We aren't entitled.

Today one of the stories in yahoo really caught my attention. The story was about a UK Eatery charging a baby tax. Now, while I agree that is absolutely ridicoulus, I found the meat of the story to be really annoying. Anybody who reads this and gets offended. Do remember this is my personal opinion and how I choose to live my life. Should a restaurant charge for a baby who is not eating, absolutely not, in no way is that kind or correct. Should a restaurant be able to charge a surcharge, when the parents come in with a toddler and bring in outside food, of course they should. You pay a surcharge if you bring your own wine to a restaurant, why should bringing in your own food be any different. And honestly maybe you should be leaving that child with a sitter while you go out to dinner. When our children were growing up, we did not go out to eat frequently. And not just because of the cost, but because I don' believe that very young children should have to behave appropriately in "grown up restaurants" I don't believe in taking them with. Not that we didn't ever go to dinner, but before the age of 4 we pretty much went to restaurants that were "family oriented" or like MCDonalds. By the time they are 4 they should have been eating at your supper table and being taught the proper way to behave. Which includes, not running around, not being loud and not playing with food. I do not believe that because you made a choice to become a parent that everybody is required to change their lifestyle just for you. If my husband and I go out to a restaurant, I expect to have a nice evening with my partner, which means not watching someone elses child run around, maybe get hurt, or start throwing their food or worse yet crying because they've gotten in trouble for not behaving. I don't believe my children have been scarred for life, or missed out on anything because they did not get to do everything at a younger age. Your life choices do and should impact how you live your life. If you choose to become a parent, recognize that you can't live exactly the same lifestyle you did prior to the arrival of children in your life. And it's not really fair to the children because it deminshes their childhood. If you can afford to go out to eat regularly, switch off, make the decision to go with your friends or your partner with no children most of the time. Or choose to go to "family restaurants" until your children are older. Our generation and the generation behind us has forgotten the basics of living respectfully and yet we are very free with comment on how horrendous the next generation behaves. Next time you want to complain about the way you have been treated, take a look at what caused that treatment first and really consider if it was warranted.

Memories

The holiday season brings all sorts of emotions and memories rushing forward. Not that we don't have these things all year, but. it seems exceedingly heightened with Thanksgiving ended and the run up to Christmas beginning. Been thinking tons about the things hat I cherised especially as a young adult, before marriage and kids and extended families. When I was in high school my older brother and I lived with our mom, and I've been thinking about those times a great deal lately, and for some unknown reason the foods that I loved. Some things I never really introduced my kids to like Corn Chowder. It's on the menu for dinner tonight, I think it is a tried and trued staple of comfort food for northern houses. My mom did not make a version that cost a lot of money, cause she was a single parent with a couple of teenagers in the house. Milk, bacon, onion, potatoes, chicken broth and corn with lots of pepper in it. My mom liked pepper, pretty much everything she made that I have been craving of late had lots of pepper in it. Of course winter makes you think of stews and soups. Next weekend I think her beef stew will be on the menu. I have never been able to make it taste like she did, but I still love a good beef stew when it's cold and rainy out. I don't remember ever making corn chowder when the kids were growing up, I truly enbraced (if you will) all things about being married to an Italian and for the most part the kids grew up with a mostly Italian diet. Not sure why I did that, but I am working really hard on re-creating some of the most beloved meals from my childhood mostly for myself, but with the assumption that Adrian will also love these meals. A day doesn't go by that I don't think about mom and really miss her. She's not passed yet, but she is entirely gone. The beauty of living so far away is I don't feel guilty for not going to see her regularly. When I am back in SF I try to make at least one visit over to the home to just let them know that my sister is not alone, and that we all still love our mother. I miss her like crazy, we certainly didn't always see eye to eye, but she was an amazing smart and independant woman, who set the most amazing example of how to live and love for her children. I recognize that this is all crazy ramblings and very unfocused, but, I did warn you that this was the furture of this blog. So as the holiday season encroaches on your life, take a moment to remember those things that brought you special joy wen you were growing into the person you are today.

The day after

First I want to share two little known facts about Tacoma.....did you know that the candy Almond Rocca is made here in Tacoma and that Bing Crosby was born here, amazing. So last night as we sat down to our very delicious Thanksgiving Feast, I realized that I am very fortunate to have parents from the two oldest and most prolific regions in the states. Mom was born and raised in Massachusetts (as was my stepmother)and Daddy was from Georgia. So, normally Thanksgiving dinner was a wonderful mix of both regions, we did not realize this when we were younger, but things like cranberry sauce and traditional sweet potato casserole represent both regions. The only thing I really missed and will probably miss again at Christmas, mince pie and rutabegas. In previous years I would still get to eat these things because my sister also loves these holiday foods from our childhood. I am sure after making the casserole for just the two of us I could easily do the rutabega for just me, but, not sure if I could find it in the stores here and the mince pie....well...no way I am eating an entire pie by myself, for a multitude of reasons. Today dawned so clear and beautiful after all the rain, we are hoping to get the Christmas lights up outside. I have already changed over the beds and the dishes, but there is still much to do. As those who know me well know the entire house will get a holiday make over, over the next few days. I'm not sure that I will ever have anything worth saying in this blog, but it is nice for me to be able to et rid of some of the things that constantly run around in my had. By the way those of you insane enough to be out there shopping today, is it really worth it? I don't think I could ever deal with all the lunatics and crowds; I think I would just rather not buy.

New adventure, new lifestyle, new name

So this will be a really long post, as it has been forever. As those of you who have been following this blog may notice, I changed the name. We aren't in Europe anymore, but I decided I would continue blogging, and maybe even be more consistent at it. No promises there though.

We arrived back in the US in mid July, Adrian's assignment is to "SEATAC" airport, started looking for a home to buy. What were we thinking, you are only given 60 days temp housing, this is not enough time to find and buy a house in most cases. We do know people who have been successful with that, but, not us. So in September we signed a one year lease on a lovely home in Tacoma. We are in an area known as Brown's Point, it's only about 1.5 miles to the Puget Sound. There's a walking trail near us, but we have not yet attempted it. Very happy to be here and still settling in.

Today is Thanksgiving and we are reminded to vocally give thanks for all the things we have been blessed with. Family, friends our health and life. We are exceedingly grateful to be home in the United States. Adrian is working today, but that is ok since it is just the two of us. He wanted to go out to dinner tonight, but...for me this is criminal. I personally can not go to dinner on any holiday except Mothers/Fathers day. It's just a personal choice and place. So, we saw that Trader Joe's offers a 1/2 Turkey, sounded good to me. This will give me enough to make pot pies after and still have a lovely traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The challenge is in making the appropriate quantity of food. I am so used to cooking for a crowd that I really haven't spent a lot of time thinking about making a holiday for just the two of us.

I posted the fact that it was hard to do on Facebook and the response was interesting. The number of my friends that were concerned about us being "alone". We are very happy to spend the holiday with just the two of us, and it will be very quiet and romantic. So, I took a friends recipe for traditional sweet potato casserole and cut it down (to the best of my ability), we'll see how it turns out tonight. Still have to figure out small quantity dressing.

I had all these amazing thoughts rolling around in my brain when I woke up and was laying in the bed, but can't think of any of it now of course.

Here's hoping you all have an amazing Thanksgiving day!

New adventures on the horizon

It has been quite some time since I last updated this. We are returning to the United States this year. There are definitely things about Ireland we will miss, but I must admit I will be exceedingly glad to return home. Today we got word that Adrian is transferring to SEATAC, which is the Seattle/Tacoma field office. Happily we are still going to be on the west coast! I have just barely begun to do some research on living in the area and we have a wide region to choose from. Our plan is to rent for a year while we figure out where we most want to be. I am excited and sad at the same time, sad a little that we aren't going back to the Bay Area, sad to be leaving some very dear friends we have made in Ireland, but as I said, very happy to be coming home. All that said we still don't have a move date, our assumption currently is that we will be coming home sometime around June. Adrians' tour is done officially on March 31, however, current situations do not make it convenient for them to move us at that point. At least that is our understanding.

We are also in the process of planning our final "big" trip in Europe. We will be joined by some very dear friends Robin and Jerry and go tour Belgium. So look forward to hearing about that trip in mid March. Our plan is to land in Brussels, see a bit of that and then rent a car to drive too Waterloo, Ghent, Bruge and possibly Antwerp. It will be an awesome trip.

August and into September

Jess arrived home on August 18, which was great. A week later off to Copenhagen we go....

8/24/10
Arrived in Copenhagen (Kobenhavn) which translates from Danish to English as "Merchants Harbor", got here late in the afternoon. Finding our way from the airport (via train) to our hotel was very easy. Hotel du Nord is just down the road from the Central Train Station. Less than a 5 minute walk and we were ready to check in to our room. The room was clean, large and comfortable. No wireless connection (which is why I am only just now getting around to blogging.) Unpacked, and we were out the door. 5 minutes walking and we were at Tivoli Gardens and City Hall Square. City Hall Square is in the Center of the city, we did a quick walk around there to orient ourselves for the next days plans. Took some pictures, the Bull and Dragon Fountain, the stele that marks the exact center of Copenhagen. And a "soccer" game, it was weird, there could not have been 10 feet between the 2 goals. Then we walked over to Tivoli, a wonderfully fun place to visit, said to be the oldest amusement park in Northern Europe. Tivoli was opened in 1843/44. It is said that Walt Disney visited Tivoli early in 1950 and it was the inspiration for Disneyland. It is very easy to make the correlation between Tivoli and Disneyland. It is broken into areas that represent different parts of the world. And very reminiscent of Disney in the 50's and 60's remember E tickets? You pay individually for all the amusements/rides at Tivoli, so we passed on doing any of that, we just walked around and enjoyed the people and sights. There is a hotel just inside the park that is built to look like the Taj Mahal. There is also a lagoon with a pirate ship docked that is a restaurant so of course we had to have our first dinner there. We had really lovely BBQ ribs. After dinner we continued walking through the gardens, there was an Orchestra playing Waltz Music on one of the many outdoor stages. They have a theatre in the park and the SF Ballet was in performing Swan Lake. We finished the evening in one of the cafes in the park having dessert. Jess had this amazing Belgian Waffle with powdered sugar and I had "aebleskivvers" kinda like donut holes, with jam on the side yummy! Did you know that in the rest of the world they eat waffles for dessert never for breakfast.

8/25/10 A brief history of Copenhagen
Copenhagen was founded around 1000AD on the island of Slotsholmen by Sveyn Forkbeard, son of Harald Bluetooth Forkbeard. The first Danish King to strike coins with his image on them. He ruled Denmark, Norway and England for 5 weeks before his death in 1014. In 1160 the village of Havn (Harbour) was given to Bishop Absalon by Vlademer 1 and he built the first castle on the spot. In 1416 King Erik VII moved into the 2nd Castle built in Havn and in 1443 Copenhagen was named the Capitol of Denmark.

Woke up a bit on the Cranky side on this day because no sleep the night before. Turns out our hotel is located in the former Red Light District and there are still 2clubs just down the road. One is a Maxim club and I don't know the name of the other one, but loud drunk men coming out all night and singing, thought they would move on but they did not.....Our first stop this day, city hall, first you do a self guided tour around the interior of the building, its simply a beautiful space and there are lots of areas that are open to the public. Best find, public library located inside the building, it only consisted of two rooms, but it was the original public library and looked more like a private library in a large home. Then we met our guide for a walk to the top of the clock tower. 360' up there are amazing panoramic views of the city. After we made our way to the bottom of the tower, we went into another room to see the "World Clock". It's an amazing piece of work, we were able to see all of the workings of it as well as the clock it self. Leaving City Hall we walked over to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a museum on the same level as the British Museum, but nowhere near as large, so it is easy to view everything you want to see in one day. Lunch in the "Winter Garden" of the museum, which is a solarium basically with a cafe in it, really yummy pannini's followed by a "Sarah Bernhardt" cookie, it was amazing, almond, chocolate, pomegranate mix. Time to move on to Christiansborg Slot (Slot = Castle), the fourth castle to have been built on the site of the first castle built by Bishop Absolon in Havn. It was very cool as we were able to go under the castle and see some of the remains of the Bishops original castle as well as the second castle built on the site called Copenhagen Castle. We were able to finish by touring the reception rooms of the castle. They were amazing, unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos in them.

8/26/10

Took the train to Helsingor (about an hour or so away from Copenhagen), Helsingor is Elsinore in English, very easy walk from the train station to the Fredericksborg Slot. This is the Castle that Shakespear used in Hamlet. The Castle was originally built as a fortress to assist with the collection of taxes from the boats entering and leaving the Baltic. Lucky for us pictures are allowed. As a castle it was definitely not superbly over done as we have come to expect, it was a little on the dark side. The most incredible thing in the castle was the Great Hall, the largest in Northern Europe. After a bite to eat that included an attack of bees, forcing us to take our food and go indoors :(, we took the train further on to Hillerod. Another castle to visit, much more like what we are used to seeing. Ornate, amazing, all the Royal portraits were great fun to see up close and then the gardens. A stunning walk through the baroque gardens ended our day. There was no train from there to Copenhagen so we took a bus from Hillerod to Farum and caught the train back to the city. Great tip if you are ever in Copenhagen, 24 hour train ticket, gets you on all the "inter city" public transportation so we never had to pay another fee once we bought the original ticket out from Copenhagen to Helsingor. Picked up hot dogs from one of the many vendors once we reached the city, their buns just have a hole drilled through them and they drop the hot dogs right into them.

8/27/10

Jessie stayed sleeping while Adrian and I went to do a bit of walk-about. Visited the "Latin quarter" so called because everybody there spoke Latin back in the day. In the Latin quarter is a church that has the "Round tower" attached to it. The tower was originally built for Frederik as an observatory, one of the oldest in Europe. The top of the tower is reached by walking up a ramp (no stairs), utilized by a king on Horseback and his queen in carriage to reach the observatory. While we were in the church they were replacing the candles for services. It is amazing to me how frequently the Danish still use candles, just gives everything a lovey look. Back to the hotel to pick up Jess for lunch and a walk down the shopping street. Longest pedestrianized shopping street in Europe. A walk along the canal and an ice cream to end the day, my flavor was Banana Split so delicious. The weather was lovely the entire trip.

8/28/10
Of course I had to jinx us the day I said that the weather had been perfect. Not that we really had bad weather, but on this day it did rain on us off and on all day and the temperature had dropped. We walked from one side of the city to the other. We went to Rosenberg Castle, toured the treasury and saw the Crown Jewels. Incredibly beautiful items. Then we walked through some of the palace itself, the rooms were amazing. Then we walked over to the Amalianborg Slots complex, a complex of 4 palaces that the current royal family live in. First we did a tour of the queens reception rooms, this is where she entertains guests. The palace is also used as a guest house. Then over to the palace that houses apartments for the queens sister and younger son when they are in town. There was a display on the life of the current queen Margarthe II in preparation for her 70th birthday coming up. By this time Jess and I were starving so we found a cafe, got a bite and then Jess informed us that she was tired and heading back to the hotel. Adrian and I walked on to the fort located near the harbor. We walked back toward Vesterboro (where our hotel is), of course, we never just go directly back. So we took the circuitous route that allowed us to stop at the Russian Orthodox Church and a stop into the marble church with its wonderful domed ceiling. The dome has frescoes showing the apostles. We finished up by walking along the Strodet (the shopping street) and stopping in at a Bakery to pick up some desserts for tasting. We should have taken pictures of the bakery but forgot. 5 different little goodies to try. Most of them involved some sort of chocolate and/or creme. They were a great way to end our stay in Copenhagen. Such a wonderful week.

9/4/10
Put Jess on the plane today to go back to London, so sad to see her go, school starts Monday though.

9/5/10
Today Adrian and I are off to the Burren just for a day of hiking and enjoying mother nature.

Hope you are able to enjoy all of the photos we have loaded.

Keep well everyone!

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Dana visits

This month my friend Dana came for a quick visit and Jessie came home. This made for a lovely week. We took Dana to some of the traditional spots we take people i.e. Bunratty, the Cliffs and Adare. We did go someplace we had not been before, Birr Castle and Gardens was amazing.

The castle has been inhabited by the same family for the last 400 years, which of course meant that we could not go into the castle, but.... The "Demsne" is open to the public with 5 miles of walking trails and we walked every bit of it. Tomorrow we are off to Copenhagen so I should have some good posts for you all after Wedensday night.

Keep well, oh and I have added a new stream to my pictures called "Nature" have really enjoyed taking nature pictures this summer.

Keep well and enjoy the photos.

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