Every Day is Jen Day (for this week at least)

Since Bill had to leave for Abu Dhabi on my birthday he left me a present a day until he came home.  Here is my bounty so far.  I should have actually added Simon into this picture because he is my real present but I forgot and I don't feel like taking another picture.  The cards are a mix of ones from Bill (on the left) and ones from the US.

Bill did a fantastic job, as always, focusing on what I love best - - books!!  And not just your run of the mill best seller.  He started the week off with a couple of oldies (we affectionately call these "yellow books").  I haven't heard of these but I love the cover of The Jury and these orange penguin books are always a collector item.  

I loved this book on Taxidermy - but who wouldn't??  The pictures are fantastic - check out these pugilist squirrels!  I seriously think I'm headed down a slippery slope with this....

Next was this PandP graphic novel.  LOVE.  And The Amateur Gentleman - that's the big hardcover in the middle.  A regency romance from 1913 with these fabulous illustrations.  DOUBLE LOVE.

Today's present broke the book trend - a new ipod.  I use 2 - one for music and one for podcasts.  Both are ancient (in fact, Bill gave me my music ipod on my 40th birthday 7 years ago!) but the podcast ipod was lost, then found, and now won't synch so it's time for a new one.  

Tomorrow is my last present.  What does this paper bag hold???

Bank Holiday in Honor of Jen

Monday was the commemorative day of my birth.  It was also a bank holiday and the sun was out.  We decided after two days in London to stay closer to home.  We've been wanting to go to a pub we went to last year with a big beer garden and this seemed like the perfect day.  They have a huge sandwich menu - - something that you actually don't see that much here.  I had my favorite "Turkey Terrific" - - what most people in the US call a Thanksgiving sandwich (turkey, stuffing, cranberry) but of course in the UK they call it Christmas Dinner.  Anyway, here we are happy on a sunny day in the beer garden.

After lunch we decided to go to Dorney Court - a manor house only about a 10 minute drive from Eton.  This house is only open in May and June since it is still a family home for the Palmers.  One tidbit of info that we learned was that the first Pineapple grown in the UK was grown here...thus the local beer garden was at the Pineapple Pub.  I think someone told me that Elton John lives nearby although I might be making that up.  Don't let that taint the tidbit about the pineapple, that one is true.

Anyway, the house had pieces that date back to tudor times with plenty of additional rooms added over hundreds of years to give it a wonderful maze like quality.  Everything was crooked.  It was really quite stunning.

 Of course we were not allowed to take pictures inside....and of course I did sneak in a few.....

When we got home Bill had to pack and head to the airport for Abu Dhabi for the week but he left behind a present for me to open every day.  Somehow I've managed to restrain myself from tearing into them and Simon and I have savored them over dinner each night.  It's so nice to end the day with my fox, a glass of wine, and a little treat.

One last post of Joey and Allie in the UK

Because everyone loves Joey, here is a montage of Joey pictures from the last day of the Joey and Allie UK Adventure.  Joey was a real sport about posing for photos.  These need no explanation - just sit back and enjoy Joey....

 Ok, this one might actually need explanation - - this is Joey rockin' the onesie he bought at Spitalfields market.  

Joey and Allie left Saturday morning.  England has been a little empty ever since.

Probably Not Safe For Christin...and maybe others....

We need to travel back in time a bit for this post....back to Saturday when Joey and Allie were still in England and the long weekend had just begun.  As part of their send off I found an interesting shop that was off the beaten path. (Farther off the path than planned, actually... I won't go into details but due a to map problem we were way off course and thought we were too late to get in.  Fortunately for us and you, dear reader, that was not the case.)

 I realize that at this point I must seem obsessed by taxidermy...but this shop was really much more.  I found it through a strange online meander from one blog to another and another.  Just like some stranger who might stumble upon this post and say, "I need to go there!"  But once I found it I felt that no visit to London would be complete for Joey and Allie without a look at some curiosities (and get into the act ourselves...)

 

Bill took it to the next level by trying to kill a swan that was already dead.  If you've been following this blog you know how much he hates swans.

The ground floor was fairly straightforward taxidermy but I am NOT showing the more disturbing items (don't read this Christin!) of puppies and kittens.  I guess I'll know I've crossed a line when I tell Bill I want a taxidermied puppy peeking out of a boot.

Then we went to the lower level.  Of course the squirrels playing cards would have definitely come home with us if it wasn't so expensive.  The popcord box of miniskulls was a little too kitsch and the shrunken head sent Allie running.

Then I saw the celebrity poo.  Yes, there was actual poo in these jars as promised by the labels.  It's hard to tell but that is a little drawing of someone pooing as well.  Is there an actual market for this??  Have we been flushing away a money maker?  Of course, since we are definitely in the "D-list and under" category it will take a lot of poo to pay those college bills.

Happy Memorial Day!

 To celebrate Memorial Day, Bill and I took a little trip to Highgate Cemetery.  (Actually, we didn't connect the cemetery to Memorial Day until we were halfway through and noticed that many of the graves were being tended.  We really aren't that bright!)

Anyway,  Highgate has been on my list since we first arrived and I was not disappointed.  I love a good cemetery and this one has got it all - interesting grave stones, dead celebrities and lots of overgrowth.  I could easily see how spooky this place could be in the dark.  But we were there on a glorious sunny morning so no ghosts were around.

Here are some of the famous and interesting....William Foyle who started Foyle's bookshop, Douglas Adams author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

 Anna Mahler, an Austrian sculptor...

 Jim Horn, partner at Penguin Books (this was one of my favorites!  Isn't it great??)

 Patrick Caufield, artist.....

 Karl Marx (whose monument was really quite ridiculously big) and George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Cross)....

Many of the graves next to trees were completely uprooted.  These folks clearly didn't read Shelly's Ozymandias in school.  

Boy Seeks Bacon

A sunny Saturday morning means we are up "early" and on the train to London (once we got in synch the night before on everyone's definition of early). The kids wanted to check out more markets so we headed to Spitalfields.  

 But first we needed nourishment.   The Breakfast Club has been on my list for a while - every time we pass it there is a long line outside which means it's the place to be!  (If everyone was lining up for colonoscopies I'd be pushing my way in to be part of the IT crowd...)  The Breakfast Club delivered it's promise - good food and a good day.

 Back of the line but happy to be there.

We were actually seated fairly quickly into a booth with a view.  I hope those who know Joey noticed that he is not wearing a sports team jersey.  For the past 20 years I have rarely seen him in a shirt without a big number on the back.  He impressed us on this trip with his new adult wardrobe.

 Dressing like an adult doesn't mean you have to act like one though.  

 I had the Posh Sausage Sandwich...delish!!  (Fletch, it's been a long time since I posted photos of food.  Enjoy my sausage!!)

  Joey has been on the hunt for bacon for the past 10 days.  After repeatedly ordering things with bacon and really getting ham I told him to give up hope.  However, the BC offered a plate called The American with streaky bacon....success!!

The Oxford Plankers

As we toured the town and campuses of one of the most elite higher education schools in the world, I asked myself "Why couldn't my boys have gone to Oxford?"

Joey's planking pictures below tell you just about everything you need to know to get your answer.

At the risk of exposing possible illegal actions, the following are planking pictures in the Oxford Cathedral.  The old rafters looked strong, so a little plank shouldn't have been an issue.  Allie said she has century old dust on her now.  Free souvenir from England.