Harrogate Life
Topic: This and That
(This photo of Ryan is from a birthday party we went to last month. That's my arm and foot on the left. Photo courtesy of Sarah Moore.)
Sunday morning I took Ryan in his stroller and walked to the shopping center. (There was something in particular I was looking for at the time.) It was around 9:45am. As I walked around, I realized almost all of the shops didn't open until 10:30am. That seems like an odd time, to me. Starbucks didn't even open until 10am. I walked around a bit, waiting for Starbucks to open. The shopping area was a complete ghost town. It amazes me how during a particular time and day, a place can be absolutely alive with people and energy, then at others, completely and almost eerily quiet. At about five 'til ten, something strange happened. It was as if some unseen director yelled, "Action!" and in ones and twos, background players entered the stage and started to cross and mill.
I went ahead and got myself and Ryan something from Starbucks (he loves kids' cocoas). I decided not to hang around another half hour waiting for the stores to open. For one thing, it was really cold and windy out. For another, I was waiting for a phone call from Larry letting me know when and how he was getting home. (Snafus with his flights caused this to be an issue, but all's well that end's well.)
Yesterday's weather was weird. We had a lot of sun and wind, but also about ten minutes of rock salt sized hail, and later just a few snow flurries.
Today it's been sunny, but also windy and cold. I wanted to check out a cheese shop. Remember that asiago I was looking for at asda? Well, this specialty cheese shop didn't have it, either. I honestly didn't think asiago cheese would be that hard to find. The girl at the shop sold me some Jarlsberg instead. Hope it works ok in the recipe. I'll let y'all know later!
On my way out the door this morning, I met our new next door neighbor's father. Friendly fellow. Chatty. When he first started talking to me, his accent was so broad, I couldn't understand a word. He made a joke about funny accents that seemed to be aimed at both himself and me, then winked. I asked him where he was from and he replied, "Yorkshire." I told him he didn't sound like other people I'd heard in this area. Suddenly his accent was ratcheted down several notches and I could understand him just fine. I learned in the couple of minutes we chatted that:
- his name is Jeff, his son's name is Mark
- his son is 19 and runs the rifle range out at the army foundation college (British), and loves Americans
- his daughter now resides in LA working as a DJ in a club, going by the name, "Salamander," and she also works for Miramax, doing computer graphics and special effects
- Jeff is wealthy but his wife divorced him six years ago and took off with half
- he just sold his company to a company in Chicago (didn't name his company, can't remember the name of the one in Chicago)
- Jeff bought the house for Mark and is fixing it up for him. Mark moves in May 1.
What I enjoyed about this exchange is that Jeff didn't ask a thing about me except for my name and my son's (that was after introducing himself). For a split second after he took his leave, I thought, "Hey! You didn't ask me anything!" However, then I had to laugh because I think it says something about people who only want to talk about themselves, no matter how nice they are. Also, it's so much easier not being asked questions, than to try to always weigh your answers in the light of opsec.
JoAnna, to answer your question (see comments on the "I'm No April Fool" entry), the picture was taken in my kitchen. There are two main windows that face west-ish. That one was the window on the right. The windows are at about low chest level and are right in front of you if you are facing the sink. Hope that answered your question!
Update on the Spectacularly Dead Pigeon: today I noticed what looks like one of those little bands that some birds have around their legs. I am going to bring this to Larry's attention and see what he thinks. I'm wondering if someone out there would appreciate knowing what happened to this particular bird. (Of course, I don't know where it went after the cat so kindly cleaned most of it up.) I'm not even sure how to find out who to contact. I'm not keen on picking the little band up. I would definitely use gloves or something!
Quick Ryan report: Ryan seems to get the concept of putting things back where they belong. Kind of.