What made you smile today?

a lot of red buttons

You don't really hate me, do you?

Ha!

Heading to the office mid-afternoon after residency-permit paperwork, I orb across the square in front of St Stephan's Basilique. There is, randomly, a full choir standing on the steps, dressed in their Sunday best. They're holding up a colourful, intricate old flag with a saint (Stephen himself, I suppose), people surrounding them, holding out flowers. They sing, classical music. When they finish, applause ripples up as they release a flock of balloons, which swiftly sweep up in the air. They twirl up around the dome of the basilique, up way high, for a while, different colours, pulling up silver ribbons.

There's this small cukraszda on the nagykorut here; a patisserie, on the outer boulevard which curves around downtown a few blocks "behind" me. It's a modest place, couple of tables and chairs inside, a few outside in summer. Cakes, tea, coffee. Nothing fancy, just a cukraszda.

Problem is, I'm guessing - the very glitzy Corinthia hotel a few doors down the block has just reopened its own cukraszda, which had been closed through the winter (if it had ever been open). It's got three dozen kinds of cakes, a fin-de-siecle grandeur of mirrors and chandeliers, and another part, round the corner, that's more business-loungy type. You can even sit at tables in the imposing inner court of the hotel, basically a sidestreet they incorporated into the construction, glass overhead and a fine building towering up.

No comparison.

But the little neighbourhood cukraszda is not giving up that easily. Boldly, it has ventured into new territory to expand its customer base. On every window, it now proudly has a paper sign pasted saying "INTERNET CAFE". That's three signs. And if you peek in right through the front door, you can see their new acquisition. The same sign, "INTERNET CAFE" is plastered prominently on the one, grey, office desktop, on a table by itself next to the counter with the cash register.

What, this my private thread now?


I had fun tonight watching the game, Holland:Ivory Coast, with three friends (well, two colleagues and the husband of one, but they count), in the tent out in front here. We chatted, cheered (Cs for Ivory Coast, me for Holland) & teased. Just low-key coolness. Tomorrow we're having a picknick in the park behind the Pecsa, listening in on the Kispal concert held there.

Cs is funny. She and I are like kid brother/sister or something now, teasing each other and being weird together - like, this afternoon, she came into my room at work & put the Some Like It Hot soundtrack on & we made funny dance moves to I Wanna Be Loved By You till we thought the folks on the other side of the courtyard might think it odd. Friday afternoon ;-)

No it's not your private thread. I hope it's alright if I tell you that I smiled when I heard "Alison" by Elvis Costello tonight. And then I went home and listened to "Oliver's Army" and "Everyday I write the Book" and (The Angels Want to Wear my) Red Shoes" and "Pump It Up" by him too. (I hadn't listened to him in ages and he's a favorite of mine).

A#1 son called to tell me he'd received his final report card for his junior year in high school. One A and five Bs. I am very proud!

Heya Aidan - I like Alison..

Hey, Rae!! Long time no see..

Hey Ya, Charlie Brown

Click that link, then click "You get this" - wonderful, wonderful..

im smiling because I keep feeling like I am reading Nimh's diary..

I smile at different people's sense of humor.
I play on-line scrabble. I am not very good at it but it has been fun to collect countries (45 so far) and to meet some fascinating characters. Sometimes the chatting goes on long after the game has ended. And, on occasion, I have shared my e-mail address with others, albeit rarely.
One of those folks has taken to sending me, once a week or two, a recipe for a pie. No real commentary. Just "hi. johnboy in Virginia. Here is a recipe for a cherry (or apple, or mock apple, or rhubarb) pie."
I was very wary at first but found out this person was/is legitimate. And so I get a pie recipe once a week.

My best girlfriend and I took a ride out to visit another very dear friend of mine this evening for wine, good conversation and a tour of his garden. Another friend met us there and it was just a most pleasant evening sitting on the patio, surrounded by natures's beauty, with some of my favorite people, talking about everything under the sun.

Smiling (again) for nimh! Good to see you, my friend!

desk guy at the boxing club told me i looked the best in "the flopping mess" of everybody trying to follow crazy routines during the workout class. i thought that was funny as hell, as we all looked like epileptic lizards, lounging forward as if our lives depended on it, then shaking and losing balance. all the rest of them are guys, but they didn't look any more suave than i. ha. sure was fun to watch each time before it was my turn to go perform seizures.

Little boy dancing to the supermarket music

Last night we went to the video rental store, where I always let Bean run around the isles with me playing chase.

I picked up a movie to read while we were doing this, and an older man, probally in his 60's was an isle over... chuckling..

I could hear him, but I didnt know what he was laughing at.

As i chased Bean , announcing " im gonna get you" .. she was giggling at the top of her lungs running as hard as her little legs would allow to stay ahead of me, I rounded the corner to see her pants drooping over her diaper and her running with her legs stretched out to the sides to keep them from falling even farther.
There was no way in the world she was going to stop and let me catch her..
So she hid behind his legs so I 'wouldnt see her'

He got a kick out of that.

Pity he doesn't send the pie!

My niece has lice again so I went over to have my head checked and to check my sister's (we're clean!). While we did this, the kids were playing with the sprinkler - the little one was buck nekkid. Cute cute.

Finding this photo when I was looking for something else (tabouli, it was Laila's)

Big smiles
I feel healthy and energetic and happy!



I am excited about the future, and more importantly, about the present!

YAY!

Having lunch with an old friend