Spanish, Marriage, Sasha, and Killerboots -- might be one of my more eclectic posts

I've been using Duolingo in an attempt to learn some Spanish (for which "hola", "por favor", "gracias", and "cerveza" was the sum total of my vocabulary before starting).  And for the most part, I quite like it.  I'd like a little more (read any) explanation sometimes (esp for tense changes) but it is really helpful and I'm finding things are coming easier to me.  All good.  But did it ever present me with a HUGE demotivator the other day.   You see, I was on like an 84 day streak.  Pretty happy about that.  And any day that I hadn't done my practice, it'll remind me at 8:00 pm that I should go practice.  And to avoid breaking my streak, I did.   But then the other day, I noticed it said 4-day streak.  Wtf???    So I went to look, and it turns out on Monday I did half the practice.  But then never went back and did the other half.  So I guess since I had technically signed it, it didn't send the reminder :(  And so it no longer counted as a streak.   Motivation gone.  Yesterday was the first day since starting that I didn't sign in at all.

Monday's little half-circle did me in.  So unimpressed.

And yes, I realize the silly little tracker shouldn't be the only motivation to study, but really...  When I'm not just killing time on the train and it's unlikely I'll be anywhere where I need the language as a life skill any time soon, those little things help.  I also think they really should consider fit-bit-like badges.   They start out well with being able to purchase things with coins earned through practice (that's how my owl got his really cool suit ;) but the things you can buy are super-limited and after a week or two of practice you'll have earned everything there is to earn.   Doesn't seem to be much of anything after that.  Very interesting to me the impact that has though; I've read some of the studies on adult learning, but never really believed how strong a motivator (or de-motivator) it could be.  Sheesh.

In other news...

Yup.  As of next weekend, my parents will have reached 40 years together!  14,610 days. 350,640 hours. 21,038,400 minutes.  3 children. Countless moments. Together. Congratulations :)

If it's next weekend, why mention now?  Well their surprise party was last night and it went really well :) It was, in fact, a surprise and they seemed really happy with it.  Planning it was entertaining and started ages ago (have to get in people's calendars early!)   The first concern was the day after I started sending invites, when my inbox was full of emails that read "Bev and Al's 40th" and Mum walked in and was looking at the screen over my shoulder.   I couldn't even scroll cause they took up the whole screen!   hahahha quick distraction and window switch and good to go.  I was definitely worried I'd blown it from the beginning though.   Then there was a later concern when Dad told me he was going to Rouyn-Noranda that weekend.  Ummm but no...   Just waited and watched that one though as it seemed a good chance it'd fall through.   It did.  Phew ;)   And THEN, guess which weekend the surgeon's secretary originally suggested for my eye surgery.  "It's the first date he has available in May..."  "How about late April?"  "Oh sure, we can do the 29th."  Sold.    

This photo captured everyone except Jamie and Barb.
Jamie, because he was the photographer.
And Barb, because Jamie was the photographer ;)

On the day of everybody was there on time.  Chris and Melissa provided giant balloons -- they couldn't get any "40th" balloons, so got creative :)   It was kinda awesome.  I wish I'd thought to get a photo, you can kinda get the idea from the shot Jamie took :).  Linda and Jamie got my parents there on the premise of other friends had cancelled plans and they already had the reservation.   I had a quick chat with the hostess to arrange that "Holmes, party of 4" be brought to our room ;)   And all was good.  She thankfully ignored Dad's suggestion that "this booth by the window" would be just fine ;)  And before he could argue too much, Mum had realized what was going on.  The look on her face still makes me smile :)  So other than a lack of mint, it went really well.   Mum and Dad seemed super happy.  Thanks to all who came :)

Completely unrelated -- I am finally teaching Sasha to walk on a leash.  As a barn puppy all I cared about was getting her obedient and responsive off-leash.  Sadly, that's not terribly useful where we are now.  But man is she ever a super-smart puppy.  It's fun to see her brain work.  Using the very simple, if slow, method of any time she pulls we stop.  In order to go anywhere she has to make the leash loose.  And we're getting longer and longer distances before she hits the end of the leash now (honestly, it was like 2 steps when we started this game on Fri.  By sat we were up to about half a block.  Which doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty extreme improvement; especially as she hasn't been to the park to burn off steam since Friday).

Back to work tomorrow.  I'm still not managing to be fully functional for an entire day yet, so slightly concerned about this idea.   Doctor's note says off till end of May, so thinking I may go the safe route and start with half days.  Wish me luck!

And just because it made me laugh -- this was the after photo from a dog groomer I'm thinking about taking Sasha to.   The name is just so perfect.  Enjoy!

I've gotten so good at sleeping I can do it with my eyes closed!

I writing this post sitting at my desk in my home office.  Normally, this would not be a noteworthy statement, but as some of you may know, my life is rarely normal ;)

So we moved recently.  Step one was to rid ourselves of the horrifying pink that coated all the walls.

Why women live longer than men...

I would like it noted that the impressive horrificness that was that shade of pink is not done justice by my iphone camera.  Anyways, once that was accomplished (injury free, I might add ;) we could start unpacking and organizing and other such normal moving things.  Our bedroom was the first room I focused on, with my office being a close second.  But I didn't actually have a desk, so it was less effective than it could be.  We do live all of five minutes from Ikea (who we've also learned has an amazing return policy -- but that's another story).

Pre-desk.  My office-mate is horrible about hogging both the chair and the printer.

However, before I could get to that, I had to have more eye surgery.  I was more anxious about this one than I had been the others.  A combination of factors: the last surgery was the first that actually resulted in permanent vision lost for me; a rather brutal reality check.  And dealing with the fact that the prognosis was not terribly promising.  Suffice to say I was *very* relieved when I woke up to discover that it had gone well, there were no new holes in my retina, and most importantly, I did not have to hold any particular position for any length of time.  There is no way I can convey the relief I felt at that.  My shoulder still hurts from the last time.   In fact, there were very few restrictions beyond take it easy and don't do anything excessive.  Ummm, right.   AND, I was feeling well.  Woohoo!

So Mum, knowing me better than the doctor, set more definite rules: "Pick one, one-hour job each day and make it take five hours."   No using the recovery week to be productive.  Seems reasonable -- I really don't want to go through this again.   But what I didn't realize was that my body would not agree.  One hour would be way too much to ask *sigh*.

Surgery day is all pretty much a blur.  I was staying at my parents cause Chris had to work, so Mum was taking me for a follow up appointment.   I was feeling fine, able to eat dinner, and Chris came over for a while that evening.  All good.   Follow up appointment was slightly scary in that when the surgeon took the eye patch off I couldn't see anything.  Not even light and shadows.  But after a few minutes I could see (at least from the bottom half of my eye) when he waved his hand in front of me.  To put in perspective, said hand was close enough I could feel the air move on my face.  Interestingly, repeating the process now, I can almost see as much with my eye closed as I could see with it open that day.  (Try it, close your eyes gently in a bright room and move your hand around in front of your face -- the light and shadows move.  That's how much vision I had on day 1.)

Feeling good so Mum and I went to Fran's for breakfast before going home.  I was going to play with the dogs for a bit while they ran some errands.  They weren't gone long, but by the time they got back I felt so sick.  Nauseous, with a pounding headache.  So not fun.   Mum took me home and I curled up into bed.  For hours.   Got up, feeling slightly better, late afternoon.  Stayed awake long enough to go grab some dinner and come back -- all in, less than 2h.  And went back to bed.  I'm pretty sure I slept all the next day.  Basically woke up, got dressed, had something to eat, and went back to bed.  Would wake up for a little bit mid afternoon, then have another nap.  Then I'd be good for a couple hours that evening.  And out all night.

Monday -- having now slept for essentially 3 days, I had a little more energy when I woke up.   So I decided I needed to get my desk (remember the desk?).  Because, of course, I'd be working from home the next week so really -- this could be Monday's one hour job.   Yeah, I can still hear that mocking bastard Hindsight laughing.

Lesson 1 -- I am *not* okay with driving with the air bubble in my eye.  Not even the five minutes to Ikea.  I did it, and I was smart enough when I got there to find drive-through parking (turns out Ikea is all kinds of empty at random times in the day), but it's not something I want to repeat any time soon.  Now I knew what desk I wanted so was just a matter of going and getting it.  No weight restrictions, so should be fine.  Right.  Except my body didn't seem to get that memo at all.   With some creative solutioning I managed to get the boxes (yes two, why would I get a desk that all came in one piece) onto the cart, checked out, and got everything loaded into the car with only minor assistance from a lovely couple passing by.   Got home, got the light box upstairs, decided there was no way I could move the other one, so opened it to take the pieces out.  Nope -- turns out it was all one piece *sigh*.  Executive decision that that could wait till Chris got home from work to help me.  Went back in to decide what to do with the rest of my hour.

Sleep.  Sleep was what to do with the rest of the hour.  And the next several as well.  Woke up long enough to a (potentially earned) lecture and help with the other box, find some food, and back to sleep.  Sadly, not even exaggerating.

Tuesday the fence guys were coming to fence off the 15' of yard that's not fenced so our dogs could come home :)   I was still drugged enough that I managed to sleep through much of their building.  And when I wasn't asleep I was doing literally nothing.   Like sit on the couch and stare into space.  Actually quite disturbing, esp as I wasn't bored with this situation.  The thought of moving or even turning on the tv was just entirely too much.   But the puppies came home Tues night!  Woohoo!  Chris and I went for dinner with my parents and I played with the dogs for a bit before bed.

I'm actually really happy with how this turned out

By Wednesday I was starting to be able to be up for a couple hours in the morning, sleep most of the afternoon, and up a reasonable amount of time in the evening.  All of this time was spent with the dogs -- nothing productive happened.

They were okay with nap time too :)

So on Thursday the time came to build my desk.   I have built more than my fair share of Ikea furniture so I wasn't too concerned about this.  The first challenge was the lack of depth perception.  Now for those who have never experienced it, it's very odd.  For me at least, it's not as though the world is suddenly 2D.  Everything looks normal -- you can see what's near and what's far for the most part.  But when you reach for something it's never quite where it should be.  Now, I haven't had any depth perception since the last surgery, so you'd think I'd be used to it.  And indeed my brain had sorted that out -- I was comfortable driving and shy of somebody expecting me to catch something, I had acclimatized and could function.  But yeah, whatever's different this time had undone that.  And made it way worse.  So why does this matter for furniture?   Well -- just try putting the screwdriver head into the slit in the screw when it's not where your brain is telling you it is.   Hammering was done in the most tentative of manner.  Everything that should've taken one try took at least three.  It was not a fun game.   

And eventually I hit one I couldn't solve.  For the life of me didn't get why one piece didn't work.  Decided future Lauren could deal with that and went and...  You guessed it.  Had a nap.  A long one.  Chris figured out in about 30 seconds later that I had put the piece in backwards -- label's might've been nice ;)   Admittedly I'd already figured that'd be the next thing to try, but was not up to getting said pieces out to reverse them.

Suffice to say by Friday I had a functional desk ;)   The job that should've taken an hour, took me five days.  I still wasn't up to being awake all day, but was at least down to one nap a day.  Still stunned at how much this last one knocked me out.   It is now the next Friday, but we had Mother's Day in there and then this week I started back at work (working from home, using said desk).   Monday I way overdid it *sigh*  And spent the rest of the week paying for it.  By Thursday I was pretty useless -- wicked headache and nausea again.   Did one meeting that was really important and skipped all the others, mostly curled in a ball.  Feeling better today, but again only worked about an hour.  At least made it through today without a nap.  As this is the first day of that, I'm not holding my breath for an entirely successful first week back at work, but we shall see.   I'm lucky that they're super supportive -- that helps.   And doctor's note technically says to start back May 30, which seems a little excessive, but helps me not feel guilty if I have to leave early a couple days.

I'll tell ya -- two weeks passes really fast when you're sleeping 12-18 hours / day ;)   But here's hoping in the end I'll be able to see stuff.  And now, it's time to sleep.  Night!

Happy Mother's Day to my closest friend :)

To the woman who climbed mountains with me...

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To my all-round amazing mom, for whom my vocabulary is insufficient to express what she means to me.   Let's just consider shall we, this past year.  She's supported me through not one, not two, but four eye surgeries -- rearranging her schedule to take me to appointments or play chauffeur when I couldn't drive, helping run errands, and generally doing anything she could to make the experience slightly less miserable.  Now keep in mind, I've been an adult for quite some time now, and am a married one at that, so this is all stuff she could easily have stepped back from.  But no, because she is the incredible person she is, anything I needed, or anything that would help, she was there for me.

Then there was her and my Dad's joint awesomeness of letting their adult daughter live with them, and one step above that, always making me feel welcome there.  That made a frustrating situation significantly more bearable.

And then, not only did they let me live with them, but when we were trying to sell our house and move, they took both Sasha AND Tucker -- for months!  And took amazing care of them even after we moved while we got the new house puppy ready :)

Then there was the move itself, when they came out in the ice storm to help us relocate from Paris to Burlington.

Yup, I won the parent lottery for sure.  And my bond with my mum is extra special.  I love the days we manage to align schedules and commute home together -- it's those little day to day things that mean so much to me.  You know, to the job she helped me get the interview for ;)

Love you Mum!

That moment when you realize it's Friday...

So usually after I get off the train, my walk commute to work is short, under construction, and completely boring.  Today, however, I wasn't going to work but rather up to St. Mike's.  And it was cold, which meant an indoor walk instead.  This provided more entertainment than I had anticipated.

First was the alarms going off in Union Station.  I assumed they were first level fire alarms that were to be ignored like most first level fire alarms.  Which was all good till I heard a seemingly harmless announcement that lead to all the security guards booking it.  Even the info dude was on his walkie talkie and left his station.   Alas I had insufficient time to play lost tourist so I just left the building and whatever was going on is a story I shall never know.

So because I didn't wander down to the old section (where the alarms were) I was forced to go outside to cross the street.  Horror of horrors - it's cold out there!  That one block was just long enough to confirm it should be an indoor walk today.  However it was also long enough to walk past the best sight.  A well dressed older man, envision movie style grandfather mafia, smoking a cigar, leaning on the golden lion statue.  I really wish I'd stopped to ask if I could take his photo :).

Sadly, I did not, and instead ducked indoors to the sounds of a polka band playing in the subway.  It was way too early for that!  Although really, I'm not convinced there is a good time for polka.

Decided I wanted breakfast and just kept walking till I found a breakfast place w a moderate line instead of a huge one.  Have also decided mini muffins are awesome!  Cheap and just the right size :).  And pina colada flavoured ones are just fun.

So eventually made it where I was going and was deemed healthy enough for surgery.  Ummm woohoo?   And then back to work.  But as I have a few very important meetings this aft, I had to dress like a grown up.   Not wearing casual clothes on Friday makes it feel like it's not Friday, which then makes the realization that it is, in fact, Friday, fairly wonderful :)

Happy Weekend!

When the wall paper really doesn't want to come down

Pro tip of the day - when removing wall paper, try using fabric softener before resorting to scoring it.  I was definitely losing the battle with the wall paper (not the paste, the actual paper) and the paint store lady suggested mixing fabric softener with the hot water.   I didn't have much faith, but it worked brilliantly!   I am pleased to announce we are now wallpaper free.  In a related note - I need to buy more fabric softener ;)

It's been officially two weeks now and have to say it's kinda nice being able to live with my husband :).  Novel concept eh?   I am finding the commute brutal - more so coming home than going in.  But I expect I'll acclimatize soon enough.    We're in, and while there's obviously still a ton to do, I'm pleased with how quickly we're getting stuff done.  I am looking forward to the after pictures ;)

On my way now to the pre-surgery test.  As in am I healthy enough for surgery.  Now in my case there sb no issue, but I do wonder what happens if you fail.  It's not as though said surgery is elective.  Or what if it's even more critical - your appendix burst, but I'm sorry you're not healthy enough for surgery.   Anyways - so be it.   My odds for the next surgery being a success aren't as high as I'd like, so cross your fingers for me!

Still playing with duolingo (need something to do on the train!) but I'm at the point now where I'm finding it insufficient as a primary learning tool.  Suspect it'd be a great support to something else, but on its own, no.  I find I have random questions and it doesn't offer solutions.   Found a FB group that answered the only one I cared enough to actually ask, but I think it's time to actually open the book I bought weeks ago *g*.  Oh come on, you had to know I'd buy one.   Alternately may take an actual course - but not doing that till after surgery.

Off for now!

PS - have to say, new ap I found for writing on my phone is way better!  No way to get around thumb typing, but other than that, all good now :).  Cut and paste into Blogger and done.

Midnight Musings

My husband is snoring and my mind is spinning.  There's not too much I can do about the first issue, but writing generally helps calm the hamster, so here goes :)

Consider yourself forewarned - I  downloaded a blogger ap and am thumb typing this on my phone; I guarantee nothing.

I haven't quite figured out why it's exponentially more difficult to move two people than one, but it most definitely is.  I had tentatively booked the week off work, fully planning to actually work both Thursday and Friday.  Yeah.  That's not happening.

However, we are in the Burlington house.  Woohoo!  We did the final walk through of the Paris house this afternoon; the new buyer gets it tomorrow.      It's been a busy week, but overall all good.  I'm typing this lying on the couch in front of our fireplace -- all kinds of civilized.  

So the day we got the house had an ice storm. Who's surprised by this?  I thought not; you're not new here.

One day I will move during nice weather;
Today is not that day.

What it did highlight for me though was how very unfit I am compared to when I had the school *sigh*.  This move was way more exhausting than that one, with significantly less effort required.  Booo.  Next surgery end of April so having a hard time getting motivated for fitness now that it'll have to end in a month, but after that...  Game on :)

Anyways - have spent the last few days unpacking, organizing, and problem solving.  Which, except for the first step, is pretty much just like going to work ;)

I feel like I actually moved into Ikea though.  Have been spending entirely too much time there and at Walmart.  Here's hoping the next house we're in a financial position not to need to visit either ;)

The kitchen is a fraction the size of our last one -- you know, proportionate to the size of the house ;).  This has made for some interesting unpacking challenges, but fortunately we do have a number of cabinets and I managed to find home for everything.  Well, everything except the food!  I suggested to Chris that we needed somewhere to put groceries before we bought them and through his kijiji powers, we had an armoire by dinner time.  And thanks to Walmart combined with my extensive assembling-cheap-furniture skills, we had shelves and a workable pantry the next day.  That made a huge difference to the usability of the house.

We also bought an oven.  Why?  Well because the house didn't come with one.  So random.  It's here now and actually got used today.  How civilized!   We've also ordered new counter tops because Chris is already missing his granite.  He really did lose a stunning kitchen in the move.   Exciting though -- I get an instant hot water faucet with the new counters.  Woohoo!   Okay, apologies to those who've been reading the blog since it's inception as the definition of "exciting" may have deteriorated somewhat.  Or at very least changes from day to day ;).   Still saving for our trip to Africa -- that'll redefine the word again for the better :)

Let's see, what else...  I discovered today that our official translation of our marriage license (complete with stamps!) is insufficient; I have to get an Ontario translator to translate it.  Can you hear my eyes roll?  Even *my* Spanish (we're talking approximately a month of Duolingo here) is almost sufficient to read it.  Sheesh.  So that was a good waste of a morning.  I will remain with the ambiguousness of two last names for a while yet it seems.  Will likely try again in that 'allowed off the couch but not at work' recovery period after surgery.

Said surgery has a 60% chance of success -- with success being loosely defined as me not needing any more surgery *sigh*.  No commitment or even suggestion as to what, if any, vision I might have at the end of this.  But fingers crossed.  If the other 40% comes to play, it'll mean at least one more cycle of surgery :(

So I'm more awake now than I was when I started typing, but at least the hamster has chilled out a bit.  I feel like switching to some mindlessness on my Kobo for a bit might do the trick.   Tomorrow is all about sitting on hold w various agencies - gas, hydro, town, etc.   Not really how childhood me envisioned adult me spending vacation time but such is reality right?   Hey maybe when I can't sleep tomorrow night I'll actually write a flash :). Ummm don't hold your breath on that one ;-P 

Okay off now.  For real this time.   Sweet dreams.

*edited to add: so the ap selected the wrong photo from my phone, but it worked equally well.  Uploading was a PITA though so methinks I'll go back to the old fashioned way of typing at least for a while...*

Ding, dong, the house is gone...

It's been what one might consider an interesting week...

Let's see.  Friday night we made arrangements to go see seven houses on Saturday morning.  By Saturday morning only four were left.  Of the four, we quite liked two.  One had only just come on the market, and we were pretty sure it'd have a bidding war putting it out of our price range (it did -- ended I think about $50K above asking), the other (which we actually liked better) we decided to put an offer in.

So we met our agent Saturday afternoon to sign off on that, then drove out to meet Kerri and Steve for dinner for Kerri's bday.  Yeah :)   Super good to see them cause, well, that doesn't happen nearly often enough!

Sunday daytime I've already pretty much forgotten, so I feel like we didn't do a ton ;)   We did, however, go for an absolutely lovely dinner with Chris' family for his birthday.  So. Much. Yummy. Food.   Ugh.   Came home in a food coma and did nothing till sleep time.  Sometimes those are actually the best days.

I stayed in Paris on Sunday night because Monday was my brother-in-law's wedding.  Yup, Ted and Hillary got married on leap day :)  Was a really nice ceremony; Hillary was gorgeous and the kids were so excited.  This was followed by - yup - more food.  hahaha  Just seemed to be the weekend for it.   Now all the guys were impressed with the idea that Ted would only have to celebrate an anniversary every four years (why is it a have to for men but a want to for women?   That's a divide I've yet to understand).   But really, you know it's going to be a mini-anniversary on the normal years and a big anniversary on the leap years.   Which  means every four years, he has a big anniversary.  Every four.  Most couples celebrate a big anniversary every five after the first one.  One, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, etc...  But no, now Ted's going to have every four AND likely all the big ones.  And that's when we found out leap day was Hillary's suggestion.  Well played ;)    hahaha and know that I am just teasing -- I actually think that's a very cool date to get married on; I love it when people pick days that have a significance beyond "random Saturday".

Now in the middle of all this, shortly after the deadline (which occurred during the ceremony), we received word the sale of our house had been finalized!   Woohoo!  Not to take away from the wedding, but that news was also pretty exciting - at least for us :)  

Because I figured that might run late, I made arrangements to work from home on Tues as well and stayed in Paris on Monday night.   This ended up being a good thing as the only time we could make work to go see the mortgage person was Tuesday late afternoon.  Getting approval was no problem; deciding the most efficient way of handling our finances, best balance of money to put toward the down payment and not being extraordinarily broke after, and horrifyingly adult decisions about such fun things as insurance -- all of that was what took the time.

So much time that by the time we left, there was a rather impressive blizzard going on.  As such, I decided to stay Tues night as well and work from home on Wed.  Just as well because on Wed our house offer was accepted!   Woohoo!   So after Chris got home from work we signed the small mountain of paper work and it's done.  We now own (or are about to own) a house in Burlington.  Woohoo!  Sadly it's still going to be an hour and a half commute one way *sigh* and the house has a tiny yard (sorry Sash!) -- but other than that I'm super stoked about it.  Will be nice to settle a little, and, well, actually living with my husband is something I've been looking forward to for a while :)

After signing paperwork, I raced home to change into barn gear and then off to teach, where Kennedy and Callie were just so much fun to teach jumping.  Both totally on the ball tonight.  Awesome.  Cold night though.  Brrrrr.   And man do I ever miss riding :(

Now the challenge for tomorrow is to figure out how to write a cheque on a chequing account for which I never actually got any cheques ;)   Seriously, who writes cheques anymore?   But I need to, so that's tomorrow's challenge before meeting up with our Burlington agent to provide said cheque as a deposit for the new house.  Fortunately there is, in fact, a branch in my office building and I feel like they'll be able to resolve that for me at lunch time tomorrow.

Friday I once again relocate back to Paris (3 or 4 weekends left and then no more!!!) so that Saturday we can go back to Burlington to do the house inspection.  Assuming it passes, we'll be good to go.  Close on the new house Easter weekend, and have to be out of ours end of March.

SO excited!  

Intelligence is like a four-wheel drive. It allows you to get stuck in more remote places.

So I've been playing on Duolingo lately and am quite enjoying it.  Some of the completely random sentences amuse me to no end although the vast majority are ones I'd never actually use in real life.   I understand we're working with a completely limited vocabulary, but really -- the odds that I ever need to say "my black cat sleeps on the large monkey" are pretty slim ;)  I kinda roll my eyes and go along with it.

But sometimes, sometimes they get it just right:

Yup, I'm really missing riding these days.  Duolingo and various other random new hobbies mostly just to combat that -- well that, and to increase fitness since the barn has previously *been* my form of fitness.

Ah well -- first world problems right?   ;)

As for Duolingo, there are several things I like about it.   I'm doing a language I've no experience with and it's very intuitive when starting from zero.  Lots of quick wins, and well paced learning.  I love that for the "type what they speak" exercise, it plays at a normal speaking rate, but also has an option of slowing it down to individual words.  Think. Of. Speech. Like. This.   When I understand it on fast, I'm all kinds of proud of myself.  But on slow sometimes I can get it even when I don't really know what's being said -- so that's fun :)

The written exercises -- word matching and text translation are quite good.  When you're wrong, the feedback is useful.  

The speech exercise amuses me -- I have no idea how that engine works and I kinda question it.  For those who haven't played this game, it says a phrase and you repeat the phrase into the microphone.  It then determines whether or not you're close.  But there've been times I didn't even have a clue what they were saying and it was right, and other times I was reasonably confident and it politely suggested I should try it again ;)   I don't do this one nearly as often as I'm usually on the train when I'm playing this game and so I don't want to be talking at my phone.

One thing I'd like to see would be an improved review engine.  It's good at inserting things into short term memory, but the reviewing methodology seems far less developed.  Mosa Linga, which I've also played with, was far better at that.   Sadly though it failed in comparison with everything else.  If Duolingo could just pick up that piece...   It does allow for review though, so there are options -- I just don't know that it's as effective as it could be.    

Anyways -- if you're on, feel free to add me: lhfall -- always looking for motivation :)

Summer in February

Have really been enjoying Facebook "Memories" the last couple weeks -- all about the wedding :)

Annual beach art -- some traditions are worth flying all over the world for.

This year for our anniversary we went to Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic. It was certainly not Costa Rica, but it was warm and sunny. And I came back reasonably refreshed.

Got there reasonably close to on time, it was warm and sunny and Chris got to have a bus beer. All good. The bus itself was of the older variety, but it did get us back to the, thankfully close, hotel. Our guide really didn't say anything on the drive, which C was happy for but I actually missed a little. I like hearing a bit about the places we visit.

Hotel check-in was no problem and our room was lovely. We had a suite, so it was a good size, and it was on the top floor with huge angled ceilings. The balcony was okay -- no view to speak of and uncomfortable chairs, but it was there. Went down to the pool, it was quite small and there weren't very many chairs around it, so we continued our trek to the beach. There we found chairs and made ourselves comfy. We eventually went for a long walk down the beach -- you could go for ages. And way down one direction found a water sport shop that did all kinds of fun activities. The water was warm and just enough waves to have fun in.

Mmmmm sunshine

Overall, not a bad way to spend the day, so we repeated it the next day. An early start, but still all the pool chairs were taken, so we hung out at the beach for the day. This would've been all lovely if not for the semi pushy vendors. They got annoying quickly :( The strawberry slushy wasn't strawberry, but the pina coladas were all the yummy -- so I survived ;) I think Chris had a similar experience forgoing his favourite for the week and substituting others as well.

Pretty sweet place for lunch

Tuesday was our anniversary. Neither of us had slept the night before (the room was right over the laundry and it was *loud*. There were also staff deliveries complete with truck backing up beeps at 6:30 every morning). So since we were up early, we went down and snagged one of the beds by the pool.

All the kinds of civilized

Then went down to the beach and took some lovely sunrise photos before breakfast. That afternoon we went back to the water-sport booth we'd found and went parasailing. It was too windy to go up together so we took turns. So nice. Somehow not at all what I was expecting, but still super enjoyable. Just warm and quiet and stunning views. Amazing.

Awesome

Wednesday we were going snorkeling for the morning. Pickup was at 8:30 -- island time. So shortly before 9, the bus showed up. I use the word "bus" loosely. It was a truck cab, with a trailer of sorts behind it. One bench along either side, so we were sitting sideways. The sides were open -- no windows, all kinds of wind. And a degree of pollution VW would be impressed by.

Chris diving for a photo

The biggest thing on the drive was the amount of garbage. Everywhere. It was fairly appalling. And once we were in town, the children begging any time the vehicle slowed down near a street corner. We got to a dive resort and went to get ready. They were reasonably organized getting us ready and then the first challenge... The stronger of our group pushed the transport boat out over the waves -- we then got to swim out to it, and it then took us to the larger boat. The ride out was really nice. The first area, seemed unlikely for snorkeling and very wavy, but there were several other large boats there. Into the water we went, and while it was very crowded, there were tons of fish to be seen at three different spots. I was actually quite enjoying it, except that I started feeling sea sick. Booo. Have never had that happen actually *in* the water before -- but maybe because unlike diving, snorkeling you bob along with the waves. Anyways -- back on the boat and the trip to the next snorkel site was pretty miserable, but the water there was much calmer and shortly after jumping back in my stomach settled and I was able to enjoy the swim. This site was more coral reef, but still with lots of fish, and the guide picked up a sea urchin and let us hold it, which was very cool. It kinda velcroed itself to you.

There were tons of fish

After that a boat ride back and switch into the little boat taxi to go to the beach. Again we had to jump out of the boat and swim in. This was a fail -- shortly after I could stand I got entirely flattened by a wave. Sommersaulted and bounced my head off the sand. Totally amusing to watch I'm sure but ow. So ow. And sand everywhere. All the unpleasant. Ugh. Then it was a LONG wait -- which would've been annoying, but I was actually grateful to give my stomach time to settle before getting back in the transportation vehicle... Got home a mere two hours after they said we would -- fortunately at this resort food could be found pretty much all the time, so we enjoyed life and then relaxed on the bath for the rest of the day. All kinds of civilized.

Cold water massage

Thursday we'd arranged another outing -- waterfalls this time. Our vehicle reasonably on time this time, and the benches faced forward instead of sideways, but otherwise it was the same quality transportation -- and a much longer drive. Nice though, if you can overlook the garbage, the scenery was very pretty.

Some great views

This adventure was waterfalls -- and it had serious potential. Climb up the mountain, then follow the waterfalls down. As close to canyoning as anything I've seen since Australia. So. Much. Fun. The hike up was okay, scenic enough, and we put ourselves right at the front so as to not get stuck behind those who were either loud and obnoxious or painfully slow. Coming back down was all kinds of fun. Following the river, sliding and jumping down the falls (admittedly not the impressiveness I usually think of when I think waterfalls -- most were only a couple feet tall). Some swimming, one decent jump. All good. I do wish they ran a trip for those who were fit and another for those who prefer a slower pace, mostly cause the few of us who were fast, were freezing waiting endlessly for others to catch up. We met another couple on this trip who were really interesting, so that was cool. Eventually we finished the water and hiked out, and if the tour had ended and we went home then I probably would've been very happy. Instead we had lunch (meh) and then back on the bus. It was raining now, and given the complete lack of windows, this was a poor situation. I was freezing. We also had to do the obligatory stop at the tourist location. This also could have had potential to be interesting, with locals carving petrified wood. However, I really wasn't sure which was more disturbing: the 5 and 6 year old children learning the family trade, or the older children begging by the buses. Once we were back on the bus we were told not to give them anything because there's a serious truancy program with children skipping school to beg. Anyways -- eventually we were back on the bus, freezing and wet, but made it home in time for a warm shower before dinner.

Not nearly as high as the jump we did in Costa Rica, but a lot more natural

Dinner, which was tasty enough, was a fail as several hours later Chris was violently ill. No fun at all, and so obviously we didn't do much the next day. We had talked about kite boarding, but ended up just hanging out on the beach. Saturday was more of the same, and both Chris and I were disappointed to discover our flight was going to be 8h late. It's the only vacation I ever wanted to leave early but no. The next day was raining so we spent it mostly taking cover or hanging out in the lobby. Instead of getting home for Valentine's dinner, we got home about 3:30 the next morning. There were also several issues dealing with Sunwing that left us less than thrilled. Ah well -- better first world problems than third.

So in the end we got sun and relaxation and our anniversary was lovely. All good. Would we go back? Not likely. We've heard Punta Cana is better, so we might consider that some day, but honestly I'd much rather go back to Cuba then Peurta Plata.

Ah well -- I still have a tan and I'm hanging on to it!

Friday Flash #64: The Road Less Travelled

She stood only a few kilometers from the base of the mountain, its peak shrouded in an unnatural mist. It was a mountain she'd never had any interest in seeing from a distance, much less climbing, but now she had no choice. She looked around her, taking in the stunning views and the happily oblivious families playing on the beach. They had no idea of the power that lurked nearby; hopefully they never would.

She took a deep breath and left the beach, finding herself quickly in deep vegetation. She knew of people who could trek through deep forest without ever making a sound. Sadly, she was not one of them. And realistically she figured her presence would be known long before sound would have given her away. She rolled her eyes as another branch snapped and an angry bird cawed loudly.

Humans had so few natural predators, yet somehow still the thought of approaching one in its den triggered long dormant instincts; her legs felt like she was wearing lead shoes, and she could hear her own heartbeat. But she had no choice. It was her fault Callie had been taken. Taken. Not killed. Nobody believed her when she told them that, claiming stress and grief were manipulating her memories. But she knew what she had seen; the dragon had been too gentle, too determined. It hadn't killed her sister; it had kidnapped her.

She muttered under her breath as she ducked under a branch only to walk straight into a cob web. There was no trail; of course there was no trail -- most people had no idea what lived up there and those who did, actively avoided visiting. But somehow it wasn't horribly overgrown either -- as she walked, her feet seemed to find their own path.

All too quickly she reached the low mist. The air hung heavy and her clothes began to sag as they drank the moisture from the air. She paused to catch her breath and became aware of the utter silence surrounding her. The birds, monkeys, and various other woodland critters who had been narrating her hike, were now noticeably missing, as though they too knew better than to risk venturing into the mist.

Welcome Christina, she froze and her eyes widened at the words she felt rather than heard. We have been waiting for you.

She snorted and determinedly continued her hike. After all, realistically if they, whoever they were, wanted her dead, she would be. Only a few moments later, the mist cleared, her limp hair and damp clothing all that reminded her of the humidity that had been.

Christina didn’t know what she’d expected to find. If she’d put any consideration into it, it would have been an arid cavern of some sort – maybe something similar to a volcano. But that was not what she found.

She knew she was staring and her teeth clicked as she consciously closed her mouth. What she saw defied all understanding she possessed. If front of her floated a stunning castle, whose edges shimmered like a mirage. To either side was what looked like giant garages, unfathomably large, and lit by crystals. The whole place oozed wealth and grandeur, but somehow also had a welcoming homey feel.

“Stein!” Christina’s eyes focused on the door as her little sister came tearing out toward her.

“Callie!” She swooped her sister up in a bear hug, “Are you okay?” But she could tell by the grin on her face and the strength in her hug that her sister was fine. “What happened? Actually no, never mind, you can tell me when we get home.”

Callie unwrapped herself and grabbed Christina’s hand, pulling toward the castle. “We can’t go yet. You have to meet Jory! And school is so much more fun here than at home.”

Christina, she held her breath as the powerful feeling overtook her again, Callie will complete her studies here. At which point she may return to your home if she desires. You too have sufficient power to stay and learn – although you are old to be so untrained. Alternately, you may leave unharmed. But know that once you cross the mist, you will have no memory of this place. Choose wisely.

Callie tugged on her hand, imploring her to come, but Christina paused, her mind spinning. She thought of her parents, and the grief they would feel at the apparent loss of another daughter; she thought of the life she would lead if she never knew what had happened to Callie; and then she looked at her sister’s excited face and knew there was no choice. Hoping it wasn’t all an elaborate ruse, she gave one last look through the mist before allowing her little sister to pull her toward the castle and her destiny.