Skip to main content

Dust and Ashes

Dear Reader,

I've had a couple of emails asking if I've been effected by the giant cloud of Icelandic ash hovering over Europe. Yes and no.

When I arrived at the office on Thursday morning, our admin was busily trying to figure out which flights had been cancelled, and my coworkers in from out of town were plotting train routes home.

I hadn't been home for very long when my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but I recognized the voice on the other end. Friends from home whom I had been expecting next weekend were stranded in London. I invited them (parents and 3 kids) to come to stay with me. So the extra space in the apartment (my American vocabulary is coming back) has come in handy.

Because I was expecting them, I had already borrowed an air mattress, 5 towels, 4 duvets and duvet covers from a coworker. It was just the dusting and ironing and laundry that I didn't have time to do. But whatever condition my apartment is in, it has to be cleaner than Gatwick, right?

And the weather has been beautiful. If you have to be stranded in London, this isn't a bad week for it.

My friends still hope to continue their journey to see family in Asia. They would appreciate your prayers for their onward journey. In the meantime, they are seeing as much of London and surrounds as they can.

Now's a good time to be grateful for home (and cars)!
~~ LeAn

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Box Set

Jayne and I had decided to blow off work and talk about men in a way we never would have done when we were younger and more responsible.  (Actually, our bosses had pre-approved the vacation time if not the conversation, but I like to think that after sensible teenage and young adult years, we still have a chance of turning into carefree middle aged rebels.)  Jayne was sharing with me the surprise some people had expressed when they learned she was getting divorced and how that had opened her eyes to the compartmentalization in her life; in this case, that her marriage had been slowly deteriorating but she didn't talk about this with anyone - even close friends. I asked Jayne how many "boxes" she had.   "5 - 1 for work, 1 for family, 1 specifically for my ex, 1 for Christian friends, and 1 for non-Christan friends." As she finished, I saw myself 6 months ago.   I was having morning coffee with a friend and my phone beeped its daily 9 am reminder....
3 comments
Read more

Day 2: Grand Rapids, MI to Oconomowoc, WI

 When I lived in England, I learned the saying - Start as you mean to go on . I thought about this as the hotel manager explained to me that he was calling because I had left my journal in the hotel room but he would be able to have it shipped back to me if I could provide a pre-paid shipping label. This was the second distressing phone call before lunch.   The first distressing phone call was to say that due to high winds expected across Lake Michigan, our ferry to Milwaukee was cancelled. I really like ferries and I had been looking forward to the ferry across Lake Michigan for weeks. We stopped at Panera for lunch and to discuss the situation. My lunch was a disappointing sandwich. And then there was a lot of highway south of Lake Michigan and around Chicago.  And Spotify kept slipping weird mellow folk music into my upbeat driving playlist. And then about 20 miles before Oconomowoc, the sky did this, and I think we will consider this the new start of the trip.
1 comment
Read more

101 Things To Say Into a Microphone: Take 1 - Eletelephony

Dear Reader, At one point years ago, back when I was doing a bit of freelance audio, video and film production work, an idea came to me: I should write a book and call it 101 Things To Say Into a Microphone .  The idea was likely brought on by hearing some production assistant or other saying "Check...check 1.... check 1, 2, 3...Can you hear me?...... Check...........check....check....1...2...1.......2...check...3...4..." and so on for a period of time much longer than he wished to repeat it and everyone else wished to hear it.  Why not, I thought, write (or rather, compile) a book of relatively short, funny or interesting poems, quotes, stories, jokes, etc. which can be easily memorized and repeated by production assistants everywhere to the benefit of everyone on set or stage? This idea came back to me recently when I needed to test the recording quality of a microphone I purchased to record super-interesting-technical-stuff for work. Let's make this a collective...
4 comments
Read more