Night visit from a furry fiend

Yesterday was the warmest May day England has had in 50 years! Temps hit 89 degrees in London and must have been in the 80's here. The weather took me by surprise as I thought I had seen weather reports for a grey, rainy day. Anyway, it was of course nice to be surprised by the sun rather than the other way around... That being said, the upstairs was like an oven last night with hardly even a breeze to cool things down. We have no fan (as it rarely gets above the 70's here) and had windows open upstairs, and down, to try to cool things down. Sometime in the wee hours, I was sitting in Arthur's room feeding him with the door open. From where I sat, I could see the bathroom and suddenly as I stared blankly ahead, I saw a black tail and one hind leg pass out of my line of vision. I knew right away what had happened--the neighbor's cat had seen the open window, and decided to stake out the place! I went to the door and told it to shew (what a wierd word), all the while having visions of it rushing me as he scurried somewhere, anywhere to find where he had come in from. Then, not knowing if he'd gone or not, I went and woke up Charlie and got him to to go take care of the beast in case he was still around...Charlie was not amused when he returned and I asked if he'd seen the cat actually leave the premises and if not if he had checked every room...Not much love lost between me and the feline species, I'll have to say, but it made for an interesting night....

English Springtime

Springime is breathtakingly beautiful here. The first signs of spring appear in January or February with green bulbs poking their heads through the ground. It may not be warm for a few more months, but you know spring's not far off. This time of year, there's something magical about looking out the window around dusk and seeing the golden yellow lights coming from the neighbor's houses. The other great thing about spring here is there are no insects (aside from the occasional fly or if you're unlucky---a yellow jacket) and you can leave the window open on a balmy day. Monday morning was a beautiful perfect sunny spring morning. I walked into town with Arthur after a friend generously offered to watch Lexie for a couple hours. I pushed the 'pram' down a tree lined pathway, feasting my eyes on every green leaf and flower, and breathing in the perfume from the lilac blossoms blowing in the breeze. I stopped at the outdoor market in town, and then at a little cafe where I sat gazing out the window at King's College chapel sipping hot chocolate and feeling like the luckiest girl alive...

In other words

The way British people word things often sounds poetic or old fashioned. Take for example, an incident that happened at playgroup yesterday. A little boy was given a balloon to celebrate his birthday this week. A while later, there was a loud bang, and one of the children asked "What that noise?" His mother calmly informed him that "the balloon burst". Not "the balloon popped" as I would have said, but burst... I used to work with a woman who didn't "bike"...she "cycled". And when she occasionally would have a flat tire (or tyre) as it is spelled here, she would describe it as a "puncture". Recently, I visited an English friend up the road with two small children. As I was leaving she was joking about some friend of hers who she referred to as "daft as a brush". Good thing Claire wasn't with me then, or we might both be rolling in the street...

Big sis and lil' bro

The littlest Incredible

The obsession catches on...

The "INCREBULS"

Lexie has become completely and utterly obsessed with The Incredibles. It started out when Mr. Incredible and Elastic Girl came in Happy Meals that she got from McDonalds. Later, she was given an Incredibles stencil book, and then when Charlie recently bought the DVD for our collection, the obsessesion spiralled out of control. Even though I don't want her watching the whole thing at her tender age, she is just enthralled with what she has seen and imagines, and goes around saying the word "Increbuls" all day long evoking the characters names...even Edna. Not only does she carry the plastic super heroes around with her, but she also begs me to tell her stories about them, and asks Charlie to talk like Mr. Incredible. I make up all kinds of random adventures to amuse her. It doesn't end there...Tucked up in her bed, along with a myriad of other creatures, books, and yes even coins, she sleeps with the Incredibles dvd, and leaflet that came with it, that she supposes is some sort of Incredibles tale...