happy end of september . . .

lunch with the hens.  red bowl.  i seem to be on an asian kick ever since the tempting goodies on the cruise.  but i kept it simple with just a bowl of wonton soup and maybe a spring roll or two.  oops.

and then i headed off to visit the beard for a couple of days.  we had dinner at a pizza joint.  their pizzas are either 20" or 30".  that is huge.  so if you are a fairly normal person, you order one slice, which comes served on a regular, at any other normal pizza place, medium pizza pan.  it is huge and i forgot to take a picture.  HUGE!!!  and if you want to play bocce, be their guest.  they apparently even have their own league.  and of course they serve beer.  craft beer, joanie!!!  it's in a university town so it's crazy but crazy fun.  great people watching.

and then back to watch the house of the flying daggers. very martial arts but amazing cinematography.

updates . . .

had to call the plumber back this morning.  the toilet hates me so much it refused to flush yet again.  maybe i forgot to celebrate its birthday.  and i filled the sink with water to wash out some unmentionables and the drain would not open.  i guess over the years it has become in sync with the toilet.  of course the plumber takes one look at the sink, and it drains.  of course it does.  and the toilet was an easy fix too.  so hopefully the two are placated but they may need a slice of chocolate cake each to insure the brightness of future relations.

my stomach bug has gotten to the merely queazy stage.  thank you kidlet for the pepto run and sue for the concern.

so between diet, the exercise on vacay and the bug, i have lost a total of 19 pounds.  curious as to exactly how much exercise i got, i remembered that my phone tracks my steps.  in mykonos, i walked 6.2 miles, 14,895 steps, 9 floors.  thank you iPhone for your stats but don't expect that to be a daily occurrence at home.

plumbers . . .

generally speaking, i am not fond of calling a plumber or electrician.  it's not the profession, it's the service charge to come to your house.  i don't mind parts and labor but $67 to walk in the door?  no thank you.  and so, i usually wait until more than one thing explodes before i get anything fixed.  today for a four-for.

he fixed my toilet and tightened the seat which is really rather important unless you want to go skidding off into the tub or onto the floor.  then he moved on to my clogged sink.  yes, i know how to fix it myself but as long as he's here . . .   it runs beautifully.  not so beautiful was the mess of grunge he felt necessary to share with me.  ugh.

and then he moved downstairs and replaced the faucet and a something, something down below that had rusted to smithereens.  i don't have to know its name since i'm not a plumber.

so i am all bright and shiny and running.  another good day in paradise.

please just be a 24 hour bug . . .

it's getting exhausting running downstairs to a working toilet.  must be something i ate.  you know the drill.  ice chips to the rescue.

hen day . . .

one hen was busy on friday.  and since hens are flexible, lunch today instead.  we hit bahama breeze.  lots of good food including chicken quesadillas and tortilla soup with a side of prevacid.

made an appointment to get my turlet fixed.  should be back in operation come wednesday late.  and since he is here, i'm finally replacing the broken faucet in the kitchen and if i don't get around to it tomorrow morning, the slow draining sink in my bathroom.

still working on photos.  all 1,314 of them.

and here is me being pensive on the way to cavtat from dubrovnik.  bahahaha.  at one point i had my feet in the water.  fun.

another good day in paradise.

a little time with my favorite furry person . . .

the beard was up in jax visiting his daughter and stopped by on the way home.  he tried to fix my toilet but the stubborn thing was having no part of it.  i think toilets have it in for me.  so we gave up and decided to grill a couple of filet mignons paired with sautéed mushies and a caprese salad.  slurp. he also shared his amazing photos from china.  happy times.

buzz. buzz.

tired of being a slug, i ironed every stitch of clothing i took on the trip.  i have a closet full of clean and ready to wear clothes.  life is good.

and i vacuumed.  i have a dyson 'animal'.  just for kicks, i emptied the canister before starting.  by the time i was done, it was half full of cat hair and litter.  i might even have heard it mew.

i ran some errands, did the hand wash.  i am clean!!!  and then because the beard/bbw is coming tomorrow and will try and fix my errant toilet, i decided since i had finally  purchased 100 watt bulbs, i would 86 the 60w i had temporarily stuck in the bathroom so he could see what he was doing.  balancing with one foot on the side of the tub and one foot on the toilet, i removed the old bulb and stuck in a new one. poof.  the bulb popped.  down off my aerie, i grabbed another 100w bulb.  nada.  zilch.  somehow i blew the light fixture.  no bueno. but the house is 28 years old and apparently is angry at me for going on vacay and not taking it with me.  monday, i call an electrician to fix it and add motion detectors to the front of the house.

grateful i have a house with electricity.

catch up . . .

all that sleep caught up and i was wide awake at 4:30 a.m.  not a problem, i organized the 1,314 photos i took over 14 days.  then i started to run them through photoshop.  i made a dent but that is all.  three more loads of laundry, clean litter, a run to the produce store, and i'm starting to get all things back to normal.  life is most excellent!!!!!

oops . . .

i literally slept all day today.  i woke up twice when bear was doing an i'm hungry dance on my chest but otherwise, i was out like a light.

surprise . . .

blog note:  i am going to be filling in the last two weeks while simultaneously adding daily posts so if you want to read the stories and see the shots, you'll have to take two steps backwards and one step forward to play catch up with me.

after arriving home sometime after midnight, you'd think i'd flop into oblivion . . .  not so, my body was apparently still on barcelona time and had no intention of shutting down until almost 3: a.m. and even with an ambien, it was up and doing laundry, hard boiling eggs and making iced tea by 6:30 a.m.

i had just gotten back from grocery shopping when my phone rang, it was the beard telling me he was the big bad wolf huffing and puffing and blowing the house in.  just when i thought he had totally lost it, the doorbell rings and there on my doorstep was the beard/bbw.  yay!!!  and the big goof came bearing unsolicited gifts from his trip to china.  heck, i was just happy to see his face. and off he whisked me to my favorite sub shop for meat ball subs.  slurp.

after his departure, i fell asleep until kidlet called wanting to take me out to dinner for my birthday.  exhausted, i begged for a rain date and we noshed on homemade bruschetta and chocolate cake from carrabba's.

to ensure a solid night's sleep, i took an ativan and dreamt of giving the cats baths in public.  go figure.

home again, home again . . .

woke up at 6:15 a.m. tuesday morning  barcelona time and headed to the airport.  at 12:15 a.m. our time, the following day, we arrived home.  add in the six hour time change and you have some happy but exhausted campers.  we left two behind but they will arrive tomorrow.  that's a lot of hours on a plane.  two plus something from barcelona to amstersdam, another nine to atlanta and another hour home.

airplane food is notoriously nasty and KLM was no exception so on the flight from AMS to ATL, while everyone else was dining on mystery meat and squished something, something, we were noshing on salami and prosciutto a selection of cheeses and filtched dinner rolls.  slurp.  yes, we were those people and happily waving our freak flags.  we also were not alone.  the two finns behind us were nibbling on meat sammies on slabs of thick homemade bread.

best time in years.

monserrat . . . las ramblas . . . barcelona . . .

what an amazing day.  the weather was perfect.  first a trip through the winding valley up to the monastery of monserrat. o.em.gee!!!  look how high we were while riding in a bus over roads with no guard rails!!!!

 the rock formations were amazing

 bob.  lots of pictures of bob.

 see what i mean?

 this overlooks the valley.  still not sure what it is but it is awesome.

 you can see to the ocean all the way to the right.

 nothing like this in florida

 or anywhere else around the bend.

 the monks built this.  my mouth is still open.

 don't ask.  i have no answer.

 check out this sweet pea.

 ok, lousy shot but it was out the bus window.

 robin and david. or technically david and robin

 robin and miss vicki, and sweet pea.

 jaw still on the ground.

but the day is not done.  we went to las ramblas in downtown barcelona to check out the street scene.

 yep, marilyn beat us there.

 love the street people

 again with the odd guy

 and the mad hatter

 your guess is as good as mine but do not touch

think we're done???  no way.  on to the market.

 look at the octopus

 and snails

 and chocolate covered strawberries

 and oddities from the sea

 olives.  glorious olives

 and corneta

 dates

 eggs.  normal eggs

 abnormal eggs

 and things i don't think i want to eat

 and fruit

 and meat

 and a lesson on how to eat the ham and cheese

 more goodies.

and so this made us hungry and we hit a little place on las ramblas.  and thirsty

 glug.

 bob's patent, i didn't do it face.

 tapas bar

 tapas

 slurp

and i'll end with the very first morning shot.

what a day.  good friends, good food and lots of beer!!!!!!!

villefranche . . .

and saint paul de vence and nice and tourettes but not in that order.

we pulled into ville de franche and found this really quaint town.  there was a little bit of time before we headed out on the days adventure so bob and i wandered a bit.

 pretty huh???

 yes, i take shots of windows and doors and anything else odd.

 see?  odd.

 and water fountains . . .

which spit water . .

and more windows.

and then we hopped the bus and headed for saint paul de vence and turrettes, via nice.

let's talk about nice.  i was not impressed.  who knows how my brain works.  i took lots of shots through the bus windows but still, my heart was not going pitter pat.

and on to saint paul de vence.  what a neat walled town.  so much good stuff.  who makes a horse out of horse shoes!!!!

 sharon under the arbor.

 now this is the way to cobble the streets . . .

 and the view over the wall.

 and a typical street.

but the best was tourrettes.  oh. em. gee.  yes, they hang their shoes out to air.

 and this is the view over the city wall.

 and windows.  did you doubt it.  of course there are shots of windows.

 and walkways.

 and lamp posts.

 and stairways

 and cafes.

 and hats.

 and ladders

 and bikes

 and cameras

 and cats.  why would i not take photos of cameras and cats

 and an occasional church.

 or clock tower.

 or hidey hole

 or fountain

 and i'll just finish with a typical house.

most amazing day.