Now it's 8pm on Christmas Eve and Jonathan is getting really excited. He and Stephen are checking the internet for Santa sightings.
We went shopping in London yesterday and hit all my favourite shops, Patridges, John Lewis, Selfridges, and bought some of my favourite treats. It's beautiful in London. Christmas lights everywhere.
Only three days to Christmas! And on Christmas Eve I get to meet Stuart, Christopher, and Eleanor. I'm really excited about that.
Back in Manhattan that evening, Mike and I dined on steak fried swimming in butter. Sounded good in theory, looked somewhat terrifying in progress, but the proof is in the eating and the steak was D-licious! Chef Michael gets a full four stars. Then it was on to see Mates of State at Irving Plaza. The show was great and I came away with some birthday swag.
Sunday we went to conference at 12, then home to make pies and castle-shaped birthday cakes. We had our first dinner on Jenn Cook's terrace downstairs, with the singing of Happy Birthday and, I swear, fireworks over the river to follow. All for me, of course! With phone calls from family and friends galore the day was complete. I'm a happy girlie!
Is it really any wonder?!
I am so envious, I had heart palpitations when she told me. I haven't been to any new beautiful and exotic places this year. Wisconsin SO does not count. Aileen better make good on her promise to take me to Puerto Rico next spring. I'm almost tempted to go whole hog and blow the thousand bucks it would cost to go to Bermuda for my birthday. But I'm not that crazy just yet.
I wasn't prepared for a little baby to come into my life. It meant complete upheaval at home, and truly, the flat - actually my whole life - has never been the same since. He looked like me. People used to stop the three of us in the street and tell my sister she had such a gorgeous little nephew. It’s the dark hair. We match. We spent four years together before I moved to New York. We had wonderful adventures, especially Barceloooona.
mother's family lived before the last century. After catching up with everyone at church on Sunday morning, we headed to the Suffolk coast (that's the bump bit of England to the east). We were heading for Aldeburgh, a seaside town my Mum has been wanting to visit for sometime. Turns out it's rather a posh little place with lots of Londoners inhabiting the beautiful sea front houses over the long weekend. Jonathan had a wonderful time, chucking hundreds of pebbles into the sea.The drive home was exciting. We joined the little car parade. English roads are chock full of dinky little cars (most of them, ironically, imported from large European countries like France, Spain and Italy). We were driving a modest sized French-made Peugot, which could just about handle the 70 mph speed limit, when we were suddenly passed by three tiny little cars you almost needed a magnifying glass to see. They were like Jonathan's toy cars, yet some of them were doing at least 85. A physical impossibility I would have thought. We all chased each other for miles, passing and repassing, until the parade broke up when we turned off onto the A6.
Tuesday, Lucy was back at work so Mum and Jonathan and I had one last day out in the car. We went to the Welney Wetlands Center in the morning to see ducks and other wild fowl. It's a nature reserve in the middle on the fenlands of Cambridgeshire. The fens are marshlands that have been drained for agriculture. The roads are all built up several feet above the level of the land and the water is drained into a system of canals. The Welney reserve is the winter grounds for thousands of ducks and swans. In the summer, it's a little quieter, but we did see a little family of ducks up close, as well as swans and several South African swallows who are here for the winter (in S.A. that is). The arrival of the swallows is a sign the summer has come. The little fellows were darting about all over the place.
Then we headed west, via the Houghton Water Mill (the last working water mill in the East of England), to see the Eleanor Cross in the village of Geddington. If you've seen Braveheart (my condolences if you have), the old king of England in the film is Edward I, and Eleanor was his wife. She was on a pilgrimage to Lincoln Catherdral 200 miles north of London when she popped her clogs. Her body was brought back to London in a grand procession and everywhere they stopped for the night, Edward had an "Eleanor Cross" built to mark the spot. There were fourteen, but only three have survived the last 800 years.
Our last stop was Kirby Hall, which Lauren will recognise as Mansfield Park. The house is actually a ruin, except for the wing of the house with the rounded bay windows. Jonathan really got into the audio tour, insisting on listening to entire commentary for each room. I don't have the patience and kept wandering on ahead, much to Jonathan's consternation (he likes things done in proper order). He's cheerful in this photo, but the moment before he was giving me the evil eye for walking into the library before he was done with the previous room.
There are lots more pictures here, but they're in reverse order. The last two days I've been playing games with Jonathan and doing battle with him for control of the television and computer. Tomorrow we're going to London to see the Queen. And shop!
The lads were in adorable matching outfits. James Mercer is the singer, but the short one is definitely the boss. He was a jolly little chap. There was a lot more bass and drums than on the records which gave the songs a bigger, exciting, arena-filling sound. I think they played them all. Oh and they completely fluffed Pink Bullets. We were all swaying in rapture, when Jimbo tripped over the words and it all came to a grinding halt. A few giggles from the boys and they picked it up, only to fluff it AGAIN. And we just loved them all the more! I was almost too happy to breath.
And here are a couple pics of me for good measure...
