ok, so would the l.o. give me some sort of sign that she or her designe has talked to corellia at aaa and that she is offically signed onto the tickets save for her? i talked to corellia this morning and there is still room for a 4th..........

ok, so i am assigning a reading list prior to this trip- i would appreciate that all of my fellow traveler's read hemingway's the sun also rises- it is set in both paris and spain- st. sebastian and pamplona- since i was in paris with each of the intended voyagers, and will travel to these places with them as well- it makes reading the book essential.....it takes place about the time of the civil war.. certainly no quiz involved- but an intelligent discussion of major themes would be greatly rewarded.......now that we have a car we can visit the town of guernica, in preparation for seeing the painting....from reading my guide books- lonely planet, rick steves and dk eyewitness- i beilieve that i may have to go into major alcoholconsumption training prior to this trip- it seems that drinking is all that is done in the towns that we intend to visit. i am very much enjoying my eyewitness spain book- i love the color collages of each town of note, as well as cutaway views of the insides of major buildings. these previews are so helpful in navigating....

i bought the spanish movie 'open your eyes' that tom cruise bought and made into 'vanilla sky' starring himself. it has english subtitles- so far i have picked up only the words hola, adios, amigo, and very few more.....i lack the language gene, apparantly, and though i will devote much time and effort to trying to learn spanish phrases, i have great doubt on my retention potential.......

ok, so i reserved a car for pickup on the 5th if january, and drop off late on the 8th of january. it was reasonably priced- i cannot wait......

ok, so this morning in church, 2 women sitting in front of me had visible panty lines- really tacky- the younger one's skirt came down so low when she sat down i could see that her underwear was turquoise....mean mamma mentions this because visible underwear are (is?) one of her pet peeves....be they boxers or briefs or thongs- i should not have to glare at them....

ok, so my partner and i fed over 450 people today, from lunch through midnight break, and we are tired. i have asked my wine guru jim rogan for spanish wine picks- what to bring home- should be interesting.....

ok, so corellia took off friday, so no news on a car rental.......one would think after the last car rental that such things would have no interest- but after studying the guide books there are many places 'on the way' that would be neat to see- we could see the roman ruins at tarragona on the way to bilbao, for instance. we would also want to jettison the car at the madrid airport before venturing into town- i'll not do a big city in a car again.........i have downloaded several articles about st. sebastian- i had forgotten that hemingway set part of the sun also rises in this town it appears to be close to bilbao, as does the original town of guernica, which was bombed by the germans in 1939 as a favor to franco.....so many options, so little time.....

ok, so with 3-4 people we could rent a car, and drive the 5.5 hours to bilbao rather than ride for 9 hours and arrive late at night. i will call corellia at aaa to get the scoop.......

ok, so the l.o. has signed onto the spanish adventure and i am delighted. now if only we can sign on pyro, then we will have a full complement of seasoned travelers.......

ok, so i am working late, reluctantly, and our musak is now playing an instrumental version of the jackson 5- i'll be there........now for those of us old enough to remember michael jackson when he was black and had a large nose- that was a really neat song- from the movie willard- about a person obsessed with rats. somehow michael's persona now tarnishes that sweet song........

ok, so i have gone back to one of my scenarios- and monday january 6 puts us visiting st. sebastian-= a town near to bilbao on the bay of biscay with a really cool opera house (new) and beach sculpture. i have really never seen the atlantic from the european side- this would be an adventure. corelia says that train tickets from barcelona to bilbao and bilbao to madrid run $58 2nd class plus $11 per reserved seat- the train rides are long- neither segment gets us into town earlier than 9:45 pm- of course- in spain, the restaurants are still hopping........at that hour.

ok, so there was an article in the lexherlead this morning about blogging, and how ucla now has a journalism course dedicated to blogging- imagine- a course to do what i already do- or worse- to do better what i cannot imagine doing better. should i feel somehow inadequate because i lack post-grad training in self-expression? or maybe these people will learn how to blog without self-censorship- as if no one but oneself is reading. maybe in the course they will learn how to do links.............

ok, so i have had a lucy ricardo sort of morning- a sneezed as i was taking blue cheese tarts out of the oven- and they flew up and then down on my shoes and onto the floor. what a mess- i had to make more, as i had already pre-sold several slices.......

ok, so i have discovered that my earlier scenario that put us in bilbao on a monday won't do, as the guggenheim is closed on mondays. i am studying the matter and will find a workable solution.

i recently had opportunity to discuss our trip to spain with someone i have known for over 20 years. "are you taking a tour?' was the response. i am still aghast, as certainly someone who professes to know me well would understand that i am not capable of going on a tour, with someone else in charge, with a timetable not of my own making. i am convinced that dante left the 'package tour' circle of hell out of his manuscript because the church-owned tourism concessions would have gone bankrupt.........anyway, i do have the greatest of admiration for those who can sit back in confidence that someone who knows what they are doing is driving the bus, but i can never be certain that the people in charge have prepared more than myself for the day.....i will concede that driving in cities where i cannot look at the map every 3 minutes does lead to chaos and wasted time in getting to cathedrals and other desirable sights. i like the planning end of travel almost as much as the being there part.

ok, so i cannot figure out how to link, even using the link button and typing in the url. go figure.........

ok, so i am determined to figure out this link thing- you are always so clever with links. let's see if this works.

ok, so i received mail today from sylvia tapley from missouri- quite a surprise, both to get mail from missouri but also to get pictures of my garden when it still had living grass, roses, and other foilage. now it looks like rural afghanistan....all dusty and dying........the note card featured a painting by sheldon tapley- are these available on the open market? i have a fondness for notecards- one cannot send too many notes.........

ok, so i enjoyed the part of beck's time interview where he idolizes james taylor- sweet baby james.......he spoke of james as rebeling against punk.....i don't know about that- but i still like to sing along with most of his older albums....gorilla, fire and rain, sweet baby james, so sweet to think about his voice and his laid-backness....i do regret that i never saw him in concert- maybe sometime. i've seen fire and i've seen rain, i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end, i seen lonely times when i could not find a friend, but i always thought that i'd see you again.....

ok, so mean mamma has begun to tire of the angrymother persona and may want to change her blog to something along the lines of june cleaver. i will start wearing a skirt and pumps to do my housework, and maybe start to use hairspray......it could happen......i catered a lunch saturday in a home with a pantry so anal that every box and bottle was placed equi-distant from the next, nothing touching, in descending tallness and thickness, and every shelf was labeled. what a sight to behold- i think if i started doing that- the men in white coats would be called in and they would carry me off in a straight jacket...........

ok, so my tickets to barcelona are already in hand- they came in the mail today. there is something about having plane tickets in hand that lifts the spirits......

ok, so i borrowed spanish tapes from the library, and already i cannot remember words past adios and ola......i will have to get really good at pointing and nodding....i have decided on 2 hotels- one in barcelona and 1 in madrid- both about $30 pp. for bilbao, i have been searching internet sites that list hotels- these hotels seem muchmore expensive- because only expensive hotels list on line.......i will keep looking...

i am pleased that several well-regarded travelers are considering this spanish adventure.......

ok, so stephan and i are confirmed for the following:

leave lex 12:50 1/1/03 travel to barcelona through cincy and jfk
come back from madrid on 1/11/03 11:30 am through atlanta total for 2 people including aaa commission $1302.92. correllia is now checking train prices on the fast trains to see if it makes sense to book ahead......and know exactly how much time travel days will take.....

ok, so the guest speaker wasn't so bad. he spoke of living each moment as if eternity converges upon it- rather than thinking so far ahead of ourselves in terms of goals and ambitions, and schedule, and commitments that we fail to truly experience the present- to hear, feel, see or taste life fully. he has a point- i have become wrapped up in where i want to go in spain that i have not paid as much attention to the here and now- points to ponder.......

ok, so we have a guest speaker at church today, and mean mamma would just as soon stay home- rather, mm would rather go back to bed and sleep til she has gotten over this overwhelming fatigue that comes with working all day saturday. alas, if mm doesn't go to church on just one sunday, her little ones will start thinking that church is optional, and moral decay will break out, she is certain.

speaking of moral decay, mm failed to watch the miss america pageant on tv last night. this breaks a 40+ year streak of watching this spectacle- mostly to watch the clothes and to see if miss ohio, i mean miss ky won anything.....there was once a girl who lived down the hill from my grandparents in independence, ohio that won the title. they pointed out her parents nursery and plant stand every time we passed by until they both passed away. ah well, instead, ecw and i watched this french movie with english subtitles- pierrot le fou, by jean-luc goddard and starring jean-paul belmondo- a 60's movie that was quite surreal and hard to follow- not because of language but because they would inexplicably have on different clothes when you knew that had no luggage (being on the run) and you didn't see them steal any......... the whole time jean-paul belmondo kept writing poetry in his journal- and the girl wouldn't understand it and he would tell her that he wasn't sure if he loved her if she couldn't understand his most intimate thoughts. i didn't stay up til the end because i was tired. i was also bummed out because acw didn't come home this weekend. i really miss that boy.......

ok, so i had an unfortunate altracation with an aquaintance on the phone tonight at the restaurant- we were serving a 50th wedding anniversary party about 7:00-

drunk aquaintance- eeeezzz theeezzz kcw? theezz ezzz ______________ can weeeeeee come for deeeeener?

kcw- i am sorry, we are not open on saturday night. we are open.. m-f ...etc, etc.....

d.a.- but you are there now- cannnnnnnnn't weeeeeeeee come oveeeeeeerrr and eat?

kcw- i am sorry, but we have just served everything that we made this evening for this dinner.

d.a.- but donnnnnnnt you waaaaaaant to feeeeex dinner for 7 of your closest friends?

kcw- i am sorry but my closest friend ernst is holding dinner for me and when this party is over i am going home.......

d.a.- caaaaaaant you fiiiiiiiind sometheeeeeeng for us to eaaaaaaat?

kcw- thanks for calling- i have to get back this party......goodbye.

an unfortunate reminder that drunk doesn't sound very cool when it is someone else and you are dead tired and cold sober.........this person had no business driving anywhere let alone my business, and i am sure that his wife was horrified if she was in earshot.

ok, so no one residing in my house seems to know the score from last nights game-even personages who were actually at the game. the score was not on the news last night and it was not in the paper today.....very curious. the baseball incident did make the papers- the father and son who leaped from the stands onto the playing field to beat up the first base coach of the kc royals- both were tatooed, by the way-and apparantly sharing some quality time together when they decided to commit felony battery and assault in full public view. of course, all this pales to gov patton's tearful plee for forgiveness. i have little faith in someone who didn't suspect that any of 440 phone calls made to her personal numbers would leave a paper trail.......i also find amusement in the 5 hour thing- somehow he doesn't strike me as a 5-hour man.......he seems more like someone who would jump onto a baseball field and beat up the first base coach, however.......

ok, so monday i am going to call corelia at aaa and buy our tickets. leaving lex on 1/01/03 going to barcelona and back from madrid on 1/11/03. i borrowed a book on spanish at the library- i haven't a clue about spanish.....this could be a real adventure.

remembering jon patterson......

ok, so it seems i have seen guernica- in nyc during spring break of 1975- with jon patterson, who left osu the next year to go to cornell where he hoped to get into cornell's vet school and be a small animal vet....he had the biggest afro imaginable for a tall skinny white guy....golly neds, that was a long time ago. the only other things i remember about that trip was the ride up- in the back of a pinto (or similar), that it was so very cold in march in nyc, and that in the cafeteria at the met i had a rare roast beef sandwich- i had never before had rare roast beef- it was delicious.......

ok, so it was assumed that pyro is expected on this spanish excursion- as are the entire cast of the last european extravaganza.........

ok,so i have the dk spainbook turned to guernica- and i believe that lo.o could paint a seating chart version of guernica with a little imagination.........

ok, so mm doesn't have anything quite as clever as l.o.- i have to congratulate l.o. on her razor-sharp wit. i am impressed, as always.........

mean mamma hopes to say hello to her friend, jane- who surely has by now figured out how to access mean mamma's blog. i have worried about her, and feared that she may have been in the hospital or otherwise indisposed during the past summer. i hope she is ok now and getting around as best she can.......i do believe that mamma's friend jane has been to spain- i recall that trip 20+ years ago whereupon she put the whole thing on her amex., and was somewhat shocked when amex wanted their cash, in full, at the end of the month.....obviously, jane has always been my kind of traveler.....for those of you gentle readers that do not know mamma's friend jane, we always drink champagne when we are together- and jane is the kind of gal that can make sitting in a wheelchair drinking champagne look classy......well, jane- i am not putting this trip on an amex- my darling spouse now requires that i actually have the $ in the bank before i buy the tickets....those were the days.........................

ok, so if guernica is in madrid, i just might reconsider madrid......i guess i can go to spain myself since franco is still dead....remember the snl skit, where chevy chase would end his broadcasts with...and generalisimo franco is still dead.....

ok, so i forgot all about book club last night- i read the book early on (tender is the night) then lost track of the actual meeting date- i feel quite stupid in that i wasted lots of time after getting home- last night-reading the new spain guide books.

ok, so scw wants to go to madrid, rather than the dordogne. any other show of hands?...........

ok, so i am regretting already leaving carcassone and the dordogne off of the agenda.......we will have to have a show of hands on which itinerary to follow-

yet another scenario-

day 1 fly away
day 2 arrive barcelona; stay in neighborhood of gaudi church; walking tour of area
day 3 barcelona- picasso and gaudi
day 4 drive to carcassonne; stay in area
day 5- drive to dordogne- stay in sarlat
day 6- dordogne- rocamadour; cave paintings.....
day 7 drive toward spain via bergerac (it is really on our way..)
day 8 st. sebastian (in spain)
day 9 bilbao
day 10 drive back to barcelona (about 6 hours) via roman ruins in tarragona
day 11 fly home

i would give up madrid to see dordogne; plus car rental (no diesels.......) would be less than the combined train tickets....plus,we would get to visit a part of france that is not on the way to anywhere. one interesting aside- this area around albi is known as the last hold-out of a christian sect called the albigenians (sp) who were sought out as heretics- they were the original loyal opposition.......

ok, so i forget to point out yesterday that hyphenation is a state of grace.....................

ok, so i am so glad that the loyal opposition is back- she will always be thus- as she is certainly no dodo.........i am also glad the l.o. is thinking about spain.....

i am so excited about spain- my latest scenario-a bit different than the one i e-mailed to ms johnson, who has given scw permission to miss 7 days school next semester......

day 1- fly to barcelona
day 2- arrive- check in- walking tour of city; good eating- early to bed
day 3- barcelona- gaudi and picasso
day 4- ?train south to roman ruins on ocean-front
day 5- train to st. sebastian
day 6 st. sebastian( on bay of biscay) train later to bilbao
day 7 bilbao
day 8 train to madrid
day 9 madrid
day 10 madrid
day 11- fly home

coming back on a friday raises the ticket price $25- but i feel that i will need 2 days at home to get over the trip. i hate to come back the day before i have to be anywhere. i need a day or two to say hello to me house again, and to lay on the sofa, and just veg-out.......i have just read at rick steves site that he doesn't recommend the spain rail pass- says that the train fares are too cheap to justify it....i did enjoy reading all of the restaurant suggestions posted on the spain section of his site. i am hungry already for tapas and potato omelets and white wine............looking ahead- i did see on rick steves sight that there is now a france/italy rail pass- may be just the thing for 2004..........fly to paris tgv marseilles- then on to tuscany.....but i get ahead of myself.....

ok, so this morning on the way to work, the morning business report, with chi risdoll (sp) began with the words- ok, so......i started laughing out loud- it was like listening to myself for a moment...

so stephan has commited to a trip to spain- so now we have to decide which of the many scenarios we will choose. last night ernst and i sat down to discuss the many travel opportunities that stephan has for the coming year- including a rotary exchange that will take up 6 weeks of this summer (3 weeks in belgium + 3 weeks with the belgium child at our house), the italy trip, the spain trip, margo goodwin's france trip next year, and ernst's bike trip across wyoming, idaho and oregon (2 weeks or so) ernst was somewhat taken aback that scw would consider going to italy with ms. bennett given her lack of knowledge and preparedness in her current class- it doesn't give one much confidence on a foreign adventure- that and stephan's closer friends have either not commited to that trip or are passing altogether. regardless, i cannot wait to see the delights of spain. wasn't there a three dog night song that started out...i ain't never been to spain, but i have been to oklahoma......

speaking of wonderful places - i also have a fondness for boulder, colorado. my parents have college friends who live on hamilton court (in an older section of town) we visited regularly when i was growing up, and stephan stayed with them once when i went to a workshop in denver- they took him up to estes park(?) on a day trip into rmnp. i think it is just an idyllic place, with lots of things to do, places to eat- lots of good microbrewery beer........and if i had a sister, i would want her to live in such a place.....

ok, so mean mamma has talked to correlia at aaa- the open jaw ticket, flying from lexington is $591.53- for a limited time, of course. so mean mamma has got to decide whether to splurge on a spanish train adventure in addition to stephan's italian trip.........of course, a spanish train trip would be more fun with a few extra traveling companions.......

ok, so the mean mamma cleaned house today- viciously cleaned house- gave 4 boxes of stuff to the good will and tossed out 6 bags full of junk. only darkness and fatigue kept her out of the basement- that will have to wait for another day. ernst was wise enough to drive immeidately to the goodwill, lest anyone want to go through the charitable donation and retrieve valuables.......

ok, so i have a new travel scenario mapped out, just in case the price of right-

day 1- fly from louisville to atlanta to madrid
day 2- arrive madrid; walking tour of downtown sights
day 3- sleep late; prada art museum
day 4- train to san sebastian- check into hotel; walking tour of sights, including new opera house
day 5- train to bilbao; see gehry guggenheim, metro, shopping complexes- train back to san sebastian
day 6- train to barcelona-walking tour of sights- including gaudi church and buildings
day 7- barcelona
day 8- fly home from barcelona (requires open jaw ticket) if not-train back to madrid
day 9- fly home

right now the ticket to madrid is about $586- not open jaw- and the price of a 3 day train pass is $155- hotels are as yet unknown. i am considering this even if stephan wants to go to italy on spring break- i may even ask ms johnson if she will forgive the 7 school days he would miss if we went. good points of this scenario- no driving; 4 cities each with architectural importance as well as art and other cultural significance. bad points- madrid to san sebastian is about 7 hours; madrid-barcelona is about 7 hours, and san sebastian to barcelona is unknown. lots of time on a train..........

ok, so the creek is starting to get a bit nippy these days. i have so enjoyed swimming laps (from our dock to the neighbors dock...) this summer- i will miss this precious little diversion when the water gets too cold. the top warms up in the afternoons, but the lower levels are like ice after these 50-60 degree nights we have been having. in my fantasy world i have my own heated lap pool............

ok, so stephan may be going to italy, which means mean mamma will be going no where this winter. well, maybe nowhere- unless she can come up with some alternative travel scenario. the trip to italy would be a good way for scw to see italy, because it is not a place that mean mamma would go without a group- and may be not even then- i guess that makes me romanophobic.......

ok, so mean mamma feels quite smug this morning- she has finally located andrew's zip code from the uky web site- quite a feat as the site does not have something as simple as zip codes tied into the search engine. no- one must go to student section, to the directory section, then do a zip code search for the 4 digit ending, only if you happen to know the 5 digit code.........and the dorm address. this process took mean mamma several days to accomplish- she also located andrew's web address- now if only he would start checking both mailboxes........

mean mamma dreamed last night about the loyal opposition's newest blog header- she and all of many of her friends dressed as medieval characters, doing the hamster dance in a row- and singing- it is very clear in my dream that they sang in addition to the interpretive dance sequences.........no recollection if crows fugured at all in the scenario.....

ok, so i am excited.......after i searched on google for a swedish meatball recipe, i did a kcw search, just to see what came up........i have 3 pages of google results- though some are for ernst, with somebody named kathy highlighted from the same race results, some are for andrew and stephan in the same manner.....but mean mamma made the cut- my blog can now be accessed from a google search......an entry on travel fantasies is on the first page of google results.........ah well,,,,,,,my 15 minutes of fame has already elapsed........

ok, so stephan tells me that he still has the cardigan, though he does not wear it.....

ok, so yerrhh...................

ok, so mean mamma has been a sluggish blogger of late- and she will rectify this failing. today, though i keep thinking back to the wtc- to my only visit to the wtc- because sheldon and ann sent me an invitation to sheldon's opening and i took this as an invitation to travel to nyc with scw on a whim. we went to the wtc (?building 1or 2) to get discount tickets for cats- after our visit to ellis island & the statue of liberty. we also went to a big discount store (century 21?) to buy stephan a cardigan- and therefore missed out on meeting madeline l'engle at books of wonder(stephan has since discarded both the cardigan and the madeline l'engle books, so it';s all even now.....) but the wtc- we took ots of pictures-- it was a saturday morning and few people were around. we didn't go up because i hate heights- and have declined numerous trips up high places like the tour eiffel., etc. after i lived through the first visit..........while this trip to nyc will be forever remembered as the trip whereupon i lost stephan c-w in the subway- i now choose to remember it as the trip where we stood below the twin towers in awe of the effort it took to put them up, and the trip where we stood in awe on ellis island, and the trip where we went out to dinner with sheldon's parents and talked of french food and hardy garden plants, anf the trip where we saw the exhibit at the met on peruvian gold and the partially closed guggenheim and the neat deli and the polish demonstration/parade, and the tiny hotel room, and cats- such a wonderful musical- too bad it closed for good. all these things are my memories of 9-11.......not because they happened on 9-11, but because it was the last time i was in nyc.....

i find it quite ironic that i have been to paris 10 times, but to nyc 3 times- why such a lopsided statistic? why do i feel so welcome in paris but not in nyc? i would go to paris tomorrow if i had the funds, but would think twice about going to nyc tomorrow.......and i have had someone try to pick my purse in paris...........well, belated thanks to the silver-tapley's for inviting us to their soiree- it was well-timed, considering, and i am thankful that we took the plunge and went ( i can say that now that the trip is paid for, cannot i?)

ok, so i sat through the entire men's us open final- rooting for agassi though pleased that sampras pulled himself up from a 17th seeding. in a world where we start to write off people who are 'aging' i was gratified to see that both agassi and sampras could find the strength to play the match at all......... did find the commentary quite humerous- john mcenroe said at different times.....the serve is the last thing to go.......and the backhand is the last thing to go..........like he couldn't decide which or his memory was the first to go.............

ok, so mean mamma has made a major on-line purchase- 4 french dvd's : subway (with isabelle adjani) pierrot le fou (with jean-paul belmondo), babette's feast, and venus beauty institute, with audrey tautou. i have so enjoyed amelie, in french, that i decided to expand my catalog of french films. i did pass on beau pere, described as a delicately handled case of pedophilia..........oh my.......say the mean mamma. of course, on half.com, mean mamma's source for such films, she only spent $50 for this treasure trove of french film...........

ok, so in church this morning, ernst was late in arriving, and he leaned over and whispered something thart sounded to me like i have been at the shop ...pain pills.......i thought he had somehow injured himself....but no- he had really said....i have been at the shop paying bills..............my hearing is going quickly...by the end of the day i may cease to recognize the voices of my loved ones at all...we might have to go to sign language...until my vision goes as well,,,,,,,

ok, so mean mamma is tired.......because she drank a can of pepsi whilst wallpapering( left over from the run/bike event at our house last weekend,) and could not sleep. m&m (mean mamma) stayed up and watched snl with gwynneth paltrow- who apparantly went to elementary school with one of the cast members. it appeared to be a rerun from last season...i wouldn't know because i am usually in bed asleep by 11:30 saturday night- being so old and feeble at this point...........so this morning i feel like i have been run over by a truck. the wallpapering is done, though.......

ok, so mean mamma is just a little thrilled that dhs beat bchs tonight. my deaf dishwasher kept us up-to-date all evening with the scores he received off of his pager.......anyway, last night i dreamed that i took stephan over to petra's house to see her new baby brother........stephan commented on how much he looked like ivan.........dreams are always so bizarre......

ok, so i am thinking that i would rather rent a car in barcelona and see carcassonne and the little villages along the dordorgne and see lasceaux (sp? lacrosse?) caves- rather the simulated version that allows visitors. surely i can manage to learn enough spanish in 3.5 months to venture out along the mediterranean in a hired car......it couldn't be worse than cologne or strasbourg...........

ok, so andrew popped in this afternoon, made himself a sandwich, then went back to school. he came home looking to see if i had gotten the ink stains out of his shorts- the ones i washed without checking the pockets. now mamma may be mean, but she does assume that any clothes in the laundry area have been scrutenized for stuff likes pens, money, kleenex, etc- any money she finds loose in the washer or dryer is hers by default.........alas, she cannot get the stain completely out and must move on to the drycleaner.....

ok, so the previous blog was from the weekend- but blogger was 'full' so i had to copy it to word .............and paste it today. i have gotten the travel bug again- i cannot decide whether to do the paris/train to bilbao thing or venture into the car rental place again and do the barcelona/dordogne/bilbao thing. of course, one could still do paris/bilbao/barcelona/paris on the train........so many choices. i want to go somewhere in january, because if danville goes wet. we will be working nonstop figuring out how to be open more nights a week, and i may never have a day off again.......at least until we can afford to hire more people and get them trained to do what we do. in that regard, i could stay dry- because it means less work in the long run for me personally. but wilma has gone out on a limb, so i have to hope that we go wet on gerneral principle.....

i do wish that certain servers were up and running...........i know that this makes me some sort of stalker, but an unabashed one...........

ok, so i was insulted to the core today- by someone who probably doesn't understand the degree of her damage- i was checking out at the kroger today, by someone who worked for me in an another life- she took one look at cayle and asked if she was my granddaughter......in all fairness, this woman knew me when i was birthing children, and she knows that my boys could reproduce if called on to do so, but really- do like really look old enough to have a 9 year old granddaughter- that would mean that andrew reproduced at age 9- not likely. i suppose in some ky circles, a woman could have a baby at 15, and then have a grandchild at 30 and a greatgrandchild at 45 if her daughters followed suit.....but for heaven's sakes please don't confuse these poor creatures with me and my life.........i might get over this sometime soon, maybe not........

ok, so we have found something that cayle is not only good at, but possesses the perserverence to complete- wallpapering...........or rather, the removing of wallpaper....she stayed up late working on the wallpaper around the windowseat, and got up early to continue work on it........such a revelation for a child who usually has the attention span of a ........well- you know what i mean- the extended interest on this project is phenominal- and welcome...because the more she does, the less i have to do to get the old wallpaper off and get the new paper/border on. of course, we have yet to decide on the new stuff- cayle wants this kitten border that looks right for a five year old- ernst and i are angling for something a little more mature that can get us through the preteen years- she also looked at a wolfpack print (she likes to read about wolves......) several dog prints, including puppies with soccer balls, and one with fish. stephan's shelves went up yesterday- the room looks so much different with shelves- we should have done this when andrew moved into the room. we are still carting stephan's stuff to the basement- many more loads when you count the closet........i had visions of having all this done buy tuesday-----not bloody likely at this point. whatever happened to kids having a small box of carefully selected belonging..........

ok, so blogger could add spell check as a nice added feature for those of us who think faster than they can type. sometimes misspellings bother me to the point that i go back and edit past entries to correct them- sometimes i just let them go- and hope that my gentle readers are not good spellers.........

ok, so i watched amelie for a third time after sunday school today- yes, mean mamma skipped church so ernst and stephan could drive the van on a 'long explore' to blaton forest, near pine mountain. now, mean mamma could have been nice and agreed to go along, but no this is my 3 days off and i intend to do restful, lazy things like watch amelie for a 3rd time, take a nap, and then read-maybe on the back deck with a beer in my hand- sio anyway, ernst and stephan took off in the car, so i ordered chinese takeout and the rest of us feasted on sesame chicken and shrimp/chinese vegetables and hot/sour soup. and i watched amelie for a third time- i really can't say enough about this movie- i guess it was so unexpected. i also watched the interviews on the second 'bonus' dvd- and learbed that the colors were digitally enhanced-especially the primary colors- to make them more brilliant and eyecatching- so the reds are more red and the greens are more green, and a blue lantern is present in some scenes to make it more french, i suppose (colette wrote by the light of her fanal bleu........) even amelie's haircut is french- angular and blunt at the same time. having watched the 3rd time- in french with only english subtitles, i cannot say that i understand an ounce of more of french- i cannot seem to listen fast enough- the only thing i have definetly caught 'aujourd h'ui non', with subtitles 'not today'. not much for 3 viewing- what about the 6 and 7th viewings.........i will have to actually buy this dvd as andrew is taking back the dvd to his roommate today.......

ok, so i watched amelie again last night- since the dvd was still here i thought i had better get my fill of it.......i liked it even better the second time,despite knowing how it ends, because i could pay attention to it nuances- the cartoon-like simplicity of each sequence- the director drew it like like a cartoon on a story board to make sure that it was filmed exactly like he imagined it- kind of like a graphic novel put on videotape.....to keep things simple, there are not many 'extra' people in this film- not many people on the street in street scenes, or in bar scenes- amelie's paris is quite uncrowded- i would really like this version of paris, frankl....i also like the parts where amelie gets into the mean grocer's apartment and plays tricks on him. and the parts where amelie's father waits for the mail to bring him photos of his garden dwarf statue, who is traveling the world. be warned, this is not a movie for the young ones- there is just enough sex (funny sex, but sex nonetheless....)to warrant an r rating. cayle was quite ticked off to be sent out of the room when we realized........half.com sells this dvd for about $16.94 including shipping- it may be the next movie i watch until my family begs me to 'find something else' mind you, i watch the 6 part a&e video series of pride and prejudice so much that when questions arose on the ap exam about this book, andrew was able to answer with much certainty- he got a 5 on the english ap, by the way.......maybe stephan will get a 5 on the french ap if i start watching amelie without the subtitles every day for the next 3 years........