Rural Suffolk...

Today was the first real glorious summer day - James and I puttered around this morning and rode in to town on our bicycles. It's kind of a tricky ride- the bike paths up in the housing estate are really good and well-laid out,and then you suddenly get dumped on to a main road with a really narrow sidewalk with lots of overhanging branches. And then there are intermittent bike paths in the town, none of which lead anywhere. I'm not quite confident enough of James' riding to let him ride in the road with cars - people go REALLY fast and he can be kind of oblivious and wobbly some times. Mostly he's fine, but he randomly swerves. Edward and I basically grew up on our bikes, especially in Holland and when we lived in Peterborough, so I don't think mom and dad ever really worried about us wobbling too much.

Anyway, in the afternoon we went to the Alder Carr Farm in Needham Market. I suggested that we take the back way there - it was this gloriously winding country lane that went through two towns - Creeting St. Peter and Creeting St. Mary. I love the names...and the houses along the road were SO pretty.

It's also the perfect distance to go on a bike ride - it's about 3 miles each way and a little hilly but not too bad. We're going to save our pennies and see about getting some bikes - my parents have Gazelle bikes from Holland that are beautiful and run forever but they're WAAAAY out of our price range. They have some really funny tandem ones, although I think I'm too much of a control freak to let John steer...we'd crash before we made it to the end of our street.

Anyway, the farm was incredible- they had homemade ice cream (YUM!), strawberries (PYO and in baskets) that smelled amazing, and various other little shops. One of them was an earthy-crunchy eco-friendly shop (that sells mooncups!), so we bought some enviro-friendly laundry soap and toilet cleaner. The laundry soap is cool - we can take the empty jug back and they'll refill it at a discount. Oh, the thrill.

mac-spedition

The mac is going on a small field trip - its airport card (wireless interweb) hasn't worked for a few weeks, and apparently it's a hardware problem. It's connected to the wired internet but I really miss being able to take it around the house with me. So it's off to an 'Authorized Service Provider' tomorrow evening - I'm really hoping that they ping a new card in and I trundle home with it but something tells me it's not going to happen that way...

I'll be interwebbing on John's PC (if I'm nice to him), so I won't go through too much withdrawal.

We really need to move in to our study properly - we have our desks set up but there are no pictures on the wall (waiting for mom) and all the books are crammed on one small bookshelf (and the floor). We're John's torn between getting a cheap 'Billy' bookshelf from Ikea or waiting and getting one that we really love. I'm not that fussed about bookshelves - I'd rather have a cheap one and get the crap up off the floor - nobody's going to be looking at the shelf and we can always paint it if we get desperate.

I'm still trying to get my sewing corner set up as well - I think I need to do some more rearranging. In my infinite spare time, of course.

Ooh...and three more tomato plants arrived today - I think they're part of the ones that Freda ordered for me - I'll pot them tomorrow night and send them on their way!

Rest and recuperation...

After a really fun weekend with C, she headed home this morning. Back to London and then home to Boston. It was kind of strange to have her here - almost like worlds were colliding, but it was SO good to see her. Yesterday we watched Miss Potter (very cute but predictable) and The Fountain (redeemed by the fact that Hugh Jackman is hot but otherwise VERY strange). I'd had a fit of decadence at Waitrose and bought 5 different bags of 'odd flavor' British crisps - we had Thai Chili, Mango Chili, Sea Salt + Balsamic Vinegar, Spicy Lime, and Roast Chicken with Herbs. Yum-o! Not all at once, but over 2 days we managed to eat all the (little) bags.

I also planted some herbs in the garage which I then put out in trays in the garden and managed to COMPLETELY bugger my back. It wasn't my usual lower-back-twinge-oh-shit-I-can't-move... this was more of a hmm-that-doesn't-feel-good-ok-now-it's-killing-me-and-I-can't-sleep. Lovely. I was NOT a happy bunny when I woke up this morning and I spent most of the day 'on bed.' I managed to finish Digging To America and start in on The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Digging was not what I'd expected it to be - I thought it would be from a completely different perspective and I kept waiting for it to get 'good.' It wasn't bad, just not particularly memorable. And quite similar to The Namesake, which I also read recently. So far, Memory Keeper is pretty good, although I'm not terribly attached to the characters so I may give up. I still have 19 Minutes (the Jodi Picoult, signed) sitting on my nightstand...I think it's next in line after MK.

I'm also the newly appointed newsletter editor for the Bury Bach Choir - lucky me. I'll have to do some tinkering in Pagemaker or Scribus (the Linux version, on John's pc).

Tourists

I had a fab day in London with C and Ellie- we all managed to meet up at the American embassy at the appointed hour, and then trundled around the city. We went to Harrods, Hyde Park, the National Gallery, St James' Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, walked along the Thames, and then we went to Foyles and had curry in Soho. Phew. Here we are in front of the 'green' Trafalgar Square:


Then yesterday we went to Aldeburgh (after touring scenic downtown Stowmarket...). We had supremely chippy chips (and fish) and window shopped with the rich people.



We made a pit stop in Woodbridge on the way home to look at the boats, and then had a light-ish and very late dinner as we were all still recovering from the chips.

Wheee!

The King's Singers were really good on Friday night - they have really solid stage presence and their musicianship is unlike any other performers I've ever seen. They know exactly what the other ones are going to do, and when, and they blend SO well. We were sitting in the third row (thank you, free 'sponsor' tickets from work!), and it truly couldn't have been a better concert.

We took the boy to the Rougham Kite Festival on Saturday - it was super-windy and we all had a great time.



We James built a kite in the kids-build-kites tent.



It was WAAY too windy for it to fly so we...customized it a little. The tail needed more weight so we attached some hair clips that I had to the bottom and then it flew really well.

Here he is, flying it.



And here it is, with the other kites.



They were also running a ride-along thing with the kiteboarders - so we paid £1 and signed James' life away. He had a BLAST. We took a little movie of it - as soon as I figure out how to get it on YouTube, I'll post it.

Miscellany

John and I are off to see the King's Singers at the Bury Festival tomorrow night. I saw them with my parents some time in the early 90s in the UK (and have the t-shirt to prove it), and I can't wait to see them again. They're going to be singing mostly madrigals and early music - it's going to be SO good!!

I bought my Mom a notebook from Taylor Made Designs - it's similar to the one that I got Andrea for her birthday and I just couldn't resist. She's been carrying around an old cast-off notebook that I had written Keep OUT (in bubble letters, natch) on - it was time for something a little nicer and they're SO cute.

One other thing - if you're a guy, stop reading. Gone? OK. If you're still reading, check out the Mooncup (UK) or the Divacup(US). I bought a Mooncup after stumbling on a recommendation on another blogger's site about 6 months ago and I haven't looked back. The mooncup is kind of an odd thing to rave about (John's getting a little sick of it), but it's truly awesome - it's cheaper, better for the planet, better for my insides, and generally fantastic. Ok, infomercial over.

Men, you can come back now.

"It looks just like the picture!"

John and I had a particularly decadent food day today. I called my friend Elia this week and invited her and her husband (she's American, he's a Brit) over for lunch today. They called to confirm this morning and I suggested that they come over around 12:30 or 1. John asked what we were having for lunch, and I panicked. Elia was really funny when I talked to her in the morning - she basically said that "canned soup warmed up would be fine for them." I don't really like canned soup (too salty), so I attacked this month's Good Food for suggestions.

And found this:

We went to our favourite butcher in Needham Market this morning and got lamb steaks, which I broiled under the grill with some herbes de Provence and olive oil. Then I put it with the smushed tomatoes and zucchini that I'd sauteed in garlic. It was GLORIOUS. And Elia announced that it looked "just like the picture!" Success!

Then, for dinner, John and I wanted something light - I'd gotten some smoked trout and champagne as splurges at the grocery store yesterday - we had some vouchers and wanted to spend them on things other than juice and veggies. So we had the trout on the caraway and poppy bread that John made last weekend - it was amazingly good.






And we're having another beautiful evening - it's been raining on and off all day (and POURED during the hour that we decided to walk in to town...) I think I'm going to make this in to my new banner.

Roomies

It looks like I'm going to have 2 (count 'em, 2!) roommates in the UK in the next few weeks. Both C and Ellie are going to be here for various reasons. I definitely feel spoiled!

I got a new cell phone (same number) this week - Vodaphone called and said that my contract was up and did I want to renew and get a new phone. Um, yeah. So I'm now the proud owner of a sexy little blue Motorola Krzr. And I've moved my Indigo Girls ringtone (it plays 'Rise Up') on to it. What more could I want?

Oh yeah, ROOMIES!! In England!! And possibly Stowmarket!

Bread and Sky (2 kinds)

John made bread yesterday - he added caraway and poppy seeds, which was REALLY yummy. James and I made a box of American Betty Crocker brownies from the airbase, which went down very well. Here's the aftermath of all that baking:


It was really showery yesterday, and at one point in the late afternoon the sky was really dark and rainy on one side of the house, with the sun shining brightly on the other side.


And I even caught the rainbow:


I'm a sucker for rainbows, and they happen all the time in the UK because the weather changes so fast!

So the OTHER 'sky' in the title is Sky TV. For the Yanks, nobody here has 'cable'...you either have an aerial or you have satellite TV. Sky is essentially the only satellite provider, which is a bit of a bother. We ordered their cheapest, off the grid plan (all we REALLY want is BBC2 and the odd football/tennis match and dog show - and the TV is v. snazzy and we love it - thanks mom and dad!), and when the guy came to hook up the dish, he couldn't. Basically, they're only insured to drill through external walls. And as our TV isn't on an external wall he suggested we move it. We then pointed out that there was a TV point on the wall behind where the TV is. He looked at it and said that we'd have to hire an 'independent' (i.e. not Sky) to install, as he'd need to go into our loft space to hook up the already existing and perfectly functional except that it needs to be connected to a dish satellite plug. BAH. So now Sky are refunding our £ - hopefully - and we have to pay MORE money than we'd originally paid Sky to get the thing hooked up in the loft. So the fancy-pants pre-wiring of the TV that the builders did ends up costing us extra. Go figure. And it's going to be at least another week before they can hook it up.

My mother has a theory that everything that's done in England has to be done at least twice...it's shaping up to be true (although I haven't had the best of luck with Verizon/Cablevision/TimeWarner etc in NYC either...)

Thoughts, moral support, and invitations to come over and watch TV would be appreciated. :)

Post Mills -> Bury

First cool thing? Jodi Picoult signed my copy of Nineteen Minutes.

Second cool thing? She and I had what she referred to as a 'moment'.



I was about the 6th person in line for the book signing (behind 2 Americans), and when I got up to where she was sitting, she asked me how I was doing. "Great," I replied. "I think ALL the Americans in the whole county are here today!"

"Oh, where are you from?"

"New York"

"Really? Where?"

"New Rochelle...[a knowing nod]...but I've spent a lot of time up in Hanover [NH, where she lives - it's on her bio]"

"Oh wow - were you there for college?"

"Nope, I went to camp just down the road - in a little town called Post Mills."

"POST MILLS?! Which camp?"

So I told her. Much shrieking of recognition.

It turns out that her daughter has been a camper there for the last two years and is going back for her third summer this year. It's a teeny-tiny world. She thought it was really funny that she was meeting someone who'd been so close to home, so far away.

Jodi Picoult - in Bury tomorrow!

I'm psyched - when we were in Bury today for the America 400 festival that Ian suggested, I wandered into Waterstones' bookshop and noticed that Jodi Picoult (the crazy famous bestselling author) is going to be there signing her new book tomorrow (it's a 3-day weekend in the UK). WOAH!

I bought the book today (in hardcover, gasp!) and I'll be bringing it back for her to sign tomorrow. Pics, I promise!!

Message from the pancakes.

We made pancakes last weekend - I seemed to have a message in mine:


I WILL be posting more pictures of the house- I'm just supremely unmotivated at the moment. Silly house thing of the day - we were cold (it's a chilly spring evening and we're both wearing sweaters). So what did we do? Turn the heating on. And now, we're warm. AMAZING.

Here's our first bird in the garden. He didn't really want to have his picture taken, but what can you do?

DomestiKate

Well, we're pretty much moved in. There are still wardrobe boxes in our bedroom (we haven't bought wardrobes yet and there are no closets), but other than that, all the boxes are unpacked and stuff is put away.

Our bed (finally) arrived yesterday - it's really beautiful and looks great in the bedroom. We did an Ikea run today and got some storage for the bathrooms and a picture for the front hall. We almost bought another bookshelf for the study, but it didn't quite fit in the car. Since Ikea now deliver (!) to the work postcode, we'll just order it online and have it delivered to the office. Then we can borrow the big van and we'll be all set.

We also saw some couches that we liked a lot - they're definitely a 'someday' purchase, though.

Our car has been somewhat exciting lately - it's a Citroen and it has moments where it reminds us that it is French and we are not and it's going to make sure it knows who's in charge. There's a short in the drivers' side window control panel, which means that the right hand rear window will spontaneously roll down. It's always a surprise when it happens, especially if we're on the highway. It happened on Friday night on the way home from work, and the only way to roll it back up again is to reach in to the back seat and roll it up at the window. If you're reading this, C5, it's ok, you're in charge. We understand.

I've been kind of a blog slacker lately - work is really draining (but engaging), and my workspace at home in the study isn't quite set up yet, so I've been avoiding spending a lot of time with the mac.

Computer Geek-In-Training

John's been tinkering with Ubuntu Linux on his computer for a few weeks now (he's having a blast...), and keeps threatening to install it on my mac. Not a chance.

I'm helping out in another department at work, in addition to some of the stuff I was doing in my other job. Part of what I'm doing involves using a different interface to access the same data that I used before - I'd been told by the IT geeks that it was much faster but I hadn't given it a shot until last week. And they're right, it IS faster, although I had one problem.

I'm addicted to the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste (if you don't use them, you're missing out), and the interface that I was using didn't seem to support them - it would error whenever I pressed CTRL C or CTRL V. BAH. So I asked the programmers if there were any hacks or workarounds, and they said no.

John said that he thought it could be done, although he didn't know exactly how to do it. So this morning after using my mouse to paste something in for the umpty-leventh time, I started digging around under the hood of the interface. And found the keyboard remapping section. And remapped my keyboard (and my colleague's) so that we can use our keyboard shortcuts. And then marched triumphantly into the programmers' office to tell them that not only was it possible, but I'd done it. By myself.

I was more excited than I should have been...but it was one of those little nuisances that was making a really good interface annoying. FIXED!

Remember when I acquired a stepson?

James is cracking me up lately - we were out at dinner (curry, as usual) last night, and he had lamb tikka. Yum. The lamb was v. tender, and he announced that it was as good as the steak that he'd had when he was in New York. Apparently he's over his 'meat well done' phase, which is good.

John and I split a bottle of wine (we walked to the restaurant - it's a little further than walking from our old flat, but it's do-able), and I offered James a sip of wine. I warned him that it might taste funny, since it's alcohol.

He took a small sip, thought about it for a moment, then announced, "it tastes different to other red wine." Um, yeah...he's 9. John and I cracked up.

John and I had seen lots of kids playing in the neighborhood but James hadn't gotten plugged in with them yet- it's tricky when he's only here every other weekend. So tonight after I'd started dinner, he and I went out with the frisbee and threw it around on the main green for a few minutes. By the time I left him, 10 minutes later, he was playing frisbee and kicking a soccer ball with 15 other neighborhood kids who had appeared out of nowhere. He was out with them until I brought him in for dinner an hour (!) later. They now know where he lives and that he's here every other weekend...I think we've seen the last of him sitting on the couch whining that he's bored and has nobody to play with.

Unpacking the NY trip

Lizzie and Greg's wedding was great - everyone looked fabulous, the weather was perfect, nothing was too stressful, and it was lots of fun. Somehow, I only took five pictures, and they were all from the day BEFORE the wedding. I'm a bad bridesmaid, I guess. :)

So here's Lizzie and Allie getting pedicures:

And here I am with JJ (Lizzie's new sister-in-law):


I had an uneventful flight back on Monday - after all the crazy stormy weather in New Rochelle, somehow my flight was on time. It was, however, filled with screaming children. Damn that day flight. I set a new world record for getting out of Heathrow airport: sitting on the plane to sitting in the car (having gone through immigration AND collected my baggage) in 18 minutes. I'm so cool.

I was upgraded (FREE) by Virgin to Premium Economy (you don't ask, you don't get!) on the way to NY, and so sitting in a middle seat in American Airlines' coach was a bit of a struggle. Virgin has such better entertainment (TV, movies, etc, all on your own schedule), and the food is better. I may have to start springing for them even when it's a few bucks more.

One small thing on the Virginia Tech shootings, as my heart goes out to all the families affected. I truly can't believe that the gun lobby is using this as a case for MORE guns, so people can defend themselves. It doesn't seem like a wise choice.

New York, by the numbers

Cosi lunches with Andrea: 1
Bags of tea purchased (from Sympathy For The Kettle): 6

Pastrami Sandwiches (Katz's, natch) consumed with Emily: 1/2 (each)

Knishes consumed with Emily: 1/2 (each)

Pickles: 2 (each)
Whole foods grocery bags purchased: 1
Subway trips: 3
Metro North trips: 2
Sitting on the wrong Metro-North train-s (Stamford was NOT where I was headed): 1

Today:
Wedding programs folded: 190
Bows tied: 75

We're gearing up for Lizzie and Greg's wedding on Saturday - it's going to be SO beautiful. I'm picking up my dress tomorrow morning, then things are pretty much kicking in to high gear.

Oh, and I downloaded a new plug-in for my iTunes - it searches through all the artists in my playlist and compiles a calendar of who's going to be near us. I set it to a 200 mile radius around London. AND.....TORI is going to be in London on July 3 and 4. WOOHOO! The last time I saw her was in Portland, ME, with my college roomie, Liz. John is a closet Tori fan - we'll definitely go.

Bunny Cake

It's been a pretty crazy few days so far - I saw Andrea and Kim on Saturday and then went to the 10 year CT '97 Lochearn reunion. I spent 6 summers at Lochearn Camp in Vermont, and loved (almost) every second of it. There were so many great women that I met there, and it was amazing to see a few of them on Saturday night.

Sunday was Easter, so I went to Redeemer and then came back to New Ro for a family easter and the famous Bunny Cake. My mom's been making this cake since before I can remember...no bunnies were harmed.


John's busily unpacking - for those of you who need a house fix, here's the view out of the kitchen towards the back yard.

I wanna go back to Stowmarket

Have been having a whirlwind time in NY - it's going to calm down a little this week. Looks like the New Ro police had fun last night...

Chaos in New Rochelle: Train rider saw 'yelling and screaming'
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 9, 2007)
NEW ROCHELLE - More details are expected on last night's downtown pandemonium when the city and owners of New Roc City hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m. today at the entertainment center.

More than 1,000 unruly teenagers, ordered to leave New Roc City, faced off with police in riot gear last night, leading to at least one stabbing, two robberies and six arrests, police said.

"It started out as one large, unruly crowd and then dispersed into several smaller crowds," Capt. Kevin Kealy said. "We just had too many people here at once."

A countywide red alert was issued, with state, Westchester County and more than a dozen local police departments rushing to the scene in riot gear. Witnesses said they heard shots fired, and the New Rochelle police found two discarded handguns in the area, but no related injuries were reported.

"Nobody showed up in any emergency room (with gunshot wounds)," said New Rochelle police Sgt. David Lonergan said today. Six ambulances from nearby jurisduictions were brought in to cover the city, Fire Chief Ray Kiernan said.

A 15-year-old Bronx youth was stabbed in the chest near North and Lockwood avenues and suffered a superficial wound, police said.

James O'Toole, the landlord of a North Avenue apartment building a block from New Roc City said he got calls from frightened tenants while he was working at a bar nearby. He returned to find chaos that forced him to park more than two blocks away.

"It was crazy," said O'Toole, 41. "In my life, I've never seen anything like this, and I hope I never do again....On North and Main streets there were cops all over the place, kids in the street, people yelling, screaming, just a mass humanity, of people."

The wild night struck in the heart of the area where the city is trying to spark a renaissance with several towers under construction or planned. That change in the city's direction began with the opening of New Roc City in 1999. It was built by Louis Cappelli, the developer building the Trump Plaza tower a half block away and a full-block development across the street with two towers that may soar more than 500 feet high.

City boosters today said the weekend's problems will not stall the city's rebirth.

"I think that New Rochelle's renaissance is bigger and broader than a single one-time incident involving a unique circumstance that should not repeat itself," said City Councilman Barry Fertel, an attorney whose office is about two blocks from New Roc City.

Lonergan said the city's fire department alerted police to overcrowding in the arcade section of the entertainment complex.

Fire officials did not ask people to leave, but did prevent anyone else from entering New Roc City, Kiernan said,

Police arrived shortly before 6:30 p.m. and ordered the crowd to leave the outdoor courtyard area at New Roc City at LeCount Place and Anderson Street. When the crowd refused, police armed with nightsticks pushed through the courtyard, sending hundreds of people streaming out in all directions.

Unruly mobs of teens taunted and cursed at officers, then moved out onto North Avenue, overturning trash cans and menacing shop owners. As backup police units from nearly every municipality in the county joined state, county and Metro-North agencies, the crowd converged on the train station, where at least one man was assaulted.

The unconscious man was taken away by ambulance as police wrangled as many people as they could onto a southbound train that arrived shortly before 10:30 p.m.

The disturbance peaked between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Kiernan said. "All of a sudden New Rochelle got picked to receive large groups of kids," he said, noting that they were not from New Rochelle.

"It was the largest mobilization of police resources I have ever seen in New Rochelle," Kiernan said.

At the train station, an 18-year-old young man from the Bronx was ticketed for disorderly conduct, Metropolitan Transportation Authorty Police spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said. It was the only summons or arrest by the MTA police, she said.

Jordan George, a Manhattan resident who was taking the southbound train from Mamaroneck after visiting a relative for the Easter holiday, said he and fellow passengers were terrified when the train pulled into New Rochelle and riot police and teenagers streamed into the car.

"Picture this from my point of view: I've been riding this train for 12 years without any kind of incident, and all of a sudden we pull into a station and hundreds of kids and police in riot gear come flooding in," George said today.

"They was a lot of yelling and screaming going on, and thank God nobody got hurt, but it was right on the edge, I was genuinely frightened for my safety and my girlfriend's safety."

George said that he got off the train at the Fordham stop, where about 50 New York City Police Department officers were on the platform awaiting the crowd. George and his girlfriend made their way to the street and took a cab to his home in Gramercy Park.

New Rochelle police are continuing the investigation, Lonergan said.

"This was unusual for us. We're not exactly sure what happened," he said. "There were a lot of people apparently coming in from the Bronx. I don't know what the problem was, or why they were all up here."

Several witnesses in the crowd said the teens had come to New Rochelle from New York City after being denied admission to the New York International Automobile Show at the Jacob Javits Center, although a Javits Center spokesman could not confirm that today.

Boxes, boxes, boxes, and more boxes

We're IN! The house is FULL of boxes, but it's ours. We don't have internet access yet (gasp!), so posting has been a bit thin on the ground lately. I'll post more once I'm in New York next week.

Box Update and Concert

Box update: about 20 packed, about 20 to go.

We've packed James' room, all the books, the tops of the closets, and under the beds. Now all we have to do are the kitchen and the front hall.

I'm singing in a concert this weekend, so our box packing time is a bit limited, but we should be fine.

If you're in the area, it's going to be pretty spectacular. The Bury Bach Choir is singing Bach's St Matthew Passion (with a full orchestra and the Bury Cathedral Boys' Choir). Here's the link to the details - you can still get tickets!

Playground? Check!

We've spent the weekend 'trooping about the place,' as Freda says. We worked all day yesterday in the cold and the rain, and the boys have hung ALL the curtain rods. Travis has started in on plumbing in the water softener, we've gotten all kinds of things that we needed, and most importantly, we've found a playground. V. nearby. And it's a GOOD one! It's got a huge crow's nest/spider web thingy, a very inventive seesaw, a big jungle gym, and a bike track. It's a paved track with bumps and ramps and all kinds of cool stuff for kids to ride around on. James' bike is currently at Mummy's but we'll see if we can sort something out. And definitely a helmet.

Here he is, climbing.

It's about a 5 minute walk from the house, and there are benches for me to sit on when I'm tired of junglegyming. This is the view from the top of the crow's nest:

We've also found a shortcut to the house- it's a MUCH easier and quicker way in. WOOHOO!

We were dropping off some of the miscellaneous stuff that we got today (we have HOUSE NUMBERS! For the front of our house!), and we met our across-the-street neighbors. We met the garage-neighbors yesterday - everyone seems really nice and THRILLED to be there. It's great that we're all moving in around the same time - people seem pretty open.

Oh, and someone in the neighborhood has a tabby kitten who's exploring everything. He came over to see what we were doing and explored our garage. He would have explored the house except that we caught him looking at it and shut the door.

He went off to chase some butterflies and pounce on invisible things in the grass. Much better, really.

Our very own chipboard castle

Short post tonight because I'm tired - but.....DRUMROLL.....we have the house! It's OURS as of about 11:30 this morning. We picked up the keys, sent the carpet guys in, measured the back garden for lawn stuff, and generally had an exciting afternoon.

Tomorrow we tackle the curtain rails with Travis and Freda. Pictures soon!!

One Of Those Days

I've been feeling not far from the end of my tether lately - it's been the combination of the move, a whole bunch of stuff going on at work, and miscellaneous other stresses. I've been trying to move some cash from the US to our account here to help with the moving expenses and it's taken over 3 weeks. Both banks are blaming the other one and generally making a mess of things. It LOOKS like it's going to come through, finally. Fingers crossed.

I had my physio appointment tonight and we've come to the conclusion that I need to take a break for a few weeks and rejig my office workspace again, since all the good that's being done in my appointment every week is being undone again at work. Looks like a new chair is in order - my physio has recommended a place not far from the office where they'll let me sit in a chair for 45 minutes during my lunch break and test it out.

When she pointed out that the progress on my back had stagnated, I dropped my basket. I'd been on the edge of tears all day and I just lost it. She (and John) looked totally alarmed, and she immediately offered me a cup of tea, which made me laugh. John and I had fish & chips for dinner (which we haven't had in AGES) and then settled in to watch Rick Stein (a cross between Alton Brown and Mr. Rogers) and the Hairy Bikers (the unofficial successors to the Two Fat Ladies). Not sure if the Bikers are on BBC America, or if you can get DVDs, but they were really funny.

I also took my physio's advice and had a cup of tea. My mom sent me some special teas that she got in the Village a few months ago - my favorite is the Kemun Imperial blend - John made a cup for me and used the teapot and everything.

I feel revived, and tomorrow is looking much more promising.

Snow, again

It's our second snow of the season - eek!

I managed to snap these pictures from our living room this morning - it turned to rain a few minutes later and was a lot less pretty. Oh, and the orange blob isn't the sun - that's me forgetting to turn off the flash. It was at 6:30am so I think I'm allowed a little leeway. It looks really serene and wintry, though.




It's DARN cold in the flat - we saw the new central heating system in the house yesterday and it has radiators that can be set on timers. Decadent, really.

We haven't packed any more boxes - John was in London today for work and the trains were all messed up so I had to pick him up in Ipswich at 8:30 and we've just had dinner. Tomorrow.

Magic Bins?

Box update: 9 1/2 boxes packed (mostly books), about 35 to go. Tomorrow, we tackle the junk drawer(s).

We had our 'home demonstration' today - basically a walk-through with one of the customer services people and one of the builders. They told us about the loft, showed us how to use the boiler, and other thrilling things. Two weeks from today we should be IN the new house, pondering the lack of internet. It'll come, it just might take a while. BT (British Telecom for the 'mericans) are not known for being speedy.

One of the things that all Brits have are 'bins'. They're like garbage cans except that they're all standard and provided by the county council and have wheels. And are therefore known as wheelie bins. Mom and Dad, do you feel a joke coming on? I knew it!!

So there's a guy who goes on vacation for 2 weeks, and the morning after he gets back, he runs in to the garbage man (the 'bin man') on his way to work.

The bin man says, "Where's yer bin?"

The homeowner proudly responds, "I been to France!"

"No, no, where's yer WHEELIE bin?"

"I WHEELIE been to France!!"

Teehee. This was on the BBC at some point while we were in the UK when I was a kid and my family brings it up at least once a week.

So anyway, I had to call the council to arrange for some bins at the new house (recycling and otherwise), and when I spoke to the guy he said that they'd be delivered at the new house in the next week or so.

I said, "So they'll just appear? We don't have to sign for them or anything?"

To which he responded, "Nope, it's just like magic!"

"Oooh," I said. "Magic bins!!"

He chuckled. "Yep, magic bins."

Indeed.

Bed Time

Well, we bought a bed frame today. Our flat was furnished when we moved in, although we pretty quickly decided the mattress had...er...seen better days. So we bought a new one last winter (thrilling, I know). The bed frame, however, was fine. But now since we're moving, we've been on the lookout for a bed frame. We've been everywhere - the Bed Warehouse places, the mom & pop stores, ebay, Ikea, the department stores - and found nothing. At all. There've been a few 'Eeh...I can live with that' beds, but nothing that's grabbed either of us.

We weren't really looking forward to putting our mattress on the floor in our new room as a permanent solution, so John went through the Yellow Pages this afternoon. We found a place in Stonham Aspal, about 10 minutes down the road. It's in a little complex with a mini-golf place and an owl sanctuary and random other stuff - we've driven by it a zillion times and never stopped.

It's called MH Beds - here's their website (although our bed isn't on there). We walked in, and I immediately saw a bed that I loved - it had really clean lines and a straight back and was exactly the right look for the house. I was a bit disappointed, since I didn't think John would like it. So I went over to the other wall, where there was a perfectly nice bed that he was moving towards. The sales guy told us about the bed, and then asked what we were looking for. We told him (wood, straight back, low foot end) and pointed at the bed that I'd seen as we walked in.

Apparently John had had the exact same reaction (I love it but Kate won't like it)...

We bought it on the spot and it's going to be delivered to the new house (and assembled!) in 4 weeks.

A different kind of tape...

Well, it's official. We've started packing. We've done 4 boxes, with about 50 to go (judging by the number that the moving estimator gave us after looking round the flat). Oh joy. Part of the problem is that the flat's so small that we can't really cordon a room off for boxes - they kind of just have to sit where they're packed.

We went to the French market in town today - they travel over on the ferry about three times a year and there are all kinds of great cheeses and breads and other yummy stuff. John also got a pair of slippers...since we're having new (white!) carpets in the new house, there will be NO SHOES in the house for at least 5 years. Maybe 10. Possibly 15. The slippers are burgundy velour - I think they're hysterical and John loves them. He's going to need a smoking jacket v. soon to go with them.

We John watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. It's been compared to Narnia and lots of other fantasy films, which I thought was really misleading. It was SO violent and gory that I had to sit on the other couch, with my back to the TV, and then I ended up leaving the room. John thought it was a good movie on the whole, but he definitely didn't love it either. It's won all sorts of awards...who knows.

Tape is evil

I've been going to physiotherapy for a few months now, and last week my physio announced that she was going to start 'taping' me. "Video?", I thought. "Audio?"

Nah...big ace-bandage-y looking sticky tape. That runs up my spine and down my right arm. And is supposed to take the pressure off my shoulder. And is driving me BANANAS.

The good news? I can take it off. The bad news? Not until Tuesday (unless I develop an allergic reaction sooner).

Update: The tape came off at lunch time today - I drove home from work to take it off because it was making me so nuts...

Thanks to everyone who emailed/commented about the Times...I was pretty darn thrilled.

Dear Diary, I'm FAMOUS!!

About 6 weeks ago, I submitted a story to the New York Times Metropolitan diary. And then forgot about it. Check this out!!

Dear Diary:

My mom and I had a funny New York moment last month.

I lived in Tudor City for two years and was a daily train rider. I now live in the United Kingdom with my husband, and one night last month I was on the phone with my mom, who was on her way back home from a Broadway show.

She told me that her train would arrive in about 15 minutes and then sighed, “I’m desperate for a cup of coffee.” I asked her where she was and she replied that she was standing at the top of the escalators in Grand Central Terminal, about to go down to the main concourse.

I informed her that there were two Starbucks nearby, then proceeded to direct her to the closest one, over the phone and from 3,500 miles away. She got her coffee and made her train! Ahh, the miracles of modern technology!

Kate Hughes Herd

He's 9...and he eats vegetables.

We've had a really low-key weekend - it's been great. Today we went and saw the grandparents for lunch, then headed back here to do some misc housekeeping and errand-y stuff. Freda's finished the curtains for our bedroom and they're gorgeous. Pics once they're up in the new house!!

We weren't sure what to have for dinner, so I flipped through the latest BBC Good Food and found a prawn (shrimp) thai red curry stir fry with broc, baby corn and red peppers. It was cooked in less time than it took to make the rice. AND James ate some of his broccoli and all of the corn and peppers. I love the fact that when I met him, 2 years ago, he liked 'Burger King and stuff like that' and now he loves spicy food and curries and veggies. SWEET.

And now that Andrea's birthday's over (Happy Birthday!!), I can post this link. I bought her present on Etsy, which is kind of like a cross between a craft fair and Amazon.com. I was the seller's first web purchase and she was about as thrilled as I was. :)

Doggies!!

It's our second-to-last James weekend before the big move. Woohoo!!

One of my chores today was to finish making the tabs for the curtains that I'm Freda's making for the living room. The only spare piece of fabric we had was a long strip down the side (that we'd earmarked for the tabs), so I decided that rather than sew 14 individual tabs (7 for each curtain), I'd just sew the whole thing in to a long tube. AND I had a stroke of genius - I needed the finished tabs to be 2" across, but my sewing machine doesn't have many guide marks on it. So I took one of the sticky flags that I have for marking pieces in music books and put it 2" from the needle, on the sewing machine. And boom - a 3 meter long, very straight seam, exactly in the right spot. Oh the thrill of it.

And then I had to turn all 3 meters of it. I'm horrible at turning...it just takes forever. I came into the living room where the boys were computing (James has discovered Solitaire), and realized that James' fingers were just the right size to help turn the long tube. He thought it was a fantasic game - he kept shouting about how much he'd gotten this time!! I love it...I'll have him crafting soon. Oh, and his grandma (on the other side...not terribly predisposed to liking me, but a v. sweet lady nonetheless) thought that his lego bag was rockin'. Indeed.

We also repotted my aloe plant- I got it at Lidl for £1.95 and it's thrilled to be in a bigger pot and closer to the window. The weeping fig has been repotted too, but it may have had one forgotten watering too many. We'll see.

We stumbled on Crufts on TV on Thursday night and have been hooked. It's the biggest dog show in the UK and one of the biggest in the world. As a v. doggy person (if you haven't seen Best In Show, go get it), I'm now completely obsessed with it. Tomorrow night we may have to give James special school-night bedtime dispensation so he can stay up at watch it.

We were all cheering madly for the dog & tennis ball relays - teams of 4 dogs (mostly collies) have to jump over 4 hurdles, hit a target to launch a tennis ball, catch the ball, and hurtle back over the hurdles to their human. It was unbelievable how fast they were, and really funny when some of them got SO excited that they abandoned the hurdles entirely and just ran back with the tennis balls. Rrufus has missed his calling.

Vaginas!

Apparently some grown-ups in Westchester are freaking out about vaginas. As a card-carrying Vagina, I'm with the students. Performing the Vagina Monologues in a high school (not even in its entirety) is a fantastic idea. The New York Times article is here.

For those of you who are feeling slightly traumatized by this...sorry. I was in Colby's '03 V-Day production of the Vagina Monologues and it was a fantastic experience.

Moving along...

We've got the mortgage moving, the movers booked, and we're starting in on changing all of our addresses. One of the things I'm most looking forward to: having our OWN mail slot. We have a communal one in the flat now and it's horrible to come in to mail that someone's opened and then stuffed back in the envelope or has muddy footprints on it or is strewn around the hall.

In the new house, if the mail is muddy, it's OUR fault.

Oh, and I can't wait to have an extractor fan. We had trout for dinner last night and we woke up this morning to the flat REEKING of fish. And this evening when we came home the smell hit us like a brick wall when we walked in. And yes, mom, we took out the garbage and have washed everything down. I think the griddle that we used was holding the smell, so I washed it in lemon juice at the MiL's suggestion. We'll see how it is tomorrow morning - it wasn't too bad when I got back from choir.

More Than I Can Chew...

Right...I've abandoned the blog - it's been crazy around here! I'm back now, at least for a bit.

I spent some quality time with Freda (John's mom) this weekend - in my infinite wisdom, I'd decided to make our own curtains so we could save a little money. I hadn't really thought this through, though...I'd picked out and purchased fabric and lining, but I only had sort of a vague idea of what to DO with it. Yeah, I can sew dice bags and skirts and little stuff, but curtains are big and complicated and if you mess them up, everyone can see them.

We worked on them all day Saturday and Sunday and got to 6pm Sunday evening with one set of curtains, mostly done. I have to do the tab tops this week but we've done the lining and the hems (bloody complicated!) and the seams up the side. And the ironing. Ugh.

My mother-in-law is a saint...she looked at the carnage on Sunday evening and said, "Ok, you're not proud about these, right? Can I make the rest of the curtains? MY way?"

"Erm, yeah, that would be awesome."

I'm feeling a bit sheepish. I felt better when I talked to Mom, though...she reminded me that when she made Edward and my duvet covers and matching window valence thingys it took her WEEKS of wrestling with the fabric and the pattern repeats (I HATE pattern repeats) in order to get them right. Granted, the duvet cover she made is amazing and all the flowers DO match up. I guess I have nowhere to go but up...

Speaking of flowers and Freda, she presented us with some gardening stuff on Saturday evening (we cooked them dinner after all the curtaining). Two big plastic planters, gardening gloves for each of us, and two gardening books.

Their titles? The Low-Maintenance Garden and The Impatient Gardener. Hmm...do you think she's trying to tell us something?

New house

Well, we don't have a firm moving date yet, but it looks like we'll be in the new house by the end of March. Woohoo! We've accumulated all kinds of furniture from all over suffolk, so far...most of it is hand-me-downs from various friends. We've got a massive list of things that need to happen between now and the move, not least of which are packing, scheduling the movers, setting our mortgage in motion, making all the curtains, and getting the carpet guys in. Right...can't think about it all in one block like that...all that makes me want to do is crawl under the duvet with my blankie.

We'll get there...it just looks a little daunting from here!

I'm Pasta Caring

Haha...that was punny.

Oh, and I have to post this joke...my Mom and I think it's hysterical. Fair warning: mom's come up with a theory that there's a gene on her side of the family that makes us more susceptible to puns than the average bear...this one will reliably keep us in stitches for a solid five minutes.

There was a king who lived on an island in the tropics. There were other kings on this island, and they were always feuding.

This king lived in a castle made of grass, made from the reeds and rushes found on the island.

In one of the battles with another king, this king stole one of his prize thrones and brought it home to his castle, where he put it up in the attic for safe keeping.

This throne happened to be made of stone, and was very large and heavy. That night, when the king was asleep, the throne fell through the roof of his bedroom, landed on him, killed him instantly, and destroyed the castle.

The moral of the story?

People who live in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones!

Oh, the mirth!

Update: Mom and Dad have posted some more puns in the comments - they're fantastic!

Ok, back to the pasta. I was off sick yesterday with a sore throat, and then went in to the office today. Whatever I had has gotten worse, and I was feeling pretty zonked by the end of the day. John was a model hubby and cooked some fantastic spaghetti sauce with zucchini and mushrooms. He sauteed the garlic in hot olive oil at the beginning, which gave it a really nice hint of smokiness.

I think I'll keep him. :)

Herrmann Socks and Flapjacks

When they were little, my cousins Ben and Willie had...sock issues. For some reason, neither of them could keep socks ON their feet. They always had them sort of flapping off the end of their feet. And then yesterday morning, I saw this:


Yep...James has Herrmann Socks.

Then, last night, after being at rehearsal all day, I was feeling really domestic. So I made a batch of flapjacks. These were supposed to have nuts in them but I lost interest half way through, so they're just oats, dried berries, sugar, butter and honey. Oh yum.


Oh, and James loved John's dice bag SO much that he asked me to make one for him - I think it came out REALLY well. He picked out the pirate fabric, which I lined with the extra pillowcase that I used to make lampshades.

He's Behind You!

Thursday night, I went to Pakenham to see Sandy in the village panto. They were doing Dick Turpin. In the spirit of all village pantos, Sandy was fantastic, a tree (prop) fell over, there was much forgetting of lines, and the audience got WAY too into singing the policemen's siren whenever the two cops (with battery-operated flashing blue lights on their hats) came on stage.

From wikipedia:

The form has a number of conventions.

* The leading male character (the "principal boy") is usually played by a young woman (although this tradition appears to be dying out).
* An older woman (the pantomime dame) is usually played by a man in drag.
* Risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases.
* Audience participation, including calls of "look behind you!" (or "he's behind you!"), and "oh yes it is!" or "oh no it isn't!" The audience is always encouraged to "boo" and "hiss" the villain.
* A song combining a well-known tune with re-written lyrics. The audience is encouraged to sing the song; often one half of the audience is challenged to sing "their" chorus louder than the other half.
* The pantomime horse or cow, played by two actors in a single costume, one as the head and front legs, the other as the body and back legs.
* The good fairy always enters from the right side of the stage and the evil villain enters from the left. In Commedia Dell 'Arte the right side of the stage symbolized Heaven and the left side symbolized Hell.
* The members of the cast throw out sweets to the children in the audience

We always went to pantos when we lived in Peterborough - I remember thinking that they were pretty neat.

Magical Bag...

I was feeling the call of the sewing machine this evening - we didn't have a chance to start the curtains this afternoon.

So I made John a new dice bag for his Wednesday night gaming sessions. I think it's really cute - very wizardy. I got the pattern here.

It's all lined and everything!

And the outside:

With the

StowmarKate does Stowmarket

First off, a big thanks to Liz for the awesome box of Girl Scout cookies. Samoas, no less. They arrived on Thursday morning and totally made my day! I've put them in the freezer to be eaten one at a time (they're so yummy when the caramel is all cold and crunchy...)

Secondly, I've added some RSS buttons over on the right - feel free to add me to your Google reader or whatever (or let me know if the buttons don't work or are annoying you). :)

John and I had our first James-free, illness-free, chaos-free Saturday in AGES. Leanne and Tracey were originally scheduled to come over for din but they've had an insane few weeks so we've rescheduled. Turns out Caroline and Ian are free tonight, though, and we've been trying to get together with them for weeks. Off we go!

We had a relaxing Leek & Potato night in last night - and then watched some *gasp* TV. We've discovered the joys of Friday night on BBC 2 - Jimmy's Farm followed by A New Year At Kew. Jimmy's farm is about Jamie Oliver's friend Jimmy, who set up a pig farm near us in Suffolk. And has a somewhat exciting time. A Year At Kew is all about the gardeners and botanists at Kew Gardens - it's surprisingly entertaining!

This morning we made pancakes (yum!), used up the last of our maple syrup that we bought in Vermont at Liz & Dan's wedding (sad!), and then went in to town. We had to confirm our flooring order for the new house, go to the library, and sort out some curtains for the study. We found these great pillows at the more expensive curtain store (where we ended up NOT getting a gorgeous asian red floral pattern for the study - it was going to be £400 for ONE window). They, surprisingly, match our green sofas of fun!

I also got an amazing bag of blue-ish ex-sample book fabric scraps for £3! Here are some of my faves:


Gotta love the monkeys...


I can't wait to start making stuff...there are so many random fun scrap projects floating around the internet.

While we were in town, we also found some great dining room chairs (v. comfy) and a really smart dining room table, both on sale. We've bought them, along with some much more reasonably priced curtains that we like just as much and a whole slew of curtain rods. They're holding everything until we move in, which is REALLY nice of them.

Off to dinner in I-town!!

I Love Amy, Emily and John

The concert last night was amazing. John is the best hubby ever - we had the perfect evening. We realized at about noon that we were going to need to eat dinner somewhere...on Valentine's Day. Oh bother. I called some restaurants in Cambridge to see if they could fit us in before the concert, but no luck. One place said that he'd turned away 500 phone calls. Phew.

We were starting to think it was going to be a McD's evening, when one of the girls John works with suggested going to the Pizza Express in Bury at 5pm. Nobody in their right mind is eating then! We'd miss the rush hours getting out of Bury and into Cambridge, and still make the concert in time (the girls weren't on until 9 and they have a history of crap opening acts). So off we went- they had a table. But d'ya want to know who else is at Pizza Express at 5pm on Valentine's Day?

Think about it....

Yup, every member of the under-5 set (with parents in tow) within a 30 mile radius was there. And screaming. Loudly. As they ran around the restaurant.

Somehow John and I managed to block it out while we ate our pizza, which was v. lovely and made slightly more romantic by the rose on our table (intended for the people at the 7pm sitting without the toddlers, natch). Our waitress (whose first language is not English) wished us a "Happy Valentine's....evening!" as we left - she'd obviously heard people referring to it and assumed that the 'day' part was interchangable. Teehee.

Off we trundled to Cambridge, where we were still pretty early, so we went to Frankie & Benny's for a drink before the concert. By this point, it was nearly 8, so EVERYONE who was going out to dinner was out. It was a complete zoo but we managed to elbow our way to the bar.

By 8:15 we were at The Junction for the concert, listening to Catherine Feeny, who was surprisingly good! She's a transplanted Californian living in the UK, with a very Joni Mitchell - type sound. We were pleasantly surprised. :)

The venue's capacity was 750, and we were tickets 318 and 319 when we picked them up. It looked like there were about 450 people there - we were only about 4 rows from the stage (and 3 rows from the back), right in the middle. Amy and Emily seemed really psyched to be there - they played a lot of classics (Closer to Fine, Power of 2, Galileo, Virginia Wolf, The Wood Song, etc), and then a bunch of their new songs (Pendulum Swinger, Money Made You Mean, Little Perennials). Amy also did a rip-roaring rendition of Let It Ring, which is what I would consider to be the ultimate protest song. There was much Bush-bashing at the concert - these two don't feel any shame in saying how much they hate Bush. They were talking about how they want Hillary, Obama and Gore to be a triumvirate. Hey, it could happen.

Here's the pic I took with my cell phone - sorry the quality isn't stellar.


Overall, it was an amazing concert. It didn't have the 'we all know all the words to all the songs' energy of the NYC concerts that I've been to, but the Girls were visibly excited to be there and they were throwing everything in to the performance. They sounded really rested and their voices were great - Amy's was more of a rich baritone than it usually is and Emily didn't have the hoarseness that she can get after a long tour.

John found an interview with them on Wednesday's Woman's Hour on Radio 4: here's the link.

Enjoy!!

Indigo Girls prep

I'm a big IG dork. They're playing in Cambridge tomorrow evening and John and I are going, come hell or high water. I couldn't believe it when I saw that they were playing so close to us (it's only about 40 mins from the office - about an hour from Stowmarket). I would have gone if they'd been playing in London, Manchester...pretty much anywhere in the UK. Cambridge is perfect - we don't even have to take any time off work!

I'm listening to my Indigo Madness iTunes playlist...after about 40 minutes of it, John asked me to put my headphones on. Poor chap. I think there's going to be some Mellencamp on the way to Cambridge tomorrow night to offset the estrogen of the evening. I love the crowds at IG concerts - it's usually about 90% female, with the occasional tortured husband/boyfriend/random gay support buddy brought along for moral support. I've been to see Amy and Emily with Colby peeps, my mom (twice!), Emily, and Meade, but never John. I guess it's a select group and he has to join it some time...

I think if they play Power Of Two or Free In You I'll cry. I should be fine with most of the other stuff, though. Review to follow.

Update on my new year's resolution to run the 5K Race For Life: I haven't signed up yet (sign up opened last week) at the request of my physical therapist. I've been having really bad back probs at work and the PT doesn't want me to do anything else that might tax my back until it's better. I SHOULD be fine to run, though, since the race isn't until June. I'll keep you posted (and then badger you for sponsorships).

Fabric!

On Saturday, when John was horizontal and I wasn't feeling great, I went to Ipswich to take James to a birthday party. It was a three hour party from 10am to 1pm on a Saturday (a day-killer, as we call them), so I was noodling around in Ipswich to kill time.

When John and I had been killing time previously in Ipswich, I'd noticed that there was a Fabric Warehouse down by the football stadium. So off I trundled on Saturday morning.

I'd been fretting about the amount of naked windows that we're going to have when we move in to the new house next month, and the fairly overwhelming task of 'matching' curtains to the stuff in the rooms that we haven't furnished yet. When I was taking about it with Sandy, she had the great suggestion of going to the fabric store, finding stuff that I liked (and that was on sale) and then buying more than I think I need.

I found two great fabrics - the one for the living room has six-inch high purpley-blue tulips with green stems on a cream background, and the one for the bedroom is blue, yellow and green stripes on a cream background. I got lots of both (they were on sale - yay!), and I'm going to borrow Freda's sewing machine to make the curtains next weekend. I'm a little daunted but mostly excited. I still need to get window coverings for the other two bedrooms, the three bathrooms, and the kitchen window. Phew.

Man-Flu

We had James this weekend, and completely broke protocol by dropping him off this afternoon. John has what James has christened Man Flu. As you've probably heard, they've had a break of the H5-N1 Bird Flu in Suffolk, so it's all over the news. John, however, has escaped with Man Flu.

I'm not feeling terribly stellar, either...mine's more of a low-grade 'ugh' feeling. Blech.

Snow in England!

I caught up with my friend Sandy on Tuesday night - I hadn't seen her since she started her new job and she's loving it. It's the perfect thing for her - she's doing lots of event planning and conference management. Yay!

As I was leaving, her husband arrived home from a conference that he'd been at, where they were giving out squeezy animal stress-reliever things. you know, the little squishy things that you squeeze to make all your worries disappear. hah. So anyway, he gave me a purple rhino, who immediately made himself at home on my desk with the other guys (Sailor Elmo, Horn Smurf, and George the Fimo Dragon).

During my lunchbreak, I was tormenting my boss (who was sort of trying to work, but laughing anyway) and I threw Mr. Rhino to him. And what did he do? Pulled his head off.

I know!!! I was distraught!! Apparently he thought he was the stretchy kind of stress-relief toy thing, and was trying to stretch him out. After some emergency surgery (aka superglue) he's right as rain, with the exception of a fairly gnarly scar around his neck.

He even went out for a small adventure in the snow we had this morning. That's right, snow in England. We had about 3 inches and the whole country screeched to a halt. Everyone was freaking out and convinced that we were all going to die. Somehow, we made it through.

I had a funny New York moment last night - I was on the phone with my mom, who was on her way back from a Broadway show. She told me that her train was in about 15 minutes and then sighed, "I'm desperate for a cup of coffee." I asked her where she was and she replied that she was standing at the top of the escalators in Grand Central, about to go down to the main concourse. I informed her that there were 2 Starbucks nearby, then proceeded to direct her to the closest one. It's kind of tucked away in the side of the terminal, over by the Transit Museum Store, and she had no idea that it was over there. She got her coffee AND made her train! Ahh, the miracles of modern technology.

Garlic, Sapphires and Drooling

At Rebeka's recommendation, I'm reading Ruth Reichl's Garlic And Sapphires. It's AWESOME. She gives backstory on the reviews before including the reviews themselves, and they are truly drool-inducing.

To give you an idea of how much I'm enjoying the book, I started it last night at 9pm and I'm on page 227. And I was at work all day. And we had parent-teacher night at James's school so I didn't start reading until about 8 tonight.

She has a real knack for describing food (she must, to have gotten her job), and I've been thoroughly enjoying her $100 dinners. I just don't want it to end. Luckily, she's written two other food memoirs. Let's hope the Stowmarket library has them!

To all the foodies (and New Yawkas) out there, go read it.

I'm obsessed with food...

John went out for a curry with the guys last night, so I went to Waitrose and bought a v. glorious steak for dinner. (J doesn't eat red meat). I had a long phone chat with mom and then read for a while and went to bed early. It was very battery-recharging.

This morning I went in to Bury to meet John, and we went out for breakfast. We both had coffee- my latte was SO pretty that we had to take a picture of it. It was with John's cameraphone so the resolution isn't fabulous but I think it gets the point across. I had eggs benedict with a fantastically lemony hollandaise and John had the full english. YUM.



Then we went to the fabric store - we had our first walkthrough of the new house yesterday (it's AWESOME!) and I wanted to check out some curtains. Instead, I got completely distracted by the corduroy that was on sale. I'd mentioned ages ago that I was making a knitted and corduroy blanket like the one that Emily has, but I hadn't found any cord that I liked. This stuff is a really nice chocolate color AND was on sale because it was a remnant. Perfect. Oh, and while we were in there, we saw a sewing machine that costs £4,000. Yup...$7,000. Apparently it will embroider ANYTHING that you tell it to. When we win the lottery...


Speaking of chocolate, I bought some strawberries at Waitrose the other day (I know, I know, it's January...) and they're glorious. So I decided to dip some of them in chocolate. They turned out ok...the chocolate has hardened with a somewhat unappetizing texture, but other than that they're glorious. Sorry the pic's kinda blurry - it's the best I could get.


One more thing- we went in to Stowmarket to do some errands and went to the new wine shop at the station - we were the only ones in there and the assistant was thrilled to have someone to talk to. We 'tasted' the better part of half a bottle (and then bought a few with a promise to return). Good stuff!

We have a date!

The NYT has announced the release date for the next (last!) Harry Potter book. ACK!!! Here's the link to the article.