me and my sister-in-law pam. she has been part of my life for the last 28 years. she is my friend and family. i am so glad i got to spend the weekend hanging out with my favorite red-head. we can't wait until next summer to do it all over again!

here are the three of us outside of the irish fest grounds. it was a beautiful day to spend together. from left to right...me, amy and pam.

the picture came out a little blurry, but you can still see the beautiful costumes of the irish dancers. amy and pam seemed to really enjoy watching the kids "go to town" on the stage. another 'must see' thing to do at the fest.

this is the milwaukee fire and police pipe and drum band. you can't go to irish fest without listening to a little pipe and drum. i guess it takes two years practicing the bagpipes until a person is ready to perform.

if only there was a tug-o-war team up here in northern wisconsin...i'd be on it so fast your head would spin. this is one of the many co-ed teams. teams came from canada, wisconsin, minnesota, iowa and michigan. it was a good break from walking around...plus, those men sure had some nice looking legs!!

ahhhhh....irish fest!

i made it to irish fest! one of the few things i greatly look forward to and missed dearly while over in taiwan. i had to attend a seminar for teaching in minneapolis, but i had sunday to play over in milwaukee at the fest. my bestest friend amy and my sister-in-law pam came along with me for the weekend. i was a little jealous that they got to go play while i was sitting in a meeting prior to irish fest...how boring is that?! i did get to go swimming and sit in the hot tub though and chat.

the fest wasn't as crowded as i remembered, but it was a sunday and people were probably heading home. i hit the typical spots to shop and watched a little tug-o-war. one of the bands i enjoy listening to...leahy...was playing again. i made a point of listening to a new band to discover new music which was a band called "off kilter." we all really liked them and ended up buying a couple of cd's. it was a very fun and relaxing day with the gals. unfortunately, it all ended too soon and we had to trudge back up to northern wisconsin and back to reality. i'm still "de-toxing" from the fast and busy pace of city life into the slow rhythm of small town life.

this weekend amy and i are heading back to minneapolis to go see a concert...her birthday gift to me. i'm looking forward to it cuz i get to spend quality time with her and have fun at the same time. her two boys are also coming along. of course i'll post pictures when i have them.

my close friend jane and i spent part of the afternoon laying on the grass at the vietnam veteran's memorial down in neilsville...we were waiting for her car to be tuned up by the mechanic. i decided to pull out the camera. i thought this photo came out excellent and shows our happy relaxed mood together.

here's a photo of my number two niece abbey. i thought the black and white photo captured her 13 year old attitude quite well...and i don't mean that in a bad way...we all remember what it was like being 13 years old. we had a good day together. i could do without the piercings, but hey...that's her thing.

here's a photo of me and my number one niece christi...i've called her that since day one...she's my first born niece. she's holding her son dakota...my great nephew and i'm holding my great niece alissa. the two babies are a week apart.

this is my cousin jim and his showcar. we all went to a car show this past weekend...he placed third in his division. i wish you all could've seen what it looked like before to appreciate the work he put into it.

doesn't my brother look cool on his harley davidson? i love my brother soooo much and seeing him again after so long got me all misty-eyed. we ended a good dinner together by going for a little bike ride to his house.

when will it stop spinning?!

today is the beginning of day six with being home and i still feel like everything is spinning out of control around me. i have to constantly remind myself to take baby bites with everything i want/need to do. i've seen a handful of people and have had some wonderful visits, but there's still more people to call and visit yet, bags and boxes to unpack and a town to familiarize myself with again. .. and to a lesser extent, american culture.

i read my friend justine's blog entry...she spent 18 months in southeast asia and she made a comment about looking at things around her with different eyes. i totally can relate to that...i have a completely different perspective now on the people around me. i definately have had spurts of anxiety and a general sense of feeling lost. i have a lot more empathy for those folks traveling and/or relocating to a foreign country... it's rather overwhelming at first.

i can't help but look around me and think that the sky is fake. it's too blue and the white puffy clouds are too white and puffy...it looks fake. the fact that i can see the horizon and thousands of trees in the distance is a little overwhelming too...and the time it takes to get anywhere!! i'm not used to sitting in a car for 40 minutes just to go somewhere to go grocery shopping. and yes, i am sleeping with two blankets while wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt...i came back home to a thirty plus difference in temperature compared to here and taipei. i'm not looking forward to the colder weather!

i'm finally home!!!

well...i'm finally home. let me first start off by saying that it was absolutely wonderful to open my eyes in the wee hours of the morning to look directly out a window watching the leaves gently blowing in the wind, hearing them rustle...and then hearing a loon out on the lake. sounds like i'm making it up, but i'm not...my cousin jim and his wife's house has a very nice yard, lake and surrounding woods. versus waking up to the sound of scooters racing past and the occasional yelling or shouting by someone...in chinese.

the flight went fine...long and boring of course, but fine. the flight attendant's were cat friendly, so my cat spent most of the trip sleeping on my lap. my bestest friend in the whole world, my brother and his family were all waiting for me at the airport. of course i started crying when i saw amy and the rest...who wouldn't when you haven't seen your family in two years. i got to meet the two babies too. amy and i went over to christi's (my niece) house for a little. i was absolutely exhausted, but i wanted to visit for a little bit before heading out of town.

after visiting my first stop was to culver's. i've been waiting for over a year to eat there again and was ready to order. the first thing i thought was "damn...this burger is huge!!" no wonder american's are so fat with the size of portions here. i couldn't finish the sandwich nor did i want to but it was soooooo good. on the drive home i kept looking at all the wide open spaces and the huge vehicles driving past. it was weird looking at the flat land...i used to think the drive home was nice rolling hills but after living along the most active fault line and seeing all the mountains everday....northern wisconsin is flat. i'm not going to miss those damn earthquakes. every time one hit...i became more scared of them every time. i don't like hearing the earth rumble and feel the building swaying. i like only having to deal with tornados.

my first impression on driving back into minocqua was to wonder where all the people were...it felt empty. it's dark, quiet, and cold. it's at least a 30 degree difference in temperature from taiwan. i stopped at the local wal-mart to purchase a few things i had left behind in taipei...and was ambushed by my cousin jim. there was almost a fatality in the store cuz amy was standing between us. it was really good to be bear-hugged by my most favoritest cousin. after that, it was on to the house to see karen and erv...da boy. all i can say is that is was wonderful to see him and it didn't feel like two years had passed between us at all. he was taller than i remember....

anyway, i can't sleep and we're off to do a few errands and putz around for the day. of course, a nap is in the near future...my head feels funny already. i'm enclosing my new contact info. below....email is still the best option to get hold of me. i still have one more update to do on my taiwan blog...so, keep your eyes open for an update. see most of you soon!!