More Arts than you can shake a stick at

One of the best things about living in London is the inordinate amount of art and culture available at any given moment. But the ramp-up to Christmas is especially mind-reeling as the arts world seems to go into over drive to amuse the masses. (I guess knowing that only pantos will be on offer after Christmas gives everyone an "end of the world as we know it" moment.)

First we were Swimming with Sharks, with Christian Slater; a misogynistic view of the vast Hollywood machine and although the performances were good (Thank God Slater kept his Nicholson impressions to a bare minimum) the story struck no chords and I left feeling empty.

Next we were invited to a company-sponsored event: The Magic Flute. Now although I obviously know of the Magic Flute by Mozart, I was completely unprepared and delighted by the performance put on by the African singers. Not only was the operatic story Africanized but instead of a symphonic orchestra to accompany them, they used the classic instruments of Africa to translate Mozart's works: marimbas and drums. I think it's a wonderful update of what I would consider to be a confusing opera to begin with. Unfortunately I can't post an example of the CD we got, just the picture of it. So if you ever see this anywhere downloadable on the net, give it a listen.

We had booked UB40 tickets before the summer, so it just happened that we saw them at the same time we were taking in other artistic events. Once again, I left the concert slightly deflated and disappointed that Ali Campbell (the lead singer) just seemed to come on sing his bits and then remove himself from the stage as quickly as possible. It wasn't until I read a review of the concert where they discussed the band's impending break-up that I realized why I had felt ripped off. We'd just paid 40 pounds a ticket to watch the band disintegrate onstage! Not what I was looking for in terms of nostalgia, was it?

Our next choice was an interesting one by Orest. He had read that there was a Canadian group of performers called the 7 Fingers, who were an off-shoot of Le Cirque du Soleil and it might be a fun choice for the girls since they enjoyed Cirque so much. We got to our seats by entering through a fridge on the stage where the acrobat-actors plied us with coffee and promised us apple pie at the end of the performance. It was very much a common man's version of Cirque, but hey the kids had fun and yes, we did get apple pie at the end of it!

Now I hate to class this last one as "art", but I just had to include the movie Enchanted in the list of events we went to in the pre-Christmas rush. I have a crush on that movie and think it's wonderful! I am so, so sad, yes I know...

Larysa at her new school

I thought I would spend a few moments describing Larysa's move from primary to secondary school so that it might help others who children go though the same thing.



One night I went upstairs at my regular bedtime of midnight (thinking the girls were asleep ages ago) only to find Larysa on the upstairs landing huddled over her french project with bits of material, tape, scissors and all bits of stuff all around her. I tried to get very angry with her to force her to bed, but her anguish at wanting to do the best job possible tore at my heartstrings and I sat with her until she was done and helped her clean up. The upshot was it wasn't even assigned homework, but something she just wanted to impress her French teacher with!



Every trip home from school is an exercise in psychoanalysis in trying to help Larysa negotiate the ebbs and flows of making new friends, falling out with new friends, making more new friends, trying to mediate between her new new friends and new friends. In the end, I would just get very confused and have to rely on good old Mum's hugs as a panacea for all her problems.



The added responsibilities of having to keep track of our your own schedule, getting to school and home without your Mum and not to mention keeping on top of homework is a difficult task for even the more organized individuals, but for Larysa having to remember her PE kit, her phone, lunch money, her Oyster card, full uniform, homework, homework diary, etc., etc., etc.... became the bane of my existence. I can't tell you how many times I've had to make unscheduled trips up to the school with forgotten bits and bobs for Larysa. (My worst experience was I bowed to the drama queen's demands that I hand-deliver her homework diary to her in her classroom, only to be caught by the deputy head and sent packing with my tail firmly between my legs, how embarrassing!)

I am happy to report that the phone calls are getting less ans less frantic (oh, she still forgets stuff) and she claims that now their class has worked out most of their issues they're all getting along well and she's figured out that her teachers will love her regardless of whether she does extra projects for them.

Phew! And just think I get to go through this all again with Adriana.

Parade

I have some super-talented friends...like Gary and Sally who I've gotten to know in our local park as fellow-dog walkers, but have discovered that they work in the entertainment industry.

Sally has a long history in West End musicals and I discovered just recently that I actually saw her perform about 5 years previously in Anything Goes in 2003. I remember her performance as being a powerhouse one and am proud to count her as a friend now.

Gary has also been in theatre for a long time and he invited me to see his performance at the Donmar Warehouse of a musical called Parade.

I remember asking him while he was still in rehearsals what the musical was about, and he casually responded: "Oh, it's about a Jewish man in the Deep South accused of murdering a young Southern girl and then he gets lynched." I think I laughed when he told me, because I thought in all seriousness, how could you make this content into a musical.

I put aside my initial prejudices and asked Gary to set aside a couple of tickets for me to see it, and boy was I blown away! First of all the Donmar Warehouse is not your typical theatre, in that there are no seats, but benches instead and none of the 250 seats are more than 20 feet away from the stage - a very intimate experience. Second the seriousness of the subject matter was respected in terms of the musical score, so that the overall effect was that of a Porgy and Bess-style musical. And lastly the performances were fabulous. This was my first time seeing Gary outside his regular milieu of ball throwing and poo collecting, so it was fascinating to watch his effortless performance in not one role, but two. (He played both the reporter and the governor.)

So kudos to you Gary and all your cast and crew for an entertaining and thought-provoking evening!

Far out Far East - part #2

After 3 days in HK, we flew to Singapore using a low-cost airline, which was an experience which reminded me of my "People Express" years in university, flying Buffalo to Newark to visit my parents, crammed in a tin of sardines. Think a step down from Ryanair or Easyjet...

We stayed with our gracious friends Helen and Stephen and their lovely boys, who made our stay there so relaxed and inviting. Helen kindly took me and the girls to Chinatown for some shopping, while I was able to leave Adriana happily playing with Finn at home. I knew that wearing shorts or a short skirt would definitely be frowned upon in a temple, so I wore what I thought would be conservative, only to have not one, but two little old Chinese men running up to me at the entrance waving their arms and indicating I must cover myself up immediately. The girls certainly got a laugh out of it as I had to jury-rig some spare sheets as a skirt that they leave at the entrance for that very reason.

The next day Orest joined us for some shopping on Orchard Road. Well actually, it was more like we tried to escape the oppressive heat by hiding from one shopping centre to another. There was one point where Orest and the girls were able to cross the road completely, while I was stuck on a small island with roaring traffic on either side of me. I felt like I was melting into a puddle of sweat on the black tarmac while I waited for the signal to turn green again. I am now sure that I would never be able to survive in a place where I struggle to stay positive as my make-up slides off my face, my hair collapses limply and unspeakable rashes develop in the most private of places on my body.

The next day, Orest and I took the children over to Sentosa island, which is like having a resort just outside the city. We spent the day on the beach, playing on the sand and in the water and snuck into a resort to have splash at their pool. It appears that if you look the part, they won't kick you out. I spent a good hour trying to figure out what criteria the lifeguards were using to determine who should be there and who shouldn't, but couldn't figure it out. (I think ordering a cocktail from the pool bar helped.) I did come back from the island with a horrific burn on my back, not realizing how strong the sun was even under the shade of the palm trees.

Helen and Steve were kind enough to take us out both evenings and show us the lovely Singapore nightlife. Although the lights were not as intense as in Hong Kong, it still had the power to impress.

On the last night we took a nighttime safari at the Singapore zoo, and because it was Halloween, we had the extra special scares near the end. So we were taken on one of those open trams and all it was was some people dressed up in varying scary costumes (witches, mummies, ghouls, ghosts, etc.) and some even getting pretty close up and confrontational. I thought Adriana was going to have kittens until one of them jumped up in her face and handed her a candy. It was pretty incongruous, this scary guy screaming at her: "Here's a sweetie for you, wooo-aaahhhh!"

On the last day, we had time for a lovely brunch with the Manghams (sans Oliver) and had to say goodbye to our lovely hosts.

Far-out Far-east!

Over October half-term, I convinced Orest to take the family with him on his business trip to the Far East. I'd never been, so for me it would be the trip of a lifetime.

We only had one week, so I had to make sure that we didn't try to fit in too many places at once, but knowing that I wouldn't be back for a while I also had to make sure that we packed in enough to make the long-haul flight worthwhile. We started in Hong Kong, and spent 3 days having a nice mix of sightseeing, shopping and spending time with friends. The minute we arrived, we chilled out by the pool at the Marriott and were able to spend some time getting to know John and Margaret's two children - who we had not met since they had been adopted. Lienne and Vivienne were adorable and it was great to catch up with John and Margaret, who I'm ashamed to say, we hadn't seen in at least 6 years.

We then took the girls up to Victoria Peak for the evening for dinner with John and Margaret and Helen and Steve. The views were breath-taking and it we spent a lot of time trying to get the ultimate photo to try and capture the breadth of skyscrapers that make the view so impressive.

The next day, Orest and I took the girls to Ocean Park, where the highlights were seeing the pandas and dolphins and getting a soaking on a flume ride just when I thought I'd burn up from the heat. We then went down to Stanley Beach to hit the markets and meet with ZoeLynne and her friend for a nice long chat. We topped it off with a visit to John and Margaret's flat for a nice meal and relaxed chat.

The next day Orest took off for his business meetings in Tokyo and Shanghai, while I took the girls to Lantau island, the home of the tallest seated bronze Buddha in the world, Tian Tan Buddha. the bus rides to and from the Buddha were vomit-inducing at best and at worst life-threatening in trying to negotiate the winding narrow roads. But the views, and the vegetarian lunch at the monastery made up for the inadequate transport. That evening we had dinner (sans Orest) with ZoeLynne and Helen and Steve on the dock in Stanley and it was lovely reliving our "Fine Wine Club" days - albeit with a few members missing.

On the last day there, I took the girls over to Kowloon to the Ladies shopping street and it was great being in the midst of it all until Larysa's cheap Stanley Market flip flops bit the biscuit and we tried to find her an adequate replacement. I can't believe how hard it was, especially as Larysa was having to drag one foot behind her for several blocks as the flimsy piece of string holding her flip-flop came away from the bamboo sole. The only silver lining in all this is that I was able to find a lovely silk jacket in a small shop at the Star Ferry terminal - retail therapy rocks!
Don't ask me who that strange woman is behind the girls are....or how I managed not to notice that she would ruin our one and only photo on Ladies Fashion Street.

Priceless shot of Adia

Picture it...



You're on top of Victoria Peak, overlooking Hong Kong in an elegant Chinese restaurant. Trying to impress your friends with your children that are the most well-behaved children on the planet. And then this.....

And then this.........................

I ended up picking sticky rice out of her hair days later. The funniest part is that no one did anything to help her avoid doing a faceplant into her rice bowl, but instead we got it on our still camera as well as the video camera.

We are such mean parents, aren't we?

Brownsea Island

Since this year was the 100th anniversary of the Scouting movement and the 95th anniversary of the Ukrainian scouts, our small troop decided to plan a family outing to the origins of the movement in the south of England.

100 years ago, Lord Baden-Powell took a group of disadvantaged boys camping on a small island in Poole Harbour called Brownsea Island. From this experimental camp, Baden-Powell developed the precepts of the Scouting movement.

Our trip started with a short ferry from Poole and we spent the day with a walking tour and special scouting activities. The highlights for the kids were the recreation of some of the games that Baden-Powel had prepared for his boys and the treasure hunt in the afternoon which had them exploring much of the island on their own. (It's fun for our kids to have the freedom that we took for granted when we were young.)

The highlight for me was getting a phone call in the middle of this all the way from Singapore and feeling like it was coming from just down the road. I'm a bit weird that way, technology, when it works properly, excites me.

The German is coming! The German is coming!

No, it's not another wartime invasion, but Stefanie decided to opt in for a German exchange, and part of that obviously was playing host to a German student who would in turn host Stefanie when she went to Germany.

Tina was a lovely girl from a small town near Muenster, but unfortunately Stefanie did not feel the week was successful and was on the point of backing out of the return trip. I'm not sure what ultimate reason was for her disappointment, but Stef found it difficult to be a good hostess while still having a full homework workload and not being free to do what she liked. Tina spent most of the day with her fellow German classmates touring around London while Stefanie and the English girls were stuck at school all day, and then coming home, I guess, Stef just needed her time to unwind and couldn't bring herself to entertain Tina all evening. In the end, we convinced her that her return trip would be far more fun (it being easier to play guest rather than host) and that she should honour her commitments.

Thankfully we were proven right, cuz Stefanie is now keen to do this again next year, oh my!

Spoilin' for a fight

You know how you're just about ready to take someone to task and they take the wind out of your sails by being so agreeable? Don't you just hate that?

Before we went away for the summer, I made sure to tell the school that Larysa's guitar would have to spend the school break there as I had no time to find it, let alone return it to our house. By the time we returned, the playground take on it was that it had been given to some other child in the school who had begun taking guitar lessons. I allowed the self-righteous anger build in my breast until I was ready to "beard the lion", so to speak, and confront our headteacher about their misplaced generosity.

Before I could get even one whole sentence out of my mouth, though, Mrs. Morrissey (who can scare the wits out of any human - child or adult) cheerfully jumped in with: "Oh, I think I just saw a guitar in the cafeteria, that's been there over the summer..." and proceeded to lead me to what appeared to be a snot-encrusted object.

'Ah', I thought to myself, 'at least here I have reason to vent...Someone's taken Larysa's pristine guitar in its case and left what appears to be a case with six week-old snail trails all over it.' I decided not to mention anything until I had checked to make sure it was indeed not Larysa's.
Thank God I did hesitate, because I proceeded to find her music notes inside the case.

So even though I left the school victorious, with the long-lost guitar in hand, I still felt a sense of deflation at not being able to express my worked up feelings that I'd nurtured so well.

Adriana's Birthday

I find most children's parties difficult to plan, but Adriana's is probably the most difficult. It's right at the end of summer, so either you have to let the parents know at the end of the previous school year (and they've usually forgotten by then) or you have to wait until the next school year and hope that there aren't any new kids that you aren't aware of joining the class.

This year, we decided to go for the 'after the new school year starts' scenario and it worked out fairly well considering I had less than 2 weeks to arrange having just arrived back from Canada. I decided to make the planning process a little easier by hiring an entertainer: Mr. Marvel. He's more marvellous than I could ever hope to be to a 6-year old!(Adriana had seen him before at another party and loved it.) Their website at http://www.mrmarvel.co.uk/ says they'll entertain your children for 3 hours with Punch & Judy puppets, magic tricks and a disco. And boy did they ever get entertained! I had a lot of fun too, since all I had to do was get the food ready and the pinata passed off to Orest. I would definitely recommend him to any mother who wants to keep their sanity intact while someone else deals with 20-30 over-stimulated kids.

Adriana reading

Adriana has come on strong with her reading since she's been back at school; to the point that she's now reading chapter books. I have noticed however that she tends to gloss over words that she's not so familiar with or change them into words that she thinks they may be. So the other day, "fair lady" became "fire laddie".



Then in another book, "creepy crawlies" became "crappy criers".



The funny thing is, I'm starting to like her versions better...

August 28, 2007 - a Date that will live in Infamy

Yup, this was the day that I set up my Facebook account. Since then I was wasted countless hours searching for friends who aren't there, posting up photo albums that no one sees and writing little unsatisfying snippets of information.

And this is why my blog has remained un-updated since then!

I am now in a position where I have to go back through my diary and try to recall what happened when and how funny it was at the time. The whole reason I started blogging was so that I wouldn't have to rely on my faulty brainbox to come up with memories of times past, but to record them realtime (practically) while it was still fresh in my mind.

I hereby denounce Facebook as a dilettante's website and shall focus my free time on keeping this blog up-to-date!

It's hard not to laugh

A lovely day in the park today lead to an interesting coversation with Adriana. She was climbing a tree and her thoughts turned to the little animals which inhabited it.



"Mama...do squirrals lay eggs?"



"No they're not like chickens."



"Then how do they have babies?"



"They carry them around inside, just like humans."



"I don't see a hospital here!!"



"Sqirrels don't need hospitals, they can have them by themselves."



"You mean the babies come out of their butts?"



Because she's just 6 years old, I decided now was not the time to have a full-on decription of the birthing process, and let the butt comment go. But we will have to eventually teach Adriana that giving birth is not like having a turd, otherwise she may never go to the toilet again without worrying she'll drop a baby in the bowl.

UMPZ

The plan was simple: we drop Stefa off for the bus to camp on August 4th and then we meet up with her on August 16th in Grafton for UMPZ. (The translation of this acronym is World Ukrainian Scouts Jamboree.) You'd think that I had enough to occupy my thoughts and time, since we still had Larysa and Adriana around, and what with the travelling to Mike and Mary's cottage and preparing our cottage for the jamboree? But no, I was desperate to see her and speak to her and hug her, that when I finally saw her on the 16th, I made a right ass of myself.

I've added all the photos onto my facebook page, so you can see them there. Plus, Orest has added a few photos to http://www.plastlondon.blogspot.com/ so you can see them there too. So I won't add them here, except for the one which explains how I was feeling about Stefa at the time.

As you can see, I'm grinning like an idiot, I missed her so much. I only had a few moments to hug her as she was marching by, and then she had to stand at attention in formation for the opening ceremonies. Luckily it got dark, and I was able to sidle up behind her (she was in the back row) and greedily catch up on all her adventures without anyone seeing me.

In her 12 days away, she'd been camping south of Montreal, visiting Ottawa with over 1300 other scouts and now she was camping again for the final part of the Jamboree just 500 yards away, so there was a lot to talk about.

I know there's a time that I will have to let go of my children, but if it's as difficult as this, I might be in for some serious hand-holding in the future.

A quickie at Mike and Mary's cottage

We didn't have a lot of time this summer to visit our friends, but we just managed to eke out a shortened weekend at the Van Dusen cottage at Green Lake.

We had to drop off Stefanie to catch the bus to camp in Toronto, so we didn't get a chance to leave until after that. So upon arriving, we had to hurry and get ready for the Green Lake costume party being held at Dan and Barb's cottage. Without much planning, Larysa came in soldier's camouflage and Adriana had her bunny ears, but I wasn't sure what to do. So I scrounged around Mike's boathouse and managed to find some accoutrements to use with my white towelling robe to come as a HazMat technician. (Only those of you CSI freaks will know what that is...) But I really have to hand it to Mary, coming as the camp warden from the story Holes...she looked just like Sigourney Weaver in the movie, sans a few inches. (I'm trying to get photos from Mary or link into Dan's website, but I'll publish for now without them.)

The next day we spent just hanging around, as the Van Dusens had to attend their cottager's association meeting, but everyone gathered under the tiki lights on the porch for a great dinner.

Next day was Adriana's first go at the Tarzan swing. Although is doesn't look high up when you're looking at the rope tied to a tree sitting in a boat, but when you're looking down trying figure out how to swing out far enough not to hit the rocks, it's scary. But after a few tries riding on Orest's back, she tried it herself. She's a trooper, that one. (Sorry, forgot to take the camera out on the boat, so here's a shot of Stefa and Larysa doing last year just to get a sense of the height.)

ski trip reunion

Last night we got together at Motria and Ostap's with a group of people and discovered that the last time we had all been together in the same room was when we went skiing to Courcheval almost 10 years ago.

It was really weird that everytime someone else showed up, the conversation with me invariably took a turn towards that ski trip and how much Stefa and Larysa had grown since then.

I think it was due to the fact that Orest and Nadia from Germany were visiting and most of the people they knew in Toronto were there that night.

The banner that never was and the fish that wouldn't be caught

In preparation for our Scouting Jamboree, I was asked to see if I could create a banner for us to use in the parade to say we were representing England, so I dutifully drove back to Toronto and went to Kinko’s, promising the girls that I’d take them to Yorkdale Mall afterwards. Three hours later(!!!), the girls were still waiting in the car to be taken to the mall and the banner still wasn’t done. Why? Because in the final transatlantic phone call to Orest, he decided that the price being quoted was too high to spend. (If only he could have told me that to begin with, the girls would have had their dinner and shop at Yorkdale, instead of getting crisps from the corner store and doing no shopping at all.)
I put aside the stress of the flipping banner and went back to the cottage to relax.

On Saturday, Larysa was released from camp and we had a combined visit from Peter and Tom and Lesley as well. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we were drenched at the pool waiting for it to clear up. Finally we got a bit of sun and it dried up enough that we were able to sit outside for dinner. The next day was fab, so we decided to head into Cobourg, to spend the day at the beach with Lesley and her dog Tanner. I guess I didn’t realize how unfriendly Canada is towards dogs, never having brought Jessie here before. No dogs allowed on the beach, not allowed anywhere else without a lead. At that moment I was happy that we live in England – a place which rates dogs higher than small children.

We all made the trip up to visit my step Mum Sofia at the Baptist Bible Camp at Pidgeon Lake for the day on Tuesday and spent a pleasant day at their lakeshore with Adriana convinced that I somehow should be able to catch some fish for her. I’m not sure where this fascination with fishing has come, but there I stood, bucket in hand for at least 45 minutes with no luck of the slimy variety. I had to promise that we’d catch her something when we had better tools to do it with before she let me return to my beach chair with my sunburnt shoulders.

At the cottage so far

Remember last summer with the horrific mouse carcass and subsequent cleaning of mouse poo for days afterwards? I was so afraid of what I might find this season at the cottage that Orest's Mum felt compelled to 'open' it in advance of our arrival, in order to spare my sensibilities the horror. (It also helped that I had cleared out the kitchen of all dishes and foodstuff at the end of last summer, in the hope that the cottage would be extended as Orest had planned. It didn't happen - but that's another long and painful story in itself that I cannot bear to contemplate at the moment.) And a wonderful surprise it was to be able to sleep on a bed immediately upon arrival without having to strip the sheets and fumigate the surrounding area. I guess the only place she and I both missed was the cutlery drawer, it required all silverware to be doused in boiling water immediately and cleaned vociferously of little black pellets of mouse excretion. It was only after careful examination that I realized that not only had they used the drawer as their personal toilet space, but that in their desperate search for something to eat, they had nibbled off the ends of several wooden spoons that had obviously been tainted with something edible. I felt a bit of pity, but mostly triumph that I had foiled their attempts to feast and party on anything else in our absence over the winter.

I realized also that the old Birkenstocks that I had left here were well past their prime, when after a rain shower I attempted descending the stairs at Borys' cottage, only to have my feet fly out from under me due to a lack of tread on the undersoles of said sandals. The one good thing I learned was that my husband still has some chivalrous bones in his body (after his inaction a month ago during my falling out of the car incident I feared that the romance had definitely left the relationship) when he immediately came running over to help pick up the flotsam and jetsom.

We had a fun week with visiting with Orest's brothers after the wedding, culminating in a post golf party at the cottage on Tuesday. Things quietened down until the weekend, with Larysa's coming out of camp for 6 hours to visit with her sisters, Alice, and us. The weather was great so the pool was hopping, Orest saying he hadn't seen that many people there in years. I was relaxing after seeing Larysa back to camp and Orest off to Toronto with Borys and Alice, when we had a surprise visit from the kommandantka with Larysa in tow. It was so shocking to see them, that immediately my thoughts turned to the awful possibilities that had brought them:

- Larysa had accidentally set fire to the dining hall...
- Larysa had gotten into a cat-fight with one of her tentmates
- Larysa had hurt herself gravely

The truth was actually quite mundane and embarrassing...Larysa had lice and I was asked to shampoo and comb out the offenders. After several hours work, I let her stay overnight and sent her back in the morning to resume her last week of camp. She and the other girls were happy to see her back...sans little friends of course.

Christina and Mike's wedding

Got to Canada and hit the road running….

The whole family (both brothers and their families) were waiting for us when we arrived at 7pm, and then Borys and his daughter showed up to meet and greet as well, so our first night saw us going to bed at 4 am London time.
Next morning, me and the girls did a quick shopping trip to seek out a handbag to match the shoes I was wearing to the wedding. Who new that white patent leather would be so hard to find?

Then, Christina’s wedding. Held at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, I thought for sure that it would spell certain disaster with Adriana being there. But luckily, she was either at her best behaved, or the staff secretly hid the ceramics every time she walked by, and no damage was done. The ceremony was lovely, the bride gorgeous and the groom cried; all the elements of a successful wedding. The reception was held in the same hall as the ceremony, so we spent some time either wandering around the exhibits or just taking family photographs while they changed the chair setup for dining tables.

The meal was provided by Jamie Kennedy’s kitchen, a famous Canadian chef, so it wasn’t the typical Ukrainian wedding fare of shnitzli and pyrohy. Although I loved the food, I was worried the whole time that Adriana was not getting a decent meal at all, turning up her nose at everything that arrived to the table. So the lovely salad, the pea-filled ravioli, the beef tenderloin with scalloped potatoes sat virtually untouched. Even the appetizers that had been passed around earlier didn’t pass muster (the home-made fries were apparently “too brown”). Orest even tried to convince Adriana that the ravioli would be “just like spaghetti” and even consulted with the kitchen to have them remove the sauce from her portion alone to try and have her eat something. All for naught, the sum total of her consumption that evening was:
5 peas (that had been used as decoration on the ravioli that sat untouched)
2 pinches of bread (the rest being deemed too crunchy)
And water

There was contest going that evening as to who ate the least and it looks like Adriana may have even beat out the oldest member of the family, Didush having no problem eating the brown fries, even though they were served in a paper cone. The photo of him here looks like he's afraid someone's going to scoff the only good food he'll have all night.

The kisses between the bride and groom were limited to those initiated by a song from the participants with the word ‘love’ in it. So Adriana (with lots of coaxing) managed to give them a rendition of “Love, love, Jesus is love…” You can always tell the good girls who go to Catholic school.

It was a lovely wedding and Christina and Mike deserve all the happiness in the world.

Interesting Phraseology

In tribute to my dog-walking friends, I thought I would provide a list of words and/or phrases which Bruce and Gary have found amusing. The cause for their jocularity being, of course, that my Canadian upbringing has given me a slightly different vocabulary than their own.

• nimrod - I must have pulled this one out of my childhood, because I hadn't used it in some time, but it caused much guffawing, especially from Gary, who insisted that this must be a classic Canadian word. I tried to explain that "touque" and "poutine" were the classics, but he was having none of it. So I apologize in advance should Gary approach a fellow Canadian with this "classic" Canadianism.


• ying-yang - As in "I had so much booze, it was coming out my ying-yang." I liken the word to "hoo-ha" or "wazoo", but nonetheless, neither had heard of it before, and caused much mirth.


• carnie - There was a carnival set up in the park where we walk our dogs last week, and while we were all moaning about the disruptions to our daily routines, I added: "And these carnies don't even clean up after themselves." Bruce couldn't figure it out. "Do you mean gyppos (excuse the spelling)?" I tried to explain that in North America that most carnival folk are not gypsies or pikies, so they had come up with a less racist, more generic term to describe them. He was having none of it...he's still teasing me about it a week after the "carnies" have disappeared.

I'll probably have more once I get back to London...

The next Steffi?

Make way for the Junior champion of the Finchley Lawn Tennis Club!

Stefanie quickly defeated a boy named Ashley (poor thing- what a name) in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 to win the title. We were worried at first, having seen his wicked practise serve when we arrived, but it seems that Stefanie's steady playing won over Ashley's attempts to show off with smashes and fast serves.

I really felt sorry for the boy, he was definitely not having a good time of it, what with his mother and some other boys to groan at every mistake and witness his defeat. But Stefanie was being very gracious with her win, even trying to stick up for him when we got home, saying: "Maybe he was tired."

So we're really pleased for her and over the summer we'll have to see if she can beat her Mum as well. Then we'll know for sure that she's good and it wasn't just a fluke.

We say goodbye and we say hello

This weekend was Larysa's chance to say goodbye to her Year 6 class from her old school on Saturday and say hello to the girls in her new school on Sunday.

Josie, Katie's mum, did a great job of organizing the Year 6 leaving BBQ at the local rugby club, there were 2 bouncy castles, a DJ and everyone brought food enough for all.

Luckily we had Kos, Melanie's dad, who made sure the music was being danced to by all, parents included. I was fine when Larysa dragged me onto the dance floor for Cha-Cha Slide, but not so pleased when she insisted I shake my booty to YMCA. I mean please, why are we teaching our children moves from a disco anthem anyway?

The next day, I was responsible for helping the PA at Larysa's new school (it's Stefanie's school too) to set up for the welcoming BBQ for all the new Year 7 parents. I spent most of my time sticking labels on people, managing the music and recruiting parents to join the PA. I was hoping that Larysa would meet some of the girls she'll be going to school with in September, but it turned out that by the time we had all the girls have their labels stuck on them indicating which class they would be in, Larysa had met only girls from other classes.

"That's ok Mum, I'll have a better chance to get to know them when we all start school anyway."

Sometimes, Larysa can be very realistically optimistic.

Never trust a child with a camera

Both girls just got back from week-long trips: Larysa to Isle of Wight and Stefanie to Bayeux, France and were keen to tell me about and show me their photos.

Larysa took a disposible camera, but informed me she had used one up on the bus before she even got there and had lost the other one.

Stefanie showed me her digital photos, and again, they were all from the bus ride there.

What is wrong with these chidlren: when they look back in a few years time, will they be able to say: "Oh yeah, that's the picture of us in France (or Isle of Wight)."??

No, they'll say: "Oh yeah, that's the picture of us on a bus to....yeah, I forget where..yeah, but it was really fun!"

Left high and dry

You'd think that having gotten rid of 2 out of 3 children and a husband for most of the week I would have gotten a lot accomplished. But just as with the February half-term, I managed to fill the vacuum of their absence with stuff and inanities, instead of with real tasks and accomplishments.

On Tuesday, I spent the entire day while Adia was a school reading what I would consider to be a "chick-lit" novel, followed by finishing off the evening with another novel that Stefanie had left behind.

Getting Rid of Matthew is one of those books that are great to read on the beach, but shouldn't be used as an excuse to while away the day at the kitchen table, just getting up to make more coffee. I'd have felt more worthy if it had been War and Peace. I can't tell you why I picked up the other book, Angel when I brought Adriana home from school, but I was on a roll and thought that I should finish it because it had interested me enough to buy for Stefanie in the first place.

Wednesday, Adriana and I were in the process of getting ready for school when she pointed out that neither Stefanie or Larysa had to go to school, why did she?

Well, there was no arguing with that, so Adriana took the day off. (or snow day, as Orest put it) We took the dog for a walk, did some recycling (i.e. she came with me to the depot), returned a pair of shoes I'd bought for her that were too small and spent a few hours at Borders and Starbucks looking at and buying books. We mooched around the house the rest of the afternoon, but by 6pm she was driving me insane and I sort of wished I hadn't given in and sent her to school instead. Thankfully she was in bed early that night and I could relax with an episode of Boston Legal (I love singing along to its theme song- so did Jerry Espensen that night).

So after 2 days of doing virtually nothing, I followed it up with tennis on Thursday and Friday morning and a hair appointment on Friday afternoon, and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom....there's the week gone.

I've got one week before I leave for Canada, so here's me knuckling down!

Stefanie diving

Finally our first free evening! But having spent the entire day away from home, it didn't feel like we had any time to just veg out, cuz we were too exhausted and I was helping Larysa pack for her week-long class trip.

I had to get Stefanie up at 6:15 am in order to drive her to the bus that was taking her to the London Games, where she was representing the borough of Barnet in the Junior Diving competition. After going to mass first, we then met her at Crystal Palace to watch her compete. Interestingly enough, we were also able to watch some ping-pong matches and basketball games, as well as keeping an eye on the kayak races in the next pool.


She did fairly well, placing 14th out of 22, but the bigger disappointment was that she was meant to do her first competitive dive off the 5 metre board, but declined at the last moment. I guess the trampoline we have at home hasn't helped as much as we thought.

Hopefully she'll gain more confidence on the board at the cottage pool over the summer...
(Sorry about the crap photo, by the way, being that far away, I couldn't seem to time the click correctly. It was either this photo or the one of just a splash of water.)

Canada Day, London-style & Wine Tasting

5th evening out in a row (4th one was boring - meeting at the school, but out nonetheless) and we took the kids to Trafalgar Square to see what was on offer for Canada Day.

I suspect we missed most of the best stuff which happened earlier in the afternoon- like the aerialist skiing demo (on trampolines I understand) and the street hockey, because when we got there all that was left to do for the kids was go on the simulator, which after having done all the "Cadillac" of simulation rides in DisneyWorld, was like being in a Model T Ford; and try the hockey shoot-out (line was too long and they shut it early).

I was also expecting a bit more in the way of culinary delights, but all they had were bison burgers, and once I told the girls that a bison is another name for a buffalo, somehow their appetites for 'traditional' Canadian food diminished. So we collected our freebies (pins, balloons, tattoos) and walked over to the Texas Embassy for some Mexican food.

6th evening out was a Wine Tasting event sponsored by Stefanie's school. As I'm on the Parent's Association, we felt obliged to attend, but the obligation was rewarded with what turned out to be a worthwhile event. One of the Year 7 parents is an experienced sommelier from the Stratford Hotel in St. James, and offered his services for the night. We tried some wonderful (and inexpensive) wines and cheeses, all provided by Waitrose, and now have a new favourite wine wine for the summer: Villa Maria's Reisling from New Zealand. Try it if you get the chance, the aroma and taste is very fruity and fresh, without being too sweet.

I just hope I can get it in Canada this summer...

Wimbledon & Hagbane's Doom

3rd busy night (and day) this week and we're at Wimbledon.

We signed up for the lottery in November and managed to win 2 tickets for the first Wednesday of the tournament. Having received these tickets in mid May, we had no idea who we'd be seeing or what the weather would be like during the traditional last week of June and first week of July time set aside.

Who knew it would be "Britain's wettest June since records began"? We got there just before the first match began in the middle of light rain shower, so decided to immediately go for lunch with the traditional Pimms to drink while play was suspended. Andy Roddick and his opponent (a little Thai guy whose name escapes me) were well into their second set by the time we finished our strawberries (not very tasty this year - also due to the massive rainfall) and we watched the rest of the match. It being my first time to Wimbledon, I was actually focused on more than just the play; like the ball boys and girls - how their movements are like a ballet in itself (excellently spoofed in a little British movie called "Confetti", see it if you can); like how narrow the seats are and you are rubbing hips with your neighbour all the time; and the umpires and judges not seemingly being distracted by anything while making their calls - I don't think I could do that job.

Next up was the ladies with Henin beating a tall, willowy blonde Russian (aren't they all tall, blonde and willowy?) whose name was being shouted out by the crowd in encouragement. It was a bit odd to hear "Come on Vera!" in those cockney accents though...

Tim Henman and Lopez then started their match, but after just 2 games the heavens opened. At that point it was going on 5pm and I knew that I'd have to leave by 6pm to make the hour's journey home to catch Larysa performing in her school play. So lucky for me, I didn't miss anything else, because play never got re-started after that. Orest sat there with my friend Oonagh until about 8pm when they called play off for the day.

Larysa was fabulous in her performance as a wizard in her play called "Hagbane's Doom" . She didn't have a lead role (something which really caused her great grief when the roles were first divvied out) but somehow she always manages to shine when on stage. Maybe it's just me being her mother and being ultra proud of her, but when she used the simple of act of her hat continually falling off to turn it into a comedic little turn, it shows that she's got some real acting chops. It really stayed with the audience as well, because all the parents I spoke to, it was the thing that really stood out for them as well. For a kid of 11 to be able to improvise like that...wow, it amazes me.

Shakespeare in Regents Park

2nd night into a busy week, we took the older two girls to see Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream at the open-aired theatre in Regent's Park. A lovely venue set within a part of park enclosed by a forest of trees. Although the actual stage looks small, they made the most of the natural surroundings and had the actors using the grassy bits to each side of where the audience was sitting which made you feel that you were in fact sitting in the forest with the lovers who had gotten lost there together.

A couple of things could have made the evening disastrous:

• It was outdoors
• The girls' complete disinterest in anything Shakespearean. (Get this: Stefa says she's "Shakespeare'd out" after doing her 50 page school project on him last year!)
• Dad bought the tickets, ergo it must be boring
  

But it turned out to be a good night, my pashmina being large enough to keep almost the whole row warm, no rain and the play was amusing enough to keep even 'Shakespeare'd out' Stefa entertained. (Especially the play within the play at the end was hilarious and both girls managed to keep up with what was going on.)
They walked out of the performance with a new admiration for Shakespeare and willing to try another one, but not too soon as Orest found out when he tried to pin them down to going to the Globe in September. "Maybe next year", was the best response we could get.
Fair enough, I say...

Stupid name but great nonetheless

I'd been hearing a lot about that Toronto-grown production, "The Drowsy Chaperone", since it's been showing here in the West End, so when I had a chance to pick up some cheap tickets, I thought why not?
Why not, indeed? What a great show! I was laughing, nay guffawing, almost all 90 minutes of it. I can't tell you exactly why, but it's send-up of old musicals really tickled my funny bone. And Bob Martin, the "Man in the chair" or narrator, cracked me right up! I really laughed when he forced us to watch his intermission of a Nutrigrain bar while we had none, and then him leaving us to run for a pee (although I think he said "wee" for the British audience) while he set the wrong musical running. The character of Adolpho makes me laugh just thinking about his ridiculousness.

It originally started off as a sketch for a stag party for Bob's forthcoming nuptials in Toronto and quickly was fleshed out into a full musical and pronounced a sleeper hit on Broadway. The story surrounds the idea of this gay man who loves old fashioned musicals imagining one coming to life in his studio apartment. He constantly stops the action and gives us a reality check, such as this one:

"Everything always works out in musicals. In the real world nothing ever works out and the only people who burst into song are the hopelessly deranged."

Anyway, enough of me telling you all about it....go see it for yourself, you'll have fun!

School discos and Home invasions

Friday evening we had a school disco with an interesting theme: The London Underground Disco.


In other words: "Come as your favourite tube stop". I tried to convince Larysa to go as Cockfosters (using a rubber glove painted red strapped onto a can of Foster's beer), but whether she just didn't get it or was afraid of getting in trouble for showing up to school with alcohol, she decided to get her Canadian gear on with a water sprayer and went as Canada Water. Adriana was one of a multitude of girls who came as Angel (but at her age, they don't want to be original, they just want to be pretty), but there were quite a few interesting get-ups that night. Like High Barnet: using the English slang for hair and gelling it up really high. Or a girl dressed as a rabbit for Warren Street. The winner was I think Highgate, dressed as a high gate, of course, and a little girl with ribbon bows all over her coming as Bow Road. Lots of fun was had by all the children, especially Larysa who was in her element, dancing all night long.


All was well until 6:45 am the next morning when the motion sensor alarm went off. In my sleepy-eyed state I ran downstairs to shut it off (cursing the dog as I went - thinking she had gone downstairs and set it off), until I realized that there was an open window in our back lounge. We'd been robbed! I then screamed for Orest to get his clothes on and come and join me to investigate, as there was no way I was going to get clobbered by myself. At first, we couldn't find anything missing, so we assumed that the alarm had done its work and scared the burglar off, but then 1/2 hour after the police arrived, realized Orest's mobile and brand new Blackberry were missing. They had been on top of the CD changer, in full view of the jimmied window. Surprisingly enough he had left the portable DVD player sitting right next to them, and left Orest's bike (which he'd taken out of the shed) behind as well.


The next day, I had a freak accident which left me thinking that we were in for a run of 3 in the bad luck department. I was trying to get out of the car while talking on the phone, got my foot tangled in the straps of my bag and went down like a sack of potatoes. As I'm laying there trying to figure out if I was still alive, my helpful husband calls out to me from the driver's seat "Don't just lay there rolling in the mud, get up!" Nice! It was as if I'd consumed a bottle of Southern Comfort and had fallen in a drunken stupor, such was his lack of sympathy and care. Then I think he realized that I was unable to get up myself, because the automatic side door of that van opens up and I can hear him say: "Girls, help your mother up." Picking out bits of bloody stones and tarmac out of my leg, I didn't feel any better until our friend Jim leans over to Orest and says: "Mate, you're supposed to be driving faster when you push her out!"


So when friends warned me that I should expect a 3rd unlucky thing to happen to me, I was at least praying that it wouldn't be anything more serious than what had happened already.

Luckily, we then noticed that that our Jeep had been keyed over the weekend, so I was willing to count that towards our 3 and stopped worrying. Phew!

Very naughty girl

Dear friends,

It's been over a month since I've blogged....

Yes, I hit the proverbial writer's block (as well as time restrictions) and am now faced with trying to catch up on a month's worth of events. So you will find many new posts in behind this one that I've conveniently back-dated for the sake of the time-space continuum.

I can't explain what happened really, but it seemed to be an all-over 'funk' which extended into all parts of my life, including the one which allowed me to do the simplest of tasks....shopping.

I couldn't make any decisions on anything and nothing was getting done. But I added 'liquid plumber' to my soul diet, and kick-started everything with the purchase of shoes. (As any woman knows, shoes are the easiest, least-stressful purchase a girl can make!) I've since moved onto bigger and better things, having made a decision (finally!!) on which mobile phone to upgrade to and am hoping to get that camera and laptop we need purchased by the end of the month.

Hence the re-start of my blog...I feel invigorated and refreshed and able to communicate with the world now that my chi is balanced by a pair of sky blue deck shoes. Thank you Cotton Traders for giving me back my mojo!

English Opera is not for the proletariat

We had our first opportunity to see a Mozart opera here in England, and here I was thinking: "Oh goodie...I haven't seen opera since we were at the Mozart Festival in Warsaw 5 years ago."

But if you can picture the Mozart Festival in Warsaw, it was definitely very Soviet-like in its atmosphere. Everyone in sturdy shoes and their Sunday best, going for the cultural experience, not to be 'seen', in some cases, children attending, sitting attentively and enjoying the sights and sounds. Even the intermission was utilitarian in its offerings: tea, coffee and I can't remember if they had wine or beer for that matter. But the performances were first-rate and the ambiance of the small 100-seat theatre it was held in was magical.

Now picture our outing to the Garsington Opera just outside Oxford to see Mozart's Il Re Pastore (see photo above). The dress code was listed as 'formal', so I drove the Jeep in my evening gown and strappy sandals, only to discover that I was sinking fast into the earth on the grounds of a lovely manor house. (Luckily I had packed another more sensible pair of shoes.) The atmosphere was as formal as the attire, wandering around the lovely gardens which were soon to be used as part of the stage in the opera. After a quick glass of champagne, we took to our seats in the open (but covered) auditorium and were instantly engaged by the live sheep being paraded across the stage into the adjacent gardens. Then the leading lady who was playing a man (a role originally intended for a castrato - of which there are none) came out and started rolling around on the ground with his lover, another woman, professing his (her) undying love to her. Goodness! It was all a bit much to take in! Thank God there was a long break after the first act, where we were allowed to finish a 3-course meal in the adjacent barn and marvel over the performance we had seen. By the second act, we were somewhat immune to the theatrics until they set off fireworks to cap off the performance for the finale.

It was obvious to us that the major difference between Warsaw's Mozart and Garsington's was the showmanship in providing visual stimulation in addition to the aural. I guess here in England, you have to justify the high price of the ticket somehow...

Aah Mickey you're so fine, you blow my mind...

In the planning for 9 months, we finally went to Disneyland Florida. We had promised Stefa and Larysa that as soon as Adriana was old enough to cope with long days of walking around, we'd take them there. The last time I was there was when I was in high school, so I needed to wrap my head around having 6 and 1/2 days to cover all the parks and maximise the amount of fun time, and minimise the waiting time.

So I was given the "Unofficial Guide to Disney" by a friend who said back in November: "Start studying it now." But being the least anal person I know, I couldn't bring myself to seriously dive into the planning of the trip until 2 weeks before our flight.

So considering the lack of effort on my part to create a 5-page per day itinerary, we had a pretty decent time. We stayed at the Grand Floridian hotel, which is directly across the lake from the Magic Kingdom and we were able to see the fireworks show on the grass outside our hotel. (Stefa was volubly freaking out about the ducks which seemed to get closer and closer to us, so she didn't enjoy the fireworks quite as much.)

The highlights of the trip?

We went on an early morning opening with the other hotel guests and Adriana and I did the Buzz Lightyear ride 3 times in a row (with no line-ups) trying to increase our score every time. And then next door going to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, where the animated characters interact with the audience and create jokes on the spot.

Expedition Everest (according to Larysa and Stef - because I had to sit that one out with Adriana) at Animal Kingdom. The "It's tough to be a Bug" show was also pretty decent, with creepy crawlies special effects seeming to be on your legs and on your head. Adriana, of course, saw none of this, having perfected the crouching down under the seat manoeuvre as soon as anything remotely scary appeared.

Epcot was the most varied of the parks, and I think we missed out quite a lot even though we spent 1 and a half days there. But still the Test Track, the simulation rally driving ride which everyone else loved (I once again bailed - I have motion issues). Same with Mission:Space, apparently you pull up to 5 g's on the ride, and for someone who has trouble with the Mad Hatter's Teacup ride, it was definitely not for me. Turtle Talk with Crush was another fine example of using live actors to fully animate a character, in this case, one form Finding Nemo. Larysa was able to have a great conversation with Crush, it went like:

Larysa: "What to you eat?"
Crush: "Like we eat algae, man. Like what do you eat, Larysa?"
Larysa: "Whatever my Mum and Dad make."
Crush: "Well that narrows it down! So you're on the seafood diet...like you see food and you eat it?"

Two reasons why this was funny, one being obvious and the second being that Larysa rarely eats 'whatever mum and dad make'. HA, HA! I wish.

Soarin' was also a favourite. Imagine being practically inside a film, flying through the air. It was cool!
We spent a day at Disney-MGM where Rock n' Roller coaster and Tower of Terror were favour ties with the non-motion challenged in the family, including Adriana. The Indiana Jones Stunt show was spectacular enough that we didn't feel the need to see the other stunt show with the cars. We had the best time drawing our own Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh in the Magic of Disney Animation and Disney-MGM has the best light and firework show in the evening called "Fantasmic" (even better than Epcot's Illuminations).

Then there were the 2 water parks, which we agreed that Blizzard Beach had the best rides (the raft ride, the body slide and the toboggan racers), but Typhoon Lagoon had the best body surfing wave pool. too bad they couldn't merge the two together. It would have saved us a day.
So that was it, our 7 day trip to DisneyWorld Florida. We know we probably missed some of it, but I think there was just so much there a week doesn't do it justice.

Goodbye Szyszkas!

We hosted a bbq on Sunday to say goodbye to friends we've made over the last 2 years, Julia, Stepan, Stepko and Larissa.

They're moving back to the States, but we know this won't be the last we see of them, since they're active in Plast (the Ukrainian scouting group), so we could see them at various summer and winter camps going on around the world. In fact, Julia was instrumental in helping us create an active scout group here in London, when we were hopelessly lost trying to get anything going.

As a gift we made them a 'tarilka' (a plate) that everyone signed and I hope that it (as well as they) survives the move.

Pa-pa for now, hope to see you at UMPZ this summer!

Here's a lovely shot of some of the youngest party-goers trying to maim themselves using a toboggan and a Little Tykes slide.

Taxi Driver as Anti-Hero

My trip home from Madrid was marred by a few things (spending 4 hours in Madrid airport, having to carry my heavy bag with no wheels), but the worst was the mini-cab driver who was scheduled to pick Lisa and myself from the airport.

like a good passenger, I turned my mobile off on the airplane, completely unaware of the saga brewing in London for the duration of the flight home.

Apparently, 1 digit of the our flight number had gotten miscommunicated when Orest booked us the cab, so that the dispatch sent the driver to collect us from the airport 2 hours before our flight was scheduled to land. He was just on his way away from the airport when dispatch finally got a hold of me and made him turn around to collect us.

But I didn't understand where all the confusion was coming from since I had the text I sent Orest indicating the correct flight number. It was still a shock to see our driver turn his back on us and expect us to follow him without a word. I even had my hand out with the heavy bag, thinking he would offer to carry it for me, but he ignored me completely and stalked off.

I can understand that he might of been annoyed at having wasted the 3 hours, but surely he didn't have to take it out on the innocent parties involved? On top of all that, he regaled Lisa and I his woeful story of his day from hell, which included some little old lady having pee'd on the seat of his car ("Don't worry," he says, "It was the front seat."). It was only when he started invoking Allah's name that I began to worry that we were in the hands of some nut-job terrorist intent on destroying all of North London. I was beginning to reach for my mobile phone to see if I could surreptitiously ring home and get Orest to stop this maniac from detonating us and my bag to kingdom come.

Two minutes later I was home safe and sound - but no tip for the weirdo taxi man!

My Superhero

So did the kids miss me while I was away?

Orest must have decided to put on his superhero costume for the weekend, because the girls certainly had no complaints about their time with Dad in charge.

1. Pizza and popcorm movie night on Friday with Orest having borrowed the office's projector to show DVDs on the wall about 6ft tall.
2. Getting the girls off to skating by 8:30 am Saturday morning with packed lunches ready for Ukrainian school, followed by great fun in the Holland Park playgrounds.
3. Emcee'ing a Quiz Night which I had prepared for Stefanie's school on Saturday night.
4. Taking the kids to the park to play baseball on Sunday, despite a wicked headache.

What a star! I tried to weasel out of the girls if he may have fallen down on the job, but all I could get was that they didn't get a lunch on Sunday. Not bad, not bad at all.

The best comment was from Larysa, who said: "I like being with Tato, he sometimes makes us do stuff we don't want to do, but it turns out to be lots of fun in the end."

Awww, sweet!

Mad in Madrid

Time for another girlie weekend, this time to see Sara in Madrid. 12 of us flew in from various European cities (mostly UK, though) to do a little culture, some sight-seeing, lots of shopping, but mostly catching up with friends.

I was told that the hotel would be a 20 minute metro ride from the airport, so when 11 of us gathered at Terminal 2 in Madrid, we had no idea what was in store for us. The best any of us could say after switching trains twice and lugging our cases (mine without wheels!) up and down stairs, was: "At least the tube stations feel light and airy...not like the London tube." Needless to say, taxis were the preferred method of travel from that moment on.

Friday evening was spent at Casa Pearce, and as you can see from the photo, much vino was consumed that evening. Sara put on a fabulous spread of local cuisine and Mike played waiter, making sure our glasses were full at all times. It was a cozy way to catch up on everyone's news. The next day, Sara took us shopping, and I scored 2 pairs of shoes and a summer ensemble. By the end of the day, everyone's feet were in various shapes of disrepair, but we still managed to hobble over for the evening's tapas meal in Plaza Santa Ana. With 13 of us, it was difficult to get all of us together at one table (especially since it's first-come, first-serve), but the waiters were very funny with their invisible line when we tried to put a few tables together. In the end, we sat at 2 tables set further apart, but the waiters got a wonderful tip in the end... they were cute!! Beauty conquers all, I suppose. We carried on to Plaza Mayor for more drinking and were kicked out by about 2 am(?). we walked back to our hotel and it was amazing to see so many people out have fun, and not the scary type of fun, where you're afraid some drunken yob is going to cold-cock you for no other reason than that you were within arm's length. Sue and I pretended we were 5 and hid in a doorway, no luck, they found us. Then some tried their best to get arrested in front of the police station and Lynn and Lisa had to walk barefoot (shoes were killing them). After a nightcap, I hit the sack by about 4 am. What a night!

The next day, I tried to get a little culture and spent a few hours in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (the Prado would have been too large to try and get through) and then it was time to say good-bye to everyone and start heading home.

The Hotel was a great choice, location was perfect and I particularly loved having the private hot tub on our patio, it really came in handy after a long day of shopping.