A Whole Day Together

Xavier and Mary dropped off Jax this morning and I got to hang out with him til eight at night. We had such a good time - he really is one of my best friends. We have tons of laughs and great conversations. I can be silly and so can he; and believe me, we are.

We started out the day just hanging out at my place - Jax loves that I have a loft bed. After playing for a bit we hopped in Roark and went to run errands, listening to Tony Bennett, who scored a thumbs up from the six year old.

In the late afternoon we went to Narberth, PA in search of Armistead Maupin's Significant Others. No luck, but we parked beside this cool mural. "Hey," said Jackson, "that's like the one near....um....uh..." "Heartbeet Kitchen!" I said, finishing his sentence.

Next we stopped at St. Mary's Food Pantry in Wayne then to Main Point Books, where my hopes were dashed again - no Significant Others. I was forced to order it from Amazon. Which normally isn't a big deal. I just wanted it today. Oh, and check us out - BUMBLEance twins!

Then it was off to MOM's in Bryn Mawr, where Jax organised the finger puppets once more. Impressing all who walked past.

Summer is over, but it was nice enough out to get this boy some ice cream from Hope's Cookies - he got a small with chocolate and vanilla with rainbow jimmies. I fed him while he sat on the calf. At one point he randomly reached over and patted the cow and said "Hey, Big Momma." Oh my god, I busted out laughing. We have another outing on the books for the end of October and we cannot wait!

Grandpa's Great Escape

This audiobook is a HOOT! I wasn't sure I'd like David Walliams' reading, but it's wonderful.

(photo kidnapped from audible)

Baby's Take on "Babycakes"

*spoiler alert!*
me: ...no one else will understand my rant. I’m a little less than halfway through “Babycakes”. If Mary Ann shacks up with Simon, the English Brian Look-a-Like to get pregnant I will LOATHE her forever. This series, Bishop, I’m tellin’ ya, I’m up all night and can’t put the books down. 

Bishop: I know! That's how I was with the entire series. The good thing was that I worked at a bookstore when I was reading them and I had the 1-10 shift. So I would go home after work and read them until 4 in the morning and then go to sleep! 
By the end of the series, Maryann was my least favorite character. 

me: Bish, I despise her. When I realised she was going to go thru with it I yelled “fucking idiot - I hate you” at the page. Then I skipped the rest of her chapter and went back to Mouse in London. I get that people are flawed, but she is the {insert name of current president} of the literary world. I wish she had fallen off that cliff with Norman in book one. 

ps - I finished reading Babycakes and although I would have absolutely loved it if Mary Ann weren't such a complete, sorry Mum, but I have to say it, twat, I would have adored this book. However, I liked the ending and I am going out shopping this weekend in search of Book 5 - Significant Others.

The Grand Hotel

Mama Rosie and Maureen made it!

The perfect card...

...for Natalia from me!

Regine

You are...

Positivity is everywhere, ya just gotta be open and recognise it.

The Zirkstraat Flat

The place in Antwerp was very nice and ideally located. See for yourselves!

(this is my room ↓)

(and this is the outside - the flat was on the second story)

Maybe the Moon

I did, I bought another g.d. book. I drove to Baldwin's Book Barn in search of paperback copies of the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. They didn't have what I was looking for, however I did grab a hardback copy of The Days of Anna Madrigal and Armistead's novel Maybe the Moon, based solely on the inside inscription by Colton (at least I think that's his name). It was also wonderful to see the smiling older gent at Baldwin's check-out counter. He really is a gem of a man.

August 2018 Donations

August meant another 4Ocean bracelet (I can't help myself!) plus new donations to Team Fox and the World Wildlife Foundation. All wonderful organisations - see below for more info on them and links to their sites so you can donate, too!

4Ocean

Team Fox

The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today.

Our Core Values
We are 100% patient-focused.
Our team works tirelessly every day with one urgent goal in mind: Accelerating breakthroughs patients can feel in their everyday lives. We strive to make progress in the following key areas by evaluating risk, opportunities, and challenges through a patient-focused lens:
-Speed treatments that can slow, stop or reverse the progression of Parkinson's disease
-Speed better treatments for the currently unaddressed or under-addressed symptoms of Parkinson's disease
-Speed treatments to address or avoid the debilitating side effects of current Parkinson's disease drugs

We are obsessed with efficiency.
We operate with a focused sense of optimistic urgency to find a cure for Parkinson's and to ensure the development of improved therapies for people living with Parkinson's today. We won't stop until a cure is found. We're on it.

We won't stop until a cure is found.
We take pride in all our accomplishments so far. But ultimately we have only one definition of success: Scientific solutions that produce tangible improvements in patients' lives.

We are risk-takers and problem-solvers.
From inception, MJFF has invested in high-risk, high-reward research targets; an approach that in 10 short years has transformed the broader approach in the PD research field.

Our model is different.
It is accepted practice among private disease research funders that the most important decisions -- how to allocate donor-raised dollars -- are made by external scientific advisors and boards. We bucked this model from day one in favor of building an in-house team of formally trained PhDs and business-trained project managers.

World Wildlife Foundation

Our work is focused around 6 ambitious goals with people at the center.
WWF’s work has evolved from saving species and landscapes to addressing the larger global threats and forces that impact them. Recognizing that the problems facing our planet are increasingly more complex and urgent, we have refined the way in which we work around an ambitious new strategy. Our new strategy puts people at the center and organizes our work around six key areas: forests, marine, freshwater, wildlife, food and climate. By linking these six areas in an integrated approach, we can better leverage our unique assets and direct all our resources to protecting vulnerable places, species and communities worldwide.

People are at the center of our work because together we can change the trajectory of the threats to nature, and help ensure nature’s ability to provide—for the sake of every living thing, including ourselves.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Papa's Wise, Wise Words

This quote is posted on my bulletin board and I have learned that it is as true a statement as one can make. Travel can be scary or stressful or nerve-wracking or all of those combined and your travel-mate needs to love you and you them. With love they will forgive you if you get the both of you lost in the rain or lose your temper and snap at them in moment of frustration. You'll know how each of you takes your coffee and your multitude of likes and dislikes. You'll be considerate of the limited time you have on said adventure and make the most of it. You will be able to argue and work through a problem and then move right back into the ease of a vacation together. Each of you will feel comfortable laying out what you would like to see and do and have it be give and take, making sure that you both have equal amounts of fun.

When you travel with someone you really and truly love, you will return home with a newfound strength in your relationship as you now have a shared experience that only the two of you can recall and reminisce about over the coming years. Memories such as me and Natalia stumbling upon Marsh's Library, Isabella and I being equally terrified of Scottish public transportation but braving it together and having one of our best days ever, Ashlee and I being trapped somewhere in France when the Eurostar broke down and we were hours late to reach our destination - we were both weary and irritated but rose above and made it through. Then the time when Xavier and I went to the Winchester House and even though it was something I wanted to do, Xave made the most of it and we both had one of our bestest days together in all our years as siblings. And on my first adventure abroad with Nicole when I was too afraid to leave our hotel in Rome, nearly in tears from stress. Nicole was patient with me until I was finally able to pull myself together. We went out to see The Spanish Steps in the middle of a rainstorm and had a wonderful end to a stressful time in The Eternal City. And especially my full-on temper tantrum when Marina and I were on a stopped bus in the mountains of Colombia and very far from a bathroom. Marina knows me well enough to ignore my behaviour until I calm the hell down.

So, dear reader, whenever you decide to travel, make damn sure that you and your travel partner both know eachother inside and out and love one another for reals. Pay heed to Hemingway's words since he wouldn't dare steer us in the wrong direction.

A Lovely "Welcome Home"

Finding this in my mailbox after returning home made me feel so lucky to have Natalia as a friend because she is so extraordinarily kind and thoughtful without even realising it. That PS had me LOL for real.

Seen In Fitzwilliam Square

Spotted this gorgeous classic Porsche that had hounds-tooth seat covers and was just too beautiful for words. 

44 Pages

I loved this behind-the-scenes look at the making and history of everyone's favourite childhood magazine.

(photo kidnapped from cinemaclock)

Conshohocken

This afternoon Xavier and I went to Conshohocken to see our brother Wayne's humble abode. We snuck off on our own for coffee and chit chat at a local place called 'feine and it was so hip and funky. I really liked what I saw of The Hock and would like to go back again and wander the city a bit more. It's very hilly and reminded me of San Francisco in that way.

Designing Women

Still feeling not-so-hot, I took it easy today and watched some Designing Women. I love the fashion and the hair do's and especially Annie Potts. All the ladies are wonderful, but she's just somethin' else.

(photo kidnapped from thehollywoodreporter)

Cherishing for Beginners

Here's the poem that Sarah Clancy read at the Stand4Truth rally I went to on August 26th:

Cherish the meek
cherish the ranchers
cherish the guards
cherish the bankers
cherish the virgins
then ride them and cherish their sisters,
cherish tax exiles and entrepreneurs
cherish the rewards of intergenerational privilege
or if that's too hard for beginners
sure cherish the Rose of Tralee for starters,
cherish the goal and the point and the foul
cherish the priest's dirty sheets
but not the woman who washes them,
don't mention her
or what she might need,
go on and cherish the IFSC
and its type of laundries-
those ones are fine, they are grand sure.
Cherish Them.

Cherish the men
because they couldn’t help it
if the women and girls went and fell pregnant,
cherish the foetus, the heartbeat,
but not the person it's in
then cherish the small graves
in their undisclosed wastelands
cherish the shovels
and boot soles that dug them-
let there be no doubt about it-
Yes We Can!
cherish the children
if they're from the right class
aren’t travelling people
and are not for god’s sake
seeking asylum,
don't forget too that we must
cherish the mute
and cherish the sheepish
but hate those in need,
worship Fr Peter McVerry himself,
go ahead make him an icon
but don’t hear what he’s saying
about anything.

Cherish the poor
for how you can use them
to frighten those who are just one rung above
cherish the people
who learned early and often
what happens to those
with big mouths,
cherish your local TDs,
and the crowd in Listowel
who didn't care that he raped her
sure wasn't he one of their own?
Yea cherish the rapist,
why don't you?

Cherish the golf course
and its sprinklers
sure Irish Water will save us
cherish piece work and internships,
and zero hour contracts
aren't you lucky you have a job at all?
Do you not remember the coffin ships
and are you not grateful?
Yea cherish your own exploitation
cherish the school board,
for our lack of gay teachers,
cherish women's place in the home
then cut their allowances,
sure they don’t deserve them
having all of those children
repeat after me- Cherish Privatisation;
and if you don't then you better learn
to cherish the knock on your door
in the morning.
Consider this a warning.

Cherish Dev and Pearse
and blood sacrifice
but don't mention James Connolly
who said until Ireland's women are free
none of us will be, most of all though
cherish outsourcing and remember
your call is important,
you too will be cherished equally
if you can afford it
as soon as an operator
becomes available
which may well take
another hundred years.

by Sarah Clancy

Ben at PHL

Philly loves Ben Franklin and pretzels, so why not put the two together?! It's good to be back home.