It's ok to be jealous.

Jim and I just got our plane tickets to go to Switzerland and ski in France with our new friends Carolina and Dave and their two boys. We leave next Friday and will come back on Monday. Carolina and Dave have graciously offered to share their chalet with us and...WE ARE GOING SKIING IN FRANCE!!! WHOHOOO!!!!!

This is fabulous (unless I break my leg. This will only be my second time skiing in my life). We were going to go to Paris that weekend, but we can do that anytime. I CAN'T BELIEVE I CAN SAY THAT!

Living in London is awesome.

Still working on the camera cord. Pictures of St. Albans to come soon. Until then, ponder this:



If you met Robert Smith on the streets of London, as we aspire to do, how would you address him? Would you say, "Hey Robert!" or would you say, "Hi Mr. Smith!" Jim and I decided that we would have to refer to him as Robert Smith (full name) because that's just the way it is. "Hey Robert Smith. You have played a constant role in ou lives since adolescents and were a huge part of our meeting in high school. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

I still love him, even though he is all bloated now. He just is so...mellow and I hear he drives an electric car. That would be funny to see.

How I joined the Junior League

I will leave sufficient space for those of you to take a deep breath and laugh very loudly as you contemplate my involvement with the Junior League.
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It's ok. I never thought those words would be coming out of my mouth either. I laugh when I say it, too. But it's true! I have joined the Junior League in London and I'm part of the 2007 Spring class!

"How could this be?!" you probably are asking yourself. "How could SHE get into Junior League?" Our ex-neighbor who reveled in being able to tell me that I couldn't volunteer with the Junior League unless I was IN the Junior League (smug look of condensation, sickeningly sweet voice) would be horrified, I'm sure. Well, it turns out that here they don't care who you are or who you know, as long as you pay your dues (which are minimal compared to some places in the states) and you do your volunteering. And do they ever do some volunteering here! Today, I spent the entire day doing yard work at a school for kids with special needs. We'll be developing classes on finances for kids who are not headed towards university, but could have potential if they are given the right motivation, and there are tons of other opportunities in the community once I become an active member (after I do my three months of volunteering with my "class.). Not to mention that two people I met today were more than happy to help me with my job hunt AND the women were really, really nice. (which is not uncommon. I have met many a nice woman from Junior League in my lifetime in the states.)

I love volunteering! And it really makes me happy to know that this particular branch of the Junior League is so focused on the community.

The US Embassy Read my Blog

My Shug asked me recently if I ever went back to re-read things that I have written. Generally, I do not, but tonight I decided to look at some past posts to remember things we have done since we moved here. Lo and behold, I got a response to my frustrated US Embassy post from someone who works at the Embassy (posted as a comment on my blog. Check it out!).

In fairness, I have to say that our experience at the Embassy wasn't horrible and probably just seemed more negative than it actually was because we were so frustrated with EVERYTHING at that point and still going through pretty major culture shock. It turns out Jim didn't need a new passport at all (the six month thing is apparantly a nasty rumor...but I might get a response from the visa people saying otherwise, so you might want to check back later) and we were able to get our visas with no problem at all. I appreciate that someone from the Embassy would take the time to explain to me how we should do it next time (and I'm sure that there will be a next time). So thanks!

But I guess this means that by mentioning a government agency in a blog, you automatically get checked on(and yes, I'm curious to see if I get a response to THIS blog entry, too). At least I can rest easy in the knowledge that I am good, law abiding, upstanding citizen with valid passport and visa and a happy and grateful guest of London. (and I'm glad we have an embassy, because it's a lot easier than trying to figure it all out by long distance!)

The Amazing Disappearances

Yesterday, I went to St. Albans, where I explored the town and took lots of pictures with our fabulous camera. Alas, I cannot share these pictures with you because the cord, with which I transfer pictures from the camera to the computer has mysteriously disappeared. Additionally, my paperwork for my background check has also disappeared.

Needless to say, I'm feeling kind of frustrated right now, because I don't understand how, in a house which has so little in it and is so small, two pretty obvious things could just not be ANYWHERE. We have very little storage space, here, so things are usually pretty obvious.

Anyway, I have given up on the background check paperwork and will have to start all over on that, but I have not given up on the camera cord, which may have been stashed somewhere I do not know about. So, stay tuned for exciting pictures from St. Albans. Until then, I give you this:

Sometimes it snows

Here are a few pictures of the snow we had a couple of weeks ago.

This is our backyard, complete with the clothes line that our neighbors have suddenly decided to take inside whenever they are not using it. We will talk to them about this over the weekend:


In front of our house:


The old church down the street. It's actually from the 1800's, but it's designed to look like a church from the 12th century:


And Jim, walking to the tube in the snow:


We love the snow. I don't think it happens very often here. That day it melted by noon, but it was pretty and wintery while it lasted!

Fun on the farm

Oh all you people who complained that I wasn't updating enough are really getting it now! I guess you probably want to see pictures of London, but first you must suffer through pictures of....LOUISIANA and TEXAS!

ANd I found a bunch more from our adventures at home. First I will start with a tribute to our pets: Emma, Chowder and Buster (because we really miss them).

Emma oscillates between being very calm to being very cracked out on cat nip:

She is an excellent present guard:

Chowder is always a nervous wreck, but he was happy to see us, despite the terror in his eyes:

Buster is looking better than we have ever seen him, which is why he is STAYING on the farm:


Howard, Holly and Clara came to visit. Clara has a strong throwing arm as demonstrated by her excellent toss of a wooden egg, which hit Emma right on her nose. Smittten, Emma hung around.




we finally had Carpenter Christmas on December 29th when Kate and Andy arrived!




A very cool and awesome antique sign which hailed from London was given to Andy (must have been his coolest present):


Jim got many an argyle sweater:


Much to our joy Dad made us watch A Christmas Carol from 1830. It was cold and it was hunting season so we huddled up:


And then, after making us watch A Christmas Carol, Dad FELL ASLEEP!!! (and so did Chowder. It WAS a riveting movie.):


But fortunately, we were able to awaken him and we proceeded to get him (and Jim..not Chowder) all liquored up, so that watching A Christmas Carol from 1830 would be funny:


Of course, no family Christmas is complete without diseccting some regurgitated owl food! Scientist Kate led us as we retrieved owl regurgitation and then proceeded to take it apart and remove the bones of small critters (everyone does this in sixth grade science class!)

Yummy!


Kate can be pretty bossy when it comes to owl regurgitation:


And the results of our efforts! After which we decided that since we kind of inhaled owl ball dust that hadn't been properly sterilized, we were all probably going to die of some rare bacterial infection. It was fun anyway:



Yeehaw! I love the farm!

Some more holiday pictures

We spent over a week with Jim's family, which was great fun! Here are a few pictures of our Happy and Gluttonous Christmas. It's so good to be blogging again!

For Christmas, we took Olivia to get a makeover at MAC. And here is the result:

BEAUTIFUL! She also got some very cool glitter eyeliner that I WANT.

David, Mendy, and Olivia...we deleted the one of Olivia making her token look of picture taking disgust:


Jim and Jenna had a lively discussion about the crisis in Iraq:


And this is what happens when you mix wine, sentimentality, and Irish music on Christmas eve:


Jim is a big snowman bully:


Beautiful Christmas!


Being the good aunt, I am always willing to teach important skills to my young nieces. Jenna should learn early about the importance of talking on the phone at length and very loudly. Especially when her husband is trying to sleep or get something productive accomplished:


First of all, this is what I look like in the morning. AND I give awesome Christmas presents, as this picture demonstrates. Don't you want to marry me, too?


Jack got the world's tallest tripod from Santa. He is 6'4!!


Jim channels OJ Simpson in his new leather gloves and Jude Law with his new Burberry's scarf. Very London!

Fun times with Cranium

Ahh...Cranium. The ultimate family game and opportunity to take really funny pictures of your parents doing really funny things. Here are a few choice pictures from our hard core game while we were home for Christmas. If you want to see some funny ones of Jim, too (and probably me) check out Kate and Andy's blog at AndyandKates.blogspot.com.

Dad demonstrates "Batman"


Mom is...THE TORNADO (and I'm sorry but I usually fall out of my chair laughing every time I look at this picture)


35 years of marriage=good team work!


Jim does a pretty mean blooming flower, too, featured on Kate and Andy's blog!

Portobello Road in Full Swing

We went to Portobello Road a couple of weekends ago (the day before our fabulous hike) and here is what we saw:

Some hanging horns:


Some hanging cream holders:


Many crabs:


And we ate some delicious and nutritious (sort of, if you don't count the oil and the way too much cheese)crepes. We took a picture of the crepe girl, but she looks pretty annoyed about it, so I didn't put it on the blog:


Overall, we liked the market, but we didn't think it was market priced enough. We found a tee-shirt we really liked that was 20 pounds! (That's like $40!!!) So we kept looking until we found other, not as cool tee-shirts for only 12.99 (still not a bargain when you do the conversion).

London is just expensive, market or not.

Back in the world of the internet...here's where we'll start!

OK! Major breakthrough! We have internet at home! And I am now able to spend as much time as I need uploading pictures to this blog.

I have a lot of pictures to catch up on, so I'll start with our latest hike, which took place two weekends ago. We took the train to Saunderton and did a loop via Bledlow. Again, we hiked in the Chiltern Hills and there were lots of sheep, cows, hills and valleys. We liked the hike, but there were a few obstacles this time...like a farm that had decided it wasn't ok with people walking through it anymore. There were fences we had to climb, threatening "Trespassers Beware" signs, German Shepherds, and closed circuit television (which is everywhere here). I started to talk about Jim's excitement about the walk (see former blog for excited pictures of Jim getting coffee and getting on the train in London).

On the train, since the weather was a lot nicer than the last time we hiked (but COLD), we were surrounded by other walkers of varying ages. One group of older ladies sitting across for us were speaking disdainfully of what some other ladies they had walked with WORE on the hike (that would have been us, had they seen us the last time we hiked). I felt pretty good about our outfits: waterproof hiking shoes (thanks Dad!), many layers, hats, gloves, water proof pants in case of rain, and water proof jackets. We were prepared! But still, in comparison with this group of clearly avid hikers, we looked like the amateurs that we are. These psycho hikers went straight up a steep hill at top speed, walking sticks in action, and with a vigor that we do not possess. We were actually really relieved when they didn't go the same way we were going, because we were all about ambling.



One of my favorite parts of the walks around here are the kissing gates. Jim and I take it literally, except when our noses are running too much:



A few miles into our walk, we came to this field, which we were instructed to cross. If you can't read the sign, it says "Beware of Bull." Umm...ok. And the bull looks really mean and has a ring in it's nose. Rams are one thing and bulls are completely different. We've seen how bucking an angry bull can be at the Fort Worth rodeo. Fortunately, though, the bull in this field was no where to be seen (although we still hauled ass across the field, just in case). We did see some docile bulls (complete with rings in their noses) a few fields down, safely behind an electric fence and curled up together for warmth like cats.



Before we stopped for lunch at the requisite pub, we wandered around this 12th century church and through a water garden. We also decided that we would be happy to live in this country "cottage" if we have to.
The church:


Jim at the water garden:


The cottage we aspire to have some day:


The scenery was beautiful, of course. Rolling fields and valleys:


And even a rainbow! Whoops. Actually, this is not the rainbow picture, but the WINDMILL picture. Even a windmill!


I never miss an opportunity to harass a flock of sheep. They always get scared, but one day they will love me!


By the end of the 11 miles, we were pretty tired, but invigorated! We even had enough energy to go see the Saints lose to the Bears (poor Saints). Our next country walk will be somewhere besides the Chilterns!