August & September

In August we tried to hold on to the nice days of summer that were quickly getting cooler. We saw 'Waiting for Godot' in London with Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart, walked on the beach in Hunstanton, and met up with my friend, June, in Cambridge for a bike ride.

September, we had Fr Phil and his friend come by for a few days after their mediterranean cruise. (The guest room has certainly come in handy.) Then we also went to Amsterdam for a weekend.

We drove to the coast and took an overnight ferry to the Netherlands. We got trains from the coast to Amsterdam. We started our first day with delicious pancakes! The pancakes there are huge, flat, and come with any topping you'd like. We tried one with cheese and bacon, as well as one with apples and whipped cream.

We spent the day at the Anne Frank House and walking around. Our night was busy with a walking tour in the Redlight District and a canal cruise. The next day we did a bicycle city tour, checked out the Buddhist temple and lunch in Chinatown, with a comedy show at night.
We had a great weekend and I hope we get back to Amsterdam sometime. I could spend hours just watching everyone go by on their bicycles! They manage to talk on cell phones, carry shopping bags, and children all at the same time.

Lots of catching up to do...

Ignore the date, I'm going to go back in time & fill in the monthly tidbits since the last blog. Starting with last June/ July. My parents came the end of June for a few days here in England with us, before we all went on a mediterranean cruise together.

We popped down to London for a day, Leeds Castle, Ely and other local sites. We had nice sunny weather... a little too sunny. It was the hottest weather England had had in years. England isn't used to such sweltering weather. Air conditioners, subway venting, etc is not common here and we were melting! So hopefully the next time my parents visit England they won't bring NJ summer weather with them.

Now in the mediterranean, I was prepared for nice warm summer weather. We had great weather, great days at the ports, and a great time on the cruise. The whole trip worked out wonderfully. We left from Barcelona, to Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Nice. And if you've come across my mother, I'm sure you've seen and heard all about it.

Incoming!

Knowing that we had guests coming in June (Kathy and then later, my parents), I ordered beds weeks earlier for our guest room. I got two twin beds for versatility for our guests and because we have a narrow staircase.
But the furniture store was having problems with their distributor & so 3 weeks later than promised- the beds arrived. (Missing Kathy's visit entirely!) So with just one day until the parents arrival, the beds were delivered. But as hard as the delivery men tried (and discussed and discussed), they could not maneuver them up the staircase. They just didn't fit. This didn't make any sense to me since we had gotten an office desk and wardrobes up the stairs. So when my loving husband got home from work, we tried getting the beds up ourselves. Still didn't fit. So what did Shawn suggest? Go through the window!
The upstairs window was wide enough, so we hoisted them one by one to Shawn standing on top of one of our cars, then he pushed it into the window as I pulled it through. And boom! The beds made it upstairs!

June!

We've been enjoying the summer so much, I haven't blogged anything about June yet. (But I do use the term "summer" loosely, since it doesn't always feel like your typical summer here in England.)

June was fun...
- we went to the Strawberry Festival in Cambridge (which has nothing to do wth strawberries & is more about music & hippies),
-the squadron pig roast/ camp out (we camped out on base while some of the guys stayed up all night to slow roast a pig. I didn't taste the pig, but I was happy to beat the guys at the poker table),
-and Kathy came to visit for a few days! Had a great visit- one of our adventures was the Go Ape course in Thetford Forest.
Here are some picts from our high wire fun:

Lost in Translation

Today's British English lesson is brought to you by the letter F:
Fanny- does not mean your butt, behind, etc. Nor does it describe any kind of "pack" or purse worn on the hip. "Fanny" is another word for a woman's downstairs (or as Oprah would say- her va-jayjay).

Fag- not a derogatory name for a homosexual, but the common name for a cigarette.

Keeping that in mind... I found this at the grocery store.

Usually, you see Bangers & Mash, which is sausages and mashed potatoes. But I have no idea what this is!

Show Update

Last time we went into London we saw 'Avenue Q'. It was just as great as it was in NYC. I thought there might be some changes in the jokes for a British audience... but I think there was only one change in the writing in the whole show. It was minor whatever it was, because I can't remember it right now.




We also saw Shaolin Warriors do their kung fu thing while on tour in Cambridge. But alas, I don't have a picture of that.

Denver?

Even though we moved to England, we still live next to Denver. Of course the neighboring Denver we live next to now is probably 1/200th the size of Denver, CO. But it does have a windmill! The Denver windmill also has a cute cafe on site featuring their homemade bread. The bread is probably so delicious, because they mill their own flour there.