Buggati - a celebration of excellence.

Although I am a `bike / mofa Mensch`myself,  ( to the non-German speaking readers, that is to say I am into bicycles and Mopeds), but I do admit a recent trip to the Schlumpf Museum in Mulhouse France a short time ago did.... well .....impress.  And no, the Schlumps are NOT the Schmurfs´ German cousins!

Now for those of you reading this who think a Buggati is variation of a French Baguette,  you would be about 1/8 right:  The Buggati in question is Italian, he was a designer and producer of cars.  But I suggest the use of the noun ´car´ may be a misnomer.  Each car, which was lovingly designed and manufactured, was nothing short of a creation of technical genius and artistic beauty - and here´s me the mofa mensch talking!

So the ´1/8  right ´bit. Well the cars were made in what was then Germany, but after World War I became part of France.

And how did I become a born again Buggati fan I know you all ask in astonishment?   Well on holidays recently in the Markgräflerland region of S.W. Germany, we were very near Muhouse in France. On a very wet day we were in need of  a `plan B` which that day was a visit to the Schlumpf Museum in Mulhouse.

The creation of the Schlumpf Museum is a great story in itself.   The museum was built around the the private collection of cars of excellence lovingly AND SECRETLY collected by the brothers Schlumpf.   

Should you be into gossip, or cars,  you could well enjoy reading up on how the museum came into being in the first place.

Wikipedia states ..A team of up to 40 carpenters, saddlers, and master mechanics were assembled to carry out the restoration work, who under a confidentiality agreement kept their work and the scale of the collection a secret -  Many, including members of Bugatti clubs around the world, knew of the collection. The scale of the enterprise surprised almost everybody.` To read more of this intrigue go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_de_l%27Automobile

 THIS ... is what I am talking about!

 The Royale  a Bugatti that was designed with the royal customers in mind.  One of these beauties sold in the U.S. in 1991 for $8,000,000 give or take.  If you are confused on the naughts, that´s 8 million!




Other cars that tickled my fancy included ...

And fair dues,  either Mr. Bugatti or one of  the brothers Schlumpf at least, was clearly a supporter of the Kilkenny hurlers - what when they finished four different models that I saw in the Kilkenny colurs!

This one was my favorite for the drive to Croak Park for  the All-Ireland hurling final next September.

Up the Kilkenny Cats!

Not a Bugatti, rather a Mercedes Benz.  It was the one car both Romeo H and I both agreed we would bring home.

This was a favorite of Romeo H´s.  Can´t say it excited me.

It was one of the very few cars that did not. 

Something to do with movies on T.V. as a child... Mmm won´t have that parked outside my home any time soon.  And of course it is NOT a Bugatti!

Under way á deux ....    

But my very favorite Bugatti....

  It this just amazing or what!

Or just for days that one feels that one  just wants to fly solo -  how about this Bugatti  beauty...

Nothing sloppy about this gem of genius or wha!









On a reality check Romeo H pointed out the world might be a safer place if I drove - the Oeuf!  :(    -  Built in 1948 by an architect, it was still driving on the streets of Paris in 1992!

And I kid you not, this guy´s second car was this!    Serious.  He designed and built this car too.  All this on the side, in his day job he worked as an architect. 

And on the other extreme: the car or `no choice´in the former DDR.

Sunset on the Bodensee.

The sun set tonight.  These pictures were taken less than an hour ago.

Not too much that I can add to improve those images.   So I won´t.

For Women, Ladies and Girls only.....

.... and if any men, gentleman or lads decide to risk a look-in, I am warning you now, this is strictly girl stuff that will be in the ´too much information´ zone for you.  So lads if you do read on, you do so at your peril.   

So, now for the women, ladies and girls.

In 2005 The Oprah Winfrey Show in the U.S. did a show on bra fittings.  Bra fitting experts - (yes, you nosy men who are still reading, bra wearing is not as simply as ´put on and fasten´), said most women wear the wrong size bra for their body type.  Some brave women from the audience came forward to have their bra size checked and sure enough most of the women were wearing an incorrect fitting bra. That is consistent with a number of reports on the highly uplifting subject of bra fitting which state that between 80% and 85% of women wear the wrong size bra.

The response after the airing of the show was huge.  Bra sales across the U.S. shot up for months afterwards.  Susan Nethero the owner of Intimacy a lingerie company who appeared on the show, said in the Chicago Tribune  ...`women came to us by the hundreds — they were lined up for months after the show — prepared for six- to eight-hour waits for bra fittings".  (Lads - did n´t I tell ye this was going to be too much girl stuff).

And what has this to do with Hausfrau Roísín or Irish Stew for the Soul?  I hear you ask somewhat perplexed.  Well I´ll tell you what.  After seeing the show in May 2005, I put it on my ´to do list in life´ to have a bra fitting done by a professional bra fitter:  The fact is I would dearly love to leave the house every day looking like Audrey Hepburn in  Charade - (all that glamour and out of only one suitcase!)  But, I am not prepared to allocate the time and energy necessary  to look that fabulous everyday -  heck I would have no time to write a blog then!  In addition, I am not particularly gifted in the area of putting together a stylish or elegant fashion ensemble.  I know it when I see it, but I cannot so easily make it happen for myself.   Occasional, very occasionally I get it together fashion wise but other times my attire may be described as ... well...  ´interesting`.  (Indeed with New York based Sue and Liz  my ´fashion Polizei´ not being at  hand by Lake Konstanz to guide and direct, my attire may perhaps be even a tad more ´interesting´ by times than it used to be in my days of living in New York).  One might not think therefore, that the pursuit of the perfect foundation was a life priority for me.  But it is.  So there you are.

And so it came to pass in March 2013, 8 years after bra show first aired, that I  finally had the chance to have a professional bra fitting. - Hey what can I tell you, I live a very important busy exciting life, doing very important busy exciting things, I don´t always have time to book bra fittings!  Anyway, there I stood before the door of  MarieSue Lingerie in Carlow - world famous in Ireland for being the only store in the whole country to stock AAA to K cup sizes. (More information on MarieSue and her miniscule to voluminous cups below).  I was here and I was ready to be measured for, and ready to buy, the perfect bra for me.   The able young assistant Erica did her business, and she did it well.  Not surprisingly because bra fitting is in her genes, she being the daughter of the Marie in MarieSue.

Well would you believe it, low and behold  -  I was wearing the `perfect bra for me`  Yes, MOI was already wearing the perfect bra!  All by myself I had discovered the best fit, lift, cross and separate for my body type and size. The ´fashion Polizei´ would be impressed with that - here I was one of the exclusive 15% who got the fit right!  And another thing.  Anyone who has read my blog posting from January 29th, 2011, will know I paid a LOT less for my perfect fit than many of the 85%.  All this, all by myself.  Wow the thrill of it!

What a day that was;  now I could walk down any high fashion street in the world, be it in Carlow town or Paris, confident that I had optimal support, and, one more thing crossed off my ´to do list in life`.  All this achieved in the one measure.   Thank you Ms. Nethero, I have no need of your services! 


(The regular blog readers will note the layout of blog page has been modified, and is hopefully, nicer on the eye.  I felt today was a good day to work on enhancing the look of the blog, considering the theme of the day!)





A picture of moi basking in the glow of the certain knowledge that I have maximized the uplift, separate and optimization of my foundations.  

- And if any lads who have dared to read this far are thinking `What is she talking about, ´sur is n´t it only a picture of herself in a frock!` 

Ah ladies,  I can only say `do they have a clue what an effort it takes to look this ´natural`! 





 

The next blog posting will be open to all readers, regardless of gender. Promise!

Note: Information on MarieSue in Carlow.

 MarieSue Lingerie
27a Fairgreen Shopping Centre, 
Carlow, 
Ireland

Tel:+ 353 (0) 59 913 9639 

Their information on the  Fairgeen Shopping Centre website explains .. ´MarieSue Lingerie  situated at the Barrack St Entrance to the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, Carlow are Irelands only Lingerie Shop stocking sizes AAA-K cup sizes.  We offer a professional measuring and fitting service and we are also HSE approved for mastectomy fittings.`

We stock all the top brands Fantasie, Freya, Elomi, Chantelle, Passionata, Panache, Shockabsorber, Wonderbra, Playtex, Triumph, Anita, Hotmilk and many others.`

I would recommend a stop off at MarieSue´s if you are traveling anywhere in the Carlow area, and your foundations are in  need a ´tune up´.
                                                      ----------------------------------

For the life of me, I don´t know how anyone can leave comments or feedback on a blog. But I did have feed back posted to me.   See below.

...... read your blog and thank you so much for mentioning us.  Your blog is very informative, interesting and funny.  Thanks again......  I will pass on your kind words to Erica.

Yours sincerely,
Maria Byrne.
MarieSue Lingerie Ltd.,
"dressing you from the inside out" 

......Very informative article indeed. I am constantly reminded of how much easier it is to be a guy.....

....finally got around to your most recent blog post. Great addition and very "uplifting" in more ways than one......The best part is that I could hear your voice in my ear when I read it.   .....

A Route with a View

Winter here in Allensbach on Lake Konstanz was thankfully not particularly hard.... but it was loooong!  Then spring arrived  last week - with GUSTO!

That first lovely spring day that came to us in Allensbach, I took photos of my route to and from work. -  See if you can beat this for a view on your going to and coming from work.

  

The house, rather the house that was, in the photo above is more of interest for things other than beauty.  But, it is en route so I can legitimately include it in this group of photos; I marvel at German building practices for their technique and efficiency.  O.K. O.K. I am not the first to make note of German efficiency, I KNOW that!

Anyway!  This is a semi-detached house.  One half of the house was carefully and speedily deconstructed in the course of about 5 days.  All the while people were living in the other half of the house.  I don´t know about you, but if I had lived next door I would move into the local B&B when work was in progress.   But from what I can surmise, the German people take their own efficiency so much for granted, that  the neighbors were quite happy to stay put when the other half of the house was being demolished next door.

Last week winter coats, this week, swim suits and sun shades.  Oh joy oh joy.  

 *  I wonder if any of my five readers -  or is it six now, copped that I slightly modified the English author E.M. Foster´s book title for my blog title? Foster wrote A Room with a View in 1908; the book is about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian era England - not that the Edwardians had a monopoly on cultural repression!  Foster´s book is set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a perspective on English society at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1998 the book was ranked 79th on a list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by Modern Library.  And more FYI:  James Joyce´s Ulysses was no. 1 on the same list, and his Protrait of the Artist as a Young Man was no. 3 on the list.

Who says you don´t get a bit of culture here with your Irish Stew!

Nowrüz, Persian New Year in Konstanz.

I bet not many reading this blog got to attend a Persian New Year celebration. I did! In Konstanz, Germany.

Nowrüz the Persian New Year celebration originated as a Zoroastrian religious festival.  It is a celebration of joy and hope and optimism.  And believe me folks the Zoroastrians can give the Irish a run for their money when it comes to a history of misery, and more misery on top of that misery! 

    

So that their Persian descendants  can dance and sing and float about with such color and sparkle is to be admired.  And the food -  don´t get me started on the food.  YUMMY in big neon lights.  I had what I thought was a wonderful buffet dinner.   Only to be told when I could not eat another thing, that ´those were just the starters, we will eat dinner now!` All in German, of course.

The Persians for various reasons - lots of them being miserable reasons which again makes me marvel at their joy, now live all over the world.  There is apparently a very big Parsi community in Los Angeles. - Who knew!    Parsi, for those not in the know, are people who come from Persia.  And Persia used to be what is now modern day Iran. -  Got it!   (* See comments posted from Marianne L added below for important clarification)

As you can see I only know enough about Nowrüz and all things Persian to be dangerous, suffice it to say:

 a) The Parsi seem to be a very welcoming inclusive sort of  people as there were many people from many different places at their New Year´s celebration.  

b) They all seem to talk about some ceremony where every one jumps over a fire, this seems to include day old babies, and  old people who have to be dragged out of wheel chairs to go jump over said fires.

c )  The woman are gorgeous - and the men are almost as gorgeous! 

After that can I suggest you just look at the photos below and on Wikipedia or your information source of choice to find out more about this cultured, welcoming, joyful people.

And did I say ´Where there are Iranians, there will always be yummy food!`

* Feedback on Norwürz posting from Marianne:
From reading your article, someone might think that the terms "Iranian," "Persian," and "Parsi" are all interchangeable, but they're not.  While Parsis are of Iranian/Persian descent, they form only one subgroup, the one that chose to leave Iran over 1,000 years ago in order to avoid converting to Islam.  This group settled on the Indian subcontinent, and continued to practice Zoroastrianism.
Other Iranians/Persians do not refer to themselves as Parsis.  Those who remained in Iran converted to Islam, and the majority of Iranians today are Muslims, although there is a sizable group of Jewish Iranians, many of whom live here in New York.
For these non-Parsi groups, if they celebrate Nowruz, I believe that they think of it more as a cultural tradition, and I'm not sure that the link to the religion that their ancestors practiced many centuries ago is obvious to all of them.

A happy little story about a happy and lucky little cat from New York City.

This is not a big story, in fact it is a very little story, but a happy little story about Tyke a New York City cat.  Tyke has lived a good, long and happy life, and that is the joy of it;  from his first days Tyke´s life was in danger,  more than once since then, completely unbeknownst to himself, his demise was imminent.  But, he has survived and continues to enjoy his wonderful sweet little life. 

Tyke is a snooty bossy little fellah who thinks himself the king of the world.  Tyke has absolutely no time for other animals and any other living thing that may be defined as ´cute´, specifically babies and small children.   But everyone who meets Tyke falls absolutely in love with his utterly presumptuous snooty little self. 

Tyke was born somewhere around Maspeth in Queens, New York.  For all his regal snootiness, Tyke´s pedigree is somewhat lowly; his mother was a feral cat who must have been killed or died in some way as Tyke, with his eyes barely opened,  was found wandering quite forlornly near  the soon to be imploded  gas towers in Maspeth.  So Tyke´s first stroke of good fortune was someone visiting me at the time found him and brought him home.  He could not drink milk he was so emaciated and weak, so we fed him milk from an eye drop those first few days.  It was only years later the women in the pet store admitted to me that that day I had brought in Tyke for advice on care,  she cried when I left the store.  She said, she had n´t the heart to tell me that she did not believe Tyke would survive the weekend.  Clearly nobody had informed Tyke of this prognosis, because 15 years later he is still going strong!

Tyke´s first day in Citylights, nothing but eyes and ears and tail.

Tyke came to the Citylights building on the eve of the 4^th of July, 1998  the next day, there was fireworks and music and great celebrations on the streets, something  he clearly assumed was totally in order on this the auspicious occasion of his arrival to Long Island City.  And more, every year on the anniversary of his arrival, there are more fireworks and music and celebrations on the street, which is clearly, it seems to Tyke, totally befitting the occasion that´s in it.

Within days Tyke was more active.....

And this is Tyke a few months later.   Note his `throne`.  Most kings are happy with just one throne, but our Tyke had three ´thrones/flattened cardboard boxes´ situated at different locations in the apartment.

His royal snootiness settled in very quickly on the 26^th floor.  He loved sitting on the window ledge watching the world go by; birds, floating paper, and best of all snowflakes and raindrops.  Over time he took to sitting at the door of the apartment looking out at ´his subjects´ coming and going from their apartments.  

Interestingly he never tried to get on the elevator or go down the stairs, the 26^th floor was his world and he was quite happy to just rule over that.   The cat lovers amongst my neighbors very kindly invited Tyke home for him to review what he perceived to be his domain. One neighbor had a beagle mix, and when Tyke came to check out ´his´ domain there, her dog would go crazy for ages after Tyke left chasing Tyke´s scent.  The neighbor and I were both convinced that Tyke knew exactly what he was doing and that he enjoyed the boldness of it.  

  

Tyke was adored by Alexandra, who arrived on the 26^th floor as a new born baby.  Tyke did not at all have time for this little bundle of cute, for she was far too much competition for his top spot in the ´cute parade´.  Overtime Tyke came to tolerate this adoring little girl, and overtime she in turn adored him more and more.  Her parents who knew better were kind to put up with Tyke looking down his nose at their precious daughter.

There was nothing Tyke loved more than when there was a minor calamity in 26K, because it meant the maintenance men in the building had to come and fix it.  He LOVED watching the men work hard under the sink, or plastering the ceiling if there had been a leak from above.  These patient men put up with Tyke checking up on their work, and not always from the far end of the room.   Again Tyke assumed these activities were nothing more than entertainment laid on for his pleasure.

Our Tyke is a cultured little cat, he enjoys art...

And flowers....

 Visitors to the apartment were an adventure for Tyke; as far as he was concerned, they came for nothing else other than to pay him homage.  If they stayed overnight, he loved it the best; as they were sleeping on ´his´ sofa, he had no problem sleeping on them!  He was especially fond of one then rather corpulent Porto Rican gentleman, whose stomach made the perfect insulated cushion.    But it was another visitor, Yoshiko from Japan, who gave Tyke the name `King Tyke`.   Interestingly the Japanese do not have a tradition of house pets, but Yoshiko like the rest of us was swayed by Tyke´s regal snootiness.  

 After almost 10 happy years together with Tyke in Citylights, I planned to return to Europe.  Getting a good home for Tyke was my number one priority. (Note to those who might ask why not bring Tyke with me back to Europe:  a) the cost of bringing Tyke on a plane to Europe would in my mind have been far better served contributing to the care of other animals less fortunate.  b) The amount of sedatives needed to keep a small cat calm for eight hours, usually affected the cat in such a way that they never recover from such  a high dosage of chemicals in their little bodies.)   Tyke was not an easy sell ´´Good home wanted for cat who thinks he is king: not suited to families with other animals or children under 12.  Enjoys having the home to himself for a 2/3 few hours every day, but disapproves when owners are away for more than six hours on the trot.´´ …. The phone was not ringing off the hook.  In fact the phone did not ring at all!

Totally unaware that life in 26K was soon ending for Tyke and me, he  thought Cathy and Megan were just moving all the furniture for his entertainment.

I planned to vacate my apartment on February 1^st 2008, the deadline past.  Tenants for my apartment were found and had to be waved off as I still had not yet found a home for Tyke.  The  March 1^st deadline past.  And there was Tyke being his regal self, totally oblivious to the dire situation he was in.  With April 1^st fast  approaching as an action of last resort, I contacted all the vets in the area to see if they would euthanize Tyke.  Quite rightly they all refused; vets don´t put down healthy animals.   

March 27^th came and went, still no home for Tyke, I contacted the city to arrange for them to euthanize Tyke.  When I heard how it was done; all animals were brought to the pound in the a.m. and caged; throughout the day a trunk went from pound to pound collecting all the unloved/unwanted animals  until evening time when they were brought to a specific location to be euthanized.  This was no way to end the life of any animal, and certainly not for Tyke with his looking down his nose self,  who had brought so much joy to so many for almost 10 years.  

Wailing like a banshee I again called City Vets, the new veterinary surgery just opened on Vernon Blvd.  I pleaded with Jason Roggow the practice manager; I reminded him again how for almost six months I had looked for a home for Tyke with no success, would they put my cat down as I was going to have to have the city do it - and they knew how that went.  Well, for about 15 minutes I was on hold, I imagined there was a big vet conference going on in the back room about the ethics of putting down a healthy cat.  Jason came back and said ´all right we´ll take him`….. then I wailed some more, a lot more, it was final I thought, Tyke was going to be dead by the end of the day.  ´´No, no´´ Jason explained when I paused for a nano-second to take in some air for more wailing, ´´we will take Tyke to come live with us, we are a new surgery  and every veterinary practice needs a cat doesn´t it, and we will give Tyke a try.   We know he does n´t sound like a good candidate for a vet´s surgery, but Dr. Adams decided we will give him a shot, and if he doesn´t work out, well we know we tried.´´  So on March  27^th four days before I had to vacate the apartment, I found Tykpe a home!

Nobody but nobody who knew Tyke could imagine it could work out, never mind that it would work out so well.   At the ripe old age of 10, 70 in human years, Tyke started a new and completely different life; he adjusted exceedingly well to being king of a busy veterinary surgery. Tyke lords over the whole surgery; the staff adore his snooty little self;  the visitors with their sick animals are happily distracted by Tyke´s  regal acknowledgement of their visiting HIM.  And the animals…. Well Jason explained ´´it is for Tyke as if the animals do not exist.  He simply refuses to acknowledge the other animals´´…. And in a vets office a lot of animals come and go, especially when one considers there is a dog sitting service at the back of the surgery. 

And more, very quickly Tyke figured out that if he sat slightly to the right on the front desk, people coming to talk to the person on reception, would without thinking reach out and pet Tyke.  So all day long Tyke has a constant stream of people petting him.  And when he has enough of mere humans, he simply hides on an upper shelf, or sits in one of the two shop front windows and watches the world go by.  And just as he had no wish to go on the elevator in Citylights, Tyke has no desire to go out on the street when the doors are open, something there was a big concern about when Tyke first came to the surgery. 

The staff at City Vet just standing there oogling over Tyke.  And there he is just sitting there barely acknowledging they are there.  A typical scenario in the life of his royal snottiness!

A new aspect of Tyke´s character emerged in the veterinary surgery.  Normally as far as  he is concerned,  he is the center of the universe.  But Dr. Adams explained ´´we noticed as soon as a cat comes in that we have to put to sleep, Tykes instinctively understand and he starts to cry.´´   She went on ´´ after the cat has been put to sleep, Tyke will  sit on the surgery table and cry for two or three hours more.´´ Tyke does not cry for other animals that have to be euthanized, just cats.

 

And more Tyke found a buddy, not just another human to look down on, but a real live buddy - a gentleman who comes daily to work in the pet sitting room.  Tyke quite happily sits on the man´s lap for hours, and the gentleman graciously lets him.   It seems Monday morning  is now Tykes favorite time -  when his ´gentleman friend´comes back to the surgery after the weekend. 

 

This week I got an e-mail from Jason at City Vet, they were kind enough to let me know Tyke has a condition, inoperable, but he has no discomfort.   We don´t know if he will be able to enjoy the celebrations they put on for him the next 4^th of July,  but at 15 years, which is 105 years of age in human terms, that is ok. And with his great good luck and all that fabulous veterinary care Tyke is receiving, he may well last for several more birthday celebrations.  Which or whether, he has had a wonderful life, loved by so many people, and good luck with him at every turn.

And of course, why would n´t Tyke be sitting at the front desk of City Vet!

O.K. so a little grey around the whiskers... but at 15, or 105 in human terms... well, would n´t you like to look so well at that age!  Go TYKE!

So, if you chance to pass by City Vet on Vernon Blvd. at 46^th  Ave  in Long Island City, New York and you see Tyke sitting in the window… give him a little wave.  Who knows some of his great good fortune in life may well rub off on you!

Addendum 1:  In May 2013, a month after getting the e-mail from City Vet saying that Tyke had a condition that was inoperable, they contacted me again today to say that Tyke is doing very well, and they are beginning to think he will out live the whole lot of them!

Addendum 2:   In January 2014 I was in touch with City Vet again.  This time the news was not as good.  Our little buddy Tyke started to fail again at the end of 2013.   When he stopped eating it was decided to put him to sleep.  I cannot be sad; little Tyke  had a sweet little life, but a very happy little life.  Thank you little buddy, for all the fun you gave me and all who met you!