jejejejejejejeje

That would be Catalan or Spanish for hehehehehehehehehe, hahahahahahahhaha.

Sorry about this folks, but as I have spent almost the entire day on it, you're gonna get some Catalan GRAMMAR!!!

PARTY!!!

Ho sento tothom, però fins que he gastat tot la dia amb això....us donaré...GRAMMATICA catalan!!!

FESTA!!!!

Even a bilingual blog...for the moment.

One of my two joys of the day...dur/endur and portar/ emportar.

These are four different verbs, but dur and portar are exact synonyms; and endur and emportar are as well. You might well ask yourself why this is necessary. I have.

El blog està bilingual...per ara.

Un dels coses que vaig disfrutar més avui...dur/endur i portar/emportar

Són quatre verbs diferents, però dur i portar són synonims exacte: i endur i emportar son lo mateix. Potser et demanis perquè ho és necessar...ho he fet.

HOWEVER...dur and portar signify that you are carrying something, which endur and emportar imply that you are bringing something from somewhere specific. Not something we pay a lot of heed to in English...but what the heck..

First mystery solved, thanks to some friends,

Tot i que...dur i portar significan que estas portant alugna cose, mentre endur i emportar diuen que estàs portant alguna cose des de una lloc especific. No ho és important en anglès, però...perquù no?

Second mystery...s'hi and hi. Hi is a pronoun that signifies place, for instance, "Mauritius is a place where there are lemurs.

s'hi is a combined pronoun..the Catalans LOVE these and they are killers, s' indicates him or her or them, and hi is a place, so you have a combination of where they. For instance, "the market is where they can buy fruit." but they combine the words to make a new kinda word. Gak.

El segon misteri...s'hi i hi. Hi és un pronom que significa un lloc, com:"Mauritius és un lloc on hi ha lemures.

S'hi és un pronom combinat...els catalans li agraden molt, i són fatal, el s' indica ell o ella or els o les i hi és un lloc, aixì teneu una combinacion de hi i se, com:"El marcat s'hi pot comprar fruites." però els pronoms s'n combinat i fen una quasi nova tipus de paraula. GAK.

If you made it to the end of all that you deserve a medal. I have probably just lost the last three readers of this site. Ah well.

Si heu acabat tot això, hauríeu de guanyar un premi. Devia perdut els ultims tres persones qui llegir aquest pagina web. Una llastima.




Hoping your weekend was less grammatical anyway.

Cheers,
O

Books and ships

Youngest's basketball game? AMAZING...they were on fire. Who'd have thought I could enjoy kids playing sports so much. They lost by one shot in overtime...playing against a team that w.i.p.e.d. the floor with them last time....Youngest got a basket too!!!

She's playing center and seems to be a throw in specialist as well. Don't have the foggiest idea why.

BCN's Marine museum...fantastic place...has an exhibit on:

Zheng He...now there was an amazing man, well, eunuch.

He was the admiral of a huge fleet of enormous ships sailing out of China in the early Ming dynasty. Tremendous voyages....amazing ships.

We had to pick up another book for Eldest for school. They have to read 7 books for Catalan class this year, and they are picking great ones. Eldest is (I am thrilled to report) now reading Catalan well enough that this is a manageable task...indeed, today we picked up another book that she wanted to read IN CATALAN!!!!!!WOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

One of the optional books for next term is the The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which I have been wanting to read, so now I am having a go in Catalan, and it is going well so far. Slow, but well. Have you read it? Is it good?

I am also reading another Catalan novel in Catalan about a Catalan man from Barcelona who goes to England to study English for three weeks. Glutton for punishment I am...busman's holiday, no?

I have given up on "Tirant Lo Blanc" the first Catalan novel. Think Don Quixote. Too little editing, man can they ever go ON. Knights, babes, battles...though there is a great deal more sex in the Catalan version that in the Arthurian tales or Quixote, indeed everyone is sleeping with everyone, these are some hot-blooded women...kind of like a Bond flick without the cool special effects and gadgets. Battle a bit, hang with the women, battle some more, deal with the evil types, get laid again...but it goes on far too long. I have given up. Maybe another time I'll finish it. I'm done.

Watched Hello Dolly tonight, the musical version...have you seen it? There is another film that goes on TOOOO long. Good, but tooooo long.

Seems to be a theme.

My Uncle died last night.

It was not unexpected, but is still horrid.

I know very little more than that right now.

Write or die.

Met with eldest's Spanish teacher.

Meh.

Can't say the guy really gained my respect. Sounded like it wasn't the whole unvarnished truth.

Whatever.

You can't like everyone you have to deal with, and there are always going to be dorks masquerading as teachers; we have to get on with it anyway, and get what you can out of the process.

Let's hope she gets some Spanish, no?

On another note, check this out....

Dr. Wicked's Write or Die program! The ultimate solution if you cannot think of a good post. Though I used this basic idea for a great language game in class today.

Here is my first go, all settings basically kind and normal:

Trying out the new Dr Wicked's writing pad, while people outside are yelling and screaming. It is astonishing to me that people will be so noisy late at night.

Though the single pane windows probably don't help. They certainly aren't keeping me any warmer. Sitting here in a fleecy jacket, down coat, and three shirts on.

I just deliberately paused, the screen went red-ish orange through brighter orange, I am just on normal mode, not kamikaze when it starts to erase what I have written.

I need one of these in my life.

I have one though.

Me.


Here is the second go....

OK, I am having a go at the evil pause level with kamikaze punishments...let's see whatherewhat happens here...whoa...it went red and redder then it ate my words!!!!

Eeeekk this one really keeps you going, like running with a pit bull on your tail. That reminds me of a dog that hangs around eldest's school, where there (hey I just hit my goal, and trumpets blew!!!)

Positive re-enforcement too!

Anyway, this is a HUGE Sheppard who has figured out that the playground is an excellent hunting ground. The boys give it parts of their lunches and snacks, and as these frequently consist of meat sandwiches....and the girls do too. Apparently today it made off, gleefully I am sure, with an entire large iberic ham sandwich (think prosciutto) on a baguette.

It was still there later when the man and I went into the school as well as when we left.



This is now in normal blog mode...not pit bull running....

On another bright note, a dog we have seen living wild in the village for the last year and that I have been worrying about has been adopted!!! No more sitting out in the freezing pouring rain for him!

He was really shy and wouldn't come near me, but a woman we know managed to catch him and he has a home. It is so great because he is a lovely dog.

Made me laugh out loud.

Some teenagers are openly loving, usually respectful and often fun to be with.

Who are those children? Other people's. What is their parents' secret? They are lucky.

From this article. Please excuse the grammar error.

Field trip!!!

On Sunday we went to Monserrat again...indeed we went twice, but that's another story.

Mostly we walked, but we took a cremellera up to a higher point...it is a type of train, but it runs on cogs because it is so darned steep.

Many things set Montserrat apart. It is the emotional heartland for Catalans, but there is also something about the hills there that is stunning. Something that is different, despite the crowds. They are also really weirdly shaped. Really weird...let me show you....

Do you see the elephant and the woman????

It really is weirdly shaped, and most stunning...


Can you see the profile of this fellow below? He looks like he eats well and is having a good laugh to me.


Now check out what was on top of his head. There is not a square inch of this place that hasn't been walked over. Any self respecting abbot with a mass of overactive young men is bound to send them off to go and do some harebrained bit of construction. Burns off disruptive energies, that they might spend somewhere more destructive to their soul, gets some work done, and if they kick off? Well, you've already got the dowry (so to speak) and they are dying for a good cause....


Here is a view from the very top looking north-ish...I am quite enamoured with the place.


Nobody carved this fellow below....

but the wind I guess.

There were tons of people there, and lots to do...like climbing....(which youngest wants to try)

This is my über-Catalan photo..the beloved Montserrat with the flag gallantly blowing in the breeze in the foreground.


You can go into the church, and visit the black Madonna (been there, done that, not again this time)...though we did light a couple of candles for some family who could use a hand. No harm in it.


If any of you were unclear that we are in Spain here, and not in North America anymore, check out this staircase. It was like this most of the way down. DO NOT STUMBLE. No Klutzes allowed.


WAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Crunch.

Cratering it is called in climbing.

Fortunately none of us did.

Though we didn't kick back on the edge like these folks did either.....

Ready for bed.

I am soooo tired and sooooo incredibly cranky and emotional today. OMG.

Nuff said. I'll leave you with this music that I love and that my darling husband got off youtube for me....and I am too tired to embed it, so here's the link:



Woops! Maybe I did it, I'll give you the link as well, just in case.

Zachary Richard

Italian anyone?

Doug mentioned that a leather store for gays may be the answer to my boot problem.....and in BCN I should have NO problem at all, there have GOT to be a whole bunch of those...I just have to find them.....

I think Doug may be right, you see I found this image on one of the websites that are selling the boots I'm looking for on-line.


I think for me, the calf height is a little more practical, no? Think of all the polish!

Boots.

Can I just talk about boots here for a minute or six?

I am living in Spain. The land famed for leather, boots, shoes and purses.

Let me tell you, I cannot find a pair of boots I like in this city. Not one.

They specialise in sl*t boots. Like these....



OK, that was a lie. I did see a whole lot of pairs like that in Poland though...

No really, they look more like these.....



Now those are fine boots in their own way, but they really aren't what I am thinking about. I don't really like having a ton of anything, so when I am looking for boots, I am thinking of something that I could wear with a dress - in a slightly punkish way - and that I could wear with pants, entirely reputably, and that I could wear in the hills walking the dog. One pair to do it all, like I have to.

So I started looking at shoes, there are two main choices...

These,



or these styles....



Now all the fashion divas out there -why they are reading this blog I don't know...my sister once described me as the coolest nerd she knew. A backhanded compliment if I ever heard one, but I think accurate.

Now...back to the fashion divas, who are going to shoot me because these are SO in style right now; but can I just say that I HATE both of those styles of shoes..I am not a school girl from the fifties, and I am FAR too old for ballet flats...FAR.

A little aside about the message i'm getting from these footwear options...am I the only one who is hearing that old saw about women? V*rgin or sl*t?

Is there nothing else out there for real women?

Something like maybe this?



or even better...THESE!!!



Tough as nails, I can walk anywhere comfortably and reasonably warm, but they can be polished. No zippers to break, or elastics to wear out, so they could last me twenty years... and they aren't fussy


Lord where can I get me some for a woman's foot?????

Bombs

My Catalan class went off on a field trip!!!

How good is that?!?

We went to Refugi 307 and it was utterly fascinating.

During the civil war the Italians took up bombing Catalonia...Mussolini felt like giving his good bud Franco a hand. The Catalans ended up building over a 1300 refuges in Barcelona.

They were built almost exclusively by women, children and old men. All the other men were off fighting for one of the six or seven sides there were to fight for.

There are photos of seven and eight year olds with shovels, and five and six year olds carrying baskets of earth and dirt. It really was built by kids.

The designs were passed around and community groups, like your local neighbours association, or scout group got the funds together and started digging.

Qualified engineer or architect types - or at the very least experienced builders - would go around once a week and check things over, and I am certain that some of the older men would have had decent skills they could have taught to some of the women as well.

They were really well built.

They used roman barrel arches on the ceilings as they are so tremendously strong, and bricks for the walls rather than rocks as they flex better with the shock loading of bombing...apparently they spall...shed the outer layer and remain strong. None of the ceilings were cracked, though there were cracks in the walls; as you would expect.

They had electric lights, bathrooms, and this one even had a water source, as they tapped into a natural spring by accident, bricked it to a controllable level and then built a cistern, complete with an overflow drain to the street.

Apparently folks would come running with whatever food, water and wine they could lay hands on. The tunnels had several right angle turns as you go in to defuse the bomb blast and catch any shrapnel...and then zigzagged throughout...again to defuse blasts, from bombs outside and any collapses that may happen inside as well. It also meant that the ceilings worked separately so that if one area collapsed, the next would be unaffected.

The workmanship was most impressive.

Then we got to the sections that Franco's men worked on while he was still worried about Hitler invading. Noticeable difference in workmanship. Then again, they weren't going to be hiding in them with their babies and grandparents......

Motivation makes a difference.

I kicked myself about a thousand times on my walk back...I forgot the camera!!!!

There were SO many things I wanted to take a picture of...what was I thinking.

I'll just have to go back.

Hope your all doing really well...oh, and a health update? I think maybe, just maybe, we are all well.

That's a good thing.

Cranky people, and houses and happy me.

I've about had it with cranky people right now. Enough already, m'kay?

What is it, the chill in the air? The waning moon? Allergies?

Well.

The man and I went and looked at a house for rent in the area. We are very happy with the apartment, but if we could rent a house with a bit of a garden and a bit more room for much the same price....we don't want to move, but if something a whole lot better came up....

Anyway, this one we don't want. Pokey little rooms downstairs, a living/dining room big enough for a table and nothing more, so really no living room, or no dining room at all. An 'interior terrace' that felt like a very small very cold prison yard...tiled floor, two story+ walls and all of about 10 feet by 10 feet big.

Upstairs, there was the single most enormous bathroom I have ever seen in my life...bigger than the bedroom I have now, a slightly larger bedroom, and a second bedroom that has a weird thick stone partition wall partway down one side, leaving part of the room with about a seven foot ceiling, and about six feet wide, no lights no window.

Bedroom, complete with cave. Maybe they had teens in mind.

Strangely this was completely overhauled last year, so this is someone's idea of a good house design.

It is also on a busy street with a sidewalk that is about 6 an a half inches wide, and gets no sunshine ever and has no view of anything but concrete walls.

Plus we'd get to pay more rent.

No THANK you

ON another note altogether....

I bought a new item of clothing today!!!

OK, I'll admit this is not exactly as ground shaking as Obama's election or anything, but still.

When it gets cold out I just love me a turtleneck. I wear them pretty much every single day and I have for YEARS. That said, the individual turtle necks don't last all that long with all that wear. I only had one left, and it's orange. That's fine and all, but still

Well....I found a gorgeous black one...ribbed, thin, long enough to cover the gap left by the low-rise pants which is all you can buy right now ( this gap coverage is important when it is chilly) and fairly tightly cut so it looks good when it is worn alone and also fits under other outfits.

I am a happy - and toasty warm - camper.

"They're coming to take me away..ha ha ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho hooooooooooooo"

A little externally imposed madness today.

The girls were both home sick. I spent at least an hour morosely weeping over my Catalan books (you think I'm joking, but no. Subjunctives are killing me).

Then, as both girls were feeling better and wildly well rested, they thought they would see if they could make me completely crazy!

I was reading an e-mail peacefully in that quiet moment between dinner and bedtime (about 5 min. max) when they set on me.

It started out innocuously...a chat window opened up! Well, look at that...!!!! Someone wants to chat with me!!! EXCITING! (Hi elPadawan)...that's good...then another window opens up(Hi THERE!!!) ...m'kay...two simultaneous chats, and reading the e-mail in the pauses; starting to get a little wonky here, but I'm rolling with it. Then the kids arrived. Eldest, who is capable of the world's longest monologue...I kid you not. The Guiness book should check her out...and she had been at home sick all day(OMG) so had MORE than a little bit bottled up to say...she also articulates so badly that I can only understand about one word in three (a new-ish manifestation of adolescence)...and she shouts it all for good measure - that kindergarten inside voice thing was outrageously unsuccessful here. I only exaggerate a bit. Really.

Well,

She decides that the best place for this particular bit of performance art (really, that is what it is like sometimes) is sitting on the arm of my chair, which - with our relative heights - puts her mouth approximately five millimeters from my ear.

OK

I'm working with this...long honed maternal skills at ignoring her completely come into play. Good parenting, no?

Then youngest joins in, alternately yelling, singing, and fighting with her sister, interspersed with a variety of shrill squeals.

I'm holding my own, but I was starting to feel like the men with the white jackets were going to start circling like so many vultures...

Eldest's messenger then started to bing insistently as one of the multitude of lovely Catalan girls that want to reach Eldest chimed in....

Then.

Then;

then,

Chuck joined in the fun. Jumped his front feet onto the couch and started play-gnawing on whatever stray bit of anatomy or wardrobe appealed to him.

There were voices in my head that WERE NOT MINE and had NO place there.

Hello? Anybody home?

YES. SI. OUI. YES INDEED-Y. CIAO!

Still managed to chat bravely on, though the e-mail mysteriously sent itself to another folder...disappearing from my screen.

Maybe it was sulking 'cause it couldn't attract my attention with bells, whistles, barks, flashing lights, shrieks, teeth...

share share share.

It must be meme season right now...every other blog I read has one or is sending one....maybe that's what fall really is about? Or is it pre-holiday giving?

Who knows.

Some are kind of cool though.

I was just reading on the always interesting Will Richardson's site
Weblogg-ed a reference to an article about "Sharism".

This harkens back to my sentiments about copyright and copyright infringment...and where the lines are drawn.

The source article that Richardson leapt off from is also very very interesting....you can find it here . The writer, Issac Mao, branches off into larger global political systems which may not be for everyone, but which I found relevant.

I also find it interesting that the article is being written about the power of sharing withing many contexts - social, economic, intellectual etc etc etc - and he is a Chinese venture capitalist living in China. The historical context for this piece adds to the fascination for me.

You might want to check it out. More later most likely.

Health status for those who care....
Youngest? Improving slowly. No school today or basketball, but better
Me? Improving steadily, but quavering given the next bit of news.
Eldest? Possibly going down...has had a headache for most of the day and two of the kids on her field trip threw up.

I am SUCH a sh*tty nurse.

Breathe deeply.

140

I like twitter a whole lot.

Like modern haiku.

You have a thought, and 140 characters.

I have seen groups do book reviews on twitter. 140 characters - one book....can you do it?

Put 'em in the comments if you dare.

Hey baby, wanne see my...gangway?

Trundled off to the in-the-water half of the boat show...

What is it about Italians? They can be so charming and leave you feeling so LOVELY. Youngest REALLY wanted to walk up one of the hydraulic boarding ramps they have on mega-yachts....

so...

I stood around till the crew appeared on one of them and asked if she could just go up and down the ramp. You can't get on the big boats without an appointment. I assume that while you are attempting to make this appointment they are assessing your wealth in realtion to Bill Gates.

Needless to say, we didn't have an appointment.

They didn't count on Italians though. The guy was from Sardinia...where they do speak some Catalan, so when he heard a blond, not really young woman chatting to him in Catalan with a cute kid in tow we were I.N. Youngest trolled gleefully up and down the ramp then he asked us all aboard (well not the husband, nor the horrifically embarassed teen further up the dock). NOTHING happened...though I will have to mention to youngest about the non-wisdom of accepting invitations from men to go and see their ya-ch-t.

He was keen to show off his......

GPS systems...

Nothing like a good GPS system on a 87 foot motor yacht.

You know some of those monsters take 11,000 liters or more to fill and only go about 5oo miles on that?????

They must have a special dial, gallons/minute for consumption. (Those do exist by the way.)

Strangely I thought I would be overwhelmed by cravings at the show, but nothing called out to me. There was nothing there I really wanted. Not even the Italians.


Off to bed.

No photos...it is too late and I am too gross and snotty with this cold.

Blah.

A giant seething bubbling mass of contagion....aren't you glad you can't get it over the internet?

*sniff*

My throat feels like it is lined with glass.

I don't remember such a sore throat since I was a teenager sitting up at night with my Mom...turned out to be strep. Hurts to swallow. Hopefully it isn't strep this time and I will be better tomorrow.

UGH.

Nuff whinin' I'm off to bed.

With warm water with honey and lemon and about a million layers, and lip goo, and kleenex....

Oh how attractive it all is.

So glad I've been married a while.

FOUR HOURS!!!!

OMG!!!

I got

FOUR

WHOLE

HOURS

all to myself - alone - with NOTHING I had to do. (OK, I ignored a bunch of things I SHOULD have done, but that's just fine.)

I got out the brushes and paints and paper I haven't been able to get to since last JUNE. If that isn't pathetic enough for you.....

I sort of went nuts....

Look...


I've tossed a pencil in so you can get some perspective. This one is not quite done yet, though it is closing in on it, and I am pretty darned happy with it.


Again pretty happy with this...it may be finished in fact...the colours look all weird on the computer, and flat.


This looks totally odd on the computer, but I really like it, and I THINK it is finished...I may do a little more...


These are in process...


Meh, not so happy with how this turned out...more work here to come....


This looks absolutely hallucinatory on my computer, but in real life looks, IMHO really good...and it is done. Love it.


Totally not done, almost didn't post it, but what the heck....collaborative/ripped the central portrait, it is one that youngest did.


Again, an image by Youngest, that she rejected as terrible, that I am reworking...the modern thing...take something and remix it...



Not sure this one is done yet...I am liking it a lot, but I need to sit with it a bit and see.

I was a busy girl today...to boot, Chuck slipped his collar this morning and had a gleeful time running around town and eating cat food before tearing home....

After I emerged from my art induce haze...I realised that school, and work and things had to go on...it was a real shift of gears. I had managed to really put everything aside and get on with it.

Did it ever feel good.

Hope your day went reasonably well too.

*sigh*

The emotional whiplash of parenting my teen is sometimes overwhelming, exhausting, and it occasionally eats my life.

Hence, no post.



...............later....................

Fortunately nothing stays the same. Life can be pretty good too.

Sweet darling eldest has morphed back and brought her sense of humour with her. YIPEE.

Still no real post...heading to bed.

Getting more modern

I have a cell phone in Canada.

I have avoided it like the plague here.

Seems my time is up.

Eldest wants a "mobile" as they are called, and as she starts wandering around town on her own more, and going to visit friend's houses more, seems I am going to have to start doing research into this here as well.

Does this mean I am going to have to carry one as well?

*wail*

I don wanna

*sob*

I hate hate hate being wired up all the time.

Am I the only one out there who really hates this?

The wireless umbilicus?

Award

Trish sent me this the other day...



Wasn't that nice of her?

SO....

I need to list three things that make me happy.

Tough limiting it to three....I'll try to be creative though,

1. Making a meal and EVERYONE likes it (or at least no one complains..heh I'm easy to please!)

2. Painting...like I have time right now

3. Walking in the hills, on the beach, with the dog.....

4. Warm feet

5. Cobbled streets

6. Voyaging to a new place (this does NOT include plane travel)*see 3*

7. Mail...real mail. In an envelope. (I should send more!)

OK, that'll do, now I should tag six people as well....

here goes,

Carla because aside from having a great blog, she is pretty much a living definition of creativity.

Beth at Burkina Mom if you leaf back through her work, you should see what that woman can do with wall finishings!!!

Mmichele, she's homeschooling her kids (I think) and they are fabulously creative, and she can cook like a wizard, so must be too.....and she has a great blog.

Mar who takes the most amazing photos.....

elPadawan who is a computer software designer, and can take a thoroughly crashed computer and after a couple of hours of head scratching, make it work again...if that ain't a type of creativity, I don't know what is.....

and....

Hula who makes creative use of spare bedroom/cupboard space and has a most impressive collection of parrot clothes...creative? I think so....

also,

Beth, Trish gave you one, no? If not, you certainly deserve one...if nothing else for those beautiful bags you mailed us...seaglass is staring at me daily waiting to be mailed...promise ya girl....

The boat show

Seen near the train station...BCN is such a stylish place.



We went off to the Barcelona Boat Show today...that was a blast...from the past too.

You know what? Trade shows everywhere must be identical.

I swear they had exactly the same carpets as at the Toronto Boat Show, and the same junky kitche being sold at some of the stands. You know those hard-sell guys with the latest miracle cleaner...and too many tatoos, and that hard look behind their eyes of someone whose life has taken a few too many odd turnings?

I truly could not tell where I was most of the time...Toronto? Florida? BCN?

Youngest was me revisited. I so remember wanting to go on ALL the boats and check them ALL out. She didn't get to see them ALL. There are rather a lot more here than there were in my youth.

Power boats have surprisingly little accomodation down below.

We were on some REALLY HUGE boats when we went visiting in the Bahamas....

Despite all the sameness, there were moments when I didn't feel that it was January in TO and we were all desperately trying to remember what summer was, and that there are boats, and that water does have a liquid form....

See, some things were kind of unique to here.....

You don't normally see gegants in TO or Florida....


This is a Phil Bolger designed mini-sharpie...for those of you who get that...probably just the man...but she's FAST. Maybe we'll build one on the terrace. Or not.

You cannot get a decent photo at a boat show...too much background clutter and none of it is pretty.

Then there was this display of Russian stuff. Don't remember ever seeing that in TO at the boat show. A little weird.


AND CHECK THIS OUT! Not in Kansas anymore Toto!


Whose ever seen one of THOSE before?!?????

WAH

Found myself crying over Catalan subjunctives.

Put myself to bed. It seemed the best thing to do.

Two hours later, life is good again.

As the man said, if they worst you have to cry about is Catalan subjunctives, life is pretty good indeed.

Point taken.

Tag! I'm it.

Beth at Burkina Mom invited me to play a game of 'blog tag'. That is, provide a blog entry telling six random things about myself that relatively few people know.



The rules. (Maybe I'll follow them, or not)

They are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


SO! Here are Six Random Things About Oreneta:


Oh, goodness, I thought this would be easy at the end of a long tiring day.

1. I do not have a tongue piercing.

2. I had pierced ears (one right, two left) but it is all grown over.

3. I have too much furniture, and too much stuff. Blech.

4. I think this year maybe I will get around to taking down ALL the decorations, though the ones that were still up from last year did make the whole process easier.

5. I love having plants. I never water them. Good thing the man is around.

6. Remeber that embarassing and weird toothguard I have to wear at night 'cause apparently I grind my teeth? LOVE it...my teeth don't hurt in the morning, nor my head, nor my neck. Bliss. Even if it is pretty goofy looking bliss, and I am getting better at talking around the thing. I have no vanity it seems...I dread to think what I will look like by the time I am an old lady.

It will be SO embarassing for Eldest. I have embarassed her regularily since she was four by simply going about my day like normal. Tough road she has ahead of her.

Tag....oh I don't know...should I be lazy and do one of those if you want to?

Though....


Hm, it just turned midnight; I think I will.

Cheers everyone!

O

Asked in class.

Class of seven year olds.

They asked me three questions...well, a lot more, but three really interesting to the blog questions...

1. Obama won! Is that good?

2. What does, "Yes we can" mean?

3. Finally, they asked if I have a tongue piercing.

Intersting....

OBAMA!

*Happy Dance*

Some photos from Hanover...

A little bit of Spain, everywhere.....


Niki de Saint Phalle is an amazing artist and there is quite a bit of her street art around, this is one of the deservedly famous Nanas.


Walking in Hanover is wonderful...aside from the rain and cold.


I was sitting in the museum while youngest was drawing....and took photos of my feet...freaked the museum ladies right out!


Look who we saw! Cute, eh?


You know your not in Spain anymore when....


Street art outside the rathaus, pronounced rat house...yes indeed, the town hall.


I really liked this one, Hanover is FULL of street art...then again, so is BCN...


Houses in the old part of Hanover...


Talk about having a tough day.


This one I LOVE..

Good to be away, good to be home....

Oh my oh my...I'm just going to bed.

Managed to leave two jackets on the first plane...ho hum, going to have to try and see if they can be located....

It is so nice to be home.

Gave eldest the afternoon off, the girls were so happy to see each other.

Chuck was pretty happy to.

And the man I think.

Halloween again

Did Halloween AGAIN today...I think may set a record by the time this is over....carved pumpkins, decorated the house, and the kids trick or treated at the same house (ours) over and over and over again...

Good thing I LOVE Halloween...almost as much as my kids do.

Then they all went for a sleep-over, and went to sleep at a halfway decent time...really good kids.

I have to move away from the Halloween candy though...have to.....