Surprise everyone! I'm back in the US in case you haven't found out by now. Got in last Thursday night late after missing my connection in Paris to Cincinatti. In fact, it wasn't even my fault that I missed the flight because it left EARLY! So Michelle & I (traveled together) & another guy missed the connection & Air France had to route us to Boston & THEN to Cincy. So instead of getting into Cincy at 3:30pm like we had planned, we got into Cincy at 8:30pm. Minus our suitcases. Which they thought were still in Paris.
So getting through customs was a breeze! And luckily I had clothes at home, though not many.
I slept all the way home from Louisville since Jason picked me up in Cincy & refused to let me sleep. Rolled into the driveway at midnight. Stayed up reading until 3am, woke up at 7am. Was at OCHS by 7:45am. Ann Flaherty was walking down the steps & saw me, so I got yelled at by her, but it was all in good fun! Saw Sheila, Joan, Ozzy, Fritz, David, Mr. Staples, Reeves, even some of my students! Needless to say I was super excited to see them!
I've laid low the past few days because the family didn't know I was in town yet. In fact, I had to hide from my aunt & grandmother when they came over Sunday! I've been close to getting caught a few times since I'm working at Bath & Body Works while I'm home.
Today we went out to Grandma's for dinner so Grandma, Nancy, & Steve were all surprised to see me!
So surprise everyone! I'm home! Until January 11, I think.
21 December 2006
07 December 2006
Walking a Tight Rope
Have you ever walked a tight rope? Without a net?
Have you ever jumped out of an airplane? Without a parachute?
Hopefully you haven't. But I feel like I am.
I have a 4000 word (approximately 8-pages, single spaced) essay due in January for my Unsex'd Females module. Caroline, the tutor/professor, has asked us the class(the whopping 3 of us) to compare Mary Wollstonecraft with a contemporary female author. Since I was an American & she did not know much about American authors at this time (1790s), she felt I should pursue that direction. Ok, sure. I didn't come over here to study American authors, but I'll humor her & do it.
So after much Googling, I found someone that didn't have a lot of scholarship. Which meant I had to do my own digging. The lady's name was Judith Stevens Sargent Murray. She was from Gloucester, MA, & her family was considered part of the aristocracy during the American Revolution. She wrote an essay called "On the Equality of the Sexes" 2 years BEFORE Wollstonecraft published her "Vindication on the Rights of Woman." Interesting, huh?
So here are these two women who are writing the same thing, but on different continents. Their religious views are exact (both Unitarian/Universalists though MW seems to lose her religion later in life). They both call for female education. In fact, they are so similar it's scary.
So why have I not find any comparison articles out there?
Easy answer. No one has felt like writing about it...until now!
So here I am, with this so called "original" topic that no one has done any scholarship on and why am I freaking out, you ask? BECAUSE I HAVE NO ONE TO BACK ME UP! It's all me! And what little biography Sheila Skemp has published on Murray! I did send Dr. Skemp an email today (she's a US History prof at Ole Miss) to which she graciously replied back.
So I am literally walking a tight rope without a net to catch me if I happen to step wrong. Caroline is quite excited that I could possibly have a publishable article if it's good and I'm freaking out!
So, for all of my literary friends reading this ... guess what you may be doing over Christmas break! Oh yes, reading my essay & giving me some feed back because the bar has been set and I'm not sure if I can clear it without a little help.
Have you ever jumped out of an airplane? Without a parachute?
Hopefully you haven't. But I feel like I am.
I have a 4000 word (approximately 8-pages, single spaced) essay due in January for my Unsex'd Females module. Caroline, the tutor/professor, has asked us the class(the whopping 3 of us) to compare Mary Wollstonecraft with a contemporary female author. Since I was an American & she did not know much about American authors at this time (1790s), she felt I should pursue that direction. Ok, sure. I didn't come over here to study American authors, but I'll humor her & do it.
So after much Googling, I found someone that didn't have a lot of scholarship. Which meant I had to do my own digging. The lady's name was Judith Stevens Sargent Murray. She was from Gloucester, MA, & her family was considered part of the aristocracy during the American Revolution. She wrote an essay called "On the Equality of the Sexes" 2 years BEFORE Wollstonecraft published her "Vindication on the Rights of Woman." Interesting, huh?
So here are these two women who are writing the same thing, but on different continents. Their religious views are exact (both Unitarian/Universalists though MW seems to lose her religion later in life). They both call for female education. In fact, they are so similar it's scary.
So why have I not find any comparison articles out there?
Easy answer. No one has felt like writing about it...until now!
So here I am, with this so called "original" topic that no one has done any scholarship on and why am I freaking out, you ask? BECAUSE I HAVE NO ONE TO BACK ME UP! It's all me! And what little biography Sheila Skemp has published on Murray! I did send Dr. Skemp an email today (she's a US History prof at Ole Miss) to which she graciously replied back.
So I am literally walking a tight rope without a net to catch me if I happen to step wrong. Caroline is quite excited that I could possibly have a publishable article if it's good and I'm freaking out!
So, for all of my literary friends reading this ... guess what you may be doing over Christmas break! Oh yes, reading my essay & giving me some feed back because the bar has been set and I'm not sure if I can clear it without a little help.
If You Make a Mistake, Make It in My Favor
When you are little, you always imagine something or someone will always be around. Your innocent mind cannot fathom losing that treasure.
And then you grow up.
And you lose that someone or something.
Windy Hollow Restaurant was that something for me, lost just a few days ago to a kitchen fire that blackened & scarred the landscape.
I cannot remember when I DIDN'T go to Windy Hollow after church on a Sunday when I was little. It was routine. If it was summer, Dad would pull out the Corvette, we would all pile into it (back when TJ & I could both fit in the back), & off we would go in the little robin egg blue car. Then there were the times when TJ & I would fight over who got to ride the motorcycle with Dad, while the other was pushed into the car with Mom. It typically ended with a flip of a coin. The winner would don the yellow helmet, climb up in front of dad (until we were too big, then we sat on the back), & out the drive we would go, racing the others to brunch.
Then there were the times when it seemed like everyone went out with us & we couldn't sit at our round table for 4. The kids would hurriedly eat, then find trouble in various places. Our favorite haunt was behind the restaurant or in the little area right as you came into the restaurant. It was most often where we could find the kittens. We would sit & play for hours with them, while the adults were inside discussing some boring topic. When we were tired of the kittens, we would move to the fountain where we would splash one another. Or, we would climb on the bull. Once the parents had finished 'grown up talk' & were ready to leave, there we would be, perched on the bull like little birds twittering for attention. Dad would come over & we would slide off the bull's nose into his arms. Now adays I can climb up & slide down on my own & land on my own two feet ... sometimes.
And not to mention the food. I think it was there that I fell in love with grits, heaping with butter & some yummy biscuit gravy. And donuts! Though I don't particularly care for them anymore. And chicken legs for breakfast. And pancakes! Fried potatoes ... BANANA PUDDING! With mom getting the yucky meringue, of course. Country ham, though I didn't eat any. And scrambled eggs. And this salad that had marshmallows in it. I think it was a fruit salad. True southern cooking at its best! And whenever something ran out, I could pop my head into the kitchen & let Hal know.
Then there were the super cool things in the restaurant. License plates from EVERYWHERE, including one or two I had brought back to add to the collection. And postcards, from me of course. I guess the most recent one from Wales burned. And the old fireplace with the rocking chair while you watched Christmas movies or old westerns. Dad would go stand in front of it on a particularly cold Sunday and throw a log on it every now & then when it was dying down. I think I first met John Wayne at Windy Hollow though I couldn't tell you any of the names of the films. And of course there was Rudolph & Frosty every Christmas.
My favorite super cool thing, of course, was the cash register. It was antique. You pushed the little orange button on the far left hand side & "ping" it would open! I loved to sit on the stool behind the cash register, feeling all powerful & such. A rush for a girl who can hardly balance her own check book! And every time a customer would come up to pay & Hal was nowhere around, I would be more than happy to take their money for them. But magically Hal would show up & always say "Screbber, if you make a mistake, make it in my favor."
Well, I'm sad to say that someone made a mistake though the fire was not intentionally set. The mistake most certainly was not made in Hal's favor. Or in anyone else's for that matter. Though I haven't been to the restaurant since I graduated high school (a girl's got to get her sleep in on Sunday!), I know I'll miss it. I always thought it would be there. But I guess I was wrong.
Now all that is left of my Sunday childhood haunt is blackened beams & black ashes on an old abandonned road that mined the blackest of coal.
And then you grow up.
And you lose that someone or something.
Windy Hollow Restaurant was that something for me, lost just a few days ago to a kitchen fire that blackened & scarred the landscape.
I cannot remember when I DIDN'T go to Windy Hollow after church on a Sunday when I was little. It was routine. If it was summer, Dad would pull out the Corvette, we would all pile into it (back when TJ & I could both fit in the back), & off we would go in the little robin egg blue car. Then there were the times when TJ & I would fight over who got to ride the motorcycle with Dad, while the other was pushed into the car with Mom. It typically ended with a flip of a coin. The winner would don the yellow helmet, climb up in front of dad (until we were too big, then we sat on the back), & out the drive we would go, racing the others to brunch.
Then there were the times when it seemed like everyone went out with us & we couldn't sit at our round table for 4. The kids would hurriedly eat, then find trouble in various places. Our favorite haunt was behind the restaurant or in the little area right as you came into the restaurant. It was most often where we could find the kittens. We would sit & play for hours with them, while the adults were inside discussing some boring topic. When we were tired of the kittens, we would move to the fountain where we would splash one another. Or, we would climb on the bull. Once the parents had finished 'grown up talk' & were ready to leave, there we would be, perched on the bull like little birds twittering for attention. Dad would come over & we would slide off the bull's nose into his arms. Now adays I can climb up & slide down on my own & land on my own two feet ... sometimes.
And not to mention the food. I think it was there that I fell in love with grits, heaping with butter & some yummy biscuit gravy. And donuts! Though I don't particularly care for them anymore. And chicken legs for breakfast. And pancakes! Fried potatoes ... BANANA PUDDING! With mom getting the yucky meringue, of course. Country ham, though I didn't eat any. And scrambled eggs. And this salad that had marshmallows in it. I think it was a fruit salad. True southern cooking at its best! And whenever something ran out, I could pop my head into the kitchen & let Hal know.
Then there were the super cool things in the restaurant. License plates from EVERYWHERE, including one or two I had brought back to add to the collection. And postcards, from me of course. I guess the most recent one from Wales burned. And the old fireplace with the rocking chair while you watched Christmas movies or old westerns. Dad would go stand in front of it on a particularly cold Sunday and throw a log on it every now & then when it was dying down. I think I first met John Wayne at Windy Hollow though I couldn't tell you any of the names of the films. And of course there was Rudolph & Frosty every Christmas.
My favorite super cool thing, of course, was the cash register. It was antique. You pushed the little orange button on the far left hand side & "ping" it would open! I loved to sit on the stool behind the cash register, feeling all powerful & such. A rush for a girl who can hardly balance her own check book! And every time a customer would come up to pay & Hal was nowhere around, I would be more than happy to take their money for them. But magically Hal would show up & always say "Screbber, if you make a mistake, make it in my favor."
Well, I'm sad to say that someone made a mistake though the fire was not intentionally set. The mistake most certainly was not made in Hal's favor. Or in anyone else's for that matter. Though I haven't been to the restaurant since I graduated high school (a girl's got to get her sleep in on Sunday!), I know I'll miss it. I always thought it would be there. But I guess I was wrong.
Now all that is left of my Sunday childhood haunt is blackened beams & black ashes on an old abandonned road that mined the blackest of coal.
04 December 2006
Paris Photos
Raquel (white coat), Jordan, Robby, Connor (tall guy), Diane, Michelle (in front) at the Marche de Noel. I'm taking the photo.
Michelle & Diane enjoying their crepes from the Marche de Noel.
The coolest Eiffel Tower picture ever!
Me, in front of the Arche de Triomphe
Three Wishes, by Rodin
Me, trying to think with "The Thinker" about my paper that I need to write. He wasn't much help.
I think this is one of the coolest photos I took because it's on the "classic" setting. Diane was such a good model when I was playing with my camera settings!
Notre Dame at Christmas
03 December 2006
Paris, c'est magnifique!
Ok, so hopefully I spelled that right! For those of you non-French speakers out there, it says, "Paris, it's magnificent!"
So I've been back on this God-forsaken island that I currently live on since 5pm & how I miss the continent already! (Mostly because it hardly rained while we were there & the food was edible!) But alas, I'm not in Paris anymore, but I can remininsce & bore you all with my stories.
Where to start?
Well, we left late Thursday evening to take a bus to Dover which is a LONG way away, about 6 hours from Swansea. Now the group of people on the bus was American ... all American ... annoying Americans ... drunk Americans. Yes, they were drunk on the bus & SANG all the way to Dover. And they were not good singers either. Nor did they sing good songs. By the end of the journey, those of us who were sober were ready to kill them. Sadly, we didn't. We got into Dover at 1am to take the ferry across the English Channel 1:45 to Calais in France. The ride would take 2 hours. Connor, Jordan, Robby, Raquel, Michelle, & I found a relatively quiet place to lie down & sleep, until these school children high on sugar came into the cabin. Jordan informed them that it was a "quiet" cabin, so they left & we tried to sleep. The ride over was very choppy, not at all comfortable, but much better than the ferry back. We got into France around 4am, hopped back on the bus, & drove to Paris. We got to the hotel, Hotel Sibour a block away from the Gare de L'Est (train station), around 10am. Couldn't unpack 'cause we couldn't get into the rooms until 2pm.
So the 6 of us plus Diane, who joined up with us (& roomed with the girls), hit the metro to go to the Arche de Triomphe. Well, Michelle & I got a little confused & we went to the Arche de Defense instead which was okay because we got to see it & we found the Marche de Noel (Christmas Market). After that we walked across the Seine & to the Arche de Triomphe which took forever. (Never listen to me when I say something is not too far to walk too. I generally lie!) We didn't go into the arch, but we did take lots of pics. From there we went to the Eiffel Tower. Everyone but Michelle, Diane, & I wanted to go up the Tower, so the 3 of us ditched out & went to the Rodin Museum to see some cool statutes (i.e. The Thinker). We took some fun pics there, of course.
From there we went to the Latin Quarter to check out stuff. Namely Notre Dame. There was a choir concert or something with a lot of priests going on when I was in there, so I have some audio of the singing. After N-D, we walked over to Le Grenier de Notre Dame, but it was closed. (Le Grenier is were my "fiance" works.)
By then it was getting late & we had to meet the crew at the hotel for dinner. So we went back to the hotel to shower & unpack a little. We ate dinner - nothing exciting & I don't remember what it was called - & then decided we wanted to take an evening cruise on the Seine. Well, I forgot where Pont Neuf was & didn't realize it until we had walked down to the Louvre which is quite a distance. Everyone was getting grumpy because we hadn't slept since 8am the day before, so we had been up for more than 36 hours. By then it was 10:30, we turned around, found Pont Neuf & they went on the boat ride while Diane & I opted for bed.
On Saturday, we got up at 9am, ate breakfast, then headed out to shop. Went back to the Marche de Noel, hit up the Latin Quarter, & Chatelet. Went to the Musee d'Orsay where the Impressionists live. Found Riadh at Le Grenier de Notre Dame as he was closing & he proceeded to take the girls shopping. I must say, you can't help but appreciate a man who VOLUNTARILY takes 3 girls shopping. So he walked us to Chatelet to show us where the bigger stores were - i.e. H&M. H&M was incredibly crowded, so he & I sat at the bus stop & talked while Michelle & Diane shopped.
By 5pm, we were all tired. Riadh went home & we headed back to the hotel for a nap. After a glorious 1.5 hour nap, we met up with the guys again to go to dinner in the Latin Quarter. We went to a "French" restaurant where our waitress was quite rude to begin with, but apparently Connor has this great Canadian personality that wins just about everyone over & he managed to get her to smile. Once she cracked, our service was much better. Attribute it all to Connor, the snails, & his bread/butter addiction.
Afterwards, the guys & Raquel decided to go dancing (it cost 20 euro to get in & 11 euro a drink!) while Diane, Michelle, & I opted for some last minute shopping & then bed. The clubbing group didn't get back until 4am when I heard them come in.
The alarm went off at 8:30am on Sunday & we all groaned & hit snooze. Made it down to breakfast at 9:15. Got on the bus at 10. Hit Calais at 12:45pm where our ferry was delayed because of bad winds. We caught the 11:50am ferry at 2:15! The waters were SO incredibly choppy & I swear I will never go back to the continent by ferry! After a most unpleasant ferry ride, we landed at 4:15pm (we gained an hour), got back on the bus, & headed to Swansea. We watched Family Guy & The Island on the way back. Got back about 10pm, despite our hour delay in Calais.
Didn't spend much money. Actually, I think I spent less than 100 euro the whole weekend which is quite impressive for me, especially since it is Paris & Christmas! I will post pictures soon. I'm waiting to get some from everyone as my camera is still not focusing properly. But definitely be on the look out for photos as we have some fun ones. :-)
So I've been back on this God-forsaken island that I currently live on since 5pm & how I miss the continent already! (Mostly because it hardly rained while we were there & the food was edible!) But alas, I'm not in Paris anymore, but I can remininsce & bore you all with my stories.
Where to start?
Well, we left late Thursday evening to take a bus to Dover which is a LONG way away, about 6 hours from Swansea. Now the group of people on the bus was American ... all American ... annoying Americans ... drunk Americans. Yes, they were drunk on the bus & SANG all the way to Dover. And they were not good singers either. Nor did they sing good songs. By the end of the journey, those of us who were sober were ready to kill them. Sadly, we didn't. We got into Dover at 1am to take the ferry across the English Channel 1:45 to Calais in France. The ride would take 2 hours. Connor, Jordan, Robby, Raquel, Michelle, & I found a relatively quiet place to lie down & sleep, until these school children high on sugar came into the cabin. Jordan informed them that it was a "quiet" cabin, so they left & we tried to sleep. The ride over was very choppy, not at all comfortable, but much better than the ferry back. We got into France around 4am, hopped back on the bus, & drove to Paris. We got to the hotel, Hotel Sibour a block away from the Gare de L'Est (train station), around 10am. Couldn't unpack 'cause we couldn't get into the rooms until 2pm.
So the 6 of us plus Diane, who joined up with us (& roomed with the girls), hit the metro to go to the Arche de Triomphe. Well, Michelle & I got a little confused & we went to the Arche de Defense instead which was okay because we got to see it & we found the Marche de Noel (Christmas Market). After that we walked across the Seine & to the Arche de Triomphe which took forever. (Never listen to me when I say something is not too far to walk too. I generally lie!) We didn't go into the arch, but we did take lots of pics. From there we went to the Eiffel Tower. Everyone but Michelle, Diane, & I wanted to go up the Tower, so the 3 of us ditched out & went to the Rodin Museum to see some cool statutes (i.e. The Thinker). We took some fun pics there, of course.
From there we went to the Latin Quarter to check out stuff. Namely Notre Dame. There was a choir concert or something with a lot of priests going on when I was in there, so I have some audio of the singing. After N-D, we walked over to Le Grenier de Notre Dame, but it was closed. (Le Grenier is were my "fiance" works.)
By then it was getting late & we had to meet the crew at the hotel for dinner. So we went back to the hotel to shower & unpack a little. We ate dinner - nothing exciting & I don't remember what it was called - & then decided we wanted to take an evening cruise on the Seine. Well, I forgot where Pont Neuf was & didn't realize it until we had walked down to the Louvre which is quite a distance. Everyone was getting grumpy because we hadn't slept since 8am the day before, so we had been up for more than 36 hours. By then it was 10:30, we turned around, found Pont Neuf & they went on the boat ride while Diane & I opted for bed.
On Saturday, we got up at 9am, ate breakfast, then headed out to shop. Went back to the Marche de Noel, hit up the Latin Quarter, & Chatelet. Went to the Musee d'Orsay where the Impressionists live. Found Riadh at Le Grenier de Notre Dame as he was closing & he proceeded to take the girls shopping. I must say, you can't help but appreciate a man who VOLUNTARILY takes 3 girls shopping. So he walked us to Chatelet to show us where the bigger stores were - i.e. H&M. H&M was incredibly crowded, so he & I sat at the bus stop & talked while Michelle & Diane shopped.
By 5pm, we were all tired. Riadh went home & we headed back to the hotel for a nap. After a glorious 1.5 hour nap, we met up with the guys again to go to dinner in the Latin Quarter. We went to a "French" restaurant where our waitress was quite rude to begin with, but apparently Connor has this great Canadian personality that wins just about everyone over & he managed to get her to smile. Once she cracked, our service was much better. Attribute it all to Connor, the snails, & his bread/butter addiction.
Afterwards, the guys & Raquel decided to go dancing (it cost 20 euro to get in & 11 euro a drink!) while Diane, Michelle, & I opted for some last minute shopping & then bed. The clubbing group didn't get back until 4am when I heard them come in.
The alarm went off at 8:30am on Sunday & we all groaned & hit snooze. Made it down to breakfast at 9:15. Got on the bus at 10. Hit Calais at 12:45pm where our ferry was delayed because of bad winds. We caught the 11:50am ferry at 2:15! The waters were SO incredibly choppy & I swear I will never go back to the continent by ferry! After a most unpleasant ferry ride, we landed at 4:15pm (we gained an hour), got back on the bus, & headed to Swansea. We watched Family Guy & The Island on the way back. Got back about 10pm, despite our hour delay in Calais.
Didn't spend much money. Actually, I think I spent less than 100 euro the whole weekend which is quite impressive for me, especially since it is Paris & Christmas! I will post pictures soon. I'm waiting to get some from everyone as my camera is still not focusing properly. But definitely be on the look out for photos as we have some fun ones. :-)
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