Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Oh! The Places I've Been!

I made this "Art Book" of some of the places I have visited. I used little trinkets and Pictures, both personal and found.
Almost every page has an added tag, so one (I) must look at it for a long time.









I think the sixth picture down is my favorite picture because this was a trip on a river boat on a river in France. Everything was Gourmet to the fifth star. The boat captain was our sommelier, and told us all about the wine as he served it (at every meal), including the type of grapes it was made with and where they grew and all about the special vintage, etc. Toward the end of the week I brought out this box of wine that I had from the week before we got on the barge and presented it to him with a special sort of like his, except my vintage was "Tuesday." Oh, my, did he roll his eyes!!


I still haven't located my pictures from my first visit to Paris, so my book isn't quite complete yet.





Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I Need a Keeper


My sister and I left for the airport at 4:00 am. Our ultimate destination was Dublin, Ireland. I have been known to change my mind about going to many wonderful places when the time comes to get up out of bed in the pre-dawn hours. It is the cruelest time, if you ask me. Who can even see that early? It is the middle of the night.
So, I didn’t notice that I forgot the eye- glasses that I have become so dependant upon until we were dropped off at the terminal.

Since there was no way of getting them, I bought a pair of those magnifying readers from a vendor near our departing gate. They worked pretty well; unless I looked up from my book and turned my head too fast. That made me dizzy.

When we got to the hotel in Ireland, I draped my jet-lagged body over the nightstand to plug something in and smashed the frame of the stand-in pair of glasses and one lens fell out.

I found a new pair in the hotel gift shop; sort of a stand-in for the stand-in, if you will.

Later on a boat, that itty bitty screw that holds the ear piece on came out and was hopelessly lost.

My friend Kathy saved the day with an extra pair that she had brought. Thank you very much, Kathy.

While on a tour of a replica of the boat that the REAL discoverer of America had sailed, (Bet you didn’t know about this historical item!) the Stand-in –for-the-stand-in glasses, which were now perched on top of my head, fell into the water.

Do you think I need a “Keeper?” You know, someone who will follow me around and say,
“Don’t sit that down!”
and
“Don’t put those there!”
and
“Turn left! No! Your other left!”

The answer to that question is “Yes.” The husband usually takes this role, but since he wasn’t in Ireland yet, the job went to my sister, Barbie.

I have one more Pre-story to tell and then I shall tell the events of this latest great adventure.



Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in the lush green land of County Cork, Ireland. Her name was Mary, and at fifteen she considered
herself a completely grown-up woman. She was spunky, a bit sassy, and quite pretty to look at. She caught the eye of many handsome young men,
but wasn't much interested in any of them.
Her family, (so the story goes), was of the aristocratic sort and her parents wanted a marriage for Mary with a gentleman from a like family.
Mary considered all the boys from these families to be, well, boys.

One afternoon while strolling along the water's edge, she caught the eye of an unbelievably handsome man. He was working on the dock
and she noticed his well-formed shoulders and chest. She was smitten by this handsome rogue. She found herself walking by the same wharf the next day and the next one after that.
He told her his name was Andrew. She could tell when they talked that he was quite a bit older than she, and perhaps that is one of the reasons why she fell in love with him.
Andrew.
She loved the sound of his name.
It was not long before word got to her father. He became irate over his daughter's infatuation with this shanty boat riff raff, and forbade her to go near the wharf again. Of course, love always finds a way, and they found occasions to be together when no one was around.

Naturally, her father found out that she was seeing him and he took her to a convent and locked her away.

She, being the spunky thing that she was, would not be deterred. One moonless night, Mary climbed over the wall to be with her Andrew. They
climbed aboard a ship and sailed for America.

As they sailed across the ocean, her belly grew. In 1858, they landed in America at the mouth of the Mississippi and got on a riverboat. In a short while, they came to a Mississippi town called Yazoo. The boat came to a stop while Mary gave birth to Patrick.

Patrick was my grandfather’s father. This story explains a few things, doesn’t it!
Barb and I were going to find that convent.
But first we were to cruise down the Shannon River with the girlfriends. That episode coming up next…

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

"Psshht. I Can Make That!"

I say those words often when I am out shopping. Most of the time when I do make something I have seen, I am sorry I ever tried it. This time? Yeah, sorry.
My seester and I found a necklace sort of like this in Ireland.
Yesterday I had the ingredients.
I had the time.
I made it.
Did you hear me? I yelled a couple of bad words. The dogs hid from me.
OK, now I remember why I don't make jewelry.



Thursday, June 17, 2010

Going Through a Lock

If you scroll down quickly it might be almost like a flip book!
Maybe.
This is Lock number 65 or 66 for me - Lifetime Count. Wait. How many did we go through on the Yangtze?












Wednesday, June 16, 2010

OLD STUFF. and I mean Really Old

When you are looking at castles that are 900 years old, you realize what a baby country we are here in the USA.













Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Trouble With Spectacles




We left for the airport at 4:00 am. Who can even see at that hour? So, I didn’t notice that I forgot the eye- glasses that I have become so dependant upon until we were dropped off at the terminal.

Since there was no way of getting them, I bought a pair of those magnifying readers from a vendor near our departing gate. They worked pretty well; unless I looked up from my book and turned my head too fast. That made me dizzy.

When we got to the hotel in Ireland, I leaned over the nightstand to plug something in and smashed the frame and one lens fell out.

I found a new pair in the hotel gift shop.

Later on the boat, that itty bitty screw that holds the ear piece on came out and was hopelessly lost.

My friend Kathy saved the day with an extra pair that she had brought. Thank you very much, Kathy.

While on a tour of a replica of the boat that the REAL discoverer of America had sailed, the glasses, (now perched on top of my head,) fell into the water.

I ask you…
Do you think I need a “Keeper?” You know, someone who will follow me around and say,
“Don’t set that down!”
and
“Don’t put those there!”
and
“Turn left! No! Your other left!”

Roads Less Traveled--There's a Reason For That

Yes. Even THIS Road.













How To Make A Road in Ireland.

1. Measure the width of two small cars.
2. Add one more inch.
3. Dump tar in a strip, exactly that wide, disregarding walls and trees and hedges.
4. Drive on tar strip ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD.
5. If another car is coming from the opposite direction, pull into ditch (if there is one handy,) fold side mirrors in, and wait for other car to scrape the opposite wall while getting by you.