Suburb of Heaven

This has been one hell of a summer, in both the very good and the very bad ways.

While we were visiting the beach with my family, including new adorable niece, we got word that my father-in-law had fallen and wasn't doing well. Then he seemingly was doing better. We got back home, and the better turned into not good, and then very not good, and then he passed away.

My husband is a wreck, for many and complicated reasons. We go to Kentucky for the funeral, which is a sad but loving time.

Then I hare off to Australia for two weeks on a work trip that I have added time to, because I am not stupid and will not pass up this chance to see a new country. However, it's always hard for my husband when I'm gone, and obviously right now is a bad time. So I was excited to be in Australia, but also guilty and anxious. Fun times.

I'm back home now, and had a wonderful trip. But I'm at that stage of the jet lag recovery where I'm very sweaty and things seem a little like I'm on a hyperrealistic theater set.

While I was in Melbourne I did decide to read a classic bit of literature from there, and that's how I discovered how good Picnic at Hanging Rock is. I need to see the movie now.

We left Florence and hopped back on another Freccia to Rome. I had heard that Termini, Rome's main train station, had been turned into a mall, and it's true - there were now shops everywhere, including a branch of our now beloved Grom, which sold artisinal gelato. (The torrone flavor...omg. And the fiordilatte, which I kept returning to. We ate a lot of gelato, you guys.)

After some puttering around back home which never resulted in a decision, we finally opted for staying at The Beehive, a place that has been in business since 1999. They've always had positive reviews and I was interested in staying with them even though they were only a few blocks from the train station, which is noisy and can feature an interesting and sometimes intimidating parade of humanity. We walked one block out - still a little uncertain. Second block - huh, things were quieter now. We reached the Beehive and buzzed in and found ourselves in a cute little courtyard.

( Roma )

At the risk of prolonging things, I think I'll stop here and wrap up the trip in another entry. More Rome and some Perugia.

Guys, guys, my sister's photos came out really great! Well, I'm responsible for some of them (uh, many blurry ones, as far as I can tell. Sheesh. I'm apparently Cap'n Shaky Hands. Anyway, here are six photos of Ravenna mosaics.

( Read more... )

I think I'm allowed to check a bag for free on my trip. It's difficult to tell, though - or maybe I just automatically distrust what the airline is telling me (one free bag!) because I'm certain there's a line of small print somewhere that explicitly sets out conditions that will make me pay eleventy gajillion dollars when I check in. On the other hand, they did send me a chirpy email telling me that I have only a few more sleeps until rest and relaxation! How nice of them to think of me and remind me that I should charge up my phone and remember to bring my earbuds.

I'm still quite excited about the trip but as things get closer I've also had a bunch of things to solve that have taken up a big chunk of mental real estate and have made me really, really wrung out. I'm packed, at least, although I'm convinced that I've packed useless things that aren't really outfits and will leave behind something vitally important. At least it all fits in a shoulder-carry bag. I thought about taking a larger wheely suitcase but figure trying to heave it over bridges in Venice and cobblestones everywhere else probably doesn't make sense.

I also had that lowering thought that probably comes to most people excited about a little travel: the imp in your head that says, "why bother, you're just coming back to the same old grind, it's not like anything will be different. You'll just have spent a bunch of money to generate a big circle, net zero." I am doing my best to ignore that voice, because while technically speaking, it's accurate, it's also the farthest thing from the truth. If nothing else, this trip will give me some quality time with my sister and also some quality time alone with my own thoughts. I really need that at the moment.

Maybe being so tired now will mean I'll actually sleep well on the airplane. That would be a first.

In more local news, I went apple picking with Bemo and the members of my book club, and loved it more than I anticipated. The trees were bursting with fruit and it all tasted so good and I made a big apple crisp that was fantastic. There's something satisfying, maybe on a primitive level, about just walking around with a crisp tart apple you've just picked, enjoying the sunshine and watching the monarchs flutter around.

In more fannish news, it's the season for secret santas and holiday fic exchanges. I can't decide if I want to sign up for them - I haven't written anything in a really long time and don't know if I have any story bopping around in my head at the moment. I really should decide before I go because I think signup deadlines are looming.

A friend of mine decided to head three hours out to a state park to have a hike with her trusty beagle companion, and asked if I'd come. (She's kind of my tour guide since I have an ass-stuck-to-sofa problem if not poked at.) The drive was a bit much to do in one day but it was absolutely beautiful out, and the area of Nebraska we were in was right by the Missouri River on the bluffs. Lots of forest, which is unusual for Nebraska but apparently the bluffs and river combine to make a bit of a microclimate that eastern deciduous trees don't mind. So we walked around in the trees, then went down to the river and bumbled happily along looking at Monarch butterflies. There were also an indignant family of about 15 wild turkeys, and Edith the beagle was very happy.

You know, I have problems when people ask me what I've been up to, because by and large my life is pretty repetitive. I really need to figure out how to do more stuff on a more regular basis.

And actually speaking of that, the Italy trip is looming. It's a little under a month away. I'm so excited! I do keep waffling about what I need to see and what I should pass - it's a really short trip and I can't possibly stuff it all in. For example, I really want to go see Donatello's Mary Magdalene but I don't know if squeezing in a trip to that particular museum - or the Bargello - should top just hanging out in Florence since we're only there a couple of days. (We're doing the Uffizi and the Vatican). Which churches in Rome to prioritize? Sooo many possibilities. Do we try and fit in Ostia Antica? I really want to drag everyone to a hill town, but which one? My sister's priorities are 1. Spectacular countryside views and 2. Not too much damn time on a train, and I haven't come up with what I think is the best solution. I'd love it to be Perugia and maybe should just settle on that.

Listen, I just have a lot of feelings, is all.

There are few things that tell you you're in the future as posting an online journal entry from an airplane. Usually the wifi isn't free and I don't bother paying for it, but I had an idea for the draft I'm pecking away at and decided to spend the $2.50 just to get it down before I forgot about it. So I'm at a window seat, looking out a the great wing of the airplane and the clouds lit with the setting sun and looking just like they do in a Constable painting.

We're returning from southern Florida, where I with great delight danced at my dear friend's wedding. She's marrying a very sweet guy, and it was heartbreakingly wonderful watching her beam from ear to ear throughout the ceremony and reception. The bride and I and my friend Persia, also in attendance, met somewhere around 1990 in high school and have been friends ever since, so spending two days in the company of Persia plus getting time with the bride when we could (lots of family and other friends who all need attention!) and all in all had a marvelous time. My husband is also great friends with both of them and he has had a great time as well, especially since we had a little time on the beach. Not, alas, in the actual water - in the rush to pack we forgot that swimsuits would be nice, and anyway it was raining intermittently the whole time - but we got to hang out and sniff the salt air and listen to the waves for a little bit.

The ceremony was very brief (a family member who is also a justice of the peace married them) and Persia and I cried shamelessly, and then there was dinner and dancing and it was all wonderful.

Oh, and the husband has also fallen in love with the area we were in (He's always been a beach guy) and is now agitating to move there. There is a wonderful museum in the area that we visited the morning of the wedding but alas there would have to be some convenient vacancies open because I think their staff is not much bigger than ours is and so they probably don't need extra registrars hanging around.

Back from my four days in Toronto. I'm footsore, having tromped through most of the area right around my hotel, but I also relied on the pretty great public transport the city offers. I was in a very central location downtown which meant it was pretty touristy in spots but tourists were just sort of the background parade of bustle. This is different from DC, where in certain spots locals are outnumbered by gangs of roving tourists following guides waving umbrellas, and you have to elbow your way through them to get from point A to point B.

My current city just has to put up with football crowds, which are easier to avoid.

Anyway, my time in Toronto was marked by a lot of eating wonderful food. The biggest thing I miss living in a smaller city is not just having access to different types of cuisine, but having multiple choices for every type that are all good. That was certainly the case here. I could have eaten dinner at a different Chinese place every night and not had to walk too far to do so. Or ramen, or roti, or bibimbap or specialty burger joints, or whatever. I didn't even get to the pierogi, sadly.

I spent most of my time along Queen West, which was fun and funky, and also in Chinatown and around the Kensington Market. The city itself felt like it had mostly been marked by big growth in the 1970s, and everything was a little grubby and cementy and worn and I suspect it's not a great place to be in the wintertime. Very grey and dingy, I imagine. (I think somebody told me there is a maze of underground tunnels and shops and things so you can stay out of the weather, which makes a ton of sense.) But everyone I met reinforced the stereotype of nice Canadians, and it was a thorough pleasure to be in a place that's so deeply multicultural. People-watching was magnificent, especially since there were tons of twentysomethings rocking fashion that I could never pull off but can have fun looking at.

On one of my days I went out to a little boutique for plus-size clothing and spent some serious cash (for me) on some clothes. If I were to describe my clothing style to you I'd usually say "jeans and some sort of t-shirt" because I am unimaginative and also I like jeans and think I look good in them. But I was seduced into buying some wonderful flowy tops in breezy cuts, including a watercolory print kimono throw and a truly outrageous paisley fringed thing. I'm afraid they all say "art teacher" kind of strongly - my mistake perhaps for saying that I worked in a museum - but then again, maybe it wasn't a mistake because I think they look great on me. So, I guess I'm embracing a stereotype of Older Arty Lady? Maybe the little purple fit and flair dress I bought will help keep the Older bit somewhat at bay. Or maybe before I know it, I'll be moving to Taos and will start to throw pots.

Oh, and this is completely petty of me, but the salesfolk took my photo in said purple dress, and also the photo of a woman trying on clothes in the booth next door, and said they were for Instagram. I was simultaneously flattered and worried that I was too sweaty and un-made-up, but they coaxed me into it, but I think I was right because the other woman's (very cute) photo has appeared and mine hasn't. I can't decide if I'm disgruntled or not. I don't like to think that I bought more clothing from them that I otherwise would have because I was feeling happy and flattered, but I guess if I did, good for them, they did their job well. And really, I'm not very photogenic and had just spent an hour on public transport to get there, so it's probably for the best.

While flying home I got to witness older American businessmen being really rude to gate agents, which was obnoxious. Actually, since my hotel catered to the business trade, I was kind of surrounded by them all week, and being forced to eavesdrop as they sat in the bar and in the lobby and barked things into cell phones. It was all Very Urgent. But all my flights for the trip turned out to be pretty smooth and I got to sit in the exit row on the tiny plane for my last leg back, so hey, surprise bonus.

I'm going to miss the food. I already do.

I have been unposty! But I have been doing things! Here is what I've been up to:

- Read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which I love love loved, and Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch and I loved it a lot too and just bought the next three books because it's been a while since I was excited by new reading. Oh, also read the newest Harry Dresden book and enjoyed it a lot as a return to form after two books I was really disappointed in. Not to say it was perfect but it made me decide to stick with the series after I was considering bowing out.

- Watched Edge of Tomorrow after all the good word-of-mouth and really enjoyed it. Fun, thrilling, funny, tightly edited, well done, bravo bravo and I don't understand because it apparently didn't do well at the box office? Boo on that, it was great.

- Traveled to Chicago and San Antonio and had a very nice time in both cities while getting some work done there

- Learned the basics of making jam, in a rough-and-ready fashion. Also, brioche.

- Currently entertaining some of the in-laws, on account of a Significant Birthday of my husband (who is not exactly happy about the birthday but it coping with it better than feared)

And that's all I can think of at the moment.

I got a sweet Fast Women story for Yuletide - the very cute Three Weddings and a Funyun. My own gift seems to have been well received, which makes me happy - I was floundering a bit in the fic because it had a lot of world-building to be done and I wasn't sure I was up to the task, and there were moments that I pondered defaulting because I kept deleting big chunks of text, but I think it all worked out nicely in the end. It won't get read much, I don't think, but I like the idea of the few people who want something in this fandom finding at least one story when they go looking.

In other news, I am coughing an unproductive, harsh cough, and my head hurts in that "sinuses filled with cement" way. Also, my chest hurts a bit. I've drunk two big mugs of hot chai tea and taken some Robitussin, but I have a feeling I've fallen to the holiday blargh, which will make it fun to travel in...omg, just a few days. Woe. Also, we went trail riding on Christmas Eve day, and while it was a great deal of fun and I may have not completely lost all knowledge about how to steer a horse, my thigh muscles were Not Pleased with the whole thing and I've sort of been lurching around like a drunken sailor since.

I don't really want to go home. I do, but I don't, and I want to keep hanging out with my sister under no time pressure. I want to keep being crafty and continue making things with her and also cooking. I'm not ready to go back to work. I'm glad I built in a few days to decompress from the trip before I do go back, but I'm still not ready to face it. January is always kind of a bitch of a month, because our deductible resets and so all the prescriptions cost more, plus it's when the cold really sets in and you sort of end up feeling like it's just a long, dreary sludge till spring.

ANYWAY. This is all probably just because I'm feeling like I'm made of wet cement. I should go to bed and stop whining.