"Epic", to quote Aren. Everything was epic this year.
We capitalized on our last year in the UK with travel, more eats, hanging out with friends and well, for Adrian, royalty. ....And the little one stayed home.
Adrian might have been hobnobbing with Prince Charles, again, but he is the King of his Castle.
E looked like a princess though
Sometimes anyway....
And less other times....
We started the 2016 New Year on the Costa del Sol in Spain. How great was that!
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| How does your brain interpret this - drive slow for the butterflies, or slow down and enjoy the butterflies? Advice for living? |
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| Chillin' in Xerez. Chillin' in Ottawa would have a snow shovel in the picture |
Had the craziest small world encounter on our flight from Malaga to Madrid here I met Martha who is Persian and lives in Greece. We got chatting and figured out we're both friends with Cheshmak who is my neighbour in Ottawa!!! Does it get more random than that?!! Does that not give you a little frisson?Talk about 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon - or Cheshmak, because she seems to know everyone.
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| Six degrees of separation - flight in Spain, living in the UK and Greece, common friend in my Ottawa neighbourhood! |
We moved on to the top of the mountain for our February break! The Zugspitze at 2,962 m. I'll eventually get this ski vacation posted, and pass it off as this coming year's holiday because 2017's won't be near as exciting.
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| Does living in the town in the valley make you a "Wanker"? |
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| Adrian removed his matching blue helmet to avoid jokes from Jojo. |
Of course we ate lots - BIG plates in Germany.
We just couldn't figure out why they kept swearing when they seemed so friendly and polite.
E was missing Canadian snow, especially after the ski vacation, however, it is not like the UK didn't have its fair share of snow either. We had to stop everything and dig out after that storm.
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| Some people lose their heads when they're excited, others, their leg. |
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| Let me in!!! Its storming out here. I'm freezing to death. |
Making the most of London and getting photo ops of the Tower Bridge
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| Some princesses have glass slippers. I live dangerously dancing on glass floors. |
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| Look at the birdie! Or maybe the cuckoo. |
Warmer climes in Greece beckoned at Easter. See "My Big Fat Greek Vacation" for the splendid details. My Big Fat Greek Vacation
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| The skies really are that blue. |
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| Our table at the villa one night |
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| Kosta's famous bread bowl salad |
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| Just like brother and sister - rivalry. |
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| Loving the sunshine! |
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| Hey, lets plan another trip here! |
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| Did I say this was my big fat Greek vacation? |
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| The highlight of my Greek trip was a day in the kitchen with the talented Kosta. |
My parents visited us again during the early spring and we had a lovely walking tour of Brick Lane, hanging around London.
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| Not sure if I was getting bread or a dog here... |
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| A picture says a thousand words |
My dad used to always say this when we loaded up our plates too much. Speaking of that, I think that's a doggie-bag from his lunch....
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| We would have eaten here since I had just waxed my moustache, but it was closed |
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Do they name these just so tourists get a chuckle or because the English just have a warped sense of humour?
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| Rolling Stones humour? |
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| A day at Blenheim Palace. |
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| Help! Help! I got swallowed by the tree |
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A little stroll with my parents after a pub lunch. Weather warmed up nicely just before they left for Canada.
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| Claridge's lobby in honour of the Chelsea Flower show |
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| Yeah, lunch at Feras at Claridges deserves a toast with Champagne |
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| Not for me. I'm driving |
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| Delicious flatbreads |
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A fabulous dish of shaved asparagus and lemon oil
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| Amazingly delicious cod |
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| Thank you Mom & Dad! |
“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” There is just so much to do in London especially when you live there. It just really expensive.
With all the travelling being so costly, trying to economize when I was out one day, I stopped for lunch at the Salvation Army Headquarters near St. Paul's Cathedral. I sent Adrian a picture of my delicious soup with homemade bread and a fantastic flat white.
He told me, "OK, I know you shop at charity shops and you're frugal, and yes London is expensive, but draw the line with eating at soup kitchens"!
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| Best lunch deal in London - Salvation Army Headquarters Cafe - an no, it is not a soup kitchen |
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| Canada House at Trafalgar Square |
We encountered a few oddities during the year that we just weren't sure what to make of.
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| This is a toilet roll dispenser in Germany. Is it lit in case you go in the dark? Because they want to highlight improved softness in the tissue? |
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| Did Prince or the Joker leave his velvet car unattended near Harrods? Another case of way too much money in London when you can finish your Rolls Royce in velvet. |
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| We threatened E, but she volunteered instead. So much for reverse psychology. As much as you tucker us out kid, we'll miss you. |
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| Not sure about this....I think I will just run for the nearest exit |
My dear friends Monica and Stephen gave us this bottle of wine when they visited. Thinking it was a little young, I laid it down and planned on drinking it once it had aged.
However, with the crazy antics and insanity surrounding the nomination, we thought it was better to get rid of any evidence supporting this buffoon. So, honouring the gift, we ceremoniously opened it, poured it into lovely glasses and prepared ourselves to lambast the wine.
But... as much as we wanted to hate it for the name's sake, it was really fantastic well made wine. It was balanced, rich, ripe, round and full bodied (a little like the lunatic except the balanced part).
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| The wine we really wanted to hate. What we hated more was admitting that it was really good. |
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| You didn't just say that was good did you? I'm shocked, disbelief. Can you tweet that? |
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| We had a quick getaway weekend to Brussels visiting the DeLallo's and Blands. We had so much fun we forgot to take many pictures! |
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| Take us to the waffles |
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| Good food, good company, good laughs |
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| Lovely memories with friends |
No, not the tropics but the far north of Scotland!
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| Adrian finally got kayaking in the Hebrides of Scotland. |
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| A little camping getaway weekend in Wales with a cub scout |
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| The getaway took a team of rugby players to get out of the mud |
Can you be honoured and humbled at the same time? My experience participating in the all night vigil at Westminster Abbey commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme was both. It was an unforgettable night of awe, reverence, reflection and camaraderie. But lets be real too, the excitement of being part of the Queen's audience and the having the whole Abbey to ourselves all night with no tourists was pretty thrilling.
Battle of the Somme Westminster Abbey
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| A very moving night standing vigil at Westminster Abbey at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior for the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme |
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| Sneaking a pic in the Abbey |
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| A little middle of the night walk in London. Maybe it really does sleep at 3 am! |
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| The vigil ended at 7.30 am when The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired First World War guns in Parliament Square. A short reading took place at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, followed by a two minute silence, and a trench whistle was blown echoing the command to go over the top, marking the exact moment when the Battle of the Somme began. |
Another last hurrah was a quick weekend in Champagne. Oh there was trouble!! I've yet to post on this weekend, but a few highlights show what a fab weekend with friends we had.
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| I love you! |
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| A fantastic tour of Taittinger's wine cellars. Merci Clovis! |
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| A fabulous tasting! I think the Duty Free shop's Taittinger sales increased after this! |
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| A grand tasting |
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| Grown up girls' friendship bracelets. OK, so they're posh silk scarves... |
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| Beautiful views in the Champagne region |
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| How do like the weekend so far? |
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| A French table is not complete without fine cheese, charcuterie and ... |
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| A magnum of Champagne shared with friends |
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| I was too sexy for my shirt this summer, but how about too sexy for my dessert? |
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| Canada Day in the back garden. We'll revert to calling it the back yard soon. |
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| I know, they don't understand me either. |
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| We tried to help Pam out with all things English, but she never quite grasped the subtleties of English satire. |
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| Good thing I had Leti, my American neighbor - without a u - to help decipher |
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| Andrea always gave me the expat translation of the real British meaning |
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| This is it - a black cab to our final leg of our Brexit. |
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| OK, we better live it up in this final week! I'm glad we had time to slowly process it all |
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| Nothing but the blue yonder |
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| You mean I'm really going to have to live a normal life again? |
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| Our neighbours welcomed us home and that made it all better! |
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| Why isn't Jenn in any of these photos? |
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When you're happy and you know it!
Dance around! |
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Invited to the quintessential Canadian cottage.
With oysters Rockefellar no less |
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| I was very happy to get re-acquainted with my super large, fast washing machine. I wanted to dance around too. |
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| You would never know we left the UK - look what I found in the grocery shop? |
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| Thanksgiving at Sandy's - where is everyone else? We've got the bird. |
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| Some habits die hard - it might not be the same as sleeping on the Tube, but it is sleeping on the ride home |
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Sleeping on the job. I think she's interfering with Adrian's deck building process.
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| You need a lot of sleep to grow legs like that |
Our neighbour found two little kittens about 4 weeks old in his back garden. No sign of their Momma, so we took them in. We kept the tortoiseshell and the little ginger was adopted out to another thrilled little girl.
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| They thought the slipper was their momma. How cute are a couple of kittens?!!! |
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The cutest addition to the family.
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| And how kitty grew quickly - if you can find Camo-kitty. Who knew cats came in CADPAT? |
E was pretty excited to participate in some grand trick or treating this year. We roamed the neighbourhoods looking for ghosts, goblins and witches.
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| Dead hippy for Halloween |
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| Dead hippy and a smart Rubik's cube! Who got more treats? |
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| Apparently Dad did. |
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| Significant birthdays call for nice wine! |
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| OK, so its now hard to lie about my age. I'm really 60. Don't I look good for 60? |
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What a treat!
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| Takes a lot of strength to hold on to a Super Moon |
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| Mom still takes me out for lunch. Ikea's meatballs just aren't cutting it the same as a Michelin starred restaurant. Is my face giving that away? |
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A little hike in Gatineau Park with Catherine. I missed the Great Outdoors - and Catherine! Maybe not the snow and cold though.
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| A visit with cousins from Montreal! And they're coming for Christmas!!! |
We had so much fun with Corry and Sandy's visit - we forgot to take pictures! Here are a couple of the really cool animated light show on Parliament Hill. Do go see it if you can.
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| Parliament Hill lit up with a fantastic light show! |
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| What happened to the pix of Corry and Sandy? Where they really here for the weekend? |
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| We're so tough in the Great White North, we wear our swimsuits when Santa visits. Its a British one so its probably fleece lined. |
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| Mind(ing) the Gap from across the pond. |
We are still minding the gap from the frozen pond. We hope our European friends (that still includes our British friends for another 2 yrs) come visit us where the washing machines and skies are bigger. It looks like Adrian has already made clandestine visits back to the UK without my knowledge. He says he had a good time but can't remember.
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| Must have been teleported |
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Peace in the New Year. In a time where the world is in so much turmoil, we find comfort and hope knowing we are surrounded by kind and loving friends and family. We have more than we can count or express for our gratitude to God, our family and friends.
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| A Very Merry Christmas and Peace in the New Year |
My dad used to always say this when we loaded up our plates too much. Speaking of that, I think that's a doggie-bag from his lunch.... 
