Cyn in London

A Royal Affair

2011-04-30T13:43:00.000+01:00

Well, nothing like a Royal Wedding to get the world all abuzz--so what better reason to dust off the blog?!
Love it or loathe it, the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton is now part of our shared history.

I have to admit that I was a curious and excited tv-watching participant in the royal celebrations. I figured, since work commitments required me to be away from London, I couldn't be standing on the wedding parade route in London to catch a glimpse of the Royal Couple...may as well try to get something that will commemorate where I was on the day.

I arrived in Sydney VERY early in the morning from a business trip to Adelaide a few days earlier. In the cab on the way to a client meeting, I heard a man on the radio from the Australian Mint saying that they had pressed a special commemorative coin for the Big Day.
Now, I'm not a big coin collector--but my father was--so I was immediately curious and excited to find a way to get my hands on a coin. At 8:45am, the Royal Mint was set up in front of Customs House in Circular Quay in the city of Sydney, exchanging $0.20 coins for the commemorative coins. I fleetingly toyed with the idea of asking the cabbie to make a swing through the city centre so that I could get a coin...but knew that was no good...I'd for sure be late to my client meeting--a big no no, regardless of why.

I made it through the day, telling myself that if I left the office at a decent hour, I'd stop by on my way back to the hotel and see if I could still get my hands on a coin.
I left the office at 4pm and wasn't in the cab more than 3 minutes when I asked the cabbie if going to Customs House on the way to the hotel was "convenient"--like he cared...the meter would still be running!!! He radioed in the office to find out exactly where to go and expertly navigated the city streets to park up in a nearby taxi rank.
He waited patiently for me to go investigate the situation.

It could not have been easier--rocked up, filled in a form, and in exchange for $0.20 Aussie cents, I got my coin.
I could only have been happier if I could have figured out a way to get multiple coins...so I could not contain my glee when the man handing out coins said, "how many do you want?" Not wanting to appear greedy, I handed over $2.00 Aussie dollars (~$2.10 USD) and got TEN--count them--10 commemorative coins!!!

So, having chatted to the cabbie on the entire route about his family, my family, cooking, raising teenagers, higher education, the Royal Wedding...I gave him a coin to give to his 16 year-old daughter. So, I ended up being the proud owner of 9 commemorative coins.

Here is the packaging and coin...I'm going to leave the ones I keep uncirculated.

And of course, telling where I was during the royal event, the packaging says it all:

...well, nearly. I went to Circular Quay in Sydney to get my coin, then holed up eating cheese and crackers in my hotel room to watch the coverage and do my expense report...close enough!

I have a some of the coins earmarked for a few special folks. Much better than a coffee mug or some other goofy piece of tat that will no doubt be filed away and never seen again!

Paris...

2010-08-07T00:38:00.000+01:00

We've now returned from our week-long holiday in Paris. City exploration was the main part of the adventure, but we did spend a day in Disneyland Paris--which was, of course, it's own brand of fun.

We have aches in places that we didn't know could ache from all the walking and are happy to be sleeping in our own beds tonight. We experienced nearly everything that a city could throw our way and had a great time.

The pictures are uploading now. 3 cameras worth...so it's going to take a while to get them to where I can blog the best of them.

And it's official, Blondie is has a new name...it's "MoreDrama". So it's now, me, Paulster, Drama and MoreDrama.

More to come once the photos get loaded!

One More Sleep 'Til Paris

2010-07-29T11:57:00.002+01:00

I can't believe that we're already to the end of July and just one more month of summer to go. But that does mean that tomorrow morning, Paulster, Drama, Blondie (who's on the verge of being renamed Drama2) and I will set off on the Eurostar for a week in Paris.
That part of the adventure isn't what I'm looking forward to...been there, done that.
The part that I'm looking forward to is watching Drama and Blondie discover Paris, as a city.
Blondie has gotten to work on learning the french names for all types of fruit and a few other words. Some of it she'd learned in school, but she's definitely interested in it. Favourite French word so far...Pamplemousse.
We'll see how much she's willing to say out loud to a french waiter!

We've watched Dr. Who's encounter with Vincent Van Gough and of course they want to go up the Eiffel Tower. With a whole city to explore and a day or two in Disneyland Paris, we might need a vacation to recover from our vacation when we get back!

Forgetting Something Important

2010-07-16T20:46:00.000+01:00

Ok, so things have been a little quiet lately on the 'ol blog. Before I get any more wise cracks from readers who have been really, really patient waiting on a post...
It's not like there's been nothing to report. (you may have to read that sentence twice...excessive use of negatives)

In the past few months, there's been almost too much going on to keep up with.
Here's a list...in the order in which my brain pulls it up:
1) Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in concert
2) Norah Jones in concert
3) Rob Schneider's stand up show in a giant upside down purple cow...yes, there will be pictures of that posted. You kind of have to see it to believe it...
4) Watched Paul and his sister run a 10K
5) Flown back and forth to Texas twice...one time routing through Canada to see Banana and Sven and the splendour of Niagara Falls
6) Watched my brother marry a lovely, sweet woman who complements him beautifully
7) Hugged ALL 4 of my nephews and their parents
8) Eaten sushi with my mom
9) Experienced the wonders of XpresSpa in the airport
10) Shopped with my favourite Aunt
11) Read several books (Julia Child's My Life in France was a highlight--thank you LB2!
12) Laughed hysterically while watching Total Wipeout
13) Had a great night out with several girlfriends and their friends
14) Went to my 20 year High School reunion
15) Recalled some of the most fun moments of my life that I would never, ever want to repeat
16) Baked (and ate) lots of chocolate chip cookies and even shared some of them with the neighbours
17) Planned my summer holiday to Paris and a weekend trip to Zurich
...and countless other things.
All that...and no blog posts?! What's up?

The truth is, I've been feeling a little sorry for myself...mainly due to a health issue that is NOTHING compared to what many people I know and love have been through...but nonetheless has impaired my running and other activities I enjoy, my overall energy levels and generally left me feeling blue. I'm not real good at coping with situations that I cannot control and this is one of those things that I can't fix on my own. (I know that the fact that I'm a control freak will be quite a revelation to all my blog readers out there!...sorry for springing it on you like that).

I was walking to the bus stop the other day to go somewhere...when I was reminded to count the blessings in my life rather than focussing on the negatives. The road where I catch the bus has a Crematorium/Funeral Home on it, so seeing a funeral procession isn't an unusual experience. But this day, a hearse rolled past with a gleaming white casket in it... I didn't need to know who she was to know she was someone special. The faces of the people in the family cars and trailing vehicles said it all...

I am grateful to the woman in the casket who was obviously so dear to so many for reminding that I have my life, my friends, my family and I need to be grateful for that, living my life to the fullest. And with that, it will be a good long while before I revisit the pit of despair I've been allowing myself to crawl into lately.

Breaking the Silence

2010-06-15T16:40:00.000+01:00

So, have you heard the crickets chirping from this blog lately? I have not one good excuse for not having updated the blog lately. In fact, We've had several blogworthy events since the marathon in April...some day, I'll catch it up.

I really just wanted to do two things, say Hi, and break the blog silence.
So, the CyninLondon blog is not dead, it's just been in a coma for a while.

There's some stuff on my mind, so you'll be hearing from me soon!
Hugs, Cyn

Thirteen

2010-04-27T01:09:00.002+01:00

This past Sunday was the 30th Annual London Marathon. My friend and colleague, Hachie Gal, was one of the 40,000+ competitors. It was her 13th marathon. Like last year, she ran in support of the Guide Dogs. It's not too late to donate. Here's the link where you can donate online.
Here's Hachie Gal with a Guide Dog at the marathon expo.

There goes our girl from the first pit-stop. Spot the flag.

And here comes our girl at mile 18. Texas flag shorts a blaze!

Despite the vast numbers of Road Crew members, we managed to miss our girl at two consecutive stops. You just can't get the help these days. We were disappointed with ourselves for leaving her without supplies for nearly half of the race.

This is the third marathon I've witnessed and I continue to be in awe of people who can muster the strength that making it 26.2 miles to the finish line requires. It is truly amazing.

Blondie and Drama and other friends/family of Hachie Gal joined the Road Crew this year. And we made posters:

Like last year, many of the competitors were in fancy dress [costume]. The full complement of characters were around. The most odd was a giraffe that had to have suffered when the wind picked up.

Of course, a few celebs were on the course. The only one I spotted (thanks to his giant butterfly wings) was Sir Richard Branson.

A highlight of the day was pushing Drama and Blondie out close to the runners with bags of Jelly Babies. For the US contingent, these are pure sugar gummy bear-type candies that make perfect fuel for runners. We had our poster up and called out to the runners that we had Jelly Babies for them and they ran past, grabbing candies and trucking on. It took a bag getting dumped on the pavement to perfect the technique...but we managed to give out 6 bags or so throughout the day.

Road Crew members: Martini, C1, & K gearing up for the day ahead.

And Crew Chief, Budman with newbie, M2.

And post-race, M&M flanking Hachie Gal and Budman.

Again, an awe inspiring event with energy that sets the whole city on fire.
Hachie Gal, you are simply amazing! Congratulations on completing number 13.

It's a Good Friday

2010-04-02T21:42:00.003+01:00

...for baking cookies!
My little helpers are here for Easter Weekend and today and Monday are "Bank Holidays" (officially no work). So what are we to do when it rains all day in London?
Bake, of course.
Thanks to Nigella Lawson, the UK's Domestic Goddess--we have a recipe for butter cookies with icing for our inspiration.
So off we go...
Dough made, check. Dough rested in the fridge, check.
Roll out the dough to start the cutting, check. Here's Drama doing her bit.

And Blondie with her cut outs ready to pop in the oven.

The fun part is making the icing different colours, as you can see by the grins.

And then of course, putting the yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue icing on the cookies.

Here are a few shots of the finished project.

You can see the resemblance, can't you?!

Random ending to the blog post!
And during all that...a squirrel visited the backyard to eat the birdseed.

(Of course, I had to take the picture through my filthy kitchen window so as not to make him run off) Unlike Texas, this is the ONLY squirrel in my back garden. They aren't overunning the place--thankfully.

I Want to Be...

2010-03-30T23:34:00.003+01:00

Your Sledgehammer! Why don't you call my name?

Lyrics from the most fabulous Peter Gabriel. But do you think that he sang that iconic song during the concert in London on Sunday night? NO, HE DID NOT! Are Paulster and I angry about that? YES WE ARE!

We're getting over it, but how in the world can a musician who was defined by an album get away with doing 2 songs from that album during a concert? The songs we wanted to hear...In Your Eyes, Red Rain, Sledgehammer, Big Time...you get the idea...pretty much anything from the Album So that was released in 1986.
It's like Michael Jackson doing a concert without singing Thriller, or Madonna without Like a Virgin--what the heck?!

Before I go on too much of a rant, I must say that on the whole, it was a good show. He had the "New Blood" Orchestra with him and some great female backing singers. I guess it's a sign I'm getting OLD, when I enjoy having rocking 80's tunes set to orchestral arrangements. Whatever. It was pretty magical at some points.
Here's a sample from Salisbury Hill:

Admit it, it sounds pretty darn great, doesn't it?!

Here's a pic of Mr. Gabriel on stage:

And another of a cool backdrop.

So, iTunes, here I come--there are some songs I still want to hear!

Quality Time

2010-03-11T21:07:00.003Z

It's been a VERY long time since my twin brother and I got to hang out and have a significant amount of quality time. But last weekend, we made up for lost time. Clinton came to London to look at an airplane for some colleagues who were considering the purchase.
Having gotten business out of the way during the first 10 hours after he landed, we had all day Saturday and Sunday to play.
First--stock up with Starbucks. Check.
Second--stop on the Jubilee Bridge and take pictures with your iPhone. Check.
You are the ultimate American tourist!

And I join in...with my Starbucks cup! (You can take the girl out of Texas...)

Here's a shot of Paulster, Drama, Blondie and Clinton on the Jubilee Bridge.

Cyn's Standard 48 hour First-timer Tour includes a River Cruise, "flight" on the London Eye, and a visit to the Tower of London. So...true to form, off we went.
Here's a self-portrait from the deck of the cruise. It was sooooo cold--but beautifully sunny!

A shot of Clinton and the girls...before we all retreated to the warmth of the inside of the boat!

On to the Eye...

Blondie...

And everyone...

I never get tired of that view...

Day 2: The Monument to the Great Fire of London (1666)...you can almost see Clinton down there.

Clinton modelling his Howls for Haiti shirt at the Tower.

On the walk back to the Tube...City Hall and a look back at Tower Bridge.

Long overdue, but what a great visit!

The Miracle of the Internet

2010-03-01T00:06:00.002Z

It is with laptop running wirelessly that I inform you we have successfully re-established the Miracle of the Internet in our home! Well, I can't exactly take credit for it...I did unpack the new router and plugged it in...it was Paulster who made it work.
I had accidentally plugged something in wrong, so Paulster had to call tech support who diagnosed the problem. Doh! Oh well, so I did it correctly the last two times...getting it wrong once isn't so bad. In my defense, I was on a conference call at the time of assembly--so attention divided. Excuses, excuses! ;)

While it was nice to have a technological break on some fronts...on others, it was just down right inconvenient not to have it.

So, pictures from the weekend in Sheffield for Dora and Paulster's birthday are currently uploading for blog posting soon. Among other activities that we need to catch up on! Stay tuned!!!

A Trip Back in Time

2010-02-24T22:48:00.003Z

Well, I can't actually remember when the last time was that my house did NOT have an internet connection. But that's the condition we find ourselves in at the moment.
A not-so-funny comedy of errors is to blame, I'll spare you the details of administrative "issues" at the phone/broadband company and communication problems that spawned this whole thing.

So, it's not that we haven't done anything fun in the last month--in fact, we have. I just haven't had a way to upload photos and post on the blog from the homestead.

Yes, I could've done it from the office, but suddenly, I find myself pretty busy--so haven't taken the time to use the office connection to post.
So...apologies. This little problem should be remedied at some time tomorrow--but it will likely be the weekend before I catch up on a few posts.

Later!

National TV Awards

2010-01-23T17:45:00.002Z

On a school night, Hachie Gal, Budman and Paulster and I ventured off to the O2 arena in East London. Paulster had secured tickets to the National TV Awards. Essentially, like a small version of the People's Choice Awards in the US. There are only 11 awards given--so it wasn't a long programme--but it was fun. Everyone votes for their favourite shows and viola...award given.

The show opened with a song from the XFactor [think American Idol] winner. It's the resurrected "Don't Stop Believing" from Journey.

And a truly hideous performance "Under Pressure" from the doofus twins, John and Edward (Jedward) with a special guest appearance by Vanilla Ice. Jedward "failed out" of XFactor...but they were kept in far longer than their talent warranted. Those two look like Pee Wee Herman's love children. Wherever did they dig up Robert Van Winkle, that mug. A couple of years ago, he was on the UK "reality" show Big Brother. I guess they just keep dredging him up for the freak show value.

The outgoing Dr. Who (David Tennant) won a Best Actor award and the show won as well. He's a personal favourite of mine, so I tried to get a snapshot of him from the Big Screen. Turns out, I managed to get every contorted, terrible shot of his handsomeness...

I was not gifted with the timing that night on the photos...

One of our favourite shows, Gavin & Stacy, won, so we were happy from the start.

Most of the people were dressed like they were going to a cocktail party with tiny dresses, tuxes and LOTS of sequins. Not all age-appropriate or body-shape appropriate--so the people watching was at least half of the night's entertainment.

Another fun night out in London!

Makeovers!

2010-01-17T17:05:00.002Z

On Friday, it was time for Drama and Blondie to shed their locks and take on new looks for 2010! My hairdresser, Miss D comes to the house and we turn the dining room into the beauty parlor. I just got a trim, but Drama and Blondie went for much more dramatic new styles!

Here are the before pictures:
Drama

Blondie

And After!

The locks that are now history!

Lovely!!!

Happy New Year

2010-01-16T23:09:00.004Z

Well, better late than never, I guess...but I wanted to wish all my blog readers a Happy New Year. I know you're out there, even if you're just lurking and never post a comment (although I'd love to hear from more of you!)
It's hard to believe that 2009 is over and 2010 is in full swing.
I'm sure it will be an eventful year!

Paulster and I celebrated in our traditional way (except last year when we went to a party)--which was make our way to a pub on the Southbank of the river Thames in London, claw our way to the bar a couple of times--wow, it's crowded--and then wander out into the street to watch the fireworks from just below the London Eye.

It's always a spectacular show (the fireworks, I mean)--and people watching in the pub is always a hoot...one of my favourite past times.

Here are a few photos of the evening:

Something new for the blog this year...a video!

And the happy revellers ringing in the new year with a self-portrait! [Special Note for AC: Note the hat...just like yours!!! Surely did keep my head warm on that cold, cold night!]

Wishing you and yours a very healthy and happy 2010!!!

Cabin Fever

2010-01-14T18:58:00.002Z

So...it's not really a cabin as much as a house in a London suburb...but, it's real. Cabin Fever.
I'm so sick of being in the house that a trip to do mundane errands like go to the Post Office, the pharmacy and photo shop were quite a treat this afternoon.

Since before Christmas--when we had the lovely snowfall that made me full of the joys of Christmas, we've had off and on, more of the same weather.
So much for being joyful after weeks of it.

I have to admit that the first 2 weeks of lounging was nice, catching up on a series and a half of House that we had recorded on our TIVO-type device, cooking and sleeping was great. Also, that was around the Christmas/New Year celebrations...so always something to do.
But this week, I've had a cold and between that and the weather, I'm feeling a bit grouchy.

A welcome respite has been a really excellent Christmas present. It was something that I didn't even know that I wanted--but Paulster used his brain and came up with a good one. The Sookie Stackhouse series of books by Charlaine Harris. This is the group of books that the new TV series TrueBlood is based on.
So, there are 8 books in the boxed set that I got for Christmas, a 9th one that is out and a 10th one due out in May.
Some of you may not be interested--it's a bit graphic and is about vampires and other "supernatural" creatures--but I was thoroughly captivated by the first TV series. We're anxiously awaiting the second series--that has apparently already started (and may be finished by now) in the US.

I always get a kick out of reading the books that a TV series or movie is based on and then trying to pick out the threads that are similar. With Dexter, the first book and the first series were nearly identical, except at the end. Then, the TV series took a hard right turn and kept going. Not necessarily a bad turn, just different than the books. And Bones was the same.

I've just now finished the last of the 8 books in my little set and am logging on to Amazon to get the 9th one ordered and the 10th one on pre-order for May.

I have to warn you that, in my experience, if you mix high powered Sudafed with these books for several days, you're likely to have some odd dreams.
On the other hand, they're quick reads and creative storytelling--so well worth waking every hour to make sure there's not a vampire breathing down on you--that turns out to just be your cat sharing your pillow.

They definitely get my endorsement!

Christmas Catchup

2010-01-09T21:12:00.002Z

The last post was about the snow and how that managed to get me in the Christmas mood. By now, we've had lots of snow now and it's frankly getting a bit old!
But let's look at Christmas...
We get to have two Christmases. One, adult only and low key. The second, when the girls get here on Boxing Day and we get the full assault of child-like excitement at Christmas--it's contagious!

So, on Christmas Day, Hachie Gal and Budman came over for a leisurely lunch.
The humans in the house were not the only ones lounging around. After having set the table with the crystal, silver and antique china, Sulley made himself at home.

Cat (and most of the cat hair) safely removed from the table and the humans sat down for lunch.
It's hard not to act and look a bit silly when you open a Christmas craker and put on the paper hat. But it's mandatory for celebrating a UK Christmas.

And for the second Christmas--even I got into the photos with my hat...

After Santa's arrival...

Note the big red card on the tree...Santa brought something that couldn't be opened until the 29th of December. That turned out to be tickets to the Miley Cyrus concert in London that night. Wow! ...and that'll have to be the subject of another post.

Here's Blondie, showing off the trash bin that Santa brought for her room. Practical Santa...

And here's Drama, showing off her Hannah Montana calendar.

And here's Kenny, contemplating the Remote Control Tarantula that Emilie got...

Hachie Gal & Budman gave the girls some "snow". A test tube with some magic stuff in it, that once you add water, it turns into snow. Very fun.
Here's Blondie making her snow. Thanks HG & B for the hours of activity. Will post what the "snow" eventually morphed into later--once the girls applied their creativity.

And my friend Melissa hooked me up with some Shrinky Dinks when I was in Texas. They presented hours of fun and lots of homemade jewelry and fridge magnets.
Here's Blondie with her finished product that is her version of the Gruffalo.

All around, two great Christmas celebrations.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2009-12-22T23:29:00.004Z

It's contagious. Hachie Gal has been planning her Christmas-related events with great vigor for some time. You only have to check out the "Days of Christmas" blog posts to see what she's been up to.
Benefitting from that, Paulster and I tagged along to a showing "on the big screen" of White Christmas in Hammersmith last night.
It seems unfathomable that I had never seen the movie all the way through--but, it must have been.

A really great movie, full of iconic songs, zany mishaps, and the great voice of Bing Crosby.

It's been so cold and snowy here, that it was great fun to walk to and from the theatre on slushy, slippy sidewalks [pavements].

Only a few more days until Christmas!!! I'm ready.

Snow, Glorious Snow!

2009-12-18T01:45:00.005Z

I'm officially in the mood for Christmas now. I put up the Christmas tree tonight AND, it's been snowing today--especially heavy tonight.

Here are some pictures:
One of the high street in our town

And one of Kenny stomping around in the snow

And Sulley, taking it all in...

The back garden

A few days later, we got another snowstorm that lasted at least half an hour. This picture makes me laugh, because the huge snowflakes were showing up on the photo like shooting stars.

And here are a few of the Christmas decorations.
The stockings were hung on the STAIRCASE with care (we have to improvise...no chimney.

Kenny, holding down the sofa and his Christmas pillow [cushion].

More to be Thankful for...

2009-12-13T23:35:00.004Z

those laugh out loud moments. Even if they are at someone else's expense...
So, a well-known side effect of Thanksgiving is the post-lunch nap.
And O...in addition to taking in some traditional Thanksgiving fare, is recovering from double knee replacement--requiring some serious meds.
Ergo, nap time for her and entertainment/photo opps for us...
Pre-Thanksgiving lunch nap:

Post-Thanksgiving lunch nap:

And the Day After Thanksgiving nap:

And another event that day that for me, was not so laugh-out-loud--but exhiliharting for another member of the family. When my team, the Texas Aggies lost the BIG game against the Texas Longhorns. It didn't help that my brother-in-law, BKB, is a Longhorn. I had big hopes for my Aggies and they answered the charge from the Longhorns very well...until they got 2 touchdowns behind.

Sadly, it was before the 2 TD downfall that I had started talking smack with BKB--resulting in "consequences" for whichever person whose team lost. Turns out, I was the one having to don one of his burnt orange shirts emblazoned with the Longhorn logo, with my hand making the "Hook 'Em Horns" symbol. Complete humiliation for an Aggie...

Here's BKB holding the shirt that I eventually wore for my "punishment".

I'm awaiting the picture of me in the shirt making the obscene gesture. I'll post it as soon as I have it...

The primary highlight of the day was spending time with my family--and a killer smoked turkey cooked by BKB--monitored by my oldest nephew.
Here are some snaps of each.

The hostess with the mostess! Many thanks LB2 for a great Thanksgiving celebration!

I'm Thankful For...

2009-12-10T22:02:00.001Z

...Getting to make a trip back to Texas for Thanksgiving. And getting a side-trip to Shreveport/Bossier pre-Thanksgiving.

It was great to catch up with so many folks--and even then, there were several more that I didn't get to catch up with.

During the pre-Thanksgiving trip to Shreveport/Bossier, O and I stopped in to visit a few more special ladies.
Here they are!

After our visit, O and I went back home to finish up some cooking for the Thanksgiving Feast that was due the next day.
The next day--Thanksgiving Day, we shuffled into Captain Cletus' car and headed down the road.

After a few stops to stretch our legs and some game day traffic--we made it. What a welcoming site to see the day's menu posted for us!

There was even a place on the board that listed who our "waiters" were (my nephews topped the list).
With a greeting like that...you know it's going to be a good day.

...more on that later...it's late!

Mama's Got a New Set of Wheels

2009-12-06T13:54:00.002Z

I'll re-cap the Texas Thanksgiving trip soon enough...hold your horses for that...
Today's post is about one thing that I'm thankful for. While I was home Ouida got a new car. As much good as the Suburban has been for hauling people and goods, it was worn out.
It was a gas-guzzler to begin with, so we borrowed Cletus' car to do all of our Thanksgiving driving. This prompted the conversations about whether the Suburban had served it's purpose and was ready for replacement...
When, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, it left Ouida stranded on the main road in our hometown with a pooped-out alternator--the answer was a clear YES!

Another thing to be thankful for is a car dealer in the family. While none of us can afford the "new" cars he sells, Cousin H has great connections in the gently-used car department and had exactly what Ouida wanted.

Here's Ouida in her last drive in the Suburban.

And being chauffeured to lunch by Cousin H. Mexican food is always a perfect way to celebrate.

And here's Ouida's new ride...

That's one happy customer!

A Night with the Woods

2009-11-25T00:59:00.004Z

Today, O and I hopped (OK...it was more of a shuffle) into the car (OK...it was Captain Cletus' car) and drove to Louisiana to visit Aunt Karo and Uncle J.
The ladies had a nice lunch and visit, then came up to "the woods" where they live.
I love it up here. It's serene and cozy.

How do you entertain yourself in the woods? Sit, Talk, Laugh and Cook!

Aunt Karo needed some Pumpkin Raisin Bars cooking, so I popped into the kitchen to make a mess.

Here's the recipe:
Pumpkin Raisin Bars
2 C. All purpose Flour
2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Cloves
1 C. oil
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/2 C. chopped nuts
1/2 C. raisins

Frosting:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 C. powdered sugar
1 Tblsp milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease 15" X 10" X 1" baking pan. In a large bowl combine all bar ingredients expect nuts and raisins; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in nuts and raisins.

Pour into greased pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients; beat until smooth. Frost cooled bars. Store in refrigerator.

For a Pumpkin Raisin Cake, use a 13" X 9" pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

The funny thing about cooking in another person's kitchen is that the tools are not your own. For instance--the pre-historic hand mixer and jazzy apron. See photo below...

Pre-historic though it was, it worked like a charm!

What fun to get to spend time with people I love and don't get to see very often.

The next morning, we took our time getting up and about--ate some pumpkin cake for breakfast and took a few snaps before hitting the road to visit some other folks.
Here is one of me, Aunt Karo and Uncle J.

I liked Aunt Karo's hat so much that I went out and bought one for myself!

First Major Home Improvement

2009-11-13T01:16:00.003Z

As much as we love our house...we don't love spending vast amounts of money on "maintenance". Especially when there's still so much to do inside the house. But...this week, that's exactly what we did.
The garage doors looked decent from a distance, but get too close and you see the chinks in the armour. Rotten wood, peeling paint, and a latch so secure that a toddler could pull the doors open.

So, we now have new garage doors. Yippee!?

Before (imagine it without the car)...

And After...

That Little 'Ol Band from Texas

2009-11-12T23:07:00.004Z

A couple of weeks ago, on an average Wednesday night...Paulster, Hachie Gal, a couple of other friends and I went to see the amazing ZZ Top at Wembley Arena. It was a fantastic show...taking me right back to the days of driving around in my Nissan 280Z with the T-tops off, wearing my Ray Ban Cats sunglasses...blasting the Eliminator cassette tape. Back before I understood what the songs Pearl Necklace or Tube Snake Boogie were really about.

It was an enclosed arena, so pretty darn loud, and our seats were...well, not so close to the stage. So it was perfect to just sit and enjoy the music. Billy Gibbons is turning 60 next month and he's not slowing down one bit. The guitar, bass and drum trio were incredible as ever.

Pearl Necklace was the only song I could think of that I expected to hear...but didn't. The rest were all on the play list that night. Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, Tush, La Grange, Gimme All Your Lovin, Jesus Just Left Chicago--all there!
And a bonus track of Foxy Lady that was as good as Jimi Hendrix himself could have played it.

Here's a video clip of Legs, complete with the fuzzy white guitar & bass:

And a few other shots and videos from the gig.

Video of Foxy Lady:

Turn your computer screen to see the clip of Sharp Dressed Man!

What a great way to spend a Wednesday night!

Oh Canada!

2009-10-31T22:11:00.004Z

It's a sad week here in normally Jolly 'Ol England...Sven and Banana have officially moved to Canada. It was a tearful goodbye in the high street of Uxbridge after lunch and a little reminiscing on Tuesday afternoon as they headed off to the airport.
Here's a pic of the boys having one last pint on Tuesday afternoon. Paulster, Sven and Vik.

A couple of weeks before hand, a surprise going away party was organised and was a fitting celebration for nearly 4 great years of getting to know these two.
A quick pic of the table...

They have such a diverse group of friends here in London and given their cultural backgrounds, we decided to give Honorary Canadian Citizenship (and names) to those with a Croatian heritage/name. Those of us with non-Croatian backgrounds were given Croat names.
My name in Croatian is: Cvijeta Anđelka Pešut.
Paulster's is: Pavao Vlatko Damjanović.
Drama's is: Marija Valerija Damjanović.
Blondie's is: Iskra Marijana Damjanović.

And we all have certificates to prove it!

Borat featured into the evening's celebration...to maintain the surprise, we all held Borat faces on sticks in front of our own faces as they were led into the party area. Then...the "masks" just ended up being props for the rest of the evening.

Here's Maven looking coy with her fan.

And Budman Borat.

And Budman and Blondie "feeding" Borat some Tiramisu. Lovely, fresh Tiramisu it was!

Budman and Hachie Gal joining the party!

And Sven & Banana with the girls as the night ends.

We know having them in Toronto means one more place we can visit and a couple more reasons to get there. We've had such a great time over the years with them here in London and in several other places we've ventured together...Paris, Croatia, Brighton, Hampton Court Palace, Pizza Express, Nando's, KFC, dinner at ours, countless pubs, the coffee bar at work...every place we turn is a memory of the fun times together.

A shot of Sven and Banana one last time at Pizza Express!

And some of our outings...
Brighton Pier

The boys at Hampton Court Palace

One Hot Married Couple (you had to be there...)

Helping us paint the kitchen!

And one last cuddle wtih Kenny...

You will both be missed here in London immensely!
We wish you all the best in your new life in Canada.

Playing Hooky!

2009-10-23T21:30:00.002+01:00

There's nothing quite like spending a lovely Tuesday afternoon in an amusement park with 3 of your favourite people on the planet. This week, Banana, Sven, Paulster and I trekked out to Thorpe Park for some crazy roller coaster action.

Part of the thrill (apart from the roller coasters) was knowing that everyone else was at work! I think the photo above (taken immediately upon entry) shows the appropriate amount of enthusiasm from the crowd.

There are quite a few really good coasters at Thorpe Park. The Colossus does 4 corkscrews in a row.

The Saw (themed for the movie series) is a zippy and quite scary ride...actually, the best roller coaster I've ever ridden.

Those were so good that we rode them twice! The first time around each ride, I screamed and laughed like a wild woman. Three days later, my throat still hurts!

The Stealth is Europe's fastest roller coaster--it goes 0-80 in less than 2 seconds and rises 205 feet in the air.

Sadly, Stealth was closed, so we didn't have to find out that Paulster would've chickened out anyway...

We rode the Nemesis--which is one that hangs you so that your legs dangle. That's the first time I've ridden one like that and it was fantastic.

And the Detonator is kind of like the Texas Cliffhanger--just a quick freefall type drop. So fast, I couldn't manage to scream!

Here we are on the bounce...

But it wasn't any of those that made us sick to our stomachs...After the first round of the park, we were walking past this pyramid-type building and decided to see what that was all about. It was a "backward, in the dark" roller coaster called X: No Way Out. It didn't do much more than bank and turn and go up some small drops...but we all got off of that thing feeling wobbly and nauseated.

It was an hour or so and some serious moaning before we could bring ourselves to ride Colossus again, and another hour before we could ride Saw for the final time. I'm quite sure that I'm just getting too old for this sort of thing, but it was some kind of fun!!!

Here's a picture of the four of us on the way out of the park.

What a great day out! I can't believe we haven't done that more often...

Part 2 - NYC Trip

2009-10-11T23:09:00.002+01:00

More on our New York trip.
Of course, we had a list of things to see and do while we were in New York. A theme of NY sites seems to be observation decks. There was of course, the Empire State Building--86th floor and Rockefeller Centre--with great views of Central Park. And naturally, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Paulster, bravely posing atop the Brooklyn Bridge.

And me, on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here's the Dalek on top of the Empire State Building.

And both of us from the top of the Empire State.

The thing that impressed me almost as much as much as the views from the top of the building was the building itself. The art deco features were just magnificent. I'm sure the other tourists thought I was nuts...but here are a few snaps of the building's features that I thought the most cool.

And a view to the street from the top of the Empire State.

Oh...I nearly forgot... the iconic Empire State is known for being a romantic spot. And this guy was being romantic, thinking he was getting away with it...until someone shouted--Oh, he's proposing!!! Of course, I went to snap a picture... I missed the kneeling part, but got the hug and big ol' diamond ring and all. How sweet!

And the view from Rockefeller Center was an amazing view of Central Park.

And the front of the building...you'll recognise if you watch 30 Rock--as it's set here. Yes, it's on our rotation and we've even started incorporating some Tracy Jordan phrases in our daily vocabs. Sad, yes.

We got to have dinner and visit with J&J... Mrs. J used to work with Paulster and is now working in the US, near NYC with Mr. J. We had lots of fun--thanks for coming into the city to meet us!

Here are a few shots of Central Park. What a gorgeous space. We were surprised how little green space there is in the city...like it's all just concentrated in this one spot. That's certainly a difference in NYC and London.

This is the obelisk who's twin is in London. If you look closely...there's some woman who's climbed into the plinth and is doing some sort of hocus pocus chanting/blessing on the obelisk. Weird.

And on one edge of the park is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We didn't go in...but we did eat a hot dog while sitting on the steps...Paulster ate 2, actually.

One unique place we went after our amazing brunch was the High Line park. As I mentioned, there isn't much green space in the city (except Central Park), and in an effort to combat this, there is a drive to turn disused space into parks and leisure facilities. This park is built on a disused train track that is elevated above the street. Very cool use of space--and it's definitely popular--it was packed!

We were fortunate with the weather. It was a bit muggy on Sunday, and Monday was perfect--sunny and cool. It started raining again as we headed to the airport. Perfect timing.
Can't wait to go back and explore more.

A Real Vacation! Part 1

2009-10-04T20:53:00.004+01:00

As much as we've enjoyed this year's stay-cations...it was really, really great to get away to New York City for 4 nights/5 days. I worked away from home almost every week for the first 6 months of the year, and in return for all those nights at the Holiday Inn in Norwich, I earned 4 nights free hotel to use anywhere in the world. So I chose The Barclay Hotel in New York City. And it really was FREE. Not one cent--no taxes, no nothing...

Unbeknownst to us, the timing of our trip coincided with the 64th UN General Assembly. We figured it out when we arrived at the hotel and had to put our luggage through the X-ray machine and ourselves through a metal detector to even get into the hotel. The lobby was heaving with meaty men in suits with little earpieces looking for shifty eyed guests laden with suicide bombs. I am happy to report that no one managed to blow anything up while we were there.

We do suspect that the President of Iran was staying at our hotel--given the nightly protests outside. We never caught a glimpse of him, or any other political operatives.

But in true New York style, we did spot a few celebs. Brunch on Saturday at one of the recommended restaurants had us sitting two tables away from Ugly Betty's Amanda and Marc. And Kyle MacLachlan was on our flight home! Those were definitely fun celeb spots. Before you ask...no, I did not make a fool of myself by asking for a
photo with any of them.

Part of the fun of any of our trips is eating great food. Before we left, we tapped the fountain of all NYC local knowledge--Budman's brother, M. He's just moved from the Big Apple to London and was quite the source of great restaurant recommendations. In addition to the Cookshop, we also sampled the delights of Sevilla--fantastic Spanish paella! Yum. If only we'd had more time and clothes a size larger!

For me, the highlight was seeing the Statue of Liberty in person. Unfortunately, we did not get to climb up to the crown, but wow, just the sheer size of her sandals--made me feel OK about the size of my feet! ;)

But really, here are a few shots of Lady Liberty.

This time with people in it for scale.

And a shot of Paul as we toured Ellis Island's Registry Room.

Looking from the Registry Room on Ellis Island out to Liberty Island.

Actually, we "kinda" saw a political operative...while on Liberty Island, Airforce One flew overhead. So, we're going to say that President Obama was in there flying out of New York from the UN business.

There were some amazing stories of the number of new arrivals to the American shores and the conditions that they endured trying to enter the country. Quite fascinating.

No trip to New York City is complete without a visit to Times Square.

And here's the ball--not yet hoisted into position.

And one of the best things we found in Times Square was M&M World! Wow, what a feast for the eyes.
I asked this fellow if he was still toxic--which is why I have the goofy grin on my face! OK...it's actually just delirium at the thought of an M&M that large!

P.S. Paulster says to make sure you know that I'm the one on the right.

OK--more on the trip later!

The Big Apple!!!

2009-10-01T00:08:00.003+01:00

Here's a preview of the next post...from our latest adventure!

Call the Fire Brigade?!

2009-10-01T00:01:00.002+01:00

Paulster put Kenny on a low branch in the evergreen tree...and the silly boy climbed nearly to the top of the tree. Big deal, that's what cats do, right?!
The top of the tree is easily 40 feet high.

So, of course, I grabbed the camera and chided Paulster for putting Kenny in the tree to begin with...all the while hoping that Kenny could get himself down.
And he did.

Garden Update

2009-09-30T23:05:00.003+01:00

This summer, in addition to the cucumbers (still producing!) and tomatoes, I hung my Mexican planter on the outside wall and planted some impatiens in it. The impatiens are called "Peppermint Ole"--very Mexican!
They bloomed and are still blooming.

That's the success story of the garden.

Drama and I planted some seeds a long while back and had one decent stem come up. It got pretty large and we transplanted it into a larger container with some of the impatiens. Turns out...that was a giant thistle-type weed. Oops! It's been uprooted and taken away by the bin men...

We did a bit more heavy duty work this summer...remember the pics of Paulster and the girls chopping down some trees/bushes? Well, those darn things had some serious roots.

For one entire weekend, we dug and dug, but the roots were too thick and deep. A trip to B&Q [Home Depot] to buy a chain saw and we decided that we might end up amputees if that was the tool of choice. So, we chose a big-@$$ reciprocating saw instead.

And we dug and cut those bad boys up! (With Sulley's help, of course)

Then, we levelled off the soil, compacted it and sowed grass seeds. Now, we have a nice, fuzzy new patch of grass...which makes the rest of the back yard grass look really crummy. Next spring, we'll plant new grass in the rest of the garden.
I'll update the post with a picture of the new grass soon...

...and then, summer was over. :(

The English Patient

2009-09-02T22:32:00.002+01:00

I recently turned into Florence Nightingale, when Paulster pulled his calf muscle playing 5-A-Side football [soccer]. He was in extreme agony the first night even when pumped full of Aleve and on ice. The next morning was still painful, but he got an appointment with the doctor the next day, so I drove him 150 yards down the road to get it checked out.

Turns out that there's no surgical correction required and the estimate was that with a bit of physiotherapy and time, all would be fine.

So, he spent two days relatively off his feet--basically in this position--working.

I'm pleased to say that a week later and a physical therapy appointment upcoming, he's not sprinting around, but optimistic that he'll be back on the road with me soon.

That Boy will Eat Anything...

2009-08-27T15:05:00.002+01:00

...is a direct quote from my father about my brother some years ago. I'm not sure what the exact situation was that provoked the statement, but I've seen Cletus eat a wad of fish bait and on a separate occassion, a 2-inch long green, hairy caterpillar--so--I know it's true. And those were both with him at an age where he should have known better! But that's not the point of this post...

The point is...the same can be said for Sulley, our older cat. He's just celebrated his 8th birthday.
He came to us as a pampered kitty from a family that was allegedly moving to Canada. We got him (and Kenny) through a rescue agency in London.

He loves to eat all kinds of meat, cheese, ice cream, crisps [chips for the US folk]--such as Doritos, Hula Hoops, salt & vinegar--anything! He'll also eat potatoes, Cheerios, bananas, and the list goes on.

As a result of all the past history and my experiments on what he will and won't eat, he doesn't have good table manners. He's too old now for me to try to reform the poor chap. It's not like he's a 100 pound slobbering dog begging for food at every meal. He's just a sweet-faced cuddle bug, who...must be hungry! :)

Here's a snapshot of Sulley getting his fair share of Hula Hoops. It's a form of entertainment at our house...

And here's another snap of his sweet little face...just for fun. With a little blonde devil trying to have some sympathy for the Sulley boy.

STAYcation 2009 - Week 2

2009-08-20T22:14:00.006+01:00

Week 2 of the Staycation got off to a slow start. On Monday and Tuesday, I had to work. Nonetheless, we managed to go see G-Force, the guinea pig spy movie in 3D on Monday evening. I don't like the 3D movies myself, generally, I end up feeling nauseous, and to combat that, close my eyes and sometimes go to sleep. Not this time, though. I did feel a little woozy, but nothing to major.
Tuesday, Paulster and the munchkins went to the London Zoo without me.
Here are a few shots courtesy of Drama and Blondie:

We met up for dinner at Pizza Express in Ruislip. This is where I've got the manager collecting my corks for the unfinished cork board...

So finally, it was Wednesday and we were off for a big day in London. We had a tour of the Houses of Parliament scheduled for 2pm. It was really cool to see where the hustle and bustle takes place. The system is much like the US system, in that there are (now) three branches, the Legislature (the newest to be established in the UK), the House of Lords (some seats are STILL hereditary) and the House of Commons (your friendly MP--Minister of Parliament).

We started the tour in Westminster Hall--which is the oldest surviving part of the original Westminster Palace and boasts the largest timber roof structure in Northern Europe. Apparently, there's one larger in Padova, Italy.
Here's a picture of the details, and of the room.

Our tour had 21 other people in it and our tour guide was Sarah. She did a really nice job and tried to cater for the kids. Mollie volunteered to be "Black Rod"--who is the one who summons the House of Commons for the Queen. When she comes to open Parliament once per year, there is the requisite amount of pomp and circumstance. Thing is...she's not allowed to go to the House of Commons. She can only go so far as her ante-chamber where she puts on the State Crown and heads in to the House of Lords to sit on her throne of REAL gold! It's amazing. Of course, no pictures of the interior allowed...sadly.

The exterior had a cool fountain/sculpture thing that was fairly modern.

And no tour photo is complete without the tourists.

After our little tour, we were a bit peckish [hungry]. So we wandered over to La Tasca, one of regular haunts for some Spanish Tapas. Not sure how the girls woudl react, although we know they like Chorizo, since we cook it at home...
They opted to order from the kids menu, only to be told (after mine and Paulster's food had been delivered to the table) that they didn't have the selections that the kids ordered.
So, they braved it and ordered some "adult" selections. Bravo. One more place we can all go eat and be happy!

Once we ate dinner, we were off to the final event of the day...a West-End production of Mama Mia! And it was fab. The girls loved it, we loved it. Fantastic signing, dancing, lycra, disco balls all set to the music of ABBA! Wonderful. A late night trip home on the tube and that was Wednesday done.

Thursday was a day to get up early. We converted the dining room into our very own Beauty Shop. Ms. D, my hairdresser came to the house and there were haircuts for all the girls and a little colour for Cyn. Nothing drastic, just getting it all turned back to one colour...the ends had gotten a bit too sun-bleached, deviating a little too much from the "real" colour. The colour was so not dramatic that Paulster didn't even know that it had changed. Also, no one at work except Banana spotted the difference. Subtlety is the key!
Here's a picture of Drama once we put some hot rollers in her hair after the haircut.

She'll be auditioning for the role of Tracey Turnblad in Hairspray in a few years!

Nanny D arrived on Thursday evening to join us for the Staycation.
Friday was our Royal Day Out. We toured the Queen's Gallery, the Royal Mews and the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms are only open for about 6 weeks during the summer. And they are definitely worth the wait. The special exhibit on display this year is of the gifts and clothing from the Queen's Very First State Visit after she assumed the throne. The clothing was spectacular. It was a bit crowded, but most people were using the audio guide, so it kept things moving along.

At the end of the State Rooms, you have to walk about a half mile through the gardens and out of the property. We played the "we have an elderly person in the party" card and got a special ride in a large golf cart out to the front of Buckingham Palace. It was kind of fun. Nanny waved at the crowd as if she were the Queen herself coming out to say Hello!
Here are a few shots of our Day Out.

We finished the Royal Day Out with a trip to the Royal Mews. This is where all the horses used for royal events are housed and trained as well as all of the Royal Carriages and the limosines (2 Bentleys and 2 Rolls Royces). There are several of the carriages that are used regularly. The main one is ridiculously large and gold and even getting it out of it's holding tank is quite the ordeal.

This little sleigh was nice. It's used every year for Santa to meet the kids and hand out gifts.

And that was pretty much the Staycation. With one last bit...
The girls were inspired by our touring so they wanted to create a tour of their own. Using their creativity, lots of paper and colours and cellotape [scotch tape], they created an art museum in Blondie's room. The ticket office was Drama's room and the gift shop was in Nanny's room. Nanny, Me and Paulster had to queue [line] up and move in an orderly fashion into the ticket booth where a "machine" (Blondie in the window sill with a box on her head) spit out the tickets once you "scanned" your ticket. Then we moved into the museum so see all of the art work on display.

Pretty creative, those two. Glad to see that we haven't managed to smash their imaginations just yet!

We spent the last couple of days just Freelaxing at home.

What is the Deal???

2009-08-20T21:59:00.002+01:00

So, I knew moving to suburbia would have its downsides--which, in honesty have been very few. But I was reminded of one a couple of Saturdays ago.
We didn't have the kids that Saturday, so sleeping until (at least) noon was very much the plan.
When the doorbell rang just shy of 11am, I hopped up remembering that I had placed an Amazon order the day before. By the time I was half way down the stairs, I remembered that my Amazon items were being delivered to the office...so who the heck was at the door?

Maybe it was the next door neighbour kids who threw yet another football into our yard wanting it repatriated. Nope. Jehovah's Witnesses.
Not two young, attractive young men in suits on bikes with narrow black ties--but two old ladies, wanting me to discuss my beliefs with them. All credit to them, they had some very leading questions that...were I not better practiced at the art of avoiding religious discussion, I may have fallen for it. Back to bed I scampered.

Not 15 minutes later, another ring of the doorbell. Who could it be this time? Maybe this time it's the neighbour kid. Nope. Window & Siding Salesman.
Man...what gives?!

If I want to seek out Jesus, I'll go to church. If I want to buy new windows or replace my garage door with vinyl siding--I've got people for that. LEAVE ME ALONE!

Still Unfinished...

2009-08-20T21:58:00.002+01:00

eBay didn't work out. I was outbid on 3 lots of used corks. Back to the drawing board--or should I say...unfinished cork board?!

Another Un-Finished Project...

2009-08-15T23:34:00.002+01:00

Well, we've been living in the house now for a little over a year. The living room and dining room still have bare floorboards, no paint on the walls and make-shift curtains. The kitchen ceiling needs a bit of repair work and a final coat of paint...as well as the floor sealed before the Travertine completely disintegrates. The list could go on...but it would only depress me.

On to the point of my story...I've been collecting wine corks for many years. I can't really remember when it started. But there are clues in the collection that tell me it's been at least 12 years. I'm not sure, either, why I thought it was a good idea to start collecting them, except that I like the unique ones, funny named wine, or a cork that commemorates a special night out with friends. I always intended to "do" something with them. So, having now amassed 3 giant ziploc bags full of corks, I set about creating my own personal cork board. The intent is to artfully arrange the corks onto a board with hot glue, frame it and hang it on the kitchen wall as a place to hang our calendar and other important bits of information. Mostly take-away menus.

So, here I went...decided what size frame would be good for the space (FYI, 1 metre tall by .6 metres wide--which is roughly 3 feet tall by 2 feet wide), had it made at the frame shop in town, got my hot glue gun out and started sticking.
Here are a few shots of my project spread out on the island in the kitchen.

Given the title of the blog, you will have surmised that something went dreadfully wrong with my little project.
Turns out, that even though I'm a wino, my extensive collection of corks wasn't enough. I ran out before I go the entire board covered--maybe two-thirds full. It's fair to say that I didn't really plan it out--as Paulster was quick to point out. But geez. It seemed like so many corks--am I sure that I didn't misplace a baggie of corks?! Maybe I should check the garage again...

So, plan B. I have asked our favourite pizza restaurant in town to collect theirs for me and call me when they have a critical mass--that was 4 days ago. And a back-up to the back-up--which may actually see me overrun with corks is ebay. You really can buy just about anything there. I'm currently bidding on 2 sets of corks (less than 20 hours to go on both bids!) that should give me enough to complete the project. Fingers crossed that I don't get outbid. I'm a bit of a ebay retard, so just figuring out how to find my list of stuff I've bid on has been a challenge!

I'll let you know how it goes. When it's finished and hanging on the wall, I'll post photos of a few of my favourite corks and any associated stories that are blog-worthy. Could be years from now...

And before you ask...Yes, I will gratefully accept your donations of corks should you have a handful laying around! They're light, so postage to (or within) the UK will be fairly cheap!

STAYcation 2009 - Week 1

2009-08-02T13:35:00.004+01:00

This year, for a variety of reasons, we decided not to take a big vacation trip with the girls, so instead of travelling abroad, we decided to enjoy the fact that we live in Greater London. Apparently, this is a common phenomenon this year that has been coined a "staycation."

The girls arrived on Sunday and we did a little demolition in the garden to make way for more grass, less shrubbery. I have to say that Sulley is not impressed to see his hidey hole levelled, but he'll adjust.
Here are a few shots of Paulster and his little helpers, Drama and Blondie:

On Monday, we had a lazy day of lounging around the house, watching movies, napping, etc. our staycation was off to a flying start!
And no staycation can start without dessert...Blondie and Drama helped me make a Victoria Sponge cake on our lazy first day.

On Tuesday, we rolled the dice on the weather and headed out early to Legoland in Windsor. It wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected it to be and the sun came out to make it a lovely day.
Blondie braved the Log Flume and we all rode the Dragon ride twice. We were really tired by the end of the day and slept well.
Here are a few shots:

As the name suggests, nearly everything is made of Legos--dragons, life-size people in the park, mini-cities...spectacular.

A great day at Legoland! We always enjoy it, but it made me want to find a more adult-oriented theme park to get on some big rides!

Wednesday was a very long day. We started early by going on a tour of The Globe--which was really cool. Blondie had been wanting to go visit all year, since she studied about it in school. The pictures are sub-standard, because we were nearly to the tube station when I realised I've left my new camera at the house. We decided to use the mobile phone for pics on this day instead of going back for it.

We got there early, because on days when there's a matinee show, if you don't hustle...no tour...turns out this was a day for re-setting to Helen of Troy. Here's a pic of the stage being re-set.

And a shot of the actors just before they started rehearsing (when cameras are forbidden!)

After The Globe tour, we had pizza for lunch and then we were off to the London Aquarium. It's been re-done recently. They had a great collection of Sea Horses and of course...sharks. My personal favourite was the piranha tank.

By the end of the time at the Aquarium, Blondie and I had managed to get separated from Drama and Paulster...and, we needed a break, so off we went to the nearby Starbucks for a Caramel Frap (lite, of course). That's where they found us a little while later.

After our rest, we went shopping a bit and then made our way to a pub where several of Paulster's colleagues were gathering to "celebrate" their leaving the company en masse. Seems to be a bit of an epidemic for our company lately...

We were late getting home that night (see photos of Drama below--fell asleep and therefore, was subjected to our entertainment on the tube ride home)... so we decided to early mornings in a row deserved a lie in [sleep in].

On Thursday, we had brunch and then went shopping to get the girls some new dresses and bits and pieces. On Friday, we amped it up gently with another lie in and then off to Richmond for a trip down memory lane. We went for a swim at the pool where we used to go all the time. They have a great slide and turn on the waves periodically! The pool was surprisingly empty for a summer afternoon...but it could have something to do with the renovation going on in there. We discovered that if we'd waited until the next summer holiday week to go swimming, we'd have been stuck. The pool will be under renovation during that time! Whew!
After swimming, we went into Richmond by the river and ate at Tootsies...one of our favourite restaurants. Several of you who visited in Richmond will recall dining at Tootsies with us!

Another late night of tube riding...this time, none of our party fell asleep on the tube journey, so we played I-spy (or is it Eye-Spy?) for entertainment...

And that was the first week of our Staycation...gone in the blink of an eye. Our second week of staycation will be later in August!

Days Out!

2009-07-17T14:34:00.002+01:00

In June, Paulster, Drama, Blondie and I had a couple of afternoons of fun in the sun. Neither were far from the house--one at a nearby park/field where we kicked around a football [soccerball]. Drama got bored with the physical activity and picked up the camera for a while--so the photos are courtesy of her.

The other was at the Harefield Dogs Trust. A no-kill dog shelter near our house that held an Open Day. It's quite evident that our life doesn't allow for us to have a dog live with us (not to mention that Sulley and Kenny would not be impressed in the least)--but we could go say hi to the dogs and tour the facility.

There were several activities on display, from flyball to agility and several dog shows.

Good fun!

Garden Update - Part 2

2009-07-17T13:45:00.005+01:00

Well, the tomatoes and cucumbers and strawberries are still growing. In addition, new sunflowers have germinated and are well on their way.
See.

There's one flower that I'm particularly waiting to see how it turns out. It's called a "Ladybird" poppy. Ladybird [ladybug] poppies are red with black spots--as you might have surmised from the name. Drama planted several seeds and now there's one surviving plant that is growing nicely.

We've had decent success with the seeds this year. Blondie brought some mystery plants up that she started from seeds--turns out, they're daisies! And are now providing a huge pot of colour and happiness to my patio. They were growing nicely and one night I came home after several days away to see lovely, bright colours bursting from the pot. They made me so happy that I laughed out loud--which only reinforced the neighbours opinions that I'm a crazy person.

Here is Blondie with her flowers!

And here's another shot of them a couple of weeks later... and guest starring is my Sweet Sulley, of course!

They just make me happy!

And of course, you can't NOT know about how well our cucumbers are growing. Here's me being silly with the first two that were harvested! We ate them...and have since harvested 3 more--necessitating the sharing with the neighbours. There will be sharing with those of you here in London...I think we'll soon have more cucumbers than we could possibly eat--so, consider yourself warned!

These garden miracles don't just occur...they need the garden terminator to take care of them...here's me in my "Wellies".

Garden Update

2009-06-06T23:14:00.002+01:00

The vegetable patch is little more than a hotbed for weeds, so this year, we're only growing a few things in the greenhouse. We've planted strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers and a few flowering plants. Outdoors, I've got a new lavender plant on the patio and some sort of daisy that Blondie started from seeds and brought to us.

There were a couple of sunflowers, but they got infested with some sort of bug and duly ejected from the greenhouse. They've struggled to survive in the garden with the cats and wind and sunshine, and look to be on their deathbed. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Everything else took root and is thriving. The strawberries were the first plantings and have really done well.
Here's a shot of a few of the plants in a "proper" strawberry pot.

And a few of the first fruits:

A few weeks later after some gorgeous sunny days...

The first batch, ready to rinse and cut up in my cornflakes this Wednesday morning. They were tasty!

This weekend, Drama and Blondie came to stay and there were a couple more ready for them to pick and eat.
.

The cucumber plant has just flowered, so we should see some fruit there soon. And the tomatoes have 2 tiny little fruit on as well. These are the Garden Pearl variety, "cherry tomatoes"--really. We have invested in some tomato food and expect big things from our little plants!

Additionally, the plum tree and apple trees have signs of life again this year. Hopefully, this year, we'll actually be able to enjoy more than 1 plum and the birds won't get their share.
Here is a shot of the plum tree.

And here's a shot of our growing greenhouse (pre-sunflower ejection)!

Pride Goeth Before a Fall

2009-06-06T22:55:00.002+01:00

The running is becoming contagious. Paulster ventured out with me on Saturday evening. We have a 3.5 mile Corporate Challenge coming up in July, so we needed to get moving.

"Coach Cynthia" had just said to him, "you don't have to pick your feet up that high...it wastes energy", when...well, let's just say I should have picked MY feet up a little higher. I caught my toe on the pavement [sidewalk] and splatted big style. Sunglasses and water bottle went flying, palms down and then suddenly (actually, it was very slo-mo), I was head first into the concrete.

A concerned neighbour even stopped his car when seeing me face-planted into the pavement to make sure I was OK. This is by far the most interested in my welfare that any other human in the UK has been in my 4 and a half years here. How kind. After assuring him I was OK, I attempted to assess my injuries and Paulster tried to keep himself from laughing, I got up and dabbed away a smidge of blood and carried on with our little training run.

Here's what I look like a week later.

With my eyes open, it really just looks like a bad makeup job--too much purple eyeshadow. That is, until you notice the protruding eyebrow bone and green-ish bruise spreading up from my eye. Like Lucy Ricardo, I've has a little 'splaining to do this week as I've met with clients and colleagues and even the dentist.

Touch [knock on] wood that I'll manage to stay on my feet in the future.

Ready to Run!

2009-05-25T21:51:00.002+01:00

Well, today it was my turn. Not exactly a marathon...but for me, a major milestone in fitness. I finished the London BUPA 10,000, a 10K [6.38 miles] race in the centre of London. For some blog readers, you'll know this was coming...for others, a complete shock that out-of-shape-Cynthia could run 1 block, let alone 10 kilometers.

I had 3 goals for the race:
1) Don't be the LAST person across the finish line. Thankfully, as we were approaching the finish, we heard a progress report on the person who WAS the last person on the course--they had completed 6k at that point.
2) Finish somewhere in the 1 hour and 30 minute range. See results below on {unofficial) race time. I still had a little bit of gas left in the tank to kick it into a higher pace for the finish.
3) Don't stop jogging to walk. I used the walk/run technique to get ready for the race and don't judge anyone who uses this in the race, but for some reason, proving to myself that I can run the entire distance without stopping was important. In today's case, there was a ~8 minute bio-break that meant I wasn't technically running...but when on the course, no walking! :) I think I'm afraid that if I stop, I won't carry on!

The Budman, HachieGal and I (along with 12,497 others) started the race at 10am. We finished in 1 hour and 30 minutes [unoffical time] (even if you add in the bio-break along the course). As you've read from the previous post, HachieGal is a seasoned runner, so this was a bit of a walk-in-the-park for her. Sacrificing what could have been a personal best for her, instead of leaving me in the dust, she and the Budman stuck with me and encouraged along the course.

Here is the Texas Trio after the race.

I've been gradually building up my running/jogging regularly since September of last year, with the help of HachieGal and Bob Glover's Runner's Handbook as a guide. Paulster got me a GPS/heart rate monitor for Christmas, so I knew my training pace and wanted to make sure I didn't start too fast. In the running world, I'd be known as a "Penguin"--slowly but surely waddling along...But you know, today, it took all kinds. There were elite runners who finished in less than 28 minutes and then those of us who took a bit longer--all shapes and sizes. There were people dressed as trees and bananas and superheroes. And like the London Marathon, there were cheering folks along the route--not to the same extent--but every bit of encouragement helps. I think I had a smile on my face most of the way around.

Given my general lack of fitness and activity over the last, oh...18 years--just to know that I am in better shape this year than last is enough at this point. It took many years for me to get this unfit, and it'll take time and persistence to change that.

One of the best parts of my day was having my fan club on the sideline, cheering me on. The Sheffield Contingent was up for the weekend, and Drama and Blondie were there, too with Paulster. That definitely put a renewed spring in my step to see their smiling faces and hear them shouting for me. There were some great bands along the course drumming out some tunes to run by.
Here is a shot of me (in the purple shirt and yellow hat) recognising the Cheering Squad by the side of the road. That's Budman to the right of the pic in the grey.

And here's a rear-view of me (in the purple), HachieGal in the green, and Budman in the grey pulling away from our supporters after a quick hello!

This little story sums it all up...
Paulster's 4 year-old niece, SuzieQ came up to me at the end of the race and gave me a big 'ol hug. When she saw my medal hanging from around my neck, she touched it and said, "You won!"
Yes, I did, SuzieQ. Yes, I did!

I Sit in Amazement!

2009-04-26T22:29:00.002+01:00

I sit...because I'm tired after a grueling day. I spent the day with several of my friends out on the streets of London--in the glorious sunshine. After getting up early, riding the tube all the way across London and walking around, cheering--we're beat. But the tiredness we feel can in no way compare to that of our friend and colleague, Hachie Gal. Today, the 26th of April, Hachie Gal completed the London Marathon.

She's been training religiously for months and despite a cramp and unseasonably warm weather--she mustered bucketloads of determination and will to get across that finish line. She's simply amazing to have completed one marathon--but this one makes the perfect dozen for Hachie Gal. In the process, she raised enough money for the Guide Dogs to get one dog through puppy training and support it during it's life in service to a blind person.

With military precision, Budman led Hachie Gal's motley support crew to all the agreed stops to provide her gel packs and sports drinks and the ever important bananas...
Here's a picture of the crew (I'm photographer) as we started the day.

From the left: Stef, Paulster, Budman, and Chris.

Here are a few shots from the day.
This is Mile 7, the first place we met up with Hachie Gal--good spot, Stef!

Here's Hachie Gal at a stop with Chris and Budman.

We followed Budman from stop to stop and wedged ourselves into the crowd to ensure that we could spot our runner and pass along the supplies and/or encouragement. Along the way, we got to see lots of crazy costumed runners and people running their hearts out for their favourite charities.

The London Marathon is famous for runners dressing up in Fancy Dress [Costumes]. Today was no exception. We saw: The Devil, a Dalek, Several Superheroes, a tomato, a bear, a fox, The Hof and Pamela Anderson in their Baywatch Days, a couple of Fred Flintstones, Cops and Robbers, a Yellow Submarine, several Rhinos--quite an array of characters.

Here's the devil, getting away from me...

Oh...well, there was this one time that it took all 3 boys to figure out which way to go.

After finding Hachie Gal after the finish, we went to a great burger joint near Budman and Hachie Gal's house for dinner and a rest.
Wow, did we ever deserve that! Here's a picture of all of us, taken by a fellow supporter.

Congratulations Hachie Gal! Well Done. We are inspired by you and very proud of your accomplishments.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-04-26T22:27:00.003+01:00

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the purchase of our house!
So, the subject of much of the blog is now 1 year old when marking by our historical clock.

Spring has Sprung

2009-04-10T20:19:00.002+01:00

This is our first spring in the house, so the mysteries of the garden [yard] are starting to reveal themselves...
The former homeowner had tons of daffodils [jonquils] in the front flower bed and those have come up nicely. I picked the first one and took it to the office to enjoy it!

I planted some bulbs one dreary weekend this winter and those are starting to come up. To be honest, I know NOTHING about gardening, so had to call my mom and ask her which way to plant the bulb (pointy end down?)...so imagine my delight when they actually started coming up!

Here's my first hyacinth making its way up.

It's now spent, but was a lovely fragrant, hot pink flower in the back flower bed near the door. There were several in a line...very nice.

Several weeks ago, we had some sunny days, and I snapped a few shots of Kenny out in the garden. Here he is with the daffodils in the background.

Lyd sent me some bluebonnet seeds from Texas and I planted them in accordance with the instructions...but have yet to see any sprouts.
I may not get my very own bluebonnets this year.

BUT...I have noticed that the UK does have bluebonnets. My neighbours yards and several in the neighbourhood have bluebonnets...so they can survive and thrive in the UK. Maybe next year.

A Day in Zurich

2009-04-10T19:23:00.003+01:00

In keeping with our quest to experience all things Swiss, after our trip to the mountains and sledding (see post from January) we spent the Sunday before we flew home that evening in the city of Zurich.
It does seem like a distant memory at this point, but what a fun day. We've since had the repatriation to Australia of the Falcon and Buffy...and how sad we are for that.

No day exploring a city can start without a hearty meal. And Zurich was no exception.
Nothing like some giant sausages to make us happy...

Thanks for Stef the photographer--capturing Me and Paulster, Falcon, Buffy and Martini with our plates piled high.

And here's Paulster with his monster sausage...clearly, he's delighted.

And Falcon, pleased with his choice...a lamb shank, I think.

So, after our meal, we needed to walk it off a bit and see some sights.
Here are some snaps of the city.

Somehow, the day took on a Boy Band Theme...
Here's one shot that could make the album cover.

Buffy infiltrated the Boy Band...

The tour wouldn't be complete without having seen the largest church clockface.
St. Peter, Zürich 28 feet 5 inches (8.7 m), built in 1534, the biggest church clock face according to Wikipedia.

...Or a random billboard near one of the city's important historic sites the Fraumünster (Minster of Our Lady). It houses magnificent stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. The main attraction of the Fraumünster is the set of five stained-glass windows designed by Marc Chagall in 1970. Best seen in bright morning light, the windows are 10 meters high and each has its own color theme. Chagall may have used the colors symbolically, with blue and green representing the earth and red and yellow representing the heavens. Sorry, no photos allowed in the church...and it was a bit dreary that day...

The Falcon was particularly interested in a photo of the Pink Dog billboard.

All the excitement of the weekend meant that at least the Falcon needed a little nap.

Which was a good thing, because we literally ended up speeding and sprinting to make out flight back to London. Oops...was I reading the arrival time as the departure time?! Ah...a fitting end to an exciting weekend.

But that can't be the end of the Zurich/mountain fun...In the January post, I was reserved and didn't post the video of Budman bobbing for swiss cheese in a fondue pot. So I have to do it now... (It should be noted that I do not have the Budman's explicit agreement for the posting of this video, but I did receive the approval of everyone else at the table to witness it, including Hachie Gal--so I'm claiming creative license).
You'll have to crane your neck a bit...but well worth the watch.

...and that's the official end of the Winter postings...

Breaking the Blog Silence

2009-04-10T19:10:00.003+01:00

There are several reasons for the blog silence in recent months...but mostly just excuses. So, I'm going to start by going back to a weekend in January and finishing the blog post on our trip to Zurich.
It's time for some spring posts, but can't do that until I finish chronicling the winter adventures...

Shrove Tuesday

2009-02-24T21:54:00.004Z

Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the last day before the period which Christians call Lent. It is traditional on this day to eat pancakes. Translation... they're crepes--not "American" pancakes/flapjacks.

The name Shrove comes from the old word "shrive" which means to confess. On Shrove Tuesday, in the Middle Ages, people used to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began.

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent. It's the last day for people indulge themselves on foods that traditionally aren't allowed during Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.

After 4 years in the UK, I thought it was high time to partake in the celebration. All day long, I've been bombarded by pancake recipes and news articles about the importance of the day. So, I whipped up a few pancakes for me and Paulster tonight. Sorry, no pics, they were gone too fast to worry about a photo opp. I can tell you that traditionally you sprinkle on some lemon juice and maybe a little icing sugar [powdered sugar] to serve the pancakes. That's how Paulster had his.
I, on the other hand, had 2 with a few semi-sweet chocolate morsels in them and one with powdered sugar sprinkled on.

I can also report that neither Sulley nor Kenny was a fan of the pancakes. And that's saying something, because Sulley will eat ANYTHING...oh well...more for me! ;)

Here is a sample from around the world:
United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia - Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday

Brazil - Terça-feira gorda - Fat Tuesday - the final day of Brazilian Carnival.

Greece - Apocreas, which means "from the meat" since they don't eat meat during Lent, either.

Sweden - Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday).

USA In Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States this day is called Mardi Gras.

Germany - "Fastnacht" (Also spelt "Fasnacht", "Fasenacht", "Fasteloven" (in the Rhine area) or "Fasching" in Bavaria.)

In France they call it Mardi Gras, which means Grease or Fat Tuesday.

In Iceland the day is known as "Sprengidagur" (Bursting day).

So, two questions for blog readers...
1) How did you celebrate Shrove Tuesday in your country?
2) Are you giving anything up for Lent--if so, what?

Post your comments!

Happy Birthday, Ouida!

2009-02-10T14:36:00.003Z

Today is a milestone day--Ouida is turning 70 years old! The celebration started on Friday when all the kids made it back to Texas. We continued the celebration on Saturday night with a dinner party at Cletus' house.
The last occassion for us all to be together was not such a joyous one, so it was nice to be able to relax a bit and have fun together.
Here's a picture of Ouida in her special birthday girl hat at her party this year!

And here is one of all her kids (plus one grandson):

I had the good fortune of spending her 69th birthday with her, too, when she and Aunt Karo came to brave the cold in London. Here's the picture of her enjoying birthday tartlet at high tea in Fortnum and Mason:

And here's one of the two of us outside of a hotel in Buxton when we went on our driving tour of England:

I will only speak for myself, but imagine that the other siblings could write a similiar entry. She is the most loving and self-sacrificial mom that this child could hope to have. She continues to set a Christ-like example for me and has done for my entire life. Ouida, I love you more than words can express and wish you a very Happy 70th Birthday--you know, it's legal to celebrate for a rolling 7 days from your actual birthday--So, let it roll!

Holy Swiss Cheese, Budman!

2009-01-21T21:34:00.005Z

When you mix 2 Aussies, 3 Texans, 1 Brit, 2 Native Swiss with some great food and some fun activities, what do you get? A great weekend, that's what!

This past weekend, the London contingent of immigrants (and Paulster--an honorary immigrant) made a pilgrimage to Switzerland--first stop--Zurich.

Stef and Martini have built and now live in the most stylish new home in an idyllic setting overlooking the Rhine--and we got the full experience. They cooked us a meal that Gordon Ramsay would have been proud of. We laughed at each other and ourselves--starting at the airport when I had to drive a manual transmission mini-van and continuing with a couple of hours of Singstar.

Here is a snap of our gracious hosts, Martini and Stef.

And a shot of the table thanks to Paulster.

Since there are only so many times you can hear an Abba song murdered or watch the Stef flout his SingStar prowess (which means that instead of struggling to keep up with the lyrics/song, he dances around to face the audience while not missing a note)...we moved on to the mountains after a wonderful breakfast on Saturday afternoon.

First, a few shots of Friday evening.
Let's start with Buffy and Martini.

Budman and Hachie Gal flash us nice smiles.

Martini makes a most fab chocolate dessert.

Paulster and Stef do their SingStar magic.

Stef and The Falcon battle it out on the mics.

We arrived in Engelberg, Switzerland in the early afternoon. Engelberg literally translates "Angel Mountain"--and it was breathtaking.

While Hachie Gal shopped for sledding (sledging, if you're British) shoes with the help of Budman, the rest of us explored. Here's the Falcon, Martini, Buffy, Paulster and Stef (suitably posed with his eyes toward the heavens) in front of the Monastery.

In keeping with the city's name, the monastery had a marble angel on the grounds.

Honestly, we got a little bogged down here...taking in the cultural experience of cheese-making and cheese-eating. We wandered through the grounds--straight to the gift/snack shop for a little rest and refueling from our strenuous day so far. But it allowed Hachie Gal and Budman to catch up with us!

Here's a shot of the Holy Swiss Cheese.

We did manage to do some more wandering around the city and encountered a few sights unique to Angel Mountain. Every street had several angels on it--of all descriptions and presumably linked to the nearby businesses. Here are a few of my favourites.

Curiously, this is a picture of an angel on a fondue fork...but super-relevant to the next part of the tale...

It doesn't get more touristy than taking the cable car/gondola up the mountain, sledding down the mountain in the dark, then attempting to dry your jeans by standing near an open blaze before sitting down to eat fondue...And that really does tell the rest of the Saturday night story!

Here are some of the boys after the first sled run. The Falcon, Paulster and Martini.

And here, The Falcon lands after the second sled run.

And here we are with our FONDUE--obviously excited!!!

Some of us more excited by the Fondue than others...

In a rampant display of table games, both The Falcon and Budman demonstrated their uncanny ability to bob for fondue toward the end of the evening. If I can figure out how to get the video posted (and secure a release from Budman), I may put it up for your viewing pleasure.

Another great night in the series...
I have more to tell about our Sunday adventure in the city of Zurich, but that will have to wait for another day.

Winter Wonderland

2009-01-04T23:06:00.002Z

After dropping Paulster's mom off at the train station for her return to Sheffield, we took the girls to Hyde Park in the centre of London. There, a holiday market and ice rink were set up. It was as close to an authentic German Christmas Market as you can get, without actually going to Germany.

Even all the rides were labelled in German and people manning the stalls were speaking German. Lots of mulled wine and sausages. Excellent.
Here's a pic of Paulster and the girls at the Winter Wonderland.

The girls and I rode the giant slide.

And we all rode the carousel!

Here's hoping that the Winter Wonderland is an annual fixture in London!

No...THIS is Christmas!

2009-01-04T21:51:00.002Z

We are fortunate to have two Christmases. One, is slow, low-key, and calm and occurs on Christmas Day, the other is...not. Drama and Blondie come to our house on the 26th (Boxing Day) and Santa comes back that night.

So we take it easy on Christmas Day--having a nice dinner and relaxing--holding off on unwrapping presents until the 27th. This was the first year that we spent with Paulster's mom. She was down from Sheffield. Here's Paulster and his mom and Kenny hanging out.

We watched Oklahoma! and South Pacific and enjoyed a peaceful day.

And here's Sulley, giving the quiet spot under the tree a test drive.

And me and the "boys" taking a break from all the cooking.

When Santa came back on the 27th, he left all 4 of us bikes. Silly Santa had to rearrange the dining room in order to leave them all for us. That must have been tricky, so as not to wake us all up!
Here's the scene:

Of course, we couldn't wait too long before getting the bikes out for a test ride.
Here's Paulster and Blondie at the Lido.

And the aftermath...I think it's been a long time since those two had that much exercise in one afternoon.

We were all a bit saddle sore, but what fun. I felt like a kid again myself riding!

...So This is Christmas?!

2008-12-22T00:46:00.002Z

On Saturday night...yeah, that's the 20th, we finally got the Christmas decorations down from the loft [attic].
Paulster went up and shouted down the labels on the boxes and I shouted back whether or not that box should come down. I'm sure the neighbours appreciated that happening after 10pm. Oh well.

Anyway, a few hours later, the tree was up, lighted and decorated.

If you look closely, you'll see that Kenny has taken up residence under the tree for now. Sweet boy!

As I started putting the ornaments on the tree, I was reminded of the people and places that are special to me that I don't see or chat to nearly enough. Most of my ornaments come from places I've travelled--like my yellow cab from New York City when I travelled there for a weekend with my friend, Sal. Or the ornaments that were given to me during an annual ornament exchange with 3 girlfriends in Texas.
Here are a few pictures of some other special ornaments.

My chili pepper ornament, purchased in Red River, New Mexico--no telling how many years ago...

My glass heart ornament. Given to me by the Holstes--parents of my university roommates. They now live in Qatar.

My handmade Christmas tree ornament. Made by Jake and given to me as a gift the year that I left the US. It goes on my tree every year!

Of course, no English Christmas tree is complete without a Tea Pot ornament.

Moving on from the tree, are another of my favourite Christmas items. One new addition that was shipped by Aunt Karo just this year...and the large glass Santa that she gave me many years ago.
They have prominent places in the new house now. Next year, they'll look better up against painted walls.

Of course, the Grinch, the HoHoHo and Mr. Hanky have also been unpacked and placed in their new homes for Christmas.

We're nearly ready for Santa to arrive!

It's a British Tradition- Christmas Style

2008-12-22T00:07:00.003Z

Christmas in Britian wouldn't be Christmas without the entertainment phenomenon of the Pantomime. This is the slapstick, cartoon of a theatre experience where the leading lady is ALWAYS played by a "Bloke in a Dress" and there's lots of interaction with the audience. For the US-based readers, I can only tell you that the Rocky Horror Picture Show is as close as we get in the US. It's the Rocky Horror Picture Show on steroids.

Our Christmas tradition always entails a trip to Sheffield to take presents to Paulster's sister and family and visit his mother. This year, Auntie M (let's call her) arranged for all of us to go to the Pantomime. It was Aladdin. The story that was adapted by Disney about an evil man who uses Aladdin to find a lamp and access the powers of the Genie to make him an evil sorcerer.
Kind of a heavy story...
Not so much when in the setting of a pantomime.

Here's a picture of the press photos for it...to give you an idea.

And the writeup of who's in it (it won't mean anything to the US readers):
The iconic Phil Daniels (Eastenders, Quadrophenia and Blur's 'Parklife') plays the role of evil Abanazzar; Kevin Sacre (Jake Dean in Hollyoaks) plays Aladdin; Sheffield's very own comedy legend Bobby Knutt (back by popular demand) plays The Chinese Policeman and Damian Williams (the funniest dame in the country) plays the role of Widow Twankey.

I simply cannot describe the hilarity of the pantomime adequately. It must be experienced. There was one point in the show where I was laughing so hard that I was literally crying. The most hilarious thing for me was the part of the show where the main characters were "looking" for mummies. Sitting on a bench, singing the Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"--the mummies would come out of one side of the stage, wander behind the singers and back off again. The job of the crowd is to point and scream, "It's behind you!" Which Paulster's 4 year-old niece did with EXTREME style. Watching her was the funniest part of the entire show.

Another really funny part was the song of the 12 Days of Christmas--which had new lyrics. Including on the first day of Christmas, a bra that was made to hold three. The actors spent the entire time of that song trying to throw each other off.
Like I said, it really must be experienced...I'm so glad that I finally got a chance to see it.
I think it will become a part of my UK Christmas tradition...

Catching Up

2008-12-21T23:37:00.002Z

This post is literally a catch-up--in late September, two friends/colleagues from the US got to come to London on official business. This was major stop number 1 on their world tour. You may recognise the faces...but the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

We took full advantage of the lovely weather and the visit to see the London sites, laugh and otherwise catch up. JMo and Ricky Bobby were troopers--straight from an overnight flight, I picked them up for a full day of sightseeing.

From looking at the photos, you'd think that all we did is tour the Tower of London...which isn't the case...but if you ONLY had time to do one thing, I'd always recommend seeing the crown jewels. They're just amazing.
Activities of the day included the obligatory trip on the Tube, a ride on the London Eye, a river cruise and a black cab ride. Of course, we also drank a pint in a pub...Mandatory for embracing the culture.

Here's a picture of me and JMo after touring the Tower of London.

Here's a pic of JMo and a Beefeater before we went in to see the Crown Jewels.

And here's a picture of me and Ricky Bobby before going into the Tower.

And here's a shot of Ricky Bobby displaying a coded message! :)

It was a great day out! Can't wait for you to come back and spend some more time.

10 Years of Drama

2008-12-21T22:31:00.002Z

The 5th of December was a very special day. Drama turned 10 years old!
We spent the weekend in Bristol, near where the girls live. This was in anticipation of attending a birthday party. But that plan was altered a little bit when Drama said she wanted a Slumber Party for her birthday. So, not really a party format that we could attend.
Instead, we got to see her twice that weekend--once on her actual birthday Friday night and again on Sunday.

Paulster and I met the girls, their mom and one of Drama's friends for dinner at Pizza Express.

She got a pink camera for her birthday, so we'll be editing it at every chance...to make sure the least flattering images don't survive! ;)

Here's a picture of the birthday girl and her proud papa at Pizza Express.

Saturday was our own day. So we visited the new shopping centre in Bristol, which is a cool indoor/outdoor thing. The shops, like Next, Harvey Nichols, and Debenhams are smaller versions of the London stores.
Here are some holiday decorations outside the shopping centre...very Christmassy.

Saturday night, we caught up with a friend who lives in town. He's the one we can depend on every time we're there to have dinner and find out how his life's progressed since the last time we saw him. He always gives us plenty of things to discuss over dinner/drinks!

On Sunday, we met the girls and their mom for Sunday lunch. Even though it was cold, the girls enjoyed the swings and slides at the restaurant's playground. The looks on their faces in this shot is pure joy...and it makes me smile.

Happy Birthday, Drama Girl!

The Christmas Spirit

2008-12-21T21:46:00.002Z

There's nothing like a Christmas Market to get you in the Christmas Spirit. The weekend after Thanksgiving, Paulster, Drama, Blondie and I went to Lille, France to a Christmas Market. It was a trip organised by the Sports & Social Club at work. We all boarded a coach [bus] at 7am and drove to Folkstone, near Kent--which is where the Chunnel starts. The coach went onto a train, that then travelled through the Chunnel until we were in France, where we then carried on driving until we reached Lille.
Here's a picture of Paulster and the girls, having gotten off the coach inside the train car that was carrying us through the Chunnel. It was a bit of a surreal experience literally driving onto a train and then going under the English Channel.

With all the anticipation of Christmas treats and a video of Kung Fu Panda to keep us entertained, we finally made it to Lille and the market.
Here's a shot of Drama and Blondie as we're getting started on the day.

First order of business...find some mulled wine. Check.
Snacks. Check.
Here's a picture of me, Drama and Blondie having a traditional French treat--the pretzel. ;)

Yeah, that's me, bundled in my pink "Seattle" hoody, hat and gloves. A coat would have been a good idea...too bad I rushed out of the house without it. Goofball.

Then we just walked around to see what we could see and went back to the stalls that had the best stuff!

Here's a stall where the girls picked up a few treats.

Like a small version of Willy Wonka's place! Beautifully coloured candies and lollipops!

One of the fun things that we did was ride the big wheel. Twice. Once before the sun went down, and once after. It was COLD--but times, but the view was much more magical at night. The lights of the Christmas Market and city were beautiful. Paulster stayed on the ground--not a fan of the heights and small carriage of the wheel.

Here's a shot of Paulster and the girls after our last ride on the wheel.

It was a long, cold day, but definitely a great way to kick off the holiday season!

First Annual Immigrant Dinner (a.k.a. Thanksgiving)

2008-11-30T16:57:00.002Z

Now that we have a dining room that can hold more than 4 people and several friends that are away from their families during the holiday season, it seemed appropriate to hold the First Annual Immigrant Dinner on Thanksgiving. Even if the walls weren't painted and we had to cobble together the tables and chairs from the random collection of furniture that we have.

The criteria for getting an invitation was that at least one of the couple should be a non-UK citizen. So, we had some folks you know already from the blog: Hachie Gal and Budman--Texans; Banana (Canadian/Croatian) and Sven (Swedish/Croatian); and newcomers to the blog, The Skids (Mrs. Skid is Texan, Mr. Skid is English) and The Falcon & Buffy--both Aussies.
Here's a terribly blurry shot of all of us (except Paulster--the photographer):

I was in charge of the Turkey and Potatoes Supreme--no holiday celebration is complete without Potatoes Supreme...So, my local butcher hooked me up with a 15 pound (weight, not price) turkey--which cooked up nicely thanks to a tip from Nigella Lawson--Domestic Goddess.
The other immigrants brought the rest of the fantastic fare...and in true Thanksgiving Day fashion, there was TONS of great food.

Due to the vet trip (see last posting) I didn't quite have everything together, but thankfully, Mrs. Skid arrived early and helped me unpack the china and crystal and silver and get the table set. And the Budman was travelling back from Iceland that day--he arrived just in time to help his plate with the rest of us!

Here's a picture of the bird halfway through carving.

Thanks to having double ovens, we were able to get everything warmed so that we could eat on schedule. It was imperative to eat in enough time to watch the Dallas Cowboys stomp the Seattle Seahawks! How 'bout them Cowboys!!!

The Falcon was in charge of the playlist and it was wonderfully entertaining--especially the track with The Falcon himself on vocals. Great songs in the background of the evening chatter.

A Thanksgiving Day spread isn't complete without an array of desserts. Of course, the Pumpkin Pie. Hachie Gal brought the ingredients and I made the crust (thanks to Ouidie's tutoring when I was young). The Falcon made his famous Rum Cake--beautiful and tasty. And Banana made Raspberry and Blueberry Blondies and a Canadian dessert bar whose name escapes me...special multi-cultural treats topped off our feasts.

Here's a shot of the dessert table.

As a stranger in this country, I am truly thankful to have such a great group of friends to share a special day. And I'm not sure we'll ever know the meaning of 6 lemons in a line.

Our first CAT-Astrophe

2008-11-28T00:10:00.005Z

Well, I certainly hoped it would be a long while into cat-ownership before I had my first "emergency" vet experience. Not to be.
On Thursday, in addition to having a client meeting this morning and preparing for the 1st Annual Immigrant Dinner in London (that's Thanksgiving Day dinner to my friends based in America)...I got to take Sulley (the older fluffy one) to the vet.

I was horrified the night before at 11pm when I called Sulley into the house and he came...slowly, limping. I picked him up and saw some blood on his chest. He had multiple puncture wounds--presumably from getting bitten by another cat and his poor leg was very sore.
He lurked around that night and was in obvious pain--and grouchy. He didn't want anyone touching him. The next morning, Paulster researched vets on the web while I was in my client meeting. He made Sulley an appointment for later than afternoon. Dr. Katie was very nice and checked out the damage done by apparent fighting, as Sulley comes to grips with his pecking order in the neighborhood.

He got two shots--one for pain and one was an antibiotic. Later that night at the Immigrant Dinner (more on that later), he was back to himself, mingling with the crowd.
We go back to see Dr. Katie on Monday for a checkup--but it's clear that he's out of the woods.
Can't wait for the next one...[note sarcasm].

Here's a picture of Sulley from a few days earlier, as he was getting used to his new back garden [yard].

Heaven

2008-11-14T14:35:00.003Z

Yesterday, I went to heaven. Costco. The warehouse store that is like a super-sized version of Target—my favourite store in the world. Fantastic.

Going to the warehouse store was a regular occurrence when I lived in Texas—if not a social event. My friend Rox and I used to go at lunchtime for a little shopping and have a slice of pizza!
In Texas, I had plenty of space to store 48 rolls of toilet paper and 32 rolls of paper towels [kitchen roll].
In Richmond, there simply wasn’t space for all that stuff—so I had not stepped foot in a Costco (or equivalent) in the UK in almost 4 years!

Sure, when I visited Texas or California, I’d take a trip in and stock up on monster-sized bottle of Ibuprofen or Flintstones vitamins—but never in the UK have I had enough toilet paper in stock to keep Moquitos’ fear of running out at bay. Maybe now, Moquitos and LB1 can come for a visit! ;)

The trip was really precipitated by the arrival of Kenny and Sulley. Eventually, they’ll go outside to do most of their “business”, but we’ll always need the litter box—ergo, kitty litter, in bulk.

And now, we have garage shelves (courtesy of Hachie Gal and Budman--a purchase from Costco in Korea--I believe) and plenty of pantry space! So, I had a meeting close to the Costco in Reading, so after my meeting, I popped in, got my membership and started shopping! I was giddy as I glided around with my oversized basket filling it easily!

We now have approximately 1 ton of washing powder [clothes detergent], 3,000 sheets of Bounce for the dryer, 2 tons of kitty litter (scoop-able, of course), ½ of a cow (actually 4 lovely “Texas-sized” ribeye steaks), and 12 gigantic rolls of paper towels. The boot [trunk] of the Golf was full to bursting!

This time, I stuck to my list and still managed to spend a small fortune. But I’m sure there will be a time when I go crazy and impulse buy. I guess that’s the danger of going to heaven…for those of you who have access to Costco and Sam’s regularly—count your blessings!

Trick or Treat--UK Style

2008-11-09T13:01:00.006Z

Last weekend was Halloween and we had Drama and Blondie for 6 days over their mid-term break. We went to Sheffield over the weekend to see Paulster's family. The girls got to go Trick or Treating with their cousins.
Here's a picture of the whole motley crew! Drama and Cousin A were devils--obviously. And Blondie and Suzie Q were witches.

For me, watching the UK style of Trick or Treating was amusing. This is clearly a society that has picked up the activity and tried to make it a tradition from watching films and TV from the US, without the benefit of the protocol that underlies it.

In the US, we'd only go houses that had the lights on--clearly, if the lights aren't on, then no one there wants to participate. The kids here don't know that, so even though we'd turned off the lights at Nanny's house and people were still ringing the doorbell all night.
And here, when the kids would go to a house that was lighted, thinking someone in there had candy for them, sometimes, there'd be no answer. Then, the kids would spot someone moving in the house and want to keep ringing the doorbell until someone answered. It was like calling off a pack of wolves! :)
And it wasn't the orderly procession through the neighbourhood from one lighted house to another...Instead, we went from one of Cousin A's friend's houses to the next.

We went to Sheffield and back on the train. Here are a few pictures of us goofing around with chocolate eyeballs on the train ride home.

It was a good weekend of fun and family.

Our Expanding Family...Introducing...

2008-11-08T22:46:00.005Z

Sulley and Kenny.
Paulster and I decided that our lives (and home) have stabilised enough to add a couple of new members to our family--of the feline variety. We surfed the web and found a cat rescue place that had 2 that we liked the looks of.

We contacted the rescue and they came out for a home visit--to make sure we weren't axe murderers, I guess. Really they were checking things like, do we live too close to a railway line or busy road, or is there a pack of Rottweilers roaming the nearby gardens [yards] that would want to pull our kitties to bits.

We then planned the day of adoption. On a day when the Drama and Blondie were visiting during their mid-term break, we planned for the rescue lady to bring the new members of our family to the local train station. We kept it a secret from the girls and boy were they surprised! (and happy).

We took both of the cats home and started getting them used to each other and to us.
Here's a picture of Sulley.

He's 7 years old and a Persian-cross breed. His former owners are immigrating to Canada and have a new baby, so I guess he was relegated to a lower social standing as a result...He was named Snoopy--but who wants a cat that's named after a dog? Not me. So I chose to name him after the Monsters, Inc. character--James P. Sullivan "Sulley"--the big blue hairy Chief Scarer--voiced by John Goodman.
To me, it seemed like a good transitional name from Snoopy to Sulley--same length and beginning and ending letters/sounds--he seems to be getting used to it.

And here's a picture of Kenny and his proud Dad. He's a 6 month-old kitten and full of energy! He's very lovable and snuggly. His original name was Conker--which I think in the US we call a horse chestnut. He was a stray and a vet in East London took him in for re-homing. They snipped and chipped him and now he's ours!

Paulster named him "Kenny", after Kenny Dalglish, "the greatest footballer to ever play for Liverpool", he says. Click his name to get a bio on Kenny's namesake.

Sulley is getting to where he tolerates Kenny and is friendly with us. I woke up the first morning to sweet kitty kisses from Sulley.

Here's a picture of them the first night, with Sulley looking down from his perch on the window sill while Kenny eats his food. I guess you can always count on the little brother to be annoying!

4 days later, they're sharing another window sill in the guest bedroom. That lasts until Kenny decides he wants to play and bugs Sulley. Which usually results in a nice hiss and swat from big brother.

And here's Kenny tasting a house plant, whilst sitting on top of the TV. Yeah, we'll have to figure out which (if any) of the houseplants are poisonous to the felines and take action accordingly. Sooner rather than later, I'd say!

And one of him relaxing under the coffee table. You can see he's not camera shy in the least!

We're really happy to have some furry friends to share our home! Wish us luck, we're a bit rusty at the having pets thing...

Trouble Comes in Threes

2008-10-25T22:55:00.003+01:00

To say that the house has had some issues lately might be understating it. I must mention that prior to the hole in the kitchen ceiling event, we had clogged drains. This was a clog caused somewhere in the neighbourhood that managed to work it's way up to our house. We have this pit/chamber in the garage--which is at the front of the house. It filled up and oozed over, so that the foot of the garage and the driveway were not smelling too fresh. Super YUK! Thankfully, the builders that did all of the work on the house are kind enough to be "on call" for us and came that very day and unclogged it. It wasn't a problem that they caused--but they solved it for us anyway. Sometimes, playing the dumb card is a great thing...

Anyway, that was event number 1 (even though it smelled like number 2), the kitchen leak was event number 2--and now, we've had...you guessed it--event number 3.
Our house is called a semi-detached--which means that we share a common wall with our neighbours. They moved in about a month after we did and have started to do some renovation of their own. Namely, knocking down chimney breasts that are on the commmon wall.
Whilst a noisy activity, it didn't become a problem until Sunday--when one swing of the sledgehammer on the opposite wall pushed a brick through a smidge--which broke out a section of the plaster on our dining room wall.

Thankfully (I guess), we have not painted our dining room or done anything in the way of decorating in there. A hole about as big as a dinner plate was punched out of the wall and the beautiful plasterwork is now crumbled. The walls that our plasterer did are as smooth as silk.

By Friday, the neighbour's plasterer had come over to start the repair. It will be finished on Monday or Tuesday. Paulster was home on Friday when the plasterer came over to see the damage and get a game plan for repair. The plasterer commented what a nice job the plaster was--to which Paulster replied--"I'm sure you can match it". He'd better--or it'll get redone. GGGRRRR!

I'll post pictures of the damage and repair next week. I'm just sure this is the end of our house issues for a while--don't they say trouble comes in threes?

My Lovely, Lovely Kitchen

2008-10-16T20:29:00.002+01:00

...has a giant hole in the ceiling!!!
Why?
Because water was dripping out of one of the lights. How safe is that?!
Not very.

The pipe coming out of the radiator in the bathroom (located directly above the kitchen) had a leak. So, even when the radiators were not on (heating the house) it was slowly leaking out--and when the radiators were on--it was flooding out and collecting in the ceiling until it built up enough to start pouring out of the light.

Here's what it looks like now:

Unfortunately for me, it was 1am and I was fast asleep when Paulster decided it was necessary to wake me and let me know of our little problem. I would have happily waited until the morning to discover that he'd taken down the light and found the leak. Instead, I got to participate! Yippee!

The next day, the builders came out and cut the giant hole so that we could put a bucket under it until the plumbers could come sort it out.

So today, the plumbers were here for about 30 minutes and fixed us right up.
After the plaster dries up a bit, the builders will be back to patch up the ceiling.
And then we'll repaint.
UGH!

Oh well. I could have been so much worse.

And Bingo was his name-o

2008-10-10T23:16:00.002+01:00

Just a short post on the random social activity of the week...playing Bingo.
On Thursday night, Paulster and I went with some of our colleagues/friends to play bingo. It's not just a little game in the town hall with some Grannies and Grandpas. This was SERIOUS bingo playing. A giant hall with tables and electronic screens.

We lowered the average age a bit by entering the game. I'd say it probably hovered somewhere in the range of 70 before we strolled in.

We played something like 12 games and it was intense. They called the numbers at breakneck speed and some of our fellow bingo-ers didn't appreciate that we found the pace hilariously funny.

It was good entertainment. One of our crew won some £--and we definitely had a good time!
Who knows, maybe we'll put Bingo Night on the rotation...

Repeat after me, "I am a Domestic Goddess"

2008-10-07T00:07:00.002+01:00

We've finally started to settle in to the house--how can you tell when we're still surrounded by unpainted walls, uncarpeted floor and cardboard boxes? you ask...

I've started cooking for fun in the kitchen. In my estimation, there's cooking because you can't possibly endure yet another meal out or pizza delivery (and still pay the mortgage) and there's cooking for fun.

This weekend, the girls and I cooked for "fun". Drama helped me make one of our favourites--Macaroni and Cheese. It's an Alton Brown (of the TV cooking show Good Eats) recipe and it so quick and easy--the longest bit of the preparation is grating the cheese. But of course, you can do that while the pasta's cooking. It's a million times better than the BrandX-out-of-a-blue-box Mac & Cheese and you actually know what's in it--because it's made from basic ingredients.

And then for dessert--Blondie helped me make an Apple Crumble. In fairness, she made the crumble part--getting elbow-deep in the pastry mix! All I did is cut up some apples.

Yes, they were apples from the tree. We did a harvest the last time the girls were here and managed somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 apples. What do you do with all those apples? Give 'em away. Paulster and I took 9 dozen apples to the office and they vanished. We have an entire shelf in the garage fridge that is stacked with the rest. In theory, they should keep until Christmas.

Now with the apple crumble made, and a bit of applesauce, I really need to get creative with the apple recipes. Banana has told me about her Struedel recipe--so maybe that will be the next challenge!

The title of the blog is derived from one of my cookbooks, given to me for my birthday by some fantastic friends--Faz and G.

Here's a pic from our days hanging out in Windsor at the Tapas restaurant.

The cookbook is called, "How to be a Domestic Goddess". It's by Nigella Lawson. She's a curvy, irreverent, licks her fingers as she cooks on TV and is an absolute riot. The book has a gold cover--it's fab. So, tonight, while preparing for a work-related late night conference call, I was noticing about 3 overripe bananas in my Mexican Fruit Bowl...the Domestic Goddess in me immediately sprang into action to make Banana Muffins per Nigella.
I'm sitting here in the kitchen posting this as they're cooling...it certainly makes the kitchen smell lovely.
I'll take them to work and let my colleagues be the judge of how much more practice I'm going to need to truly become a Domestic Goddess.

Grillin' & Chillin'

2008-10-06T23:39:00.004+01:00

One of the first things I did when I moved into my first place in London was to buy a BBQ grill. It's just an essential household item in my book. So, while watching the hooha of Charles and Camilla getting married on TV, I sat and assembled my BBQ grill in my living room. Then it occurred to me that I didn't measure to see if it would go out the door to the back garden [yard]. It did! Whew!

For three and a half years, it served me well. Cranking up every time I needed a BBQ fix. Despite being religiously covered, it didn't fare too badly in the acid rain of the Heathrow flight path and the damp conditions it was regularly subjected to...but let's just say--it's destined for more casual use than I am prepared to give.

Coincidentally, Blondie had a birthday coming up and requested that instead of the usual bowling or playhouse--she wanted a BBQ party at home with her friends. Your wish is my command! So, after consulting with Blondie's mom, Paulster and I packed up the "old" BBQ and trucked to the West with it. Largely entact, we set it up in Blondie & Drama's back garden and got to cooking!

The kids were delighted with the sausages and burgers that came off the grill--and especially pleased to see that when the 2nd set of burgers got flipped, a tremendous flame shot up from the BBQ. Calm, cool and collected as ever, I closed the lid--which made ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE!
So, instead of calling out the Fire Brigade [Department], I just turned the gas off and let it subside. Disaster averted, thankfully.

As I mentioned, that was a bit of hardcore use, for which, this poor BBQ just ain't fit for anymore. A couple of steaks or burgers here and there is fine...but an hour of straight heat to cook 20 burgers and 24 sausages...not so much...

Nothing like a smoke cloud to aid the Global Warming...

Adding to the excitement with the grill, there was a pinata--that all the kids enjoyed beating the heck out of--and a chocolate fountain. Yum! So, our little Blondie is now a year older and had exactly the party that she wanted.

Here's a pic of Blondie beating the H-E-double-hockey-sticks out of the fairy pinata.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and once again, in the living room, I assembled my new Weber BBQ grill. It's a work of art. It took me about 10 episodes of the Sopranos (from my box set of the complete series!) and a little creativity to assemble the huge thing myself (Paulster and the kids were away in Sheffield for the weekend).

After several weeks of looking at it sitting in the dining room (it's not going to succumb to the same evil forces as the "old" grill)--I finally wheeled it out and cranked it up. Here's an action shot!

Two lovely ribeyes later...perfection.

A Nice Surprise

2008-10-06T23:19:00.005+01:00

In the last week, we've had quite the variance in weather here in London. From torrential downpours to beautiful sunshine...

While that's not much of a surprise, the fact that at the end of September, after not much of a summer, the weather was so beautiful that we could have lunch outside on our patio was quite a surprise and treat!

I didn't break out the new BBQ grill for this event, but I did put a leg of lamb on to roast and make a salad and some mashed potatoes. The other ladies did their share, Banana brought Apple Struedel--made with apples from our garden (will post on the fall apple harvest soon), and Hatchie Gal brought a wonderful green bean casserole. Nothing says "Southern Girl" quite like a green bean casserole!!!

Admittedly, there was a bit of difficulty judging when the lamb was ready--but we had blue cheese dip and crackers to tide us over. And the boys were well-engrossed in the Sunday football--it's not just an NFL tradition! ;)

The sunshine held out for us, even long enough for us to stroll around the garden in a pack, with Sven and Hatchie Gal identifying the foliage for me.

For me, that afternoon represented EXACTLY why I wanted a house of my own--for good friends to gather.

11th Time's a Charm

2008-09-20T23:22:00.003+01:00

Back to the house stuff for a moment if I may.

We (make no mistake, that's a "Royal" WE) have been agonising over the paint colour that will grace the living room, dining room and our bedroom since we moved in.
Choosing the colours for the kitchen and bathroom and the girls' rooms were not particularly burdensome. Checked out a few colours and the right ones just stuck...
Sexy Pink, Lemon Pie, Willow Tree, etc. just seemed to work. I guess because they are bolder colours and isolated to one room made it easier. I could have been happy with at least four of them...but Paulster and I couldn't agree until now.

Somehow, getting the right shade of tan/brown/beige is as difficult as describing it. A bit like Goldilocks trying to find the right porridge [oatmeal] or the right bed. Each sample was either too dark, too pink, too grey, or too yellow.

Here's a picture of the wall where we've been comparing the samples:

The red and purple colours will be "feature walls"--so the basic colour needs to complement them.

Finally, after eleven. COUNT THEM E-L-E-V-E-N testers, we found a winner. It's called Chateau--which will give you no concept of the colour it actually is.

So, I guess this means that we no longer have any excuses for NOT getting on with the painting...

Viva Espana

2008-09-20T22:53:00.003+01:00

The England team is playing the first round of World Cup 2010 qualifying matches. Some are home games (a few tube stops away from us at Wembley Stadium), some obviously, are away games. We went to our first away game--that was technically--away for both teams, but I guess proximity was counting towards the "home" team of Andorra.

Andorra is a tiny little country nestled in between France and Spain, rather than the grandmother character on Bewitched (her name was Endora--for the record).

Anyway, we were in the crowd at the game in the Barcelona Olympic Stadium that was built for the 1992 Summer Olympics hosted in the city. We got to see Joe Cole score two goals in the first 4 minutes of the second half to win the game (finally). Also playing were David Beckham, John Terry and other stars of the game. It was a bit more intimate of a setting than Wembley--it's a much smaller stadium.

England fans (and football [soccer] fans in general) have rightfully earned the hooligan reputation. I've never been around that many bald-headed, snaggle-toothed, multi-tattooed screaming middle-aged men in my life. One of them was so passionate about the poor performance of the team, I was certain that he was going to have a stroke with all the yelling!

After the game, we took in some sights of the city. The fountains near the Olympic Stadium and National Gallery were going with lights and music.

We took a few days off for a mini-holiday around the game weekend. We stayed in a beach resort at the Costa Brava. I can say that it was very much the stereotypical "Brits Abroad" type place--for the Americans, think...spring break in Cancun--for forty-year-olds. So, not a place I need to go back anytime soon, but it sure did make for entertaining people watching and amusement.
To give you a clue, there were two "races" as evening entertainment one night. The first was seeing how many "fags" [cigarettes] the contestants could collect from the other holidaymakers, the second was for the women contestants to collect 8 sets of trousers [pants] from male holidaymakers. Classy.

Here's a shot of the beach.

What can I say? Except, I was warned (thanks, Stef) and...it was a cheap "holiday".

First Harvest

2008-09-08T13:42:00.003+01:00

Well, a couple weekends ago, we decided that the apples in the trees were ready to eat. The larger tree near the house has huge green apples on it--they're "cooking apples", meaning that they're otherwise too tart to just eat, so you've got to cook them first. This is not a concept I was familiar with coming from the US...

The second tree is at the bottom of the garden [yard]. It's apples are some variety, but we haven't a clue...maybe Gala? They're turning red and clearly, ready for eating! I pulled one of them off the tree, washed it and bit in---Yummy!

So, having a couple of little monkeys that like to climb trees around that day, we sent them up to weed out the yucky apples and pick the ripe ones.
Here's Drama in the "Cooking Apple" tree.

And can you spot the blonde monkey in this tree?

And here's a view of the spoiled apples--these are ones that have been half eaten by squirrels (who knew they like apples?), slugs, and other creepy crawlies. The recycling people picked these up for the giant compost heap that the council runs.

I do have a compost bin in the garden area of my garden, but I figured that too many apples wasn't good for it...No real reason for my conclusion, except that I figured the composting would be better if there was a variety of things in there. That maybe the apple compost would make it too acidic? Feel free to post a comment if you have any compost-knowledge to share!

Anyway, we ate our fill of apples and have given lots away to colleagues. I haven't yet had time to bake anything with the apples in it, but I will!
I did bake some white chocolate/macadamia nut cookies the other night. Somehow that seemed infinitely easier than coring and peeling tons of apples before the cooking could even commence... The cookies were really good (if I do say so myself)--and I'm happy to report that my new oven bakes nice and evenly!

I've also re-started my Able & Cole Organic Food delivery now that we're nearly settled in the new house. They bring me a "mixed" box of organic fruit and veg from the UK every week. I started it a long while ago in Richmond, so that I could get used to trying new vegetables and stuff that I just didn't really know about eating...like Leeks, Fennel, Jerusalem Artichokes, etc. It's also been a good way to ensure that we're eating fresh vegetables and not getting in a food rut.
Between the Able & Cole delivery and the apples, we have lots of good fruit at all times!
So, in an attempt to ensure more fruit/veg is eaten than goes into the compost bin, I bought a juicer. I haven't used it yet...but certainly will soon. The only time I ever have used a juicer in the past is at my sister's house (let's call her Lamb--that was my Granny's nickname for her) in California. She had monster orange trees in her yard (and other types of trees as well), so the novelty of getting the ladder out to pick oranges and juice them wasn't lost on me when I visited!
My juicer came with a book of recipes and other tips, so I'm looking forward to using it!

2 Down, 4 to Go

2008-08-26T00:14:00.004+01:00

Catching up on the blog...

We hung wall paper--well, lining paper, which I painted. Paulster glossed the skirting boards and we also glossed the doors/frames & radiator...And the amateurs re-hung the radiators and it does not leak!!!

The gloss paint for the wood and metal work had a really, really strong paint smell. It took us two days to do all the gloss painting and the first night, Paulster was nearly overcome with the fumes. His technique slows him down a bit, but it sure did make for a nice finish.

When I was telling how stinky the gloss was, one of my colleagues told me of a little trick to keep the odor down...Half of an onion in each corner of the room.
Odd as it sounds, I did it for the 2nd day of glossing and it really worked.

So all the painting was done in time for the carpet to be fitted on Friday, and company was arriving on Saturday afternoon.

We also built beds and dressed the rooms...Gee. that was a short sentence, but let me assure you, it was not nearly that simple...Flat pack furniture that nearly shows everything you need to know and almost has all the diagrams that are necessary not to have to guess at a step or two.

Anyway, now we have two rooms of 6 that are as done as they were going to get before our first visitors arrived. And we couldn't be more proud that we were able to work our buns off to get it all done in time. We'll take the rest of it at a more leisurely pace.

Blondie and Drama's rooms are now just missing curtains.
Here's how they look.
Blondie's Room first.

Now for Drama's Room.

So that left us with several happy campers with lots of places to sleep. Blondie, Drama and SuzieQ trying out Drama's bed.

The family arrived and we had several days of fun. I missed out on some of the good times because I had to go to work, and then an emergeny trip to Dallas cut my visit with them short.
But it sounded like there was lots of fun had touring Wembley Stadium, Seeing Houses of Parliament, Riding the boat out to the O2 Arena, and exploring Ruislip.
Here's a picture of the whole fam damily! ;)

Hopefully, the first of many visitors to the new house!

Weekend of R&R?

2008-08-03T23:49:00.005+01:00

If R&R stands for "rest and relaxation"...then NO. We worked our fingers to the bone this weekend and have surprisingly little to show for it. Pictures will be forthcoming, but we're racing against the clock to get bedrooms for 2 little girls all painted so that carpet can be installed on Friday, so that beds can be built and guests can come on Saturday. We'll have a houseful of people in less than a week's time when Paulster's sister and her 3children come to visit.

We're really looking forward to having everyone together for a week this summer.

Paulster sanded the walls in Blondie's room where wallpaper clung desperately to the walls for the last 10-15 years. And I primed and painted Drama's room. Paulster's up there now putting an undercoat on the wood skirting boards, window sills, and doorframes. Positively toxic. We're running a nearly military operation to get everything done in time for the carpet to be installed on Friday--and so that if they bash into things a bit, that it doesn't destroy the paint job...curing time.

Tomorrow night is hanging wall paper in Blondie's room. It's really "lining paper", which means that the wall plaster isn't in good enough shape to just paint...so you hang this stuff up and paint it. Oh, and I put the final 2 coats of paint on the bathroom. So apart from the cupboards [cabinets] that will be built in there and the skirting board and mirror...we're all done in there!

This has all been quite an adventure in DIY in England. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a radiator, much less removed one from a wall before I got here...but tonight, the amateurs managed to get the radiator off of Blondie's wall so that the paper can be put on and it painted. Here's hoping it goes back on so smoothly and doesn't leak!

The "Miracle of the Internet"-- from bomb-making to removing a radiator...you really can find anything you want out there!

We're already planning for the weekend AFTER next to be our true R&R weekend.

Adventures in Egypt...or East London

2008-07-28T21:58:00.003+01:00

The King Tutankhamun Exhibit has been in London for a while...so long, it's almost ready to leave. So we figured we'd better get a move on. On Saturday, we took Drama and Blondie to see it. It was over in East London at the O2 Arena...which is located in the Millenium Dome...which we'd never been to.

We'd especially not been navigating around London from the Ruislip tube station. It was quite fun to start learning a a new way around.

Back to Egypt...Paulster and I went to Egypt in May of 2006, so it gave us a little trip down memory lane. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was chocked full of antiquities that are just too cool to believe--an "embarrasment of riches" (as Hatchie Gal says), really. So, forgive us for being a little disappointed in the exhibit--they didn't have the "Death Mask"--which is probably the most famous artifact of all or one of the 4 or 5 gold covered nesting-doll-type sarcophaguses (what is the plural of sarcophagus?).

But what they did have were many rare artifacts and the exhibit itself was done quite well. Some of the items looked like they'd been crafted yesterday, rather than 3,000 years ago. It was worth seeing, but a trip to Cairo is much better! :)

Here's a picture of Paulster and me riding camels in Cairo...and the Sphinx. I never expected to be able to see that in person.

After we'd had our fill of King Tut, we wandered outside of the Millenium Dome to see what we could see. The Millenium Dome is the world's largest single-roof structure. It's essentially a large tent supported by 12 tower structures--and is like a city inside. Restaurants, 2 concert venues, a 12 screen movie theatre, convention centre...it's really pretty cool. Oh yeah, and they have 2 Starbucks in there.

We continued to walk around and found the Greenwich Meridian. The line in Greenwich represents the Prime Meridian of the World - Longitude 0º. Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this line. The line itself divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the Earth - just as the Equator divides the northern and southern hemispheres.

Here's a picture of Drama and Paulster with one foot in each hemisphere.

A good day out.

Home Sweet Home

2008-07-28T21:24:00.003+01:00

Well, Thursday was THE night. We finally slept in our own bed, in our own house! It's a bit surreal not to be "visiting" our new house after so long of watching the demolition and rebuilding.

Perfect it isn't...we're living a different kind of nomadic lifestyle...instead of moving ourselves from location to location, we're moving our stuff from one room of the house to another. In order to put the bed together to sleep on it, we had to dig it out of the "self-storage units" that were our bedroom and the guest rooms.

While I cleaned the kitchen cabinets & drawers from the construction debris, Paulster lugged boxes from our bedroom to the dining room to get them out of the way. Finally, we were able to assemble the bed and collapse into it.

I spent Friday unpacking the kitchen. As of Sunday, I cooked our first roast chicken dinner for Paulster and the girls...and tonight--our first evening meal. Also today, the new refrigerator was delivered--ice and water on the door...commonplace in the US, decedance in this country!

I'm only going to show you pictures of the kitchen...primarily because it's the only room that's fit to be photographed just yet--even though it's still cluttered.
Here's a couple of pictures of the kitchen now:

And here's my little Blondie sioux chef--nothing like arming the children:

The interior nomadic lifestyle continues--last night, we moved boxes out of Drama's bedroom so that we could start the painting in there. At some point, we'll be settled...but not yet!

Plan C

2008-07-20T22:51:00.003+01:00

If only "Plan C" stood for Cyn's Plan...it doesn't. It means that Plan A AND Plan B didn't go "according to plan" and now we're just playing it by ear!
The first plan was that when we got back from Germany for the weekend trip (Monday), we'd start living in the house, (giving us 2 weeks in the flat in Windsor) even though there was some minor stuff to be finished.

When after my beautiful granite worktops [countertops] and paint job were in the kitchen, the "minor" stuff turned into 2 electrical problems that messed up my beautiful paint job in the kitchen, meant that the bathroom floor had to come up and the tiling needed to be delayed by nearly a week...we just kind of gave up.

So, after Germany (more on that trip later), we moved into the Trooper. A place that had been our favourite pub in Windsor. How fun to live in a pub!!! Turns out...not nearly as much fun as we'd anticipated.

Here's a picture of the Trooper:
A quaint little pub on a back street in Windsor. Great food and decent atmosphere from what we remembered.

See that giant yellow thing out front? That's a FIRE ENGINE!!! The Trooper caught on fire, so no cooked breakfast for those of us staying there. Fortunately, no major damage, just the kitchen well out of commission for a few days. We could still stay in our room--which was shabby, but serviceable. That lasted for about 4 days.

Plan B was that we'd just start staying in the house on Friday, with some minor stuff to be done. When the tiling delay turned that into two major rooms we need to use regularly (namely the kitchen and bath) aren't going to be ready for us...we turned to Plan C. Especially since Drama and Blondie were coming to stay for the weekend.

On Friday, we moved to the Travelodge in Central Windsor. This place, in a word is: BASIC. No artwork on the walls, no hairdryer in the room, no ice machine, pay-a-fee-for-early-checkin kind of place.
Cheaper than the Trooper for the weekend, when we needed a Family Room.

At this point, I can't even plan my way out of a paper bag. We've both run out of clean underwear and the only laundry facilities are in a Laundromat (coincidentally, near the Trooper). So guess where I spent my Sunday afternoon? That's right, Bubbles, the laundromat. I think it's been since college when I last went to a laundromat. Oh well...at least the Trooper is about 1/2 a block away, I could go in there to wait for my clothes to get clean and dry!

The upside to tonight is that we got to spend some time in Windsor with Sven and Banana and Banana's brother and cousin. We had a few drinks and went for dinner and laughed a lot. So, all is not lost...but I'm really, really, really over all this remodeling and nomadic living stuff.

Painting Help

2008-07-19T23:30:00.003+01:00

On the Sunday, we painted our arms off...12 hours of nearly straight painting meant a second coat of the white primer on all the walls and ceilings in the bathroom and kitchen. Then, we launched in with the colour [color]. We managed one finish coat of white on the ceilings and a single coat of colour on the walls. We needed at least one more coat of both to call it good...but we didn't have time that day.

We left the Ruislip house after 2am on Sunday (Monday morning, technically), and I had to be up at 4:30am for an early flight to Munich for a client meeting. So, I had a "nap" of 1 hour. Not really the best start to the week.

I returned from Munich on Tuesday night. Wednesday night was slated as another painting night--so we enlisted a few more pair of arms.

Introducing Sven and Banana--pretending to eat the paint. We're really fortunate that these two only live 2 tube stops away from us. They were a big help to get the final ceiling coat on in both the bathroom and kitchen--and as you can see, a pair that can be goofy enough to make nights out (or in) fun!

We decided to wait on the final colour coat in both rooms, as there's still lots of knocking about and fixtures & cupboards [cabinets] to be hung. On the advice of the builder, we'll do the finish colour coat once they're gone. His advice was "the painter should be the last one out of the house". Sadly, we'll just have to be extra careful when we put on that finish coat!

Here is a shot of the kitchen with the colour coat on.

There's lots more to tell about the last 2 weeks, but it's just too late to finish the story tonight. I'll do another post or three tomorrow!

Primed to Perfection

2008-07-05T22:41:00.002+01:00

We've now been homeowners for 10 weeks now. In the first week or two, we launched into action by stripping wallpaper and tearing up carpet in nearly every room. After the professionals got started, our activity came to a screeching halt. So, apparently, this weekend was the time for us to spring back into action. It was really our only chance to get the kitchen and bathroom painted before all the cabinets, tile and worktops get installed completely--making the job that much more difficult. More importantly, it would require a level of precision that we probably cannot muster.

Here's a picture of the kitchen now that it's got 1 coat of primer on it--all the walls and ceiling!

After vacuuming and covering everything in neon yellow masking tape, we managed to get the actual painting started by 4pm. We lost the natural light in the house after we got 1 complete coat on all the walls and ceiling in the kitchen and bathroom. Not too bad a start, but we have a long way to go tomorrow!

Wish us luck.

Hello Ruislip!

2008-07-02T23:01:00.003+01:00

Well, this won't be a long post...just a little taster of the mess that is in Ruislip, waiting on us to settle in.
Here is a picture of our bedroom, where 50% of the boxes, artwork, furniture, etc. are being "self-stored" at the moment.
It wasn't helpful that I didn't notice the movers bringing in the "sky box" [cable box/tivo]...and it ended up at the front of this room. Big Freddy had to traverse the chaos to retrieve it so that we didn't miss recording any of our favourite shows!

Here is a picture of the guest room, in it's capacity as a self-storage unit. We expect it to be much improved by the time we entertain guests at the house!

...yes, that's my Granny's pink painted piano stool turned upside down on all that stuff!

Also, this morning before work, we were over at the house paying the builder another instalment, when the kitchen arrived!!! Having mapped out the island, we also discovered it may be a smidge too big for the area as planned...so there will be a little exchange of cabinetry, then it's all good... oops!

We just need to pick out the kitchen floor tiles, make final decisions on the granite worktops [countertops] and start picking out wallpaper/paint.

Goodbye Richmond!

2008-06-28T19:52:00.004+01:00

27 June 2008. Our last day in Richmond--last "morning" actually, since the whole place was packed up and on it's way to Ruislip by 10 am! That's kind of "leading with the punchline", but I just can't help it--I was AMAZED how fast the contents of my life can be loaded onto a truck and moved from one place to another.

This is the view from the front door of the Richmond place at 10am.

At 7:30 am, the Big Freddy, Darren, and Little Freddy arrived. The frenzy started and they had loaded 90% of the stuff by 9am. AMAZING (have I said that already?).

There was absolute chaos for several weeks before then (not to mention the "night" before, which turned into the morning...we packed until 4:30am, before having to be up and ready by 7am. Preparing to pack, actually packing, and just throwing stuff in boxes to be sorted out later!

Here are a couple of shots of the packing fun.

So, since we all know that the stuff is just being put into two bedrooms at the new house, rather than us "properly" moving in...I'm going to keep you in suspense for the pictures of the aftermath.

After Big Freddy, Little Freddy and Darren (more to come on that trio) unloaded all the stuff at the house in Ruislip, I rushed to the kitchen place to order the kitchen...they're going to start installing it next Wednesday!!!, then I rushed to Windsor to check into the temporary housing flat, then I unloaded the GIANT carload of stuff that needed to go to Windsor, then I rushed to Stockley Park (where we work) to give the car to Paulster. He dropped me back in Windsor to take a shower and relax a bit (yeah, right, I unpacked all the junk I'd dropped in earlier), so he could go pick up the Drama and Blondie for the weekend.

Truth-be-told, we'd really like to live in Windsor. It's such a lovely town...if it wasn't for all the tourists! :)

The place we're staying is a newly refurbished, really nice studio flat in the top floor of a terraced house [townhouse] in Windsor. We LOVE being back here. The shops are great, there are great restaurants and pubs, and who can beat the fact that the Queen lives here? The reasons we wouldn't want to live in Windsor follow: the parking is attrocious, the houses are VERY expensive--no way could we have afforded the place like Ruislip in Windsor, and the transport links into London are not the best (no Tube). Oh well. We're more than committed to Ruislip at this point, methinks!!!

As I was settling into the new place, I opened the windows and looked around. Here's what I saw!

Could be worse, for sure...

When Paulster, Drama and Blondie got to the house, we went to have dinner at the Viceroy, a great Indian restaurant in Windsor. We were "shattered" (as they say), but had a nice meal and then "home" to snooze.

After a decent night's sleep, we got moving about 11am and went to have some lunch (and seek out a parking spot that wouldn't result in a £50 contravention [fine]). The pub we found had been taken over about a year and a half ago from a grotty pub that we remembered. It was nicely refurbished and had a GREAT menu. It's now called The Limes.

It's close to the Barracks, and we'd missed the changing of the guard, so we expected a quiet lunch. But, we were pleasantly surprised by a passing marching band of the RTA (Royal Territorial Army)--kind of like a citizen's National Guard. We stopped eating and ran to the door to enjoy the procession.

Tomorrow, we're going swimming and meeting our friends to watch the final game of the Euro 2008 football [soccer] tournament. We're going to love our 2 weeks in Windsor...

Royal Ascot 2008

2008-06-28T10:21:00.007+01:00

Last weekend, Paulster and I attended the Royal Ascot horse races with several friends. It was my third trip to the annual event and as ever, a good day out. The rain held off--so no soggy hats/dresses/suits.

The first year, we were in the section called "Silver Ring"--think...the trailer park of Royal Ascot. This is where the dress code is not so stringent--jeans are acceptable and all sorts of other not-so-classy outfits were on display. Definitely good people watching venue. The second year and this year, we upgraded to the "Grandstand"--this is where hats or fascinators (headbands with dangly-sparkly bits on them are "preferred" but not absolutely required). Frankly, you'd feel out of place without a hat or fascinator on. THEN, there's the Royal Enclosure. That's where Queenie and Prince Phil hang out. Men MUST wear Morning Suits (that's basically a tux with tails) AND a Top Hat! And Women MUST wear a "suitable" dress--not too revealing--some Oscar-quality and a hat/fascinator.

Of course, we forgot our camera, so our friends, Budman and Hachie Gal were the designated photographers for the event. This was their first trip to the ultra-British event. For the newbie's perspective, click this link and for photos, you can go to this link on Travels of a Texas Gal blog.
I recycled the outfit from last year--this Princess decided save the £ for the house renovation.

I placed bets on 4 races and my picks won on the last 2! Not bad! My technique for picking horses is generally by just to go with a name that I like...or has some kind of meaning to me. One of the horse I picked to win was called Aeroplane--let's just say he didn't exactly take flight. Oh well! In the last two races, I modified the techinque to pick a horse with good odds--but not the best odds. That obviously proved a better technique that day.

Look Closely

2008-06-22T23:08:00.005+01:00

We're less than one week away from saying goodbye to Richmond. We won't quite be able to call Ruislip home yet, but all of our things will be there--jammed into a couple of rooms, hopefully they won't get too dusty...

The house needs about 3 more weeks of work before it's inhabitable. We have managed to secure 2 weeks in a corporate apartment in Windsor. So, that's where we'll be temporarily until the house is ready for us.

Here are a few pictures of some of the "noticeable" progress...look closely, do you see the changes?

Nah, I didn't think so. One major change that is visually small, but will make the house more cozy is changing the windows. We've replaced all of the windows that were left. Only the large sliding glass door in the dining room stays as is. The budget just wouldn't bear changing that one out, and the dining room is not going to be in it's final state for a while...

The electrical outlets are marked and wired, some of the pipes are in place in the bathroom, the drainage has passed the building inspection. Plastering will begin (and hopefully end) this coming week. Then the bathroom will be ready for the fittings and tile. And the following week, the kitchen will be put in and viola, we'll be living in our new house full time!

So, that's the plan. Wish us luck!

Oh, an update on the garden. Paul mowed the back garden [yard] this evening. This time, the frog managed to hop out of the way of the mower this time! (We're going to be optimistic and say that it was the same frog).

And, if my allergy symptoms weren't a big enough clue, summer's here and stuff's still blooming in London. Thanks to the new house, I'm a proud owner of a cooking apple tree and a regular apple tree. What's the difference you ask? For the uneducated (as I was until recently), cooking apples are not good to eat straight from the tree, but are great when cooked...that's the basic difference.

I'm not sure which tree is which, but here's a picture of my first apples! Apple cake, apple sauce, apple juice, apple cobbler/crumble--all on the menu coming right up! When they're ripe, of course.

Big Daddy

2008-06-15T19:10:00.005+01:00

On Father's Day, I am especially reminded of my father, Henry Thomas Pye III, who passed away about two and a half years ago, on 28th October 2005.

It's an emotional day for me--I set aside some time today to watch the DVD that was created for his funeral and as a keepsake photo album for us. It always makes me laugh and cry at the same time. It takes us through his entire life, from when he was a baby, to a boy scout (he achieve Eagle Scout status), to his wedding, various trips to Red River, and on to special times with his 4 grandsons. In the later years, picture of him NOT sitting in that La-Z-Boy recliner were scarce!

My siblings and I called him "Tom" most of the time, rather than Dad. At first, it was probably designed to be a disrespectful label--as children, we were taught it was impolite to call an adult by their first name. As we grew into adults, and he grew wider--it became Big Tom--then my nephews came along and his name morphed into Big Daddy.

I am very thankful that I had the father I had. He was generous (to a fault, it has been said), loving, honest, faithful, fun, and affectionate...all the things that a father is supposed to be. One of my fondest general memories as a young child was waiting in anticipation for him to get home from work when he'd quickly change out of his suit and tie into "play clothes" and he and My Evil Twin and I would "waller" on the den floor. One of my not-so-favourite memories as a child was waiting in anticipation for him to get home from work--but those times, it was because I had done something to deserve a spanking. Sitting on my bed, I would hear the door close as he came in the house, the muffled talking of mom and dad and his knees would pop as he came striding down the hallway, snapping his belt out of every beltloop as he walked. He'd step into my room, double over the belt, snap a couple of times for effect and give me a few swats across the bottom with it. A bit of a stern talking to, some remorseful tears and a hug made it all forgiven. Trust me, this was far better a fate than having O doing the paddling.

O gets some of the credit--but Big Tom had significant influence on my life, especially the practical skills that are generally expected of men. He taught me how to check the oil in my car (and change it--but I never actually use that skill), how to shoot a shotgun (among other guns) [that skill will not be put to use here in the UK], how to use a drill and do other DIY-type stuff [definitely draw on those skills quite a lot]. I was always a bit of a Tomboy--but I guess this makes it more of a pun than a general label, when you think about it in the context of the stuff he taught me.

I could go on forever, but if you knew him, you know most of the stories and have some of your own about what a great man he was--and about how you miss him, too.

I never thought that the 28th of June 2005 would be the last time I saw him...as we sat eating Chik-fil-A before I boarded a flight back to the UK. I never thought that the 27th of October 2005 would be the last time I'd speak to him--when I called to say Hi from a hotel room in Rotterdam. I never doubted his love for me. He was definitely my hero. And I miss him everyday.

Two Weeks to Go

2008-06-14T23:37:00.003+01:00

...in Richmond, that is. We still don't know exactly how long it will be beyond that time when we can move into the house for good, but it definitely won't be that day.

This morning, I went to look at a 1 bedroom house that would have been a decent option for temporary housing--if it hadn't been a dump, that is! Oh well. Cross your fingers that the corporate housing folks in Windsor still have a place for us. If so, we'll just spend two weeks in Windsor and play any residual time by ear. Surely, in 4 weeks time we'll have a working toilet!?

On Friday morning, the removal company [movers] brought me a lots of boxes, tape and wrapping paper. After a quick look around, the Rock-N-Roll Mover Guy brought in more boxes and wrapping paper--oh dear!

So, as you've guessed by now, this Princess will be packing everything myself. I'm very spoilt [spoiled] from the move from Texas to London. I sat back and watched 3 people pack up EVERYTHING in my house and load it on a truck. Then, when it all got here from across the pond, I sat back and directed 4 guys as they did the unloading and UNPACKING!!! Heaven!
...Not so this time. It's worth the trade off. If I paid the removers [movers] to do just the packing bit, never mind the unpacking, it would cost me as much as a washing machine! I'd rather have a washing machine!

So, on the 27th (Friday) bright and early, the removers will show up to load the truck. We toyed with the idea (got a price quote) of moving the stuff into storage and then into the house later--when it was ready. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), the cost of them loading our stuff into a container and driving it to a storage warehouse, to then deliver the same container from the warehouse to Ruislip at a date to be determined, was roughly equivalent to the cost of my new "American-style" fridge AND a tumble dryer. You can spot the trend...I'll have the new fridge and dryer, thank you very much.
Needless to say, I decided that it can't possibly be as dusty at the new place as I was afraid of (well, it is, but I'm going to live with it!). We'll just pile everything into the new house--most of it upstairs in our bedroom and the guest bedroom until we're ready to settle in.

That's not the greatest setup for carpeting, decorating [painting], but we'll deal with it.

In all the chaos, there is some good news. My landlord in Richmond called on Friday to say that I'd been such a lovely tennant, that she's happy to pay for a professional cleaner to come in and clean up after we move out--that takes one thing off my To-Do list! HALLELUJAH!

Also, the new tennants coming in don't want the guest bed or any of the 3 wardrobes--so she also said we could have those for free! Again, quite a coup, because I was just about to push the "buy online" button at the IKEA website to order 3 very similar wardrobes...

Not to let the moss grow on us, we decided to spend today taking two of the three wardrobes over to the new house. I'll save you the gory details, but both wardrobes and most of their contents are safe and sound (enough) in the guest room at the new house. There's a reason that IKEA flat pack wardrobes have the reputation they do...they're not designed to be taken apart, moved and reassembled. But, they're standing at the new place, and that's what matters for now.

Paul's girls (for privacy purposes, we'll call them Drama and Blondie) are here this weekend, so they entertained themselves in the back garden [backyard] and hiding in the boxes of new stuff that has arrived in the living room while we were reassembling wardrobes. This week, the shower unit, range, vent hood, vanity unit & basin [sink] and Blondie's bed (complete with futon mattress and regular mattress) arrived. It's all piled in the living room for now--so it makes for great hide and seek.

As I was packing up the DVDs and CDs last night (the first official packing), Blondie decided that she wanted to help. She did such a great job of helping me load up 3 boxes, I wish she could stay all week and help me pack! This is the same child that thinks it's fun to cook and sweep. Ah, isn't that sweet!?

If it sounds like Paul's leaving all the packing to me--you're hearing me correctly. Conveniently, he has to be in Brussels, Belgium for a training course all next week. He'll get home in time for us to spend next Saturday at the horse races at Royal Ascot (hat and all)--stay tuned for that posting!

Over and out for now!

And the Wall Came Tumbling Down

2008-06-07T23:52:00.003+01:00

There's been more progress at the house. The steel supports for the new kitchen are in, and therefore, the wall that separated the kitchen and former utility room has been knocked down. So, we've got the space for the kitchen we were after.

And more good news, those sexy steel supports passed muster with the building inspector first time round. Excellent!

Here are a couple of pictures of the new space and the steel supports.

I have also gotten the kitchen plans drawn up with cool 3D photos. Very exciting!
Here's the arial picture of the kitchen layout.

There's a little re-working that must go on with the right-hand side of the kitchen, but this is nearly what it'll look like.

We spent some time over there last night marking the cabinets, range, fridge, sink, dishwasher, etc. on the walls so that the electrician could put the cables in the right spot today. To make double sure we'd gotten everything in the right place, the chief builder called for us to come over this afternoon and walk through everything and RE-marked the walls (this time in purple Sharpie marker). Better safe than sorry (sorry will cost us more time and £)!

The house was a hive of activity--with 3 door/window guys, 2 electricians, and the builder and his helper. The new windows and door went in today as well. They look really good compared to the old aluminium [aluminum] windows that were there. In theory, they should be more energy efficient, too! How very green of us. If only the old frames and glass were going to be recycled instead of to the landfill...

It's not all good news and sunshine, though. This week, we were informed that there was NO WAY that the place is going to be ready in 3 weeks time. This, of course, is unfortunate timing, since that's when we are giving up the place in Richmond...which has already been leased to someone new! OOPS! By Monday we should know if the delay will be 2, 3, or 4 weeks. It all comes down the availability of the plumber. If only Uncle Ken lived in London, I wouldn't be having this problem!

So, we're looking into a short-term let [lease] on a furnished 1-bedroom apartment for the time that we're going to be "homeless". Wish us luck!

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, an update on our eco-system of a back garden [yard]. The frog appears to have hopped on his merry way...there wasn't a decaying frog carcass in the yard. Either that, or a cat carried off the dead frog. I prefer to think that we'll see him again helping to keep the bug population in the garden in check. :)

Progress

2008-05-27T22:01:00.003+01:00

Well, if you read the last post, you heard that we mowed the grass at our new house for the first time this past weekend. Before we could mow, we had to assemble the lawnmower--which we did in the living room with not one tool.

Here's a picture of Paul--which you really need a soundbyte to fully appreciate--you would have thought it was a new Ferrari with the revving noises he was making, as he pretended to contain it's fury in the living room...

And here's a picture of me mowing the front garden [yard]. It's really just a small patch of grass--currently with an evergreen bush of some sort in the middle of it.
That will be dug up this weekend to [hopefully] make way for a Rose Bush from Paul's mom's garden and some lavender.

Yes, that orange cord over my shoulder is my technique for avoiding mowing back over the power cord! :)
I was very relieved to finally get the yard cut. I was sure that by neglecting it for a few weeks that we'd start off on the wrong foot with the neighbours. So far, no complaints! But, in fairness, we've only met one neighbour. We're not in Texas--so far, no welcome wagon...

The back garden [yard] is monumentally bigger than the front, so that actually took us a little bit of time to complete.

We may have already upset the eco-system of our back garden [yard], as Paul mowed over a frog near the greenhouse at back of the garden. Thankfully, he wasn't chopped into little froggy pieces or officially dead at the scene--from what I could tell, just a bit nicked on one of his little legs. I'll have to give you an update later--fingers crossed that he wasn't fatally wounded. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I got back over there!
...In Paul's defense, the little hopper must not be too sharp to begin with, if he didn't move as the large noisy mower came near him. Maybe frogs are deaf? "Write your opinion on the back of a £20 note and mail it to me"...Prize for the first person to write a blog comment that tells what the phrase in quotes is a reference to...

Later.

The Destruction Begins

2008-05-26T18:22:00.007+01:00

By the time we got all of the wallpaper down that we were going to strip, it was time for the experts to come in. Here's a picture of Paul standing in the room that used to be the kitchen. The builders [construction workers] have stripped out the bathroom and kitchen fixtures down to the bare walls and pipes. They've also started ripping up the patio paving stones and concrete underlay with a jackhammer. It's all very exciting!

We had our first official construction meeting on Friday morning where we answered final questions like, how large a patio door do we want? and if the ceiling is this high, is that OK? We still have a long way to go, but we're definitely off and running.

Inspired by the progress on the house, on Saturday, we bought the tiles for the floor and wall in the bathroom. We'd looked a few places and came across some that were more than suitable--and on sale! Sadly, they didn't have enough of the floor tiles for us to do the kitchen and the bathroom in the same tiles, but, oh well.

Eager to get them back to the house, we loaded up the Golf and managed not to tear out the suspension of the car on the way home...

Not to be outdone inside the house, we assembled and inaugurated the lawnmower and strimmer [weed eater]. Unlike my last lawnmower/weed-eater, these are electric. So you must take extra care to make sure you don't cut the power cord as you mow/weed-eat. We'll see how long it takes me to have to replace the cord...but at least I don't have to transport petrol [gasoline] in my car! Tradeoffs, I guess.

The yard work was completed just in the nick of time, too. Sunday and Monday were rainy days!

Here is another picture of the "progress" of the patio. It needed to be taken up because it was causing damp in the walls of the dining room and kitchen across the back of the house [UK house technology]. It will be re-laid at a level to avoid more damp, but still give us a nice patio for BBQs!

I must give a shout out to my blog goddess, Hachie Gal--who gave me a crash course in how to add more pictures and a blog counter--to see how many people visit the blog! You are my Hero!

The Joy of Home Ownership

2008-05-14T22:31:00.003+01:00

It's official. Paul and I are homeowners [again]. We've been living as renters for over 3 years now, and it sure has been convenient to ring the landlord when something isn't quite right at the house. Not that we've had too many issue to call the landlord about...but, you get the idea.

We haven't moved in yet--that will be another 6 weeks or so--after we knock down a wall, rebuild the kitchen and the bathroom and all the demolition that that entails. We don't do anything the simple way!

It only took us 3 days to experience the full joy of homeownership.

Incident #1: Cyn gets a little too brutal with that pesky lock on the back door and the key breaks off in the lock. Result: We can't get into our own garage from the house. Oops! Resolution: Paul drilled out the lock and was able to unlock it! Whew!

Incident #2: After 2 days of flushing toilets, filling buckets and generally "normal" use of the taps [faucets].. the water stops coming out of the taps when you turn them on.. Hmmm...A brief conversation with the former homeowner helps us discover that we have created an air lock in the water system. It's a fairly complicated system, by Texas standards--but we'll be simplifying that with the upcoming alterations to the house. Resolution: Purchase one standard issue garden hose [more on that later], attach one end to the outdoor tap [faucet], take the other end up into the loft [attic] and put it in the "out" pipes in the cold water tank. Turn on the outside tap, and it flushes out the air lock...Viola!

So, now that we have running water again and can actually open the door to the garage, all is well at the new house.

In addition to fixing the things that we managed to break ourselves, we are trying to remove some of the decorating ideas of the former owners [more on what we've found in a later post]. We've been busily stripping wallpaper from almost every room in preparation for putting our own design stamp on the place. We've also been preparing for when the builders descend on the place to tear it up and put it back together.

So, as a colleague so eloquently put it, you cannot have creation without destruction. So, that's what we're doing, creating our new home.

And we hope to fill it with friends and family and laughter as soon as we can!

We look forward to scheduling your visit...and in this place, there's room for you to bring the kids!

Here are a few pictures of our weekend, picnicing in the yard and stripping wallpaper!