g’evening pups — how ya’ll doing tonight?

Aloha, Suz and lln pups, from atop MK again…!

If I ever have the money for such things again, I’d like a ride on the Siberian Express.

hey tut — how cold is it up top tonight?

hey tuez — how was your day? me too — and the orient express and oh so many other great train adventures…

The thermometer is reading 1.8 Celsius so just above freezing, fortunately tonite, it’s overcast and we’re stuck inside, last nite totally sucked…! 8-(

Btw, one of my fellow spotters made this great video for his little brother and sister’s school in Canada… A Spotter’s Tour of Subaru Telescope

If I recall correctly, you can kinda do a joint Siberian/Orient Express from Russia to China. And then there is Machu Picchu in Peru.

Sigh…

great scenic railways — i loved this pbs series

inside! yay! sweet — thanks for that link dood

i wanna do the across canada visiting all the grand lodges and parks as well

Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper are gorgeous places to visit, Suz…!

I moved from Cincinnati via Chicago to Oxnard on a train. It was wonderful! But it did take me three weeks to get my land legs back. Dome cars, a sweet roomette, lots of wonderful people to chat with as we swung down through Albuquerque and then through the desert and into Los Angeles. Just glorious.

Cool.

You’ve got a cool job, no pun intended.

I was in Banff a few years ago, for a library conference. It was so, so beautiful!

Banff is on my list of places to ski.

Sigh…

yup! i saw them on the pbs show great lodges of the canadian national parks…. there was also a great lodges of the american national parks. they are all magnificent and there is so much eye candy. i think visiting them by train during the winter would be fantastic!

hey dearie — how’s the ‘nard tonight? that sounds like a great train journey!

hey ce — how’s cleveland tonight?

The worst part of growing old broke isn’t the cat food, it’s knowing what you missed.

the learning to accept that which you will never see or do…

Much warmer, only 37 and a great, gorgeous full moon.

that too.

We need a travel agent! Someone who would put a great trip together well in advance so we could all save up for it. That would be such a trip!

tis raining here — warmed up to 43. weather dood said its gonna be in the 50′s tomorrow even tho its gonna be raining. sat is our ‘mostly dry’ day for doing stuff according to him and then we get hit again

Tomorrow, no wait, today on the East Coast, my husband turns 60. I officially have an old man.

Almost too warm to cut a Christmas tree.

if i had one of those two winning tickets, with my $192million after taxes we would have our own firedoglake train and tour the world. spreading peace, love, and good music as we gaze and take in all the eye candy.

And that would be me, too. Not a man, but 60 years old. SIgh.

Cruises can be downright cheap, even free.

way kewl tuez! hippo birdies to mr tuez!

we can use our senior discounts even :)

I’m 9 years younger and he calls me his old lady (I hate it) but since he’s now officially over the hill and round the bend…

I remember taking my kids and me to get passports. One of the questions is “Travel Plans:___________” Well, we didn’t have any and I said, “None; we just want to be ready!” And, indeed, over the next few years, we all went on various adventures.

i’ve never cut down my own tree

Not if it’s free. But truly, they have casino cruises here that are free if you don’t gamble. Free cruise, food, drinks and transportation to the docks.

my passport is still a virgin

Funny!

tis the airfare between here and there that would be my hiccup

That, is a sad, Suzanne. You HAVE to change that.

i know! tis so embarrassing… and at my age…

What a wonderful dream!

Doesn’t the TSH require a passport to one of the islands off Seattle? I think I remember reading that (bunch of shit). You can break your cherry close to home.

Did I really just type that???

You love so many places, and we all save to visit our favs. I know it is just hard to do that.

and then we could all settle down in that often talked about commune in france…. with national health care, good food, wine and real high speed internet…

I’m there, I’m there. Sign me up.

I’m moving in with you.

Or Tuscany! I think we’d be accepted, even if we’d be viewed as a bit ‘interesting.’

And, yes, I think you need a passport just to get into Canada (or, more likely, back into the USA USA USA!) You and the girls could get up to Vancouver for a weekend just for the fun of it.

*laughing* victoria? — i could do the ferry from seattle to victoria but would rather just drive through the peace arch at the us/bc border.

It is so true. My sister, when living with us in Paris, had a hand trauma that took us to the American Hospital inParis.

love more than my budget allows for sure — is why the thought of 192 million forking dollars after taxes… well big money always gets me thinking of traveling

besides, who wants to travel alone???

anywhere we want! of course, with 192 million after taxes, why be limited to just one….

She had a needle pushed into a vein. And it took two surgeries to get it out. (We were hand polishing the floor when the needle jumped out of the parquet floor, into her hand).

ouch! i remember several years back when john over at americablog had eye trouble while in paris and the wonderful treatment he was given…

French medical treatment is almost free. I love them for this.

Wow, that’s horrifying. Now I have a wonderful reason to not polish the floors I’m already not polishing! Thanks for that.

is partly why i’ve always thought of an fdl commune there — i don’t think i’ve heard anything but good about the french health care system

at least while on one’s hands and knees. as a kid, my mom had an electric buffer we used to polish the hardwood floors.

Great yuletide video.

I like this too. But then I am a sucker for great pipe organs.

BTW I am reading a book for our Art and Fiction book club: The Greater Journey by David McCullough.

hey cmauk — how ya doing tonight? wow, that’s GREAT pipe organ!!!

Though it no doubt does not do justice to the Wanamaker Organ by a long shot.

We vacationed in an apartment across from the American Hospital in Paris once.

Okay, I can’t afford Peru or Siberia but maybe a weekend in Paris…

About to hit the hey, I think. Suz.

when i was a newly wed with my first ex, we used to go to a pizza place in martinez that had a pipe organ. i always think of pizza when i hear one now *laughing*

Nighters. Bon Nuit.

you one of them east coast types? (sorry my memory has been worse than usual lately)

g’nite ce

Cartagena, Colombia is an accessible and interesting destination for someone in FL. The Old Town is beautiful and being gentrified. The beaches are nice… the people are friendly and welcoming. Easy flight from Miami, I think.

Bon nuit, CE.

Yep…Cleveland.

That is true…

So much to remember, so little memory…

same town as ce — i did not know that.

I’m gonna take my addled brain to bed.

Night all!!!

I have a friend in Southern Spain who says that’s essentially true of their health care system as well. But I’m dubious they’d let us show up and start a commune, especially with their economy in such dire straits.

G’night tuez…..

g’nite tuez

Well Garfield Heights actually. Just a tad south of Downtown.

hey blue — how ya doing tonight? we will just have to find a place that doesnt hold our having $192 million against us *laughing*

sweet! ohio is well represented at the lake :)

Uh-oh…is that an in-joke from earlier in the thread?

upthread i was waxing poetic about if i had had one of those two winning lotto tix… each tic is worth 192 million after taxes. got me thinking about travel and, of course, the often talked in days of yore fdl commune in france…

I vote for a commune in Spain: I speak the language in a rough-and-ready sort of way, whereas I don’t parlez so good le francaise.

we would have to travel to several locations before finding the one that we all agreed was ‘the one’…

If FDL has enough $ in the coffers, I nominate both of us and any other Late-Late-Nighters who may wish to participate for an exploratory committee.

is where that $192mil after taxes wudda come in so handy….

Ah, now I get it. Am a bit of a slow study, but I’m coming around.

any more good news about your book?

I’m going to head out for some travel dreams…. ‘night blue and Suz and any other laternighters. I’m going to dream of a commune in Tuscany or Umbria… where there is never a bad glass of wine and always wonderful pasta.

The review on the New Yorker website is up to something like 400 Facebook likes and 200 re-tweets. It’s almost scary.

I’d be willing to consider an Italian commune. The birthplace of pizza and all…

g’nite dearie

whoa… wow… that sound you just heard was my jaw hitting the floor…

wow!!!

i figure we will need at least two.. one for those who like cold and snow and one for those who don’t so those like me can go back and forth as we wish

I know. It’s just gobsmacking.

Well, I’m on the A.M. shift these days and probably shouldn’t linger, but I love to check in with you and my FDL cyber-buddies. Do talk to Bev about the hosting gig. I can always threaten to throw a tantrum if you don’t get it.

I second the motion.

*laughing* artistic temperment

g’nite blue

i’m going to join the exodus. g’nite all. thanks for letting me hang out with ya tonight.

hope to see ya tomorrow night for muppets