Gardening #4 - Jardinage #4

I am finally done with gardening at the church. I planted the last plants this afternoon. I hope they will all look good together once they are all settled and it will be beautiful. It will take several months for the Blue Star Creeper to take over the star and I cannot wait to see how it looks when the space is all filled.

J'ai finalement terminé avec le jardinage a l'église. J'ai mis en terre les dernières plantes cet après-midi. J'espère qu'elles vont bien aller ensembles et qu'une fois que les racines auront bien pris, tout sera très beau. Il faudra plusieurs mois d'attente pour que l'Isotoma Fluviatilis remplisse l'étoile et il me tarde de voir comment ce sera.

Gardening #3 - Jardinage #3

Third step today towards the finish design. I planted some blue "Isotoma Fluviatilis" (Blue Star Creeper) in the star. I only had to plant patches and the grass will take over on its own and eventually fill the star. I chose this particular plant because it is easy to grow and it blooms during the whole summer getting covered with small star-shape light blue flowers. Appropriate since it is growing inside a star.

Troisième étape. J'ai plante de l'Isotoma Fluviatilis bleue dans l'étoile. Il m'a suffit de planter des morceaux et l'herbe prendra racine et remplira l'étoile après quelques mois. J'ai choisi ce couvre-sol parce que pendant presque tout l'été il se couvre de petites fleurs bleu pâle, en forme d'étoile. Parfait puisque ça va pousser a l'interieur d'une étoile.

Gardening #2 - Jardinage #2

Again today I did a little gardening. The second step of my design was to mark the star with bark. The star will be filled with low grass and I will plant some flowers on the outside. More work tomorrow.


Suite de mon jardinage. La deuxième étape fut de tracer l'étoile avec de la sciure de bois. L'étoile sera remplie avec une herbe courte et je planterai des fleurs a l'extérieur. Suite demain.

Gardening - Jardinage

Since Matthew "volunteered" us to take care of a 12x12 feet box at the Church, we had not done a lot. I have been flying every week this month from Thursday to Sunday. Monday night, Matthew has Ensemble rehearsal and Wednesday night we have Chorus rehearsal. That leaves us with Tuesday night but either him or I have had plans on that night as well. We did clean the box from weeds and whatever plants were in there. I had an idea and we needed to take out everything, except for the tree in the middle. We did that weeks ago with Michael's help, but since then nothing.

Finally Monday afternoon, I went to the nursery to get some plants and yesterday went to "our box" to start working. After another trip at the nursery to get more plants I was happy with the first step. It took way longer than I thought it would. That tree in the middle is a pain to work around. The roots are not necessarily big but there are a zillion on them, making it difficult to dig and the position I was in was probably not good for my back. I also kept on banging my head on the low branches while moving from one spot to the next. But it was still an enjoyable afternoon. I can clear my head when I garden. I am focused on what I am doing and do not think of anything else. Second step today.




Matthew s'est porté volontaire, et moi aussi par la même occasion, pour prendre soin d'un carré de terre devant l'église ou on répète avec la Chorale. Cela fait plusieurs semaines que l'on a eu note "boite" de 12x12 pieds et jusqu'à présent on avait pas fait grand chose. Ce mois-ci j'ai travaillé chaque semaine du Jeudi au Dimanche. Matthew a répétition avec son groupe Lundi soir et Mercredi on a répétition avec la Chorale. Cela ne nous laisse que les Mardis, mais soit lui ou moi avions des choses prévues ce soir-la aussi. On a quand même nettoyé le carré et enlevé les mauvaises herbes avec Michael, il y a quelques semaines mais depuis plus rien. J'ai une idée pour le "design" et seul l'arbre qui est en plein milieu est resté.

Lundi après-midi je suis finalement allé acheter des plantes. Hier j'ai commencé le travail (j'ai du acheter des plantes supplémentaires) et je suis satisfait de la première étape. Cela a pris beaucoup plus de temps que prévu, mais cet arbre au milieu rend les fouilles assez difficiles a cause de toutes les racines. En plus avec mon dos, je ne peux pas rester longtemps dans la même position ou alors je me cognais la tête contre les branches de l'arbre qui sont très basses. Mais j'ai quand même passe une bonne après-midi. Jardiner me relaxe et je ne pense a rien d'autre quand je suis concentre sur ce que je fais. Deuxième étape aujourd'hui.

GEORGE MICHAEL

AWESOME CONCERT.

I have always been a fan of George Michael's voice, music, and message in some of his songs. I had actually never seen him live in concert so I was really excited to be there for his return after so many years away from the spotlight.

During the last 17 years away from US stages, he was known to Americans more for his troubles with the law, than his recent hits. I was a little worried that this would still be held against him for this tour. I was happy to see that it was not the case. The first show was at the San Diego Sports Arena. The stadium was packed and as the show went along, people were singing all the hits (except for the latest songs that never made it here).

His voice was flawless and strong. There are a couple of my favorites songs ("Praying for time", "I want your sex") that he did not do, but I know he cannot please everybody. For "One More Try," he upped the gospel vibe, which I loved, singing with the background vocalists in a circle around him. He threw in a couple covers too, offering a striking rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" as well as a sultry cover of The Police's "Roxanne". As much as I like those songs and enjoyed them, I would have loved more of "George's own material".

Before performing "Amazing" he told us that he dedicated the song to his partner, Kenny, showing his complete openness about his sexuality. Some of the lyrics of "An easier affair" show that as well.

The stage was simple and amazing at the same time. The multilevel structures that housed the musicians were positioned between three giant video screens that provided stunning images to enhance the performance. At the beginning of the show, it looked like it was raining blue and red sparkles and it gave me goose bumps because it looked like it was actually "raining". The middle screen curved down and was part of the stage on which George sang and danced. For appearing to be bare, the stage was actually incredible, being literally lit up.

I enjoyed every second of the show and hope that it does well all over the country.

Mad TV - United Airlines

J'étais un peu fatigue ce jour-la. I was a little under the weather that day.

Un peu d'humour - A little humor

Nouveau "look"

La semaine dernière Norman était malade et au lieu de se reposer en lisant un livre ou en regardant la télé il a crée pour moi le petit icône qui se trouve a cote de mon adresse internet. J'ai trouve que c'était vraiment bien alors je lui ai demande de me faire une pancarte que je pourrais utiliser pour mon blog. Qu'est-ce que vous en pensez?

Last week, Norman was sick and instead of resting while reading a good book or watch TV, he created the small icon next to my web address. I loved it so much that I asked him to create a matching banner for my blog. What do you think?

Coast to coast

Yesterday after flying back to Los Angeles from Florida, driving home to San Diego, a quick lunch and a shower, instead of taking a nap, I had to go to rehearsal! I have already missed the three allowed each season and although I was tired, I could not miss another one. We practiced from 1:30pm to 5pm and I actually felt alright. We have a little more than one month until we go to Miami for GALA 08 and as we get more familiar with the music, the excitement for our trip also grows. I still have a lot to learn and need to memorize my lyrics by Wednesday. I know what I will be doing for the next three days.
After rehearsal yesterday, Matthew and I and some of the boys went to Baja Betty for cocktails. That is a thing I have not done in a long time and I am glad I went. Usually after a trip, I just need peace and quiet. At work I am in an enclosed environment for hours with passengers. At home, I try to avoid crowded places. I would rather spend a quiet afternoon or evening with a few close friends.
For some reason yesterday, I felt like being with the "boys". We had a couple cocktails and lots of laughs while eying cute guys passing by us.

Back at home Matthew prepared a healthy dinner and we ate sitting down at the table while having a great conversation about religion. We rarely have meals together because of our schedules but even when we are both home, we usually take our food to the living room in front the TV. It was nice to eat dinner and not have our minds wandering while watching meaningless stories on the screen.

Trip Down Under

I think everyone is over me bragging about how great Sydney and Australia are. I just had another awesome trip down under. I was afraid the weather would not be very cooperative since it is the beginning of Fall for them, but I got lucky. We had sunshine and blue sky and a temperature in the high 70s the whole lay-over until the day we left.
The second day of the stay, I walked all over town with Christopher. We also took the bus to the little town of Coogee and did the walk to Bondi Beach along the ocean. It was once again absolutely gorgeous. This was my 4th or 5th time doing the walk and it is still breathtaking. We had a lovely lunch at the Bondi Iceberg and walk around the beach before heading back to Sydney.