Saturday 16 August 2008

Young and oldThis is Lily and me at Trafalgar Square in London a few weeks ago. It was surprisingly late, maybe 8pm, but the sun was still up we'd been on the go all day. Wonderful!
Lily is in Chicago at the mo, having driven for two weeks across the top half of America to take two of her friends from Perth from her house in Olympia WA to their new uni in Champaigne, Illinois.
Every two or three days, we'd get excited calls from her en route: "I'm in Yellowstone!" "I've just seen a baby grizzly bear!" "I'm in Minnesota!" "I'm in Wisconsin!".
I'm very happy that they're finally in Chicago, staying with our lovely friend Sue in Naperville , who doesn't mind at all being invaded by a band of excited young people.
Lil's boyfriend Nick has flown to Chicago to join her for the drive back to WA (spooky that her home state in the US has the same abbreviation as her Aussie one). They have to be back by August 20 to see Radiohead in concert in Auburn. I'm so grateful to Nick for going to all that trouble. (Such a lovely laddy!)

From then on, my two youngest kids are virtually on tour through California with Radiohead. Will and his mates are seeing them in San Francisco on August 22, in concert with Beck (I just do not understand his appeal to young people — so poppy and wimpy!).
Then Will and Lily see them again in LA at the Hollywood Bowl on the 25th, and two days later here in San Diego. Lily will have to zoom back up to Seattle to be at Bumbershoot, a huge three-day music and performing arts festival starting Aug 30. Exhausting, but so much fun.
Wish I was thirty years younger ... though Dave and I have just bought ourselves tickets to see the Dandy Warhols in concert in Solana Beach. It's an over-21 event so yah boo suck to the kids. (I do wonder, though, if we will look like ancient senior citizens among the five or six hundred 21-year-olds likely to fill the venue. Hey! Too bad!)
::
This is what I look like today:
I've buggered my back, right where it becomes my hip. I did it in Perth on Saturday, and since then it's been sort of been okay off and on, until I lie down. I go to bed okay and wake up not okay. Today, though I am in the mother of all pain, right down my right leg to my knee, and I just can't find a position that is anywhere near comfy.
I'm off to see a therapist tomorrow. She's also an ... ahem ... love coach, so that'll be a learning experience — but a trusted friend who lives near us highly recommends her, so I'm suspending all cynicism.
Perhaps this is my poor old bones telling me to slow down and sit still and shut up for a bit.
Hope I can find a comfy position by tonight, though, cos we're off to see Jacques Loussier live in concert in La Jolla. I am such a fan. I just love being in America!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photo of you both, the venue brings back many memories.
Shelley

Anonymous said...

You have a distinctly Aussie tone since your return to Australia - I love boohoo suck to the kids!

Your lives are an absolute merry-go-round right now. Good on you- livng it to the full.

Jennifer said...

Ouch -- hope you're feeling better as soon as possible; back troubles are just the pits. You have done such a wonderful job with your kids, and I love the stories you share of the many adventures that really do weave your lives together, even when you're apart (although it sounds great that Will's plans have changed around to keep him near afterall). And I agree completely about Beck....

Les said...

I found your blog via my dear friend Nan (of Letters from a Hill Farm). My name is also Lesley and I thought it was such a coincidence to see that you're in the U.S. and about to go to a concert in a beach town that I used to live in! You said, "Dave and I have just bought ourselves tickets to see the Dandy Warhols in concert in Solana Beach." I grew up in San Diego and lived in Del Mar and Solana Beach (as well as Leucadia, Santee and Vista) from 1972 to 1992. I'll bet your concert is at the Belly Up Tavern. Am I right? :)

Off to peruse more of you blog. So nice to meet you via Nan!

Lesley said...

Hi Les: Great to meet you, too — and to see you spell your name the same way. There aren't many of us, I've realised.
I took a very quick look at your book blog — couldn't find an email address, though.
I'll be back very soon for a longer look!

Les said...

I've just perused more of your blog and am sitting here shaking my head in amazement. Your son just graduated from a school that is very near where I graduated in 1980. I went to Torrey Pines High School! My ex-husband and I built our house (in 1981) just due south of your son's high school up on the top of the mesa near the Grand Golf Club. We lived up there when there was nothing but dirt roads. (He still lives there and the house is on Del Vino Court, if you care to look for the street on Google Maps). What a small, small world to have just happened upon your blog.

Les said...

Yes, my name is spelled the same as you because I'm Canadian. Born in Ottawa, but have been in the States since I was 5. You may write to me at lscher@neb.rr.com.