Just a quick update from Utica, NY… we are heading up to the Adirondacks this weekend and may not have internet, so the Barcelona updates will resume on Sunday when we return to civilization. :)

And after that, we’ll have plenty to share from our time in upstate NY!

Hi everyone! We have been back in the USA for under 24 hours and Eric is already on another plane back to NC for an interview. He will be checking in on our house and yard and I am praying that at least one of my tomatoes has survived the 100-degree-plus heat that Durham had last week. He’ll be back tomorrow evening and then we’ll head to upstate NY for two weeks for a workshop he’ll be teaching at Hamilton College for the last two weeks of June.

I am (hopefully) on the upswing from a sinus infection (makes flying for eight hours even more fun!), so I will be resting up and posting copious amounts of photos to Flickr from our wonderful stays in both Paris and Barcelona. I will also be posting at least once a day for the next several days while I make sense of all the great experiences we had on this adventure, so stay tuned!

Back in April we signed up with postcrossing.com in order to send and receive postcards from all over the world. We are taking a short break from the process while we are traveling this month because I would hate to have postcards waiting—unregistered for days—when we got back.

Through this website we’ve received cards from folks in Romania, the Netherlands (4), Brazil, Norway (2), Germany (5), Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Greece, and Russia.

Here are a few of our favorites…

(clockwise from upper left: Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Russia)

You can see our entire Flickr set here.

First of all, this is our 501st(!) post since we started with Wordpress two years ago this month. Time does fly!

So, about the post title… Eric arrived home on Tuesday with the news that on his way home from work a stone hit his windshield making a crack that would definitely not pass inspection come fall.

We were going to just deal with it when we got back, but he noticed a 50% off deal that Safelite.com was running, so we scheduled the replacement for this afternoon.

The technician, Matt, was quick and courteous and didn’t blink an eye when I started taking photos. :)

It was a $230 oopsie, but thankfully, did not involve an entire day of sitting at a car repair place.

We were invited to spend the afternoon with about 15 other mini schnauzers for a Memorial Day cookout, and we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to let Riesling off leash in a fenced backyard.

Did I mention the 15 other schnauzers?

To tire her out a bit we took a long walk around the North Carolina Museum of Art campus to take in some outdoor sculpture, like Gyre by Thomas Sayre.

Riesling was pretty tired afterwards, so we took a quick break in the shady Lowe’s Pavilion.

Thanks to our trackstick and Google Earth, I know we walked 1.7 miles.

With a panting schnauzer in the backseat, we continued up to North Raleigh for the party. North Carolina Schnauzer Rescue volunteers Eve and Bob hosted the cookout with generous amounts of food and libations.

Of course, there was a lot of excitement with each new arrival…

Riesling behaved herself quite well and managed to be far away from most of the scuffles while looking angelic.

It’s always interesting to see all of the different schnauzer personalities, including Kayla, an absolute sweetie who is available for adoption, check out her profile here.

Yesterday was my birthday, and these are some of the presents I received. I just hope I can eat all the cookies before we leave next week…

Our friends recently brought home an 8-week-old mini schnauzer named Pasha. We met her last week when we had dinner at their place and tonight, we had everyone over for dinner.

We kept both dogs in the kitchen, which wasn’t too much trouble considering the storm outside, so neither wanted to be very far from mom and dad.

Riesling was a good sport, but she let Pasha know when she was getting too chummy.

Sometimes it’s just so hard to be a role model. :)

Tonight we are in Colorado Springs and we are having dinner at the Broadmoor Hotel. We’ll have photos coming soon!

The title of this post was going to be “cheeseburgers from heaven” when I had thought about writing it a few weeks ago. But it’s Mother’s Day today and the fact that I’ve been without mine for almost two years now hurts just a little more this weekend.

I had been thinking about my mom a lot one morning and on the way to drop off pup at the groomers, I turned on the radio instead of the usual CD. The next song played was “Cheeseburger in Paradise” by Jimmy Buffet, which I haven’t heard in years. I can’t say I like Jimmy Buffet all that much but I somehow know every single word from many of his popular songs thanks to my parents, specifically my mom. She always wanted to have a cheeseburger in a town called Paradise (there is one in Florida near I-75!) but we never made the detour on our many roadtrips together.

I found myself belting out the chorus with the windows open and just then, hearing that song at that moment, felt like a penny from heaven.

(Ryan, my dad, Lauren, me, and my mom in Oklahoma, probably 1984)

On a brighter note, I happen to be lucky enough to have three other women to celebrate this mother’s day—my gram, Tess, Eric’s mom, Susan, and my step-mom, Lynn. Having all of them in my life has made the loss more bearable.

Thank you all and Happy Mother’s Day.

Riesling is happy to be home!