Sunday wanderings

since the last post....

had a little trouble getting the sign on screen up but now i'm in business again. let's see if i can recap some of the events of the last week:

did i talk about halloween? Saturday October 31 - dad swam, had coffee and smoothie for breakfast. i wore sleeveless orange tee and blue skirt; walked to chemist for 500mg amox and some hair product. went to City, wandered dong koi street, got some dvds walked to saigon square, got a couple bags for sarah, carolyn, emily. dinner with roger and philip and comargue a neat french restaurant. had salmon with spinach cannoli(?). black linen dress . halloween in the compound was big time with kids dressed up and parading around the sports club.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1 - wide awake at 445, walked to river, read kindle; 630 dad rode bike to pool, coffee, toast, smoothie shower.

10 to YKK for dad's massage; i wandered dong koi street again checking out blouses and beads; 11 headed to notre dame but mass was at 930. went for coffee at coffee bean across street and waited for mr. hai and dad. went to post office and looked around; went with mr hai to get dad but was early so he took me shoe shopping; met jess and ms. nee for lunch at japanese LaPhong with two TA guys. went to DVD store with dad, watched movie, walked, no dinner meal ... black and white check skirt, black tee

Monday, November 2 - dad swam, early AM, watched TV lunch with Ms. Han soupon with won ton, pool at mr. pauls; read, dinner home .. green spinach soup salad. watched movie Desperado (so much killing). not productive day

Tuesday November 3 - Melbourne Cup Day - festivies at Boat House. went to Metro, got BBQ and gardener assembled it. swam and read, rain started

dinner at The Deck (rissoto .. dad had chicken) peach slax, white knit top.

at Metro got a juicer, bbq and tools, peanut butter, toilet paper, chocolate syrup raspberries and listerine.

Wednesday November 4 - blue shorts, green sleeveless top; to shops via taxi, got some necklaces, parkinsons dept store got black slax (OMG they're XL). silk pink top, 2 black skirts, 20 hankies; gloria jeans for cappucino; Red Door sue mckenna's place to see what she had antique; back for lunch of fish, rice pumpkin soup ... dad swam in morning, fruit toast then met matthew williams at mekong merchant for breakfast .. dad had biz dinner at sofitel with jess; i had caesar at boat house $5.50 blue skirt white top

Thursday, November 5 - AM walked, read book, watched world series, hung out at pool to get some color; PM dinner at Hyatt .. fancy "formal wear" invitation so that's why i had to get some new clothes made! not prepared for formal wear. dad wore a suit and tie. we show up and are so over dressed ... either they didnt get the same invitation as we did or they didnt care. nice setting outdoor on patio overlooking street and weather was good so we didnt melt. black skirt hot pink silk top. table of 20 people. interesting. wine wasted on me and too many course of food. but nice to be asked, it was free and we were treated very well.

Friday, November 6 - to pool walked with H. fruity breakfast as usual. stroll, $ from ATM, lip wax about $5.50 (same as caesar salad). taxi to saigon square for longcham then ben than market by accident (walking does that). lunch with ms. Han pho bo. went to supermarket for salad stuff. stayed home ordered pizza from mekong merchant (anchovie, caper) and salad. black white ck skirt black top

Saturday November 7 - h sawm, j some laundry, kitchen pool 11-12; mekong merchant for lunch alone (pizza) since i didnt really get much of last nights! dong koi wandering into russian market; gloria jeans waited for dad. dinner hyatt fried noodles; black skirt, leopard ruffle blouse.

Sunday, November 8 - walked; 930 mass at notre dame; 11 met harvey at hyatt following his haircut; lunch burger at ??? wandered around district 1 with dad, shopped and wandered. black capris. PM dinner with David Kaplan and Tom from Home Goods in Boston who were in town. river trout which looks a lot like salmon; black skirt and black and white top.

Monday, November 9 - dad swam, breakfast of fruit, coffee, juice, toast. walked compound, read kindle. really hot morning. PM intend to go to ballet at Opera house starts at 8pm so we'll see how long we last and stay awake. mr. hai is a great driver, taking us everywhere, anytime.

Observations and random thoughts: i hope they don't get leaf blowers. they do a lot of sweeping day and night so it would be awful. taxis are cheap and plentiful. customer service is interesting. you're either stalked at the ben than market and assaulted and harrassed or completely ignored at the saigon square bc they're too busy stocking stuff. and they don't giggle when taking measurements for pink silk blouses at the size of my boobs. i do feel like somewhat of an amazon compared to the tiny women around here. then i look at the rest of the tourists and feel better!

updates from Vietnam

long awaited blog finally got around to posting for you all. so it all started Tuesday morning October 27. 610 alarm, 630 actually rose from bed; 845 to airport with sarah and bobby; 10am in chicago; 145 to hong kong ... 15 hrs. window seat, empty middle, so lots of room. black slax, black dansko, pink knit top, black knit jacket. uneventful trip which is always a good thing.

watched the movie UP then watched Time Travelers Wife ... did not watch Night at the Museum or Ice Age. lunch was chicken, rice, vegs; snack was noodles in broth, declined 3rd meal.

dansko shoes got a bit snug after sitting for so long ... might re think that choice.

found a loung chair in hong kong airport for 3 hr layover which was nice and could get my feet/legs raised so shoes felt better. saw roger frisen on the HK-HCM flight. arrived HCM at 1030, long wait for my luggage. at this points its 1030 wednesday night. dad and mr. hai were waiting so it was a quick slow ride home.

Thursday October 29

morning breakfast coffee, fruit, toast. gave nail polish to Mrs. Han; unpacked, showered, emails, etc. no plans for thursday. just relax. read, watched world series. dinner with dad at mekong merchant up the road. ordered salmon; watched criminal minds! black capri, b&w with pink stripe, pm leopard print tee with same capris. casual night

Friday, October 30

dad swam a little, fruit plate, pomegranet juice toast; watched world series while doing emails; massage and manicure; lunch salad and pancake (stuffed with shrimp, etc). went to city to get cell phone bc none available at TA. walked around compound.

dinner with dad at Hyatt bar. crab cake, shared pomello salad
black capri (other pair), long sleeve b&w top with ruffle

Saturday, October 31

dad swam longer. i showered. day off for ms. han so i had to make my own coffee and toast! dad made his own smoothie. blue skirt and orange top.

dinner for the families

SHEPHERDS PIE (POOR MANS PIE)

1 lb. ground beef1 can peas1 can sweet corn1 medium onion, diced1/3 c. sugar8 medium potatoes2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Boil potatoes, mash and season to taste with milk and butter.
Brown ground beef and onion with salt and pepper. When cooked, add peas, corn, sugar. Let simmer until heated through.
In 13x9 pan place meat and vegetable mixture in bottom of pan. Cover with mashed potatoes and sprinkle cheese on top.
Place in oven on BROIL until cheese is bubbly or light brown.

another version: add onion, garlic. top with creamed corn then potatoes and cheese ... heavy on the starch i know!

Las Vegas revisited

uneventful trip to las vegas on saturday. had a good lunch with the martin family, rested a bit in the afternoon but still had a quiet early night. sunday has been a lovely morning breakfast and park which got crowded when we were leaving. lots of kodak moments. cash is quite the daredevil. still refusing to say "grammy" ... no matter how hard we all try. it's comical. he loves his dog chachi, riding bikes and going for wagon walks. loves reading books. managed to say Mimi eeaaaah (when looking at firefighter and her truck) but can't say grammy! finally we got mamie which is probably as close as we'll get. carolyn and chandler have gone out to lunch while cash and i have some quiet time....no decent movies to see so they chose lunch. weather here is fantastic ... nice to be outside.

Philosophy & other stuff

"Pop when you get old you're gonna die. but that's okay, it's the circle of life" he learned that from the Lion King

following an unfortunate faceplant in Bangkok and local and foreign dental work, Pop told Wiley he lost a tooth. Wiley was concerned and asked if the tooth fairy left Pop some money because the tooth fairy sometimes leaves money if you put your tooth under your pillow. Pop said he didnt get any money from the tooth fair and wiley thought that was very rude of the tooth fairy.

Rick arrived and seems to be enjoying the time with Bobby and Sarah.

Random July updates in August

• Attended pool party in Timberlake for Wiley's 3rd birthday. it was hot and lots of fun especially for the little ones. Bobby was a trooper who slept most of the time. Wiley and Archer had fun.


• Went to Raleigh Durham airport from the party to pick up Wiley's Pop who was arriving from London.


• Wiley and Archer came to Greensboro to visit on Sunday while Pop was in town. It was a bit rainy but bike riding was good. Archer ate a lot of stuff. Wiley mastered chewing gum and not swollowing it. Realized if it went missing (dropped on the floor or put somewhere) he'd score a new piece to replace it.


• Bobby got weighed and is a hefty 11lb6.5 oz. not bad for an 8 week old who actually arrived almost 2 weeks before planned.


• sarah had a good trip to Calif to see Rick and meet up with Carolyn and Chandler.


• Carolyn is doing well. Little C is starting to wiggle so that's pretty exciting. Cash is a wild man and pretty darn cute.


• Emily has been busier than ever. Triathalon, working lots of shifts both hers and others, coming to see her father, being aunty to all the boys,


• i got delivery of my 2 chairs for the office after a long wait to get them covered.


• managed to hang the print on the dining room wall despite lack of help and in spite of negative comments and criticism


• dishwasher was fixed but is on its last legs ... new one should be purchased (Kitchenaid was recommendation)


• lost 3 straight scrabble games to Kris Bonner (on line of course) but 2 were very very close


• digital tv or whatever it is still has me confused.

thats about it for now.