Asparagus!

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, it will be asparagus season in Italy when we are there. More specifically, white asparagus season. Bob and I are very excited about this. Apparently, restaurants all over Italy offer all-asparagus menus in April and May, right down to dessert - like cheesecake made with an asparagus compote. We love asparagus, but an all-asparagus menu and asparagus dessert is probably pushing the bounds of our devotion.

White asparagus is grown underground - under layers of light soil. Many of the farms are 25 miles outside Venice, and we would love to check it out but I suspect the level of teenage protest would be fairly high.

The article is here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703734504575125533776311198.html

Random Rainy Sunday Thoughts

Should I wear sweatpants on the plane? I would wear pajama bottoms if I had any that were in wear-in-public condition. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure I have sweatpants that are in wear-outside-the-gym condition, but I'm also not sure I should care. And I keep thinking about our European Tour as kids - my parents took us all on a 6 week journey in 1976 - and I am positive our mother made us dress nice for the plane. I think we also had to dress nicely to go to the doctor too back then.

I checked weather.com and it predicts 50 degrees and light rain for Paris while we are there, and upper 50s/partly cloudy for Venice. Sunny and mid-60s for Rome over Easter at least, here's hoping it stays that way when we are there.

Ryne is considering taking his clarinet along and playing in St Mark's Square to earn money. I think this idea has merit as long as he plays the piece he is supposed to play for solo and ensemble the Saturday after we get back.

I have the name of the "best" Paris bakery - Patissiere Laduree. Check these out! http://www.laduree.fr/public_en/produits/patisseries_accueil.htm

Yum.

Digital Camera Woes (is it just me?)

I still have my Pentax 35 mm that I bought used in 1985. Completely manual, took awesome pics unless there was user error. As is usual in our household, I moved on to a digital point-and-shoot way after they first appeared on the market, and after much research, bought a Canon PowerShot A70, 3.2 MP. Photos were not nearly as sharp as my beloved Pentax, but that was easy to overlook - I could fit this camera in a purse or even a coat pocket, email the photos, print as many as I wanted, and delete the crappy ones. I used that Canon for years, even after I was told that inexpensive digital cameras should be viewed as high-end disposables with a 2-year life expectancy.

The Canon started having trouble saving and deleting images, but it had had a good life, so I bit the bullet and bought the highly-rated Nikon Coolpix S210, 8 MP. I wasn't impressed, but hey, it was a $120 camera and it fit in my pocket. That was December 2008. By fall 2009, the Nikon was plagued with random over-exposures and focus issues. I no longer had the receipt for the camera, so couldn't return it even if there was a one year warranty, which was doubtful. Another round of research and I bought a Panasonic Lumix ZR1 for about $250. Great camera. Takes HD video that is awesome. Then it crashed and burned after about a month, giving me error messages that required me to turn the camera off and back on after every picture. Exchanged it for the same version, and so far so good.

The boys have May birthdays, and thinking of the upcoming trip (and then Ryne has a Washington DC trip later in April), I figured maybe I should buy them each an inexpensive digital camera. Disposables were an option, but then we would have to lug them around, and how many would be enough? So, Bob and I went to Target, found some Polaroid brand cameras that were on sale for about $40-50. They had to at least be better than the disposables, right? Of course not.  Opened up the better of the two, iZone Series 5 MP (reg. $70) and knew were in trouble right away. Lightweight, cheap feel. No focusing. Funny colors. And Rocky wasn't scared of it (he hates to have his picture taken, but apparently only if you are using a real camera):

Needless to say, the cameras are going back to Target - the flash doesn't work on the one we opened anyway - and we are nudging the price point up a bit.

Time Travel

Ryne and I were talking about the flight to Paris and how long it would take, and I mentioned that we would need to add some hours because of the time change. I always have trouble with this, so I was wondering if it was, like, yesterday there...and Ryne perked up at the thought that we would be time traveling. Unfortunately, it's a just a 5 hour difference ahead, so it's 1:30 AM in Paris right now. But I think they move to "summer time" on Sunday, which adds an hour. Probably not enough to qualify as time travel, which is too bad.

Life in a Small Town

So, I'm driving home through the older part of my neighborhood yesterday wondering if I missed the FedEx delivery (see earlier post), and there's the FedEx truck parked along the street! So, I pull up and roll my window down and ask the delivery person if she's been to Starfield yet, and she says no, but she has a package for me and she thinks it needs a signature. I hadn't given her my name...but maybe she doesn't have many FedEx deliveries on my street. Anyway, I sign the electronic pad, she hands me the envelope, the whole transaction takes place through our windows. It was like a FedEx drive-thru. No need to trapse into Ann Arbor! And it was the euros. Aren't they pretty? Why can't we have well-designed currency?

Ryne Is Really Excited About The Trip

He is so excited, that he spent a large chunk of time at Sunday school complaining about starving to death on Saturday because of his over-scheduled life (got up at 11 am, ate a donut, left at 12:45 for district band fest, ate pizza/chips/soda/candy at about 4 pm, got home at 5:30)...but neglected to mention to his Sunday school teacher - also a friend and neighbor - that he was traveling next week to Paris, Venice and Rome. "I didn't think of it," he says.

Money and Cats

Today started out with Rex sneaking outside and under the deck, where he apparently crashed into something and bruised his hip or leg, and gashed his forehead. He seems to be OK, and managed to get upstairs in time to imbibe in leftover shower water.

We also ordered euros through AAA, and I think FedEx tried to deliver them today. The note says they require a direct signature (so someone has to physically be here) and the someone has to be an adult (and human I am guessing). After 6 pm I can drive 20+ miles into Ann Arbor somewhere to pick it up myself, or they will continue to attempt delivery here for two more days. I have visions of my driving to Ann Arbor only to find that they are trying to deliver my package in Pinckney.

I just checked the location, and it is near the A2 airport...maybe I can turn this into a dinner opportunity? And try to pay for dinner using euros?

Bathroom Cleaning

You know you want to read this.

My life is sad enough that I was completely excited and totally blown away by Magic Eraser. I know this product has been around, and I have heard reports of the wonder of it. But, man. What IS this thing? How does it work? Because it works really really well. It just seems to be a sponge, a little more solid than a usual one. I don't get it. I used the special bathroom one on the tubs and it was awesome - and the tubs here can get gross. Because I hate cleaning bathrooms. But all I had to do was wet the sponge and wipe down the tub, all done, looks great!

Then I used a regular Magic Eraser on the ceramic tile. Forgot the grout was originally white! How about that? And I didn't even need to be one of those toothbrush-wielding uptight cleaner moms.

How does this relate to the World Tour, you ask? We will have a house and pet sitter for the duration. 'Nuff said.

Pre-Trip Shopping

Did a little pre-trip shopping today for the ziploc meds bag - tylenol, tums, and a generic "anti-diarrheal" that says it "controls symptoms of diarrhea, including Travelers' Diarrhea." Is there a difference, I wonder?

I am gathering all the hotel and itinerary information today, and writing up instructions for the house/pet sitter, who will go through her second orientation session on Sunday. She seems willing to come back after the first one, so that must be a good sign. Four cats and a dog didn't seem to bother her, but we'll see what she thinks after she's lived with them all for a couple weeks.

Speaking of animals, here is Team Orange, waiting to start a reconnaisance mission:

Getting Ready

Ten days to go, and I am setting up this blog for us to use on the trip. And thinking of the funny things we do to get ready for a trip like this, like buy shoes and get the dog groomed. And how clean does the house have to be for a house sitter do you suppose? These are the things that keep me up at night.