Catching up

Hiya,

so yes, it has been an eternity since i've written. and it should be noted that the inspiration of today's ramblings is purely the feeling of responsibility to the (3 or so) people that read this. No one likes to be left hanging on a string, cyber or otherwise;

Instead of going into depth maybe a summary list of what's been happenning.....in an effort to avoid all necessary paragraph formation.

1. For those of you who didn't know the sale of the apartment in Portugal went through. We are now proud owners of real-estate in south Portugal. Which is where we shacked up during this last recent vacation. Me, J.D. and five of our friends. Seven works but is a bit tight.

2. Speaking of vacation:
First week stressful :furnishing the appt -spending money i don't have stresses me out, building cheap ikea-like furniture, thinking of the gazillion things we need to buy to make the appt liveable..... no beach time this week.

second week: stressful for JD : he had an eight gig tour planned and the lead singer's car blows up in north Spain so, is he gonna make it? A bit less stressful for me, still no beach time.

third week: some beach time but the guys are doing their own thing between the sound checks and the concerts. and where the concerts are close the girls follow. sometimes good, sometimes not.
End of vacation!
Overall, not as satisfied, or as tan, as i would have liked to have been. but i really shouldn't cry into my own soup, my poor friends and family on the other side of the big pond only get a few days vacation every year.

3. The weather
Now i realize this is horribly kitch to bring up but given the circumstances i really must.
I am going to tell a tale of woe. woe i say.
My mother would say I'm a hot-house flower. heat? bring it on. heatwave? bring it on. prolonged heat wave? okay. fine.
But this hasn't been the scenario. Before leaving I worked through the month of June and up to the third week of July. Let me put it this way, at no moment did my students look longingly out the window and beg for class outside. I wore my knee-high leather boots at the end of June because it was that cold.
Out of principle i took out some (not all, wouldn't want to jinx anything) of my summer wardrobe. Never wore a thread. Not a thread.
So Portugal was a welcome heat hiatus.
Back to Normandy. I hear, it's been raining and 50° for the last three weeks. We've seen the sun twice. I've been wearning jeans, sleeping under a comforter, turning the heat on in the bathroom, not been able to keep the windows open for long, taking my umbrella everywhere.
Let me sum up: THIS IS NOT AUGUST, THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL MONTH OF OCTOBER!
It's too painful to put all my summer clothes away just yet, but i know i won't touch any of them again until next year, Portugal.

In the same vein, do you remember me mentioning that i've got a vegtable patch? and that i mentioned that the owner wanted me to put some kind of water counter on the tap so as to know how much i'm consuming? HA! the joke's on us! the ground hasn't been dry for three months!!! and me worrying about how i'm going to water.

4. which brings me to my garden. de-weeding was definitely the ordre du jour whenever i could, and i did so much more of, and mostly in the rain.
But, i've planted: gourds, pumpkins, broccoli, chives, onions and one or two other things but, when i went up early this week the little wooden spikes with cute little black spaced for writting the vegetable names in chalk were, as the rain would encourage, erased. so, there will be one or two surprises, hopefully.
I also am making the bet that we won't have an early frost. As i read the seed packets they all suggested to sow in spring, well, you know, i didn't really get around to it then......
so here i go, sowing in mid July. HA! Only nature knows what will happen. But as of yet, nothing, except those super stubborn weeds that have again started to provide a nice green ground cover.

5. I start work on Monday. what am i looking least forward to? the overwhelming odor of stress; eminating from my principle collegue. she is nice, really nice. but girl, try the zen attitude just for once! and really, i don't think it's her fault; things like that are genetic.

6. In the end, the plaque next to my door will in fact read "Full-time teacher". School administration 1: little leila employee: 0
I tried to make them see the light but the "adminstration's ways" were just too cut in stone. and really, it's just words. words. words. (I"ll believe this eventually)

7. For the last couple of days i've been reading the "belle de jour" blog. You know the one, the one entitled "diary of a london call girl". That one! the one that encouraged the anonomous author to write two books. The one that was THE blog everyone was reading. The one that some people think is nothing but a hoax. And, who really cares? it was hours of entertaining reading.
Started from the beginning and worked my way up to now. Jesus i admire her libido; and apparently her lingerie and shoes collection.

Yes, the weather has been so crap what i've been doing lately is squatting on the couch, reading her blog, surfing other people's blogs, scanning YouTube for old good advertisements to use with my classes in Sept.... taking the dog for a walk now and again, and that my friends.... is it!
Riveting stuff i know.