Playing Tourist

Hello Dear Readers,

The part Chris ordered for his computer finally came in, and tomorrow is my last day working at the museum so I should be doing a lot more blogging in April.  To catch up, two weeks ago my good friends from high school came over and we got to play tourist with them.

We took the Big Bus Tour around the city which I had never done before, it was a really good way to see all the highlights, some things I hadn't even had a chance to see yet.  We had the obligatory South Bank/Big Ben photo op. before going to Waterloo for lunch at "A Hole In the Wall" restaurant under the tube bridge.

We took a cruise along the Thames to see the stuff that can really only been seen on the river like the Globe Theatre, Somerset House, the Mayor's office, the Shard in progress and lots of pubs.  Simon was our captain, he said he's a 6th generation Waterman.  The waterman have a long history in Putney too as they are the ones that used to ferry people back and forth until Putney Bridge was built.  The above bridge of course is the Tower Bridge, made famous recently in the new Sherlock Holmes movies.

Later in the week Adam, Melch and I took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath.  I was a little worried that I would be disappointed by Stonehenge, but it was totally worth it, I spent the entire hour walking around and had to scurry back to the bus!

We toured around the famous Roman baths and had the obligatory glass of "Bath Healing Waters" which didn't taste of warm rusty nails as much as our bus guide would have us believe.  These are the elegant pump rooms, now a restaurant but used a lot as a plot device in Jane Austin's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.  We walked around the town a bit which was lovely and sunny in stark contrast to the cloudy morning at Stonehenge.



After this they came to the museum to see behind the scenes where I worked, then we took a whirlwind tour of Ireland!  More stunning photos of that to come (and 2 lbs of raw wool for spinning - win!)

Birthday Round Up

Hello Dear Readers,

I realize it's been super quiet around here, and there are some good reasons for it.  One is that the fan on our laptop has developed a whirr that sounds like a jet engine taking off..... and it's a pain in the arse to do any work on it.  Right I'm hijacking Patrick's computer which has an SD slot for my new camera card, just in time to have gotten a new one as the old camera had a CF and there is only a slot on Chris's noise machine...... The other reason of course was that two Sundays ago was my 30th birthday and I had two of my best friends from High School visiting me for a week.

 On my birthday we went to Kew Gardens to enjoy the amazing spring sunshine and had a little picnic on the river.

 We also spent quite a bit of time walking around the gardens and enjoying the pink flowers, frustrating to no end to Adam who couldn't get a decent shot even with his fancy SLR (according to him anyway, I thought the shots were nice)

After Kew we went to my favourite Vegan place where I always seem to end up for my birthday, 222 Veggie Vegan.  Lots of friend from the museum were there and I played with the panoramic assist on my new camera.  Unfortunately it doesn't stitch the images together, I had to do it myself on PowerPoint, but you get the idea. From left to right is Elisabetta, Olivia, Patrick (English Patrick), Aurelie, Adam, Melch, Sara, Patrick (brother Patrick) and Chris, who got a little cropped out.

Olivia gave me some lovely flowers and gourmet chocolates, I had the flowers in my bedroom which I think is extremely decadent. Patrick gave me beautiful tea flower balls (eat your heart out Cat) and the rest of the girls pitched in to get this amazing gem bangle from Swarovski!  It's probably the prettiest thing I own right now!  I was so touched, for any of you girls who read the blog thank you thank you thank you, it means a lot to me.  I'll think of all the wonderful times we had together at the museum when i wear it, which will be often.

More news to follow soon about Adam and Melch's visit, our whirlwind whistle stop tour to Ireland, and a special surprise visitor from High School - when it rains it pours!

P.S. no news yet on the job front, looking forward to doing a lot more traveling in April since I'll be having a lot more free time....

Leap Day Madness

Hello Dear Readers,

Leap years are fun arn't they?  There is something about a secret day that only comes up once every year that is divisible by 4.........like an Easter Egg in a video game.  Here in England apparently there is a tradition of girls asking guys to marry them on Leap Year, it seems that is the socially sanctioned day for tradition to go all topsy  turvey.  DON"T PANIC!  I'm not asking Chris to marry me, but in the tradition of Leap Year weirdness, Chris spotted my doppleganger on the bus today.

Freaky!  I promise that's not me (I cycle and dont' take the bus, and anyway that is Waterloo bridge if I'm not mistaken), but the hair, the shape of the face, everything is soo similar.  Chris assures me that she is a less attractive version of me, though the photo I'm sure doesn't do this girl justice.  I wonder if she has a goatee, like evil Spock in that Mirror episode of Start Trek TOS.  I guess it shows that you really can find anything in London, even your doppelgänger.

Cheers!

Year of ME, cont.

Hello Dear Readers,

This weekend we experienced some really nice, sunny weather.  Not so warm, but sunny enough to dry the sheets on the back porch!  I managed to get Patrick's done too Mom, while he was out cycling, you have to be quick though.

Chris and I took a walk near the Thames and I took the opportunity to try out my new camera a bit.  If you squint you can see some sailboats in the background by the shore, everyone was out enjoying the weather.

We even found some wooly friends near the Barnes Wetland Center,

Sheep!

Lovely brown and white wooley sheep!

I swear gov, this fleece just came off in my hand.  Shears? What, oh THESE shears.......how did they get there?

Today, in continuation of my year long celebration of ME for my 30th birthday, Chris and I took a trip the salon where I had gotten us gift certificates for Christmas.   Chris had a choice of 3 out of 5 treatments, and today had his hair cut by the very nice and lovely Fidel.  My certificate is more fixed, and I already  had the haircut last month.

This visit was supposed to be 15 scattered highlights, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted.  He was asking did I want to go a different color or really dark or different or what.  I'm not sure that I would keep them up so I asked for subtle highlighting. I should have taken a better before photo, but Chris was ready with his phone.

 

He mixed up his potions and applied the foils to my head very neatly, then cut Chris's hair while I waited.

I think in the end the result was more subtle than I intended, though Monica said she could tell it was lighter in the front than in the back.  Oh well, it was a good opportunity to try something out since on average each visit is only 10 pounds (about 15 dollars) and I had a nice time with the little head and neck massage before and the cup of tea and everything.  Perhaps tomorrow in the sunlight the lighter bit will shine through more.


Not too much else going on, I'm applying for a bunch of jobs now since my contract at the museum expires at the end of March, but I'm still hopeful that I'll find SOMETHING.  If not, I'm making plans to travel the UK more.  I'll keep you all posted.

Cheers.

Heather

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hello Dear Readers,

It's been too long since my last post, but exciting developments have happened since then.  For a Christmas/Birthday present Chris bought me a new camera! Of course he's not a great planner when it comes to gifts, and the worst at surprises, so he told me about it on the 11th of Feb, the day he ordered it....... it's fine, it arrived on Valentine's Day, the perfect halfway point for me between Christmas and my birthday, so it's kind of official.  He got me the Canon IXUS in BLUE!  Our old camera had a tiny screen, battery life problems, the CF reader on our computer was going, and it was just plain BIG.  The new one is a little smaller than an iPhone, perfect for me to slip into my pocket, even my skinny jeans, and take with me to shoot some blog photos to share with all of you.

 It did a great macro shot of the yarn I finished spinning this weekend:

And managed to capture really well in the low light of our office some before and after shots of this neat-o pattern I did for a pair of toddler's sweatpants out of a single t-shirt using just *3 seams*

Aren't they the cutest?  This pattern comes from Hammer and Thread, at this link.  I whipped up this pair in the morning before going to teach knitting, and a second pair when I got back.  Now I just need to find out if they are even close to fitting the toddlers I sew for....somewhere out there I'm sure there is a baby for them.

 The other significant event this weekend was Chris's birthday.  I've been planning a great surprise for a month now, and could barely contain myself, but I did a much better job than Chris with my camera.


Here he is, all unsuspecting on Saturday night. (Everyone was out of the house except us, so of course we stayed up late playing UpWords, which my friend Kat from Chicago gave me years and years ago and we still enjoy).

Sunday after I got home from teaching Knitting in the morning I asked him if he had eaten well and to shave and get dressed nice-ish.  He had no idea what was in store, but dutifully got on the 22 bus with me all the way to Piccadilly Circus.



As we walked down Shaftsbury avenue, past the Windmill street (of Judi Dench movie fame) and through the heart of the West End Theater district.  When he saw the sign for Thriller Live, he knew what was on! If you zoom in you can even see a smile on his face.

For those who don't know, Chris in his misspent youth applied his characteristic laser focus on learning everything there was about Michael Jackson, right down to his dance moves and I catch him doing Billie Jean in the kitchen to this day. Actually, dancing Billie Jean is part of how we met and got together, but that's another story....

After a fantastic show (most people tap their feet or sing along, Chris on the other hand was dancing along to the show......) we headed around the corner to Ed's Diner, a fantastic American 1950's style diner for a chocolate shake, cheeseburger (veggie for me) fries and onion rings, one of Chris's favorite meals.  The place was so cute, and they even had that jukebox system where the tables and booths had their own that you could put 20p in and dial up a song.  Great birthday? or Greatest Birthday Ever?  I'm glad I was able to capture it all on my new camera too.

As my birthday is coming up and Chris's is going down, the last bit of exciting news is that two of my best friends from High School, Adam and Melch (remember them from this post?) are coming to visit me on my birthday FROM L.A.!!  How cool is that?  Skippies visiting me is always something I daydream about, and since Jennifer and Amy's visits last year and this visit on my birthday those dreams have been coming true!  Not sure exactly what we'll be doing, but I know we'll be having fun and laughing so much it hurts. Hooray!

Snow Bunnie!

Hello Dear Readers,

Winter finally came to London dropping a whopping 2-4 inches of snow last night!  Chris's cousin Christiana came up from Guildford to collect some dresses we brought back from Cyprus for her.

I made some cracking good vegetarian lentil chilli and then a big bowl of popcorn for watching a movie. As we were watching, we realized there was snow falling outside!  This was our street at about 8 pm as viewed from the window in the upstairs bathroom roof.

 This morning our house looked like this, I could hear the snow melting off the roof though all night because our bed touches the outside roof wall.  Note the tiny snowman made by our neighbor on the gate plinth on the right.  The snow has been melting pretty steadily all day, but the sun never came out so there is a bit hanging around.

As usual I've been working on my projects from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, since I'm working from stash I'm largely limited to the smaller and therefore faster projects so I'm really churning them out.  I finished off this bunny from Cascade 220 I used for Patrick's rowing socks and a little bit of pink mohair, last seen in my now defunct Jem legwarmers.  Here he is posing on our still snowed over back porch, savoring the last of the wintery Sunday afternoon "sun".  Isn't he adorable?

 And here he is showing off one of the 1 hour projects, the knitted kerchief.  I'm really pleased with the way this turned out, using the same cottony recycled  yarn I made my mother's sweater out of, the last ball in fact.

  It looks pretty good around my neck for a spring/fall small neckerchief, or equally good around my head to keep my hear back and my head warm, or I should say "one's" head since I am planning on gifting most of these projects, in the spirit of the book.   I'm so glad I started this project as I've really enjoyed the challenge of sticking to patterns (mostly) and not improvising so much, as well as making things I might not ordinarily.  They are starting to pile up though, so if you see anything you like just give a shout out and you may find it in your mailbox :-).

In an effort to slow down my project making a little bit I've also started spinning some of the 70 g of lovely merino/tussah silk fiber my friend Toad gave me at our Knitting group Secret Santa swap.

Here is the whole shebang, laid out on my workspace.  Don't you just want to snuggle it and roll up in it?  I'm spinning it very finely and I think I will do a Navajo ply on it to give a lovely round lofty yarn.


Patrick and Calvin are fast asleep on the couch now "watching" the Six Nations rugby tournament, warming up to go to the pub at 11:30 to watch the Superbowl. Go Giants!  I'm letting my bread machine french bread cool before I put in flour for a pizza dough.  Just a lovely lazy snowy Sunday afternoon.

Cheers!

Last Weekend in January, Resolutions Going Strong

Hello Dear Readers,

I had the photos for this post set up on Monday, but somehow didn't get around to posting until today.  You may recall we painted the hallways and living room a few months ago, and this weekend I prepped the kitchen for painting which was enough to inspire Chris...

Who blew though the kitchen and onto the office with vigour.  It was so nice to see him happily absorbed in something, I'll have to think up more household tasks he'll enjoy, maybe laying down wood floors in the hall? He even painted the ceiling in the office, which is great if I'm going to end up working from home more, I can lean back in my chair and enjoy the white white ceiling.

I've continued apace with my New Years Resolution knitting, and finished the tea cozy from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts, though mine is Cascade 220 and not cashmere.  Here it is being modelled on my teapot, though it's a bit snug.

I really like the look of the thermal pattern, I think it would be nice for a "cozy" human sweater.  The cozy came in handy as I had friends over for tea Sunday afternoon, part of my Year of Me campaign including spending more time with friends.  Have I mentioned the Year of Me?  I think I have, but it bears repeating, to myself and others, otherwise I (and they) might forget to spoil me this year.

I also blocked the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, which was finished knitting a few weeks ago but languished in the blocking line, and being mohair it really needed it.  It is actually quite warm, and longer than I thought it would be based on the books photo.  I was considering lengthening the scarf, but I'm trying to stick more or less to the patterns, just for fun, just for a change.  My plan is to knit only from my existing stash (except possibly for a sweater for Chris), but I still have quite a few items lined up to make so I hope to be knitting well into March, if I'm careful.

I'm risking life and limb taking photos on our back deck as we are experiencing the cold snap weaving it's icy fingers across Europe.  I wore one layer of bamboo socks and then my alpaca knee high cable socks that I made in Germany to cycle to work today.  My fingers still feel like they are going to fall off when I cycle, but I nicked my brother's snowboarding salt heaters for my hands. Unfortunately I only have one pocket in my cycling coat on the left breast.  So I cycle with one hand on the bike and one on my breast..... I probably look like I'm having a heart attack, but it gets me home in the end!  

Chris's cousin is coming up this weekend which will be nice, and I'm working on Sunday.  I have 57 days to find a new job (my contract is up at the end of March) but I wouldn't mind being unemployed- just for a little bit - to get some rest!

Cheerio!