56 posts tagged “friends”

SO, my paper was handed in and mailed off and that's all good.  I'm not quite sure that I managed to complete the stated assignment (something about critical analysis instead of a discussion that I may have missed...), but I'm really proud of myself for finishing it Thursday night.  This turned out to be a very, very good thing.  If I had done my usual write furiously up to and a scoche beyond the deadline, I would have been well and truly screwed.  (like how I did that, mom?  I didn't use the word I wanted to) How would that have happened, you ask?  Well, let's just say that my plans to sleep in a bit and take the later bus were interrupted by a six thirty wake up call asking me to go skiing with some of my students (which thankfully involves no skiing on my part).

It was a beautiful day (though very windy) on the mountain top, but there was blue sky and sunshine which we certainly didn't have in the city.  A couple friends read through my paper for me, so once all the kids had been picked up, I made all the changes, printed it out, and headed for the post office.  I stopped by a friend's place on the way for cat-sitting.  I had done a flyby the night before and last night, I was able to linger a little bit longer, but now that my paper is done, I can actually hang with the kitty. After that, I stopped at the grocery store (I know, I'm supposed to be cleaning out and I am, but in order to use the raclette cheese from the freezer, I had to have potatoes).  AND THEN, I finally got home.  I straightened up a little, washed some dishes, set the table and pulled out the raclette machine. 

I had bought this little grill when I first moved to Holland from a family that was leaving.  I had never once used it.  I washed off the parts that could be washed, wiped down the rest of it and started getting other stuff ready.  Well, if the house was a mess, then the kitchen was ground zero.  I made a little bit of a dent in it, but by the time G and Maud came over, it wasn't much improved.  G started washing more dishes just to clear a workspace to make the salad. Maud, I'm sure would have liked more space to make the dessert, but made do with the top of the freezer that wasn't covered by the microwave.  But there was champagne which in my book makes everything okay.  So, when the raclette machine blew the fuse in the living room, my answer, fill your glass.  We tried a couple of different ways and it didn't help, the circuit kept blowing.  G is a creative problem solver and while drinking our dinner was one option, she opted for the one involving melted cheese and potatoes.  Oh, and I got to use my new pressure cooker and the potatoes were perfect and lovely and done in like 12 minutes, start to finish.  SO, G's solution for the raclette was melting the cheese in a skillet on the stove and then pouring it over our potatoes. We didn't eat nearly as much as if the grill were right in front of us, but we still ate plenty.  G was worried that there wouldn't be enough cheese, so she had brought an extra pack that is now sitting in my fridge to be moved into the freezer completely negating the point of having raclette for dinner. 

So now it's early Saturday afternoon, and the kitchen is still a wreck because I had a headache towards the end of the evening and woke up with it still. For as good as I feel about all I got done and was able to do for others this week, it was a lot of late nights and early mornings. The house will be vacuumed and cleaned, especially the kitchen, before the end of the weekend, but for now I am okay with finishing off a couple books, and lounging in front of the tv.  I have some letters to write and packages to get ready for mailing, but there's time for that. 

A few Fridays ago, I tried to give up coffee.  I brought in long-life (yuk) milk, a box of bengal spice (my favorite non-caffeinated tea) and was ready to use my coffee filters for chromatography. By break time, I was a wreck.  Not cranky or shaky particularly, but so incredibly out of it.  My brain just couldn't function.  It was like that t-shirt:

Braindumb

Thanksgiving is my very favorite government mandated holiday.  It really distills the joy and spirit of America.  I am so proud of my country and so thankful for my family and friends.  The presidential election really refreshed the optimism and idealism that not only can we do better for our countrymen, but we will.

I always get homesick on Thanksgiving Day because more years than not, my extended family gets together and it seems that everyone is there except me.  This year, I took matters into my own hands.  I suggested a Thanksgiving lunch with my colleagues to one of my American co-workers.  She embraced the idea and sprinted with it.  She took care of the turkey, gravy and two kinds of stuffing.  I stuck up a sign-up sheet and sent out an e-mail.  The tables in the staff room groaned under the platters and dishes and bottles.  Desserts were moved to the low tables by the couches because there was no room on dining tables  The adults at my school are just so lovely and we really do like each other.  I was looking around while we were eating at the clusters of friends chatting.  We've done potlucks before for birthdays and babies, but there's something special about taking a deliberate moment to appreciate one another and be thankful for each other. 

I know that schools run into controversy because students are taught the incorrect history of the holiday.  I think that if we taught the true history of Thanksgiving, we would all be better off.  Celebrating the harvest and days of plenty is wonderful, but even better is that our Thanksgiving holiday in its current manifestation came out of the Civil War as a way to come together as a whole nation to celebrate our good fortune in being American.

Tonight, I am posting live from the kitchen at Chez Kate.  I love wireless.  The kitchen is quiet now.  Just some eggs hardboiling on the stovetop.  A cup of tea spicing the air.  The dishes are done (finally) and the soup stuff is cleaned up or in the freezer. 
When a good friend came to sit shiva with me over my mother's departure from the time zone and my turning 34, she brought an incredibly delicious pumpkin soup.  Impressively, she had bought a pumpkin, and made this soup from absolute scratch.  I did not do that today.  I did have another good friend come over this afternoon with her immersion blender.  Hers is uniquely cool, even beyond the usual immersion blender, but as I have no immersion blender of my own, I would have been happy with anything that meant I didn't have to scoop and dump into a standing blender.
The soup turned out very well, thanks to a couple tips and tricks I learned.  I've decided one way to measure a friend is if they can work in your kitchen and you can work in theirs.  I have some very good friends.
Here is the soup recipe, I actually skipped the milk and lime juice.  I didn't have lime juice and I opted instead for a dollop of creme fraiche in the bowl.  It was really, really good.
Pumpkin soup

Soundtrack for this culinary delight: old school Strangefolk

and I went and looked up the other song she mentioned and now I'm enjoying them immensely.  I am so hopelessly out of touch nowadays with music. 
I'm feeling pretty icky at the moment, but these songs picked me right up.
Flathead by the Fratellis
and
Around the Bend by the Asteroids Galaxy Tour.
I'm sure everyone else I know under the age of 50 has already heard these songs, loved them and gotten tired of them, but I'm digging them at the moment.

She has spent the past SIXTEEN weeks in a combination of foot boots, casts, crutches, pre/post surgery discomfort and finally, finally she is down to an ankle brace and one crutch!
I'm having a pity party for one today, so it was great to go to her blog, and see her foot in a running shoe with an ankle support.  She has had it far more uncomfortable than me, so I am thrilled that by the time she travels to Italy, she will not be encumbered with accessories like crutches.  While the purple and green casts were snazzy, it is far easier to navigate security checks without them. 
YAY Emjay!  I hope you celebrate with some aquatherapy and chocolate!

Fabexpat went to the States.  Not just anywhere in the U.S., but places like Cincinnati and Peoria.  At a friend's birthday dinner, he regaled us with his "rich and rewarding cultural experiences" like taking the bus to the mall and other grease filled exploits. But he hasn't posted to his blog.  So, I'm waiting with bated breath for him to post.  And waiting. 
While I wait for him to post, I am not idle.  I rearranged all my dvds because my mom brought me another binder.  All the new dvds have now been integrated into the old set up and they are now ALL filed.  I made the cover for my futon.  This was marginally more of an ordeal than I anticipated.  I bought a new mattress for my futon frame that turned out to be inferior to my old mattress.  But Ikea (and where else would I be shopping?!) discontinued both that frame and fluffy mattress, so I went with what they had.  And if anyone can help me get rid of the old mattress, I would greatly appreciate it! :) So, this thinner, stiffer mattress measures 140x200, but not really.  Even if it is thinner than the previous one, it still has depth.  I wanted the cover to match the colors in my living room, but Ikea would not cooperate.  The covers that they sold were so not what I was looking for.  In fact, I would put them in the icky column.  SO, I bought another pair of the curtains that hang in my living room and measuring 145x300 figured they would do. 
Okay, so have I mentioned before that I am a big picture person?  Not a details kind of girl? 
I started sewing the futon cover a couple of weeks ago.  I lined it and sewed it together on two sides, put it on the mattress and left it, knowing that I would have to do more with it at some point. This week was that some point.  I took the excess fabric left over from the top of the curtains, lined it and inserted it into the side that was open and sewed it up.  Originally, I had thought that I would do something with the top, but once it was finished, there was enough that I could have the opening on the bottom and just fold it so it wouldn't be seen.  For now, the mattress is stiff enough to sit up on its own without needing to be attached to the frame, but I'm sure sometime in the future, it will need to be MacGyvered (did I mention that I met a kid named Richard Dean in surf camp this summer.  He had no idea why I called him MacGyver and then the instructor started calling him that, too, so then I had to explain it to him which made it a lot less funny) so it stands up straight, but for now it's fine.
Is the cover perfect?  Oh my goodness no.  I don't do perfect (remember, not a detail girl, big picture girl).  I'm a fan of Flylady and totally agree with her saying that Perfection is a)unattainable and b)dangerous to mental health.  Did I do my best work?  Hmm, yes and no.  I did not measure, I did not iron seams as much as I could have, but I did iron some of the seams, I pre-washed and ironed the fabric (which is when the curtains shrunk to about 140, hence the need to add the extra on the sides) and I actually pinned the seams which is something that I don't usually do when I quilt.  It works, it looks nice and it is a somewhat comfortable place to lounge while chatting or watching a movie.  And I am so happy to cross it off my to-do list. 
Now if only Ulli would write me a story! 

IMG_1423
Originally uploaded by kconcannon

My camera really isn't that hard to figure out. And probably this picture wouldn't have been taken if I hadn't tried to give instructions.

This is me and Broghan at one of the stop offs on the Great Ocean Road. Don't know which one. Nothing too dramatic in the background unlike the London Bridge or 12 (11) Apostles, just lots of waves and pretty blue water. I think at this point on the road, there is still nothing between Australia and Antarctica but water.

I just thought it was time for another picture post. I really oughtn't be posting so much. NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, daily posting challenge) is November. But, goodness knows I can blather, so I'm sure I'll do just fine. Besides, I took close to 400 photos in Australia...

no need to take the song lyrics to the next line. 

I am home with a nasty head cold and fever (21st century chemicals are good) and also resting my leg but not getting caught up on my coursework.  It has been just over two weeks on crutches and let me tell you it sucks rocks.  I will say it again, rephrasing it, I am miserable.  My foot hurts, I am exhausted beyond belief, I am really cranky and eating like you wouldn't believe. And yet, I have friends who schlep my sorry ass all over town to three grocery stores (actually four, but one was closed) and carry every single one of my bags.  And then carry them into my apartment for me.  I have friends who come visit me and carry the dishes and wash them for me.  When I am at school, I have friends who carry my coffee cups up the stairs for me.  And other friends who carry the cups back down. 

There are strangers who give me their seat on the bus or tram, though interestingly enough they are all women, usually between the ages of 15 and 35, though there have been a few older ones in there.  But no men.  I know that being on crutches is a finite time, so I am trying to appreciate the positive aspects of it.  Partly because I am so exhausted that I can cry at a drop of a hat if I dwell on the negatives, but also because there is a reason Broghan calls me Pollyanna.  I do prefer to be cheery and happy.  There are good things that I am seeing and experiencing because of these horrid sticks and so I try to focus on them instead. 

If they have started as they mean to go on, then their lives together should be long and full of food, drink and dancing.

I had never been to Poland before, so I kicked off my first time in the country with a traditional Polish wedding.  What better way!

Her family is as lovely as she is.  And there are a lot of them!  She has all sorts of cousins and brothers and aunties and uncles.  Asia also has a quite a few good girlfriends from high school who came out for the wedding, including one from New York. 

The day itself is set up a little differently from an American wedding.  I was chatting with Tomek (one of many men named Tomek this weekend), her fiance, before I left her parents' house for my hair appointment and he explained what would happen before the Mass.  He and Asia would meet at the house, dressed for the wedding to receive the blessing from both sets of parents.  Then they would take photographs for a couple of hours and then they would head for the church.  They were getting married at the town Cathedral. Apparently, this was a busy day for weddings because as one wedding Mass ended with the couple walking out of the Church, the next group of guests were filing in.  There is no bride or groom side of the church and in fact, Tomek sat in the left hand seat and Asia on the right.  The parents come in and sit with no fanfare or escort and then the bride and groom walk down the aisle together. 

After the Mass, in which the bride does not get kissed by the groom, the couple receives everyone's best wishes, gifts and flowers outside the Church.  Many of us then boarded a bus and we were shuttled to the restaurant for the reception.  The tables were long and groaning under the weight of platters of food and bottles of soda, juice, wine and vodka.  We started off with a champagne toast to the couple and then even more food started appearing.  There were five hot courses served throughout the night.  Asia's aunts and cousins had baked some fabulous cakes and pastries that were on a separate, help yourself table along with coffee, tea and fresh fruit.  In addition to the drinks on the dinner table, there was more alcohol by the coffee and an open bar.  And there was wedding cake.  No one was going home hungry.

Periodically throughout the evening, everyone would sing the couple a song wishing them at least 100 years of happiness.  And then we would all drink.  Sips are perfectly acceptable (rather than the whole shot of vodka), a concept I wholeheartedly embraced as the restrooms were down a flight of stairs.  Going down stairs are not my strong point at any time. 

The band was fantastic.  They were a little more jazz oriented in style than rock, and it really suited the evening.  Everyone danced.  A lot.  I, Iwona, at whose house I was staying, and another couple who were also staying there called it a night at 3am.  Asia said she got to bed at 6.30 am.  I cannot imagine what I would be like if I had stayed out until then.

I am so glad that I could be there to celebrate Asia and Tomek's wedding.  And I can't wait to visit Poland again!

Sidenote, skip if you're not Catholic:  Receiving Holy Communion in the Polish Catholic church was a very different experience.  As an American (and given the lines here in Geneva and other places I've been), I am taught that if I have committed a mortal sin, I cannot receive the Eucharist until I have been to Confession.  But venial sins are themselves forgiven by the Eucharist. In Poland, you must have gone to Confession in order to receive the Eucharist.  Out of a hundred or so people in the Church, I would say maybe twenty received Communion.  And how you do it is totally different from the way I've seen it anywhere else.  Asia's cousin, Iwona (who was my absolute savior in terms of cultural explanations and translations) asked if I wanted to receive Communion.  I said, yes.  I followed her and we crossed to the other side of the aisle and knelt on the floor.  The priest came along and gave us the Host on our tongues.  No hands allowed.  I have never received Communion like that before.  (okay, I've done the no hands version, but kneeling? an uusi kokemus)  And then I realized that this was not a whole group experience and I was mortified that I had committed a huge cultural faux pas, but where I come from, as long as you're not in a state of mortal sin, you don't pass up an opportunity to take Communion.