Post vacation summary

It's been a while since I added to this blog, so here goes. Now that we are almost 3 weeks past our vacation, I have had some time to gather my thoughts and consider my observations.
1: 18 hours on a plane is about as exciting as going to a podiatrist.
2: Is it normal to be constantly saying to oneself, "hmmm, 3 weeks ago today we were......" followed by a sigh.
3: That nice relaxed feeling you have the first couple of days back to work, lasts for just that - a couple of days.
4: There is no place in the world like your own bed.

That's about it so far. At least, that is all I can think of at 10:36pm at night.

In other news, Marci and I bought a pool membership in our development. It's really nice, and after mowing the lawn in the 346 degree humidity this afternoon it was worth every penny.

I have also finally completed editing our pictures from the trip. Unfortunately the weather was against us. My dreams of a National Geographic - esque photographic envoy were not realized. This was a complete shame as Cape Town is so beautiful. We pretty much had rain the whole time. A trip out to Cape Point which has stunning natural vistas, seaside cliffs and ocean views was met by a thick fog that obscured visibility to a mere 30 feet in front of the car. The only vista I got was a picture of a stinky baboon, taken by Marci leaning out of the car window. Oh well, better luck next time I guess. I did manage to get some good shots. After weeks of editing, tweaking, adjusting and nitpicking at every picture (fellow photographers know what I mean) I have compiled a collection of my favorites. Check them out here. These are posted purely for artsy-farsty necessity and perhaps some self indulgence.
Enjoy.

What If . . .

This is not the first time I’ve been tagged but it’s the first time that I’m actually responding to a tag (Sorry, Rachelle, for never answering your request). But since I’m on summer vacation, I have some time on my hands. So, thanks to Robyn, I have some questions to answer. Here we go:

1. If you could inherit a comfortable home in any city in the world that you could use but not sell, where would you want it to be?

• Can I have 2 choices? Paris and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

2. If you could be instantly fluent in one other language that you currently do not read or speak, which would it be? Why?

• Spanish . . . it has become such a predominant language, it’s beautiful and I could sure use it to communicate with many of my students’ parents.

3. If you were given an hour to spend an unlimited amount of money in any store in the world where would it be?

• Banana Republic . . . I just really like their clothes.

4. If you had to give your children to the care of someone famous, whom would you pick?

• I’d give my hypothetical children to Kirk Cameron (remember him from Growing Pains). Hey, he’s not as famous these days but I know we share similar values and he's already doing the father thing.
  

5. If you could cast an actor now alive to play you in a new film, what kind of film would it be and whom would you choose?

• It would have to be some sort of comedy (hey, I live with Sean and life gets a little comedic around here), with a little romance thrown in to satisfy my girlie side. I think I’d like Sandra Bullock to play me. I’ve always liked her. But I really like Julia Roberts too. I’m so undecided about these things.

6. If you could have an elegant dinner alone with anyone presently alive, whether you know them or not, who would you want it to be?

• My favorite guy, Sean!

7. If you could resolve any single dispute, anywhere in the world what would you solve?

• Child abuse and neglect

8. If you were instantly able to play one musical instrument perfectly that you have never played before, what would it be?

• The guitar! I love when Sean plays the guitar and have talked about having him teach me (think that may put a strain on the marriage?).

Now I get to tag some folks, something I’ve never done. Take a crack at it friends . . Glen or Amy, Rachelle (feel free to blow this one off like I did for you), Chelle, and Katie.

(And feel free to reply to this post with your own answers!)

South Africa

What a trip! Sean and I are now suffering post-vacation blues. We would love to be back in Cape Town, but reality calls.

Our adventure to the Mother Land, as Sean puts it, was fabulous. We started the journey with an 18 hour flight from JFK to Cape Town. We did have a layover in Dakkar, where we refueled and had a security inspection. However, we did not leave the plane. We arrived in Cape Town on Friday, June 13 and met Granny and Grandpa. After some tea, good conversation and good old South African bobotie for dinner, we headed to bed for much needed rest. The following morning, Granny and I joined Zonna and the girls for hair dos and giggles. Excitement was in the air! Later that afternoon, we celebrated Zonna and Steven's wedding. What fun! Those South Africans love to give speeches and they love their wine.

Here's the rest of the vacation in a nutshell:
Sunday, June 15: Lamb cookout at Annika and Martin's house (friends of Auntie Viv and Uncle Ron). Yum!
Monday, June 16: Scenic road trip to Calvinia with Granny and Grandpa for a visit with Auntie Viv, Uncle Ron and Arron at their hotel, Hantam Hotel.
Tuesday, June 17: Sean and I meandered around the small town of Calvinia. He finally got his biltong (jerky-type food. His was made from kudu). I got my mango juice. Tasty! Had a lovely dinner with the gang.
Wednesday, June 18: Headed back to Cape Town in the rain. Winter weather there. Sean and I checked out Tyger Valley Mall that evening. Had a delicious meal at Annapurna Indian restaurant. Probably the best we've ever had.
Thursday, June 19: Breakfast with Grandpa's brothers. Great to see them! Then Sean and I ventured out alone and booked a hotel at the waterfront. Walked along Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Shopped a bit and had dinner at Ferryman's Tavern. Braved the rain and wind again.
Friday, June 20: Drove all along the Cape peninsula. Saw beautiful cliffs, bays and beaches and a mangy baboon. Ate delicious fresh fish. Didn't get to see Cape Point due to heavy fog.
Saturday, June 21: More fog so we missed out on Table Mountain. Instead we headed out to Stellenbosch and found a lovely guest house to check into called the Villa Grande. Walked around the quaint town and had dinner at De Volkskombuis. More bobotie and chicken pie. Of course, the ever present bottle of wine and rooibos tea.
Sunday, June 22: Drove out the Stellenbosch wine route and checked out some wineries. Found my favorite Spier chardonnay and brought it home with me. Dinner at 1802.
Monday, June 23: Time to leave. Granny and Grandpa got us to the airport. We met Zonna and Steven for lunch (they were coming back from their honeymoon) in the airport. Sad goodbyes!
Tuesday, June 24: FINALLY arrived home at 11:15 a.m. after 24 hours of travel. Ahh, home!

Thank you to Granny, Grandpa, Zonna, Steven, Viv, Ron and Arron and all of the wonderful friends we met there. You made our stay extra special and we miss you already.

Check out all of the links for a bit of education and check out these photos . . . South Africa (Sean would like you all to know that Picasa doesn't do a great job displaying them. Unfortunately, the compression they use doesn't give photos the same quality that the originals . . . whatever that means).

Zonna and Steve

Ok,
Just a quick update. Here are the pic's from Zonna and Steve's fabulous wedding in S.A
I promised everyone I would post them asap, after my final editing and quality control!
I am now also faced with the daunting task of going through the other 518 pictures I took.
Updates on those to follow as soon as I can get through all of it!
If you would like the original copies, let me know and I will gladly email them to you.
Picasa's lousy jpeg compression tends to really make things look grainy...


Click on the link below.

Wedding

Day After

For those of you who travel, you know that flying to and fro can pose some challenges . . . getting to the airport on time, standing in long lines for check in or security, going through customs in an efficient manner, dealing with other travelers, and most importantly: Sleeping on the plane! Luckily for Sean and I we had no trouble with any of the above mentioned experiences. Except that last one. It is the kicker and most important and necessary on a long flight. There is no way to get comfortable on a plane. I do believe we could now be considered contortionists after finding multiple sleeping positions throughout our 18 hour flight home. Yes, I said 18 hours! We left Cape Town, South Africa at 6:00 p.m. their time, so that would mean noon our Eastern Standard time. We flew all night with a stop over in Dakkar for refueling and a security check. Although we never got off of the plane. Then we headed on to JFK and arrived there at 6:30 a.m yesterday morning. After going through customs and claiming our baggage we jumped on the Air Train to take us to our long term parking lot. Finally, we pulled out and headed home around 8:00 a.m. and turned into our own driveway at 11:15 a.m. Which means we were traveling for about 24 hours. Ahh, home!

It is good to be home. I speak for Sean as well when I say that we feel like we've been hit by a truck. But it was all worth it. We had a fabulous couple of weeks in South Africa celebrating his cousin's wedding, spending time with family and taking in the sights. There will be more blogging on that later when we upload the photos. But for now, here are two fun shots of a mangy baboon we saw near Cape Point.

Belated

Sean's 33rd birthday was on Tuesday, June 3. I'm a few days late with these wishes. I had wonderful intentions of blogging that day, but, well it just didn't happen. So, here's how we celebrated and my wishes for Sean . . .

I have a philosophy that birthdays are meant to be special. Maybe because my parents always made the effort to make my sister's and my birthday a day set apart from every other day. That could mean something as simple as a special dinner. (By the way, thanks, Mom and Dad). So, since Sean had already purchased his new camera for his birthday, I set about trying to make his day a little different than the rest. I made him breakfast in bed, which simply consisted of an English muffin and tea (I don't cook.). I think he was awake enough to enjoy it. He's so not a morning person! Then I gave him 2 T-shirts so he'd have something to open on the actual birthday. Finally after a day of work for the both of us, we went to dinner at Annie Bailey's, one of Sean favorite restaurants, so he could drink a Guinness and have some good ole' Irish fish and chips. Ahh! When he said it was one of his most enjoyable days, I knew my simple little efforts had paid off.


So, happy birthday, Sean. I love you for so many reasons. Here are a few that I'll share with our devoted blog readers.

• I love Sean's ability to be completely his own person and not care what others think.
• I love his creativity . . . in visual art and musically.
• I love his sense of humor and ability to make others laugh.
  
• I love his ambition, work ethic and integrity.
• I love Sean's South African heritage.
• I love that he comes with a great family.
• I love his patience with me and his sensitivity.
• I love his "it is what it is" attitude and his positive outlook on life.
• I love Sean!

More Pics

We spent this sunday afternoon enjoying a picnic with some of our good friends, Mark and Holly, and their little guy.
I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of their son playing on the playground and having a great old time.

It's usually a challenge taking pictures of kids, cuz' they wont look at the camera for more than a second!!
An eye constantly glued to the viewfinder, and a quick "trigger finger" usually means you can end up with some great candid pictures.

They're a great family, with another on the way - Holly is going to have her hands full soon.

Click here

Rock of Ages

I have to put a quick blog up.
After some serious reminiscing of the 90's while watching a special on Def Leppard yesterday, I had to download their new album.
We'll the results are in kids.
It rocks my face off.
Really? You ask...
Yes, really.
Remember them? I bet you were thinking just a little while ago, "what ever happened to that band Def Leppard?" You know, that great rock band from eons ago that had such great hits as "Armageddon it" and "Love bites"
Well now you know, they are still around making great music.
Warning - "Music talk" ahead....
The new album sounds great, nice guitar tones, really tight production, great vocals, and above all great songwriting. I've been blasting it in my car all day today
All of you generation X'rs like myself will love it.

Whatever, just go get it
Its called "Songs from the sparkle lounge"

Say cheese

Marci bought me a new digital SLR for my upcoming birthday, actually I bought it and told her about it. For years I have been wanting to make the switch from film to a digital SLR, but have been patiently waiting for prices to get down to a reasonable level. Not to mention the fact I have a lot of money invested in my older and now mostly obsolete film equipment makes the transition even more difficult.
I have finally faced the fact that the digital medium has now come of age, and its usefulness, speed and image quality have surpassed that of film.
Many rolls of film have been sent through my old camera, capturing everything from weddings, trips abroad, family, black and white portraits. Oh well.

I have long had a passion for photography - I'm sure I get it from my Dad.

Anyway, so I made the plunge, and invested in a nice Canon 30D. Now, I cant put it down.
No looking back for me!! I love the fact I can shoot, and view instantly. No more dropping off film, paying for developing, changing rolls midstream or arguing with the 17 year old kid behind the counter who printed my pictures with the color completely wrong.

I get home and edit, crop and adjust to my hearts content on our Mac. Also, the added benefit of being able to fit hundreds of shots onto one card is pretty sweet.

So, today I dragged Marci up to the butterfly garden in Hershey to take a few pictures. At first I could tell she didn't want to go. Highlighted by the fact she told me "Sean, there's nothing but beautiful flowers up there!!" I know, why would anyone want to see that right?
She ended up loving it, and we had a great time. I took a few pictures of some butterfly's
Here they are for your viewing pleasure..Click on the link below.

Sean.

Butterfly Garden.

In memoriam

Marci and I are spending this lovely weekend enjoying the freedoms that we are so privileged to enjoy in this country.
How often we take for granted the little things in life that seem so insignificant.
Like the fact that yesterday we had a great time just spending some time together with good friends at a local park, or celebrating our neighbors' daughter's confirmation on Saturday.

Usually every year the arrival of memorial day brings a host of documentaries on TV, detailing the horrors of World War 2. I watched a few of these this weekend. This morning I told Marci that we really cannot comprehend the price that was paid for our freedom. How can one possibly wrap your mind around the fact that 405,399 American soldiers gave their lives during those dark days? How many generations of families were extinguished in the blink of an eye.

So when you are sick of all the media hype, and the commercial, advertising, and political information barrage, that we are all subject to each day, stop for a moment and think about the price that has been paid for you. Think about what really matters.

These things speak to the true ideals at the very heart and core of this country.
Integrity, honor, and freedom.

God bless America.

Sean.