Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Old friends

While I was in the States, I visited with my dear friend Kelly (from high school) and her husband, three gorgeous children (and her daughter's boyfriend), and lovable labrador mix, Tucker. We did a lot of reminiscing, and really enjoyed time with the kids, jumping on the pogo stick, hula hooping, and even some karoake!

Check out these beautiful kids (Kelly's oldest daughter is now 18 - so hard to believe!)

Thanksgiving

Well, I was fortunate enough this year to be home in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving (albeit sans Alex) for a traditional holiday with family :)


Sunday, December 12, 2010

A weekend in Stafford




In late October, we headed to Stafford, England to spend a weekend at a Landmark Trust building to celebrate Alex's 40th this year with his very close mates Trevor and Mick, and their wives, Jo and Sarah.


It was a fabulous weekend in a very cool location (on a farm where pheasant hunters wander about with their guns, flat caps, pipes and tweed jackets - really!) where we had a weekend that included a black-tie evening and a relaxing walk through the country side.
Unquestionably, the highlight of the weekend was evidence of the mid-life-crisis that is 40...Mick drove his BMX cycle across the front lawn of the estate...not realizing that about 1/3 of the way down was a wall built into the landscape, about 5 feet high (originally for the purpose of keeping livestock from wandering off, intentionally 'invisible' so as not to interrupt the landscape), that he couldn't see until he was flying face first into the ground. Fortunately and perhaps miraculously, Mick wasn't injured (which was a good thing because it would have taken Alex and Mick quite a while to stop laughing long enough to take him to hospital!)
Here are a couple of films from our weekend at Ingestre Pavillion: