Hi everyone!
Luis and I just had a really amazing time in Belfast. Luis attended a conference for energy storage held by the University of Ulster at the Europa Hotel. We both had a wonderful time! I was able to attend events at the conference with Luis and we both met lots of nice people. We even had the opportunity of eating dinner in the beautiful Belfast City Hall. During the day I was able to explore the city.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Belfast!
The first photo in the group shows a hotel in Belfast where a long list of important individuals have stayed. At the top of that list you will find Luis and Erika! This hotel is called The Days Inn Hotel or for some reason just "The Days". The Merchant Hotel in the two photos below the first one, might have provided lodging over the years for one or two important people too...
Friday, February 18, 2011
Luis and Oscar at Merrion Square Park
Here is Oscar Wilde's house at Merrion Square and a picture of Luis with the statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square Park across the street. It's a lovely park with wood pigeons and many other birds and even foxes. Some flowers are already out! We recently watched a movie about Oscar Wilde featuring Jude Law as one of Oscar's "boys." I don't think we were the primary audience the film was aimed at due to the number of scenes showing Jude Law's pert white rear end as he gazed thoughtfully through a window at the moon or rested languorously on a floral couch next to a glass of champagne...
Rings-N-Things
If you've read my old Europe blog, perhaps you remember that in Paris I found a gold ring in some dirt along the edge of the Seine? Well, recently I found another ring near the parking lot overlooking a stunning ocean view at Howth, a ring of the sort you are supposed to kneel in front of the pope and kiss. Upon finding it I immediately stuffed it into my coat pocket, continually reaching into the silky pocket fabric of my red wool coat to feel the rough diamond encrusted surface of this new treasure and to be assured that it was really still there. The ring is very large, possibly for a man's hand, somewhere between silver and gold with a smooth amber colored stone (quartz?) in what I learned through the internet is a "marquise" cut. Dozens of gaudy diamonds or diamondy type stones glitter around the main stone and all over the edges of the ring. After finding the ring, I tucked it away in a drawer and mostly forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Last night, thinking perhaps a bit of extra money might come in handy and that the ring could be worth something I got it out and began an internet search to see if I could get a clue as to its value. Finding two tiny numbers on the inside of the ring, I first searched for "926." Possibly the ring is made of gold...Further searching revealed nothing else of importance about the ring. Holding the ring close to some light, I was able to just make out that what I had thought was a number was actually the word "Pompoos." A google search for that brought me to this website
http://www.haraldgloeoeckler.com/
Here is another link with the designer selling some lovely ensembles on television although it isn't jewelry it is highly entertaining. Have you seen the movie Bruno? lol. This guy must have been the inspiration for that movie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRsSZW2z57U
Oh, and by the way, comparing the ring I found to other similar rings on the internet...I don't think its really worth anything, however if I ever choose to wear it there may be other benefits, because according to Herr Gloeoeckler, "Every woman who wears my fashion is a Princess!"
http://www.haraldgloeoeckler.com/
Here is another link with the designer selling some lovely ensembles on television although it isn't jewelry it is highly entertaining. Have you seen the movie Bruno? lol. This guy must have been the inspiration for that movie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRsSZW2z57U
Oh, and by the way, comparing the ring I found to other similar rings on the internet...I don't think its really worth anything, however if I ever choose to wear it there may be other benefits, because according to Herr Gloeoeckler, "Every woman who wears my fashion is a Princess!"
February Stories
Hello Everybody! I hope you're all well. I have a few funny stories to share.
It is a gloomy day in Dublin today. I have already spent a good portion of the day inside due to the continuation of the mysterious wet floor saga in the apartment. We woke up this morning to find the floor in the kitchen soaking wet. Each time I step on a floor board more dirty water rises up from below (can't be good I know.) It turns out that the washing machine is leaking badly now...another turn of events that led the building janitor, Billy, to tell me today
"Well Jaysus, yuhv had nuthin buht bad luck in this apAHRTment." Billy was here for quite a while today...tinkering around in the kitchen behind the washing machine...occasionally grunting and saying things like "ahhhh, Fuck it!" During the entire time he was here, I don't think he established much more than Luis had about the situation although he gave me frequent updates about what he found out back there involving valves. He mopped the floor leaving bits of mop debris and grime, damp and clinging to various spots around the floor and a towel left soaking in the washing machine which I cannot currently dry, that he used to "test the machine out." Still Billy is the kind of person you can't help but like a little. We often see him mopping the stairs or hosing down the front walk laughing as he pretends he's gonna spray passers by. His blue eyes sparkle with mischief and his bald head is oddly elegant in back as if a baker had inlaid the quilting pattern for a white wedding cake on the back of his neck but had forgotten to include the little pearls that go in the center of each criss-cross.
A few days ago he came by, bald head gleaming, splotch of blue/green paint front and center on his forehead, to investigate the first appearance of mystery water that showed up between the hallway floorboards. While he was on the phone to Sinead, our landlady, we overheard him say
"Now listen, Sinead, yuh've got ta get a plumber in here.".....pause..."Italian, is he?"... (said with an impossibly wide smile)..."Well shouldn't he be workin in a chipper?" (Apparently Italians are known for serving fish and chips here.)
I had the chance, or rather didn't have much of a choice of chatting with Billy longer than usual today while he was in the apartment. He asked me a variety of questions...Things like what I do for a profession. When I told him I was an opera singer he asked me lots of questions about that, such as whether I sing in the same range as Celine Dion or if I'd heard of Andrea Bocelli. I decided to show him a bit of the youtube video of me singing the Doll Song from the recital in Montreal last fall. We can all breathe a sigh of relief now because Billy has figured out my career and life for me and he didn't even charge me a cent! He didn't even need to be asked. After he heard the video Billy looked at me
"Well what-r-ya doin' sittin' around here for? You've gotta get on one a these television shows. Time is slippin' away."
I handled the conversation as best I could, explaining plans for auditions and a little bit of the complications and realities of life.
"I don't think you understand what I'm saying. With a voice like that, you could go on the X Factor and blow the fuckin' roof off!"
His opinion of voice teachers is that they're all using the students for their reputations and that
"Nobody wants to kill the goose that lays the fuckin' golden eggs! They'll always find somethin' wrong with you and they'll charge ya an arm an' a leg for it too!" (He has a point there.) He nodded in agreement when I told him tales of New York City teachers charging $150 to $200 an hour for a lesson, and having credit card machines to swipe students cards right in their studio. He was sure that was true.
It is a gloomy day in Dublin today. I have already spent a good portion of the day inside due to the continuation of the mysterious wet floor saga in the apartment. We woke up this morning to find the floor in the kitchen soaking wet. Each time I step on a floor board more dirty water rises up from below (can't be good I know.) It turns out that the washing machine is leaking badly now...another turn of events that led the building janitor, Billy, to tell me today
"Well Jaysus, yuhv had nuthin buht bad luck in this apAHRTment." Billy was here for quite a while today...tinkering around in the kitchen behind the washing machine...occasionally grunting and saying things like "ahhhh, Fuck it!" During the entire time he was here, I don't think he established much more than Luis had about the situation although he gave me frequent updates about what he found out back there involving valves. He mopped the floor leaving bits of mop debris and grime, damp and clinging to various spots around the floor and a towel left soaking in the washing machine which I cannot currently dry, that he used to "test the machine out." Still Billy is the kind of person you can't help but like a little. We often see him mopping the stairs or hosing down the front walk laughing as he pretends he's gonna spray passers by. His blue eyes sparkle with mischief and his bald head is oddly elegant in back as if a baker had inlaid the quilting pattern for a white wedding cake on the back of his neck but had forgotten to include the little pearls that go in the center of each criss-cross.
A few days ago he came by, bald head gleaming, splotch of blue/green paint front and center on his forehead, to investigate the first appearance of mystery water that showed up between the hallway floorboards. While he was on the phone to Sinead, our landlady, we overheard him say
"Now listen, Sinead, yuh've got ta get a plumber in here.".....pause..."Italian, is he?"... (said with an impossibly wide smile)..."Well shouldn't he be workin in a chipper?" (Apparently Italians are known for serving fish and chips here.)
I had the chance, or rather didn't have much of a choice of chatting with Billy longer than usual today while he was in the apartment. He asked me a variety of questions...Things like what I do for a profession. When I told him I was an opera singer he asked me lots of questions about that, such as whether I sing in the same range as Celine Dion or if I'd heard of Andrea Bocelli. I decided to show him a bit of the youtube video of me singing the Doll Song from the recital in Montreal last fall. We can all breathe a sigh of relief now because Billy has figured out my career and life for me and he didn't even charge me a cent! He didn't even need to be asked. After he heard the video Billy looked at me
"Well what-r-ya doin' sittin' around here for? You've gotta get on one a these television shows. Time is slippin' away."
I handled the conversation as best I could, explaining plans for auditions and a little bit of the complications and realities of life.
"I don't think you understand what I'm saying. With a voice like that, you could go on the X Factor and blow the fuckin' roof off!"
His opinion of voice teachers is that they're all using the students for their reputations and that
"Nobody wants to kill the goose that lays the fuckin' golden eggs! They'll always find somethin' wrong with you and they'll charge ya an arm an' a leg for it too!" (He has a point there.) He nodded in agreement when I told him tales of New York City teachers charging $150 to $200 an hour for a lesson, and having credit card machines to swipe students cards right in their studio. He was sure that was true.
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