Phew and Good Grief, Even!

My I-Google home page told me it was 55 outside with 2 mph winds so I decided I'd walk up to the Pita Pit for lunch since Tuesdays are the day they stamp the little "ten stamps=free sandwich" cards twice instead of just once.  I had on a turtleneck and a sweater and decided a fleece jacket was enough extra.  Well.... I'd say it was more like gale-force winds, especially walking back home - it was actually pushing me around!  And, apparently 55 in strong winds is not all that warm.  I was cold, cold when I got home.  But I checked my mail and there was the book I had ordered, so I've now made a nice cup of tea and figured I'd blog a bit and then settle down with my book.

So, about this book.  It's "The Road from the Past - Traveling through History in France" by Ina Caro.  I saw a newer book by her last week in the bookstore called "Paris to the Past" and it looked pretty wonderful.  Looked it up at home and there weren't any cheapish used ones so I put it on my wish list.  But, while looking noticed this one and there were cheapish copies of it, so I ordered one.  Here's the blurb from the back jacket:

Caro takes us along on an unforgettable driving tour of France northward from Provence, where the Roman Empire once held sway, through the chateau-studded Loire Valley, where monarchs and nobles plotted for wealth and power, to Paris, where kings--and, later, Napoleon--consolidated their autocratic reign.  She brings us inside Roman villas, fortified medieval cities, royal castles, abbeys, and Baroque palaces.  "She demonstrates that the best way to encounter a country is to examine its landscapes, architecture, and history in chronological order--a premise so startling that it's a wonder no one has thought of it before" [Peter Prescott].  With Caro as a knowledgeable and delightfully opinionated guide, we can always be sure to find the most breataking vistas, the most extraordinary chateaux, the most inspiring cathedrals, and--lest an essential aspect of the French past and present be slighted--the very best food.

A lot to copy out maybe, but doesn't it just make you want to dig right in?  I'd been pondering renting a car for a week or so while in France and, if I do, I think this could be a wonderful resource.  Of course, I'm saying all that without having read any of it.  But I have high hopes for it.  Her newer book that I mentioned is sort of the same idea except that it's touring historically from a base in Paris using day trips by train.  Which is also very appealing to me - wouldn't have to worry about driving that way. 

Having made up my mind that I am going to go to France probably in May, and with Heather (my older daughter) deciding that yes, she can spend a long weekend with me in Paris while I'm there, I've been spending a lot of time on-line looking at plane fares (not as good as a month or so ago) and cheap lodgings (which I will need aside from that nice long weekend with Heather).  And to any of my friends "out West" who might be reading this, I'm not at all giving up on the trip west even though I now know we have a sequoia right here.  But with the dollar a little stronger than it was either time I went to Italy and with me, strangely enough, not getting any younger, I figured I'd do the logistically more difficult (and certainly more expensive) trip first.

Break - Break!!  If you've made it this far, I'll put in a random picture just to liven things up.

 This is from a party I threw several years ago for one of these young-looking women birthday.  These are all friends from my working days before retirement and thought it would be a good way to introduce you to three of them who I've mentioned off and on in my posts.  Cindy is sitting in front, Jamie is behind her in the blue jacket, I'm right behind Cindy, and Peggy is behind Jamie and me.  And, no, we didn't discuss what colors to wear beforehand. :)

So, other than whiling away the hours scheming and planning and dreaming, I've also made a mess in the dining room working on making my little Christmas shop a "convertible" shop as I mentioned in an earlier post.  And, as customary, it has been giving me fits.  But...I think I may be slowly gaining the upper hand.  I wish when I start a project I was the type of person who can mentally work my way through the whole thing figuring out what won't work, what will, and the best way.  Unfortunately, I figure out what won't work by doing it and finding out "oh, that doesn't work".  And the first thing that having a little foresight would have helped was realizing that I wasn't going to like having the original mirrored wall that came with the shop project as a background for my pottery.  So thinking that I would want the mirrored wall, I took off the Christmas wallpaper I had glued on it and haven't found another one quite as perfect as that one.  But as they say in France (tee hee), c'est la vie, I guess.  Then my second "not thought out" idea was that I could just make a "unit" - two side walls and a back wall, install the shelves with the pottery attached onto the walls and slide the whole thing into place.  That did not work at all!  So, I now have what I think will work and, at most, will probably encounter only 1 or 2 relatively minor glitches...I hope.

Also been stitching away on the cross stitch picture I started who knows how long ago now, two weeks? three weeks?  Anyway, I certainly thought I'd have it done by now but I don't.  Of course, there are 21 colors in it and lots of bits of flowers and greenery, and that just makes for slow going.  But I'd say I'm probably 2/3 to 3/4 done with it now and hope to have it ready to frame soon.

And now, I'm nicely warmed up from my tea and will peruse my new book with the sound of the wind whistling away outside.

Just a Quick Note

You may remember that I was planning a trip to California with stops in at least Texas and Phoenix along the way last fall and that fell through.  Well, recently I've started thinking about it again and have been torn between doing that trip first and a trip to Europe second or vice versa.

Last week I was talking to a guy in Starbucks that I have chats with every now and then.  He travels a lot and I was telling him about my dilemma of "what to do, what to do?"  He wanted to know the reason for my trip west so I told him about visiting with my grade school best friend in Texas and having the chance to meet several other people I've become friends with on-line.  And...finally getting to see the sequoias and drive along the Pacific Coast Highway in California.

That prompted him to tell me that he had planted a sequoia tree in Huntington and also in Kentucky and Tennessee for that matter.  I just sort of looked at him dumbfounded!  And he said, "so see?  You don't need to go to California to see the sequoias!"  I said "but if you planted it, it certainly can't be very big!" and he said it was probably around 2 stories high now.  So after pulling my lower jaw up from the floor I asked for details, where it was, when he planted it, etc.  And the next day, boy, I went looking and sure enough - there it was!  So, yes, a sequoia grows in Huntington (to paraphrase a book title I read back in my youth).  And here's the picture to prove it.

I posted it in "extra large" size cause, after all, it is a sequoia tree!  My SB friend told me he thinks he planted it in 1991 and it was probably about 3 feet tall then.  I just think it's so neat that it's here in Huntington!  Makes me wish I could come back in 200 years and see if it's a giant.

UPDATE:  Got a nice note from Madison (the sequoia tree planter) with some more definite information:
"Thanks for doing the story about my planting of the Giant Sequoia tree. I did in fact plant it in 1991. It was no more than 2 feet tall then. I've planted them all over the region, and given them to others to plant as well.  During the Winter the Tree always looks dull and scruffy, but once the warm air and increased light of Spring arrives, the Tree will burst out in emerald green with new growth!"  Now that I know it's there, I will check it out periodically as the seasons pass...

And a TA-DA - I've added a new page (tabs at the top) for my favorite travel  books.  Since I've also been thinking about a European trip, I bought a Rick Steve's book the other day about Paris that makes me think the European trip will come before the "Go West, Old Woman" trip!  I love travel books and once I start to dig into them I'm rarin' to go!  So, I decided to set up a page to share some of my favorite travel books with you. I also ordered another book yesterday and will report on that after I've had a chance to look at it.

And when I was looking for my tree picture I came across this picture which I may have posted before but I sure don't remember posting it and I do love it so will post it now.  I'm thinking Chris probably took this on one of his visits here.  If he didn't, then he took one I had taken and really fixed it up.  This is the view from my windows looking at a side view of the "Tom Wolfe" house, a beautiful, old house on Fifth Avenue that is now used as offices.  I've always loved this house ever since I moved to Huntington and this picture of it is wonderful, I think.

I seem to have an abundance of travel books!!

I think one of the side benefits of travel for a book lover is that it's a great excuse to buy books!  After all, a traveler has to be well-informed, right?

My son and I went to London this past winter and I think I actually only bought one book - Pauline Frommer's "London - see more pay less".  It was a great book, very much geared towards the budget traveler (me!) and really detailed with lots of non-touristy info.

So that's the first book I bought when I started planning my trip to Italy, only this one, "Itay - see more pay less" is for the entire country so is not nearly as in depth about any one city.  It's still a good guide book, and I will be taking it with me, but I did feel the need for more.....

Which led me, over time, to all of these:

"Village Walks - Tuscany" -- This is my latest acquisition.  It's a little box with 50 cards, each one a different walk in Florence and a number of the smaller surrounding towns.  It's available at chroniclebooks.com and I'm sure other places - that's just where I stumbled across it.  They have them for several major American cities and other European destinations.  What I love about this format is that I will probably only take 3 or 4 of the cards with me cause I won't be going to every place they cover.

Walking and Eating in Tuscany and Umbria by James Lasdun and Pia Davis.  I came across this title, highly recommended, somewhere on the web and decided I'd better get it (before I found the cards).  It is a great book and makes me hope I'll be able to do at least one of their routes while I'm staying in Tuscany.

Walking in Italy - by Gillian and; John Souter - What is it with me and the walking?!  I personally don't think this one is as well put together as the one above and it is heavy - I wouldn't want to pack it.

Eating and Drinking in Italy  by Andy Herbach and Michael Dillon - menu translator and restaurant guide.  I'll just say it right up front, eating is one of my prime objectives in going to Italy.  This is handy, but I don't think I'll be packing it - I'll just try and muddle my way through the menus as best I can.  I just want to make sure I recognize the Italian word for squid and -  as we gently call them here in the States - sweetbreads.

Osterie and Locande D'Italia - traditional places to eat and stay - huge collection but another heavy one.

The Food Lover's Guide  to Florence by Emily Wise Miller - incudes recommendations for places in Tuscany and info on cooking classes.  I ordered this one partly because it mentioned the cooking classes section.  And the classes sound wonderful but are pretty much beyond my budget.

Harper Collins Language Survival Guide - I'm going to make myself sit and actually use this one a little - I think it could be quite helpful cause it tells you not only language stuff, but things about signage, taking trains and buses, and such.  However, I'm just a little leery of it.  As an example of why it's important to know more than just words, they point out how each country has "codes" that tell people what they're getting, what they're seeing, etc.  Their example of this in America is that whole milk comes with blue labels and skim milk comes with red labels.  Well, here in Huntington, it's just the opposite, so....what do you think?

On the subject of language, I also discovered Byki.com where you can download their Byki Express language program for free.  They have more thorough things you can buy, but I've been having fun trying to learn the various words and phrases and trying to get my "r's" to roll.

And there you have it - if you're ever going to Italy, just let me know if you need any books!