Where has July gone? I spent yesterday tootling around with my Mom, it was GREAT!
We had breakfast with Maisy, while she kept guard over us. Met my Dad for lunch and stopped by Carmela’s Bakery on our way home for some delicious sweet treats! MMMM! I won’t tell you how many cookies are actually still left in the box, because that would be giving away too many secrets!
By the time you read this today, I will be up in the air, winging my way home. I ended my day yesterday with a quiet moment in the cupboard, surveying my home of 3 years, before I silently turned off the lights and locked my door for the very last time.
I handed over my keys, had a mini send-off in the hallway with farewell hugs and waves and walked down the stairs and into the sunshine. It feels surreal. A good surreal though. I feel as if I had run through an emotional gauntlet and somehow managed to come out the other side, there was a heady mix of highs and lows.
After a full day of traveling, I will be home in time for dinner with my parents. What could be better?
I might be radio silent for a few days while I enjoy being home and taking a little time to breath! I’ll catch up with you soon!
Jennifer x
I arrived home yesterday after a crazy trip. Another lot of flight cancellations and a drive to Chicago, courtesy of my parents, I made it home!
I felt like I was in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, driving into the city; that or Adventures in Babysitting. It was truly an adventure!
There is something about going home for me. It just rejuvenates my soul. Getting to spend time with my family was wonderful and the fact that my sister and niece were able to come and we were all together, well that was just a blessing.
I sadly said my goodbyes, I never like saying goodbye to my family, but I realize how lucky I am. If I had lived during the Pioneer Age, I would probably have never seen my family again and only received letters that were weeks if not months old, my Mom and I always think of that.
But, I arrived home safely in Mr. Michie’s arms and am slowly getting back into the swing of things.
{image found}
Well, I am interrupting my Spring Break to step on to my soap box. It is not often that I use this space to do that, but today, I feel warrants it! I have come home to visit with my family over the Easter holiday and I was so very lucky that after spending time with my sister and 7 month old niece, the two of them travelled with me to see our Mom and Dad.
Yesterday, my sister and niece headed back home to Virginia and spent the entirety of their day in the airport. Now, I know this is nothing new, being a frequent traveller, I have had this happen many a time, I am sure many of you have had that happen. One flight after another cancelled, delayed. No one wants to tell you what is going on, a string of inconsistent reports, grumpy people all around.
My sister’s flight was delayed by over 4 hours and if it wasn’t for the only kind gentleman at the gate she would have been delayed a lot longer, but he got her on a flight. She was guaranteed to be on her original flight connection from Chicago to Virginia. However when she arrived the flight was delayed. That delay went on and on and on.
Now, here’s the thing, my sister doesn’t care to fly, she was on her own with a baby and carrying all the things a mama has to carry and you can say what you want, I am sure some people are rolling their eyes, they have been there done that, well, that might be true, but this is MY sister and niece we are talking about it and they are two of the most important people to me, so it doesn’t matter what anyone else has or hasn’t done, my focus was on them.
Her husband and my dad were on the phone with United Airlines trying to help her, because no one at the United counter was. My mom and I were doing what we could from the computer. She finally got on a flight, after spending almost 5 hours in the airport, with one spare bottle left for the baby, both parties exhausted but trying to keep their spirits up. And if you saw my niece, your spirits would always be lifted. She has the kindest little soul and she is such a happy, well loved little baby.
I know that 5 hours does not seem like a lot of time, but my sister had only packed 3 bottles, she was supposed to have a quick turn around. She had planned for a bit of extra time, but not almost 5 hours of extra time with a little girl who at that time would have already been home and in her bed.
My sister and niece were blessed to sit next to an angel who just kept talking away to them; while her husband drove over 3 hours to the airport to pick up his girls since they had been rerouted. I am blessed, I have a wonderful family. I am also blessed that not only do I love the person that my sister married, I truly like him as well.
As a trained Jedi, he knew what needed to be done and picked up a case of water and extra formula and packed extra bottles. He also had an intuition that after almost 5 hours in the airport that United Airlines would not manage to get my sister’s luggage or the baby’s carrier on the plane, because that would have been too easy. So, he went to pick up a new one. Well, he was RIGHT. The airline had lost my sister’s luggage and the baby’s carrier.
Another unexpected expense added to their trip was the purchase of a brand new baby carrier. What if they weren’t able to do that? What would have happened? They couldn’t legally have driven a baby home on their laps for a 3 hour car ride. United Airlines could have cared less.
You know, a lot is happening in the world right now. People are working harder then ever to keep their jobs, to keep a roof over their head, to put food on their table. Any business, I don’t care how big or how small you are, should be honoured that you have a patron. You should care for that patron. Where has the art of customer service gone? Where have simple acts of decency gone, where a young mother would have been helped, where the airline would have done everything for her to make things smoother. Where they would do anything for a passenger to make things smoother. Unfortunately, you are at their mercy and they are fully aware of that.
Our prayers were answered that my sister and niece landed safely. My niece made the trip smoothly, as this was only her second time flying, we all were praying she would do well. My sister the excellent Mama she is, thought on her feet as all good Mamas do and kept everything just ticking along for her little love bug of a baby. But, what she endured yesterday, well, in my book there is just no excuse for. United Airlines did nothing. I did something I wouldn’t normally do, I took my soap box over to Twitter to air my views.
The best United Airlines could do, was send me the link to their Customer Service page. I wanted more. It is my baby sister and niece they were in charge of caring for and I was not impressed. I know they have thousands of individuals to deal with, yet each should be treated like they are the only ONE, that is the art of customer service.
As we become more and more machine orientated, as the art of conversation and letter writing begin to disappear, I hope that there are a number of us who continue to fight for politeness, decency, kindness, strong values and standards, people to people customer service and care. We should not forget our humanity. We should not forget to commit random acts of kindness. We should not forget to care for each other like we would want our own loved ones cared for. We should not forget the art of customer service.
I’m stepping off my soap box, thanks for listening.
A sweet little horse, tied to the hitching post while his owner did a bit of shopping.
An early morning ride to pick up fresh cinnamon rolls and doughnuts.
Nothing better then getting up before the sun rises to head out and see dawn unfold before your eyes as you go on a little adventure with your Dad!
Our road trip took us to the Rise ‘N Roll Bakery, a little piece of Heaven right here on earth, their cinnamon rolls are as light as air and their doughnuts will melt in your mouth!
I am up, up and awaaaay this morning. I am flying home to see my family.
I am always sad when Mr. Michie doesn’t get to come with me, but there is a certain tiny little person that I will be getting to visit with and I am sure she will keep me more than happy and occupied!
This is my final Madrid Chapter. I have so much more to share, but these are really the highlights. The image above is the staircase in our hotel. The wood was so worn down it dipped, from all the feet that had walked over it for almost 100 years. We went to the Prado They were not the friendliest bunch working at the group ticket office that day and those ladies were extremely difficult about letting us in, even with my confirmation letters. As one of my colleagues said, “The Devil wears Prado!”
However, I got see Las Meninas, Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (talk about the details you miss in a slide or viewing an image in a book, the colors were almost unimaginable, amazing!) and Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation. For that alone, it was worth all the hassle to get in. Gabriel’s robes were so much pinker than I had ever imagined. The gold glittered around the hem, catching the light in the room. It took my breath away.
We also went on a cable car ride and Goose Girl and Foxy got to see the Temple De Bod. Foxy studied a bit of Egyptian Art, so he is always glad when we gets to see something Egyptian in person, and test his Hieroglyphic skills.
We had lunch at a kitsch little cafe. Our waitress reminded me of an edgier Amelie. She had a great personality and was extremely witty! I ate pastela de pollo. It was heavenly, it was light, it was moorish, it was sweet. The chicken and almonds and apricots and cinnamon all bundled together in phyllo dough, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on the top, it was devine.
We also went to the Caixia Forum. It was a really interesting building. There was an Architecture exhibition on, they had the prettiest statue of Saint Barbara from a Belgian church and the William Blake exhibition on the second floor had a gem of a Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
We finished our day with a walk back through the park we first started in and off to our hotel. I found this bicycle carved into a stone pavement and just as I was about to snap a picture, a little golden leaf blew onto one of the wheels.
I also spied this snail:
One last shot, taken behind one of the student’s glasses and we were off, bound for home.
Well, in my next installment of Madrid, I thought I would discuss with you, what is possibly the best Gin & Tonic, I have ever had in my life thus far. We went out for an evening drink after one member of our group discovered this great little joint, tucked down a side road.
Making these drinks was a serious business. The ice was toppled in to chill the glass, before it was ceremoniously dumped away, the flick of the lemon rind around the rim of the glass, more ice being added, the lemon rind, a sprig of rosemary, the gin and then the tonic, gloriously poured down the metal swizzle stick. Our bartender was hysterical and put on quite a show for us, we enjoyed it.
We visited the Thyssen Museum and it started to become a joke at how many things we had told the students to see, or things that we wanted to see that were on loan. I didn’t get to see my Edward Hopper as it too was on loan, but tucked in a corner of the downstairs gallery was an Andrew Wyeth and seeing that, made up for the Hopper.
I was very fortunate growing up to have parents that instilled a love of the Arts into myself and my sister. We were also very lucky to have a museum near our home, that had a large collection of Wyeths and my mom would take us to see them during school breaks.
I love Andrew Wyeth, always have, always will. You weren’t allowed to take pictures in this museum, but I did sneak one onto my phone. That is a terrible thing for an Art Historian to do, I know, but I didn’t use flash.
His brushstrokes are so delicate, so powerful, I felt that I could just reach out and touch her sweater. You could feel the fibers and smell the wool.
We also traveled to the very exquisite San Miguel Market. It had exposed beams and iron-work and was filled with an extensive variety of food. One could have lived like a king eating from here. Many stalls were filled with just the “perfect bite”, so you could have made a selection of little tapas to enjoy at one of the tables while you watched the hustle and bustle around you.
Of course, wherever I go, so do Goose Girl and Foxy. This was Goose Girl enjoying the view from the balcony of our hotel. She liked to sleep with the doors open at night, so she could smell the city, feel the breeze ripple over her skin, watch the curtains dance and listen to the traffic below. She was happy there.
I have a few more things to share with you yet, so stay tuned, there is one more day to go…
Well, it has taken me a little bit to get this out. I think that last week, almost killed me, we just have to survive this week and then we are on Fall Break, I am already doing a “Peanut’s” dance just thinking about it!
There is just so much I want to share with you and what I will be sharing, won’t even be the half of it, but here goes:
On our first morning, we took a meandering stroll through the streets of Madrid, before the city really woke and these were some of my finds:
Our first day was spent at the Reina Sofia Museum. I got to see Guernica in person, there were things that I had not noticed before. A slide or an image in a book can only go so far in bringing something to life for your eyes. The details are not always captured.
I also got to see Picasso’s Woman in Blue (1902) and was very excited about that. Her lips were so red, redder than I had ever imagined, redder than any image had ever shown. But not just red, they were scarlet, they were strawberry, they were peachy, they were a blazing orange. She sat gazing out on the room and all who entered it.
There were so many other things I enjoyed seeing in this museum, here are just two:
After lunch we spent the late afternoon in the Buen Retiro Park, boating around the lake, visiting the Crystal Palace, drawing, photographing and just being.
We walked the students to the Forest of the Departed. It was built to commemorate the 192 victims of the 2004 Atocha Train Station bombings. A tree had been planted for each person who had been killed. It is composed of cyprus and olive trees and it was refined, peaceful and reflective.
It is surrounded by water and the garden winds around in a spiral, swirling around a mini mountain. At the top, very happily eating and obviously very used to people was the most exquisite rabbit. He let me photograph him and even came out from his little thicket to sniff my camera lens.
More to come tomorrow, so stay tuned…