Laptop/Case giveaway, and miscellaneous other info!

So, I am home today with FeverGirl, which means I can sit and catch up on blogs. I just read about an AWESOMEtastic giveaway, and will post the info here so you, too, can enter to try and win.

Win a Compaq CQ10 10-inch screen notebook computer AND a Targus computer backpack by checking out this blog post! Mighty nice...good luck if you enter [and good luck to me, too, of course].

In Olympic Knitting news, I haven't seen the Olympics in almost a week, and have about 4 rows of sleeves to go. Then it's on to the front pieces of the cardigan. So my Olympic pace is a tad slow, but Lily may get this sweater while it still fits. And that I declare as a victory for me! When I post this, I am picking up the knitting AND the remote, for a little DVR'd Olympics action.

Sleeves, as promised, and a jacket for spring

This fuzzy picture shows two sleeves in progress, slightly less than halfway along.  See how fluffy the yarn is?   Switching to metal needles did make a big difference in knitability, however.  The fluffy, squeaky yarn is moving along the needles pretty easily now. 

I am way behind if I hope to finish this during the Olympics, however.  I've got the rest of the sleeves, the fronts AND the hood still to slog through.  Ah, well, it's coming along...

And now for something completely different:

Pretty, no?  It's a fitted, lightweight trenchcoat. Bought it as a birthday present to myself after trying it on for fun, on a friend's urging [thanks, Afton!]. It was very inexpensive as coats go, at £20.  To be honest, it looks good, but BARELY fits - a little too tight when buttoned.  I really, really need to stop derailing my food wagon and say goodbye to the 15 pounds that arrived with winter eating.  Looking at this lovely thing is a little incentive to do just that!

Pictureless Olympic Update

The cardi continues.  I got some great feedback from the designer when I added my project to Ravelry and found hers.  So I changed from my lovely Zephyr needles to some plain ole aluminum ones and the knitting is MUCH much smoother. Still feels plasticy on my fingers but it's moving much more quickly.

I've finished the back, and am going to cast on both sleeves at once after I post this blog.  Haven't gotten a chance to look at the actual Olympics and knit in 3 days, what with all our running about and feeling exhausted by evening.  Tonight looks to be better!

Pictures with next post, I promise...

Olympic and Other Knits

First off, the Olympic knitting. I am about 70% done with the back piece of Lil's cardigan.  Still feeling the hate for the way the Brushstrokes yarn feels on the needles and my fingers, although I love watching the color shifts.  Check 'em out:

I think I should be competing in the Olympic category of Finishing a Knitted Item for the Benefit of a Loved One Although It's Completely No Fun to Knit.  There is fun in watching the Olympics over the top of my knitting, though.  How 'bout those crazy moguls skiers??

Moving on, we have my Around the Corner Scarf, started in November and not really worked on since December...this one's really fun to watch as it grows, but I am not feeling the love for the way I have to pay attention every second to the pattern, which is all short rows and loopy bits.  I know it will be worth it, in the end, but my short knitting attention span in the winter has relegated this one to the bottom of the "Basket O' Knits In Progress."

Today is Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Tuesday.  We celebrated by eating LOTS of pancakes for supper at our friends' tonight, and it was lovely.  Now I am in a bit of a carb coma, but mmmmmm. Lovely American-style puffy pancakes, syrup and bacon.  Lily went with more British-style crepes with lemon and sugar, and ate four.  Quite a meal for such a small peanut!

Knitting Olympics and Other Life Bits

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Mine's been very nice - chocolate and a phone call from the Faraway Sweetie. 

Now to business...The knit mojo?  She is back.

I have opted in to the Knitting Olympics this year.  At first, I thought I'd shoot for the Argus Shawlette, but after I whipped out 198 Yds of Heaven [Ravelry link] in 4 days (new speed record for me!!), I thought lace isn't as much of a challenge as it used to be. Here is 198 Yds, on me as I wore it yesterday at Wagamama, and displayed outside...

Instead, I'm tackling the lovely cardigan pictured below, for the girlie bean.  In exactly that shade, per her request. Here's my Ravelry project link.

This is my Olympic Torchlighting Cast-On Picture.  See the Opening Ceremonies in the background there?  I did DVR and watch them in daylight, given that it was 2 AM or something here when they began.

And for the record? Stylecraft Brushstrokes?  Pretty color, but hideous, hideous, HIDEOUS to knit with.  Squeaky, sticky, icky yarn that makes my teeth itch to work with.  Good thing she will love it.

Odds and Ends, kind of like the Picture.

This picture looks so pretty at first glance.  Sadly, it's a photo of part of masssssssive island of trash, I guess you'd say, in the Pacific.  Check out the article here.

Other interesting stuff - this is a bit more positive.  Turns out that chocolate milk can help lessen hardening of the arteries.  I'm all OVER that one.

Doing a little knitting today, about which more in a minute, as I am home with Flu Boy.

D. blossomed out with the flu yesterday morning. "Hey, it's my little Asthma Piggie," the pediatrician greeted him.  Heh.    Asthma and swine flu.  Get it?  Lame, but he is a wonderful doctor despite the flopped joke.

Because D. has a history of asthma, and had that ER visit/prednisone treatment with a flare in September, the way the doc is having us treat the flu is to treat D. as if he is in the middle of an asthma flare.  So, twice daily preventive steroid inhaler, and rescue inhaler three or four times daily.  The objective is to keep those airways WIDE open, and thus avoid complications.

Seems to be working. D.  is hardly coughing now, and is feeling super-cheerful, despite the fact that a whacking big dose of acetominophen has not lowered his temp to normal!

And I am knitting, which is a change, eh?  It's a fiddly but fun pattern, called the Round the Corner Scarf. [Mine is very similar to the colors pictured, if you add some vibrant pinks.]  I bought the pattern, and the Noro Silk Garden Sock wool, at Great Balls of Yarn in West Palm Beach, FL, when we were visiting for my awesome sister's awesome birthday/week.  Love the wooly souvenirs of travel...

Yes, I'm alive :) Summer/Fall recap

Hi, any faithful readers who are still out there.  I disappeared when summer arrived, but I'll try to catch you up, inspired by the efforts of my NaBloPoMo frequent-posting hubby, and friend Susie.

Quick and dirty recap - D. came home from deployment, stayed home for a month and then went away for another month. Then home for all of 2 weeks, during which we took kiddoes to Disneyland Paris for 3 days. Roller coasters and princesses and a good time had by all!  After that 2-week stay, he left for 4 months' training in the states.

We agreed that 4 months is a jolly long time to not see Dad.  After school ended in late July, the rest of us flew to the US for 6 weeks.  The first half was spent with dad, hanging out, revisiting lots of awesome places in the Omaha area, catching up with friend Susie when our families both met up in Cheyenne [minus D who was in class].

 Second half of trip was amazingly busy, meeting up with friends galore in MD [thanks to Jill and Norm for the awesome crashpad :)], then down to Florida for my sister's big number birthday party and a week of wonderful time, finishing up in Pennsylvania with our lovely Sheila and then a whirlwind of family and friends the last week in New York.

 We got to reconnect with tons of folks - special shout outs to the racetrack siblings and lovely mom-in-law Karyle, to Dawn and Bruce for organizing a great get-together and to David and Donna [aka in-laws] for the massive, wonderful barbecue and party on our last day.  Hubby David was able to fly in for the long LaborDay weekend and get together with everyone, too, and because of other people's kind efforts, all we had to do was show up to soak in time with everyone.

Love you guys!

Then it was back to the UK just in time to start the new school year, which is perking along well for both kids.  I had a low month but am feeling much much better.  David came home 2 weeks ago, in time to share in Halloween and Guy Fawkes festivities, and he's been able to take some leave so we can really reconnect.  Good, good stuff.

I'll leave you with David the Younger's homework efforts from tonight.  He was tasked to write a police report about crashing Santa's sleigh. Awesome!  [block-copied from his typed work]

Police Report

Date: 8/11/2009
Time: 3:35 pm
Place:Santa's workshop



Report 1


Witnesses: Reindeers Donner & Blitzen

Donner: Vell, here is vot happened from our point of view. Ze elf David was test-drivink ze sleigh. Nothink unusual, just around the house unt back onto ze runvay.


Blitzen: Ja, unt zen he looked down - just for a second to check ze speed - unt ven he looked up, there vas ze chimney, unt CRASH!


Donner: Unt zen, ze front of ze sleigh, it collapsed, unt ze whole thing vent through ze roof!

Blitzen: Ja, just like zat!






Report 2


Witness: Elf Tannen Baum


Tannen: I was in the workshop, putting the finishing touches on some jack-in-the-boxes, when there was a loud neighing and then a banging sound. Everybody looked up. Nothing happened for a minute,so we all went back to our work, and that was when the sleigh crashed through.


It was so surprising, all my jack-in-the-boxes popped out!


The sleigh was just hanging there with elf David hanging from it looking sheepish. I'm just glad nobody was hurt!

Warning! Actual Knitting Content...

The knit mojo is back in a mild way. I've finished a pair of socks in a tan speckly color, and started a second pair in plain blue vintage sock wool.

I'd like to finish up those blue socks, and bring some really special sock wool along when we go to Normandy in a week for a D-Day sites trip with some other folks from David's work. Maybe this wool (scroll down for picture) - my winnings a while back in Liz's blog contest.

I also have my eye on a gorgeous vest pattern (thanks for enabling, Jill) called Vertigo. Check it out here. Nice, huh?

I shall leave you with some sock pictures, and a shot of David playing with the castle and knights I bought from a friend. This has been a VERY successful toy for both kids!


Neat thing about the castle is that it slots together, and can be packed flat. Not that we've taken it apart yet, in the 2 weeks since we put it together...

Notice that manky, crumply thing in the lower left corner? Unblocked, washed sock. My homemade sock blockers actually work - laminated cardboard, so not very durable, but they are fine for now.

Here's the latest sock in progress. I'd love to finish it tonight...we'll see!

A Meditation on My Feelings upon the Return of My Beloved from the Desert...

or:

So very happy.

(thanks to ICanHasCheezburger for  the image)

Waiting...with Charming Kid Pix for Distraction

The last day or so of a deloyment can seem like a week.  Let's hope it won't literally become a week!  I am so looking forward to my sweetie's return.

Meanwhile, the kids and I have been enjoying the term break.  Two weeks is a loooong time to just hang out.  I think we've all appreciated the respite from the usual engagements. There were a couple of movies, some bowling, hide and seek at the castle with a friend, bike riding, puppet shows created by kids, model-building, and general noodling around. We lucked out yesterday and were at the library in time for some great kitchen science type experiments (Mentos and Coke, layering liquids, fun with electricity)and pizza.

Easter day was lovely.  Here's a shot of the Boy and the Girl in their finery.  Note D's new sneakers...I didn't realize he didn't have dress shoes on til we were in the car headed out to church. Ah, well...they were nice and clean!

Two days later, it was Miss Lily's birthday.  "Now we are six," in the words of A. A. Milne.  Lily got a new bicycle from Mummy and Daddy, big enough for a 6-year-old.  I think she likes it...

Then nine young ladies made a day of it at the local Princess Party salon. It was a symphony of pinkness and pampering.  They did a lovely job making Lily and her friends feel like absolute stars.  Here is the princess in all her glory...

Easter Fun

Sorry for the lack of bloggy goodness lately.  I haven't had much exciting to report, really.  No knitting mojo, and now the kids are on spring break for two weeks so we've been running around, errands and bowling and library and a field trip to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D down in Cambridge.  That was fun!

Darling spouseman comes home soonish and I am really, REALLY looking forward to that.

I'l placate you all with pictures of Lily's Easter bonnet she wore during the fundraiser a couple of weeks ago (we raised 350 pounds for the preschool - whooo!).  Didn't get a shot during the contest, but got a couple after the party, before we disassembled the bonnet for Easter re-use.  

Below those pics are some from our Easter egg  dyeing this afternoon.  We used a different type of Paas kit, with little sponges and supah-concentrated dyes, so the eggs look really neat!  David wasn't as into it as Lily, but he did 4 or 5 eggs... The chocolate and jelly beans are laid in, and I am sure we will have a little hunt tomorrow after church. 

Semi-confidential to Jill - I tried the purple foo-foo dress on Lily today - it's really big around the waist  and chest, but we'll cinch it with the sash. She looks adorable!  It will make a great Easter and birthday outfit. Does anyone remember the Saturday Night Live GAP girls?  "Just...cinch it!!"

Two Years

Two years ago today, we lost my mom.  In some ways, it seems like it was last week, when I think, "Ooh, I have to share that with mom when I call her."  In other ways, I feel like it has been a much longer time than 2 years.  So much has happened that mom wasn't here to share with us. 

I look at this picture, and it reminds me of so much that I loved about my mother.  She loved the kids, and they loved her, completely.  She knew how to listen to children (and adults), and how to play and create with real imagination.  She was always up for an expedition, even with two broken arms.  And she loved being outside, in beautiful places and some not so obviously beautiful.  My mother was a true "noticer" of things.  She had the observant eye of an artist, and I love that she shared what she saw.  When I notice the wonderful little details in something seemingly mundane, I thank her for it.  And I will try to keep up the adventuring, and spirit of play, in her memory.

Missing you always, mother dear!...

 

Wheels

Isn't she pretty?

100 Books

I've seen this meme around.  When Betsy sent it to me on Facebook, I decided to play along.  I have read 48 of these - not saying I REMEMBER all 48, though!

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. (I can’t verify this statistic).

Also.... The Da Vinci Code? Come ON... read this and it's no "great 100 books" sort of book.  Same for Bridget Jones' Diary.
   
1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x ) In fact I am re-reading it, again, right now.

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (x )

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte ()

4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (X )

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ( )

6. The Bible ( x)

7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ( x)

8. 1984 - George Orwell (x )

9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ()

10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ( )

11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott ( X)

12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ( )

13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (x)

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare ( ) -

15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier ( )

16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x )

17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk ( )

18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (X)

19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (x )

20. Middlemarch - George Eliot ( )

21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell ( X)

22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x)

23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens ( )

24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ( )

25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (x)

26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ( )

27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (X )

28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (X)

29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (X)

30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)


31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ( )

32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ( )

33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis ( x)

34. Emma - Jane Austen ( X)

35. Persuasion - Jane Austen ( )

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x )

37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - ( ) -

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ( )

39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ( )

40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (X)


41. Animal Farm - George Orwell (X)

42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x )

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )

44. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving ()

45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ( )

46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (X)

47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ( )

48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (X)

49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (X)

50. Atonement - Ian McEwan ()
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel ()

52. Dune - Frank Herbert (x)

53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ( x)

54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ( )

55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ( )

56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ( )

57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ( x)

58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (x )

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (x)

60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( )

61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck ( X)

62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ( X)

63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt ( )

64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ( )

65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ( )

66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac ()

67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (x )

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding ()

69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie ( )

70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville ( )


71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ( )

72. Dracula - Bram Stoker ( )

73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (X) -

74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (x )

75. Ulysses - James Joyce ()

76. The Inferno - Dante (X)

77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ( )

78. Germinal - Emile Zola ( )

79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ( )

80. Possession - AS Byatt ( )

81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (X)

82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ( )

83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (X)

84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ( )

85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (x )

86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ( )

87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White ( X)

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ( )

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (X)

90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ( )


91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ( ) started but could not finish...

92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (X)

93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ( )

94. Watership Down - Richard Adams (x)

95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ()

96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute (x )

97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ( )

98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (X)

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (X)

100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ( )

Circus and Other Fun

We've had some fun the last few days around here. Wednesday evening, I took the kids to the circus (wonderful acrobats, cute animals, candy floss...good times!).

Today is Red Nose Day, so the kids dressed up in red and did crazy hair to raise money.  Lily was thrilled beyond words to have occasion to wear the red riding hood poncho, which did double duty as a twirly skirt by the end of the day...

David's hair is SO stiffly waxed and gelled that I am wondering how many shampoos it will take to get it clean!!

Lost in Austen

In keeping with my Season of Jane Austen, I found this wonderful miniseries tonight: Lost in Austen.  Imagine a Pride and Prejudice fan-girl falling into the story herself...   It was so good that I watched all four episodes in a row On Demand, which explains why I am blogging at 2 AM.  I will pay for that tomorrow morning, I know...

Wonderful Mr. Darcy, too.  I highly recommend this if you can find it on DVD.  I think it just aired in the States in January.

True, This...

]

True, even in small, half-day doses...

I Got Nuthin'....

Nothing exciting to report, that is. It's just been a random few days of regular old life, and I don't feel witty enough to make it interesting. That won't stop me from telling you all abou it, however.  Heh. I did get to googlechat with David for a good while yesterday, and I took the kids to Fakenham to scout the Kinnerton chocolate outlet and see a film (Pink Panther 2 - amusing enough, although some of it sailed right over the kids' heads).

 I like Fakenham; it's hard to believe we have been in West Norfolk over 3 years and this is the first time I've shopped the town.  Free parking - that rocks.  Three or four new charity shops to check out  - that also rocks!  I actually scored a very nice aran cardigan that's a size too small but still worth shrinking into, as well as a lovely pair of walking-around shoes.  The kids found some fun books, so a success.

Kinnerton Chocolate Factory has its outlet shop right inside the Aldiss furniture store.  Tons of great deals on various chocolates, including Easter eggs galore right now. I will go back before Easter to stock up for kiddoes.

Today was pretty straightforward - church in the AM, and hanging out in the afternoon. I knit some more on my Helter Skelter scarf, and watched Mamma Mia again. Illogical and stoopid as the plot may be, it's good fun to hum along with. And Pierce Brosnan is such an EARNEST bad singer. After dinner, I chased both kiddies upstairs to bed by 7:15.  I just feel in need of a little staring into space on my own tonight.

IKnit Weekender 2009

The most exciting e-mail just arrived at my in-box: IKnit London is a 2-day extravaganza this year and tickets are now on sale.





Did I buy mine instantly? You betcha!! I popped for the 2-day entry ticket, on the off chance that I can be in London for both days. At £15, it's not too much to wager.



I had such a lovely time at my first IKnit London event. I'd like to attend some of the workshops as well this year, which I didn't do last time around.



Knitting around Casa Honsinger right now - I've stopped on the Shepherd's lace shawl. I love the intense purple alpaca I am using, but I don't love it with the garter lace texture. I think a knit lace would work better, so that's in hibernation to be ripped out and reused on something else. I did start a Helter Skelter scarf, courtesy of Awesome Liz at Knitting on the Green. It's in a really subdued purple/grey/green wool, something like the bottom one in her blog post, and I need to get a picture. It's been really good telly knitting for when I watch Time Team!

Half-term Ate My Brain, or I'm Still Here...

Sorry, Gentle Readers! I didn't mean to go silent for so long, but the children had half-term holiday last week, and we kept pretty busy. Playdates, a cinema outing (Bolt wasn't half-bad), errands and a couple of days in London.

This week's been back to normal, if by normal you mean I am out of the house all day on various missions! I did go for my mammogram on Tuesday, which I had been dreading (four dear friends of my own age have been diagnosed with breast cancer already). However, avoiding one's mammogram is NOT the rational response. So that is done, over, and I hope shows all clear for another year.

David was thrilled to get to go to the Mart this year (local fun fair - see this page toward the bottom). I'd told him that I thought he'd have to miss it since Daddy is away, and I shuddered at the thought of dragging Lily around a loud carnival with lots of rides that are too big for her. Luckily, his friend Sam really wanted him to come along, so they got to ride all the good stuff on Tuesday, which was also Shrove Tuesday.

Lily and I had our Shrove Tuesday pancakes at home (topped with lemon and sugar, or chocolate spread - nom).

Anyway, back to our London mini-trip. We went down by train, and headed straight to Covent Garden in time for lunch (excellent savoury crepes) and some good street entertainment. Nothing like watching someone do a comedy routine while balanced on a ladder and juggling knives....good stuff!

The kiddies also wanted to visit Build-a-Bear, which we have avoided since we got here. They were thrilled, and didn't much mind waiting in line with all the other over-excited half-term children for their turn to push the buttons and turn the cranks to stuff their very own bears.


Lily chose a basic, and very soft, brown bear, which she named Talitha after a little girl we know. David went for the koala, and chose a leprechaun outfit for him. The koala was dubbed Sydney O'Beary. Both bears travelled the rest of the trip peeking out from the kids' backpacks.

Backpacks - my personal secret for overnight trips to London. Everyone gets a backpack, with their pajamas, next day's clothes and toiletries. Mine's a bit bigger, so I carry the snacks and paper/crayons/book/camera. We keep it light by wearing our jeans twice, bringing light PJs. I also cleverly made everyone wear old socks and underwear on day one, so we could trash it in the morning, rather than packing it up again.


Day two of the trip was spent entirely at the London Zoo, and sadly I have no pictures. We were too busy watching the animals to take many pictures, and none have people in them. Trust me when I say we had a great day. We enjoyed the monkeys the most, but the Komodo dragon exhibit was pretty neat, as was the butterfly house.

For my friends who are or have been in Omaha, got to say...the Henry Doorly Zoo is better. Seriously. The London Zoo is nice, but the Omaha Zoo is NIIIIICE.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures.

Lily spied this wonderful plant near Covent Garden:



David and Sydney O'Beary - we decided Sydney looks sort of like a tidy Einstein:

This Victorian postbox has been painted orange and is used for Zoo donations.