Connie Watches UCLA Softball, Baseball; Wants to Wrestle

Connie, who has been hiding in Mr. John's old bedroom for over a decade, has come out of hibernation lately and has been proudly growling for her UCLA Bruins. She followed Mister John home after a bowling tournament so long ago. She's apt to hibernate especially during fall when UCLA football does not do as well. But now it's springtime and UCLA softball won a title and now baseball is in the World Series for the first time in over a decade.

Unfortunately for Miss Jill, Connie is not only a growling bear but she is also a wrestling one too. She often bops about the house and challenges people or stuffed animals to "rassling." Yes, she does love to rassle as many bears do. I cannot say I can blame.

As for Mister John, he too has been watching the Bruin sports machine crank it up over the past few weeks. Now if only basketball can get their act together.

Connie and Mister John have both been smiling over the recent miseries of the trOJans across the town. Connie gave Mister John a giant bear hug which almost put him out of commission for a few days.

Mister John, seen to the left representing his Bruin ski cap while in Ireland, has been noted to whistle the Bruin fight song more often lately. Ah, nothing puts an extra pace to his step than a Bruin win. That whole Pac-10 expansion thang will be commented upon at a later date.

More Pictures in Ireland... deal with it!

To throw out a few more pics for our starving audience (sorry that it's been over a month, we slack sometimes), here is a typical road sign to our left. Quite manic and do recall that the first place name is in Irish. On the right here are two lambs who resemble Root Beer Float and Ruby Jane. I wonder if their temperments are as similar too.

Over to your left (keep walking), you will see a street sign. We were searching for John Street as our B&B in Dingle was on it. We drove all around town trying to find our place which was just "outside of town." So technically, driving through town did not help; but it did help to get to the other side of the "outside of town." If you catch my drift... I guess not. Well, shut up and keep reading.

And, yes, to the left are two alpacas and myself. Nothing quite like going to Ireland to see the native alpaca. Sometime I'll go to Peru and look for the native leperchaun. Oh, do look at the ubiquitous UCLA hat. It was a constant theme throughout the trip. Maybe not the reprezentin' the hoops team as it was to stay warm and dry in the cool windy climes of Eire.

Back from Ireland!

Yes, we have returned from our ten-day sojourn in the Emerald Isle. After Jill and I have both rested for a day or so, we shall write a voluminous blog about our stay there. A few things to note:

• It's good to be on the RIGHT side of the road again
• Those roads are quite small and bumpy too
• Yes, there may be wind and rain... but it's Irish rain
• One can only drink so much tea in the morning
• Nothing like hearing natives debate the subject of Bank Holiday on the radio

That is all for now... pictures soon.

All things GREEN

It's t-minus 10 days (is that how you say it?) to our Irish adventure.

I prefer saying Irish adventure to trip to Ireland. Sounds more romantic!

And while I have no plans on conceiving our first born in Ireland, I have pledged to a friend that we'd name "it" Clover if we did. I kid not.
John would hate the name Clover but I don't like to go back on promises!

Today, I managed to reserve the tiniest car in the world for our trip. Hey...the price at the pump is intimidating...we might as well reserve the tiny car, right? It's an automatic, thank God.
Well, at least that's what I ordered. John learned to drive an H-column stick shift in Arizona a few weeks ago. If he can master that, he should have no problem mastering a regular stick on the wrong side of the car using his left hand, right? I guess that should be correct. But anyway.

I am off to the homestead. Dinner tonight for John's Academic Decathlon team. We'll see if I can weasel out or not! --Jill

I see London, I see France....

Well, I guess I'll stay in London. According to the oh-so-accurate blogthings poll, I belong in London!

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

Actually, I hope to see Dublin soon. John and I are tossing the idea of a Spring Break in Ireland. Neither of us have been and it's on our "to see" list. I know it'll be chilly but that shouldn't slow us down. Stay tuned!