Obama has been elected!

Well, we just never know what we will be handed. It was a great surprize, I was hoping, I had faith in this country, and I still had some doubt. Obama was elected. How utterly exciting, thrilling, and moving. What does this mean? As Maya Angelu said, " We have finally grown up" or something along those lines. I am so proud of America for having the balls to elect a young black senator. I had never seen anything like this in my life, the only thing I can compare it to was the infatuation we as Americans, and the world for that matter had with The Kennedys. It is that kind of a feeling. I remember being in junior high school, my teacher got a phone call, she was crying....crying? in school....a person of authority? in front of everyone? God it had to be terrible. We were let out of school, and I ran around the corner to my Grandma's house, feeling very uneasy and wierd. When I came in the door my grandmother was watching TV and crying....President Kennedy had been shot...They showed Jackie in her pink suit blood soaked....it was shocking. I'll never forget that. So the point I am going to make here is, you judge things in your life by things that happen in History. I can't even fathom what this means to a poor black child in Kenya to see Obama elected president. It might give him the strength to just be able to dream of his future. It will be the start, I hope, of a much more hopeful and decent world. Yes, everyone does want change! Thanks America for voting, and for having the balls to dream!

After the McDrive

The Einfahrt....definition: What you are left with after you go through the McDrive.

And now time for something funny!

Human bodies in slaughterhouse-Bad Kissigen

So, I hear that the human body show is in Bad Kissigen. I really need to go see this show, I heard in L.A. there were terrible long lines and crowds to see the show. Melissa drops me off one morning she had to work, and tells me it is quite controversial in Bad Kissigen, because the building they are having the show in is an old slaughterhouse. How appropriate dead bodies, dead carcasses. I go in and there is a really wierd smell, I cannot describe it....that is the first thing that strikes me....now I don't think it's the bodies, it must be the building. I look for traces of the slaughter...ugh it gives you a very wierd, gross, uncomfortable feeling that so many animals died here. It is empty, there is no one here....good. The walls are painted black, and the bodies, pieces, etc are all en-cased in plastic display cases. It is wierd....yet so fascinating. Being an art major I did study muscles,ligaments, etc. in human drawing classes. So this is what Michaelangelo studied when he would use dead bodies and cut them up. It doesn't gross me out as much as I thought it would. It is fascinting to say the least. They had one body that was laid out and sliced in half inch deli meat slices...satrting at the feet all the way from the top of the head down, cross sections sliced all the way through. It was in a long plastic case roughly about 26-28 feet long....so if you were put in a slicer you would be very , very tall...ha! There is a head that has been cut in half so you see the sinus cavity, brain stem, half the throat etc...pretty enlightening.....the one thing tat does bother me is the fat asian guy with the eyelashes....something about him is just very creepy, takes you away from the science of it and keeps you more to the creepy side of things.....just wierd vibes really. I go out of the building after I read that, yes, I can donate my body to them and turn right to walk down the street to..... Mc Donald's...haa haaa I had seen it next door before coming in.

Smart car, smart German

The tiny Mercedes new smart car! Why don't we have these in Los Angeles.?????

Some pics of Bamburg...

We decide to walk off the potato bombs in our stomach, and head downtowm Bamburg. What a treat this is. Walt Disney must have come to Bamburg for inspiration. I could stay in this town for awhile. It is charming, storybook Germany. So hot, we decide to stop for ice gream....yes, on top of the potato bombs. With all the walking we are doing we are not holding on to all the calories. It is the first Italian gelato place of many I will visit while in Europe. Ice Cream as some of you well know, holds a dear place in my heart. The day in Bamburg was so wonderful, getting to visit with relatives, new food, and lots of fabulous mental images some I hope to have captured.

Potato bombs at the beer garten in Bamburg

These magical potato bombs....what can I say. So Sunday is a good day for a beer garden. Melissa and I drive to Banburg to see the family, Lauren, Tom, and Jonathan, and we all decide to go to a beer garden. It is a lovely outdoor picnic like atmosphere, there is a swingset at the back where children are playing. It was hot, and the picnic long tables where shady and cooler because of all the wonderful trees. So Melissa gets me a plate. It has potato bombs gravy and beef. So I get it, I understand the meat and potato diet, this is my family meal....thanks to my grandma. She was the meat and potato queen, so this is where she got it, hearty German countryside cookin'. The potato bombs, Tom tells me are potato mashed and then put through a ricer several times, they are so soft and seem to be held together with glue, something kind of rubbery on the outside. I feel them settling around my mid-section and accept that German potato ball belly of mine. These things are absolutly divine, and Jonathan laps them up. This is the perfect baby first food. Thick starchy take a long nap food. Well, pickie me dives in and after I shove glorious hunks of beef and gravy in my mouth, I finally come up for air. The beef is so tender and you can taste the wine that has been seeped into it. The gravy I would like spread on my body when I die. I understand the beer garden now, it is family tradition, good food, home made, families chat, kids play, people, drink beer and talk, it's just not the rowdy drunk fest you always see at Oktoberfest. It is a fantastic afternoon, and I feel so lucky to have these people in my life. Jonathan keeps skol-ing Tom, it is so cute!

Hotei gets a massage

O.K. so I had the most unbelievable massage at this place in Bad Kissigen. What is even wierder is the massage therapists are all Asian, but speak German! So unusual, it kind of throws you off. It reminds me of sitting on the beach in Barbados, a rasta black guy comes up selling beads, and he says" Excuse me madame" in the strongest British accent you have ever heard. It gives you a double-take and then you realize that your preconceived ideas are wrong, and should be loosened up. We all do it when meeting people, we make assumptions. So this massage was the most incredible pounding I have ever had. The chair was a big red velvet thrown that did things, convertible things, arms moved, backs went down, legs up....they could market the chair! I fell in love with this place, I left like a wet noodle.

A journal of a good dog!

This is a homage to Chelsea, a wonderful golden, and a walk Melissa and I did with the dogs in the German forest. Chelsea ready to go, but only in the front seat.

Leaving Germany I head toward Spain

I'm on a flight with a bunch of Germans heading toward Alicante we're eating sausage and cheese!

Walking the dogs..Chelsea is dead?

Melissa and I would go and take the dogs for a walk in the fields or woods. God, I love that! It is the best thing in the world to be outside looking at the incredible landscape in Germany. The rolling green fields, the forest. One day we went to a different walk where there was a stream and Chelsea went nuts in the water she loved it so much, was running, grabbing at things in the water. Marching, jumping straining to get in then jumping out. Missy and I were hysterical, she was so funny. There was so much joy in her at that moment. She was delirious with delight. This moment is what a dog is all about. Especially a Golden Retriever, they are real water dogs, come alive around and in it. I have had many goldens and think they are the greatest family dogs ever. Anyway, it wasn't 2 months after that and I get an email from Melissa that Chelsea has died, I could not believe it. She said Chelsea got up one morning and just had a heart attack at her feet. All I remember is that look of complete bliss on her face in the stream that day, in the woods in Germany. It makes it all worthwhile doesn't it? Just to see or experience one fleeting moment of sheer joy. If we could all be so lucky as that great, great, wonderful dog........Chelsea!

German Food...uh humpf!

I do love wiener snitzel though!

Just hangin' out

A German Castle

German fields of green, so gorgeous.

Behind melissa's home, outskirts of the neighgorhood, are acres of fields and along the rim a cool forest, there's a wakj that rims the fields thru the forest.

A ......s-l-o-w start today......

I have awoken for my first day in Europe. Things are a little slow today. I did have a good nights sleep though in the crazy bank building my sister lives in. It seems as though a doctor built this gisantic square box, and put a ton of money into it, and then went bankrupt. This is where my sister, her husband 2 dogs and a cat live, in a quaint small town called Bad Kissigen. Bad Kissigen is know for it's "Waters". Older people come from all over to take the "waters". So we go downtown one day and go to the sacred fountain in the park where water bubbles out from miles below the surface of the earth. It's a foul, egg, sulphur, concostion, that has people filling their glasses there 3 times a day. The doctors send people there for the "cure", god it all sound so medieval. I go and get a swig, ugh, it is salty, sulphery horrible. I guess people swear by it, cures everything, although I do feel a slight headache coming on...haa haaaa!

Thunderstorms in Germany........ faswoosh!

So after 10 hours I land in London and then catch a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, the cheapest flight so far 73 dollars. We board the plane, there are only 10 people. We sit, and sit and continue to sit. Now remember I have been sitting on a plane for 10 hours, hanging in Heathrow for another 3 and a half hours, and now I sit once again. There are moments in life when pulling your hair out seems like a great idea. The pilot comes on and tells us that there are thunderstorms in Germany and we must wait. Wait for a storm to pass? Doesn't that take hours? I start talking to the woman next to me, she is a very nice Persian lady who lives in Germany. She has been working in London and is on her way home. She is a translator. We take off and it is uneventful except...I am, so tired. I fall asleep and wake myself up by snorting very loud! I was snoring. I jump at being suddenly awakened and apologize for my adnoids..sp? She said it's fine her husband snores. I am dead beat. Need fresh air and my feet on green grass. I am soooo tired of being in a sitting position 30,000 feet above the ground when all of a sudden the plane drops about a thousand feet. This gets me going, the lady and I look at heach other, startled, we laugh, and then know we are in for something with the damn storm. The rest of the way to Germany was like an amusement park ride. I was no longer tired. I thought to myself, if I'm going to die please let me be alert and smart until the very last moment. I may have to parachute out over the German countryside or something. I feel my stomache tighten. We just look at each other again and laugh. The pilot gets us safely on the ground. The storm has passed. I set foot on the European continent! Wahoo! There is my sister and her husband Mattias. I love them both so much. We pack us all into the car and head out to the autobahn, soon I ask Mattias how fast are you going? He smiles and says in mph?.....120...yes, I my adventure has begun.

poojee and zahzah in paris

I got ahead of my self....go back to Germany

I am going to regress here, because when I landed in London I then caught a flight to Germany. After about 22 hours it was so good to see my sister and Matias in Germany. Before you know it we're doing 125mph on the autobahn headed from Frankfurt to Bad Kissigen where they live.

Plus d'art dans le parc

ne peut pas sembler partir le parc

dans luxembourg

I love this park, it is a favorite in Paris. Walk up St. Michel to the Luxembourg park and spend some time. This is the park you see in a lot of movies where the children are playing with sailboats in a large fountain. You rent them from the sailboat man and push them off the side with a big pole, children love it. There are a lot of different things in this park, you can sit and read, have a sun bath, take your child to the toddler park next to the museum, sail a boat, have lunch, see art, or do nothing at all. I spent half a day there, my most relaxing day in Paris. It was hot so the green trees were a welcoming find. I stopped in a market and brought a lunch, it's such a nice respite from the busy streets in Paris.

Luxembourg park

Le temps important ne rien faire dans un cafe

Poche meets Zahza Amie

Mr. Poche rencontre un nouvel amie

Les Aventures de Monsieur Poche

Monsieur Poche waiting for a friend on the bridge. The Eiffel Tower in the far distance.( This is a children's book I am writing)