Neat ice... Balls!
Sidewalks have become an obstacle course.
The guy in the red shirt in the background is Scott. He is looking at this:
Poor cars...
This is the front yard here...
Most of the pines are looking kind of... Limp.
Went back to The Mall yesterday as the weather was pleasant (it is raining today). It was very nice. Scott and I spent a short while in The National History Museum and then went to McDonalds for lunch in the Air and Space Museum. Then we walked around the lagoon as he had yet to see the Jefferson Memorial. We didn't know the FDR memorial was around the lagoon too and we hit it by dusk and it was so pretty with all the little waterfalls and the lights. That was a nice surprise.
Jefferson Memorial.
( Read more... )
Back in Virginia. Left New York Saturday night. Slept most of yesterday!
Saw some things...
( Read more... )
I'm busy...! I don't really have time for sitting down quietly reading or writing these days. It's not that I actually do much sightseeing... I'm just occupied most of the time. Kept busy, eating, talking, working...
Currently I'm in New York.
Balloon. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was very cold but awesome! We brung a ladder and took turns sitting on it...
View from the Staten Island Ferry.
I have been to Washington DC too and walked around The Mall. I will post pictures from that, too... Eventually. I hope.
Here's one. We went back by there a few days later (and went to Ford's Theatre) and some scaffolding had been taken off. I wonder how much is off now.
I'm just so busy... I'm not really sure what I am doing. When we do sit down and relax we watch movies and talk. I have very little time to myself. Always people around. I actually quite like it. When I have my private hours I keep them private and shut my brain off.
But the trip so far have been great! Debbie goes out of her way to get me good (European) bread. It's odd walking through a shop and see aisle after aisle of bread and find that it's ALL soft and squishy...
New York is... Odd. It doesn't really feel like a big city and almost everything seems familiar. It's weird.
I'm overcome with impressions. I'm currently in a state of mind where I just let them roll over me. I hope to come back to them later and share them with you all.
I'm in the States! I have been here since Thursday. The trip over here was stressful - but uneventful, thankfully.
It is... Odd. Or different. Still getting used to everything.
I haven't done much yet. Friday we went to lunch at a French-Vietnamese place and had escargot, quail, pate... It was good. Went to a huge shopping mall yesterday to get a suit for Scott.
Other than that I have just been here, getting to know everyone and being fed well.
It is still rather strange being here. It's a giant step for me. I'm still adjusting. It is lovely being here, though.
This is very short. I'm still thinking about everything but I am trying not to, so I don't want to start analysing things..
I have spent the week with my sister at her place. It has just been quiet. Of course the first day I was there the sky was blue and all the colours pretty but it was late in the afternoon so I decided to not take pictures till the next day when the sun would be higher in the sky. Ha! What sun. Pfffft.
As Lae was working or studying every day I had the afternoons to myself and watched movies.
I finally watched The Godfather trilogy as they were there and they've been on my list of movies to watch for... A very very long time because they are just some of those movies everyone has watched, you know. Ingrained pop culture stuff. So I watched them. They were.. Oddly edited. There were lots of things glossed over or not explained and then there were five-minute scenes of a single little event.
I also watched Aladdin (one of the few animated movies where I actually really like the Danish dub. They did very well in Aladdin!) and I watched Tarzan as I hadn't watched that before (original dub). I wonder why I've never watched it before... I liked it. A lot. It was very sweet.
Watched The Terminal and half of Unforgiven, and some stand-up by my favourite Danish comedian. Watched The Dark Knight Rises yesterday with Lae and Ras though I wasn't paying that much attention to it (there had been wine and music earlier in the evening and I was tired...) and I'm not really sure what I think of it except I found it confusing, the action was over-the-top (though that was expected) and Christian Bale's Batman voice is so hoarse it's ridiculous.
It has been a pretty uneventful week... I'm not even sure how the days went by.
Yesterday I went and got some emergency gifts for nieces and nephews. One have a birthday coming up and E promised a belated birthday present to another, forgetting in the process that that grandchild of hers has younger siblings who didn't get any presents either... So I had to go make up for that. I was lucky; there was this large sale on all kinds of creative stuff: coloured/textured paper, craft sets, pencils, crayons, all kinds of good stuff so I got some for the gift box too (which I emptied last Christmas and I have been rather bad at re-stocking it this year). I expect awesome homemade Christmas presents from all of them.
My purchases. With complementary cat.
Aside from that not much is happening. I have slept very little and I'm very tired. It's Friday night football (CFL!) tonight but I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it. It starts at 1am for me and finishes around 7am... :/
I didn't go for a walk today which I should have done. It was cold and rainy and windy. And I am so tired. Today I have done nothing but play Townsmen on my ipad and even not much of that. Mostly I have just not been sleeping. It's very annoying to be not sleeping when you are so tired.
I know, I know. All I do is post rambling ramblings and pictures from my walks. I don't have much of essence to say...
More pictures
The weather is still great. It was cloudy yesterday and I was in town so my walk was in an urban setting and since I had places to go and people to see I did not take any photos. I have had (well, I still have) this... Boil? Thing on my cheek which first appeared in Thailand. It had almost vanished when I got back but I did go to see a doctor about it anyway (what if a spider or some bug had laid EGGS in my FACE????). There wasn't much to see though (and no obvious sting/bite mark either (PHEW)) so we decided to just see what would happen. What happened was that it didn't disappear and three weeks later it got huge and ouch. Took me a while to get a time with the doctor but yesterday I went. It got drained a bit and I can call Thursday (or someone can call; ugh phones) to get the results (if any) of the tests run. In the meanwhile I'm on these hefty antibiotics that I have to take three times a day on an empty stomach and they cause me quite the tummy ache (to put it mildly. Ow.) Ten days worth. :S It isn't that bad; it only lasts for about an hour, peaks at about an hour and a half after I've taken the pill and then it gets better. Three times a day. I somehow have to arrange eating (no eating for two hours before or for one hour after) and sleeping (no sleeping right after taking a pill) and walking (don't want to be too far from home with stomach issues) around this (and everything else but that's a bit more slap-dash). The eating is going to be tricky, I think, and I must eat. Those forced three hour breaks could mess it up if I'm not careful. Structure!
Anyway, I did go for a walk today. The water was low.
Meh. That's what I have been mostly. I'm not really doing anything. I'm reading a bit. I'm crocheting a bit. I hang out on the net a bit. I update my computer a bit. I play video games a bit. Watch TV a bit. Learning the subtleties of Canadian Football... A bit.
I'm trying keep myself, if not amused, then at least occupied, which isn't that easy when I'm having a hard time getting my mind to focus on anything. Productivity has gone out the window. I have been helping D out. My room is a peaceful spot in a house that is currently undergoing a major transformation. Walls are getting knocked down left and centre. Things are happening.
So I started reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Again. I used to have this an audio book (read by Stephen Fry!) and as it was my only audio book for a good while and I love listening to stuff while solving puzzles I have read (or listened to) DH many many times... I was hoping my Real Book would help my cure my meh a bit.
I'm crocheting a washcloth. This is more difficult than it sounds as I decided I would try out multi-colour patterns (and not just stripes. Stripes are easy.) and it involves constantly keeping track of where I'm at and switching yarns and it doesn't look good, wah. It's a learning experience...
I have been reading all of Cleolinda's delightful snark on Twilight. I seem to have been haunted by Twilight as of late (no, not in my mind! I just appear to come across references to it constantly all of a sudden.) and was reminded of the snarky snarkiness of snark and I've been in need of some good snark.
I got my computer back from Computer Hospital last week and dear lord, is there no end to the updates??? How many can there possibly be? I have been having troubles with installing my anti-virus software which effectively put a spoke in my wheel for some time. I settled for Microsoft Essentials (or what it's called) for now. Stupid software. Computer troubles always makes me cranky. >:(
You know what is really annoying? They installed a new hard-drive but evidently didn't bother to check what language preference THE OWNER had set before reinstalling Windows so now everything is in Danish and I am Not Happy.
>:(
(And for the record, I have been cranky aaaaall day... Just in case you couldn't tell.)
Games. I'm playing them. I have solved all there is to solve of Where Is My Water and as far as could go with no facebook buddies playing of Where Is My Water 2 (why? Why do they do this? Addict me to games and then demand I have FRIENDS to actually play them? Urgh.) I want more Water levels to solve... More! It's a craving...
I have watched TV. I appear to have watched all the shows they are showing I want to watch already. I have watched The Help (which is.. Why is a movie about black women's struggles about white women? I don't know...) and Bridesmaids, which wasn't nearly as entertaining as it promised to be from the trailer (I expected silly, what I got was quite stupid and somewhat more serious than I had counted on. Even if they couldn't really deal with that seriousness.. ). I have watched The Hobbit several times as they keep showing it which naturally means I must watch it. Also the three Lord of the Rings movies where the same rule applies.
I have been watching and learning about Canadian Football which is, apparently, different from American Football in... some mysterious ways I wouldn't know about as I know even less about American Football than Canadian but I am told there are Significant Differences by a Canadian in the know so I'm just taking his word for it. I'm just a novice all around. I'm actually finding it quite intriguing. There's a lot more going on that meets the eye and it isn't all a bunch of big guys trying to hurt each other. That is a surprisingly small part of it. Each quarter lasts 15 minutes but the games themselves goes on for more than three hours (with some breaks.) That's a lot of time of not playing. I find it all very very confusing... There's a lot of strategy and tactics and, yikes; the lingo. It's like I'm learning a new and foreign language here! It reminds me of cycling, though, and I love me a good entertaining day of cycling (on TV, obviously.)
I'm still going for walks. Every day for a week. Go me! The weather has been excellent so I have been able to drag myself out even when the motivation has been rather slacking. I can't wait for it to begin raining...
Anyway, I have been taking some pictures but my motivation in that regard has been rather none-present too some days. Today I was angry when I walked. Longest walk yet but it didn't take me that long; stomped and stalked the whole way. Anger is a great motivator!
I'm going for walks. It's good to get out and the weather has been great. They are not particularly long walks though I do take my time when walking along the beach. I'm a bit wary of posting pictures from this app now. Or post at all. The last few posts have been messed up and I've had to fix them manually and it didn't even do any automatic HTML like line-breaks so had to do those too. A lot of unnecessary work!
Anyway. Some pictures. I'm going to take the chance.
I'm going to put the text over the pictures though I prefer to have it below.. But I hope to reduce my work load if anything goes wrong that way.
This picture I took today but it is of yesterday's route.
( more pictures )
Edda joined me. That's a good thing; she needs the exercise! She is starting to hold an uncanny resemblance to a sea-lion. Pointy at both ends but a bit heavy around the middle.
The beach. The water was pretty high today.
I went through all my yarn the other day and found I had a lot of unfinished projects. I still have a lot of unfinished projects but now I have one less!
(Are the pictures massive? I can't tell on this app.)
I'm not sure whether to block it to get some structure to the edge. But it's supposed to just hang. Undecided.
Anyway! I finished something. Ends weaved in ad everything. I feel very accomplished!
I went to the dentist today. Had a long procedure to get rid of calculus? Stuck under my gums? (I'm translating roughly here..). It was horrid. The machine used makes that sound like a fork scratching over a plate incessantly and it was very painful. It was decidedly unpleasant. Should be all better now, though... I have an appointment for a check-up in three months time but I really don't want to go through that again. I was crying.
I have been busy reading lately. I read the first two quartets in the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. I needed some comfort reading. Now I crave science...
More shelves! I'm so industrious today!
Excuse the quality. It's nighttime and the ipad already does crappy photo quality. Also, more books. I had forgotten I had these as they are in rather bad shape and I had given them a corner to themselves. Now they have a new corner! The hair mousse is currently acting as a book-end! Also, the small chest looks kind of distorted in this photo. (There is more nail polish and nail care stuff inside the chest.)
Over my dresser/desk (when my computer returns). Not sure what exactly is going on that shelf. I have more folders than that. (And yes, that used to be a folder for The Legend of Zelda, second world.) The big basket of yarn must stay there (as I mentioned in a previous post, my yarn box can hardly close..) but I must find (or make) somewhere for the other. That's the most current current crocheting project so I shouldn't hide it too far away or it really never will get done.
Small shelf for knick-knacks and whatever I think I'll need beside my bed that shouldn't clutter up the tiny night table. Those little figures follow me around. I think I remember where I've got two of them from but the rest? It seems they've just appeared and joined the collection over the years. Very strange.
Put up a small bookshelf today. I'm using scrap wood for everything. This piece I think was once part of one of the walls in the kitchen. It was painted white with a sort of red residue underneath which I had to strip off but it was just the right width for the shelf I wanted so... Anyway, there are now books in my room. Much better!
The books currently on my shelf. It's a bit of a mix of books I like to read, books I'd like to read and books I probably ought to read, and some that I figure I might enjoy on a rainy day. I have more books than this but they are stored away in the shed or on other people's bookshelves and occasionally I will do a big switch around and my bookshelf will then look entirely different. Tolkien stays, though.
I have got a room which is very exiting. All I've had for years in an alcove and whenever I'd need it I had to inform people that "my imaginary door is currently closed, thank you". Headphones usually meant Do Not Disturb. But while I was away in Thailand there was a bit of moving things around and what used to be the dining corner now has four walls - and a door! Which closes! The rooms isn't quite four square meters but there's room for my bed and dresser and (I hope) all my stuff.
A room! My TV is on a shelf at the foot end of my bed. There's going to be a shelf on the left wall and a small shelf above the head of my bed, for books. I think. I'm thinking a lot about the shelves. I need shelves. They need to be big enough to hold my stuff but I don't want it to become too crowded. I have walls. Bare walls! The only bare walls in the entire house; I don't want to ruin it! I seem to be carrying around a tape measure at all times at the moment.
Today I put up a rack for my clothes and sorted through all my clothes (which took about ten times as long as putting up the rack).
I went to town a few days ago and got the hangers. They are a bit too wide for my clothes but they were there and they were cheap and I needed hangers. I will surely be on the lookout for some smaller ones - and perhaps less colourful! It's only two months since I went through my clothes last time, four weeks of which I wasn't even home. How can it accumulate so? I didn't buy that much in Thailand!
I got storage boxes for under the bed, too. Containing shoes, bags and belts, and my yarn (most of my yarn; the lid wont really close as it is. I had to make a "current projects" pile in a basket to make room for it, and I threw lots and lots away...) There's room for one more box but that spot is currently being taken up by a cat carrier the kittens like to sleep in. There is also a cat door under the bed - it was already there so why move it? I can close it if I don't want to be bothered by cats...
Bothered by cats - hah!
Awww!
Awww awww!
These two are leaving tomorrow. :( But the girl (bottom) is going to my sister, Loe, and the boy to some of her friends. So :D.
My computer is currently off being repaired so I had to steal myself some time on E's computer while she was at work and mess around with some pictures -- yes! More Thailand pictures!
Lonely Beach. Most of the beach is sandy but this end is where all the various debris from the sea gather. We experienced some very windy days where all kinds of neat stuff had washed up on the beach (and lots of not so neat stuff; plastic bottles, etc.) And yes, that's me down in the corner.
Ahh... Yes... Back in May I had a crisis of cannot-deal-with-people-at-all!-dimensions and part of that was deleting nearly everyone from my friendlist here indiscriminately in a futile attempt to start anew and get blogging again when really it was me sharing anything with anyone that was the problem (the attempt failed before I'd even made one post) which is why some of you might have noticed I have been adding you back. It wasn't anything personal but it does make for a rather awkward situation now... So... Uhm... Yeah. Sorry for deleting you.
I'm going to burst this none-posting bubble with some photos! I was in Thailand for four weeks with my sister and her boyfriend, visiting our brother. Returned a week ago. All of these are taken with my ipad. Mostly I didn't bring my ipad when going places so I don't have that many. On the computer on the other hand - but I'll save those for another day.
( Thailand )
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