Weekend in Cardiff

We drove to Cardiff for the weekend to spend time with Sioned, JJ and little Gwydion. It was a great weekend all around. 

Birthday

Today was my birthday and I had a lovely, wonderful day which started with breakfast at McD's with Cat. This was a great way to start the day!

I didn't have anything actually planned for the day except that I did take the day off of work!  After breakfast I did some lounging around the house and then took Annie for a run at Birch Grove.  But before setting off, I had the idea of getting some kind of treatment so I called a new beauty salon in Forest Row and booked myself in for early afternoon.  They had beautiful wallpaper in the bathroom and I enjoyed a couple hours of "self care".  Afterwards I got a call from my gorgeous daughter who is currently up in San Francisco looking after Ripley.  It was great to hear from her.

After my treatment, I had lunch at Season's Cafe and then went to the charity shop next door to find some treasures.  In the evening Rhodri took Tryfan and me out to a surprise dinner at Ockenden Manor. 

It was a quiet dinner but very tasty and special. A great day from start to finish!

Then today (Thursday Nov 21), I went on a night hike with some of my homies - Emma B, Leigh and Liz.  We walked pretty much the same route that Annie and I had run a couple of days ago.

We ended up at the Club, where Anne Marie and Vessy joined us. It was a fun night!

Fun weekend

Rhods and I went to our friend Mel's birthday party at the Ashdown Park Hotel in a beautiful private room which was a former chapel.  The architecture is beautiful and elegant, and we had a lovely evening there with friends.

Today (Sunday) was particularly gorgeous with colorful leaves and a lovely fresh nip in the air.  Emma and I went on our normal Sunday morning dog walk. 

Stonehouse

Even though I just finished 3 days at this London conference, I spent today on the train to and from Stonehouse which is like 3.5 hours away from here!  It was the grand opening of our sister company's UK opening and I was so glad to have been there.  Here is an article about the event: 

https://www.celsiusenergy.com/us/newsroom/celsius-energy-celebrates-inauguration-of-its-demonstrator-site-in-uk/

London in the autumn sun

This week is my third conference in three weeks, and my social battery is really low!  But since this third one is in London, I have to go.  My two colleagues are joining me at this one, and that is nice to be three together so we can discuss the talks.

Murder Mystery Night

Tonight we had a really fun evening at the Danehill Club where there was a Murder Mystery Night organized.  Rhodri had been volunteered (by me - ha ha!) to play a character in the cast.  He was brilliant and it was a super fun night.  His character turned out in the end to be the murderer and that was funny too.

Rotterdam

I had a quick turnaround over the weekend Nov 1-3 where I changed my suitcase and clothing selections and headed out on Monday morning Nov 4th to take the train to Rotterdam, Netherlands.  I stayed at "The Usual" hotel along with my dear boss Ann.  We could walk to and from the conference venue and Rotterdam turns out to be a really cool city.  Beautiful lights decorated the buildings, trees and streets.  Here is a picture of a beautiful McDonalds!

One of the highlights of this trip was doing morning yoga in the basement studio of this hotel. Of course, the US election happened this week too, which didn't go the way I was hoping, but I'll refrain from further comment.

Cowboy Magic Mike

Its nice to be home and I got to help Tryfan get ready for a costume party tonight.  He went as Cowboy Magic Mike. Look at him so sweet with a rose in his mouth and a red bow tie.  He is ready to partay!

Aloha adventure - part 2

Part 1 was quite different from part 2!

But it was a privilege to be here, and it was wonderful to get to see my colleagues in person as well as meet some new people.  Here are some photo highlights... 

Actually when I first arrived, my room wasn't ready yet so I found this choice location to recline and relax.

Ann had matching shirts made for all of us in GeothermEx. Here are Jim, me, Minh, Logan, Ann, Tito and Amber (these are some of my most favorite colleagues, so that made it extra fun).

Here are Logan, Amber and me.. the 3 of us do a lot of work together remotely and it was just so great to be together.

The venue was on the edge of this lagoon that you could swim around in, so Amber and I did this on a couple of days and it was so wonderful and fun.

Here is the venue in the background

Then on Wednesday night Oct 30th I flew overnight to SFO, hung out for about 7 hours in the airport for Halloween day (saw some funny costumes and made a couple of trips to the yoga room near Gate D6), and then flew overnight to Heathrow.  Double redeye! Yikes!  It wasn't as great of a journey as the way over, but it was fine.  I was very glad to get home for the start of November.

Aloha adventure - part 1

I got selected to go to the "Geothermal Rising" conference in Waikaloa, Hawaii this year and because it is such a large distance to travel, I went a few days early and stayed with Aunt Dawnie and Uncle Ben, who conveniently live only about 40 minutes drive from the conference venue!  I flew out on Wed Oct 23 and had low expectations for the journey itself, but this ended up being really nice actually, with a row to myself, a gorgeous view across Greenland, and then the discovery of a yoga room at SFO airport (near Gate D6).

 

Then once I landed in Kailua-Kona, I was picked up by Dawnie and Ben and had a blissful time with them at their peaceful sanctuary of a home in the hills above the northeast coast near Hawi.

I met their friend Hap and we went on a hike out to a beautiful cliff overlook of the beach.  It was an adventure just getting there since we went "the shortcut way" through some tall grass, climbing fences and going along an old track.

In fact, over the next couple of days I was treated to other fun moments, including swimming in the sea (unfortunately got stung by an urchin!), going out to dinner a couple of times, watching the Ironmen cycle around the midpoint of the Ironman triathlon (which happened to be this weekend), and riding up to Pololu point on the back of Hap's motorcycle!

I loved experiencing the "aloha spirit", and seeing people give each other the "hang loose" hand gesture in real life.  I totally savored this stretch of days with Dawn, Ben and Hap.  Then on Sunday afternoon they dropped me off at the Waikoloa Hilton hotel for the beginning of the conference that evening.

Tryfan turns 17

Can't believe that our baby boy is 17 today.  Yikes. And now he has his provisional "learner's license", which means that he is allowed to be behind the wheel of an automobile while he learns to drive.

He had a pretty good day by all accounts, with a skeet shooting session in the afternoon that Tryfs invited his friend Theo to join him on, and then for his birthday dinner tonight, we went to Pampa Argentine restaurant in Cuckfield and he brough Andy along.  

At a full 17 years of age, our boy is a engaging, chatty, easy-going, fun to be with, a little bit funny and random, and generally good value wherever he goes.  We like him.  He is a satisfactory son.  Happy birthday, Tryfs! 

Quiz night at the Club

Rachel and Johnny put on another quiz night tonight at the Club, and all three of us went along.  There were 6 people to a team, and Rhodri and I had Tim, Heather, Marc, and Mac on our team.  Trys was on the Denslow's team with Cormac and Mel.  It happened to be Tim's birthday today too, so that made it extra fun. We actually ended up winning!

New work area

 This photo has my two smiling colleagues (Jorge and Adeline) who have moved to the area to work with me, and we were able to get our own dedicated space in the office, which doesn't sound like much but it kind of is!  We have desks in a little pod area and our own giant whiteboard, and the desks go up and down so one can either stand or sit.  This is what Rhodri and I have at home, and it is really nice.  Now the three of us just have to agree what days we will come in together.  After the past couple of years where I have been based here working alone, its nice to have colleagues to talk with about work stuff.

Tent display

 Rhodri set up this Barents Tent on the back deck so that he could check that all the parts were there. Luckily, it was a beautiful day!

First commercial

 Our girl was featured on an advertisement for a nutritional granola bar.  This is new!

Rugby game

Today I actually got to see Tryfan play rugby, which was quite novel.  He played really well and their team won by quite a large margin.  

Denbie's vineyard

Today I went for a geology field trip (sort of) to the Denbie's Vineyard and estate.  This was organized by the London chapter of the geological society and it consisted of a lecture by a sort of famous guy in this circle of English wines and geology, followed by a movie, tasting and tour.  I was pretty impressed with this place actually and I'd like to come back one day with Rhodri and maybe other people.