A few days into the backyard project

Steve drinks coffee all day and works so hard from sun up to sun down all by himself.  Here he is shoveling stuff from the driveway and taking it round the back in a wheelbarrow.

Rhods in Norway

Meanwhile, this week Rhodri is in Norway having some meetings in a really cool place.

After only 1 day

 Steve did an amazing amount of work the first day. Really impressive

New project starts!

Now that the pod is in place, we've been trying to figure out how to update the landscaping to transition from the deck to the pod, and also wanting to replace the crumbly concrete tiles.  We had talked to our friend Steve back in the summer and he had some good ideas, so now that he is available, we are underway!

Meanwhile, the heavy rains that we had this weekend have led to a leaky ceiling in the laundry room, with buckets everywhere. Not fun!

Thanksgiving in St. Louis

 For the Thanksgiving weekend, Rhiannon is staying at Wiley's house for Tues, Wed and Thurs nights and then staying at Drew's house for Friday and Saturday nights before coming back to the dorm on Sunday.

 

Mystery Friday

As part of my birthday present from Rhods, we had a "Mystery Friday" that was scheduled for today.  So I took the day off from work and we headed out on an adventure!  We took the train from Haywards Heath to Clapham Junction, then transferred to another train to get to Battersea Park, and we walked about 10 minutes to get to the Battersea Power Station. That was the mystery!

We had a quick lunch inside the power station and then took the 1:40 pm tour up into one of the smoke stacks, which has been fitted with a glass elevator.  It was really cool 

We walked around the shops and then had cocktails at the Control Room which has been made into a bar.

Then later we met Adnane and Ibtissim for dinner at the Wright brothers fish restaurant.

It was a really great day!

Girl dinner

A few of us were invited over to Liz Dyson's house for dinner, and it was such a treat.  She made delicious food and we sat around enjoying her newly remodeled house for a few hours. Good times.

Meanwhile, it is Thanksgiving today and our girl is spending it at Wylie's house. Hopefully I'll get some photos to upload for that occasion.

Amazonico

After my epic birthday weekend, I had the Monday to drive back with Leigh and then Tuesday was home working, then Wednesday I went into London to attend the UK Geothermal Symposium for the final day.  I met up with my ol' buddy Dave for dinner at Amazonico afterwards.  What a treat!

We went to such a cool restaurant that Rhiannon had wanted to go to last year but it didn't work out.  So I was thinking of her a lot during this evening. It is such a beautiful interior with absolutely delicious food.  Great to see Dave, of course, and since we ate fairly early I was able to make it home before it got too late.

Birthday weekend at the beach

For my 50th birthday this weekend, I really wanted to get out of town and stay at a beach house with some girlfriends, and that is exactly what I did!  It was a ridiculously fun weekend.  I travelled straight from Paris through London and then on to Taunton where Leigh met me and we drove another 2 hours to get to Woolacombe Beach, Devon.  In the morning, the full glory of the kitchen window view of the beach was revealed. Here are Nia and Sions...

After having some coffee and first breakfast, 6 of us went for a swim.

And then after playing in the waves for ten minutes or so, we went back across the street to the house and had champagne and snacks in the hot tub!!

Here is the full view of the hot tub, deck and beach. It is such a gorgeous property!

We had a big fry up traditional English breakfast for sort of a midday brunch and then went for a coastal walk for about 5 km.  It was very windy and a little rainy but not too bad.

Then we all had a bit of a late afternoon rest before starting cocktails around 5:30 and then getting dressed for dinner.  Anne Marie had made these funny Lisl-masks that everyone was wearing when I came downstairs!

Next was dinner, and I had hired a personal chef to come and do the meal for the 8 of us. 'Dan' was brilliant and produced a wonderful 3 course meal.  

Then the dishes were cleared away and the music started, lights turned down and we had an awesome dance party until midnight or so!  An absolutely perfect day.

Sions did an awesome job DJing, and we all just had a brilliant night grooving in this dream beach house!  The gang was: Nia, Sioned, Emma M, Emma B, Anne Marie, Leigh, Cat and me.  Super fun!

Flo!

I took the Eurostar to Paris today so that I could see Flo and stay with her tonight before going to a 3 day conference which starts tomorrow.  It was so fun to see her and to meet her two cats. She is still as crazy as ever!

I am now a Swifty

 I've been wanting to see the Eras Tour movie concert by Taylor Swift for awhile now, and so I finally just booked tickets and talked my amiga Anne Marie into going with me.  It felt great to finish my last meeting of the day today and race out of the house with burritos in hand and get to the cinema.  Although we were only 5 minutes early, the cinema was completely empty except for us!  

It was 3 hours of pure Tay, and it was amazing. We are both definitely Swifties now!

Another beautiful November day

 This is the view from my favorite spot on the stretch between the Bear Pit and Doggy Beach. Some days the South Downs are so clear, and the clouds and the light are just so beautiful.

Mclaren and Mom

 My Mom's great friend from childhood now lives in Tasmania but they still keep in close contact and this week she has come to stay for a few days!  It's so fun to see my Mom having fun with one of her best friends, and so grateful that they could make this happen.  I took this screenshot.

Beautiful day in the forest

Emma and I normally go for a dog walk in the Ashdown forest every Sunday. Today was particularly beautiful so I took this photo of us.

U16 Haywards Heath Rugby

Here they are, looking all so awesome in their teenage boyness.  Can you see Tryfs in there?

(He is in the front row)

Our dear friend Liz

We've had a very sad thing happen in our lives: our dear friend and neighbor Liz DF died suddenly and unexpectedly on October 5th.  This was devastating for her husband Marc and two sons Max and Ollie.  The neighborhood has rallied to support them the past few weeks, and we went to their house on Tryfan's birthday for memorial drinks, but it is a very sad situation.  Today was her funeral, and it was held up at Danehill church and then she was buried in the cemetery across the lane from the church.  I was honoured to be asked to be one of the pall bearers, and carried Liz's coffin into the church along with Sharon, Lucy, Marc, Max and Ollie.  It was a deeply emotional and solemn event, and while I was able to do my pallbearing part, I cried the entire ceremony.  She was so loved and she leaves such a big void in her absence. It is heartbreakingly sad. 

This was the first funeral and burial that I have been to, and it was interesting and beautiful in a way.  There were so many people there, and as soon as she had been 'committed' (to the earth), the heavens opened and the rain started. We all walked in procession from the cemetery down to the Danehill Club for the wake, which would go on all afternoon and night, finishing around 10pm.

Here is Sharon, Anne Marie and me

And here is the scene later in the eve, with Max, Stanley, Marc, and James the ones visible.

There is no bright side at the moment, but it felt really good to mourn our friend and share memories of her. RIP dear Liz.