There.

To The Gentleman That Called Me This Morning Long Before We Were Officially Open And Proceeded To Yell At Me For Ten Minutes Straight,

I agree.
It is beyond the pale that we do NOT check whether we get a response to every single one of our emails from the several hundreds that are sent automatically each week as our specially ordered books are checked in.
We should have known that, by your not replying to an email that was sent to the wrong address due to a spelling error, you did not get our message, and we should have called you straight away rather than after the three weeks' grace period we give every single other customer.
We should have stopped helping all the other customers waiting at the information desk, we should have stopped unpacking stock and magazines, we should have stopped letting people pay for their books, we should have stopped answering the phones, we should have stopped putting books onto the shelves, we should have stopped answering email inquiries, we should have stopped having lunch, we should have stopped ordering books for our sections, we should have stopped pricing old stock down, we should have stopped unloading shipments as they were delivered to our door.
After all, your phone number was on the information slip contained in one of those hundreds of specially ordered books we unpacked last week. We should have looked for that instead.
I also agree that the colleagues you talked to on the phone, for whom Dutch is only their third or fourth language, should be fired straight away. After all, if they can't understand your accent, in all its faux-upper-class glory, they obviously have IQs below the 50 mark.
It was very kind of you to tell me all this in tones of barely contained rage.
We ARE, after all, talking about a book to be taken on holiday, not something as insubstantial as a kidney transplant.
Thank you for taking the time to show me the light. I would have said thank you this morning had I, for even a moment, thought I could get a word in edge-wise, or thought that you would do me the basic courtesy of listening.
I hope you enjoy your holiday. In fact, I hope you enjoy it so much you move to wherever you're going.

May you live in interesting times,
Me

Construction

Dad, Daughter, and I worked 9 - 5 today, what a way to make a living. We did, however, end up with this (note, in first picture, my hand was crooked, not the house):



Luckily for us we had a Certified Hammerer on site:



In between bouts of pushing, shoving, hammering, painting, cursing and cheering there was time to sit in the middle of some riotous colours:



Also there was time to enjoy the miracle that is nature, doing her thing. I never cease to be amazed that seeds grow for me as well as other people. For the city slickers among you, those are tomatoes, carrots and courgettes, from left to right:



And finally, a self-portrait after today:

TV

Daughter has discovered Disney tweens show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, on permanent re-run here: eyes riveted to the screen in semi-disbelief at what everyone's getting up to, mouth open in concentration as she follows the dialogue, and belly-laughing whenever someone bumps into a wall (which is often). She considers it the best thing since sliced bread.

As for me, I cannot help but agree. Watching and listening to her watch it is hilarious, in all the right ways. :-)

Just finished...

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

(Thought I'd start the one-post-per-book tradition again, for however long it holds.)

Most recent Sarah Waters book, kindly given Uncorrected Proof, loved all but her first book. This one set post-World War II. Doctor Faraday (the narrator) called out to Hundreds Hall where sole maid to impoverished aristocratic mother-daughter-son lies ill, scared of the house itself. A somewhat ghostly accounting of the events through the next year follows.

Read this one fitfully. Waters is Master of Atmospheric Writing, but didn't like the narrator. At all. Only in the last few chapters he became sharper, less blurry, and more menacing, if I read between the lines correctly, and much more palatable. Until then the dilapidated house and its nouveau-pauvre inhabitants were stars of the show, but continuously seen through a thick narrator filter - and since he was a good, common-sensical doctor, stopping the creepy from really flowing out of the book. Until the very end, so all-in-all this is the kind of book that does keep you thinking about it afterwards. Don't know for how long, though.

Just finished...

Not reading awfully much this year. Also very bad with comments, replying to. Now get emails when someone comments, so may actually reply. No promises though! Anyhoo:

The Corinthian + April Lady by Georgette Heyer. One of my new comfort reads, is Heyer. Have gotten at least one colleague started on them, too, yay.

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. Unashamedly romantic book, this. If this does not have you curled up on the couch with hot cocoa, sighing "awwwww" every two pages, your heart is made of stone.

Vision in White by Nora Roberts. Business literature, of course. Must be done at times; tough job, etc. Could not resist all that tulle on cover, either, nor the hand-cut paper. Part 1 of four about four friends running a wedding business; Roberts knows her stuff, so it was enjoyable.

The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. Part x in long-running series. May not read next one, think I've done my dues here, and the past few I didn't like.

Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey. Don't much like her style (too many repetitions), but her world-building is A+. Would love to go on holiday in Terre d'Ange.

And now back to the regularly scheduled hanging on the couch.

Warning: Strong Emotions Contained Within

Have ranted about this before, twice, yet it bears repeating anyway:

WHO EVER thought that whole monthly thing was a good idea? WHY do girls have that whole eggy cycle thing going? Bar surgically removing the whole kit 'n kaboodle is there ANY way to stop turning into a hormonal Mrs. Hyde every dear-lord-the-cycle-gets-shorter-the-older-I-get-WHY?!?!?!

I feel like there's another Me walking backwards everywhere I go, nose to nose with me, getting IN MY WAY at EVERY OPPORTUNITY.

Right. Time to bash head into desk repeatedly. Or something similar.

In Bruges

The Other Half and I went to Bruges this weekend, sans Daughter, idle parents that we are. It was the first time away without her since she was born, so the fun started early. In the bus to the station, in fact:



iPhone apps... What would The Other Half do without them?

Bruges was lovely to visit. Very clean and old and quaint. A bit like a movie set, sometimes. There was the usual Medieval European scenery we have here, too:



And a few atypical details you see when you take the time to look:



We did three city walks, all in all, and saw some lovely inner gardens off the beaten path. Didn't go into any cathedral, museum, or tower. Did walk, drink local beer in the sun, read and nap. There was lace knitting in public in more ways than one:



And chocolate... Oh, the chocolate...



I can still not really believe it, but The Other Half and I saw 2 FIVE KILO JARS of Nutella. We have no pictures to prove it, because I fainted on the spot, and The Other Half's jaw hit the pavement not far from my prostrate form. The thought of those 2 massive jars is enough to make me drool. Imagine owning one, in your home. Dear lord.

Anyhoo. Nutella overdosis aside, it was vastly enjoyable (a few more pictures here), and we loved picking Daughter up from Mom and Dad's house as much, if not more.

Strawberries

Tuesday's harvest:



Saturday's harvest:



1324 grams. And more ripening still. Even doling them out at birthday parties (Elfin Blue Eyes is a year older again)(scary, innit?) leaves many, many to be eaten, in a very short time span. Humanly impossible, even for Daughter.

Long live sugar, lemon and heat:



Yummmmm!

Wii

That would be The Other Hii, Mii, and Shii. Uncannily accurate, too.

Wii've bought one of those machines, yes. Also one of those Fit boards, in the hope that Ii move around a bit more. So far so good, although during mii daily body test Ii still hover between Obese and merely Overweight. Mii Fit Age is heading the right way, at least.

Also, Shii is a pro-bowler, already, with shiny starry bowling ball and all. The Other Hii daily practices his golf swing. And does sit-ups, too.

At least Ii still hold the hula-hoop record after one week!

Boom

Junior Elder Sister bought their self-titled album. It's Monty Python-ish in that, the more you listen to it, the funnier it gets.

Firm favorite is also this one (especially the binary solo near the end):



If you can't see the clips above, try these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUm3b2r9osg and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64)