thinking of others

bath

as promised, here are some more pix of bath. bath is one of the prettiest towns in england. i fell in love with bath my first summer here (1998) when i traveled around the u.k. staying with friends and friends-of-friends. surprisingly, s had never been there. it seemed like a perfect place for a romantic anniversary weekend, and it did not disappoint. of course, everything does look better in sunshine with blooming flowers, and on that front mother nature did not disappoint either.



royal victoria park


unfortunately, my snapshots don't do it justice, no matter how many megapixels my digital camera has.



bath abbey



bath abbey seen from the roman baths



the roman baths






royal crescent



duck! duck!

bath spa

saturday was our first anniversary, so we spent the weekend in the absolutely, perfectly, unequivocably, charmingly lovely town of bath (pronounced bahhhh - th). more pictures to come but here is the requisite shot of pulteney bridge and the cascading weir.

pretty shiny things

this week has been lovely and warm. the perfect time to bring out sparkly bling and color!





my toes are enjoying the sunshine, too. do you like my new birkenstocks? these are actually a pair from last year's flowery crop; i was disheartened to discover that they're only making solids this summer. but never fear, the internet came through and now i have happy feet.


i keep thinking about this song by paolo nutini:

Hey, I put some new shoes on,
and suddenly everything is right,
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling,
it so inviting,
Oh, short on money,
but long on time,
slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine,
and i'm running late,
and i don't need an excuse,
'cause i'm wearing my brand new shoes

it's rare for a man to capture accessory adoration* with such eloquence, but in this case, paolo's right on the money.



* i can't think of a better way to describe this, but m knows what i'm talking about. accessories make all the difference. shiny, sparkly, blingy things make me happy. jewelry and scarves. fun shoes. beads, sequins, rhinestones, long flowy ribbons. all that cutesy girlie stuff. so there. now you know. and i'm going to keep on smiling, because i've got my new shoes on and everything is right...

serious stuff

click the tag to show your support for BBC reporter alan johnston



***

on an unrelated note, i read about this in the reuter's oddly enough section:

what is stephen harper reading?

yann martel, author of life of pi has pledged to send the canadian prime minister a different book every two weeks for the rest of his tenure in office. he decided to start with tolstoy. i suspect that anyone attempting to do the same for W would be better off starting with something like all i really to know i learned in kindergarten. share, hold hands, and take naps.

easter weekend in yorkshire

we had a lovely extended weekend in yorkshire with s's family.


the second batch of mer-in-gyoos came out nearly perfect in terms of color and texture (still a bit chewy) and i continued the pastel theme by wrapping them in blue and white tissue paper tied with pink ribbon bows.






country lane



toy story 3: woody and buzz lightyear go to ossett?



the very picturesque town of knaresborough












and the best part? all those chocolate eggs that are still waiting to be eaten!

meringues

perhaps this blog entry is a bit premature - the meringues are still in the oven - but i'm excited by a bit of sweet pastel goodness for our easter trip to yorkshire.

i'm making meringues. s informs me that "mer-in-gyoos" is the proper pronunciation for these tiny treats. so be it.



i asked s to choose his own special shape and colo(u)r. i present the green mer-in-gyoo gingerbreadman.



hmmm. not entirely convincing, is it? hopefully the fully baked version will be less...pointy. stay tuned.

***later***

oh dear, slightly disappointing result. where did the color go?



and the gingerbreadman. oh no... at least he came off all in one piece!