Take a Dip

Amazon provides many wonderful deliveries.  In 85% of the small Prime boxes, I receive paper items but there's a solid five percent devoted to the art of swimming:  goggles, fins, caps, and today, a swimming metronome.  The first time I swam with a metronome, I had flashbacks to seventh grade piano and a teacher who kept tempo with a pencil.  Now I'm much more relaxed and swimming is more akin to waltzing through the water with the occasional fox trot to jazz things up a bit.

With swimming on the brain and a soft spot for childrens' books, this NYT review caught my eye: Suitable Swimming:  ‘Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine’ and ‘Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas’.  The Queen and an elephant seal will give you a mid-week lift.

Sky Fall

I read on the plane yesterday as long as I could keep my eyes open.  This was quite an effort since I was out rather late the previous night:

     a) singing karaoke
     b) dancing in the street
     c) grabbing one last star gaze
     d) all of the above

Tonight's goal is to get to a more regular circadian rhythm via the aid of one long run up a really big hill and a glass of reading water.  I'll also try to sneak in a few more chapters of The Book Thief as I think I'm the only one in the GBC that hasn't read it.  The writing style threw me just a bit at the beginning (which might have been a direct result of the list above) but I'll settled into the routine oscillating between bold and standard.

It's got me thinking about the color of the skies.

A Cup of Coif-ee

In the breaks between electronica and German bands performing covers of John Denver and Lynyrd Skynyrd, I've started a new book.  This one was an Amazon recommendation (which I should now take  with more consideration based on the varied genres of books I've downloaded for family members).  Cross Dressed to Kill by Andrew Lucas is not my normal read. I'm nearly one-third into it and can't decide if I like it or want to stop reading it.  I couldn't sleep last night so I kept reading.  (I'm not sure which of these was cause and the other effect.)  I do like the sparkling shoes on the cover.

The link above previews the first chapter for you. Perhaps start it after listening to Kraftwerk to walk in my non-sparkly shoes.

Here Comes the Bride

I love (other people's) weddings. I love the excitement, anticipation, and joy that's on everyone's face on those moments leading up to the "I do."  I love observing the mild rush, the swishing dresses, and the final check of lipstick before someone walks down an aisle.

Over the weekend, there were two wedding parties and one bachelorette party near the hotel.  One bride told her me her bridesmaids were wearing "blush".  I said, "Bashful?"  She said, "No".  She was at least a decade younger so I'm not sure she got the joke.

This photo below is my view as a "wedding guest" for yet another wedding from the second story restaurant above.

A Stranger's Wedding
Puerto Rico, May 2013

[Author's note from "Lessons Learned the Expensive Way":  if you, as the bride, do not share these same emotions of pure bliss and/or your invitations are accidentally sent to Tanzania, probably better not to wear the dress.]