Memories live in photo envelopes

Posted on February 25, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, daytripping, family, photography | 8 Comments

I investigated the contents of a stack of photo envelopes on my dresser and found that I’d never scanned a bunch of them. Here’s a little peek at a few from the first batch to meet with the scanner.

From a long-forgotten walk in a dream:

On a street corner, under a sky: corner

Memories of memories: mendad
Me and my dad in the backyard in State College. I’m holding a camera that my grandfather picked up in Germany during WWII. My father gave it to me. Ezra took this picture.

Felines!

Posted on February 23, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, me and my brain, the pusses | 7 Comments

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore my kitties? I think I need to say it again.

SUKI

Suki

EDIE

Edie

Their cousin to the south, DEXTER
Dexter

And some much beloved family cats no longer with us… they still have a special place in my life.

JASPER

Jasper
Jasper was the first kitty in my life, and he will always be the Zen master of all kitties.

TRUMAN

Truman
Recently departed; we miss this sweetie.

Somewhere along the way, my family figured out the mysterious and wonderful charms and the calming power of cats. I feel lucky to have had and to continue to have so many connections with these fuzzy, amazing creatures.

Eurotrip 2007-2008: France

Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, photography, wide world of vacation | 11 Comments

So I don’t think I’ll write out our France trip day-by-day because it was more of a family thing and less oriented around sight-seeing… and thus I can’t always remember what happened which days! This post will be long but photo-filled! So, sit back with a beverage of your choice and read on.

The first day we met up with Ezra’s family, who were also in town for the wedding, and wandered around Monaco in the pouring rain. It was windy and awful–unfortunately, really the worst way to see the place. Ez and I had been there before, so honestly it was pretty unpleasant for me. Poor Estee (Ezra’s younger sister) had a cold and I think I picked it up. Having just recovered from a sinus thing, that kinda sucked.

In the pouring rain in Monte Carlo. Note Estee’s pink nose.

BUT, we did get to go to the ballet that night and see a performance of… Faust–which couldn’t have been more appropriate after our visit to Leipzig mere days earlier. It was quite good–very passionate and artistically free. I feel like the more creative ballets I’ve seen in Boston have always gone over like a lead balloon with everyone except for me and Ez and a few others, but Les Ballets de Monte Carlo is a much different animal (as is their audience). April’s good friend Asier danced the lead and he was very good.

At the ballet (Ezra was retrieving his things from the coat check)

While in France we also trekked up into the winding pathways of Eze. Again, Ezra and I had been there before, but it’s a cute place and worth multiple visits. Plus it’s decent exercise climbing around up there. I took a lot of pictures on my film camera there, in black and white, and I keep forgetting to get them developed!! Argh. Need to do that.

Ez and I also wandered around Old Nice (Vieux Nice) a few times. It’s a pretty little area with little shops and cafes… it feels very old world compared to what you find in the U.S. The first day we wandered there it was still rather rainy and blah, unfortunately. Some places you go and the weather doesn’t matter, but in Nice I felt like it really did. We went back on the morning of April and Manu’s civil ceremony, and it was MUCH nicer. I found the soap shop I’d fallen in love with when we visited April in 2004 and bought them out of the Eucalyptus soap I love. It was sunny that day, and there was a fabulous antiques market going on. If there hadn’t been a wedding that day, I could have wandered the antiques market for hours. There were so many amazing things!! Simon found a train car for a friend of his who collects them and I bought an old advertisement from a man who was selling boxes and boxes of them. They were really wonderful.

The antiques market in Vieux Nice.

The vintage advertisement I bought at the antiques market in Old Nice.

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing April and Manu, meeting Manu’s family, and doing wedding-related things. I don’t think I’ve ever seen April happier than she was at the wedding, or more nervous than she was the night before. She was very kind to me and honored me by asking me to photograph the wedding (which I think I’ve mentioned before). Their kitty, Gus, made everyone feel more at home, I think.

Manu and Gus

We spent time with them in their apartment in Nice eating and drinking (too much eating, of course!) and chatting. On the eve of Three Kings Day we all got together there with Manu’s wonderful sisters Julie and Marianne and had delicious king cakes. The one I sampled was made with almond paste–so lush!! And I think the other was made with pecans. Ezra’s mom and Manu found the little tiles in their cakes, so they were the king and queen the next day.

The night before the civil ceremony the family got together at their apartment and had a sort of mini-bachelorette party. Simon, I think (or was it Abby), had brought a silly little bachelorette party kit with stickers and temporary tatoos. I forget now what my tatoo said!! But it had a strawberry on it and I got it in the middle of my upper back. Simon thought that looked pretty good and suggested that I consider getting a real tatoo there (ha ha, wink wink). Ez got his on his ankle and it took forever to wash off. We all got them–Ezra’s parents and everybody. So that was fun. I think April had a tiara as well. She gave me the bride’s VIP sticker, which I have affixed to my Sudoku book.

The day of the civil ceremony was, as mentioned, really pretty. All the rain clouds were gone and it was sunny and bright, with a high blue sky. After enjoying the antiques market a bit (and briefly losing Ezra’s dad), we headed back to our hotel to primp. Once we were all ready, we formed a little sort of parade heading off to city hall. April wore a gorgeous Chanel suit and some nifty stockings. Everyone looked quite sharp.

Before the Civil Ceremony. Jeroen, Manu, April, Christian, Asier, Simon, and Julie.

Outside City Hall. Marianne, Estee, and Julie

April's stockings
The stockings

The city hall was a nice little old building. We all went into the wood-paneled room and were able to witness the ceremony. The mayor did a bit of talking, mostly in French, and I think he made some sort of sly remarks about Manu being a DJ… but mostly he was fun. There was a lot of signing of papers and grinning. I took a bunch of pictures and tried not to make too much noise with my heels on the wood floor.

April and Manu with the mayor of Nice

After the ceremony we all walked over to Le Meridien Hotel were we had a couple drinks in their lounge. April gave Manu a special gift and we generally basked in the sunlight pouring in the windows and the overall happiness of the occasion.

The happy couple at Le Meridien

Then I think we took a quick pit stop at the hotel to change our shoes and then crossed over to the church for the rehearsal. The church ceremony was in an Anglican church, and the priest was British. He told us a bit of history of the church and his role in it. The rehearsal went pretty quickly. I guess dancers are used to learning these sorts of things fast! I tested out my camera and lenses and tripod to make sure I’d be able to get some shots the next day.

After the rehearsal, we paraded once again to dinner at an Italian restaurant not far from our hotel in one of the shopping areas. I was starting to feel my cold at this point, unfortunately. We all commented on how huge the portions were (so much for American restaurants having huge portions!!). I ended up having to leave a little early, especially knowing I had to be up for photographing the next day.

Abby doing the chocolate dance with her dessert. That’s what I call a large portion. Needless to say we shared–and yes, it was good.

Happily, I felt fine the next morning. I got ready early so I could take pictures of the others getting ready. We all had breakfast together at the hotel that day, which was nice. I had a few minutes while everyone was getting ready and before they wanted me to take pictures, so I went out into the little hotel courtyard and took some photos with my film camera. Then it was back inside to take some photos of the ladies dressing. It’s a wonder they got ready so quickly considering how often people kept knocking at the door, but again–I guess dancers are used to fast changes!! And with the church right across the street we weren’t too worried.

Putting on the veil

The church ceremony was pretty. The church has some lovely colors–reds and blues. I managed to get some shots in the church, but the light at the church entrance and at the little reception afterwards was much nicer and I think I got my best photos in those places. I was especially nervous about taking group portraits, but I think they came out OK. It was a little bit of a learning experience to have multiple lenses at my disposal. Ezra was a wonderful assistant.

April and Asier
April gets a kiss from Asier

ballet friends
Even with group shots, the candids are sometimes the best. Here we have April and Manu with a bunch of friends from the ballet. It probably looks better bigger (see my flickr site).

The reception was at a nice little restaurant in Old Nice. The food was good but I was so full and I think a bit affected by the cold (without realizing it)… I couldn’t eat much. We had really nice chats with Abby, Dan, and Simon (we were all seated together) and just a really good time.

Manu’s sister Marianne at the reception.

Abby

Estee

Some brotherly conversation.

(Let’s hear it for the new portrait lens!)

After all of that, we changed and ended up back at April and Manu’s. I was starting to feel quite ill by this point, but I held out for the fabulous wedding cake. I remember I was quite proud of myself when I understood a conversation that Manu’s mother and stepmother were having–all in French! Of course, my French is not so good that I could chime in.

The traditional cake

The next day we had to be on our way back to the U.S. We’d had a great trip and had lots of fun mementos and pictures to bring home, but we were wiped out and missed the kitties. We flew back through Heathrow, where we had a bit of a layover. I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go while we were vacationing–mostly while we were in France and especially on the plane trip from Berlin to Nice–and I wanted another book for the flight home. Well, it was crazy! I went to two different bookstores, I think, and looked through all of their books twice and couldn’t find anything. Finally I went to a WH Smith and that’s where I hit the jackpot. I got The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I loved. I recommend it!

If you want to see even more of the photos I took during our time in France (mostly wedding-related), go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tercat/sets/72157603695146753/

My mom kicks butt

Posted on February 5, 2008
Filed Under Blather, craft, family | 3 Comments

I will have to post pictures soon. Mom altered two jumpers for me. And they look great. And I am just so impressed! She’s quite the seamstress. Mom rocks!

Eurotrip 2007-2008, Day Six: Our last morning in Berlin and then off to France

Posted on January 30, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, wide world of vacation | Leave a Comment

For our last morning in Berlin Ez and I had one main goal–to see the Bauhaus Archive. The building in which it’s housed is rather small, and they were seeking donations so that they can expand. There was an installation replicating parts of a 1930 Paris exhibit with designs for high-rise living. We watched a good bit of the films they were looping in their little viewing area. I was struck by the sort of theory behind the Bauhaus–the ways of looking at things and approaching art. I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but I think that sort of art and design influenced me when I started drawing and messing around with art in high school. One of the first artists who caught my eye the first time I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York was Paul Klee. I remember some of the exercises we did in my first painting class seemed to be inspired by the Bauhaus. There was one where the instructor shined different colored lights on a variety of white geometric shapes and we had to paint them. It seemed so simple, but for me at least it was a challenge at the time, and I’m sure it pushed me to look in a more basic way.

Paul Klee, The bright side, Postcard for the Bauhaus exhibition in summer 1923, Color lithograph

A few pieces in the museum that particularly stood out to me were a couple of brightly colored geometric weavings and a series of exhibition postcards done by artists and students at the Bauhaus. We wandered through the shop and I giggled when I saw these:

Remember them? They were such a big deal in the 80s for a while. I had a white one that I used to keep old notes Nora and I had written in Jr. High. I’ve no idea what happened to it. It is a clever design. There were quite a few things in the Bauhaus exhibit that have just become a part of our everyday lives–certain chair designs, for example, were just so ubiquitous in the 70s and 80s in offices and public spaces. We found a couple of posters and a number of postcards in the shop and then went on our way.

We gathered our things at the hotel and waited for our cab to the Tempelhof airport. Our cab driver turned out to be pretty entertaining. He was working on his English (which was really pretty good) and talked to us about music (he likes country music) and his sister–who lives in Pennsylvania!

The Tempelhof airport is one of three airports in Berlin. We had arrived at the Tegel airport, which is definitely one of the bigger ones. Tempelhof is a regional airport and it must be one of Berlin’s smallest. It was very nice and clean, but it almost didn’t look like an airport. It was right in town, in a nice old building that, from the outside, didn’t look anything like what I expect when I go to an airport. It was fairly empty and quiet inside. It seemed more like a quiet train station than an airport. I found an interesting British article about the airport’s past here.

Tempelhof airport, outside (photo found on the web)

Tempelhof airport, inside (photo found on the web)

We checked our bags and sat in the little cafe where we sipped on a few drinks and gazed at the German TV. When I went to use the restroom I got this strong feeling that I was in a very old-style East German place. Everything was rather cold (in several senses of the word) and hard. The waiting area for our flight was small and busy. There must be a few main flights out of the airport everyday, and ours was one of them.

We flew to Brussels, where we had a short layover. I’d never been to Belgium before. I was struck by how quiet the airport was. Unlike Templehof, there were lots of people there. They just weren’t making tons of noise. It was wonderful! Unless I’m drunk or in a particularly crazy mood, I’m not an especially loud sort of person, and I always hate airports and big shopping malls and places like that in the U.S. that are full of crass, noisy people. Anyway, it made the whole experience very pleasant and easy.

We arrived in Nice in the evening and were greeted by Ezra’s sister April’s then-fiance, Manu (short for Emmanuel) and Ezra’s brother Simon. We’d never met Manu before, so there were lots of hugs and smiles. They carted us off to our little hotel, The Nice Garden Hotel, which was practically right next to the church where the wedding was held several days later. Our room was a lot smaller than our suite in Berlin, but it was charming and comfortable.

We were wiped out after all that travel, so we did a bit of unpacking and decided to just do a little wandering around before turning in. I can’t remember now what we were looking for–just some water to drink, I think. We passed a strange looking person on a street corner who gave us a funny look. It took me a few seconds to process the whole thing: broad-shouldered person wearing a lot of lipstick, sort of eyed us up and down and made unwanted eye contact, I felt involuntarily repulsed… yes, I’m pretty sure we’d encountered a transvestite prostitute who’d told us in those few seconds that yes, he/she would do us together, no problem. (!) Now, Berlin DEFINITELY has a seedy side, and I’m sure you can find yourself in a similar encounter there if you’re in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. I mean… mostly it was just funny and we chuckled about it. But Nice is a vacation town for sure, and there’s a bit of a “what happens in Nice stays in Nice” feel to it sometimes. Anyway, that little encounter was sort of our “Hello, welcome to Nice!” moment.

Just a break in the action to say…

Posted on January 20, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family | 4 Comments

Happy birthday to my super fan-tas-tic, butt-kickin’, cookie-bakin’, partner-in-silliness sister Kim! I know I’m just getting this in under the wire, and I did already tell her myself today, but it’s worth sharing and repeating!

Kim and Hope in May 2007 (Hope is wearing a barrette I got when I was a kid!)

Start as you mean to go on… Christmas

Posted on January 15, 2008
Filed Under Blather, Gastronomie, Pennsylvania, christmas, daytripping, dining, family, friends, photography, the pusses | Leave a Comment

OK, so my updates are going to have to stretch back into time here. I’ll get up to the present eventually!

This year felt even more busy at Christmas than usual. Between the Bazaar Bizarre, our party, getting ready to go to Berlin and Nice after Christmas, and the usual Christmas festivities, we were in a bit of a tizzy. I’m not complaining, mind you, though I do hope we can spread things out a little more next year somehow.

Our party was super fun. We had SO MUCH food. Our friends really are the best chefs ever, and this year we were even treated to fabulous homemade bread courtesy of John and Sonya, who made it down for their first (hopefully the first of many) Terri and Ezra holiday party. We were also pleased that the Breens could join us, as we hadn’t seen them for a while.

The Breens: Christie, Elizabeth, Jeffrey, and Patricia

We spent Christmas in State College with my parents and Kim, Glenn, and Hope. The Saturday before Christmas we got a sitter for Hope and went to the State Theatre to see It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen. Ez and I have seen it several times at The Brattle here in Cambridge, but Mom, Dad, Kim, and Glenn had never seen it on the big screen before. I think the screen at The State is actually bigger than the one at the Brattle. Anyway, it was great. Afterwards Ez and I caught up with our friend John Kenyon for a couple of drinks.

During the day on Saturday Kim and I did a big antiquing extravaganza at Big Valley Antiques and Dairyland. For those of you who don’t know, those are big antique co-ops practically across the highway from each other near Lewistown, PA (I think they’re technically in Milroy??). I love our trips over there. We always make delightful discoveries, and I almost always find some additions for my collection of vintage Christmas postcards. Between Big Valley, Dairyland, and Apple Hill Antiques in State College, I ended up with some new goodies again this time. I’ve promised Kim that I’ll do a post about my collection, so stay tuned.

Sunday we went over to Lewistown to see the aunts and uncles and cousins. Hope wore an adorable dress Kim and Glenn bought her on their trip to Italy and was just generally entertaining and cute as always.

Hope with Nana at Aunt Kay’s house

My Aunt Kay and Uncle Larry had been taking care of a sweet kitty and her five baby kittens, and we got to see them. They were SO ADORABLE. How I wished I could have taken one or two of them, but with Suki and Edie it just didn’t seem like the best idea. I seriously considered it, though! They were the sweetest!

Since we celebrated with the families on Sunday, we spent all of Christmas Day at home in State College. I stretched my toes by the fire and had lots of time to gaze at my new Garbo book, eat holiday M&Ms, and play with the point and shoot camera Ez gave me. Hope made out like a bandit, of course. She spent a little time enjoying her new maracas before becoming enraptured by her new Play-Doh set. Ez and I had lots of fun with her and the Play-Doh.

We had to scurry back to Massachusetts the day after Christmas, which felt a bit weird and rushed, but we made the most of it. Then it was two days at home with the cats and packing before cabbing it to the airport for Eurotrip 2007-2008!

A quick update

Posted on January 9, 2008
Filed Under Blather, christmas, family, photography, wide world of vacation | 3 Comments

It’s been a wildly busy and wonderful couple of weeks in the lives of Terri and Ezra. Christmas was very nice, as always, and flew past too quickly–as always. After a short jaunt back home to see the kitties, we set off for Berlin. We spent several days there, with a day trip to Leipzig on New Year’s Day, and then flew down to Nice on the 3rd. Ezra’s sister April married Manu (a native of France) in a civil cermony on the 7th and a church wedding on the 8th. We fly back to Boston via London today. I have about a million pictures to weed through (only a slight exaggeration). I’ll share many soon.

My kitties…

Posted on December 12, 2007
Filed Under Blather, family, me and my brain, the pusses | Leave a Comment

My kitties are furry and delicious and purry… they are wearing their winter coats and they’re just the cuddliest things these days. Yes, they’re so uber-fantastic that I have to tell you all about it. Suki is sitting here purring to prove my point. Earlier I came upon Edie hanging out in the tub. Gotta keep that winter coat shiny and clean! I’m crazy about ‘em!

Thanksgiving at the farm

Posted on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Blather, Pennsylvania, dining, family | 5 Comments

We arrived at the farm to find it very autumnal and pretty.

This year Josie, Lisa, and Mama Jo joined us for Thanksgiving. Ez and I got to see them three times in one year!! And they loved the little snowflakes that fell on Friday.

Abby and Dan were home, and Dan’s parents and grandmother also joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. We had 17 people! Ezra’s mother was in heaven with all those people.

I must say, this year I got a Tofurky “vegetarian feast” because Wegman’s in State College was sold out of my usual Quorn roast… and the Tofurky was in fact delicious and much better than the Quorn roast. (Yes, it’s worth mentioning.)

This year’s farm projects included clearing away lots of branches from a line of gigantic pine trees that they had cut down the day after Thanksgiving, working on a long trench that is somehow involved in getting their new furnace operational, moving said furnace (all 3800 pounds of it) onto a concrete slab, and attempting to fix a toilet. I was primarily involved in the first project and photographically documenting the whole shebang.