2012: Week 16

The Cutty Sark sails again!, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The Cutty Sark sails again!

For this week's picture, I'm featuring the born-again Cutty Sark clipper ship in Greenwich, which had a preview for locals on Saturday. After a very long and expensive restoration project-- not to mention one devastating fire-- it was fantastic to see it in all its glory again.

The Cutty Sark reborn was definitely my highlight for week 16.

Rain, rain, go away.

Thing 1, rain and The Shard. #nofilter, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We have started referring to the British drought as "The British Drought" (making the motions of quotation marks while we say it) this week because it's been raining. A lot.

This is a snap from today of Thing 1, a train, rain and The Shard. #nofilter

2012: Week 15

2012: Week 15, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

My first wisteria! After 6 years and 2 different plants, I am VERY proud.

In Greenwich, where we live, you can't move for all the beautiful wisteria that's around. There's the Wisteria House on Gloucester Circus, there's the Wisteria House on Hyde Vale, there's the wisteria awning you can walk under on Crooms Hill. For years we've wanted our own wisteria too.

This week we were finally rewarded. It's a very small start, but I couldn't be more happy about it.

2012: Week 14

A sunset in Norfolk, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We spent Easter weekend on the coast of Norfolk. Even though it wasn't beach weather, we still enjoyed being able to walk to the beach from our rental. This was a snap I captured on Saturday night.

My grandfather loved taking pictures of sunsets on the Flordia beach after he retired. Until now, I never really understood the appeal of a sunset snap, but now I think I do.

2012: Week 13

Trafalgar Square, on a beautiful spring day., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Trafalgar Square, on a beautiful spring day. With added attraction of new Fourth Plinth!

It's been a fantastic week for spring weather. I found myself basking in the sun in Trafalgar Square two days in a row, which was brilliant because (a) it was warm enough in March to do so; and (b) I don't often have the time to do it. But I did, and I'm glad. Happy Spring, everyone.

One for the Grandmas: Daffodils 2012

It's that time of year again: Time for our annual picture in front of the Queen's House and the daffodils. I wonder if they'll come back from university to get the picture taken....

2012: Week 12

The Great London Easter Egg Hunt seems to be missing an egg. Maybe they've hidden it in a harder to find location than Trafalgar Square., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

The Great London Easter Egg Hunt seems to be missing an egg. Maybe they've hidden it in a harder to find location than Trafalgar Square.

It turns out-- no big surprise here-- that it was stolen. Maybe it will make a surprise appearance when they bring all the eggs together in Covent Garden in April

2012: Week 11

Heroically defending his patch of blazer., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Heroically defending his patch of blazer.

My husband and I had lunch at the PItt Cue Co. in Soho, and these are the chits they use for your tab. We got a soldier, but we could have also ended up with a cow, a sheep or another farm animal.

We liked our valiant solder, though. We also loved our southern BBQ in the heart of Soho.

2012: Week 10

10:2012, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

This isn't the most exciting picture in the world, but it's a good reflection of my Week 10 in 2012, which was consumed by paperwork-- reading it, writing it, analysing it. I'm thrilled that I can now file this massive pile away. On to 11:2012!

2012: Week 9

9:2012, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Happy 44th Birthday to my husband, who was only two days away from being a Leap Year Baby when he was born on 27th February 1968.

Hard to believe the iPhone could do birthday candles in a dark room. The focus leaves a little to be desired, but it's not bad.

The cake is Orange Cassata cake, or, as we call it, "Sophia Loren Cake." It's a firm favourite in our house and utterly delicious.

HOORAY! This photo got picked by The Guardian in its weekly roundup of photos for the week. You can see the others that they picked by clicking through this hyperlink sentence (now that is a sentence with SKILLZ.)

Oscar Night 2012!

Oscar Night 2012!, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

I'll be here for as long as I can stay awake. I deeply regret not appreciating being on the same continent all the years we lived in the U.S.

Getting ready for the Olympics

At the London Prepares diving competition, which is testing out the Aquatics Centre for the Summer Olympics., a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

At the London Prepares diving test competition, at the Aquatic Centre. It seems as though there's still a lot of work to do in the Olympic Park before July, but it's definitely getting there.

2012: Week 8

8:2012, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

Having fun with the new fish eye lens for my iPhone produced this picture. It helped that it was an absolutely beautiful day in Greenwich Park.

2012: Week 7

I see you. I see me. #ilovelondon, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.

We did a huge amount of fun things during half term, all of which produced some interesting pictures. Funnily enough, this picture, taken on the DLR during a gorgeous sunset, turned out to be my favourite.

HOORAY! This photo got picked by The Guardian in its weekly roundup of photos for the week. You can see the others that they picked by clicking through this hyperlink sentence (now that is a sentence with SKILLZ.)

Royal Borough of Greenwich

Greenwich became a Royal Borough over the weekend. I don't know quite how this is going to benefit us. I have been checking the post faithfully every day to see when my crown is going to arrive, but I've yet to see one arrive. However, Greenwich now has some spiffy new street signs that say "Royal Borough of Greenwich", as well as some nice banners on the street between the station and central Greenwich.

They had parades and fireworks throughout the borough during the weekend to celebrate. West Greenwich was last to celebrate, on Sunday. We got to ring in the new status amid the snow, which was pretty, but also pretty cold.

Thing Two got to march in the parade with his Royal Lantern. Here's a nice snap:

After the parade, there were some Royal Fireworks. I thought this picture was of a W (just like the climax in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" but my friend pointed out that it was probably a crown. I think he was right.

2012: Week 6 SNOW!

This isn't the picture I uploaded to the 52weeks group on Flickr-- I went with the Royal Borough of Greenwich fireworks snap-- but I had a hard time deciding. The weekend was notable for the SNOW on Sunday, which was gone by Monday afternoon. We had a terrific time sledging in the park, and I'm thrilled to report that Thing Two's tolerance for sledding has now extended to 2 hours, up from 45 minutes last year.

We're hoping for some more snow though before the end of the winter.

2012: Week 5 (Revisited)

I know I posted the other Spot picture for Week 5, but upon further reflection, I decided I wanted this one to be Week 5 because it was just so unique/mad/only in London picture.


This was one of several gum art installations between the East India DLR station and the gallery at Trinity Buoy Wharf showing the "Gum Art" by artist Ben Wilson. It was about the size of a 50p coin. This is one instance where the iPhone camera really works well because I could get it about three inches away from the gum to get the shot, rather than having to use a macro lens.

2012: Week 5

This weekend, while we were kicking around Mayfair (as you do, obviously), we went to the Gagosian Gallery in Mayfair to see the Damian Hirst show. It is one of 11 being held worldwide. In fact, if you can get your act together, visit all 11 shows (verified, obviously), you'll get your very own signed Damian Hirst. Since we possess neither the millions nor the frequent flier miles necessary to succeed at this, we'll just satisfy ourselves by maybe going to the two shows here.

(If you do want your own Damian Hirst, better get your skates on. The shows all end on 18 February.)

2012: Week 4

Thing Two made this dragon to celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon at Art Club. He says, "It is 99.98 percent green."

2012: Week 3

The tasteful decorations we employ annually for our Yankee Swap Party, acquired at the Yankee Swap 2008 party. (We also use them for World Cup parties, every four years).

2012: Week 2

This is the crown and the charm Thing 2 found in this year's King Cake. The King Cake-- as we call it-- is a French traditional cake eaten to celebrate Epiphany. There's all sorts of fun traditions associated with the cake, including making the youngest person sit under the table and decide who gets what piece. You'd better believe we're going to make Thing 2 sit under the table forevermore and do that job. The person who finds the charm is crowned King (or Queen) of the day and gets to keep the charm. We also decided that person would get a year of good luck. Who wouldn't want that?

This year, it took us two days to get through the cake, which is puff pastry with a frangipane filling. Yum.   This is the first time since 2002 we've done it, when our friend brought us a King Cake direct from Paris) We were delighted, too, but the special dated charm that Paul included in the cake. You'd better believe we're going back in 2013 to get the next charm in the series.

The picture is this week's offering for the Guardian's Flickr 52 weeks project using Instagram.

Happy 2012! 2012: Week 1

This was the first picture I put into the Guardian's Flickr group, 2012: 52 weeks. I'm going to try to put up all the photos I'm contributing. If nothing else, it'll help me keep this blog going in a pretty easy way. 

If you want to see the whole Flickr group, go here. 

(I took this photo with Instagram, my favourite photo app.)

Happy 2012!

Advent Windows 2011

Honestly, if this Santa makes it through these next few windy December days, it will be a Christmas miracle.

This is the December 10th window of the St. Alfege's Advent Window project. For more information about it, go to www.adventwindows.com.

Here's an action shot. The light is actually a bus, rather than the wind being captured on film.

A London Sunset

Looking for a good-looking diversion when you're supposed to be working? Look no more. Check out this beautiful time-lapse video of London at sunset yesterday, November 27, 2011.

Halloween 2011

They can't help but smile because they love Halloween, but they're not in character.

See below for the "in character" photos.

This year marked our 12th Halloween in the U.K. We celebrated in high style: we scored the biggest pumpkin from The Creaky Shed, we had nearly 50 people for Halloween hijinks on Sunday afternoon, and we finished it all off with trick or treating on Monday night.

The costumes the boys created this year were more nuanced than previous years, but believe me, a LOT of thought and discussion went into the assembling of them both. For example, it would appear that Thing Two is wearing only a suit. However, upon closer inspection, his "Hello My Name Is" tag says, "Lex Luther." He spent weeks thinking about the details-- he wanted to wear cufflinks and a tie clip, just like Lex Luther. He had Daily Plant front pages in his pockets which he had marked with an X and had crumpled up in Lex Luther anger. We got him a bald cap, so he could look most like Lex Luther, but after trying it once, he didn't want to wear it. He found it too uncomfortable. (Where is his devotion to his art, I ask?) When I asked him when he wanted to change his large green Green Lantern ring into a Krptonite ring, he said, "Mom, I don't want to provide TOO much detail."

Thing One was a Hard Man, complete with a backward baseball cap, tattooed arm and an axe in his head. Perfect. He too, wasn't too keen on additional accessories, such as scars or makeup. Maybe he wanted to streamline his Halloween operation, knowing that he'd have to rush off to trick or treating following rugby practice and then dinner. The tattooed arm-- or "sleeve" to use the proper tattoo terminology-- was an awesome purchase from Hong Kong earlier this month. It looked pretty realistic, if you didn't look to closely at it.

He's not smiling because he was in character.

So that's another Halloween done and dusted. At this point, we're starting to wonder how many more years Thing One will be up for participating. At least I know I've got three solid years with Thing Two before I need to worry about it. We had a blast on Friday night-- on our way to the Science Museum Halloween Party-- looking at all the pictures from previous yeras. If you want to see the collection yourself, click through to here.

Happy Halloween!

Happy 12th Birthday, Thing One!

Hey! Surfer dude! How cool are you?

Thing One is now 12. One year away from being a teenager. Sigh. I was just saying the other day, how slowly the time seemed to go when the boys were little, and how quickly the time goes by now that they're older. There must be some law of physics that covers this.

It's been a big year for Thing One. As the credits rolled in the last Harry Potter film in July, he turned to me and he said, "Well, that's the end of an era." I could have said the same to him, as it was the same time he was leaving his primary school and heading into the great unknown of secondary school. He's now happily settled in his new school-- playing rugby (see below), learning new subjects (like Latin) and making new friends (of the girl persuasion).

The more things change:

1. Girls!

2. He's learning how to play rugby.

3. He has a mobile phone, and he's not afraid to use it.

4. He has to wear a tie to school every day, which literally ages him about 10 years. I still can't get used to the sight of it.

The more they stay the same:

1. Science and math are still his favourite subjects.

2. He's still a fantastic big brother.

3. He still loves to read, though the books are getting quite a bit darker. (I think Stephen King might be just around the corner.)

4. He's still incredibly thoughtful. The other day, we passed a homeless man on the street. A little bit along, Thing One had stopped and was rooting around in his pockets. I was impatient to get home and nearly (though luckily didn't) asked him why in the world was he holding us up. He finally found what he was looking for-- it was all of his spare change to give to the homeless man. I was speechless. Children do have the capacity to amaze adults, and this was one of those times.

Happy Birthday to Thing One!

Next Up: (Cue ominous music): The teenage years!

Thing One's First Rugby Match

No injuries to report, thankfully.

A Picture Tells a 1,000 words, doesn't it?

Some pictures of our time in the US this summer, where we narrowly missed a tropical storm, experienced the hottest weather ever (thought we would melt), experienced an earthquake and left just before Hurricane Irene. It was eventful.

So if a picture is worth 1,000 words, this post is now worth 5,000 words, according to my calculations.

Hogwarts at Universal. Absolutely amazing, though we never did get to try the Butterbeer. (The line was always too long.)

Meeting the Simpsons at Universal Orlando. Awesome.

Is it the happiest place on earth? Don't know. I can tell you that in August, it is definitely the HOTTEST place on earth.

All the fun nearly killed him. Thing Two is asleep on his grandmother's floor.

Go Phillies! We're still sad you didn't make the World Series.

We had a great time, though I think we're still recovering.

Stockholm Sunset

Chesil Beach 2011

My favourite picture from our holiday in Dorset. Taken on Chesil Beach.

I love this picture and can hardly believe that I took it myself.