Fun with Karla

Back when I was just out of college, I worked in New Orleans as an administrative assistant to a geneticist at the Tulane Cancer Center.  And there,  I met one of my many dear and fun friends, Karla.  We haven't seen each other in six years, but when she got to London after a scientific conference in Berlin, it was like no time had passed at all (except that we're older and I have two kids and etc. etc.)!  

We did a lot of fun things, starting with eating at the Hollybush:

Thanks to another friend, we also got to go to the Chelsea Flower Show, which is a quintessential English Event run by the Royal Horticultural Society (and their elephant).

We were lucky to get to spend the day with the lovely Potter sisters, Claire and Marguerite:

And to see some pretty amazing gardens!

Pimm's at 10am!  And then I was ready for a nap.

Inside admiring the roses (with some guy):

And feigning interest in Adirondack chairs for a chance to rest our feet.  In the end I really WAS interested in the chairs, but they cost too much.

There has been much celebrating of The Queen on this, her sixtieth year of ruling England.

In front of a memorial garden based on a Korean prison camp (I think).

And Claire, proudly in front of the Australian garden, complete with a 'typical Aussie bloke' in a hot tub.

We also got to a garden that was designed by Sarah Price who did the Great British Garden on the Olympic Park and one designed by some of Jim's other work friends as well.  It was a lot of fun and very British and slightly overwhelming because there was so much to see.  So many really beautiful flowers and gardens.

While Karla was visiting, we had some really wonderful weather (as mentioned in my previous blog, it had been raining non-stop for months before she got here.  And it started raining again the day she left. I'm convince our guests are controlling the weather somehow).  So, we took advantage of the situation and had an evening picnic in the park. 

We weren't the only ones enjoying the good weather.  At least everyone was picking up their trash!

Karla and I also went on a fat tyre bike tour of London, which was harrowing. Riding bikes in London is scary!  I was one of the few who opted to wear a helmet.

Our tour guide was a Spaniard (but had been in the UK since he was eight and was a Shakespeare major, so he was pretty English).

We stopped off in Borough Market and ate an enormous lunch. It was important to keep our energy up on our strenuous bike ride along the Thames!

Tower Bridge

An amazing quartet in Covent Garden:

Jubilee preparations (sideways):

Scary bike riding past Big Ben.  I was so glad to get off my bike when we made it back to our meeting place in one piece!

It was great seeing Karla and I hope another six years doesn't go by before we see her again!

Mom visits

At long last, a blog about Mom's visit in March!  This was before the rain started and before the illnesses set in and we had beautiful springy weather for her to enjoy.  In fact, the weather went downhill as soon as she left. That's been happening lately.  

One of our first London adventures was to wander to the zoo, via Primrose Hill.  Here we are with an unknown friend who's father took our picture for us:

 MIllie was particularly enthralled by the zoo's show featuring rats and various birds pooping on cue.

 And everyone was very brave when it came to petting the goats:

 I also ran my first 10K in a lot of years while Mom was visiting.  It took place in a small village in Oxfordshire called Brill and the race was called the Brill Hilly.  And it was, as it name suggested, hilly...especially at the end.  Evie also ran the toddler dash and had a more official looking number than I did.

 Jim showed his support by chowing down on a bacon sandwich pre-race:

 On our way to the starting line!  Lala and Millie led the way.

 And they were off!  Evie and Jim 'dashed' with the best of them!

 And Evie showed off her 'golden' to Millie when she finished.

 Some time passed before I got to the finish line, so everyone enjoyed the early bloomed daffodils (which got beaten down by the relentless rain a week later):

 Finally, I finished!  Who hoo! Now it's time to get back in shape and run a marathon in October. whohoo.

 After the race and after perusing an antiques market, we headed to a pub, where Evie made a train out of the chairs.

 One of the highlights of Mom's visit was her tour of the nearly completed Olympic Park!  Jim was a great tour guide, as usual.  Here they are with Mayor Boris Johnston's orbit in the background:

 In front of the aquatics centre:

 Posing with the daffs:

 And taking in the view of the park:

 Olympic stadium!

 Olympic love in the Great British Garden!

 Mom in construction worker mode:

 RUN Sculpture.  I'm trying to be inspired as I type this:

 Victory in the Olympic Stadium!

 After all that excitement, we put on our dress up clothes and went to the performance of My First Cinderella Ballet, especially for small children.  While she completely enjoyed the performance, Evie was surly about having her picture taken afterwards (as evidenced by the grumpy look on her face):

 Eventually, in Covent Garden, which was decorated with beautiful giant Faberge-style eggs, she cheered up again:

 Back at home, we dyed our brown eggs and put them out for the Easter Bunny.  They were very natural looking:

 And thanks to Nana and Papa who supplied the Easter Bunny with his wares this year!

 Easter Bunny chocolate excitement!

 And boiled sweets for breakfast!

 A few days later, en route to the Tate Modern, we swung into Neal's Yard to sample a little cheese:

 The rain had started, but we were still cheerful:

And everyone enjoyed the museum (mostly):

 It was a fun visit and everyone was sad to see Lala go! But we'll all be reuinted in a few weeks and we'll also get to see Nana and Papa!