Caveat Emptor:

Press play at your own risk; you'll be humming this for weeks to come.

The old man is snoring

After five weeks of cloudy, the last two days were actually sunny--consistently sunny--to the point where after spending a few hours reading in the park I had rosy sunkisses on my arms and the pleasant sting of the red on my legs rubbing against denim when I changed into pants later that evening when things had cooled down.

This morning, however, we woke up to rain, rain, rain that hasn't stopped all day. TORRENTIAL has been the word of the day. James passed cars up to their bumpers in water and a dude bailing out his basement apartment on his way home from the bus stop. When he got home, umbrella dripping, his jeans were soaked to the thigh. "40 ml an hour" is what the interview-ee on TV is now saying about the rain we received today. I don't know what the figures for July are, but this past June was the rainiest in recorded history--and since this is ye olde country, I'm counting that as pretty significant.

So tonight we stayed in and watched umbrellas bustle by and the newly-formed lakes in the park across the street gradually eat up more ground. As I was putting some clean laundry away, James urgently called me to come see: "There's a duck swimming in the puddle across the street!"

Indeed so there was, a female mallard was checking out the new pond and what it had to offer. We had never seen ducks in the area, as there is no body of water nearby that we've come across, but this little lady was making herself right at home.

I'm a big boy now

So James' birthday was a couple of weeks ago--the big 3-0. That Saturday we celebrated by sleeping in a bit, then heading out to some fine breakfast dining:


Then we headed out for adventures in Wales (cited below). It was a lovely day. On our way back, we stopped for James' birthday dinner, bangers and mash (a.k.a. sausages and mashed potatoes) at a sweet little pub. James is quite excited to share the world of foody delights with Jonah, but so far the boy has declined most offers.


Finally, back home to open presents:

Happy b-day, Dad!

Pub-walks

The pub-walk, an old cotswold tradition, is to meet at a public house (bar), order some food, walk for a good long way, then return to the pub for the food. This past week, we went on two different walks, both about 5 miles and through some of the prettiest scenery in all of Brittania--here's a taste:

Naunton




5 Mile Inn




This is the pub we ate at--apparently it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 years old. The doorways are approximately 5' 7".

Circus Monkey

Let the training begin...

Jonah in the Wales

We went to Southern Wales yesterday and spent the day wandering around Chepstow castle. Here are some photos:


Yes, Daddy dressed Jonah for the day--and yes that's a sleeper under the overalls.





Afterwards, we went here for Fish and Chips, and Bangers and Mash:

English Riviera?

For Independence Day this year, we drove down to Exeter, then on to Tor Bay (it's been called the English Riviera). Exeter is a nice town with an enormous 11th century cathedral and a nice river front area. We spent the morning wandering around the cathedral, then got in the car, and headed to Tor Bay...or so we thought. After driving in the wrong direction on then turning around twice, we finally ended up on the southwest coast of Brittania. We slowly wound our way through the various towns and hamlets lining the coast until we ended up in Torquay where we had dinner.

Here are some photos:








This is Tor Bay: