thirtysomething...

Just about a month or so left to go!!

Whenever I'm cooking for a party, I generally like to do most of the cooking a day before if possible. Nobody is around getting in my way, "You're doing that wrong", or "That's not the way I do it." Whatever. You're not cooking are ya. And I don't have to rush about the day of trying to get everything ready. Finding out I'm missing or run out of ingredients 2 hours before everyone sits down to dig in really SUCKS.

My neighbors probably have a Love/Hate relationship with me when I'm doing said cooking because I BLAST music while I'm in the kitchen. They love the smells, but hate the music cranked up from one end of the house to the other. And the house we live in, and most houses in England for that matter, share a common wall. I Know they can hear the music, I can hear them screaming at their children all day long & vice-versa...

Here's the odd bit. I'm blasting Metallica. :hehe: I generally don't listen to Metal all that much. Really only when I'm cooking like this. And it's been going ALL DAY LONG. :D

So my question to you, dear reader, is this: Are you Cranking the Tunes when you're creating mouth-watering delicacies for your flock of seagulls peeps? Yeah? Whatcha jamming to?

:rock:

P.S. Two days ago I also decided to NOT DRINK BEER while playing with knives in the kitchen. My fingers tend to get in the way of the knife and the succulents needing to be chopped. Especially vegetables.

Sad but True.

I'm trying to watch the whole thing, but Damn. This movie is messed up.

Being John Malkovich

I mean, WHAT THE HELL! I like Cusack, Spike Jones' style, John Malkovich, etc etc.

Maybe it's the writer that is a

COMPLETE NUTCASE.


I dunno.


But as I said, I'm trying to watch the whole thing. I'm having a hard time.

This past weekend Heather and I took a trip up to London to FINALLY see a West End show. And by West End I mean "Broadway" to you Yankees. :) We decided to see Wicked. Having both read the book by Gregory Maguire, which we both really liked, there was no real other choice!

In essence, it is the story of Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West, that the Wizard really would rather you didn't know. :) The musical strays from the book only in the end, but is still well done. If you ever get the chance to go see the show, DON'T THINK TWICE. Just Do It. You won't be disappointed.

We were lucky that the actress playing Elphaba was Idina Menzel, who won the 2004 Tony Award for 'Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical' for her performance as 'Elphaba' in the original Broadway cast of WICKED. Man, did she have a set of...lungs on her. And she didn't look half bad with green skin, either.

After the show we trekked back down to the Trafalgar Square area and had dinner at The Gay Husser, a Hungarian restaurant in an old bookshop. Very quaint and quite good. I must say though, Max & Moritz in Mt. Pleasant do a better weiner schnitzel.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 1½ cups powdered sugar


• 1 cup margarine or butter, softened


• 1 tsp vanilla


• ½ tsp almond extract


• 1 egg


• 2½ cups all-purpose flour*


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp cream of tartar


• Granulated sugar

Mix powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla, almond extract and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.


Heat oven to 375°. Divide dough into halves. Roll each half 3/16 thick on lightly floured cloth- covered board. Cut into desired shapes with 2 - 2½-inch cookie cutters; sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until edges are light brown, 7 to 8 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies



*If using self-rising flour, omit baking soda and cream of tartar.

If you are planning on decorating the cookies, omit granulated sugar on top before baking.

Big storm tonight! Actual lightning & thunder, which is Quite rare. Well, since we've been here.. :) Power flickered the whole time and went off twice. Kinda hard on the electronics in the house... and me, running around in the pitch black darkness trying to turn off all the electrical outlets. >.<

So, you KNOW I had to break the camera out...

The PhotoJournals are finally back up. Now, to add new ones... :)

just click the PhotoJournals tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page!!

For the past few nights I've walked though this high-tension strand of spiderweb on the way out the back door. I never saw the spider, but figured it must be a beefy one because of the strength of the web line.

Well, tonight I found the Beast. Holy Crap. It barely fit down the vacuum hose...

The Beast:


The CSI Reference shot...

Just doing a bit of re-coding... Which I was planning on doing quite a bit ago. :shrug:

Over the weekend we took the train over to Paddock Wood for a car show... Look what we found! She was all lonely and needed a good home. So, we couldn't just let leave her there!! She's a '94 Rover Mini Cooper 1.3i, and quite a blast to drive.

Well, my grandparents figured out how to video chat in iChat!! Sweet! The sound kept going in and out, but that could have been my wireless router. Or it could have been Heather and my grandfather yelling to "be heard". My grandmother and I kept telling them "you don't have to yell" :hehe: Next time I'll have it wired in directly. Oh well. Not much lag in the feed, just a bit slower than a direct call over the phone.

That was fun! Miss you guys!

Bummed a ride today over to Tenterden today. The local MG crew was putting on a show at the Rail Station. There were A LOT of really nice cars on show. Even the Ashford Mini Owner's Club (Runnin' AMOC) had a few rides on display. Check the Photojournal for some of the better shots.

I have SO got to find a decent Mini. I'm quite tired of driving around in rented French cars & I miss driving my MINI. The ideal situation would be to find a Mini that didn't need a lot of work. Drive it here until we go back to the States, Import it, then Track-Toy / Dedicated Autocross car HERE WE COME! Woo-Hoo!

a.k.a. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Inevitability

Guest Post: Teh Wife, a.k.a. Heather

Now that Dee and I are in our late twenties, I mean early thirties, we are starting to review some of the misconceptions we had as children growing up… i.e. adults don’t know everything, 50 isn’t old (but 84 is), right and wrong isn’t necessarily black and white, and unfortunately we do grow up to be like our parents. This weekend’s adventure made one of my worst fears a reality. I am just like my Dad!

So Dee and I rented a car and drove around the Norfolk area. We really had an awesome time, however it wasn’t a restful time off. More like, we have to see everything in 48 hours. It started off on Friday evening with me telling Dee to drive down this off-beaten road to see what was at the end of it. We met this nice older woman who gave us the history of the village (Castle Acre) church, and let us use the loo in her house. We then toured these old Priory ruins that were in the middle of a pasture full of sheep. It was blocked off by a fence. I start to climb over it and Dee yells, “Heather that fence is there for a reason”. I respond, “yes to keep the sheep out”. I don’t know what has made Dee turn into such a goody goody. He is a preacher’s kid times 2, so you would think he would have more of an adventuresome attitude, plus we all know that he and Matt built a bonfire in the backyard of Croft St. for goodness sake! Anyway I convinced him that it was really okay, so he followed me over the fence. 20 minutes later after I sat down on a bench for a rest, I realized it was actually a site on the English Heritage site and it required an admission fee! Is trespassing a sin? Let me see, I do recall being horrified as a child when my father cut this gate open because he wanted to take that specific road across the mountain.

The next morning Dee and I decide that we are going to visit the Lavender Fields and then go see some seals. On the way out, I see this place that makes glass, so again we start off down a different road. We had a blast, because we got to see them make some pieces and blow some vases. I purchased two beautiful glass sheep. One that was a first edition (signed) and one that was a second edition (not perfect so not signed). The first edition is me and the second edition is Dee… nah just kidding. I could not leave the second edition one at the shop, because I didn’t want it to have low self-esteem. Anyway, we missed the first Lavender fields tour, so we booked it for 3:30 that afternoon.

So, we rush around the coast to go try to view the seals. We get there an hour later and the boat tours go out at 3:00 until 5:30, because of the tide. We decide to go ahead and purchase tickets for 5:30 and go back to the Lavender Fields and try to reschedule. Luckily, we are able to reschedule the Lavender tour for the next day at 10:30. We rush back to see the Seals, stopping at a really cool antique shop where we got a nice surprise for our house. Love the seals and I want to adopt one!

After we stop for a bite to eat, I tell Dee that we need to go home a different route, because we had already driven the same route three times. Plus, I have this thing (inherited from my father) where I never drive the same route home. I tell Dee it looks to be the same distance. (Ed. Note: It wasn't near the same distance...) Two hours later we crawl into bed and I recall how as a child I always wanted to get home, but Dad had to keep driving around to “see” something else.

The next morning, I’m really excited because I only came to Norfolk because I wanted to see the Lavender Fields. 55 acres of lavender! On the way down the road, I convince Dee to take another route because we had a few extra minutes. At 10:27, I’m a nervous wreck because we are sitting in traffic in front of the Lavender place. Dee let’s me out of the car and I run tackle the tour guide and beg him to wait on Dee. They do give me a hard time, I profusely apologize to everyone and act like I’m about to cry. He felt great sympathy for me and picked me a few lavender twigs to calm me down. Why didn’t I inherit the freak’n gene from Dad where we always have to get there 30 minutes early!

I can’t decide if I like Dad’s way of approaching a vacation or the way I dreamed of as a child. I’ll let you know how we approach the next trip.

Now before you start thinking that I must drive Dee crazy, I need to clue you in on what transpired last week before our vacation. I’ve been drinking Malibu Rum and Diet Coke, because it reminds me of sun tan oil and the beach. Last week I told Dee I wanted a fruity drink. He brought home some orange juice and mixed it with the rum. It was wonderful. I had two glasses. The next day I told Dee I couldn’t believe how sweet it was and the label said there was no added sugar. I had two more glasses. The next day some women from church came over for a Bible study. They requested some orange juice, so I go to pour them a full glass and one of the women yells, "STOP! What are you doing?" She said that stuff is concentrate you are supposed to mix it with water (like limeade/lemonade); 25% orange juice and the rest water. It is called Orange Squash. They couldn’t believe I drank 4 glasses in two days! They were amazed I wasn’t hyperactive. I’m convinced Dee was trying to see how much my body could take, even though he swears he didn’t know. Luckily, I grew up on Mt. Dews, so I have a high tolerance for sugar.

As you can see, we are still having adventures around England, making friends, and learning new things. But if anything strange happens to me, you know who to question first.

(Ed. Note: I'm still collating the photographs.. over 3GB of images...)

Snootchie-Bootchies!!

Last weekend Heather, JD and I took the ferry over to France and drove up and down the Norman coast. The commentary is over in the Photo Journal. Yeah, I know, I'm lazy. I've been putting together this journal for a few days now so I'm not That lazy... Anyways. :P Click the thumbnail. :)

Time for some house cleaning. And by house I mean photo server. And by cleaning I mean emptying. So most of the current images will be down for a few days while I re-arrange and reduce resolutions of older photo journals to make room for the New.

Changing the look of the blog as well! Don't freak out now. Have a beer & chill.

Not to worry, everything is all good. :)

D

Part of our recent trip (the main reason we went over) to the US last month was to see Heather's brother get married. The ceremony was short and sweet, situated on the top of Loon Mountain, just outside of Lincoln, New Hampshire. Had to ride a Gondola up to the top. Very Cool.

The first part of my trip (I went two weeks before Heather arrived) was filled with tons of driving. The first weekend I had an autocross in Columbia, SC and the next weekend I went up to Deal's Gap, NC to meet up with 20 or so friends from the 'net to drive the Tail of the Dragon. 318 Curves in 11 Miles :rock: There are a ton of pictures of us over on Killboy's site. Just look for the weekend of June 16-19 in his shop. I'll try to post up a few pics from the Dragon a bit later. Hopefully Heather will do a guest spot on the Wedding.

Enjoy the wedding photos! Click the pic of Zach & Melissa to see 'em!

So anyone have a good cure for Jet Lag? For Pete's Sake. I've been awake since 2am. It's now 10:20pm...

In an effort to take my mind of the jetlag/insomnia I "made" a pinhole lens for the D70. It's gonna need some work to perfect it, cause the thing is REAL ghetto at the moment, but here are a few shots from the first test run.

So, it’s my birthday month! Would you believe that we are still in jeans and long sleeves here in the UK. It is also still wet. Not much different than the weather when my in-laws visited. I can’t imagine what June 21st, the first day of summer and my birthday, will be like. Did I mention my birthday was June 21st…

Every day here brings something different. When I picked our house in Headcorn, I liked that it had a nice little yard. It was small and green with a little boarder around the edges where we could plant various flowers. When spring started, plants started popping up all over the place. Most of them looked like weeds to me, so I asked this gentleman from church to come over and point out the true plants. Would you believe the only weeds we actually had were dandelions and grass!! Unfortunately, I couldn’t pull out the dandelions, because Drew, my cousin Emily and Lance’s son, actually has a strong bond with these little yellow thingies. When they visited in April, everywhere he travelled, he had to pull up a few handfuls for the road. How big is Drew? THIS BIG!

So, before I jump back to the plant kingdom, I need to set the scene. I’m sure you have heard us mention that we love traipsing off through the country on footpaths. I’m a little more adventuresome than Dee. He is always like… Can we really cross this fence?, Stay on the path, Don’t pick the flowers, Stop feeding the sheep!... jeez you would think he was my Dad. Anyway, our last adventure took us out through this huge crop field where the crop came up to our shoulders. It is a yellow flower called rape, yeah I know. They make a sweetner out of it…I think. (Ed. Note: Check the banner at the top, that's Rape.) Anyway, at the end of the crop we had to walk around another field. Well JD, our good friend from Charleston who is staying with us for a few minutes, make that months, starts whining about how he can’t walk through the field because these plants have stingers that really itch. Of course, Dee and I ignore him and keep going. JD is in shorts and we are in jeans.

So back to our yard, these wild plants, not weeds, start coming up all over the place. I’ve been so excited waiting to see what happens. You wouldn’t believe all of the different varieties! Please don’t ask me to name them. It really does look like we are on another planet! So tonight I’m out there picking some flowers to make an arrangement for the dinner table. We have this vine that has gone in multiple directions and climbing up all over the place. I bend down to unravel it and the plant it was around BIT ME! You wouldn’t believe how much it hurt. There were no stingers or scratches. Three hours later my fingers are still hurting. I went back to try to find the sucker, but I couldn’t figure out which one it was. So sorry JD, you really aren’t a wuss.

So, I'm sitting out back on the grass having a cigarette and off to my right I hear a rustling over in the bushes. I turn & look and this little round shape emerges out onto the lawn about 2 feet away from me. There are TONS of rabbits around here so I'm thinking, "Do I roll over and grab it real quick? Or do I get up slowly and go get a flashlight & the camera..." I couldn't tell Exactly what it was, cause it's quite dark out. I get up slowly and go get the gear. Come back out, shine the light around, Nothing to be Seen. Walk over to where I thought it came out and peer into the bushes.

Good thing I didn't grab it. It was a hedgehog.

Be on the lookout tomorrow for another Guest Blog from The Wife!!

Finally made it over to St Ives this last weekend. Also finally rented a car & drove around South-West England. That was an experience of itself, having never driven on the left side of the road from the right side of the car and shifting with my left hand. Especially in the Dartmoor Forest. Most of the roads in the Moor were quite narrow. About a lane & a half wide with cars going both directions. Luckily we didn't come across too many people coming the opposite direction. There were places where you would have to back up quite a ways to let someone pass. Now imagine doing that for 30 or so miles with 8 foot hedges on either side of the road. I know why American drivers are Teh Suck in Formula One. We have straight roads in the US. There are no straight roads in the UK. Zero. Nada. Zip. Everything is a curve. Especially in the Moor. I connote it to driving the Tail of the Dragon (US 129 in NC & TN) or driving on track. Constantly looking ahead. Constantly driving the line. The only difference being there Are blind driveways & roads that spring up and the ever present threat of livestock on the road. And they won't move if you honk at them. The "A Roads" were fine. Quite like Hwy 17 in Coastal South Carolina. Didn't drive any "M Roads" which would be I-85 in the US.

I only got honked at once in a roundabout (cause this jackass was trying to fly up my ass) and only drove on the wrong side once, for about 50 feet. Oops. Put about 500 miles on the rental. It was a 5-speed Vauxhall Astra 1.4 Life 16V Estate (read: stationwagon). I did brush a few curbs with the left side tires on a few in-town curves and put the passenger side into a few hedges in the Moor (those roads are TINY!,) but no damage. :)

So yeah. Saturday morning we all piled onto the train at 7am to start our journey. A 4 hour ride to Exeter, switching trains & stations in London. Got into Exeter around 11 or so and picked up the car. From there the Adventure begins. Heather is in the back seat sporadically calling out directions and I'm doing my best to figure out driving in the UK while trying to comprehend what she's yelling from behind me. We head down to Dartmoor & drive through the Moor, stopping off in a tiny village that is reported to have the best scones and tea in all of Britain (I wasn't too impressed with the stuff.) From there we drove (read: got lost a few times) over to Tintagel where the Tintagel Castle is located. Reportedly the birthplace of King Arthur.

Tintagel was quite interesting. The island where the castle stood was quite beautiful. If you have any interest in the Arthur legend/myth, you should definitely walk the grounds. I positively felt transported back in time. Be prepared though, you'll think you're working out on a StairMaster for the entire visit. Unfortunately we did not have alot of time to spend at he Castle, we needed to be at the B&B by 7pm, and we were about an hour away.

Sunday we woke, ate a hot breakfast of sausage, egg, toast, and 2 rashers of bacon, then headed down to St. Austell to see The Eden Project. That place was very cool. HUGE, and I mean Gigantus greenhouses (read: Biomes) covered the property. One one side was the "Tropical" Biome and the other was the "Warm Climate" Biome with a restaurant/info area in-between the two areas. The main grounds of Eden Project, not in a Biome, were covered with plants of Britain. The whole "project" sits in the bottom of an old abandoned clay pit mine. The majority of the flora in the project were I guess what you could call "working plants", not just pretty flowers & whatnot. Rubber, cola, cocoa, banana trees & the like. Definitely a must see if you come to the UK. From there we drove over to Mount St. Michael. Same idea as Mont St. Michel in France, but not really executed as well as the French did. The tide was in and the weather wasn't permitting ferry transport, so we didn't actually get to expore the Mount. Hopped back in the car and ventured further down to St. Ives.

St. Ives rests around a natural harbour on the Atlantic side of England. Very close to Lands End. It's a quaint sea-side resort type village with a few pubs, lots of art galleries, and a few touristy type shops. I rather liked the place, but I imagine it could get very hectic during the "on-season". To me it felt like what Charleston could have been like 50 to 75 years ago. Not that I was there, but I just had that feeling.

Check out the Pics by clicking any of the thumbnails!

Last Sunday Heather, JD and I went into London to take a "Flight" on the British Airways London Eye. When we got into London it was as cloudy as ever and didn't look to promising for a clear view on the Eye. Our train arrived around 1:30 and our ticket time was for 4:30. We walked up and down the Thames until about 4. Snapped a few photos along the way, but nothing of importance. Around five after 4 we got in line and were amazed that the sky was beginning to clear up. Sweet!

Once our flight was over (it takes about 30 to 45 minutes per trip) the sky was clouding back up and a storm was about to roll down the Thames. Walked over to Charing Cross Station, grabbed a Pint & a magazine, then headed back home.

You know the drill.. Click the thumbnail to see the photos. :)

In the immortal words of Ice Cube, Today was a good day.

It was a gorgeous day outside. 68°F by the thermometer. Clear skys, no rain (but we need it). Anyway, I finally collected all the Tri-Force pieces in Zelda, mailed off a package I have been putting off, did at TON of laundry, and bought a £20 BBQ grill for £15.

Lately I've been wanting to go back to the US. I miss my family. I miss my friends. Surprisingly, I miss my customers at the hardware store. I guess I never realized how much I enjoy solving their problems and putting them on the right path. Maybe I've been in retail way too long. :shrug: But not today.

Today I was quite content to do the same things I've been doing since we've been in the UK, and was happy to do so. It was weird. I really didn't do anything different today than I do every other day, but I didn't think about going back to the US at all today. Strange.

Maybe I'm becoming British. I do notice that the more I've had to drink, the more a British accent comes out...

Anyway, today was a good day, and I'm thankful for that.


Crikey.

Sorry for the delay again in keeping this up-to-date. I've been playing Zelda and I'm almost finished. :) Regular posts to commence shortly. In the meantime, here's something to think about.

Inbetween battling Peahats & Wizzrobes I've been doing laundry all day. Why is it that lint in the lint trap is almost always blue? Other than when you're washing a red blanket or all the green towels at once it usually has a bluish tint to it.

What's up with that?

So I had this whole book written about what's been going on the last couple of weeks. After reading it through a couple of times, correcting grammer, spelling & the like I came to a realization. It Sucked. So you'll have to do without my crappy epic.

Here's a shorter version:

My mother, her husband and my grandparents came over for a two week stay. It was Mom's first trip off the North American continent, and I think she did pretty good. Her husband Jim had been over about 20 or so years ago, and my grandparents came over, if I remember correctly, 25 years ago for their 25th wedding anniversary. Heather and I had a few things planned for everyone to do, and then they took side trips during the week as well. The main places we all went to were Sissinghurst Gardens in Bendenden, Stonehenge & Salisbury, and London. Closer to the end of their stay we took an old steam train from Tenderden to Bodium and wandered the grounds of Bodium Castle. When we went to Salisbury we stayed overnight at a B&B on an old farm, which was pretty cool. Parts of the house dated back to the 1600's ,1700's & 1800's. The owners kept adding on and adding on. Very interesting. Drove by Sting's house on the way to Stonehenge from the Salisbury Cathedral. Sorry no pics of that.

I say this knowing that it will be read by those involved...I love my family, but damn, they can wear you out. :)

Once everyone left, Heather and I had 2, count'em, 2 whole days to ourselves before getting on a plane to the US. Originally the trip to the US was scheduled to be two weeks for a wedding we wanted to attend, but the bride and groom decided on a tiny (read: courthouse) wedding, a family dinner afterwards, and a Family & Friends Get-Together sometime later TBA. We missed all those things. :/ Oh well. We had other stuff we needed to do anyway.

While we were there, I picked out all the tile needed for the House Renovation. Confirmed plumbing fixtures, flooring options, re-supplied the renovation bank account and generally milled about taking pictures of the renovation. It's coming along!! Heather said all we would need to stay at the house was a tent and a cooler. There was already a Port-o-let on the front porch. Took care of a few household upgrades for a friend, worked a SCCA Club Race in the middle of everything... It was Non-Stop the WHOLE time we were back in the US.

Speaking of the Club Race. Well, let's have some backstory. On the plane ride over, I had trouble with, well, my plumbing. Kept feeling like I had to go ALL the time, and when I actually got up, there wasn't much coming out. Back on the ground, it continued, but no troubles now with flow. I figured it was just travel & stress issues. Jump forward one week to the next weekend. A bud of mine and I took his parent's RV to Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. It's Saturday, I'm working Corner 9 in the middle of a straight-away, just before the ass-puckering "Kink" at 10 and 11. I'm drinking tons of water to stay hydrated cause we're out there all day. Also having to run off to the woods by the Corner Station to take a piss between EVERY Practice Session, and Qualifying Session. At this point I really didn't think much of it because of the amount of water I was drinking. We (the SCR autocrossers working the event) went out that night to a Greek/Italian place, have a few beers, then head back to the track.

Sunday morning. During the morning constitutional everything seemed fine, and then BAAAAAAAAAM! I'm literally bent over in half, sitting on the toilet in EXCRUCIATING pain. I really thought I was gonna die/explode. This was no "Lactose Moment" that I'm occasionally prone to have. This was something else Entirely. Sad thing about screaming in pain while sitting on a toilet in an RV that's parked about 200 yards from a very active racetrack. No One Hears You. AT ALL. Even if you do it for 3 or 4 hours. I must have passed out cause when I came to Practice & Qualifying were over, and it was lunchtime, and I was (relatively speaking) in no pain. Walked over to one of the Ambulances in the Paddock, explained what happened to the EMT and he goes, "Kidney Stone. That's what you've got. And I can't help ya."

WHAT?

He said he didn't even have an aspirin to give me. I gave him the "You're full of Shit" squint look and walked back to the RV.

Crap. What now. Well, I summoned up the courage, explained to my friends what was going on and slid into the MINI and drove to Charleston. The next day, went to my doctor's office, got some antibiotics and pain meds. By the end of our stay in the US, it was all over. No Pain, No constant need to pee. Only the dread of getting on a 9 hour plane ride and having the gravel begin again. Back in the UK, still no problems. I will tell you that I had my bottle of Lortab VERY close by on the plane.

I must have passed the stone at the track, but I never saw it. :shrug:

Well, that's all I've got for now. If you don't see anything written here for extended periods, it's cause what ever I wrote sucked. I've realized that I can't force myself to write something and if I do, it's not enjoyable to read, IMO.

As always, click the thumbnails to view the photo journals. Be sure to read Heather's Guest Blog & her photos!!

Easter is one of my favorite days. Flowers are blooming, people are smiling, and David goes to church. Unfortunately this Easter, David didn’t go because he went last week for Palm Sunday. So, off I tread to my, I mean God’s, local Baptist church in Headcorn. During the announcements they announce that the Easter Parade will start at 12:00 with singing and balloons. We would walk down the High Street, Main Street for the Americans, announcing the risen Lord.

Home I go full of the excitement of a parade but tinged with the sadness of going alone. When I get home the words just pop out of my mouth, “Hey David, do you want to go to the Easter Parade?” Would you believe he actually said “Yes”? Okay I confess, I neglected to tell him we would be part of the procession. I also left out the part about the balloons, singing, and announcing the risen Lord.

We head off to the church, but half way I start feeling a little guilty and tell David that I’m not quite sure what is going to happen. I don’t remember being in an Easter Parade, but I can definitely imagine it is something David is not going to enjoy.

Anyway, all the parishioners from the local churches are gathering. There are several large banners, small flags for each person, and balloons with Bible verses attached. We march in a procession three blocks down to the Village Center and form a semi-circle. We launch into song, singing 12 glorious hymns the last being Jesus Christ is Risen Today! Hallelujah! A prayer is said at the end and then we launch our balloons with the attached verses.

So what really happened…. Somehow David and I are near the front, but on the back row. About song four I notice a couple of people on the other side pointing at various people in the group one of which being David. I start thinking… they are pointing at people not having fun. My mind starts racing and six degrees later I have come to the conclusion that I have ruined this wonderful witness opportunity by being selfish and inadvertently tricking David into keeping me company. But by song six I have calmed down and have begun to focus on the moment. David starts to look a little more alive and I’m waving my flag and singing with all my heart. I notice the other guy not singing on the back row who also got pointed at getting more into it and smiling my way. Then a mother with a small two year old girl walks by and David and I stop them to give the little girl one of our balloons. You should have seen her face light up and would you believe purple is her favorite color too! Through songs ten and eleven, David focuses on untangling my remaining three balloons. Song twelve comes along and it just happens to be the song I was singing as we walked to the church from our house. We end the parade and David releases the balloons…. You read that right David releases the balloons. I had another brief panic attack thinking the balloons were doomed because they were sent off by a heathen. I quickly regroup, bless the balloons as they fly away, and hand out two remaining verse tags to some passerby’s. They ask what church we are from and I say we are from all churches in the village. The gentleman says oh you are from an American Church…notice the tinge of disappointment. I quickly counter, yes I’m American, but these people aren’t. I introduce my friend and we have a brief bonding moment with the gentleman who asks us to sing another song. As David and I head home, I thank him for attending and I apologized if he was miserable. David surprisingly said he tried not to look too frowny and was glad he could go if it made me happy.

As I contemplate those brief thirty minutes, I’m reminded of the joy of just living and being a child of God. Thirty minutes of sharing the spirit, respecting a husband for who he is, marveling at God’s small wonders, and experiencing the wonders of his creation with strangers.


Editor's Note: Names have been changed to throw off the NSA, and to make the day better, I did see an old Morgan on the way to the torture, and a DB9 on the way home.

I'm working on photos from the past few weeks. It's been kinda hectic, as you can see from the delay between the last posts. All will be revealed shortly.

Woo Hoo! Finally some racing going on here to keep my fix going. Well, it actually started yesterday with Formula 1 qualifying in Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit near Sakhir. With the new qualifying rules for 2006 it was Much better than qualifying last season. 3 sessions, everyone on track.

Session 1: 15 minutes. The slowest six: Out, back of the Grid.
Session 2: 15 minutes. The slowest six: Out, back of the Grid.
Session 3: 20 minutes. The top 10 Finishers: Pole Positions

If you cannot finish a session due to malfunction, you're done for the day. Back of the grid on race day. Essentially that's it. Anyway, the race today was pretty cool. Close call a few laps in between Massa and Alonso. Oh, and someone blew an engine, which subsequently caught fire.

On either side of the opening race of the 2006 Formula 1 season I was across the street at the Headcorn Rail Station. The car park was the Service area for the Rally of Kent. Over 60 cars, 2 were WRC cars, and I think they won their class. Oh Really. Thanks to the Maidstone and Mid-Kent British Motor Club for putting this on across from my house and having the Staging while the F1 race was going so I could do both!

Click the thumbnail to see pictures from the Rally of Kent Service. 70 Pics over 6 pages.

Thursday Heather had to over to Bristol for a meeting which is about a 3 to 4 hour train ride. I tagged along because right across the street from where she had to be is the Bristol Zoological Garden. They don't have any large animals anymore because the consensus was the pens were too small, and the animals were getting depressed. The last large animal they had was an elephant that had to be euthanized because of extreme arthritis. Now the Zoo's main goal is endangered species protection. From that I found out something that I didn't know. There are _2_ types of pigeons that are extinct. Passenger Pigeons and...wait for it...wait for it... The Dodo. Yes, you read correctly. The Dodo bird is, rather was, a pigeon. Didn't know that. And after reading in Wikipedia, I found out there are more pigeons that are extinct.. but the Zoo made no mention of that...

The lioness either really liked me & the camera, or the opposite. 'Cause she came RIGHT up to the glass and looked me dead in the eye/lens. The Lion was watching this woman standing about 20 feet away. I didn't think she was all that hot, but the Lion couldn't take his eyes off her. The whole time he was staring at her, he didn't move an inch.

Anyways, on with the show. As always click the thumbnail.

So apparently some lucid Brazilian guys have been set loose in our US house and have started ripping out the sheetrock to sell on the Charleston Sheetrock Black Market.

Ok, so I lied. There was treasure hidden in the walls and they stole it. Ok, not really. They wanted the really old timbers to reconstruct some Civil War era boat. What, ya don't believe me? Just ask me.

Ok, so we're renovating the house. You caught me.

It's a good thing there's a big pond between Heather and Charleston, cause she flipped OUT when I showed her the pictures. Especially the one you're looking at right now. I believe her Exact words were, "HOLY SHIT! THAT'S OUR HOUSE?!??!" I asked her what she was expecting, and she said she didn't really know. I thought about getting down the dictionary and flipping to the pages with "Gutting" and "House", but that was only for a second or three. And to think, she wanted to know if we Really had to move out of the house for the renovations.

Ok, enough ribbing on Heather. The house is going to be great once it is finished. We've got the plans, and well, you don't so you will just have to take my word and Julia's pictures as proof.

To calm Heather down, I did show her pictures & 2 movies of Francesca, Julia & Samuel's little girl. She's the first of "our" (Heather and I will claim her if her actual parents get tired of her) babies to start walking! W00t W00t! So yeah, that helped alot and got Heather's mind on other things, like writing letters & whatnot.

Anyway, click the thumbnail to see the other shots (there are 4 total).

BTW, I've temporarily removed the Cumberland Island photos, so yeah, I know the link isa broka.

So I found a new use for my iSight camera... Apple's "Photo Booth"
 
Is there something in my eye??



Does that hat make my head look tiny?



I think it was something I ate...



Which way did he go?



Arty 1



Rockin' in CornyFeet



Are you talkin' to Me?



D Squared



The WolfMan



John Goodman



Ron Perlman



H Squared



Ok, that's just weird.

I need to get my passport renewed before the next crossing...

You think I can use this picture for my new passport & visa?

Some may have noticed (if you've been reading from the beginning) that I've started using a new host for my photos. Those of you who read the blog at work might have had problems viewing photos because my old image host may have been blocked. I'm in the process of moving old photoblogs over so everyone can see. I'll try to put a menu on the right of links straight to the photo pages. In the meantime:

Cumberland Island
The House
Headcorn (Lashenden) Aerodrome

I'm still working on the Germany & Prague images... not my best work by far, but you'll still get an idea...Maybe by the end of the week.


Oh yeah!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Watched the opening ceremonies tonight. It was nice to watch them live for a change. The choreography was very good. Especially the downhill skier bit. A must watch part. The Ferrari F1 burn-out on stage was really cool. Sorry, it's hard to remember all what happened... Heather's got the damn American Idol on in the background. :squint:

to Glasgow.

Heather's got biznass to take care of at her company's UK HQ, and I'm gonna go sightseeing. See ya in a few days!

(aka: Planes, Parachutes, and Pseudo Cujo)

Saturday was a laaaazy day. Stayed at the house, watched TV, and basically just laid around. Sunday would be the day to get out and wander around Headcorn.

We started out after lunch on Sunday. We'd heard about an Aerodrome that was close by and decided that would be our main destination for the day via Public Footpaths. It took us about 20 to 30 minutes to walk through the winding paths to the Aerodrome, which is about a mile out of town. The place was pretty cool. When we got to the field everyone there was looking up into the sky. Apparently you can learn to skydive for a modest fee. When I was a kid I always wanted to give it a try. Not so much now. Especially after seeing the 5 or so "Memorial Markers" of people who were Dead. Don't know if they died on a jump or not, but it kinda sucked the fun out of the possibility of a jump. From there we walked over to the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum. Two buildings filled with wrecked WWII plane parts, engines, turbochargers, placards, WWI uniforms, and the like. I'm thinking about Twin Charging the MINI with one of the turbochargers that was on display. It measured about two feet in diameter and about a foot thick. Wow. Probably have to mount it in the boot, cause that thing was huge. Wonder how long it would take to spin it up... Anyway, after wandering around the museum and airfield for awhile, we decided to head out and make our way back to the village by a different route. We found a footpath without too much trouble, but following the trail, now that was a different matter. After a few turn-arounds we finally began to make headway. Walked the edge of a few fields FILLED with sheep. Saw some horses as well. Cresting one hill we spooked a red fox that took off. Tried to get a shot of it, but man that thing was fast.

Ok, now things get tricky. We'd been following the footpath with some ease by now. We came up to a point where 4 fields came together, and there was a crossing step to continue on the footpath. We crossed over, looked around and couldn't tell where the path went from there. The field to the right had horse in it and the field to the left had a "Beware of Dog" sign. Ok, lets go Right. Walking down the edge of the field, the horse noticed us and slowly started walking our way. Heather is definitely not a fan of horses milling about, especially if they are milling about towards her. We get to the end of the field and guess what. No exit. Great. We turn around and head back the way we came. The whole time Heather's watching the horse while trying not to step in horse poo. I, on the other hand, am watching the next field over for signs of the dog. About halfway back Heather says the horse is coming towards us, and about the same time I say, "Heather, there's the dog." It was about 50 yards away.

It isn't a small dog either. Big, black, scary looking dog. And he looks wet. In my head I'm thinking "Cujo". The wetness could be blood, ya never know. Great. Mauled & left for dead in some random field near Headcorn. At this point he hadn't noticed us. By the time I actually thought that, his head picked up and, Oh Crap. "Heather, the dog sees us. What ever you do, Don't Run."

We began walking faster to the step where we entered the field. Now the dog is running towards us. There is a large gate that separates the dog's field from the one we are in, and Oh How Convenient, there's also an UN-GATED pass big enough for a person to walk through. I turned back to Heather and said "Come On. Hop the Fence". The dog is 15 feet away and the step is in His field. I'm over the 4 foot fence in a quarter of a second like Jessie Owens in the '36 Olympics, only covered in camera gear.

Oh Crap. I just jumped the fence and left my wife on the other side with some crazy psycho Cujo dog. Maybe she needs some help. DUH.

Turn around and she's got one leg up on the fence & hopping up and down. And The Dog Is Right There. Luckily, the three of us are all in separate fields separated by fences. Split rail fences. That dog can come threw any time he damn well feels like it. Great.

Uh. Nice Doggy? Who's a Gooood Boooy? Good Doggie...

Turns out, he was a good doggie, and wet (no it wasn't blood...) And I still left my wife on the other side of the fence. I Swear I thought she was RIGHT BEHIND ME. Really. Looking back, it's kinda humorous. At the time we didn't think so, and Heather REALLY didn't think so. She wanted me to tell the same story from her point of view, but I don't think I'd be able to do it justice. I'll try to get her to write it out for yaz.

From this point on we followed (mostly) the footpaths back to Headcorn with only a few minor deviations. The dog followed us all the way to the train tracks and then disappeared. We should have followed the dog, he was walking the footpath and we weren't. :shrug: He did spook out a pheasant for us to see. That was cool. We walked back through town, had a pot of tea & scones at the local Tea Room and headed on home. Out and back it was probably about 5 or 6 miles total. Especially with all the backtracking.

I don't think I did this story justice, but anyways, there it is.

Lessons Learned: 1. Buy a map of the area (with footpaths on it) 2. Push Heather over the fence FIRST, Then pet the nice doggie.

Click the Pic to see more from this adventure. Sorry, no pictures of the dog, fox or pheasant. :shrug: