What made you smile today?

ev'ry bunny loves somebunny

(how does the chorus go again?)

listen to the music here click .... finding this site made me smile ... and sing!

My new shoes! They make a funny tip-tap sound on the street and have these slightly upturned noses that make me want to run, skip and jump ... plus, they look cute. A little cheer at every step ;-)

I love the Zeedijk, Amsterdam, the messy hip part-Chinese street that's squeezed in between the Red Light district and the riverside streets and was miraculously, precariously saved from squalor. Always stuff happening, faces, music jumping up from some soundcheck inside, Thai whole roasted chickens in the window, tourists, drunken Brits in groups, cosy old-style cafes, junks looking past you and at each other, cartoon store Chinese cookies store big Buddhist temple Indian guy watching over his magazine stand cop strolling by and, this time, to punctuate it all - middle-aged men with big, silk-thin cromson flags at both ends of the street, as if they were the gatekeepers.

"Are you for something or against something?", I ask one, my closest guess being its some gay thing - what with the all-men team and the girly, frilly flags. "We are for something", the man opts cheerfully after a split-second, pointing at the flag - "its the colour of the blood of Jesus!" They were posted in a circle "around here", he gestured - because they wanted this area to be "free". Jesus makes free, you see. Ah - because it is, like, the center of sin, here?, I gamble, and diplomatically he answers, well, you know, Amsterdam - everybody knows Amsterdam, whereever you go! And we're here because there is more than the red light district ...

Well, at least you're in keeping with the setting, I remarked, what with the "red" flag and all - but I had to explain that twice. I wished him good luck - God knows they'll need it.

I was out at the airport yesterday to meet my aunt.

A flight came in from New Zealand, and the Sharks, a South African rugby team (all dressed in black, with big shark logos), who had been playing in NZ, came out.

The big screen tv in the waiting area was showing a replay of the previous night's rugby game, the Waratahs, the local (Sydney) team, vs another Sefrican team, the Bulls, in South Africa.

To a man, these giants stopped in their tracks, and then sat down, filling the waiting area, and watched the game, almost blocking the exit area with their luggage. They were all enthralled - you'd think they'd have had enough football.

Very decorative they were, too - although their heavy accents made their speech almost indistinguishable.

And the Waratahs lost

I'm smiling that all the funny bunny business has apparently persuaded nimh to don an avatar!

I smiled today when my brother came back in from the street to let me know that Mom's car had been broken into and the ignition totally destroyed. He has had it for a couple of weeks while the folk were in Palm Springs.

The reason I smiled is, at least they failed in their attempt to steal the car.

The rest is all details...

The couple that owns the toy shop (the magnificent, baffling, hilarious, confusing little Amsterdam toy shop). Younger man, gentle enough though decisive-looking, and an older lady who positively bubbles with chatty hospitality. Any opening or pass will do. Queen Juliana is ill, yes it's true, but it's at a good point in her life, she's had a long life ... and a good life, too, ventures a customer, but at that she bristles, "well, I don't know so sure, what with that Prince Bernhard [her husband]?! He only married her for her money and her status, you just know that, and she was so in love, if you see those pictures - no, it's not fair, that's what I say!"

Then it's my turn. I was playing some of the little music boxes they have, they're cute. (I'm there buying a present for my nephew's first birthday, by the way, though it's true I've ended up there before, but that's a different story.) "These are cool", I say, "I've already got 'My Way' and 'La Vie en Rose'" -- and I tell them that, plus, when I was a little kid, I used to have one that played the International.

She has a story on that: she'd been at a funeral recently, she tells us, and at the end of the service, they played the International! Like - she starts trying to sing a few bars, tho she has to give up quickly enough. "And everybody stood up and were, like" - I ball my right fist and grin, she smiles. The parents, you know, she explains to us all, they were still from the SD, SDP ... SDAP [that's the pre-war Labour Party]. The guy, meanwhile, takes note - apparently, I'm the second person already to have asked or mentioned that particular music box, and he's already gotten the order-list out, scanning it to see if the International is on there somewhere ... and it is, too.

Bummer, Jer, tho you're right of course, coulda been worse ...

I got a story like that, but its a long one, and complicated (my apartment got burglared last week, and I found out in the strangest way). I'll tell you this, tho, about when I was at the police station waiting to give my statement about an arrest I had by then helped make.

I was waiting, downstairs, in the oddly social-centre like seventies-office hallway. It was rather empty, apart from the occasional cop going home and jovially slapping his colleagues on the shoulders and wishing everybody a good time and a joke here and a matey hello there. I tell you, Dutch cops are a scary bunch - never have I seen a buncha people together who all seemed so invariably, unnaturally happy and backslapping-cheerful. Like they're all part of one big volleyball team, and are already anticipating on the post-game canteen get-together with a coupla beers. Positively feminine, too - even while I was being heard some guy comes in to give one of the two guys taking my statement a friendly pat on the shoulder and wish him a nice evening ...

Anyway. So before me, these two kids had come in. Gutsy, scraggy kid in a shirt of the local football team, blond and not even fifteen (year of birth: 1989). He be with his taller, older, brother, who's got dark hair and wears these clothes Moroccan guys wear (light sweater, smooth shoes). The kid's talking and gesticulating to the person behind the desk, "and that other kid, he ran away then and ..." When the desk-person walks away, not too interested apparently, his brother hisses at him "dont talk too much, man, gotta not ta-alk so much!" The kid's already turning away, telling the cop, "well, I'm done here now, 'K, I'm GO-in'!".

A little while later, I see him again, walking away towards the door and calling out to the people behind the desk - apparently, he'd been summoned here on some kind of appointment or something, but he aint gonna wait - "'K, I been here now, allright, you can tell 'em, cos I'm not coming back!" The cop mutters something like, "we'll see about that", but he dont hear, the kid's already at the revolving door, yelling over his shoulder, "otherwise they can come visit me too, I dont mind that!"

Fifteen, I'm tellin' ya! Scrawny kid in a soccer shirt. But he did come back, half an hour later ... a cop took him to one of those corners in the hall and sat down with him on these amorphous sit-pedestals like he suddenly was some school coach or something, and the kid was that small, nodding and mumbling something at the guy's paternal advice ...

I'm smiling because I finally got my pickup truck back from the autobody shop.
(after only thirty two days and $10,000 in repairs!)

they did a great job on it though, it glistens like a jewel.

Nimh...Awesome.
You've got a lot of things to tell us about:
--your burglarized apartment
--found out about in a strange way
--and an arrest you helped make.
I'm struggling to write fiction. Your true stories are better. I hitched around Europe, Asia and Africa for about five years. I never made it to your country. That was unfortunate.
I

Rae and me had a heart-to-heart ... we're happy, and understanding ... life is good!

Ah, Misti, can't wait to see you two :-)

here you go ... :wink:

Poster here made me smile. Q was:

If all the ice on earth melted, what would it reveal?

Guy (or girl) answered:

hmmm.....lots of water

hehhehheh.

had other smiles too but dont wanna spend even more time writing stories right now ;-)

Spending a perfct sunday . No one at home (parents gone shopping/sight seeing) on the couch with beer, watching a thrilling match on TV between India and Pakistan, which India won !!

After filling out applications all morning, I drove down to where my son lives only to find that he was out fishing with his friend ~ he said I could come if I wanted to.....but didn't sound too enthusiastic about it.

Instead, my ex husband bought me a six pack and we went to the golf course so he could play nine rounds.....miserably I might add. But hey! I found six balls from all of my snooping!

We had a nice time. The two hours reminded both of us of why we became friends in the first place.

My dad was in town dealing with Mom's "almost stolen car" from last week. That meant we had a chance to head out golfing today - I hardly ever get to see him cause he lives 6 hours away.

It's springtime in Vancouver which usually means rain and very cool temperatures. Today it was almost 20 degrees celcius (68 Farenheight) out and super sunny. The golf was great and the beer at the end of the round on the patio was even better.

Can't remember a better Monday

Well, (with a push from Monger) I finally got off my asterisk!

hey jjorge welcome back, havent seen you in a while ...