and love rules the day.
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rainbows apologize for angry skies. ~sylvia voirol
my fellow americans
vote for what matters to you today
my boyfriend was an irish canadian, true and true, funny, and smart, and creative, and happy – a footloose and friendly graduate student and just what i needed at the time. i’d just been divorced, and we’d met in the states, he was my roommate’s cousin, here for a family visit. we’d planned to all go to an american baseball game together, but it was rained out, so he and i sat up all night, watching old movies, talking and laughing. he was kind of a cross between david letterman and tom hanks, with a bad boy streak, and i fell in love with him immediately. the first time i went to visit him in his hometown of ottawa, i was both a bit nervous and excited to see him. on our first day there, he took me to the beautiful town of hull, in quebec.
we rented a car and drove to a little neighborhood bar in the middle of town. once there, we were celebrating my visit with a few adult beverages and having a great time, and i began to spread my cheer around a bit and chat up the locals. having taken french in school for a number of years, it somehow all came back quickly, and i became amazingly more ‘fluent’ in direct correlation to the number of drinks i had. (l’alcohol math de francais theory)
i talked to everyone around me and soon was engaged in deep conversation with a local motorcycle rider.
we were having a ball, people were very friendly, and i was sure they could understand my french clearly. at some point, i even felt comfortable enough to take the motorcycle guy’s sunglasses off of his head and wear them myself, after asking him in french if it was okay. he responded to me in french with words that i had not heard in all my classes, and after my boyfriend spoke a bit of french back to him, i gave him back his glasses. we all smiled and said our goodbyes, and we decided it was probably a good time to head home.
we got into our car and as soon as we had driven 100 feet, we made a quick stop.
we were suddenly surrounded by a huge pack of police.
we were told to get out of the car with our hands up, and i wondered just what he was into that i hadn’t known about. i began to imagine all sorts of scenarios, he was really an international drug dealer, a gun runner, a smuggler, a spy?, and i told them i didn’t understand, as i did not speak a word of french.
once out of the car, they told me to put my shoes back on, as i was now barefoot for some reason, and ordered us to open the trunk and step back. i imagined there would be some contraband, a body – god knows what. i looked at him and wondered just who i had really become involved with. after a thorough search, and a questioning of each of us, they determined that we were not criminals after all, and explained that they’d had been staking us out for the last 2 hours while we were at the bar celebrating and speaking french, and that we had rented the exact make and model and color of a car that had been recently involved in a local armed robbery. they apologized profusely for the inconvenience and advised us to drive carefully.
ADIEU!
i said goodbye to the police and we got back in our car to head out and talk about what an eventful day it had been. i took my shoes off once again and then we laughed until we cried all of the way back to his house. in english, i told him that i had believed he was a clever felon for just a bit, and in french, we told each other that we loved one another. as long as we dated, it never failed to be an adventure. right up until the day we said goodbye. and we remain friends.
I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying. Oscar Wilde
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image credits: rcmp, tumblr.com, wikipedia, moviesmakeover.com
michigan, united states – shot in january from space
and on the ground, in michigan, the falls are so cold they have stopped flowing.
it hits me like an avalanche on fire – i am in the united states, and talking to my daughter in australia, and i realize, that while we are both sharing this exact same moment in time, on the exact same planet earth, we are simultaneously experiencing extreme weather temperatures that are 100 degrees apart.
australia – shot in january from space
and on the ground, in australia. the trees are so hot they have not stopped burning.
as my aussie grandson, m, once said, on his first winter visit to the states, when looking out the window of the cottage –
‘look peaches, there must be a fire!’
‘oh, m, don’t worry, that’s just blowing snow.’
‘oh, then there must be some snow on fire.’
has hell frozen over?, i wondered.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. – William Shakespeare
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image credits:the ann arbor news, andy mcfarlane, http://www.esa.int/, inhabitant.com
today, it is national chocolate cake day in the united states. as i am never one to pass up a holiday, or chocolate, for that matter, i will fully embrace the day. stop on by and join in the celebration. and please bring some milk if you would be so kind.
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. – Regina Brett
in honor of american thanksgiving day, due to hit the states tomorrow, i offer you the ‘thanksgiving drinking game,’ courtesy of buzz feed, in hopes this will keep a smile on your face, no matter how challenging the day may be. happy holiday to all – enjoy )
http://www.buzzfeed.com/joannaborns/thanksgiving-drinking-game
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“She who has no fools, knaves, or beggars in her family was begot by a flash of lightning.” —Old English Proverb
Finally back on American soil after a long and crazy journey home. One last layover and one last flight and I will be home. Along the way, I realized it was my wonder and amazement with people and their choices that kept me smiling. A random sampling for your reading pleasure:
A. My Aussie seat-mate of many hours and ultimate gentleman, who jumped over the back of our seats, so as not to wake me when he got up.
B. The woman who chose to wear a cow costume without a head, but with a pretty blue hair bow instead, who shared the line with me in customs.
C. The mysterious woman who left her ample bra hanging in my airport restroom. I long to know her story.
My sincere thanks to all above, and many more, who made my travel adventure so much more entertaining.
Called airline to confirm my flight for this evening. airline told me it had been rebooked 13 hours earlier for this morning and it had already left. They had contacted my travel agent in the states who is 12 hours behind and sleeping or dancing away her weekend night. they did not think to also contact me. next possible flight to make my 3 connections, is actually too soon for me to arrive at the airport in time. Next option: add in one more flight, spend the night in an airport somewhere, continue on. No rebooking for the next day as one leg of the trip falls within the 24 hour no rebooking rule, which I think she made up while talking to me, because at some point it’s less than 24 hours away and I’ll be losing or gaining a day somewhere in the process. Next option: leave at midnight tonight, check bags through all airports, until i hit customs again in the states. Possible glitches: airline called this option ‘dangerous,’ as far as all flights must be on time, allowing for a very small window for transfers and connections, customs has to not consider me an enemy combatant or mule, and they said they ‘would pray for me.’ This sounds like the perfect fit and of course, the option I chose. After hours on the phone and computer, and many teas, coffees, and cookies, and an emu beer, I am ready to go.
Command center.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 