Summer?

What’s new with us…

Summer has started though it’s been a bit of a disjointed year so it doesn’t really feel like summer yet. Plus the weather isn’t HOT like Texas and North Carolina so I guess I keep expecting summer to come sometime down the road. (I’ll probably get into the summer swing in late August…)

With regard to weather, it’s been very pleasant here– sunny for the most part, 70’s and 80’s during the day, cool enough to throw open the windows at night, let in a few moths (no screens…Lord knows why not – they could help keep some of the dust and dirt, insects etc. out…)

It did POUR the other night, hail and the whole 9 yards, thus testing the roof. I’m happy to report it no longer leaks.

This past weekend Joe and I checked out a new part of town for dinner – Highgate. The UK Good Food Guide led us to The Bull, a popular neighborhood gastropub.
Great food, nice ambience…I enjoyed a wonderful slow cooked short rib, what Joe had escapes me.

On Saturday we took the kids to the Queen’s birthday parade, an annual event that is celebrated in June, though her birthday is actually in April.

It was a gorgeous day; we finally got to see the horses we’d spied several times out practicing for their part in the Royal parade.

The area of course was jam packed but we eventually lit upon a spot that we could perch the kids on a rail for viewing. Therein they got a decent view, we experienced what we could on tip toe.

As we waited we could see guards in their red and black outfits with tall black hats posted here and there. Several hovered at the end of the road the queen was expected to bolt out of w/ her entourage.

Eventually she did just that; a group of horses, dark brown and shiny clean with riders in regal attire came whipping out, followed by the queen in her carriage. She swept through quickly, dressed in bright blue, with a big smile on her face.

She was followed by more horses, dignitaries and a corps of musicians playing and riding at the same time. (That was the most impressive aspect of the parade: trumpeters making lovely music while maintaining formation in a most majestic fashion…on energetic horses in front of a huge crowd. Nothing like multi-tasking.)

The Queen then swept around the circle again, this time at a more relaxed pace, same entourage making the trip around a 2nd time.

This event is actually known as Trooping the Colour, held yearly in honor of her official birthday. (It’s held every June, the month of her coronation in 1953.) Since the early 18th century, each regiment's colours (two flags or banners) were paraded before its own troops so that soldiers would recognise and rally to them in battle. And this tradition continues, nowadays for the benefit of the Queen who then receives a royal salute. At the close of proceedings she returns to Buckingham Palace in a carriage and appears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the crowds and watch a fly-past of RAF and occasionally other planes.

On the way home we stopped for a quick bite, then relaxed in our lovely communal garden and enjoyed the backyard grill.

On Sunday we hit Ava’s school fun fair, another lovely day to be outside. Face painting and all kinds of kid friendly activities.

And again, we took advantage of the nice weather and grill. (I’ve been told by Londoners that when the weather is nice, drop everything and get outside. We’re all over that. Who cares what state the house is in? It will no doubt be rainy enough soon enough that vacuuming and such will eventually get done. If not, who the hell cares?!?)

On Monday Claire tripped off to camp – outdoor recreational activities at a park used by the American School. I took advantage of the time to check out the Wallace Collection, a lovely private art gallery.

Tuesday I was on a mission to find shorts. And as any woman knows, as soon as one goes on a mission specifically to find clothing, it simply doesn’t happen.
(And no, I’m not dying of heat in London, but we will hit warmer climes later this summer so I’d like to have something comfortable to wear other than my Target jogging shorts.)

Wednesday found me at the British Museum for the Garden and Cosmos – Royal Paintings of Jodhpur. The exhibit features two separate types of painting popular in the Jodhpur region between 1725 and 1843. The paintings, created for the personal pleasure of the rulers of Jodhpur, represent the spiritual, political and aesthetic preferences of three generations of the Jodhpur court.

I enjoyed it very much, having seen many similar miniature paintings and demonstrations of these techniques in India.

The British Museum is immense – it will be a multi-year project to check the place out.

The other highlight of my day was dinner out with parents from Ava’s class. We gathered in honor of her teacher, who is getting married in July. Dinner was lovely, plenty of wine to celebrate the happy couple. And it was in a restaurant next to a wine shop I’ve discovered; they deliver if you buy a case (delivery is key for our urban lifestyle sans car). Thus it’s been fun to mix and match wines. And drink them, of course. Life is short.

Given her classmates are from various parts of the world, it's fun to spend time w/ the parents...people from Pakistan, India, Australia, the Middle East, Japan, Wales, England, Canada. I'm fascinated to hear various experiences.

On Thursday Ava had her concert, wherein she dressed as an elephant. She joined her elephant friends, monkey friends, lion friends, penguin friends and a couple of aliens to put on a musical show with poems sprinkled throughout. Very well done, cute and all kids – save one – seemed to thoroughly enjoy the performance. (It goes without saying that we parents were captivated.)

Yesterday I waited for the plumber to come – 3rd attempt to get the guest shower up and running. We’ll see if 3rd time is a charm when it comes to plumbing. The poor man is from the Czech Republic or Hungary or somewhere wherein I get some of what he tells me, but really, I'm not a pipe afficianado so I have a hard time reading between the lines to understand what he can and can't fix. Then when he just up and walked out the door without so much as good-bye let alone an update, I'm really at a loss.

All I know is this: all guests planning to use the guest shower better bring a hose to connect to the sink.

My big accomplishment for the day was to (happily) cut BT off direct debit; the company had set up 4 different direct debit programs into our account as a result of all their mistakes with our orders. Now we’ll see if they’ll cancel the extra charges for broadband that never functioned…

We ended the week with our Friday night date, this time met up w/ a friend for drinks at his house, then dinner at a busy, fun Greek restaurant. Great night out, and today our outing was to Covent Garden to just hang out and be entertained by street performers, eat jacket potatoes and peruse the market. A little paper-reading, R&R and the day is gone…