Jan. 6th, 2014. To the US and back

Happy New Year! Here is what happened since I left of in the middle of last December... There was a mad-dash of the final week at schools, where both schools were having the final parties, get-togethers and celebrations.

The high point was on Thursday the 18th at Georgia's school. Kids got busy peeling potatoes the moment they arrived.. then at 10am, parents came over to pick up the dirty intermediate product to replace it with the final roast potatoes at noon. I naively assumed that potatoes take 20 minutes to roast regardless of their size and quantity. And so for the remaining of time before noon both Dan and I resembled the residents of Hell's Kitchen: trying to alternately nuke and broil the damn stubborn bunch before wrapping the half burned and half raw final product into towels and driving to school. Miraculously no one was hurt, we were on time, and potatoes somehow finished cooking themselves by the time we got there.

In the 20th we took a flight home to US. We had an extensive social and business program planned to catch up with multiple friends, relatives, co-workers and associates all while celebrating Christmas, New Years, birthdays, and more.. We were able accomplish most of those things while dealing with fantastical quantity of mishaps: from both of our cars no-starting on day one, to 75% flu hit ratio, to our New Year's getaway retreat upstate becoming unavailable, to airline losing 1/4 of our luggage upon arrival back to the UK. The best thing is that we got to see everyone, including my sister who we have not seen in over a year.

It was endearing to go back to our temperamental boiler. At least there is something consistent in this world. Yesterday it sprouted a brown leak but I think it was happy to see us. Speaking of the leaks, there were storms and surges in England for some time we were out.

We arrived to find numerous portions of the roads around closed. Thames water levels are higher than we have ever seen. A portion of the mooring walk downstairs is flooded. The swans had given up trying to navigate the streaming muddy river in a dignified manner and now just whirl in all directions. Debris watching provides for hours quiet reflection.

Yesterday morning we unpacked and slept most of the day... And then went to our favorite gourmet burger place for dinner. They are the nicest people in town... They have taken upon themselves a personal challenge to find the food that Isabella would eat. So yesterday they had tried again with a banana milkshake. But to no avail. There are still items left on the menu so we will continue helping them with their quest :)

Having left the US when the thermometer was barely breaking the double digits in Fahrenheit, we are basking in the 53 degree sun here... Our calendar is empty through mid-Feb because no one wanted to risk toughing it out here in winter.. it is not so bad. Come visit!!

Need to retrieve the photos from the camera... Soon...