[Pesto Man]

Thanks for all the kind words....they help more than you will ever know At least we are safe with family, with power, water, and working toilets

Rainey, haven't heard about the zoo, but it is (to my knowlege in a relatively high area. and the audobon zoo folks really have their act together(hopefully they have contingencies

David, it would be brackish water

Chicago Bear, thanks for your kind words...I am finding about those reserves of stregnth! Sorry for the loss of your Parents, I can relate to that as well, (My Mother passed away on last tuesday! My sister was in town and we just barely got her out on the last flight out

Mother Theresa once said that she knew that God would not give her anything she could not handle..but sometimes she wished he didn't have so much confidence in her.....I know how she feels!!!
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I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

[Sarape]

Welcome back Pesto Man and too bad you can't go home yet. Guess you need all of our sympathy now.

Rainey, don't know about the zoo but heard there are 6000 prisoners to be moved. Never considered what they would do with so many prisoners in the event of an evacuation.

Hard to imagine my home under water. I try and think what it would be like to return after the water runs back into the sea.
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' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

[Barbara]

Yes Pesto man glad you are safe. And now I understand your name. It must have been wonderful to walk in your garden in summer. I love the smell when you brush past a basil plant. I hope you will enjoy it again.
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Barbara

[Judy]

So very sorry to hear of the sad events in your life - your strength of character is shining through in your posts. Wishing you and your family all the best from Down Under.
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Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

www.cupcakerecipebook.com.au

[JarabaRubia]

Hello all,
I live in Nyack NY which is a small town about 25 minutes north of NYC. I have lived here for 6 1/2 years now and I love it.

The Pros:
Very close to NYC. Our town is very diverse and culturally minded and very culturally diverse. We have a ton of restaurants...the only one major ethnic group NOT represented is Greek...but that is just a 15 minute drive away. We have a fabulous farmers market. We are in the lower Hudson Valley and therefore very close to all that the HV has to offer...apple picking, cider, great foliage in the fall, the Culinary Inst of America. This area is very rich in history....lots of Revolutionary War sites and very very very old houses...with ghosts!! We are also close to West Point and right across the Hudson River from Sleepy Hollow...of Headless Horseman fame.
It's a very politically minded town and people really care about whats going on regardless of their political inclination. But we are primarily liberal....NY is a BLUE state after all. We also have a bunch of celebritied that live in our area.....Rosie O'Donnell...but nobody likes her. Al Pacino, Lorraine Bracco, one of the Baldwins, William Hurt, Alan Ruck (Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Ellyn Burstyn, Bill Murray, Jonathan Demme (directed Silence of the Lambs...I used live across the street from him). These people are all very nice and blend in nicely..except for Rosie!

Cons: Cost of living!!!!!! NY Metro area is very expensive, high property taxes and the lowest price for a 2 BR house I have seen is $450,000!

[Erin]

JarabaRubia, Out in the Hamptons we have a lot of celebrity's mostly they are quiet and you hardly even notice them. Then Billy Joel drives his car into your living room and there goes the neighborhood. We were all relieved when he pulled up stakes.
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[Ijit]

I live in a town called Olney, MD that's right outside of Washington, DC. so, here are my pros & cons.

Cons - Cost of living, rush hour traffic, solicitors, solicitors, solicitors.

Pros - My proximity to DC, plenty of yummy restaurants within a 30 minute drive in any direction (my recent favorite being Lebanese Taverna), no major Interstates! Surprisingly lots of green space for such an urbanized/suburbanized county. And on a more personal note, two of the best housemates a girl could ask for.

[queenla]

Gee, Pestoman, you have not posted here for three months. I really hope things are looking up for you. I can't imagine the work to your garden that hoefully has begun. I wish you the best.

I live in Wycheproof, Victoria, Australia. Population 700. One supermarket, two pubs, op shop, mini-department store, local craft shop, hardware shop, petrol station, mechanic with roadside petro pumps, shire head office, p12 school, 2 'cafe's', postoffice, caravan park, horse race track, bowls/tennis/cricket/croquet/netball/hockey/football clubs, Bakery, musical society, museum, art gallery.
Pros: big sky country (mallee scrub, sheep/wheat farm land), (..hang on i'm still thinking), clean air, everyone waves-everyone knows, Mount Wycheproof- smallest registered mountain in the world.
Cons: big sky, everyone waves, year: 1954, no food variety.
Verdict: it is what is is. We do live in a magnificent compound, like we are billionaires but we're not. Melbourne only three hours away. petrol an extravagant $1.35 ( seems so cheap compared to florence!)
I have landed the presidency of the local tourism group and I am working with positivism. It is worth a visit, the wheat train goes down the main street and if you're carefull you can see the train driver stop the train and run to the bakery to get a pie. The art gallery sells coin yoyo's and the owner has made a few gigantic iconographic pictures out of 10,000 coins( with 2 million left in a container, somewhere). As anywhere its the characters that make a place. And there are a couple of beauties here.
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truth, like gold, is not the less so for being newly brought out of the mine.

[happenstance]

I, like my neighbor Creampuff, live in Oakland, CA.

I love it's diversity, weather, food, foodies, farmer's markets and people, that I can have a garden and hens, but still live in an urban environemt, that I know all my neighbors and that we make a point to creat and nurture community.

I don't love it's bad rep, the half-decent public transport, the fact that everything closes at 10 (and I am a night owl).

I am excited about all the new stores and entrepenuers here...our decaying downtown, for better or worse, is coming back.
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Maureen in Oakland

Sharing her home with Rimsky the cat, Cody the partner, and 9 happy hens.

:>

[Zoe]

I'm in Haifa - that's right by the Mediterranean, in the northern part of Israel.

The pros - gorgeous scenery (hills, sea, mountains in the distance on a clear day, lots of green), relatively diverse, pretty big but has a small town feel, nice weather and not too expensive.

Cons - Good luck finding a decent job! Not a lot going on in terms of food; not much going on culturally most of the time, either.

But I still like it.

[bainst]

Hi Sarape.

I've been in the military for almost ten years now, and as expected, I've had a very nomadic lifestyle. I was fortunate, however, to have been able to live in Germany for four years. So the travel and eating oppurtunites were wonderful. I highly recommend Croatia to anyone who's never been to the Dalmation Coast.

Currently I'm living Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The good things about living here is the fact that Seoul is a major city with great shopping and a bustling night life. There are plentiful museums, the arts are very active, from tradional Korean music and dancing to great muscians like Yo Yo Ma coming to perform. And of course, electronics.

The downside to living here is outrageous traffic (I thought Rome was bad.). The moonsoon season is pretty bad, especially when it floods. And try as I might, I just can't get into Kimchi.
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Live as if to die tomorrow. Learn as if to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

[Erin]

Bainst,
Where did you live in Croatia? I have a good friend that grew up in Dubrovnik.
That would be so amazing to see Yo Yo Ma, I am totally enthralled by his music.
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[Filipe]

Salut a tous! Hi everyone!
I've found this blog precisely today abd this is my first post

I'm posting just to tell you all about a Chocolate Festival, which goes on its 4th edition, which takes place here in Portugal, at this medieval village called OBIDOS, located about 75km north of Lisbon, our capital.

Along with several chocolate sculpture, pastry and suppliers exhibition stands, there's a "Chocolatier" contest going on, as well as some Chocolate Recipes contest. They also give people some classes on the art of chocolate. For 5 euros you can get a 1&1/2 hour class with a pastry chef that exemplyfies some recipes and techiques right in front of you, in some very interactive moments.

You can check the local city council website, where they have a link for the festival, at : http://www.cm-obidos.pt/

[bainst]

Hi Erin,

Thanks for asking. I wasn't able to live in Croatia, but I did vaction there. I stayed in the town of Brela, which is a three to four hour bus ride from Dubrovnik. I went there on the recommendation from one my commanders who had been stationed in Bosnia and would go to Croatia on R&R.

It was wonderful; great seafood, amazing scenery, heavenly ice cream, and the best part, warm and friendly people. The only other place that has made me feel more welcome is the Normandy region in France. Another thing is the abundace of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country. Truly a hidden gem.

When I got back, you would've thought that the Croatian Board of Tourism had hired me. I am telling you if you plan on traveling to Europe, please consider visiting this wonderful place.
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Live as if to die tomorrow. Learn as if to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi

[Sarape]

I've enjoyed reading the recent additions from the new members. Sure are a widely-displaced group. So many interesting places. I would probably find many more activities in any other of these places compared to where I now live in Alabama, USA.

Pros to where I live: nice weather, no snow, no hurricanes, clean air, nice hills, open spaces, farm land, and very cheap prices and low, low taxes.

Cons: Red-neck, NASCAR, Bible-Belt Christians, and low civic pride.
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' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'