New Years Eve 2011

This has been a remarkable year with devasting losses and heart felt gains, Both Andy and I have lost our Mums this year and how lucky we were that we had each other to help shoulder the losses that there exactly 6 months apart. Andy's Mum was unexpected and for Andy this was hard. One gift his mother did leave was the chance for his to get close to his brother Archie again which includes a sister-in-law, Tracy and two nephews, Adam and Luke. The gift my mother left me was a second cousin that I'd never met before, Caroline. It was quite incredible as in many ways she is like me and I know we have many years of getting to know each other.

Another tick on the plus side was Andy asking me to marry him and we are now planning our May 2012 wedding, and a white one at that! We have now been living together since June and we are completely happy.

Sophie moved over in July which was a weight off my mind and bank account as it cost a fortune to work through the quarantine regulations. Regulations which we have just learned are being eased in January.......typical.....oh well, I couldn't have left her for 6 months could I!!!!!!

Charlotte moved over and left again after several weeks after she realized she had been hired for slave labour. A family looking for help with ironing, cleaning and uncontrollable children. They had deposited her bed in the laundry room and so most of the time she felt she was in sauna. So, all worked out well in the end as she is now enrolled back in school, has a great job at the Outback and is about to have her 21st birthday.

I miss Tom as I don't get to speak to him as often as I would like. He is immersed in his world, his friends, girls and music. He has had many paid gigs now and was recently featured on a radio show.

I also learned a lesson on stage presence as I had to stand in on a video training session after my boss opted out. All would have been well other than the fact my skirt looked non existent on the high stool and my over animated expressions made me look like a complete lunatic. Oh well, live and learn!!

On a broader note this year has given us the usual losses in the world of sports and the arts. The one that touched me the most was Amy Winehouse. After creating such an incredibly emotional portfolio of music her emotional dependancies could not sustain a longer life.

So as we move into to 2012 I will be planning my wedding, visits to the children, wonderful weekends away with Andy, visits to my friends in and outside London and a renewed will to embrace each and every day as if it may  be the last. I will be my best to be kind and find something nice to say to everyone I may talk to........help people when I can........take time to relax.....don't sweat the small stuff and have faith that everything happens for a reason.

Be grateful that I live in a country which gives  so many freedoms that for the most part are taken for granted and celebrate the rise of the of those with less liberties. We are all the same just wrapped in different packages and carrying different baggage....lets celebrate the differences......

Lets remember to laugh at our imperfections as thats what makes us special. Lets not plan a gym and diet for 2012....instead lets plan how we are going to help make our world a better and kinder place.

Happy New Year.....2012......

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve was spent with Andy's family in his hometown of Braintree Essex and we had a lovely lunch at a local restaurant where we exchanged gifts and embarassing stories. The most embarassed party of all was Frankie when we made him try on his new raincoat!

Andy's present to each of them was especially touching. We made family albums from all of the old photgraphs capturing his Mum and Dad's early years through to last Christmas. As there was only one copy of each photo, Kodaks albums from scanning and uploadings are priceless.

We attended an evening carol service at St. Marys where we are to be married in May and Anita and David joined us. The church looked beautiful and each child was given an orange holding  a candle for a brief candlelight carol.

Andy was shocked that I knew the words to most of the carols but I had been an avid carol singer as a child until I was asked about which charity the money was going to.....I ask you, how else is a teenager to afford Chrsitmas presents!

What a lovely Christmas Eve.....family and church......sweet and simple but somehow it makes the holiday whole!

T-Rex Cafe - Downtown Disney - December 3rd 2011

The one thing you can never fault the U.S. about is their persitence in presenting the best food in the most beautiful and creative environments.  Downtown Disney is an absolute testament to this very fact. This is the T-Rex Cafe which although we did not eat at was too spectacular to pass by without taking this snap.

Instead we decided to eat at The House of Blues where I have eaten several times before. Unfortunately they had changed the menu which resulted in Andy and I spending 20 mins in the bathroom at Miami Airport. Do not order the Chilli Chicken Wings!!!!!

Bon Appetit!

T'is the Season - Part Two - London - December 2011

We have really enjoyed our run up to Chistmas this year now I am firmly planted in London. We have spoiled ourselves to lunches, to dinners and have eaten chinese duck about eight times. We have drank home made sloe gin, lashings of prosecco and gallons of wine. We have gorged on chocolate and home made biscotti, truffles and are still going strong.

We have seen a circus with three mopeds racing around a 30 feet wide sphere at 70 mph, a singing moose and a fire eater. We saw Andys nephew Adam in pantomine waving a 14 inch pink phallus and in extreme contrast a beautiful film based on a true story of a young mans one week encounter with Marilyn Monroe.

Here are some of my favourite pics.

Sophie has been loving the Christmas season. Her low point was eating the hands off the Christmas monkey (don't ask!!!)......the high point is that she now jumps in the bath by herself to be showered after her daily muddy walk.

Well, lets face it...it's Christmas every day for Sophie. So with one year down and another one about to begin Merry, Merry Christmas.

T'is the Season in Florida November 24th - December 3rd

I can barely believe we are racing towards December and I know there is a strong likelihood that this Blog will span over a several week period with sporadic updates....where has the discipline gone!!!

I suppose I have our hectic schedule to blame with heading over to Florida for Thanksgiving although we did not make it until the evening. Janet fed and watered us in the traditional Thanksgiving style with turkey, mashed potatoes, yams with marshmallow (an American thing) and all the other other trimmings. The meal was topped off perfectly by Charlotte and Tom coming over to Janet's before the four of left for Chris and Ruth's home, our abode for several days while they were away visiting family. I love how close Tom and Charlotte have become of late and as any mother can attest to, it is one best feelings in the world when the siblings are in harmony.

So our visit to Florida was a typical juggle as we were only in Fort Myers for four days before having to head to Orlando for work meetings and the company Christmas Party.  Managed to have some quality time with the children which was important but very little time with friends which was a shame.

One thing I did ensure on route to Orlando was my compulsory yuletide visit to see the festive explosion of Cracker Barrel. This was some Americana Andy had to witness  and if that does not make you feel festive, nothing will!

I was disappointed that I had several days of company meetings but with some sweet talk to the boss I ended up having most of Thursday off and we treated ourself to Island of Adventure at Universal.

What fun we had although we declined to get on any rides other than Spiderman and Cat in the Hat. Weak stomachs and tender heads what a pair of light weights we are!!! Island of Adventure has always been my favourite park within the Disney/Universal complex but I was even more dazzled by the new installation of the The Harry Potter section.

The set was spectacular with the same shops at buildings. Andy was particularly enamoured by the shop Dog Weed and Death Cap.

The joke shop was fantasic and even our lunch felt authentic in the Hogsmead school canteen.

That being said, I think my true Island of Adventure love is still Who-ville and I was thrilled to see Dr. Zeus's creation decked for Christmas. I have always found this so magical and could not pass down a photo opportunity with Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Once we'd posed with 'The Things' we figured we should go full out and see who we could find...Andy scored with Storm one of the X-Men babes.

All of this was starting to make us hungry which was just as well as we had to build our appetite for the Alinean Christmas Party.

On the Friday, we went to my company team event which was Go-Kart racing and Andy and I had the honor of being the slowest of the group. Not our sport for sure! The fumes gave both of us headaches so we had to take an old fashioned remedy of Margaritas at a nearby Mexican restaurant.

In a year where everyone is tightening their belts, Alinean still spoiled us with a beautiful Christmas party, held in a stylish Italian restaurant. Champagne, cocktails and canapes followed by a delicious three course meal ....hmmmm.......prepared us nicely for our flight home in First Class the next day. One could get used to this lifestyle so easily!!!

So a Very Merry Christmas from Florida and look for the next post that will certainly be back on UK soil.

Friends

One of those special acquaintances - Basil from Harrow - HOW DO YOU DO?!

Fortnum & Mason.......

As Andy has begins his three week vacation I dragged him out this morning to visit a couple of galleries in the Mayfair area. We saw some exellent photography by  Don McCullin, a renowned war photographer, although the majority of this work surrounded the Karo tribe in Ethiopia.

After our ten minute brush with some culture and very impressive work we went wandering and we found ourselves outside the historic and finest of English shops, Fortnum and Masons. This shop was actually established back in the 1700s and leapt into popularity as the establishment used to bring Indian Tea to the British, courtesy of Robert Clive, who laid the foundations of British Empire in India. A fraction of the size of Harrods, it was less overwhelming but equally as appealing.

Here are some of my favourite pics of our excursion.

Marzipan, my Mum's favourite and how I wish she was here to enjoy some.

No doubt champagne will make a strong appearance this Christmas.

We went home with a lovely Montgomery Cheddar that had been aged for 15 months. This is made by hand in Somerset, courtesy of 140 Fresian cows.......and is absolutely delicious. The maker of this cheese was also awarded Champion Cheesemaker of the Year!

Final Mushroom Foray of 2011

So we had our final mushroom walk this past weekend at Epping Forest which, for the most part this year, has been dismal with sparse fungi sproutings. The minute we got out of the car we saw the mushroom explosion...you could barely walk without treading on Buttercaps. There were also a plentiful supply of Birch Boletes  but I hit the absolute jackpot when a shaft of light beamed through the trees and bounced of the cap of this Penny Bun Cep.

And added to the fact that only the week before I had scored this mammoth Bolete at Kenwood I am feeling rather confident in my foraging capabilites.

And the final bonus of Epping Forest was spying on these Long Horn Cattle.....in the end they spotted me and made there way over to try and work out what I was!!!

Citizenship November 9th, 2011

6am. I have been living back in England for just over three months and I have had to make (another) a whirlwind trip to Tampa to be sworn in as an American Citizen. After twenty two years of living in the United States, having two American children and paying taxes, I felt it was my indeed my right and an imperative to have the US as an optional abode in my future. I didn't realise how strongly I felt about this until I was challenged by Border Control going in to Boston several weeks ago who threatened to take away my green card as I spent so much time out of the country. As it happens, the lovely folks at Border Control in Miami didn't even raise an eyebrow when I came through yesterday so I have had several weeks of heavy fretting for no reason....whew!

So today, November 9th 2011, I will be sworn in with several hundred other men and women who each have their own unique story of how they have got to this day. I am humbly aware of how much pain and endurance has been suffered and the many that didn't make it.Cubans drowning as they try to make it across the perilous watery seas in man made rafts. Mexicans sneaking through on the backs of trucks, cars, through the dangerous borders and Asylum speakers who have dared to speak out against their government in defense of the their rights. How emotional a day it must be for them.

8am. So here I am surrounded by my 'fellow pledgees'. So many dressed in their best clothes with their families surrounding them for this momumentous celebration. How I wish I had not chosen to do this alone! So as I sit here, I have a lump in my throat remembering the first days on American soil back in 1988, the risks I took to try something new, have children in a country other than my own and my ongoing love-hate relationship with this country when I missed my homeland, which will now just be replaced with love.

As a US Citizen I now wave my Amerian flag with pride, God Bless Amercia!!!!!!!!!

Indulgences

I cannot help myself, but when I see beautiful things the world seems to black out before my eyes and when I come around I find I have actually purchased them. I am a 'consumer' to the my very core and I just have this compulsion to indulge!!!

Have a look at a few of my favourites and you can take a guess to which ones I succumbed to. Also see if you can spot the odd one out.

                                                     Harrods Fur Snood $5000

Dunkin Donuts......under a dollar per donut but would it make a difference if they were $10.00 each??

Harrods Hand Made Chocolates - price - who cares!!

Harrods Marzipan Fruits - hmm...really, who cares!!! 

That Autumnal Feeling!!!!

In the last couple of weeks I have been lucky to savour the wares of Autumn in both the Boston area and my old/new home, in England.  The colours are more subdued in England and most of the leaves are now on the ground but there is nothing more pleasing to the foot than shuffling though the crisp, colourful confetti while walking Sophie.

Here are a few of my pics....

   Rustic in Canton, Massachusettes, USA

Fly Agaric Mushrooms, New Forest, UK

Wild Ponies in New Forest, UK

View across Half Moon Lawn, Kenwood