Outsourcing the sweet potato casserole!

Tradition calls for cornbread dressing, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pies but without a kitchen we were just going to rely on our good friends, the Smiths to host the entire meal this year. But with the gift of another friend, Nancy, Haley and I spent the day in her kitchen cooking a few favorite things....2 of everything plus an extra green bean casserole at her request!















Haley had to take a Mocha Latte break from chopping onions. She really was a trooper and very talented with her culinary skills and professional knives!


Dr. Nancy pitched in with the breadcrumbs for the dressing.



We are so very thankful for many blessing this year but I am putting old and new friends at the top of my list. Remember that old Girl Scout song......Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, one is gold! I feel bejeweled!!!
Happy Thanksgiving! WE MISS YOU DAD!

Cabinets are going in!

Just an update on the cabinets. I can visualize the finished project!

Construction Project

For those of you who are asking about our construction project in the house in Boston I thought a few pictures might just show you the stage we are in now.  Let's just say there is no kitchen and therefore no oven for the Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole. Some of these are before and after shots.  We are making progress!

Christmas at Blenheim Palace

Before I get on the plane and head to Boston for Thanksgiving with the girls, I worked in a trip with my AWC friends to see Blenheim Palace, all decorated for Christmas. This Palace was built in gratitude by Queen Anne for the Duke of Marlborough after his defeat of the French. It was also the birthplace of Winston S. Churchhill....the S stands for Spencer, as in Lady Di Spencer. I am always trying to connect the dots but it is not easy with British history!














We enjoyed a guided tour of the State Rooms, including magnificent tapestries and portraits, and "The Untold Story" - stories brought to life by animated figures, talking portraits and ghostly figures. (Not Disney but clever!) It was such a beautiful, clear day that some of us took a short walk from the Water Terrace to the ornate Italian Gardens. With 2,000 acres of parkland we will have to come back to explore.

What is the Rosetta Stone?

At the British Museum today we saw and learned about artifacts from all over the world stretching from the present day to prehistory. In the Egyptian collection we saw the mummies and learned about the process of preserving the dead. This exhibit seemed to be a big hit with the school children sketching some of the collection. (I remember those days!) In the Greek and Roman collection we were amazed by the number of sculptures brought to England from the Parthenon in Athens. How could a country sell such treasures?

So What is the Rosetta Stone? A piece of stone with 2 ancient ...196 BC.....languages - Egyptian and Greek, using 3 scripts - hieroglyphic, demonic, and Greek. It is also the appropriate name of a language learning software! More than you wanted to know, right?!!!!

The Wacko's along the river!

On any nice day, below the London Eye, along the River Thames boardwalk you can be thoroughly entertained by a unique group of characters. I have more fun watching the tourists reactions to the "acts", I guess you could say I'm easily entertained!
























For a few coins tossed in the bucket, the "King and Queen" will let you take a picture with them, "Lizard Man" peddles really fast, "Blue Man" sings Elvis tunes, the "Man in Chains" escapes, the "Rumba Dancers" perform, and "Ballet Hitler" hits you with a rolled up newspaper. These, of course, are the regulars so I have given them names!












By far, this is the strangest of the day - a "normal" man sitting on the park bench, observing the crowd, CHEWING ON A PAPER NAPKIN. I've seen enough for today!

Washington DC on election night!

It was an exciting time to be in our Nation's capital. With the overwhelming support for Senator Obama the election outcome was not a surprise and Washington D.C. shook with celebration. The EY spouses were treated to a bus tour through the city - one of the most emotional stops was the Viet Nam Memorial, my favorite was the Korean War Monument, and the most inspirational was the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. This quote by President Lincoln is as appropriate today as it was in his Inaugural speech......

With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.