop lurking at the internet radio station I'd been listening to for four months, so I created an account and started commenting. Hoo boy, the website was waaaay different back then. But the important thing is the music. And that's six+ years of aural goodness in my life, and let's not forget that balm thing. Or that soothing thing. 

Des Bloggeuses à Paris

Yesterday (this would be Wednesday, July 2; I'm not changing the time stamp on my blog just for three days, and it's nearly 5 am in Paris right now) I had lunch with one blogger and dinner with another.

Polly and I connected recently, and I was delighted to meet her at the same café I had a Perrier with Jeorg at last year. (And it was a total coincidence, which makes it even better). We had each had a tarte salée, salad, and a glass of rosé for lunch, then coffee. Then another coffee. The second coffee we had out on the terrasse, because the rain had stopped, and coffee on a café terrace is one of life's better pleasures. See here:

Polly's lovely daughter and her adorable friend joined us for a while, then we all went off to do other things. In my case it was a reconnaissance mission at La Droguerie.

Samantha and I arranged to meet at 7 for dinner somewhere. She crossed the Seine and we met at Les Halles, which was kind of her, since it meant I only had to walk about 300 meters. She'd heard of an Italian restaurant with great ravioli; I knew there was one on the rue Montorgueil. It turned out the be the same place, so we had ravioli (hers with figs and Parma ham, mine with truffles, Parma ham, and button mushrooms) and the house red.

By 9:30 I was back in my room, exhausted. An hour later, I was asleep. A dream woke me at 3:00, and here I am.

But what matters here is the people I met. Blogging is such an amazing thing. (YES. I know I said I thought about quitting.) You encounter people via the blogosphere, and if you're lucky enough to meet in person, you automatically have a connection. My jetlag-addled brain can't think of a better way to say that.

In any case, spending time with Polly and Sam was a great way to spend my first day in Paris. (My second day in Paris will actually involve fast trains, the city of Bordeaux, and picking up my children.)

Merci, les filles !

(Now, do I try to sleep a little more, or do I hit up the hotel breakfast in 40 minutes?)

The Backyard

We have a husband-and-wife rabbit couple who live in a warren somewhere in the bushes that edge the far end of our backyard. The two bunnies spend time in our yard in broad daylight, munching on the clover and dandelions. They're not afraid of us anymore.

Tonight as we ate our dinner of ribs and salad o'CSA goodness, the rabbits ate theirs. Clover, clover, dandelion, clover. Monsieur was feeling randy, and hopped close behind Madame, who lay her ears flat and tried to make her way back to the safety of the bushes. She didn't seem in the mood.

I'm pleased that we have these creatures sharing the land. We may live in the middle of the city, but we still have Nature.

23 Years Of Friendship

This weekend Allan and I attended the wedding of my best friend from high school. Back then we didn't call each other "BFF," but rather Befri St. End, after the way the words were split on the heart-shaped necklaces that you can still buy today.

We haven't been in constant touch over the years, but we have shared joys and sorrows with each other. It was a joy to see D. wed to her soul mate. I wish them many years of happiness with each other and ALL THOSE BOYS they have. (They each brought two sons to the marriage.)

For your amusement, there are a couple of photos after the jump. 

The Storms, They Are A-Comin'

Literally, there is a line of storms racing across the US and Canada. I can see the lightning and hear the thunder and look at the weather radar on the Internerd.

Figuratively, there are storms in my brain. I'm not saying this is a bad thing (FLASH! CRASH! BOOM! RUMBLE! outside), but it's happening.

Morphine on the radio, it's all buena buena, good good good.

March 4, 1936

That's the day my mother was born. She would be 72 today.

I miss her; it's hard to believe she will have been gone fifteen years next month.

R & R

Allan and I decided to Get The Hell Out Of Dodge™ last week. We came to visit our friends BlueHeronDruid and hobbitt in the Pacific Northwest. It was quite a spontaneous trip, and we had no agenda.

Today Allan and I went to Seattle to meet up with a couple of friends from Radio Paradise. I also have a couple of blog friends from Seattle: Margaret and Sizz, and I don't think Karan is too far away either.

I really thought about contacting my blog buddies while we were in the area. But then I thought about why we were here. And I didn't want any stress in planning*. Today was easy because Tommy isn't working at the moment, and Saundrah just met us for lunch at a tasty place she suggested. Tommy took us around the city, as much as you can do in a few short hours.

We visited Pike Place Market, Post Alley, the Sculpture Park, and Kerry Park. We also got to walk through a bit of Capitol Hill.

Today was a great day. And it's been a great week. This is a gorgeous area of the country. We'll be back. And you can see some photos of our trip here and here, although as I write this, most of the Seattle photos have not been uploaded to Flickr.

*Forgive me, blog friends.

Somebody, Please

Explain to me why I woke up singing Foreigner's "Double Vision"? And no, it's not because I overindulged at the launch party for 24 Hours of Flickr. 

(Now you hate me because you're singing that song too, now, aren't you?)

The Flickr shindig was a lot of fun. I went not knowing a soul, and got to meet a number of VERY cool people, including some of my Flickr contacts. It was a great way to spend my first night in town. Also? Yahoo! knows how to throw a party. The venue was intimate without being crowded, the food was spectacular, the wine was delicious, and the music wasn't overpowering.

This morning I'm having coffee with Jeorg. We live in the same damn town and never see each other, so I'm laughing at the fact that we are meeting here in Paris. And this afternoon I'm having coffee with Gentry, although she has also told me we'll be eating cakes as well. In between the two coffees, I have no idea what I'll do. The French have a great word, flâner. Je vais flâner dans les rues. I'm just going to mosey about.

I love this city. My children are the reason I came to France, and I can't wait to see them tomorrow. But I'm glad to have this time in Paris; I visited only a handful of times during my marriage, and that was early on.

There's more to say (there's always more to say about Paris), but I'll leave it for now.

In Which I Stop Being A Whiny Whiner

A little while ago, a friend IMed me:

Her: So have you stopped being a whiney whiner?
Me: Fuck off.
Her: And will you forgive me for saying so?
Me: LOL
Me: Yes.
Me: To both.
Me: I just wanted to say fuck off.
Her: Hello, my dear.
Me: Hi!

******

I have GREAT friends. Not only did C. rightly give me the what-for for complaining, but our friend A. stopped by, bearing Woodford Reserve bourbon balls. She had sent me a message (regarding my previous blog entry) a bit earlier:

You do NOT go out in the rain to get chocolate. 

a) it will ruin your straight hair, believe me. 

b) I'm bringing you some b4 I go to work.

Here is a photo of the last bourbon ball, about thirty seconds before I popped it in my mouth:

I'm done complaining, at least for today. And really, how can I complain? Allan is in the kitchen making soup for dinner. I have some chocolate in my tummy. It's warm in the house, and I can look out on the cold rain from the comfort of this couch.

So yeah, it's actually been a good day.

Wow. I'm In A Good Mood.

The meds have kicked in, apparently. And my upcoming trip to France is kind of organized. All I need is a train ticket and a set of wheels at my destination. And I have new kitty shoes, and a new purse, and a couple of tiny new hoops for my ears, and one or two other new items (see one of them here).

But life is not all about material goods, no way.

Allan and I have a couple of new friends that we met at Radio Paradise: local people who are VERY cool. We've been out with them a few times in the past couple of weeks. It's great to expand your horizons, and I really feel that A. is a kindred spirit.

And then there's the knitting. You can see my creation here; I have decided that I need to cast on some more stitches and start another practice swatch. My goal is to become dexterous enough to knit with ease. But, hehe, I'll never be really dexterous, because I'm sinister. I kill me.

I'm so out of practice with blogging; I don't know how to write a coherent post anymore. Forgive my blathering. It feels good to want to blather, though. It's been a long time.

We Interrupt This Hiatus

...to whisper in your ear that today is Allan's birthday.

Lucky

   

    Click it. You won't be sorry.

What Is Up

Like Ally Bean, I don't have anything to say.

Well, that's not exactly true. I do have things to say, but it's more like Announcements To The Internet. I'll spare you another bulleted list, and just tell you what's going on.

Tomorrow evening I'm leaving for France. I'm spending the weekend with friends, and on Tuesday (while all you Amurrican readers are preparing your holiday barbecues), I'll pick up my kids after their last day of school (yes, you read that right: July 4th = last day of school in France this year; please, shoot me now).

The three of us will fly back to the States the next day, and we'll have a month together. My expectations are high. I don't know how else to put it.

Suffice it to say that my arms ache for my children. I won't even mention my heart.

The Kindness Of Strangers And Other Commentary

A few days ago, I mentioned interviewing a woman to come and take care of my children on the mornings that I start class at 8:00.  The thing that triggered my little nervous breakdown a couple of months ago was a traumatic waking-up experience.  We were all yelling and crying by the time we left the apartment.  I dropped the kids off at day care.  It was 7:40, and I was more than five minutes late for work and feeling sick to my stomach.  I couldn't teach.  I explained to the kids that I felt ill, and that they were to do exercises in their book.  After two hours of class like this, I was granted permission to go home.  Three days later, I was waking my children up again, because I'd planned to go back to work that day.  C. started crying, "Mommy, I'm so tired!  I don't want to wake up!"  That did it. 

Mood Mood Mood

So today was a non-DIY day in this household. It still took us a long time to get out and about. The kids and I managed a quick shopping trip before lunch, then I had my delicious 90-minute nap. J had gone to work for a bit, so the kids were very sweet because they let me sleep. J called from work and said "Let's go somewhere when I get back". The kids and I bandied about a couple of ideas, and T came up with the idea of going to the Museum Of Natural History. By the time J got back it was 5:00, and the Museum was closed. So we all went for a walk at the sports complex near our house. The kids took their scooters, but the walk didn't last long: C's scooter lost a wheel and she banged a big sore scab on her knee. She and I came home and I cleaned up her boo-boo, and we went back to the stade. J and T were about to come home, so T gave C his scooter, and she and I went for a spin. She was feeling a little down, a little unlucky, so I suggested we go out. To town or to the store or something. After we got in the car, I asked if she would like to go to the gift shop at the Aquarium. (Free parking, less traffic, all good.) So we went, and spent a good half hour browsing. Talking about stuff. The place was packed.

C decided she wanted to buy a little glass turtle with part of her allowance and birthday money. Then we looked in another glass case, and I saw the mood rings. And I immediately decided I had to have one. And at 3.80€, how could I not? In fact, we both got one. Mine's an oval shape and hers is a heart. We also picked up a little wooden tooth box for T, who lost his first baby one last night. After we left the Aquarium, C and I compared ring colors, and checked the little guide that came with the rings. It was chilly out, but our ring colors seemed to reflect our moods. Once we got in the car, they changed again. They were never yellow or black, which both mean anxious, nervous, or tired. C's got a bit green, which means unstressed. We compared some more as we picked up a few things at the store. Since we've been back at the house my mood ring hasn't budged one bit. It actually looks kind of cool, even if it looks like it's worth about 50 cents. I'm not going to tell you what color it is. Just know that it's good, very good.

And my daughter and I bonded. That's the best part.