Catching Up, Weather Report, Cats Eyes
Topic: This and That
(This picture is of Ryan walking in JoAnna's shoes. He picked hers out all by himself!)
I realize I need to say a very public "thank you!" to Susan for taking care of the kitties while I was gone! Thank you so much, Susan! See you tomorrow!
Wow... I seriously canNOT believe it's almost the middle of August already.
So, to catch up on the rest of the time JoAnna was here: The day after we got back from our Grand Adventure, we went for a jog around the Stray. We let Ryan out to run around, which he always loves. After that, we got cleaned up and ran errands out at MHS.
JoAnna had wanted to try some authentic English food, so in the evening we went to The Nelson Inn. Some restaurants seat you, while in others you seat yourself. We weren't sure what to do, so after a few moments I asked the bartender. He told us to sit anywhere. We picked out a spot, and waited. And waited. And waited... while servers would look right at us and walk on by. It was getting ridiculous, so we left.
We wound up going to a Thai place that I'd always wanted to try, and we had a great experience! The service was exceptional and the food was very good. (I am ecstatic that I've finally found a good Rainbow replacement!) To top it off, the place was air conditioned! 
(It was still warm and muggy at that point.) What was really the icing on the cake, was that they were so nice to Ryan. They brought him books to play with and were fussing over him. (I think it helped that he liked the spicy chip-type appetizers they brought us, that kids normally don't like!)
Later on, we put Ryan to bed and spent a pleasant evening on our computers, drinking tea, and watching "Sex and the City."
The next day, (Sunday, July 29th) JoAnna watched Ryan while I had my hair done at a local salon. That was soooo nice. I hadn't had my hair trimmed in a year! When I got back, JoAnna had a facial at the same salon. That was a fun, girly thing to do. It felt good and relaxing for us to pamper ourselves a bit.
Later on we had dinner with Susan at a place called The Kestrel. After telling Susan what happened at The Nelson Inn, she told us that in a lot of places you're supposed to order at the bar, then they bring you your food. Oh. Oops. I suppose it would have helped if we had known that! However, I don't think it would have killed anyone at The Nelson to have told us that. I'm sure we looked lost and in need of help. Oh well. At the entrance to The Kestrel, they had a huge sign telling you exactly what to do. Now that's what I'm talking about! A, "Hey Stupid!" sign! 
JoAnna was finally able to get her fish and chips, and we all had good food and a good time. After dinner (thank you, Susan!!!) we went over to Susan's house for dessert: apple pie and ice cream. Yum!
Sunday, JoAnna and Ryan and I went to the mall in Manchester in search of Manchester United jerseys. Ironically, we found out later we could have gotten them in Harrogate. Oh well. It was still fun to go to the mall. I wound up spending $$$ on Ryan at the Early Learning Center (an education-minded toy store with lots of cool stuff), and JoAnna got to see all kinds of stores they don't have in the States.
That evening, Susan had agreed to watch Ryan so JoAnna and I could have a girls' night out. It was dusk when we dropped Ryan off. At JoAnna's suggestion, we opened up the sunroof on the car, and blasted our music. I can honestly say that was one of my favorite moments of Jo's visit out. Something about the English countryside at dusk in summer, the air and the music, the bond of shared travels and friendship, and just us girls... magic!
The main character in the book JoAnna and I were reading said that getting ready for an event was really the fun part. I kind of have to agree. Once back at my house, JoAnna and I spent quite a while getting ready. She loaned me dangly earrings and even helped me straighten my hair! By the time we were done, we were two very rockin' chicks. The funny thing was, here we were, all LA lookin', walking through thoroughly sleepy Harrogate on a Sunday night. There were places where things were going on, but we were hungry so we decided to get something for dinner. There was a happening bar with a live musician. That seemed promising. However, I don't think they served food. TGIFriday's was next door, so we went there. It was completely dead. By the time we got done eating, it was time to walk back to my house and go get Ryan. Susan had to work the next day, so we didn't want to be out too late. Even though we really didn't get to do much besides have dinner, it was still really nice to go out just me and JoAnna.
On the way to pick Ryan up, I saw a falling star. First one since I've been here.
The next day we went to the James Herriot museum in Thirsk. http://www.worldofjamesherriot.org/ That was fun and interesting. Afterwards, we went back to Harrogate and had lunch at Betty's at the Garden Harlow Carr. JoAnna and I shared "Tea For Two." It was finger sandwiches and little tarts and lovely tea. Quite nice! Later on in the evening, we got Indian food from Asda (I think I may have mistakenly written that we did that the night we got back). After Ryan went to bed, JoAnna and I had a wee bit of vino...
The last day JoAnna was here was fairly low key. It's funny, we had tacos for dinner her last night here, and we'd had tacos her first night here. I didn't plan that!
The next day (Aug. 2), I took JoAnna to the airport. We checked her flight online before we left, and all seemed fine. When I got home, I checked it again, and found it delayed. It was supposed to leave at 11:20am, and was delayed two hours. I checked again later in the day, and it was delayed until 4:30pm! I felt awful for her. There was no way for me to get a hold of her, though. I left a message on her computer, just in case she had it and got some wireless access. After 4:30 I couldn't get any more flight info. Turns out the flight was canceled entirely, and she had to stay overnight in a hotel! I really wished we had known and she just could have had one more day and night in Harrogate. On the bright side, she got to fly back first class all the way, and the hotel and food and everything was paid for. (For JoAnna's account, MySpace users click here: http://www.myspace.com/joannasark)
Probably most of you reading this have heard about the madness going on with the high terror alerts in the UK and the US. In light of that, I'm really glad JoAnna got out when she did. Larry is still Stateside, due back on Tuesday. I'm wondering how it all will affect him.
The first few days after JoAnna left were hard. It's gotten better though. A week ago I baby sat for a fellow co-op member and friend, Aimee. Her kids are great and Ryan enjoyed a change of scenery.
Sunday I met my friend Carissa and her husband and kids at The Hydro. I hadn't taken Ryan there since last summer. He had a great time! He loves the water. Before long he was jumping off the side of the pool (with my help and close supervision, of course!). He's fearless, which is not necessarily a good thing!
This week has kind of gone by in a blink, or is that a blur? 
Monday there was a URG meeting. Those are a semi-social occasion, so that was nice. The rest of the week has been filled with running errands, running (well, a bit of jogging around), going to the shopping area, playing with Ryan in the back patio, trying to catch up on my blog, that sort of thing.
It's raining right now. It seems like we only got about three weeks of summer. It started raining the Monday before JoAnna left. We've had some sun off and on since then, but the temperatures have definitely cooled. Even when it's still warm, the warmth has a softness to it, a quality that seems to say, "Summer's winding down. Enjoy this while it lasts, because it won't much longer." In the evening air, there's starting to be a whisper of an edge that says autumn is getting close. While there's still light in the west after 9pm, the darkness is creeping closer. I'm sad to see the sun and warmer weather go, but I have to admit, I have really not missed the burning heat of my native SoCal.
There's a tree I can see from my kitchen window. My view is from the north. In the evening, the golden light from the setting sun sets off the top third of the tree, the leaves limned in gold. I don't know why, but this captivates me. It's quite moving to me, but I can't say why. I would try to take a picture of it, but I know it wouldn't do the scene justice.
I was driving home from MHS a couple of days ago, and saw a road sign: No Cats Eyes. My reaction was, "Huh???" I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it seems to be the Brit version of Botts' Dots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat's_eye_(road) (I apologize, but it's not letting me put this full link in. You'll have to cut and paste to get that last character in, otherwise the article won't come up.) The guy that invented them is from Yorkshire. Woo hoo!
Tonight I baby sat for another friend/co-op member, Carissa. Again, it was enjoyable since Ryan and I were out of the house and Ryan enjoys the different venue. Also, as Carissa says, other kids' toys are always more fun!
A few days ago, Ryan came down with a little cold in his nose. He seems better already, which is great, especially since a couple days after he got it, he passed it to me! I've been doing what I call, "the tea cure." I drink loads of tea all day and night to flush out my system. Actually, it seems to work. It's only been a couple of days and I feel better already. (Of course, since Ryan's virus only lasted a couple of days and I got the same one, it may be neither here nor there. However, I enjoy an excuse to drink excessive amounts of tea!)
Wow, I do believe that catches me up!
Posted by hkvlayman
at 3:21 PM BST
Updated: Saturday, 12 August 2006 11:57 PM BST
Friday and Saturday I did two things running-wise that I hadn't done in a while: run in the rain, and run by myself (also in the rain). Friday the weather had been rainy and I felt cooped up, so I put Ryan in the jogging stroller and the rain cover over the stroller and took off. It wasn't cold (though it wasn't warm, either) so it wasn't too bad. It was kind of fun, actually. I'm sure Ryan appreciated getting out of the house as much as I did.
I keep forgetting things. The day JoAnna and Ryan and I came back from Paris, we took a side trip (from Ruislip) to a dog rescue shelter. JoAnna participates in a dog rescue program in CA, and also runs a kennel, so she is always interested to see how things are done in other places. This particular one seemed very nice. It was clean and the animals were well taken care of. There seemed to be a very rigorous screening process for prospective families for the dogs.
At least you know I remembered on the day!
)
(This picture was taken at Betty's, when JoAnna and Ryan and I went to lunch there last.)