Are those reindeer playing leapfrog?

Hello dear readers,

I have about three projects on the go, as per usual, but when the weather turns wet cold and fallish, I'm often inspiried to cast on a few quickies.  Fortunately Patrick and Chris both asked me for some knitted items which is fairly usual so I pounced. Patrick originally wanted an over the top ugly Christmas sweater, but I told him he'd have to get the wool and it's a bit pricy.  I also pointed out a pattern to him which I thought would be better than ugly Christmas. So this weekend I pulled out some of the lovely bluejeans yarn I got at Kerry Woolen Mills and some white Cornwall wool from my friend Toad's destashing and produced this gem:

Look closely, no those Reindeer aren't playing leap frog.....  I have one on the front and one on the back so that when he rows in next weekend's race everyone can see them.  Fun!

I'm also making some slippers for Chris out of the same yarn from this pattern for those that have Ravelry.  He's very fussy so I hope he likes them, I'll keep you posted.  Felting is a bit of a dark art so they could turn out to be any size......

And yes, we've just completed week 2 of P90X.  Don't want to jinx it, but I'm down 7 lbs from the end of September.......

So much excitment I can hardly stand(it)

Hello Dear Readers,

Well well well, life is certainly like a box of chocolates.  Except not for me and Chris, because you know we are still committed to P90X and not eating sweets. I think a lot of people here think we should be comittted soemwhere else, but we'll have the last laugh when we look like supermodels.  Ahem.  ANyway, very eventful week in the Lindon in London household. 

Wednesday while at work (around 10 am) I got some garbled messages on Gchat from Chris, about how Patrick ate some shellfish the night before, was throwing up and had a sore throat.  Warning bells went off in my head, as shellfish allergies are very common, so I was trying to contact Patrick to make sure he was all right, direct him to the ER and meet him there ASAP.  It turned out he was on a train to Charing Cross, which was easy for me to get to, except that he wasn't on a London train to Charing Cross, but coming from Folkstone, way out south and east in Kent, and was in the middle of nowhere.  The conversation on Gmail went something like this (I may be exaggerating slightly for storytelling effect, but only slightly)

Patrick: Sore throat, throwing up, had seafood.  Might go to ER, might try to get to London.
Me: Where are you
Patrick: On a train comign into Ashford
Me: GET OF THE TRAIN NOW YOU FOOL, YOU FOOL.  What if you go into shock and stop breathing between stations? no one can do anything for you!  GET OFF THE TRAIN NOW AND GO TO THE ER!  I'll look up hospitals for you! There is one there, get a cab to it as it's far from the station.
Patrick: Yeah, I don't feel so well, maybe I should get off the train........
.....Long Pause.....
Patrick: Ok in the cab to hospital
.......Pause......
What is our doctor's name again? Need it ASAP
......Pause of 3 hours in which I'm sure he's gone into Anaphalactic shock and died and no one will know how to contact his family, or he's died of waiting in the ER due to NHS cutbacks, or it's nothing and he forgot to tell me and is in London by now.

Fortunately he texted me around 4 to say he was ok now, on the train home and he didn't need me to come get him.  Well he didn't say all that but that's how it turned out.  Apparently he does have a shellfish allergy (See? I was right to jump to the worst conclusion! I knew the signs!) and they had to Epi pin him twice when his resting heart rate (normally around 41) went to 140 in a matter of 15 minutes.  Phew.  So he came home and I stayed home to take care of him in his weakened state, and even watched Ghostbusters with him, thanking my lucky stars that he had the good sense to call his sister and then listen to her when he wasn't feeling well, otherwise I would have spent the evening very differently. 

Here he is eating the nice healthy recovery dinner I made for him, complete with Tim Tam for dessert.  Aww, poor little fellow.  Sigh. I do wish baby brothers weren't so much trouble!!


Something Patrick would never do for me is take me on a long cycle, but when I heard a friend was cycling to Brighton this weekend I jumped at the chance, not least because I was assured it wasn't a group of serious cyclists and I wouldn't be left behind.

Well we took this route (approximately) intending to leave at 9:45.  By 11:00 we set off, two of our members were told it would take 30 min to cycle to the starting point (it took 60) and one of them had the chain fall off their bike.  Not even out of London (in Tooting) another member sprang a leak on their tire, had to replace it, and eventually we had to cycle to the nearest bike shop so he could buy a new tire (the old one had a bulge at the rim).

 The driver of the bus you see behind you insisted on coming over to help us, apparently he is a avid cyclist and prides himself on changing tires very quickly.

  Finally, we set off in earnest, climbing one of the first hills of the trip.  I made it cycling all the way, but another girl had a 60 year old bike that would only go into 3rd and 4th gear, and not between them very well either, though she is so hard core she managed to mostly keep up with the rest of us just the same.  Slowly we wound our way south, meeting up with a lot of hills along the way (Chipstead road did me in at the Church, mostly because I forgot that I had front gears as well) and stopping off at the Dog and Duck for lunch and our first pee break (baked Potato with Beans for me).  It was already 4 and we were just under halfway......

  We passed Wakehurst Place (part of Kew gardens, I'm hoping to convince Patrick to cycle out there with me sometime) and up the infamous Turner Hill (made it up that one all the way, thanks to my front gears, and singing Gangnam Style to myself).  All this time we knew we would have to climb the infamous Beacon hill, but I wasn't looking at the map so I coudln't know what kind of progress we were making, how much longer it would take, or how I would fare.  Unfortunately in Ardingly my front gear stopped shifting, so I was stuck in the middle set, ok for going up hills, but that's about it.  It started to get dark (we had lights) and we kept pushing on through dark windy country roads until at last we could see in the dying rays of the sun, the hulking mass of Beacon Hill.

Well I was determined to get up that thing, and started out ok, doggedly pushing one leg then the other, able to navigate only by my lights and the reflective line in the center of the road.  On the one hand the pitch blackness meant that psychologically I couldn't see ahead of me, so I just kept pushing on.  On the other hand it was completly dark, and I was by myself (one cycling buddy had sped ahead to meet us at the top, the other two were lagging beghind, the last pushing her bike from the very start).  I kept going, singing all the songs I knew, telling myself that I WOULD tell Patrick I didn't have to push my bike. 

Finally there was a bit of a plateau, and a clearing where I could see the twinkling lights of West Sussex below (far, far below), and I thought I was nearly there, even with one gear out of commission.  Then a car went by and I saw how much more there was.  I caved. I walked the rest of the way, in the total dark and silence.  The total empty darkness, quiet, and contemplative silence only defeat could bring, as I trudged up and up and up, sure the hill would never end and I would spend all my days, like Sisyphus, pushing this old heavy hybrid bike, alone, up the hill.

Well of course it did end, and my friend Malcom told me that he had done it in 12 minutes, and that he had been waiting about 7 minutes for me. So I hadn't been walking for 30 minutes like I thought, but probably only 5, and I had made it nearly 1/2 or 3/4 of the way up, no way to know for sure.  But I did it.  And I'm DAMN proud of myself, it's my new benchmark for acheivemnt.  I did Beacon Hill, alone, in the dark, with half my gears gone.  I can do anything!

We did get to Brighton eventually, though we didn't touch the sea as we had planned, too tired out and hungry (it was 8 pm) so we sat at The Railway Bell pub next to the station, drinking and recovering until 11 when we caught the train home. 

Much to my dismay, I found out that trains don't run from Clapham Junction ot Putney that late at night, so I had to cycle the 2 miles back to Putney when I got there at 12:30 am.  Much to my pleasent surprise, It hardly took me any time, and I even enjoyed it and managed to carry my bike up the stairs at the end of the night.

So that's my tale of my first ill planned and ill executed cycle to Brighton.  But I did do it, and now, I can do anything.  I just need to summon up the energy for my P90X Kenpo workout this afternoon......


Cheers

Dr. Who?

Hello Dear Readers,

Chris has been casting around for a new TV show to get addicted to watch and he has settled on Dr. Who.  Yay! Another fan to share my addiction with.  One of the people I work with at Kew, who also happens to be American has been lending me the ORIGINAL Dr. Who shows to watch, so I'm starting right from the beginning with William Hartnell.  It's fun to have Chris watch the New ones and me watching the old ones to compare and contrast, and of course we have been watching the third Matt Smith (11th Doctor) on Saturday evenings on the BBC. 

One of my other Dr. Who friends (of which there are many, as you can see), Jennifer, has sent me over the years several lovely and clever cross stitches with a Dr. Who theme.  Patrick finally bought a picture frame for an amazing photo of Picadilly circus that Lucy helped me find after a 2 year search, on Portabello road (that was a great shopping day, hot mama!).   Street where the riches of ages are sold indeed! The photo is similar to, but infinitely superior to this one and apparently much harder to find.......where was I? Oh yeah, picture frame.  Pat finally bought one and it came with two mattes inside for either a 5 by 7 or 3 by 5 photo.  I took that bit and made my very own Dr. Who Triptych!!

The top are the old and new Daleks shouting EXTERMINATE! as they are wont to do.  The second is the "ship" the Doctor travels in known as the Time and Relative Dimension In Space, or Tardis (the thread in the window is glow in the dark!) and the last one is the Matt Smith doctor's equivalent phrase of "Rude, not Ginger" which is "Fezzes are cool".  If you don't get it, you simply are not a Who fan.  Shown above in close up, and below in situ, above the new desk that we got to make space in our room for our latest project and the last 90 days or so of my Year of Me. 

Yup, we got P90X to try, which if you don't know is a big intensive 90 day workout program.  We may not finish, we may not get the promised results, but we are going to give it our best shot.  I'm 30, it's about time I see what this old body can do before I get too old and it gets too hard.  Wish us luck!!  If it all goes well I'll have amazing before and after photos to show you at New Years, and if not, well let's just pretend this post didn't happen then, ok?  Also if you don't hear from me, it's either because I'm working out, too tired from working out, or dead from working out.......

Wish us luck!

Last of the Summer Mud

Hello Dear Readers,

As they say here, the days are starting to draw in. Not really sure what that means, getting smaller I suppose?  At any rate the leaves are changing, mornings are crisp, and I've put a set of full fingered gloves inside of my cycling half gloves.

Last weekend I met up with some friends who I went to the Scilly Isles with at the beginning of the summer.  We went to a small creek that runs to the Thames in Greenwich, where the Cutty Sark and the Observatory is.

 Here I am standing in front of only a small part of the vast collection of detritus that has washed up to Deptford Creek over the years.  Wallets, phones, children's toys, glass, a skateboard, computers, bikes, garden equipment, shoes, china, you name it!  The most interesting thing we found was a short samuari sword, though it had rusted in its sheath so we couldn't see if it was metal or not.  The manager said a lot of it is stolen goods that get too hot and people chuck it in the river.  There was also a case of a boy who fell in far upstream after a heavy rain and was swept down almost to the Thames, but luckily a DLR driver had seen him go by and phoned in downstream so they could catch him.  How lucky!  The water wasn't nearly that high when we went, hence it was a mud walk.  Or more accuraly, poop walk since that's a lot of what we were walking in!

 Here are Chris and I geared up for the walk, hip waders and a sturdy walking stick.  Nick, who runs the place (not pictured) said the only time he's ever fallen over was when he didn't have a stick, so I clung to mine.  We walked up as far inland as we could go and saw some of the old buildings and heard about the history of the area, how there were bakeries until the last one burned down, how they used to break up old ships in there to be reused, and how the new buildings they were putting up were affecting the entire area.  We also saw evidence of this history in the creek bed by finding ceramic bits that belonged in the old ovens, long ship nails and non native plants that were clinging for dear life on the mud and moss on the brick walls of the creek bed.

 
We walked towards the Thames end as well, but the water was starting to get a bit too high and it was rough going for my little legs, almost went in once and took my friend Mark with me!  We were so lucky to have such a warm, sunny, amazing day, that's the last one we've had in a week and I'm afraid it might be the last one we see till next spring.  After the walk we went to Kate's house where she had a beautiful spread of food (vegan too!) and we ate and talked and laughed and generally had a great time. 

To top it off, when we went home we decided to go by river boat.  Unfortunately the commuter boat had a 40 minute wait, so we took the tourist boat which left in 10 min and was half price that day.  We got the rare pleasure of going under the Tower Bridge while it was up, something that the other people who were on the boat with us assured us was a pretty rare event.  The bridge was lifted because a ship with a tall mast was going through, you can just about make it out in the photo here.

As we pulled into Waterloo Big Ben was ringing out 6 pm and we hopped the train home to catch the latest Dr. Who.  Great Times!  This weekend not doing too much, but if things work out I might be going to a Brazilian club to learn to dance forro!  Catch you later!

Catching up on More Visits

Hello Dear Readers,

I had a blissfully quiet weekend, allowing myself to sleep in past 8 both days and catch up on reading and lounging (and Dr. Who, Netflix has the very first doctor episodes on - wheee!!).  I thought I'd catch up a little by sharing a photo of a visitor who came in August, my Master's advisor Dr. Dick Mack.

I'm looking very flushed in that photo because we had a jug of Pimm's at the Botanist, a pub just off of Kew green, then we had a bottle of wine at Wine and Moussaka, a restaurant across from Kew Green run by a guy from Cyprus.  Small world.  It was interesting to talk to him and hear all the gossip from Washington State.  When you leave a place it stays frozen in your mind and it's good to be reminded that things do change and go on.

I also found time this weekend to make a new wallet for myself, you may recall in this blog post that I replaced my old worn but much loved leather wallet with a new one sewn from one of my favorite batik fabrics, which was in its first life a faux wrap skirt, and worked its way into multiple quilts (including this one in our living room)

This time I used some of the last fabric that I got as a fat quarter when I left Hancock Fabrics after graduating in High School (12 years ago!!)  It's little boys playing blind man's bluff (featured in my needle case too, waste not want not).  The inner part is a striped fabric, courtesy of an old pair of Patrick's boxers (washed) and a pink plaid, also from Pat's boxers, but I think the colors and textures really work together.  So cute, I just need an excuse to go on a shopping spree and use it!

So that's about it then, I'm off to have some plum crumble and watch more Dr. Who and spin some sparkly green yarn.  It's getting to feel like fall around here, but in a nice way. Hope everyone else had a good weekend too!

We'll always be as one! One one one oneeeee!

Hello Dear Readers,

Another busy weekend here at the Lindon Bed and Breakfast.  My good friend Molly came down to visit on Friday, and we cycled to Putney from Kings Cross.  To me, this is the best way to see London, in the evening by bike.

 I knocked out this hat for little Katelyn, with flowers so that people don't think she's a boy since she's not wearing pink.  This matches the little brown sweater I made for her in July, I'm having to make child sized stuff for her now instead of toddler, my they grow up so fast!











Thursday I got a bit of a panicked call from my English friend Madeleine, who is a Professor in Minnesota.  She is in England for two weeks for her mother's wedding, but she unexpectedly had to make a call at the American Embassy on Monday morning, so she asked if she could stay for the weekend.  It's so nice after several years of quiet uneventful living by myself to suddenly find that everyone wants a piece of me, well, my floor anyway. 

Saturday Molly and I went to Hampton Court Palace and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, sun shining, no kids to worry about, just the two of us enjoying English country gardens and some good English history.  We also found our way to the center of the hedge maze at Hampton Court, just too two MSc's to do it!


I had tickets to see Grease at Kew the Movies on Saturday night, this is where they set up a big screen on the lawn and show a good movie outside in the fresh air.  Here is a photo of the four of us just after the movie.

We had such a great time with a warm up girls doo-wop group, FREE popcorn, and singing along to all the songs.  The crowd was amazing, lots of people had dressed up as Pink Ladies, Sandy's and Danny's.  I must admit, the movie is a LOT different than I remembered it.  Oh i\I still knew all the words, but they meant something different to me now that I'm a grown up!

Sunday Molly and I cycled up to Oxford street and shopped at Selfridges and Uniqlo, then had an amazing snack at a real Soho coffee shop (complete with sketching fashion students and ultra hipster students) and then up to King's Cross, sadly, for Molly to go home.  All too short a weekend if you ask me!

Madeleine stayed through Monday morning, so we managed to have Dr. Who, tea and knitting in the evening.  Sigh. I do miss that about Texas.  But she'll be coming back on her way back to the US next week.

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did, though I don't know how anyone could trump TWO old friends coming for a visit!  It's the best!

Cheers.

Ode to my sissy...... and my brother from another mother

Hello Dear Readers,

This will be mostly a post card, a visual love letter, if you will to my sissy and her fantastically fun and funny husband.  They came for a week starting August 17th and we had a total blast while they were here.

 We took advantage of the beautiful weather in Putney on Saturday to throw our FIRST BBQ in England.  It took a little while and Pat's mad Boy Scout skilz to get the fire started (I know, I should have read the directions more carefully!).  And thanks to the 50 lb suitcase of American food that Cat and Jeff brought, we were able to have S'mores for dessert!

On Sunday we met up with some friends of mine from Knitting Group, Lizzy, Lucy and Sian to see Henry V in the last few weeks at the Globe Theater.  We had Groundling tickets, only 5 pounds ($7) to stand for the entire performance.  You are right up against the stage, and quite a few scenes go right through the audience, I could have reached out and touched Prince Hal if I wanted to.  There is no substitute for seeing Shakespeare in the language, place and theater it was written for, it makes so much more sense!

Later we ate at Waga Mama's and wandered down along South Bank, where there is always something going on.  Cat spotted this great photoshoot opportunity outside of the Tate Modern. 
After watching Henry V victorious at Agincourt,we were off the next morning for, well, I'll let you guess.....

 

Yup, Eurostar to Paris!  Sacre Cour, the Moulin Rouge, the Louvre, Luxumbourg Gardens, dinner at Les Deux Magots (we hoped that didn't mean the two maggots.....), sleep in a quaint and very French hotel where we fortunatly got bumped up to the 500 a night rooms with JUCCUZIs!!  You can bet I hopped in there as soon as I got in the door!  Eiffel Tower first thing Tuesday with a stop for Nutella Crepes, then wandered up to Arc de Triumph, down the Champes Elysees, Louvre again, Shakespear and Co., Notre Dame, the Maire area, pretty much anywhere you could get by walking and then hauled ourselves back to Gare du Nord.  Phew!

Undaunted, Wednesday we went up to Holburn to see where Patrick works, and to enjoy the World Famous Fish and Chips at the Bass and Sole Plaice.  I only eat at world famous or world's best establishments, I have standards.  On Thursday we took Jeff on the obligatory Kew trip, where I showed off my workplace, a lot poorer than Pat's in money, but loaded up on pretty things to look at!  We had fancy afternoon tea at the (obvously) WORLD FAMOUS Maids of Honour tea room just across the street.  Little sandwiches, pots of tea, scones and dessert.  Yum!

Money shot of the beautiful antique (but still functional) Palm House, look for it when you fly over into Heathrow.

 We really lucked out on the weather, as we seem to have with guests this year.  I promise guys, it's raining when you aren't here..... There was a slight drizzle when we went to the Tower of London on Friday afternoon......

But the Crown Jewels are inside, and being a Friday and dreary, there was no line to see them!  That evening we went to see Spamalot!  It was hilarious, it's been a while since I've seen The Holy Grail, so the jokes were familiar, but fresh enough to still be funny.  And of course, Chris hadn't seen either one before, so as usual I get to experience it for the first time again through him.  Who needs kids?  When we got out of the theater the streets were wet, proof of a downpour we  missed while in the theater.  I'm telling you, it's grey and rainy here!

Spamalot was a great note to end on as Cat and Jeff had to fly out Saturday afternoon.  Sniff.  We made do with a day of shopping (30% off at the Gap, got some great deals for Pat!).  But we are thinking of visiting Boston and Cat and Jeff's new house next fall, woo hoo!

Last weekend Chris's cousin came up to see us before she goes back to Cyprus, maybe for good.  And this weekend my friend Molly is coming by herself, yay! Girls weekend!  What a great year 2012, you can't make up for the crap in 2010, but you are close.....

Cheers!