Europe, the Highlights

The trip was a complete success and I feel such a sense of accomplishment that we went and had such a great time. One of the major things that contributed to this, is the amount of preparation that went into the trip. When everything is planned out it allows you to relax and just enjoy the sights and share the experience with people you love, family. The European flavor is so different than the US and seeing things for the first time, especially when you've heard about them and seen pictures your whole life, is quite amazing. How many movies, pictures, etc. have I seen in my life showing the Eiffel Tower, and yet it was spectacular in real life. And Paris, the land of scooters, the streets are like nothing I've ever seen, although the yellow colored buildings did remind me of Stockholm, another city I hope to return to in my life. I think the value of traveling can not be overstated, to see other places and cultures and the different attitudes of each are valuable to give more perspective on life. I think of my siblings, parents and grandparents who would all love to see England at least, considering the family heritage connections, and yet I doubt many will travel there in their life. The barriers that keep people from taking on adventure, money, fear of flying or whatever, can be broken through and makes life so much more rewarding. I'm thankful my daughter moved to Sweden which prompted me to finally take the plunge and get on an eight hour flight. It scares me to think I might otherwise never have made it over to Europe. Now I'd like to make the trip annually, if possible. So much more to see.

"There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution."

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, from her scathing Detroit district court decision striking down the legality of the NSA spying program. Specifically she found the program unconstitutional and in violation of Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

Blue Dali & Big Ben

More Europe

London-Hostel & Paris-Louve & Sweden-Zoo

Escaping the Chaos

Well when I woke up this morning and heard NPR talking about the latest terror threat, in London no less, I was quite relieved that I wasn't stuck in Heathrow. That we just flew back Sunday quite effortlessly from there seems like a lucky stroke. Europe was so fun to visit and London was so easy to navigate it's hard to believe they're under lockdown now, NO WATER OR SHAMPOO, relinquish all liquids!! Seems a little silly that the best defense against terrorists, instead of actually tracking real terrorists, is to make all travelers submit to stupid practices, such as taking off shoes before flying and giving up the coveted water bottle. And that French wine you thought you'd take back to the folks back home, forget it! Flying is bad enough without all the HIGH ALERT madness. So, very glad to be back home instead of waiting in line for hours to board a flight.

Girls in Paris

Wrapping up Europe

last night in sweden, it's really beautiful here, green and clean and the people are so civilized. no drought here by the looks of things. back to london tomorrow for one last day with the brits, and hopefully some serious shopping, still have some gifts to buy for the folks back home. this time i'm thinking i need to come back next year instead of waiting two years, we'll just have to pick a couple of other places to see as well as another visit to sweden. pre=planning the trip has meant all the difference as to how smoothly it's all gone, thank God for the internet; plane, train, hostel/hotel and bus reservations all booked ahead of time. Paris, the land of scooters was very friendly, all that crap about the french not liking americans is a myth. We had so many people trying to assist when we were a little lost and all the service people were as pleasant as could be. And they're so observant of the people around them, not like NY where everyone is on their cell phone or nose in the paper. The Eiffel Tower is an awesome sight, as well as big ben from the london eye, which itself is a magnificent feat of engineering. Will be kind of a let down getting back to the regular work week routine, but what a great success the trip has been.

LA Adventure

So, two nights of Pearl Jam in a row is not too much! Eddie and the boys have really perfected their shows, packed full of favorites and new tunes, there was something for everybody. A couple of suprises, Jeremy for one, and Man of the Hour, and a bunch of real treats, including Baba O'Reilly before they finished off night one with Yellow Ledbetter. And the pre-show tune they'd been listing on their web play lists, which confused me, turned out to be Ed with an acoustic at the very start doing a tune, then introducing Sonic Youth. So all those late arrivers were clueless what they'd missed. And Sonic Youth were thoroughly enjoyable too. Each night had it's own personality, both nights had Tim Robbins who can almost sing. But it was nice seeing him anyway. Being a member does have it's privledges, seats were good both nights. The give and take between the band and audience reminded me of U2 shows, Eddie letting the audience sing the first verse of one Better Man, and it was sweet to hear it again on night two. The crowd was mostly civilized, a younger group than when they play in Montana, but we didn't see any famous faces in the audience like I thought we would, being in LA and all. The Forum has a good set up, no overhangs or balconies, just a big swooping bowl. PJ is at the Gorge this weekend, I'm trying not to think about it as I can't run over to Seattle, but I downloaded the two LA shows, and it's been fun reliving the moments. These special times are definitely worth the time, cash and effort it takes to follow through and make it happen.

Side notes: Saw the worst car crash scene I've ever seen about 7 minutes after leaving the parking lot on the 405 - three cars very mangled, a bloody man laying beside one with a woman attending to him, but otherwise it seemed the other occupants had escaped. If there had been back seat occupants I don't think they would've made it. Very eery sight, it had just occurred only moments before we came up on it, auto debris and glass strewn across the highway lanes. We tried dialing 9-1-1 but lines were busy, as every other car slowly creeping by was probably doing the same.

Visited Universal Theme Park and though most rides were okay, or pretty good, Back to the Future was a blast. They seat you in a Delorian which remains stationary but tilts and pitches so the effect of speeding through the wide open landscape whizzing by all around you gives you an amazing sensation. I laughed and screamed the whole time (and lost my car keys, which thankfully were retreived a little while after) and was ready to jump back in line, except two of the four with us got car sick...oh well.

Did view the new Pirates at Universal which has some charming, funny parts but in general doesn't really add up to the first one. Still worth it to see however.

They Were Awesome!

What a Heartbreak

Except for Roger Federer of course, who won his fourth straight Wimbledon. Just didn't seem like Rafa had the usual fighting spirit, maybe it was nerves about his first final at Wimbledon. Roger played fantastically though and really deserved to win. I was rooting for Nadal though, so it was a shame to see him get the 2nd place silver platter trophy. I guess there's always the US Open in a few weeks, and hopefully the same matchup in the final. If time and funds allow, I may try to go, but seems unlikely at this point with Europe and this latest Pearl Jam extravaganza. Speaking of which, the 2.5 hour show last night at the Forum was excellent, and once again Better Man brought tears to my eyes, there's just something about that song. More tonight at show two....

Whirlwind Month

First things first, keep your fingers crossed that it will be another Nadal-Federer showdown this time on the grass at Wimbledon. Tomorrow Rafa plays in the semi-finals and the only down side is I'll be in LA should the Sunday final indeed be another dream match. If so, it will be another nail biter no doubt, just a little worried about reception with no cable at the LA locale....

Okay, so LA will be busy, busy, Universal Studios on Saturday, and Pearl Jam at the Forum Sun and Mon. Then back to MT for more travel around the state. Thank God it's a couple of more weeks before London/Paris/Stockholm.

Johnny Depp is his appealing pirate self on the cover of this Rolling Stone, I believe the film's out this weekend, should be a blast. Haven't seen Superman, but now I have to as I found out the student film grave robber I got to work with has a minor roll in it. Now living down under, he has real star power and I have no doubt he'll go far.

The Devil Wears Prada is Meryl Streep at her evil best as a ball-busting boss that never shows mercy. The story wraps up in a bit of a tidy bow, too tidy, but still worth seeing. Stanley Tucci gives the film a little depth, although Adrian Grenier from Entourage (a great show) seems to fill only the part of pretty boyfriend character. Hopefully he'll get better roles in the future.

I love four day weekends, I even have time to do a little house cleaning when I have that much time off. Mostly gardening, painting (it's going pretty well), lots of tennis viewing, Game 6 - a twisted film that Red Sox fans can appreciate more than the general public. Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr. star in a worlds collide kind of story when a playwright's nervous opening night falls on the same night as the fated 1986 World Series Game 6 when poor Bill Buckner caused the series to slip between his legs on an error at first base. (I heard he even had to move to Europe because he was so tormented when he went out in public after that fated night.) Good movie, I like the way that the two stories intermingle.

ART.....sort of

Well, I finally let inspiration take hold and bought a couple of canvases, an assortment of brushes and some sampler size acrylics. (Boy are they expensive in the industrial size!) I have always wanted to paint but the only thing I've ever done with acrylics is put quirky shit on my jeans when I was a teenager. So now the big test. I took art in high school, and pottery in high school and college and the most memorable items I created were a pencil drawing of my shoe, not bad, and a batik with a geometric design that I actually wish I still had. As for the pottery, I threw a pitcher that my ceramics teacher said looked like the one in the Kool-Aid ads, but I did use it for years to cook Boston Baked Beans in. The longest I've ever worked on a project was on a massive macrame wall hanging I started in Durham NH when I was in college, using a beaver-chewed piece of musclewood that was at the house I lived at, brought it out to Idaho for the semester at UI, then to Bozeman for a few months, then to Yellowstone Park for year, then on to Missoula where I finally finished it about three years later. Thing is, it's the coolest wall hanging and I really love the way it turned out, so it was worth the wait, even though it sat for months at a time while I decided how to do the next part. I always drew as a kid, horses mostly as I was obsessed with horses. I still harbor a far off dream that I'll fall in love with a Montana rancher who has a bunch of horses and I'll quit my day job and just work on the ranch, mucking out the stalls and riding every day. But I digress...so it's always safe to just assume that the first few (dozen) items you produce will be pure crap, just accept it and keep on plodding along. The questions I keep coming back to: do I have the vision and patience to actually work on a project for the time required to make it halfway interesting to look at? I do feel like I've observed all kinds of art mistakes, things that people decide to paint/draw etc. that are just plain boring. I'd rather have bizarre stuff than mundane. Another note, I'm doing this to be a creative, relaxing activity, correct? So if I get stressed out because I don't have the skill to make anything that looks better than a 6th grader's work, do I have the faith to keep trying in the belief that I actually will improve if I practice? As an ADD person, I jump from project to project and get bored quickly, but can concentrate for hours if it's something that captures my interest. I guess the answer is to set out goals as to what I actually want to accomplish if I perservere for the long haul. It could be as simple as having fun mixing the pretty colors or as complex as really planning a project step by step and carrying it to fruition. So, here's where I am so far: the first canvas I got all excited about and whipped up a semi-abstract which turned into poppies amidst a weird abstract. Some aspects came out satisfying, it has layers which give it depth, and the poppies look good, but some of the background almost looks like the doodles I draw when I'm talking on the phone. I've been resisting the urge to do a complete makeover on it, I want it to just be done and keep it as is and learn from it. The colors are nice and it does have some sort of appeal, although not a very strong one, and I haven't seen anything like it elsewhere. So the next question is, are paintings the kind of projects where you always like some aspects and dislike others, so that you're never completely pleased with a result? That could be depressing. So I'm working on the 2nd canvas, also with flowers but I can already see problems, although the color and brushstrokes of the focal rose look fine. I should probably let it set for a couple of days before I get back to it. So, here's hoping I don't get easily discouraged and shit-can the whole idea.....stay tuned.

Little Fishies

The Joy of Summer

Time to get one of those new high-tech digital cameras, would avoid the quadruple exposure collages.
Fancy pink Iris, I think they're Beverly Sills















Old fashioned yellow iris. The rain has really made a difference this year. Planted 8 tomato plants, a hill each of yellow crookneck and zuchini squash and green beans. We'll see if I have any luck with the beans, this is the only place I've lived where I haven't been able to get them to do anything. I'm trying a different spot so we'll see how it goes. The spinich is starting to go to seed but did really well. While the yard looks like a wildflower garden I really like the variety. The bachelor buttons are all starting to bloom, but don't see any white or deep purple yet. And the clematis which I had given up on is starting to grow. I went nuts and ordered 24 new iris, now I just have to figure out where to put them.

Old Friends

Got the urge to e-mail an old friend from college on his birthday. The only reason I remember the day is because it was my due date, June 12, but I was born three weeks late on July 1, all red and wrinkled. I always told my mom it was because I refused to be a Gemini. So, I haven't seen this guy for over 20 years but I was in love with him in college. Unfortunately he didn't have the same romantic ilk that I did, plus I had an out of town boyfriend all through college, who I eventually moved west with. We were close friends though, and shared a love of music and corresponded through letters after I moved away. Of course I raved to my room mate about how terrific he was so she decided I was right and they hooked up for several years but it ended badly when she dumped him. I could've predicted it would end as such. So the suprise, when I finally spoke to him last year after connecting with a Christmas card was that he'd never married, never had kids either. But, he said he was still hopeful. Men definitely have more options as far as the family thing goes, he could meet a 33 year old, her biological clock's loud ticking keeping her awake nights and bang, just like that he could be a dad at age 49. And he would make a great dad. So, the funny thing is, when I did finally send the e-mail, was that he'd also been thinking about me lately, having come across the card and a picture I'd sent him of my three wonderful kids last year and he'd vowed to drop me a line. It would be extremely weird to see him after all this time, although I'd love to, if we could both realize, before hand, that now we're middle agers, while when we knew each other we were barely 20. That first shocked look seeing each other this age may be a hard hurdle to get over. He's one of those people that I think of on a fairly regular basis, wondering how he is and what his life is like. There are a few people in your life, too few, who you connect to on a deep level and even when you don't see each other for years, or even ever, you still have that deep bond. I often wonder when I have the vivid dreams of people from my past, are they having the same dream, are we sharing time in some alternate reality together? Or when I think of someone, am I picking up on their thoughts of me, or if I think of them first, do they then pick up my thoughts? Obviously recently we were on the same wavelength, so it proves my point, at least this time.

Rafa

Weekend Notes

A Thing of Beauty

The dream showdown realized, it was a joy watching Rafael Nadal retain his French Open title, beating Roger Federer in four sets. But it was a scary start. Both looked to be nervous, so much on the line for each. Roger’s chance to attain the four grand slams in a row, Rafa defending his title and increasing his clay court record to 60 matches in a row. But in the end the Raging Bull prevailed. Now Nadal has beat Federer six of their seven meetings and in the end I think it was the psyche-out that doomed Roger. He looked pretty disheartened during the last half of the match and made a ton of unforced errors. With Nadal, Federer doesn’t cast the “#1” spell that he does over other competitors. But if he can manage to bring his “A” game and Nadal has anything less than his best, Roger can surely beat him in the future. After all he beats every other player, consistently. But it’s like anything else, the longer the pattern continues, the harder it is to break free. Rafa is an intriguing fellow. Only just turned 20, he showcases more OCD tendencies than most, lining up his water bottles exactly so in front of his court side chair, pulling up his socks, tugging on his tighty whities about every other serve. Most endearing however is his climb into the stands upon winning to embrace the several family members in the crowd, mom, dad, brother and coach Uncle Tony with tears welling in his eyes. Only upon winning to you glimpse anything but dogged determination on his face, a quality that surely contributes to his amazing run. Barring any more injuries like the one that kept him from the Australian Open early in the year, he’s got what it takes to go on to win the next three grand slams. The grass at Wimbledon should be a great challenge for him and a treat for the spectators, but with the talent, confidence and sheer physical power he brings to the game, he’s got a shot. Roger’s consolation prize, he’s still #1.

Other Notes

Don’t bother with The Break Up until it’s on video, and maybe not even then. Jennifer and Vince may be hooked up in real life but unless you love the feeling when you’re out for a couples night and one couple just won’t stop the bickering, forcing their friends to take sides in each fight, you may want to skip it. Both characters are losers, him because he’s a juvenile, a cheesy tour bus guide who is devoid of any understanding of women and she because with her looks, body and career she wouldn’t even be with this guy, she’d be with some terrific fellow who can appreciate the female point of view and has half a brain. Side note, they seem to be getting along in their real romance, as there they were in row three watching the French Open. Ahhh, the life of the rich and famous. On the other hand, Friends With Money, the other current film featuring Jennifer Aniston was very entertaining with a fun script. Bickering couples are also a feature of this film, however here the dialogue is wicked and enjoyable.

On a somewhat related topic, from the one picture I saw of Brad and Angelina’s baby, the kid’s got her mommy’s lips. Having a baby may change everything, but since they were already a family, chances are they’ll make it, for awhile at least. I think Brad is a natural born father, and Angie’s obviously got a big heart with all her good will ambassador work. They’re the polar opposite of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes who I predict will not be so lucky. Katie makes the perfect Stepford Wife while Tom is the most self absorbed guy in Hollywood, and that’s saying a lot.

The more I listen to Pearl Jam’s new cd, the more I like it. Tour play lists show they’re doing several of the new ones at each show. The LA shows should be amazing.

The hot ticket I’d love to see is the Eric Clapton/Derek Trucks collaboration. Layla is one of the top ten songs of all time and the lucky ones who get to see this duo in action will have a lifelong memory, no doubt.

Not really too sad we’re not going to make it to Bonnaroo this year, last year’s lineup was so terrific it would only have been a let down. I do notice now however, especially since we’ve had a ton of rain, when I smell the moist earth it brings Tennessee mud to mind.

Art in the Big City

This Monet was one of my favorites when we visited the LACMA art gallery in LA. From a distance it's not overly impressive, but when you get up close it comes alive. How such a simple subject can translate into such a beautiful soul stirring painting is a mystery to me. There were a couple of other Monets at the gallery which were also very striking. Even among the big boys, which includes all pieces in the big city art museums, some stand out as ahead of the rest and Monet definitely does. My little Montana town is promoting itself these days as the Biggest Small Art Town in America and last week was the semi-annual "art walk" which I actually went on. This time was a suprise though, usually it's just a bunch of what I like to call "cowboy crap" but I saw some moving, creative pieces. However there is always a bunch of stuff from "artists" with as much talent as the rejects on American Idol. You wonder how they can display their "art" in public and still hold their heads up. The one thing it accomplishes for me is an urge to actually start creating art of some kind. After all it can't be any worse than a lot of the stuff I see from the small time folks. Next big art viewings will be Tate in London and Louve in Paris, I hope.

Pearl Jam in the Studio

Chili Peppers too!