I forgot that I started this earlier! This blogging is tricky for me. Bear with me. I tried to edit both of these most recent posts, but couldn't figure it out, so I will simply live with it. That's just the breaks.
Well, it's well in to 2010, so I suppose it's time to put some thoughts down. So far, it's been a great year. Everyone is relatively healthy and we're certainly happy. I decided to take an active roll in getting back into shape by joining a gym last December. With the help of a trainer for a few sessions and going to group classes on some days, I'm feeling much stronger and healthier. It's a work in progress.
In February, we flew to Honolulu, Hawaii to visit our good friends, Bob and Erica McGee. We had a terrific time. It was so nice to have locals take you to the best and least touristy spots. We would get up every day and Erica or Bob would pick us up and take us to another fabulous site.
Needless to say, we ate a lot of wonderfully bad for you things: Loco Moco (burger covered in gravy with eggs on top), malasades (warm donuts filled with seasonal custard www.leonardshawaii.com/ Feb. was liliquoi or passionfruit. YUM!), cocoa puffs (cream puffs with chocolate filling and coconut, butter cream topping). www.lilihabakeryhawaii.com/ Can't forget Dave's ("KILLER") ice cream. My first ube ice cream. Ube is Okanowan yam. Delicious. We also had some terrific, healthy stuff: Acai bowls (blended frozen acai berries sprinkled with granola and surrounded with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and bananas and all drizzled with island honey), fresh pineapple, papaya, bananas, taro poke (yes taro-not the wallpaper paste, but from the same plant. It was excellent!) among other great things. www.diamondheadcove.com/
To sort of counter all the food indulgences, Erica and I hiked up Koko Head Crater. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJBiyYdzkU (I had to mute this, but you can watch it in HD. These guys had a nice camera) Bill and Greta-the-dog waited for us. 40 minutes up and 40 minutes down. After the hike we went to Diamondhead Cove and had acai bowls!
Every day was wonderful and different. Different beaches, different people. Watching Erica surf at Waikiki was a great way to start. Our favorite beach had almost nobody else there and the sea turtles were all over the place. A great beach was tarnished because Erica got stung by a box jellyfish. Lucky that probably only one got her or she could have been badly hurt (even killed!). Many of the beaches were closed due to them, but this beach was supposed to have been okay. The lifeguard sprayed the sting with vinegar or else someone would have had to pee on it. Truly, that seems to be the best antidote.
Bob, being executive chef at Apartment 3 in Honolulu, took us to the Farmer's Market. Wonderful stuff. Lovely people.
A couple of nights Erica and I went to Waikiki and hung out in the fancy hotel bars, which are right on the beach. We had cocktails and watched the sun go down. Some nights the clouds interfered, but it was always lovely, anyway. Our last night, Bob and Erica treated us to dinner at Apartment 3. Bob was able to change out of his chef clothes and come join us for dinner. It was fabulous. I've always loved Bob's cooking and he didn't disappoint us.http://honoluluweekly.com/restaurants/2010/02/apartment3/
We were only gone a week, but it was so nice to not have to worry about anything or anyone. Django stayed home with a woman who nannied during the day. He got to go work with her, so he had kids to throw the ball for him almost constantly. I don't think he missed us, though he slept for almost two days after we got home.
The only changes I would make next time:
1. Take a non-stop flight even if it costs a little more
2. Maybe get a room closer to the ocean to be more restful. The earplugs worked well, though.
Alrighty. Next up: Yakfeet. I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
How I spent my winter vacation
When I first moved to Oregon it became clear to me that winter was a very long, dark place. To break that up, I decided to go somewhere sunny every year mid-winter, which just happens to be my birthday. For several years I followed that plan. Then Bill and I bought the house. Mortgage and maintenance ate up most of the travel allowance. Now the house is paid for, so we have a LITTLE something we can use for winter escape.
Bill hates to fly since security can be such a pain, so I had to negotiate with him.If I would go camping with him last summer, he would fly somewhere warm with me this winter.It just so happens that two of our favorite people recently moved to Hawaii. Erica, who grew up surfing in Florida, got tired of having to wear a wetsuit to surf in Oregon. Bob, an excellent chef, realized he can cook anywhere. They packed up and moved to Honolulu and asked us to come an visit whenever we liked. Any of you who know Bill and me, know our motto is: "Say what you mean and mean what you say". So we took them up on it.
We left Portland on my birthday. Being the penny pincher that I am, I chose a flight on United that took us forever to get there. We arrived around 6:30 and took the city bus from the airport to our hotel. Called Erica once we arrived and she came down to meet us. We were starving, so we went to a nearby spot for salads and drinks, went back to the hotel and died. Travel can be so tiring! Well, once again, the penny pincher found the hotel that was a good deal, but a bit on the noisy side. We're talking Waikiki and not immediately on the beach, so people partied until very late. More on that, later.
Friday morning. Erica comes to pick us up after she drops Bob off at work. The sun is out, nice breeze, we head for the beach at Waikiki so she can surf. Terrific first day.
Bill hates to fly since security can be such a pain, so I had to negotiate with him.If I would go camping with him last summer, he would fly somewhere warm with me this winter.It just so happens that two of our favorite people recently moved to Hawaii. Erica, who grew up surfing in Florida, got tired of having to wear a wetsuit to surf in Oregon. Bob, an excellent chef, realized he can cook anywhere. They packed up and moved to Honolulu and asked us to come an visit whenever we liked. Any of you who know Bill and me, know our motto is: "Say what you mean and mean what you say". So we took them up on it.
We left Portland on my birthday. Being the penny pincher that I am, I chose a flight on United that took us forever to get there. We arrived around 6:30 and took the city bus from the airport to our hotel. Called Erica once we arrived and she came down to meet us. We were starving, so we went to a nearby spot for salads and drinks, went back to the hotel and died. Travel can be so tiring! Well, once again, the penny pincher found the hotel that was a good deal, but a bit on the noisy side. We're talking Waikiki and not immediately on the beach, so people partied until very late. More on that, later.
Friday morning. Erica comes to pick us up after she drops Bob off at work. The sun is out, nice breeze, we head for the beach at Waikiki so she can surf. Terrific first day.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
2009 surprises
2009 marked 40 years since my high school graduation. I'd never given any high school business a thought. I didn't have many friends from those days. I was one of those alienated youth in the late 60s. Didn't belong to any clubs, choirs, or other groups. My friends tolerated me for some reason, but I'm still not sure why. For some reason, perhaps the anniversary of Woodstock, or just finally thinking about what happened through all those years, I considered checking to see if Kalamazoo Central High was going to put on a reunion. I clicked on classmates.com to see if there was any word. I wasn't so interested that I would pay to look very deeply, but for free... I noticed that someone looked familiar on the site. It looked like one of the few friends I had, Steve, but it said his name was different. "I'll be damned if that isn't Steve". Crazy. Oh, well. There was a notice that someone had looked for me, too. Did I know this person? Hmm. Email is wonderful. No harm in sending a comment along. Click...
Wow. This person was living in San Francisco and had been for nearly 30 years. She had left Michigan about the same time I had. She sounded interesting. Enjoyed lots of the same things I do. Rats. If I had known earlier, we could have maybe gotten to know each other better. As it stood, I could not remember this woman to save my life. The only person I had had any contact with from 1969 who might possibly know her was my first love, Bruce. We had only emailed a few times in the last 10 years, but I had to know if he knew her. Email. "Of course you know her. She was in drama club. She was always around. She hung out with Richard and everyone in drama". Well, I didn't hang out with the drama gang. I knew them through Richard (my brother) and Bruce, I guess. My other few friends were sort of fringe drama people, too. Lighting and props, mostly. I had nothing to do with it other than watch them or hang out after the shows and party. Nothing clicked in my memory.
She wrote back to say she was getting ready to leave SF and move back to Michigan and live on a farm, grow organic produce, and be closer to her family. She had plans to go to British Columbia for a workshop and thought she might come through Portland on her way home. Would I like to get together? I'm still wracking my brain to try to remember who she is. "Sure. Drop in. We can have lunch."
I don't have any yearbooks. I threw away everything back then. Why hang on to a past that you felt was miserable at the time? Dang. Sure wish I had them now. I guess I'll just know her when I see her. She wrote back and let me know when she'd planned to get here. I tried to put a face to her, but she had nothing available on Google. Exasperating when people want to maintain their privacy. I wasn't coming up with anything.
She called to say she was on her way and had a GPS in the rental car, so she'd just come to the house. I sure hope I know her. She's mentioned lots of people I know, so there has to be a connection. The car pulls up and she comes up to the door. She looks vaguely familiar. We start talking. She's very warm and friendly. Funny, too. Finally I have to ask, "Did we ever have any classes together?" Nope. I guess it was just the connection from one person through another that bound us. It was indirect. But now that she had arrived in my life I was so disappointed that she was going to be far away. I wanted to know her better. I wanted her to be my friend.
We went to lunch. We talked. I found out that it really was Steve on the classmates page, but now he's not Steve, but she had his email address. I asked her to send him mine so he could write me if he wanted to. We got home and hit the computer. Within minutes Steve had responded. I was so happy to hear from him! So much to learn about his life. He then got me the email address of another friend from the old days. Hurray! These are friends I have some history with. We struggled through some adolescent crap together. She left. Went back to SF to pack up and move back to Michigan.
I found my friend that Steve had told me of. She was living in Denver, now. Excellent. I wrote her, we exchanged phone numbers. Decided I might as well go visit her. Why not? Life is too short to leave some chapters unread. We spent a long weekend together. I got to see where she lives, what she does on a regular day- what music she listens to, what she reads, what her pets are like. We spent evenings listening to music, drinking nice wine, eating her wonderful cooking. She was wise enough to keep her yearbooks. We looked through them and I realized how many of those people I remembered fondly. Maybe I wasn't as alienated as I thought I was. I wondered how life had changed/formed these people. Where are they now? I wondered if I would appreciate getting to know any of them.
The weekend ended with a big snow storm, but I made it back to Portland and my current life. I love it here. I feel this is where I belong. Now I want my friends to come and see me. See how I've turned out. See what I do on a regular day. That's an invitation.
Wow. This person was living in San Francisco and had been for nearly 30 years. She had left Michigan about the same time I had. She sounded interesting. Enjoyed lots of the same things I do. Rats. If I had known earlier, we could have maybe gotten to know each other better. As it stood, I could not remember this woman to save my life. The only person I had had any contact with from 1969 who might possibly know her was my first love, Bruce. We had only emailed a few times in the last 10 years, but I had to know if he knew her. Email. "Of course you know her. She was in drama club. She was always around. She hung out with Richard and everyone in drama". Well, I didn't hang out with the drama gang. I knew them through Richard (my brother) and Bruce, I guess. My other few friends were sort of fringe drama people, too. Lighting and props, mostly. I had nothing to do with it other than watch them or hang out after the shows and party. Nothing clicked in my memory.
She wrote back to say she was getting ready to leave SF and move back to Michigan and live on a farm, grow organic produce, and be closer to her family. She had plans to go to British Columbia for a workshop and thought she might come through Portland on her way home. Would I like to get together? I'm still wracking my brain to try to remember who she is. "Sure. Drop in. We can have lunch."
I don't have any yearbooks. I threw away everything back then. Why hang on to a past that you felt was miserable at the time? Dang. Sure wish I had them now. I guess I'll just know her when I see her. She wrote back and let me know when she'd planned to get here. I tried to put a face to her, but she had nothing available on Google. Exasperating when people want to maintain their privacy. I wasn't coming up with anything.
She called to say she was on her way and had a GPS in the rental car, so she'd just come to the house. I sure hope I know her. She's mentioned lots of people I know, so there has to be a connection. The car pulls up and she comes up to the door. She looks vaguely familiar. We start talking. She's very warm and friendly. Funny, too. Finally I have to ask, "Did we ever have any classes together?" Nope. I guess it was just the connection from one person through another that bound us. It was indirect. But now that she had arrived in my life I was so disappointed that she was going to be far away. I wanted to know her better. I wanted her to be my friend.
We went to lunch. We talked. I found out that it really was Steve on the classmates page, but now he's not Steve, but she had his email address. I asked her to send him mine so he could write me if he wanted to. We got home and hit the computer. Within minutes Steve had responded. I was so happy to hear from him! So much to learn about his life. He then got me the email address of another friend from the old days. Hurray! These are friends I have some history with. We struggled through some adolescent crap together. She left. Went back to SF to pack up and move back to Michigan.
I found my friend that Steve had told me of. She was living in Denver, now. Excellent. I wrote her, we exchanged phone numbers. Decided I might as well go visit her. Why not? Life is too short to leave some chapters unread. We spent a long weekend together. I got to see where she lives, what she does on a regular day- what music she listens to, what she reads, what her pets are like. We spent evenings listening to music, drinking nice wine, eating her wonderful cooking. She was wise enough to keep her yearbooks. We looked through them and I realized how many of those people I remembered fondly. Maybe I wasn't as alienated as I thought I was. I wondered how life had changed/formed these people. Where are they now? I wondered if I would appreciate getting to know any of them.
The weekend ended with a big snow storm, but I made it back to Portland and my current life. I love it here. I feel this is where I belong. Now I want my friends to come and see me. See how I've turned out. See what I do on a regular day. That's an invitation.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Okay. I realize it has been a long time. Very nearly 2 years since I posted anything. I figured nobody read this anyway, so it's no skin off of anyone's nose. I've been enjoying a lot of friends' blogs recently, so I'm gonna get back in the saddle and tell you what I think about stuff.
Not a lot has changed in two years. Still crazy about Bill and Django. Still happy to be living in Portland. Still pleased to have a job that I mostly enjoy and keeps me interested. I still feel extremely lucky to have many wonderful, funny, intelligent friends who still seem to tolerate me.
I guess that's the good news. Now for the Mad news. Hmm.
Still thinking....
I guess I'll have to get back to you. Keep the faith. Peace.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Snow day in Portland January 2007
I wanted to post a movie of Django playing in the snow, but it took far too much memory, so you only get to see his profile. A handsome devil, no? We got about 4 inches of snow yesterday. I was on call, so had to stay the night in the hospital. Being on call requires that I'm able to get to the hospital within 30 minutes and I was afraid that wouldn't have been possible during the night due to icy conditions. It wasn't bad and I was able to come home early. The hospital paid for my cab ride home, so that worked out fine. Bill and Django and I decided to take advantage of the mild conditions and played in the street for about an hour. Nobody goes anywhere when there is snow here. No snow removal equipment to speak of. I'm looking forward to a couple days at home. Still trying to decide about cancelling a dentist appointment or not. Hmm.Not much else going on around here. I'll be heading for Pittsburgh on Feb. 8, so I'll try to post another blog after that. Let me know if this is worthwhile.
xoxo,
Maddy
Friday, April 21, 2006
Maddy goes to Italy
I've always wanted to see Italy, and now I'm going! Friends of mine invited me to join them in celebrating a 50th birthday there. At first I was being very "white girl" and fearing spending the money. Then, a friend who worked for Delta offered to give me her "buddy pass" which would allow me to go on standby for just the airport taxes and fees. That made me ask for the time off and go ahead and plan. Well, I got the time off, so then I just needed to work out the travel details. As it worked out, the planes were nearly full as of three weeks ago, so I bit the bullett and bought a regular air fare ticket. I'm very glad that I did that because the cost has risen and there are currently only two seats available on the whole plane according to the website. I ended up spending some money, but I won't have to worry about getting bumped and trying to meet up with my pals. I'm really excited! I've never been to Europe. I got some Italian tapes and Mom got me an audio program from Audible.com that I've been using. So far I can clearly say "I don't understand Italian" and "I don't know". Everything else will come soon, I'm sure.
The plan is to spend two days in Rome (April 29 and 30), train to Positano and stay there for 6 days to loaf on the beach and visit Pompeii, etc. and then return to Rome for two days before heading home. It will be a short trip so I'm glad we're not trying to do too much. I will try to send e-mails on occasion, but that will depend on a lot of things. I will certainly send photos when I get back.
Bill and Django are considering going on a road trip while I'm gone. Bill will also work on the VW truck because he'll have the Honda to use to get around with.
Here's where we'll be in Positano. You might note the arrow directing you to our little "residense".
Monday, December 26, 2005
This is harder than it looks
Well, I successfully deleted the first blog I wanted to share with you, so I'm trying again.
Okay. I guess there will be no pictures this time as I tried to choose one photo and this program started downloading all the pictures on my computer.
I'll be going to Pittsburgh on Jan. 6 to party with Mom and Margot! I hope the weather doesn't cause a big ruckus. I expect Margot to teach me the ins and outs of blogging. I obviously don't get it.
All for now. I love you all. Hope you are well and happy.
xoxo,
Maddy
Hey! I figured out how to put Margot and Django on the site. Pretty darn cute, aren't they? Margot is now more well behaved than Django. It wasn't always the case. Anyway, if you see this, let me know!
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