Englishgirl in Indiana

Please go to Keith’s Page http://keithjustus.wordpress.com/

Mélaine is at peace. At 10:30 (local time, 11th August) Mélaine died. She stopped breathing and her heart beat on for a few more minutes. She was peaceful and we were all around her, proud of her and privileged to be there. We felt sure Mélaine could hear us and we spoke gentle words of comfort and love.

As you can imagine, there are things we need to do and arrange. There will be a memorial service for Mélaine - this will be in the UK (and quite soon, we hope). When the arrangements are confirmed (shortly) we will publish them here.

Now, it is time to grieve, to remember, and be thankful that Mélaine was in our lives.

From Peter and Avril

Today, our daughter Melaine, the “Englishgirl in Indiana” went to a better place: passing quietly from this life to the next mid morning in her room at the Cleveland Clinic Ohio USA..

For the past few days the weather here has been cool, blustery and with thunderstorms. This morning the sky was heavy and overcast and yet at her demise the sun broke through and clear blue skies appeared….we would like to think that Melaine was beaming her wonderful smile down at us all.

Those of us who have kept vigil at her bedside and those who have administered to her care have been humbled by her strength, her humour and her spirit throughout. There never was a braver little soldier.

She was loved by all; husband, son brother, parents all, family, friends from school and work and even those of short acquaintance. The doctors, nurses and assistants had taken her into their hearts and we will forever have a place in our hearts for them. They fought side by side with Melaine throughout her illness offering support, kindness, comfort and for some a great deal of love.

Throughout the past 6 months we have treasured and gained strength from your heartfelt thoughts and prayers.

So please remember the Melaine you knew…………..and with the new day will come strength, new thoughts and new beginnings

Avril and Peter
Keith and Jay
Peter

Hall N Oats “She’s Gone”
Everybody’s high on consolation
Everybody’s trying to tell me
What is right for me, yeah
I need a drink and a quick decision
Now it’s up to me, ooooh what will be
(Chorus)
She’s gone, she’s gone
Oh, why
Oh, why
I better learn how to face it
She’s gone, she’s gone
Oh, why
Oh, why
I’d pay the devil to replace her
She’s gone, she’s gone
Oh, why
What went wrong

Get up in the morning, look in the mirror
One less tooth brush hanging in the stand
My face ain’t looking any younger
Now what I can see
Love’s taken a toll on me

(Chorus)

Think I’ll spend eternity in the city
Let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away
And pretty bodies help dissolve the memories
There can never be what she once was to me

(Chorus)

Filed under: health, breaking news on August 12th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Despite being able to provide blood and platelets to support my low blood counts the doctors have essentially said there is nothing that they can do to help me. This being the case the we are starting to look at different remedies and alternatives and other options for cure. I have no doubt of healing as I still have things to do here! I know He has great plans for me and I refuse to be stopped at this stage. So much going on but I’m feeling great and stronger each day and know that as each day passes and each item of medical paraphernalia is removed, (catheter, oxygen line, Hickman changed to PICC, etc, etc.) life is getting nicer. One of the the things K and I are starting to explore is food detoxification and juicing and eating properly as it relates to cancer. The Crazy Sexy Cancer site is a fantastic site for this and I’m really excited at starting this.

I am of course continuing to feel great and enjoying the freedom of not having a catheter in enormously!

Filed under: cancer, Ed, T-cell Lymphoma on July 22nd, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Hello,

This is Keith I am setting up my blog. It is not as cool as Mélaine’s but I will try to blog daily if possible.

Here is the Link

http://keithjustus.wordpress.com

Filed under: uncategorised, links on July 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Typed by Keith, dictated by Mélaine

Hey who needs a spleen after all? After my last post, my spleen was causing me much distress and a lot of pain and getting quite enlarged. So the doctors decided to perform a splenectomy on Friday. This went remarkably well as my spleen was the size of my liver when it should have been the size of my palm i.e. way too big! Luc and Keith waited patiently whilst being harassed by a lovely couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The hope was that taking my spleen out would have helped my platelet counts go up enough, (to get the JW off our back), and proceed with either bone marrow transplant, more chemo therapy treatment or an alternative treatment. Unfortunately, my counts did not go up as we had hoped. Platelet counts need to be of a substantial and sustained number to be able to proceed with such treatments. I am still being heavily supported with blood products and pain meds and so we are starting to look at heading back to Fort Wayne at some point next week to proceed with hospice care.

We are all doing well and I am still in good spirits and I am kept in continuos positivity and humor by K, Luc and Jerry who provide a 24 hour circus and comedy act.

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on July 17th, 2008 | 7 Comments »

So much for that plan! Those few days out of the hospital will have to wait. Around the same time that they started me back on Neuprogen, they also decided to taper me off the steroids. As the days have gone on my fevers are getting worse (104 today) and last night I experienced the same excruciating bone pain that I had when I was taken into hospital back in March. So I spent last night sweating up a storm and having the doctors/nurses frantically adjusting my pain meds. I did manage some sleep intermittently throughout the night and woke up to yet more fevers and the pain starting again. So more blood cultures and pain medication assessment. Fortunately my counts have gone up, not much but a small climb which is good but they still gave me platelets and blood. The doctors made the decision to take my steroids back up, to try and get rid of the fevers, and they’re also going to hold off on the Neuprogen and see if my bone pain goes away. As of writing my last few vital takings of my temp have been good, no temperature but it also seems to come on at night a lot as well so we’ll see what happens in a few hours. The worst thing about it all was that last night my legs were so weak and everything was just too painful they brought me a bedside commode to use. For the first time in this disease I felt utterly dependent on someone else; humiliated at the fact that I couldn’t use a proper bathroom. Anyway needs must and I ended up using it to pee but I sure as hell wasn’t going to take a crap in it and staved off my regular until I could make it to the proper toilet. But it did remind me of how low this disease can bring one and while I’m no prude there are certain base human dignities that it’s nice to maintain. Cancer does not allow for that.

And of that lovely note I want to turn you on to a very cool website called My Crazy Sexy Life and Crazy Sexy Cancer. Great sites to check out. The community was started by a girl, Kris Carr, my age diagnosed with terminal cancer. She made a movie that was shown on MTV and brought a super book out last year that I have devoured time and time again. She brings a refreshing take on her approach to dealing with cancer and it was nice to find someone and thus a whole community of people my age dealing with the disease.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on July 7th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

This was sent from our dear friends, Chris and Renée who own their own dog organic biscuit company - click here for further information on Barkwheats.

Hello Barkwheats Aficionados!

Be sure to tune in on Saturday July 5 at 7:30 on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6! If you’re out of state, don’t worry! I’ll have a video of the report to post up Sunday morning at our site.

Filed under: links, famille et amis, culinery delights, living the dream on July 4th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Still in the hospital, still waiting for my counts to start coming back up, in particular the white counts and the neutrophils. The docs also started me on Neuprogen yesterday. Neuprogen is the bone marrow stimulant that is given on a daily basis. Neulasta is the two week stimulant which I reacted to quite spectacularly those few weeks ago and ended up in ER with a serious allergic reaction. Hopefully the Neuprogen won’t have the same effect - although I reacted about a week after the shots with some minor rashes. Needless to say I ended up with a temperature last night, sooo boring, but didn’t have any other symptoms other than the weird trapped nerve feeling I get with bone marrow stimulants. Very uncomfortable but nothing that some good pain meds can’t control. Anyway so of course with fevers and low white counts they are super reluctant to let me escape. They’ve pushed back the start date for my pre-BMT chemo so we’re probably looking at the latter part of next week rather than the beginning - again the doctors want to make sure that my counts are good, my organ functions are stable, etc, etc. Luc’s harvesting will still take place on the 15th and depending on whether I’m ready for transplant or not on that day, we may end up freezing his cells so they can be put in me at a later date. Still hoping for just a few days out of the hospital before the official admittance onto the BMT floor and I find myself stuck in here in isolation for the next many weeks.

Mentally and emotionally I’m doing okay, although yesterday I did have a little crying session when chatting with Bob (and then my phone totally died right in the middle of our interesting, thoughtful, repertoire - sorry Bob!). Needless to say I felt much better afterwards, nothing like a good cry for an effective cathartic experience. Today I then felt much more with it and able to deal with the doctors. While obviously the emotional side of this whole experience has been underlying I find trying to deal with it with too much emotion utterly exhausting. I’d rather put my energy into getting well, focusing on the fun things I have to do for the upcoming semesters, even just reading, just enjoying life around me, however confined to four, white walls. Besides being British does provide me with a certain amount of stoicism that I actually find huge comfort in. I love knowing I can have a good cry every now and then but that ultimately I can rely on common sense and inner strength. I think that’s what brings me calmness in all of this; the key of course is finding the balance and making sure that every now and then I do have a good cry and get out the innate frustrations.

Luc has been working hard this week, enjoying the ease of wireless technology outside and here’s a pic of me and the bro - it’s a bit grainy unfortunately but I’ll try and get that fixed.

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on July 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

So I have to say that having one’s brother donate Bone Marrow in order to save one’s life is a pretty amazing thing. As things are getting closer for the transplant and now that Luc is here, I’m starting to see what an incredible experience this is. What’s incredible is that the doctors can take Luc’s healthy, happy stem cells and put them into my bare and barren marrow, (once all the pre-BMT chemo has blitzed the cancer and diseased cells) and that my body will use his happy cells to make me new happy cells. Now obviously bone marrow stem cell transplant is a little more complicated than my simple explanation but essentially that’s what we’re playing with. And I’m completely honoured to have my brother’s bone marrow. Of course, if he was a sickly thing it might be another matter but fortunately he’s young and buff and I figure his is probably some of the healthiest bone marrow going! Seriously though, I’m in awe of my brother at this moment and know I will be forever in his stem cell debt.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma, BMT on June 30th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Twists and turns all the way. I’ve just finished another session of the McGrath Chemo regime. I enjoyed some lovely time at home, catching up on work, spending time with my little bean and loving being at home with my family. Unfortunately my lymph nodes and fevers thought the time at home was lovely too and decided to come all out. When I came up for my couple of days of Bone Marrow Transplant testing, the doctors decided that I needed to be admitted for another round of chemo and to keep an eye on the fevers as obviously the disease is fairly prevalent and they felt that I wouldn’t last the one - two weeks until the BMT chemo admittance, not due until the 7th. It’s all such fun. So I got admitted on Monday night and started chemo on Tuesday. I’ve felt pretty rough because of it this week but am finally starting to feel a bit more together and even managed some very tasty lamb chops that Keith brought - yummy, scrummy! This evening Luc arrives, providing his delayed flight gets a move on, and tomorrow starts his testing for the BMT. I finish mine off and meet with the specialist and as far as we know everything is on schedule for the transplant.

And a very special Happy Birthday to the birthday boy - eek, I’m married to a 40-year old!

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on June 29th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

It’s crazy how this disease has a mind of its own. Every time I think I can plan and organise, the powers that be say, “Girl, let it go. This is not in your hands.” While I know I have the power to aid in my healing through positive mental attitude and a good diet, filling my body with nutritional and healthy things, I am aware that the timing of things happening throughout this disease is not in my control. Lessening control of that around me and allowing others to do things for me is something I struggle with hugely. Not being in control is just as difficult for me and I am convinced that part of what I must learn from having this is to relinquish control of the things that don’t matter, allow others to help me so that I can enjoy life. The last few years I have experienced such inner conflict with where I am in my life, situationally and mentally. I have struggled with wanting more but not knowing what more is and knowing that really it’s not the answer. I am slowly learning new thought patterns, new ways to appreciate life and others, of accepting what I’m doing, where I am, that some things are not meant to be and that others are. But yet I still cling to trying to control rather than enjoying.

Anyway, all this self-perspective has come about because I went up to see Dr. S last week to discuss further options and next stage of chemo, etc. When I left hospital last I was put on steroids (Prednisone) for all those fun reactions I’d been having and Dr. S was a bit concerned that these may have been masking what the actual disease was doing. So he advised me he was going to take me off them very rapidly. Monday I took my last one and almost immediately I had a temperature, lymph nodes on my neck popped up, I felt that sore muscle and tender to the touch skin feeling. Ugh. So yesterday we were up at the clinic again with the doctors telling me, okay, we’re doing the bone marrow transplant like next week! I was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Not about the bone marrow transplant. That doesn’t bother me, it’s exciting really to think that my brother can donate some of his bone marrow that essential may provide a new lease of life for my sick body. What freaked me out was the concept of not having time to get organised, to plan. Knowing that I will be there for 100 days after the transplant, (at the Lodge, not in hospital), I knew I needed time to prepare, to sort out work, to make up my little boxes of tech stuff, of books, of all those things that will allow me to feel like I have a nurturing and healing environment. We met with several doctors and nurses and coordinators and I just kept bursting into tears, because I was feeling utterly rushed. Eventually K and I were taking a break and having a sandwich and Julie, (she’s the coolest!), came over and said, “Look, just go home, take the next few days to relax, absorb everything, enjoy your family. Start again next week.” So we did.

Today was a better day. We were able to speak to Luc, get some of our timeline questions answered from our transplant coordinator and have a better overall picture of what needs to happen. As it turns out we’ll head up to the clinic on Sunday evening/Monday for a day of testing - PET scan, bone marrow biopsy (yet another one), EKG, a lot of labwork, chest x-ray and all sorts of other fun stuff. Then I have the rest of the week to get myself sorted, put in for my time off at work, figure out clothes to take (!), etc, etc. Luc comes in the following weekend for his testing, not as intensive as mine but equally as annoying I’m sure. On the 7th I am admitted to hospital and my killer chemo starts. This is seven days of chemo that will kill as much of everything in my bone marrow as possible, emptying it out so that the new stem cells can do their thing. I have a day of “rest” (ha-ha) and then on the 15th the transplant takes place. They’ll harvest the bone marrow from my brother in the morning and then transfuse it into me in the afternoon. Obviously these dates could change slightly, but those are our goals. The British Leukaemia Research has an excellent booklet on Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation The Seven Steps. It is really informative and better than anything I’ve seen yet over here, not that I’ve seen much here mind you but I’ve not done huge searching. It also has a bit for the donor who seems to get overlooked in the whole process, at least from what I can tell. And yet, without the donor…as with everything that has gone on during this experience I am overwhelmed and excited that my brother will be leaving his newborn baby and wife at a time when he is needed there and unselfishly offering up a litre - a litre and a half of his bone marrow in order to essentially save my life. How completely humbling is that?

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on June 19th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

I’m still at home! It is so amazing. I have a whole new appreciation for my home and my garden and being with my family and simply enjoying what’s around me.

I was supposed to head back to Cleveland last week but my counts, particularly platelets were still too low to continue with further chemo and I had to go in on Friday for another platelet transfusion. So Dr. S gave me a few more days. Monday my counts were up and doing great but one of my lymph nodes, a particularly persistent one at the back of my head, had come up again. So I called Julie and Dr. S and they decided they needed to see me, so on Tuesday K and I trekked back up to Cleveland. I’m really glad we did as we had a good meeting and I feel like I have some sort of goal. Obviously the goal is the transplant but as to how to get to that point I wasn’t quite sure. Basically Dr. S told me that what they need to see is a period of remission, about four weeks/a month where my counts come back up to normal but I am seemingly “free” of the disease, i.e. no pesky lymph nodes, before doing the transplant. He is pleased with my progress so far but a little concerned that I was still getting this lymph node appearing. However because that was the only one and that otherwise I seem to be doing well, he decided to take me off the steroids and give me another week to see how things go. In other words can I manage to get through another week of being somewhat asymptomatic before we do the next round? If I am able to make it through another week then I’ll have another session of the initial bit of the McGrath chemo regime, here at Lutheran, (yeah!) and then probably another one, maybe even one more after that, before aiming to do the transplant around September. As I said the goal is to have a good period of inactive longevity between each chemo sessions. Dr. S also gave me some other regime options and told me about a new research study they have for a new drug targeted at T-cell and NK T-cell lymphomas that I could participate in. I feel really positive about my options even though I know ultimately we’re aiming for the transplant. I also received the confirmation that my brother is a definite DNA match for bone marrow transplant, which is great news.

I went in to-day for my bi-weekly labs and had fantastic results. My WBC is at 12.4 which is actually over normal but that’s okay. The Neurlasta stem cell stimulant they give me can cause the white blood cells to go into overdrive. Either way I’m not neutropenic and can eat salads! My Hgb is at 10.6, still low but climbing and my platelets are at 174, which is the highest they’re been for months and within the normal range. Totally woo-hoo! As I said to Dr. S and K, for the first time in a very long time I feel “normal”. The body still aches a bit, my hair is very thin and my muscles are completely pathetic, still no jumping up the steps or anything like that, but I feel very well. I even managed to get into the office yesterday and sit at my desk for forty-five minutes or so before heading out for Amberly’s birthday lunch. It was so nice to be DIET again although all the excitement did have me in bed before 9 pm last night! Apparently I can still only cope with so much. I will try and head into the office for a few hours next week as well - it’s super to finally be close enough to consider doing that.

As so often in the last couple of weeks I feel so blessed to be at home and to have such terrific friends and family. They have truly been amazing and I am consistently choked up when I think about how much time my parents are devoting to caring for me and helping us and how much support friends are providing. So incredibly humbling.

And I’m still loving my bed and smooshy, white duvet!

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on June 12th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Very infrequently nowadays I am reminded of the differences in language between US and UK English. Usually these revolve around certain body parts or meaningless expressions. But every now and then I see something that has me shaking my head and my Englishness comes to the forefront. Take for instance one of the topics at my work’s upcoming Staff Development Day, the keynote speech in fact, entitled “Mind If I Call You a Knob?” After my initial shock and horror, then repeated giggling every time I read it, my final thought was, “Yes, I bloody well do mind!“

Filed under: indiana, englishness on June 8th, 2008 | No Comments »

Well, would you believe it? After almost two and half months away I am back in Fort Wayne, enjoying my beautiful garden and seeing my neighbours; catching up with Bob and being able to work at least in the same town; eating good, home-cooked food and reading my little boy bedtime stories. It is truly blissful and is doing absolute wonders for my mental state!

After several false starts, due of course to the latest drug, or chemo, or food, or God knows what, reactions, I was still in hospital on Saturday morning, two days after Dr. S had said I could go home for a bit. Anyway Saturday the on-call doc at the hospital gave me the okay to be discharged, (still a bit dubiously as my white blood count was very low) and K and I got in the car and drove back to Fort Wayne before anyone could stop us. Sunday morning as I woke up buried beneath my fluffy duvet, K opened the windows and I looked out at the flourishing, full, green-leaved, oak trees. The birds were singing, the sun was shining and it was a glorious morning. Home is the best kind of medicine. And to hear a little voice come into my bed saying, “Mummy, mummy,” just made it oh so much better.

As I’m still in the in-between, waiting to get on with the next part of the chemo, I’ve been going in to my local oncologist. Dr. A was actually the doctor who saw me originally, back when I was initially admitted to Lutheran with Aplastic Anemia. I’ve just been going to have labs and then transfusions as needed. Both my Hgb and white blood count have been doing well but my platelets are just really struggling. On Tuesday they were 2. Today they had gone up a bit, to 8 so I go in tomorrow morning for another platelet transfusion. My white blood count today was at 4.2 which is normal. Just. The low of normal is 4.2. But it’s still normal. Anyway I was due to go back to Cleveland today to possibly be admitted and complete this round of chemo but when I called Dr. S’s nurse yesterday she was like, “Yeah, no. Not gonna happen with platelets that low. Stay home for a bit longer.” So now I play the waiting game for the platelets to come up but praying the lymph nodes don’t appear first. In the meantime I am going to enjoy every second of being at home and being with my family. Other than work-work, which entails me sitting on my arse at the laptop, I’m taking it very easy. Mainly under threat by K and my dad that if I don’t they’ll take me back to the Lodge. But no cleaning, no laundry, minimal cooking although I couldn’t help changing over my winter-summer wardrobe and getting all the chest of drawers straightened out again. K and Jay’s sock drawers were frightful! Sorting and organising is my warped sense of therapy!

It is soooo good to be home. Psychologically I think I really needed this break and just to know that home was still here. It’s been great to touch base with Pat, Deb, Earl and Dawn, Mario and Nanette and know that they’re all okay and well. Seeing Bob and actually being able to talk shop in the same room was super. Hopefully I’ll get at least another session with him and Amber - DIET (Distance, Instruction and Education Technologies) isn’t really DIET with me so far away. And while I hope I can stay for maybe another week if they summon me back to CC, I’ll go feeling refreshed and mentally renewed and ready to move forward. Dr. S and I had talked about a bone marrow transplant in August/early September and I’m comfortable that it’s a positive step, possibly providing more of a “cure” than just the likely remission that the 6-8 rounds of chemo can offer. I’ll have more on the transplant situation when I get back to CC. In the meantime I’m off to sit in the porch swing with a cup of tea and a Digestive biscuit and revel in how pretty my garden looks. Did I mention how happy I am to be at home?

Filed under: indiana, bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on June 5th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

- Driving in the sunshine with K, listening to super corny 80s pop group New Kids on the Block and cringingly laughing because we realise we know all the words to The Right Stuff. (God, they were sooo bad - both the lyrics and the singing totally diabolical. Simon would have had a field day!)

- Eating hot dogs, sitting on a bench outside the Clinic, while the sun warms us.

- Reading cartoons and drinking our morning coffee in the Lodge’s tranquil garden, while the Blue Jay splashes in the coi pond and the fat bunny peeps his head out from the hedges.

- Sitting in the Emergency Room, again, wishing aloud for a touch of normalcy to our lives!

Filed under: famille et amis on May 29th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I successfully completed part a of my second round of chemo. I came out of hospital on Tuesday morning, feeling a little jelly-legged and like I had spent the last five days hooked up to an IV pumping toxic chemicals into my bodies, but overall feeling pretty good. K was with me and it was so nice to see him and be with him. We went out for a great meal downtown where I absolutely gorged myself on filet mignon and Bernaise sauce and crisp asparagus. The following day I went and had my Neurlasta shot. This is a two week injection that boosts or stimulates bone marrow production. About an hour later, however I find myself covered in a rash. So off we trot, back to the Taussig to show Dr. S and Julie, his absolutely fab nurse clinician. Once again, it’s assumed this is a drug reaction although only one case of a Neurlasta allergy has ever been reported. So if it is a Neurlasta reaction I am once again, being a very rare seed. I took the normal Benadryl cure and went on my merry way. The rash cleared up and all was sweet until K and I sat down to supper - gorgeous salmon and swordfish kababs with nutty, brown rice - and all of a sudden I feel the familiar creeping sensation only this time it explodes in/on my eyes and lips and I’m left looking like I’ve just been for a weekly injection of Botox. And then I felt my throat closing and my chest tightening and K gave me the “I’ll go and call the ambulance, shall I?” look. So off again to the ER where I was again dosed up and kept overnight for observation. By morning the rash was gone and I was looking healthy and feeling perky. Nicely discharged this morning, literally not more than half an hour later the rash had returned and I was back in ER! And now, again, I’m back in the hospital so they can run some tests and do the usual lot of trying to figure out something from nothing. Fortunately this rash isn’t really itchy. I don’t think I could have bared that again.

The worst part of this all is that Dr.S had given me the ok to go home for a few days and so it totally thwarted my plans, damn it. Hopefully the docs will get fed up with trying to figure out what the rash is and just let me go anyway tomorrow or Saturday. I am desperate to see the garden as I know the irises and the peonies are flowering and Avril and Jay have planted 50 marigolds throughout the front and back gardens. And to sleep under my fluffy, white duvet…such bliss. I’m counting on being stubborn and balshy and getting out of here regardless.

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

How cool is this?

So Keith went out to our local Chinese for lunch on Wednesday and at the end of the meal got his fortune cookie. He thought it was a cool and appropriate for our situation message so he sent me a photo.

It’s hard to read but it says, “Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed.”
Later that evening Papa and I got Chinese take-out and at the end of the meal, after a good discussion on how we were not going to eat our fortune cookies, due to Papa having actually seen how they make them in China Town and me having watched a programme on it, but still would read our fortunes. I opened mine and guess what it said?

“Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed.”

(This cancer is so going down!)

Filed under: famille et amis, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma, random coolness on May 22nd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

It looks like we’re moving forward with round 2 of the chemo. I had an appointment with Dr.S yesterday and again Hgb and white cells were doing well and happily my platelets had gone up up to 46! Now I did have a transfusion on Friday but that means that if nothing else they maintained their numbers over the weekend. As we discussed next stages Dr.S decided that the Hyper-CVAD was maybe too aggressive because it was taking my counts so long to recover and I needed a lot of support, (through the platelet and blood transfusions). The problem with my counts taking so long that the longer one gives the blood counts the easier the cancer can surface again between treatments. This seems to be particularly the case with the lymphoma side of things. Two weeks between treatments would be good, (but my counts haven’t been high enough), three weeks is just too long as the lymph nodes on my head and neck and groin, where some of the cancer is, start to come up again. He was also able to determine that I got more out of the second part of the chemo treatment as I’ve had less lymph nodes appear this week that after the very first session of chemo. So, basically he’s adjusted my chemo regime to one called McGrath. It’s very similar to the Hyper-CVAD but has different dosages of drugs and a couple of new ones. We’re giving my platelets a few more days to try and rise a bit more but at the moment I’m scheduled for an appointment with Dr.S on Thursday morning and then they’ll admit me into hospital for four-five days and start the chemo. I’m excited to finally be able to get on with the next round and it’ll be interesting to see how things fair with the new regime. Goooo Chemo! As my dad says chemo treatment is really alchemy - figuring our the correct combination of drugs for the cancer and the patient, based on how the cancer manifests itself and how the patient and the cancer for that matter, reacts to the chemo drugs. Fortunately I have a doctor who is very good at all those things. And he’s English!

And the car name. Andrew suggested Timo after the new driver, (Timo Glock - isn’t that a fantastic name? Such a nice sound to it), for Toyota. Whilst not a huge Toyota fan I very much like the connection with F1 and think the name quite suitable. So unless someone comes up with something better, Timo it is. And no, Luc, I am not calling it Hoff, even though for one incy-wincy moment the thought did cross my mind!

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

To add insult to injury during the whole hive, drug reaction, sitting in ER for ninety billion hours fiasco on that Saturday night whenever it was, K and I also experienced the death of my VW Golf. I know, totally lame. So we finished with Casualty and stopped off at a chemist to stock up on Calamine lotion and cotton wool balls. I stayed in the car, K went in, K came out, got back in the car, put the key in the ignition and nada. Our conversation went a bit like this:
K: “Did you hear that click?”
Me: “What click?”
K: “Something just broke in the ignition barrel. Didn’t you hear the click?”
Me: “I’m sorry, did you say the key is broken?” (By now thinking, oh my husband has such a funny but sometimes wildly inappropriate sense of humour).
K: “No, the key is fine. But there was a click and something’s snapped. Did you not hear the click?”
Me: “No, I didn’t hear the click. Are you telling me the car isn’t working.”
K: “No, something’s broken in the ignition barrel.” (Are you actually listening to me, woman?)
Me, starting to get a touch of anxiety, fueled on by the Benadryl and steroids given to me in ER, because we sitting in a dimly-lit car park of a pharmacy that isn’t 24-hours and is considered a “dodgy” area, at 11 o’clock at night. Example: I had K lock the car with me inside while he went into the chemist: “So, what are we going to do?”
K: “Not to worry. The hotel is round the corner where your dad and Avril are. We’ll get the Audi, go back to the Lodge and leave the Golf here until tomorrow when we can get it towed to the nearest VW garage.”
Me, quite panicky by this time: “There’ll be nothing left of my car tomorrow. At the very least it’ll have no wheels. Oh God!”
Touch of anxiety turned into full-blown panic attack at this point as K gets out of the car.
K: “You’ll be alright. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Me, inner monologue: ” I’m a sick, white girl in a scary area. I’m in a car with ridiculously expensive wheels and low-profile tyres. I’ve got an Indiana plate and I can’t start my car. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.”

So, what must have only been ten, fifteen minutes later at most, but felt a whole lot longer in my mind, K came back with the Audi. We emptied the Golf, including the good Recaro car seat because I would have been majorly pissed if someone nicked that. The pharmacy employee told us to call Cleveland Clinic Police to have them watch the car. For sure, it’ll be gone by morning. And we drove back to the Lodge.

Sunday, my car was still there, wheels intact, CCP having diligently kept an eye on it throughout the night. And so off my baby went on the back of a tow truck to the VW garage to sit until Monday when K could call them and get it fixed.

Turns out the part had to be special ordered from Germany, would take a couple of weeks to arrive and was going to cost us a whole heap of money to fix it. Well, we have to have the car. So we ordered the part…and then K saw a shiny new Rabbit sitting on the lot. A phone call later, as I was back in hospital with the dreaded hives at this point, we were discussing how we’d already spent over $2000 on the car this year for new timing belt and a whole bunch of other things that needed doing. The car had, (yep, see that past tense there? You’ve guessed it already), over 200,000 miles on it and so we averaged out that including the ignition barrel and no doubt other things this year, we were making a car payment each month in repairs. Plus we figured that the next thing to go would be the transmission and that is not an inexpensive fix.

Soooo, I am now the lessee, (again, I caved and went with the lease rather than a purchase, mainly because I couldn’t face the car payment we would have entailed on a new car after not having one for so long), of a shiny, black new Rabbit with super-duper wheels, although they’re not my boy-racer low-profile Enkes I had on the TDI, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. The coolest thing is that it is a manual transmission - woo-hoo, real driving! The uncoolest thing about this whole new car thing is that I am no longer green. No more feeling virtuous at filling my TDI up with soybean biodiesel and getting sixty billion miles to the gallon. I have to admit that I am very sad about. Unfortunately the new TDI doesn’t come out here until next year.

Here’s my black beauty. I’m thinking Klaus or Hans or maybe Fritz…

Filed under: famille et amis on May 19th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Having thoroughly been dosed up on Benadryl, steroids, morphine and goodness knows what else, I have finally been released from the dreaded hospital bed back to the Lodge, after the doctors confirmed that the hive reaction was due to one of my antibiotics and neither the lymphoma, (which can apparently sometimes manifest itself through the skin), nor a blood product reaction. They released me on Wednesday after making sure I was 24 hours fever-free. My hives had pretty much been zapped by the time I was let out and other than leaving in a drug-induced fog, felt reasonably well. Yesterday, though, after a restless night of bizarre dreams, (no doubt a delayed reaction to two days of not sleeping in hospital, plus the drug cocktail I was given), I woke up feeling quite, quite awful. Jelly legs and as one of the other patients here described, experiencing a “drug hangover”. Absolutely not fun. For the first time I truly felt like I had cancer. My hands shook when I picked up my tea, my legs shook when I walked, my head felt as if it were shaking. A horrible experience. I was back in to the Tassig Center, (the Cancer clinic), as a outpatient for platelets and by the end of the day was only too glad to fall into bed. Apparently though I had rather more drugs than just a day of recovery warranted, because I woke up this morning feeling the same way as yesterday. Convinced by this time that in actual fact what I needed was a nice big, blood transfusion I was very pleasantly surprised when my blood counts revealed that both my red and white blood counts were up. My hgb was at 11, (low of normal is 12) and my white blood count was at 3.04, (low of normal is 4) so that is fantastic as it means my bone marrow is definitely doing something. Unfortunately my platelets are still tanking. They were at 12, (low of normal is 150!). So along with last week, this week has been a week of platelet transfusions. The annoying thing is that the low platelets are the only thing stopping us moving forward with the chemo. They don’t really like to do chemo until platelets are at least 75 as it can essentially zap the bone marrow completely of cells. So until the wretched things climb I’m a bit stuck with moving onto the next round.

Still, as Patricia, another patient here at the Lodge, said to me yesterday morning when I was feeling, and obviously looking, particularly crap, “You just take it one day at a time.” She was diagnosed in 2006 and recently went through a cord blood transplant as she was unable to find a matching donor for a bone marrow transplant. She is on the road to recovery but it is still “one day at a time” and as frustrating as that is as times, she’s right. I can only take it one day at a time, treat each day as a new experience and a new day to feel blessed that my body is still fighting and that I am continuing to find a strange sort of peace through all of this. So here’s to today’s “one day at a time”

Filed under: bone marrow disorder, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 16th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Itch..scratch, scratch, scratch…itch…itch…scratch…this has been my body for the last four days. Friday I had a platelet transfusion which was fine. I then had a blood transfusion and about ten minutes away from finishing my second unit of blood, I felt like what I thought what an insect bite on my face. Over the next few minutes Papa watched as I was “bitten” several more times. I then went à la toilette and noticed two huge symmetrical welts on either side of my inner thighs. So the transfusion was stopped and I was dosed up with Benadryl and hydrocortisone which seemed to do the trick as by the next morning all evidence of a reaction had gone. I then had another unit of platelets which went fine. About three hours later however, I noticed I was breaking out in a rash all over my skin. Being a Saturday I called the on-call Fellow who suggested 50mg of Benadryl and to see how it went and to call back later. As it got worse as the afternoon progressed by the time I called the Fellow back she suggested I go to ER and have them give me Benadryl and hydrocortisone through my IV. Nothing like some good drugs straight into the blood stream. So off K and I went to spend several hours in A&E. Sunday I woke up and although the rash was still there, it wasn’t as bad as the night before. But again as the day went on I noticed it becoming worse and worse. I was scheduled for an appointment for blood draws and platelets yesterday afternoon anyway and so called my doctor’s personal nurse first thing in the morning…
…and now I’m back in hospital! Anyway hopefully only for a few days. I had a skin biopsy and the doctors are reckoning it’s a drug reaction, although to which drug they have no idea. They treated me with lots of other drugs and by the time I woke up this morning, the hives had gone down considerably. But I’m still rather itchy and my hands are quite swollen and painful. Fortunately the meds seem to be slowly working and things are calming down. Maddeningly enough, because I hadn’t had one for ages, I had a temp of 101 last night. We’re hoping it’s merely a side effect of the drug reaction and not the lymphoma. I haven’t had one since last night so hopefully it was just a one off. But it means they’re keeping me in hospital for a few days just to make sure all is okay.

Of course, having had a taste of freedom at Hope Lodge, to be back in hospital is quite, quite dreadful. The sun is shining outside and it’s a glorious day. Still, hopefully I’ll only be in a few days and can go back to a peaceful recovery at the Lodge.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 13th, 2008 | 4 Comments »

Finally, I’ve finished my grading for Educ.205 and have submitted the students’ final grades…only four days late! Unfortunately it’s been one of those weeks where I’ve been in and out of hospital so much for transfusions and labs that trying to get through their final projects has been quite a task. Still it’s done now, class is finished for the time being and I can take a step back from being teacher and concentrate on the “day job” for a while. Over the summer it’s a lot of putting together training. My big project this summer is MS’s latest version of Office. I’ll be getting myself really familiar with it and putting together training materials, etc so that we can look at rolling it out campus wide, probably in the Fall. Being a Mac user I’ve not had the chance to really explore Vista or the new Office so it’ll be good practice for me. I’m looking forward to getting our Mac training manuals complete and getting some basic videos up for those too. So far, the Macs seem to have been very successful with Faculty which is great.

This week, as expected, my counts have taken a dive. I’ve had platelet transfusions every day since Monday and today I’m getting a couple of units of blood as well, (actually watching someone else’s life force being pumped into me as I write!). Papa and I are now very familiar with the Outpatient clinic! It’ll probably be another five days of low counts and then hopefully we’ll start seeing my bone marrow do its thing and my blood counts start to climb. At that point the doctor can determine when to start the next round of chemo. I’m still feeling okay although some of the chemo side effects have manifested themselves a lot more this past week - still losing the hair. I now have old lady hair, extremely thin, slightly balding on top and at the back. I wear a hat when I go out and the last couple of days have started wearing a scarf indoors - baldness leaves one’s head awfully chilly! My teeth have become quite sensitive, not so much to hot and cold but to hard and chewy foods. Hopefully that won’t get any worse although fortunately I do love soups and smoothies! The platelets are helping all my bruising and my sporadic bloody nose. I have constant nausea however the medicine they’re giving me for that seems to keep the worst at bay and so long as I eat little and often I have yet to have repeated episodes of throwing up as I did in hospital. I’ve had one reaction to an antibiotic which has left me with a very impressive rash all over my torso - so they’ve taken me off that one and replaced it with three others! You can hear me rattle as I walk. Still these are all livable-with things and between the medication and my Bed Buddy, (a saving grace for pain) I can deal with it.

And being in Hope Lodge is a surprisingly replenishing place to be. It’s really lovely to be able to just be. Because there are others in the same or similar situations one doesn’t have to pretend. If I feel crappy I don’t have to put on a brave face, I can just be crappy. I can shuffle around in my Birkenstocks and pashmina, like a decrepit old woman and no-one cares. Everyone’s in different stages of recovery or treatment and there’s an unspoken solidarity and empathy. The Lodge itself has been set up very well with a communal kitchen and dining room; three libraries (yes, I’m in heaven), a sitting room and two tv rooms. There’s always a quiet corner to hide in or if one is feeling a bit more sociable, the dining room always has someone in it. It has a wonderful garden that has been beautifully designed and is just a delightful spot when the sun is shining, and even when it’s not. There are two very rotund bunny rabbits who live in the garden and most evenings at least one of them can be seen alternatively munching his, or her, way through the grass or lying flat on his, or her, belly. I assume cooling down or perhaps just collapsing from all the food in his, or her, tummy. I’ve seen some lovely birds in the garden - a gorgeous Blue Jay, who is just the prettiest shades of blue and an American Robin, who delights in soaking himself in the birdbath, (apparently a gentle wash is nowhere near as satisfying), are among the regulars. While this week my days have been spent mainly at the clinic, it’s nice to go back to the Lodge at the end of the day. Sooo much better than being a patient in hospital.

Filed under: educ 205, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 9th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Rather a few days late but massive CONGRATULATIONS to Luc and Claire on the birth of Isaac John. Dudes, my nephew is the cutest kid ever!

Filed under: famille et amis on May 6th, 2008 | 4 Comments »

Filed under: famille et amis on May 5th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

The Methotrexate kicked my butt. I spent a day in la-la land and spent the following day having to be reminded of everything I said or that occurred the previous day. I am now officially finished with round 1 of the Hyper C-VAD chemotherapy regime. I’m back to the waiting stage as we watch my counts dive and crash, thanks to the chemo, and then start coming back up hopefully with no complications. I have successfully gone for well over a week with a platelet transfusion which is fantastic. I did have a blood transfusion the same day I had the Methotrexate so haven’t gone quite as long without blood. But the days in between transfusions seem to be longer. We’ll see how it goes during the “recovery” period as that is typically the time that transfusions are needed the most.

One cool thing is that I am out of hospital and into basically a kind of hospice, only not the sort of hospice one goes to in England, (which means things are not good). Basically a lady and her husband set up a trust, built a house/hotel/hostel type place and offered it free to cancer patients and up to two of their carers. You can stay here during treatment or for many patients during bone marrow transplant treatment and recovery. The house is called Hope Lodge and we’d been on the waiting list for a little while. Anyway a place came up this week so Papa, who’s been up with me this past week, moved in. Then much to our surprise, on Friday, my doctor, after doing the normal rounds, literally popped his head back into my hospital room and said, “I hear you’ve got a place at the Hope Lodge. Do you fancy a few days escape?” Basically because we’re in this interim period where we’re waiting for my counts and body to do its thing, he’s of the mind that I’d only be sitting around in hospital, so I may as well sit around at the Hope Lodge where at least Papa can cook me some decent food, I can rest in one of the three libraries and actually have a night of uninterrupted sleep, (whoever thinks hospital is a restful place to get lots of sleep has obviously never been to hospital with a serious disease. I think the most I ever got was three hours before I was unhooked or hooked up or had a blood draw or was given meds). I’m less than ten minutes away from the hospital so can get back in quick enough if I need to. I have six billion pills that I have to take and I have to check my temperature and change my Hickman dressing daily, (and I had to change all my lumen ends as yesterday was Saturday which is lumen end changing day). But most of what they were doing in the hospital I am able to do myself. The biggest key is hoping I don’t get the fevers as that is a guaranteed hospital return. I go back in tomorrow for lab draws and stuff so it may be that I have to have a transfusion but if so would have it as an outpatient, which would be a novelty. Wednesday I meet with the doctor and he’ll decide if me being at Hope is successful; I imagine based on my counts, what my body is doing, etc, etc. And depending on what my counts are doing will also determine when round 2 of chemo starts.

So it has been quite a busy weekend. It’s great to have a break from the chemo and to have a break from a hospital after a month’s stay. But weird to be living with the disease in the semi-outside world. Getting used to tucking my Hickman inside my bra and wearing a hat if I go outside, because my hair is now so thin on top I don’t want to catch a cold, realising that many foods and drink still taste gross and that the metallic taste in my mouth may not go away anytime soon. It’s definitely an adjustment but I’m feeling really positive that my body has been responding well enough that I’m at this stage. Of course I still have my nadir to face from this last lot of chemo and I’m not looking forward to that as it makes me feel just generally low and tired and a bit fragile to be honest. But it is awfully good to go to sleep at night without the swish-whurr of the IV machine.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on May 4th, 2008 | No Comments »

I’m sitting here hooked up with two lines to an IV tree of three pumps, one bag of Methotrexate, a bag of saline, a bag of bicarb of soda and a bag of Zofrin antibiotics. It looks like a Christmas tree. Despite feeling a bit crappy over the weekend my blood counts stayed high and most importantly my platelets didn’t drop. They didn’t particularly do anything superfantabulous but they didn’t go down which was the main thing. The good thing is it meant that we could start the final bit of this round of chemo with the Methotrexate today, which is my day 21. It’s when I should have started anyway but they were concerned about the platelet level so we thought we may have to hold off for a while. Anyway we were able to start the chemo. This one is a pretty tough one. I have a two hour infusion of Methotrexate and then a twenty-two, (yep, you read that right!), hour infusion. Then I have three four infusions of Ara-C spread out over the two days following. Hopefully these will do some serious butt kicking. The Methotrexate is a definite for hair loss, which may well have to come off by the end of the week. It is EVERYWHERE. I am shedding worse than Frank and George and spend most of my day picking hair of my shoulders. Still at least I’m not licking it off myself yet. Naturally of course the hair is not falling out of my legs.

I’m feeling alright; the body’s a bit achy and my knees have been quite painful the last couple of days but they’ve got me on some good pain meds so things are peachy ;). K’s gone home his week to have a sanity break, ie. away from hospital. (I’ve heard a lot of “I’m boreds” this past week!). I think he’s going to thoroughly enjoy sleeping in his own bed and eating home-cooked food by Avril and of course being with Jaybean. Papa is here with me for the week which is really nice. Obviously it’s unfortunate circumstances to get to spend time with him but it’s really lovely to see him. We’ve had great conversations today about cash crops and the global food shortage and farmer subsidies, the state of the NHS and English politicians’ salary allowances. It’s been super.

So my next 24 hours are going to be marvelous. One of the side effects of Methotrexate is that it is quite destructive on the kidneys so they run bicarb of soda alongside it to keep things at an alkaline level. Of course then means I’m peeing about every hour - hour and a half. Super fun!

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 28th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

The last couple of days have been interesting; as I’m sure will be the case throughout the treatment it’s been good news and not bad news per se, but not quite as positive as we’d like. My counts are doing well - white blood counts pretty much normal or at least neutrophils are, platelets are hanging around for a bit longer and Hgb is at a good level. Unfortunately I started having fevers again yesterday. Not as high as before but around the 100 mark, so high enough for them to put me back on antibiotics and to keep a closer eye on me again.

Also my hair has started falling out. Already! I can’t believe it. K cut it yesterday to try and take some of the weight off but it’s coming out in big swathes. I guess I’ll be wearing my Hermés scarves sooner than I expected! Other than a bit of nausea though I’m still feeling okay and have a few days before the end of this round finishes with the Methotrexate and whatever the other drug is.

K did manage to snag a recliner last night. I had a Jerry chair in here - they’re like the most uncomfortable things in the world. The recliner is sooo much nicer and gives me a super comfortable place to be other than bed, particularly when computing. Secretly though I think K just wanted a comfy chair to watch movies in!

Pic of me looking very Milly-Molly-Mandy…

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 24th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

I know that today is all about reducing one’s carbon footprint and cutting down on global emissions and the effect that we’re having on the environment through wasteful habits and overuse of resources. While I’m all for such things I can’t help but think of Bob the Builder and that really it just comes down to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Making an effort to reduce the amount of packaging and crap we accumulate whether it’s through buying local produce that’s not wrapped up in six miles of cellophane or simply having less stuff and being able to appreciate what we have that much more. Taking one less car trip a week. Using less water and being more conservationist in our attitude with it. It’s so easy to collect rainwater in a large barrel and use it on the garden and flowerbeds. Composting is another simple and easy way to reuse all that leftover, wasted food and food debris and your garden will love you for it. Looking towards recycled products and cleaning materials that are kinder to both the earth and to you. Small changes can make a difference and the difference isn’t only to the earth and our environment, but to our health and our well-being.

While this photo isn’t necessarily Earth Day specific, these are all locally “grown”, organic, free-range eggs including the ostrich and emu eggs! It sums up for me, the way we should be buying food and produce and represents Earth Day for me.

Filed under: health, media on April 22nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I’m currently at the end of stage 1b of the round 1 of chemo. Basically at this stage the chemo regime just starts killing everything - good cells, bad cells, anything that’s floating around and might get in the way of some toxic chemo chemical that’s pumped into my body. This mean that while the chemo is doing what it’s supposed to do - go after the cancer - it also means that all my other blood counts get sucked down as well. Essentially what then happens is that over time the bone marrow starts to regenerate as the cancer cells are killed off and new, healthy cells are formed and my counts start climbing. As you know one of the biggest things I’ve struggled with is super-high temperatures of 104 / 105. Thanks to antibiotics and probably the chemo too, these stopped about five days ago, but my white blood cells, which are typically what would be fighting the fevers were still very low. Today the doctors told me that although my overall white blood count is still fairly low, the neutrophil count, which is one of the super important infection fighting type of white blood cells, was at 2000, which is considered in the pretty much normal range. This is great news and means that my body is doing some good things! I’ve been on neuprogen injections since the start of the chemo, which help to stimulate the bone marrow, in particular the white blood cells and so they’re temporarily stopping that. They’re also going to take me off the antibiotics so super fingers crossed that my fevers stay away and my body is strong enough to manage without assistance. To-day is also my last day of Decadron and then I have about a week or so for my body to try and get the counts up again before round 2 starts. My platelets are still low and this is something that really needs to be in better shape as the risk of internal bleeding is a big concern. My regular HgB is also still up and down; down a bit today so I’m due for a couple of units of red blood cells. But overall I’m feeling great and the white blood cell thing is really fantastic news.

So, one round down, five more to go!

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 21st, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Apparently, for those of you who don’t know Ed, a little introduction is required. Ed is the DIET (Distance, Instruction, Education Technology) mascot and usually takes up residence in mine and Amberly’s office. Ed has a bit of a reputation with the ladies and is a bit of a horny, devil duckie. But he is loyal to Amber, Bob and I and has travelled with us on many of our journeys. Ed also has three “friends” - pirate devil duck who belongs to Bob, ninja devil duck (Bruce?) who belongs to Amber and Hot Rod devil duck who belongs to me and even travelled to England with me at Christmas.
Anyway Ed recently brought me some books and DVDs and some other fun things from Bob and Amber and so is currently residing au hôpital. One of Ed’s little foibles is to insert himself often where he shouldn’t, such as into other people’s blogs. He just likes to make himself known, extend his celebrity status, throw himself out there to the la-dies. Hence the previous blog entry. Totally not my fault. Left the computer on, went for my afternoon stroll up and down the corridors, came back and usurper Ed had sneakily written his blog post, not caring that he may confuse the heck out of my readers and lead everyone to believe that the drugs they’re giving me are finally addling my grey matter. Well they might be, but I’m not so crazy as to be writing in third person devil duckie…yet.

Filed under: Ed on April 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I spent the night watching her. It was kind of boring but she still looked really fine. But even I have my limits with a sick chick. And besides all that icky blood and bags of platelets makes my horns feel kinda funny. The nurses aren’t bad though and the doctors sure are fine, young and foreign. There’s not a whole lot to do but there’s been lots of food - good chocolate, carrot cake, salmon bagels, sushi (that was some sushi as well, from Sushi Rocks in downtown - fresh fish goodness, mmmn). Maybe they’re trying to feed people into wellness. Lot of drugs too, been experimenting with a few, couple of wild trips. Heard there’s some opiates around somewhere, reckon I can sweet-talk one of the nurses and get me a few. Reading some good books, (hey, I told you there wasn’t much to do - this is low-key time, man), mainly mysteries but O was good this month. Lavender’s all in baby.

Got some photos to post, nothing spectacular, just some hospital pics, doing my duty. You know, keeping it real with the sick DIET team member. Thinking I my have to leave soon though. Pretty sure Amberly’s missing me - I know she can’t be without me for too long. Feeling a bit torn between my two blonde ladies, ’cause I know they both need me, man. But what you gonna do? That’s what happens when you’re as irresistible as I. I mean what’s a horny duck to do? There’s only so much feathered amazingness to go around.

Back to nurse watching and chatting up…blonde ladies who?

Filed under: Ed on April 20th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Filed under: famille et amis on April 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

Started 1b of the first round of chemo today. Had the “D’ part of the Hyper-CVAD which is the steroid and the “V” which stands for Vincristine. That’s a pretty rough one - if it gets on the skin it can actually cause necrosis of the skin. Pleasant, huh? And that’s going into my body. Thank goodness for my Hickman line. Ironically, as with many of the chemo drugs, Vincristine is made from, or at least originated from a plant. The Madagascar Periwinkle in fact. This is one of the main ones that causes hair loss but typically takes another round of chemo before that may take effect. I’m hoping to try and get my hair cut before it starts falling out in earnest so it’s not quite as “ooh, that’s an awfully long piece of hair lying on my pillow”. Hopefully it’s currently long enough right now that if I cut it short enough I can donate it to Locks of Love and it’ll be made into a wig or hairpiece for a child who has medical hairloss due to any diagnosis.

The next four days or so will continue with this next lot of drugs and then I get another week or just under of respite. My body has done well these past few days and responded as it should, basically all my counts have gone way down but that’s the idea. Other than a bit of nausea I’ve felt pretty good and even managed to get a whole load of grading done for my student’s recent projects. Not sure they’re that impressed with that! My swelling has finally gone down and I feel much more comfortable. Except for the insatiable appetite I currently have thanks to the steroids. Still I figure I may as well make the most of it seeing as I’ll have many days where food will be the last thing I want. I am making major inroads into the carrot and hummus industry and I may as well just have shares in Green and Blacks! A lot of food does not taste good with the chemo drugs so when I find a food that’s tastes “normal” I’m hooking onto it. Sadly, fresh orange juice, my favourite drink, just tastes awful right now so I’m making my way through various juices to see what tastes good. Things like blackberries and darker berry juices are pretty good. It’s pretty interesting discovering how the taste buds are reacting and sure makes cravings fun. Sushi was my desperate need for today! Luckily I have a wonderful and lovely husband who is willing to go out and get me such food when my body decides it has to have that particular taste.

All in all I’m feeling well. As I said other than the odd bit of nausea and tiredness physically I feel strong. I’m missing the outside and all the beautiful sunshine that’s happening at the moment. I hear our daffodils bulbs are starting to peak out in the garden and I’m quite sad to be missing those as the spring flowers are one of my favourite occurrences of the year. But Renée posted some beautiful photos of the crocuses they have coming out in Maine and they have filled my senses with the flavour of Spring.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 18th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Because there’s so much more happening outside my little englishgirl’s world, I just wanted to take a moment to remember the victims of last year’s Virginia Tech shooting. They have a nice Remembrance website. I can’t believe it’s been a year. As part of a college community I think we were all deeply affected and once again made only too aware of both the loneliness and deep-rooted problems that can manifest themselves in such tragic shootings. Sadly I heard today of a college that was considering allowing its students to carry guns on campus. While I’m not sure how we go about better protecting our students I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Filed under: media on April 16th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I’m in the in-between days of chemo and feeling pretty good. I had a couple of days of nausea but it’s fairly low-key at the moment and the anti-nausea meds seem to keep it at bay. I’ve tried to be up and about a bit, or as much as is possible in a six by six room or whatever I’m in! I have been able to walk up and down the corridors and around the oncology ward a bit. Hopefully tomorrow they’re going to let me go outside for a bit or at least venture to another part of the hospital. K will take me down in a wheelchair and then I can walk in the courtyard. The weather is supposed to be very nice, high 60s so it’ll be good to get some vitamin A and D. I miss the sunshine on my bones. I’m trying to make the most of feeling okay because Friday I start the next lot of chemo and get three lots of drugs so it’ll be a rough one. I’ve finally managed to start a book, Map of Bones by James Rollins. I’ve had a hard time concentrating and just getting my mind to focus when it comes to reading. I try to read and my brain is just all over the place, looping one thought into another into another, so that it takes me about ten minutes to read one page. Definitely not my usual pace of reading. I think though I’m finally starting to get my head around things a bit and essentially calm my thoughts down a bit.

The fevers have been absent for the last three days or so which is great. My platelets are still being gobbled up though, probably by my spleen although today’s platelet transfusion seems to have stuck around and my count was good this afternoon. I’ve not had the number of doctors come to see me as before. Dr. Rob said, very kindly, it’s because I’m boring at the moment for the fellows. But this is a good thing! It means my body’s doing what it’s supposed to do and responding to the drugs as expected. As he said when he left last night “Stay boring!”

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 16th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Filed under: famille et amis, cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 13th, 2008 | No Comments »

So my first round or ‘1a’ of chemo has finished. Today it’s just the usual fluids and antibiotics. The chemo seemed to go okay, I had one morning of nausea while I was having the chemo but the nausea meds fixes that pretty easily. Yesterday was a rough day as as I had three of the four drugs so felt really wiped out and really just wanted to sleep but other than that I didn’t feel too bad.

The doctors are pleased with how the chemo is going and even though all my counts are going down, this is normal and to be expected. We did have an interesting piece of news yesterday from Dr.M, my specialist and that was that they have adjusted the diagnosis, after further stains and cultures have completed. They’ve adjusted it to T-cell Lymphomia. The treatment is the same so none of that has changed, it just means that the cancer is a different type to that which originally thought. The other thing is that this type makes bone marrow transplant far more receptive. So Luc and I have been starting on out sibling type and match and will determine if we are a sibling match in the next two - four weeks. Transplant wouldn’t happen for some time as they want me to have at least several rounds of the chemo and basically get all those bad cells kaput and me into some kind of remission.

And another little photo to make you smile.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 12th, 2008 | 6 Comments »

Started chemo last night. They’ve put me on a chemo regimen called Hyper-CVAD which works on some crazy 14 day cycle. So for days 1-4 I get a mix of some kind of drugs, then I get a bone marrow/cell stimulus drug on day 5. Then I get a break. Then on days 11-14 I get a repeat mix of drugs, then I get a five day break and then I get a treatment of Methotrexate and something else. Then I get a break and then I repeat the whole thing over again. This goes on for six cycles! Last night and today went well but the doctors did advise that side effects, etc typically don’t kick in until the later treatments and that usually the first cycle isn’t too bad. I also got a Hickman line put in today. This is basically a IV line that goes into a main vein up under the clavical. It then comes out with three “lumens” and allows for me to be hooked up to several IV lines at once and to have blood drawn from it. The really wonderful thing is it means no more pricks and pokes in the arms, which means my junkie arms can finally start healing up and the Hickman can stay in for months and months, basically as long as I need it for the chemo.

My fevers seem to have finally abated, well I’ve had a couple of 100F but that’s nothing like the 104/5 I was having. This is likely due to the steroids they giving me. Steroids are one of the drugs in the chemo mix.

And just so you know, I’m still pretty much looking like me, here’s a pic of me in my lovely blue hospital gown, (I’ve actually just sent Keith out to buy me some suitably-hospital-like nighties!)

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 9th, 2008 | 6 Comments »

Having just done an hour or so of work and realising that life just goes on I also realise that I am feeling quite at peace. I’m not scared, I’ve been so fed up with these bloody fevers that to know they’ll finally stop is a huge relief. To know what is finally wrong with me is a huge relief and to know that something can be done about it is a huge relief. I know the next months aren’t going to be easy and that I’ll feel crappy and sick and sorry for myself and there will be days where I’ll look in the mirror at my bald head and think “Oh Brittany, what were you thinking girl?”. Although one good thing about losing my hair is I’ll finally get rid of this stupid fringe. Why do I continue to do it? Every time I cut one I regret it, I should totally know better.

Oooh, K just brought me a cup of tea and some pastries so sorry, Zweites Frühstück demands my attention, more later. Some of you have asked for a further explanation of NK cells and the whole thing. As K is a better listener than I am and totally got what the doctor was talking about I’ll use his explanation when I blog later.

Filed under: cancer, T-cell Lymphoma on April 8th, 2008 | 4 Comments »

Finally, after weeks, make that months of waiting and waiting and transfusions and many drugs and hospital visits, we have an answer. I have NK & T cell Lymphoma Leukemia. Although it is very strange and bizarre to be told one has cancer, quite honestly I am just so relieved to finally know what it is and to know that we can start moving forward with treatment. The doctors have been superb and are eager to start treatment as well.

We have two main options for treatment - CHOP and PEGS (aren’t they great acronyms?!). Basically they’re both chemotherapy and are simply different combinations of drugs. PEGS is newer but has been recently tested more with the NK cell cancers. CHOP is the more standard and results in all the typical side effects such as nausea, hair loss, etc. I figure it’ll be a great excuse for some new Hermés scarves! I mean I’m not going to tie just any old rag around my head!

Anyway K and I only just found out so we’re going to do some chatting and then SKYPE with the bambino who’s with Grandma S at the moment.

Keep giving blood!

Filed under: cancer on April 7th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Another bone marrow test yesterday, third one! The doctor who did it did a great job and it really wasn’t too awful, not that I recommend for everyone to rush out and get bone marrow biopsies! Also had another CT scan and an EKG plus the usual trillion and one blood draws. With regards to the biopsy the doctors were able to see that the abnormal cells were now in the blood and not just in the bone marrow. However they still have not been able to make a diagnostic and are considering that the next stage may be to take out the spleen. Because of the way the spleen works - essentially it destroys old, red blood cells and keeps a certain amount of a blood reservoir - removing it would allow the doctors to make a diagnosis based on the blood cells contained there. My spleen has been quite enlarged this whole time and often times removing the spleen can make a patient in this situation generally feel much better. Once they make a diagnostic based on the spleen they can start to determine a treatment for the actual problem going on in the bone marrow. But the splenectomy is still somewhat of a last resort and they’ll be spending the weekend doing some more blood research and looking at the cores they got from the bone marrow. Fevers are still pretty bad, the morning ones spiking at 104/5 again. Last night they had me wrapped in some green plastic ice blanket - it was all very astronauty but it brought the temperature down! I’m having to get blood almost every other day and the same with platelets, which are hovering down around the 8,000 range. I have dreadful, dreadful edema which is very painful and means I’m carrying about 20lbs of additional water weight so it would be nice to not have that anymore. My ankles and knees are so swollen, it’s excruciating.
Other than that I’m still trying to maintain a positive frame of mind. As my friend Teodora always says, “What can you do?” and she’s right. I can’t change what I’m going through. But I can kick it’s butt!

Filed under: bone marrow disorder on April 4th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

By the way, I just want to say a humongous thank you to everyone who has given blood recently, whether you have always given blood anyway or reading about the aplastic anemia and bone marrow disorders has prompted you to go and give blood, I just want to let you know that it truly saves lives. It continually saves mine and all the cancer patients (as well as car crash victims and trauma patients), I see weekly at the outpatient clinic, along with their chemo, often receive blood and platelet transfusions. There is a definite shortage of blood and it truly does make a difference when you give. Rock on giving blood!

Filed under: aplastic anemia, bone marrow disorder on April 3rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I have quite surpassed even myself. Saturday night I had a temperature of 105 F! I don’t know that I’ve ever had such a high temperature, although I’m sure my mum could correct me on that one! I thought it was rather impressive.

So a very interesting last few days. Sunday I felt quite good. We didn’t do anything remotely energetic, watched movies, folded clothes, did a bit of schoolwork. Although I had woken up with a high temp, 103, I’d had a pretty good night with no major peaks. I went to bed at a reasonable time, temp was at 99 and again I managed a night without any distinct fevers. Monday morning was when it started getting interesting. I woke up with a temperature 0f 103 and a slight pressure headache at the back of head and top of my neck. I’d had some lymph nodes come up in the last week and these seemed to be responsible for the headache. I carried on as normal, got Jay breakfast and dressed so Keith could take him to school. I checked work email and got stuff ready for the day’s work. Then I went and had a shower. While I was in the shower my knees started to really hurt and feel very swollen, so that I couldn’t really straighten my legs. This is another symptom that’s come up in the last few weeks - very painful aching knees and ankles. Then my lower back and hips started to hurt. I got out of the shower and managed to get myself dressed. At this point I was experiencing such intense pressure from the base of my back, through my hips down my bottom and into my legs. My knees and ankles were extremely painful and I could barely walk. I managed to get myself downstairs and called Keith who asked if I wanted an ambulance. I was in such pain at this point and knew something wasn’t right so I agreed. Less than ten minutes later, it may even have been only five, the fire brigade turned up, closely followed by the paramedic. They got me into the ambulance and gave me four shots of morphine over the course of the journey. This did nothing for the pain which was a bit concerning. When I arrived in ER they gave me something called Dilaudid, an opiate based medication, which, thank goodness did finally kill the pain, without making me doolally and keeping me fairly lucid. Not sure what that says for my drug tolerance! I can honestly say that it was the worst pain I’ve ever experience, worse than labour. They promptly did a pelvic and lower back x-ray and ran some blood tests, in particular a CBC. My HgB and white blood cells were good but my platelets which has been 12,000 last Wednesday were now at 10,000 and that was with the platelet transfusion on Thursday. The on-call hematologist in the hospital here spoke with Dr.M in Cleveland and they decided to start IVIG, or iv delivered Immuno-Globulin. It’s a five-day treatment and should help get my platelets up and boost my other counts. They’ve also raised my Predisone dosage to 80mg and so hopefully between that and the IVIG by the end of the week I should be in a good, stable condition.

I have to say that out of everything I’ve been through in the last eight weeks, this was the most scariest and I think it was because of the pain. Whatever’s been going on in my body finally manifested itself into something that was very tangible.

I’ll be in hospital for a few days. They want to keep an eye on me as I start the IVIG treatment and make sure my platelets are heading back up. They also would like to do a biopsy on one of the several lymph nodes that I’ve had come up at the back of my neck and base of my throat. Apparently they can often find out as much information from a lymph node biopsy as with a bone marrow biopsy. Hopefully it’ll be a helpful procedure for everything that’s been going on.

I’d forgotten how horribly uncomfortable the beds were and how crap the food was!

P.S. Update - Looks like some serious testing going on. I’ve got lots of doctors poking and prodding me and another bone marrow biopsy in about an hour and a half. I feel pretty crummy so let’s hope we get some answers in the next few days with all the tests they’re doing.

Filed under: bone marrow disorder on April 3rd, 2008 | 3 Comments »

When I first stayed with Estelle in Paris I remember her using two phrases that still to this day I love - the first ca m’est egal (I don’t care) and the other j’en ai marre (I’m fed up). Last week was most definitely a marre week. The grey cloud above my head made every day feel yucky and miry. I started getting temperatures again last weekend and they just make me feel crap. Hot, cold, hot, cold, shiver, shiver, hot, cold. In fact it’s more like freezing, burning, freezing, burning. It’s exhausting. I also ended up having another CT scan and more bloodwork and on Thursday had another blood transfusion. I spent a lot of time in the hospital last week. And it seems like this one fairing no better. Tuesday I was on for bloodwork, yesterday was my CBC and then thanks to the results of that CBC I’m now back in the friendly outpatient clinic, (the nurses here are fab), once again, receiving another unit of blood and a unit of platelets (first time for those!). I’ve then got to come back in tomorrow for another unit of blood as they could only get me one today. The blood typically comes from the Red Cross. Mine also has to be CMV Negative and eradiated which always makes it take longer. Anyway the nurse and I were commenting how disconcerting it is they could only get me one. So go out and give blood! Save a life!

Friday we drove down to Huntsville for the Easter weekend and I’m so glad we did. Friday and Saturday the weather was gorgeous, 70 degrees. We left at the crack of dawn so that we would get there with at least some afternoon to spare. Jay spent the weekend riding bikes with the little girl next door and kicking a soccer ball in the meadow that is mummy and Jerry’s garden - a very ordered and tidy meadow mind you. The perfect garden for an Easter egg hunt which Jay thoroughly enjoyed, retrieving all his camouflage eggs rather quickly! And of course we all ate far too much chocolate, in fact we all ate far too much full stop. K took Jay to the rocket museum, their idea of heaven and mummy took me to Anthropologie, our idea of heaven. The Southern hospitality flowed and the warm sunshine felt delicious on my bones, banishing that grey cloud that had hung out all week.

I miss the sun.

It’s raining here. The Outpatient Clinic has big windows and huge drops of rain are racing each other down the glass, plopping on to the finish line of the sill below. The sky is bereft of colour, a washed out grey that’s almost white.

I think they were predicting snow tonight.

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on March 28th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

So having been resorted to listening to a recap of the Australian Grand Prix, the starting race of the 2008 Formula 1 season, I apparently missed rather a good race. And when I say good I mean rather interesting. Six cars finished the race, that would be six out of twenty-one, which gives you some indication of the type of race it was. The safety car was out three or four times and the rule of chaos seemed to be prevalent. A bunch of drivers including Fisi, Vettel, Mark Webber went out in the first couple of laps. Lewis Hamilton, predictably perhaps as he led the race from the start, brought home first place. I’m utterly thrilled to see Nico Rosberg in third place, Nick Heidfeld took second and really great to see a Williams on the podium. Fernando Alonso finished fourth and showed some fair driving, although nothing spectacular. It’ll be interesting to see how everyone fairs as they really start getting to grips with the cars and everyone gets truly settled into their new teams. There’s a big difference between the so many months of testing preceding the actual races and it’s really not until the season races are underway that we start seeing how the car and driver suit, how the different technical set-ups impact the course style and weather conditions, etc. It seems to me that this year, and I know we’re only at the first race, there seems to be more equilibrium between the cars themselves. I guess with so many of the regs changed for this year so that the constructors don’t have as much, shall we say, licence to be creative, the cars are perhaps more on an equal footing. The great thing about this is that it’ll be a chance to really see what the drivers are made of this year.

Malaysia next!

Filed under: Formula 1 on March 16th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Sitting on the big French settee folding warm, just-out-of-the-tumble-dryer clothes and listening to the shipping forecast.

Filed under: englishness on March 12th, 2008 | No Comments »

I’ve been wanting to change/redo the blog for a while now and as of late have been having manic spring-cleaning urges whether it’s to do with the house, getting rid of clothes, generally tidy up and getting rid of the excess. I’m open to ideas. Amberly seems to think I should have a “crack” (inside joke!), at the redesign myself but I’m not sure I can manage that much html and css. I do like the idea of the suitcase somewhere as my icon. Obviously clean is the key. I like the chocolate brown of my top portion background and wouldn’t mind including some pink, mint green and orange. Could this be influenced by my current addiction to Green and Black’s Almond milk chocolate perhaps! I quite like the ease and simplicity of tumblr - for example Renée’s blog.

Any suggestions are greatly welcomed, let me know what you think…

Filed under: new site on March 12th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Sunday night we told Jay we were going on a trip. One that involved a four hour car journey there and back. For Jay, usually a long car journey means Chicago and the museums or going to stay with Mamie and Grandpa Jerry. He was extremely unimpressed when he realised that Monday’s trip involved four hours in a car, five hours in a very boring hospital and then another four hours in the car back home. Although not quite his words, a sentence along the lines, “Exactly what kind of crazy-arsed trip do you call that?” surely came out of his mouth.

Our trip on Monday involved going to the Cleveland Clinic to meet with the Aplastic Anemia and Bone Marrow specialist. What a positive experience! I spent an hour with Dr. M’s Fellow, also Dr. M, otherwise known as Sanjay. We basically went through the timeline of things, when I started feeling bad, what they did in the hospital, the usual ‘any history of‘ questions. My records had already been faxed and I had taken along the bone marrow samples from the first biopsy plus all my patho and radiology slides and reports, etc so they had plenty to look at. Then I had a good hour and a bit with the specialist. Both Sanjay and Dr. M are truly fantastic. They clearly know A LOT about this stuff and even though much of the conversation occurred at a level beyond my true comprehension, (they talked a lot about the DNA, genetic level of things), Sanjay was brilliant in translating the more illusive, medical terminology and making sure K and I understood what they were saying. What was really nice was that they were both so totally open and receptive, and perhaps even a little excited, to whatever I have being a very real issue. We had kind of got to the point here in Fort Wayne that we were almost made to feel to be overreacting and being excessive in our concern. As the Taussig Centre is also a research centre as well naturally there are a lot more resources available to Dr. M than there is here at say, Lutheran Hospital. Our meeting ending with the decision to do a second bone marrow biopsy and then a load of blood draws. I went and had the biopsy, no less uncomfortable than the first time and they still experienced the same issue of having trouble getting liquid from my marrow, too fibrous apparently. And then my blood draws. Both Dr. M and Sanjay basically said their goal was to make a diagnosis within the next couple of weeks. This was one of the biggest problems we’ve been experiencing is that there has been no diagnosis. The bone marrow results will likely take until the end of the week to get any real answers but I did get a call from Sanjay yesterday letting me know what he had found so far, in the 24 hours since I left the clinic!

The bone marrow is still showing an abnormally high count of T-cells, indicating that whatever the problem was a month ago, it’s still there. He was able to see some immature cells (new cells) which is great as it shows that my bone marrow is still working and is trying to essentially keep up with the anemia. The great news is that my blood counts are currently at a good level, overall HGB was at 10.9, WBC at 4.7 and my platelets at 90,000. I think this is the highest they’re been for the last three months. However because whatever is going on in my bone marrow is still going on, the chance for these to move up and down on a weekly basis is likely. Either way, it means no transfusion this week! And in true Mélaine fashion, you know, always wanting to be special, Sanjay pointed out that while bone marrow and blood disorders have a lot of rarity to the various diseases, within the specialty there are the bread-and-butter diseases. What I have is not one of them. Like I said, I like to be special. Really, I just want a research paper written about me…Caucasian woman, 31 years of age, admitted to hospital with aplastic anemia, symptomatic of…

We came back home feeling like it had been very worth going to see Dr. M. Both he and Sanjay confirmed that they were really pleased we did as this is an unusual case. I think they were secretly rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a research project! For the immediate they will call me as results come in and as they review the blood and bone marrow samples. I’m still on all my antibiotics and prednisone and they are having me continue to work with my ID doctor here for that. Dr. M did advise that so long as my WBC is within reasonable levels there’s no reason for me to be on so many antibiotics, mainly because it can lead to all sorts of other complications. The prednisone is kind of a catch-all and I’m on a tapered treatment anyway so the dosage gets less and less each week. Thank goodness because I’d forgotten what an emotional, moody cow steroids make me!

Finally I feel like we are moving forward.

Filed under: health, aplastic anemia, bone marrow disorder on March 12th, 2008 | No Comments »

This weekend K took off to Denver to practice with The Band and to surprise his dad at a birthday celebration breakfast. In his absence Jay and I enjoyed a weekend of comfort eating. I had warned Jay that still not feeling up to chasing a 4 year old around the place and going to the mall and crowded places was still not on my agenda, that our weekend would be a quiet one. Naturally this was met with a look of raised eyebrows and small huffs until I explained that the weekend would revolve around food. I love my son - more often than not his choice of snack will be “a carrot and celery please” rather than a biscuit or sweets, although I’m sure he’d take those given half the chance if we had them in the house, as his attitude to food so closely matches my own. As in food is great, let’s eat lots of it. So on Friday evening we had a picnic in front of the tele. I made cucumber sandwiches on fresh white bread with the crusts cut off and smoked salmon sandwiches on multigrain bread with lemon, pb and j sandwiches with natural peanut butter and St. Dalfour strawberry jam. I bought a small strawberry gateau and a swiss roll and made homemade oatmeal and raisin cookies. Between the two of us we demolished the lot. Jay ate all the pb and j sandwiches, most of the cucumber sandwiches and one of the smoked salmon sandwiches as well as cake and cookies. This was all washed down with gallons of tea of course. (And yes, both of us had tummy aches later). Saturday we had to brave the supermarket and so he was treated to a doughnut via the drive-through window at Krispy Kreme. Needless to say I was still recovering from the previous nights’ assault and did not partake in doughnut scoffing. Lunchtime I made us sausages piled into rolls with relish, a Saturday staple from my childhood, usually eaten whilst watching Airwolf.

Now every now and then I get a real taste for good old English liver and onions. You couldn’t have paid me to eat them as a child and it wasn’t until I got to uni that I developed a taste for them. Not that I could eat them a lot but once in a while, they just hit the spot. Jay had been playing outside most of the afternoon and so by supper time was ruddy-cheeked and starving. We’d finished off the swiss roll for tea so I figured something hearty and British was in order. I had picked up some lovely pieces of veal’s liver from Fresh Market and had found a recipe to serve it with leek mashed potato. The key with liver and onions is one, to get really good quality liver, preferably lamb or veal, and two, make a really good gravy. My recipe follows, modified a bit from here, as with everything I cook/make I measure nothing and just do what looks and tastes right:

Mélaine’s Saturday night Liver ‘n’ Onions
1lb lamb or veal liver
flour
2-3 large onions
bayleaf
1/2 handful dried thyme or a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
glass of red wine
pint of beef stock

Put a mound of leek mashed potato on a plate and then a couple of good spoonfuls of the liver and onions piled on top with plenty of the gravy over the lot. The gravy makes this quite a rich dish and it needs to be served piping hot.

Surprisingly Jay ate his mash and then went through his liver and onions, picking out all the liver…to eat it! I figured the gravy might be a bit rich but he gave the liver a thumbs up!

Filed under: englishness, culinery delights on March 11th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Yet another piece of Fort Wayne culture and history slipping away. Nancy wrote a good post about it and said everything I would wish to say, only much better and more succinctly. As previous owner of my house I keep hoping remnants of her ghost will infuse in me the skill and natural ability to write, only that probably requires me actually writing on a regular basis. Hmmn, not doing so well on that front.

Had another blood transfusion this morning. My CBC yesterday showed that my White Blood Count had improved, yeah, from 1.6 to 2.1 or something around there but that my overall HGB had dropped from 8 to 6.2. So I spent four hours in the Outpatient Clinic sucking up some red cells and grading all my students’ most recent projects and papers! I think I feel better, not so breathless, but I actually felt pretty out of it afterwards. Of course that could be all the antibiotics and Predisone I guess. So just a bit more background on my particular case. As I mentioned the analysis and diagnosis from my little sojourn in the hospital was fairly inconclusive. I was admitted into hospital with severe (HGB of 4 or under) aplastic anemia which basically just means that all of one’s blood counts are low, not just the red as in the case of normal anemia, (typically low from an iron deficiency or similar). After the bone marrow biopsy they were able to see that I had an abnormally high number of T-cells in my bone marrow. The bone marrow basically acts as the factory for stem cell and blood cell creation. T-cells are part of the fighting cells. When you have an infection or virus T-cells are one of the cells that go out and suppress the virus or infection. In someone with AIDS or HIV, the T-cell count or production is very low because the body’s immune system is compromised. So, the assumption was made that I had either had a virus that had resulted in my T-cells going crazy or more likely, that I had some kind of auto-immune assault on my bone marrow. And that’s pretty much where we still are to-day. We have managed to get an appointment with a specialist doctor in aplastic anemia and bone marrow disorders at the Cleveland Clinic for Monday so perhaps we’ll have a better idea of how to move forward after that.

Filed under: indiana, health, aplastic anemia, bone marrow disorder on March 6th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

In all my getting caught up with other stuff in life, only a comment from Mr. Stouder brought me back to reality. I was completely unaware there were only 10 days until the opening race of the 2008 F1 season. Where have I been? How can this be? I’ve written not a word about Signor Fisichella’s move to Force India, Alonso being back in the Renault saddle, Heikki venturing over to join not-so-rookie-now teammate, Lewis Hamilton over at McLaren. I haven’t even decided where my support will lie this year. Obviously Fisi gets the ooh-he’s-so-dreamy-in-that-Italian-racing-car-driver-sort-of-way but let’s face it, I hardly think he’ll be a contender. I do wish he’d get his own team up and running. Renault has been my team for the last two years and I do admire Alonso, not sure of the young Piquet yet. However I’m definitely partial to the youngster team of Heikki and Hamilton over at McLaren so they may indeed get my vote this year. Besides their livery is so much cooler than Renault’s. Renault’s just looks a bit like French air stewardesses from like 20 years ago.

Wherever my allegiance lies this year, I’ll be watching the opening race, the Melbourne Grand Prix on the 16th March. Oh no, no, no, no, no. F&$#@. No I won’t. We recently got rid of cable/FIOS TV and now I have no Speed Channel. Oh my God, hyperventilating. No F1 on tv. Must go and lie down, feeling a bit light-headed. No F1. Breath. Breath.

Filed under: Formula 1 on March 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

My blog may start to become a little bit medical over the next few posts, mainly because my recovery process is not going quite as we had expected. Infectious Diseases are still running tests on all my blood smears, etc but still have no answer or diagnosis as to what caused this. And as we’ve read, apparently 50% of aplastic anemia cases are in fact undiagnosed, putting them in the idiopathic aplastic anemia category. The week I left hospital I had my blood count done on Wednesday (I was discharged the Saturday afternoon prior), and my red blood count was up to 10, my platelets normal and my white blood count at 3.1. While these are still considered on the abnormal scale for my RBC and WBC on the testing charts, it was normal enough for the doctors. Once a WBC is over 3, typically for Cancer patients for example, they’re permitted with caution to “enter back into society”; go to the shops, restaurants, etc. It was also a significant improvement from my last blood count. Now that week I had also been on a series of antibiotics - Levaquin, Fluconazole and Doxycycline and a three day treatment of Predisone, (although having been on steriods for 13 or so years for my Nephrotic Syndrome can hardly imagine what three days of the stuff would do). By the time I went on for last Wednesday’s labs I had finished all my antibiotics. I had a couple of days of fevers and chills, enough of a concern to call the ID doctor for advice. She added a couple of additional tests to my weekly CBC (Complete Blood Count) labs and so I went in on the Wednesday. Thursday I got a call from someone at my hematologist’s office basically saying, “Your blood counts haven’t gone up as much as expected, so Dr.A is ordering another CBC next week.” Okay, except for the fact that I have CBCs scheduled for the next five weeks but fine. So not gone up as much as expected led me to believe that my counts had maybe only marginally improved. Friday I got a call from my ID doctor who said, “Your CBC isn’t so good. Your red blood count has gone down from 10 to 8 and your white blood count from 3.1 to 1.6.” Well, that’s a little different from not gone up as we’d expected. Under 8 in the hospital they were giving me transfusions and 1.6 for a WBC is considered border-line neutropenic and leaves me open for catching God knows what. Anyway, deep breath, the ID doctor, Dr. M ordered more labs which I went in to the hospital yesterday and had done and has put me back on a longer course of antibiotics (same ones as before) and a six week course of Predisone.
Naturally at this stage I’m thinking what the hell? I’m told my body is getting better on its own and yet clearly it’s not. So K and I went to our trusty, information source, le internet to see what we could see. Despite having done much research on aplastic anemia and bone marrow disorders while I was hospitalised neither of us managed to find the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation site. It has been fantastic explaining things and talking about treatment, short term, which is what I’ve had so far, and long term, bone marrow transplant and immunosuppressive therapy - neither of which any of my doctors have mentioned, mainly because I think they were of the opinion that my body was recovering on its own. Anyway they have a great webinar series and in particular a fantastic video from Dr. Neal Young, one of the leading Aplastic Anemia specialists at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, MD. The link here will launch the video in your browser and provides an excellent explanation of what Aplastic Anemia is, its rarety, (only a few new cases per million in the USA are diagnosed each year), treatments, finding specialists, etc, etc. http://www.aamds.org/webinar/present_3/qt_holder.html.
And I’m spent…for now!

Filed under: health, aplastic anemia, bone marrow disorder on March 2nd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I’m not going to write too much right now, I really just wanted to post some photos from Jay’s 4th birthday party for the grandfolks.

mvi_1290.AVI

It has been quite a surreal couple of weeks. After three weeks of feeling utterly exhausted, as in I’d climb a flight of stairs, have to stop and catch my breath; get dressed and have to have a rest, racing heartbeat, ridiculous muscle fatigue, etc, etc I ended up in hospital with aplastic anemia. A normal person’s blood count is around 12, mine was 4. Both my doctor and the hematologist couldn’t believe I was still standing. Two weeks later, six blood transfusions and a bone marrow biopsy later I am finally at home. The doctors none the wiser as to what caused my condition and no firm diagnosis given. My body seems to be healing itself and although my white blood count is still dangerously low, I feel hugely better. The main thing is we know for sure it’s not leukemia or any other lymphatic cancer and that it’s just going to be a matter of allowing my blood count to build itself back up again. The whole experience was/is quite, quite bizarre. I’ll share more as I start to get my head around it.

Filed under: famille et amis, health, aplastic anemia, bone marrow disorder on February 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

Just having a rest for a while. A bit of a forced holiday. All is well and I’ll be back soon.

Filed under: indiana on February 8th, 2008 | No Comments »

During the years we lived in Hampshire, my mum and I would often go to the various shows and parades at the barracks and parade grounds in Winchester. I was really chuffed to see this as regardless of what one thinks of the war(s), we certainly don’t do enough of it.

Hampshire welcomes home all three services

Filed under: englishness, media on January 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

I’ve been listening to the debate over the government’s recent announcement that companies should providing their own internal training and certification programmes, allowing employees who don’t necessarily have traditional degrees or strong academic results to be able to gain more “trade” like skills and qualifications. It’s an interesting debate. Most of the companies I’ve worked for have had their own programmes: classes that focus on skills and acquiring knowledge particular to the job and/or the company. I haven’t necessarily received certifications for it, although receiving my Cartier Authentication certification when I worked at the jewellery store was pretty cool and would have been most useful had I continued in that line of work. But the fact of that matter is what’s wrong with asking companies to continue the education of their employees, particularly if it’s going to be giving employees useful skills and training that will allow them to better themselves, prepare them to move up within the company and perhaps even encourage loyalty on both the part of the employer and employee.

What isn’t acceptable of course, is thinking that such qualifications or certifications can be a substitute for finishing school and having a good lot of GCSEs under your belt. I fully understand that not everyone’s cut out for A levels, but isn’t that what tech schools and vocational colleges are for? To give people alternative opportunities? Oh wait, that’s right, they got rid of most of those. While I’m not really familiar with the level of education that most British school-leavers end up with, I am familiar with the US and if there is any comparison, which I’m sure there is, honestly it’s pretty dire. To start college and have to take remedial English, Maths and learn how to read and write analytically is, quite frankly, appalling. Why even go to college if you think writing a 2000 word reflective essay is too much effort or you’re unable to make a post on a discussion board without reverting to all lower case and far too many OMG, LOL and do u think that 2? Were you no taught what’s appropriate to write in an academic setting at high school?

I’m digressing…the point is I think it’s great that companies should offer training programmes and valid, industry-recognisable qualifications. But maybe the next thing that the government should do is look at how to raise the standards of general education and ensure that students leaving school, armed with their five or six GCSEs, have the ability to read and write properly so that companies aren’t having to waste their time training employees to a GCSE standard, but instead, can provide them with training on job-related skill-sets that will allow employees to gain master skills and knowledge in their specific industry or trade. When did having a vocational trade become something to scoff at?

Times opinion article
Times article
Guardian article

Filed under: englishness on January 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

A day late but a whisky toast to you! As with some of my most cherished memories, one of the best Burn’s night suppers I experienced was in Rome. We started off in one flat for drinks and nibbles, adjourned to another flat for our tatties, neaps and haggis and then moved onto to another flat where they’d cleared out their sitting room and we danced the night away with some Scottish country dancing. I remember standing on the patio under the cool January Roman sky, flushed and exhilarated from a few rounds of reeling and thinking that some traditions were just worth celebrating year after year.
And in true celebration, even though I did not eat haggis last night, (and I would have done because good haggis is actually quite delicious), here is Robert Burn’s famous Address to a Haggis:
address-to-a-haggis.html

Filed under: culinery delights, global britishness on January 26th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

So a few weeks ago, K got a call from one his old friends and band member with the news that they’d been asked to play at a rock festival in Oklahoma this summer. Seeing as how Valor have been broken up for years, and I’m talking at least a decade, we kind of laughed a bit and while not exactly dismissing the rather fanciful idea of five, now in their very late 30s/borderline 40s for some, passé 80s rockers getting up on the stage again, we didn’t give it too much thought. Except that over the past few weeks K’s had several phone calls with various other band members and their old manager, and now here’s this…

Valor

And here’s an article I read on the web…

Retrospect Records begins 2008 with a six-pack of exciting new releases.
Valor: Toy Soldiers and Make It Big. For the first time ever on cd meet Melodic Rockers VALOR. Hailing from Colorado , Valor was one of the biggest draws in Denver from 1987-1993. These two releases are chock-full of big hooks, layered harmonies and guitar work that rivals heroes such as Nuno Bettencourt, Vito Bratta and Reb Beach. Recorded between 1988 and 1991 and engineered by such legends as Geoff Workman and Rodney Mills, these two cd’s are high-class slabs of top-notch Melodic Hard Rock / AOR. Sounds like a mix of Firehouse, Journey, Extreme and Europe.

And then there’s this, where they’re headlining one of the stages…

Rocklahoma

Maybe I’ll be able to give up the day job after all.

Filed under: famille et amis, living the dream on January 24th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Complete and utter lusciousness. Did I mention I’m a Mac addict…way past the helping or intervention stage. I’m totally intravenous Mac at this point.

Filed under: tech, shamelessly stolen, educ 205 on January 20th, 2008 | No Comments »

Twelfth Night Act 2 sc 3.

Having been particularly anti-social for much of the year, I’d like to say simply the festive season but it just isn’t true. Our anti-socialness pervavded 2007 in its entirety, we, well, I decided to have a Twelfth night party. Sort of. We forwent the costumes and the games and the veal but managed plenty of booze (Thanks Wes!) and food and I even made a Galette de Rois. Invitations were sent out with quotes from the bard’s comedic play and I spent the days in between arriving back from England and trying to recover and the party, cooking and cleaning, trying to get the house to look as if it hadn’t been solely occupied for two weeks by two rather careless, stinky and malting cats. Nearly everyone turned up and Troy and Michelle brought Pimms so naturally we had to make up a large batch…Craig and Bob are now converts, (see, this is how the English take over the world, through booze. So fitting, n’est ce pas?). Although Twelfth Night is traditionally veal, a meat I love but wasn’t sure about everyone else, I kept the menu simple - Irish sausages, jacket potatoes, carrot and parsnip mash and of course, the English staple, peas. Pudding was cheese and grapes, a wicked Jamie Oliver chocolate tarte and the Galette de Rois, delicately flavoured with orange flower oil and made following a French recipe that I was amazed I managed to figure out. By the time everyone left and we’d finished clearing up (thank you K and Troy for washing up!), and I’d put away the last of the Christmas decorations, hoping that my diligence in getting them down by midnight of the 6th would mean another year of good fortune and happiness, I realised how glad I was that we’d made the effort to have a party. In Germany our lives were full of parties and get togethers, any excuse for a celebration. Even Phoenix we enjoyed our fair share of parties throughout the years. Maybe an English tea-party in the Spring for my girlfriends will be the next one…

Jamie’s Chocolate Tarte
(taken from my Christmas present Cook with Jamie - I’ll check the measurements, they’re off the top my head.)
Make short-crust pastry to fill a 28cm/11 inch tin

Bake blind for 10 - 15 minutes.
Bring 2 3/4 cups of heavy cream and 3 tbsp of fine caster sugar to the boil (Jamie’s recipe calls for milk and cream but I like the richness of just the cream - I have no pity for my cholesterol). Take off the boil and stir in 400g of broken up semi-sweet or bitter chocolate. Whisk until smooth and add 2 eggs. Whisk again until blended smoothly. Pour into a jug and then into the pie tin (having removed your pie beans of course!). Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes. When the chocolate mixture is firm to the touch it is done. It will feel wobbly but will continue to cook after being taken out of the oven. Once cooled put in fridge until ready to eat. Serve alone or with creme fraiche. Truly scrumptious.

Filed under: famille et amis, culinery delights on January 11th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Perhaps one more year then, before he really is forced into retirement. Better make this one count, Fisi.

Fisichella signs on with Force India

Filed under: Formula 1 on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2008 brings you good fortune and blessings and that it is a year full of richness and joy.

Peace.

Filed under: global englishness on December 31st, 2007 | 2 Comments »

I’ve tried to take Jay down to the canal to feed the ducks most days since we’ve been here. On Thursday we went down, snug in our raincoat and Barbor respectively, armed with our bag of bread. As we waited to cross the road at the pub, a local police car drove past. It was a particularly “cool” one, with all it’s lurid yellow stripes, looking very British police boy-racerish. Obviously Jay got very excited and much pointing and jumping up and down ensued. Once it had passed we crossed the road to make our way down the stone steps to the canal path. Before we reached the steps though I noticed the same police car having turned around and was now pulling up to the curb next to us. Oh great, I thought, I’m being done for jaywalking in the middle of the British countryside. Imagine my surprise when the policeman wound down his window and said, “I noticed someone getting very excited when I drove past. Do you fancy having a ride?” And yes, for one second as I strapped Jay in and climbed in myself, I did think, Oh God, I’m about to get abducted by a policeman…but Jay’s grinning face had that thought quashed instantly. So we got driven round the block, very fast and with lights and siren flashing on the straight strip of road behind the house, Jay an immobile mass of smiles and dancing eyes. When we were dropped back at our departure point the policeman let Jay sit in the front and turn on all the lights and have his photo taken (of course the one time I didn’t have my camera, but I did have the mobile - photo to follow). After that duck feeding was a bit of an anti-climax. So thank you Mr.Policeman of Mercia Constabulary; you definitely made a little boy’s day…and his mum’s as well!

Interesting links for Bob regarding Mercia, who I know will digg the English history, (note all the Beowulf references)!

Filed under: englishness on December 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Too busy enjoying a proper English Christmas to write much - have just been for the obligatory afternoon walk down to the canal to feed the ducks and walk off all those calories. The light was gorgeous over the canal, the barges festively decorated and so indicative of this part of the world. The bare trees with their long branches reaching out their fingertips to touch the trees on the other side of the still water provided a strangely comforting frame to my photo, taken from a perfect viewpoint, tucked under the arch of one of the canal bridges. Although the rolling landscape is anything but, it is still surprisingly very green and there is certainly no snow, Holst’s tune of Christina Rossetti’s song In the bleak midwinter is playing in my head…”Yet what can I give Him: give Him my heart.”

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis on December 25th, 2007 | No Comments »

There’s so much going on in the world of F1 lately I’m overwhelmed by it all. The need to blog continuously is thwarted only by the complete craziness of my life outside my obsession with fast cars and handsome men. Anyway inevitable I suppose since Renault escaped with no penalty from the FIA hearing, that Senor Fernando Alonso would return to Renault. If nothing else it’ll be interesting to see what he makes of the new car and whether it really is as bad as Fisi and Heikki seemed to make it. Sad that due to Nelson Piquet Jr’s elevation to second seat, Heikki loses his drive at Renault but he’s got so much potential I know he’ll get picked up by one of the other teams. Would be nice, perhaps to see him driving with Lewis over at McLaren. And it looks like I shall have to find a new gorgeous driver to obsess about this season…unless Fisi gets picked up by Force India I can’t see him getting a drive in 2008. I personally think he’d be better off sorting out his driving school and considering taking his F2 team and creating his own F1 team. The guy is a brilliant driver and his experience of the sport invaluable. I think if he brought his own team in they’d have a mighty good chance of doing something spectacular. Ferrari of course, are one of the few with no change to their driver set-up and I think we’ll see an excellent year from Massa and Kimi, who are now familiar with the car and can start to really knuckle down and concentrate on the driving.

If nothing else, let’s hope the year will be a bit less scandalous. More stories like this one about F1 would be much preferred rather than the recent spate of “but you said he said and no I didn’t, he stole it first” crap.

Filed under: Formula 1 on December 13th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

No penalty for Renault

I’m so tired of all this “spygate” - hopefully we’re seeing the end of it.

Filed under: Formula 1 on December 6th, 2007 | 5 Comments »

Every now and then I stumble across a children’s book that has me sitting cross-legged on the floor of the bookshop, captivated and enthralled. I recently came across two that inspired such child-like responses. The first book is The Story of Ferdinand. A simple story about a Spanish bull who would rather sit and smell the flowers than be charging at a red cape in an arena. It was originally written in 1935, first published in 1936 and is truly timeless. The other book is a new publication of Puff the Magic Dragon. Having grown up on Peter, Paul and Mary with a head full of memories of being in the car listening to Leaving on a Jet Plane and Puff the Magic Dragon I was instantly overjoyed to find it and eager to share it with Jay. However what excited me most about this book was its illustrations. They are easily the most beautiful illustrations I have seen for a long time. French artist Eric Puybaret has created a story in pictures that is ethereal and delightful, bold colours softened by muted curves and emotionally expressive, cartoon-like eyes. And it came with a CD of a new recording of the song, which Jay loves. So does his mummy.

Filed under: literature on December 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve been having an interesting time of late with the love of my life. Nope, not the husband, my beloved Macbook. A few weeks ago, against K’s better judgement and under the influence of my Mac pusher (you know who you are), I installed the Leopard OS. Not wanting to bother with moving everything to an external drive, etc I just did an Archive and Install. For the first week everything was great. The only thing I had problems with was adding my hotmail account to Mail due to it not having a pop3, but soon enough there was a hack for it and I was able to, in a fashion manage my hotmail account as well. And then Tuesday happened. First of all it started with me getting locked out of Photoshop. Okay, I thought, reasonable explanation I’m sure. After a bit of web exploration and reading about permissions going haywire, my Mac started locking me out of stuff. I couldn’t change information in iTunes, even on music I had installed from a CD, I was unable to drop files into other another user’s dropbox and I couldn’t delete files or folders, when I created new folders in email it created them as read-only denying me any write access. So Bob and I got our thinking caps on and after some web research figured out it was the permissions. I ended up doing a couple of things - the first was a single user start up, basically requiring me to hack into the Linux code as the machine was starting up, giving my profile God of all Gods’ admin rights and forcing the machine to see me as a root user. This sort of worked but my machine was sooo slow now. I continued to find all kinds of information on line, none of it particularly promising and all a bit depressing. I reinstalled Photoshop CS3 but still locked out. So then I ran a disc utility verification only this ended up taking over 6 hours (it used to take a max of 5 minutes on Tiger), and so I force stopped it. Later that evening I did a disc utility verification from my Tiger install disc. It found literally hundreds of errors, as had running the disc utility from my Mac HD, but didn’t really repair any of them. Then I read that doing a disc utility verification and repair from the previous OS disc was not recommended. By this time, the OS was crazy slow and starting to just do weird crap. So I was like, damn it and did an Archive and Install back to Tiger. The system was operating at normal speed again but lots of other stuff was off - it required a re-install of all my other software that I had added (Windows for Mac, iWorks, etc). Finally this morning K spoke to one of his Mac tech guys at work who said the permissions errors are a problem with soft installs and so now I am on the final conclusion, well sort of. I now have to do a clean install (basically dump the new OS onto a clean drive). No probs I thought before getting home this evening, I’ll back up my stuff into my external and voila, by tomorrow morning I’ll be sorted. Except that my external hard drive was super full and I couldn’t dump my files, etc onto it. Aghhhhh. There’s no way I’m not saving all my recent music and docs first. As usual K came to my rescue when he got home, with the sweetest words ever, “I’ve ordered you another external and a 250 drive for your computer from my guys in Chicago. If the weather’s good they’ll be here tomorrow. You can pull the current drive from your Mac, put in the new one, install Leopard onto the new drive and you should be good to go. You won’t need to save anything because you’re going to just take out the old drive and keep it as an external back-up plus you’ll have another external hard drive so you can download your music to your heart’s content.“.

So, guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow evening, the evening of my 9th wedding anniversary? Oh yeah, unleashing the pussy…cat. Roar

Filed under: tech on December 4th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Most weekends pass by in a crazy two days of cleaning and laundry and food shopping and doing all those things that I never seem to have time to do during the week. But once in a while a weekend throws itself up that allows me to get all the cleaning, laundry and food shopping done and feeling like I’ve actually had some quality downtime. American boy’s been working on the cars all weekend leaving me time to just get on and be productive. Today I was given a lie-in, (I did get up at 6 am yesterday with Jay so felt totally justified in burrowing further under the duvet when a little boy, fully dressed in army fatigues complete with K’s old cap, entered our bedroom at 7 this morning demanding orange juice and passage downstairs), later woken up with a cup of tea and a bacon sarnie. Jay and I finally ventured out mid morning to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. I have done none of it yet; usually I love Christmas shopping, well any shopping, but quite frankly this year the thought of facing all those people and crowds - bleurgh. I’m becoming rather anti-social in my old age. Anyway I did manage to secure a few items and the little boy sweet-talked himself into new Spiderman jammies and underwear. I always was a sucker where clothes are concerned - needless to say it pleases me no end that Jay already picks out colour coordinating outfits! Mid afternoon Jay collapsed in front of the Italian Job and I started a lamb and pear tagine before we decided that it was really about time to put up some Christmas decorations; so out came the nutcracker, the crib from Rome when my mum and Andrew went with Luc and the Clayesmore Prep School choir to sing before Pope JP II in 1990, the two German smoking men from Lechlade, my Papa Christmas Toby Jug that G and G gave me when I was a little girl - so many memories encapsulated in festive trinkets and seasonal nick-knacks. By this time it was full on raining outside and any good intention I’d had of raking up the leaves was slowly going to pot until K said it wasn’t actually that cold, just raining. And so I thought, well, mad dogs and englishman and all. Pulling on my Hunters and Barbour rainhat I kitted out Jay in his Aigles en bleu marine and raincoat and the pair of us tromped outside, me to rake up soggy leaves, Jay to ride his new big-boy bike. Only Jay soon discovered that because of the mass pile up of leaves in the curb, a small waterway had emerged, creating the perfect splashing-wading-getting soaked environment. So as I was furiously raking, Jay was getting wetter and wetter and with each new body part would come and show me…”look, mummy, I’ve got water in my wellies…mummy, mummy, my trackie bums are all wet…mummy, I’ve got water up my sleeve…“. By the time we came in he was totally soaked, ruddy cheeked and blissfully happy. He went straight into a bath and we then thoroughly enjoyed our lamb tagine and cous-cous, followed by raspberry sorbet. American boy and I are now just sitting at the dining room table, having enjoyed an excellent bottle of red with our tagine and then cracking open a very nah-it’s-okay, (it’ll be good for bolognaise) bottle of red, discarding it and are now on our second glass of limoncello, checking out our macbook and iphone, listening to Dolly Parton’s Little Sparrow, Conjure One and Colbie Caillet’s Coco and counting down the days until we’ll be in England for Christmas.
I know, for me, it can’t come soon enough.

Filed under: indiana, popculture, englishness, famille et amis on December 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

I know it’s not yet Christmas but we are at the start of the festive season - Bob did one for Amberly, he and I and I found it one of the most hysterical things I’ve seen for a while. I just couldn’t resist, so enjoy!
Dancing elves (click on the link)

Filed under: famille et amis on November 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m standing at the stove, stirring a risotto to all its luscious creaminess with one hand and blogging with the other - probably not the best thing to do but c’est la vie, or more appropriately, c’est ma vie. Anyway I’m standing here, stirring and blogging and thinking about trains. I rather like trains. Not in that “there goes a 22FPN with a Vitracom engine mount and 63 ballister hardrive” trainspotting kind of way, more in a “how lovely, an hour and a half to Winchester. Just in time to polish off this latest bosom-heaving, far more sex than you’d think Harlequin novel Machievelli’s The Prince” kind of way. Most of the trains I see here in America are a bit boring - ruddy great freight trains that go on for miles, leaving plenty of time to dig out that novel interesting historical writing as you’re waiting at the crossing. And then today I was on my way to pick up the boy to take him to school and got unusually stopped (in my over-zealous frequenting of train tracks I now have the train timetable quite firmly committed to memory) by a train at the racquet club crossing. At first I was rather surprised because it seemed to be a passenger train and in the whole three years I’ve lived here I have never seen a passenger train. Folks were leaning out of windows, grinning and waving at the cars. Then I noticed that the train cars were silver with rather fancy red lettering on the side and that the carriages became boxes with animals and tent-like protrusions and a couple of small bobcat diggers. It was a circus train for the famous Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey on their way down to Alabama. It was a lovely sight. Rather reminded me of the time the gypsy circus came to Wiesloch and set up shop in the field up from our flat. I never was so shocked to be out for my morning stroll up Zum Keitelberg and come face to face with a lion sharing my pavement and an elephant doing his morning ablutions. Talk about circus life.

P.S. Just found this on Wikipedia… “In 1996, Feld Entertainment, Inc. was created as the parent company of the circus, as well as a skating-themed sister show, Disney on Ice. The company also produces several large-scale Broadway and Las Vegas productions.

RBBX 41307 after refurbishment — Tampa, Florida.
Currently, the circus maintains two train-based shows, the Blue Tour and the Red Tour, as well as the truck-based Gold Tour. Each train stretches a mile in length. The Blue and Red Tours present a full three-ring production for two years each (taking the month of December off), visiting alternating major cities each year. Each train presents a different “edition” of the show, using a numbering scheme that dates back to circus origins in 1871. The Blue Tour presents the even-numbered editions (beginning each even-numbered year), and the Red Tour presents the odd-numbered editions (beginning each odd-numbered year). The Gold Tour presents a scaled-back, single-ring version of the show, designed to serve smaller markets deemed incapable of supporting the three-ring versions.“

Filed under: indiana, global englishness, living the dream on November 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

So who’d have thought that the winter hiatus would be this exciting? At this point it seems like all of the big three are as bad as each other. What happened to healthy, harmless competition? Now we’re just playing schoolboy cheats. Between Ferrari and McLaren (and now Renault) the tit for tat is escalating to unnecessary proportions. I sincerely hope that before the 2008 season starts most of this will be behind us; sadly though I think this may be the evolving persona of Formula 1.

Filed under: Formula 1 on November 23rd, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Some days are just as you would want them. It’s unbelievably fresh outside, I think it’s desperate to snow but not quite managing it. The house is warm and toasty and a bit later on we’ll stick some logs in the fire and get that blazing. The turkey, a la Jamie, is roasting in the oven and the rest of the food, (small beef joint, roasted root veggies with olive oil and rosemary, shredded brussels with bacon, steamed green beans with lemon juice, mashed potato, apple pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice fairy cakes) are prepped and waiting to join the happy bird. Jay has received his Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa, who arrived Tuesday night to be with us, and spent twenty minutes in the icy chill racing up and down the pavement on his new “big boy” bicycle. I’m about to crack open a bottle of champagne, I do after all have a lot to be thankful for; most of all that I have a lovely and healthy family, plentiful food on my table every day, a beautiful house and God’s grace.

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on November 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

British military style…

Filed under: englishness on November 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

Will it never end?

Renault in the doghouse too?

It’s just getting farcical and really, a little bit silly. Come on boys, just drop it and move on alright?

Filed under: Formula 1 on November 8th, 2007 | No Comments »

A bit late but…Happy Halloween! Once again impressing even myself with the culinary skills, (wholewheat cookies and pumpkin fairy cakes with orange buttercream icing). Jay spent the day as a ghost at school and then decided he’d had enough of that and wanted to be something else for trick or treating. With my usual last minute crap-what-can-I throw-together panic Jay chose to be a knight. When I advised him he needed a cloak I then had to spend fifteen minutes justifying the reason by showing him photos of crusaders on the internet and assuring him that knights wore cloaks to hide their weapons from their enemies. Or maybe it was telling him that if he didn’t wear a proper costume people wouldn’t give him any candy…the power of sugar.

Filed under: indiana, culinery delights on November 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Looking out of our office window, Amberly, Bob (who had stopped by for a little Friday afternoon chat) and I watched as black smoke billowed into the sky, creating a stark contrast to the clear, otherwise cloudless blue. Here are some pictures of the fire at the Fort Wayne Children’s zoo…

Filed under: indiana, breaking news on November 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Just sometimes, I am desparate for Friday to arrive. Some weeks have me questioning my sanity and desire to do and have it all. Working full-time and running a house full-time and being a mummy full-time has left me exhausted this week. I’m desparate to write but have neither the time nor the energy. My fridge is full of luridly-decorated Halloween cookies and fairy cakes smothered in lashings of pale orange buttercream icing and all I want is a rocket salad with sweet, pop-in-the-mouth cherry tomatos and a few shavings of hard, nutty parmigiana, drizzled with sweet balsamic vinegar. There’s overdue ironing, washing, dusting and cleaning, leaves to rake, bulbs to plant and windows to fix; paperwork’s in a pile on top of the files and there’s three boxes that need to go to the post office; tomorrow is food shopping day and I promised Jay I’d take him swimming; I’m late on birthday cards and owe emails, the grass needs cutting and the dining room table looks like a bomb’s hit it. My unwritten novel never gets further than a few lines as I fall asleep writing it in my head. The online application I’m recommending to my students won’t save my bloody recordings for podcasts and I have a workshop and presentation that require a lot more prepping than I’ve done so far and I’ve just seen the Audi pull into the garage which means I should have a supper ready that I have no inclination to either cook or eat.
I’m going to open a bottle a wine…

Filed under: famille et amis on October 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve lots to comment on the final Grand Prix of the season, (it’s just started and although I’m not watching it, I am listening as I manically clean the house due us being gone all day yesterday). So, until I have time enough to comment fully on the finale of what has been a fascinating and thrilling F1 year, here’s a little light entertainment from some Norwegian soldiers, sent to me from Jerry. Needless to say the folks posting it on YouTube obviously don’t know their own country’s uniforms or military vehicles and it keeps getting passed off as American soliders, although granted I thought they were Finns, but at least I narrowed it down to Scandinavia! And then I found this one and the flag rather gave it away. World geography anyone? As music and performing were pretty much Keith’s army career, (sorry, Apache mechanic? And exactly how long did you do that before joining the US Solider Show, darling?), we thoroughly enjoyed it. I could totally have seen Shurd and Keith putting together something like this!

kosovomusicvideo.wmv

Filed under: popculture, media on October 21st, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Rome Reborn 1.0 Pictures

One of my major passions, other than geeky technology, Formula 1, Italy and clothes, is the ancient world, particularly ancient Greece and Rome. My ultimate job, (other than being a writer, a spy for MI5 or MI6 or working for the NATO Defense College in Rome), is to work at the British Museum, spending my days poring over tiny bits of pottery, testing the warped bronze shields and polishing jagged spears, translating texts and flicking my toga over my shoulder when it gets in the way…so you can imagine my barely contained excitement when I discovered that thanks to the marvel of technology ancient Rome has been digitally recreated as an “ancient virtual city”. The project is based out of the University of Virginia whose project directors are working with the Politecnico di Milano. It’s kind of like looking at a Second Life Rome. Fantastically cool.

Rome Reborn

Article on Rome Reborn: an ancient virtual city (The Times)

Article on Rome Reborn (Newsweek)

Filed under: tech, living the dream, shamelessly stolen on October 11th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Because I’m totally not above duplication and shamlessly stealing, expecially seeing as it’s my own work, I have merely copied this post from my EDUC.205 blog…

I know I didn’t blog last week but I have a great excuse, no really I do. And it’s totally technology related. It was my brother’s wedding last week so I hightailed it back to England for four days to watch my baby bro marry his girlfriend of ten years. As always, even when “off-duty” and travelling I had my Mac firmly clutched in my hands. Due to inclement weather at Chicago I was delayed at Fort Wayne airport for four hours, (oh yes, that is so totally the place to be delayed I can tell you), so I made full use of their free wireless, sorting out the usual Blackboard nightmares and the like. Finally I was on the plane to Chicago and then to London. Although I knew I was about to face twenty-four hours sans internet - my mum’s cottage is in the depths of the English countryside. She doesn’t even have a landline or dial-up internet let alone wireless internet. But the following day I was driving to the beautiful hotel for the wedding. Surely there would be wireless, or at least wired internet there. It is after all a known getaway for the rich and famous city folk in need of a “weekend in the country, dahling”. We get to the hotel, a gorgeous manor house in the Cotswolds only to discover that I barely have mobile phone reception and although there is one little computer discretely tucked away in a corner the hotel is computer and internet free. I can feel the slight panic arise whenever I am forced to be without internet and access to the world beyond my immediate but then I remember what I’ve been telling you all about how we shouldn’t and can’t rely on technology and so for the first time in a VERY long time I enjoy four days without checking email, without blogging, without updating my podcasts or reading my RSS subscriptions, without having any kind of connection to my laptop. And you know what? It was truly and utterly blissful.
Oh, and the wedding wasn’t bad either.

Filed under: englishness, travel, tech, shamelessly stolen on October 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ll post all about it soon and I’ve still got to Photoshop the good photos to make them really good but figured I’d get a bunch of them up as soon as possible. Needless to say it was the most loveliest wedding I’ve ever been to, although Soph’s in Vegas was pretty darn cool too.
Love and kisses to Luc and Claire, you make a fabulous couple.

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis on October 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m waiting at Fort Wayne International (so called for the one cargo flight a week to Toronto I believe or was that because of the one time they had a cargo flight to Toronto, I can never remember) airport, making full use of the free wireless. Even though I said I was going to forget about Blackboard and work I couldn’t stop myself and spent forty minutes checking work email. I’m heading back to England for four days (I know, I know, I blanche every time I think of the cost for so little time) for my brother’s wedding. And I’m travelling sans enfant. While I’ve had several business trips where I travel without the bambino I’ve not had a trip back to England without him since he was born. It is both a little strange, like I’ve forgotten something, and oddly exhilerating, like I’m free and untangled. Despite my huge sac of a handbag I feel strangely light, travelling as I used to travel way back when - free and single (not so much of the young anymore) and ready to jump on a plane to anywhere. And while I’m sad that the little pickle can’t come back with me this time I’m looking forward to attending my brother’s wedding as a grown-up, being able to drink without worrying, knowing I can sneak off and have a few ciggies should the alcohol really kick in, knowing that my evening won’t end at 9 o’clock because someone is overly tired and being a small monster. I’m looking forward to chatting with my family and friends without having to interrupt every conversation in mid sentence with the words “hang on a minute” or “I’ll be back in a sec.” My hold bag is unusually light - my clothes folded into obscurity, even the two pairs of shoes I’ve packed strangely bereft without being stuffed full of tiny socks or matchbox cars. I have no teddy bear trailing out of handbag, no My or Sophie lamb to be dropped and picked up, repeatedly. I have four days of a holiday without my child. It is odd.

Hmmn, I’ve just realised my flight is delayed. It’s twenty five past three and the plane was due to depart at 3:30. The gal over the loudspeaker has just tried to tell me all the passenger connections will be fine - bugger, I knew I should have flown with the tried and tested American and not United…I think I’ll finish the FIA court transcripts seeing as I’m stuck at the world’s most exciting airport ever…help me…

Filed under: travel, global englishness on September 25th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I’m horrified to see that a week has gone by and I’ve not so much as glanced at my blog. Life has been too damn busy. I think we’re finally getting straight with all the Blackboard frightfulness and I’m hoping that the system will start to operate as it should with our new integrated snapshot process and LDAP authentication piece. I daren’t say too much in case I jinx the whole darn system and am back to continuing my very close telephone relationship with Tim in ASP Tech Support!

I’ve also been busy updating my technology blog for the Technology in Education class that Bob and I are teaching this semester. It’s essentially a hybrid class so we have a few on-ground meetings but the majority of the teaching takes place online. It’s really fun actually and our students are great, actively participating in the discussion forums and updating their own technology blogs every week. Their first project is coming up this weekend - creating a video using YouTube and then developing a lesson plan incorporating some kind of online technology, whether it’s YouTube or wikis or simply using the internet as a resource or even, for the braver among them, using a virtual environment such as Second Life. I think for Bob and I it’s been great to see what our Macbooks can really do. Multimedia is sooo easy with a Mac it’s ridiculous. I think we should ban all Windows OS and everyone in the world be forced to use a Mac.

There seem to have been a few interesting things going on locally lately as well. Well, state locally anyway. Indiana opened its first ethanol plant in Portland. POET is the company that owns/operates the plant and what’s exciting for me is to see that they are the ones supplying the fuel for the Indycar series. I would love for Formula 1 to start looking at biofuels and I know Honda are making inroads in that direction, but I have the feeling it’ll be quite some time before F1 goes green where the juice is concerned, (particularly if Bernie has his way and the Middle East becomes more prevalent in hosting F1 races). I think it’s brilliant that Indiana has gone ahead with such a plant. I already have a great source of biodiesel here in Fort Wayne, although there is only the one station to buy biodiesel at, and it’s encouraging to know that there is a movement towards lessening our dependance on foreign oil and making better use of cleaner, greener alternatives to fill all those huge Fort trucks they make down the road! Snippet from POET representative on the plant’s capacity.

And of course over at McLaren, the drama continues…

The FIA released the hearing transcripts today - while I’m only on about page 40 of the 115 from last Thursday’s session it makes for some very fascinating and quite enlightening reading (Brian - you should peruse it - great stuff!)
And the revised 2008 schedule was released from the FIA yesterday, without a USA date. Damn it. There is absolutely no point in my living in Indiana anymore.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, tech on September 19th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Exercise caution with future lunchtime drinking sessions on birthdays…
Give Jay extra hugs for choosing carrot cake for my birthday cake…
Special loving for husband for giving me the best present ever; well except for my delicious Macbook - wow, husband is really excelling with presents of late…

Filed under: famille et amis on September 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

I was having an excellent birthday but this is now officially a very bad birthday - what the fuck are the FIA thinking? I cannot believe that they have stripped McLaren of all of their championship points. There has to be more going there than what we’ve been told. Ferrari and their bloody golden child status - they can’t do anything wrong. Utterly ridiculous. I am crushed for Fernando and Lewis Hamilton, who, at least I guess, get to keep their points but honestly…they’d better start revealing some of the evidence because quite frankly at the moment the FIA and Ferrari, (because let’s face it they’re the ones creating the fuss), seem to be hell bent on destroying McLaren’s reputation.

McLaren fined and stripped of constructor’s points
McLaren Press Statement
FIA Statement

Filed under: Formula 1 on September 13th, 2007 | 3 Comments »

I’m not good with birthdays. My ideal birthday would be to slink away on my own to my favourite city in the world and drown myself in good food, champagne and shopping. And so in good gloomy birthday form I decided to post the lyrics to a Switchfoot song that has been playing through my head non-stop for the last few days and seems suitably fitting for another year’s passing…

02-this-is-your-life.mp3 (click to play)

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you’ve broken
Don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you’ve got now
Yeah, and today is all you’ll ever have
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes

This is your life are you who you want to be
This is your life are you who you want to be

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

And you had everything to lose

Filed under: englishness on September 12th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

I had my first “Professor” yesterday which was kind of wierd and funny and cool all at the same time. Needless to say I did not correct the student and tell them that technically, as I did not hold a PhD I was not a professor and that using my first name was just fine. Instead I revelled in it and laughed because it reminded me of when I was back in fifth form and involved in the play “The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew” -(ahh, yes, the very same play that I met a certain KLM Dutch pilot and descended into schoolgirl debauchery) - and in it I played a wizard who assumed a disguise as a “Professor Innocent”. It was actually in the script as Professor Innocent. Truly I was perfect for the role.

I’m now back in Fort Wayne, the heat and excitement of Las Vegas a mere flicker away. It was really nice to get home though: Blackboard was going crazy in my absence, (though major kudos to Patrick who held down the fort) and my brain is now filled with Photoshop goodness and delight. I spent yesterday evening grading tests and today catching up and troubleshooting and I’m hoping to God that by the end of the week some semblance of order starts to take place within the realm of Blackboard. Of course then, I’ll only have a week before hightailing back to Europe for Nosher’s wedding. I am super excited about heading back for that even if I don’t quite have my outfit complete yet.

So many things to blog about but honestly, I’m a little tech weary. I can feel autumn setting in and I’m desparately trying to fend off the looming blackness that follows closely behind the first crunchy leaves as they flutter to the ground. Damn SAD, why do I have to have Italian blood in my veins - the whole requiring sunshine 365 days a year is a bit hard in northern Indiana.

Filed under: englishness on September 11th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Things are really spicing up in the McLaren scandal; it seems now that the drivers may be knowing more than they’ve let on.

Meanwhile back at the fort…actually I’m in the desert and loving it. I didn’t realise how much I missed the soaring temperatures, no bugs and the perma sunshine on my bones. Las Vegas is as glitzy and tacky and fabulous as ever. The amount of building that has gone up, and down, since I was last here three years ago is incredible. It must easily rival Dubai on its manic building schedule.

Apparently I’ve got to go - early sessions at the conference and a cab ride ensues. Photos and more drivel later….

Filed under: Formula 1, travel, tech on September 7th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Technically the first day of school was last Monday but quite honestly, last week was the worst week to be had since I started working at the uni. That whole stress-free, easy-going environment I love so much? Not so stress-free anymore. And what’s it due to? Why technology of course! Wretched technology or to be more specific wretched Blackboard. (Beside the fact that I have just not had the time to blog, the thought of coming home and spending more time shackled to a computer has been very unappealing, hence the lack of writing on my part for the last week). We spent a loooong time this summer working on an integration piece between our management system and Blackboard in an effort to automate a lot of the work I was doing manually. Theoretically this should have been the easiest start of semester ever. Instead it has been fraught with nothing but issues, one thing after another. And not just little issues that I can fix easily but horrible, sucky issues that require me spending much time on the phone with Blackboard Tech Support. I can only say thank God that I have someone at college who knows what he’s doing when it comes to scripting the extract files because I know without that we’d really be up the creek. I spent all weekend troubleshooting, on a holiday weekend as well and can only say I am hugely thankful that tomorrow morning I get on a plane to join Bob and Amberly in Las Vegas for the Photoshop World conference and don’t have to show my face in front of all the professors relying on Blackboard to work seemlessly. Naturally stuff still is nowhere near seamless…
On a far more positive note Jay started his proper school this week. And loved it. He’d been asking when he was going to Canterbury for the past four weeks so was most ready. Of course now he’s hopelessly disappointed that he doesn’t get to go all the time and has to split his school day between Canterbury and his daycare. Last Monday night we had a parents’ orientation which Keith and I went to. It was a bit of a shock, not in the school or anything. I went to private school, I know exactly how it works. It just made Keith and I feel super grown-up and not necessarily in a good way, more in a crap-we’d-better-start-being-a-bit-more-responsible kind of way. It was highly amusing though watching everyone. My grandpa always said that the mummies at Clayesmore, Canford, St.Swithun’s, etc were cloned, (back in the days of the 80s Sloane and striped shirts, pearls and headbands) and Monday night proved that things have not changed. Only this was the American Gap uniform of fitted ts and chinos. Needless to say I kept my end up and had on a trendy Next dress with my Ken Cole six inch heels. With my icy English hauteur (all generated through looks, I’m not big on the whole talking thing if I don’t need to) I’m sure I’ve managed to earn an appropriate label.
Jay’s teacher is wonderful, amazingly energetic and clearly loves what she does. He’s is a nice small class, ten pupils - naturally he already knows all the girls’ names but couldn’t quite tell me all of the boys in his class. Although I blanche when I think about the cost I know already it is totally worth it. The one thing I am eternally grateful to my parents is for my education. It has enabled me throughout life, both intelectually and in the skills it provided socially and otherwise, to succeed and tackle any situation that comes up. I know that all I can do is equip Jay with the right tools and the rest, as they say, is up to him.
Congratulations to Dan and Judith, who got married in Vegas over the weekend. I am so sorry I couldn’t be there to share in your wonderful time but Keith said he had a blast.
And finally…tomorrow.Me.Plane.Vegas. Oh yeah…

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis, travel, tech on September 3rd, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Fisi, you’re losing me baby…

Results for Qualifying, Turkish Grand Prix

Filed under: Formula 1 on August 25th, 2007 | No Comments »

I was sitting on the top step of my front porch at about 10 o’clock last night. The day had cooled to a pleasant balmy temperature and the wind weaved its way through the trees, playing catch with their leaves and teasing the branches. The cicadas were going nuts, their cacophany rising to a crescendo of abnormally large insect proportions to still, subito; a break in the movement while they waxed their strings and changed out their reeds, the maestro mopping his brow before taking up his baton and moving onto the next libretto. Amongst the pulsating rubbing of their legs was a noise I’ve not heard for several months, the sound of a woodpecker. Two woodpeckers actually, their tap, tap, tapping on the oak trees a ferociously fast conversation to which I had the fortune to be privy to. The relentless back and forth of their staccato duet stood out clearly, a plesant escape from the wild chattering of the cicadas. I thought of my dad and Avril and how I wished they were there, sitting on the steps with me, drinking limoncello, talking about nothing in particular and listening to the late night concert of the birds.

Filed under: indiana on August 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

I have a secret affliction. I adore country music. I’m very selective in my choices but I do have a serious weakness for a guy with a six-pack , a pair of blue jeans and a cowboy hat, especially one who sings with a sexy Southern drawl.

My current country music crush is Brad Paisley. Mainly because his lyrics are all so tongue in cheek. I like a man who can laugh at himself and particularly one who can laugh at the ridiculous environments created by society. As a Mac geek and soon-to-be Second Life addict I love this song, the words make me smile every time.

Celebrity and Alcohol are another two of his songs that make me chuckle. He writes such great singalong songs and his affinity for William Shatner and Jason Alexander only increases the enamouration (yes, I do know it’s not a word.).
I also have a thing about Billy Currington’s voice. Sure he’s got the ab thing down but it’s his voice that does it for me. It’s like someone’s taken molten chocolate, cooled and hardened it and then put it through a grater. Tell me this man doesn’t have a sexy voice…

Or Dierks Bentley, (isn’t that a great name, I’m sure it’s made up) with his Lot a Leavin’ Left To Do or What Was I Thinkin’ “Her daddy had a heart like a 9lb hammer, Think he even did a little time in the slammer.” Impressive rhyming scheme there, heh?
And then of course there’s Keith Urban, my country singer of choice as I cross the Indiana / Kentucky state line on the way down to Alabama. Nothing beats driving through the rolling greenery of beautiful Kentucky listening to Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me. His voice just begs for the windows to be open, the sun to shine and worries to fall out of the windows. He’s got the whole Australian cowboy thing going on. I have to say though some of his songs are positively depressing while others are full of promise and quite jolly.

Of course all of this is a far leap from the country music I grew up on - Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Don Williams, Roger Whittaker (although he could be considered more folk than country). NPR had a programme on several months ago about Kenya’s obsession with country music, yep you did read that right, Kenya. Apparently it’s a national pastime. My uncle spent a lot of time in Africa, Zimbabwe back when in was Rhodesia, married (and subsequently divorced) a Zimbabwean research scientist. Anyway it was he who used to record tapes of Don Williams for my mum who would then play them repeatedly until even now when I hear Don Williams I can sing every word to most of his songs. His songs were so heartfelt and so country, cowboy stuff through and through. I still remember the Christmas, Father Christmas put Dolly Parton’s Greatest Hits in my stocking. I must have been all of about six, waking everyone up to Dolly repeatedly singing 9 to 5 and Two Doors Down. During our 12 hours in the car (six there and six back) on the way to the conference in Madison, WI Bob asked me what music makes me happy. Of course Nek is always at the top of my list but I have to say that a good country song makes me smile and always lightens the load.
Coincindently the second song I ever heard Keith sing (Johnny B Goode was the first - and yes, defintely think of the Top Gun Balls of Fire scene: men in uniform who can actually sing…oh yeah baby), was country great Garth Brook’s I Got Friends in Low Places.
As Trace Atkins sings Ladies, this one anyway Love Country Boys…

Filed under: popculture on August 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Really, it’s true, of course the rich bit comes into it but then power and money tend to be intertwined. Anyway how totally lush is the new iMac? Even lusher with Leopard. When it eventually comes out. Come on Mac, you’ve been tantilising me for months with your expected gloriousness and I’m ready for Time Machine baby.

Filed under: tech on August 15th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Filed under: writing on August 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

Now I love the Royal family. They provide an endless source of amusement. Seriously though I would be among the first to admit that while I’m not exactly sure as to why England still requires a monarchy the fact of the matter is we have one and so as a good English subject I respect the Queen enormously, simply managaing her crazy family is enough to earn a few medals. Anyway my boss sent this to me which had me in hysterics. The princes are my favourite members of the Royal family and I like Harry in particular. He’s well on his way to political uncorrectness and for that you gotta love him.

Filed under: englishness on August 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

Bob and I are up in Madison, WI for a three day conference on Distance Education and Technology. We drove up yesterday and went through all the registration frou-frou in the afternoon before deciding that our evening was going to be best spent ensconced in a most quaint cinema watching the third installment of Jason Bourne…The Bourne Ultimatium. As with the first two, of which I am a huge fan, this one was fantastic. As Bob noted it’s just one long, non-stop car chase that spans New York, London, Turin, Paris and Morocco. You get a couple of moments respite and to catch your breath when Jason pauses for reflection or to wash off the blood and then it’s back in the car (VW or Audi - I always knew Jason Bourne had his head screwed on), and resume the run again. Oh and I did learn a very cool thing - Jason Bourne has the same birthday as me, September 13th. I now feel very cool. So, definitely recommend the film, equally as exciting and thrilling as the first.
Madison itself is quite delightful. It’s very quaint and surprisingly clean, shiny, white buildings and swept sidewalks. I noticed the same with DC. I’ve decided it must be the fact it’s the state capital. The lake is of course beautiful; have I mentioned how much I love the water? Oh, only sixty billion times before? I have a nice little walk around the capitol building from the conference centre to my hotel. The conference centre is quite lovely. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright it’s right on the waterfront and rather fetching. A fun place to spend three days in seminars and lectures. Today I’m in a full day workshop on Second Life. Yep, you heard me. I get to find out how to use the virtual environment for education. Now that’s technology in education.

Filed under: popculture, tech on August 8th, 2007 | 3 Comments »

What the heck is happening at the Hungarian Grand Prix? Alonso demoted five places from pole and McLaren due to lose any championship points they may earn during tomorrow’s race? I wonder if Alonso had gone to bed when the FIA stewards made the announcement close to midnight; either he’s in for a bad night’s sleep or he’s going to be well pissed when he wakes up tomorrow and finds out. I wonder what time a driver does go to bed before a race…oh right, missing the point. Read the latest over at grandprix.com.

http://www.grandprix.com/race/r779q1report.html

If Bernie wanted some publicity for F1, then he’s certainly got it.

Filed under: Formula 1 on August 4th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Saturday we took a break from all the DIY that is going on in our house that we’re pretending not to be doing because it doesn’t need it (see previous post) and drove for two hours to the next state and spent the day at the Dayton Air Show. It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Very sadly however, half way through the afternoon one of the small bi-planes doing stunt formations had problems doing a downward spiral and never pulled out, crashing onto the tarmac. The pilot died on the way to the hospital and because the crash site had to be invesitgated, they couldn’t fly any more planes that day. One of those tragedies you hope never to see at an event like that. Our hearts went out to his family, apparently the pilot had a very young son.
Earlier on that morning we had watched one of the most incredible displays of flight formation by the Esquadrilha da Fumaça or “Smoke Squadron”, a squadron from the Brazilian Air Force not dissimiliar to the Red Arrows. Watching them fly was truly unbelievable. They had the tightest formations I’ve ever seen, just amazing. They had some fabulous aircraft including an Antonov, B2 Stealth bomber and a F117A NightHawk. There was also the obligatory C130 and BlackHawk helicopter. The AH-64 Apache naturally won loads of kudos with Keith and Jay and cracked me up because the pilot and crew chiefs seemed to do nothing but pose all over the helicopter and all the photos I have of Keith from his Apache crew chief days he is suitably draped over said metal bird. The weather was glorious and we had beautiful sunshine all day, resulting in much ice-cream and beer. It was nice to be in the familiar environment of the military. Surprisingly we still miss it.

Filed under: indiana on July 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

Keith and I bought our house mainly because it needed nothing doing to it. One of my prerequisites of moving to the mid-west was that we would have an old house. Keith really dislikes old houses and would give anything to be living in a modern box like we had in Phoenix. His deal was we could have an old house so long as it needed nothing doing. So anyway, we bought this house which had been lovingly cared for and upkept brilliantly by the previous owners. We did a few cosmetic adjustments before we moved in such as painting the bedrooms but other than that nothing. Until about a year and a half ago and we decided to paint the entirety of the basement’s very 70s wood panelling because it felt like a cave down there. Then we removed the wallpaper from the to half of the dining room and painted it. Next came the kitchen with a fresh coat of paint. Then we thought we’d test out the dining room floors and ripped up the carpet to discover beautiful oak floorboards. Then we ripped up the carpet in the sitting room and the tv/reading room. Only the tv room was a later addition and so we had to lay floorboards in there. Then we stripped the paint on the staircase because we figured if the flooring was in such good nick then maybe the wood underneath the paint was too. And we were right. Next came stripping the paint off the downstairs window frames and doors, repainting the front and back porch and the stairs from the French doors into the garden, ripping up the carpet in the hall landing upstairs, retiling the upstairs bathroom and now replacing the old sink vanity with a more era-friendly pedestal sink and laying new floor tiles. This is no longer a house that was bought because it needed nothing done - now it is a project.

Filed under: home renovation on July 31st, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Jay’s favourite books are those by Richard Scarry, read dutifully by Keith or I every night along with our forced choice of something not by Lowly Worm’s creator. Sometime ago whilst reading What Do People Do All Day, I asked Jay what Mummy and Papa do for their work…

Me: “What does Papa do?”
J: “He fixes things and plays the guitar.”
Me: “And what does Mummy do?”
J: “Reads books and computers and cleans.”

Being that Keith’s actually a keyboard and piano player he was a bit devestated about the guitar bit but we put it down to the fact that Jay and Keith had recently been having guitar jamm sessions. As for me…he’s got me sussed.

Filed under: literature, famille et amis on July 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

Me: “Ooo, it’s Doctor Who tomorrow night. Looks like a good one. The Daleks are back.”
K: “I thought he killed them off in the last season.”
Me: “Obviously not. Wouldn’t like to meet them on a dark night. The Doctor on the other hand…”
K: (ignoring my suggestive noises about the Doctor). I think people have the Daleks wrong.”
Me: “In what way?”
K: “They’re like the terrorists.”
Me: “Huh?”
K: “I think they’re very misunderstood. I mean they’re just trying to take over the world, kill those who don’t believe what they believe and purge the human race from any non-Dalek kind.”
Me: “Okaaaay. Good job I know when you’re being sarcastic.”
K: “Me? Sarcastic?”

There was an excellent interview on NPR the other day with the Iraqi ambassador to the US, Samir al-Sumaidaie. He makes some excellent points - essentially that living under Saddam was crap and it was super that the US got rid of him because the guy was a major bastard, having the Americans there isn’t great because who wants “intervention” from outside telling you what to do in your own country but if the US were to simply pull out and leave, there would be an even bigger mess, if possible, than what exists right now. As usual too much politics and not enough action and decisions.
Iraqi Diplomat Says U.S. Must Clean Up Mess in Iraq
Listen

Filed under: popculture, media on July 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

It seems that the proof needed to show that McLaren had indeed benefitted from any leaked material didn’t show and the FIA ruled today that no penalty should be imposed, although they are on “probation”, if future evidence presents itself they will be disqualified from the Constructor’s competition. While the council didn’t disagree with the fact that Coughlin had possesed the leaked information from Ferrari there was little evidence to suggest that it had materialised its way into the engineering of the McLaren car(s). Despite them saying it didn’t affect them I’m sure that Hamilton and Alonso are breathing at least a little sigh of relief.

Grandprix.com
formula1.com
BBC Sport
The Times

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 26th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I know I’ve not mentioned anything of the scandal going on between McLaren and Ferrari and certains Mr. Stepney and Coughlan, mainly because it seems to twist and turn so much with every passing Grand Prix that I almost can’t keep up. There’s an emergency meeting of the World Motor Sport Council next week in Paris. McLaren’s up to answer FIA brought charges of fraudulent conduct. I guess ultimately it’ll come down to whether or not McLaren can prove that their car reflects no added value/benefit that may have been gleamed from any document leakage from Ferrari but really, who knows. If the allegations are as serious as they sound it could well mean the World Championship for McLaren, Alonso and Hamilton. But then I’d like to think that McLaren wouldn’t have been so utterly foolish as to use anything that may have been presented to them from a rival team and will be doing their utmost to provide evidence to prove this. Obviously the FIA have to provide a fair ruling and if McLaren are proved to have used leaky information when it comes to movable floors, then their punishment could be harsh.

* Title shamelessly stolen from one of my favourite books The Grand Prix Saboteurs, written by grandprix.com’s very own Joe Saward.

Filed under: Formula 1, literature on July 23rd, 2007 | 2 Comments »

I was thrilled the weather threw a spanner in the works yesterday at the European Grand Prix at Nurnberg. It made for a more exciting race than I’ve seen for a while. I mean, in all honesty the season’s been rather boring - Lewis the wunderkind, Felipe and Kimi and Alonso and…oh you mean there are more drivers in F1? Really? Because I hadn’t noticed as everyone else seems to be doing bloody dreadfully. Yesterday however put change to that, at least a little bit. Fisi and Heikki still did appalling, so much so that I’m temporarily ignoring them, although boys, just so you know, my heart still skips a beat when I see those R27 engines revving. Anyway, the race yesterday. Terrential rain brought the race to a stop after about 5 laps, having seen an farcical play of most of the cars slipping off the super slick road onto the gravel, most of them still on dry tyres, desparately trying to get back into the pits to change onto intermediates or wet. Wet weather always was Bridgestone’s downfall and yesterday proved no exception. Only this year of course, we didn’t get to see those cars running Michelins gain an advantage. Instead everyone suffered. When the race restarted 30 minutes later Markus Winkelhock, the last-minute Spyker driver brought in to replace the dismissed Christijan Albers, was leading. That’s how crazy the aquaplaning and water fallout was. Felipe Massa led for most of the race with Alonso claiming second place after Kimi retired due to a technical failure. The last few laps of the race was superb. It was fantastic to see some of Alonso’s old spirit return as he dueled it out with Felipe to claim victory for the McLaren team, overtaking him in a car to car touching scenario that resulted in a few choice words between the drivers en route to the podium (all that Latin temperament). Alonso drives like a demon in wet conditions and without Hamilton there to distract him, Alonso demonstrated exactly why he is the World Champion. The podium finishers ended up being Alonso, Massa taking second and then much to my delight, Mark Webber taking third place for Red Bull. I was really chuffed for the likable Australian. As with his teammate, DC, you rather get the feeling that these guys have been doing F1 for so long, (both in their 30s they’re on the more ‘ancienne’ side in comparison to drivers such as Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso), that a race finish such as Sunday’s is more than well deserved.
Overall it was a refreshing change to be able to sit on the edge of my seat urging Alonso on, appreciating once more the excitement of Formula 1.

Oh and then I came across this. Whichever ad exec over at Merc thought of it…fantastic. The boys looked like they had a great time shooting it. Oh, and for those of you new to F1, the guy at the end…Mika Häkkinen

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 23rd, 2007 | 2 Comments »

In the car after picking Jay up from school today…

“Mummy, can we listen to ‘Stacy’s Mom Has Got It Going On‘ on your iPod?”

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on July 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

Having noted that once again it’s Ferrari, McLaren and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld that are ruling the roost with practice times today at the Nurburgring, I decided to totally drench myself in the top three and bought this month’s copy of F1 Racing. The magazine featured pieces, articles or interviews with every single driver. It made for some great reading although as always it is the Iceman that has me in hysterics, coffee out my nose once again as I struggle to maintain that European cool that is fast disintegrating the longer I live here. The article on Kimi was a countdown of his most expressive utterances, pretty darn eloquent is our Finn I can tell you, such as his response to being asked who was on the phone after his first Ferrari win…“I think it was Michael but the line went dead.” Uh-huh. Or his retelling of a crash in 2001 on the track at Mugello…“Had a big one in testing at Mugello last year (2001). Fast corner. Lost it. Hit a concrete wall. Felt a bit bad. They took me to hospital. It was okay.” The man of understatement is Mr. Raikonnen. Or my favourite when asked what Finns do in their spare time…“Well, in summer there’s fishing and screwing. And in winter…the fishing is bad.” Gotta love him.

So as usual my hopes and dreams resting on Renault are pretty much shattered. Both Heikki and Fisi drove times that put them way down in the pack so I can only hope that it’s no indication of what qualifying will be like tomorrow. I depress myself if I think about it too much so I’m off to look at shoes and then I’m taking Jay to see Transformers. Nothing like a bit of robot kick-arse action to forget one’s troubles. Besides I am so dying to see if Optimus Prime actually dies this time or whether Megatron will succeed in his dastardly Decepticon destruction over the autobots. Not just a pretty face.

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 20th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I came across this article the other day while doing my usual interent trawling. Shurd was Keith’s guitarist back in the USAREUR band and chorus, when we lived in Heidelberg. An unlikely soldier if ever there was one I still have clear recollections of Shurd’s voice saying, “But Sarge…” to Keith over some military protocol with which he didn’t agree. His wife, Jane is Zimbabwean/South African and I relished the times we spent together, talking about literature and how the hell we ended up married to soldiers, drinking mugs of english tea and smoking flavoured tobacco from a hookah they had picked up on one of their many travels around the globe. Jane and Shurd left Southern Germany shortly before we did with Shurd making the bold, and completely unexpected move to retrain as an army helicopter pilot. They were based in Hawaii for a time, Jane finishing her degree whilst they forwent base housing and lived on a boat…the bohmeian lifestyle continuing to capture their hearts even within the rigid confines of army committment. Shurd’s out in Iraq now, a CWO2 flying Black Hawk helicopters, taking part in a war he can neither believe in nor support, while Jane is at home, wondering and waiting.

The Unlikely Soldier
article link from San Francisco Bay Guardian

Filed under: famille et amis, media on July 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

It’s so nice to read an article that doesn’t rack up feelings of guilt and child abandonment with regards to placing one’s child in nursery while maman goes out to work. And I have to admit that Jay’s language skills have really improved from being around other children. Well, if you can call “you’re a silly poo-poo head” improvement…

Nursery: the place to be

Filed under: media, global englishness on July 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

Is there any wonder that I have such a warped perception of reality when I grew up with these tv shows? Were all the BBC childrens’ programme creators on acid? It must have been put in the coffee during writing sessions.

Magic Roundabout
Button Moon
Mr.Benn
Bagpuss
Thunderbirds
Clangers
Wombles
Fingermouse (Fingerbobs)

Most of these shows were actually created in the late 60s, early 70s but were still running well into my childhood. Does anyone else remember any others?

Filed under: popculture on July 18th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I’ve always thought Indianapolis was perfect for the USGP, particularly in light of its racing history but aparently glitz and glamour and of course, lining Bernie Ecclestone’s pockets, is what F1 is all about…funny that, I always thought it should be about the racing.

Goodbye Indianapolis

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

I want one…

The new Fiat Cinquecento (500)

Filed under: popculture on July 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m using a Wordpress theme, Peaceful Rush, created/designed by Small Potatoes over at Wpdesigner. I love the theme and although there are a few quirks (probably due to my lack of understanding of html) for the most part I have been able to easily modify anything I want. Except for the fact that I just can’t get it to accept foreign language characters and non-alphabetical symbols. I’ve tried a few things within the style sheets but not sure if this is where my encoding set should go, (I tell you I think I’m doing okay with the tech stuff and then something happens and I’m thrust back into html/xhtml virginity!). I guess I can just use character entities but I’m sure there must be a way to add code so that any time I type a foreign character in the sidebar, header, etc, it’ll pick it up, n’est ce pas? Anyway any suggestions, including if just using character entities is the best course of action, are appreciated.

Filed under: new site, tech on July 13th, 2007 | 8 Comments »

I lose myself in the drive from dropping Jay off at school to my work. Every weekday morning I whizz down Bass road, windows open to catch the wind in my hair, aching for just a drop of salt-sea breeze that never comes, watching the mid-west corn fields and the west, with all its adventuring, pioneer promises of a better life, disappear in my rear view mirror the closer to work and into town I drive. The sun blinds me through the trees as I seek refuge further behind my designer sunglasses, refusing to block its brightness by lowering my sunsvisor because the sun is my lifeline. Between the comforting rays, the pale blue sky with its milky clouds, the speed and the crescendo bridge and refrain of Nek’s Cielo e Terra* I am able to lose myself from the routine of daily life for the entire ten minutes of the journey and cast my running wild imagination to the eternal winding road trimmed with cypress trees, leading to my mind’s destiny of a sun-bleached villa with a terraced view of the Tyrrhenian Sea .

*Nek is my favourite music artist and my two favourite songs of his are Parte di Me and this one, Cielo e Terra. His lyrics are always beautiful.

Filed under: indiana, popculture, living the dream on July 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m always on the look-out for a car that is both kind to the environment and looks good. When it comes to cars I am completely shallow - how can I not be when my favourite car of all times is the Bugatti EB 110? However I am super conscious of milage and petrol consumption and become very anxious on the rare occasions when I have to fill up my Golf TDI with regular diesel instead of my usual soybean biodiesel. I love the fact that my Golf looks great, can overtake most American cars (granted their off-the-line acceleration is often better) and gets terrific milage. The car also runs better on biodiesel, gear changes are smoother and the car is way peppier. Ironically for my small contribution of “petrol that’s kind to the earth” (Jay’s words not mine), I pay a mere few cents more than if I was filling up on regular diesel. Electric cars never appealed to me, always looking too out of shape, rather like the wierd boot thing they did to the Renault Clio (it’s awful Renault, NOT cool cutting-edge, just odd French design) until this one… Tesla Roadster

However I would gladly give up any effort to be eco-friendly for this…

Filed under: living the dream on July 12th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Oh my God! Someone please detach my fingers from the keyboard and delete Facebook. Who the f*%# thought it was a good idea to create that kind of social networking timewaster? I am getting NOTHING done. I’m supposed to be stripping the remains of paint from an oak window frame and instead I am sitting here gorging myself on my friends’ lives. I have better things to do. Just…click…on…the…log out…button. I can do it, it’s okay. I CAN do this. Ooo, wait a minute, Alex just posted new photos and Luc sent me a message and Rae finally got herself on Facebook and…

I need help…

Filed under: popculture, tech on July 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

We recently put up a big, flat screen tv in our UTS (University Technology Services) area and now have CNN news distracting us all day. For the most part I’m able to ignore it but every now and then something comes on that has me rushing to my office doorway to watch whatever national crisis has befallen the United States. 99% of the time the “national crisis” is a segment of pop culture or overblown media hype that has me starring incredulously at the screen and wondering, as I do at least sixty billion times a time, “and I live in this country?“. Anyway this morning Taryn Southern was on talking about her music video, Hott 4 Hill. I had to show it, it is truly hysterical. Quite Saturday Night Life-ish. Check out the Obama video “Crush on Obama” as well. While I totally love the parady and I know they’re just tongue in cheek, I’m sorry but I just can’t take American politics seriously now…but then did I ever?

Filed under: popculture, media on July 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

I finally got around to watching the British Grand Prix at 11 o’clock on Sunday night through a haze of red wine and good food*, having forced myself not to sneak onto the web and look up the results. It was quite an enjoyable race and there was a little interesting twist with Kimi ending up winning and Alonso second. Lewis Hamilton took thrid which keeps him in the lead for the Championship and while I know it’s terribly unpatriotic of me a tiny bit of me was glad he didn’t win - his rookie season just seems to have been too easy and no, I’m not disputing that he is an excellent driver, I’d just like to see Alonso win the Championship one more time before, at twenty-six, he is relegated to being past his prime. Fisi and Heikki moved not one position and finished where they started in 8th and 7th, most uneventful. I do wish there was some more challenging driving, a few more battles on the track - the races, like when Herr Schumacher was in play, just seem a bit too predictable.

* We had friends round to supper on Sunday night, I made risotto bianco with homemade pesto (totally stripped my basil plant clean but it was oh so worth it) and we were very euro and simply had fruit and cheese for desert. As I was taking the bottles out to the recycling later that night I noticed that we’d managed to get through four bottles of wine, being that there were only four of us means we pretty much all enjoyed a bottle of plonk each. Not bad for a Sunday night with a six o’clock start the next day. Monday seemed like a very long day.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

So Mr. Hamilton has pole for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The last Brit to win the British Grand Prix was DC in 2000 so naturally the pressure is on for the rookie. Kimi takes second place with Hamilton’s McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso taking third on the line-up, (Heikki and Fisi are somewhere down in the depths - 7th and 8th respectively). With the expected rain looking like it will actually hold off tomorrow it should be either a very challenging race or a rather predictable one. While the other contructors are doing a pretty nice job quite honestly it’s all Ferrari and McLaren. Despite the fact that Lewis isn’t one of my favourite drivers (sacrilege I know), I am thrilled that a Brit has the potential to win the British Grand Prix, because let’s face it a certain Monsieur Button isn’t exactly getting the job done is he? I have to say that I am quite astounded at Lewis Hamilton’s success so far this season. Has there been anyone else to have this kind of F1 season debut? Certainly not for some time. His racing and winning consistency is quite, quite incredible. It’ll be interesting to see if Hamilton can keep it together on home ground before a home crowd - nothing like a touch of raw patriotism to throw you off balance.

Filed under: Formula 1, englishness on July 7th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m spending the Fourth of July doing absolutely nothing, (well except for enjoying a few beers), because I figure that’s exactly what the British did 200 odd years ago.

You know we let you win, right?

Filed under: englishness on July 4th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

For Christmas my grandmother knitted Jay a beautiful dressing-gown, the sort that reminded me of Harry Potter and Charles Dickens and made Jay so snuggly and soft when he wears it that it was a huge hit.

On another grandmother note Jay has a blanket, aka ‘My’, so called because he used to just say “my, my, my” and never got the blanket bit so “my blanket” just became ‘My’ as in “where’s my My?” Anyway My, coincidently also lovingly and painstakingly knitted my Grummns (Great-Grummns to Jay), was in a VERY sorry state. I had already sewn it up several times, apparently not very well as less than a week later it was really just scraps of My hanging together by single threads of yarn. Because Jay has grandmothers that love and adore him when Grandma Schreiber was last here she spent four hours sewing My onto a piece of muslin so My’s life could be extended. Four hours! I would never spend four hours sewing a ratty, old blanket back together but Grandma S patiently sewed My onto the piece of muslin in such a manner that My is still attached to said muslin, has survived several washes and continues to be sucked on, chewed, dragged, supermanned and all the other things little boys do to their blankets without showing so much as a loose thread. Now that’s sewn with love…

The Fall and Rise of My

(Brand new / newish / dying / resurrected and in full use)

Filed under: famille et amis on June 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

With the unlikelyhood that F1 will be racing at Magny-Cours next year, this weekend will no doubt be bittersweet, regardless of the race, for Renault. Magny-Cours is close to their factory in Viry and naturally there has always been tremendous support for Renault at the M-C track. Of course the team isn’t displaying much of its world champion status this year and I’m not sure really, just how good a race it’ll be for them. Giancarlo continues to plod on, showing little of his true capability, (Ed Gorman of the Times has had a funny send-in going on his blog ‘drivers in a word of phrase’ - one described Fisi as “Movie star playing a driver”. While he does have the looks, he also has the talent, we’re just not seeing much of it this season) and Heikki is so sporadic one’s not really sure what you’re going to get with him from one race to the next.
Either way it’ll be a send off for Renault one way or another. The Renault blog has a nice entry for the start of the Magny-Cours race weekend 2007 French GP: The first home race is underway…

Filed under: Formula 1 on June 29th, 2007 | No Comments »

A few weeks ago my grandmother sent Jay some DVDs of Shaun the Sheep. We don’t get it here and Grummns had thought that Jay would enjoy it. Check out his reaction for yourself.

My grandmother also said the theme song was addictive - Jay had it down after watching two episodes!

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on June 27th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Are you frackin’ kidding me? Paris Hilton on Larry King and a huge segment on Anderson Cooper? What the f@$%? What is wrong with the American media? What happened to decent journalism for God’s sake? Utterly ridiculous.

I love Anderson Cooper…”How much of it is an act? That whole…appearing like a moron?“

Filed under: media on June 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

Keith and I were doing our usual how-and-where-shall-we-live-in-Europe discussion the other day; Keith’s requirement is simple – he wants mountains. Mine are a little more demanding - I want ocean and beach and Italy. He asked me why I liked Italy so much, in particular Rome and my reply was that it felt like home. Papa sent me a postcard when he and Avril where in Rome which I received this weekend. Written on the back it said “Nothing changed, it is still the most amazing city ever. Just like going home!“.

Filed under: famille et amis on June 25th, 2007 | No Comments »

One of the things I miss most about being in Europe is the chance to just pop off to somewhere totally different for the weekend. Of course there’s always the country cottage or seaside house but for GPB 60 or so you can get on a plane and go to a whole different country and spend two days and nights of cultural immersion that breaks the routine and recharges the batteries. My papa and Avril went to Rome last weekend and talking to my brother he was telling me one of his mates was going to Spain for the weekend. True I spent three days in Indianapolis last weekend but we’re not exactly talking the Louvre or the Sagrada Familia here. And while I do sometimes struggle a little with the accent in Chicago it’s not like I can flex my French and Italian linguistic skills and spend two days ordering acqua minerale e linguine con cozze.
Anyway this weekend I was in for a veritable treat when Wes and Christine invited us to Wes’ family lake house on Lake Sylvan (click for photos) in Rome City, IN. And while it wasn’t quite the summer holiday retreats of the past, (Tyrrhenian Sea port of Livorno, the Cornish Coast or my favourite, Port-Grimaud) it was quite blissful to get out of Fort Wayne for 48 hours and live life at a snail’s pace. The weather wasn’t particularly kind but the rain held off and we spent Saturday in the pontoon, paddle boat and fishing and Sunday went out in the speedboat, most definitely Jay’s favourite! Above all it was heavenly to be by the water. To wake up and drink that first morning coffee overlooking an overcast but shimmering lake where the only sounds were the ducks and the odd fishing boat engine. To go to bed hearing the waves lapping against the wall at the end of the garden. I think what I miss the most about being back in Europe is the proximity to water, real water, as in the sea, the ocean, le grand bleu. I achingly miss the sea and all that it inspires.

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis, travel on June 25th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I always thought I’d marry a man who was as suitably obsessed with clothes and looking good as I was/am. At least one who knew not to wear white socks unless with trainers and for sport, one who understood the golden rule of matching belt and shoes and one who knows the difference between a casual shirt and a dress shirt. Instead I threw more than caution to the wind when I broke my three life rules of 1) Never Get Married; 2) Never Marry a Soldier and 3) Never Marry an American. 3 out of 3 - I don’t just do things in halves! And marry an American I did, one who felt that a tshirt was pretty much staple wear in a wardrobe. For the first two years of our marriage the only time I saw Keith in a pair of shoes other than trainers or army boots was when he was in dress blues and wore those ridiculously shiny black dress shoes, (granted this was quite a lot due to the almost weekly shows and performances). Then with the four years at MD Helicopters where trainers were de rigeur, being rather too practical not to wear on the flightline and the two years at the Conservatory where professors mirrored the dress of their students and tshirts and trainers were uniform, I slowly began to resign myself to the fact that I had married a man who while sort of cared what he looked like would aways take comfort over fashion and even when faced with having to dress in a shirt and tie for the current job, had little clue as to how to marry colours and fabrics.
Until this morning.
Keith walked out the door, having chosen his clothes himself (without any narrowed eyed glance from me that usually prompts a change of shirt or socks or shoes), dressed immaculately in a well-fitting Lacoste shirt with the sleeves rolled up to below the elbow (as a good English gentleman would), pristine navy flat-front (pleats? Really? Are you living in the 80s?) trousers, black belt, black socks and black Italian loafers. I rewarded myself with a second look from the bathroom window as he walked to the garage. A well-dressed man does it for me everytime.

Filed under: famille et amis on June 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

Fantastic day at the 2007 US Formula 1 Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took his second victory with Fernando second, followed by the two boys in red Massa and Kimi. Heikki gave a superb performance managing to keep Kimi off his back for the better part of the race but succombing to the (other) Finn’s stellar driving to take fifth. Fisi didn’t fare so well but as always when he’s got a fight on his hands offers up some great driving, edged with a determination that I wish was present in every race. He started in tenth and then lost the rear end in lap 2 which cost him dearly and threw him way back in the pack. However as I said when faced with a little adversity Fisico turns it up a notch and gained some terrific spots and although his ninth place finish left him just outside of the points I was happy to see some of the grit in his driving that I’ve not see for a while. Finally too the R27s seem to be experiencing some better performance and while still not at optimum range yet, it was a vast improvement to previous races. Nice to think we’re finally competative. McLaren though are really having their cake and eating it; it’s going to take some serious driving by Ferrari let alone the other teams to make an impression on McLaren’s 35 point lead in the Constructor’s standings. Another movie snippet - blame Keith for the orientation! Distracted by F1 racecars.MPG

US F1 GP results

1. L.Hamilton (McLaren)
2. F.Alonso (McLaren)
3. F.Massa (Ferrari)
4. K.Räikkönen (Ferrari)
5. H.Kovalainen (ING Renault)
6. J.Trulli (Toyota)
7. M.Webber (Red Bull)
8. S.Vettel (BMW Sauber)
9. G.Fisichella (ING Renault)
10. A.Wurz (Williams)
11. A.Davidson (Super Aguri)
12. J.Button (Honda)
13. S.Speed (Torro Rosso)
14. A.Sutil (Spyker)
15. C.Albers (Spyker)

Did not finish
N.Rosberg (Williams)
V.Liuzzi (Torro Rosso)
R.Barichello (Honda)
N.Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
D.Coulthard (Red Bull)
T.Sato (Super Aguri)
R.Schumacher (Toyota)

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on June 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

I think I’m going to just have to accept that Renault is not the team it was last year. Not that they’re doing horribly, 6th and 10th on the grid is okaay but quite frankly compared to McLaren and Ferrari, Renault are sucking. Qualifying was super fun to watch today. It didn’t seem quite as hot as yesterday but it was still warm and blue skies abounded. Hamilton won pole for tomorrow’s race with Fernando second and Massa third. Heikki managed sixth which isn’t bad but Fisi starts tenth (it must have been my overwhelming presence that put him off), so he’ll have his work cut out for him tomorrow if he wants to gain some places and have a chance at the points.

Got a nice little bit of video, (it’s a bit wobbly because I was trying to keep a little boy from wiping his chocolate ice-cream fingers all over my white skirt - failed miserably needless to say), from the Bridgestone bridge. Thought you’d appreciate the noise and the speed if nothing else US F1 GP 07.MPG. Couldn’t tell you who I’ve videoed but I know there were the McLarens, Ferraris, Renault boys, at least one Williams, a BMW Sauber and I think a Red Bull and maybe a Super Aguri and even a Spyker. I’ll leave the initiated among you to try and figure it out!

Filed under: Formula 1 on June 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Posted pics above, (click on the slideshow gallery to view), although I know most of you will be bored to death. And I’m not sure being there would have made an R27 nose cone or wing shell any more interesting, but let me tell you, it got me hot and I ain’t talking about le soleil est brille either

Talking of shining sun, it was bloody hot, 91 degrees in Indy today but absolutely fantastic watching the mechanics working on the cars and walking the pit lane. Listened to Heikki and Fisi’s Q & A with Peter Windsor (I sooo want his job!) - Just a snippet but how damn sexy is that accent? mov04603.MPG - and a bit of Massa and Kimi’s (those two are just way too cool for school, it must be the Ferrari thing although I’m thinking it’s just all Kimi’s ‘Iceman’ persona as Michael was definitely NOT that cool - did you ever notice his dress sense off the track?). Sorry to hear Kubica won’t be running this weekend but after last weekend’s crash I guess it was to be expected. I understand he’s doing well so that’s the main thing. We spent a good two and a half hours sucking up the fuel filled atmosphere and then took ourselves off to Indianapolis Zoo for the rest of the day. We thoroughly enjoyed that and were really quite impressed with it - the dolphin show was great although thanks to the wretched film Happy Feet, I’m now shrouded in guilt when I look at the penguins and the whole dolphin thing rather lost all its appeal the more I thought about the base fact that they were animals doing tricks. Dance monkey, dance. Then the elephants were doing their I’m sad and bored swaying thing and I felt a bit wretched. Be free, be free lovely dolphins, penguins, elephants…

Filed under: Formula 1 on June 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

How goddamn excited am I about tomorrow? Way, way too excited for any normal person to be. I have butterflies I am so excited. Oh my god, I’m actually going to be in the immediate presence of an R27 and Giancarlo Fisichella. I can’t think any more, let alone put together a decent, coherent entry so I shall take my jelly state of mind and dancing insides and go and suppress my excitement in Microsoft OneNote training…

Filed under: Formula 1 on June 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just occasionally I impress even me with my cooking capabilities - mainly when it comes to the baking genre, of which I am particularly bad. Don’t really understand it as my Great-grandmother was a professional cook, my grandmother is a fabulous cook and makes amazing puddings and my mum is just a genius in the kitchen. I’m fine with starters and first courses, even salads and pastas but when it comes to desserts, forget it. Poor Pat, whenever he comes round to Sunday lunch he’s resorted to eating fruit and cream (very English) for afters or in the recent case of my in-laws, having to eat apple pie that is made with only a top crust because I totally forgot to line the pie dish with pastry. Yeah. However recently I made a lamb tagine with apricots and pears and pine nuts and madeleines and like I said, impressed myself hugely. They were both scrumptious.
Lamb Tagine

Madeleines

Filed under: famille et amis, culinery delights on June 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

So instead of spending a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon inside watching the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal I was instead actually spending it outside in the glorious sunshine. Keith, Jay and I went to Kings Island for the day and immersed ourselves in amusement rides, the water park, over indulged in Dippin’ Dots and Starbucks coffee and had a fantastic time wearing Jay out. The last two years we’ve gone have followed the rule of me looking after Jay because I have no interest in going on amusement rides and Keith making himself sick by going on all the really obnoxious roller-coasters. This year though Jay was totally into it and so our day pretty much revolved around him which was cool and surprisingly fun. He went on the mini racecars, twice on the Jimmy Neutron dogems, the Days of Thunder racetrack with Keith, (seeing a pattern here? He is my son!), Sportucus helicopter ride and the Scooby Doo haunted mansion ride where we got to zap ghosts and gouls with our fantastic Scooby zapping torches. I got my fill of dogems (the only thing I ever go on) and then we spent the last part of the day at the adjoining water park, floating in inner tubes along the lazy river. When we eventually got back into the car to head home Jay uttered the blissful words, “I’m ti-red,” and promptly fell alseep. If only every day could be so easy in wearing him out.

+ =

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on June 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

I canNOT believe that I missed the race yesterday. And not only did I miss it but my stupid DVR decided that it’s not intuitive enough to determine that when I ask it to record anything with Formula 1 in it, it can’t deal with the fact that the grand prix was titled Candian Formula 1 Grand Prix and so I don’t even have it on playback. AHHHHHHHHH. One of the most exciting races of the season and I miss it because I was at an amusement park. An amusement park! I missed Hamilton winning, Fisi and Massa getting black flagged, Heikki taking 4th, Alonso getting beaten by Sato and Kubica’s horrific crash. I missed the very drama that I love about F1. Well, actually I didn’t, not all of it because thanks to YouTube I was able to watch Hamilton’s final lap and victory and watch Kubica flying across the track upside down and into the wall over and over and over again (60 entries at least). The other nice thing about catching up with the race on YouTube is that I got to watch it with the Brit commentators who are so charmingly British and unequivocally pleased as punch when Hamilton won.

As it is only THREE DAYS TO GO…to the US Grand Prix. Thursday is open pit, look at the cars, check out the drivers (oh yeah); Friday Practice; Saturday Qualifying and Sunday the BIG DAY. Both Keith and I have taken holiday time for Thursday and Friday. I’ve just ordered noise cancelling headphones for Jaybean and I AM READY. Actually so excited it’s just as well I have three days of facilitating training so I’m not completely obsessing about it. I am already? No, no it’s just your imagination. I’m barely thinking about it, barely thinking about it at all in fact…(dreamlike trance beginning) Giancarlo Fisichella, Giancarlo Fisichella, smell of burnt rubber, the sound of an R27 engine, shiny metal, Giancar…

Filed under: Formula 1 on June 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

To be perfectly honest I don’t care too much about what a politician gets up in the privacy of his own home, I don’t even really care if he’s corrupt and sneaky. Just make the right moves to increase funds for education, make healthcare better and cheaper (never going to happen I know) and install good public transport throughout America, (I live in a pipe dream). What I do care about though is if they’re stupid. And right up there with stupidity would be getting caught (ahem, Mr former President). Democratic Rep.William Jefferson rather nailed both of those - first with stashing the $90,000 in his freezer and then getting his house raided and the investigators finding the money. Really? In the freezer? You’re kidding me right? What happened to promptly pouring bribery money into dodgy arms deals or Venezuelan drug cartels or investing it in off-shore accounts or squandering it on yachts or…you get the picture. I can think of much better things to do with it, none of them involving stuffing it into Tupperware and putting it in the freezer. Quite glad permanent residency prohibits me from voting.

Filed under: media on June 7th, 2007 | No Comments »

This would have been breaking news if I had posted it when I actually received the text message…oh what it’s like to have friends on the inside…

S: “Turkish Armed Forces have just walked into Northern Iraq. I’m sure America will go apeshit.”
Me:”…here we go. Uh, Nato? Hello?”
S: “Yes, we are part of Nato. We’ll kick some ass now.”

Spoken like a good Turkish yuppie, educated in England and Boston, MA, who’s just finished his military service and has absolutely no intention of picking up a gun, going anywhere near a military vehicle and has discarded his uniform without a backward glance.

Filed under: media on June 6th, 2007 | No Comments »

I know I bust Keith’s balls a lot but when it comes to fixing stuff the guy is incredible. He’s currently downstairs having completely taken apart our five year-old Frigidaire front-loading washing machine in order to put in a new ‘rear outer tub assembly with bearing and shaft seal’. If it was left to me we’d be forking out another grand to buy a new washer.

15 minutes later…there’s rather a lot of swearing coming from the basement. I’m assuming things are not going well…

Filed under: famille et amis on June 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

Malthazar (voiced by David Bowie in the US version), Arthur and the Invisibles.

Friday night is movie night at our house. I make pizza (Genoa salami and portabello mushrooms, goats cheese and smoked salmon - scrummy), Keith makes proper popcorn (we don’t have a microwave so no carcinogenic butter here) and Jay gets to stay up late. This Friday along with finally buying DVDs of Star Wars I and II, I also bought Arthur and the Invisibles or in its original French Arthur et les Minimoys. I’ve been a big fan of Luc Besson for a long time. Le Grand Bleu still is one of my most favourite films. The soundtrack by Eric Serra just immense. So anyway although the critics totally slammed Arthur, I think I have yet to read one positive review, I was already a little biased because of my Besson appreciation. Naturally Jay adored it and Keith and I thoroughly enjoyed it, (not sure Grandpa was too impressed about having to watch a kids’ animated flick but even he seemed to see its charm). The critics claimed its animation was flawed and basic but I feel that added to the ‘Frenchness” of the film. I actually thought the animation very good but what do I know about these things? I rather liked that it wasn’t overly processed, that the characters had flaws and the scenery a little more watercoloured than Pixar or Disney’s overly accurate renditions. It reminded me of the Water Babies in its parallel use of animation and live action. I loved the vast quantities of pop-culture references, another no-no from the critics. And I found the humour really French - obviously funny as apposed to English sarcasm. Apparently the US distributors changed it up and cut several scenes from the original so of course now I’m on a quest to buy the original French version.

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on June 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

Happy Sun
by Molly

It’s that time of year again and it seemes to happen to all of my friends…the sun starts dangling his long, caressing fingers through the grey, dull shadows of winter, batting the spring showers away with the back of his hand to stroke one’s body in delicious warmth and whispering promises of long sultry days filled with socialising and Pimms and barbecues that go on late into the evening…as soon as those fingers start trailing their way along your face friends decide to get married, birthday parties abound and non-stop frivolity takes stride. I spoke with Sophie yesterday who was telling me of two weddings, a 30th birthday plus endless 1 and 2 year old parties that she, Alex and Hux had coming up in the next month alone. I so relate. Memorial Day weekend we took Keith’s new car (pictures to come) for a spin down to red-neck country in Huntsville, Alabama to stay with my mum and Jerry for the long weekend. Huntsville is in fact very un-rednecky due to it being filled with super brainy NASA and aerospace engineers and boffins creating the latest micro-shuttle that not only will take us to the moon but to infinity and beyond! Jay is so going to Space Camp when he’s a bit older. Anway I love going down to my mum’s. Their house is so lovely and there’s a pool and the food is always amazing and the weather is permanently wonderful whenever I visit. The day after we got back Keith’s folks arrived for the week. They left this morning after a really nice visit. This coming weekend I’m contemplating a garage sale on Saturday (to get rid of all the crap that’s accumulating in my basement as I try my bestest to clear us of excess) and Sunday it Keith’s work’s do to Kings Island. Apparently this year we have passes to the water park which I am super stoked about. You can take the amusement park rides and have done with them but if there’s one thing I love is water and the chance to bring some colour to my Indiana pale skin. Then next weekend is….drum roll please, confetti, banners flying…THE US FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX. How frackin’ (wretched Battlestar Overactica) excited am I? Just thinking about the sound of those F1 engines as they tear down the Bridgestone straight at 200+ mph only to slow down to 70 mph to take turn 8 which is almost a 90 degree turn is enough to leave me quivering. Pause in writing as I lose myself in delicious open-wheel daydream…Right, enough about that. I can bore you utterly after the event. The weekend after that I think we have a break only it’ll be taken up with barbecues and having friends that we’ve neglected all winter around for nosh and booze. The weekend after that is Keith’s brithday and the Dayton Air Show. Thank goodness that’s happening, I was at a severe loss as to what to do for Keith’s birthday. A day filled with fighter jets and planes is his idea of orgasmic heaven…my job’s done then!
So as you see, silly season is upon us and I love it. Having waited eight months for weather that’s nice enough to do all this stuff I am once again lulled into a false sense of loving Fort Wayne. Life is totally peachy when the sun shines.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on June 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

Me: “So, who are you going to support this year?”
K: “I’m not sure. Do you want to read up on policies together and I’ll vote for both of us?”
Me: “Huh?” (Pause, cogs turning) “No, I meant at the Grand Prix.”
K: “Oh. I just support colours. Who are the blue ones?”
Me: “They’re not blue anymore. They’re gay white and orange…with a tiny bit of blue.”
K: “Well, I’ve got a Kimi hat. I’ll just support that team.”
Me: “But Kimi now drives for Ferrari and your cap is McLaren colours.”
K: (with all the authority of someone who hasn’t watched a single GP this season) “I don’t think Ferrari will do well this year.”
Me: “They’ve been on the podium every race this year. Ferrari and McLaren are the major contenders for the DC and CC.” (Drivers and Constructors Championship/Cup respectively)
K: “Yeah but without Michael…I guess I’ll support McLaren then. They’re German right?”
Me: “Uh, no.”
K: “Who’s German then?”
Me: “I don’t think there are any German constructors.”
K: “And McLaren are?”
Me: “British…pretty much.”
K: “British. British is okay. I’ll support McLaren. I’ve got a McLaren cap. Black and silver right? Who drives for McLaren?”

Sidenote: in case you didn’t already know I support Renault including its two drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen. However I do have a soft spot for Nico Rosberg (Williams), Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari).

Filed under: Formula 1 on May 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

Crap, I’m totally addicted to Facebook. It’s worse than being at school as far as the whole popularity/coolness factor goes. For someone who will never go to a high school reunion, hates the whole cheerleading, popularity contest drama that goes on at schools, I am completely and utterly sucked in to cyber social networking. Damn internet.

Facebook

Filed under: popculture, tech on May 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just checked the results and feeling blissfully content because Fisi maintained his fourth place on the grid to finish fourth. At last Fisi! Alonso, Hamilton and Massa took the podium. I’m looking forward to watching the race this week if for nothing else but to gaze longingly at the blue ocean of the Monaco coast. They have the best oceanographic museum in Monte Carlo, it’s built into the side of a cliff and has an incredible open pirhana tank where half the pirhanas have chunks taken out of them by their tank mates. Pleasant. But well worth a look if you’re ever stopping by in the principality. Plus Monte Carlo has to be the cleanest city ever, except for Lago Lugano which was eerily clean and rubbish-free. Oh and of course it’s full of amazing yachts and even more scummier cars. And men speaking French and Italian. Pretty much my idea of heaven then…

Filed under: Formula 1, travel on May 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

Fisico’s starting fourth in tomorrow’s Grand Prix in Monaco. Finally a qualifying I can get on board with. Now let’s see a decent result tomorrow Renault. Oh and terrific job by the way; I knew you’d get there eventually. Currently down in very sunny Huntsville, AL spending time at the pool, feasting on some good Southern barbecue and enjoying time with ma and Jerry. Unfortunately they don’t have Speed so I shan’t be watching the Grand Prix and will be resorted to watching the Indy 500 instead (what is the world coming to I ask you?). Luckily I was forward thinking enough to set the DVD so even though I’ll be checking the results on the super fabuloso internet I can still enjoy watching what I’m sure is going to be a suberb F1 race.

Filed under: Formula 1, famille et amis on May 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

Jay’s current obsession is the Scooby Doo movies. For the last six nights we have watched one of either the first or second Scooby Doo films and while I have little objection to watching Freddie Prinze Jr parading around in 70s polyester garb and with a very fetching ascot; (the scene where he fights the black knight on the Indian motorbike is one of his more trés appealing movie staredom scenes - did you see I Know What You Did Last Summer - perlease!) even I have my limits. But apparently a gang of come-to-life cartoon characters and a talking dog solving mysteries and taking down monsters with some kick-ass Buffy moves is pretty darn cool when you’re three and a half. And as one comment I read on the movie said, try as I might I just can’t hate it.

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on May 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »

In a determined effort to raise the tone of my recent entries - I know my preoccupation with men with cheekbones who drive at 180 mph or slay aliens with a single blast whilst maintaining an air of bored cool is getting a little obsessive (for those of you who know me this really shouldn’t be any surprise - there was a reason I went to an all girls school for A levels), I was reviewing the Times and was instantly catipulted into a state of surprised loss. I spent a good deal of my childhood exploring the wonders of Greenwich and visiting the Cutty Sark was always right up there along with walking along the Thames past the Naval Academy and looking down over London from the top of Greenwich hill. A view that always had me catching my breath in my throat. I was quite sad, therefore when I read that the Cutty Sark was struck by fire this morning, devestating much of the 19th Century ship. A representation of a bygone era the Cutty Sark was a lovely example of a tea clipper. The kind of ship that epitomised Britain’s maritime heritage. The ravages of fire are relentless, as Windsor Castle showed during their devestating blaze some years ago. But it always reminds me that we often place too much importance on the past, on history’s objects that can disappear in a moment due to events outside our control. Reading some of the comments regarding the Cutty Sark fire it made me think shouldn’t our national history and heritage simply be ingrained within us? Isn’t it the manifestations of such national icons inside us that make us British?
Who am I kidding? I’m a Classics grad. I thrive on historical objects and archaeological evidence. I think it’s precisely having such objects and evidence that enables us to claim our national historical pride. Look at Rome. You only have to wonder through the archaelogically-clad streets to know you are intrinsically in a city whose greatness transcends into every core of its being. Its the artifacts, buildings and objects that are its history. Just as England’s castles, stately homes, maritime museums and treasures are evidence of our history and through them our national pride and sense of greatness.

Filed under: englishness on May 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

So, I have a huge crush on Ben Browder, aka Colonel Mitchell from Stargate SG-1. Actually let’s make that plural crushes because I happen to think that Dr. Daniel Jackson is one hot archaelogist and Teal’c sure can demolish an alien with that wickedly impressive upper body. But this entry is about Colonel Mitchell…the man is sexy as hell and amusing in that sarcastic, bored sort of way. And he gets to travel through the universe, exploring other planets and defending the earth from the evil macchinations (my word of the moment by the way in case you were wondering at its frequency in my blog lately), from the truly dubious Ori Priors. For ages I’ve been trying to figure out who he reminds me of, humour and all and then this weekend I came across Keith’s old army uniform in our basement and it totally hit me. How bizarre is that? I find the resemblance uncanny and more than a little concupiscent.

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on May 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve made my decision and despite the stomach-churning and headache-making thought that went into it I do feel like I made the right choice. So often in making momentous decisions in my life I suffer from the twinge of regret afterwards but with this one…nothing. Thank you Tim, for your words. You have no idea how much it meant to hear you say that I had made the right choice. There’s always something incredibly reassuring to hear those words from someone who knows so completely what you are giving up by letting that rabbit go and chasing the other. The wonderful thing about this recent spate of life-changing macchinations is that I do feel renewed and determined. Other decisions came out of my main decision and those have sent me into flurries of activity, things that I should have done and haven’t, subsequent decisions I should have made and hadn’t.
Anyway as I am wont to usually spending far too much time thinking what if? (Mark, I think at least once a week about that Grand Tour!), I shall say nothing further on the subject other than the decision I made means that we will be staying in Indiana a little while longer.
And besides how could I leave knowing that in four weeks time I’m actually going to get to see Fisico, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi, Nico Rosberg, DC et al in the flesh? Really it’s just all about timing…oh and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on May 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

I have a decision to make. A really big one. The kind of decision that could totally change my path in life. The kind of decision that is utterly consuming me and making me sick to my stomach. Not because either of the options I have before me are bad but just so momentous. I have the chance to shape my future and it’s scaring the crap out of me…

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis, travel, global englishness on May 16th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

It’s Saturday morning and I’m getting ready for work (wretched student registration training). I’m in Jay’s room choosing his clothes and hear voices outside. I look out and see Jay in his navy McQueen pjs, Crocs and a fireman’s helmet riding his train on the pavement, screwdriver in hand. Keith is a little way off sweeping the blossoms and tree debris that I complained about yesterday, that litters our front garden and pavement like confetti. He’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt and a child’s plastic blue police motorbike helmet. The early morning sun is shining down on them sending crystals of light sparkling off their hats. I lean my forehead against the already warm glass of the sash window and smile.

Filed under: famille et amis on May 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

Renault - you’re kidding me right? Seventh and ninth? What the f*$#?

I have to confess I watched only the last four laps of the Spanish Grand Prix (even F1 loses out to a sunny day and the ability to play outside!) and even those were half-hearted as I realised Massa was a clear numero uno, Hamilton second and Alonso third. Heikki scraped through on seventh and Fisi in ninth. And while both drivers set some good lap times they’re still not showing their winning streak. It wasn’t until I read the reviews today that I realised it was quite an exciting race what with the little tussle between Massa and Fernando at the first corner, Kimi retiring and the surprise finishes by Sato and DC. Nice driving by Nico Rosberg too.

Heikki and Giancarlo - I hope you’re going to give me something better to watch in four weeks time…

Filed under: Formula 1 on May 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

A friend and I were talking the other day and I mentioned how when I returned from DC there was rather a lot of things in the house that weren’t done, (none of the mail was opened, Jay’s school fees weren’t paid for the week, the washing was done but no ironing, all the fruit and vegetables unopened and untouched, Renée’s dish still sitting on the dining room table despite my asking for it to be returned…you get the picture). She laughed and replied that it sounded like her and J, only her husband was the anal retentive one and she the ‘who cares?’one. She then added, “People like that just shouldn’t marry! Opposites attracting? It’s a disaster.” We both laughed, one of those telling, nervous laughs that revealed far more than either of us commenting ever could have. Not that we don’t love our husbands but it did get me a pondering. Man needs woman so much more than woman needs man. Two of my dear friends are getting divorced, both of them having married guys who are the complete antithesis of them. Both are infinitely happier now. I’m reading a book by Alan Epstein at the moment, As the Romans Do. I’ve just finished a chapter on the family and the Roman perspective on marriage and love relationships. My conclusion at the end of reading it is that I’m Roman. I have little time for the sentimentality of marriage but plenty for that of the family. I’m far more into the idea that God puts two people together because they make great and perfect children not because they are necessarily the most suited couple. Despite my affinity with romantic novels, or maybe because of it, I’m not really a strong believer in the whole one man for one woman/one woman for one man school of thought. I always had too much of an appreciation for the opposite sex. In every way Keith and I are opposites – despite his nonchalant disregard for G.W. he’s a convincing Republic. I’m a European liberal who cringes at the black and white fences that surround American politics. I’m a perfectionist, a Virgo and a Dragon. Must…have…control…of…everything. He’s a musician. At heart anyway. The day job’s a whole other subject. But it does mean his concept of self-discipline and perseverance and ambition is quite different to mine. He’s overly sensitive. I am apparently a duck. A very large one it would seem as most things slide right off my back without the merest murmur of ruffling my feathers. For my husband life is a California beach-highway cruise. For me it’s a F1 grand prix (sorry but the analogy is too perfect!). I don’t want the runners-up plate. I want the fuck-off giant gold trophy from which I can drink the magnum of vintage champagne. He settles. I don’t. But together we have made a beautiful little boy who is kind and sensitive and has captured all the good bits from each of his parents and that’s why we’re meant to be married.

Filed under: famille et amis on May 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

Dude, it’s a Golf on steroids…

VW Tiguan Concept Car LAAutoShow

Filed under: popculture, media on May 8th, 2007 | No Comments »

I really thought that a week away sans famille, washing, ironing, paperwork and filing, cleaning and cooking (I know, who’d have thought I actually had a job as well?) that I would get to update every day, have masses of glorious time to myself and spend my evenings reading all the books that I took to DC with me. As it turns out I spent the week flitting from one social engagement to another, revelling in my newly shaken-out, primped and preened wings, eager to show them off.  Wednesday night, after several hours at the National Portrait Gallery perusing two fabulous visiting exhibitions - Harry Benson and Great Britons on loan from the NPG in London, I met up with Will, someone I’ve known since he was all of about 0. His sister and I used to play as children, she is my age and Will is the same age as Luc or close enough. And it was rather like going out with my brother in that totally easy, talk non-stop kind of way. Utterly wonderful to spend the evening with a fellow Americanised Brit. Then Thursday night my evening started off sedately enough with Tim…until we’d had two bottles of wine and decided to go on to Halo for after-dinner cocktails and beers and well, thank God it was Friday the next day and my interview in French already taken place. I woke up feeling a little weary to say the least but Friday the weather was warm and between several pints of coffee and several blocks of walking later I felt much revived and clearer-headed. Friday I saw my last evening of freedom  in DC at a very charming little Italian restaurant in Georgetown where I was overly cautious in my alcohol consumption and enjoyed a more than pleasant walk down by Potomac at trendy Washington Harbor.

The flight back to the mid-west on Saturday was hard.

Supper on Wednesday Levante’s, Dupont Circle
Supper on Thursday Logan Tavern, Logan Circle; After-dinner drinks Halo
Supper on Friday Ristorante Piccolo, Georgetown

Filed under: travel, Washington DC on May 7th, 2007 | No Comments »

So France has a new president. Nicolas Sarkosky was voted in last night with a six percent margin; 53 % of the votes to Royal’s 47. Apparently 85% of people turned out to vote - an impressive example of democracy to say the least. Puts some of the more perceived “democratic” countries quite to shame.

 Some perspectives…

 A Franco-American perspective
The Times Online
Le Figaro
Le Monde

Filed under: media on May 7th, 2007 | No Comments »

Pixar has totally put their brain jelly-making tools into the minds of all little boys with the movie Cars. I went out with Jim and Carmen last night and they have a two year old, (he is a little Cherub complete with blond curly hair and chubby arms and legs). Apparently, like Jay, he has also been sucked into the phenomena that is talking automobiles. He had no less than three Maters clutching in his pudgy little hands throughout the evening. And there seemed to be more when we got back into the car. Multiplying Maters…

Supper on Tuesday Peking Gourmet Inn

Filed under: popculture, travel, Washington DC on May 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

As I crawled back to the hotel last night in the almost early hours of the morning after too many glasses of wine and many hours of non-stop chatter with Vanessa, I felt a warm sense of belonging. I love the city, did I mention that recently?
I’d forgotten that Washingtonian women have a dreadful habit of wearing beautiful suits and outfits with trainers - something that has always distinguished them from their European counterparts. And while many would think I’m utterly foolish and somewhat of a sadist in walking the twenty minutes or so from hotel to office in a pair of six-inch Ken Cole stillettos, I refuse to bow to comfort and instead revel in the knowledge that I look impeccable from head to toe!

Supper on Monday J.Paul’s, Georgetown

Filed under: travel, Washington DC on May 1st, 2007 | No Comments »

I had forgotten how much I totally love living in a big city. I have slipped easily into the booted and suited, walk everywhere lifestyle and I’m only on day one of my week in DC. I feel like I’m in another country - everyone is trendily or smartly dressed…and thin! I’d forgotten that totally delicious, yuppy men who have impeccable dress sense actually exist, (quite, quite non-existent in Fort Wayne). The weather is fabulously sunny and I have a twenty minute walk to the office. I’m in a blissful parallel world. I’m staying in a delightful hotel in Georgetown. If I exit the hotel and turn right I’m on the main drag of Georgetown, complete with endless cafes, delicious restaurants wafting heavently smells and evil, enticing shops that have sucked me in with their Diane von Furstenberg dresses and Italian shoes. If I exit the hotel and turn left I’m at Washington Harbor with it’s uber-chic, ‘It’ waterfront restuarants and bars. I spent most of yesterday evening down on the banks of the Potomac, watching the rowers, getting propositioned by Arabs on boats and generally just enjoying people-watching. I had supper at a nice little Italian restauarant and enjoyed some pretty good Linguine Vongole (sadly still not better than any I had in Rome). And to complete my state of nirvana my social diary is fast filling up - supper out tonight with Vanessa; supper tomorrow at Jim and Carmen’s; out Wednesday night with Will; Thursday night with Tim…I could get used to this. Either that or it has just been waaaay too long since I had any kind of social life and I am desparately trying to quench the drought of what my life has become since motherhood.
Oh and training went great today - I even learned a few new things…

Supper on Sunday Paper Moon, Georgetown

Filed under: travel, Washington DC on April 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

I picked up April’s edition of F1 magazine, (B & N seem to be notoriously bad at getting the publication anywhere near it’s intended release date and I am routinely a month behind, reading previews and strategery for races that I watched two weeks ago). As always there was the usual car dissection articles on helping one to understand the finer points of Formula 1 and an interesting comparison between Ferrari’s 248 and the F2007. There were also a few comments that had me laughing, out loud, coffee through the nose type thing, not a pleasant site when I’m in the B & N café, trying to maintain my usual European cool. Take this one from an article on Heikki Kovalainen, “…(Kimi parties - DRINKING in a karaoke bar) shreiks the headline. Inside there’s another photo, of a vodka bottle with Kimi’s autograph on the label. Karaoke? I don’t expect Kimi is a great singer, but I have a surreal vision of him reciting Shakespearean soliloquies to music and in the style of William Shatner.” Somehow the image so fits the Kimster. The other one that had me chuckling was in the ‘Where to hang out in Bahrain’, “...Ritz-Carlton’s Italian eatery, where you’ll definitely find Giancarlo Fisichella of an evening. Fisico last ate something other than pizza or pasta some time in about 1987.” And they say Americans are unadventurous with cuisine…
Anyway, the main reason for bloggage today was to mention Jay’s new found love, inititiated by my purchase of F1 magazine. There was a teeny-tiny reference to a a new TV series coming out in the UK, created by the fine creators of Bob the Builder and narrated by Stirling Moss…yes, narrated by Stirling Moss. The show is called Roary the Racing Car and features a single open wheel race car, Roary, as the main character. Mike the mechanic has a delightfully thick Bolton accent and intersperses his speech with Italian phrases such as “Avanti!” There’s a stock car, read token Nascar, with a suitably Southern accent; an F1 car resplendant in Jordan colours who I think is meant to be Italian but sounds suspiciously German; ‘Drifter’ who is of course, a decked out Japanese ride with monster spoiler and various other characters. I found the website which shows tasters of upcoming shows and some of the most annoying but inevitably-stick-in-your-head-all-day songs. Naturally Jay is now totally obsessed.

Filed under: Formula 1, popculture, famille et amis on April 28th, 2007 | No Comments »

I love working with brainy people who know so much more about technology and web design than I do. I just want to say thank you Amberly, for providing me with some lovely code for a selection form/drop-down menu, (currently being used for the Global Englishness links in my sidebar). I’m sure I would have figured it out evenutally…not…but Amber, being the genius webmistress that she is did it in like five minutes. Oh to actually know what one is doing…

Filed under: new site, tech on April 26th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

I’ve been utterly absorbed and hugely enjoying FX’s new Monday night show The Riches, (kindly televised by FX at 10:00 pm so I can tutor at Literacy Alliance and still come home and watch Digging for the Truth and The Riches,) starring Eddie Izzard. As I’ve mentioned before, I have long been a fan of Eddie Izzard and his rambling, euro humour and have always found him quite sexy in that intelligent, executive transvestite sort of way. Come to think of it there is an element of DeCaunes and Gautier about him, (now, that was a funny show and Antoine DeCaunes  one very sexy, sort of executive transvestite). But yeah, so, anyway…just wanted to post this lovely article from the Sunday Times about Monsieur Izzard. I’m so glad that his show is doing well over here and America is finally appreciating that I which always have.

Steady Eddie plays it straight

Filed under: popculture on April 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

You know how sometimes you lose something and you are so pissed off, mainly at yourself for being completely irresponsible and recklessly lacking in basic asset management. And then you find what you’ve lost and you are so pleased with yourself, it’s like God himself is giving you a second helping of Ciao Bella’s Blackberry Cabernet sorbet. It’s even better when the thing you lost was banished to the world of cyberspace and the never to be seen again hard drive black hole. I love that I know how to use technology to my advantage. It’s just all about having the right tools. It’s like Jay said to me last night, complete avec roll of eyes and ’silly mummy’ when I asked him if he wanted me to attach the cape to the Superman pajama top he was putting on, “You can’t fly without a cape, mummy. If you don’t have a cape, you’ll fall out of the sky.”
And here was I thinking that Superman’s flying prowess was inherent in his Krypton genes…silly mummy.

Filed under: famille et amis, tech on April 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »

     V.    

Keith forwarded me an email today about his works’ annual trip to Kings Island (sort of like Alton Towers); the date in the header line clearly stating that it was Sunday 17th June. The day of the US Grand Prix. Which I bought tickets for before Christmas. The day that exists as one of the highlights of my summer. Kings Island v. Giancarlo Fisichella? Kings Island v. Giancarlo Fisichella? A day on amusement rides (which I dislike strongly) or a day fueled with European testosterone and high speed (my idea of heaven)? Is that even a contest? Does my husband not know me at all?

Filed under: Formula 1 on April 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

 …or more rightly, (because I’m actually a pretty good shot and enjoy shooting at a range, in a controlled environment), the people who think they have a right to own them and yet are too stupid and crazy to handle them properly. I’m sorry but the whole “right to bear arms” - anyone heard of the word ‘context’?

This is the current front page of the Times Online…

Latest: 22 killed in US campus shooting spree . A lone gunman shoots dead at least 21 at Virginia Tech before being killed in latest tragedy at US schools or colleges

• Timeline: US high school and college shootings

• Eight die in double US shootings

• New start for Amish survivors (six died including the shooter)

Just another day in paradise…

Filed under: media on April 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Some amazing racing by rookie, Lewis Hamilton in yesterday’s third Grand Prix of the season, in Bahrain. Does the guy have any flaws? No doubt Hamilton’s prowess will lead to some uneasy feelings in the pits with Alonso; when questioned by reporters if he had any comment on his teammate’s success, Alonso’s reply was telling “…you (the Press) do enough.”
As to Fisi and Renault - I love you but please, give me something to love…

Filed under: Formula 1 on April 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Thank God, Fisi. Things were looking a bit scary for Renault during Q1…

Filed under: Formula 1 on April 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

One of the biggest things I miss about being single and sans enfant is being able to spend a thoroughly sinful weekend doing nothing but reading, as in nothing (staying in pjs, maybe eating, maybe not, conusming quantities of coffee during the day and cracking opening a bottle of wine mid afternoon) but reading. Although I really do try and get through a book every fortnight or so I don’t read half as much as I used to and I hugely miss it. I struggle to comprehend how Keith can get through life without reading (I don’t count his how-to-take-things-apart-and-put-them-back-together manuals and Science magazines). The wealth of life that books bring is overwhelming to me. Anyway I’m whittering a bit because I was actually going to talk about the books Jay and I are reading at bedtime. Talk about madeleine moments! This week we’ve been reading Milly-Molly-Mandy and Little Grey Rabbit. I never realised that Milly-Molly-Mandy was written and first published in 1925! For those of you aren’t familiar with her, Milly-Molly-Mandy lived in a nice white cottage with the thatched roof with her mother, father, aunty, uncle, grandma and grandpa. The books tell of her adventures with Little friend Susan and Billy Blunt, whose father owned the corn shop in the village. The village that MMM lives in is the quinessential English village, where everyone knows everyone, the corner shop stocks glass jars full of aniseed balls and the little girl who lives in the big white house goes off to boarding school (an innocent dig at the class system perhaps?). It is almost trite in its representation but so utterly charming that MMM’s innocent antics cannot fail to bring a gentle smile to the lips.

Little Grey Rabbit by Alison Uttley is another series of books that I still adore to this day. Last night we read Little Grey Rabbit’s Birthday. Hare with his conceited, gentlemanly manner and vain Squirrel and gentle, kind Grey Rabbit. I’d forgotten how beautiful the illustrations (by Margaret Tempest) are in their muted woody colours with flashes of brightness that act as illustative pathetic fallacy to the soothing tones of the text with the sporadic bursts of Hare’s insensitivity, “Go away Grey Rabbit, we don’t want you here” or Owl’s sudden and unwelcome appearance at the party.  Apparently Alison Uttley was only the second woman to graduate from Manchester University with a Physics degree, in 1906. That’s my kind of author.

Filed under: literature on April 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

Watching the Malaysian, (whenever I hear that word I hear echoes in my head of Will Ferrell screaming “kill the Malaysian prime minister”. Watch Zoolander for comprehension), Grand Prix I was reminded of why I am so besotted with the sport and why I like Fisi as a driver.  In sweltering temperatures and horribly high humidity, leaving drivers feeling like they’ve been in a sauna for two hours and not one of those I’ll-just-sit-here-and-relax kind either, the second race of the season was a cracker to watch. Ignoring the outstanding performance of McLaren and its two wunderkinds, Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton (now firmly being viewed as Britian’s F1 saviour and rightly so, the 21 year old is superb), I was horrified at Renualt’s position on the grid at the start of the race. I hadn’t had time to watch the Qualifying which is probably just as well as head would have been firmly in hands throughout due to Renault’s dire results. However horrified reaction soon turned to pleasant surprise and finally grudging admiration as I watched Fisichella move up six places from 12th to 6th and Heikki (whom I am fast developing a very soft spot for), move up from 11th to 8th, earning his first point of the season; the team earning four pointsoverall. I am still undecided as to whether the Renault drivers have quite got their act together - though the car still needs a lot of work. Of course Alonso is proving that the driver defintely makes the car (I have trouble believing that McLaren have improved that much since Kimi was lead driver for them last year despite their inordinate amount of testing and engineering work) and Kimi’s doing a pretty darn good job over at Ferrari (despite engine troubles during practice and qualifying Kimi ran a good race with some incredible lap times depsite not quite being able to catch the young Brit), but it does seem like the synchronisation between car and driver over at Renault is lacking.  Credit, however goes to Heikki who ended up driving the spare car instead of his own due to a fuel pump problem. Nothing like breaking in a new chassis during critical moments of qualifying! Both Engineering and Management are fully aware that things need to be improved on the R27 - unfortunately the five days until Bahrain do not give them a lot of time.
As to the first few laps of Sunday’s grand prix, absolutely fantastic driving by Alonso and Hamilton. The little tussle with Massa and Hamilton - beautiful.  But I’m starting to expect nothing less from the team that houses the current world champion and his teammate prodigy. A dangerous expection I’m sure.

Filed under: Formula 1 on April 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

There are a few things that have sent me on an eternal quest here in the States. Along with sausages are Yakult, Elderflower cordial, Birds Eye fish fingers and around Easter time Hot Cross Buns. Now I’ve found hot cross buns, the bakery at Fresh Market sells them, only they’re not really like any hot cross buns I’ve ever had. The bun itself isn’t bad, soft, squidgy dough suitably littered with raisins, quite hot cross bunnish. It’s what they do with them next that takes a hot cross bun from being something I grew up with to something that has me furrowing my brow and thinking “my great-grandmother (a professional cook no less) would turn in her grave.” The lovely browned ’shell’ is glazed in icing, rather like on a Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut, (rather than the very light glaze they should have) and then, shudder, the cross on top of the bun is made from icing. The result at this point is a sickly sweet dough bun and definitely not one I can make hot. I did buy some, painstakingly removing the icing crosses with kitchen towel before putting them in the toaster. Unfortuantely the icing glaze was a little trickier to remove and while the bottom half of my hot cross bun was quite delicious, smothered lavishly with unsalted butter that melted swiftly onto the toasted bun, the top half merely burnt, filling my kitchen with an almost suffocating sugary smell that left me muttering and deciding that next year I’ll just have to make my own.

Delia Smith’s recipe for Hot Cross Buns

Further comments on Hot Cross Buns from abroad

Filed under: englishness on April 9th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

During my morning review of the online papers I came across this article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1615350.ece Naturally it was the picture that piqued my curiousity and had me mouthing the words “that’s just wierd” as I stared a little bemused to say the least.  Deciding that what’s not good for cats is probably just fine for me I decided to google giant rabbits and lo and behold there’s a veritable plethora of these giant bunnies.  Have a look at these two, Herman and Bodmin http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/giantrabbit.asp Apparently these giant bunnies are a special breed of rabbits called, orignially enough, Giant Rabbits, (there are then variations such as the Flemish Giant, British Giant, Continental Giant, etc). They can weigh up to 30+ lbs and on average grow to be about 3 feet in length, the size of a small 3 year old!  They live up to about 12 years. Last year an escaped giant rabbit stalked the English village of Felton terrorising townsfolk and eating all the cabbages, turnips and carrots grown by local residents, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0411_060411_rabbit.html

How would you like one of those knocking at your door with a basket of chocolate eggs?

Filed under: media on April 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

Ah great, more guilt about being a working mother…bloody academics…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article1613591.ece

Couldn’t resist linking to this one - the comments on the six-inch rule reminded me of Rachel and Duncan receiving -4s each for osculation; Catherine was the only one who didn’t have to go and look up the word in a dictionary! I think we were about 12…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1603332.ece

Filed under: englishness, media on April 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

I have yet to see Al Gore’s An Irrelevant Truth, feeling that perhaps I don’t necessarily need to see a film about something that I’m witnessing first hand. The weather at the moment is crazy. I arrived back from Angleland to 70 degree weather and today it’s barely 30 and we’re predicted snow! I am soooo sick of this weather, I’m aching for sunshine. Mexico was a horrible teaser, bathing me in 80/90 degree warmth and drowning me in vitamin e. I am longing for summer. My daffodils and tulips are all up shouting “yeah, yeah, spring’s here, spring’s here”. Little do they know that Monsieur Frost is about to come and break all their pretty yellow heads off. The tragedy of a midwest spring.

As you’ll notice I’m slowly getting to grips with the sidebar - managed to insert some minor html for my quote. I shamelessly stole the quote from French-Word-A-Day because I thought it utterly charming and it reminded me of a friend who texted me on my 30th birthday with words to the effect of I remember turning 28, fun year, enjoy it darling! Who doesn’t love friends like that! Despite my reluctance and resistance to face my 30s I am feeling a sense of grown-upness that didn’t seem to exist in my 20s. I shan’t call it maturity as that seems like something I should save for my 40s, maybe even 50s! Still the quote gave me cause to smile as I found myself feeling blessed at the number of  ’diplomates’ I have in my life! Regarding the photos link, if you click on the photo of Jay it will take you to the web albums. I have yet to update Picasa with photos from Mexico, England and all the various celebrations but shall do that soon, probably when I’m enjoying my three day weekend this Easter weekend. As to the rest of the sidebar reorg it’ll happen over time. You’ll just need to scroll up and down to locate links until I get them sorted. I’ll try and get it into a similar order as with the old site.

Happy Spring…sort of.

Filed under: new site, indiana on April 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

I have now officially moved out of blogspot and will be posting only to the new website here at englishtraveller.org. I really loved my home at Blogspot, it enabled me to delve into the twisted and revealing word of letting-it-all-hang-out-there blogging, but as I’ve become more technically competent (oh really? I hear you say), I’ve discovered the limitations of a blogging house such as Blogger. Wordpress will hopefully allow me to experiment a bit with my new found html knowledge amd my new love of Wordpress plugins and the like. Plus I’m ready for a change, something new. A better representation of who I am. I have to move forward with a spirit of positivity and determination and I want my website to reflect my zeal of creativity and the untapped passion that I seem to spend most of my time forcing back down when it tries to surface. I feel so in limbo in my life and I want desparately to feel like I’m moving forward. I spoke to one of my best friends the other day and he was telling me about all the exciting new business opportunities in his life, his new girlfriend, his new adventures and it really made me think “girl, get off your arse and seize life.”

So that’s what I’m doing.

Starting with the new website.

Filed under: new site on April 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Jay and I are sitting at Chicago airport with a, now after time spent/wasted going through immigration and collecting luggage, two hour layover until our flight to Fort Wayne. Despite feeling my usual sadness and premptive homesickness at leaving England, I have to say that after two weeks of non-stop travelling, (other than the four nights on the ship we didn’t spend longer than two nights in any one place) I am quite relieved to be heading home. Of course, unfortunately I’m back at work tomorrow so won’t have the opportunity to unwind, do the laundry, make my house clean and shiny, gaze adoringly at all my new clothes, but fortunately with it being Easter this weekend it is a short week. The advantages of working at a Catholic university is that I do have Good Friday off. In good American style Keith does not.
Despite the whistle-stop tour England was, as always, wonderful, particularly the two days at Clivedon spent with family celebrating my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. The hotel was incredible although after many days of formal suppers on board ship Jay did say to me as I was making him put on a dress shirt and black trousers for another sit down, four course meal, “Mummy, I just want to eat supper in front of the tele”. I have to admit that by that time so did I! But it was really great to see family that I don’t get to see that often, my cousins from Edinburgh, Australia and Zimbabwe. It’s beeen a while since we were all together and it’s always refreshing to know that we’re as functionally dysfunctional as ever! Photos of the event will be posted shortly.
I can’t believe how big Hux is. Jay and Luc and I had a lovely evening over at Sophie and Alex’s, enjoying a yummy curry and catching up on the last six months. I do miss being close to her but I guess it makes the time we share together extra special.
God, I’m dying for a shower. What is it about travelling on planes (and trains) that always makes you feel so yucks?

Filed under: travel on April 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

The usual frivolities and cruise capers were interrupted by an air and sea rescue. At about 11:30 this morning the captain announced over the ship’s intercom that we would be detouring off the coast of New Orleans in order for the US Coast Guard to be able to airlift a patient from ship to shore. We’ve just spent the last 30 minutes watching the Coast Guard performing an amazing, and successful transfer of the patient from the upper decks of Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas to the Coast Guard’s Augusta helicopter. Seeing such an amazing feat being performed leaves one a little breathless and choked up and once again, I’m amazed at the selfless bravery of folks such as those in the Coast Guard. Not an easy operation by any means and yet they performed it with an ease and precision that comes about only as a result of countless hours of practice and drill. Coast Guard guys, whoever you are, incredible job you just performed, a macabre pleasure to watch.

Filed under: travel on April 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve just discovered plugins and totally love all those fabulous computer geeks who spend their time writing code to share with other people. Yeah open source! I just used a great plugin to transfer posts from my Blogger site to my new Wordpress and it so totally worked - easily!  While it hasn’t transferred exactly perfectly (will need to adjust some graphics if I can actually be bothered) it’s pretty amazing. The plugin I used can be found at http://www.romantika.name/v2/2007/01/31/import-new-blogger-to-wordpress. I love you ady@romantika.name - you have made my moving in process so much smoother!

Filed under: new site on March 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

Received second rejection from M&B yesterday. This one took less than a month to favour a reply - not sure that’s a good thing. Either it’s a quieter time of year or this submission was so bad it didn’t require much pondering. Felt a bit glum yesterday but feeling renewed and positive today. I’m thinking I might try my hand at some of the other writing projects I’ve got on the back burner in an effort to broaden my writing style.  The problem is these wretched M&B storylines and characters keep filling my head and I can’t shake them. Stupid, sexy Mediterranean men who live in vast palazzos and drive Bugattis.  And of course my resistance to my other writing ideas is naturellement the usual procrastination and laziness - kick up the arse thus given; I’m off to Abercrombie to drown my sorrows in a little retail therapy before spending some time crunching on the Apple and putting thoughts into action.  Children’s book? Family history? Cookbook? I’m welcoming the creative challenge!

Filed under: self-pity, writing on March 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

Holy crap, I am so bad at Photoshop! I cannot get my lovely red suitcase to look anything other than super super-imposed, rather like those really bad B films with the guy walking away from the burning wreckage of a car that’s so obviously not behind him, (oh wait, that wasn’t a bad B film, that was CSI Miami and the man of the Sunglasses of Justice fame). I will continue to work on my header so that eventually it looks professional I promise. I just need some practice with my magnetic lasso.

Filed under: new site on March 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

Whilst watching the Australian Grand Prix yesterday I heard one of the commentators chatting about how Mr Kimi Räikkönen had recently entered and won a snowmobile competition, the 24k Enduro Sprint at the Kopparberg King back in his native Finland just a week before the opening grand prix of the 2007 season took place. So that Ferrari wouldn’t find out that the errant scoundrel had entered he used an assumed name. And the name he used? That of the illustrous and equally scoundrelous F1 driver James Hunt.
Fittingly, the French Word-A-Day word for today is crapulerie. I love it!

Filed under: Formula 1 on March 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m beginning to think that perhaps Giancarlo Fisichella doesn’t have the potential to be a truly great race driver. Once again his qualifying position and Grand Prix finish, fifth place just smidgens ahead of Massa, leads me to believe that unfortunately Fisi is merely a mediocre driver. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong this season, no doubt to be his last. His driving technique is truly a pleasure to watch, he is at times a true Italian driver, his narrow miss with Trulli when he came out of the pit lane shows he can be aggressive when he needs to be. I just think sometimes the “domani” mentality follows him onto the track. There’s just no way he has a hope of any kind of Championship though unless he qualifies better than his typical fifth or sixth. Kimi has the right car this season and Alonso is just the right driver and Fisi has got to qualify better if he is to have any chance of success this season.
Fantastic drive by Lewis Hamilton who came home in third place, helping to put McLaren Mercedes on top for the Constructor’s ratings. Now that’s a driver with potential and young enough to be able to maximise it fully.

Come on Fisi, prove me wrong….please.

Filed under: Formula 1 on March 18th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve been sooo good in not mentioning it and trying to concentrate on other things but…it’s the first Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season this weekend. Practice tomorrow, qualifying Saturday and the race on Sunday. Couple the excitement of the impending race with the fact that I’ll be spending the weekend packing for a four-day cruise to Mexico and a week back in England (yeah, englishgirl is finally travelling again) and I’m going to need more than just the relaxing aroma of lavender over the next few days. Trying hard to contain myself but the thought of those engines revving and those hard-helmeted drivers…quite positively makes a girl’s heart pound!
Oh and spring was only teasing the other day, reaching out his long tantilising fingers and then whipping away the duvet before we’d woken up properly - it’s 40 degrees and windy today and some folks even had snow when they woke up. Bloody weather, I ask you. And yes I do have an unhealthy obsession with the weather and a desparate need for sunshine. I’m English, it goes with the territory.

Filed under: Formula 1 on March 15th, 2007 | No Comments »

I know I should be celebrating the Ides of March with a suitably fitting extract from Julius Caesar or setting up hexes to ensure no tomfoolery or bewitchery befalls my way, but instead due to much hinting from the husband I’m going to write about the terrific job that he has done retiling our bathroom. Many months ago Keith came home with a job lot of tiles, “because they were a great deal and you never know when something might need tiling”. The tiles then sat in our garage for the next six months. Until the day when I was standing in the shower and kept hearing all this cracking going on in the walls - eek. The bathroom tiles were obviously put up in two lots, the bottom half that are real tiles and were originally blue-green and then painted white and now starting to show as blue-green again and then the top half of the tiles which upon removing we discovered were actually plastic. Either way as soon as I mentioned the crackling I could tell that Keith was itching to take a sledgehammer to the whole lot. And then several weeks ago I came home from work after Keith had had the day off to find this, (yes, that is a secret hidden window we discovered!)
The retiling project had started! Now several weeks later, the retiling for the shower portion is complete and we have a lovely retiled bathroom and one very happy and self-satisfied Keith. He also reenamelled the bathtub, much needed. The next thing will be to take the sink (a rather ghastly vanity that is okay but just very blah) and replace it with something more fitting (already chosen from Lowe’s) and then retile the area where the vanity cabinets were. That bit will wait awhile though as I think Keith’s ready for a few weekends off!
Photos taken throughout the bathroom’s destruction and reassembly may be viewed from the Photo Albums link in the sidebar. Ironically I’ve just realised I haven’t downloaded the photos showing the finished result…oh well, it’s all your fault Caesar!

Filed under: home renovation on March 15th, 2007 | No Comments »

Both Keith and I had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new FX production of The Riches, starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver and I’m really pleased to say that we weren’t disappointed. While the show wasn’t as I expected from the many months of trailers, it surpassed my anticipation. It’s a bit darker than I thought with some good black humour that borders on the fine line between situational and human tragedy. The actors were cast wonderfully and my views regarding Minnie Driver’s abilities have shot up hugely. She plays her part brilliantly. Eddie is of course…Eddie. Having seen him for so long in his role as “executive transvestite” whilst performing his uber intelligent and off-tangent meandering stand-up comedy, it’s surprisingly refreshing to see him in a lead TV role. The dialogue was witty, emotional, perfectly delivered by each actor. There was even a little bit of Eddie’s trademark comic delivery thrown in…”…we have painted it with dust!….including you glum-faced child.” We’re already looking forward to next week’s episode.
On another tangent I’m excited to say that spring may have finally arrived here in the rural mid-west! They’re forecasting 75 today! I know, totally fantastico (and a little wierd in that but-it’s-only-March-must-be-global-warming kind of way). Either way it was an incredibly beautiful sight to look out onto the garden yesterday and see grass with merely a few piles of the most frozen snow remaining. Jay can finally see his diggers again which have been “in hibernation” (i.e. hidden underneath the snowdrift that ensconced itself between the garage and the fence we share with Deb) and I cannot wait to start spending weekends working in the garden again. You know, when it’s sunny and reasonably warm I almost rather like Fort Wayne. Now if only there was ocean nearby…

Filed under: indiana, popculture on March 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

I love this video. Even if you don’t understand French I think it’s fairly self-explanatory and I have no doubt it’ll make every woman who has a love affair with chocolate smile! Enjoy with scrumptious pleasure…

Filed under: popculture on March 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

Progress on the new website happening very slowly as you can see. I’ve spent the last three days totally overwhelmed with the flu and so all my good intentions of uploading my design template and transferring old blog files failed miserably. I wasn’t even up to a few miserable tappings on the ‘puter, my only cognisant ability being to continually refill Shaun the Sheep and pop the Paracetemol and Codeine - must be time for a trip back to England, due to my poorly state I’ve run us out of our imported pharmaceutical drug supply. Plus Jay had a dreadful night last night, waking up every hour - two hours so that by the time he arrived at school this morning Debbie took one look at him and said, “He looks sleepy!” Like you wouldn’t believe, Debbie.
So, no progress as I said.

Filed under: new site, self-pity on March 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

Conversation between Jay and I upon leaving the supermarket the other day…

Me: “Home James!”
Jay: “I’m not James, I’m Jay! Who’s James?”
Me: “No, it’s an expression. James is the chauffeur.”
Jay: “The chauffeur?”
Me: “Yes, a chauffeur is someone who drives people’s cars. When the people are ready to go home after shopping they get into their cars and say ‘Home James!’ It’s just an expression that crazy English people use when you’re ready to go home.”
Jay: “James is the chauffeur?”
Me: “Yes”
Jay: “Are you James?”

* I’m not entirely sure where the expression Home James comes from, possibly taken from the British TV comedy that aired in the mid 80s by the same name and starring Jim Davidson as a cockney chauffeur. My mother, being a cockney herself, has always used the expression so it’s possible that it has been in play well before that. Not sure why the assumption that all chauffeurs are called James!

Filed under: englishness on March 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’m reading a fascinating book at the moment, one of many actually. As usual I have about three books on the go, apparently I have an inability to read just one book at a time. Anyway the book that is being heavily devoured during my lunch breaks is Joe Seward’s The Grand Prix Saboteurs. Despite the fact that I’ve found several edititorial mistakes, it has been an enthralling read. The story tells of three Grand Prix drivers from the 1920s/1930s who went on to become part of the British Special Operations Executive, a branch of secret agents whose mission was to establish a sabotage network in Paris and act as a catalyst for the French Resistance during the second world war. Having never studied modern history at school, (my school determined that learning the names and unfortunate demise of Henry VIII’s wives and the intricacies of the Hundred Years War would be more beneficial to its students) I am learning so much from the Saboteurs. The book focuses on exactly what the three men went through to get such sabotage networks set up. The training was intense and a fluency of French obviously a must. There are some nice tie-ins as well. One of the SOE’s Finishing training schools for the agents was at Beaulieu, fitting particularly for Willy Grover and Robert Benoist of course due to Beaulieu’s connection with classic and vintage automobiles and made more so for me because of the personal connection I have with Beaulieu. My mother’s embroidered reredos, completed while she worked and lived at the Lodge, remains a beautiful addition to Beaulieu Abbey Church. I have discovered how influential Bugatti was in the world of racing and how they provided a cover for one of the SOE agents, enabling him to travel across France in one of their cars. I have learned about the captivating history of Garage Banville - worthy of a book in itself I feel - and feel well versed in the trials and tribultations of a network radio operator in Paris at this time.
This book was a long time in coming. The author Joe Seward had been researching the tale for about 18 years but it was only in 2003 when the offical records on the SOE agents were released by the British government, that Mr. Seward was able to complete his book.
If you’re at all interested in the clandestine operations of the second world war I urge you to read the book.

Filed under: Formula 1, literature on March 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

voicemessage.wav

So that your time isn’t wasted by coming here I have attached a wav. file of Jay and Keith leaving me a voicemail at work. We have a cool VOIP system at work that posts your voicemail to you as email messages containing the audio file. You can stop listening after Jay talks about the ice-cream cone, they forgot to hang up the phone!

Filed under: audio on March 7th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Am feeling just the tiniest twinge of guilt at all my Fort Wayne bashing, so here are some of the things I do like about Fort Fun, oops, sorry, Fort Wayne…

Filed under: indiana on March 6th, 2007 | No Comments »

I am slowly setting up shop in the new location here at Living Dot. Please check back to view progress. For the time being bloggage continues at www.englishtraveller.blogspot.com

Filed under: new site on March 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

www.livingdot.com

Englishgirl will soon be moving!

I am in the process of setting up a new house and will be winding things down here at the blogspot address. Until the new site is fully up and running I will continue to post entries but not much else. I will of course let you know when the switch has been made. For the time being you can check on progress over at my hosts Living Dot at the web address www.englishtraveller.org

It was the jaunty beret that got me…

Filed under: new site on March 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

As with most of the articles I find, I stumbled across this one whilst trying to find an article on another topic, and as with anything that seems to hint at the now rather boring debate over working mum v. housewife I almost didn’t read it. However I am thoroughly glad I did as it is a charming article. It touched me particularly because I struggle so much with wanting to be back in England and near my friends, especially now that many of them are having children. It saddens me that Jay is missing out on the experience of an English childhood and the American cultural childhood experience that I expected, saw on tv, (The Wonder Years, Stand by Me) and heard about from American friends no longer seems to exist. Daily I wonder just how my path in life directed me to this small town in the American mid-west and just how long it’ll be before I can get back on the road to pastures new. I know that my struggle is cultural, far more evident here than in Arizona where many of my friends were also lost Europeans having found their way to the desert - I have yet to meet another “foreigner” in Fort Wayne, let alone another English person*. Cultural understanding and empathy that I took for granted in Phoenix seems somewhat lacking here and I have yet to find a truly decent restaurant, (I’m not sure I’m willing to count Biaggi’s as real Italian). So the sense of lonliness that I often feel, despite being back at work, which I love, and having made some dear friends, (Emily, Renée), stems truly from feeling like a fish out of water. That disjointedness seeming to be magnified with a child who corrects me when I say digga as opposed to diggerr. Anyway I’m digressing into melancholy stupor and getting sidetracked because one of the things I kept thinking about as I was reading the article was how lucky I am to have friends all over the world with whom I can correspond instantly through email and IM. I rather like the thought of starting a Cooperative Correspondance Club between us all…another one of my ideas to be momentarily shelved along with the building of a new Garage Banville, (Donald Trump call me on this one, I’ll run the place, got the ideas, location, you’ve got the financial backing, sorted), my bookshop, etiquette school, leading Grand Tours with Josh Bernstein etc, etc. Sorry, digressing again, it’s Friday and my bloggage brain is sadly lacking, must be time for a coffee, my thought process is all over the place, suffering from the Molly Blooms.

Enjoy the article…I did…

“In 1935 a reader’s letter to the magazine Nursery World began with the words: “Can any mother help me?” It was a cri de coeur from a young woman, bored and isolated at home with small children, desperate for distraction from her “brooding” thoughts. Readers responded — some with sympathetic understanding, others with bracing advice —and the young woman wrote again, regretting that she couldn’t afford to reply to each of them personally and suggesting that they form a correspondence magazine: each contributor would write pieces on any subject, mail them to the young woman who would stitch them together inside a cover and post to the first name on a prearranged list; that person would read and/or write any comments in the margins and send on to the next name and so on until the magazine had been fully circulated. (Click to continue reading article).”

* I lie, the tailor I go to, George, is Greek. Brilliant tailor by the way, highly reccommended. Gogos Tailoring can be found at 1230 E State Blvd.

Filed under: self-pity, indiana on March 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Watch the guardrail!
It was a nice car….
No car but there is the Bahraini sun…

Filed under: Formula 1 on February 28th, 2007 | No Comments »

The Honda F1 Racing team, during the unveiling of this year’s new car livery yesterday, announced a new approach to the world of F1 racing. Instead of their RA107 being kitted out with corporate colours and sponsorship logos, the car has simply a giant picture of the earth painted onto it. It’s a move unsurprising for the manufacturer Honda (who are among the top tier in producing cars that are environmentally friendly), but progressive and leading-edge for the world of Formula 1.
Nick Fry, Honda F1 Racing’s CEO, stated “F1 is a hugely powerful communication device with audience and global reach only behind that of periodic sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup. We believe that F1 with its huge global profile and cutting edge technology can play an important role in not only highlighting the issues but also playing our part in developing solutions.” He goes on to say that
“Climate change is probably the single biggest issue facing the global community and F1 is not immune from it. The FIA recognises the opportunity for F1 not only to raise awareness, but also to showcase innovative technologies for the benefit of society for the long term. For example, by 2009, devices for energy recovery will be in place on the cars.”
In a gas-guzzling, environmentally selfish sport, (despite F1’s current ‘carbon neutral’ status), it’s fantastic to see a team breaking the boundaries of what is considered the norm and while my passionate support still lies with Renault and the lovely Giancarlo, my loyalty will certainly be inclined towards a team that expresses responsiblity towards global environmental issues.
If you want to make a pledge to myearthdream, help raise awareness of environmental issues and have your pledge appear as a pixel on the RA107 or simply to let Jenson and Rubens know they rock, click here to offer your support.

Filed under: Formula 1 on February 27th, 2007 | No Comments »

I didn’t watch the Oscars (bathroom tiling and Battlestar Overactica took preference) but have spent a good amount of time trawling the web today looking at the fashions and the highlights and was a bit distressed to see that I missed two of my most favourite comedic actors (Will Ferrell and Jack Black) doing a musical number. But of course because we live in the modern world of now technology I knew I’d find it on YouTube and guess what….

Filed under: popculture on February 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

From left to right - Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser), Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson), Seth Cohen (Adam Brody). Front - Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan)

I am utterly bereft - the last ever episode of The OC played last night and now I can no longer spend my Thurday evenings ironing in front of a dramatised Jackie Collins with 90210 undertones novel. There have been very few shows that I’ve watched from the start but The OC is one of them. I can even remember sitting in our first house in Phoenix watching the very first episode and thinking “That Ryan Atwood is hot!” And so yes I was totally sucked in to the dramatic lives of the rich kids of Newport: urging the kid from the wrong side of the tracks, Ryan, to keep his head in the heady, shallow world of the uber wealthy after the Cohens adopt him; watching Seth grow from a totally awkward high schooler to an only slightly less awkward graduate; pretending to be surprised but succombing to the inevitable of Seth and Summer’s relationship; completely enthralled at Marissa’s lesbian relationship with the totally sexy Olivia Wilde (who’s busy living her own M&B storyline in real life, married to the Italian prince, Tao Ruspoli, son of Dado Ruspoli); not wholly disappointed when Marissa was killed at the end of season three (I always felt her character a little lacking) and pleasantly enraptured when Ryan and Taylor Townsend hooked up. It was thanks to The OC that I learned Peter Gallagher has a lovely, crooning singing voice which resulted in me buying 7 Days in Memphis and totally playing Still I Long For Your Kiss and Leave Right Now to death. The often ironic, self mocking tone lent itself easily to iconic quotes and a cult-like status amongst its fans for the constant references that ran beneath the norm of mainstream popular culture, particularly in the realm of music and literature. The final episode was a suitably fitting end to a four year run, tying up all the loose ends, providing hope and promise of goodwill continuing as we are catipulted forward in time and watching snapshots of happy ever after, witnessing the circle of life in Ryan’s final words, “Hey kid. Need help?”

Filed under: popculture on February 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »

Just cannot write fast enough - I totally thought about doing this ages ago, I mean most of Harlequin Presents resides firmly in the F1 ideal anyway - Italian or French, scrummy, fit men; sexy, fast cars; fast living; girls with big boobs; summers doing the circuits; winters in Verbier or on the Riveria - totally my next book, I’m thinking of prefaces already…In the world of love and Formula 1 more than just hearts will get broken…Jean-Luc was on his way to winning another F1 Driver’s Championship, but could he win Katie’s heart…There was only one love in Nico’s heart - Formula 1 - until he set eyes on the blonde and beautiful Isabella Torleone…

article taken from

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Another idea that did not happen in F1
Formula 1 knows how to make money but there is not much obvious creative thinking going on at at the centre of the sport as NASCAR continues to push the envelope and look for new ways to sell itself to new fans. The latest idea is to create a series of romantic novels based around NASCAR. There are to be 16 paperbacks, published by Harlequin which will not only feature NASCAR settings but also offer real life characters as part of the promotion. The move is designed to increase the number of young female fans interested in the sport.
It is a deal that makes sense.
Shame F1 did not think of it.

Filed under: writing, Formula 1 on February 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

I have to post this because it was the funniest thing I’ve read for a very long time - I’ve never heard this expression before but it had me laughing so hard that I was soon choking and spluttering, (not aided by the fact I was trying to eat one of those yummy yogurt pretzels that the Co-Op sells) prompting concerned “Are you alright Mélaine?” questions from my colleagues. Jeremy Clarkson commenting…of course.

“Ski Sunday was always the highlight of my viewing week. In the olden days you had David Vine in the commentary booth, talking us through the brilliance of some tanned and muscular young man from Norway. You’d marvel at how he made it look so easy, his skintight suit revealing every sinewy twitch and, according to my wife, whether he was a cavalier or a roundhead. But let’s be honest, all of us, really, were waiting for the falls.”

Filed under: englishness on February 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

The All England Club, sponsors/hosts of one of tennis’ biggests events, Wimbledon, have said that this year men and women will receive equal prize-money; a first in 123 years. Now if only the powers that be in the corporate world would apply the same kind of thought to top female performers in the boardroom, we might really see some progress.

Article: Women get equality at last at Wimbledon

Also an update and correction to yesterday’s blog - Prince Harry will be heading off to Iraq in May and there has been another Royal to serve in combat during my lifetime, Prince Andrew flew helicopter missions during the Falklands in the early 1980s.

Filed under: englishness on February 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Although I did actually read Blair’s statement to the House of Commons today regarding the withdrawal of British troops in Iraq, I have to confess to being rather out of the loop on British military operations. I therefore was somewhat surprised to read in the Times today that Prince Harry might actually be deployed to Basra with the next lot of troop rotations. While I know that Prince Andrew served and Edward for a brief period I was trying to remember if any of the Royals have actually been deployed to a bonafide war zone. Certainly in my lifetime I think it would be a first if Harry were to go. While I’m sure it would be a huge risk to have the third in line traipsing around the battle field with his SA80 Assualt rifle whilst trying to avoid an insurgent homemade projectile, I can’t help but feel very strongly that of course he should have to go. It’s not like your regular Lieutenant Smith has any say in his, or her, decision to go to war…”Excuse me, I don’t really fancy going off to Iraq. I’m the last Smith you see and well,, I’d rather hoped to carry on the family name if you don’t mind.”. I’d hate to think we’re still living in an age where the rights of succession are such that Harry would be able to “get out” of going to Iraq on that mere possibility that he might one day be king. And if Harry were ever to become king,(legalised cannabis? Saturday night “Your favourite Socialist world leader” fancy dress parties? Playboy bunnies at Buck House?) I know I’d have a lot more respect for him knowing that he had actually served his country rather than just putting on a uniform and pretending to play the game.

“Around 1,600 British troops will return home from Iraq in the next few months, reducing the deployment of the UK force in the country to 5,500 by the end of the summer, Tony Blair said today…The Prince’s regiment, the Blues and Royals, is among those expected to be deployed as 1 Mechanised Brigade replaces 19 Light Brigade for a six-month tour of duty in southern Iraq. Despite concerns for his safety and his attractiveness as a target for extremists, Prince Harry has stated his intention to serve on the battlefield if his unit is sent into combat.

Filed under: englishness on February 21st, 2007 | No Comments »

While Pancake Day doesn’t seem half as wild and exciting as its partner Mardi Gras, I still look forward to this day with a surprising amount of pleasure. There’s something about the start of Lent that offers me the same anticipation as the start of the New Year. The opportunity to shed the past and move forward with a renewed sense of purpose. It must have been all those years at a C of E boarding school with chapel everyday and the comfort of ritual. I remember during Lent there was always additional Communion for those of us who could face the earlier than usual start, brisking the bitter spring mornings where the low mist from the lake hung over the playing fields like a swirling duvet, to capture a piece of early redemption before breakfast. Maybe it’s the memories surrounding Pancake Day that I love - I still use the same worn and seasoned crêpe pan that my mum used and a recipe brought home from school one day by my brother in his grey shorts and flat cap. The tangy sweetness of the lemon and sugar melting on one’s tongue into an acid syrup.
I’m looking forward to the fact that this year Jay will understand it’s Pancake Day (if not the sentiment behind it) and that for tea he’ll enjoy bite after bite of perfectly rolled crêpes ladened with castor sugar and freshly-squeezed lemon, that he’ll watch me flip the thin pancakes over and shout for me to do it again. He loves his Papa’s American style pancakes, thick and fluffy smothered in maple syrup, but I know his English tastebuds, when confronted with the delicate slips of cooked batter, will allow the taste to creep into his subconscious, lingering until he’s old enough to take the crêpe pan to his own home and recall madeleine memories of his own.
Until then, I’ll be the one using the crêpe pan, absolving my sins with every beat of the eggs, milk and flour, stirring away the past and pouring a new tomorrow into the hot pan only to watch it be gobbled up by a growing, hungry little boy with blue eyes and a cheeky smile.

Filed under: indiana, englishness on February 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

Ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.

Even better than watching Josh Bernstein explaining the finer points of ancient Greek weaponery and flexing his muscles when showing that with a little coordination shooting an arrow off the back of a moving chariot is really quite simple, is watching 300 Spartans stipped to their bronzed, ripped waists and brandishing frightening looking spears and xiphoi whilst holding off an army of Persians that should more than easily overwhelm them. Yes, I’m talking about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. On 9th March the film, 300 comes out in the cinema and iMax. As a long time fan of the Spartans, (women in Spartan society had far greater independence and involvement in the running of the society than their Greek counterparts and I’m all for everyone being made to run 20 miles a day and then for all male citizens to spend the day in loincloths practicing their battle skills in the town marketplace), I am eagerly awaiting this film. The film is based on Frank Miller’s novel, (Frank Miller of the Daredevil, Sin City, Ronin and so many others I can’t name them all graphic comic book fame) and directed by Zack Snyder. The cinematography looks incredible and I’ve heard the battle scenes are truly works of epic masterpieces. The cast is largely, so it seems, made up of British stage actors with a few Europeans thrown in for authentic measure I suppose. Most happily Rodrigo Santoro (Love Actually) has a major part although unhappily has been cast as Xerxes, king of the Persians (booooo) instead of a Spartan (yeaaaa). Either way I am looking forward to the film release with a excitement that has me sharpening my battle cry, swords aloft boys, “…for tonight we dine in Hell!”

Recommended reading: Steven Pressfield ‘Gates of Fire’

Filed under: popculture, literature on February 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just in case you’re ever very bored, very rich or very crazy and have a mere 6-8 hours to spare, here’s how to assemble a Formula 1 car…

How to assemble a Formula One car - Part One

How to assemble a Formula One car - Part Two

How to assemble a Formula One car - Part Three

How to assemble a Formula One car - Part Four

Filed under: Formula 1 on February 15th, 2007 | No Comments »

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Snowmen, solar systems and watching Harry Potter…

Trailer from the new Harry Potter film, THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, due out July 13th

Filed under: indiana on February 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

Photos from Jay’s 3rd party have been posted in the Photo Album. It was great fun and as I said to Sophie, possibly made more so by the bottle and a half of champagne I drank pretty much by myself, (insert usual British over-indulgence of alcohol and American sobriety jokes here). Food was good, children behaved well and clear-up was minimal - an excellent party as far as I’m concerned. Jay received some wonderful pressies and is well on the way to having a large collection of Playmobil.
Today I’m experiencing my first Snow Day. We’re in the midst of a blizzard, (well a lot of snow and wind really, I’m not sure I’d really class it as a blizzard per se), so classes were cancelled and uni closed. Having discovered this after I’d dropped Jay off at school he was then utterly thrilled when I returned less than forty minutes later to take him home. Short school day! We spent the morning doing puzzles, finger painting and playdoh and then I’ve been working this afternoon, (modern technology means everything’s accessible via the web nowadays so even work systems can be accessed from home - shame). It’s rather nice though to be able to go and make a cup of tea whenever I get too frustrated with the Blackboard system. At least I can’t access the dreaded ParScore from home because it’s networked and not web-accessible! Anyway it must be bad outside because even Sweetwater, the never-ending money-making machine, is sending everyone home at four. One of the issues I think in Fort Wayne is tht we have a lot of people who live out of town in quite rural areas and getting to them proves rather tricky with all the snow. Thankfully FW employers seem to be quite cognizant of that fact. Anyway, I’m off to make another cup of tea…

Filed under: indiana on February 13th, 2007 | No Comments »

They say such things always come in threes…a couple of weeks ago my Aunt (well, Great-aunt actually) Jeanne passed away. She suffered a massive heart attack and died very suddenly. Aunt Jeanne was a really neat woman. She and Uncle Vic, (who died some years ago) had a fascinating and well-lived life; they were always helping people in one way or another; loved travelling and spent about seven years splitting their time living between England and Florida. Other than my mum and Sophie, she was the only person I knew who had all day shopping stamina! It was always lovely to chat with her as she understood exactly what it was like as an English person living in the USA. I shall dearly miss her.

On a more joyful note my brother Luc and Claire, his partner of ten years, recently announced their engagement. A huge CONGRATULATION to them. It’s very exciting and I must wholeheartedly commend Claire on a. signing up for many years to come with my brother (worthy of a huge diamond ring in itself I feel) and b. signing up for many years to come with our family (worthy of a huge diamond…etc, etc). Congrats guys.
Which just leave the baby…unless of course Claire is already pregnant? I have yet to hear from any of my friends that they’re pregnant again. Those that have had babies seem to have sworn off any more for the time being and those that haven’t don’t seem to be in any rush to start producing offspring. Quite wise I say, enjoy the lack of nappies in your life. ALthough I know Rachel is due so maybe she’s the birth for this one…
Jay’s third birthday tomorrow. I shall say rien on the time passing, etc other than “holy crap, why do boys take so long to be toilet trained?”. I really thought he’d have got it by now. Even with jelly bean bribery he is strangely resistant. Party will be held on Saturday - knights and dragons theme with various food items such as dragon droppings, maiden morsels and knights’ nosh. Being that most of his friends are boys I’ve bought suitably boyish things for their party bags - whoopie cushions, model aeroplanes and lollipops. I think I enjoy the party planning more than Jay enjoys the party itself.
I’m off to an Apple Education seminar tomorrow in Indy with my work colleagues and one of the IT guys. Can’t wait, a whole day of Appleness followed by a trip to the Apple store to exercise my growing list of delicious items much needed to compliment my adored Macbook. Yummy.

Filed under: famille et amis on February 8th, 2007 | No Comments »

Firstly, it’s 4 degrees today and I can honestly say I utterly despise this weather. I actually wore my fur coat today because when the weather lady tells me that it’s 4 above but feels like 25 below due to the wind chill I felt totally justified in wearing the skinned carcas of a dead rabbit around my body.
Secondly, despite the fact that I didn’t watch a single minute, (actually that’s a lie I watched precisely two minutes of the fourth quarter) of the XLI Superbowl between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts I do have to congratulate the Colts on a tremendous win, 29-17. Apparently, and it’s all heresay as I didn’t actually watch the game, the Bears’ offense sucked, the Colts’ defense rocked and the Colts ruled. So way to go Colts!

I was performing my usual perusal of online news at The Times online this morning, who have by the way, totally changed their online format, (I quite like it although I noticed there are loads of bugs still to be exterminated and it took me a little while to locate a few of my immediate go-to columns but all in all a nice improvement), and came across this article on racing. Now it has long been a dream of mine to race the Dakar Rally with my dad but with years pressing on (his of course not mine!) I fear this may well remain a dream. And being that unless I start an affair with Nico Rosberg or suddenly become a whizz at aerodynamic sheet metal design the chances of my getting behind a Formula 1 car are pretty much nil to zero, so instead I am looking to other auto ventures that may satisfy such adventure and desire-to-do-myself-harm cravings. And I have found it. The Spa 24 hours Fun Cup at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. The cars are seriously groovy, a tubular steel chassis powered by a 1800cc, 130 bhp VW/Audi engine with a WV Bug style shell. Now I just need three other drivers willing to fork out 3000 GBP each and form a team - any takers?

Filed under: indiana on February 5th, 2007 | No Comments »

I’ve been meaning to write about Jay’s new car seat for some time, not only to shamelessly promote the seat itself but also to praise and recommend the company we bought it from. I’d been looking for a new car seat for Jay for some time, his old one is fine as a second car one but for long journeys was uncomfortable, little side head support and the seat obviously hit his legs wrong because he always got pins and needles in his legs after a while. So I did all the usual research and being me, wanted something that was not only safe, practical, comfortable, blah blah blab but most importantly looked good in my car. This is a hard task as it is so hard to maintain coolness with a child seat in the back of the car at the best of times. And then fate intervened - I was doing my usual trogging of F1 websites and came across a company that specialises in racing gear for driver and car. The second thing that happened was I received one of the many usually-thrown-away-after-first-glance kids boutique brochures. Both the website and the catalogue featured a child seat by the German manufacturer, Recaro. Now I’d heard of Recaro before. They have been building seats for sports cars (such as those used in the Dakar Rally) for many years. The quality and safety of their product is typically German, that is to say excellent. What I wasn’t aware of is that they have ventured into the child seat market and brought out a line of not only ultra safe, (unlike the US that only requires frontal crash testing for child safety seats, Recaro seats are tested for side impact crashes as well), but super cool child safety seats. So having determined that I had found the ultimate in car seats I then enthusiatically purchased one. Speedware Motorsports division www.recarochildseats.com is the official Recaro distributorship CPS fitting station for Recaro child seats and well they should be. Their customer service was fantastic, shipping of the child seat was free (yes, I was impressed too) and very quick and they provided ample opportunity for advice. Naturally after telling Jay that the people who made his seat also made seats for race cars he has decided that it is his “favourite”. Not only that but it has proved excellent in long journeys with super head support and none of the previous dead-leg syndrome experienced with his old seat. Oh and Renault’s special edition Clio F1 has Recaro seats.

Too cool for school.

RecaroChildSeats.com is the only store authorized by Recaro to use the Recaro name RecaroChildSeats.com, a division of Speedware Motorsports, has had a very close relationship with Recaro, North America, a division of KeiperRecaro Group, Germany, for the past 12 years. We have watched and waited for their line of child seats to become available in the US, in fact, we were the very first store to carry the full line of child seats.With their roots in auto racing and airline safety seats, we were so sure of the safety of these child seats that we joined with Recaro to offer these seats across the country. After countless planning meetings with executives from Recaro North America and Recaro Germany, it was decided that Recaro would greatly benefit from our business model, and an exclusive relationship was formed. Recaro endorses this union by contributing their name to our store. Extract taken from the website www.recarochildseats.com

Filed under: famille et amis on February 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Do workplaces like the Office really exist? I love Steve Carell but really the show makes me wince. I guess that’s the idea. Pam’s brilliant. So dead-pan. Who’d have thought that Ryan’s dad and Julie Nichols-Cooper would have ended up an item? And for that matter who’d have thought Ryan Atwood and Taylor Townsend would have ended up a couple? Seth has to be Summer’s Sandy right? There seems to be something incestuous about saying that. At least Seth seems to be reacting somewhat maturely to Summer’s decision to go and work for GEORGE. And Kirsten pregnant! I didn’t see that one coming…well except in the trailers. But she’ll loose the baby right, in the earthquake that hits next week? I wonder if Peter Gallagher can really surf? I hope he brings out another album, his last one was surprisingly good. I feel a little sad for Bullit. He’s being a really good sport about the whole Julie/Frank thing. Finally Julie chose love over money. What is she thinking? Three more episodes and that’s it. It’s the end of an era. Hopefully they’ll have Ryan going ‘Ryan Atwood’ one more time, ooh, something over Taylor maybe that FINALLY results in him saying “I love you” - just say it dude. She’s hot. She’s on Keith’s list anyway. Has Liev Schreiber aged at all since Kate & Leopold? The man is sexy and looks sharp in a suit. If he wasn’t an American he’d make a good James Bond - he was broodingly sexy in that Tom Clancy film The Sum of All Fears. If I married him I wouldn’t have to change my name. What’s with the LVPD? I’ve never seen Nick in a suit. West Coast casual or just too damn hot in the desert. I remember those days…I’m still not convinced Keppler’s a dirty cop although the jury’s still out. Still Grissom’s back next week and I’m sure it’ll all get figured out. Forty-five minutes ought to do it. God, there are sooo many adverts. I can’t wait for the iTV, I despise adverts, well, except for the Mac ones and those ones with the Geico gecko, they’re funny. I wish they’d solve the wretched murder model/diarama mystery. Hmn, maybe Keppler? It’s got me stumped. I hope they’re not going to drag it out all season. And when are Sarah and Grissom going to go public? I hope Grissom doesn’t blow it.

The Office

CSI

The OC

Filed under: popculture on February 2nd, 2007 | No Comments »

I always knew the American government and nutrition scientists had pulled a fast one over everyone and that processed food has a LOT to answer for in the degredation of the nation’s health. And no wonder my health care costs and insurance are so bloody high - hello, ever heard of preventative rather than corrective? Renée turned me onto this article; it’s compelling reading although long, but says everything I’ve always been trying to tell my American friends regarding diet, food and health.

Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollen, NY Times

FYI - the ingredients listed in the title are in fact some of the ingredients for the strawberry flavouring (not the milk/ice-cream or anything else) in a Burger King milkshake. These ingredients are considered by the FDA to be safe and are therefore not required to be listed out on an ingredients label. The FDA doesn’t require food additives considered to be Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) to be put on an ingredients label. Instead, all that is required are the words “artificial flavour” or “artificial colouring” or, and this is my favourite, “natural”. And you want more reason as to why I don’t east fast food. Information taken from “You Are What You Eat!” by Paul Chek.

Filed under: health on February 1st, 2007 | No Comments »

Photo by Louise Salmond-Smith © 2007, reproduced with kind permission.*

Despite the fact that the National Geographic article makes no mention of it, the report in The Times reckons the discovery of a prehistoric village at Durrington Walls, a mere stone’s throw (less than two miles) from Stonehenge was in fact originally established for the builders of Stonehenge as a location for large feasts and festivals, a sort of prehistoric party village or perhaps England’s first Woodstock or Tribal Gathering. A place where they could enjoy vast amounts of food and a good place to kip for the night or just rock on with friends and strangers, apparently much needed incentives when trying to convince people to move 50 odd tonne Saracen stones…”Just a few more miles Dafydd and there’s a nice pint and half a sheep waiting for you when we arrive mate.”

The Time Online - Stonehenge ‘party village’ unearthed in Wiltshire

* You can peruse or purchase Louise’s awesome and beautiful photgraphs at http://www.pbase.com/35sur/profile or by clicking on Louise under the mi casa su casa link.

Filed under: englishness on January 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

The view from my office this morning and then later this afternoon…that’s actually a lake between the building and the road.

Filed under: indiana on January 30th, 2007 | No Comments »

The Renault F1 Team had its 2007 launch this week. As you can see the new livery is TOTALLY different. When I first saw it I thought, God, it’s awful ,but I have to admit it’s growing on me and I rather like it. The new sponsors, ING obviously had a huge influence over the colours. But they are paying the big bucks so I guess they should. The new website is super - a more professional looking Discussion Board and I like the write-ups and bios, etc of the drivers (plus they’ve posted a particularly nice photo of Fisico on his bio page.

The new car, the RS27 looks not that dissimilar to the RS26 but of course is more streamlined, more aerodynamic, everything chiselled and checked. The RS27 engine is a modified RS26 V8, with the following specs:

Capacity: 2400 cc
Architecture: 90° V8
Weight: 95 kg
Max rpm: 19,000 rpm
Spark plugs: Champion
ECU: Magneti Marelli Step 11
Fuel: Elf
Oil: Elf
Battery: Renault F1 Team

Most of the other cars have also completed their launches this month and there are some sweet looking cars out there. The new Ferrari F2007 is quite cool indeed - Jay loves the fact that it has “eyes”, shown in the preview photos.
So although the first race for 2007, the Australian Grand Prix, doesn’t take place until 18th March, already the teams are ramping up for a huge season. In Giancarlo’s words “I am hungry for success this year, and very determined.” I just hope his hunger and determination truly manifest themselves this year. He is a gifted driver, he just needs to prove it.

Filed under: Formula 1 on January 26th, 2007 | No Comments »

This was forwarded to me today, it made me chuckle so I thought I’d share it:

After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here’s the final word on nutrition and health:
1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Filed under: health on January 23rd, 2007 | No Comments »

The new season of the History Channel’s Digging for the Truth starts tonight, with the ever so scrummy BOSS President and CEO, Josh Bernstein. It’s like sheer heaven - a delicious chap and archaeology…what more could a Classics enthusiast wish for? Tonight’s episode is a two-hour special on Atlantis. And while he may not always find the truth, Josh certainly makes an hour of archaeological exploration and possibly otherwise boring subject matter interesting and rather glamorously exciting. Definitely recommended viewing.

“My core philosophy is to follow your passion. I’m a big believer of do what you love and get paid for it.” Josh Bernstein, Success magazine

Filed under: popculture on January 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Apparently I have figured out how to make my domain name forward to my Blogger account. So you can now go directly to the page you’re at now or you can use www.englishtraveller.org and you will be automatically redirected. Eventually (see yesterday’s post) I will move my blog to the .org domain and cease production at Blogger.
Oh and despite a mechanical fault with his plane at Chicago, Keith made it home in one piece, sans valise mind you, arriving chez nous ten minutes after Jay and I arrived home from school/work. I don’t think he’ll be getting on a aeroplane for a while!

Filed under: new site, travel on January 17th, 2007 | No Comments »

I know the appearance of my blog keeps changing. I finally got frustrated enough with only being able to do so much in Blogger that I have downloaded Wordpress and set up my domain name and a host server with Godaddy and am now in the process of trying to get Wordpress to work with Godaddy and figure out my hosting stuff so that I can set up my new blog under my own domain name. Only I think I’m a bit clueless because every time I think I’ve got it sussed I end up at a deadend. Now I know Wordpress works with Godaddy because loads of people have told me so only I just can’t get it to do so. I figured out how to set up my SQL server on my Godaddy hosting site and I managed to FTP my Wordpress documents, having changed the necessary script to reflect the correct SQL pathway, etc, using the very cool Fetch. But now I can’t figure out how to access my FTPd docs on my host server. And I can’t even get my domain name to forward to my current blogger account. I feel so stupid and unbelievably frustrated. I love technology, I hate technology, I love technology, I hate technology…technology god, please help me, I’m flinging myself at your mercy.

Filed under: new site on January 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Original plan - Friday evening fly to Oklahoma City via Chicago, return Sunday night to Fort Wayne via Chicago.

What actually happened…

Friday - flight from Fort Wayne to Chicago cancelled.
Friday night at home
Saturday - flight departs Fort Wayne at noon to arrive in Chicago. Flight to Oklahoma City delayed and then finally cancelled.
Saturday night in hotel in Chicago
Sunday - flight from Chicago delayed, departs eventually to be redirected to Tulsa. Arrives in Tulsa, rents a hire car (a very nice Suburu 4×4 apparently) to drive to Oklahoma City
Sunday night in Oklahoma City
Monday - plane to Chicago delayed and then finally cancelled.
Monday night in hotel in Oklahoma City
Tuesday - flight to Chicago cancelled. Flight to Dallas (with connection direct to Fort Wayne) delayed because crew have not arrived…flight departs Oklahoma City.
Misses connection in Dallas.
New flight from Dallas to go to…Chicago! From Chicago to Fort Wayne, due in 18hrs00 this evening. We’ll see…

Filed under: travel on January 16th, 2007 | No Comments »

Then…Junior (?), Keith (front), Chris, Randy, ?

Now…Keith, Junior, Randy, Chris

Filed under: famille et amis on January 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

So with Keith spending the weekend either stuck at Chicago airport or sitting on a plane waiting to land, waiting to take off, waiting for the plane to be de-iced, waiting for his bag (that still hasn’t caught up with him), waiting for the weather to improve enough so that he could fly into Tulsa and then drive to Oklahoma City, mainly just waiting, Jay and I spent the weekend trying to stay dry. Saturday we went to Lowe’s so that Jay could build a castle, another patch for me to sew on his apron. In the afternoon there seemed nothing better to do than spend a very rainy afternoon at the cinema. We went and saw Happy Feet. Thinking I was going to see just another animated animal movie I was very pleasantly surprised at the messages it portrayed. of course then I had to explain to Jay about how mummies and papas were destroying the planet with our selfish need and that there was a reason why driving Hummers (which unfortunately he seems to think are very cool) is killing the penguins and that that was why mummy drove a little car fueled by soybean biodiesel, (as the cinema was full of mummies who drive SUVs you can imagine the kind of narrowed-eyed looks I earned myself). Anyway Jay thoroughly enjoyed the movie - dancing, singing penguins, what more can an almost three year old want? And I thoroughly appreciated Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman reminding me of belonging to something so much greater than myself and to appreciate the earth’s resources, particularly those that I forget about because they are so many miles away.
Sunday was equally as rainy and gloomy and Jay and I did very little, our cabin fever finally driving us out to play in puddles and for me to construct what I am convinced is my best ever Thomas the tank engine layout…judge for yourself…

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on January 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

From Sweetwater Pa…

Filed under: indiana on January 11th, 2007 | No Comments »

From Christmas 06

Because we’re now a totally Mac family, (I soooo love my new MacBook; it rocks), I just had to post these links, revealed yesterday at the Macworld Conference and Expo. The boys and I at work are all very excited…

Apple iPhone

Apple TV

Filed under: tech on January 9th, 2007 | No Comments »

Being that one of my reasons to return to Europe is for Jay’s university I found this article in the Times today fascinating. As is pointed out I think ultimately it comes down to whether a student knows exactly what they want to study or not. If not the American university may be preferable due to it’s more all round nature and lack of specailising until the third and fourth years. Although I still feel that a gap year, travelling and working, seeing the world and being exposed to different cultures and figuring out what your passion is, is preferable to spending two years of doing subjects that you’ve already done at GSCE and A level. Go Directly to Yale: American v. British University

Filed under: englishness on January 4th, 2007 | No Comments »

Being that I’m desparately trying to finish my current book, I have been spending a lot of time lost in deep thought, (well thought at least, I don’t know about it being deep particularly), and listening to image provoking music. This usually entails what Keith would consider naff Italian pop music. Anyway we’ve been clearing out the basement to make room for all the monsterous audio equipment for Keith’s “studio” along with the Thomas the Tank engine train table that lives down there, and I happened to come across an old tape, (as Jay so succinctly put it, “What’s that mummy?”). The tape is nothing spectacular, Donna Lewis’ In a Minute. It’s a good album. But it wasn’t the album itself that got me thinking, (and there’s the bridge); it was the images and nostalgia that the album evoked. I bought the tape from the American Navy PX in Napoli during my stay in Rome in my last year of university in 19 mumble-mumble. Realising that we no longer owned any tape players I promptly downloaded the album from iTunes in a concerted effort to recapture some of the vivid images and overwelming feelings that I was experiencing remembering listening to the tape…
…driving back from Napoli to Rome in my dad’s SUV, the warm sun shining through the windows creating that late afternoon slumberous contentment that is usually felt on summer afternoons, the dulcet beat of the drum track and Donna Lewis’s distinctive voice urged the car on down the autostrada as I watched the Roman countryside quiver past. The gentle rolling hills of Southern Italy, the yellow of the fields and green of the cypress trees so distinctive of the country. The somewhat thrown-together farmhouses that dotted the hills, their vineyards and olive groves trailing down the hillsides. The whitewashed blue spring sky that held a promise of long, hot summers. It was so sublimely Italian that even now I can actually taste the image; it makes me think of bottles of ice-cold, sweet, cloudy yellow limoncello. As I listened to the tracks I was overwhelmed by a feeling of utter bliss and contentment, urged on by the music, welcomed by my inspiration-thirsty mind.
I’ve always understood the power of music as a healing instrument, a vehicle for memories and nostalgia but it’s been a long time since I felt it. Perhaps because that particular trip to Rome, (still considered my favourite, most treasured excursion), was one where I felt fully engaged, surrounded by my passion of the Classical World and steeped in a culture that permanently resides in my dreams that the music I heard whilst there will always trigger the feeling of perfect peace.
I hope you have a song or a piece of music that brings such a feeling of pure completion.
Rock on.

Filed under: audio on January 3rd, 2007 | No Comments »

A glass of champagne, (or in my case a very nice chilled Rothschild’ Chilean Roja; I forgot to buy the bubbly yesterday and being Sunday and living in a country where enacted Blue laws still exist there was no chance of getting any today), to you all for a happy, prosperous and successful 2007. I hope your dreams are fulfilled, your wishes granted and that you achieve your goals.

As always venturing into the new year I am filled with hope and promise; the trepidation that this may be the year HM&B asks for a manuscript, that I may be able to continue to shed my materialistic attitude and look towards the truth and importance of life; that I can embrace hard times with a sense of humour; allow patience and forgiveness to fill my heart and truly, honestly accept that everything happens for a reason and I am where I am because this is where I’m supposed to be right now.

Peace.

Filed under: englishness on December 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Recently watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the hilarious Adam Mckay movie starring Will Ferrell, that came out in the cinema in August of this year. It was one of Keith’s Christmas presents and for this I am extremely grateful. The film is a total riot. Of course it helps that I border on the side of obsessive when it comes to both racing and Will Ferrell. It is Will Ferrell at his best though perhaps not quite as smoothly polished as Anchorman, however is equally as kooky, (Afternoon Delight is still one of my favourite movie scenes ever). Sacha Baron Cohen plays the antagonist, Ricky Bobby’s arch nemesis gay French F1 driver Jean Gerard and his reply when asked what France has offered the world is an answer that Keith and I have spent several days spouting to one another; said with a heavy European accent, a few marbles in the mouth and a little French twist.
In the same vein, (no pun intended, well, perhaps a little), another snippet of humour that has had Keith and I in hysterical laughter, of the tears puring down one’s face type, is Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s Dick in a Box song. Justin Timberlake, whom I’ve always just lumped into the ex-Disney Club category along with Britney, Christina, etc and dismissed because of that, was absolutely brilliant. It was one of the funniest Saturday Night Live productions I’ve seen for a long time. I was truly exhausted at the end of it from laughing so much. Justin’s performance defintely raised him in my estimation. And to save you from seeking it out on You Tube here is the clip. N.B. This is a pretty crude song so the tender ones among you might want to give it a miss.

Filed under: popculture on December 29th, 2006 | No Comments »

I forwent the annual Christmas letter this year, partly out of I couldn’t be bothered and partly because I just didn’t have time. At least not if I wanted to get my Christmas cards sent off in time, which I’m pretty sure many didn’t reach their destination prior to Noel anyway. So instead I have decided to do my yearly recap in a blog and perhaps those family members who have internet access would share it with those who don’t :).

As with all years and the passing of time, this year seems to have gone incredibly quickly and as I sit down, catch a breath and try and remember everything we did, I’m once again ultra aware of time slipping by faster the older one gets. 2006 started with a quiet pop rather than a big bang. We spent New Year’s at some friends of ours, plenty of little kids which made it easier. Fort Wayne was snow covered and the fresh start of a new year was welcomed eagerly. February was of course Jay’s second birthday and we celebrated in style with a Circus theme and Jay as the ringmaster. We had many friends over and once again my dear friend, Zara arrived just in time to help with the party planning her usual finesse.

Towards the end of February my Great Aunt Margaret died. The loss of our family matriarch was felt deeply by us all, even more so as family occasions came and went without her presence during the course of the year. Great Aunt Margaret was a remarkable woman, having recently witnessed her first book publication shortly before she died; an anthology on the history of her Surrey town, Caterham. She was my inspiration for writing and always provided me with a steady stream of fabulous book reccomendations along with the sage words of advice on becoming a writer, “Make sure you train to be something else and write in your spare time.” This I have followed to a t, despite the fact that my ultimate dream is to be able to write full-time and spend my days researching. Of course, a small thing called a mortgage and a two year old prevents such a dream being fulfilled at the present time. Keith and I commented that it wouldn’t be so bad if both of us weren’t desparate to live an artist’s lifestyle - the irony of a musican and writer’s life of either being rich or dirt-poor is never far from my mind.

This year saw a good amount of travelling for me; as always not enough for my itchy feet and wondering heart but enough to keep the demons of longing at bay. Jay and I did a couple of trips down to Alabama to stay with maman and Jerry. Always wonderful and a treat to enjoy some Southern hospitality and their lovely pool! September Jay and I headed back for a month long trip to England to visit family and friends and celebrate my 30th birthday, something I was determined not to do in Fort Wayne! Keith managed to shake off the shackles of work and escape to England for the week of my birthday. A forty-eight hour birthday sojourn to Paris made my 30th a truly special and memorable occasion and was in my view, a suitable 30th birthday celebration. We walked all over Paris and ate fabulous food and bought perfectly wonderful cadeux for the petits enfants in our lives, Jay and Huxley, (Sophie and Alex’s new addition to their family; born earlier this year), from Le Petit Bateau on the Champs-Elysee. Thanksgiving was spent in Denver, without snow and instead with beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A bit different from the blizzards of the last two weeks. It was lovely to be with family and to start off the festive season.

Other noteworthy news was my starting work again. I am the Instructional Designer and Blackboard Systems Administrator for the University of St. Francis here in Fort Wayne. I love working in a university environment and work with wonderful people. I work for our Education Technology Centre with three very nice chaps. I have a smart little office with a view of the lake. The work can be a bit quiet at times but I’m rather enjoying the stress-free pace after corporate America and am thoroughly enjoying stretching my education and abilities in the world of software applications and systems administration. And while I miss keeping on top of the housework and having time to write, I love being back at work and am feeling considerably less melancholy now that I’m using my brain again.

Keith’s work at Sweetwater continues to blossom and he’s slowly building up his own serious studio at home, as opposed to just the tinkering he’s been doing. We keep having to “remodel” the basement to accomodate the ever increasing audio equipment that he brings home. It’s all good though and a positive move in the direction of fulfilling the life we ant to lead.

Jay has been a treasure this year. With my going back to work he started playschool and has been doing swimmingly. It’s been really fun having him bring home the various arts and crafts projects that he does during the day. His teachers adore him and he seems to be doing quite well socialising and integrating with the other children in his class. His speech has finally come along and of course now, we can’t shut him up! He is truly a sweet boy and I love his current catchphrase of “be happy mummy.” Apparently I spend too much time being cross!

I’m eagerly looking forward to 2007 and venturing forth into another exciting year. We have several big birthdays to look forward to - Keith’s dad’s 70th and my papa’s 60th. Tickets have already been bought for the 2007 US Formula 1 Grand Prix in Indy, with plans being made to spend several days down there so we can attend the open pit day, (Fisi and Nico Rosberg up close and in person, the excitement is almost more than I can cope with!), qualifying and race day. My Filofax 2007 diary is eagerly awaiting my input and the thrill of opening the clean pages and making plans for this coming year is immediately next on my things to do.

Happy New Year to all of you and I wish you a happy, joyful and dream-making 2007.

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis on December 26th, 2006 | No Comments »

Something I miss about England, however I’m very glad not to be travelling to/from Heathrow right now.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2514143,00.html

Filed under: englishness on December 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

On Sunday I decided to put my typically very dire baking skills to the test and made mince pies, being the festive season and all. I followed a recipe my mum had given me entitled “The best ever mince pies…with brandy butter from a chef at Windsor Castle”. I was extra careful with my measuring using my English kitchen scales rather than the American cup and spoon system and I followed the directions exactly, (something I am not wont to do when cooking) and to my delight they were indeed the best ever mince pies. Sprinkled delicately with a little icing sugar, they looked like plump bronzed pillows left out in the snow. I made them to take to the Literacy Alliance Christmas party on Monday night and made what I thought was a reasonable enough amount, only when I arrived at FMC I noticed that there seemed to be rather a lot missing. Hmmn…the look of relief on Keith’s face when I returned home later that night still with several mince pies left over was palpable. As it turns out Keith is not the only one who likes my mince pies. Having promised Jay that I was making pie on Sunday he eagerly awaited their arrival and has enjoyed mince pies and greek yoghurt for breakfast every day this week. Thoroughly enjoyed them. And while I feel marginally guilty about feeding my son pie for breakfast I figure not only is he getting a good amount of bowel-moving dried fruit, he’s also eating vast quantities of healthy, happy tummy bacteria and after all, it is Christmas.

* mince pies is Cockney rhyming slang for eyes. “Open your mince pies and look around.”

Don’t know what a mince pie is? Check out the Mince Pie wiki!

Filed under: indiana, englishness, famille et amis on December 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

…having inherited his vast fortune from an uncle whom had shown a fondness for his handsome and entrepreneurial nephew…

Being a budding romance novelist, (I am rather wary of calling myself a writer being that I’m not entirely sure impassioned scenes of rising bosoms and nervous lip chewing can be classified as writing per se), this article really made me laugh…a lot.

How Did I End Up On The Cover Of This Romance Novel?

Filed under: writing on December 14th, 2006 | No Comments »

I know, I know, I’m only just writing about Thanksgiving and it’s almost Christmas. Call it serious lack of inspiration, or procastination or just too damn lazy…

One year I will spend Thanksgiving in Colorado and actually go ski-ing. Seeing all those estate cars and SUVs driving around Denver with their ski racks and boxes makes me positively green with envy. The weather was lovely as well, crisp but sunny as is typical Colorado fashion. Perfect ski-ing weather for a fair weather snow bunny like myself…providing there’s been a decent snow fall of course.

Thanksgiving day was spent over at Mabel’s (Keith’s sister’s husband’s mum) house in Boulder. She has a beautiful view of the snow-tipped Rockies from her garden. Lots of family eating vast quantities of food and enjoying a steady stream of red wine. Most pleasant. We then celebrated Thanksgiving day again the following day at Rich and Marie’s, (as if one lot of roast turkey and mashed potato is not enough for one’s waistline). Saturday Wendy and I started a new tradition of pedicures, coffee and shopping at Rags to Riches Consignment store in Boulder; a totally awesome second hand shop where I could have easily gorged myself on DKNY, Moschino, Trina Turk, BCBG and a whole host of other labels that I adore. As it was I was very restrained and came away only with a Trina Turk miniskirt, a black cashmere poloneck and a Banana Republic cami. I never could resist a bargain!

Saturday night Keith and I left the babe, or rather small boy, with the grandparents and embarked on a night of closure and timetravelling as we met up with the guys from Valor / The Dark. Being really too young for the whole 80s big hair rock club scene it was quite an eyeopener. Apparently most of the people that were at the club have overlooked the fact that we are now in 2006. Big hair was abound. And a lot of girls definitely not in their early twenties dressing like they were in their early twenties. All I could think of was the movie RockStar with Mark Wahlburg. ROCK and ROLL dude! It was kind of funny meeting people whom I’d heard so much about from Keith. Chris I’d already met last year. Meeting Randy was like meeting someone I had known forever and meeting Junior helped put faces to the names I’d heard so much about. The amusing thing is that they all now have respectible jobs, families, kids, short hair! And yet ultimately at heart they’re all still rockers. It was an interesting evening and provided some good closure for Keith over issues he’s been trying to come to terms with since parting ways with the band and forming his own life path. I’ll presently attach the before and after photos of the guys and let you giggle over them…

Sunday we travelled back to Fort Wayne via Indianapolis, this time with Marie in tow. It was utterly blissful having her to stay and not have to worry about getting Jay to playschool in the morning or what to cook for supper in the evening. I think I was actually early to work for a whole week and a half! Plus it has been ages since I’ve come home to a meal, mainly because I finish work a good hour and a half before Keith. Marie stayed for ten days which allowed Keith and I to go out to a tres smart restuarant and celebrate our 8th anniversary. I have to admit I never thought that I’d be married that long, hell, I never thought I’d be married full stop. I am suprememly impressed with myself!

Now it’s the countdown to Christmas. I do have my cards written just haven’t quite made it to the post office yet…Happy Easter anyone?

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on December 13th, 2006 | No Comments »

I know I’m overdue on the details of our weekend trip to Toronto and Thanksgiving in Denver but I’ll come to that later. I was just enjoying my usual mosey through of the Times online and giggling my way through some of the travel articles when I came across one of Jeremy Clarkson’s articles. Being the huge motor fan that I am, I do of course have a soft spot for the cantakerous Fifth Gear presenter and as he is nearly always guaranteed to make me laugh, I read the article with relish, it appealed both to my francophile nature and unwaivering British arrogance. Here’s an extract…oh, the article is on capital punishment, in a rather roundabout sort of way…

“…There are two ways a truly civilised and advanced nation can be defined. One, it has a fleet of nuclear submarines, and two, it does not have the death penalty. That leaves you with France and Britain. And that’s about right.

Think about it. When you empower the judiciary to kill someone, you are not even hoping that the person will be rehabilitated. It is pure punishment. But who’s the punishment aimed at? Sure, it can’t be very pleasant sitting in your cell dreaming up some ludicrous last-meal request that will stump the jailhouse chef, but actually, after the poison has done it’s dirty work, you’re dead and that’s sort of that.

The people who actually suffer most are your parents and your children. And they weren’t the ones who did the crime…”

Follow this link to read the article in full

Anyway, a small diversion. So, last weekend, (or would that be the weekend before?)Keith, Jay and I drove up to Toronto via Detroit and then came back via Niagra and Cleveland, thus I was able to tick off Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania as states that I have now been to. Toronto was amazing. It was truly blissful to be in a big city again. We stayed in a mediocre 4 star hotel (the Metropolitan), which despite not being quite all that for a 4-star was in a brilliant location, downtown not far from Toronto University, beautiful, or the South shore, simply divine to be near water again. Our reason for being there was so that Keith could check out Steve’s studio and we could discuss the possibility of a potential move to the city. While we will be staying for a while longer in Fort Wayne, it was great to see what our options would be should we decide to move to Toronto a year or two down the line. They’ll have to do something about the weather though because there is definitely that whole witches’ tit, brass balls on a monkey thing going on. I’m still holding our for my little slice of writer’s inspiration in the Umbrian mountains or a Florentine apartment but having now visited Toronto I would seriously consider it as a viable option. Everyone was super friendly and I detected a faint dryness in their humour that has been sorely lacking from my life in the past six years.

Our fleeting visit, less than 48 hours, culminated in us driving home via Niagra Falls which was quite a sight despite it being bloody freezing. Niagra itself seems a bit of an odd town, sort of like a mini Canadian Las Vegas. But the Falls were incredible and provided good food for thought along the lines of, wow, isn’t nature clever and what do you think would happen if I dropped my hat/glove/iPod over the edge? Sense got the better of me as I did none of these and merely snapped some photos instead.

You can view some of the photos from our Canadian adventure by clicking on the Photo Album link to the right of the page.

Filed under: englishness, media on November 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

A bit late with this one but here is Jay on Halloween Night. I asked him whether he wanted to be a knight or a ghost. As you can see the ghost won…goodbye mummy’s linen sheets…

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on November 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis on November 17th, 2006 | No Comments »

It seems that my avoidance of soda and fizzy frinks, (save for champagne and mineral water of course), is to be founded on even more substantial reasoning. An article in the Times Online today claims that recent research suggests that cola makes women’s skeletons more brittle. Here’s an excerpt, (bold face mine)…

“Few people perceive cola drinks as “healthy”, but while we suspect that they rot our teeth and expand our waistlines, bone weakness is not a consequence that springs to mind. Until now. A new study shows that for women and girls, drinking just four servings (ie, glasses, bottles or cans) a week of full-sugar or diet cola reduces bone density, which in turn can increase the chance of fractures whether you are aged 16 or 60.

The findings, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, were made by Katherine Tucker, of the Human Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing at Tufts University, Boston. She and her team compared the density of the hips and spines of 1,431 women over five years, at the end of which the heavier cola drinkers were found to have up to 5.4 per cent lower bone-mass density.”

Click here to read the full article.

Filed under: media, culinery delights on November 10th, 2006 | No Comments »

Mid-term elections…as I continually try to grapple with the American political system and how it works, just when I think I have it somewhat figured out they throw in mid-term elections. I read an article in the Times on Monday, by a Brit journalist who had lived in the US for more years than I’ve been alive and his whole conclusion was that mid-term elections came down to football and cowboy boots. Huh? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But as always when no-one here was able to succinctly excplain the purpose of mid-term elections I turned to the Times who provided me with the answer.

So, here, according to the Times Online Newsdesk it what it’s all about:

Elections take place for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This takes place every two years.

Congressmen and women, serving in the House, are elected for two-year terms and so at mid-terms all 435 of them are up for re-election.

Senators serve six-year terms and are admitted every two years, so a third of them (33 out of 100) are up for re-election.

A total of 458 seats were up for election yesterday. And here’s the important bit - since 1994 the Republican Party had controlled both Houses of Congress and since the last elections in 2004, have enjoyed a majority of 5 in the Senate and 12 in the House.

Notice I say had because as of this morning the Democratic Party has taken control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. Democratic success in Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, Ohio and Florida ensured the party a victory. It’s interesting that in such red states, (Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona), Democrats defeated Republicans, although not necessarily with the kind of margin that was earlier predicted. The Senate is still up for grabs as we wait for the final results from VA, Missouri and Montana. The Democrats need to win all three states to ensure a win in the Senate as well.

Regardless of the outcome I think it does say something for the democratic process. Keith and I were talking at breakfast this morning and Keith commented on the fact that it was a shame that the US didn’t have a presidential vote of no confidence like so many other countries have for their democratically voted (and sometimes not so democratically voted) leaders. A four year term might not seem that long but apparently it’s more than enough time to really screw up.

Filed under: media on November 8th, 2006 | No Comments »

I was introduced to s’mores during my very first trip to the United States, ten years ago. It was while I was camping (if staying in an RV can really be considered camping), with Keith’s family at the beautiful Mesa Verde and Wendy and Al made me my first s’more over the campfire, with the rugged, rust-coloured scrags of hills and Anazi ruins in the background. Now I quite like the concept of s’mores; I mean the ingredients are all yummy and delicious in their own right - graham crackers, (which for a long time I thought were “gram” crackers until I actually saw a box and was once again reminded of the differences between US and British English),marshmallows and chocolate. I like all of these. On their own. My first mouthful of a s’more had my sugar reflex going into overdrive. I had never tasted anything so sweet in my life. Anyone who can eat an entire s’more, let alone more than one must have an inability to actually taste sugar. Jay was introduced to s’mores more recently when we visited some friends of ours on their farm and by the lake, around a campfire he experienced one of his first of many American traditions. I noticed Jay was of the same opinion as I. He ate the graham cracker, the marshmallow (several in fact) and a piece of chocolate but refused to eat them sandwiched together. And then the other night I lit the first fire of the winter and Jay demanded “cookies on the fire”. It took me a few moments to realise that he was referring to s’mores. Faced with the dread of eating several tablespoons of sugar and high fructose corn syrup and certainly not wanting Jay to be subjected to such a sugar high so close to bedtime, I decided to pay a little visit to our local Co-op and see if they had the necessary ingedients for “healthy” s’mores.

I can nearly always count on our Co-op and once again they did not disappoint. So armed with the necessary ingredients Jay and I came home and made our s’mores over the fire with the following ingredients: Green & Black’s Maya Gold Dark Chocolate (flavoured with orange and spices), organic New Morning Honey Graham Crackers and Suzanne’s Ricemellow Creme (a brown rice marshmallowed-texture creme). The s’mores were perfect - decadent and rich but not sickly; the marshmallow crispy on the outside, soft and light inside; the bitter chocolate melting into the marshmallow but retaining a little hard knob in the middle to provide texture. Jay had half a one and I had a whole one and they were delicious. Quality ingredients do make a difference.

Filed under: culinery delights on November 5th, 2006 | No Comments »

As I begin to embark upon a marketing strategy and demonstration project in an effort to convince Faculty that using technology in education is both exciting and beneficial to them and their students, I happened to come across a fascinating article regarding the use of mobile phones and personalised multi-media guides to archeological sites and museums in Europe; alternatively known as the Agamemnon Project co-funded by the EU. As a Classics graduate the concept enthralls me. Seriously it really does. So much so that I promptly began looking at going back to do my MA in Classics at the Open University, (unfortunately traditional college full-time is pretty much out of the question). That was until I saw the cost of doing an MA, even an on-line one. Oh my God! You have to have the letters after your name by the time you finish just so that you have some hope of landing a job that pays you a darn site more than the $200 (a figure I read from somewhere that stated post grad students could earn up to $200 more a month than their lesser under-grad counterparts. And this was an article convincining one of returning to do an MA/MBA/MSc.) extra to pay off the cost of the education. So while the desire to do a Classics MA is most definitely there the money isn’t and so I went back to simply being excited about the way technology is moving forward in the Classical world. The article is taken from the IST, a fascinating site if you’ve not before encountered it. Hey if they need a beta tester, I’d be happy to tour the British Museum armed with my trusty 3G mobile phone Ooo, maybe they want someone to “do” Rome. Hey I’d happily be narrator…

A multimedia archaeological tour on your mobile phone

Filed under: travel, tech on October 30th, 2006 | No Comments »

We are the Champions, we are the Champions…

Super congratulations to Fernando and Renault (Fisi and Heikki) for winning both the Driver’s Cup and the Constructor’s Cup of the 2006 F1 season. The Brazilian Grand Prix was fantastic and a suitably fitting end to a wonderful season.

It seems, however, that the 25 year old Felipe Massa has me hook, line and sinker. Yet again when he won I was in floods. Oh, the emotion of it all. He is the first Brazilian to win before his home crowd since the late, great Ayrton Senna. And what a win. He was pole on the grid from Saturday’s qualifying and maintained pole position for the entirety of the race. As he said afterwards “The car was perfect, the Bridgestone tyres were perfect, I drove an impeccable race and all of this at my home grand prix!”. It seems that my beloved Renault and dare I say, Signor Fisichella may be in for some competition next year from the Ferrari driver.

And, in the Ferrari vein, of course it wouldn’t be right to not mention that it was Schumacher’s last race in Formula 1 yesterday as he takes his retirement from the world of racing. I watched an interesting tribute to him yesterday on Speed that commented on the fact that Michael was such an incredible driver that the foolish moves and unsportsmanlike decisions he had made during his racing career were unnnecessary. The guy didn’t need to gain the oneupmanship because he already had it. And while there are drivers I much prefer I know that Formula 1 will not be the same without Schumacher next year. His drive at Interlagos was typically impressive and even though he didn’t win he proffered a race that was testament to his skill and unwaivering determination. From 10th place on the grid, due to mechanical problems in Saturday’s qualifying, to 6th and then 4th only to receive a left rear puncture that stripped the rubber from the tyre, forcing him into 19th position after the pitstop. And then as only Schumacher can, he battled and cajoled his way up the field to finish in 4th! As I said he may not have won but he continued to entertain and impress even as the book was closing on the story of his F1 life.

Final Standings

Drivers

F.Alonso 134

M.Schumacher 121

F.Massa 80

G.Fisichella 72

K.Raikkonen 65

J.Button 56

R.Barichell 30

J.Montoya 26

N.Heidfeld 23

R.Schumacher 20

Constructors

Renault 206

Scuderia Ferrari 201

McLaren-Mercedes 110

Honda 86

Sauber-BMW 36

And so as I’m sure the party continues in Sao Paulo, we start the haitus between seasons and prepare ourselves for changes abound. I know it’ll take some getting used to, seeing Alonso in the black and silver of McLaren and Kimi in Ferrari red. The new rules and regulations set by the FIA and the introduction of “one” tyre (Bridgestone) for 2007 will bring new dynamics to the already unpredictable world of F1. But there’s a new lot of young, brash and incredible drivers making their way up the ranks and I’m looking forward to the likes of Hamilton and Nelson Piquet Jr debuting and injecting new blood into a sport that has caught this proverbial fox right between its jaws.

Oh, yes and it’s snowing today. I suppose it was wishful thinking that it would never come but there it was as I was driving to work this morning - little light feathery flakes descending upon my windshield. Winter. It’s here.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on October 23rd, 2006 | No Comments »

Yes, it’s the final Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season, taking place at Interlagos in Brazil on Sunday. It is going to be an scorcher of a race I know - both for the Driver’s Championship and the Constructor’s Cup. Quite honestly I am just too excited to write anything…

Go Alonso

Go Fisi (3rd place in the DC per favore!)

Go Renault

Currently listening to Melendi’s tribute song to Fernando, “El Nano”. Nothing like a bit of sportsman progoganda to get you psyced!

Filed under: Formula 1 on October 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

Friday afternoons *sigh*.

Having one of those “hmmn-I-should-have-been-a-foreign-diplomat-and-travelled-the-world-or-gone-into-management-for-an-Italian-menswear-company-and-spent-my-days-ball-breaking” moments. The kind that I often have when I feel suffocated by living in a small town and realising that very few of my brains and skills are being utilised and that I am in severe danger of losing any ability I once had at being able to speak not just a second but a third and fourth foreign language. Anyway I have found the perfect song to listen to whilst futilely attempting to reject such negativity. Although it’s from one of his older albums, Heavier Things, John Mayer’s Bigger than my Body is an accurate representation of that waiting for something to happen feeling that myself and so many of my friends seem to be experiencing. That desparate desire to break out of the mould of the 9-5, materialistic world,; knowing that there is something bigger, (because it’s not necessarily better, right?)and that there has to be a role we’re supposed to be playing in moving forward to a freer, more spiritually unified yet more tolerant and understanding way of life. Feeling suffocated by situation and responsibility, by the here and now, knowing that I am capable of so much more and yet feeling totally powerless to do anything about it. One of my favourite books is Sartre’s La Nausée, (perhaps in light of this blog entry I am in fact reading too much Sartre) and in it there is always the notion that an event should be a life-changing moment and in a way it is and yet it isn’t…”But for me there is neither Monday nor Sunday: there are days which pass in disorder, and then, sudden lightning, like this one. Nothing has changed and yet everything is different.” It’s uncanny how his writing seems to creep its fingers into my subconscious and poke me right where vulnerability meets emotion.

My friend, Renée commented on hope being something too many people rely on when they should be taking action which I totally agree with, but I don’t know how else to describe the feeling of the words in Bigger than my Body - maybe I should broaden my vocabulary…inspirational, motivational, promising, words to spur me into action rather than sitting on the hope of them?

A little too egotisically esoteric for the start of the weekend perhaps so here are the words to the song (bridge and chorus)…

Yes I’m grounded

Got my wings clipped

I’m surrounded by

All this pavement

Guess I’ll circle

While I’m waiting

For my fuse to dry

Someday I’ll fly

Someday I’ll soar

Someday I’ll be so damn much more

Cause I’m bigger than my body gives me credit for

…

Maybe I’ll tangle in the power lines

And it might be over in a second’s time

But I’ll gladly go down in a flame

If a flame’s what it takes to remember my name

Yes I’m grounded

Got my wings clipped…

Filed under: self-pity, popculture on October 13th, 2006 | No Comments »

I have just started using Picasa Web Albums and will upload photos every so often. I am in the process of uploading ones from our England trip. You don’t need to register or anything to view them, it’s just like using Flickr or the other web-based photo programmes out there. I’ll still incorporate photos into the blog but figured this was a good way to share many photos with family and friends.

To access the albums just click on the Photo Albums link in the sidebar or click on the below link

http://picasaweb.google.com/MelaineLucy

Filed under: new site, famille et amis on October 13th, 2006 | No Comments »

You couldn’t have scripted the race at Suzuka on Sunday. An incredibly thrilling and unbelievable Japanese Grand Prix. I didn’t bother watching the qualifying on Saturday and ended up just checking the results that night, realising that to my horror and consternation neither Fernando nor Fisico had fared particularly brilliantly and were posed fifth and sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race, despite Fisi’s great practice times on the Friday.

The weather proved fair on race day and Alonso got off to a reasonable start claiming a place from Trulli while Fisi soon after shifted up to start gaining some ground on the leaders. It was clear that Schumacher was on top form and the skills that have made him world champion several times over were displayed as he managed the car with a ferocity of knowing that this race, despite there being still Interlagos in two weeks, would be the one to determine the Driver Championship. After his first pit stop Alonso came out in front of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and then as Ralf Schumacher stops to refuel, slid in neatly to second place. At this stage Schumacher (older) was a good 28 seconds in front of Alonso. After he pits however, the gap closed to around 6 seconds and it looked to be all about Fernando simply piling on the pressure and just inching closer and closer to the German. Both Michelins and Bridgestones were faring well, no major discrepancies between the two and to be honest the opposing cars seemed matched in performance and ability.
The Renault garage must have been positively full of anxious mechanics biting their fingernails and tugging at their collars knowing that the make or break aspect of the race was totally out of their hands as Alonso and Fisi fought to keep Renault in with a chance of winning the CC.

Fisi was running a super race, concentrated and determined and as with Fernando, intent on getting up there on the podium and closing the points gap.
And then Fortune decide to open herself up and pour down on Renault and Fernando for in lap 38 Michael Schumacher had engine trouble, the first time for a Ferrari since 2000, and he retired from the race. Michael Schumacher was out of the race. It was an unexpected twist of fate that had Alonso punching his fist as he glided past the smoking Ferrari at 120 mph, moving into pole position and knowing that the victory was his. His seventh win of the season and so long as he wins in Brazil and unless tragedy befalls him in the final race of the season, (and honestly the way the last few races have gone who the hell knows what will happen?) he can be confident of a second year of knowing he is the absolute best Formula 1 racing driver in the world. No small achievement for a guy of 25 years old.

Massa managed to maintain a steady second which gave Ferrari some valuable points but no doubt his second place was bittersweet in the light of Michael’s tragedy. Certainly his downcast expression did nothing to hide his disappointment at Ferrari’s mischance.

Fisi drove home third much to my great delight. Although as we later learned in the press room during the post-race interviews, his mental race had been through the gauntlet as he struggled to come to terms with the loss of his best friend who had died of a heart attack on the Thursday prior to the GP. I always felt Fisi’s driving ambition needs a mental push and while tragedy is certainly not the fuel for the fire one wants, he ran a tremendous race, strategically sound and showing that he totally can control the car to bring out its best performance as well as his own effectiveness as a top driver. Providing he beats Massa in a couple of weeks I think he can finish an impressive third in the Driver’s Championship. I’m looking forward to how his driving and race results improves next year when he takes over the number 1 slot at Renault. Nothing like a little ego boost to feed the ability and desire to win.

So once again, we’ll be going into the final race in Brazil with a who knows expectation. Except that one thing we do know is that the finale of the 2006 season is going to be suberb.

And maybe Fortune will shine down on Renault just one more time.

Filed under: Formula 1 on October 11th, 2006 | No Comments »

So apparently I should have eaten a lot more spinach during my trip to England as there is currently a stop on the sale of all spinach here in the US due to an E. coli break-out that caused the death of one person and resulted in a rather large number of people ending up sick in hospital. No Eggs Florentine at Spoons* for a while then…

We went out for sushi this evening and discovered that Jay has developed rather expensive and reasonably exotic tastes for a two-year old. He devoured the edamame and miso soup that we had to start with. We then got a sushimi and sushi plate to share which came with a few california rolls which we thought Jay would like. No chance. He went straight for the tuna sushimi followed by the yellowtail sushimi. I then tried to persuade him with a california roll which he toook a small bite out of, made a “bleurgh” face and then reached over and helped himself to the tuna and salmon sushi. I daren’t let him taste toro as we’ll be positively broke!

Really thrilled that Fisico got third in the Chinese GP last week and that it moved him up to third in the Driver’s championship. Although reviewing the Qualifying times today, both he and Alonso will have some serious fighting to do tomorrow at Suzuka. Grudgingly I am accepting that Schumacher is going to win the Driver’s championship and considering he’s retiring, I am slowly conceding that it is only right and fitting for such a great driver to go out on a wave of glory. Quit while you’re ahead and all that.

Recently downloaded John Mayer’s latest album Continuum. His music only seems to get better with each new release. His style and expression keep maturing and he’s one of the best songwriters out there. Continuum is wonderfully nostaglic and yet uplifting with subtle overtones of Simon & Garfunkle and Otis Reading. Perfect weekend tunes. Although I’ve found it pretty good for driving to work, planning a lesson to, winding down in the evening. I guess you could say it’s my current life soundtrack.

* Spoons is our local weekend brunch spot, attached to Mitchell’s book store, it does the best Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine, other than Keith’s. He really does make the best Hollandaise sauce.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, popculture, famille et amis on October 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

Apparently I’m a whole year ahead of myself when it comes to summer fashion. My wardrobe to England consisted of nothing but black and white and what did Chanel show in Paris for their Spring/Summer 2007 collection? Yep, noir et blanc. How super-chic am I?

Chanel.com

Filed under: global englishness on October 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

After our lovely week up in Shropshire and our two days in Paris, once again we trekked Herbie down the English motorway into London for the weekend, before Keith had to head off back to the States. On the Saturday we managed to get in the Science Museum and Natural History Museum as well as a quick visit to Alex and baby Hux. Sunday my mum arrived and Keith left. I then drove Jay and my mum back down to Dorset for a very relaxing week in green pastures. Poor Herbie was about ready to die by the time we got him home. Old VW Bugs are not meant for long distance travelling at high speeds! Still Jay positively loved Herbie and spent every morning asking if we were going in Herbie and every evening making me take him down to the barn after his bath, so that he could say goodnight to Herbie!

The week in Dorset with my mum was lovely. We managed to see my grandparents every day for tea which was super. We also snuck in a day in Bournemouth at the beach which Jay adored. He went from fully clothed to t-shirt and nappy to t-shirt to total nakedness. We ate fish and chips on the beach and then had 99s walking through the town. We came home with sand every where, tight faces and a feeling of blissful well-being at being by the sea. I miss the ocean so much.

On the Saturday Luc drove down to look after Jay and my mum, (who had been in to hospital for an op on the Friday - nothing too serious but enough that coping with a highly energetic two year old was more than she needed; hence my brother…), while I went off to stay with my friend B. Naturally we shopped, did coffee and cocktails, shopped a bit more, watched all the people swanning in and out of the Southampton boat show while deciding which yacht we’d have. Although in the end we decided that really they’re simply too much bother and we’d rather have a nice house in Tuscany! That evening we dolled ourselves up and went out for a wonderful supper and then drinks down by the waterfront before enjoying a leisurely stroll around Gunwharf in Southend on Sea. It has most definitely gone up in the world since I used to go there fifteen odd years ago! It’s a bit like a glorified Docklands now - uber trendy with smart but overpriced condos overlooking the sea. Natually as B and I are apt to do we talked non-stop eventually collapsing into bed at close to four in the morning. Sunday I headed back to Dorset where after a fabulous Sunday roast (roast lamb and apple and blackberry pie and real custard!) at my grandparents’ before Luc drove Jay and I back up to London and we started our last week of our month long trip back in the city I still consider home.

Our week in London went horribly quickly but was really wonderful. I was able to see Sophie and baby Hux every day and we took the boys to the park; St.James’s, Hyde Park, Brook Green, Kensington, shopped, (the new Cath Kidston shop is a delight but very dangerous), ate delicious food (aahh M&S, I do love you) and discussed babies and family and work and everything else that helps us put the world to rights. Friday I took Jay up to Hamleys where we spent three hours in little boy heaven! Then for making me suffer through five floors of toys I dragged him to Liberty and TopShop where he was wonderfully angelic and well behaved and let me try on clothes. We then walked from Oxford Circus down towards Marble Arch only I got fed up of all the crowds so we scooted down a sidestreet and ended up walking through Grosvenor Square and past the embassies which I always enjoy. The buildings around there are incredible. We ended up on Park Lane, walked passed all the posh car showrooms and walked down to Hyde Park Corner where I showed Jay the Alfred Dunhill building at 27 Knightsbridge, where I used to work before we walked the entirety of Hyde Park to get to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. We’d been there about five minutes when it started to absolutely pour down. Jay positively refused to leave so, as any good Brit boy would do, armed with his raincoat and new Kickers he continued to play in the pouring rain while I huddled in the shelters with the other parents enjoying my cup of coffee. Eventually I got him back in his pushchair and we trogged off down High Street Ken before I finally decided we (the royal “we” of course) had done far too much walking and we jumped on a shiny red double decker back to Hammersmith.

Our final Saturday Luc and Claire took us to Richmond Park and we hired bikes and rode around the park enjoying the sunshine. Luck was with us as about ten minutes after we returned our bikes the heavens opened and in true English fashion it poured with rain. By this time we were huddled up in the Cricketers pub overlooking Richmond Green enjoying a pint and scampi and chips. Sunday Luc dropped Jay and I off at the airport at the horrifically early hour of 05hrs30 in order for us to catch our 8 o’clock flight back to Chicago. Eight uneventful but long hours later we arrived back in America to beautiful weather and the impressive Chicago skyline.

And now I’m back at work and Jay’s back at school and as is always the case, it’s almost as if I was never away, except that I have beautiful new clothes and shoes from Europe and a sense or renewed determination to work hard and save my money so that I can move back to Europe. Keith did a tremendous job on the house while we were away and finished the staircase and the kitchen door which now look beautiful in the original oak. He also built me a new wardrobe in our bedroom which makes choosing my clothes every morning a positive delight. Unfortunately I now have all my shoes in the spare room, (yes, all sixty pairs in their boxes) until I decide where they should go. Just call me Imelda…

Filed under: home renovation, englishness, famille et amis, travel on October 3rd, 2006 | No Comments »

The following day we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the hotel before setting off bright and early to catch le metro and head off to Notre-Dame. This was one of the few places in Paris I had never been and so we decided it was as good a place to start as any. While not as big as most of the Euopean cathedrals I have frequented it was very impressive. The architechture is beautiful and the church has a reverence that I feel is missing from places like St. Peter’s (sacrilege I know, I know, especially considering Rome is my favourite city in the world but it is rather museum-like.). We then walked from Notre-Dame along the Seine to the Louvre,

through the Tuillieries to Place de la Concord and the Obelisk and then up the Champs-Elysee where we had lunch and people-watched, my very favourite past-time. After lunch we did a spot of shopping on the Champs-Elysee and then ogled the Arc de Triomphe before heading over to La Tour Eiffel. Personally having already done the Eiffel Tour which is enough in my view I would have given it a miss but Keith was dying to see it

and so we took the lift up to the very top, marvelled in the view before then walking to the Ecole Militaire, getting crepes au Nutella for tea and then catching the metro back to Montparnasse where we submerged ourselves in a French bookshop for an hour finding Jay some livres while I giggled over Tin-Tin and got excited over second-hand Voltaire and Sartre. More shopping for Jay followed as we stumbled upon a little toyshop that sold beautiful wooden racecars. As one looked suspiciously like a Renault we bought “Fisi” for Jay. We then trekked through the cemetary back to the hotel where we had a refreshing citron pressé and a little downtime before we got ready to go out for the evening.
My birthday supper saw us at La Closerie des Lilas. This is a wonderful very French brasserie in Montparnasse, a mere ten minutes walk from the hotel. Greg’s father reccomended it and when we asked the extremely helpful receptionist for directions he aslo praised it highly. The brasserie was a hang-out for many of the literary figures in the early part of the century, such as Oscar Wilde and Hemingway, so I felt it most fitting to be there. The place itself harks back to a time of Humphrey Bogart and the like and serves wonderful champagne cocktails as well as ten different types of osyter. A lovely grand piano and the rich, sultry decor adds to the 1930s American bar atmosphere. The food was excellent although both Keith and I admitted we enjoyed the menu the previous night much better. None the less it was a wonderful evening and a fabulous finish to our twenty-four hours in gay Paris.

Filed under: travel, global englishness on October 3rd, 2006 | No Comments »

I currently have limited access to the Internet as once again I am down in the Dorset countryside at my ma’s cottage, in the middle of fields. Her cottage has no phone and zero computer access which while I don’t miss the phone I do miss the computer. Fortunately my grandparents do have Internet access but it’s dial-up and now that I’m used to wireless FIOS find it painfully slow. Still beggars can’t be choosers and just having the ability to get on-line in rural England is lovely.
I have MANY photos to add but keep forgetting to bring my flash drive up to the grandfolks however I did want to blog a little about our fabulous forty-eight hours in Paris.
We left Manchester airport late afternoon on the Tuesday and arrived at Roissy CDG on time, flying sans problemes through passport control, etc in surprisingly easy fashion. We then managed to locate la gare and climbed aboard our train to Paris la cité. And not to my surprise in true French fashion our train journey which should have been little more than 40 minutes took us almost two hours. I merely assumed that the driver had had a few too many verres de vin rouge. We did meet a couple of nice Zimbabwean chaps who were in Paris for a trade show. As my cousin is from Zim it’s always interesting to meet others from there and hear about the state (very much not improved) of life out there. Eventually we arrived at Porte d’Orléans metro station. By the time I’d found my French tongue again (no comments thank you!) and able to ask someone the way to our hotel it was well past ten o’clock. We arrived at our hotel, a beautiful 4 star in Moroccan style. Except that the receptionist had bad news for us. A film crew had been using the hotel to film (we decided it had to be porn judging from the costumes and it being Paris and all) and that our room was not available. I really thought Keith would freak out, being that it had been many hours since he’s eaten and he has that whole low blood sugar level equals very pissy American thing going on, but he was totally cool and went with the flow. The hotel told us that they had booked us into one of their other hotels and had ordered us a taxi to take us there. So while waiting for le taxi we chilled out listening to jazz in the reception of the Moroccan style decor feeling like we were on a film set ourselves.
Our new hotel, Villa Montparnasse, was, ironically enough in Montparnasse and was absolutely beautiful, far better situated than the hotel we should have been in. Our room was amazing and had a gorgeous wrap around balcony that overlooked the Cemetiere Montparnasse and with a view of La Tour Eiffel. What more could one have asked for of a hotel in Paris? By the time we had dumped our bags and freshened up it was close to eleven pm. Fortunately there was a little bistro on the corner next to the hotel and so because it was Paris, we were able to sit down and order a three-course meal so late at night. The waiter was so apologetic as well as the bistro was closing the following day due to refurbishment and so the entrecote and crevettes were off the menu! Keith and I then enjoyed the best meal that we have had since leaving Europe six, seven years ago. I enjoyed a kind of bruschetta for starter with warm toast covered in pesto, mild fromage de chevre and warm but still firm sliced tomato on a bed of endives delicately laced with balsamic vinegar. Keith had sardines on toast which were heavenly. We then both had bass in a creamy red pepper sauce with sautéed red and yellow peppers and onions. Pudding I had a chocolate soufflé filled with hot chocolate sauce. Keith had lemon and ginger syllabub on a shortbread biscuit. It was absolutely delicieuse. We also had a beautiful red wine from the town where the writer of Tin-Tin lived. This meant nothing to Keith who had never heard of Tin-Tin but I found this terribly exciting.
We then decided that despite it being close to getting up time than going to bed time we had eaten so much that really needed a little promenade and so walked around the beautiful Montparnasse cemetary on what was now officially my 30th birthday.

Filed under: travel on September 18th, 2006 | No Comments »

I cannot tell you how blissfully happy I am to be back on home soil. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by such history; stripey ploughed fields edged with thick hedgerows; little chocolate box cottages; acres of creamy woolly sheep; small eco-friendly cars in Smartie colours interspersed with sleek speed demons in black and silver; leisurely lunches washed down with jugs of Pimms; Turner sunsets over a Dorset countryside. I love coming back to England at this time of year. This September is a perfect Indian summer with crisp mornings and balmy evenings that turn chilly as the sky explodes in violent orange and vivid purple. The midday sun has been hot enough that on Friday Zara (Bunny), Jay and I had one of those leisurely lunches and as we sprawled on our checked blanket in Victoria Park overlooking the Solent and watched the sailing boats and cargo ships, I drank my champagne and looked up at the washed out blue sky and revelled in the fact that I was firmly on England’s green and pleasant land.
The first week here has been lovely. As I said the weather has been fantastic and my 30th birthday celebration has well and truly begun. I am on my second birthday cake, having had my first birthday celebration with family. Wednesday my second cousin/first cousin once removed (?) Miriam had her graduation from Sparsholt College in Winchester Cathedral and then on Thursday we all congregated at my grandparents in Sixpenny Handley. It was a beautiful day and as is typical of such family gatherings we ate far too much and drank rather too many bottles of wine. It was lovely to see my cousins Miriam and Peter and to meet Peter’s girlfriend Ingrid. Miriam is about to embark on a six month trip to Australia and seeing her excitement made me feel very old as I remembered when I finished college and the thrill of knowing that one has the whole world to explore. Peter is a sous-chef at a posh restaurant in Edinburgh. Ingrid is a lovely French girl and has a wonderfully sexy voice like Edith Piaff. It’s a pleasure hearing her speak! I hadn’t seen Peter since before I left for America as he has been in Amsterdam cooking there and so it was great to catch up with him. In the afternoon Bunny and I took Jay down to my mum’s cottage for his afternoon sleep; we then sat in the garden under the apple tree lapping up the sun and putting the world to rights as we looked out over Richard’s extensive vegetable garden edged by the mortuary at the bottom and then smoky brown harvested fields beyond. Teatime saw us back at my grandparents for birthday cake number 1. My uncle and other cousin turned up soon after with champagne which ended the day rather nicely.
On Friday we enjoyed our picnic and then drove over to Lymington where we caught a boat to the Isle of Wight. Jay absolutely loved this and got a real kick out of all the different types of boats. He particularly liked the ferry boats and the concept that the cars could go over the water via the ferry. Later in the evening we met Kwong and Bunny took us out for super at Café Uno in Lymington where I was thoroughly embarrassed and enjoyed birthday cake number 2. And where apparently I also had some cute biker guy crashing into a plant as he walked passed me and I smiled at him. Whilst smiling back he apparently walked straight into a plant! This I sadly missed but got great pleasure when B told me, at knowing that even as I am freaking out at turning 30 I can still dazzle them with a smile!
I have been tearing up and down the country in my mum’s 1990 VW Beetle convertible, imported from Brazil and brought over from Deutschland by my mum. It’s a bit scary driving it on the motorway as once you hit 70 mph it feels like things are going to start dropping off but the car is incredibly fun around country lanes, with the roof down and wind tangling your hair. Jay adores it as he thinks that we have a real live Herbie. The day we were at my grandparents he thought it was great as Peter and Ingrid were driving an old Mini and then my uncle has my mum’s old Audi TT. These are Jay’s three favourite cars in the world. He was in his ultimate heaven.
Today I picked up Keith from Gatwick airport and then drove the looong drive up to my dad’s in Shropshire. Keith and I are off to Paris on Tuesday and I am very excited. Figured it was the only way to spend my 30th birthday.
And because no entry would be complete without mention of it…Italian Grand Prix at Monza domani. Here’s your chance, Fisi and Alonso to give me a really good birthday present. First and second place would be lovely please.

Filed under: englishness, famille et amis, travel on September 9th, 2006 | No Comments »

There’s nothing like an emotional, twenty-five year old Brazilian racing driver fighting back the tears as he struggles with the reality of having won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix to bring a tear, or two or three, to my eyes. Actually in reality when Massa stood on the podium with that trembling bottom lip, gulping down the emotion as his national anthem played the tears were full on streaming down my face. It’s the whole sporting victories thing, magnified by the fact that for once Massa didn’t have to play second-fiddle to Schumacher and was able to demonstrate what a terrific driver he really is.

So congratulations to Felipe Massa, Ferrari’s no.2 driver, who not only took pole on the grid but went on for his first podium win at the Turkish Grand Prix yesterday. He pulled away from the pack right from the start and despite the pressure from the world champions behind him, succeeded in maintaining a beautiful drive and a good lead enabling the Brazilian to bring home the chequered flag. Two first time wins in two consecutive races, apparently not a common occurrence; the last time it happened was in 2003 with Heidfeld and Fisichella. As I mentioned with Button – it’s rather nice to see a different face taking the victor’s cup.

Not that Massa’s victory wasn’t of course, completely overshadowed by the almighty battle that raged on behind him between Alonso and Schumacher for second place. The last twenty laps of the race left me absolutely exhausted as the two of them pushed their cars in a fight that Hector and Achilles would have struggled with, (those Trojan horses have a hard time on the tarmac anyway); Alonso intent on not allowing Schumacher to get passed, Schumacher constantly vying for that opening when he could slip the Ferrari around the Renault and grab onto the much needed points for the championship position and success in the Constructors Cup. But, thankfully it wasn’t to be and despite the number of times when it looked like it just might happen, Schumacher failed to overtake the Spaniard’s car and Alonso slid into second place over the finish line, half a car’s length ahead of Schumacher.

For once it seemed that the race was all about the drivers. Despite the heat, 97 degrees air temp I think it was at the Istanbul Park raceway, and the well-known fact that Bridgestone seems to always fair better, Michelin seems to have got its act together and Renault’s tyres finally proved a hearty match for Ferrari and the Bridgestones. Ironically it was Schumacher’s tyres that blistered due to his pushing the car so much in an effort to make up time from the very lengthy pit stop where Ferrari brought in both he and Massa at the same time???

Onto a quick recap of the race. Before the cars even got around the first corner there was the usual F1 calamity. Massa and Schumacher came dangerously close in an effort to block Alonso; Fisico slammed on the brakes so as not to hit his teammate and ended up spinning out, getting hit himself and losing his R26 nose. Raikkonen, amongst the fray, also was forced to pit for a nose cone replacement only then to find himself having to retire from the race as his rear tyre exploded and he ended up in the tyre barrier. In lap 13 Luizzi spun his car and stalled the engine resulting in the safety car coming out. This gave Alonso the needed opportunity to gain ground on Schumacher and close the gap between the two champions. In lap 15 the race leaders pitted only Schumacher is forced to wait behind Massa allowing Alonso to leave the pits ahead of him putting the Spaniard in second place behind the race leader, Massa.

Nico Rosberg ran an excellent race and until engine failure forced him to retire in lap 24, maintained a steady position in 5th place. Jenson Button was in fourth place, keeping a steady hook on Schumacher who seemed to have dropped back a little of Alonso’s pace. After the second pit stop for Schumacher, Massa and Alonso the race leaders maintained the same position – Massa was clearly running the race of his life out in pole position, Alonso in second and Schumacher raging hot on the heels of Alonso’s Renault.

The last 15 laps of the race were magnificent with a real dogfight going on between Alonso and Schumacher. Listening to the commentators was brilliant as they kept stopping mid-sentence to insert a gasp and an “Oh, he’s got him…no he hasn’t…can Schumacher take the lead over Alonso on the next corner? Yes he’s going to do it…no he’s not”. It was great. Alonso always just managing to hold off Schumacher behind him. A real test and demonstration of driver ability.

Felipe Massa, after having started and remained in first place for the entire race crossed the finish line to triumph in his first Grand Prix victory, some 13 seconds over Alonso who by the skin of his teeth took second with Schumi pulling up third. Jenson Button finished fourth, quite respectable I think after his Hungarian win; de la Rosa finished fifth and Giancarlo Fisichella, driving a superb race, pulled himself back from near the end of the pack after his first corner mishap, to finish in sixth place. Ahh Fisico…

So with only four races of the season left the Constructor’s Cup is now totally up for grabs between Ferrari and Renault as only two points separate the two teams. Thanks to Alonso’s second place over Michael, he has taken his lead for the driver’s championship back to 12 points. Something he is surely breathing a sigh of relief about.

Which takes me back to the beginning of my blog entry and to Massa standing on the podium…absolutely fantastic race for the Brazilian. Felipe Massa well deserved his win and for once to have the limelight beaming down on him rather than his teammate, Michael Schumacher, who showed good sportsmanship and was obviously thrilled for Massa. Yes, Ferrari does have two world-class drivers. Indeed Daniel Jackson…

Filed under: Formula 1 on August 29th, 2006 | No Comments »

Two days until the Istanbul Grand Prix…Sela, why haven’t you finished your military service so I can come and stay and we can attend the Grand Prix live?

“Speed… I am speed.” Believe it Alonso and Fisico. I’m feeling good about Sunday’s race despite the ruling by the FIA on determining that the mass dampers are illegal. It’s all drivers and tyres, skill and rubber boys…

“Losers? I eat losers for breakfast” - Lightning McQueen

Filed under: Formula 1 on August 24th, 2006 | No Comments »

Butter wouldn’t melt…

Filed under: famille et amis on August 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

This link is to the house that I dream about owning. As it is not too horrifically expensive, (hey, it’s all relevant) perhaps one day I might actually be able to sit on the terazzo and look out on the Italian country garden with the little statue of Neptune and write my books. As my mum always tells me you have to have a dream in order to motivate you to. There has to be more than just wanting to be financially independent or to have a job you enjoy. So this will be my home. It’s big enough to accomodate guests but not so big that I won’t have to have an army of maids to clean it although the odd gardener might be nice. Plus it was built the year I was born so I think there’s rather a nice poetic fate to it. Regardless whomever buys this house, I will be buying it off them…eventually.

http://realestate.escapeartist.com/P-2002045/

Filed under: travel, global englishness, living the dream on August 14th, 2006 | No Comments »

While London and no doubt much of Europe experienced a day in the life of the post-terrorist, 9/11 world today, I was immersed in a day of training and instruction at the ICI (Independent Colleges of Indiana) Instructional Technologies Summit held at Indiana Wesleyan University. Although I still grapple with America and its dichotomy of globalising the world and yet still remaining so insular and unaffected by world events and global changes, particularly in the world of implementing mobile technology into learning and instructional practice, I was quite impressed that for the entirety of my journey from Fort Wayne to Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, a journey that took about an hour, NPR succinctly and almost non-stop covered the events and effects of what had taken place in London this morning. For once I didn’t feel so out of touch and cut off. Of course now that it’s the end of the day and I’m home again, I shall merely download the necessary podcasts from Radio 4 and listen to the BBC news from lovely English reporters who say ‘nuclear’ and ‘Iraq’ correctly and use phrases like “travellers seemed not to mind the additional queues…”. Ah, the BBC, such a British institution.

Yes, so I spent my day listening to ways to improve the integration of technology into distance and mobile learning; how to develop effective instructional design methodologies and competency based technology training. However, if I am truly honest, other than the keynote speaker who was absolutely fantastic and it was worth going for him alone, I must say I did not learn that much more. Apparently I know a lot more about Instructional Design and technology integration in education than I thought.

The keynote speaker, as I said, though was brilliant. He was a chap called Bryan Alexander, a professor at Middlebury College, a liberal arts university in the wilderness of Vermont and Director of Emerging Technologies at NITLE http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/nitle. He has the appearance of Hagrid and a phenomenal mind. He spoke on Web 2.0 and the use of technology in academia and the pedagogy behind it. I would have been quite content to listen to him lecture all day and not bother with the rest of the stuff. He made some really interesting and totally thought-provoking points.
I’ve noticed in working with education and in particular distance learning and technology where the technology becomes the focus that often the instructor/facilitator/educator/whatever you want to call them continues with the same methodology or pedagogy despite the fact they now have tools that require them to also “bring up to date” their teaching. That’s not to say that good content should be changed, good content is good content and just because a professor now has a PC Tablet and Wikipedia and podcasts available, if their content and teaching is lacking technology isn’t the asnwer. Dr. Alexander’s pointed out that in information ecologies, the spotlight is not on the technology but on the individuals that use it. And the more I think about this, the more I realise how absolutely right he is. In academia we are currently facing a phenomena as yet unprecented, particularly at undergrad and grad level, (and I’m sure in schools as well) where the student has technological expectations of a professor that aren’t being met. The informational overload can be overwhelming but with it is a wealth of opportunity to reach out and instruct and teach students as never before. Some of the key areas that Dr. Alexander spoke of regarding Web 2.0 are the following

• microcontent
• social functionality
• open content/services
• network constructivism

For me it is perhaps the social functionality that has the biggest impact. In July of this year Technorati provided researched figures approximating the existance of 50 million weblogs. 50 million. The ability of open-faced publishing is astounding. Blogs are enabling global distributed conversation on a scale that has never before been achieved. Productitvity is inexplicable on collaborative writing platforms such as Wikipedia. And what’s really interesting is that these sites and platforms are not coming out of the academic world. They are a result of public and social functionality under the umbrella of the web. Podcasting is another technology that no-one could have, or really was, prepared for. What an opportunity for instructors! And the international global consequences. Diverse learning on a global scale. Particularly when you tie it in to the fact that outside of the USA the number of young people using their mobile phone technologies to not only pick up calls, text, photo, video, listen to audio including podcasts but also surf the web, vlog, game is growing at a rapid rate it opens wide the possibility of using a mobile phone to listen to real-time lectures and interact with classmates in an online learning environment. On an ironic note the USA is many years behind the rest of the world when it comes to mobile phone technologies and platform capabilities.
Dr.Alexander’s discussion really struck a chord with me and was a good source of inspiration as I begin the new term and try and determine what I really want to do within the realm of my job and how I can best translate my knowledge of learning technology, in particular distance and on-line learning, to the professors in a way that introduces them to the incredible profusion of technology that’s available to them and their students, without alienating the essential nature of the pedagogy. A exciting challenge to be sure.

I’m off to listen to War of the Worlds. Don’t say a thing…

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence” - Robert Frost

Filed under: tech on August 10th, 2006 | No Comments »

This is a really nice review from Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix and echoes my feelings exactly about the race and how it played out. It was truly a much needed burst of refreshment in the staleness of the Formula 1 season.

http://www.grandprix.com/race/r763racereport.html

Filed under: Formula 1, englishness on August 9th, 2006 | No Comments »

Before I get in to the race I do have to do the patriotic bit and congratulate Jenson Button on a fantastic race. I was quite emotional when I heard the National Anthem and realized that it was a Brit standing up there in first place on the podium. What really made me smile though was that just the day before Luc and I had been chatting about Jenson Button and Luc was saying I needed to be more patriotic and support the Brit. My reply was “when he starts winning I’ll start being supportive!” How I am eating crow! I was thinking about it last night and wondering if his win was a default win, (due to drivers such as Alonso, Schumi and Kimi being forced out of the race…more on that later) but the more I thought about it the more I decided that Button won because he deserved to win. Honda had a great strategy that worked and Button ultimately was the best driver of the day. Even before Alonso’s disastrous retirement from the race, Button had been hot on his heels and so who’s to say that Button may not have won anyway? He moved up from 14th place, due to a last minute engine change, to win. He ran a great race and after 113 grands prix, to finally claim his first victory, is fantastic. Of course now he’s done it once, the door is wide open for further wins. Good on you, Jenson, superb race.

Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring was the epitome of Formula 1. Phenomenal racing, wicked power struggles, totally unexpected appalling weather conditions, a steady stream of retirements.

Just brilliant.

The weekend started with fabulous controversy when Alonso received penalties for blocking and overtaking under a yellow flag resulting in him starting in 15th place on the grid and then Schumacher received a penalty for overtaking during a red flag so he ended up 11th on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen won pole position and I really thought that Kimi would end up taking the Hungarian grand prix. Then when the race started it was pouring with rain and so there was the inevitability that those teams running Michelins would do well, and this absolutely proved to be the case. Renault didn’t bother with the mass damper and so the competition was truly down to tyres and strategy. Bridgestone just doesn’t perform as well in the wet and the track was soaking. But once the race got underway both Alonso and Schumacher made surprising headway with the Ferrari driver moving up to fourth and Alonso up to sixth from 15th. Most of the cars started on the intermediate tyres which seemed to be the most effective. Kimi had a tremendous start and by lap 10 had opened up a pretty good 8 second lead. At this early point in the race, Klien, Mark Webber and Yamamoto had already retired from the race. Then the weather really started coming down and a few of the drivers pitted early to change to full wet tyres. I thought that Fisichella would run a great race; he seems to excel in adverse weather conditions and true to my expectations he and Schumacher had a nice little battle on the track. Fisi was totally on the defensive and the two cars bumped on more than one occasion with the final result leaving Schumacher losing his front wing, forcing him to pit and allowing Fisi to gain some much needed ground for Renault. However not more than three laps later Fisichella spins off the track and although he carried on for a few more laps he was eventually forced out of the race, leaving his teammate driving blind and having to battle the Ferrari alone.

As they came up on lap 25, however Alonso showed that he didn’t really need the help of the other Renault driver and he actually lapped Schumacher. Things really started to get exciting at this point. Kimi drives into the back of Liuzzi’s Toro Rosso and the McLaren is complete toast, wheels flying off and everything. Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg are also out bringing up the total of retirements to seven. It was at this point that Jenson Button started making serious headway into the lead position, moving up to second behind Alonso, just in front of De La Rosa. The track also started to dry out adding yet another dimension to an already thrillingly exciting Grand Prix. Immediately the Bridgestones started to perform better and Schumacher moved up to sixth, putting him in a viable position for a podium position.
In lap 52 Alonso pitted and changed his tyres to dry but as he moved into turn 2, you saw the nuts fly off his rear wheel; he took a dive into the tyre barrier and was forced out of the race due to a driveshaft failure. Sorry Fernando, snakes on a plane.

By this time I was half sitting, half standing, not able to believe that Schumacher might actually win the Hungarian Grand Prix and have a possibility of taking home the overall Championship. But this wouldn’t be Formula 1 without another sudden turn of events and with two laps to go until the end of the race, Schumacher suffered handling problems and was also forced to retire! Oh calamity - I could not believe it. It doesn’t get much more exciting than this. Button had a 40 second lead and victory was clearly his as he claimed the chequered flag for Honda. Pedro De La Rosa finished in second for McLaren and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld took third.

As one of the commentators commented it was nice to see some different faces on the podium for a change and I do agree. Jenson Button’s exuberance was charming and even De La Rosa looked as pleased as Punch to have taken second place. Heidfeld was typically German and looked rather miserable, perhaps made more so because Jenson knocked his cap off during God Save the Queen. Who the hell wears a hat during a national anthem anyway?

The Hungarian Grand Prix was by far the most exciting race yet of the season and proved that you just cannot predict what will happen. This was the first time it had ever rained on the Hungarian track and talk about throwing a spanner in the works. With only five races left, it is going to be one hell of a finale in the world of Formula 1.

On a sidenote, Jay can now say Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Fisi and Kimi. He knows that Michey drives the red Ferrari and that Fisi and Alonso drive the same colour car. Kimi’s car he’s not sure about. I figure we’ll have to learn Jenson Button and Rosberg next. By the end of the season I might just have him polished up on all the drivers!

Filed under: Formula 1, englishness on August 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

I have an affliction.

Not a particularly bad one but definitely one that deserves some blog time. I have developed a habit of reading book reviews on the web, in newspapers, in magazines, people’s reccommendations and then I write the title, author and publisher on a sticky note and put it in my handbag or filo-fax (totally 80s I know but I love the Filo organisation!). When I changed over bags the other day I had twenty-three post-its fall out, each representing a book that I intend to purchase and read. This is not including the five or so that are stuck firmly in my filo-fax.

I cannot throw them away. They represent more than just a good read. Each sticky note holds the promise of escapism and absorption, words on which to pack bags and get on a plane and step out the other end in an exciting and cultured location,(a sandy beach, an Egyptian tomb, a martini at Harry’s with a handsome stranger…), the possibility of new friends and interesting passers-by that I can watch through the shaded veil of my sunglasses, the potential to live another’s life for the duration of several hundred pages. They’re not all fiction, some are travel, histories, a few biographies, perhaps a few Instructional Design or International e-Learning textbooks (in which I most certainly do not get “lost” in). But in most of the sticky notes I can be someone other than who I am. So I simply piled them on top of each other, sticking them neatly together to form a little book of sticky books, and then I put them back into my bag until the time that I actually manage to get to the book shop for a period of time longer than what it takes for me to grab a coffee and a copy of British Vogue and F1 Racing and actually buy the paper manifestations of my sticky books…

Filed under: literature on August 4th, 2006 | No Comments »

Along with Renault’s last minute decision to remove the controversial mass dampers from the R26 and the knowledge that their Michelins would likely blister, (which they did), I’m not sure Renault had much of a chance on Sunday. Clearly neither Alonso nor Fisichella were mentally in the race despite some nice driving by both of them. Sadly it was all too sporadic and I think, the concern for the state of the tyres kept both drivers from really pushing the cars and therefore making any headway into the huge lead initiated and maintained by Ferrari.

The fact that qualifying on Saturday resulted in poor grid spots, fifth for Fisico, seventh for Alonso, proved an ominous sign indeed. Seventh on the starting grid for the world champion? Not good. Not good at all. And rarely throughout the race did Alonso show any particular signs of fighting back. As Michael Schumacher said “We had had a superb weekend. Our car just functioned really great.” And that was the whole point. The Ferraris ran a fantastic race. The Bridgestones delivered top performance and quite honestly Ferrari outshone the other cars by a long way. The fact that both Massa and Schumacher kept up a pretty consistent lead of almost 20 seconds demonstrated just how superior their cars were.

Even Jenson Button finished ahead of Renault and as a fellow Brit I do have to show some support for a British driver, but really? Button? And Kimi put in a great race to finish third from pole but even he didn’t stand a chance of catching the illusive black horses.

A real shame for Nico Rosberg who crashed his McLaren on the second lap. As well as Rosberg, Yamamoto, de la Rosa, Heidfeld and Barichello were forced to retire along with Mark Webber, who ran an excellent race and then experienced engine failure in lap 60, with only 7 laps to go. You know he was kicking himself. A real shame.

So as it stands Alonso and Schumacher are only separated by a mere 11 points with ten points separating Renault and Ferrari. I’m starting to get a bit anxious. If the Michelins aren’t sorted out I’m fearful Hockenheim won’t be the last time Renault sees the rear end of Michael Schumacher’s car crossing the finish line to claim victory. Fisico’s fallen back into fourth place in the driver standings and is now equal with Kimi. It’s just not good…

…but you know what? I love it! This is Formula 1. Because at the end of the day it’s all about the competition and it’s the competition that makes my blood run hot and the adrenaline pump and makes me feel that I’m sitting there in the race car, smelling the hot, burnt rubber of the tyres and the chemical smell of the fuel as it’s propelled around the rumbling, over-excited mass of metal that with every gear change, sticks its neck out and aches to run free; pushing itself to the max revs until the next gear change and the ecstatic sense of brief release that lasts for just a mere nanosecond before the revs are pulsating again and the car is once more straining forward, longing for its next gulp of air.
It’s this synonymy of Formula 1 and competition that captures my attention and unbridled passion for the sport.

Filed under: Formula 1 on August 1st, 2006 | No Comments »

Apparently our green friend is a katydid, pterophylla camellifolia. He was making his way across our back porch on Saturday late evening so being good parents, wanting to teach Jay, we caught him and put him in a jar for the following morning when we let him go on the front porch and followed his progress for a short while as we did our David Bellamy and Richard Attenborough bit, suitably oohing and aahing. It was a darn site more interesting than the subsequent driving I then watched - still wrapped up in dispair for Alonso and Fisi’s disastrous performance. Schumacher now has an extremely viable chance of winning the championship and Renault are on precarious ground for the Constructors’ Cup…

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Bugger off and let me wash my feet in peace. 

Filed under: indiana on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Leptophyes punctatissima perhaps? 

Filed under: indiana on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

At the beach 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Hmmn, not that cold. 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Summer barbecues 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Easy riding - going for a ride on Craig’s Harley
 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

I am in quasi-mourning over yesterday’s race and am still trying to formulate what happening to Renault, therefore my usual post-race blatherings are going to wait until I am in a more positive mood about the results. The results, posted below, tell all that needs to be told though…

On the other hand I am most grateful to F1 and the phenomena of world time zones that I was able to watch the race at the early time of 8 am on a Sunday morning and then still go out and enjoy my day. Which, I most defintely needed to after the sorry state of affairs. I routinely bemoan the fact that I am a ridiculously long distance away from the ocean and a beach, something I miss enormously about living in England and so Keith, who either fed up with my land-locked cries or deciding that Jay needed some “beach” experience, drove us up to Michigan City on the coast of the great lakes and to the Indiana Sand Dunes National park, or somewhere like that. Either way there was a sandy beach, (quite nice actually) and water that had waves. Plus the lake is big enough that I couldn’t actually see anything on the horizon and so it sort of felt like the ocean. Except that it’s freshwater and not salt water. But hey, I’m not that choosy. Well I am but this was definitely a case of beggars can’t be choosers. After a two hours drive, that for the last forty-five minutes had the sky getting blacker and blacker and even thunder and lightening obscure our view of anything remotely resembling a nice day, we arrived at the beach to pouring rain. So in good Brit style we ate our picnic lunch in the car and then decided to hell with it and went down on the beach. The boys didn’t care about the rain but I was armed with my trusty umbrella, (yes, I’m English). To our delight after about twenty minutes the sky cleared, the storm passed and like little creatures edging round rocks people started appearing again from the sanctity of their cars to set up their spot on the sand. To my amazement the water was surprisingly warm although I’m still in doubt as to whether this was from the 90 degree weather or the two industrial smoke stacks and the corresponding power generators I could see at either end of my line of vision on the beach. Either way Jay and I swam in the water, I can’t really call it the sea, and Jay and Keith made sandcastles. It was a lovely day.

Now that we know that a beach isn’t that far, despite the summer almost being over, we will venture up there more. It’s been horribly humid here in Fort Wayne - 95 degrees with a heat index of 103 and humidity at about 80%.

I may as well get it over and done with…here are the results for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)

2. F.Massa (Ferrari)

3. K.Raikkonen (McLaren-Mercedes)

4. J.Button (Honda)

5. F.Alonso (Renault)

6. G.Fisichella (Renault)

7. J.Trulli (Toyota)

8. C.Klien (RBR-Ferrari)

9. R.Schumacher (Toyota)

10. V.Liuzzi (STR-Cosworth )

11. D.Coulthard (RBR-Ferrari )

12. S.Speed (STR-Cosworth )

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on July 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

I think we’re in for a good weekend at Hockenheim. Home country of Schumacher, Alonso still fighting him off, tensions ablaze, temperatures hot and humid much like the atmosphere on the track. Isn’t this why we watch Formula 1? The excitement and thrill. Oh and maybe, just a small contributing factor, because of the ultra sexy drivers

With only seven races left including Sunday’s race and Alonso with a 17 point lead over Schumi I think that anything can happen. Now Alonso seems particularly level-headed, he’s a calm but determined driver, off the track epitomises the horizontal Spaniard but surely he’s got to be getting a little hot under the collar. If nothing else this weekend will be more about mental determination as much as about skill as a driver. In a grandstand of red tivosi all backing Schumacher, Alonso’s going to need all his focus on the matter in hand. Pushing that R26 to its maximum performance and maintaining a solid and fast drive. Despite the weather conditions, it’s going to be hot and sticky, the similarities with some of the previous tracks where Alonso has won, might help him.

According to the Renault engineering team, the stats for running the car this weekend will be as follows:

Downforce – medium-low

Suspension – relatively soft settings, bump rubbers, forward mechanical bias (which means that the suspension is stiffer at the front that at the back of the car)

Engine performance – 71% of the lap is spent at full throttle but this is still a low throttle track in comparison to the other F1 tracks due to the low speed corners. Hockenheimring is a demanding circuit for engines and an engine that can pull strongly from low revs is an advantage. The R6 is running the RS26, a V8 2.4L engine. On the same vein due to the scorching temperatures on the track the engine develops something known as acoustic offset, meaning that peak power is developed at higher revs shifting the power-band upwards. Being able to use greater rpm, which the C spec RS26 does, is a definite advantage for both Alonso and Fisichella.

(Stats taken from http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4699/762.html and http://www.renaultf1.com/en/car/engine/)

I’m interested to see what the qualifying brings tomorrow. I noticed that both Alonso and Fisi did a couple of practice laps but that Schumacher didn’t. Not that this means anything, perhaps simply more of the mind games or more likely Ferrari knows its car is good to go. Looking forward also to seeing Rosberg’s performance in front of his home crowd. Nothing like supportive fans to boost the moral and performance.

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

I am in the downward spiral at the moment of reflecting a lot on opportunities missed. Options that presented themselves in the past and I never took. And not that I regret this, at least I’m trying not to because it’ll drive me crazy and essentially it’s up to me to create favourable situations in my life, for which I have the ultimate power to do so. Of course those little things called money, a job, responsibilities and obligations, etc do tend to limit the ability to simply pack up one’s belongings and head off into the sunset to find one’s fame and fortune. Regardless my mind has been doing a Marcel Proust on me and as race day looms at the Hockenheimring I am painfully reminded of passing it almost every day and despite mine and Keith’s constant “we really should go and watch a Formula 1 race there”, never managing to actually go and see a race despite living a mere ten minutes away. Well, perhaps closer to twenty minutes but driving at 120 mph on A6 distance soon becomes irrelevant. Although I did notice that there was actually a speed limit of 120 k for about five miles running parallel to the race track. The polizei must have field days with all the boy racers (and one particular English blonde) who fancy themselves as racecar drivers. Not that speeding is the sin that it seems to be here in the US. I lose track of the times I was stopped for speeding, although ironically I was typically stopped for doing two miles over the speed limit (we were in Germany after all) rather than simply trying to kill myself at breakneck speed on the Autobahn, and was merely given a pitiful look by the polizei, (I was driving under US Army plates); his thought process clearly “Americans! They cannot drive. It is only natural that they should wish to prove themselves by trying to take over a German manufactured BMW in their ugly American Ford that might sound impressive but is in actual fact pathetisch,” (please note that I did not drive a Ford - I don’t “do” American cars - but overtaking a BMW in a VW Golf is entirely doable and so didn’t fit with the story)…Anyway I completely digress. Needless to say that I merely spent a lot in speeding fines during my years in Heidelberg and yet the first time I got stopped for speeding in the US they fined me stupid amounts and made me go to a two day driving school! And still I digress.

The point is I am really glad that now, once again living in the reasonable proximity of a F1 track (alright, so it’s an hour and a half as opposed to ten minutes but I’m in America. Everything’s bigger) I seized the opportunity and actually did what I said I always wanted to do and went and saw the US GP.

Somehow though, the memories of attending big events in the Mannheim area, always accompanied by good Pils and bratwurst in brotchen, serve only to remind me how much I loved living there and despite what people think, that the Germans really do know how to party. Or perhaps they just know how to drink and so everything just goes downhill, or uphill, from then on.

Filed under: Formula 1, travel, global englishness on July 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Bloody technology! Sometimes I amaze myself at my stupidity. So I updated my template - again - yes, yes, I know, but it’s a bit addictive and I thought the last one was a bit hard to read, and stupidly, very stupidly forgot that when I update the template it wipes out any changes, etc that I’ve made to the template such as adding links, footers, etc. And even more foolishly I didn’t copy my html/css feed for the footer and now I can’t remember all the code for it. And can’t seem to get the Powered by bit correct.

Ahhhhhhhhhh/tearing hair out/swearing loudly at the computer screen.

If anyone who actually understands this stuff, becasue really I just pretend to, and can help me with re-adding the footer code. pleeeease let me know. It’s driving me crazy! And I think I used movable type only I absolutely cannot remember.

Update 26/7/06 - my intelligence astounds me. Thanks to the wonderful world of internet code sites and computer nuts I was able to figure it out; no movable type, little css, just some good ole’ html. Ahhhhh/gentle sighing/kissing of the computer screen.

Filed under: new site, tech on July 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

I just finished reading July’s edition of F1 Racing magazine and finally, someone has said something about Schumacher’s stunt in Monaco. Hello, did I not say something back in May about how unacceptable it was? Anyway F1 mag ran a big article and cited all the wierd (and dangerous) moves that Schumacher has pulled over the years. A very interesting article and I am really pleased to know that I am not the only one who thought the move was completely unsportsmanlike. Perhaps one of the top drivers in the world (and I don’t dispute that he is a fantastic driver) is getting a little concerned that at 38 there are finally some very incredible, young drivers who are not only up and coming in their racing ability but also bring with them a return to the real sportsmanlike quality of F1. The ones who don’t blame all of their poor driving on the cars or machinery and accept that yes, sometimes you just have a bad day and your driving sucks. Drivers like Alonso, Rosberg, Kimi, even Mark Webber are not only great drivers but they’re team players. Even Fisico, with his hot-headed Roman temperament has provided a strategical role for Renault despite driving in his team mate’s shadow for most of the season. It might be time Michael, to accept graciously that yes, you have acheived greateness in the world of Grand Prix but perhaps it’s time to pass the torch. Having to resort to underhand motives to better one’s qualifying time or to decrease the potential times of fellow racers, is just not behaviour becoming of someone who has seven Formula 1 world championships to his name. Possibly more contemplation on this to follow but for now I’ll step off the podium…

Filed under: Formula 1 on July 24th, 2006 | No Comments »

You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince… 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 23rd, 2006 | No Comments »

Hangin’ out with the gorilla 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 23rd, 2006 | No Comments »

Sunday morning at the zoo 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 23rd, 2006 | No Comments »

Warriors, get to it!

Show your stuff

Get moving, get hustling, get mean, get tough.

Gooooo Warriors!

The Warriors (American) football cheer from Centarus High School, Denver, CO. For some strange reason Keith remembers this very well. Thought it appropriate as I attach a most amusing picture of Keith at 17/18 years old at the graduation of one of his friends, Dave Dawson from Centarus. Keith had left Centarus the year or two years before and graduated from Columbine High School. The same Columbine that fell vicitm to the awfully tragic shootings several years ago. I see that Dave already has the big rock and roll 80s hair going while Keith is doing a very excellent imitation of Luke Skywalker.

Filed under: famille et amis on July 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

Yeaaaaaaah 

Filed under: famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Bringing on the heartbreak

Filed under: famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Let’s rock & roll

Filed under: famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Jay’s Top Ten songs, well, twelve really, based on dancing and air drumming response. Heavily influenced as you can see by what gets played in mummy’s car on the way to school/work. Anything by Def Lepard is enjoyed due to the huge potential for air drumming and air guitar. The new John Meyer song and most everything by Keith Urban due to the expanse of fiddle and guitar that’s featured. Also anything on the Eros Ramazotti Live album for the primary reason that there’s lots of cheering and yeahs which are very easy for a two and a half year old to get down to! If you’re not familiar with Fountains of Wayne byt the way check them out, they’re brilliant. Oh and I’m convinced that when he (Jay) sings, he’s singing in Italian!

1)Almeno Stavolta - Nek (L’Anno Zero)

2)Angel nel ghetto - Nek (L’Anno Zero)

3)Alcohol - Brad Paisley (Time Well Wasted)

4)Life is a Highway - Rascal Flats (Cars Soundtrack)

5)Rain Please Go Away - Alison Krauss & Union Station (Lonely Runs Both Ways)

6)Friday Night - The Darkness (Permission to Land)

7)Photograph - Def Lepard (Vault)

Stella Gemella/Dove C’e’ musica - Eros Ramazotti (Live)

9)Hot Fudge - Robbie Williams (Escapology)

10)Bright Future in Sales/Stacy’s Mom - Fountains of Wayne (Welcome Interstate Managers)

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Sprinkler fun

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

The egg

Filed under: famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Concentration for Renault no.1 driver 2024

Filed under: Formula 1, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Alonso ain’t got nothing on me

Filed under: Formula 1, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

So I was downloading the pictures from my camera and was in the process of editing and naming them as I always do and one of the photos, shown above, of Jay in the racecar simulator I titled Renault…2024. Jay will be twenty in 2024. It wasn’t the fact that he’ll be twenty. I can’t wait until I can pack him off to uni and out the house! It was the fact that it’ll be 2024! For some reason that seems very futuristic. I have a very awful dance version of the song In the year 2525 and all I could think if was that song and how so much of Orwell’s vision is now a reality and that Aldous Huxley is probably shuddering to think that his position on overpopulation and overorganisation has manifested itself so articulately in the world today. Did you know that Huxley wrote Brave New World in only four months? Incroyable.

Yeah, so this 2024 business. It’s just wierd to me. For some reason it has really struck a chord with me and I’m having a hard time getting my head around the fact that it’s not really that far away. I seem to be able to deal with years up to 2010 and then after that it starts feeling a bit surreal. Protestation against the passing of time and youth perhaps?

Blah, blah, psychobabble. Reading a great book at the moment - Nelson’s Purse. It’s fascinating and I feel I’m learning an integral part of England’s history despite the fact that I did actually study that for Common Entrance exams at 13. What, you mean I’m actually supposed to remember the stuff I learned at school? Check out the publisher’s blurb - if you’re interested in history, it’s a great read.

Nelson’s Purse

Still recommending John Berendt’s City of Falling Angels as well. I think it’s the better one when compared to In the Garden of Good and Evil but perhaps because I’m biased towards anything Italian and I have actually been to Venice. I have not yet managed to get to Savannah although it is one of the few places in the States I would actually really like to go to.

Terri - you’ll be pleased to hear that I have found somewhere to walk/run at lunchtime. There is a huge cemetary near the university. Macabre I know but it has great walking paths and is very beautiful; as well as the headstones and graves there are lovely fountains and grottos, some pretty impressive mauseleums all set in a grassy, wooded area of about 30 acres. Other than the crazy groundsmen who are a bit of a hazard on their quads it’s perfect for walking. Much better than being along side a busy road. I have yet to find a walking partner but for now company designation falls to my iPod who manages to keep me suitably entertained. I do miss walking with the girls at Pru though and am not looking forward to the wintery walks here come October. A bit different from walking in a balmy Phoenix winter.

Ciao for now!

Filed under: Formula 1, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Running off all that sugar with cousin Logan

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

In the water at the zoo

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Ice-cream Zoolander - because I’m really, really, ridiculously good-looking…

Filed under: popculture, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Wild Things

Filed under: famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

All aboard to crazy town - Keith, Wendy, Al while the bored teenagers pretend not to know their family - Lane & Logan

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

They’re just ibis

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Zoo? Whatever, totally missing the racing.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on July 19th, 2006 | No Comments »

Sixth place? Are you kidding me Giancarlo? So Fisi’s qualifying was pretty so-so and even though he did manage to move up one place from seventh to sixth during the French Grand Prix, he’s just not using the Renault to its best capabilities. He’s a good driver and he has a good car - let’s see some results Signor! At least he picked up some points for the Constructors’s Championship though. I was a little disappointed in Alonso too although he ran a good race and managed a not that safe vault into second place over Massa, but 16 seconds behind Schumacher? Way, way too much. Yes, the Ferrari is a great car and they totally have the Bridgestones figured out but really, Alonso (and you too Fisico), you’re driving a Renault, on Michelins, in France…need I say more?

The race had its moments but overall I felt it one of the more staid ones, The Magny-Cours circuit is quite nice but as with Indy, I don’t think it’s terribly exciting although the Adelaide hairpin corner always proves interesting for the more inexperienced drivers. But Schumacher’s lead put him clear in the victory right from the beginning and the rest as they say is l’histoire.

I await Hockenheim with bated breath and hope that it’ll be a more exciting race and that Alonso and Fisichella will give Ferrari more of a run for their money. Hopefully Fisi’s change of engine will take the parameters up a notch and provide some optimal performance. It’s a good job you’re good-looking Giancarlo…

So you know that my life does not revolve around Formula 1, (well actually it does just a little), we did have a lovely weekend with Keith’s sister and husband and their two teenage boys. They drove up from Denver and arrived with us on Friday evening. Saturday was super hot and humid but we managed a day at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo which is surprisingly excellent for such a small town. Photos to follow. Saturday evening was spent enjoying food, kudos to Allen for the brilliant barbecue, and wine and then Friday night’s season opener of Stargate SG-1. Lane and Logan are fortunately as geeky as their uncle and sci-fi is always a winner. It’s going to be an interesting season though, those ori are pretty devious. Nothing like mass conversion through mind-control and guilt…hmmn so it seems organised religion is pretty much the same whichever world or universe you live on.

Sunday we did the brunch thing at one of our favourite bistros, Spoons; which they thoughfully attached to Mitchell’s bookstore which has a fabulous children’s section full of toys, legos, trainsets, PlayMobil, oh and books. Lots of them. It’s one of those bookstores where time seems to stand still and before you know it you’re spent half the day there. I seem to have this same experience in most bookshops though. Sunday afternoon the boys being good teenagers and deciding that they’d had quite enough of being with their uncool parents and aunt and uncle stayed at home while Wendy, Al, Keith and I headed off to the very hot Three Rivers Fesitval. Which was a bit lacking seeing as none of us were really up for being inverted into a 180 ferris wheel or launched from a giant teacup or any of those other fun fair rides so instead we made our way to the nearest mall and contented ourselves with a ride on the two-storey carousel and the inevitable Starbucks. Which turned out to be a much better choice anyway.

Starting to count down my days until my holiday to England. And enjoying the luxury of wardrobe planning in my head. I so love travelling, particularly when the plane is flying in the direction of away from the States. Did I mention I think I’ve been here too long? Most definitely needing a green and pleasant land fix.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on July 17th, 2006 | No Comments »

So, I have almost converted Jay from his love of Nascar to Formula 1. Apparently it takes more than actually going to see Formula 1 cars and Michael Schumacher in person for a two year old to be convinced. I am under the impression however that his Nascar obsession is due partly to a little film called Cars that’s currently out. Bloody media! We’ve been to the “tall TV” twice to see it. He’s pretty enarmoured with the cinema but I think being able to have popcorn that’s salty and over-processed rather than the healthy, boring stuff that mummy makes at home makes it somewhat more enticing!

So he goes to bed with all (about ten and growing) of his Cars diecast characters, Lightening McQueen and Mack tucked firmly under his arm, (poor Sophie lamb and Hugh are being quite neglected) and yet last night his lego Formula 1 Ferrari and Michael Schumacher actually made it into bed as well and were at the top of the last for being brought downstairs this morning. Then when I turned on the tv for my morning dose and drool of last night’s recording of Anderson Cooper I had totally forgotten that it was the practice race for Magny-Cours today. I know how could I forget with my current obsessive levels maxed out? Sooo, anyway…because I’m totally anal about recording all the Formula 1 stuff I had preset it and so it automatically changed channels. When Jay saw the track and the drivers in the pits he had a big smile on his face and kept saying “go-go cars” as I was trying to put on his shoes and get him out the door for school. To my absolute pleasure, he usually loves going in my car in the mornings, he protested hugely claiming, “not mummy’s car, go-go cars, fewwawi”. Ah yes, I might make a F1 driver out of him yet. I keep telling him that Nascar is for cars with no imagination - you just keep driving around in circles for goodness sake - how can that possibly be fun driving? But then comes into play my other competitive factor for Jay’s fondness for Nascar. His complete and total love of Herbie. Yes, the love bug. But not the old ones, oh no, old Herbie, the ones I like, Herbie goes to Monte Carlo, Herbie the LoveBug, oh no they are old mummy. He likes the new Herbie with the cute girl and the up to date music and the more professional production. And Herbie wins the Nascar cup so of course Nascar is best. I think he’s going to totally freak out when I take him back to England in September and he sees that mammie has a real Herbie. A real live same-coloured, convertible Herbie. He’ll love my mum forever after that!

Anyway so as it’s Friday and I finish work at noon on Fridays during the summer, Jay and I will be clued to the practice in France this afternoon. The short glimpse I had this morning before walking out of the door was of Giancarlo excitedly showing off his Italian World Cup winning sticker on his helmet. I have high hopes for you on Sunday Fisico! On a side note, I thought Montoya’s decision to move to Nascar from F1 was very interesting. Such a different style of racing and totally different mentality and everything. It’s so US v. European driving - big and brash v. sleek and stylish. (I really miss Europe). Dare I say it but I would have thought it was like taking a step back in your career…maybe I won’t go there, it’s too close to my own situation! Am slowly developing a soft spot for Williams’s Nico Rosberg. He seems to have huge potential and being so young it’ll be nice to see him develop as a driver and hopefully go on to achieve some great wins. I think he has it in him.

On a geek note - new series of Stargate SG-1 starts tonights.

Filed under: Formula 1, popculture, famille et amis on July 14th, 2006 | No Comments »

As some of you may have noticed there have been many changes, odd publishing and some darn strange editing and formatting going on over the past forty-eight hours to the blogsite. I am in the process of learning html, css and FrontPage and so my poor blog has become el guinea pig. As you can imagine my frustration levels are pretty high - it’s a bit like learning a new language; you think you’ve got it sussed and then find out you’re ordering a squashed car rather than a refreshing squeezed lemon drink! But the rewards are well worth it. Depending on how my progress goes I am contemplating doing my own website rather than just a blog.

Oh my God…I’m turning into a computer geek. Thank goodness there’s only two more months until the new season of the OC starts again and I can revert to my shallow, clothes-adoring, gorgeous-guy oggling self. All this thinking and like using my brain is like, totally you know, so hard work. Totally.

Filed under: new site, tech on July 11th, 2006 | No Comments »

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Team Renault - Happy Fans

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Ferraris - victory lap / Fisi - post race lap

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Racer boys & racer babe

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari)

2. F.Massa (Ferrari)

3. G.Fisichella (Renault)

4. J.Trulli (Toyota)

5. F.Alonso (Renault)

6. R.Barichello (Honda)

7. D.Coulthard (Red Bull)

8. V.Liuzzi (Toro Rosso)

9. N.Rosberg (Williams)

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

What?

They’re loud papa

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Giancarlo Fisichella, Fernando Alonso

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Fisico Fans

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Team Schreiber (supporting Renault & Maclaren)

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

An amazingly busy weekend – we celebrated Keith’s birthday on Saturday with friends round for a barbecue and drinks. It must have been a great party because both Keith and I woke up the next day with hangovers, something neither of us have done for a while. I was on g & ts which I know accounted for my fragile state the following morning. I really should remember that I can have a gin and tonic and then need to move onto beer or wine in order to maintain a decent level of sobriety. Anyway we passed a merry evening and Keith received some lovely pressies including a real English dartboard – of course now I’ll have to teach him how to play. Can’t be that hard right, you just aim for the middle of the circle. Well, probably very hard after three or four or perhaps five g & ts.

So as you probably all know Sunday we drove down to Indianapolis for the US Formula 1 Grand Prix. We left Fort Wayne to blustery storms and rain, (and returned to microbursts and gale winds) but enjoyed sunshine and weather in the high 80s, low 90s at the Speedway. I cannot tell you how exciting it was to be there. We had already received the lowdown on where to sit and which viewing mound was the best, from one of our friends, Wes, who attended last year. Thanks to my foresight and OCD planning I had got us a parking pass and we had a spot just opposite the main gate – very handy. I felt supremely self-satisfied as the police waved us on while all the other cars without parking passes had to veer off down unknown alleyways to find a parking spot.

The crowds were fantastic and truly, truly cosmopolitan. People must have flown in from all over the world to attend and judging from the licence plates driven from all over the United States as well. Apparently it is the largest spectator event in the United States; more than 130,000 fans turned up on Sunday.

As we climbed out of the car with about forty-five minutes to go until the start of the race, we were already swept away with the excitement and exhilaration of it. All the way along the road leading from the motorway to the Speedway fans were decked out in t-shirts and caps supporting their team and driver, many people waved flags, huge giant things that wafted back and forth like sheets on a washing line; stands lined the end of Crawfordsville Road and 16th street enticing race fans to buy more memorabilia and further tokens of support. We managed to hold off until we were inside the stands and then the rush of adrenalin and the sea of red and blue and yellow that surrounded us made us cave in and we succumbed to the atrocious cost of race merchandise and were soon purchasing a hat for Keith and I and a t-shirt for Jay. Keith, despite wearing a Ferrari red polo-shirt, opted to support Kimi Raikkonnen, (a good bet if it hadn’t been for the almighty crash at the first corner). I naturally went for the blue and yellow of a Fisico-signed cap and Jay, by default, ended up in a Renault t-shirt, again from the Giancarlo Fisichella Collection, (no kidding – it says that on the label!). As it turned out it was just as well Jay and I were all out for Fisi because Alonso was a bit of a waste of space.
So, there we were, proud in our team colours, joining the throngs as we made our way across the Bridgestone bridge to the viewing mound just before corner 8. It was a perfect position. The cars came up the straight doing 180mph and then slowed down to 35mph around the corner. Just incredible. Seeing those machines that close was unbelievable, they’re like works of art with all the parts and pieces working in perfect symmetry and motion. It was loud but I have to honestly say that it wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be. I did call my brother and just as he answered the cars came hurtling down the track. In my excitement I forgot the phone and so all he heard was that unmistakable sound of very loud and very large angry bumblebees. When I redialed it was to Luc laughing.

The race itself was fantastic. To my surprise, although I shouldn’t have been as the Bridgestones have always run better at Indy than the Michelins, (hark back to last year’s fiasco), Alonso ended up fifth in the qualifying with Jarno Trullo fourth, Fisi in third and Massa and Schumacher second and first respectively. And I have to say for all my digging and dislike for Michael Schumacher he ran a superb race. And what was wonderful was that you could tell he was loving every minute of it. There was a moment later in the race, (he’d pretty much determined a win by this time) when he came up the straight, eased off the gas far earlier than necessary so that he was gliding by the fans, who naturally screamed in delight before he gunned the engine and zoomed off round the corner, Massa hot on his tail.

As the cars pulled away from the start Felipe Massa snuck in front of Schumacher somewhat disarming the Ferrari strategy. This was immediately put to the backburner as around the first corner six of the cars ended up in a huge pile-up, supposedly due to Montoya but who knows. There were a few scary roll-overs but thankfully no-one was seriously injured although the cars were rather totalled. Raikkonen, Montoya, Scott Speed (the only American – poor guy looked utterly crushed as he walked off the track), Heidfeld, Klein and Montagny were all out. Lap 5 saw Jenson Button retiring with engine problems and in lap 11 Monteiro left the race. Villeneuve’s race was over in lap 24 and Christijan Albers never came out of his pit stop to return to the track. In lap 64 Ralf Schumacher retired after a wheel bearing failure, leaving nine cars in the race. Ironically only three more than last year when the race was deemed a complete disaster and many fans demanded their money back; with the future of Formula 1 at Indy suddenly balancing very precariously. However the race this year was so exciting even with the turn of events at the first corner on the first lap that I think the US Grand Prix has managed to redeem itself. After the first pit stop Ferrari’s plan is back on and order on the track is restored once again as Schumacher took the lead for the remainder of the race to finish with a clear and outstanding victory. His team-mate Massa gave him a good run for his money and Ferrari unequivocally deserved their top two places on the podium that day.

Fisichella ran a great race but Schumi and Massa were well ahead of the game with an 11 second lead over Fisi. Fisichella performed some good driving and well managed to keep Trulli off his back although there were a few precarious moments when you know Briatore was telling him to step on it! It was clear that Fisi’s Renault was by far the lead car out of his and Alonso’s. At times it really seemed that Fernando was struggling to keep control. Michelin better get those tyres sorted by next year. But over all a bloody good race and an even better atmosphere. If I had the money I’d be flying around the world following the Grand Prix season. It is utterly addictive.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, famille et amis on July 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

I’m so excited I can barely stand it. Only four days to go until the US Formula 1 Grand Prix in Indianapolis. Our tickets are on the fridge and every morning I look at them and get just a little more excited. The Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday was a great race with a suitable amount of crashes to make it interesting. Alonso took a substantial lead right from the word go and kept it throughout the race despite some great driving by Kimi Raikonnen and yes I admit it, Schumacher. The lovely Giancarlo made second in the qualifying and then promptly committed a false start earning him a penalty drive through and allowing Kimi to slot neatly into second place off the grid. Although in Fisico’s defense the lights were held overly long. Anyway he finished a respectable fourth, in spite of his penalty. They had a nice article/interview with him in this month’s F1 Racing magazine.
Anyway I think we should be in for a good weekend. We have Keith’s birthday party celebration on Saturday, Grand Prix on Sunday, back to work for Monday and then it’s Independence Day holiday on Tuesday. And yes I totally agree with all your Europeans who are thinking why the heck would you go back to work for one day and then have a day off on a Tuesday for a national holiday? Les Étas-Unis est fou, non? I know; most countries would say to hell with it, let’s have a four day weekend. But oh no, not America. Land of the free and all, gotta get your money’s worth out of the workforce. Besides you give people too many holidays they might start creating anarchy. Actually I absolutely cannot complain, I get great holiday time at the university; quite comparable to what I had in England actually. I just can’t help the factitiousness.

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02250.jpg" border="0" />Sunset at the Old Fort href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02249.jpg" border="0" />Mélaine & Jay, Old Fort href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02242.jpg" border="0" />Old Fort, Fort Wayne href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02234.jpg" border="0" />Flying high at the Greek Festival, Fort Wayne href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02257.jpg" border="0" />Lovely new floor - aaah, (think I’d obviously had a few too many beers judging from the focus of the picture.) href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, home renovation on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02204.jpg" border="0" />Nasty carpet gone href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, home renovation on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

First week completed at the new job! It’s a real shame that the girl I’m taking over from is leaving because she’s really nice and it would have been awesomely fun working with her. C’est la vie. Anyway the university is totally twee and I love it. It’s very quiet at the moment due it being the summer hols and all so none of the students are around. They do have summer classes, about 24, which is nothing obviously compared to the 200 plus they have once fall semester starts at the end of August. This is a perfect transition time therefore. Plus at the beginning of August the department I work for, Education Technology Centre (yeh, yeh, me and computers, I know), is moving into new digs. The uni is building a very nice new building, the Pope John Paul II building – it’s a Catholic college remember – which will house the library, the ETC department and several other faculty departments. I’m particularly excited as I will have my own office with a view of the lake. Quite a step up from the cube world of corporate America!
I’m getting to know lots of new educational software tools which is exciting plus it’s interesting seeing how the academic world view technology and its usefulness in the expanding world of on-line learning and computer-age teaching.
The university is a Franciscan run college and has a nice set of values that everyone is entrusted to carrying out. Each year the uni chooses one of the five values as their annual mission so to speak. This year it’s “reverence the unique dignity of each person”. I really like this and find that as a daily reminder it helps me to be more cognizant of others, their individuality and hopefully more understanding and less critical/presumptuous. I’m working on this last one.
Jay seemed to do great at playschool although by Thursday he had totally cottoned onto the fact that it wasn’t just a one-time thing and I did get some tears as I left. But he’s doing fine and seems to have a packed full day discovering lots and learning to speak with an American accent. So much for hoping he’d end up with a toffee-nosed English accent. Still I’m sure a few years at Winchester or Harrow will straighten that out! I would hate for him to think that z is zee and not zed.
Along with the new job and Jay’s new school we are still working on our house. Still stripping the paintwork off the oak wood which is a slow process mainly due to the chemicals used to clean it after the bulk of the paint is removed. The fumes are pretty strong and both Keith and I are sure we killing Jay’s brain cells before they have a chance to grow. So this weekend in an effort to feel like we were proceeding with the house, Keith ripped up the carpet in our sunroom/library/TV room and laid wood floor. It looks fantastic and I am hugely impressed, mainly because he did it all by himself, save for the door thresholds that our next door neighbour Patrick assisted with. As one who is somewhat DIY inept I am always vastly amazed that anyone should be able to complete that sort of thing in a day and a half.
So the next chapter starts with the new job and Jay away at school and we’ll see what it all brings. Am really looking forward to my visit back to Angleterre in September and am so excited about seeing baby Huxley or Huck as Jay calls him. Too cute.

Filed under: indiana, home renovation, tech on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02169.jpg" border="0" />Petit grenouille href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02167.jpg" border="0" />Just keep swimming href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02143.jpg" border="0" />Huckleberry Jay href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02134.jpg" mce_src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02134.jpg" border="0">Mummy in the children’s garden, Huntsville Botanical Gardens href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: famille et amis on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02113.jpg" mce_src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02113.jpg" border="0">Mammy & Jay href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: famille et amis on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

Okay, okay I know I’m behind several weeks. Thank you to those of you who feel compelled to remind me that I have not updated the blog for some time. Take note, I’m writing!
I decided that before I start the new job I should grab some down time and have a little holiday as once back in the big bad world of American working life the word “holiday” has little meaning. So Jay and I trekked down to Huntsville, AL to stay with mummy and Jerry for five days or so. It was wonderful even if every single mosquito in Alabama decided that my sweet English blood was to be their breakfast, lunch and supper for the entire duration of my sojourn. I do miss the bugless environment of Arizona! Anyway so Jay and I had five days of luxuriating in 80 plus degree weather, swimming every day and generally being very lazy. We did manage a day out at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens which I have to say far surpassed my expectations. They are truly excellent and equally rival many I’ve seen in Europe. They have a fabulous children’s garden that is just brilliant and one of the best water lily selections I’ve ever seen. We got talking to a woman who was one of the founders when they started the gardens in 1998, (I think) and she came out several times a week to work on the daylilies and hosters. She later revealed that she was 86! I would never have guessed it. Which goes to show how therapeutic gardening is. I knew the English had it right!
I also got “dragged” along to mummy and Jerry’s favourite and much frequented antiques shop owned by the lovely and very darlings Mark and Leslie. Much to my bank account’s despair they were having a vast sale of paintings. I was very good though and bought only a small oil original by a local artist. It’s of strawberries in a blue and white Chinese dish and made me think instantly of English summers. I also happened to have just the space of my sitting room wall for it. Ma and Jerry acquired a rather impressive oil of a Conquistador that has been affectionately named Francisco. Jay decided he had a close enough appearance to that of a pirate and when I think about it, have to say that he’s probably spot on! So goodnights then included not only Mammy, Grandpa Jerry, ADATS (the golden retriever) but also Pirate.
As I said, we managed to swim every afternoon which was heaven. The first day Jay was a bit dubious but quite enjoyed it and naturally by day five could swim brilliantly with his inflatable ring and blow quite impressive bubbles. Although his favourite water pastime still remains launching himself off the side into mummy’s arms. He is such a boy. I took him swimming at the local pool when we got back to Indiana at which he was totally unimpressed due to the fact that he was not allowed to wear his ring nor was he allowed to jump in. I think he reckoned there wasn’t much point in swimming after that.
All in all my trip to the south was most enjoyable and as always just super to see mummy and Jerry. I love their house, my mum has the enviable ability to decorate and furnish a house so that it looks like something out of Homes and Gardens or Veranda, but manages to do it with such ease of hand and effortlessness it makes me want to come home and throw all my stuff out and start again! And Jerry is the perfect Southern host, cooking up a storm and making us feel hugely welcome even if they both are aghast at the sudden disaster zone of toys and legos everywhere and picked flowers when no-one is thought to be looking.
My trip was only marred by the lengthy journey back which was fine until I reached Louisville, KY and then was stuck behind a police car all the way from Louisville to Indy. I don’t think I’ve ever driven the speed limit on that road – it was more than painful. Made only marginally less so by the rather dishy chap (definitely foreign) in the silver Mazda 3 who was positively aching to put his foot down on the gas and obviously as annoyed as I was. We were finally able to put our cars to the test on the Indy ring road, my speed held down only by the fact that I can’t risk another speeding ticket and that I had a horrible notion that his car was actually faster than mine. Though I refuse to believe that! Still at least it wasn’t an American made car – that would have been utterly shameful. Now Keith’s going to tell me that the Mazda is made in somewhere like Indiana or Michigan or somewhere equally prosaic. I know in another life I am supposed to be a racing driver. Perhaps I can do rally driving. But then I’d need a co-driver…Regardless I will do the Dakar race before I die, although the race itself is likely to kill me I’m sure…

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on June 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

style="CLEAR: all; FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3109/2037/320/DSC02090.jpg" border="0" />Sunday in the Park href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'>

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on May 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Too busy enjoying the sunshine and gloriously hot weather, I’ve waited seven months to be able to garden in my bikini - but just wanted to say that I have been offered a job and have accepted it. As of June 19th I will be the Instructional Designer at St.Francis University here in Fort Wayne. Bit odd because the college is so very similar to St.Mary’s in Strawberry Hill where I went to uni. Anyway super excited particularly about having my own income again. I can now buy shoes completely guilt free again knowing I have thoroughly earned those gorgeous BCBG knee high, riding boots! In amongst the sun worshipping this week am checking out the playschools and hope to find one that Jay will actually learn something in. We have a few possibilities and then next year I can pack him off to Canterbury, (our posh private and tres cher “Euro” school here in Fort Wayne). He is definitely ready to start some kind of programme so the timing is quite good actually.
And my holiday back to England in September is still on too.
Anyway going back to drool over the sexy Giancarlo in an article on Sunday’s Monaco race. Sooo pleased Alonso won, especially after Schumacher’s typical arrogant and unexplanatory stoppage stunt in the qualifying, (what was he thinking and don’t blame it on the car mein Herr; Ferrari’s don’t always go wrong.) Idiota Giancarlo earned himself penalty points in the qualifying and ended up 8th on the grid but did move himself up to finish 6th with some pretty decent driving but sadly nothing spectacular.
Between Fisichella and BOSS CEO Josh Bernstein,(nice article about him in this month’s Success magazine), I am currently in obsessive lust with two very handsome and driven, (no punn intended), unattainable men. Oh wait, I’m married. Damn…

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1 on May 31st, 2006 | No Comments »

Keith & Jay 

Filed under: famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

Me & the olds

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

Biaggi’s spaghetti & meatballs

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

Me & my papa

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

I said no pictures. Bloody paparazzi… 

Filed under: famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

Now, I love my family as much as the next person but there is a reason why I loved boarding school and have always tended to live on the other side of the world from my nearest and dearest. I have recently just enjoyed a very wonderful visit from my papa and stepmum. I was unable to order decent weather but we had a good time anyway and they still managed a couple of days of golf at the course at the end of our road. I even had a few, (well, many actually) moments of wishing I was back in England so that Jay would actually grow up knowing what it’s truly like to be British instead of this blah pseudo-Anglo upbringing he’s being subjected to. I find it hard knowing that Jay doesn’t really know his English family. Anyway back to my temporary loss of sanity. So two days before my folks left, Keith’s parents arrived and they are now staying until after Memorial Day. So for forty-eight hours I had two sets of parents and a cantakerous two year old under one roof. Aaaahhhhh (repeated many times - Thank God for Riegels’ Pipe & Tobacco shop on Jefferson Blvd that keep me in supply of Dunhills!).
I think I asume that because we don’t see anyone throughout the winter months, (and who can blame them? Indiana is bloody awful in the winter - if I didn’t live here it would absolutely not be my choice of holiday destination,) then I am fully prepared to cope with a month of non-stop visitation from family. When my Great-aunt died one of my dearest friends sent me a text with the words, “I wish you peace, strength and grace.” I am currently applying this to my current role of hotelier.
Still, my desire to be alone again has somewhat been forgotten due to the fact that it is the Monaco Grand Prix this Sunday. I have high hopes once again for the lovely Giancarlo and am pretty sure that Alonso will maintain his performance record. I keep going into a temporary flux of dreamy desire at the thought of all those powerful, deliciously fast and menacingly complicated F1 cars hurtling through the streets of Monte Carlo and allowing the t.v. audience to catch glimpses of the tempting azur sea and the millionaires’ yachts that litter the harbour of one of the cleanest and neatest towns I’ve ever been to in Europe. Lugano in Switzerland being the cleanest so far of my travelling experiences.
Starting to count down the days until those exciting cars and gorgeous drivers make their way across the pond for the US Grand Prix that takes place a mere hour and a half from me at the Indianapolis Speedway. And yes, I am definitely going. You think I’d miss the chance of possibly seeing Signor Fisichella up close and personal? Are you mad?
Oh God, I almost forgot…Sophie had her baby. A beautiful little boy called Huxley James. He looks a complete poppet and I can’t wait to see them both in Spetember when I’m back in the Motherland. I’m so thrilled for her and really pleased that she had a boy so that she has all the horrible monsterishness to look forward to! I know I’m not the only one to think that five is too young for boarding school!

Filed under: Formula 1, famille et amis on May 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

I knew Giancarlo could do it if he put half a mind to it. Not just a pretty face after all. I am pleased to report that Fisichella took third in the Spanish Grand Prix after Alonso’s first and Schumacher’s second. I was totally caught up in the excitement of Alonso’s win - a win in his home province with a home crowd, including King Juan Carlo, watching. What a rush that must have been. You could tell that he was just so thrilled as in the post-interview he was trying so hard to remain cool and not just grin from ear to ear. It was a good race and he deserved to win, putting in some great lap times and keeping control over the Renault. More points for Alonso, Fisichella and Renault - yippee!
American mummy’s day yesterday and despite the bloody crap weather, (I truly despise the weather in Indiana), that we’ve been having here lately I had a lovely day. All I really wanted to do was work in the garden but the pouring rain put a stop to the best made plans and instead we took a trip to the Science Museum in town. It was fab and super tactile, perfect for Jay. He just loved it and as is fast becoming my mantra, if a two year old is happy, I’m happy. Then spent the late afternoon watching the racing followed by a lovely roast cooked by Keith.
Am super excited as my best friend, Sophie, back in England is due to have her first baby any moment now. I spoke to her on Friday and she’s doing well. I think the final waiting and anticipation is getting to her and I’m like the worst person to speak to at this point because I had such an easy labour and so my whole advice revolves around, “Oh, you’ll be fine. It’s nowhere near as bad as everyone says. It’s all mind over matter!” She’s tough though and I know she’ll do great. At least nowadays there’s so many drugs they can give you that something’s bound to take the edge off.
Just finished reading a book my ma had passed on to me - Anne Lamott’s Plan B Further Thoughts on Faith. Absolutely fantastic. She is a great writer and had me both crying and laughing to the point where I was crying. A definite recomendation for all my feminist girlfriends.
Signing off as lots to do - have an interview tomorow morning for an Instructional Designer position. Not many of them come up in Fort Wayne so figured I should go for this one…

Filed under: indiana, Formula 1, literature on May 15th, 2006 | No Comments »

For those of you who complained about having to register, etc. in order to leave a comment I have adjusted my settings and you should be able to comment without registering.

Filed under: new site on May 2nd, 2006 | No Comments »

Having wallowed in my misery and overindulged in chocolate and two many past M&B novels over the weekend, my rejected writer’s mind received its final cathartic exercise - spending a very wet and dreary Sunday afternoon on my own watching the
the sun shining brightly and the Italian tifosi suitably attired in red t-shirts and designer shades at the San Marino Formula 1 Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. I have to say there is nothing like watching beautiful cars being driven by very sexy men hurtling around a scenic Italian track at 200 mph. Talk about fantasy…anyway despite my drooling the fourth Grand Prix of the 2006 calendar proves to be an absolutely superb race, despite the fact that for most of the race there seemed to be only two drivers in contention.

The race starts and immediately the safety car is dispatched as Christijan Albers crashes his Midland race car rounding the Villeneuve chicane. Unharmed but with a trashed car he is out of the race. By lap 7 Trulli is also out due to steering column failure. Schumacher is already leading the pack at this point and although Fernando Alonso is showing some impressive driving Schumacher’s Ferrari team-mate, Massa is exercising Ferrari’s lucid tactical moves as he slows down to keep Alonso’s Renault at bay. At lap 20 Schumacher goes in for his first pit stop and Alonso kicks up the heat by eating up some serious track to lessen the 13 second lead owned by Schumacher. Alonso still needs to go in for his first pit stop but Renault’s delayed stop shows foresight as Alonso comes out of the pits just behind Schumacher to take second place to the German’s lead.

I am literally on the edge of my seat with an incredulous smile on my face as I watch Fernando Alonso desperately trying to get past Schumacher. A mere 0.346 second gap separates them and in the 37th lap Alonso makes his tenacious move at the Tosa corner. Schumacher retains pole position despite Alonso’s efforts. The tension is truly unbelievable as in the 41st lap Alonso takes his second and final pit stop early in an effort, perhaps, to outwit the Ferrari team. The Renault’s change of tactics forces Schumacher to take his car in for his second pit stop in the 42nd lap and in a feat of luck (there has to be an element of it in F1) and an obviously impressive strategical move the Ferrari car pulls out literally a wheel revolution in front of Alonso’s Renault. It was incredible. A heart-stopping wonderful piece of Formula 1 driving. Alonso must have been absolutely kicking himself seeing the red car slide onto the track in front of him and knowing that the chances of overtaking on the tricky Imola track were now unlikely.

With still 20 laps to go Alonso just cannot get past the Ferrari but sticks to the heels of the prancing horse like the truly skilled driver he is. Sadly with all the down wind and dirty air from the Ferrari, the Renault finds itself struggling and towards the 58th lap, it’s pretty clear that Alonso is going to have to settle for second place, his tires losing grip and the car severely over-exerted. An absolutely fabulous race, Schumacher pulls in for first place with Alonso and the Renault team coming in second. McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya takes third, Felipe Massa of Ferrari fourth. Raikkonen, Webber and Jenson Button come in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

While I am of the firm opinion that Schumacher is, quite frankly, a bit of an arrogant tosser I have to admit that the man can drive and I suppose it is only fitting that Ferrari should take pole position at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. I mean really, it would be a bit embarrassing if they didn’t. But Alonso’s driving was excellent even if the Renault later tactical move not so hot and it sure made for some serious suspenseful television watching.

I am hoping that this Sunday’s race at Nurberg will be equally as exciting. I do wish that Fisichella would get his arse in gear and commit to a decent race. The man is just too darn sexy to be such a bad driver. He’s got the skill just not the balls. But maybe he’ll surprise me…

Now that the sports commentary’s over I’m going to get the little boy up from his afternoon sleep and prepare myself for Monday night at the Literacy Alliance. I do hope it’s not maths tonight. It may be good for my brain and a good challenge in taking me out of my comfort zone but I wish someone needed help with English!

Filed under: Formula 1 on May 1st, 2006 | No Comments »

Today was defintely one of those days. Jay had me up at half six and then proceeded to be an annoying little twerp for the next two hours and continued to be particularly belligerent throughout the rest of the day. Ha - it’s my own fault for telling someone yesterday that he was a wonderful little boy.
I also managed to completely jinx myself by going onto the HM&B message board, (there’s a chat group for writers currently submitting and waiting, etc.) last night and complaining about my lack of patience and how I just wished I would hear something, anything, regardless of what it was. And of course today Monsieur le Poste brought me a lovely rejection letter from the Editorial department. Fortunately I had the girls on the message board to depress to, all who having gone through the process many times and with many of them eventually succeeding are amazingly supportive and encouraging. Plus a call from my friend Zara cheered me up immensely. We have this amazing ability to brainstorm fantastic ideas when we’re together and quite frankly should be two of the richest people on the planet if we actually carried any of them through. And then finally a half hour of reading ShopEtc, Marie Claire and GQ, deciding which shoes I wanted and how unfair it is that all the men in GQ are so utterly delicious and manage to be exquisite clothes horses.
So here’s a conundrum for all my single girl friends, (of which I now have very few) - does the GQ man really exist? Not just the dish who knows not to wear a black belt with brown shoes or knows the difference between a Windsor and a St.Andrew (and we’re not talking golf courses here), but a man who also has the savoir-faire to bring flowers for the hostess of a supper party, can tell his intake port from his exhaust port, tell a woman he loves her, (or at least wants to sleep with her) in five different languages, be not only the wingman but also the designated driver and know that Valentino Rossi has won the last four MotoGP World Championships and could well win another this year? I wait with (very) bated breath as to the results…
Sooo, yeh, as my fave comedian Eddie Izzard would say, feeling a bit blue but that’s a writer’s life. Am feeling a little motivated to explore other literary avenues but I’m a bit lazy about that so we’ll see.
I have thus utterly exhausted all my writing capabilities for the evening and am going to go and emmerse myself in the dramatic lifes of the teenagers from The OC. Oh to be able to wear Abercrombie and Fitch and actually look good in it. *Sigh* Noticed a new wrinkle today - quite, quite tragic. More so that I’m actually concerned. Ok, I’m gone…

Filed under: writing on April 27th, 2006 | No Comments »

Fox Island County Park 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on April 25th, 2006 | No Comments »

Papa & Jay
M & Jay & Hunter wellies 

Filed under: indiana, englishness, famille et amis on April 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

Let’s do this Easter Egg hunt then…
Egg in the flowerpot
Basket full of eggs
The best part… 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on April 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

Just a few photos from Easter Day. We had a little egg hunt in the garden for Jay which he cottoned onto rather quickly. We only did a couple of chocolate eggs; the rest were tiny wind-up Thomases in plastic eggs, (courtesy of Mammie), and sidewalk chalk in the shape of eggs. Don’t want him turning into a butterball!
Keith and I were very naughty and didn’t go to church as Keith had worked on the Saturday and we tend to not bother when he only has a Sunday to recover. Plus I felt fully redeemed as I went to Good Friday communion at the Episcopal church and did my bowing, scraping, crossing and candle-lighting then. The Episcopal church I go to here is super high church which I love as it reminds me of school and going to church with all my Catholic boyfriends, (that’s what comes of going out with boys from South/Central America and France!) and which Keith hates. The one and only time I took him his first words as we left the service were, and I quote, “Is all that up and down and crossing really necessary? I feel like I’ve been Catholicised!” Now I just go on my own, which I rather enjoy, to Rite I eucharist at sparrows’ on a Sunday morning.
Had a good session on Monday night at the Literacy Alliance. Escaped maths this week and spent the time grading papers. Much less taxing I can tell you!

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on April 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

James Dean pose
Mammie & Jay

Filed under: famille et amis, travel on April 20th, 2006 | No Comments »

Oh dear, it’s been a month since I last wrote. So much for that weekly thing. But I did spend ten days of that month down in Huntsville, AL with my mum and Jerry. But seeing as they have a computer it’s not really a suitable excuse. Anyway I’ve just spent the last hour doing taxes having realised with horror that they are due in by this Saturday. The American tax system is bloody awful and despite the fact that we have taxes-for-idiots Turbo Tax and the fact that every year I start them in January, I am still no closer to completing them than I was several months ago. I think the government does it on purpose. Makes it so confusing that people can’t be bothered to fight the system and so give up and pay all the excess tax.
So, again, I’ve given up on doing my taxes for today and really should be using my ‘free’ (Jay’s asleep) time to type up more of my second manuscript but then guilted myself into updating my blog. I spent two lovely hours on Saturday morning in Barnes and Noble drinking coffee and writing, only now I have to put everything I have in longhand on the computer. I really do need to get a laptop and be more mobile. I’ve got my eye on a nice little Apple at Keith’s work. I have told myself that when I hear back from the publisher I’ll treat myself. In a wild moment of panic I did check up on the Harlequin chat site to find out if not hearing anything for four months is normal. Sadly it is. So I will continue to wait until I finish the next one, which should be another couple of months, and then I’ll start pestering them so I can submit the next manuscript.
I just want to go and sit myself on a Med island for six months and write and write, not see anyone, well other than the handsome pool boy and maybe the Duce who owns the small cottage that I am renting on his palatial spread of land…hmmn, maybe I’m spending too much time writing!
Have also started looking into writing short articles and reviews for local publications and online publishers. Figured I should probably look into actually getting paid for writing while waiting to hear back from Mills & Boon ref the novel. Plus starting to get a bit bored of being a mummy. I miss my big salary and travelling…I keep trying to persuade Keith that we should sell up and go and buy an old farm house in France and Italy and I’ll just write and he can play music and be a songwriter and Jay can run around in the sun with no shoes and shirt and turn into a little brown-bodied blondie.
Way too much dreaming.
There’s lots of hoo-ha here regarding the various bills that Congress are trying to pass, and failing, relating to illegal immigrants. I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. Being a legal immigrant myself I do think there is a right way to go about the process, but I got my visa and greencard prior to September 11th when it was so much easier and quicker. Watching my mum go through the process now I’m not sure I would be bothered. It’s not like I care much for living in America. Not enough to subject myself to all the biometric testing and recording and the unbelievably lengthy wait that’s associated with obtaining a valid resident permit now. Having lived in Arizona which has one of the highest illegal immigrant rates in the States, and seeing my car insurance rise to ridiculous heights due to the amount of illegal drivers sans insurance, etc I can understand people’s objections. But I also think, isn’t America founded on immigrants and granted they arrived somewhat legally but to send people home because they’re working their arses off for their family? It seems so unAmerican. I do consider the fact, though that the majority of the money the illegal workers do earn goes right back out of the country thus negating the argument that they are contributing to the economic state of the county. Not sure why the US doesn’t just go into Mexico and demand that they reform their democracy and government, give everyone equal rights and higher pay and then offer the US all their natural resources for saving their people. North America seems to be oh so very good at exercising such tactics.
Enough of the politics. I’m currently hooked on Digging for the Truth. It’s an archaeological programme on the history channel hosted by Josh Bernstein, who, yes I admit is rather dishy and my main raison de watching. He’s a bit of an Indiana Jones type, but puts together a reasonable exploration of the chosen topic. The next programme is on Sodom and Gomorrah. Can’t wait to see what dreadful and debauched things he finds and proves/disproves. It’s got me toying with the idea of going back and doing my Archaeology certificate/diploma or possibly a Classical Archaeology MA. Only the thought of having to write all those papers and dissertations is putting me off somewhat.
The weather is finally starting to improve here and Jay and I have begun tentative explorations of the garden. All the bulbs I planted have flowered which has impressed me greatly. I am not the world’s best gardener and most things I plant tend to die in a rather weary and suspicious manner. We have high hopes for the back garden this year including a sand box for Jay, (although not quite sure how to stop this from being a litter box for all the neighbourhood cats) and a flagstone patio that I can drink my morning coffee on during the two months of summer that we have here.
Could keep waffling but should really go and get the boy up. I’m off to the Literacy Alliance tonight. More maths, oh God…

Filed under: indiana, writing, living the dream on April 10th, 2006 | No Comments »

Cowboy & cowgirl

Filed under: famille et amis on March 13th, 2006 | No Comments »

Me & my wagon

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on March 13th, 2006 | No Comments »

It’s been a bit of a weird last week. My great aunt, the matriarch of my mother’s side of the family died last Friday. She had been in hospital for some time, having had a fall and requiring a pin in her leg. Several weeks ago she was moved to a cottage hospital for final recovery and rehabilitation, only she never quite recovered. She suffered several small strokes in the last week and her eyesight which had been growing poorer, failed intensely. For someone who was an adamant writer and reader I can only imagine the grief this must have caused her. The last days she was in and out of consciousness and then finally slipped away on Friday 3rd. Great-aunt Margaret was in her 80s and had enjoyed a full life. She contributed hugely to her community, serving as a librarian for many years and providing vast and on-going historical research for the town she lived in. And not long ago she had her first book published. While I am desparately sad and shall miss her enormously, she was always such a no-nonsense woman who believed that women could anything they put their minds to, I am equally as sad for my grandmother and my cousins Geoff and Jilly who have lost their sister and mother. The last time I was in England I spoke with Jilly about the fact that the generations are moving up in the family. I now have a child and have moved into the role that was my parents. My mum, Al, Jilly, Geoff and Hetty are slowly moving into the upper echelons of family hierarchy. The passage of time continues to excite me while making me extremely aware of the fragility of life.
Naturally it my grief I turned to those things that reminded me the most of Great-aunt Margaret, or Lallie as she was known to the family. I have a paperweight that she gave me one Christmas. It’s a perfectly round glass ball with a dandelion clock inside. The little note that accompanied it, which I still have, in her scrawly writing reads “Time flies By!” How fitting then that it should have been the first thing my eyes rested upon after receiving the phone call of her passing.
I remember many a Christmas gathering at her house. We would have all the family there and vast quantities of food and drink; my mum and grandpa always doing the washing up in her kitchen; one of her lovely RSPCA labradors eagerly hoping someone would drop turkey on the floor; taking our afternoon Christmas day walk in green wellies and barbours in the parks by her house; the inevitable family politics and lots of wonderful memories.
Perhaps the best thing I shall remember and recall of Great-aunt Margaret is that she really was one of the catalysts for my love of books and writing. I have a lovely letter that she wrote to me once saying that she had heard I wanted to be a writer. Her advice to me was to train for another job and write in my spare time! All these years on I realise that I have done exactly as she suggested. Even when Jay was born she continued to send me books for him. Fantastic classics that Jay has thoroughly enjoyed and that to, me are the epitomy of a good children’s library.
As my salute to Great-Aunt Margaret here is a short list of some of the books that she gave to me as a child plus a few that ended up in Jay’s lap, that fueled my love of reading and my dream of becoming a writer.

Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Young Visitors - Daisy Ashford
Milly-Molly-Mandy series - Joyce Lancaster Brisley
Each Peach Pear Plum - Janet and Allen Ahlberg
Peepo! - Janet and Allen Ahlberg
Jane Austin
Charlotte Bronte
Complete Works of Poetry - Lord Byron
Poems on the Underground - Various

Filed under: literature, famille et amis on March 10th, 2006 | No Comments »

Hurry up mum, I want some cake. 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on February 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Bithday cake 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on February 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

The Ringmaster at Cirque de Jay 

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on February 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

“Almeno Stavolta” 

Filed under: famille et amis on February 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Despite the fact that Jay’s brithday was on the 9th we didn’t have his party until last Sunday. Figured he may as well get used to the idea that birthdays tend to stretch out a bit. Besides my friend Zara was due to arrive the day before his planned party and as she is Miss Super-Party Planner I admit I had an ulterior motive for waiting. The theme was the Circus. Keith displayed his artistic talent and made Jay a fantastic top hat and then he and Zara spent the better part of an afternoon making red and white bunting. Zara and I made Jay a whip, (enough said there!) and I did my Martha Stewart bit and spent hours in the kitchen making a circus tent cake, cucumber and pb&J sandwiches and jam and lemon curd tarts. Jammy dodgers came courtesy of Zara. It was all very English. Needless to say Jay was not that enamoured with being the ringmaster and refused to wear his top hat. Although he did love the afternoon’s soundtrack of La Moulin Rouge - suitably circusey I thought, kind of goes along with the whole whip theme…
Anyway we had a good turnout and the children were remarkably well behaved. We didn’t bother with formal games and just let the kids play skittles and throwing the hoop. We were going to do face painting but in the end it merely extended to curly moustaches.
Just listening to Steve Wright on BBC radio 2 commenting on American and English not being the same and how an American once said to him he had a nice pair of pants on and how he was utterly amazed they could see through his trousers! Zara and I have been having a good laugh this week over a similar troublesome word, fanny. Our discussions don’t seem to get very far though because we end up laughing uncontrollably instead. Ah, the joys of language.
Speaking of language I am into my second week as a tutor for the Literacy Alliance of Fort Wayne. I am working in one of the Literacy Centres so tend to do more group tutoring rather than one on one. I am really enjoying it although last night spent two hours doing maths. If anyone ever asked me what fun things I did in my day maths would not be one of them. When it comes to numbers and mathematical problems I have a genuine phobia - my mind completely blanks, my heart starts palpitating and I feel thoroughly sick. I can stare at a problem for hours and be no closer to solving it than when I started. So, one of the things about working at the centre is that you tutor in both English/Language and Maths. There I was having to do long division with subtraction, percentages, negative and positive numbers and it was utterly hopeless. If I thought my multiplication was bad at school it is truly horrible now. Plus, the way they are taught to work out long division is totally different to how I was taught at school, (yes, I do vaguely remember) so I was sitting there with the answers, (advantage of being the teacher)and trying to work out how the hell to get the answer working it out the way the students are taught here. NIGHTMARE!! But the guy I was helping was cute so that made that easier and then the girl I sat with next said, “This is really fun working through this with you” and I replied, “What because I’m like the worst person at maths you’ve ever met?” Anyway I never thought I would say this but I actually enjoyed spending two hours doing maths. As the Americans would say, go figure!
It’s still bloody cold here although has been rather sunny. My friend, Cath sent me pictures of her and her husband and baby Isabella by the pool and on the beach in Dubai where they live. It was gorgeously sunny and they looked particularly healthy. I want to pick her eyes out! I do miss the Phoenix weather - Fort Wayne totally sucks in the winter. And I miss the city. I have exhausted all the shops here and feel quite bereft of decent shopping. I looked at a job in Milan the other day - not that I’m aching for a big city fashion fix or anything! Actually the job was fantastic and would have suited me down to a t. Figured I should probably give us a bit longer here first. I see Europe over the horizon though and keep playing Waterloo Sunset to prepare me
On a confession note, I have become an iPod junkie. Keith gave me a Nano for my birthday last year. Needless to say the technology was so new that after a month it was back at Apple after having totally shut down on me. The replacement has been fantastic though and just to encourage my complete unsocialness Keith provided me with an iTrip Griffin so I can listen to it in the car and a docking station/speaker circle so I can listen to it in the house. I believe he is now completely regretting such gifts and the house, car and his ears are now overloaded with “crap Euro pop” - Eros, Enrique, Nek, Tarkan. I try and play other stuff but european pop music is perfect for some serious Friday night dancing with a two-year old!
It’s tea-time and Shrove Tuesday so I’m off to make pancakes and join Zara and Jay in gorging ourselves before lent starts. I love being English…

Filed under: famille et amis on February 28th, 2006 | No Comments »

Making sailboats & catamarans

Filed under: famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

Forgot to mention that we went to the Children’s Museum in Indy t’other week. Was absolutely fantastic and is apparently rated as one of the best in the country. There was so much to do even for someone of Jay’s age. They had everything from amazing train sets to a real engine to dinosaurs, (not real) to science experiements, etc, etc. It was great fun and we all loved it. Anyway below are some photos from our fab day.

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

Really & then what did the dinosaur do?

Filed under: famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

A real racecar not one of those pussy Nascar “racecars”

Filed under: famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

Mirrors & lights

Filed under: famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

Building a stegasaurus with Papa

Filed under: famille et amis on February 7th, 2006 | No Comments »

I am in my usual dichotomy of loving living in my house but disliking being here in America.
A couple of weeks ago we drove to Waynedale, (I know, it’s sounds like a made-up name) which is a surburb of Fort Wayne, to wash our car. It was a Friday morning, a fairly innocuous day and neither Keith nor I had any great expectations for the day. We pulled into the car wash and Jay and I waited in the car while Keith went to use the change machine. A few moments later he came back and asked to use my mobile with the words, “There’s a guy out here who’s just been mugged, he was hit over the head with a gun and is bleeding.” As it turns out the guy was an elderly gentleman who had indeed been mugged and hit over the head with a pistol. Fortunately he was okay, or as okay as one can be when that sort of thing happens, and the ambulance arrived to check him out along with several police cars and their occupants to search the area as the crime had only just occurred. Not such an innocuous day after all.
This kind of thing makes me so furious. You have to be one hell of a coward to mug an old man and feel it’s acceptable to hit him over the head with a gun. It’s pathetic. I’m still angry when I think about it. If you need money, GO AND GET A JOB! I hate the fact that this over-commercial society breeds such contempt and envy that people feel it’s okay to committ such crimes.
Then a few days later we watched Lord of War. An interesting film. I really like Nic Cage although I do feel that many of his last few roles have tended to be the same kind of character and haven’t really explored his acting capabilities. But anyway…so the film essentially deals with the arms trade, legal and non, and all the vices and the like that go along with such a risky business. As the film is finishing the following caption comes up, (words to this effect) - the countries that most heavily trade arms are the United States, Britain, France, China and the Russian Federation. These are also the only five countries that are permanent members of the US Security Council. I shan’t go into a diatribe on the political insinuations of this, I just thought it was interesting; a fact I had never given much thought to prior to seeing the film.
On a lighter note we did go to a Superbowl Party last night and enjoyed greatly the half time performance of the Rolling Stones. Oh my God, are they old or what? Although if I look half as good and am half as energetic as Mick at his age, I’ll be happy. However he needs to work on his bingo arms if he insists on flinging his hands in the air. There were several moments as well when it looked like Keith Richards was actually going to fall over his guitar. How he’s still standing heaven knows. I made Jay sit through it telling him it was part of his heritage. He didn’t seem convinced. I got the impression he might actually prefer being a Yank to a Roast Beef if the Rolling Stones were a testament of his being British.
Signing off as one of my heroines is just about to discover the archeological site she’s working on is to be thwarted by her estranged husband. The tension…it’s killing me. Ciao caro, cara!

Filed under: self-pity, indiana on February 6th, 2006 | No Comments »

Jay in the new leather bucket I got for his cars… 

Filed under: famille et amis on January 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

Keith & I at the Sweetwater holiday do

Filed under: famille et amis on January 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

It seems that I have lapsed already and my well-meant intention of updating my blog dutifully every week has failed miserably! Still perhaps every two weeks will be more doable…
These last couple of weeks I have been particularly sociable, something that is most unusual in this mid-western life I am living. I even managed to get to a movie with my neighbour across the road, Emily. She suffers from the same surburbanhousewifeitis that I do. She has two very energetic boys and turned up late last Wednesday night to see if I wanted to go the cinema. We went and saw Memoirs of a Geisha. It was quite good, some lovely artsy filming. The storyline was a bit lacking. I expected it to be a bit more political and meaty, more of a Wild Swans, when in realty it was just an over-dramatised Mills and Boon. Plus Emily’s husband is a Chinese major so we had a good giggle about the fact that none of the lead actresses were actually Japanese. Sort of an expected when doing a film about Geishas.
Saturday evening was Keith’s work’s holiday party so we donned the posh kit - actually got to wear high heels - and went and enjoyed a wonderful supper and entertainment courtesy of Sweetwater. We also managed a martini at Club Soda afterwards. Club Soda is a very hip and happening, (bit of an oxymoron here in Fort Wayne) jazz bar/restaurant. The last time Keith and I went it must have been middle age-divorcée night as there were lots of definitely middle age women, and slightly older men, out on the pull. Keith and I felt positively jeunesse! This time, with lots of Sweetwater colleagues, it was much better and with that horrible 30 looming, made me just feel like an old married woman instead. There’s no bloody middle ground!
Jay was thrust to our next door neighbour’s Deb and had a wild time of his own playing with her son and daughter, Drake and Ally, until 10:15, (he’s usually in bed at 7!), when he finally collapsed into his travel cot.
This last week I put in my application to become a tutor for the Literacy Alliance here in Fort Wayne. They offer two free workshops over the next two Saturdays and providing you show some aptitude and pass the criminal background check they then set you up with either a small group or an individual requiring tutoring in reading. The programme is for adults either who have never learnt to read or ESL students who need further assistance, so my Prudential experience of teaching adults won’t have been wasted. As books and reading are my passion, (bit like that BA advert that showed a couple in bed and the teasmade (sp.) on the bedside table and the voice over went something like “And when it comes to sex, we all know what they, the English, prefer.”), I figured it would be a good area to volunteer in. I have to start doing something for my brain and unfortunately novel writing isn’t exactly a sociable occupation. I keep thinking about going back to work full-time but quite frankly there is not a whole lot of opportunity for my skills and experience here in Fort Wayne and besides I don’t really want to sacrifice all my free time and go back to having no holidays and working ten hour days, etc. I’m not sure there are many employers who’ll let me take off a month and a half when I fancy going back to London.
Keith’s being super productive and putting new shocks on the Golf so I should probably go and do something equally as beneficial, like inviting our neighbour, Pat, round for Sunday lunch tomorrow. He’s a doll, particularly as he has a plethora of tools that we routinely borrow and only a saint of a neighbour would tolerate it! I repay Pat by plying him with a home-cooked meal, but we haven’t seen him for ages as he’s been working nights at the hospital. If we’re not careful it’ll be summer before we see him again as it’s too bloody cold to have friendly chats over the garden fence right now.
Ciao for now…

Filed under: indiana, popculture, famille et amis on January 21st, 2006 | No Comments »

I think I must have a deathwish or at least a strong subconscious desire to claim on my home insurance as once again I have tried to burn the house and its occupants down. This time wasn’t quite as bad as the burnt potatos, well only if you consider asphyxiation the better way to go. Story goes…Jay and I came home from our morning sojourn yesterday and after lunch I thought it would be nice to make use of our lovely open fire. We have these idiot-proof (ha-ha), non-Girl Guide logs that are doused in lighter fluid and you just light the bag. So I put one on, lit it and two seconds later the carbon monoxide alarm went off, shrilling in my ear. So perched precariously at the top of the stairs, (because some moron decided that was a great place to put an alarm - if you don’t get killed by the smoke you’ll die trying to turn the thing off and falling down the stairs) I wrenched the battery out and opened all the upstairs doors, thinking to myself Gosh it really smells of burnt plastic. I’m sure that can’t be good for me. As the acrid stench of what I then realise is CO is slowly starting to no doubt poison us I acknowledge that Keith must have closed the flue after the last time we had a fire. Of course when I stick my head in the fireplace I can see nothing, so I grab my trusty torch, only to find it has no batteries. Then I remembere my dad gave Keith one of those wind-up ones for Christmas and yes, it was a moment when I thought those tv adverts are right! I didn’t have to spend hours turning my drawers inside out to find a torch that worked! Anyway I digress, so there I am with my head in the fireplace, consuming no doubt vast quantities of CO and trying to see if I am actually closing the flue to the point that it will never open again or if in fact I am saving mine and Jay’s life. Needless to say shortly after that Jay decided he’d had enough of his mother malarking around and went upstairs to his room to read and then fall asleep, presumably brought about by the excess CO now floating around in the house. Deciding that it really wasn’t that cold after all I let the log burn out and took myself off down to the basement for a spot of varnish fumes - so much for getting Keith to build the desk. I seem to have become sous-carpenter, you know the one who does all the work…
Ahhh, the excitement of surburbia.
Today I dealt with a cat with worms, (ooo - it makes me squirm just thinking about it) and a little boy who took the very large tub of Greek yoghurt out of the fridge and proceeded to try every kitchen utensil until he found just the right little yellow spoon. Ha, Goldilocks has nothing on Jay. When I actually discovered him the yoghurt and he had moved into the reading room where his trucks and diggers were building a yoghurt town. Delightful.

Filed under: indiana, famille et amis on January 5th, 2006 | No Comments »

Happy New Year! Didn’t quite get around to doing the 2006 well wishing on New Year’s day or the day after for that matter, so now on January 3rd I’m wishing you all a fantastic, prosperous and truly happy 2006.
So I was listening to my iPod, (hooked up via my iPod Griffin - Christmas present, naturally - to the car, after overly concerning myself by listening to an NPR broadcast on the severity of aural decline due to listening to iPods via earbuds,) and I was listening to Enrique Inglesias, (yes, my taste in music is truly appalling) and realised that Enrique’s singing totally reminds me of Fes from That 70s Show. If Fes were to produce an album it would sound like Enrique. Anyway this amusing revelation of trivia had me giggling for hours. So to redeem myself and my dreadful taste in European pop music I did download Joaquin Phoenix singing Ring of Fire - pretty excellent even in the shadow of the late, great Johnny Cash - and Jamie Cullum’s London Skies, just to make me feel even more homesick than I do already. Complete masochist me.
Have managed to persuade Keith to build me a new sawhorse desk. My method of persuasion went along the lines of…”Seeing as you have just bought a new Mac, (yeah - finally getting the studio together,) we’ll need more space for the computer and all your audio equipment and I promise to give you sex every day for the next week.” Actually I think it was the last bit that made him agree. It seems men will do just about anything for a bit of nookie. Total power to women, hmn?
I have finally picked up Beowulf again and am determined to finish it this time. I got about half way through it last year and somehow always seemed to find a far more exciting book to read instead. While my Old English is a little rusty I am reading the parallel translation as my love of language won’t allow me to read it without noticing the history and similarities, or lack thereof, of our modern day English. Plus with my constant homesickness always hovering beneath my conscious surface, I am inevitably drawn to anything English with such a fierce sense of national pride it makes me quite question my sensibilities. I can’t sit through Love Actually without bawling my eyes out and not at the bits that should make one cry. I am caught up in hopeless tears at the black Hackney cabs and the office flirting and the sight of London with all its Christmas decorations up and Heathrow airport. I even fancied a Jammy Dodger with my cup of afternoon tea the other day and I don’t think I particularly even like Jammy Dodgers. Perhaps it’s time I went back out to work…

Filed under: popculture, literature, famille et amis on January 3rd, 2006 | No Comments »

The wee one on Christmas morning with new Radio Flyer wagon full of presents. 

Filed under: famille et amis on December 30th, 2005 | No Comments »

Ciao tutti!
Being that I decided to do my own webpage/blog spot in 2005 and never did, I figured that as long as I do it before 2006 dawns I can still count it as a 2005 achievement. So with tomorrow being New Year’s eve I have acomplished thus achievement. Really I just wanted yet another way to reduce sitting at the computer and writing emails, particularly as this year (2006) I am determined to properly start writing. I still have yet to hear back from the illustrious Harlequin Mills and Boon but as Europe rather shuts down for Christmas and the New Year I have little expectation to hear anything until at least February!
I shall also be using said blog to post pics of the wee one, who is not so wee anymore and thank goodness he is going to start some kind of school later this year.
With the big twenty-ten approaching later in 2006 I might actually get around to doing some of the things I promised myself I would before my life starts to turn into nothing but a domestic surburban monotony. This blog is a beginning testament to that checklist that awaits eagerly to be ticked off.

Filed under: new site on December 30th, 2005 | No Comments »