Monthly Archives: June 2010

(Lazy) Poetry Blogging

I just really like this one. (And yes, I’ll be posting summaries of Inverness and Edinburgh, as soon as I’m recovered from this damn cold.)

operation:
get down
by Alex Lemon

It is very
Common
To have

A cave within us
To hide

Away in when it all
Seems hopeless. To cry

Tears of mostly blood.

To feed on the day-
Dream in which

Side mirrors shear off
Of your car

As the walled road
Narrows.

To swerve might make

There is a saint for the down
& out. A rock is a rock

Is a rock & redwood
Trees grow out
Of our chests.

It is horrible & right,
Here in this place. Dum

Spiro, spero. We’re all in
This shit together.

The London Bridge is NOT falling down

OK, I can’t upload any pictures, but I thought I’d pop on while we have wifi and wax lyrical about the trip so far. You know, just so you can be maximally jealous. I’m nice like that.

So the plane ride was totally uneventful, except that I’ve apparently lost the ability to sleep on a plane. Which sucks, because I used to pass out pretty much as soon as I’d fastened my seatbelt. I have regularly slept through take-offs that had other passengers using their barf bags, but on this flight … not so much. I blame my kids. Or George Bush. Or possibly that large caffeinated latte I got right before the flight. Anybody’s guess.

Anyhoodle, we made it, crusty but triumphant, to the flat where my Mom has been staying for the last month, where we were greeted with smiles and hugs and extremely large glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. This is a good way to be greeted. Once our wine was consumed, we just had time to shower off our travel crud, change into nicer, less wrinkled clothes, and hop on the tube to Covent Garden. Mom had made reservations for pre-theatre dinner at Le Deuxieme restaurant, which is one of those places you dream of going until your bank balance jerks you back into reality. This is reason number one why I loooooooove traveling with my Mom. We ate amazing food (srsly. Unbelievably good lamb curry) and drank more lovely wine and between the alcohol and the jet lag I’m a little surprised they didn’t kick us out for irresponsible giggling. After coffee and dessert, we strolled down to the New London Theatre and saw Warhorse, which was one of the best shows I have seen in years. Really inspiring theatricality, beautiful music, incredible technical effects, moving emotion – just top notch. Also we had wonderful seats, which is reason number two why I loooooooooove traveling with my mom. By the time the show was over, we were like zombies (except for the brain-eating part), so we caught a cab with an awesome driver who told us all about his dog and his grandkids. Stumbled into the flat and passed out cold on our beds.

This morning we slept in and then met a friend at the Tate Modern when it opened at 10, to see their special exhibit on Voyeurism (stopping by St. Paul’s cathedral and the Millenium Bridge on the way). The exhibit was really interesting, but frankly being that hip is damned tiring, so after the Tate and a quick lunch we got our cheesy tourist hats on and went on the guided tour of the Tower of London. Which I am not ashamed to say I freaking love. Cockney Beefeaters telling you all about Elizabethan beheadings? SIGN ME UP. Then we visited the Crown Jewels (bling!), looked in the gift shop (kitsch!), and headed over to the Courtauld Museum, which was our favorite stop today. It’s just a tiny gallery, but it’s completely filled with the good stuff. Monet, Degas, Seurat, Rubens, Van Gogh – just delightful. By the time we were done there, our feet were about to FALL OFF, so we headed back to the flat to rest a little (rest = drink wine), and now we’re headed off to a local Thai restaurant for dinner. Tonight we pack up our stuff and tomorrow morning we’re off to Inverness! So far it’s been superlatively fabulous, which is good, because I miss Mr. Squab, the Hatchling and the Sprout like crazy so this trip has to be good enough to make that worthwhile. Not sure what our internet situation will be in Scotland, but I’ll update again when I can. Ta!

‘Allo, ‘allo

So have I mentioned that I’m going to London and Scotland for the next 10 days?

Oh, I’m sorry – what? Where the hell have I been? I should let a person know if I’m going to be gone that long? This relationship is a two way street?

Geez, I know. What can I say? Life happens, and lately I’ve been either cleaning the damn house or saying fuck it and napping rather than blogging. Now do you wanna hear about the trip or what?

OK. So, about five years ago (maybe longer), my mom took me and my next youngest sister on a trip to Italy. She just got it in her head that she wanted to go, and she had the means to take us, and so we went. Visited Bellagio, Venice, and Florence over the course of 10 days, and discovered that we travel extremely well together. It was a total blast, and ever since then we’ve been trying to figure out a way to do it again in a different locale. But, you know, I had two kids, and my sister had a kid and between that and jobs and other life-related-crap it kept getting pushed to the back burner. But now the kids are old enough to leave them for a little while with their fathers, and their fathers are insane nice enough to take their own vacation time to watch the kids, and Mom is once again flush enough and Lady Bountiful enough to foot the bill, so: voila! UK, here we come. Sis and I will fly into London, where we’ll meet up with Mom, who’s been there teaching for the last month. We’ll do a few days in London, then fly up to Inverness and explore the highlands for a few days, then train it to Edinburgh for another few days, then fly back to Heathrow to get back home. Emotions I am currently experiencing:

  1. Gratitude that I have such a lovely mother and such an extremely lovely husband.
  2. Queasiness at how much I’ll miss my girls while I’m gone. Oh, man. Really going to miss them. Despite their best efforts this week to ensure that I feel no qualms about leaving them with their father/friends/neighbors/gypsies/whoever will take them off my hands.
  3. Excitement to get that passport working – it’s been too long.
  4. Fear that my MomBrain will make me forget to pack something crucial. Like my camera. Or my sanity.
  5. Hope that I can still sleep on planes, because I may not be able to sleep until then.

Anyway. Wish me good travel tomorrow night tonight (I gotta go to bed …). I’ll post travel notes while I’m there if I can. And please send good vibes to Mr. Squab – I’m hoping he’ll still want to BE Mr. Squab when I get back.