Here's a bunch of doodles from our flight home, which included a five-hour layover in Chicago. We've become quite familiar with that airport and its food choices from this and other trips.
Gone are the days of the free in-flight t.v. dinner. Welcome the $5 bagel sandwich.
I never noticed how many people wear Crocs until spending a huge amount of time watching people in the airport.
I knew about those little drive-through espresso places out west, but never realized what an abundance of them there are, and way out in the middle of nowhere too. You will never have to drive far without an espresso. You will probably have to drive farther to find a bathroom though, so don't drink too much.
This is a tourist attraction for us, since we do not have this kind of thing in our parts, unless it's a Starbucks with a drive-through.
One of the highlights of our vacation was meeting two fellow bloggers, Emma Sometimes and BaDoozie for the very first time.
We ate a gourmet meal at Jake's Famous Crawfish in Portland, OR. Everything was spectacular. Although I agree with BaDoozie that it would be nice if they'd cut the loaf of bread all the way through so we don't have to rip it apart with our bare hands. And it would be good if the crust wasn't so hard that a person's teeth could fall out trying to bite off a piece. Nevertheless, I still had my teeth by the time my salmon arrived, and it was very tasty. It's too bad we don't have a Jake's. They have a day where you can eat with your dog.
Susie's son Dylan was a character, even if he does suffer from voice emodulation. If I had more time I would have doodled him and everyone else.
Now Emma Sometimes and her husband are very smart and cultured types, and they had tickets for us all to a classical music concert right after dinner. It was really good, and we sat front and center.
Of course, I cannot go to a classical music concert without doodling.
After that we went to Powell's ginormous bookstore, where I would have loved to have spent more time, but the jet lag had been catching up with me for hours. So until next time... we may meet again someday...
Things to do after arriving home from a ten-day vacation:
Wash and fold giant pile of laundry
Pull ten days off of my page-a-day calendar
Go through a pile of mail, mostly junk
Throw away rotten bananas
Throw away rotten eggplant, broccoli, green beans, cheese...
Open all windows and get some air in here
Buy new food
Get my dog (got him!)
Pull 9-foot-high weeds out of the front lawn
Respond to emails
Blog stuff
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The story of Charlie
I am very thankful that my beta fish, Charlie, did not die while we were on vacation. I gave him a 10-day beta fish feeder on the morning we left. Charlie is very particular about what goes in his bowl. When he's stressed out about something, he turns from blue to grey and then sinks down to the bottom and sulks. As soon as I put that 10-day feeder thing in the bowl he turned grey and when into his zombie-state. I wondered if he'd eat it at all, and was almost certain I was coming home to a belly-up beta fish. Well, Charlie was grey when I came back late last night, but he was very happy to see us and snapped out of it. Now tonight, I took a photo of him, using the flash and he looked like he'd completely conked out, floating sideways and motionless.
Ironic, taking a picture of my fish to show he's not dead, and now the flash kills him. I think he's going to be o.k. though. He is apparently very resilient.
Last night I stayed at Chautauqua Institution with my brother and his wife and baby who are visiting here. It's on Chautauqua lake, and there are concerts and things going on all summer long. Thankfully dogs are allowed. Skippy likes to put his feet in the water.
I am packing my bags now. Assuming all goes as planned, we will actually meet two very famous bloggers this weekend. Thanks for making those reservations Emma!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Today there was a surprise package for me in my mailbox. My friend Kaori went to Japan, and bought me some Hi Chew (the best Japanese candy) in these two exclusive flavors which are only sold in Okinawa. The green fruit on the bottom package is some kind of Okinawan fruit that I don't know the name of.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
I might have something new to post here soon. I guess there's just not much to say lately. But I always have plenty of doggie pictures. I need some coffee. I'm tired.
This big fat snake was crossing my walkway this afternoon.
He let me take a close-up.
These little butterflies are flying all over my yard. I suppose technically it's probably a moth. (We have a lot of dead grass in our lawn! It could use some rain.)
I was going through some old sketchbooks tonight and came across these doodles.
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Saturday we were grocery shopping, and when I went to buy a bag of Japanese rice, I noticed there were living winged insects inside the sealed bag! They were in there trying to fly! The only way they could have gotten in there is by recently hatching out of some eggs that were in the rice.
They say, if you keep flour long enough things will hatch out of it.
There's this tree behind our backyard that's some kind of a cotton tree or something, because it continually sheds cottony poof balls all over the neighborhood this time of year.
Last night I had a dream that I took a flight to California, and there was a quick layover on the moon. On my ticket it just said "lunar." When I was at the terminal on the moon I was surprised to see out the window that there was a highway with plenty of traffic.
The people who last owned our house planted a bunch of ground cover by the house. Now I have no idea what to do with it. The grass grows inside of it, and it is impossible to pull it all out stalk by stalk. I want to do away with the whole thing and start over. Where do I even begin?
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Remove Stains Right At The Office
I have a pair of white capris that I like, but they've been stained with something unremovable, like paint or something. Today I covered up the stain with wite-out. It actually worked. At least, I can't find the stain now unless I'm really looking for it.
Ok, we are back from Michigan. We had a great time meeting our five-week-old niece, Lilly. Here are a few highlights from our trip.
Us looking like parents.
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The real parents. This is my brother Charles & his wife Marci with Lilly.
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We found a cool stop along the way off exit 156 off 90, west of Cleveland. There was a Barnes & Noble where we had a nice coffee break. There were a lot of shops sectioned off in an outdoor mall area, which looked more like a nice city block. Here's George in front of Urban Outfitters. He loves that place.
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A tasty lunch at bd's Mongolian Barbeque. Yum Yum Yum.
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Chuck and Marci had some friends nice enough to let us stay at their house while they were gone all weekend. We were hosted by Kitty. Kitty and I became close friends right away.
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There's nothing like stopping for dinner at the Cracker Barrel on the way home. Except George didn't know they were going to put bacon on his salad. He had to pick it all out.
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Time to get back to normal life. I need to clean this dust-infested house.
I'm still here. I've just been busy getting things in order before we take a trip out to Michigan this weekend. I will meet my new niece Lilly. There will be pictures. It has been a while since we've gone anywhere.
Many of my doodles end up having an alligator or some kind of lizard in them somewhere. No reason really, except they are fun to draw.
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I have been going to the gym almost every day for a couple of weeks. Eventually I hope to see a change all over, especially in my arms which have always been like twigs. I need to eat more so that the muscles have something to grow with. I read somewhere that a great food for body building is Japanese soba noodles. Out of all Japanese foods, soba noodles are one thing I've never cared for. I bought a package of them yesterday. There must be a non-gross way to prepare them. I need to do a little research.
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We went and saw Shrek the Third on Friday night. I know I'm a harsh critic, but in my opinion that one could have gone straight to DVD. It was not that good. Too much talking. It did not have the same momentum as the other two Shreks. I was kind of bored actually.
We had a graduation ceremony for the preschool class I've been working with.
I guess this whole kiddie graduation thing is supposed to give kids extra self-esteem. I think it's kind of silly, but it's a big hit with the mommies and daddies. Their was an unbelievable mob of paparazzi with their cameras and video recorders when those scholars came marching down the isle in their little paper hats.
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We have an abundant crop of dandelions in our yard this year. For the past two years George has been in a never-ending battle with the weeds. I keep saying that we live in the country, and everyone around here has dandelions, and fighting them is a loosing battle, and expensive too. We are surrounded by fields of weeds blowing their seeds in our direction. So this year we have concluded together that we have a "meadow," not a lawn.
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In high school I remember 21 Jump Street being the COOLEST teen show. I've recently watched it a couple of times since I discovered it on one oldies tv station we have, and I cannot believe how incredibly cheesy it is.
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This week I have personally confirmed that it is true, you can get your Starbucks cappuccino in a mug instead of a paper cup if you just ask. I got a tall caramel macchiato, and it was, in my opinion, gigantic. I actually prefer the plain coffee there. If they sold a kiddie size for half the price, that would actually be enough to make me happy.
Now that I go to the gym every day, I cannot stop buying coffee and cappuccinos! The gym is a couple shops away from the coffee shop. Whenever I go into town, I use being there as an excuse to buy coffee. But now it's every day. How do I stop?
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We watched American Idol last night with Barry Gibb. I kept thinking he looks like someone else. I figured out who he looks like! The Geico caveman guy... these tiny pictures were the closest comparison I could find.
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We never watched American Idol the whole way through until this season. I've been a Doolittle fan since the beginning. My guess is that LaKisha will go tonight. What does everyone else think?
Here is a gripe that I am sure I will share with women everywhere.
What is the deal with women's clothing sizes? If a man wants to buy a pair of pants, he chooses the pants that have his actual waist size and leg length written on them. No guessing. And the sizes are all there to choose from.
I am 5'2", and I know that is short, but I am by no means crazy abnormally short. I have plenty of friends who are shorter than I am. Yet if I want a pair of jeans that are the right length, most clothing stores have either one length for all waist sizes (WAY too long), or lengths "ankle," "regular," and "tall." My best bet is going for the ankle length, which still touches the floor, but it's better than having to hem a couple of inches. Who are those people, who are six feet tall and a size two?
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The weather here has been amazing for days in a row, and we have been busy entertaining our guest, Flat Stanley.
Here he is at Vidler's. A historic five & dime store in East Aurora. Nothing really costs 5 or 10 cents anymore... except maybe a pixie stick.
We had dinner at the Olive Garden.
For a guy who's as flat as a piece of paper, Stanley sure has a huge appetite!
Stanley helped us buy extra groceries for his stay.
It was a perfect day at the park... but climbing on the fences is prohibited! That Stanley almost got us in all kinds of trouble. It's ok, we got away with a warning.
We have had a great time, but tonight flat is packing his bags, because tomorrow he's off to another location to meet new friends!
It's hard to say who she looks like right now. I'm told that my brother was born with dark hair, and then he shed it all and it grew back blond. Maybe Lilly will turn blond, we'll see. She needs to smile so we can see if she has Marci's dimples.
In Russia if you have dimples, they say it's because your mom stole an egg. One dimple for each egg stolen.
Whoever she looks like, she's a cute one!
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Today is a turning point in my life. Here you see a self-portrait of what I look like now. Given some time, I will be covered with muscles.
I had a session with a personal trainer this morning, who's got a plan for me to work out without losing any weight, because I have no weight to lose! I'm just going to gradually build up some strength, and hopefully feel a whole lot healthier.
I looked into a couple of women's gyms before deciding on a regular one. I checked out Curves and another one. They both had the same one-size-fits-all plan. One lady was telling me how she lost 30 pounds at Curves. That is great for most people, but not the thing for me.
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Today Flat Stanley arrived for a visit. He wants to know when someone is going to mow the lawn.
I need to plan some activities for while he's here. I'm sure he will enjoy his time in western New York.
Gone are the days of the free in-flight t.v. dinner. Welcome the $5 bagel sandwich. 
I never noticed how many people wear Crocs until spending a huge amount of time watching people in the airport. 
I knew about those little drive-through espresso places out west, but never realized what an abundance of them there are, and way out in the middle of nowhere too. You will never have to drive far without an espresso. You will probably have to drive farther to find a bathroom though, so don't drink too much.
This is a tourist attraction for us, since we do not have this kind of thing in our parts, unless it's a Starbucks with a drive-through.
