It seems like life is just running so fast, and there is no time to capture it, let alone summarize. So... in the interests of moving along, highlights of the last week or so have have included:
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| Dress as your favourite character day... |
1. At Queenswell, they had a "Dress up as your favourite book character" Day. Duncan and I went out shopping at the second-hand shops to see if we could find him an outfit for a mafia guy. We found a suit jacket, a white shirt AND a hat! The only thing we were missing was the dark glasses.
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| A hat tip to those who guessed correctly |
Duncan was a bit irritated when he came home at the end of the day, since so few people had guessed correctly. Some had guessed Tony Soprano (which is a bit close), but then others had guessed James Bond, Johnny English ("Mr. Bean's" interpretation of a spy), the Blues Brothers and Charlie Chaplin. When Steve came home, and we asked him what the costume looked like, he gave us the same list! Now THAT is the sign of a versatile costume!
2. A great family night out: we headed off to the National Gallery for a 15 minute tour of room 45, to see how many Van Gogh paintings we could identify (we have been working our way throught the "Art Sticker Book" which is full of paintings held only in the National Gallery). The answer is SEVEN.
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| Wands for sale at Forbidden Planet |
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| a crowded tube |
Then we had a 'proper burger' at Byron's along with a 'proper milkshake'; then headed off to check out Forbidden Planet (with its stock of Harry Potter Wands sitting close by the South Park Collection), and then got stuck in the most crowded tube line ever. Perfect evening!
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| will Duncan win this match?.... |
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| or will Rebecca be the lucky one? |
3. Playing Backgammon.
While I sometimes am defeated by the younger player, othertimes I kick his butt. The only question on this occasion was "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
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| alliterative beer labels |
4. Pre-screening beers for Glen's visit next week.This one is really Steve's moment of happiness: he has been out looking for interesting beers (so my fabulous uncle Glen needn't waste his time on less varieties when he and Janet come for a visit next week).
These two labels made me laugh, in part because had Alex introduced me this year to the strange viral phenomenon of "Dancing Badger" (and no... i don't understand it in the least, let alone why it would go viral, but it unfortunately sticks in your head... and thus having a beer company named "Badger" made me smirk). And of course, after months of hearing my kids complain about Brits not pronouncing their "th" properly, and saying "fink" instead of "think", it was hysterical to see that lovely bit of pronunciation reflected in a beer label: nothing like a "fursty ferret"!
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| a Friday market in North Finchley |
5. Discovering that there is actually a market in Finchley every Friday. I had no idea.... only took me 7 months here to figure that out!
I got a new t-shirt (black, of course!) for 2 pounds.... i will be going back next week!
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| Rewallpapering the upstairs bedroom |
6. Finally repairing the wallpaper in the upstairs bedroom! It wasn't well installed in the first place, and, when we first moved in, there was a piece hanging loose. Duncan discovered that a little tug leads to a bigger tug, and that an attempt to just pull off one piece can end up producing a mighty big hole: a lesson many of us have learned. I did, however, manage to procure a matching roll of paper (way back in August). It took until the last two weekends for Steve and I (mostly steve) to figure out how to strip and re-hang the paper. Yea!!!! the job is finally done!
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| Ranciere in London |
7. Heading off to Birkbeck to listen to Jacques Ranciere give a lecture. The room was swarming with people, but i was there 30 minutes early, so got a good seat. It ended up being on soviet art and film in the 1920s!
I was so happy to be there, and also so exhausted from the past few days that I actually dozed off in part of the lecture. ARGH!!!! I am turning into my mother! I forgot to go swarm the front at the end to have him sign my copy of Dissensus (which is the one book I brought with me from Victoria on sabbatical)....sigh. Ah well...
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| spring blossoms at night |
8. the gift at the end of the day was walking home in the dark, under the apple and cherry trees which have already started to blossom. Night blossoms. Nothing sweeter!
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| Blossoms on Woodside Avenue |
2. A great family night out: we headed off to the National Gallery for a 15 minute tour of room 45, to see how many Van Gogh paintings we could identify (we have been working our way throught the "Art Sticker Book" which is full of paintings held only in the National Gallery). The answer is SEVEN. 
Duncan
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the international league of wallpaper pullers, of which I am a charter member.
Here is my sad tale.
When I was 7, my mom papered my room. I remember it had beautiful blue flowers on it. The base boards (or whatever they are called on windows) had not been reinstalled around the window.
Having been sent to bed while the sun was out, I sat sadly peering out my window a the older kids still out running in the yards and playing. And absent mindedly removed a patch of paper.
For the rest of my life (and really, still today) my mom forbids me to have wallpaper.
Duncan - Fabulous costume. I hope you get many more uses out of it before you grow out of it. What makes a proper burger, a proper burger?
ReplyDeleteI am getting first dibs on the new room that has been wallpapered again when I get back there in May.
ReplyDeleteAs well, I want a Backgammon game and a cribbage game.
Lastly, I think Duncan will look good in that outfit when we go to the theatre next. Especially if we pick the musical, Chicago.
I also love the pictures of the blossoms on Woodside Avenue. Where were they when I was there?
And the market is on Friday, you say? That is good to know. The auction is on Monday and the viewing is on Sunday. That only leaves us four other days in the week to find something to do.
Hugs,
Arta