Josephine reading

Here's Josephine reading her Maisy book.

Chelsea Flower Show

What an eventful week! Aunt Carin is visiting, and she and I went to the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show! It's held at the Royal Hospital Grounds, which is maybe a 10-minute walk from here. I could not believe the crowds! We got there late afternoon, and could barely move. It did seem to clear out half an hour after we arrived, luckily for us. Most of the show gardens are sort of like gardening as high art. They were way too subtle for me. I preferred the more commercial displays of colorful flowers.

Last weekend was a 3-day weekend, and some friends of ours from the States were in Liverpool for a wedding. Bernie and I left the kids with Aunt Carin and went to Liverpool to have dinner with them. It was nice to see another part of England other than Central London. I really should try to travel around the UK a bit more. We forgot to bring the camera, so no pics of Liverpool today.

Here are the kids this week:

Josephine has made up this new game where she takes both scooters and arranges them into a rectangle, then puts all her stuffed animals into it and sits there with them. She plays this for hours a day.


Here I am at the Chelsea Flower Show, blending with the Great Wall of Fuchsia.

This is a very impressive bansai wisteria at the flower show.


Running through the park

The Power Ranger in sparkly high heels


Bedtime


Pascale in undefined ethnic wear


Peacock at Holland Park


All of us in the lift



The girls' cousins sent cool pink Superman capes, which were just the thing to run around the park with.


Josephine at the park

Playing Hooky

Last Tuesday, when the weather was still pretty nice, Pascale told me she did not want to go to school. She pretty much never says that, so I told her she could stay home and we'd go to Kew Gardens. It was really lovely there. Living in the city, the girls never get the chance to run a long way, but Kew Gardens is so huge, they could just run and run there.

Josephine in mid-fall

playing with sticks

picnic

Almost like summer

It's been sunny and in the high seventies all week! This may have been the warmest week since we arrived last June.

Josephine has a new obsession with being eaten. Yesterday in Holland Park, some horses went by us, and Pascale wanted to follow them. I asked Josephine if she wanted to go, too, and she said, "Horsies might eat me." She said the same about some dogs that we walked by today. I try to assure her that her place in the food chain is fairly secure, but she does not seem to be buying it.


Josephine never tires of Ring Around the Rosie

Pascale holding breadsticks and looking dramatic


A Peacock in Holland Park


Playing in the fountain at Duke of York Square


Playing in the fountain at the Victoria and Albert Museum


Horsing Around


A true artist like Josephine only paints in natural light.


They call this path the catwalk. I'm not sure where they came across that word.

Disreputable Neighbors

There was a shootout last night in a super-fancy square about a block away from me. I heard the shots from my living room.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7387002.stm

Here's the text from the bbc site:

An inquiry has begun after a gunman was killed following a five-hour armed stand-off in south-west London.
The 32-year-old, believed to be Mark Saunders, a barrister, died after earlier exchanging shots with police in Markham Square, Chelsea.
Officers were called to King's Road on Tuesday after reports a gun was fired from a house towards another home.
Armed police fired back when they came under attack and the area nearby was sealed off as the siege began.
However, the incident was brought to an end when police stormed the house after four explosions were heard.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is examining the incident.
The BBC has learned Mr Saunders worked at QEB chambers in London and specialised in family law.
The IPCC has not confirmed his identity, but he is expected to officially named after post-mortem examinations.

The deputy chairman of the IPCC, Ian Bynoe, said one firearm was recovered from the address and it was licensed.
He appealed for witnesses, saying their testimony "would be helpful".
"Our own team of investigators will shortly be starting house-to-house inquiries," he said.
"There also may be members of the public who can supply us with the images they captured on their cameras or mobile telephones.
"We've to keep an open mind on how this man came to suffer the wounds from which he died."
Officers will also study footage captured by CCTV cameras and police helicopters.
The area remains cordoned-off and surrounding homes and businesses were evacuated.
Residents said they were shocked at the shoot-out.
Novelist Jenny Haddon, who lives in Bywater Street behind Markham Square, said officers broke through her front door while she was out.
"I've got a terraced [house] and I suspect what they (police) did was use the terrace to shoot from," she said.
"It would have given them a good vantage point."
During the stand-off, the gunman fired three times - first at about 1700 BST, then again at 2100 BST and then at about 2130 BST. Officers returned fire on each occasion.
At about 2145 BST, eyewitnesses reported seeing the sky light up with green flashes at the same time as the four explosions, which were thought to be stun grenades.

The Whole Truth

I've realized that this blog makes life in London look like one long warm, sunny day. Nothing could be further from the truth, so we'll start today with a photo that's much more representative of what life is really like here. And now, on to some more warm, sunny day pictures.

It was a 3-day weekend and of course we failed to plan any sort of getaway, so we decided to check out Richmond Park, which is perhaps the largest park in London, located maybe half an hour by tube from our flat. When we go to the train station, the announcer informed us that trains to Richmond are suspended this weekend. So we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum instead.


the girls made cute headwear at the V&A

Then we played in the fountain in the V&A courtyard

The Wisteria is in bloom. Usually I'm horrified by Wisteria because it's invasive, but I think it might be a good city plant. Here, for instance, it's growing nicely, and since it's surrounded by blacktop, there's nowhere for it to invade to.

We went to a party where Josephine got her face painted


Pascale got a bubble sword for a party favor


The Three Musketeers, if they were armed with bubble swords and baby strollers.


A nice pic of Pascale


Horrifying play structures. Yes, that's Josephine tightrope walking 10 feet in the air.


More horrifying play structures.