I do believe I’m on sabatical.  I do believe I’m enjoying the time away.  I do believe I’m spending entirely too much time watching British Broadcasting.  Will resume writing at some point; perhaps writing with a tone suggesting I’ve completed the entire BBC catalog.  Perhaps.

….because if I spewed about what I would really like to spew about, I’d start an international incident.  So..thanks to the lovely Claire, here’s a meme.

Let’s play shall we?!

Stuff you’ve personally experienced is shown in Bold, with explanations where needed.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii. -Does living there during my formative years count?
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.  Uh, Crazy-stupid.
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.- It was too crowded to see her that day!
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.  (That’s just crazy, not like hitch-hiking at ALL)
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.- Not a lamb but an adorable little kid..goat.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.  -Does two half marathons count?
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person. -
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.- As a child I was detained in the restroom by the washerwoman because I didn’t have a centime to give her for using the facilities.  My mother had to rescue me.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China -
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.- Florist’s daughter. ;)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving. Does sitting on the sidelines watching your date jump count ? It was our first date, S & I..
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades. .
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. - T’was thrilling.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Myers and Mr Whipple the Charmin guy…can’t decide which one I liked best…
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.  Two!
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.- Many, as a litigation paralegal…
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.- Yes, and I’m allergic…not fun.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Says Claire: If you have a blog, you are hereby invited to adopt and modify this one. It’s a way for us to know a bit more about one another.

Have fun, be good, be brave!  Love to all.

Weeks, Months….of living this existance in limbo.  Today I’m feeling it.  Not quite sane, I’m living inside my head and living all the “what ifs” that float in and out of my conscious thought…

I started this post pouring out all my frustrations about the current affairs of my life, got it all out and then deleted it.  I do feel better writing it all down and I do wish that people could read it but that wouldn’t bode well for S out there in his beloved South American country.  Anyway.

I sit here in my father’s guest room staring at a painting of my mother, two brothers and myself circa 1965.  I wish my father would take it down actually.  It’s hard to look at it. My mother is too beautiful, young and very much alive in this painting.  It’s so much a reminder that she died entirely too young.  It isn’t helping my mood right now.

Tomorrow I am attending a memorial service for a friend who also died too young.  It doesn’t help that he was a pallbearer at my mother’s funeral thereby invoking another painful memory.  He was a beautiful man, a truly beautiful man and I’m incredibly sad that he’s gone. His passing closes another door in the early chapters of my life.  It was over twenty years ago when I first met him along with his wonderful wife Chris.  They were among the first people to welcome S and me to the mainland and it meant a lot to us to be included in this Bainbridge Island family.  He taught me how to golf! I golfed badly but he managed to get me to pick up a club even though I thought then and still do now, that the sport is atrocious.  S should be so lucky in persuading me to do something I don’t want to do.  Junkoh had a gift.

All this melancholy coupled with the rain is too much. Puh. I shall stop now.

THIS, my friends, is what happens when you don’t have sex for six months.  Ahem.

Love to all.  Be good, be brave.

This is how I spend my time…

I’m sharing Dad’s computer these days with my 17 year old French relative which is why I’m just a blip in cyberspace these days.  I have to say, a teen is a teen is a teen.  Stays up late, sleeps in, hangs with pals on the computer; French teen vs. American teen, there is no difference.

Tomorrow Thibauld takes a jet plane to California to stay with Miss J.  Should be interesting!  He’s excited to see San Francisco and she’s happy to meet a cousin her own age.  Works for both of them. Me, I’m hangin’ out with the dogs, reading the paper every day and wondering how I can organize my dad without offending him.  Not that he would mind, it’s just that he’s got a TON of interests and consequently, tons of “stuff”.  Did I mention the two dairy goats?!

Writing here is sporatic and probably will be until I get settled in South America.  I’ll add things to the blog if ever there’s an interesting story to tell. Promise. Until then my keiki…I’ll try to upload pictures instead.

Sending you as much love as my dad has stuff in his basement. (it’s TONS my keiki, TONS!)  Be good, be brave.

As I sit here in my brother’s lovely house contemplating the past week or so, I’m smiling to myself because I can’t think of anything quite like the experience we’re going through. Well, yes I can but that’s another Oprah and I’ll write that story on my death-bed. Anyway.

It might be easier for me to break it down like so:

Top Ten Mishaps in Our Move to South America

10. The moving company shows up with one driver and one other employee to pack & move a 3600 sq. ft. house.
9. The household goods were split into three sections, 1)things to go to SA, 2) things to go into storage, 3) things to take to California & beyond. I meticulously wrote my own version of “Moving Household Goods for Dummies” so I wasn’t prepared for some things to be misplaced, left behind or hidden in spots unknown by “who-knows-who” leaving me with extra stuff and no place to put it.
8. The dogs were freakin’ out by the third day of having their household disrupted. It wasn’t pretty.
7. Once the movers left with our final shipment, we readied ourselves for the race to the west coast to make the CSUMB orientation date. Couldn’t find a THING regarding her orientation paperwork, musta been packed with the storage shipment. Typical.
6. After the third & final day of the “move” we slept on the floor of the house, needing to get up at o-dark thirty to drive an hour to Dulles while BWI is just 25 mins from the house. Genius. I’m just sayin’.
5. The girl-child, not anticipating the incredibly hard break-up from her boyfriend, cried from our driveway in MD to the tarmac at the Oakland, CA airport. Needless to say, I cried in empathy.
4. Smooth sailing until S & I showed up at the Oakland airport for our return trip to MD. Turned out we were a day early thereby screwing our entire time-line for the trek out to WA state by car. We were messed up, our tenants’ plans to move into the house were messed up & we had to regroup, after I gained control of my anger that is.
3. Finally we piled our things into the car, dogs ‘n all. Turns out we had too much stuff! I had to send boxes via the USPS in order to make room in the car for everything. Had the movers taken everything I meant to send to SA, this step would not have been necessary. I’m teaching myself to let it go…just let it go.
2. Trekking out on I-70 through PA, IN, IL, KS….all fine and good. We hit CO, stopped to visit with my brother. His personal circumstances are a bit kapakahi these days so we were careful to be as unobtrusive as possible, what with two dogs, one weighing 116 lbs ‘n all. Little brother’s house is BEAUTIFUL and dog-free…consequently I feel like Cousin Eddy from Christmas Vacation. It’s like trying to contain a tornado. Not fun.

And the number one Mishap in our move to South America:

1. After having a nice visit with little bro, we tried to start the car. There was a terrible crunching sound and then nothing. Couldn’t get into gear, couldn’t do anything, the car is out of commission and we’re out $$$$, not to mention the restrictive time line in which we need to get to the west coast. I’m supposed to be learning something, I know, but what? Patience? Perseverance? A comical sense of the universe? Dunno.

As I sit here I’m trying to keep the dogs off my sister-in-law’s carpet while writing my post. The Tour is on in the background, S is forcing me to listen to Phil Legget yet another year. (The guy should retire already. Honestly.) I’m contemplating running away again, I have a healthy fantasy life. I’m planning it right down to the kind of Mohito I’ll be drinking as I sit on the beach being pampered by a beautiful island man. It’s gonna be great.

Until next time my keiki, love to all, be good. Be brave.