Addy and the Scarecrow

As I was in the US this week, and had a few days holiday, I decided to spend a day in Greenville with Addy, Brendan and Nicole.  (Geoff and Genya had to work)

Brendan is still pretty small, and most of his activity centers around activities that either I cannot really do, or I have lost practice.  Nicole was basically his focus all day. (and from the looks of it...every day)

Addy is growing in independence, and as long as Mom is in the background, seems comfortable with her Grampa. So, until Geoff came home after work, I was pretty much her friend for the day.

We coloured, played with blocks, read stories, went for a walk, played on the swings and the slide, ate lunch....you know, just normal stuff.

I had brought with me a scarecrow, a gift from Gi Gi to the house for Halloween. I took it out of the car when I arrived and stuck in in the ground next to the front door.... While Addy was apparently happy looking at it thru the window, when we went outside, she was not to sure what to make of it at first.

This is the first pose with Addy and the scarecrow. We sat her down next to it and then tried to take a few pictures to show Gi Gi. In this shot she really does not want to get too close.

 

In this shot she takes the attitude "if I can't see it , it doesn't exist"

Getting a little more comfortable, and curious...

And finally..."hey, this is pretty cool"

I felt that the word scarecrow was perhaps a bit challenging for Addy, also the word SCARE is not really good for an almost 2 year old. So, I called it Gi Gi man.  Nicole told me that the next morning as Addy was coming down the stairs, the first words out of her mouth were "Gi Gi man"



Weekend at Susies

As this is my last weekend in the UK for awhile, I headed up to Bloxam  to see Susie and Mike.  As it was a fore casted to be sunny, and low 60's, I decided to try my favourite golf course, Rye Hill, to see if they could give me a tee off time. I was given a slot immediately upon arrival. Amazing as it sounds, I have never been turned away, no matter when I show-up. I was quite fortunate this weekend and no one had teed off for the last half hour, so there was a big gap ahead of me. If I end up a single, I have to wait a lot. For the most part I get joined up with another group, of if I go alone and it is slow, I catch up to a twosome or threesome and join them.

This week I  decided I was probably not going to catch up unless I played fast. So, before I started, in honour of the Ryder Cup, I decided to play a two ball, use the best score. As a result, it took me a bit longer and I did not catch anyone until about the 16th hole. Also, to fully get the Ryder Cup experience, I played lift, clean and place and allowed gimmes. (as a result of this I had a pretty good score..my best so far)

It was cool, a bit windy, and some signs of fall color ... a very pleasant day.

I could not resist taking another try at creative photography using the close up feature on my camera.  I do not know what these are called, but they are beautiful.

On this hole you can see I had both balls in contention...for a birdie . Alas, we missed both, took a par.

I am not sure what this means.  There is no place to put any money.

Even though I was playing two balls, I played fairly quickly, finishing in about 3 1/2 hours. On a few holes near the end I took a chance to sit and enjoy the view. This is the par 3 12th hole.

After golf I went to Susie's.  This summer, Mike and Susie had their driveway redone. Most homes in their area had driveways resurfaced, and enlarged years ago, mostly to accommodate the growing trend of more than one car in the family. As Mike and Susie only had one car, this was not necessary. Anyway, Mike finally admitted that one or two cars, he needed to resurface. I am not the only visitor that comes to their house.  Rowena visits at Christmas, Mikes mother occasionally drives over. So they had the driveway widened at the same time they resurfaced. I think it looks pretty good.

On Saturday night we had a lovely steak dinner and watched the Ryder Cup. Then...on Sunday morning, this was the view from my bedroom window....  After looking at this I quickly decided this was a good day to go back to bed and sleep some more....

About 9:30 I went downstairs....This  was the view from the living room... the Coi pool is almost overflowing... Ryder Cup is not the only place it is raining.

Jessie has the right idea how to spend a rainy Sunday.

Fry Up.

This is a Sunday tradition here in Bloxam.  

First, the ingredients, eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, blood pudding, cold potatoes..

Cooking to make sure everything is ready at the same time takes military like

planning and coordination. Susie and I are getting pretty good at this...

Hmmm ..ready to eat...

It was delicious..

Heading home it reminded me of a winter sky.

Final shot heading home from a great weekend....

Next weekend, in Kohler.

The Letter "S"

This week I went to Scotland, Stonehenge and Salisbury...  of course, it is September

Scotland

First, I was in St. Andrews on business. It was what I perceive to be typical Scottish weather, cool, a "wee bit of a wind" and some rain...but also some sun so on a few occasions we were treated to rainbows. Of course I had a chance to experience all the delights (for one day) of The Old Course Hotel. It is a spectacular location and my room overlooked the 17th fairway. While it is late September, there were still golfers playing, on both days.

My room view

This shot was taken the day I arrived. The next day it was a very different weather, and yet there were still golfers playing. We had a meeting most of the day in a room on the ground floor, and all day, despite the rain and high winds, we could see foursome after foursome, heads down into the wind, umbrellas pushing forward fighting the rain.  I know now why the golf stores here sell so much rain gear!

On the day I arrived, we went for a walk about the town, and on the way back, about 7:30 it was getting quite dark. We were surprised to see golfers teeing off the 18th, in what was not the most optimal light. We thought that was extreme until we ran into two more foursomes coming behind them!

The beach in St. Andrews

 
On Sunday I went to Stonehenge and Salisbury with a couple of people from the finance department in Kohler. It was nice to have company, and navigators.
 

I was expecting Stonehenge to be bigger. The setting is spectacular, set on a rise in a large plain (the Salisbury Plain). They have understated all the necessary trappings for such a significant tourist site, and when you are actually at the site, you cannot see the car-park, the entrance buildings nor the ubiquitous gift shop. It is a great view in all directions.  They provide (free !) an audio player that explains what you are looking at, but they do admit that even to this day they really do not know why it was built. Of course we know that it can act as a calender, the sun plays in the stones differently in every month, the first rays of sun coming exactly on the center stone on the solstice and all that.... but why ?
 

Salisbury Cathedral

When I told Susie I was going to Stonehenge, she insisted we go to Salisbury. It was a good suggestion. Besides being a very pretty town where we had a nice pub lunch, the Cathedral is very impressive. In addition to being a significant building, having the tallest spire in Britain (404 feet), they have one of only 4 known copies of the Magna Carta, dating back to 1215.  Edward Heath, former PM is buried there.

One of the interesting things about this church was it continues to update its artwork and fixtures. Genya and I have toured a number of churches in Italy, France and England, and normally they are museums of the past, full of old paintings and memorial plaques of dead soldiers from ancient battles. Salisbury seems intent on allowing new ideas and new artists to contribute.  They continue to put up memorials of recent war dead. It feels like a living active church. One of the features that fascinated me was a new font installed in 2008. It is build in such a way that it acts as a reflecting pool. Of course this required me to try my hand a creative photography...

I call the one below "reflections of windows"

View from the nave up to the alter. Notice the newer hanging art, on the right side.

Cloisters


I hope you enjoyed the letter S.

NFL

Today is the first Sunday of the 2010 National Football League season.   I used to pride myself on my "take it or leave it " view of this sport. In fall I would prefer to go golfing than sit in on a nice day and watch football.  Even in winter I would cook, go shopping. Live a balanced life.  (Play-offs not included)

I was a reasonable fan.  Last year while in Paris, I discovered a program on the internet called AUDIO PASS. For only $29.99, I could listen to every NFL game, the identical broadcast that is on the radio.  I could get WTMJ radio 620 in Milwaukee, same as if is was in Kohler. Same people....Wayne Larabee, Larry McCarren.  While there was a 7 hour time difference, I did get to follow about 7-8 games during the season. So, I decided to check it out again this season. Living in the UK now, the time difference was less, I could catch the first game and still go to bed in decent time.

• Well...first of all the price went to $39.99. How can something go up 33% in one year ? I'm not going to pay that !
• Then I went to check the Packers schedule. As it turns out, due to my travel , Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football and time I am in the US, I was only going to be able to listen to 5 games, maybe 6 depending... 

So I decided not to join. I reasoned that there is a section of the NFL site that allows me to casually follow the progress of the games. No live broadcast, but pretty immediate.

So, tonight, after dinner, I logged on to NFL.com and began to follow the scores. Well, immediately I see the Texans blowing out the Colts...13 - 0 after a quarter and a half. Was'sup with that ??? 

Then the Lions leading the Bears ...wow, that would be an upset. I wonder what is happening ?

OK, I lasted until just before  half time and then broke down. I am now listening to the Bear/ Lions game. But, it is OK, I can quit anytime...its just that now my heart rate is more regular, there is a warm aura surrounding me, I am at peace with the world. 

Not a problem ....I can turn it off anytime.

NFL  - Need a Fix Listening

Rainy ???...Saturday in Cheltenham

First...obviously I am back in the UK.

I arrived back in on Wednesday morning, arriving in London at 5:25 am.  Took the 7:15 Express Bus from the Heathrow Cental Bus Terminal, arriving in Cheltenham at 9:15 am. Aside from a car a driver, it seems to be the easiest way to get here from Heathrow...and very reasonable. I did have an upgrade on the overseas flight, so could sleep. Despite traveling internationally for almost 5 years, I still need a weekend to adjust. I think the 14 hour flights to Shanghai were easier. Perhaps it was the longer flight, perhaps it was the chance to get about 6-8  hours sleep. I do not do as well on the shorter US/ Europe flight.

I normally play golf on Saturday, but the forecast from the "beeb" was for rain on Saturday, nice on Sunday. So I decided to do chores on Saturday, golf on Sunday. I slept in, despite bright sunshine coming in my window (?)  I finally got up, went for a run (in the sunshine ?), then came back and had breakfast.

I did see some clouds, so figured I should stick to my plan, and I headed out to post some mail, get Euros for my trip to Paris this week and do some shopping.

See first photo below of rainy saturday !

These photos are of High Street in Cheltenham. On a Saturday morning, it is always crowded. Everyone carrying bags going from store to store, On most days the stores close at 5:30 or so, so it is rare for me to do any shopping here as I am normally coming home about 6:00.

Marks & Spencer ..wonderful food floor...

WH Smith - Post Office, lovely books

I finished my shopping (still checking for the rain!!) and came back to the apartment. I boiled some eggs, made lunch, read part of the Saturday Telegraph and checked e-mail. Got a phone call from Susie. By now I was pretty sure it was not going to rain, so I headed out for the highlight of my day...attending a football match between the Cheltenham Robins and Stevenage FC scheduled for 3:00.

In case you have not heard about the Cheltenham Town Football Club...do not despair. Neither had I until I started walking to work here. I pass the football grounds every day. (Mira is a sponsor). English football is a vast organization. There are multiple leagues.. I looked up an alphabetical list of all the football clubs and counted 73...and that was only the teams with names beginning with the letter A !  There must be over a thousand !

Cheltenham is in the Football League, League 2, Level 4. If you measured it by levels below the top (Premier League..think Rooney, Beckham), it should be about the level of  Single A baseball. But, not exactly, as there are many levels below Cheltenham. So, it is probably more like Double A.

The stadium looks to hold about 8,000. Best crowd so far this year was about 5,700 according to the program I bought. It is pretty casual. Once you buy a ticket (BP 19.50 !!) you can pretty much wander around anywhere. They do have boxes, but they looked pretty basic.  I was a little concerned, as this was my first English Football match and memories of  British soccer hoodlums and the 1985 Bradford Stadium fire were in my mind as I went to the game. I need not have worried. It was a very friendly environment. The canteen served only soft drinks and tea, the only people who looked a little scary and missing a few teeth were all over 80.  I enjoyed the afternoon and the experience.

Start of the Game (notice the threatening weather !!)

Goalie Kick

Up close action

I came home after the game and had dinner...watching a lovely sunset over the church steeple I can see from my dining room. The forecast for tomorrow is sun, so my golf game will probably be rained out.

England Weekend in August

I had a nice weekend at Susie's .

I went up to Susie's on Friday (August 6) as I had a golf game set for Saturday with a former colleague  from Kohler who happens to live in Bloxham. I have known Phil Davis since about 2003. He is now doing freelance HR . Takes jobs when he likes and takes holidays when he likes.  Anyway, I thought I would head down early and join Susie and Mike in a English tradition that I had never had...or at least I cannot remember having. Takeaway fish and chips from a fish shop.  I arrived about 6:00 on Friday, and Mike and I went into the village to get the food, Susie set the knives and forks and warmed the plates. It was quite good, but the portions were very large, a lot of chips, and a big piece of fish. I had expected it to be quite greasy, but it did not seem that bad.  I must try it in Cheltenham some time.

On Saturday I went for my usual morning walk in the village, and just after 1:00, Phil came and picked me up for golf. We played at a local course, with the very lovely name of Banbury Golf Center. The price was right 15 BP. It was a strange day.  Drizzling when we teed off on # 1, we were quite hot as we made the turn at 10, and it rained a bit again on 17, and then we sat out and had a beer in the sun when we finished.

View from the 14th tee

Phil hitting a great drive

After golf Phil invited me to his home for dinner. I had met his wife Judy in Kohler about 5 years ago when there was a gala dinner at Kohler near Christmas. Genya had taken her and a couple of the other spouses shopping in Sheboygan for an afternoon. They have  a nice house overlooking fields on the outskirts of Bloxham. I also met his son Chris and his 11 year old daughter Helen.  We had a nice evening.

On Sunday I slept in, as I usually do at Susie's. Then I went into Banbury to Tesco to get a few things, mostly groceries as the stores all seem to close at 4:00, and by the time I get home Sunday it is too late to get my dinner or things I may need for breakfast. I also filled up the car with petrol and took it thru a car wash.

After our usual Sunday lunch fry up at Susie's, I left for Cheltenham about 4:00. Now I am getting pretty good at doing this trip, I no longer need a map and I am more comfortable driving on the left hand side of the road.  However just past Stow on the Wold, the police had the road blocked, and instead of my usual route, I was waved onto a different road. I was a bit worried, but I figured I have maps of the region, and I could go cross country to meet up with my normal way back. However this is England, and the roads are so narrow, and the hedges and fences so close, unless you come across a lay-by, there is not safe place to stop. So I drove for about 20 minutes before I could stop. By then I was almost in Burford. After checking my map I saw that just after Burford, I could link up with the A-40, which is the road into Cheltenham.

CRASH ON A-40

Bring a Sunday evening in August, the roads are quite busy, caravans, antique cars and just generally heavy traffic. I am still quite cautious, and I am driving a stick shift. In traffic near the place where I would have met the  A- 40 on my normal route, traffic slowed down, then appeared to speed up. Suddenly the car ahead of me, a gray Range Rover, ran into the back of the van ahead of it, quite hard, smashing the back window of the van and pushing it forward. The hood of the Range Rover buckled and it seemed to immediately have steam and water coming out from the engine. Suddenly the occupants of the vehicles all exited. The driver of the van had a cut nose and was bleeding. He quickly took his family (3 children and his wife) out of the car to the side of the road. then the driver of the Range Rover exited with her companion....then, apparently from nowhere, 3 Indian ladies in Saris appeared...there had been a red car in front of the gray van ! It has been the first car to stop !

The vehicles in the accident on A-40

The car behind me had also stopped. (by this time a lot of cars had stopped). The driver of that car and I got out and went over to the assembly of other drivers and passengers. Except for the cut nose and some scared kids, everyone was OK. The three Indian ladies seemed very worried, as if they felt they may have caused the accident. By this time cell phones were out and in about 4 minutes the police arrived. As I was the car immediately behind the accident, the police officer asked "who was the driver of that car". I identified myself and she took my name, age and address, and also noted the registration of the car. She asked me  a few questions about what I saw, and if I was hurt. (She did not ask for my drivers license, which may have required some explanation, showing of passports, visas and international driving license)

My view (notice how I managed a safe and controlled stop a safe distance behind.) This was taken as I was leaving and the police had arrived and were taking statements. You can see from my angle in the car, I could not see the red car...

Home Safe ...whew

I am leaving England on Wednesday for the US, not back until September 7th.

Chester House

During my trip to Paris at the end of May/beginning of June, we packed up Stephen's little flat near the Bastille, and moved to Cheltenham in the UK (see previous post).  Well, the service apartment was only meant to be temporary until more permanent accommodation could be found. 
Lucky me.... I always seem to be around when it's time to move.  At the end of July, I found myself packing and unpacking again.  I was going to give Stephen credit for finding a lovely 2 bedroom flat but the truth is - he hired a property agent, looked at one apartment and then rented it.  Just as well.... I probably would have wanted to look at a half dozen places and by the time I would be ready to make up my mind, my favourite apartment would no longer be available.  So maybe I should give Stephen credit for a job well done.  He now has a larger flat,  in a nicer location,  no busy traffic,  lots of windows and a lovely view.

Schlepping from one apartment to the next.  Actually, the next day,  Stephen had a car and we made about four more trips.

This is a view of the front entrance.  It seems that all buildings in Cheltenham have to have their own name.  Stephen is now living at Chester House.  By the way, that's his balcony on the top left.

Kitchen

Living room/ dining room

Bedrooms

View from the Living room