Next stop...Madrid??

This morning I woke up at 11:30 after ten blissful hours of sleep to see this What's App message from Michel:

We chatted back and forth and then he sent me a slew of snapshots of just beautiful sights. Here are my favourites:

When I said it was nearly as stunning as Antwerpen he replied, "Haha. No No. This city is more beautiful. Really. Believe me. And so many gorgeous men." (Damn it, I should have asked if many of them are bearded....) Michel also said that he speaks about as much Spanish as I do but that he expects I'd be able to manage with very little problem. True to his Belgian roots, he was at a bar having a beer when we finished up our lil' convo. 

Madrid does look lovely and I really would love to see Guernica in person. We shall see...maybe in 2018 if I'm feeling brave.

Star's First Estate Sale

A friend and his sisters were having an estate sale after their parents needed to move into a nearby home. I'd never been to an estate sale, and while it didn't quite live up to my expectations I did still have fun. In my mind I envisioned that the house would be as if people still lived there and you could wander the entire home freely and snoop in drawers and closets and collect things to purchase and then pay in the foyer. It also was nice to see some familiar faces from the past that also stopped by to lend support and open their wallets a bit. I was too embarrassed to take oodles of pix, but I did snap a few and scored a killer deal on some random merch. I grabbed a holly glassware set for Mama Rose (that woman loves a good holiday glass!), plus cute Christmas-y salt and pepper shakers, and a Longaberger pitcher; then for me - a butter knife and salad fork (I love random flatware), a Longaberger bowl for holding apples, a pretty pin that belonged to Mrs. P. (the last photo below), as well as some of Theresa's old albums (Duran Duran, Janet Jackson, Wham!, and Pat Benatar). Best part of the search was discovering Mrs. P's Streisand album that Mike had moustached and goateed. Oh and he also enlisted her into the US Army. I betcha he had to stand in the corner for an entire day after his mother discovered what he'd done.

Bleu Esther Holland

Old Baby

The Bamf is back!!! This fab, fun stand up was mostly from her last album 20% and even though I'd heard most of it several times, this special still had me cracking up and bustin' a gut laughing. This woman just makes me so happy. I love her like crazy; I really do.

(photo kidnapped from newonnetflix)

Dear Sweet Roald Dahl

In between some pretty wretched calls at work (it was one of those days) I tried to recover by reading my newly delivered book, Esio Trot (faithful readers will no doubt recall my obsession with the film version of this endearing tale). Only a page and a half in and I am already feeling better.

Seen In Newhaven

An old Police Box!! These suckers were everywhere in Edinburgh.

Francis Bacon Mishap

I always heard Bob Ross talk about "happy accidents" and this one definitely fits the bill. I was at The Hugh Lane with Bella, checking out Francis Bacon's wreck of a studio (which was all sorts of fantastic, by the way) and I guess I accidentally clicked to take a photo then moved my hand before the shutter snapped. This is like some sort of photographic Spirograph version of the studio and I kinda like to think that dear Fran would have approved.