A genial hearth, a hospitable board, And a refined rusticity,

March 14 we arose and boarded our orange coach for Rydal Mount, home of romantic poet William Wordsworth. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed the countryside dotted with sheep and lambs. It was a touching experience to be in the house where Wordsworth lived and wrote. I did feel that I could maybe be inspired to write poetry if I lived in such a lovely setting and had nothing to do all day but reflect in the beauty of nature.


Next our coach took us to the village of Grasmere, where I enjoyed a hot bowl of parsnip soup and a seeded roll at Greens Cafe before going over to the famous gingerbread shop. There was quite a queue of gingerbread fans waiting for the shop to open, enjoying the wonderful aroma of baking gingerbread. It's delicious! Then our bus took us to Ambleside where most of us got a boat to cross Lake Windermere to Bowness.


There, some of us went to the Beatrix Potter Museum! It was pretty cheesy but sort of cool anyway, with a nice gift shop where I found a Mrs Tiggywinkle keychain. We drove through the Lake District back to our Carlisle hotel, enjoying the view of snow on distant peaks and sheep grazing everywhere. For dinner we went to the Chinese buffet again, where I commented on how lovely it would be if there were a nearby 7-11 where I could buy a can of Strongbow to enjoy before bed in my room.

Later, I was just about ready for bed when there was a knock on my door. Our ever-thoughtful T.D. made a special delivery of Strongbow! I slept like a baby that night.

In such a jocund company

Before it all fades from my inner eye, here's a summary of the AP Literature Tour of England, March 12-21, 2010.

We arrived at the Manchester airport early in the morning on March 13. There was no one with an EF sign waiting to meet us, so we found the toilet and gathered at the official meeting point. Shortly, a young man came up and asked if I was Lucy. Yay, our tour director found us! Paul gathered us up and took us on the train into the city of Manchester, where we wandered around a bit, took some pictures, and stopped for a traditional English breakfast in a pub, which was a very nice way to spend our first morning.

After we made our way back to the airport, the group from Canada arrived and we all boarded our orange bus driven by Owen, from Wales. He took us north to Carlisle, where we checked into our hotel, the Ibis Botchergate. After settling in, we walked through town to Carlisle Castle. As we were returning we discovered that the town was preparing for an evening event to light up Hadrian's Wall in commemoration of the 1600th anniversary of the Romans leaving Britain.

Residents and tourists joined the parade – accompanied by a band, costumed characters and musicians – to Bitts Park, where flaming beacons marked the line of Hadrian’s Wall.
The event saw the wall lit from Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway.
The parade, which started at 5.30pm in the city centre, followed an airborne heliosphere to Bitts Park for a firework display and lighting of the beacons.
A spokesman said more than 300 torches had been sold online – from the Go Lakes website – and hundreds more were available from Carlisle’s Tourist Information Centre.
They were also sold on the night at stalls and cost £3 if bought in advance and £4 on the night. Profits will be donated to local charities.
A spokesman for Carlisle Tourism Partnership said the event was a huge boost for tourism in the city, and county, with many city centre hotels fully booked.
Organisers of the event said they were inundated with people applying to light one of the 500 beacons at stages along the 84-mile wall, with 4,000 applications submitted.
They increased the number of illuminators from 500 to 1,000 by doubling the size of illuminator teams and hundreds are expected to go out and watch at the 250 sites. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/hundreds-take-part-in-carlisle-procession-as-roman-wall-lit-up-1.683237?referrerPath=home

like a pendulum do

I leave for England this Friday. I have a throat which yesterday felt like I had swallowed razor blades and today is downgraded to ground glass. The physician said that she has seen a lot of this and it often turns into a nasty bronchitis. I explained that I can't have bronchitis because I fly to england Friday. I am taking medication now.

The trip to England will be a literary tour. I found out today that our optional excursion to Canterbury and Dover will not happen, so we have a free day in London which is probably a good thing. Harrods, maybe the Victoria and Albert. Despite this small disappointment, I am excited about seeing the Lake District, Yorkshire, Stratford on Avon, and Bath. I am very excited about plans to see friends in the London area.

"Time and distance are out of place here"

Feb. 19-21, 2010, KHS Interact Club traveled to Del Rio, TX., in order to paint classrooms in a kindergarten across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico. We took 12 students from KHS and 7 from CHS. I ended up in the noisy van.




Lots of fun was had Friday night

at dinner with mariachis in

Acuña.






Saturday was mostly spent painting at the Alfredo Garza kindergarten.





















Then we had time for some shopping along the main street before returnign to Del Rio for a peaceful celebratory dinner at Chili's.

a gathering of book lovers

Back from the American Association of School Librarians conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. The weather there was perfect and Charlotte is a walking-friendly city. Highlights of the conference were being able to talk and have a picture made with Stephen Chbosky, and getting a nice pile of free books from various vendors.

Charlotte has some wonderful restaurants; our favorite was Mert's Heart and Soul, serving good old Southern soul food. Our second time there I had the salmon cakes with cornbread, red beans, and yams. Their cakes were to-die-for and their sweet tea was amazing.


Yesterday we had brunch at a place called Zink, where I experienced chocolate bread pudding

and some of the most delectable grits ever

Texas State Aquarium

Moon jelly fish are mysterious-looking.







Sea turtle has lost a front flipper. He swims straight though, not in circles. All the turtles at the aquarium have been rehabbed but could not be released back into the wild.









A little otter PDA,

debate

Friday – We met at the school at 5 a.m. and rode a school bus (most uncomfortable seats EVER) for seven hours, reaching CC around 12:30. We went straight to the Texas State Aquarium where I took what were possibly too many pictures of the adorable otters. The dolphins were beautiful and the jellyfish were ethereal. The sea turtles were friendly and swam over to the side of the tank where we were standing. That was cool.
Saturday morning arrived too soon. After a little breakfast at the hotel we rode to a high school where the debate tournament was held. I love watching kids who are really engaged in what they’re doing. These students LOVE to debate. They competed in a variety of events such as public forum and cross examination and Lincoln-Douglas style debate. I went and watched students from other schools competing in “dramatic interpretation.” Apparently most consider a dramatic topic to be one involving death/dying/disease: we had two breast cancers, one leukemia, one abusive father, one child-murderer and one actually uplifting piece about Billie Holiday called “Tonight I Saw My Life Onstage.”
Mostly I spent the day sitting in the cafeteria just hanging out with the kids. I did manage to crochet two beanies during the day. Once, in the afternoon, I slipped outside, spread my jacket on the ground, and took a little nap in the sun. A couple of people asked if I was all right (I suppose a middle-aged woman face-down on the grass could be a slightly peculiar sight). It felt good to soak up some sun and just relax for a little while.
Sunday was one long bus ride, with stops for lunch, potty, and too much sugar. I feel like I need a cleansing. At least I walked a lot Saturday, racking up over four miles per my pedometer. It has been a good trip; I’ve enjoyed getting to know the kids better and hope they noticed a side of me they don’t see at school.

Loy Krathong

Last night I attended the New Year festival at the local Buddhist temple with a few students from the Culture Club I sponsor at the high school. It had been raining so I almost didn't go, but I'm so glad I decided to venture out anyway. The field in the temple complex contained several booths where people were grilling various meats and making other unknown foodstuffs. The girls and I shared a serving of tiny Thai pancakes which contained coconut, sugar, and green onion. That's an odd combination to me, but the pancakes tasted pretty good. I also had a skewer of spiced grilled chicken.

We enjoyed watching the Thai dancing and really loved the beauty pageant. There were seven girls ranging in age from 7 to 13. People voted by purchasing balloons which they then gave to the girls. The girl with the most balloons would win the "People's Choice" award and the money raised would go to the temple fund.

After the students left, I took the paper lotus flower that I had bought and went over to the pond. Some girls helped me light my candle and incense sticks. The candle wouldn't stay lit (gusts and light rain) but I set it loose in the pond and enjoyed watching it drift away. The girls told me to make a wish as I let it go.

Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

Yesterday I drove down to Austin and met up with Emily at Boo’s house. We went out to eat at Galaxy Café, then Em and I went on down to the Continental Club. We were pretty surprised to see a long line of people waiting to get in an hour before the concert was to begin. It was sort of entertaining to listen to people while we were waiting. The folks behind us had flown down from Canada for ACL.

Inside, it wasn’t as crowded as I had thought it might be so we were able to position ourselves right in front of the stage, Wynn-side, brews in hand, ready for some music. I heard someone calling out “Lucy” so I looked and found Nan from Murmurs (who has a major thing for Mr. Buck and had stationed herself right in front of where he would be standing). Nice to see her again.

The concert was a nice mix of Baseball Project, new and some older Minus 5, Steve Wynn songs, and covers. Scott’s voice wasn’t in top form, I thought, but that didn’t detracted from the passion he puts into every song. They all just have such a great time performing together. Of course I’m envious of Linda Pitmon, since I want to be a drummer when I grow up. Alas. There’s no way I could ever have her rhythm and stamina, not to mention I couldn’t assist on vocals.

As the first set ended, Scott encouraged the audience to come visit with them at the merch table. Em and I were just about the first ones there. We snagged all the Butcher Cover CDs that we had agreed to get for others as well as ourselves and immediately asked Peter for autographs. He was very nice and obliging and just sweet as he could be. Contrary to some reports, he did NOT seem to have gained any weight.

Scott seemed to appreciate the spirit of the Scottie mug that Emily brought for him to autograph. What a hoot. He and Buck were both very nice about signing things and having pictures taken.

That's a picture of me with a sweaty Buck, who only looks like an angry axe-murderer but was actually quite pleasant. I found myself wondering if he's off the booze. His face doesn't look puffy and he wasn't drinking red wine onstage. He had glasses of what looked like lemonade but could have been anything.

The show ended about 1:15 I think, with some raucous covers and a bartender dancing onstage.

knots

Something extremely disturbing has happened and I need to talk it out but don't want to actually talk to anyone about it. So here goes, since hardly anyone ever reads this. Initials have been changed.

Y sent me a text last night: "J killed the cat and then tried to kill himself. In hospital for psych eval." Of course I called her for more info. I knew that she had told me that J didn't like the cat and didn't get along with it. They were trying to find a new home for it; she had even asked me. I certainly didn't see this coming, and I feel that anyone who would do such a thing has far greater issues than not getting along with a cat.

N was a work when this happened. She was on the phone with J and he told her that he had hurt the cat. She was going to go home but he told her not to, that he didn't want her to see it. She eventually did go home and found that J had taken pills and alcohol. She got him to the hospital, he didn't want to be admitted but the hospital kept him anyway and will hold him for two weeks for evaluation.

This situation has been preying on my mind all last night and all day today. I've never met J but I feel so sad for N. She must be beside herself. Y said that N was staying with her parents last night.

Anyway, my stomach has been in a knot for 24 hours now. I have a busy early morning tomorrow and need to relax and sleep tonight.

To make matters worse, Tybee is having mouth trouble again. The vet dentist office wasn't open today. I'll call them in the morning and try to get an appt for Friday afternoon, since tomorrow I'm going to Austin (coming back Friday).

Must sleep.

no damn class in the Classic City

Last week was our second trip to Athens this month. Since we didn't get to see much of Larry or Renee when we were there earlier, Z and I had to go back, this time dragging along Cousin C. Sadly, Renee wasn't able to be in town due to a family illness. LG, however, didn't have to work so we were able to kidnap him for significant periods of time.

We arrived at ATL and drove to Snellville where we stopped for lunch (lupper? linner?) at the Snellville Diner, a most interesting place where six-layer cakes are on display at the counter. Oh my. Fortunately, we didn't have room for dessert and didn't want to drag it to Athens with us, knowing that we'd be able to find enough yummy food once we got there. After a bit of a rest in the Athens HI, we met Larry at The Grit and then wandered over to the river to try to spot the beavers which LG swears had been frolicking there every evening for the past month. Yeah, right. No beavers, just lots of mosquitos which nibbled my sweet little ankles. We did wander down a trail right beside the river though, and found some wild blackberries. YUM!

We had decided that Friday would be our local day. C and I went to the Mayflower for a light breakfast so Z could sleep in. Then we scooped up LG and drove over to Watkinsville so we could visit the Chappelle Gallery and Main Street Yarns. We wandered around the Botanic Garden in the afternoon - beautiful. That night we again attempted beaver-watching, again to no avail. We suspect LG made up the entire beaver saga. He's hoaxy like that.

Saturday was our day to drive up into the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills. I had seen things online about "Alpine Helen", a town made to look sort of Swiss, and wanted to see what that was all about. After enduring much teasing from LG, who assured me that it was cheesier than Swiss cheese, we drove on up there and sure enough, he was right! Oh my. It's just the main highway with hotels and shops and restaurants that sort of have Alpine facades and names. As far as we could tell, the only thing to actually DO there other than shop and eat is to go tubing in the Chatahoochee, which did look like fun but couldn't possibly occupy the throngs of people we saw wandering along the hot sidewalks.

Anyway, we beat it out of there and headed to Cleveland, home of Babyland Hospital, birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids! The tour was actually interesting and funny. Have you ever seen a cabbage give birth? I thought not. It was silly and fun and brought back memories of Zannah's getting her Cabbage Patch when she was three.

We went for lunch in Hiawasee and discovered that the GA Mountain Fair was going on, so we went to that for the afternoon. There were demonstrations of board-splitting and such, displays of home-made canned goods and crafts, as well as vendors and huge Percherons and cotton candy.

The highlight of the day was the Old Sautee Store with its peepshow and yummy candies and farmer cheese. And bubbles.

On Sunday we met LG at the Grill for brunch then set out for Atlanta, where we got stuck in a massive traffic jam due to road construction. Finally we arrived at the Georgia Aquarium, which was certainly worth all the hassle. I loved the weedy sea dragons and the otters and of course the beluga whales.

In a rare moment of good luck, arriving early at the airport scored us seats on an earlier flight home, which pleased everyone.

As we left Athens, LG asked "when are you coming back?". I wish I knew.

This world is big and so-awake/ I stayed up late to hear your voice

Our flight home from Toronto was canceled (way to go, American Airlines!) so we arrived on a much later flight. I felt bad that Em had to drive all the way back to her place three hours away, but she needed to be at work the next day.

And so did I! I worked three days of summer school library over at FRHS. It was good because two senior English teachers brought their classes to do the song project for senior theme. It helped that I'm familiar with the project. Anyway, that was an extra $500 or so to go toward my summer adventures.

The next trip was bipedal. First Becky and I flew to New York where we met up with Lydia. As always, New York was fascinating. We had great weather, not too terribly hot this time, and only a few rain showers which didn't interfere with much at all. Quick run-down: Bronx Zoo, Metropolitan Museum of Art (where the Superhero: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit was very interesting to me) and lots and lots of good food.

One day we walked down Broadway; I wanted to browse in the ABC Carpet store and was hoping to have lunch at TeaNY. When we got there it was too crowded (such a tiny place) so we went next door to Bruschetterria for lunch. That was delicious! Then we were able to get a table at TeaNY for dessert, so that worked out perfectly.

Of course the "purpose" of the New York trip was the R.E.M. concert at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night (June 19). Since fan club tickets could only be bought in pairs, Lydia and Becky were sitting on the opposite side of the venue from me. I had bought two tickets, thinking surely I could find someone to go with me, and sure enough, a former KHS student was available and interested. It was cool to be able to share his excitement and his comments. It was neat that he couldn't tell which were old songs and which were from the new album.

I had one band sighting while in the city. We went into a teeny tiny shop (Crumpler) so Lydia could buy a camera bag. There were several people there and boxes on the floor so it was really stuffed. I looked up and saw that Bill Rieflin (drummer for R.E.M.) had come in with another guy who had a bagless camera. I was hoping they would shop for a while but I guess the conditions deterred them, as they left right after I spotted them. Drat.

One of the best parts of the trip was the opportunity to visit with former student John. Our first night in town, we dined at the restaurant where he's working. We were enjoying sitting outside until a thunderstorm popped up and forced us indoors. And let me just say, don't try a pineapple mojito. Not good. Regular mojito much nicer. We spent more time with John and his bf Wednesday. We took the subway to his neighborhood (upper east side) and got food at an adorable cafe, Champignon. Then we dined out on the terrace of his apartment building. It was so fun to meet his second dog, Chloe the Papillon, and to again cuddle Parker the Yorkie.

One evening was spent at the theatre seeing Morgan Freeman, Peter Gallagher and Frances McDorman in The Country Girl. It was an excellent production, and no, seeing Mr Freeman in his boxers was NOT the highlight of the experience for me.

Our time in NY was over too soon, as always, and on Friday we flew off to Atlanta.

Going to a place that’s far, so far away and if that’s not enough

My summer roaming is done already, so a report is in order.

June 6 - flew to Toronto with Emily. We stayed in Oakville, a western suburb, away from the bustle of the city but close enough for an easy drive (with the assistance of our friendly GPS lady).

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Niagara Falls (Canadian side). The drive isn't especially attractive, it's pretty much industrialized stuff, and the town of Niagara Falls is totally commercialized tourist-trap stuff. They really couldn't ruin the falls themselves though. We parked in the overpriced lot ($20 if I remember correctly) and assumed the fee covered the "people-mover" bus, but no, that was another fee to pay. We bought tickets for the Maid of the Mist boat to the bottom of the falls. Em and I had agreed that this was the one thing we both really wanted to do while there.

Each of us was given a blue plastic poncho. I wish I had realized that the poncho hoods had drawstrings for a very good reason. Since we were near the first of the line to enter the boat, I scrambled up the steps and to the front of the boat. It seemed like a good idea at the time. At some point, Em said she had wondered how so many people had managed to already be wearing "Maid of the Mist" tshirts; then she realized the picture and lettering were on the poncho that we were all wearing. Seems like something I would think!

It was a hot day in Ontario, but as we neared the falls the spray from the water was cooling. the closer we got, the more the spray turned into something resembling a torrential downpour complete with gusty winds. Sort of like standing in a hurricane maybe. I was soon soaked. Because I hadn't drawn the drawstring, the hood was blown off and useless. Water ran down inside the sleeves of the poncho and down inside the front as well. My glasses were so wet I couldn't see through them, but if I took them off I couldn't open my eyes because of the blowing water.

It was wonderful. I was able to open my eyes and peek out enough to appreciate the power and beauty of the falls.

We drove back through Niagara-on-the-Lake, a charming and charmingly expensive little town of B&Bs and cute shops and wineries.

Saturday evening was the Leonard Cohen concert. We decided to go on into downtown Toronto and find dinner near the Sony Centre. Em was seriously wanting some Thai food so we found the name and address of a place and decided to go there. We parked in a garage near the Centre; as we emerged, we noticed that almost every pedestrian was accompanied by a dog. We were both thinking "gosh, Canadians sure love their dogs!" when we noticed tents and booths and blocked-off streets. We had emerged into Woofstock! No time to explore much that evening though.

We couldn't find the restaurant we had in mind but someone recommended another for us, so we went to Spring Rolls. We were able to get a table outside where we could watch the parade of dogs and interesting people. The food was great - they had Em's favorite soup. The other diners were very friendly and we enjoyed talking to Torontonians.

The Cohen concert was all I hoped it would be and then some. For 73, he's remarkably spry! His voice is amazing and his stage presence is mesmerizing. He just went through wonderful song after wonderful song for over two hours. The other musicians were excellent as well, and the backup singers too. A beautiful evening.

Sunday we drove downtown again, parked, and hiked around. We walked up to Chinatown and had a dim sum lunch. We went into almost every booth at Woofstock and both found new collars for our dogs. Even though the R.E.M. concert didn't begin until 6:30, we went on over to Ontario Place early - I was pooped from all that walking in the heat. We caught part of the soundcheck there, which was really cool, and engaged in entertaining people-watching and commenting ("Oh my god, look, he's wearing an REM shirt to an REM concert!!" "Oh, I know, how totally uncool is THAT?!?" *snort* *giggle*).

People began lining up early to enter the venue (why? there was no GA, all reserved seats except for lawn) and I spotted a virtual acquaintance in line so went over to meet her. We went ahead to our seats, then met up with some other acquaintances from The Community. I didn't especially enjoy either of the opening acts: The National and Modest Mouse. MM would have been okay sort of if the "singer" hadn't screamed instead of singing.

The R.E.M. concert was soooo much fun! Em and I (and everyone around us) stood for the entire show. I was surprised at how many people knew the words to the new songs as well as the old ones. I had brought my new camera along and was taking pictures. Our seats were great, close to the front and almost dead center, so I was getting good shots. Finally the guy behind me handed me his card and asked if I would email him the pictures. Then he started suggesting which things I should photograph! Too funny. The guy on my right eventually gave me his email address too, as he wanted to pictures as well.

This brief report has turned into a marathon. Next leg of Summer Tour 08 will be posted later.

Green green grass of home

One of my very favorite YA authors posted a video on Amazon, ostensibly about his new book which will come out in October. I love this video.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2LPBA0SKVWTR7

The Bluest Eye

Me and AA, taken by AA's short little arm, @ The Police concert.

Stung!

Stole this picture from a pal's blog. I found the Elvis Costello/Police concert to be a lot more fun than I had anticipated. EW had given me a Costello CD so some of his songs were familiar, and I discovered that my subconscious contained most of the Police songs. The photo is Sting singing along with Costello on "Alison". Very cool.

all of a sudden now you're back again

More Ritterization. *sigh* That boy certainly knows how to put on a show. The audience was really into it too, which just makes everything better.

making all the right moves

Us getting Ritterized




Ritter getting Ritterized too.

the wind comes a'tickling my knees

The trip to Athens for the Josh Ritter concert was gorgeous. First off our flight was canceled so instead of having plenty of time to meander over from Atlanta, we were in a mad wicked rush through the dark Georgia night. The show began at 9. We arrived in Atlanta at 7:30ish, snagged a cherry red Impala SS and were off.

I called The Melting Point to have them let LG and RY get their tickets without me being there so they could go on in. We hit the HI at 9 pm, checked in, changed clothes, and hoofed it across downtown. I called LG as we walked and learned that the opener (Ingrid Michaelson) had finished. We got there about 5-10 minutes before Josh took the stage. Our Athenian Angels had saved a table on the second tier and by standing on our sturdy wooden chairs, we were able to see just fine. The crowd was mostly young, though there were some others in my age group-ish, and very enthusiastic, even singing along. As RY told Josh later, Athens crowds are usually much more jaded.

After the show I spent a smallish fortune at the merch table - new tour shirts, people! Josh was signing out by the bus so we got into line. Since I had bought the vinyl of Conquests I tried to get all the band members to sign the album, but Mr. Liam slunk away into the night with his cymbal bag. Another time, maybe. We had a good chat with Mr Austin though. We got our share of time with Josh, hugs and autographs for everyone.

To keep this short, the rest of the weekend was spent eating (The Grill, The Grit X2, Clocked) and hanging out. We drove to Watkinsville so I could shop the sale at the cool yarn shop. We spent time Saturday night wandering the UGA campus with LG as our guide; that hoaxing varmint is not to be trusted! We got to spend a bit of time with EM, though I think our numbers intimidated him a little, bless his subversive little heart.

ears up

Dang, I let the blog thing get away from me again. So what have I been doing? Walking the dog, working, going to see George Carlin (a little disappointing, he's just an angry old man), running down to Austin to hang out with a pal (including a trip to Hippie Hollow!) and seeing B & P.

What's to look forward to? May will bring a Police and Elvis Costello concert with E, and a trip to Athens with my Girl Posse for a Josh Ritter concert. In June I'll go to Toronto with E for an R.E.M. concert and a side-trip to Niagara Falls. Then my major summer adventure will be seeing R.E.M. in New York at Madison Square Garden and in Atlanta. The new camera should get quite a workout over the next couple of months.