London - 30 Days from a Monkey's Perspective

Don't expect any ground breaking revelations here. Just go along with some of the random and in some cases offensive observations I've made her over the last 30 days.

Doors...In the U.S. fire code states that all public building doors must exit outward. In the case of a fire, riot or whatever the race to exit the building stampede is met with a door that will "go with the flow". The opposite would stop if many panicked people slam into it leaving them unable to "pull" it open due to the people behind them pushing them. Makes sense right? So I find two things here strange. 1. There is no such pattern here. Doors open any way they damn well please. In, out, sideways, whatever. No bid deal except that I pull, you need to push, I push you need to pull. I'm tired of looking like a moron. I'll get over it, at least until I'm killed in a fire unable to escape.

On the similar note, and it may be just my office buildings but what the hell is with the "Exit Button"? All doors leading to common areas or exits have exit buttons. Let's put the security thing aside for a second. Yes, on the outside you must use your security badge to gain access but going out you have to hit a little button like a monkey to get out.

This simply adds to my dismay of pushing, pulling, looking like a jackass while looking for a little grey button on the wall, on a stand, near my ass, who knows? I know what you are thinking, you poor kid, can't you remember to push the button before leaving the building? I can, but...these are everywhere. Stairwells, entering the lobby, another to leave the lobby, one going out of the kitchen, another going into a hall and another go get out of the hall. I'm a logical guy, help me understand the point of the button on some of the doors and why we need the button at all?

Bathrooms - Point one for the Brits. Full door stalls for doing your business. I can sit in privacy and wallow in my own smell. Negative point for my building, no urinals. I don't need the full suit for my standing business.

Walking - Negative points. Everyone is all over the place. Pick a side or a stream and go with it. People stop, cross randomly in your path, turn around in front of you. Granted this may be a tourist problem. Locals go on left, everyone else on the right (like you drive) so this conflict may be the answer.

Case in point. Positive points for escalators. Like a well oiled machine people stand on the right, pass on the left. You want to walk up or down a escalator, be my guest. No fat, stupid or lazy people standing in the middle gumming up the works.

People - ok so far people are really nice. May be the summer or we stand out as foreigners but so far we've met about a dozen random people. All have either bought us drinks or dinner or both. Last night 6 drunk guys bought us drinks after trying to pick up Amie right in front of me. It had to be a dare (no offense to Amie) but based on his line and the good nature of it all we had drinks with strangers again last night. We also had 4 Brits take us to dinner the first week we were here Amie met in a bar. Tomorrow we have dinner with the guy we met in a restaurant two weeks ago and his "American" wife. Hope she turns out to be normal and who knows we may hang out again. Anyway friendly factor 9 in London.

Talent - This town has a lot of talent. However gentlemen as they say on the tube, "Please Mind the Gap". The gap between the talented and the snaggle-toothed inbred freak is wide and deep. My god, inbreeding produces apparently a wide depth of outcomes. There is no middle. From a statistical perspective this would be an heavily biased inverse bell curve and if your in the trough good luck to you ma'am.

Butterface - Above comments generally applying to my ancestral and now resident country there is another phenomenon. The butterface. Most of these apply to what I perceive to be transplants or the outcome of those from certain other European countries mingling into the above described gene pool. To put it simply, "you have the body of an angel" but everything above the neck looks like it's been through a wheat thresher. Regardless, as long as I keep my eyes lowered on my way home it's motivating enough. Remember it doesn't matter where you get your appetite as long as you come home for dinner.

Side note: Yes, all the girls in Holland are six feet tall and blonde and above observations are strictly relegated to the greater London area. Can't wait to see Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Czech Repulic. French, German and Italian girls we already know where we stand, but that's another post.

Long story short, London is a great, fun, vibrant city with all the trappings of such. Food, wine and culture will be ongoing segments in this blog but I had to post some of the small, even offensive thoughts since it's he small things you notice appreciate and were afraid to ask.

They All Went Down to AmsterDAM

We went to Amsterdam over the weekend for a pre-birthday celebration. That is one cool place with the architecture and canals, plus the transportation system (bike lanes, buses, trams) is awesomely easy and convenient - no one drives. HEAVEN! Dave even said he would go there again even if there wasn't a red-light district and a very liberal drug use policies. Uhm OK.

We didn't want to over schedule our weekend, especially since we knew we would be back again. The flights are really cheap and convenient from London. So we went to the Van Gogh museum, the obligatory-but-cheezy sex museum (scary), and the resistance museum, but otherwise we generally wandered around between bars and cafes and checked out the city. There is some great people watching and beer drinking! However, our wandering was severely hampered by RAIN and generally crappy winterishly freezing conditions. The rain also meant that the museums were so freaking crowded, I could barely deal.

Everyone was very nice, tall and blonde, and spoke English; so much for those 8 words of Dutch I learned. That is one tough language, thank you is Alstublieft - if that gives you an indication of the difficulty of that language for English speakers. It is a bit like German I suppose but sounds to me like Swedish, but what the hell do I know about Swedish. It isinteresting to hear pretty much any language spoken by tall blondes though:)

We stayed at The Collector because they had awesome reviews on TripAdvisor.com (my travel bible). The owner (Karel) was so cool, and he has chickens for fresh eggs - and you all know my egg obsession. The only "problem" was that the hotel is a bit out of the city center, which meant a lot of walking in the rain for us. We could have just learned about the buses and trams, which are everywhere and easy to use, but nah.......we just walked and tortured ourselves.

We had excellent dinners at Brasserie Vlamming (vaguely Belgian) and Envy (we could have been in SF at that place but the wine was cheaper). Thanks friends for the restaurant recommendations!

In summary, a lovely trip had by all. We will for sure be back in the fall, and hopefully the weather will be better!

OK remember that annoying Amsterdam song from girl scouts and Camp Ondessonk, where you could say "DAM" really loud and it was hilarious. JG and AM help me out here. We used to sing it in the car on drives, I guess that was before DVD players in cars for kids:

There were three jolly fishermen, fishermen

There were three jolly fishermen, fishermen

Fisher, fisher, men men men

Fisher, fisher, men men men

There were three jolly fishermen, fishermen

The first one's name was Isaac-- I, I, sic sic sic

The second one's name was Jacob-- Jay, ay, cup cup cup

The third one's name was Abraham-- Abra, abra, ham ham ham

They all went down to Amster-ssh-- Amster, amster, ssh ssh ssh

I must not say that naughty word-- naughty, naughty, word word word

I'm gonna say it anyhow-- any, any, how how how

They all went down to Amster-DAM-- Amster, amster, DAM DAM DAM

Since we have been all over the map this month I decided to give a little video representation of our recent exploits.

Starting at home in Palo Alto...

First stop - Temp Housing in Monument, London UK - Red Building 4th floor window are our current flat. You can also see the Walrus and Carpenter Bar on bottom left where my nightly 19 step walk starts and ends.

Second Stop - Weekend trip Rooftop Pool at the Therme Spa in Bath, UK.

Third Stop - B&B in Amsterdam, you can see the little balcony on the second floor where we stayed and why it screamed to have a Duvel on it after hours - later squashed by the rain.

Last Stop - The Dungeon - our future home. We move in this weekend. Yes, it's called The Dundeon because ours in through the little gate and down the stairs to the sub-basement. That's right it isn't the cute full size door you see at street level but down that barely visible set of stairs behind the iron fence. Hope to see you there soon.

Good etiquette.

When you are nice, humble and simply try to adhere to local customs you can be rewarded. After making nice with the bartender in the Red Light district we decided to head home to a J and another beer. I asked if I could buy a Duvel unopened for back on the balcony at our hotel. He asked if I had a proper glass to drink it out of and I said, yes, the hotel has glasses. He responded, " a PROPER glass?" I smiled and said, no. He returned with the proper glass you see here a smile and a new friend. Amsterdam I'll be back.

Around Town

This morning I did my usual coffee with Dave, then hiked around the city. There is just too much to see. Two years will never be enough, and I need to keep reminding myself of that fact. I saw this book (on the right) while I was walking and it made me happy! Despite a little tiny bit of loneliness while Dave was in Dublin on Monday to Wednesday (I need to make a few friends here to short-circuit my loner-ish tendencies), I am a lucky-lucky girl.

Today I did a little walk to the Aveda salon. It was an emergency given that the humid-cool-wet weather is doing a number on my hair. Do not even bring a straightener or a hair dryer because it WILL rain at some point during the day and all that effort will have been wasted. Along my walk, I did my usual checking-out old churches. Though they are heathen Protestants here (A fact I learned quickly when I asked whether anyone could attend mass at Westminster Abbey. A very intimidating guy in a robe yelled at me and said, "Mass???? We are not Catholics, it's called Services." Oh crap, I thought you Protestants were supposed to be mellow.), I still like their churches. Here is a cool sort-of-church, it is the Greyfriars Garden, which is located in a former Wren church yard.



I then wandered over to pretty much what my personal heaven must be like (assuming heaven isn't actually a ski-resort or a Four Seasons), Borough Market. The options for lunch are, of course, staggering. The duck sandwich smelled divine, and all the fresh shellfish, fish currys, and pork sandwiches were tempting, I almost went with the Thai dish in the picture that follows on the right. I ended up choosing the chorizo on sourdough with roasted red peppers and rocket (aka. arugula), because I am a sucker for a sausage - keep your comments to yourselves people.

Chorizo sando and Thai fish something-or-other, I'd be fat if I hadn't walked 9 miles around the freakin city getting lost this morning.

To do next week:
- Attend a Serpentine Running Club event of some sort, or at least join the club. I need to make some friends here for sure!

Bath Weekend

We just spent a lovely weekend in Bath (home of Jane Austen, Roman ruins, spa, etc.), so a good amount of awesomeness. It is about 90 minutes on the train from London.

The city of Bath, and my very handsome husband there on the right.

We stayed at the Bath Waterside, I put my review up at Tripadvisor.com - don't expect a discussion of water pressure in the shower in my review. Why is it that all Americans seem to care about on that website is the freaking water pressure. It makes me crazy (obviously) - but I digress. The hotel was right on the Avon Canal so that was cool, except for the fact that the balcony door was blocked so you couldn't get out there to check out the canal. WTF! I would totally go back to Bath just to bike ride along the canal bike path, assuming it wasn't raining (which is a BIG assumption here). Plus, check this out: there are all these locks on the canal and cool boats. It was fun to watch and lazily take pictures of their efforts.

Looks like fun until about the 8th lock then you just want to sit and enjoy your damn cocktail.

We also went to the Thermae Spa for an afternoon. That place is divine, I am totally going back. We spent 2 hours in the steam rooms and the various pools they have. The rooftop pool is pretty cool, you get a great view of the whole city from there. You might be wondering why Dave is smiling amongst all those robed white people. Well, the fire alarm went off when we were getting ready to go. I was just putting my clothes back on after spa-ing, when they started evacuating the place. We were so lucky in our timing, we were getting dressed to leave anyway! All those poor people had to jump out of the water and run out in front on the spa. They looked like they were FREEZING, and I hate being cold pretty much more than anything in the world. So I guess we dodged that one. In order to avoid any potential risk of coldness, we got a drink at a pub.

There were a few cool pubs that we found in Bath, I can't remember the names but then there are not that many non-cool pubs. We had a notable dinner at the Marlborough Tavern, definitely recommended!

Here are a few pub shots:

Look they have an Amie-sized beer for my small liver.

Look how happy drinking makes us.

I am totally enjoying my time here, as I assumed I would. I think I was meant to be European. Though had I been born here, I probably would want to live in America..... I love the lack of waste overall in everything from energy to packaging, the way people sit in pubs without TVs blaring and just hang out, the smaller houses, not needing a car, nice long maternity leaves, etc. I just think they know how to live well. I mean - look at this photo, it is the TRAVEL BOOKS section in a tiny bookstore in Bath. The Borders in downtown PA is five times the size of that store and has like two rows of travel books. I know, there is no such thing as a utopia - but for now I will remain jaded and happy in my new home.

In the Groove

Hi all, things are going well over here. We have our routine down: morning coffee, walk Dave to the Tube, work, pub for a beer, and then dinner. I was a bit worried about the food situation here, you have all heard the rumors about deplorable English food. Coming from San Francisco (where you are automatically a food snob), I expected the worst. I have been so surprised with the restaurants and markets!

Last night we went to Da Polpo in Convent Garden. After a 20 wait, made completely bearable by a cute bartender and a tasty Negroni (I have that whole obsession with Campari), we had a lovely dinner; including THIN crust pizza (another obsession), greens, and pasta with traditional meatballs.

We met the nicest guys at dinner sitting next to us, a Brit named Chris, and Bev, an American from Nashville. We talked for quite a while about the usual friendly BS. Then the conversation turned to politics, oh god. Chris told us his mother taught him never to discuss politics with Americans because it always ends poorly. Well, turns out Bev was a big believer in Art Laffer, as in the Laffer Curve. Wait, didn't we all decide that the Laffer theories were all a big pile of shi- back in the 2000's. Here is a quote from an article by Justin Fox from Time Magazine:

If there's one thing that economists agree on, it's that these claims are false. We're not talking just ivory-tower lefties. Virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves--and were never intended to. Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, even devotes a section of his best-selling economics textbook to debunking the claim that tax cuts increase revenues.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1692027,00.html#ixzz1S50dtmne

Anyway, we held our tongues, sort of, so I just had to get this down in the blog to feel vindicated - or something. After solving the economic problems of the world, we went and got after-dinner pints with our new friends. Then Dave and I had a lovely evening walk home past St.Paul's Cathedral. Not too bad at all.

In other general news, British banking rules: WTF is this....... I signed up for on-line banking and not only did I have to go into a branch with an ID, I had to get a security number from the banker in person, then I get this little do-dad in the mail. I am assuming it gives me another code, then I will need several more passwords before I can go online and pay rent or get a cell phone. Good grief. Well, at least NO ONE will be able to break into my online bank account - including me at this rate.

Second Run

I had a nice run through Hyde Park this morning, once I made it through the throngs of tourists in front of Buckingham Palace...... The weather is perfect for running right now, comfortably warm but very overcast. I didn't time myself or really map my route. I am guessing I was in the 5.8 range. After my run, I climbed to the top of The Monument, which is just a few feet from our flat.

My IT band has been giving me hell for weeks, but today all was good. I have been doing my exercises to strengthen my hips and gluteus medius muscle, which are very (strangely) weak. I think they are helping!

I need a good half marathon this Oct/Nov, but races fill here SO FREAKIN FAST. I am in the lottery for the London Marathon in April 2012, but I am not holding my breath that I will get a slot.

I think I might be into getting some sort of a Garmin. All I want is my mileage and pace, no heartrate monitoring or anything fancy like that. I hear Nike makes a decent, smallish unit. Anyone have a recommendation?

We are off to Bath this weekend. I do love Roman ruins, and spas - how convenient that there are both in Bath.

19 Update

19 steps to bar means getting a pint after work and bringing it up to flat
while I cook. Then returning glass on way to coffee in the morning. I see
alcoholism and caffeine addiction coming on.

If I Can Be a Girl for a Minute

Oh the kitten heel......sassy and comfy. How I love you!

I took my first trip to a few shops this morning since Dave was at work and I thought City-exploration-via-shopping-trip was a perfectly acceptable way to spend a sunny (somewhat) London morning. OK with the exchange rate being rather sad for the American "peso", there was very little actual buying going on during my shopping trip. I am going to have to get over the sticker-shock sooner or later. Anywho - everywhere I shopped, there it was -- the kitten heel. There simply are NOT enough kitten heel shoes in the United States. I am assuming they are ubiquitous here because of the great distances necessary to be covered between home, the Tube, and work. They are perfect for ADD-ish people as myself, who want to move around a lot but still want to look semi-cool. So I will be returning from London with lots of these, I can assure you.

What a Week

The Beer for Douchebags

Well, we learned a few things this week.

Eating is Cheating: Dave and I planned to meet up after work at a pub for dinner last week. He was a little late so I made friends with some lovely Brits. Well, Dave arrived and one pint turned into several with these dudes. I was starving but WTF, why is no one eating in the pubs. I had noticed this strange phenomenon earlier in the week. Not wanting to look like a total tourist in my new town, I asked our new friends why food is advertised on the menu but no one eats. They point blank told us "eating is cheating". Meaning just what you think it does, if you eat - you don't get appropriately drunk...... Good lord, at about 10:00 I was about to die of hunger when we all jumped into a cab and made our way to "Brick Lane", where Jack the Ripper killed his victims *and* there is lots of Indian food. They insisted on buying us dinner there. It was such a cool experience, and totally worth the mild beer/Indian food hangover.

Borough Market Rocks: Saturday we went with CNL, and JL (who were visiting from the US) to the Borough Market, and it was quite possibly the coolest thing ever. I'm sorry, but it beats the crap out of any U.S. farmers market I have been to (yes, even in the haven of homegrown and local - San Francisco). This is probably because of the USDA and our lameass corporate-controlled food system (really, do NOT get me started on that).

The market has any meat, cheese, yogurt, wine, pastured eggs, baked goods, seafood, prepared meals - whatever you can imagine, it was there. After wandering around, we had a traditional fish and chips lunch, complete with mushy peas. Then on to some more shopping around, wine tasting, and a final stop in a pub for the above mentioned Deuchars beer.

CNL and JL also Rock: We had a great time with this weekend with CNL and JL and their friends. We'll post some pics when we get them. Thanks for sharing the last two days of your vacation with us and introducing a few new spots, like the bar at the top of the Hilton next to Hyde Park - super swanky and what a view of London.We miss you guys, come back soon!

JS - this closing photo is for you!

19

Just a quick update today.

Got to the UK smoothly. Started work in the new office.

Most importantly. 4 steps to elevator, exit elevator, 15 steps to:

http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thewalrusandthecarpentermonumentlondon/drink/

You may proceed.

First Days

Well after several pints, rain showers, and wrong turns, I think we are getting the hang of things. We "moved in" to our temporary apartment near The Monument, we are here until August. Then, we move over to the permanent place in Pimlico. The temp apartment is super cute and much nicer than I expected, here are some photos:

Living/Dining Room

Wee Little Kitchen (I love it)

My View While Working from Home

Dave and I took the Tube for the first time without making total (I hope) asses of ourselves - I freakin love mass transit! I went for my first morning run today, it rained - shocking. We are working on finding our favorite place for morning coffee and evening pints, getting over our jet-lag, and what not. I must tell you that this map has been a lifesaver -- it is waterproof and small enough to open just a bit to get the info you need. There's no unfolding a giant "I am a tourist" map. I have these Streetwise maps for traveling in all my favorite cities, they rock.

Sorry People for the Streetwise Commercial

I am so excited to be here but miss my friends and my dog (though the frequency of my bursting into tears at the thought of Sammy has lessened). And hopefully we will have lots of friends visit. We just booked a trip to meet KF and LF in Downings Bay, Ireland in August for their anniversary - so there is that to look forward to. We met them in Buenos Aires while they were on their honeymoon too so it only seemed appropriate we meet them again.

I am looking forward to the weekend and more wandering around. A visit to Borough Market is on order for sure (thanks for the tip FB)! I still have to do fun things like get a cell phone and get our bank account squared away. More to come!

Wedding, Vision and Family

Patty’s wedding was proved to be exactly as advertised, a small intimate gathering in Duane’s back yard. What was not seen on this lovely day was the politics and drama leading up to the event to make it happen. My mother needed to sell her house prior to the wedding going down. After multiple attempts to sell it both to my father and the general public her “friend” and cousin had stepped in to purchase the house. Knowing the wedding was contingent on this sale we were horrified to find that the night before the wedding it had actually been called off. Her “friend” had insisted on contingencies and a close date AFTER the wedding date. Using this knowledge and my mother’s mental state they attempted to bully yet more money from her putting the sale and wedding in jeopardy. Only after she told them the deal was off and she cancelled the wedding did they take the contract to the realtor behind her back the next morning to push the deal through despite her verbal cancelation. I guess they realized they’d likely lose the house and their relationship with my mother all over a whopping $2800. House sold under duress and wedding back on our “friends” showed up to the wedding as if nothing had happened and they likely viewed themselves as the “saviors” that made it all happen at the last minute. Piece of personal advice from this and my own experience…the old adage is true, keep money and business as far apart from friends and family as you possibly can. Also… Never get in a land war in Asia and never buy real-estate in Utah.

Vision, no not a grand plan but my sight. Over the last 6 months my left eye has gone blurry and developed a grey spot in the center of my sight rendering my left eye unable to see clearly or even read. Thinking my time had come to get glasses I didn’t worry about it too much but when it worsened rapidly I scrambled to get to an eye doctor prior to leaving California. Last Thursday I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. This is an irreversible eye condition that would only get worse and spread to my right eye eventually leaving me blind if I couldn’t slow or stop it. Slowing or stopping meant 5 things. Eat better, exercise, take eye nutrition supplements, wear sunglasses religiously and most of all, stop smoking. I had my last cigarette Wednesday June 26th outside Moscone Center in San Francisco with Mike from NY in town for the US Sales Conference. Amie was unbelievable supportive despite the fact that this was largely my fault and that my daily habits were likely the cause of this. Facing the concept that glasses, laser surgery or anything else I did wouldn’t help and could at best only SLOW this I admit to becoming a little depressed.

Upon my family hearing this news they too were devastated but unbelievably supportive. Both my mother and father were hell bent to get a second opinion and do everything they could for me. John (my father) called in some favors through friends and colleges and next thing I know I’m jumping in the car to meet Eve who had promised my father that despite some possible waiting around she would ensure that I would see Dr. Bernstein at the Moran Eye Institute at the University of Utah. If ANYONE in the world could get me cutting edge treatment it is him. Eve (who doesn’t know me or my father) was unbelievable nice, she met me in the lobby, registered me, sat and talked to me about what I will be facing and giving me grief counselors and other resources she thought I’d need as I came to grips with my road ahead. She said all of this with a friendly honestly concerned tone after seeing the look on my face when she, after telling me that the Dr. I was about to see is in fact the best in the world, would likely be able to do nothing for me…….

Two things I want to mention at this point.

One: Family matters, they all rallied around me and loved and supported me even though this was likely my fault. Amie for loving me and telling me that “she’d read to me after I went blind” and being relieved that “once blind she could “let herself go”. I can’t stress this enough that when push comes to shove in your life you find out that despite differences and disagreements family and blood do run deepest of all.

Two: Your health is all that matters. Doesn’t matter how awesome your car or house is if you can’t see it or actively enjoy it. As Amie likes to say “enjoy life while you can because we’ll all be dead soon”. That being said quality of life does matter as we go down the road to the eventual end. (This became super clear to me sitting in the waiting room with people twice my age, going or already mostly blind and facing down the last years of their lives, my future)

Despite Eve’s warning of having to wait I’m in front of Dr. Bernstein within the hour. He comes in, he is a nice guy but clearly busy, very smart and extremely focused. After thanking him for sneaking me into his busy schedule I realize that he has no idea that I’ve been snuck in and to him I’m just a new patient. He asks me to tell him why I’m here and I tell him of my diagnosis in California and my history while he reviews all of my paperwork and scans from my previous doctor. He turns out the light, turns around and starts pointing flashlights and other devises into my eyes. Within 6 minutes he says to me what anyone in the waiting room (me included) would almost kill to hear. “I don’t think you have MD, you are too young and you don’t fit the profile”. I looked at him and said, “if true that would be the best news I’ve heard probably in my lifetime”. He simply retorts, “ok, full battery of test we have the day to prove it, I’ll see you on the other side”. Two more hours of tests, dye injections into my arm while snapping countless pictures and scans of my retina we now know why Dr. Bernstein is the best. He knew in 6 minutes what my doctor in California didn’t………I don’t in fact have MD, I’m not going blind.

My vision will return almost to normal. I have a condition that is not fully understood that will need treatment and is likely brought on by stress among other factors. Lifestyle changes will continue anyway…. huge thanks to Amie, John, Linda, Eve, Dr. Olson, Dr. Bernstein and the rest of my family….this scared the shit out of me and I hope not to lose the lessen I’ve learned. I hope to properly thank Eve (hopefully in London when she visits to see her son on leave from Afghanistan), my father John, Dr. Olson who got me in to the eye center on literally a day’s notice and Dr. Bernstein for sending me into the rest of my life with the right diagnosis.
After all of this the rest of the week almost pales in comparison. However I’ll quickly sum up that won’t do the events or people justice. We had a great time seeing the family. Dinner at John’s with the “adult” children. Hike up to Dog Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon with snow ball fights with the kids and Jenny carrying Brooke the whole way! A round of golf with John, Mike and Trevor with minimal swearing and now club throwing while Amie climbed Mt. Olympus. Dinner with John and Linda at Forage followed the next day with a BBQ at the McIntosh’s with everyone and my mom. I met my niece Brooke for the first time this week, played with all my niece and nephews, taught them some “ninja moves” and likely drove my brother nuts by egging them on and Trevor for giving his 2 year old fireworks. Thanks for being generous with your children even though I’m the last one who should be around them.

Lastly but certainly not least we moved our son into the care of the McIntosh family. Two weeks from now Sam will have been with us for 10 years. As I drove off that first day it didn’t seem real, him lying in the grass with Dexter and Annie with him looking like he was just staying for the day. The last night of the BBQ it seemed to have set in for him and us that this was his new home. He seemed at ease, sniffing the kids for food and rolling in the grass. Brooke softly petting him as he sat in the shade hoping for more food scraps and no more assaults from the older boys. The nephews and nieces all seemed to like him and he at least was tolerating them. The last I saw Sam was after Dexter and I walked him down the stairs and put him in bed next to Dexter’s. We both gave him a kiss on the head and we both walked back up stairs to light sparklers together. Tomorrow Dex will wake to his new best friend I’ll be on a plane to London with Amie to start our next chapter of life too.