Upstairs, Downstairs

Well, I made it to the US fine yesterday, didn't have to wait too long for my luggage to come up and got through all the people and to my gate for my final destination well ahead of time. I had tried to call my sister when I arrived on American soil but thought my phone wasn't working. Anyway, they knew I was coming, so when I got to Cincy I went directly to Baggage Claim. Nobody was there! Tried calling again and apparently was able to leave a message on my brother-in-law's phone, which he didn't get until we got in the car. I waited for nearly an hour and was at the Information Desk when they came up behind me. They had been downstairs all the time. We had possibly passed one another, me going up and them going down! My great-niece was with them which made the wait worthwhile. She is so sweet!

Old Dog and New Tricks

This is something that every animal lover knows: You CAN teach old dogs new tricks. Not long before he was shot and killed by some idiot with a bow and arrow (as in some parts hunting deer with a bow and arrow is permitted), my sister taught her old poodle to sit before she gave him a bone. Animals can learn anything they want to.

For a while when I had to take Zara to the vet's, I'd take her to the park and then we would go out this one exit. Well, she learned that trick pretty darn quickly , and now will not go near this particular exit, at least she won't if I'm alone with her. Maybe I've seen too many talking animal films in my lifetime, but I could swear that she knew she was going to the kennels this morning. She did not want to go out. I'm sure going to miss her even though I know she's going to be well looked after. Besides, she'll be in the mountains where it's cool. I'm looking forward to seeing my newest great-niece Lilly in person, and, of course, there'll be more dogs to keep me company at her house.

As much as I'm always quoting old sayings and proverbs, they aren't always accurate. I suppose the author of the old dogs' saying must not have been able to teach his anything new. Perhaps the dogs didn't have the right incentive!

Ho Hum

Had to put earphones on to hear this over my computer's own humming

Inconsistencies

Here's something I've been meaning to write about for a long time. I've always found it funny that so often in Madrid when you're supposedly going down the street, i.e. going from let's say number 50 to number 1, you're actually going up a hill.  So, in reality you're not going down the street, just going down in numbers.  I'm sure this sort of thing happens everywhere, not only in Madrid.  Well, I can live with that knowledge but not the quality of the pavements.

There's a Spanish proverb that goes something like this: 'Man is the only animal that stumbles over the same stone three times.' I believe this to be true as I fell in the exact same spot three times in the street where I used to live for many, many years.  I was even half-convinced that there was a candid camera or at least someone having a good laugh at the expensive of my dignity, because thank goodness I only got a few scrapes and bruises from the falls. The above photo shows the place where I had to again stumble and fall the very first night my nephew was here for a visit. This time, in addition to the normal bruises, I scraped the left side of my face a bit.  I'm not bragging when I say that I live in one of the most expensive areas of Madrid.  I live near the street that's known as 'The Golden Mile', not that I go shopping there.  It's a shame that you get out of what is considered the traditional city centre and you find pavements such as this one near my house or worse - it doesn't matter which area you live in.  Every summer Madrid has what is called 'Operation Asphalt,' however, it never has 'Operation Pavements' for those of us who are not motorized. Would the horrible pavements be because of all the hills or the altitude??? Anyway, think I'll start walking in the streets with the cars.

Tropical Nights and Firefox Freezes

I can certainly understand Tony's counting the days until Christmas.  I'm so sick of being sticky and uncomfortable, especially at night when there's no breeze at all to cool things down.  I'm sure I've mentioned that the rules of my building do not permit using air conditioners during the night (some do though), or during the hour of the siesta, whenever that is, and fans only help so much.  And to top it all off, Firefoxy has been freezing up more than usual these past days.  Don't know if it's reacting to the heat or if this is something to be expected as the above picture seems to indicate.

Changing the subject completely, did I imagine it or did Donna (darkdecember) not post a blog the other day saying she hadn't been on because she was tired of always writing about the same old same?  I sure don't lead a glamorous life, so I imagine I write about pretty much the same stuff over and over.  You know things like my not favourite neighbour is always stopping by to ask me to make photocopies or type up some document as if I'm a secretary whose job it is to do those things.  Every other day she gets locked out of her flat and comes to me for the keys.Everybody goes out without their keys at one time or another, which is why she has my keys, but not so often I hope.

On a positive note, hopefully Donna, Maria and countless others will decide to make a full comeback and shake things up a bit.  At times it's too quiet around here, don't you think?