The Stuttgart Ballet (and now we know how to pronounce Onegin)

This weekend we're flying to Germany. Thanks to Ryanair's £5 flights, that's about $64 for the four of us roundtrip. We couldn't eat in a pub for $64. All right, there's some fine print and actual size may vary bullshit that goes along with the flight, but it's still amazingly cheap.

We're going to watch our friend's daughter, Daisy, dance in a production of Onegin with the Stuttgart Ballet. All of us are excited, but when Ella heard the news that we were going, she danced around the flat, leaping and pirouetting. I overheard her on Skype telling a pal that she was going to watch her friend, who's a ballerina, dance -- (Ella's never met Daisy). I think it will be a magical evening for our little girl. 

Most of Brenna's and my memories of Daisy are from when she was three years old. I can only try to imagine what it must feel like for Daisy's parents to watch her perform. My god, life moves at a blinding pace.

Update on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 12:28AM by Bob & Brenna Redpath

...And, regarding the correct pronunciation of Onegin, here's an excerpt from an online article by Brendan Blom of the National Arts Centre in Canada.

My brother, when he worked in a video rental store as a teenager, said that customers asking for the film version would often pronounce it "One Gin," as if they were ordering a drink. It should be pronounced "On-YAY-gin," with a hard "g."

Happy New Year, Hogmanay and Auld Lang Syne

We brought in the new year at the home of our new friends, the Pilbeam family and, as usual, we were on the prowl for new customs to help us celebrate. (I was disappointed to find out that Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year celebration, doesn't involve carving turnips.) In fact, when we asked our hosts, Ian and Anne, exactly what Hogmanay means, they admitted the didn't really know the origins -- it's just New Years in Scotland.

Since then, we've been asking more Scots about Hogmanay. I asked at the barbershop and no one knew. We asked our friend, Billy, from Glasgow and he didn't know. We asked at the grocery and the checker didn't know and Brenna asked at her hair dresser and neither woman there knew either. One of them was determined to figure it out though and so of course... Googled it.

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Another Goodbye

It was obvious as we moved out of our home in Los Angeles, sold our belongings and packed our suitcases, that the mother of all goodbyes was at hand. We said group goodbyes, private goodbyes, e-mail and Facebook goodbyes. We had dinner goodbyes and party goodbyes. At work I started hearing, "Haven't you left yet?"

I've always been a bit of a sappy sentimentalist, so it was all pretty difficult for me, but watching my kids say theirs was really hard. They each had a small gathering with a few friends and, afterwards, as their guests and their parents drove off I'm not sure who cried more -- Owen and Ella or me.

One of the things that wasn't immediately apparent as we planned this year of traveling was that for each new place, each new friend, favorite spot; there is yet another goodbye. Duh -- right? This revelation occurred to us in Serbia; our first goodbyes from the road. (I'm writing this as I sip the homemade rakija given to us by our friend Zvonko.)

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Pic For The Day - Frosty Spiderweb

Merry Christmas from Scotland... and Southern California

Our friend Iris came to visit for Christmas and we couldn't be happier -- especially since she came with gifts from SoCal. We haven't had Herdez or Cholula for months! Tonight we'll be making Christmas Nachos with Scottish cheddar... Of course we took her to the Gluhwein hut at the Edinburgh Christmas Festival and then we hung the Wellie liners on the radiator with care. Here's a little montage of our Christmas with Iris. We hope you are having a wonderful day, full of Christmas Cheer!

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