Monday, February 13, 2006

This past weekend was full of ups and downs. The down part was the funeral on Saturday of the husband of a coworker (who is also a friend). It was very well attended and the eulogies were beautiful. Still, I can't begin to imagine the sorrow of unexpectedly losing your spouse.

SNG has been informed that he is strictly forbidden to leave this world before I do.

And on to happier subjects. Tomorrow is Departure Date! After having Valentine's lunch with my best guy, I'll jump on a 2:33 flight to Miami, find mom at the gate, and we'll fly through the night to Madrid. Fish mentioned paella earlier in an email and now it's all I can think about.

In the meantime, it looks like SNG might get to spend the weekend with kiltman, who is coming to town on Thursday. I'm so bummed I'll have to miss him. If you don't know kiltman, this is one of our friends who went on the Quebec trip and was a biking buddy here in town until he moved to Pittsburgh last December. I also suspect that he is a long-lost distant cousin. Someday, if I have the time and resources for it, we're going to have to do some investigation into that. It would just explain so much.

I'm going to TRY (no promises!) to keep a travel blog going while on this trip. It depends on finding an internet cafe with a QWERTY keyboard every few days, and having the inclination to write something. But I find that logging what we do on a trip helps in remembering what all the pictures show later. It's also good for remembering those funny anecdotes, like that king Charles VIII or somebody (I can't keep numbered royalty straight very well) knocked his own block off by riding his horse through a low doorway in Amboise chateau, making a widow of Anne de Bretagne, who then married his cousin. I still think that is a funny story. "Ride a tall horse through a low doorway." It's kind of like "take a long walk on a short pier."

Anyway, maybe take a peek here every few days and leave me a note to say hello.

And if I don't get a chance to blog about before then, everybody send all your happy thoughts and warm wishes eastward on March 3, which is J&K's wedding day. Congratulations, you crazy lovebirds!

3 comments:

PartnerInCrime said...

I'm flying out on Thursday, but sadly, Memphis is not nearly as exotic a locale as Spain. (Although I have managed to work up a *wicked* craving for BBQ and hush puppies over the past week.) Have fun on your trip!
I like "ride a tall horse through a low doorway." I have no idea why because it doesn't really relate, but it reminds me of my favorite way to say that someone is stupid: rather than 2 cans short of a six-pack, how about "surfing in Nebraska"? :)

SNG said...

...not the sharpest bulb in the knife drawer.

alphagal said...

Or, simply, "the missing link."
I like surfing in Nebraksa. That can also be referring to someone who is gullible, right?