The last week has been absolutely crazy, full of dissertation editing and formatting, "real" work, and attempts at keeping my house out of the "condemened" status at the same time. I finally gave up on the house and decided to sleep instead, which I think is the only thing that got me through the week (although it has taken me yesterday and today just to find my kitchen counters and the bottom of the clothes hamper...). But Im not here today to talk about how crazy this week has been, or to thank Queenie and her Hub-Unit for feeding me several times and yanking me from the workmosphere of my home into the relaxed and cozy atmosphere of theirs for a couple of hours. No. Im not here to do any of that. Im here to talk about FALL. Not the tripping thing that I do often when Titania and I try to go down the stairs at the same time, but that lovely time of year when the leaves change color, the air gets crisp (most places, here it just gets wetter), and everyone starts shopping for sweaters and pumpkins. AUTUMN. I love it. It is without doubt my favorite time of year and as I was driving around in the pouring rain yesterday paying rent and picking up my retainer (I now "lithp"), I had this memory. Now, I may have shared it before, so if I have FORGIVE ME! and read it again anyway. :-)
Rainy Autumn/Winter Days at Shenandoah Valley Academy
Kristi Straw, a.k.a. "Audrey" and I, a.k.a. "Katherine" (we were/are quite enamoured of the Hepburns)used to LIVE for days like these. Kristi and I met... well, I dont remember how we met, but we became GREAT friends (still are, I think! Hi Aud!) during my Jr and her Soph year of high school. On days like this, we would get out of class and/or off work (since K was a year behind me our schedules were opposite with classes in the morning/afternoon and work in the afternoon/morning), throw on thick sweaters (Mine was navy blue with red and white squiggly lines on it), knit caps (red!), and tennis shoes, get town leave passes signed, and be off. We would hike past the beckoning doors of 7-11, shunning such juvenile pleasures as a SLUSHEE, cross under the highway and over the railroad tracks, past the Tastee Freeze and around the corner to the right (past the hotel where I think it was Grant stayed during the Civil War) and into the musty confines of Paper Treasures. We would browse until our time was nearly up, then make our purchases (usually a couple of books each, total cost: about $2.00) and head back out into the elements. On the way back to the dorm, we would stop off at the Johnny Appleseed (just this side of the railroad tracks and across from Tastee Freeze) and order cheese omelettes and french fries. The plates would arrive with the steaming omelettes oozing their cheese onto the crisp fries and we would drink our hot cocoa and feel so VERY cosmopolitan. Those times are one of the best memories I have of high school. In fact, I would say the memory ranks right up there in the best of all my memories ever. And whenever Im at home, and the weather gets all drippy and cool, and the trees are a million colors (or the branches are bare and the leaves swirling around the sidewalks), I still get a craving to go for a walk with my friend, buy a book, and eat an omlette...
Friday, September 30, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
A Watched Ticker ... Ticks on Unchanged
I know its ridiculous, especially since I put it there and know exactly what day it's going to change, but every morning I log onto my OWN blog just to look at the ticker for homecoming. It has become sort of a ritual for me, wake up, get coffee, log onto server for work, read Queenie's blog, read Heather's blog, check the family sites and my email, and then... then I click to Boyd's Nest JUST TO SEE WHAT THE TICKER MIGHT SAY TODAY. As if it will just magically change overnight when I KNOW that it actually only changes on Wednesdays and then it drops a whole week at once. Do I wait for that week to happne? No, I log on every day to see if just MAYBE it has violated its programming and decided to change TODAY. I have decided that this must be behavior related to being a Navy Wife and is in no way reflective of a decline in mental status with the departure of Hubband or onset of Crazy-Lady-Living-With-Cats-in-Small-Town syndrome. This syndrome is a proven problem among people who go from The City to Small Town and switch from being social animals at the office to working from home and talking to their cats or online friends more than they talk to REAL PEOPLE. Its true. I studied it online, and then I talked it over with Oberon and Titania and they agree....
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Naples, from Hubband!
Here are some pics from Naples, Italy, I paired it down from the 200 pics I have.
The first is from the top of the hill in town.
Straight from the Hubband's mouth!
ROME. When in Rome do as the Romans do…
Hehe.
Here I am at the TOP of the ruins. They are down a long set of stairs to my right.
This is a cool set of pillars, don’t remember how old, but everything down here was pre renaissance, and most was about 50-100 years older than that.
More ruins, I think this was the senate.
The main arch in front of the senate that people would give speeches in front of to sway the people.
Hard to believe that there were about 1 million people living here at it’s height.
Looking back at the Coliseum from the Ruins… to the Right at the end is the Temple of Aphrodite to offset the death and carnage of the coliseum. ROMA backward is AMOR. Thus the balance...
Broken Marble Pieces from the time of Peter and Paul, now just Benches for the weary.
Coliseum. The Grey stone is from the time of Christ, and the Holes are where iron was fixed into the columns.
This was the arch in front of the Coliseum.
Important arch that I cant remember…. hehe
City of fountains… I threw a coin in for you. (He threw in a coin for me! A.... l'amore... Im SPECIAL! wheeeeeeeee!)
Italian Museum.
Museum entrance at ancient Rome site.
Supposedly the Tomb of The Apostle Peter.
This shows the expansion of the roman empire…
At the top of the ruins.
So this was day one in Rome....
(I'll post Day 2 in a little while... this took me about an hour to get the pictures in the right order with his comments!)
Hehe.
Here I am at the TOP of the ruins. They are down a long set of stairs to my right.
This is a cool set of pillars, don’t remember how old, but everything down here was pre renaissance, and most was about 50-100 years older than that.
More ruins, I think this was the senate.
The main arch in front of the senate that people would give speeches in front of to sway the people.
Hard to believe that there were about 1 million people living here at it’s height.
Looking back at the Coliseum from the Ruins… to the Right at the end is the Temple of Aphrodite to offset the death and carnage of the coliseum. ROMA backward is AMOR. Thus the balance...
Broken Marble Pieces from the time of Peter and Paul, now just Benches for the weary.
Coliseum. The Grey stone is from the time of Christ, and the Holes are where iron was fixed into the columns.
This was the arch in front of the Coliseum.
Important arch that I cant remember…. hehe
City of fountains… I threw a coin in for you. (He threw in a coin for me! A.... l'amore... Im SPECIAL! wheeeeeeeee!)
Italian Museum.
Museum entrance at ancient Rome site.
Supposedly the Tomb of The Apostle Peter.
This shows the expansion of the roman empire…
At the top of the ruins.
So this was day one in Rome....
(I'll post Day 2 in a little while... this took me about an hour to get the pictures in the right order with his comments!)
Monday, September 19, 2005
Surprises!
Ohhhh, Hubband is gettin' me GOOD. He surprised me by spending a large sum of money without telling me first (because he didn't know beforehand he was going to spend it), and THEN surprised me by telling me that the bulk of it was on my anniversary present. He went into great detail about its uniqueness (he is having it custom made), its heriloom quality, and how I have been wanting one for quite some time... and THEN he tells me he won't give any more clues, nor will he even concede if I guess correctly, and it won't arrive until 3 days after our anniversary! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! He's so sweet. hehe. >giggle< Im sending his box out this week with the little gifts in it for our anniversary, some food stuffs, and a picture/description of the "big" gift from me for our anniversary. Its something he has been wanting for a long time, and I dont think he will guess what it is. :-) Of course, I won't be able to buy it as soon as I thought cause he spent all our money. Oh well. >grin<
Yes, Im in a grand mood tonight. I finished work ON TIME for once, have started a diet, cuddled with the kitties, watched Hostage (good movie, btw. I thought it much better than its press indicated), and then killed twi'leks in KOTOR 2 for a couple hours. Now its off to bed, and supposedly waking up to a phone call from the MAN! w00t!
Sleep tight, all my faithful readers! I know there must be at least TWO out there...(Hi Q and CP!)
Yes, Im in a grand mood tonight. I finished work ON TIME for once, have started a diet, cuddled with the kitties, watched Hostage (good movie, btw. I thought it much better than its press indicated), and then killed twi'leks in KOTOR 2 for a couple hours. Now its off to bed, and supposedly waking up to a phone call from the MAN! w00t!
Sleep tight, all my faithful readers! I know there must be at least TWO out there...(Hi Q and CP!)
Photo Log of Andy's trip!
The gang had a port call in Majorca recently, and the pictures below are a brief journey through his trip! He toured the city cathedral, a castle up above the town, and even spent some time just hanging out with friends. They went to a couple of clubs in town, and were just able to relax in general. :-)
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