"All words are symbols that represent unspeakable realities. Which is also why words are magical." (Donald Miller tweet)

Monday, December 19, 2011

hello

Hi.

Did you miss me?

It's not like I haven't had things to say. I even thought, "I should blog about that trivial little amusement." Several times. But I didn't.

So ... how have you been?

( ... feeling that awkwardness that comes when you haven't chatted with someone for awhile ... maybe i should just start jabbering again ... ok, here goes ... )

First - I may have mentioned my fabulous Ukrainian boots, somewhere along the line. Ukraine has many meaningful people and things that I adore. But also - Ukrainian women can wear kickin boots like nobody's business. They are fantastic. Last time, I waited until the last day in Kyiv to look for boots, and that's when I discovered that boots in Kyiv cost a small mortgage payment. (Not quite. But close.) So I gasped and walked away.

This time I knew better. One day, we had a couple of hours to get coffee, and the coffee was in a mall, and one thing led to another ... $25 later I had me some beautiful suede high-heeled boots.

I love them almost as much as I love Louie.

My favourite sister-in-law requested a picture, and I am quite happy to do that, but here's the problem. The boots are at work. The camera is at home. I need to remember to bring those two items together. I'll try to remember that tomorrow.

Second - in my ongoing feeble attempts to learn Russian, I learned today how to say, "Our cat has a kitten." Let me clarify here - my cat does not have a kitten. My cat is a boy. My cat is a non-functioning boy, if you know what I mean. And my cat is almost 20 years old. He does not have, nor will he ever have, a kitten.

Nevertheless, if someone ever says to me, "Our cat has a kitten" in Russian, I will be able to nod and say, "That is very interesting."

However - you need to know that on the journey towards the successful pronunciation of that sentence, I mistakenly said, "Our intestine has a kitten." I lost my teacher to howls of laughter for a few minutes when I said that.

I also called her a grey cup. But the intestine giving birth to a kitten was still funnier.

Third - and this is for those of you who rolled your eyes and thought "sheesh, is she EVER going to talk about anything except Ukraine?" - the third item I'd like to tell you is this. If you have not seen 2000 Candles, you really should. Admittedly - it's my brother-in-law's show. Nonetheless, it is excellent. We had almost a full house at Crossfire last night, and the laughter of 138 people are evidence that the show is worth seeing.

So I repeat ... did you miss me?