My day was filled with the company and conversations with good friends. Coffee with mariadela, marda, and em in Wayne. Long chat with Peg. And even longer telephone call with my oldest friend (the number of years we've know each other NOT her age) Judy. I'm a blessed woman to have such wonderfully interesting, enjoyable, loyal, and supportive friends.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Cat to Catbird
I've had the windows open for the past several days in my bedroom and office because it has been so fantastically beautiful. Freya has adored sitting in the window in the morning and watching/listening to the symphony of birds. Now it's evening and she is back at her spot listening to (ironically) a catbird warble on the side gate and hoping against hope that she'll sprout catwings and fly.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Long Time Friends
8 years ago this month we moved from seattle to the philly area along with several other families from the Weyerhaeuser "family". It's been quite an adventure and now we're all embarking on new phases of life which is taking some of us in different geographic direcctions...moving once again. We met the other night for dinner, pool, and laughs...it was very good.
Airtravel - bleh!
So now American Airlines plans to charge you $15 for taking on the first piece of checked luggage. What are they thinking? If they are doing this to raise revenues to cover the cost of increased fuel, they need to think again. People are just going to cram everything they possibly can into their carryon and stretch thelimits of the carryon size. So the weight will be nearly the same and we won't have enough room for all the carryons. So then we can all wait in our seat while the last to board try to jigsaw their bag into overhead compartments and then have to have it checked when there is no room. Then we get to wait while they stow it below. Does this make sense to anyone? Just charge everyone an extra 15 bucks just upfront. Because this policy effects even those who don't have luggage...if they normally have small carryons they might not have room the next time they board (unless they are business class in which case they are paying more anyway). I hope the other airlines don't follow suit! Does anyone see the logic in this?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ducks in Florida Having a Great Time.
What do you mean I have a duck on my hat?
Duck at the Tampa Ray game at Tropicana Field. "I'm partial to the cracker jacks...not so keen on the foot long hotdog...too big for me!"
Good Times With the Boys
Had dinner with Jason, Yaric, and Matt on Friday. Had a good time eating more sushi than should grace a single table!!! 
Home Tomorrow
Except for the bike incident, we had a great visit. Met our contractors, brainstormed over travertine, drove around the neighborhood taking pictures of houses whose tile roofs we like, trying to decide on stucco and trim color. Like our new little apartment on Locust. It's a friendly place complete with resident yorkie....Cooper. Saturday morning market was enjoyable...although next time...we're going early before it's so hot!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Drat and Double Drat
S%$%%T happens anywhere. Our bikes were stolen out of our locked car last night behind the apt….they also took the bike locks we has just bought (irony there…doubly) and the tire pump. Sigh. The perils of a transient population in tropical paradise.
Cooper
We have rented a teeny apartment a few blocks from the house while under construction. It is in a one-story complex with a central patio and about 8 units..probably built in the 50s. It has a lovely garden complete with a plethora of geccos and a lovely dog named Cooper….a Silky Terrier. This morning I opened the door to check on the rain and there he was…so I sat in the patio chair under the eave and let him sit on my lap for awhile…communing on the morning.
Question of the Day
Can anyone figure out why someone would pay out money to rent a giant billboard along the I-75 in central Florida advertising Michele’s Shells – Wholesale Only. How many perspective wholesale does she think she get along the shell buyers I-75???
Evening in the Old Northeast
6:30 in the evening and sitting in the shade of our ST. Pete house…geccos scurry across the brick walks and amongst the dead leaf litter under the shrubs. A blue jay shreeks at some invader (probably one of the pesky teenage squirrels) . The jacaranda tree blooms bright purple. And the neighbor’s cat is trying to decide whether to cross the street to investigate this new person sitting on her steps. Remodel/expansion of the house has stalled (a permit thing) so instead of watching the bulldozers tearing down the old garage, I am sitting next to it pondering where we’ll go eat for dinner. Tomorrow? Tub, sink, and fixture shopping…must make progress someplace even in teeny steps.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
How We've changed
I am in new york city with friends and Jerry. yesterday i went for a walk and was walking down 8th avenue near 48th street. i saw a man croched down adjusting his IPOD, he had several bags. when he stood up to walk away he left a bright blue sack behind on the ground. In the "old" days (i guess pre 9/11) i would have picked it up and run after him "hey...is this yours???". In today's world, I looked at it as I walked by and thought bomb? bag? hmmm...I DID run up to him and touch his arm and ask "did you forget your bag". which apparently he had...a bag not a bomb. jerry laughingly told me i should have asked him "excuse me but did you leave your bomb back there"? unfortunately, it's only a little funny these days.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Mother's Day at Morris Arboretum
Jerry and I went for a walk around the Morris Arboretum this morning in Germantown (a section of Philadelphia).
The azaleas, dogwoods, viburnum, and alium were all blooming. It was lovely. We took Mama Duck and Spotty Duck along for a walk since it's mother's day...they enjoyed it too.
Spotty Duck particularly liked the azaleas.
And sometime Mama Duck and spotty played hide and go seek. It was a very nice day in the garden.
.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Costa Rica Photos are finally up!
i finally finished editing and organizing our photos from our January Costa Rica trip. Check them out on www.flickr.com/photos/abaesel/ And don't worry I didn't post all 1800 photos that Jerry and I took. When you get to the site...click on the "travel collection" and then on the "costa rica" set. have fun!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Monks
Met jerry at the Amtrak station last night as he trained home from a meeting in Connecticut. We drove into downtown Philly and had dinner at Monk's Belgium Cafe on 16th Street (near Spruce). A dark, wood paneled Belgium Beer Pub and eatery...Great mussels and good frites. I had the mussels Dekonick (okay that is not spelled right...but you know...the begium painter guy) made with beer, wine, apples, caramelized leeks and garlice...oh and gruyere cheese. yummy. As always we played dominoes...not as always jerry beat the socks off of me in just 3 rounds! Jerry had a Chimay dubbel beer and I had a LaChouffe (both on tap)...both great beers full of flavor and perfect with the mussels.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Early Mother's Day
I got flowers today from Jason and Yaric for Mother's Day. They are beautiful. I feel special and fortunate!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
According to my snapple cap
According to my Snapple cap, in 1634 in Holland, tulip bulbs were treated as real currency. I wonder how much these would be worth?
Black tulips from my garden. The last of the season.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sandals and Peonies
We are definitely on the backside of Spring sliding into summer. I wore sandals outside the house on Sunday...it's like celebrating the first daffodil or the first cherry blossom. Apparently this year peonies and sandals bloomed simultaneously.
A peony from my garden.
My Bluetooth
I have a bluetooth headset...one more step down the techno/cyber highway. And here is my pledge. I will use it when driving but I WILL NOT wear it to coffee with friends, while walking through the mall, strolling down the street with my husband or while in any other way conversing with friends and family. I'm not sure why, but I really don't like people who wear their bluetooth like a badge...it seems to say...see I'm important, I could get a phone call at any moment now and it's more important than you! With the exception of calls from my architect or from my mom at odd hours or from my son when he's called 3 times in a row...all my calls can go straight to voice mail if I'm engaged in conversations with other people. I don't need to make a bluetooth fashion statement. But it IS really nice for the car!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Trees Walking
At our St. Pete house, we had two crape myrtles moved from the back yard to the parkway (they are in the way of construction traffic). They look great...now we just hope they survive the move. 
They are the two trees in the foreground.
They are the two trees in the foreground.
Recent Eats
We've had a couple nights out with friends this week and ate at two new restaurants (new to us) that we liked very much. Las Serapes in Horsham is a small Mexican restaurant (with a great Tequila bar) in a small strip mall in Horsham. Excellent food that is a step above and beyond the typical burrito and taco plate establishment. Solas is a small BYOB on Lancaster in Bryn Mawr (right across the street from the Acme). This spot has housed at least 4 different restaurants over the past 8 years and this one is the winner! Delightful decor, not too noisy but with a pleasing hum to the place. The food was really great. My Austrialian lamb was perfect with a great relish. Jerry had the Cobio (a wild gulf fish) also fabulous. Judy had the pork cooked two ways...and she couldn't keep exclaiming over the quality. Jack could have eaten 5 of his short rib appetizer. The pineapple/basil sorbet for dessert was spectacular...refreshing and smoothe (not icy). Food portions were just the right size...not too small (so the price seemed right) but not SO huge that you couldn't finish your plate without waddling home and groaning for hours. Our waiter was Cindy who had a fabulous sense of humor and just the right amount of attentiveness. It's been awhile since we've been excited about a restaurant on the Main Line!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
What the duck?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tina Turner
Just read that Tina Turner is coming out of retirement and will be doing a tour of the US in the fall. A DREAM COME TRUE! Better start saving up the money...no doubt these will be rollingstone priced tickets....but I missed her last "farewell tour" don't plan to miss this one. I'll fly to her if she doesn't come here!!!!! Peg? You got that?
Intersection Etiquette
Why is it that Philly/New Jersey driving have such incredibly poor etiquette at intersection and crosswalks? It is a phenemenon that has irritated and sometimes appalled me since I moved here 8 years ago. Does everyone think that crosswalks are just street tattoos meant to break up the monotony of the stretch of asphalt? Do they really think that the world SO revolves around them that they are entitled to the right of way regardless of rules and common decency? In Bryn Mawr at least 95% of cars routinely ignore even the crosswalk that has flashing lights that light up when someone requests to cross the marked crosswalk. How IS it possible to routinely and consistently ignore flashing lights with a person standing at the curb or even in the street itself? I have long ago stopped complaining about the people who run the yellow/red and who jump the green when making a left turn. But I refuse to stop finding the act of nearly running over pedestrians in crosswalk an acceptable act. None of us are that important. Running errands, making it to the manicurist, even making it to work isn't that important that a person can't spend the 10 seconds it takes to stop for someone. I find it sad beyound belief that when I stop at a stop sign the waiting pedestrians don't actually believe I'll stop long enough for them to cross the street. Yesterday I practically had to wave semaphore flags to convince a group of pedestrians that I really was going to wait for them to cross the street. So I will continue to stop even if it appears that the jerk behind me may end up in my backseat.
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