The Vacation Travel Gods Extract Their Due Again

You know that I really don't mind travel. Like it. Would be totally bored if I had to stay in the same city all the time. And when we have vacations, more often than not we're traveling some place often fairly far away.

The last two years we've had big vacations (one to Central Europe and one to New Zealand) and this year with daughter # 3 AinA getting married in France we're off again. This year just like the last two, my travel and work schedule is kicking into overdrive. I suspect like the last two, I will just stagger onto my outbound vacation flight and collapse.

This week I'm in Chicago. Next week we have a new client with work in Austin and Dallas, TX. Week after that is LA. Week after that is Las Vegas (actually family stuff, not work). A week off before we had over the pond.

Hummingbird Photos from Wife

Stalking

Wife's gear set up to stalk the hummingbird feeding her young.

In Review

A week ago Sunday I flew to LA for business. Stayed there through Tuesday and flew home. On Thursday I flew to Connecticut. Took my sister, her husband and my kidney (har, har) out for dinner as it was her 60th and 2 plus years for the organ. Then I spent a couple of days with Dad who was humphing because a neighbor accused him of feigning age by saying, "you're not even 87"! He looked much better and more relaxed now that he's back in his house.

While I was gone the hummingbird eggs hatched. Wife believes there are two of them. She has her camera gear set up to capture them but the mama gets very skittish whenever she catches sight of Wife.

Next week is all here in Albuquerque.

Happy Bastille Day

Celebrate the beginning of the French Revolution and the birth of La Republique!

• Drink French Wine

• Eat French Cheese

• Cook French Cuisine

• Practice French Kissing

• Go to your local prison and let out a few political captives

• Piss on the French National Soccer Team

• Go on Strike

Vive la France!

Slivovitz

Who would believe that my credibility would be doubted...and doubted twice in three days! Shocking. And yet that is exactly what took place. On Saturday at the 'bird catching' dinner, I mentioned to Dr. Deb about Slivovitz, plum brandy from the Balkans. I was dissed. Dismissed as 'just making that up'.

Not two days later, I'm in LA with partner Frank. I make the same comment and get the same answer. Outrageous!

So I make Frank take me to BevMo ( a really cool liquor chain that I wish had an outpost in Albuquerque) where I proceed to find not just one variety but THREE examples of the Balkans finest.

Slivovitz has traditionally not been high end stuff but we found this 10 year old version from Bosnia Herzegovina.


All this doubting of my credibility is driving me to drink.

de_I - Saver of Birds

We had our friends Cabinet Lady and Dr. Deb over for dinner last night. As usual we were doing our dining al fresco (out of doors for you non-Eurosnobs). Wife was concerned about our going in and out bothering our resident hummingbird. So we decided to leave the screen door open as Wife feels the noise from opening and closing it is the major problem.

I was grilling and once I had the food out and was going to and from the table, the bird was pretty content and not leaving the nest.

We ate and it got darker. We put the light on over the outdoor table. Wife went to get dessert. About half way through, the bird gets off the nest and starts flying around. Suddenly it is in the house, in the kitchen. Wife and guests are in arms. What will happen to the bird? It's clearly disoriented.

It seems to be blinded by the lights. I went in the kitchen just as it was going to one of the canister lights which are very hot. I shut off the main lights so it heads for the over sink light. Now it's dark in the kitchen but the bird is still disoriented. So I turn on the light by the living room door. It head there. I turn that light off and all there is is the light outside. It heads for that one out of the kitchen.

It's still disoriented. We shut the screen. Shut the light outside. Finished dessert in the dark. and carried everything back in in the dark before we turned on the kitchen lights again.

This morning she was safe back in the nest.

More Scenes from Camp Old Folks

I talked about the sewing. Grandchild 2.1 (second daughter's first child) is really into fashion and she spent hours with her grandmother working on this dress.


On Monday we went to a local fun center. It was crazy mobbed. But we got a round of miniature golf in.

And some at least one ride - the bumper boats with water cannon.

That maniacal looking person in blue bearing down like a Stuka dive bomber on 2.1 is Wife.
Now you know why I live in fear most of the time.

4th of July from the Tower

This is the view from "The Tower" as we watched the fireworks over the City of Albuquerque.

Pictures of Activities at Camp Old Folks

Gardening

Sewing

Cooking

Agricultural Processing

Any resemblance between Camp Old Folks and Third World child labor camps is strictly coincidental.

Welcome to Camp Old Folks

That is what wonderful daughter 2, Pulisha, entitled us as we are having her oldest over the 4th weekend. (p.s. I've disinherited #2).

So we have granddaughter 2-1 (when you get over three grandchildren, it's best just to give them a numeric designation hence the one visiting us in 2-1, daughter 2's child 1).

So what does one do at Camp Old Folks?

• Sewing lessons
• Computer workshops
• Cooking lessons
• Shopping
• Hiking
  

Pictures to follow

Is Soccer Here?

I refer you to this article written by Bill Simmons who has been called by a colleague at ESPN as the Manchurian Candidate of soccer.