My Window Is Open

Erm.

Sorry for the long pause in blogging! I have not been sitting idle, I promise. What have I been doing? Well -- traveling to Berlin, Lyon, cycling to Villandry, and re-discovering Normandy, for starters. Also, wrapping up my semester and preparing to return to the U.S. (!) in less than a month. I have loved my year abroad (lack of blogging updates notwithstanding) but still miss my friends and family.

I've also discovered Twitter (see side bar for the link). Now, I was always one of those people who thought Twitter was strange and faddish, but then I saw the error of my ways. It was my sister who piqued my interest in joining that group. However, I still refuse to use the words "twitterverse" and "tweet" (urgh) since they just sound horrid.

It's strange to request post topics, but is there something I should blog about? The parts of France I love and the parts that are "challenging"? The joys of public gardens and amorous teenagers? The amusement of badly-dubbed television? Tell me.

New Year, New Pictures

Ah, the first post of 2009! How very exciting. I have great hopes for 2009 to be a most excellent year.

I've been keeping busy during the holidays with trips hither and yon and much time spent knitting. There are many new photos up on Flickr from Brussels, Brugge, Amsterdam, Villers Abbey, and the continuous production of knitted items.

The new semester will start in a few days and then I'll back in the swing of things. I do plan on taking more pictures of Tours, though, as I've not posted many pictures of the city itself (besides the Loire, of course). The Cathedral is absolutely lovely, so perhaps I will do a little photoshoot around there.

In other news, I've become enthralled by GoodReads. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's a book website that allows you to list books that you have read, hope to read, or are currently reading. It's a bit shameful to see just how many books I have in the works right now, but also extremely handy since I am always reading about new books to try. It's a convenient place to keep the future books list, and it's fun to see what other people are currently reading.

Flickr Update

Greetings! Just wanted to point out that I've done a massive re-haul of my Flickr organization to make it easier to look at things. Now I've got organized collections on the right-hand side bar, which takes you to various sets. It's pretty self-explanatory, but for example, you can go to "Travels" on the right and then you have the option to go to "France 08-09" where you can see all the photos from this trip.

Hopefully that will make navigation easier. Recent uploads include pics from Arromanches, the debarquement beaches, Pointe du Hoc, Saint Malo, and Mont St. Michel. I've also added some pics of my current (embroidery) project and some pictures from last summer when I had finished sewing the canvas corset.

You can click on the Flickr badge in the right-hand side bar or you can take this direct link to my photostream.