starting over

apparently, i took a break.

when i look back, it shows i averaged about 3 blogs a month in 2007 and 2008. but in 2009, i only blogged 3 times. total. ugh.

i've made no resolution for 2010.
january is always a time of reflection for me anyways, without the stress of resolutions that i may not keep (that will only serve to bum me out later). but, i would like to get back into writing more, so with that, i will say: i'll try.

a lot happened in 2009 that i have not written about: francis' terrible end of 5th grade and his seeming never-ending bout with being bullied, his first camp experience in summer (which he loved), greg's and my little get-away trip to miami (unbeknownst to us at the time: the start of hurricane season), the start of middle-school for francis, greg being sent to beijing, china twice for work, the second time in november with us joining him, me flying home in october to be with my parents for my dad's (successful!) heart surgery, flying home for christmas in december, the first time in 3 years all the siblings and spouses and grandkids, and great-grandma were all together under the same roof! it was grand. and there was snow...

so yes, it's been a busy year.

and now i'm back home in seattle; it's been gray for days, and i'm looking ahead to this year. sadly, eagerly awaiting the end of 6th grade. francis isn't having the best of time making friends in his new school. he is often overwhelmed by his schoolwork. many boys his age are strutting, trash-talking, girl-watching, cussing fools, and thankfully, he's not quite there yet. which makes the fitting in tough. he does like band though, and practices his trumpet with gusto. i've already started off the year with some accomplishment: i ordered (finally) some prints on snapfish from our miami trip. starting off small. now all i have to do is china and our europe trip. hopefully before francis graduates. now there's a goal...

just listening to ella fitzgerald on pandora radio. had far-away friends over for coffee this morning. having nearby friends over for pizza and wine tonight...
really, i just try to get thru one day at a time. i know i grumble about the gray, but if i can laugh or smile at least once in the day, i'm doing pretty fine...

mooning over miami

yes, i've been gone from here...just kind of living life. but today, after two cups of coffee and feeling a bit jittery, ( and francis at a friend's house), i just had the urge to put these photos up from summer. middle school starts for francis next week, so this last week of "summer" we'll try to live it up, if the sun could just come out again and maybe stay there for a little while...

so what happened was: the day after school got out in june, we flew out east: francis to go to camp for the first time, and greg and i to head to miami, for our first getaway sans the kid. we didn't quite know what to expect, the destination being a rather last minute decision. i did try to research up on the area for things to do, and hotels (which now with the reviews feature, you're left feeling like you have a 50/50 chance of having a great time, or a horrible time, no in-between!) one thing i did not think to look up was the weather. florida = sun, right? well, as luck with the nyssens would have it: june in florida is the beginning of hurricane season, and after the first day there (of 110 degrees), the storms rolled in and unleashed torrential rain, thunder and lightning, every single day. and then they'd roll out. so we did get our sun. just sandwiched in-between some of the most fantastic shows of thunder and lightning i have ever seen. greg (being a northwest boy, and thus not being used to storms like this, like i have) was at first, quite terrified, and then, once that wore off, quite dense. and i like an idiot, followed him out onto the beach numerous times, for: pictures. me all the while telling him: when the lightning strikes, do you think it will hit the lifeguard station, the beach umbrellas, or us first? (he didn't get the hint, and i think we got lucky!)

we stayed at this little boutique hotel one block from the beach, called the catalina hotel and beach club, which we found here. (again, according to the reviews, people either loved it or hated it, but i really think it depends on the kind of traveler you are, and the amenities you are looking for.) us? we loved it. it was a pretty romantic place to stay, good food, comfy beds, free beach chairs and bike usage, and..oh yeah...free happy hour!
(more photos on my flickr...)





we were north of south beach, the art deco district, by a few blocks, so every day we hit the beach and every night we got dinner and walked all over town. we enjoyed the hot nights, loud music pumping out of hotel bars, gelato, the old (and often crumbling)architecture, the many accents we heard along the way, and of course, people watching. we even designated our favorite restaurant: sibilla, eating here twice, coming back just for the pizza.

after arriving to miami a little nervous, truly not knowing what to expect, we were very pleasantly surprised. there was, of course, the heat.(yes!) and many europeans on the beach. it felt like the most tropical international place one could get while still being in the united states. and all the servers we encountered were friendly and very relaxed. the pool guy chatted to us while we collected our towels for the beach, exclaiming over the sheer beauty of hurricanes. there's danger, of course. but a spectacular thing to witness, he said. the power of mother nature. (i was ready to take his word for it!) all in all, we had a wonderful time, despite the rain, (or including the hot sheeting rain) and we would happily do it again.

i know, i know...

i have not been around on this for quite some time, and i have been reminded and coaxed and urged. quite frankly, the days continue to be gray, and there's not much to write about, or rather, that i feel like writing about. i feel like the pictures i'm taking are the exact same pictures i took last year, and the things i wanted to accomplish by now (mainly: detailing our trip to europe and getting it in "blurb" book form) have not yet come to pass, and i disappoint myself in the lack of accomplishment and self-motivation. i feel like my creative bird has flown the coop. not to sound completely depressed, i'm not. just going thru a writer's block, actually, not even a block. "block" would imply the desire to write, but with no words coming. but lately there hasn't even been the desire to write. just to hibernate...
but spring is coming, trees are blooming, and i hope to crawl out soon.
thank you for the encouragement!
xo rachel

still a believer!

here's a picture greg took of francis on christmas morning. i know it's a little late, but well, i haven't been blogging this whole christmas break. you see, we got snow! lots of snow! (for seattle, of course!) and it stuck around. so we played, and sledded, and tromped around in it, got cold all the way thru, then came inside and got warm, watched movies, played games, ate cookies... and it was wonderful! i've just now posted some pics of our days on my flickr. the rain has since washed it all away, and school has started again, and it has been hard making the switch from late nights, late mornings, to early nights and early mornings. both francis and i overslept today, and he was late to school! (sigh) it's back to regular life. with some wonderful memories thrown in for good measure...

winter wishings...

while driving home from francis' basketball practice, in the steady rain, foggy windows, christmas lights blinking from neighborhood lights, radio playing christmas tunes: "it's the most wonderful time of the year" comes on the radio...
and francis pipes up from the back seat:

francis: you know what? i think they are right!
us: who's right?
francis: i think christmas IS the most wonderful time of the year!!

a good reminder for me to try to somehow slow down, because it seems this month is chocked-full, with something on every day, and the other day francis lamented that he was "too busy!" (with school, homework, basketball, trumpet lessons, piano lessons, etc etc) and we don't even have a tree yet!!!

so slow down and relish the joys of the season.

we've got to get our tree, decorate it, cut paper snowflakes, bake cookies, finish our christmas cards, and try to not feel rushed or stressed about all the ways we want to show our loved ones we love them, under the deadline of the 25th! (sigh)

so no photos lately.
i leave you with a picture by charles harper.
enjoy your winter and all the joys christmas brings.
share the Love.

london: day 4

tuesday: july 1, 2008
all the queen's horses, and all the queen's men...

9:30am: the wake-up call this morning is just as alarming, and even more so, it's a half-hour late! i wake up francis, in the pitch black room, and throw back the curtains: it is bright and sunny and a glorious day in london. we rush downstairs to pile a breakfast on our trays just in time; they're already clearing it away as we sit down.

we check out, and leave our luggage at the hotel. the clerk is an elderly gentleman, who is tickled pink by francis and his exclamations, and starts chatting him up about castles, which is so cute, but unfortunately, we are rushing to try to catch the changing of the guard, so i have to cut it short.

at the russell square tube station, there is a crowd of people waiting to get into the tiny elevator, so i instinctively head for the stairs. we did not know that there would be sooo many stairs! luckily, it is all downhill, but still, i think we went down 7? 10? 12? flights of stairs! i had no idea the underground was so far underground! francis is in giggle fits of exasperation...when ARE we ever going to get to the bottom?





finally, the bottom. and we ride the tube to victoria station, and walk quick the many blocks to buckingham palace. it is very very warm already, (only 11am) and i'm too hot in my jeans. we are 10 minutes late and the fence line is entirely crowded, but we manage to worm our way to the front. we are on the side fence, not the front, so they are far away, but still. we get pictures, and francis can now say he saw the changing of the guard. it lasts a long time, and it is a little boring for kids, i think. (adults, too?) we have expectations of spectacular, but this is slow and methodical; this is tradition and ritual. there is honor in being the guard of the queen (even if it seems you're not doing much.) they conclude by marching out of the gates of the palace, past the victoria's memorial roundabout, and down the main street, which has been closed off to traffic. they do this every day? traffic must stop for the marching of the guard every single day?





we, of course, follow them, with the other tourists, and take pictures. francis is utterly fascinated. then we find a piece of shade in the grass and have a snack of buttered rolls (from breakfast). francis is falling asleep sitting up. another morning of rushing around.

we hit the gift shops and do some souvenir shopping. we head back to the train station to use the toilets (30p!) and then get egg salad sandwiches, apples, chips, chocolate, and smoothies at the store, and take it to a nearby park to eat lunch in the shade. after trying to figure out our afternoon plan, i decide the best bet is to head to ruth's for tea-time, to catch up on email and laundry, and to rest up a bit before our big night out on the town: catching shakepeare's "a midsummer night's dream" at the Globe! (a replica theatre)

back at the train station, i figure out a bus back to the british museum. (success!)unfortunately, it was a painfully long slow ride thru downtown london, and it was not a double decker bus, so we did not get much of a view. but still, we got to rest, and passed by picadilly circus, chinatown, and soho. this older lady was sitting in the row next to us, and chatted up francis the entire time. older people just really are delighted by francis, i don't know how, he just has this way about him. he will talk to anybody, (and keep on talking!)





we get off at the british museum, and walk the now familiar route back to our hotel. we stop in russell square one last time for francis to splash in the fountain, then back to the hotel to pick up our bags, then back down the tube station to get to ruth's by 5pm. we have tea and snacks and rest, waiting for ruth to get home from work. francis takes out all his souvenirs and lines them up on the table (in true francis-fashion.) ruth gets home, we have pesto pasta for dinner, and before you know it, we're rushing off to the tube station again, to get to the Globe theatre.

we get off the tube at Bank, and still have a bit of a walk to go, across the bridge, across the Thames. francis is absolutely bursting for a toilet. this is the financial district and everything is closed. no restrooms in the tube stations. no ubiquitous starbucks on every other corner. not even a fast food restuarant. dang it! all that tea and ribena! what do the brits do when they are bursting for the loo? does cold weather and lots of tea make their bladders stronger? ruth's advice was to "walk faster"; i was ready to let him pee in an alley, if only i could find an alley! francis was near tears, waddling as fast as he could, and i was very sympathetic to his pain. we finally made it there, and more importantly, HE made it, and was very much relieved!

while we were in the bathroom, ruth discovered that the Globe was sold out for the entire month of july, and that the long line outside the door was for people waiting for last-minute tickets to be made available by no-shows! but since we walked straight in to use the toilets, we bypassed the line and were already in the foyer when a lady decided to sell her tickets. so, hidden by the chaos of all the people, and the show starting in 5 minutes, ruth managed to get us exactly 3 tickets for the "poor people in standing room only" which are only 5 quid each. (following the tradition of the actual Globe of the times, poor people stand, rich people sit!) so yay! we got in!

and then stood. for three hours.







it was a long night, the roof was the open sky, with a floating suspended ball gradually illuminating as the moon. it was a warm and balmy evening, after being so hot today; we didn't even need our layers we had brought. the performance was amazing, and francis did really great. he is so full of wonder. it really is something special to see something like that live. the comedy kept him laughing, and he could actually, in spite of the old-fashioned speech, keep up with most of what was going on. (with me filling in a few blanks now and then.) the only bummer of the evening was a large group of teenagers behind us, a school group of foreign kids, who could care less about the performance, and chatted the entire time. the frequent "shhh!"'s from various people did not deter them, so at the intermission(francis called it "halftime") we decided to move to a spot right up against the side of the stage, which ended up better, as now francis could see perfectly with no heads in front of him. sometimes he got tired and wanted to sit down, which he did, but his curiosity of what was going on above his head (what were people laughing at?) would get the better of him, and he would stand up again to watch. i was amazed by how into it he was. by the end of the evening, he said that although his feet hurt, the show was good and he had fun. it's an event not to be missed and worth every penny, er, pence! (thanks so much, ruth, for making it happen!) if you are ever in london, make sure you make time for a trip to the Globe.







we came out to a dark night, people festive in the street, cafes along the water. we walked a non-rushed pace this time, across the millenium bridge, and got our sights in of st. paul's cathedral, lit up by night. francis steered the conversation to WWII, a favorite subject of his, but was a bit puzzled when his america-bred knowledge was not the same as a Brit's! world history and politics is not what i want to debate, not with a 10 year old, and not with a Brit! i tried to explain briefly the huge toll Britain weathered because of WWII. it happened on their soil. london was bombed. thousands of their men died fighting. it is a much more sensitive subject to them than it is to us. so out of respect, let's not go there. right now. it's ok. you can learn more. grow a little older... (and then question everything.) we changed the subject, and caught a bus back to ruth's, where, even though it was late, i quick caught up on email and laundry.

dad emailed to say that greg's Lufthansa flight was delayed (because of a strike in germany) and he's worried greg will miss his connection to london tomorrow. please, please, let him not miss it! (we need to fly to italy, at 6am thursday! not much room for delays!)

also, ruth looked at the weather report for tomorrow: it is supposed to rain...

october 31rst