Where, oh where has my extra super fantastic blogger gone?

I've gone to wonderful and amazing places! Like Giant's Causeway:



And Glenveagh Castle and Gardens:



And the Waterford Crystal Factory Tour:



And the Old Midleton Whiskey Distillery:



And the Blarney Stone!



Did you know that in order to kiss the Blarney Stone you have to hang backwards over the edge of a very tall castle while an old, whistling Irish man grasps your midsection? Because you do.

My mom has been visiting from California this week, and she brought the sunny skies with her. We've been touring Ireland in our trusty rental car and having a brilliant time (as they say here). The days have simply flown by, and, sadly, Mom goes home tomorrow. But she definitely got her fill of sheep, scones and thick Irish brogues. Come back any time, Mom!

Thirst for knowledge

For the past 2 months, I've been taking Hebrew lessons with my mom at the local JCC. Being in a classroom environment has reminded me that sometimes, I actually enjoy learning. My desire to learn is entirely equal my my lack of attention, hence my NPR-style skill set (I know how to do a little bit of a lot of things.). I can kind of play the accordion, I kind of know how to perform trampoline movements (stop laughing--it's not as easy as it sounds. There's a scientific method and physioligical know-how involved. I'm telling you, I took 2 quarters of trampoline in college. I said stop laughing.), I can knit, kind of...the list goes on.

But this time, I found the lessons that will keep my attention nice and focused: ventriloquism in a month! See, it's the combined promise of learning something in a month, and learning something that will so totally impress my friends at parties.

And if it doesn't impress them, I obviously need new friends.

Happy. Birthday. Captain. Kirk.

Finally, I can play Has Been here in the office again and no one can stop me. It's been far too long. Let. Us. Celebrate. The. Birthday. Of. The. Shat. While. Reveling. In. His. Lyrical. Genius.

I feel it necessary that I apologize for laying the smack down on my mom yesterday on this very blog. She did nothing wrong by disposing of all those My Little Ponies, and probably even asked me first. I'm sure that the teenage recluse that I was at the time answered with a sneer-laced "Whatever," and that some very happy 10 year old began her very own love affair with those plastic horses...

And the seasons, they go round and round. And the painted ponies go up and down. We're captive on a carousel of time. We can't go back, we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game.

We can thank four years of summer camp in the Santa Cruz mountains for that little gem!



I. Love. My. Mother.

"You want me to put my hand where?!"

I've decided I'm going to start doing that super cool blogger thing where instead of saying people's names, I'll just use their first initials. Because the people I know are so important that their privacy could be destroyed by being mentioned by name on my uber popular blog. Right. To be sure, I probably shouldn't have mentioned M.'s first, middle and last names on my post the other day (heh heh, oops. sorry 'bout that, M.). But then again, I suppose I do a lot of stuff I shouldn't do, and on a surprisingly regular basis, too ( I own 2 ponchos purchased within the last 12 months...and Max warned me about both of them.).

But there's one person who doesn't need to be cloaked by a dumb initial shield-my Mom! Neat how that worked out. Well, she sends me all kinds of emails, but this has to be the crowning jewel of the bunch.



I love my Mom.