Mukhtar's birthday

Schmutzie posted a link to this film this morning and it made me smile. (and cry, actually, if the truth be told. I'm becoming an old sap...)

Open wide, baby!

Interesting babyfood choices at the Italian supermarket. Somehow I can't see Publix stocking these any time soon...

Before and After

Goofball actually wasn't all that far off when she asked if we were still stuck on vacation.

Well, that's an exaggeration, but our vacation did end up lasting longer than planned due to a flat tire on the way home. Luckily we noticed it on time and it didn't cause an accident, but we did end up spending the night at a rest stop until the camping store opened the next day. The kids missed a day of school and got to eat junkfood from a nearby gas station while we read Harry Potter amidst the piles of dog poop on the side of the road. What an adventure! Personally I preferred the beginning of our vacation to the end...

Breakfast in paradise

Two boys and a dog... :-)

So far being middle-aged isn't all that bad...

Hello from beautiful, sunny Lake Garda! I celebrated a milestone birthday yesterday and did it in style. We arrived on our favorite campground at 6pm-- I mentioned at reception that it was my birthday and asked if they could recommend a nice restaurant. She said she'd look into it, and about 15 minutes later someone arrived at our campsite with a map and the news that a reservation for us had been made in a restaurant at the harbour about 10 minutes walk away! What a nice surprise!

We enjoyed some really nice food and wine and then drank espressos while looking out over the twinkling lights of the harbor. (The espressos were, luckily, decaffinated so as not to tax my now middle-aged body and cause me to go into shock. ;-) )

Today has been really relaxing with an early morning hike, a good book, a snooze in the shade and a run through some really beautiful countryside. This evening I'll make a big salad and some fresh pasta and sit out back in a deckchair and enjoy the view with my sweetie.

Man, if this is any indication of the coming decade then I think I'm going to enjoy my 40's!

A centurion in our midst!

M's Grandmother celebrated her 100th birthday on the 13th! Her grandchildren organized a full-day event which included a boat trip, a visit to a wooden-clog museum and a dinner. We all had such a nice time and I think that Oma really enjoyed her fête!

Taekwando Prüfung

M and B passed their Taekwando Prüfung a couple of weeks ago. B has now earned a yellow-green belt and M has moved up to green-blue! They both worked really hard and I'm so proud of them!

Jolene

Can't get enough of this song today!


And here's one of the "prettiest, singendest, song-writendest little blondes in Country Music right now (1974)"...


And although I don't like this version much I'll include it just for the camp factor:

Awesome!

Insanity: 2:20 am

Betsy, are you listening? I asked you something!

I rolled over, but couldn't bring myself to open my eyes: Wha-?

M is impatient now: "Who is that guy walking the holy path?"

I was completely confused and thought: Do we know someone doing el Camino?

Betsy!? Who's on the holy mission?!

The name "Ahmadinejad" inexplicably bubbled up from my subconscious.

M continued: Because he wants to do the Prüfung.

The what?!

He's really annoyed with me now and says "The PRÜ-FUNG!", patting my hip with each syllable.

Ahmadinejad is doing Taekwando with you?!

M snorts in disgust and rolls back over to his side of the bed as I sink, completely confused, back into the inky blackness.

This is me.

(in 20 years...)

Yo Dawg! Wassup?!

So I just rounded out an afternoon full of drama by shutting S's hand in the car door. Luckily I had the common sense to plunge his fingers directly into a snow drift. (Although I can't exactly pat myself on the back, because if I'd been paying attention this wouldn't have been necessary in the first place!)

It turns out we had luck in our bad luck, as the Germans like to say. The door didn't close all the way and caught him square across the middle of his fingers and missed his joints and nails. I filled a bag with snow and he kept it iced for a half an hour.

When I asked him if he was going to be OK he got a twinkle in his eye and said:

Well, I can still do this:

Looks like both his fingers and his sense of humor are still intact, and for that I am grateful.

Old nonsense

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day;
you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

God & Guns

We all went to see Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert yesterday evening in Karlsruhe. M asked for the tickets for his birthday, and I have to admit I was a little less enthusiastic about attending as he was. I fled Florida trying to escape a certain mentality and the political views that their current music represents. For a Dutchman, however, it's just good, fun music, and is maybe even a little bit exotic!

I have to admit, I spent a lot of time being snide yesterday. I made noisy boasts to friends about shaving the number 3 into the hair on my back, or about pulling on a pair of Daisey Dukes. But you know what?

It was so. much. FUN!

We bought relatively cheap standing-room-only tickets and expected an obstructed view, so we were floored when we got to the concert hall and were able to walk right up to the barrier in front of the stage!

The floor eventually filled up with mild-mannered fans, almost all of them German, dressed up in their own rendition of Southern chic. We saw leather vests, cowboy hats, Abraham Lincoln beards, Metallica t-shirts, and a colorful leather jacket with "Las Vegas Rodeo" printed on it. The people-watching was excellent!

When LS finally came out we all started dancing, and S and B were waving their hands and singing along. The band members obviously enjoyed having their two biggest little fans in the audience and kept coming over and waving and smiling at them. Three different band members gave them the picks they were playing with, and at the end Johnny Van Zant himself came over and shook their hands! They were THRILLED!

In my head I'd already prepared a snarky post, but to tell the truth, these guys put on a really amazing concert. They may be aging, but they're very real, and full of energy, and were especially nice to S and B on top of it! (So much for preconceived notions...)

Greg, I think you might even have enjoyed it!!!

A distinguished guest

We hosted an adorable fuzzy houseguest a couple of weeks ago. His adventures are being chronicled here.

The dog was gone!

Just back from a great week visiting my folks in Toronto. Am totally jet lagged and am having a hard time adjusting back to a normal schedule and to a dogless house. (D is in on vacation in NL visiting M's parents until this weekend.)

In tribute to D I'm posting this horrendous, hilarious video: The dog was gone!

Miscommunication with a capital "M"

This morning I hosted a breakfast at my house for a few friends. About 10 minutes before everyone was to arrive I got a call from the school: could I please come pick up B? He had fallen badly and hurt his elbow and couldn't feel anything in his hand!

Luckily a friend had come early and took over the preparations so that I could go pick up B. When I got to school the teacher came to the door looking grave:

"We don't know what happened! He didn't fall or anything! Just suddenly he had a burning sensation in his hand and shooting pains in his arm! It's very strange!"

B was pale, but I was relieved to see that he was carrying his schoolbag and his jacket with his injured arm. When we got to the car I asked him what had happened. Apparently he'd bumped his funnybone on the corner of his desk. Seems kind of strange that it was still hurting 1/2 hour later, but I decided to take him back home and wait for an hour to see what our next step should be.

2ml of ibuprofen and about 4 waffles later his condition was much improved. Enough so that I took him back to school so that he could attend his class' Carnaval party.

Drove down through a blizzard to pick the kids up after school and S came to the car with a worried expression on his face:

"Mom, I can't find B! And I ran into K and he said that B cut his foot open in class and had to leave early!"

I was still trying to process this alarming information when B came running up to the car with a big smile on his face.

B! What happened to your foot?!

What?! My foot? I don't know, but guess what! I just won 2nd place in a joke-telling contest!

Первая любовъ

I don't know what's going on with me. Last week I picked up that Russian book and it opened a door in my head and I'm tormented and thirsty for more.

Russian was my first language love. There have been other languages since then; languages which I have appreciated, respected, some of which I've gotten to know intimately, but none will ever hold a candle to that initial spark and then all-consuming passion that I felt for Russian.

We spent several tumultuous years together-- sometimes we got along, sometimes we didn't. In the end our paths diverged and I came to the painful realization that Russian just didn't fit into my life anymore. I moved on as was necessary, but have always thought back wistfully on the days when it all flowed so easily and I was still blissfully intimate with this rich, poetic language.

Since last week I've been haunted. I don't even know what purpose it would serve, but I need to, I MUST rekindle some kind of relationship, even if it's just for old times' sake. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on. Listening to the radio, watching videos, ordering music.

In my head it's pure chaos. I've never been good at switching between languages, and now that the floodgates are opening everything is sloshing together and I am rendered completely incomprehensible in any language. At some point the dust has got to settle, but for now I'm holed up at home, muttering to myself and feeling the ache of nostalgia and lovesickness for my first great language love...

It's still in there somewhere!

Yesterday I popped into a Russian supermarket to buy some treats for an old friend from Moscow days who is now living in the States. I got so nostalgic just wandering the aisles that I ended up buying some treats for myself, including a Russian version of Doctor Dolittle. I came home and devoured the first two chapters (they were VERY short!) and am so thrilled to realize that my Russian is still in there somewhere! Have found some resources on the web and have decided to dust off the cobwebs and get back to really, truly свободно говорить по-русский!!!