Tag: France 2017

So Melinda and I landed at SeaTac yesterday just before 2pm. Well, more accurately, the plane we were on landed. Our job was to stay seated with our seat belts fastened, our seats in their upright position, and our tray tables put away. Oh, we were also supposed to have our bags either in an overhead bin or under the seats in front of us. I’m pleased to say that we followed these instructions.

So the plane on which Melinda and I flew yesterday (is it accurate to say we flew? – we were in the air for almost 10 hours…) landed at SeaTac yesterday just before 2pm.

It took a bit of time to get off the plane, clear customs, get our bags, clear customs with our bags, and to walk to where Ella was waiting for us. Still, all these things considered, we got home at around 3pm. Kim, Bentsen’s caretaker for the last 3 1/2 weeks, arrived with Bentsen at 4. It was an exciting time.

Chloe came over to witness and be part of the reunion so all four of us were there when Kim brought him out of her car.He seemed to recognize being in our neighborhood first, and then quickly realized that his family was all there. Kim let him down and he ran to each of us, wagging his tail and jumping with excitement. We each held him in turn and he seemed to cry with delight. It was all very touching, to be sure. I have no photos or videos of this as we all wanted to experience it firsthand and not through a camera.

I’ve included a couple of photos here of a couple of things that took place soon after the reunion. As I hope you can see, we have a happy puppy, and four happy people.

So Melinda’s and my niece Stephanie turns 30 today. That’s the oldest she’s been yet (look it up!) and 10 years since her age ended in a zero (do the math!).

Oh, regarding the blog post title, the Roman Numeral for 30 is XXX which would suggest this age is for mature audiences only (as would my blog post title – we’ll see if it drives more traffic to my blog). Good thing you’re 30, Steph.

Okay, in honor of Stephanie’s birthday, while wandering around Amsterdam today I looked for things that made me think of her. Those that lent themselves to photographs, I snapped with my cellphone camera. I had some simple rules for this. One, all pictures had to be taken today. Two, I had to take them myself.

This was quite a fun thing to do. It was a gray, rainy day, unfortunately, so Melinda, Christine, Bernard and I scrapped our plans to rent a paddle boat in order to look at the city from the water. Being on foot likely helped me with getting these photos. For instance, could I find something like the place below while on the water??

Before presenting the next photos, I need to provide some additional context. Most of my blog readers know that my immediate family (Melinda, Chloe, Ella and me) lived in Nantes, France for 13 months beginning in July, 2010. That’s what got me started blogging, in fact! Every day for those 13 months I wrote a post related to what we did that day. You can find that blog here.

Anyway, in November that year, my parents came to visit. We had a great time showing them around town, including visiting a variety of restaurants. One day, I got creative snapping a picture of my mom outside a restaurant called “Le Caribou.”

As you can see if you look at my blog post that day, I snapped the picture in a way that blocked out the o and u in caribou. Then I wrote a silly story designed to entertain her grandkids. It did. Stephanie still talks about this one (and another called “Frozen Granny”).

The whole point in telling you all of this is because I spotted a restaurant in Amsterdam that made me think of the restaurant in Nantes, the day I took my mom’s picture, and Stephanie’s appreciation of it. I did my best to replicate the Nantes photo as a selfie.

To wrap things up, you should familiarize yourself with Stephanie’s and my mutual interest in the number 143. Do so here. Having done that, you should appreciate this photo below, dedicated to my appreciation for Stephanie, especially so on her triple X birthday.

On the subject of 143, Stephanie’s roommate Mina is going to help me reintroduce this project I started two summers ago. Look for some new poems once I’m back and feel free to send me your submissions!

First, Stephanie, I’ll have something for you later for your 30th birthday. For now, something more important. Beer!

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Gesundheit?

No, I did not sneeze, silly. Sarphatipark is the name of the park I ran in (and around and around) this morning for 30 minutes. You can, and should, learn more on Wikipedia. Below is what the park looks like from the perspective of a satellite (I assume you can locate the expanse of green space). Oh, the shaded blue area to the right is where our apartment is located.

So, yes, it was easy to get there this morning. It was a fun place to run, too, in that the trail weaves in and around a pond and a beautiful fountain. There are multiple benches and, as you can see in the image above, lots of green space. There is a workout area that has permanent installations of equipment for doing exercises like pull-ups and push-ups, among others. I was in the company of a lot of other health-minded people, the kind of thing that keeps a person incentivized.

Speaking of images, if Google Translator is to be believed, the expression in the photo to the left says, “Our Sarphatipark is a public park.” My experience bears this out.

I liked the park so much I went back and ate a picnic lunch there while Melinda and Christine went shopping.

Melinda, Christine and I flew from Nantes to Amsterdam this afternoon and are getting settled in our apartment (another glorious AirBnB discovered by Melinda). More updates to come.

It’s our last night in Nantes (the post title may have tipped you off). We leave tomorrow morning for Amsterdam where we will be staying for three nights. Christine is accompanying us and then Bernard will join us on Friday night, meaning we are getting a little bonus time with our friends!