letter from home or just another random list to clear my brain

stepping in and taking a look around, brushing a few cobwebs out of the corners, killing some flies...and i'm back! we had a wonderful vacation and it was great seeing friends and family and horses and kitties and antiquing and taking 2,795 photographs (not including film), but i'm glad to be home. we came home to a sold house (as you undoubtedly gathered from the goodbye poppelvej post) and are very soon the official owners of one that needs to be torn down. the wheels are in motion on that front as well (turns out it IS possible to rent a bulldozer).

i realized today when i was feeling irritable and rather restless, that it was because i haven't been writing. writing is how i process all the stuff that's going on and when i don't get it out, i become a bearcat (in the words of my father). i tell you, blogging is cheaper than therapy. so in the interest of getting it all out, i give you a few things i learned while i was in the US the past two weeks...

~ it's not possible to wear a multi-strength contact in one eye and a regular one in the other. not if you want to see. or stand upright without nausea.

~ an 8MB memory card holds 1257 photos (using a nikon D300 and taking jpegs at full resolution). that's not enough.

~ the best place to look for treasures is amongst your own stuff.

~ the best way to learn how water and wind behave when they're together is to be on the river.

~ antique prices are totally arbitrary.

~ it is impossible to get normal, real milk for your coffee in an american snack village (my nephew's name for those big roadside gas stations full of snacks and praise jesus shirts). you can only get 14 different flavors of sweetened fake creamer or half and half that comes in little plastic thingies that don't need to be refrigerated.

~ there are no hot beverages smaller than 16 oz. in an american snack village.

~ there are no cold beverages smaller than 40 oz. in an american snack village.

~ if you drink said large beverages, you will need to stop at the next snack village to use the bathroom.

~ cherry is the flavor of choice in the US. and cinnamon. and they are the same color of red.

~ it's no wonder chrysler was doing badly, they're making tanks (badly) disguised as cars.

~ it's time to reread the brothers karamazov.

~ even if actually holding the iPhone 4 to speak in it renders it useless, i will still buy one the second they release them in denmark (by which time they've hopefully fixed that little problem, tho' honestly, i'm willing to learn to hold it with my left hand).

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this weekend, i'm off to a horse show in germany with a friend. i can't wait to see how horse shows are done on this side of the atlantic. wishing you all a lovely weekend!