Brighton UK

It’s not Fall in the UK, it’s Autumn. And Autumn has been asserting its arrival in the UK long before yesterday’s equinox. Now there’s no pretending that it’s still summer. Even in the occasional sunny air there’s a new crispness. The light in the morning is different, brighter, and at the end of the day it recedes …

23 September 2010 George’s Marvellous Medicine

Sep 23, 2010

Yes with two LLs apparently. That’s how they spell it here. I learned that the hard way when I had trouble finding a copy of Roald Dahl’s story in the online library catalog. (We never did manage to get a hard copy of the book. Instead I downloaded a free pdf version, converted it to an epub, and we read it on my …

22 September 2010 The White Board, One Week Later

Sep 22, 2010

21 September 2010 September Summer

Sep 21, 2010

Gorgeous weather today–at last!–so I took Sam to the seafront after her gymnastics class. The red brick building in the background is our building.

20 September 2010 Trolley Full of Books

Sep 20, 2010

We returned nearly 15 books to the Jubilee Library today (all Sam’s books) after swim class. I suspect the load felt light because she had just learned that she’s passed swim levels Ducklings 3 and 4 and will now be transferred into Ducklings 5, aka “Super Swimmers.” I wish I could say that the trolley was lighter on …

19 September 2010 Coat of Arms

Sep 19, 2010

Tidying up the flat this afternoon I came across this coat of arms that Sam designed at one of the English Heritage sites we visited this summer (I think it was at Old Sarum). I love the sassy hip of her self-portrait, wielding sword and shield.

18 September 2010 HMS Victory

Sep 18, 2010

At the dockyard at Portsmouth. The flagship of the British fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), the Victory is also where Horatio Nelson met his end in the shape of a single bullet that pierced his lung and lodged in his spine. We spent a good hour touring the ship. It is an impressive restoration and provides a …

17 September 2010 Sam’s Room

Sep 17, 2010

Sam and Cerys were playing a little too quietly in Sam’s room this afternoon, so I had a peek. This is what I saw. I learned later that the construction on the bed (cardboard box, fire blanket, teddy bear) was a cannon. Of course.

16 September 2010 Not Back to School at Hove Home Ed

Sep 16, 2010

Sam and Cerys play with a new friend, Sofia, at Hove Home Ed, which started back up today after the summer holiday.