I just thought something funny was in order after the whole depressing death and cemetery email. And so I give you Jim in a loin cloth because I couldn't find Special Kate body surfing.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
I think you may have already seen this, but....
I just thought something funny was in order after the whole depressing death and cemetery email. And so I give you Jim in a loin cloth because I couldn't find Special Kate body surfing.
HIghgate Cemetery
Today, after much deliberation, we decided to go to Hampstead Heath and then to Highgate Cemetery. It was a beautiful day and originally we were going to go to Epping Forest, which is a forest in London, but then our efforts were thwarted by problems with public transportation and we remembered that we have some nice bikes that we haven't been using enough, so we headed to the park.
It wasn't exactly warm today, but there were a few brave souls swimming in the Hampstead ponds. There is a co-ed pond, where we swam last summer (we saw WAY too much of people there. It seems that when it warms up, everyone in England loses modesty.) but the nice, calm ponds seem to be the all male and all female ponds. Although today the co-ed one was pretty quiet, too. Anyway, here is Jim outside of the "Men Only" pond. We parked our bikes there and then walked up the giant hill to get to Highgate.
But, of course, we got sidetracked by the cute adolescent coots and their parents. So we fed them some pretzels. We are suckers for coots.
This part of the blog is especially for Dad. We liked this car and thought you would like it, too. and could tell us what kind it is.
The cemetery is very large and peaceful, with lots of dirt paths winding through the graves. We had a picnic next to the particularly sad grave of a boy who would have been my age, had he not plunged to his death from a cliff in Portugal at the age of 16. His family had put up information about him and his grave is covered in a garden, which was the situation with many of the graves there.
We thought this was a good philosophy...and true:
Just as we were starting to feel a little morose, this grave cheered us up. We think it's occupant probably had a good sense of humor. (It says DEAD in case you can't tell from the picture.)
We also saw some graves of famous poets and writers...none of whom I can remember now, of course. This is a sculptor's grave:
Spending the afternoon in a cemetery gives you perspective. I hope I'll live to be 94 and will die in my sleep at the same time as Jim (that's our plan), so that when people pass my grave they'll say "That's a good age to die." But if I have the misfortune to die before then, at least they'll be able to say that I had a full and happy life, that I knew true love and friendship, that I had incredible experiences and a loving family...which is a really lucky thing. I have also requested that my grave not say R.I.P. on it and that any quotations referring to "dragons" or "demons" be left off, too (yes we really saw a grave that said something like "Your dragon has been subdued and now you can rest." What a horrible thing to put on some one's grave!)
This picture is for Mom, who complained that my last blog only had one picture of me in front of an empty tennis stadium. There were more, but they were horrible and showed all my wrinkles. This one is nice and blurry and ethereal (or as much as it can be when the subject is wearing a baseball cap). Happy to be alive in Highgate Cemetery.
It wasn't exactly warm today, but there were a few brave souls swimming in the Hampstead ponds. There is a co-ed pond, where we swam last summer (we saw WAY too much of people there. It seems that when it warms up, everyone in England loses modesty.) but the nice, calm ponds seem to be the all male and all female ponds. Although today the co-ed one was pretty quiet, too. Anyway, here is Jim outside of the "Men Only" pond. We parked our bikes there and then walked up the giant hill to get to Highgate.
But, of course, we got sidetracked by the cute adolescent coots and their parents. So we fed them some pretzels. We are suckers for coots.
This part of the blog is especially for Dad. We liked this car and thought you would like it, too. and could tell us what kind it is.
The cemetery is very large and peaceful, with lots of dirt paths winding through the graves. We had a picnic next to the particularly sad grave of a boy who would have been my age, had he not plunged to his death from a cliff in Portugal at the age of 16. His family had put up information about him and his grave is covered in a garden, which was the situation with many of the graves there.
We thought this was a good philosophy...and true:
Just as we were starting to feel a little morose, this grave cheered us up. We think it's occupant probably had a good sense of humor. (It says DEAD in case you can't tell from the picture.)
We also saw some graves of famous poets and writers...none of whom I can remember now, of course. This is a sculptor's grave:
Spending the afternoon in a cemetery gives you perspective. I hope I'll live to be 94 and will die in my sleep at the same time as Jim (that's our plan), so that when people pass my grave they'll say "That's a good age to die." But if I have the misfortune to die before then, at least they'll be able to say that I had a full and happy life, that I knew true love and friendship, that I had incredible experiences and a loving family...which is a really lucky thing. I have also requested that my grave not say R.I.P. on it and that any quotations referring to "dragons" or "demons" be left off, too (yes we really saw a grave that said something like "Your dragon has been subdued and now you can rest." What a horrible thing to put on some one's grave!)
This picture is for Mom, who complained that my last blog only had one picture of me in front of an empty tennis stadium. There were more, but they were horrible and showed all my wrinkles. This one is nice and blurry and ethereal (or as much as it can be when the subject is wearing a baseball cap). Happy to be alive in Highgate Cemetery.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Wimbledon 2008
On Thursday, after work, we decided to head over to Wimbledon. Little did we know that Chris Eaton, an unranked British tennis player (young, cute, heartthrob type) was playing. So the crowds were enormous. We had never heard of this Eaton guy. Turns out a lot of our British friends haven't heard of Andy Roddick either (which I think is less excusable since Roddick is ranked sixth or something).
So, we joined the crowds. The pictures here don't really show the enormity of the queue. We sat down and rested for a while because there was no point in standing. All around us people were having picnics and while we were pretty far back, there were masses of people behind us. So we felt like there was a chance we would get in.
People behind us:
The humor behind the willingness of thousands of people to stand in an enormous line hasn't been lost on the Wimbledon organizers. Along with a guide to queuing, we also were given stickers which stated that we had stood in the queue!
We also were given queue cards, which ensured that people wouldn't "jump the queue." (in very bad taste and strictly forbidden at Wimbledon!) We were numbers 13,320 and 13,321.
Making progress....only about two more miles of the queue to go at this point.
Jim enjoys a snack in the queue. Smart people had set up food stalls along the way, so the hungry and thirsty crowds could get hamburgers, sausages, chinese food, coffee, ice cream and a lot of other stuff.
Some hard core Federer fans were camped out along the side of the queue.
The Federer fans and these people were all camping for the 6am queue the next morning. we discussed the pros and cons of doing this (pros: you get good tickets and don't have to wait in the queue as long. cons: you probably smell pretty bad and have to sleep in the ground with a lot of other people...and are forced by the officials to get up at 6am)
Almost in the Park:
We could see Centre Court!
Finally, after about an hour and a half, we were in! We paid 14 pounds each to get onto the grounds.
This was the scene on the smaller courts. People hanging over walls to watch. Lucky people had seats.
We walked up to Henman Hill (for those of you who don't know--and we didn't before we moved to England--Tim Henman is another English tennis player. I'm not sure he's ever won anything major, but he's quite popular around here and has a hill at Wimbledon named after him.) I was settling down to watch Chris Eaton on a giant TV screen and thinking to myself "I'm so glad we stood in line for an hour and a half so we could sit on a hill and watch a giant TV screen of some guy we've never heard of playing tennis," when Jim appeared with two centre court tickets (which he got for 5 pounds). We were going to sit four rows off of the court and watch Andy Roddick play. It was very exciting!
We were sitting so close that we could hear him panting as he played. Unfortunately he lost and we only were on the court for about half an hour, but it was exciting and the crowds were really fun. I always thought Wimbledon would be prim and proper, but everyone was hooting and hollering in between points. We loved it.
These green men came out when there was the slightest hint of rain. Presumably they would have pulled some sort of cover over the court.
In between points, military men stood guard along the edge of the court. I'm not sure if it was to keep away rabid fans or those who might want to hurt the players or just to keep an eye on things in general. There was a lot of security overall.
We ended on strawberries and creme before heading back on the tube to our house, where we collapsed from exhaustion as soon as we got into the door. It was an awesome experience!
So, we joined the crowds. The pictures here don't really show the enormity of the queue. We sat down and rested for a while because there was no point in standing. All around us people were having picnics and while we were pretty far back, there were masses of people behind us. So we felt like there was a chance we would get in.
People behind us:
The humor behind the willingness of thousands of people to stand in an enormous line hasn't been lost on the Wimbledon organizers. Along with a guide to queuing, we also were given stickers which stated that we had stood in the queue!
We also were given queue cards, which ensured that people wouldn't "jump the queue." (in very bad taste and strictly forbidden at Wimbledon!) We were numbers 13,320 and 13,321.
Making progress....only about two more miles of the queue to go at this point.
Jim enjoys a snack in the queue. Smart people had set up food stalls along the way, so the hungry and thirsty crowds could get hamburgers, sausages, chinese food, coffee, ice cream and a lot of other stuff.
Some hard core Federer fans were camped out along the side of the queue.
The Federer fans and these people were all camping for the 6am queue the next morning. we discussed the pros and cons of doing this (pros: you get good tickets and don't have to wait in the queue as long. cons: you probably smell pretty bad and have to sleep in the ground with a lot of other people...and are forced by the officials to get up at 6am)
Almost in the Park:
We could see Centre Court!
Finally, after about an hour and a half, we were in! We paid 14 pounds each to get onto the grounds.
This was the scene on the smaller courts. People hanging over walls to watch. Lucky people had seats.
We walked up to Henman Hill (for those of you who don't know--and we didn't before we moved to England--Tim Henman is another English tennis player. I'm not sure he's ever won anything major, but he's quite popular around here and has a hill at Wimbledon named after him.) I was settling down to watch Chris Eaton on a giant TV screen and thinking to myself "I'm so glad we stood in line for an hour and a half so we could sit on a hill and watch a giant TV screen of some guy we've never heard of playing tennis," when Jim appeared with two centre court tickets (which he got for 5 pounds). We were going to sit four rows off of the court and watch Andy Roddick play. It was very exciting!
We were sitting so close that we could hear him panting as he played. Unfortunately he lost and we only were on the court for about half an hour, but it was exciting and the crowds were really fun. I always thought Wimbledon would be prim and proper, but everyone was hooting and hollering in between points. We loved it.
These green men came out when there was the slightest hint of rain. Presumably they would have pulled some sort of cover over the court.
In between points, military men stood guard along the edge of the court. I'm not sure if it was to keep away rabid fans or those who might want to hurt the players or just to keep an eye on things in general. There was a lot of security overall.
We ended on strawberries and creme before heading back on the tube to our house, where we collapsed from exhaustion as soon as we got into the door. It was an awesome experience!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
A few more good times with Jim' family
A family picnic in the park before we went to the outdoor theatre and saw half of Twelfth Night:
It would be nice if Jim would refrain from taking pictures while everyone is chewing. It doesn't help that my hair also was doing it's best Albert Einstein interpretation that night.
Two crazy ladies:
The ever photogenic Olivia and Jack:
Mindy looked very romantic under her umbrella in Regents Park:
And on their last night in town, Joe provided entertainment:
Good times!
It would be nice if Jim would refrain from taking pictures while everyone is chewing. It doesn't help that my hair also was doing it's best Albert Einstein interpretation that night.
Two crazy ladies:
The ever photogenic Olivia and Jack:
Mindy looked very romantic under her umbrella in Regents Park:
And on their last night in town, Joe provided entertainment:
Good times!
A gift (or We've Got a Killer on Our Hands)
This morning, I was lying in bed, petting my purring and sweet and innocent acting cat Finchley (he even licked my chin!) as I usually do before I get up in the morning and when I turned over I noticed what appeared to be an explosion of black, all over our bedroom floor. In the days of Buster, we were used to waking up to destruction (the garbage everywhere, India Ink all over him and our white couch...)but since living in London, we haven't had that experience. Without my glasses, I couldn't tell what it was, so I woke up Jim, who also is blind and couldn't tell what was going on, on our floor. Finally, I followed the trail of black (which turned out to be feathers) to a small, dead bird in the corner of the room. Finchley was looking quite proud of himself and also like he might be interested in picking up the bird and taking it to an undisclosed location, so I removed him from the room and Jim did the dirty task of picking the dead bird up in a trash bag. If Kate's cats didn't do this on a regular basis, I would have been as horrified as Jim was. (His response: "GROSS!!! Well...at least it's not a pigeon.")
Sigh. I guess our cat is a blood thirsty killer who is living the dream. Poor little bird. From now on Finchley will be closely monitored as he comes in and out of the house.
Sigh. I guess our cat is a blood thirsty killer who is living the dream. Poor little bird. From now on Finchley will be closely monitored as he comes in and out of the house.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Family Family Family!
This is my first attempt at blogging from a mac. We shall see how it turns out...
We have been very lucky that we have gotten to see so much of our family in the last month! Last week, the Avants came to visit and we had a great time being all together and enjoying all that London has to offer.
Jack, Mindy, Mendy and Olivia all stayed at the New Inn, a Pub/Inn in St Johns Wood. It sounds like it was "interesting."
On the first day they were here, The Avants were good sports and came over to our house for a BBQ. The next day, after they got a little sleep, we all went to Borough Market.
We discovered that, as a group, we are taller than most people at Borough Market.
These guys were in a blow up raft in the Thames. They seemed to not be having the smoothest trip, but they were laughing:
We hit all the tourist hot spots that day! Here is everyone on the steps of The Globe Theatre!
Having a rest on the Thames:
St. Paul's Cathedral...outside of which we caught the 15 bus OLD SCHOOL STYLE!
Before we went to the Tower of London, we had lunch at that fabulous establishment Wetherspoons! (a shout out to our friends Richard and Coleena who are Wetherspoon's number one fans!)It was nice to have a break and some food.
I have now been to the Tower of London FOUR TIMES! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! But we saw the changing of the guard at the Tower, which was cool. This time we could actually see them.
You would never know these ladies were related!They look beautiful, even when they are exhausted.
Finally we gave in and walked across the famous Abbey Road crosswalk. Olivia was so excited! I had a little trouble taking it seriously, but it was actually fun and since it was Sunday morning there were fewer people intent on running us over while muttering something about tourists under their breath.
Olivia wrote her name on the wall outside of Abbey Road Studios:
And then a paparazzi guy with a giant camera came by to tell us where Paul McCartney lives. Then he proceeded to meet us there and tell us how much hates Paul McCartney in a very loud voice. Here's Olivia in front of Paul McCartney's House.
Jim and his parents went to Churchill's War Rooms and on their way they saw this parade. We still don't know what it was, but they were excited!
I keep telling people about how cool it is to see 50 bareback horses moving through the streets of London, but I never seem to be able to get my camera out in time. Jim's Dad, though, caught the Barracks Horses in action as they trotted en masse past the Inn.
On the day that everyone visited Windsor Castle, I was home feeling sick. So I'm telling this story based on other peoples' experiences. I missed some exciting stuff!
First, breakfast at a cafe:
Then a beautiful day at Windsor Castle with flowers and sunshine! (when I went it was cold, grey and rainy)
And then they saw the queen on her way to Ascot! From a great distance! If you look closely you can see her in a mint green outfit behind the car.
It was a great visit!
We have been very lucky that we have gotten to see so much of our family in the last month! Last week, the Avants came to visit and we had a great time being all together and enjoying all that London has to offer.
Jack, Mindy, Mendy and Olivia all stayed at the New Inn, a Pub/Inn in St Johns Wood. It sounds like it was "interesting."
On the first day they were here, The Avants were good sports and came over to our house for a BBQ. The next day, after they got a little sleep, we all went to Borough Market.
We discovered that, as a group, we are taller than most people at Borough Market.
These guys were in a blow up raft in the Thames. They seemed to not be having the smoothest trip, but they were laughing:
We hit all the tourist hot spots that day! Here is everyone on the steps of The Globe Theatre!
Having a rest on the Thames:
St. Paul's Cathedral...outside of which we caught the 15 bus OLD SCHOOL STYLE!
Before we went to the Tower of London, we had lunch at that fabulous establishment Wetherspoons! (a shout out to our friends Richard and Coleena who are Wetherspoon's number one fans!)It was nice to have a break and some food.
I have now been to the Tower of London FOUR TIMES! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!! But we saw the changing of the guard at the Tower, which was cool. This time we could actually see them.
You would never know these ladies were related!They look beautiful, even when they are exhausted.
Finally we gave in and walked across the famous Abbey Road crosswalk. Olivia was so excited! I had a little trouble taking it seriously, but it was actually fun and since it was Sunday morning there were fewer people intent on running us over while muttering something about tourists under their breath.
Olivia wrote her name on the wall outside of Abbey Road Studios:
And then a paparazzi guy with a giant camera came by to tell us where Paul McCartney lives. Then he proceeded to meet us there and tell us how much hates Paul McCartney in a very loud voice. Here's Olivia in front of Paul McCartney's House.
Jim and his parents went to Churchill's War Rooms and on their way they saw this parade. We still don't know what it was, but they were excited!
I keep telling people about how cool it is to see 50 bareback horses moving through the streets of London, but I never seem to be able to get my camera out in time. Jim's Dad, though, caught the Barracks Horses in action as they trotted en masse past the Inn.
On the day that everyone visited Windsor Castle, I was home feeling sick. So I'm telling this story based on other peoples' experiences. I missed some exciting stuff!
First, breakfast at a cafe:
Then a beautiful day at Windsor Castle with flowers and sunshine! (when I went it was cold, grey and rainy)
And then they saw the queen on her way to Ascot! From a great distance! If you look closely you can see her in a mint green outfit behind the car.
It was a great visit!
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