Back to Berlin

3 of these bags are mine. My family was molto pissed off

at me once again, I do this every time, pack way to much

and haul crap that I don't need all over the place.

We left Amsterdam 4 weeks ago.

We have been in Italy for 3 weeks.

So do the math.

Where did we go for 1 week after we left Amsterdam?

Berlin.

I have been taking photographs for the past 4 weeks, with good

intentions of blogging happily as we traveled along,

recounting our adventures.

But, I don't have a pattern of getting anything done "on time"

except maybe getting to the hairdresser to get my hair dyed.

That always gets done.

Since we will be heading home in about 9 days, I guess I better get blogging.

I'll see if I can write about 5 weeks worth of adventures in the next few days.

As my friend Harrison says:

"Balance is a place we only pass on the way to extreme."

Touche' Harrison.

Berlin.

It took us 2 days to get there from Amsterdam, normally a 6 hour journey.

We got stuck about an hour outside of Amsterdam, on a train bound for Berlin, except we were notified that there would be some re-routing changes as there had been storms

in Germany and we would need to change trains. We ended up in Amersfoort, and after sitting around the station for hours waiting for this new train, we were then told that there would be no trains going to Germany that day.

I trotted off to find us a hotel, strangely exhilarated over this change in plans, much like

I feel when it snows in Portland, which isn't often.

There is an excitement in having something totally unexpected happens,

and often the best adventures ensue.

We hauled all that lugguge over to the NH Amersfoort Hotel and checked in

it was one of the nicest hotels I felt like I had ever been in,

SO CLEAN, CRISP AND WHITE!

And only 100 euro a night!

It was luxurious!

We relaxed, ate a nice dinner in the dining room,

and reveled in our grown up holiday.

Last Day In Amsterdam

I am particularly fond of these new friends I found today,

especially the blond.

Beautiful Creepy Dolls in Amsterdam

I find them wherever I go.

They make me so happy.

Heading to Amsterdam

I am excited.

I was in Amsterdam over 30 years ago for maybe a day.

Not enough to count, much less remember.

So here I come again, this time with the

Friedman family in tow.

Jesse is excited too, can you tell?

Wow, we are really here!

Corey and I felt the vibe immediately when we hit the airport

and fell in love with the place.

We were met by met by lovely Myrthe at the airport, our host, who drove us to her

family's apartment where we were met by Connie, her delightful husband.

They have spent an extraordinary effort to prepare their beautiful flat for us to

move into while they re-locate at their moms for a week. We are on the canal and I am ready to move into this place, it is wonderful.

It's true, there are millions of bikes here.

I know! I will make a collection of bike photos.

What an unusually obsessive thing for me to do.

More later.

Spent a delightful day wandering an area called the Jordaan,

filled with beautiful boutiques, caffes, canals.

Jesse still looks and feels like the first photo at the top,

he had pulled an all nighter before we left and now,

3 days later, he is sorry he did, since he caught some kind of bug.

He unfortunately didn't come with us today.

Happened upon a store who was serving of all things,

Stumptown, their trial kiosk here in Amsterdam.

After lunch and gelato, the 2 Friedmans decided to head back

to the ranch for a little relax time.

Not me however.

I might miss something.

I can rest when I'm dead anyway,

There will be plenty of time then.

So within about 10 seconds I find the

most PERFECT boots I have been looking for

ALL MY LIFE!

They look like Fyre, but they are not.

Some Spanish brand, black suede and as

soft as butter.

I text Rob and tell him I have found the perfect pair of boots and

my family said I could have a retro-active birthday present from

Amsterdam. So can I have them please?

His text back reads:

Sorry, this phone is out of order.

Please try again in a few years.

Of course, I got them. I thought they would look really good with the skinny jeans

I was wearing, so I clomped out of the store wearing them.

However it was about 95 degrees and my feet were swollen

and throbbing so fashion will have to wait.

I will sign off tonight with a few choice photos.

Oh, and one more I caught on the way back

tonight.

Happy 16th Birthday Marshall!

I can't believe it.

Marshall is 16 today.

10 years ago, my son Corey, was about to enter Kindergarten at Arbor School.

It is such a great school that they send the Kindergarten teacher to your house

in August before school starts so that your kid feels comfortable.

So out came Lori P.,

best Kindergarten teacher ever.

She hung out with Corey in his room and told him that

she had a first grader in her class

named Marshall that was very "special" and that she thought Corey and he would

be great friends.

That day was quite fateful when the idea of someone named Marshall

was introduced to our family.

Little did we

know what was in store for us.

Weeks later, when school started, Corey and Marshall became friends,

as Lori predicted they would.

.

They were both a little quirky, odd (in a good way of course), funny,

strange, outrageously creative,

and the 2 of them together were

a couple of nut jobs.

Over the years, Marshall became an honorary member of our family,

we had many morning coffees together,

many bowls of

spaghetti carbonara,

and best of all,

we had many, many, many great times!

(and still do.)

I have been so lucky to know this most amazing, interesting, funny, whacky, great kid.

Happy Birthday Marshall...

with much love from

Strega Stitica

and the rest of the Friedman clowns...

click on photo to enlarge

IPhones and Fall

I got an IPhone recently and I love it.

My kids said I would never be able to "get it."

Well, I proved them wrong.  I always knew better, 

I am highly techno-savvy 

when I want to be.  I can even text on it really fast with one finger, 

all though my son says I need to learn the 2 thumb technique-ok, someday...

when I have nothing else better to do (ha!)

So I was led to

the IPhone app "Toy Camera" which is REALLY  fun, 

and takes pretty good Lomo-Holga 

style photos.

I have been wandering around, shooting photos, but it really doesn't make sense to just

leave them in the computer so that my kids can look discover them in 

the archives when I am dead someday. I will attempt to just share them and 

make this blog post look like all

those other dreamy blogs that I wish I could emulate.

This first group is a series of decaying flowers, the last vestiages of late summer.

Halloween

I have always loved things that show up on sidewalks.

Something to do with the fact that they are somewhat discarded or 

dismissed. 

And for my last set of photos today:

What I saw on my walk this morning with 

Ms. Dummy,

 who is otherwise known as Sogni the Dog.

The end.

p.s. does anyone know why Blogger randomly defaults and 

underlines 

the text body for no reason?