So we have all had them, realizations that this huge world may not be as large as we think. The first one that i can remember that really blew my mind was when i was visiting France with my parents. We are walking along a string of outdoor cafes when my dad asks my mom if she would like to talk to “so and so”. My mom with a confused look on her face says “You mean call them?” These being people that they had not seen or heard from for many years and the idea of calling them made my mom a bit confused. This, being the exact response that my dad was looking for said, “No, they are sitting right there. Although he said it in a kind of are you stupid way that he loves to do. And sure enough, these people that they had once known and had moved to another country, were sitting about five feet away. What a surprise for everyone, and my dad once again got to feel smug. (You know im just picking on you once again father.) Anyway, I had one of these surreal experiences at the train station waiting to go to Naples. We are sitting there, me reading “High Fidelity,” when an Indian kid sitting next to me asks in English if the book is any good. I reply that it is and he should definitely give it a shot at some point, he says that he will…. wait for it cause that is not the crazy part. We get to talking and about his travels to the US, when he announces that he is going to go to Temple a year from now. I sit there and then ask “Temple University?…. as in the college…. as in Philly?” and sure enough he is studying at their satellite campus in India and will be going to Temple as a junior. WHAT? I mean, what are the chances of meeting an indian kid who can speak English and happens to be going to the same college as me in a train station in italy? Im not really sure cause im not good with math but you better believe that they’re not good. Anyway, things are still going well and im about to write another post after this.

(click)

I’ve gotten considerable grief for posting these, but I’ve promised this one for a while. And then there’s this one and one more.

La Rad’s daughter attended this . I recognize about ten of those acts, my money is on Travis to more that double that.

Last night Diane escorted me to the American Repertory Theatre to see Monsieur Chopin . This was the end of a two-day birthday celebration which began with polenta pie, presents and my traditional cherry pie dessert. Though I knew where we were going, Diane made me promise not to peek at the ART’s website. A surprise performance in lieu of a surprise party.

That meant that while listening to Gunsmoke and nailing mahogany decking, I could fantasize about the conjunction of my desires and Diane’s intuition. Matthew had the day before been spot-on with his gift – a super, glow-in-the-dark popgun blaster.

As we walked into the ART, the first poster we passed was for “The Island Of Slaves.” Described as shipwreck survivors switching roles to learn lessons in humanity, I thought uh oh, until I noticed the long-ago production date. Tacked to the right of the ticket window, however, was the current play – Chopin’s life, written, produced and acted by one man, Hershey Felder.

Well, things are actually working out as planned. So far the only problems have been that Debbie was sick(Completely better now, sorry for scaring you Barry and Sharon) and the fact that we were not sleeping at night and were tired in the day. I think that our schedules have now gotten used to the new time zone so everything is A-okay. We are leaving for Naples on a train tonight at midnight for an eight hour ride. I think that it should really just be a blast. Then we spend three nights there before going on to Amalfi where we will be spending four nights. Then we are going to get on a bus, then a train, and then hopefully end up back in Venice for our last three nights. When i say it like that it doesnt really sound like we are going to be here for long enough. Anyway, we thought that we were not going to have a place to stay once we were back in Venice, but hostelbookers.com has saved us again and we will be staying at a budget hotel, Hotel Giovanni or spelled something like that. We have been eating really well. I may have mentioned this before, but our hostel in Venice so far was not just a room but a small apartment. When i asked if they had something available in a week she laughed at me and said everything was booked for a month. Anyway, we are just killing time before our long ass train ride. So off for some shopping (makes debbie happy).

Anyway, mUch love of course from both of us.

Seeya later

MAtt and deb

N-w in Pr-g, Czch Rep. Th- Czch kybrd -s v-ry dffclt 4 frgnrs. N–dng vry f-w vwls, Czchs g-t – vwl by typng d-g-t (1-5) + shft-ctrl. Wth -rm -n slng, vry hrd f-r m-!

Pr-g h-s grt b–r! Bdvr -s th- b-st -n th- w-rld. N-w -ff t- h–r Dv-r-k & M-tz-rt c-ncrt. Prg’s – v-ry b—t-f-l c-ty!.

Rkktjy

Hey,

As usual following your exact instructions has not worked, in other words following your login key only came up with something that said wrong username. Whatever, see what you can do about it and then get back to me. In the mean time you can post this.

Sorry that we were not able to email sooner, but finding a good internet cafe is not as easy as one might think, not only that but the prices seem a bit exuberant to me. Anyway, all went very well. Neither me nor debbie slept a wink on either of our two flights and arrived in venice a bit tired. We got on the water taxi and were able to make it to a stop close to the one we were aiming for. After which we followed the instructions from the hostel, which remarkable got us to where we wanted to go. I hope that my dad will post it, because the instructions initially looked as if they made no sense. What we ended up with though is a great room, with like three beds, our own shower a stove and a fridge. Much more then we asked for and certainly much more then we expected. After which we went to sleep. Good times, we woke up and went out to get some food but decided to call it an early night because debbie was not feeling all that well. We went to sleep and at three in the morning realized that we had both woken up and there was very little chance of getting back to bed soon. Deb fell asleep at around five and i around six thirty… at which point we slept till five. Whoops. The next day was fairly uneventful except debbie threw up in front of a very beautiful building. We went out for a very nice dinner and after i forced her to have some veggie soup she felt a lot better. At around twelve we called it a night and went back to the hostel. where we slept for two hours before waking up again. Stupid jet lag. Anyway, i am running on about three hours of sleep and debbie not much more. All in all though it is going very well and venice is a beautiful city. Amazing to look at and a very weird concept once you think about it. We will write again soon, much love

The two of us

dejr mikkl

its hard to write on this drajjtd hungarian keyboard with my left hand bound to my body. all the english letters`are crammed onto the left hand side, with the right side filled with accents, graves, circumclefs, tildes, umlauts, superdots,carets, and various sorts of wiggles and whatnots ;-). enjoying gulasch, paprikas, and wonderful orgel music.

next stop prague

rakkjty

ps stories in long hand, will upload to blog next week

After a month and half of rain.

That much talked about Ford F-650

************
Take Comfort Where You Can

Not for nothing
are we given at least as much
sense as God gave a goose,
which we have no access to, sensewise.
We don’t speak goose
nor recognize what body language
there may be in a body
which is mostly neck and dollop.
But down, now there is something
to build dreams on.
We have recourse
and in the morning the feathered snow
will have come and closed the roads.
Linger. Leave off.

Michael Chitwood

***********

David Attenborough

(click)

Matt and Debbie’s plane left left at 5:27 PM.

The Movie version. (13MB QT)

Youtube version is quite clear.

I shot much more video of Matt and Debbie’s personal wander through security than I displayed in the movie, but finally they vanished from sight. Which was sad but also good because I really had to use the nearby bathroom. As I hurried across the tile floor my cell phone rang. I could see it was Debbie’s number.

“Yes?”

“Did they get you dad?” Matt asked.

“Did who get me?”

“The cops. I heard them say ‘Security risk, man with a video cam.’ They meant you.”

“Awesome.”

“What do you mean awesome?”

“I don’t know what I mean, but no, they didn’t get me. I’m here hiding in the bathroom.”

The trip to and through Logan was otherwise uneventful. Matthew is an efficient machine which is why long ago I decided the best course was to plant a hand on his shoulder and let him lead the way. The only hiccough occurred when Debbie tried to pass her cargo bag off as carry-on luggage. The ticket agent looked sympathetically as Debbie tried to squeeze it into what resembled a tot’s grocery shopping cart – the device used to gauge the size of your bag. It almost fit and would have had she sat on it, but it turned out for the better because it was checked right on through to Venice which would expedite their connecting-plane dash in Paris.

Their plane landed at 9:21 AM (3:31 AM our time)

(click)

Matt and Debbie’s plane left left at 5:27 PM.

The Movie version. (13MB QT)

Youtube version is quite clear.

I shot much more video of Matt and Debbie’s personal wander through security than I displayed in the movie, but finally they vanished from sight. Which was sad but also good because I really had to use the nearby bathroom. As I hurried across the tile floor my cell phone rang. I could see it was Debbie’s number.

“Yes?”

“Did they get you dad?” Matt asked.

“Did who get me?”

“The cops. I heard them say ‘Security risk, man with a video cam.’ They meant you.”

“Awesome.”

“What do you mean awesome?”

“I don’t know what I mean, but no, they didn’t get me. I’m here hiding in the bathroom.”

The trip to and through Logan was otherwise uneventful. Matthew is an efficient machine which is why long ago I decided the best course was to plant a hand on his shoulder and let him lead the way. The only hiccough occurred when Debbie tried to pass her cargo bag off as carry-on luggage. The ticket agent looked sympathetically as Debbie tried to squeeze it into what resembled a tot’s grocery shopping cart – the device used to gauge the size of your bag. It almost fit and would have had she sat on it, but it turned out for the better because it was checked right on through to Venice which would expedite their connecting-plane dash in Paris.

Their plane landed at 9:21 AM (3:31 AM our time)

(click)

Here they are, rushed to the presses, the prom photos .

This is our first podcast and you can either click on “subscribe,” which downloads the file to your computer (directly into iTunes for instance) or click on “listen,” which provides the same content but not archived for later easy access.

This new world venture may have a Wright Brother’s wing-and-a-prayer feel to it – the transitions are abrupt and you’ll hear Audioslave struggling to keep up with Matt and Joe. Perhaps future programs (if there are any) will be more polished.

About four minutes and 7MB.