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Another Top Ten…
...signs of "re-entry"to my native habitat from a long absence: 1. I can't find my car keys anywhere...they're somplace "safe". Oh boy, those keys are so safe it took days and days to recover them. 2. Nice friends are phoning to say hello on my cell phone. This is...
Two cell phones (that will stop working tomorrow), one iPad (with a big crack in the screen), one tablet, three kindles, three ipods (one dead), a Nintendo 3DS (child bored of it though since he’s played the same three games for three months), and half a computer (with no audio, another one got dropped, and the third is “frozen”)
I didn’t share this, but while in the Netherlands in July (now I’m in Holland), the d ,m, and r keys stopped working on my computer. My blog was going to be about how hard it was to be creative when one is limited by using no words that had those letters in them. ...
Oslo: It will be nice when it’s finished.
The great age of Vikings. Norway. Then Norway/Denmark, then Norway/Sweden. Then, the same year my home province joined Confederation (1905), an independent Norway. I’ve spent a lot of time in Scandinavia this year and feel safe telling you that economically,...
Reflections on Airports en route to Oslo
I plod behind my husband dragging my two suitcases, clack, clack, clacking over the endless tiled hallways of Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. I feel I am in that children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings” with the row of ducks that trod across the urban streets of...
Back to School, Stockholm Style
All over the world, children are engaged in back-to-school activities. Often with a parent leading the charge, usually their mother. They are having teeth checked, getting hair cut, and being sized up for what shoes, pants and shirts fit after a summer of growing. ...
After two months Abroad, any Canadian is my Friend. Even Dead Ones.
Zevenaar. Our second home exchange. To use a western North American euphemism…it’s a bit of a one horse town. Which is apt since this past weekend one of its big summer attractions was its annual country and western music festival! Oh boy. Just what I came to the...
Budapest v. Prague
I fully realize a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And when it comes to these cities that’s all I have. We spent one night and two days in Budapest and two days and two nights in Prague. Enough to do the eastern European version of “hop on/hop off” bus tour...
The OTHER end of my foodie spectrum!
“It’s in the Palais Coburg…it’s supposed to be right here,” says my husband, looking around with map in hand. We’re in a quiet, non-commercial part of Vienna, with few people on the street in the early evening. The only place seems to be a high rise residence of...
Two Sacher Tortes, A Coca-cola light and a Decaf…
“Two sacher tortes, a coca-cola light, and a decaf coffee,” the waitress parrots back with a heavy accent. I am distracted by her burgundy polyester uniform with gold lettering, “Hotel Sacher” in fancy script. Around us are sneaker-clad tourists with Vienna maps...
So we got on bikes and saw things from a different perspective…
The Netherlands is famous the world over for its cycling citizens. It is very cycling oriented. Slim, fit-looking 60 and 70 year olds on bikes is a common sight that my husband is not always graciously yielding to. Don’t get me wrong, he DOES yield…just not...
The Netherlands are peaceful…except for traveling Canadians…
The Netherlands is beautiful. The reality of the countryside painted by the Dutch Masters is as peaceful and bucolic as their paintings suggest. To be in the Dutch countryside is rural. For a North American this is a rare experience. We are cavalier about space...
Lessons Happen When You’re Not Looking for Them
Yesterday, we went to the neighboring small town of Apeldoorn to visit the Dutch summer palace of many “William of Oranges” (for me) and to see “Apenheul” (for the kids) - an open air zoo for all kinds of primates. We had a lovely time and it was a great outing for...
Family friendly Copenhagen
Travelling with older children in Europe is all about negotiation and compromise. In other words, trading off the galleries, museums, cafes and shopping with kid friendly activities. Copenhagen is a great city for that. With everything within reasonable walking...
“The Best Job Ever” (if you’re 12)
I wondered how this phase of our three month trip would be for my twelve year old daughter. Even worried about it a bit. We all know how to be a tourist. But when you’re twelve, you only have so much patience for medieval towns, churches, castles and even less for...
compasion in action
A high school friend of mine shared this on her facebook page recently. One of my core values is to, wherever possible, do the kind thing. My firend's post resonated with me because I have an acquaintance who is going through an incredibly hard time. Her husband just...
Warning: Coffee is an Addictive Substance that Can Affect Your Marriage
In my native habitat, I am aware I spend too much money on café Americano mistos out of paper cups. If the first step to “recovery” is awareness then I am aware. I have been, however, extremely unmotivated to change. My husband, a perplexing mixture of...
A Recipe for Comfort Food: Dutch/Italian Style
This is a rainy day, two people out of three maybe coming down with a virus, kid-friendly comfort food dish. Or so I thought. A spaghetti sauce bottom is topped with a baked rotini and aged Gouda cheese topping. This is what it looks like ready for the oven: First...
Two cell phones, one ipad, one tablet, three kindles, three ipods, a nintendo 3DS, and three lap top computers versus one husband.
Oh boy, there’s nothing like three days of single parenting in a foreign city where I don’t speak the language to erase all thoughts of early morning meditation! I have a renewed appreciation for my husband and the skill set he brings to our family. Things went...
Milan: A Morning Meditation
To travel well requires a receptively blank mind. Quiet the inner chatter. Silence the inner critic and accept what comes my way. So with my husband away on business and the kids and I in Milan for a few days, I start my morning… Milan, 7am. At my kitchen window. ...
Jet Lag. Jet Bag.
Jet lag. When the local time says one thing and my body says another. Arriving in Milan in a fog we find a taxi big enough to fit us and our bags. A miracle, really, since we had been under the impression we could each take two checked pieces of luggage we have a...
Top Ten Ways I Know I’m Going on a Long Trip…
...my anxiety level is in charge of me instead of the other way around and I realize one way to deal with it is through humour. All notion of serving "food groups" (you know, fruits and veggies, grains, protein...) to my children goes out the window in favour of...