Where's the Beef?

This Wendy's slogan encapsulates my feelings about my blog lately. Where's the beef? Because there's nothing "meaty" here. And that has always been intentional. I didn't intend for this to be a place for devotionals, ministry updates, etc.

But lately I've been thinking that I could probably make better use of this forum. I could write about something that actually matters, rather than just what I ate for dinner tonight.


Which was this. After standing in the pantry door staring at the options for about 2 minutes (none of which caught my attention), I decided to go with the old standby. Macaroni & cheese (courtesy of Jenny when she visited a few weeks ago) and applesauce (courtesy of my obsessive canning this summer/fall). No, I'm not five years old. I just eat like it sometimes.

Keep checking back...I promise some "beef" in the days to come.

I Splurged...

...since I was on vacation. I've toured Peles Castle several times and never been remotely tempted to spend the extra $14 or so to take pictures. That's how they get the tourists here in Romania - charge one price for a ticket and another price (often much higher) to take pictures. At Peles, the normal tour costs 12 lei, but the "picture permit" costs another 30 lei - and even with the permit, you aren't allowed to use a flash.


I was at Peles with a group 2 weeks ago, and our guide mentioned that on the last Tuesday of the month, the tour also includes the 2nd floor (the normal tour is only a part of the ground floor, about 10% of the castle). Since I was already planning to be in Sinaia the next Tuesday, I decided to take advantage of the somewhat rare opportunity. And I decided to splurge and pay to take pictures.

I can't say that anything turned out fantastic. It was an incredibly beautiful fall day, which meant lots of light coming in through the huge windows, light that couldn't be evened out with a flash. Add to that LOTS of dark wood & hundreds of ugly, modern fluorescent light bulbs (the kind that you can put in any light fixture) and you definitely don't have ideal picture taking conditions. Nonetheless...thanks to a good camera & a computer program that helped lighten things up a bit...you can at least get the idea, if not the full effect!

Without further ado...Castelul Peles.

Castelul Peles...the "Extended Tour"

Entering the private part of the castle...

The concert hall

The piano on the stage was played by George Enescu,

one of Romania's most famous composers.

This organ has over 1400 pipes!



It also has 2 keyboards, one in the concert hall and one
in the next room; both engage the same set of pipes.

Outside the entrance to the Royal Suite

The Royal Suite

Home to King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta

If you look closely in the picture below, near the center you

will see the bed in which King Carol died in 1914.

The Roccoco Suite

Designed to host visiting heads of state

The Empirial Suite

Designed after Emperor Franz Joseph (of Austria) visited and stayed in the Roccoco Suite; the king decided that something better was needed to host visitors of the Emperor's stature in the future. Unfortunately, the Emperor himself couldn't fulfill his promise to return because of political events at home (which eventually led to WWI).

The top of the chandelier is designed to replicate the Emperor's crown.

And that's where my camera batteries died...

Fortunately, I didn't miss much...a couple of rooms where the

queens' maids did her hair & makeup and then we were ushered

back to the entrance and sent on our way.

As Jenny likes to say, "This is a REAL castle!"

Back in the Saddle

I went back to work last Friday, but today really started hitting things hard. In fact, I started at 7 o'clock this morning, and I'm having to force myself to stop now (it's 8:20 pm). Not everything was work...but even the "non-work" stuff was interspersed with work stuff.

I met my goal for translation projects for today (unfortunately, this doesn't happen too often, since I'm very good at overestimating what I can get done in a day). I'm working on the simplified English version of the last teacher's manual in the series! That means the end is in sight. Gabi's on target to finish right on schedule next June with the student manuals. I'm having to slow down the teacher manual translation so we don't get too far ahead (the books are too closely interrelated, and we need to be able to refer back & forth in the final translation). Student book #8 has been done for awhile, but the courier actually takes it off to the publisher tomorrow. Book #9 is ready for proofreading. Did I mention that the end is in sight?!?! :)

So, while I was typing today, I also made & froze taco meat, did laundry, and cleaned the kitchen. While my car was being washed (inside & out - it was to the point of DISGUSTING!), I caught up on most of my e-mail correspondence. And this evening, I alternated between the living room, where I was responding to an audit request, organizing financial receipts & getting ready to do reports, and the kitchen, where I was making barbecued chicken, rice & broccoli (dinner tonight and 5 more dinners in the freezer). And I cleaned the kitchen again.

If I were really dedicated (or a workaholic), I'd be working on filing all of those financial reports right now. But I'm trying really hard not to be a workaholic. So I'm catching up the blog instead. Aren't you glad?