Ye Olde England-Part One

Yup…we went to the Motherland to visit family and friends.  We also decided to tackle some of the tourist spots at breakneck speed.  We chose quantity over quality, since the Things don’t have the attention span for a 2 hour audio tour at this age…so we raced from one site to another.  Remember the Griswalds at the edge of the Grand Canyon?   That was us, stumbling into Stonehenge 10 minutes before closing. I’m not kidding.

After spending the first weekend with family at their home in the countryside, we struck out for Warwick on a day trip.

The castle there is spectacular…one of the best preserved in the country.  We love this place, and they cater to school groups and kids very well. Castle’s site is here.

After climbing lots and lots of these……

….we got to see this.  It made all the moaning from the Things worth it.

 

 

Yes…that is SUN you see.  REALLY.  Spring was busting out all over…NOT what we’re used to on visits this time of year.

Inside there was lots of wax action….

…and weaponry.

After we finished touring the castle interior…we came out just in time to catch the falconry show…how lucky!  I was quite excited, and the Things seemed pretty pumped too.

Meet the six month old baby owl named Ernie…cute eh?  Especially when he was being hand fed mice…yum.  I’ll spare you that shot.

Then, the fab Eagle.

Love it.  Anyway..it was time to scoot…we were due back at the homestead in time for “tea.”

 

Time for me to scoot too…all that laundry isn’t folding itself and there is no food in this house.

More adventures later….

Hi.

It’s a crazy world.  We left the country right when disaster after disaster struck in Japan.  One of many ways to help is here.

The exact same thing happened when Katrina hit.  We were watching the horrifying images unfold upon our arrival on foreign TV.  Kinda makes us think we shouldn’t go anywhere!

Thing One is starting to worry about the Mayan apocolypse predictions coming true, so it might be time to turn off NPR during breakfast- for awhile anyway.

After I get my sleep patterns sorted and laundry washed, I’ll have some fun photos of the trip to share, along with some finalized treehouse plans.  Yup, it will be the Spring for the Things.  They’ve patiently waited, so the circle patio and bathroom will be deferred to put all our efforts into their castle.

I’ll leave you with a random shot from our trip…titled GINORMOUS STAG HEAD.

 

To Do: Patio

Here’s what I think I want to do with the CC’s new cement mixer.  The area known in the past as the ugly poor man’s patio, will be an oasis of concrete circles, like Jenn Ski did here.

photos via Jenn Ski

Wexler House via Housepet via PSMod

Housepet’s patio, image by Housepet

I think a circular firepit should be worked into the plan as well, no?

 

What do we think Billy?

 

 

Will it Go Round in Circles?

Flea Market Friday + Estate Sale

So I didn’t take the camera with me to the Flea because:

1) It was freezing, which requires gloves off for shooting pics.

2) I’m supposed to be on a break.

3) I’m lazy.

I bought some fun things for the booth, and for the house, and some things that will begin their limbo test drive phase.  You know, you bring it home and start to reconsider selling it, so you leave it in the house for a few weeks as a trial run.  If it makes you smile when you walk past it..it stays.  Well, until something better comes along…

Love these, but don’t need these…

I think after I pop the paint by number out and redo the frame..I will not want to let it go…another for the limbo set…

Keeping this box as a super stylish pencil holder for my desk….

The lacquer set was still wrapped in plastic and never even used….methinks this will add a little pan-asian panache to Dim Sunday.

 

All the Asian stuff came from this crazy estate sale.  Packed to the ceiling with goodies from Japan and Germany, where they lived for 30 years.  I’ve never seen so much lacquer and spingerle molds in one place- such a contrast of cultures.  I could have nosed around there all day.

 

Switcheroo – Tulip Edition

What do you do when there’s a lot on your mind?  Rearrange of course.  Free therapy for your home and mind!

Swapped out the lucite and zebrawood for the tulip table and removed the rug.  I’m liking the size and scale of this table MUCH better….BUT…that’s 2 – 4 tulip bases in one room. Boo.  Current thoughts are that I’ll leave it until I can scavenge something else similar in size?  Talk to me.