Wednesday, February 12, 2014

before I leave

because my schedule isn't busy - LOL- only kidding of course--- so tonight we went to the theater to see Other Desert Cities.  A tremendous play about a family sorting out their past, their secrets and healing their wounds (mostly by picking at them until the bleeding was really profuse)

the family in question was made up of older GOP Palm Springs ex Hollywood parents (friends of Reagan types) and their liberal leaning daughter and son (and a third child with a past history in the protest and anti-war movement who was deceased after a bombing)

extremely well written and well acted - this was a fabulous and thought provoking show about the depth of familial love and the burdens of the very same- wow- what a great evening.










so excellent last evening before I head off to my own desert experience with my gal pal GA... when I return you will no doubt see photos with camels...LOL as always- stay tuned!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

bijou birthday

quick post of my birthday dinner wines - we had a lovely meal at Bijou Cafe in Sarasota.

this bottle of Puligny was one of the best we have had from that vintage-


the Pommard showed well but not as well as the wine we had at Waterfront the other night with Matt & Ann (shown later)





the wines we had Saturday night at The Waterfront were outstanding- this Hamacher was a rival to any white burg and the 96 Morey St Denis was a burg to make you cry - just exquisite...and the good news is we have plenty more of the 96 so we will definitely pull that from the cellar when we get back to Chicago... on the other hand - this is likely one of the last bottles of the 2000 Hamacher Chard so it was nice to enjoy it with friends...



started getting my packing list ready for Morocco- leaving in two days- so time to start thinking about that...

Sunday, February 9, 2014

My last day of being 59

Tomorrow is my 60th birthday... how strange is that???? May not be strange to you but it sure is to me...

Of course tomorrow is in reality the day I complete my 60th year the way we count birthdays in the US... so in many ways it is a non-event since I have actually been in my 60th year for 11 months and 30 days (so to speak- since again our months are counted inconsistently...)

So I was spending a little time today looking back over the last decade- with its incredible blessings and challenges - the high points and low points.  I started with the trip we took for my 50th birthday and then sort of went forward through time - thinking about where I was and what I was doing and who I knew and spent time with along the way... ten years - a long time - lots of things and yet so so fast as well...

I was working a lot in those earlier years of my 50s and then when my mother and sister got sick I shifted gears- when they both died in 2010 my life changed and my priorities changed somewhat and I started focusing even more on how I wanted to spend the rest of whatever time I had-

no surprise here- since my passion for quite some time has been traveling- with or without my husband and with or without friends... there is nothing more exciting than heading off someplace new... this week my friend Georgia (GA) and I are leaving for Morocco- I am returning and GA is going for the first time... so it should be fun for both of us... I went there last time in the year 2000- before Phil and I moved in together or got married - LOL - (or had our first through twelfth anniversaries)

but back to my last decade - the 5-0s of my life/time line...

and while I may add some photos later - I don't have them ready to go right this minute and you will know WHY when I tell you that my plan was to post a photo from every international trip I took while in my fifties- and here is the list-

Paris, February 2004
Japan, June 2004
London, Copenhagen & Venice, October 2004
Athens & Rhodes, Greece, December 2004
India, January 2005
London, April 2005
Burgundy Barging (w/ Paris), May 2005
Prague, Czech Republic & Budapest, Hungary, July 2005
Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Montenegro & Greece, August 2005
London, September 2005
Provence, France & Monaco, October 2005
Myanmar, Cambodia & Thailand, November - December 2005
Istanbul, Turkey, December 2005
Panama & El Salvador, February 2006
Portugal, April 2006
Quebec City & Montreal, Canada May 2006
Poland & Ukraine, June 2006
Austria, Lichtenstein, Venice, August 2006
Cambridge & Scotland, October 2006
Argentina, January 2007
Victoria BC Canada, May 2007
Amalfi Coast, Italy October 2007
Vancouver BC Canada, November 2007
Thailand, Bhutan & India, November 2007
Paris, February 2008
Dordogne France, October 2008
Laos & Vietnam, January 2009 (with Hong Kong transit for 2 days)
London, England September 2009
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2009
Cinque Terre and Genoa, Italy, October 2009
Rome, Italy & Israel (with Petra Jordan) December 2009
Paris, France, March 2010
Argentina & Uruguay, November 2010
Tunisia, March 2011
South Africa, Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe, June 2011
Banff & Lake Louise, Alberta Canada, August 2011
Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Slovenia, November 2011  
Cuba, April 2012
Bolivia & Colombia, August 2012
Denmark, Finland & Sweden, October 2012
New Zealand & Sydney Australia, December 2012
Paris, France, April 2013
Peru & Ecuador (Galapagos & Amazon) May 2013
Hong Kong & Yunnan Province & Southern China (w/ Shanghai) October 2013

Morocco, February 2014 THIS WEEK!!!

so you can see why that might be an issue- I will have to get selective or no one will be able to load the post to view it- LOL... there are only a few that I had on my iPad that I could grab quickly through Dropbox- you'll have to visit the website to see every trip's photos....


 Paris-

Japan-

Myanmar-

Cambodia-

Bhutan-

Amsterdam-

Vietnam-

Laos-

Amalfi Coast-

Peru-

Cuba-

Botswana-

Tunisia-

Colombia-

Rotorua New Zealand-

Copenhagen-

Venice-

Greece-

so on I go into the next decade and next adventure in my life,  I have a super great husband, two cute cats, wonderful friends and other than some arthritis in my knees - good health- a blessed life indeed!!!! 

so stay tuned for the Morocco trip and come back and visit this post as over the next few days when I have time here and there I will add some of my favorite photos of the decade- no way to actually choose most favored ones- just too many... but if you haven't been lately to photo website I can recommend that as a way to catch up with those ten years on various roads in various places... 

it is located here:  http://victoriasterlingspics.shutterfly.com

just cut and paste that link into your browser for more fun- more photos and always more to come!