Comic Commercials

Here's a little insight into the British sense of humor. Cadbury Chocolate is the unofficial, official food in England. Here are two commercials advertising the product. The gorilla one ran before Christmas and the eyebrow one is on now.

Eyebrow

Gorilla

The Art of the Cart

So, even though I have a grocery delivery coming today, I had to run to the grocery store. I told Maddie we'd make cookies when she got home from school and I'm out of eggs.. and didn't order any more. I don't mind the grocery stores when I just have to pick up a couple of things, but I prefer the online ordering when I need a lot because after two-and-a-half years in Europe, I still have not mastered the grocery carts.

In Germany and in England, the carts are four-wheel drive. Meaning that all four wheels turn. So when the cart gets loaded down, it's really hard to turn and when you are going the car, if there is any kind of slope on the pavement, you list to the side. Or at least that what happens to me. As I am wrestling with my cart (and even wrenching my back on one occasion), I see little old ladies maneuvering the same carts with no problem at all. Is there a trick? Can I take a class? I can drive on the left side of the road through the streets of London, but I can't maintain control of a full grocery cart. Weird.

Comic Relief has a nice gig going on at Sainsbury's right now. From now until March 13 (Red Nose Day--you can buy your own clown nose at any participating retailer), you can round up your grocery bill and the extra goes to support Comic Relief (which supports charities for the homeless). So if your bill is 25.55, you can just tell the cashier to round it up and the extra 45 pence goes to the charity. I'll be interested in what the total comes to at the end of the drive. I thought it was a great idea.

Tonight, my new favorite show comes on. Actually, it's in its fifth season here, but it's new to me. Hustle is a BBC show about a group of con artists in London. Brit Adrian Lester is the star, but Robert Vaughn plays kind of the mentor to the group. Of course, they only con people who deserve it. My favorite line from the show is: "the most important characteristic of a good mark (or is it marc?) is not money, but greed." It's like a mini "The Sting" every Thursday night.

My husband is worn out. He has been traveling and working like a mad man. He is trying to keep up his exercise. He bought a fancy running watch that even keeps track of his heart rate. We just have next week to get through and we're off for a week-long vacation. I hope he won't be too tired to snowboard!

City Lights

My friend from seminary, Shawn Garvey, is a pastor and singer/songwriter serving a church in Chatham, NJ. Recently, he had Livingston Taylor come and play a concert at his church and they did a song together. Livingston is not quite as famous as his brother James, but is a well-known singer/songwriter in folk circles. I'm not sure that Shawn will ever come down from the high of getting to sing with one of his heroes.

It's always great to hear a good song, but it's even better when the people singing it are clearly having such a great time.

City Lights

Chicken Thighs and Culture Class

Big doings for Maddie coming up in February. German is the language of the month at ACS, and Maddie is considered one of their German-speaking students. So in Language and Culture class, she received a little smiley face button that she gets to wear every day to let everyone know that she can speak the language of the month. She is so excited.

So there is a cut of meat here that I don't think is widely available in the US. They have chicken thigh filets (pronounced FIL-ettes) here. These are boneless, skinless cuts of chicken thigh meat. I found a simple recipe in a magazine that looked good, so I got some of these chicken thigh things and made it. The sauce was yummy and it went great with the fresh green beans that were also part of the recipe, but the chicken! It was fully cooked and the meat was fresh, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why I didn't like it. Skip suggested it was a texture thing and I think he was right. I'm going to try the recipe again sometime with good old chicken breast strips or filets. We just had it last night and today I was thumbing through a magazine and found two more chicken thigh filet recipes. I'm gonna pass.

Every magazine or newspaper you pick up here has all sorts of tips on how to be more frugal during these credit crunch days. Some of them have good advice, but other times I have to laugh because what the writer is calling being frugal is how I shop (live) all the time, and I think we all know I'm not going to win any awards in that area. No wonder the the world is such a financial mess!

I've been working on summer camp curriculum for Ferncliff this summer. It's a good exercise to get me thinking like a preacher again. I'm enjoying it. Maddie is signed up for the last week of July and is looking forward to it.

Not Cut Out for This

Ahh, the guilt. I am so grateful to have a happy, healthy, relatively well adjusted child. I should welcome the time I get to spend with her and her friends. However, I am so not cut out for large gatherings of small children--especially when I am not in charge of the situation and have no control over schedules and itineraries! It was just 24 hours worth, and I feel like I have been put through the wringer.

Via tube, we hauled our overnight bags north to Hampstead where one of the four international centers of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides are located. Then after all the girls arrived, girls and moms headed to Pizza Express for dinner. Sixty people in the upper room of this restaurant. The noise was awful and the temperature continued to rise. Of course, my daughter thought the pizza was too "saucy" and began to cry at her seat because there was nothing for her to eat. I managed to get her an extra order of breadsticks and told her to deal.

Then we went back to the lodge where some of the college age girl guides led us in some games. I am really awful, but I guess I'm a little bit of a snob about group games. Been to too many camps and conferences where I've played games and even attended workshops to learn new games and how to lead them. So, I thought it was all pretty lame. I am a bad person.

When it was time to dismiss and head for the rooms, no instructions were given to the girls or the parents about bedtimes/lights out, etc. It was basically a free-for-all for a group of girls aged 6 to 13. Our group was the only one in the lodge, so there were no outsiders to consider. I finally got Maddie to sleep at 10:30.

After breakfast at the lodge, we all headed back to the tube and went to the Transportation Museum at Covent Gardens. At one point, I had to sneak off with Maddie to the snack bar and get her something to eat. I think she's hypoglycemic or at least has a tendency toward it. If that child goes more than 3 hours without some food, she starts to fall apart. By the end of the tour, everyone had had enough group activity, and we all split up for lunch. We grabbed some food with friends Gina and Megan before taking two trains and a bus to get home.

We got home a little before 3 p.m. and Skip was here to greet us. He took Maddie to our park to kick around the soccer ball and I went to bed. When they got back from the park, Maddie watched tv and Skip went for a run. They finally made me get up at 5 so we could grab some dinner. I may need a few more days to recouperate.

High Church, Indeed

With Maddie spending the night with a friend and Skip working like a mad man in Amsterdam, I headed downtown for the 5 p.m. Evensong Service at Westminster Abbey. They've only been holding services there for about 1000 years. The setting was incredible and the service was complete with the men and boys choir of the Abbey with the frilly-collar robes and everything. And the music! The sound was incredible. The voices and the organ and the acoustics were so perfect, it was hard to believe that you were actually hearing what you were hearing. It was really quite an experience. I'm not sure how worshipful it was, since I think was more in awe of my surroundings and the music than I was of the Almighty. Perhaps if I'm able to go again someday, I can be a little more focused on the actual purpose of the service. Touring the Abbey requires a ticket, but it is an operating church, so anyone can come at worship free of charge to any of the services.

Tomorrow, I'm off with Maddie to the PAX Lodge, one of the four world centers of the Girl Scouts International.

Maddie's German Skit

So here's my first effort to share stuff from our new Flip Video. I tried to do a restricted channel on You Tube, but people have problems accessing it. Then I realized I could post something here. So here is Maddie doing a skit about a polar bear--in German

Inauguration and Exploration

Yesterday I had lunch with a German and Japanese friend. One of the best parts of this ex-pat experience has been meeting people from other places.




Enjoyed watching the inauguration on television yesterday. Maddie had a friend over to "celebrate". Would have liked to have watched the festivities with a bunch of people somewhere more fun than at home, but I didn't think I could take Maddie and Kara down to the Texas Bar down in Leicester Square. So brownies and hot dogs it was. They watched Aretha sing My Country Tis of Thee and Obama step up to the podium, but that was the extent of their interest. You can see Biden being sworn in on the television behind them as they lick the brownie bowl.

After Maddie went to bed, I watched the speech and Rev. Lowery's prayer again. I had DVRd the whole thing. I'm kind of an oratory geek.


Today, I got Maddie off to school and headed to Westminster Abbey to explore. I had not been there yet. One of the things that is really nice about it is that no photos or video taping are allowed. So, unlike other churches I've visited, there weren't all these people snapping photos of their loved ones next to the tomb of Henry the something-or-other.

There are so many people buried in Westminster Abbey. My favorite site is where Elizabeth (daughter of Henry VIII and Ann Boelyn) is buried with her sister Mary I (daughter of Catherine of Aragon). As you walk into the room where the tomb is, there is an inscription on the floor. "Near the tomb of Mary and Elizabeth, remember before God all those who, divided at the Reformation by different convictions, laid down their lived from Christ and Conscience sake." And the Latin inscription on the tomb translates to: Partners both in Throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection.

The poets corner was something as well. Some writers are actually buried there and others are merely memorialized there. Chaucer was actually the first. There is a monument to William Shakespeare (who is buried at Stratford on Avon) and in the tomb below it lies the remains of Sir Laurence Olivier.

I thought it was really interesting that Charles Darwin is buried at Westminster Abbey. Could it be that you could be a Christian and still believe in evolution?

After the Abbey, I saw signs to Trafalgar Square. I hadn't realized the Trafalgar Square was only about 3/4 of a mile from the Abbey. So I walked over there and sat and watched the people for a while. It was cold, but a clear and sunny day. Then I headed toward Picadilly Circus and noticed that Chinatown is getting all decked out for Chinese New Year.

I'm going to do my best to see London over the next few months. Tomorrow evening, Maddie is spending the night with a friend (no school on Friday) and Skip is still in Amsterdam (or is it Frankfurt?), so I'm going back to Westminster Abbey for the 5 p.m. Evensong.



China Town



Trafalgar Square



Westminster Abbey



The view of Big Ben and the London Eye from Westminster Abbey

MLK Day

Just another cultural/historical person/event that Maddie is not quite clear on as a "child of the world." I had forgotten that it was the weekend at all. Certainly nothing was mentioned at the church we attend, but this morning I woke up to Facebook posts of things people in the States had done yesterday at their churches to commemorate the holiday and other greetings of "Happy MLK Day." I imagine that the whole concept of segregation based on skin color for a child whose friends come in every shade of skin there is will be hard to grasp. I tried to explain it to her once, but I got the feeling she thought I was making it up. So while Maddie catches up on things like MLK day next year, she can teach her friends about Divali and Chinese New Year.

I don't know what the mood is like in the States, but here in London, everyone is so excited about the inauguration of Obama and exit of Bush. Obama is in the papers much more than PM Gordon Brown. Only one group is sorry to see Bush go and is holding a last hurrah in his honor tonight in downtown London--the comedians. Seriously, there is a big gathering of some of Britain's top funny people to take one last stab at Bush. I have to say I'm finding it hard to feel sorry for Bush. I really thought here at the end, he might take some responsibility and admit at least some mistakes, but he has been steadfast in his arrogance to the bitter end--at least in the interviews I've seen and read about.

I have to admit that I was one of those people who voted more against McCain than for Obama, but I have become completely won over to the "fervent supporter" side in the days since the election. I have been so impressed with the depth and breadth and quality of his cabinet picks, as well as his effort to be so completely inclusive in the clergy people he has chosen to participate in the inauguration and national prayer breakfast. And then, if he really meant what he said in that letter to his daughters, he really is the person I want to be running our country.

Skip will be out of town tomorrow for the inauguration, but I want Maddie to understand what a big deal this is, so I asked her how she wanted to celebrate. Here at our household to commemorate the inauguration of Obama, we will be dining on hot dogs and brownies and have friend Kara over to celebrate with us. We're even going to make the brownies together as we watch the festivities and events on television. And I won't even have to come up with a fancy dress to wear.

The Hills Are Alive

Well, you can take the girl out of Arkansas, but you can't take the Arkansas out of the girl.

We made plans to go see the Sound of Music today since it is closing some time in March. It was something that Skip had really been wanting to see. So last night, Skip asks me, "Before or after the play, can we go to Church's?" Well, of course, I'm thinking fried chicken and racking my brain trying to think where on earth there was a Church's Fried Chicken in London. He sees the look of my face and finally says, "You're thinking chicken, aren't you?" Then I realized that he was talking about Church's Shoes--a very posh English shoe company with a store on Oxford Street near the theater.

So we went into London today on the number 94 double decker bus and stopped off at Church's (shoes, not chicken) and even braved Hamley's toy store in order to buy a birthday present for Maddie's friend who has a party coming up.

Then we hit the Palladium Theater and the Sound of Music. The set was really cool. At the beginning and the end, they had this huge disc that created the "hills" effect. It could lift up and down, slant one way or the other and even rotate. The effect was amazing. And while the actress who played Maria was good, the one who played the Mother Superior left her movie counterpart in the dust. What a voice! The kids were really good as well. And the scenes when the nuns were singing sounded incredible.

When we asked Maddie if she liked it, she said, "Of course I liked it. It was a musical."

After the play, we had dinner at the ubiquitous Bella Italia. It's an Italian chain here in London that's nothing extraordinary, but always good and fairly inexpensive.

And then, of course, getting home was not as simple has hopping back on the bus we came in on. We waited and waited for the 94 and three of them passed us with the words "not in service" displayed. We waited so long that Maddie had to go to the bathroom. The closest one to us was the Oxford Circus Top Shop. For such a trendy store, they have crummy bathrooms. As we walked to the next bus stop up from the TopShop, we realize that construction is keeping the 94 from running part of its route. So we get on the first underground train we can find and take it to Shepherd's Bush Station where we can finally catch the 94 the rest of the way to home. We really lucked out, though. Right after we finished the 10 minute walk home from the bus stop, the wind begin to howl like I have never heard.

Other than the long trip home, it was a most enjoyable day in London for the family.



That's Maddie and Skip on the far right




Regent Street in London at Night

*************************************

Bonus Bunny Pics



The fraidy bunny Riddle



The adventure bunny Rosie

Another Friday

Here I am. Same batime, same bat channel. It's Friday evening and my husband is due home from Amsterdam and my daughter is in her "street dance" class here at the Park Club. I have spent the day being overwhelmingly amazed and grateful for the miracle that occurred on the Hudson River. I vow to listen the next time a flight attendant reviews what we should all do in case of a water landing.

My sinuses have been really bad this week, so I sucked it up and entered into the National Health System once again. Fortunately, the doctor I saw last time is on maternity leave and I saw a lovely man who actually looked in my throat and my ears and asked a few questions before giving me a script for antibiotics. He said he usually gives sinusitis 5 to 7 days before prescribing an antibiotic, but he would give the prescription and I could either wait or go ahead and have it filled. I went ahead and filled it. I've had enough infections now to recognize the taste I get in the back of my throat when I have one. Too much info?

So I got a call last night from an amateur telemarketer trying to raise money for a little girl with a tumor on her spine. The NHS won't pay for an operation because of the odds against it being successful, so the family is trying to raise the money to send the little girl to New York for the procedure. He didn't want any money over the phone, but he wanted to send me some raffle tickets and consider buying them or selling them to friends or family. When I get the info in the mail, I'll also get a Web site address where I can learn more about the little girl. I'll put it on the blog when I get it. I would automatically write this off as some kind of fraud, but fundraisers like this are very common here. It is not at all unusual for to see fundraisers for cancer patients who are taking drugs that the NHS won't cover or a surgery that they won't pay for. The young man who called last night must have not been getting many positive responses because he sounded so relieved and grateful when I told him he could send me some tickets. Will keep you posted.


Gotta go. Maddie will be wrapping up her dance class in just a minute and I like to catch the tail end of the class. She is just too cute.

How to Spend a Gray Day in London (for the unemployed)

Get up and send child off to school. Make sure she has morning snack, lunch, after school snack. See that she has her German homework for her after-school lesson and her swimsuit for PE as well as a towel and a plastic bag for wet swimsuit. Remind her that you will pick her up at the late bus stop this evening.

Go to climate-controlled, posh gym. Exercise. Shower. Dress.

Head into Chiswick via bus to mail stuff for husband to Germany and US. Run by pharmacy and dry cleaners for hubby as well.

Take train into London to Kensington High Street. See Slumdog Millionaire at the Kensington Odeon. Feel like you're doing something wrong (like playing hookey) by going to see a matinee movie in the middle of the week. Also feel your faith in the art of movie making restored. Fabulous.

Stop by Kensington Whole Foods Market. Get smoothie. Pick up natural peanut butter and some Massdamer cheese that husband likes so much. Also another jar of harissa (Tunisian condiment) because you eat it with everything. Laugh at the new diet aid called "Full? Stop."

Take the train home. Be impressed with the sixty-year-old lady with the legs to pull off the purple tights she paired with a black and white houndstooth mini-skirt and black boots. Resolve to stay longer at gym tomorrow.

Come home. Throw load in laundry. Run dishwasher. Feed bunnies. Don't cook for supper because husband is traveling between Munich and Amsterdam and will not be home.

Pick up child at late bus stop. Feed child hot dogs, chips and sliced red and yellow peppers. Eat whole wheat flat bread and hummus yourself. Laugh at child's jokes and help child with homework. Give child bath. Put laundry in dryer. Put child to bed.

Tidy up kitchen and dining area. Think about tidying up living room as well, but decide against it. Check out Facebook. Try to do some writing and wish you were Janet Evanovich.

Write new blog entry and turn in for the night.

Lack of Schedule

Okay, I finally set up a calendar on Google that pops up every time I log onto the Internet. I sent Maddie to school on Monday and forgot about her after-school Girl Scout meeting. So she didn't have vest or her workbook or any of her stuff. She was okay with it, but come on! How much do I have to do here and I can't remember to send my kid with her Girl Scout paraphernalia once a month?

When you have so few things on your schedule, it's really easy to forget the things that you do actually need to do at a specific time and/or place.

Big news over here is Prince Harry's racist gaffs and Kate Winslet's big Golden Globes sweep. Of course, the economy is still in the headlines. People here aren't fired or laid off, they're made "redundant." I hate the way that sounds.

I don't think I've mentioned our mayor here in London. He is quite the character. He is always making outrageous statements and tossing off jokes at seemingly inappropriate times. Here is a video of him discussing his dislike of boiled eggs with a local television host. Boris is the blond one. Keep in mind that this man is the Mayor of London. I think it gives you a little insight into the culture here.

Boris Johnson

Weekend

Quite a cold weekend here in London, although none of the kind of snow you folks in the Northeast US are getting.

Skip got half-way to his soccer game on Saturday and found out it had been called off because the referee declared the pitch (the field) unsuitable for playing because the ground was frozen solid. So, he came back home and all three of us went to the Park Club to hit the indoor pool. I can't do that very often because it gives me such a headache. The noise level is awful. They do have a heated outdoor pool and there were two men swimming laps out there in below freezing temps. I think I'll take the noise over that.

We made it back to church today and got a sermon unabashedly denouncing Israel for their actions in Gaza. It was pretty bold. Wonder how many sermons like that were preached in the US this morning?

I don't believe we can blame jet lag for any weariness or fuzzi-headedness anymore. Skip and Maddie are really back in the swing of things, and I intend to get into it this week. Will have to find something other than jet lag to blame my disorganization, lack of motivation and general disposition on.

So two-and-a-half years in Northern Europe have finally taken its toll. The shade of make up that I've been using for about the last 4 years has suddenly become too dark for my skin tone. How does that happen? How can I possibly have become even whiter? The make up does go one shade lighter, but I always thought that shade made me look a little ghostly. Must find some sun!

Ran into one of those inconveniences of living in a city. I had to run some errands today including a grocery store stop for which I needed the car as I was buying juice boxes and diet cokes and other items to heavy to walk home or even tote on the bus. So I parked at the grocery store parking lot and thought I'd just leave my car there to run the other errands--even though it would require quite a hike. However, the grocery store took longer than I thought and the parking lot has a two-hour limit. Break it and you pay a 40 pound fine. I was afraid I couldn't do what I needed to do and make it back in time. So I left the lot hoping to find parking closer to my other stops. No luck. So I drove home, put up my groceries and walked back into town to buy bunny food, a soccer (football) pump and check out a sale on ski pants. Then I hauled my items back home on the bus. If only I had needed a train and a taxi, I could have used every mode of transport available to me in just one after noon. Later, when I had my wits about me, I realized that I just could have exited the grocery store parking lot, circled the round-a-bout and gone right back in and bought myself another two hours. Can I still blame the jet lag?

So, did the US Secretary of State really say that it is "hard" for Israel to avoid killing civilians in Gaza? Yeah, if the Brits didn't already dislike the current US administration enough, this will guarantee it.

Maddie is taking a street dance class here at the Park Club where I'm posting this entry. Boy, that kid will jump into just about anything. All the other kids knew each other, and at first she was really shy, but after about 10 minutes, she was right in the middle of it all.

Skip is going to be home some time tonight from Germany. He's been gone all week and his football team is playing tomorrow, so he'll be gone most of the afternoon. He tried to talk Maddie into going with him, but she's been before and says that it is way too loud. But I did get the air pump so they can kick the football around together in the park if it won't rain on us. Maddie has decided that she might make a great goalie someday and if that doesn't work out, she can just be a pop star. So glad she has a plan.

Had to Share

An article from the person I most want to be like when I grow up. She writes the best songs and now she's kind of a motivational guru as well. Since I generally run frantically in the other direction from any type of "motivational" person for fear of breaking into a rash, it's a good thing her songs sucked me in first.


Baby Steps: The Best-Kept Secret to Accomplishing Anything
by Christine Kane

Let's say you had a baby.

Congratulations! Your baby is the best human ever!

You love your baby. You celebrate as it starts to crawl. You and your partner delight in this baby's every new adventure.

Then, one day, the baby stands up on her own. "Yaaaaay!" you cheer. You clap your hands. The baby smiles and laughs. You think, "Wow. She's gonna learn how to walk. Isn't that great?"

One evening, you and your partner are on the carpet playing with your baby. Suddenly, your perfect child stands up again. She braces herself on the coffee table. Your partner grabs the movie camera. You call your parents in Idaho so they can listen to the play-by-play.

Your child lurches forward. You all gasp and hold your collective breath.

Then, CLUNK. She falls onto her butt on the carpet.

"Awwwww," you say.

"Dang," your partner says.

"Well, I guess that's it. This one just wasn't cut out for walking," your parents say from their home in Boise.

"Oh well," you say. "It just wasn't meant to be. Bummer."

You hang up the phone. You turn off the camera. You take the baby up to bed. Tomorrow you'll begin the search for a bigger stroller because your kid's obviously gonna have to get through life on wheels.

Get the idea?

And yet, how many of us are already acting like this with our plans for the coming year or with our own new beginnings?

Your project, your dream, or your goal is your baby. If we all gave up on our kids as much as we give up on ourselves, then we'd have a race of humans with big calluses on their knees!

The Best Way to Take Action: Baby Steps

Every big project or goal can be broken down into baby steps. Little lurches forward. Sometimes they're clumsy. Sometimes they don't even seem to make an impact. But this is how anything gets done.

* Years and years of built up clutter get sorted and thrown away one drawer at a time. (Plan for 30-minutes a day in one zone of the house - not "Get rid of clutter.")

* Years and years of reckless eating and unhealthy habits get shifted one work-out at a time. (Plan a 45-minute work-out 5 days a week, and a once a month visit to an acupuncturist for a year - not "Lose 50 pounds by June.")

* A song gets written in fits and starts. Hour by hour. Moment by moment. A flash of an idea. Then an edit. (Schedule in an hour of songwriting time in the morning. Start with scales to warm up. Not "Write Lots of Songs.")

* A coach builds her practice one client at a time. (Schedule a daily system for authentic marketing. Not "Get 50 new clients by March.")

That's how it works.

Stinks, doesn't it?

Actually, no.

This is the good news that no one ever tells you.

When you get this concept, you'll never be afraid of failure again. When you learn how to break a goal down into baby steps, and how to complete something fantastic using this method, then you have the key to doing anything. When you understand that everyone falls down and gets back up again (some of us on an hourly basis!), then you need only to trust in your strength to get back up again.

The only block is your ego.

Your ego wants it to be done now. Your ego wants to move through life risk-free, foolish-free, discouragement-free, mistake-free, tired-free. And the best way to trick your ego (and yourself) into letting go a little bit is to take baby steps.

If you read the comments on my blog post on New Years Day, you noticed that many people chose the word "Courage" to guide them through 2009.

Baby steps take courage. Baby steps are a huge risk to your ego because they are so easy. SO easy! The ego wants big deals, major accomplishments, huge weight-loss, and fast results. In other words, the ego likes adjectives, not nouns. Those adjectives guarantee that you'll stay stuck and never try anything new. Over time you'll get that deals, accomplishments, weight-loss, and results feel pretty good -- even without adjectives.

Now, try this:

Take a goal you chose for the new year, and ask yourself, "What one baby step could I take every day to complete this goal?" And then (and this is the big challenge) get out your calendar and schedule it in there daily for the rest of January.



Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine's blog - Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous - at ChristineKane.com/blog.

Why Would Jesus Need a Crutch?

Yesterday, I was so tired from the jet lag that I just didn't have the energy to do anything. It was really cold outside, so I decided a walk into town in the cold air was just what I needed to perk up. I was just turning the corner onto Turnham Green Road when I passed a guy talking on a cell phone and yelling at someone. This is not an odd occurrence here--to hear someone having a shouting match in public on a cell phone. All I got was "Jesus Christ on a crutch! When were you going to tell me this?" And then we passed each other and I didn't get to hear any more. I spent the next block wondering what the news was that caused him to utter such at interesting oath. I decided either someone was pregnant or something was being repossessed.



These ads are being run on buses throughout the London area. It made me kind of mad until I learned they were in response to ads run by a "Christian" group threatening eternal damnation in the fires of hell to non-believers. Score one to the atheists for kindness over the Christians.



Good traffic news here in London. For the next 18 months, motorcyclers can use the bus lanes. That means less of them weaving in and out of traffic. That really scares the heck out of me sometime. The really big news here in London today is that Kevin Pietersen, the captain of the England national cricket team, has resigned. Apparently, if newscasters are to be believed, everyone is shocked and amazed. Mr. Pietersen and the current national coach do not see eye to eye.

Last night, both Maddie and I slept through the night--and in to the morning. My alarm didn't go off. I woke up about 5 minutes after the bus was supposed to arrive. I figure bus driver Ted noticed no lights were on and just went on. So I got Maddie up and dressed and drove her to school. She only ended up being about 1/2 hour late. I figure this is not an unusual occurrence the week after Christmas break at an international school. Good news is, we both got a good nights sleep.

Skip is in Amsterdam and headed to Frankfurt today. He will be spending a lot of time in the Netherlands and Germany over the next two months. He unwittingly ended up at a really fancy restaurant last night and had trouble finding an item that he recognized and wanted to eat. I can't exactly remember what he had, but it sounded hysterical when he quoted from the menu.

I think we're about to get everything sorted out and back on track.

Some more pics from our Norfolk time

While visiting in Norfolk, we got the chance to visit the Virginia Aquarium in VA Beach and to see old Williamsburg. It was quite cold in both places, but the skies were clear and sunny. We continue to marvel at the many opportunities we have to see great sites and attractions. I hope the trip to Williamsburg boosted Maddie's knowledge of American history. She can tell you who the chancellor of Germany and the Queen of England are, but is a little fuzzy on Abe Lincoln and George Washington.




Skip and Maddie at the Viriginia Aquarium. There was a nature trail in between the two exhibit halls.







The Bruton Parish Church at Williamsburg. It's been a house of worship for over 300 years. They have 2000 members, but only have seating for 400, so they have 4 services a day.




Maddie and Uncle Brian test out old-time punishments




Maddie in front of the College of William and Mary. Our hotel was across the street from Old Dominion University, and for whatever reason, Maddie has decided that she will be attending college in Virginia. We told her that could work out well since there were so many colleges to choose from. Then she talked about how we'll all move to Virginia when she goes to college. Not sure that she's totally clear on the concept, yet.



Maddie doesn't hesitate to pet one of the horses on the Williamsburg property



Here is the view of Ann and Brian's Christmas tree from the outside. Ann's mom and dad put it up while they were at the hospital having the baby and Dr. Corcoran made sure that the tree looked as nice on the window side as it did on inside. Curb appeal is important in a Christmas tree.

Taking a cue from ML this new year

I'm pretty sure it was Martin Luther who said that he prayed an hour every morning before he started his day. Unless he had a really busy day--then he prayed for two hours. I plan to take my prayer cues from Martin in 2009, because we're going to have a really busy year.

We finally got to our house today after one two-hour flight, followed by an eight-hour flight and a three-hour ride home--courtesy of a wreck on the highway between the airport and home. I'm up at midnight because after going to sleep by 6:30 p.m., Maddie woke up at 11. After a little time playing in her room, a snack and some reading, I finally got her back to sleep, but now I can't seem to get back there. Always takes a few days to make this transition.

Skip will be traveling quite a bit during the first four months of the year and we, as a family, have quite a bit of travel planned for our last six months in England. We'll have several visitors (last chance for London. book now!) coming and then we will need to figure out what's going and what's staying (Skip and I are already having disagreements about that one!) before our move in late June. Then we'll be transitioning back to life in the States, a new school for Maddie and possibly a new job for me. And that's what we know of! Who knows what other triumphs and tragedies will crop up along the way. We plan to make the most of the last six months of our European adventure, but then I think we'll be happy to settle in to a more "normal" kind of life for awhile. It will be interesting to discover what our "normal" is these days.

We learned on New Year's Day that my Uncle Pat (husband to Aunt Rennie) died after a long battle with Parkinsons and Alzheimers. His service was today in Bastrop, LA. I have really good memories of Uncle Pat and was sorry I couldn't be there today.

I am really enjoying the new camera that I got for Christmas and will post some more pictures of our time in Norfolk tomorrow or Monday.

Hope everyone has a hopeful and peaceful new year.