What Matters Now

Hi. I have just spent a half an hour reading a free e-book. Hint: Don't print it. Read it. My analysis: about 5 of the pages were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, about 70 were great, and about 5 I skimmed and let go.

Personal development comes from investing some time in reading, learning, doing new things, and sharing ideas.

I'm sharing this. What Matters Now. WLC.

I am not a Geek... but, check this out.

Hi. My dad is a self-confessed geek. Whether or not I qualify depends on your own opinion. I don't classify myself as a geek. :)

This might change your mind.

The image on the right is a Mandlebrot. No matter how far you zoom in (well, there is probably a limit - this example does loop), the image always has detail. It's a mathmatical formula. How does it work? What is the formula?

Who cares?

And that's why I'm not a geek.

Enjoy! WLC.

P.S. My dad sent a 3 dimensional version to me. I couldn't quite get my head around that one.... Definite geek work.

Feeling A Little Bit Soppy

A friend of mine just forwarded one of those emails you want to forward to others. But after my last fiasco (though I did get a few really good recipes), I've decided that I won't forward on any emails like that anymore. I'll filter strongly for the ones I like and post them here when the urge strikes me.

The urge strikes me for this one. I'd like to dedicate it to my friend, Eliana, who called me last night to let me know that her mother had passed away. I'd also like to dedicate it to my parents, who I am lucky to enjoy time with, to talk to on the phone, to Skype with on the computer, to hug, and to hold.

This life of ours won't last forever, but I'll come back to this posting whenever I need a reminder of what is important.

I'd dedicate it to Erma Bombeck, but that'd be redundant... she wrote it. I miss you, Erma.

Someone asked me the other day if I had my life to live over would I change anything.

My answer was no, but then I thought about it and changed my mind.

If I had my life to live over again I would have waxed less and listened more.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I'd have cherished every minute of it and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was to be my only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten popcorn in the "good" living room and worried less about the dirt when you lit the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have burnt the pink candle that was sculptured like a rose before it melted while being stored.

I would have sat cross-legged on the lawn with my children and never worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television ... and more while watching real life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband which I took for granted.

I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick, instead of pretending the Earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for a day.

I would never have bought ANYTHING just because it was practical/wouldn't show soil/ guaranteed to last a lifetime.

When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now, go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more I love yous ... more I'm sorrys ... more I'm listenings ... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it ... look at it and really see it ... try it on ... live it ... exhaust it ... and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it.

Erma penned "If I Had My Life to Live Over" in 1979 at age 52. She died in 1996 at the age of 69. According to Snopes, "She didn't write it as cancer was about to sweep her into the afterlife." I'm glad she was smart enough to know these things without that burden. I hope we all are.

My friend Lisa would have said... dance like no one is watching....

Live well! Love, WLC.

Travel Log: Disneyland and Dinkelsbühl

It is with great relief that I begin to write this entry. It will the last post about our fantastic trip to Europe. About time! The trip was in May and here it is the 30th of October. I feel I've documented it pretty well. Thanks for the memories....

Several months before we began our adventure, the MAAWB swarmed in our living room. We set up a high tech command centre. Multiple laptops were humming. An overhead projector (borrowed from work) was attached to one laptop and beamed the desktop onto the wall so we could all see. We pulled the blinds and stayed sober. This was our planning day.

We discussed and debated our options; determined our route; and then compared, selected, and booked our hotels. Everything was pretty straight forward until we got to this last day. One last day. Where would it be?

Rootsey was the only member of the MAAWB who had traversed these parts before. He was bouncing back and forth from leg to leg (like an 8 year old who needs to pee) with his suggestion to see a castle. "Not just a castle," he said, "the castle to end all castles." So we looked at the map, found the castle, determined that we would be headed in the right direction (toward Frankfurt), and said, "Right-o."

But where would we spend the night?

We looked at the map and ran our eyes between the castle and Frankfurt. And that's when we found it: Dinkelsbühl.

According to the mayor of Dinkelsbühl, "[it] is simply enchanting! Every day of every year, guests from all over the world are overwhelmed by the charms of one of Germany’s most beautiful medieval towns.

So, because we liked the name, because it was so beautifully described, and, most importantly, because it was on the way, we booked our rooms and made that the last stop.

Between the castle that inspired Cindarella's castle at Disneyland - the reference makes sense now - (Neuschwanstein Castle, royal palace in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, the royal palace built for Mad King Ludwig) and Dinkelsbühl, I think we hit the motherload in beauty on the way out. The pictures will speak for themselves.

The Last Word

A few things I can think of to say before I let you go are these:

1. I love the Autobahn.
2. I actually looked forward to the 13 hour leg of our flight home because of the free foot massage machines at the Singapore Airport.
3. We all love the cans of 10% alcohol Jack & Cokes in Germany.
4. We enjoyed planning for this trip almost as much as going on it.
5. Alan is a great hotel selector.
6. Villa la Noce was AMAZING.
   
7. Two weeks was plenty of time.
8. Qantas in-flight entertainment made the 21 hours of flight time very bearable.
9. The 18 people who went on this trip are all fantastic!
10. I can't wait for the next big adventure!

Travel Log: The Hills Are Alive

Photos in this post by Ben and Michael.

We woke up to a beautiful day. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that breakfasts have been included in every hotel we've booked. And they are very good breakfasts. Just simple things like breads, meats, cheeses, yoghurts, fruit, and cereals, but it's all fresh and pretty tasty. And it was a great way to start each day. We usually met in the breakfast area at about 8:30 and then hit the road at about 9:30. Leaving our hotel outside of Venice was no different.

We drove out of Venice and went west first and then north. The trip today would take us to Austria. Our destination: Innsbruck - host of the 1964 and the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Even before we hit the border, scenically and architecturally, we could tell we were leaving Italy. The plains turned into hills which turned into mountains. We were back in the Alps and the views were breathtaking. This part of the Alps had more green than what we had experienced on our trip through Switzerland. It really looked like the scenery from The Sound of Music. As we moved north, architecturally, the buildings changed. I've not got the vocabulary to explain the difference, but as we went north, the buildings began to look different.

Once we made it to the border, we paid our Italian exit fee (road toll) and drove through Austria to Innsbruck.

Once again, our sat nav took us exactly where we wanted to go and as we arrived at the hotel, we were happy to find that we could actually park nearby. The drive was only a few hours, so when we arrived it was lunchtime. We were hungry and Alan wanted a beer - shoot we all wanted a drink. So we set out to find weiner schnitzel and lager - and we got exactly what we were looking for. I hope I can find the picture of Alan drinking a litre of beer - he was a happy man.

The lunch was spectacular. Veal schnitzel, chicken schnitzel, and the best salad I've had. It was 3-4 salads all in one bowl. The cucumber salad stands out for me and so does the potato salad. If you can remember salads 5 months later, you know they were good.

Cranberry Sauce - The schnitzel was served with a little tiny jar of cranberry sauce. I asked if I could buy a few jars (I wanted a case), but the waitress said that they didn't sell it (what a shame). She told me I could probably find some in the stores around town. Thank goodness, I did. I brought a big jar home and was very happy when AQIS let it into Australia. I plan to bring it to the US for Thanksgiving dinner.

We could see that there was a chairlift that goes to the top of the mountain and we inquired about that. It seemed like a great way to spend the afternoon. Besides, it was really warm (dare I say, hot?) in the city, so we wanted to get some elevation and cool down. Angela decided to give this part a miss so that she could rest her leg (which was pretty swollen and sore, I must say - she surely did the right thing by not going).

So Alan, Michael, Ben and I made our way to the train/gondola ride up. It was two stages. The new train was beautiful and well run. It took us up to a nice skiing village. Then we walked around to the gondola to go more than halfway up the mountain. Unfortunately, we were too late to do the third leg which gets you to the very top.

Snow and skiing. That's what we saw when we got to our highest point. Oh, and a bar. We found a bar, got a drink, and made our way outside to soak up the sun and the view. I'll let the pictures do the talking....

OK - We went back down and walked around a bit. After meeting up with Angela again, we decided to look for a place to eat. I don't think we asked anyone; we just walked around and explored. In the end, we had Japanese for dinner. It was relaxing and nice. We walked slowly in the warm evening and, of course, made our way back to the place where the gelato was being sold. :)

I do believe we were uncannily sober when we made our way back to the hotel that night.

Innsbruck was beautiful. It was clean, pretty, warm, relaxed, and we had a good time there.
We could hardly believe that we only had one stop left. We hoped that we hadn't made a mistake in selecting our next destination. It was the only real wild card in our itinerary.

Travel log: 8 hours in Venice

Pictures in this post by everyone.

My apologies for the break in writing. Life got in the way for a while. But never fear - I'm sure I'll be able to tell the tale. Here we go....

After a fantastic week in our Villa (definitely a separate post and perhaps a completely separate series), we began our trip back to Frankfurt. This part of our journey would take us north east across Italy to Venice and then north through Austria, into Germany, and then back home.

The MAAWB stuffed Nora, Miles, and Tex (with luggage) into the "Nazi-Hearse" (our new name for the big, black, VW van). The eight of us drove to Florence (Fiorenze - how that translates to Florence, I'll never know) and Nora, Miles, and Tex hopped out in the sunshine and began to follow their respective paths home.

Alone again, the MAAWB, with me at the wheel, headed out of Florence, onto another toll road, and still without any tunes.

The drive was flat and the scenery was pretty dull. Except for the beautiful wildflowers that filled the fields and the yards, and the shoulder of the freeway. I think they were poppies. The colour and brilliance reminded me of the first time I saw blue bonnets outside Austin. What an amazing sight. Coming from Arizona, you just don't see colour en masse like that.

Because there was little to look at, this part of the drive was the most boring of the whole trip. We could feel the difference between Tuscany and wherever we were now. It was different.

The sat nav did us proud until the very last exit. It didn't know about a freeway that had just opened. Unfortunately, we got stuck on this new, beautiful, and relatively deserted road for about 10 kilometres. It felt longer. But once we got off the freeway, the sat nav recalculated and we made our way to the hotel.

It was a very warm day. We had really pushed ourselves to get to Venice as quick as we could so that we would have all afternoon in the city. After checking into the hotel, we walked up the road to the bus stop, bought our tickets, and waited 5 minutes for the ride into town.

The best part about this whole trip for me was the unexpected. Some people research where they are going. They watch TV shows about what to do, where to go, and what to expect.

Not me.

I didn't even know that Venice was an island. I giggled about my lack of world knowledge as we crossed the bridge into the city.

Venice was beautiful. It is a walking city. You either push your way through the canals in a gondola or you walk. So we all had our walking shoes on for a big day. We were all hungry, so the first order of business was to find lunch.

On the way over the first bridge we looked out at the beauty of the pathways, the people, the shops, the sky, the water, and.... woops!

Ange was the unlucky one who didn't see the steps on the way down and she fell. Her ankle twisted. The steps were poorly marked, strangely spaced, in fact, well camouflaged into the bridge (see picture of Ben and me approaching the steps down). As I had walked up the bridge, I had noticed a man miss the first one, and I made a mental note about it.

OK - this is getting too detailed. You don't need a play by play. But what a bummer for Ange that, in the walking city, where we have limited time, this should happen.

Lunch was bad. Our first bad meal in days! Alan had good pizza, but the rest of us suffered through some pretty mediocre food.

Then we walked slowly through the nooks and crannies of Venice. We took Paul and Kat's advice (much to Rootsey's discomfort) and didn't use a map to get around. We simply followed the signs to the Piazza San Marco. We shopped. We gazed with amazement at the Murano glass jewelry, art, and sculpture. It was beautiful.

We looked for a pharmacy to buy an ankle bandage for Ange, but, unlike Siena, Florence, and Genoa, Venice was pharmacy poor. (The others were pharmacy rich.) Finally we found one and Ben helped Ange wrap up the swollen and bruised ankle.

OK - here's a tale worth telling. When we finally made it to the Piazza and as beautiful as it was, we really just wanted to find a bar where we could sit and drink. We had bribed Ange to keep going because we all wanted to go on a gondola ride. Close to the boats there were several outdoor cafes with hundreds of tables and chairs available. I walked to the one closest to the boats and asked the waiter (see picture) if they were open. They were, he seated me, I placed an order for 2 beers, one jack and coke, and one litre of red wine. He let me know that they didn't sell wine by the litre, so I asked him for a bottle of house wine. I then sat down and waited for the other four to make their way to me.

Ange was walking slowly, Ben was buying a sweater, I don't know what Alan was doing, and Rootsey was behind the camera lens taking pictures to prove he was there (I think he saw more of Venice through the camera than with his own eyes). But they all made their way to me and we sat like royalty looking at the water, the Piazza, the statues, and the people. We got a second round for the boys and relaxed. It was absolutely beautiful.

After about 45 minutes, or maybe an hour, we were rested, watered, and ready to go haggle for a gondola. So we asked for the bill.

4 beers + 2 Jack and Cokes + 1 bottle of house red = €170 = approximately A$340

OK - laugh at us now. Take your time.

The gondola ride was fantastic. We had it at sunset - the best time we were told, and I think we all agree. I would have loved to be on it for 2 hours, but we took our 30 minute ride and then made our way back into the streets of Venice for dinner. (We made sure to use the toilets at the bar we went to, since we figure that we had paid for one of them. I used lots of TP and soap.)

Dinner was fantastic. Fresh beautiful pizza. We had a couple of bottles of wine to drug up Ange for the walk back. But that didn't work. Her leg was getting worse, not better, and we decided to take the water taxi/ferry back to the bus depot. Rootsey decided to walk/run back with his camera attached to his eye. He wanted to get some amazing night shots. I'll go have a look and see if he did (yep - see image).

After a nice ride on the water, we missed the last bus back to the hotel by only minutes and Ange offered to pay for a cab. She really needed to get the leg elevated. We all felt bad for her. The cab driver was fun.

Overall, Venice was fantastic. We all want to go back so we can explore it more. Next time, I will bring water, wine and food and leave my credit cards at a safe distance, because there is too much I like and the whole place is expensive. Maybe next time I'll just have a special dinner or two.

The next day, we will drive into the Alps again. North Miss Tessmacher! North!

Happy Copper, Happy Wendy

Hi. Well, this update will be short and sweet. Copper had his second surgery yesterday and it went very well. I'll be picking him up today at 1:00.

He'll probably need another surgery in a few weeks to put in a fake tendon, but he has a cast for now to keep the leg still.

To keep things calm and quiet at home, we're going to leave Mogy at his vacation spa (Alan's mum's house) in Terranora for a month. Alan will come home alone on Sunday.

Here are some photos I took with my phone camera. As you can see, he's happy and as cute as ever.

Copper vs the Car

Friday, August 28, 2009

Hi. Copper is in the Happy Tails hospital after being hit by a car on West Street this afternoon. He and Mogy were out together.

He will be ok. He’s had surgery done on his right rear leg and had 2 outside toes amputated. His left rear leg isn’t broken, but the tendons connecting the foot and the leg (his ankle, I suppose) have been severed, so he will need a little orthopaedic surgery early next week to reconnect them with some wire (or something like that). He will be in the doggie hospital until Wed or possibly Thursday. In the end he’ll be fine and the vets said he’s a lucky boy.

Alan and I have decided to visit him tomorrow morning (Saturday) at about 10:00 and then to make the trip north. I will return on Tuesday and then stay. Mogy and Alan will come back on the weekend.

I feel horrible (and a little bit guilty) for them getting out. It was very scary. I’m pretty upset and sad. I just wanted you to know, ‘cause you’d want to know. Love, (sniff) WLC.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hi. Well, it’s been 5 days since our little boy has been at home. He is right around the corner, not 500 meters from where I sit. Less as the kookaburra flies. This afternoon I will go see him for the first time since Saturday.

I’ve had daily updates from the two vets taking care of him: Audrey and Alison. In a nutshell, he is going to be fine. His injuries are not life threatening. His back legs were run over, but he wasn’t “hit” by the car. It’s a matter of repairing the damage to his legs.

His right leg missing 2 toes (the left over toes will be fine and the wound is healing well – as long as Copper doesn’t lick the stitches anymore).

His left leg was scraped badly on the pavement. The bones weren’t broken, but the tendons connecting the foot and the leg (perhaps the “ankle”) were badly damaged. The bone was grazed too, but the fractures in it are “micro fractures” and should heal. The wound has been kept open so that the vets can clean it properly before closing it up. (WLC update: I scraped my foot in two places on the pavement when I got him from the incident and the healing process is – they needed (still need) a lot of TLC to get rid of infection. I think that’s what the vets are dealing with: dressing and redressing until the pus is gone. Sorry for the visual, but I think that’s the issue. Asphalt is nasty, dirty stuff.)

Anyway, the plan is to close his left leg tomorrow (Thursday). He may come home after that surgery (perhaps for the weekend?) or he may need to stay there so that he just stays still (I have a feeling he may stay there, because I would hate for him to mess up his dressing). Then, next week (or thereabouts), the orthopaedic surgeon will do a follow-up surgery to replace the tendons. That surgery consists of screws in his bones connected by a sort of wire that will act as the tendon.

He is on lots of pain meds and antibiotics. He is walking enough to do wees and poos (yay Copper!). He is as bright and happy as he can be in the cage.

I will update you again after I see him. I’m sure he’ll cry when I leave which will make me cry. So expect pictures and sobby mothering stuff in the next update. If I cry, you’re gonna cry, too. If I video with sound, you’ll hear him – that’ll get you.

Go buy pet insurance. I guess we’ve learned our lesson. Should of listened to Keith when he told us to do it. Oh well. I’ll just go sell even more candles. A Copper Fundraiser, think that’ll pull the heartstrings of my clients? Maybe you need some candles? (Insert cheeky grin and giggle there.) OK – I’m outta here. More later! WLC.

I Quit Facebook

Hello. Please excuse the delay in completing my travel log. I promise that I will get back to it in the next week or so.

I've been horrendously busy. It's a good thing. My candle business is growing like gangbusters and there is simply a lot to do. Yay!

In the midst of it all, I made a rather rash and rebellious decision; I quit Facebook. Not only did I quit Facebook, but I jumped onto LinkedIn and quit that one, too. The next step is to quit MySpace. I haven't used MySpace in months, maybe even years, but I do have a log-in, and I'm going to quit.

Withdrawal symptoms still persist. When I walked by my computer (no matter what I was doing) I would stop to hit F9 in my email to see if I had any thing new in my inbox (this is still a problem) and then flipping over to the FB tab and refreshing the site to see if that glorious red flag was alight or if there was a number next to my inbox telling me how many FB messages I had. A few weeks ago, I tried to ween myself off FB by only checking it twice a day. That worked a bit, but when I really thought about it, I didn't need to know.

I think life is about quantity time as well as quality time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing names of people who I don't see much, but I didn't (don't) have time to be with everyone all the time. None of us do. There are real live people who need us to be more attentive in real life. I think life is about quantity time as well as quality time. We simply can't really share our 24 hours each day with hundreds of people. When we do, we spread ourselves too thin.

Physical presence is important to me. The phone is important to me. The social networking on the internet had become too important, too time consuming, too much of a distraction to my real life social networking.

So I quit.

Seth Godin is a fantastic thinker and I read his blog everyday. How he writes about so many diverse topics with such frequency, I don't know. His brain must just be overflowing with information that he must get out. I try to do the same on my Rainbows and Candles website. I share everything I can with my fellow candle consultants. I aspire to be like Seth Godin: available, smart, direct, diverse, and well-respected for those things.

I just came across a short video Q&A where Seth offers his opinion about about online social networking for businesses. I couldn't agree with it more, and I think it also applies to social networking for real friends.

I'm going to go create and continue to develop the social networks that really matter to me. Anyone wanna talk face-to-face or on the phone? I do!

P.S. A special thank you to Renee who just emailed me photos of Sara's first day at school. Renee took the time to do that for me because I'm not on FB anymore. To me that meant the world. I love you, Renee!

Travel log: Genoa, Florence, and the Villa

We woke, dressed, packed, and then scurried downstairs to have breakfast. As we ate, we listened to a CD playing instrumental versions of movie themes and we had fun naming them as it shuffled through. Surprisingly, four out of five of us felt pretty good even with the Genoa pours from the night before. Michael wasn't faring so well, but he pushed on.

Unfortunately the nice, friendly, multi-lingual receptionist from Friday afternoon had left the building. She was replaced by an efficient, but unhelpful woman who wouldn't (or couldn't) assist Angela in calling the government agency. Undeterred, we grabbed a map, found our destination, and began to walk the ancient cobblestone streets.

We found the street but (!) everything was signed in Italian. Have I mentioned that not one of us speaks, reads, or understands Italian? We have ciao, prego, grazi, arrividerci, pizza (various pasta names) and vino rosa (which I think is actually Spanish). Anyway, we were at a loss. We couldn't see any address numbers and we had a street that looked boring enough to house government buildings, but we didn't know which one might be the one.

That is, until Alan turned around and said, "This might be it."

Ange and Ben went in. Michael, Alan and I went next door to get a coffee (see picture right). (Side story: I ordered a latte. The man asked me (in Italian) if I wanted it cold or hot. I finally figured out what he meant and responded, "hot" (yes, in English - what a tourist). He presented me with a glass of hot, frothy milk. Suppressing my gag reflex, I had just learned that latte means milk. I smiled, and giggled coyly and in my nicest way, asked him if I could have some caffe in my latte. He was happy to accommodate. I added one more Italian word to my arsenal. Yay!)

To make a long story (and one that's not really mine to tell) short: a very nice man assisted Ange in looking up the name of her father. He found two deceased people matching his name. In hindsight, neither could have been him, but on initial impact, Ange did think that she may have just confirmed that her father was indeed not in this world anymore. So she mourned. The man was wonderful. When he saw her tears, he left his desk and brought Ange and Ben out to the cafe where we were. He stayed away from his desk and spoke to them kindly for at least 10 minutes. He provided his private number to Ange so that she could follow-up with him on possible siblings and other information. He was amazing. I believe his kindness made the whole trip worthwhile for Ange. She has a contact who cares. The search can continue.

We only had three things on our To Do list that day. (1) Find dad. (2) Eat lunch in Florence. (3) Go to villa. So with number one as complete as it could be, we walked back to the hotel, loaded up the van and began to carve our way through beautiful Italy.

There was only one detail that we didn't have. The address of our lunch venue. The internet at the hotel was simply too slow and the computer needed rebooting too many times for us to get that information. But it couldn't be that bad, could it? We had phone numbers for the people we were meeting. We'd simply call them and ask them for the address so that we could tell the sat-nav exactly where to go.

If they had answered the phone, that would have worked.

After 3 hours of driving, we were in Florence but had no idea where to go. Tex had told me that this restaurant was very close to the Central train station. (What do you think that looks like when it's written in Italian? We didn't know either.) Because we were sat-nav dependent, we didn't have a map of Florence. Even when we did get in touch with our family and friends, they didn't have an address, so we drove around looking for a park. (Have you been to Florence? If so, you must be on the floor, laughing your heads off, because there is NOWHERE to park in Florence. In fact, you are probably giggling as you say to the screen that we're idiots for even trying, because personal cars are actually not even allowed in Florence. Fine, fine. Keep laughing.)

As aimless driver, I was at the end of my tether. But as intelligent, determined (and hungry) person, I simply parked the car illegally, and got out, leaving the others wondering if I was abandoning ship. My plan was to walk into an office building, find someone with a computer and ask them (yes, in English) what the address was. In 60 seconds I had achieved my objective, and I strutted proudly back to the van armed with the address. Sat-nav got us close. I dropped off the gang and waited for someone who knew where the restaurant was to come back so we could find a park for the big, black, beast of a van.

Daddy!

Yes, my dad and my husband strolled back to the van and we drove around for what seemed like hours. Finally we found a garage, paid out money, and walked a kilometre or two back to the restaurant.

Mommy!

Ali!

Pete!

Tex!

It was brilliant. The ten of us ate, talked, laughed, drank, enjoyed, and reveled in the magnificence of being together in Italy (see picture right, taken by my dad). What a coup! We had done it.

Action item two completely and utterly complete, all we needed to do was get back to the van, buy food and wine, pick up another rental car, and make our way to the villa (about an hour away). If I may be so bold as to take out the details. We did that. And it worked perfectly (as perfectly as organising 10 strong-willed people can go anyway). Yay sat-nav! (Yay Rootsey for programming it so well!)

Arriving at the villa was a wonderful experience. Ben's sisters, Debbie and Pam, and their families, Brian, Ben, Alice, and Elora, were already at the villa. It was incredible that 16 of us had made it this far. Only two to go. Nora and Miles were making their way from the south coast of France to the villa and they had been in phone contact. They finally made it to the villa at about 10:00 that night.

And the party was complete. Debbie and Ben had whipped up some delicious food. Everyone found a comfortable room. We sat, exhausted and happy at the gazebo outside (see picture right) and marvelled at the goodness of it all.

I'm going to leave the description of the villa to my next post. In one word: perfect. Detail to follow.

Are you as tired now as we were then? We went to bed one by one. And by four in the morning, I think the villa was quiet. Our next day was a day of rest. And we needed that more than anything.

Travel log: The Swiss Alps & Genoa

Pictures in this post by Ben (except the last two, by Michael)

We woke in Lausanne and had a beautiful breakfast. The balcony we had been on the night before was the same level as our breakfast venue. I think this was where we met up with a couple of Canadian musicians on tour: they do a duelling piano show. Cool.

We filled up ourselves with the beautiful breakfast and then walked to the car which was parked a couple of blocks away. We wanted to get an early start for a couple of reasons. First, we believed that this was probably the longest of our day drives. Not because of distance, but because we were going to take winding back roads (no tolls, no freeways) through the Alps. And second, because we wanted to get to Genoa in business hours so Angela could begin her on site, in country, in person search for her Dad. So we left as early as we could and started back around Lake Geneva.

The drive was amazing (the first picture shows the real Matterhorn). The mountains are really stunning. Unfortunately for our photos, we didn't have bright, sunny skies and uninterrupted views, but we also didn't have torrential rain or (worse) snow. Avoiding tolls and freeways was absolutely the way to go as we really got to see some amazing countryside. Again, because we didn't use a map, just the sat-nav, we really had no idea where we were driving. So it came as an unexpected, and for Ange an emotional, shock when at the top of a mountain we left Switzerland and entered Italy.

We had made it!

Of course, we had about 20 kilometres of tunnel to drive through first, but we did stop to take this picture of Ange who had finally made it to half of her homeland. The excitement was building. Genoa was our destination.

A few hours down from the mountains and we arrived in Genoa. Ange worked with the hotel receptionist (who spoke very good English) on where she needed to be to find out more about her father. It turns out that the office was already closed, but that it would be open on Saturday morning. So we could enjoy the afternoon. After checking email on the excruciatingly slow hotel kiosk, we went to find lunch.

Next door to the hotel in a little takeaway pizza restaurant, we ordered pizza by the slice and a bottle of wine. OMG! The first bite was terrific. The second even better. It was nothing short of fantastic pizza. You know what it reminded me of? A slice I had almost a decade ago in New York City. Mmmmmmm good!

After gorging on pizza and wine, we went for a walk to see the city centre, the piazza, and the waterfront. Alan, Rootsey, and I went up in a revolving tower to get a bird's eye view of the port of Genoa. Ben and Ange claim to be afraid of heights, so they stayed down on terra firma.

The new term we have adopted from Genoa is the "Genoa Pour." You see, we went to a nice, yet empty, waterside bistro/bar/cafe and ordered a round of drinks. It was well past beer-thirty and the effects from the bottle of wine (if they existed at all) were long gone. We needed a top up.

So we ordered a round of drinks at this bistro. Two glasses of red wine, two beers, and one Jack and Coke. The bartender/proprietor took great care of us. We learned over time that in Italy, you do not get served drinks alone, they are always accompanied by some form of nourishment (e.g. olives, potato chips, bruschetta, antipasta, bread, etc.). So we got our drinks and our nibbles and sat outside near a beautiful sailboat to watch the day go by.

So what's the Genoa Pour? See the picture? It's the size of the shot of Jack Daniels that came in a glass about half filled with ice and with a can of Coke on the side. When you add the Coke, the Genoa Pour is... well... very, very generous. At first we thought it might be the proprietor of this particular bistro, but when we moved back to a bar across the street from the hotel (after two rounds at the waterside bistro) we found that, in fact, it was more the norm than the exception. For this reason, Ben and I decided to join Rootsey in the Jack and Coke experience. We wanted the Genoa Pour, too.

I think we had three rounds at the bar across the street from the hotel. To say we were schnockered would be accurate. Ben was in a happy place. Rootsey couldn't see straight. Ange and Alan were OK, and I was on the cusp. We decided that we needed dinner.

Paulie and Kat had given us all kinds of advice on how to successfully navigate Italy and this was our first night there, so we followed their advice and requested an osteria rather than a restaurant or cafe. There was one a block or so from the hotel and, as a group, we shuffled there. The sun had just about set (have I mentioned that it was light until almost 9:00 every night?) and we burst in and asked for a table for five.

Intelligently, they seated us in a separate dining room. :)

We proceeded to have a great time, to eat great food, to flirt with the beautiful waitress (well, Ben did), and to continue our drinking. It was really the first time we had let our hair down and it felt good.

For the last thirty minutes or so, we drunkenly attempted to get the Genoa Steel picture of the century, and this is the best one I could find. As you can see, it is Drunken Genoa Steel. Ben told the waitress he loved her and hugged her good-bye (yes, really) and we stumbled back to the hotel. I recall pouring our own Genoa Pour using our duty free JD and having one more before bed. But honestly, I couldn't tell you how long we were up. We had a lot of fun that night. It is one of my highlights. Genoa was a blast.

So... would Ange find her dad the next day?

Travel log: Strasbourg to Lausanne

Pictures in this post by Michael

We woke to a beautiful breakfast in our hotel. The first of many, I might add. Each hotel included breakfast in the cost of the rooms and we took full advantage of that. We'd come up with a meeting time and all somehow make it to the table. I'll admit that Alan and I seemed to be last each morning.

Since Alan and I were now pros with the tram, we suggested that all five of us take the tram to get the van. Of course, keeping our fingers crossed that it was still there. We set out in the lovely spring day and walked to the tram stop. I think we went one stop along and then disembarked to walk a little. It was beautiful, quiet and peaceful. The trees had all been pruned back over the winter and some of them were budding quite well. I would love to see the streets in early autumn when the trees must be bursting with leaves and foliage.

We walked a few kilometres and then got back onto the tram for the last leg. I'll not keep you in suspense anymore, because our van was exactly where we'd parked it, didn't have a lock on a tire, and there was not a note or a ticket to be seen on the windshield. I can tell you that I let out a huge sigh of relief. I think it was Katie who commented that it would have been a bitch to deal with a towed car in a foreign language - I couldn't agree more.

But we were free!

So we drove back to the hotel, loaded up our luggage, popped the sat-nav into place and entered hotel destination #2 - Lausanne, Switzerland!

The cool thing about not using a real map is that everything is a surprise. Had we used a real map, I would have known that we would be driving through Bern, Switzerland. But, instead, as the terrain changed from flat, brown, and boring to undulating, green, and beautiful, we saw the signposts indicate that the Switzerland capital was only an hour and a bit away. Cool. I've never wanted to go to Bern, but all of a sudden, it seemed like a cool place to drive through.

Over the 7 days of driving (this is day 2 of driving) we were the luckiest tourists ever. Traffic conditions on our side of the road were lovely. Traffic conditions on the other side of the road were sometimes excruciating to even contemplate. We were lucky. However, in Bern, we did get a little traffic congestion. In our touristy way, we decided that was a sign. We should exit and eat so that the traffic could sort itself out. And we did.

I must describe the weather. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and warm, perhaps hot. It was lovely. We had looked at the forecasts and actuals in Europe before leaving and it looked pretty cool and overcast, so the sun and warmth was unexpected and very much appreciated.

My highlight of the day (I have several highlights this day, so expect another), was driving down into Bern and seeing the city centre across the bridge. I was instantly transported into a James Bond movie. I saw a casino; churches; old, beautiful buildings; and a green, leafy canyon going down to a beautiful river.

We parked for free, on the street, in an untimed, completely legal parking spot. UNBELIEVABLE! Then we walked around Bern taking pictures. We got warm and needed beer (can you hear Alan's voice there?) so we found a nice little cafe with outdoor seating and shade (can you hear my voice here?) and had a beautiful lunch.

I could go into how we lost Angela for 30 minutes or so.... She just toddled off to find Ben a book to write in, and we lost her. She wasn't lost. But we looked, and waited, and looked and waited. Eventually we all walked to the corner where the car was and hoped she would eventually find us. And she did. I'm sure throughout the trip we all waited for each other quite a bit, so there's really no complaint here. But we were a little worried this time....

We hopped into the van, still amazed at our free parking, and headed off to Lausanne. This was the part of the drive I was looking forward to the most, because we were about to hit the foothills of the Alps. I love mountains!

The drive was nothing short of phenomenal. The snow-capped peaks finally showed themselves (the foothills are much more deep than those of my Rocky Mountains). I saw the real Matterhorn! We drove and gawked out the windows, at every turn someone would say, "Ooooh! Get a picture of that!" I sure hope some of them turned out (I'm writing without pics - will add them at the end).

The thrill was when we came over a mountain and started to drop to Lake Geneva. Smoke on the Water was blaring from all of our internal radios.

We all came out to Montreux
On the lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn’t have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the rolling truck stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know well never forget
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

Our drive into Lausanne was smooth except for the driveway in - it was narrow and you weren't supposed to really drive there. As driver, I might have had a little bit of a hissy fit while I figured out what I needed to do. It all worked in the end. We unloaded and got out into the world. (Picture looking back at Lausanne from a nice park that pushes out into water like a wide jetty. We had drinks at a pub on this street along the shoreline.)

Our hotel accommodation included free metro public transport - how cool is that? So we hopped onto the train that took us down to the literal Lake Geneva shoreline (song still blaring in my head). We walked along through tiny little bugs and took heaps of pictures.

This is the location where "Blue Steel" was born. Rootsey took a picture of Alan (see picture, right) and Alan didn't smile, he just had what Rootsey called, "the look of blue steel." For the rest of the trip, I daresay, for the rest of our lives, we will probably take "blue steel" pictures. It's a modelling pose done by amateurs. As this blog continues, you'll see the good steel, the bad steel, and the ugly steel. What fun!

Dinner in Lausanne was at a restaurant recommended by the hotel clerk. It was almost right across the street and was a nice place. We got the corner booth and proceeded to order anything that didn't have sauerkraut in it. Ange and I had beef fondue - yum!

I don't remember what anyone else had, but I do remember we were all fat and happy at the end. There was a band playing in the basement where the bathrooms were. I listened to a song and wished we could have a bit of a jam, but the band wasn't that great and we were tired, so we didn't stay. We went back to the hotel to have one more drink, to look at the moon, the Alps, and the stars, and then, with a meeting time established for the morning, we went to bed.

Little did I know that the real Alps had not even been seen.

Travel log: A look back: Sydney to Strasbourg

Pictures in this post by Ben.
To the right: Strasbourg, France.

I have been home from our trip to Italy for a few weeks now. No journal in front of me because I didn't write a thing while I was away. Since returning, BTW, I have also taken a short, 5-day vacation to Hawaii with my fellow PartyLite high achievers. I need to write about that. I've also gone to see P!nk in concert and haven't read a decent review of that night, so I'm bursting at the seams to get one out of me. There are a lot of words rolling around in this head of mine. Ah, to get them into an order.

So let's start with Italy. I'm sorry if this is going to be a long post, but some of you want to KNOW. I'll break it up into parts. This might take a few days....

OK. The MAAWB (pronounced "mob" and consisting of Michael, Alan, Ange, Wendy, and Ben) started our journey to Europe from Sydney on a Qantas flight to Frankfurt Germany via Singapore. That's a 7 hour leg followed by a 14 hour leg and broken up with a 2 hour stop. The two notable things for me were the in-seat entertainment (which made the 21 hours in the air exceptionally bearable) and the (free) foot massage machine in the Singapore airport lounge. I want one!

We landed in Frankfurt at a respectable 6 am and after gathering our luggage and getting stamped in, we rented a big black VW van, loaded ourselves in and set course for Strasbourg. I drove. I wanted to. I love driving. I love the front seat. I feel confident on the right side of the road. I can follow a sat-nav on silent (I hate the voice telling you what to do).

The first thing we learned was that our radio was locked. The instruction manual was in German and there seemed to be no code for us to unlock it. For the next 14 days the only music we had was in our heads (5 very different channels, I'm sure) or from my singing. (I am pretty sure I sang the entire Rumors album on the way to Genoa... quietly, but aloud. I hope the rest of the MAAWB didn't mind. Maybe they had their mental radios on loud to cover it up.)

OK, so we drove and I realised quickly that I was on the Autobahn. OMG I discovered the German in me. I was made for this road! I was made to drive whatever speed I want to as long as it's safe and to give way to others with better cars, faster safe speeds, or death wishes. It's so simple. It's so logical. It's so fun. And it's so safe. Let us drive. Ahhhhh.... bliss.

We pulled off the Autobahn in Heidelberg for a breakfast and culture stop. Cobblestone streets. Cool weather. Quiet morning. A beautiful castle (being refurbished, so partially scaffolded). A wide, rolling river. We ate a nice continental breakfast, had much needed coffee and then walked around for about a hour taking pictures and drinking it in. Then we loaded in and moved along.

Our next stop was Strasbourg, France. We had organised our travel path and accommodation for the entire journey. Michael had painstakingly sat in his bedroom in Castle Hill and pre-loaded every hotel name and address into the sat-nav. We simply selected the next destination and hit 'go'. So straight to the hotel I drove and we unloaded the van. This first stop is when we learned a valuable lesson. Our 2.3 metre van is tall. Parking garages are short. Oops.

No fear, Alan and I drove around and around for about an hour and finally found what seemed like a good spot. It was a parking lot of a museum. There didn't seem to be signs saying no parking overnight. Nor was there a fee. The museum was on the outskirts of town, but it looked clean and secure. We parked in the back corner, locked the van, and traveled by tram back to the hotel.

We couldn't figure out how to pay for the tram (all was in French now) but a lovely lady who we had asked for assistance simply gave us two single tram passes. (Funny thing is that we didn't validate them before getting onto the tram because we didn't know we needed to, so we got a free ride anyway.)

The tram ride was nice because we got to see the beautiful city. Strasbourg is lovely. It's a University town. Lots of parks and old buildings. It's flat. We hadn't even hit the foothills of the Alps yet. Finally we got back to the hotel and met up with MAB. We showered and got ready to go out and explore. The five of us finally relaxed and ready to push through so we could avoid jetlag as much as possible. We are standing on the sidewalk and discussing our path.

(It was this moment when I felt my hand and realised after a few heartstopping seconds, that I had left my wedding ring in the van. After stopping, my heart then kicked into full gear and I told everyone to go ahead without me and I'd be "right back". Once he heard what I was doing and why, Alan gave me one of those looks (you know the look) and went with me all the way back to the van. Tram ride to the van was a bit nerve-racking. (We still couldn't figure out how to pay - we stole another ride. We were going to plead ignorance.) Tram ride back with ring on finger was, again, lovely. We took a deep breath and got back into the moment. Looking forward is a wonderful thing.)

At our MAAWB meeting destination, the cafe on the corner had green awnings, 20 outdoor tables, and a handsome 60 year old french waiter. He served Alan and me our first beverage. 100 mL of wine for me and a cold beer for Alan. We sat in the late afternoon sun and watched people while we waited for MAB to rejoin us.

As I write this, I can't believe how much we fit into this day. I haven't even talked about our Little France walk, our dinner (Ben had sauerkraut with furnishings... you'll have to ask him), the escargot, our relaxed walk back to the hotel, and how proud we were that we had arrived, travelled, done so much, and stayed up so late. We had set ourselves up for the perfect jet lag recovery. When we finally hit the sack, it was after 10:00, we were suitable tired, and we slept through the night.

Ring on my finger, all I thought about as I drifted off was, "I hope the van's still there in the morning."

Up Life with Down Moments

My natural state is up. Positive. Glass full. Fantastic. In fact, if you called me right now, I'd be happy. You'd ask me how I am and I'd tell you I'm great. My business is doing well. I've been practicing the guitar! (My arm actually hurts from practicing - yes, my arm - I think I have a bit of repetitive stress in my left arm from these scales.) I had a fun gig at the Welcome last weekend. I've been asked to sit on an advisory board for an international company. I'm about to go to Italy with some of my closest friends and family. I won (earned) a free trip to Hawaii for Alan and me. My health is good. My house is great.

Angela would hate me for it, 'cause I would probably say, "It's all good." (You see, Angela just doesn't see it that way. It can never ALL be good.)

And she's right; it's not always rosy. I just compartmentalize very well. I can turn off the bad things and focus on the big picture. I take a deep breath, shrug it off and move on. Sometimes that takes longer than others. I'm using this blog time to shake off the latest setback. I'm sure I'll recover by the time I've finished the spellcheck.



Anyhoo - that's just a small post for those of you who think I have nothing to complain about. It's not that I don't have those things. It's just that my life is too short to dwell on them. Hell... I'm already 40 and I've just figured that out. I hope you do, too.



Namaste. ("The light within me honors the light within you.") WLC.

Forty Eve

Well, here I am on the day before my fortieth birthday. It's St Patrick's Day in Sydney. Not yet noon. Alan is at work. I am in my bathrobe. The dogs are asleep behind me. There's plenty to do.

But I thought I'd write instead.

This morning I woke to a slight sore throat. Maybe it's not that slight. It is definitely a sore throat. I'm also feeling very tired. I think the partying and entertaining has caught up with me a bit. It has nothing to do with age, it has to do with lack of sleep. I remember feeling this way at 16, too.

"Forty is the new 20!" That's what people have said on most of my birthday cards. Well, I don't really know about that.... I'm just pretty happy to be healthy and employed and in love and surrounded by friends. My age doesn't matter. Those things matter a lot. I think people are just trying to say that we're as young as we feel, but we all know that's not really true. We're as young as our birth certificates say we are and that's really all there is to it.

So I'm about to be 40.

At least it was a great excuse for a party!

Here's a list of things you might want to know.

• I just redesigned my office. It's not complete yet, but the old furniture is gone, the walls have been painted, and most of the new furniture is in place. Walls need more stuff on them, attached sunroom needs painting, and one more piece of furniture is needed, but all is working and I'm really happy.
• Mogy has lost weight. He is now a healthy 30 kilos. He was almost 36. That is a great accomplishment and one that does have a good lesson for us all. If you want to lose weight... eat less. It works.
• Copper is hard to groom. He doesn't shed at all, but his hair is very hard to keep untangled. I work on a section each day, but I'm constantly playing catch-up, not doing preventative maintenance.
• Alan has started playing touch rugby. His team is called the Waboritas (after Sammy Hagar's recipe for Cabo Wabo Margaritas). They are good. He doesn't think I need to go see how good, though.... No witnesses.... Hmmmmm!?!?
• We are going on a two week holiday to the Alps and Italy in May. While in Italy we will be part of a group of 18 people in a Tuscan villa. My parents, my cousins, my friends, their siblings, their cousins. I anticipate seeing some beautiful countries and landscapes, fun, laughter, food, wine, and the continued development of lifelong friendships.
• Angela and I have both earned another free overseas vacation from PartyLite. This year we are going to Hawaii. Alan and Ben are coming, too, of course. I've not been to Hawaii before, so I'm looking forward to relaxing there for 4 nights. Short, sweet, free, and 5 star! Yippee!
• My calendar has appointments in it all the way through 2009. I feel as busy as I've ever been. I need to improve how I use time.
• My music stopped. My gigs dried up after January and that is the problem. Gigs are deadlines. Deadlines are my lifeblood. Without them, I am lost. I feel lost musically. (BTW, I do recognise the irrationality in that, too. I know that it takes practice and learning and practice to play well so that I can even get the gigs. I KNOW! Just do it, Wendy!)

And that's all I can think to tell you right now. If I think of anything else to say, I'll write another post. If you subscribe to this blog, you'll get an email whenever I add a posting. I don't write too often, so it won't fill up your email box or anything. Or you can subscribe via RSS if you're RSS-savvy.

Chow for now! WLC.

Obama, Clean Coal, Pigs, and Budgets

I'm in love! Never before have I said that about a US President. I love his honesty. I love his direct nature. I love the way he anticipates and addresses arguments from special interest groups. I love this entire speech (see below)... with one exception.

He said, "clean coal."

Pigs (cute pigs with jeweled wings and lots of bright coloured lipstick) will fly around all over the world (like butterflies, dropping $100 bills from their painted, shiny hooves, and cheerfully singing - in full harmony - happy Karen Carpenter songs like, Top of the World) before there is anything in the world clean about coal.

Invest the research and development money somewhere else.

Watch this video - you'll fall in love with him, too. And if you don't love him - please comment. I'd love to have a good hearty dialogue to keep my brain and my logic balanced. I don't want to be a blind follower. I don't think I am....

Too Long Between Drinks

[Picture of Dude going out to dinner with me on Saturday, January 10. He was invited!]

That title has heaps of different and accurate meanings. First, it has been too long since I updated my WendEmail blog. Second, it has been too long since I've seen a lot of my friends in the US. I need a fix. Facebook ("FB") is not making it any easier - though I am enjoying using it to find out what others are up to, it's actually making me feel a bit removed and very far away. Third, I've been not drinking this month. I'm more than halfway done. My dad just posted a comment about Shiraz on FB and it made me want one.

I suppose I could, it's just my own silly game, this non-drinking for a month. No doctor put me up to it. Yet, I hate to lose....

I'm remembering back to the first WendEmail's that I sent out. (Even before the word "WendEmail" was invented by my fabulous friend, Les.) When I first moved to Australia and when Alan and I were living at Ben and Angela's house in Five Dock. Pro was in his doggy quarantine, and everything was so new. I feel like an old hack at it all now. I have fully adjusted to Aussie life. I do feel like I couldn't move home.

That's probably because I could visit home for 5-6 weeks if I wanted to and few Australians would bat an eye at the thought. Australians go overseas and take their time doing it. Their jobs are fine. Their bosses are fine. Their bank accounts deal with it. It is actually expected. Yep, this is home.

Some of you have made it over here. Kudos! A little hint to you all whether you've been or not; Alan and I cherish our visitors. We love to show off our Sydney. Our Sydney is probably different to everyone else's Sydney. That's the neat part about a big city like this. No one appreciates it exactly the same way.

Some of you considered coming here for my birthday party. Maybe just for a second. Then your American brains said, no, you couldn't. Work and kids and money and time and other places to go and "we'll get there someday."

Most importantly, I didn't really expect you to come. Not for the party. But I do hope I re-watered the seeds of travel down under into your plans over the next few years.

I might have some work to do in Colorado later this year. Of course, if I'm coming that far, I'll be stopping off in Scottsdale for a day or two. I will probably go to St Louis to see Douglas for a spell (can't remember ever being in St Louis - should be fun). Maybe you and I can catch up in one of those three places.... It's certainly closer than Sydney. :) I'll keep you informed.

This afternoon I went to lunch in Balmain with a group of musicians, comedians, producers, record agents and support people (PR/marketing people like me). It was a nice lunch - they are very nice people. I will now change out of my nice clothes and put on some painting gear. I'm painting my office and it needs a second coat.

I'll be more diligent in writing here. If you do want to get updates, you can subscribe. It'll only email you if I update the site.... Bye for now! WLC.