What made you smile today?

I understand exactly where you're coming from, RJB. <sigh>

Me: I smiled today because of the rain! Today is the first day I can remember when it's rained non-stop all day. Steady, determined rain, long time no see! This has been one of the driest (of years of very dry) winters for some time. The on-going drought in southern Australia. So I awoke this morning with an odd feeling that something felt different ... not quite the same. As I ventured outside it was clear: it had rained all night! Everything was drenched! Hours later & it's still coming down, steadily .... It is so soothing, so calm outside, it can't tell you!

Macaroni and cheese snackers.

The thought of encountering those is causing me to giggle. Don't think I'll order them - just knowing they exist is enough.

i would go there just to catch a glimpse of Zelda in person...

The Prince, Setanta, BoGoWo and I will be there tomorrow at 11 - throw Jes in the car and get up here!

ooh that's tempting... verra tempting...

but i think we need more notice to partake in a trip like that.
maybe next time?

You know we'd love it.

~~~~~~~~~

another smile ...

sitting in a park by the lake with Setanta, The Prince, and the furkids. Talking about life and love, A2K, ogling the sights.
Sailboats.
Pirates!

Seeing a fella with a kid, reclining on the grass, reading, eating fruit - both The Prince and I got a totally Nimh vibe from him - truly smile-making.

One of the alternative weekly newspapers here in Cville had a very brief article about the "Best College Essay Questions of 2005-2006." One from UVA made the list but the best one was from a school in, I believe, PA.

It went something like this: "Assume you have just finished your 300-page autobiography. What is on page 217?"

Passing by the yuppie cafe/restaurant/terrace and Kusturica-type Yugoslav brass blasting out there.

Went on a surprise trip this weekend. On Thursday, Cs said something about going home - that is, a provincial town that starts with an M and has plenty vowels with umlauts on them in - paused a sec and said, do you want to come too? Yeah, come along!

So, there I was, instead of sleeping in, on a Saturday afternoon in M. Bathing, no less (I dont do anything resembling swimmingpools, ordinarily). We threw a ball about. Well, one of those plastic thingies that things come in when you throw a quarter in one of those machines with surprise childrens' toys and things (we got a purse). Then we went to her home, where it was very, very quiet - outside on the porch, looking over a garden with two apple trees and a pine tree, you could hear the bees buzz and each individual butterfly spread its wings. It was idyllic, in a visiting your grandfolks kind of way. Things resembling seamonsters in pots turned out to be pickled cucumber-like veggies (did I mention I'm a city kid?).

It made me happy and sad, kinda, like back when I sat on the balcony of E. in a small German town near Mainz, with the plants and the flowers and the wonderful view of hills, roofs and churchtower. Instant rest and reflection. Mind you, that didnt end happily.

In the evening, we went to the "jazz festival" that M. turned out to feature right that night. There were two bands, on a stage near the local House of Culture. (Survived the change, apparently.) They were actually pretty good! The first had a saxophonist whom Cs fancied; the second had a very tall saxophonist with a very small saxophone. He was the better musician though.

Cs gathered a group of hometown friends. A pleasant girl who studied to be a dentist; a sympathetically goatee/nodding kind of guy I would have bet to be an IT man (but he wasnt); a pretty leather jacket-type girl (I mean, she could have worn one, if it hadnt been 30 degrees in the shade), who had an easy smile and a kind, open face and seemed to like me; and an old schoolfriend of Cs's - one of those guys - you know the type - who's always got a sharp-witted joke at the ready, is infectiously cheerful (though somewhere you suspect a part of him that just turns off as soon as he leaves the group, and was watching all along from behind some screen) - and who with his dry, matey wit raises group spirits and kinda pulls you along to be more open, funny and 'loose' than you normally are as well.

Well, that would be me, anyway. I wasnt feeling like serious conversation anyhow, so appropriately didnt have anything remotely resembling one - and gratefully, instead eagerly entered into the one-twos he set up. And so the evening got interesting. In the name of entering the age-old truest-of-Hungarians "Matyo" community that populates this small town (the descendants of, like, the original Magyar tribe - dont get me started on M.), I sang "Magyarorszag" ("Magyarorszag / Magyarorszag / duudedudeduuu") - won, as promised, the cute girl's heart with it - sang it again later, danced the Dutch wooden-shoe dance on stage with Cs (who also had a bit to drink), learnt to say "basz meg" (fück you) at the end of every sentence, and became an oriasi mezőkövesdi diszbogor. It was cool. As homegirl remarked, re the bird who had **** on her shoulder that afternoon predicting luck, here I was alone and having a bird **** on me this afternoon, and now it is evening and I have a husband!

Cs - don't get her started on M. - sighed, walking home: "see what I miss [in Budapest]?" Matyos - they're not just ordinary Hungarians, you know.

It was not as hot today.

I wanted to put this in the "some good news, please" thread (what ever it was called, I couldn't find it)

Tourists on vacation helped a boat load of African refuges who landed on the beach where they (the toursist) were sunbathing.....

BBC

Thanks littlek! It's nice to read good news now and then.

well,not sure if it's good news per se, really, but it's nice to see people helping people. man, 11,000 refugees per year just to Canary Islands! Wowee.

Does everyone here know that the Canary Islands were named after the large dogs which inhabited them?

I'm sure the A2K regulars know that little tidbit, but surely a newcomer will come along learn something new.

I was successful today in cutting a dude off at a stop-light, leaning on my horn, and flashing him a one-finger salute as I sped by. Man, that made me smile all right. While doing that, I was thinking of Gus, thinking, "Wow, I bet ol' Ratzenhofer would be mighty proud of me if he could see me now."

That's my boy.

Thank you, Gus. Your approbation means a lot to me.

You're right Dag. I said that before I read the article. It's a very sad situation - though it's still good to see that the tourists were helpful instead of running in the other direction.

Though there's a couple of comments underneath the article that made me grimace and grit my teeth... jaw-dropping

GREAT! To be on a page with some members I know! A reason to smile........