Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 27, 2011
A tale of Provence, in which Esther, Tom, Hannah and Paul get plastered…
Our tour guide, Carol-Lee, was waiting for us at the fountain. I thought our tour of Châteauneuf-du-Pape was finished, but she led us down the street to a storefront: Le Petit Serre Cave de Vignerons. We stepped inside and were greeted by Suzanne, a lovely, down-to-earth lady who owned the cave and her own vineyard. She had a small table made of wine barrels waiting for us. On it were bread, cheese and bottles of wine.
After sampling some local white wines, we moved on to the reds. As the tasting progressed, we got merrier and merrier — especially me. Hannah, who’s not keen on red wine, would take a small sip and pass the rest of her glass to me. So when Carol-Lee proceeded to coach us on how to smell and taste wine properly, we were already primed for giggling.
“Can you smell the cherries and hint of blackberry?” she asked. I tried, but couldn’t conjure up a hint of either. “Ah, yes,” she continued. “I smell barnyard. Can you smell barnyard? and a trace of wet dog!!!”
We looked at each other in disbelief. It was all we could do to stifle our laughing. Try as we might, none of us could smell the barnyard and certainly not the wet dog!
Wine connoisseurs we are not, but we all agreed that our trip to Châteauneuf-du-Pape had been most excellent!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 19, 2011
I remember the sky mostly, staring at it for hours ... praying to a god I don't believe in. Then the CCU, the noise, the light, the smell. The last time I experienced that smell, things didn't turn out too well. And no chairs. I really needed a chair. Why didn't they have chairs in this place? Then I saw him on the bed in the corner, looking small but awake! How could he be awake already? And he recognized me! He couldn't speak, but he moved his finger to let me know that he was there. It was enough. It was everything.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 17, 2011
From my journal, August 13, 2003:
The Hotel Europa is very posh, 3 stars! Tom and I are living the high life. Our room is located on the top floor (6th), has two balconies and is finely decorated. The hotel's name is plastered all over everything, towels, soap, shampoo, even jam jars!
We settled into our room, checked the view from the balcony and were both startled by a tremendous bang...Fireworks! It turns out we've arrived during a week-long festival (La Semana Grande), which includes fireworks every night. Off we trotted down to the beach (a mere two blocks away) to watch the pyrotechnic extravaganza. It was a magical end to our first night in San Sebastian!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 14, 2011
Here's a painting of Tom's wedding shirt. I'm not going to bother telling you the story about it because Tom's done a great job of that already! Check out his column "I'd give her the shirt off my back" on his blog.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 12, 2011
When we moved to Victoria, we were on a VERY tight budget, so meals like this were reserved for special occasions, like birthdays.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 9, 2011
“Changed Priorities Ahead”, Tom read aloud with a laugh, as we whizzed by a road sign posted in a construction zone, “Now that’s kind of apropos!”
What prompted this quip? Well, only days before, we’d become engaged amongst the beautiful ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey, in York, England.
We’d spent a sunny summer’s day wandering around the medieval streets of York and came upon the abbey’s remnants in the Museum Gardens. It really is a beautiful setting, with lush gardens, surrounded by trees, and - when we were there - bathed in golden sunlight.
We found a bench to sit on and catch our breath, and that’s when Tom began. I can’t remember exactly what he said or if he got down on one knee, but I do remember being a bit nervous and feeling very loved. I definitely remember saying, “Yes!” And I’m pretty sure that Champagne was involved.
When major life events like this happen, you want a photo to commemorate the occasion, don’t you? So we asked a passing groundskeeper if he’d mind taking a quick snap of us. He gamely agreed. Tom handed him the camera, gave him a few quick instructions and dashed back to sit beside me on our “engagement bench”. His cap askew, the cuddly and amiable groundskeeper pointed the camera in our direction (more or less). We smiled happily, the flash went off and we thanked him for his help.
It wasn’t until we got home and had our film developed that we realized there was a problem. Somehow, our tipsy (we speculated) photographer had managed to capture a beautiful portrait of the abbey’s wall right above our heads. That’s right; we have an engagement photo of a wall!
So there you go. I may not have an engagement photo, but I’ve got a good, (no, GREAT) fella!
Apropos? Most definitely!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 6, 2011
It’s a serious business, food poisoning. I wouldn’t dream of making light of someone’s suffering, but in this case I’ll make an exception.
In the early days of our relationship, Tom would occasionally go out with the lads, play some NTN trivia and have a pint or two (or three or four). So when my beloved arrived home late one night in a rather inebriated state, I wasn’t too surprised. I ministered to him, offering him a large glass of water and some prophylactic Aspirin and went off to bed. Tom, however, advised me that he would be staying up for a while to “unwind”.
In the early hours of the morning, I was awoken from my sleep by, um, retching sounds which seemed to be coming from the bathroom. I got up to see what was going on and found a pale-faced Tom wrapped around the toilet bowl.
“Ughhhh,” he moaned, “I think it was the pizza.”
To this day, Tom will tell you it was bad pizza…but you and I know differently!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Daily Doodle - September 2, 2011
Imagine…You’re in love. It’s Christmas and you’re walking with the object of your affections to get your first-ever Christmas tree together. You find the perfect specimen at your local grocery store, bundle it into the nearest shopping cart and begin the long walk home. As you dream about sipping hot chocolate and humming along to jingly Christmas music while decorating the Christmas tree, you notice…that it has started to SNOW!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)