So two-and-a-half years in Northern Europe have finally taken its toll. The shade of make up that I've been using for about the last 4 years has suddenly become too dark for my skin tone. How does that happen? How can I possibly have become even whiter? The make up does go one shade lighter, but I always thought that shade made me look a little ghostly. Must find some sun!

Ran into one of those inconveniences of living in a city. I had to run some errands today including a grocery store stop for which I needed the car as I was buying juice boxes and diet cokes and other items to heavy to walk home or even tote on the bus. So I parked at the grocery store parking lot and thought I'd just leave my car there to run the other errands--even though it would require quite a hike. However, the grocery store took longer than I thought and the parking lot has a two-hour limit. Break it and you pay a 40 pound fine. I was afraid I couldn't do what I needed to do and make it back in time. So I left the lot hoping to find parking closer to my other stops. No luck. So I drove home, put up my groceries and walked back into town to buy bunny food, a soccer (football) pump and check out a sale on ski pants. Then I hauled my items back home on the bus. If only I had needed a train and a taxi, I could have used every mode of transport available to me in just one after noon. Later, when I had my wits about me, I realized that I just could have exited the grocery store parking lot, circled the round-a-bout and gone right back in and bought myself another two hours. Can I still blame the jet lag?

So, did the US Secretary of State really say that it is "hard" for Israel to avoid killing civilians in Gaza? Yeah, if the Brits didn't already dislike the current US administration enough, this will guarantee it.

Maddie is taking a street dance class here at the Park Club where I'm posting this entry. Boy, that kid will jump into just about anything. All the other kids knew each other, and at first she was really shy, but after about 10 minutes, she was right in the middle of it all.

Skip is going to be home some time tonight from Germany. He's been gone all week and his football team is playing tomorrow, so he'll be gone most of the afternoon. He tried to talk Maddie into going with him, but she's been before and says that it is way too loud. But I did get the air pump so they can kick the football around together in the park if it won't rain on us. Maddie has decided that she might make a great goalie someday and if that doesn't work out, she can just be a pop star. So glad she has a plan.