Yankee girl in Arthur's court

You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a woman's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a broomstick on the shanty of a consul in a foreign town. O. Henry Porter 1862-1910, American short-story Writer

Monday, August 29, 2005

Read all about it!

I am not a huge bookworm, by any means, but I do enjoy reading, and manage to find a few moments to do so here and there...mostly before I go to bed. Helps keep me sane, I guess. Lately, I have had 3 books on the go. The first is called Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. I love to read about real people's lives....I'm not much of a novel reader. Although I'm getting bogged down by some of the political stuff, it's a fascinating tale overall. Amazing how people lived under Communism in that era. Truth is definitely stranger than fiction.

The second book is called, The Last House on the Road, by Ronald Jager. It's the story behind an old house in Washington, New Hampshire, owned by parents of some friends of ours who we visited this summer at that very house, in fact. We met Mr. Jager (the author, and owner of the house) this summer when we visited our friends, and he gave us a signed copy. I've been reading it before bed, and finding it very relaxing...helps me unwind.

Last but not least, I would recommend, Potty Training in one Week, by Gina Ford. Not that it's done me much good this particular week, but we are ON THE WAY down the path, and that's what counts. Maybe not WELL on our way, but on the way!! I shall say no more on the topic, as it's too depressing to get into, and far too exhausting to contemplate at this time of night.

Thought I'd post a little summary of Wild Swans, in case anyone's looking for an interesting book to read...(lifted from Amazon).

In Wild Swans Jung Chang recounts the evocative, unsettling, and insistently gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century. Chang's grandmother was a warlord's concubine. Her gently raised mother struggled with hardships in the early days of Mao's revolution and rose, like her husband, to a prominent position in the Communist Party before being denounced during the Cultural Revolution. Chang herself marched, worked, and breathed for Mao until doubt crept in over the excesses of his policies and purges. Born just a few decades apart, their lives overlap with the end of the warlords' regime and overthrow of the Japanese occupation, violent struggles between the Kuomintang and the Communists to carve up China, and, most poignant for the author, the vicious cycle of purges orchestrated by Chairman Mao that discredited and crushed millions of people, including her parents.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Rain, rain go away...

Rainy with gales....Yes, that was todays forecast and an accurate one too. Yesterday was nice so we got out to the park, but that just about wiped me out, as my poor old body is still not completely over jet lag induced under the weatherness to invent a word. We were cooped up indoors for the day, and I managed to think of a unique activity for Lexie....painting rocks. I had some medium size stones that someone had given me to put in the bottom of a vase, and it turned out to be a good way of keeping little hands busy for a while anyway. Anyone have any more ingenious, indoor, rainy day activities?

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Cousins


Cousins
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Don't put them ALL in one basket, Lexie!


A dose of Americana

Home again...What a workout of a trip..Atlanta, Nashville, Sea Island, NH, then Atlanta again... but it was of course worth it in the end. The evening that we arrived home, Lexie went to bed at 6pm and slept until 1pm the next day! Talk about a record!

America is indeed fat and flourishing. It is interesting to observe things about your country after being away from it for a length of time. You notice that people's clothes are much more colorful and varied, are reminded how fantastic the shopping is, and the food....I could go on and on. When I come back, even the most mundane trip to the grocery store makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop. Hmmmm, which aisle shall I torture myself by walking up and down first? Shall I buy Reese's cups, or chocolate covered pretzels, sure would be nice to pick up some Wheat Thins or Graham crackers....and on and on. All this could be mine if I only lived in America.

In trips to other shopping meccas like Walmart, or Bob's, I managed to find myself a Red Sox t-shirt and Arthur now owns a Red Sox warm up suit:) Speaking of baseball, Lexie and cousin Charlie got to go to a Braves game while in Atlanta! Of course our real loyalties lie with the World champs, but once in a while, it's ok to cheer for those less fortunate.

More simple pleasures while at home, included my annual treat of malted milkshakes, rootbeer, and of course Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Forgot to look for curly fries though....oh well...maybe next summer. Another minor thing--it was positively exciting to do laundry and hardly realize that I had in fact done so. Our small washer here takes between 2-3 hrs to do just one small load, and then we hang it all up on clothes racks as our place doesn't have that clever invention known as the dryer. What will they think of next?

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