Europe

It's going to take a while to get our photos sorted. I'm trying to pick out a few highlights (100 or so) from over 4000 photos.

For now, here's our route for those who want to know where we went.

Hostas

Did some gardening today. I call it "facing my fears," i.e. that of worms, slugs and snails and other creepy crawlies encountered when gardening.

I dream of having a large garden, but between my black thumb and moving around a lot, I've never had much of a chance. I did not inherit mother's ability to stick a twig in a pot and make it grow - she really does this!

It's nice of Pete to let me do some gardening in his yard, but mostly I'm just pulling up weeds - morning glories and buttercups. Today I moved some ferns around, and tore out the ones that were choking the peonies and shrubs. I also planted three hostas. Hopefully I can fill the areas between them with some astilbes and some bulbs for the spring.



The yard is very shady, which is the reason for the hostas and why the ferns do so well.

Cool site

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Topkapi

This movie must have inspired a lot of Turkish tourism. I certain want to go there now. This movie inspired the guy who created Mission Impossible. I never watched the TV series, but I think I can see that the movie with Tom Cruise has a scene that pays tribute to this movie. I wonder if how much Entrapment was influenced by this movie. Also see the crazy guy from The Black Hole as a younger guy (Maximilian Schell).

I give it a $4.50 rating (out of $5)

Go see it before "The Topkapi Affair" starting Pierce Brosnan comes out in 2006. (It's based on a novel by the same author, so I'm assuming it is a remake.)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Sometimes, old movies really are really disappointing, if only because I've come to expect spectacular special effects, and natural acting.

The Maltese Falcon didn't disappoint - a great story, and great characters - and seeing where all references that have been made to it, spoofs that have been made from it, and great lines have come from. The DVD includes the trailer for the movie, which is worth watching -- looks really cheesy, if only because you've seen 100s of copies of it.

I give it a $5 rating (out of $5 for rental)

Whew I'm tired. Just finished 11 weeks in Europe, 2 days on Saltspring Island, 5 days in Toronto and Montreal, and one week in the mountains in the southern Chilcotin. I guess holidays are officially over for me now, so its time to catch up with what's been happening in Vancouver, to look for a job and to go through 5000 photos.

The little trips right after the big trip trip to Europe really screwed me up. I hadn't even finished unpacking, so I wasn't really sure whether I was coming or going.