Solidarity and rip offs

We went to Milan for work a couple weeks ago. Our days weren't completely full so we decided to be tourists and go to the big cathedral called the Duomo. It is an amazing forest of stone pillars. It's an immense space. We didn't pay the 3 Euros for the special arm band that allowed you to take photos, so you'll have to look online or take my word for it. It's really something to see.

Duomo, Milan

It also had a crypt room in the lower level that had a mystical other worldly feel and it was beautiful to look at as well. Dimly lit, lots of gilt and stone benches around a central marble coffin. It almost felt like people were there. A watchful feel seemed to permeate it.

Since we were too cheap to do the photo pass, this next story probably won't surprise you either. As we approached the cathedral from the metro -- a short plaza walk in the rain, several gentlemen from Africa approached with bracelets. One fellow was very persistent and laid one across my arm. I said no I didn't like it. I didn't it was yellow, and pink, and red, and all colors. I'm more of a black and brown person in my wardrobe tastes.

The African kept saying it was a gift. It was gift. It was free. I knew these were scams to get money so I was fighting him. He managed to tie the thing on me with me trying to pull my arm away. The whole time saying it was free and it was solidarity with Africa. I already have solidarity. I don't need a bracelet.

Once he let go of my arm and we tried to walk off, he demanded some kind of money from my man. We gave in and gave him something, but it was aggravating me the entire time I was in looking at the Duomo. Just sell the bracelets, don't con people. Next time that happens I'm going to call for the police I think, because I know they are illegals and will likely back down and leave us alone.

Later leaving the film festival was an African woman who had bracelets and I was completely rude to her because of my earlier experience. Then I felt bad, because I'm a nice person and I'd like to handle things better than getting conned at one stop and being rude to the next huckster.

The rest of the trip was nice. It rained on us pretty much the entire time. Kudos to the street hucksters who came out in droves with umbrellas. That's offering a service people want. The evenings were pretty with the reflections off the shiny cobblestone streets. The last night we came out of the theater to find a hundred people or so standing around the glassed in shop of a gelateria/bar. We thought there must be a celebrity in there so we crowded in too. Turned out everyone was watching the TV monitor over the bar waiting for the newly announced pope to make his first appearance. The shop got tired of the crowd and turned off the TV to a large group moan from the street.

We rode a street car one night back to the hotel. It was all shiny wood benches and was built in 1928 (?more or less) and a lovely little old lady reading a James Rollins book helped us make our stop or we'd have missed it.

The galleria

I was reading a Michael Dibdin, Auelio Zen novel, Cabal, which had it's dynamic end in the galleria alongside the Duomo where we had lunch one day so it was a nice touch to my trip.

Window or Aisle?

I'm a good flyer, love it. Until recently I always chose a window seat as I enjoy watching take offs and landings. I like to look out my portal window as we go and see the changing color of the landscape and the quilted patterns of the countryside.

The last few years my knees protest if I hold still too long. Movies, theater, flying. It hits rather suddenly, so I like to have the option to get up when I want. I've also had to fly for work more often and so do more solo flying which has also pushed me to opt for an aisle seat.

You would think as a seasoned traveler there would be no difference for me except the location of the seat. The last few flights I noticed a strange thing.

When I cannot look out the window and get my bearings so to speak of which way is up and which way is down, all those things that go bump during a flight seem to spook me. The clunk of the landing gear coming up? Window seat: no pasa nada. I glance out and keep reading or look at the clouds. Aisle seat: strain to see out, only see white. Is the plane okay? Are we going forward? Down?

Now, this anxiousness is very light and I often laugh at myself, but I have noticed a lot more jumpiness when I can't SEE what's going on. It's not like the window seat is in the cockpit, but it's reassuring somehow to see the ground way down there and staying where it's suppose to be.

I won't give up my aisle seat  I don't think, but my preference is flying with a companion in the two seat on the side scenario, so I can have both the view and the aisle. Which one do you prefer?

Valentine Dinner at Restaurante Rayuela

We chose the special menu for two at a tiny place near us in Alcala de Henares, Spain. It was classic but gourmeted up Spanish cuisine. Each plate was decorated with sauces in the shape of a heart. This was really yummy sauces in a place where sauce is rare so it was fun.

Starters
Shrimp on a stick fried in a shredded pastry like this but not sweet. I don't know what it's called.

Croquet de Jamon, homemade. It is a dried ham and bechamel sauce coated and fried. You can get these at nearly every restaurant in Spain but the homemade ones are best.

A little taste of the USA. Quesedilla of ground beef and a rich creamy melted cheese.

Salad: I can't remember all the Spanish words. It was goat cheese somehow toasted or carmelized on one side, tomato compote, mixed greens and raddichio (also unusual in a salad in the common places here), pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, and delightful mix of basalmic vinegar gel and other vinegars and oils and something slightly sweet. The flavor mix was really good.

First Course
Gula, gambas, y trigueros. That is baby eels (not real ones but think fake crab sticks), shrimp, and green asparagus, in a creamy sauce, sort of like a pasta with a sauce on it only baby eel sqigglies instead of spaghetti. This was some advanced eating for me.

Main Courses (yes there were two!)
Chiperones and yummy sauces. Here's a picture in case I can't explain. It's a tiny relative of the squid. The leggie bits have the ink in them and are a stronger flavor. Not my favorite bits. But the tiny meat steaks of the bodies were grilled and the Spanish prepare them so well. They are a common food here.

The next plate was a lovely plate of aged beef, a bit of gristly cut but again grilled very nicely with crunchy bits of sea salt on it. Very tasty and done what to me was pretty rare but that's what they call medium here "a punto" at the point of being cooked. It came with a tiny decorative dollop of mashed potatoes.

For dessert we had a rich gooey brownie with nuts and a scoop of homemade vanilla bean and I think amaretto ice cream.

Keep in mind each of these was a single plate that we shared but I assure you we did not go hungry at all. It was typical type of foods of Spain but dressed up. I understand that a more gourmet approach is coming en vogue here aand I think this was a taste of it but right here in our own corner of Madrid without going downtown.

Travel food hoarder

When I travel, for some reason I go into a food hoarder mode. It's not really conscious but I accept every bit of food offered me and keep it in my bag. I seem to have some deep seated idea that I don't consciously acknowledge that I don't know where my next meal is coming from so I bettter be prepared.

I recently took a late flight out and felt queazy while I was waiting so I bought some crackers. The moderately sized packet went in the bag after I had a few. I always buy my survival water as soon as I'm thru security, so that goes in the bag too.

On that trip, I arrived at a hotel and they messed up my entry key and it was 1 a.m. and they felt bad so they gave me a candy bar. Normally I'm not much of a candy bar person, but into the bag it went. There were complimentary cookie packets in the room. I ate one to take some medicne - and you guessed it into the bag with the rest.

The next day I caught a ride with some local friends to a city where we were to attend meetings. The local guys brought no nourishment for the journey and were amazed as I kept pulling things out of my bag and had enough for all three of us to have snacks on the way.

On a flight last week, they gave out little single cookie packets and I ate one and saved one, because you never know. The girl next to me offered hers and I took them and squirreled them away. So I had cookies for my sojourn, but I'm still packing those cookies two flights later. You never know, especially these days, if the airline will starve you or when a strange nautious moment might hit.

I have never as far as I know been deprived in the food category. I have been deprived of transportation or experienced a lack of nearby stores, so maybe my hoarding comes from that fear of no access.

The funny thing is I often arrive home with my little treasure trove of food stuffs and if there is no food in the house they may get eaten that first day. It's still simple survivalmat that point. If they don't get eaten that first day home, the hoarded cookies, pretzels or yogurt will languish and likely get thrown away months later, and yet I hoard as I go.

Are you going to eat that packet of peanuts? (I don't like them much, but you never know.)

Reading List 2012 with ratings

Late but here is my reads for 2012. It's a short list compared with last year. Partly from working more hours, partly from writing a draft of a book, and releasing another book into the world and trying to promote it (Kruger is now a paperback incidentally as well as a ebook.) All that took time away from writing but I enjoyed it too. Pinterest probably cut into my writing but usually I do that between books or when the hubby has on TV that I don't care about. (I'm not a good read with the telly on person.)

My star rating is very random I did just now. If a book was interesting and I wasn't distracted it gets 3 stars. Nearly everything got three stars and almost nothing broke above that and rarely did I read something that went below. This year was a deal breaker. I read a lot of books that I didn't love. (**) So maybe some got four stars that in times past would have been three since I was so desperate for a good read.

This year I also stopped reading books that were dull. I think I put down two or three books which is also a new record for me.

Do we have any books in common? What were your recent favorite reads? I'm always looking for a good book.

1. The Fencing Master, Pérez-Reverte Arturo, Spain 1800s, real, ****
2. January Kills Me, Evan, e book, ***
3. God's Spy by Juan Gomez-Jurado , convocation for new pope Rome, real, ****
4. Death in Malta, Rosanne Dingli, ebook, ***
5. Roman Blood, Steven Saylor, historical Rome, real,***
6. After Dark, Phillip Margolin, Oregon, real, **
7. Something Rotten, Jasper  FForde, alt reality UK, real, ***
8. Death and the penguin, Andy Kurkov, Kiev, ebook, ** (too dark or I would give it more stars)
9. The Blue Hallelujah, Andy Straka, ebook. Richmond, VA. kidnap. Ebook, **
10. Child of silence, Abigail Padgett, n. cal. Manic-depressive main character, ebook, **
11. Death of a serpent, Susan Russo anderson, Sicily, ebook, *
12. The lion, the lamb, and the hunted, a psychological thriller, by Andrew Kaufman, texas, ebook, **
13. The Prey, Allison Brennan, LA, real book, ***
14. The Whistling Shadow, Mabel Seeley, 1954, Minneapolis, real, ****
15. Angels passing, Graham Hurley, pompey uk, moden bristol police procedural, real, ***
16. Jane and the ghosts of Netley, stephanie barron, historical jane austen, southampton uk, real,***
17. Unveiled, francine Rivers, tamar, ebook, **
18. Still Waters, by tami hoag, minnesota small town, real, ***
19. We are all made of glue, marina lewycka, uk, real, ***
20. Bubba and the Dead Woman, C. L. Bevill, south texas, ebook, **
21. Four views of Divine Providence, Gundry, Jowers editors (Helseth, Craig, Highfield, Boyd) ebook, ** (poor formatting)
22. The Throwbacks, stephanie barron, boston, ebook, **
23. A shot in the bark, carol ann newsome, oregon, ebook, ***
24. While you were micro sleeping, steve moore, nonfiction, ebook loan, * (blogs glued together)
25. An Arctic Event, Robert Ludlum series written by James Cobb, real book, gift, ****(took 60 pages to get into, surprised to know I like espionage)
26. The Bad Seed, William March 1954, alabama, real, *****
27. Penance by David Housewright, Minneapolis, St. paul, ebook, ***
28. A Small Death in Lisbon, Robert Wilson, Lisbon, Portugal, ebook, ****
29. Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers, Oxford, England 1930s, ebook, ****
30. Talking Detective Fiction, PD James, nonfiction, real, ***
31. A Place of Hiding, Elizabeth George, Guernsey Island, UK, ebook, ***
32. Man in the Queue, Josephine Tey, UK 1930s, ***

Post apocalyptic anyone?

I am not a science fiction writer nor a follower of sci-fi; however, there are some themes that I find fascinating. Science fiction tends to hold some of those themes. I think of the movie Gattica and the genetic ethical situation there is one of those sci-fi themes to which I am drawn.

Another theme that fascinates me is the world of the post apocalyptic. That is post some cataclysmic destruction of society's structure as we know it. It probably all started for me on a ski trip in high school when the group watched a Mad Max movie.

One of the most memorable books I've read in this theme is from a great writer of mystery fiction and that's why I ended up reading it. P. D. James wrote The Children of Men in 1992. I'd read most of her books, so I just picked it up having no idea what it was about at all. It's not a mystery at all. Perhaps you've seen the recent movie from the book in 2006 though I see online this described as dystopian rather than post apocalyptic. I haven't seen the movie and have heard the ending is totally different than the book.

I define post apocalyptic as: the world has changed irrevocably and cannot go back to what it was or what we know it as in our present day. I'm not sure why it is so fascinating. I'm obviously not alone in it based on the books and movies.

Perhaps it's my imagination of what would I do in this particular situation. It's sort of has a bit of that watching a train wreck feeling for me. I want to look away but I keep watching or reading.

I've actually been in two atmospheres that were vaguely post apocalyptic and I found it to feel like I was having a sneaky adventure in some other world. The beauty is I got to leave and go back to central heating and warm water.

In the 1990s, a neighborhood near my high school home was condemned wholesale. I'm bad at estimating square area, but let's say it's a housing area of a mile by a half mile with 50 homes. It ran along the highway. During the battles to buy houses and condemn those who wouldn't sell, I remember a disgruntled home owner spray painting in large letters on the side of the house something about the city council stealing homes and it was clearly visible from the highway.

Eventually all the people were moved out and a chain link fence went around an entire neighborhood of homes and then seemingly nothing happened. My significant other and I decided after several months to be nosy and go take a look. We didn't have to break any fences or anything. We simply ducked under an industrial size chain across a street of ingress.

As many people do when they move, the families had had garage sales and yard sales. When the sale was over, they apparently just walked away. Make shift tables were still in place in some driveways with abandoned garage sale items on the tables. The houses had not been salvaged yet so windows, doors, kitchens, etc still in place. The people had not locked their homes. After all it was just a matter of getting out, so my husband and I wandered in and out of blocks of abandoned homes and did not see a soul. I even picked up a couple of cocktail dishes a la 1950s that had been left lying around. I still have them.

It was such a strange abandoned and empty world despite being in the middle of city. Books on tables, clothes on hangers in closets. It was surreal and it was voyeuristic to be inside looking. A few months later the bulldozers arrived and a thriving shopping strip was erected, but I glimpsed a world beyond before they did.

More recently I bought a Groupon for a "villa" in Portugal. It was a week in a private villa and we needed a break after an intense six weeks at the office, so we packed up and drove from Madrid to the coast of Portugal.

The neighborhood was hard to find. We followed signs for three different housing development names and finally arrived and went in an office that still did not show the name on my coupon. The people were delightful and the house was great, but the neighborhood looked like it had met with time travel to that still fictional post apocalyptic era.

It had been intended I think as a fancy housing development but then the economy, like Spain's, crashed. So did the construction of the development. In between completed two story stucco homes of four or five bedrooms were crumbling ruins of cement and brick frames of what were to be Portuguese mansions. A wild dog pack roamed the development looking for the bread people threw out for them. The asphalt was pocked or non-existent. A few houses had been bought by people who did have money and had been decked out to an extremely polished European haute couture home. It might be right next to one of the skeletal remains of one of the houses that didn't make it. Again, it was surreal. Fortunately, we're the kind of people who can appreciate a semi-post apocalyptic neighborhood for our coastal vacation. It gave me a glimpse into the idea that those conditions can come from sudden crushing poverty, not just from bombs or odd interventions of the divine a la Children of Men.

I suppose I really should look into reading more books in this line of literature since it seems to fascinate me. But like the train wreck scenario, it's a little painful so I don't seek it out.

Any favorite post apocalyptic books, movies or experiences?

Time off: See it all or relax?

What is your vacation or holiday philosophy? I've always been a see it all girl, use every minute of my vacation for going places, doing stuff, and seeing sites. I can't help it. I take after my father -- if there's a spare 30 minutes there must be something we can do or eat to take our vacation to the max. However, I married into more laid back stock. My man likes to travel but he being the introvert needs a bit more recovery or rest time in his time off.

The last year at my day job has required a lot more of me and I've had to travel for work several times too which is just mostly work and hotel rooms, not at all in the fun category I like to achieve on my own personal travels. If it goes really well, sometimes a work trip will have one afternoon of fun or site seeing.

I did a six week video shoot for my day job September and part of October, so knowing we would be wiped out afterwards I booked a vacation for immediately after this intense time to recover and relax. I've never really planned a relax trip.

We booked a Villa in Portugal thru a Groupon. (The jury is still out on whether I can recommend travel with Groupon offers. I've done two and I remain neutral. Neither overwhelmed by awesomeness nor repelled.)

A few things made this vacation more relaxing than any other I've done. One: we stayed in one place the entire time. Two: the villa was a separate house that didn't have cleaning service, so we could sleep in silence to our heart's content. Not something you can do in most hotels. Three: it rained several days which made us less inclined to try to see the whole of the Algarve area where we were staying in Portugal.

If and when I need another relaxing trip, I would definitely consider renting a place (apartment, house, whatever) because you really could lounge around in your pajamas. At the same time, I would make sure there was carry out food or delivery available so that we don't end up with the stress of trying to grocery shop and set up house the entire time. We had a food delivery option from the villa people which made it just right.

We did make it out a couple of days between rain showers to do a few site seeing things which rounded out the trip nicely, so we felt we'd seen the area to a certain extent and hadn't missed out.

This has opened up a whole new way of thinking for me, since my travel before had always been about seeing it all and doing it all. The idea of choosing to go away to relax has not come natural to me. I think I will deinitely do it again sometime though not for all my holidays. I might pick a place that doesn't have a lot of sites so I don't have any psychological pressure from my get out and see it side to conquer the region.

I used to think I'd never do an all inclusive resort type thing because that's not my style (nor my checkbook!) but I perhaps begin to see the appeal of being taken care of on vacation.

Which kind of travel do you prefer? See it all or lay back and relax? Turns out I like them both, depending on my energy level, but it took 40 odd years or so to find out.

Sheila Boneham's Blog: Writing on Wednesday Guest Denise Hartman on Raisi...

If you've got a longing to write, check out my guest blog on raising the tension in your writing.


Sheila Boneham's Blog: Writing on Wednesday Guest Denise Hartman on Raisi...: My guest today is mystery author Denise Hartman, who helps us raise the tension -- useful in many types of writing, not just mysteries a...

A compelling exploration of consciousness

A while ago I blogged about finding books. This is an off shoot of that discussion. I'm traveling again and I thought I'd look for a book set in Portugal. I still don't have a great way of finding books, but I started trolling through a Good Reads list.

The title of this blog was a phrase in a review, a glowing review I might add. For me, this phrase tells me it's probably not what I'm looking for at the moment. I don't want to explore anyone's consciousness -- I've got plenty of work with my own, thanks.

I generally avoid overly popular books unless someone I know I share reading interests tells me it's worth the journey.

It doesn't seem quite fair that I complain about not finding books I enjoy and yet don't want to read the "experiemental and unique" or highly literary. Those are phrases that make feel the ponderous emotional baggage of the book before I open the cover.

I totally get that this is a category of highly acclaimed books that many, many people enjoy. It's just generally not for me.

In a similar way, the phrase love triangle, undying, unbounding, forsaken, forbidden, or any other adjective followed by the word love, isn't in my scope right now either. I had a phase of that and for the moment and as far as I can tell I've left it behind.

So do you have certain catch phrases or descriptors that as soon as you see them you know a book is or is not for you? Am I guilty of stereotyping?

Impressions in Switzerland + video

I attended a conference in Switzerland and at first had no intention of blogging about it because really when you go to these conferences you mostly see the inside of a hotel, right? In the end, I had a few interesting observations that I thought I would share.

The first piece of advice I'm going to give is: learn how to pronounce your destination before you leave home. I was in the throes of video production and left home in rather a frenzy. I had no idea how to pronounce the town I was trying to find.

I made eye contact in customs with the thought of asking where the train station was located. Bad idea. Never make eye contact in customs. I looked away thinking this wasn't the place to ask and for my courtesy I got to have my undies inspected. It was all very fast and efficient, but part of the challenge was trying to say where I was going. He couldn't understand me and I had no idea how to pronounce it which made me suspect.

I made it out of customs and was struck that everyone in Zurich airport seemed to be speaking French, so I incorrectly came to the conclusion that French dominated. In Switzerland, they have four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Rumantch (or Romanch). I did hear the cleaning guys in the train station in Zurich all laughing and carrying on in Italian. I think I heard Rumantch on the bus. Not sure what I'd liken it to - something with a touch of Slavic influence but still a romance sounding language.

The bus driver with the name of the town I was going to on the front of his bus (Oberägeri) could not understand my pronunciation of the town. His English was perfect but my enunciation of the town lacked something. I had trouble getting a ticket.

After the brown and dry summer of Madrid, I found the lush greenness of Switzerland soothing if somewhat chilly.  It was the second day before the clouds lifted enough to realize there was a mountain range of serious mountains tucked between the two grand hills by the lake I could see from my hotel room.

Once in the German speaking section of Switzerland, there was no longer a whisper of another language. Our conference was at a convalescence/retreat/convent type place, but it was protestant and the nuns had rather a Mennonite look and spoke only German. As you can imagine, this was not the main tourist area and not everyone spoke English like in the city. No English signs or helpful hints in the hotel. Luckily there were no fire drills, so I didn't have to try to understand the instructions.

One elderly lady from the convalescence center decided to find out what our group was about and cornered someone by the water cooler/wifi nook. She seemed disappointed that we were a film making group. She'd made up her mind that we were a psychology group.

I ducked out of a session when the sun came out to sit for a minute on the terrace overlooking the lake. A large convalescing lady with canes came and sat with me and her husband proceeded to bring chairs and place them all around.  (Them: Something German. Me: Smile and nod.) Eventually a  family reunion took place and I decided to skedaddle.

After Madrid, I had the impression that everything was very orderly and efficient. Not trying to take up the Swiss stereotypes but they are apparently stereotypes for a reason. We were to check off our choices for dinner and lunch at breakfast and the wait staff didn't speak English so at times you just decided it was easier to take what they offered than to explain.

I thought perhaps it was just me but one of the British members of the conference commented that it all seemed very clean and orderly. When we were catching the train back to the airport (after two buses to get to the train), we were sort of watching to see if it left on time due to Swiss efficiency. The train left two minutes late. Our droll Romanian companion from the conference proclaimed, "We must make a report of this," and we all died laughing.

The conference did have an outing to a nearby park area on top of one of the mountains and I saw Swiss cows and heard their cowbells!

 We also had a bit of Alphorn playing our last night (a la Riccola commercial) which was interesting to see. I'm not making this up: one of the Alphorn players was named Heidi. I was trying to see it as a cultural moment but several of my companions were getting tickled. The Alphorn players said they'd play a really different song later, but despite having a wide tonal range they only had so many actual notes. (I'm not musical so excuse that description.) The songs started to sound similar at which point the chuckling became hard to hold in. It was a lovely taste of Switzerland, even if mostly from buses, trains, and hotels.