Operation SpyGirl: The Western Edge

Here is my report:

My initial communication with Agent AMB was carried out in code to subvert the potential for eavesdropping. We had an arranged meeting place - the large anchor installed as a feature next to Bay Street in Florence, Oregon.

Source

It was a public place, so we could blend in. However, there were risks involved, too, such as coming into contact with tourists in Harley-Davidson T-shirts, women carrying small dogs, and sullen teenagers trying not to be seen with their parents.

Our rendezvous was scheduled for 14:00 hours. I arrived early and carried out a quick sweep of the nearby restroom. There were no listening devices or cameras (I think). As I was leaving, I received an electronic message from Agent AMB saying "I've just parked in Florence and am walking to the anchor." I decoded this and understood it to mean that AMB was in Florence and had just parked her car. She was walking toward our rendezvous location. The code was fairly simple.

I soon spotted her. She was wearing an absolutely adorable hat I had seen in photos taken by our Russian agent, Natalia. This made it easier to recognize her, as well as her trademark glasses and smile. We exchanged the secret password and she slipped me the encoded disk as we embraced. No one suspected that we were anything but tourists with a little more flair than those around us.

I wore a purple scarf that had been given to me by Agent Bella Q. The scarf could be transformed into a jump jet if it was necessary to make a quick getaway. It was not necessary.

AMB and I went to a nearby restaurant, sitting on an enclosed patio where we were sure there were no bugs (ha ha). We discussed our experiences within B.L.O.G. (Blog Ladies' Organization for Good) and our communications with other agents. We talked about our cover work, and she brought me up-to-date on her recent trip to the borders of our territory.

We then decided to survey the coast for invasion by enemy agents. We saw none; all was secure.

Soon AMB was on her way to her next destination, a location I cannot divulge. I found her to be the consummate agent - polite, friendly, and very sweet. She has beautiful eyes and a disarming smile that encourage confidence and candor. She has already won over several agents she has come into contact with, both friendly and hostile, and I'm sure she will continue to do so.

I hope her mission has been successful; I feel honored to have played a small part in it.

In full disclosure I must add that my report has been inspired by AMB's Fake Journaling project.

Agent VS

May 19, 1994 - Suddenly the Sagittarius

Twenty years ago today I met a man.

My friend Zoe said she knew this one was different because of the way I said it.

I was in Victoria, British Columbia, traveling alone and minding my own business. I went to a Greek restaurant the first night, and it was pretty early so I was the first one there. Soon afterward, a single man came in, and I could tell the host was making a joke about seating him with the single woman – me. Yeah, ha ha, very funny. Anyway, they seated him a few tables behind me. I got my moussaka, which was cold in the middle so I sent it back to get reheated. The place started filling up a bit, and I finished my meal and left.

The next night I decided to go to an Italian place. When I went in I was seated in a little alcove at the back, but I asked if I could sit further up where I could look out the window. So they moved me. Awhile later a single man was seated at the table next to me – they had also tried to seat him at the back, but he asked to sit nearer the window. When I got my meal he leaned over and said, in a lovely British-accented voice, "I hope your meal is warmer than it was last night." I did a kind of double take, and said "Were you..?" He nodded and said Yes, he had seen me at the Greek restaurant the night before. Yada, yada, yada, a little chit chat, and then he left me alone to eat in peace. When he got his meal, I noticed he had ordered the same as me, so I commented on that. A little more chit chat, then back to our privacy. By the end of the meal we started chatting again, asking where each other was from and all that, so he asked if I'd like to go have a drink. I had to weigh up whether I was going to miss watching Seinfeld back in my hotel room, but I figured I could catch it in reruns. (In fact, I didn't see that particular episode, "Even Steven," until 2007.) The hostess and waitress were grinning and nodding at us as we left together.

We walked, we talked, we had a drink, we wandered through The Empress Hotel.

Mr. S at the Empress Hotel

We exchanged addresses and decided we would meet for breakfast before I went to the ferry and headed home to Seattle. He was in Victoria for one more day before flying back to the UK after being in Canada for a month.

me in front of Victoria harbor - you can't see the lights of the Parliament building behind me

We met for breakfast and talked some more. He walked me back to my car, and we hugged and said goodbye. I got on the ferry and felt so sad - I'd just met this man, but my life already felt empty without him. We started writing to each other right away, and he eventually phoned me. More letters, more phone calls, then trips across the pond. A little more than a year and a half later he proposed by sending a humongous flower arrangement to work with a note – Please marry me. I replied via telegram – Yes. And the rest is history!

the proposal bouquet

Except there's all the spooky, psychic, Holy-Shit! stuff that surrounded the whole story. Do you want to hear that? Do you have time?

Well, okay then.

I had been to see a psychic astrologer few months before. He told me I would meet a Sagittarian man, and that a Gemini woman would be involved somehow. Right before I went to Victoria I had been staying with a friend on Orcas Island in Washington State. I actually rearranged my travel dates to accommodate her, and although that might not have made a difference, she is a Gemini. So when I met Mr. S, I managed to steer the conversation to astrological signs, and I found out he was a Sagittarius! My jaw almost dropped.

The night we met, I dreamed that I was on a movie set in an Asian land. The setting included a pergola with ornate carved and painted designs, and there were also silk banners. The predominant colors were red and yellow. There were lots of actors (including Meryl Streep) who were in a scene for a group wedding. I stepped up to the pergola to be married, and Mr. S was by my side. In the dream I was thinking very clearly, "This isn't a movie, this is real."

Mr. S had also been to see a psychic. As soon as he walked in the room she said she had an impression of lenses. He'd been working with cameras and video production ever since video cameras were made, so he was inclined to listen to what she said after that. She told him America would figure prominently in his life, and she mentioned a name that began with V - Valerie or Victoria, he's not sure which one it was.

He was at a turning point in his life, and he got this very clear mental message telling him to go to Canada. He started planning a trip, and he received a tax refund for the exact amount of money he figured he would need.

The night we met, he dreamed that we were in a red sports car together, driving away from some ruins.

After we'd been writing to each other for about a month, he surprised me by phoning. He called on the day my favorite uncle had died. We talked for about 45 minutes – I hate to think what it cost. More letters, phone calls, trips back and forth.

I spent six months living with him in England before we got married, the longest I was allowed to stay as a tourist. He was working on a video program about a Buddhist group who lived in an old stately home. I was with him on the shoot, and then we spent a weekend reviewing all the footage. I realized I was looking at ornate Asian designs in carvings, paintings, and silky fabrics, mostly in red and yellow - exactly like in the dream I'd had on the night we met!

The date we picked for our wedding turned out to be the birthday of my late uncle - I didn't know it until after the date was set. We were married at my parents' house, and then I moved to England.

In 2001 we were back in Victoria. We did a home exchange that included use of a car - a red sports car.

2001 in front of the Empress Hotel

  

And today is Victoria Day in Canada - is that perfect or what!

Just one other thing I have to tell you – after the first night Mr. S had seen me eating alone in Victoria, he stalked me. He figured I was traveling alone and would be eating out again, so the second night he was actually looking for me.

And thank heavens he found me!

Val

On April 1, 1964

Fifty years ago, my parents, siblings, and I flew from Portland, Oregon, to Frankfurt, Germany, on Pan Am. In Frankfurt we picked up a Volkswagen camper we had ordered, and started a four-month tour around Europe. It was pretty unusual at that time. My parents had to make plans ahead of time regarding money and mail – credit cards were rare – and in many places we visited we were quite the oddity. But we also met family and friends, and my dad spoke a tiny bit of German and Danish, so we weren't completely on our own.

I was seven and a half, my sister turned 12 in Rome (I remember we had cheese panini sitting in a piazza, and a street artist did sketches of us – not sure where those are now). My brother turned 9 somewhere else in Italy, and all five of us could just fit in the camper, tucked into every space longer than three feet.

our camper looked like this - source

We went through (West) Germany twice, I think, initially heading south in April to get into better weather. We went as far as Naples and Pompeii before going north again to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries and France. Finally, we crossed the English Channel to Great Britain and saw Scotland, Wales and England. I love to imagine that I passed my future husband as a boy on a street in London – and who knows?

In August we sailed from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary, with the camper stowed below. The crossing was about five days.

my sister and me

We drove straight through New York City, looking up at the skyscrapers, and went to Washington, DC. Then we drove across the country back to Oregon.

What do I remember? Lots really, aided by countless slide shows after we got back. Here are some highlights.

The Beatles were being played everywhere, especially "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."

Neuschwanstein Castle was every bit a fairy tale castle. We were almost the only ones there because it was April. I think that's the most significant thing that's changed – now you can't go anywhere without hordes of other tourists, at any time of year.

Northern Europe had some enchanting parks and playgrounds.

 

I remember standing so close to the Mona Lisa that I thought I could touch her – I would only have to reach across a rope! She's been behind glass since the 1980s.

We walked into Mount Vesuvius and held our hands in steam vents. And we couldn't have ice cream in Italy because they didn't pasteurize their milk at that time.

We walked up hundreds of steps in church towers and domes. 

We saw glass-blowing in Venice and diamond-cutting in Antwerp. Venice was fascinating - I loved taking a gondola ride!

In Copenhagen we went to Tivoli Gardens, staying into the evening to see all the lights come on. It was paradise for children. My dad's lovely, elderly cousin Helena went on the roller coaster with us.

My brother made a friend on the Queen Mary, and I tagged along as much as I could. They managed to ditch me once, and I got lost in First Class trying to find my way back to someplace familiar. I was crying when a nice officer came and took me back down into the bowels of the ship where our Tourist Class cabins were.

Source

In the on-board cinema they were playing "What a Way to Go" with Shirley McLaine. We watched it every day, and one time my brother, his friend and I sneaked behind the screen and watched it reversed.

I remember nothing about the trip across the US – sensory overload by that time!

We sold the camper soon after returning home and got our first (of many) VW Beetles. We children had been given Pam Am flight bags, which we used to carry our toys and books around Europe, and which wore out many years ago. Damn! The slide photos that my dad took all faded, and my parents actually got rid of them several years ago (=:-O).

I still have these two pins, one from Switzerland and one from Denmark.

The trip began my appreciation of European culture and history. Although I didn't go back to Europe again for 25 years, I studied languages and the history of western European art and architecture -  and loved it! In the last 25 years I've spent months studying in Italy and then years living in England. I'm sure that early trip started it all.

Do you like to travel? Europe? Asia? Tropical paradise?

Val

Haiku Tu

I know there's still horrible weather in some places, and autumn is on its way down under. Spring is springing here in this part of the world, but I took these photos a couple of months ago and haven't posted them yet. Maybe now is a good time. And I wrote another haiku to go with them.

the stones and the fog

shrouding the winter hillside

silent voices rest

Magical Mystery Tour

Last Sunday night I watched "The Night that Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles". The "night" in question was their US debut on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Critics were split on the Grammy salute, but I enjoyed it! Paul and Ringo performed together, lots of other musicians did covers - it was like nostalgia porn!
 
Then I had a dream the other night. I was wearing this outfit.

The jacket was seen recently on Valastasia.

Someone once told me this jacket reminded them of The Beatles. It's weird because I'm not usually that aware of my clothes in dreams, but these were clothes I actually own and they made a nice outfit.

Mr. S's record - I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Anna, and Chains

In my dream I was ready to go out, except I had wet hair in a towel. I figured I would fix it when I got to the nightclub or bar or whatever. I got on a bus with a bunch of young people, holding my towel and a blanket.

I was aware that I was a little old for this group and that I really should have done my hair at home. What was I thinking?  

When I got off the bus I realized I was in London, and I didn't have to go to the clubs. I was free to wander around London and do whatever I wanted. Why didn't I bring a map?! So I just started walking. I turned up a dark, empty street with old buildings, and although it was dark I could see spring blossoms on the trees and lots of flowers in planters. It was lovely! I ended up at the Liverpool Boat Club (?), and then I woke up.

I also had one of those odd coincidences this week because of the Beatles special.

David Grohl of The Foo Fighters did a couple of songs on the show, and I looked him up to get more background. Among other things, I found out that he met his former bandmates in Nirvana, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, through another musician called Buzz Osborne who is the founding member of The Melvins.

I found this out on Wikipedia, and I had to look up The Melvins, although I'd heard their name. They're sort of obscure - and they're not pretty - but they're still rockin' after 30 years.

Then Shirley Temple Black died, and I looked her up on Wikipedia, too. She had three children, the youngest of whom is Lori Black, aged 59. Lori was a rocker, a bass guitar player known as Lorax.

She used to play bass with The Melvins. Weird, huh?

And then I found this picture of Lori and her mother meeting The Beatles circa 1964.

Jacket - Coldwater Creek; shirt - Crazy Horse, JCP; skirt - Christopher & Banks; tights - Target; boots - JCP

So that's how things are In My Life. How was your week?

Linking up with Tres Chic Style Bits at Searching the Inner Me.

Val