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 |  My Blog. Generally Intended for Reading-Not Eating!. |
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Rose-Tinted Ramblings ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** A Little of What You Might Expect & A Lot of Everything Else that You Don't!. My writing style for my blog is invariably 'snarkastic'. This is because I am a nice, unassuming and quietly-spoken person IRL-and this blog is where my innermost moments and torments happen. Trust me, I am no exception to that delightful rule. Greetings! Welcome to my THIRD blog here on WDC. A re-incarnation of my earlier version of my Blog, here "Insanties and Sensibilities" this v.03 should prove to be equally...challenging and hopefully, entertaining. That said, life often weaves through our writing in mysterious ways, and this Blog will probably prove to be no exception to that. We are very likely all quite different, yet the same, us writers and our collective little whims, fascinations and insecurities. |
| August 1, 2008 (or July 31, in the U.S) There are ducks swimming outside our luxury inn window, it's 6 degrees C outside, and we just braved a cyclone. No, I'm not being overly dramatic. Actually, cyclone is a mild description. Baked beans on the menu, but not before a much-welcomed spa bath (while trying NOT to think about how much this "suite" is costing us per night. About 1/5th of our total trip budget-that's wot. Already, because it's Friday here, "Beanie" is busily bagging me for her weekly $3 pocket money/allowance. One wonders if she understands the concept of "budget blow-out/budget blow-off". Dreams are free. Even in DownUnder. Gasoline ain't. Try US$11 a gallon. In three days, we get back on the Flight From H*ll and head home. Our in-laws wrote and explained how they've had to buy a car cover to protect our car from ash fall from the Northern C.A wildfires. "Beanie" girl has grown up so. These days, Mom and Dad are instructed firmly to stay in the car while we watch her play on the slides. Moreover, she can get/throw herself in the godammit bath her own self, thank-you anyway. In all, it has been a rather strange and stressful trip, and we are each anxious to get home, for each of our own reasons. |
| June 26, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 40 (F) Cloudy and cool. Events of Note: Vacationing-and procrastinating. In the Nudes: Mugabe 'open' to possible talks with opposition.  Incredibly, incredulously, not a lot left to report here. Hence, my absence. Am missing all assorted creature comforts of US lifestyle, including hot-tub, own bed, our own sheets, towels, utensils....yadda, yadda, yadda. Grief and gastrological issues combined last night all to make for distressing nocturnal nostalgias. The things you miss...and ultimately, the things you don't. Interesting. What I thought I missed about En-Zed, instinctively, and what I'm actually re-appreciating have since become two distinctly different animals. I am now different, Meanwhile, New Zealand, is not. Not a jot, in three years. Which makes for opposites-and not simply differences of polarity, culture, nor of personality. Meanwhile, renovations on my mother's house have been stalled and complicated by consecutive storms blowing in off the Southern Ocean (20,000 recorded lightning strikes), as well as punctuated by helicopter gunship fire related to the local Airforce Base, and other excitements to which my husband is usually oblivious to. Except, that in New Zealand, everyone has to have something to be outraged by, on a daily basis. It's a moral and social imperative. Prices for commodities are so fantastical to us here that we have all but given up trying to make any rational comparisons with the U.S. Dairy products are a culinary feature that is done particularly well here, but, meat is something of a cautionary tale. |
| June 18, 2008. Whether the Weather be: Below Freezing, Clear. Events of Note: 1st postcard from Down Under. In the Nudes: GWB visits Europe.  Well, we made it back to the hole at the bottom of the world, underneath the rapidly peeling ozone layer. Flights were predictably horrible. Snowed in the second day after we landed here. All progressively caught colds of some description. Fun, fun, fun. Excellent seeing family, naturally. Life moves a lot slower here. Has taken three weeks just to secure a basic dial-up internet connection. For amusement and diplomacy purposes, my husband is painting the roof of my mother's house. Our drive from the city of Christchurch in the South Island to the small rural service town where my mother resides, was largely ueneventful, however the scenery was eerily comforting and familiar. The Southern Alps etched sharply against a foreground of sea mist and late Fall sunny haze. In the meantime, there is a copious supply of hot drinks to keep out the shrinking shivering chill, boxes overflowing with European-style candies, and as much hyperbolic television as can possibly be consumed on all three tee-vee channels. Who might possibly want more?. Then again, here we are on vacation, and other than practically needing permission in advance to use the bog, everything is fine, dandy and delicious. Oh, and "Beanie" has NZ-style attire and acoutrements to prove so. More later....pics to follow!!!. |
| June 02, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 50 (F) Cloudy with patches of sun, or is that sunny with patches of clouds?. Events of Note: Up, up...and nearly away. In the Nudes: Danish embassy bombing in Pakistan. Well, here it is-likely my last blog entry before we head to SFO to fly out to New Zealand. Everything is stowed away and our mental tray-tables are in the upright position, although "Beanie" was most recently excused to have a nap in her stroller, while I did some last-moment shopping. You know, the little, invariably irritating items that one can't be bothered scouring the international terminal for-well, not with Miss Three scampering about excitedly. Have reading matter, have emergency child amusement devices (toys, Polly Pockets, play-duh, etc). So, we'll write from En Zed, with pictures, when we can. Might be a while, because we won't have reliable internet. Buh-Bye!. |
| May 31, 2008. Just a few images to share of our house-the clean version!. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** See?. We do keep a clean house, after all. And, yes, "Bean" is a rabid "Hello Kitty" fan!. |
| May 30, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 42 (F) Cloudy Events of Note: Last-moment 'gifts' In the Nudes: Usual murder and mayhem.  Saw an interesting sign outside a hair-salon/beauty shop: "Husband misbehaving?. Bring him in for a clip around the ears."Must be something in the air/water/coffee pot at the moment...Well, we're down to the wire now, and by this time next week, we'll already have been in En-Zed for a few days, going, "Shooty-darn-gasoline is US$10 a gallon here!." And you thought $4 was bad?. Ha!. Which reminds me, my husband needs a hair-cut  |
| May 28, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 50 (F) Sunny. Events of Note: I absolutely refuse to panic over packing. In the Nudes: Kylie Minogue turns 40. Procrastination over packing aside, our preparations are moving at a comfortable pace, easily avoiding most disasters (so far). When it comes down to it, my deeply ingrained practical sense kicks in. Hence, my intense dislike and lack of tolerance for any extraneous and tiresome B.S. from here on in. If the shoe fits...I had a choice: I could either feel totally overwhelmed and give in, or get it together and get on with it. So, the house is also looking pretty good-not exactly a hotel, or an eco-tourism lodge but it will be a welcoming ROOF for our house-sitters and their pets and assorted hangers-on. I hope to post pictures later today, so that all and sundry can see that we don't live in complete squalor and shambles all of the time - just most of it  Now, about that quantity of reading matter for the flight... |
| May 26, 2008. May 26 ALREADY?. Eek!. Whether the Weather be: 48 (F) Cloudy, calm. Events of Note: Remembering veterans In the Nudes: Sri Lanka train bombing kills 8; 73 injured in rush-hour carnage. Well, for all intents and purposes, few would know that today was a national holiday. Starbucks is still open. The "good ole boys" can still buy their beer and their ammo from the local drugstore, as well as grits for their grill and beans for their bellies. We'll be cranking up our own indoor grill tonight for some Nebraska steak and some Australian lamb. Last night was sushi-California and Spider Rolls, followed by apples and bananas, and coconut ice-cream with chocolate sauce. When in doubt...eat, sleep and/or wash. |
| May 24, 2008. 11 days out from blast-off and I suddenly don't want to go back to N.Z. Am I CRAZY?. I'm feeling so conflicted that I cried myself to sleep last night because of it. Is this normal?. Wait-there's no such animal as normal.  |
| May 24, 2008. Whether the Weather be: 47 (F) Cloudy. Events of Note: Freecycling frustrations In the Nudes: Wild weather in Southern California. Anyone who has anything much to do with me knows that I'm a firm follower of Freecycling-an online Yahoo group, which has the aim of connecting like-minded individuals in local communities for the purposes of exchanging free, surplus household and other unwanted items-objects that would otherwise end up in landfills. The main stipulation is that items offered must be FREE. Being of the opinion that what goes around eventually comes around, "Bean" was once the blessed recipient of over 500 items of gently-used toddler clothing. Recently, I've probably Freecycled 30 large boxes of excess household "junk". However, there are some Freecyclers who regularly test my goodwill. The ones who email me and ask painfully obvious questions in relation to the items being offered- completely ignorant of the careful description that I've posted. Or, the person who sends me fifteen lines of sob-story about why I should drive across town to deliver my free items to them in-person (after my saying I don't drive and they will need to pick up, please, in my original post). You either want my un-wanteds, or ya don't. I don't care WHY you want them, or WHAT for, or anything else about your circumstances. Or, like yesterday, when someone came to pick up some items from here. They'd already been to a previous address of another Freecycler clear across the city that obviously wasn't mine. Came in through the wrong gate at my house (despite written directions to the contrary) and left the gate open for "Bean" to escape out of on to the road. Ignored said items that were sitting on my front doorstep, already bagged and tagged with their name. Wandered back up the hill on our property to where my husband was working and asked where I was. He said in his very Mid-Western manner, but with a CA accent and warm chuckle, "Why, dang it-my wife's down at the house-why don't you just go down and make yourself all acquainted?.". Well, the person who'd come to pick up my Freecycling just plain disappeared!. I went out and spoke to my husband, and we both looked everywhere. Ten minutes later, I get an email from "Them". Suggesting that someone else must have already picked up the items and complaining how they missed out and how unfair and difficult it was. Huh?. I'd had over 30 responses for these particular items. As I write, the bag is still sitting on my doorstep, and no sign of "Them" again-after them saying they'd be back today for a second attempt at a pick-up. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here saying to myself, "WHY AM I DOING THIS?". You gotta laugh, otherwise you'd be a nervous wreck!. Remember those quirky things called Frustration Pencils?. Well, I feel like I'm one of those at the moment!.Oh, I still think "Freecycling": is a great time-waster, er, cause. |
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