A visit from my mother Christmas 2008

I was lucky enough to have my mother for a visit over the Christmas holidays.
The following is a letter we both wrote to my grandparents;
My mother's;
Wow! I am back in the public library and this time I have a library card of my own " to use whenever I visit."the librarian says. I am very busy with or without Sarah who has been very attentive. Over the weekend Belen,Sarah and I travelled on a double decker bus to a fabulous market which you would have loved Celie, with cheeses, sausage,pastries to eat or just sample. Friday night we went to a delicious Spanish Tapas restaurant, Sunday we went to another fair then to a museum of photography which was very interesting. You should have seen the picture of Bush and all the cabinet members when they were young ie before the war.
We then met Stephanie who was on Sarah's swim team [they reconnected in England]. We had a drink at the Brown and then went to a lovely area with little shops and houses which were all row house but these were definitely upscale. By this time it was dark and we had to kill time before going to a great vegetarian restaurant. Of course this is getting off and on buses and the tube. Sunday, Belen who has a pedometer on her cell commented that we walked over 10,000 feet that day.
Today I talked to Vera but we will not be able to meet due to conflicts. I then went to the Victoria/Albert Museum and then to Harrod's. I stopped for a latte and people watching along the way.
Well I'd better go.
Can you imagine the tube nor the buses run on Christmas Day. The workers must find another way to get to work as hospitals etc still need workers
I may not talk with you again till Sunday.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Mine;
Hi All,
It's a shame I can't spend more time with my mom, but I have off for a week between Christmas and New Years so I am looking forward to that.
Just for the record, it was Borough market, at London Bridge where we had really nice fresh oysters (Belen's first time trying and she loved them) and we went to the National Portrait gallery to see the Annie Lebowitz exhibit and to 'Brown's' and then to a lovely little area called Primrose Hill where all of the posh people live and where we were somewhat peeping toms looking at every one's christmas decor.

Tomorrow I get off early and hopefully we shall check out some cute little shops and go to a christmasy pub by my house....we are off to my lovely previous flatmate's family dinner Christmas day (even though it is Hanukkah for them) and then I am taking my mom to this beautiful garden place (Kew Gardens) on Boxing day...Dad, one of their many gardens holds the largest number of certain types of bamboo...and Saturday we will go see a play on Edith Piaf's life, a musical rather, and then Sunday we are off to Bath! Whew.

Needless to say I am keeping her busy and I am the one who wakes her up in the morning! The woman who swears by her six o clock wake up call has been rising at 8 or 9 in the morning over here in Jolly old...it must be our dark winter, though we've had nice weather and no rain!

Best wishes and have a lovely Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Photos: On the bridge in Bath, flowers in the Kew Gardens, Ice skating in Kew, and my mother in Ottolenghi restaurant. So good!)

Copenhagen photos part deux

Some random ones.
1.Me in the King's garden (it was very cold)
2.Tivoli games
3. Tivoli garden's Christmas celebration.

Copenhagen

Ahh Copenhagen, A fantastic, freezing oh so Christmas spirited Birthday treat!

1.The girls waiting for our boat trip.
2.Warmth by the fire in Tivoli Garden.
3.In Tivoli gardens asian area.
4.Christmas joy down Copenhagen's main street.

Brrrrrrrr

Friday night I had this brilliant idea to bleed the radiators in my flat right before a cold snap. Having no idea about radiators, I sat watching water flow out of it into a pan, flowing ever so much into another, and another pan, all the while thinking how responsible I was with the maintenance of my flat. Those waters flowing, that I thought so successfully should, ruined my boiler and the weekend.

Flash forward tp the following day.
Red light flashing, I was lucky to have electricity to boil water. I was able to shower with two buckets before, why not now, I thought? I had to go out and wasn’t presentable so I attempted to run up and down the stairs filling the tub with boiling hot water. After filling it a few inches (it took ages!) I cringed with the thought of taking off my many layers. It had to be done. Cold licked at my heels and I tried to be as quick as possible.

'It’s really cold', Belen and I kept repeating . 'Go to the pub', her mother told her, 'it’s warm there'. I gave up and spent the majority of the weekend in bed, under a heap of covers while temperatures plummeted. A coolness brushed the tips of my shoulders left uncovered which felt like cold breath or a being warning me of winter.

Lesson learned, radiators are meant to hold water and from this point on I refuse to try and be handy. On the upside, it was so cold, it kept the mice away.

Sappy moon thoughts

Yesterday I walked home after dinner with co-workers. The night sky was filled with a wall of clouds looking light, but crusted. They stretched on and on like a blanket except for a circular break where the moon shone, so perfectly it looked like a spotlight or even perhaps man made. I thought of how strong it was and I thought of how strong it was years ago in Haiti. It reminded me of nights spent walking in a cane field or near the river with only a bright moon to shine on the path ahead. I resented the street lights I found next to me and thought of the moon’s natural bright shine.

This is not a picture of that night...they never turn out great, but you get the point.

Edinburgh

The scottish city with character and a haunted past.
Past the whisky!






The castle and Sarah
Enjoying the coffee and biscuits before a nice big breakfast
Belen in the cemetary looking for ghosts
In ode to Scott, through an allyway

Ahhh Sunday

It was a perfect weathered Sunday that had the warmth of a London summer with the colours of fall, burnt orange and red leaves clinging to the pavement. With nothing to do but avoid cleaning house, Belen and I decided to go for an afternoon walk. It was my goal to get her to stroll all the way to my work so I could tentatively measure the time it would take to walk there a few days a week and because of the day’s glow she accepted. I was envious as I walked down the lanes of Islington looking at various town homes and Victorians. We stopped at various gastro pubs in neighbourhoods that we agreed we would love to live in. The Duchess of Kent was so inviting with its clean and shiny bar, Dali portraits, and fat old sofa, we had to pause for a few hours. As we drank our pints we enjoyed the left Sunday Times and laughed over the Brits love of all things American (it’s true!) and Julie Walters (think Mama Mia and Calendar girls). On our way home, after a few glasses of wine, I sighed as I thought, this is why I love London so, with Sunday days that are quintessentially a city Sunday

Please America, don't vote for Palin.

I will say this only once, Sarah Palin is not the woman we want as President, nor as Vice President. I recently received an email from a person who knows Palin and in it she outlines her ignorance in knowing the world in which we live, clear facts of how Palin has created huge deficits in her state, and among else how she participates in pork barrelling for her own interests.

As much as I think she is a sensationalised character which might be appealing to most, she can not help us redeem ourselves in the wake of the damage that President Bush has done to America.

Please read the article below.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/alice_miles/article4662805.ece

Spain photos take two

1.The flower puppy outside the Guggenheim.
2.The puppy's house as they call it in Bilbao, the Guggenheim
3.A night out with B's basque friends.
4.Pinchos our first day

Spain photos

Pictures from Spain
1. The Cathederal in Leon, it was more beautiful inside and we saw many brides enter.
2. Near the cliffs in San Sabastian
3. works by Chillida on cliffs in San Sebastian
4. The stairs up to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe where we watched the sunset.
5. Bliss by the river, can you view the rope swing?

Espana once more

Bilbao is a city in I had yet to visit so when my flatmate, who is from there, graciously invited me and another friend to their yearly festivals, I gladly said yes.

We planned a week long vacation, the weekend in Bilbao, and then a week in Belen's village, a small pueblo in the middle of Spain, where her mother grew up and where she spent summers as a child.

Our first day was full of activity when her friends, a newly engaged couple, picked us up and drove us along the coast towards France. The landscape was beautiful and much to Belen's dismay reminded me of Northern California. We stopped for Pinchos, a cultural experience of the north, of lovely little food in all different shapes and sizes, displayed out on the bar which people pick and chose from, drinking and eating, and then moving on to the next place to find something different, special.

We ended the day on top of a small mountain, next to a church in the ocean, a long walk up many stairs with vistas never ending (think the place in the ending of Mamma Mia). We stayed till the sun set. It was the perfect place to reflect even though I was so weary. We spent the rest of the weekend in Bilbao, visiting the famous Guggenheim, enjoying the cafes and more pinchos in the old part of town, watching everyone drink large cups of Kalimotxos, drinks of half red wine, half coke. We danced and explored, leaving early from the festivals at three, while her friends headed home at six the next morning.

Forward to Tuesday, a different experience altogether. We are in a tiny village surrounded by large fields, a river, mountains and many trees, my favorite trees are ones that look as if they are clapping in the wind for us. People stop by Belen's mother's home, dropping off enormous squash, strawberries, small sweet plums, thick heads of lettuce picked from their garden. I am happy Belen's mother is happy here. The sun shines bright on her newly built back house, there are two houses now, right in the centre of town, with a shaded outside area where we eat. We eat huge midday meals and attempt to find swimming areas in the river or work on our tans at the free pool in the afternoon.

Children run free, alone with their friends, until late, even after we fall asleep early from the heat of the day. I imagine Belen young. People stop her on the street to say hello and to tell her she has not changed since she was a small girl and I see this is true from pictures. I enjoy the relaxation of it all, the walks after dinner in the quite of night, the stars visible in the sky.

We ended the trip in Leon, another classical and very religious Spanish city, different from Bilbao, with night excitement I wish we had in London, everyone out and about, strolling casually around.

When I return home, English spoken in the street surprises me. I say pardoneme to a Brit in the store and forget where I am.

The trip reminded me how much I love Spain.