The Special People Club

So I'm experimenting with adding a few photos to my blog. I will be working on a more effective way to do this, but for the time being I'll do it this way to help you all get a glimpse of England. (If you want to actually look at the picture, you can double click on it to make it bigger.) View from my kitchen window

My backyard 

Chocolate tools at Harrods 

Kimmy, Abby, and me at Tower Bridge 

I know...I'm not a Catholic, so the choice of pope shouldn't be any of my business. But in the new theocracy that is the USA his policies will have a big influence on me, so I DO care. And I need to get this off of my chest. There are all sorts of things about which I disagree with Joey Ratz. But that's probably a given with any post-JP cardinal. My real beef with the selection of Pope Benedict the whatever is the whole Nazi thing. Whenever you're looking at German males of a certain age, it seems obvious to check into his whereabouts during the war. And where was Ratz? First in the Hitler Youth, then in the Nazi Artillery brigade, and finally in a US prisoner of war camp for captured Nazi soldiers. (All this can be found in his autobiography.) Of course I'd like to think I would have stood up to Nazi tyranny were I a German in the 1940's....but having not had to make the choice yet between quietly allowing evil to reign around me and staying alive, or speaking

I tried to order this . Instead, I received this . I'm adventurous and all, but even I have limits. Luckily, though, in the UK no CDs are sealed with that nasty tape, so you can play a CD and still return it. And it's just as bad as it looks. I figure they send it out periodically hoping to find someone too lazy to send it back. I did, so they'll have to try another day. Beware.

Quit your griping about high gas prices. I'm currently paying the equivalent of $8 a gallon.

Ir qA norhwe vS QWWK .... That's misplaced hands on keyboard for It was another bad week. Didn't work with the screamers (who I wrote about last weekend, and then removed so my mother wouldn't worry.) Mostly just had too much to do and too little time to do it in. But Thursday afternoon, my friend Mel and I left at 4 and drove country lanes to Cambridge, where we were going to see Nanci Griffith at the Corn Exchange. The drive to Cambridge is a bit of a pain. If you take direct routes, you end up in traffic waiting endlessly at roundabouts. If you take lanes, you see really fabulous little villages with thatched cottages and one-lane streets. But it takes a long time, and there aren't nearly enough sheep to keep you occupied, as it's mostly cropland. We made it in plenty of time to check into our hotel and change close. I wore a close-fitting skirt with prints of Botticelli paintings covering it and a cute little tulle ruffle at the bottom. Paired with my black s

If you've lived in the same town as me, you know I enjoy cooking for my friends. If you could come over tonight, here's what I'd be serving: Dirty 007 Martinis Tuna Steaks with tomatoes, olives, and herbs Green beans Sweet potato Oven Fries silhouette Fudge Bars If you come see me soon, I'll create this just for you. Otherwise, you can recreate an evening with me as follows: Plan on Dinner at 7. Stand in your living room and play some sort of stimulating noise loudly for two minutes. Arriving at my house is never simple...I bluster about and talk loudly. Put on Beck's Sea Change for background music Necessary discussion about the corruption of Tom Delay and the abuse of Christianity's good name and message by the Radical Right, whilst you make yourself a cocktail. 007 Dirty Martini Based upon the popular version at Moscow on the Hill in St. Paul... 1 Part Vodka (using Absolut right now since that's what I can get here) 1 Part Bombay Sapphire dash of tobasc

Being the risk taker that I am, my routine isn't all that structured. I establish patterns like everyone else, but it's not that big deal to toss them out the window. This is good, because I've made a few changes this week. 1) Forced change: On Monday, the One-stop near me burned down. Well, technically it didn't burn down...it was attached to the take-away that burned down and suffered damage accordingly. But it's closed indefinitely, which means I've had to find a new route for Sunday AM walks and paper pick-up. I've now moved from walking around the lake to walking along the canal...only two blocks away, and quite pretty...it has those weird houseboaty skiffs that you see on the Thames going through the locks, and it's actually got a pretty good sized marina not too far away. I've just added the paper to my normal grocery shopping, so I don't read it until later in the day but since I don't really wake up that well it's not a big loss.

Sorry I've been kind of quiet. Please don't mistake my lack of entries lately as any reason for concern. I am loving my time here. It's just that periodically life is pretty boring...but considering that I'm 38 and have a career, that's not really shocking. I go to work, I exercise, I try to eat my 5 -8 fruit and veg a day, and since I don't know a lot of people I often spend time by myself. Sometimes I'm exploring or just out observing things in the world, sometimes I'm reading a book or watching tv. Now that the newness of England has worn off there's nothing particularly exciting in my day to day life, and it takes an occasion or a lot of time off to really do something extravagant or adventurous. Which is why sometimes I don't feel like blogging. I mean, who really cares that I had a long day at work sitting at my desk and writing about Dubai, and then went on a walk and came home to make chicken tacos? Back in our 20's, my friend Tom an

I am a patriot. I believe in the USA and I know that, in our best moments, we can be an positive influence and a force for good in the world. But sometimes, even with the best intent, we fall short. Click here for an example of patriotism gone sadly awry. (And keep an eye out for the ghostfighters in the sky.) If you want to be truly patriotic, find a way to silence David Hasselhoff. In the third installment of a documentary about Windsor Castle which aired on BBC1 last night, Mr. H was interviewed at the Coronation Cup polo match in the Cartier tent. And how did he represent America? I paraphrase, but basically he said something like, "Dude, it's totally amazing to be here. I mean whodathunkit? Like, little old David Hasselhoff from Detroit MI (or some other non-descript middle American city) at the Coronation Cup. It totally blows my mind. I called my old man today and he said, "Hey, what are you doing, Son," and I said, "Having lunch with THE QUEEN, ma

Thinking some of my friends on the far-right need a little language refresher... Main Entry: conflict of interest : a conflict between the private interests and the official responsibilities of a person in a position of trust Ex. 1) Hiring someone who profits from marketing bad food to market the new food guidelines to the country; 2) Asking people who benefit from the profitability of private companies (i.e. affiliates of pharmaceuticals, energy companies, financial service firms, credit card lenders, etc.) to give input on matters of policy affecting their industries; 3) Letting people who owe their position to a PAC sit on the ethics committee investigating the leader of said PAC; 4) Expecting judges who vacation with leaders of a political party (and whose family members make their living from this same group of people) to be objective when deciding issues that could potentially harm or impeach this party; 5) Relying on an exile to be forthcoming and truthful when he stands to gai

Today was the big day. Prince Charles finally married Camilla Parker Bowles. They even delayed the start of the Grand National (a steeplechase horse race that is extremely popular) so that the two events wouldn't cause conflicts with avid TV viewers. It has been a big scandal about how this wedding would take place. Beyond the whole adulterous divorcee problem, there is the fact that the couple wanted to marry in a private home, but by law royals have to marry in public so that any member of the realm can object or take notice. Then there was the whole boycotting of the civil ceremony by the Queen. Then the Prince and future Princess Consort had to call her ex-husband and apologize to him for cuckholding him. (By the way, doesn't Princess Consort sound like a fancy way to say "ho"? I'd be a little crabby if I were her.) Oh. And then the pope died. I have a love/hate thing with the royals. I love Wills (because you have to love a well-behaved young man like that, p