School chaos

Well, it's September, which means we are full on into the new school year. That's about as chaotic as you might imagine (with the getting up early and having homework to do again), but that's not the chaos I'm really experiencing right now.

Here's the "problem": the school that the girls currently attend is a pre-prep school, which means (for those of you watching from the States) it only runs from Reception through Year 2. Devil has just started Year 2. And since it now seems kind of likely that we may be here a bit longer then originally anticipated, it's come to my attention that perhaps I'd better start thinking about where she might go for school next year.

In my experience, the British are a bit tightly wound when it comes to where they send their children to school. And by a bit tightly wound, I point you to a timeless quote from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" referencing coal and diamonds as an accurate description. This may be more prevalent amongst parents whose children attend private schools, but as early as last fall, I was hearing discussion about what schools people were considering for Year 3.

Now, as the product of the American public school system, I am completely out of the loop when it comes to "appropriate" schools for the girls. Most of the names of the super high powered ones I hear tossed around are boys-only, which makes me both relieved and irritated at the same time. Relived in that we don't need to even both considering them and irritated that there don't seem to be any comparable schools for girls that get talked up. Anyway...

We have only a few requirements for the next school: coed, accessible by public transportation (or school bus service), not an academic pressure cooker. Devil is a bright kid, but she's also a bit of an orchid in that she hates hates hates being wrong. She does not need to be in a situation where she is going to struggle or be at the bottom of her class. She also doesn't need to be put in a situation where she has to undergo a serious, intense testing process to get in to a school - my prediciton is that she would completely lose her shit in that sort of a scenario, and that wouldn't be good at all. So we're looking for a school that is good academically but not at the expense of everything else.

I've been to visit two so far: one that was ok, and one that I really liked alot. But it is a bit like stepping into Hogwarts - there are school houses, and house points and prefects! I was used to the uniform idea already, but the idea of prefects has taken the culture shock to a whole new level. I had to keep myself from giggling out loud everytime I glimpsed my (lovely, polite, personable, 12-year old boy!) tour guide's prefect badge yesterday. The giggle factor was further enhanced by his being American...

Two or three more school visits in the next few weeks, then the preregistering and assessments and other stuff can begin. That plus the amount of work that Year 2 is getting piled on them is going to make for a crazy autumn term! But hopefully we'll come out on the other side with a kid ready to go off to Year 3 in a place she loves. Ideally with a mother who has not gone completely around the bend as well. But that might be too much to ask!

An end

Today was the official Last Day of Summer in our household, at least as far as the girls and I are concerned. Devil starts school tomorrow, Boo starts on Thursday, and I go back to work next week.

We had a lovely trip back to the States, despite the intrusion of hurricanes and the like. The whole time we were driving from Vermont to Maine, I was thinking "We're heading towards the coast when there's a hurricane heading north?" But it turned out to be quite a good idea - we got some wind and some rain in southeastern Maine, but southern Vermont got absolutely hammered. I can't say I'm sorry that we missed out on that, although the pictures I've seen of the area are unbelievable.

But after two plus weeks of New England humidity, we arrived back in Great Britain to discover that in that short period of time, autumn has made it's initial appearance. The back garden was covered with dead, brown leaves from the chestnut tree, and there's a definite nip in the air. And there are conkers.

Today is also the last day of my third decade - my 39th birthday is tomorrow, and my fourtieth year is starting. Turning 30 was something of a landmark for me, but 40 is coming on full speed ahead and it doesn't seem like such a big deal, at least not numerically speaking. I have big plans for my fortieth year: I'm hopefully going to run my second marathon, maybe head over to Europe for some cycling with my other half next summer. I'm also taking a flyer on an obsession a hobby and starting my own business, which I plan to have up and running in the next month or so. There's a lot ahead, and I'm looking forward to it.

Even if this summer is over...

Come on Irene

We fled London, complete with an arrival at Heathrow only to find firetrucks lined up and everyone standing outside, and have spent the last week enjoying a lovely, sunny week in Vermont. Then, on Friday, we packed up and headed to the Maine coast, just in time for a hurricane. Oh joy!

So far today it's been windy and grey, with some rain coming down, but nothing too exciting yet. Himself and I went down to the water to see what was going on. It was high tide, and the pier for the dock was almost under water. The harbor was quiet, with lots of boats moored to hunker down for the storm, and the wind was rippling the surface of the sea into incredible interference patterns and ruffles.

 

I hope everyone else on the East Coast is staying warm and dry and safe. I'm going to hunker down and watch movies with the girls. See you on the other side!

Shades of things to come

The fun bit:

 

The not-so-fun bit:

I guess the Olympics really are coming, hunh? Yikes...

In other news, we have survived eight days of just us Girls while Himself was in China on a business trip, and are now gearing up for a nice long stint on our original side of the pond. By the time we get back, it will be time for school again - hard to believe how quickly the summer has gone by. But it always does!

Thank you New York

Ouch, there's something in my eye making me cry.

Just amazing.

Tour de France Stage 19: an overview

Last week, Himself went off to the French Alpes to do a little riding/Tour de France groupie-ing with a friend from Texas. What follows is a transcript of our text message interchange on Friday afternoon while I watched the stage on TV and he watched it from the hillside of Alpe d'Huez:

Himself: Rode up alpe d'huez. Way more fun than last time! Today it is already a 9 mile party. Incredible to be here!
Porpoise: I'm jealous!
H: It's ok, I got you a present.
P: Andy Schlek?
H: Guido*, he was going backwards anyway. Might as well bring him home.
P: Frank? Ivan? Please, anyone but Guido!
H: Cav?
P: Ummmm...too high maintenance. How about Thor?
H: He's busy. How about Levi? He's not doing anything (oh snap!)
P: LOL. Maybe that new young rider? Or maybe Tyler? Cadel? we could bbq for him...
H: If Cadel doesn't get himself bbq'd today. Imagine Andy will be turning up the heat.

You get the idea. He sat on the side of the Alpe in the midst of a pile of people who had been drinking all day, watching the best cyclists in the world speed their way up a truly legendary climb. Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon in July!

* Guido = Alberto Contador, so nicknamed because of a series of Sidi cycling shoe ads on TV here in the UK showing him wearing a white tuxedo, barefoot, carrying a pair of cycling shoes. Ewwwww!

Happy 4th of July!

Sadly, the Brits do not view today as a good excuse to stay home from work/school and each carbonized meat with lots of beer and watermelon. So we had to do it yesterday. We headed off to the home of some fellow expat-Americans (or rather, one expat-American, one expat-Ukranian and their two lovely children). I was charged with bringing graham crackers, for that special American summer sugar infusion, S'mores.

No problem! I thought. However, the British are unaware (or perhaps just resistant to) Nabisco's total graham cracker monopoly. And the digestive biscuit, while extremely tasty (and occasionally already chocolate coated!), was not going to fly. So I channeled my inner Martha and made graham crackers.

Molasses substitute

Very sticky dough

They weren't like the store-bought kind, that's for sure, but they were very, very, very good. And judging by the amount of gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate that was flying around yesterday, no one noticed the difference.

My inner Martha was feeling particularly rambunctious (and American food-deprived) this weekend, because I also made bagels.

Proto-bagels

Look Ma, no hands!

Duuuuuude...woah....

Way easier then I'd expected (although I'm not sure I ever really thought about how you made bagels before Saturday...), and pretty good. Next time I will make sure to have actual bread flour in the pantry instead of using a bread mix.

Yum! And also very good with cream cheese and orange marmalade.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Fourth, with lots of fireworks and lovely summer weather. Enjoy!