smile

2011-06-14T21:45:00.002+01:00

Anthony sent me this photo today, entitled "My arrangement - the poppies didn't like it inside"Love it that he is doing a bit of flower arranging in my absenceVery sad to be missing our little garden at this time of year

African Renaissance

2011-06-13T00:15:00.002+01:00

Another Dakar outing was to the African Renaissance monument. Here are some facts according to wikipedia:It is 49m tall, making it the largest statue in the world outside Asia and the former Soviet Union.It was built by the North Koreans (random... more on that below).It cost over $27 million (USD)... one could very well question why money is being spent on this when there are malnourished

Big Fish

2011-06-13T00:11:00.002+01:00

Before Spearsy's wedding we enjoyed a trip to the big fish restaurant in Dakar. The attached photos amuse me. Mostly because the plates were actually shared between lots of people... but the photos tell a different story!

Wedding Day!

2011-06-09T17:46:00.005+01:00

At the hotel... all ready for the Spearsy-Sophie weddingThe best men - Pete and ArthurThe church at 4pm (official start of wedding ceremony). The people on the left hand side are the amazing choir... so as you can see very few guests were on time! Of course us pasty faces arrived far too early... I think it all got going properly around 4.45!I didn't do a good job of photographing the bride and

Heathrow - Lisbon

2011-05-29T18:47:00.002+01:00

The adventure begins at Heathrow... Ant and I travelling with more bags than ever before. Laden with sugar almonds and solar lamps for Spearsy's nuptuals...Striking it lucky on arrival in Lisbon... as we were delayed by multiple hours we were given boarding passes... for the next day... and then vouchers for a night in Lisbon! The excitement was overwhealming.Anthony tries to escape me... but of

Executive Suite

2011-03-15T09:03:00.002Z

Am currently residing in the "Executive Suite" at the Family Kingdom.As you can see it is highly executive. I don't think it actually qualifies as a suite tho, as I am sure that implies there is more than one room, and unless there is a secret door somewhere to the rest of the suite... then it is just a normal bedroom + bathroom (en suite as opposed to executive suite?)Floral sink + kids shower

disco/ bondage elephants????

2011-02-16T18:33:00.003Z

Poor elephants... what were they thinking with these costumes???Two of the hundreds of elephants we saw parading through Colombo this evening, along with many singers and dancers and people in an incredible range of outfits - boys with "3 legs", men with fake beards, people dressed with grannie masks, traditional looking dancers, people twirling plates on sticks high in the air, people dressed as

Happy Valentines day

2011-02-14T04:26:00.003Z

Happy Valentines day!The hotel where I am (ahem) working decided to decorate the beach for Valentines day... so almost every tree has a big wooden heart nailed to it. Hopefully the non-working clientele of mostly middle aged European tourists on valentines minibreaks will enjoy it!

dum de dum

2011-02-03T17:59:00.004Z

I have been bad at updating this... indeed I have a file of photos to upload at some point... but I haven't yet got around to it yet.Instead... here are a couple from today...First it was oven of glory... now it is PAN of glory... we got this beauty in the sales... it's built to last... and is red (for some reason this meant it was cheap... perhaps red is so last year)... looking forward to many

Little House

2011-01-25T22:03:00.004Z

Munson Whites and Telford Geers do Little House in the Big WoodsPepin, Wisconsin, USASadie and myself reverently paid homage, taking our much loved books with us, my copy having belonged to my mum at one point. As you can see the men did not seem to comprehend the significance of the pilgrimage, despite having been read to from the books... so sad.Sadie and I also enjoyed pretending to be Laura

Surnames

2010-12-22T14:00:00.003Z

The post arrived today and we got lots of Christmas cards... and interestingly they were all addressed somewhat differently... I suspect this is all my fault for not being a straightforward Mrs Geer (although as you will see I am called this... which is fine btw) ... I find it all quite amusing, but hope the seeming ambiguity of our names does not cause anyone too much distress...Mr and Mrs A.

Snow...

2010-12-04T16:02:00.002Z

In slight contrast to the last photo on this blog.Our garden looked like this this last week.My advent calendar for Anthony... Spot our house? Ant had his first flying lesson in over a year and flew over the house and managed to get in a bit of areal photography too.

Sunday Sunshine, Sweet Salone

2010-11-22T07:49:00.000Z

Perfect.No more words needed.

House owners for 1 year

2010-11-10T08:10:00.002Z

Nice how the estate agents remembered... perhaps they want to remind us they are there and ready to sell our house should we wish to upgrade.Looking back we have done a lot to this house in the last year... still not finished but it is looking better - I think :)

Crafts

2010-11-02T20:16:00.006Z

The arrival of Freya Grace - niece numero uno - has been an excuse for various crafts! I never seem to have enough time to do these things... but was inspired by some of Ant's friends to create a "taggy blanket"... the idea being that the baby has fun rubbing the different bits of ribbon around the edge, something that small babies can do before they develop bigger hands/ grabbing abilities. It

books

2010-11-01T17:47:00.006Z

I love books... and I have quite a few, although alas there is never enough time to read them all! Indeed I have a small library when compared to my husband, who basically seems to own a few FACT books, a couple of novels, quite a few books relating to learning how to fly, and more bibles than me (and he's the atheist round here). However, it should be noted that I have considerably fewer

holiday...

2010-10-14T23:09:00.000+01:00

Crab trails, Langkawi, Malaysia Will write more soon xxx

Coast to Coast

2010-09-06T17:19:00.007+01:00

On Bank Holiday weekend Ant and I poodled off to Whitehaven to start our Coast to Coast minibreak. We cycled from Whitehaven to Sunderland (or that was the plan... more about the finish later)...Ant at the start of the ride. Apparently you should dip your back tyre in the water at the start and finish... so we did... risking slipping down the slimy slip way and into the water!A nice picnic stop..

something sharp...

2010-09-06T17:12:00.002+01:00

We have bought some new knives. They have revolutionised the way we chop... indeed the things we had before were probably too blunt to even be considered knives. Here they are in all their glory.... and here they are again... getting some action with Char and Dizeee... we had a lovely afternoon chopping (see pan), which resulted in a very fine batch or 2 of chutney!Domestic bliss

Its been too long!

2010-08-16T20:24:00.007+01:00

It has been a long time since I blogged... since I was in hot hot Senegal... and it was the World Cup. Probably less said about that the better (being English and all that)... Anyway, lots has happened since then. Here is the evidence.This year, including our own, we have so far "done" 6 weddings... and the year is not over yet.With the uni ladeeees at Tush's Sandhurst wedding... disaster struck

The Count...

2010-06-22T00:30:00.004+01:00

In case you were wondering... this is The Count. He plays in the BDO, which is very different from the sexed up Sky Sports PDC (get me with my darts acronyms). I find it slightly scary I have heard of The Count, but never watched BDO darts. Too many Thursday night darts nights perhaps?

Football, islands and nomads

2010-06-21T20:23:00.007+01:00

So Friday's match didn't go so well, although Senegal support didn't falter. My football knowledge is increasing greatly... mostly through Spearsy, but also through some observation. I am now well versed on what (in Spearsy's opinion) England need to do to win on Wednesday. So should Capello call me then I will be able to advise.Senegal staff flying the England flagHalf time... I think Spearsy

Strawberries

2010-06-18T09:57:00.004+01:00

These are some of the strawberries we are growing, and that Anthony ate last night... I think we have more coming fortunately.The slightly worrying thing is that for his diner last night he ate these 2 strawberries some raw carrots (apparently they taste better that way) and some cheese. So now I am the guilty wife, abandoning husband to fend for himself on cheese and raw carrots! Perhaps I

post script

2010-06-17T23:09:00.001+01:00

It would seem that generally speaking the Senegalese were pleased the French lost.

17th June

2010-06-17T20:58:00.004+01:00

I'm still enjoying the Laguna Beach Resort. Not been in the pools tho... but the view at least makes you feel on holiday... even if the logframe fuzzy head feeling reminds you that you aren't. I'm reading "Sophie's Choice", which is compounding the feeling of surreality. It is really good... but with a fair chunk of the book set in Auschwitz is also reasonably distressing (I've had to wiki the

Crabs and Coupe du Monde

2010-06-15T20:41:00.002+01:00

Am enjoying my 2nd Senegalese mini break in the space of a month. Have managed to watch parts of 3 football matches (with French commentary) which is a world record. Can't say I'm particularly interested... although I do feel a slight pang of sadness that the north Koreans are not going to make their dear leader happy with a win over Brazil :O( Here is Spearsy indoctrinating me into the ways of

Patriotic update

2010-06-10T19:20:00.002+01:00

Fortunately the England flags have been removed and dispatched to south Sudan (truly), where they may well right now be flying high on Misty's landcruiser... or traded with a Dinka for something exciting (like a dinka beating stick or spear).I leave the country this weekend for another Senegal minibreak... and to avoid the World Cup madness. However I understand from Spearsy that he is flying

Patriotism

2010-05-30T12:24:00.003+01:00

Imagine our delight to discover that the clematis in our garden survived being ignored for a year and having building waste dumped on it... and is now flowering. Actually this isn't the exciting bit... the exciting bit was that we found a plant name label near its roots and it turns out it is called "Princess Diana". It's almost just too much to think that we have a part of the Princess in our

Mini mini break... to the beach

2010-05-25T20:00:00.002+01:00

Am in Dakar this week for a meeting.The hotel claim there is no internet in the rooms. This is true... but I have discovered that there is internet on the balcony. Perhaps its not such a bad think to have to be chained to my laptop every evening this week? The sea breeze is nice... I just need a G&T.Hazy Dakar morningThe alternative balcony view. More wasteland than beach.View from the bath...

Gardening

2010-05-24T12:57:00.002+01:00

It may not win garden of the year, but after sweeping, pressure washing, chucking out of rubbish, removing the random wooden rail that seemed to make a feature of an old electrical cable etc... it looks much better... and is less of a health hazard too after I unblocked the drains. Nice.Evening watering at the allotment...

2010-05-23T19:44:00.003+01:00

Time off from DIY = a chocolate making workshop. A lovely wedding gift!We ate a lot of chocolate... and made a range of exciting creations... some more "Hotel Chocolat-esq" than others!Our new... most fabulous origami style kitchen light... its amazing! (and not from Ikea) ... and no we didn't make it either (alas)...The lovely light!Santiago the tap... for Sadie's benefit x

No more nasty fireplaces out the front

2010-05-19T07:49:00.002+01:00

The front of the house has been transformed... after at least 7 months of bringing down the tone of the road our old fireplaces have been removed from their rotting position by the front door! Hooorah! The front of the house now looks slightly less like a building site. Alas the annoying builders managed to knock a large piece out of the stone window sill... they say they will make it good... but

worktops in

2010-05-13T08:25:00.002+01:00

Kitchen looks sort of almost finished... haha... the sink needs plumbing, work surfaces need sanding and oiling, wall cupboards need fitting, tiles need choosing and tiling, edges of flooring need to be done... windows need varnishing... lights under wall units need buying and installing... and everything needs cleaning...but it is quite exciting as it actually looks like a kitchen now!oh how

OOG is working!

2010-05-12T08:09:00.002+01:00

Goodbye electric hobs and cardboard boxes...Hello Oven of Glory... at last I can now attend to wifely tasks such as cooking meals for my husband...whilst he gets on with the DIY. We are very traditional with respect to gender roles as you can see.

A leeetle bit more progress

2010-05-10T19:42:00.002+01:00

Ant and Mist drink tea, eat chocolate and pear muffins (baked by Judi), and ponder about cupboard fitting. Our plasterer came and sorted out the problem wall. This however also involved putting a nail through a water pipe... which was less than pleasing... think we saved the new floor from any drastic damage. Oven of glory (OOG?) is now in position, but still not fitted... curses for

Electrics, floor and kitchen construction

2010-05-04T21:25:00.002+01:00

Saturday: Ant - master electrician hard at work. Result - we now have 6 shiny spotlights at one end of the kitchen. Note: As per previous observations he is always safety first with mask and goggles (electricity was of course switched off).Monday: Rangemaster of glory waits patiently for the time to come for installation... and more importantly use... oh how it teases us sitting there in the

Lots of painting

2010-04-30T15:39:00.003+01:00

The walls are now "chalk stone", the ceiling is "brilliant white" and the skirting and doors are still a mess...More painting progressMel arrives and is enslaved up a ladder painting the vaulted ceilingWe now have a kitchen... in boxes

Back home

2010-04-27T16:15:00.002+01:00

Am now back home from the leones... but a couple of funny photos... Monkey and Dog curl up together at the Country Side Hotel in Bo, Sierra Leone. I'm not really into animals but this monkey with a very long tail does look quite cute snuggled up with a surprisingly un-mangy dog!A rather old (DFID funded) sign. I just love the "Condom Tours Safe Journey" bus... The newish chopper that takes us to

Bo, Sierra Leone

2010-04-19T10:51:00.003+01:00