bright like yellow

school days

here's my little british schoolboy. for multicultural week at school, the kids gave presentations of their family heritage. we have no trinkets or traditions, sad to say, from greece and finland, (and other various scandinavian countries on greg's side of the family,) and were really at a loss for what to do. finally, last minute, i suggested to francis that he choose great britain: i spent a few years of my childhood there, and have trinkets and memories in abundance. greg has been there too, and has much fondness and memories as well. so francis was very excited to do that. he wanted to wear my school uniform's coat and scarf, (which hasn't changed) and chose black pants and a blue checkered button-up shirt, to look like the boys school uniform. very clever! we then scoured our house for british souvenirs, which was quite easy. he brought a ribena can (my favorite drink), a smarties pack, a toy double-decker bus, a london mug, a tote bag of the london underground, and some photographs of me in my school uniform from when i was about 7 or 8. but i sadly couldn't find any coins. (i know i have some somewhere.)he was very cute giving his presentation. he had interviewed me on things that are different in the UK, things that a kid would be interested in. the kids in his class were very surprised to hear that if they lived in england they would all be wearing uniforms, would most likely have tea-time at 4 o'clock, and their favorite drink would probably be black currant! they didn't even know what black currant was! also, francis shared the sad plight of the double decker bus, and the iconic telephone boxes, to also show that many things are indeed changing. (modernity! ever forwards and upwards!) strangely, top on his list of places to visit someday, next to london, is Dover! he saw on special on tv about it recently, and has been talking nonstop about it. (the WWII museum, the castles, the cliffs!) then i really surpised him even more by (serious digging this time) finding my chalk rocks from dover that i had stored in a jar, which i found way back under my bed. needless to say, he was very impressed. i do hope to take him there someday...we're workin' on it.

hoping for a brighter may

well. my brain has been on overdrive these past few weeks, with no time to write. may day (the first of may) completely slipped past me without my usual celebration of waffles (in memory of the may day i celebrated in germany many many years ago.)many people in the world celebrate may day, but we americans do not, it would seem. for us, may day is an exclamation of danger: "may day! may day!" --where did that come from?

i realize i forgot to comment on our anniversary dinner at teatro zinzanni: let me say it was excellent, and well worth the money for a special night out. we were pleasantly suprised. i think we thought "dinner theatre" would be a little bit of comedy, a little bit of magic tricks, etc, trusting it to be entertaining, but really had no idea the grandness of it all. it was more moulin rouge-y than circusy, with only one american in the troupe, the rest hailing from russia and europe. people who have spent their lives in training. trapeze acts, contortions, illusions, mime, all very "old world european" and all following a thread of storyline. (my favorite was a girl who was the marionette puppet of the magician. amazing and endearing!) so yes: it was a very good time! and the 5 course meal was also delicious! we do highly recommend it!



i went and saw "baby mamma" with some girlfriends on opening night (VERY funny, by the way!) and it was filmed in philadelphia. in one scene, they're getting walk-up philly cheese steaks, and i don't know what came over me, but i got such a craving for philly cheese steaks like i have never had. in all my 6 years living here, i have not once ventured a philly cheese steak; call me a purist but i never saw any need to attempt seattle's version of a philly cheese steak. i guess that makes me a philly cheese steak snob. but this craving would not be subdued. it was all i was thinking about, so...on saturday night, our actual anniversary, (we did teatro zinzanni on sunday night) we decided to try and find some. the night was oddly balmy after a gorgeous warm and sunny day. i googled for seattle philly cheese steak, and decided to try this place: which claimed to be "most authentic philly-style cuisine west of south street" . but i will say this: i think i have satisfied my craving until i am ever in philadelphia ever again. i was talking to my sister on the phone, sharing with her my agitation and disappointment, and she said: "i mean, really, how hard is it to make a philly cheese steak right?" i mean, it's so easy. first you need a nice hardy roll, not a hot dog bun. then you fry up the thin meat, and ripple it onto the bread, do not hack it into tiny pieces! then top it with grilled onions and peppers, that are soft and succulent, and simmering in a nice tidy pile off to the side of the grill. do not dice them up and fry them with the meat, for the meat takes only minutes, and the onions take much longer. finally, the biggest no-no of all, do NOT place the cheese unmelted UNDER the meat, hoping the meat will melt it! what??? the crowning joy of the philly CHEESE steak, is all the wonderful melted cheese ON TOP of the meat, and is it's most best when the bun is toasted! i was so frustrated, i wanted to step behind the counter and show them how to really do it. and they called this sloppy joe of a cheese steak: "authentic"?? authentic what??? (sigh) so sad.

we walked off our meal strolling through the park, in capitol hill. it was unseasonally warm, and it reminded me of new york. we talked of life, summer, traveling, parenting, wishes for francis...

greg always manages to catch me making a funny face...



but that's ok. here is greg's version of a smile! haha



confession: i have started to excercise for the first time in many many many years. you may be shocked by this unless you remember that i am very very lazy. definitely too lazy to go to a gym. i do walk my boy to school everyday, but that doesn't really count because i don't think it actually burns any calories. jennifer informed me that i have free excerise tv on my cable channels, so now i have been "working out" when i get home in the morning.(i even dug out my "run,lola, run" cd to aid in this effort!) well, today was only my 8th day, but i am going to try really hard not to give up. i really want to stick it out until francis is out of school. my goal is sadly: vanity. i am thinking ahead to bathing suits & summer (sigh) so this is something to busy myself with.

francis is thoroughly enjoying our reading of "the fellowship of the ring" and i am, in my own reading, half-way thru book three: "the return of the king".

side note, and totally unrelated: i found my childhood school on the internet. (isn't the world wide web an amazing thing?) i still have my uniform, my little straw hat, my blazer... and the uniforms are still the same, almost thirty years later...