Thursday, March 20, 2008

HAPPRY RAT SPRING 2008


Welcome to Spring, well officially anyway. It is Spring to me when the first Snowdrops appear in early January. Now there are all of the Spring bubls out.

My dragon boat team has been going out on Wednesday nights and how nice it has been on clear nights to look up and see the stars and look back at the lights of the island. We may be able to see our breath, but we are ever warm from the energy we extert out there.

My family celebrates Easter this week-end. An North European custom is that one gets a new suit of clothes to wear...well i like that one very much and a new Easter Sunday new hat to wear to church too. I am still not near my fat-loss ideal weight yet, so i don't want to buy more than one outfit anyway. My fellow friends with Diabetes have the same problem with weight gain. Oma says the only way to deal with this is to get a zipper for one's mouth....LOL My latest readings suggest more fiber, more fiber. Ian says that i need to climb stairs a couple of times a day. I do try, but the medications that i take add bulk to my small frame too. And i adore my food and wine so much!!!!!!!! Ray suggests that i drink more coffee to increase my slow metabolism !!! That might be the best idea so far...painless and so enjoyable, especially when he makes me a cup with his new Italian coffee maker and serves it from his new/antique French hand-painted cups.

The International Wine Festival in Vancouver was a treat for me. I mainly tasted Sparkling wines and a few highly rated Italian reds. I met the two leading Marchesi wine growers and enjoyed my chats with them, with a promise that i would visit thier wineyards soon.

Mischi and Bling are sheading more hair now and i brush and comb them a couple of times a day. They enjoy sitting out in the sun now.

I was asked to enter 3 haiku in an Italian contest, but i could not find a friend to translate them into italian properly using 5-7-5 on time.

Here they are:

A blue snow and sky
the morning rays of sun caught
in an icy web

I did the above after seeing Ottmar Libert's blog where he had posted one of his photos of an icy Santa Fe morning.

A grey sea and sky
blue irises turn violet
in the deep night

Above the cedars
a Mother eagle hovers
scent of herring

A few others:

A full face tonight
the female patient prays
her womb still empty

Winter day
an inch of new growth
in the snow

The dragon boaters
watch the eagles mate
Spring sunshine

On the dead tree
8 eagle sit and wait
a smell of herring

Many fishing boats are now in the harbour and the odour of fresh herring pervades the bay.

Greetings from my island home

Happy Spring to you

Angelika