Bonfire Night

It's weird when you don't really feel permanent in a place, and yet you've been there long enough to do annual things twice. Like Bonfire Night - aka the 5th of November - aka Guy Fawkes night. Remember?

We went down to see the fireworks last night, and it was chilly. Correction: it was mildly cool. We dressed appropriately and weren't cold at all, therefore, it can't have been very chilly. Also: we rode our bikes there, so clearly it's not cold here at all.

I'm not sure what part Elizabeth liked best:

(a) Her new snowpants, which she has renamed "Swishy Pants"

(2) watching the fireworks

or (d)the Chocolate Fudge Sundae we got at the pub afterwards

I have two "best parts of the night":

(I) that moment of relief when you find your keys after a panicked bike ride back to where you had locked up - only because your key ring is from your University Graduation and you feel a bit sentimental about things like that...

or (ii) These girls with matching platinum blonde hair who took duck-face, pouty lipped
pictures of themselves for the 45 minutes we were at the pub.

It's a tough call.

Shelob

We have a pet. She lives on the outside of the kitchen window on a huge web. She has lived there for about 4 months. We have to look for her every morning before breakfast, because she hides under the lip of the window sill.

She scares the shi*t out of me.

As a frame of reference, here she was back in September. Look how skinny she was.

Look how chubby huge  she is now. And even though she's been our pet for 4 months now, if she ever comes through the window, I am not kidding, I will kill her immediately. Before she starts eating me and my family.

Things, Things, Things

I have started the anxiety-ridden process of planning our return to Canada. I feel like all of a sudden, my very sparse home is full of stuff  that I have to sell/give away/throw out. And I am planning in reverse - as in, what can I get rid of now and not notice for the next 7 weeks? Microwave? No, I need that. Kettle? Defo need that. Lego set that Elizabeth never plays with? Gone. 

So far, I've sold some of Elizabeth's toys on gumtree (aka kijiji for England), and today someone is coming to pick up a little toy chair & a high chair. No sweat, she doesn't use them anyways.

 I got a little bit over zealous in my photograph-taking and gumtree-ad-placing, and took photos of her crib & change table. Seriously Jammy? If someone responds and wants to buy it - what will Elizabeth sleep in??? Time to get a grip!

But on that note . . . anyone want some of our stuff?

Weird Association: Beets to Bolt to Babowal

The London Olympics were on when the Babowal family came to visit us. And on the night of the mens 100m race, we were having this salad-in-a-bag with lots of beet-sticks in it. It looks like this:

So now, every time I eat that kind of salad, I think of this:

Weird, right?

At least after that thought, I think of fun times like this, and get back on track.

Well, This is Embarrassing. And a Bit Depressing.

Soooooo, you know when you get about 90% of the way through doing something, and then you don't actually finish it, but you swear  you did?? Yeah, I did that with the photographs of Holger & Anne's visit to Cambridge. I was actually scrolling through my blog, looking for the post when I realized: huh. I'm a dumbass.

Without further ado, here is what we did together.

The pair arrived on a ___day (I forget now, but it was a weekday, which is important) and Elizabeth & I went to meet them the next day. Matthew couldn't come, because he was working - aren't you glad I told you it was a weekday that they arrived?? ;) They stayed in London with one of their good friends, who lives right next to Battersea Park. Truth: I have never been there before, and Second Truth: I am sad I only just learned about it at the end of our stay here. It's a great big park on the south side of the Thames, and it has everything. A duck pond, a "ladies pond" (what the what???), fountains, and a children's zoo. So Elizabeth & I got to go to the zoo with her Grandpa Holger & Annie. It was so much fun. Anne brought Elizabeth a set of fairy wings & a halo with "fairy hair", which Elizabeth was proud to wear as we we left the zoo. Oh, and she played in a splash park/sandbox, so.... that's why she's a Naked Fairy.

As we were leaving the zoo, Naked Fairy Elizabeth was getting pretty tired, and was ... easily distracted, shall we say? Here is her leaving the zoo - she did that hopscotch about 8 times.  Sorry that you will be subjected to my embarrassingly high voice saying, "Come on" or "Let's go" or whatever it is that I say. I love her fast little run.

Then, Holger & Anne went to visit other friends in England for a week, so by the time they got to Cambridge they weren't jet lagged anymore! Success! I always feel so bad for visitors going through jet lag. It just stinks, and they want to have fun, but are exhausted, and we want to have fun, but don't want to make anyone suffer when they just want a nap. Ya know?

Here's what we did: Lay in the sunshine. Go to pubs. Visit college gardens and all the greens. Go for scones and tea in Grantchester. Cycle around. Play board games. Play with Elizabeth. Have a really great time.

Elizabeth lo-oves Grandpa Holger - and he's pretty moony over her too. They did a lot of nose-touching and copy-cat-ing together. It was pretty entertaining. 

I mentioned that we cycled everywhere in Cambridge, which is just such a great way to see the city, and a more fun way to get around than buses or taxis. Also, it was still warm when they were here. It's too bad that Elizabeth's little helmet isn't visible in this photo. (It's also too bad that I almost wrote 'it's a pity' --- OMG, turning British!)

So while it's incredibly embarrassing to be so convinced that you've done something that you actually haven't, it's even more depressing to actually write this blog of sunshiney, blue sky days on a dreary, grey afternoon. I want it to be summer all year round. How about every single person I know & love move to San Francisco with me? Imagine??!!

So Cambreejian - or is it?

All of a sudden, there are pianos in Cambridge. As in, in  Cambridge. There are pianos in public places, just in the parks, and the squares, and under the bridges. I thought this was part of some weird Cambreejian 'tradition' like holding May Balls (to celebrate the end of exams) in June. Inquiring minds want to know, and googling "Cambridge Street Piano" led me to this page: http://www.streetpianos.com. You should all go there - it is such a neat idea. They have an army of pianos around the world, and they get designed and decorated by local artists and put in public places for regular people to play.

I love stuff like this. You'll be walking along, just going for a coffee, and all of a sudden, there's beautiful live music right in front of you. Or, you're cycling home, and suddenly the stylings of an amateur pianist hit you as you pass under the bridge on the way home. Cambridge, being full of over-achieving students, has lots of people in the category of, "Oh, I don't play much anymore, but my parents made me take lessons so I'd get into _______ school." (Med, business, law, it doesn't matter.) They launch into Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Mozart, you name it. It's a pretty fab city for a buncha pianos.

Here are some of the pianos:

Jesus Green

King's Parade

Christ's Pieces

Sussex Street

(There's apparently a collaboration with Cambridge Ballerinas because there's a video on their website of a dude playing under Elizabeth Way bridge, and a girl dancing. It's 3:21 min, so you get a photo instead, but if you want to see it, it's on this page, about 2/3 of the way down.)

Silver Street Bridge

 

King's Parade, again

But this is probably the best one, close to our house in Arbury Court.

Lack of Focus

I started getting pictures together from when Larry & Gina visited earlier this month. Between us, Matthew & I had taken approximately 8,000 photos, so this sorting out process can be lengthy. My excuse for tons of pics is (a) poor photography skills (ie more photos = more chances for one good shot) and (2) crappy blackberry camera. I don't know what Matthew's excuse is, as he has proven time and time again that he is an excellent photographer, and he has a "real" camera. (And he actually knows how it works, and talks about apertures, f-stops and exposure times, blah blah blah...)

So anyways. I started the sorting out, and collage-d up these shots of Elizabeth

Then I realized that we had about 600 shots of Elizabeth chasing pigeons outside the British Museum, so I had to collage those bad boys:

Then I realized I should probably put in photos of the people who came all the way to England to visit us... So I made these of Elizabeth with her beloved grandparents:

And while making those collages, I discovered we had roughly 40 pictures of Larry making his, "What's going on over there??" face. For those of you who know him, you know he makes that face often, and for those of you who don't, it looks like this:

And then I started remembering what we actually did together. We punted to Grantchester. We actually toured King's College. We went to London for a really lovely day at the British Museum and Covent Garden. And then I remembered the great Egyptian tombs that we saw at the Museum, and how nice the faces on them are. Really, these faces are so relaxed and calming, don't you think?

Then I started laughing as I remembered all the times Gina took my picture at the museum, as I did the same poses as the sculptures & artifacts. I have labelled the photos, in case you can't tell which is me, and which are the ancient sculptures.

And then I remembered this tomb-thing that I probably read about and thought it was pretty neat, but how I really just wanted to turn it into a puppet theatre... good thing Matthew was there to stop me.

I think this blog proves two things: (1) I'm a total dork, and (2) a sign of a good visit is a scattered blog post full of things that make me laugh.