I'm SO Happy

I just heard that I am getting a working shower on Friday. Woohoo! We've been taking baths for 2 months. The plumber said the whole shower needed replaced and we'd have to talk to the building manager, but he didn't think she'd want to spend the money to replace it. But she did!! Hooray!

Baa Baa Black Sheep

One night last week, Mama & Iain were playing with the soft lamb that Beverly Lutzmann gave him. Every time Mama would say 'Baa!', Iain would crack up laughing! And the more she did it, the more he laughed! You can watch the video here.

Thanksgiving in the UK

I made these pumpkin pies last night from a real pumpkin! I'm so thrilled that they seem to have turned out well. I was really nervous about it, but it wasn't that much harder than using the canned stuff. I never would have tried this if we were at home, but here they don't have canned pumpkin. And I promised an American Thanksgiving to our friends-- so I gotta serve pumpkin pie! Today's adventure: I'm going on a turkey hunt. Hopefully I can track one down!

The Stranger--Welles, not Camus

Brian here again: One of the many perks of being in a university setting is that we get to borrow movies from the library for free! The downside of this is that the library's selection isn't exactly overwhelming. We've borrowed a dud or two so far, but tonight we watched The Stranger, starring and directed by Orson Welles. It was great! Gripping plot development, excellent acting, and near-perfect camera work. It's one of those black-and-white movies that should never be colourised (note the British spelling) as the whole thing is shot to use the black-and-white to maximize the mood.

All the movies in the library have a sticker on them that says, 'University of Sussex Library. For Educational Use Only.' Yeah, right. It brings a whole new meaning to the question, 'Hey Jordan, do you want to study with me tonight?' As one of my hallmates back in my undergraduate days said, 'We're college-educated men!' Of course, he was 'studying' a globe that opened into a mini-bar.

Photoshop Fun

I thought I'd try my hand at making a signature like the girls at Just Graphics do. I was pretty pleased with this, but it took a lot of playing around. One of these days I'm really going to learn Photoshop. Anyway, just wanted to share!

Autumn has finally arrived!

Brian here again: We've been told over and over since we've been here that the area has experienced an unusually long summer. Over the past few weeks, however, autumn has arrived. It started slowly, with just the occasional tree changing its colour (note the British spelling). But it's really kicked into gear over the past few days, so we thought we'd take a pleasant walk and enjoy it. Luckily for you, we took the camera with us:



Iain gets to go hiking, but Papa does all the work! Note the cows in the picture below. The land that surrounds the campus is called the South Downs, and it is all protected in an effort to keep it beautiful--no one is allowed to build on it.



We thought the picture above and the one below would make great PC wallpaper. If you want to use it, left click on the picture to bring up the full-size version. Then right click on it and choose 'set as wallpaper' or 'set as desktop background', depending on what web browser you're using.


Iain was pretty interested in the cows, actually. Papa was paying more attention to where he stepped.This is the playground very near our flat in Park Village. Iain loves to swing there, and he'll enjoy the other stuff as he gets older.

We shot two videos while we were out walking today: one is of the University of Sussex campus, and the other is of Iain as we stood near the cows. Also, I found another video of the campus on YouTube that some other student filmed.

So now you know a little bit more of what the campus looks like. We'll post some pictures of our flat once we get the last few mechanical/logistical issues sorted out.

London Ramble

Last Saturday we took the train up to London. We didn't realize it, but a lot of the city was closed because of Rembrance Day, which is like Memorial Day back home. We still had a nice time though. This is St. James Park, where we stopped first. It is a lovely park near Buckingham Palace with lots of waterfowl in the pond.



This is the view of Big Ben from St. James Park.

I snapped some shots of Brian under a tree that I thought was particularly nice.

Iain and me with St. James in the background.

After wandering through St. James we encountered a bagpiper parade. Brian posted the link to a video of this on the last post. Then we walked towards Parliment and Westminister (both closed due to Rembrance Day) and toured a 13th century tower. Then we crossed the Thames and walked along the South Bank people watching the Londoners and tourists.
Along the South Bank were some interesting street performers. Several of them dressed up as statutes and would move when you deposited money in their cup! There was also a man "playing" glasses of water, some wrestlers, a juggler, and an escape artist.

This is the last building that Charles I ever set foot in. He walked out of the window, onto a scaffold, and was relieved of his head!


This is St. Paul's Cathedral, which closed early for Rembrance Day, so we missed going inside.



We were walking past an office building and I thought the reflection looked interesting, so I took our picture. I guess I'm getting a bit avant-garde. :)












The picture pretty much says it all. But I'd like to say that the photo was taken at 4:55! Look how dark it is!














The last pictures are all of Oxford Circus. All the Christmas lights looked so pretty.