Still Learning My Way Around

FMM: 4mi
MRMs: 4 blocks

Hi, Folks,

Well, I just checked online and it says it's Monday, so I guess it is.. You may be wondering what MRMs are...well, I'll explain them later. Molly and Nancy may find it too painful to read this blog all the way through as they know what MRMs are...I had my second weekend all alone in a strange city, and I did better than last time. No cookies for dinner for me! Indeed, I had frozen spaghetti dinners each night. They were yummy...I went by bus and tram to the Museum of History and Natural History. I was proud of myself for getting there so easily. The natural history part is called the "Dead Zoo", a rather strange name I thought. There was a quotation there by well-known Irish author Roddy Doyle claiming that it is both "fascinating and perverse". I have to agree, but I did enjoy viewing all the dead animals in their glass cases. No unpleasant smells like you have in a real zoo and also the animals are quite close to each other, so there isn't much walking either. And the temperature was just right. All in all, quite preferable to a "Live Zoo". Megan, this may be your favorite zoo yet...Anyway, it gets dark over here shortly after lunch - okay, I'm exaggerating, but daylight is a precious commodity around here - so I decided that I must get myself home from the zoo before dark. The tram took me back to my bus stop, and I must confess to a moment of weakness. I noticed a branch of my favorite store: The 2 Euro Store. I couldn't resist a quick trip in to buy 3 precious commodities: paper napkins (sorry, Verlin, I'm weak), a small plastic bin, and a brownie pan (hallelujah!). This proved to be a fatal mistake... I then got on the bus since the usual tram wasn't running. I sat back and enjoyed new views of the city. After about awhile, I determined that the views were, in fact, REALLY new ones. I got out the map and discovered I was 30 mins the wrong direction from where I needed to be. It was now pitch black, the bus was at the end of its run, and I was the only person on the bus...The kind bus driver had to cut short his cigarette break to figure out what do to with me...When I got back to where I had started an hour before I determined to take a taxi home...Alas, I had spent all my money at the 2 Euro store. So, I tried to find Bus # 3 as the driver had directed (I already had a ticket). Well, it must have changed its route because I couldn't find it. So, I determined to walk home from downtown Dublin - about 1 1/2 miles. I was fine while the streets were crowded, but once I got near St. Stephen's Green, the crowds thinned out. That's when the MRMs kicked in. I began to run short distances in what Molly and Nancy have called "Mom runs"(id. est MRM = Mom Run Miles). They have both forbidden me from ever performing them again. Mary witnessed me doing one across a busy Dublin street and inquired, "What was THAT?" She also told me to never do one again. I will also add that not only was I doing "Mom runs" in order to flee possible assailants (the scariest one looked like Luke Magers with a skateboard), I was doing them in "Mom jeans". The jeans are so stretchy, roomy, and comfy that they might even qualify as "Grandma jeans" . Keep in mind that I did not have on running shoes and I was carrying a plastic bin and a cake pan under my arm....Anyway, I did get home safe and sound and no one "got" me. Bob has threatened to hire someone to throw a net over me, and deliver me to the front door one day, just to prove that I can be "gotten"..Anyway, aren't you glad you wasted your time reading this? I hope your boss wasn't looking over your shoulder..

Bob just arrived from Florida and he has brought a most prized commodity with him: a real live New York Times. So, I plan to go sit beside him and enjoy myself for a hour or two.

Until next time...

Yours until somebody gets me,

Tizzie/Tiz/Tizmom/Mom/Liz/Elizabeth