A Blog a Day..

As far as the title of today's post goes, I figure if I write it down, maybe I'll get better at doing it! Whether it keeps the Doctor or anyone else 'away', is yet to be determined. If I am less random about my postings, maybe it'll allow me to get more of the same randomness out of my head and leave room for the really good thoughts - whatever those may be!

The result of this will be some days where the posting will comprise drivel of the worst sort - is there a good sort of drivel? Oh dear, I've just checked the dictionary and here's what it has to say:

drivel |ˈdrivəl|
noun
silly nonsense : don't talk such drivel!
1 talk nonsense: he was driveling on about the glory days.
2 archaic let saliva or mucus flow from the mouth or nose; dribble.

Well. I like the silly nonsense, it indicates a bit of irreverence, but let's move right past the archaic form of the word!

Today will see me charging around a bit as I coordinate grocery shopping with house tidying in preparation for dinner guests. I know what I need to get accomplished, and thank goodness it's not raining since there's nothing less fun than biking around in the rain and going in and out of shops with ever increasing bags hanging off your arms - can't leave the shopping on the bike like you can with a car after all.

Our guests tonight are a fun and stimulating group, my former head of department (International Relations) from Webster University in Leiden, who is a wonderful man, his partner, and Mike's colleague and head of department (Social Studies) from ASH. The latter's hubby is skiing in France, so she's at a loose end, and while she hasn't met Leonard and Fanny, I have a feeling all will spark well and conversation will be stimulating. In true expat fashion, Leonard is South African, Fanny is Dutch, and Marilyn is American (but who grew up with a military family and lived all over). It's part of the fun of being here, all the mixing of nationalities that goes on.

Mike and I have really come to appreciate that and feel very much at home since we were both raised outside of our home cultures (I realize that this year will see the tipping point for me living more years of my life outside the U.S.A. than in). There is even a special term for 'folks like us', it's called being a Third Culture Kid, and so being creates a bond between others with the same background, regardless of their home culture or where they were raised. It's an interesting topic, at least for Mike and I, and Mike's school really uses the theories when welcoming new students as well as when saying good-bye to those moving on (About 20% of the student body moves on every year).

So we're looking forward to tonight, no doubt there will be some great conversation and thought provoking discussion. On the food front, I'm making a curried butternut squash with honey soup which I've made a few times and which gets good reviews, spinach pie (only with phyllo dough instead of pie crust), Caesar salad, and pears, port, and Stilton cheese for after. Due to some dietary restrictions in the group, I am going kosher and vegetarian in the preparation.

And now, if the shopping is to get done, I need to be on my way!