Pedicure Cures

The photos are pure Buenos Aires, but my sights are now on domestic vistas. After being gone for a month, you can look at your own home, and its environs, with fresh eyes.

I imagine which images would stop me on the street. Click this one: the contrast of intense pink hydrangeas and rhododendrons against the foggy, gray beach-colored sky. Click again: dolphins romping just off shore, churning up white water. Can’t resist narcissistic click: freshly pedicured and painted, shiny purple toe nails.
Vacation = leisure time= girlfriends = just plain fun
I have whole days to fill (or not) with any old activity I want. This is why I am a school teacher. It’s all about summer vacation.
The secret is out! This teacher is not devoted to enriching the youth of America. This teacher does not devote herself to the higher good. It is true. I am not dedicated to changing the world by making sure 11 and 12 year olds know how to spell and punctuate. I don’t have time. I have a pedicure appointment, thank you very much.

Suzzie Story

She has been called:

Sweet,

Clever

Naughty.

We call her Suzzie. She is our dog.

Being a dog, she loves to eat rotting stuff found on the beach during her daily walks. Her favorite seems to be decomposing sea lion. There is a special aroma that beckons her, I suppose.

Last week, it was rotting fish. A stinky, gross hunk of seafood. No big deal, except this chunk included nylon fishing line and three fish hooks. Yep. Three hooks strung along the line. Ed discovered this as he charged up to her to demand she drop it. He wrestled her onto her back, pried her jaws open, and did his best to retrieve the fishing gear. Suzzie responded with gags, bites, and vigorous thrashing about. Two were yanked out. The third was just visible, down her throat. Damn!

Off to the doggie emergency room, and into surgery. Apparently, an X-ray of a dog’s stomach looks like clouds in shades of grey. Except when there is a fish hook in there. Fish hooks show up quite clearly.

Suzzie is recovering nicely now. Her tummy stitches are due for removal soon.

I took clever, sweet, naughty Suzzie on a short walk this evening, as per doctor’s orders. We headed for the beach, as usual. All was going just swell until we got to the little green park that leads down to the sand. Abruptly, Suzzie stopped, turned around, and pointed her face toward home. She refused to go on.

New name possibilities for Suzzie:

Stubborn

Smart

Happy Anniversary To SB & MC

Mamma's advice (stolen from someone older and wiser than myself) to couples who have been married "only" nine years:

Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly.

Congratulations to Sacha and Michael.

Beauty Babes

The beauty school has a snooty name - Academy for Salon Professionals. I would have chosen Salon Academy, Best Beauty School, or Beauty, Baby! But the point is, my friend Emily is a student there. Obviously she is a popular student, too. I can tell she’s a star by the vibes I got from the teachers. Not only that, a fellow student begged Emily to do her hair. And, from what I could see, that fellow student would benefit from Emily’s skills.

Note to the teacher with the short, white hair: When you are carefully examining a customer’s hair, discussing the current situation and providing suggestions for a new color recipe, don’t squint up your nose and wrinkle your forehead as if there is a putrid odor coming off the scalp. It’s not a flattering look.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Academy for Salon Professionals experience, despite the awkward name of the place. It is clean and bright. A sign out front says that teachers get free services. I guess they don’t get absolutely everything for free, because I had to pay for my highlights job. But what a bargain! The results are really, really good.

Thanks, Emily! I’ll be back.

You Won't See this in the USA

It occurs to me that my activities in Buenos Aires largely centered around cups of coffee and museums.

Coffee at McDonalds, by the way, is almost elegant. Real cups and saucers. Real espresso. And free WiFi, too.

One of the most unusual museums was completely a surprise. It just jumped out at me on a narrow, cobblestone street somewhere between the bike rental shop and the subway station. The museum focuses on the history of the city itself. Appropriately, it is housed in a carefully restored, elegant, three story house. The current exhibit is examines the evolution of the upper crust bathroom. The display features rooms full shiny, carefully displayed bidets, chamber pots, and early toilets. What a delight!

Good Air, Bad Air

Flying home from Buenos Aires takes a long, long time.

The first hour is your cab ride out of town. You have to chuckle as your cute yellow and black cab zips along the autopista toward the international airport. You’re chuckling because the freeway signs say EZE. Yep. Just say “easy.” That’s the airport code for the Buenos Aires International Airport.

Happily, the two of my flights departed on time, and arrived on time. Buenos Aires to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Los Angeles. The snag came at LAX. Gosh, delays in San Francisco meant that we sat on the plane on the ground for a LONG LONG time. Smoke in the air. Fog in the air. Why take off if you know you can't land?

Sitting on the plane at LAX there was entertainment. We were encouraged to listen to XM radio using those little bity free headsets. We were also informed that we were free to play with our own “portable electronic devices.”

The young cute guy next to me had no fewer than THREE “portable electronic devices” going at the same time. He had his phone hanging up on the little hook on the tray table on the seat back in front of him. He had a tiny version of Finding Nemo playing on a tiny movie player. And, I am not kidding, he had a game console of some kind. A Sony Wii or something-or-other. As for me, I have my laptop.

The life of an international traveler is so darn entertaining!

The Grand Splendid

Question: Want does a city do with a grand, but crumbling theatre?

Answer: Restore it splendily and transform it into a book store.

This is one of the locations of Argentina's Ateneo book store chain. They call this one the Grand Splendid.

There is a wonderful cafe on the stage. You can sit and read in the luxury sky boxes. Every bookcase has its own lighting.

Splendid indeed.