Is it time?

I work from home and my cat, Ariel, sits on my lap most of the day. Friday she would not leave the spot on her chin alone - kept incessantly scratching it. She had a cancerous lump removed from there when she was about 14 or 15. At that time the vet told me to take her to chemo. I balked - I have no idea what 14 "cat years" are equivalent to in human years - but I wasn't sure she'd survive cancer treatment. And how happy could she possibly be? Besides being sick and getting hairballs from her fur as it falls out, she hates car rides and it would've been weekly car rides for a couple months. Ariel will be 19 sometime this summer (in retrospect, I probably should've done the treatment) ... and that lump is back again. I'm also noticing that she's getting sorta skinny despite the premium food and canned chicken.

Ariel's had a pretty good run, I suppose. She's an excellent mouser - even without claws - and has left me "treats" by the front door in every place we've lived. She used to go on walks with me and the dogs (although she would want to be carried back instead of walking back). She purrs so loud that sometimes on conference calls people ask me what the background noise/feedback is on my phone. She's mostly deaf now, so she scares the bejeebers out of me once in a while - she meows loud enough to hear herself and in the middle of the night it's somewhat unexpected.

My ex called this weekend to see if I could dogsit one of the dogs that we used to "own" together. I declined because Ariel is totally over dogs ;-) and I told him I couldn't make up my mind what to do about "the final visit". It was an interesting conversation because he we were dating when I got her outside the local grocery store and because he lived with Ariel as well for 13 of the years we were living together/married. It was sorta nice to talk through it with someone that knows Ariel...and someone that I've had to make this decision with before.

At any rate, Ariel seems to be doing better today - she tried to eat the flowers on my desk and she was grumpy when I snoozed the alarm because it meant a delay in the presentation of her breakfast. But I still wish she could speak English so I could figure out if she's uncomfortable.

My favorite Ariel picture - her showing the new puppy who is the boss. She's probably 2ish here.

I promise this will be the last of my historical posts for a while. I'll find some inspiration somewhere soon, I swear!


Triumph!- July 2, 2007
This morning I went for a run (yay - luggage means I have running shoes again!). I tried to run by the Siene River, but this section of town (the suburbs) it doesn't have foot paths everywhere. I did OK, but tomorrow I may either do a short run in the park (I think it might be like 8 minutes around, so I could probably do about 4 or 5 before getting really bored). The news here is that without Rico (he is at work today) I found my way back to the apartment!

I had a small work project to do, but to accomplish that I had to travel across Paris to a tech section and find a computer store. My computer charger was not in my luggage. :( A computer battery is an odd souvenir, but I am happy because I can download my pictures and read my email. :) The news here is that I only made one little mistake -- exiting the metro instead of changing trains -- to get to the store. Then I actually found my way home AGAIN! Dang, am I good!

But that is getting ahead of myself. So last night Rico and I surfed dell.fr (the French version of the Dell computer web site) and found out what a computer charger was in French. I carefully copied down the entire description because I had no idea which words were the important ones. Then Rico showed me what Metro station to get off and where to switch trains. Today I got off the metro at the stop Rico told me about. I could see a row of computer stores just off to the left. So I went in the first one and tried reading my list. The lady (who I swear was speaking an Asian language) had no idea what I said, so I showed her my paper. This caused a conference with another person behind the desk. Then she handed the paper back and started talking to the man next to me. After being ignored for a couple minutes I figured that meant she didn’t have what I wanted. So I left. Went to the store next door. Same scenario. So after they ignored me at this store, I stepped out on the street and sorta looked around to decide on a different course of action, or if maybe I didn’t really need to use my computer anymore until mid-July when I was back State-side. A man who’d been in the store came out and said to me in English, “Do you know SUE-cf? They will have what you want.”

I am wondering how you spell “SUE-cf” (as I heard it) and if you trust some random guy who says, “take a left at the second street and there it is.” How does he know what I want when so far no one has understood the words I copied off the web? Heck, I don’t even know what I want in French.


At any rate, I say “merci” and decide that as long as I am wondering around I can wander 2 more blocks. It turns out that he doesn’t count every street as a street. Only streets with stoplights count as streets. So, 5 blocks (if you count all the paved areas with painted lanes where cars can drive) later I see a sign in circus letters saying “Surcouf”. Ah.

It’s like a 2-story Best Buy with more stuff. Apparently Dell is not a brand used much in France. So I have to wait in a special line for the portable computer peripherals guy (I forgot the French words for that - my ability to understand French is back but the ability to speak it still escapes me). I show him my paper and he answers me in English that he has my part. I almost cry. Literally. I had no idea I was so invested in this process. He tells me something else that I don’t understand. When I cock my head to the side like a dog and knit my eyebrows, the guy in line behind me says “he says you can use it in the UK as well”. Well, bonus! I will have to go to the UK next time. Should I be happy to not be pegged as an American tourist or irritated to be thought British?

That night I listen to Rico tell the story to his friends over dinner. He says he told me how to get to Chinatown (the Asian language is now making more sense) and that was all. He seemed amazed that I made it there, found a store with my battery and made it back. In fact, when he called me to see if I was lost (I set up my cell phone to work in France for such emergencies), I was already back at his house working. He seemed so surprised! Ha! His friends gave him a hard time for being so vague with me - like they thought he was being mean!

“Every Day” does not include Tuesdays - July 3, 2007
Today was a lazy day -- I slept in until 11am. Yay! Then I cleaned the kitchen from last night's dinner and showered. Then I was off for my first complete day of being a tourist!

I went to the L'Opera Garnier -- where the story of the Phantom of the Opera takes place. It was VERY, VERY cool. I would love to go to an opera there someday. You can totally see the grand staircase from the book and the thousands of "candle" lights (electric now), the mirrors on all the walls, and all the places to slip into to hide... I didn't get to see the actual theater since it was closed for a rehersal today. But I actually decided that was best -- then I can wait for that until I can see the play too.

After that I wandered over to the Musee de L'Orangerie -- supposedly a lot of impressionist works in there. I went there via the Louvre gardens. I really like the glass pyramid things and that courtyard in front of the Louvre. I knew the Lourvre was closed on Tuesdays, so I was just planning to see the outside. I didn't realize that the Orangerie was also closed on Tuesdays. The sign outside said "open every day until 7pm and Wednesdays to 9pm" -- if my French is holding up. The French woman behind me in line was irritated as well to find out that "every day" does not include Tuesdays. At least it wasn't just me.

So from there I went to the Musee D'Orsay on the other side of the Siene -- which also has a lot of impressionist paintings. It is actually open on Tuesdays. Apparently the rest of Paris knew that as well. I got there at about 3pm. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the crowd in the museum square was actually a line to get into the roped off lines which, in turn, lead you into the museum so you can get in line to pay. Dang! I waited in that line for 1 hour to get to the door of the museum -- and the right to get into the line where you can purchase tickets. It rained -- at one point it POURED -- so I bought an umbrella from a street vendor for 5 Euro -- like $7.50. It was worth it. And now I can add to my collection of umbrellas purchased from street vendors -- I have one from New York City (Times Square -- when I went for an evening on my Mahwah, New Jersey trip a few years ago for work), and one from Rome (when JJ and I were wondering around over Thanksgiving in 2005). I finished my book club novel while I was waiting in line -- some of it takes place in Paris, so that was cool. When I was next in line to actually buy a ticket, the ladies in front of me took sooooooo long that the entire line next to me emptied out and filled again. The couple behind me was American too, so I could understand their conversation. I seriously thought the guy was going to go take matters into his own hands -- he was getting so frustrated. Like it was worth a scene to see a bunch of old paintings by guys that didn't color within the lines! At any rate, we did finally get into the museum. I saw some really famous stuff -- Van Gogh's Starry Night, a couple of Monet's Water Lilies, the Renoir of the party picture, etc. The building is a converted train museum. I love the building...

After that, I braved the museum bookstore for some postcards (yikes -- can you say 100 smelly people in a place that holds 40 by American standards).

The off for a walk along the Siene...I ended up by Notre Dame -- so I went in for a quick look around. There was a service in progress, but still a lot of tourists wandering around. I tried to be discreet (no flash, quiet, etc.) but I think it would be annoying to be at a service and have people walking around and talking. (Although those big halls eat up the noise except for the speaker and the choir).

I got back to the apartment to Rico playing the guitar! Very nice. Dinner was the gnocci from the market... JJ, I would say it's more flour, less potato, than the ones in Italy.

Tomorrow -- the Louvre!!! Not sure what else. Then Thursday through Saturday I can finally use my French from high school -- Rico and I are going to visit the Mediterranean coast of France with his days off! Je vais a la plage!!!

Pick-up Lines & Cute Dresses

Pick-up Lines - June 28, 2007 (note: Having not been inspired to write lately, but going through some old travel diaries as inspiration for my NZ trip in April, I found my Paris trip emails to my folks/brother...thought a couple were funny.)

I made it to Paris!

My luggage didn't. And I forgot that rule about packing a change of clothes in your carry-on... Air France said maybe in 2 days I will get my luggage. If not, I can fill out the claim form. Sigh.

So after seeing my friend, Rico, through the glass windows as I arrive at the luggage carosel I spend close to an hour waiting for my luggage, watching everyone else find theirs before wearily leaving without knowing how lucky they are, and then filling out forms.

Poor Rico has been standing outside the secured area this whole time. As I finally reach him, and get a big hug I sigh and say, "Thank you so much for waiting through all that. Let's go buy some underwear." Which I meant in all honesty since I didn't pack my carryon with that type of provision. The expression on his face lets me know I said something funny, so I think about it and realize this may not be how every woman greets her male friends after a flight. ha!

I wanted souvenirs...but not sure I wanted clothes. But...The adventure begins!

The Knight Says “Shhhhh!” … & a REALLY Cute Dress - June 29, 2007

Hello again. 2 am in Paris. But when you sleep in until 11am, then nap from 7pm-11pm, feels ok to still be awake! :)

JJ, to answer your question...I know some French, but it's not as easy here as it was in Switzerland. Not sure why. I tried reading some of Rico's French novel, but it took like 30 mintues to get through 1 page. And it just wasn't that interesting...

Rico had today off, so we went to Le Petit Palais -- which is across the street from Le Grand Palais, which I think we saw on our trip. It's on the Champs Elysee and has square trees lining the boulevard. At any rate, the Petit Palais is FREE! And has lots of art and a coffee shop. We saw a cool huge painting called something like "The Death of Count ..." It is about 35 feet long! Lots of people (~300) -- different knights, commoners, the king?, weeping maidens, and, of course, the dead guy. One knight is telling the others "shhhh". Very funny -- some guy in armor with his finger to his lips. How can you be quiet in chain mail? Apparently someone else was noisier though. Then we had a café a the museum coffee shop.

No luggage yet today. They said 2 days. And in my sleep-deprived state I forgot to ask if the 2nd day was Saturday or Monday (do they include weekends?). At any rate, I think I have enough clothes now. I went to The Gap in the shopping district (Grand Boulevard) -- figure at least I know what size I am in there. I mean, it took me a while to figure out that my bra size here is 95. (Dang! In the States I am only a 36. Here I am HUGE! I love the French!) I wasn't sure I wanted to know my French/EU pants size (in case there is some sort of similar explosion at my waist)!!!

I also went to the popular tourist shopping building (Gallerie Lafayette) to see if I could find a dress for a nicer dinner out. I did find a lovely one and it was 50% off! It was 950 Euros -- almost $1300... Yes, this is the sale price! I'm not even sure that means I have good taste -- it was probably last year's model that didn't sell. I didn't buy it (in case you were really wondering).

Tomorrow there is a jazz concert in the evening at some tech park and I don't have to shop anymore. I am going to wear my 3 pairs of pants and my size 95 bras over and over and over! I am sick of shopping already!

Bon soir.

Live Out Loud

Calle sent me this card for my birthday.  I love the colors and the message.  I also want to say, Calle, that I don't really understand the the big font/little font thing, but I'm prepared to embrace it!

PS - Can't wait to see you again in New Zealand!  Soon!

Attack of the Viscous Floor Lamp

Usually our dog, Akela, jumps up on the bed after we stop reading and turn out the lights.  She'll nose her way in between us to lie down.

2 people and 1 dog fit on the bed.

After our cat, Ariel, is sure that the dogs are asleep she will come in and lay down next to my arm on the non-Akela side.

2 people, 1 cat and 1 dog fit on the bed.

Our other dog, Tasha, likes to sleep on her mat at the foot of the bed.  So as long as we all lay relatively still this configuration works.  If you move too much the animals will let you know that this is unacceptable verbally.

Around 3 AM, Tasha must’ve had an active dream chasing a big rabbit.  She knocked over the floor lamp that is in the vicinity of her mat, scared herself silly and went running around.  The ruckus woke me up, so I turned on the overhead light and it was pretty obvious (even at 3 AM) that I just needed to stand the lamp up.  During my 10 seconds out of bed, Tasha had come back into the room and firmly lodged herself into my spot on the bed.  Apparently, as a dog, after you have been through a life or death struggle with a floor lamp, you’re not willing to budge from your spot on the bed.  All my coaxing only got her to move over a little bit -- Tasha would have nothing to do with her mat.  I tried artfully arranging myself between the various animals, but since Akela didn't want to be next to Tasha, she kept nosing me over to the edge of the bed, which left Ariel less room than she liked.  If it had not been 3 AM, I might've been able to come up with a logical solution, but as it was I found out that: 

2 people, 2 dogs and 1 cat do not fit on the bed.

At least the cat was willing to make the sacrifice and sleep elsewhere so I didn't have to sleep on the couch.

This is from an old letter I found today.  I had written it to my mom back in the days when I was married, but when we were down from 2 cats/2 dogs to just 1 cat/2 dogs -- so probably around summer/fall 2003.  Thought it was vaguely funny and since I haven't been too inspired to writing anything, thought I'd post it.

Hoping for a Hat Trick

I asked Calle if it might be possible to have a "hat trick" day while in New Zealand:

1. talk to a Kiwi (person)
2. see a Kiwi (bird)
3. eat a Kiwi (fruit)

She said, "I might have to send you to the zoo...and the fruit may not be in season, but we'll see what we can do." ;-)

Calle also said she might take me on a flight! She got her private pilot's license and I haven't had the chance to fly with her yet. That would be soooo cool. (No pressure, Calle, if you read this...I just think it's cool you have a pilot's license at all. My "M" on my driver's license pales in comparison...and I'm out of practice at piloting a motorcycle too...sigh)

Note to self: check out the Napier wine region in NZ -- apparently it's what the locals talk about!

Shimmers and Aoraki

I'm reading a book called Straying from the Flock by Alexander Elder to get some background on New Zealand before I head out on my trip. I like this (p.37):

I realized that Shimmers [the cat] was a hard-working animal with an important role in the house. Klaus and Micha brought back carpets from the many countries that they visited and Shimmers made sure those carpets stayed in place. He moved from one carpet to another, following the sun throughout the day, and at night he held down the carpet in front of the fireplace.

I never knew my cat (Ariel) was doing such important work all day!

In an earlier post on my Kiwi Project, I mentioned that "Aoraki means Cloud Piercer in Maori" and that Mt. Aoraki was buffeted by fierce winds called the "Roaring Forties". I found an interesting legend about both those things. Here's a quick summary:

Aoraki and his 3 brothers were sailing their canoe when it struck a reef and capsized. The 4 men climbed onto the reef and sat down. They were caught by the wind and frozen in place. As they turned to stone, they became the South Island of New Zealand. Aoraki was seated the highest on the reef and became the tallest mountain.

In thinking about Mt. Aoraki/Mt. Cook, I think it will be even more awe-inspiring than our mountains here in Colorado. Sure it's a couple thousand feet shorter. But it starts from SEA LEVEL! Our mountains start from a mile high or so... In a couple places in the book (so far) the author mentions going from 'glacier to rain forest' or from 'palm trees to snow' in a few hundred feet!

Additional info:

Mount Aoraki Legend:
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/HeManawa/LegendAoraki.asp
http://goaustralia.about.com/cs/newzealand/a/aorakilegend.htm
Straying from the Flock by Alexander Elder, p. 81

The Sparkly Ones, Please

I always love the things you learn about yourself on chair lifts. I spent the last weekend skiing at Winter Park. I typically go with my friends Tori and Mikaela - both women from my hockey team. They both have condos up near the ski area, so it makes it easier to ski all weekend because we can stay overnight at one of the condos and avoid the long "commute" back to town.

Over Thanksgiving Tori was out of town and she agreed to let me use her condo. Mikaela was also out of town so I was skiing solo. On one of my lift rides up during that stay, the guy next to me asks "Who are you skiing with?" I tell him basically that I'm solo because my friend Tori is out of town but she was still kind enough to let me stay at her place. "Where is she?" I say she's gone to the Caribbean with her family for the holiday. "How rude! Your girlfriend goes on a tropical vacation and leaves you behind!"

I date women?
I would prefer to be laying on a beach instead of skiing?

This past weekend, Tori and I are up skiing - Mikaela is again busy. On my first lift ride, I rode up with a man, a woman, and a young girl. I politely ask how their ski day is going. The little girl is a riot. She apparently took lessons the day before and wants to show her mom how to "catch air" and "go off jumps". "Hey look - there's a good jump!" she says as pointing to a mound of snow that is easily 2 feet taller than she is. I ask what grade she's in. "Kindergarten!" Her mom mentions that Friday was a teacher in-service day. I say it seems like kids these days have more non-school days than I did. The mom says "Where do you go to school?"

At 38, I look young enough in my ski gear to be in school? (fantastic news!)

Twice as Tori and I are getting off the lift together, I'm approached by random people who ask me to take their picture "and make sure you get the mountain in the background." Tori wonders why they never ask her. I assume it's because I look young enough to be in school (and she doesn't) - and tell her that. Tori jokingly calls me a lesbian high school photographer.

Later that night Tori and I run by the grocery store. I have long hair, so while I have somewhere near a billion hair bands, I never have one with me. I've forgotten mine (again) on this trip. The only blemish on our day is that my hair is driving me nuts. We're looking for hair bands and discussing the relative merits of the many choices. I say "Ooooh - I want the sparkly ones!" Tori thinks this might have something to do with why I might be mistaken for someone younger.

So, I say, "bring on the sparkly ones!"