Back to that trip my daughter, Courtney, and I took in May of 2007 to Berlin and Paris. Gosh, it's been almost two years! It was so memorable and so much fun.
You can see the previous post here where I posted most of the Berlin pictures. Now I want to tell you about and show you pictures of our jaunt to Paris! It will be in several posts; I will need more time than I have right now to post all the pictures I want to.
One of the places we had to check out, of course, was the famous cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried. The name of it is Père Lachaise Cemetery. Lying along with our man Jimmy are a lot of famous people. Famous French singer Edith Piaf is buried there. (If you haven't seen the movie about her life called La Vie En Rose I highly recommend you put it in your Netflix queue - right now...go ahead...take a break from reading this blog to do it...) Also, Sarah Bernhardt, a famous French actress known as the most famous actress ever. Frederic Chopin's grave was laden with flowers when we were there. I can imagine it always is. Of course the famous French mime Marcel Marceauis buried there but I don't have a picture of the grave nor do I of Gertrude Stein, famous American author.
I do have pictures of Jim Morrison's grave. His grave deserves special attention: A GUARD! There were actually two hanging around the site; one walked away to the camera's left when he saw me ready to shoot. This is the famous destination for many American travelers: I have to say that I was a little...um...not really disappointed but I guess I envisioned a more 'celebrated' grave site. There were definitely signs of vandalism. Hence the guards, obviously.
Of all the graves I saw I was taken aback when I saw Oscar Wilde's grave. It is COVERED in lips! Kisses for Oscar. There are so many that it's hard to make out his engraved name here: A close up: Some leave roses and other trinkets: Obviously these people have paid no attention to this sign. Here it is up close: The whole gravestone is quite impressive: Not all the pictures I took were graves of famous people. I got a kick out of these two family members side-by-side: I couldn't really figure this one out, whether it was trying to make a statement or not. I feel as though there is a story here... Here is the sweetest thing we saw in the cemetery, a fuzzy guy keeping everyone warm. The graveyard cat:More to come...visit soon!
Pretty dog-gone freakin' cool, eh? Jonah made this hat with chain maille. Chain maille (or chainmaille, chainmail) consists of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It's a very old 'art' and was used for armour, reaching its apex in Europe, in terms of coverage, during the 13th century when mail covered the whole body. Sounds incredibly heavy!
Jonah's been into chain maille for a little while now and has some cool ideas for other articles. I'll post them here as he finishes them.
I'll be featuring an Etsy artist this week in the EtsyConnction newsletter that makes all kinds of things from chain maille. She has some very cool stuff. If you would like to sign up to receive the EtsyConnection you can check out my other blog at http://etsyconnection.blogspot.com and click on one of the links there.
No excuses other than way too busy now that I'm working full-time. I miss blogging.
Most of you already know that I'm into something new - a newsletter that centers around Etsy.com called the EtsyConnection. I feature three Etsy artists along with highlighting interesting articles that are relevant to arts and crafts. If you haven't checked out Etsy yet I encourage you to do so. It's a website where people sell their hand-made wares; it's like going to an art fair. There are some really cool people doing some really cool things and I hope to introduce them to you.
You can check out some of the issues here but if you would like to receive the newsletter every week subscribe here. Make sure to choose EtsyConnection when it gives you a choice as to which newsletter you want to subscribe to as I publish another IT security newsletter also.
I would like to get the EtsyConnection readership numbers up and with your help I can accomplish that. Pass it on to friends and family. It's a fun newsletter to produce and I hope a fun one to read. My secret wish is that Heather Armstrong of dooce.com mentions me on her wildly famous blog (she often mentions Etsy artists on her blog). She would get a kick out of knowing that she is someone's secret wish. (I love you, Heather, but it's a purely platonic thing.) If you haven't heard of her, she became famous a while back (at the forefront of blogging) when she expressed her opinions of her co-workers on her blog and then got fired for doing so. So much for freedom of speech. She blogs about all sorts of things normal with an abnormal, hilarious twist. Check her out.
I'm open to feedback on the newsletter. Let me know what you like and don't like. Give suggestions as to what you would like to see me include.
TTFN - coming soon: feather bowling 2009. It was a blast and I thank all who participated and wish that all those who couldn't make it were there to revel in the fun. I'll be posting a video or two here in a few days. Check back often!
My brother stumbled across a sagacious quote by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers. If this is the same Adrian Rogers that I find on Wikipedia I can see that I probably wouldn't agree with much of what Mr. Rogers might have said and preached while he was alive but I do find this quote to make a hell of a lot of sense. Here it is:
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
All those who know me know I prefer warm weather and really look forward to spring. Well, we had a little, itsy-bitsy warm up of about a day and a half and that was enough, apparently, to get ole Pepe le Pew stirring and marking his territory.
Richard and I were sitting on the sofa yesterday doing computer stuff (that's a whole other posting - I was infected with a trojan horse!) when we started smelling Mr. le Pew. We thought it was coming from outside, of course, but the smell was getting stronger and stronger. We have a wooden porch in the front that we've often thought could be housing skunks underneath. (We had a mom and 4 babies hanging around most of last summer.) After stepping outside and trying to find the culprit just to have an answer as to where this was coming from we decided to check out our basement. WOW! We were blown away by the powerful stench. I started getting a headache immediately and the cat (why she would choose to be down there is anyone's guess) threw up. The smell was strongest toward the front of the house so we checked all around and up in the ceiling rafters but couldn't find anything.
After having the Consumers Energy guy out just to make sure it wasn't a gas smell (when we went into the basement the smell was a combination of skunk and rubber leading us to believe that maybe it wasn't a skunk, maybe it was either gas or an electrical burning problem) Richard cut a hole in the wood porch so that we could look under to see if the skunk, possibly dead, was under there. But - nothing. We found nothing.
It's getting better but the smell still lingers. We had to have our bedroom window open last night because the smell made it upstairs and made it hard to fall asleep.
The nice thing about all this was waking up to the sounds of the morning with the window open and the sweet smell of the fresh air. It made me happy to know that spring is only a month away. I love sleeping with the windows open and listening to life outside. Especially when the trains go by...
Has anyone else had any dealings with skunks yet this year? Anyone know of a skunk deterrent that we might think of using this year? I don't want these things hanging around our house again.
Are we happy, or what!! See the smile on my face :)) ! We are living through one of the most defining moments in our nation's history. I keep getting teary-eyed whenever I watch and re-watch bits and pieces of yesterday such as the one below.
Isn't it inspiring to see them like this? They seem so solid and so in love.
Barack is quite an orator, isn't he?
Beyonce is so beautiful. I saw the movie Cadillac Records (I highly recommend it) in which she plays Etta James, the original singer of 'At Last.' Beyonce played Etta so well; she's a terrific actress. (I feel about Beyonce the same as I feel about Dolly Parton - great voices but I prefer to see them on screen.)
When I went to vote in November, I took my 12-year-old daughter, Hannah, with me because I knew it would be a time in which she would want to have memories. When it was our turn to take our ballot to a standing table to fill in the 'bubbles' with our pen, I let Hannah do it. I wanted her to be able to say that she filled in the ballet bubbles for the first African American that was elected to the highest office of our land.
And, again, yesterday I took her out of school to watch the inauguration. They weren't going to officially broadcast it in her school; it was up to each individual teacher and I thought it was too great a moment to miss. I'm not sure what she will remember but I know she will at least take away the importance of the moment.
Even though I was only 4 1/2, I remember when John Kennedy was assassinated. I remember that my mother screamed at the television and then ran to her bed face down sobbing and sobbing. I have a memory of her hugging me but I'm not sure if that really happened or if it was something that I wanted to happen. Then I remember watching the events unfold on the television with her after she was able to leave her room.
If I had it to do over again, in hindsight, I would do things a bit differently as far as the months and months before the election. I would have attended as many cities and stops where both Obama and Clinton were speaking. I would have done everything to get close, to get an autograph, to pick up something that they dropped, to grab some 'thing' that would hold special meaning later on. This moment is only going to be a 'first' once. History was going to be made one way or another. And if it had been Hillary who won, all the pride and happiness I am feeling right now with the Obama win I would still be feeling with the first woman to be elected, probably a bit more personally.
I'm proud that I helped elect this man. I'm happy to see so many African Americans beaming and crying with joy. We broke down a barrier. I can't believe it has happened in my lifetime but I'm OH SO HAPPY it did!
Pride gushed through my veins with force the other day when my daughter, Hannah, shared a poem with me that she wrote for her language arts class. She said it was no big deal, that she threw it together in 4 minutes before class when she remembered it was due. Her name was mentioned in the afternoon announcements along with a couple other kids whose poems also caught their teachers' attention. Hannah's teacher wanted to have it published in the school newspaper but Hannah says she told her no, she didn't want it published.
So I thought I would publish it here. Her teacher gave her a "WOW! 10/10A."
Middle school Above five, beneath nine After innocence, before responsibility Through the small doors, across from the big doors That lead to confusing turns Toward success
A GUARD! There were actually two hanging around the site; one walked away to the camera's left when he saw me ready to shoot.
I have to say that I was a little...um...not really disappointed but I guess I envisioned a more 'celebrated' grave site. There were definitely signs of vandalism. Hence the guards, obviously.
A close up:
Some leave roses and other trinkets:
Obviously these people have paid no attention to this sign. Here it is up close:
The whole gravestone is quite impressive:
Not all the pictures I took were graves of famous people. I got a kick out of these two family members side-by-side:
More to come...visit soon!
