Monday, November 30, 2009

Great hair videos!

This is a link to some very informative and helpful videos on haircare. Someone from the CHI listserv posted them, and they are just what I've been looking for.

http://www.shuruba.com/basics.htm

More from us later!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Spain, the middle section

Bilbao, at the Guggenheim museum

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Which is a better picture?

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On the rooftop, with Bilbao in the background

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and here with some rooftop art

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Here's a Gaudi building. I THINK this was in Bilbao -- it might be Milan.

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Also in Bilbao, we celebrated Dessi's Second Birthday!! Having rather bizarre priorities, we did not take any photos of the actual party except for this fairly unfabulous one.

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Really, the day itself was really fun but the party was unimpressive -- we were hungry, my feet hurt, and Dessi's birthday dress had gotten poo on it. So we kicked her new ball around, played with her new choking hazards, and called it a night. Onward!

On another day, here we are, "hiking" on the Camino de Santiago. (Hiking with the Bob. It's a very established trail system.) It was my idea. Yes, yes, my idea for us to drive hours out of our way (it looked like such a short distance on the map!) on a slow and winding road only to hike for approximately 35 minutes on a windy and freezing day!!! After which, we drove back the way we came. Pilgrims, we are not.

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But it was a sweet little village.

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Some Big News

I think there comes a point. You are so happy, and so you have so much love to give, and then more love comes to you, and so you are so happy BECAUSE you have so much love to give. Etc.

Not that it's all been like that. Beds of roses and garlands of gratitude. Etc. But, almost. Too much, sometimes. Heart-broken-open-and-still-not-big-enough-to-contain-all-this-joy sort of days, of an amazing family and blessings all over the place.

We are adopting another child.

We don't know her face yet. We are waiting. We are ready.

I will write more soon. Details. Etc.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Still on Spain ...

Off to a new campground -- this is about Day 4 (don't worry, I take fewer photos as the trip wears on ...)

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Taking a break from our drive

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Dessi found this feather

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Bundled up in PJs at our next campsite,

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Where we wore away the evening climbing up and down this stump

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and looking for tiny purple mountain irises. ("Dessi! Let's go find purple!" She was soooo excited.)

The view from outside our camper van

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And the view from inside . . . the temperature dropped quickly!

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

The True Cross, etc.

So, this was our outfit for three weeks in Spain.

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It was a pretty tight ship, but not that much of a stretch for a family that up until 18 months ago lived in a 550-square-foot one-bedroom in Montana. I would say that campervaning rocked 30% of the time, it was okay 30% of the time, and the remainder was a challenge. We thought we'd be light on our feet, but this van was big, so parking was difficult in almost any city or town we wanted to visit. But we had fun! Oh, don't get me wrong! We laughed (we had a contest of who was funnier, Eric or me. It turns out, we are not terribly funny people) and ate and laughed and packed and unpacked and slept like leaden logs.

We ate these things every morning.

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I don't know what they are. Spanish cookie wafers. They were so fun, and kept Dessi busy while we washed the dishes.

Here is Santo Toribio de LiƩbana, the Franciscan monastery near Potes in Cantabria, which houses what is possibly the largest surviving piece of the True Cross -- the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. The piece at Liebana is said to have a hole where a nail went through, and some blood. We journeyed all the way there but somehow we -- wait for it -- we weren't able to find the actual relic. We were within 400 feet of it, I am sure. We were on the site. We found the church and monastery

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and the hermitages

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(you had to walk to them -- here we are en route to one)

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and then just a lot of other tourists

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But no cross fragment. (We know it was there. Other people seemed definitely to look satisfied and like they'd seen something. Sigh. It's hard not speaking Spanish.)

We did see in one room a large gold cross that is thought to have been an ornament for the top of the cross. The room was dark, though, and they had the cross locked behind some iron gates so we were at least 25 feet away.

It does seem unlikely that all the pieces of wood scattered around the world that are said to be from Jesus' cross are all legit. I had an idea on this trip to do DNA testing on all of them and see if even any two of them matched. But, you see, this is probably why we weren't able to find the relic. This kind of attitude.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Picos de Europa

Here's our first and finest camping adventure -- Picos de Europa. As we pulled up to this beautiful place, Eric said, "Welcome to car camping in Europe." Truly a beautiful site, and since we were there off season (early October), it was quiet and lovely.

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We planned to take a telefereke trip to the top of Mount X (I can't remember -- Fuente Dey?) but the wait was almost 2 hours. So we took a little walk around while we waited.

Dessi liked this hiking backpack for about 20 minutes. Eric liked it for about 10. After which, she rode on my back in the Beco carrier. Here they are in happier moments:

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The view (and this is the view from the BOTTOM, mind you):

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Team Young:

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By the time it was our turn to ride to the top, the rain was light but persistent, the mountains were fully socked in, and Dessi was due for a nap. But, being Slow Learners, we went up anyway.

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She fell asleep on the ride back down.