Cycling with Aggie and Leigh

Today Tryfan went to rugby to support his team at a tournament (even though he is still not playing due to his arm fracture) so Rhiannon and I had the whole day to ourselves. We ended up riding our bicycles down through Nutley to Trading Boundaries and meeting Aggie and Leigh there for brunch at 11:00am. Such a great idea! Very successful! It was a decent ride there on back country lanes on this beautiful Sunday morning, then we could just leave our bikes propped against the hedge while we feasted on good food and listened to live jazz.

 After our meal, we all 4 got on our bikes and cycled up Ketches Lane to Freshfield Lane and called in without warning to the Dyson family. Fortunately there were happy to see us! We stayed about an hour for tea while Rhiannon, Iris and Aggie caught up on 12 year old girl stuff, then pedaled off in separate directions.

It was a great outing and we vowed to do more of this. At least it was a nice way to end the week, the weekend and the month.

Misty sun beams

It has been so beautiful here this week - sunny, mild in the daytime, cool at nighttime, leaves starting to turn ever so slightly to their autumn colors. This morning I dropped Tryfan at school and then took Winnie for a run around at the Rec. It had been a chilly night but now the sun was out and mist hovered over the whole ground, illuminating the sun beams. Nice way to start the day.

Rhodri's delayed birthday

Rhodri's birthday was on Thursday Sept 20th but due to the various deadlines and commitments of this week, we decided to celebrate it properly today (Saturday). Last night we went to Jules & Naresh's house because Jules and Rhodri share a birthday and Naresh had generously offered to host a curry dinner for us and a couple other couples. So that was wonderful, delicious and fun on a Friday night after such a busy busy week. Did I mention that I was in Paris on Monday and Tuesday this week as well? I think I skipped that part because it was just a bit too crazy to even comprehend, but I went there on Monday morning, came back late Tuesday night and then the rest of this week was the UCTC open evening, Rhodri's real birthday, and then Jules & Naresh's house on Friday. So finally today we celebrated with a wonderful breakfast, a hang-around the house sort of easy day with lots of cups of tea and Rhodri pottering around doing useful manly things. Tonight we are going to watch 'Captain Fantastic', which I have seen before but nobody else has. Should be good! 

UCTC open night

Its the time of year when Year 5 and 6 kids go around with their families to visit prospective secondary schools in order to decide where to go for Year 7. This year we only visited UCTC where Rhiannon goes.

They drew chickens using real live chickens as inspiration, and they inspected cow hearts in the science lab.

 Hopefully Tryfan will get accepted to UCTC - they have been oversubscribed the past couple of years and we've also had a problem with the bus transportation from our village to the school which has been a source of great tumult and frustration. Anyway, they are a good school and Rhiannon has had a good experience so far.

Football at work

I've been playing football at work during lunch time once a month or so. We play 5 v 5 or 6 v 6 in a closed pitch in the car park, and I've really enjoyed these games. It is so fun to play soccer again and its such great exercise! I love it. A few weeks ago we actually played a full 11-a-side game against another company and we won 3-1. All 3 of our goals were scored by Ciaran, who has been a Student Intern that I've been working closely with, so when he leaves in a couple of weeks it will be a different story! But anyway this reintroduction of football/ soccer into my life has been great. I was the only girl playing in this particular game, but there are a couple of other ladies at work who sometimes play, though we haven't actually played together yet! Soon i hope.

Crabby in the morning

Here are my two little sweethearts wearing the matching pyjamas I bought them from Maine.

Fractured wrist

On Saturday at football practice, Tryfan hurt his wrist! We thought it was ok but then Rhodri took him to A&E today and they confirmed with an x-ray that he had a 'buckle fracture'.

This means he is out of commission for the next 8-10 weeks. Noooo! So sad!

Home at last

I got home finally this morning after an overnight flight from Denver. So I flew Tulsa - Denver on United, then switched to Norwegian and flew to Gatwick. Yay! I made a few friends along the way - a lady on her way to Greece with an inflatable kayak to take to her rental property on an island near Sciathos and a man who had a career in quantum physics but has put the past 15 years of his energy into gender equity and reconciliation. I would have thought the term is 'gender equality' rather than 'gender equity', but whatever. He was a nice guy.  I got home after the kids had gone to school unfortunately, and then had some conference calls etc to do today but it was fine.  One happy thing was that we had a BBQ tonight at the Jubilee Green to celebrate Lucy and Mary's respective birthdays and that was wonderful.  It is so nice to be home with my wonderful family!

Dining with sharks

Today was the grand opening of a new building at the learning center our company has near Tulsa, and lots of bigwigs flew in for the occasion. I came because we are having a workshop here starting on Monday, and I figured I'd come a bit early because of the occasion (and I've become good friends with the manager here). Tonight was a big fancy dinner at the Oklahoma Aquarium, followed by speeches and seniority awards, which were all given at a podium in front of the shark tank. It made the evening much more interesting to be able to admire (and feel a bit sorry for) the sharks swimming around.

 After the event was over, a group of us walked back to our accommodation and stopped along the way a few times for refreshment. The final place we stopped had loud music playing and some older men standing on the bar! It turns out that these guys were the bar owners and it was one their birthdays so decided to do whatever they wanted to. This photo I took was literally the moment that the guy in the foreground was on his way to the floor - caught mid fall! Fortunately he wasn't injured and was soon back on his barstool but in a seated position.

 The bartender took this photo of us - Holly and Heloisa were the only two that I knew prior to this evening, but the rest were good fun to be with. I was glad to be out having fun but was done with alcohol by this time of the night, though not the same with my colleagues.

Joyful arrival to Tulsa

I had a few good days in Houston. I stayed in a modest, practical place near the Galleria and got a lot of work done. Then tonight I flew Houston to Tulsa with Southwest Airlines, and I had forgotten how fabulous they are! The flight attendants have such a pleasant, lighthearted spirit and make an effort to get people smiling. Love it.

Tonight after we touched down in Tulsa, the head flight attendant got on the PA and said, "Are you ready for some rock and roll?!"  Silence. "Are you ready for some ROCK and ROLL?!!"  Murmurings, still mainly silence. "Well, I'm going to give you some anyway. Avocado AJ, you know who you are and this goes out to you..." and then she starting singing 'Sweet Child o Mine' by Guns n Roses. She had a gorgeous voice and sang confidently without any accompaniment, and it brought smiles and huge applause throughout the plane when she finished. Wow. The world needs more impromptu singing!

We welcome Winnie

Auntie Sions is on her way to a year's posting in Washington DC and we are going to look after her dog and her car! So as I've been traveling to Houston, Sioned and Winnie have been driving 'Banger' to our house and having a few days of settling in.  Looks like they went to the Coach & Horses pub at least once!

 She is a very photogenic little doggie and we are excited to have her in our household for the next 12 months.

 They had a lot of fun building ramps and runways for Winnie to run through and jump so they could try to photograph her ears in flight mode!

 Meanwhile, the football season has started for Tryfan and Oscar who are in the 'Under 11s' team now for Forest Row.

So its all about to kick off now this week, with school starting tomorrow for Tryfan (Year 6) and then Rhiannon (Year 8) the day after.

Separate ways to start September

After the wedding last night we all had a good sleep in the hotel back in Keene and then left for Boston airport this morning. We dropped Will at a gas station so he could visit a friend for the day and catch his flight later tonight, then Eric, Mom and I returned the car and checked in for our flights. I hung out with them at their gate for a little bit, then peeled off to find my flight.

Originally I was going to fly back home to Gatwick but then something for work came up, so today I am on my way to Houston for 5 days, then Tulsa for a further week and then I will get to go home on Sept 13/14. 

I felt quite teary as I said goodbye to my Mom and brothers just now. It has been so wonderful to be with them the past few days, even though we all felt the absence of Heidi. 

Live free or die! The wedding

That is the New Hampshire state motto, in case you didn't know!
So we arrived intact to Ryan and Jessica's new house where their wedding was taking place tonight.
It is in a gorgeous location and everything had been very tastefully, elegantly decorated with cozy little hang out spots, a fire pit, drinks and appetizers laid out on the deck ahead of the ceremony by the pond.

Cousins unite! Holly, Ryan, Eric, Will and me. We missed HEIDI!

The ceremony begins...

 And then on to dinner in the garage

 

 Then to the firepit to enjoy the bluegrass band and fireworks!

  

It was a fun night but we were really missing our sister Heidi, especially since the 6 of us used to spend a lot of time together as kids and it was amazing to see both Holly "Hod-Bod" and Ryan "Ry-Guy" again. 

Covered bridge tour

We had nearly the whole day to kill today, since the wedding didn't start til 5pm. The brothers and I kicked it off by going for an early morning run at the nearby state park, the Horatio Colony Nature Reserve. We were surprised to learn that Colony was just the surname of one of the two Horatios who were important to the area's history. No photos from this little morning adventure, but it was really fun to run in the woods with my brothers!

Then after breakfast, we headed out for a driving tour of the Monadnock area's covered bridges. We visited 6 of them in the end, and we had a lovely time exploring the area. Lots of above ground swimming pools and trees.

One of the highlights was the lunch stop, which was 'Willy D's Driving Range and BBQ'. We met an interesting guy called Gunner who rehabilitates pit bulls, had a delicious BBQ meal, and hit a few balls before continuing our covered bridge adventure.