Isn't she lovely?

Being away from home, I think of my high school friend Emily a lot.  She's only 'settled down' (ha!) in the States within the last year and before that she was all over the place (by place I mean world), and never really in close proximity to family or friends.  So, I figure she's been through many of the plethora of mixed  emotions I may be experiencing.  Today is her birthday so she's even more present in my thoughts.  And while there are a few other things I wanted to post about.....maybe it doesn't get better than a little walk down memory lane.  Don't worry Em, I don't even have the high school photo pile with me in London :) 

She's industrious

She's friendly

She likes taking pictures of things up close

She's not in that dugout canoe

She's just lovely.  

AND she has the best dimples around.  Happy birthday sweet cheeks :) and Happy Halloween everyone else!  

Just for fun

The mustard yellow jacket you convinced me I wouldn't be able to live without...I now can't live without.  

Let's go there!  I think they'd let us in. 

Silly Americans smiling. 

Couldn't resist.  

Bottoms up?

Mini-tissue pack from Marysia.  Fo Shizzle!

So fresh and so clean

The boiler is fixed so we're all shiny and clean. When the repair man arrived for the final repair (in a t-shirt) I had the fireplace roaring and the windows were steamed up, because I was using all the pots we have to boil water for a bath. Thank goodness that (feeling like a complete ninny) is over :)

I've been trying to keep a list of to-do's and while I'm feeling very 'over it' (the lists), for now, it's the only way I know how to keep a schedule, sanity, or any feeling of accomplishment.  I miss working and I miss the plethora of personal interaction I had as an event coordinator in my past life.  I'm about 40/60 intro/extrovert by nature and right now one of those is being neglected.  Let's just say I'm getting my fill of alone time.  Not whining just venting and hopefully those are not one in the same.  I have started a weekly yoga class and did indulge in an art class (naked man included) over the weekend...but I may need to add something a little less intellectual and more crazy to the mix.  I'm taking ideas via the comment section (which I've made easier to use!) or email.  Please indulge me.

In the mean time, I've gotten domestic.  It has actually been fun -  I'm surprised by that and think it would be even more fun if I had a job or something more professional (see: paycheck) to balance it with.  How stay at home Mom's do it I'll never know but props are in order, and thanks to my Mom for managing that somehow until I was 5.  I have a new appreciation for the challenges involved in a lack of adult conversation during the day, even without the mom part of the stay at home bit.  Thanks Mom, and sorry if I was really annoying and mostly just ate and pooped all the time.  Moving right along.

I planted tulips, daffodils, and anenomes, but they won't be very exciting until next Spring...it's just the promise of something to come. We found a habanero plant in the garden, but no queso or tortilla plants.

I made 'tea cakes' with my great grandmother's recipe. They turned out more like scones than anything...but I can't bake, so it's baby steps for now.  At least I didn't exchange the salt/sugar proportions, ahem.  I'm all for pawning off these experimental baked goods to our neighbours, and so far they've been too nice to tell me to stop.

I planted some window boxes to make the fence outside the kitchen window less blah looking - the sink is behind the window inside so it's nice to have something pretty to look at :) Pansies, cyclamen, oregano, thyme, and heather.  I'm contemplating hanging some decoration on the fence outside also.

Last week Tammer surprised me with tickets to Les Miserables.  I’ve wanted to see the show since I was about 13 or 14 when we read the book in school - basically for more than half my life! The seats were amazing; so close that I could see the actors drawn in make-up and the conductors head bobbing. And the show was…well...show stopping! The acting, singing, set, the full house on a Wednesday night, the lady sobbing with emotion behind us during the last act….at the end after all the clapping and standing ovations, the actors said we were the best crowd they’d had.  It was a love fest of admiration all around.  I’m so glad I got to see the show, and in London no less…I love surprises and this one was unforgettable.

                                              Beautiful.                   Completely geeked out.  

Aren't old theatres the best? 

The one thing I miss.

The one thing I miss from our temporary housing "compound" is the fitness center.  Talk about the most inspiring ellipticals and treadmills you've ever seen...just kidding.  I mean they did have some of those machines but they were not any more awe inspiring than usual.  They did however have this wonderful contraption, which I miss dearly....

 I forgot to tell you we went to Stonehenge a few weeks ago.  It was neat.  Sorry, I'm just a little distractable this morning. 

That's what I'm talking about!!! Heated indoor pool, and usually empty too (no screaming munchkins or creepy old guys in speedos).  

Complete with sauna and those neat rocks to ladle water on, with the cool copper ladle and bucket.  The whole thing, especially the copper ladle, reminds me of summer trips to the Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior.  When using that sauna, alternating between dunking in Lake Superior and running back into the sauna is encouraged. It is quite a spectacle.  What I'd give for an hour in a heated indoor pool and sauna now....

Hhhhmmm.  Temptation. 

First off, it's swimming not bathing (we hope), and I am particularly amused by 4-6.

Status update: boiler set to be repaired tomorrow.  Thank you for sharing advice on how to take the most efficient bucket bath. It's much appreciated by everyone I've encountered in the last few days.   

Too many kids in this tub

Too many elbows to scrub

I just washed a behind

That I'm sure wasn't mine

There's too many kids in this tub!

-Shel Silverstein

An ode to one of my favourite poems as the hot water heater gave out this morning.  If the part needed is a special order it could be up to two weeks before we're up in business again.  Obviously worse things have happened and it's not the end of the world...but it is the end of clean hair because this water is not cold it's frigid, and there's no way.  Please don't make me.  No hot water (duh), smelly people, and a since we have those wall radiator things, a very "crisp" (cold) house.  Tammer said something about boiling hot water for a bath like they used to do in Egypt when he was a kid, and my teeth just chattered back at him.  I was not beyond pleading with the repairman and even pulled the, "But sir, I'm from Texas, where you could very well be sweating on Halloween!!! And plus, there's a cold front coming in on Tuesday night, but I already think it's cold outside!!!"  He just looked at me kind of funny, "Sweat?".  Really I'm just dreading wearing a baseball cap for the next few days.  Nothing says you aren't from around here like a baseball cap. 

Goings on

Days are fast getting shorter and Fall is here, though the arrival doesn't feel the same as it does at home.  The progressive cool and warm snaps here aren't nearly as dramatic and exhilarating as the first real cool front blowing through Texas; charging the air and filling everyone with energy and a sense of relief.....and that SMELL!  That smell of Fall....man oh man do I love it.  And I miss it.  I want to try and facilitate some Halloween/Autumn feeling around the house/garden and would really truly love and appreciate any offering up of ideas you have (pretty please) to make this feel more like home.


Softening the anxiety over shortening days and gloom, not to mention immigration, we've got visitors coming and going and it makes me happy.  Our first guest and guinea pig, dear Marigold, was a good sport even when employed to weed the garden and hang things on walls.   Hey we’re just paving the way for everyone else :) But all work and no play? Nahhh....

Hyde Park at sunset and still Indian Summer warm

Headed to the Lake District 4 hours north of London, and greeted with a cold front

Yeah we rented our bikes from a guy in a trailer with dogs tied up out front   

Lake Windermere

There was a healthy amount of walking the bikes uphill

Vistas

Babbling brooks abound

Hobbits

Moss on things

Quaintness

We didn't spend the whole trip outside.  The long awaited Harrod's excursion. 

Lovely 

Back to the basics

To start:

That is not related to this post, getting back to the basics, or anything else. 

Need to soften some butter in a pinch, but got no microwave?  Feeling industrious.  

 

Can't find Crisco here so I'm making do with LARD, for baking (back to the basics, of a HEART ATTACK).  Did you hear that G'ma?   Your Janababy is using lard and I know you're proud.  I made those chocolate chip cookies with specially delivered chocolate chips.  You won't find chocolate chips here- or pumpkin purée, or sleepytime tea. 

But do they have little chicken friends they can put their little chicken wings around?  

....we took the one less travelled by...

...and that has made all the difference. More to come.