Notes from ShellyCentral

yeah, this doesn't look right.

so my credit card expired and typepad reminded me i was paying them ten dollars a month.

i've been paying them ten dollars a month for like - ever? 
that's really silly.

right now i've downgraded, that's why it looks so different here.
in case you were wondering.

 

 

I went to New York.

 

New York is easily my favorite city in the US.
So how lucky am I that my son and his family live there?

They recently had a baby, which means I recently became a grandma. It's sweet. It's just as good as all the silly memes say. But that's not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about New York.

I'm working on a proper report of it for over on shellycentral, but until then I thought I'd say hi! I did a thing and it was awesome. Here are a couple of my favorite bits.

 

The graffiti is not wrong.

Columbus Circle always reminds me of the first time I a. traveled alone and b. visited NYC. 

On that trip, I took a picture of my best friend (who was living there) under a bridge somewhere in Central Park. That was 1984 and since then I've wandered through the park several times wondering where it was. This trip I stumbled onto it. I'll show you the old picture when I post for real on my blog.

There was an art exhibit based on celebrating Mickey's birthday. It was the one thing I wanted to do besides visit with my family. It was fantastic and I feel lucky to have gotten to see it!

Trash can isn't wrong

I'm excited to tell you about it.
It was a really great trip.

 

 

 

the thing is i have way more to say than any of you really want to hear.

 

i've watched a couple dozen youtubes, read a few articles, and rambled on for quite some time to my best friend who barely has any idea what i'm talking about. i've figures some stuff out. like i'm using the rally template, which is in the brine family. i decided side bars are way too 2005 and i don't need one. i've decided i am going to keep this here and it will function, from my point of view, a lot like my facebook wall did when i first started. and like my live journal was. you should have zero expectations of this being... interesting :).  i mean it might be. but then again it very well might not. maybe it's like if we were roommates and we bumped into each other int he kitchen or the living room. i'll have something to say (because i'm me). it might be pointless. it might be interesting. who knows. life is like that.

so i made those decisions.

it's one of those days my brain is just a little too fast for me so to slow it down i've got my "songs i like" playlist from spotify on the downstairs speakers, aerial africa (from natgeo) on the monitor and "Ice Age Columbus" on the big TV.

{by the way that is an amazing show you should watch. i've probably seen it infinity times.}

but now it's almost dinner.
it's 17 whole degrees outside, so i'm going to make chili. i don't love chili, but when it's winter you make a lot of concessions.

 

also: this is very much like what my "journal entries" of olden days were like.

 

 

I lied.

I have nothing figured out.

On this super cold and snowy Saturday, I'm playing in my art journal and watching youtubes about squarespace. I realized the problem is I had no idea what I'm trying to do and no idea what SquareSpace can do. Huh. No wonder I'm having a hard time.

So today, I'm taking some time to think things through a little bit, and to learn things.
Great idea.

 

 

i think i've figured it out

this place, here on typepad which i certainly have no beef with, to post the random daily tidbits one might usually put on facebook - random thoughts, links to things i think you should see along with other random show and tell, and pictures. Lots of pictures always.

And then when I have a longer story to tell - like a trip report or a ted talk - i'll put it on my website.

let's try that.

i'll be back to work on how it looks later. right now i have to take my mom and her dog to the vet.

 

 

 

(nb: i don't plan to use capitalization over here. punctuation? well, creatively. because these are the notes we pass in class.)

 

oh yeah, i went to disney world.

remember when i went to disney world?

yeah it was so long ago i kind of forgot too.
i got back and then there was the craziness of hannah's eyeball poking and life and holidays and... i know i don't have to tell you.

this morning i've been using google photos to watch all the photos and video of that trip on my big screen. nice.

as always, i miss disney.

St Paul's in London. From the outside.

 

I have been to London twice, and both times I have stayed here, at St Paul's YHA.

I'll always love that area because after spending most of my life dreaming of visiting Great Britain, it was the first place I actually got to explore. And "living" there meant it became the kind of home away from home you make for yourself when you're traveling.

 

 

The hostel isn't exactly nice, but look at that building. It started life as a place for the kids in the choir (or choir school?) at St Paul's to live. It was gorgeous. Also it was also incredibly inexpensive. The first time, when I was traveling alone, I shared a room for 8 girls. When I went later with Hannah we had a room for just the two of us.

 

 

See the face in that ariel shot of the cathedral? That's where I was standing when I took the below photo of the hostel.
The location was pretty great, too. Being that close to St Paul's also means being that close to the Millennium Bridge and everything at the other side of that (The Tate & The Globe right away, for example).

 

 

 

That's Queen Anne. She was the Queen at the start of the 1700s, and the great grandmother of George 3, who sent a fully armed battalion to remind us of his love.

 

 

When I was there in late April, flowers were blooming all over and it was beyond gorgeous.
Just to the right of the cathederal there was a walkway and gardens that I fell in love with.

 

 

I mean look.
And they smelled like peace and heaven.

Ok but back up to the photo before this. Look way to the right. See the little silver door?
It was a tiny little pay toilet.

 

 

I love noticing the differences between American and British culture. They're really similar in so many ways, but there are little things. One of them is the toilet. Most people would agree that British people are more polite than we are, but not, it seems, when it comes to the toilet.

We never call it the toilet in American unless we are specifically talking about a piece of plumbing. And I know, not NEVER but come on, we don't. We call it the bathroom or the restroom or the ladies room or lots of things, but none of them specifically state the main reason you're going there. We don't like to talk about that.

I get why it's different in England. The toilet is not always in the same place as the washroom or the bathroom. But it still gives me signs when I see "toilet" so blatantly on signs everywhere.

I mean come on. Don't announce what I'm doing in there.

Anyway.
Right next to St Paul's was this handy little stand alone toilet. It was a pay toilet and I was being super cheap on that trip so I am sorry I can't show you what it was like inside. If I see one again, though, I'll splurge the pound or two and check it out.

 

 

Across from the toilet is this lovely space.
I sat on on of those benches for a minute every day I was there. A couple days I stopped by the Marks & Spencer to grab what was to become my favorite lunch all across England and eat it there.

 

 

I cleverly took this picture of said lunch after I was done eating most of it - earlier it had been a delicious pasta salad with spinach, little tomatoes and pine nuts, a chocolate elcair and a square bottle of water.

I loved that pasta so much I tried to recreate it several times after I got home, but it was never the same. I don't know if they still sell this pasta salad, but I will definitely be checking.

 

 

Things are a bit crazy around here as I get ready for my next trip to London. I leave two weeks from tomorrow. But I've been enjoying looking at old pictures and reminiscing and wanted to share.