Magic Jewball

This one is a hard one because although I’m in the midst of a happy thoughts marathon, I’m feeling sad about something. So I will just leave it with a couple of happy sports things that happened today (for me) (and for these athletes). First, I finally managed to catch a pre-season baseball game and even Mariano’s first outing of the season. And the Yankees won! Although it means nothing, woot! More meaningfully, David Nalbandian won his second round match today at Indian Wells, where the Deases are, and in usual Nalbifashion, that is, in all tiebreaks. But hey, the result is what counts, or so they tell me. That makes me feel wistful about deciding to go to the UK rather than the Sony Ericsson Tournament in Miami, since he will be there, too. But due to laws of space, time, and money, I can only choose one place to vacation.

Speaking of, I’ve sort of decided on Northern Ireland and must get cracking on hotels since it is (gulp) now a bit over a week away. If you feel like planning my vacation for me, please apply in the comments section.

No song today, I’m Derry sorry. Ha, better jokes to come, I hope.

Or: The Jewballs are going to Britannia!

In case you’re late to our party, the blog is celebrating the Hebrew month of Adar by blogging happy thoughts and reasons to be cheerful through March 23rd. This has been (expectedly) difficult but maybe not as tough as I’d have thought. In any case, today I actually have something cheerful that’s happening to me. I’ve booked my first trip back to the British Isles in… years and years! I used to go practically every year because it was so cheap (usually $200-$300 round trip with B&B’s at <$50 a night). Sometimes, I'd go for the weekend. But then I bought an apartment and then I went to Israel a lot after my parents bought a place and then I redid my kitchen and then I quit my job and became a student. I tried to go over winter break with Pi but we couldn't get a good fare. Now that spring break is coming, I tried again (alone) and got a great fare!

The catch is, it's only for five days and it's to Dublin. Now wait, lovers of Ireland, don't be mad! It's just that I've been there and for over a week which is more than I can say for Scotland (a weekend) or Wales (4 days). But I think I can just use Dublin as my arrival stop and then go somewhere I haven't been or haven't seen a lot of. So maybe Northern Ireland. Or maybe the northern coast of Wales (I was on the southern coast last time). Or Anglesey where dear Prince William is stationed. I'm sure he would like a visit. Or Manchester to see the Hacienda. Don't tell me the Hacienda no longer exists!

Now comes the planning time, which is the best, most agonizing time. I hope to stay cheerful, as I only have three weeks. There is also another short trip scheduled for just before but it's domestic and already planned.

But, yay, somewhere, who knows where, in the UK!

In more universal happy news, I want to wish a great big congrats to my friend and teammate, Rachel, who got married this weekend. Rachel is truly one of the greatest, most fun humans out there. I wish her and the new Mr. Rachel a wonderful and happy life together. Mazal tov!

Title from:
Simple Minds – Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)

You will not be surprised to learn, I’m sure, that I’m the kind of person who takes two weeks to download and sort through my vacation photos. I like to think of it as pining for the good old days of getting rolls of film developed. Of course, if you also knew that I hadn’t fully unpacked my suitcase, you’d more accurately call it “procrastination” or even “laziness.” In any event, due to post size restrictions, I’ll be doing this in three posts. This one’s the overview of the time I spent away from my delightful hosts. It comes last so you’ll see it first.

This is Olympic Park in Calgary, the first of two Olympic parks I’d visit on the journey. It’s mostly here because none of the photos I took of preparations for Stampede came out well. Oops. Just imagine some hay on the ground and people in cowboy hats. But while I was here, I tried to remember watching Katarina Witt on TV while I was babysitting at my weekly gig. I wonder what happened to her. The kid I used to babysit for, that is.

That’s the Calgary Tower in the background.

And this is downtown Regina, specifically, “the Twin Towers.” I know, because they were on the sign as we entered the city on the bus. I also visited a sweet museum there and chatted with a Jewish docent about the Jewish community of Regina. You can’t see the museum or her, but they’re down the street. So is the mall where they sold poutine from a place called “New York Fries.” Indeed.

(I’m skipping the whole train trip and saving it for another post. Too many good photos! But this is where it would be sequentially.)

Hey, it’s Olympic Park #2! remember when they were lighting this in Vancouver and one person’s section wouldn’t light? I loved those Olympics. The little Roots caps and whatnot…. by the way, Roots is an overpriced store and I couldn’t afford even their sale-priced items. Boo!

It was grey almost every day I was in Vancouver. But it’s OK, I hear that happens in the Northwest from time to time.

This was where I hung a left and went to Portland, or as I like to call it, Hippietown, USA. They had fabulous public transportation and no sales tax. Other than that, it wasn’t really my kind of place. Here are a gaggle of representative youth of Portland. Yes, that’s a cat sitting on that guy’s head (click to enlarge). He was more a hipster than a hippie; you can tell because even with the cat, he had the neatest hair of the bunch.

And there you have it! It was really an awesome trip and this was just 3% of it. Please check out Post #2 and Post #3 for more vacation scenery. I, of course, will be heading out to Canadian Fries for a bagel and lox.

Filter – Take A Picture

Continuing on, this was the segment on the train from Saskatoon to Vancouver, which went through the Canadian Rockies. If you recall, I didn’t have the connection to upload any pictures from the train, but this should make up for it. I whittled these down from about a brazillion gorgeous shots. All of them enlarge, because, well, we’re talking mountains here.

Ooooooh.


Aaaaaah.


Ohhhhhh.


This is our train when we stopped in a town called Blue River. The main store was the size of my living room but still had a surprisingly large assortment of Ziploc containers. Good to know that I’d still be able to store my leftovers if I lived up there.


I never did get a picture of my adorable compartment but this was the view from my own little window on the last evening just before the light was all gone and I reluctantly pulled the bed out of the wall and went to sleep.

~sigh~

Led Zeppelin – Misty Mountain Hop

Last up, there are a lot of birds in Canada. Or maybe they just always got in front of my camera. Either way, I noticed a trend when I was picture-sorting….

These are Canada Geese in Saskatchewan. I think they were the ones who brought down that plane into the Hudson. I gave them a stern warning, but let them go.

This bird wanted the remainder of my lunch on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. A few seconds later he gave it a try and found it lacking. I cleaned up the trash and moved on.

These geese (ducks?) were in Stanley Park in Vancouver. There was a lyric in a song I was listening to about things being lined up, so this cracked me up. Sadly, that song is long gone from my memory, so you may find it less hilarious. Still delightful, though.

Well, that’s the end of our ornithological journey. Join me next week when I show you the pigeons I spray water at on my fire escape.

The Cure – Where The Birds Always Sing