Tiffani - Travel and Thoughts

The Mountains of Victoria

2009-01-21T10:55:00.005+11:00

Hi all!

Mommy is busy watching the Obama Inauguration, so I have taken over the computer again and decided to take a moment to update our blog (I also bought some rawhide bones on E-Bay and chatted with some of my fellow Weimaraner friends on DogBook to catch up on the latest tricks of the trade, but don't tell Mommy!)

The big news is that after the Christmas and New Year holidays, we went to the mountains! We stayed in a city called Bright in the Australian Alps of Victoria. Our apartment was on the banks of a river called The Ovens and we had such a great time!

My Mommy and Daddy bought a collapsible crate to take with us on holidays, but since I set about tearing it apart when we were at Lakes Entrance last October, they decided that it might be better just to take my normal crate where I would feel more comfortable. They spent a long time trying to arrange everything in the car just so, so that everything would fit and we would all be happy and comfortable. I was to sit in the crate on the way there, which they had taken apart for the journey.

Only one problem: they forgot the door!!! Mommy realised it about halfway up to the mountains, and by then it was too late to go back for it. hahahaha. It was so great! It meant that I got to spend every single minute with my Mommy and Daddy! They couldn't go anywhere without me, not even dinner! It was the best holiday ever!

When we arrived on Monday evening, we had a quick walk around Bright town centre, and then we had a beer at the brewery. Well, Mommy and Daddy did. I just drank water.

Then we went to The Cosy Kangaroo which is a sort of typical Aussie restaurant. We were going to try to sit outside, but then Mommy and Daddy noticed that all the food on their menu was available for take-away, so we got our meals to go and ate them in the house.

After dinner we had a walk down to the river and relaxed during the evening.

The next two days involved lots of lovely walks along The Ovens, including one 45 minute walk and one 2 1/2 hour walk! We were all so tired, and it was hot every day too (30-35C/86-93F) but it cooled off during the night so it was always comfortable for sleeping. On Tuesday I fell into the river and almost died! Well, Mommy just laughed so maybe I wasn't quite as close to meeting my doom as I thought at the time, but I did float downstream a few feet until I was able to attach to a rock and then Daddy pulled me out. My Daddy is such a good man! Of course, being a fearless Weimaraner, I had to go back to the rock where I had fallen in to see where I went wrong. Mommy and Daddy were bemused and insisted that I leave the rock at once to get back on the trail. What's that about?

On Wednesday during our epic walk around the river and through the pine forest, it was very hot and we were out in the noon sun, so I took a moment to cool off with Mommy and Daddy in the river. We met another dog named Jasper who looked sort of like my old American friend, Charlie!

He went into the water more than I did, but I did chase some sticks and I went in somewhat. I'm still not much of a water dog but Mommy and Daddy were pleased with my forays into the river during the week.

I became more and more brave about it as time went on. By the end of the week I was rescuing large rocks from the bottom of the river! I have no idea how they got there but I was determined to get them all out!

On all of the walks we occasionally had to walk across a swing bridge. I wasn't crazy about them at all, but I did manage to get across every time!

Wednesday night, Mommy and Daddy decided to go out to dinner to a nice restaurant called Poplars. The brewery man told us that they were dog-friendly, so we sat outside under the trellis and they enjoyed a wonderful meal! (they stuck me with treats, but hey, that's better than nothing). They shared an appetizer of a gazpacho-style soup served with fresh, homemade bread and smoked salmon, and then Mommy had local rainbow trout in broth and Daddy had rabbit! Mommy tasted the rabbit and she really liked it as well. Turns out rabbit tastes good to humans too, and not just doggies. Only one thing was weird: the rabbit my Daddy ate had no fur on it and it came with potatoes and some sauce! I have never seen a rabbit like that running around outside! But they were happy with it so I guess this is just one of those things about humans that we dogs will probably never understand. Ruining a perfectly good piece of meat.

The service at the restaurant was impeccable, and the chef even gave us a loaf of sourdough bread when Mommy told the waiter how much she liked it and would love to find something like it in Bright! The waiter said he could probably sell us a loaf, but then the chef decided just to give it to us. They were so nice. Did I get any bread though? nooooooooooooo.

On Friday it was time to go home, and so we got in the car but stopped by Michelini Winery, one of many in the area, to pick up a bottle of Barbera, a grape that is from Daddy's region in Italy. It was a nice wine. The day before, Mommy and Daddy bought a painting from a local artist as their Christmas gift to each other. The painting is called "Autumn on The Ovens" by Stephen McCall and it's a good reminder of our time up there.

It was such a great holiday and I hope we get to do it again!

Leans 'n' Licks,

Silver

PS yesterday after dinner we all went to the beach to play with the other doggies, but Mommy and Daddy managed to lock both their keys in the car! So we had a much longer beach visit than we had originally anticipated. It was such fun!

Christmas in Oz

2009-01-03T16:23:00.005+11:00

Hello and Season's Greetings to one and all! What "Season" is that, I hear you ask? Why, summer, of course!

So, Christmas in Melbourne has been an interesting time, which was expected. But it was interesting in different ways that we had expected. For instance, we imagined that we'd be sitting on the beach, drinking beer or sipping champagne in our bathing suits while watching the sun set over the horizon, laughing at the sounds of "Let it Snow" and "Winter Wonderland" playing in the background.

Not so much.

Sadly, it's been a chilly summer so far; the weather hasn't really been conducive to going to beach most days, and the evenings are consistently cool because there's very little humidity in Melbourne, so nothing holds the heat from the day into the evening. But it's not really cold either (although apparently it did snow two years ago at Christmas in the local mountain range!) so the music isn't exactly weather-appropriate.

The weirdest thing has been the Christmas decorations; they are all over the place in the shopping centres but the homes aren't so crazily decorated as they are in the US. Christmas is only a few days after summer solstice; the sun doesn't set until 9:30pm! What in the world do you need lights for?

We met up with a couple friends from Perth who are now living in NC and came home for the holidays, and they said that after spending time in the northern hemisphere, they "get" the whole concept of Christmas decorations much more because there's so little sunlight that you need all those lights and colorful decorations to brighten everything up. It really makes sense. Here they are kind of pointless.

That said, we did opt to buy a live pine Christmas tree. I will give you a run-down of the process of discussing, buying, decorating, and disposing of a live tree in Australia vs. the US.

Live vs Fake Tree Discussion
US (at least among people I know): sure, fake trees exist and some are very beautiful, but in general people prefer a live tree because it smells nice and it's real and it's traditional. So the discussion usually revolves around whether to get a Douglas Fir or a Pine, or how someone grew up with a fake tree and then one day s/he couldn't take it anymore and bought a real one.
Australia (at least among people I know): the concept of putting a live tree into someone's house is a bit strange. There are plenty of people who do buy live trees, but fake trees are far more common. Australians are pretty laid-back people who don't tend to pass judgment on other peoples' lifestyle choices, but there were times when I could just hear them thinking "crazy foreigners" when we asked where would be the best place to buy a live tree. Which brings us to...

Live Tree Purchase
US: first you buy a tree stand for about $8 (maybe $15 if you want a really posh one or you have a particularly big tree) from some place like Kmart or Wal-Mart or Home Depot, and then you walk outside to the parking lot of said store which will inevitably have a Christmas tree sales lot. Alternatively, you can go to your preferred charity to buy the tree and support them. Once on the lot, you look for anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending on your own tree-related OCD level, until you find the "perfect" tree... "perfect" meaning stands up straight, is full and bushy, doesn't have any obvious holes making the trunk visible, is basically in the shape of a triangle, has a top that will allow a star or angel to sit happily, and doesn't cost a freakin' fortune. Once you have selected the Perfect Tree, you inform one of the assistants who is happy to sell you the item, ask if you'd like to donate any extra to the charity, just for shits and giggles, and then puts the tree on your stand until it stands on its own without leaning, to your satisfaction. Then they wrap it in that plastic stuff, tie it to the top of your car with a protective velour underneath, all of which they have provided, wish you well and tell you Merry Christmas as you leave.

Australia: First, you call every Bunnings (the Aussie equivalent of Home Depot, complete with "sausage stand" outside) in a 10 mile radius to find that they have sold out of Christmas tree stands even though everyone you had talked to beforehand about the live tree thought you were a lunatic for wanting one. Well, apparently we were one of many lunatics in the area because tree stands were hard to come by. Then you call every major supermarket chain, Target, and K-Mart who all tell you (rather incredulously), "no, you have to buy the whole tree" -- the stand comes attached to the fake tree, of course, is what they mean, and how could you possibly be so stupid as to ask for a stand on its own? What the hell would you need one of those for?

So you decide that you'll look for the tree first, and lo and behold, there's a place near you that sells them for charity. GREAT! And when you get there, you ask if they sell stands as well, and yay! They do! So you tell the gentleman that you are in the market for a tree, and immediately he grabs the closest one to you which is 12 feet tall and asks if that one will do. Well, no sir, we were thinking of something a bit smaller. He points to the three foot trees. You ask for a six-footer. He shows you a six-foot tree that kind of leans funny and has a big hole in the side and gruffly asks if that will be fine. Because you're scared to request to see others, you say yes and buy the tree. Since you foolishly assumed that they would wrap the tree up for you and attach it to the hood of your car (after all, they do have the plastic tree-wrapping machine there) you don't bring anything like rope. Well, they don't have it either, so the gentleman kindly shoves it into your car -- without wrapping it up first. As you go inside to pay, you notice that the cheapest tree stand costs $45. I don't f****ing think so, you say to yourself. The next day you find a stand for $25 at another tree market.

Decorating a Live Tree:
US: you buy about 500 lights, 100 balls, and various and sundry random decorations. You put everything on the tree until it looks like some sort of fire hazard, albeit a beautiful one, because you need as many lights as possible to make it look festive and all the balls need to reflect the lights to make the tree look even more festive. You top it with an angel that lights up with the other lights. Oh, all the strands of lights are designed so that you can plug one end into the other until you get to the bottom, and then plug it into the wall
Australia: you buy 300 lights but only put 100 on because that's really all you need, and because you realise that there isn't the "plugging into the other light strand" option and you don't have a spare power strip lying around. You also attach 36 balls and about 10 random decorations. Then you shove a star onto the top and call it a day. At 9:30 every night, you turn the lights on for half an hour. It sure is beautiful though.

Disposing of a Live Tree:
US: at some point in January, you decide you've had enough of the tree and you take it down. You put it outside next to the curb and one day it's gone.

Australia: at some point in January, you decide you've had enough of the tree and you take it down. You notice that nobody is putting their live trees outside of their houses next to the curb, so you call the City Council who informs you that there is no pick-up of live trees, and you have to take it to the "transfer station" yourself to have it disposed of. Naturally, you pay a fee for this privelege but it's not a hefty one. You still have no rope, so you have to put the tree back into the car AGAIN (shortly after you cleaned it from last time) but you do remember that you have a covering that you can wrap it in. You drive down the road toward this transfer station with a large item in your car resembling something out of a CSI-type program, and you can't see out the rear view mirror either.

Cultural norms. Good times :)

Silver's first Aussie holiday

2008-10-31T15:18:00.009+11:00

Hi everyone!

Silver here again. I'm starting to enjoy this blogging stuff. And I know I have to work hard to keep the fickle public wrapped firmly around my paws, lest they forget me and start reading about the global economic crisis, or worse, a cat's blog!

So, here's an update of the last week or so. The big news is that I went on vacation (here we call it 'holiday') with Mommy and Daddy.

But a few days before we went, I had to have a check-up with the vet. I know what you're thinking: I was just at the vet a lot before moving to Australia, so why do I have to go again? And that's a good point, but the fact is that I was due for some of my jabs. So it was time to go. Unfortunately, Dr. Jon lives too far away, being back in North Carolina, so we went to the Carnegie Veterinary Clinic which is about 5km or 2 miles from home, and I met Dr. Ketan. He's so nice and gives me lots of treats! He also told Mommy that some of the shots I had to have back in the US aren't necessary here, so I managed to get out of there with only one shot! Dr. Ketan is a great man. Mommy is also happy with him because, in her words, "he has a very good bedside manner, he's very laid-back and mild-mannered, and he doesn't dumb down the facts but does explain everything very well". Whatever that means. The important point here is that he gave me a lot of treats and only one shot!

So, a few days later, we were off for our long weekend in Metung, Victoria, close to Lakes Entrance. We did not get off to a very auspicious start because the smoke alarm in the house decided at 4am on Thursday morning to let us know that the battery was getting low. It beeped once every minute. Mommy was not impressed!

She was even less impressed by the 14 foot ceilings in the house that she had loved until that very moment, when she realised there was no way she could reach the alarm without a ladder, which we don't have. Daddy managed to climb onto a stool on top of a chair (don't try this at home, kids) and, as he and Mommy were discussing how this could only end badly for him, he did disable the alarm for two hours until 6:30 when it started up again. tee hee! For my part, I took the 'awake' time to go out and check for news in the backyard. There wasn't any.

At 8am Mommy and Daddy got up to take Daddy to work, and Mommy came back home immediately and started preparing for our journey. At around 3pm we went to collect Daddy, and headed on down east to East Gippsland, Victoria for our holiday.

At 6:30pm we arrived at the Hill View Cottage, where we stayed for three nights.

It's a lovely studio-style cottage set on a 15-acre farm that has lots of beautiful flowers everywhere, inside and out.

It also has an organic vegetable garden and free-ranging chickens. The owners, Ken and Lyn, were so kind to all of us, and I had a lot of fun running around the farm with their two Spaniels, Will and Scarlett. When we arrived, we were presented with a loaf of home-baked bread (which I wasn't allowed! Can you believe that!?), plus a bowl of fresh veggies and eggs from the farm, and homemade raspberry jam. Ken and Lyn told us about the area, and we settled in for the evening to be ready for our big day on Friday.

Friday morning we woke up mid-morning after a wonderful nights' sleep on the quiet farm, and we had breakfast with some bread and jam, and then Lyn gave us a list of dog-friendly walks in the area. We decided to go to the Tambo River Bay, where I ran around like crazy, rolled in dead fish -- yay! --and even was brave enough to chase the stones that Daddy was skipping into the water!

It was so nice to be on the sand and nobody else was around.

Afterward, we went to Lakes Entrance where we walked around for a while but then I kept trying to go into the shops so Mommy and Daddy had to stop. Tee hee! They punished me though by eating fish and chips for lunch by the river and they didn't give me any!

Well, they gave me a fry or two, but that's not the same as the fish! I was a good girl but they wouldn't give me any fish and even acted annoyed that I was salivating on them. They don't understand that drooling is a sign of affection and love. Living with humans is a constant exercise in training...You can never let it slip or else they'll back-slide and then it's nothing but work, work, work! Clearly, Mommy and Daddy need to be reminded of some things.

That evening they cooked local salmon on the grill at the cottage with some fresh vegetables and rosemary. Lyn, who had offered a lettuce from the garden earlier, instead brought over a prepared salad complete with olives, bell peppers, parmesan, and anchovies. Yummy! Of course, I didn't get much salmon because they never share the goodies with me, apart from a little bite. It smelled and tasted delicious!

On Saturday we took a special trip to Raymond Island. It was my first ever time on a ferry and it was weird!

First you cross water but don't actually get wet, and then the machine makes a really loud, scary noise, and then you get off! I was a very good girl but I was a little spooked by the loud noise. Anyway, the point of Raymond Island was to see the koalas, but I was much more interested in the Clydesdale horse pulling a carriage! Koalas are all up in trees and they don't do much, and I like to keep my nose to the ground, if you know what I mean. The horse was captivating though, but Mommy and Daddy didn't let me get very close.

We took the ferry back to the mainland and then we went back to the cottage for lunch. Mommy and Daddy had the farm-fresh free-range eggs from the farm, and I was given kibble. What's that about? Later on I ran around with Will and Scarlett and then we went for a walk on the Mouth of the Tambo River. That was pretty with lots of unusual flowers, but there were plenty of fishermen so I wasn't allowed off-leash very much. There were also biting flies everywhere, so our walk was a little shorter than the one on Tambo Bay the day before!

That night, Mommy and Daddy actually left me to go have a nice romantic dinner on their own! So rude! They wanted to have a seafood dinner at Ferryman's Restaurant in Lakes Entrance and they enjoyed themselves a lot.

They were worried that I would be distressed in my new wire crate, but Ken and Lyn promised to keep an ear out for me. I didn't make a peep though, because as soon as they left, I promptly set to work destroying the crate! I did manage to pull off a couple of the wires, but I was unable to make my escape. Mommy and Daddy were disappointed that I behaved that way, but really, they only gave me 2 1/2 hours to try to get out! If they had left me for longer, I would've escaped for sure, and then they would've been so proud at my Weimaraner intelligence and resourcefulness. Next time...

On Sunday we had to head home, and it was nice to be back but I loved my holiday on the farm! Ken and Lyn were such wonderful hosts, and Will and Scarlett were a lot of fun to play with on so much land! Mommy and Daddy definitely want us all to go back there one day. I can't wait!

Leans n licks,
Silver

Interesting things about Australia

2008-08-15T11:51:00.008+10:00

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well back up North -- no matter where you are, I can say "up North" and be right 99.9% of the time because there's not a whole lot south of us, and nobody that I know lives in Tasmania, New Zealand (which is more "to the right" than "to the south"), or Antarctica.

Now that Silver is home

we have all of our furniture

and things are generally pretty settled, I'll let you in on a few secrets about Australia that you may or may not be aware of....

1. It does get cold here. And that kind of sucks. Don't let anyone tell you that it's always hot in Australia because they're either lying or selling something! There are parts of Australia that are subtropical and thus never get cold; unfortunately, Melbourne is not one of those places. The weather is generally milder than the winters in Europe and the US (north of Florida and SoCal, that is), but because there are very few times a year when the mercury drops below freezing, the Aussies haven't been as meticulous about things like insulation and quality heating systems in homes and buildings. This isn't so much the case in newer homes, but in old ones (like where I live and work), sometimes we can feel a draft inside when the wind blows :| New homes are required to have a 5-star energy rating, though, so they are much better insulated -- hermetically sealed is probably more the word. It's my understanding that in the future, anyone who wants to sell an older home will be required to bring it up to 5-star energy standards. Sooner rather than later would be ideal! In the meantime, Silver enjoys warming herself by the gas fireplace when she comes in from outside. It's kind of sweet but in a way, a little sad too.

2. It's really weird to have winter in the summer. It just is. I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. It is NOT, however, weird to have summer during the winter. I never complain about summer, whenever it happens to arrive. With that said, I haven't yet spent a Christmas here so it will probably be a little surreal to hear "Let it snow" and "walking in a winter wonderland" in the shops when it's 85 degrees outside. I'm so about spending Christmas and New Year on the beach though.

3. Melbourne is placed at the top of the Port Phillip Bay, and most of our beaches are actually bayside beaches more than open ocean. You can get to the open ocean, but you have to drive to the bottom of one of the peninsulas (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours driving) to get there. The open ocean is an extremely scary place, however, and I wouldn't recommend going in alone, or at all.
There's even a popular TV show here called "Bondi Rescue". Bondi is Sydney's most famous beach, and the show is like reality TV meets Baywatch. It's amazing how many people risk their lives by going outside of the safe zone or almost drown and when they're interviewed, they're oftentimes tourists who say "I've never been in the ocean before"... derrrrrr... Occasionally they have visiting lifeguards from places like Hawaii's North Shore who talk about how much more dangerous the ocean is here. That's frightening!

4. Australia is about the size of the US, but it has 8 capital cities and about 10-12 major cities in total (depending on how you define "major"), all of which are a plane flight away from each other with the possible exception of Sydney and Canberra. Imagine if the US only had 12 major cities, and the entire middle portion of the country was completely uninhabitable. That's what Australia is like. Thus, there are no day-trips to Sydney. So, we haven't seen much of the country yet, but we will! Our next trip (we hope) will be Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. We'll drive to Adelaide -- about 10 hours by car -- and then ferry over to Kangaroo Island. We hope to bring the dog. We'll wait till it's a bit warmer though, probably October or November would be nice for that.

5. Never say never: I bought a pair of Uggs yesterday. But let me explain! First off, I still think they're the ugliest things you can put on your feet apart from Crocs which beat them by a mile. However, yesterday they were on sale for half-price (the end-of-season sale), and I bought a pair of slippers, so you'll still never see me step foot in public wearing them. With all that said, I am SOLD on the Uggs. They are the most comfortable things I have ever put my feet into, including those water foot massager thingies. It's like walking on a sheep (I guess it sort of IS walking on a sheep). And of course, they are sooooo warm it's lovely. I highly recommend them, for use in the house only!

A few other minor interesting things:

full-flush and half-flush options on the toilets. That is cool.
It's very chi-chi to use re-usable grocery bags. Safeway supermarket (along with just about all the others now) sell green bags that you take to the shop with you. They are ubiquitous. They exist in the US, yes, but you only see them at earthy-crunchy shops like Whole Foods.
Netflix has an Aussie cousin named Quickflix. And Quickflix, for all its wonders, sends whatever movie it feels like sending you from your Q, not necessarily the one at the top (or even in the Top Five)
The price and quality of fresh produce varies greatly depending on the season. That's fair but it does take some getting used to. Limes go from about $1/kg in the summer to $2.48 each in the winter. It's a little bit of a shock at first
A lot of our neighbours have citrus fruit trees. This has proven to be quite the exercise in restraint for me (see note above).

Well, that's about enough for now. Things are going well; we're sick of winter and ready for the sun to return. Work is going fine for both of us, and there's no real news of late. Hope everyone's doing fine and enjoying the summer!

July 2008 in Melbourne

2008-07-08T15:26:00.005+10:00

Silver's in Australia!!!

Hi everyone. Silver here again. It's been a while since I've written, and for that I am very sorry. I know how much my public adores me, but sometimes even we famous dogs need a bit of time off, just to ourselves, to relax and chase small animals.

But now I'm in kennels, and so I'm a bit bored and I have some spare time to write. I'm not exactly sure how or why this happened, but basically, here's a run-down of the past several months:

In January, my Mommy and Daddy went for a ride in the car without me and never came back! Can you believe that??? Anyway, I was with my Grandmommy and Granddaddy, so it was OK. I like staying with them because they feed me donuts and let me sleep on their bed, and I just love playing with Charlie and Rasta!

Every now and then I could hear my Mommy's voice coming from the big box on top of the desk in my parents' office, but I could never see her. That was confusing. My Grandmommy said it was something called "Skype", but I don't really know what that means.

All this time, they were taking me on a very regular basis to see Dr. Jon and have blood taken out. I don't know why this had to happen, like, eight times, but it did. Humans! I just don't get them.

Anyway, last week, my Grandmommy and Granddaddy drove me up to Washington, DC. I thought I was going to see the sights, check out the Lincoln Memorial and all that (my Mommy and Daddy went in December and talked a lot about the monuments, so I assumed I was going to learn more about what it meant to be an American dog -- of German descent), but apparently there were different plans for me.

I was put into a huge crate, and then put into a really big flying car with wings, and sent to Los Angeles, California! I thought, well, that's OK that I didn't get to see DC, because I've always wanted to see the Hollywood sign and shop on Rodeo Drive and stuff, but I didn't even get to do that!! All I got to do was go to another vet, a different one this time, and then two days later, I was put on another flying car inside my huge crate and sent to Australia! I am in, like, a completely different country now than I was last week. It's so weird.

I have to stay in Quarantine for 30 days, but I've already been visited by my Mommy and Daddy. Yesterday they came to see me and we went out and threw the ball around for a while, and caught up on the latest news.

They told me that they had moved indefinitely to Australia, and they couldn't bear the thought of not having me with them (obviously!) and so they shipped me out here as well. My Mommy will be able to come visit me twice a week until I'm out of jail, and Daddy will come when he can because he works full-time so he's not quite as free as Mommy. Mommy and Daddy also told me I have to go on a diet --I hope that doesn't involve another long trip on a flying car -- because I've gained weight eating too many donuts! tee hee!

Since this is my new home, I asked Mommy and Daddy what it's like living in Australia, and I am so excited about what this new life holds for me! It sounds like so much fun. Here are some of the important things about Australia (and Melbourne in particular):

1. There are some really cool animals here. There are kangaroos and wallabies and koalas and wombats. All of these animals are called "marsupials" because they have little pockets where they keep spare change and their babies (or "joeys").
My Mommy says that kangaroos are easy to spot if you go out of the suburbs, and they aren't as shy as the deer that I liked to watch in America so they don't always run away. And the koalas, well they are like the slowest things ever but they stay up in the trees or in bushes. They don't run away either because they're too tired. They're always sleepy. Which is weird because they sleep a lot.

There are also parrots all over the place, and magpies too which are very beautiful but really loud and obnoxious. Damn birds. I'll chase 'em when I can!

2. Australia smells really good. There are plenty of food smells in the city (my favourite smells of course!) but since the country mostly has Eucalyptus trees, the country smells like Eucalyptus. The nickname for Eucalyptus in Australia is "Gumtree" so it's common to hear someone talking about "Red Gum" or "Lemon Gum" and that just means a species of Eucalyptus. The best smell is Lemon Gum because it smells like a cross between Eucalyptus and Lemon. It's sweet and fresh!

3. There's a saying "Pizza is like sex. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good". In Melbourne, this phrase is absolutely true. Now, my Mommy and Daddy don't let me eat pizza apart from what I can steal --hehe-- but they have told me stories about the wonderful pizzerias in Melbourne and how good the pizza is here. Even the take-away pizzeria in Oakleigh makes really good pizza. It's not the same as the gourmet pizzas that you find at posh restaurants, but it's better than chain pizza! I have had "the snip" so I have no real interest in sex any more, so I'm hoping that pizza will give me some idea of what I'm missing!

4. Because we're in the Southern Hemisphere, our winter is happening right now, in July. That is going to take some getting used to! But in December when it's nice and warm, we won't be complaining. Spending Christmas on the beach sounds like fun! We also have our own special constellation that can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere, called the Southern Cross. It's the stars that are on the Australian flag.

Well, that's about all the news for now. I am doing very well in kennels and eating everything I can get my paws on! Everyone tells me I'm very sweet and well-behaved. Mommy and Daddy are skeptical, but they are so happy to have me here. And they just filed their permanent residency application, so we're all in this for the long haul!

Hugs and licks,
Silver (world-travelling canine)

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side (of the Planet)

2008-04-23T14:24:00.019+10:00

Awww, aren't we cute? :)
Hello everyone! it's been a while since I've posted, and since then we've had two beach trips, Thanksgiving, a trip to DC to see Ellie and Jason (plus a failed attempt to buy Elephant Art which was later resolved), Christmas (we kicked ass at Dirty Santa at Jen's place), New Year's ....

Oh, and Edo and I moved to Australia. For the week of the New Year, Edo and I decided that we'd have a last "hurrah" of a vacation before we had to start preparing in earnest for our move Down Under, so we rented an ocean-front house on Topsail Island (Surf City), NC. The first day, Massimo and Nadia came down with us and stayed for the night. The next day my parents arrived and stayed until New Year's Day.
It was also the first trip we had taken together with Silver, and it was so much fun! The first three or four days, the weather was fantastic, so we spent plenty of time on the beach with Silver and Charlie playing in the sand and trying to get them into the water. Neither of them are exactly water-babies so we were mostly unsuccessful, but there was one time when they had gone in a few feet after a ball and Charlie got clobbered by a wave that snuck up behind him! The entire week was just wonderful; neither of us had work commitments (well, Edo did, but he ignored them because we were vacationing) so we could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We ate a lot of seafood at local restaurants like Rick's (particularly stews; North Carolina coastal cuisine is very much seafood chowder-based), and one evening we went into Wilmington with Mom and Dad to eat dinner at Elijah's, always a favourite!

There were some quirks about the beach house that made for a rather interesting week: the heating system was bizarre in that when it came on, the top floor heated up very quickly while the downstairs stayed cool. Thus, in the middle of the night, we were often roasting while the rest of the house was freezing. Also, the master bedroom had a beautiful window overlooking the ocean and there were hardwood floors throughout. This meant that every morning at 6:30am the light came streaming into our bedroom because there was no curtain to cover the massive window (which was fantastic every other time of the day, by the way). As for the hardwood floors, it meant that when Silver got up to turn around or look for something to do in the middle of the night, we heard "click click click" of her paws on the floor. Fortunately, most nights she was so exhausted from playing on the beach all day that she barely moved.

When we got back to Raleigh, we started packing properly for the Big Move. Edo was offered a position at Monash University as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering, so we were off to Melbourne (Australia, not Florida)! The shipping company collected our stuff on the 24th of January, after which we went to stay with my parents for the last few days. On the 29th, we flew out of Raleigh and two days later landed in Melbourne.
The University was kind enough to set us up in a serviced apartment for a couple weeks while we looked for a place to stay, and in spite of all the nightmare stories I've heard about people looking for decent houses to rent in Melbourne, we landed a great place just as that two-week window was about up. We are living in Oakleigh, a suburb of Melbourne that's about 20 minutes by train from the City (and by City, I mean a 1 square mile spot on the map. seriously.)

Oakleigh is very Greek; it's like Little Athens. It's also affluent and has a central district that is more like a European square than the typical strip mall shopping centres you can get in most suburbs of Melbourne. There are cafes and restaurants, plus a more American-style shopping mall, all within about a ten minute walk from our house. We also live very close to Chadstone Shopping Centre, which is a HUGE shopping mall that just dwarfs the mega-malls in North Carolina. Southpoint, eat your heart out. Edo hates it and everything that it stands for, but it is damn convenient.

For all the Hellenic flavour of Oakleigh, the best things about it aren't the Greek ones (except for maybe the baklava at Nikos Cafe which isn't bad at all). There's a wonderful Persian/Afghan restaurant called Nights of Kabul, an Italian-owned fresh pasta shop -- really, that's all they sell -- and the Korean supermarket just down from that sells great little ice cream treats. The produce market is run by Chinese, as is the "if you can't find it anywhere else, we'll not only have it but have it for dirt cheap" shop where I have bought lots of obscure things like draft snakes and reasonably priced CD racks.

Our house has two bedrooms (visitors??? let us know!) and hardwood floors throughout. It also has a beautiful kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a sunroom overlooking the backyard which is big and comes with its own gardener Thank God, and sizable living and dining rooms. What it doesn't have is central heating. It has two gas fireplaces which do well to warm up the house quickly, but in the morning we're quite chilly. We're working on solving that situation. We also bought a car! We decided after renting one from Thrifty over the long Easter weekend that we couldn't live without a car (really, you need one in Australia -- not as much as in the US, but more than in Europe) so we are now the proud owners -- and by 'owners' of course I mean 'slaves to the lending institution' -- of a 2004 Hyundai Getz. They don't exist back in the US because they would be crushed by the Hummers. But it's a cute little car, with great warranty and a CD player, power everything, and very easy to park. It's all about priorities.

We've spent some time in Melbourne City (or Central Business District, CBD), but we find ourselves being pulled out of the city just about every weekend. Melbourne is nice if you're a city person, but Victoria is beautiful! The best thing about living in Melbourne is waking up on a Saturday afternoon and saying "would you rather go to the beach or the mountains?" and within an hour you're there. We have also visited the Wine Country of the Yarra River Valley and Healesville Sanctuary which is full of local fauna. OK I've written a novella here so I'll stop and write more in a couple of weeks. Sometimes we miss North Carolina... actually, we often miss North Carolina. But I don't feel like I want to leave here yet. Maybe one day we'll go back home, but for now I really like Australia. Except for this central heating issue; in spite of what we're all led to believe about Oz, it actually does get cold here in the Fall and Winter!

Oh, and Vegemite sucks :)

July-August 2007

2007-09-09T23:32:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone. Silver here (I'm the Weimaraner that really runs the show around this house -- but I'm smart enough to let Mommy and Daddy think they are the ones in charge).

Since Mommy has been lazy about updating her blog, I decided to take matters into my own paws because there are some noteworthy things to mention about the past two months. To be fair to Mommy, she has been very busy at 'work' (I know this is their secret word for 'park' when they don't want me to go with them! so rude...) and she was also sick for a while... but we'll get to that.

First of all, we'll go all the way back to mid-July when Mommy had her birthday. She kept complaining about turning 29 and how this was the last year of her youth or something. Humans. Who understands them? Anyway, they went away to a place called The Mountains for a long weeked, and they actually had the nerve to leave me at home! Can you believe it? Well, I say they left me at home, but they didn't really. They took me to visit my Grandmommy and Granddaddy, and that's always fun because I get to spend time with them and be spoiled, and I also get to play with my other friends named Charlie, Rasta, and Millie (there's also another animal there called a "cat" named Caoilin but she swats my nose a lot. It's almost like she doesn't like me or something, but that can't be possible. I hear she does this a lot though, so I don't take it personally). I love spending time at their house because they have a huge yard and a swimming pool, even though I don't swim. But the best part is when Mommy and Daddy come to pick me up and they tell me all about their trip! Apparently while they were in The Mountains they stayed at a little log cabin called the Carolina Wren which was beautiful and very quiet. They also went to the Biltmore Estate and saw beautiful pieces of architecture, important pieces of art, and relaxing gardens. The food was pretty good too, so they say. Their favorite restaurant was actually at the Biltmore Village and it was called The Corner Kitchen. However, they didn't really have any bad meals there. They always talk about food when I'm around. It's not fair. They also drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while to enjoy the scenery. The Smokies aren't particuarly tall mountains, but they are very beautiful.

Just two weeks after they got home from their "vacation" (I don't know how they can possibly have a vacation without me; I can't imagine that would be any fun for them at all), all of a sudden, with no warning to me at all, they traded me at some shopping mall and off I went home with Grandmommy and Granddaddy again before I even realized what was going on!!! That was sneaky! I thought I was smart but they really pulled the wool over my eyes on that one.

Anyway, a few days later, I was returned to Mommy and Daddy, but it wasn't at my house. It was at a different house which had lots of strange smells, and also a lot of similar smells. I wasn't sure what to make of it all. After it became clear that we would not be leaving this place, I discovered that they had moved homes while I was with Grandmommy and Granddaddy. They weren't able to move directly from our old house into our new one, so they had to stay with a friend for a day or two, and they didn't want me to feel concerned about our lack of a house, so they sent me off for a while instead. I can understand their worry, but really, if they had just explained it to me, I would've been fine! But, what's done is done, and we're in this new place which is beautiful and it also has a nice fenced yard for me to play in. There are also a lot of cats in the neighborhood that I can look at! That's fun!

The only thing I don't like is the floor. It's so slippery. Mommy and Daddy call it "hardwood" and they seem to love it, but they don't go sliding around all over the place! it's also a lot closer to where they 'work' so I get more time with them at lunch. That's very nice!

In mid-August, my Granddaddy and my aunt Alix had a birthday party! I met her new boyfriend, Ian, and of course I saw all of my friends at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house. That was a lot of fun. I missed Champ though. He wasn't around. That's too bad, because I like Champ!

A few weeks after we moved to the new place, Daddy's best friend from Italy, Valeria, came to visit for three weeks. She's working on finishing her PhD so it's sort of a working vacation for her. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of her yet because she bought a very fancy camera here and she's been the one taking all the pictures! But once I have copies of them, I'll post them up, I promise! Valeria is a lot of fun; she's so nice to me. We all have a good time together and she gives me lots of attention (which is no less than I deserve, of couse, but it's nice when humans recognize how special I am).

A few days after Valeria arrived, Mommy woke up on Friday night -- technically it was Saturday morning -- around 4:30am with a lot of pain in her lower back and side. So these strange men came and they took my Mommy off in a weird-looking truck with lots of lights. First, I was put into my crate, but just before she left I was let out of it because Valeria said she could look after me. But what happened to my Mommy really scared me. And then Daddy left too in his car! I was inconsolable. Valeria tried to calm me down but I was so nervous; I just knew something really bad had happened to my Mommy. I was worried I might never see her again. Fortunately, that was not the case! Mommy and Daddy came home around 10:30am, and I was so happy to see them! However, it was clear that there was something very wrong with Mommy. She was on a lot of drugs! She went straight to bed and I stayed with her for the next three days. Usually when she's sick, I avoid her like the plague (except when it comes to sharing the sofa, because I like sitting on the sofa and if she happens to be there, well there's not a lot I can do about that). But this time I knew that she was really needing me to be there for her, so I stayed very close to her all weekend. I don't really understand what was wrong; they kept talking about a "kidney stone" but I don't know what that means. All I know for sure is that Daddy carefully watches Mommy's fluid intake, and if she doesn't drink enough water, he tells her to drink more in the same tone of voice he uses if I do something naughty -- which, of course, is very rare. Anyway, Mommy is back to normal now and we've been able to do fun things together with Valeria.

So, there you have it. The past two months in a nutshell. Oh, one more thing, even though this is technically September, I have to tell you good people about my experience yesterday. I went to have my annual exam at the vet, Dr. Jon, who is very nice, but those people violate me in all kinds of weird ways. Oooh, I don't like going there! Mommy says it's for my own good, but I'm not convinced.

Hugs and licks

xxx

Silver

ITALIA 2007!!!!

2007-06-06T04:45:00.001+10:00

(note: I have posted a few pictures here but if you want to see them all, please click on "my website" tab on the right)

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. I know y'all have all missed them terribly, but the fact is that the winter was relatively quiet. Apart from attending Ellie's wedding in January

and going to Wilmington for Edo's birthday at the beginning of April,

we didn't do a whole lot of noteworthy things.

But that all changed on May 21st, when we flew the coop from Raleigh to Venice (by way of New York JFK, London Heathrow, and Milan Malpensa). We arrived in Venice at 11pm on May 22nd, and stayed with a friend of Edo named Sara. She's a very lovely girl and we all had a good time together. The weather was hot and humid, but not "North Carolina in August" humid, so when the breeze blew off the canals, we were able to really enjoy ourselves. In Venice we ate fantastic seafood, gelato, and pizza (of course!). We walked around the canals, through St. Mark's Square, and into churches with highly important pieces of art.

I tried to get into the routine of speaking and listening in Italian but, being lazy, I did tend to speak in English whenever possible. Sara speaks English quite well so it was easy to communicate.

She works as a restorator -- Venice is definitely the place to be for a restorator -- and she's currently working on a church that she allowed us the privilege of entering to see the restoration "in action". That was a cool experience... usually those kinds of things are way off-limits for we mere mortals.

On Friday afternoon we headed off to Bologna, or more specifically, Castel San Pietro Terme, a spa town approximately 10 minutes by train from Bologna. We met up with Edo's friend from school, Enrico, his wife Nicoletta, and their 18 month old boy, Davide. Or, based on their own admission of the hierarchy in that household, Davide, Nicoletta, and Enrico! Nicoletta is a wonderful cook and she made us a lovely dinner; then the five of us went for a stroll (Davide quite literally went for a stroll, in a stroller) to relax and encourage Davide to go to sleep.

They live in a beautiful town. Nicoletta and I had the opportunity to talk girl-to-girl (one thing I missed with Sara, unfortunately) and we got along really well. Enrico is also a really nice guy; it was clear when I met him why he and Edo are such good friends. They are very similar in personality and character, and even physically they resemble each other a bit. Sadly, we were only able to stay there for one night because Saturday we had to head "home" to Ivrea, near Torino (Turin) from whence Edo's family comes.

In Ivrea, I met Edo's mom and his oldest brother, Enrico. We stayed there until Tuesday afternoon. It was a nice time; his family is lovely, but they don't speak much English (his Mom speaks none at all; his brother reads it well but doesn't speak so much) so it was Italian pretty much 24/7, except when Edo and I were alone. We didn't stay at the house with his Mom and Enrico, but we did stay with his Uncle and Aunt who live a few minutes up the road. Everyone was very friendly and kind, and his mom, who has been a hairstylist pretty much all her life, even gave me a free haircut :)

Ivrea is an incredibly picturesque town; possibly one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen in Italy and indeed in all my travels throughout the world. It sits at the base of the Alps, and there is a river flowing very rapidly through the center.

According to Edo, several Olympian rowers come from that area, which is not surprising considering their practice waters! The city itself is home to approximately 25,000 residents, so it's a rather small town, but still has all the cool shops that Raleigh/Durham is missing :( and an atmosphere that makes it seem busier than it is by virtue of the number of people in the streets and piazzas. One thing that I'll always miss about Europe compared to America is the piazza. People are always out and about, and it's nice.

We did run into Edo's friend Lisa who lives in Ivrea; it was totally random, but I was glad to be able to meet her. It was a brief introduction, but I know her through emails.

On Tuesday we made it to Torino, the big city in the Piedmont. It's a bit like Milan, but cooler (sorry all you Milanese out there -- it's nothing personal). It's a city of about 1 million people and it too is bustling and interesting.

There is a very active cultural and artistic life which includes the following: a building with a piercing, neon lights spelling out famous quotes from Italian authors speckled throughout the city, the National Museum of Cinema which was AWESOME -- we saw the history of cinema from shadow puppetry to MGM and such items as a contract signed by Jimmy Stewart and costumes from "Lawrence of Arabia" -- plus signs throughout the city describing important writers living in Torino (and then killing themselves... I don't get it.. I guess they're tortured souls or something. Artists!)

We did manage to see some of Edo's friends from the university while we were there. That is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. But everyone was friendly there and they were really happy to see Edo! We also had dinner with two of Edo's friends from school who still live in Torino, Marina and Paolo (and their new baby, Alice). It was a wonderful meal and they both speak English really well so it was really easy for me to understand the conversation!

On Friday afternoon we headed back to Milano to spend a couple of days there visiting friends before our flight home on Sunday morning. Before we left, however, we were able to arrange a meeting with Edo's middle brother, Gualtiero, and his girlfriend Giulia.

We basically crossed each other in Torino for all of one hour, so we sat at a cafe near the train station and hung out for a while. It was nice to meet them finally. They seem like very nice people.

When we arrived in Milan, we met up with Federica and Andrea, Edo's friends

and with my old friend, Luca. We went to a bar to have "aperitivo" which is a sort of pre-dinner drink and snack, but you can get as much food as you want so essentially you can make an entire meal out of an 8-euro drink if you want to, but we decided to hold out for the sushi restaurant Luca recommended. We drank sake and ate gyoza, edamame, and sushi, and by the end of the night I was pretty drunk ;) Luca invited us to Switzerland for a dinner the next day, but we decided that since it was our last day in Italy and our flight was very early on Sunday morning, we'd be better off staying in Milano with Federica and Andrea. Luca was kind enough to find us a hotel close to the airport though, so we didn't have to sleep in the airport the night before!

Sunday morning we came back home after almost two weeks of fantastic food, way too much wine, and seeing lots of people that we love and miss back here in the US. It's good to be home, but Europe will always be with me.

The one thing I would do differently the next time around is, instead of going all over the North of Italy to see all our friends, I would like to rent a villa in Sardinia or Elba and we can all converge there for a couple of weeks! Also, my dear friend Cat was in Italy at the time (in the South, though) and we weren't able to meet up :( So next trip might be back to England to visit her, or maybe we'll arrange a time to go and stay with her family in Roma!

December 2006 -- San Francisco and Christmas

2006-12-27T08:33:00.001+11:00

Hi all!

December was a fun month this year (it usually is just by virtue of Christmas but this year was extra special). The week of December 9th, Edo and I went to San Francisco for a national American Geophysical Union conference that he attends annually. We arrived on the Saturday afternoon prior, and Uncle David picked us up from the airport where we immediately went to his friend Bill's house to collect the Aerobed we would be sleeping on; then we stopped by the market on the way home to get some sushi because we were all hungry! Considering that it came from the Castro version of a Harris Teeter, it was damn good sushi.

That night, we went to a party celebrating the 10-year anniversary of David's friends Jim and Sam. Everyone was really nice; the tree was gorgeous, and the food was great! There was a ham, amazing empanadas, and desserts aplenty -- not to mention the copious whites, reds, champagnes, and possibly even beers that were available.

The next day we awoke fairly early and went for breakfast at a restaurant called the Squat and Gobble, which has very good value for money and the food is very tasty. Afterwards, David was kind enough to drive us all over town

(really... ALL OVER TOWN.. I think we covered all seven square miles in one day) to see all of the sights, architecture, and a panoramic view of the city from the Observation Tower at the new Modern Art museum in Golden Gate Park. For dinner, Edo took David and his roommate/friend Dale to dinner at a restaurant in the Castro called Catch. I wasn't feeling very well so I sat that one out.

On Monday morning Edo had to go to the conference to present his poster session and do some schmoozing, so I stayed home for most of the morning relaxing. David and I went into Union Square around 2pm to visit the new mall (I never picked San Francisco for a town that would have a mall but it's very nice). We had lunch at the Coolest Food Court Ever and then David went home while I met Edo outside the Virgin Megastore. Edo and I had a coffee in Union Square and then we went home and cooked a risotto for David and Dale. We really enjoyed having a quiet dinner at home with them; we stayed up chatting and eating until David finally decided that it was past our bedtime so we went to lie down.

Tuesday Edo was working again so I hung out in the morning relaxing, and in the afternoon I went for a walk in the Castro and for a lunch at a place called Fuzio. The food all sounded amazing but I ended up getting minestrone and garlic bread which was very good. After I ate a bit and walked around a couple of shops, it started raining so I headed back up to David's place and then went into town to meet Edo again. That evening we met up with one old friend who moved from Duke to Clemson, and two guys who Edo knew from Torino and had dinner at a place called Lulu. The food was really good! We were going to try a place called Azie but the wait was long (our own fault: we didn't make a reservation) so we went to the sister restaurant next door which had a slightly shorter wait and a bigger bar.

Wednesday morning Edo went to the conference but came home around 2pm, and we headed down to the Monterey Peninsula. We stayed in Carmel-by-the-Sea in a romantic little cottage-style hotel. By the time we got down there it was almost time for dinner so we went to a place called Merlot! and he had seafood spaghetti while I got penne with roasted vegetables in pink sauce. We also had a cup of mushroom bisque which was delicious (better than mine....grrrr) and a dessert each -- profiteroles for me, flan for Edo.

Thursday we drove down to Big Sur and Nepenthe which was beautiful! There was very little fog so we had good visibility and we decided to eat at the restaurant on top of the hill. Mediocre food, extortionate prices, and a view that you can't find anywhere else. It was worth it. That area is probably one of the most scenic in the entire US.

After lunch we headed to Carmel Valley which is the wannabe Sonoma/Napa and has lots of up-and-coming wineries. We visited several of them, tasted their wine (including port from the barrel!), bought lots of it, and then went back to town.

Then we went back up to Carmel which is this cute resort town that looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting (in fact, he's painted Carmel... and he has a gallery there). We also walked to the beach which had an amazing grey hue because by then the fog was starting to roll in, and it was getting late in the afternoon so it looked very surreal. After I make my first $$ couple million, I am totally moving there.

That evening we had dinner at a place called Forge in the Forest. We shared shrimp dumplings steamed with spinach, a bucket of steamer clams and mussels (the mussels were practically the size of cornish hens... I don't know where the chef found them. I'm wondering if they were raised near a nuclear reactor!) OK the mussels weren't that big, but they were large enough to cut with a knife. Definitely not bite-sized. After dinner we shared a wonderful creme brulee. I've decided that my measure of whether a restaurant is really good or not is the creme brulee. And this was a really good one!

Friday was time to head back to San Francisco but not until we'd visited a few other spots on the Peninsula. We took the 17-Mile Drive up to Monterey, driving past Pebble Beach and seeing lots of pretty impressive real estate. When we arrived in Monterey, we walked past Cannery Row and went to the Aquarium.

Dale was kind enough to give us his season passes and we were able to enjoy it all for free. The Aquarium is amazing; if you ever have the opportunity to visit it, I highly recommend it. We had lunch at the cafe there. Again, mediocre food, extortionate prices, and a view to die for! And again, it was worth it.

On the way back up, we stopped by San Juan Bautista and visited the Mission there. In case you've seen the film "Vertigo" by Hitchcock, the Mission is the scene of the climax of the film.

It's a cool town anyway; hasn't changed very much in the past, oh, 150 years or so. It looks like a town from a Spaghetti Western (I swear, Claudia Cardinale is hiding out there somewhere) but this time when we were there it seemed a little less so because there were Christmas decorations everywhere. At least the Mission itself was as stark and Catholic as ever :)

When we arrived back in San Francisco Friday evening, we had dinner at Bill's house.

He made us a wonderful dinner complete with Prosecco, brie and crackers plus a goat cheese dip for appetizers, pumpkin ravioli in a butter sage sauce, and pesto-covered salmon with salad for the main course. Everything was so delicious! For dessert we had coconut cream pie, and Bill was kind enough to give Edo and me a copy of his book.

Saturday morning we headed back home to Raleigh, and a few plane delays later, we arrived around 11:30pm. It was good to be home!

Christmas was lots of fun too, as always. We went to a party on Christmas Eve held by some of our friends from Mexico, and many different countries were represented at the party. There was even a pinata to smack!

Christmas Day we went to Mom and Dad's house and hung out with the family. It was nice to see everyone again. Unfortunately I had my wisdom teeth out the Tuesday before Christmas so I was fairly limited in what I could do and eat, but I still had a great time.

Thanks to everyone for helping make December a very memorable month!

Nadine West Howell 11/1/1919 - 11/24/2006

2006-12-01T05:43:00.001+11:00

The day after Thanksgiving, my grandmother passed away. After waging a battle with Alzheimer's disease that lasted for several years, her body decided to stop functioning in much the same way as her mind had done, albeit much more quickly. The roller-coaster ride of this disease seemed for a long time far more enjoyable for her than for the rest of the family. She was the one at the front shouting and laughing while the rest of us spent much of the time feeling a bit sick. But when the ride stopped, as it inevitably had to, she had deteriorated mentally and physically to the point where just about everyone close to her was ready for her to move on.

I'm not one of those people who sugarcoats a person's personality or attitude once they have died. If I didn't like them living, I don't suddenly start to feign admiration for them once they leave. I've heard people at funerals speak so highly of the recently deceased that you'd think the person was a saint, even though the same people a few months earlier were complaining that said person was a real asshole.

So I'm going to give an honest account of my grandmother's life from my point of view as her granddaughter. Naturally that means that I missed a large chunk of her life before I was born and my idea of who she was is therefore skewed. But for sure know this: when I speak highly of my grandmother, and I will, it's not out of "respect for the dead" (like the dead give a shit), it's because she was genuinely a wonderful person and the consummate lady.

Grandmother was born in Turkey, NC which was -- and remains -- basically a crossroads that produces a lot of turkeys. Clever name, huh? Anyway, I don't know a lot about that period of her life because I've forgotten a lot of the stories she used to tell me about when she was a child. I know she had parents and a couple of siblings, but that's about it. When she was 18, she married my grandfather and at some point they ended up in Goldsboro, where Dad and my uncle were born. She worked for decades as secretary of the high school which meant that Dad couldn't really get away with anything no matter how hard he tried; she always found out. Her job combined with her participation in the First Baptist Church of Goldsboro where she worshipped until her mind no longer permitted it meant that she knew pretty much everyone in Goldsboro. Goldsboro, NC is a city; it's not a huge place but it's not a tiny town where everyone is guaranteed to know everyone else either. But everyone knew Grandmother. Everywhere I went with her we met at least one person who not only knew her enough to smile and say "hi", but actually stopped, asked about the family, said something to me like "oh, you're Tiffani? It's so nice to meet you! You're just as sweet as your grandmother said you were" or something along those lines. I remember this happening from the time I was around 4 until adulthood.

My grandmother was exceedingly polite to everyone she met but had the unfortunate habit of drawing attention to her own svelte figure by way of backhandedly insulting her family members' weight problems. I suspect that her vanity caused her to ignore the sometimes lasting effects that this had on others. That is the only truly negative characteristic that I can remember of my grandmother. (Vanity, by the way, is something she gave to me. Neither of us can walk past a mirror without smiling) Not that she didn't do other things that drove us crazy; she was a Mom, after all ;) But most of the things that drove us crazy we could at least acknowledge were done out of love. She was unbelievably stubborn, a hereditary trait that apparently sits on a dominant gene because every Howell since has been cursed (or blessed, depending on the circumstances) with this particular characteristic.

She was truly selfless with regard to her family, sometimes to a fault. She remained faithful to her late husband from the day he died until she joined him thirty years later. This chagrined the rest of the family who didn't believe that sacrificing one's own potential happiness was necessarily the best way to honor someone's memory. I never knew my grandfather, but given the attitude of his children, I would suspect that the first thing he said when he saw her again last week was "good to see you Nadine. Why the hell couldn't you move on after I left you?" to which she probably replied "Watch your mouth, Ed. 'Hell' is such a vulgar word".

Grandmother surely knows that her family is suffering for her loss and I'm sure she would take that pain away if she could. She is undoubtedly finally aware of the pain that her disease caused all of us for years while her body was still functioning even as she looked through us, her beloved family, like we were strangers. That's "the nature of the beast", as they say, but it doesn't make the beast any easier to live with. It doesn't make it any easier to die with either, except perhaps on an intellectual level. Still, knowing that she's finally whole again, and no longer just a shell, does provide some comfort.

The funeral was very short, grave-side and included only family members and her three best friends. After the funeral, the family ate lunch together at one of her favorite restaurants, McCalls. The private, quick funeral was specified in her will; it was her final gift to us... true closure, without all the bells and whistles. She probably knew that a public funeral would've involved much of Goldsboro (she was vain, remember?) and would've been stressful to the family. Even though the funeral was small, she'll be missed by many, possibly thousands.

Rest in Peace

October 2006

2006-11-07T01:17:00.001+11:00

Well, October was an interesting month for us. We had several events to attend and we also made it to my family's annual beach trip. For this post we'll go week by week.

The weekend of October 7th, we decided to hold a small get-together for a few friends and family. We had a little mini-housewarming. Originally we were planning to have a large housewarming and invite everyone, but then we realized that it was just too much to do and we didn't have enough chairs anyway, so unfortunately we had to limit it. Still, we had a nice time. We scored for some great housewarming gifts ;) and others brought wonderful food: everything from Panettone to Canoli (good canoli! I clarify that because it's really hard to find around here) to authentic homemade Lebanese-style hummous and baklava. Edo and I also contibuted a little to the party by way of wine, beer -- although Im not sure why we even bother to buy beer because almost everyone I know drinks wine and we end up with a bunch of beer bottles sitting in our fridge when it's all over -- and some hors d'oeuvres plus homemade bread courtesy of yours truly. I also made some salsa and guacamole. I made the salsa mostly for my brother because he really seems to love it, but unfortunately he and his family were unable to make it and I didn't realize that until I had already made it. Oh well... everyone else enjoyed it!

Mom and Dad left before dark (why? nobody is entirely sure) even though Alix seemed to be enjoying herself talking to some of the new Italians in the area but the rest of us hung around for a while chatting and eating. The honor of Biggest Winner of the Night, however, goes to Silver because most of the food was right at her height sitting on the coffee table in the living room so she would feign disinterest and then walk past and snatch a piece of bread along the way. It was irritating at the time but even moreso since then because she's realized that she can do it and sometimes she gets a goodie. Now Edo and I have had to go back to basics teaching her good "table manners" (which, for a dog, means "get the hell away from the table"). She's also taken quite a liking to my bread which would be flattering if (1.) I didn't know that the only thing she won't eat is radish, and that includes several non-food items, and (2.) it takes a long time to make them so, since I can't make them during the week, we have to try to make them last as long as we can. Having a dog robbing us of a roll or two is definitely a hindrance to that goal. Edo constantly reminds her that she's a lucky dog to have owners who: let her sleep in their bedroom instead of outside in the cold, accept that she brings no income into the house and continue to keep her and feed her in spite of that, and don't beat her when she does something cheeky. Nevertheless, she has a sense of entitlement for these sorts of things and doesn't think it's anything special to be treated like a queen. Dogs, who'd have 'em?

The next weekend we went into Raleigh (yes, it's sad...where we live involves going "into Raleigh") for two reasons. First, we met Hanya at the Borders near where she lives to have a chat and also take advantage of an "educator's discount" offer thingy that they were having that day. Many of Edo's Christmas gifts have already been purchased which severely limited what he was permitted to buy, but I did allow him to pick up a book about Hitchcock. We've been watching a lot of his films lately and Edo likes to watch the Special Features to find out what was going through his mind when he made the film. I enjoy watching them because of Jimmy Stewart ;)

After we left Borders, we met Mom and Dad at the State Farmer's Market to buy our annual pumpkin and selection of gourds. Edo thought it seemed silly but that didn't stop him opining about which pumpkin would be most appropriate for our front porch. The gourds, however, he did not seem to care about, or for. But it's a tradition now that Mom and I have been doing for years and so the men just have to deal with it. The pumpkin/gourd arrangement will stay on our porch until after Thanksgiving, when the "Christmas Season" will officially begin.

By the time we'd finished shopping, we'd worked up quite an appetite so we decided to have dinner with Mom and Dad at the Ocean Stars restaurant in Apex. It's not the most well-known seafood restaurant in the area, but as fish camps go, it's probably the best. We figure it beats another more famous fish camp in Durham ;) by a mile. It's not exactly Michael Dean's, but that's a different kind of restaurant altogether anyway.

The next weekend was our annual family beach trip which, for reasons that we won't go into here, meant Mom, Dad, Alix, Edo and me. We stayed at a place in Surf City, NC which isn't exactly hopping this time of year (not that any of the beaches are, but this was even less than normal) but the beach was lovely and the house was nice too.

We were about 45 minutes from Wilmington so that Saturday afternoon we decided to go into Wilmington where we shopped a bit down by the Cotton Exchange, and then we ate on the river at Elijah's restaurant. The weather was perfect for it, and it didn't get cold until well after sundown so we were able to enjoy our meal outdoors. Edo and I shared the Carolina Bucket (quite literally a pail of seafood all steamed together with sausage, potatoes, and corn) and then a chocolate raspberry torte for dessert. Mom ate the Chef's Salad; she wasn't very hungry, and Dad got a cup of the NC seafood chowder and a fried oyster sandwich. He said the sandwich was great, and I tasted the soup which was delicious. He can keep the oysters. Blech.

The next day it was time to head home, so we left late-morning and made it to Raleigh early in the afternoon. We hung around Mom and Dad's house until 4:30 when we could leave to go collect Silver from the vets where she was being kennelled, and then we went home together. It was a great weekend but too short! Next year hopefully I'll be able to take a day or two off work so we can go down there and relax and enjoy the coast a bit more.

Finally, we reached the last weekend in October. That Saturday night was Stacy and Mike's Harvest Festival party. It was a costume party but Edo and I didn't dress up; we just weren't up for that this year. We did bring some meatballs which people seemed to enjoy and we also ate lots of the fantastic food that Stacy and Mike prepared. She made a chili with buffalo meat which was delicious. And her spiced cider was fabulous as always! We had to leave a little early (around 10:30) but it was nice to see everyone for a while anyway.

Melissa and Ken were there and I haven't seen Melissa in months and Ken in years so that was nice, and I also saw Jo whom I hadn't seen in months plus some old friends from college who showed up right as we were about to leave. It was a good night.

November is also fully booked so I'll be back in a month with my report ;)

Take care,
Tiffani

August and September 2006

2006-10-03T06:43:00.001+10:00

During the months of August and September, not a whole lot of travel was done so I have decided to combine the two months into one post. Many interesting things happened during this time, but not a lot that I have photos of and since text alone tends to get pretty tedious, I decided that unless I can throw in some pretty pictures (and possibly some weblinks) , I won't spend too much time on what I've been doing the past two months.

In August, I officially resigned from my job at NCSU, ending a decade of existence on that campus in one facet or another -- excepting a couple of years when I was living in the UK -- and it was a fairly emotional moment for me. But it wasn't that emotional because I went on to a position at Duke University which is very similar to what I was doing before, but, you know, with more money. It's also a bit of a promotion.

Duke is much more convenient to where I'm now living in Creedmoor, NC with Edoardo.

We are renting a lovely three-bedroom house with an enormous yard (Edo would agree... he has to mow it) plus Cathedral ceilings in the Master and living room and even a wood-burning fireplace.

We love the house and the yard (read: I realize this is in direct contradiction to my recent comment about the yard; let me qualify it by saying we love the yard when Edo doesn't have to mow it), but it's a bit far out so when our lease it up next Summer, we'll probably move back into town.

Anyway, since my last day at NCSU was on August 18th, we spent that weekend with some family near Charlotte. We stayed with my Grandmother who lives on a lake in Norwood, NC (it's one of those sleepy, blink-and-you'll-miss-it towns that's great for when you want to get away and relax) and we enjoyed sitting by the lake and catching up on all the gossip. I've discovered that my Grandmother and I are really a lot alike -- even more than I had thought. We share many of the same opinions about issues relevant to the family and to life in general, and we seem to respect the differences of opinion that we do have. We also saw her friend Henry, who Edo has trouble understanding because of his thick Southern accent, but Henry has trouble understanding Edo's thick Italian accent as well. In fact, it was quite comical watching them try to communicate while my grandmother and I prepared lunch. We had a giggle over that.

We also briefly stopped by to see my Uncle Kyle and Aunt Mitzi, neither of whom I have seen in years. They live only a few doors down from my grandmother so it was very convenient.

The night we stayed in Norwood, we drove to nearby Charlotte for dinner with my cousin Brenda, who has the music in her soul! If the time at the lake was relaxing and tranquil, the time in Charlotte was like a whirlwind! But we had a great time chatting and watching people walking around downtown. We ate at Rock Bottom Brewery which has great food and is a great place to hang out and people-watch. The one thing I really dislike about the Raleigh-Durham area is the lack of an exciting downtown. Charlotte's downtown is a lot of fun (they call it "Uptown" for some reason) and I would like to be able to have a place like that to go.

The following Thursday, I started my new position as Assistant International Student and Scholar Adviser at Duke, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Everyone is really nice and funny; nobody takes life too seriously here even though we're doing very serious work (but hey, you have to laugh once in a while). People have a witty, sarcastic sense of humor and not a day goes by when someone in this office doesn't have me in stitches with laughter. Some days I think it's a matter of survival... one of those "if you don't laugh, you'll cry" kinda things, but generally speaking people seem to be really happy here.

Fast forward a few weeks to the middle of September, and my divorce came through! A huge thank you to Pam from NCSU Student Legal Services; I couldn't have done it without her. I'm currently in the process of trying to re-establish myself with my maiden name, but that will take a little while to be complete. But at least I'm finally free to live my life the way I want to, and I don't feel quite so weird living with my boyfriend since I'm now divorced :) I found that when you're filling out those "optional" equal opportunity questionnaires and they ask you about your living situation, there's strangely no option for "separated and living with partner". go figure. In fact, almost all of them fit me: married (check), separated (check), divorced (almost), living with partner (check), single (kinda). So at least that cleaned up that little portion of my private life.

Last but not least, last Saturday was my 10 year high-school reunion. We're not going to get into how old that makes me feel, but the whole experience was a sort of emotional catharsis for me. I'm sure the alcohol helped. The night went the way I had hoped it would: the cliques kinda dissolved although naturally people were more interested in catching up with old friends than with people they never spoke to in high school, and that's fair enough. Most people were very friendly and the ones who weren't, well it just didn't matter. If someone didn't want to speak to me, I really didn't care the way I did in high school. I guess all that teen angst has more to do with the high school experience than the fact that I went to Broughton, which is notorious for being snotty and clique-ish. However, Jen's husband Scott did mention at one point in the night that it looked like the Young Republicans convention in there. People can change, but they don't change that much I guess.

Some highlights of the night: having a drink with Jen, Scott and Kristy Lee at Nana's Chophouse across the street from Ess Lounge where the reunion was being held (that eased the pain, I'm sure); seeing James Little, Michael Kennedy, and Matt Meares who I always remembered as the "nice guys" and they're still nice; hanging out with all my old friends who I haven't seen in years like Kristine Vallila, Matt Sims, Erin Maynard, and Emily Howell (who, by the way, looks fabulous and is probably the only person there who looked significantly different than in high school); and finally, being spoken to kindly by people who never bothered to talk to me in high school and a. not thinking "ugh, you loser... you ignored me in high school so why are you talking to me now?" because I'm a bigger person than that, and b. not caring about the people who still didn't bother to talk to me... I can now look on these kind of situations and think that the problem isn't me, it's them. And I couldn't do that back in high school. So I enjoyed myself even though it probably won't go into my books as the greatest party ever; it was nice to catch up with people and realize that most people can grow out of their high school attitude (and laugh at the few who didn't!)

Until next time....

Tiffani

Charleston - July 2006

2006-07-25T01:20:00.001+10:00

Hello again. It's that special time where I write about our monthly travel. This time we went to Charleston, South Carolina. Edo has never been there but I have been several times. I have always loved Charleston and I was eager to share this wonderful city with my boyfriend.

Unfortunately, it was mid-July and one of the hottest weekends on record for much of the United States, so our romantic walks around the Battery and through the Market weren't exactly the textbook passeggiate that I had imagined (complete with the cool breeze blowing through our hair, looking out over the sea arm-in-arm, giggling at the crazy items for sale by the Gullah vendors, and sitting on the park benches talking about how happy we were and how we hoped this moment would never end)

and more like the reality that is always Charleston in the middle of July (a hot breeze blowing over the Battery providing no relief whatsoever, looking out over the sea but not standing too close because damn it was really hot, complaining about all the crap for sale in the market and squeezing past the other sweaty tourists, and sitting on the park benches sweating and sharing a bottle of water... not drinking so much as to be rude and not leave enough for the other, but just enough to not shrivel up like a dried prune, desperately waiting for the moment to end). Good times.

Actually, it was good times. My parents lent us their new rental car (a Hyundai Sonata with all the bells and whistles... we could even see how many miles we had left to drive on each tank of gas and we could set the temperature in the car to a particular degree and it would automatically engage). We went down for my birthday, and we arrived on Saturday afternoon after a trip that involved a failed attempt to eat lunch at a Cracker Barrel -- really, we should've known better, those places are always packed -- and finally settling for a Bojangles near Lumberton where we ate the sort of food you can get at a Bojangles, prompting Edo to look around the restaurant and say "sometimes your people make me feel sad". I know Edo, I know.

Once we arrived in Charleston, we checked into our hotel, and we went into town to eat dinner at 82 Queen which my Uncle David introduced me to a year ago and got me hooked! On the way to the restaurant, we walked through the Charleston Place shops and saw a woman with a black dress walking past. Sometimes I think Edo forgets that I'm not one of his male friends (only sometimes... other times he's keenly aware that I'm all woman, but this is a PG blog so we'll leave it at that) and he looked at me as if to say "wow, check her out!". I stomped my foot, Tiffani-style, and said "I'm wearing a pretty black dress too!" and then laughed. He said "Tiffani, you know you're my favorite" and I said "I'd better be your only". Then we walked on to the restaurant.

82 Queen is famous for its She-Crab Soup, so we shared a bowl of that. Then Edo had the Grouper with tasso ham gravy over grits (it was good, but not as good as the Shrimp N Grits we had in Savannah) and I ate the stuffed tomato over tempura-fried julienne eggplant. For dessert we ate creme brulee with a glass of champagne. It was really delicious. That was Edo's birthday present to me, along with a CD from Manu Chao and a book called The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The meal was very romantic and the atmosphere was charming. I highly recommend that restaurant for a romantic date.

On Sunday, we went for lunch at a place called Sermet's Corner where we shared a plate of penne with creamy red sauce, shrimp, calamata olives and feta. The food was pretty good but the problem with feta and calamata olives is that they are such strong flavors that they pretty much drowned out the flavor of the shrimp and the pasta. And the air conditioning wasn't working very well so it was pretty hot. But it certainly wasn't a bad meal.

We then walked around the Market, bought some benne seed wafers which are my favorite thing about Charleston, and sat in the pastry shop for about a half hour drinking water and talking. Edo mentioned that he's missing pastry shops like they have in Europe, and I agree. There are two French pastry shops in the Raleigh area, but no Italian ones. He seems to be flirting with the idea of moving back home one day. I wouldn't be opposed to living in Italy.

After we cooled off, we made the trek back to the car and drove down to the Battery

where we walked around, took photos of the architecture of the homes and the sea, and then sat on the aforementioned park bench sweating like mules. Then we went back to the hotel for a swim.

When we arrived at the hotel, a storm rolled in so that nixed our plan to swim. So we watched TV for a bit and then headed back into town to have dinner at California Dreaming which Mom and Dad kindly paid for as my birthday present (along with the hotel, plus some work clothes later on in the month!). Our reservation wasn't for about an hour, so at first we stopped in O'Malley's Irish Pub to have a drink. It wasn't busy at all but it was a pretty nice atmosphere, and the bartender was very nice. He gave us directions to California Dreaming.

Once we arrived at the restaurant, we had a short wait and then we were seen to our table. This particular restaurant is known for it's fantastic view of the city, the sea, and the marshes. So we had a lovely but filling meal (we shared an appetizer of croissants with honey-butter, then Edo had the fried shrimp with french fries, and I ate the shrimp quesadilla with a stuffed baked potato), and then we walked down to the little pier where we took pictures. The one thing we didn't get was the sunset, which looked like a huge red ball in the sky. But when we tried to take a picture of it, it didn't take properly. So we'll just have to remember that moment. We watched it move behind the horizon like you see in films. It was so beautiful.

After dinner we drove around Mount Pleasant for a bit and then headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we headed back up to North Carolina but instead of taking the interstate, we decided to take Highway 17 up to Wilmington and then take I-40 back to the Triangle. The drive was a bit slower but it was much nicer, and as we drove through the 17 Bypass at Myrtle Beach (which is still amazingly bad for traffic even though it's a bypass), we stopped in for lunch at a little restaurant called Anthony's Pizza and Pan Pasta.

We ate there mainly because we were really curious about what "Pan Pasta" actually was so we decided to check it out. What we found was, according to my Italian boyfriend, "the best pizza in America". So if you're ever in the Middle of Nowhere, South Carolina, definitely check out Anthony's Pizza and Pan Pasta because you will not be disappointed (the cannoli were really good as well).

When we got home we ate a light dinner and collapsed. It was a good weekend but it was nice to be back in the house and rest a while.

In August, we don't have plans yet but lots of options, so you'll find out when we do :)

Ciao!
Tiffani

June 2006 Events

2006-06-20T22:52:00.002+10:00

Hi Everyone!

Well our June trip to Charlotte, NC (my cousin is doing a dance showcase) and Norwood, NC (to visit my Grandmother) got cancelled "due to circumstances beyond our control". However, all is not lost! The benefits are thus: we get to save a bit of money for an even better July trip over my birthday, and we are going out to dinner with a couple of friends this weekend to a restaurant which my friend swears is authentic Italian -- a pretty daring promise considering that my date is from Italy. We shall see. I have yet to eat Italian food outside of Italy, but as long as it tastes good, that's what matters. And a good wine list is always a bonus.

On top of that, even though we won't be leaving the Triangle in June, we have done and will be doing some pretty awesome stuff anyway!

My Uncle David arrived from San Francisco and stayed here for a couple weeks. It's always nice to see him, even though he was pretty busy with some personal stuff when he was here. He was able to make it to my family's first ever Pool Party and Pig Pickin', which my parents hosted in order to thank the neighbors for making them feel so welcome over the past 8 or 9 months, and to "officially" start the Summer!

The Pool Party started at 3pm, and the pool was populated primarily by neighborhood kids to begin with. I joined them shortly after 3 (I'm ashamed to say that I have lived in that house since September and I had never stepped foot in the pool until that day. But in fairness, much of that time was winter and I spend most -- OK all -- of my weekends with Edo).

One of my friends arrived around 3:30 and we swam for about an hour or so, and then other people started arriving right as I could feel my cheeks turning pink so I got out of the pool. After my other friends arrived, I was pleased to find that several of them had brought their swimsuits and happily went in the pool to cool off on that humid, hot day.

The party was catered by White Swan BBQ (no way were my parents going to get up at 4am to slow roast a pig all day!) and they brought a LOT of food. There was half a pig, fried chicken, plus potato salad, boiled potatoes, slaw, hush puppies, and sweet iced tea. Our friends brought over lots of alcohol plus, like six cakes, some of which weren't even opened :( No offense everyone! There was just wayyyyy too much food!

We ended up having about 80 people there, but several people were able to take home doggy bags with barbecue and sides and desserts.

One of my friends who's Lebanese brought homemade hummus and baklava, plus a fabulous aperitif called Blackhaus Schnapps which is a blackberry flavored vodka. Apparently "aperitif" can mean different things depending on who you're talking to, because I always considered it a drink along the lines of Baileys or Kahlua, at least as far as proof is concerned. But this stuff was 40% alcohol, which in my mind, qualifies as "hard liquor". But whatever... it tasted REALLY good! I highly recommend it!

One of my Dad's friend's from Indiana commented that apparently, The South has come a long way given the diversity of the crowd at this particular Pig Pickin'. Beyond the fact that there were white Americans and African-Americans present, the following countries were represented (and I mean these are people who are actually from these countries, not second, third, or eighth generation-ers who grew up in America but call themselves Irish or whatever): Italy, France, India, China, Nepal, Lebanon, and Turkey. Our Indianian visitor was impressed by the fact that everyone was getting along, there were no shootings, and no racial slurs. But to me, it demonstrates what a bad rap The South obviously still has in the rest of the country, because he's the only person who even thought twice about it! Sure, we still have racism and poverty and all of the things that embarrass most Southerners and that some Northerners like to use as an excuse for thinking they are better than us, but the fact is that the world I live in, the circles I run in, and the people I know are very open and tolerant. Why shouldn't a Turk, an Indian, and an Italian be able to enjoy a conversation over dinner? Food is international, and every culture communes over meals. So why wouldn't we all be able to do it together? *stepping off soapbox* At any rate, a good time was had by all, and that's what matters.

Last weekend, Italy and the US competed in a World Cup match that ended in a tie. This is a good thing because Edo and I were not forced to split due to national pride :) To be honest, neither of us particularly cares about who wins, but we did enjoy watching the game and spending time with our friends at The Federal Pub in Durham. However, just because we weren't concerned about the outcome, doesn't mean that nobody else cared. There were Italians and Americans, sitting dangerously close to one another in retrospect, who were shouting, biting their nails, bitching at the ref (but really, he did suck... three red cards in one game? come on... the only person who deserved the red card was the Italian who elbowed the American player in the eye). After the game, we went home, watched a movie, and had an early night. Man, we're too old to drink beer in the afternoon.

So there we have the June highlights. Even though there weren't any trips to be discussed, we still had a good time at home! My parents haven't made any sort of a commitment, but an annual Pig Pickin' would be really fun (hint hint Mom and Dad hehe)

In the famous words of Eeyore, "thanks for noticin' me"

~Tiffani

Savannah -- May 2006

2006-05-31T01:12:00.001+10:00

Hello friends (and strangers, and random passersby, and possibly social stalkers if I'm lucky)

So, at some point in the past, I decided that I'm important enough to have my very own blog :)

Actually, this is simply the easiest way to post photos of my travels and put captions longer than 50 words each so people can get a true taste of what it was like to be where I was and decide, after being bored to tears by my descriptions, to never go there ever ;)

So we'll start with Savannah, GA, where I went with Edo over the Memorial Day weekend.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a quick five-hour drive down from Durham. I say "quick" because Rand-McNally told me it would take six hours, so we were pleasantly surprised to arrive a bit early; even more so when were able to check into our hotel a bit earlier than the posted check-in time (for what it's worth, the hotel isn't worth mentioning; it was just a regular chain hotel a few miles outside of Savannah -- but we've determined that when/if we return, we'll be getting a B&B in town so we can drink "without shame" as Edo says) . The most interesting thing about that hotel was that at the on-site restaurant where we had a lunch/mid-afternoon snack, a young man was proposing to his girlfriend. At first I thought "awww, how sweet" but then the more I thought about it, the more I realized how unromantic it is to be proposed to at a Perkins in the middle of the afternoon. So unless that was the site of their first date, he should've ante-d up for a meal at Bistro Savannah in the evening, which we'll get to later.

After a light lunch, we slept (yes, we are about 30 years old, but we still get tired).

Then we went into Savannah and walked around the Riverwalk area and back up into Historic Savannah. It was unbelievably hot and humid, and by the time we reached the one restaurant that didn't have a two hour wait (make sure you reserve a table if you want a decent meal on Saturday night) I was completely parched and had lost my appetite. (Yes, I grew up in the heat of the Southern US and was almost destroyed by this weather; my Alpine boyfriend, on the other hand, could've walked for another two hours). So we ate at a little Scottish pub called Molly MacPherson's next to the City Market in Historic Savannah.

The food was good and the water was AMAZING. There wasn't anything special about it, but I was so hot and thirsty that it tasted heavenly :) The clientele was interesting. We saw a group of bikers from New Jersey, a confederate soldier (I wonder if the South wins in reenactments in Savannah?) and a highland warrior complete with kilt! The atmosphere was definitely worth the visit.

The next day we spent wandering around Historic Savannah looking for all the places that were part of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

We found the Mercer House and the Cemetery but we never did find the statue of the girl. We're not sure she really exists! We found Club One, where my new Idol, The Lady Chablis, performs regularly.

We also walked around squares, admired all of the various architecture, and enjoyed the parks.

We were smart enough to reserve a table at Bistro Savannah, where we had a wonderful meal full of seafood and low-country specialties. The Shrimp and Tasso Ham with grits was far and away the best shrimp 'n' grits I've ever had in my life. The mussels mariniere were also wonderful. The wine list was impressive but the wine-by-the-glass list wasn't quite as good (hence our desire to stay in a B&B next time) and the creme brulee was cooked perfectly.

However, we were afraid that we weren't going to be able to eat there, because a few hours earlier there was a fire in an apartment over the restaurant! After we realized that nobody was hurt, we were very worried about losing our reservation! But we were able to have our haute cuisine meal after all :)

After dinner we took a stroll down riverwalk for a few minutes, and then we headed back to the hotel after our long day.

Monday was our last day there. We decided to go to Tybee Island to have a walk on the beach and to eat at the Crab Shack which was well-known for its seafood. The beach was busy but not unreasonably so, considering that it was a holiday and it was 90 degrees outside. It was typical of beaches on the coastline from NC to Georgia so nothing particularly special there (not that I saw anyway) but you beach-bums out there would probably love it.

The Crab Shack is one of those places that most people would never go unless the food were absolutely amazing. The atmosphere was unbelievably cheesy and Edo was complaining because they had a stack of plastic forks on each table (which was a true raw bar, complete with a hole in each table and a garbage can underneath it). This was Edo's first experience at such a place. We ordered the Capn's platter for One, and it was enough food for three! And as soon as I tasted it, it was worth all the kitsch. They gave us steamed crab legs, stone crab claws, mussels, shrimp, crawfish, sausage, corn, and potatoes. It was wonderful!

After lunch we headed back up the coast for a brief time and then got back on 95 to head home. It was a long weekend but full of history and great food. I would definitely go back, but since it's so similar to Charleston, SC and Charleston is a bit closer, I would probably only return to Savannah if I had a particular reason (such as seeing The Lady Chablis perform!)

If you want to see all of the photos, check out my website. There was only a sampling on the blog.

- Tiffani